TOMB-FINDER ILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18601, 8 January 1924, Page 7

TOMB-FINDER ILL.

WORN OUT BY ANXIETY.

GOVERNMENT VEXATIONS.

Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 9.5 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 7. The special correspondent of the Morning Post at Lnxor telegraphs that Mr. Howard Carter is confined to his house owing to illness which can be traced to the exceedingly anxious time he has experienced recently. He gradually became worse until Friday when he was on the verge of collapse.

Meanwhile the tomb has been closed. Photographers are hard at work and other excavatorg are carefully noting on diagrams the position of each object found when the sarcophagus was opened. Eyewitnesses insist on the exquisite artistry of the sculpture on Tutankhamen's sarcophagus.

Only 18in. of the side of the sarcophagus can be seen, and the whole is 4ft. high, 3ft. broad and 6£ft. long. It is covered with the figures of gods and inscriptions which cannot be described in detail until the four gold-plated shrines in which it nestles are removed.

The correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency at Luxor reports that the Egyptian Government's interference with Mr. Carter is becoming intolerable. Mr. Carter is obviously ill owing to his anxieties and responsibilities. He was to be seen walking in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings wrapped in a heavy overcoat in the blazing sunlight. He hopes to lift the lid of the sarcophagus, in a fortnight, when further dramatic disclosures are certain.