6月15日 星期六

上午赴旅行社打听船只，据云埃及轮船公司20日左右有一船“Zamzaur”开往远东，由Port Said至新加坡50镑（Tourist Class[旅游舱]），至Colombo [科伦坡]35镑。票价过昂，自无办法。

今日收到Sir Flinders Petrie[弗林德斯·皮特里爵士]的复信，系5月22日所发，可见现在邮递之不便。居然收到这位埃及考古学泰斗的复信，很是高兴。信中云：

Dear Mr.Shiah，I am greatly interested to hear that you have been working on my collection of Egyptian beads in Univ. Coll. London. There are three divisions of this — 1）the main collection in the tall glass cases，with whole strings of beads，2）the Late and Roman beads in the sloped-cases on tables，and 3）single beads and small groups which are of importance，in card-board boxes in the black chests of drawers. Special beads which you mention are probably in No.3.

I cannot identify，at all，the flint drills mentioned.

As to the emery，you must distinguish between solid material and aggregates.A sand of quartz is hard，but the aggregate in sandstone，commonly used in late Egyptian sculpture，is easily worked with a Chisel. The test of cutting with a knife only shows the aggregate hardness，but I always tested by pressing the specimen hearily on steel，so that the individual grains would give a resulting scratch.Such a scratch proves the hardness to be 6 or over.I think that this will account for the discrepancies which you name.

In your search for tomb cards，you will not find any of the earliest excavations used them，as they were introduced later. When I began to dig in 1880，there was no system of registration.The idea of the importance of groups had not yet arosen.

I have not got the 2nd edition of Lucas，so I do not know what his suggestion of a mistake in dating means.The impressed glass bead was found in an undisturbed tomb，very well dated.It was placed in a vase between the arms of the body and cannot have been dropped into the tomb in later times.

There are many other things we could discuss better by talking.Dr.Fisher remembers you well，and you would be welcome here，if you should happen to come again.I have all my Egyptian books here，including Denkmaeler and Rosellini，for your use here，and also a quantity of European archaeology，and classics.

You will find this a cooler place in the Summer than Cairo.

Yours Sincerely F.P.

[亲爱的夏先生：得知你近来一直在研究我在伦敦大学学院所藏埃及串珠，非常高兴。这藏品分三部分：[1] 高玻璃柜中的主要藏品——整串的珠子；[2] 桌上斜柜中的晚期及罗马时期串珠；[3] 抽屉之黑匣子里卡片盒所藏单个或小批重要珠子。你所提到的特殊串珠可能在No.3。

我无法找出你提及的燧石钻。

至于刚砂，你得分清坚实材料和聚集体。石英砂粒很硬，而埃及晚期雕刻常用的砂岩所含之聚集体则易于刻凿。用刀试刻只能显示聚集体的硬度，但我的办法是将标本放在钢板上施加重压，使一个个颗粒显出擦痕。这种痕迹表明其硬度为6级或更强。我想这当可解释你所说的差异。

你寻找墓葬卡片时，会找不到早期发掘的有关卡片，因为这种做法是后来定下来的。1880年我开始从事发掘时，还没有登记的制度。那时还不认识发现物组合的重要性。

卢卡斯的著作第二版我没有，所以我不知道他对断代手段方面的错误有何建议。有印痕的玻璃珠是在一座未曾扰动的墓中发现的，年代很清楚。此物原放在尸体双臂之间的容器里，所以不可能是晚世落入墓里的。

诸如此类的问题，我们的讨论以面谈为好。费希尔博士牢记着你，如你能再次前来，非常欢迎。我所藏有关埃及的书都在这里，包括Denkmaeler和罗塞利尼的著作，可供你在此使用，另外还有大量关于欧洲考古的书和经典著作。

你会发现这里的夏天比开罗凉爽。

你忠诚的 F.P.]