The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-10-13

thing other than n desest gorge, and
] 1t was mol until ] was flight in II that
= realized IL was cemetery. There are
no gravestoncs or monuments. and the
kings obliterated every sign that might
indicate their burial places. They dug
tout great chambers under the he'd OF
! THIS driod-up river and arranged els
Iterns for their proper drainage, but
when they had finished, they left
everything as 1t was in nature; and
for this reason their tombs remained
\ for ages untouched and unknown.
| In the Tombs.
| From time to time. however, one or
another was discovered by future gen
Grafton Stabo, the Creek geographer.
| who was alive when Christ was born,
speaks of forty or them as being wor-
thy of visit. and others arc mention
ed by writers later on. During our
generation most of them were again
lost, and was not until some A.ab
grave robaers began to sellcurious an
Equities that ii was found that the
tonibs had again been discovered ana
were being rifled BY these vandals.
The areheoloEists then went to work
and their explorations have resulted
in tile opening up OF tomb after tomb.
until we now have what might be call
ed subterranean city of the dead
here in the heart of the Libyan desert.
The tonIbs are nothing like our
burial vaults. They are large rooms
cut out of the solid rock. with walls
as straight and rs smotli as those of
mason. They are reached by many
steps, going down inclined planes until
they bring you far below the surface
Of the valley and away down under the
mountains. Each king had his own
tomb, and he decorated it with sketches
and paintings representing the life of
his time, The ceilings. are beautiful.
From some of the them the figures of
gods and goddresses look down upon
you. Others are colored in geomotric
lines. and in scmeTmen and women are
carved In bss-reliefs -oUtsef@ the solid
rock, and tffen painted. Many of the
scenes are religious, and from them the
Psychologist is able to tell us what
the people of that day believed. They
also show how they worked and lived
when our remotest ancestors were
savages in the wilds of Europe and
Asia.
In some of the tombs saw the mas
sive stone boxes in which the NUM-
mics OF the dead kings lay. / measur-
ed one which was ten feet long, six
feet vide and eight feet high. Ii
vas followed outof solid block OF
granite. and it weighs many tons. !
That mighty burial casixet was cut out |
of tho qnarries of Assouan. FAR above
here, on the banks of the Nile 1t |
must have been brought down the
river on a barge and carried TO this |
place. When ii was on the ground II
had 10 be lowered down into the vault |
and that without modern machinery.
As went through the tombs' saw
several such caskets. and the archeolo-
gist who guided me showed me the
holes in the stone walls OF the en-
trance ways where beams had been
put across in order that ropes might |
be used to prevent these stone masses |
sliding too far when let down. 1t is /
difficult Job for us to handle iron
safes of even four feet cube. One of
these stone boxes would weigh as
much as several such safes, and the
old Egyptians carried them where
they pleased.
With Pharaolis Engineers.
Indeed, i venture the civil engineers
of the Pharaohs could teach our peo-
Ipie much. All about this region there
are enormous monuments which II
would puzzle the engineers of to-day
to handle. Take the colossi of Mem
non, the two mighty stone figures in
the Nile valley within few miles of
where l am now writing Each is
as high as six-story house, and the
stone pedestals upon which they sit
rise thirteen feet above the ground.
j rode by them as ! came home from
the. Galley of the kings. and climbed up
and ran the tape measure over their
legs The legs measure nineteen feet
from sole to knee. The feet are each
ten feet nslength, so long that one
would fill the box of a farm wagon
from end TO end, and SO wide that ii
could hardly be fitted within 1t.
The arms. from finger tips to elbow.
each measure fifteen feet. and the mid
die finger of earh hand is yard and
a half long.
AS | stood beside the pedestal with
my feet on Gingerbread's saddle, I
could not reach to the top. and / shall
find it difficult to give any compara-