they caught fish in nets equal to the seines employed by modern fishermen.  Their houses as well as their monuments were built of brick, and were sometimes four or five stories in height, and secured by bolts on the doors.  Locks and keys were also in use, made of iron; and the doorways were ornamented.  Some of the roofs of their public buildings were arched with stone.  In their mills for grinding wheat circular stones were used, resembling in form those now employed, generally turned by women, but sometimes so large that asses and mules were employed in the work.  The walls and ceilings of their buildings were richly painted, the devices being as elaborate as those of the Greeks.  Besides town-houses, the rich had villas and gardens, where they amused themselves with angling and spearing fish in the ponds.  The gardens were laid in walks shaded with trees, and were well watered from large tanks.  Vines were trained on trellis-work supported by pillars, and sometimes in the form of bowers.  For gathering fruit, baskets were used somewhat similar to those now employed.  Their wine-presses showed considerable ingenuity, and after the necessary fermentation the wine was poured into large earthen jars, corresponding to the amphorae of the Romans, and covered with lids made air-tight by resin and bitumen.  The Egyptians had several kinds of wine, highly praised by the ancients; and wine among them was cheap and abundant.  Egypt was also renowned for drugs unknown to other nations, and for beer made of barley, as well as wine.  As for fruits, they had the same variety as we have at the present day, their favorite fruit being dates.  “So fond were the Egyptians of trees and flowers that they exacted a contribution from the nations tributary to them of their rarest plants, so that their gardens bloomed with flowers of every variety in all seasons of the year.”  Wreaths and chaplets were in common use from the earliest antiquity.  It was in their gardens, abounding with vegetables as well as with fruits and flowers, that the Egyptians entertained their friends.

In Egyptian houses were handsome chairs and fauteuils, stools and couches, the legs of which were carved in imitation of the feet of animals; and these were made of rare woods, inlaid with ivory, and covered with rich stuffs.  Some of the Egyptian chairs were furnished with cushions and covered with the skins of leopards and lions; the seats were made of leather, painted with flowers.  Footstools were sometimes made of elegant patterns, inlaid with ivory and precious woods.  Mats were used in the sitting-rooms.  The couches were of every variety of form, and utilized in some instances as beds.  The tables were round, square, and oblong, and were sometimes made of stone and highly ornamented with carvings.  Bronze bedsteads were used by the wealthy classes.