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Fig. 19. Filling and carrying, at Abydos.

Fig. 20. Filling and carrying, at Abydos.

It may be mentioned that the workers are always expected to provide their own picks and baskets in Egypt; while ropes, crowbars, and other tools only occasionally wanted are found by the master. If the daily tools were also provided, they would soon be spoiled, and need constant attention; it is bad enough to have to check and take care of ropes and special tools. The baskets brought up need to be looked at for size, especially those of local boys. When choosing boys, a fair size of basket should be insisted on as a condition of employment; and if small or broken baskets are brought up afterwards, the boy should be turned off, in order to bring a proper basket next day.

Rewards.

The two objects of excavations are (1) to obtain plans and topographical information, and (2) to obtain portable antiquities. For the purpose of securing antiquities it is necessary to guard against the ignorance, the carelessness, and the dishonesty of the men employed. The best way to protect the interests of the work is to give rewards for all the things that are found, commonly called “the bakhshish system.” If only half-a-dozen men are employed, and the master will take care to see that they never touch the work except while he is watching them, it may be practicable to do without bakhshish. But in the ordinary course of having one or two hundred men and boys at work over a large area, it is essential to pay partly by results, at least in the East; in Greece, owing to the large claims of the Government, this is scarcely practicable.