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10

‘The Tomb Raider of Ta-

Sekhet-Ma’at’

Howard Carter (1874-1939)

Pencil drawing which used to hang in the Salon of the Luxor Hotel

“…on the night before Mr. Howard Carter opened the tomb, his pet canary was killed
by a cobra which form the natives say Tutankhamen’s spirit adopted to show his

resentment at disturbing his privacy, the cobra being the emblem of royalty among
the Pharaohs… ‘You may attach what significance to it you like.’ said Mr Carter
laughingly ‘Personally, in view of the results which followed, I do not see that it

should not have been an omen of great fortune. Perhaps my little canary was a god
of evil and the cobra was really doing me a good turn!’…” 10.1

Sunderland Daily Echo, 7th February 1923

© A. A. Aziz 2019 190