hills by the
middle road. South of this road, on an eminence, stood a temple,
commemorating the victories of Ramses III, the walls of which are
covered with pictures of conquered nations: Hittites, Amorites,
Philistines, Ethiopians, Arabs, Libyans. A little lower down rose two
colossal statues of Amenhotep II, the height of which, notwithstanding
their sitting posture, was twenty meters. One of these statues was
distinguished by the miraculous property that when struck by the rays
of the rising sun it gave out sounds like those of a harp whenever
chords snap in it.

Still nearer the road, but always on the left, stood the Ramesseum, a
beautiful though not very large temple which was built by Ramses II.
The entrance to this edifice was guarded by statues with the royal
insignia in their hands. In the forecourt towered the statue of Ramses
II to the height of sixteen meters.

The road rose gradually, and a very steep eminence became more and more
visible; this was as full of holes as a sponge: those holes were the
tombs of Egyptian officials. At the entrance to them, among steep
cliffs stood the very strange temple of Queen Hatasu. This temple was
four hundred and fifty yards long. From the forecourt, surrounded by a
wall, there was an entrance by steps to the second court surrounded by
columns; under this was a subterranean temple. From the court of
columns the passage rose by steps again to a temple cut out in the
cliff under which was another subterranean temple. In this way the
temple was of two stories, each of which was divided into an upper and
a lower part. The stairs were immense, without railing, but furnished
with two rows of sphinxes; the entrance to each stairway was guarded by
two sitting statues.

At the temple of Hatasu began the gloomy ravine which led from the
tombs of high dignitaries to those of the pharaohs. Between these two
quarters was the tomb of the high priest Retemenof, the corridors and
chambers of which occupied about one hectare of subterranean area.

The road to the ravine was so steep that men had to help the draught
bulls, and push the funeral boat forward. The procession moved, as it
were, along a cornice cut into the cliff side; at last they halted on a
broad platform some hundreds of feet above the ravine counting from the
lower bed of it.

Here was the door leading to the underground tomb which during his
thirty years' reign the pharaoh had made for himself. This tomb was a
who