these are arranged with considerable skill, so as to give a very splendid effect to the paintings when seen by torchHight, which they always necessarily are*. After the work was finished, a coat of varnish appears to have been laid on, but this has been noticed in this tomb only, probably from the circumstance of its having, for many centuries, beer excluded from the air." It would be impossible to give a description of the subjects of these basso-relievos; they appear to have been allegories of the principal events in the life of the occupant of this splendid sepulchret, and the hieroglyphic writing mingled with them, is an interpretation of their meaning. The name of this king was the Pharaoh Menephthah, whose pompous titles are painted and sculptured in various places. EXCAVATED TOMB OF THE KINGS AT ABOUT Sixty yards east of some excavations called the "Baths of Cleopatra," there is a little bay, about sixty yards deep, the entrance being so nearly blocked up by two rocks, that a boat only can obtain access. At the bottom of this bay, in the steep slope of the shore, there is a small hole, through which it is difficult to pass: a passage of about thirty feet leads to the first hall, in this the visiter can stand upright; on the right and left are small square chambers, much filled up with sand, the ceiling and cornice supported by pilasters; the former is vaulted, and covered with a crystallized cement, on which are traced, in red, lines obviously forming geometrical constructions on the subject of astronomy; a sun is represented in the middle of the vault. The upright sides contain vaulted niches; the hall is about twenty yards square. From this a door, in the opposite side, leads to a larger hall, but the sand fills it up from the floor to the ceiling at the further end, so that its dimensions cannot be ascertained. Two small chambers, as before, are excavated on two sides of this also; in the right-hand one there is an opening in the wall, leading to a vast corridor, thirty-six feet long and twelve broad, half choked up, three wells in the roof having probably served to admit the rubbish. This leads to another fine apartment, with a portico on each of its four sides, three of which have pilasters and cornice, richly carved; the other parts of the wall are left quite plain, but there are lines traced on the vaulted ceiling, indicating that it was intended to have been cut into panels, with roses in the centres. From this chamber you enter a beautiful rotunda, on the left, which appears to be the principal object of the excavation; it is seven yards in diameter, and about five high; it is regularly ornamented with pilasters supporting a cornice, from which springs the cupola of the ceiling; nine tombs, decorated like those first described, are seen around it. The bottom is level with the sea; the water filters through, and is found a short distance below the floor; this place is quite free from sand, so that the whole of it can be seen, and the effect, when illuminated by many torches, the light of which is reflected from the cement, is very grand. The chamber preceding the rotunda also affords access to another corridor, leading to various apartments, presenting similar appearances to those already described; in one of them there is the springing of a brick-arch running round it, intended, apparently, to support a gallery; beneath is a hole, about half a yard square, which is the entrance to a winding passage, but it is impossible to penetrate it far on account of the sand and water; it is conjectured to have served for some religious mystery, or for some imposition of the priests on the common people. Through the centre portico of another chamber, similar to that before described, but left unfinished, like many other parts of this magnificent tomb, an apartment is entered, each side of which has three ranges of holes for the reception of embalmed bodies, and pits of various dimensions are dug in the floors of several of the Many of our readers may remember, that an exhibition was prepared by Belzoni in London, in which casts of a great part of these sculptures were arranged round the walls of apartments, and coloured to imitate the originals. Day-light was excluded, and, as seen by the light of lamps, a very lively idea of the appearance of the tomb was conveyed. The alabaster sarcophagus, which Belzoni also brought to England, was purchased by Sir John Soane, of whose Museum it is now one of the greatest ornaments. In one of the apartments, leading to the great saloon, Dr. Richardson discovered a representation of a human sacrifice made to a serpent; three persons are on their knees with their heads struck off, with the reptile deity opposite to them: the executioner has the knife in his hand, and is apparently about to immolate three other victims, bound, lying on the ground behind him. rooms. There is a great symmetry in the arrangement of all the apartments, so that the plan of the excavation is regular. It was probably intended for a royal cemetery, the bodies of the sovereigns being deposited in the