s to be seen in plenty. In various parts of the chamber there
were numerous bronze vessels of different shapes, intended for the
holding of milk and other drinkables.

Well supplied with food and drink, the senses of the dead man were
soothed by a profusion of flowers, which lay withered but not decayed
beside the coffin, and which at the time of the funeral must have filled
the chamber with their sweetness. Near the doorway stood an upright
wooden chest closed with a lid. Opening this, we found it to contain the
great ceremonial wig of the deceased man, which was suspended from a
rail passing across the top of the chest, and hung free of the sides and
bottom. The black hair was plaited into hundreds of little tails, but in
size the wig was not unlike those of the early eighteenth century in
Europe. Chairs, beds, and other pieces of furniture were arranged around
the room, and at one side there were a number of small chests and boxes
piled up against the wall. We opened one or two of these, and found them
to contain delicate little vases of glass, stone, and metal, wrapped
round with rags to prevent them breaking. These, like everything else
in the tomb, were new and fresh, and showed no trace of the passing of
the years.

The coffins, of course, were hidden by the great casing in which each
rested, and which itself was partly hidden by the linen pall. Nothing
could be touched for many days, until photographs had been taken and
records made; and we therefore returned through the long passage to the
light of the day.

There must have been a large number of intact tombs to be found when
first the modern interest in Egyptian antiquities developed; but the
market thus created had to be supplied, and gangs of illicit diggers
made short work of the most accessible tombs. This illegal excavation,
of course, continues to some extent at the present day, in spite of all
precautions, but the results are becoming less and less proportionate to
the labour expended and risk taken. A native likes best to do a little
quiet digging in his own back yard and to admit nobody else into the
business. To illustrate this, I may mention a tragedy which was brought
to my notice a few years ago. A certain native discovered the entrance
of a tomb in the floor of his stable, and at once proceeded to worm his
way down the tunnel. That was the end of the native. His wife, finding
that he had not returned two hours or so later, went down the newly