subjects in a chariot drawn by oxen, and protected from the sun by an umbrella edged with fringe.  The common people went about nearly naked, having merely a loin-cloth of some woven stuff or an animal’s skin thrown round their hips.  Their heads were either shaven, or adorned with tufts of hair stiffened with gum.  The children of both sexes wore no clothes until the age of puberty; the women wrapped themselves in a rude garment or in a covering of linen, and carried their children on the hip or in a basket of esparto grass on the back, supported by a leather band which passed across the forehead.  One characteristic of all these tribes was their love of singing and dancing, and their use of the drum and cymbals; they were active and industrious, and carefully cultivated the rich soil of the plain, devoting themselves to the raising of cattle, particularly of oxen, whose horns they were accustomed to train fantastically into the shapes of lyres, bows, and spirals, with bifurcations at the ends, or with small human figures as terminations.  As in the case of other negro tribes, they plied the blacksmith’s and also the goldsmith’s trade, working up both gold and silver into rings, chains, and quaintly shaped vases, some specimens of their art being little else than toys, similar in design to those which delighted the Byzantine Caesars of later date.

[Illustration:  341.jpg GOLD EPERGNE REPRESENTING SCENES FROM ETHIOPIAN LIFE]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a painting on the tomb of Hui.

A wall-painting remains of a gold epergne, which represents men and monkeys engaged in gathering the fruit of a group of dom-palms.  Two individuals lead each a tame giraffe by the halter, others kneeling on the rim raise their hands to implore mercy from an unseen enemy, while negro prisoners, grovelling on their stomachs, painfully attempt to raise their head and shoulders from the ground.  This, doubtless, represents a scene from the everyday life of the people of the Upper Nile, and gives a faithful picture of what took place among many of its tribes during a rapid inroad of some viceroy of Kush or a raid by his lieutenants.

The resources which Thutmosis I. was able to draw regularly from these southern regions, in addition to the wealth collected during his Syrian campaign, enabled him to give a great impulse to building work.  The tutelary deity of his capital—­Amon-Ra—­who had ensured him the victory in all his battles, had a prior claim on the bulk of the spoil; he received it as a matter of course, and his temple at Thebes was thereby considerably enlarged; we are not, however, able to estimate exactly what proportion fell to other cities, such as Kummeh, Elephantine,* Abydos,** and Memphis, where a few scattered blocks of stone still bear the name of the king.  Troubles broke out in Lower Egypt, but they were speedily subdued by Thutmosis, and he was able to end his days in the enjoyment of a profound peace, undisturbed by any care save that of ensuring a regular succession to his throne, and of restraining the ambitions of those who looked to become possessed of his heritage.***