EGYPT AND THE NILE.

Oxford Observer, Volume VIII, Issue VIII, 17 April 1897, Page 3

EGYPT AND THE NILE.

And now a startling incident or

flies fast in Egypt. Already it was known far and wide that these kings and queens of ancient time were being 1 conveyed to Cairo, and for more than fifty miles below Thebes the villagers turned out en masse, not merely to stare at the piled decks as the steamers went by, but to show respect to the illustrious dead, Women with dishevelled hair running along the banks and shrieking the death-wail, men ranged in solemn silence and firing their guns in the air, greeted the pharoahs as they passed. Never, assuredly, did history repeat itself more strangely than when Barneses and his peers, after more than three thousand years of sepulchre, were borne along the Nile with fuueral honors. The following, tabulated as nearly as possible in chronological order, is a list of the principal royal personages found as mummies, or represented by their empty mummy cases : XVHth Dynasty. (Circa b. c. 1750 to b. c. 1462.) 1. King Basekenen Taken, 2. Queen Ansera. XVIIIth. Dynasty. (Circa b o. 1703 to b.o 1462.) 3. King Ahmes Ba-neb-pehti, 4. 4. Queen Ahmes Norlretari, 5. Queen Merit-Amen, 6. King Amenhotep 1. 7. Queen Honttimoohoo, 8. King Thotmes 1., 9. KingThotmes 11., 10. King Thotmes 111., 11. Queen Sitka. XlXth. Dynasty. (Circa b.c. to b.c. 1288.) 12. King Barneses 1., 13. King Seti 1., 14. King Barneses 11. ' XXth. Dynasty. (Circa b.c. 1288 to b.c. 1100.) Not represented. XXlst. Dynasty. (Circa b.c. 1110 to b.o. — ) 15. Queen Notem-Maut, 16. King Pinotem L, 17. Queen Hathor Honttau, 18. King Pinotem 11., 19. Queen Makara., 20. Prince and High- Priest Masahiriti., 21. Princess Nasi.Khonsu, 22. Queen Isi-em-Kheb. Besides the above, there were found some minor royalties and priestly personages of both sexes, as the Princesses Meshonttimoohoo and SetAmen, the Prrinces Set-Amen and Tat-Ptah-f-ankih, the Priest Nebseni, the Lady Tauhirt, Songstress of Amen, various court functionaries, etc. etc., all of tbe XVIIIth. and XXlst. Dynasties. On reading this list, the mind at once assumes an attitude of inquiry. How comes it, we ask, that so many royal mummies, of periods so widely separated, are found gathered together in a single vault ? Were they not originally buried in sepulchres of their own ? if so, why were they not suffered to repose "each in his own house" ? When were they taken thence, and why deposited en masse in the later resting-phce ? These are questions which need to be answered separately, and at some length.