Wilkinson, John Gardner: Topographie of Thebes, and general view of Egypt: being a short account of the principal objects worthy of notice in the valley of the Nile, to the second cataracte and Wadi Samneh, with the Fyoom, Oases and eastern desert, from Sooez to Bertenice (London, 1835)

VI PREFACE.

much of my leisure time, and contains a more de-
tailed account of the former and present state of
Egypt; but whether it will ever be deserving of
publication must depend on circumstances—though
from the little interest generally felt about that
country, it is probable such materials will never
be required.

If in the same chapter I have not given all my
authorities for the manners and customs therein in-
troduced, it may be concluded that in those cases
I have drawn my inferences from the subjects in
the tombs, to which constant reference would have
been tedious and unnecessary. But if some dif-
ference is observed in the statements given in this
work from those in my Materia Hieroglyphica, in
a few points of Egyptian history, and other intricate
subjects, I beg the indulgent reader to consider that
the study of hieroglyphics is still in its infancy and
obscured by the difficulties of a long-lost language.
And if I was once led to form other conclusions, I
must rely for my excuse on the intricacy of the
study; but having availed myself of the first oppor-
tunity of correcting them, the acknowledgment of
my errors will, I trust, clear me of the suspicion of
an attempt to maintain any favorite theory, and
prove it to be the result of repeated and more
matured investigation.