Animal life was venerated by the Egyptians. Certain animals were
sacred in certain parts of the country; but the ibis and the hawk were
generally worshipped. The sacred birds were attended to by the
priests. Seven cases in this room are entirely filled with the mummies
of these sacred birds. Here are mummies of dog-headed baboons,
worshipped at Hermopolis, and sacred to Thoth; a head of the
cynocephalus from Thebes; mummies of jackals, sacred to the sepulchral
Anubis; the head of a dog in bandages, and one with the bandages
unrolled. Mummies of oats, the female being sacred to the goddess
Pasht, or Diana, and the male to the sun; a wooden figure of a cat
containing the mummy of one; and bronze cats from the cat mummy pits
of Abouseir. In the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth cases are mummies of
parts of bulls; gazelles; unrolled heads of rams; and the mummy of a
lamb. In the two following cases (56, 57) are a variety of mummies of
the ibis, perhaps, the most sacred bird of the Egyptians, and the
emblem of Thoth: these include Sir J. G. Wilkinson's present of the
black ibis and two eggs; and conical pots containing mummies of the
ibis. The last case (58) contains some strange mummies, including
those of crocodiles, emblematic of the Egyptian Sevek, the subduer;
mummies of snakes sacred to Isis, in the shape of circular cakes; and
in case 60, the visitor may notice more specimens of mummy snakes and
fish. The next two cases are filled with the specimens of some dried
birds of ancient Egypt, some stamped with the names of Sesostris,
Amenophis, and Thothmes; and some from the Pyramids of Illahoun,
Howara, and Dashour. The visitor should now direct his attention to
the large collection of