The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 5 Read online

  It will be readily understood that Mr. Gliddon's discourse turnedchiefly upon the vast benefits accruing to science from the unrollingand disembowelling of mummies; apologizing, upon this score, for anydisturbance that might have been occasioned him, in particular, theindividual Mummy called Allamistakeo; and concluding with a mere hint(for it could scarcely be considered more) that, as these littlematters were now explained, it might be as well to proceed withthe investigation intended. Here Doctor Ponnonner made ready hisinstruments.

  In regard to the latter suggestions of the orator, it appears thatAllamistakeo had certain scruples of conscience, the nature of which Idid not distinctly learn; but he expressed himself satisfied with theapologies tendered, and, getting down from the table, shook hands withthe company all round.

  When this ceremony was at an end, we immediately busied ourselves inrepairing the damages which our subject had sustained from the scalpel.We sewed up the wound in his temple, bandaged his foot, and applied asquare inch of black plaster to the tip of his nose.

  It was now observed that the Count (this was the title, it seems, ofAllamistakeo) had a slight fit of shivering--no doubt from the cold. TheDoctor immediately repaired to his wardrobe, and soon returned witha black dress coat, made in Jennings' best manner, a pair of sky-blueplaid pantaloons with straps, a pink gingham chemise, a flapped vest ofbrocade, a white sack overcoat, a walking cane with a hook, a hat withno brim, patent-leather boots, straw-colored kid gloves, an eye-glass, apair of whiskers, and a waterfall cravat. Owing to the disparity of sizebetween the Count and the doctor (the proportion being as two to one),there was some little difficulty in adjusting these habiliments upon theperson of the Egyptian; but when all was arranged, he might have beensaid to be dressed. Mr. Gliddon, therefore, gave him his arm, and ledhim to a comfortable chair by the fire, while the Doctor rang the bellupon the spot and ordered a supply of cigars and wine.

  The conversation soon grew animated. Much curiosity was, of course,expressed in regard to the somewhat remarkable fact of Allamistakeo'sstill remaining alive.

  "I should have thought," observed Mr. Buckingham, "that it is high timeyou were dead."

  "Why," replied the Count, very much astonished, "I am little more thanseven hundred years old! My father lived a thousand, and was by no meansin his dotage when he died."

  Here ensued a brisk series of questions and computations, by means ofwhich it became evident that the antiquity of the Mummy had been grosslymisjudged. It had been five thousand and fifty years and some monthssince he had been consigned to the catacombs at Eleithias.

  "But my remark," resumed Mr. Buckingham, "had no reference to your ageat the period of interment (I am willing to grant, in fact, that you arestill a young man), and my illusion was to the immensity of time duringwhich, by your own showing, you must have been done up in asphaltum."

  "In what?" said the Count.

  "In asphaltum," persisted Mr. B.

  "Ah, yes; I have some faint notion of what you mean; it might be madeto answer, no doubt--but in my time we employed scarcely any thing elsethan the Bichloride of Mercury."

  "But what we are especially at a loss to understand," said DoctorPonnonner, "is how it happens that, having been dead and buried in Egyptfive thousand years ago, you are here to-day all alive and looking sodelightfully well."

  "Had I been, as you say, dead," replied the Count, "it is more thanprobable that dead, I should still be; for I perceive you are yet in theinfancy of Calvanism, and cannot accomplish with it what was a commonthing among us in the old days. But the fact is, I fell into catalepsy,and it was considered by my best friends that I was either dead orshould be; they accordingly embalmed me at once--I presume you are awareof the chief principle of the embalming process?"

  "Why not altogether."

  "Why, I perceive--a deplorable condition of ignorance! Well I cannotenter into details just now: but it is necessary to explain that toembalm (properly speaking), in Egypt, was to arrest indefinitely all theanimal functions subjected to the process. I use the word 'animal' inits widest sense, as including the physical not more than the moraland vital being. I repeat that the leading principle of embalmmentconsisted, with us, in the immediately arresting, and holding inperpetual abeyance, all the animal functions subjected to the process.To be brief, in whatever condition the individual was, at the period ofembalmment, in that condition he remained. Now, as it is my good fortuneto be of the blood of the Scarabaeus, I was embalmed alive, as you seeme at present."

