h side of this particular
rock-chamber was a long and solid stone table, about three feet wide by
three feet six in height, hewn out of the living rock, of which it had
formed part, and was still attached to at the base. These tables were
slightly hollowed out or curved inward, to give room for the knees of
any one sitting on the stone ledge that had been cut for a bench along
the side of the cave at a distance of about two feet from them. Each of
them, also, was so arranged that it ended right under a shaft pierced
in the rock for the admission of light and air. On examining them
carefully, however, I saw that there was a difference between them that
had at first escaped my attention, viz. that one of the tables, that
to the left as we entered the cave, had evidently been used, not to
eat upon, but for the purposes of embalming. That this was beyond all
question the case was clear from five shallow depressions in the stone
of the table, all shaped like a human form, with a separate place
for the head to lie in, and a little bridge to support the neck, each
depression being of a different size, so as to fit bodies varying in
stature from a full-grown man's to a small child's, and with little
holes bored at intervals to carry off fluid. And, indeed, if any further
confirmation was required, we had but to look at the wall of the cave
above to find it. For there, sculptured all round the apartment, and
looking nearly as fresh as the day it was done, was the pictorial
representation of the death, embalming, and burial of an old man with a
long beard, probably an ancient king or grandee of this country.

The first picture represented his death. He was lying upon a couch which
had four short curved posts at the corners coming to a knob at the end,
in appearance something like written notes of music, and was evidently
in the very act of expiring. Gathered round the couch were women and
children weeping, the former with their hair hanging down their backs.
The next scene represented the embalmment of the body, which lay stark
upon a table with depressions in it, similar to the one before us;
probably, indeed, it was a picture of the same table. Three men were
employed at the work--one superintending, one holding a funnel shaped
exactly like a port wine strainer, of which the narrow end was fixed in
an incision in the breast, no doubt in the great pectoral artery; while
the third, who was depicted as standing straddle-legged over