PRIESTESS OF ILL OMEN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10574, 1 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

PRIESTESS OF ILL OMEN.

(By B. M. Hunter,)

This is the story of the mystery of Tchesei K.i R.., high priestess of Amen ■Ra, the dread deity of the Sun. Her mummy has ne\er been ti.iced, but the iirammj case lies m the prosaic surroundings of Bloomsbmy, the old-* fashioned London distuct which contains the woild-ramed Butish Museum. '■' To the malign influence of -this yellow coffin are attributed no less than seven deaths, besides a whole host of--■accidents, illnesses and minor "Strokes of ill-fortune l ' "Woe to him who injures .the tomb' The dead man shall pouffi qut the evil-' "" daei: to the Devburer- of the Under- ' World— - * * - Soul~and-body shall be destroyed, l " Thus chanted the ancient ,Egyptians as they low ered their sacred dead„ into the granite tombs in. the recesses^of the ' pyramids. They called on the chief of the powers of evil, the devourer of the underworld, to weave his'"spells 'about the coffin of the dead "pjriestes?i to'guaid her enithly frame frdm harm or decay, a'ridto wienie >i bitter vengeance on anv rash moital who should dare to despoil or del ace the sacred remains. ; , Egyptologists sometimes admit that their exclusions into the lost way£ of Egyptian histoid have biought them face to face with happenings, unaccountable- by Lhe standards of.' modern thought Did the priests of Egypt" lose their mysterious' powers with death 9 Certainly theie aie men hung who could, il they would —but they will not, for they feai—tell_styuige jStories of the influence "of the~mummies

of rulers of distant dynasties with which I the museums ot Euiope and Ameiic.i .ue stocked. Let the facts speak foi themselves in this London case. \ I<\ the inner loom of the Eg>ptian gallon, whole the most ancient mummies are stored, lies the ill-boding coffin. All ioiukl the mom the bnllf.iut cases stand like sentinels gnniding the quiet sleep of the mummies in 1 the glass eases that fill the centie of the loom. Each of these coffins is shaped to the exact lepiesentation ot the coipse that it onep enclosed. They aie c.nvsd out ot wood and bnghtly painted to lepiesent the gauuents and ornaments woin ■ during the lifetime of the deceased.

There, between the pictured eofhns of two dead Pharaohs, stands the coffm of Teheser Ka Ra, distinguished by the hlilliant vellov color of the lobes.

At fiist sight the- mummy case looks haimless enough. It repieseuts a woman in. the lobes of an Egyptian pn-estess. She is of medium'" .height, and lias a plain, almost good-natmed face, with the usual Egyptian slanting eyes and pouting lips «Inmmieiable preciotis stones aie painted lonnd her neck and m the folds of her voluminous 1 obes For she was a very iiotable lady m her day. Egj ptologists have declaied her to be the high pnestess. of the Temple of the Sun at Thebes As such Tchesei Ka Ra was, after Phaiaoh, the most impoitant personage in Egvpt She enjoyed an immense foitune, and was of loyal descent, foi in the icnowned temple of Amen Ra, the sun god, only the daughteis of thePliaiaohs were eligible to seive As high priestess, Tcheser Ka Ka was admitted jnto all the daik «eoiets of the Theban temple She knew how the Egyptian pnests changed the Nde into .blood and tinned their staves into seipents at the challenge of Moses Possibly she tuts .1 witness of the tions on hei coffin point to the fact that the pnestess was living 111 Eg l , pt 111 1600 BC , the pei lod w hen the Isiaelites took their stoimj depaitme fiom the land » Nothing .is known of the .mummy coipse of Tchesei Ka Ra. It has even been conjectmed by Egyptologists that the coffin was never occupied, for the following leason Even one of the pnestesses ot the snn temple was sacuficed to the oiocodiles of the Nile to cnsiac the continued favoi of the Resplendent One, the sun-god Scholais have decipheied the Aihole scene Irom the papyius lolls found in the temple Eveij >eai the most beautiful and distinguished maiden 111 the Theban temple was (ihosen to be the "divine wife" of Amen Ra, the sun-god Foi eleven months she lived in the temple, ruling it m the name of her celestial husband and tieated as .1 goddess heiself. Then, amid the sound of music, and_the weeping and wailing of women, she was decked 111 the most magnificent 10bps, clowned with floweis, and flung to the" hungn jaws of the ciocodiles that ciowded lound the .sides of the gieat dam in xhe nvei Nile

