CHAPTER VIII

THE FIFTH CLASS—PASTORS, POULTERERS, SHOPS, FOWLERS, FISHERMEN, LABOURERS, BRICKMAKERS, AND COMMON PEOPLE—JEWS—PEOPLE GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR MODE OF LIVING—LAWS—JUDGES—CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS—THIEVES—DEBTORS—SALES AND DEEDS—MARRIAGES—PARENTS—LAWGIVERS—PROVINCES AND GOVERNORS—REVENUES—GOLD—MENSURATION—THREE SEASONS—INTERCALATION—SOTHIC YEAR—LAND MEASURES—CUBIT—WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

THE fifth class was composed of pastors, poulterers, fowlers, fishermen, labourers, brickmakers, and common people. The pastors were divided into oxherds, shepherds, goatherds, and swineherds; but even among them a gradation of rank was observed; and those who tended the herds and flocks while grazing were inferior in position to the managers of stock in the farmyard, who prepared provender for them when the Nile covered the lands. Those too who understood the veterinary art and took care of the sick cattle were men of skill and intelligence, who held a higher post among the pastors. But they were all looked upon by the Egyptian aristocracy as people who followed a disgraceful employment; and it is therefore not surprising that Pharaoh should have treated the Israelites with that contempt which it was usual for the Egyptians to feel towards “shepherds;” or that Joseph should have warned his brethren on their arrival, of this aversion of the Egyptians, and of their considering every shepherd an abomination. And from his recommending them to request they might dwell in the land of Goshen, we may conclude it was with a view to avoid as much as possible those who were not shepherds like themselves, or to obtain a settlement in the land peculiarly adapted for pasture. It is also probable that much of Pharaoh’s cattle was kept there, since the monarch gave orders that if any of those strangers were remarkable for skill in the management of herds, they should be selected to overlook his own cattle, after they were settled in the land of Goshen. This part of the country received at a later time the name of Bucolia; and the northern part of the Delta, with the lands lying to the east of the Damietta branch of the Nile, are still preferred for grazing cattle.

The hatred borne against shepherds by the Egyptians was not owing solely to their contempt for that occupation; this feeling originated in another and a far more powerful cause—the occupation of their country by a pastor race, who had committed great cruelties during their possession of the country. And as if to prove how much they despised every order of pastors, the artists, both of Upper and Lower Egypt, delighted on all occasions in caricaturing their appearance.

The swineherds were the most ignoble, and of all the Egyptians the only persons who are said not to have been permitted to enter a temple; and even if this statement is exaggerated, it tends to show with what contempt they were looked upon by the individuals from whom Herodotus received his information, and how far they ranked beneath any others of the whole order of pastors. Indeed (as I have before stated) the same is still the case in India, where the swineherds are the very lowest class, and are so despised that no others will associate with them.

The skill of these people in rearing animals of different kinds was the result, says Diodorus, of the experience they had inherited from their parents, and subsequently increased by their own observation; and the spirit of emulation, which is natural to all men, constantly adding to their stock of knowledge, they introduced many improvements unknown to other people. Their sheep were twice shorn, and twice brought forth lambs in the course of one year; and though the climate was the chief cause of these phenomena, the skill and attention of the shepherd were also necessary; nor, if the animals were neglected, would unaided nature alone suffice for their continuance.

But of all the discoveries to which any class of Egyptians attained, the one that the historian considered most worthy of admiration was their artificial process of hatching the eggs of fowls and geese; which has been continued to the present day by their Copt successors. The modern process, like that of ancient times, is this: they have ovens expressly built for the purpose; and persons are sent round to the villages to collect the eggs from the peasants, which, being given to the rearers, are all placed on mats, strewed with bran, in a room about eleven feet square, with a flat roof, and about four feet high, over which is another chamber of the same size, with a vaulted roof and about nine feet high; a small aperture in the centre of the vault (at f), admitting light during the warm weather, and another (e) of larger diameter, immediately below, communicating with the oven through its ceiling. By this also the man descends to observe the eggs; but in the cold season both are closed, and a lamp is kept burning within; another entrance at the front part of the oven, or lower room, being then used for the same purpose, and shut immediately on his quitting it. By way of distinction, I call the vaulted (A) the upper room, and the lower one (B) the oven. In the former are two fires in the troughs a b, and c d, which, based with earthen slabs, three quarters of an inch thick, reach from one side to the other against the front and back walls. These fires are lighted twice a day: the first dies away about midday; and the second, lighted at 3 P.M., lasts until 8 o’clock. In the oven, the eggs are placed on mats strewed with bran, in two lines corresponding to, and immediately below, the fires a b and c d, where they remain half a day. They are then removed to a c and b d; and others (from two heaps in the centre) are arranged at a b and c d in their stead; and so on, till all have taken their equal share of the warmest positions; to which each set returns again and again, in regular succession, till the expiration of six days.

412.              Modern ovens for hatching eggs.

Fig. 1. Plan of the building, showing the form of the upper rooms A A, the entrance-room G G, and the passage F. At a a are the fires; e e the aperture communicating with the oven.

2. Section of the same, showing the upper rooms A and B.

3. Plan of upper room, in which the fires are placed at a b and c d.

4. Lower room in which the eggs are placed.

5, 6. Sections from the back and front of the upper and lower rooms A and B.

They are then held up, one by one, towards a strong light; and if the eggs appear clear, and of an uniform colour, it is evident they have not succeeded; but if they show an opaque substance within, or the appearance of different shades, the chickens are already formed; and they are returned to the oven for four more days, their positions being changed as before. At the expiration of the four days they are removed to another oven, over which, however, are no fires. Here they lie for five days in one heap, the apertures (e, f) and the door (g) being closed with tow to exclude the air; after which they are placed separately about one or two inches apart, over the whole surface of the mats, which are sprinkled with a little bran. They are at this time continually turned, and shifted from one part of the mats to another, during six or seven days, all air being carefully excluded; and are constantly examined by one of the rearers, who applies each singly to his upper eyelid. Those which are cold prove the chickens to be dead, but warmth greater than the human skin is the favourable sign of their success.

At length the chicken, breaking its egg, gradually comes forth: and it is not a little curious to see some half exposed and half covered by the shell; while they chirp in their confinement, which they show the greatest eagerness to quit.

The total number of days is generally twenty-one, but some eggs with a thin shell remain only eighteen. The average of those that succeed is two-thirds, which are returned by the rearers to the proprietors, who restore to the peasants one-half of the chickens; the other being kept as payment for their expenses.

The size of the building depends, of course, on the means or speculation of the proprietors; but the general plan is usually the same, being a series of eight or ten ovens and upper rooms, on either side of a passage about 100 feet by 15, and 12 in height. The thermometer in any part is not less than 86º or 88º Fahr.; but the average heat in the ovens does not reach the temperature of fowls, which is 104º.

Excessive heat or cold are equally prejudicial to this process; and the only season of the year at which they succeed is from the 15th of Imsheer (23rd of February) to the 15th of Baramoodeh (24th of April), beyond which time they can scarcely reckon upon more than two or three in a hundred.

The great care bestowed by the shepherds on the breed of sheep, was attended with no less important results; and the selection of proper food for them at particular seasons, and the mode of treating them when ill, were their constant study. Indeed their skill in curing animals was carried to the greatest perfection; and Cuvier’s discovery of the left humerus of a mummied ibis fractured and reunited, evidently through the intervention of human art, fully confirms the fact.

Those who exercised the veterinary art were of the class of shepherds. They took the utmost care of the animals, providing them with proper food, which they gave them with the hand, and preparing for them whatever medicine they required, which they forced into their mouths. Their medical aid was not con fined to oxen and sheep; it extended also to the oryx, and other animals of the desert they tamed or bred in the farmyard; and the poulterers bestowed the same care on the geese and fowls. And such was their attention to the habits of different animals, and the patient treatment of them, that the wildest and most timid were rendered so tame as to be driven, like the sheep and goats; and the wild geese and other birds were brought to the stewards, whenever an inventory was made of the live stock on the estate.

413.              Herdsmen and poulterers treating sick animals and geese. Beni Hassan.

Fig.              1. Feeding a sick goose.

2. In the original, this figure shows more skill in the drawing than is usual in Egyptian sculpture.

3. Feeding an oryx.

4, 5. Treatment of goats. The foreleg is tied up to prevent the animal rising while the medicine is administered to it.

7. Forces a ball of medicated food taken from the vase before him into the ox’s mouth.

414.              Geese brought and numbered. British Museum—from Thebes.

Fig.              1. A scribe. 2. Men bringing eggs in baskets. 3. One of the feeders of geese. 4. Table on which are baskets containing eggs and flowers. 5. The scribe reading the account before the steward or master of the estate, written on a papyrus he holds in his hands. 6. Man bringing the goslings in baskets. 7. The feeders of the geese doing obeisance; others seated in an attitude of respect; and 8, bowing as he brings up the geese with their young, 9. A large flock of geese brought by others, 10, 11, 12.

The pastors were a class apart from the agriculturists, and were held in disrepute, partly from the nature of their occupation, partly from the prejudices of the Egyptians against all herdsmen. But this did not extend to the farmers who bred cattle or sheep; it was confined to the poor people who kept them; and as if to show how degraded a class they were, they are represented, as at Beni Hassan and the tombs near the Pyramids, lame, or deformed, dirty, unshaven, and even of a ludicrous appearance; and often clad in dresses made of matting, similar in quality to the covering thrown over the backs of the oxen they are tending.

415.              A deformed oxherd. Tombs near the Pyramids.

They generally lived in sheds made of reeds; deriving a scanty nourishment from the humblest and coarsest food; but they were overlooked by other persons of a superior condition among the pastoral class. There were also overseers of the shepherds, who regulated everything respecting the stock;—which were to graze in the field, which to be stall-fed;—and their duty was also to give reports at certain periods to the scribes attached to the stewards’ office, who examined them preparatory to their being presented to the owner of the estate. In these nothing was omitted; and every egg was noted in the account, and entered with the chickens and goslings. And in order to prevent any connivance, or a question respecting the accuracy of a report, two scribes received it from the superintendents at the same moment. Everything was done in writing. Bureaucratie was as consequential in Egypt as in modern Austria, or France; scribes were required on every occasion, to settle public or private questions; no bargain of consequence was made without the vouchure of a written document; and the sale of a small piece of land required sixteen witnesses. Either the Egyptians were great cheats, or a very cautious people—probably both; and they would have been in an agony of mind to see us so careless, and so duped in many of our railway and other speculations.

416.              Giving an account to two scribes of the stock on the estate. Thebes.

Before fig. 1 is the sachel, and above fig. 2 the box for holding writing implements and papyri. They are writing on boards: in their left hands are the inkstands with black and red ink.

The shepherds on the estate were chosen by the steward, who ascertained their character and skill, before they were appointed to their various duties; and Pharaoh in like manner commanded Joseph, who was superintendent “over all the land of Egypt,” to select from among his brethren such as were skilful in the management of the flocks or herds, and “make them rulers over his cattle.”

There was also the honorary office of “superintendent of the herds;” but this was very different from the duty of any one in the class of shepherds: it was a high and distinguished post, being held by persons of rank belonging to the priestly and military classes, who were called “superintendents of the cattle of the king,” or “of some god;” and one of the former, named Honofr, whose wife was one of the sacred women of Amun, is mentioned in a very beautiful papyrus in the British Museum.

417.              Herdsmen giving an account of the cattle. British Museum—from Thebes.

Fig.              1. Herdsman giving an account to the scribe, 3.

2. Another doing obeisance to the master of the estate, or to the scribe.

4. Other herdsman.

5. The driver of the cattle, carrying a rope in his hand.

6. Bowing and giving his report to the scribe, 7, over whom is the usual sachel, and two boxes.

The cattle were brought into a court attached to the steward’s house, or into the farmyard, and counted by the superintendent in the presence of the scribes; and the bastinado was freely administered if any fraud was detected, or if any shepherd had neglected the flocks committed to his care.

In the accompanying woodcut the numbers written over the animals correspond to the report made to the steward, who, in the presence of the master of the estate, receives it from the overseer, or the head shepherd. First come the oxen, over which is the number 834, then cows 220, goats 3234, asses 760, rams 974; followed by a man carrying the young lambs in baskets slung upon a pole. The steward leaning on his staff, and accompanied by what was then a fashionable dog, “with a curly tail,” stands on the left of the picture; and in another place the scribes are making out the statements presented to them by the different persons employed on the farm. The tomb where this subject occurs is at the Pyramids, dating upwards of 4000 years ago, when the Egyptians had already the same customs as at a much later period. How long before this they had reached this state of civilization; had laid aside their arms; had decimal as well as duodecimal calculation, and the reckoning by units, tens, hundreds, and thousands, it is impossible to determine; but these, as well as the use of squared stone, even granite, and many other arts, were known to them before the Pyramids were built.

Many birds which frequented the interior and skirts of the desert, and were highly prized for the table, were caught by the fowlers, as the partridge, gutta (pterocles, or sand-grouse), bustard, and quail; and waterfowl of different descriptions, which abounded in the Valley of the Nile, afforded endless diversion to the sportsman, and profit to those who gained a livelihood by their sale.

Fowling was a favourite amusement of all classes; and the fowlers and fishermen were subdivisions of one of the classes into which the Egyptians were divided. They either caught the birds in large clap-nets, or in traps; and they sometimes shot them with arrows, or felled them with a throw-stick, as they flew in the thickets. (See vol. i. p. 234 to 236.)

418.              Cattle, goats, asses, and sheep, with their numbers over them. In a Tomb near the Pyramids.

Fig. 1. The number 834 over long-horned oxen. Fig. 2. 220 cows with calves. Fig. 3. 3234 goats. Fig. 4. 760 asses. Fig. 5. 974 sheep.

Fig. 7. gives in the account to the steward of the estate. In the original, the two upper lines join the two lower ones at A and B.

The trap was generally made of network, strained over a frame. It consisted of two semicircular sides or flaps, of equal sizes, one or both moving on the common bar, or axis, upon which they rested. When the trap was set, the two flaps were kept open by means of strings, probably of catgut, which, the moment the bait that stood in the centre of the bar was touched, slipped aside, and allowed the two flaps to collapse, and thus secured the bird.

Another kind, which was square, appears to have closed in the same manner; but its construction was different, the framework running across the centre, and not, as in the others, round the edges of the trap.

419.              Bird traps. Beni Hassan.

Fig.              1. Trap closed, and the bird caught in it; the net-work of it has been effaced, as also in fig. 3. The other traps are open.

420.              Fishing and fowling scenes. Thebes.

Part 1. a. The boat with the fish hanging up to dry in the sun and wind; on the top of the mast sits a kite. The manner in which it shrieks, while waiting for the entrails of the fish, as they are thrown out, is very characteristically shown in the original painting. The boat is supposed to be close to the shelving bank to which they are dragging the net. The water is represented by zigzag lines at b, which, to prevent confusion, I have not continued over the net.

Part 2. Figs. 8, 9, 10, pull the rope that the net may collapse; 11 makes a sign with his hand to keep silence and pull; at p the rope is fixed; at f, g, e, are geese and baskets of their young and eggs; h, are pelicans; i and n, papyrus plants.

And so skilful were they in making traps, that they were strong enough to hold the hyæna; and in the one which caught the robber in the treasury of Rhampsinitus, the power of the spring, or the mechanism of the catch, was so perfect that his brother was unable to open it, or release him.

Similar in ingenuity, though not in strength, were the nets made by the convicts banished to Rhinocolura by Actisanes, which, though made of split straws, were yet capable of catching many of the numerous quails that frequented that desert region at a particular period of the year.

The clap-net was of different forms, though on the same general principle as the traps. It consisted of two sides or frames, over which the network was strained; at one end was a short rope, which they fastened to a bush, or a cluster of reeds, and at the other was one of considerable length, which, as soon as the birds were seen feeding in the area within the net, was pulled by the fowlers, causing the two sides to collapse.

As soon as they had selected a convenient spot for laying down the net, in a field or on the surface of a pond, the known resort of numerous wild fowl, they spread open the two sides or flaps, and secured them in such a manner that they remained flat upon the ground, until pulled by the rope. A man, crouched behind some reeds, growing at a convenient distance from the spot, from which he could observe the birds as they came down, watched the net, and enjoining silence by placing his hand over his mouth, beckoned to those holding the rope to keep themselves in readiness, till he saw them assembled in sufficient numbers; when a wave of his hand gave the signal for closing the net.

The Egyptian mode of indicating silence is evidently shown, from these scenes, to have been by placing “the hand on their mouth,” (as in Job 29:9), not as generally supposed, by approaching the forefinger to the lips; and the Greeks erroneously concluded that the youthful Harpocrates was the deity of silence, from his appearing in this attitude; which, however humiliating to the character of a deity, was only illustrative of his extreme youth, and of a habit common to children in every country, whether of ancient or modern times.

