The Ancient Allan | Page 5

later days, and so named after a city in Nubia, apparently by one
of the Amen-hetep Pharaohs who had conquered it. Its style is beautiful,
being of the best period of the Egyptian Renaissance under the last
native dynasties.
"At the beginning of the fifth winter, at length we approached the
sanctuary, a difficult business because of the retaining walls that had to
be built to keep the sand from flowing down as fast as it was removed,
and the great quantities of stuff that must be carried off by the tramway.
In so doing we came upon a shallow grave which appeared to have
been hastily filled in and roughly covered over with paving stones like
the rest of the court, as though to conceal its existence. In this grave lay
the skeleton of a large man, together with the rusted blade of an iron
sword and some fragments of armour. Evidently he had never been
mummified, for there were no wrappings, canopic jars, /ushapti/ figures
or funeral offerings. The state of the bones showed us why, for the right
forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in; also an iron
arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried hurriedly
after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching in the dust
beneath the bones we found a gold ring still on one of the fingers. On

its bezel was engraved the cartouche of 'Peroa, beloved of Ra.' Now
Peroa probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he was Khabasha who
revolted against the Persians and ruled for a year or two, after which he
is supposed to have been defeated and killed, though of his end and
place of burial there is no record. Whether these were the remnants of
Khabasha himself, or of one of his high ministers or generals who wore
the King's cartouche upon his ring in token of his office, of course I
cannot say.
"When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I
slipped upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear it. Then
leaving the grave open for further examination, we went on with the
work, for we were greatly excited. At length, this was towards evening,
we had cleared enough of the sanctuary, which was small, to uncover
the shrine that, if not a monolith, was made of four pieces of granite so
wonderfully put together that one could not see the joints. On the
curved architrave as I think it is called, was carved the symbol of a
winged disc, and beneath in hieroglyphics as fresh as though they had
only been cut yesterday, an inscription to the effect that Peroa, Royal
Son of the Sun, gave this shrine as an 'excellent eternal work,' together
with the statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to the
'emanations of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,' Amada,
Royal Lady, being votaress or high-priestess.
"We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to see
what was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted away, was
filled with fine, drifted sand. Basketful by basketful we got it out and
then, my friend, there appeared the most beautiful life-sized statue of
Isis carved in alabaster that ever I have seen. She was seated on a
throne-like chair and wore the vulture cap on which traces of colour
remained. Her arms were held forward as though to support a child,
which perhaps she was suckling as one of the breasts was bare. But if
so, the child had gone. The execution of the statue was exquisite and its
tender and mystic face extraordinarily beautiful, so life-like also that I
think it must have been copied from a living model. Oh! my friend,
when I looked upon it, which we did by the light of the candles, for the
sun was sinking and shadows gathered in that excavated hole, I
felt--never mind what I felt--perhaps /you/ can guess who know my
history.

"While we stared and stared, I longing to go upon my knees, I knew not
why, suddenly I felt a faint trembling of the ground. At the same
moment, the head overseer of the works, a man called Achmet, rushed
up to us, shouting out--'Back! Back! The wall has burst. The sand runs!'
"He seized me by the arm and dragged me away beside of and behind
the grave, George turning to follow. Next instant I saw a kind of wave
of sand, on the crest of which appeared the stones of the wall, curl over
and break. It struck the shrine, overturned and shattered it, which
makes me think it was made of four pieces, and shattered also the
alabaster statue within, for I saw its head strike