TUTANKAMEN'S TOMB.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16320, 2 January 1924, Page 7

TUTANKAMEN'S TOMB.

VIEWING THE SHRINES.

RADTANT .MASS OF GLEAMING GOLD.

(Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assti.) (Australian nnd N.Z. Cable Association.} LONDON, D 0..-. 31.

The Morning Post's Luxor correspondent says that journalists inspector! the inner shrine and catafalque in Tutankhamen's sepulchral hall, a ten thousand cancHe'-power electric lamp illuminating the exquisitely carved golden canopy, which is about 7-J* feet high. Near by, against the wall, was the exterior shrinp, seventeen feet wide and nine feet high, which was also a glorious shimmer of gold work and bluish green faience. A gold-studded linen pall hangs between the first two shrines. It is noteworthy how during the three thousand years the linen bad been torn asunder by the weight of the gold rosettes until the pall' is now a pathetic heap of rust-colored liner, the golden flowers strewing the floor between the canopies. Mr. Carter, however, hopes to reconstruct the pall. The catafalque was made of light white wood, heavily plastered with hituminised pitch and ornamented with gold. Having been free from air and dust throughout the centuries, the second shrine is breath-taking in its beauty. Imagine a box ten feet long, six fefet high, and eight feet wide, the whole of the exterior a radiant mass of gleaming gold, the surface of which is daintily carved with a scene representing Tutankhamen receiving gifts from Osiris, with hawks spreading their protective wincrs above. The front is ablaze l with inscriptions of figures and hieroglyphics, but. the top is divided into mystic squares, some dull green, others brilliantlv ftold. There are two bars to the front doors of the second shrine. (Svdney Sun Cables.) LONDON. Dec. 31.

A special correspondent at Luxor, referring to and describing the removal of thef pall enshrouding the* inner shrine of TiitnnkbalKMi's tomb, says : Somehow the sifht of this contrivance, with its spantrled, designed and gilded undersfmcture, nnd underneath a beautiful shrine with its precious consents, turns one's thoughts towards the Bible. Much in this manner must the Ark of the have been sheltered when it entered the wilderness. As a matter of fact there is in many resne n ts an envious resemblance between the Tabernacle or the Covenant described in the Hook of Evodus and the. sepulchral shrines errvtecl in those dav to the nrevailing deitios in E«vptian temples. Indeed it is conceivable J bat as the. Children of Israel ]ust. esraned bondage in Ecrynl, these femnle shrines, as representinT something wherewith thev were familiar, were taken as a. basic, model when the time came to doeitm a place of sanctity for the'r own Deity.

SECP.ET OF THE SARCOPHAGUS

CORTOSITY AT FEVER HEAT.

(Australian nnd N.Z. Cable As«ocintion.! LONDON, Jan. 1.

Th". seals and strings have been removed from doors, but the bolts are still in position to bide the final secret. The day, however, is not. far distant when the contents of the sarconhagus will be revealed. Curiosity is rising to fever beat as the moment of unveiling nonroaches. A closer inspection shows that the painting on the. walls of tbe mortuary chapel is endowed with that delicate grace which marked the emancipation of the artists from, conventions which followed tbe renaissance of art under the twelfth dynasty. Noteworthy amone the figures on tbe Avails is the; high priest. The picture-of Tutankhamen on the wall has apparently been drawn from life, and shows bet was a handsome youth and was nrohably recent or the most influential man in Egypt. _