was here that the solemn ceremony of setting up the
backbone of Osiris was performed each year. The original Sekhet-Aaru was
evidently placed here, and we are therefore right in assuming that the
fertile fields of this part of the Delta formed the prototype of the
Elysian Fields of the Egyptian. At the same time he also wished to reap
crops on the fields round about Heliopolis, the seat of the greatest and
most ancient shrine of the Sun-god. The white grain of which he would
have his bread made is the ordinary _dhura_, and the red grain is the
red species of the same plant, which is not so common as the white. As
keepers of the door of his estate the deceased asks for the "forms (_or_
persons) of his father and his mother," and thus we see a desire on the
part of the Egyptian to continue the family life which he began upon
earth; it goes almost without saying that he would not ask this thing if
he thought there would be no prospect of knowing his parents in the next
world. An interesting proof of this is afforded by the picture of the
Sekhet-Aaru, or Elysian Fields, which is given in the Papyrus of Anhai,
[Footnote: Brit. Mus., No. 10,472.] [Illustration: Anhai bowing before
her father and mother. The Elysian Fields. From the Papyrus of Anhai
(XXIInd dynasty).] a priestess of Amen who lived probably about B.C.
1000. Here we see the deceased entering into the topmost section of the
district and addressing two divine persons; above one of these are
written the words "her mother," followed by the name Neferitu. The form
which comes next is probably that of her father, and thus we are sure
that the Egyptians believed they would meet their relatives in the next
world and know and be known by them.

Accompanying the picture of the Elysian Fields is a long text which
forms Chapter CX. of the Book of the Dead. As it supplies a great deal
of information concerning the views held in early times about that
region, and throws so much light upon the semi-material life which the
pious Egyptians, at one period of their history, hoped to lead, a
rendering of it is here given. It is entitled, "The Chapters of
Sekhet-Hetepet, and the Chapters of Coming Forth by Day; of going into
and of coming forth from the underworld; of coming to Sekhet-Aaru; of
being in Sekhet-Hetepet, the mighty land, the lady of winds; of having
power there; of becoming a spirit (KHU) there; of reaping there; of
eating there; of drinking there; of making love there;