Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1892-06-04
SCENES ON THE NILE.
THE ANCIENT RULERS OF EGYPT
IN GLASS CASES.

Brings.
The Nile is not older than other rivers
yet it has about it smack of antiquity.
1t rolls along near Cairo with an air OF
declared dignity that suggests better
days. 1t shutiles along as if on slippers,
and barely greets the nodding palms that
obsequiously offer their reflection to its
waters, or scarcely notices the pretence
of cities that now respectfully crouch on
its banks.
1t is beneficent old river, scattering
its waters with lordly incidence to feed
the hungry sands, needless alike whether
they appreciate the overflow of its munif-
cence or greedily long for more. 1t is in
different, it is slovenly, it is blaze; it lam
guidly dwells on its past splendors, pities
Luxor and Thebes, and wistfully eyes the
pyramids to see if they too are wasting
away.
These Pyramids are empty and have
given up their treasures. The Pharaohs
had an eye to permanence after death,
they heaped up pile Of stones such that
no usurper could demolsh nor conqueror
steal, and which might defy time, their
bodies were so preserved or picked as to
defy decay, and wrapped in cloths and
ligaments, they lay for $500 years with
the mass Of stone above them, type of
rest and permanence. They did not for
see that scientific resurrectionists would
snatch their corpses tear off their wraps
and expose them naked to the vulgar
gaze in the village at Boulak.
A mile and half from Cairo, the vii
lage lies at the base of the iron bridge,
square and modern, under which the
Nile haughtily deigns to flow. Its mar
row streets and open shops reek with
typical Eastern odors, its houses are hud-
died together, a contrast to the huge
white barracks and parade grounds on
the outskirts. Loungers hang about the
doorways and corners Of the streets, stall
wart Arabs, with dirty blankets over
shoulder and back; loosely made Egyp-
tans, and black Soudanese, with white
eyes and white teeth cleaning from
black wool and black visage, and white
tunics connecting black necks with black
arms and black legs.
Some motion is provided by the gaudy
robes of solemn Mosem gravely bob
hing on the hind quarters of Cairo
donkey, with a ragamuffin running be-
hind to promote locomotion. Amid the
bedraggled houses and frowsy population
of a modern Eastern village by the old
Nile now rest the bones and skins of the
masters of ancient Egypt, the lords of
the palaces of Memphis and Thebes.
The museum is erected close to the
river, solid, solemn building, with its
entrance guarded by two marble sphinxes,
who stretch their paws stiffly upon the
pedestals, and whose faces, upheld
by stiff necks, stare with passion
less gaze from the stiff head
dress. You pass between them under
massive doorway into the most wonder
full collection of celebrities in the world.
Nine. Tussaud's wax dolls decked in
gaudy frippery draw crowds. but at
Boulak you have the real article un-
adorned, skin, bone, face, expression, as
in life, and $500 years old.
Could museum at Westminster ex-
hibit the actual bodies of Alfred the
Great, Harold, Siward, the Williams, the
Henrys, and the Edwards, it would be
child's play compared with those Phar-
aohs at Boulak, who date 5000 years be-
fore them. There they lie, of undoubted
authenticity, the series of Rameses and
Sesostus, kith and kin, who ruled Egypt
with mighty sway from 5000 to 1000
years ago, before Joseph was sold, while
the Jews were making bricks without
straw, and before they took possession of
Palestine.
They are ranged in the room, each
lying on his back in his own glass case,
concealed by oilcloth. You pull aside
the cover and Pharaoh is asleep before
you, his head, neck, shoulders, and arms
bare, the burrows on his brow, the lines
On his cheek, the smile on his lips, the
wrinkles on his neck, all but the heaving
of the chest betokens sleep. 1t may be
Rameses or Sesostus, and it matters
little in this distance of time how old he
is. Ten years makes great difference
between the ages of 10 and 20; it has al
most disappeared between so and Go
what matters, then, few hundred years
5000 or 1900.
The brownish hue of the skin varies
but little from the tawny complexion of
the Egyptian of to-day. The expression
of the countenance is stereotyped, the
natural features of life, as they are seen
in the face of corpse just after the
struggle of the death agony has passed
away. You see determination or vacil-
iation, sternness or gentleness, cynicism
or geniality.
The lips preserve their curve and set,
the chin and nostrils still give testimony
to character, the lines Of the cheek and
forehead, the arch of the eyebrow, sug-
gest material for diagnosis of the habits
of life. The hands retain the pose of the
fingers, and the lines for palmistry.
The fixing of the expression, lines and
attitude of the features, and their pre-
servation for $500 years, is so marvell-
ously perfect as to leave the impression
of sleep.
Indeed, to all appearance, that face
might yesterday have lit up the hills of
Luxor or Karnak We picture the huge
massive palace of old Egypt, the double
collonades of gigantic pillars, the lotus
capitals and heavy cornice casting shade
and GOODNESS on the glistening marble
portals. We see the simmer of the
fountain reflected in the mirror of tho
polished pavement and walls of the
courtyard with its light toned by SUBJ
dued color, and its atmosphere aromatic
with the perfume of flowers.
We see within the hall itself all the
magniicence of Eastern luxury, the pro.
fusion of solid gold work, the costly