CHAPTER II.
The temple where, in the fore-court, Paaker was waiting, and where the priest had disappeared to call the leech, was called the "House of Seti"-- [It is still standing and known as the temple of Qurnah.]--and was one of the largest in the City of the Dead.

Only that magnificent building of the time of the deposed royal race of the reigning king's grandfather--that temple which had been founded by Thotmes III., and whose gate-way Amenophis III.

had adorned with immense colossal statues--[That which stands to the north is the famous musical statue, or Pillar of Memmon]--exceeded it in the extent of its plan; in every other respect it held the pre-eminence among the sanctuaries of the Necropolis.

Rameses I.had founded it shortly after he succeeded in seizing the Egyptian throne; and his yet greater son Seti carried on the erection, in which the service of the dead for the Manes of the members of the new royal family was conducted, and the high festivals held in honor of the Gods of the under-world.

Great sums had been expended for its establishment, for the maintenance of the priesthood of its sanctuary, and the support of the institutions connected with it.