is thus exactly under the upper chamber. The sarcophagus, rectangular in shape, is usually made of limestone, and rests in a corner of the chamber; at Sakkârah they are found uninscribed. When the mummy had been laid in the sarcophagus, and the other arrangements completed, the end of the passage near the shaft leading to the sarcophagus chamber was walled up, the shaft was filled with stones, earth, and sand, and the friends of the deceased might reasonably hope that he would rest there for ever. When M. Mariette found a maṣṭaba without inscriptions he rarely excavated it entirely. He found three belonging to one of the first three dynasties; fortythree of the IVth dynasty; sixty-one of the Vth dynasty; twenty-three of the VIth dynasty; and nine of doubtful date. The Egyptians called the tomb "the house of eternity,", pa t'etta.

MARIETTE'S HOUSE.

This house was the headquarters of M. Mariette and his staff when employed in making excavations in the Necropolis of Sakkârah. It is not easy to properly estimate the value to science of the work of this distinguished man. It is true that fortune gave him the opportunity of excavating some of the most magnificent of the buildings of the Pharaohs of all periods, and of hundreds of ancient towns; nevertheless it is equally true that his energy and marvellous power of work enabled him to use to the fullest extent the means for advancing the science of Egyptology which had been put in his hands. It is to be hoped that his house will be preserved on its present site as a remembrance of a great man who did a great work.

The TOMB OF PTAH-HETEP, a priest who lived during the Vth century, is a short distance from Mariette's house, and well worthy of more than one visit.

THE PYRAMIDS OF DAHSHûr.

These pyramids, four of stone and two of brick, lie about three and a half miles to the south of the Maṣṭabat el-Far'ûn, or Pyramid of Unas. The largest stone pyramid is about 326 feet high, and the length of each side at the base is about 700 feet; beneath it are three subterranean chambers. The second stone pyramid is about 321 feet high, and the length of its sides at the base is 620 feet; it is usually called the "Blunted Pyramid," because the lowest parts of its sides are built at one angle, and the completing parts at another. The larger of the two brick pyramids is about 90 feet high, and the length of the sides at the base is about 350 feet; the smaller is about 156 feet high, and the length of its sides at the base is about 343 feet.

THE QUARRIES OF MA'ȘARA AND ȚURRA.

These quarries have supplied excellent stone for building purposes for six thousand years at least. During the Ancient Empire the architects of the pyramids made their quarrymen tunnel into the mountains for hundreds of yards until they found a bed of stone suitable for their work, and traces of their excavations are plainly visible to-day. The Egyptians called the Turra quarry

Re-au, or Ta-re-au, from which the Arabic name Ṭurra is probably derived. An inscription in one of the chambers tells us that during the reign of Amenophis III. a new part of the quarry was opened. Unå, an officer who lived in the reign of Pepi I., was sent to Turra by this king to bring back a white limestone sarcophagus with its cover, libation stone, etc., etc.

THE PYRAMID OF MEDÛM.

This pyramid, called by the Arabs El Haram el-Kaddab, or "the False Pyramid," is probably so named because it is

unlike any of the other pyramids known to them; it is said

to have been built by Seneferu (!), the first

king of the IVth dynasty, but there is little evidence for this statement. The pyramid is about 115 feet high, and consists of three stages: the first is 70, the second 20, and the third about 25 feet high. The stone for this building was brought from the Mokaṭṭam hills, but it was never finished; as in all other pyramids, the entrance is on the north side. When opened in modern times the sarcophagus chamber was found empty, and it would seem that this pyramid had been entered and rifled in ancient days. On the north of this pyramid are a number of maṣṭabas in which 'royal relatives' of Seneferu are buried; the most interesting of these are those of Nefermat, one of his feudal chiefs

erpā ḥā), and of Atet his widow. The sculptures and general style of the work are similar to those found in the mastabas of Sakkârah.

WASTA.

At Wasṭa, a town 55 miles from Cairo, is the railway junction for the Fayyûm. The line from Wasta runs westwards, and its terminus is at Medînet el-Fayyûm, a large Egyptian town situated a little distance from the site of Arsinoë in the Heptanomis,* called Crocodilopolis† by the Greeks, because the crocodile was here worshipped. The Egyptians called the Fayyûm Ta-she "the lake

*

7000

Heptanomis, or Middle Egypt, was the district which separated the Thebaïd from the Delta; the names of the seven nomes were Meraphites, Heracleopolites, Crocodilopolites or Arsinoites, Aphroditopolites, Oxyrhynchites, Cynopolites, and Hermopolites. The greater and lesser Oases were always reckoned parts of the Heptanomis.

+ In Egyptian, Neter het Sebek.

district," and the name Fayyûm is the Arabic form of the Coptic prou, "the water." The Fayyûm district has an area of about 850 square miles, and is watered by a branch of the Nile called the Baḥr-Yûsuf, which flows into it through the Libyan mountains. On the west of it lies the Birket elKurûn. This now fertile land is thought to have been reclaimed from the desert by Amenemḥāt III., a king of the XIIth dynasty. The Birket el-Kurûn was formerly thought to have been a part of Lake Moeris,† but more modern travellers place both it and the Labyrinth to the east of the Fayyûm district. The Baḥr-Yûsuf is said by some to have been excavated under the direction of the patriarch Joseph, but there is no satisfactory evidence for this theory; strictly speaking it is an arm of the Nile, which has always needed cleaning out from time to time, and the Yûsuf, or Joseph, after whom it is named, was probably one of the Muḥammadan rulers of Egypt. Herodotus says‡ of Lake Moeris, "The water in this lake does not spring from the soil, for these parts are excessively dry, but it is conveyed through a channel from the Nile, and for six months it flows into the lake, and six months out again into the Nile. And during the six months that it flows out it yields a talent of silver (£240) every day to the king's treasury from the fish ; but when the water is flowing into it, twenty minæ (£80).” The Labyrinth§ stood on the bank of Lake Moeris, and a

§ "Yet the labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids. For it has twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite each other, six facing the north, and six the south, contiguous to one another; and the same exterior wall encloses them. It contains two kinds of rooms,

number of its ruined chambers are still visible. During the years 1890, 1891 Mr. Petrie carried out some interesting excavations at Hawâra, Biyahmu, El-lâhûn, Mêdûm and other sites in the Fayyûm. The funds for the purpose were most generously provided by Mr. Jesse Haworth and Mr. Martyn Kennard.

Beni Suêf, 73 miles from Cairo, is the capital of the province bearing the same name, and is governed by a Mudîr. In ancient days it was famous for its textile fabrics, and supplied Aḥmîm and other weaving cities of Upper Egypt with flax. A main road led from this town to the Fayyûm.

some under ground and some above ground over them, to the number of three thousand, fifteen hundred of each. The rooms above ground I myself went through, and saw, and relate from personal inspection. But the underground rooms I only know from report; for the Egyptians who have charge of the building would on no account show me them, saying, that there were the sepulchres of the kings who originally built this labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles. I can therefore only relate what I have learnt by hearsay concerning the lower rooms; but the upper ones, which surpass all human works, I myself saw; for the passage through the corridors, and the windings through the courts, from their great variety, presented a thousand occasions of wonder as I passed from a court to the rooms, and from the rooms to the hall, and to the other corridors from the halls, and to other courts from the rooms. The roofs of all these are of stone, as also are the walls; but the walls are full of sculptured figures. Each court is surrounded with a colonnade of white stone, closely fitted. And adjoining the extremity of the labyrinth is a pyramid, forty orgyæ (about 240 feet) in height, on which large figures are carved, and a way to it has been made under ground." Herodotus, Bk. II., 148 (Cary's translation).