to be condemned to sow the fields, to fill the canals with water,
and to carry sand from the West to the East. The ushabtiu
figures of the XIIIth dynasty are made of granite, wood, and
calcareous stone; the last substance was, however, that most
commonly used. The use of faïence for this purpose appears
not to have been known at that epoch. Generally the hands
are crossed over the breast, but sometimes they are covered up
in bandages. The hands do not hold any agricultural im-
plements as in the later dynasties; and the inscriptions upon
them consist usually of the name and titles of the deceased,
and resemble very closely those on the stelæ of this period.

The breasts of sepulchral figures of this period are sometimes
Descrip inscribed with a scarabæus having its wings outspread. Blue,
tion of
ushabtiu

green, brown, and red glazed faïence figures appear during the at various XVIIIth dynasty, and continue until the XXVIth dynasty, by epochs.

which time this substance has taken the place of stone, wood,
or metal. In this dynasty the figures first begin to carry a
hoe, mattock and basket. During the XIXth dynasty the
dress of these figures changes, and they are represented as
wearing the garments which the people for whom they are
made wore during their lifetime. In the XXVIth dynasty
these figures still hold the hoe, mattock and basket, and they
stand on a square pedestal and have a rectangular upright
plinth down the back. They were cast in moulds, and are
easily distinguishable by their light bluish-green colour.
Between the XXIInd and XXIVth dynasties ushabtiu
figures seem not to have been placed in the tombs, and
after the XXVIth dynasty they are made with less care, the
inscriptions grow gradually shorter, and finally the figures

become very small and bear no inscriptions whatever.
Ushabtiu Ushabtiu figures are generally inscribed with the VIth
inscrip
tions.

chapter of the Book of the Dead, which appears on them in
three forms; the following, from Mariette, Catalogue des Monu-
ments d'Abydos, p. 48, is an example of the first form :-

The second form (Mariette, Catalogue, p. 58) reads :

The third form, which agrees with the text of the 6th chapter found in papyri of the XXVIth dynasty, reads :

kat

em

árit do

nebt
årit
åm

neter xert
any [which] are to be done there in the underworld,

labours

en

se

ástu
ḥu - nef

set'ebu

åm behold, be there smtten down for him obstructions there for a person