12

Progress of Egyptology.

the beaut}' and rarity of the inscriptions make them attractive. The
important ones are almost confined to Cairo, and a large collection of
inscriptions from this locality has just been well edited by the prime
mover in the work."

It will be best to classify the Egyptian texts published since the last
Report in geographical order from south to north.

From Nubia we have some stelae sent to Oxford by Captain Lyons
from his excavations at Wady Halfeh, and edited by Mr. Crum.:i There
is also a graffito on the island of El Hesseh, recording the visit of
Merenra in his fifth year to receive the homage of the Ethiopian kings.
This was discovered by Professor Sayce.4

Philae. The publication of the temple by M. Beuedite has been
commenced.'1

For the southern frontier of Egypt we have M. de Morgan's Survey
from Philae to Ombos.c He places the dividing line of Nubia im-
mediately to the north of Philae, in the middle of the monumental
region, so cutting off both that island and Bigeh. We start with the
well-known eoad from Philae to Aswan, with its scores of graffiti,
and historical stelae of Thotlimes III., Amenhotep III., Sety I. and
Barneses II.; then we follow along the east bank of the river to the
inscribed rocks in the modern town of Aswan and the Ptolemaic temple.
Next there is an interesting section on the granite quarries in the
Eastern hills, signed by M. de Morgan himself. Returning again to the
southern limit, we are conducted over the rocks and islands in the Nile,
two of which, the rock Konosso and the south end of the island of Semel
are covered with inscriptions. The rest are bare as far as Elephantine.
From Konosso there is a new stela of Thothmes IV.; on Sehel, there is
the famous stela of the seven years famine, also records of clearing the
channel by kings of the Xllth and XVIIIth Dynasties, and graffiti of
all periods around a shrine of the goddess Anqet. Elephantine, the
centre of the nome, lost its monumental glories about 1820, when two
charming little temples and the upper part of the Nilometer were
destroyed. On the west bank, hitherto so little explored, there are,
towards Elephantine, quarries of late date, a shrine with an interesting
but fragmentary stela, a necropolis, the important Coptic convent of
Saint Simeon, and the now celebrated tombs of the Old and Middle
Kingdom. There are also iron mines and excavations for pot-clay. All
the above are recorded with great fulness; the copies of scenes and
inscriptions are generally rendered in zincotype, and some interesting
heliogravures accompany the hand-copies. Between Aswan and Ombos