your houses, but he will go to the land of eternity."

"In peace, in peace to the West," sang the priestly chorus. "If it
please the god, when the day of eternity comes, we shall see thee, O
sovereign! For now Thou art going to the land which brings all men
together."

At a sign given by the worthy Herhor, the attendants drew the queen
from the feet of the pharaoh, and led her by force to her chambers.

The litter, borne by priests, moved on, and in it the sovereign,
dressed and surrounded, as if living. On the right, and on the left,
before and behind him, went generals, treasurers, judges, chief
scribes, the bearers of the mace and the bow, and above all a throng of
priests of various dignities.

In the courtyard, the servants fell on their faces, groaning and
weeping, but the troops presented arms and the trumpets sounded, as if
to greet a living pharaoh.

Between Memphis and the "Tableland of Mummies," lay a peculiar division
of the city. All its buildings were devoted to the dead, and it was
inhabited only by dissectors and embalmers.

This division was the forecourt as it were, of the cemetery proper, the
bridge which joined living society with the city of endless rest. To
this place were brought corpses, and mummies were made of them; here
families stipulated with priests, touching the cost of funerals. Here
were prepared sacred books and bandages, coffins, implements, vessels,
and statues for the departed.

This district was a couple of thousand yards from Memphis. It was
surrounded by a long wall provided with gates here and there.

The retinue bearing the remains of the pharaoh halted before the
richest gate, and one of the priests knocked at it.

"Who is there?" inquired those within.

"Osiris-Mer-Amen-Ramses, the lord of two worlds, has come and desires
that ye prepare him for his eternal journey," replied the priests.

"Is it possible that he, the sun of Egypt, is quenched? That he is dead
who himself was breath and life?"

"Such was his will," answered a priest. "Receive, then, the lord with
due honor and render all service to him, as is befitting, lest
punishments meet you in this and the coming life."

"We will do as ye say," said a voice from within.

The priests left the litter, and went away hurriedly, so that the evil
odor of remains accumulated in that place should not fall on them. Only
civil officials under the lead of the supreme judge and treasurer
remained there.

'After they