where he got drunk, and babbled about his affairs, and fell about and hurt himself, and was then cast out of the door by his fellow drinkers who said: "out with this swiller,"

came to seek him and upbraid him, they found him lying on the ground as helpless as a child (Maxims of Khensuhetep, XIII). During the dark, moonless nights, after long weary days spent in hauling up water from the river, the peasant villager had little to amuse him, except games played

Egyptian house, with inner chamber and two flights of steps leading to the roof. [No. 292, Wall-case 107, Third Egyptian Room.] About B.C. 4000.

with counters and draughts, and the converse of his companions in the "beer-house."

Dwelling Houses.-The king usually lived in a palace or large building within the precincts of some temple, or at a very little distance from one. His palace was probably like the large houses of modern times in Egypt, ie., it had a courtyard with trees in the middle of it, and a large garden round about it. In the garden were fish-ponds and groves of fruit

trees, palms, acacias, flowering shrubs with scented blossoms, and a limited number of flowers. There were arbours, too, covered with creepers and vines, and the gardeners watered the ground daily by means of small channels into which water was poured from the shadûf, or the water wheel. The courtyards were paved, or tiled, or covered with floors made of inlaid painted porcelain work. The walls and ceilings of the rooms were painted with rich and intricate designs, and in a few of the rooms there were openings near the roof which served as windows. The royal furniture was probably richly painted and inlaid with ebony, ivory, porcelain, and, under the New Empire, metal vases of all shapes and sizes would be seen everywhere in the dwelling rooms. Certain large rooms were set apart for receptions and entertainments, and these probably contained large raised benches placed along the walls for the guests. The kitchen, pantry, stables, and general servants' quarters were outside the house, but the personal attendants on the king and queen, the steward, the master of the chambers, etc., had their apartments in the palace. The storeys were rarely more than two in number, and the roof, which was flat, was approached by a flight of steps, either from the courtyard or from the roof of the storey on the ground floor.

The houses of nobles were built on the same lines as the palace, but with less magnificence, and they seldom consisted of more than two storeys. There was a courtyard, with sets of small rooms built on three sides of it, and a portico on the fourth. On the flat roof were wind shafts by which the north wind was brought into the rooms, and a small amount of light was also admitted into them through openings in the upper parts of the walls, close to the ceiling. Then as now, at certain seasons of the year, some of the members of the family slept on the roof or in the courtyard, the remainder on the upper floor. Near the house were the wine-press, beerhouse, stable, byres for cattle, bins for various kinds of grain, etc., and chambers for storing the fruit and vegetables from the estate. The garden contained a small lake, and in the ground round about, which was divided into oblong beds, were fruit trees and flowering shrubs with scented blossoms, vines, etc. The whole was enclosed within a thick mud wall built probably of crude brick. The farmhouse of one storey usually contained one living-room, one bed-room, and a number of small chambers in which grain was stored. On the roof was a small chamber to which the master retired in the cool of the evening; this was approached by means of a flight

of solid mud steps. The corn was ground and the bread baked in the courtyard, where also were kept the large porous earthenware jars, like the modern sir, containing the supply of water which was brought to the house from the Nile each morning and evening. The house and yard were enclosed by a strong mud wall, with one door in it; in times of danger the cattle of the farm were driven from the fields into the yard. A good model of this kind of house is exhibited in Standardcase C, in the Fourth Egyptian Room. Here are seen the master sitting in the chamber on the wall, or roof, with a plate of food before him, and the wife rolling the dough for the bread-cakes of the evening meal. The house of the peasant labourer was a mere hut made of mud, the roof of which was

formed of layers of palm branches or straw. Small huts were made of reeds or palm trees bound together with twigs, and perhaps daubed with mud in the cold weather, and in the northern districts of mud; in the summer a shelter of reed mats probably sufficed.

