Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/224

 the narrow defile, bearing beneath a funeral tent of exquisite workmanship the body of some prince or princess of the Pharaoh's house to its last long home in the western hills.

One day in the year (as we should say, on All Souls' Day) the family and friends of the departed assembled amidst the dead. On that day the silent city was alive and Eastern Thebes deserted. All day long boats of every sort plied to and fro, and the western plain was covered with vast crowds bringing flowers and garlands and funeral gifts. Within the funeral chambers, richly and brightly adorned with paintings and sculptures, the family groups assembled, the scenes around awakening vivid associations of the past. The sound of human talk was heard, and the voice of minstrelsy and song. The feast is spread, and here, says a modern writer who has vividly described the whole scene, the assembled family in their social union 'remembered their departed ones as if they were travellers who had found happiness in a distant land, and whom they might hope to see once again sooner or later.' In