164 Mr. Robert Mond [May 22, 



or in the rocky surface of the hill in its vicinity. A site having been 

 allotted on the eastern slope on one of the hills, the tirst step would 

 be to excavate a section so as to obtain a good face of rock, thus 

 constituting a courtyard. 



In certain cases the excavation had to he deepened and a sunk 

 courtyard made to obtain a proper section. This rock-face and the 

 other walls of the courtyard were in some instances decorated with 

 statues of the deceased, memorial tablets or stela and colonnades 

 either rock-cut or built in imitation of the court of a temple. The 

 jambs and architrave of the main door situated in the centre of the 

 rock-face was also frequently decorated with the name and title of the 

 deceased. A short passage gave access to a rectangular chamber, 

 the longer side parallel to the rock face and approximately of the 

 same length. When the Avidth of a chamber exceeded two metres, 

 square columns were left to support the roof. From this chamber, 

 in the more ambitious chapels, a passage frequently decorated with 

 hunting scenes opened facing the main door, which either ended 

 in a niche or led into a large square chamber, at the end of which 

 would be either a niche or small chapel containing the statue of 

 the deceased. In some of the larger chapels these halls opened into 

 smaller chambers destined to receive the offerings made at the 

 funeral celebrations. The coffin or sarcophagus containing the em- 

 balmed remains was placed in an underground chamber, to which 

 access was gained either by sloping passages or vertical shafts. The 

 entrances to these passages or shafts were carefully dissimulated, 

 but they were usually made in the floor of the main passage or one 

 of the side chambers, or on the right-hand side of the courtyard, 

 so that the chamber with which the shaft communicated would 

 be situated below the chapel. False or unused pits were also 

 employed to mislead unscrupulous grave robbers, who have 

 abounded in Egypt ever since it became customary to bury 

 valuables with the deceased. These rough excavations, made 

 with chert, flint, and bronze tools, having been completed, the 

 architect's next task was to prepare the surface of the walls for 

 the decoration by the sculptors and painters. As previously 

 mentioned, the character of the rock varies considerably, and. where 

 the quality of the rock permitted, sculpture and painting were applied 

 directly on it, and flaws were mended with lime-plaster and the 

 inserting of pieces of limestone ; but when the surface was not 

 sufficiently smooth or homogeneous to lend itself for the purpose of 

 bas-reliefs or the painting being directly applied to the stone, either 

 walls of sun-dried brick were built, or a mud plastering mixed with 

 chaff was applied to the rock wall. 



These sun-dried bricks owe their peculiar strength and toughness 

 to the fact that the fine silt which is deposited from the Nile floods, 

 on being mixed with water in which straw chaff has been fermented, 



