[Illustration:  TABLET AT SNEFERU AT WADY-MAGHARAH.]

Sneferu calls himself Neter aa, “the Great God,” and Neb mat, “the Lord of Justice.”  He is also “the Golden Horus,” or “the Conqueror.” Neb mat is not a usual title with Egyptian monarchs; and its assumption by Sneferu would seem to mark, at any rate, his appreciation of the excellence of justice, and his desire to have the reputation of a just ruler.  Later ages give him the title of “the beneficent king,” so that he would seem to have been a really unselfish and kindly sovereign.  His form, however, only just emerges from the mists of the period to be again concealed from our view, and we vainly ask ourselves what exactly were the benefits that he conferred on Egypt, so as to attain his high reputation.

Still, the monuments of his time are sufficient to tell us something of the Egypt of his day, and of the amount and character of the civilization so early attained by the Egyptian people.  Besides his own tablet in the Wady Magharah, there are in the neighbourhood of the pyramids of Ghizeh a number of tombs which belong to the officials of his court and the members of his family.  These tombs contain both sculptures and inscriptions, and throw considerable light on the condition of the country.

In the first place, it is apparent that the style of writing has been invented which is called hieroglyphical, and which has the appearance of a picture writing, though it is almost as absolutely phonetic as any other.  Setting apart a certain small number of “determinatives,” each sign stands for a sound—­the greater part for those elementary sounds which we express by letters.  An eagle is a, a leg and foot b, a horned serpent f, a hand t, an owl m, a chicken u, and the like.  It is true that there are signs which express a compound sound, a whole word, even a word of two syllables.  A bowl or basin represents the sound of neb, a hatchet that of neter, a guitar that of nefer, a crescent that of aah, and so on.  Secondly, it is clear that artistic power is considerable.  The animal forms used in the hieroglyphics—­the bee, the vulture, the uraeus, the hawk, the chicken, the eagle—­are well drawn.  In the human forms there is less merit, but still they are fairly well proportioned and have spirit.  No rudeness or want of finish attaches either to the writing or to the drawing of Sneferu’s time; the artists do not attempt much, but what they attempt they accomplish.

Next, we may notice the character of the tombs.  Already the tomb was more important than the house; and while every habitation constructed for the living men of the time has utterly perished, scores of the dwellings assigned to the departed still exist, many in an excellent condition.  They are stone buildings resembling small houses, each with its door of entrance, but with no windows, and forming internally a small