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The assertion of the historian, Herodotus, who visited Egypt about 450 before Christ, that, even in his time, the date of the erection of the Pyramids, and of the city of Thebes*, &c., was lost in antiquity, gave rise to the belief that the same obscurity existed relative to every building in the country; and this erroneous opinion was confirmed by the incorrect interpretation of the astronomical tables, sculptured on the ceilings of the temples at Dendera, &c. | The French scientific men who accompanied Buonaparte in his expedition, carried away by their enmity to Christianity, were anxious to prove that some of these monuments were older than the Bible account of the creation of the world; but one of their own countrymen subsequently proved, and the discoveries of the celebrated Champollion have given additional confirmation to the proof, that the temple at Dendera is not older than the age of the Roman emperors.

These contradictory deductions, are in a great measure explained, by recalling to mind the successive and permanent conquests of this country by very different nations, each of which was interested in recording its own occupation of it, and in obliterating as far as possible all record of the previous occupants. Let us suppose, for example, a splendid and perfect temple founded by Sesostris, existing in all its grandeur and perfection. Passing over less known and less important political convulsions, first came the conquests of the successors of Alexander, who possibly erased and altered some portion of the original sculptured inscriptions; next the Romans, with their stern sway, compelled the natives to dedicate anew their sacred fane to some profligate emperor, and the name of Maximian, Dioclesiant, and such men, was substituted for the sacred symbol of Osiris or Isis. Long after came A curious calculation, made from the rate of increase of deposition by the Nile, corroborated by other evidence, shows that this city must have been founded 4760 years ago, or 29.30 before Christ. There are the ruins of a temple, bearing an inscription stating that it was founded by Osymandyas, who reigned, according to M. Champollion, Figeac 2270 B. C.

There is more than one temple built, to all appearance, in the most pure Egyptian style, which is now found to have been erected by Hadrian, in honour of Antinous.

pressive of particular sounds or names of those objects. A fourth class was added at a subsequent period, consisting of enigmatical symbols, which were a kind of composition of images of different objects, united so as to convey an idea not directly suggested by them when apart. These four species of characters were used promiscuously, according to the pleasure of the artist, and are arranged in either horizontal or vertical columns.

Thus for example, the sun, moon, ship, bull, bow, arrow, &c., are expressed hieroglyphically by images of the objects. The sky was

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the lieutenants of the "false prophet," and, with stil more unsparing and barbarous fanaticism, destroyed and defaced what they wanted sense and taste enough to admire; while the Greek Christians, sheltered, in other secret recesses, from the overwhelming storm of Mohammedan invasion, to fit them for churches, plastered over the sculptured stories of Rhamses' conquests, and substi tuted a daubed painting of the holy apostles. And lastly, as a climax to these injuries, the Ottoman conquest and its invariable results, misery, degradation, poverty, and oppression, came to complete the " tale of ruin;" and a degraded peasantry now shelter themselves in, and convert to the vilest of purposes, the temple which Sesostris had dedicated, or the magnificent tomb which contained the bones of a Pharaoh.

Added to these political causes of injury and defacement, every recess of every catacomb has been so repeatedly ransacked, in the hopes of finding concealed treasure, or for the gratification of curiosity, that no hidden tomb, the existence of which might appear to have remained un known from the time of its construction, can now be opened, without the most obvious proofs presenting them selves of its having been violated at some remote period.

We shall now proceed to the more immediate object of this paper, commencing with the

EXCAVATED TEMPLES IN NUBIA.

