e
first formalities were over, Bartja, according to the custom of his
native country, but greatly to the astonishment of the populace, who were
totally unaccustomed to such a sight, kissed the sallow cheek of the
Egyptian prince; who shuddered at the touch of a stranger's unclean lips,
then took his way to the litters waiting to convey him and his escort to
the dwelling designed for them by the king, in the palace at Sais.

A portion of the crowd streamed after the strangers, but the larger
number remained at their places, knowing that many a new and wonderful
sight yet awaited them.

"Are you going to run after those dressed-up monkeys and children of
Typhon, too?" asked an angry priest of his neighbor, a respectable tailor
of Sais. "I tell you, Puhor, and the high-priest says so too, that these
strangers can bring no good to the black land! I am for the good old
times, when no one who cared for his life dared set foot on Egyptian
soil. Now our streets are literally swarming with cheating Hebrews, and
above all with those insolent Greeks whom may the gods destroy!

[The Jews were called Hebrews (Apuriu) by the Egyptians; as brought
to light by Chabas. See Ebers, Aegypten I. p. 316. H. Brugsch
opposes this opinion.]

"Only look, there is the third boat full of strangers! And do you know
what kind of people these Persians are? The high-priest says that in the
whole of their kingdom, which is as large as half the world, there is not
a single temple to the gods; and that instead of giving decent burial to
the dead, they leave them to be torn in pieces by dogs and vultures."

[These statements are correct, as the Persians, at the time of the
dynasty of the Achaemenidae, had no temples, but used fire-altars
and exposed their dead to the dogs and vultures. An impure corpse
was not permitted to defile the pure earth by its decay; nor might
it be committed to the fire or water for destruction, as their
purity would be equally polluted by such an act. But as it was
impossible to cause the dead bodies to vanish, Dakhmas or burying-
places were laid out, which had to be covered with pavement and
cement not less than four inches thick, and surrounded by cords to
denote that the whole structure was as it were suspended in the air,
and did not come in contact with the pure earth. Spiegel, Avesta
II.]

"The tailor's indignation at hearing this was even greater than his
astonishment,