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The crocodile is esteemed sacred by some of the Egyptians, by others
he is treated as an enemy. Those who live near Thebes, and those who
dwell around Lake Moeris, regard them with especial veneration. In
each of these places they keep one crocodile in particular, who is
taught to be tame and tractable. They adorn his ears with ear-rings
of molten stone or gold, and put bracelets on his fore-paws, giving
him daily a set portion of bread, with a certain number of victims;
and, after having thus treated him with the greatest possible attention
while alive, they embalm him when he dies and bury him in a sacred
repository. The people of Elephantine on the other hand, are so far
from considering these animals as sacred that they even eat their
flesh. In the Egyptian language they are not called crocodiles, but
Champsae. The name of crocodiles was given them by the Ionians, who
remarked their resemblance to the lizards, which in Ionia live in the
walls and are called crocodiles.
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