On Thursday evening, Mr. Goodwin read a paper to the
Society of Antiquaries upon some Hieratic papyri which he has lately deciphered. It appears that M. Chaba,s, a French Egyptalegist, has been engaxed upon the same papyri (which are facsimiled in Lepsiu.s's " Denkmalor "), and has just published his translation of SlOMEI portions of them. This agrees, in the main, with that which Mr. Goodwin has arrived at independently, the differences being no greater than those which may occur between two translators of a Hebrew or other ancient text. And the text translated is not a short inscription, concerning the meaning of which two scholars might by accident blunder into agreement—it is a story of three hundred lines, relating the adventures of an Asiatic wanderer about B.C. 2,400, that is, before the date usually assigned to Abraham. This person flees from the Court of King Ammenemas I. into Ethiopia, where he is hospitably entertained, marries the daughter of a chief, and grows a rich man. In his old age he longs to return to Egypt, and writes to the King for pardon. The King returns a gracious answer, and a copy of his letter is given. The adventurer describes his return to Egypt, the awe with which the King's presence inspired him, the mistaken zeal of the courtiers, who, fancying that the King is about to punish the fugitive, cry out that he is guilty ; the turning of the tables by the King, who pronounces him innocent, instals him in a splendid house with a handsome '4-pension, builds him a magnificent tomb, and continues to smile upon him till the day of his death. This story has all the appear- ance of genuine history. Another, of a more legendary character, from the same papyri, is to form the subject of a paper to be read by Mr. Goodwin next Thursday.
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