p.

4.
was, but I was not able to decide whether it was good, or
whether it was art, or merely good craftsmanship or what.
It is, of course, entirely different to anything I have ever seen
before. And this is natural, never having been in Egypt
before - & this work represents an age, & is the product of
a seperate civilization. It is all connected with monuments to
kings & queens, dead or living at that time, or to symbolic
decorations & ornamentations in the tombs. Memphis is near to the
Nile, & what there is to see is within a small copse of barren
looking trees. There are two enormous stone carvings of the great
Ramises - the 2nd. I think - & number of smallish carvings of sacred
monkeys & things. I cannot remember which dynasty they are, or
how many thousand years B.C. - but I do not think this matters
very much, as I am not aiming to be an Egyptologist - mainly
because I don't want to stay here as long as that. The dragoman
had it all off pat. The first one we saw was the carving
in what seemed to me to be sandstone, & I think certainly
must have been. It was found by some English woman
about - 80 years ago. It is fifty odd feet in length, & of
course, carved in proportion. It is now in a lying position, &
rather peculiarly, propped up, & closed up & steadied by all kinds
of odd bits of wood & planks. This one is out in the open
air. A house has been built for the other one, which is
a gallery all the way round, so as you can walk
round & look down upon the figure, which is also
in a horizontal or "recumbent" position. This one is
carved out of a solid block of alabaster. Would that
be the reason for it being put in a house? That
alabaster does not stand weather. I asked the dragoman