WOMEN IN ARCHAEOLOGY 327 



race. So taken aback was the Gallic opponent of feminisms 

 that he could but exclaim: "Diable! they order things 

 differently in Italy from what we do in la belle France." 



Considering their attainments and achievements, the two 

 women who occupy the highest place as archaeologists in 

 the English-speaking world are Mrs. Agnes Smith Lewis 

 and Margaret Dunlop Gibson. They are the twin daugh- 

 ters of the Rev. John Smith, an English clergyman, and 

 have long enjoyed an enviable reputation among Scriptural 

 scholars and Orientalists. 



During their youth they had the advantage of instruc- 

 tion under the best masters, and, among other things, 

 acquired a wide knowledge of the modern and classical 

 languages. Subsequent study and frequent visits to Greece 

 and the Orient made them proficient in modern Greek, 

 Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac. Becoming interested in the 

 search for ancient manuscripts, they resolved to make the 

 long and arduous journey to the Greek convent of St. 

 Catherine on Mt. Sinai. 



In the latter part of January, 1892, these two brave and 

 enterprising women left Suez for their destination in the 

 heart of the Arabian desert. They were accompanied only 

 by their dragoman and Bedouin servants. Eleven camels 

 carried the two travelers, their baggage, tents and pro- 

 visions for fifty days. They had laid in supplies not only 

 for the two or three weeks they were to spend on the way 

 to and from Sinai, but also for the month they expected 

 to remain at the Convent of St. Catherine. 



Arriving at the end of their journey, they were most 

 cordially received by the monks, who afforded them every 

 facility for examining the treasures of their unique and 

 venerable library. They immediately set to work, and 

 before they left the room in which the manuscripts were 

 preserved they had made one of the most remarkable finds 

 of the century. For, in closely inspecting a dirty, for- 

 bidding old manuscript whose leaves had probably not 



