94 



shows a picture of a sarfOpliagus coiitaiuiug a mummy lieiug couveyed to its resting place, while 

 various fruit and vegetables are taken with it on its last journey. Tins, as well ;is the ornament 

 on the east wall, is taken from Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson's work, last puhlislied in ]s:A. The 



THE EGYFTIAS TKMB. 



latter picture represents a king and his attendants in a war cliariot leaving or entering a city. 

 The porticos are ornamented with the well-known Scarabsvns with wings extended, and which is 

 worshipped as a holy beetle for its healthful habit of destroying unwholesome offal. 



The mummies which are shown in the glass case in the centre of the tomb were j)urchased 

 and sent from Egypt to J. S. Gotch, Esq., a resident in Melbourne, and ])resented by him to the 

 Trustees, witli tlie <lesire that they would be of interest and sifford instruction to the jmblic 

 generally. 



They were amongst an extensive find of mummies lately exhumed in the tomlis discovered 

 in the Faiyoum district, near Lake Mceris, 40 miles south-west of Cairo, and belong to the middle 

 period of ancient history in Egypt, some 2,000 years before the advent of our Saviour Jesus 

 Christ. 



One, in a state of decomposition, is the mummy of a man who was probably a governor or 

 ruler of one of tlie seven nomes or districts into which Middle Egypt wiis at an early period 

 diviiled. The outer sarco)>hagus contained two others beautifully colonreil and decorated, as can 

 be seen in tlie glass case at the side. The inscri])tious found u])on it. according to the ojiinious of 

 learned savants, and the researches of Dr. S. Birch, of London, and others, and the mode of 

 embalming, point to the period between the Dynasties XII. and XVII., or that of Al»rnhnm's 

 descent to Egypt. 



The fact of this mummy having its knees drawn up as in a sitting posture also points to its 

 early date. When first opened in its case, much of it fell to dust -..and at the bottom of the case, 