AT Derr, in Nubia, on the left side of the Nile, ascending the river, there is an excavated temple, hewn out of the sand-stone rock; the portico of which consists of three rows ruins on the ground. In front of each of these four are the of square pillars; four are still entire, the others are in legs of a colossal figure, similar to those of the temple of Gorne, at Thebes. A portion of one of the excavated walls of the portico has fallen down; a battle is represented on the fragments of it: a hero is pursuing his van quished foe, who retires to a marshy country, carrying his wounded along with him. In another compartment, the prisoners, with their arms tied, are brought before the executioner; similar sculptures are found on other parts,

represented by the section of a flat roof, with or without stars in it. The different gods were expressed by images of the idols which represented them in the temples. Two arms stretched upwards, express the word offering; water flowing from a jug, means a libation: a bee, signifies an obedient people: a hawk flying, the wind: a crocodile, rapacity, and so on. The initial letters of the name of the object were used, in one species of hieroglyphic, to express the thing itself: thus, the letter A, signified an eagle, from the Egyptian name of that bird, Ahom. SH, means a garden, from Shné, and so on.

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The above piece of sculpture, taken from the walls of the Memnonium, will convey to our readers an idea of Egyptian art, and the mode of employing hieroglyphical writing in inscriptions. It represents Amenophis or Memnon, eighth king of the 18th dynasty, 1700 B.C., engaged in a contest with some nation, whom he is represented as vanquishing. In sculptures of this kind, the principal hero is always portrayed as colossal; his name and titles (Sovereign of an Obedient People, Sun; Lord of Truth and Justice, Son of the Sun,) are shown on two tablets on the left, level with his head; and adjoining, is a hieroglyphical account of the event, in five vertical columns.

The reader will easily comprehend, from this brief explanation, how difficult it must be to interpret this ancient writing, and how uncertain and vague the explanations must occasionally we: the tate Dr. Young, and MM. Champollion have, however, by persever

ing industry, succeeded in deciphering much, and have accurate! fixed the dates and succession of several of the earliest monarchs of this country. A considerable step was gained by the discovery, made by the French in 1798, near Rosetta, of a stone, on which is an inscription in hieroglyphic, and in the Egyptian and Greek languages, which is now in the British Museum. By means of the latter well-known tongue, the explanation of the two former was afforded; it contains a decree of the whole body of priesthood, for conferring divine honours on Ptolemy Epiphanes, and is dated to correspond with March 26, in the year 196 before Christ. Similar discoveries of inscriptions in hieroglyphic, hieratic, or demotic characters, accompanied with a translation in Greek, have since been made in other places, and have thus enabled the beforementioned learned persons to form a system on this subject, which is daily receiving fresh confirmation;

but they are all much mutilated*. The cell of the temple consists of an apartment thirteen paces square, and is only lighted by the principal gate from the portico, and a smaller one on one side of it: two rows of square pillars divide the cell into three aisles; they are merely blocks of the rock left standing, and are quite plain, with neither base nor capital. The walls of the cell, and these pillars, are covered with sculptured figures, but of a very rude workmanship; from some remains yet visible, they appear to have been painted in colours. In the back wall there is a door, which leads into the small adytum (sanctuary); in this are the mutilated remains of four figures, cut out of the rock. There is a small chamber on each side of the adytum, in one of which there is a deep excavation, which makes it probable that it was used as a sepulchre."

THERE is also an excavated temple near Wady (valley) Kostamne and Gyrshe, in Nubia, about one-third of the distance from Essouan to Ibsambal. It stands on the top of a hill, the broad declivity of which is covered with rubbish and fragments of colossal statues. It was dedicated, according to Champollion, by Rhamses the Great, to Phthah (Vulcan), and has suffered much from barbarians, probably the Persians, all except the excavated part being destroyed. The large chamber has six colossal statues, executed in a rude, but grand, style; Burckhardt states, that they recalled to his mind the temples of India, to which these of Nubia bear a great resemblance. On the side-walls of the pronaos, behind these figures and pillars, are four recesses, each containing three life-size symbolical figures, such as are usually seen in Egyptian temples; all these, as well as the colossi, are covered with a thick coat of stucco, and were once painted. A door from this pronaos leads, as usual, to the cella, in the centre of which are two massy pillars, and a small apartment on each side; on the floor of each are high stone benches. The floors have been broken up to search for treasure. Behind the cella is the sanctuary, with a small chamber on each side. In the adytum are four statues, seated, and a large cubical stone in the middle; its sides are quite smooth. The sculptures which covered the walls of this temple are very much decayed, owing to the nature of the sand-stone in which it is cut; and, added to this, the walls are blackened with the smoke of the torches and fires kindled by the neighbouring shepherds, who often pass the night here with their cattle.

