le lands belonging to the kings, the priests, and the military
class, for a small sum, and employed their whole time in the tillage
of their farms," and the laborers who cultivated land for the rich
peasant, or other landed proprietors, were superintended by the
steward or owner of the estate, who had authority over them, and the
power of condemning delinquents to the bastinado. This is shown by the
paintings of the tombs, which frequently represent a person of
consequence inspecting the tillage of the field, either seated in a
chariot, walking, or leaning on his staff, accompanied by a favorite
dog.

Their mode of irrigation was the same in the field of the peasant as
in the garden of the villa; and the principal difference in the mode
of tilling the former consisted in the use of the plow.

The usual contrivance for raising water from the Nile for watering the
crops was the _shadoof_, or pole and bucket, so common still in Egypt,
and even the water-wheel appears to have been employed in more recent
times.

The sculptures of the tombs frequently represent canals conveying the
water of the inundation into the fields, and the proprietor of the
estate is seen, as described by Virgil, plying in a light painted
skiff or papyrus punt, and superintending the maintenance of the
dykes, or other important matters connected with the land. Boats carry
the grain to the granary, or remove the flocks from the lowlands; as
the water subsides the husbandman plows the soft earth with a pair of
oxen, and the same subjects introduce the offering of first-fruits of
the gods in acknowledgment of the benefits conferred by "a favorable
Nile." The main canal was usually carried to the upper or southern
side of the land, and small branches, leading from it at intervals,
traversed the fields in straight or curving lines, according to the
nature or elevation of the soil.

Guards were placed to watch the dykes which protected the lowlands,
and the utmost care was taken to prevent any sudden influx of water
which might endanger the produce still growing there, the cattle, or
the villages. And of such importance was the preservation of the dykes
that a strong guard of cavalry and infantry was always in attendance
for their protection; certain officers of responsibility were
appointed to superintend them, being furnished with large sums of
money for their maintenance and repairs, and in the time of Romans any
person found destroying a dyke was c