d, in the most uncomfortable position;
others again had their wrists caught in stocks; others with their neck
in an iron collar or held by a rope which fastened a whole file of them,
with a loop for each victim. It seemed as if the object sought had been
to thwart as much as possible natural attitudes in the fettering of
these poor wretches, who marched before their conqueror awkwardly and
with difficulty, rolling their big eyes and twisting and writhing in
pain. Guards marched at their side, striking them with sticks to make
them keep time.

Next came, bowed with shame, exposed in their wretched, deformed nudity,
dark-complexioned women, with long hanging tresses, carrying their
children in a piece of stuff fastened around their brow,--a vile herd
intended for the meanest uses. Others, young, handsome and fairer, their
arms adorned with broad bracelets of ivory, their ears pulled down by
great metal discs, wrapped themselves in long, wide-sleeved tunics
embroidered around the neck and falling in fine, close folds down to
their ankles, on which rattled anklets,--poor girls, snatched from their
country, their parents, their lovers perhaps; yet they smiled through
their tears, for the power of beauty is boundless, strangeness gives
birth to caprice, and perhaps the royal favour awaited some of these
barbaric captives in the secret depths of the harem. Soldiers
accompanied them and kept the multitude from crowding upon them.

The standard-bearers followed, bearing on high the golden staff of their
ensigns, which represented mystic baris, sacred hawks, heads of Hathor
surmounted by ostrich-plumes, winged ibex, cartouches bearing the king's
name, crocodiles, and other warlike or religious symbols. Long white
streamers spotted with black spots were tied to these standards, and
fluttered gracefully on the march.

At the sight of the standards which announced the arrival of the
Pharaoh, the deputations of priests and notables stretched out their
hands in supplication towards him, or let them fall on their knees, the
palms turned up. Some even prostrated themselves, their knees close to
the body, their faces in the dust, in an attitude of absolute submission
and deep adoration, while the spectators waved great palm-branches.

A herald or reader, holding in his hand a roll covered with hieroglyphic
signs, marched along between the standard-bearers and the
incense-burners, who preceded the king's litter. He shouted, in a loud