secure the Osiris against other dangers in the nether world, such as having his head cut off, dying the second death, suffering corruption, being turned away from one's house, going to the Nemmat, an infernal block for the execution of the wicked, going headlong in the cherti-nutar, eating or drinking filth. The next series of chapters in the Turin manuscript gives the deceased power over air and water, and some chapters are but different recensions of one text, the well-known vignette of which represents the Osiris receiving the water poured out to him by a hand coming out of a tree. The chapter begins, "O sycamore of the goddess Nut! let there be given to me the water which is in thee."

The 149th chapter gives an account of the terrible nature of certain divinities and localities which the deceased must encounter-gigantic and venomous serpents, gods with names significant of death and destruction, waters and atmospheres of flames. But none of these prevail over the Osiris; he passes through all things without harm; unhurt he breathes the fiery atmosphere and drinks the waters of flame; and he lives in peace with the fearful gods who preside over these abodes. Some of these gods remind one of the demons in the Inferno of Dante. But though ministers or angels of divine justice, their nature is not evil. Some of the invocations contained in the seventeenth chapter will give some idea of the terrors of the Egyptian nether world.

"O Ra, in thine egg, radiant in thy disk shining forth from the horizon, swimming over the steel firmament, sailing over the pillars of Shu, thou who hast no second among the gods, who producest the winds by the flames of thy mouth, and who enlightenest the worlds with thy splendours, save the departed from that god whose nature is a mystery and whose eyebrows are as the arms of the balance on the night when Aauit was weighed."

"O Lord of the great dwelling,' supreme king of the gods, save the Osiris from that god who has the face of a hound and the eyebrows of a man, who feeds upon

the accursed."

"O Lord of victory in the two worlds, save the Osiris from that god who seizes upon souls, devours hearts and feeds upon carcases."

"O Scarabaeus god in thy bark, whose substance is self-originated, save the Osiris from those watchers to whom the Lord of spirits has entrusted the observation of his enemies, and from whose observation none can escape. Let me not fall under their swords nor go to their block of execution, let me not remain in their abodes, let me not rest upon their beds [of torment], let me not fall into their nets. Let nought befal me which the gods abhor."

1 "The great dwelling" is the universe, as the Hall (usexet) of Seb is the earth, the Hall of Nut is the heaven, and the Hall of the two-fold Maat is the nether world.

These trials which the departed undergo, and which are triumphantly overcome by the Osiris, sufficiently show the fate which the wicked must expect. This fate is called "the second death."

The faithful dead expect to be protected from the dangers of their new existence, partly indeed by the virtue of amulets and talismans to which the gods have given power, partly also by the knowledge of religious formulas (such as the chapters of the Book of the Dead) or of divine names, but chiefly by the conformity of their conduct with the standard of law by which they are judged by Osiris in the Amenti.

Amulets.

The use of amulets was certainly carried to the most extravagant excess, and the Book of the Dead even in its earliest form shows the importance attached to such things. In the thirty-second chapter, the deceased drives off the infernal crocodiles by pointing to the potent talismans upon his person. "Back! Crocodile of the West!" he says, "who livest upon the Achemu who are at rest; what thou abhorrest is upon me; I have eaten the head of Osiris; I am Set. Back! Crocodile of the West! there is an asp upon me; I shall not be given to thee; dart not thy flame upon me. Back! Crocodile of the East! who feedest upon impurities; what thou abhorrest is upon me; I have

passed; I am Osiris ;" and so on. Directions are given in the rubrics of certain characters for the construction of these talismans, such as the Tat of gold (ch. 155), emblematic of the vertebræ of Osiris; the buckle of red quartz (ch. 156), which the text connects with the blood of Isis and the magic words of Osiris; and the golden vulture (ch. 157), which has reference to some parts of the history of Isis and Horus. The most important probably of these talismans was the scarabaeus which had the thirtieth chapter inscribed upon it. The rubric directs it to be placed upon the heart of the deceased person. An immense number of these scarabaei have been found with the chapter inscribed upon them; there is probably no chapter of which the text can be restored with greater difficulty. Its antiquity is extreme, and the different readings already abounded at the time of the eleventh dynasty.

Words of Power.

The belief in the magic power of sacred words, whether religious formulas or the names of gods, was also acknowledged and was the source of a frightful amount of superstition. The rubric at the end of the first chapter is a specimen of what occurs in others. "If this chapter be known upon earth or if it be written upon his coffin, he will come forth every day that he pleases, and enter his house without being prevented;

there shall be given to him bread and beer, and flesh upon the tables of Ra; he will work in the fields of Aarru, and there shall be given to him the wheat and barley which are there, for he shall flourish as though he were upon earth." Another rubric says: "If this chapter be recited over him, he will go forth over the earth, and he will pass through every kind of fire, no evil thing being able to hurt him."

The power of the book of Tehuti (that is, of the Book of the Dead), it is said in one place, is the cause of the triumph of Osiris over his ghostly enemies. And in very many places the Osiris bases his claims on the simple fact of knowing the names of the gods whom he addresses, or of the localities in the divine world which he inhabits.

The superstitious repetition of names (many of which perhaps never had any meaning at all) is particularly conspicuous in numerous documents much more recent than the Book of the Dead; from the time, in fact, of the eighteenth dynasty down to Christian times. But the last chapters of the Turin copy of the Book of the Dead, which, though really no portion of it, are probably very ancient, already indulge in this gross superstition. "Iruka is thy name, Markata is thy name, Ruta is thy name, Nasakaba is thy name, Tanasatanasa is thy name, Sharusatakata is thy name."