EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES. 609 



ing under the direction of our inspector. Considerable blocks of earth 

 have been taken away without any cost to the Service of Antiquities. 

 The complete clearing of these monuments is only a question of time. 



MUSEUMS. 



On my arrival in Egypt there was but one museum, that of Gizeh, 

 situated about 2 kilometers from Cairo, on the left bank of the Kile, 

 and occupying the vast halls of the palace built by the Khedive Ismael 

 Pacha. 



The transport of the antiquities from Boulak to G-izeh had been 

 entirely effected, but all the monuments were far from being exhibited. 

 I at once employed all of my resources for the definite organization of 

 the galleries. In six months 40 new halls were installed, and the empty 

 stone room harbored only fragments unworthy to be placed under the 

 eyes of visitors. 



Into the galleries of the ancient empire a goodly number of colossal 

 steles were brought from Saqqarah, where they had been hidden under 

 the sands since their discovery by Mariette. 



To provide for these expenses I was obliged the first year to slacken 

 a little the work of excavations, or rather to reduce them as much as 

 possible. To meet all these charges I had only the ordinary budget 

 for researches, reduced by 1,500 Egyptian pounds, on my arrival. 



While this organization was being effected I had time to examine 

 attentively the building in which so many treasures were deposited, 

 and I quickly became convinced that it was quite impossible to protect 

 the palace against the dangers of fire. It was then, for the first time, 

 that I gave my official advice to the Egyptian Government on this 

 important question. The danger was real; everyone gave heed, and 

 quite recently (July, 1894) the Council of Ministers voted a sum of 

 150,000 Egyptian pounds for the construction and fitting up of a special 

 building in the city of Cairo. 



The building and arrangement of this museum is placed under inter- 

 national control, so we have reason to hope that the year 1897 will 

 not pass without seeing the Egyptian antiquities protected from every 

 catastrophe. 



For a long time the city of Alexandria, the capital of the Ptolemies, 

 claimed the right to preserve within its walls the vestiges of its ancient 

 grandeur; but administrative difficulties of every kind opposed the 

 realization of this project. Taking up the matter anew, I have solved 

 the problem; to-day a Gmeco-Boman museum collects the Alexandrian 

 antiquities under the direction of the General Service of the Antiquities 

 of Egypt. 



The director of the new museum, M. G. Botti, a very capable arohaB- 

 ologist as well as a good Hellenist, devotes all his activity to the study 

 of the ancient city of the Ptolemies and Bomaus, The museum of Gizeh. 

 sm 96 39 



