DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1350#0006
A SEASON IN EGYPT.
he took a message for them, which was faithfully
delivered.
4. While at Thebes, I was out every day taking
paper casts and photographs of the innumerable
sculptures of foreign races on the monuments. The
great battle scenes, the rows of captives, the lines of
forts, all supply examples of the physiognomy of
the various races with which the Egyptians came
in contact. Until this year, no general collection
of these had been made; and only drawings of
some few heads and figures were available in
England. My work then lay in securing good
examples of every variety of type, especially
searching for all bearing direct local names, or
general race names. Of these I took paper
squeezes, or impressions; the paper being beaten
thoroughly on to the stone while wet, and left to
dry on; after that it could be removed, with an
impression which will bear any ordinary travelling
without injury. To photograph most of these sub-
jects successfully would have been a very long
task, many of them being so high up on walls
that a large scaffold would have been needed to
bring a camera into position. However, by hang-
ing a rope-ladder over the wall, weighted down
at the top by Muhammed (enjoined not to move),
I could scale up, holding the paper and brush in
my teeth; and then, hanging on by an elbow, beat
the paper on to the sculpture. Altogether, nearly
two hundred sheets were done, including about two
hundred and seventy heads. Also many painted
subjects were photographed in the tombs. When
near the outer air, the sunlight could be reflected
in by sheets of tin-plate, and many photographs
were thus taken. But in the depths of the large
tombs it was necessary to use artificial light. This
was obtained by mingling powdered magnesium with
an equal weight of chlorate of potash, and then
exploding the mixture. By calculation of the pro-
portions of magnesium- and sun-light to candles, I
reckoned that forty grains of the metal burnt at
8 feet distance from the subject were needful to
light it enough to photograph. This proportion
gave excellent results with ordinary dry plates.
Of course, at 4 feet (half the distance) only ten
grains—a quarter of the quantity—is needed. Since
my return to England, a German has published
directions for taking instantaneous photographs by
using sulphide of antimony with the magnesium,
but this would foul the air too much in a close
tomb: and an American has used a mixture of
guncotton and magnesium; but the direct oxidation
of the metal by chlorate of potash seems the simplest
and best way to work with it in confined spaces, and
the materials are non-explosive until they are mixed
for use.
On bringing * the paper casts to England, the
question arose how best to utilise them. First, I
soaked them with wax; then I took plaster of Paris
casts from them, forming about one hundred and
fifty slabs of various sizes. These slabs will be
presented by the British Association to the British
Museum, after their exhibition at the South Ken-
sington Museum, by the kind arrangement of the
Palestine Exploration Fund. From the slabs, which
were in relief like the original stone sculpture, I
then took a series of photographic negatives; and
prints of all these negatives, as well as those of the
painted figures, can be had by any one who cares to
pay a photographer for printing off copies. On
applying to Mr Browning Hogg, 75 High Street,
Bromley, Kent, he will forward a set of the photo-
graphs ; if only a selection is needed, a set of loose
prints, which can be taken from their sheets at
2s. 3d. a dozen, will be sent; if a whole set of
one hundred and ninety photographs is wanted,
they will be sent pasted on sheets of parchment
paper, with printed titles, in a cloth case, for 45s.,
post free. Also the British Association have agreed
to supply copies of the report by myself giving the
details of position of each subject, and a paper on
the geographical identifications by my friend, the
Rev. H. G. Tomkins; and these copies will be
presented to any person ordering a whole set of the
photographs, so far as they may be available. By
these arrangements, I hope that this large ethno-
graphical collection will be quite as useful to
students as if it were published ; while any publica-
tion by a mechanical process would entail so large
an outlay, that it would be impossible to supply
the prints at such a low rate of cost price as at
present arranged.
5. From Thebes I went down to Wasta; and
crossing the river to Berimbal, walked with a
baggage ass down the east shore to Helwan. This
part was little known; but there is nothing to
examine beyond a few small sites, and the town
of Atfih, all of which are Roman or Arab, so far
as they can be seen. Crossing over to Memphis,
I settled at Dahshur, in order to survey the pyramids
there. Though the village of Menshiyet Dahshur
is nearer than any other to the pyramids, yet
its distance, and the great stagnant pool of water
by it, were objectionable. So I pitched my tent at
he took a message for them, which was faithfully
delivered.
