In 1831 the celebrated French traveler, Antonio Sebolo, penetrated Egypt as far as the ancient city of Thebes, under a license procured from Mohemet Ali--then Viceroy of Egypt--through the influence of Chevalier Drovetti, the French consul. Sebolo employed four hundred and thirty-three men for four months and two days, either Turkish or Egyptian soldiers, paying them from four to six cents a day per man. They entered the Catacombs near ancient Thebes on the seventh of June, 1831, and procured eleven mummies. These were shipped to Alexandria, and from there the great traveler started with his treasures for Paris. But en route for the French capital, Sebolo put in at Trieste, where he was taken sick, and after an illness of ten days, died. This was in 1832. Previous to his death he willed his Egyptian treasures to his nephew, Michael H. Chandler, who was then living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but whom Sebolo believed to be in Dublin, to which city he ordered the mummies shipped. Mr. Chandler ordered the mummies forwarded to New York from Dublin, where he took possession of them. Here the coffins for the first time were opened, and in them were found two rolls of papyrus covered with engravings. While still in the customs house, Mr. Chandler was informed by a gentleman, a stranger to him, that no one in the city could translate the characters; but was referred to Joseph Smith, who, the stranger informed him, possessed some kind of gift or power by which he had previously translated similar characters. Joseph Smith was then unknown to Mr. Chandler. The mummies were shipped to Philadelphia; and from there Mr. Chandler traveled through the country, exhibited them and the rolls of papyrus, reaching Kirtland in July, 1835, where some of the Saints purchased the mummies and the two rolls of papyrus, one of which proved to be the writings of Abraham, and the other of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. With the assistance of Oliver Cowdery, and W. W. Phelps as scribes the Prophet began the work of translating this record, which so singularly came into his possession; but it was not finally published until March, 1842, at Nauvoo. It will be found as we now have it in the Pearl of Great Price, given with the fac-similies of certain pages of the papyrus in the _Times and Seasons_, Vol. III, Nos. 9 and 10. It is a revelation of exceedingly great value, both on account of the historical and doctrinal data which it contains, as appears in the analysis for Lesson VI. For still further items of interest in relation to the Book of Abraham, see History of the Church, Vol. II, pp. 348-350 and footnotes.