The Mummy's Dream, an Egyptian story of the Exodus. Written and illustrated by H. B. Proctor

Front matter

_______________! ______________________ -^B ___________________!_9&J___________. THE MUMMY'S DREAM THE great hall of karnak THE MUMMY'S DREAM AN EGYPTIAN STORY OF THE EXODUS WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY H. B. PROCTOR S1MPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., Ltd., LONDON EDWARD HOWELL, LIVERPOOL 189S It is impossible to see the ancient Egyptians through any other medium than that of a teachable mind, working with a sympathetic heart. If any one hesitates to grant me this much, let me ask him whether he would be willing to have the Christian religion judged of, five thousand years hence, by such a one as himself, when its existing forms shall have been long forgotten and its eternal principles shall have been expanded in some yet unknown mode of manifestation. Supposing oblivion to have by that time as completely wrapped round the Catholic and Protestant ritual as round the ceremonial of Egyptian worship, would a Christian be content to have his faith judged of by a careless traveller of another race, who should thrust his way among the buried pillars of our cathedral aisles, and look for superstition in every recess and idolatry in every chapel ; and who, lighting upon some carved fox and goose or grinning mask, should go home and declare that Christianity was made up of what was idolatrous, unideal, and grotesque ? HARRIET MARTINEAU. BY WAY OF

Introduction

Believing that an account of the Exodus and life in Ancient Egypt, as related by a mummy, cannot fail to be of interest, I have persuaded my friend Richard Mortimer to allow me to publish his extraordinary experiences. Stories dealing with psychical research, or ' Borderland,' as Mr. Stead calls it, are seldom entirely satisfactory, because of the difficulty the reader has in eliminating the personal error of the observer and deciding where fact vanishes and real or telepathic hallucination begins. To this disturbing influence must be added the particular bias of each individual reader, — ' to teach John Latin, one must not only know Latin but know John.' Lastly, there is the adherent disability, so difficult to realise, arising from ' the house of illusion ' in which we exist. Let me give a simple illustration : tell a X matter of fact individual that he is being carried through space on his pathway round the sun, at the stupendous velocity of over 19 miles a second!

He may not deny the truth of the proposition, but he cannot possibly realise that which the evidence of his senses and his daily experience flatly contradicts. To take another example. As we look up into the starry heavens, we believe we see the stars, and that they are where we see them. Yet an astronomer, calculating the velocity of light, will tell us that the stars we think we see are not there at all. Some of them were there when the Ancient Chaldeans surveyed the heavens ; others, when the wise men from the East came to worship at Bethlehem ; others, when the sceptre of the Roman Empire fell like a star from heaven ; others, again, when poor persecuted Galileo was compelled by an infallible church to deny truths that are now accepted ubique et ab omnibus; still the fact remains, the stars are not, never were, and never will be in the relative positions that they appear to occupy. If our senses are unable to grasp these simple facts of the material and visible uni-

INTRODUCTION.

XI verse, how absurd it seems to dogmatise about that invisible spirit world and overarching supernaturalism which enfolds and altogether pervades it, and of which we know so little. I mention this because there are those who would probably treat with ridicule and set at nought both Dr. Schwartz's theories of the progression of the soul — though they are supported by the Christian Father Origen — and the weird and terrible experience of Mortimer, to be related in my story. The opinions of Egyptologists as to the truth of the pictures which Mortimer has drawn of life in Ancient Egypt afford little or no guidance ; they all agree that some or other of his facts are wrong, but they are equally unanimous in contradicting each other. Mortimer's allegations as to the influence of Egyptian religious thought, first upon the Greeks, and through them upon the Christian Church, showing that the laws of evolution apply quite as much to religious faith as they do to biology, receives strong support from the late Rev. Edwin Hatch, D.D., in his Hibbert Lectures.

