[Illustration:  PL.  XIV.  A sailor of Lower Nubia and his son.]

[Photo by E. Bird.

The great vessel had just returned from the little-known country of Ethiopia, which bordered the Land of the Ghosts, having its frontiers upon the shores of the sea that encircled the world; and the sailors were all straining their eyes towards these docks which formed the southernmost outpost of Egypt, their home.  The greatest excitement prevailed on deck; but in the cabin, erected of vari-coloured cloth in the stern of the vessel, the noble leader of the expedition which was now at its conclusion lay in a troubled sleep, tossing nervously upon his bed.  His dreams were all of the terrible ordeal which was before him.  He could take no pleasure in his home-coming, for he was driven nigh crazy by the thought of entering the presence of the great Pharaoh himself in order to make his report.

It is almost impossible to realise nowadays the agonies of mind that a man had to suffer who was obliged to approach the incarnation of the sun upon earth, and to crave the indulgence of this god in regard to any shortcomings in the conduct of the affairs intrusted to him.  Of all the kings of the earth the Pharaoh was the most terrible, the most thoroughly frightening.  Not only did he hold the lives of his subjects in his hand to do with them as he chose, but he also controlled the welfare of their immortal souls; for, being a god, he had dominion over the realms of the dead.  To be censured by the Pharaoh was to be excommunicated from the pleasures of this earth and outlawed from the fair estate of heaven.  A well-known Egyptian noble named Sinuhe, the hero of a fine tale of adventure, describes himself as petrified with terror when he entered the audience-chamber.  “I stretched myself on my stomach,” he writes, “and became unconscious before him (the Pharaoh).  This god addressed me kindly, but I was as a man overtaken by the twilight:  my soul departed, my flesh trembled; my heart was no more in my body that I should know life from death."[1] Similarly another personage writes:  “Remember the day of bringing the tribute, when thou passest into the Presence under the window, the nobles on each side before his Majesty, the nobles and ambassadors (?) of all countries.  They stand and gaze at the tribute, while thou fearest and shrinkest back, and thy hand is weak, and thou knowest not whether it is death or life that is before thee; and thou art brave (only) in praying to thy gods:  ‘Save me, prosper me this one time.’"[2]

    [Footnote 1:  Sinuhe, 254-256.]

    [Footnote 2:  Papyrus Koller, 5, 1-4.]

Of the Pharaoh it is written—­

    “Thine eye is clearer than the stars of heaven;
     Thou seest farther than the sun. 
     If I speak afar off, thine ear hears;
     If I do a hidden deed, thine eye sees it."[1]

    [Footnote 1:  Anastasi Papyri, 4, 5, 6 ff.]