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Rocket, v. 1, issue 1, March 1940

Page 20

20

HORROR OUT OF A PASSAGE

The history of excavation and Scientific Research in Egypt is sad but in some cases extremely funny. A true form of excavation in the Valley of the Kings did not begin until the later part of the 19th century, but slightly previous to this an account was written by one Gionvanni Battista Belzoni of his travels and explorations in Egypt and Cairo which gives us first hand, laughable accounts of how he entered the tombs of Egypt to obtain papyrus which could be sold to collectors at quite a tidy little sum. No one could give a better account of his excavations in a humorous form than himself, therefore, let us pick up the narration as he wrote it;

"After getting thru these passages, some of them two or three hundred yards long, you generally find a more commodious place, perhaps high enough to sit. But what a place of rest! Surrounded by bodies and heaps of mummies in all directions; which previous to my becoming accustomed to the sight, impressed me with horror. The blackness of the wall, the faint light given by the candles or torches for the want of air, the different objects that surrounded me, seeming to converse with each other, and the Arabs with their candles and torches in hand, naked and covered with dust, themselves resembling living mummies absolutely formed a scene that cannot be described. In such a situation I found myself several times, and often returned exhausted and fainting. Though I was destitute of the sense of smelling I could taste the mummies were rather unpleasant to swallow. After the exertion of entering such a place, through a passage of fifty, a hundred, three hundred or perhaps six hundred yards, nearly overcome I sought a resting place, found one and contrived to sit; but when my weight bore on the body of an Egyptian, it crushed like a band-box. I naturally had recourse to my hands to sustain my weight but they found no better support; so that I sank altogether among the broken mummie with a crash of bones, rages and wooden cases, which raised such a dust as to keep me motionless for a quarter of an hour, waiting until it subsided again. I could not remove from the place however, without increasing it, and each step I took I crushed a mummy in some part or another. Once I was conducted from such a place to another resembling it, through a passage of about twenty feet in length, and no wider then the body could be forced through. It was chocked with mummies, and I could not pass without putting my face against that of some decayed Egyptian, but as the passage inclined downward, my own weight helped me on; however, I could not avoid being covered with bones, legs, arms and heads rolling from above."
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"There the people assembled around me, their conversations were wholly upon antiques, and such a one had found such a thing and another had discovered a tomb. Whenever they supposed I should spend the night they always killed a couple of fowl for me, which were baked in a small oven heated with mummy cases, and sometimes the bones and rags of the mummies themselves. It is no uncommon thing to sit down near fragments of bones, hands, feet, or skulls are often in the way for these people are so accustomed to being among the mummies that they think no more of it than as if they were dead calves."

W. J. D.

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20 HORROR OUT OF A PASSAGE The history of excavation and Scientific Research in Egypt is sad but in some cases extremely funny. A true form of excavation in the Valley of the Kings did not begin until the later part of the 19th century, but slightly previous to this an account was written by one Gionvanni Battista Belzoni of his travels and explorations in Egypt and Cairo which gives us first hand, laughable accounts of how he entered the tombs of Egypt to obtain papyrus which could be sold to collectors at quite a tidy little sum. No one could give a better account of his excavations in a humorous form than himself, therefore, let us pick up the narration as he wrote it; "After getting thru these passages, some of them two or three hundred yards long, you generally find a more commodious place, perhaps high enough to sit. But what a place of rest! Surrounded by bodies and heaps of mummies in all directions; which previous to my becoming accustomed to the sight, impressed me with horror. The blackness of the wall, the faint light given by the candles or torches for the want of air, the different objects that surrounded me, seeming to converse with each other, and the Arabs with their candles and torches in hand, naked and covered with dust, themselves resembling living mummies absolutely formed a scene that cannot be described. In such a situation I found myself several times, and often returned exhausted and fainting. Though I was destitute of the sense of smelling I could taste the mummies were rather unpleasant to swallow. After the exertion of entering such a place, through a passage of fifty, a hundred, three hundred or perhaps six hundred yards, nearly overcome I sought a resting place, found one and contrived to sit; but when my weight bore on the body of an Egyptian, it crushed like a band-box. I naturally had recourse to my hands to sustain my weight but they found no better support; so that I sank altogether among the broken mummie with a crash of bones, rages and wooden cases, which raised such a dust as to keep me motionless for a quarter of an hour, waiting until it subsided again. I could not remove from the place however, without increasing it, and each step I took I crushed a mummy in some part or another. Once I was conducted from such a place to another resembling it, through a passage of about twenty feet in length, and no wider then the body could be forced through. It was chocked with mummies, and I could not pass without putting my face against that of some decayed Egyptian, but as the passage inclined downward, my own weight helped me on; however, I could not avoid being covered with bones, legs, arms and heads rolling from above." ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; "There the people assembled around me, their conversations were wholly upon antiques, and such a one had found such a thing and another had discovered a tomb. Whenever they supposed I should spend the night they always killed a couple of fowl for me, which were baked in a small oven heated with mummy cases, and sometimes the bones and rags of the mummies themselves. It is no uncommon thing to sit down near fragments of bones, hands, feet, or skulls are often in the way for these people are so accustomed to being among the mummies that they think no more of it than as if they were dead calves." W. J. D.