45
Where Eternal
Sleep Seems
to Offer Peculiar
Advantages
Americans in
Hot Pursuit of
Guaranteed
Antiquities
MINING FOR MUMMIES
AN EXCITING BUT
PROFITLESS BUSINESS
GETTING EVEN IN GOOD
SHAPE ON A LYING
PREDATORY GUIDE
MEW
THE SUNDAY OREGONTAN, PORTLAXD, JUNE 17, 1906.
By George Ade
OF all the i
in Egyp
of Amer
F all the unusual things we saw
ypt probably the tomb
enliotep turned out to
be tlis most interesting. - ,
One morning we rode across the
Nile from Luxor in a broad and
buxom sailboat, climbed on our don
keys' and rode to- the west. We fol
lowed the narrow road through fresh
fields of wheat and alfalfa until we
struck the desert, and then we took
to a dusty trail which leads to a wind
ing valley, where the Kings of the
18th, 19th and 20th dynasties are be
ing dug up.
This narrow valley, with the steep
hills rising at either side, is sure
enough utterness of desolation; not
a tree, not a shrub, not a blade of
grass, not even a stingy little cactus.
No wonder the old Kings picked out
this valley for a cemetery. Life has
no charm in this dreary region.
Eternal sleep would seem to offer pe
culiar advantages. After winding
through the sun-baked gravel for
about a mile we came to a settlement
of houses and a high fence thrown
across the roadway. Also there was
an electric, light plant buzzing away
merrily. The tombs of the Kings are
now strung .with incandescent lights.
Can you beat that for sacrilegious en
terprise? All the important tombs clustered
together here in the valley have been
opened within the last century. The
drifting sands and the landslides of
rock and gravel had buried and con
cealed the entrances to these won
derful subterranean apartments, and
the work of the explorers has been to
clear away the accumulation of cen
turies and lug out the hidden treas
ures. It is said to be a fascinating
game. When Mr. Davis, the Ameri
can, made his rich find in 1903 and
first crawled Into a huge chamber
stocked with magnificent treasures of
mummy cases, chariots, gold incrust
ed furniture and rare potteries it is
said that he was so overcome that he
fainted away. We could well believe
the story, for we very nearly fainted
away just from tramping around
through the various subways to in
spect the endless array of inscrip
tions. There are 41 of these royal tombs
that have been discovered and
opened to date. The less important
are not lighted, and are mere tunnels
leading back to one or two bare cham
bers. Those really, worth visiting are
dug far back into the hills. The halls
are spacious and brilliantly decorat
ed, and before you get through ex
ploring one of them you think that
yon are pretty well down toward the
center of the earth.
Mr. Peasley had read up on the
Tomb of Amenhotep Third and when
we entered it he pushed the regular
guide out of the way and gave us one
of his own vivid lectures. The native
guide lacks imagination. His idea of
showing the traveler a frolicsome
time is to point out a lot of paintings
in which the deceased is seen travel
ing across the Nile in a funeral
barge. Mr.' .Peasley. on the other
hand, gave us an insight into the
character of the wily Amenhotep.
"Now, look at the entrance "lo this
tomb," be said, as we started down
the new wooden steps. "It looks as
if someone had been blasting for
limestone. The walls are rough and
unfinished. Old Amenhotep figured
that if anyone ever came across the
opening to the tomb he would size
WW W'? A
r a
MAHMOCD WEARING A GRIN
up this ordinary hole in the ground
and conclude that it was either a cave
used as a storehouse or the last rest
ing place of soma- cheap two dollar
official." .
After descending some 20 feet we
came to a small chamber which was
rudely frescoed about half of the way
around.
"Do you know why he left this
job unfinished?" asked Mr. Peasley.
"He knew that some day or other an
inquisitive foreigner would be prowl
ing around here trying to uncover an
cient treasures, and he put this meas
ly little antechamber here to throw
Mr. Archeologist off the scent. He
wanted it to appear that the man
who was buried here had been so
poor that he couldn't complete the
decorations. And now I'll show you
something more foxy still. Come with
me down this second flight of steps
to the second,eharaber. "
He led us down another flight to a
tall chamber about the size of a
freight car stood on end.
"When the French explorers
opened this place in 1S98 the cham
ber which you are now inspecting
seemed to be the end of the tunnel,"
continued Mr. Peasley. "The four
side walls were perfectly smooth and
unbroken, but down at the bottom
they found a pit which had been
filled with heavy stones. They sup
posed, of course that this was the
mummy pit, and that if they removed
the stones they would find some royal
remains at the other end of the hole.
