the religious aspect of an evening bath after the day's work; but
most of the peasantry have little or no religious observances. Perhaps
the average of mankind does not differ very greatly, in various
countries, in its extent of religious observance: and most likely the
ancient Egyptian varied in usages much like the modern.

The funeral offerings for the deceased ancestors certainly filled a
large place in observances; the drink offerings poured out upon the
altar in the {82} chapel, and the cakes brought for the _ka_ to feed
upon, were the main expression of family piety. How serious were such
services is seen by their expansion into endowments for great tombs,
extending to the great temples and priesthoods for the kings. The
eldest son was the sacrificing priest for his progenitors, as in China
and India at present; he was called the _an-mut-f_, or 'support of his
mother,' and is figured as leading the worship in the adoration of
deceased kings. But all the sons took part in the sacrifices, and
trapped the birds (_Medum_, x, xiii), or slaughtered the ox for the
_ka_ of their father. Such family sacrifices were the occasions of
social feasts and family reunions; of later times the remains of the
feasts were found strewing the cemetery at Hawara in the tomb chapels;
and to this day both Copts and Mohammedans hold family feasts and spend
the night at the tombs of their ancestors.

All offerings were considered to be presented only by the king, as the
great high-priest of all the land. Every formula of offering began
'May the king give an offering'; and the figure of the king making the
offering, while the offerer stands behind him, is actually shown as
late as the eighteenth dynasty.

{83}

The primitive belief in the tree-goddess, the Hathor who dwelt in the
thick sycomore tree, and showered sycomore figs abundantly on her
devotees, was a popular worship. It was by no means bound up with the
tomb service, as in one case a red recess in a dwelling room had a
panel picture at the top of it showing the tree goddess giving
blessings to her worshipper (_Ramesseum_, xx).

The latter instance gives the meaning of a curious domestic feature in
the well-to-do houses of the bureaucracy at Tell-el-Amarna. In the
central hall of the house was a recess in the wall painted bright red.
It varied from twenty-three to fifty-one inches wide, and was at least
five or six feet high. Sometimes there is an inner recess in the