rotunda, and th other chambers serving as places of burial for their relatives, according to their rank, and two large side chapels, with collateral rooms, being appropriated to the religious rites of the Goddess Hecate, as is rendered probable by the crescents which ornament various parts of the place. Whatever was its destination, like all the other cemeteries of Egypt, it has been ransacked at some remote period, and the bodies of its tenants removed. CATACOMBS OF ALEXANDRIA. THE catacombs of Alexandria are very extensive, they are situated along the shore, about half a league west of the present city, and consist of long galleries, with apartments on each side cut out of the rock, and so numerous and complicated, that the guides take the precaution of tying one end of a ball of thread at the entrance, by means of which they are enabled to find their way out again, which otherwise would be scarcely possible. The present entrance is by a small hole, through which a person can only pass on his hands and knees, and the precaution of shouting out loud, or firing a gun, must be taken, to alarm and disperse the jackalls or beasts of prey, who make this their place of retreat. After these necessary preliminaries, the place may be explored; but it has been so often ran sacked by plunderers or travellers, that there is little to reward the labour of the expedition, except the gratification of curiosity. Some of the chambers have vaulted ceilings and pilasters, with cornices cut out of the solid rock, and are consequently more pleasing to view than the monotonous long galleries, which compose the greatest part of these excavations. Many stone sarcophagi are found in them, but no bodies are now left, the walls are unadorned with the paintings, which render the catacombs of Thebes so beautiful and interesting; this difference possibly arises from those of Alexandria having been the work of the Greek colonists, who peopled that wonderful city, and whose customs differed from the native and aboriginal Egyptians. CATACOMBS AT CAIRO. THE catacombs near Cairo, are situated beneath a mound in the middle of a plain, adjoining the pyramids of Saccàra; they extend about half a mile through the rocky stratum which lies beneath the sandy surface. Dr. Clarke, who visited these as well as those last mentioned, descended into them by means of a rope-ladder; the first chamber he entered, contained scattered fragments of mummies, which had originally been placed on a shelf cut out of the rock, and extending breast-high the whole length of this apartment: there are two tiers or stories of these chambers, one above the other, all presenting the same appearance of violation and disorder, and smelling very offensively. At some distance from these, which were apparently appropriated to man, are those in which the sacred birds and animals were deposited; one apartment of which Dr. Clarke found filled with earthen jars entire, laid horizontally in tiers on one another, something like bottles in a wine-bin, they were about fourteen inches long, and conical in form, the cover being fixed on by some kind of cement; when opened, they were found to contain the bodies of birds, (the Ibis) with white feathers tipped with black, or the heads of monkeys, cats and other animals, all carefully bandaged up in linen. SEPULCHRES AT EL-KAB. NEARLY opposite to Edfu is El-kâb, anciently Elethyia, where are two sepulchral caverns, which rival those at Thebes in the variety of their paintings and sculptures representing domestic scenes. While the subjects in most other temples or tombs, are either wars, processions, or religious ceremonies, here, on the contrary, all the details of agriculture are represented; ploughing, sowing, reaping, gleaning, &c. fishery by nets, curing the fish with salt, hunting and cooking of the game, buying and selling in markets, loading and unloading vessels, the processes of embalming and burying the dead; and, in short, a complete picture of the private life and customs of the period. All these subjects are sculptured, or more properly speaking, left in low relief on the face of the rock, and are coloured; the various departments are bordered by hierogrypnics, most probably explanatory of them. Two of the principal grot toes in which these curious representations occur, are simple | in their form and not large; the first being about twentyfour feet long, and twelve wide, with a vaulted ceiling; it is divided into two parts, the first alone being sculptured; at the bottom is a niche with three large sitting figures, much mutilated, of a male and two females; above them is a small aperture giving light to an inner apartment which cannot be explored; a small door on the right hand, obviously made subsequent to the original excavation, leads to another chamber containing a pit, in which were deposited the bodies of the proprietors of this tomb. The second grotto is very similar to this, but not so elaborately carved and painted, hence the former is termed by the present inhabitants, that of the Sultan, and the other, that of the Vizier, but