He gives instances of the abnormal vitality and strange persistency with which pre-Christian ideas and ceremonies have survived the change of faith, by forcing themselves into the Church : he considers it as an argument of the divine life of Christianity that it has been able to absorb and assimilate so much that was at first alien to it. The difference between the Sermon on the Mount and the Nicene Creed is not more remarkable than the change from the simple worship of the early Christians to the gorgeous ceremonial of St. Peter's, Rome, which, so far as ceremonial is concerned, has little to dis tinguish it from the pre-Christian rites at Eleusis. The blaze of lights on the altar, the solemn strains of instrumental music, the clouds of incense, the waters of lustration, now called holy water, the wafer bread, the mixed chalice — as in the Mithraic rites — the processions of the tonsured, surpliced, celibate clergy, escort ing the image of the Immaculate Virgin, present to the eye a close reproduction of like celebra tions in Ancient Egypt, and later in Pagan Greece and Pagan Rome. The proper title — Domina — by which Isis

INTRODUCTION.

XIII was known in Ancient Rome still survives, but slightly changed into ' Madonna,' as she is known to the modern Italians. Now, as in the time of Juvenal, she is carried in solemn procession, Escorted by a tonsured, surpliced train. The only change being that the modern priests unfortunately omit the frequent ablutions enjoined by the older ritual. Antiquarians can readily recognise in the Black Virgin of Montserrat, near Barcelona, an ancient black basalt image, once known as Isis, but still recognised as the Queen of Heaven, although her name has been changed. It is gratifying to learn that the image still works exactly the same class of ' faith-cure ' miracles as those for which it was so justly celebrated long years before the Christian era. Tradition and custom may account for some of these ancient ceremonies being retained ; others are perhaps due to the wisdom of the early Christian Fathers, who, like St. Francis Xavier, the apostle to the Indies, preferred to graft the new faith, as much as possible, on the ancient ritual.

The main reason, however, is probably due to atavism, that mysterious force of hereditary transmission which induces a man to believe that he is following the dictates of reason when he is unconsciously reverting to the customs of his ancestors. The time is not far distant when we shall look to Ancient Egypt, if not exactly as the cradle of our faith, nevertheless as the pious founder of that splendid ritual, and that noble moral code, which, amid the changes of the world, have enabled our religion to retain its * *__> hold on Christian minds, raising those of our faith to their present high level in the scale of civilisation. Be this as it may, seeing that Mortimer is not devoid of the saving grace of humour, his story may be amusing, even if his conclusions are at fault. H. B. PROCTOR. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE i. Brother-Making i 2.

Transmigration of Souls 14 3. Free among the Dead 39 4. The Mummy's Dream 47 5. Rameses the Great 66 6. The Birth of Mesu 82 7. Trial for Heresy 124 8. The Exodus of the Outlanders 140 9. The Repentant Sinner 161 10. Beside the Still Waters 182 II. Death and Resurrection 197 12. Making Restitution 216 13. Alas, my Brother ! LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Isis and Osiris Cover The Great Hall of Karnak .... Frontispiece PAGE Oli-Mel and his Retriever Cat 61 Rameses the Great. (From a photograph) .... 67 Profile of Rameses II. , at the Great Temple at Abou- Simbel 68 Semitic Outlanders making Bricks without Straw . 79 An Egyptian Pillow 86 The Temple of Luxor restored and the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. (After Erman) . . . 109 The Funeral of Oli-Mel. (Papyrus of Oli-Mel) . . 136 Oli-Mel in his War-Chariot 153 An Egyptian Caricature about the time of the Exodus.

