CHAP. XT. CULTIVATION OF THE LANDS. 47 



at Thebes *, wliere the introduction of water plants 

 seems to indicate the use for which they were 

 employed. Nor, indeed, considering how unclean 

 those animals were considered by the Egyptians, — 

 the swineherd being deemed unworthy to inter- 

 marry with other persons t, — is it likely that they 

 were kept for any but agricultural purposes ; and 

 no one has a greater appearance of probability than 

 that to which I have alluded. 



The heat of the climate rendered the duties of 

 the ploughman particularly arduous, and care was 

 taken to provide a supply of water, which was 

 sometimes kept cool by suspending the skin that 

 held it in a tree. At Beni Hassan, a barrel is 

 represented placed at the extremity of the furrows, 

 w^iich calls to mind the description given by 

 Homer t of the ploughing scene on the shield of 

 Achilles, where, as soon as each ploughman arrived 

 at the end of the field, a man presented him with a 

 cup of wine ; but, as already observed §, it seems 

 more probable that it contained the grain intended 

 for sowing the field after the plough had passed. 



Like the Romans, they usually brought the seed 

 in a basket ||, which the sower held in his left hand, 

 or suspended on his arm, (sometimes with a strap 

 round his neck,) while he scattered the seed with 

 his right ^ ; and, judging from the paintings of 



* Vol. in. p. .34. t Siqjra, Vol. I. p. 239. 



J Hoin. II. K. 541. F/V/f- woodcut, No. 422. 

 § Vol. in. p. 182. 184. 



II The Roman basket of'sced contained three pecks or modii. Colum. 

 ii. 9. 



% Conf. Plin. xviii. 24. 



