The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1886-08-13

tracted tue viscera is large and open,
The legs and thighs are Aeshless, the
feet are long. slender, somewhat fiat
soled. and dyed, like the hands, with
henna. The corpse is that of an old
man, but of that of vigorous and ro-
bust old man. We know, indeed, that
Rameses II. reigned for sixty seven
years, and that he must have been near
ly one hundred years old when he died.
The unbandaging of the mummy of
Rameses IL took less than one-quarter
of an hour. After short pause of q few
moments. at precisely 10 minutes before
10 o'clock, the mummy numbered 5,229
was. In its turn. removed from its glass
case. It was discovered in the great
sarcophagus numbered 5,247, which also
contained another mummy in o very
dirty and tattered condition. AS tnls
sarcophagus bore the name of Noiretari,
the wife of King james l. of the XVIIIth
Dynasty, it had been taken for granted
that No. s. 229 was the mummy of this
Queen. The other mummy was sup
posed to be That of some unknown prin.
cess who had been laid beside Nofretari
by the priests employed to conceal the
Royal mImmies in the hiding place ct
Dayr-el- Bahari. Consigned to the
museum stores, the mummy decayed and
gave out SO foul an odor that it became
necessary to get rid of it. It was
accordingly opened, and proved to have
been bandaged very carefully; but the
body was 10 sooner exposed to the outer
air than it fell literally into q state of
putrefaction, dissolving into black
matter which gave out an insupportable
smell 1t was, however, ascertained to
he the corpse of woman of mature age
and middle height, belonging to the
white races of mankind. There wore no
traces of writing on the baudages, but
small strip of linen dic covered in the
sarcophagus No. 5,247 was decorated
with scene of alteration of King
Rameses III. in the Likeness of two
forms of Amen. A short legend, written
partly in cursive hieroslyphs and partly
i'll hieratic, states that the piece of linen
thus decorated was the gift of the head
laundress of the royal household, and it
was accordingly supposed that the
anonymous mummy was one of the many
sisters, wives or daughters of Rameses
I'LL
The mummy No. 1920 was very neatly
wrapped in orange .colored linen, kept in
place by small strips of ordinary linen.
There was no outer inscription, but upon
the head was linen band covered with
mystical figures.
NJ Maspero here reminded His High
ness the Khcdive that Nofretari is repre-
sented upon certain monuments as of q
black complexion, while upon other
monuments she is seen with yellow
skin and with the soft hair of m Egyptian
woman. Hence there have arisen innu.
merable discussions among Egyptolo
gists, some affirming that the Queen
was negress while others maintain that
the black tint of her face and body was n
fiction originating with the priests. The
worship of this Queen was extremely
popular at Thebes, where she was
de.fied under one of the forms of Hathor,>
the black goddess, the goddess of death
and of the shades. The opening of the
mummy No. 229 would, therefore,
probably settle this historical question
for good and ALL
The orange-colored winding-sheet be-
ing removed, there appeared beneath it
q white sheet bearing an inscription in
four lines "The year Kill, the sec mi
month of Shomou, the 2Sth day. the FIRST
Prophet of Amen, King of the Gods;
Pinotem, son of the First Prophet of
Amen; Piankhi, the scribe of the tenn
Zoserou- Khonsu, and the Scribe of the
Metropolis Boutchamon, proceeded to
restore the defunct King Ra-user-ma
Mer-Amen and to establish him for
eternity"
The mummy, which had hitherto been
taken for Noiretari, was then the num-
my of Rameses I'LL; and the anonymous
mummy was without doubt that of Noir.
retari.
This point being verified, Rameses
III. was placed erect and photographed
in his bandages. Short as was the de-
lay, it seemed too long for the impatient
spectators. The strange revelation,
which had substituted one of the great