Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/230

 of the celestial rivers—the ether. After a hard struggle he is drawn out and destroyed, and the heavenly bark disappears in peace behind the western horizon, received by the mother goddess Nut. A hymn addressed to Ra, 'Lord of the horizon,' celebrates his triumph: 'Thou awakenest, triumphant and blessed One, thou who comest in radiance and travellest in thy disk! Thy divine bark speeds on, blest by thy mother Nut each day; thy foes fall as thou turnest thy face to the western heaven. Glad are the mariners of thy bark; Ra hath quelled his impious foe, he striketh down the evil one, thou breakest his strength, casting him into the fire that encircleth in its season the children of wickedness.'

An eminent writer who has devoted himself to the study of ancient religions says:—'In spite of the abundance of materials, in spite of the ruins of temples and numberless statues and half-deciphered papyri—I must confess that we have not yet come very near the