ON INTRODUCED ANTMALS AND PLANTS. 15 



seven are decidedly Tropical ; the doum palm, date palm, papyrus, 

 fig, pomegranate, hairy cucumber, and water-melon : some of these 

 may have come from Abyssinia, or from the mountains of Yemen ; 

 but the doum palm being excepted, the remainder are sufficiently 

 hardy to bear transportation by an extra-tropical route. I have met 

 with no evidence of the existence, at this early period, of a Southern 

 route of communication with India, by the way of Meroe and by sea. 



The name of King Nefrukera II., of perhaps the Seventh Dynasty, 

 has been found at Wadi Maghara, and at Kauamat (Lepsius II. PL 

 116). 



The name of King Merenra, of the same dynasty, has been found at 

 "Wadi Maghara, Chenoboskion (Lepsius II. PI. 113), and in a tablet on 

 the Kosser road. Other kings of the dynasty of the Nefrukeridaa, are 

 known from the genealogical tablet at Abydos; but their names have 

 not been found on contemporaneous monuments. 



The name of King Mentuatep II., or Mentuatep Nebtura, of per- 

 haps the Eighth Dynasty, has been found at Assuan (Lepsius II. PI. 

 149) ; but perhaps, not on a contemporaneous monument. 



The name of King Nachtenra, apparently of the Ninth or Tenth 

 Dynasty, occurs in the genealogical table of the chamber at Karnak ; 

 but has not been found on contemporaneous monuments. 



Tombs of kings of the Eleventh Dynasty have been discovered at 

 Gurna, in the northwest quarter of Thebes ; and in one of them, the 

 coffin of King Nentef II. was procured. This coffin is now in the 

 British Museum ; and, on examining the lining, Birch met with inscrip- 

 tions in hieratic writing. This is properly cursive hieroglyphic writing: 

 for it bears the same relation to hieroglyphics, as handwriting does to 

 printed letters. 



Birch found ivory employed in the ornamental work on the same 

 coffin (procured in all probability from the African elepltant, on the 

 Upper Nile) : 



Also, obsidian (brought probably from some distant locality, there 

 being no volcanic district immediately around Egypt) : 



And bronze. — The art of forming this compound metal, has by 

 other means been traced beyond the historical records of Greece.* 

 Direct evidence has been obtained that the traffic in tin was carried 

 on in the days of Homer ; plates of this metal having been recently 



* See Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. 



