Now in this beautiful poem (omitting the doxology) the elation is especially concerning some connexion with Sheba. In verse 10 it is said "The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts"; in verse 15, "To him shall be given of the gold of Sheba." These lines might have been written on the announcement of a royal visit, or meeting, which had not mentioned a queen. But what country is indicated by Sheba (the Seven)? In India there are seven holy rivers, and seven holy Rishis, represented by the seven stars of the Great Bear. But these correspond with the Seven Rivers of Persia which enter into the Persian Gulf, in the Avesta called Satavæsa, a star-deity. In the Yîr Yast 9 it is said: "Satavæsa makes those waters flow down to the seven Karshvares of the earth, and when he has arrived down there he stands, beautiful, spreading ease and joy on the fertile countries, thinking in himself, 'How shall the countries of the Aryas grow fertile?'" As there are seven heavens, there are seven earths (Karshvares), and these, as already shown (ante II.), are presided over by the "seven infinite ones" (Amesha-Spentas). Of these seven the first is Ahura Mazda himself, and of the others only one is female--Armaîti, genius of the earth. Of this wonderful and beautiful personification more must be said presently, but it may be said here that Armaîti was the spouse of Ahura Mazda, and Queen of the Seven,--the seven Ameshi-Spentas who preside respectively over the seven karshvares of the earth. The function of Armaîti being to win men from nomadic life and warfare, to foster peace and tillage, she was a type of "the eternal feminine"; and such an ideal could hardly have been developed except in a region where women were held in great honour, nor could it fail to produce women worthy of honor. That such was the fact in Zoroastrian Persia is proved by many passages in the Avesta, wherein we find eminent women among the first disciples of Zoroaster. There is a litany to the Fravashis, or ever living and working spirits, of twenty-seven women, whose names are given in Favardîn Yast (139-142). Among these was the Queen Hutaosa, converted by Zoroaster, the wife of King Vîstâspa, the Constantine of Zoroastrianism. Hutaosa was naturally a visible and royal representative of Armaîti, "Queen of the Seven," a princess of peace, a patroness of culture, to be imitated by other Persian queens.