592 EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



EXCAVATIONS. 



I shall bring to your attention the various places in which excava- 

 tions have been effected within the last two years, following the geo- 

 graphical order, for any other arrangement would be impracticable, 

 since various works were carried on simultaneously. I shall commence 

 with the north of Egypt, and proceed toward the frontiers of Nubia, 

 ascending the river. 



Sa-el-Hagar (September, 1893). — These diggings, at the place where 

 the great discoveries of bronze had been made, have furnished a goodly 

 number of statuettes, some of them of great rarity, among which I may 

 mention a, statuette of Pacht, representing a cat sitting on the shoul- 

 ders of a man. 



Abou-Roaeh (June 15-October 1, 1893). — The work here revealed a 

 vast subterranean structure whose use is as yet unknown, in which 

 were found in the sand a great many statuettes of bronze and enamel, 

 several of them remarkably delicate. These objects represent the rats 

 of Pharoah, animals sacred to the god Nefer-Touin. 



There formerly existed on the plateau of Abou-Roach a number of 

 tombs and some pyramids. These monuments are now destroyed, and 

 up to the present time no other research has been attempted in these 

 regions. 



Gizeli (August, 1892). — During the period of organization of tbe 

 Museum of Gizeh I made some excavations in the neighborhood of the 

 great pyramids. One of these brought to light a limestone sarcoph- 

 agus of a certain Uta, priest of the pyramid of Mycerinus about the 

 end of the fourth dynasty. New excavations (March-April, 1894) led 

 to the discovery of a large pit, the examination of which is not yet 

 concluded. 



Abou-Sir (August-October 1, 1893). — To verify the assertions of 

 Perriug concerning the pyramids of this place, I had the most consid- 

 erable of the three monuments opened. There I found, as the English 

 explorer had asserted, the ruined chambers. At the spot indicated on 

 the chart of Lepsius, under the head of Pyramid No. XVII, diggings 

 carried on by my orders brought up, not the discovery of foundations 

 of a pyramid, but the remains of a vast mastaba, constructed for a 

 certain Ptah-Chepses, a high functionary of King Saboura of the fifth 

 dynasty. This monument, very remarkable for the engraving as well 

 as for the delicacy of its bas-reliefs, was composed of numerous halls, 

 only two of which are in a good state of preservation. A spacious 

 court, ornamented with a colonnade, extended south of the principal 

 building. One of the rooms was supported by two lotus-shaped col- 

 umns, of the purest style, whose capitals, forming a bouquet of the 

 lotus, are the most ancient known. .Five giant statues ornamented 

 the rooms of this mastaba. The place they occupied against the walls 

 or in the naos is readily discernible; their transport is figured on 

 bas-ieliefs on the exterior walls. Finally a graffito traced in hieratic 



