TOMBS IN THE DESERT.

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a tomb. The form and arrangement of the apartments were Egyptian, but neither hieroglyphics nor sculptures were any where visible. In the third chamber a square deep well, of which the bottom was invisible, seemed to lead to a lower suite of apartments; but here, for a moment, our progress was stopped by a singular obstacle. Ten thousand bats, which had been sleeping quietly on the walls, roused and terrified by our lights, disengaged themselves in clouds, and flying about in all directions, struck against our face, breast, head, and hands, threatening to extinguish the tapers. On looking upwards, we saw them clinging by myriads to the roof, all in convulsive motion, with glittering eyes, open mouths, and hideous trembling wings, seeming in their fear to be hanging one to the other, tier below tier. Had they remained there it had been well; but when we approached the mouth of the excavation, they swept so thickly through the air, ascending and descending this grave-like opening, that it was with the greatest difficulty we prevented them from striking the lights out of our hands.

CCCLXIV. In spite of their numbers, however, we contrived to lower ourselves into the well, which we found less deep than we had expected; and proceeding along the narrow passage, arrived in a sepulchral chamber from which four passages diverged. Here we halted, being unable to determine which to select, partly because we apprehended losing ourselves in these subterraneous galleries, of unknown

488

SWARMS OF BATS.

number and extent, and partly from the prodigious multitude of bats assailing us on every side, flapping their cold wings in our faces, or against the back of our neck. At this moment Suleiman, who was still in the chambers above, exclaimed that they had knocked out his light, and at the same time a cloud of them sweeping by us, extinguished ours also, leaving us all in total darkness in the midst of the tomb. But this by no means quieted our persecutors, who continued flitting about like swarms of bees; and not being able to direct our footsteps, we moved into the midst of the vermin, which clung and crawled over us with the most disgusting familiarity. familiarity. Fortunately the attendants had brought flint and steel, so that in a short time the tapers were rekindled, and we continued our examination of the remaining chambers. The walls, roof, and doorway of one small cell towards the north were literally coated with bats, with their mouths open, their wings moving, and their bright little eyes glittering in the light of the taper.

CCCLXV. Through a hole in the wall, about three feet from the floor, in a corner of this cell, but much too small to afford a passage, we discovered another suite of sepulchral chambers; and in one of the apartments was a mummy pit, into which we possessed no means of descending. Having explored every other part of the sepulchre, without finding either sculpture or hieroglyphics, we returned by the way we had entered; and in the face of the hill, at a

SEPULCHRAL CHAMBERS.

489

short distance towards the north, discovered the entrance into the neighbouring tomb, still more obstructed with sand than the former, though the apartments are perhaps of larger dimensions. Several mummy pits of great depth descend to other suites of subterraneous chambers, inaccessible without the aid of long ropes. The heat in all these apartments seemed greater than at Aboosambal; and we therefore returned, with considerable pleasure, into the fresh air. Upon the face of the rock, near the entrance to the first tomb, cut in deep large letters, are the names of two Englishmen, Fuller and Foskett.

Wednesday, January 30. Mosmos.

CCCLXVI. Early in the morning we landed near those numerous tumuli or barrows, scattered over the plain, on the eastern bank, which, in ascending the river, we had beheld from our cabin door in the twilight. They are all perfectly conical, smooth, and well formed; and, from the summit of the largest, about thirty feet in height, I counted twenty-eight, of different dimensions, none of them very distant from the river. They probably contain bones, vases of silver or gold, arms and other articles usually interred with the dead in remote ages; for this spot was doubtless the scene of some great battle, and these barrows the mausolea raised by the survivors over their fallen chiefs, whose actions they probably commemorated in sculpture and hieroglyphics on the walls of Aboosambal, promising them an eternity of glory, not doubting that the sacred symbols would for ever

remain familiar and intelligible to the eye of learning. The basis of the tumuli, and the whole surface of the surrounding desert, are strewed with small agates, and pebbles of various colours.

CCCLXVII. Our provisions growing scanty, we were compelled to make a victualling excursion among the villages. Mutton, as I have already observed, is cheap in this part of Nubia: we here purchased a sheep for seven piastres and a half; and, a few days previous, refused to buy a smaller and leaner one for five piastres. The natives of these villages, particularly the women, stink so abominably, that when they happen to be to windward, we can smell them at the distance of fifty or sixty yards, as keenly as a hound can scent a fox. This, however, must be wholly owing to the enormous quantity of filthy grease and oil with which they saturate their hair, for they would appear to be otherwise not particularly uncleanly. Patches of verdure, intermingled with yellow sand hills, render the approach to Aboosambal from the south exceedingly agreeable. The sky, this morning, was covered with light fleecy clouds, a thing extremely unusual in Nubia. The island of Faras, which we passed rather early, is, at the southern extremity, a mere sand-bank; but towards the north, rich, well wooded, and carefully cultivated to the water's edge there is also a hamlet upon it. Arriving about ten o'clock at Aboosambal, we again spent several hours at the temples, and quitting it at last with regret, reached Mosmos late in the evening.

ISLAND OF KETTEH.

491

Thursday, Jan. 31. Wady el Arab.

CCCLXVIII. Left our moorings early, and dropped down the river. The wind, which had blown from the north up to our arrival at the second cataract, yesterday shifted to the south, but was so gentle that it aided us little, the whole face of the Nile being as smooth as a pond. A sensible change has taken place in the weather within a few days; in fact, since the scirocco has prevailed, the heat has so greatly augmented, that it is already summer. Passing the castle of Ibrim, the position of which, as seen from the river, is certainly most magnificent, in a short time we reached the northern extremity of the island of Ketteh, where, according to Burckhardt, there is an ancient sepulchre about two miles from the river. His indication is very loose, and the excellent map of Colonel Leake, constructed, in this part, chiefly from his journal, is here incorrect, fixing the site of the tomb in an isolated hill, and representing the remainder of the country as a plain; whereas, in reality, the desert is thickly strewn with small hills, and at a short distance from the river swells into successive ranges of mountains. One of these chains, running at almost right angles with the Nile, commences about two miles above the island of Ketteh, and extends in a westerly direction farther than the eye can reach.

CCCLXIX. The village of Ketteh is situated on the eastern bank; but on the opposite side there is another hamlet, called Atfieh, half ruined, in the