U4

THE TEMPLE OF ML'T

[PART III.

Setna he sinks him into the earth with the draught
board, which undeniably suggests a hard knock on
the head. Thus the spell seems of value in bringing
Setna within the range of the limited physical
powers of the Ka.*

How then can we interpret the Ka ? What term
best corresponds to these powers, needs and limita-
tions ?

Wiedemann suggests that the Ka, as distinct from
the soul, the body, and the other essential parts of
man, is the " Personality." Maspero calls it the
" Double " ; Miss Edwards, in ' Pharaohs, Fellahs
and Explorers,' suggests that it is the Life. To
make the Ka the Personality or the Life would no
doubt harmonise well with the metaphysical scheme
of man, but would so much the less harmonise
with the Egyptian character, which was not
systematic. And neither of these would fully
explain its needs and its powers, the necessity for
material symbols of those things which supply
ordinary human needs, its freedoms and its limita-
tions. The Double is not a happily chosen title, for
a man cannot have a dozen doubles. Moreover, the
Double is, at any rate in English, used of a visible

* Such a combination of weak physical powers with the powers
of a spell is a frequent element in fairy tales. A spell is so to
speak a hand-engine, or may be compared to the fascination of
a serpent which acts in arresting the victim or annulling its
superior physical powers. If the theory of the Ka is indeed of
negritic origin it is more than likely that the power of the serpent
suggested this attribute of the Ka.