A reference to the same constellation (the Thigh) is also made in the account of the ceremonial used at the laying of the foundation-stone of the temple at Edfû. The king's glance was directed--in the case of the building of that temple--to the _Thigh_, but no precise reference to any star or to any point _āk_ is given. As before, I give the full translation of the inscription,[47] remarking that the last restoration was made B.C. 237-57. The king is represented as speaking thus:--"I have grasped the wooden peg and the handle of the club; I hold the rope with Sesheta; my glance follows the course of the stars; my eye is on Mesχet [that is, the 'Bull's Thigh constellation,' or Great Bear]; (mine the part of time of the number of the hour-clock); I establish the corners of thy house of God." And in another place:--"I have grasped the wooden peg; I hold the handle of the club; I grasp the cord with Sesheta; I cast my face towards the course of the rising constellations; I let my glance enter the constellation of the Great Bear (the part of my time stands in the place of his hour-clock); I establish the four corners of thy temple." The translation is Brugsch's. The phrases in parentheses are interpreted differently by Dümichen, who translates them:--"Standing as divider of time by his measuring instrument," or "representing the divider of time (_i.e._ the god Thoth) at his measuring instrument." The word _merech_ or _merchet_, in which Brugsch suspects hour-or water-clock, does not occur elsewhere. In this case, seeing that the temple lies with its axis very nearly north and south, as I determined by my own (magnetic) observations, the stretching of the cord was certainly in or very near the meridian; and it may be remarked that in the Naos there is an opening in the roof, over the side of the second or third door from the sanctuary, and inclined at an angle of 40° (unlike any other opening that I have seen in the roof of any Egyptian temple), which may have been used to observe the transit of some particular star. The angle I was not able to determine with absolute accuracy, as the vertical circle of the theodolite I had with me was out of adjustment. Taking the latitude of Edfû as 25°, and assuming the angle of 40° to be not far from the truth, the North Polar distance of the star observed would be 15°. Within a degree or so--and this is as near as we can get till more accurate observations have been made on the spot--this satisfies Dubhe, the chief star in the Great Bear in the time of the Ptolemies. Supposing the temple was originally oriented to Dubhe, its amplitude, 86½° S. of W., gives us the date 3900 B.C. I shall show, however, that it is more probable that the temple was oriented on some southern star.