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.