The bod} of the "divine wife" was of ooi" se neici icooveied J3ut the most exact iitcs of bunal weie perfaimed and hoi spmt was solemnly invoked to come ancl 'dwell within the empty coffin that was hid in the gorgeously cai"ed saicophagus and fill it w lth magic poteuc\ No mystic spells weie omitted to gnaid the imnnnr, case that enclosed the spint of tho divine bnde oi the sun and to call down disaster on whocvci molested it An Aiab some twenty \ears ago, fust discovered the mumm\ case of Tohesci Ka Ra This man had been lent h\ Mustapha Ah to a pait\ of five nichfcologists who weie exploring the granite nuns of the Theban temple ' Poi bonis they had been eeaichuig imitlessly under tho bnlliant blue >-k\, suffeung gieatH fiom the to'nd heat and the mosquitoes It was not until nightfall that the Aiab oame upon the treasuie amid tho ruins of a giamte saipophagns In eager excitement the five exploicis bent ovei the yellow eoflm of tho pnestcss. A hand--t ire lcwaid was paid to the Aiab, J or the inscriptions showed that the find belonged to an ancient and \cn nrceiestmg peuod But oven in the fust glow of their success tho gum.shadow of the ouise began to fall on tlin little band Half .an horn aftoiwaids a gun exploded foi no nppaicnt leason, inflicting such despeiate lnfunes on then leadc. that bis light aim had to\be amputated Tho next a similailv mystenous shooting accident teiminated +he life of a second membei of the pai by and tho same night the mail In ought the news to two otheis"that they had lost the bulk of their -fortunes The fifth archaeologist lemained unscathed. He bought then lights in the mummy case from his poveity-stneken companions and returned with his puze to England Heic he presented Tchesei' JKa Ra to a favonte sister, never di earning of the ill-luck attaching to the gift. Tho English lady, delighted with the quaint figure of the | pilesless; placed it»in the enhance hall of hei peaceful English country home. Fiom that moment misfortune followed misfoitnno m the house , Sickness, financial losses and every known form of trouble pursued its inmates without ceasing, just as they had pmsued the little band of aichaiologists who lnd first set eyes on Tcheser-Ka Ra's ill'-omcned face No thought as yet aiose pf connecting the priestess of Amen Ra with this chant of 111-for; time On the contraij, the daughter of the Phaioahs w as an honored ',iriembefc <>f- the- English so-mitch attached did the family become, to Tilija yellow figure that they resolved _so have the mummy case photographed.' A, photogiapher .was sent for He ananged his camera m the hall,*one' Tjright day m June, and 'took a verr satisfactory picture of the priestess-of Amen Ra standing m fiont of \) indow, 'with the great branches of ~ait elm tiee in the garden without'- dimly showing behind- the £ solemn.- draped Spue. ' ' "" , s , Contentedly the photographer returned home to 'develop the negative. As he diev. the negative from the developing bath lie saw ho had a beautiful 'eleaj print, but as lie looked again, the smile died out of his face. What had happened to the photograph o Had someone been playing tricks with his plates ° This was not the face he had seen depicted on the coffin cover, contented, amiable, the face of Tcheser Ka Ra, as the English family knew her. The' photograph disclosed, instead, the countenance of a fierce, malignant woman, .with-a diabolical expression; reflecting, one might think, the . terrors ■ of some ghastly.place of torment! Horrified, the young photographer . deliberately destroyed the photograph. He wrote to his client stating he had had an accident in developing the negative and asking for a. second sitting. This time he took every precaution to assure himself against the least••possibility of trickery.. He bought a fresh set'of, plates from a distant .-manufacsturer. , He. examined them minutely, ;assur!;i! himself they were intact, and

