■\', 
236 PYRAMIDS OF SACCARA. 
cirAP. occasioned the remarkable burial of so many of 
their bodies in the Catacombs of Egypt are ex- 
plained by Ibn TVashi, an Arabian writer; who 
says, that it was usual to embalm and bury an 
Ibis at the initiation of the priests'. When we 
reflect upon the number of the priests who 
officiated in the temples and colleges of the 
country, and the lapse of ages during which the 
practice continued, extending even to the con- 
quest of Egypt by the jirabs, we may easily 
account for the astonishing number of these 
birds thus preserved. Plutarch, moreover, 
mentions the burial of the Ibis, and of other 
animals held sacred among the Egyptians. He 
says, it was sometimes a private, and sometimes 
a public ceremony". The Ibis, with other sacred 
animals, was put to death by the priests, and 
privately buried, as an expiatory sacrifice to 
avert pestilential diseases. The burial was 
public when any particular species of the sacred 
animals was to be interred ^ 
(1) See the work of Ibn TVashi, on Antient Alphabets, &:c. as trans- 
lated by Mr. Hammer. The same writer is mentioned by Kircher^ 
under the name of Abeii Vaschia, 
(2) Plutarch, de hid. et Osh: c. 73. Camh. 1744, 
(3) Ibid. 
