168 
THE SACRED IBIS. 
Looking upon tlie Ibis, therefore, as a type or 
emblem of the moon, and again associating its ap- 
pearance on the banks of the river Nile, at a season 
reminding them of the approach of those abundant 
crops produced by the inundations of their sacred 
river, we can easily see the reason why the priests 
of the country held it up to the ignorant people as a 
bird sent from heaven, and therefore to be wor- 
shipped in life and honoured in death. 
