Cairo to Kisumu

by Frank G. Carpenter

But now—what changes the excavators and archæologists have made! I n walking over the same ground to-day I had to pick my way in and out through a vast network of half-broken-down tombs, from which the sands had been shovelled, and climb across piles of sun-dried brick which were made by the Egyptians at the time old King Cheops reigned. In one place I saw a gang of half-naked, brown-skinned fellaheen shovelling the earth into the cars in which it is carried far out in the desert. When the work is in full play an endless chain of cars of sand moves across this cemetery. There is a double track with turntables at the ends, and the arrangements are such that the sand can be taken out at the rate of half a ton per minute. For a long time seventy-two men were employed, and the result is that some most interesting historical material has been collected.

Some of the most important archæological work now going on in Egypt is in the hands of the Americans. Our scientists are making explorations in Nubia, away up the Nile, and are opening up temples and tombs in the desert near Luxor. They have already discovered the burial places of several kings who reigned over four thousand years ago, and unearthed the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut, whose sarcophagus is now on view in the museum at Cairo.

Right here two American institutions have a large force of natives at work and have uncovered a cemetery under the shadow of the Pyramids of the time when the greatest of them was built. This cemetery includes the tombs not only of the rich, but also of the poor, and the relics, statues, and other things found in it enable one to reconstruct the lives of those who were buried here forty centuries ago.

The excavations which are being made near the Great Pyramid are in the interest of Harvard College and the Boston Museum. They furnish the money and Dr. George Reisner, one of the most efficient archæologists of the day, has charge of the work. Dr. Reisner came to Egypt as the head of the Hearst Expedition. He worked for it several years, making valuable explorations far up the Nile. He discovered there the flint-working camps of the people of the prehistoric period, and he explored the quarries which date back to the time of the Ptolemies. He also unearthed the site of a large town which was in existence fifteen hundred years before Christ and excavated a mass of valuable material therefrom. He then came nearer Cairo and uncovered cemeteries of ancient times, which give us a new view of Egyptian civilization.

It was in connection with the Boston Museum that he began his work at the Pyramids. As it is now carried on, of the share which falls to the United States the museum gets the art discoveries, while Harvard receives everything found bearing upon history and ethnology. One half of all that is unearthed goes to the Egyptian government and the other half to the United States.

The story of the allotment of the archæological territory about the Pyramids is interesting. The Egyptian government was anxious to have the country excavated, and there were three nations ready to do the work. The three were Germany, Italy, and the United States. Archæologists came here as representatives from each of these countries and the whole of the Gizeh Pyramid field was turned over to them with the understanding that Egypt was to have half of the discoveries. Then the question came up as to how the site should be divided. As it was then, it was a great area of sand not far from the banks of the Nile with the big Pyramid of Cheops and the smaller ones of Khefren and Mycerinus rising out of it, each being quite a distance apart from the others. Each nation wished to do independent work; so the archæologists finally agreed to divide the territory into three sections and cast lots for them. I am told that Mrs. Reisner held the straws. In the drawing, the United States got the tract just north of the Great Pyramid and Germany and Italy the tracts to the south of it. Our area was thought to be the best of all and Uncle Sam’s luck has been nowhere better evidenced than right here. We are making more finds than both the other nations put together and are bringing new life to the pages of history.

I went out to the Pyramids to-day and called upon the chief of the American excavation works. I find he has built himself a home under the shadow of old Cheops. He is beyond the greatest of the Pyramids, with the sands reaching out for miles away on the north, south, and west of him. His house is built of stones which probably came from these ancient monuments. It is a long, one-story structure, not over twelve feet in height, but large enough to contain a laboratory, a photographic establishment, and the necessary equipment of an archæologist.

One part of it is the living quarters of Dr. Reisner and his family. He has his wife and baby with him, and as we chatted together his little daughter, a bright-eyed infant not more than a year or so old, played about our feet. The baby was born here on the edge of the Libyan Desert, and her youth and the age of old Cheops, that great tomb of more than four thousand years ago, were striking in their contrast. As I looked at the little one I thought of the tombs of the babies which her father is now excavating.

During my stay we examined some photographs of the recent discoveries. One represented three statues of a well-to-do couple who lived here in those bygone ages. They were Teti and his wife. The faces were life-like and I doubt not that Mr. and Mrs. Teti sat for them.

There were other photographs of objects found in the cemetery of the rich, as well as of some found in the cemetery of the poor. The higher classes of that time were buried nearer the Pyramids, while beyond them, farther up the desert, were the burial places of the poor. Each poor person had a little coffin-like hole in the ground built round with stones. These holes were close together, making a great series of stone boxes that remind one of the compartments of an egg crate.