GEOGRAPHY, ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 399 



the shaft, once more bore the unanticipated weight of the coffins 

 which they had helped to lower to a home that might almost have 

 been deemed as permanent as the duration of time itself. 



The size and weight of the granite sarcophagus would have ren- 

 dered it extremely difficult of removal from its site, had that been 

 desirable or necessary ; but every purpose was answered by subjecting 

 it to examination where it stood. The solid cover, freed from the 

 cement with which the joint was seamed, was easily raised from the 

 bed, on which it simply rested, without any of the contrivances for 

 fastening it down that sometimes are seen to have formed part of 

 similar relics. And then the subject of all this care was disclosed, 

 surrounded by yet. another precaution for its security. Under, above 

 and around the mummy, the whole sarcophagus was filled with bitu- 

 men, which had been poured in hot, forming a compact mass, adher- 

 ing at all points with such tenacity as to require the most patient 

 labor for its liberation from the body. 



At length, however, the object was safely attained, and subse- 

 quently, in the upper air, the crude encrustation of bitumen peeled 

 readily away from the outer wrappings of the mummy. 



At a very early stage of the process the bright glitter of the leaf 

 of a golden chaplet aroused to the wildest pitch the extravagant spec- 

 ulations which the fellaheen always entertain with regard to the prob- 

 able contents of tombs of considerable extent. The presence of 

 treasure was whispered about, and, as many of the people in the 

 neighboring villages had been looking forward with great interest and 

 absurd anticipations for the final result of this particular excavation, 

 a marvellous report, magnifying as it spread, found willing ears, and 

 in an incredibly short time pervaded the whole district for miles on 

 either side. The story is now, probably, a fixed tradition, and it might 

 be attempted in vain to shake the established belief that I procured a 

 profuse amount of gold and jewels of dazzling value. 



And this was what gave origin and color to the fable. The head 

 of the mummy was cased by a gilt mask, outside of which, around 

 the temples, a circlet reposed. It consisted of a ring of copper thickly 

 gilt, the diameter of whose metal was nearly half an inch, and twelve 

 bay leaves, in thin gold, were attached to it by their pliant stalks. 



In this manner the head of the mummy was adorned, and the outer 

 cloth covering of the rest of the body was painted in colors, designed 

 in a diagonal pattern. 



Beneath this outer cloth were a great number of folds of plain (un- 

 painted) cloth, which were so saturated with bitumen and pungent 

 gums as to form one concrete and almost homogeneous mass with the 

 body which they encased. Imbedded among them it was difficult to 

 detect a small thin plate of gold in the shape of a winged scarabseus, 

 and several pieces of vitreous composition, portions of emblems which 

 had been studded in the bitumen after a well-known fashion, better 

 illustrated in the case of another mummy to which I shall subsequently 

 allude. From the usual position on the left side, a fine if not large 

 roll of hieratic papyrus was recovered, without, fortunately, suffering 

 any injury. I could not venture to attempt opening it here, as the 

 application of the necessary aids by ingenious hands will be requisite ; 

 but one corner gives evidence of its being illustrated in colors, while 