A small temple, near Kalabshe, lower down the river, has a series of historical sculptures on its walls, which are excessively interesting in this point of view: according to Champollion, who passed four days in examining them, they represent the expeditions of Sesostris in his youth against the Arabs, Africans, Ethiopians, &c. In one compartment he is presenting his Asiatic prisoners to his father Rhamses; in another part of the temple, the suppliant Ethiopian king is presented by Sesostris to his father; the tables are covered with chains of gold, panther-skins, bags of gold-dust, logs of ebony, elephants' tusks, and ostrich-feathers, with captives, lions, camelopards, panthers, ostriches, and monkeys in procession. The other sculptures relate to the gods to whom the temple was dedicated, Ammon, Ra, and Cnuphis. Burckhardt, who agrees with Champollion in the general purport of these sculptures, says that they are the best he saw anywhere in the valley of the Nile.

On the western shore, somewhat to the north of Assouan, are several temples and sepulchres, hewn out of the rock, all of them consisting of a square chamber, with square pillars within, covered with hieroglyphics, large sepulchral excavations remaining in several of them.

The mechanical skill of the ancient Egyptians is sufficiently proved by their wonderful edifices and sculptures; one curious application of it must be noticed, as properly coming within the scope of this paper;-we allude to the monolithic temples, so called from being cut out of "one piece of stone," and often elaborately sculptured externally and internally. Two small chests of this kind are seen in the central niche, or sanctuary, of one of the temples in the island of Philæ; they were intended for cages for the sacred hawk, as it is conjectured. In the temple at Debot, in Nubia, there are two fine monolithe temples, of granite,

Champollion has ascertained that this temple belongs to the age of Sesostris, who reigned 1473 B. C.; and the inscriptions in it contain an enumeration of the children of that hero. It was dedi cated to Amon-Rha and Phré, invoked by the name of Rhamses, the peculiar patron of the family.

in the sanctuary; the larger is eight feet high by three in width; the winged globe is sculptured over each; they appear to have been intended for the reception of sacred animals, perhaps beetles: the places for the hinges of the door are yet visible. But the most celebrated was that quarried at Elephantine, and removed thence by the labour of two thousand men, employed for three years, according to Herodotus, to Sais, in the Delta, on the eastern side of the Rosetta arm; of this, we believe, there is now

no trace.

The monolithe granite temple, termed the Green Tabernacle at Memphis, was thirteen and a half feet high, twelve feet long, and ten and a half broad; the chamber within was ten and a half, nine, and seven and a half feet in dimensions; both within and without this temple are numerous sculptures and inscriptions.

THE TEMPLES AT IBSAMBAL.

[See the Engraving at the head of this paper.] Ar Ibsambal, on the right-hand side of the river, are the two most celebrated excavated temples in this country: here the mountainous sides of the valley approach very close to the stream, so that these temples are just over the bank; at present there is no road to them, but probably some change in the bed of the river has taken place here. The smaller excavation stands about twenty feet above the surface of the water; it is entirely cut out of the almost perpendicular rock, and is in complete preservation. In front of the entrance, are six erect colossal figures, three on each side, placed in narrow recesses, they are all of the same size, and stand with one foot before the other; they measure from the ground to the knee six and a half feet, so that their magnitude may be estimated at about thirtyfive feet. The first represents a young man with a narrow beard, and a tiara on his head, accompanied by two small upright figures about four feet high, one on each side of his legs; the second is a female with a child in her arms and a small figure also on each side: though rudely executed, the countenance is truly grand; the third is a youth with his arms hanging down, and two small figures as before. On the other side of the door, the same figures are repeated in order: only that Isis has a globe encompassed by two serpents on her head. The spaces between the niches in which the figures stand, are covered with hieroglyphics. A small central door leads into the pronaos (or portico), the ceiling of which is supported by six square columns, of three feet, the capitals representing heads of Isis. The portico is thirteen paces in length, and seven broad. The narrow cell, which is only three paces wide, is entered by three doors, it has a dark chamber on each side. The adytum is seven feet square, with the remains of a statue cut out of the rock, visible in the back wall, and in the floor is a deep excavation. The walls of the three apartments are covered with hieroglyphics and the usual sacred figures; they seem all to have been painted yellow, excepting the hair, which in several is black, that of the female, in black and white stripes.

