Avenue of Sphinges discovered at Ben-i-Hassan. 269 
tombs under them, the approach to which is by a shaft or an inclined plane 
of 45°; this was no doubt for letting down the bodies: there are also 
several perpendicular openings, perhaps to give light. The two northern- 
most temples are beautifully sculptured and painted: these have on them 
the name of Osorrsen the Second; also of AmonnertH Tuorua the First 
and Second, and the annexed prefix. 
Amongst the paintings wrestlers are described; also offerings to the 
deity : the leg of a spotted bull is the first thing presented, then birds, 
bread, and flowers of the lotus; rivers are also depicted, in which are fish, 
and the hippopotamus : these are beautifully finished, particularly the scales 
of the fish. Cuampotiion was three weeks copying the paintings in these 
temples, representing the mode of sowing, reaping, weaving, &c. On 
each side the door of the Northern temple is a tablet of hieroglyphics with 
dates, the two first lines on the right as you enter run thus (the name and 
prefix are those of OsorrseEn the First) : 
EF GOMER ATS BAS 
ee Pe eae a eT ae 
‘iS — Pe ee roe 
The roof is supported by, or rather six columns are left to support the roof, 
each cut to sixteen sides: they have been painted to represent red granite ; 
the roof is cut into three arches, and is decorated with yellow stars on a 
blue ground. The avenue of Sphinges, which I discovered, runs from the 
second temple to the Nile; the heads are off, and the horizontal sections of 
the necks alone are visible: these I should not have seen had it not 
blown hard for several days previous to my arrival at Ben-i-Hassan from 
Thebes, which dispersed the sand. At Thebes I had measured the distances 
between the Sphinges, that line the great street of Amonaph, which connects 
Luxor with Carnac ; they are nine feet apart: and on measuring the dis- 
tance between the circular stones lying in two lines from this temple at 
Ben-i-Hassan to the Nile, I found it agree exactly, and after a little search, 
