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I went once to a certain place in Arabia, almost exactly opposite the
city of Buto, to make inquiries concerning the winged serpents. On
my arrival I saw the back-bones and ribs of serpents in such numbers
as it is impossible to describe: of the ribs there were a multitude of
heaps, some great, some small, some middle-sized. The place where
the bones lie is at the entrance of a narrow gorge between steep
mountains, which there open upon a spacious plain communicating with
the great plain of Egypt. The story goes that with the spring the
winged snakes come flying from Arabia towards Egypt, but are met in
this gorge by the birds called ibises, who forbid their entrance and
destroy them all. The Arabians assert, and the Egyptians also
admit, that it is on account of the service thus rendered that the
Egyptians hold the ibis in so much reverence.
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