BERBER AND BLACK 97 The royal town, says El Bekri, was surrounded by groves jealously guarded, which were sacred to the worship of the gods. Here dwelt the priests who directed religious worship. No other person was allowed to enter or to know anything of what happened within their precincts Here were the idols of the nation. Here also were the tombs of the kings, and the royal prisons, in which, if a man were once confined, he was never heard of again.

From the description of royal funerals it may be inferred that a new grove was planted for each tomb. On the death of a king, the custom was to construct a great dome of wood on the spot which was to serve as his tomb. The body was then laid upon a couch covered with drapery and cushions, and placed within the dome. Round the dead were laid his decorations, his arms, the dishes and cups from which he was in the habit of eating and drinking, and various kinds of food and drink. With the body of the sovereign were enclosed several of his cooks and attendants. The edifice was covered with cloth and mats. The assembled multitudes then threw earth upon the tomb until a great hill was formed. When this was done the monument was secured from defilement by a ditch which left only one passage of approach. Sacrifices to the dead were also made.

This system of burial recalls a description given by Macrizi, in his " Historical Description of Egypt," of the burial of Misraim, who died seven hundred years after the Flood, and who is said to have given the ancient name of "Misr" to Lower Egypt. Misraim being dead, they prepared for him, Macrizi tells us, a hollow place most richly decorated, with a pedestal in the midst of it. On the pedestal they engraved an inscription: **He never worshipped idols, neither was he ever old, nor sick, nor downcast, nor morose. His strength was in the Most High God." The body, in a coffin of marble and gold was laid near the pedestal, and on the pedestal — of which perhaps, the translation should be platform — was heaped every kind of precious possession, emeralds, pearls, gold, G