Omnia inconsulti impetus c?pta, initiis valida, spatio languescunt=--All enterprises which are entered on with indiscreet zeal may be pursued with great vigour at first, but are sure to collapse in the end.
We must die because we have known them. -- Ptah-hotep, 2000 B.C.
A great papyrus written after the death of Rameses III. and recording his gifts to the temples briefly reviews the conditions of these troublous times. "The land of Egypt was in the hands of chiefs and rulers of towns, great and small slaying each other; afterwards a certain Syrian made himself chief; he made the whole land tributary before him; he united his companions and plundered their property (i.e. of the other chiefs). They made the gods like men, and no offerings were presented in the temples. But when the gods inclined themselves to peace ... they established their son Setenkhot (Setnekht) to be ruler of every land." Of the Syrian occupation we know nothing further. Setenkhot, c. 1200 B.C., had a very short reign and was not counted as legitimate, but he established a lasting dynasty (probably by conciliating the priesthood). He was father of Rameses III., who revived the glories of the empire. The dangers that menaced Egypt now were similar to those which Mineptah had to meet at his accession. Again the Libyans and the "peoples of the sea" were acting in concert. The latter now comprised Peleset (the Cretans, ancestors of the Philistines), Thekel, Shekelesh, Denyen (Danaoi?) and Weshesh; they had invaded Syria from Asia Minor, reaching the Euphrates, destroying the Hittite cities and progressing southwards, while their ships gathered plunder from the coasts of the Delta. This fleet joined the Libyan invaders, but was overthrown with heavy loss by the Egyptians, in whose ranks there actually served many Sherden and Kehaka, Sardinian and Libyan mercenaries. Egypt itself was thus clear of enemies; but the chariots and warriors of the Philistines and their associates were advancing through Syria, their families and goods following in ox-carts, and their ships accompanying them along the shore. Rameses led out his army and fleet against them and struck them so decisive a blow that the migrating swarm submitted to his rule and paid him tribute. In his eleventh year another Libyan invasion had to be met, and his suzerainty in Palestine forcibly asserted. His vigour was equal to all these emergencies and the later years of his reign were spent in peace. Rameses III., however, was not a great ruler. He was possessed by the spirit of decadence, imitative rather than originating. It is evident that Rameses II. was the model to which he endeavoured to conform, and he did not attempt to preserve himself from the weakening influences of priestcraft. To the temples he not only restored the property which had been given to them by former kings, but he also added greatly to their wealth; the Theban Ammon naturally received by far the greatest share, more than those of all the other gods together. The land held in the name of different deities is estimated at about 15% of the whole of Egypt; various temples of Ammon owned two-thirds of this, Re of Heliopolis and Ptah of Memphis being the next in wealth. His palace was at Medinet Habu on the west bank of Thebes in the south quarter; and here he built a great temple to Ammon, adorned with scenes from his victories and richly provided with divine offerings. Although Egypt probably was prosperous on the whole, there was undoubtedly great distress amongst certain portions of the population. We read in a papyrus of a strike of starving labourers in the Theban necropolis who would not work until corn was given to them, and apparently the government storehouse was empty at the time, perhaps in consequence of a bad Nile. Shortly before the death of the old king a plot in the harem to assassinate him, and apparently to place one of his sons on the throne, was discovered and its investigation ordered, leading after his death to the condemnation of many high-placed men and women. Nine kings of the name of Rameses now followed each other ingloriously in the space of about eighty years to the end of the XXth Dynasty, the power of the high priests of Ammon ever growing at their expense. At this time the Theban necropolis was being more systematically robbed than ever before. Under Rameses IX. an investigation took place which showed that one of the royal tombs before the western cliffs had been completely ransacked and the mummies burnt. Three years later the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings was attacked and the sepulchres of Seti I. and Rameses II. were robbed. Entry: A
For origins of hieroglyphs, see Petrie's _Medum_ (1892); F. Ll. Griffith, _A Collection of Hieroglyphs_ (1898); N. de G. Davies, _The Mastaba of Ptahhetep and Akhethetep_, pt. i. (1900); M. A. Murray, _Saqqara Mastabas_ (London, 1905); also Petrie and Griffith, _Two Hieroglyphic Papyri from Tanis_ (London, 1889) (native sign-list); G. Möller, _Hieratische Paläographie_ (Leipzig, 1909); Griffith, _Catalogue of Demotic Papyri in the J. Rylands Collection_ (Manchester, 1909). (F. Ll. G.) Entry: 18
