66 THE HISTORY OF HERODOTUS.

byses set out for Egypt. But death, had put Amasis beyond the reach, of all enemies, and his son Psammen- itus now reigned in his stead. Dire misfortunes had been portended to the country by the unusual pheno- menon of a shower of rain at Thebes. After an obsti- nate battle, Psammenitus was utterly routed. Herodo- tus went afterwards over the field, and saw there the bones of the Persians lying in one heap, and those of the Egyptians in another. He remarked that the skulls of the former might be broken by a pebble, while those of the latter resisted even a large stone. This observa- tion he afterwards verified by personal inspection of another battle-field, where a Persian force was subse- quently defeated by the revolted Egyptians under Inaros. He attributes the difference to the Egyptians going bareheaded in the sun, while the Persians wore turbans. The Persians followed up their victory by the capture of the city of Memphis and of Psammen- itus himself, on which occasion our author introduces one of his characteristic pathetic stories. Cambyses wishing, says Herodotus, "to try the spirit" of his royal prisoner, ordered Psammenitus and some of the captive the process between Bombay and the sultan's son, Keerenga, may be mentioned. My consent having been given, a mat is spread, and a confidential party or surgeon attends on each. All four squat, as if to have a game at whist ; before them are two clean leaves, a little grease, and a spear-head ; a cut is made under the ribs of the left side of each party, a drop of blood put on a leaf and exchanged by the surgeons, who rub it with butter twice into the wound with the leaf, which is now torn in pieces and strewn over the "brothers' " heads. A solemn address is made by the older of the attendants, and they conclude the ceremony by rubbing their own sides with butter, shaking hands, and wishing each other success. ' ' Grant's ' Walk through Africa/ p. 108.