though less firm, hang heavily upon a
wide bosom where the fat lies in folds. A narrow girdle, whose ends fall
free about the thighs, supports his spacious abdomen, and his attire
is completed by sandals, and a close-fitting head-dress, generally
surmounted with a crown of water-plants. Sometimes water springs from
his breast; sometimes he presents a frog, or libation vases; or holds a
bundle of the cruces ansato, as symbols of life; or bears a flat tray,
full of offerings--bunches of flowers, ears of corn, heaps of fish,
and geese tied together by the feet. The inscriptions call him, "Hapi,
father of the gods, lord of sustenance, who maketh food to be, and
covereth the two lands of Egypt with his products; who giveth life,
banisheth want, and filleth the granaries to overflowing." He is evolved
into two personages, one being sometimes coloured red, and the other
blue. The former, who wears a cluster of lotus-flowers upon his head,
presides over the Egypt of the south; the latter has a bunch of papyrus
for his head-dress, and watches over the Delta.[**]

[**] Wilkinson was the first who suggested that this god,
when painted red was the Red (that is High) Nile and when
painted blue, was to be identified with the Low Nile.
This opinion has since been generally adopted; but to me it
does not appear so incontrovertible as it has been
considered. Here, as in other cases, the difference in
colour is only a means of making the distinction between two
personages obvious to sight.

Two goddesses, corresponding to the two Hapis--Mirit Qimait for Upper,
and Mirit Mihit for Lower Egypt--personified the banks of the river.
They are often represented as standing with outstretched arms, as though
begging for the water which should make them fertile. The Nile-god had
his chapel in every province, and priests whose right it was to bury all
bodies of men or beasts cast up by the river; for the god had claimed
them, and to his servants they belonged.

[Illustration: 048.jpg THE NILE GOD. 1]

1 THE NILE GOD: Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after a statue in
the British Museum. The dedication of this statue took place
about 880 B.c. The giver was Sheshonqu, high-priest of Amon
in Thebes, afterwards King of Egypt under the name of
Sheshhonqu II., and he is represented as standing behind the
leg of the god.

[Illustration: 049.jpg THE Shrine Of The Nile At Biggeh.1]