el through the Tuat to the eastern
sky, in order to rise again on this earth on the following day. He
entered the Tuat at or near Thebes, proceeded northwards, through the
under-worlds of Thebes, Abydos, Herakleopolis, Memphis, and Sais, then
turned towards the east and crossed the Delta, and, having passed
through the underworld of Heliopolis, appeared in the eastern sky to
resume his daily course from east to west. His journey so far as Memphis
he made in a boat, which sailed on the river of the Tuat. At Memphis he
left the boat on the river, and entered a magical boat formed of a
serpent's body, and so passed under the mountainous district round about
Sakkarah. At or near Sais he returned to his river boat, and sailing
over the great marine lakes of the Delta reached Heliopolis. The sun-god
was guided through each section of the Tuat by a goddess who belonged to
the district, and for the sake of uniformity the journey through each
section was supposed to occupy an hour; the guiding goddess left the
god's boat at the end of her hour, and the goddess of the next section
took her place. The path of the god was lighted by fire, which the
beings who lived in the various sections poured out of their mouths, and
the attendant gods who were with them in his boat spake words of power,
which overcame all opposition and removed every obstacle. As he passed
through each section it was temporarily lighted up by the fire already
mentioned, and he uttered words of power, the effect of which was to
supply the inhabitants of the section with air, food, and drink,
sufficient to last until the next night, when he would renew the supply.
Many parts of the Tuat were filled with hideous monsters in human and
animal forms, and with evil spirits of every kind, but they were all
rendered powerless by the spells uttered by the gods who were in
attendance on the Sun-god in his boat. At one time in the history of
Egypt it became the earnest wish of every pious man to make the journey
from this world to the next in the Boat of the Sun. Armed with words of
power and amulets of all kinds, and relying on their lives of moral
rectitude, and the effect of the offerings which they had made to the
dead, their souls entered the Boat, and set out on their journey. When
they reached Abydos their credentials were examined, and those who were
found to be speakers of the truth and upright in their actions were
allowed to continue their journey with the Sun-god