In some quarters this time is considered as absolutely accurate and definitely fixed, but there are so many factors to be taken into account that we should hesitate to regard them as unalterable. The Nile, it is true, has been depositing mud at the rate of 4 inches to the century in modern times, but this is no proof that it has always deposited mud at this rate, and there may have been considerable changes in the rate at which the mud banks have grown on each side of the stream. We know the floods vary considerably, and the rate of deposition must vary similarly. There seems at least the possibility that it took twice as long as the accepted estimate to deposit the mud on each side of the river, that is twenty thousand years. For aught we know, it may have taken two hundred thousand years. It will be seen how difficult it is in dealing with the lapse of such ages to mention any definite dates. This is why the men who are digging up the past in Egypt refer to Dynasties, starting with the First Dynasty, and working up to the last or Thirtieth Dynasty. A great deal has been done towards discovering the names of the various kings in the different Dynasties, but there are still many gaps to fill in. Most of our information in this respect has been given us by a list of names compiled by a priest named Manetho, who lived about two thousand one hundred years ago. Manetho undoubtedly based his names of kings on more ancient lists which have totally disappeared, but that he was fairly accurate is borne out by the Turin papyrus so far as it has been translated. The difficulty with this papyrus is that it was discovered in a number of fragments, and some parts of it are missing. However, the parts that remain have been most carefully pieced together, and seem to verify Manetho’s list, which starts with Menes, who is looked upon as the first king of the First Dynasty, and is thought to have reigned about seven thousand years ago. Throughout the ages that followed the reign of Menes, there grew up those religious beliefs and quaint burial customs which have done so much to unfold to us the life of the past. At first sight there seems to be no reason for all the statues, the tiny figures, and wonderful wall inscriptions to be found in the ancient tombs of Egypt. It seems incomprehensible that the dead should be buried with food and flowers beside them, that all this artistic talent should be wasted in this manner. Yet some such customs exist in all lands, and survive to this day, for we still place wreaths of flowers on the graves of our departed in memory of them, but actually the giving of a wreath is based on a custom that recedes so far back that all trace of it has been lost.