8o they worked day after day, lifting
out the boulders, and finally they
came to the end of a pit and found
that they had drawn a blank. Natur
ally they were stumped. They thought
they had been exploring a tomb, but
it was only an April fool joke. One
of the professors was not satisfied.
He felt sure there must be a royal
cadaver tucked in somewhere about
the premises, so he took a ladder and
climbed around and began tapping
all over the walls of this second
chamber. What do you think? He
discovered that the wall had a hollow
sound just opposite the tunnel at
which they bad entered. So he used
a battering ram and broke through
into the real tomb. Yes, sir; these
two outer chambers, with their cheap
stencil frescoes and fake mummy pit,
had been a blind. After the French
men got throughthis sealed-up wall
they found themselves in a great big
corridor leading to an assembly hall
decorated to the limit, from which
another corridor led to still another
large chamber surrounded by smaller
apartments, and in this last room, in
a great big granite coffin, they dis
covered nobody more or less than old
Amenhotep himself. He had been ab
solutely secure in his privacy since
1400 B. C. I will now show you what
they've done to him."
We passed over a narrow wooden
bridge and entered the tunnel beyond
the second chamber. The whole place
was brightly illuminated and one
could readily believe that he was in
a modern hallway decorated in the
most gorgeous Egyptian style. The
bordering frescoes and the historical
paintings were as fresh in tone as if
they had been put on only yesterday.
One of the larger chambers looked
exactly like the gaudy "Oriental
apartment" of a .Parisian New York
hotel, and we shouldn't have been
surprised or displeased to see a
waiter come in with a tray full of
cool drinks.
At last we came to the tomb cham
ber, and there in a deep hollow, with
a modern wooden railing .around it,
reclined the great King Amenhotep,
-&4SL
OF DEVILISH TRIVMPH.
ROYAL TOMBS AND OTHER
AMUSEMENT.
with the incandescent lamps dangling
above him and flooding him in a
radiant light. The original granite
cover of the outer case has been re
moved and plate glass substituted.
We leaned over the rail and gazed
down at the serene countenance of
the once mighty monarch who had
been lying there for 3300 years. ' The
funeral garlands which had been laid
on his breast were still undisturbed,
and the shrunken face was illumined
by that calm smile of triumph which
Amenhotep wore when he;. passed
away confident in the belief that the
Cook tourist would never discover his
hiding place. "
We visited the tomb in company
with a bustling swarm of American
excursionists of the happy, irreverent
kind.. The fact that they were strol
ling about in a private and highly
aristocratic sarcophagus did not seem
to repress their natural gush of
spirits or induce any solemn reflec
tions. They were all steaming hot,
but very happy and having a lot of
fun with the King. One enterprising
Yankee, who carried his coat and vest
on his arm, started to climb over the
wooden railing in order to make a
close inspection of the mortuary re-
"NOW
mains, but was restrained by the
guards. .
To one of the smaller rooms just
off the royal tomb chamber there
are three mummies lying side by side
with the - electric lights turned on
them. It is supposed that these were
the servants of the King, although a
very late theory is that one of these
is the mummy of the great Queen
Hatasoo, brought here for safe
keeping. Her tomb never has been
discovered. It is the Captain Kidd
treasure of the valley. She was a
woman of great pride and was a busy
builder throughout her long reign and
therefore-it is reasonably certain that
somewhere or otbr in this valley
she excavated and decorated a tomb
that, will make all the others look
commonplace. : The explorers intend
to continue probing about in the
valley until they discover the gopher
hole that leads away to her under
ground temple.
Mining for mummies is said to be
an exciting' occupation, but it costs
money and there is no hope of any
real profit. Those who put up the
funds and conduct the operations
seek no reward except the comnlenda-"
tion of their fellow students and the
sweet knowledge that they have
helped to turn light on the history of
Egypt. For instance, all o$ the price
less treasures unearthed by Mr. Davis
in 1905 were turned over to the
museum at Cairo. It happened that
some of the smaller articles were du
plicated, and. Mr. Davis was permit
ted to keep a few of these duplicates
as a reward for months of labor and
a large outlay of capital.
After leaving the vallew of tombs
we made a short cut over a very hot
and a very high hill to the 'Irest
house" which has been erected far
out on the desert by one of the tour
ist agencies. We collapsed - on the
shady side of the building, dusty and
short of breath, and immediately we
were attacked by a most vociferous
horde. of native peddlers. And what
do you suppose ' they were selling.?