(From a London Papyrus) . . . . . . .161 One of the Outlanders 164 The Soul hovering over the Body. (Papyrus of Oli-Mel) 203 Oli - Mel conducted by Horus on the Resurrection- Morn 206 Mr. Cox amid the Ruins of Karnak . . .227 Mortimer and Cox in the Temple of Edfou . . .241 Is this the End, Is this the End ? . . Back Cover

Chapter I Brother-making

A faithful friend is the true image of God. — Napoleon. Before Mortimer begins his story, let me say a word or two about the man himself, then the reader will be the better able to judge as to how far his story is true. My own opinion on the subject is absolutely without value, for I am a prejudiced witness — Richard Mortimer, to my mind, is the simplest-minded and most truthful man I have ever known. At the time when he wrote this story — for I have only cut it down and corrected it — he was a tall, good-looking man, well-built, strong and muscular, no longer a youth, but in the prime of manhood, for he was thirty-four years of age. He wore his silky, dark-brown hair long, his beard and whiskers were straggly and un trimmed, though a few years earlier, before his b brother's death, he was clean-shaven and rather smart-looking.

He had a lofty forehead, finely pencilled eyebrows, a slightly aquiline nose, long eyelashes, and an olive complexion, with dark brown, almond-shaped eyes — eyes with a dreamy look about them that seemed as if they were looking through you or beyond you, the sort of eyes that the Scotch call ' far-ben eyes,' and such as you would expect to see — but don't often — in a man gifted with poetic genius. Mortimer lived on the verge of the great forest in South Canara, at the little village of Cudra, on the banks of the Kala Nuddie River, about twenty miles distant from the sea-coast. Since his brother's death he has lived quite alone, far away from European society. I say quite alone, though there is a story current in our station that he behaved as did that Levite mentioned in Holy Scriptures, who, when there was no king in Israel, did like every other man — that which was right in his own eyes.

I don't believe a word about it — I simply mention the rumour so that I may be able to contra dict it. Stories like these are started by our judge's wife — a highly virtuous lady, whose very excess BROTHER-MA KING 3 of virtue must have some vent. Perhaps she thinks her virtues shine all the brighter in the darker setting of her neighbours' frailties ; at any rate, she repeats and gives currency to these scandals, though they are only founded on the idle and not too veracious gossip of her chattering Portuguese ayah. Mortimer is a strong man ; he absolutely disregards gossip. If he knew about it he would laugh and shrug his shoulders and say, ' Poor things! women must talk.' This I do know : if any man of us wants a warm welcome and a few days' excellent sport, we know where to find it. Mortimer may be shy and retiring, but no one in the world takes more trouble to make his guests comfortable than he does when he can get a few bachelor friends to go and stay with him at Cudra.

Now for his story, which I give as far as possible in his own words : — It is nearly six years ago since I went to Europe on twelve months' leave. My leave did not expire till the month of February, but it so happened that as autumn passed away and the days grew shorter, the weather was either bitterly cold with bleak winds, or else the sun was shut out with perpetual fogs, so, rather than remain longer in our foggy little island, I determined to leave England towards the end of November, spend my Christmas beneath the bright blue skies of Egypt, and return thence to India direct. I had read a great deal about the ancient history of Egypt ; it was a subject that always gave me great interest, so now I intended to avail myself of the opportunity of going up the Nile as far as Philæ, to see the old temples, especially the Great Temple of Karnak, and the Tombs of the Kings, which I had seen illustrated in the works of Rawlinson, Wilkinson, Brugsch, and others.

About ten days before starting, my elder sister told me that a distant cousin of ours, Tristram Mortimer, had called to see me, and he wanted to make my acquaintance to see if I could arrange to take him to Egypt with me. She told me he was a smart young fellow, about twenty years of age, with very pleasant manners, and one of the handsomest young men she had ever seen. At first I demurred. I said I did not fancy BRO THER-MAKING 5 acting as ' bear warden ' to any young man. The youth of our day are such insufferable prigs. ' Don't you give yourself such airs ; you are not more than seven years older than he is, after all ! ' she said. ' Wait till you see him, I know you will like him ; he will call here again to morrow. You knew him before you went to India. Surely you remember Trim, who was at school at St. Leonard's ? ' ' That mischievous young imp ! ' I replied. ' Not for worlds.

