The Treasury of
Ancient Egypt

Miscellaneous Chapters on Ancient
Egyptian History and Archæology

BY

ARTHUR E. P. B. WEIGALL

INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF UPPER EGYPT, DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES

AUTHOR OF 'TRAVELS IN THE UPPER EGYPTIAN DESERTS,' 'THE LIFE AND
TIMES OF AKHNATON, PHARAOH OF EGYPT,' 'A GUIDE TO THE
ANTIQUITIES OF UPPER EGYPT,' ETC., ETC.

RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1912

TO

ALAN H. GARDINER, ESQ.,

M.A., D.LITT.

LAYCOCK STUDENT OF EGYPTOLOGY AT WORCESTER
COLLEGE, OXFORD,

THIS BOOK,

WHICH WILL RECALL SOME SUMMER NIGHTS UPON
THE THEBAN HILLS,

IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

No person who has travelled in Egypt will requireto be told that it is a country in which a considerableamount of waiting and waste of time has tobe endured. One makes an excursion by train tosee some ruins, and, upon returning to the station,the train is found to be late, and an hour or morehas to be dawdled away. Crossing the Nile in arowing-boat the sailors contrive in one way oranother to prolong the journey to a length of halfan hour or more. The excursion steamer will runupon a sandbank, and will there remain fast for apart of the day.

The resident official, travelling from place toplace, spends a great deal of time seated in railwaystations or on the banks of the Nile, waiting forhis train or his boat to arrive; and he has, therefore,a great deal of time for thinking. I often tryto fill in these dreary periods by jotting down afew notes on some matter which has recently beendiscussed, or registering and elaborating argumentswhich have chanced lately to come into thethoughts. These notes are shaped and "writtenup" when next there is a spare hour, and a fewbooks to refer to; and ultimately they take theform of articles or papers, some of which findtheir way into print.

This volume contains twelve chapters, writtenat various times and in various places, eachdealing with some subject drawn from the greattreasury of Ancient Egypt. Some of the chaptershave appeared as articles in magazines.Chapters iv., v., and viii. were published in'Blackwood's Magazine'; chapter vii. in 'Putnam'sMagazine' and the 'Pall Mall Magazine';and chapter ix. in the 'Century Magazine.' Ihave to thank the editors for allowing me to reprintthem here. The remaining seven chaptershave been written specially for this volume.

Luxor, Upper Egypt,
         November 1910.