Dec.3] PROCEEDINGS. [1889.WASTHECAMELKNOWNTO THE EARLYEGYPTIANS?
By the Rev. W. Houghton, M.A.,F.L.S., &c.It is a well knownand very remarkablefact that no figure of the
cameloccurson the monuments of ancient Egypt. Relyingon this
negative evidence, some writers have, I think, somewhat hastily
concludedthatthis animal was not employed by and scarcely known
to the old Egyptians. Victor Hehn goes so far as to say that
" the camel was first introduced into Africaas late as the third
centuryof the Christian era, although thatanimal seemsexpressly
made for the Libyan desert, and has opened that impenetrable
regionto foreignnations,theirtradeand their religion." ( Wanderings
of Plants and Animals, p. 203, ed. Stallybrass). In a note (p. 476)
he saysthat some writers have supposed that, for some reason
unknownto us, the Egyptian paintersmayhavebeenforbiddento
copycamels. Sir G. Wilkinson writes: " It is remarkable thatthe
camel,thoughknownto have beenusedin, and probably a native of
Egypt,as early at least as the time of Abraham (theBibledistinctly
statingit to have beenamongthe presents givenby Pharaoh to the
patriarch(Gen.xii, 16 ; see also Exod. ix, 3), has never yet been
metwith in the paintings or hieroglyphics. We cannot, however,
inferfromour finding no representation or notice of it,* that it was
rare in any part of the country, since the same would apply to
poultry, which, it was scarcely necessary to observe, was always
abundantin Egypt, for no instance occursin the sculptures of fowls
or pigeons amongthe stock of the farm, thoughgeeseare repeatedly
introducedand numbered in the presence of the stewards." {Ancient
Egyptians,iii, p. 35, 3rd ed.) Theinstanceof the absence of the
domesticfowlfromthe monuments is not parallel withthatof the
camel;this bird was unknown to the early Egyptians. We know that
the domestic fowlis aboriginal in India, andthatit first migratedto
the west withthe Medo-Persian invaders,as Victor Hehnhas well
remindedus. The artificialhatchingof eggs,therefore,whichAristotle
(Hist.Anim.,vi, 2, § 3) and Diodorus {Lib.i, c. 74) mention as
* Sir G. Wilkinson, in a note, says : " I have a stone seal found in Nubia,
on which two camels are rudely engraved,but it is of uncertain date."
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