The birds of Egj-pt are not remarkable for beaut}* of plumage : in so open a country this is natural. The Rapnces are numerous, but the most common are scav^ engers, as vultures and the kite. Eagles and falcons also are plentiful. Quails migrate to Egypt in great numl)ers. The Grallutoi-es and Ansei-es abound on the islands and sand-banks of the river, and in the sides of the mountains which approach or touch the stream. Among the reptiles, the crocodile (q. v.) must be es- pecially mentioned. In the Bil)le it is usually called ■j^iri, C^iR, "dragon," a generic word of almost as wide a sii^nification as "reptile," and is used as a symbol of the king of Egypt. Thus, in Ezekiel, " Be- hold, I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of I'^gypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said. My river [is] mine own, and I have made [it] for myself. But I will jiut liooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of tliy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will l)ring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the'fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. And I will leave thee [tlirown]
into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of th}' rivers. . . . I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven" (xxix, 3, 4, 5). Here there seems to be a retrospect of the Exodus (which is thus described in Isa. li, 9, 10, and 15), and with a more close resemblance in Psa. Ixxiv, 13, 14, "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons (D'^J'^ir) in the wa- ters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan ("T'^^b) in pieces, [and] gavest him [to be] meat to tlie dwellers in the wilderness" (n"^^:i, i. e. to the wild beasts ; comp. Isa. xiii, 21). The last passage is important as indi- cating that whereas 'p2n is the Hebrew generic name of reptiles, and therefore used for the greatest of them, the crocodile, '|r"^1P is the special name of that animal. The description of leviathan in Job (xli) fully bears out this opinion, and it is doubtful if any passage can be adduced in which a wider signification of the latter word is required. In Job (xxvi, 12) also there is an apparent allusion to the Exodus in words similar to those in Isaiah (li, 9, 10, and 15 .'), but without men- tion of the dragon. In this case the division of the sea and the smiting of Rahab, 3n"i, the proud or inso- lent, are mentioned in connection with the wonders of creation (ver. 7-11, 13) : so, too, in Isaiah (ver. 13, 15). The crossing of the Red Sea could be thus spo- ken of as a signal exercise of the divine power. — Frogs are very numerous in Egypt, and their loud and con- stant croaking in the autumn in "the streams," mns, "the rivers," C^TX^ and "the ponds" or "marshes," d'^SSlS! (Exod. viii, 1, A. V. 5), makes it not difficult to picture the Plague of Frogs. — Serpents and snakes are also common, including the deadly ce- rastes and the cobra di capello ; but the more venom- ous have their home in the desert (comp. Deut. viii, 15).
The Nile and lakes have an abundance of fishes; and although the fisheries of Egypt have ver}' greatly fallen away, their produce is still a common article of food.
Among the insects the locusts must be mention- ed, which sometimes come upon the cultivated land in a cloud, and, as in the plague, eat every herb, and fruit, and leaf where they alight ; but they never, as then, overspread the whole land (Exod. x, 3-6, 12- 19). They disappear as suddenly' as they come, and are carried away by the wind (ver. 19). As to tlie lice and flies, they are now plagues of Egypt, but it is not certain that the words fiiS and 312 designate them (Exod. viii, 16-31). The dangerous scorpion is frequently met with. Beetles of various kinds are found, including the sacred scarabajus. Bees and silk- worms are kept, but the hone}' is not very good, and the silk is inferior to that of Syria.
X. Ancient Inhabitants. — The old inhabitants of Egypt appear from their monuments and the testimony of ancient writers to have occupied in race a place be- tween the Nlgritians and the Caucasians. The con- stant immigrations of Arab settlers have greatly di- minished the Nigritian characteristics in the general- ity of the modern Egyptians. The most recent in- quiries have shown that the extreme limit at Philae was only of a political nature, for the natives of the country below it were of the same race as those who lived above that spot — a tribe which passed down into the fertile valley of the Nile from its original abode in the south. These Ethiopians and the Egyptians were not negroes, but a branch of the great Caucasian fam- ily. Their frame was slender, but of great strength. Their faces a])pear to have l)een oval in shape, and narrower in the men than in the women. The fore- head was well-shaped, but small and retiring ; the eyes were almond-shaped and mostly black; the hair was long, crisp, and generally black ; the skin of the men