373.

The oxen driven round the heap; contrary to the usual custom.

Thebes.

and at the upper part is a seat on which the driver sits, his weight giving additional effect to the machine.* Indeed, the Roman tribulum, described by Varro, appears not to have been very unlike the noreg. It was "a frame made rough by stones or pieces of iron, on which the driver, or a great weight, was placed; and this being drawn by beasts yoked to it, pressed out the grain from the ear."

While some were employed in collecting the grain and depositing it in the granary, others gathered the long stubble from the field, and prepared it as provender to feed the horses and cattle; for which purpose it was used by them, as by the Romans, and the modern Egyptians. They probably preferred reaping the corn close to the ear, in order to facilitate the trituration; and afterwards cutting the straw close to the ground, or plucking it by the roots, they chopped it up for the cattle; and this, with dried clover (the drees of modern Egypt), was laid by for autumn, when the pastures being overflowed by the Nile, the flocks and herds were kept in sheds or pens on the higher grounds, or in the precincts of the villages.

This custom of feeding some of their herds in sheds accords with the Scriptural account of the preservation of the cattle,

* See Vignette at the end of this chapter.

which had been "brought home" from the field; and explains the apparent contradiction of the destruction of "all the cattle of Egypt" by the murrain, and the subsequent destruction of the cattle by the hail;* those which "were in the field” alone having suffered from the previous plague, and those in the stalls or "houses" having been preserved.

An instance of stall-fed oxen from the sculptures has been given in the account of the farmyardt and villas of the Egyptians. The first crop of wheat having been gathered, they prepared the land for whatever produce they next intended to rear; the field was ploughed and sowed, and, if necessary, the whole was inundated by artificial means, as often as the quality of the crop or other circumstances required. The same was repeated after the second and third harvest, for which the peasant was indebted to his own labours in raising water from the Nile-an arduous task, and one from which no showers relieved him throughout the whole season. For in Upper Egypt rain may be said to be unknown: five or six slight showers, that annually fall there, scarcely deserving that name; and in no country is artificial irrigation so indispensable as in the valley of the Nile.

In many instances, instead of corn they reared clover, or leguminous herbs, which were sown as soon as the water began to subside, generally about the commencement of October; and at the same time that corn, or other produce, was raised on the land just left by the water, another crop was procured by artificial irrigation. This, of course, depended on the choice of each individual, who consulted the advantages obtained from certain kinds of produce, the time required for their succession, or the benefit of the land; for though no soil recovers more readily from the bad effects arising from a repetition of similar crops, through the equalizing influence of the alluvial deposit, it is at length found to impoverish the land, and the Egyptian peasant is careful not to neglect the universal principle in husbandry of varying the produce on the same ground.

* Exod. ix. 6 and 19, &c.

VOL. II.

D

† Woodcut 31, vol. i. p. 27.

Besides wheat, other crops are represented in the paintings of the tombs; one of which, a tall grain, is introduced as a production both of Upper and Lower Egypt. From the colour, the height to which it grows, compared with the wheat, and the appearance of a round yellow head it bears on the top of its bright green stalk, it is evidently intended to represent the doora, or Holcus Sorghum. It was not reaped by a sickle, like the wheat and barley, but men, and sometimes women, were employed to pluck it up ;* which being done, they struck off the earth that adhered to the roots with their hands, and having bound it in sheaves, they carried it to what may be termed the threshingfloor, where, being forcibly drawn through an instrument armed

at the summit with metal spikes, the grain was stripped off, and fell upon the well-swept area below. This ancient contrivance is the more remarkable, as something of the kind has lately been proposed in England for a similar purpose.t

Much flax was cultivated in Egypt, and the various processes of watering it, beating the stalks when gathered, making it into twine, and lastly into a piece of cloth, are represented in the

* Woodcuts 374 and 375.

† Woodcut 375, fig. 3.

5

1

Eileithyias.

4

3

Gathering the doora, and stripping off the grain.

Fig. 1. Woman plucking up the plant by the roots.

2

2 Striking off the earth from the roots after he has plucked it up.

3. Binding it into a sheaf.

4. Carrying it to the area.

5. Stripping off the grain by drawing the head forcibly through an instrument furnished with metal spikes for this purpose.

and manufactures of Ancient Egypt.

At the end of summer, the peasant looked anxiously for the

paintings. These will be mentioned in the account of the arts

return of the inundation, upon which all his hopes for the ensuing year depended. He watched with scrupulous attention the first rise of the river; the state of its daily increase was noted down and proclaimed by the curators of the Nilometers at Memphis and other places; and the same anxiety for the approaching inundation was felt on each succeeding year. But during this interval he was not idle, and the quantity of water required for artificial irrigation entailed on the peasant incessant labour, except when the Nile was at its highest; and even while watching his water-melons, and various cucurbitaceous plants (like the modern felláh, under the shade of a rude "lodge in a garden of cucumbers"), he occupied himself in preparing something that might be serviceable on a future occasion.

During the inundation, when the Nile had been admitted by the canals into the interior, and the fields were covered with water, the peasantry indulged in various amusements which this leisure period gave them time to enjoy. Their cattle were housed, and supplied with dry food, which had been previously prepared for the purpose; the tillage of the land and all agricultural occupations were suspended; and this season was celebrated as a harvest home, with recreations of every kind. They indulged in feasting, and in all the luxuries of the table that they could afford; they attended the public games held in some of the principal towns, where the competitors contended for prizes of cattle, skins, and other things well suited to the taste or wants of the peasant; and they amused themselves with wrestlingmatches, bull-fights, and various sports. Many a leisure hour was passed in singing and dancing; and among the songs of the Egyptian peasant, Julius Pollux mentions that of Maneros; who was even celebrated as the inventor of husbandry—an honour generally given to the still more mysterious Osiris. But some songs and games were exclusively appropriated to certain festivals, and this adaptation of peculiar ceremonies to particular occasions is quite consistent with the character of the Egyptians. They had many festivals connected with agriculture and the produce of the soil, which happened at different periods of the