imperishable, they
sought to restore one by one all the faculties of which their previous
operations had deprived it. The mummy was set up at the entrance to the
vault; the statue representing the living person was placed beside it,
and semblance was made of opening the mouth, eyes, and ears, of loosing
the arms and legs, of restoring breath to the throat and movement to the
heart. The incantations by which these acts were severally accompanied
were so powerful that the god spoke and ate, lived and heard, and could
use his limbs as freely as though he had never been steeped in the bath
of the embalmer. He might have returned to his place among men, and
various legends prove that he did occasionally appear to his faithful
adherents. But, as his ancestors before him, he preferred to leave
their towns and withdraw into his own domain. The cemeteries of the
inhabitants of Busiris and of Mendes were called _Sokhit Ialu_, the
Meadow of Reeds, and _Sokhit Hotpu_, the Meadow of Best. They were
secluded amid the marshes, in small archipelagoes of sandy islets where
the dead bodies, piled together, rested in safety from the inundations.
This was the first kingdom of the dead Osiris, but it was soon placed
elsewhere, as the nature of the surrounding districts and the geography
of the adjacent countries became better known; at first perhaps on the
Phoenician shore beyond the sea, and then in the sky, in the Milky Way,
between the North and the East, but nearer to the North than to the
East. This kingdom was not gloomy and mournful like that of the other
dead gods, Sokaris or Khontamentit, but was lighted by sun and moon;
the heat of the day was tempered by the steady breath of the north wind,
and its crops grew and throve abundantly.

[Illustration: 259.jpg OSIKIS IN HADES, ACCOMPANIED BY ISIS, AMENTIT,
AND NEPHTHYS, RECEIVES THE HOMAGE OF TRUTH. 1]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Daniel Heron,
taken in 1881 in the temple of Seti I. at Abydos.

Thick walls served as fortifications against the attacks of Sit and
evil genii; a palace like that of the Pharaohs stood in the midst
of delightful gardens; and there, among his own people, Osiris led a
tranquil existence, enjoying in succession all the pleasures of earthly
life without any of its pains.

The goodness which had gained him the title of Onnophris while he
sojourned here below, inspired him with the desire and suggested the
means of opening the ga