fuel used is " gellah," made of the dung of ani- 

 mals mixed with chopped straw and moistened to 

 form flat, round cakes, which are sun-dried before 

 they are used. Only half of the number of ovens 

 are used the first ten days, and the fires are 

 lighted upon the fire-places above them only. On 

 the eleventh day these fires are extinguished and 

 other fires are lighted on the remaining unused 

 fireplaces. Then some of the eggs are removed 

 from the first set of ovens to the fire-places above, 

 which are, of course, still heated, though the fire 

 has been removed. When the first eggs are 

 hatched and the second half hatched, fresh eggs 

 are placed in the position made vacant by those 

 first hatched. This rotation continues- until the 

 hatching season is over. The chicks are kept in a 

 warm room for two days and then delivered to the 

 various parties for whom they are hatched. 



Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, in his " Popular Ac- 

 count of the Ancient Egyptians, 1854," describes 

 the ovens and the process as follows: "The 

 modern process, like that of ancient times, is this : 

 they have ovens expressly built for the purpose ; 

 and persons are sent round to the villages to col- 

 lect the eggs from the peasants, which, being given 

 to the rearers, are all placed on mats, strewn .with 

 bran, in a room about 1 1 feet square, with a flat roof 

 and about 4 feet high, over which is another cham- 

 ber of the same size, with a vaulted roof and about 

 9 feet high ; a small aperture in the centre of the 

 vault (at /), admitting light during the warm 

 weather, and another (e) of larger diameter, 



