"After he had shown us the fine grounds around his dwelling," reported an anonymous visitor to Nauvoo in late April 1840,
he conducted us, at our request, to an upper room, where he drew aside the curtains of a case, and showed us several Egyptian mummies, which we were told that the church had purchased, at his suggestion some time before, for a large sum of money.
The embalmed body that stands near the centre of the case, said he, is one of the Pharaohs, who sat upon the throne of Egypt; and the female figure by its side, was probably one of his daughters.
It may have been the princess Thermutis, I replied, the same that rescued Moses from the waters of the Nile.
It is not improbable, answered the prophet; but my time has not yet allowed me fully to examine and decide that point. Do you understand the Hebrew language, said he, raising his hand to the top of the case, and taking down a small Hebrew Grammar of Rabbi Sexias [sic].
That language has not altogether escaped my attention, was the reply.
He then walked to a secretary, on the opposite side of the room, and drew out several frames covered with glass, under which were numerous fragments of Egyptian papyrus, on which, as usual, a great variety of hieroglyphical characters had been imprinted.
These ancient records, said he, throw great light upon the subject of Christianity. They have been unrolled and preserved with great labor and care. My time has hitherto been too much taken up to translate the whole of them, but I will show you how I interpret certain parts. There, said he, pointing to a particular character, that is the signature of the patriarch Abraham.
It is indeed a most interesting autograph, I replied, and doubtless the only one extant. What an ornament it would be to have these ancient manuscripts handsomely set, in appropriate frames, and hung up around the walls of the temple which you are about to erect in this place.
Yes, replied the prophet, and the translation hung up with them.
--"From the Alexandria Gazette. A Glance At The Mormons," in
Supplement to the Courant. Published Every Other Week for the Subscribers to the Connecticut Courant (Hartford, August 29, 1840 [VI:18]), p. 140.