d Nefert, and in the bronze statue of Pepy.
'Even after the Cnossian ivories, faience figurines, and faience
and plaster reliefs,' writes Mr. Hogarth, 'after the Cnossian and
Haghia Triadha frescoes, after the finest "Kamares" pottery, and
the finest intaglios, the Vaphio goblets and the Mycencae dagger
blades, one was still not prepared for the bull's head _rhyton_
... with its painted transparencies for eyes, and its admirable
modelling, and the striking contrast between the black polished
steatite of the mass and the creamy cameo shell of the inlay work.[**]

[Footnote *: The _Times_, August 27, 1908.]

[Footnote **: _Fortnightly Review_, October, 1908, pp. 600, 601.]

Within the palace proper, the work of 1907 witnessed the discovery
of a huge beehive chamber excavated in the rock underlying the
Southern Portico. It had been filled in with later debris and sherds
of the Middle Minoan period, and evidently belonged to a period
antedating that of the construction of even the earliest palace.
Its floor was only reached in 1908 by a small shaft at the depth
of 52 feet from the summit of its cupola; and as yet the floor
remains largely unexplored, and may be expected to furnish valuable
information as to the Early Minoan culture. Professor Murray has
suggested that this huge underground vault may be the actual Labyrinth
of the legend, the underground Temple of the Bull-God, and the scene
of the dark tragedies which belong to the story of the Minotaur;
but for the confirmation or negation of this suggestion we must
wait until the great vault itself has been thoroughly explored.

Such, then, have been the outstanding results of the excavation
of the ancient palace of the Cretan Sea-Kings, so far as it has
yet proceeded. Of the wealth of material which has been brought to
light much, of course, still waits, and, perhaps, may long wait,
for interpretation. The facts are there, but the significance of
them is not always easily discerned. But, at least, the importance
of the supreme fact cannot be questioned; the emergence of this
magnificent relic of a civilization, so great and so advanced as to
fill the mind with wonder, so curiously corroborating the ancient
legends as to the greatness and power of the House of Minos, and
yet so absolutely lost as to have left no trace of itself, save
in romantic story, until the patience and skill of present-day
explorers restored its relics to the light of day to tell, though
as yet