24 CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



which they have been removed (two having been carried to Alexan- 

 dria, one to Constantinople, and one to Rome) : but above all, we 

 are indebted to Tetmes III. for an important historical document, the 

 Genealogical Table of the chamber of Karnak, now in the Museum at 

 Paris. 



According to Champollion-Figeac, a manuscript, or papyrus, con- 

 taining a contract dated in the fifth year of Tetmes III., is now in the 

 Museum at Turin. 



In the Procession of foreign nations bearing tribute to Tetmes III., 

 the head and neck of the domestic fowl (Champollion-Figeac, PI. 61) is 

 brought in the prepared state as a curiosity. The inference is, that 

 the living bird was unknown in Egypt; though in some distant land, 

 in Hindostan or the region beyond, perhaps already the companion of 

 man. The above is the only known figure of the domestic fowl on the 

 Egyptian monuments ; and I do not find the bird mentioned in the 

 Hebrew Scriptures, nor in Homer, Hesiod, nor in any writings more 

 ancient than Theognis 862, the Batrachomyomachia, Epicharmus, 

 and iEschylus. 



In the same Tribute-procession, the young elephant, being led by 

 men of the White Race, could not have been procured on the Upper 

 Nile ; in all probability, it is an Indian elephant, brought by land, by 

 the Nabathean or a more northern route. The accompanying large 

 tusks of the African elephant, may even have been derived from 

 maritime intercourse between India and Equatorial Africa. — The hear 

 led by the corresponding delegates in a later Tribute-procession, also 

 indicates a Northern nation. 



The above two instances furnish unequivocal evidence of intercourse 

 with India ; not so with the living exotic tree, carried by delegates 

 who do not seem to belong to the White Race. This tree has a 

 checkered receptacle (denoting Nubia and South Arabia), and in foli- 

 age resembles the sycamore ; and also, the Salvadora Persica. — Pliny 

 and other ancient writers, speak of the "persea" tree having been 

 planted in Egypt by Perseus (a tradition which may have had its 

 origin in this very painting) : and the account by Dioscorides of the 

 "persea" and its medicinal use, agrees very well with the descrip- 

 tion of the Salvadora by Forskal (p. 32). The^Salvadora was seen in 

 Upper Egypt by Delile. 



The above exotic tree, notwithstanding the discrepance in the foliage, 

 is by some writers referred to the Cordia myxa. It has also been asr 



