Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-05

bronze bracelets, cunningly turned into SER
pents, alloys Of silver and gold, copper and
brass, and other tools of the earlier stage
when pure copper was used. To illustrate
how near akin man has been through
these myriads of years, it is only necessary
to mention the discovery in one of the tombs
Of what must have served as a baby's nurs-
ing bottle in the long ago. It was an earthen
vase with a hole in the side into which
bit Of cloth might be inserted that the baby
might draw his milk from the vase. Is there
anything new under the sum-"
Besides the common pots for kitchen use
and the fine vases for the parlor there were
discovered pieces of wood wonderfully inlaid
with pieces OF colored glass; showing that
the secret Of manufacturing glass was known
even then. This seems to indicate long
period of preparation, or development, for
men did not invent glass when they were
crude and uncivliZed In fact the discov
cries at Abydos open 80 wide vista Of pos
sibilities that We are scarcely surprised to
hear that the tombs OF the gods of Egypt
have been actually found. But before this
startling discovery was made NJ. Amelineau
stirred up the worlds Egyptologists by the
announcement that he had found the names
OF sixteen royal personages hitherto un-
known. He knew that they were royal, for
their names were written in peculiar de-
vice, technically known as the "house," and
it was just as if the sculptor had engraved
King so and so. 1t is from this "house"
design that the word Pharaoh is derived, or,
rather, the device signifies Pharaoh, from
the Egyptian Per-aa, Great House," that
is, the palace or the court
When NJ. Amelineau opened some of these
graves he found them to be the tombs of
these great unknown kings, already
acknowledged as Kings OF Upper and Lower
Egypt" but not yet known as Sons of the
Sum-" the title of later Egyptian monarchs.
Among these was one whose name he reads
Den, another called Qa and fourteen be-
sides, some OF those titles could not be read,
as they were entirely new. For instance, one
was indicated by the sculpture Of serpent,
but how this Is to be pronounced or what
1t means no Psychologist has yet found out
On comparing the names just found with
all the long line of Egyptian Pharaohs, not
one like any OF them could be found, and 1t
was very logically concluded that these ante
date Menes, and that only now are we reach
ing the earliest history OF Egypt.
Names No Man Can Read.
The tombs are primitively constructed,
some Of the walls being SO irregular that
1t is to be doubted whether the plumbline
was then known. But, nevertheless, the in
teriors of the tombs were most interesting.
Some of them were so short that 1t was
evident that no human being could have
been laid there at full length and the ex
PLANTATION was forthcoming when at last
in tomb which no yandal Arab has
reached a body was found all curled up
and surrounded with earthenware pots con-
tanning food, ointments, etc. or course,
there was no thought then of embalming
and it was entirely due to the dryness of
the soil that the body had been preserved
at all. In the tomb of the Pharoah, whose
name was indicated by serpent, 1t was
found that there were a number OF adjoining
chambers probably intended for the bodies
of his wives or of his prominent court Of
fcials. The tomb OF one of these, by name
Nebnofer, good master" royal scribe,
was among those found. The floor OF this
tomb was made Of heavy sycamore planks
which may well stand as the Oldest planks
in the world, being some 5000 and odd
years old as well as can be estimated. In
stead OF having been nailed down TO cross
pieces they were simply tied together by
bands OF brass, which We're still found in
place. The mortar, too, was found to have
been mixed with fbers OF palm leaves, much
as hair is now used to mix with plaster,
proving that this secret was known few
years ago.
Prof. Maspero agrees with M. Amelineau
that the inscriptions on the royal steles
are very rude and primitive in character
and when such a combination OF authority
agrees that these men antedate all known
history we can only believe We can hardly
grasp the whole significance OF these dis