S52 
E G 
ping, which makes it probable that two friends were bn- 
ried here, who were unwilling to part even in death. Be¬ 
tides this, there were lateral chambers unornamented, 
and fitted with corpfes that had been embalmed with more 
or lefs care ; (hewing that though the tombs had been 
conftrudted and decorated by perfonsof confequence, they 
received not only the corpfes of the founders, but of their 
children, friends, relations, and perhaps all the fervants 
of their houfe. Several bodies fwathed up, 'but without 
any coffin, were lying on the ground, and there were as 
many of thefe as could be laid in a regular order. From a 
number of bodies which were not fwathed up, it appeared 
that circumcifion was a conftant rite among them, that de- 
pilation was not piradtifed among the women, that their 
liair was long and flexible, and the charafter of the head 
was in a fine ftyle. He next defcended with fome incon¬ 
venience into feveral deep pits, where he found fragments 
of more mummies, and large long pots of baked earth, 
with covers reprefenting human heads; they contained 
nothing but a kind of refin, the fubftance with which the 
mummies appeared to have been embalmed. 
The plan of thefe excavations is wholly inexplicable. 
There are.fome which are fo vaft and complicated, that 
one would take them for labyrinths, or fubterranean tem¬ 
ples. After palling many apartments, adorned in an ele¬ 
gant ftyle, we enter long and gloomy galleries, which 
wind backwards and forwards in numerous angles, and 
feem to ocupy a great extent of ground ; they are melan¬ 
choly, repulfive, and without any decoration ; but from 
time to time open into other chambers covered with 
hieroglyphics, and branch out into narrow paths that 
lead to deep perpendicular pits, which we defeend by 
refting our arms againft the fides, and fixing our feet into 
fteps that are cut in the rock. At the bottom of thefe 
pits are other adorned chambers ; and lower "(till, a fiefir 
feries of perpendicular pits, and horizontal chambers. 
It would require feveral days to form an idea of the dif- 
tribution of thefe fubterranean works, and to take plans 
of fuch intricate labyrinths ; if the magnificence displayed 
in the houfes of the living was ut all equal to that of 
thefe ultimate habitations, as vvq have fome reafon to 
fuppofe, from the fumptuous pieces of furniture painted 
in the tombs of the kings, how much muft we regret 
that no veftige of them remains ! What can have be¬ 
come of palaces that contained fuch opulence? how can 
they have difappeared ? they cannot be buried under the 
mud of the Nile, fince the quay which is before Luxor 
(hews, that the elevation which the foil has undergone is 
very inconfiderable. Were they built of unbaked, and 
therefore peri (liable, earth ? or did the great men, as 
well as the priefts, inhabit the temples, and the people 
only huts ? 
The interior of all thefe fepulehral chambers is coated 
over with a fmooth ftucco, on'which are painted, in 
every colour, fubje£ls of funereal procefiions, much lefs 
laboured indeed than the bas-reliefs, but equally intereft- 
ing, from tire fubjects which are reprefented ; the re- 
mains'of which are (till perfect:,; and atteft their extreme 
magnificence. The painted figures of the go’ds are here 
carried by priefts upon litters, with banners waving over 
their heads, and followed by perfonages bearing golden 
vafes-of feveral forms, calumets, arms, loaves of bread, 
victuals of different kinds, and coffers of various con- 
llruciions. 
Fragments of mummies..are here in plenty. Den,on 
offered an unlimited reward to any who fhouId procure 
him one whole, and untouched ; but the cupidity of the, 
yVrabs deprived him of fuch a curiofity; for they fell at 
(pairo the re(inwhich they find in the belly and lkuli of 
thefe mummies, and there is no preventing them from 
committing this violence on the dead ; and befide.s, the 
fear of felling one that might contain fome treufures, 
makes them always break the' outer wooden covering, 
and tear that of painted cloth, which wraps round the 
Y P T. 
whole, body, wherever much coft and pains have been 
taken in the embalming. 
