Edwards, Amelia B.: A thousand miles up the Nile (New York, [1888])

APPENDIX I.

A. M'CALLUM, ESQ., TO THE EDITOR OF " THE TIMES."*

Sin:—It may interest your readers to learn that at the south side
of the great Temple of Abou Simbel, I found the entrance to a painted
chamber rock-cut, and measuring twenty-one feet two and one-half
inches by fourteen feet eight inches, and twelve feet high to the
spring of the arch, elaborately sculptured and painted in the best
style of the best period of Egyptian art, bearing the portraits of
Rameses the Great and his cartouches, and in a state of tbe highest
preservation. This chamber is preceded by the ruins of a vaulted
atrium, in sundried brickwork, and adjoins the remains of what
would appear to be a massive wall or pylon, which contains a stair-
case terminating in an arched doorway leading to the vaulted atrium
before mentioned.

The doorway of the painted chamber, the staircase and the arch,
were all buried in sand and debris. The chamber appears to
have been covered and lost sight of since a very early period, being
wholly free from mutilation, and from the scribbling of travelers,
ancient and modern.

The staircase was not opened until the 18th, and the bones of a
woman and child, with two small cinerary urns, were there discov-
ered by a gentleman of our party, buried in the sand. This was
doubtless a subsequent interment. Whether this painted chamber is
the inner sanctuary of a small temple, or part of a tomb, or only a
speos, like the well-known grottos at Ibrim, is a question for future
excavators to determine. I have the honor to be, sir, yours, etc.,

Andrew McCallum.
Kokosko, Nubia, Feb. 16, 1874.

APPENDIX II.

THE EGYPTIAN" PAXTIIEON.

"The deities of ancient Egypt consist of celestial, terrestrial and
infernal gods, and of many inferior personages, either representatives

* This letter appeared in Tim Times of March 18, 1874.