Evening star., 1923-04-07

London The article was sent by mail, and
almost al the moment of its arrival came the
tragic an issue. II is Lord carnaryons last
contribution the subject OF the marvellous
discovery with which his name will always be
associated. and is published today as me
mortal to his work.
BY THE Earl. OF CARNARVON.
We have come 10 the end OF what
may call the first part OF the tomb.
AS far as l can see. we may divide
the work into three stages. The first
stage consisted of the clearing of the
outer chamber and the cursory in
spection of the burial hall. The sec
ond stage will entail moving the tb-
ercacle. This In itself is bound TO
take a long time Besides this there
will be an examination of the sar
cophagus and the clearance Of the
further store chamber. Thirdly will
come the clearance of what we call the
annex to the first chambe". 1t Will
thus be seen that the work before us
is very. very heavy.
AS regards the first chamber. every
thing except the two life-size statues
of the king is now in the workshop
in the tomb of Seti III, which we know
as Tomb No. 10. The vast majority Of
the things from the first chamber
are in condition somewhat inferior
to the obpects in the other chambers
About the annex it is difficult TO eX-
press an opinion. as not one OF our
party has ever set foot inside it. 1t
is the textiles from the hoXes that
cause the greatest delay Siren
uous efforts are being made to save
them.
Garments Heavily Beaded.
1t will be remembered that prior TO
this And only small fragments OF what
may be called tapestry" had been
found in the tomb of Tehutimes "
Here we have come across entire gar
ments of this kind OF fabric. but all
are in shocking condition. owing TO
the damp. and the situation is further
complicated by the fact that upon
some of these garments thousands of
beads and gold rosettes have been
sewn. Mr.. Mace. with infinite pa
thence, has. however. reconstructed
the order in which these beads and
rosettes are placed.
Many of these linen garments il Is
absolutely impossible TO save They
have Crumbled to d sooty-looking
mass. With the help. however. of
Mr.. Mace's plans. no doubt, it will be
found possible to reconstruct the pat
terms of beads and other ornaments
on more solid, if unfortunately mod
ern, material.
Much Treatment Required.
Nearly everything out OF this
chamber wants treatment OF some
sort or other. Gliding has to be Sc
cured; inlay work has to be made
safe; now and then even stone OBJ
Jects have to be mended. and most Of
this work will only suffice to enable
the things to reach Cairo in com
parattve safety. On arrival In Cairo
most of the delicate articles will have
to undergo a further course Of treat
ment
Every box that is opened has to be
Photographed. and. as layer after
layer of decaying linen and some
times animal skin is taken away Mr.
Burton has again to operate with his
camera. Nearly every box so far
opened has contained various articles
All mixed together, and having seem
ingly been thrown in any way.
sightseers Hamper Work.
Work has been terribly impeded this
season by the perpetual stream of
visitors. Never in the history of ex-
cavation has there been such a thing
as weekly press day" nor, as far
as that goes. has the press ever be-
fore been admitted to view the work
of the archeologist. 1t is to be de-
voutly hoped that this will not be-
come precedent for other poor ex-
cavators. as work under these condi-
tions becomes almost impossible.
There is continual interruption, and
the fatigue of the workers is in
creased many times by the perpetual
stream of sightseers.
In these circumstances it is very
remarkable that we have been able
10 do even as much as has been done,
but had the staff been left in peace
and quiet we would be in a far more
advanced and satisfactory state.
Guests Visit Tomb.
The opening of the tomb was a sight
never to be forgotten, although one
elderly Egyptian pasha who was
present was heard to murmur that it
was very hot, and he did not know
why he had come, that he would far
rather be in his club in Cairo. Most
Of the other visitors. however, seemed
to be extremely interested and ex-
cited. but it was true that the ma
jo~ity consisted of psychologists.
That was the, first day. On the
Egypt and a fair sprfnkling. of Lon
don and New York seemed to be
present. On that day guests visited
the tomb in pairs and did not all
watching the sealed wall gradually
disappear and the wondrous blue
and-gold canopy gradually show
itself
rear Tor SanOpS.
The second part promises to be as
interesting as anything that has so
far taken place, but there will be
tremendous difficulties in removing
the first tabernacle. 1t almost COM
pletely fills the chamber and,, of
course, after over 5000 years the
greatest care will have to be exer-
cised, for inlays of lace and gold
after all these years are very liable
to come out. In fact. what with
the brushing and squeezing on tho
day Of the official OPENING. had not
the first corner and part OF one
side been protected with boards and
cotton wool, few of the inlays OF
that section would be left.
1t appears certain that the whole
canopy will have to- be treated inside
the tomb to a certain extent before
any steps can be taken to remove it,
1t had been built up inside the cham
ber and each part will have to be
taken away separately At rough
estimate the exterior surface of the
shrine must be some seventy square
meters in extent, most of which may
require treatment. The difficulty in
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