The head was then taken off, and they proceeded to skin the animal *, beginning with the leg and neck. The first joint removed was the right foreleg or shoulder, the other parts following in succession, according to custom or convenience; and the same t rotation was observed in cutting up the victims offered in sacrifice to the gods. Servants carried the joints to the kitchen on wooden trays ‡, and the cook having selected the parts suited for boiling, roasting, and other modes of dressing, prepared them for the fire by washing, and any other preliminary process he thought necessary. In large kitchens, the chef, or head cook, had several persons under him, who were required to make ready and boil the water of the caldron, to put the joints on spits or skewers §, to cut up or mince the meat, to prepare the vegetables, and to fulfil various other duties assigned to them. The very peculiar mode of cutting up the meat frequently prevents our ascertaining the exact part they intend to represent in the sculptures; the chief joints, however, appear to be the head, shoulder, and leg, with the ribs, tail, or rump, the * Herod. ii. 39. σφάξαντες δε μεν δη του κτηνεος δειρούσι.” αποτάμνουσι την κεφαλην, σωμα + Levit. vii. 32. "The right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave-offering of the sacrifices of your peace-offerings... for the wave-breast and the heave-shoulder have I taken ...... from off the sacrifices .and have given them unto Aaron the priest." Vide Plate 12. Conf. Virg. Æn. i. 215.: "Tergora diripiunt costis, et viscera nudant, Pars in frustra secant, verubusque trementia figunt: heart, and kidneys; and they occur in the same manner on the altars of the temple, and the tables of a private house. One is remarkable, not only from being totally unlike any of our European joints, but from its exact resemblance to that commonly seen at table in modern Egypt: it is partof the leg, consisting of the flesh covering the tibia, whose two extremities project slightly beyond it; and the accompanying drawing from the sculptures, and a sketch of the same joint taken by me at a modern table in Upper Egypt, show how the mode of cutting it has been preserved by traditional custom to the present day. No. 274. Peculiar joint of meat at an ancient and modern Egyptian table. The head was left with the skin and horns, and was sometimes given away to a poor person as a reward for holding the walking sticks of those guests who came on foot; in later times when the Greeks were settled in the country, it was sold to them, or to other foreigners: but it was frequently taken to the kitchen with the other joints; and, notwithstanding the positive assertion of Herodotus, we find that even in the temples themselves it was admitted at a sacrifice, and placed with other offerings on the altars of the gods. The historian would lead us to suppose that a strict religious scruple prevented the Egyptians of all classes from eating this part, as he affirms, "that no Egyptian will taste the head of any species of animal", in consequence of certain imprecations having been uttered upon it at the time it was sacrificed: but as he is speaking of heifers slaughtered for the service of the gods, we may conclude that the prohibition did not extend to those killed for table, nor even to all those offered for sacrifice in the temple; and as with the scapegoat of the Jews, that important ceremony was perhaps confined to certain occasions and to chosen animals, without extending to every victim which was slain. The formula of the imprecation was probably very similar with the Jews and Egyptians. Herodotus says the latter pray the gods "that if any misfortune was about to happen to those who offered, or to the other inhabitants of Egypt, it might fall upon that head:" and with the former it was customary for the priest to take two goats and cast lots upon them, "one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat," which was presented alive "to make atonement" for the people. The priest was then required to "lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all * Herod. ii. 39. their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness."* The remark of Herodotus should then be confined to the head, on which their imprecation was pronounced, and being looked upon by every Egyptian as an abomination it may have been taken to the market and sold to foreigners, or if no foreigners happened to be there, it may have been givent to the crocodiles.‡ The same mode of slaughtering, and of preparing the joints, extended to all the large animals; but geese, and other wild and tame fowl were served up entire, or, at least, only deprived of their feet and pinion joints: fish were also brought to table whole, whether boiled or fried, the tails and No. 275. An ox and a bird placed entire on the altar. fins being removed. For the service of religion, they were generally prepared in the same manner *Levit. xvi. 8. 21. + Herodotus's words are, "thrown into the river." This could only have been in places where crocodiles abounded: it would otherwise have polluted the stream they so highly esteemed. Plutarch says, a solemn curse having been pronounced upon the head, it was thrown into the river; this was in former times, but now it is sold to foreigners. De Is. s. 31. Elian observes, "that the Ombites do not eat the head of any animal they have offered in sacrifices; they throw it to the crocodiles. De Nat. Anim. lib. x. c. 21. as for private feasts; sometimes, however, an ox was brought entire to the altar, and birds were often placed among the offerings without even having the feathers taken off. The favourite meats were beef and goose*: the ibex, gazelle, and oryx, were also in great request; but we are surprised, in a country where mutton is unquestionably lighter and more wholesome, that they should prefer the two first, and even exclude this last from the table. In Abyssinia it is a sin to eat geese or ducks; and modern experience teaches that in Egypt, and similar climates, beef and goose are not eligible food, except in the depth of winter. In Lower Egypt, or, as Herodotus styles it, the corn country, they were in the habit of drying and salting birds of various kinds, as quails, ducks, and others, a process to which I believe the sculptures themselves refert; and fish were prepared by them in the same manner both in Upper and Lower Egypt. + Some joints were boiled, others roasted two modes of dressing their food to which Herodotus appears to confine the Egyptians, at least in the lower country §; but, though there is no positive evidence from the sculptures that they adopted a very artificial kind of cookery, it is highly probable they had made some advances in this as in the other habits of a civilised, I may say, luxurious *Conf. Herod. ii. 37. + Vide wood-cut, No. 80. Herod. ii. 77., and the sculptures. § Loc. cit. " τους λοιπους οπτους και εήθους σιτέονται, |