DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0089
72 DOMESTIC. HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
bearing the name of Thothmes III., are not uncommon ; which,
with some of a still older date, show how erroneous it is to
cite those from Nineveh for great antiquity, or as a proof of
the early use of clay seals. And there is one of hard stone in
the museum at Alnwick Castle, which is of the remote age of
Osirtasen, more than 2000 years before our era (woodcut 49,
figs. 5, 6). Besides those used as seals, are others very like our
modern butter-moulds, with birds and various fanciful forms;
and at the side are notches in the stone, to let off the liquid
matter pressed between the two matrices of the mould (fig. 7.)
In a country so remarkable for the fertility of its soil, and
which depended so much on the promotion of agriculture,
it is reasonable to suppose that the pursuits of the peasant
would hold a prominent place in the paintings that illustrate
its customs; and all the different scenes connected with the
tillage of the land, and the harvest, are frequently represented,
—as ploughing, hoeing, sowing, cutting the corn, gleaning,
threshing, and winnowing; as well as collecting, carrying, and
housing the grain.
Every estate bad several stewards, who superintended the
cultivation of the land, the rearing of cattle, aud other farming
operations ; and the owner of the property frequently went
himself to watch the labours of the peasantry, sometimes in a
chariot drawn by two horses, or more rarely by two mules;
and sometimes on foot, accompanied by his favourite dog.
The plough was of the simplest construction,—all that was
required being to make light furrows in the soil, which, restored
annually by the fertilising mud of the inundation, wanted no
top-dressing, subsoiling, or artificial appliances; and though
nitre and the gtiano of the pigeon-house were occasionally used,
as by the modern Egyptians, for water-melons and some other
produce, nothing of the kind was required for the productions
bearing the name of Thothmes III., are not uncommon ; which,
with some of a still older date, show how erroneous it is to
cite those from Nineveh for great antiquity, or as a proof of
the early use of clay seals. And there is one of hard stone in
the museum at Alnwick Castle, which is of the remote age of
Osirtasen, more than 2000 years before our era (woodcut 49,
figs. 5, 6). Besides those used as seals, are others very like our
modern butter-moulds, with birds and various fanciful forms;
and at the side are notches in the stone, to let off the liquid
matter pressed between the two matrices of the mould (fig. 7.)
In a country so remarkable for the fertility of its soil, and
which depended so much on the promotion of agriculture,
it is reasonable to suppose that the pursuits of the peasant
would hold a prominent place in the paintings that illustrate
its customs; and all the different scenes connected with the
tillage of the land, and the harvest, are frequently represented,
—as ploughing, hoeing, sowing, cutting the corn, gleaning,
threshing, and winnowing; as well as collecting, carrying, and
housing the grain.
Every estate bad several stewards, who superintended the
cultivation of the land, the rearing of cattle, aud other farming
operations ; and the owner of the property frequently went
himself to watch the labours of the peasantry, sometimes in a
chariot drawn by two horses, or more rarely by two mules;
and sometimes on foot, accompanied by his favourite dog.
The plough was of the simplest construction,—all that was
required being to make light furrows in the soil, which, restored
annually by the fertilising mud of the inundation, wanted no
top-dressing, subsoiling, or artificial appliances; and though
nitre and the gtiano of the pigeon-house were occasionally used,
as by the modern Egyptians, for water-melons and some other
produce, nothing of the kind was required for the productions