296 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XV. 



occasion when the monarch went out in state, or 

 transacted public business at home. 



At Medeenet Haboo is a remarkable instance 

 of the ceremony of carrying the sacred boat of 

 Pthah-Sokari-Osiris, which I conjecture* to repre- 

 sent the funeral of Osiris. It is frequently intro- 

 duced in the sculptures ; and in one of the tombs 

 of Thebes this solemnity occurs, which, though 

 on a smaller scale than on the walls of Medeenet 

 Haboo, offers some interesting peculiarities. First 

 comes the boat, carried as usual by several priests, 

 superintended by the pontiff, clad in a leopard 

 skin ; after which two hieraphori^ each bearing a 

 long staff, surmounted by a hawk ; then a man 

 beating the tambourine, behind whom is a flower 

 with the stalk bound round with ivy (or the peri- 

 plocat, which so much resembles it). These are 

 followed by two hieraphoii, carrying each a staff 

 with a jackal on the top, and another bearing a 

 flower, behind whom is a priest turning round to 

 offer incense to the emblem of Nofre-Atmoo. The 

 latter is placed horizontally upon six columns, be- 

 tween each of which stands a human figure, with 

 uplifted arms, either in the act of adoration, or 

 aiding to support the sacred emblem ; and behind 

 it is an image of the king kneeling ; the whole 

 borne on the usual staves by several priests, at- 

 tended by a pontiff in his leopard-skin dress. In 

 this ceremony, as in some of the tales related of 

 Osiris, we may trace those analogies which led the 



* Firlr supra, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 25.5.; and Plate 24. fig. 4. 

 f Vide Hiiprti, on the Sacred I'lants, p. 265, ; and Vol. III. p. 157. 



