Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/125

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Soon began the work of packing and of lading the transport vessels with the rare and beautiful products of the land. The busy scene is delineated upon the walls of the temple, and the inscriptions relate how the 'ships were laden to the uttermost with all the wonderful products of the land of Punt, with the precious woods of the divine land, with heaps of the resin of incense and fresh incense trees; with ebony and objects carved in ivory and inlaid with gold, with sweet woods and paint for the eyes, with dog-headed apes and long-tailed monkeys, with greyhounds and with leopards, besides some of the natives and their children.' The Egyptians, on the voyage home, were evidently much taken by the antics of the monkeys, as they sprang about amongst the sails, up and down the rigging. The fresh incense-trees, thirty-one in number, were carefully planted in tubs, and six men were assigned for the transport of each of them to the vessel which was to carry it north for transplantation into another soil.

Several of the princes and chief men of Punt accompanied the expedition on its return, and