most probably they belonged to rich landed proprietors. The remaining excavations do not merit particular notice; they are nearly filled up with rubbish, and with fragments of mummies. A similar tomb was seen by Burckhardt, in an insulated hill about two miles from the river, near the village of Kette in Nubia, in very good preservation, and the paintings as bright in their colours, as those on the walls of the tombs at Thebes. Near to the village and to the North, a mass of rock is seen standing distinct from the mountain-chain: this has been quarried into its present form, which, from its regularity, and from the stratified nature of the stone, gives it the appearance of an architectural erection; it is hollowed out into a chamber, with two enormous piers and an isolated column left supporting the roof. From the direction of the entrances, and the care apparent in the work, it is probable that it was intended for some sacred use. The following narrative will give our readers some idea of the danger that attends the examination of these complicated passages; the author, Mr. Legh, with two other persons, set out to explore some mummy-pits near Manfalout, on the Nile, having, by a reward, persuaded four Arabs of the neighbourhood to be their guides. "After an hour's march in the desert, we arrived at the spot, which we found to be a pit or circular hole, ten feet in diameter, and eighteen feet deep; we descended without difficulty, and the Arabs began to strip, and proposed to us to do the same; we partly followed their example, but kept on our trousers and shirts. It was now decided that three of the Arabs should go with us, while the other remained outside the cavern."-"We formed therefore a party of six, our torches were lighted, one Arab led the way, and I followed him. We crept through an opening at the bottom of the pit for seven or eight yards, which was partly choked up with the drifted sand of the desert, and found ourselves in a large chamber fifteen feet high; here we observed fragments of the mummies of crocodiles, and numbers of bats were flying about or hanging to the roof. We now entered a low gallery, in which we continued for more than an nour, stooping or creeping as was necessary, and following its windings, till at last it opened into a large chamber, which we soon recognised as the one from which we had set out. Our guides confessed that they had missed their way, and persuaded us to make another attempt, which we acquiesced in doing, though fatigued by the irksomeness of the posture we had been so long compelled to assume, and the heat of our torches.-We found the opening of the chamber which we now approached, guarded by a trench of unknown depth, and wide enough to require a good leap, the first Arab jumped the ditch, and we all followed him; the passage we entered was extremely small, and so low in some places, as to oblige us to crawl flat on the ground, and almost always on our hands and knees: the intricacies of its windings resembled a labyrinth, and it terminated at length in a chamber much smaller than the first, but containing nothing remarkable.-We now entered another gallery, but had not gone far before the heat became excessive, I found my breathing extremely difficult, my head began to ache most violently, and I had a most distressing sensation of fulness about the heart. We felt that we had gone too far, and yet were almost deprived of the power of returning. At this moment the torch of the first Arab went out; I was close to him, and saw him fall on his side; he uttered a groan, his legs were strongly convulsed, and I heard a rattling noise in his throat,-he was dead. The Arab behind me seeing the torch of his companion extinguished, and conceiving he had stumbled, passed me, advanced to his assistance, and stooped. I observed him appear faint, totter, and fall;-in a moment he also was dead. The third Arab then came forward, and made an effort to approach the bodies, but stopped short. We looked at each other in silent horror; the danger increased every instant, our torches burnt faintly, our breathing became more difficult, our knees tottered under us, and we felt our strength nearly gone. There was no time to be lost; the American cried to us to "take courage, and we began to move back as fast as we could; we heard the remaining Arab shouting after us, calling us Caffres, imploring our assistance, and upbraiding us with deserting him; but we were obliged to leave him to his fate, expecting every moment, to share it with him. The windings of the passages through which we had come, increased the difficulty of our escape; we might take a wrong turn, and never reach the great chamber we had first entered; even supposing we took the shortest road, it was but too probable our strength would fail us before we arrived. We had each of us separately observed attentively the shape of the stones which projected into the galleries we had passed; we compared notes, and only had one dispute, the American differing from my friend and myself; in this dilemma we were determined by the