4. While at Thebes, I was out every day taking
paper casts and photographs of the innumerable
sculptures of foreign races on the monuments. The
great battle scenes, the rows of captives, the lines of
forts, all supply examples of the physiognomy of
the various races with which the Egyptians came
in contact. Until this year, no general collection
of these had been made; and only drawings of
some few heads and figures were available in
England. My work then lay in securing good
examples of every variety of type, especially
searching for all bearing direct local names, or
general race names. Of these I took paper
squeezes, or impressions; the paper being beaten
thoroughly on to the stone while wet, and left to
dry on; after that it could be removed, with an
impression which will bear any ordinary travelling
without injury. To photograph most of these sub-
jects successfully would have been a very long
task, many of them being so high up on walls
that a large scaffold would have been needed to
bring a camera into position. However, by hang-
ing a rope-ladder over the wall, weighted down
at the top by Muhammed (enjoined not to move),
I could scale up, holding the paper and brush in
my teeth; and then, hanging on by an elbow, beat
the paper on to the sculpture. Altogether, nearly
two hundred sheets were done, including about two
hundred and seventy heads. Also many painted
subjects were photographed in the tombs. When
near the outer air, the sunlight could be reflected
in by sheets of tin-plate, and many photographs
were thus taken. But in the depths of the large
tombs it was necessary to use artificial light. This
was obtained by mingling powdered magnesium with
an equal weight of chlorate of potash, and then
exploding the mixture. By calculation of the pro-
portions of magnesium- and sun-light to candles, I
reckoned that forty grains of the metal burnt at
8 feet distance from the subject were needful to
light it enough to photograph. This proportion
gave excellent results with ordinary dry plates.
Of course, at 4 feet (half the distance) only ten
grains—a quarter of the quantity—is needed. Since
my return to England, a German has published
directions for taking instantaneous photographs by
using sulphide of antimony with the magnesium,
but this would foul the air too much in a close
tomb: and an American has used a mixture of
guncotton and magnesium; but the direct oxidation
of the metal by chlorate of potash seems the simplest
and best way to work with it in confined spaces, and
the materials are non-explosive until they are mixed
for use.
On bringing * the paper casts to England, the
question arose how best to utilise them. First, I
soaked them with wax; then I took plaster of Paris
casts from them, forming about one hundred and
fifty slabs of various sizes. These slabs will be
presented by the British Association to the British
Museum, after their exhibition at the South Ken-
sington Museum, by the kind arrangement of the
Palestine Exploration Fund. From the slabs, which
were in relief like the original stone sculpture, I
then took a series of photographic negatives; and
prints of all these negatives, as well as those of the
painted figures, can be had by any one who cares to
pay a photographer for printing off copies. On
applying to Mr Browning Hogg, 75 High Street,
Bromley, Kent, he will forward a set of the photo-
graphs ; if only a selection is needed, a set of loose
prints, which can be taken from their sheets at
2s. 3d. a dozen, will be sent; if a whole set of
one hundred and ninety photographs is wanted,
they will be sent pasted on sheets of parchment
paper, with printed titles, in a cloth case, for 45s.,
post free. Also the British Association have agreed
to supply copies of the report by myself giving the
details of position of each subject, and a paper on
the geographical identifications by my friend, the
Rev. H. G. Tomkins; and these copies will be
presented to any person ordering a whole set of the
photographs, so far as they may be available. By
these arrangements, I hope that this large ethno-
graphical collection will be quite as useful to
students as if it were published ; while any publica-
tion by a mechanical process would entail so large
an outlay, that it would be impossible to supply
the prints at such a low rate of cost price as at
present arranged.
5. From Thebes I went down to Wasta; and
crossing the river to Berimbal, walked with a
baggage ass down the east shore to Helwan. This
part was little known; but there is nothing to
examine beyond a few small sites, and the town
of Atfih, all of which are Roman or Arab, so far
as they can be seen. Crossing over to Memphis,
I settled at Dahshur, in order to survey the pyramids
there. Though the village of Menshiyet Dahshur
is nearer than any other to the pyramids, yet
its distance, and the great stagnant pool of water
by it, were objectionable. So I pitched my tent at