and some others equally fanciful and unnatural, can only be compared to the creations of heraldry *, or serve as companions to the monsters of Pliny.†

The Egyptian sphinx was usually an emblematic figure, representative of the king, and may be considered, when with the head of a man and the body of a lion, as the union of intellect and phy

No. 330.

Monsters, in the paintings of Beni Hassan and Thebes.

sical force it is therefore scarcely necessary to

* An Austrian nobleman asked an English ambassador at Vienna, whose arms presented a griffin and other monsters, "in what forest they were met with?" "In the same," said the ambassador, "where you find eagles with two heads."

+ Plin. viii. 21.

observe that they are never female, as those of the Greeks. Besides the ordinary sphinx, compounded of a lion and a man, and denominated androsphinx, were the criosphinx, with the head of a ram, and the hieracosphinx, with the hawk's head and lion's body, all which are representatives of the king: but the asp-headed and the hawk-headed sphinx with wings, do not appear to have been adopted as the same symbol.

Those of the above-mentioned animals which are still found in Egypt, either in the Valley of the Nile, or in the desert, are the gazelle *, ibex, kebsh, hare, fox, jackal, wolf, and hyæna.

The oryx is a native of Ethiopia, as is the spotted hyæna or marafeén; which last is once represented in the Egyptian sculptures. The oryx has long annulated horns, tapering to a sharp point, and nearly straight, with a slight curve or inclination backwards. It frequently occurs in the sculptures, being among the animals tamed by the Egyptians, and kept in great numbers in the preserves of their villas.

The beïsa § is very like the oryx, except in the black marks upon its face, and a few other points; and the addax ||, another antelope, inhabiting Upper Ethiopia, differs principally from the oryx in its horns, which have a waving or spiral form: but these do not appear in the sculptures, unless the Egyptian artists, by an imperfect representation of

*Wood-cut, No. 328. fig. 6. and No.329. figs. 1. 9, 10. 15. 18.

The antilope leucoryx. V.wood-cut, No.328. fig. 2. & No. 329. fig.16. The canis crocutus, which appears to be the chaus of Pliny, or, as some editions have it, chama: "effigie lupi, pardorum maculis." Lib.viii. 19. § Antilope beïsa, Antilope addax.

them, and an inattention to their distinguishing peculiarities, have confounded them with the oryx or the wild ox.

This last, which is also of the genus antilope +, the defassa of modern zoologists, though not a native of Egypt, is found in the African desert, and I believe in Eastern Ethiopia; it is of a reddish sandy and grey colour, with a black tuft terminating its tail, and stands about four feet high at the shoulder. Though made too much to resemble a common ox in some of the paintings, it is sufficiently evident that the Egyptians had in view the defassa, in their representations of this animal: and the Theban sculptors, who had a better opportunity of becoming acquainted with it, have succeeded in giving its character far more satisfactorily than the painters § of Beni Hassan.

The stag with branching horns ||, figured at Beni Hassan, is also unknown in the Valley of the Nile; but I have been assured that it is still seen in the vicinity of the Natron Lakes, though not a native of the desert between the river and the Red Sea.

The ibex, which is common in the Eastern desert, as far north as the range of the Qalalla and Gebel Aboo-Dúrrag, or latitude 29° 30', is very similar to the bouquetin of the Alps, and is called in Arabic Beddan or Táytal. The former appellation is exclusively applied to the male, which is readily distinguished by a beard and large knotted horns, curving backwards over its body, the female *Fig. 7 of wood-cut, No. 328. appears to be the addax. † Antilope defassa.

Vide wood-cut, No. 329. fig. 19.

Vide wood-cut, No. 327. figs. 4. & 5.

having short erect horns, scarcely larger than those of the gazelle, and being of a much smaller and lighter structure.

The kebsh, or wild sheep, is found in the Eastern desert, principally in the ranges of primitive mountains, which, commencing about latitude 28° 40', at the back of the limestone hills of the Valley of the Nile, extend thence into Ethiopia and Abyssinia. The female kebsh is between two and three feet high at the shoulder, and its total length from the tail to the end of the nose is a little more than four feet but the male is larger, and is provided with stronger horns, which are about five inches in diameter at the roots, and are curved down towards the neck. The whole body is covered with hair, like many of the Ethiopian sheep, and the throat and thighs of the fore legs are furnished with a long pendent mane; a peculiarity not omitted in the sculptures, and which suffices to prove the identity of the kebsh*, wherever its figure is represented.

The porcupine is not a native of Egypt; nor is the leopard met with on this side of Upper Ethiopia. Bears are altogether unknown, and if they occur twice in the paintings of the Theban tombs, the manner in which they are introduced sufficiently proves them not to have been among the animals of Egypt, since they are brought by foreigners, together with the productions of their country, which were deemed rare and curious to the Egyptians. Herodotus is therefore in error

*Wood-cut, No. 328. fig. 10.

respecting the bear* as well as the ottert; but the Greek name of this last is so ambiguous, that it may apply to any "animal inhabiting the water," which is the signification of the word evuògis.

With regard to the Egyptian wolf, which he says is small, and "scarcely larger than a fox," his statement is fully borne out by fact, and Pliny's remark §, that "those of Egypt and Africa are small and inactive," is equally just. But it is still more remarkable that in Egypt their habits differ, in one of the principal characteristics of the species, from those of other countries, being so little gregarious; for, though so often in pursuit of them, I never met with more than two together, and generally found them prowling singly over the plain.

M. Sonnini's conclusions, respecting the existence of the wolf in Egypt, are hasty and erroneous; and he has perverted the meaning of Herodotus, when he says that the sacred animal of Lycopolis "was not the wolf, for there are none in Egypt, but the jackal, which seems clearly shown by Herodotus, when he says the wolves in that country are scarcely larger than foxes." The tombs in the mountain above Lycopolis, the modern E'Sioot ||, contain the mummies of wolves, many of which I have examined, and ascertained to be of the sacred animals of the place; *Herod. ii. 67. "Bears being rare."

+ Herod. ii. 72. “ Γίνονται δε και ενυδριες εν τῷ ποταμῳ, τας ιρας nai var." May he mean the " Woiran of the river," the large lacerta Nilotica?

Herod. ii. 67.

Plin. 8. 22. "Inertes hos (lupos) parvosque Africa et Egyptus gignunt." Aristot. Hist. An. 1. 8. c. xxviii.

I have shown that Aboolfeda, and others, were wrong in writing