The inner walls of some of the pyramids are covered with texts describing events of this kind in the after-death life of kings. Some are of such antiquity that they go back before the uniting into one of the two kingdoms by Menes; and even in those far-away times the instructions were lengthy and very precise about the kind of food and drink, and means of protection from evil things, that should be buried with the king for his use in the after-life. They had much the same thoughts as we have about the difference between good conduct and bad. One of the evil acts which would most certainly condemn the doer to punishment after death was oppression of the poor. Even as long ago as that it was accounted a virtue to be kindly and generous to those who had been less fortunate than yourself. It seems probable they were a kindly, rather gentle people, inclined to peace and arts rather than to war, but compelled to be in a constant state of defence against the incursions of enemies who lived in less fertile lands. In the course of such defence and resistance many prisoners would be taken. The prisoners would be retained alive, as valuable slaves. It does not follow that because they were slaves they would be ill-treated. A kind master would treat a slave well out of kindness; and a sensible master, even if he were not kind of heart, would treat a slave well because the better a slave, like a horse, was fed and cared for, the more work could be got out of him. And that brings us again to the pyramids and the other great tombs of the kings and temples of the gods; for it is very certain that but for "slave labour," as it is called, the building of the pyramids would have {42} been an impossibility. As it is, with all allowance made for the multitude of the labourers and the cheapness of their food and of the material for the building, the pyramids remain perhaps the greatest wonder of man's making in all the world, especially when we consider their age and the small engineering appliances that the builders had for their making. How they dealt with the huge blocks of stone is a marvel.