[106.] Ibid.
[107.] Montf. Antiq., ii. (Pt. II.) 339.
[108.] Ibid.
[109.] Montf. Antiq., ii. (Pt. II.) 339.
[110.] Ibid.
[111.] Fosbroke, Encycl. of Antiq., i. 208.
[112.] There is now at Thebes an arch-forger of Scarabæi—a certain Ali Gamooni, whose endeavors, in the manufacture of these much-sought-after relics, have been crowned with the greatest success. For the coarser description of these, he has, as well as chance European purchasers, an outlet in a native market; for they are bought from him to be carried up the river into Nubia, where they are favorite amulets and ornaments, as mothers greatly delight to patch one or two to the girdles by short thongs, which constitute the only article of dress of their children. Through this very medium, too, it sometimes happens that these spurious Scarabæi come into the possession of unsophisticated travelers, who are not likely to suspect their origin in that remote country, and under such circumstances.
Scarabæi also of the more elegant and well-finished descriptions are not beyond the range of this curious counterfeiter. These he makes of the same material as the ancients themselves used,—a close-grained, easily-cut limestone, which, after it is graven into shape and lettered, receives a greenish glaze by being baked on a shovel with brass filings.
Ali, not content with closely imitating, has even aspired to the creative; so antiquarians must be on their guard lest they waste their time and learning on antiquities of a very modern date.—Vide Rhind’s Thebes, p. 253–5. Mr. Gliddon, in an incidental note, Indig. Races, p. 192, takes credit for having furnished this same Ali, some twenty-four years ago (as it would appear), with broken penknives and other appliances to aid his already-manifested talent, in the somewhat fantastic hope of flooding the local market with such curiosities, and so saving the monuments from being laid under contribution!
[113.] Winkleman, Art. 2, c. 1.