Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-05-22

Mr.. W. v. Cox, chief clerk of the National
museum, has received fine mummy, as q pleas
ant souvenir from his uncle, Hon. 8. s. Cox.
United states minister at Constantinople. The
remains arrived at the National museum Mon.
day. and were at once presented TO the museum
by Mr.. w. v. Cox. Minister Cox, in his letter
to his nephew, simply stated that he had Sc
cured the deceased in the upper Nile region
during his recent visit to Egypt 1t is supposed
that the minister had good reasons for not be-
ing more explicit. Some years ago, owing to
threatened exhaustion of the stock Of mum mics
use of them as fuel for his locomotives.
the Egyptian government prohibited the ex-
portation of mummies from the country. 1t
Is assumed then that Minister Cox secured the
mummy now lying in state at the National
Museum either by a clandestine expedition
of course, he would not desire to explicitly
state how 1t came into his possession. 1t has
been suggested also that the sultan bestowed
this mummy upon the minister as q fitting re-
turn of the compliment paid him by Mr.. Cox
when the latter presented his imperial high
was brought to this country on the steamship
Aurania, went through the New York custom
cellent condition, after it's long journey, at the
Museum where 1t now awaits the action Of the
coroner. 1t is on exhibition in one OF the halls
OF the department of ethnology, spoke of IL to
STAR reporter as being an unusually fine
specimen, one of the best In the country. The
bandages with which it is swathed have never
bee been broken open, The ,o, mask land
the painted shields placed
Persons who have fondness for mummies
or Egyptian antiquities will find much to in
case is Of acacia, or locust wood, the exterior
painted a dark color. The wood Is wonderfully
well preserved. The mummy case is carved
q mummy. Upon this case is carved and
painted a face with a long pointed beard. The
interior was followed out with an adZe, SO that
the mummy when placed in it exactly fits it.
This nice measurement indicates that the
mummy case was made to order and not bought
about the remains lead to the belief that the
deceased was well-tO-do citizen, though there
are no insignia of official rank. The mask is
painted and gilded. The colors are still vivid
and the gold-leaf bright. Covering the body,
from the chin down to the feet are painted pam
els or sections OF material like papier mache,
formed by COMPRISING layers Of linen together.
These panels form q sort OF painted ShrOud.
The colors used by the Egyptian artist are still
bright. A peculiar sort of cement or stucco, the
secret OF which was carried to the tomb with
the last of the old Egyptians was smeared over
the surface of these panels and the artist
painted upon the stucco, which took the colOrs
and has preserved them In this case for about
$500 years. Four OF these little sections, about
the size of ordinary playing cards, lie upon the
the figure of the mummied Osiris. These cards
look SO much alike that some irreVerent at
taches OF the museum call them the 'fOur
jacks" and speak of the dead gentleman as
holding pretty good hand. The other panels
beneath the four jacks are highly ornamented
and bear representations of various deities and
funeral emblems. The central figure is that OF
Isis, with OutStretched, OvershadoWing wings.
Unfortunately there was no coftin-plate on the
mummy-case. SO the identity OF the remains
has not been established. 1t is considered as
settled by the cut OF the beard carved upon the
wooden face OF the case, and the general indica-
lions, that the bereaved family spared no ex-