fosse and a
wall barred the further end of the cave; but he broke a passage
through, and found a second vault, in which stood an alabaster
sarcophagus, covered with hieroglyphics. He took possession of this and
sent it safely to Europe. His own account of these difficulties is
extremely interesting:

"Of some of these tombs many persons could not withstand the suffocating
air, which often causes fainting. A vast quantity of dust rises, so fine
that it enters the throat and nostrils, and chokes the nose and mouth to
such a degree, that it requires great power of lungs to resist it and
the strong effluvia of the mummies. This is not all; the entry or
passage where the bodies are is roughly cut in the rocks, and the
falling of the sand from the upper part or ceiling of the passage causes
it to be nearly filled up. In some places there is not more than the
vacancy of a foot left, which you must contrive to pass through in a
creeping posture, like a snail, on pointed and keen stones, that cut
like glass. After getting through these passages, some of them two or
three hundred yards long, you generally find a more commodious place,
perhaps high enough to sit. But what a place of rest! surrounded by
bodies, by heaps of mummies in all directions; which, previous to my
being accustomed to the sight, impressed me with horror. The blackness
of the walls, the faint light given by the candles or torches for want
of air, the different objects that surrounded me, seeming to converse
with each other, and the Arabs, with the candles or torches in their
hands, naked and covered with dust, themselves resembling living
mummies, absolutely formed a scene that can not be described. In such a
situation I found myself several times, and often returned exhausted and
fainting, till at last I became inured to it, and indifferent to what I
suffered, except from the dust which never failed to choke my throat and
nose; and though, fortunately, I am destitute of the sense of smelling,
I could taste that the mummies were rather unpleasant to swallow. After
the exertion of entering into such a place, through a passage of fifty,
a hundred, three hundred, or perhaps six hundred yards, nearly overcome,
I sought a resting-place, found one, and contrived to sit; but when my
weight bore on the body of an Egyptian, it crushed it like a band-box. I
naturally had recourse to my hands to sustain my weight, but they found
no better support; so that I sunk altoget