specific appellation of carpolegus, or the fruit gatherer.* BABOONS PLUCKING FIGS. It may be a pleasing illustration of ancient manners, to endeavour to trace in some detail the progress of one of those parties of social entertainment, of which the Egyptians were so fond, and which so often occur on the pictorial monuments. Nor will it be less instructive than curious, for we shall thus obtain many interesting illustrations of customs incidentally alluded to in the Sacred Scrip tures. Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xiii. The accompanying scene represents an Egyptian gentleman driving up in his chariot to the door of his host. His consequence is intimated by the lateness of his arrival, for the guests are assembled within. Running footmen precede and follow the chariot; a practice repeatedly mentioned in the Scriptures. Thus Samuel forewarned Israel when they desired a king, "He will take ARRIVAL OF A GUEST. Absalom began to affect the state pre paratory to his rebellion, he "prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before * 1 Sam. viii. 11. him."* These runners seem to have been not only for ostentation; the one immediately behind the carriage is ready to take the reins at the moment of stopping, while the one who follows him carries a foot-stool to facilitate his master's alighting, and some other implements which we may suppose to be necessary for the elegance of his appearance in the drawing-room. The footman in front is about to knock at the door, and the one represented above his head, is probably the foremost of all, the harbinger to announce the approach of the important personage. This individual has taken off his sandals, which he carries in his hand; and it is a curious circumstance that none of the guests nor attendants in the social parties are represented with shoes, though out of doors they very frequently occur. Probably the loosing of the shoe was considered among the Egyptians an act of respect, as it was, we know, among the Hebrews;t for, in religious ceremonies, the Egyptian priests frequently divested themselves of their sandals. § Another picture represents a person of much dignity, sitting in a litter or palanquin elaborately ornamented, which is carried upon the shoulders of four young men; while a fifth walks behind, carrying a battle-axe in one hand, and with the other elevating * 2 Sam. xv. 1. + It may be needful to remark, that the Egyptian artists being ignorant of the principles of perspective drawing, were accustomed to represent a more distant object on the same plane, by placing it above the nearer object ; often, as in this instance, with another foot-line. A recollection of this will obviate much obscurity in these pictures. Exod. iii. 5; Jos. v. 15. f Wilk. iii. 366. above the head of his master a large hollow shield of leather stretched over a light frame, doubtless as a protection from the rays of the sun. The custom of washing the feet of a guest immediately on his arrival from a distance, so indispensable a mark of hospitality in the east, was probably performed in private, which may be the reason why it is not represented in the pictures; as it appears Joseph's brethren washed their feet, the steward having given them water, before their introduction into the festive room.* The ewers and basins, however, for this purpose, are represented, and are of much elegance. The anointing of the head with perfumed ointment, which seems among the Hebrews+ to have been subsequent to the washing, and to have been performed in the dining-room, when the guests were seated, is so depicted in the Egyptian feasts. "It was customary for a servant to attend every guest, as he seated himself, and to anoint his head;‡ and this was one of the principal tokens of welcome.” Passages, far too numerous to be even referred to here, shew the estimation in which ointments were held among the Israelites, the taste for which they perhaps acquired among their Egyptian lords, as we find no reference to it in the early patriarchal times. David, in a beautiful psalm of thankful praise, says, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."§ And in the narrative of * Gen. xliii. 24, 25. See engraving, p. 132. + See Luke vii. 44-46, § Ps. xxiii. 5, the lovely act of kindness shewn by Israel in the days of Pekah to their captives of Judah, so much the more refreshing because of its contrast with the prevailing records of the times, it is mentioned among the more substantial tokens of hospitality, that they "anointed them."* In the sacred narrative of the varied fortunes of the patriarch Joseph, there is a casual mention of a custom quite foreign to the Hebrews, but as distinctly Egyptian. "Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon, and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh."+ Herodotus narrates that the Egyptians suffered their hair and beards to grow only on occasions of mourning, but that at all other times they were shaved.‡ The testimony of the monuments abundantly confirms this; the abundance of hair often represented on Egyptian men being wigs, specimens of which exist to this day in our museums; and even the little square beard on the point of the chin of persons of distinction, being made of false hair, tied to the face. In some instances, however, the Egyptians seem to have worn their natural beards, platted with ribbon, the ends of which passed up on each side of the face. The presence of an untrimmed beard marks a servile condition, as in the case of the slaves making bricks; it is also frequently represented on captives marching in a triumphal procession, and on the Canaanite na * 2 Chron. xxviii. 15. + Gen. xli. 14. Herod. ii. 35. |