ergy as menacing, as ever. The Irish work, and strangers to the people, who cannot believe that they are disinterested in their proposals. There is, moreover, a storm of ridicule and misrepresentation, raised by those who prefer that Ireland should be discontented rather than receive benefits from England; and this can only be lived down in course of time; but the practical advantages so offered, there can be little doubt, in the end will come to be recognized. peasant desires freedom, yet he has given himself bound hand and foot to masters who tolerate no disobedience, and who follow their own aims, which are far wider than the interests of the Irish flock. No artificial remedies will prevail against this power. Protestant colonies have been tried; they were unpopular, and they dried up on uncongenial soil. We can only look to natural means, to the progress of human intelligence, and to the gradual The inferiority of Irish stock is eviinfiltration of education, due to exam-dent to any who have seen an English ple, and to secular relations between cattle-show. Darwin has shown how man and man. The ancient paganism largely the English breeds have inof Ireland was not quite extinct a gen- creased in size and weight within a eration ago. In one of the Sligo Isl- century, in consequence of careful ands there was still a sacred stone, to breeding. Irish cows, pigs, ducks, which an old woman was yearly ap-fowls, and geese were perhaps once pointed priestess; and a yearly robe of equal to the English; they are now flannel was placed upon it, in order that the image might send wrecks and wreckage to the island. The medieval Christianity of Ireland dies as hard as her ancient paganism. about half the weight of those sold in England. Some improvement has no doubt occurred since the old Irish pig with wattles, of which Darwin gives a drawing, which now seems to be quite But there are silent influences at extinct; but the bulls, boars, and other work which must, in time, do more animals used for breeding purposes in than direct legislation to better the Ireland are very inferior, and the peascondition of the country, and to en-ants are quite unaware of the advance lighten the race. Among these the that has been made elsewhere. They work of the Congested Districts' Board are invited to keep superior animals, may be counted. A free gift of lent to them by government or by £48,000 yearly is given to the poorer landowners; but they do not very parts of Ireland; and the benefits of often take advantage of the offer, experience and labor in England dur- though a few of the more enterprising ing the last century are offered, if they have begun to do so. It is discouragwill be accepted. The local authori-ing, however, to a landlord to find that ties are aided, as far as possible, to his prize ram, lent to a tenant, has open up the country with new roads, new piers, and new railways. The people can receive instruction gratis in improved methods of agriculture, and can have their farm stock improved at government expense. Private effort in the same direction can be aided and organized, and the best local men are encouraged to give example to their neighbors. The fisheries also receive help from the Board. been illegally sold to the butcher; or that, after enjoying an income from a fine bull, the man in charge not only claimed for its keep (and has sometimes even been paid), but stated that he considered he had a better right to the beast than its owner. Yet these incidents should not discourage those who are doing good work for the country. The existing breed of fowls ought to be swept out of existence; and the Such work is uphill work at first. condition of all kinds of live stock There are many vested interests op- requires amendment. The potato disposed to such action. Prejudices and ease is being treated with sulphate of suspicions must be overcome. The copper, but it will be long before the officials are sometimes new to their Irish perceive how much care the potato needs. It is doubtful whether | British government asserted the laws Sir Walter Raleigh left a blessing or a against murder and arson which are curse behind him when he planted the recognized by all civilized races, murfirst potato. So easily is it grown, that der and arson ceased; but to yield to the people have come to rely too ex- demands backed by violence can only clusively upon it. But since the food result in yet more extravagant pretenof a people cannot be changed except sions being advanced. The people by themselves, it is certainly needful fear the Irish constabulary as much as to guard the potato from its various Continental nations fear their police ; dangers especially from the evil- but such a force (celebrated as it is) smelling fungus on its leaves. can have no power to keep the peace if it has no strong man to urge aud to restrain its action, or if it has orders to minimize