e of him
whom they had lost, there were always some among the assistants to be
found capable of entering into their wishes, and of seizing the lifelike
expression of limbs and features.

* It must not be forgotten that the statues were often, like
the tomb itself, given by the king to the man whose services
he desired to reward. His burying-place then bore the
formulary, "By the favour of the king," as I have mentioned
previously.

[Illustration: 241.jpg THE SHEIKH-EL BELED IN THE GIZEH MUSEUM]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey.

We possess at the present day, scattered about in museums, some score of
statues of this period, examples of consummate art,--the Khephrens, the
Kheops, the Anu, the Nofrit, the Rahotpu I have already mentioned, the
"Sheikh-el-Beled" and his wife, the sitting scribe of the Louvre and
that of Gizeh, and the kneeling scribe. Kaapiru, the "Sheikh-el-Beled,"
was probably one of the directors of the corvee employed to build the
Great Pyramid.* He seems to be coming forward to meet the beholder, with
an acacia staff in his hand. He has the head and shoulders of a bull,
and a common cast of countenance, whose vulgarity is not wanting in
energy. The large, widely open eye has, by a trick of the sculptor, an
almost uncanny reality about it.

* It was discovered by Mariette at Saqqara. "The head,
torso, arms, and even the staff, were intact; but the
pedestal and legs were hopelessly decayed, and the statue
was only kept upright by the sand which surrounded it." The
staff has since been broken, and is replaced by a more
recent one exactly like it. In order to set up the figure,
Mariette was obliged to supply new feet, which retain the
colour of the fresh wood. By a curious coincidence, Kaapiru
was an exact portrait of one of the "Sheikhs el-Beled," or
mayors of the village of Saqqara: the Arab workmen, always
quick to see a likeness, immediately called it the "Sheikh
el-Beled," and the name has been retained ever since.

[Illustration: 242.jpg THE KNEELING SCRIBE IN THE GIZEH MUSEUM]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-
Bey.

[Illustration: 242b.jpg THE SITTING SCRIBE IN THE GIZEH MUSEUM]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey.
This scribe was discovered at Saqqara, by M. de Morgan, in
the beginning of 1893.

T