New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1923-03-23

the score or moro OF them who com,
prise tho foreign colonies of Luxor
move within narrow grove and sci,
dom even come In contact with ON
another. Excavating is almost re,
ligion with them.
The Valley Of the Kings and thu
Theban hills. $50 miles up the Mi,
from Cairo, are infested with wolves
Jackals, wildcats, foxes, snakes, liz,
ards, scorpions. vultures. beetles and
vermin. Tho psychologists live ir
unpretentious stone and mortar hous,
es with nothing but the barest rough
hewn furniture and the most print.
tive household equipment. Tn.
house occupied by the American ex.
perts was built. through the generos.
ity OF the late J. Pierpont Morgan
who was moved to pity by their priva
tions and exposure.
The natives OF the valley are pathe-
tically poor and untutored. Food is
scarce and expensive. Water, where
II exists at all, has to be brought from
afar, In hand-buckets. The nights are
cold, and fuel Is difficult to obtain.
Many of the other needs of life also
are lacking. The heat OF the valley
is distressingly, severe during the day,
and the entire area Is plagued with
flies and pernicious insects.
Few Social Contacts
The archaeologists have few special
contacts. They live like recluses. The
whole west bank of the Nile in the
neighborhood of ancient Thebes is
desolate, forbidding waste OF mud,
sand and rock. No flower or vege-
table or blade of grass has reared its
head above this barren terrain for so
centuries. Only the most primitive
roads exist. Houses are few and far
between. In selecting this place for
their eternal entombment the ancients
choose with an eye to its solemnity,
seclusion and silence. The only human
beings that move among the seques-
tered ruins of what was once the most
city in the world are lean
and spectre-like Arabs dressed in
white robes.
The American visitor to the caver-
nous valley which holds the imperial
dead of by-gone ages is over-awed by
the majesty and dignity of the great.
precipitous sandstone cliffs that stand
sentinel on either side of the necropo-
lis. He is reminded of the heights
Of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado,
or of Yellowstone Falls when the
nooday sun transforms them into
golden valley.
BY day nothing disturbs the deep
repose of the place except the sound
Of the pick-axes and shovels of the
crowds of native boys and men en-
ployed in combing the earth for its
still hidden archaeological treasures.
BY night the stiffness of the valley
If death is broken only by the boot
ng of owls and the cries of jackals
md wildcats. In the midst of the 81
ence and solitude one feels himself |
upon the brink of two worlds
With eyesrfgazing into vista of the
la}t
Sleeping in the heart of these noun
aims ar Tutenkhamun and his royal
sinsfolk. Some of the tombs go down
SO feet and extend back distance
If three city blocks. The ancients be-
ieved these were the portals to heav-
n and everlasting life. American visit
RS to the chasms of death get feet
ng sense of eternity and immortality
S they enter the innermost recess of
he tombs and look upon the wan and
athletic features OF Pharaoh just
S he was laid away 5000 years ago.
. modern electric light throws its rays
pom the emaciated face, and gives
he beholder thrill of awe and tre-
idation.
Day after day, throughout the years,
he silent, patient archaeologists pur-
ne their lonely calling, finding here a
roken statue of a sovereign, there
1es tomb of high priest, here the
battered skeleton of a human. there
ne crumbled figure Of goddess. and
terywhere small tokens of civiliza-
on that gave the world its rudiments
{ culture. art and humanity.