Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-07
The Mummies of the Pharaohs.
An Interesting Account of the Discover
 Of Royal Tombs at Thebss.

The MummieS Of the PharaOhS. An Interesting Account of the Discovery Of Royal Tombs at Thebes.
 Amelia B. Edwards in Harpers for July.l In the central hall of the museum of Egyp- tian antiquities at Boolak, ranged side by side, shoulder to shoulder, lies solemn con- pany of kings, princes, queens, and priests of royal blood, who died and were made i'm per1shable flesh by the embalmer's art be- tween three and four thousand years ago. The story of their recent resurrection has been told-not always with exactness--by the foreign correspondents of almost every news paper published on either side of the Atlantic. Based upon information derived from authen- ic sources it will bear to be told again. These royal personages are of different dy nasties and widely separate periods. Between the earliest and the latest that is to say, be- tween Rasekenen and Masahirti. the one a monarch reigning in Upper Egypt contem- poraneously with the last Hyksos ruler of Lower Egypt, the other son of Pinotem II there intervenes space of time which may be roughly estimated at seven centuries and half. This space of time (about equiva- lent to that which divides the Norman Con quest from the accession of George 1ID GOV CTS the rise and fall of the 18th, 18th, 20th and 21st dynasties. During these four dy nasties occurred the expulsion of the Hyksos invaders, the Asiatic conquests of Thothmes III, of Seti l. of Rameses II, the oppression and exodus of the Hebrews, and the defeat of the allied Mediterranean fleets by Harnesses III. To the same period belong the great temples of Thebes, the sepulchres in the val ley of the Tombs of the Kings, the obelisks of Hatasu, the rock cut temples of Aboo-Sim- bel, and the colossi of the Plain. In a word, all the military glory and nearly all the ar chitectural splendor of ancient Egypt are comprised within the limits thus indicated. When, therefore, it began to be rumored, some five or six months ago, that the mum mied remains of almost all the mightiest war riors and builders of this supreme epoch, to- gether with the relics of kings and queens of a still earlier and a still later date, had been found at the bottom of a pit in one of the loneliest hooks of the western cliffs in Thebes, most of us felt somewhat doubtful regarding the truth of the whispers flying from wire to wire. Time, however, brought confirmation of the wondrous news. A discovery of inn mense importance had indeed been made but inasmuch as the authorities had long sus- pected the existence of some such treasure, 1t could hardly be regarded as a surprise. Nel- ther was it original discovery; for the Arabs had lighted on it many years before, and turned it, unfortunately. to their prof. it.
 Touching the way in which the discovery was brought about, many contradictory re- ports have been circulated, some ascribing the honor to Herr Emil Brugsch, keeper of the BooIak museum, and others to Daoud
 
 CTS of Harper's Magazine, quote the follow ing from letter addressed to myself by Professor Maspero, bearing date from Paris, 1 August f. 1881 -
 "You have perhaps read in ali the news papers of the fortunate results of my cam l paign The story is curious. Having noted ! how Egyptian antiquities of every descrip- l tion were constantly finding their way to Eu- rope, came 10 years ago to tho conclusion ! that the Arabs had discovered royal tomb I Furthermore, Col Campbell had given me some photographs of the first pages Of su- perb ritual bought by himself at Thebes, l which ritual proved to have been written for Pinotem I. Briefly, then, on arriving at Lux | or, caused to be arrested one Ahmed Abd- | er-Rasoul, an Arab guide and dealer, to whom mass of concurrent testimony pointed as the possessor of the secret. For two months | this man lay in prison.at Keneh, obstinately 1 silent; and had just left when, prompted | by jealousy and avarice, one of his brothers I decided to tell all. In this wise We were en abled to put our hands, not upon royal tomb, but upon a hiding place. wherein were l piled some 36 mummies of kings, queens, 1 princes, and high priests"
 The brothers Adder -Rasoul are well known | to the present writer. They live together, with their wives and families, in terrace of rock cut tombs behind the ruins of the Ram | esseum their ostensible calling being. that | of guides and donkey masters, their | private profession that of tomb breakers | and mummy snatchers Mohammed, the l brother who decided to tell all, !" was eldest 1 of the four, a spare, sullen fellow, avaricious | as Harpagon and extortionate as Shylock. 1 Fearing lest his brothers constaucy should 1 fail--fearing, above all, that the reward | which Prof. Maspero had thought it well to offer should fall into other hands-he stole away secretly to keneh, the chief town of | the province, and made his deposition be-
 fore Daoud Pasha. Daoud Pasha immediate | ly telegraphed to Cairo, and in the course of l a few hours Her Emil Brugsch, whom Prof l Maspero had empowered to act in his ab- sence, started for Thebes. This was on 1 Saturday, July ?, 1881. On Wednesday, the
 9th, Herr Brugsch, accompanied by Ahmed | Ehendi Kemal, also of the museum service,
 was met at Dayr el -Baharee by Mohammed | Abd CT Rasoul, and conducted to the now fa- | nous hiding place.
 The discovery of the Cyprus treasure by 1 Gen Di Cesnola romantic as it was, bears no
 comparison in point of dramatic interest with ! the revelation which awaited the Boolak off
 cials at Dayr el- Baharee. Slowly and with difficulty tho one barrowed onward from chamber to chamber, entering gradually into l possession of successive hoards Of bronze and | silver and gold. The others threading their
 way among desecrated tombs and under the
 shadow of stupendous precipices, followed
 their trembling guide to a spot unparalleled l even in the desert for gaunt solemntty. Here,
 behind huge fragment of fallen rock-per
 haps dislodged for that purpose from the
 cliffs overhead-they were shown the CD
 trance to pit so ingeniously hidden that, tc
 use their own words, ''one might have passed
 it 20 times without observing it."
 Into this pit they were lowered by means | of rope. The shaft, which was two meters
 square by eleven and a half meters in depth
 ended in a narrow subterraneous passage
 trending westward. This passage, after pur-
 suing straight direction for a distance ot
 rather more than seven meters, turned of
 abruptly to the right and stretched away
 northward into endless night.
 Now stooping where the roof was low, now 1 stumbling where the floor was uneven, now
 descending flight of roughly -hewn stairs,
 and with every step penetrating deeper and
 farther into the heart of the mountain, the
 intruders groped their way, each with his
 fiickering candle in his hand. Pieces of brok
 en mummy cases and fragments of linen
 bandages strewed the floor. Against the walls
 were piled boxes filled with porcelain stat
 uettes, libation jars of bronze and terra cotta
 and canopic of precious Lycopolitan
 alabaster. In the corner to the left, where
 the long passage branched northward, flung
 carelessly down in tumbled heap, perhaps
 by tbe hand of the last officiating priest, lay
 the funeral canopy of Queen Isi em Kheb.
 Then came several huge sarcophagi o1
 painted wood, and farther still, some
 standing upright some laid at length, a crowt
 of mummy cases fashioned in human form
 with folded hands and solemn faces and ever
 wakeful eyes, each enblazoned with the nam, and titles of its occupant. Here lay Queer
 Hathor Honttani, wife of Pinotem I !; yonde l stood Seti {; then came Amenhotep ant Thathmes II :; and farther still, Ahmes I, ant sekenen-Ra, and Thothmes III, and Queer