The Liturgy of Funeral Offerings: Purification Ceremonies: The Third Ceremony

The third ceremony of purification was performed by means of water, in which two different kinds of incense had been dissolved. The rubric in the text of Unas mentions "two balls" of incense, but that of the text of Peta-Amen-apt says that one ball shall be of incense of Shet pet, i.e., of the incense prepared from the salt found in the Natron Valley, and the other of the salt which is found near the city of Nekheb, or Eileithyiapolis. Shut pet was a portion of the Sekhet-Hemam, or "Field of Salt," known to-day as the "Wadi an-Natrun," which lies about forty-five miles to the northwest of Cairo, and the incense made from the salt deposits here was called "Incense of the North." The incense made from the salt deposits near Nekheb was

a bowl held by an assistant. He then took the bowl, and, going round the statue four times, sprinkled it with the water of the natrons of the South and North, whilst the Kher heb repeated the following words four times:--

"This libation is for thee, O Osiris, this libation is

"I have come and I have brought unto thee the Eye of Horus, that thy heart may be refreshed therewith. I have brought it [and placed it] under thee, [under] thy sandals, and I have presented unto thee that which floweth forth from thee. Whilst it is with thee there shall be no stoppage of thy heart, and it shall be with thee with the things (or, persons) which came forth at the [sound of the] voice."

and in Aat XIV. of the same Chapter, "I shall not be destroyed by the effluxes which come forth from Osiris." The effluxes of Osiris here referred to are undoubtedly the humours which were believed to have drained out of the body of Osiris when Horus and his "sons" were embalming it. From the above passages it is clear that the Egyptians regarded these humours as pure or holy, for they represented the very essence of the god. Now the Egyptians were not the only people in the world who attached mystic power and importance to the fluid which ran out from the dead, but though the texts make it certain that they did, we cannot learn from them exactly why they should do so. The reason is, however, not far to seek. Mr. Crawley tells us (Mystic Rose, p. 287) that communion with the dead is most exactly reached, and the identity of eating with a person and eating him most clearly shown, in the common Australian practice in which mourners drink the humours of the decaying corpse, or eat its flesh. The Kurnai anoint themselves with decomposed matter from the dead. It is done in the Kingsmills to "remember

Grenfell and the Congo, ii., p. 655). "When an important Luba chief expires, every one, great and small, must mourn in a subdued tone; the members of all the brotherhoods come before the house where the body lies to perform dances; the women violently strike their hatchet and hoe against each other. This deafening hubbub lasts a day. . . . During this time a young slave is obtained, his neck is broken by a heavy blow, and he is laid by the corpse for two days. He is the chiefs boy attendant. His wives, squatting near him, do not cease their lamentations. Some days pass in this way without other incidents, after which the stiffened limbs