Chapter 7 (part 7)

It was impossible to remove him from his boat, which was, like himself, eternal, hence its name, "Boat of Millions of Years," and even if it had been possible the difficulty remained either of taking his boat back from the place of sunset to the place Of sunrise, so that it might be ready for him on the following morning when he emerged from the Tuat, or of providing him with a new boat each day. The simplest way was to assume in the Tuat the existence of a river which was in direct communication with the watery mass of the sky on which Ra sailed by day, and to make the Sun-god to enter the Tuat on it. This was the natural way out of the difficulty, for apart from the fact that no other means of transport for the god could be devised, it was consistent with experience that kings, and nobles, and high officials, always travelled through Egypt by water. No animal and no chariot could convey the god through the Tuat, for, even had animals or chariots suitable for the purpose existed, they must have been consumed by the god's fire. We shall see later that there was one division of the Tuat through which the Sun-god could not pass even in his boat, and that he was obliged to leave it and travel on the back of a serpent. p. 96 From the titles of the BOOK AM TUAT, as it is found in the tomb of Seti I., we may gather that the pictures accompanying the texts were supposed to be exact copies of the divisions of the Tuat as they actually existed in AMENTI, i.e., the "hidden place," or the "Other World," and the texts were supposed to give the traveller in the Tuat all the information he could possibly require concerning the "souls, the gods, the shadows, the spirits, the gods of the Tuat, the gates of the Tuat, the hours and their gods, and the gods who praise Ra, and those who carry out his edicts of destruction." The divisions of the Tuat according to this work are:-- Division I. Names --MAATI, and NET-RA. Warder --ARNEBAUI. Hour-goddess --USHEM-HATIU-KHEFTIU-NU-RA. Division II. Name --URNES. Warder --AM-NEBAUI. Hour-goddess --SESHET-MAKET-NEB-S. p. 97 Division III. Name --NET-NEB-UA-KHEPER-AUT. Warder --KHETRA. Hour-goddess --TENT-BAIU. Division IV. Name --ANKHET-KHEPERU. Name of the gate of this Circle --AMENT-SETHAU Hour-goddess --URT-EM-SEKHEMU-S. Division V. Name --AMENT. Name of the gate of this Circle --AHA-NETERU. Hour-goddess --SEKMET-HER-ABT-UAA-S. Division VI. Name --METCHET-NEBT-TUAT. Name of the gate of this City --SEPT-METU. p. 98 Hour-goddess --MESPERIT-AR-AT-MAATU. Division VII. Name --TEPHET-SHETAT. Name of the gate of this City --RUTI-EN-ASAR. Hour-goddess --KHESFET-HAU-HESQETU-NEHA-HRA. Division VIII. Name --TEBAT-NETERU-S. Name of the Gate --AHA-AN-URT-NEF. Hour-goddess --NEBT-USHA. Division IX. Name --BEST-ARU-ANKHET-KHEPERU. Name of the Gate --SA-EM-KEB. 1 p.