The glory of the PharaohsWeigall, Arthur E. P. Brome (Arthur Edward Pearse Brome)
History
The glory of the Pharaohs
Weigall, Arthur E. P. Brome (Arthur Edward Pearse Brome)
Egypt -- Antiquities
decorated with charming designs in gold. There in the far corner, placed
upon the top of a number of large white jars, stood the light chariot
which Yuaa had owned in his lifetime. In all directions stood objects
gleaming with gold undulled by a speck of dust, and one looked from one
article to another with the feeling that the entire human conception of
Time was wrong. These were the things of yesterday, of a year or so ago.
Why, here were meats prepared for the feasts in the Underworld; here
were Yuaa’s favourite joints, each neatly placed in a wooden box as
though for a journey. Here was his staff, and here were his sandals--a
new pair and an old. In another corner there stood the magical figures
by the power of which the prince was to make his way through Hades. The
words of the mystical “Chapter of the Flame” and of the “Chapter of the
Magical Figure of the North Wall” were inscribed upon them; and upon a
great roll of papyrus twenty-two yards in length other efficacious
prayers were written.
But though the eyes passed from object to object, they ever returned to
the two lidless gilded coffins in which the owners of this room of the
dead lay as though peacefully sleeping. First above Yuaa and then above
his wife the electric lamps were held, and as one looked down into their
quiet faces (from which the bandages had been removed by some ancient
robber), there was almost the feeling that they would presently open
their eyes and blink at the light. The stern features of the old man
commanded one’s attention, and again and again our gaze was turned from
this mass of wealth to this sleeping figure in whose honour it had been
placed here.
At last we returned to the surface to allow the thoughts opportunity to
collect themselves and the pulses time to quiet down, for, even to the
most unemotional, a discovery of this kind, bringing one into the very
presence of the past, has really an unsteadying effect. Then once more
we descended, and made the preliminary arrangements for the cataloguing
of the antiquities. It was now that the real work began, and, once the
excitement was passed, there was a monotony of labour to be faced which
put a very considerable strain on the powers of all concerned. The hot
days when one sweated over the heavy packing-cases, and the bitterly
cold nights when one lay at the mouth of the tomb under the stars,
dragged on for many a week; and when at last the long train of boxes was
carried down to the Nile _en route_ for the Cairo Museum, it was with a
sigh of relief that I returned to my regular work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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