630 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



race is subdued to the type of the country by the effect of climate 

 and surroundings witliin a few centuries. 



Turning now to the purely classical Egyptian work, the prin- 

 cipal discoveries of the last few years have given us new leading 

 examples in every line. The great copper statue of King Pepy, 

 with his son, dates from before 3000 b. c. It is over life size, and 

 entirely wrought in hammered copper, showing a complete mastery 

 in metal work of the highest artistic power. Probably of the same 

 age is a head of a figure of the sacred hawk, wrought hollow in a 

 single mass of hammered gold, weighing over a pound; this again 

 shows work of noble dignity and power. Both of these were found 

 at Ilierakonpolis in 1898, and are now in the Cairo Museum. 



Some centuries later was made the exquisite jewelry found at 

 Dahshur in the graves of three princesses. This is a revelation of 

 the delicacy possible in goldsmith's work. The soldering of the 

 minute parts of the gold is absolutely invisible. The figures of 

 hawks are made up of dozens of microscopic pieces of colored stone 

 — lazuli, turquoise, carnelian — every one cut to the forms of the 

 feathers, and every piece having a tiny cell of soldered gold strip to 

 hold it in place, yet the whole bird only about half an inch high. 

 The finest colored enameling ever made would be child's play com- 

 pared with a piece of this early jewelry. The exquisite grace of 

 form, harmony of coloring, and sense of perfection leave the mind 

 richer by a fresh emotion, after seeing such a new world of skill. 

 Coming down to about 1500 b. c, a large work has been done in the 

 last six years in clearing the temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir 

 el Bahri, on the western side of Thebes. That great ruler had 

 there commemorated the events of her reign, particularly the expe- 

 dition to the south of the Red Sea to obtain the plants of the sacred 

 incense and other valued products. The attention shown to exact 

 figuring of plants and animals makes this valuable as a record of 

 natural history. This clearance has been made by Dr. JSTaville for 

 the English fund. Meanwhile, Franco-Egyptian officials have been 

 clearing out the Temple of Karnak, on the opposite bank, but with 

 disastrous effect. The huge columns, built poorly of small blocks 

 by Rameses IT, stand now below the level of the inundation, and, 

 after removing the earth accumulated around them, the Nile water 

 lias free circulation. This has dissolved the mortar so much that 

 nine of these Titanic columns of the Great Hall fell last year, and 

 three more threaten to follow them. 



The Valley of the Tombs of the Kings has been prohibited 

 ground to foreign explorers for over forty years, although the 

 official department never did any work there. The native plun- 

 derers, however, turned up many years ago the beautiful chair 



