e
carried off by the tramway. In so doing we came upon a shallow
grave which appeared to have been hastily filled in and roughly
covered over with paving stones like the rest of the court, as
though to conceal its existence. In this grave lay the skeleton of
a large man, together with the rusted blade of an iron sword and
some fragments of armour. Evidently he had never been mummified,
for there were no wrappings, canopic jars, _ushapti_ figures or
funeral offerings. The state of the bones showed us why, for the
right forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in; also an
iron arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried
hurriedly after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching
in the dust beneath the bones we found a gold ring still on one of
the fingers. On its bezel was engraved the cartouche of 'Peroa,
beloved of Ra.' Now Peroa probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he
was Khabasha who revolted against the Persians and ruled for a
year or two, after which he is supposed to have been defeated and
killed, though of his end and place of burial there is no record.
Whether these were the remnants of Khabasha himself, or of one of
his high ministers or generals who wore the King's cartouche upon
his ring in token of his office, of course I cannot say.

"When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I
slipped upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear
it. Then leaving the grave open for further examination, we went
on with the work, for we were greatly excited. At length, this was
towards evening, we had cleared enough of the sanctuary, which was
small, to uncover the shrine that, if not a monolith, was made of
four pieces of granite so wonderfully put together that one could
not see the joints. On the curved architrave as I think it is
called, was carved the symbol of a winged disc, and beneath in
hieroglyphics as fresh as though they had only been cut yesterday,
an inscription to the effect that Peroa, Royal Son of the Sun,
gave this shrine as an 'excellent eternal work,' together with the
statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to the 'emanations
of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,' Amada, Royal Lady,
being votaress or high-priestess.

"We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to
see what was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted
away, was filled