The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-07-30
PRICELESS ANTIQUITIES.
Rich Discoveries Made by Searchers
Among the Ruins of Ancient
Egyptian Cities.

Unnoticed and comparatively un,
scum Of Antiquities at Cairo, Egypt
says a correspondent Of the Washington
Post, over a hundred recently unearthed
statues and %statuettes, the results Of one
Of the richest dicoveries yet made of an
Client Egyptian works of art. The speci-
mems range from the fifth dynasty to the
GraecO-Roman period. and their value
is greatly enhanced by the fact that they
are all in an excellent state of preserva-
ton. Fresh accessions to the collection
are constantly arriving.
They come from Thebes, that city
whose temples and monuments, even In
their ruin and desolation, reveal as moth
ing else does the glories Of ancient Egyp-
tian civilization, When Ptolemy Softer
H., about 80 b. c., decreed the destruc-
ton of the city, the priests of the great
Temple Of Anon, in their despair, col
lected all their most precious works Of
art and buried them underground. Mr..
Legrain, who has for a long time been
engaged in the restoration of the fallen
columns of the Hypostyle hall of Kar-
max, found two years ago some fine stat
ues lying under the Nile sand and mud
In a stretch of ground about 100 yards
square which had no building upon It.
1t was just such a spot as the priests
would have been likely to choose for con-
cealing their treasures. The extensive
excavations begun on this same spot in
The latter half of December, 1903, seem to
fully Justify his superstition. Since that
date something like 140 statues and
statuettes have been here recovered.
For over 1000 years the waters of the
Nile have risen over them with each re-
curing season, but although this has
destroyed the paint and loosed the gold
leaf, no injury has been done to the
beautiful carving on diorite, granite, ala
baster, green basalt, or blue slate. Sir
William Garstin, under secretary of
state for public works in Egypt, CHANGED
be at Karnak when some of the best
Of them were brought to light, and or
dered their immediate removal to Cairo.
est some willy dealer, aware Of their
great value, might tempt the workmen
purloin them.
Meanwhile, at Karnak. workmen arc
making fresh discoveries daily. From
the black waters of the Nile recently one
Of them fished up a beautiful statuette of
Isis nursing Horus, a superb specimen
the finest eighteenth dynasty art. An
other interesting find was a seated statue
If a scribe to the twenty-second dynas-
ly, carved in alabaster and as clear as
On the back Of this figure Is a list
kings which Mr.. Legrain says will
clear up much that is mysterious in this
period Of Egyptian history, Another
discovery, made about the same
line, was that of the original model Of
he famous statue Of RamesesII now in
museum at Turin. II Is half life size.
,xquisitely carved In green basaIt, and In
condition. II is a matter of o n
that all these relics Of an
lent Egype, instead Of being scattered
ar and wide, will be deposited in the
at Cairo. Spacious and airy and
dmirably arranged as the new building
1t will soon need to be enlarged If
contiue to pour in as they
ave during the last ~ months.
Nile tourists will be delighted with
he results of Mr.. Legrain's labors at
1t is real restoration on which I
e is engaged. He has with him an army /
[ fellahs who, under his direction, work {
5 the ancients did, without mechanical t
ppliances, lifting enormous blocks on Z,
lclined planes of land. In a short period /
e will have finished his task Of replac- !
lg the columns of the Hypostyle hall. |