ning materials, consisting of coffers, boxes of _Ushabti,_ Canopic
jars, garlands, together with the belongings of priestly mummies, were
arranged along the passage; when the place was full, the entrance was
walled up, the well filled, and its opening so dexterously covered that
it remained concealed until-our own time. The accidental "sounding" of
some pillaging Arabs revealed the place as far back as 1872, but it was
not until ten years later (1881) that the Pharaohs once more saw the
light. They are now enthroned--who can say for how many years longer?
--in the chambers of the Gizeh Museum. Egypt is truly a land of marvels!
It has not only, like Assyria and Chaldaea, Greece and Italy, preserved
for us monuments by which its historic past may be reconstructed, but it
has handed on to us the men themselves who set up the monuments and made
the history. Her great monarchs are not any longer mere names deprived
of appropriate forms, and floating colourless and shapeless in the
imagination of posterity: they may be weighed, touched, and measured;
the capacity of their brains may be gauged; the curve of their noses and
the cut of their mouths may be determined; we know if they were bald, or
if they suffered from some secret infirmity; and, as we are able to do
in the case of our contemporaries, we may publish their portraits taken
first hand in the photographic camera. Sheshonq, by assuming the control
of the Theban priesthood, did not on this account extend his sovereignty
over Egypt beyond its southern portion, and that part of Nubia
which still depended on it. Ethiopia remained probably outside his
jurisdiction, and constituted from this time forward an independent
kingdom, under the rule of dynasties which were, or claimed to be,
descendants of Hrihor. The oasis, on the other hand, and the Libyan
provinces in the neighbourhood of the Delta and the sea, rendered
obedience to his officers, and furnished him with troops which were
recognised as among his best. Sheshonq found himself at the death of
Psiukhannit II., which took place about 940 B.C., sole master of Egypt,
with an effective army and well-replenished treasury at his disposal.
What better use could he make of his resources than devote them to
reasserting the traditional authority of his country over Syria? The
intestine quarrels of the only state of any importance in that region
furnished him with an opportunity of which he found it easy to take
advantage. Solomo