a fillet, her bosom exposed, and her dress supported, like that of mourning women, by a strap over the shoulder. She sometimes wore a scarf tied across her hips; much in the same manner as Egyptian women now put on their shawls both in the house and when going out of doors. She appears either to be a type of mourning, or a woman who had some peculiar office on these occasions. No. 501. A peculiar attendant at a funeral. A procession of this kind was all that attended the funeral of a person who held the office of "scribe, of weights and measures ;" but, as I have already observed, the pomp displayed in the ceremony depended on circumstances; and individuals surpassed each other in the style of their burial, as in the grandeur of their tombs, according to the sums their family, or they themselves by will, granted for the purpose. In another funeral† the order of the procession was as follows: First came eight men throwing dust upon their heads, and giving other demonstrations of grief; then six females, in the usual attire of mourners, preceding the hearse, which was drawn by two oxen in this instance unassisted by men, two only being near them; one uttering lamentations, and the other driving them with a goad or a whip. Immedi * EnεZwoμevn. Vide p. 402. Vide Plate 83.; and Woodcut, No. 502. Apuleius (Metam. xi. 250.) says the high priest made a purification "with a lighted torch, an egg, and sulphur." + Vide Plate 85. ately before the sledge bearing the coffin was the sprinkler, who, with a brush dipped in a vase, or with a small bottle, threw water upon the ground, and perhaps also on those who passed. The same is done in the funeral ceremonies of the East at the present day; and so profusely do they sometimes honour the passengers, that Mr. Lane* found his dress wetted very uncomfortably on one occasion when he happened to pass by. Next came the high priest, who, turning round to the hearse, offered incense and libation in honour of the deceased, the chief mourner being seated in the boat before it : other men followed; and the procession closed with eight or more women, beating themselves, throwing dust on their heads, and singing the funeral dirge. Arrived at the tomb, which stood beneath the western mountain of Thebes, the mummy was taken from the hearse; and being placed upright, incense was burnt, and a libation was poured out before it by the high priest as he stood at the altar, while other functionaries performed various ceremonies in honour of the deceased. The hierogammat or sacred scribe read aloud from a tablet, or a roll of papyrus, his eulogy, and a prayer to the Gods in his behalf; "not enlarging," says Diodorust, "on his descent, but relating his piety and justice, and other virtues; and supplicating the Deities of Hades to receive him as a companion of the pious, the multitude at * Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 297. the same time applauding, and joining in the praises of his memory.' Sometimes this document was read from the boat, immediately after the deceased had passed that ordeal which gave him the right to cross the sacred lake, and proclaimed the presumed admission of his soul into the regions of the blessed; and it is probable that the same was again repeated when the body arrived at the tomb. The order of the procession which accompanied the body from the sacred lake to the catacombs was the same as before they had passed it: the time occupied by the march depending, of course, on the position of the tomb, and the distance from which the body had been brought; some coming from remote towns or villages, and others from the city itself, or the immediate vicinity. The same was the case at Memphis and other places; and the capital of each province appears to have had its sacred lake, where the funerals were performed, with the same regard to the ceremonies required by the religion. The tomb, in the subject above described, is represented at the base of the western mountain of Thebes, which agrees perfectly with its actual position; and from this, as from several other similar paintings, we learn that, besides the excavated chambers hewn in the rock, a small building crowned by a roof of conical or pyramidical form stood before the entrance. It is probable that many, if not all the pits in the plain below the hills, were once covered with buildings of this kind, which, from their perishable materials, crude brick, have been destroyed after a lapse of so many ages. Indeed we find the remains of some of them, and occasionally even of their vaulted chambers, with the painted stucco on the walls. The small brick pyramids on the heights, which still stand to attest the antiquity of the arch, were built for the same purpose; and similar paintings occur on their stuccoed walls as on those of the excavated tombs. Many other funerals occur on the tombs, which vary only in some details from those already mentioned. I cannot however omit to notice an instance of palm branches strewed in the way*, and the introduction of two tables or altars for the deceased and his wife, -one bearing a profusion of cakes, meat, fruit, vegetables, and other customary gifts; and the other numerous utensils and insignia, as flabella, censers, ostrich feathers, asps, and emblems, together with the hind leg of a victim, placed upon a napkin spread over the table. Another is curious, from its showing that water or grease was sometimes poured upon the ground or platform on which the sledge of the hearse passed, as was done in moving a colossus or any great weight by the same process.† The hearse containing the mummy was generally closed on all sides; but it was sometimes open, partially or entirely; and the body was seen placed upon a bier, ornamented, like some of the * Vide Plate 86. They are represented as if standing upright, according to Egyptian custom, to show them, though in reality on the ground. + Woodcut, No. 502. next page. Vide also Vol. III. p. 328. couches in their houses, with the head and feet of a lion. Sometimes the mummy was placed on the top of the sarcophagus, within an open hearse ; and three friends of the deceased, or the func No. 502. 1, 2. Certain personages who are mentioned in page 418. 3. The mummy with its coffin placed on a sledge, before which fig. 5. is pouring grease or some liquid. 4. A priest reading from a papyrus, or a tablet. tionaries destined for this office, took it thence to convey it to the tomb, where it received the accustomed services previous to interment in the |