DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0317
DISCO VEBIES A T ABO U SIMBEL. 299
tingnished himself by scooping out a channel where the
slope was steepest; which greatly facilitated the work.
Emptied down this chute and kept continually going, the
sand poured off in a steady stream like water.
Meanwhile the opening grew rapidly larger. When we
first came up — that is, when the painter and the two
sailors had been working on it for about an hour—we
found a hole scarcely as large as one's hand, through
which it was just possible to catch a dim glimpse of painted
walls within. By sunset the top of the doorway was laid
bare, and where the crack ended in a large triangular
fracture there was an aperture about a foot and a half
square, into which Mehemet Ali was the first to squeeze
his way. We passed him in a candle and a box of matches;
but he came out again directly, saying that it was a most
beautiful birhch, and quite light within.
The writer wriggled in next. She found herself looking
down from the top of a sand-slope into a small square
chamber. This sand-drift, which here rose to within a
foot and a half of the top of the doorway, was heaped to
the ceiling in the corner behind the door, and thence sloped
steeply down, completely covering the floor. There was
light enough to see every detail distinctly — the painted
frieze running round just under the ceiling ; the bas-relief
sculptures on the walls, gorgeous with unfaded color; the
smooth sand, pitted near the top, where Mehemet Ali had
trodden, but undisturbed elsewhere by human foot; the
great gap in the middle of the ceiling, where the rock had
given way ; the fallen fragments on the floor, now almost
buried in sand.
Satisfied that the place was absolutely fresh and un-
touched, the writer crawled out, and the others, one by
by one, crawled in. When each had seen it in turn the
opening was barricaded for the night; the sailors being for-
bidden to enter it lest they should injure the decorations.
That evening was held a solemn council, whereat it was
decided that Talhamy and Eels Hassan should go to-mor-
row to the nearest village, there to engage the services of
fifty able-bodied natives. With such help, Ave calculated
that the place might easily be cleared in two days. If it
was a tomb we hoped to discover the entrance to the
Mummy pit below ; if but a small chapel, or speos, like
those at Ibrim, we should at least have the satisfaction of
tingnished himself by scooping out a channel where the
slope was steepest; which greatly facilitated the work.
Emptied down this chute and kept continually going, the
sand poured off in a steady stream like water.
Meanwhile the opening grew rapidly larger. When we
first came up — that is, when the painter and the two
sailors had been working on it for about an hour—we
found a hole scarcely as large as one's hand, through
which it was just possible to catch a dim glimpse of painted
walls within. By sunset the top of the doorway was laid
bare, and where the crack ended in a large triangular
fracture there was an aperture about a foot and a half
square, into which Mehemet Ali was the first to squeeze
his way. We passed him in a candle and a box of matches;
but he came out again directly, saying that it was a most
beautiful birhch, and quite light within.
The writer wriggled in next. She found herself looking
down from the top of a sand-slope into a small square
chamber. This sand-drift, which here rose to within a
foot and a half of the top of the doorway, was heaped to
the ceiling in the corner behind the door, and thence sloped
steeply down, completely covering the floor. There was
light enough to see every detail distinctly — the painted
frieze running round just under the ceiling ; the bas-relief
sculptures on the walls, gorgeous with unfaded color; the
smooth sand, pitted near the top, where Mehemet Ali had
trodden, but undisturbed elsewhere by human foot; the
great gap in the middle of the ceiling, where the rock had
given way ; the fallen fragments on the floor, now almost
buried in sand.
Satisfied that the place was absolutely fresh and un-
touched, the writer crawled out, and the others, one by
by one, crawled in. When each had seen it in turn the
opening was barricaded for the night; the sailors being for-
bidden to enter it lest they should injure the decorations.
That evening was held a solemn council, whereat it was
decided that Talhamy and Eels Hassan should go to-mor-
row to the nearest village, there to engage the services of
fifty able-bodied natives. With such help, Ave calculated
that the place might easily be cleared in two days. If it
was a tomb we hoped to discover the entrance to the
Mummy pit below ; if but a small chapel, or speos, like
those at Ibrim, we should at least have the satisfaction of