TAA i.3.1.31

being very large, was permanently lashed to a heavy vertical 

post and also to the upturned stern of the ship, so that all 

its weight was taken off the steersman, who was further 

assisted by a vertical tiller placed aft of the post. In the 

XVIII Dynasty this arrangement was maintained for the ordinary 

transport boats, except for the further improvement that the 

steering paddle passed through a deep groove in the stern, 

but on the other hand, big ships were fitted with a steering 

paddle on each quarter, as illustrated in the frescoes of 

the expedition to Punt,/<.> and sometimes more than one. Thus 

the double<->steering paddles of Tutankhamen's barges doubtless 

marks them as being vessels of considerable size. But this 

explanation hardly applies to the double<->steering-paddles 

of the "ships of the Sun/<Solar Barks>", so it can only be assumed/<would seem> that

their great religious importance <of these vessels> made it necessary that 

they should be fitted in the style of large ships.

          The rigging of Tutankhamen's large sailing ships is 

essentially the same as that of Queen Hatshepur/<s>ut's ships 

on the frescoes of the expedition to Punt, but it is important 

to note that both bows and sterns are very different in the 

two instances. Whether these great differences can be 

accounted for by changes of fashion in a period of less

than a <??> century and a half or whether they are due to the 

religious character of the former, as compared with the 

strictly mercantile or warlike employment of the latter, 

needs further investigation.

                                                      The Alabaster Boat.

          The decorative model in alabaster of a boat bearing 

a shrine should probably not be taken too seriously as repre-

senting a vessel of the period, any more than should the 

silver "nefs" of the late Middle Ages in Europe, but the two 

gazelle heads, both looking forward, which finish off the 

bow and stern, find an easy parallel in the ram-headed