. The Nile. Notes for travellers in Egypt . he valley contains the tombs of the kings of the XlXthand XXth dynasties, and is generally known as the EasternValley; a smaller valley, the Western, contains the tombsof the last kings of the XVIIIth dynasty. These tombsconsist of long inclined planes with a number of chambersor halls receding into the mountain sometimes to adistance of 500 feet. Strabo gives the number of theseroyal tombs as 40, 17 of which were open in the timeof Ptolemy Lagusj in 1835 21 were known, but thelabours of M. Mariette were successful in bringing fourmore to
. The Nile. Notes for travellers in Egypt . he valley contains the tombs of the kings of the XlXthand XXth dynasties, and is generally known as the EasternValley; a smaller valley, the Western, contains the tombsof the last kings of the XVIIIth dynasty. These tombsconsist of long inclined planes with a number of chambersor halls receding into the mountain sometimes to adistance of 500 feet. Strabo gives the number of theseroyal tombs as 40, 17 of which were open in the timeof Ptolemy Lagusj in 1835 21 were known, but thelabours of M. Mariette were successful in bringing fourmore to light. The most important of these tombs are :— No. 17. Tomb of Seti I., 1366, commonly called Belzonis Tomb, because it was discovered by that bravetraveller in the early part of this century; it had alreadybeen rifled, but the beautiful alabaster sarcophagus, whichis now preserved in the Soane Museum in London, wasstill lying in its chamber at the bottom of the tomb. Theinscriptions and scenes sculptured on the walls form parts of. 3T4 NOTES FOR TRAVELLERS IN EGYPT. the Book of being in the under-world; it is quiteimpossible to describe them here, for a large number ofpages would be required for the purpose. It must be suffi-cient to draw attention to the excellence and beauty of thepaintings and sculptures, and to point out that the wholeseries refers to the life of the king in the under-world. Thetomb is entered by means of two flights of steps, at the bottomof which is a passage terminating in a small this are two halls having four and two pillars respec-tively, and to the left are the passages and small chamberswhich lead to the large six-pillared hall and vaulted chamberin which stood the sarcophagus of Seti I. Here also is annclined plane which descends into the mountain for a con-siderable distance; from the level of the ground to thebottom of this incline the depth is about 150 feet; thelength of the tomb is nearly 500 feet. The designs onthe wal
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