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 had some thousands); vases and chests or coffers of every class; lamps; censers; small altars or braziers; pictures ; portraits ; mosaics ; statues of gods or men ; jewellery; engraved gems. When there is an inscription on the gift, it is often quoted; in the case of the precious metals, the weight is given. The minuteness of description is often remarkable: "a little cow [dedicated to Isis in the Serapeion?] without its left horn"; "a kettle which has lost its bottom and its handles"; "a golden laurel-crown with twisted leaves"; "a golden wreath with [so many] leaves, counting those that have dropped off";—for the smallest fragments, the very morsels of gold dust  were recorded. Ex-voto offerings are frequently named—beaks of ships, rudders, a herald's staff, shields, spears, greaves, bows. A fragment of one such ex-voto has been found, part of a leaden quiver, with the legend, —"these [arrows] saved us from starving":—one thinks of Philoctetes at Lemnos. Sacred envoys used to wear a sort of plaited head-dress called, and among the ex-votos are mentioned. One article is named which the modern world would gladly purchase at the cost of much else which the Delian temple contained—, a three-cornered case containing works of Alcaeus.