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 86° or 88° Fahr.; but the average heat in the ovens does not reach the temperature of fowls, which is 104°.

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

3. Feeding an oryx,

the poulterers bestowed the same care on the geese and fowls. animals of the desert they tamed or bred in the farmyard; and fined to oxen and sheep; it extended also to the oryx, and other they forced into their mouths. Their medical aid was not conand preparing for them whatever medicine they required, which them with proper food, which they gave them with the hand, shepherds. They took the utmost care of the animals, providing

414.

Fig. 1. A scribe.

Geese brought and numbered.

2. Men bringing eggs in baskets. are baskets containing eggs and flowers.

British Museum-from Thebes.

3. One of the feeders of geese.

4. Table on which

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.

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.

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

1

416.

Thebes.

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

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