Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/472

 discovered in 1859 the mummy of a certain Queen Aahhotep, probably the mother of King Ahmes or Amosis. The ornaments of this queen, now preserved in the Bulag museum, near Cairo, are of such marvellous workmanship that modern jewellers confess their inability even to imitate them. It seems probable that from another tomb in the Assassif hill also comes the Ebers papyrus, the "hermetic" book containing the pharmacopœia of the Egyptians at the time of the Thotmes dynasty.;

West of the chief eminence, and not far from the Sheikh Abd-el-Kurnah, another hill pierced with galleries like a rabbit-burrow, a series of terraces is

occupied by the Deir-el-Bahâri, an obituary chapel, which in later times was probably used as a Christian church. On its ruined walls Mariette brought to light some most interesting sculptures, representing diverse historical objects, amongst others the naval expedition sent by the Queen-Regent Hatshopsitu to the land of Punt, that is, either to South Arabia or the present Somaliland. In another tomb, known as the Rekhmara, are also depicted ethnographic scenes relating to the same land of Punt. A neighbouring grotto, for which Maspero and Brugsch had long been searching, has yielded a whole series of royal mummies, amongst which are those of Ahmes I., of Thotmes II., conqueror of Asia Minor, of Ramses II., the legendary Sesostris of the Greeks, of Seti I., builder of the marvellous hypostyle chamber.