This custom, however, of preserving the mummies above ground, adorned with the portraits, gave way about the time of Constantine, or perhaps a little earlier, and immediate burial was adopted. Probably this was partly due to the progress of Christianity. [Illustration: 74. CUT-GLASS VASE.] Instead, therefore, of finding the portraits of the persons, we have their embroidered and richly woven garments; for they were buried in the finest clothes they had when alive. And their possessions were buried with them. In one grave was a lady’s casket made of wood inlaid with ivory panels, on which figures were carved and coloured with inlaying. The fine cut-glass vase from another grave is of the whitest glass, and excellently cut with the wheel; perhaps the finest example of such work from Roman times. The toys were also buried with the children, and dolls, with all their furniture,--bedstead, mirror, table, toilet-box, clothes-basket, and other paraphernalia--were placed with the little ones who had died. Even more elaborate toys were laid here, such as the curious _terra cotta_ of a sedan chair, borne by two porters, with a lady seated inside; a loose figure that can be removed. [Illustration: 75. SIDE OF IVORY CASKET. 1: 4.] [Illustration: 76. SEDAN CHAIR, TERRA COTTA. 1: 4.] In one instance a far more valuable prize accompanied a body; under the head of a lady lay a papyrus roll, which still preserved a large part of the second book of the Iliad, beautifully written, and with marginal notes. A great quantity of pieces of papyrus, letters and accounts, of Roman age, were also found scattered about in the cemetery. In a large jar buried in the ground lay a bundle of title-deeds: they recorded the sale of some monastic property, and were most carefully rolled, bound up with splints of reed, to prevent their being bent, and wrapped in several old cloths. [Illustration: 77. 1:6. ROMAN RAG DOLLS. 1: 4.] In yet another respect Hawara proved a rich field. In the coffins, in the graves, and in the ruins of the chambers, were still preserved the wreaths with which the dead had been adorned, and the flowers which the living had brought to the tombs. These wreaths were often in the most perfect condition, every detail of the flowers being as complete as if dried for a herbarium. They illustrate the accounts of Pliny and other writers about ancient wreaths, and the plants used for them, and show what a careful and precise trade the wreath-maker’s was. Beside the decorative plants there were many seeds, and remains of edible fruits and vegetables, which had been left behind in the surface chambers of the tombs after the funereal feasts. Altogether, the cemetery of Hawara has doubled the extent of our list of ancient Egyptian botany, under the careful examination given by Mr. Newberry to the boxes full of plants which I brought away.