The principal excavation, for the examination and almost the discovery of which, the world is indebted to the indefatigable Belzoni, was, till his time, almost choked up and covered with sand. On the 1st of August, 1817, he, and three other gentlemen, effected an entrance into the large pronaos, fifty-seven feet long and fifty-two wide, supported by two rows of square pillars, each having a figure of Sesostris attached to it, about thirty feet high, finely executed and in good preservation. The pillars are five and a half feet square; both these and the walls are covered with hieroglyphics, of the same kind as those of the smaller temple. From this there is a succession of chambers of various sizes, most of them containing sculptures and inscriptions; but not requiring any particular description. The exterior of this temple is magnificent; it is one hundred and seventeen feet wide and eighty-six feet high; the door is twenty feet high. There are four enormous sitting colossi, the largest in Egypt or Nubia, except the great Sphinx at the Pyramids, being about two-thirds the size of this latter: from the shoulder to the elbow they measure fifteen feet six inches; the face is seven feet long, and across the shoulders twenty-five feet; their height, exclu

This temple, if it be a temple, was dedicated to Hathor (or Venus), by Nofré Ari, consort of Rhamses the Great (Sesostris). The colossi are supposed to represent that prince and his queen, with their children at their feet.

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sive of their caps of fourteen feet, is fifty one feet. Two are only visible, one being still buried in the sand, and the other, near the door, is half fallen down, and is also buried. On the top of the door is a colossal figure with the hawk's head, twenty feet high, with an hieroglyphic figure on each side. On the top of the temple is a cornice with hieroglyphics, with a row of twenty-one sitting monkeys, eight feet high, and six feet across the shoulders. The heat in the interior of the temple is so great*, that the party found it impossible to draw, the perspiration from their faces falling on the paper and spoiling it. They found the figures of two lions with hawks heads, the bodies as large as life, a small sitting figure, and some copperwork belonging to the doors, in the temple.

Subsequent examination has led to the conclusion that the four colossi are portraits of Rhamses (Sesostris), and According to Champollion, the thermometer within stood at 115° of Fahrenheit.

the bas-relief sculptures on the walls, &c. of the first hall, represent his conquests in Africa; in one he is seen in a triumphal car, followed by bands of prisoners, of Nubians, Negroes, &c. of the natural size, in a composition of great beauty and effect; those in the other sixteen chambers re present religious subjects, highly curious and interesting. The four figures in the sanctuary represent Rhamses, Amon Rá, Phré (the Sun), and Phthah (the Lord of Justice). A long inscription on a column consists of a decree of Phthah (Vulcan), in favour of Sesostris, and that monarch's' reply..

A few paces to the south of the great temple is a recess cut out of the rock, with steps leading up to it from the river; its walls are covered with hieroglyphics and inscriptions relating to Rhamses. There is another small excavated temple on the opposite side of the river, which has served as a chapel to the Christian Greeks; and figures of the Apostles, still nearly perfect, are painted on its walls and roof.

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SCULPTURES IN THE TEMPLE AT IBSAMBAL.

There does not appear to be any excavated Temple in Egypt, or none at least which can be distinctly recognised as such: this difference between the two countries, either arose from differences in the religions of the first inhabitants of each, or probably the excavations in Nubia being larger, have received the name of temples though they were only tombs, analogous to those at El-kâb mentioned in another place, with which they appear from the descriptions, to have agreed in their interior arrangements.