421.              Clap-nets from the sculptures. Thebes.

The poulterers may be divided into two grades,—the rearers, and those who sold poultry in the market; the former living in the country and villages, the latter in the towns. They fed them for the table; and besides the number required for private consumption, a great many were exclusively fattened for the service of the temple, as well as for the sacred animals, and for the daily rations of the priests and soldiers, or others who lived at the government expense. The birds were principally geese, ducks, teal, quails, and some small birds, which they were in the habit of salting, especially in Lower Egypt, where they ate “all sorts of birds and fish, not reckoned sacred, either roasted or boiled.” For besides geese and pigeons, which abounded in Egypt, many of the wading tribe—the ardea and severa others—were esteemed for the table, and even introduced among the choice offerings to the gods. But the favourite was the Vulpanser of the Nile, known to us as “the Egyptian goose,” which, with some others of the same genus, were tamed and kept like ordinary poultry. Those in a wild state, having been caught in the large clap-nets, were brought to the poulterers, who salted and potted them in earthenware jars; and others were put up in the shops for immediate sale. Like other rearers of animals, the poulterers paid great attention to the habits of wild geese, which were tamed to feed in flocks, like our turkies; and they had doubtless perceived that, besides warmth, chickens require to have their food constantly within reach; perhaps even buried, that they may exercise their natural habit of scratching it up; and not to have a great quantity after long intervals.

The form and character of the various shops depended on the will, or the particular trade, of the person they belonged to; and many no doubt sat and sold in the streets, as at the present day. The poulterers suspended geese and other birds from a pole, or on nails, in front of the shop, over which an awning was stretched to keep off the sun; and many of the shops resembled our stalls, being open in front, with the goods exposed on shelves, or hanging from the inner wall, as is still the custom in the bazárs of eastern towns.

422.              A poulterer’s shop. Thebes.

The distribution of labour seems to have been as well understood by the Egyptians as in modern times; one plucked, another opened and trussed, and a third potted, or hung up the birds; and the same variety of offices was allotted to different individuals in other trades. Part of the occupation of poulterers was to collect eggs of wild birds; and whenever these could be procured they were carefully collected and submitted to the management of the rearers, like those of tame fowl. The same care was taken to obtain the young of gazelles, and other wild animals of the desert, whose meat was reckoned among the dainties of the table; and by paying proper attention to their habits, they were enabled to collect many head of antelopes, which formed part of the herds of the Egyptian nobles. And in order to give an idea of the pains they took in rearing these timid animals, and to show the great value of the possessions of the deceased, they are introduced with the cattle, in the sculptures of the tombs.

423.              Fowlers catching geese, and poulterers. Thebes.

Those who were fishermen by trade, and gained a livelihood by it, generally used the net in preference to the line; though on some occasions they employed the latter, seated or standing on the bank. But these last were poor people who could not afford the expense of nets; and the use of their very simple line was mostly confined, as at the present day, to those who depended on skill or good luck for a precarious subsistence. If we may believe Ælian—that most unsophisticated fish, the Thrissa of the Lake Mareotis, “was caught by singing to it, and by the sound of crotala (clappers) made of shells;” and so musically inclined was this species, and so sharp in hearing sounds even out of its own element, that “dancing up, it leapt into the nets spread for the purpose, giving great and abundant sport.” Indeed, if Plato and others are to be trusted, the Egyptians not only caught, but tamed fish, with the same facility as land animals.

424.              Fishing with ground bait. Beni Hassan.

These fish are the Shilbeh, or rather the Arábrab.

A A. The net. B B. The floats. C C. The leads.

425.              Fishing with a drag-net. Tomb near the Pyramids.

Fishermen mostly used the net. It was of a long form, like the common drag net, with wooden floats on the upper, and leads on the lower side; but though it was sometimes let down from a boat, those who pulled it generally stood on the shore, and landed the fish on a shelving bank. The leads were occasionally of an elongated shape, hanging from the outer cord or border of the net; but they were most usually flat, and, being folded round the cord, the opposite sides were beaten together; a satisfactory instance of which is seen in the ancient net preserved in the Berlin Museum; and this method continues to be adopted by the modern Egyptians.

426.              Leads, with part of a net. Berlin Museum.

Besides the ordinary Egyptian net, they sometimes used a smaller kind, for catching fish in shallow water, furnished with a pole on either side, to which it was attached, exactly similar to one now used in India; and the fisherman holding one of the poles in either hand, thrust it below the surface of the water, and awaited the moment when a shoal of small fry passed over it. And this, or a smaller landing-net, secured the large fish, which had been wounded with the spear, or entangled with the hook.

427.              A sort of landing-net. Thebes.

When they employed the drag-net, and even when they pulled it to the shore, a boat sometimes attended, in which the fish were deposited as soon as caught; those intended for immediate use, to be eaten fresh, being sent off to market when the day’s sport was finished; and the others being opened, salted, and hung up to dry in the sun.

Some were cut in half, and suspended on ropes were left to dry in the sun and the open air; sometimes the body was simply laid open with a knife from the head to the tail, the two sides being divided as far as the back bone; and many were contented with taking out the intestines, and removing the head and tip of the tail, and exposing them, when salted, to the sun.

When caught, the small fish were generally put into baskets, but those of a larger kind were suspended to a pole, borne by two or more men over their shoulders, or were carried singly in the hand, slung at their back, or under the arm; all which methods are adopted by the modern fishermen at the Cataracts of A´Souán, and in other parts of the country.

Great was the consumption of fish in Egypt, as we know from the sculptures and other good authority; the “fishers” of the Nile, and “they that cast angle into the brooks,” “they that spread nets,” and they “that make sluices and ponds for fish,” are mentioned in the Bible; and the Israelites remembered with regret “the fish which (they) did eat in Egypt freely.” They were eaten either fresh or salted; and at a particular month of the year, on the 9th day of the first month (Thoth), every person was obliged, by a religious ordinance, to eat a fried fish before the door of his house, with the exception of the priests, who were contented to burn it on that occasion.

428.              Bringing in fish and opening them, preparatory to their being salted. In a Tomb near the Pyramids.

429.              Another mode of carrying large fish. Tomb near the Pyramids.

Some fish were particularly prized for the table, and preferred as being more wholesome, as well as superior in flavour to others; among which we may mention the búlti, the ḳishr,| the benni, the shall,* the shilbeh,† and arábrab, the byad,‡ the ḳarmoot,§ and a few others; but it was unlawful to touch those which were sacred, as the oxyrhinchus, the phagrus, and the lepidotus: and the inhabitants of the city of Oxyrhinchus objected even to eat any fish caught by a hook, lest it should have been defiled by the blood of one they held so sacred.

The oxyrhinchus was probably the mizdeh, a mormyrus remarkable among the fish of the Nile for its pointed nose, as the word oxyrhinchus implies; and a prejudice is still felt against it in some parts of Upper Egypt. Indeed, mizdeh is not very unlike the Coptic name of the city of (Oxyrhinchus) Mge. It is often represented in the sculptures, and in bronze; and in the temple of the Great Oasis this fish is accompanied by the name of Athor, or Venus, showing it to have been one of her emblems.

430.              The Oxyrhinchus fish, in bronze.

431.              At the Oasis.

The phagrus was the eel; and the reason of its sanctity, like that of the former, was owing to its being unwholesome; and the best way of preventing its being eaten was to assign it a place among the sacred animals of the country.

The lepidotus is still uncertain; from its name it was a scaly fish; and representations of it in bronze are not uncommon, which show it to be the Cyprinus Lepidotus or Benni; though the Ḳishr, the bulti, and the Kelb el Bahr or Salmo Dentex (all wholesome, and the best of the insipid fish of the Nile) have each been invited to accept the name. It might reasonably be supposed that the Raad, or Electric fish of the Nile, would be one of the most sacred and forbidden for food; and it seems not to be represented among those caught in the ancient fishing scenes. It is a small fish; and the one I saw measured little more than a foot long, by 4 inches in depth. But it had the power of giving a very strong shock. It is the Melapterurus Electricus; and may have been the ancient Latus.

432.              Bronze Lepidotus (in my possession).

The name Raad, “thunder,” is very remarkable, since the modern Egyptians are quite ignorant of the cause of its peculiar powers; and if it was borrowed by them from their predecessors, the question naturally arises, were they acquainted with electricity?

Like the sacred quadrupeds, they were not all regarded with the same reverence in different parts of the country; and the people of Cynopolis were in the habit of eating the oxyrhinchus, which “was the origin of a civil war between the two cities, till both sides, after doing each other great mischief, were severely punished by the Romans.”

Besides the fish cured, or sent to market for the table, a very great quantity was set apart expressly for feeding the sacred animals and birds,—as the cats, crocodiles, ibises, and others; and some of the large reservoirs, attached to the temples, were used as well for keeping fish as for the necessary ablutions of the devout, and for various purposes connected with religion.

The quantity of fish in Egypt was a very great boon to the poor classes, and when the Nile overflowed the country the inhabitants of the inland villages benefited by this annual gift of the river, as the land did by the fertilizing mud deposited upon it. The canals, ponds, and pools, on the low lands, continued to abound in fish, even after the inundation had ceased; and it was then that their return to the Nile was intercepted by closing the mouths of the canals. The same happens at the present day, and so numerous are they, that the tax upon the profits now paid annually by the poor peasants to the Turkish government on the fish of a small canal amounts to 21l.

The revenue from the fisheries was much larger in old times; though we may not believe that “while the water retired from the Lake Mœris (which Ælian quaintly calls the ‘fish harvest’) the royal treasury received daily a talent of silver (supposed to be 193l. 15s. English), and during the other six months, when the water flowed from the Nile into the lake, 20 minæ” (about 64l. 12s.). The sum said to have been derived from this source was given as a dowry to the queen, for the purchase of jewels, ointments, and other things connected with her toilet—a very liberal provision, being upwards of 94,000l. a-year; and when this formed only a portion of the pin-money of the Egyptian queens, who also received the revenues of the town of Anthylla, famous for its wines, they had no reason to complain of the allowance they enjoyed.

Though the fish of the Nile were a great benefit, their quality was not such as would satisfy modern taste, being insipid, and often muddy in flavour; but the Egyptians, like many others who live on rivers, were not connoisseurs in fish; and those of the sea were scarcely known to them, though the waters of the Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf might have afforded them many excellent kinds. The sea was looked upon by them with abhorrence; political reasons had led the government in old times to increase that aversion; and prejudice prevented their appreciating the good things it contained, which might have raised their taste above the carp-and-tench-level of their inexperience.

Of the various kinds of labourers few are worthy of notice, except the brickmakers; and their employment derives considerable interest from the detailed notice of it in the Bible, according as it does so remarkably with the Egyptian paintings. Brick-making, a mere manual occupation, with nothing to stimulate the clever workman to improvement, was only followed by the meanest of the community, who had not even the satisfaction of working for themselves; for bricks were a government monopoly, and the pay for a tale of them was a small remuneration for this laborious drudgery in mud.

The use of crude bricks baked in the sun was universal throughout the country, for private and for many public buildings, and the dry climate of Egypt was peculiarly suited to those simple materials. They had the recommendation of cheapness, and even of durability; and those made 3000 years ago, whether with or “without straw,” are even now as firm and fit for use as when first put up in the reigns of the Amunophs and Thothmes, whose names they bear. When made of the Nile mud, or alluvial deposit, they required straw to prevent their cracking; but those formed of clay (now called Háybeh), taken from the torrent beds on the edge of the desert, held together without straw; and crude brick walls frequently had the additional security of a layer of reeds or sticks placed at intervals to act as binders. The courses of bricks were also disposed occasionally in horizontal curves, or a succession of concave and convex lines, throughout the length of the wall; and this undulating arrangement was even adopted in stone, especially in quays by the river side.

Burnt bricks were not used in Egypt, and when found they are known to be of Roman time. Enclosures of gardens, or granaries, sacred circuits surrounding the courts of temples, walls of fortresses and towns, dwelling-houses and tombs, and even some few of the temples themselves were of crude brick, with stone columns and gateways; and so great was the demand, that the government foreseeing the profit to be obtained from a monopoly of them, undertook to supply the public at a moderate price, thus preventing all unauthorised persons from engaging in their manufacture. And, in order more effectually to obtain their end, the seal of the king, or of some privileged person, was stamped upon the bricks at the time they were made; and bricks so marked are found both in public and private buildings; some having the ovals of a king, and some the name and titles of a priest, or other influential person. Those which bear no characters either formed part of a tale, of which the first only were stamped, or were from the brick-fields of individuals, who had obtained a licence from government to make them for their own consumption.

The employment of numerous captives, who worked as slaves, would in any case have enabled the government to sell the bricks at a lower price than those persons who had recourse solely to free labour; so that, without the necessity of a prohibition, they must soon have become an exclusive manufacture; and we find that, independent of native labourers, a great many foreigners were constantly engaged in the brick-fields at Thebes, and other parts of Egypt. The Jews, of course, were not excluded from this drudgery; and, like the captives detained in the Thebaïd, they were condemned to the same labour in Lower Egypt. They not only erected granaries, treasure cities, and many public monuments for the Egyptian monarch; but the materials used in building them were the work of their hands; and the number of persons constantly employed in making bricks may be readily accounted for by the extensive supply required, and kept by the government for sale.

To meet with Hebrews in the sculptures cannot reasonably be expected, since the remains in that part of Egypt where they lived have not been preserved; but it is curious to discover other foreign captives occupied in the same manner, overlooked by similar “taskmasters,” and performing the very same labours as the Israelites described in the Bible; and no one can look at the paintings of Thebes, representing brick-makers, without a feeling of the highest interest. That the scene in the accompanying wood-cut is at the capital of Upper Egypt is shown by the hieroglyphics, which state, that the “bricks” (tôbi) are made for a building at “Thebes” (fig. 9, e); and this occurrence of the word implying bricks, similar both in modern Arabic and ancient Coptic, gives an additional value to the picture.

433.              Foreign captives employed in making bricks at Thebes. Thebes.

Fig. 1. Man returning after carrying the bricks. Figs. 3, 6. Taskmasters. Figs. 4, 5. Men carrying bricks.

Figs. 7, 9, 12, 13. Digging and mixing the clay or mud. Figs. 8, 14. Making bricks with a wooden mould, d, h.

Figs. 14, 15. Fetching water from the tank h. At e the bricks (tôbi) are said to be made at Thebes.

It is not very consistent, nor logical, to argue, that because the Jews made bricks, and the persons here introduced are so engaged, these must necessarily be Jews: since the Egyptians and their captives were constantly required to perform the same task; and the great quantity made at all times is proved by the number of buildings, which still remain, constructed of those materials. And a sufficient contradiction is given to that conclusion, by their being said to be working at Thebes, where the Jews never were, and by the names of various Asiatic captives of the time being recorded in the same tomb, among which no mention is made of Jews.

With regard to the features of foreigners resembling the Jews, it is only necessary to observe that the Egyptians adopted the same character for all the inhabitants of Syria; as may be seen in the sculptures of Karnak and other places, where those people occur, as well as in one of the sets of figures in Belzoni’s tomb; and the brick-makers, far from having what is considered the very Jewish expression found in many of those figures, have not even the long beard, so marked in the people of Syria and the prisoners of Shesonk (Shishak). They are represented as a white people, like others from Asia introduced into the paintings, and some have blue eyes and red hair, which are also given to the people of Rot-ǹ-n in this same tomb. Indeed if I were disposed to think them Jews, I should rather argue it from many of these figures not having the large nose and dark eyes and hair we consider as Jewish types; for some of these brickmakers are painted yellow, with blue eyes and small beards. Others are red with a rétroussé nose. (Woodcut 434, fig. 2.)

These last may be Egyptians, or people of Pount who are represented bringing tribute in the same tomb. The fact of some having small beards, others merely the “stubble-field” of an unshaven chin, might accord with Jews as well as with the Rot-ǹ-n, or other northern races; but their making bricks at Thebes, and the name of Jews not being mentioned in the whole tomb, are insuperable objections.

434.              Two of the Brickmakers. Thebes.

And here I may mention a remarkable circumstance, that the Jews of the East to this day often have red hair and blue eyes, with a nose of delicate form and nearly straight, and are quite unlike their brethren of Europe; and the children in modern Jerusalem have the pink and white complexions of Europeans. The Oriental Jews are at the same time unlike the other Syrians in features; and it is the Syrians who have the large nose that strikes us as the peculiarity of the western Israelites. This prominent feature was always a characteristic of the Syrians; but not of the ancient, nor of the modern, Jews of Judæa; and the Saviour’s head, though not really a portrait, is evidently a traditional representation of the Jewish face, which is still traceable at Jerusalem. No real portrait of Him was ever handed down; and Eusebius, of Cæsarea, pronounced the impossibility of obtaining one for the sister of Constantine; but the character of the Jewish face would necessarily be known in those early days, (in the 4th century), when the first representations of Him were attempted; and we should be surprised to find any artist abandon the style of features thus agreed upon for ages, and represent the Saviour with those of our western Jews. Yet this would be perfectly correct if the Jews of His day had those features; and such would have been, in that case, His traditional’ portrait.

