James Henry Breasted / Sudan — Near the Island of Tumbos /...

James Henry Breasted / Sudan — Near the Island of Tumbos / Thursday, January 10, 1907 / Source : Oriental Institute — photograph P. 6332 / via : uncertaintimes
“Two miles below us was the island of Tumbos, opposite which on the granite boulders of the eastern shore, are engraved the triumphant memorials of Thutmose I. Here a vast dam or ridge of granite, cropping out in huge boulders and headlands, sweeps out of the far horizon of the Eastern Desert in an imposing line right across the channel of the river, causing the obstructions to which the Third Cataract, or its first bad rapid is due. Evidently Thutmose I issuing here at the head of the cataract in the first Egyptian conquest of this region, found this the proper place for the memorials of his conquest. Five triumphal stelae adorn the boulders of the east side. The largest containing 18 lines of inscriptions is an invaluable historical document, containing the earliest mention of the River Euphrates in an Egyptian record, and furnishing the earliest evidence of Egyptian expansion thither. The wind was insufficient to allow us to drop down into the rapids, and moor at Tumbos Island, so we crossed the river from Badin, and went down for two miles to the stelae. The large one is on a huge conical boulder 25 feet high. The boulder has, since the engraving of the monument, fallen on its side at an angle of 45°, at the same time falling backward to about the same angle. This double obliquity made photographing intensely difficult. Our first day’s work on it was almost a failure. Returning home Tuesday evening (January 8) after fruitless efforts to adjust the camera, I built a wooden triangle, with clamps for attaching it to the top of our photographic ladder. I mounted the big camera on this, and yesterday morning, with some additional adjustment, we were able to tilt the camera to the proper side-ward incline for taking the big stone. The negatives have been developed and are a perfect success. Meanwhile Davies and I had also exhaustively collated the monument, securing several new readings, while the large photographs, each giving one quarter of the inscribed surface, are the first facsimiles ever made.”