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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1854 Excerpt:...to the Valley of the Nile, and its immediate vicinity, may be mentioned the ichneumon, which lives principally in Lower Egypt and the Fyoom, and which, from its enmity to serpents, was looked upon by the Egyptians with great respect. Its dexterity in attacking the snake is truly surprising. It seizes the enemy at the back of the neck, as soon as it perceives it rising to the attack, one firm bite sufficing to destroy it; and when wounded by the venomous fangs of its opponent, it is said by the Arabs to have recourse to some herb, which checks the effect of the deadly poison. The ichneumon is easily tamed, and is sometimes seen in the houses of Cairo, where, in its hostility to rats, it performs all the duties of a cat; but, from its indiscriminate fondness for eggs, poultry, and many other requisites for the kitchen, it is generally reckoned troublesome, and I have often found reason to complain of those I kept. Eggs are its favourite food, and it is said to have been greatly venerated by those who held the crocodile in abhorrence, in consequence of its destroying the eggs of that hateful animal; but it is now rarely met with in places where the crocodile abounds; and at all periods its principal recommendation was its hostility to serpents. It is frequently seen in the paintings, where its habits are distinctly alluded to by the Egyptian artists, who represent it in search of eggs, among the bushes, and the usual resorts of the feathered tribe. The wild cat, the felis chaus of Linnaeus, is common in the vicinity of the Pyramids and Heliopolis, but it does not occur among the pictured animals of ancient Egypt. Nor is the jerboa, so frequently met with both in the upper and lower country, represented in the sculptures. The giraffe was not a native of Egypt,...