Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-05-21
Visit to a Mummy Pit.

A Philadelphian who has been makiagsa
trip up the Nile, writes to the Inquirer an
account of his visit to a newly discovered
: mummy pit: '2aP i2s5attf-r; n. - 59IH
l3s ;, While eating our luncheon in the temple
Z of iDayel Medeeneh, I noticed our guide
talking earnestly with some Arabs, and af-
: ter we had finished he informed me that
his friend (the Arab) had discovered a new
mummy pit and would take us to see it
provided 1--WE would say nothisg about it.
= Ofsceurse we vowed great secrecy and
started. Away up on the side of rocky
ledge we found hole carefully concealed
from view by stones. The guide opened
this and we crawIed in. . Here we lighted
our candles, and found ourselves in small
cavern hewn in the rock. In the center of
lsthiss was a black Jagged hole, lead
oaomains.a The Arab, ,Hs stripped p off
:. his unique. garment "a long black robe)
and started down, supporting himself by
q feet and hands in the inequalities of the
sides. As soon as he reached the bottom,
o candle and some matches were thrown
down to him and he struck light. Not
being cat, I declined to go down the
same way, whereupon the guide unrolled
his long, thick sash and commenced delib-
erately to tie it around my waist, signify
ing that he would let me down all right. L
didn't halfElik it, but it was too late to-
back out, so let myself slip over the edge.
II
H. followed, and we found ourselves in a
place something like the bottom of dry
WELL, At one side was a long, narrow
opening through which our guide COM
menced to crawl. We followed, and, after
wortning myself along on hands and
knees for about fifteen yards, emerged
upon scene which. if live thousand
!, years, I never can forget. The horrors of
!, that sight will cling TO me for a long time.
j Imagine a vaulted chamber, about twenty
five feet square. Away down in the very
heart of this granite rock, dimly lighted by
our two Pickering tapers, filled almost to
q the roof was q countless piled up mass of
unconined mummies. There they lay in
!, all shapes and postures. Time had burst
4: the twinibg ligaments of some, and their
bony, arms and fieshless fingers seemed
+ struggling up from the mass, as IL to lay
- hold of the disturbers OF their slumbers.
Some were placed upright against the wall,
and in the weird shadows thrown by the
candies light, their features twitched and
O moved, and their long sealed lips seemed
opening to den0unce US. The Arab drew
a long knife from the sheath on his
arm, and commenced cutting and
r. tearing of the Lwrappings in search of
2 iscarabano; and, as his naked limbs sank
- among the dry bones, and his swarthy
4 arms tossed about the bodies, he looked
I like some hideous vampire at his nightly
NEAL The air was very bad, and was
h about to beat q retreat, when suddenly, a
thought flashed across my mind that al
most troze my blood with horror. am
not coward, but for moment my heart
stood still. The cave was filled with a
thousand mummies, drier than the driest
tinder, and soaked in bitumen; each one
wrapped in many folds of mummy cloth,
rs infammable as gun cotton. A single
spark from one of the candles would have
: spread like wildfire, and no power upon
earth could have saved us from frightful
death; we would have been roasted alive
in five minutes. remarked this to Harry;
he saw it instantly, and yelled to the guide
to be careful of the lights, while | started
I for the opening. On / went, through the
harrow passage, tearing knees and gar
y Ynents against. the sharp stones, shudder-
a ingly expecting each moment to lay my
4 hands upon the Shiny coils of a serpent, in
d the dark, and every now and then sticking
: fast, and feeling Gin imaginatiOn) the
81 scorching breath of the fire-fiend on my
back. At last reached the hole and was
drawn up, very glad to breath the .pure
Eair and feel the warm sun again. H. fol-
lowed. and, We took an account of dam
q ages. For me, the . coup de grace" given to
an already mutilated travelling suit, about
one foot of the epidermis scraped off my
. hands and knees, several promising bumps
rising up round and about my head and
tronhiesAtwo mummy feet and one beauti-
ful .scarab8na," but an experience gained
. that amply compensated tor all the toll and
trouble. will not deny that had just
touch of nightmare after getting asleep,
and saw all sorts of strange things.