I had often remarked the colour and features of the Jews in the East, so unlike those known in Europe, and my wish to ascertain if they were the same in Judæa was at length gratified by a visit to Jerusalem; where I found the same type in all those really of eastern origin; and the large nose is there an invariable proof of mixture with a western family. It may be difficult to explain this great difference in the eastern and western face (and the former is said to be also found in Hungary); but the subject is worthy of investigation, as is the origin of those Jews now living in Europe, and the early migrations that took place from Judæa long before the Christian era. These would be more satisfactory than mere speculations on the Lost Tribes.

The occupations of the common people in Egypt were carefully watched by the magistrate, and no one was allowed to live an idle life, useless to himself, and to the community. It was thought right that the industrious citizen should be encouraged, and distinguished from the lazy or the profligate; and in order to protect the good and detect the wicked, it was enacted that every one should at certain times present himself before the magistrates, or provincial governors, and give in his name, his place of abode, his profession or employment, and the mode in which he gained his livelihood; the particulars being duly registered in the official report. The time of attendance was fixed, and those from the same parish proceeded in bodies to the appointed office, accompanied by their respective banners, and each individual being introduced singly to the registering clerks, gave in his statement and answered the necessary questions. In approaching these functionaries, they adopted the usual forms of respect before a superior; making a profound bow, one hand falling down to the knee, the other placed over the mouth to keep the breath from his face. The same mark of deference was expected from every one, as a token of respect to the court, on all occasions; when accused before a magistrate, and when attending at the police office to prefer a complaint, or to vindicate his character from an unjust imputation; and when a culprit sought to deprecate punishment, or to show great deference before a superior, he frequently placed one hand across his breast to the opposite shoulder.

435.              Persons coming to be registered. Thebes.

436.              Brought before the Scribes. Thebes.

The custom of giving an account of their occupations was not of late introduction; it was adopted in old times; and the above representations are of the time of the 18th dynasty. It appears that they not only enrolled their names and gave in the various particulars required of them, but were obliged to have a passport from the magistrates; and this may possibly be the paper presented in the preceding woodcut to the scribe; for a document of that kind was required for every ship quitting a port, and all the precautions respecting a man’s mode of life would have been useless if he could leave his town for another part of the country without some notice being required on his departure, and some vouchure being shown by him on his arrival at a new place of abode. The tiresome system of passports is exactly what the scrutiny of the cautious “paternal government” of Egypt would have invented; their formula may be recognised in the description of persons, who were parties to the sale of estates, and other private or public contracts; and in a deed of the time of Cleopatra Cocce, and Ptolemy Alexander I., written in Greek, and relating to the sale of a piece of land at Thebes, five individuals are thus described:—“Pamonthes, aged about forty-five, of middle size, dark complexion and handsome figure, bald, round faced, and straight nosed; Snachomneus, aged about twenty, of middle size, sallow complexion, round faced, and straight nosed; Semnuthis Persineï, aged about twenty-two, of middle size, sallow complexion, round faced, flat nosed, and of quiet demeanour; and Tathlyt Persineï, aged about thirty, of middle size, and sallow complexion, round faced, and straight nosed—the four being children of Petepsais, of the leather-cutters of the Memnonia; and the Nechutes the less, the son of Asos, aged about forty, of middle size, sallow complexion, cheerful countenance, long face, and straight nose, with a scar upon the middle of his forehead.”

During this examination before the magistrates, if excesses were found to have been committed by any one, in an irregular course of life, he was sentenced to the bastinado; but a false statement, or the proof of being engaged in unlawful pursuits, entailed upon him the punishment of a capital crime.

Another, and a fuller account of his conduct was required in the Confession, which the soul of every Egyptian was doomed to make at his death, before he could receive his last passport to eternal happiness.

The laws of the Egyptians were partly a compilation from decisions of learned judges in noted cases; as in some modern countries, and as with the Bedouins, who are guided by precedents and the opinions of their ḳádis, handed down from past times, rather than by the fixed law of the Ḳoran. They had also a grand code of laws and jurisprudence, known as the celebrated “Eight Books of Hermes,” which it was incumbent on those high-priests called “prophets” to be thoroughly versed in, and which the king, who held that office, was also required and entitled to know. It was not only in Egypt that the kings were judges; it was usual in many eastern countries to entrust the laws and their administration to them; and Xenophon, who ascribes the origin of the custom in Asia to Cyrus, says that those who wished to present petitions to the king attended at the gate of the palace. It was probably from a similar custom that the Turkish title “the Sublime Porte” (or “lofty gate”) was derived; and the same idea is contained in the common Oriental expression Ana fee bab Allah, “I am waiting at God’s gate” (for help), in cases of complete distress.

We are acquainted with few of the laws of the ancient Egyptians; but the superiority of their legislature has always been acknowledged as the cause of the duration of an empire, which lasted with the same form of government for a much longer period than the generality of ancient states. Indeed the wisdom of that people was proverbial, and was held in such consideration by other nations, that we find it taken by the Jews as the standard to which superior learning in their own country was willingly compared; and Moses had prepared himself for the duties of a legislator, by becoming versed “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.”

Besides their right of enacting laws, and of superintending all affairs of religion, and the state, the kings administered justice to their subjects on those questions which came under their immediate cognisance, and they were assisted in the management of state affairs by the advice of the most able and distinguished members of the priestly order. With them the monarch consulted upon all questions of importance relating to the internal administration of the country; and previous to the admission of Joseph to the confidence of Pharaoh, the opinion of his ministers was asked as to the expediency of the measure.

His edicts appear to have been issued in the form of a firmán, or written order, like the Hot e’ Sheréef, “handwriting of the Descendant of the Prophet,” (or the Turkish Sultan,) and like the royal commands in all Oriental countries; and from the expression used by Pharaoh in granting power to Joseph, we may infer that the people who received his order adopted the same Eastern mode of acknowledging their obedience and respect for the sovereign, now shown to a firmán; the expression in the Hebrew being, “according to thy word shall all people kiss” (be ruled), and evidently alluding to the custom of kissing the signature attached to those documents. They were also expected to “bow the knee” in the presence of the monarch and chiefs of the country, and even to prostrate themselves to the ground, as Joseph’s brethren did before him.

Causes of ordinary occurrence were decided by those who held the office of judges; and the care with which persons were elected to this office is a proof of their regard for the welfare of the community, and of their earnest endeavours to promote the ends of justice. None were admitted to it but the most upright and learned individuals; and, in order to make the office more select, and more readily to obtain persons of known character, ten only were chosen from each of the three cities—Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis; a body of men, says Diodorus, by no means inferior either to the Areopagites of Athens, or to the senate of Lacedæmon.

These thirty individuals constituted the bench of judges; and at their first meeting they elected the most distinguished among them to be president, with the title of Arch-judge. His salary was much greater than that of the other judges, as his office was more important, and the city to which he belonged enjoyed the privilege of returning another judge, to complete the number of the thirty from whom he had been chosen. They all received ample allowances from the king, in order that, possessing a sufficiency for their maintenance and other necessary expenses, they might be above the reach of temptation, and be inaccessible to bribes; for it was considered of primary importance that all judicial proceedings should be regulated with the most scrupulous exactitude; sentences pronounced by authorised tribunals always having a decided influence, either salutary or prejudicial, on the affairs of common life. They felt that precedents were thereby established, and that numerous abuses frequently resulted from an early error, which had been sanctioned by the decision of some influential person; and for this reason they weighed the talents, as well as the character, of the judge.

The first principle was, that offenders should be discovered and punished, and that those who had been wronged should be benefited by the interposition of the laws; since the least compensation which can be made to the oppressed, and the most effectual preventive of crime, are the speedy discovery and exposure of the offender. On the other hand, if the terror which hangs over the guilty in the hour of trial could be averted by bribery or favour, nothing short of distrust and confusion would pervade all ranks of society; and the spirit of the Egyptian laws (as Diodorus shows) was not merely to hold out the distant prospect of rewards and punishments, nor simply threaten the future vengeance of the gods, but to apply the more persuasive stimulus of present retribution.

Besides the care taken by them that justice should be administered according to the real merits of the case, and that before their tribunals no favour or respect of persons should be permitted, another very important regulation was adopted, that justice should be gratuitously administered; and it was consequently accessible to the poor as well as to the rich. The very spirit of their laws was to give protection and assistance to the oppressed, and everything that tended to promote an unbiassed judgment was peculiarly commended by the Egyptian sages.

When a case was brought for trial, it was customary for the arch-judge to put a golden chain round his neck, to which was suspended a small figure of Truth, ornamented with precious stones. This was, in fact, a representation of the goddess who was worshipped under the double character of Truth and Justice, and whose name, Thmei, appears to have been the origin of the Hebrew Thummim—a word, according to the Septuagint translation, implying “truth,” and bearing a further analogy in its plural termination. And what makes it more remarkable, is that the chief priest of the Jews, who, before the election of a king, was also the judge of the nation, was alone entitled to wear this honorary badge; and the Thummim, like the Egyptian figure, was studded with precious stones of various colours. The goddess was represented “having her eyes closed,” purporting that the duty of a judge was to weigh the question according to the evidence he had heard, and to trust rather to his mind than to what he saw, and was intended to warn him of that virtue which the Deity peculiarly enjoined; an emblematic idea, very similar to “those statues at Thebes of judges without hands, with their chief or president at their head having his eyes turned downwards,” signifying, as Plutarch says, “that Justice ought neither to be accessible to bribes, nor guided by favour and affection.”

437.              The goddess of Truth and Justice. Thebes.

438.              The goddess of Truth, “with her eyes closed.” Thebes.

It is not to be supposed that the president and the thirty judges above mentioned were the only house of judicature in the country; each city, or capital of a nome, had no doubt its own “County court,” for the trial of minor and local offences; and it is probable that the assembly returned by the three chief cities resided wherever the royal court was held, and performed many of the same duties as the senates of ancient times. And that this was really the case appears from Diodorus mentioning the thirty judges and their president, represented at Thebes in the sculptures of the tomb of Osymandyas.

The president, or arch-judge, having put on the emblem of Truth, the trial commenced; and the eight volumes which contained the laws of the Egyptians were placed close to him, in order to guide his decision, or to enable him to solve a difficult question, by reference to that code, to former precedents, or to the opinion of some learned predecessor. The complainant stated his case. This was done in writing; and every particular that bore upon the subject, the mode in which the alleged offence was committed, and an estimate of the damage, or the extent of the injury sustained, were inserted.

The defendant then, taking up the deposition of the opposite party, wrote his answer to each of the plaintiff‘s statements, either denying the charge, or endeavouring to prove that the offence was not of a serious nature; or, if obliged to admit his guilt, suggesting that the damages were too high, and incompatible with the nature of the crime. The complainant replied in writing; and the accused having brought forward all he had to say in his defence, the papers were given to the judges; and if no witnesses could be produced on either side, they decided upon the question according to the deposition of the parties. Their opinion only required to be ratified by the president, who then proceeded, in virtue of his office, to pronounce judgment on the case; and this was done by touching the party who had gained the cause with the figure of Truth. They considered that this mode of proceeding was more likely to forward the ends of justice, than when the judges listened to the statements of pleaders; eloquence having frequently the effect of fascinating the mind, and tending to throw a veil over guilt, and to pervert truth. The persuasive arguments of oratory, or those artifices which move the passions and excite the sympathy of the judges, were avoided; and thus neither did an appeal to their feelings, nor the tears and dissimulation of an offender, soften the just rigour of the laws. And while ample time was afforded to each party to proffer or to disprove an accusation, no opportunity was given to the offender to take advantage of his opponent, but poor and rich, ignorant and learned, honest and dishonest, were placed on an equal footing; and it was the case, rather than the persons, upon which the judgment was passed.

The laws of the Egyptians were handed down from the earliest times, and looked upon with the greatest reverence. They had the credit of having been dictated by the gods themselves, and Thoth (Hermes, Mercury, or the Divine Intellect) was said to have framed them for the benefit of mankind.

The names of many of the earliest monarchs and sages, who had contributed to the completion of their code, were recorded and venerated by them; and whoever, at successive periods, made additions to it was mentioned with gratitude as a benefactor of his country.

Truth or justice was thought to be the main cardinal virtue among the Egyptians, inasmuch as it relates more particularly to others; prudence, temperance, and fortitude being relative qualities, and tending chiefly to the immediate benefit of the individual who possesses them. It was, therefore, with great earnestness that they inculcated the necessity of fully appreciating it; and falsehood was not only considered disgraceful, but when it entailed an injury on any other person was punishable by law. A calumniator of the dead was condemned to a severe punishment; and a false accuser was doomed to the same sentence which would have been awarded to the accused, if the offence had been proved against him; but to maintain a falsehood by an oath was deemed the blackest crime, and one which, from its complicated nature, could be punished by nothing short of death. For they considered that it involved two distinct crimes—a contempt for the gods, and a violation of faith towards man; the former the direct promoter of every sin, the latter destructive of all those ties which are most essential for the welfare of society.

The wilful murder of a freeman, or even of a slave, was punished with death, from the conviction that men ought to be restrained from the commission of sin, not on account of any distinction of station in life, but from the light in which they viewed the crime itself; while at the same time it had the effect of showing, that if the murder of a slave was deemed an offence deserving of so severe a punishment, they ought still more to shrink from the murder of one who was a compatriot and a free-born citizen.

In this law we observe a scrupulous regard to justice and humanity, and have an unquestionable proof of the great advancement made by the Egyptians in the most essential points of civilisation. Indeed, the Egyptians considered it so heinous a crime to deprive a man of life, that to be the accidental witness of an attempt to murder, without endeavouring to prevent it, was a capital offence, which could only be palliated by bringing proofs of inability to act. With the same spirit they decided, that to be present when any one inflicted a personal injury on another, without interfering, was tantamount to being a party, and was punishable according to the extent of the assault; and every one who witnessed a robbery was bound either to arrest, or, if that was out of his power, to lay an information, and to prosecute the offenders: and any neglect on this score being proved against him, the delinquent was condemned to receive a stated number of stripes, and to be kept without food for there whole days.

Although, in the case of murder, the Egyptian law was inexorable and severe, the royal prerogative might be exerted in favour of a culprit, and the punishment was sometimes commuted by a mandate from the king. Sabaco, indeed, during the fifty years of his reign, “made it a rule not to punish his subjects with death,” whether guilty of murder or any other capital offence, but, “according to the magnitude of their crimes, he condemned the culprits to raise the ground about the town to which they belonged. By these means the situation of the different cities became greatly elevated above the reach of the inundation, even more than in the time of Sesostris;” and either on account of a greater proportion of criminals, or from some other cause, the mounds of Bubastis were raised considerably higher than those of any other city.

The same laws that forbade a master to punish a slave with death took from a father every right over the life of his offspring; and the Egyptians deemed the murder of a child an odious crime, that called for the direct interposition of justice. They did not, however, punish it as a capital offence, since it appeared inconsistent to take away life from one who had given it to the child, but preferred inflicting such a punishment as would induce grief and repentance. With this view they ordained that the corpse of the deceased should be fastened to the neck of its parent, and that he should be obliged to pass three whole days and nights in its embrace, under the surveillance of a public guard.

But parricide was visited with the most cruel of chastisements; and conceiving, as they did, that the murder of a parent was the most unnatural of crimes, they endeavoured to prevent its occurrence by the marked severity with which it was avenged. The criminal was therefore sentenced to be lacerated with sharpened reeds, and after being thrown on thorns he was burnt to death.

When a woman was guilty of a capital offence, and judgment had been passed upon her, they were particularly careful to ascertain if the condemned was in a state of pregnancy; in which case her punishment was deferred till after the birth of the child, in order that the innocent might not suffer with the guilty, and thus the father be deprived of that child to which he had at least an equal right.

But some of their laws regarding the female sex were cruel and unjustifiable; and even if, which is highly improbable, they succeeded by their severity in enforcing chastity, and in putting an effectual stop to crime, yet the punishment rather reminds us of the laws of a barbarous people than of a wise and civilized state. A woman who had committed adultery was sentenced to lose her nose, upon the principle that, being the most conspicuous feature, and the chief, or, at least, an indispensable, ornament of the face, its loss would be most severely felt, and be the greatest detriment to her personal charms; and the man was condemned to receive a bastinado of one thousand blows. But if it was proved that force had been used against a free woman, he was doomed to a cruel mutilation.

The object of the Egyptian laws was to preserve life, and to reclaim an offender. Death took away every chance of repentance, it deprived the country of his services, and he was hurried out of the world when least prepared to meet the ordeal of a future state. They, therefore, preferred severe punishments, and, except in the case of murder, and some crimes which appeared highly injurious to the community, it was deemed unnecessary to sacrifice the life of an offender.

