According to M. Brongniart, this piece has been subjected to the baking process at least two or three times, thus indicating that the ceramic art had made considerable progress in Cyrene even at that remote epoch. The following description of this vase is given in the catalogue of the Durand Museum: The King Arcesilaus is seated under a pavilion upon the deck of a ship. His head is covered with a kind of hat with a large brim, and his hair hangs down upon his shoulders. He is clothed in a white tunic and embroidered cloak or mantle, and he carries a scepter in his left hand; under his seat is a leopard, and his right hand he holds toward a young man, who makes the same gesture, and he is weighing in a large scale assafoetida, which is being let down into the hold of the ship. We know that he deals with assafoetida because one of the personages (the one who lifts up his arm toward the beam of the scale) holds in his right hand something resembling that which is in the scale, and the Greek word traced near it signifies "that which prepares _silphium_." Assafoetida, the resinous matter of the silphium, is used largely by the Greeks in the preparation of their food. The Orientals to-day make frequent use of it and call it the delight of the gods; while in Europe, because of its repulsive odor, it has long been designated as _stircus diaboli_. [Illustration: Fig. 1.--ANCIENT GREEK VASE.] [Illustration: Fig. 2.--TOP OF GREEK VASE.] * * * * * SNOW-RAISED BREAD.