The sevond area is about 140 feet by having on the south and north sides a row of Osiride pillars, connected w ith each other by two lateral corridors of circular columns, Three flights of steps lead to the behind the ( )si ride pillars, the cent re one having on each side a black granite stat nu of lIemeses II., the base of whose is cut to fit the talus of the ascent. Behind these columns, and on either side of the cent ral door, is a limestone pedestal, which, to judge the space left in the sculptures, most have once supported the sitting figure of a lion, or perhaps a statue of the king. Three entrances thence open into tine grand hall, each strengthened and beautified by a sculptured doorway of black granite, and between the two first columns of the ventral avenue, two pedestals supported (one on either side) two other statues of the king. Twelve form a line along the centre of this hall, and eighteen of smaller dimensions, to the right and left, com plete the total of the fort :I-eight supported its solid roof, studded with stars on an azure ground. To the hall, which measures I 00 feet succeeded three centrn1 and six lateral ehambers, indicating, by a small night of steps, the gradual ascent of the rock on which this edifice is constructed. Of nine, two only of the central apartments now remain. each supported by !lair columns, and each measured about :.10 feet by 55; but the vestiges of their walls, and appearance of 1 he rock. cc hich has been levelled to form an area around the exterior of the building, point 111.1t their original extent. The sculptures, much more interest ing than the architectural details, have suffered still wore from the hand of the destroyer; and of the nunly curi ous battle-seenes cc hich adorned its walls, four only now remain." Still southward is the village of Aledectiet ITaboo, which contains the ruins of two temples, of which we have not space to give a particular account. The smaller one eonsists of an open area 1725 feet by !s0, the north side being Mrtned of a row of (*.lit columns, through which access is obtained to a. transverse area, haying two pyramidal towers at its extre..• unity, iuni between them an entrance into an hypitth•al court with similar towers. Those lead into a court 60 feet long, with a colonnade on either side, and at its extremity an entrance into the sanctuary, w hi•h i$ surrounded by colon nades and chambers. The larger edifice is approached through a ()mums ;265 feet in length, at the end of which are two propylica leading into a large hyrethral court. At the further side of this court an entionce throng]) pylons is given into it very line peristyle court 1'23 feet by 1:t3 feet, at the extremity of which is the portico. The large court contains specimens of Caryatid columns.
\Ve now arrive at a different class of buildings—the tombs or catacombs, which consist of subterranean apartments and passages excavated out of the rock, and extending, over a vast tract of land in the neighbourhood of Thebes, 1:urtm. The two following detseriptions are from the writer previously quoted ; the first relates to one of the tombs of the kings, which was first opened by Belzoni :— " 'Ile tomb, which of all others stands pre-eminently con spicuous, as well 11)r the beauty of its s•ulpthre as the state of its preservation, is undoubtedly that discovered and opened by Belzoni. But the plan is far from being well regulated, and the deviation from one line of direction greatly injures its general effect I nor does the rapid descent by a staircase of twenty4intr feet in perpendicular depth, on a horizontal length of twenty-nine, convey so appropriate an idea of the entrance to the abode of death, as the gradual talus of other of these sepulchres. To this staircase succeeds a passage of
eighteen feet and a half Icy nine, including the imposts ; and, passing another door, a second staircase descends it) horizontal length twenty-fiye feet ; beyond which two doorways, and a passage of twenty-nine feet., bring you to an oblong chant her twelve feet by fourteen, where a pit. tilled up by Bel zoni, once appeared to form the utmost. limit. of the tomb. Part of its inner wall was composed of blocks of hewn stone, closely cemented together, and covered with a smooth cotit of stereo, like the other walls 1.1' this excavate] Pato entub, ( )n N11111'11 was painted a continuation of those subjects still adorn its remaining sides.
" Independent of the main object of this well, so admirably calculated to mislead, or at last check, the search of the curi ous and the spoiler, another advantage was thereby gained in the preservation or the interior part of the tomb, was effectually guaranteed from the destructive inroad of the rain-water. whose torrent its depth completely intercepted ; a faet whieli a storm, some y cans ago, by the havoc caused in the inner cambers, sadly demonstrated.
"The hollow sound of the wall almwe-mentioned, and a small aperture., betray ed the secret of its hidden chambers, and a palm-tree, supplying the place of the more classic rain, forced, on the well-known principle of that engine, the intermediate barrier, whose breach displayed the splendour of the succeeding hall, at once astonishing and delighting its discoverer, whose labours were so gratefully repaid.
" Its four pillars, a roof twenty-six feet square, are decorated, like the whole of the walls, ccith highly_ finished and well-preserved sculptures, which, from their vivid odours, appear lint the work of yesterday ; and near the centre of the inner wall, a few steps lead to a second hall of similar dimensions, supported by two pillars, but left in an unfinished state. the sculptors not having yet commenced the outline of the figures the draughtsmen had but just, com pleted. It is here that the first deviations from the general line of direction occur, which are still more rem:likable in the staircase that descends at its southern collier.
"'1'o this last succeed two passages, and a chamber seven teen feet by flai•teen, •ommunivatina hy ft door, earl y in the eentre of its inner wall, m ith the grand hall, which is tw(nty seven feet square, and suppo•ted by six pillars. (ht either side is a small opposite the angle of the first pillars, and the upper end terminates in a vaulted saloon, nineteen feet by thirty, in w hose centre stood au alabaster sarcophagi is, the kenotaph of the deceased Minn the immediate summit of all inclined plane, which, with a staircase on either side, descends into the heart of the argillaceous rock for distance ola hundred and fifty feet. This, like the ent ranee of the tomb and the first hall. wits closed and concealed by a ‘vall of masonry, which, coming (Wen with the base of the sarcophagi's, CI mipletolv masked the staircase it covered and levelled with the door.