Natural History^ 8^c, 455 



pollion's astonishment contained a History of the Campaigns of 

 Sesostris Rhamses^ called also Sethos or Sethosis^ and SesoosiSy 

 giving- accounts the most circumstantial of his conquests, the coun- 

 tries which he traversed, his forces, and details of his army. The 

 manuscript is finished with a declaration of the historian, who, after 

 stating his names and titles, says he wrote in the ninth year of the 

 reign of Sesostris Rhamses, king of kings, a lion in combats, &c. 



M. Champollion has promised, that, on his return from Egypt, 

 he will fix the manuscript on cloth for its future preservation, and 

 give a complete translation. The period of the history is close to 

 the time of Moses ; and apparently the great Sesostris was the 

 son of the king who pursued the Israelites to the borders of the 

 Red Sea ; so that a most important period in ancient history will 

 be elucidated. 



On the same MS. commences another composition, called Praises 

 of the great King Amemnengon. There are only a few leaves of it, 

 and they form the beginning of the history contained in the second 

 roll. This Amemnengon is supposed to have reigned before Sesos- 

 tris, because the author wrote in the ninth year of the reign of the 

 latter. M. Champollion had not time to enter into a particular 

 examination of these rolls. 



The third roll relates to astronomy or astrology, or more likely 

 to both these subjects. It has not been far opened ; but will pro- 

 bably prove of the utmost interest, if, as is expected, it contains 

 any account of the system of the heavens as known to or acknow- 

 ledged by the Egyptians and Chaldeeans, the authors of astrono- 

 mical science. 



A small basaltic figure was purchased with the MSS., and it is 

 supposed found with them. On the shoulders of the figure is 

 written in hieroglyphic characters the name, with the addition of 

 clerk and friend of Sesostris. It did not occur to ascertain, until 

 M. Champollion was gone, whether the name on the figure was 

 the same with any of those mentioned in the rolls as belonging to 

 the historian, or to others. — Bull. Univ., G. x. 200. 



