DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0389
THEBES. 371
salesmen the Arabs are perhaps the less dishonest. Both
sell more forgeries than genuine antiquities. Be the de-
mand what it may, they are prepared to meet it. Thothmes
is not too heavy, nor Cleopatra too light, for them. Their
carvings in old sycamore wood, their porcelain statuettes,
their hieroglyphed limestone tablets, are executed with a
skill that almost defies detection. As for genuine scarabs
of the highest antiquity, they are turned out by the gross
every season. Engraved, glazed and administered to the
turkeys in the form of boluses, they acquire, by the simple
process of digestion, a degree of venerableiiess that is really
charming.
Side by side with the work of production goes on the
Work of excavation. The professed diggers colonize the
western bank. They live rent-free among the tombs;
drive donkeys or work shadufs by day and spend their
nights searching for treasure. Some hundreds of families
live in this grim way, spoiling the dead-and gone Egyptians
for a livelihood.
Forgers, diggers and dealers play, meanwhile, into one
another's hands and drive a roaring trade. Your daha-
oeeyah, as I have just shown, is beset from the moment
you moor till the moment you pole off again from shore.
J-he boy who drives your donkey, the guide who pilots
you among the tombs, the half-naked fellah who flings
down his hoe as you pass and runs beside you for half a
niile across the plain, have one and all an "anteekah " to
dispose of. The turbaned official who comes, attended by
his secretary and pipe-bearer, to pay you a visit of cere-
mony, warns you against imposition, and hints at genuine
treasures to which he alone possesses the key. The gentle-
manly native who sits next to you at dinner has a wonder-
ful scarab in his pocket. In short, every man, woman and
child about the place is bent on selling a bargain; and the
bargain, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is valuable
in so far as it represents the industry of Luxor—but no
farther. A good thing, of course, is to be had occasion*
auy; but the good thing never comes to the surface as long
asa market can be found for the bad one. It is only when
tJie dealer finds he has to do with an experienced customer
that he produces the best he has.
-flourishing as it is, the trade of Luxor labors, however,
under some uncomfortable restrictions. Private excava-
salesmen the Arabs are perhaps the less dishonest. Both
sell more forgeries than genuine antiquities. Be the de-
mand what it may, they are prepared to meet it. Thothmes
is not too heavy, nor Cleopatra too light, for them. Their
carvings in old sycamore wood, their porcelain statuettes,
their hieroglyphed limestone tablets, are executed with a
skill that almost defies detection. As for genuine scarabs
of the highest antiquity, they are turned out by the gross
every season. Engraved, glazed and administered to the
turkeys in the form of boluses, they acquire, by the simple
process of digestion, a degree of venerableiiess that is really
charming.
Side by side with the work of production goes on the
Work of excavation. The professed diggers colonize the
western bank. They live rent-free among the tombs;
drive donkeys or work shadufs by day and spend their
nights searching for treasure. Some hundreds of families
live in this grim way, spoiling the dead-and gone Egyptians
for a livelihood.
Forgers, diggers and dealers play, meanwhile, into one
another's hands and drive a roaring trade. Your daha-
oeeyah, as I have just shown, is beset from the moment
you moor till the moment you pole off again from shore.
J-he boy who drives your donkey, the guide who pilots
you among the tombs, the half-naked fellah who flings
down his hoe as you pass and runs beside you for half a
niile across the plain, have one and all an "anteekah " to
dispose of. The turbaned official who comes, attended by
his secretary and pipe-bearer, to pay you a visit of cere-
mony, warns you against imposition, and hints at genuine
treasures to which he alone possesses the key. The gentle-
manly native who sits next to you at dinner has a wonder-
ful scarab in his pocket. In short, every man, woman and
child about the place is bent on selling a bargain; and the
bargain, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is valuable
in so far as it represents the industry of Luxor—but no
farther. A good thing, of course, is to be had occasion*
auy; but the good thing never comes to the surface as long
asa market can be found for the bad one. It is only when
tJie dealer finds he has to do with an experienced customer
that he produces the best he has.
-flourishing as it is, the trade of Luxor labors, however,
under some uncomfortable restrictions. Private excava-