  "The blood of the Scarabaeus!" exclaimed Doctor Ponnonner.

  "Yes. The Scarabaeus was the insignium or the 'arms,' of a verydistinguished and very rare patrician family. To be 'of the blood of theScarabaeus,' is merely to be one of that family of which the Scarabaeusis the insignium. I speak figuratively."

  "But what has this to do with you being alive?"

  "Why, it is the general custom in Egypt to deprive a corpse, beforeembalmment, of its bowels and brains; the race of the Scarabaei alonedid not coincide with the custom. Had I not been a Scarabeus, therefore,I should have been without bowels and brains; and without either it isinconvenient to live."

  "I perceive that," said Mr. Buckingham, "and I presume that all theentire mummies that come to hand are of the race of Scarabaei."

  "Beyond doubt."

  "I thought," said Mr. Gliddon, very meekly, "that the Scarabaeus was oneof the Egyptian gods."

  "One of the Egyptian _what?"_ exclaimed the Mummy, starting to its feet.

  "Gods!" repeated the traveller.

  "Mr. Gliddon, I really am astonished to hear you talk in this style,"said the Count, resuming his chair. "No nation upon the face of theearth has ever acknowledged more than one god. The Scarabaeus, the Ibis,etc., were with us (as similar creatures have been with others) thesymbols, or media, through which we offered worship to the Creator tooaugust to be more directly approached."

  There was here a pause. At length the colloquy was renewed by DoctorPonnonner.

  "It is not improbable, then, from what you have explained," said he,"that among the catacombs near the Nile there may exist other mummies ofthe Scarabaeus tribe, in a condition of vitality?"

  "There can be no question of it," replied the Count; "all the Scarabaeiembalmed accidentally while alive, are alive now. Even some of thosepurposely so embalmed, may have been overlooked by their executors, andstill remain in the tomb."

  "Will you be kind enough to explain," I said, "what you mean by'purposely so embalmed'?"

  "With great pleasure!" answered the Mummy, after surveying me leisurelythrough his eye-glass--for it was the first time I had ventured toaddress him a direct question.

  "With great pleasure," he said. "The usual duration of man's life, inmy time, was about eight hundred years. Few men died, unless by mostextraordinary accident, before the age of six hundred; few lived longerthan a decade of centuries; but eight were considered the naturalterm. After the discovery of the embalming principle, as I have alreadydescribed it to you, it occurred to our philosophers that a laudablecuriosity might be gratified, and, at the same time, the interests ofscience much advanced, by living this natural term in installments. Inthe case of history, indeed, experience demonstrated that something ofthis kind was indispensable. An historian, for example, having attainedthe age of five hundred, would write a book with great labor and thenget himself carefully embalmed; leaving instructions to his executorspro tem., that they should cause him to be revivified after the lapse ofa certain period--say five or six hundred years. Resuming existence atthe expiration of this time, he would invariably find his great workconverted into a species of hap-hazard note-book--that is to say, intoa kind of literary arena for the conflicting guesses, riddles, andpersonal squabbles of whole herds of exasperated commentators.These guesses, etc., which passed under the name of annotations, oremendations, were found so completely to have enveloped, distorted, andoverwhelmed the text, that the author had to go about with a lantern todiscover his own book. When discovered
, it was never worth the troubleof the search. After re-writing it throughout, it was regarded as thebounden duty of the historian to set himself to work immediatelyin correcting, from his own private knowledge and experience, thetraditions of the day concerning the epoch at which he had originallylived. Now this process of re-scription and personal rectification,pursued by various individual sages from time to time, had the effect ofpreventing our history from degenerating into absolute fable."

  "I beg your pardon," said Doctor Ponnonner at this point, laying hishand gently upon the arm of the Egyptian--"I beg your pardon, sir, butmay I presume to interrupt you for one moment?"

  "By all means, sir," replied the Count, drawing up.