We landed there on Friday, and the
remnant sale of mummies was in full
blast. Here are some of the cut
prices :
Head of adult.... : 4 shillings
Foot of adult ...:.r. 1 shilling
Hand of adult 1 shilling'
Two foet and two hands (war
ranted mates) 3 shillings
Arm and head .Schilling
Can- you imagine anything more
disquieting to the nerves, when you
are resting , and getting ready for.
luncheon, than to have a villainous
child of the desert rush up and lay a
petrified human head in your lap and
beg you to make an offer T Within
two minutes after we arrived we had
fragments of former humanity
stacked all around us. And they
were unmistakably genuine. The na
tive swindlers can make imitation
scarabs and potteries, or else import
them by the gross from Germany and
Connecticut, but the mummy heads
LOOK AT THE ENTRANCE TO THIS TOMB."
which they offer for sale are horribly
bona fide. It would not pay to manu
facture an imitation article, inas
much as the whole desert region to
the west of ancient Thebes is a vast
cemetery. If the merchant's stock
runs low he can go out with a spade
and dig up a new supply, just as a
farmer would go after artichokes or
sweet potatoes.
Our guide co-operated with the
ghouls. He rushed about hunting up
strange and grisly specimens and
brought them to us and begged us to
examine them and then pick out a
few for the loved ones at home. I
regret to say that we did purchase a
few of these preserved extremities.
The guide said we could use them as
paper weights.
This same dragoman, or guide, or
highbinder, or whatever you may
choose to call him and Mr. Peasley
called him nearly everything gave
us a lot .of cheerful entertainment
during our four- days in Luxor. Mr.
Peasley was in hot pursuit , of guar
anteed antiquities. He said he had
an old bookcase at home which he
was going to convert into a curio
cabinet. There is one dealer in Luxor
who is said to be absolutely trust
worthy. He supplies museums and
private collection throughout the
world, and if you buy a scarab or a
carved image from him you know
that you have something genuine and
worth keeping. Mr. Peasley in a
thoughtless moment requested the
dragoman to conduct us to this shop.
We went in and burrowed through
the heaps of tempting rubbish and be
gan to dicker for a job lot of little
images, tear jars, amulets, etc., that
are found in the mummy cases. That
PLACES OF
dragoman saw the covetous gleam in
the Peasley eye and he knew that
the man from Iowa intended loadiug
up with antiquities, and he also
knew that Mr. Peasley wished to do
this : purchasing single-handed and
without the assistance of a drago
man, who would come in for a 10 per
cent commission. We told the dealer
we would drop around later. So we
went to the hotel and dismissed the
dragoman told him to go home and
get a good night's rest and be on
hand at 9 o'clock the next morning.
' After we were safely in the hotel
Mr. Peasley confided his plans to us.
'"I don't want to buy. the stuff
while "that . infernal Mahmoud is
along," he said. Why should he get
a rake-off? We didn't go to the shop
on his recommendation. Now I'll go
over there by myself, pick out what I
want and strike a bargain."
We offered to go along and assist,
so we started up a side street, and
after we had gone a block Mahmoud
stepped out from a doorway and said,
"Come, I will show you the way."
We told him we had just sauntered
out for a breath of air, so we walked
aimlessly around a block and were
escorted back to the hotel.
"I'll go over the first thing in the
HE SAID.
morning," said Mr. Peasley. I'll be
there at 8 o'clock, because he isn't
due here until 9."
When he arrived at the shop early
next morning Mahmoud was stand
ing in the doorway wearing a grin of
devilish triumph. Mr. Peasley kept
on walking and pretending not to see
him, but he came backs to the hotel
mad all the way through.
"We're up against an Oriental
mindreader, but I'll fool him yet,"'
he declared. "When we come back
to the hotel for luncheon and he is
waiting for us with the donkey boys
on the east side of the hotel we will
go out the west door to the river
bank anj cut south around the Pres
byterian Mission and come back to
the shop."
Mr. Peasley did not know that
Mahmoud had organized all the hotel
servants into a private detective
agency. "He must have known of our
escape on the river side before we
had gone a hundred feet from the
hotel, for when, after executing our
brilliant flank movement, we arrived
at the shop of the antiquarian Mah
moud and the proprietor were sitting
in the front room drinking Turkish
coffee and waiting for the prey to
wander into the trap. Mahmoud did
not seem surprised to see us. He bade
us welcome and said that his friend
the dealer was an Egyptologist whose
guarantee was accepted by every
museum in the world, and if we were
in the market for antiques he would
earnestly advise us to seek no further.
