hreatens me with all sorts of
things; but I can see he knows no more about it than I do, for he has
a bewildered look in his face when I ask him these things, and once or
twice he has put his hands to his ears and fairly run away, as if I
was saying something altogether profane and impious against the gods."

On the following day the high priest and his party started for Goshen.
The first portion of the journey was performed by water. The craft was
a large one, with a pavilion of carved wood on deck, and two masts,
with great sails of many colors cunningly worked together. Persons of
consequence traveling in this way were generally accompanied by at
least two or three musicians playing on harps, trumpets, or pipes;
for the Egyptians were passionately fond of music, and no feast was
thought complete without a band to discourse soft music while it was
going on. The instruments were of the most varied kinds; stringed
instruments predominated, and these varied in size from tiny
instruments resembling zithers to harps much larger than those used in
modern times. In addition to these they had trumpets of many forms,
reed instruments, cymbals, and drums, the last-named long and narrow
in shape.

Ameres, however, although not averse to music after the evening meal,
was of too practical a character to care for it at other times. He
considered that it was too often an excuse for doing nothing and
thinking of nothing, and therefore dispensed with it except on state
occasions. As they floated down the river he explained to his son the
various objects which they passed; told him the manner in which the
fishermen in their high boats made of wooden planks bound together by
rushes, or in smaller crafts shaped like punts formed entirely of
papyrus bound together with bands of the same plant, caught the fish;
pointed out the entrances to the various canals, and explained the
working of the gates which admitted the water; gave him the history of
the various temples, towns, and villages; named the many waterfowl
basking on the surface of the river, and told him of their habits and
how they were captured by the fowlers; he pointed out the great tombs
to him, and told him by whom they were built.

"The largest, my son, are monuments of pride and folly. The greatest
of the pyramids was built by a king who thought it would immortalize
him; but so terrible was the labor that its construction inflicted
upon the people that it caused him to be