DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4104#0037
28
ABYDOS III.
one of the three or four water-pots broken
during their search.
When we entered, as much rubbish as possible
was taken from the pole-roof chamber, and then
the left hand room, D, was entered. The chain
of basket-boys and men passed it up to the sur-
face, and from there it was thrown on the dump
heaps. A little of the rubbish from the right
hand, D, was also passed out, but as soon as the
former was fully measured and planned, we
began to pile rubbish in it. F was the next
room cleared. The rubbish was put into baskets
and carried back to where we were piling it. To
move it along the 75 ft. of the passage E, made
it necessary to employ the smallest boys who
could carry a basket full, for the passage was
so piled up that they alone could stand
upright.
As soon as one room was cleared it was care-
fully planned, and then used to hold the rubbish
from the room beyond. In the passages, how-
ever, the men merely dug and threw up behind
them. In this way we worked through the
great rooms and passages, which extend nearly
650 ft. into the rock.
43. We followed the first plunderers through
every part of their work. They had used every
inch of room possible to pile up the rubbish
from their tunnels, and all this was worked over
as carefully as possible. Even the tunnel they
had so fruitlessly dug under the granite plugs
had been filled. This was very difficult to clear
out, but Ave had no idea what it was, and so
followed it to the bottom. One day while this
was being done I came in to find the men in
the sarcophagus chamber. They were called
back, and sending Ali, the son of Omar, just
ahead of me with another candle, I started to
work myself down the little tunnel. He wormed
himself along in silence till he came to the end
of the part that had been cleared, and then
nervously pointed up. The rock supporting
one side of a pair of the great blocks above us
was broken, and it looked as if very little was
upholding the great weight. Ali looked at it
for a moment and then said, " I have three
wives and eight children, and T always have bad
luck." Although in my own case these eleven
ties to life were wanting, I was not much more
anxious to remove any more rubbish from under
the blocks, so that part had to be calculated
from the other end, when we found the lime-
stone wall that divided the plugged passage
from the sarcophagus chamber.
Even while we were working, the sand twice
over blocked the entrance to the tomb ; so that
a long chain of boys was needed to clear the
way again; and when the place was left alone
to the long steady sweep of the sand-bearing
winds, the entrance was soon filled up, and the
kindly sand closed from view and preserved one
of the largest tombs that is known.
ABYDOS III.
one of the three or four water-pots broken
during their search.
When we entered, as much rubbish as possible
was taken from the pole-roof chamber, and then
the left hand room, D, was entered. The chain
of basket-boys and men passed it up to the sur-
face, and from there it was thrown on the dump
heaps. A little of the rubbish from the right
hand, D, was also passed out, but as soon as the
former was fully measured and planned, we
began to pile rubbish in it. F was the next
room cleared. The rubbish was put into baskets
and carried back to where we were piling it. To
move it along the 75 ft. of the passage E, made
it necessary to employ the smallest boys who
could carry a basket full, for the passage was
so piled up that they alone could stand
upright.
As soon as one room was cleared it was care-
fully planned, and then used to hold the rubbish
from the room beyond. In the passages, how-
ever, the men merely dug and threw up behind
them. In this way we worked through the
great rooms and passages, which extend nearly
650 ft. into the rock.
43. We followed the first plunderers through
every part of their work. They had used every
inch of room possible to pile up the rubbish
from their tunnels, and all this was worked over
as carefully as possible. Even the tunnel they
had so fruitlessly dug under the granite plugs
had been filled. This was very difficult to clear
out, but Ave had no idea what it was, and so
followed it to the bottom. One day while this
was being done I came in to find the men in
the sarcophagus chamber. They were called
back, and sending Ali, the son of Omar, just
ahead of me with another candle, I started to
work myself down the little tunnel. He wormed
himself along in silence till he came to the end
of the part that had been cleared, and then
nervously pointed up. The rock supporting
one side of a pair of the great blocks above us
was broken, and it looked as if very little was
upholding the great weight. Ali looked at it
for a moment and then said, " I have three
wives and eight children, and T always have bad
luck." Although in my own case these eleven
ties to life were wanting, I was not much more
anxious to remove any more rubbish from under
the blocks, so that part had to be calculated
from the other end, when we found the lime-
stone wall that divided the plugged passage
from the sarcophagus chamber.
Even while we were working, the sand twice
over blocked the entrance to the tomb ; so that
a long chain of boys was needed to clear the
way again; and when the place was left alone
to the long steady sweep of the sand-bearing
winds, the entrance was soon filled up, and the
kindly sand closed from view and preserved one
of the largest tombs that is known.