After this evidence of a close and
friendly understanding between the
dragoman and the , dealer we had a
feeling that Mahmoud would get his
10 per cent even if we succeeded in
for the Loved
eluding him and buying on our own
hook. .
But we hated to acknowledge our
selves beaten. At dusk that evening
we started toward the shop in a
half-hearted and experimental spirit,
and presently we observed Mahmoud
following- along 50 feet behind us.
We went to the garden of a neighbor
ing hotel and sat there until 11
o'clock. When we came out Mah--moud
was at the gateway. He said it
was not always safe for travelers to
be about the streets at night, so he
would protect us and show us the
way back to our hotel.
We found it impossible to get
away from him. No Siberian blood
hound ever followed a convict's trail
more closely.. If we ventured forth,
early or late, we found ourselves
shadowed by that smiling reprobate.
When it came to the last day in
Luxor Mr. Peasley did the bold thing.
He permitted Mahmoud to escort him
to the 'shop, and then he said to the
dealer: "This man is our guide, but
he is not entitled to any commission
because he did not bring us to your
shop. If he had recommended your
shop in the first place we would not
have come here at all. He is a bluff.
He is trying to ring in. I want to
buy a few things here, with the
understanding that he doesn't get
anything out of it. We have already
paid him two salaries for guiding us
and he isn't a guide at all he's a
nightwatchman. ' '
The dealer vowed and protested
that ho never paid commissions to
anyone. Mahmoud, not at all ruffled
by the attack on his character, said
that his only ambition in life was to
serve the noble gentleman from the
famous country known as Iowa. So
Mr. Peasley bought his assortment of
antiques and Mahmoud looked on and
then carried the parcel back to the
hotel, walking respectfully behind
the "noble gentleman."
"Well, I blew myself," reported
Mr. Peasley. "And I'll bet a thou
sand dollars that Mahmoud gets his
ten per cent."
Whereupon Mahmoud smiled the
.---....-.-.t
TO MAKE A CLOSEB INSPECTION,
t.
ones at home.
pensive, patronizing smile of a civil- ..
ization 5000 yearg old looking down
on the aboriginal product of the
Western prairies.
On the morning of our departure
for his letter of recommendation. I
something evasive which would satis
fy him and not perjure me too deeply. .
When he came to the hotel I gave him
the following:
id w nom ii jiiiy v.uiifeni . i ue uviiiri,
Mahmoud, has been our dragoman -for -four
dttys and has attended us faithfully .
at all hours; also, he has shown us as
many temples as we wished to Bee.
He looked at the paper blankly and..'
said. "I do not read English." At,
that Mr. Peasley brightened up. He '
read the testimonial aloud to Mah
moud and declared that it was in-'
complete and unworthy .of the sub-.
ject matter. In ten minutes he com
pleted the following and the drago
man took it away with him, highly '.
pleased:
XU VI 111.111 11 ilia; uni.ci uiuiir,.
The bearer, Mahmoud, Is a dragoman of
monumental mendacity and commercial
Machiavellism. Hi simulated efforts to .
faithfully serve us and protect our inter- !
estg have had an altogether negative ef
fect. Anyone employing him will find -
mm possessed oi moral lurpituae ana .
superlative consciousness of his own
worth. His knowledge of Egyptian his
tory is enormously inconsequential, while
his English vocabulary is amazing In its
variety of verbal catastrophes. We com
mend him to travelers desirous of study
ing me nauve cuarauiei lonco ui unt(f
est geological stratum of society.
"He has made a lot of trouble for '
us and now we've got even by ruin
ing him," said Mr. Peasley.
It seemed a joke at the time, but
later on, when we thought it over,
we felt sorry for Mahmoud and
wisnea we una not laneu &uuu a imnii
advantage or nim. Alter aa is saia
and done, a man must make a living.
On our way back to Cairo from
Assouan -we stormed over at Luxor.
Mahmoud, by intuition or through
telepathy, knew that we were coming
and met us at the station. He was"
overjoyed to see us again.
"I showed your letter to a gentle-'
man from the Kingdom of Ohio,"
said he, "and it procured for me one
of the best jobs I ever had." "