e the command of vast storehouses for the safe
keeping of the various goods collected under the head of taxation. These
were classified and stored in separate quarters, each storehouse being
surrounded by walls and guarded by vigilant keepers. There was enormous
stabling for cattle; there were cellars where the amphorae were piled in
regular layers (fig. 43), or hung in rows upon the walls, each with the
date written on the side of the jar; there were oven-shaped granaries where
the corn was poured in through a trap at the top (fig. 44), and taken out
through a trap at the bottom. At Thuku, identified with Pithom by M.
Naville,[5] the store-chambers (A) are rectangular and of different
dimensions (fig. 45), originally divided by floors, and having no
communication with each other. Here the corn had to be not only put in but
taken out through the aperture at the top. At the Ramesseum, Thebes,
thousands of ostraka and jar-stoppers found upon the spot prove that the
brick-built remains at the back of the temple were the cellars of the local
deity. The ruins consist of a series of vaulted chambers, originally
surmounted by a platform or terrace (fig. 46). At Philae, Ombos,
Daphnae,[6] and most of the frontier towns of the Delta, there were
magazines of this description, and many more will doubtless be discovered
when made the object of serious exploration.

[Illustration: Fig. 45.--Plan of Pithom.]

[Illustration: Fig. 46.--Store-chambers of the Ramesseum.]

[Illustration: Fig. 47.--Dike at Wady Gerraweh.]

The irrigation system of Egypt is but little changed since the olden time.
Some new canals have been cut, and yet more have been silted up through the
negligence of those in power; but the general scheme, and the methods
employed, continue much the same, and demand but little engineering skill.
Wherever I have investigated the remains of ancient canals, I have been
unable to detect any traces of masonry at the weak points, or at the
mouths, of these cuttings. They are mere excavated ditches, from twenty to
sixty or seventy feet in width. The earth flung out during the work was
thrown to right and left, forming irregular embankments from seven to
fourteen feet in height. The course of the ancient canals was generally
straight: but that rule was not strictly observed, and enormous curves
were often described in order to avoid even slight irregularities of
surface. Dikes thrown up from the foot of the cliffs to the banks