Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1857-08-19

SCiiinSs, All jet DidCh anu soilc STotesquc Sth-
lagmites at the sides of the passage startled
me at first with the fdea that they were sculp-
lures. This black, sooty matter l cannot ac-
count for, unless it be the exhalations in an
cient times from the crocodiles which were
| laid here, for we are at last in the depository
| The floor was covered with crocodile bones
and mummy clothes. a spark of fire falling
! into them would have made this veritable
hell. As this idea was suggested my English
| friends, whose experience in the narrow hole
had been sufficiently alarming, vanished out of
| sight. They fairly ran. Having seen the num-
mics, and seized few small ones in their
| hands, they hastened out and left me with Alb
dallah and my two guides. Advancing over
the mummies and up the hill which they form
| ed, | found that was in one of the number of
large chambers, of the-sspth of which it was,
of course, impossible TO get any idea, as they
were piled full of mummied croccdiles TO the
very ceiling. There was no means of estima-
| ting the number of them. When L say thsre
were thousands of them, shall not be thought
to exaggerate, after L describe the manner in
| which they are packed and laid in.
Climbing to the top of the hill and extin-
gushing dll Out one, WHICH ilsiuc <AD-
dallah hold very carefully, l began to throw
down the top of the pile TO arcertain of what
it was composed, and at length made an o.
| pening between the mummes and the ceiling,
through which could go on further, descend
| ing sort of hill of those dead animals, such
as had come up. In this way progressed
| some distance, in gallery or chamber that
was not less that thirty feet deep.
The crocodiles were lain in regular layers,
| head to tail and tail to head. First on the
floor was a layer of large crocodles, side by
side, each one mummied and wrapped up in
cloths. Then smaller ones were laid between
the tails, filling up the hollows between them.
| Then, and most curious of all, the remaining
interstces were packed full of young croco-
diles, measuring with remarkable uniformity,
about thirteen inches in length, each one
stretched out between two slips of palm leaf
stem which were bsund to its sides like splints,
and then wrapped from head to foot in slip
of cloth, wound round, commencing at the tail
| and fastened at the head. Then small ones were
doIe up in bundles, usually of eight, and pack
ed in closely wherever they could be slowed. l
brought out more than hundred of them, of
which my friends in Egypt seized on the most
as curiosites. but succeeded in getting some
twenty or thirty of them to America with me.
This layer completed, layer of palm bran
ches was carefully laid over it, spread thick
and smooth, and then second and precisely
similar layer of crocodiles was made, and an
other of palm branches, and thus continued to
| the ceiling. These palm branches, stems and
| mi lio her fba fa{o hoy
| were two thousand years ago. No leaf of the
palm was decayed. There could have been no
| moisture from the mummies whatever, or if
any, it had no effect upon the palm branches.
Among these crocodiles found the num-
mics of many men.
Sitting down on the side of the hill, by the
| dim candle light, overhauled gods and men
with sacrilegious hands. It was strange,
wild and awful scene. Among all the pictures
| my memory has treasured of wandering life, I
| have none SO fearful and thrilling as this. 1t
was hell-a still, silent, cold hell. All these
| bodies lag in rooms, in close packages, like so
many souls doomed to eternal silence and sor-
row in this prison. Five bodies of men that l
drew out of the mass lay before me, with their
hideous stiffness and inaction. 1 dared them
| to tell me in words the reproaches of which
| their silent frowns were so liberal; rcproaches
| for penetrating their abode and disturbing the
repose of twenty or forty centuries.
These were of the poorest and most COM
| mon sort, destitute of any box. Wound in
coarse cloth, they had been laid in the grave
| with the beasts that were sacred to their god.
One Hound afterwards in thin plain box,
but it contained no indication OF its period,
and bore no marks Of its owners name or po-
sition, much to my disappointment
s.Let as go Iurther,'' said to the guide at
length. There is no further"
L was satisfied that the entrance we had ef-
fected was not by the passage known to the
ancients, and That some other outlet lay be-
yond these chambers. pushed my way over
the piles of mumies to where an other low pas
sage went on, but it was too difficult Of explo-
ration to tempt ms into it. 1t may lead to an
outlet in the desert hitherto unknown, or that
outlet may be long ago covered over by the
shifting sands.
What was the object Of all this preservation
Of the Nile monsters, it is not within the scope
of this volume to discuss. Il IL It least = mys-
terry, for we know 30 little Of the Egyptian the
ory of a hereafter, that ne cannot upderstand |
what part the birds and beasts we're - take part
in the resurrection.
Icrawled out as I had crawIed in. Before |
1 came out from - chamber of horrors (Mad-
am Tussaud's Il notnipg Ike iD laid tho
wreck Of my brandy 11sk On projecting shelf |
Of rock, where tie next explorer viii find 1t. |