His presence, and his interest and assistance, are now of the more value to me, as the rest of my companions have left me here alone. They departed hence yesterday. How gladly should I have accompanied them, as to-day the third anniversary of my departure from Berlin has already come round; but the taking down of the pyramid tombs yet keeps me back. The four workmen, who were sent me from Berlin as assistants, have arrived; they are strong young men, and I took them immediately with me to the Pyramids. We ensconced ourselves in a conveniently situated grave; a field-smithy and a scaffolding for the crane was erected, and the work was quickly commenced. The difficulties of the whole matter lie, however, rather in the petty jealousies that surround us here on every side, and in the various diplomatic influences which not unfrequently make even Mohammed Ali’s direct orders illusory. It therefore also appeared imperatively necessary to Herr von Wagner, that I should not leave Egypt under any circumstances, until the end of the taking down and shipping of the monuments, and so I shall have to remain patiently here for some weeks longer. LETTER XXXVI. CAIRO. _July 11, 1845._ Allow me now briefly to add some thoughts which have occupied me much of late.[149] I have never lost sight of your desire to decorate the New Museum in a manner appropriate to its contents. I hope very much that it is still your intention to do so. I have heard with great pleasure of the arrangement of the Egyptian halls through Herr Hertel, and have heard from him that the decorations of the walls are yet _in suspenso_. So favourable an opportunity will scarcely again present itself, to have all the materials at hand at the first establishment of a museum for the creation of a true whole in every respect, and to offer to the public so many novel and important things in the plan, materials, and arrangements, as at the establishment of the Egyptian Museum. You have already, if I remember right, mentioned to me that you purpose to erect an _historical_ museum, as, indeed, the object and the idea of all should be, but yet exists nowhere. It is, however, attainable to some extent in an Egyptian museum, which can only be approached by others at a vast distance, even under the most favourable circumstances, as with no other people are the dates for each single monument so simple and certain as here, and no other collection is extended over so long a period (more than 3,000 years). I therefore take for granted, generally, that you desire to arrange the principal saloons, as far as it is possible, in historical succession, and to place in juxtaposition, as it were, whatever belong to the Old, the New, and to the Græco-Roman Empire, at any rate, in such a manner that each larger space should have a definite historical character. This has always been before my eyes also in their collection, although I do not at all believe that this