"We have been able to see to-day how the ancient Egyptians lived, and what they did; and it seems as if I have only to close my eyes and imagine myself carried back five thousand years. There are barbers at work on their customers, and closely reminding us of the barbers of to-day; there are shoemakers cutting the leather, and preparing the thread for stitching shoes and sandals together; and there are spinners and weavers at work, the former using the spindle just as it is now used in nearly all countries, and will probably be used as long as the world stands. [Illustration: SPINNING AND WEAVING.] "There are glass-blowers and jewellers employed at their trades, both using the familiar blow-pipe, and evidently understanding it as perfectly as one could wish. Painters are busy with their brushes, some making pictures on panels or on sheets of papyrus, and others engaged in coloring statues or decorating walls. There are tailors and carpenters, boat-builders and stone-cutters, and there is a series of pictures representing the whole process of preparing flax, and making it into twine and cloth. One man brings water to fill a tank, in which other men are placing the flax; beyond the tank two men are beating the flax after it has been properly soaked; others are twisting the fibres into yarn; others make the yarn into ropes or cloth; and, lastly, two men hold up a piece of cloth that has just been finished. No description in words could be more clear than is this pictorial representation. [Illustration: ARTISTS AT WORK.] "But industry is not the only thing seen on the walls of the tombs of Beni-Hassan. Musicians are playing on instruments of different kinds. Men and women are dancing or singing, others are seated at table or around fish-ponds, and others are playing ball, throwing heavy stones, or engaged at games similar to our chess or backgammon. They knew how to enjoy themselves fifty centuries ago no less than now. There are unpleasant things, too, depicted on the walls of the tombs: some of the tortures of prisoners are shown, and in one of the paintings several peasants are being held on the ground while a man strikes them across the shoulders with a heavy whip. [Illustration: FISHING SCENE AT BENI-HASSAN.] "In one of the tombs there is a picture representing the arrival of some strangers, and their presentation to the King. This was long thought to be the arrival of Joseph and his brethren; but as the tombs are known to have been made several hundred years before Joseph was born, the pictures must refer to somebody else. There are thirty-seven figures in all in this group, and their faces and style of dress show that they came from some other country than Egypt. [Illustration: AN ANCIENT DONKEY.]