262 



THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



The acanthus * was the sont^ or Mimosa Nilotica, 

 of modern Egypt. Its flowers were frequently 

 used for chaplets ; and its pod, which represented 

 a letter in hieroglyphics, was sometimes placed 

 among the offerings on the altars of the Gods. 

 There is no evidence of its having been sacred. 



The tamarisk was a holy tree, from having been 



u:^4 



No. 405. Sacred Tamarisk of Osiris. From a Tomb at How. 



The iiieroglypliics refer to the bird '• Ben (Benno) Osiris." 



chosen to overshadow the sepulchre of Osiris, in 

 commemoration of the fable of the chest con- 

 taining his body having lodged in the branches of 

 one of those trees, on the coast of Byblus, where, 

 driven ashore by the waves of the sea, it was dis- 

 covered by Isis.t The tree is represented in the 

 sacred chamber dedicated to that God at Plnla?, 

 and in a small sepulchre at How (Diospolis parva). 



* It probably incliulcil other of the Mimo.sa or Acacia genus which 

 grew in Egypt. Vide siipru. Vol. J. (s!d Scries) p. 79,80. 

 f Plut.de Is. s. 15, and 21. 



