WRATH OF THE GODS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4727, 21 July 1924, Page 4

WRATH OF THE GODS.

PHAUAOH S MALEVOLENT SPIRITS SOME CURIOUS HAPPENINGS. Ninety-five per cent, of the people of the Orient believe that Lord Carnarvon perished at the hands of the spirits of ancient Egyptian gods for having disturbed their repose by opening their tombs after so many centuries. And still millions of other people the world over are wondering whether the death of the British archaeologist was the result of the part lie had taken in discovering the tomo of Tut-Ankh-Amen.

It will be remembered that Lord Carnarvon's sudden illness was due to a mysterious sting upon the face during the height of the excavations, when the ancient shrine was opened, and the famous Egyptologist died .shortly afterwards.

Arthur Weigall. one of the early pioneers of the Egyptian Excavations Expeditions, now relates some very peculiar coincidents, without himself expressing his.convictions on the subject. They are 'startling, and leave ordinary men and women with a suspicion that after all there might be something in the claim that the disturbing of Egypt’s ancient tombs brings trouble.

Weigall and his wife were engaged in exploration work in the Valley of the Tcmbs of the Queens, near Luxor, when one of the party suggested that the peculiar formation of the rocks surrounding the valley suggested an amphitheatre, and that it could be utilised as a colossal stage for a play, depicting one of the episodes of ancient Egyptian life. Thereupon the party agreed on a plan to stage a sort of tableau there, portraying certain incidents in the lives of the Pharaoh Akh-Naton and his mother, Queen Tiy, who from 1375 to 1358 before Christ ruled over Egypt. Mrs Weigall, it was agreed, was to take the part of the youthful king Akh-Naton, while Mrs Weigall’s friend. Mrs Linden Smith, was assigned to impersonate Queen Tiy. Mr F. F. Ogilvie, the world-famous AngloEgyptian painter, volunteered to furnish appropriate music. Mr Linden Smith agreed to take the part of the messenger of the gods, while Mr Weigall himself was' assigned to look after the electric light effect, a sort of. stage electrician. The day before the evening on which the tableau was to be presented they gathered in the valley for a full dress rehearsal. Mrs Smith, in the role of Queen Tiy, had hardly finished her introductory Lines when she was suddenly stricken with excruciating pains in her eyes. While the party was attending to Mrs Smith Mrs Weigall became suddenly stricken with a violent sickness, the nature of which the medical attendants were not able to diagnose. Both Mr Smith and Mr Weigall developed sudden and violent fever, unlike the Egyptian climatic fever. The party hastily engaged a .specia' train, which, on its journel to headquarters, met with a nasty ac-

cident. For weeks Mrs Weigall was tortured with an agonising pain in heteye, while her husband’s life hung in the balance. Finally they were restored to health. "But many people on the spot attributed our peculiar misfoi tunes to the malevolence of the gods and spirits of ancient Egypt,’’ writes Mr Weigall. Mr Howard Carter, the actual discoverer of Tut-Ankh-Amen’s tomb, and the first to enter it, had in his house a canary which daily regaled him with its happy song. On the day, however, on which the entrance to the tomb was laid bare, a cobra entered the house, pounced on the bird, and swallowed it. The strangeness of this incident is that cobras are rare in Egypt, and are seldom seen in winter ; but in ancient times they were regarded as the symbol of royalty and each Pharaoh wore this symbol upon his forehead, as though to signify his power to strike and sting his enemies. Therefore, those who believe in omens interpreted this incident to be that the spirit of tjie newly-found Pharach, in its correct form of royal cobra, had killed the excavator’s happiness, symbolised by this song-bird so typical of the peace of a Western home.

Mr Weigall relates another uncanny Happening, which took place in 19U9, when Lord Carnarvon, in the course of some excavations, came across the mummy case of a sacred cat. ‘‘This case consisted of a hollow wooden figure shaped like the animal in question,’’ relates Mr Weigall, “and was in effect a sort of shell in which a real embalmed cat was enshrined. The figure was taken to my house and deposited in my bedroom. Shortly afterwards my Egyptian servant was stung by a scorpion, the agony inducing delirium, during which the unhappy man called put continually that he was being pursued by a large grey cat.

“An hour or two later I retired to rest. Suddenly in the middle of the night a report like that of a pistol shot rang through the room. I started up, and as I did so a large grey cat sprang either from or, under the bed, leaped across my knees, dug its claws into my hand, and dashed through the window into the garden. At the same moment 1 saw by the light of the moon that the two sitlcs of the wooden figure had fallen apart, and were rocking themselves to a standstill upon the floor like two great empty shells. Between .them sat the mummified figure of a cat, the bandages which swathed it round being ripped open.”

Mr Weigall advances as a possible explanation of the affair that the humidity of the night air in his house on the banks of , the Nile had expanded the wood which had rested in the dry desert so long, and had caused the two’ halves to hurst apart with the loud noise which he had heard.

The weird story of the malevolent “mummy” in the British Museum is well known to many people. It was given to the museum after it had wrought havoc wlherever it went, but now it is said to confine its dangerous attentions to those who behave disrespectfully in its presence/

An Englishwoman testifies to the fact that recently on the occasion of a visit to the British Museum she made some rude remarks about the mummy,’’ and a few minutes afteiwaids fell headlong down the great staircase. This left her with a permanent lame ankle. A British journalist who wrote about the “mummy” jestingly died within a few days.

The original possessor of the malevolent “mummy” was one Douglas Murray. He purchased the coffin, or the sc-called “mummy,” in’ 1860 A few weeks afterwards his gun accidentally exploded, and as a consequence he lost his arm. The vessel in which the malevolent “mummy” was shipped to England was wrecked in miu-Mediterranean, but the "mummy” was saved. The cab which was carrying it from the docks met with a terrible accident, causing the death of its driver. The “mummy” was taken to a house in London, which was burned down in a mysterious manner. Again the “mummy” was saved. On the day after the fire a photographer took pictures of it, and the next day he committed suicide. And finally a woman, who scoffed at those .Who attributed all sorts of misdeeds to the "poor mummy,” took it to her library. Shortly afterwards on a journey to India she was shipwrecked, and her life was saved only after she had clung to a rock for two days. It also shows that the malevolent “mummy” besides being malevolent is also a mean ingrate.