When the tomb of Rameses II. was 

 opened in 1881, some of the petals of 

 both pink and white lotus flowers 

 were found. He reigned 1300 B.C., 

 and these frail bits of a flower survived 

 where monuments of stone and brass 

 had crumbled to pieces. The lotus 

 has been invested with many sacred 

 attributes. On the Nile it meant fer- 

 tility. The language of the lotus reads, 

 " A tree whose fruit is so sweet that 

 when foreigners once taste of it they 

 forget their own country." 



Herodotus says that when the waters 

 of the Nile rise to their extreme heights 

 and all fields are overflowed, there ap- 

 pears above the surface an immense 

 quantity of lotus plants, which the 

 natives cut and dry. They bake the 

 seeds and grind the dried roots into a 

 sort of flour. In Plutarch there is a 

 story of a King of Sparta who went 

 to visit the Egyptian Court. What 

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