_Forests and Fauna._--Deer forests occupy an enormous area, particularly in the west, in the centre, in the south and south-east and in Skye. From the number of trees found in peat bogs, the county must once have been thickly covered with wood. Strathspey is still celebrated for its forests, and the natural woods on Loch Arkaig, in Glen Garry, Glen Moriston, Strathglass and Strathfarrar, and at the head of Loch Sheil, are extensive. The forests consist chiefly of oak, Scotch fir, birch, ash, mountain-ash (rowan), holly, elm, hazel and Scots poplar, but there are also great plantations of larch, spruce, silver fir, beech and plane. Part of the ancient Caledonian forest extends for several miles near the Perthshire boundary. Red and roe deer, the Alpine and common hare, black game and ptarmigan, grouse and pheasant abound on the moors and woodlands. Foxes and wild cats occur, and otters are met with in the lakes and streams. There are also eagles, hawks and owls, while great flocks of waterfowl, particularly swans, resort to Loch Inch and other lakes in Badenoch. Many of the rivers and several of the lochs abound with salmon and trout, the salmon fisheries of the Beauly, Ness and Lochy yielding a substantial return. Entry: INVERNESS
HELIOPOLIS, one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, met with in the Bible under its native name On. It stood 5 m. E. of the Nile at the apex of the Delta. It was the principal seat of sun-worship, and in historic times its importance was entirely religious. There appear to have been two forms of the sun-god at Heliopolis in the New Kingdom--namely, Ra-Harakht, or Re'-Harmakhis, falcon-headed, and Etom, human-headed; the former was the sun in his mid-day strength, the latter the evening sun. A sacred bull was worshipped here under the name Mnevis (Eg. _Mreu_), and was especially connected with Etom. The sun-god Re' (see EGYPT: _Religion_) was especially the royal god, the ancestor of all the Pharaohs, who therefore held the temple of Heliopolis in great honour. Each dynasty might give the first place to the god of its residence--Ptah of Memphis, Ammon of Thebes, Neith of Sais, Bubastis of Bubastis, but all alike honoured Re'. His temple became in a special degree a depository for royal records, and Herodotus states that the priests of Heliopolis were the best informed in matters of history of all the Egyptians. The schools of philosophy and astronomy are said to have been frequented by Plato and other Greek philosophers; Strabo, however, found them deserted, and the town itself almost uninhabited, although priests were still there, and cicerones for the curious traveller. The Ptolemies probably took little interest in their "father" Re', and Alexandria had eclipsed the learning of Heliopolis; thus with the withdrawal of royal favour Heliopolis quickly dwindled, and the students of native lore deserted it for other temples supported by a wealthy population of pious citizens. In Roman times obelisks were taken from its temples to adorn the northern cities of the Delta, and even across the Mediterranean to Rome. Finally the growth of Fostat and Cairo, only 6 m. to the S.W., caused the ruins to be ransacked for building materials. The site was known to the Arabs as _'Ayin esh shems_, "the fountain of the sun," more recently as Tel Hisn. It has now been brought for the most part under cultivation, but the ancient city walls of crude brick are to be seen in the fields on all sides, and the position of the great temple is marked by an obelisk still standing (the earliest known, being one of a pair set up by Senwosri I., the second king of the Twelfth Dynasty) and a few granite blocks bearing the name of Rameses II. Entry: HELIOPOLIS
Though the red grouse does not, after the manner of other members of the genus _Lagopus_, become white in winter, Scotland possesses a species of the genus which does. This is the ptarmigan, _L. mutus_ or _L. alpinus_, which differs far more in structure, station and habits from the red grouse than that does from the willow-grouse, and in Scotland is far less abundant, haunting only the highest and most barren mountains. It is said to have formerly inhabited both Wales and England, but there is no evidence of its appearance in Ireland. On the continent of Europe it is found most numerously in Norway, but at an elevation far above the growth of trees, and it occurs on the Pyrenees and on the Alps. It also inhabits northern Russia. In North America, Greenland and Iceland it is represented by a very nearly allied form--so much so indeed that it is only at certain seasons that the slight difference between them can be detected. This form is the _L. rupestris_ of authors, and it would appear to be found also in Siberia (_Ibis_, 1879, p. 148). Spitzbergen is inhabited by a large form which has received recognition as _L. hemileucurus_, and the northern end of the chain of the Rocky Mountains is tenanted by a very distinct species, the smallest and perhaps the most beautiful of the genus, _L. leucurus_, which has all the feathers of the tail white. Entry: GROUSE
