THE MAGIC OF OLD EGYPT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1687, 1 March 1913, Page 15

THE MAGIC OF OLD EGYPT.

EVEN TO THIS DAY. New stories of the malign influence of tlio Priestess o:' Amen-Ba, the celebrated mummy in the British Museum, are told in tho current number of "The Ocoult Ecviow." The history of this coffin-lid, with the threatening face-of the priestess, painted on it, has been frequently toM. Ever since i- has been in tho British Museum it is believed to have brought disaster to. anyone who catno iu contact with it. Olio of the stories told in "Tho Occult Bcview" is this: "A party of ladies visited tho museum, in ojiier to see tho mupimy case. Anions them was a young lady belonging to a distinguished family well known in tlio world of fashion as well as iij politics. She danced in front of iho mummy and made grimaces at it, defying it to do its worst. In the museum itself she met with ah accident which provented lier from appearing at her own coming-out party, and kept her to the house for a considerable period."

Mrs. (jiordon, sister of Captain Bertram Dickson, the well-known aviator, tells tho '•following remarkable story of her own and I)6r brother's experiences of the Priestess of Amen-Ba: "Captain Bertram Dickson was staying with me on his return from tho Persian frontier, where he. had been aa Military Consul at Van for four years—years packed'with revolutions, - political excitements, and expeditions into tho unknown part of tho country, mapping and exploring. During these expeditions .he liad found several interesting old rings, necklaces, etc., and it was to show these to Professor Wallace Budge that we went to the Britisi* Museum. The thought of seoihg the mummy never entered our heads, and although I knew all about her, I had no idea , that Dr Budge's office was in the same part of the building as the. mummies. The attendant, however, pointed her out while v,:e waited, and-1 examined her .with interest and real sympathy. Within six weeks I was badly wrecked on the Albanian coast on a clear night. Though wet, theto •was' no storm, and yet wo ran, with o fearful crash, which phot us out of our berths at 11.30 at night, on tie great cliffs of Athaca. The boats were not lowered for an hour, and indesenbab e confusion prevailed. Not trusting myseli to them. I clambered on towering cliffs, and clung there with some others, one leg and hands cut and bleeding, and wet to the skin, till a passing steamer saw our signals of distress and picked us uj> at twelve o'clock next day. My brothers caeo wa9 worse. A now well-Known aviator, he took it up shortly after his visit to the museum, arid at first met with great success, his pluck and skill enabling him to clear the boards at all the big .French meetiiigs. On Ootober 1, w.hile flying at the Milan meeting, another aero-