Page:Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, Vol. 32--Legends of the Gods.pdf/102

 he wished to know. He told him that the Nile rose near the city of Elephantine, that it flowed out of two caverns, which were the breasts of the Nile-god, that it rose to a height of twenty-eight cubits at Elephantine, and to the height of seven cubits at Sma-Beḥuṭet, or, Diospolis Parva in the Delta. He who controlled the Nile, was Khnemu, and when this god drew the bolt of the doors which shut in the stream, and smote the earth with his sandals, the river rushed forth. Maṭâr also described to the king the form of Khnemu, which was that of Shu, and the work which he did, and the wooden house in which he lived, and its exact position, which was near the famous granite quarries. The gods who dwelt with Khnemu were the goddess Sepṭ (Sothis, or the Dog-star), the goddess Ānqet, Ḥāp (or Ḥep), the Nile-god, Shu, Ḳeb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Horus. Thus we see that the priests of Khnemu made him to be the head of a Company of Gods. Finally Maṭâr gave the king a list of all the stones, precious and otherwise, which were found in and about Elephantine.

When the king, who had, it seems, come to Ele­phantine, heard these things he rejoiced greatly, and he went into the temple of Khnemu. The priests drew back the curtains and sprinkled him with holy water, and then he passed into the shrine and offered up a great sacrifice of bread-cakes, beer, geese, oxen, and all kinds of good things, to the gods and goddesses who dwelt at Elephantine, in the place called “Couch of the c