its returns. Discipline, whether in a regiment or in a nation, is not to be judged by tables of crime, but by real conditions of contentment and obedience. The Unionist government did much to retrieve the poverty of Ireland, and to make famine impossible even in the remote islands of the west coast; yet the Congested Districts' Board is sharply criticised, especially for its employment of local men. It is certain that such men, if they can be Is it to any of the Irish parties that enlisted in the cause, and if they are the people can safely trust for such respected by poorer farmers, are better guidance and rule? Is it to be beable to deal with the suspicions of the lieved that they trust and respect such peasantry than any government official. | leaders, and desire to sever themselves How great those prejudices are may be from the larger and richer country, in judged by the objection to railways, as which they have so many well-wishers, tending to ruin the places they reach from which of late they have received an idea perhaps disseminated by those the advantage of labor and study which who object to all progress and enlight- they have not themselves undertaken, enment, but which carries us back to the time of a previous generation in England. The present sketch of actual conditions in a congested district may perhaps be more useful than any study of Irish politics, or news of outrages, exaggerated in some newspaper reports, and entirely denied by those of an opposite party; or even those statistics of agrarian crime which can be manipulated by careful use of language in classification. - from a race which speaks a common language, and is built up so largely from the same Celtic and Danish stock? Is it possible, in an age when fusion of smaller States appears to be the general law, that we should be the first to set the example of the disintegration which precedes ruin? Is it even the wish of Irishmen that they should have a separate government, and be received as foreigners when they come to reap the harvests, or to trade in England? It may be suspected that such a wish only exists, in reality, among the few whose personal ambitions or interests would thus be gratified. Disunion with England must mean ruin to the poorer country, aud Irishmen know that this is the case. What Ireland desires is that which other nations desire - peace and plenty. What she needs is what other nations need the strong rule of independent men, who aim at justice, and are above self-interest, who are neither alarmed by violence, nor obliged to yield to the We trust, however, that strong and clamor of the ignorant who see not independent men do exist among us, what they do, and know not what is for and recognize that they have already their own good. If freedom is desired, shown us how to do most good to Ireit should begin with freedom to elect land. The duty we owe to our neighworthy representatives. The Irish are bor is to put power into the hands of not an independent people, they are such men. If Ireland is only left in timid and easily led. When once the peace, and aided by practical help, we may expect to see her From The National Review. natural re- a thick wall of mist. Our way lay at first along the flat Nile valley which skirts the Libyau desert to the east, and we rode along through the damp fog unable to see anything, till at the stirring of a little wind the clouds moved, broke, and sank away, while to our right, with a sudden ray of sunlight striking her forehead, the head WHEN last year the announcement of the Sphinx was lifted over the mist. was made that M. de Morgan, the head We stopped our horses and watched of the Ghizeh Museum, had found at the clouds roll down from the steep Dashur the jewels of an Egyptian prin- sides of the three great pyramids, cess of the 12th Dynasty, the news was which showed their full size, with their of interest to many people besides pointed tops rising like mountain peaks archæologists and Egyptologists. The from the wreathing mist clouds below. fineness of the goldsmith's work and After we had followed the Nile valley the exquisite nicety of the mosaic for about seven miles we turned off to struck the curious in such matters, the right, up into the desert, and rode. while to those who were not experts straight southwards towards Dashur, the jewels appealed as simple, "human leaving the Sakkara pyramids upon our documents." What were the thoughts of the princesses who hung these golden chains upon their necks, and who and what was she who fastened in her bodice the plectrum of enamel-like fineness, in the mosaic of which two falcons have stood facing each other for five thousand years? To an Egyptian woman her jewels were her own indeed; she knew that they would follow her even to her burial, she believed that her Ka, her shadow-body, would use them forever in the land of tombs. left. Our Arab guide