CHAPTER XCIX.

_Chapter whereby one Saileth a Ship in the Netherworld._


Oh thou who sailest the ship of Nu over that chine which is void,(1.)
let me sail the ship; let me fasten my tackle(2.) in peace; in peace!
Come, come; Fleet one, Fleet one! Let me come to see my father Osiris.

Oh thou who art veiled, let me enjoy happiness.

Oh thou who art clouded, but manful, and who sailest round over that
chine of Âpepi; thou of firm head and steadfast breast when coming forth
from the fiery blows: Oh thou who art at the ship, let me sail the ship,
let me fasten my tackle and come forth.

This place is empty, into which the starry ones fall down headlong upon
their faces,(3.) and find not aught whereby they can raise themselves
up.

Narrow is the path as the tongue of Rā.(4.)

[_The Patrol who goeth round, and who piloteth the Double Earth_; Seb
abideth stably by means of their rudders: _the divine Form which
revealeth the Solar Orb_: and _He who presideth over the Red ones_.(5.)]

Let me be brought in as a distressed mariner, and let my Soul come to
me, which is my brother, and go to that place which thou knowest.

_“Let me be told my name,” say_,

1. _The Mooring post._ “Lord of the Double-Earth in the Shrine” is thy
name.

2. _The Blade of the Rudder._ “Leg of Apis ” is thy name.

3. _The Hawser._ “The Side-Lock which Anubis fastens on to the swathing
work” is thy name.

4. _The Stern or Stem Posts._ “The two columns of the Netherworld” is
thy name.

5. _The Hold._ “Akar” is thy name.

6. _The Mast._ “Bearer of the Great one whilst she passeth” is thy name.

7. _The Keel._ “Backbone of Apuat” is thy name.

8. _The Mast-head._ “Throat of Emsta” is thy name.

9. _The Sail._ “Nut” is thy name.

10. _The Leathers._(6.) “Made of the hide of Mnevis, which Sutu hath
scorched,” is thy name.

11. _The Oars._ “Fingers of the elder” is your name.

12. _The Bracement._ “Hand of Isis, stanching the blood of the Eye of
Horus,” is thy name.

13. _The Ribs._ “Emsta, Hapi, Tuamautef, Kebehsenuf, He who taketh
captive, He who taketh by force, He who seeth his Father, and He who
maketh himself,” are your names.

14. _The Look-out_:(7.) “Master of the Grounds”(8.) is thy name.

15. _The Tiller_:(9.) “Merit”(10.) is thy name.

16. _The Rudder_: “The Umpire, beaming forth from the water,” is thy
name.

17. _The Hull_: “The Leg of Hathor, which Rā wounded, on his lifting her
into the Sektit Boat,” is thy name.

18. _The Boatman_: “Off” is thy name.

19. _The Breeze_, since thou art conveyed by me: “The Northern Breeze
proceeding from Tmu to the Nose of Chent-Amenta” is thy name.

20. _The Stream_, since thou sailest upon me: “Their Mirror” is thy
name.

21. _The Shallow_:(11.) “Destroyer of the large-handed at the place of
purification” is thy name.

22. _The Land_, since thou walkest upon me: “The Tip of Heaven, the
Coming forth from the swathings in the Garden of Aarru, and the Coming
forth in Exultation,” is thy name.

_To be said before them._

Hail to you, Fair in Form, Lord of issues, who are springing up for
ever, and whose double goal is eternity: turn to me your hands, give to
me food and offerings for my mouth; let me eat the _Bat_-bread, the
_Shensu_-cake and the _Kefen_-cake: let my place be in the great hall in
presence of the mighty god.

I know that mighty god to whose nostrils ye present delicacies. Tekmu is
his name: and whether he, whose name is Tekmu, turneth from the East or
advanceth to the West, let his course be my course.

Let me not be stopped at the Meskat; let not the Sebau have mastery over
my limbs.

