the person of the sovereign, except in the case in which a magistrate
requires from them a judicial oath.

[Illustration: 029.jpg THE CUCUPHA-HEADED SCEPTRE.]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the engraving in Prisse
d'Avennes, _Recherches sur les légendes royales et l'époque
du règne de Schai ou Scheraï,_ in the _Revue Archéologique_,
1st series, vol. ii. p. 467. The original is now preserved
in the Bibliothèque Nationale, to which it was presented by
Prisse d'Avennes. It is of glazed earthenware, of very
delicate and careful workmanship.

He is approached, moreover, as a god is approached, with downcast eyes,
and head or back bent; they "sniff the earth" before him, they veil their
faces with both hands to shut out the splendour of his appearance; they
chant a devout form of adoration before submitting to him a petition.
No one is free from this obligation: his ministers themselves, and the
great ones of his kingdom, cannot deliberate with him on matters of
state, without inaugurating the proceeding by a sort of solemn service
in his honour, and reciting to him at length a eulogy of his divinity.
They did not, indeed, openly exalt him above the other gods, but these
were rather too numerous to share heaven among them, whilst he alone
rules over the "Entire Circuit of the Sun," and the whole earth, its
mountains and plains, are in subjection under his sandalled feet.
People, no doubt, might be met with who did not obey him, but these
were rebels, adherents of Sît, "Children of Euin," who, sooner or later,
would be overtaken by punishment.

[Illustration: 030.jpg DIFFERENT POSTURES FOR APPROACHING THE KING]