CATACOMBS OF THEBES, &c. EVERY traveller who visits Egypt, gives some description of these places; it is difficult, among so many and such various accounts, to select that which will be most acceptable; but, on consideration, we prefer that of the late Belzoni as most interesting.

at the foot of the Lybian mountains on the west of
"Gournou is a tract of rocks about two miles in length,
Thebes, and was the burial-place of the great 'city of the
hundred gates. Every part of these rocks is cut out by
art, in the form of large and small chambers, each of which
has its separate entrance; and, though they are very close
to each other, it is seldom that there is any communication
from one to another. I can truly say, it is impossible to
give any description sufficient to convey the smallest idea
of these subterranean abodes and their inhabitants: there
no exact description can be given of their interior, owing
are no sepulchres in any part of the world like them; and
to the difficulty of visiting these recesses.
these tombs many persons cannot withstand the suffocating
Of some of
air, which often causes fainting. A vast quantity of dust
rises, so fine, that it enters into the throat and nostrils, and

chokes to such a degree, that it requires great power of lungs to resist it, and the strong effluvia of the mummies. This is not all; the entry, or passage where the bodies are, is roughly cut in the rocks, and the falling of the sand from the upper part or ceiling causes it to be nearly filled up, so that in some places, there is not a vacancy of much more than a foot left, which must be passed in a creeping posture on the hands and knees. After getting through these passages, some of them two or three hundred yards long, you generally find a more commodious place, perhaps high enough to sit: but what a place of rest! Surrounded by bodies, by heaps of mummies in all directions, which, till I got accustomed to the sight, impressed me with horror. The blackness of the wall, the faint light given by the candles or torches for want of air, the different objects that surrounded me, seeming to converse with each other, and my Arab guides, who, covered with dust, and naked, resembled living mummies themselves, formed a scene which cannot be described. In such a situation I found myself several times, and often returned exhausted and fainting, till at last I became inured to it and indifferent to what I suffered, except from the dust, which never failed to choke my throat and nose, and I could taste that the mummies were rather unpleasant to swallow*. After the exertion of entering into such a place through a passage of sometimes six hundred yards in length, nearly overcome, I sought a resting-place, found one, and contrived to sit; but when my weight bore on the body of an Egyptian, it crushed it like a band-box. I naturally had recourse to my hands to sustain my weight, but they found no better support; so that I sank altogether among the broken mummies with a crash of bones, rags, and wooden cases, which raised such a dust as kept me motionless for a quarter of an hour, waiting till it subsided again. Once I was conducted from such a place to another resembling it, through a passage about twenty feet in length, and no larger than that a body could be forced through; it was choked with mummies, and I could not pass without putting my face in contact with that of some decayed Egyptian; but, as the passage inclined downwards, my own weight helped me on, and I could not avoid being covered with bones, legs, arms, and heads rolling from above. The purpose of my researches was to rob the Egyptians of their papyrit, of which I found a few hidden in their breasts, under their arms, in the space above their knees, or on the legs, and covered by the numerous folds of cloth that envelop the body."

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'Nothing can more plainly distinguish the various classes of people, than the manner of their preservation; but there are many other remarks that may be made to the same effect. In the many pits that I have opened I never saw a single mummy standing, and found them lying regularly in horizontal rows, and some were sunk into a cement which must have been nearly fluid when the cases were placed on it. The lower classes were not buried in cases: they were dried up as it appears after the usual preparation; mummies of this sort were in the proportion of about ten to one of the better class, as nearly as I could calculate from the quantity of both I have seen; the linen in which they are folded is of a coarser sort and less in quantity, they have no ornaments about them of any consequence, and are piled up in layers, so as to fill, in a rude manner, the caves excavated for the purpose; in general these tombs are to be found in the lower grounds at the foot of the mountains; they are entered by a small aperture arched over, or by a shaft four or five feet square, at the bottom of which are entrances into various chambers, all choked up with mummies, many of which have been rummaged and left in the most confused state. Among these tombs we saw some which contained the mummies of animals intermixed with human bodies, these were bulls, cows, sheep, monkeys, foxes, bats, crocodiles, fishes and birds; idols often occur, and one tomb was filled with nothing but cats, carefully folded in red and white linen, the head covered by a mask made of the same, and representing the cat. I have opened all these sorts of animals. Of