In military as well as civil cases, minor offences were generally punished with the stick; a mode of chastisement still greatly in vogue among the modern inhabitants of the valley of the Nile, and held in such esteem by them, that convinced of (or perhaps by) its efficacy, they relate “its descent from heaven as a blessing to mankind.”

If an Egyptian of the present day has a government debt or tax to pay, he stoutly persists in his inability to obtain the money, till he has withstood a certain number of blows, and considers himself compelled to produce it; and the ancient inhabitants, if not under the rule of their native princes, at least in the time of the Roman emperors, gloried equally in the obstinacy they evinced, and the difficulty the governors of the country experienced in extorting from them what they were bound to pay; whence Ammianus Marcellinus tells us, “an Egyptian blushes if he cannot show numerous marks on his body that evince his endeavours to evade the duties.”

439.              The bastinado. Beni Hassan.

The bastinado was inflicted on both sexes, as with the Jews. Men and boys were laid prostrate on the ground, and frequently held by the hands and feet while the chastisement was administered; but women, as they sat, received the stripes on their back, which was also inflicted by the hand of a man. Nor was it unusual for the superintendents to stimulate labourers to their work by the persuasive powers of the stick, whether engaged in the field or in handicraft employments; and boys were sometimes beaten without the ceremony of prostration, the hands being tied behind their back, while the punishment was applied.

440.              Women bastinadoed. Beni Hassan.

441.              Workmen beaten. Tomb at the Pyramids.

It does not, however, appear to have been from any respect to the person, that this less usual method was adopted; nor is it probable that any class of the community enjoyed a peculiar privilege on these occasions, as among the modern Moslems, who, extending their respect for the Prophet to his distant descendants of the thirty-sixth and ensuing generations, scruple to administer the stick to a Sheréef until he has been politely furnished with a mat, on which to prostrate his guilty person. Among other amusing privileges in modern Egypt, is that conceded to the grandees, or officers of high rank. Ordinary culprits are punished by the hand of persons usually employed on such occasions; but a Bey, or the governor of a district, can only receive his chastisement from the hand of a Pasha, and the aristocratic daboss (mace) is substituted for the vulgar stick. This is no trifling privilege: it becomes fully impressed upon the sufferer, and renders him, long after, sensible of the peculiar honour he has enjoyed; nor can any one doubt that an iron mace, in form not very unlike a chocolate-mill, is a distingue mode of punishing men who are proud of their rank.

Having noticed the pertinacity of the modern Egyptians in resisting the payment of their taxes, I shall introduce the following story as remarkably illustrative of this fact. In the year 1822, a Copt Christian, residing at Cairo, was arrested by the Turkish authorities for the non-payment of his taxes, and taken before the Kehia, or deputy of the Pasha. “Why,” inquired the angry Turk, “have you not paid your taxes?”—“Because,” replied the Copt, with a pitiable expression, perfectly according with his tattered appearance, “I have not the means.” He was instantly ordered to be thrown upon the floor, and bastinadoed. He prayed to be released, but in vain: the stick continued without intermission, and he was scarcely able to bear the increasing pain. Again and again he pleaded his inability to pay, and prayed for mercy: the Turk was inexorable; and the torments he felt at length overcame his resolution: they were no longer to be borne. “Release me,” he cried, “and I will pay directly.”—“Ah, you Giower! go.” He was released, and taken home, accompanied by a soldier, and the money being paid, he imparted to his wife the sad tidings. “You coward! you fool!” she exclaimed; “what, give them the money on the very first demand! I suppose after five or six blows, you cried, ‘I will pay, only release me;’ next year our taxes will be doubled through your weakness; shame!”—“No, my dear,” interrupted the suffering man, “I assure you I resisted as long as it was possible; look at the state I am in, before you upbraid me. I paid the money, but they had trouble enough for it; for I obliged them to give me at least a hundred blows before they could get it.” She was pacified; and the pity and commendation of his wife, added to his own satisfaction in having shown so much obstinacy and courage, consoled him for the pain, and, perhaps, in some measure, for the money thus forced from him.

Hanging was the customary mode of punishment, in ancient Egypt, for many capital crimes; and the criminals were kept “bound” in prison till their fate was decided; whether it depended on the will of the sovereign, or the decision of the judges. These places of confinement were under the immediate superintendence, and within the house, of the chief of the police, or “captain of the guard,” “an officer of Pharaoh,” who was probably the captain of the watch, like the Zábut of the modern Egyptian police.

The character of some of the Egyptian laws was quite consonant with the notions of a primitive age. The punishment was directed more particularly against the offending member: and adulterators of money, falsifiers of weights and measures, forgers of seals or signatures, and scribes who altered any signed document by erasures or additions, without the authority of the parties, were condemned to lose both their hands.

But their laws do not seem to have sanctioned the gibbet, or the exposure of the body of an offender; for the conduct of Rhampsinitus, in the case of the robbery of his treasure, is mentioned by Herodotus as a singular mode of discovering an accomplice, and not as an ordinary punishment; if indeed the whole story is not the invention of a Greek cicerone.

Thefts, breach of trust, and petty frauds were punished with the bastinado; but robbery and housebreaking were sometimes considered capital crimes, and deserving of death; as is evident from the conduct of the thief, when caught by the trap in the treasury of Rhampsinitus, and from what Diodorus states respecting Actisanes. This monarch, instead of putting robbers to death, instituted a novel mode of punishing them, by cutting off their noses, and banishing them to the confines of the desert, where a town was built, called Rhinocolura, from the peculiar nature of their punishment; and thus, by removing the bad, and preventing their corrupting the good, he benefited society, without depriving the criminals of life; at the same time that he punished them severely for their crimes, by obliging them to live by their labours, and derive a precarious sustenance from quails, or whatever they could catch, in that barren region. Commutation of punishment was the foundation of this part of the convict system of Egypt, and Rhinocolura was their Norfolk Island, where a sea of sand separated the worst felons from those guilty of smaller crimes; who were transported to the mines in the desert, and condemned to work for various terms, according to their offence.

442.              Bastinado for petty theft. Thebes.

Blindly following the old-fashioned notion of merely punishing for offences committed, the Egyptian Government had never thought of preventing crime by educating the youth of the poor, and checking the supply of future criminals by thwarting vice in embryo; they did, however, attempt it in some degree by preventing idleness, and requiring each to account for his mode of life; and they could scarcely be expected in those early days to have arrived at a system we have only just adopted; and which has been so ably carried out in Scotland. Our next problem, on the return of criminals to society, when transportation shall have ceased, has yet to be solved; and we shall be fortunate if we excel the Egyptians as far in this, as in the case of juvenile offenders.

The Egyptians had a singular custom respecting theft and burglary. Those who followed the profession of thief gave in their names to the chief of the robbers; and agreed that he should be informed of every thing they might thenceforward steal, the moment it was in their possession. In consequence of this the owner of the lost goods always applied by letter to the chief for their recovery: and having stated their quality and quantity, the day and hour when they were stolen, and other requisite particulars, the goods were identified, and, on payment of one quarter of their value, they were restored to the applicant, in the same state as when taken from his house.

For being fully persuaded of the impracticability of putting an entire check to robbery, either by the dread of punishment, or by any method that could be adopted by the most vigilant police, they considered it more for the advantage of the community, that a certain sacrifice should be made in order to secure the restitution of the remainder, than that the law, by taking on itself to protect the citizen, and discover the offender, should be the indirect cause of greater loss. And that the Egyptians, like the Indians, and I may say the modern inhabitants of the Nile, were very expert in the art of stealing, we have abundant testimony from ancient authors.

It may be asked, what redress could be obtained, if goods were stolen by thieves who failed to enter their names on the books of the chief; but, it is evident that there could be few of those private speculators, since by their interfering with the interests of all the profession, the detection of such egotistical persons would have been certain; and thus all others were effectually prevented from robbing, save those of the privileged class.

The salary of the chief was not merely derived from his own demands upon the goods stolen, or from any voluntary contribution of the robbers themselves, but was probably a fixed remuneration granted by the government, as one of the chiefs of the police; nor is it to be supposed that he was any other than a respectable citizen, and a man of integrity and honour. The same may be said of the modern “shekh of the thieves” at Cairo, where this very ancient office is still retained.

The great confidence reposed in the public weighers rendered it necessary to enact suitable laws in order to bind them to their duty; and considering how much public property was at their mercy, and how easily bribes might be taken from a dishonest tradesman, the Egyptians inflicted a severe punishment as well on the weighers as on the shopkeepers, who were found to have false weights and measures, or to have defrauded the purchaser in any other way; and these, as well as the scribes who kept false accounts, were punished (as before stated) with the loss of both their hands; on the principle, says Diodorus, that the offending member should suffer; while the culprit was severely punished, that others might be deterred from the commission of a similar offence.

As in other countries, their laws respecting debt and usury inderwent some changes, according as society advanced, and as pecuniary transactions became more complicated.

Bocchoris (who reigned in Egypt about the year 800 B. C., and who, from his learning, obtained the surname of Wise), finding that in cases of debt many causes of dispute had arisen, and instances of great oppression were of frequent occurrence, enacted, that no agreement should be binding unless it was acknowledged by a written contract; and if any one took oath that the money had not been lent him, that no debt should be recognised, and the claims of the suing party should immediately cease. This was done, that great regard might always be had for the name and nature of an oath, at the same time that, by substituting the unquestionable proof of a written document, the necessity of having frequent recourse to an oath was avoided, and its sanctity was not diminished by constant repetition.

Usury was in all cases condemned by the Egyptian legislature; and when money was borrowed, even with a written agreement, it was forbidden to allow the interest to increase to more than double the original sum. Nor could the creditors seize the debtor’s person: their claims and right were confined to the goods in his possession, and such as were really his own; which were comprehended under the produce of his labour, or what he had received from another individual to whom they lawfully belonged. For the person of every citizen was looked upon as the property of the state, and might be required for some public service, connected either with war or peace; and, independent of the injustice of subjecting any one to the momentary caprice of his creditor, the safety of the country might be endangered through the avarice of a few interested individuals.

This law, which was borrowed by Solon from the Egyptian code, existed also at Athens; and was, as Diodorus observes, much more consistent with justice and common sense than that which allowed the creditor to seize the person, while it forbade him to take the ploughs and other implements of husbandry. For if, continues the historian, it is unjust thus to deprive men of the means of obtaining subsistence, and of providing for their families, how much more unreasonable must it be to imprison those by whom the implements were used!

To prevent the accumulation of debt, and to protect the interests of the creditor, another remarkable law was enacted by Asychis, which, while it shows how greatly they endeavoured to check the increasing evil, proves the high respect paid by the Egyptians to the memory of their parents, and to the sanctity of their religious ceremonies. By this it was pronounced illegal for any one to borrow money without giving in pledge the body of his father, or the tomb of his ancestors; and, if he failed to redeem so sacred a deposit, he was considered infamous; and, at his death, the celebration of the accustomed funeral obsequies was denied him, and he could not enjoy the right of burial either in that tomb or in any other place of sepulture; nor could he inter his children, or any of his family, as long as the debt was unpaid, the creditor being put in actual possession of the family tomb.

In the large cities of Egypt, a fondness for display, and the usual allurements of luxury, were rapidly introduced; and considerable sums were expended in furnishing houses, and in many artificial caprices. Rich jewels and costly works of art were in great request, as well among the inhabitants of the provincial capitals, as at Thebes and Memphis: they delighted in splendid equipages, elegant and commodious boats, numerous attendants, horses, dogs, and other requisites for the chase; and, besides, their houses, their villas, and their gardens, were laid out with no ordinary expense. But while the funds arising from extensive farms, and the abundant produce of a fertile soil, enabled the rich to indulge extravagant habits, many of the less wealthy envied the enjoyment of those luxuries which fortune had denied to them; and, prompted by vanity, and a silly desire of imitation, so common in civilised communities, they pursued a career which speedily led to an accumulation of debt, and demanded the interference of the legislature; and it is probable that a law, so severe as this must have appeared to the Egyptians, was only adopted as a measure of absolute necessity, in order to put a check to the increasing evil.

The necessary expenses of the Egyptians were remarkably small, less, indeed, than of any people; and the food of the poorer classes was of the cheapest and most simple kind. Owing to the warmth of the climate, they required few clothes, and young children were in the habit of going without shoes, and with little or no covering to their bodies; and so trifling was the expense of bringing up a child, that, as Diodorus affirms, it never need cost a parent more than 20 drachms (13 shillings English), until arrived at man’s estate. It was, therefore, luxury, and the increasing wants of an artificial kind, which corrupted the manners of the Egyptians, and rendered such a law necessary for their restraint; and we may conclude, that it was mainly directed against those who contracted debts for the gratification of pleasure, or with the premeditated intent of defrauding an unsuspecting creditor.

In the mode of executing deeds, conveyances, and other civil contracts, the Egyptians were peculiarly circumstantial and minute; and the great number of witnesses is a singular feature in those documents. In the time of the Ptolemies, sales of property commenced with a preamble, containing the date of the king in whose reign they were executed; the name of the president of the court, and of the clerk by whom they were written, being also specified. The body of the contract then followed.

It stated the name of the individual who sold the land, the description of his person, an account of his parentage, profession, and place of abode, the extent and nature of the land, its situation and boundaries, and concluded with the name of the purchaser, whose parentage and description were also added, and the sum for which it was bought. The seller then vouched for his undisturbed possession of it; and, becoming security against any attempt to dispute his title, the name of the other party was inserted as having accepted it, and acknowledged the purchase. The names of witnesses were then affixed; and, the president of the court having added his signature, the deed was valid. Sometimes the seller formally recognised the sale in the following manner:—“All these things have I sold thee: they are thine, I have received their price from thee, and will make no demand upon thee for them from this day; and if any person disturb thee in the possession of them, I will withstand the attempt; and, if I do not otherwise repel it, I will use compulsory means,” or, “I will indemnify thee.”

But, in order to give a more accurate notion of the form of these contracts, I shall introduce a copy of the whole of one of them, as given by Dr. Young, and refer the reader to others occurring in the same work. “Translation of the enchorial papyrus of Paris, containing the original deed relating to the mummies:—‘This writing dated in the year 36, Athyr 20, in the reign of our sovereigns Ptolemy and Cleopatra his sister, the children of Ptolemy and Cleopatra the divine, the gods Illustrious: and the priest of Alexander, and of the Saviour gods, of the Brother gods, of the (Beneficent gods), of the Father-loving gods, of the Illustrious gods, of the Paternal god, and of the Mother-loving gods, being (as by law appointed): and the prize-bearer of Berenice the Beneficent, and the basket-bearer of Arsinoë the Brother-loving, and the priestess of Arsinoë the Father-loving, being as appointed in the metropolis (of Alexandria); and in (Ptolemaïs) the royal city of the Thebaïd? the guardian priest for the year? of Ptolemy Soter, and the priest of king Ptolemy the Father-loving, and the priest of Ptolemy the Brother-loving, and the priest of Ptolemy the Beneficent, and the priest of Ptolemy the Mother-loving; and the priestess of queen Cleopatra, and the priestess of the princess Cleopatra, and the priestess of Cleopatra, the (queen) mother, deceased, the Illustrious; and the basket-bearer of Arsinoë the Brother-loving (being as appointed): declares: The Dresser? in the temple of the Goddess, Onnophris, the son of Horus, and of Senpoëris, daughter of Spotus? (“aged about forty, lively,”) tall (“of a sallow complexion, hollow-eyed, and bald”); in the temple of the goddess to (Horus) his brother? the son of Horus and of Senpoëris, has sold, for a price in money, half of one third of the collections for the dead “priests of Osiris?” lying in Thynabunum … in the Libyan suburb of Thebes, in the Memnonia … likewise half of one third of the liturgies: their names being, Muthes, the son of Spotus, with his children and his household; Chapocrates, the son of Nechthmonthes, with his children and his household; Arsiesis, the son of Nechthmonthes, with his children and his household; Petemestus, the son of Nechthmonthes; Arsiesis, the son of Zminis, with his children and his household; Osoroëris, the son of Horus, with his children and his household; Spotus, the son of Chapochonsis, surnamed? Zoglyphus (the sculptor), with his children and his household: while there belonged also to Asos, the son of Horus and of Senpoëris, daughter of Spotus? in the same manner one half of a third of the collections for the dead, and of the fruits and so forth … he sold it on the 20th of Athyr, in the reign of the King ever-living, to (complete) the third part: likewise the half of one third of the collections relating to Peteutemis, with his household, and … likewise the half of one third? of the collections and fruits for Petechonsis, the bearer of milk, and of the … place on the Asian side, called Phrecages, and … the dead bodies in it: there having belonged to Asos the son of Horus one half of the same: he has sold to him in the month of … the half of one third of the collections for the priests of Osiris? lying in Thynabunum, with their children and their households: likewise the half of one third of the collections for Peteutemis, and also for Petechonsis, the bearer of milk, in the place Phrecages on the Asian side: I have received for them their price in silver … and gold; and I make no further demand on thee for them from the present day … before the authorities … (and if any one shall disturb thee in the possession of them, I will resist him, and, if I do not succeed, I will indemnify thee?) … Executed and confirmed. Written by Horus, the son of Phabis, clerk to the chief priests of Amon-rasonther, and of the contemplar? Gods, of the Beneficent gods, of the Father-loving gods, of the Paternal god, and of the Mother-loving gods. Amen.

