[111] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 113. [112] It is worthy of inquiry whether the northern star so observed is not the true Nephthys (Nebt-het). If so, the triad Nephthys, Isis and Horus represents daily astronomical observations. [113] Rawlinson, i. 337. [114] "Egypt under the Pharaohs," ed. 1891, p. 3. [115] Brugsch, "History," p. 6. [116] Maspero, "Histoire ancienne," p. 59. [117] _Idem_, p. 63. [118] Rawlinson, ii., p. 134. [119] Maspero, "Histoire ancienne," p. 5. [120] Brugsch, "History of Egypt," 1891, p. 54. [121] Mariette, "Dêr el-Bahari," p. 31. Mr. W. T. Thistleton-Dyer, the director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, agrees in this view. He permits me to print the following extract from a letter written to me:--"The only positive fact that I can deal with is the representation in the pictures of a small scrubby tree, which seems to have been about four feet high. It appears to have yielded a gummy or resinous exudation from its trunk. Mariette supposes this to be myrrh. Pount to be Somali-land, and To Nuter the Socotran Archipelago. All this fits in very well with botanical facts. Myrrh-producing plants exist both in Somali-land and Arabia, and also in Socotra, as ascertained by Bayley Balfour. The two former places still are, as they always have been, the place of origin of myrrh, and we know that it was largely used by the Egyptians in embalming. There is no evidence that myrrh, or anything in any way resembling it, was ever found south of the Equator. I cannot carry you further south than Berbera." [122] On this point I am permitted to print the following extract from a letter received from my friend Sir John Kirk, K.C.B.:--"I send you a photo, taken in 1858, in the delta of the Zambezi, of a house built on high poles. The people there live in such houses. There is a ladder by which they mount, and all their belongings are kept above. Such houses I have since seen at the mouth of the River Rufiji, opposite the island of Monfia, to the south of Zanzibar. The reason in both cases for such a type of house is that the country at one time is flooded, and also to avoid mosquitoes. Similar structures are used, I am told, in Madagascar. At Lake Nyassa I believe there are village communities living in the lake, on artificial islands of piles." [123] Rawlinson, ii., p. 131. [124] "L'Anthropologie," 1891, No. 4. [125] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 184. [126] Inscription of Thothmes III., translated by Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 188. [127] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 184. [128] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 180. [129] For plans, _see_ Lepsius, vol. ii., p. 130. [130] For plans, _see_ Lepsius, vol. ii., pp. 133 and 134. [131] For plans, _see_ Lepsius, vol. ii., pp. 125 and 127.