CLASSICAL ARCHEOLOGY 217 



Spain, in general, may be left to explore the remains of antiquity 

 within their own borders, and the feeling is general that Algiers 

 and Tunis are also the proper field of France, which is officially 

 doing much for their exploration, and doing this far better than 

 a foreign expedition, because of the convenient cooperation of 

 civil and military forces in a region which is somewhat unsettled. 

 Danish archeologists desired three years ago to conduct excavations 

 in the Cyrenaica, which was only superficially explored by the 

 English — Smith and Porcher — forty years ago ; but conditions were 

 found to be unfavorable, having changed for the worse since 1865, 

 when they were, to say the least, extremely difficult. I have heard 

 of plans made by those who are interested in Roman archeology 

 for excavations on the sites of Roman towns in Africa, but I have 

 no exact knowledge of them. 



Egypt. — In Egypt the work of exploration is being done very well, 

 and with sufficient rapidity, chiefly by two expeditions — one from 

 America, with funds supplied by Mrs. Hearst, of California, well di- 

 rected by Dr. Reisner, who is assisted by Mr. Lythagce, and the other 

 that of the Egypt Exploration Fund, which receives about half its 

 support from America. This Egypt Exploration Fund has had, for 

 more than a score of years, Dr. Flinders Petrie as the chief director 

 of its work, and about fourteen years ago it instituted a much needed 

 Archeological Survey of Egypt, which has published twelve annual 

 volumes by Newberry, Griffiths, and Davies ; and half a dozen years 

 ago the fund established a Grseco-Roman branch which has pub- 

 lished five volumes of high importance, and is said to have on hand 

 a mass of fragments of papyri which weighs tons rather than pounds. 

 Dr. Petrie in the course of the last twenty two years has done more 

 than any one else ever did in the field for the excavation of Egyp- 

 tian monuments. In addition to these two principal expeditions, 

 the Germans are exploring in a limited way, with an annual appro- 

 priation of about $2,500 ; the French have recently dug a little with 

 or through Arab explorers, but with comparatively unimportant 

 results ; and for the next five years the University of Chicago plans 

 to have a small expedition in Egypt, under the direction of Pro- 

 fessor Breasted. If Alexandria, a Greek city on Egyptian soil, is 

 considered apart, as it well may be, we may note that a commission 

 of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, after a careful 

 examination, reports that excavations there would be very expen- 

 sive, and do not promise to be remunerative. 



Egypt is not to prove an inexhaustible mine of antiquities, as 

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