o unbelievable,
I might almost say, that I had passed from stage to stage of
bewilderment, scarcely conscious of anything but what was occurring at
the moment. In a vague fashion I wondered how it was that these rooms
had never been discovered by the hundreds of Egyptologists who, since
the time of Napoleon, had explored the temple. That it had not been so
brought to light I felt convinced, otherwise the necessity would
scarcely have existed for such secrecy as had been shown when I was
conducted to it. Besides, I had studied my guide-books carefully on our
voyage up the river, and was quite convinced that no mention of such
places had been made in any one of them.

Having finished the speech with which I closed the preceding chapter,
the old man led me toward a doorway at the farther end of the room. The
posts which supported it, and which must have been something like ten
feet in width, were covered with hieroglyphics, as were the neighbouring
walls. On either side of the doorway stood two enormous kriosphinxes,
similar to those which had once lined the avenue between the Temples of
Karnak and Luxor. These had the bodies of lions and heads of rams, and
were as perfect as on the day when they had left the sculptor's hands,
who knew how many thousand years ago. Entering the archway, for archway
I should prefer to call it rather than door, I found myself standing
between two rows of life-sized statues, all excelling in workmanship,
and in the most perfect state of preservation. Though I was not
sufficiently learned in Egyptian history to be able to assign names to
them, I was nevertheless quite capable of appreciating their immense
value, and could well imagine the find they would prove to any
Egyptologist who, in days to come, might discover the secret of the
stone and penetrate into this mysterious place.

From what I remember, and speaking at a guess, the passage could
scarcely have been less than a hundred feet in length and must have
contained at least a dozen statues. At the farther end it opened into a
smaller chamber or catacomb, in the walls of which were a number of
niches, each one containing a mummy. The place was intolerably close and
was filled with an overpowering odour of dried herbs. In the centre, and
side by side, were two alabaster slabs, each about seven feet long by
three in width. A stone pillar was at the head of each, but for what
purpose the blocks were originally intended I have no idea.

At