I will be civil enough to him, but I won't take him with me — it is simply out of the question.' ' Man proposes, but God disposes,' for the very next day when young Mortimer called, I found him so pleasant and agreeable and at the same time so thoroughly well informed, that we made friends at once. He was a very smart-looking young fellow, well-dressed, and singularly handsome. I could not help a sort of feeling of pride that any one of the Mortimer family should be so good-looking. He was of medium height, with dark brown eyes and hair, regular features, and the most beautiful colour and complexion I ever saw. He looked to me the picture of good health ; for then, as I knew nothing about the hectic flush, I never should have imagined that the beautiful colour in his cheeks was due to anything except the glow of health.

I heard later that he had lost both parents by consumption. He himself had tried for the army, but, after passing well in all the subjects he took up, was rejected by the medical authorities. He was just then studying for the bar, when his medical man cut his studies short by telling him that if he wished to preserve his health he must spend the winter in a warm climate. So, having made his arrange ments for leaving England on a long tour and for a long time, he agreed to start with me, and I helped him to buy his kit. We left for Alexandria by one of the liners leaving Liverpool. Trim — as I shall call him — and I shared the same cabin. We soon became the best of friends, and I feel sure that the attachment I began to feel for him was fully reciprocated. The day after leaving Malta we had left the saloon just after tiffin, and gone on deck together, when Trim vaulted up and sat him self on the taffrail.

BRO THER-MAKING 7 There had been heavy weather for the last few days, in consequence of which there was a heavy sea running, which made our vessel pitch and roll more than was comfortable ; at the same time the weather was brilliantly fine, with a blue, cloudless sky. I said, ' Trim, don't be an ass ; you'll do that sort of thing once too often — the vessel might lurch, then you would be pitched overboard ! ' ' Oh, I am all right. I have my toe in the netting — I could not possibly fall,' he replied. As luck would have it, he had no sooner got the words out of his mouth than the vessel lurched violently, the netting snapped, and Trim was overboard. I yelled out ' Man overboard ! ' then throw ing off my coat and waistcoat, at the same time running aft, I pitched the lifebelt overboard and sprang after it, so I was in the water only a few yards distant from Trim.

A dozen strokes or more brought me to him. I am a good swimmer ; he, poor lad, could swim but little, so he was terribly exhausted, both by the shock and with the weight of his clothes. I placed him comfortably and safely inside the lifebelt, while I clung on to one of the handropes on the outside. I watched for the steamer each time we rose on a wave-top — luckily they were not breaking seas, so I could see clearly and we could keep our heads above water. I saw the captain had put the helm hard aport, and was coming round in a circle at full speed, so I knew we should be picked up in ten or fifteen minutes at the outside, and probably little the worse for our ducking. But Trim now appeared utterly collapsed, his face was ashy white, his lips were tinged with blue, and he looked very faint.

At last he said, in a husky voice, ' Dick, you are very foolish to risk your good life for my bad one, but I shall never, never forget it.' ' Rubbish ! you would have done the same for me,' I replied. In fifteen minutes or so the boat that had been lowered picked us up ; the sailors were helpful and sympathetic, and the chief officer who steered was very civil, but he said to me, in a low tone of voice, ' Wait till he gets aboard — see if the captain does not give him hell ! He's a bit rough when he is put out.' When we got alongside I sprang up the rope ladder that was lowered for us, and I said BRO THER-MAKIXG 9 quietly to the captain, ' The poor lad's very ill, he was half-drowned when I picked him up, so it would be well to say nothing to him about his carelessness, at any rate just now.' The captain, who was rough but thoroughly kind hearted, now gave orders to heave him up in the boat, with one of the sailors to look after him, while we, passengers and men, helped to hoist it up to the davits.

