Page:Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, Vol. 32--Legends of the Gods.pdf/44

 

I.

text of the remarkable Legend of the Creation which forms the first section of this volume is preserved in a well-written papyrus in the British Museum, where it bears the number 10,188. This papyrus was acquired by the late Mr. A. H. Rhind in 1861 or 1862, when he was excavating some tombs on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes. He did not himself find it in a tomb, but he received it from the British Consul at Luxor, Mustafa Âgha, during an interchange of gifts when Mr. Rhind was leaving the country. Mustafa Âgha obtained the papyrus from the famous hiding-place of the Royal Mummies at Dêr-al-Baḥari, with the situation of which he was well acquainted for many years before it became known to the Egyptian Service of Antiquities. When Mr. Rhind came to England, the results of his excavations were examined by Dr. Birch, who, recognizing the great value of the papyrus, arranged to publish it in a companion volume to Facsimiles of Two Papyri, but the death of Mr. Rhind 