The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-13
SET WITH HUMAN BODIES.
pu.Es OF MUMMIEs IN THE CAVE
OF CROCODILES.

u~-rs
p-,asts and Attendants Were Buried
with the Sacred Reptiles in Their
Charge.
From the ST. James Gazette.
The sudden demand for mummied cats
,.auinds me of a visit paid many years ago
20 the famous crocodile pits of Maabdeh.
II NAV safely be assumed that those who
&c visited Maabdeh are very few. 1t
H. come distance from the Nile. behind
Nanfaloot, where no one stopped in the
-rood old dabeeh days, and the modern
Cleaners only touch; moreover, the pits are
IN the desert itself, some hours ride.
MURRAY" prudent as usual. does not en-
,,,,r,5e the adventurous. The editor of the
,.Fyvo.ian Handbook" admits that his brief
-smsrks are not based on personal knowl-
..lrs and the errors therein show
nat they are not based upon a Trustworthy
report. 1t is no unwarrautable
resumption, therefore, to fancy that these
verv curious antiquities are rather discussed
,ban known. Ny own experience was due
10 accident. Dropping down the Nile, very
late in the spring of 1868, our dabeeh was
hecalmed off Manfaloor. and the dragoman,
badgered by two young Britons to find
them sport, unwillingiy named the pits of
Maabdeh. He proposed simply to ride
+ itber and return-that, indeed, is a days
iouruev, But, as it CHANGED, the Legend
Of the pits had been familiar to me
as long as l can recollect. In the be-
gioning of this century a certain Mr.
Leigh, member of parliament, explored
them with most disastrous results. His
narrative may be found in a quaint old
chid's book cilled "Winter Evenings ex-
fracted, doubtless, from some record which
never came across. Murray" gives no
reference 10 the story. My recollection
cannot be trusted to tell what happened 81
Mr. Leigh precisely; but | know that one
of his followers died in the cavern, another
was lost, third escaped after awful suffer
ings: and finally they hed to run the gaunt-
let of an Infatuated population to the river
side, whence the pasha, or somebody,
sent them prisoners 10 Cairo. On
the whole it was a very striking adven-
ture. a special favorite in our nursery. 50
" hen the dragoman suggested in this casual
way visit to the crocodile pits of Maab-
deb, it seemed very strange and thrilling to
my mind-as though he had proposed trip
10 fairyland by excursion train. OF course
his modest programme was derided we
member of parliament to the bitter end
Our dragoman became serious now. He
urged that it was much to late in the day
for starting, and we had to submit; doubt
less the good man hoped u wind would
spring up in tho night But he was disap-
pointed. Long before dawn on the morrow
We set out, aud IL the afternoon we reached
the spot.
The entrance of the pits is an oblong
fs.ure ID the middle of small plateau
among the mountains-that is, no other
entrance was known in 1868. There are no
facilities for descent; one may let oneself
fall sheer matter of nine or ten feet and
Chamber up again with tue help of,a donkey
boy's cummerbund. do not recollec5 that
the ugly possibilities of this situation struck
Us at all, but perhaps some measures had
beeu taken to make sure that the boys did
not desert. One of them, indeed, headed
the advance; our dragoman had never been
down before. The Arab began by stripping
completely, and he advised us to do the
same. Then we lighted a candle each, and
in single file dived into the bowels of the
rock. At a few feet distance the passage
narrowed rapidly until there was only room
to crawl along on ones stomach. This first
gallery may bs some fifty yards long; it
opens on chamber spacious enough. but a
natural cavern evidently. On the further
side runs another gallery as cramped as the
last, heated like a furnace, reeking with
foul air, vile stencil of bats, and pungent
fumes of bitumen. 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 snake ON
ones stomach. At the end lies another
chamber, of good height, apparently, if the
floor we're cleared; but the whole area is
blocked with enormous masses of stone
packed as close AS they will stand, over
which one has to Chamber STOPPING. Here
mvrlads of bats assail the explorer, blowing
out his candle Immediately, clinging to his
hair and beard in ropes. A moment more
and they vanish with a soft rustic of count
less wings, such as | have heard in other
chimes when the sand grouse fly overhead at
dawn aud evening. On the opposite side of
this vault the first trace Of handiwork is
ebserved-a square doorway. l myself
would have been quite satisfied to drop the
track of Mr.. Leign's footsteps at this point.
But the drag oman was intere ted now--tak-
ing, perhaps, professional pride in putting
the business through successfully.
He could speak with the guide also.
So we went on, still upon our stom-
achs. for an indefinite time, in an atmoS-
phere beyond analysis and heat beyond
example iii the upper air. IL was here,
probably, that Mr. Leigh'5 party broke
down, for l think they did not reach the
end. We did. After some hundreds of
Yards, as it seemed, slowly the passage
heightened-one could get upon ones knees ;
and then the flooring changed from smooth
granite to a soft, uneven compost. l lowered
my candle to observe. We were crouching
along over kneaded human forms!
A very strange spectacle, which seemed
to us an embodied nightmare under the ex =
citement of that awful journey. l think |
was almost delirious. No scene recurs to
nv memory pow more fresh and striking
than that black cave, with a slender glow
Of candle-lght here and there, and the half
naked figures gisening with perspiration
stretched out above a pavement of heads
end limbs. Many of the faces had been
gilt, and they shone Pickering. here and
there upon the dusky mass. We could not get
any explanation of the extraordinary man
Cling. The Arab said things had been so ever
sncs he could recollect. 1t must be sup
posed that these were mummies of priests
and attendants buried with the sacred rep
tiles in their charge-great personages, some
Of them, evidently. Their families had been
laid with them; for there were as many
women, perhaps, as men, and great num-
Der of children Everyone had been stripped
and torn to pieces-all of those on the sur
face, at least, for hurried examination
failed to show how deep the serried pile of
bodies lay Mingled with them we're sheets
aud strips of cloth, fragments of sarcophagi,
and quantities of women's hair in scalps-
wigs possibly. On the other side
of he i,o No aindr1nct haffQi-