“ ‘Names of the witnesses present:—

ERIEUS, the son of Phanres Erieus.

PETEARTRES, the son of Peteutemis.

PETEARPOCRATES, the son of Horus.

SNACHOMNEUS, the son of Peteuris.

SNACHOMES, the son of Psenchonsis.

TOTOES, the son of Phibis.

PORTIS, the son of Appollonius.

ZMINIS, the son of Petemestus.

PETEUTEMIS, the son of Arsiesis.

AMONORYTIUS, the son of Pacemis.

HORUS, the son of Chimnaraus.

ARMENIS (rather Arbais), the son of Zthenaetis.

MAESIS, the son of Mirsis.

ANTIMACHUS, the son of Antigenes.

PETOPHOIS, the son of Phibis.

PANAS, the son of Petosiris.’ ”

In this, as in many other documents, the testimony required is very remarkable, sixteen witnesses being thought necessary for the sale of a moiety of the sums collected on account of a few tombs, and for services performed to the dead, the total value of which was only 400 pieces of brass; and the name of each person is introduced, in the true Oriental style, with that of his father Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that the same precautions and minute formulas were observed in similar transactions during the reigns of the Pharaonic kings, however great may have been the change introduced by the Ptolemies and Romans into the laws and local government of Egypt.

Of the marriage contracts of the Egyptians we are entirely ignorant, nor do we even find the ceremony represented in the paintings of their tombs. We may, however, conclude that they were regulated by the customs usual among civilised nations; and, if the authority of Diodorus can be credited, women were indulged with greater privileges in Egypt than in any other country. He even affirms that part of the agreement entered into at the time of marriage was, that the wife should have control over her husband, and that no objection should be made to her commands, whatever they might be; but, though we have sufficient to convince us of the superior treatment of women among the Egyptians, as well from ancient authors as from the sculptures that remain, it may fairly be doubted if those indulgences were carried to the extent mentioned by the historian, or that command extended beyond the management of the house, and the regulation of domestic affairs.

It is, however, remarkable that the royal authority and supreme direction of affairs were entrusted without reserve to women, as in those states of modern Europe where the Salic law has not been introduced; and we not only find examples in Egyptian history of queens succeeding to the throne, but Manetho informs us that the law, according this important privilege to the other sex, dated as early as the reign of Binothris, the third monarch of the second dynasty.

In primitive ages the duties of women were very different from those of later and more civilized periods, and varied of course according to the habits of each people. Among pastoral tribes they drew water, kept the sheep, and superintended the herds as well as flocks. As with the Arabs of the present day, they prepared both the furniture and the woollen stuffs of which the tents themselves were made, ground the corn, and performed other menial offices. They were also engaged, as in ancient Greece, in weaving, spinning, needlework, embroidery, and other sedentary occupations within doors. The Egyptian ladies in like manner employed much of their time with the needle; and the sculptures represent many females weaving and using the spindle. But they were not kept in the same secluded manner as those of ancient Greece, who, besides being confined to certain apartments in the house, most remote from the hall of entrance, and generally in the uppermost part of the building, were not even allowed to go out of doors without a veil, as in many Oriental countries at the present day. The Egyptians treated their women very differently, as the accounts of ancient authors and the sculptures sufficiently prove. At some of the public festivals women were expected to attend—not alone, like the Moslem women at a mosque, but in company with their husbands or relations; and Josephus states that on an occasion of this kind, “when it was the custom for women to go to the public solemnity, the wife of Potiphar, having pleaded ill health in order to be allowed to stay at home, was excused from attending,” and availed herself of the absence of her husband to talk with Joseph. (See vol. i. pp. 4, 144.)

That it was the custom of the Egyptians to have only one wife, is shown by Herodotus and the monuments, which present so many scenes illustrative of their domestic life; and Diodorus is wrong in supposing that the laity were allowed to marry any number, while the priests were limited to one. (See vol. i. p. 5.)

But a very objectionable custom, which is not only noticed by Diodorus, but is fully authenticated by the sculptures both of Upper and Lower Egypt, existed among them from the earliest times, the origin and policy of which it is not easy to explain—the marriage of brother and sister—which Diodorus supposes to have been owing to, and sanctioned by, that of Isis and Osiris; but as this was purely an allegorical fable, and these ideal personages never lived on earth, his conjecture is of little weight; nor does any ancient writer offer a satisfactory explanation of so strange a custom.

In the time of the Patriarchs, as in the case of Abraham and Sarah, and among the Athenians, it was lawful to marry a sister by the father’s side, not, however, if born of the same mother; but that this restriction was not observed in Egypt, we have sufficient evidence from the marriages of several of the Ptolemies.

Though the Egyptians confined themselves to one wife, they, like the Jews and other Eastern nations, both of ancient and modern times, scrupled not to admit other inmates to their hareem, most of whom appear to have been foreigners, either taken in war, or brought to Egypt to be sold as slaves. They became members of the family, like those in Moslem countries at the present day, and not only ranked next to the wives and children of their lord, but probably enjoyed a share of the property at his death. These women were white or black slaves, according to the countries from which they were brought; but, generally speaking, the latter were employed merely as domestics, who were required to wait upon their mistress and her female friends. The former, likewise, officiated as servants, though they of course held a rank above the black slaves.

The same custom prevailed among the Egyptians regarding children, as with the Moslems and other Eastern people; no distinction being made between their offspring by a wife or any other woman, and all equally enjoying the rights of inheritance; for, since they considered a child indebted to the father for its existence, it seemed unjust to deny equal rights to all his progeny.

In speaking of the duties of children in Egypt, Herodotus declares, that if a son was unwilling to maintain his parents he was at liberty to refuse, but that a daughter, on the contrary, was compelled to assist them, and, on refusal, was amenable to law. But we may question the truth of this statement; and, drawing an inference from the marked severity of filial duties among the Egyptians, some of which we find distinctly alluded to in the sculptures of Thebes, we may conclude that in Egypt much more was expected from a son than in any civilised nation of the present day; and this was not confined to the lower orders, but extended to those of the highest ranks of society. And if the office of fan-bearer was an honourable post, and the sons of the monarch were preferred to fulfil it, no ordinary show of humility was required on their part; and they walked on foot behind his chariot, bearing certain insignia over their father during the triumphal processions which took place in commemoration of his victories, and in the religious ceremonies over which he presided.

It was equally a custom in the early times of European history, that a son should pay a marked deference to his parent; and no prince was allowed to sit at table with his father, unless through his valour, having been invested with arms by a foreign sovereign, he had obtained that privilege; as was the case with Alboin, before he succeeded his father on the throne of the Lombards. The European nations were not long in altering their early habits, and this custom soon became disregarded; but a respect for ancient institutions, and those ideas, so prevalent in the East, which reject all love of change, prevented the Egyptians from discarding the usages of their ancestors; and we find this and many other primitive customs retained, even at the period when they were most highly civilised.

In the education of youth they were particularly strict; and “they knew,” says Plato, “that children ought to be early accustomed to such gestures, looks, and motions as are decent and proper, and not to be suffered either to hear or learn any verses and songs, than those which are calculated to inspire them with virtue; and they consequently took care that every dance and ode introduced at their feasts or sacrifices should be subject to certain regulations.” They particularly inculcated respect for old age; and the fact of this being required even towards strangers, argues a great regard for the person of a parent; for we are informed that, like the Israelites and the Lacedæmonians, they required every young man to give place to his superiors in years, and even, if seated, to rise on their approach.

Nor were these honours limited to their lifetime: the memory of parents and ancestors was revered through succeeding generations: their tombs were maintained with the greatest respect; liturgies were performed by their children, or by priests at their expense; and we have previously seen what advantage was taken of this feeling, in the laws concerning debt.

Guided by the same principle, the Egyptians paid the most marked respect to their monarch, as the father of his people. He was obeyed with courteous submission, his will was tantamount to a law, and such implicit confidence did they place in his judgment that he was thought incapable of error. He was the representative of the Divinity on earth: the Gods were supposed to communicate through him their choicest benefits to man; and they believed that the sovereign power had been delegated to him by the will of the Deities themselves. They entertained a strong feeling of gratitude for the services done by him to the state; and the memory of a monarch who had benefited his subjects was celebrated after death with the most unbounded honours. “For of all people,” says Diodorus, “the Egyptians retain the highest sense of a favour conferred upon them, deeming it the greatest charm of life to make a suitable return for benefits they have received;” and from the high estimation in which the feeling of gratitude was held among them, even strangers felt a reverence for the character of the Egyptians. Through this impulse, they were induced to solemnise the funeral obsequies of their kings with the enthusiasm described by the historian; and to this he partly attributes the unexampled duration of the Egyptian monarchy. (See vol. i. p. 314.)

It is only doing justice to the modern Egyptians to say that gratitude is still a distinguishing trait of their character; and this is one of the many qualities inherited by them, for which their predecessors were remarkable; confirming what I have before stated, that the general peculiarities of a people are retained, though a country may be conquered, and nominally peopled by a foreign race. (See vol. i. p. 2, 3.)

Another remarkable feature of the Egyptian laws was the sanctity with which old edicts were upheld. They were closely interwoven with the religion of the country, and said to be derived from the Gods themselves; whence it was considered both useless and impious to alter such sacred institutions. Those innovations only were introduced by their monarchs, which were loudly called for by circumstances; and we neither read of any attempts on the part of the people to alter or resist the laws, nor on that of their rulers to introduce a more arbitrary mode of government.

The Egyptians were particularly remarkable for their great love for their country; which is also inherited by their successors. They considered it to be under the immediate protection of the Gods, and the centre of the world; they even called it the “world” itself; and it was thought to be the favoured spot where all created beings were first generated, while the rest of the earth was barren and uninhabited.

But as society advanced, it necessarily happened that some alterations were required, either in the reformation of an existing code, or in the introduction of additional laws; and among the different legislators of the Egyptians are particularly noticed the names of Mnevis, Sasyches, Sesostris, Bocchoris, Asychis, Amasis, and even the Persian Darius. The great merit of the first of these seems to have consisted in inducing the people to conform to those institutions which he pretended to have received from Hermes, the Egyptian Mercury; “an idea,” says Diodorus, “which has been adopted with success by many other ancient lawgivers, who have inculcated a respect for their institutions, through the awe that is naturally felt for the majesty of the Gods.” The additions made by Sasyches chiefly related to matters of religious worship; and Sesostris, in addition to numerous regulations of a military nature, is said to have introduced some changes into the agricultural system. He divided all the land of Egypt, with the exception of that which belonged to the priests and soldiers, into squares of equal areas, assigning to each peasant his peculiar portion, or a certain number of these arouras, for which he annually paid a fixed rent; and having instituted a yearly survey of the lands, any deficiency, resulting from a fall of the bank during the inundation, or other accidental causes, was stated in the returns, and deducted for in the government demands. Of the laws of Bocchoris and Asychis respecting debt, I have already spoken; and the former is said to have introduced many others relating to the kings, as well as to civil contracts and commerce, and to have established several important precedents in Egyptian jurisprudence. (See above, pp. 217, 218.)

Amasis was particularly eminent for his wisdom, and for the many salutary additions he made to the laws of his country. He remodelled the system of provincial government, defining the duties of the nomarchs with peculiar precision; and his conduct in the management of affairs was so highly approved by the people, that their respect for him was scarcely inferior to that shown to his most glorious predecessors. Nor was Darius, though a Persian, and of a nation justly abhorred by the Egyptians, denied those eulogiums which the mildness of his government, and the introduction of laws tending to benefit the country, claimed for him; and they even granted him the title of Divus, making him partaker of the same honours which were bestowed on their native princes. But the Ptolemies in after times abrogated some of the favourite laws of the country; and though much was done by them, in repairing the temples, and in executing very grand and useful works, and though several of those sovereigns courted the good will of the Egyptians, yet their name became odious, and Macrobius has stigmatised their sway with the title of “tyranny.”

After the king and council, the judges or magistrates of the capital held the most distinguished post; and next to them may be considered the nomarchs, or governors, of districts.

The whole of Egypt was divided into nomes, or districts, the total of which, in the time of Sesostris, amounted to thirty-six;—afterwards increased to fifty-three.

The limits of Egypt were the Mediterranean to the north, and Syene, or the Cataracts, to the south; and the cultivated land east and west of the Nile, contained within this space, or between the latitude 31º 37´ and 24º 3´, was all that constituted the original territory of the Pharaohs: though the Mareotis, the Oases, the Nitriotis, and even part of Libya were attached to their dominions, and were considered part of the country.

The main divisions of Egypt were “the Upper and Lower regions;” and this distinction, which had been maintained from the earliest times, was also indicated by a difference in the dialects of the language. Thebes and Memphis enjoyed equal rank as capitals of Egypt; and every monarch at his coronation assumed the title of “lord of the two regions,” or “the two worlds.” But a change afterwards took place in the division of the country, and the northern portion was subdivided into the two provinces of Heptanomis and Lower Egypt. The latter extended from the sea to the head of the Delta, and advancing to the natural boundary of the low lands, which is so strongly marked by the abrupt ridge of the modern Mokuttum, it included the city of Heliopolis within its limits.

Heptanomis, or Middle Egypt, extended thence to the Theban castle, which marked the frontier a few miles above Tanis, and which appears to have occupied the site of the present town of Dahroot; and its name, Heptanomis, was derived from the seven nomes, or districts, it contained, which were those of Memphis, Aphroditopolis, Crocodilopolis, or Arsinoë, Heracleopolis, Oxyrhinchus, Cynopolis, and Hermopolis.

The limits of the Thebaïd remained the same, and extended to the cataracts of Syene; but it appears that the Oases were all attached to the province of Heptanomis. The chief towns of the three provinces were Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis; the same from which the bench of judges was elected.

According to Diodorus, the celebrated Sesostris was the first who divided the country into nomes; but it is more reasonable to suppose that long before his time, or at least before that of Remeses the Great, or even of Osirtasen, all necessary arrangements for the organization of the provinces had already been made, and that this was one of the first plans suggested for the government of the country.

The office of nomarch was at all times of the highest importance, and to his charge were committed the management of the lands, and all matters relating to the internal administration of the district. He regulated the assessment and levying of the taxes, the survey of the lands, the opening of the canals, and all other agricultural interests of the country, which were under the immediate superintendence of certain members of the priestly order; and, as his residence was in the chief town of the nome, all causes respecting landed property, and other accidental disputes, were referred to him, and adjusted before his tribunal. The division of the country into thirty-six parts, or nomes, continued to be maintained till a late period, since in Strabo’s time the number was still the same; ten, says the geographer, being assigned to the Thebaïd, ten to the Delta, and sixteen to the intermediate province; though some changes were afterwards introduced both in the nomes and provinces of Egypt. The nomes, he adds, were subdivided into local governments, and these again into minor jurisdictions; and we may conclude that the three offices of nomarchs, toparchs, and the third or lowest grade, answered to those of bey, kashef, and ḳýmaḳám of the present day. The distinctive appellation of each nome, in later times at least, was derived from the chief town, where the governor resided, and the rank of each nomarch depended on the extent of his jurisdiction. But of the condition of Egypt in the early period of its history little is known; owing to the scanty information obtained by those Greeks who visited it, or to the loss of their writings, as well as to the jealousy of the Egyptians towards foreigners, to whom little or nothing was imparted respecting the institutions and state of the country.

They prevented all strangers from penetrating into the interior; and if any Greek was desirous of becoming acquainted with the philosophy of their schools, he was tolerated, rather than welcomed, in Egypt; and those who traded there were confined to the town of Naucratis, in the same manner that Europeans are now obliged to live in the Frank quarter of a Turkish, or a Chinese, city. And when, after the time of Amasis and the Persian conquest, foreigners became better acquainted with the country, its ancient institutions had begun to lose their interest, and the Egyptians mourned under a victorious and cruel despot. Herodotus, it is true, had ample opportunity of examining the state of Egypt during his visit to the country; but he has failed to give us much insight into its laws and institutions.