I have bread in Pu and beer in Tepu. Let your largesses of this day be
granted to me; offerings of wheat and barley, offerings of _ānta_ and of
vestments, offerings of oxen, and ducks, which are offerings for life,
health and strength, and also offerings for coming forth by day, in all
the forms in which it pleaseth me to come forth in the Garden of Aarru.

_If this chapter be known he will come forth at the Garden of Aarru;
there will be given to him the_ Shensu-_cake, the measure of drink and
the_ persen-_cake, and fields of wheat and barley of seven cubits (It is
the followers of Horus who reap them), for he eateth of that wheat and
barley, and he is made whole in his limbs through that wheat and barley,
and his limbs spring up even as with those gods. And he cometh forth in
the Garden of Aarru in all the forms in which it pleaseth him to come
forth._

NOTES.

One of the Paris papyri (_Pb_) contains a composition bearing the same
title as chapter 99, and M. Naville has published it as an introduction
to the usual chapter. It is no doubt of very great interest, but it is
the imperfect copy of a quite independent composition, which really has
no claim to be considered a part of our Book of the Dead.

1. See chapter 7, title and notes. _Cf._ the αἰθὴρ ἐρημος of Pindar and
the Latin expressions ‘vacuum per inane,’ ‘per inania.’

2. _Fasten my tackle_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂. _Cf._ Unas, 508 and 639. In
the latter place the ropes are said to be made of ⁂⁂⁂, _palm
leaf_ (?).

3. Comp. chapter 44 on the cavern where the dead fall into the darkness,
‘but the Eye of Horus supporteth me, and Apuat reareth me up.’ There may
be an allusion here, as there is elsewhere, to _shooting stars_. It is
worth noticing that—a group which ought, I think, to be read
⁂⁂⁂⁂ (_Ca_ and _Ac_) has in most papyri the wrong
determinative ⁂ instead of ⁂, which was misunderstood, and that
_Ab_ has even ⁂⁂⁂.

4. A corrupt passage, like the next.

5. The corruption of the whole passage between [ ] will be best
understood on comparing it with the names of “the Rudders of Heaven” as
given in chapter 148; the earliest text of these names being (I think)
the fine tablet in _Denkm._ III, 25 bis _a_. _Three_ out of four of
these names are represented by the phrases here printed in italics. The
rest is incoherent and was certainly not understood by the copyists. I
have followed _Aa_ in my translation.

6. ‘_The Leathers_,’ ⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂⁂, leathern
thongs, or straps, like the Greek τροποί for fastening the oars,

Ἠρτύναντο δ’ ἐρετμὰ τροποῖς ἐν δερματίνοισι: _Odyss._ 4, 782.

See note of Scholiast and _cf._ Aesch. _Pers._, 376.

7. _Look out_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂, _see_ chapter 15, note 9.

8. _Grounds._ ⁂⁂⁂ is, technically, the superficial land
measure corresponding to the _quarter_ of the Egyptian _arura_. The more
general sense of the word (⁂⁂⁂⁂) is land enclosed and
parted out for cultivation.

The very ancient magical text (Unas 302) speaks characterically of
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, the Hippopotamus who maketh
his appearance at the garden (vineyard, field, &c. _Cf._ Psalm lxxx,
13).

In the great inscription published in Mariette’s _Denderah_, IV, 35,
⁂⁂⁂ is used, in a sense like that of the Ἀδώνιδος κῆποι, for
a stone vessel in which seeds were sown for ritual purposes.

9. _Tiller._ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _bait_, or (as it is also written)
_ȧbait_; see chapter 76, note 1.

10. _Merit._ ⁂⁂ (sometimes written with ⁂ and other
determinatives; Bekenranef adds ⁂) is the name of each of the two
divine sisters, Isis and Nephthys, _see_ chapter 37, note; who are
called ⁂⁂⁂ and ⁂⁂. But, at Edfu, Denderah and Philae,
_Merit_ is a synonym of the _Ut’at_, and one of the names of Hathor.

11. _Shallow_; a conjectural meaning for ⁂⁂⁂, which has not
only the determinative of _land_, but those of water, ⁂ and ⁂.
And in some texts it would seem to mean _marsh_, _fen_, _swamp_.

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