perfected in a day as may be seen. A pre-dynastic 

 mummy from Luxor shows the primitive form of the 

 process. It lies on its side huddled up, its hands closed 

 as if in prayer, a pitiful heap of skin and bones. Later 

 the body was swathed in linen bandages, which in sub- 

 sequent years, were further covered with papier-mache 

 the portrait of the dead person being painted on the 

 outside, and on the coffin. Here may be seen an ancient 

 cedar-wood mortuary boat, which conveyed the dead, 

 in the time of Sesostris III, from Dashur across the 

 Nile to what they believed to be their last resting 

 place. An object of great interest is the curiously-cut 

 leather corselet of a priest of Thebes, it being one of 

 the only two in existence. In the excitement of the 

 funeral these important garments were evidently over- 

 looked, and were not discovered until the body had been 

 buried. A square hole was then cut in the rock door 

 of the tomb in which the corselets were sealed, which 

 accounts for their preservation in a perfect condition. 

 The Egyptian, like most of the ancients, believed that 

 the life beyond continued without a break, under the 

 same conditions as those on earth, hence their anxiety 

 to take the good things of the world with them. A 

 princess had her two pet antelopes placed in the grave 

 with her; much of the most treasured property was 

 buried in their owner's tomb for future use. All 

 around are specimens in great variety of objects of 

 art and use of the various periods. 



Etruscan, Greek and Roman antiquities of great 

 variety and interest are exhibited in Edward E. Ayer 

 Hall. It is impossible not to admire the simple, strong, 

 yet highly artistic, qualities these exhibits display. 

 Worthy of special attention are the Etruscan bronzes, 

 the alabaster sarcophagi, burial urns, the funerary 



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