"Haggard, H Rider- Cleopatra" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haggard H. Rider)

and spicy wrappings lay around the remains, which, I saw, were those
of a man and a woman.[+] The head had been broken off the body of the
man. I took it up and looked at it. It had been closely shaved--after
death, I should say, from the general indications--and the features
were disfigured with gold leaf. But notwithstanding this, and the
shrinkage of the flesh, I think the face was one of the most imposing
and beautiful that I ever saw. It was that of a very old man, and his
dead countenance still wore so calm and solemn, indeed, so awful a
look, that I grew quite superstitious (though as you know, I am pretty
well accustomed to dead people), and put the head down in a hurry.
There were still some wrappings left upon the face of the second body,
and I did not remove them; but she must have been a fine large woman
in her day.

[*] This, I take it, is a portrait of Amenemhat himself.--Editor.

[+] Doubtless Amenemhat and his wife.--Editor.

"'There the other mummy,' said Ali, pointing to a large and solid case
that seemed to have been carelessly thrown down in a corner, for it
was lying on its side.

"I went up to it and carefully examined it. It was well made, but of
perfectly plain cedar-wood--not an inscription, not a solitary God on
it.

"'Never see one like him before,' said Ali. 'Bury great hurry, he no
"mafish," no "fineesh." Throw him down here on side.'

"I looked at the plain case till at last my interest was thoroughly
aroused. I was so shocked by the sight of the scattered dust of the
departed that I had made up my mind not to touch the remaining coffin
--but now my curiosity overcame me, and we set to work.

"Ali had brought a mallet and a cold chisel with him, and, having set
the coffin straight, he began upon it with all the zeal of an
experienced tomb-breaker. And then he pointed out another thing. Most
mummy-cases are fastened by four little tongues of wood, two on either
side, which are fixed in the upper half, and, passing into mortices
cut to receive them in the thickness of the lower half, are there held
fast by pegs of hard wood. But this mummy case had eight such tongues.
Evidently it had been thought well to secure it firmly. At last, with
great difficulty, we raised the massive lid, which was nearly three
inches thick, and there, covered over with a deep layer of loose
spices (a very unusual thing), was the body.

"Ali looked at it with open eyes--and no wonder. For this mummy was
not as other mummies are. Mummies in general lie upon their backs, as
stiff and calm as though they were cut from wood; but this mummy lay
upon its side, and, the wrappings notwithstanding, its knees were