igures by the power of which the prince was to make his way
through Hades. The words of the mystical "Chapter of the Flame" and of
the "Chapter of the Magical Figure of the North Wall" were inscribed
upon them; and upon a great roll of papyrus twenty-two yards in length
other efficacious prayers were written.

But though the eyes passed from object to object, they ever returned to
the two lidless gilded coffins in which the owners of this room of the
dead lay as though peacefully sleeping. First above Yuaa and then above
his wife the electric lamps were held, and as one looked down into their
quiet faces there was almost the feeling that they would presently open
their eyes and blink at the light. The stern features of the old man
commanded one's attention, again and again our gaze was turned from this
mass of wealth to this sleeping figure in whose honour it had been
placed here.

At last we returned to the surface to allow the thoughts opportunity to
collect themselves and the pulses time to quiet down, for, even to the
most unemotional, a discovery of this kind, bringing one into the very
presence of the past, has really an unsteadying effect. Then once more
we descended, and made the preliminary arrangements for the cataloguing
of the antiquities. It was now that the real work began, and, once the
excitement was past, there was a monotony of labour to be faced which
put a very considerable strain on the powers of all concerned. The hot
days when one sweated over the heavy packing-cases, and the bitterly
cold nights when one lay at the mouth of the tomb under the stars,
dragged on for many a week; and when at last the long train of boxes was
carried down to the Nile _en route_ for the Cairo Museum, it was with a
sigh of relief that the official returned to his regular work.

This, of course, was a very exceptional discovery. Mr Davis has made
other great finds, but to me they have not equalled in dramatic interest
the discovery just recorded. Even in this royal valley, however, there
is much drudgery to be faced, and for a large part of the season's work
it is the excavator's business to turn over endless masses of rock
chippings, and to dig huge holes which have no interest for the patient
digger. Sometimes the mouth of a tomb is bared, and is entered with the
profoundest hopes, which are at once dashed by the sudden abrupt ending
of the cutting a few yards from the surface. At other times a
tomb-chamber is reache