7. _Egyptian._--In Egypt too the systematizers were busily engaged in the co-ordination of myths. They retained the belief that the germs of all things slept for ages within the dark flood, personified as Nûn or Nû. How they were drawn forth was variously told.[18] In some districts the demiurge was called Khn[=u]mu; it was he who modelled the egg (of the world?) and also man.[19] Elsewhere he was the artizan-god Ptah, who with his hammer broke the egg; sometimes Thoth, the moon-god and principle of intelligence, who spoke the world into existence.[20] A strange episode in the legend of the destruction of man by the gods tells how Ra (or Re), the first king of the world, finding in his old age that mankind ceased to respect him, first tried the remedy of massacre, and then ascended the heavenly cow, and organized a new world--that of heaven.[21] Entry: 7
As early as 2400 B.C., in Babylonia, legal decisions, revenue accounts, &c. were inscribed in cuneiform characters on clay tablets and placed in jars, arranged on shelves and labelled by clay tablets attached by straws. In the 7th century B.C. a library of literary works written on such tablets existed at Nineveh, founded by Sargan (721-705 B.C.). As in the case of the "Creation" series at the British Museum the narrative was sometimes continued from one tablet to another, and some of the tablets are inscribed with entries forming a catalogue of the library. These clay tablets are perhaps entitled to be called books, but they are out of the direct ancestry of the modern printed book with which we are here chiefly concerned. One of the earliest direct ancestors of this extant is a roll of eighteen columns in Egyptian hieratic writing of about the 25th century B.C. in the Musée de Louvre at Paris, preserving the maxims of Ptah-hetep. Papyrus, the material on which the manuscript (known as the Papyrus Prisse) is written, was made from the pith of a reed chiefly found in Egypt, and is believed to have been in use as a writing material as early as about 4000 B.C. It continued to be the usual vehicle of writing until the early centuries of the Christian era, was used for pontifical bulls until A.D. 1022, and occasionally even later; while in Coptic manuscripts, for which its use had been revived in the 7th century, it was employed as late as about A.D. 1250. It was from the name by which they called the papyrus, [Greek: bublos] or [Greek: biblos], that the Greeks formed [Greek: biblion], their word for a book, the plural of which (mistaken for a feminine singular) has given us our own word Bible. In the 2nd century B.C. Eumenes II., king of Pergamus, finding papyrus hard to procure, introduced improvements into the preparations of the skins of sheep and calves for writing purposes, and was rewarded by the name of his kingdom being preserved in the word _pergamentum_, whence our "parchment," by which the dressed material is known. In the 10th century the supremacy which parchment had gradually established was attacked by the introduction from the East of a new writing material made from a pulp of linen rags, and the name of the vanquished papyrus was transferred to this new rival. Paper-mills were set up in Europe in the 12th century, and the use of paper gained ground, though not very rapidly, until on the invention of printing, the demand for a cheap material for books, and the ease with which paper could be worked on a press, gave it a practical monopoly. This it preserved until nearly the end of the 19th century, when substances mainly composed of wood-pulp, esparto grass and clay largely took its place, while continuing, as in the transition from papyrus to linen-pulp, to pass under the same name (see PAPER). Entry: BOOK
_Fauna._--Among the larger mammals are the big-horn or mountain sheep (_Ovis canadensis_), the Rocky Mountain goat (_Mazama montana_), the grizzly bear, moose, woodland caribou, black-tailed or mule deer, white-tailed deer, and coyote. All these are to be found only on the mainland. The black bear, wolf, puma, lynx, wapiti, and Columbian or coast deer are common to parts of both mainland and islands. Of marine mammals the most characteristic are the sea-lion, fur-seal, sea-otter and harbour-seal. About 340 species of birds are known to occur in the province, among which, as of special interest, may be mentioned the burrowing owl of the dry, interior region, the American magpie, Steller's jay and a true nut-cracker, Clark's crow (_Picicorvus columbianus_). True jays and orioles are also well represented. The gallinaceous birds include the large blue grouse of the coast, replaced in the Rocky Mountains by the dusky grouse. The western form of the "spruce partridge" of eastern Canada is also abundant, together with several forms referred to the genus _Bonasa_, generally known as "partridges" or ruffed grouse. Ptarmigans also abound in many of the higher mountain regions. Of the _Anatidae_ only passing mention need be made. During the spring and autumn migrations many species are found in great abundance, but in the summer a smaller number remain to breed, chief among which are the teal, mallard, wood-duck, spoon-bill, pin-tail, buffle-head, red-head, canvas-back, scaup-duck, &c. Entry: 4
Offences against the game laws are not triable by justices of the peace, but only in the sheriff court. The close time for game birds in Scotland is the same as in England, so far as dealing in them is concerned, but differs slightly as to killing. Black game may not be killed between the 10th of December and the 25th of August, nor ptarmigan between the 10th of December and the 20th of August. There is no close time for red, fallow or roe deer, or rabbits. By an old Scots act of 1621 (omitted from the recent wholesale repeal of such acts) no one may lawfully kill game in Scotland who does not own a plough-gate of land except on the land of a person so qualified. Entry: 6
