ately to do with the
determination of the hours of the night; this seems probable, for in Nubia
at present, time at night is thus told."

"It is possible that observations of these stars [which are nearest the
pole and move most slowly] might have been made in such a way that, at the
beginning of the evening the particular position of {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~} Draconis, for
instance, might have been noted with regard to the pole-star; and seeing
that the Egyptians thoroughly knew the length of the night and of the day
in the different portions of the year, they could at once, the moment they
had the starting-point afforded by the position of this star, practically
use the circle of the stars round the north pole as the dial of a sort of
celestial clock. May not this really have been the clock with which they
have been credited? However long or short the night, the star which was at
first above the pole-star after it had got round so that it was on a level
with it, would have gone through a quarter of its revolution. In low
northern latitudes, however, the southern stars would serve better for
this purpose, since the circle of northern circumpolar stars would be much
restricted. Hence there was a reason in such latitudes for preferring
southern stars. With regard both to high north and south stars, then, we
may in both cases be in presence of observations made to determine the
time at night. So that the worship of Set, the determination of the time
at night by means of the northern stars, might have been little popular
with those who at Gebel Barkal and elsewhere in the south had used the
southern ones for the same purpose ..." (p. 344).

Valuable and suggestive as these observations are, I venture to point out
that the following texts appear to indicate very clearly that, as in China
and Mesopotamia, in the present day, the ancient Egyptian high-priest and
king on important public occasions simply utilized the conspicuous
constellation of Ursa Major as a measurer of time.

In the account of the ceremonial used at the laying of the foundation of
the temple at Edfu, it is stated that the king's glance was directed to
the Ak or "Middle" and to Meskhet=Ursa Major. A part of the full
translation of the inscription quoted from Nissen by Sir Norman Lockyer
(_op. cit._, pp. 176 and 179) represents the king as speaking, thus:
"Looking to the sky and recognizing the 'ak' of the Bull's Thigh
constellation, I establish the corn