DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0334
316 A THOUSAND MILES DP THE NILE.
colored surface of the original stucco several lines of free-
hand writing. This writing was laid on, apparently, with
the brush, and the ink, if ever it had been black, had now
become brown. Five long lines and three shorter lines were
uninjured. Below these were traces of other fragmentary
lines, almost obliterated by the sand.
"We knew at once that this quaint faint writing must be
in either the hieratic or demotic hand. We could dis-
tinguish, or thought we could distinguish, in its vague out-
lines of forms already familiar to us in the hieroglyphs—
abstracts, as it were, of birds and snakes and boats. There
could be no doubt, at all events, that the thing was curious;
and we set it down in our own minds as the writing of either
the architect or decorator of the place.
Anxious to make, if possible, an exact fac-simile of this
inscription, the writer copied it three times. The last and
best of these copies is here reproduced in photolithography,
with a translation from the pen of the late Dr. Birch. (See
p. 317.) We all know how difficult it is to copy correctly in
a language of which one is ignorant; and the tiniest curve or
dot omitted is fatal to the sense of these ancient characters.
In the present instance, notwithstanding the care with
which the transcript was made, there must still have been
errors; for it has been found undecipherable in places;
and in these places there occur inevitable lacuna?.
Enough, however, remains to show that the lines were
written, not as we had supposed by the artist, but by a
distinguished visitor, whose name unfortunately is illegible.
This visitor was a son of the Prince of Kush, or as it is
literally written, the Royal Son of Kush; that being the
official title of the Govornor of Ethiopia.* As there were
certainly eight governors of Ethiopia during the reign of
Barneses II (and perhaps more, whose names have not
reached us), it is impossible even to hazard a guess at the
* Governors of Ethiopia bore tliis title, even though they did not
themselves belong to the family of Pharaoh.
It is a curious fact that one of the governors of Ethiopia during
the reign of Rameses II was called Mes, or Messou, signifying son,
or child—which is in fact Muxes. Now the Moses of the Bible was
adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, " became to her as a son," was in-
structed in the wisdom of the Egyptians, and married a Kushitc
woman, black but comely. It would perhaps be too much to specu-
late on the possibility of his having held the office of Governor, or
Royal Son of Kush.
colored surface of the original stucco several lines of free-
hand writing. This writing was laid on, apparently, with
the brush, and the ink, if ever it had been black, had now
become brown. Five long lines and three shorter lines were
uninjured. Below these were traces of other fragmentary
lines, almost obliterated by the sand.
"We knew at once that this quaint faint writing must be
in either the hieratic or demotic hand. We could dis-
tinguish, or thought we could distinguish, in its vague out-
lines of forms already familiar to us in the hieroglyphs—
abstracts, as it were, of birds and snakes and boats. There
could be no doubt, at all events, that the thing was curious;
and we set it down in our own minds as the writing of either
the architect or decorator of the place.
Anxious to make, if possible, an exact fac-simile of this
inscription, the writer copied it three times. The last and
best of these copies is here reproduced in photolithography,
with a translation from the pen of the late Dr. Birch. (See
p. 317.) We all know how difficult it is to copy correctly in
a language of which one is ignorant; and the tiniest curve or
dot omitted is fatal to the sense of these ancient characters.
In the present instance, notwithstanding the care with
which the transcript was made, there must still have been
errors; for it has been found undecipherable in places;
and in these places there occur inevitable lacuna?.
Enough, however, remains to show that the lines were
written, not as we had supposed by the artist, but by a
distinguished visitor, whose name unfortunately is illegible.
This visitor was a son of the Prince of Kush, or as it is
literally written, the Royal Son of Kush; that being the
official title of the Govornor of Ethiopia.* As there were
certainly eight governors of Ethiopia during the reign of
Barneses II (and perhaps more, whose names have not
reached us), it is impossible even to hazard a guess at the
* Governors of Ethiopia bore tliis title, even though they did not
themselves belong to the family of Pharaoh.
It is a curious fact that one of the governors of Ethiopia during
the reign of Rameses II was called Mes, or Messou, signifying son,
or child—which is in fact Muxes. Now the Moses of the Bible was
adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, " became to her as a son," was in-
structed in the wisdom of the Egyptians, and married a Kushitc
woman, black but comely. It would perhaps be too much to specu-
late on the possibility of his having held the office of Governor, or
Royal Son of Kush.