ears. We passed two Englishmen with their guide, who moved off
the path and gazed through their eye-glasses in mild astonishment at our
animated cavalcade in varied costumes; while we in turn looked at their
immaculate sporting outfits and thought how lonely the couple must be,
traveling through these dismal solitudes. Our party had not thought it
worth while to purchase special riding outfits for the few days in the
desert, but had utilized what they had. For protection from the sun some
used white helmets or cloth neck protectors, some covered their heads
and necks with veils or tied down their soft hats, others wore straw
hats or caps regardless of sunburn.

[Illustration: RESTED IN THE SHADE OF THE TEMPLE OF KURNA.]

[Illustration: WE ENTERED THE RAMESSEUM.]

Overhead was an unclouded sky; at each side rose yellow limestone cliffs
glaring in the noonday sun, and underneath white sand and limestone
chips reflected the burning rays. Not a sign of vegetation relieved the
eye in this waterless gorge during our one hour's ride from Kurna to the
Tombs.

"Backsheesh! backsheesh!" demanded the donkey boys, as we dismounted.

"Why do you want backsheesh now?"

"Boy don't want backsheesh, donkey want backsheesh, donkey eat hay while
man in tombs."

In order that the Tombs may be satisfactorily examined by visitors, the
government has built an electric light plant in the gorge and the
thirty-five tombs are illuminated by electricity. Our party entered and
examined the six of these tombs which are considered the most
interesting. At each of these an Egyptian guard politely scrutinized the
"Services des Antiquites," although it was printed in French that he
could not read, and then permitted the holder to enter.

[Illustration: STOOD IN THE COLONNADE AT MEDINET HABU.]

In Tomb No. 17, we descended a passage hewn in the limestone cliff,
about ten feet wide, ten feet in height, and three hundred and thirty
feet in length, which leads inward and downward by inclines and steps to
the resting-place of King Seti, a tomb prepared during his life to be
the receptacle for his mummified remains after death. The smooth
polished walls and ceilings of the corridors and chambers were
sculptured by the best artists of Seti's time with reliefs of great
beauty, representing scenes of a sacred character. The praising of the
great God Ammon-Re, the offering of incense and gifts to various
deities, the passage of the boat of the sun, the