[Transcriber's Notes for e-book versions:
Hyphenation and accentuation are inconsistent, but are generally left as
found in the edition used for transcription. This edition may or may not
have completely replicated the 1915 edition of the book. Where changes
have been made, they are noted below. If you are using this book for
research, please verify any spelling or punctuation with another source.
A missing quotation mark was inserted at the beginning of this
paragraph: "It is difficult to imagine that Egypt should have obtained it
from Europe where the oldest find (in Hallstadt) cannot be of an earlier
period than 800 B.C., or from Asia, where iron is not known before 1000
B.C., and where, in the times of Ashur Nazir Pal, it was still used
concurrently with bronze, while iron beads have been only recently
discovered by Messrs. G.A. Wainwright and Bushe Fox in a predynastic
grave, and where a piece of this metal, possibly a tool, was found in the
masonry of the great pyramid."]