tre is the royal tent, surrounded by
scenes of military life. This picture has been sculptured
partly over an earlier one representing one of the episodes
of the battle; the latter had been covered with stucco, on
which the new subject was executed. Part of the stucco has
fallen away, and the king in his chariot, with a few other
figures, has reappeared, to the great detriment of the later
picture.

[Illustration: 322b.jpg TWO COMPANIES ON THE MARCH]

The soldiers, accustomed from childhood to live in the open air,
erected no tents or huts of boughs for themselves in these temporary
encampments, but bivouacked in the open, and the sculptures on the
facades of the Theban pylons give us a minute picture of the way in
which they employed themselves when off duty. Here one man, while
cleaning his armour, superintends the cooking. Another, similarly
engaged, drinks from a skin of wine held up by a slave. A third has
taken his chariot to pieces, and t is replacing some portion the worse
for wear. Some are sharpening their daggers or lances; others mend their
loin-cloths or sandals, or exchange blows with fists and sticks. The
baggage, linen, arms, and provisions are piled in disorder on the
ground; horses, oxen, and asses are eating or chewing the cud at their
ease; while here and there a donkey, relieved of his burden, rolls
himself on the ground and brays with delight.*

* We are speaking of the camp of Thutmosis III. near Aluna,
the day before the battle of Megiddo, and the words put into
the mouths of the soldiers to mark their vigilance are the
same as those which we find in the Ramesseum and at Luxor,
written above the guards of the camp where Ramses II. is
reposing.
[Illustration: 325.jpg SCENES FROM MILITARY LIFE IN AN EGYPTIAN CAMP]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Beato.

The success of the Egyptians in battle was due more to the courage and
hardihood of the men than to the strategical skill of their commanders.
We find no trace of manouvres, in the sense in which we understand the
word, either in their histories or on their bas-reliefs, but they joined
battle boldly with the enemy, and the result was decided by a more or
less bloody conflict. The heavy infantry was placed in the centre, the
chariots were massed on the flanks, while light troops thrown out to
the front began the action by letting fly volleys of arrows and stones