under the
Western horizon, and after a period of darkness came back again to
light and triumph, was an undoubted indication of what he himself had
to look for after death. The mummy was carried across the Nile and
deposited in the west land, which is also the under-world, to share
in the repose and in the further progress of the dead. As the jackal
pervades that region, the dead is left to the care of Anubis, the
jackal-headed deity, who opens paths to him for further travel, and
leads him into the presence of the gods. The under-world is
elaborately portioned out into various parts and scenes, and manifold
are the shapes of evil and mischief with which it is peopled. On the
other hand, it contains abundance of blessings, which the departed
may secure if the proper means have been taken by himself and by his
friends surviving him. The earthly life is there repeated with all
its occupations and enjoyments, but free from fear and from decay.

The doctrine of the dead accompanying the sun-god to the under-world,
and living under his protection, is very old in Egypt; we saw it in
an early form in connection with the god Ra. It was in connection
with Osiris, however, that it attained its widest diffusion; to the
whole Egyptian people Osiris was the lord of the world below, with
whom the departed were. The identification of the departed with
Osiris was thorough and complete; he becomes Osiris, takes the name
of the deity, and is known in the inscriptions as "Osiris N. N." Isis
is his sister, Horus his defender, Anubis his herald and guide, and
having shared the god's eclipse, he is also to share his triumph and
revival.

3. The Book of the Dead, the most famous relic of Egyptian
literature, is a collection of pieces many of which are very ancient,
bearing on the passage of the soul through the under-world. The book
has also been called the _Funeral Ritual_; a better translation of
the title is, "Book of Coming out from the Day." The earthly life is
the day from which the deceased comes forth into the larger existence
of the world beyond. The book (or such parts of it as may be used in
each case) is the soul's _vade mecum_ for the under-world, and
contains the forms the soul must have at command in order to ward off
all the dangers of that region, and to secure an easy and happy
passage through it. How the person is to be reconstructed, the
different parts coming back to be built up again in one, how he is to
know the spiri