DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3332#0023
GENERAL NARRATIVE OF THE SEASONS WORK.
19
small antiquities found during the day, and led
off the procession ; at their head went a piper,
who came to meet them from the village,
helped sometimes by one or two amateurs
among the company. Then followed, in
solemn state, my chief overseer, a splendid-
looking Arab, and the rest of the workpeople
in clue order. At some point upon their
homeward route they were joined by my other
overseer and the people from his work, who
fell into their places and swelled the procession,
which, thanks to the flowing Arab dress, really
had an impressive effect. I did not usually
wait to accompany it, but went on in front to
my house ; there I distributed the contents of
the various baskets among the heaps to which
they belonged. In the evening not much was
to be done beyond a rough sorting of what had
been brought in, and recording as far as was
possible at the time the results of the day.
Five days in every week were thus spent;
and it is worthy of notice that during the
whole of the four months, from December to
March, there was not a single day on which
work had to be suspended or even modified on
account of the weather. All this time the shade
temperature was moderate, usually keeping
between 60° and 75° (Fahrenheit) in the day-
time, though occasionally in March the
thermometer went above 80°; at night it was
cool, the extreme registered generally being
between 40° and 50°. Thus it will be seen
that the climate of the Delta in the winter will
not seem at all unusual to one accustomed to
that of England — except, indeed, for the
duration and the intensity of the sunshine.
(19) "When the season's work was drawing to
a close, it became necessary to consider the
packing of the antiquities that had been found,
their exportation from Egypt, and their trans-
port to England. In this matter, as indeed in
every other, it is a pleasure to me to be able to
acknowledge the considerate help and co-opera-
tion of Dr. R. S. Poole, then Secretary to the
Egypt Exploration Fund. He not only at
once responded to any request on my part, but
often foresaw and provided against difficulties
or delays that were likely to arise. Before our
work began, we had come to an understanding
with the authorities that we should be allowed
to export most of the antiquities we discovered,
on the condition that a certain portion of them
should be selected to be kept at the Bulak
Museum. At the end of the season, I made
application to M. Maspero, in order that this
condition might be fulfilled; and I have to
acknowledge the great courtesy with which he al-
lowed me to bring only a few representative speci-
mens to Bulak, and his care to select nothing
for his museum which by its separation from
the rest might injure the scientific completeness
of any series of objects discovered at Naukratis.
Meanwhile I had packed all the antiquities
found during the season into about eighty
cases ; a somewhat deceptive bulk, owing, as
has already been explained, to the impossibility
of selecting at once the fragments of pottery
that were worth keeping. Now I had only to
bring these to Alexandria, whence the com-
mittee of the Fund had already provided for
their transport by an Indian troop-ship. But
there is one moi^e acknowledgment that I must
make before leaving this part of my account.
From Mr. Oookson, H.B.M. Consul at Alexan-
dria, I met with the greatest kindness and
assistance in passing my boxes through the
formalities that were still necessary before they
could be shipped; an assistance which was
most efficiently and willingly rendered to me by
Mr. Harris, the chief constable of the Consulate,
in whose care I ultimately left the boxes to await
their despatch.
(20) Here ends the account of the discovery
of the last season's antiquities at Naukratis, and
of their exportation from Egypt. Before pro-
ceeding to a more detailed account of the
c 2
19
small antiquities found during the day, and led
off the procession ; at their head went a piper,
who came to meet them from the village,
helped sometimes by one or two amateurs
among the company. Then followed, in
solemn state, my chief overseer, a splendid-
looking Arab, and the rest of the workpeople
in clue order. At some point upon their
homeward route they were joined by my other
overseer and the people from his work, who
fell into their places and swelled the procession,
which, thanks to the flowing Arab dress, really
had an impressive effect. I did not usually
wait to accompany it, but went on in front to
my house ; there I distributed the contents of
the various baskets among the heaps to which
they belonged. In the evening not much was
to be done beyond a rough sorting of what had
been brought in, and recording as far as was
possible at the time the results of the day.
Five days in every week were thus spent;
and it is worthy of notice that during the
whole of the four months, from December to
March, there was not a single day on which
work had to be suspended or even modified on
account of the weather. All this time the shade
temperature was moderate, usually keeping
between 60° and 75° (Fahrenheit) in the day-
time, though occasionally in March the
thermometer went above 80°; at night it was
cool, the extreme registered generally being
between 40° and 50°. Thus it will be seen
that the climate of the Delta in the winter will
not seem at all unusual to one accustomed to
that of England — except, indeed, for the
duration and the intensity of the sunshine.
(19) "When the season's work was drawing to
a close, it became necessary to consider the
packing of the antiquities that had been found,
their exportation from Egypt, and their trans-
port to England. In this matter, as indeed in
every other, it is a pleasure to me to be able to
acknowledge the considerate help and co-opera-
tion of Dr. R. S. Poole, then Secretary to the
Egypt Exploration Fund. He not only at
once responded to any request on my part, but
often foresaw and provided against difficulties
or delays that were likely to arise. Before our
work began, we had come to an understanding
with the authorities that we should be allowed
to export most of the antiquities we discovered,
on the condition that a certain portion of them
should be selected to be kept at the Bulak
Museum. At the end of the season, I made
application to M. Maspero, in order that this
condition might be fulfilled; and I have to
acknowledge the great courtesy with which he al-
lowed me to bring only a few representative speci-
mens to Bulak, and his care to select nothing
for his museum which by its separation from
the rest might injure the scientific completeness
of any series of objects discovered at Naukratis.
Meanwhile I had packed all the antiquities
found during the season into about eighty
cases ; a somewhat deceptive bulk, owing, as
has already been explained, to the impossibility
of selecting at once the fragments of pottery
that were worth keeping. Now I had only to
bring these to Alexandria, whence the com-
mittee of the Fund had already provided for
their transport by an Indian troop-ship. But
there is one moi^e acknowledgment that I must
make before leaving this part of my account.
From Mr. Oookson, H.B.M. Consul at Alexan-
dria, I met with the greatest kindness and
assistance in passing my boxes through the
formalities that were still necessary before they
could be shipped; an assistance which was
most efficiently and willingly rendered to me by
Mr. Harris, the chief constable of the Consulate,
in whose care I ultimately left the boxes to await
their despatch.
(20) Here ends the account of the discovery
of the last season's antiquities at Naukratis, and
of their exportation from Egypt. Before pro-
ceeding to a more detailed account of the
c 2