The body once wrapped in its coverings, and the soul well provided with a store of necessary knowledge, the deceased commences his journey. But he is still unable to move, he has not yet the use of his limbs; it is necessary to address the gods, who successively restore all the faculties he had during his life, so that he can stand upright, walk, speak, eat and fight. Thus prepared, he starts; he holds his scarabæus over his heart as a passport, and thus passes the portal of Hades. From the first step, terrible obstacles present themselves in his way. Frightful monsters, servants of Typhon, crocodiles on land and in the water, serpents of all kinds, tortoises and other reptiles, assail the deceased and attempt to devour him. Then commences a series of combats. The deceased and the animals against which he contends mutually address insulting speeches to each other, after the fashion of Homer’s heroes. Finally, the “Osiris” (the name applied to all the deceased) has conquered all his enemies; he has subdued the Typhonic monsters, and forced a passage, and, elated by his victory, sings on the spot a song of triumph, likening himself to all the gods, whose members are made those of his own body. “My hair is like that of Nu (the firmament); my face is like that of Ra (the sun); my eyes like those of Athor (the Egyptian Venus);” and so on for every part of his body. He has even the strength of Set, that is, of Typhon, for the strife between the good and evil principle is but in appearance; in reality they are one and the same, and equally receive the adorations of the initiated. After such labors the deceased needs rest; he stays for a time to recruit his strength and to satisfy his hunger. He has escaped great dangers, and has not gone astray in the desert where he would have died of hunger and thirst. From the tree of life the goddess Nu gives him refreshing waters, which invigorate him and enable him to recommence his journey in order to reach the first gate of heaven. Then commences a dialogue between the deceased and the personification of the divine Light, who instructs him. This dialogue presents some most remarkable resemblances to the dialogue prefixed to the books given by the Alexandrian Greeks as translations of the ancient religious writings of Egypt, between Thoth and the Light, in which the latter explains to Thoth the most sublime mysteries of nature. This portion is certainly one of the best and grandest of the Ritual, and may almost be classed with the invocations to the sun at the close of the first part. [Illustration: EGYPTIAN PRIESTESS.]