FLOOR.] 
FIRST EGYPTIAN ROOM. 
113 
III. SEPULCHRAL SECTION. 
The preparations for embalming the dead, and ceremonies 
at funerals, were looked upon as matters of great importance 
by the Egyptians, and large sums of money were spent upon 
the sepulchral rites. There were several modes of preparing 
the mummies, varying not only at different periods, but also 
with the rank and wealth of the person to be interred. The 
more costly process was as follows : — The brain having been 
extracted, and the viscera removed through an opening cut in 
the left side with a stone, the body was, in earlier times, pre- 
pared with salt and wax, in later times, steeped or boiled in 
bitumen ; then wrapped round with bands of linen, some- 
times 700 yards in length ; various amulets being placed 
in different parts, and the wliole covered with a linen shroud 
and sometimes decorated with a network of porcelain bugles. 
It was then enclosed in a thin case formed of canvas, thickened 
with a coating of stucco, on which were painted figures of 
divinities and emblems of various kinds, as well as the name 
and titles of the deceased, and portions of the Ritual of the 
Dead. The whole was then enclosed in a wooden coffin, and 
sometimes deposited in a stone sarcophagus. 
Cases 46-51. Various mummies and coffins; the most remarkable 
being part of the mumm3^-sbaped coffin of King Menkara, the 
Mycerinus of the Greeks, builder of the Third Pyramid. . This is not 
only the oldest coffin in the collection, but one of the earliest inscribed 
monuments of Egypt. Near it is part of a body, supposed to be that 
of the king, found in the same pyramid. A small Grseco-Egyptian 
mummy of a child from Thebes ; on the external wrapper is painted a 
representation of the deceased. 
The principal mummies and their coffins are placed in two rows 
in the central part of the room. The most important are the fol- 
lowing : — 
Case 66. Mummy and coffin of Bakrans (Bocchoris), a female: 
about B.C. 720. 
Case 67. Mummy and coffin of Katbti, a priestess of Ameu-ra. 
Case 68. Coffin of Har, incense-bearer of the temple of Num-ra. 
Case 69. Very fine mummy of Harnetatf, high priest of Amoun ; 
on the soles of the sandals are represented x\siatic captives. The outer 
case is in the corner of the room, in Case -27. 
Case 70. Mummy of Harerahbai. richly painted, and the coffin of 
Enantef, a king anterior to the I'-llb. dynasty. 
Case 72. Coffin of Tenamen, an inccnse-bcarer at Thebes. The 
face is of dark wood, inlaid with glass. 
J 
