The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1891-12-10
FINDING OF THE PHARAoHs.
Their Tombs Accidentally Discovered By
Wandering Arabs-

Their rombs Accidentally Discovered By
Wandering Arshs-
The most generally interesting among
the recent discoveries In Egypt was tho
finding of the Pharaohs. in 1851. The
story has been given TO the world in
pri,t therefore it will be only outlined
here. But by far the most fortunate
way il TO hear it directly from the lips
OF the keeper of the museum, Emil
Brugsch, himself, his vivid. briefly
direct narration adding the last charm
to the striking facts by the muse
um authorities il had been for several
years suspected that some one at Luxor
(Thebes) had discovered hitherto I'M
opened tomb; for funeral statuettes,
papyri, and other objects. all Of i'm
portancc, were offered for sale there.
one by one, and bought by travellers.
who, upon their return TO Cairo, dis
played their treasures, without COM
pretending their value Watch was
kept. and suspicion finally conferred up
on family of brothers; these Arabs ut
last confessed, and one Of them led the
way to q place not far from the temple
called Deir-el-Bahari, which all Wis.,
itors to Thebes will remember. Here,
filled with sand, there was a shaft not
unlike q well, which the man had
discovered by chance. When the sand
was removed, the opening Of a lateral
tunnel was visible below, and this tun-
mel led into the heart of the hill, where,
in q rude chamber twenty feet high,
were piled thirty or more mummy
cases. most Of them decorated with the
royal asp. The mummies proved TO be
those of Seth the First, the conqueror
who carried his armies rs far into Asia
as the Orontes; and of Raineses the
Great (called Sesostris by the Greeks).
the Pharoah who oppressed the Israel
ties; and of Seth the Second, the Pha-
roah of the Exodus, together with other
sovereigns and members Of their farli-
lies, princes, princesses and priests
At some unknown period these num-
mics had been taken from the magnifi-
rent rock tombs in that terrible Apoca-
lyptic Valley of the kings, not far dis
tant. and hidden in this rough cham
Der. No one knows why this was done;
a record of it may yet be discovered.
But in time all knowledge of the hid.
ing-place was lost, and here the Pha-
raohs remained until that July day in
1881. They were all transported across
the burning plain and down the
Nile to Cairo. Now at last they
repose in state in an apartment
which might we'll be called a throne
room. You reach this great cruciform
hall by a handsome double stairway;
upon entering you see the pharaohs
ranged in a majestic circle, and care
less though you may be, unhistorical.
practical, yor are impressed. The fea-
lures are distinct. Some OF the dark
faces have dignity; others show marked
resolution and power. Curiously
enough, one of them closely resembles
Voltaire- This, however, is probably due
to the fact that voltaire closely resem-
bled mummy while living. How would
1t seem, the thought that beings who
are to come into existence A. ID. 5000
should be able, in the land which we
now call the United States of America
(what will it be called then?), to gaze
upon the features of some of our presi.
ients-for instance, George Washing
ton and Abraham Lincoln? am afraid
that the fancy is not as striking rs it
should be. for New World ambition
yrasps without difficulty all futures,
even A. ID. %, 900; It is only when our
eyes are turned to the past. when we
have no Importance and represent
nothing, that an enumeration Of cent
uries overpowers us little. But in
any case, after visiting Egypt, We all
learn TO hate the art of the embalmer:
those who have been up the Nile, and
beheld the poor relics of mortality Of
fered for sale on the shores, become, as
it were by force, advocates of crema-
Fenimore woolson, in
Harper's Magazine.