PEEFACE. 
The present work is half taken up with an account of the monuments of San, 
which had been nearly all discovered by Mariette, but of which no connected 
or detailed account has hitherto been written. Such a publication of the 
remains of a city which was only inferior to the other capitals—Thebes and 
Memphis—in the splendour of its sculptures, needs no comment. The other 
half of the account is occupied with the results of the various excavations 
which I carried on, and which yielded us much information on the age of 
many classes of objects, besides furnishing the British Museum with several 
antiquities of types unknown before. 
In laying this memoir before the subscribers, I have endeavoured to hit the 
mean between the lavish style of Government publications, such as seems to 
have become associated with work in Egypt, and on the other hand the 
unpleasantly rough manner which sometimes appears in foreign works. If 
anything more elaborate is wished for in the matter of plates, the only reply 
must be that the money which would be thus spent is really wanted for actual 
work ; the only reason that I regret the need of doing these plates myself 
is that it is impossible, with the many other matters that must be attended 
to, to issue more than a moiety of the inscriptions of San this season. 
The photographs taken during the season 1883-4 are now all in England; 
some of the most important are reproduced in this volume, and many were 
exhibited at the General Meeting at the Royal Institution. Subscribers wishing 
to see the series are requested to communicate with Mr. Murray, 113, Penton- 
ville Road, London, N., from whom a set can be obtained for inspection. 
Copies of any of them may be had at cost price from him. 
I am sorry that nearly a year should have elapsed between the writing 
and publication of this volume, partly due to my absence at Naukratis ; but 
