It will be seen that none of the points questioned by Professor Müller are vital to the main thesis of the book, or essential to its illustration of the prevalence of the threshold covenant customs in Egypt. Moreover, it will be observed, by a reference to my authorities at the pages mentioned, that the facts and opinions I have presented at these points are on the authority of Brugsch Bey and other scholars. The scholarship of Professor Müller, of course, gives him the right to question the testimony of any other Egyptologist.
As to the boundary line of Egypt in the Sinaitic peninsula, that simply refers to the famous tablet and inscription, in Wady Maghara, of Snefru, the great king of the fourth dynasty, when he had first extended his dominions thus far.[[714]] What was then Egypt’s boundary line of conquest in that direction may, indeed, not have continued to be so. The same may be said of the southern boundary of Egypt on the Nubian frontier.[[715]]
My reasons for giving “the threshold” as a meaning of el gisr are to be found in full in my “Kadesh-barnea,” at pages 50, 339, 341 f.
It is to be noted that Professor Müller had already pointed out to me the existence of a temple at Thebes bearing the name of the “Silver Threshold,”[[716]] after the days of the eighteenth dynasty. He promises other notes in this direction when he has time for further research.
FROM PROFESSOR DR. C.P. TIELE.
As an Orientalist, and as a student of religions, Professor Tiele, Professor of the History of Religions in the University of Leyden, has a position of eminence before the world. His publications of importance are numerous, prominent among which stand “The Religion of Zarathustra [Zoroaster];” “Comparative History of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian Religions;” “The Place of the Religions of Savages in the History of Religion;” “History of Religions of Antiquity to the Time of Alexander the Great;” and “Babylonian-Assyrian History.” A word from Professor Tiele, on the theme of this book, has exceptional weight. He says:
“I thank you very much for your kindness in sending me your most interesting book, ‘The Threshold Covenant.’... As far as I can judge, you have not only given a clear exposition of the facts pertaining to this widespread custom, but you have also shown the right way to catch the meaning underlying those strange usances.
“Of late I have been mostly occupied by the study of the religions of civilized people; nevertheless, I ever take a lively interest in the study of primitive man and the origin of religious rites. I have to say something on these questions in the Gifford Lectures, which I have been invited to deliver before the University of Edinburgh next term. So your book came just in time to know your meaning on the subject, and to revise my opinion by comparing it with yours.”
FROM PROFESSOR DR. E. WASHBURN HOPKINS.
The successor, at Yale University, of Professor William D. Whitney, in the chair of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology, is Professor E. Washburn Hopkins, who before held the same chair in Bryn Mawr College. This fact in itself is an indication of his position as a scholar; and his latest work, “The Religions of India,” in the series of “Handbooks on the History of Religions,” bears testimony to his learning and ability in that realm. Of the matters treated in this volume he says: