Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-04-21
SCENES ON THE NILE.
How the Ancient Rulers of Egypt Appear
in Their Glass Cases.


The Nile is not older than other
rivers, yet it has about it a smack of
antiquity, says the London Tablet. 1t
rolls along near Cairo with an air of
decayed dignity that suggests better
days. 1t shuffies along as if on Slip
pers, and barely greets the nodding
palms that obsequiously offer their re-
lection to its waters, or scarcely no.
tees the pretense of cities that now
respectfully crouch on its banks.
1t is benefcent old river, scatter
ing its waters with lordly Incidence to
feed the hungry sands, needless alike
whether they appreciate the overflow
of its munifcence or greedily long for
more. 1t is Indifferent, it is slovenly.
it is blase; it languidly dwells on its
past splendors, pities Luxor and
Thebes, and wistfully eyes the pyra-
mids to see if they too are wasting
away.
These pyramids are empty, and have
given up their treasures. The Pha-
raohs had an eye to permanence after
death; they heaped up pile of stones
such that no usurper could demolish
nor conqueror steal. and which defy
time; their bodies were so preserved
or picked as to defy decay; and,
wrapped in cloths and Ggaments, they
lay for $500 years with the mass of
stone above them-a type of rest and
permanence. They did not foresee
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 a 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. It's
narrow streets and open shops reek
with typical eastern odors; its houses
are huddled together a contrast to the
huge white barracks and parade
ground on the outskirts. Loungers
hang about the doorways and corners
of the stalwart Arabs with
dirty blankets over shoulder and back:
loosely made Egyptians and black
Soudanese with white eyes and white
teeth cleaning fro m black wool and
black visage, and white TUNES con-
Meeting black necks with black arms
and black legs.
Some motion is provided by the
gaudy robes of a solemn Moslem
gravely bobbing on the headquarters
of Cairo donkey, with a ragamuffin
running behind to promote locomo-
ton. 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 pal
aces 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 stiffiy
upon the pedestals. and whose faces,
upheld by stiff necks, stare with pas
sionless gaze from theig stiff head
dress. You pass between them under
a massive doorway into the most won-
derful collection of celebrities in the
world. Nine. Tussaud's wax dolls
decked in gaudy frippery draw crowds,
but at Boulak you have the real arti-
Gle unadorned, skin, bone, face, en-
preston as in life, and $500 years old.
Could a museum at estminster
exhibit 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
Pharaohs at Boulak who date 5000
years before them. There they lie, of
undoubted authenticity, the series Of
Rameses and Sesostris, 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 be-
fore 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
back 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 be-
token sleep. 1t may be his Rameses
or SesOstris, and it matters little at
this distance of time how old he is.
Ten years makes great difference be-
tween the ages of 10 and 20; it has al
most disappeared between so and 60
what matters, then, few hundred
years in three or four thousand.
The brownish hue of the skin varies
but little from the tawny complexion
of the Egyptian of to-day. The ex-
preston of the countenance is stereo-
typed, the natural features of life, as
| they are seen in the face of a corpse
| just after the struggle of the death
| agony has passed away. You see
| determination or vacillation, sternness
or gentleness, cynicism or geniality.
The lips preserve their curve and
set; the chin and nostrils still give tes-
timony to character; the lines of the
cheek and forehead, the arch of the
eyebrow suggest material for diagno-
sis of the habits of life. The hands re-
tain the pose of the fingers and the
lines for palmistry. The fixing of the
features, and their preservation for
$500 years are so maryelously perfect
as to leave the impression of sleep.
Indeed, to all appearance, that face
might yesterday have lit up the halls
of Luxor or Karnak. We picture the
huge massive palaces of Egypt, the
double colonnades of gigantic pillars,
the lotus capitals, and heavy cornice
casting shade and GOODNESS on the
| gistening marble portals. We see the
simmer of the fountain reflected in
the mirror of the polished pavement
and walls of the courtyard with its
light toned by subdued color, and its
atmosphere aromatic with the perfume
| of flowers.
We see within the hall itself all the
magnifcence of eastern luxury, the
profusion of solid gold work, the costly
silken hangings, the sumptuous car