DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12249#0283
THE LOCAL TRAFFIC IN ANTIQUITIES. 24<7
at Cairo, being the nearest suitable point for tbe other
two above named, there have always been dealers to
share in the searches. Either through them, or from
the fellaheen themselves, a considerable supply of an-
tiquities was forthcoming. These were either absorbed
in the accumulations in process of formation in the
country, officially or otherwise, or they made their,
way more directly to public and private collections
in Europe, to which, in one way or the other, the
stream has constantly been kept up.
Within the last ten or fifteen years the local re-
tailing of relics has received a great additional stimulus,
from the increased facilities of communication and
other causes having brought so many foreigners to
visit the country. Only a few of these may, in con-
tinuation of previous pursuits, or with special views,
have systematically set about collecting on a con-
siderable scale; but, naturally enough, nearly all have
had a tendency to become buyers to some extent, of
objects, not only in a peculiar degree characteristic
products of the country, but often highly curious in
themselves, and sometimes also valuable. At Cairo
there are various dealers of different grades to meet
this want; and among tbe tombs of the great Necro-
polis, at the foot of the Pyramids of Geezeh and
Sakkara, the diggers themselves ply the trade. In
Upper Egypt Thebes is the chief centre of the traffic.
There, likewise, the fellaheen search and sell for
themselves with practised expertness, and there, also,
there are middlemen who, having some command of
K 4
at Cairo, being the nearest suitable point for tbe other
two above named, there have always been dealers to
share in the searches. Either through them, or from
the fellaheen themselves, a considerable supply of an-
tiquities was forthcoming. These were either absorbed
in the accumulations in process of formation in the
country, officially or otherwise, or they made their,
way more directly to public and private collections
in Europe, to which, in one way or the other, the
stream has constantly been kept up.
Within the last ten or fifteen years the local re-
tailing of relics has received a great additional stimulus,
from the increased facilities of communication and
other causes having brought so many foreigners to
visit the country. Only a few of these may, in con-
tinuation of previous pursuits, or with special views,
have systematically set about collecting on a con-
siderable scale; but, naturally enough, nearly all have
had a tendency to become buyers to some extent, of
objects, not only in a peculiar degree characteristic
products of the country, but often highly curious in
themselves, and sometimes also valuable. At Cairo
there are various dealers of different grades to meet
this want; and among tbe tombs of the great Necro-
polis, at the foot of the Pyramids of Geezeh and
Sakkara, the diggers themselves ply the trade. In
Upper Egypt Thebes is the chief centre of the traffic.
There, likewise, the fellaheen search and sell for
themselves with practised expertness, and there, also,
there are middlemen who, having some command of
K 4