New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-23
THE BOULAK MUSEUM.
A VISIT TO THE GREAT TREAsURE-HoUsE
OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.

| CAIRO April ].
| Bonlak was once the port and distant suburb oil
Cairo. separated from II by the Sweetwater Canal
| and sandy waste; but the new town OF lsmallla
has sprung up and connected them, and Bouiak Is
now not only the port but an Important inanuiac'
,rring ouarter Here tie dahabeahs lie waiting to
be chartered by the prodigal visitor ior the Nile
VOYAGE. and here come down the stream the
corn. the wheat. and all the produce OF
Fgvpt that is not accelerated in its transit to the
canita bv transfer to the railroad at Assout, 25O
miles above. But 10 the traveller the magnet of
| Roulok ia it's museum founded by Said Pacha, fos-
| tered by lsmail, and stored by the lndefaugable
exertions Of Marietta Bey. As II should. this mu-
scum has within Its walls the most perfect records
of the history of the country, and as before its
foundation the treasures discovered by each and
every explorer were packed and labelled for every
museum in Europe, so now. to protect the ancient
dead who planned cunningy to sleep on their
own SOIL law has been passed prohibiting the
future deportation Of the treasures that may be I'M
earthed.
When Marietta first undertook, in behalf of a
learned French society, to search for the MSS. and
papyri IL Egypt, he did not contemplate spending
the remainder of his life in devout search for an
Equities. But. as he tells IN his treatise on the
monuments when no had transferred a rich store
TO the Louvre and the funds failed. the pursuit so
fascinated him that he urged the then Khediye,
Said TO engage in the search and thus just thirty
years ago they gathered the nucleus of this mag
nifcent collection.
But there is stir in the air that in this land OF
eternal repetition means something. The wind
surges strangely ABOUT fierce and ftfu gusts. and
the beautiful palms wave their arms in trepidatiOn.
| at apto II ia ar he
dead within than with the moving. active, real
world without. We enter-and where looked
for repose are startled by the apparitons OF four
custodsns who have only five eyes bet ween them.
and these are situated at such strange angles that
you fancy yourself in a realm of story, and these
the fantastic guomes of which you have read. Here
they 90 through all the ordinary cares of appro-
priating and labelling all portable articles, but
their attentions do not cease there for until you
leave that museum their singular vaearies of
vision arc never directed from You for single
moment.
Within the entrance hall the building consists of
two large corridors a series OF rooms extending TO
the right and left with one portal the centre and
Others communicating anGular!y with the wings.
There is no catalogue to be obtained. and as the
numbers do not correspond with the descriptions in
the published guides TO Cairo you are left at the
mercy of the occasional placards appended
TO some objects, or to the uncertain
knowledge and peculiar English of the
Arab custodians. The walls of the first cham
Der are closely filled with sielae or funeral slabs,
gathered from tombs of all ages and covered with
pictures or hieroglyphs. recording the virtues and
rank Of the deceased and the pious and rich offer
ings each had presented 90 the gods lprostsl II his
OF her lifetime. Upon various altar5 there are
statues and costly articles Of use and there
Is a bronze bolt in the form of crouching lion, of
beautiful workmanship and OF such enormous size
that il must have been shot by machinery, IN
the hands OF giant.
At the left extremity Of this first corridor there is
a large and somewhat dark room. set apart for the
relics of the "Eiyksos,' shepherd kings who for
centuries usurped the ancient rule on the Delta,
and baushcd the Pharaohs TO the Upper Nile
Valley. These five hundred years form q dark
period in Egyptian history gap indeed. for lit
tie IL recorded of them or their dongs and few are
the monuments they have left According to Mari.
cite they strangers or tolerated settlers upon
the seaboard, until IN numbers they wcro able TO
overthrow the existing mOnarcbs OF the twelfth or
thirteenth dynasty tB. c. 22OO and they ruled
the rich lower provinces until they driven into
Palestine by Amasis the first warrior of the eigh-
tenth The sitting figures and sphnXes Of these
kings are rude and coarse in execution. and the
faces have none of the placid beauty and dignity of
those of other cpochs. They appropriately rcle
gated TO the darkest corner of the museum.
In contradstinction to this gloomy crowd the
rooms 10 the right of this wing contain gay gath
erng of the rank and fashion CT the Ptolemaic and
Roman eras The conquerors of Egypt whether
Persian. Greek OF Roman yielding doubtless to the
seductions Of the climate seem TO have remodelled
their own beliefs, or combined them with the eI-
Isting religion and thus perhaps uncOnscIonsly re-
turned to the faith originally obtained from the
Nile Valley. The temples OF the PtOlemaic period
are modelled upon the plans of the ancient edilices,
and Edfou and Dendera. yet existing IN fine pres
ervaton, have enabled the Egyptologiststo explain
the meaning and previous uses of the many rooms
and passages Of such strange and mysterious struc-
lures.
In death as well the ladies and gentlemen under
the PtoeInies caused their bodies TO be carefully
embalmed as the very oldest lnhabltant," aud in
the decoration and gliding of their mummy cases
they even went beyond the ancents in splendor and
lavish ornamentation. There is little coffin
that possesses a touching interest. 1t is that OF tho
baby of some wealthy individual, and upon the
exterior the arm of the child Is admirably carved,
with the chubby fingers still clutchIng in death the
drapery that covers it, while the other hand is out
of sight beneath the quilt.
In the last mummies Of the Byzantine period the
art Of embalming eliminates and the cases look
more like exquisite and elaborate bindings. and the
paintings upon them remind one of tho pages Of
richly illuminated medieval manuscript. The |
faces of the ladies are finished like mna ures their
eyebrows are enlarged as in life. and their eyes
deepened with dark rings to express the vivid effect
of kohl upon the living beauty. Tho hair is care
fully painted in plaits and waving tresses their
nails are touched as with henna. aud there is a
catalogue of family jewels embroidered their
fingers on their feet are long pointed shoes. and
about their ankles are the same massive gold and
silver bangles which worn to-day by the dancing |
women of the Upper Nile. The careful execution
of these cases bespeaks the portrait. and it only
IL. IL i i -l--I ~ ~