If, then, we look at these structures, such as we have them now before our eyes, and work out in our minds the conditions, both contemporary and precedent, involved in the single fact of their having been built, we see distinctly that we are not contemplating one of the earlier stages, but a very advanced stage, of civilization. All traces of the inception of the useful arts, and of social organization, are utterly wanting. We have before us a great community which, when seen for the first time, appears, Minerva-like, full-grown and completely equipped. This is seen with equal distinctness in the representations of the common arts, and of the ordinary occurrences and practices of life, as we find them on the tombs. They are such as belong to a civilized people. Among the former we may instance the manufacture of glass, and the enamelling of earthenware with coloured glazes; and among the latter the making of inventories of the property of deceased persons. The religion, too, we see, had already attained its full development. Its doctrines were matured, all its symbols had been decided upon, and an order of men had been set apart for the maintenance of the knowledge of it, and for the celebration of its services. The hierarchy also of society was now completely established, and had been long unhesitatingly acquiesced in. There are no indications here either of growth, or of decay, or of any disposition to unsettle anything. The order of society is received as the order of Nature, is administered by a regular form of government, and crowned by a splendid court. But—and this is as surprising as anything we meet with belonging to those times—they were already in possession of their hieroglyphical method of writing, and were using it regularly and largely in their monumental records; and, which is still more significant, had discovered how to form papyrus-rolls, that is to say paper, for its reception. Nor is there any indication of a time when their ancestors have been without it. In this, as in the other matters I have mentioned, there is no substantial difference between the primæval monarchy, before the invasion of the Hyksos, and the revived monarchy, which flourished after the expulsion of the Hyksos. From whence, then, did this remote civilization come? Was it indigenous, or was it from abroad? or, if derived from these two sources, in what degree did each contribute? Is there any possibility of recovering any of the early dates, or of at all measuring roughly any of the periods of the early history? I have already said something on these questions, and shall return to them, whenever we shall have reached any point, from which there may appear to be emitted some ray of light which falls upon them. CHAPTER VII. LABOUR WAS SQUANDERED ON PYRAMIDS, BECAUSE IT COULD NOT BE BOTTLED UP. Faute de mieux.