364 
tinues, “ I have brought the ropes, stopping the wicked (one) 
as I go along in the boat of Pthah ; I have come from the 
scalding pools, from the flaming fields, alive from the great 
pool.”* 
30. Ere, however, the Osirian can enter the boat of Pthah, 
it is necessary to ascertain if he is really capable of making 
the voyage, if the deceased possesses a sufficient amount of 
the knowledge necessary to his safety, and which he is sup- 
posed to have obtained from the papyri presented to him by 
Thoth. The divine boatmen accordingly proposes a series of 
questions to his passenger, who declares he has come to see 
his father Osiris, (having, as before stated, taken the nature 
and form of Horus,) and to fight the Apophis. This reply 
satisfies the interlocutor, who bids him “go to the boat, 
which will carry him to the place he knoweth where.” Here 
a most curious and mystical scene ensues, for each part of the 
vessel becoming animated, requests the Osirian to “ tell me my 
name,” that is, the esoteric meaning of it. Anchor, paddle, 
mast, poop, hull, planking, all in turn accost, and are in turn 
replied to, for twenty-three questions and answers ; which 
finished, the deceased entreats the “ good beings, lords of 
truth, who are living for ever, circling for ever,” to pass him 
through “ the waters, to give him to eat food, and baked 
cakes, and a place in the hall of the two truths before the great 
God.” In the hundredth chapter the Osirian, having declared 
again that he has “ stopped the Apophis and turned back 
its feet,” is permitted to embark, and safely crossing the 
mighty river, lands on the other bank in the land of the 
mountains of the west, the blessed country of Amenti. 
Fig. 74. One of the mystic crocodiles of Amenti, named Shesh-shesh. (Sar. Oimen. 
31. Here commence another series of chapters, containing 
descriptions of and an abstract of the geography of t o 
spirit-land ; and here again, as usual in the Ritual, the Ophite 
myth is interwoven throughout. The blessed region is de- 
scribed as “ the valley of Balot,t or abundance, at the end ol 
* It would be superfluous to do more here than refer to the Greek myths of 
Hades, Styx, Charon and his boat, and to the mediaeval legend of St, Patrick s 
purgatory, as given in the History of Roger de W endover ; their almost exac 
analogy is too obvious to be dwelt upon. 
+ Called more properly the “ Valley of Buchat.” Renouf. 
