214 Rev, J, Roscoe. Preliminary Report of the 



white spot on its forehead, the other a red and black animal with a white 

 spot on its forehead, were driven to him. The king took the black bull by 

 the horns and uttered a few words, laying upon it any evil of the night ; he 

 then took the red and black bull in the same manner, and uttered a few 

 words of blessing on the dawning day. After this he performed his 

 cleansing ceremonies amid fetishes : he next went to see the sacred cows 

 milked. The men and maids who performed this duty had to be 

 ceremonially clean for two days before they entered upon their office ; 

 faces, arms, and chests were whitened with clay. So solemn were the 

 duties, that they were able to carry them on for two days only, when tliey 

 were relieved by another set of milkmen and maids. 



When the sacred milk was ready for the king, another dairy-maid 

 announced the fact, and the king rose from his throne, and withdrew into 

 the dairy to drink. When he rose from his throne, the guard at the door 

 proclaimed the fact that the king was going to drink milk ; and men and 

 women, within the royal enclosure, knelt and covered their faces. They 

 might not cough nor clear their throats during the time the king was 

 drinking milk, on pain of death. When he returned, the people rose and 

 went about their usual avocations. (See Figs. 5-8, Plates 14, 15.) 



A similar custom was observed when the king took his meal in the 

 afternoon. Then the royal cook, who, like the milkmaids, was purified, and 

 had his face, chest, and arms whitened, came into the king's presence, with a 

 pot containing beef from an animal of. the sacred herd. The beef was 

 cooked and cut into small pieces ready to be eaten. The cook took a 

 two-pronged fork, which he held in his hand, knelt down before the king, 

 dug the fork into a piece of meat, and put it into the king's mouth. Four 

 times he did this ; and, should he by accident touch the king's teeth with the 

 metal, he was put to death en the spot. In the evening a herald announced 

 that the sacred cows were coming, and people fled on all sides, and covered 

 their faces until the animals had passed. The king sat while two animals 

 were milked, and again drank the ceremonial milk. At other times during the 

 day the king might drink milk without ceremony, but he must not eat meat. 



In later days, when the kings began to eat other food, they did so by stealth ; 

 they took it standing in a hut in a courtyard, where no outside person .could see 

 or know the king was having a meal. The food was cooked outside the royal 

 enclosure, and carried in as though it was intended for the servants, and was kept 

 ready for the king, who would escape from his court and priestly duties for the 

 meal. By night the king prowled round his enclosure with one of his pages 

 until quite late. He slept during the early hours of the morning in the hut 

 of a wife, but always completed his rest in the court house in a royal chamber. 



