ly concerned in its suppression. There
are very few persons even in western countries who would be willing to
hand over to the Government a hoard of gold discovered in their own back
garden. In Egypt the law is that the treasure-trove thus discovered
belongs to the owner of the property; and thus there is always a certain
amount of excavation going on behind the walls of the houses. It is also
the law that the peasants may carry away the accumulated rubbish on the
upper layers of ancient town sites, in order to use it as a fertiliser
for their crops, since it contains valuable phosphates. This work is
supervised by watchmen, but this does not prevent the stealing of almost
all the antiquities which are found. As illegal excavators these
_sebakhin_, or manure-diggers, are the worst offenders, for they search
for the phosphates in all manner of places, and are constantly coming
upon tombs or ruins which they promptly clear of their contents. One
sees them driving their donkeys along the roads, each laden with a sack
of manure, and it is certain that some of these sacks contain
antiquities. In Thebes many of the natives live inside the tombs of the
ancient nobles, these generally consisting of two or three rock-hewn
halls from which a tunnel leads down to the burial-chamber. Generally
this tunnel is choked with _debris_, and the owner of the house will
perhaps come upon it by chance, and will dig it out, in the vain hope
that earlier plunderers have left some of the antiquities undisturbed.
It recently happened that an entire family was asphyxiated while
attempting to penetrate into a newly discovered tunnel, each member
entering to ascertain the fate of the previous explorer, and each being
overcome by the gases. On one occasion I was asked by a native to
accompany him down a tunnel, the entrance of which was in his stable, in
order to view a sarcophagus which lay at the bottom. We each took a
candle, and, crouching down to avoid the low roof, we descended the
narrow, winding passage, the loose stones sliding beneath our feet. The
air was very foul; and below us there was the thunderous roar of
thousands of wings beating through the echoing passage--the wings of
evil-smelling bats. Presently we reached this uncomfortable zone. So
thickly did the bats hang from the ceiling that the rock itself seemed
to be black; but as we advanced, and the creatures took to their wings,
this black covering appeared to peel off the rock. Dur