Arizona weekly enterprise., 1882-11-04
Written. Remaing of tba FgErttapa,

Written, Remains of tba Egyptians.
 Most of the written remains of ancient Egypt are religious. Many consist of hymns to the gods, and have g path0s of their own. Others are lists of obla- tions or spells taken in war. These have no more literary pretcntions than an auctioneer's catalogue or an inyen- tory of furniture. They give us, how ever, vivid idea of Egyptian belong ings. The manifold productions and riches of ancient Egypt are nowhere set forth in more detail than in what is known as tie Great Harris Papyrus.n which contains divers of these summa- rieS. 1t was found in 6 tomb, and mea- sures 133 feet long by 16i inches broad. Here we read of the barge of cedar with rlvets of goid-p|a;ed brass and cabins adorned with precious stones; of houses with doors and liutels of gold. surround ed by gardens planted with all kinds of fruit, and tanks for waterfowl and fish. Besides these are granaries of corn and treasuries filled, or temples presented, with surprising amount of miscela- neouS property, paint, spirits Of wine honey, oil, linen 0yercoatS, embroidered caps, incense. silver dishes and ladies, rings, onions. cedar harps, bundles of writing-reeds. wax, leather sandals, turquoises, perfumes, images, necklaces, wine, cOlored bed-ciothes, etc. The most careful inventory was made of the several items, and in every case the ex- act amount of the articles in store seems to be set down. For instance in one place We find @ record of SZ5. $40 crys- tai beads; in another of 23Q03 pots of frankincense, while one ''cedar rule'' figures by itself. Besides these dead or dry goods we have astonishing lists of cattle and birds, especially pigeons, ducks and geese. Here we are struck by evidence of much that was evidently business-like and prosaic among the old Egyptians. It Is true that their religion especially, at least SO faras the offerings made by the King represented the gen erositY of the people. was marked by marvellous and abundant devotion; the adornments of the temples not being brought to focus in some inner shrine, but shown in the capping of sacred obe- Gsks with solid gold, and the covering of huge holy walls inside and out with costly sculpture. But though this in- dicates certain profUseness of expendi- ture, nothing is more striking than the minute economy and attention to de- tails exhibited in whst may be called the sacred rent rolls, summaries of ob- lationS and the like The chronicler carefully distinguished between the ducks and the ''ducklings'' offered to Ra, the sliced, salted and prepared fish, the crowns, nosegays, chains and hand fulS Of flowers, and the exact amounts of these several items are set down. In the Great Harris Papyrus," now in the British Museum, and translated in the Records of the Past" there are many of these entries, and in every case the totals of the goods in question are precisely recorded. There are, e. C., 1,97j.SOO nosegays of vegetables it does not say what proportion of these were onions-as against Il, eco nosegays of corn, and 3.410 of lotus. Thus, in these chronicles we have evidence of both extreme profusion and precise economy, of the incest reckoning and the most liberal abundance Good Words.