There is one species which can actually be turned inside out like a glove, and yet perform all the functions of life as before, though that which was the coat of the stomach is now the skin of the body and vice versâ. If it should chance that a polype so turned had young in the act of budding, these are, of course, now within the stomach. If they have arrived at a certain degree of maturity, they extend themselves towards the mouth of the parent, that they may thus escape when separated. But those which are less advanced turn themselves spontaneously inside out, and thus place themselves again on the exterior of the parent.
A multitude of other variations, combinations, and monstrosities, have been, as it were, created by the ingenuity of philosophers; but these are sufficient to give a notion of the extraordinary nature of these animals; and to account for the wonder with which they were regarded.
EGYPT.
Egypt was the land visited by Abraham in search of food, when there was a famine in his own country;—the land to which Joseph was carried as a slave, and which he governed as prime minister. From Egypt, Moses led the Israelites through the waters of the Red Sea. Here Jeremiah wrote his Lamentations. Here Solon, Pythagoras, Plato, and many other Greek philosophers, came to study. Here Alexander the Great came as conqueror; and here the Infant Saviour was brought by his parents to avoid the persecution of Herod. Egyptian hieroglyphics, in which the characters are taken from visible objects, are the earliest form of writing; and the Hebrew and Greek alphabets were both borrowed from them. Egypt taught the world the use of paper—made from its rush, the papyrus. In Egypt was made the first public library, and first college of learned men, namely, the Alexandrian Museum. There Euclid wrote his Elements of Geometry, and Theocritus his Poems, and Lucian his Dialogues. The beauty of Cleopatra, the last Egyptian Queen, held Julius Cæsar, and then Marc Antony, captive. In Egypt were built the first monasteries; the Christian fathers, Origen and Athanasius, lived there. The Arien and Athanasian controversy began there.
The buildings which now remain are the oldest buildings in the world, and the largest in the world. On the banks of its great river may be seen the oldest arch, and the oldest column. Up this noble river sailed Herodotus, the most entertaining of travellers, and Strabo, the most judicious. Indeed, as the country is little more than the narrow strip that is watered by the Nile's overflow, from the river may be seen almost all its great cities and temples.
ABYSSINIAN LADIES.
The women of Abyssinia are dressed quite as decently as any women in the world, without having a particle of the trouble of the ladies of more civilised nations. There is a distinguishing costume for young girls, and for those who, from being married or otherwise, are no longer considered as such. The dress of the former is indeed rather slight, though far more picturesque than that of the latter. In one part of the country (about Shiré) the girls merely wear a piece of cotton stuff wrapped round the waist and hanging down almost to the knee, and another (or the end of the former, if it be long enough) thrown over the left shoulder, so as to leave the right arm and breast exposed. In other parts of Tigrè, a black goat-skin, ornamented with cowries, is often substituted for this latter. An ordinary woman wears a large loose shirt down to the feet, with sleeves made tight towards the wrist. This, with a "quarry" similar to those of the men, but worn rather differently, and a parasol when out of doors, is a complete suit. A fine lady, however, as in our engraving, has a splendid "mergeff quarry," and her shirt is made probably of calico from Manchester, instead of the country fabric, and richly embroidered in silk of divers colours and various patterns round the neck, down the front, and on the cuffs. She will also, of course, own a mule; and then may choose to wear (alas, that it should be so, even in Abyssinia!) the inexpressibles. These are made of calico, and rather loose, but getting gradually tighter at the ankle, where they are embroidered like the shirt.
The fair sex all over the world are fond of ornaments. In Abyssinia they wear a profusion of silver, in the shape of chains, bracelets, &c., or, to be more explicit, a well-dressed lady will hang three or four sets of amulets about her neck, as well as her blue cord, and a large flat silver case (purporting to contain a talisman, but more often some scented cotton) ornamented with a lot of silver bells hanging to the bottom edge of it, and the whole suspended by four chains of the same metal. Three pairs of massive silver and gilt bracelets are on her wrists, and a similar number of "bangles" on her ankles; while over her insteps and to her heels are a quantity of little silver ornaments, strung like beads on a silk cord. Her fingers (even the upper joints) are covered with plain rings, often alternately of silver and silver-gilt, and a silver hair-pin, something similar to those now worn by English ladies, completes her decoration. Women of the poorer class, and ladies on ordinary occasions, wear ivory or wooden pins neatly carved in various patterns, and stained red with henna-leaves. The Abyssinian ladies, like those of most Eastern nations, stain their hands and feet with henna, and darken their eyelids with antimony.