spent by the Government, from the revenues
derived from the living Egyptians, for the excavation and preservation
of the records of the past? Will the dead not make, in return, this
sacrifice for the benefit of the striving farmers whose money has been
used for the resuscitation of their history?

A great deal has been said regarding the destruction of the ancient
inscriptions which are cut in such numbers upon the granite rocks in the
region of the First Cataract, many of which are of great historical
importance. Vast quantities of granite have been quarried for the
building of the dam, and fears have been expressed that in the course of
this work these graffiti may have been blasted into powder. It is
necessary to say, therefore, that with the exception of one inscription
which was damaged when the first quarrymen set to work upon the
preliminary tests for suitable stone, not a single hieroglyph has been
harmed. The present writer numbered all the inscriptions in white paint
and marked out quarrying concessions, while several watchmen were set to
guard these important relics. In this work, as in all else, the
Department of Antiquities received the most generous assistance from
the Department concerned with the building of the dam; and I should like
to take this opportunity of saying that archaeologists owe a far greater
debt to the officials in charge of the various works at Aswan than they
do to the bulk of their own fellow-workers. The desire to save every
scrap of archaeological information has been dominant in the minds of all
concerned in the work throughout the whole undertaking.

Besides the temples of Philae there are several other ruins which will
be flooded in part by the water when the heightening of the reservoir is
completed. On the island of Bigeh, over against Philae, there is a
little temple of no great historical value which will pass under water.
The cemeteries on this island, and also on the mainland in this
neighbourhood, have been completely excavated, and have yielded most
important information. Farther up stream there stands the little temple
of Dabod. This has been repaired and strengthened, and will not come to
any harm; while all the cemeteries in the vicinity, of course, have been
cleared out. We next come to the fortress and quarries of Kertassi,
which will be partly flooded. These have been put into good order, and
there need be no fear of their being damaged. The temple of Tafeh, a few