The great prize of Illahun was unknown and unsuspected by any one. On the desert adjoining the north side of the temple, I saw evident traces of a town, brick walls, houses and pottery; moreover, the pottery was of a style as yet unknown to me. The town-wall started out in a line with the face of the temple; and it dawned on me that this could hardly be other than the town of the pyramid builders, originally called Ha-Usertesen-hotep, and now known as Kahun. A little digging soon put it beyond doubt, as we found cylinders of that age, and no other; so that it was evident that I actually had in hand an unaltered town of the twelfth dynasty, regularly laid out by the royal architect for the workmen and stores, required in building the pyramid and its temple. After a few holes had been made, I formed up the workmen in a line along the outermost street, and regularly cleared the first line of chambers, turning the stuff into the street; then the chambers beyond those were emptied into them; and so line after line, block after block, almost every room in the town was emptied out and searched. The only part not quite cleared was where habitations had been formed in Roman times by lime-burners, who had disturbed the place and destroyed the ancient walls. Every chamber as it was cleared was measured and planned, and we can see the exact scheme of the architect, and where he expanded the town as time went on. [Illustration: 83. NORTH SIDE OF KAHUN, SHOWING LINE OF TOWN WALL.] The general outline was a square mass; walled on [Illustration: 84. STEPS TO UPPER BUILDINGS ON HILL.] the west, north, and east sides, but open on the south to the Nile plain, and not fully built out in this direction. In this space were buildings adjoining the wall all round; within them a main street around three sides of a square block of buildings in the middle; and minor streets subdividing the buildings. Then outside the wall on the west the town was enlarged by a further space, also walled, and divided by a long main street, and cross streets all the way along it. The larger houses all have a court, or atrium, with columns around the middle of it, and in the centre a small stone tank let into the ground with a square of limestone around it five feet each way. These columns were sometimes of stone, sometimes of wood; with a simple abacus, or with a carved palm capital; octagonal, or fluted, or ribbed; but they always had large circular stone bases, which mostly remain in place in the rooms. The roofing was usually of beams, overlaid with bundles of straw, and mud-plastered; but many arched roofs of brickwork remain, some entire, others with only the lower part. The doorways were always arched in brickwork, and we know now for certain that the arch was not only known, but was in constant use by the early Egyptians. [Illustration: 85. BASKET WITH TOOLS. 1: 7.]