eft on each side to hang over the temples to the breast. A broad diadem
confined these locks, which as the maids knew, were quite as often the
wig-maker's work as Nature's. Many ladies of the court wore above their
foreheads a lotus-flower, whose stem drooped on the hair at the back.

They carried fans of bright feathers in their delicate hands. These
were loaded with rings; the finger-nails were stained red, according to
Egyptian custom, and gold or silver bands were worn above the elbow, and
at the wrists and ankles.

[This custom (of staining finger-nails) is still prevalent in the
East; the plant Shenna, Laosonia spinosa, called by Pliny XIII.
Cyprus, being used for the purpose. The Egyptian government has
prohibited the dye, but it will be difficult to uproot the ancient
custom. The pigment for coloring the eyelids, mentioned in the
text, is also still employed. The Papyrus Ebers alludes to the
Arabian kohl or antimony, which is frequently mentioned under the
name of "mestem" on monuments belonging to the time of the
Pharaohs.]

Their robes were beautiful and costly, and in many cases so cut as to
leave the right breast uncovered. Bartja, the young Persian prince,
among the men, and Nitetis, the Pharaoh's daughter, among the women,
were equally conspicuous for their superior beauty, grace and charms.
The royal maiden wore a transparent rose-colored robe, in her black hair
were fresh roses, she walked by the side of her sister, the two robed
alike, but Nitetis pale as the lotus-flower in her mother's hair.

Ladice, the queen, by birth a Greek, and daughter of Battus of Cyrene,
walked by the side of Amasis and presented the young Persians to her
children. A light lace robe was thrown over her garment of purple,
embroidered with gold; and on her beautiful Grecian head she wore the
Urmus serpent, the ornament peculiar to Egyptian queens.

Her countenance was noble yet charming, and every movement betrayed the
grace only to be imparted by a Greek education.

Amasis, in making choice of this queen, after the death of his second
wife, (the Egyptian Tentcheta, mother of Psamtik the heir to the
throne,) had followed his prepossession in favor of the Greek nation and
defied the wrath of the priests.

The two girls at Ladice's side, Tachot and Nitetis, were called
twin-sisters, but showed no signs of that resemblance usually to be
found in twins.

Tachot was a fair, blue-eyed girl, small, a