  "I merely wished to ask you a question," said the Doctor. "You mentionedthe historian's personal correction of traditions respecting his ownepoch. Pray, sir, upon an average what proportion of these Kabbala wereusually found to be right?"

  "The Kabbala, as you properly term them, sir, were generally discoveredto be precisely on a par with the facts recorded in the un-re-writtenhistories themselves;--that is to say, not one individual iota of eitherwas ever known, under any circumstances, to be not totally and radicallywrong."

  "But since it is quite clear," resumed the Doctor, "that at least fivethousand years have elapsed since your entombment, I take it forgranted that your histories at that period, if not your traditionswere sufficiently explicit on that one topic of universal interest, theCreation, which took place, as I presume you are aware, only about tencenturies before."

  "Sir!" said the Count Allamistakeo.

  The Doctor repeated his remarks, but it was only after much additionalexplanation that the foreigner could be made to comprehend them. Thelatter at length said, hesitatingly:

  "The ideas you have suggested are to me, I confess, utterly novel.During my time I never knew any one to entertain so singular a fancyas that the universe (or this world if you will have it so) ever hada beginning at all. I remember once, and once only, hearing somethingremotely hinted, by a man of many speculations, concerning the origin_of the human race;_ and by this individual, the very word _Adam_(or Red Earth), which you make use of, was employed. He employedit, however, in a generical sense, with reference to the spontaneousgermination from rank soil (just as a thousand of the lower genera ofcreatures are germinated)--the spontaneous germination, I say, of fivevast hordes of men, simultaneously upspringing in five distinct andnearly equal divisions of the globe."

  Here, in general, the company shrugged their shoulders, and one ortwo of us touched our foreheads with a very significant air. Mr. SilkBuckingham, first glancing slightly at the occiput and then at thesinciput of Allamistakeo, spoke as follows:

  "The long duration of human life in your time, together withthe occasional practice of passing it, as you have explained, ininstallments, must have had, indeed, a strong tendency to the generaldevelopment and conglomeration of knowledge. I presume, therefore, thatwe are to attribute the marked inferiority of the old Egyptians inall particulars of science, when compared with the moderns, and moreespecially with the Yankees, altogether to the superior solidity of theEgyptian skull."

  "I confess again," replied the Count, with much suavity, "that I amsomewhat at a loss to comprehend you; pray, to what particulars ofscience do you allude?"

  Here our whole party, joining voices, detailed, at great length, theassumptions of phrenology and the marvels of animal magnetism.

  Having heard us to an end, the Count proceeded to relate a fewanecdotes, which rendered it evident that prototypes of Gall andSpurzheim had flourished and faded in Egypt so long ago as to have beennearly forgotten, and that the manoeuvres of Mesmer were really verycontemptible tricks when put in collation with the positive miraclesof the Theban savans, who created lice and a great many other similarthings.

  I here asked the Count if his people were able to calculate eclipses. Hesmiled rather contemptuously, and said they were.

  This put me a little out, but I began to make other inquiries in regardto his astronomical knowledge, when a member of the company, who hadnever as yet opened his mouth, whispered in my ear, that for informationon this head, I had better consult Ptolemy (whoever Ptolemy is), as wellas one Plutarch de facie lunae.

  I then questioned the Mummy about burning-glasses and lenses, and, ingeneral, about the manufacture of glass; but I had not made an end of myqueries before the silent member again touched me quietly on the elbow,and begged me for God's sake to take a peep at Diodorus Siculus. Asfor the Count, he merely asked me, in the way of reply, if we modernspossessed any such microscopes as would enable us to cut cameos in thestyle of the Egyptians. While I was thinking how I should answerthis question, little Doctor Ponnonner committed himself in a veryextraordinary way.

  "Look at our architecture!" he exclaimed, greatly to the indignation ofboth the travellers, who pinched him black and blue to no purpose.

  "Look," he cried with enthusiasm, "at the Bowling-Green Fountain in NewYork! or if this be too vast a contemplation, regard for a moment theCapitol at Washington, D. C.!"--and the good little medical man wenton to detail very minutely, the proportions of the fabric to which hereferred. He explained that the portico alone was adorned with no lessthan four and twenty columns, five feet in diameter, and ten feet apart.