The art of embalming the dead, was the peculiar pro¬ 
vince of the phyftcians ; and of which there were three 
modes of preparation. One was truly exquifite, appro¬ 
priated to the kings and nobles, and coft a talent of 
filver, or 25SI. 6s. 'Sd. fterling ; the fecond was for infe¬ 
rior perfons, and only amounted to twenty minse, or a 
fourth part of the former furri; and the third, being for 
the lower orders of the community, coft but a trifle. 
To prepare the mummies according to the firft or fuperior 
method, the embalmers took the cor-pfe, and with a 
crooked iron inftrument drew the brains through the 
noftiils, and filled up the vacuity with a variety of rich 
perfumes. A perfon, called the parafehiftis, then cut 
open the left fide of the belly, and drew out all the in¬ 
terlines ; another cleanfed the entrails, wafhing them 
with wine of palms, and perfuming them with feveral 
aromatic drugs ; the cavities were then filled with pounded 
myrrh, .caflia, &c. The incifion being fevved up, the 
corpfe was carefully anointed for thirty days with a balm 
calculated to flop up all the pores. At the expiration of 
this term, every part was covered with fillets of fine li¬ 
nen, overfpread with gum, and incrufted with the mod 
exquifite perfumes ; and this was done fo curioufly, that 
the very hairs bn the brows and eye-lids remained unin¬ 
jured, and the countenance was preferved fo admirably 
as to be eafily recognifed. The embalmers having thus 
prepared the body, delivered it to the relations, who 
pitt it in a wooden coffin, and placed it in an upright po- 
lition, either in a fepulchre or in one of their own apart¬ 
ments ; for many of the Egyptians kept their dead at 
home, efteeniing it a great comfort to behold the linea¬ 
ments of their anceffors, in this ftate of prefervation. 
The fecond mode of preparation w;ss effected by fyringing 
oil of cedar the common way, without incifion, and by 
•laying the body in nitre for the fpace of feventy days, at 
the expiration of which the entrails came away, flirunk 
and putrified, the nitre having corifurned the flefii, and 
left nothing but the (kin and bones : the corpfe was then 
delivered to the relations without farther ceremony. The 
third method, ufed for the lower clafs, was performed 
by cleanfing'the belly with injected lotions, and laying 
the corpfe in fait for feventy days, after which it was car¬ 
ried to the fepulchre. The method of embalming ufed 
by the modern Egyptians, according to Maillet, is to 
wafn the body feveral times with rofe-water ; which, he 
obferves, is more fragrant in that country than with us ; 
they afterwards perfume it with incenfe, aloes, and a 
quantity of other odours, of which they are by no means 
fparing ; they then bury the body in a winding-fheet, 
made partly of (ilk and partly of cotton, and moiftened, 
as is fuppofed, with fome fweet-feented water or liquid 
perfume, though Maillet ufes only the term moiflcncd ; 
this they cover with another cloth of unmixed cotton, to 
which they add one of the richeft fuits of clothes of the 
deceafed. 
Denon, purfuing his_rout to the extremity of Upper 
Egypt, vi filed Efneh and Etfu. The modern Efneh is 
the ancient Latopolis. Some remains are ft-ill vifible of 
its port or quay on the bank of the Nile, which has been 
often repaired, but, notwithftanding all that has been 
done for it, (fill it remains in a very miferable condition. 
This town contains the portico of a temple, which ap. 
pears to be one of the mod perfect monuments of ancient 
architecture. It is fituated near the bazar in'the great 
fquare, and would make an incomparable ornament to the 
fpot, if the inhabitants had any idea of its merit; but 
inftead of this they have deformed it by the moft mifera¬ 
ble ruined hovels, and have devoted it to the vileft pur- 
pofes. The portico is well preferved, and poffefies a great 
richnefs of fculpture: it is compbfed of eighteen co¬ 
lumns, with broad capitals ; all of which are noble and 
elegant. The hieroglyphics in relief, with which it is 
2 covered 