_Justice._--The administration of justice is on the French model. A supreme court of appeal, which also discharges the functions of a court of cassation, sits at Canea. There are two assize courts at Canea and Candia respectively with jurisdiction in regard to serious offences ([Greek: kakourgêmata ]). Minor offences ([Greek: plêmmelêmata]) and civil causes are tried by courts of first instance in each of the five departments. There are 26 justices of peace, to whose decision are referred slight contraventions of the law ([Greek: ptaismata]) and civil causes in which the amount claimed is below 600 francs. These functionaries also hold monthly sessions in the various communes. The judges are chosen without regard to religious belief, and precautions have been taken to render them independent of political parties. They are appointed, promoted, transferred or removed by order of the council of justice, a body composed of the five highest judicial dignitaries, sitting at Canea. An order for the removal of a judge must be based upon a conviction for some specified offence before a court of law. The jury system has not been introduced. The Greek penal code has been adopted with some modifications. The Ottoman civil code is maintained for the present, but it is proposed to establish a code recently drawn up by Greek jurists which is mainly based on Italian and Saxon law. The Mussulman cadis retain their jurisdiction in regard to religious affairs, marriage, divorce, the wardship of minors and inheritance. Entry: CRETE
_Religion_.--The religion of Carthage was that of the Phoenicians. Over an army of minor deities (_alonim_ and _baalim_) towered the trinity of great gods composed of Baal-Ammon or Moloch (identified by the Romans with Cronus or Saturn); Tanit, the virgin goddess of the heavens and the moon, the Phoenician Astarte, and known as Juno Caelestis in the Roman period; Eshmun, the protecting deity and protector of the acropolis, generally identified with Aesculapius. There were also special cults: of Iolaus or Tammuz-Adonis, whom the Romans identified to some extent with Mercury; of the god Patechus or Pygmaeus, a deformed and repulsive monster like the Egyptian Ptah, whose images were placed on the prows of ships to frighten the enemy; and lastly of the Tyrian Melkarth, whose functions were analogous to those of Hercules. The statue of this god was carried to Rome after the siege of 146 (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxvi. 12. 39). From inscriptions we know the names of other minor deities, which are perhaps only other names of the same gods, e.g. Rabbat Umma, "the great mother"; Baalat haedrat, "mistress of the sanctuary"; Ashtoreth (Astarte), Illat, Sakon, Tsaphon, Sid, Aris (? Ares). Entry: 3
However carefully the preliminary rites of embalmment and burial might have been performed, however sumptuous the tomb wherein the dead man reposed, he was nevertheless almost entirely at the mercy of the living for his welfare in the other world: he was as dependent on a continued cult on the part of the surviving members of his family as the gods were dependent on the constant attendance of their priests. That portion of a man's individuality which required, even after death, food and drink, and the satisfaction of sensuous needs, was called by the Egyptians the _ka_, and represented in hieroglyphs by the uplifted hands [HRG]. This _ka_ was supposed to be born together with the person to whom it belonged, and on the very rare occasions when it is depicted, wears his exact semblance. The conception of this psychical entity is too vaguely formulated by the Egyptians and too foreign to modern thought to admit of exact translation: of the many renderings that have been proposed, perhaps "double" is the most suitable. At all events the _ka_ has to be distinguished from the soul, the _bai_ (in hieroglyphs [HRG] or [HRG]), which was of more tangible nature, and might be descried hovering around the tomb in the form of a bird or in some other shape; for it was thought that the soul might assume what shape it would, if the funerary rites had been duly attended to. The gods had their _ka_ and _bai_, and the forms attributed to the latter are surprising; thus we read that the soul of the sky Nun is Re, that of Osiris the Goat of Mendes, the souls of Sobk are crocodiles, and those "of all the gods are snakes"; similarly the soul of Ptah was thought to dwell in the Apis bull, so that each successive Apis was during its lifetime the reincarnation of the god. Other parts of a man's being to which at given moments and in particular contexts the Egyptians assigned a certain degree of separate existence are the "name" [HRG] _ran_, the "shadow" [HRG], _khaibet_, and the "corpse" [HRG], _khat_. Entry: A
