of the Letters of the Hieroglyphic Alphabet. 197 
Egyptians having no letter exactly corresponding to F, used this as an approxi- 
mation to it; and, in favour of this supposition, I refer to the transcription IV. 1, 
where F is represented by a combination of P and H. To use such a combina- 
tion in the middle of a word would have been objectionable, because, in that case, 
it would naturally be read kap-har, not kafar. This transcription, too, appears 
to me to furnish a very powerful, if not a conclusive, argument against this letter 
having the power of I’, as Chevalier Bunsen supposes. If that had been its 
value, it would have been used in the name Frat, instead of a combination of 
two letters. Again, it is highly improbable that a letter which occurs so seldom 
as the cerastes does at the beginning of words, should not have homophones ; but 
if it be not either V or P it would have to stand alone, or along with a few rare 
letters, or probably syllabic signs. Chevalier Bunsen gives it no equivalent 
letter, and only three syllabic signs and mischbilds, two of which are used in the 
same word. With all these, including the cerastes itself, there are not more than 
about half a dozen words commencing. Now, we cannot suppose that this could 
be the case if it had not homophones. I consider it, therefore, as certain that it 
was equivalent either to the gwaz/, at least with its consonantal value, or to the 
square mat ; and that it was used to express the F in Kafar, not as having that 
power, but as the nearest possible approximation to it that the Egyptian alphabet 
afforded. 
To decide this question, we naturally recur, in the first instance, to Greek 
transcriptions ; but, unfortunately, these are not free from ambiguity or uncer- 
tainty. In the name of the builder of the great pyramid, Herodotus writes the 
accusative Xéoma, giving the cerastes the value of I]. It is true that he may 
have been told by his informant that the name was Xéoy in the nominative, 
which would be the only way in which Xeov, with the Greek termination of the 
nominative, 2, immediately added, could be expressed; and he may have taken 
down this nominative, and at a subsequent period declined it erroneously. But, 
however this evidence may be capable of being set aside, it certainly cannot be 
adduced in favour of the letter having the power of V. Manetho writes the 
name Zovds, which would apparently favour this last supposition; but then, 
again, it might be objected that he gave the pronunciation of the people of Lower 
Egypt, who expressed the P of Thebes, in the article and elsewhere, as PH or 
F. This transcription is, therefore, indecisive ; and so, for the same reason, is 
