and other materials, were worn as amulets, employed in private worship, or attached to the mummies of the dead. The upper row in the Cases contains the larger figures, the next those in bronze, the third those in porcelain, and in the lowest are the larger figures in various materials. Among them may be noticed the following:

Cases 1, 2. Amenra (Jupiter), the principal deity of Thebes; Ra (The Sun), the god worshipped at Heliopolis, or On; Phtah (Vulcan), the divinity of Memphis; the goddess Sekhet or Bast (Bubastis); and Neith (Minerva), the goddess of Sais, whence her worship is supposed to have been carried to Athens. Cases 3-5. Thoth (Mercury), the god of knowledge, and the reputed inventor of writing; the goddess Sothis, or the Dog Star; Osiris, the judge of the dead, his wife Isis, and their son Horus, three divinities who were worshipped throughout Egypt. Case 7. Anubis, the god of Embalming, and Bes, or Typhon, the impersonation of the principle of Evil.

Cases 8-11. Representations of animals sacred to the various divinities, and which were also themselves worshipped, though the reverence paid to some of them varied considerably in different parts of the country. In Cases 8, 9, are quadrupeds, such as the Bull Apis, the jackal of Anubis, the cat of Sekhet or Bast, the cynocephalus, the lion, the goat, &c. In Cases 10, 11, birds, fishes, and reptiles, such as the hawk of Horus, the ibis of Thoth, fishes of various kinds, the crocodiles of Sebak, and the cobra di capello snake, or uræus. There are also sacred emblems, such as those of Life, Stability, &c.

II. CIVIL SECTION.

The remains of Egyptian dress, personal ornaments, and articles of domestic use, show the high civilization and even luxury to which the people had attained.

In Cases 12, 13, are figures of kings and public functionaries, in bronze, ivory, or wood, principally found in tombs. The most remarkable are some finely carved figures of females, and a fine statuette in bronze, inlaid with silver, representing a king.

Cases 14-19 contain household furniture, consisting of wooden headrests, which served as pillows; chairs with plaited cord bottoms; stools, and folding seats; some of them formed of ebony inlaid with ivory. With these is a model of a peasant's house, with granaries, in the court of which is seen a woman making bread; the wig of an Egyptian lady of rank, and the box for holding it; a three-legged table, and other objects of a similar nature.

Cases 20, 21. Articles of dress and appliances for the toilet. Shelf 1. A leather dress, a linen shirt. and a box to hold clothes. Shelf 2. Combs, hair-pins, ointment-vases, and apparatus for painting the eyes

I

with Stibium. Shelves 3, 4. Bronze mirrors, and a collection of shoes and sandals.

Cases 22-32. Vases of various kinds. In Cases 22, 23. Vases made of oriental alabaster (arragonite), some of them inscribed with the names of very early kings, such as Unas of the 5th dynasty, and Nephercheres. There is also a vase, on which is engraved an inscription stating its capacity. Cases 24, 25. Shelf 1. Vessels in alabaster and serpentine. Shelves 2 and 3. Glazed steatite, and porcelain vases: some fragments with the names of kings. Shelf 4. Earthenware of various kinds. Cases 26-29. Earthenware vases, some of them with polychrome painting. Cases 30-32. Vases in red terracotta; one of them in the form of a woman playing on a guitar.

Cases 33-35. On the two upper shelves, bronze vases of various kinds, the most remarkable being buckets, covered with hieroglyphics, probably for offering water in the temples; and the model of a stand with a set of bronze vases upon it: also two fragments of bronze inscribed with the name of Tirhakah, king of Egypt. Shelf 3. Articles of food, such as fruit and grain. On a stand are two trussed ducks and some bread. Shelf 4. Agricultural implements, such as a hoe and sickle, of iron, and the wooden steps of a ladder.

Cases 36, 37. Armour and weapons for war, and implements for the chase. Among them are several highly ornamented bronze axes; with daggers, one with flint blade, spear-heads, and arrows tipped with flint, and a pulley.

Case 39. Artistic and writing implements, such as the palette for holding colour, and ink-pots, and moulds for making terracotta or

naments.

