to work in their appointed places, contributing the
required number of days of forced labour.

[Illustration: 277.jpg THE DEAD MAN AND HIS WIFE PLAYING AT DRAUGHTS IN
THE PAVILION. 1]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a vignette in No, 4 Papyrus,
Dublin (Naville, _Das Mgyptische Todtenbuch_, vol. i. pl.
xxvii. Da). The name of draughts is not altogether accurate;
a description of the game may be found in Falkner, _Games
Ancient and Oriental and how to play them_, pp. 9-101.

Up to a certain point they thus compensated for those inequalities of
condition which death itself did not efface among the vassals of Osiris;
for the figures were sold so cheaply that even the poorest could always
afford some for themselves, or bestow a few upon their relations; and
in the Islands of the Blest, fellah, artisan, and slave were indebted to
the Uashbiti for release from their old routine of labour and unending
toil. While the little peasants of stone or glazed ware dutifully toiled
and tilled and sowed, their masters were enjoying all the delights
of the Egyptian paradise in perfect idleness. They sat at ease by the
water-side, inhaling the fresh north breeze, under the shadow of trees
which were always green. They fished with lines among the lotus-plants;
they embarked in their boats, and were towed along by their servants, or
they would sometimes deign to paddle themselves slowly about the canals.

[Illustration: 278.jpg THE DEAD MAN SAILING IN HIS BARK ALONG THE CANALS
OF THE FIELDS OF IALIT. 1]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the Papyrus of Nebhopit, in
Turin. This drawing is from part of the same scene as the
illustration on p. 275.

They went fowling among the reed-beds, or retired within their painted
pavilions to read tales, to play at draughts, to return to their wives
who were for ever young and beautiful.[**]

** Gymnastic exercises, hunting, fishing, sailing, are all
pictured in Theban tombs. The game of draughts is mentioned
in the title of chap. xvii. of the _Book of the Dead_
(Naville's edition, vol. i. pl. xxiii. 1. 2), and the
women's pavilion is represented in the tomb of Rakhmiri That
the dead were supposed to read tales is proved from the fact
that broken ostraca bearing long fragments of literary works
are found in tombs; they were broken to kill them and to
send on their doubles to the dead man in the next world.

It w