DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0293
277
the driver, whom he is scolding. The next scene is the reaping
the com, which resembles that at Eleithias. When reaped, it is
bound into sheaves, and placed on an ass's back to be carried
to the stack. Some authors aver that the Egyptians never used
these animals in husbandry; and for that reason, say they, asses
were treated with contempt in this country, and held in such
detestation as to be considered symbolical of Typhon. But we
have here two instances to the contrary; for in the next scene
there are nine or ten asses employed in treading out the corn on
one area, and in another adjacent to it are the same number of
oxen at the same work—Neither are muzzled. They are kept
in constant motion by two men with whips, one of whom holds
in his hand a rein to which they are all attached. Other reapers
are cutting down very high standing straw from which the cars
have been previously cropped. The flax is pulled up by the roots,
bound and combed as at Eleithias.
On another wall a man is cutting reeds out of a large planta-
tion, which when bound together are carried away to a place
where others are forming them into a kind of boat or raft.
The exertion which is used to lash them well together is ex-
presssed with much ingenuity. Similar conveyances are still
in use in many parts of the Nile between this and the Cataracts.
One of them is represented in the water, and near it the fancy of
the artist has drawn two hippopotami: this animal, once so com-
mon, is now unknown in Egypt. There he is described with
short thick legs, a small tail, the head and nose of a boar, a
large row of teeth, and one prominent tusk in the lower jaw.
Though in the water, he is raising his head above it, and opens
his mouth to breathe more freely. He is not represented here
as a formidable animal, nor as persecuted by the inhabitants.
At Papremis they were held sacred ; but unfortunately the con-
tradictory
the driver, whom he is scolding. The next scene is the reaping
the com, which resembles that at Eleithias. When reaped, it is
bound into sheaves, and placed on an ass's back to be carried
to the stack. Some authors aver that the Egyptians never used
these animals in husbandry; and for that reason, say they, asses
were treated with contempt in this country, and held in such
detestation as to be considered symbolical of Typhon. But we
have here two instances to the contrary; for in the next scene
there are nine or ten asses employed in treading out the corn on
one area, and in another adjacent to it are the same number of
oxen at the same work—Neither are muzzled. They are kept
in constant motion by two men with whips, one of whom holds
in his hand a rein to which they are all attached. Other reapers
are cutting down very high standing straw from which the cars
have been previously cropped. The flax is pulled up by the roots,
bound and combed as at Eleithias.
On another wall a man is cutting reeds out of a large planta-
tion, which when bound together are carried away to a place
where others are forming them into a kind of boat or raft.
The exertion which is used to lash them well together is ex-
presssed with much ingenuity. Similar conveyances are still
in use in many parts of the Nile between this and the Cataracts.
One of them is represented in the water, and near it the fancy of
the artist has drawn two hippopotami: this animal, once so com-
mon, is now unknown in Egypt. There he is described with
short thick legs, a small tail, the head and nose of a boar, a
large row of teeth, and one prominent tusk in the lower jaw.
Though in the water, he is raising his head above it, and opens
his mouth to breathe more freely. He is not represented here
as a formidable animal, nor as persecuted by the inhabitants.
At Papremis they were held sacred ; but unfortunately the con-
tradictory