166 
DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
these caves are found the representations of the 
two harps and harpers described by Bruce, which 
are supposed by Browne to have been delineated 
from memory, rather than from the figures them- 
selves, but which the Erench philosophers who 
visited these excavations in a more secure man- 
ner than former travellers had done, do not ac- 
cuse of inaccuracy. In many of these subterra- 
neous recesses, the sculptures represent human 
sacrifices. Strabo relates that the sepulchres of 
the kings were forty in number, while Diodorus 
Siculus, from the ancient Egyptian records, enu- 
merates forty-seven, though he adds, that, during 
the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, only seventeen were 
open,* the Egyptians having probably concealed 
them to prevent violation. At present only nine 
are accessible. The mummies are now procured 
from the excavations in the more elevated part of 
the mountain.t The pensile gardens of Thebes 
are mentioned by Pliny,i but no particular descrip- 
tion of them has been preserved. The origin of 
this city ascends to a period of unfathomable anti- 
quity. The ancient city was destroyed before the 
era of authentic history, and its power and magni- 
* Diodor. Sicul. a Heyne, Vol. I. p. U2. 
t According to Norden, grottos or excavations of this 
kind in the vicinity of Assiut are denominated Sababinath. 
Norden s Travels, Vol. II. p. 35. 
X Phn. Nat. Hist. 1. xxxvi. c. 14?. 
