OPHIR AND PUNT

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Under the VIth Dynasty regular communication with Punt seems to have been maintained overland by way of the Upper Nile Valley and the adjacent countries of the Negroes, for both Ba-ur-Teṭṭu, an officer of King

was very probably the mines of Ophir one thousand years before "Christ becomes the most recent 'diggings' of the British South "Africa Company, in the reign of Queen Victoria" (p. 118). Statements of this kind may suit a mining company's prospectus very well, but when set out as archaeological facts they can only be described as incorrect and misleading. In The Times of October 23rd, 1901, appeared the following letter from Mr. Carl Peters on "Ophir and Punt":

SIR,--Since writing to you in August on the subject of my researches regarding the Punt question I have received, through the kindness of Mr. Fairbridge in Umtali, tracings of three newlydiscovered Bushmen paintings in Eastern Mashonaland. These paintings, which I shall be pleased to show to any scholar interested in these matters, show distinctly the influence of Egyptian art. The head-dresses in one of them are absolutely identical with paintings on Egyptian hieroglyphic representations. I see from the researches of the late Ed. Glaser on the Punt question that he, without knowing my discoveries of this year, was, already in 1899, of opinion that Mashonaland was a part of the ancient Egyptian country "Poen-at" or "Punt." Glaser brings forward as evidence for his theory the name Ras-Hafûn ("Ha" being mahritic prefix; "Fûn" being identical with "Phoun" or "Punt"). I beg to add to this philological evidence that the repeated appearance of the name Pun-gwe" in East and South Africa (for instance, the Pungwe river, coming from Manicaland and with its mouth at Beira) leads us to the same conclusion. I, therefore, think that even Professor Keane will now be convinced that there is some conclusive evidence for the theory that the ancient Egyptians got their Punt gold from South Africa. The representation of the Punt expedition under the Queen Hat-Shepsut (XVIIIth Dynasty, B.C. 1516-1481) in the temple of Deir-el-Bahri proves that the ancient Egyptian ships were stronger than the modern Arabic dhows, and, therefore, absolutely fit to cross the

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THE LAND OF THE PYGMIES

Assa, and Her-khuf,' in the time of Pepi II., made expeditions thither; and it is clear that the land of the Negroes on the south was bounded by the land of the pygmies, specimens of whom were taken from time to time to Pharaoh's court at Memphis.

The general advance in civilization in the period of the IVth, Vth, and VIth Dynasties is marked by considerable progress in the use of metals; the Egyptians

Indian Ocean. That Punt was an African and not an Asiatic district is proved by the single fact that giraffes are among the articles of the return freight. It is proved, therefore, by philological evidence that this country Punt reached further south than Cape Guardafui, and by zoological evidence that it was an African district. Now we find in South Africa, between the Zambesi and Sabi, the grand relics of ancient gold-mining. Copper is mentioned as one of the products of the Punt expeditions. I have discovered a chain of ancient copper workings along the Sabi river this year. Can any scholar who, like Professor Flinders Petrie, locates Punt in Somaliland, bring forward any similar evidence? Therefore I am of opinion that I can now prove that the ancient Egyptians as well as the Jews of King Solomon's period got their gold mainly from South Africa, that Punt and Afur (Hebrew, Ophir) are the same country-East Africa from Cape Guardafui down to the mouth of the Sabi. South Africa, therefore, was the Eldorado of the most ancient nations of history.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

CARL PETERS.

The whole question of the position of Punt has been fully discussed by MM. Maspero and Naville, whose works on the subject have been already mentioned, but it is important to state that no evidence exists which would place Punt further south than the Elephant river on the East coast of Africa, and that all the Egyptological evidence at present available contradicts Mr. Peters' assertion that the Egyptians "got their gold mainly from South Africa."

1 Iler-khuf describes Punt as the "land of the spirits or ghosts."

THE USE OF METALS

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of the first three dynasties used copper and flint indiscriminately, but the Egyptians of the IVth Dynasty employed chiefly tools made of bronze. Flint was still used largely in making teeth for sickles, knives, etc., and it is not until nearly the end of the Middle Empire, about B.C. 2000,

is reached that its use was confined to the making of knives, etc., employed for ceremonial purposes. But it would be wrong to assert that at this period the Egyptians were living in the "Bronze Age" of their country, for iron was certainly known to and used by them in the centuries which we are discussing, i.e., from about B.C. 3800 to 3000. Iron objects of the Ancient Empire are exceedingly rare, it is true, but the word for iron is met with in the Pyramid Texts of Unàs, and paintings of the time of the Ancient Empire are known in which weapons, tools, etc., are painted blue or black, i.e., the colour by which iron is indicated. In face

136

BRONZE STATUE OF PEPI I.

of these facts it is hazardous to declare, as has been done, that iron was not known to the Egyptians before B.C. 1000. In the most primitive graves of the "New Race" period we find flint implements only in use, and Egypt was then in its Neolithic Age; at the end of the predynastic period we find that copper has been introduced, and we may fairly assume that the knowledge of this metal and the working of it were brought into Egypt by the people who are generally known as the "Followers of Horus." The art of making bronze was introduced into Egypt very soon after, but whether it was brought from Babylonia or not cannot at present be decided; it is, however, certain that the Egyptians of the VIth Dynasty were very skilful in manipulating the metal, a fact which is proved by the large bronze statue of Pepi I., the remains of which were found by Mr. Quibell at Hierakonpolis. Iron was certainly known to the Egyptians as early as the Vth Dynasty, and from the fact that iron plays a great part in ancient Egyptian myths, it is probable that it was known by them at a far earlier period. Thus the firmament of heaven is described as a rectangular iron plate, each corner of which was supported by a pillar, and the throne of the supreme god is made of iron ornamented with the faces of lions and with feet in the

The whole subject has been exhaustively discussed by Prof. Piehl in Ymer, Stockholm, 1888, p. 94 ff. (Bronsålder i Egypten ?), and the gist of his arguments will be found in H. R. Hall, Oldest Civilization of Greece, p. 198, note 2.

IRON IN EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

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form of the hoofs of bulls. It is perhaps hardly neces

nothing else but "iron," for the form "baa en-pet " i.e.,

The Egyptian official Ka-Tep and his wife Hetepet-hers. IVth Dynasty. British Museum, No. 1181.

"baa of heaven," is the original of the Coptic benipe, "iron"; "baa en-pet," then, means meteoric iron. The remains of the buildings which can be certainly

1 See Recueil de Travaux, tom. vii. p. 154 (11. 309, 310).