TAA i.3.21.2

          Its external dimensions given in ‘mean measurement’ are:-

Length 432 cents.; width 293 cents.; height of sides 239 cents.;

height to summit of ridge 278 cents.

          The battens employed for the framing measure 8 X 6 cents., and

4 X 6 cents,; for the posts 8.7 X 6 cents.; and for the cross-

beams 6.5 X 6 cents. in thickness.

THE PALL – NO. 209.

          The pall which completely covered the upper part of the wooden

support was spread over it crookedly.

          This linen pall, measuring some 5.50 metres in length, and some

4.40 metres wide, made up of several widths of material hemmed to-

gether, was unfortunately much perished. Its tissue was discol-

oured to a dark mohogany^sic brown, and owing to the weight of the mat-

erial, largely increased by the numerous gilded copper resettes^sic that

ornamented it, parts were rent, parts hung in tatters, and irregular 

strips had fallen from its drooping edges. The fabric was of a 

coarse weave, of pure flax, and it contained no trace of cotton (see

vol. ii, pp. 197-9, pl. xxxvia). The gilded copper rosettes, 4.7 cents.

in diam., were sewn to the fabric 22 cents. apart (from centre to

centre) on the long axis, and 19.5 cents. apart on the transverse

axis.

          Although the tissue was very frail, it possessed sufficient

strength to withstand the tensile strains of careful winding on 

to a wooden roller – the method we had to employ to remove it from

its original support. But to render it strong enough to stand any

kind of manipulation beyond that, it was essential to strengthen

the threads with some flexible material which would bind the fibres

together. Dr. Alexander Scott, who came out to Egypt (Winter 1923 – 

4) at my request, as consulting chemist, gave valuable aid in solving

this problem. From his experiments (see vol. ii, pp. 197-9), it was

found that duroprene (a chlorinated rubber compound dissolved in an

organic solvent such as zylene) proved the most efficacious in rein-

forcing and preserving the deteriorated tissue. I had a special

linen lining prepared and dyed the same colour. The pall was trans-

ported upon the wooden roller to the entrance of the laboratory (the

tomb of Seti II, at the head of the Valley) for relining by the ex-

pert hands of Mrs Newberry. At the crisis (see vol. ii, pp. xii-xviii)<,>