The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-16

ton of antiquities offered for sale purports to have
been collected by DR.. Charles Huffnagle, OF
Philadelphia, when consul general OF the nlted
States in India" From a date given indirectly
in this rather extensive special should Judge
that the Doctor was in India about thirty nine
years ago Among the Egyptian antiquities,
so runs the special, lis mummy case contain.
ing the daughter of the superior high priest or
Horus This specimen was secured IN lo4' oy
DIR. II. at the risk of his .life(!l. he obtained 1t
from the great Pyramid Of Sakkara in Egypt.
The Sultan What Sultanl There is none in
Egypt, and although the country is tributary to
the Sublime Porte yet Egypt since the days of
o own local IoaI'Di laws. C. F.. had pre-
vously issued decree making it a CAPT
tal(9 offense for any person to remove such
treasures from its (sic) domain. The Doctor,
however, succeeded under cover of night, al
though chased by the Arabs. in removing it to a
point Of temporary safety. He then, as the only
alternative demanded (!) an interview with the
SultanC) and received permission to remove the
much coveted object" The Doctor was doubt
less, very bold man, but at the time mentioned
there was no call for his bravery, for then there
was no khedival law against the expectation OF
Egyptian antiquities, and as to the
Aas either h9n Of "ban since bn ths
OF these old dried up 'Stiffs," they would.
for a very trfing consideration have helped
the valiant Doctor to secure and hide away any
amount of ancient, jerked like, well-pre-
served Egyptians from the days of the earliest
Pharaohs downward Mummies have been found
in such plenty in the last three four years that
the market is ''beared" to price the lowest ever
known, and the government now permits ex
portation, if the boxes are sealed by the officials
of the Boulak Museum, Cairo In the days
when the bulls had their way in the mummy
market the prices were $780, $500, $500, and even
81, 200, and these prices were really premiums TO
kill fellow dry him up by artificial means and
hoy i'm in m
and send him to England or America. But since the
Egyptian government has allowed something like
free trade in mummies the discoveries at Achmene
and Thebes have furnished an immense number
of the genuine article at prices ranging from $40
to $50 Hon. j. W. Bookwalter of Springfield,
o. purchased a sarcOphaguS and its mummy
contents at Cairo. IN March last, for $780, The
sarcophagus is one of the most beautiful 1 ever
saw the paintings being as bright and fresh
if only yesterday turned out of some Egyptian
kregelos establishment.
But to return again to Dr. Huffnagle and his
mummy. The special" says the Doctor de-
manded an interview in his official capacity with
the Sultan" What right had the Doctor to do
this, even if there were Sultan in Egypt
civil officer of the United States in India has no
rights that a ruler in another country is bound
to respect, even if he were ''Sultan" in Egypt
instead of Viceroy. But wish chiefly to call
attention to the Doctors for the specialist state
ment that he got this mummy, under great diff
culties, from the Great Pyramid of Sakkara."
Sakkara, the Hottest and the largest in every
respect, is what is frequently called
the Step Pyramid" because it does not
diminish from the base to the apex in a con-
tinuous line, but is in six stages or steps; each
step averaging more than thirty-three feet in
height, and six feet in width This is considered
not only the Oldest pyramid, but the oldest
known edifce Of human construction in the
world. antedatlng, according to Psychologists,
the Great Pyramid OF Cheops" for moro than
500 years. Now this great pyramid of Sakkara
is the one exception, as mentioned in my last
letter, to all the other pyramids more than
seventy which have been explored and studied
time and again, In II that it does not stand ex-
actly facing the principal points of the compass;
2) the it covers is oblong instead of square;
and (') no mummies were ever found in it. It's
numerous and complicated chambers and pas
saSeS have LED Psychologists to the conclusion
that it once contained cepis bull tombs of the
primeval monarchy" This pyramid was ran
sacked by the Persans, the Greeks and the
Romans before the Christian era and since then
by the Arabs. In 1921 the Italian General
Minutoli thoroughly ransacked the interior, and
taking what the Persians, Greeks, Romans and
Arabians did not think worth keeping; he placed
them on board ship, but unfortunately the
collection was lost at the mouth Of the Elbe In
1915, two years before DR.. Huffnagle, according
to the special, obtained his mummy from the
Great Pyramid of Sakkara," Lapsus, the
famous German arch9ologst went into every
hole and corner of the great pyramid Of Sakkara,
fore, | do not believe word of the wonderful
account of DR.. Huffnagles mummy hunt By
the way, the mummy inside sarcophagus may
not always be of the name, or of the sex, which
is written on the lid They were often changed
in ancient times, some centuries after
the burial of the first mummy After
the lapse of a few hundred YEARS. even
Egyptians were not scrupulous about stealing
fine sarcophaguS turning out its old dried up
tenant, and putting In new one. l remember
a most ludicous incident which took place in an
eastern city of the United States thirty
five or forty years ago, when Gliddon, tn lmer-
lean Egytologist-a popular but rather ~-.alow
man-announced with a great flourish of trum
pets that he would open a sarcophagus contain
ing the mummy Of an Egyptian princess.
most select audience of ladies and gentlemen
were assembled and Gliddon read on thelid with
great Psychological erudition the and
the virtues of the deceased within; how, as lady
and princess, she won all hearts, etc. The ban
dages unroed, every eye strained to get
glimpse of the lovely, though dried up princess,
when 10. and behold, it was him" and not
her" 1t was Enthusiastically man mummy who
had been put in the sarcophagus of the princess
without the old reader having corrected the
proof Of the patent outside" So l premise
that whoever has bought Dr. Huffnagles
Daughter of the Superior High Priest of Ho-
| rus, may possibly find that the she turns out
to be 'he some centuries younger than the
aforesaid daughter.
But of my visit to the wonderful interior of
some OF the pyramids and tombs at Sakkara
must be reserved for my next.
J. C. FLETCHER
A Dog that Understands.
Boston Record.