Colonel Straton on the Sepulchral Caverns Egypt. 347 
In the cavern where the dancing girls are painted on the walls, 
the first figure, on entering, is a male harper sitting, as is still 
the practice in these countries, with his legs across : his head is 
shaved ; and the harp has nine strings. Then follows the 
group of dancing girls, represented in Plate X. The upper 
part of the dress is red, and resembles hair ; the lower part 
is white and transparent, without any folds. On a pannel 
above, in the same room, there is a row of five females seat- 
ed, some on camp stools, others on chairs with four legs. Each 
of these females holds a lotus flower in the right hand, turned 
towards the nose, and the left hand rests on the knee. In the 
pannel under the dancers, is another row of seated females ; the 
hair is matted, thickened, and made wig-like, with grease or oil, 
exactly as the Nubians of the present day wear the hair 
On the adjoining wall is a seated female, having on her knee 
a young boy, his face turned towards ^ her, holding the crook in 
his right hand, and the sacred Tor in his left, with a figure of 
the Scarabaeus suspended from his neck, like the Bulla worn by 
the Roman youth of distinctioti. From the attributes, it is 
probably meant to represent Isis and Orus. 
On another wall are two harpers cross legged. One of the 
harps has seven, and the other fourteen strings. 
The Alme, or dancing-girls of the present day, make use of 
the same instruments that are represented in Plate X. with the 
exception of the harp, which is unknown to the present inhabi- 
tants of Egypt. A mummy-pit adjoins the chambers, containing 
several mummies in a tolerable state of preservation, but none 
of them were in cases. They were all in linen, which was wrapped 
round in vast quantities ; this linen had a border and fringe, and 
was, as well as the thread, in perfect preservation. I had been 
assured that rolls of papyrus were often found under the armpits, 
or between the thighs of the mummy, but here I looked for it in 
vain. I bought some rolls from peasants, who asserted that they 
found it thus placed. Some sandals were also brought to us, found 
in a sepulchre : one pair was very perfect, the upper part green, 
and the toe turned up, like the present Turkish slipper. The 
* I have been told, that the oil used for thickening the hair is obtained fronts 
the oily grain of the sesamum, (Sesaraum Indicum,) which abounds ; it serves to 
protect the head from the sun. 
