The Savannah morning news., 1903-01-04

were bright and glowing. shining out
Of their longkept darkness into the
light of to-day as If they were still
wet. But scarcely had the sun stream
ed in before they began TO pale. For
tunately, the expedition numbered a
skilful painter among its members,
and he succeeded in making true
copy in full size of the ancient work
of art.
Then the diggers reached the tomb
of the high priest Jeu-em-Jackwet.
After breaking out the first stone the
Europeans peered in and for the first
time in forty-fiVe centuries human
eyes looked upon the collins Of the
priests of Ne Woser-re. The tomb had
been too small for the last collins and
the handles had been sawed from the
ends before the stones were set in
place and sealed. Those cuts of the
saw were clear and sharp, just as they
had been left on that day of burial
Here great finds were made. Large
ships of the dead were on the collins,
that they might be used for the voyage
into the under world There were the
great stone jugs that had contained
water to refresh the shades on their
journey. The last gifts of friends and
carved wooden statuettes Of the do
mestfes and slaves were scattered
through the tomb.
Now came the question as to whether
or not the mummies in the stone collins
would be found in any sort of preser-
walton. If they were they would be
the first mummes of that period that
had ever been found in condition to
bear removal to Europe. The whole
party gathered around eagerly while
the wooden nails were drawn carefully
from the coffin of the high priest and
he was found in it just as he had been
r,sRt r.
Jeu-em Jachwet was wrapped in
long brown linen shroud A colored
mask of linen and gypsum lay on his
face. The mask had a narrow side
beard and a long chin beard and the
eye had been made larger by streaks
of vermilion. A big wig parted in the
middle, was colored bright blue to imi-
tate lapis-lazuli showing that the dead
man had already become a god, for
the ancient Egyptian gods had hair
Of lapis-lazuli.
Under the head was wooden rest
1t is shaped exactly like the wooden
pillow that is used to this day in the
Sudan. BY his side lay "a little wooden
statue representing him. According to
Egyptian belief this statue was to do
the dead mans work for him in the
under world.
A woman was found next. She was
Sat-Nofer, the favorite of the King.
In that gorgeous life of 4,500 years ago
no doubt she had been beautiful and
clothed with rich apparel and sur
rounded with loneliness and luxury
But in death she was not to lie as
| lies the true queen or her master
| Placed in a rude coffin of thin wood
she was put away i'm a bare chamber
far from the habitations of the royal
| dead. Hardly any gifts were laid with
| her. Instead, as If in irony-a grim joke
| that was to wait for inconceivable time
| to make it's point-they laid by the cof-
| fin of the poor, forgotten courtesan a
| bronze mirror without a handle and a
| little stone used for grinding rouge.
AS the digging progressed from this
| point the history of decline became I'M
| covered. When the explorers reached
| the remnants of the period of 1000 be.
| fore Christ they found habitations OF
| priests. Showing that the temple had
| votaries. But they were poor and mea.
| ger, like the ruined graves of the
khalifs And when the workers reached
the remains of 1900 years before Christ
| they found that dust and sand hat
| even then buried the glorious dynasty
| and over them were hundreds of NEAR
| graves.
When the party reached the Greek
period the great discovery was mad,
| of the poem of Timotheos. 1t was founC
in mighty wooden coffin. A GreeI
had been buried there long before tht
| time of the Man of Galilee. With hin
had been inferred a roll of papyrus
| Unrolled, it proved to be about foul
feet long, containing five columns o.
Greek verse written in ancient uncia
characters. The eXcavators at ono,
sent for DR.. Rubensohn. who was il
Cairo at the time seeking Greek man
uscripts for the Berlin Museum, anC
he declared that it was probably tn,
oldest Greek book ever discovered