imparted an Oriental look to the scene by carrying our lunch on a camel, and the pace at which this animal chose to travel was so slow that the moment the guide pointed to two distant pyramids and said "Dashur,” we determined to canter on, making a bee-line to them. The guide's English appeared perfectly fluent, and we confidently asked him for directions to M. de Morgan's house : A leetle left of pyramid," he replied. "How much?" asked we, "about so much ?" and we Feeling this, and longing to see the pointed towards the horizon with our actual place where the owners of the riding-whips. "No, no; only a leetle treasure had lain, I was delighted left of pyramid; " so off we set at a when my husband proposed that we brisk canter, leaving the camel to take should ride over from Cairo to Dashur a path very much to the left indeed, to see the tombs of the princesses, as which we fondly imagined was the well as the king's chamber of the brick camel's way round to the point towards pyramid, which M. de Morgan had en- which we were directing our short cut. tered on November 23rd, only two days We reached the pyramids, which we before. H.E. Artin Pacha most kindly were careful to keep just a little on our furnished us with a letter of introduc-right hands. There was no sign of tion to M. de Morgan, and at seven life whatever. Clearly, we had misuno'clock on the morning of Tuesday, derstood our guide, and on we canNovember 27th, we started from the Mena House (the hotel at the foot of the Ghizeh Pyramids) for our ride across the desert. I had never seen the sun rise, and my disappointment was great when the six o'clock promise of a lovely morning was succeeded by tered—our camel long lost sight of — to a pyramid further to the south. It looked quite close, but on that hot morning, and with the uncomfortable feeling that we might half lose ourselves, the "quite close" of desert seemingly appeared a long way in the ceeded on foot to the brick pyramid only a few hundred yards distant. In the course of ages this pyramid has fallen in, and been knocked about so much that, to the eyes of the plain man, there is little trace of anything but its base. However, I imagined that tombs in a pyramid were above the level of the ground, and, rather stiff with riding, I lingered a little behind, looking at the wonderful view, and en riding. However, getting nearer, we | on the edge of the Libyan desert, looksaw a tent. We rode up and found ing south-east over the flat, green Nile workmen busy loading and unloading valley. Here we dismounted, and procamels with thick pieces of wood about three or four feet long, and passing to and fro over boulders, which seemed to lead to the entrance to a passage in the pyramid. But we were so absorbed in devising a plan for asking for M. de Morgan in Arabic without knowing how to speak a word of the language, that my recollections of the south pyramid (in which, as yet, no discoveries have been made) are hazy. The only words we and the Arabs had in com-joying the sunshine and the desert air, mon were Morgan Bey," but by dint and hardly heeding the explanations of these, of much gesticulation, and of of our escort, M. Pierre. "Monsieur floods of Arabic on their side, we gath- Pierre" is M. de Morgan's chief lieuered that M. de Morgan lived some way tenant and right-hand man, and his back in the direction whence we had own surname was the only fact of income. One of the Arabs then dived terest which he forgot to tell us. into a tent and produced a long gun, and, slinging it on his back, ran before us and made signs for us to follow. With mutual caution we turned round, each warning the other not to ride too close behind this explosive weapon. We had retraced our steps about half a mile, when I saw our runner begin to unsling his gun, and heard him murmur "Bedouin !" 66 M. de Morgan called him " Pierre," and it is as "M. Pierre " that we have thought of him and remembered his kindness to us. Profound was my dismay when we arrived at a hollow in the sand and, descending it, M. Pierre pointed to a sort of well about ten feet square (speaking very roughly) and said, “Il faut descendre là. The entrance to the I looked up and saw a Bedouin riding | tombs of the princesses is at the botfuriously towards us mounted on atom of this mummy pit." "And to the swift camel, shouting and waving his king's chamber?" I asked. "Egalebernous with wild gestures. It was ment," said M. Pierre, dashing my our guide and our lunch, and for one hopes with a polite bow and wave of dreadful moment I feared we might the hand towards the pit. There are not explain this in time, but we raised some terrors which are more powerful shouts of "dragoman," and our runner than the feminine fear of being thought was reassured. Our guide was dread- a fussy coward, and to be lowered fully angry with us for getting lost, and down a mummy pit about forty feet scolded us