mau_--the high priest of
Ra, the _hankistit_--his high priestess, and generally speaking all the
servants of the temple of Heliopolis, were either directly descended
from members of this first household establishment of the god, or had
succeeded to their offices in unbroken succession.

[Illustration: 230.jpg AT THE FIRST HOUR OF THE BAY THE SUN EMBARKS FOB
HIS JOURNEY THROUGH EGYPT.1]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the scenes represented
upon the architraves of the pronaos at Edfu (Rosellini,
_Monumenti del Culto_, pl. xxxviii. No. 1).

In the morning he went forth with his divine train, and, amid the
acclamations of the crowd, entered the bark in which he made his
accustomed circuit of the world, returning to his home at the end of
twelve hours after the accomplishment of his journey. He visited each
province in turn, and in each he tarried for an hour, to settle all
disputed matters, as the final judge of appeal. He gave audience to both
small and great, he decided their quarrels and adjudged their lawsuits,
he granted investiture of fiefs from the royal domains to those who
had deserved them, and allotted or confirmed to every family the income
needful for their maintenance. He pitied the sufferings of his people,
and did his utmost to alleviate them; he taught to all comers potent
formulas against reptiles and beasts of prey, charms to cast out evil
spirits, and the best recipes for preventing illness. His incessant
bounties left him at length with only one of his talismans: the name
given to him by his father and mother at his birth, which they had
revealed to him alone, and which he kept concealed within his bosom lest
some sorcerer should get possession of it to use for the furtherance of
his evil spells.

But old age came on, and infirmities followed; the body of Ra grew bent,
"his mouth trembled, his slaver trickled down to earth and his
saliva dropped upon the ground." Isis, who had hitherto been a mere
woman-servant in the household of the Pharaoh, conceived the project of
stealing his secret from him, "that she might possess the world and make
herself a goddess by the name of the august god." Force would have been
unavailing; all enfeebled as he was by reason of his years, none was
strong enough to contend successfully against him. But Isis "was a woman
more knowing in her malice than millions of men, clever among millions
of the gods, equal to millions of spirits, to whom as unto