two or three* from Biljoradec, there exists a country, similar to that
of Siwah, its inhabitants less in number, and speaking the same
language. That region I should take to be the Minor Oasts of the
ancients. I speak of this place from mere report, and could gain
no morq accurate, or further account; perhaps it lies among the
mountains which traverse the great Desert near Ummesogeir, extending
towards the south.
I come now to the subject of the various catacombs, to be found
in the territory of Siwah, and which I was enabled more fully to
examine, as lying in more sequestered spots, and where I was less
liable to observation.
If I well understood my companion, an inhabitant of Siwah, there
are four principal places, where catacombs are found-. The first,
Belled-el- Kaffer; the second, Belled-el-Rumi; both these terms,
denote one and the same thing, namely, “ place or town of infidels; ’
the third is, El-Mota, or place of burial; the fourth, Belled-el-Cbamis,
or Gamis. My inquiries were in particular directed to El-Mota,
situated at the distance of about one mile north-east from Siwah. It
is a rocky hill, with a number of catacombs on the declivity, but the
most remarkable, are on the summit. There is a separate entrance
to each, and the descent inwards is gentle and gradual. The passage
from the aperture, leads to a door-way, from which the space of the
room is enlarged, and on each side, are smaller excavations for containing
the mummies. The stones rising from the threshold are
cut in a form that shews a door to have been formerly hung, and
to have closed the entrance. The catacombs are of different extent
and each is wrought with great labour and neatness of work, and
especially the uppermost, which contains no traces of any mummy.
* T h e distance from Biljoradec is not clearly expressed in the original.
In others are found various remains. I long, but in vain, searched
for an entire head: I found fragments, and especially of the occiput
in abundance, but none with any investiture remaining; and even
in the occiputs most entire I could not discover any stain or mark
of their once having been filled with resin. The cloth still adhered
to some ribs, but so decayed, that nothing could be further distinguished,
than that the stuff in which the mummy had been wrapt,
was of the coarsest kind.
The ground in all these catacombs has been dug and explored
in search of treasure, and I was told, by my guide, that in every
one of these sepulchres gold has been, and is yet sometimes,
found.
There is every probability that entire mummies might be discovered
in the catacombs at a greater distance to westward of
Siwah. I was credibly informed, that besides the open catacombs
on the mountains, there are others under ground, and the entrance
of which is to be found at no great depth; and that Biut-el-Nazari,
(houses of Christians, synonymous here to Infidels,) exist on both
sides of a long subterraneous passage, forming a communication,
between two catacomb-mountains. The.catacombs met with on
Gibel-el-belled, being the hill on which Siwah is built, are small,
and consist of a little antichamber, leading generally to two caverns
where the mummies were deposited. Of these the two most remarkable
are two large and high caverns on the north side; the
one is twenty, the other sixteen feet square, and both are open to
the north.
There are likewise two other caverns, of similar dimensions, but
not so lofty, to be seen westward of Siwah, and leading to Augila;
E 2