Furniture. The Egyptians did not fill their houses with furniture like Western Nations. Their bedsteads were made of wood, which usually came from the Sûdân, and consisted of a strong rectangular framework, about 15 or 20 inches high, across which was stretched plaited palm fibre, or rope; the ankarîb of the Sûdân is the modern equivalent. The covering of such beds was formed of thick padded linen sheets, and the

pillow was a support made of wood, or ivory, more or less ornamented, with a curved top for the neck to fit into. (See Wall-cases Nos. 97, 98, in the Third Egyptian Room.) Carpets were unknown, but plaited palm leaf or straw mats took their place. Chairs (see Standard-case H in the Fourth Egyptian Room) and tables were found in the houses of the wealthy, but only low stools were known in poor abodes. (For examples of a painted table, chairs inlaid with ivory and ebony, a couch-frame, stools, inlaid box, etc., see Standardcase L in the Fourth Egyptian Room.) Men, women, and children squatted or sat on the floor, or reclined upon mats, and in later days upon cushions made of padded linen. In houses of moderate

size there was probably a raised mud bench, covered with mats in the receiving or eating room, for the use of the male members of the house, or their guests. There was also, probably, a raised mud bench built against the outside of one of the walls of the house for the use of friends who

sat there in the cool of

the evening and for the

I

Ivory head-rest, or pillow, of Kua-tep. men of the house to [No. 69, Wall-case 98, Third Egyptian Room.] XIIth dynasty. sleep on during hot

nights. Niches, or square cavities cut in the walls, served as cupboards, and in one of these the lamp (see Wall-case No. 176 in the Fourth Egyptian Room), usually made of earthenware, stood.

The stores of clothing, etc., were kept in a very small room provided with a stout wooden door with a bolt-lock and key of simple pattern. (For examples of bolts and keys, see Wall-cases Nos. 180, 181, in the Fourth Egyptian Room.) The mistress of the house usually possessed a small strong box in which she kept jewellery, ornaments, and amulets, and perhaps also her toilet requisites; in some cases the latter were kept in a special toilet box, which held eyepaint (stibium, or antimony, kohl), comb, hair-tweezers, pumice-stone, unguents and pomades, both scented and plain. (See Standard-case L in the Fourth Egyptian Room.)

Kitchen utensils were comparatively few in number. Fresh and sour milk (or curds), soft cheese, sheep-fat, etc., were kept in earthenware pots, some of which were undoubtedly glazed; bowls made of earthenware or gourds were common, as were large open saucers. The cooking pots were usually of earthenware, or, among well-to-do people, of metal. Knives made of flint, stone, or metal, were common, and rough flesh forks; in the later period spoons were used. Plates, in the modern sense of the word, were unknown; the thick breadcake served as a plate for those who squatted round the bowl of cooked vegetables with pieces of meat on the top, and the thin flat cake was frequently used as a napkin. A stone corn-grinder and a kneading-stone were found in every house. The stock of grain for the family was kept in large earthenware jars, or in a kind of bin made of mud. Every house contained a figure of the god under whose protection the family lived, and to this adoration was offered at regular intervals; it took part in the family councils, its lot was bound up with that of the family, and it prevented wandering spirits of evil disposition from entering the house. There being no chimney to the house, the fire was lit wherever it was most convenient, and the smoke went out through the roof and the aperture in the wall which served as a window. The fuel was animal dung, and such refuse from the straw as could not be eaten by the cow or goat of the house, and, occasionally, pieces of wood. As matches were unknown, care was taken to keep a small amount of fuel smouldering under the ashes, so that whenever it was necessary to boil lentils, etc., the fire could be revived; if the fire was out, recourse was had to the striking of flints, or to some neighbour, or to the temple fire. In primitive times the Egyptians seem to have used a fire-stick, like some of the tribes of Central Africa.

Agriculture and Cattle-breeding.-By far the larger part of the population of Egypt and the Egyptian Sûdân has been for many thousands of years past connected with the cultivation of the soil and the rearing of cattle, and on the success of the farmer and the cattle-breeder the prosperity of the whole country has always depended. In remote ages, before the estuary of the Nile was filled up by the mud which came down in flood-time from the mountains of Ethiopia and Nubia, and while still the sea flowed up the Nile as far as Esna, the primitive Egyptians were shepherds and herdsmen. The great cattle-breeding district was situated in the neighbourhood of the country now called Dâr Fûr, or the "Home of the Fûrs," and even to the