that the gods had given them,--not only the green palms, the thousand
birds, the blue sky, the hearty wind, the river and its reflections, but
also the luxuries of their civilisation,--to make for themselves a frail
feast of happiness. And when the last flowers, the latest empty
drinking-cup, fell to the ground, nothing remained to them but that
sodden, drunken night of disgrace which shocks one so at the end of the
dynastic history, and which inevitably led to the fall of the nation.
Christian asceticism came as the natural reaction and Muhammedan
strictness followed in due course; and it required the force of both
these movements to put strength and health into the people once more.

[Illustration: PL. XI. An Egyptian noble of the Eighteenth Dynasty
hunting birds with a boomerang and decoys.
He stands in a reed-boat which floats amidst
the papyrus clumps, and a cat retrieves the
fallen birds. In the boat with him are his
wife and son.
--FROM A THEBAN TOMB-PAINTING, BRITISH MUSEUM.]

One need not dwell, however, on this aspect of the Egyptian temperament.
It is more pleasing, and as pertinent to the argument, to follow the old
lords of the Nile into the sunshine once more, and to glance for a
moment at their sports. Hunting was a pleasure to them, in which they
indulged at every opportunity. One sees representations of this with
great frequency upon the walls of the tombs. A man will be shown
standing in a reed boat which has been pushed in amongst the waving
papyrus. A boomerang is in his hand, and his wife by his side helps him
to locate the wild duck, so that he may penetrate within
throwing-distance of the birds before they rise. Presently up they go
with a whir, and the boomerang claims its victims; while all manner of
smaller birds dart from amidst the reeds, and gaudy butterflies pass
startled overhead. Again one sees the hunter galloping in his chariot
over the hard sand of the desert, shooting his arrows at the gazelle as
he goes. Or yet again with his dogs he is shown in pursuit of the
long-eared Egyptian hare, or of some other creature of the desert. When
not thus engaged he may be seen excitedly watching a bullfight, or
eagerly judging the merits of rival wrestlers, boxers, and fencers. One
may follow him later into the seclusion of his garden, where, surrounded
by a