ruined columns of a Christian church. They have a most paltry and diminutive look among the colossal pillars of the pagan temple.

The donkey-ride across the sandy plain at Thebes, to the tombs of the kings, was exceedingly hot; the very air seemed like a breath from the desert. It was so dry, however, that it was by no means so enervating as a humid atmosphere at a much lower temperature. Still hotter was the climb up the steep slopes of the stony Libyan Hills; but the magnificent view of the farwinding Nile, with the fertile plain beneath, and the many groups of ruined temples in this vast Necropolis, well repaid the fatigue of the ascent. We took refuge from the intense heat in a grotto, which formed the entrance to an ancient tomb which had drifted nearly full of sand. Here we had our lunch and were soon beset by a lot of chattering Arabs who wanted to sell "anteekas." I shut my eyes and pretended to be asleep, but soon perceived one of them attempting to steal my sun-shade. When detected in the act there was a great guffaw of laughter from his fellowrascals.

In sombre rock chambers, the kings and priests of the land, lords of Egypt, from the Great Sea to the bounds of Cush, and from the Libyan to the Syrian Desert, are solemnly laid to rest. Palaces, houses, markets and courts are all gone-gone, the last trace of them. Only the temple and tombs remain, rising here and there in quiet majesty from the green plain or bordering sand of the western desert.

"In 1891 a new find of mummies was discovered in the valley of the kings over 150 priests and priestesses of the old gods of Egypt. They were accompanied by many thousands of funeral images, and a provision of food in the shape of preserved mutton, honey, and even wine. For three thousand years no eye had gazed upon these painted and varnished coffins, as brilliant in their colours as when laid away. Men drew them up with cords as when men laid them down. But how different this world from that on which they last had looked! The scene grew even more weird and strange, when late in the evening they were borne across the sands of the desert to the river and to the steamboat which was waiting for them. It seemed a new and solemn funeral, the funeral of men dead for thirty centuries."

In this dreary vale of tombs a solitude and desolation, exceedingly impressive, reign on every side. Not a blade of grass, nor a living thing can be seen; nothing but barren and splintered rocks on the right hand and on the left, reflect the heat like a reverberating furnace. It seems to have been one of the chief

occupations of their lives, of the old Pharaohs and priests, to prepare an elaborate sepulchre for their mummied remains. They are all excavated out of the solid rock, and consist of long inclined passages, with here and there halls and small chambers, penetrating in some cases eight hundred feet, and with a descent of one

hundred and eighty feet, into the heart of the mountain. The long corridor is generally large and lofty, and the walls frequently consist of stone cemented and covered with a smooth coat of stucco, on which are painted in colours-in many cases vivid as though applied but yesterday-the scenes from the daily life and labours of four thousand years ago. These pictures

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sometimes represent the sovereign in the presence of various divinities, Hathor, Horus, Anubis, Isis, Osiris, who seem to be receiving him after death, and to whom he offers sacrifice.

One impressive fresco represents the last judgment of the soul of the deceased, "a royal scribe," previous to his admission to the presence of Osiris. Wailing processions of women, sacred offerings and a funeral pageant occupy the first section. In another, guests are seated at a banquet, attended by servants who anoint their heads with sweet-scented ointment and present to them lotos flowers, while women dance to the sound of the Egyptian guitar in their presence. The souls of the deceased are shown as being weighed in the balance in the presence of the god, the good being translated to the regions of the blessed and the bad returning in the form of a pig to the earth.

In one chamber of the tomb of Rameses III., we have a series of kitchen scenes, or, as our dragoman expressed it, "this is the kitchenal where they make the eatings by the king." The word "by," in his vocabulary, was made to serve for almost all the prepositions in the English language. Some of the servants are shown slaughtering oxen, cutting up the joints, putting them in caldrons, pounding food in a mortar, kneading bread and cakes, and even sprinkling them with small, black seeds which are still used in Egypt. Others cook meat and pastry and lentils; others draw off, by means of syphons, liquids from vases before them. Geese, quails, hawks, fish, grapes, pomegranates and other objects are represented with such accuracy that the species has been determined. Another chamber contains arms, spears, daggers, quivers, bows, arrows, helmets, coats-of-mail and standards. Still others exhibit chairs, couches, draperies, sofas, vases, copper utensils, leopard skins, printed stuffs, baskets of grapes in gracefulshaped ewers and vases, all in admirable taste.

Other pictures show boats furnished with fourteen oars, and large enough to take on board a chariot and pair of horses, sometimes with sail and cabin, and having masts and yards like the Nile boats of to-day. Many of the varied scenes depicted are so life-like and modern that a Cumberland squire and famous wrestler, whose attention was riveted by a series of wall-paintings, representing athletic sports, being asked if they were like the truth, exclaimed, "There isn't a grip or throw that I haven't used; and I defy the best wrestler in the north of England to do it better."

Peasants are shown sowing, ploughing, reaping, winnowing, measuring and housing the grain, and a group of oxen are seen

treading out the ears, with hieroglyphic lines which have been translated as follows:

"Hie along, oxen! tread the grain faster;

The straw for yourselves, the corn for your master."

In one fresco a drove of pigs is introduced, followed by a man with a knotted whip. They seem to be treading the grain into

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the soil after an inundation. In another fresco are seen figures of apes, leopards, a giraffe, ostrich feathers, eggs, ivory, ebony, skins, and the like. Another fresco represents a great procession of Ethiopians and Asiatic chiefs bearing tribute to Tothmes III. Some of these are black in colour, some are red, others are a northern tribe, in long, white garments. All are bringing treasures of gold, silver, skins, bags of precious stones, etc. In another, the operations of cabinet-makers, carpenters, rope-makers and sculptors are shown. In some cases, the workman is forcing a charcoal fire with a pair of bellows, and is fastening a piece of wood together with glue, showing an acquaintance with skilled carpentry at a very early date. Another is a spirited representation of the chase, in which various animals of the desert are well designed. The fox, antelope, hare, gazelle, ostrich, wild-ox, ibex and hyena fly before the hounds. Impressive frescos also show the sacred boat crossing the river of the dead.

When the mummy of a Pharaoh had been placed in the deepest recesses of these tombs, the opening was sealed up and blocked with masonry, and the surrounding rock levelled so as to leave no trace of the tomb, all the labour and cost of excavating and decorating these vast chambers being for the benefit solely of the dead man when he should come to life again. Notwithstanding these precaution, these tombs had all been rifled of their contents over two thousand years ago, and some of them well-nigh three thousand years ago.

While the brilliant Egyptian sunlight penetrates to some extent to the outer chambers and corridors of these tombs, their inner recesses can be explored only by the aid of tapers or magnesium wire. The entrance is generally made with ease, but in some cases we had to scramble down narrow, winding passages like the shaft and adit of a mine.

Dr. Manning thus describes a visit to one of these tombs:

"We enter a long, tunnel-like passage, growing more and more intensely dark at every step. Our dim tapers show walls and chambers of imagery, together with gigantic pictures. It is the progress of the soul through the underworld that we are witnessing in these pictures which line the dimlylighted walls. 'Even the gods themselves,' says Mariette, 'assume strange forms. Long serpents glide hither and thither or stand erect on the walls. Well might the visitor feel a strange feeling of horror come over him did he not realize that, under all these strange representations, lies a dim apprehension of a life beyond the grave. These gigantic serpents are the guardians of the gates of heaven. The hieroglyphic texts are hymns of praise to the divinity. As we pass from rocky chamber to chamber, we follow the progress of the soul before the tribunals of the gods, till it attains its final admission into that life which a second death shall never reach.'