DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0341
DTSGO VEBIES AT ABOU SIMBEL. 323
doorway was found and an opening first effected, the sand
poured out from within, like water escaping from an
opened sluice.
Here, then, is positive proof (if proof were needed) that
we were first to enter the place, at all events since the
time when the great sand-drift rose as high as the top of
the fissure.
The painter wrote his name and ours, with the date
(February 1G, 1874), on a space of blank wall over the in-
side of the doorway; and this was the only occasion upon
which any of us left our names upon an Egyptian monu-
ment. On arriving at Korosko, where there is a post-
office, he also dispatched a letter to the " Times," briefly
recording the facts here related. That letter, which
appeared on the 18th of March following, is reprinted
m the appendix at the end of this book.
I am told that our names are partially effaced and that
tlie wall-paintings which we had the happiness of admiring
m all their beauty and freshness are already much injured.
Such is the fate of every Egyptian monument, great or
small. The tourist carves it all over with names and
dates and in some instances with caricatures. The student
of Egyptology, by taking wet-paper "squeezes," sponges
away every vestige of the original color. The "collector"
D1|ys and carries off everything of value that he can get;
ftnd the Arab steals for him. The work of destruction,
Meanwhile, goes on apace. There is no one to prevent it;
there is no one to discourage it. Every day, more inscrip-
tions are mutilated—more tombs are rifled—more paintings
<l»d sculptures are defaced. The Louvre contains a full-
length portrait of Seti I, cut out bodily from the walls of
J»s sepulcher in the Valley of the Tombs of theKings. The
museums of Berlin, of Turin, of Florence, are rich in
spoils which tell their own lamentable tale. When science
'oads the way, is it wonderful that ignorance should follow?
doorway was found and an opening first effected, the sand
poured out from within, like water escaping from an
opened sluice.
Here, then, is positive proof (if proof were needed) that
we were first to enter the place, at all events since the
time when the great sand-drift rose as high as the top of
the fissure.
The painter wrote his name and ours, with the date
(February 1G, 1874), on a space of blank wall over the in-
side of the doorway; and this was the only occasion upon
which any of us left our names upon an Egyptian monu-
ment. On arriving at Korosko, where there is a post-
office, he also dispatched a letter to the " Times," briefly
recording the facts here related. That letter, which
appeared on the 18th of March following, is reprinted
m the appendix at the end of this book.
I am told that our names are partially effaced and that
tlie wall-paintings which we had the happiness of admiring
m all their beauty and freshness are already much injured.
Such is the fate of every Egyptian monument, great or
small. The tourist carves it all over with names and
dates and in some instances with caricatures. The student
of Egyptology, by taking wet-paper "squeezes," sponges
away every vestige of the original color. The "collector"
D1|ys and carries off everything of value that he can get;
ftnd the Arab steals for him. The work of destruction,
Meanwhile, goes on apace. There is no one to prevent it;
there is no one to discourage it. Every day, more inscrip-
tions are mutilated—more tombs are rifled—more paintings
<l»d sculptures are defaced. The Louvre contains a full-
length portrait of Seti I, cut out bodily from the walls of
J»s sepulcher in the Valley of the Tombs of theKings. The
museums of Berlin, of Turin, of Florence, are rich in
spoils which tell their own lamentable tale. When science
'oads the way, is it wonderful that ignorance should follow?