808 HERODOTUS
plished, the animal is dispatched with ease, otherwise he gives great trouble.
The hippopotamus, in the canton of Papremis, is a sacred animal, but not in any other part of Egypt. It may be thus described : It is a quadruped, cloven- footed, with hoofs like an ox, and a flat nose. It has the mane and tail of a horse, huge tusks which are very conspicuous, and a voice like a horse's neigh. In size it equals the biggest oxen, and its skin is so tough that when dried it is made into javelins. (^Booh IL, 69-71.)
SESOSTRIS
Passing over [Mis, Nitocris, and Moeris] I shall speak of the king who reigned next, whose name was Sesostris. He, the priests said, first of all proceeded in a fleet of ships of war from the Arabian Gulf along the shores of the Erythraean Sea, subduing the na- tions as he went, until he finally reached a sea which could not be navigated by reason of the shoals. Hence he returned to Egypt, where, they told me, he col- lected a vast armament, and made a progress by land across the continent, conquering every people which fell in his way. In the countries where the natives withstood his attack, and fought gallantly for their liberties, he erected pillars on which he inscribed his own name and country, and how that he had here reduced the inhabitants to subjection by the might of his arms ; where, on the contrary, they submitted readily and without a struggle, he inscribed on the pillars, in addition to these particulars, an emblem to mark that they were a nation of women, that is, un- warlike and effeminate.
In this way he traversed the whole continent of
