RESTED IN THE SHADE OF THE TEMPLE OF KURNA.
WE ENTERED THE RAMESSEUM.
Overhead was an unclouded sky; at each side rose yellow limestone cliffs glaring in the noonday sun, and underneath white sand and limestone chips reflected the burning rays. Not a sign of vegetation relieved the eye in this waterless gorge during our one hour's ride from Kurna to the Tombs.
"Backsheesh! backsheesh!" demanded the donkey boys, as we dismounted.
"Why do you want backsheesh now?"
"Boy don't want backsheesh, donkey want backsheesh, donkey eat hay while man in tombs."
In order that the Tombs may be satisfactorily examined by visitors, the government has built an electric light plant in the gorge and the thirty-five tombs are illuminated by electricity. Our party entered and examined the six of these tombs which are considered the most interesting. At each of these an Egyptian guard politely scrutinized the "Services des Antiquites," although it was printed in French that he could not read, and then permitted the holder to enter.
