"the challenge, and imagined the following "trick. Earthen pitchers are made in

Egypt, the fubftance of which is extremely

porous, and the water, filters; through it, "and purifies itself. Taking one of these, "he clofed the pores with wax, and, painting "various figures on it, filled it with water, “and called it his god; placing on its top "the head of an ancient ftatue, faid to be "that of the pilot of Menelaus. The Chal"dæans came, the combat began, fire was

66

lighted around the pitcher, the wax melted, "the water ran through the pores, and extinguished the fire. The fraud of the priest made the god of Canobus victor, "and his image has ever fince been repre"fented with fhort feet, a narrow neck, a

belly and back round, like a pitcher, and "in this form is adored as the conqueror of "all gods."

I know not where Ruffinus found this fable, for he cites no authorities, but it is too puerile to need refutation. It plainly contradicts the worship of the Egyptians, who never adored water. Had this combat.really happened, Clemens Alexandrinus, who was better acquainted with the religion-of Alexandria

Ff3

andria than the priests of Aquileia, would not have forgotten it; but this tale may lead to the discovery of fome truth. The Egyptians, from the remoteft ages, have fabricated precious earthen veffels, through which the water is filtered and clarified; the Greeks called them Baunaλiov, the Arabs Bardak. This was an interefting invention, where, during five months of the year, the Nile is defiled by fand, mud, and infects. The water, before it is drank, is left to fettle in large jars, into which the powder of pounded almonds is thrown, and the heterogeneous particles fink, in a few hours; but, to render it more agreeable, it is expofed to the north wind, at the window, in Bardaks. It oozes through the pores, and, being continually ripled by the refreshing breath of the north, it contracts a coolness moft delicious in a climate fo fultry. Poor and rich drink, with a kind of voluptuousness, water which has been in thefe vases. The art of making them was, therefore, a precious discovery for Egypt, The ancients, who made this difcovery, felt its importance, and, as a mark of gratitude to the god of the Nile, confecrated one of thefe pitchers, in the temple of Serapis,

Serapis, at Canobus. This offering Ruffinus, affifted by fable, endeavours to pafs for a god. There are various proofs of what I advance. A coin, ftruck in the time of Adrian, by the inhabitants of Canobus, bears one of these vafes, with a ferpent wound round the mouth (n). This figure is known to be the emblem of Cneph, the good genius, and, in a more extenfive fenfe, the Author of Nature. A canal, which is cut from the river, and falls into the fea, near Canobus, was called Agathodaimon (0), the Good Genius, doubtlefs, because it approached a city where the people worshipped Serapis, and the priests the Supreme Being. It is natural to suppose, therefore, the pitcher depofited in his temple was merely a mark of homage to his beneficence (p): like confecrations are found in many of the Egyptian monuments. The

(2) Cotelerii Monumenta, tom. I. (0) Ptol. Geograph.

(p) Among the curiofities which M. Dombei, who has travelled South-America nine years, brought to France, I remarked vases, taken from the tombs of the Peruvians, very fimilar to thofe found in the caverns of Saccara; and golden idols, like what the Arabs get from the mummies, which their cupidity induces them to search and destroy.

facrifice, engraved on the rock near Babain, to Jupiter Ammon, or the Sun of Spring, has feven vases of this kind, which bear the three piles on which the immolated lambs lye, Obelisks were fymbols of the Sun's rays, and their shadows indicated his courfe while above the horizon. These facts all atteft the Egyptians carefully confecrated their inventions to the gods. The name Cahinoub, Land of Gold, bestowed on the country the clay of which was the propereft for the compofition of the pitchers through which the water was filtered, teaches us with what reason the priests offered one to the gods, in the very place where they were fabricated, and where, perhaps, they had been invented,

I have the honour to be, &c.

LETTER

LETTER XXXVII.

OF THOTH, A SYMBOLICAL DEITY.

Thoth held to be a famous and extraordinary man, by many writers, who attributed to him the invention of all arts, sciences, and human inftitutions, and called him Trifmegius, thrice Great. This demonftrates the perfonage to be allegoric. Thoth fignifies column, in Egyptian, and approved works, being engraved on columns, were all, generally, called Thoth. The three Thoths, or Mer

curies, may indicate the birth, progress, and perfection of human knowledge.

To M. L. M.

Grand Cairo.

HAVING given fome account of the principal Egyptian deities, I fhall next speak of Thoth, or the famous perfonage who received the homage of antiquity, and was held to be the inventor of almost all human

science.