Strabo mentions some of the offices which existed in Egypt in his time; but, though he asserts that many of them were the same as under the Ptolemies, we are by no means certain that they answer to those of an earlier period. “Under the eparch,” says the geographer, “who holds the rank of a king, is the dicæodotes, that is, the lawgiver or chancellor, and another officer, who is called the privy purse, or private accountant, whose business it is to take charge of everything that is left without an owner, and which falls of right to the emperor. These two are also attended by freedmen and stewards of Cæsar, who are entrusted with affairs of greater or less magnitude.… But of the natives who are employed in the government of the different cities, the principal is the exégétés, or expounder, who is dressed in purple, and is honoured according to the usages of the country, and takes care of what is necessary for the welfare of the city: the register, or writer of commentaries: the archidicastes, or chief judge: and, fourthly, the captain of the night.”

From all that can be collected on this subject, we may conclude, that in early times, after the king, the senate, and others connected with the court, the principal persons employed in the management of affairs were the judges of different grades, the rulers of provinces and districts, the government accountants, the chief of the police, and those officers immediately connected with the administration of justice, the levying of taxes, and other similar employments; and that the principal part of them were chosen either from the sacerdotal or the military class.

During the reigns of the latter Ptolemies, considerable abuses crept into the administrative system: intrigues, arising out of party spirit and conflicting interests, corrupted men’s minds: integrity ceased to be esteemed: every patriotic feeling became extinguished: the interests of the community were sacrificed to the ambition of a successful candidate for a disputed throne: and the hope of present advantage blinded men to future consequences. New regulations were adopted to suppress the turbulent spirit of the times: the government, no longer content with the mild office of protector, assumed the character of chastiser of the people: and Egypt was ruled by a military force, rendered doubly odious, from being, in a great measure, composed of foreign mercenaries. The military class had lost its consequence, its privileges were abolished, and the harmony once existing between it and the people was entirely destroyed. Respect for the wisdom of the sacerdotal order, and the ancient institutions of Egypt, began to decline: and the influence once possessed by the priests over the public mind could only be traced in the superstitious reverence shown by fanatics to the rites of a religion, now much corrupted and degraded by fanciful doctrines; and if they retained a portion of their former privileges, by having the education of youth entrusted to them, as well as the care of the national records, the superintendence of weights and measures, the surveying of the lands, and the equal distribution of the annual payments, they lost their most important offices—the tutelage and direction of the councils of government, and the right of presiding at the courts of justice.

The provincial divisions of Egypt varied at different times, particularly after the Roman conquest. The country, as already stated, consisted originally of two parts, Upper and Lower Egypt; afterwards of three, the Thebaïd: Heptanomis, or Middle Egypt: and the Delta, or Lower Egypt: but Heptanomis, in the time of Arcadius, the son of Theodosius the Great, received the name of Arcadia; and the eastern portion of the Delta, about the end of the fourth century, was formed into a separate province called Augustamnica, itself divided into two parts. The Thebaïd was also made to consist of Upper and Lower, the line of separation passing between Panopolis and Ptolemaïs Hermii.

Under the Romans, Egypt was governed by a præfect, or eparch, aided by three officers, who superintended the departments of justice, revenue, and police, throughout the country, the inferior charges being chiefly filled by natives; and over each of the provinces a military governor was appointed, who was subordinate to the præfect in all civil affairs, though frequently intruding on his jurisdiction, when it was necessary to use military coercion in the collection of the taxes. But as the condition of Egypt under the Ptolemies and Romans is not directly connected with the manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians, it is unnecessary to describe the changes that took place during their rule.

Judging from the sculptures of Thebes, the tribute annually received in early times by the Egyptians, from nations they had subdued in Asia and Northern Ethiopia, was of immense value, and tended greatly to enrich the coffers of the state; and the quantity of gold in dust, rings, and bars, and silver in rings and ingots, copper, iron, lead, and tin (?), the various objects of luxury, vases of glass, porcelain, gold, silver, and other metals, ivory, ebony, and different woods, precious stones, horses, dogs, oxen, wild animals, trees, seeds, fruits, bitumen, incense, gums, perfumes, spices, and other foreign productions there described, perfectly accord with the statements of ancient authors. And though they are presented to the king, as chief of the nation, we may conclude they formed part of the public revenue, and were not solely intended for his use; especially in a country where royalty was under the restraint and guidance of salutary laws, and where the welfare of the community was not sacrificed to the caprice of a monarch.

According to Strabo, the taxes, even under Ptolemy Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, the most negligent of monarchs, amounted to 12,500 talents, or between three and four millions sterling; and the constant influx of specie resulting from commercial intercourse with foreign nations, who purchased the corn and manufactures of Egypt, during the very careful administration of its native sovereigns, necessarily increased the riches of the country, and greatly augmented the revenue at that period.

Among the exports were yarn, fine linen cloth, and embroidered work, purchased by the Tyrians and Jews; chariots and horses, bought by the merchants of Judæa in the time of Solomon at 600 and 150 shekels of silver; and other commodities, produced or manufactured in the country.

The Egyptians also derived important advantages from their intercourse with India and Arabia; and the port of Philoteras, which, there is reason to believe, was constructed at a very remote period, long before the Exodus of the Israelites, was probably the emporium of that trade. It was situated on the western coast of the Red Sea, in latitude 26º 9′; and though small, the number of ships its basin would contain sufficed for a constant traffic between Egypt and Arabia, no periodical winds there interfering with the navigation, at any season of the year.

It is not probable that they had a direct communication with India at the same early epoch; but they were supplied through Arabia with the merchandise of that country; and even an indirect trade was capable of opening to them a source of immense wealth. And that the productions of India did actually reach Egypt we have positive testimony from the tombs of Thebes.

The Scripture history shows the traffic established by Solomon with India, through the Red Sea, to have been of very great consequence, producing, in one voyage, no less than 450 talents of gold and to the same branch of commerce may be ascribed the main cause of the flourishing condition of Tyre itself. And if the Egyptian trade was not so direct as that of Solomon and the Tyrians, it must still be admitted that any intercourse with India at so remote a period would have been highly beneficial to the country, since it was enjoyed with little competition, and consequently afforded increased advantages.

The other harbours in this part of the Arabian Gulf,—Myos Hormos, Berenice, Arsinoë, Nechesia, and Leucos Portus,—were built in later times; and the lucrative trade they enjoyed was greatly increased after the conquest of Egypt by the Romans; 120 vessels annually leaving the coast of Egypt for India, at midsummer, about the rising of the dog-star, and returning in the month of December or January. “The principal objects of oriental traffic,” says Gibbon, “were splendid and trifling: silk (a pound of which was esteemed not inferior in value to a pound of gold), precious stones, and a variety of aromatics.” When Strabo visited Egypt the Myos Hormos seems to have superseded Berenice, and all the other maritime stations on the coast; and indeed it possessed greater advantages than any other, except Philoteras and Arsinoë, in its overland communication with the Nile. Yet Berenice, in the later age of Pliny, was again preferred to its rival. From both ports the goods were taken on camels by an almost level road across the desert to Coptos, and thence distributed over different parts of Egypt; and, in the time of the Ptolemies and Cæsars, those particularly suited for exportation to Europe went down the river to Alexandria, where they were sold to merchants who resorted to that city at a stated season.

At a subsequent period, during the reigns of the Arab Caliphs, Apollinopolis, Parva, or Ḳoos, succeeded Coptos, as the rendezvous of caravans from the Red Sea; and this town flourished so rapidly, in consequence of the preference it enjoyed, that in Aboolfeda’s time it was second only to Fostat, the capital of Egypt; until it ceded its place to Ḳeneh, as Myos Hormos was destined to do in favour of Kossayr. Philoteras, however, continued to be resorted to after the Arab conquest; and it was during the reigns of the Egyptian caliphs that the modern Kossayr took the place of that ancient port.

The Myos Hormos, called also Aphrodité, stood in latitude 27º 22´, upon a flat coast, backed by low mountains, distant from it about three miles; where a well, the Fons Tadnos, supplied the town and ships with water. The port was more capacious than those of Berenice and Philoteras; and though exposed to the winds, it was secure against the force of a boisterous sea. Several roads united at the gates of the town, from Berenice and Philoteras on the south, from Arsinoë on the north, and from Coptos on the west; and stations supplied those who passed to and from the Nile with water and other necessaries.

Berenice owed its foundation to Ptolemy Philadelphus, who called it after the name of his mother, the wife of Lagus or Soter. The town was extensive, and was ornamented with a small but elegant temple of Sarapis; and though the harbour was neither deep nor spacious, its position in a receding gulf tended greatly to the safety of the vessels lying within it, or anchored in the bay. A road led thence direct to Coptos, furnished with the usual stations, or hydreumas; and another, which also went to the emerald mines, joined, or rather crossed it, from Apollinopolis Magna.

Arsinoë, which stood at the northern extremity of the Red Sea, near the modern town of Sooez, was founded by the second Ptolemy, and so named after his sister. Though vessels anchored there rode secure from the violence of the sea, its exposed situation, and the dangers they encountered in working up the narrow extremity of the gulf, rendered its position less eligible for the Indian trade than either Myos Hormos or Berenice; and had it not been for the convenience of establishing a communication with the Nile by a canal, and the shortness of the journey across the desert in that part, it is probable it would not have been chosen for a sea-port.

The small towns of Nechesia and the Leucos Portus were probably of Roman date, though the natural harbours they possess may have been used at a much earlier period. Their positions are still marked by the ruins on the shore, in latitude 24º 54´ and 25º 37´, where I discovered them in 1826, while making a survey of this part of the coast from Sooez to Berenice. The former stands in, and perhaps gave the name to, the Wadee Nukkaree; the latter is called E’Shoona, or “the Magazine,” and, from being built of very white limestone, was readily indicated by the Arabs when I inquired of them the site of the White Harbour.

Many other ports, the “Portus multi” of Pliny, occur along the coast, particularly between Berenice and Kossayr; but though they all have landmarks to guide boats in approaching their rocky entrances, which are openings in the coral reefs, none of them have any remains of a town, or the vestiges of habitations.

The principal objects introduced in early times into Egypt, from Arabia and India, were spices and various oriental productions, required either for the service of religion, or the purposes of luxury; and a number of precious stones, lapis lazzuli, and other things brought from those countries, are frequently discovered in the tombs of Thebes, bearing the names of Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty. The mines of their own desert did, indeed, supply the emeralds they used; and these were worked as early, at least, as the reign of Amunoph III., at the beginning of the 15th century B.C., but many other stones must have come from India; and some plants, as the Nymphæa Nelumbo, seem to have been introduced from that country.

Though we cannot ascertain the amount or exact quality of the various imports, of the goods re-exported from Egypt, or the proportion which these last bore to the internal consumption, it is reasonable to conclude that every article of luxury was a source of revenue to the government; and that both native and foreign productions coming under this denomination, whether exported, or sold in Egypt, tended to enrich the state, to which they belonged, or paid a duty.

That the riches of the country were immense is proved by the appearance of the furniture and domestic utensils, and by the great quantity of jewels of gold, and silver, precious stones, and other objects of luxury in use among them in the earliest times; their treasures became proverbial throughout the neighbouring states, and a love of pomp and splendour continued to be the ruling passion of the Egyptians till the latest period of their existence as an independent state.

The wealth of Egypt was principally derived from taxes, foreign tribute, monopolies, commerce, mines, and above all from the productions of a fruitful soil. The wants of the poorer classes were easily satisfied; the abundance of grain, herbs, and esculent plants, afforded an ample supply to the inhabitants of the valley of the Nile, at a trifling expense, and with little labour; and so much corn was produced in this fertile country, that after sufficing for the consumption of a very extensive population, it offered a great surplus for the foreign market; and afforded considerable profit to the government, being exported to other countries, or sold to the traders who visited Egypt for commercial purposes.

The gold mines of the Bisharee desert were in those times very productive; and, though we have no positive notice of their first discovery, there is reason to believe they were worked at the earliest periods of the Egyptian monarchy. The total of the annual produce of the gold and silver mines (which Diodorus, on the authority of Hecatæus, says, was recorded in the tomb of Osymandyas at Thebes, apparently a king of the 19th dynasty) is stated to have been 3200 myriads, or 32 millions of minæ, —a weight of that country, called by the Egyptians mn or mna, 60 of which were equal to one talent. The whole sum amounted to 133 millions of our money; but it was evidently exaggerated.

The position of the silver mines is unknown; but the gold mines of Allaga (already mentioned) and other quartz “diggings,” have been discovered, as well as those of copper, lead, iron, and emeralds, all of which are in the desert near the Red Sea; and the sulphur, which abounds in the same districts, was not neglected by the ancient Egyptians.

The abundance of gold and silver in Egypt and other ancient countries, and the sums reported to have been spent, accord well with the reputed productiveness of the mines in those days; and, as the subject has become one of peculiar interest, it may be well to enquire respecting the quantity and the use of the precious metals in ancient times. They were then mostly confined to the treasuries of princes, and of some rich individuals; the proportion employed for commercial purposes was small, copper sufficing for most purchases in the home market; and nearly all the gold and silver money (as yet uncoined) was in the hands of the wealthy few. The manufacture of jewellery and other ornamental objects took up a small portion of the great mass; but it required the wealth and privilege of royalty to indulge in a grand display of gold and silver vases, or similar objects of size and value.

The mines of those days, from which was derived the wealth of Egypt, Lydia, Persia, and other countries, afforded a large supply of the precious metals; and if most of them are now exhausted, or barely retain evidences of the treasures they once gave forth, there can be no doubt of their former productiveness; and it is reasonable to suppose that gold and silver abounded in early times in those parts of the world which were first inhabited, as they did in countries more recently peopled. They may never have afforded at any period the immense riches of a California or an Australia, yet there is evidence of their having been sufficiently distributed over various parts of the old world.

For though Herodotus (iii., 106) says that the extremities of the earth possess the greatest treasures; those extremities may approach or become the centre, i. e., of civilisation, when they arrive at that eminence which all great countries in their turn seem to have a chance of reaching; and Britain, the country of the greatly coveted tin, once looked upon as separated from the rest of mankind, is now one of the commercial centres of the world. The day, too, may come when Australia and California will be rivals for a similar distinction; and England, the rendezvous of America in her contests with Europe, will yield its turn to younger competitors.

The greatest quantity of gold and silver in early times was derived from the East; and Asia and Egypt possessed abundance of those metals. The trade of Colchis, and the treasures of the Arimaspês and Massagetæ, coming from the Ural (or from the Altai) mountains, supplied much gold at a very early period, and Indian commerce sent a large supply to western Asia. Spain, the Isle of Thasos, and other places, were resorted to by the Phœnicians, particularly for silver; and Spain, for its mines, became the “El Dorado” of those adventurous traders.

The mines of the Eastern desert, the tributes from Ethiopia and Central Africa, as well as from Asia, enriched Egypt with gold and silver; but it was long before Greece (where in heroic times the precious metals were scarcely known) obtained a moderate supply of silver from her own mines; and gold only became abundant there after the Persian war.

Thrace and Macedonia produced gold, as well as other countries, but confined it to their own use, as Ireland employed the produce of its mines; and as early Italy did, when its various small states were still free from the Roman yoke; and though the localities from which silver was obtained in more ancient times are less known, it is certain that it was used at a very remote period; and (as before stated) it was commonly employed in Abraham’s time for mercantile transactions.

Gold is mentioned on the Egyptian monuments of the 4th dynasty, and silver was probably of the same early time; but gold was evidently known in Egypt before silver, which is consistent with reason, gold being more easily obtained than silver, and frequently near the surface or in streams. (See above, p. 147.)

The relative value and quantity of the precious metals in the earliest times, in Egypt and Western Asia, are not known; and even if a greater amount of gold were found mentioned in a tribute, this could be no proof of the silver being more rare, as it might merely be intended to show the richness of the gifts. In the tribute brought to Thothmes III. by the southern Ethiopians and three Asiatic people, the former present scarcely any silver, but great quantities of gold in rings, ingots, and dust. The Asiatic people of Pount bring two baskets of gold rings, and one of gold dust in bags, a much smaller amount of gold than the Ethiopians, and no silver; those of Kufa, or Kaf, more silver than gold, and a considerable quantity of both made into vases of handsome and varied shapes; and the Rot-ǹ-n (apparently living on the Euphrates) present rather more gold than silver, a large basket of gold and a smaller one of silver rings, two small silver and several large gold vases, which are of most elegant shape, as well as coloured glass or porcelain cups, and much incense and bitumen. The great Asiatic tribute to the same king at Karnak, speaks in one place of 100 ingots (or pounds weight?) of gold and silver, and afterwards of 401 of silver; but the imperfect preservation of that record prevents our ascertaining how much gold was brought, or the relative proportions of the two metals.

M. Léon Faucher, indeed, suggests that “the value of silver in some countries originally equalled, if it did not exceed, that of gold … and the laws of Menes state that gold was worth two and a half times more than silver.… Everywhere, except in India, between the fifth and sixth centuries B.C., the relative value of gold and silver was 6 or 8 to 1, as it was in China and Japan at the end of last century.” In Greece it was, according to Herodotus, as 13 to 1; afterwards, in Plato’s and Xenophon’s time, and more than 100 years after the death of Alexander, as 10 to 1, owing to the quantity of gold brought in through the Persian war; when the value of both fell so much, that in the time of Demosthenes it was five times less than at the death of Solon.

