[260] “Ibid,” p. 148. The hope here expressed was, however, not fulfilled; tombs of the fourth or fifth dynasties being, I believe, the earliest discovered. [Note to second edition.]
[261] “It is said that these persons, as well as the sheik, make use of certain words (that is, repeat prayers and invocations) on the day preceding this performance, to enable them to endure without injury the tread of the horse; and that some not thus prepared, having ventured to lie down to be ridden over, have, on more than one occasion, been either killed or severely injured. The performance is considered as a miracle vouchsafed through supernatural power, and which has been granted to every successive sheik of the Saädiyeh.” See Lane’s “Modern Egyptians,” chap. xxiv, p. 453. Lond., 1860.
[262] This barbarous rite has been abolished by the present khedive. [Note to second edition.]
[263] See “Egypt of the Pharaohs and the Khedive,” J. B. Zincke, chap. ix, p. 72. Lond., 1873. Also “La Sculpture Égyptienne,” par E. Soldi, p. 57. Paris, 1876. Also “The Ethnology of Egypt,” by Professor Owen, C. B. “Journal of Anthropological Institute,” vol. iv, 1874, p. 227. The name of this personage was Ra-em-ka.
[264] It is in the great vestibule that we find the statue of Ti. See chap. iv, p. 55.
[265] There is no evidence to show that the statues of Sepa and Nesa in the Louvre are older than the fourth dynasty.
[266] “Enfin nous signalerons l’importance des statues de Meydoum au point de vue ethnographique. Si la race Égyptienne était à cette époque celle dout les deux statues nous offrent le type, il faut convenir qu’elle ne ressemblait en rien à la race qui habitait le nord de l’Égypte quelques années seulement après Snefrou.”—“Cat. du Musée de Boulaq.” A. Mariette Bey. P. 277; Paris. 1872.
Of the heads of these two statues Professor Owen remarks that “the brain-case of the male is a full oval, the parietal bosses feebly indicated; in vertical contour the fronto parietal part is little elevated, rather flattened than convex; the frontal sinuses are slightly indicated; the forehead is fairly developed but not prominent. The lips are fuller than in the majority of Europeans; but the mouth is not prognathic.... The features of the female conform in type to those of the male, but show more delicacy and finish.... The statue of the female is colored of a lighter tint than that of the male, indicating the effects of better clothing and less exposure to the sun. And here it may be remarked that the racial character of complexion is significantly manifested by such evidences of the degree of tint due to individual exposure.... The primitive race-tint of the Egyptians is perhaps more truly indicated by the color of the princes in these painted portrait-statues than by that of her more scantily clad husband or male relative.”—“The Ethnology of Egypt,” by Sir Richard Owen, K. C. B. “Journal of Anthropological Institute,” vol. iv, Lond., 1874; p. 225 et seq.
[267] The word pyramid, for which so many derivations have been suggested, is shown in the geometrical papyrus of the British Museum to be distinctly Egyptian, and is written Per-em-us.
[268] “On sait par une stèle du musée de Boulaq, que le grand Sphinx antérieur au Rois Chéops de la IV Dynastie.”—“Dic. d’Arch. Égyptienne:” Article Sphinx. P. Pierret. Paris, 1875.