All the passengers were there assembled to congratulate us on our escape, hot grog was ready waiting for us, and a dozen hands were offered to help Trim down to his berth, where the steward had hot blankets ready waiting for him. As for me, I rather enjoyed the dip ; I had nothing to do but to change my clothes. and I was all right again. I could see now that my cousin Trim was far from strong : the following day he had to remain in his berth, it was still another day before the doctor would let him come on deck again, and even then he seemed weak and out of sorts. The day before we arrived at Alexandria I found Trim lying on the sofa in our cabin reading Tit-Bits. I said to him chaffingly — ' For Heaven's sake, man, don't addle your brain by reading such scrappy literature, mere trash — try something more solid.' ' Keep your hair on, my dear fellow, my brains have less to do than yours ; besides, I don't admit that it is trash.

I have found a most interesting article on "brother-making." It appears it is a most ancient ceremony, and practised even to-day among all the people in the world whose civilisation has any claim to antiquity.' ' Here is the paper — read it for yourself.' ' Thanks ! I don't care to read it just now.' ' Well then, with your permission, I will read you a short extract — ' " Among the ancient Greeks, two friends after offering sacrifice would vow to each other permanent hospitality and protection ; hence forth they were known as brothers. ' " The Germans called the relationship Gast freund: they considered it even more sacred than blood relationship. '"The Hindoos, from the earliest ages, cemented this relationship with elaborate ceremonies, part of which consisted in dividing a bei apple, half of which was kept by each BROTHER-MA KING 11 party ; they then embraced and swore ever lasting fidelity.

Hence this compact was known as Bel-Bandhar. ' " Brotherhood among the Burmans is termed doh, also thway thouk, blood-drinkers, because they mix a few drops of blood from each party's arm with water and drink it. '"Among the Karens " but I will read no more. ' Dick, I want you to do me a very great favour.' Here Trim, blushing at his own audacity, as his enthusiasm struggled with his timidity, sprang upon his feet, and taking me by the hand said, ' Go through the ceremony with me. I am quite alone in the world, I have no ties, let me be your brother. I never met any fellow I liked half so well as I like you ; if I die I should like you to have all my property, instead of dividing it up among a lot of cousins, some of whom I don't know.' ' Trim, you have all the enthusiasm of youth — a time when every thought is speech, and every speech truth ; you will change your mind when you grow older.' ' By Heavens, no !

Try me. Grant me this one favour.' ' Suppose I were to do so, what must I do ? — how must I proceed ? ' ' There are so many ways — some of them are rather unpleasant : perhaps the simplest and the one most in accordance with the tastes of the nineteenth century is Kyan fashion. It's quite simple.' ' Very well, Trim, if you so particularly wish it, I will agree ; you shall be the master of the ceremonies — tell me what to do.' Trim then took out his knife and pricked first his own arm till a drop of blood came, then mine ; next he smeared a cigarette with a little of each and lit it. We each took a few puffs, then he clasped my hand and pledged himself to be a true friend and a brother to me till death parted us, and I repeated the pledge to him. Trim was jubilant about it ; he seemed in such high spirits that the other passengers noticed it, and congratulated him on his recovery.

I had really gone through the performance more to please Trim than for any other reason, — he seemed so bent upon it, I thought it best to try and let him have his own way, — but he BRO THER-MAKING 13 looked upon the ceremony as a solemn reality, and from that day forward he acted as a sort of younger brother to me ; he was ever anxious to help me to the utmost of his ability, and more than that, he sometimes amused me by looking after me and taking me under his charge. This explains, or partly explains, how it came about that Trim and I were such close friends through life, till death parted us. Possibly also after death ; I don't insist on this point, though I have my own opinions ; you can form an opinion for yourself, when you have read my story.