The relative price of gold and silver continued for a long time at 10 to 1 (Liv. xxxviii. 11), except when occasional events altered the equilibrium by an increase of one of those metals; as when the taking of Syracuse, and the plunder of the treasury by Julius Cæsar, reduced the proportions to 7 and 9 to 1. But these sudden changes, as Humboldt says, were owing to the less general commercial relations of the world, and they could not have happened with the rapidity of communication in the present day.

Under the Empire, the produce of the silver mines of Asia, Thrace, and Spain, again raised the value of gold, and the proportions were 18 to 1 in the time of Theodosius II.; but the skill required for working silver was so deficient during the middle ages and in the sixteenth century, that they were brought to 11 and 12 to 1. Before the discovery of America, they were 11 and 10 to 1 in England; and, after great fluctuations, they were in Newton’s time 16 to 1, becoming at length about 14¼ to 1; which may again be altered by the modern discoveries of California and Australia, unless another Potosi affords fresh supplies of silver. But owing to the constant export of gold, the extent of trading operations, the rapidity of communication throughout the world, and the quantity required to keep up the equilibrium after restoring the deficiency in many countries, a long time must elapse before the effects of these new gold supplies on the general circulation will be felt, or the value of gold be sensibly altered beyond its relative proportion to silver.

Though it may not be possible to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion, respecting the quantity of gold and silver taken from the mines; employed in objects of art and luxury; or in circulation as money in Egypt and other countries; I shall introduce a few facts derived from the accounts of ancient authors, relating to the amount of wealth amassed, and the purposes to which those precious metals were applied. I shall also show some of the fluctuations that have taken place in the supply of them at various periods; and shall endeavour to establish a comparison between the quantity said to have been in use in ancient and modern times.

When we read of the enormous wealth amassed by the Egyptian and Asiatic kings, or the plunder by Alexander and the Romans, we wonder how so much could have been obtained; for, even allowing for considerable exaggeration in the accounts of early times, there is no reason to disbelieve the private fortunes of individuals at Rome, and the sums squandered by them, or even the amount of some of the tributes levied in the East. Of ancient cities, Babylon is particularly cited by Herodotus and others, for its immense wealth. Diodorus (ii. 9) mentions a golden statue of Jupiter at Babylon 40 feet high, weighing 1000 Babylonian talents; another of Rhea, of equal weight, having two lions on its knees, and near it silver serpents of 300 talents each; a standing statue of Juno weighing 800 talents, holding a snake, and a sceptre set with gems; as well as a golden table of 500 talents weight, on which were two cups weighing 300 talents, and two censers each of 300 talents weight, with three golden bowls, one of which, belonging to Jupiter, weighed 1200 talents, the others each 600; making a total of at least 6900 talents, reckoned equal to 11,000,000 sterling. And the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, 60 cubits, or 90 feet, high, at the same ratio would weigh 2250 talents.

David, who had not the Indian and Arabian trade afterwards obtained by Solomon, left for the building of the temple 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 of silver; and the sum given by him of his “own proper good,” “over and above all prepared for the holy house,” was “3000 talents of gold” and “7000 of refined silver;” besides the chief men’s contributions of 500 talents and 10,000 drachms of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, and an abundance of brass, iron, and precious stones.

The annual tribute of Solomon was 666 talents of gold, besides that brought by the merchants, and the present from the Queen of Sheba of 120 talents; and the quantity of gold and silver used in the temple and his house was extraordinary. Mr. Jacob, in his valuable work on the precious metals, has noticed many of these immense sums, collected in old times. Among them are the tribute of Darius, amounting to 9880 talents of silver and 4680 of gold, making a total of 14,560, estimated at about 3¼ millions sterling; the sums taken by Xerxes to Greece; the wealth of Crœsus; the riches of Pytheus, king of a small territory in Phrygia, possessing gold and silver mines, who entertained the army of Xerxes, and gave him 2000 talents of silver and 4,093,000 staters of gold (equal to 4,770,000 pounds of our money, or according to Larcher 3,600,000); the treasures acquired by Alexander, in Susa and Persia, exclusive of that found in the Persian camp and in Babylon, said to have amounted to 40,000 or 50,000 talents; the treasure of Persepolis rated at 120,000 talents; that of Pasagarda at 6000; and the 180,000 talents collected at the capture of Ecbatana; besides 6000 which Darius had with him, and were taken by his murderers. “Ptolemy Philadelphus is stated by Appian to have possessed treasure to the enormous amount of 740,000 talents;” either “178 millions, or at least a quarter of that sum;” and fortunes of private individuals at Rome show the enormous wealth they possessed. “Crassus had in lands 1,614,583l., besides as much more in money, furniture, and slaves; Seneca, 2,421,875l.; Pallas, the freedman of Claudius, an equal sum; Lentulus, the augur, 3,229,166l.; Cæc. Cl. Isidorus, though he had lost a great part of his fortune in the civil war, left by his will 4116 slaves, 3600 yoke of oxen, 257,000 other cattle, and in ready money 484,375l. Augustus received by the testaments of his friends 32,291,666l. Tiberius left at his death 21,796,875l., which Caligula lavished away in less than one year; and Vespasian, at his succession, said that to support the state he required quadrigenties millies, or 322,916,666l. The debts of Milo amounted to 565,104l. J. Cæsar, before he held any office, owed 1300 talents, 251,875l.; and when he set out for Spain after his prætorship, he is reported to have said, that ‘Bismillies et quingenties sibi deesse, ut nihil haberet,’ or ‘that he was 2,018,229l. worse than nothing.’ When he first entered Rome, in the beginning of the civil war, he took out of the treasury 1,095,979l., and brought into it at the end of it 4,843,750l.; he purchased the friendship of Curio, at the commencement of the civil war, by a bribe of 484,373l., and that of the consul L. Paulus by 1500 talents, about 279,500l.; Apicius wasted on luxurious living 484,375l.; Caligula laid out on a supper 80,729l.; and the ordinary expense of Lucullus for a supper in the Hall of Apollo was 50,000 drachms, or 1614l. The house of Marius, bought of Cornelia for 2421l., was sold to Lucullus for 16,152l.; the burning of his villa was a loss to M. Scaurus of 807,291l.; and Nero’s golden house must have cost an immense sum, since Otho laid out in furnishing a part of it 403,645l.” But though Rome was greatly enriched by conquest, she never obtained possession of the chief wealth of Asia; and the largest quantity of the precious metals was always excluded from the calculations of ancient writers.

The whole revenue of the Roman Empire under Augustus is “supposed to have been equal to 40 millions of our money;” and at the time of his death (A.D. 14) the gold and silver in circulation throughout the empire is supposed to have amounted to 358,000,000l.; which at a reduction of 1 grain in 360 every year for wear, would have been reduced by the year A.D. 482 to 87,033,099l; and when the mines of Hungary and Germany began to be worked, during the seventh and ninth centuries, the entire amount of coined money was not more than about 42 at the former, and 33 or 34 millions sterling at the latter, period; so that if no other supply had been obtained, the quantity then circulating would long since have been exhausted.

“The loss by wear on silver” is shown by Mr. Jacob “to be four times that of gold;” that on our shillings is estimated at more than one part in a hundred annually; and “the smaller the pieces, the greater loss do they suffer by abrasion.” “The maximum of durability of gold coins seems to be fixed at 22 parts, in 24, of pure gold with the appropriate alloys. When the fineness ascends or descends from that point, the consumption by abrasion is increased.” It is from its ductility that gold wears so much less than silver; and many ancient gold coins (as those of Alexander and others), though evidently worn by use, nearly retain their true weight, from the surface being partly transferred into the adjacent hollows, and not entirely rubbed off as in silver.

The quantity of the precious metals, formerly used for the purposes of luxury, greatly diminished after the decline of the Roman empire, and in the middle ages they were sparingly employed except for coinage; ornamental work in gold and silver, mostly executed by first-rate artists, being confined to men of rank, till the opening of new mines added to the supply; which was afterwards increased by the abundant treasures of America; and the quantity applied to ornamental purposes then began to vie with that of olden times. M. Léon Faucher even calculates the annual abstraction of the precious metals from circulation by use for luxury, disasters at sea, and export, at 5 millions sterling, in Europe and the United States.

The silver from the American mines exported to Europe in 100 years, to 1630, gave an addition to the currency of 1 million sterling annually, besides that used for other purposes, or re-exported; and from 1630 to 1830 from 1½ to 2 millions annually; an increase in the quantity used for currency having taken place, as well as in that exported to India, and employed for purposes of luxury. Humboldt states the whole quantity of gold from the American mines, up to 1803, to be 162 millions of pounds in weight, and of silver 7178 millions, or 44 of silver to 1 of gold.

Again, the total value of gold produced during three centuries to 1848, including that from Russia, has been estimated at 565 millions; and the total annual quantity of gold, before the discovery of the Californian fields, has been reckoned at about 10,000,000l. That from California and Australia already amounts yearly to 34,000,000l. (or 3 2–5ths times as much as previously obtained), and is still increasing; but though far beyond the supply afforded by the discovery of America, the demand made upon it by the modern industry of man, together with the effect of rapid communication, and of the extension of trade, as well as by the great deficiency of gold in the world, will prevent its action being felt in the same way as when the American supply was first obtained; and still less will be the effect now, than it would have been in ancient times, if so large and sudden a discovery had then been made. For, as Chevalier says, “Vast as is the whole amount of gold in the world, it sinks into insignificance when contrasted with the aggregate product of other branches of human industry. If they increase as fast as the gold, little or no alteration will take place in its value; which depends on the relation between it and the annual production of other wealth.”

According to another calculation, all the gold now in the world is supposed to be equal to about 682 millions; but the whole amount of either of the two precious metals in old times is not easily ascertained, nor can any definite comparison be established between their former and present value. And still less in Egypt, than in Greece and Rome; no standard of calculation being obtainable from the prices of commodities there, or from any other means of determining the value of gold and silver.

In the infancy of her existence as a nation, Egypt was contented with the pursuits of agriculture; but in process of time, the advancement of civilisation and refinement led to numerous inventions, and to improvements in the ordinary necessaries of life, and she became at length a great manufacturing country, famed amongst foreigners for the excellence of her fine linen, her cotton and woollen stuffs, cabinet work, porcelain, glass, and numerous branches of industry. That the Egyptians should be more known abroad for their manufactures, than for those occupations which related solely to themselves, might be reasonably expected, in consequence of the exportation of the commodities in which she excelled, and the ignorance of foreigners respecting the internal condition of a country from which they were excluded by the jealousy of the natives; though, judging from the scanty information imparted to us by the Greeks, who in later times had opportunities of examining the valley of the Nile, it appears that we have as much reason to blame the indifference of strangers who visited the country, as the exclusiveness of the Egyptians.

There are fortunately other sources of information, which give an insight into many of their pursuits; and, independent of what may be gleaned from Herodotus and Diodorus, the paintings, in the tombs of Thebes and Lower Egypt, show the experience they had acquired in the management of their lands and herds, and the different duties connected with husbandry; as well as their progress in various arts, and even in scientific knowledge.

In considering the state of agriculture in Egypt, we ought not to confine its importance to the direct and tangible benefits it annually conferred upon the people, by the productiveness of the soil; the influence it had on the manners, and scientific acquirements, of the people is no less obvious; and to the peculiar nature of the Nile, and the effects of its inundation, has been reasonably attributed the early advancement of the Egyptians in geometry and mensuration. Herodotus, Plato, Diodorus, Strabo, Clemens of Alexandria, Iamblichus, and others, ascribe the origin of geometry to changes which annually took place from the inundation, and to the consequent necessity of adjusting the claims of each person respecting the limits of the lands; and, though Herodotus may be wrong in limiting the commencement of those observations to the reign of Sesostris, his remark tends to the same point, and confirms the general opinion that this science had its origin in Egypt.

It is reasonable to suppose, that as the inundation subsided, litigation often occurred between neighbours respecting the limits of their unenclosed fields; and the fall of a portion of the bank, carried away by the stream during the rise of the Nile, frequently made great alterations in the extent of land near the river side; a mode of determining the quantity which belonged to each individual was therefore very necessary, both for settling disputes with a neighbour, and for ascertaining the tax due to government. But it is difficult to fix the period when the science of mensuration commenced; if we have ample proofs of its being known in the time of Joseph, this does not carry us far back into the ancient history of Egypt; and there is evidence of geometry and mathematics having already made nearly the same progress at the earliest period of which any monuments remain, as in the later era of the Great Remeses.

Besides the mere measurement of superficial areas, it was of the highest importance to agriculture, and to the interests of the peasant, to distribute the benefits of the inundation in due proportion to each individual, that the lands which were low might not enjoy the exclusive advantages of the fertilising water, by constantly draining it from those of a higher level. For this purpose they were obliged to ascertain the various elevations of the country, and to construct accurately levelled canals and dykes; and, if it be true that Menes, their first king, turned the course of the Nile into a new channel he had made for it, we have a proof of their having, long before his time, arrived at considerable knowledge in this branch of science; since so great an undertaking could only have been the result of long experience.

These dykes were succeeded or accompanied by the invention of sluices, and all the mechanism appertaining to them; the regulation of the supply of water admitted into plains of various levels, the report of the exact quantity of land irrigated, the depth of the water, and the time it continued upon the surface, which determined the proportionate payment of the taxes, required much scientific skill; and the prices of provisions for the ensuing year were already ascertained by the unerring prognostics of the existing inundation. Hence they were led to make minute observations respecting the increase of the Nile during that season: Nilometers, for measuring its gradual rise or fall, were constructed in various parts of Egypt, and particular persons were appointed to observe each daily change, and to proclaim the favourable or unfavourable state of this important phenomenon. On these reports depended the time chosen for opening the canals, whose mouths were closed until the river rose to a fixed height; upon which occasion grand festivities were proclaimed throughout the country, in order that every person might show his sense of the great benefit vouchsafed by the Gods to the land of Egypt. The introduction of the waters of the Nile into the interior, by means of these canals, was allegorically construed into the union of Osiris and Isis; the instant of cutting away the dam of earth which separated the bed of the canal from the Nile was looked forward to with the utmost anxiety; and many omens were consulted in order to ascertain the auspicious moment for this important ceremony.

Superstition added greatly to the zeal of a credulous people. The Deity, or presiding Genius, of the river was propitiated by suitable oblations, both during the inundation, and about the period when it was expected; and Seneca tells us, that on a particular fete the priests threw presents and offerings of gold into the river near Philæ, at a place called the Veins of the Nile, where they first perceived the rise of the inundation. It was reasonable that the grand and wonderful spectacle of the inundation should excite in them feelings of the deepest awe for the divine power, to which they were indebted for so great a blessing: and a plentiful supply of water was supposed to be the result of the favour of the Gods, as a deficiency was attributed to their displeasure, punishing the sins of an offending people.

On the inundation depended all the hopes of the peasant; it affected the revenue of the government, both by its influence on the scale of taxation, and by the greater or less profits on the exportation of grain and other produce; and it involved the comforts of all classes. For in Upper Egypt no rain fell to irrigate the land; it was a country which did not look for showers to advance its crops; and if “these fell in Lower Egypt, they were confined to that district, and heavy rain was a prodigy in the Thebaïd.” But though, speaking generally, it may be said not to rain there, heavy storms did occasionally fall in the vicinity of Thebes, as is proved by the appearance of the deep ravines worn by water in the hills, about the tombs of the Kings, probably, as now, after intervals of fifteen or twenty years; and modern experience shows that slight showers fall at Thebes, about five or six times a year; in Lower Egypt much more frequently; and at Alexandria almost as often as in the South of Europe.

The result of a favourable inundation was not confined to tangible benefits; it had the greatest effect on the mind of every Egyptian by long anticipation; the happiness arising from it, as the regrets on the appearance of a scanty supply of water, being far more sensibly felt than in countries which depend on rain for their harvest, where future prospects are not so soon foreseen. The Egyptian, on the other hand, was able to form a just estimate of his crops even before sowing the seed, or preparing the land for its reception.

Other remarkable effects may likewise be partially attributed to the interest excited by the expectation of the rising Nile; and the accurate observations required for fixing the seasons, and the period of the annual return of the inundation, contributed greatly to the early study of astronomy in the valley of the Nile. The precise time when these and other calculations were first made by the Egyptians, it is impossible now to determine; but from the height of the inundation being already recorded in the reign of the kings of the 12th dynasty, we may infer that constant observations had been made, and Nilometers constructed, even before that early period; and astronomy, geometry, and other sciences are said to have been known in Egypt in the time of the hierarchy which preceded the accession of their first king, Menes.

