EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES. 595 



bas-relief. I almost regretted that I did not follow the plan of Mariette 

 and cover the recently discovered monuments with sand, to protect 

 them against the depredations of the fellahin or of certain visitors. 



During the same excavations I examined numerous pits of different 

 epochs. They have furnished many objects for the galleries of the 

 Museum of Grizeh. 



To the west of the pyramid, on the edge of the desert, there is a 

 singular construction, of which, up to the present, no one had taken 

 notice. Buried under the sand, it presented the aspect of a large rec- 

 tangle, with the sides marked by a slight elevation of the soil. This 

 inclosure, formed of four walls parallel throughout, measures 055 meters 

 in length and 400 meters in breadth. A series of borings enabled me 

 to recognize its nature and exact dimensions. 



The interior shows no trace of a monument and no vestige of habita- 

 tion ; the virgin soil covers almost the entire surface. Some pits, found 

 empty, were the only results of several hundred drillings executed in 

 an area of about 26 hectares. Judged by the construction of the sur- 

 rounding wall, this monument belongs to the earliest time of the 

 Egpytian dynasties. Yet, although we know its epoch approximately, 

 we have no facts as to its use and any conjecture is possible. 



As I have already remarked, this large inclosure never contained 

 constructions or habitations; it was no doubt built for some other pur- 

 pose, and I am of the opinion that it bounded a surface occupied by 

 immense subterranean structures. The examination of the entrance, 

 however, will involve great difficulty and considerable expense. 



Although the necropolis of Saqqarah has been for many centuries 

 exploited for mummies, and during the last hundred years many times 

 explored from the scientific point of view, yet the last word has by no 

 means been spoken about it. In one year it has furnished documents of 

 inestimable value and its sands still hide many scientific treasures. I 

 have begun a map of this vast necropolis on a scale of 1 : 1250, a work 

 which will occupy several years. 



Dahchour. — During the summer of 1893, although I was detained in 

 the desert by excavations in the necropolis of Saqqarah, I had the 

 leisure to carefully study the environs, and, in taking up a map of the 

 entire plateau, I examined most minutely the different regions of this 

 vast necropolis, which extends without interruption from the pyramids 

 of Abou-Sir to those of Menchiyeh. 



This plateau is situated at a mean altitude of 35 meters above the 

 valley of the Nile. It incloses several groups of sepulchers, of which 

 only the most important, that called Saqqarah, has been the object of 

 profound scientific research. 



To the south the necropolis is terminated by the plateaus of Dah- 

 chour and Menchiyeh, where 4 large pyramids rise, 2 of stone and 2 of 

 brick. Here and there masses of white stone proclaim the existence of 

 ruins buried under the soil, but in most cases there was to be seen only 



