Chapter 43 (part 13)

Other legendary history says that the western pyramid contains thirty chambers of parti-coloured syenite full of precious gems and costly weapons anointed with unguents that they may not rust until the day of the Resurrection. See Howard Vyse, The Pyramids of Gizeh , vol. ii., pp. 71, 72; and Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night ; 1885, vol. v., p. 105, and vol. x., p. 150. 4 Vyse, The Pyramids of Gizeh, vol. ii., p. 84. A fragment of this sarcophagus is exhibited in the British Museum, First Egyptian Room, Case A, No. 6646. 5 With considerable difficulty this interesting monument was brought out from the pyramid by Mr. Raven, and having been cased in strong timbers, was sent off to the British Museum. It was embarked at Alexandria in the autumn of 1838, on board a merchant ship, which was supposed to have been lost off Carthagena, as she never was heard of after her departure from Leghorn on the 12th of October in that year, and as some parts of the wreck were picked up near the former port. The sarcophagus is figured by Vyse, Pyramids, vol. ii., plate facing p. 84.] {p. xx} in a coarse woollen cloth of a yellow colour, to which a small quantity of resinous substance and gum adhered.[1] It would therefore seem that, as the sarcophagus could not be removed, the wooden case alone containing the body had been brought into the large apartment for examination. Now, whether the human remains' there found are those of Mycerinus or of some one else, as some have suggested, in no way affects the question of the ownership of the coffin, for we know by the hieroglyphic inscription upon it that it was made to hold the mummified body of the king. This inscription, which is arranged in two perpendicular lines down the front of the coffin reads:--[3] Ausar suten net[4] Men-kau-Ra anx t'etta mes en pet aur King of the North and South Men-kau-Ra, living for ever, born of heaven, conceived of Nut a a en Seb[5] mer-f peses-s mut-k Nut her-k Nut, heir of Seb, his beloved. Spreadeth she thy mother Nut over thee [1. As a considerable misapprehension about the finding of these remains has existed, the account of the circumstances under which they were discovered will be of interest. "Sir, by your request, I send you the particulars of the finding of the bones, mummy-cloth, and parts of the coffin in the Third Pyramid. In clearing the rubbish out of the large entrance-room, after the men had been employed there several days and had advanced some distance towards the south-eastern corner, some bones were first discovered at the bottom of the rubbish; and the remaining bones and parts of the coffin were immediately discovered all together. No other parts of the coffin or bones could be found in the room; I therefore had the rubbish which had been previously turned out of the same room carefully re-examined, when several pieces of the coffin and of the mummy-cloth were found; but in no other part of the pyramid were any parts of it to be discovered, although every place was most minutely examined, to make the coffin as complete as possible. There was about three feet of rubbish on the top of the same; and from the circumstance of the bones and part of the coffin being all found together, it appeared as if the coffin had been brought to that spot and there unpacked.--H. Raven." Vyse, Pyramids , vol. ii., p. 86. 2.