PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 63

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

BURIED TREASURE. Doubtless many of my young friends Bave read some of the cables relating to the uncovering of Egyptian treasures of Almost priceless value. “Touchstone, ’ in tile Daily Mail, expresses his feelings in the following verses: — treasure of kings they found in Egypt’s sands. O! that that golden moment had been mine t? 3 ien the door yielded to those eager hands And the old splendours of an ancient line through three and thirty centuries concealed To wondering eyes were finally revealed! Have you not dreamed, dear reader, of the joy . That comes to him w r ho seeks in such an hour ? Which of us has not known it since a boy, This lure of buried gold whose wondrous power Can draw men forth to isles where lieth , hid The blood-bespattered ioot of Captain Kidd!? Treasure that lures the searcher to the deeps, •To wrecks with weed-grown skeleton* aboard; T° jungles where the deadly serpent creeps; » To ruin that conceals the abbot’s hoard; To ancient temples wliere the secret stone Opes at a touch the way to wealth unknown! Ol for the courage to adventure forth Upon that eager quest no matter wheTe, By seas of eastPor west or south or north, .Seeking the wonders that lie buried there, In teeming city or in desert place. Ana know t’-.e lapture of that splendid chase! * * * » LAYING BARE A ROYAL TOMB. In the same paper I find an instructive article by Arthur Weigall, late Inspectorgeneral of Antiquities to the Egyptian Government, in which he deals with the discoveries. He terms them the greatest archaeological discovery ever made in Bgypt m modern times, and rightly believes a few words in regard to the excavations and to site on which thev are being conducted will be opportune. The Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, where the find was made, is a desert ravine lying behind the barren cliffs and hills winch form the mighty walls of the Nile i Vailev, on the western bank of the river, Borne 450 miles above Cairo. Here the Pharaohs of the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties (1550-1090 b.c.) were laid to rest in sepulchres cut into the sides of the hills, the burial chambers being deep down in the solid rock, approached bv flights of steps and corridors, generally ornamented with rich wall-paintings and bas-reliefs. . Many of these tombs have stood open since ancient times, bu* others, mostly of the earlier period, have remained concealed under tons of rock chippings and gravel until the picks of modern excavators have uncovered them. A more or less systematic clearance of this surface debris around the whole vallev was begun in 1903 by Mr Howard Carter, and twoi royal tombs, both plundered in ancient times, were discovered. In 1905 the work was continued bv the present writer and Mr Quibell, and resulted in the finding of the famous tomb of the parent of Queen Tiy (1400 8.c.), in which a mass of wonderful antiquities was found. In the following vears the writer supervised the excavations which led to the discovery of the resting nlaces of Akhnaton and Horemheb, two Pharaohs of about 1350 b.c., but the work was discontinued in 1911. In 1915 Lord Carnarvon and Carter, both expert diggers, tofTk up the work ; but for seven years no important results were achieved. Now, however, they have discovered the one tomb which was known to remain—namely, that of King Tutankhamen, the son-in-law of Akhnaton, and this last find proves to be far and away more sensational than anv yet made. The whole funeral paraphernalia of this Pharaoh was found in the subterranean chambers; his throne, jewels, robes, chariots, couches. and so forth—all covered with gold and encrusted with semi-precious stones: and there are other sealed inner chambers vet to b e opened. This wonderful treasure-trove goes, of course, to the Egyptian National Museum Cairo. _ The actual excavation on this particular Bite is easy but monotonous work; it is just the removal of the surface debris down to the solid rock; but when a tomb is laid bare the responsibilities of the excavators are heavy until the objects have been photographed, recorded, and safely packed up and sent down to Cairo. There are, however, few sensations 60 thrilling as that of entering a royal tomb which has been concealed for thousands of years. In the light of electric torches the excavators gaze around them at the beds, chairs, tables, vases, and other objects buried with the dead, all apparently new and untouched bv the hand of time ; and it is with beating hearts that they pass on into the dark chamber where the mtraimv lies in its golden coffin. It is an astonishing and awe-inspiring experience which well repavs the months or years of unproductive toil. * * * * A WTLD MAN FROM BORNEO.” You will be interested in another instalment of Mr Buck’s reminiscences, this time involving an adventuruous journey home with an orang-utan. At the time he received the order an orang-utan was bard to find in Singapore, and when he 'did finally get one from British North JJorneo it chanced to be an unusually ferocious beast. He continues : “When we sailed, my wild man from Jjorneo was very savage, and beat against "the iron bars of his cage. But my contract called for a tame orang-utan, and I jflecided to tame this fellow. Two men

can handle a wild orang if they get hold of him, one by each arm, stretch mm out and hold him firmly by his two wrists, so he cannot reach his captors with his savage mouth. I called the ship’s carpenter, who was working for me in his off hours, and said: ‘Now, Jim, we must get a collar on this orang, but the first big job is to get him out of his cage. You wi’l have to take hold of one*arm and I’ll grab the other. If I should let go my side he can take your arm right off with his jaw. I have every intention of holding fast to my side. How about you V Jim assured me that he would live up to his side of the contract. My orang was three and a-half feet high, with a big chest and an arm-stretch of six feet- But he was only half grown, and two men of ordinary strength could easily handle him if they kept cool. I knocked, off three bars of the cage, reached in, took the orang by the wrist and pulled him out. Then I shouted to Jim, Catch hold!’ And between us we stretched out his arms, taking a firm hold of his wrists. Cecilio was standing behind me with the collar and chain. The orang kept pulling and twisting to get out of our grip, and he snapped his jaws and beat his head around, so that it was very difficult for Cecilio to slip the collar over him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw, Jim go white. In spite of his promise he became confused and lost his head. Suddenly the arm he had been holding was; loose, and the animal lunged toward my side. For a moment I held on, then I had to let go the other arm. As I did, the orang rushed toward me. I took a long step back, but he came right after me, his mouth wide open and his arms stretched out. I took another step or two backward, .standing in Jie position of a- boxer. He raised his head a trifle and gave me an opening, just as he reached out one arm to get hold of me. At that moment I hauled off with a good swing and caught him right on the point of the jaw. It must have been a good wallop, for down he went, just as J have seen men go down for the .count in the prize-ring. When he came to he was wearing a collar and chain. At first he snapped at me, and I had to stay a chain’s length away, but, with petting and kind words, lie was soon drinking milk and tea out of a bottle. Within two weeks he was perfectly docile, and I was able to deliver a tame orang-utan in San Francisco.”