Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/58

 34 Outlines of Europe mi History Agriculture and cattle- raising ; beasts of burden The copper- smith and the appearance of bronze Fig. 1 8. Peasant milking in the Pyramid Age upon us from these walls the life which these men of nearly five thousand years ago actually lived. Dominating all these scenes on the walls is the tall form of the noble (Fig. i6), the lord of the estate, as he stands looking out over his fields and inspecting the work going on there. These fields where the oxen draw the plow, and the sowers scatter the seed (Fig. 17), are the oldest scene of agriculture known to us. Here too are the herds, long lines of sleek fat cattle grazing in the pasture, while the milch cows are led up and tied to be milked (Figs. 16, 18). These cattle are also beasts of burden; we have noticed the oxen drawing the plow. But we find no horses in these tombs of the Pyramid Age, for the horse was then un- known to the Egyptian, but the donkey is every- where, and it would be impossible to harvest the grain without him (Fig. 19). On the next wall we find again the tall figure of the noble overseeing the booths and yards where toil the craftsmen of his estate. We can almost hear the sounds of hammer and anvil and the hum of industry as we look here upon these artisans of the early oriental world at their busy tasks. Yonder is the smith. He has never heard of his ancestor who picked up the first bead of copper probably over a thousand years earlier (p. 24). This man has made progress however. He is now able to harden his tools by the addition of a small amount of tin to the molten metal, which then cools into a much harder state than that of pure copper. We call this mixture bronze.-^ This harder metal 1 The origin of bronze is probably natural. Professor J. L. Myres of Oxford informs me of the recent discovery of ore containing both copper and tin in the northern Mediterranean. The metal yielded by such ore would itself be bronze. The cow is restive and the ancient cow- herd has tied her hind legs. Behind her another man is holding her calf, which rears and plunges in the effort to reach the milk. Scene from the chapel of a noble's tomb (Fig. 15)