The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-12-16
OLD PAPYRI FOUND
CONTINUED from Eighth Page.)

{ 1t required literal endurasce TO re-
| main steadfsst. for the season became
far advanced before the papyrus har-
vest was fully gathered and the last roll
4 recovered from that ancient sail. Day
! after day, precious documents We're
| found representing a wide range or liteT-
ature, history. ethics and law. These
! were all carefully packed in boxes and
sent to Queens College, oxford. there to
be held in safe keeping until Mr.. Gren-
| fell and Mr.. Hunt, the discoverers. re-
turned. waen the ttanslating of them
would begin. Immediately upon their
return they started on the work. and
now the astounding discovery is made
| that the papyri contain five stanzas OF
a poem by Ssppho, part of play by
! Menander, but, by far more wonderu,
| most Of the first chapter of St.
Matthews Gospel. This ma safely be
called the Oldest Christian document
that has ever been found.
Oxy,ynchus, the place where the
papyri were unearthed, is not an invit-
ing SPOT 10 look upon. 1t is on the edge
OF the western desert, 120 miles from
the home of many rich, ancient Egyp-
tians. being, it is supposed, the capital
OF one of the districts into which Egypt
was anciently divided. 1t was owing
mainly to this reason that il was select
ed by the eXcavators as place likely
to hold within the depth of its sandy
soil records 81 the past. Another fact
led them to look favorably upon it was
that no papyri seemed TO come from it,
which indicated that the place had not
been much plunde,ed for antiquities. Be-
sides this. il seemed to be site where
fragments OF Christian literature might
be expected Of a date preceding the
fourth century, to which our heretofore
Oldest manuscripts OF the New Tesla
ment belong.
The ruins Of the old city are seven
miles from the Nile, and are just inside
the desert on the west bank of the Bahr
Yusuf. or Joseph's Rivera branch OF
the Nile The area covered by the ruins
is a mile and a quarter long by half
mile broad.
1t soon became evident TO the exca-
vstors that if papyrus was TO be found
here it would be among the rubbish
mounds and not in the ruins Of the
buildings, of which only the foundations |
were left. So they started Work on one !
OF the most favorable looking mounds |
with seventy workmen. 1t proved 10 be |
very fortunate choice, for the diggers |
at once began to come upan papyrus |
scraps in considerable quantities. They |
unearthed private and Official documents
and a number OF fragments written in /
uncilas-the form Of writing unsed in /
copying classical manuscripts. Finding |
the rubbish mound. 50 fruitful. they
kept at work on them and increase /
the number ~ diggeTs 70 over a hun
dred. AS they got deeper down in the
sand the flow Of payri increased so ma
;eTially that they had difficulty 20 han
die il. 1t was. as a rule, not very far
from the surface, and in one patch o,
ground where they worked Il was only
necessary to turn up spadeful OF earth
to disclose a papyrps roll.
The greater part ot the find was made
az depth ot not more than ten feet
TIE excavato-s, however. made numer-
Gus efforts. By digging more deeply in
the sand, 70 unesrsi1 papyri earlier than
tIe first century, A d. but their at
tenpts in this vas not successful. and
NJ. Grenteil's explanation is tina; in
tii.. as in The case OF tombs. the damp
soaking from below had proved fatal
10 what papri there may have been in
the lower level.
In a number OF instances t1ey came
upon pIacss where waOie baske:sfuls
rad been deposited By taose ancient
people. II seemed. however. ID have
been their practice is a number OF cases
10 tear up the papyri the same "a We do
with our old documents today. and con-
much that might have been
4 great value was in s1cA a muisste5
>on6ition as 20 be aimost worthless. Bur |
Dot wi a<taaiing this. tas amo1n: ob- !
-Rined by the sxcayztJrs Vas re-y -arge.
ani il viii take years of steady work - ;
translate il, Some os the ro,Is secured |
he Fion <ares 20 gen feet tonz aai in |
excellent condition. con.ide-ins their :
;rsat age Il r. o. course. impossible
-et - ssy waz; other important dlseov- :
.-ies may Se disSoss5 a ire writing ] :
re z-eiuz,iy translated. -: tsat trey :
viii De FER reaching IS evicezce1 by re
y-Aat one ;iat has Just been ma e.
II . ;rso works hard and gets slocS, izxy
ecciR saY ke u lucky.