The day was beautiful, cool; the earth was covered with plants and flowers. Over the heads of the horsemen were heard the songs of birds, the air was full of fragrance. "How pleasant it is here!" exclaimed Rameses. "Now I am able to collect my thoughts for the first time in a month. I had begun to think that a whole regiment of chariots had assembled in my head, and that from morning till evening reviews were held there." "Such is the fate of a ruler in this world," said the nomarch. They halted on an eminence. At their feet lay an immense meadow, cut through by a blue stream. On the north and on the south were white walls of towns; beyond the meadow on the rim of the horizon extended the reddish sands of the western desert, from which came an occasional breath of heated air, as if from a furnace. On the meadow were countless herds of animals,--horned and hornless oxen, sheep, goats, asses, antelopes, even rhinoceroses. Here and there were visible swampy places covered with water plants and reeds in which were teeming wild geese, ducks, doves, storks, pelicans, and ibises. "Behold, lord," said Otoes, "a picture of our country, Queneh, Egypt. Osiris fell in love with this strip of land in the midst of deserts; he covered it with plants and living creatures, so as to have from them profit. Then the kindly god took a human form and became the first pharaoh. When he felt that his body was withering, he left it and entered into his son, and later on into his son's son. "Thus Osiris lives among us, since the beginning of ages, as pharaoh, and he gains profit from Egypt and its wealth which he himself created. The lord has extended like a mighty tree. All the pharaohs are his roots, the nomarchs and priests his larger branches, the nobles the smaller branches. The visible god sits on the throne of the earth and receives the income which belongs to him from Egypt; the invisible god receives offerings in the temples, and declares his will through the lips of the priesthood." "Thou utterest truth," said the viceroy. "Thus is it written." "Since Osiris the pharaoh," continued the nomarch, "cannot himself be occupied in the management of the country, he has appointed us nomarchs, who come of his blood, to watch over his property." "That is true," said Rameses. "Sometimes even the sun god becomes incarnate in a nomarch and begins a new dynasty. Thus rose the dynasties of Memphis, Elephantina, Thebes, and Ksoi." "Thou hast said it," continued Otoes. "But now I will answer that which thou hast asked of me. "Thou hast asked what I do in this province? I guard the property of Osiris, the pharaoh, and my own part in it. Look at those flocks; thou seest various animals. Some give milk, others flesh, others wool and skins. The people of Egypt give wheat, wine, woollen stuffs, vessels, houses. My affair is to take from each what he should give, and lay it down at the feet of the pharaoh.