violently in Arabic all the deep was more than I could face. way to M. de Morgan's. It would that moment we were joined by M. de have been useless to tell him that when Morgan himself, and I told him my one given point is about a mile to the fearful anticipations. "Go down, left of another, the term "a leetle " Pierre," said he, "and show how easy does not afford a useful geographical it is." So a rope was simply attached guide; his English was too obviously to M. Pierre's waist, the end was limited to the answers to expected held by four Arabs, and without maquestions. chinery or pulleys of any kind he Without further adventure we now was quietly dropped over the edge. arrived at the little house of sun-dried I was not reassured in the least, and mud-bricks which M. de Morgan has sitting down in the shade I said I had built for himself in one of the most would wait for the re-ascent of the delicious situations in the world, high party. For this piece of cowardice I At so that was properly punished, though not im-bers broke into it and robbed it of its mediately, for whilst my husband went treasure. We asked how the date of to the tombs of the princesses with M. the robbers' entrance could be known, Pierre, M. de Morgan sat with me and and were answered that they had told me of his recent two years' travels scrawled rude figures on the whitein Persia and the East. He talked of washed surface of the walls of the his difficulties in Siam as to inter- tomb, figures, of which one at any rate, preters, and how he had been deceived wears a headdress belonging to the by a few pieces of fluent English slang days of the Shepherd Kings into engaging a guide who could under- these pyramids when they were viostand no word of any European lan-lated were even then one thousand guage. I told him how we had suffered years old. from the same thing that morning, and how the guide whom we procured at the south pyramid had nearly fired on our lunch, and he said that the fellaheen there are very much afraid of the Bedouins. During his excavations at Sakkara two night attacks were made upon him. As soon, however, as the Bedouins discovered that he and his party had fire-arms, and were ready to use them, they were left in peace. Leaving the others to pursue the little miner's gallery, M. de Morgan and I, preceded by an Arab boy carrying two lighted candles, went down the steep passage to the north of the pyramid, along which had passed the funeral processions of the royal women of the house of Ousertasen III. Το the right and left opened the tombs, each chamber still holding the empty sarcophagus in which their mummies had lain in such fancied security. de Morgan paused on the threshold of one of the chambers, and showed me the place where he found the two jewel cases, the contents of which we had seen in the Ghizeh Museum. M. At that moment the others, having made the circuit of the princesses' galleries, called out from the bottom of the mummy pit that the tombs were much too interesting to miss, so, bargaining anxiously for an extra rope, I made up my mind to the descent, shutting my eyes and trying to forget that if once I was let down I should have to be dragged up again. The moment I felt the secure way in which the rope was knotted round me, I saw how perfectly easy the whole thing really was, and how foolish I had been not to go at once. But I still maintain that from above the abyss looked awful. M. de Morgan came down after me, and I hoped that I was going to the newly discovered king's chamber; but no, I had proved that I was not to be trusted, and I was only to go to the resting-place of the principal queen. princesses' gallery. Fancying that the earth looked loose and disturbed just there, he ordered his men to dig, and found the two caskets of jewels. He could not tell me whether the treasure was hidden there and abandoned by the thieves, or whether that is the very spot in which it was placed at the burial of the princess fifty centuries ago. Twelve mummies lay in the lower gallery of this harem of the dead, and scrambling over a mass of fallen masonry we reached an upper gallery where a larger chamber marks, probably, the On some of the sarcophagi are inscribed names: Nophirhouit, Sithathor, and some others. Such are the traces which these women have left across the ages their names, their The upper As my husband turned down the low, straight miner's gallery to the left, looking westwards of the mummy pit, M. de Morgan bade him remember that he was going into a tomb un-jewels, and their tombs. opened for four thousand years till two days before. He was to be the first person after M. de Morgan and his workmen to enter the king's chamber since four thousand years ago the rob gallery led back to the mummy pit whence we had started. M. de Morgan told me that an alabaster sarcophagus which was found in the princesses' gallery near the entrance |