Cases 40-45. Various objects of domestic use. Cases 40, 41. Shelves 2 and 3. Boxes, and spoons; some of the former made of ebony and ivory, and the latter much carved and ornamented. In Cases 42, 43, on Shelves 1 and 4, are baskets. Shelf 2. Tools chiefly made of bronze, and models of similar instruments, several of them inscribed with the name of Thothmes III., a king of the 18th dynasty. Shelf 3. Carvings in bone, ivory, and wood. Cases 44, 45. On Shelf 1, baskets made of palm-leaves. Shelf 2. Musical instruments, including harps, flutes, cymbals, and sistra; games and playthings, such as draughtsmen, dice, dolls, and balls. Shelves 3, 4. Linen cloths of various colours.

III. SEPULCHRAL SECTION.

The preparations for embalming the dead, and ceremonies at funerals, were looked upon as matters of great importance by the Egyptians, and large sums of money were spent upon the sepulchral rites. There were several modes of preparing the mummies, varying not only at different periods, but also with the rank and wealth of the person to be interred. The more costly process was as follows:-The brain having been

extracted, and the viscera removed through an opening cut in the left side with a stone, the body was, in earlier times, prepared with salt and wax, in later times, steeped or boiled in bitumen; then wrapped round with bands of linen, sometimes 700 yards in length; various amulets being placed in different parts, and the whole covered with a linen shroud and sometimes decorated with a network of porcelain bugles. It was then enclosed in a thin case formed of canvas, thickened with a coating of stucco, on which were painted figures of divinities and emblems of various kinds, as well as the name and titles of the deceased, and portions of the Ritual of the Dead. The whole was then enclosed in a wooden coffin, and sometimes deposited in a stone sarcophagus.

Cases 46-51. Various mummies and coffins; the most remarkable being part of the mummy-shaped coffin of King Menkara, the Mycerinus of the Greeks, builder of the Third Pyramid. This is not only the oldest coffin in the collection, but one of the earliest inscribed monuments of Egypt. Near it is part of a body, supposed to be that of the king, found in the same pyramid. A small Græco-Egyptian mummy of a child from Thebes; on the external wrapper is painted a representation of the deceased.

The principal mummies and their coffins are placed in two rows in the central part of the room. The most important are the following:

Case 66. Mummy and coffin of Bakrans (Bocchoris), a female: about B.C. 720.

Case 67. Mummy and coffin of Katbti, a priestess of Amen-ra. Case 68. Coffin of Har, incense-bearer of the temple of Num-ra. Case 69. Very fine mummy of Harnetatf, high priest of Amoun; on the soles of the sandals are represented Asiatic captives. The outer case is in the corner of the room, in Case 27.

Case 70. Mummy of Haremhbai, richly painted, and the coffin of Enantef, a king anterior to the 12th dynasty.

Case 72. Coffin of Tenamen, an incense-bearer at Thebes. The face is of dark wood, inlaid with glass.

Case 74. Mummy of a Græco-Egyptian youth, whose portrait is placed on the head, painted on cedar.

Case 75. Mummy and coffin of a Græco-Egyptian_girl, named Tphous, daughter of Heraclius Soter; on the coffin is a Greek inscription, recording her death in the 11th year of Hadrian, A.D. 127.

Case 103. Sarcophagus of Mentuhetp, a functionary of about the 11th dynasty.

Case 104. Sarcophagus of Amam, an officer under one of the older dynasties.

Cases (A) 77, (B) 90, and (C) 105, in the centre of the room.

Two

large wooden coffins of the Roman period. One is that of Cleopatra, of the family of Soter, the other of Soter himself, an archon of Thebes, in the reign of Trajan; and the outer, inner case, and mummy of a female named Shepshet, about B.C. 700.

In the upper part of the Cases just mentioned are placed personal ornaments, amulets, and scarabæi, chiefly found with the mummies. The scarabaei frequently bear the names of kings, showing probably that the persons interred had borne office under those monarchs. The most remarkable are some small scarabæi in Division 95, with the names of Cheops and Chephren, the kings who built the Great and the Second pyramids, and several large scarabæi of the reign of Amenophis III.; one (No. 4095) recording the number of lions slain by the king within a certain period; the other (No. 4096) relating to his marriage with Queen Taia, and the extent of his dominions.

