Still, the monuments of his time are sufficient to tell us something of the Egypt of his day, and of the amount and character of the civilization so early attained by the Egyptian people. Besides his own tablet in the Wady Magharah, there are in the neighbourhood of the pyramids of Ghizeh a number of tombs which belong to the officials of his court and the members of his family. These tombs contain both sculptures and inscriptions, and throw considerable light on the condition of the country. In the first place, it is apparent that the style of writing has been invented which is called hieroglyphical, and which has the appearance of a picture writing, though it is almost as absolutely phonetic as any other. Setting apart a certain small number of "determinatives," each sign stands for a sound--the greater part for those elementary sounds which we express by letters. An eagle is _a_, a leg and foot _b_, a horned serpent _f_, a hand _t_, an owl _m_, a chicken _u_, and the like. It is true that there are signs which express a compound sound, a whole word, even a word of two syllables. A bowl or basin represents the sound of _neb_, a hatchet that of _neter_, a guitar that of _nefer_, a crescent that of _aah_, and so on. Secondly, it is clear that artistic power is considerable. The animal forms used in the hieroglyphics--the bee, the vulture, the uræus, the hawk, the chicken, the eagle--are well drawn. In the human forms there is less merit, but still they are fairly well proportioned and have spirit. No rudeness or want of finish attaches either to the writing or to the drawing of Sneferu's time; the artists do not attempt much, but what they attempt they accomplish.