ng. The lower part of the body is
still unmoved, but he is raising himself with difficulty on his left
elbow, while his head droops and his right arm is lifted towards the
sky. His effort was suddenly arrested. Rendered powerless by a stroke of
the creator, Sibu remained as if petrified in this position, the obvious
irregularities of the earth's surface being due to the painful attitude
in which he was stricken. His sides have since been clothed with
verdure, generations of men and animals have succeeded each other
upon his back, but without bringing any relief to his pain; he suffers
evermore from the violent separation of which he was the victim when
Nuit was torn from him, and his complaint continues to rise to heaven
night and day.

[Illustration: 182.jpg SHU FORCIBLY SEPARATING SIBU AND NUIT. 1]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a painting on the mummy-case
of Butehamon in the Turin Museum. "Shu, the great god, lord
of heaven," receives the adoration of two ram-headed souls
placed upon his right and left.

[Illustration: 183.jpg THE DIDU OF OSIRIS. 1]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a specimen in blue enamelled
pottery, now in my possession.

[Illustration: 183b.jpg THE DIDU DRESSED. 2]

2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a figure frequently found in
Theban mummy-cases of XXIst and XXIInd dynasties (Wilkinson,
_Manners and Customs_. 2nd edit., vol. iii. pl. xxv., No 5).

The aspect of the inundated plains of the Delta, of the river by which
they are furrowed and fertilized, and of the desert sands by which they
are threatened, had suggested to the theologians of Mendes and Buto an
explanation of the mystery of creation, in which the feudal divinities
of these cities and of several others in their neighbourhood, Osiris,
Sit, and Isis, played the principal parts. Osiris first represented the
wild and fickle Nile of primitive times; afterwards, as those who dwelt
upon his banks learned to regulate his course, they emphasized
the kindlier side of his character and soon transformed him into
a benefactor of humanity, the supremely good being, Unnofriu,
Onnophris.[*] He was lord of the principality of Didu, which lay along
the Sebennytic branch of the river between the coast marshes and the
entrance to the Wady Tumilat, but his domain had been divided; and the
two nomes thus formed, namely, the ninth and sixteenth nomes of the
Delta in the Pharaonic lists, remained faithful t