in
existence of which the eyelids, lashes, eyebrows, and hair are still
in their natural state, and this after an interval of thousands of
years. In some mummies, for instance, the contour of the features is
plainly discernible, and surely this is scientific "preparation of
specimens" not to be excelled in the present day.

The Egyptian mode of embalming was imitated occasionally by the Jews,
Greeks, Romans, and other nations, and has sometimes been adopted in
modern times, but never to the same extent or perfection as they
attained. The only other method which is known to have been adopted as
a national custom was that practised by the Guanches, the ancient
inhabitants of the Canary Isles. Their mummies are particularly
described by M. Bortj de St. Vincent, in his 'Essai sur les Isles
Fortunees.' Numerous and vast catacombs are filled with them in each
of the thirteen islands, but the best known is one in Teneriffe, which
contained upwards of a thousand bodies. The mummies are sewn up in
goat or sheep skins, and five or six are commonly found together, the
skin over the head of one being stitched to that over the feet of
another; but those of the great are contained in cases hollowed out of
a piece of savin wood. The bodies are not bandaged, and are dry, light
tan-coloured, and slightly aromatic. Several of them are completely
preserved with distinct, though distorted, features.

The method of embalming adopted by the Guanches consisted in removing
the viscera in either of the same ways as the Egyptians practised,
then filling the cavities with aromatic powders, frequently washing
and anointing the surface, and, lastly, drying the body very carefully
for fifteen or sixteen days in the sun or by a stove.

[Footnote: My friend, the late Thos. Baker, wrote me, some time before
his sad death by shipwreck: "In an old work which I have, 'A General
Collection of Voyages,' I find the following relating to the
'Guanches' in vol. i, book ii, chap. i, page 184, 'The Voyage of Juan
Rejon to the Canary Islands, AD. 1491': 'When any person died, they
preserved the body in this manner: First, they carried it to a cave
and stretched it on a fiat stone, where they opened it and took out
the bowels; then, twice a day, they washed the porous parts of the
body, viz, the arm-pits, behind the ears, the groin, between the
fingers, and the neck, with cold water. After washing it sufficiently
they anointed those parts with sheep's butter (