Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/383

 AGE OF THE XXVI. EGYPTIAN DYNASTY. 275 disturbed. It was necessary to neatly saw this cartonage in two pieces, in a right hne passing down the nose, and between the feet in front, and down the back behind, by which means no serious injury was done either to the painting or to the ]3ortions of inscriptions that remained. At the back w^as a figure of the Tat or Osiris Tatta — the god being represented as the Tat, or so-called Nilometer, with a face and two arms, one at each side.* The top w^as surmounted by the cap of Osiris, in his character of judge of Hades — consisting of the cap and two tall plumes placed on the horns of a goat. At the right side was Isis wearing a throne on her head, kneeling and deploring, and two of the four genii of the dead — Amset and Hapi. The titles at this side designated the lady — Anch-sen-hesi, "the lady of a noble house," or " the noble house." This subject of Osiris Tattu is not uncommon at the backs of mummies, but the m3^stical meaning of it is not known, and without doubt the figures of Nephthys and the two other genii were concealed in the cartonage. Having removed this outer covering or shell, we proceeded to examine the mummy which was then exposed, bandaged wath great neatness in linen of a very dark brown colour, and much smaller than the cartonage, so much so that it had a thick coating of stucco to make it fit to this at the head. After removing a few layers of bandages, con- sisting chiefly of narrow and short slips, w^e arrived at a second cartonage, but of a nature quite dissimilar to the first, presenting externally a reddish brown colour, like iron rust, and with globules or crystals of a fine gum and other sub- stances disposed all over it. As it w^as clearly impossible to pull off" this cartonage, an incision was made through it all round the body, passing round at the arms, and this revealed straps of leather of the breadth of an inch, terminating at their ends in a chevron of between two and three inches broad, passing round the neck, crossing at the breast, their ends being placed at the sides. They were about a line in thickness, stained of a yellow colour behind and of a pale red in front, and the ends had been embossed either with the name of a monarch or the figure of one offering to a god, but they were very dry, brittle, and illegible. This "* Perhaps taltu means the cartli. The and western horizon, at his head and feet; deceased, as Osiris, is laid upon it, over- and the four genii, the cjU'dinal points, shadowed by Menpe or Nupe, the firina- aroinid him. nient, has Isis and Nephthys, the eastern