and his companions closed the lid and flung the chest into the Nile.  When Isis heard of the cruel murder she wept and mourned, and then with her hair shorn, clothed in black and beating her breast, she sought diligently for the body of her husband.  In this search she was materially assisted by Anubis, the son of Osiris and Nephthys.  They sought in vain for some time; for when the chest, carried by the waves to the shores of Byblos, had become entangled in the reeds that grew at the edge of the water, the divine power that dwelt in the body of Osiris imparted such strength to the shrub that it grew into a mighty tree, enclosing in its trunk the coffin of the god.  This tree with its sacred deposit was shortly after felled, and erected as a column in the palace of the king of Phoenicia.  But at length by the aid of Anubis and the sacred birds, Isis ascertained these facts, and then went to the royal city.  There she offered herself at the palace as a servant, and being admitted, threw off her disguise and appeared as a goddess, surrounded with thunder and lightning.  Striking the column with her wand she caused it to split open and give up the sacred coffin.  This she seized and returned with it, and concealed it in the depth of a forest, but Typhon discovered it, and cutting the body into fourteen pieces scattered them hither and thither.  After a tedious search, Isis found thirteen pieces, the fishes of the Nile having eaten the other.  This she replaced by an imitation of sycamore wood, and buried the body at Philae, which became ever after the great burying place of the nation, and the spot to which pilgrimages were made from all parts of the country.  A temple of surpassing magnificence was also erected there in honor of the god, and at every place where one of his limbs had been found minor temples and tombs were built to commemorate the event.  Osiris became after that the tutelar deity of the Egyptians.  His soul was supposed always to inhabit the body of the bull Apis, and at his death to transfer itself to his successor.

Apis, the Bull of Memphis, was worshipped with the greatest reverence by the Egyptians.  The individual animal who was held to be Apis was recognized by certain signs.  It was requisite that he should be quite black, have a white square mark on the forehead, another, in the form of an eagle, on his back, and under his tongue a lump somewhat in the shape of a scarabaeus or beetle.  As soon as a bull thus marked was found by those sent in search of him, he was placed in a building facing the east, and was fed with milk for four months.  At the expiration of this term the priests repaired at new moon, with great pomp, to his habitation and saluted him Apis.  He was placed in a vessel magnificently decorated and conveyed down the Nile to Memphis, where a temple, with two chapels and a court for exercise, was assigned to him.  Sacrifices were made to him, and once every year, about the time when the Nile began to rise, a golden cup