DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0322
304 A. THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.
the little skull (which had fallen apart at the sutures), it
was pu're and fragile in texture as the cup of a water-lily.
We laid the hones aside as wo found them, examining
every handful of sand, in the hope of discovering some-
thing that might throw light upon the burial. But in
vain. We found not a shred of clothing, not a bead, not
a coin, not the smallest vestige of anything that might
help one to judge whether the interment had taken place
a hundred years ago or a thousand.
We now called up all the crew, and went on excavating
downward into what seemed to be a long and narrow vault
measuring some fifteen feet by three.
After-reflection convinced us that we had stumbled upon
a chance Nubian grave, and that the bowls (which at first
we absurdly dignified with the name of cinerary urns)
were but the usual water-bowls placed at the heads of the
dead. But we were in no mood for reflection at the time.
We made sure that the speos was a mortuary chapel; that
the vault was a vertical pit leading to a sepulchral chamber;
and that at the bottom of it we should find—who could
tell what? Mummies, perhaps, and sarcophagi,and funerary
statuettes, and jewels, and papiry and wonders without end!
That these uncared-for bones should be laid in the mouth
of such a pit, scarcely occurred to us as an incongruity.
Supposing them to be Nubian remains, what then ? If a
modern Nubian at the top, why not an ancient Egyptian at
the bottom ?
As the work of excavation went on, however, the vault
was found to be entered by a steep inclined plane. Then
the inclined plane turned out to be a flight of much worn
and very shallow stairs. These led down to a small square
landing, some twelve feet below the surface, from which
landing an arched doorway* and passage opened into the
fore-court of the speos. Our sailors had great difficulty
in excavating this part, in consequence of the weight of
superincumbent sand and debris on the side next the
speos. By shoring up the ground, however, they were
* It was long believed that the Egyptians were ignorant of the
principle of the arch. This, however, was not the case. There are
brick arches of the time of Barneses II behind the Ramesseum at
Thebes and elsewhere. Still, arches are rare in Egypt. We filled
in and covered the arch again, and the greater part of the staircase
in order to preserve the former
the little skull (which had fallen apart at the sutures), it
was pu're and fragile in texture as the cup of a water-lily.
We laid the hones aside as wo found them, examining
every handful of sand, in the hope of discovering some-
thing that might throw light upon the burial. But in
vain. We found not a shred of clothing, not a bead, not
a coin, not the smallest vestige of anything that might
help one to judge whether the interment had taken place
a hundred years ago or a thousand.
We now called up all the crew, and went on excavating
downward into what seemed to be a long and narrow vault
measuring some fifteen feet by three.
After-reflection convinced us that we had stumbled upon
a chance Nubian grave, and that the bowls (which at first
we absurdly dignified with the name of cinerary urns)
were but the usual water-bowls placed at the heads of the
dead. But we were in no mood for reflection at the time.
We made sure that the speos was a mortuary chapel; that
the vault was a vertical pit leading to a sepulchral chamber;
and that at the bottom of it we should find—who could
tell what? Mummies, perhaps, and sarcophagi,and funerary
statuettes, and jewels, and papiry and wonders without end!
That these uncared-for bones should be laid in the mouth
of such a pit, scarcely occurred to us as an incongruity.
Supposing them to be Nubian remains, what then ? If a
modern Nubian at the top, why not an ancient Egyptian at
the bottom ?
As the work of excavation went on, however, the vault
was found to be entered by a steep inclined plane. Then
the inclined plane turned out to be a flight of much worn
and very shallow stairs. These led down to a small square
landing, some twelve feet below the surface, from which
landing an arched doorway* and passage opened into the
fore-court of the speos. Our sailors had great difficulty
in excavating this part, in consequence of the weight of
superincumbent sand and debris on the side next the
speos. By shoring up the ground, however, they were
* It was long believed that the Egyptians were ignorant of the
principle of the arch. This, however, was not the case. There are
brick arches of the time of Barneses II behind the Ramesseum at
Thebes and elsewhere. Still, arches are rare in Egypt. We filled
in and covered the arch again, and the greater part of the staircase
in order to preserve the former