Save for some high bluffs on the east and north-east, the shores of the bay are low. Around much of James Bay extend marshes and swampy ground. Geologically the greater part of the Hudson Bay district belongs to the Laurentian system, though there are numerous outcrops of later formation; Cambro-Silurian on the south and west, and to the north of Cape Jones (the north-eastern extremity of James Bay) a narrow belt of Cambrian rocks, of which the islands are composed. Coal, plumbago, iron and other minerals have been found in various districts near the coast. The climate is harsh, though vegetables and certain root crops ripen in the open air as far north as Fort Churchill; cattle flourish, and are fed chiefly on the native grasses; spruce, balsam and poplar grow to a fair size as far as the northern limit of James Bay. Caribou, musk ox and other animals are still found in large numbers, and there is an abundance of feathered game--ducks, geese, loons and ptarmigan; hunting and fishing form the chief occupations of the Indians and Eskimo who live in scattered bands near the shore. The bay abounds with fish, of which the chief are cod, salmon, porpoise and whales. The last have long been pursued by American whalers, whose destructive methods have so greatly depleted the supply that the government of Canada is anxious to declare the bay a _mare clausum_. Entry: HUDSON
The economic conditions of the island correspond with its physical conditions. The amount of cultivable land is small and poor. Sir James Matheson (1796-1878), who purchased the island in 1844, is said to have spent nearly £350,000 in reclamation and improvements. Barley and potatoes are the chief crops. A large number of black cattle are reared and some sheep-farming is carried on in Harris. Kelp-making, once important, has been extinct for many years. Harris has obtained great reputation for tweeds. The cloth has an aroma of heather and peat, and is made in the dwellings of the cotters, who use dyes of long-established excellence. The fisheries are the principal mainstay of the people. In spite of the very considerable reductions in rent effected by the Crofters' Commission (appointed in 1886) and the sums expended by government, most of the crofters still live in poor huts amid dismal surroundings. The island affords good sporting facilities. Many of the streams abound with salmon and trout; otters and seals are plentiful, and deer and hares common; while bird life includes grouse, ptarmigan, woodcock, snipe, heron, widgeon, teal, eider duck, swan and varieties of geese and gulls. There are many antiquarian remains, including duns, megaliths, ruined towers and chapels and the like. At RODEL, in the extreme south of Harris, is a church, all that is left of an Augustinian monastery. The foundation is Norman and the superstructure Early English. On the towers are curious carved figures and in the interior several tombs of the Macleods, the most remarkable being that of Alastair (Alexander), son of William Macleod of Dunvegan, dated 1528. The monument, a full-length recumbent effigy of a knight in armour, lies at the base of a tablet in the shape of an arch divided into compartments, in which are carved in bas-relief, besides the armorial bearings of the deceased and a rendering of Dunvegan castle, several symbolical scenes, one of which exhibits Satan weighing in the balance the good and evil deeds of Alastair Macleod, the good obviously preponderating. Stornoway, the chief town (pop. 3852) is treated under a separate heading. At CALLERNISH, 13 m. due W. of Stornoway, are several stone circles, one of which is probably the most perfect example of so-called "Druidical" structures in the British Isles. In this specimen the stones are huge, moss-covered, undressed blocks of gneiss. Twelve of such monoliths constitute the circle, in the centre of which stands a pillar 17 ft. high. From the circle there runs northwards an avenue of stones, comprising on the right-hand side nine blocks and on the left-hand ten. There also branch off from the circle, on the east and west, a single line of four stones and, on the south, a single line of five stones. From the extreme point of the south file to the farther end of the avenue on the north is a distance of 127 yds. and the width from tip to tip of the east and west arms is 41 yds. Viewed from the north end of the avenue, the design is that of a cross. The most important fishery centre on the west coast is Carloway, where there is the best example of a broch, or fort, in the Hebrides. Rory, the blind harper who translated the Psalms into Gaelic, was born in the village. Tarbert, at the head of East Loch Tarbert, is a neat, clean village, in communication by mail-car with Stornoway. At Coll, a few miles N. by E. of Stornoway, is a mussel cave; and at Gress, 2 m. or so beyond in the same direction, there is a famous seals' cave, adorned with fine stalactites. Port of Ness, where there is a harbour, is the headquarters of the ling fishery. Loch Seaforth gave the title of earl to a branch of the Mackenzies, but in 1716 the 5th earl was attainted for Jacobitism and the title forfeited. In 1797 Francis Humberston Mackenzie (1754-1815), chief of the Clan Mackenzie, was created Lord Seaforth and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail, and made colonel of the 2nd battalion of the North British Militia, afterwards the 3rd battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders. The 2nd battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders was formerly the Ross-shire Buffs, which was raised in 1771. Entry: LEWIS