            Graeco-Roman Museum
                   Rue du Musee
                     Alexandria
                               
Mr Matthew Faulkner            
Poste Restante                 
Savoy Palace Hotel             
                               
Dear Mr Faulkner.              
                               
         Thank you for your    
recent letter, enquiring about 
the procedure for obtaining    
archeological excavation       
permits.  I do not normally    
involve myself with such       
matters, but as you come       
recommended by a friend of many
@years, I shall be pleased to  
do what I can to help.  These  
things take time in Egypt, so I
suggest that you visit me here 
at the Museum as soon as       
convenient once you arrive in  
Alexandria.  I look forward to 
seeing you then.               
                               
          Yours cordially.     
                               
           George Leyton-Stone%       Thomas Cook & Son       
         Ludgate Circus        
             London            
                               
                               
        Letter of Credit       
                               
                               
     This letter of credit may 
be drawn upon at all major     
clearing banks for a sum not   
in excess of five thousand     
pounds sterling, and not more  
than one thousand two hundred  
and fifty pounds in any single 
transaction.                   
                               
                               
                              %Mr George Stanhope             
Savoy Palace Hotel             
                               
Dear Mr Stanhope.              
                               
         I am delighted to be  
able to tell you so soon that I
believe I have found a truly   
remarkable item, with which I  
think you will be delighted.   
Not knowing your schedule, I   
have arranged to be in the     
Savoy Palace bar at eleven this
morning, and look forward to   
seeing you there.              
                               
                Ariadne Elytis%Mr Stanhope                    
                               
             I MUST meet you.  
Come to the Gardens of Paradise
Cafe, and Abdul will take you  
to me.  This is a matter of    
life and death.  Tell no-one   
you are coming.                
                               
          Ariadne Elytis      %      EASTERN TELEGRAPHS       
         Sender's Copy         
                               
Addressee: A.S. Doucha, 6-7    
Moumhane Yaldiz Han, Galata,   
Constantinople.                
                               
      FOLLOWING MEETING WITH   
YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, CONFIRM   
SAMPLES SATISFACTORY.  TERMS   
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MIXED ORDER COMPRISING: BUTTER 
100 TINS; GLUCOSE, COOKING OIL,
TOMATO SAUCE (50 BARRELS EACH);
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VIA SS FEZARA - KHEDIVIAL MAIL 
LINE.                          
                  AL-RASCHID   
@     EASTERN TELEGRAPHS       
         Sender's Copy         
                               
Addressee: A.S. Doucha, 6-7    
Moumhane Yaldiz Han, Galata,   
Constantinople.                
                               
     CONFIRM DELIVERY          
FOLLOWING: BUTTER, 8 TINS;     
GLUCOSE, 5 BARRELS; OIL, 7     
BARRELS; SAUCE, 3 BARRELS;     
SANDALS 99LBS.                 
                  AL-RASCHID   
@     EASTERN TELEGRAPHS       
         Sender's Copy         
                               
Addressee: Protopapas, 114     
Caledar Yukusu, Constantinople.
                               
	GOODS DISTRIBUTED TO   
RETAILERS.  PAYMENT OF Eś6,000 
FOLLOWS BY BEARER DRAFT ON     
IMPERIAL OTTOMAN BANK.         
                   AL-RASCHID %Cased Scroll.                  
                               
No Inventory Number.           
                               
     The case is approximately 
eighteen inches long, by six   
deep, and seven wide at its    
widest point.  Material carved 
and gilded wood.  Composite    
design suggests Graeco-Roman   
era if genuine.                
                               
    The papyrus scroll inside  
responded well to brief        
humidification.  On the back,  
and visible before the papyrus 
was unrolled, is an inscription
in Greek.  'Biblion Kayrukeion'
@Book of the Staff of Serpents?
No sign of Alexandrian Library 
tag, or other record of number 
of books and lines in scroll.  
                               
      Text of the scroll is in 
demotic, a good hand, with     
hieroglyphic inclusions.  First
of these gives title again?    
Final determinative may be     
mistaken writing of djam       
sceptre for nu adze, but Great 
of Magic as title of Isis is   
written correctly below.  Check
for other references in text to
clarify.                       
                               
   Demotic text seems to be a  
@spell of summoning of Thoth   
for divination, then mention of
spells for binding or          
controlling, then another of   
summoning, but the sense is    
eluding me.  I will come back  
to it later.  The hieroglyphic 
passages can be summarised thus
                               
  The scroll of magic whose    
  name is Book of (The Staff)  
  'Great of Magic'             
  She is Isis, Great of Magic, 
  Daughter of Serpents, living 
  forever                      
  Cause that she learn thy     
  secret name                  
  The stars shall be in their  
@ right stations at the right  
  time                         
  Then she shall summon him by 
  his true name                
  Let our mighty lord hearken  
  to us                        
  Thoth, Great of Terror, his  
  fear is throughout all lands 
  Beware lest ye say the spell 
  to awaken the Eternal Serpent
  Do not awaken him            
                               
     The title of Thoth is most
unusual.  It recalls that of   
Tuthmosis III on the Ashburnham
Ring, but is far stronger;     
terror, rather than respect or 
awe, is meant here.            
@       Long narrative passage 
in demotic text next.  The     
sense is much clearer, so much 
so that I will get the sense   
down first, and note points of 
grammar later.  It is as if the
text lets itself be read here. 
                               
  The prince Neferkaptah was   
sent a vision by Thoth, which  
took him to a city of serpents,
guarded by an endless serpent, 
in the Land of the Dead, in the
midst of the Sea of Coptos.    
There, inside a series of      
boxes, iron, bronze, wood,     
ebony, ivory, silver, and then 
gold, was the book which Thoth 
@wrote with his own hand, the  
book which governs the return  
of the stars.  His blood was   
mingled with that of the       
serpents, and theirs with his  
children through their mothers.
Then he took the book that was 
in the city, and bound its     
people with one of the spells  
that was in it.  His daughters 
kept secret the true name of   
Thoth until the stars should be
right, and his sons left the   
company of men when the blood  
of their fathers showed in     
them.                          
                               
    Then another passage, what 
@seems to be a spell.          
                               
  When the stars are right, the
way shall be opened for him who
opens the way for the Old Gods.
You shall say Wedja! (open!)   
and it shall open. (I think    
this is right, that it is a    
command, otherwise it would    
read 'You shall speak to open  
it'.)  Their servants shall    
have power over all things.    
Fire shall destroy the world   
and a new one take its place.  
                               
   This is no fake.  Style and 
script too consistent for that,
and point to date in late      
@Ptolemaic era.  Apocalyptic   
prophecies common then, and the
Sibylline prophecies foretold  
destruction of the world by    
fire in the reign of a widow   
queen.  (Last Cleopatra called 
'widow' as she reigned without 
a king.)  Together with case,  
content of scroll suggests this
may be teachings of a mystery  
cult.  Key secrets, such as the
'true' name of Thoth, would    
have been passed on orally, so 
likely to be many cryptic      
references.  But why is some of
it so easy to read?  It is as  
if I can only read what it     
wants me to read.              
@   Next section.  Spell 'to   
know when the stars shall be   
right'.  The 'dark star' is   %
