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"Against all kinds of witchcraft," says an ancient formula, "a great scarabaeus beetle; cut off his head and wings, boil him; put him in oil and lay him out; then cook his head and wings, put them in snake fat, boil, and let the patient drink the mixture." The modern Egyptian, says Erman, uses almost precisely the same recipe, except that the snake fat is replaced by modern oil.
The spot where we discovered the scarabaeus was on the coast of the mainland, about a mile eastward of the island, and but a short distance above high water mark. Upon my taking hold of it, it gave me a sharp bite, which caused me to let it drop.
Here are one of those funeral masks anciently used to cover the face of a corpse; the votive mask of a bearded satyr; a votive patera with bas-reliefs representing Silenus and a satyr, another with the head of a bearded Bacchus, and a panther; various heads of Hercules; a Venus attended by two Cupids; a bust of Vitellius; a head of Vulcan; a bust of Caracalla; a head of Juno; a head of the daughter of Titus, Julia; a mutilated figure, about the neck of which a scarabaeus is suspended; the torso of a satyr; a variety of fragments, here an arm holding a butterfly there two lions' paws there a gladiator's foot there the fragment of a serpent.
Here the characteristics of ancient Egyptian sculpture are strictly preserved, the figure having the arms close to the body, the hands resting upon the knees, and in the hands an altar, upon which is a ram's head. Hereabouts, also, is the lower part of a kneeling statue of Sesostris, supporting an altar, with the scarabaeus, or sacred beetle. This group was found in a tomb near Thebes.
There must be two kinds of hair on his tail, and on his tongue an excrescence in the form of the sacred beetle Scarabaeus. When Cambyses saw this deified creature he could discover nothing remarkable in him, and was so enraged that he plunged his sword into its side.
Few could comprehend what had happened, but this very quickly became evident. So far as motive power was concerned, the Scarabaeus was totally, disabled. She could not direct her course, for her rudder was gone, her propeller was gone, her engines were useless, and she could do no more than float as wind or tide might move her.
This was to be avoided, for the Scarabaeus was a much larger vessel than Repeller No. 1, and able to run into the latter and sink her by mere preponderance of weight. It was therefore decided to now test the powers of the crabs. Signals were made from Repeller No. 1 to Crab A, which had been lying with the larger vessel between it and the enemy.
I said, after contemplating it for some minutes, "this is a strange scarabaeus, I must confess: new to me: never saw anything like it before unless it was a skull, or a death's-head which, it more nearly resembles than, anything else that has come under my observation." "A death's-head!" echoed Legrand. "Oh yes well, it has something of that appearance upon paper, no doubt.
Since Fortune has thought fit to bestow it upon me, I have only to use it properly and I shall arrive at the gold of which it is the index. Jupiter, bring me that scarabaeus!" "What! de bug, massa? I'd rudder not go fer trubble dat bug you mus' git him for your own self." Hereupon Legrand arose, with a grave and stately air, and brought me the beetle from a glass case in which it was enclosed.
"But, my dear fellow, you are joking then," said I, "this is a very passable SKULL, indeed, I may say that it is a very EXCELLENT skull, according to the vulgar notions about such specimens of physiology and your scarabaeus must be the queerest scarabaeus in the world if it resembles it. Why, we may get up a very thrilling bit of superstition upon this hint.
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