The one which he saw had but a single case, which appeared to be made of sycamore-wood, two inches in thickness; the back and the front being fastened together by pegs. The case is made to stand upright, and is covered, inside and out, with a kind of shell or coat of plaster, to a considerable thickness. This coat is painted outside with hieroglyphics in horizontal lines on a deep orange ground; and the whole is highly varnished. The internal surface is likewise divided into broad stripes, alternately white and yellow; and on both are inscribed hieroglyphics and other characters about an inch long, probably consisting of prayers or invocations for the dead, or perhaps of some biographical notice.
My uncle told us that the embalmed body was most carefully secured from the air, by a covering of cerecloth, and by bandages that were applied with a neatness and precision that would have done honour to the most skilful surgeon of modern times. Of the many species of bandages which are employed in surgery, there is not one that did not appear to have been used; and they were so many times repeated, that after their removal, they were found to weigh twenty-eight pounds. Each limb, nay, each finger and toe had a separate one; and over all, another of great length, which, though without stitch or seam, after making a few turns round both feet, ascended spirally to the head, from whence it returned as far as the breast, and terminated there in loose threads like a fringe. In unravelling all these bandages, my uncle and everybody were struck with the judicious selection of their size and form, so as to adapt them to the different parts, and to give the whole a smooth surface, without a wrinkle.
They appeared to be made of a strong compact kind of linen, and were all of a dark brown colour, the result probably of some vegetable solution that contained a large proportion of the tannin principle. Many of them were daubed with wax and some resinous or bituminous substance; and some little crystals were found, from which a chemist who was present seemed to think that lime had been used in preparing the skin.
The circumstance that most astonished my uncle was that some of the sinews were still elastic and flexible, and that the joints moved as easily as in a living body. My aunt and he afterwards had a long conversation on the origin of the ancient Egyptians; the principal circumstance that I picked up was that the celebrated Cuvier has examined the skulls of above fifty mummies, and that, in his opinion, they have the same characters as those of the Armenians, Georgians, and Europeans; or, to use his expression, that the common origin of them all was Caucasian. The skull of that which my uncle saw leads to the same conclusion, and differed essentially from the form of the negro head. It is a curious fact, which he says has been noticed by more than one traveller, that whole families are still to be found in Upper Egypt, in whom the general character of the head and face strongly resembles that of the mummies discovered in Thebes, as well as the figures represented in the ancient monuments of that country.
17th.—A friend of my uncle’s, Colonel Travers, who has lately returned from India, where he served for many years, arrived here yesterday. He has been in various parts of the East, and is so entertaining, that I am sure I shall forget to note down half the curious things which I have heard him mention.
The conversation turned on bees, and he told us that in Mysore, where he was for a long time stationed, he saw four different kinds. That which makes the finest honey is a beautiful little bee of very small size, and which does not sting. It is called the cadi. It forms its combs round the branches of trees; the honey is excellent, and can be procured with very little trouble, as the bees are easily driven off with a switch. But the bee from which the greatest quantity of honey is procured is large and fierce, and builds under projecting ledges of rock, or in caverns. The honey is gathered twice a year, for which purpose the people kindle a fire at the foot of the rock, and throw into it the leaves of a species of cassia, which emit a smoke so acrid that nothing can endure it—even the bees are forced to retire. As soon as the smoke subsides, a man is quickly lowered by a rope from the top of the rock; he knocks off the nest, and is immediately drawn up again, for were he to make any delay the bees would return, and their stinging is so dreadful as to endanger life.
In a tour which Colonel Travers made through a part of Ceylon, he found a species of bees which might at first be mistaken for black flies. Their heads, compared with their bodies, are extremely large. The honey is very liquid, and has a disagreeable flavour. I asked him if he had ever seen the honey-bird or Indicator, when he was at the Cape?—he did see it,—and heard its shrill note of cherr, cherr, which announces the discovery of a bees’ nest. He followed this sagacious bird along with a party of bee-hunters, and it soon pointed out a bees’ nest, by redoubling the frequency of its cries, and by hovering over the place. Having taken most of the honey, they left only a small portion for their little guide, so that not having enough to satisfy him, he immediately flew off to find more. These birds construct very singular nests: they are composed of slender filaments of bark, woven together in the form of a bottle; the neck and opening hang downwards, and a string is loosely fastened across the opening, on which they perch.
Colonel Travers told us, that the skin of these birds is so extremely thick, that it can scarcely be pierced by a pin; and the bees therefore attack them by endeavouring to sting their eyes.
18th.—Colonel Travers was describing to-day the areca or betel nut palm. The berry of this tree is, you know, constantly used by the Indians, who chew it both green and dry.
The preservation of the fruit during the rainy season, and the cutting it down when ripe, require much expertness and agility. He says, that from the middle of winter to the middle of spring, the leaves fall off: each leaf is attached to a broad leathern petiole or leaf-stalk; and these membranes, which are about three feet long, and half that breadth, are preserved for the rainy season as covers for the young bunches of fruit. This business is performed by a particular set of people; for the stem of the tree, which is about fifty feet high, straight, smooth, and without branches, like most of the palm tribe, is very difficult to ascend. Round his ancles, and under the soles of his feet, the climber fixes a rope; his feet, thus bound together, he places against the stem, and while he holds on steadily with his hands, he gently draws up his feet. He thus moves one hand forward and then the other hand, and afterwards again draws up his feet. In this manner he slowly reaches the top of the tree, where he makes fast a rope, the end of it being tied to the middle of a short stick on which he seats himself and performs his work; drawing up whatever he wants from below, by means of a line hanging from his girdle. When he has covered all the fruit, he unties his seat, secures it round his neck, and swings the tree backwards and forwards, till he can reach another tree, upon which he throws himself, and again makes fast his seat. In this way he swings from tree to tree, and covers or cuts the fruit in the whole garden without once descending to the ground.