DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14391#0012
The Memoir which I herewith have the honour of submitting to the public
represents the first-fruits of the first excavations carried out by The Egypt
Exploration Fund, under the gracious authorization of His Highness the
Khedive, during the spring-time of the year 1883.
I shall readily be believed when I assert that the life of the Egyptologist
knows no keener delight than that of searching out the manifold secrets which
yet lie hidden beneath the sands and mounds of Egypt. Of all pursuits
which the hunting-grounds of his science have to offer him, this is not only the
most attractive and the most exciting, but it is that which makes the largest
demand upon our patience, and which frequently rewards us in the most un-
expected manner. In publishing, therefore, the results of this first expedition,
I hasten to seize the opportunity of paying a just tribute of gratitude to those
founders and promoters of The Egypt Exploration Fund to whom I am
indebted for my initiatory experience as an explorer in the Eastern Delta of
the Nile. The first name which presents itself to my pen—the name of Sin
Erasmus Wilson, the enlightened patron of Egyptology in England, and first
President of the Egypt Exploration Fund—recalls the heavy bereavement
which the Society has recently sustained in the loss of that eminent man,
whose commanding intellect ranged over the widest domains of knowledge, and
Avhose nobleness of character and inexhaustible liberality have graven an
ineffaceable record upon the age in which he lived. I also tender my
acknowledgements to the members of the Committee, and especially to the two
Honorary Secretaries, Miss Amelia B. Edwards and Mr. lleginald Stuart Poole,
to whose indefatigable zeal the foundation and popularization of the Society
are due, and to both of whom I am much indebted for their constant support,
represents the first-fruits of the first excavations carried out by The Egypt
Exploration Fund, under the gracious authorization of His Highness the
Khedive, during the spring-time of the year 1883.
I shall readily be believed when I assert that the life of the Egyptologist
knows no keener delight than that of searching out the manifold secrets which
yet lie hidden beneath the sands and mounds of Egypt. Of all pursuits
which the hunting-grounds of his science have to offer him, this is not only the
most attractive and the most exciting, but it is that which makes the largest
demand upon our patience, and which frequently rewards us in the most un-
expected manner. In publishing, therefore, the results of this first expedition,
I hasten to seize the opportunity of paying a just tribute of gratitude to those
founders and promoters of The Egypt Exploration Fund to whom I am
indebted for my initiatory experience as an explorer in the Eastern Delta of
the Nile. The first name which presents itself to my pen—the name of Sin
Erasmus Wilson, the enlightened patron of Egyptology in England, and first
President of the Egypt Exploration Fund—recalls the heavy bereavement
which the Society has recently sustained in the loss of that eminent man,
whose commanding intellect ranged over the widest domains of knowledge, and
Avhose nobleness of character and inexhaustible liberality have graven an
ineffaceable record upon the age in which he lived. I also tender my
acknowledgements to the members of the Committee, and especially to the two
Honorary Secretaries, Miss Amelia B. Edwards and Mr. lleginald Stuart Poole,
to whose indefatigable zeal the foundation and popularization of the Society
are due, and to both of whom I am much indebted for their constant support,