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put by the Embalmers into the Cavities of the Bo¬ 
dy : Great Numbers of them are dug out of the 
Ground on the Eaft Side of the River Nile, near 
Cairo in Egypt, being the Spot where the Mummies 
were depohted. 
On the Breaft of the Coffin (it being of the Shape 
of a Mummy) is a Figure reprefenting the Goddefs 
lfis, the Flowers of the Water-lilly (Lotus) round 
its Ntck; and over the whole Forefide is a very 
great Variety of Hieroglyphics, Figures, and Egyp¬ 
tian Charadiers, only underftood by their Priefts 
and learned Men, but which the Antiquaries of 
thefe later Times can noways explain. On the Back 
of the Coffin, (which may be turned at Pleafure) 
is another Figure of Ifts , having an Ibis on her 
Head. The Ibis was a Bird of Prey, held in great 
Veneration by the Egyptians , becaufe it deftroyed 
the Vermin that were yearly produced by the over¬ 
flowing of the Nile: When it died, they depo- 
fited it in an Urn, and cemented a Cover on 
it. Over the Coffin is a fauare Cafe, in which 
they placed fome Utenfils belonging to the Decea- 
fed, and depofited it near the Body •, as alfo two 
Models of a Mummy, one of which they put near 
the Coffin at the Head, the other at the Feet. 
There is an Urn of the Ibis, and feveral Egyptian 
Idols in Bronze over the Mummy : I fhall firft 
mention OJiris. It is the Figure of a Man, the 
Body in the Shape of a Mummy, with a three-cor- 
ner’d Cap on its Head, a Whip in one Hand, and 
a Lituus (a Staff not unlike a Crozier) in the other. 
Ifis is figured by a Woman, with the Infant Orus 
in her Lap: They reprefented her varioufly, but 
for the moft part with a large Veil on her Head. 
Orus, or Harpocrates , their Son, is the Figure of a 
young Man holding the Fore-finger of his Left- 
hand 
