170 Mr. Robert Mond [May 22, 



posterity to preserve, to the Ijest of our ability, these relics which 

 none of our endeavours will ever enable us to replace. 



It must be a source of great satisfaction to all those who have 

 a real interest in the advancement of knowledge that this duty is 

 becoming rapidly and more fully recognized. Those of us who have 

 had an opportunity of observing the meticulous care with which the 

 present excavations are being conducted in Rome and Pompeii, and the 

 magnificent work done by the Antiquities Department of the Egyptian 

 Oovernment by Mr. Legrain, Barsanti, and others under the guidance 

 of Sir Gaston Maspero, and by the Egypt Exploration Fund by 

 Professor Naville and his band of able and enthusiastic workers, in 

 excavating and restoring the great temples to which they have devoted 

 their attention, will be encouraged and inspired by the results which 

 they have obtained. 



Our knowledge of the Theban Necropolis dates from Napoleon's 

 great mission to Egypt, and their contents have been described by 

 Champollion, Mariette, Prisse d'Avenne, Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, 

 Rhind, Lepsius, De Morgan, and the members of the French Archaeo- 

 logical Mission, besides a whole host of other indefatigable workers. 

 We owe it to Professor Newberry that the first steps were taken for 

 the preservation of these tombs. It is now some thirteen years since I 

 began collaborating with him, and when, in consequence of other 

 duties, he had to relinquish this work, he generously transferred his 

 concessions to me. My own excavations covered a period of three 

 winters, and subsequently, when other duties prevented my continuing 

 the work personally, Messrs. Howard Carter and Weigall, the succes- 

 sive Inspectors of Antiquities of Upper Egypt, continued the task 

 v\ith the assistance of myself and of otners, especially Prince Djemil 

 Pasha Toussoum, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and a 

 number of the native inhabitants of the town of Luxor, with the 

 greatest self-devotion and enthusiasm. 



During the winter of 1"J09, Mr. Jelf, whom I sent out to assist 

 Mr. Weigall, rendered valuable services, and Dr. Alan Gardiner having 

 become equally imbued with the importance of our task, enthusias- 

 tically supported it with his personal work and money during the 

 last few seasons. 



The monumental topographical catalogue, which it has been my 

 privilege to assist Dr. Gardiner, working in collaboration with Mr. 

 Weigall, to publish, is a record of what has been accomplished. 



They have increased the large number of chapels thus cleared in 

 the last twelve years from some 30 to 2,50, and their exposure to the 

 action of light and attrition due to frequent visits, rendered a well- 

 considered and continuous scheme of restoration and preservation 

 a matter of immediate urgency. 



This object, which had been one of my day-dreams for many 

 years, took shape when the opportunity arose which enabled me to 



