Its approach was announced by the appearance of a certain star, Sirius, and as soon as that star was seen above the horizon the people hastened to remove their flocks to the higher ground and abandoned the lower pastures to the fertilizing influence of the stream.
As Bruges was accessible by canal from Ostend, Ostend was to be blocked at the same time by the old cruisers" Brilliant "and" Sirius."The main obstacle to th3 enterprise lay in the powerful batteries.
Among them the bright star Sirius was any I in special esteem; it was a goddess Sothis (Sopde), often be 1tified by the Egyptians with Isis.
Professor Petrie, however, thinks it best, while accepting the evidence of the Sirius date, to suppose further that a whole Sothic period of 1460 years had passed in the interval, making a total of 1650 years for the six dynasties in place of 220 years.
Hertzsprung has shown that Sirius also belongs to this same system and shares its motion, notwithstanding that it is in a nearly opposite part of the sky.
