In early 1909, the artist Brian Hatton, moved with the Flinders Petrie Expedition to Memphis. In a letter to his mother dated 23 February 1909 he wrote,'The other day I took a donkey and went ot the Pyramid of Sakkara and to several sculptured tombs nearby, also the Serapeum, where the sacred bulls were buried ..... we can see no less than 11 pyramids from our house ..... This is the only place in Egypt where there is a forest of palm trees.'