ns are placed
higgledy piggledy amongst his refuse,--he consumes himself, for he has
no other bread than his fingers--and he becomes wearied all at once.--He
is much and dreadfully exhausted--for there is [always] a block [to be
dragged] in this or that building,--a block of ten cubits by six,--there
is [always] a block [to be dragged] in this or that month [as far as
the] scaffolding poles [to which is fixed] the bunch of lotus-flowers
on the [completed] houses.--When the work is quite finished,--if he has
bread, he returns home,--and his children have been beaten unmercifully
[during his absence].--The weaver within doors is worse off there than
a woman;--squatting, his knees against his chest,--he does not
breathe.--If during the day he slackens weaving,--he is bound fast as
the lotuses of the lake;--and it is by giving bread to the doorkeeper,
that the latter permits him to see the light.

[Illustration: 101.jpg A WORKSHOP OF SHOEMAKERS MANUFACTURING SANDALS]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Champollion's _Monuments de
l'Eypte et de la Nubie_. This Picture belongs to the XVIIIth
dynasty; but the sandals in it are, however, quite like
those to be seen on more ancient monuments.

The dyer, his fingers reeking--and their smell is that of
fish-spawn;--his two eyes are oppressed with fatigue,--his hand does not
stop,--and, as he spends his time in cutting out rags--he has a
hatred of garments.--The shoemaker is very unfortunate;--he moans
ceaselessly,--his health is the health of the spawning fish,--and he
gnaws the leather.--The baker makes dough,--subjects the loaves to the
fire;--while his head is inside the oven,--his son holds him by the
legs;--if he slips from the hands of his son,--he falls there into the
flames." These are the miseries inherent to the trades themselves: the
levying of the tax added to the catalogue a long sequel of vexations
and annoyances, which were renewed several times in the year at regular
intervals.

[Illustration: 101.jpg THE BAKER MAKING HIS BREAD AND PLACING IT IN THE
OVEN]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the painted picture in one of
the small antechambers of the tomb of Ramses III., at Bab-
el-Moluk.

Even at the present day, the fellah does not pay his contributions
except under protest and by compulsion, but the determination not to
meet obligations except beneath the stick, was proverbial from ancient
times: whoever paid his dues before he had