majority, and, fortunately, were right. Exhausted with fatigue and terror, we reached the edge of the deep trench. Mustering all my strength I leaped, and was followed by the American: Smelt stood on the brink, ready to drop; he called to us for "God's sake to help him over the fosse, or at least to stop, if only for five minutes, to allow him time to recover his strength." It was impossible; to stay was death, and we could not resist the desire to push on and reach the open air; we encouraged him to summon all his force, and he cleared the trench. When we reached the open air, it was one o'clock, and the heat in the sun about 160°. Our sailors who were waiting for us had, luckily, some water, which they sprinked upon us; but though a little refreshed, it was not possible to climb the sides of the pit-they drew us to the top by means of their turbans unfolded." Our readers may be curious to know the result of this event. The three christians told the Arab whom they had left at the mouth of the pit, that his countrymen were bringing out some mummies for them; they then consulted their own safety by retreating to their boat: but they were stopped, and ran greater risk of losing their lives, from the vengeance of the people of the village, than, possibly, they would have done, if they had remained and tried to succour their unfortunate guides, the third of whom, however, succeeded in escaping: after considerable difficulty, they established their innocence of any murder, and paid two Spanish dollars to each of the widows of the victims of their curiosity. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. LONDON -Published by JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND, and sold by all Booksellers. St. Augustine's, Canterbury, 228 Acorn, lines on, 131 Addison, on innocent Pleasures, 139 Agra, description of, 73 Alberoni, Cardinal, desperate project America, Hamilton on the climate of, Anger, remark on, by Lord Clarendon, Augustin, St., remark by, 176 Avalanche, or Land-slip, account of Azincourt, History of the Battle of, Bacon, Lord, Biographical Notice and Selections from, 18, 90, 219, 230 Beavers, instinct of, 155 Beechey, Captain, his account of the Esquimaux, 254 Bible, authority of the, 171 Colliery, accident in, 118 Coral Islands, 219 -Insects, 219 noble Peasant, 199 Days, numbering of, 44 Dead, treatment of by the early Chris. Death, lines on, by Hughes, 7 answer to, by the late Anniversaries in, 200, 208, Devotion, remark on, by Caussin, 181 Drexelius, observation of, 158 Duke of Suffolk, Motto of, 197 Heidelberg, the Castle of, 139 Holy Sepulchre, Church of, described, Hooker, remark by, 139 Hope, lines on, by Bishop Heber, 158 of, 64. hall, 138 Jarrow Church, Durham, account of, 117 Jerusalem, history and description of, Johnson, Dr., selections from, 43, 77, Jortin, Dr., extract from, 111 Durer, Albert, Biographical Notice of, Juvenile Vagrants, 155 Dwight, selections from, 112, 174 Bison, or Bonassus of North America, Dyer, lines by, 151 Blair, selections from, 67, 118 Botallack Copper-mine, Cornwall, 178 British Antiquities, remark on, by Sha- Brute Animals, remark on, 103 Cadenham Oak, Hampshire, account Canadas, Emigration to the, 143 Cashew, or Firework Nut, 80 Castelnau, the Baron de, his answer to Castle, ancient, 27 Conway, 17 Heidelberg, 140 Kendal, 65 Cathedral, Antwerp, 170 Rochester, 58 St. Patrick, Dublin, 129 Cause and Effect, 46 Service on board a ship, 40 Jarrow, Durham, 117 Hales, remark by, 62 Hall's Astronomy, extract from, 171 Hall, Robert, on popular improve. selections from, 43, 55, Kendal Castle, Westmoreland, ac- King Charles the First, Prayer of, 71 King's College, London, account of, 284 Labour, on the division of, in manu- La Bruyere, remark by, 55 Lichfield Cathedral, description of, 10 low, 19 Lisbon, recollections of, 119 Logwood Tree, description of, 104 London, the Tower of, some account the highest ground in, 52 Mahogany Tree, account of, 56 Messingham, Village and Church of, Milton and Townson, 23 Mines of Great Britain; I. Botallack Mineral Kingdom, No. II.; Silver, 23 More, Mrs. Hannah, remark by, 203 history and description of, 162 public buildings of, 166 Manners and Customs of its Moses, Statue of, by M. A. Buonarotti, Mozart, anecdote concerning his Re My Native Home, 150 Nautilus, remark on the, 15 Natural Phenomena, Familiar Illus I. The Tides, 21 II. The Tides of Narrow Seas, 79 V. The Atmosphere, (1), 232 Night, by James Montgomery, 111 North Pole, Overland Expedition to North-west Passage, obstacles to the History of attempts to dis- November, the month of, 160 Anniversaries in, 160, 176 Second Voyage, 215 Polynesia described, 105, 145, 179 Porteus, Bishop, on popular literature, selections from, 8, 45 Prayer, the Christian Duty of, 118 Profaneness, remark on by Robert Prose Writers, English, 22, 59, 158, 231 Quarles, lines addressed to God by, 46 Quick Travelling, 31 Raleigh, Sir Walter, Biographical Rehoboam, King of Judah, 144 Revolution, first French, calculation of the victims of, 103 Rice Plant, the cultivation of, 67 Rural Life in England, 42 |