AND LOWER EGYPT. 1^9 



To conclude, figure 3, whose head-dress is still 

 different from that of the two others, bears round 

 fruits, the species of which it is difficult to deter- 

 mine. 



Behind each of these figures is a set of hierogly- 

 phical characters, which, if they could be under- 

 stood, would give the explanation of the different 

 attributes which distinguished these personages ; 

 among these the most astonishing is the long tail 

 which they carry. This peculiarity presents a dif- 

 ficulty which it is not easy to resolve. All the 

 Egyptian figures, which have tails, arc dogs or 

 monkeys ; but these have, in reality, the human 

 form, and no one had as yet observed on Egyptian 

 monuments human figures, with an appendage 

 which approximates to that of animals. 



The flowers of figure 4 are very probably those 

 of the lotus *, a plant which was celebrated in 

 Egypt as the proof of the so necessary overflow- 

 ings of the Nile, and as one of the most common 

 means of subsistence to man. 



In plate XXXII. the figure seated is that of 

 Osiris with the head of a sparrow-hav^k. She holds 

 in her left hand the than, or handled cross, and in 

 her right, a sceptre terminating in the head of a 



* Nymphaa lotus. Lin. 



^ lapwing, 



^ 



