The Anaconda standard., 1890-08-03
SOME VERY OLD PEOPLE
Egyptian MummieS Over Six Thousand
Years Of Age.
A Wooden Statue of Adam-Won-
derfuI Collection OF Egyptian
Antiquities In the Chizeh
Palace Museum.
. NOTWITHSTANDING the shor,

NOTWITHSTANDING the short
span of its existence. the National
museum at Cairo, founded by the
late Mariettc Bey, hitherto known as the
Boulak museum, has managed to collect q
more wonderful assortment of Egyptian
antiques, together with more numerous
specimens of its ancient art, than can
now he seen In any other part of the
world. This museum was established for
the purpose of providing place, in Egypt
itself, where the treasures constantly be-
ing discovered could he exhibited, and
which would also furnish an excuse for
the government interfering to prevent the
wholesale expectation of the portable por-
tion of its antiquities; n scandalons pro-
ceeoing, which was fast deprving Egypt
Of its priceless heirlooms. The unique
collection thus created. having outgrown
the capacity of the small and unsuitable
assigned Ia il at Boulak. has, during the
last winter. been moved 10 the Ghizeh
palace, building admirably adapted for
the purpose, even il its modern French
decorations are of "a somewhat inhar-
monious character. This palace is situ-
ated n short distance outside Of Cairo, on
the western bank of the Nile, and
Is one Of the most costly of those
gingerbread edifices built by the
present khedive's father and pretie-
cessor, lsmail Pasha, of palace-building
fame. Here, within lofty galleries, In
marblc-pillared halls aud ornate recep-
tion-rooms, overlooking the Nile and the
towering minarets of Cairo, visitors and
students or Egyptology can now examine
those thought-inspiring work OF art and
constantly increasing records Of ancient
Egypt which the explorations are bring
ing to light, or which result from the sys-
tcmatic tomb-riiling, which is apparently
an accomplishment inherited by the
Arabs from their remote ancestry.
Here Is hall now devoted To the exhi-
bition of some of those mummies of the
Pharaohs aud royal pcrsonages which
were rescued under extraordinary circtim-
stances by Brugsch Bay in lssl from that
mysterious hiding place In the tomb
pierced ellis at the back of the temple at
Deir-cl-Bahari, Thebcs. Here IN glass
cases exposed to view. are now To he seen
the line features Of SETH L., the Pharaoh
who ordered the slaughter of the first
born Hebrew children. and whose daugh-
ter rescued the infant Moses. In the
etcd 10y the face Of Sethi's son,
Rameses H., or the Great. the Phar-
oah of the Jewish oppression, whose stat
ues, cartouches and bombastic has reliefs
modern travellers up the Nile still find
scattered all over upper Egypt. There
reposiDg IN these eases, including that of
Thotmes ILL.,, the obelisk builder, and as
they are all in most wonderful state of
preservation the room has an enthralling
fascination for every class ut visitor at
tracted To the museum. The next room
shown II a handsomely proportioned one
where the various images and divinities
peculiar Ia the mysterious mythology Of
primitive Egypt can be studied.
Another scene is of the court in which
the active work Of moving is still taking
place. The art OF the ancient world is
admirably exemplificd by the figures
carved ont OF calcareous limetone. repre-
senting Prince Rhatoeb and his wife Ne
fert, which were found In tomb near the
so-called false pyramid OF Maydoon, and
are now in the first room. These statues,
tile most conspicuous objects in the mu-
scum are said To belong To the fourth or
fifth dynasty. and are without doubt the
oldest portrait statues in the world. III
faithful likcnesses the prince and
his wife must have been
The other statutes are assiiredly worthy
OF classification among the wonders Of
the world. The granite one occupied n
commanding position i'm a large marble
pillared hall devoted To relics OF the "an-
clent empire" II was found i'm one OF the
chambers OF the sand-bured syenite
temple Of the Sphinx. and represents
Chepren. the builder Of the second pyra-
mid at Ghizeh. The statute, which is GER
tainly not less than 600 years old. dis
plays in its general treatment. in the free
dom from that conventionality peculiar To
a later period, as in the molling OF the
limbs and body, aud in the majesty
repose which characterizes the
| expression the highest pinnacle
which Egyptian art ever attained. No
less amazing in its way is the wooden
statue found at Memphis, now called the
| laN sl-R l.a1 will ~.
Of some fancied resemblance the people
| at Saknrah discovered between IL aud
| their present sheyk. The date of this
carving is unknown, but IL is as old as, IL
| not older than, the pyramids. IL tells a
/ tale, both IN the man representec and in
the art knowledge exemplitied of "A high
| civilization existing anterior to the period
at which history begins; of this civiliza-
tion the world does not possess any
records but those specimens of handiwork
resulting from its teaching, which are now
to be found in the Ghizeh palace museum.