Thomas County cat., 1889-11-28

II which dcscends vertically from the
" rock-hewn cave, that once served as q
Inortuary chapel to the friends and rela-
tves OF the departed, TO the coffin chamber
beneath. This shaft is no less than eighty
nine feet in depth. The chamber at its foot
was found to contain three cofins only,
though it is large enough fer many more
Two Of these, which in all probability in
closed the bodies of the high priest, Am
enemhat, and of his wife, father and
mother Of Harmachls, the hero of this his
tory, the shameless Arabs who discovered
them there and then broke up.
The Arabs broke the bodies up. With
unhallowed hands they tore the Holy Amen
emhat, and the frame of her who had, as it
is written, been filed with the spirit of the
Hathors-tore them limb from limb, search
Ing for treasure amid their rbones-perhaps,
as is their custom, selling the very bones
for few piastres to the last ignorant tour
tst who came their way, seeking what he
might destroy. For in Egypt the unhappy,
the living find their bread IN the tombs Of
the great men who were before them.
But, as it CHANGED some little while after
ward, one who is known to this writer, and
q doctor by profession, passed up the Nile
to Abydos, and becar.e acquainted with the
men who had done this thing. They re-
vealed to him the secret of the place, telling
him that one coffin yet remained entombed.
1t seemed to be the coffin of a poor person,
they said, and therefore, being pressed for
time, they had left it unviolateI. Moved by
curiosity to explore the recesses of tomb
as yet unprofaned by tourists, my friend
brlbed the Arabs to reveal its secretto him.
What ensued l will give in his own words,
exactly as he wrote it to me:
slept tnat night near the Temple of Seti,
and started before daybreak on the follow
Ing morning. With me were a cross-eyed
rascal called ALI Baba named him
the man from whom got the ring which I
am sending you, and small but choice as
sortment Of his fellow-thieves. Within an
hour after sunrise we reached the valley
where the tomb is. 1t is desolate place,
into which the sun pours his scorching heat
all the long day through, till the huge
brown powders which are strewn about be-
come so hot that one can scarcely bear to
touch them, and the sand scorchcs the feet.
We rode on donkeys, for it was already too
hot TO walk some way up the valley-where
avulture floating far in the blue over cad
was the only other visitor-till we came to
an enormous bowlder polished by centuries
OF the action of sun and sand Here Ali
halted, saying the tomb was under the
stone. Accordingly we dismounted, and,
leaving the donkcys in charge of fellah
boy, went up to the rock. Beneath it vas
small hole, barely large enough for man
to creep through; it had been dug by jack
ais, for the doorway and some part of the
cave were entirely silted up, and it was by
means of this jaclal hole that the tomb had
been discovered. Ali crcpt in on his hands
and kne,s, and l followed to fluid myself
in place cold after the hot outside air,
and, in contrast with the light, filled with a
dazzling darkness. We lit our candles, and,
the select body Of thieves having arrived,
made an examination. We were in cave
the size Of large room and followed by
hand, the further part of the cave beng al
most free from drift dust. On the walls
are religious paintings OF the usual Ptole-
maic character, and among them one Of a
majestic old man with n long white beard,
who is seated in a carved chair holding q
wand IN his hand. Before him is passing a
procession of priests bearing sacred i'm