A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

312 WESTERN THEBES.
those bold inventions Avliich had marked the
days of her glory.
This afternoon we rode all over the plain to
the northward of Western Thebes, which evident-
ly contained the great Necropolis of the ancient
city, as the whole ground is one continued series
of vast mummy catacombs disposed in long gal-
leries and suites of chambers, very neatly con-
structed, but without either painting or sculpture,
or even plaster, to conceal the rudeness of the
walls and partitions. The entrances to these
sepulchral chambers very much resemble the
catacombs of the new cemetery of Kensall Green,
and I should imagine that the mummies must
have been disposed in the same manner that the
coffins are placed there. But not a single
mummy is now forthcoming; the living have
succeeded to the dead, and Arab villages are
established in the burial vaults of the old
Thebans.
As to ascertaining or determining the limits
of ancient Thebes, we have vainly endeavoured
to do so. The whole plain, from the western
bank of the Nile to the foot of the rocky moun-
tains which contain the royal tombs, is more or
less scattered with the fragments of sacred edi-
fices and their vast accessories, or with the yawn-