Frank and Fred selected two of the donkeys, and their saddles were brought out and placed on the beasts. The Doctor likewise obtained a donkey; but he afterward said that the most agreeable way of riding the animal was to walk by his side. His donkey had a habit of sitting down suddenly, very much to the inconvenience of the rider, and no doubt induced by the weight of the latter. Frank had not gone a dozen yards before he was pitched over the head of his steed, to the great amusement of Fred. While the latter was laughing over the discomfiture of his cousin, he found himself stretched on the sand, and speedily concluded that the similarity of position left no farther reason for being amused. They remounted with greater caution; but it was observed that they had quite enough of saddle exercise on their way to the tombs, and concluded to walk back to the boat.
The rest of the party met with varied mishaps on their way to the tombs, but nobody was seriously hurt, and all were inclined to laugh over the incidents of the ride, particularly those that happened to others. It is a curious circumstance that it is much more ludicrous to see some one else pitched over the head of a donkey, and left sprawling in the sand, than to be pitched over and sprawled yourself. Of course we refer only to Egypt in commenting on this matter; but it has been said in America that the fun of a mishap or a practical joke is never as apparent to the victim of it as to his friends.
But the troubles of the ride were forgotten when the party reached the tombs which they went to see.
INTERIOR OF A TOMB AT BENI-HASSAN.
The tombs of Beni-Hassan are hewn in the solid rock, some in a cliff overlooking the Nile, and others in a valley running back from the river. The rock is a soft limestone, which is very easy to quarry, and some geologists think it was even softer five thousand years ago than at present. A great deal of labor was devoted to it, and the inscriptions on the walls are so numerous that very little space is left uncovered. Some of the tombs are entered through door-ways on a level with the floor, and others can only be reached by means of ladders.