  The Count said that he regretted not being able to remember, justat that moment, the precise dimensions of any one of the principalbuildings of the city of Aznac, whose foundations were laid in the nightof Time, but the ruins of which were still standing, at the epoch ofhis entombment, in a vast plain of sand to the westward of Thebes. Herecollected, however, (talking of the porticoes,) that one affixed toan inferior palace in a kind of suburb called Carnac, consisted of ahundred and forty-four columns, thirty-seven feet in circumference, andtwenty-five feet apart. The approach to this portico, from the Nile,was through an avenue two miles long, composed of sphynxes, statues, andobelisks, twenty, sixty, and a hundred feet in height. The palace itself(as well as he could remember) was, in one direction, two miles long,and might have been altogether about seven in circuit. Its walls wererichly painted all over, within and without, with hieroglyphics. Hewould not pretend to assert that even fifty or sixty of the Doctor'sCapitols might have been built within these walls, but he was byno means sure that two or three hundred of them might not havebeen squeezed in with some trouble. That palace at Carnac was aninsignificant little building after all. He (the Count), however, couldnot conscientiously refuse to admit the ingenuity, magnificence, andsuperiority of the Fountain at the Bowling Green, as described by theDoctor. Nothing like it, he was forced to allow, had ever been seen inEgypt or elsewhere.

  I here asked the Count what he had to say to our railroads.

  "Nothing," he replied, "in particular." They were rather slight, ratherill-conceived, and clumsily put together. They could not be compared, ofcourse, with the vast, level, direct, iron-grooved causeways upon whichthe Egyptians conveyed entire temples and solid obelisks of a hundredand fifty feet in altitude.

  I spoke of our gigantic mechanical forces.

  He agreed that we knew something in that way, but inquired how I shouldhave gone to work in getting up the imposts on the lintels of even thelittle palace at Carnac.

  This question I concluded not to hear, and demanded if he had any ideaof Artesian wells; but he simply raised his eyebrows; while Mr. Gliddonwinked at me very hard and said, in a low tone, that one had beenrecently discovered by the engineers employed to bore for water in theGreat Oasis.

  I then mentioned our steel; but the foreigner elevated his nose, andasked me if our steel could have executed the sharp carved work seen onthe obelisks, and which was wrought altogether by edge-tools of copper.

  This disconcerted us so greatly that we thought it advisable to vary theattack to Metaphysics. We sent for a copy of a book called the "Dial,"and read out of it a chapter or two about something that is not veryclear, but which the Bostonians call the Great Movement of Progress.

&
nbsp; The Count merely said that Great Movements were awfully common things inhis day, and as for Progress, it was at one time quite a nuisance, butit never progressed.

  We then spoke of the great beauty and importance of Democracy, andwere at much trouble in impressing the Count with a due sense of theadvantages we enjoyed in living where there was suffrage ad libitum, andno king.

  He listened with marked interest, and in fact seemed not a littleamused. When we had done, he said that, a great while ago, there hadoccurred something of a very similar sort. Thirteen Egyptian provincesdetermined all at once to be free, and to set a magnificent example tothe rest of mankind. They assembled their wise men, and concocted themost ingenious constitution it is possible to conceive. For a while theymanaged remarkably well; only their habit of bragging was prodigious.The thing ended, however, in the consolidation of the thirteen states,with some fifteen or twenty others, in the most odious and insupportabledespotism that was ever heard of upon the face of the Earth.

  I asked what was the name of the usurping tyrant.

  As well as the Count could recollect, it was Mob.

  Not knowing what to say to this, I raised my voice, and deplored theEgyptian ignorance of steam.

  The Count looked at me with much astonishment, but made no answer. Thesilent gentleman, however, gave me a violent nudge in the ribs with hiselbows--told me I had sufficiently exposed myself for once--and demandedif I was really such a fool as not to know that the modern steam-engineis derived from the invention of Hero, through Solomon de Caus.