Photo from Egypt Exploration Fund 



DEIR-EI.-BAHARI 



On the left is the great temple of Mentuhotep II of the eleventh dynasty, and on the 

 right the even grander temple of Queen Hatshepsut, built 500 years later (see pages 980 

 and 981). 



1,030,000 acres of tillable ground were 

 left without water supply. In 1907, also 

 a year of low Nile, only 115,756 acres 

 were deprived of water — 10 per cent of 

 that so left 30 years before. The raising 

 of the dam 16^ feet and a correspond- 

 ing rise in the water level of 23 i/io 

 feet doubles the capacity of the dam and 

 adds 1,000,000 acres to the tillable land 

 of the delta; that is, water will be at 

 hand in the summer months, when it is 

 most needed. 



The reclamation of the land, an eco- 

 nomic necessity, has created an emer- 

 gency for the archeologist. Sites of 

 ancient culture are being submerged (see 

 page 1019), and by infiltration the soil 

 beneath is becoming saturated, to the 

 detriment and ruin of priceless treasures 

 yet undiscovered. The rapacity of rob- 

 bers and curio-hunters is fast adding to 

 this waste, though against the latter pre- 

 cautions are availing much. 



REAE KNOWEEDGE ABOUT EGYPT A NEW 

 THING 



Our knowledge of the Egyptians is 

 a recent acquisition. Judging from the 



stories of the Greeks, the reputation of 

 Egypt's wise men for profundity of 

 learning, and possibly from a misconcep- 

 tion of their environment, we had come 

 to regard the Egyptian as ever engaged 

 in battles or triumphal processions, or 

 delving in the mysteries of existence — 

 at all times austere and taciturn. The 

 pyramid of Khufu, massive and awe- 

 inspiring (see page 966) ; the great tem- 

 ple of Karnak, the mightiest colonnaded 

 hall ever erected by human hands — these 

 had stood as the witnesses for ancient 

 Egypt (see pages 992 and 993). 



Pharaoh, noble, and priest we knew. 

 The voice of the common man had not 

 yet been heard. But now both prince 

 and peasant, rich and poor, are made to 

 live again. Erom the sands of Egypt, 

 the dust-heaps and rubbish piles of de- 

 serted cities, from buried temples and 

 forgotten necropoles, new evidence is 

 steadily coming to light. From the 

 towns of the Eayum up the Nile to 

 the Cataracts ancient sites have been 

 explored. Naucratis, Tanis, Dendereh, 

 Deshashe, Ehnasya, El-Mahasna, Teb- 

 tunis, El-Amarna, Deir-el-Bahari, and 



1022 



