The original stamp is made of the same kind of wood as the mummy chests, and has an arched handle at the back, cut out of the same piece of wood as the face. It is of an oblong figure, with the ends rounded off; five inches long, two inches and a quarter broad, and half an inch thick. The hieroglyphic characters on its face are rudely cut in _intaglio_, so that their impression on clay would be in relief; and if printed in the same manner as the preceding copy, would present the same appearance,--that is, the characters which are cut into the wood, would appear white on a black ground. The phonetic power of the hieroglyphics on the face of the stamp may be represented respectively by the letters, A, M, N, F, T, P, T, H, M; and the vowels being supplied, as in reading Hebrew without points, we have the words, “Amonophtep, Thmei-mai,”--“Amonoph, beloved of truth.”[I-6] The name is supposed to be that of Amonoph or Amenoph the First, the second king of the eighteenth dynasty, who, according to the best authorities, was contemporary with Moses, and reigned in Egypt previous to the departure of the Israelites. There are two ancient Egyptian bricks in the British Museum on which the impression of a similar stamp is quite distinct; and there are also several articles of burnt clay, of an elongated conical figure, and about nine inches long, which have their broader extremities impressed with hieroglyphics in a similar manner. There is also in the same collection a wooden stamp, of a larger size than that belonging to Mr. Lane, but not in so perfect a condition. Several ancient Etruscan terra-cottas and fragments of earthenware have been discovered, on which there are alphabetic characters, evidently impressed from a stamp, which was probably of wood. In the time of Pliny terra-cottas thus impressed were called Typi. [Footnote I-6: On a mummy in the royal collection at Paris, the six first characters of this stamp occur. Champollion reads them, “Amenoftep,” or “Amonaftep.” He supposes the name to be that of Amonoph the First; and says that it signifies “approuvé par Ammon.”--Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique. Planches et Explication, p. 20, No. 161.] [Illustration]