650 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



and five feet in width. On the couch is extended the figure of a man. It is 

 probably of life size, and measures nine feet, four inches in length. The limbs- 

 are finely proportioned and disposed in an easy and graceful manner. The arms 

 are folded across the breast, and the fingers clasp a bunch of leaves resembling 

 the oak, reproduced with such fidelity to nature that they look like petrifications. 

 Every vein and serration of the leaf is perfect. The figure is partially nude, a 

 mantle or scarf crossing the breast and falling over the loins in graceful folds. The 

 face is strong and robust in outline, and the contour of the features is decidedly 

 Israelitish. The head is covered with a winged cap or helmet. At each corner 

 of the couch is a vase four feet, five inches high, covered with beautifully carved 

 flowers and leaves. They are in shape something like an amphora, except that 

 the bottom is flat and the handles affixed to the body of the vase. The neck is 

 thirteen inches in length and tapers gradually and gracefully. The vases are of 

 uniform size, although the carved designs are different. They measure in circum- 

 ference four feet, five inches. Suspended from the roof by delicate copper rods, 

 directly over the head of the recumbent figure, is a copper lamp of unique de- 

 sign, elegantly chased. At each corner of the mausoleum rises a carved pyramid 

 column, surmounted by caps that are unmistakably Doric. 



On two sides of the room are tombs of humbler design. They are side by 

 side, of uniform size, and twenty in number; ten on a side. Like the mausoleum, 

 they are carved out of the solid rock, and embellished with bas-reliefs. Their di- 

 mensions are as follows: Length, twelve feet; width, five feet; height, five feet. 

 The tops are covered with slabs, securely cemented. . On the front of each is a 

 raised scroll, covered with written characters similar to those on the panels of the 

 mausoleum. 



On the wall of the room opposite the entrance, are painted twenty-five faces, 

 no doubt portraits of those whose bones lie in the tombs. They are faded and 

 blurred, but still distinct enough to be deciphered. The colors used are red, yel- 

 low, black and white, and were evidently laid on with oil. The portraits are ex- 

 ecuted in a superior manner, and the anatomical portion of the features is- 

 preserved to an exact degree. 



After our first astonishment over these wonderful discoveries had in a meas- 

 ure subsided, we seized the tools, and set to work to open one of the tombs. It 

 was no easy task. Oar chisels would not cut the cement which held the slab in 

 place, and we were at last forced to batter the tomb to pieces. The walls were 

 thin, and a few blows of a heavy sledge-hammer shattered the freestone to atoms. 

 To our great surprise there lay before us not a few handfuls of crumbling dust, but 

 a splendidly preserved mummy, swathed in cloth covered with a thick varnish, 

 which emitted a pleasant aromatic odor not unlike balsam of fir. The mummy 

 measured nine feet one inch in length, and the cloth in which it was wrapped, 

 although of coarse texture, was skillfully woven. One of the party cut the wrap- 

 pings from the face, but did it so clumsily that the head crumbled into dust. 

 Portions of the hair remained sticking to the cloth, and your correspondent brought 

 some of it away with him. It is black, curly, and of fine texture. 



