896 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



apart, its depth has diminished eleven feet ; and the prediction of 

 Strabo may yet be accomplished, that some time both the Sea of Azof 

 and the Blac-k Sea will become a waste tract of intermingled lakes 

 and morasses. The largest river of Central Asia, the Oxus, accord- 

 ing to the unanimous testimony of ancient authors, rolled its waters 

 into the Caspian Sea. In modern times it has emptied into the Sea 

 of Aral. But it seems to be about to resume its ancient channel to 

 the Caspian, an event which would revolutionize the conditions of 

 commerce between Europe and Asia. The Oxus would then recover 

 its renown as a great highway of nations. The Euphrates also is 

 leaving its ancient bed from a point above Killah, and taking a more 

 westerly course. Year by year the new channel receives a large 

 proportion of its waters ; the stream that adheres to the old channel 

 has already ceased to produce the inundations winch, like those of the 

 Nile, can alone fertilize its borders; the country adjacent to the 

 ruins of Babylon begins to wear the aspect of hopeless aridity ; and 

 the ancient capital of Semiramis and Nebuchadnezzar will soon make 

 the centre of a desert. Nor does the river promise to fertilize a new 

 district, but loses itself in the innumerable lakes and marshes which 

 extend to the Persian Gulf. 



OPENING OF A TOMB AT THEBES. 



The London Literary Gazette publishes a description of the recent 

 opening of a tomb in the vicinity of Thebes, Egypt, by a party of 

 English gentlemen engaged in explorations, which possesses some pe- 

 culiar features of novelty and interest. The preliminary part of the 

 description is taken up with an account of the locality and methods 

 of exploration followed ; the disappointment experienced in finding 

 that nearly all the tombs, laid open by tedious and expensive excava- 

 tion in the side of a valley, had been previously opened and ransacked, 

 and the final discovery of a tomb which had escaped previous visita- 

 tion. Subsequent events, however, showed that even this tomb had 

 not remained in possession of its original occupants, but had been 

 taken possession of by an Egyptian of rank, belonging to some much 

 later dynasty, who was now in turn disturbed by the present ex- 

 plorers. 



The entrance to the tomb, which was walled up with stones laid 

 in cement, having been broken into, a rock-cut hall and winding tun- 

 nel were revealed. The last descended to a depth of twenty feet into 

 the heart of the rock, its sides at the termination being pierced with 

 doorways leading to chambers. At this point we take up the narra- 

 tion as detailed by one of the explorers : 



Beginning with the chamber opening to the north, I shall designate 

 it as No. 1, distinguishing the others as Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in the rota- 

 tion of east, south, and west. 



No. 1, being not quite ten feet long, and five feet six inches in 

 breadth, was little more than large enough to accommodate its con- 

 tents. Side by side on the floor, and almost in contact, there was a 

 heavy and rather ill-finished mummy case, painted in white and blue, 

 of the usual form, shaped Hke the swathed body, and a plain, un- 

 smoothed deal shell or box, dovetailed at the corners. On the breast 



