⁂⁂ without a determinative is susceptible of different meanings, and the very recent texts have it written with the determinative of motion ⁂ or ⁂, as significant of retreat. But the oldest determinative in this place is ⁂, and this inclines me to identify the word with ⁂⁂⁂, and translate it ‘stabber.’ But this is mere conjecture. See note 5 on chapter 40. 2. _Akar._ The older MSS. differ hopelessly from each other as to the name of the god. In order to understand the nature of the god ⁂⁂⁂ _Akar_, we have to imagine a _tunnel_ starting from the spot where the sun sets, and _extending through the earth_ as far as where the sun rises. Each end of the tunnel has a sphinx-like form. A human-headed lion stands at the entrance and also at the terminus. It is through the paws of this double sphinx that the galley of the Sungod enters on the Western horizon and comes out on the Eastern. In the picture Plate XV, taken from the tomb of Rameses IV, ⁂⁂, _Fair Entrance_, is written at one end of the tunnel; ⁂⁂, _Fair Exit_, at the other. As the solar bark could not be represented inside the dark tunnel, it is placed above. 3. _The proof._ Lit. _the taste_, ⁂⁂ _ṭepit_, with the tongue as a determinative, in the sense of a _probe_. The hand of an Egyptian hero is said to _taste_ his enemy. In the Bremner Papyrus the god _tastes_ Apep four times. The same conception is found in the Homeric poems, ἀλλ’ ἄγε, θᾶσσον γευσόμεθ’ ἀλλήλων χαλκήρσεσιν ἐγχείησιν.[56] though in Greek the _taste_ comes generally to the _patient_ rather than to the agent. 4. This passage, which would be most interesting if we could only get it accurately, is wretchedly corrupt. It is impossible from the variants to obtain a text grammatically intelligible. The Scorpion goddess is Isis. ----- Footnote 55: ⁂⁂⁂ _between_, _in the midst of_, _surrounded by_. Footnote 56: _Iliad_, 20, 258. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLATE XIV. BOOK OF THE DEAD. [Illustration: CHAPTER XXXIX. =Sâqara. Grab 24.= LEPSIUS, _Denkmäler_, Abth. III, Bl. 265. ] [Illustration: CHAPTER XXXIX. =Papyrus, Musée du Louvre, 93.= ] [Illustration: CHAPTER XL. =Papyrus, Leyden Museum, No. IV.=] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ CHAPTER XL. _Chapter whereby the Eater of the Ass is kept back._ Back, serpent Haiu,(1.) whom Osiris execrateth. May Thoth cut off thy head, and may there accrue to me whatsoever property proceedeth from thee [according to] what was decreed against thee by the Company of the gods for the accomplishment of thy slaughter. Back, thou whom Osiris execrateth, from the Neshemet galley, which saileth towards the south with favourable breeze. Pure are ye, all ye gods who overthrow the enemy of Osiris.