46 



THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



honours as the last-mentioned Deity. She also 

 occurs under the form of a vulture, alternately 

 with the vulture of Eilethyia, on the ceilings of 

 I I r I 'X. Tl t the temples; being 



* " distinguished only 



by the cap of the 

 Lower Country, 

 and the hierogly- 

 phic legend which 

 accompanies her 

 emblem. She even 



Fig.l. opposed to figs. 2. and3., orthe Goddess Eilethyia. attCUdS ISlS WhllC 



nursing Horus, together with the Goddess Eilethyia. 



Xtjjw,/, " Khemi," *' Egypt," The Pure Land ?. 



Egypt, as might be reasonably expected, was 

 among the Deities worshipped in the country. 

 She is represented with the emblem of purity 

 on her head, and another apparently signifying 

 *' cultivated land," which also enters into the names 

 of the Goddess Kahi, and the Deity of Tentyris. 

 In one hand she holds a spear with a bow and 

 arrows, and in the other a battleaxe and the sign 

 of life, illustrative of the military power of the 

 country. In this she resembles one of the forms 

 of Neith or Minerva. I had imagined this God- 

 dess to be the Genius of the " Eastern Bank," op- 

 posed to another of similar character, whom I 

 have called the '* Western Bank of the Nile ; '* but 

 the hieroglyphic legends appear to authorize the 

 conclusion of her representing Egypt itself. A 