We cannot, however, from the authority of Diodorus and Clemens of Alexandria, venture to assert that the books of Hermes which contained the science and philosophy of Egypt all date before the reign of Menes; the original work, by whomsoever it was composed, was probably very limited and imperfect; and the famous books of Hermes were not all written at the same period; like the Jewish collection of poems received under the name of David’s Psalms, some of which date after the Babylonish captivity. Nor was Thoth, Hermes, or Mercury, a real personage, but (as I have before stated) a deified form of the divine intellect, which being imparted to man had enabled him to produce this effort of genius; and the only argument in favour of the high antiquity of any portion of this work is the tradition of the people, supported by the positive proof of the great mathematical skill of the Egyptians in the time of Menes, by the change he made in the course of the Nile. It may also be inferred from their advancement in the arts and sciences at this early period, that many ages of civilization had preceded the accession of their first monarch.

At all events, we may conclude that to agriculture and the peculiar nature of the river, the accurate method adopted by the Egyptians in the regulation of their year is to be attributed; that by the return of the seasons, so decidedly marked in Egypt, they were taught to correct those inaccuracies, to which an approximate calculation was at first subject; and that thus the calendar, which could not long be suffered to depend on the vague length of a solar revolution, was necessarily brought round to a fixed period.

It is highly probable that the Egyptians, in their infancy as a nation, divided their year into twelve lunar months; the twenty-eight years of Osiris’s reign being derived, as Plutarch says, from the number of days the moon takes to perform her course round the earth; and it is worthy of remark that the hieroglyphic signifying “month” was represented by the crescent of the moon, as is abundantly proved from the sculptures and the authority of Horapollo. From this we also derive another very important conclusion; that the use of hieroglyphics was of a far more remote date than is generally supposed, since they existed previous to the adoption of solar months.

The substitution of solar for lunar months was the earliest change in the Egyptian year. It was then made to consist of twelve months of thirty days each, making a total of 360 days: but as it was soon discovered that the seasons were disturbed, and no longer corresponded to the same months, five additional days were introduced at the end of the last month, Mesoré in order to remedy the previous defect in the calendar, and to insure the returns of the seasons to fixed periods.

The twelve months were Thoth, Paopi, Athor, Choeak, Tobi, Mechir, Phamenoth, Pharmuthi, Pachons, Paoni, Epep, Mesoré: and the year being divided into three seasons, each period comprised four of these months. That containing the first four was styled the season of the “plants;” the next perhaps of the “manifestation,” or “appearance, of the inundation;” and the last season of the “tanks of water,” which had been laid up when the Nile subsided. The 1st of Thoth, in the time of Julius Cæsar, fell on the 29th of August; and Mesoré, the last month, began on the 25th of July; as may be seen in the accompanying woodcut, where I have introduced the modern names given them by the Copts, who still use them in preference to the lunar months of the Arabs; and, indeed, the Arabs themselves are frequently guided by the Coptic months in matters relating to agriculture, particularly in Upper Egypt.

443.              The 12 Egyptian Months.

A people who gave any attention to subjects so important to their agricultural pursuits, could not long remain ignorant of the deficiency which even the intercalation of the five days left in the adjustment of the calendar; and though it required a period of 1461 years for the seasons to recede through all the twelve months, and to prove by the deficiency of a whole year the imperfection of this system, yet it would be obvious to them, in the lapse of a very few years, that a perceptible alteration had taken place in the relative position of the seasons; and the most careless observation would show, that in 120 years, having lost a whole month, or thirty days, the rise of the Nile, the time of sowing and reaping, and all the periodical occupations of the peasant, no longer coincided with the same month. They therefore added a quarter day to remedy the defect, making every fourth year to consist of 366 days; which, though still subject to a slight error, was a sufficiently accurate approximation; and the length of each year was computed from one heliacal rising of the Dog-star to another. It was therefore called the “Sothic year;” and Censorinus says “it was termed by the Greeks ‘κυνικον,’ by the Latins ‘canicularem,’ because its commencement is taken from the rising of the Dog-star on the first day of the month, called by the Egyptians Thoth.” But that day was not made the beginning of the year because Sothis rose heliacally upon it; the Sothic period was fixed when it coincided with it; and the beginning of the year, or the first of Thoth, was, perhaps, originally at a very different season; though they even pretended in later times that the commencement of the Sothic period corresponded with the beginning of the world. Some have supposed that the name Thoth was formerly applied to the first day alone, and not to the month itself.

That the five days, called of the Epact, were added at a most remote period, may readily be credited; and so convinced were the Egyptians of this, that they referred it to the fabulous times of their history, wrapping it up in the guise of allegory; and it is highly probable that the intercalation of the quarter day, or one day in four years, was also of very early date. The first direct notice of the five days is on a box at Turin of the time of Amunoph III.; but M. de Rougé has shown they were used in the 12th dynasty, and that the fête of Sothis was celebrated at the same period.

The Sothic period, as is well known, was fixed in the year 1322 before our era, when the Egyptians had ascertained by observation that 1460 Sothic were equal to 1461 solar years, the seasons having in that time passed through every part of the year, and returned again to the same point. They thus established a standard for adjusting their calendar, under the name of the Sothic period; and though for ordinary purposes, as the dates of their kings and other events, they continued to use the vague year of 365 days, every calculation could thus be corrected, by comparing the time of this last with that of the Sothic or sidereal year. When the idea first occurred to them is unknown; but the oath imposed on the Egyptian Kings “that they would not intercalate any month or day, but that the sacred year of 365 days should remain as instituted in ancient times,” evidently had for its object the employment of both the years for a counter-reckoning in present and past records; and as the Sothic period was fixed in 1322 B.C. from observations, it is evident that these must have been continued during the time that elapsed up to that year, which would throw back the beginning of their observations to a very remote age. The king in whose reign the Sothic period was fixed is said to be Menophres; but the name he is known by on the monuments has not yet been ascertained, though he seems to have lived about the beginning of the 19th dynasty.

The astronomical subjects and various data to be derived from the monuments, will doubtless some day clear up most essential points relating to Egyptian Chronology; and though we must sometimes depend upon conjecture, it is satisfactory, considering the general uncertainty of history, to have arrived at a fair approximation in Egyptian dates. Those I have ventured to assign to the Pharaohs only pretend to a similar approximation; but the rising of Sothis in the reign of Thothmes III., now calculated by the learned M. Biot to correspond to between 1464 and 1424 B.C., shows that my placing his reign from 1495 to 1456 B.C. only differed from his real date by about 30 years.

The pursuits of agriculture did not prevent the Egyptians from arriving at a remarkable pre-eminence as a manufacturing nation; and that they should successfully unite the advantages of an agricultural and a manufacturing country is not surprising, when we consider that in those early times the competition of other manufacturing countries did not interfere with their market; and though Tyre and Sidon excelled in various manufactures, many branches of industry brought exclusive advantages to the Egyptian workman. Even in the flourishing days of the Phœnicians, Egypt exported linen to other countries, and she probably enjoyed at all times an entire monopoly in this, and every article she manufactured, with the caravans of the interior of Africa.

The Egyptian land measure was the aroura (or arura), a square of 100 cubits, covering an area of 10,000 cubits, and like our acre solely employed for measuring land. It contained 29,184 square feet English, (the cubit being full 20½ inches,) and was little more than ¾ of an English acre. The other measures of Egypt were the schœne, equal to 60 stades in length, which served like the stade of Greece, the parasang of Persia, and the more modern mile, for measuring distance; the cubit, which Herodotus says was equal to that of Samos; and the palm and digit, which were parts of the cubit. Though the stade is often used by Greek writers in giving measurements in Egypt, it was not an Egyptian measure; and generally speaking it was equal to 600 Greek feet. They also mention the plethrum in giving the length of some buildings, as the Pyramids; but this was properly a Greek square measure, containing 10,000 square feet. When used as a measure of length it was estimated at 100 feet; though, if Herodotus’s measurement of the Great Pyramid be correct, it could not complete 100 of our feet, as he gives the length of each face 8 plethra. But little reliance can be placed on his measurements, since in this he exceeds the true length; and to the face of the third Pyramid he only allows 3 plethra, which, calculating the plethrum at 100 feet, is more than half a plethrum short of the real length,—each face, according to the measurement of Colonel Howard Vyse, being 354 feet.

The total length of each face of the Great Pyramid when entire I believe to have been 754 or 755 feet, which would be exactly 440 cubits; but neither this, nor the courts of the temples, the statues, and other monuments can be depended upon for the exact length of that Egyptian measure.

Happily other data of a less questionable nature are left us for this purpose, and the graduated cubit in the Nilometer of Elephantine, and the wooden cubits discovered in Egypt, suffice to establish its length, without the necessity of conjecture.

Some have supposed that the Egyptian cubit varied at different periods, and that it consisted at one time of 24, at another of 32 digits; or that there were two cubits of different lengths,—one of 24 digits or 6 palms, the other of 32 digits or 3 palms, employed for different purposes. Some have maintained, with M. Girard, that the cubit used in the Nilometer of Elephantine consisted of 24 digits, others that it contained 32; and numerous calculations have been deduced from these conflicting opinions, respecting the real length of the cubit. But a few words will suffice to show the manner in which that cubit was divided, the number of its digits, and its real length; and respecting the supposed change in the cubit used in the Nilometers of Egypt, I shall only observe, that people far more prone to innovation than the Egyptians would not readily tolerate a similar deviation from long-established custom; and it is obvious that the greatest confusion would have been caused throughout the country, and that agriculture would have suffered incalculable injuries, if the customary announcement of a certain number of cubits for the rise of the Nile had been changed, through the introduction of a cubit of a different length.

The Nilometer in the island of Elephantine is a staircase between two walls descending to the Nile, on one of which is a succession of graduated scales containing one or two cubits, accompanied by inscriptions recording the rise of the river at various periods, during the rule of the Cæsars. Every cubit is divided into fourteen parts, each of 2 digits, giving 28 digits to the cubit; and the length of the cubit is 1 ft. 8⅝ in., or 165 eighths, which is 1 ft. 8.625 in. to each cubit, and 0.736 in. to each digit.

The wooden cubit, published by M. Jomard, is also divided into 28 parts or digits, and therefore accords, both in its division, and, as I shall show, very nearly in length, with the cubit of Elephantine. In this last we learn, from the inscriptions accompanying the scales, that the principal divisions were palms and digits; the cubit being 7 palms or 28 digits: and the former in like manner consisted of 7 palms or 28 digits. The ordinary division, therefore, of the cubit was as follows:

The Cubit in the Nilometer Elephantine.

              Feet

              Inches

1 digit

              0

              0.736

4

              1 palm

              0

              2.946

28

              7

              1 cubit

              1

              8.625

The full division of the wooden Egyptian cubits, which have been found, appears to be:—

Parts of the Cubit

              Cubits of the Nilometer

              Cubits of Memphis according to Jomard.

              Inches English.

              Inches English.

1/16 of a digit

              0.04603

              0.04569

16

              1 digit

              0.7366

              0.73115

              2

              1 condoyle

              1.4732

              1.4623

              4

              2

              1 palm

              2.9464

              2.9247

              5

              . .

              . .

              1 hand

              3.6830

              3.6557

              6

              . .

              . .

              . .

              1 hubdeh, or fist with thumb erect

              4.4196

              4.3869

              8

              . .

              2

              . .

              . .

              1 dichas, or 2 palms

              5.8928

              5.8494

              11

              . .

              . .

              . .

              . .

              . .

              1 fitr or forefinger span

              8.1026

              8.0428

              13

              . .

              . .

              . .

              . .

              . .

              1 shibr, spithamoré, or full span

              9.5758

              9.5051

              28

              . .

              7

              . .

              . .

              . .

              1 cubit

              20.6250

              20.47291

There is no indication of a foot, and the 15 last digits are solely occupied with fractional parts, beginning with a 16th, and ending in ½ a digit, from which we may conclude that the smallest measurement in the Egyptian scale of length was the 16th of a digit, or the 26th of an inch.

The lengths of different Egyptian cubits are:—

              Millimètres.

              English Inches.

Cubit in the Turin Museum, according to my measurement

              522 4⁄10;

              or

              20.5730

The same, according to M. Jomard

              522 7⁄10;

              or

              20.5786

Another, he gives

              523

              or

              20.6180

Another

              524

              or

              20.6584

M. Jomard’s cubit of Memphis

              520

              or

              20.4729

Cubit of Elephantine according to M. Jomard

              527

              or

              20.7484

The same, according to my measurement

              or

              20.6250

Part of a cubit found by me at A′Souán

              apparently about

              21.0000

The cubit at the Pyramids according to Mr. Perring

              20.6280

Mr. Harris’s cubit from Thebes

              20.6500

The careless manner in which the graduation of the scales of the Nilometer at Elephantine has been made by the Egyptians, renders the precise length of its cubit difficult to determine; but as I have carefully measured all of them, and have been guided by their general length as well as by the averages of the whole, I am disposed to think my measurement as near the truth as possible; and judging from the close approximation of different wooden cubits, whose average M. Jomard estimates at 523.506 millimètres, we may conclude that they were all intended to represent the same measures, strongly arguing against the supposition of different cubits having been in use, one of 24 and others of 28 and 32 digits; and indeed, if at any time the Egyptians employed a cubit of a different length, consisting of 24 digits, it is not probable that it was used in their Nilometers, for architectural purposes, or for measuring land.

And if, when cited from ancient authors, I have calculated the cubit at 1½ foot, this is only because custom has reconciled us to that approximate measurement.

The principal Egyptian measures of weight were the talent, and the mina; the former called in Coptic ginshôr, the latter emna or amna, and in the hieroglyphics men, or mna.

The talent is supposed to have contained 60 minæ, and the mina 100 drachms, as in Greece; but the uncertainty about their real value is so great, that the talent has been reckoned at 114 or 113, at 91, 86¾, or even 65 lbs. Troy; and the mina in the same proportion. It seems really to have been about 80 lbs. Troy, and the mina 161⁄7 ounces.

The mina, mna, or men, is often mentioned on the monuments, and from their reckoning upwards of 2000 minæ, (as of “sift,” zift, or bitumen,) it was evidently used for large quantities, where we should rather have expected the talent, and was, like our pound, the standard weight. The name is quite Egyptian, and of a more common form than any other in the language; and it is found applied to weights at least as early as the 18th dynasty, followed by a square, indicative of a “weight.” It seems also to be related to the Arabic word mana “to count,” (and the “mna” “mene,” of Daniel,) from which Al-manach is supposed to be derived.

The weights represented, when they are engaged in weighing gold and silver and other commodities, are in the form of a whole ox, a bull’s head, and a conical mass, as well as the square representing the mina; and the three first seem to be the whole, the half, and another subdivision of the talent, or 60, 30, and 20 or 10 minæ. The adoption of the bull for the talent may have originated in the original mode of bartering, and accords with Homer’s reckoning the bull as a standard of value. Indeed it is said to have represented a talent. Thus the pecunia of the Romans was taken from pecus.

The Egyptians had also a measure, or weight, apparently’ of the same name, mn or mna, used for gold and silver, and followed by a similar square sign; which Mr. Birch supposes to have been divided like our pound into 16 parts or ounces, no higher number having been found than 15. These have also a square sign after them, determinative of weight, and are called kit or kiti, the Coptic name of the drachma and didrachma.

The idea of the mina being equivalent to our pound seems to be confirmed by the weights, in the form of lions and ducks, brought by Mr. Layard from Nimroud, (now in the British Museum); as the most perfect of the large ducks, which was ½ a talent, or 30 minæ, weighs little more than 484 ounces, or 40 lbs. troy and 4 ozs. Each mina is therefore 161⁄7; ounces; and the close approximation in the weight of the lions and ducks shows they represented the same quantity.

Of the Egyptian measures of capacity one was small, answering to the modern mid, or nearly 2½ pecks English; another larger, also used for measuring grain, distinguished by the king’s crook that surmounts it, which, as M. de Rougé suggests, may point to its value fixed by royal authority; or be a royal, i. e. a large measure. It may perhaps be the origin of the modern Egyptian ardéb (the ertôb of the Copts, and the Medish artaba), equal nearly to 5 English bushels; and the smaller one is shown to be the one employed for measuring grain when taken to, or from, the granary; being the standard like the modern mid, which in size and shape it so much resembled. This name is very like the Latin modius.

The modern ardéb contains 8 mid; and the latter 4 roftów, or 3 roob; and according to another calculation the ardéb is made to consist of 6 waybeh, a name answering to the ouôpi of the Copts, which was equal to 4 roob. The half ardéb, or mid, was called also koros in Coptic.

There was another measure used both for liquids, as wine; and for dry substances, as incense and bitumen; which had likewise a name very like mn or mina.

N. Arch at Tusculum, in Italy (built while the Kings ruled at Rome?)

O. View of the modern town of Manfaloót, showing the height of the banks of the Nile in summer. In the mountain range, opposite Manfaloót, are the large crocodile mummy caves of Maábdeh.