East Saginaw courier., 1866-05-30

Il
Colonel Howard Vyse, whose work
affords much valuable information to
any one interested on the subject Of
Egyptian archaeology. ASS he was
not present when these identical re-
mains were discovered, he gives the
account of their being found in the
words of his Superintendent, who thus
infinitely records the details. 3i
q "By your requestdI L lsend you the
particulars of the findingof the bones,
mummylcloth, and parts of the coffin,
in the third Pyramid In clearing
the rubbish outof-the large entrance
room, after the men had been en-
ployed there several days and had ad !
vancedh some distance toward the
psouth-east corner, some bones we've
first discovered all together, and no
parts of the coffin or bones could be
found in the room. / therefore had
the rubbish, which had been previous
ly turned out of the same room, care
fully re examined, whom several pieces
of the coffin and the mummy were
foundg There was about three feet
iof rubbish on the top of the lid /; and
from the fact Of the bones and part of
the eofflndbeing allgfbund together it
appeared as H. the coffin had been
brought to that spot and there un-
packed. ,A9is1 i d9ihW H1Infai no1
-oIIt lis known thatthe Saracens broke
into and pltmdeted tho Pyramids
during the tliirteenthY century of. .fhe
Christian era.n Edrisi,o an Arabian
author ofrepute, who gives hniactoant
of the opening of the Pyra1nid, On
heauthority of'one who was present
on the OCCASION, says "After they had
worked at it six months with axes, IN
great numbers, hoping to find treas
ure, they came at last to a lonGs blue
basin. When they had broken the
covering of it they found nothing but
the decayed, rotten remains of a.man,
but no treasure by his side, excepting
some golden tablets inscribed With
characters. Of a language iiobody.eohld
understand. Each mans share of
these amounted to one hundred di-
mars" q" '''i-" '''
1.-The golden tablets, inscribed in an
unknown language,, were of course
carried OFF by the plunderers, who,
though unable TO comprehend the
mysteries of hieroclyphics, well un-
derstood that universal tongue which
has been the circulating medinnl of
all ages and all people from the, be-
ginning of the world "The long
blue basin," in other words the sar-
cophagus which once held the coffin
of King Mykerinus, remained in Its
original position, until six centuries
later when the explorations of Colonel
Vyse tool, place. The sarcophagus
was then found TO be composed of
basalt, which bore fine polish of a
mixed blue and brown color. The
exterior was very beautifully carved
in compartments not unlike the Dofic
style, which confirms the opinion that
Greciap architecture owes It's origin
TO Egypt.
Unfortunately the slip containing
this beautiful tomb was wrecked off
the coast of Spain, and thus what
was destined for England became ire
coyerably lost in the depths of the
sea. But its more precious contents,
which Edrisi so ignobly describes as
"the decayed rotten remains OF a
man." and which are in reality the
veritable bones of good King Mykeri-
nus, whose interesting history proves
him TO have been one Of the best and
greatest of the ancient pharoahs, are
visible to tho present generation; in
the estimation of some, the most wall
liable, as they certainly are the most
ancient, of all the archaeological treas,
ures obtained in the British Museum.
The gods of Egypt have long passed
away; the tombs of her kings have
been riiled ''son, of, Pharaohi has
become by-word and reproach in tho
land which once was ruled by the
greatest monarchs of antiquity. but
which no longer possesses a prince of
its own; Egypt has become " the
basest of kingdoms ~ the so-called
towns of Upper Egypt consist of mud
walled huts. built up beside her former
gorgeous temples, and the most mag
niicent palace-tombs which the world
has ever seen, desolation is visible on
every side; but the corpse of the
good old King Mykerinus, TO use the
language of a distinguished foreign
scholar, "reposes at this hour in
greater security than it did.four thou
sand years ago in the island, the mis-
tress Of the world, whose Freedom and
free institutions are stronger bulwarks
than the ocean which eneircles her
among the treasures Of all the realms
of nature, and the most exalted re-
mains of human art. May It's rest
never be disturbed so long as the
stream of history shall roll on.''