clay have even been found adhering to some of the stone jambs of the doorways in the tombs of Thebes; and the numerous stamps buried near them were probably used on those occasions.

It may be a question whether these stamps were really seals, by which the impressions were made upon the clay; because the characters upon them are in relief, and because their edges are sometimes raised unequally around their faces, both arguing that they had been impressed with another seal. We even find them of a square form, with a stamp on all the sides, and made of the same materials; which is a clay mixed with fine ashes, and afterwards burnt, the exterior being of a finer quality than the inside. It may also be said that the red ochrous colour, with which they are sometimes stained, was imparted to them from the seal that stamped the impression; though, on the other hand, as the colour frequently extends halfway up the whole length, it is evident that they were dipped into this red mixture for some purpose. Again, if they were mere impressions, and not used as seals, it is difficult to understand the reason

Seals found near the tombs at Thebes.

1. 2. An instance of one with a raised edge round the stamped part.

3. Another stained with red ochre from a to b.

4. Style of the inscriptions on some of them.

5. A brick stamped in a similar manner.

of their being so stamped, and buried near the tombs: unless, indeed, they were passports from the family, or the priest who had the superintendence of the tomb, to permit strangers to visit it. They generally bear the name of the person of the adjacent tomb, with that of his wife; and sometimes the same characters occur on different ones, which vary also in size. They are mostly of a conical shape, about a foot in length; the circular face bearing the inscription being about three inches in diameter; and they appear to be made for holding in the hand, and for giving rather than receiving an impression. The characters were probably first put upon them, when unburnt, from a mould. This they afterwards imparted to the clay seals; and the red liquid, into which they were dipped, was intended to prevent their adhering.

Similar seals were used for securing the doors of temples, houses, and granaries.

Tombs were built of brick and stone, or hewn in the rock, according to the position of the Necropolis. Whenever the mountains were sufficiently near, the latter was preferred; and these were generally the most elegant in their design and the variety of their sculptures, not only at Thebes, but in other parts of Egypt. Few, indeed, belonging to wealthy individuals were built of masonry, except those at the Pyramids in the vicinity of Memphis.

The sepulchres of the poorer classes had no up

Several are met with in the British Museum and other European

per chamber. The coffins were deposited in pits in the plain, or in recesses excavated at the side of a rock, which were closed with masonry, as the pits within the large tombs. Mummies of the lower orders were buried together in a common repository; and the bodies of those whose relations had not the means of paying for their funeral, after being "merely cleansed by some vegetable decoctions, and kept in an alkaline solution for seventy days*," were wrapped up in coarse cloth, in mats, or in a bundle of palm sticks, and deposited in the earth.

Some tombs were of great extent; and when a wealthy individual bought the ground, and had an opportunity during a long life of making his family sepulchre according to his wishes, it was frequently decorated in the most sumptuous manner. And so much consequence did the Egyptians attach to them, that people in humble circumstances made every effort to save sufficient to procure a handsome tomb, and defray the expenses of a suitable funeral. This species of pomp increased as refinement and luxury advanced; and in the time of Amasis and other monarchs of the 26th Dynasty, the funeral expenses so far exceeded what it had been customary, to incur during the reigns of the early Pharaohs, that the tombs of some individuals far surpassed in extent, if not in splendour of decoration, those of the kings themselves.

Many adorned their entrances with gardens, in which flowers were reared by the hand of an * Herodot. ii. 88. Vide infrà, on embalming, p. 454. 459.

attached friend, whose daily care was to fetch water from the river, or from the wells on the edge of the cultivated land; and I have myself found remains of alluvial soil brought for this purpose, and placed before some of the sepulchres at Thebes.

It is reasonable to suppose that in early times the tombs were more simple and of smaller dimensions; which is proved by the appearance of those at Thebes, and in the vicinity of Memphis. The tombs in the rock at the Necropolis of Thebes, of the time of Amunoph I. and other early monarchs of the 18th Dynasty, were smaller and more simple than those made at the close of that dynasty; and this display in the mode of decorating them, and extending their dimensions continued to increase, to the time of Amasis, when, as Herodotus states, the wealth of Egypt far surpassed that of any previous period. But as a detailed description of them would encroach too much on the limits of this work, I must be contented for the present with referring to my "Topography of Thebest;" where I have spoken of their dimensions and general plan, as well as the subjects that adorn the walls of their passages and chambers, nearly all of which are hewn in the limestone rock of the Libyan mountain.

Those tombs at Memphis and the Pyramids, which are of masonry, differ in their plan, and in many instances in the style of their sculptures. The subjects, however, generally relate to the

* I have indicated some of these in my Survey of Thebes.
+ Vide p. 124. et seq.

manners and customs of the Egyptians; and parties, boat scenes, fishing, fowling, and other ordinary occupations of the people, are portrayed there, as in the sepulchres of Thebes.

The tombs of the kings at Thebes are principally of Pharaohs of the 18th and 19th Dy. nasties; the oldest in the eastern valley, where they are nearly all situated, being of Remeses I., the grandfather of the conqueror of the same name. That of the third Amunoph is in the western valley, with two others of an old and uncertain era. They have likewise been mentioned in my "Topography of Thebes*;" where their plans, and the subjects of their sculptures, are described as of the sepulchres of private individuals.

MOURNING FOR THE DEAD.

"When any one diedt, all the females of his family, covering their heads and faces with mud, and leaving the body in the house, ran through the streets, with their bosoms exposed, striking themselves, and uttering loud lamentations."§ Their friends and relations joined them as they went, uniting in the same demonstrations of grief; and when the deceased was a person of consideration, many strangers accompanied them, out * Topogr. of Thebes, p. 100. et seq.

+ Herodotus (ii. 85.) says “ a person of rank;" but the same lamentation was made by the family, whatever his station in life might be; the only difference being that the funeral was not attended by strangers, out of respect to the deceased, when unknown or of low condition.

They were forbidden to cut themselves, as were the Jews. Lev. xix. 28.; Deut. xiv. 1. Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 380. This was a Syrian custom at the worship of Baal. 1 Kings, xviii. 28.

Vide Woodcut, No. 7. Vol. I. p. 256.