The first five cases to which the visitor would do well to direct his
attention are those marked from 46 to 50. In the first division is
deposited the mummy of a female, with a gilt mask over the head and an
oskh or collar about the neck; and mummies of children, and fragments
of coffins, with paintings of Egyptian deities upon them. In the
second division of the cases, lies some of the kingly dust of the
builder of the third pyramid, King Mencheres; also, part of his
coffin; the sides of a coffin decorated with drawings of deities;
clumps of mummied hair; and mummies of children. In the third division
are tesserae from Egyptian mummies of the Grecian period, with various
figures, including one of Anubis, the embalmer of the dead; a mummy of
Amounirion covered with a curious network of bugles in blue porcelain;
the upper part of a coffin with dedications to the Egyptian god
Osiris; a small coffin containing the mummy of a child; the mummy of a
female, Auch-sen-nefer, upon which is a scarabaeus, the sacred beetle
of the Egyptians. In the fourth division the principal object is the
coffin of the last-named mummy, with representations of various
deities, including Nutpe, or the Abyss of Heaven, a female figure with
a vase on her head; and linen wrappers from mummies of the Greek
period. Having examined these human relics of remote antiquity, the
visitor should pass at once to cases 63, 64, leaving the intermediate
cases for future examination, where he will find scraps and fragments
of the coffins, wrappers, and ornaments of various mummies. In the
first division are fragments of the mask of mummy coffins; fragments
from the lower end of coffins with the Egyptian bull Apis carrying a
mummy upon it; and hands (one holding a roll) from mummy coffins;
sepulchral sandals, one with a foreign figure bandaged, in token of
the enemies of the deceased being at his feet. In the second division
are a variety of sepulchral tablets to Osiris, Isis, Anubis, and other
Egyptian deities. The next twelve cases are filled with human mummies
and their coffins. In the first case is a mummy (1) of Pefaakhons, an
auditor of the royal palace during the twenty-sixth dynasty. This
mummy is about two thousand two hundred years old. Upon it the visitor
may notice the representation of Egyptian deities Osiris, the Hawk of
Ra, Isis, the embalmer Anubis, and the bull Apis. Mummy number two, in
this case, is that of a priest of Amoun, Penamoun, swathed in its
bandages, and here also is the outer linen case of the mummy of
Harononkh. The next case (66) is devoted to the mummy and coffin of
Tatshbapem: the figures here represented are the deceased praying to
Osiris, the usual figure of the embalmer of the dead, Anubis, and a
scarabaeus, or sacred beetle, made of beads. The next case contains
the coffin and mummy of a priestess of Amoun, named Kotbti. The hair
is attached to the mask of the face, as the visitor will observe, by
two ivory studs: there are wooden models of the hands and arms
decorated with bracelets and rings; each hand upon the coffin holds a
nosegay, and here again the black Anubis with, his golden face appears
in company with Thoth (a figure of a man with the head of an ibis),
the Mercury of the Egyptians, god of the moon and inventor of speech,
Isis, the Egyptian Ceres, and Nutpe, the Abyss of Heaven. The next
case (68) is the highly decorated coffin of the incense-bearer of the
abode of Noumra. Here the judgment scene of the Amenti is pourtrayed;
Osiris, in the shape of a sphinx; and other sacred figures. The
following case (69) contains a mummy (l) of a Theban priest of Amoun,
swathed in its outer linen coverings, which are decorated with various
Egyptian divinities, and with Asiatic captives at the feet: the second
object in this case is the coffin of an incense-bearer of the temple
of Khons, with the usual representations of the sepulchral deities.
Advancing in the regular order in which the cases are numbered, the
visitor will next notice in case 70 the inner coffin of a supposed
Egyptian king, with the bandages with inscriptions at the side. Three
mummies are placed in the next case (71) the first of which is
crumbling rapidly, the feet being already gone: and the bandages of
the second present pictures of Anubis embalming the deceased, and Isis
mourning over the ceremony. The next four cases (72-75) are also
filled with mummies and their appendages, of which the mummy and
coffin of a sacred functionary with a gilded face, and a picture of
the deceased adoring King Amenophis the First, in the 73rd case, and
the mummy and coffin of a musician of the Roman era of Egypt in case
74 are the most remarkable. The last case of mummies (76) contains
three mummies. The first is that of a priestess of Amoun, whose form
is discernible through the bandages, the feet of which are visible,
and the third is that of a woman named Cleopatra, of the family of
Soter, Archon of Thebes, with a comb in the hair, and upon the
bandages the usual sepulchral deities, including the black Anubis, and
in the next case is her coffin.
The visitor having completed his survey of the human mummies should
return to the series of cases marked from 52 to 58, in which he will
find a curious assortment of