Cigarette Card

Wills’s Cigarettes “Wonders of the Past” Cigarette Card #3 “Model Boat of 4000 Years Ago”

Produced in 1926 by W. D. & H. O. Wills.

Issued by The Imperial Tobacco Company (of Great Britain & Ireland) Ltd.

Text on reverse of card reads:

“Ancient Egyptians believed that magic models of creatures and objects buried in the tomb would in spirit accompany the dead to the Other-world and there act as servants, equipment, furniture, etc. These were called Ushabtis. or “Answerers.” This example was found with many others in the tomb of Mehenkwetre, chancellor of Pharaoh Mentuhotep about 2000 B.C. It represents a Nile sailing boat with covered cabin; the lookout, with sounding line, may be seen in the bows, and the steersman and steering-oar in the stern.”