THE ROYAL MUMMY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18325, 15 February 1923, Page 7

THE ROYAL MUMMY.

« DESECRATION " OPPOSED. SIR R. HAGGARD'S PROTEST. United Service. LONDON. Feb. 13. Sir Rider Haggard, in a letter to the Times, suggests that after the necessary X-Rays examination and wax models have been made, Tutenkhamun's mummy should be sealed up in a chamber of the great pyramid in such fashion that only completo destruction of the pyramid would reveal it. Sir Rider says: " Relics of people who, in their way, were as great as we are, and certainly more religious, should be sacred. It is indecent and unholy to put the mummies of great kings in a glass case in the Cairo Museum to rot and become the merry jest of tourists. The greatest horror by which the Pharaohs were obsessed was the fear of the desecration of their tombs. I ones took a small share in this unhallowed game, and regard ft as not the least among my errors."

A mannequin used for the trying on of the King's robes is among the noteworthy withdrawals from the niewly-found tomb of Tutenkhamun It is in perfect condition. A life-size model of the King, it is a bust without arms. It is also a portrait of Tutenkhamun, and. the crown is of the finest chiselled and painted giltOther objects include a tray containing pieces of gilded wood which are the detachable parts of a movable canopy erected over the King wren resting on a journey. A second but dilapidated chariot: baskets for fruit, one partitioned like a modern hora d'oeuvres dish; and a horsehair fly whisk with a leopardheaded gilt handle,.have, also been found.