The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-04-19
EGYPT, MARVEL OF THE AGES.
ITS Wonders Earn Title of Perennial
Rip Van Wrinkle of History

Egypt is termed perennial Tip an
Wrinkle of history" in bulletin issued
by the National Geographic Society,
which makes the Egyptian home rule
agitation the occasion of a review of
that countrys glorious past. Quoting
from communication to the society by
James Baikie, the bulletin says:
I'VE owe the framework into which
we try to fit the facts of Egyptian his
tory to the ancient historian, Manetho,
scattered fragments of whose history of
Egypt, dating from the third century,
B. c., have come down to us in the works
of various ancient authors He recegni-
zed thirty dynasties of Egyptian mon
archs Manetho's assertion that one of
the kings was slain by a hippopotamus,
and that in the reign of another the Nile
flowed with honey, may be mere fables;
but the men were there, and their
royalty was very real and tangible
thing. Since the early nineties investi-
cations have been carried out which have
resulted in the discovery of the tombs of
many of these ancient royalties and the
| accumulation of most interesting mass
,fof information i'll regard to the~ civlhzati-
tion OF their courts, and the attainments
of the race over which they ruled
| The kings of the earliest dynasties
reared no pyramids. Their tombs were
great structures mainly underground
| that of Aha (who is possibly Mena, the
first king of Egypt at Nacada measures
| IS by SO feet and contains twenty-one
chambers, built sometimes of brick, with
lining of wood, and sometimes floored
with stone, as in the case of the tomb OF
King Den at Abydos, whose granite floor
furnishes the earliest known example OF
the use of stone in building.
| 'The furniture of the tombs reveals ar
amazing proficiency in the arts and crafts
Ebony chests inlaid with ivory stools
with ivory feet carved in the shape o.
bulls legs, vessels cut and ground to tran
slucent thinness, not only out of soft al
abaster but out of iron-hard stone
like diorite, finely wrought copper ewers
all tell us the Egyptian of the earlles
i dynastic period was no rude barbarian
but a highly civilized craftsman. Perhap
the daintiest and most convincing evi
dence of his skill is given by the brace
let's which were found encircling tn
skeleton arm of the queen of King Ter
of the first dynasty, which, alike for TIL
grace of their design and for the skill
with which the gold is wrought ant
soldered, are admirable
/ "Petrie places the beginnings of the frs
dynasty at $50 b. C., while anothe
, school brings them down to 3400 b. {
, Like many of these ancient kings, Iese
was not content with single tomb. H
) mad another at Saqquara. near Memphi:
where the chambers of the interior wer
' lined with fine blue and green glaze
tiles. A king who could rear such
structure had evidently at command tn
resources Of a very well-organized stat
and capable architects.
? Accuracy equal to opticians work br
4 on a scale of acres instead of inches
scarcely what one expects in building
reared nearly 5000 years ago But ii
+ huge blocks of the great pyramid, 2,9t
900 of them, weighing on an average /
, tons apiece, while some run to 40 and
!, tons, are squared, fitted and leveled wiz
an accuracy which puts to shame our be
e modern work and conpels our respe
not only for the strength, but for skill
e these mighty builders before the Lor
The question of how the Egyptians mat
fire was one that had often exercised a
chaeologists. No representation of Il
d process existed on the monuments. III
does the nation appear to have attach'
IT any religious significance to the origin
fire The question was settled by t
ID discovery at kahun of a regular bow DIR
for making fire, together with sever
ne sticks showing the burned holes caus
by fire drilling.
I'll In February, 1905, an American c
IS plorer, T. NJ Davis, discovered the tor
| of Yuaa and Thuaa, father and mother
te that Queen Tyi whose influence play
so great part in Akhenanten's religic
| information The tomb was intact a
ar the objects it contained were as perfec
We preserved as if they had been shut
only few weeks One of the archaeo
ar gists described his sensations on enteri
bo the place as being very much like those
a man who enters a town house which
at been shut up for the summer Armcha
stood about, beautifully carved and
nd GRATED with gold, the cushions on one
them stuffed with down, and covered W
all linen so perfectly preserved that Il
might have been sat upon or tossed alb
ito without injury Two beds of fine DIES
decorated with gold occupied another p