[Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 3, No. 110.]] =Amusements.=—The children of the poor were employed as soon as possible in tending the animals in the field, and they had few toys to play with; the children of well-to-do folk had painted wooden dolls, with hair made of strings of mud or porcelain beads, and movable joints, models of animals, etc. The chief amusement of men was =hunting=, and =fishing=, and =fowling=. Fish and water-fowl were usually caught in nets, but as bronze =fish hooks= have been found (see Table-cases B and J in the Third Egyptian Room) the rod and line must also have been used. The Egyptian sportsman set out on the marshes in a shallow boat with low bows and stern, taking with him his short =fishing spears=, =harpoons=, =boomerangs= (see Table-case E in the Third Egyptian Room), nets, his =hunting-cat= (see the wall-painting in Case I in the Third Egyptian Room), servants, and sometimes a favourite wife or daughter. Nets were cast for fish in certain parts of the marshes, and the boat was poled in among the high reeds and bulrushes where the birds congregated. The skilled boomerang thrower soon brought down many birds, and his efforts were ably seconded by his hunting-cat. Among the birds may be mentioned the =vulture=, =eagle=, =hawk=, =falcon=, =buzzard=, =kite=, =crow=, =lark=, =linnet=, =sparrow=, =quail=, =pelican=, =ibis=, =swallow=, =heron=, =goose=, =pigeon=, etc. Occasionally the =hippopotamus= was attacked among the dense papyrus growths, and the animal was usually harpooned to death, as was the custom in the Sûdân until recently, for the sake of the flesh. The =crocodile= was also sometimes caught. No hippopotamus has been seen living in Egypt in a natural state for very many generations, and the crocodile retreated south of Kharṭûm soon after paddle steamers were placed on the Nile. The crocodile was considered to be a sacred animal for thousands of years, and a sacred crocodile was kept and worshipped as the God of the Nile at Kharṭûm so recently as the year 1829. The numerous ivory objects found in Predynastic graves prove that the primitive Egyptians hunted and killed the =elephant= (see Table-case L in the Third Egyptian Room), and it seems as if a considerable amount of ivory passed into Egypt proper by way of the First Cataract, for the ancient Egyptian name of the old frontier city was Ābu 𓍋𓃀𓅱𓃰𓅱𓄣𓐰𓈉, _i.e._, “Elephant City” (hence “Elephantine”). At a very early period, however, the elephant must have retreated far to the south, for he plays no part in Egyptian mythology, and figures of the animal are rare. (See the carnelian elephant in Table-case F, in the Fourth Egyptian Room.) The =bear= also seems to have been hunted. (See page 86.)