ANTIQUITIES. 



413 



The tombs of the kings are about 

 six thousand four hundred paces 

 from the river. They have been 

 formed in a narrow valley, in the 

 centre of the mountain Libycus. 

 The ancient way thither is not 

 known, and the spot is now gained 

 by an artificial passage. These se- 

 pulchres occupy a large ravine, 

 which is flanked by the bed of a 

 torrent. The plan of one of these 

 tombs will be sufficient to explain 

 the general disposition of the rest. 



Every grot communicates with 

 the valley by a large gate, which 

 opens to a gallery lioUowed in the 

 rock : its breadth and height are 

 generally about twelve feet, and its 

 length is twenty paces to the second 

 gate, which opens to another gal- 

 lery of the same breadth, and is 

 twenty-four feet in length. To 

 the right and left of this gallery are 

 chambers of five feet in breadth 

 and ten feet long. There are found 

 paintings of arms; such as hatchets, 

 poignards, curvated sabres, straight 

 swords, lances, javelins, bows, ar- 

 rows, quivers, coats of mail, shields, 

 implements of industry, vases, and 

 trinkets of every kind. The de- 

 tail of preparing food is also repre- 

 sented. 



It is in one of these chambers 

 where we saw the two harps which 

 had been copied by Bruce. A 

 third gallery succeeds, of the same 

 dimensions as the former, and leads 

 to a chamber above the level of the 

 other apartments, which is eighteen 

 feet srjuare. From this chamber is 

 the entrance to a gallery of thirty- 

 four paces in length; there is also 

 an inclining gallery, whose length 

 is twenty-eight paces. At its ex- 

 tremity is a corridor of sixteen 

 paces, leading to a chamber of 

 eleven paces square, which is con- 



nected with another of the same 

 size by a gallery of six paces. A 

 square saloon then succeeds, sup- 

 ported by eight pillars : its length 

 is twenty paces, and its breadth 

 twenty. Here is the sarcophagus, 

 Avhich contained the mummy of the 

 king. The Romans made some at- 

 tempts to carry away this sarco- 

 phagus from the grotto where it is 

 deposited, they had even tried to 

 level the ground, in order to faci- 

 litate its removal : but they very 

 soon renounced the impracticable 

 enterprize. 



To the saloon of the sarcophagus, 

 another apartment succeeds, of 

 twenty-five paces in breadth, and 

 forty in length. The height of the 

 tomb is seven feet, its length eight, 

 and its breadth six: the total length 

 of the gallery is two hundred and 

 twenty-five paces. Th6 tombs of 

 the kings throughout their whole 

 extent are covered with pictui'es 

 and hieroglyphics ; but the greater 

 part are painted in fresco, and re- 

 present the most fantastic subjects 

 that can be conceived. There it 

 was that the Romans caught that 

 idea of the grot-esque, which formed 

 the principal subject of their com- 

 positions during the second and 

 third age of the empire. The 

 researches into Herculaneum have 

 discovered a great number of paint- 

 ings executed in a similar taste. 



One of the most interesting of 

 these grottos contains a sarcophagus 

 that is stiU entire and in its place. 

 Its length is sixteen feet, its height 

 tvyelve, and its breadth six. It 

 still preserves the Ud, adorned with 

 the effigy of the king, which is a 

 single-block of granite. The asto- 

 nishment that is felt, on reflecting 

 that this enormous mass was trans- 

 ported to the extremity of asubtcr- 



