Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/386

 278 NOTES UPON A MUMMY OF THE the four genii of the dead, who presided over the north, and to whose care the small intestines have been found to be confided. It was impossible at this period to continue a minute examination of the contents of the stomach ; but it was evident that the entrails had been repacked in small packets, and carefully restored through the flank incision again into the body. Our next attention was directed to the hands, which exhi- bited a peculiar claw-like appearance, as if they had been enveloped in gloves or linen wa^aps ; and, on removing one, and cutting through the thick coating of bitumen, in order to see wdiether any rings remained on the fingers, they w^ere discovered to be provided with silver gloves, each finger being- encased in a tube, or finger stall, of silver reaching to the palm of the hand. ^ This was perhaps one of the most interesting discoveries made, as it proves that the custom of securing the nails in this manner against the chance of being torn off or injured when the body w^as skinned, existed as early as the XXVI. dynasty, and that the use of restoring the entrails in separate packets, each containing a wax genius of the Anient, is of the same age. Under one of the left arms was discovered a rude figure made of barley and clay mixed, wrapped up in bandages of linen, like a mummy. Our labours had finished for the occasion, and the mummy, with its contents, w^as consigned to the box in wdiich it had been brought, and reserved for a future examination. On the 21st of June, Mr. Arden, Mr. Bonomi, and myself, in company wdtli Mr. Croker, and Mr. Arden, junior, continued our investigations into the mummy at Mr. Arden's house. No new objects of any kind were discovered at the first inspection, but a more careful examination of the contents of the stomach brought to light the remaining packages of the thoracic and abdominal viscera. These w'cre so saturated with asphaltum that they adlicred with great tenacity to the pleura, for they had been thrust into the thorax, and it required the aid of a chisel to detach them. In one of these masses, which resembled a cylindrical bag, was found the genius of the East, Kebhsenuf, the fourth of the scries, to wiiom is usually consigned the liver ; and in another, the mass of which wis broken in two althoiigh not opened, " A finger secured in this ni;mner exists in the British Museum, No. 6732.