Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-22

I
any recognizable claim to form, elthel
human or otherwise, but such as must hav'
been cut by the hand of man, having a
his means some sharp instrument, for th'
rock Of which the sides of the cave wert
formed was hard and of basaltic character
Presently the walls seemed to narrow
and, after proceeding some little distance
opened into large chamber, wherein
faint streaks of daylight streamed. Here
however, JAMS nerves began to fail him
and he steadfastly refused to precede u.
any further. Pushing him to one side,
entered, followed closely by my wife
The doubtful gloom of the place prevented
me at first from distinguishing objects that
lay strewn about. Turning to Norah,
said:
~ don't see much here to scare the
stupid fellow. Truly there is an uncanny
look about the place, but one can account
for that by the amount of awe conjured up
by JAMS assertion, to say nothing of the
awful look of fear his face was wearing
when he came running back to US"
As l finished this remark my wife
touched me on my arm and said: LOOK
over therel What can it be? Oh, Geof,
it IS a manp
Turning my eyes in the direction Norah
was pointing, | saw what | at once knew
to be the figure Of man, but whether of
Gods creation or the fanciful work of ma
ture could not say. The queer sensation
of an icy finger tracing out the line of my
spinal vertebra began to affect me-not
that / was in the least alarmed. / have
never been the faintest bit nervous;
knew that if the figure were thing of
life, one man, in ninety-nine cases out of a
hundred, is as good as another. Besides,
had | not Norah with me? She was
a host in herself. never for moment
reckoned on Jan; he, though brave as a
Trojan in the open air and among his fell
lows, was too strong believer in the su-
pernatural to be of any assistance when it
appeared to him a question of battling
with the evil one.
On going up to the object which had
provoked so much alarm | found it to be
the body of native in sitting posture.
The seat upon which it rested rudely re-
sembled a chair-such one as is usually
described as hall porter's-and had APP
parently been roughly hewn from frag-
ment of neighboring stone.
The body seemed at first to give evil
dence of sudden death, but on closer ex-
animation l recognized that there was
method in its disposition, and, judging
by the fact that several articles were
placed methodically in a half-circle in
front of the body, came to the conclusion
that native burial of more than ordinary
character had been here carried out, but
how long since remains to this day mys-
terry.
The body, I found on close inspection
under the light of sundry matches, was in
an extremely mummifed condition. In
deed, / have never seen anything of
similar order so well preserved. The most
curious fact was that there appeared to be
nothing on or about the body to show that
any process had been used to bring out
such perfect preservation, unless, as | after
wards thought, smoke had acted as q pre-
seryative. l was led to fancy this from
the large quantity of wood ashes with
which the floor of the cavern was strewn,
and the dark, grimy appearance of the
roof, as seen by the dim light of the
matches burned. The atmosphere of the
cave was very dry; no moisture could be
detected on the walls, this condition of
surroundings going long way in helping
the smoke to perfect its work.
As for the mummy itself, when in life
the man must have been at an age approx
mating to forty years-a fine specimen,
too, of his kind, considerably above six
feet in hight. On touching it a gray kind
of dust remained upon the finger, and the
body, when tapped, gave out sound as
does stretched parchment. There was
scarcely any shrunken appearance, except
below the eyes, the lids OF which were
down, the other parts of the body appear
ing much the same as they might have
done during life; the lips, in particular,
had retained their fullness. j have never
been able to account for this extraordi-
nary instance of the flesh retaining its SOL
idity sufficiently long for the skin to be-
come dry enough to escape the ordinary
shrinking, thereby losing, as most num-
mics do, what may call their resemblance
to their living selves.
"Well, Goef what do you think of
him ?' asked Norah.
"Quite a puzzle, little woman; can't
make him out at all; there are no Katfirs
living hereabouts, nor have l heard of any
ever having done SO yet he is katfir, as
his wool shows"
Don't you think, Geof, that he may
have been some great swell among peo-
pie living about here ages ago, or, perhaps,
have come out on big hunting expedition
and met with some accident or died very
suddenly, and so have been 'vaulted in
this cave as cheap and expeditions means
of interment? Do you know, seem to
have an indistinct remembrance of reading
that somewhere in the interior of Africa
there did once exist tribe who were ac-
auainted with some wonderful means of
preserving their dead"
'Skittles," l replied, ''you are off now
into vain imaginings,' as oar parson friend
at Kilpdrift used TO say. / never heard Of
such report, nor do l believe have you !;
but I'll tell you what-Pm going to bring
him along as the Americans have 1t. l
guess we'll trade him off to some adyant-
age. The Cape Town Museum authorities
ought to make bid. At any rate, they
shall have a chance if the beggar doesn't
cut up rusty and make himself small by
falling into dust ON his temperance in
broad daylight and fresh air"
Elbow are you going to get it away from
here, Geof?" asked Norah. "Of course the
boys won't help you, and-well, l don't
quite think I can"
sob, Pll find way to get the old chap
out of this. Why, he can't weigh much
more than old bones. l hope shan't
tumble him into the river. Therell be a
good chance of it, though, getting over
those slippery powders"
s'But, Geof, dear, if you get him out
where is he to sleep? The second wagon
is full, and We cannot have him in our
wagon-that will be altogether too much"
"Why, Norah, l do believe you are los
ing pluck. l thought you could stand
anything
$50 l can, Geof-at least almost any
thing; but to have him in our wagon at
night-ohl 1 don't believe l could. He
might sit with US during the day. I'd
rather like that; 'twould be something to
study and speculate over"
ssWe'll see what can be done, but take