Malek, to his great satisfaction. As I bade him goodbye, he lifted up both hands, placing them on my shoulders, and gave me his blessing, which ended with the words, as sounded in Greek, "Jesu Christ."
In the Museum near Cairo, by the courtesy of the Director, Brugsch Bey, I was allowed the privilege of photographing. Perhaps the most interesting of all the antiquities there is the mummy of Rameses the Great, the oppressor of Israel. It was discovered a few years ago; it is partly unrolled, showing his head and shoulders in wonderful preservation. The masterful and haughty expression of face, and the pose of the right arm and hand, contrary to custom, lying across the chest, indicate the character of the man,—a great conqueror, a great builder, a great father, with one hundred and fifteen children, reigning sixty-seven years, from 1348–1281 B.C., whose memory will never perish as long as the Bible story of Israel in Egypt survives.
It was the custom in old Egyptian burial to swathe the mummy with folds of cloth on which the history of the dead man's life is inscribed. Owing to the dryness of the climate, and the great care taken to make the mummies as imperishable as possible, they form records of the past, such as, probably, no other country possesses.
