The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-09-20


engaged in one of the strangest oeeu-
pations which human beings pursue;
hunting for tombs of the past The
discovery of human bodies which have
been preserved in the form of mummies
has been frequeunt in Egypt, and we
know of many ancient kings and other
persOnages that have been found in
various places; but in almost every
ease the modern discoveries have
learned that someone had been there
before them-robbers who centuries ago
entered the resting places of the dead
for the purpose of stealing jewelry,
vases. urns and other valuables which
had been left with the bodies by
friends and relatives.
The great object of the tomb-hunters
is to find burial place which has not
been plundered, for they believe that
il will not only contain great riches
IN gold and precious stones, but that
the funeral ornaments, as they are
termed, will be of much value in
throwing more light on the civilization
which here existed thousands of years
ago. This is why the exeavators in
elude Americans and Europeans so in
terested that they are really devoting
their lives to this search beneath the
world, some of them employing labor
ers at their own expense to make the
explorations. In the region about
Thebes many psychologists are thus
searching into its past history. For
ten years and over some of them have
not been out of Egypt, seldom leaving
the desert plains and valleys which
form the scene of their operations ex-
eept for an occasional visit to Cairo
20 study the books and documents on
the older Egypt which are in its Ii.
br2ry.
The little colony of explorers do not
give their work a very dignified title.
They speak of the different excavations
as 'Sdigs.'' So the tourist who chances
up the great river in one of the putting
steamboats, or in that ideal sailing
Yacht of the Nile, the dahabeeah, will
be told of the German "dig' carried
on under the supervision of eminent
savants from Germany; he may hear
NJ the American "dig,' a great hole
IN the sand and rock made with the
money spent by wealthy American
who hopes some dav TO find a tomb
=itL its treasure hoard intact. Not
far from this is an Anglo-American
s'dig.' where a little band of British
and American scientists have been ex-
ravating nv means of money provided
by the Egyptian Exploration Fund of
London.
Yes, il is a fascinating occupation,
this attempt to reveal the mysteries of
what was once the heart of the world 5
civilization but is now a region of des-
oIation where dwell only the fellah and
Berber. No one knows when the tools
viii expose structure erected per
haps thousands of years ago, which
win be entered by man for the first
time since its royal occupants were
adorned with jewels, wrapped in literal
cloth of gold. and left for ever in
their chamber. furnished and ornament
ed with things of wood and metal,
priceless because of their exquisite
workmanship and their rare material.
That the ancient mOnarehs were thus
hOnored by their families has been
shown by a discovery recently made in
this region. True, another had already
broken into the tomb before the scien-
fists who found 1t; but so much of its
furniture and ornaments had been left
behind that an idea could be gained
Of the marvellous riches it had original
" housed. The tale of those who last
entered the tomb, as related by them,
Is well worth the telling:
"We went down the lower steps on
through the roek-hewn descending cor
ridor. 1t was barren. No works of
funeral art strewed the floor; and the
walls. unlike those of other tombs,
were bare of both carving and paint
ing. At the end of the corridor. where
the second staircase was fanked By
shelves, mere bundle of dried onions
ay on the rock. But on one of the
steps a roll of papyrus met our ewes.
sst beyond it we found a wall plas-
na With mud and sealed with the