have been constructed by a people like the Selli, for their mysteries. Probably Selyvria in Thrace, formerly Selubria', imported the cell or inclosure of the Baris; and in fifty other instances the same etymology may be observed. If, therefore, the first syllable of Chesil, which our translators call Orion, be the prefix which frequently enters into the composition of Hebrew words, either in a sense of comparison or pre-eminence, the remainder of the word may have the same root as Ashili or Osiris, or Sirius; all bearing an allusion to the enchainment, or imprisonment, or entombment, in an ark of that common ancestor whose spirit was sometimes supposed to look abroad from the sphere of the sun, or the dog-star, or from the beneficent waters of the Nile; hence it was that all these obtained the same name: they were all called Siris or Sirius. For the same reason we find a river of that name in Italy, and at the mouth of it 1 Bria is the name for a town in Thrace, Walsh's Journey, p. 115.; just as Bury, Barry, Boro, and Burg, in other parts of the world. 2 The Arkite system of religion is known to have prevailed very much on the north-western coast of Africa towards the Atlas, of which, however, more hereafter. At present it may suffice to observe, that many of the most striking features in that country seem to have roots for their names analogus to those now mentioned. Thus between one and two degrees eastward of Tripoli is the valley of Selên, and near it a range of hills, called Sélem, from the summit of which Beechey noticed several remains of what appeared to be towers (i. e. temples), conspicuously situated on the peaks of the hills to the northward. Selma and Ipsilâta are ruins conspicuous on high and pointed hills; the guides called them Gussers, a name which they applied to all ruins. Ipsilâta in the map, is called Insellata, and one of the valleys, the Wady of Silil. Captain Beechey's Expedition to the North Coast of Africa. 3 Job, xxxviii. 31. a town, Siris, which is called by Cluverius Heracleum; and in this respect there is a great resemblance between it and the Egyptian town Busiris, or Abousir, which its later inhabitants have converted into Aboukir, by an alteration of sound like that which has changed Cedron into Kedron, and Aceldama into Akeldama. Scholz describes the ruins of a temple there, " probably dedicated to Osiris, from whom the whole country obtained the name of Busir or Abusir."2 Quatremère suggests that Bousiris, which is often written in Coptic books Pousiri, is nothing more than the name of Osiris with the Coptic article prefixed", but Lacrôze derives it from By Ouripi, the tomb of Osiris, which would agree with the Hellenic name of Taposiris (Tapos Oripidos), which is usually assigned to the same neighbourhood, and with that of Serapis', who had certainly a temple there, 1 Veteribus non minus in usu fuit K, quam c: itaque PAKUNT, in lege XII. tabularum, pro Pagunt vel Pacunt, scribebant. Sic ARKA PONTIFICUM. Montfauçon's Palæographia Graca, p. 130. 2 Reise in die Gegend zwischen Alexandrien und Parætonium, p. 50. 3 The foundation of Thebes is ascribed by some to the fabulous Osiris, by others to Busiris; but Strabo says no prince of that name reigned in Egypt - Et. de l'Hist. Anc., par Levesque, i. 247. 4 Mémoires Géographiques sur l'Egypte, par E. Quatremère, p. 116. 5 Jablonski Opusc. i. 54. 6 Lettres sur l'Egypte, par M. Savary. In Egyptian, Busiris (the name of a city) must have meant the tomb of Osiris, and not a cow, as Diodorus supposes. ·Hieroglyphics. 1823. p. 101. 7 On changeait souvent les noms de personnes déifiées. Osiris fut appellé Serapis. Mythologie comparée avec l'Histoire, par M. l'Abbé de Tressan. Yet Kircher gives an etymology still more to the purpose. Sora, in Coptic, he interprets, Arca, and Pos Dominus, quasi Arcæ dominus. Idea Hieroglyphicæ, lib. iv. if the etymology be correct which deduces it from σορος Απιδος ; for that Apis and Osiris were the same there is no doubt. Upon the whole, then, there is sufficient reason to conclude that Aboukir, or, as it is sometimes still more corruptly called, Bekier', derives its name from the same source as Siris in Italy, a dangerous encouragement to etymologists to derive quidlibet a quolibet; yet such is the fact. But here too Denon fixes the ancient Heraclea, mentioned by Strabo. Aboukir, says he, the situation of which can have undergone little alteration, because it stands on a calcareous rock, and is joined to the land by so narrow an ithsmus that no considerable city could have been built there, must have been the fortress or châteauen-mer of Canopus, or of Heraclea, which Strabo places there, or thereabouts. Thus it appears that the same spot was once sacred to Canopus and Serapis, to Osiris and Hercules. Were these then four heroes or four deities? No, they were but four titles of the same diluvian divinity who was worshipped everywhere on rocks and in islands; for, according to Pliny, this rock was formerly insulated like its neighbour the Pharos, which had its temple of Serapis too; and being opposite to the port of Cibotus, i. e. the ark, its own name may be only a corruption of Baris. 1 Alboukir is called by sailors Bekier.- Lettres sur l'Egypte, par M. Savary. 2 Voyage d'Egypte, par Denon, p. 66. 3 Lettres sur l'Egypte, par M. Savary, i. 44. Hom. Od. A. 355. 482 CHAP. XIII. ON THE WORSHIP OF FIRE. THE WORSHIP OF FIRE. -ITS CONFLICT WITH THE ARKITES. LOUS. OR ISIS. VARIATIONS OF THE CALENDAR. THE worship of fire seems to be so diametrically opposite to that of the Arkites, that it may be supposed there could be no relationship between them; yet it will be found, upon inquiry, that they touch one another at a thousand points of contact, and that the history of the former is perpetually interwoven with its parent stem. The Persians think that it was first established in Adherbigian' (Adher being fire), a province very near the Gordian mountains, where, according to oriental tradition, the Ark rested.2 But let us examine it nearer home; in Ireland, where it is supposed by many to have been the established religion of the country. In this translation of an Irish poem, "I worship the king of mercy, whose fire from the mountain-top ascends," if 1 Adair in Irish is used to express the fire of the Sacrifice. 2 Vallancey's Collect. vi. 147. 3 Vol. vi. p. 87. Duile is the element of fire, it has, at least, a close connection with Tuilti, the element of water.' Indeed, according to Vallancey, it is literally any element; and Cear Tuilti is the offspring of the flood; for Ti is a circle: therefore Tuilti is the sacred element of the circle, or temple. It might be rendered the encircling element; but the language of the people is more likely to have been framed from familiar superstitions than from geographical considerations. Now, it is remarkable, that Timor is one of the names of God, i. e. the great circle, the God of circular temples2: it may, indeed, mean the great circle of the sun; but, at least, it shows how nearly the two forms of worship were associated - diluvian and fire worship. In Cormac's Glossary, Righ na Duile is explained, King of Mercy. If Duile signifies mercy, because it is an attribute of God, then the Deity was identified with the element of fire. But the heathens were not accustomed to view the Deity in this light: in the religion of nature, mercy is not so much his attribute as terror. But if the reverse is the truth, if Duile came to signify God from some tradition of one special act of mercy, then mercy can only be connected with the elements, which is obviously the primary sense of the word3, by connecting it with 1 Dile Ruad is acknowledged by Vallancey to be the flood of Noah, iii. 71. 2 All the temples were oval, or circular: a circle is expressed by the word Circe, or Kirke: hence to go to Kirke, was to go to worship, p. 142. Kyrka, Kirke, ædes sacra, templum, quia forma circulari, quum Cirk circulum notet. Lipsius. Vall. Coll. vi. 85. 3 Aireac Duile is Prince of the Elements, says Vallancey; and |