The Treasury of Ancient Egypt (Illustrated)

No person who has travelled in Egypt will require to be told that it isa country in which a considerable amount of waiting and waste oftime has to be endured. One makes an excursion by train to see someruins, and, upon returning to the station, the train is found to be late,and an hour or more has to be dawdled away. Crossing the Nile in arowing-boat the sailors contrive in one way or another to prolong thejourney to a length of half an hour or more. The excursion steamerwill run upon a sandbank, and will there remain fast for a part of theday.The resident official, travelling from place to place, spends a greatdeal of time seated in railway stations or on the banks of the Nile,waiting for his train or his boat to arrive; and he has, therefore, agreat deal of time for thinking. I often try to fill in these drearyperiods by jotting down a few notes on some matter which hasrecently been discussed, or registering and elaborating argumentswhich have chanced lately to come into the thoughts. These notes areshaped and “written up” when next there is a spare hour, and a fewbooks to refer to; and ultimately they take the form of articles orpapers, some of which find their way into print.This volume contains twelve chapters, written at various times andin various places, each dealing with some subject drawn from thegreat treasury of Ancient Egypt. Some of the chapters have appearedas articles in magazines. Chapters iv., v., and viii. were published in‘Blackwood’s Magazine’; chapter vii. in ‘Putnam’s Magazine’ and the‘Pall Mall Magazine’; and chapter ix. in the ‘Century Magazine.’ Ihave to thank the editors for allowing me to reprint them here. Theremaining seven chapters have been written specially for thisvolume.LUXOR, UPPER EGYPT, November 1910.