The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-31
STAGE |S NOW SET FOR LAYING OPEN TOMB IF PHARAOH
Outer Chamber of Mausoleum Cleared of Historical Relics. Three Mummies May
 Be Found
By ARTHUR WEIGALL Formerly Inspector General of An tiauities for the Egyptian Govern

| Copyright, 1923, by North American Newspaper Alliance and London Daily Mail,)
 LUXOR, Egypt, Jan. 3o.-I do not think there has been any description | of the inside of the tomb of Pharaoh | Tutankhamen since space to move about in it has been obtained by the removal of many pIled up articles l of furniture which made the original 1 views so confusing. l went down 1 into it this morning and now that the { stage is set so to speak, for the 1 opening of the inner hcamber, where 1 the mummy or mummies are expect ed to be found, it will be as well 10 record my impressions.
 One descends a steep flight of rock | cut steps and walks down square 1 sloping passage. neatly hewn out of | limestone. Suddenly, at the end, one | steps down into the middle of long, | narrow chamber running at right | angles to the entrance This cham | Der is, I suppose, about 25 feet long, | 12 feet broad, and g feet high and is | now illuminated by two glaring cleo tric lamps attached to the bare wall | on either side of the entrance. Statue of King.
  one enters, is covered with smooth, pink plaster. This is evidently | built partition, whereas the other 1 walls are more or less white and hewn out of the living rock. In this wall there is a blocked up doorway, | leading to the burial chamber. This l doorway is smeared over with gray | cement on which are manay impress sions and large seals of Tutankha- l af taa | all cut into the cement with masterly skill.
 l It looks as though the chamber extended beyond the wall that one | end of this same chamber has been l partitioned off for the actual burial | purposes. On either side of the | blocked up doorway is wooden l statue of the king, the body and limbs painted black, and the head dress, skirt, sandals and so forth, covered in gold leaf which looks very furnished in the glare of the electric lights, but which is undoubt- edly of great value. These two fig ures face inwards from two corners 1 of the room and therefore they are not In the way of the opening of the doorway between them, but presum- ably they will be removed before that operation begins.
 Holds Great Secret. It is with difficulty that one turns ones eyes away from this mysterious north wall, which holds behind it a 8, GOO years old secret, but at length one gives attention to the west wall | facing the entrance. Here, some | what to the left, is another sealed door, but large, jagged hole has been made in the lower part by an ancient robber. Through this aper
 ture one obtains a dim view of the | mass of funeral furniture, as yet un | touched.
 Two of the three golden ceremo- | nial couches still stand there but a third has been removed, as l de- scribed recently. They are great,
 tall. heavy affairs, these couches; one has the sides fashioned to rep resent elongated lions and the other | hippopotami. They are not beautiful
 nor high art-in spite of their in
 trinsic value-but look more like pantomime props or stage sets.
 l remember in the smashed up
 tomb of Horemheb, one of Tutank-
 hamen's successors, we found both
 hippopotamus and lion heads carved
 in wood. These were somewhat of a
 puzzle to us at the time, but it is
 now clear that they were from simi- l lar couches and one must suppose
 that they formed some part of the
 funeral ceremonies of that ancient
 time.
 Next one turns to the south end
 and here in a heap are the bodies of
 three chariots, which will be most
 difficult to move without damage.
 owing to the manner in which they
 were tumbled into the corner by the
 ancient thieves. A few odds and ends
 complete the stuff still remaining
 in the tomb and ones eyes turn back
 once more to that sealed doorway
 wondering whether three couches
 and three chariots mean that three
 persons were lying behind it. lsten-
 ing in darkness as we move about
 in this outer chamber: or whether Tutankhamen rests there in solitary 1 glory.
 l think he must be in stone sar-
 cophagus for l have examined the walls closely and l see evident signs
 of something big and heavy having
 been dragged into the tomb. But. it
 is useless speculatng and one at last turns away and climbs back into the dazzling sunshine of the valley of the kings--where daily crowds of | sightseers gather-feeling again the
 mystery of this strange contact with the beginnings of earthly civilization. |
 HIGH CHAIR FOR SODA FOUNT From the Scientific American
 A New York soda dispenser has made it easy for the small child to fnbibe an ice cream soda by pro- viding a specially constructed high chair which relieves the parent of the burden of holding the child up to the counter, or stooping over to feed the little one.
 |
 ECONOMY STRIKES BERLIN
 From the Scientific American.