Chapter II Transmigration Of Souls

I venture to claim a hearing, then, first of all on account of the gravity of my subject. Can immortality be proved by occult science? Is the survival of the entire personality after the temporal}' shock of dissolution through death in any degree demonstrable ? It is the supreme question which every one must ask, the single great secret in the solution of which we are all equally interested. In the nature of things, I must soon solve the question experimentally for myself; and I should like, before I pass out into the darkness, to leave on record, as completely as may be, my gropings towards the light. — The Great Secret. When we arrived in Cairo we put up at the Hotel du Nil, situated in one of the crowded, narrow streets or alleys of the old city, about twenty or thirty yards from the Muski, the main street of the old part of the town.

Sheppard's Hotel is the more fashionable : it is the resort of those butterflies of fashion who are trying to make the capital of Egypt — El Kahira, the magnificent — the Brighton or the Nice of the African continent. But if you want to meet the scientific, artistic, or literary world — those who have gone to Egypt to try to discover some of the mysteries of the Sphinx — if you want quiet, comfort, and good living, you must go to the Hotel du Nil. This hotel then was, and I believe is still, the headquarters of the Egyptian Exploration Society. Here one could get the first informa tion of the latest archæological discoveries, and see the private collection — one which is probably unique — of scarabs, bronzes, jewellery, and other antiquities collected by Dr. Hermann Schwartz ; besides, you can see the many and sundry antiquities picked up by hard-working and enthusiastic members of the Egyptian Exploration Society.

Dr. Schwartz was in some way connected with the Boulak Museum : he was the travelling director, the one usually sent to examine and report on all the latest archæological finds ; he had to select, superintend, or to arrange for the removal of, the most valuable of the antiquities to the museum itself. Besides this, he was permitted by the Government to sell duplicates of such antiquities as were not required for the museum, and, whether with the sanction of the Government or not I cannot say, he availed himself of such opportunities as he had to increase his own most valuable collection. After our first meeting Dr. Schwartz and I became very friendly : not so much that I sought him, but he, so to speak, ran after me and took every possible opportunity of cultivating my society. He could read hieroglyphic and demotic inscriptions, and translate them as easily as any Oxford don could Greek or Latin, though this is not saying much ; few moderns had half the knowledge that he had of the learning of the ancient Egyptians — indeed he talked about nothing else.

Trim and I dined at the table d'hote opposite to him every evening during the time we were staying at Cairo, and we were immensely amused at seeing how com pletely he had enthroned himself as absolute autocrat of the big dining-table of the Hotel du Nil. While eating and drinking in prodigious quantities, he kept our end of the table amused and interested by declaiming against the religion, science, and psychology of the nineteenth cen tury, at the same time lauding to the skies the wisdom and learning of the ancient Egyptians. He strongly insisted that the Christian religion was full of blunders ; that everything of worth in it had been cribbed and copied from the ancient Egyptians. The Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, Justification by Faith, the Immaculate Concep tion, the worship of the Virgin and Child, the Resurrection of the Dead, and other supposed exclusively Christian doctrines had been dis covered, he declared, by the Egyptian priests, though their most important esoteric truths, hidden beneath these doctrines, were hard to discover, because they were taught only to the initiated and not to the ' profane vulgar ' — yet they were worth seeking after, for in beauty, truth, and purity they had never been excelled.

Christianity, he continued, assisted to destroy this ancient civilisation — the most magnificent and beneficent the world has ever known ; now she has attempted to clothe her own nakedness by covering it up with the torn rags of the more beautiful, more tolerant, and more ancient faith — one that had survived the storms of doubt for 5000 years. Up to the present, Christianity had given us 1 200 years of the dark ages ; now she has changed her views — instead of per secuting science, she encourages it ; she is, and c has been, ever changing, and nothing for long together ; what her doctrines would be in 2000 years, if she existed so long, it would be hard to say. Now and again he took a turn at transcen dental philosophy, theosophy, and hidden truths; he strongly insisted that all we knowofthe condi tion of the soul after death and its immortality came from the Egyptian priests, and the little we knew was as a drop in a bucket compared with the greater truths which had been lost for ages through Christian persecution.