older biers. None of them possessed any funerary furniture, except the
tools of his trade, a thin pair of leather shoes, sandals of cardboard
or plaited reeds, rings of terra-cotta or bronze, bracelets or necklets
of a single row of blue beads, statuettes of divinities, mystic eyes,
scarabs, and, above all, cords tied round the neck, arms, limbs, or
waist, to keep off, by their mystic knots, all malign influences.

The whole population of the necropolis made their living out of the
dead. This was true of all ranks of society, headed by the sacerdotal
colleges of the royal chapels,* and followed by the priestly bodies, to
whom was entrusted the care of the tombs in the various sections,
but the most influential of whom confined their attentions to the old
burying-ground, "Isît-mâît," the True Place.**

* We find on several monuments the names of persons
belonging to these sacerdotal bodies, priests of Ahmosis I.,
priests of Thûtmosis I., of Thût-mosis II., of Amenôthes
II., and of Seti I.

** The persons connected with the "True Place" were for a
long time considered as magistrates, and the "True Place" as
a tribunal.

It was their duty to keep up the monuments of the kings, and also of
private individuals, to clean the tombs, to visit the funerary chambers,
to note the condition of their occupants, and, if necessary, repair
the damage done by time, and to provide on certain days the offerings
prescribed by custom, or by clauses in the contract drawn up between
the family of the deceased and the religious authorities. The titles of
these officials indicated how humble was their position in relation to