The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-03

Tending it against sacrilegious profana-
ton. From time to time l noticed the
dark silhauette of some enormous mon
ument erected long ago in this plain for
unknown purposes or for religion
that has faded out forever. This same
metropolis was rummaged through for
nineteen years by the illustrious Mari
cite, the founder of the Boulaq Muse
UNI, and I know that he himself adj
mitted shortly before his death that the
excavation carried on at Abydos did
not come UP to the expectation that
were entertained in regard to them.
In the course of my wanderings in
the metropolis, I remarked several
places that appeared never to have
been touched for centuries, among
others pyramid made of brick and
several hills of rubbish that might, as
I thought conceal important tombs. I
was particularly surprised to find near
the mountain series of knobs formed
entirely of broken pottery imbedded in
the sand, which the wind carried along
on stormy days. The sight of these
| millions and millions of pots made the
painter George Clairin, say that all
the potters Of Abydos must have as
sembled there for centuries and centur-
les to throw away their spoiled vases.
The fact is that the sight was well cal
| culated to surprise anybody. Those
hills, to the number of six, were not
contiguous to each other, neither were
they of the same dimensions Separat-
ed by plateaus of different extent,
| some We're small and others quite large.
| The largest was about 140 metres long
! and 100 broad, and from to s metres
| in height
| If decided to search those it would
take considerable time and an enor-
nous amount of work. 1 understood
| that very well, but, nevertheless, from
my very first examination, l felt my
| self attracted toward the spot by an in
vincible force. AS soon as l had served
an apprenticeship of a few weeks in
the place, l undertook the direction of
| the excavations and brought my work.
men to the pottery hills, which the ma.
tives called ON ell ga'al, that is to say,
the sea of pots I continued the work
! from the very moment that I COM
menced the exploration, and it is upon
| this site that I discovered in the first
year the prehistoric dynasties Of the
Menes, and in the second of Set and of
Hams, and in the third year the tomb
of Osiris, that Marietta had fruitlessly
rummaged through during nineteen
| years.
! And not only did l find on the hills
| the monuments which I have enllmer-
ated but also the evidence of the state
of civilization of the men of a period
that goes back to 1000 or 5000 years be-
| fore our era. I became convinced that
! in this remote period the greater por-
ton of the arts that exist at the pres
ent day We're already cultivated, that
they had progressed to such a degree
! that the artists of these distant days
| We're able to produce masterpieces, that
| the age Of stone in reality was by no
means barbarous age, as Europe is
| inclined to believe; that the men of
that time could cut all sorts of stones,
! even the hardest, or the most brittle,
/ and the most delicate, and cut them,
too, with the most consummate skill.
Writing was also Invented. And l
| found stelas whose hieroglyphic char
acters are of the same kind as the signs
| employed later on in the historical peri
Cd and which are not yet known. Sculp-
| architecture was established and paint
ing was in it's infancy. The industry
of that period also knew how to work
red copper. The ceramic art, although
somewhat rough, was none the less
capable of turning out pottery of inn
mense dimensions. The people also
know how to work the hardest kinds of
woods and turn out marquetry. Even
the art of manufacturing enamelled
glass had also at that time revealed its
secrets to the tenacious searchings of
man. In word, almost all primitive
human industries were known and
practieed. Certain particularities OF
the objects discovered showed clearly
that the relations of the nations were
more extended than one might suppose
| The caskkets in which the num-
mics were placed were made of cedar
which porved the relations existing al
that time between Egypt and Syria
and the presence of ebony also showed
that the people had relations with Cen
trail Africa. And found skeletons OF
dwarfs that came perhaps from the an.
cestors of the tribes which Stanley dis.
covered in equatorial Afica.
not only found proof of human in
dustry and art, but also indisputable
| evidence showing the cereals witt
which man was nourished at that pc
Rod. I neglected nothing in the course
of my searches, persuaded as / was
that the things which had no interest
for me had an immense interest fol
many. In this way made a rich col
lection of objects of all sorts now I'm.
dergoing the scientific analysis and the
examination of specialists. Every timt
, that certain portions of my discoveries
presented a peculiar interest for science
my companion, M. Lemoine, a perfec
artist in photography, made photo
graphs of them.
Thanks to my system of picking VI
the smallest object, I became convinced
that the religious troubles that existed
. in Egypt in the sixth century of ou
era, when the Christian religion wal
firmly established in the valley of tn,
| Nile, must bear the responsibility o
! spoliations forever to be regretted. No
only have I found undeniable traces o
the passage of spoliators, but also thei
names, which they wrote in charcoal
upon fragments of pottery; so that TO
: all the problems that are presented il
these excavations we can have the ma
terial for their early solution.
, 1 may also say that 1 have not beer
/ | at all surprised at the interest which