26 THE CORN-FIELD. 



also indicate plenty ; but in both cases the number 

 only prefigured the duration of abundance or of 

 famine. That seven ears of corn should grow on 

 one stalk, is in this country a thing of most sin- 

 gular occurrence, but in Egypt it was no more 

 unusual than for seven kine to be feeding together 

 in one meadow, for in that country wheat did not 

 grow as it does in England, but generally as many 

 as six or seven ears on a stalk. This was acci- 

 dentally ascertained only a few years ago, and 

 in a way which, if you were to think as long as 

 you please, you would never find out. It hap- 

 pened thus : The ancient Egyptians were in the 

 habit of embalming their dead ; that is, when 

 any one died, they prepared his body in a peculiar 

 way, with spices and herbs, wrapped it very tightly 

 in long bands of linen, and having placed it in a 

 coffin made of very durable wood, deposited the 

 whole in a dry cave or cellar. Dead bodies treat- 

 ed in this manner (mummies as they are called) 

 last for a very long time, as long, perhaps, as three 

 or four thousand years. Many have been brought 

 to Europe, and have excited much curiosity among 

 learned men, because sheets of paper, called papyri, 

 containing a history of the person in whose coffin 

 they are enclosed, are frequently found with them ; 

 and the coffins also are covered with paintings of 

 the principal occurrences in their lives. It has 

 been thought, that if these writings and paintings 

 could be deciphered, great light would be thrown 

 upon the history of ancient Egypt, so that, when- 

 ever a coffin is brought to Europe, the opening 

 of it is looked on as a somewhat important event. 

 A few years ago it was announced that a mummy 

 was to be unrolled at the British Museum, and a 