sealed tliem up eaiofrdh until lho\ woio lequned foi use. r Jho result was identical' Thoie it v .is again, the same diabolical, malignant lace staling up at lum horn the as he diew it fiotn the bath. iSt>gatnc in hand, he went to his client and told the w hole stcn \ In his excitement the unhappj artist used expressions deiogatory to the nicrnoiT. oi the depaited puestess Apparently he brought upon himself the \engqance oi the devourer of "the undcr-woild /At l any late the death of llic phoiogi aphcr followed with tiagic swiftness Confronted urth this grim tuin of events the owner of the coffin determined to nd hei-seit of the emse The mummj case was" realh valuable and ..she leadih deposed of it to the UntisJi Museum Ot the ;Lw'o earners who eonve$ r cd tho cblßn to the museuni, one died within the week and, the other broke lus aim and lost Ins employment Diumg the month that followed the installation of Tchesei. K.v Ra m the -Egyptian loom two of tho attendants, died suddcnlj Rumois began to spiead of tho evil ej'o of-tho puestess (ft Amen Ra, and the authorities soon had consideiahle difficnlt\ in inducing officials to stav in the loom So st'iong did the feeling become that foi <i lime the niiimnn ease was consigned s to the cellars Xow , however, Tenesmi Ka Ra has lotnineil to hei place - in iho JGg\ptian gallon The official in chaige oi tlie 100m —.1 bluff, florid man in the peaked cap and neat blue seige uiufmni oi tlie museum attendants —was cuiiously teaeived and deferential m his speech about the priestess There weic stories afloat, he admitted that. He believed theinhiinselt to a certain extent He w is, an old soldiei, and had seen service m Eg^pt. Thcie ho had heaid tales oi what happened to people who acted disiespectfully tow aids mummies Thoie w-ps an ofhcei, thej told of, who earned oft a coffin on which was engiavcd the tin eat that if the man bmied theiem was distutbed lij a thief, the bod} oi that thief would be scattered in death. Tho officer ndiculcd the beliel, \ut soon afteiwards he was torn in pieces l>\ a wild elephant when on a shooting expedition

"Treat her civil,"''■concluded the attendant, pointing to the distant yellow figure of the priestess of Anion Ra. ''That's what "1 say. Treat her ei\il, and she'll bchavo as a lady should* That's my belief and I act upon it." But the latest stage in the weird stoiy of the Egyptian priestess is no loss mystifying than tho previous fatalities and misfortunes her- mummy case' brought about.

When the strange story of the priestess of tho sun became, rumored abroad, a great demand for photographs sprang up and an enterprising Bloomsbury pie-, tore dealer named Davies obtained permission to have another portrait taken. Up to that moment Davies bad been a brisk, clear-sighted man, a familiar figure' standing at the door of his fine art gallery in Museum street. From tho moment'he touched tho •ill-omened

mummy case darkness closed in upon him.

I Ho struggled bravch against it. ITe imdcrw ent no less than 27 operations in tho endeavor to preserve his eyesight. But in his own opinion the thing that saved him the remnant of his sight he has managed to retain was. the total clearance he effected of every photograph of Tchcser Ka Ra m his possession. Davies remains a firm'..believer in the evil eye of the priestess of the sun and a final instance ol it may be given in his own words: ' "An influential client of mine came to see me while my eyes were so bad. He was a gentleman, of 'fortune.' and position and used to pay me very good prices 'for pictures. When I told him about the evil influence of the mummy case he was highly amused. He bought a largo photograph of tho priestess and told me ho would pin it against his wall and use it as a target for revolver practice. -He wanted to slituv, you see, that lip was proof against wliat he ca'led childish superstition.

"In less than two months that same gentleman back to sco me. Ho looked very ill, 1 thought. Prescntly he told me that he had buried the photograph of the mummy case in the garden. From tho first moment it hiiu brought him nothing but misfortune. So terrified did ho become of the malice of the Egyptian, priestess that he was afraid to burn it. He buried it three feet deep in the ground, where he hoped bis ill-luck u'oulfl remain also," A w r ell-known English journalist, Fletcher Robinson,!went into the matter at great length. He saw something amusing in the story of the curse of ,Tchcser Ka Its, and when he was cut off suddenly in the flower ol :- brilliant career, there were not wanting friends to declare that he was a victim himself of the evil eye of v the priestess of \the sun. • i

Now it is lepoited lh.it a v.c.lthv Amencnn, an .ut colleotei of woildwjcle lepufcp, has ofleied £2OOO foi the niiimmv caso <A Tchcsei K.i Ra, high pnestess ot Amen Ha I'ciKips the puiirjmg influence of tJic new woild will seive io nullifv tho cuise of this votaiy of tho old, and the blight of Tehesei K,i Ra, may he w alted a\\a\ foi evei In tlio hesh hieezes ol the Atlantic t *