Haratif are stated to be the jailors of the hole; they live off the cries of the souls of the wicked, suffocating the souls and shades who raise their hands at the burning pit.

Again, it is said, "The serpent Na lives off the cries and roarings of Earth;" those attached to his worship proceed from his mouth daily. Those who are in this picture receive the excellence (nefrit) of the Sun's boat, crossing from those devoted to the serpent called "The life of the gods." They love the great god in the heaven, the passage is to the upper distances. They assume the type in heaven of shades, and rest in the wind and water. ordered to live they do so in the great boat of the Sun in heaven."

When

This throws some light on the representation of shades in the later tablets, their existence with the souls in the solar boat, and their connection with the souls of men; for "never to see again those on earth," could hardly apply to demons; and when ordered to life under the type or form of shades, they are said to rest in the wind and water, and to participate in the boat of the Sun the eternal passage through the heavens.

Different ideas have prevailed among those who have treated on the soul, such as that the shade represented the obscurity caused by a dark body, and of the soul separated by the body, the radiancy of the sahu or mummy manifested on earth as a shadow, and in heaven, or a radiancy, the type or form produced by the procreator demiurgus; to which the author would add the thin material envelope which protected the soul from the intensity of the solar rays, following the vicissitudes of the soul and ghost.

A number of the original texts were quoted, with explanations of the ideas intended, all of which will be given in a future part of the Transactions, with a series of illustrations.

An Abstract of a Paper by DR. BIRCH, "On some Egyptian Rituals of the Roman Period," was read by the Secretary.

The

These texts are for the most part written upon pieces of papyrus about ten to twelve inches wide and about eight inches high. form of script used is that called Hieratic. The writing is of a later style, and the letters are carefully and distinctly although peculiarly formed. These rolls, which are necessarily of a small size, are found on the mummies beneath the outer folds of the bandages, and are so preserved from harm; although at times the writing is almost illegible,

owing to the injury caused by the running of the bitumen used in the process of embalming.

Such rolls are not found earlier than the first century of our era, and are hence of the Roman period. Few contain any ornamentation in colour, although in some instances the first few lines of the text are written in larger characters, more nearly resembling the hieroglyphic forms. One instance of some considerable amount of decoration in a papyrus of the same period is the Rhind Papyrus, already published, with notes and introduction by myself. In it there are a number of rudely-drawn coloured vignettes illustrating, as is usual in earlier times, the subject matter of the text, which is written in both Hieratic and Demotic. Another somewhat similar example is the hieratic papyrus of a dignitary of high rank whose name is written Kalashar, or Kalasiris. In a future note I hope to refer again to this papyrus.

The texts ordinarily contain ritualistic ideas borrowed from the old Book of the Dead, with especial reference to the future destiny of the soul and body, similar to those found in the sacred book called the Šai-en-sinsin, or Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys, published by both de Horrack and Brugsch.

On account of the dogmas to which the text specially relates, it appears probable that we have an explanation of the reason why this class of papyrus was hidden beneath the bandages.

In considering the contents of these MSS., Dr. Birch referred to some of the Egyptian beliefs with regard to the future state, as naturally leading up to his further paper on "The Shade."

The following communication has been received :

MY DEAR MR. RYLANDS,

NINEVEH HOUSE, SPRING Grove, 5th November, 1884.

I regret to find from the letter written by my friend Mr. W. F. Ainsworth, and published in this month's Proceedings, that he has misunderstood my remarks read before the Society in March last in connection with the battle of Cunaxa mentioned by Xenophon.

Mr. Ainsworth seems to think that when I used the words, astounding degenerate view taken of the battle-field, they were applied to his theory, whereas I meant them to refer to the argument as used by Mr. Baillie Fraser. My words were these :-" Then Mr. Ainsworth

goes on to say, 'it is the more important to establish this fact [i.e., that the hill mentioned was an artificial mound], as there are no natural hills on the plains of Babylonia, and therefore the mention made by Xenophon of a hill at this place, has led the distinguished traveller Baillie Fraser to consider it as furnishing evidence of the battle having been fought to the north of the Median Wall.'" The point to which I took exception was the shifting of the battle-field from the south to the north of the Median Wall. It would certainly have been clearer, perhaps, if I had mentioned the name of Fraser when I used the words degenerate view, but I did not think that my words could be misunderstood, the more so as they immediately followed the theory of Mr. Fraser, and the mention of the battle having been fought to the north of the Median Wall. The degenerate view was that of Mr. Fraser, and only referred to by Mr. Ainsworth.

