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[“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[“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,’