imes the master's corrections elegantly written
above in red. As may be imagined, a schoolboy's scrawl over three
thousand years old is no easy thing to translate; but _faute de mieux_
the Egyptologist welcomes any version, even the most barbarous.
Fortunately, the MS. from which these translations come is not of this
kind; a detailed description of it may interest some of my readers.

The Prisse Papyrus, which is well known by name and a few extracts to
all persons conversant with Egyptian matters, was acquired in Egypt by
M. Prisse d'Avennes, a French archaeologist of distinction, and
published by him in 1847.[5] The exact place of its discovery is
unknown. M. Prisse is said to have bought it of one of the _fellahin_
whom he employed to make excavations at the burial-ground of Thebes.
This man pretended that he had no knowledge of its finding, as he was
trying to sell it for a friend. It is believed that it was actually
taken by the Arab from the tomb of one of the Kings 'Entef;[6] but this
is not certain. If it were, it would perhaps enable us to fix a
_terminus ad que,_ for the writing of this copy, although tombs often
contain objects of later date. The papyrus was presented in about
1847, by M. Prisse, to the {23} Bibliotheque Nationale (in those days
the Bibliotheque Royale) at Paris, where it still is, divided and
glazed in the usual manner.

Spread out flat, it measures about 23 ft. 7 in., with an average height
of 5 7/8 in., which is about the usual height of papyri of the Eleventh
and Twelfth Dynasties. It contains at present eighteen pages of heavy
and bold black and red writing, in the so-called hieratic character.
At first sight it appears to be in perfect preservation, being entirely
free from the cracks and decay which mar many fine manuscripts of far
later date; but an examination of the contents shows that an unknown
quantity has been torn off from the commencement. Originally the roll
contained at least two books, of which we have the latter part of one
and the whole of the other. Between these there is a blank space of
some 53 in.

The characters are clearly and carefully made, but are not always
correct, as though the copyist had a badly written or very cursive copy
before him, and was not always sure of his spelling.

The first of these books, of which only the last two pages remain to
us, is a treatise on deportment, and is here called the _Instruction of
Ke'gemni_. It has always bee