At the temple of Hatasu began the gloomy ravine which led from the tombs of high dignitaries to those of the pharaohs. Between these two quarters was the tomb of the high priest Retemenof, the corridors and chambers of which occupied about one hectare of subterranean area.
The road to the ravine was so steep that men had to help the draught bulls, and push the funeral boat forward. The procession moved, as it were, along a cornice cut into the cliff side; at last they halted on a broad platform some hundreds of feet above the ravine counting from the lower bed of it.
Here was the door leading to the underground tomb which during his thirty years' reign the pharaoh had made for himself. This tomb was a whole palace with chambers for the pharaoh, for his family and servants, with a dining-room, bed-chamber and bath, with chapels consecrated to various gods, and finally with a well at the bottom of which was a small chamber where the mummy of the sovereign would rest for the ages.
By the light of brilliant torches the walls of all the rooms appeared covered with prayers, and also with pictures which represented every occupation and amusement of the departed: hunting, the building of temples, the cutting of canals, triumphal entries, solemnities in honor of the gods, battles of troops with their enemies, the labors of people.
And those were not sufficient: the chambers were not only fitted with furniture, vessels, chariots, weapons, flowers, meat, bread, and wine, but they were furnished also with a multitude of statues. There were various portraits of Ramses XII, his priests, ministers, women, warriors, and slaves; for the sovereign could not dispense in the other world any more than in this with costly vessels, exquisite food and faithful servants.
When the funeral car halted at the entrance the priests drew forth from its sarcophagus the mummy of the pharaoh, and placed it on the earth resting against the cliff with its shoulder. Then Ramses XIII burned incense before the remains of his father, while Queen Niort's embraced the mummy by the neck, and said with weeping,
"I am thy sister, Niort's, thy wife; do not desert me, Thou great one!
Dost Thou desire really, my good father, that I should go? But if I go
Thou wilt be alone, and will any one be with thee?"
Now the high priest Herhor burned incense before the mummy, and Mefres poured out wine, saying,
"To thy second self we offer this, O Osiris-Mer-Amen-Ramses, sovereign of Upper and Lower Egypt, whose voice in the presence of the great god is truthful."
Then the wailers and the chorus of priests were heard: