modern drawing-rooms. The coloured figures of the latter in the tombs of the kings are of extraordinary magnificence. The accompanying engravings will convey some idea of the forms of these sumptuous thrones, but without colour it is impossible to do

them justice. Some are supported by figures of bound captives: others bear a lion of gold or a lion's head on each arm. The back, which curves over with a graceful scroll, is covered with a well-padded cushion of dyed leather, often deep red or blue, with a stamped pattern of stars. A profusion of gilding is usually applied to the lower parts.

The appearance of these regal seats will give us some notion of the gorgeous throne of Solomon.

Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. 1 Kings x. 18-20.

P

There are, it is true, features in this description, which exceed even the Egyptian type in magnificence; but the abundance of gilding, the top rounded behind, the "stays" or arms, and the lions on each side, have their counterparts in these representations, the originals of which may perhaps have been the models on which the throne of the Hebrew monarch was formed.

The wood which was principally used in cabinet work, was the hard, dark, and durable timber of several species of acacia, and in particular the species named gummifera, nilotica, and seyal. The first of these, which is the chief species from which the gum Arabic of commerce is produced, is believed to be the "shittim-wood," which was so largely used in

CUTTING THE SHITTAH-TREE.

the service of the Tabernacle. The fact that the various species of acacia are almost the only trees that grow in the Desert, sufficiently accounts for their use, without supposing, as some have done,

that "shittim wood" was some foreign timber procured at great cost.

In the above engraving, the hewing down of a tree of this species is represented: it is identified by its foliage and by its ramification. Burckhardt informs us that the pods of this tree, which are long and curved, as well as its tender shoots, serve as fodder to the camels; and in this picture we see that a goat-herd has brought his flock to feed on the foliage of the fallen tree. The next process is to saw the wood thus obtained into planks and slabs. The log was set upright between two posts set firmly in the ground, to which it was lashed by cords or fastened with pins, when it was divided longitudinally by a hand-saw of bronze. In the original picture several other workmen are hewing with the curved adze the staves of spears.

CHAIR-MAKERS.

The above scene it is impossible to misunderstand. One of the workmen is polishing the leg of a chair, with something which he holds in his fingers, perhaps a stone, or a composition of sand and gum. Before him is the hewing-block of rough timber, against

which another leg is leaning; the mortises of this and of the two that stand against the wall are carefully shewn. On the block and on the floor lie two of the adzes, the blades of which are fastened to the helves with thongs; a square is also shewn.

The other, having before him the frame of a chair, is engaged in drilling the holes around the seat, for the insertion of leathern thongs, which were crossed and interlaced in the same manner and for the same purpose as the strips of cane in our light parlour chairs. The drill and bow are exactly the same in principle with that in present use. The socket which he holds in his left hand is the hard nut of the Theban palm.

We have already alluded to the extensive use of imitations of costly articles to bring them within the reach of the less opulent. In manufactures of wood, this is done among us in two modes, staining or graining the surface in imitation of the costlier material, or veneering, that is affixing a thin layer of the latter by glue to a body of common wood. Both of these plans were in operation in Ancient Egypt; the paintings represent furniture, which it is very evident was artificially "grained; "* and the scene which we here copy, displays the process of veneering by means of glued slabs. The upper workman is applying a plank of dark red wood, like mahogany, to a block of common yellow timber of the

* “The colours were usually applied on a thin coating of stucco, laid smoothly upon the previously prepared wood, and the various knots and grains painted upon this ground indicated the quality of the wood they intended to counterfeit." Wilk. iii. 169,

E

same character and quality as the hewing-block into which he has struck his adze. Below a man applies glue with a brush to a thin plank for a simi

VENEERING.

lar purpose; the glue-pot is boiling on the fire, and between it and the workman lies a fragment of a cake of glue. The work of the kneeling figure is less intelligible; perhaps he is glueing some ornamental bosses on a polished surface of board, or perhaps grinding colour, with a stone muller. The box depicted in the distance, is probably introduced as a