The Shasta courier., 1867-08-31
COURIER
Unswaddling of Mummy at the Paris
Exposition.


The Paris Moniteur gives the following in
teresting history of the unswaddling of q
ton /:
On the second floor of the Dixie the cara
vanserv bazaar, near the place where o
crowd is always seen watching the Arabian
workmen in the skillful use of their primitive
tools. may be noticed door on which is
placarded the following inscription: i" No
| admittance" This is the Anthropological
Museum, a collection of several hundred
skulls, the antiquity of some of which is so
great, that without exaggeration, they might
be called older than the world itself.
In this collection are found boxes of
mummies, of different ages, taken from
tombs or syringes which have escaped the
ravages of treasure. seekers. One of these
heroglyphic. covered cofins was opened on
Monday last. and the body which it contain
ed unbound in the presence of doctors. artists,
men ofletters and savants.
Our curiosity was greatly excited. Those
who will do US the honor to read what fol-
lows will readily understand why:
When we entered the room, the mummy,
which had been taken from its box, was ex.
I y
vaguely dscerned through the many thick
nesses of bandages which enveloped it /;
the coffin, on which is painted the scene
usually represented under similar circum-
stances, /" The Judgment of Souls" was
placed not far distant. In this case the soul
of the defunct (the mummy was a woman, J
conducted by two funeral genii, one good
the other bad, is making obesauce
bafn tIa ,,,Io of
subterranean regions, who is seated upon
the throne, the pschem upon his head, the
funeral born on his chin, and the whip in
his hand. In the distance her good and bad
actions, symbolized by pot of flowers and
a rough stone, are being weighed in tho
balance. A long line of judges, with lion,
falcon and jackal heads, await in hierarchi.
cal attitudes the result in order to pronounce
judgment.
over this painting are written the prayers
of the funeral service and the confession of
the deceased, who not only does not reproach
herself with any sins, but enumerates those
which she has not committed % am not
guilty of murder, nor of theft, nor of adul-
terry" Another inscription contains the
genealogy of the deceased, both paternal and
maternal. We will not transcribe here this
NeS KhoRs the woman, or rather lady, IN
closed in this box, where she believed her
self sure of repose, while awaiting the day
when her body and soul should be reunited,
and she should enjoy supreme felicity in flesh
and bones. Deceived hopes
The process of unbinding the body COM
menced. The outside bandages of strong
linen were first removed with the aid of
scissors. and then faint odor of balm, in
cense and aromatic drugs filled the room like
the perfume of drug shop. Having found
an end among these many wrappers, the
mummy was placed in an upright position
in order that the long, yellow strip of linen
could better be unwound. A stranger scene
cannot be imagined than this huge rag doll
awkwardly tossing its arms in the air. while
its despoilers increased at every turn the
heap of linen at their feet, as one does the
pairing of fruit before reaching the CORE
From time to time the bandages inclosed
pieces of cloth resembling fringed towels.
designed to fill in the spaces or to sustain the
form. The head was passed through holes.
cut in pieces of cloth, which were adjusted
at the shoulder and tell over the breast. A
kind of veil of coarse Indian muslin, the
delicate rose tint of which would have charm.
ed an artist, was discovered after the remov-
al of all these obstacles.
1t seems to US that the roncon must have
been used in the dyeing of the muslin, unless
the original red had become flesh colored
from contact with the aromatic drugs aided
by the action of time. Under this veil band
ages of finer linen enveloped the body in
their may ENHANCEMENT. Curiosity becom-
ing greatly excited, the mummy was made
to revolve more rapidly. Hoffman or Edgar
Pee would have made this scene the basis
of one of their terrible histories. just at this
moment sudden storm sent great drops of
rain, like hail, against the window panes
pale streaks of lightning illuminated the old
yellow skulls, and the grimacing contortions
of the six hundred deaths beads of the an
thropological museum, and the low rumbling
of thunder served as accOmpaniments to the
waltz of /" Nes.Khons," daughter of Horus
and of Ronsa whirling in the impatient
hands of her Disorders. The mummy d-
minished sensibly in size, and her lank figure
became more and more evident as the en-
velopes grew less in thickness.
An immense quantity of linen wrappings
encountered the room, and it was difficult to
believe they bad all been contained within
the box, which did not surpass the size of an
ordinary coffin. The neck was the first por
tion of the body which appeared disembar-
rassed of bandages; but it was glued up
with such a mass of naptha that it required
the aid of scissors to remove it. All at once
we saw bright glittering through the dark
portions of the nitre which still remained on
the breast, and we soon brought to light
thin leaf of metal, cut in the form of sacred
falcon, the wings extended and the tail spread
as fan, like the eagle in heraldry. Upon
this leaf of gold, too poor trinket to tempt
the grave digger, prayer was written, de-
manding of the guardian gods of tombs
that the heart and entrails Of the deceased
might not be too widely separated. A beau
tifu microscopic ygpaete of hard stone, ex
quisite for chain to a watch, was attached
by thread to a collar of blue glass beads,
where hung sort of amulet, in the form OF
q fail Like Sucres d'orge, in which the
transparency is governed by the crystaliza-
ton, some of the beads had become Opaque,
probably from the heat of the bitumen.
which was poured upon them boiling. All
this is nothing extraordinary, however