At the back of the shrine lay a black granite altar of Usertesen III, which, like the sphinx, had received an inscription by an official at a later time. These added inscriptions are of value, although they have been nearly effaced by subsequent kings; they show that in the dark times before the eighteenth dynasty (for by their rudeness they fall in that age), certain royal chancellors could venture to usurp the monuments of previous kings. This could hardly have been possible if the king of that period cared for the monuments; and we probably see in these chancellors the native viziers of the Hyksos kings, who were also apparently reckoned by the Egyptians as their rulers, and entered with ephemeral reigns of a year or two in the lists of the fourteenth dynasty. It was this vice-royalty that was conferred on Joseph, when the royal signet was given to him, and he had the honour of the second chariot. But it was evident that some temple had existed here before Aahmes, as the monuments were of earlier ages; and on looking at the plan it is seen that his temple is not in the middle of the enclosure, nor is it in the line of the axis, but at right angles to it. I therefore searched for the first temple about the midst of the area, but for a long time nothing appeared besides chips. At last a mass of sand was found with a vertical face, and this I at once recognised as the sand bed laid in the earth, on which the walls of the temple had been founded. It was covered with about twelve feet of dust and chips, but by sinking pits at intervals it was traced all round the whole extent of the former temple. The foundation deposits were unattainable, as they were too deep beneath the water level, and the great sand bed collects the water so readily that it could not be kept down more than three feet by baling. [Illustration: 50. SANCTUARY AND TEMPLES.] [Illustration: 51. LYKAONIAN SPEARHEADS AND VASES.]