Kings, which was discovered by M. Loret in 1898. Its frescoes had been
destroyed by the infiltration of water.

The fashion of royal burial in the great valley behind Der el-Bahari
was followed during the XVIIIth, XIXth, and XXth Dynasties. Here in the
eastern branch of the Wadiyen, now called the _Biban el-Muluk_, "the
Tombs of the Kings," the greater number of the mightiest Theban Pharaohs
were buried. In the western valley rested two of the kings of the
XVIIIth Dynasty, who desired even more remote burial-places, Amenhetep
III and Ai. The former chose for his last home a most kingly site.
Ancient kings had raised great pyramids of artificial stone over their
graves. Amenhetep, perhaps the greatest and most powerful Pharaoh of
them all, chose to have a natural pyramid for his grave, a mountain for
his tumulus. The illustration shows us the tomb of this monarch, opening
out of the side of one of the most imposing hills in the Western Valley.
No other king but Amenhetep rested beneath this hill, which thus marks
his grave and his only.

It is in the Eastern Valley, the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings
properly speaking, that the tombs of Thothmes I and Hatshepsu lie, and
here the most recent discoveries have been made. It is a desolate spot.
As we come over the hill from Der el-Bahari we see below us in the
glaring sunshine a rocky canon, with sides sometimes sheer cliff,
sometimes sloped by great falls of rock in past ages. At the bottom
of these slopes the square openings of the many royal tombs can be
descried. [See illustration.] Far below we see the forms of tourists
and the tomb-guards accompanying them, moving in and out of the openings
like ants going in and out of an ants' nest. Nothing is heard but the
occasional cry of a kite and the ceaseless rhythmical throbbing of the
exhaust-pipe of the electric light engine in the unfinished tomb of
Ramses XI. Above and around are the red desert hills. The Egyptians
called it "The Place of Eternity."

[Illustration: 350.jpg THE TOMB-MOUNTAIN OF AMENHETEF III, IN THE
WESTERN VALLEY, THEBES.]

In this valley some remarkable discoveries have been made during the
last few years. In 1898 M. Grebaut discovered the tomb of Amenhetep
II, in which was found the mummy of the king, intact, lying in its
sarcophagus in the depths of the tomb. The royal body now lies there
for all to see. The tomb is lighted with electricity, as are all the
principal tombs of the kings. At the hea