Returning to the Wall Cases, we find mummies of sacred animals as follows:-Cases 52, 53. Mummies of cynocephali, jackals, and cats. Cases 54, 55. Mummies of sacred bulls and of rams, the heads and principal bones only embalmed. Mummy of the Antelope Dorcas (Linn.). Cases 56, 57. Mummies of the Ibis, sacred to Thoth; and specimens of the conical, covered pots in which they were deposited. Case 58. Mummies of crocodiles. emblems of Sebak, and of snakes, emblems of Isis. Case 60. Mummies of snakes and fish. In Cases 61, 62, are specimens of unburnt bricks, some stamped with the names of kings of the 18th and 19th dynasties.

Cases 63, 64. Fragments of mummy-coffins and sepulchral tablets. Over the Cases on the East and West sides of the room are placed casts from sculptured and painted bas-reliefs at the entrance of the small temple of Beit-Oually in Nubia. One represents the victories of Rameses II. over the Ethiopians; the other the victories of the same monarch over some Asiatic nations.

SECOND EGYPTIAN ROOM.

The Egyptian antiquities are placed on the East side, the other being at present occupied by the Slade and other Collections of Glass, Roman and Etruscan Pottery, &c.

EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.

These are further illustrations of the Sepulchral remains of Egypt, of which the larger portion is placed in the First Egyptian Room.

Cases 1-11. Sepulchral tablets of painted wood, small models of sarcophagi and mummies, and boxes for holding sepulchral figures, as well as a large collection of the figures themselves. The latter are formed of wood, alabaster, stone, or porcelain, and have inscribed upon them a religious formula, as well as the name and titles of the deceased. They are supposed to have been deposited in the tombs by the relatives.

of the person who was buried. Some of the figures in the collection bear the names of Seti I., Amenophis III., and other kings.

Cases 12, 13. Sets of sepulchral vases, four in number, in which were placed the viscera of the dead, divided into four portions, and separately embalmed; their covers are heads of the Genii of the Amenti, to whom the respective portions were dedicated.

Cases 14-19. Wooden coffins, elaborately ornamented, and a wooden case painted black and yellow, which contained a set of vases.

Cases 20-23. Sepulchral vases similar to those already described. Cases 24-30. Wooden figures of Ptah Socharis, and Osiris Pethempamentes, made hollow to enclose the papyri deposited in the tombs.

Cases 31, 32. Cones or bricks stamped with inscriptions, containing the names of functionaries, and which probably formed part of the construction of the tombs. A hydria, or water-vase of alabaster, from Alexandria, lamps and vases.

In Table Case A are various objects in porcelain and glass, principally from the coverings of mummies, and inscriptions traced on stone, porcelain, and wood.

In Table Case B are portions of the outer coverings of mummies, and objects of the Greek and Roman period: amongst them are receipts for taxes.

In Table Case C are objects found in Egypt of the Christian period; Christian inscriptions; some specimens of beaded work; bronze plates, with Himyaritic inscriptions, from Arabia; some objects from Bethlehem and Mount Sinai; and Gnostic amulets.

In Table Case D are various specimens of tiles from Tel el Yahoudeh or Onias, with the name and titles of Rameses III., Asiatic and negro prisoners, and other subjects.

In Table Case E are specimens of Egyptian glass: amongst them vases in brilliant colours resembling the specimens discovered in Greece and Italy, one inscribed with the name of Thotmes III.

In Table Case F are specimens of bronze, ivory, and other objects of the Greek and Roman period.

In the detached Cases 101, 102 are sepulchral boxes, tablets, and models of boats. S. BIRCH.

GLASS COLLECTIONS.

On the West side are placed the collections of ancient and more recent Glass, including the very valuable collection bequeathed to the British Museum in 1868 by the late Felix Slade, Esq. This collection is for the present exhibited to a great extent in a separate series, as an acknowledgment of so munificent a bequest.

It has been thought convenient to collect into the same room the ether collections of Glass in the Museum, excepting the