The Egyptians have, in fact, painted their social life for us themselves in fullest detail, whether it is the king standing proudly in his war-chariot and striking down his foe, or the potter patiently turning his wheel; the priest officiating in the temple rites, or the fisherman directing his tiny craft upon the river. We see the baker kneading the dough with his feet, and the flat loaves being carried round to the customers; the shoemaker, sitting on his three-legged stool, is busy fashioning the leather sandal; spinning-wheel and loom are producing the ‘fine linen’ of Egypt, and the needle is skilful in beautiful embroidered work. The pottery is of varied and graceful form, the jewellery of exquisite workmanship. Glass is fashioned, and so is brightly tinted porcelain ware; veneering too is practised with much skill. We may picture to ourselves the active life and gay animation that reigned in the streets of the mighty city that had grown up around the great temples of Amen, or, on the broad waters of the stream, the scene of constant traffic, where boats laden with merchandise, fishing vessels, and gay-looking pleasure-boats went to and fro in ceaseless motion. The Nile valley is of unusual breadth on both sides of the river here, and forms a sort of amphitheatre closed in by mountain ranges of varied outlines. It seemed hidden away out of the invader’s track, the ‘great city’ in all her imperial beauty, _Apu_, the ‘city of thrones,’ or _Nu_, ‘the city,’ as her people called her of old. The sky is of a deeper blue than in the northern part of the country; and in spite of ceaseless sunshine the fields are clothed in richest verdure. Here, as everywhere, light and colour reign, the shadows themselves are luminous, so radiant is the light, and the colour harmonies of the sunset are thus described:— ‘The western horizon is a furnace of molten gold, the stems and foliage of the palm trees are likewise gold, and through this dazzling glow the purple tints of the hills can just be perceived. The sky and the Nile become in turn rose-coloured and violet, like the colour of an amethyst; then the light dies away.’[56]