REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES IN EGYPT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1944, 17 September 1889, Page 4

REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES IN EGYPT.

The two large July gatherings held in London, England, by the Victoria Institute are "considered to have been of much importance. The President, Sir G. Gr. Stokes, Bart., President of the Koyal Society, took the chair at both, and on each occasion the members crowded the large hall engaged to the doors. At the first. meeting, Professor Sayce's account of his examination of the library brought By Amenophis 111. from Assyria to Egypt 34 centuries ago was given. The Lord Chancellor delivered an eloquen t speech on the occasion, and M. Naville, the discoverer of Succoth-Pithom, Bubastis, and other places of great historical importance in Egypt, characterised the discovery described by Professor Sayce as one of the most important, and perhaps really the most important, of this century; aod the Victoria Institute's members were not slow in recognising the value of their fellow member's work. At the sacond meeting, the members assembled to welcome M. JSTaville on his arrival in, England after his discovery of the site of Bubastis, and his exploration thereof. The business of this meeting was commenced by the election, as members, ef several who had applied to join the Institute as supporters, including His Excellency Count Bernstorff, and several Australian and American associates, after which M. Waville himself described his own discoveries at Bubastis, for the first time in England—his last visit to England having been previous to those discoveries. The Society of Arts having most kindly placed their apparatus at the disposal of the Victoria Institute,

he showed, by lime-light, the photo graphs he had made on the spot. , M. Naville commenced by quoting the prophecy of Ezekiel against -Egypt, because it contained the names of the leading buried cities, the recovery of 1 the records of which he is so desirous to obtain ; and here we may be permitted to digress for a moment to call attention to the fact that the authoress of the last published work in regard to the Bast declares that this prophecy had not been fulfilled according to the prophet's words. Strange that the greatest and most successful Egyptian explorer of modern times should go to this very prophecy for light to enable him to discover that which others had failed to discover! Taking the last city named, he described how he found Pibsseth-Bubastis; how each day's excavating work brought him new relics, new inscriptions; how he found Rameses 11., in the 19th dynasty, had, as usual, blotted out the names of previous Pharaohs, and put his own name on everything, even on the statue of a Pharaoh of the 4th dynasty; and how, by careful comparison, aided by the fact that Rameses 11. had not been quite thorough in his appropriations, he had discovered which Pharaoh of 4th dynasty the statue represented. He came to the conclusion that Bubastis was founded at least as early as the reign of Cheops, between whom and Pepi, of whose influence there were traces, 500 years intervened. 800 years after there was a transformation of the city in the 12th dynasty; in the 14th dynasty there was the invasion of the Hyksos or Shepherds, who, from the statues of great beauty found, and from other evidences, must have been a highly-cultivated people, who, he considered, must have come from Mesopotamia. Dr Virchow considered that their monuments represented- Turanians, and Professor Mower considered them to represent people of a Turanian or Mongoloid type, but that did not mean that the population itself was Turanian. Their worship and language was of a Semitic type, but the Btatues of their kings . showed that they were not Semites. M. Naville added: "It was thea what it is still now; and I believe that the conquest of Egypt by the Hyksos is not unlike what would happen at the present day if the population ©f Mesopotamia overran the valley, of the Nile; you would have masses, in great majority of Semitic race, speaking a Semitic language, having a Seinitie religion, and being under the command of Turks, who are not Semites but Turanians," M. jNaville, having referred to the head of a Hyksos King, which he had sent to the British Museum, added that he had fonnd two statues of Apepi, the Pharaoh of Joseph, and inscriptions in regard to the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and many others of high interest. But it would be impossible to refer to the mine of interesting matter in this paper, and ws can only congratulate the members of the Victoria Institute on possessing it j it is certainly worth the whole year's subscription to possess this one paper. M. JSTaville, in concluding said: " I cannot dwell here at greater length on the events of the Exodus, yet I should like to mention that the successive discoveries made in the Delta have had the result of making the sacred narrative more comprehensible in many points, and in one especially in showing that the disr tances were much shorter ; than was generally thought. I consider, for instance, it important to have established that Bubastis was a very, large city, and a favorite resort of the Kiqg and family. It is quite possible* that, at the time when the events preceding the Exodus took place, the King was at Bubastis, not at Tanis, as we generally believed." Sir George Stokes, Bart;, having conveyed the thanks of the members to M. JNaville, a short discussion took place, during which Captain Francis Petrie.the honorary secretary, pointed out that what "Professor Sayce's paper had done as regards Assyrian and Babylonian history, M, Naville's had j | done as regards Egyptian history.; They were papers advancing the .practical work of the Institute in investigating philosophical'and scientific questions, especially any questions used by those; who unhappily sought to attack the Bible in the name of science; and both would appear in the Journal, which would be presented at the Institute's Rooms, la, Adelphi Terrace, to all members and associates who were now on the list, or who might apply to jom after the 10th of July. The President, members, and associates then adjourned to the Museum, where refreshments were served.