to creep through. Indeed it had been dug by jackals, for the doorway and
some part of the cave were entirely silted up, and it was by means of
this jackal hole that the tomb had been discovered. Ali crept in on his
hands and knees, and I followed, to find myself in a place cold after
the hot outside air, and, in contrast with the light, filled with a
dazzling darkness. We lit our candles, and, the select body of thieves
having arrived, I made an examination. We were in a cave the size of
a large room, and hollowed by hand, the further part of the cave being
almost free from drift-dust. On the walls are religious paintings of the
usual Ptolemaic character, and among them one of a majestic old man with
a long white beard, who is seated in a carved chair holding a wand in
his hand.[*] Before him passes a procession of priests bearing sacred
images. In the right hand corner of the tomb is the shaft of the
mummy-pit, a square-mouthed well cut in the black rock. We had brought a
beam of thorn-wood, and this was now laid across the pit and a rope
made fast to it. Then Ali--who, to do him justice, is a courageous
thief--took hold of the rope, and, putting some candles into the breast
of his robe, placed his bare feet against the smooth sides of the well
and began to descent with great rapidity. Very soon he had vanished into
blackness, and the agitation of the cord alone told us that anything was
going on below. At last the rope ceased shaking and a faint shout came
rumbling up the well, announcing Ali's safe arrival. Then, far below, a
tiny star of light appeared. He had lit the candle, thereby disturbing
hundreds of bats that flitted up in an endless stream and as silently as
spirits. The rope was hauled up again, and now it was my turn; but, as
I declined to trust my neck to the hand-over-hand method of descent, the
end of the cord was made fast round my middle and I was lowered bodily
into those sacred depths. Nor was it a pleasant journey, for, if the
masters of the situation above had made any mistake, I should have been
dashed to pieces. Also, the bats continually flew into my face and clung