, 1890-04-22
SET WITH HUMAN BODIES.
TIERS OF mUmmiss IN THE FAMOUS
CAVE OF cRocoOiLES.

CAVE OF cRocoolLEs.
A Reality which Rivals HaEEard's Won
dsrfuI Caves of Kor-EIpiorIng the Hor-
ribIs Plnce-It Is Haunted by Bats-Hot
as a Furnace. with Foul Air.
It may safely be assumed that those who
have visited MAAbdeh are very few. 1t lies
some distance from the Nile, behind Mania
loot, where no one stopped in the good old
dRbeeh days, and the modern steamers only
touch; moreover, the pits are in the desert
itself, some hours ride. Ny own experience
was due to accident. Dropping down Tie
Nile, very late in the spring Of 1868, our
dabeeh was becalmed of Manfaloot, and the
dragomAn, badgered by two young Britous
to find them sport, unwillingly named the
pits OF Mhhbdeh. As it CHANGED, the legend
OF the pits had been familiar to me as long as
/ can r~ecolIect. SO, when the dragoman sug-
gestei a visit to the crocodile pits of Maab-
deb / agreed at once. Long before dawn we
set out, and in the afternoon we reached the
spot.
The entrance OF the pits is an oblong assure
in the middle Of n small plateau among the
mountains-that Is, no other entrance was
known In 1858. There nro no facilities for
descent; one mny let himself fall sheer a mat
ter Of nine or ten feet, and Chamber up again
with the help OF a donkey boys cummerbund.
do not recollect that the ugly possibilities OF
this situation struck us at all, but perhaps
some measures had been taken 10 make sure
that the boys did not desert. Ono OF them,
indeed, headed the advance; our drRgoman
had never been down before.
CRAwLING on THEIR sroAACHs
The Arab began by stripping himself com
pletely, and he advised us to do the same.
Then we lighted IA candle each, and in single
file dived into the bowels OF the rock. At a
few feet distance the passage narrowed rap
idly until there was only room to crawl along
on ones stomach. This first gallery may 10
some fifty yards long, it opens on a chamber
spacious enough, but a natural cavern owl
IDENTIFY. On tho further side runs another
gallery as cramped rs the last, heated like a
furnace, reeking with foul air. vile stencil OF
bats, and pungent fumes OF bitumeu. Then
we understood why the Arab had stripped.
This ~frightful passage may be 100 yards long,
or the double Of that or more-one is unused
to measure distances crawling like a snake on
ones stomach. At the end lies another cham
Der, Of good height, apparently, II the floor
were cleared; but the whole area is blocked
with enormous masses OF stone packed as
close ms they will stand, over which one has
TO Chamber STOPPING,
Here myriads OF bats RSSaii the explorer,
blowing out his candle instantly. clinging u
his hair and beard In ropes. A moment more
and they vanish with IA soft rustic OF count
less wings, such as l have heard in other
climes when the sand grouse fly overhead at
dawn and evening. On the opposite side o.
this vault the first trace Of handiwork is OBJ
servcd-a square doorway. ! mysnlf would
have been quite satisfied to drop back at this
point. But the dTtErnan was interested now
taking, perhaps, n professional pride in
putting the business through successfully.
He could speak with the guide also. So we
went on, still upon our stomnchs, FOR an in
definite time, in an atmosphere beyond an
nlysis and heat beyond example in the upper
air.
PRIESTS n REPTILES TOGETHER
After some hundreds Of yards, ms it seemed,
slowly the passage heightened-one could get
upon ones knees; and then the flooring
changed from smooth granite TO a soft, W.
even compost. | lowered my candle to OBJ
s"rye. We were crOuching along over kuead-
ei human formsl
a very strange spectacle, which seemed to
us an embodied nightmare under tho excite,
ment Of that awful journey. l think l was
almost delirious. No scene recurs to my
memory now more fresh and striking than
that black cave, with u slender glow OF can.
die light hore and there, and the half naked
figures glistening with perspiration stretched
out above a pavement of heads and limbs
Many Of the faces had been gilt, and they
shone Pickering, here and there, upon the
dusky mass, We could not get any explana
ton OF the extraordinary mangling. Tn,
Arab said things had been so ever since h,
could r~ecollcct. 1t must be supposed tina
these were mummies OF priests and attend
ants buried with the sacred reptiles in theil
chargc-great personages, some of them, evi
IDENTIFY. Their families had been laid with
them; for there were as many women per
hEps as men, and u great number of children
IN~NUhERABLE PILES oil BODIES.
Every one bad been stripped and torn &c
pieCes-all Of those on the surface, at least,
for a hurried examination failed to show how
deep the serried pile OF bodies lay. On the
other side Of this vault lie the hindermost
battaliuns Of the crocodile host-innumerable.
Standing on the human pavement there 4
just space enough above and in front to OBJ.
serve the manner OF their disposal, for the
topmost layer or two has been pulled down.
II it were not certain for other reasons that
the present entrance Is not that formerly used
the arrangement OF these crocodile mummies
would prove It. No one can form an idea
how far the cayerus extend. Removing the
top layers as they went, and crawling be
meath the roof, Arabs, we were told, had ex
plored a vault beyond this and found more
crOcodiles still on the further side. The
mountain. they said, was stuffed with them
and 1t is poSsible-St James Gazette.