are disposed through the two cases (42, 43) which the visitor should
now examine. In the first division are some palm-leaf baskets; wooden
mallets, one found in the masonry of the great pyramid at Abooseir;
and staves; in the second division a large variety of curious tools is
exhibited, including Egyptian saws, bradawls, chisels, an adze, axe
blades, knives of bronze, generally inscribed with hieroglyphics,
hones, bronze nails; mysterious bronze tools, the use of which is
unknown, all interesting to those who are in any way interested in the
history of the wonderful people who inhabited the valley of the Nile,
and wielded these tools there, when our island was an untilled desert.
The third division of the case contains strange handles decorated with
the popular lotus flower, fragments of an ivory gorget, with figures
of various animals oddly grouped upon it; various fragments of
carving, and pedestals bearing inscriptions; and in the fourth, or
last, division of the case are various baskets, coloured and plain.
The first division of the next case (44, 45) is also given up to
palm-leaf baskets of various descriptions, which the visitor should
examine as illustrating the perfection to which the workers of the
palm-leaf brought their handicraft. Leaving the tools and baskets
behind, the visitor will now approach the