Before any rational knowledge of medicine existed, mummies were used as drugs, and were exported from Egypt for that purpose; Jut, as was to be expected, when the price was raised, from a deficient supply; quantities were prepared by drying recent bodies with preparations to give them the same appearance and odour; this adulteration" excited great wrath among the physicians of those days, but we do not doubt that as the spurious article was quite as nasty, it was just as efficacious as the true old Egyptian.

The plant called Papyrus, was manufactured into a substitute for paper, on which the ancients wrote before parchment was employed.

the bull, the calf, and the sneep, there is no part but the head, which is covered with linen with the horns projecting out of the cloth; the rest of the body being represented by two pieces of wood eighteen inches wide and three feet long, with another at the end, two feet high, to form the breast. It is somewhat singular, that such animals are not to be met with in the tombs of the higher sort of people, while few or no papyri are to be found among the lower order, and if any occur, they are only small pieces stuck on the breast with a little gum or asphaltum, being probably all that the poor individual could afford to himself. In those of the better classes other objects are found. I think they ought to be divided into several classes, and not confined to three, as is done by Herodotus in his account of the mode of embalming. In the same pit where I found mummies in cases, I have found others without, and in these, papyri are most likely to be met with. I remarked that those in cases have none. It appears to me that those that could afford it had a case to be buried in on which the history of their lives was painted, and those who could not afford a case, were contented to have their lives written on papyri and placed above their knees. The cases are made of sycamore, some very plain, some richly painted with well-executed figures; all have a human face on the lid: some of the larger contain others within them, either of wood or plaster, and painted; some of the mummies have garlands of flowers and leaves of the acacia, or Sunttree, over their heads and breasts. In the inside of these mummies are often found lumps of asphaltum, sometimes weighing as much as two pounds. Another kind of mummy I believe I may conclude to have belonged exclusively to the priests; they are folded in a manner totally differing from the others, and with much more care; the bandages consist of stripes of red and white linen intermixed, and covering the whole body, but so carefully applied, that the form of the trunk and limbs are preserved separate, even to the fingers and toes; they have sandals of painted leather on the feet, and bracelets on their arms and wrists; the cases in which these mummies are preserved, are somewhat better executed than the rest."

"The tombs containing the better classes are of course superior to the others; some are also more extensive than others, having various apartments adorned with figures. It would be impossible to describe the numerous little articles found in them, which are well adapted to show the domestic habits of the ancient Egyptians. It is here the smaller idols are occasionally found, either lying on the ground, or on the cases. Vases made of baked clay, painted over, from eight to eighteen inches in size, are sometimes seen, containing embalmed entrails; the covers represent the head of some divinity, bearing either the human form, or that of a monkey, fox, cat, or other animal. I met with a few of these made of alabaster, in the tombs of the kings, but they were unfortunately broken a great quantity of pottery and wooden vessels are found in some of the tombs, the ornaments, the small works in clay in particular, are very curious; I have been fortunate enough to find many specimens of their manufactures, among which is leaf-gold, nearly as thin as ours; but what is singular, the only weapon I met with was an arrow, two feet long. The scarabaeus, or sacred beetle, is found, though not abundantly, in the tombs; these are made of basalt, verde-antico, and other stones, or baked clay, those with hieroglyphics are much more scarce than the com

mon sort.

"There are various and extensive tombs at Gournou, excavated, not in the rocks themselves, but in the plains at their foot, twelve or fourteen feet below the surface, and extending a considerable distance underground: the way to these is generally by a staircase, which leads into a large square hall cut in the rock, in some instances, ninety to a hundred feet long; and, opposite the stairs, is generally the entrance to the tomb."

