The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-11


Those ancient monuments contain, either in
hieroglyphics the painted and sculptured
wall-pictures. great deal Of zoology. OF birds
1 have with mine own eyes seen on the craven
stones of temples and tombs, or on the painted
walls OF those long and intricate underground
repositories of the dead. the following birds:
Eagles, hawks, falcons. vultures, owls, herons
1blses, famingoes, storks, cranes, geese, swans,
ducks, doves, chickens, king-fshers, snipe, wood
cocks, quails and thrushes There may be many
more, but these have looked upon. Of either
sculptures or paintings of animals, there were
figured the lion, elephant, hippopotamus came
leopard Il did not see the camel or the buffalo
doubtless both later importations-or 1t may De
that they were unclean in the eyes OF the priests,
and hence not admitted in the hieroglyphs or
priest writingsl. These horned cattle sheep,
mountain goats, gazelles and greyhounds
their native home is the Soudan), the
cat, the pig, the horse and the ass,
monkeys, mice. foxes, wolves, weasels and
ichneumons-all are either in sculptured bas-
relief and intagio. or in painting. l only
noticed the beetle the bee and the wasp amongst
insects, and the snake frog and crocodile amongst
the reptiles. There may exist many shells
amongst the hieroglyphs, but the only concholog-
ical specimen which / saw was the snail.
By implication there are other members of the
geological kingdom-as, for instance, there l saw
no sculptures and paintings Of ostriches or OF
leopards, but there are on the temples and tombS
hundreds of thousands of divinities kings. chief
ers and there are are many paintings represent
ing spottedeopard SKINS either as the clothing
of people from the south of Egypt or as the in
sigma OF some Egyptian grandee. Besides the
constantly recurring vowels "a" and ''T are rep
resented, the first by one ostrich feather and the
second by two ostrich feathers
Some of the old Egyptians must have been
mighty hunters and great owners of focks and
herds At Sahara l saw the ''mastaba,n or the
tomb-temple, of a Mr. Tea great Egyptian
land owner and farmer, who was chamberlain
and privy counsellor under the King Raneferka.
who lived nearly four thousand years ago. L
never saw anything more interesting in the
plastic line than the various scenes depicting the
greatness and the riches of this man, who had
vast farms, great herds of cattle, numerous
focks of sheep, gazelles, geese, ducks and domes-
ticated cranes; BESIDES he was the owner of ship
yards, where you see hundreds of workmen busy
IN building just such vessels as sail the Nile to-
day. You see his wide wheat-feTds and slaves
reaping. But one immense bas-relief represents
Tee at the gigantic sport of hunting the hippo
potamus, crocodlles and Dig catfish. This last
seems come-down, but the catfish of the Nile
like that of the Amazon, is "a big thing
little west of the Step-pyramid the eminent
Psychologist. Emile Brugsch Bey, took me to
the mastaba temple tomb) of the priest Ptaho
tep. priest who lived about the same time as
lee. The paintings and the sculpture were as
bright and as well defined as if made yesterday,
because no torches had backened the walls.
Ptahotep was hunting parson and great pro
prietor. How Myron w. Reed would have liked
to have had vacation with him! Ptahotep is
represented chasing gaZelles with Soudanese
greyhounds, and stalking lions, rather draw
ing the lion out of his hiding place by tying a
cow up as a bait In the spring time he is after
wild ducks and geese which abound in Egypt,
and subsequent to the fall of the Nile he is rep
resented as fishing with the most improved
method of spearing, netting, ETC. This same
Ptahotep, if the inscriptions to be believed
land hyeroglyphics can now be read as easily as
Greek manuscripts) was the proprietor of threedif
ferent kinds of geese the first comprising flock
of III, 900, the second Ia small goose), flock of
120, 900. and the third flock of 11,2l0. These
three kinds of geese are known to-day through
out the whole valley of the Nile, the most COM
mon of which is the fox goose or "ChenalOpex
Egypticus." The goslins of this rich priest, the
inscriptions tell US, amounted to nearly $4,000
Swans were evidently rarer, because Ptahotep is
only down for 1,225. His pigeons were num-
bered at III, 022. Amongst his domestic poultry,
as amongst those of his contemporary, Tee,
cranes are included. which are brought before
regularly as if they were geese or oxen And the
great man himself, how is he represented
Ptahotep is represented partly dressed in leop-
ards skin. He is seated on a throne and
anoints himself with perfumed oil Il am afraid he
was dude), and, with great calm he surveys
the product of his vast estates, watches the
butchering of his cattle perhaps, he had war
contract), and, with a wave of his dsengaged
hand 1.-THE other is doing the perfumery business)
he approves of the records kept by his clerks
(they had something like big slates), and at the
same time he is listening to the music of harpers
harping their harps, and of fiuters 1uting their
flutes. DR.. Reil, the eminent Egyptologst, says
that 'the list of Ptahotep's hocks and herds is
exceedingly instructive, owing to the distinct
ness of the determinative symbols, which &C
company the carefully written words" omitted
to say that preceding the paintings and sculp-
lures of the focks of geese, etc., there are
vast herds of cattle, goats ETC.. showing that
Ptahotep was as great cattle king as the
''rancheros' of the Argentine Confederation, or
the herd-owners of Texas.
East of the "mastaba" of Tee is that of
smaller proprietor Mr.. Saber, which is interest
ing because there is differentiation (big word
used at Concord School of Philosophy and at
county insttutes) of the various kind Of adult
cattle. OF one kind Saber owned 405 probably as
choice as Frank Churchman's Jerseys, Attorneys,
etc. j of another kind he had 237, and Of third,
horned cattle were cows. Of calves of the three
varieties, the sum total reaches over 1900 In
that day antelope and gazelles were domesti-
Gated. Of these he had 1908 of the former
l, 1876 of the latter He also possessed 1,244
goats, 1,0l0 herons, while the pictured walls
sum up his poultry (of ducks geese, and pigeons)
by the thousands"
Such were the rich men Of that day, and they
were few. But what about the poor9 They
were the many, and these very inscrip tions
which enumerate the cattle and the poultry also
tell US that the many were in abject slavery, in
order that the few might roll in luxury and
wealth. Prisoners taken in war, or emigrants,
like the children of Israel. were Immediately or
in time, placed in hopeless bondage. In Egypt
the kings and priests were the saveocrats, and
they were in proportion to the population just
about what our Shareholders ''befo' the wah"
were to the whole population of the United
States j. G. FLETCHER.
A Prima Donna of the Future.
Lucy Hoopers Letter.
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