CHAPTER CLV.

_Chapter of the Tat of gold._(1.)

Here is thy backbone,(2.) thou still-heart! here is thy spine, thou
still-heart! Put it close to thee. I have given thee the water thou
wantest.(3.) Here it is. I have brought to thee the Tat, in which thy
heart rejoiceth.

_Said on a Tat of gold inlaid into the substance of sycamore-wood, and
dipped into juice of ankhamu. If it is put on the neck of this Chu, he
arrives at the doors of the Tuat, and he comes forth by day, even though
he be silent. The Tat is put in its place on the first day of the year,
as is done to the followers of Osiris._

NOTES.

After the interruption due to Chapters 153 and 154, we revert to the
series inaugurated by 151, the description of the chamber in which the
mummy is deposited, and of the funeral equipment of the deceased, his
amulets and ornaments. The papyrus III, 93 (Pb), of the Louvre, throws
several of these Chapters into one, with the title: _the description of
the hidden things of the Tuat_, and the vignette (Pl. LV) represents
three figures of Chapter 151: the statuette, the torch or flame, and the
Anubis; besides two _Tat_ of different substances, one of them for the
wall, and one to be put on the neck of the deceased, and a buckle.

The vignette of Chapter 155 represents a Tat of gold. The various
versions of the Chapter differ mostly in the rubric. I followed the
papyrus of Nebseni (Aa), filling up the gaps from other texts.

1. The rubric seems to explain that the text refers to a Tat of gold,
which is inlaid into the wood of a mummy-shaped coffin, on the neck, and
which holds fast by means of the sap or gum of a tree or fruit called
_ankhamu_.

2. This shows that the Tat is originally a conventional representation
of a backbone.

3. The juice or gum just mentioned, in which the Tat is dipped.

------------------------------------