"One day while causing, as was my custom, the walls of a large tomb to be struck with a sledge-hammer, in order to discover some hidden chambers, an aperture a foot and a half wide into another tomb was suddenly made: having enlarged it sufficiently to pass, we entered, and found several mummies and a great quantity of broken cases; in an inner apartment was a square opening, into which we descended, and at the bottom we found a small chamber at each side of the shaft, in one was a granite sarcophagus with its cover, quite perfect, but so situated, that it would be an arduous undertaking to draw it out."

Among the many discoveries of the enterprising Bel

zoni, was that of the Tombs of the Kings, at Thebes. As immediately connected with our subject, we shall give an abridged account of this transaction, from the same work, first mentioning, that many things led Belzoni to a belief of the existence of such a place, and his intimacy with the situation and structure of these singular excavations, gave him a well-founded confidence, that he should succeed in detecting what had escaped the observation of all who had searched this country, from the time of Strabo to the present century.

“ After a long survey of the western valley, I could observe only one spot that presented the appearance of a tomb, accordingly I set the men to work, and when they had got a little below the surface, they came to some large stones, which had evidently been put there by those who closed the tomb; having removed these, I perceived the rock had been cut on both sides, and found a passage leading downwards, and in a few hours came to a well-built | wall of stones of various sizes, through which we contrived to make a breach; at last on entering, we found ourselves on a staircase, eight feet wide and ten high, at the bottom of which were four mummies in their cases, lying flat on the ground, and further on four more; the cases were all ated, and one had a large covering thrown over it like a all.-These I examined carefully, but no further discoeries were made at this place, which appears to have been intended for some of the royal blood."

After two or three other fruitless, though very interesting discoveries, Belzoni proceeds.

into a corridor, thirty six feet by seven wide, and we per ceived that the paintings became more perfect as we ad vanced further; the figures are painted on a white ground, and highly varnished; at the end of this ten steps led us into another, seventeen feet by eleven, through which we entered a chamber, twenty feet by fourteen, adorned in the most splendid manner by basso-relievos, painted like the rest: standing in this chamber, the spectator sees himself surrounded by representations of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Proceeding further, we entered another large hall, twenty-eight feet square, with two rows of pillars, three on each side, in a line with the walls of the corridors; at each side is a small chamber, each about ten or eleven feet square. At the end of this hall we found a large saloon, with an arched roof or ceiling, thirty-two feet by twenty-seven; on the right was a small chamber, roughly cut, and obviously left unfinished; and on the left there is another, twenty-six by twenty-three feet, with two pillars in it; it had a projection of three feet all round it, possibly intended to contain the articles necessary for the funeral ceremonies; the whole was beautifully painted like the rest. At the same end of the room we entered by a large door into another chamber, forty-three feet by seventeen, with four pillars in it, one of which had fallen down; it was covered with white plaster where the rock did not cut smoothly, but there were no paintings in it. We found the carcass of a bull embalmed with asphaltum, and also, scattered in various places, an immense quantity of smail wooden figures of mummies, six or eight inches long, and covered with asphaltum to preserve them; there were some others of fine baked earth, coloured blue, and highly varnished. On each side of the two little rooms were some wooden statues, standing erect, four feet high, with a circular hollow inside, as if to contain a roll of papyrus, which I have no doubt they once did. In the centre of the saloon was a sarcophagus of the finest oriental alabaster, nine feet five inches long, and three feet seven wide; it is only two inches thick, and consequently transparent when a light is held within it; it is minutely sculptured, both inside and out, with several hundred figures, not exceeding two inches in length, representing, as I suppose, the whole of the funeral procession and ceremonies relating to the deceased. The cover had been taken out, and we found it broken in several pieces in digging before the first entrance this sarcophagus was over a staircase in the centre of the saloon, which communicated with a subterraneous passage leading downwards, three hundred feet in length. At the end of this we found a great quantity of bats' dung, which choked it up, so that we could go no further with out digging; it was also nearly filled up by the falling in of the upper part. One hundred feet from the entrance is a staircase, in good preservation, but the rock below changes its substance; this passage proceeds in a south-west direction through the mountain. I measured the distance from the entrance, and also the rocks above, and found that the passage reaches nearly half-way through the mountain to the upper part of the valley. I have reason to suppose that this passage was used as another entrance, but this could not be after the person was buried there; for, at the bottom of the stairs, under the sarcophagus, a wall had been built, which entirely closed this communication; hence it should appear, that this tomb had been opened again with violence, after all the precautions mentioned had been taken to conceal the existence of the greater part of it, and as these had been carefully and skilfully done, it is probable that the intruder must have had a guide who was ac quainted with the place."

