The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-06-18

| u1t1eSs
THE DISCOVERIES OF MARIETTE BEY-
CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT EGYPT-THI
MUSEUM AT BooLAK-EaYPTIAN ART
BEFORE ITS DEcADENCE.
From the N. Y. Tribsne's Correspondent
CAIRO, April 2, 1874
In the beginning of November, 1851, as
l was slowly p'odding along on donkey
over the sandy spurs ofthe desert between
the Pyramids and Sakkara, the Fellahs
who accompanied me had much to say oi
a strange Frank who had hired people to
dig holes in the earth in the hope of find
ing golden chickens. paid no great at
tention to these stories until, on reaching
the sandy plateau behind the village Of
Mitrahenuy (the site of ancient Memphis)
l saw number of Arabs carrying sand in
baskets, and my donkey drivers cried out,
t"There is the Frank !' On the brink ol
the excavation, overlooking the workmen,
stood a man of % to &C years of age, tall,
blonde, terribly sunburnt, and apparently
worn with exposure and the endless an
noyances Of his task. 1 approached him,
and entered irto conversation. He was
French, and seemed little reserved in his
manner, until the accidental mention OF
my being an American and not an English
man restored his confidence and commu-
nicativeness. We descended the excava-
ton, walked two hundred yards in one of
the exhumed streets of Memphis, and there
learned of the magnitude of the discov-
cries he had already made. Few men
have ever given me such an impression of
patient enthusiasm. At that time only a
few scholars knew of his labors, and when
he wrote in my note book the name eau
guste Marlette" it was as new to me as to
the world at large.
Since then there has been no pause in
NJ. Mariette's devotion to his self-imposed
task. He was at first supported by con-
tributions from France-Very inadequate
and irregular, l suspect-and was obliged
to work without the favor of the Egyptian
Government, if rot covertly opposed by
the influence of England. European d.
plomacy in the East moves IN ways that
are dark and oftentimes comtemp-(rather
let NE finish the word otherwise )-lative.
During the reign OF Abbas Pasha, NJ. Ma
riette steadily worked against discourage
ments; under Sayd Pasha there came a
new if incomplete freedom; and finally the
Khedive, Ismail Pasha, has turned tie
dauntless archasologist into Mariette Bey,
Director of the Department for the Pres
ervatien Of the Antiquities of Egypt"
granted him an annual sum for the prose-
cution of his researches, founded an Egyp-
ton Museum at Boolak, and promises
further support, which may be given in
case no more Viceregal marriages take place
within the next few years.
Knowing how ruthlessly Egypt has been
plundered since the days of Denon-what
obelisks, statues and sarcophagi have been
conveyed to London, Paris and Berlin
how BelZoni, Lepsius, Abbott, and many
Others have rumaged temples, tombs and
pyramids for the sake of their pockets and
buttonholes, and, moreover, how the rage
Of Winter tourists for relics has not only
exhausted the legitimate supply of scara-
bni, papyri, and pottery, but given rise
to manufacture of new articles OF the
sort,-I was prepared to find the Musem
Boolak only depository of cast-away odds
and ends, as confused and unsatisfactory
as the collections you see in the Louvre
or the British and Berlin Museums. These
latter, every traveller knows, are not Egypt
any more than an old Roman brick is part
of the majesty of the Coliseum. But 1
never quite understood their lack of inter-
est, even to one who has seen Denderah
and Karnak,, until the exact historical ar
rangement of Mariette's collection had
opened my eyes.
Now-one can say without fear of con-
tradiction-the most valuable Egyptian
Museum in the world is in Cairo. That
which was previously carried away being
for the most part, easily accessible, proves
10 belong 10 the later rather than the ear
ller dynastles. UAWearied digging has
enabled Mariette to reach the records of
the Ancient Empire, and to show-what
we never before suspected-that the glory
Of Egyptian Art belongs to the age of
Cheops, and only its decadence to Rame-
ses II. (Sesostris). Not only the Art, but
the Culture, the Religion. the political or
ganization of Egypt are carried back to
the third Dynasty (4450 B. C.) and Menes,
the first historic king, dawns upon our
knowledge, not a primitive barbarian,
but as the result Of a long stage of uure-
corded development. l do not hes; ate to
say that since Champollion discovered the
key to the hieroglyphics, no scholar has
thrown such broad and clear light upon
Egyptian life and history as Mariette. 1t
is understood that the Museum at Boolak
Is only temporary. 1t hardly contains
Dtlsl Oi tue llGSL4lluDl6 COllGCLlOu, una some
halls, undermined by the current of the
Nile, have already been vacated, in order
to preserve their contents. The Khedive
promises a spacious and appropriate build
ing, fronting on the great square of the
Ezkebiyek, and can not have it erected toe
| soon. 1t makes one shudder to think
what lrreplaceable wealth is accumulated
between those low mud walls at Boolak
and how easily some accident might lose il
to the world.
Their has been so much discussion in
regard II the chronology of Ancient Egypt
that few words on this point may be ar
advantage to the reader, IN perusing the
brief accounts which I must necessarily
give of the more ancient monuments. lie
me, therefore, repeat what many already
know, and some may have forgotten, tina
our only former authority was Manetho
an Egyptian priest, who lived under tn
Ptolmres, Softer and Philadslphus, in tn
beginning of the third century befor
Christ. He wrote. in Greek a complet