BARRAGE AT ASSIUT, FROM ABOVE PROPYLON OF THE TEMPLE AT DENDERA CHRONOLOGICAL PLAN OF KARNAK TEMPLE IN THE TEMPLE OF AMMON, KARNAK HYPOSTYLE HALL, KARNAK GRAND COLONNADE, LUXOR PORTRAIT STATUE OF RAMESES II, LUXOR VALLEY OF THE TOMBS, THEBES TERRACED TEMPLE OF HATASU, FROM ABOVE THE RAMESSEUM, THEBES. COLOSSI OF "MEMNON" BACKSHEESH BOYS AT ESNEH FAÇADE OF TEMPLE AT EDFÛ STONE FALCON AT PORTAL, EDFÛ TEMPLE AT KOM OMBO SCULPTURED RELIEF, KOM OMBO "BED OF PHARAOH," PHILAE IN THE TEMPLE OF SETI, ABYDOS RELIEF, "SETI AT WORSHIP," ABYDOS MAP OF EGYPT SHOWING RIVER DISTANCES OWAHEEN-the word, by the way, is Arabic SOW and plural — is the opprobrious term by which tourists are designated in the land of Egypt. I suspect I have taken liberties in the matter of its spelling, but that is the constitutional right, apparently, of all such as write of things Egyptian. Therefore it seems to require no apology. But the fact may serve to call attention at the outset to the great and first difficulty that greets one on the threshold of a work like this, namely, that of deciding upon any definite system of transliterating Egyptian names and other needful terms; and also to the second difficulty, which is like unto it, that of adhering to the system once it has been adopted. A most casual examination of a very few of the existing books, whether historical or archæological, will suffice to reveal the hopelessness of the case. What to one Egyptologist is "Cheops," to another is "Khufu." What one prefers to spell "Hatasu" appeals to another in the more imposing form of "Hatshepsowet." Who shall decide between "Assouan," "Assuan," and "Aswan"? How determine which is the more desirable, "Amenôphis," or "Amenhôtep"? These be but a few of the perplexing instances wherein rival scholars differ in their transcriptions from an ancient language, essentially obscure at best, and possessed of syllabic signs and symbols rather than individual letters. The results are chaotic, and the writer is tempted to consult his own preferences regardless alike of logic and of what others, whether experts or laymen, are going to think of it. The most one may demand in fairness of any author is that at least he stick manfully to one spelling of a given word after once committing himself thereto, a thing, alas, which many a learned Egyptologist contemptuously refuses to do. - For the purposes of this book, therefore, I propose to adopt whatever spellings of names may seem most convenient to the needs of other "sowaheen" visiting Egypt for the first time in the same case with myself; to wit, unlearned in the archæology of the |