"Not fifteen yards from the last tomb I described, I caused the earth to be opened at the foot of a steep hill, and under a torrent which, when it rains, pours a great quantity of water over the spot: on the evening of the second day, we perceived the part of the rock which was cut and formed the entrance, which was at length entirely cleared, and was found to be eighteen feet below the surface of the ground. In about an hour there was room for me to enter through a passage that the earth had left under the ceiling of the first corridor, which is thirty-six feet long and eight or nine wide, and when cleared, six feet nine inches high. I perceived immediately by the painting on the ceiling, and by the hieroglyphics in basrelief, that this was the entrance into a large and magnificent tomb. At the end of the corridor, I came to a staircase twenty-three feet long, and of the same breadth as the corridor, with a door at the bottom, twelve feet high; this led to another corridor thirty-seven feet long, and of the same width and height as the former one, each side and the ceiling sculptured with hieroglyphics and painted, but I was stopped from further progress by a large pit at the other end, thirty feet deep and twelve wide, the upper part of this was adorned with figures, from the wall of the passage up to the ceiling; the passages from the entrance, all the way to this pit, were inclined at an angle of about eighteen degrees; on the opposite side of the pit, facing the passage, a small opening was perceived, two feet wide, and two feet six inches high, and a quantity of rubbish at the bottom of the wall; a rope, fastened to a piece of wood that was laid across the passage, against the projections which form a kind of door, appears to have been used for descending into the pit, and from the small aperture on the ther side hung another, for the purpose, doubtless, of ascending again; but these and the wood crumbled to dust on touching them, from the damp arising from the water which drained into the pit down the passages. On the following day we contrived a bridge of two beams to cross the pit by, and found the little aperture to be an opening forced through a wall, which had entirely closed the en- All the figures and hieroglyphics sculptured in the va trance, and which had been plastered over and painted, so rious chambers of this place are in basso-relievo, and as to give the appearance of the tomb having ended at the coloured; the surface of the rock was first made as smooth pit, and of there having been nothing beyond it; the rope as possible, and fissures and crevices filled up with cement, in the inside of the wall, having been preserved from the the figures being then drawn in outline, the surrounding damp, did not fall to pieces, and the wood to which it was surface was cut away, leaving the subject in relief in a attached was in good preservation. When we had passed greater or less degree, according to its size, the largest through the little aperture, we found ourselves in a beau- projecting about half an inch, and the smallest not above tiful hall, twenty-seven feet six inches by twenty-five feet one-tenth of an ineh. The folds of the drapery, and the ten inches, in which were four pillars, three feet square; at limbs within the contour, are marked by a line cut about the end of this room, which I shall call the entrance-hall, one-tenth of an inch deep; the whole wall was then washed and opposite the aperture, is a large door, from which three over with white, and this was so brilliant and clear, that steps lead down into a chamber with two pillars, four feet the whitest paper appears, even now, of a yellow hue when square, the chamber being twenty-eight by twenty-five laid on it; the figures were then painted, the flesh being feet; the walls were covered with figures, which, though coloured red or yellowish, according as they represented in outline only, were as fine and perfect as if drawn only men or women; the drapery and ornaments are either the day before: on the left of the aperture a large stair-white, blue, or green, as four colours only appear to have case of eighteen steps, descended from the entrance-hall been used in those days, red, blue, yellow, and green; but

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