CHAP. XI. THE CARE OF ANIMALS. 1^7 



Thebes, and every part of Upper and Lower Egypt, 

 abundantly prove tliem to have kept numerous 

 flocks and herds, wliich were tended by native 

 Egyptians. Their condition was humble ; they 

 lived in sheds* made of reeds, easily moved from 

 place to place, whicli continued to be used by tliem 

 to the time of Diodorus, as they are by the Abab- 

 deh tribe, a pastoral race, in the npper part of the 

 Thebaid, to the present day; and it is ])robable that 

 parts of Egypt peculiarly adapted for pasture were 

 inhabited by large bodies of native shepherds, dis- 

 tinct from those employed by rich individuals upon 

 their own farms. 



In the extensive domains of wealthy landed pro- 

 prietors, those who tended the flocks and herds were 

 overlooked by other persons connected with the 

 estate. The peasant, who tilled the land on which 

 they were fed, was responsible for their proper main- 

 tenance, and for the exact account of the quan- 

 tity of food -^hey consumed; some persons were ex- 

 clusively employed in the care of the sick, which 

 were kept at home in the farmyard ; the super- 

 intendent of the shepherds regulated the different 

 arrangements connected with them, determined re- 

 specting those which were to graze in the field, and 

 those which were to be stall-fed t, and attended 

 at stated periods to give a report to the scribes 

 belonging to the estate, by whom it was submitted 

 to the steward ; and the latter was res])onsible to 

 his employer for this as well as every other portion 

 of his ])ossessions. 



* Diodor. i. 43. -j- J'ulc supra, p. 9(). 



