which the enthusiasm rang out, "never has a Greek inscription been
found so far south. The farthest points where they have been reported
are in the south of Algeria and Cyrene. But in Ahaggar! Think of it!
It is true that this one is translated into Tifinar. But this
peculiarity does not diminish the interest of the coincidence: it
increases it."

"What do you take to be the meaning of this word?"

"_Antinea_ can only be a proper name," said Morhange. "To whom does it
refer? I admit I don't know, and if at this very moment I am marching
toward the south, dragging you along with me, it is because I count on
learning more about it. Its etymology? It hasn't one definitely, but
there are thirty possibilities. Bear in mind that the Tifinar alphabet
is far from tallying with the Greek alphabet, which increases the
number of hypotheses. Shall I suggest several?"

"I was just about to ask you to."

"To begin with, there is [Greek: agti] and [Greek: neos], _the woman
who is placed opposite a vessel_, an explanation which would have been
pleasing to Gaffarel and to my venerated master Berlioux. That would
apply well enough to the figure-heads of ships. There is a technical
term that I cannot recall at this moment, not if you beat me a hundred
times over.[7]

[Footnote 7: It is perhaps worth noting here that _Figures de Proues_
is the exact title of a very remarkable collection of poems by Mme.
Delarus-Mardrus. (Note by M. Leroux.)]