The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-02-15
GREAT EGYPT AIN / (3NIB
ERECTED IN NEW YORK

New York, Feb. ls.--I.Ike a cfaptef
from -The Count OF Monte Cristo
reads the story OF the tomb Of Per-
neb the fayorite of great Msmphis
king, which has been brought block
by block across The sands OF the
Egyptian desert. over the Wide ak
panse of the Mediterresn and the At
autic. ana at last set mp here trat as
1T stood near the famous step Pyra-
in4d for thousands OF years. 1900
The Metropolitan Museum OF Art
may nov boast II has something the
like Of which cannot be seen any
where in any other museum,
The labor involved in Transporting
1t and erecting IT In New York would
have been impossible, even for the
wealth az tho Metropolitan. II It had
nos been for the generosity OF Ed
ward 4, sHarkness.
The discovery OF the tomb buried
in the sand. lie excavation by the ex-
petition sent out by the museum, be-
gun in April. 1913 and it's transship~
Ynent by two steamers from Cairo five
months later form a romance in IT.
self. scores Of natives were engaged
for The work.
Every evening from Sakkari train
Of twenty camels started for a rail-
road across the. valley. each camel
carving "A block of stone packed in
a box. From there they reached
Cairo, where they were shipped for
New York. Upon arrival at the mu-
scum the i.mestone blocks had to 70
treated chemically for many months
to enable them TO resist damp air.
In the museum, as the visitor enters
through the guarding columns. the lit
tie courtyard before the toInbs. he see
a facade of smooth stone. eighteen
feet high, pierced by great recessed
doorway and thanked by two winge.
Al both sides of the entrance large
painted figures of Perneb have been
carved In low relief In the stone. He
is represented with one foot advanced,
grasning his staff, exactly as he must
have entered his own palace In Mem
phis. From the distinctive arched
nose and firm mouth there can be
little doubt that u is portrait OF tho
man himself In one hand he car
ries the strip of folded linen that
served the noble Egyptian as hand
kerchief, and as n method Of waving
flies away from his aristocratic eonn-
tenance The Intel stone over the
doorway bears on a scroll his title and
name, "Perncb. Sole Companion OF the
King and Lord Chamberlain"
The Royal Acquaintance.
The wing on the right of the court
yard has a portal opening into a small
chamber deep In the, midst OF the
thick stonework. from which there is
an exit through a large cedar door,
which formerly led to one OF the
snnken avenues Of the Sakkara GENE
terry. In the opposite wing IL an Of
fering chamber, entered from the
courtyard, but sealed from the bril-
dantly decorated statue room, which
is the main chamber of the tomb.
The masonry between them has q
small square hole high up toward the
roof Through this opening the spirit
of Perncb was supposed to smell the
odors of the food left by the priests
in the adjoining room whenever he
left his sarcophagus. hidden in a clos
ed chamber at the end of a stone-fiiled
shaft fifiy-five feet underground.
Az the end of the statue room there
stood in ancient times painted cedar
statues of Perneb and his wife, the
Royal Acquaintance The maraud-
ers who broke into the tomb ages ago
in search of treasure must have used
the sacred figures irreyerentiy for
firewood for their camp. since only
battered head and an arm and foot
of carved wood have been found.
Row after row Of painted figures