EGYPT AND THE NILE.

Oxford Observer, Volume VIII, Issue VIII, 10 April 1897, Page 3

EGYPT AND THE NILE.

A .-few- yards farther^ still} and-they b tood <Q;n r .t;he threshold,;©^ a, ; sepulchral chamber lileraUy^piled to the roof . with., sarcophagi .of enormous size. Brilliajat with gilding and colour, an&ashighly ■varnished as if but ; yesterday turned., out from the workshops. of. the Metnnouium, the decorations of these co'iins showed them to belong to the period of the Pinotems and Pinankhis. Here was fpund Queen NotemMaufc, wife of Her-Hor, the first Priesfe-King cf the Amendite dynasty. Hera lay King Pinotem 1., King Pinotem 11.. Qu°en Makara, Queen Isi-oui-Kheb, Prince and High-Priest Masahirti, Princess Nasi-Khonsu, and others of the same lineage. Everything, m short, went to prove that this chamber was the family vault of of the descendants of Her-Hor, who, for some reason of expediency, would seem to have given sepulchral hospitality to their predecessors of foregone time. To enumerate all the treasures found m this chamber would be to write a, supplement to the catalogue of the Boolak Museum. Enough that each member of the Amenide famil/ was buried *vith the ordinary mortuary outfit, consisting of vases, libation jirs, funeral stotuetts, etc. Richer m these other- world goods than any of the reit was Queen Isi-em-Kheb, daughter of Prince Masahirti and wile to her uncle, King Menkheperra. Besides statuetts, libation jars, and

the like, she was provided with a sumptuous funeral repasp, consisting of gazelle haunches, trussed geese, calves' heads, dried grapes, dates, dom-palm nuts, and the like, the meat? heing mummified and bandaged, and the whole packed m a large rush hamper, sealed with her husband's unbroken seal. Nor was her sepulchral toilet forgotten. With her were found her ointment bottles, a set of alabaster cups, some goblets of exquisite variegated glass, and a rcarveilous collection of huge full-dress wigs, curled and frizzled, and inclosed each m a separate basket. As the food was entombed with her for her refreshment, so were these things deposited m the grave for her use and adornment at that supreme hour of bodily resurrection when the justified dead, fed, clothed, perfumed, and anointed, should go forth from the sepulchre into everlasting day. The rest oi this- strange story is soon told. Without loss of an I our, •Herr Etnil Brugsch proceeded to remove the treasure. : Three hundred Arabs were summoned from the nearest villages, and those three hundred working as ' Arabs can work, without, rest, without sleep, through the burnr ing days and sultry nights of an Egyptian July, not only succeeded m completely clearing out the contents of the hiding- place, within forty-eight hqurs, but m five days- from the time when MM. Brugsch "and Kernel were first lowered down the shaft, they had packed the whole.pf the objects m sail :cloth and mattingy carried: them down .across the plain of Thebes, and rowed them over to Luxor, in'readmes3 for •cmbarkaddon... v ■;-■:., •■■-.tr--::. -:•.,•:; — :- - Some of the-larger sarcaphagi, asj for v insta"iiceV' those of- Queen. Ahmes, Nofretari and Prince Masahiriti, were of such superior enormous size and weight- tiiat it. : took .sixteen, men to ' move. them.. -•— Only those -who know - the place, the climate, and the scarcity of mechanical -appliances. in provincial Egypt can- appreciate . this 'statement at its full value; ..Professor; Maspero'j m Iris-address to- the Oriental Cbngressj at -Berlin , > f September, 1881 ,)' and] agaih-'tfri "Ms- o'€?cfftl report to the: Minister of Public Instrrictitin (1882),: tak es- occasion - - tefr° warmly extol" " the energy, vigilance,-— iirrd \ endurance displayed • throughout • this 'difficult enterprise by Herr "Ehiil* Brugsch and Shrned Effendi Kernel." T'" ' ' The^ ; -steamers "meanwhile had not yet arrived,- and for three days and nightg'jthe rruseuin 'officials guarded their treasure'iff the midst of a hostile population, every msmber of which looked upon Ahmed Ab^-er-Rasoul as a martyr, upon Mahommed Abd-er Rasovsl as a traitor, and upon tombbreaking as the legitimate trade of the place. On the fourth morning, bowever, the "baboors" (steamers) made their appearance, received their august freight, and steamed for Boolak.