The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-11-06
AN EGYPTIAN ELIAIy
By FRANK M. EASTMAN.

copyright, 1897, by the Author.l
Thou couldst tell us, if that leathern tongue
Could tell what those dim, sightless eyes
have seen,
How the world looked when it was fresh and
young
And the great deluge still had left it green.
Horace Smith.
l had been exploring a large rock
tomb in the vicinity of Karnak for a
number of weeks in the summer of IS.
1t was a comparatively old discovery,
but owing to the remarkable character
of the tomb | had thought it well worth
my while to CLEAN for such details as
might have escaped the notice of earlier
visitors.
The opening to the sepulcher, acct
dentally discovered, consisted of a
straight passage, barely permitting of
the entrance of a single individual at a
time upon his hands and knees. Its sides
were OF red granite, beautifully pol
ished, which glittered dazzlingly in the
light of the explorers torch. This en-
trance ran straight back into the hill
for a distance of some 200 feet, when it
suddenly opened upon a large vaulted
room of circular form, from which there
branched numerous galleries Of good
proportions, leading to other chambers,
in which had been found many sar
cophagi, mummies and mummy cases,
one of the sarcophagi being supposed to
be that of Thothmes III, the most glori.
GUS monarch of Egyptian history, who
erected the obelisk now in Central park,
NhN,-l 40 1al hna,, f1,,tl
within it.
The walls of the passages and cham.
bers were, like those of all of the grand.
or Egyptian tombs, decorated with nu.
merous spirited paintings, the bright
colors of which still shone as fresh and
lustrous as if they had been laid on but
yesterday. 1t was in this mysterious
abode of death that l had been long en-
gagged, copying inscriptions and paint
ings, searching for new passages ant
re-examining the old ones, with an Ell
thusiasm which only an ardent Egyp
tologist can experience.
l had at length nearly finished m,
Investigations, and, in fact, the day O
which l am about to speak was to hav'
been my last i'll the tomb, there re
naming but one picture to copy, ant
that upon tho wall Of a remote gallery
Accordingly, at about oon l fount
myself before the picture III question
palette in hand, surrounded by a grou,
Of fellahs i'll my employ, the Pickering
light of whose torches gave their som
Der faces a sufficiently Dantesque ex
preston.
The picture | was copying was OF
very common type, representing a trai,
Of long haired captives defling before
king whom | supposed to be Tnothmes
but as the hieroglyphics connected wit
the picture were very obscure thi
would take some time to determine
While painting away industriously, an
sometimes reduced almost to despair j
my attempts to mix colors as bright
those before me, l noticed that til
paint had blistered or peeled off
little just at the point of the king
nose. AS / had never noticed pair
scaling from other pictures, | got up I
examine the place. Taking hold of
projecting scale, l gave it a slight pull
when, to my surprise, perhaps a squa,
foot CT the paint came away, revealir
the granite wall behind, and i'll thi
wall a seam or joint.
With a cry of pleasure l tore, prize
and dug the paint away for a distanC
of some feet and disclosed the outli1
of q door or passaVeWay which had bee