It was not my intention, when noticing the battle between Artaxerxes and his ambitious brother Cyrus, to review the able dissertation of Mr. Ainsworth on the topography of Babylonia, but I only alluded to his commentary on the "Anabasis" of Xenophon in connection with the disputed word λopos; that is to say, a ridge of ground, or a rising hill, mentioned by the historian.

Doubtless the ancients considered the boundary of Babylonia to commence from the Median Wall southward, and this is proved from Xenophon's own account of the march. After the army of Cyrus had crossed the Euphrates at or near Felujah, they journeyed three days, a distance of twelve parasangs, and after another march of three more parasangs they reached the trench which the "Great King" had made to serve as a defence against his brother. The fifteen parasangs specified (about forty-five miles)-is the distance between Saglawia and Nahr-Malka, or very near the mound of Aboohabba. Xenophon mentions that "this ditch extended up through the plain to the distance of twelve parasangs, as far as the wall of Media ;" and if we take Sadd Nimroud to be that historical wall, his calculation tallies with the distance between Aboo-habba and the present village called Dijail, on the Tigris; that is to say, about thirty-five miles.

As for the opinion that the battle must have taken place near Emsayab, it is utterly untenable, because, in the first place, there are neither artificial nor natural hills of any magnitude there; and it is unreasonable to suppose that Artaxerxes would go out of the regular track to fight with his brother.

It is quite evident from the remaining ancient canals in the vicinity of Aboo-habba, or the ancient Sippara, that, in marching to meet the army of his brother, Cyrus proceeded along the bank of the Euphrates, and entered what Xenophon calls a narrow passage known by the name of Nahr-Malka, the famous great canal of Nebuchadnezzar, which must have been in his time in disuse. On leaving the bed of this canal (some parts of which are even now capable of concealing an army), Cyrus marched between it and the Euphrates, and confronted his brother on the lowest part of the ridge, called Haswa.

Believe me, yours sincerely,

H. RASSAM.

The following Communication has been received from Dr. BIRCH, President:

It is rare to find on sepulchral objects other indications than those relating to the dead, and the sepulchral formulas and adorations addressed to the dead. The linen wraps of mummies indeed occasionally have written upon them the name and age of the deceased, and the name of the monarch under whom they were embalmed, but even these notices are rare. This induces me to record two notices relating to sepulchral objects which I have found in the collections of the British Museum.

The first occurs inside the cover of one of those coffins coloured yellow, richly adorned with sepulchral scenes and hieroglyphs painted in colours, richly varnished, and attributed by Mariette to the nineteenth dynasty.* They often have in their legends or decorations the name of Amenhotep I, of the eighteenth dynasty, who seems to have enjoyed posthumous honours, for unknown reasons, for a later period than the eighteenth dynasty. In their interiors figures of deities, painted in bright colours on a maroon ground, are also found, and some of the persons for whom they were made bear the name of Amenhotep or Amenophis. Many, however, are for priestesses of Amen Ra at Thebes, and their pictures recall to mind the so-called solar litanies of the same period, where the scenes relate to the passage of the sun through the Egyptian hell.

Mariette, "Notice du Musée à Boulaq," p. 42: Paris, 1869,

On the cover of the coffin of the Museum No. 6664a, which is

of a singing-woman of Amen Ra, whose name was

Ta man t nekht, the following inscription occurs, in two vertical lines of hieroglyphs traced in white on a maroon ground, the same as an invocation to Nut, traced on the interior of the lid. It faces to the left of the spectator, and reads :

:

The year three, 4th month, spring season, the 15th the day of renewing

Here certainly the mes, are the sons, not the labourers or workmen, of the sepulchres, as that their names should be held in aversion would have been a very inadequate punishment for the offence, whereas the appropriation by the family could be well mentioned in such terms. The whole refers to the desecration of the tombs in the days of the nineteenth or twentieth dynasty. There is some doubt about her name, though not her title. I have found