Such was the veneration felt by the Egyptians for the Ibis, that to have killed one of them, even involuntarily, subjected the offender to the pain of death*; and "never," says Cicero †, "was such a thing heard of as... an Ibis killed by an Egyptian.” So pure did they consider it, that "those priests who were most scrupulous in the performance of the sacred rites, fetched the water they used in their purifications from some place, where the Ibis had been seen to drink; it being observed of that bird that it never goes near any unwholesome and corrupted water."‡ The particular respect paid to it was supposed to be owing to its destroying venomous reptiles, which, as Cicero says, its height, its hard legs, and long horny beak enable it to do with great ease and safety; thus averting pestilence from Egypt, when the winged serpents are brought by the westerly winds from the deserts of Libya. § Pausanias, Cicero, and others T, think the existence of these serpents not impossible; and Herodotus says he only saw their bones and wings. But we may readily pardon their credulity, when we find it asserted by a modern traveller that they still exist in Egypt. The account of Herodotus is this**:-"In Arabia (the eastern or Arabian side of the Nile), very near *Herodot. ii. 65.; and Diodor. i. 83. + Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. i. 29. Vide suprà, p. 96. Plut. de Is. s. 75. Ælian, vii. 45. § Cicero, Nat. Deor. lib. i. ceant, nec odore mortuæ." || Pausan. x. 21. Elian, Nat. An. ii. 38. ** Herodot. ii. 75. "Ex quo fit, ut illæ nec morsu vivæ noHerodotus says they came from Arabia. Amm. Marcellin. xxii. 15. p. 338. to the city of Buto, is a place to which I went to inquire about the winged serpents. On my arrival I saw a great quantity of bones and backbones of serpents scattered about, of all sizes, in a place where a narrow gorge between two hills opens upon an extensive plain contiguous to the valley of Egypt. These serpents are reported to fly from Arabia into Egypt about the beginning of spring, when the Ibises, meeting them at the opening of this defile, prevent their passing, and destroy them: in gratitude for which service, the Arabs say that the Egyptians have great veneration for the Ibis; and they themselves allow it is for this reason they honour that bird. "There are two kinds of Ibis. The first is of the size of a crex *, with very black plumage; the legs like those of the crane, and the beak curved. This kind attacks the serpents. The other Ibises are more common, and often seen. They have the head, and all the neck, without feathers; their plumage is white, except the head, neck, and extremity of the wings and tail, all which are quite black; the legs and beak being the same as in the other species. The winged serpent is in figure like a water-snake; its wings are without feathers, and exactly like those of a bat." Among the many fanciful animals of the Egyptian sculptures, the winged serpents mentioned by Herodotus are no where found. Even among the many monsters in the mythological subjects of their tombs, none are represented, as he describes them, with the wings of bats, though some occur with the feathered wings of birds. Had the Egyptians themselves believed the existence of that kind of serpent, we may reasonably suppose they would not have omitted it, in the numerous scenes connected with the Evil Being, of whom this hateful monster would have been an appropriate type. We may therefore conclude that Herodotus was imposed upon, by some deceitful or credulous Egyptian, who showed him the back bones of serpents mixed with the wings and bones of bats; which last abound in great numbers in Egypt, and may have been found in the gorge, near Buto. The common Ibis mentioned by Herodotus corresponds with the Numenius Ibis, or Ibis religiosa, of modern naturalists, as Cuvier has shown t; but this is not the Ibis famed for its attack on the serpents, which was less common, and of a black colour. Those we find embalmed are the Numenius. They are white, with black pinions and tail : the body measures 12 inches, and 4 in diameter, and the beak about half a foot. The leg, from the knee to the plant of the foot, is about 4 inches, and the foot the same length; the wing, from the pinion-joint to the extremity of the feathers, being nearly 10 inches. The Ardea Ibis of Hasselquist, which is a small heron with a straight beak, has no claim to the title * From his never mentioning locusts, some might suppose he had made this mistake on seeing the bones and wings of those insects; but the form of the snakes, the bat's wings, and what he afterwards says of their living in Arabia, prevent this conclusion. Herodot. ii. 75. and iii. 107. 109. + Jameson's Cuv. Theory of the Earth, p. 300. et seq. of Ibis of the ancients. The black, and the common Egyptian, Ibis were related to the curlews, both having curved beaks. The Tantalus Ibis of Linnæus is indefinite, from its comprehending, as Cuvier says, "four species of three different genera." That the Ibis was of great use in destroying locusts, serpents, scorpions, and other noxious creatures which infested the country, is readily credited. And its destruction of themt led to the respect it enjoyed; in the same manner as the stork was honoured in Thessaly +, where it was a capital offence to kill one of those birds. § Some have doubted the bill of the Ibis having sufficient power to destroy serpents; and therefore, questioning the accuracy of Herodotus's description of the birds, which attacked them in the desert near Buto, have suggested that they were of the Ardea kind. But it is evident that the bill of the Ibis is sufficiently strong for attacking serpents || of ordinary size, and well suited for the purpose. With regard to the statement of Herodotus, nothing conclusive can be derived from it; his whole testimony, as Cuvier observes, only proving that he saw a heap of bones, without having ascertained, beyond report, how they were brought to the spot. Bronze figures of the Ibis represent it attacking snakes; which, if not of ancient Egyptian, but of Cuv. p. 329. Plut. de Is. s. 74. + Plut. de Is. s. 75. Some birds, as the secretary and others, attack snakes by striking them with the edge of their pinions, and having stunned them, then use Roman, time, suffice to show the general belief respecting it; and Cuvier actually found the skin and scales of a snake, partly digested, in the intestines of one of these mummied birds. The food of the common Ibis also consisted of beetles, and other insects; and in the body of one, now in the possession of Sir Edwin Pearson, are several coleopteræ, two of which have been ascertained by Mr. Hope to be Pimelia pilosa, and Akis reflexa of Fabricius, common in Egypt at the present day. Insects, snakes, and other reptiles, appear to have been the food of both kinds of Ibis. Plutarch and Cicero pretend that the use it made of its bill taught mankind an important secret in medical treatment. The form of the Ibis, when crouched in a sitting position, with its head under its feathers, or when in a mummied state, was supposed to resemble the human heart ‡: “the space between its legs, when parted asunder as it walks, was observed to make an equilateral triangle §," and numerous equally fanciful peculiarities were discovered in this revered emblem of Thoth. Mr. Pettigrew says, "The heart was looked upon by the Egyptians as the seat of the intellect; and in this way it has been attempted to explain *M. Latreille's genus Trachyderma; so named from their thick elytra. + The bill is not a tube. is a mistake. Plut. s. 75. ii. 35. &c. Horapollo, i. 10. 36. The κλυζομενην και χαδαφομενην υφ' εαυτης Cicero, Nat. Deor. lib. ii. Ælian, Nat. An. Ælian, x. 29. j Plut. s. 75. He says, τη δε ποδων διαβάσει προς αλλήλους και το συγχος ισόπλευρον ποιεί τρίγωνον. The expression "and the beak is very unintelligible. || Vide his valuable History of Egyptian Mummies, p. 205. |