TOMB OF TUTANKHAMEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20288, 22 December 1927, Page 7

TOMB OF TUTANKHAMEN.

Mr lan Hay, the well-known novelist, writing on “Modern Egypt” in the Cornhill Magazine, has some interesting things to say about the tombs the modern tourists see. Ho writes: The centre of attraction to day is, of course, the tomb of Tutankhamen. It is surrounded by other tombs, long ago discovered and cleared. It seems strange that this particular treasure house should have lain hidden for so many centuries, considering the extreme enterprise of the ancient tomb riflors. Only one other tomb in tho whole valley—that of Amenhotep II —has escaped their attentions. To enter Tutankhamen's tomb is to recall irresistible memories of Wembley Exhibition, or even of Madame Tussaud’s. The rock passage leading to the chamber is oarpented with drugget, and there is a wooden handrail running down the middle to separate those entering from those emerging. The passage and tomb are lit by electric light, and _ only a limited number of visitors is admitted at a time. There is not exactly a turnstile at the entrance, but there is everything else. Your walking flick is taken from you, ns at the Royal Academy, and persons with kodaks receive short shrift. Some of tho neighbouring tombs are more interesting and much larger. Perhaps the most memorable of all is tho tomb of Thothmes 111, of the eighteenth dynasty—- “ a little man with a big nose.” His name means nothing now, but he was the greatest conqueror the world over saw, with tho exception of Alexander and Napoleon. ... He was brought up by his stepmother, a notable lady. She was also his mother-in-law —a formidable combination. Her name was Hatshepsut, and sue was the Queen Elizabeth of her tune. Besides bringing Thothmes up, she held him down, with an iron hand, and Thothmes never forgave her. All over Egypt to-day you will find the usual effigies, statues, and other records of tne great queen ;and every single one of them has been methodically chipped ano obliterated out of recognition, over every inch of its surface, by her successor. It must have been a labour of years to do the tiling so thoroughly, but Thothmes evidently regarded it as a labour of love. Human nature does not seem to have altered much in the last three or four thousand years. This Thothmes, by the way, erected at Karnak, an to commeinorli tc his third jubilee. Jb.it obelisk now stands on tho Thames Embankment- and I.ondonors call it CleoNeedle. They might as well call the Co’-onation Stone in the Abbey tho Albert 'Memorial.