is aware that the organisation of the Department of Antiquities is an
extremely important branch of the Ministry of Public Works. He has seen
the temples swept and garnished, the tombs lit with electric light, and
the sanctuaries carefully rebuilt. He has spun out to the Pyramids in
the electric tram or in a taxi-cab; has strolled in evening dress and
opera hat through the halls of Karnak, after dinner at the hotel; and
has rung up the Theban Necropolis on the telephone.

A few seasons' residence in Egypt shifts the point of view in a
startling manner. No longer is the country either distant or insecure;
and, realising this, the student becomes more balanced, and he sees both
sides of the question with equal clearness. The archaeologist may
complain that it is too expensive a matter to come to Egypt. But why,
then, are not the expenses of such a journey met by the various museums?
A hundred pounds will pay for a student's winter in Egypt and his
journey to and from that country. Such a sum is given readily enough
for the purchase of an antiquity; but surely rightly-minded students are
a better investment than wrongly-acquired antiquities.

It must now be pointed out, as a third argument, that an Egyptologist
cannot study his subject properly unless he be thoroughly familiar with
Egypt and the modern Egyptians.

A student who is accustomed to sit at home, working in his library or
museum, and who has never resided in Egypt, or has but travelled for a
short time in that country, may do extremely useful work in one way and
another, but that work will not be faultless. It will be, as it were,
lop-sided; it will be coloured with hues of the west, unknown to the
land of the Pharaohs and antithetical thereto. A London architect may
design an apparently charming villa for a client in Jerusalem, but
unless he knows by actual and prolonged experience the exigencies of the
climate of Palestine, he will be liable to make a sad mess of his job.
By bitter experience the military commanders learnt in South Africa that
a plan of campaign prepared in England was of little use to them. The
cricketer may play a very good game upon the home ground, but upon a
foreign pitch the first straight ball will send his bails flying into
the clear blue sky.

An archaeologist who attempts to record the material relating to the
manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians cannot complete his task,
or even assure himself of the accuracy of his state