Even the Arabs recoiled from it in horror and began to mutter prayers.
"For the rest, the usual opening on the left side through which the embalmers did their work was absent; the finely-cut features were those of a person of middle age, although the hair was already grey, and the frame was that of a very powerful man, the shoulders being of an extraordinary width.

I had not time to examine very closely, however, for within a few seconds from its uncovering, the unembalmed body began to crumble now that it was exposed to the action of the air.

In five or six minutes there was literally nothing left of it but a wisp of hair, the skull, and a few of the larger bones.

I noticed that one of the tibiae--I forget if it was the right or the left--had been fractured and very badly set.

It must have been quite an inch shorter than the other.
"Well, there was nothing more to find, and now that the excitement was over, what between the heat, the exertion, and the smell of mummy dust and spices, I felt more dead than alive.
"I am tired of writing, and this ship rolls.