DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5538#0060
40 PHARAOHS, FELLAHS, AND EXPLORERS.
sands, have been utterly destroyed; and yet we stand amazed
before the splendor and number of the wrecks which remain.
In Upper Egypt, those wrecks are noble ruins open to the
cloudless sky, and touched with the gold of dawn and the
crimson of sunset; but in Lower Egypt, and especially in
the Delta where there is no desert, but only one vast plain
of rich alluvial soil, those ruins are buried under the rubbish
of ages, thus forming those gigantic mounds which are so
striking a feature of the scenery between Alexandria and
Cairo. Nothing in Egypt so excites the curiosity of the
newly landed traveller as these gigantic graves, some of
which are identified with cities famous in the history of the
ancient world, while others are problems only to be solved
at the edge of the spade. He sees mounds everywhere; not
only in the Delta, but in Middle Egypt, in Upper Egypt, and
even in Nubia. And wherever he sees a mound, there, but
too surely, he sees the native husbandmen digging it away
piecemeal for brick-dust manure.
It was in order to rescue at least a part of the historical
treasures entombed in these neglected mounds, and espe-
cially in the mounds of the Delta and the district of the old
Land of Goshen, that the society known as the Egypt Ex-
ploration Fund was founded in 1S83, under the presidency
of the late Sir Erasmus "Wilson. An influential committee
was formed in London, a subscription list was opened in
England and America, and the work of scientific exploration
was immediately begun.
From that time to this, the Egypt Exploration Fund has
sent out explorers every season, having sometimes two. ami
even three, simultaneously at work in different parts of the
Delta. Each year has been fruitful in discoveries. Ancient
geographical boundaries have been traced; the sites of fa-
mous cities have been identified; sculptures, inscriptions,
arms, papyri, jewellery, painted pottery, beautiful objects in
glass, porcelain, bronze, gold, silver, and even textile fabrics,
have been found; a flood of unexpected light has been cast
upon the Biblical history of the Hebrews; the early stages
sands, have been utterly destroyed; and yet we stand amazed
before the splendor and number of the wrecks which remain.
In Upper Egypt, those wrecks are noble ruins open to the
cloudless sky, and touched with the gold of dawn and the
crimson of sunset; but in Lower Egypt, and especially in
the Delta where there is no desert, but only one vast plain
of rich alluvial soil, those ruins are buried under the rubbish
of ages, thus forming those gigantic mounds which are so
striking a feature of the scenery between Alexandria and
Cairo. Nothing in Egypt so excites the curiosity of the
newly landed traveller as these gigantic graves, some of
which are identified with cities famous in the history of the
ancient world, while others are problems only to be solved
at the edge of the spade. He sees mounds everywhere; not
only in the Delta, but in Middle Egypt, in Upper Egypt, and
even in Nubia. And wherever he sees a mound, there, but
too surely, he sees the native husbandmen digging it away
piecemeal for brick-dust manure.
It was in order to rescue at least a part of the historical
treasures entombed in these neglected mounds, and espe-
cially in the mounds of the Delta and the district of the old
Land of Goshen, that the society known as the Egypt Ex-
ploration Fund was founded in 1S83, under the presidency
of the late Sir Erasmus "Wilson. An influential committee
was formed in London, a subscription list was opened in
England and America, and the work of scientific exploration
was immediately begun.
From that time to this, the Egypt Exploration Fund has
sent out explorers every season, having sometimes two. ami
even three, simultaneously at work in different parts of the
Delta. Each year has been fruitful in discoveries. Ancient
geographical boundaries have been traced; the sites of fa-
mous cities have been identified; sculptures, inscriptions,
arms, papyri, jewellery, painted pottery, beautiful objects in
glass, porcelain, bronze, gold, silver, and even textile fabrics,
have been found; a flood of unexpected light has been cast
upon the Biblical history of the Hebrews; the early stages