ENTERING A PRINCE'S HOUSE AFTER 3000 YEARS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 80

ENTERING A PRINCE'S HOUSE AFTER 3000 YEARS.

A WEIRD AND WONDERFUL SCENE. The annual exhibition of Egyptian antiquities found by Professor Flinders Petrieand his students during the past winter is now open at University College, London. | The site of operations wae at Qurneh, the cemetery at Thebes, and afterwards ■ at Memphis. The principal finds at Qurneh ranged in date from 3500 B.C. to 700 8.C., and at Memphis from 4300 B.C. to 500 B.C. At Qiuneh "only one burial was found, but that is unusually complete, and is probably the richest entire burial that has been brought fvoro Egypt. . . . Every detail was recorded, and the whole of the remains ar^ here complete. It is probably of the seventeenth dynasty — i.e., circ. 1600 b.c/' The great discovery, however, of the year was that of the palace of King Apries— the Pharaoh Hophra of the Bible, who was contemporary with Jeremiah. The "Romance and Realities of Treasure Hunting in Egypt" formed the subject of a fascinating aiticle in a recent number of the Pall Mall Magazine. It was by Arthur E. P. Wei ere]], a Chief Inspector of Upper Egypt. He described, among other things the "finding of the tomb of Yuaa, and Tuau, which was one of the most interesting archaeological events of recent times, and one which carae somewhere near to the standard of romance .«et by the novelL-L-. Soon after breakfast the Mall at the- mouth of the tomb wa^ pulled down, and the parly pa&?ed into the low pac-^aye which sloped down to the buiud chamber. "Imagine," says the nanaior, ''enter- ' ing a town hotu-p which has been <]occl ] for the ■iiimiiici' ; irragme the fluffy room, ' the J-Uffj fcilent appearance oi the fuini- |

i ture, the feeling th.at some ghostly* occupants of the vacant chairs have juiet been" disturbed, the desire io throw open, the I windows to let life into the room onoe more. That was perhaps thfo first sensation as we stood, really dumbfounded, | and stared around at the relics of the life of over 3000 years ago, all of which wet* as new almost as when they graced the palace of Prince Yuaa. Three armchairs were perhaps the first objects to atfar&cl the attention; beautiful carved wooden chairs, decorated with gold. Belonging to one of these was a pillow, made oi down and covered with linen.. | "Now the eye was directed to a wicker trunk fitted with tarays and partition*, 1 and ventilated with iittibo apertures, for the scents were doubtless strong. Two i most comfortable beds were to be ob« '. served, fitted with springy string mattreases, and decorated with charming de- : signs in gold. There, in a far corner, ' placed upon the top of a number of large , white jars, stood the light chariot which . Yuaa bad owned in his lifetime. "In all directions stood objects gleaming with goM undulled by a speck of d-uet, and one looked from one article 1 to another with till© feeling that the entire human conception of tune was wrong. These were the things of yesterday, of a year or so ago. Why, h«re were meats prepared, for (the feaete in the underworld; here were Yuaa' 8 favourite joints, 1 each neatly placed in a wooden box as though for a journey. Here waa his staff, : and here were his sandals — a new pair 1 and an old. In another cornier there ! stood the magical figures by the power of which the prince was to make his way , through Had«s. <"*Tb« words of the mystl- : cal 'Chapter of the Flame' and 'of the , 'Chapter oi the Magical Figure of the North Wall' were inscribed upon them ; > and upon a great roll of papyrus 22 yards 1 in length other efficacious prayers were written. "But, though /the eyes passed from object to object, they ever returned to the two 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 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." — " I started out or the theory that the world had an opening for me, end I went to find it."— "Did you find it? "— " Oh> yes ; I'm in a hole ! — " I don't believe in learning German, Spanish, French/ or any foreign language," said a man the other day. " Why, I lived among a lot of Germans and got along witb them just as well as if I had known their language; but I didn't — not a word of it." — " How did you arrange it, then<? "— " Why, you see, they understood mine." Sorgoctnt Robineoa r-el&ties fcH&t in a. case