CHAP. XI. IRRIGATION OF THE LANDS. 35 



their ancestors, and had improved by their own 

 experience." " They rent," says the same histo- 

 rian, *' the arable land belonging to the kings, the 

 priests, and the military class, for a small sum, and 

 employ their whole time in the tillage of their 

 farms;" and the labourers who cultivated land for 

 the rich peasant, or other landed proprietors, were 

 superintended by the steward or owner of the es- 

 tate, who had authority over them, and the power 

 of condemning delinquents to the bastinado ; and 

 the paintings of the tombs frequently represent a 

 person of consequence inspecting the tillage of the 

 field, either seated in a chariot, walking, or leaning 

 on his staff, accompanied by a favourite dog. * 



Their mode of irrigation I have already noticed.! 

 It was the same in the field of the peasant as ir\ 

 the garden of the villa ; and the principal difll^erence 

 in the mode of tilling the former consisted in the 

 use of the plough. 



The water of the inundation was differently ma- 

 naged in various districts. This depended either 

 on the relative levels of the adjacent lands, or on 

 the crops they happened to be cultivating at the 

 time. When a field lay fallow, or the last crop had 

 been gathered, the water was permitted to overflow 

 it as soon as its turn came to receive it from the 

 nearest sluices ; or, in those parts where the levels 

 w^ere low, and open to the ingress of the rising stream, 

 as soon as the Nile arrived at a sufficient height ; 

 but when the last autumn crop was in the ground, 



* Vol. II. p. 13G. t Vol. II. p. 1. 137. 139. 



D 2 



