98 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI. 



bound it in sheaves, they carried it to what may be 

 termed the threshing floor, where, being forcibly 



3 2 



No. 435. Gathering the doora and wheat. Thebes. 



Fig. 1. plucking up the plant by the roots. 



2. striking off the earth from the roots. 



3. reaping wheat. 



drawn througli an instrument armed at the summit 

 with metal spikes, the grain was stripped off, and 

 fell upon the well-swept area below, — a satisfactory 

 illustration of which is given in one of the agri- 

 cultural scenes of a tomb at Eilethyas in the fol- 

 lowing woodcut. 



Much flax was cultivated in Egypt, and the va- 

 rious processes of watering it, beating the stalks 

 when gathered, making it into twine, and lastly 

 into a piece of cloth, are represented in the paint- 

 ings. I have already noticed them in a preceding 

 part of this work *, as well as the difliculty pre- 

 sented by the name Byssus. t 



At the end of summer, the peasant looked 

 anxiously for the return of the inundation, upon 

 wiiich all his hopes for the ensuing year depended. 

 He watched with scrupulous attention the first 



* Vol. III. p. 138, 139. t Vol. III. p. 116. 



