The Egyptian Year. 199 



to give information to a parliamentary committee. 

 He travelled faster than we did, and when we 

 arrived at Newcastle he was waiting to take us to 

 his house, where we were hospitably received by 

 Mrs. Sopwith. His conversation was highly in- 

 teresting, and to him I was indebted for much 

 information on mining generally, and on the mineral 

 wealth of Great Britain, while writing on Physical 

 Geography. Many years after he and Mrs. Sopwith 

 came and saw me at Naples, which gave me much 

 pleasure. He was unlike any other traveller I 

 ever met with, so profound and original were his 

 observations on all he saw. 



# * # 



On coming home I found that I had made an 

 error in the first edition of the " Physical Sciences," in 

 giving 365 days 6 hours as the length of the civil 

 year of the ancient Egyptians. My friend Mr. 

 Hallam, the historian, wrote to me, proving from 

 history and epochs of the chronology of the ancient 

 Egyptians, that their civil year was only 365 days. 

 I was grateful to that great and amiable man for 

 copies of all his works while he was alive, and I am 

 obliged to his daughter for an excellent likeness of 

 him, now that he is no more. 



