14 TWO YEARS IIT THE JUNGLE. 



at a price liiglily satisfactory to both parties. The skin remained 

 upon each skull, dry and hard, and had perfectly protected all 

 parts of the bony structure from injury. Not a bad idea for the 

 preparation of small skulls that are destined to be banged about 

 on camel-back. 



We procured specimens of the polypterus (P. bichir), the spiny- 

 tailed mastigure of the desert ( Uromastix spinipes), one specimen 

 of the Egyptian wild-cat {Felis chaus), and about three camel-loads 

 of petrified wood, fossils of many kinds, blocks of Egyptian granite 

 and oriental alabaster to be sawed up into cabinet specimens. 

 Near the beautiful mosque of Mehemet Ali lay a number of blocks 

 of alabaster like those of which the mosque has been built, " stones 

 which the builders rejected." After the exei'cise of considerable 

 diplomacy. General Stone, the Khedive's Chief-of-Staff, to whom 

 Prof. Ward had letters, obtained the vice-regal permission for us 

 to cart through the gates of the citadel one slab of alabaster for 

 ourselves, and another which he consigned to the care of Prof. 

 Ward for the Smithsonian Institution. General Stone also ob- 

 tained the Khedive's permission for our two mummy coffins and 

 their contents to be exjoorted from the country without let or hin- 

 drance. 



Even at the Pyramids, last of all suitable places for a naturalist, 

 we found specimens valuable to science. The Pyramids are built 

 entirely of nummulitic limestone blocks, and the passages are lined 

 with limestone brought from the Mokattem Hills east of Cairo, 

 eight miles away. This limestone is full of nummulites, little flat 

 echinoderms, which, as the blocks upon the surface slowly disinte- 

 grate through exposure, are set free and roll down to the base of 

 the Pyramids, where they are picked up by the Arabs and sold to 

 travellers. 



Another interesting fossil which we also obtained at the Pyra- 

 mids was a larger echinoderm, Clyjjeaster Ghizaensis, from the 

 limestone (a lower strata than the nummulitic), which is the foun- 

 dation upon which the Pyramids rest. The Ai-abs dig these fossils 

 out of deep holes in the sand. 



As a sort of penance for two delightful weeks in Cairo and vi- 

 cinity, I was exiled to Port Said for a few days to look after our 

 heavy luggage, which had been shipped there, and to watch for an 

 outward steamer. 



Port Said (pronounced Side), named after Said Pasha, under 

 whose patronage the Suez Canal was commenced in 1859, is the 



