Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-02-10

ing to the fact that the race Of hard
drinkers in Great Britain is not yet
extinct.
Another EsyP ian TteasuTe
NJ. D. Conway, in Cincinnati Commercial.
Some twenty years ago a Mr.. A.
G. Harris went with his daughter,
Miss Selma Harris, on Il tour to
Egypt, lie found under the flo r
of an old tomb in Thebes Il large
roll of papyrus covered with in
scripIions. 1t was one hundred and
thirty-hine feet by SIXTEEN and Il
half inches broad, and looked some
thing like stair carpet. Mr.. Har-
ris bought it at ii comparatively /
small price. Miss Selma Harris
felt convinced that it was a treas
ure, and to make sure against |
accidents she set herself to the im-
nense work of tracing sign and /
letter on it upon paper OF equal !
extent. She succeeded in making
a fac similie of it. Her father died !
and the lady took a house at Kou.
mel Dyk, Alexandria. A few years |
ago an explosion occurred in the
house, which was reduced to frag-
ments. Of its contents the two
chief treasures alone escaped un-
harmed, the papyrus and Miss Sc
lima herself. The great Egyptian
archeologist, NJ. Brugsch BeY, ex-
amined the pApyrus and told the
khediye of its great value, and the
Egyptian government offered the
sum of 820O0 for if. But Miss
Harris would not part with it. She
brought it to England, when the
British museum purchased it for a
larger sum. and from that time to
this DR.. Birch and his corps of
Egyptologists have been decipher-
ing it, while scribes have been en-
gagged in copying it. 1t has now
been printed-in a sufficient num-
ber to supply the museums of Eu-
rope, and OF America, if they want
it-with accompanying translations
of the text aud learned notes there-
OH.
1t proves to be a complete record
of the life and works of Rameses
LII, and a statement of. the condi-
ton of things at Thebes 5000 years
ago. We learn from it what the
Thebans saw and heard at church
and what they had for dinner, such
as fish, waterfowl, pigeons, oil,
bread and wine. We are introduced |
to the beauties of Rameses's harenl. |
Much of the record is remarkably
realistic, but it is somewhat oonfus-
ing to find that among these real
istic portions is an account Of how
Rameses III went to hell and there
played at draughts with Isis for the
golden kerchief, which he won.
Moreover the last five sections of
the scroll consist of an addr, ss--a
sort Of yaledictory = uttered from
the same region (Hades) by the
monarch, in which he recites the
gleat victories he has achieved, the
hundreds Of thousands of cattle he
has bestowed on the temples, the
slaves he has presented them, and
implores them to be loyal 10 his
successor, Rameses~ IV. Such
mixture of possible fact and certain
fable may puzzle any one who tries
to bring actual history out of the
papyruS; but one thing stands out
clear - the character of Rameses
himself. The half million head of
cattle he claims to have bestowed
on the gods may be as mythical as
his game of draughts with Isis, the
Egyptian proSerplne, but whether
in hell or earth the sultanic SELF
satisfaction of Rameses III is un-
questionable,
There is a statue of George III
in the Guildhall, with an inscrip-
lion placed there during his life
time by aldermanic courtiers, in
which the characteristics OF the
angel Gabriel are attributed to him,
with few CT the selectcst attri-
butcs of the seven sages. The poor
king was mad at the time and
England was ground under the heel
Of the prince regent; nevertheless
the true portrait of the king and
his times may be derived therefrom
by one who can read between the
lines,
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