of crocodiles. And here was kept the property of the Egyptian state,
brought together in the course of ages. Of this structure it is
difficult to gain an idea at present.

The labyrinth was neither inaccessible from the outside, nor watched
over-carefully; it was guarded by a small division of troops attached
to the priests, and some priests of tried honesty. The safety of the
treasury lay specially in this that with the exception of those few
persons, no one knew where to look for it in the labyrinth, which was
divided into two stories, one above ground, the other subterranean, and
in each of these there were fifteen hundred chambers.

Each pharaoh, each high priest, finally each treasurer and supreme
judge was bound to examine with his own eyes the property of the state
immediately after entering on his office. Still, no one of the
dignitaries could find it, or even learn where the treasure lay,
whether in the main body of the building or in some of its wings, above
the earth or beneath it.

There were some to whom it seemed that the treasure was really
underground, far away from the labyrinth proper. There were even some
who thought that the treasure was beneath the lake, so that it might be
submerged should the need come. Finally no dignitary of the state cared
to occupy himself with the question, knowing that an attack on the
property of the gods drew after it ruin to the sacrilegious. The
uninitiated might have discovered the road, perhaps, if fear had not
paralyzed intruders. Death in this world and the next threatened him
and his family who should dare with godless plans to discover such
secrets.

Arriving in those parts Ramses XIII visited first of all the province
of Fayum. In his eyes it seemed like the interior of some immense bowl,
the bottom of which was a lake and hills the edges. Whithersoever he
turned he found green juicy grass varied with flowers, groups of palms,
groves of fig trees and tamarinds, amid which from sunrise to sunset
were heard the singing of birds and the voices of gladsome people.

That was perhaps the happiest corner of Egypt.

The people received the pharaoh with boundless delight.

They covered him and his retinue with flowers, they presented him with
a number of vessels of the costliest perfumes as well as gold and
precious stones to the amount of ten talents.

Ramses spent two days in that pleasant region where joy seemed to
blossom on the trees, flow in the air, and loo