THE CAVE OF THE CROCODILES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1900, 3 July 1890, Page 35

THE CAVE OF THE CROCODILES.

By ah Old Traveller. The sudden demand for mummied oats reminds me of a visit paid many years ago to the famous crocodile pits of Maabdeh. It may be safely assumed that those who have visited Maabdeh are very few. It lies some distance from the Nile, behind Manfaloot, where to one stopped in the good old dabeeh days, and the modern steamers only touch ; moreover, the pits are in the desert itself, some hours' ride. "Murray," prudent as usual, does not encourage the adventurons. The editor of the Egyptian handbook admits that his brief remarks are not based on personal knowledge, and the errors therein show that they are not based upon a trustworthy report. It is no unwarrantable presumption, therefore, to fancy that these verj curious antiquities are rather discussed thnn known. My own experience wasduetoaccident. Dropping down the Nile, very late in the spring of 1863, our dabeeh was becalmed off Manfaloot, and the dragoman, badgered by two young Britons to find them sport, unwittingly named THE PITS OF MAABDEH. He proposed simply to ride thither and return — that, indeed, is a day's journey. But, as it chanced, the legend of the pits had been familiar to me as long as I can recollect. In the beginning of this century a certain Mr Leigh, M.F., explored them, with most disastrous results. His narrative may be found in a quaint old child's book called •'Winter Evenings," extracted, doubtless, from some record which I never cauie across. "Murray" gives no reference to the story. My recollection cannot be trusted to tell what happened to Mr Leigh precisely ; but I know ,that one of his followers died to tfce

oavern, another was lost, a third escaped after ] awful sufferings ; and finally they had to run the gauntlet of an infuriated population to j the riverside, whence the pasha, or somebody, sent them prisoners to Cairo. On the whole, it was a very striking adventure, a special favourite in our nursery. So when the dragoman suggested in this casual way a visit to the crocodile pits of Maabdeh it seemed very strange and thrilling to my mmd — as though he had proposed a trip to fairyland by excursion train. Of course his modest programme was derided ; we would follow the steps of the unfortunate M.P. to the bitter end. Our dragoman became serious now. He urged that it was much too late in the day for starting, and we had to submit ; doubtless the good man hoped a wind would spring up in the night. But he was disappointed. Long before dawn on the morrow we set out ; and in the afternoon we reached the spot. The entrance of the pits is AN OBLONG FISSURE IN THE MIDDLE OF A SMALL PLATEAU AMONG THE MOUNTAINS —that is, no other entrance was known in 18G3. There are no facilities for descent ; one may let oneself fall sheer a matter of 9ft or 10ft and clamber up again with the help of a donkey boy's cummerbund. I do not recollect that u;<ly possibilities of this situation struck us at all ; but perhaps some measures had been taken to make sure that the boys did not desert. One of them, indeed, headed the advance ; our dragoman had never been down before. The Arab bc-jan by stripping completely, and he advised us to do the same. Then wo lighted a candle each, and in single file dived into the bowels of the rock. At a few feet distant the passage narrowed rapidly until there was only room to crawl along on one's stomach. This first gallery may be some 50yds long; it opens on a chamber spacious enough, but a natural cavern evidently. On the further side runs another gallery as cramped as the last, heated like a furnace, reeking with foul air, vile stench of bats, and pungent fumes of bitumen. Then we understood why the Arab had stripped. This frightful passage may be 100 yds long, or the double of that, or more — one is unused to measure distances crawling like a snake on one's stomach. At the end lies another chamber, of good height apparently, if the floor were cleared ; but the whole area is blocked with enormous masses of stones packed as close as they will stand, over which one has to clamber stooping. Here MYRIADS OF BATI assail the explorer, blowing out his oandle instantly, clinging to his hair and beard in ropes. A moment more, and they vanish with a soft rustle of countless wings, such as I have heard in other climes when the sandgrouse fly overhead at dawn and evening. On the opposite side of this vault, the first trace of handiwork is observed— a square doorway. I myself would have been quite satisfied to drop the track of Mr Leigh's footsteps at this point. But the dragoman was interested now — taking, perhaps, a professional pride in putting the business through successfully. He could speak with the guide also. So we went on still upon our stomachs, for an indefinite time, in an atmosphere beyond analysis and heat beyond example in the upper air. It was here, probably, that Mr Leigh's, party broke down, for I .think they did not reach the end. We did. After some hundreds of yards, as it seemed, slowly the passage heightened — one could get upen one's knees ; and, then the, flooring changed from smooth granite to a soft uneven compost. I lowered my oandle to observe. WE WERE CROUCHING ALONG OVER KNEADE© ETOMAN FOBMS I A very strange spectacle, which seemed to us an embodied iiightmare under the excitement of that awful journey. I think I was almost delirious. No soene recurs to my memory now more fresh and striking than that black cave, with a slender glow of oandle-light here and there, and the half-naked figares glistening with perspiration stretched out above a pavement of heads and limbs. Many of the faces had been gilt, and they shone flickering, here and there, upon the dusky mass. We coul I not get any explanation of the extraordinary mangling. The Arab said things had been so ever since he could recollect. It must be supposed that these were mammies of priests aud attendants buried with the sacred reptiles in their charge— great personages, some of them, evidently. Their families had been laid with them ; for there were as many women perhaps as men, and a great number of children. Every one had been stripped and torn to pieces— all those on the surface, at least, for a hurried examination failed to show how deep THE SEEEIED PILE OF BODIES lay. Mingled with them were sheets and strips of cloth, fragments of sarcophagi, and quantities of women's hair in scalps -wigs possibly. On the other side o£ this vault lie the hindmost battalions of the crocodile host— innumerable. Stauding on the human pavement, there is just space enough above and in front to observe the manner of their disposal, for the topmost layer or two has been pulled down. If it were not certain for other reasons that the present entrance is not that formerly used, the arrangement of these crocodile mummies would prove it. They filled the space completely from floor to arch and side to side until the upper ones were removed — neatly aligned, tail to head, head to tail, with palm leaves laid between, and the interstices filled up with countless multitudes of young and eggs ; these latter tied in bundles and WBAPPED EACH ONE IN A STRIP OF CLOTH. Since every layer was piled to the roof, it is manifest that tho^e who arranged them must have worked backwards; and since it would be as easy to drag an elephant through those passages as to drag the superb specimens here — unequalled in my experience—of alligators and crocodiles, they must needs have been brought from the other side. The demonstration is complete, for we had extreme difficulty in drawing behind us two beads chosen from among the smaller ones. Moreover, it is unlikely that the bats used that long subterranean outlet ; they are probably acquainted with a better and nearer route. I fancy that the enormous blocks of stone upon the floor of the second chamber had been put there, after excavation, out of the way. No one can form an idea. HOW FAB THE CAVERNS EXTENDED. Removing the top layers as they went, and ontwltag beneath the roof, Arab*, we were

told, had explored a vault beyond this and found more" crocodiles still 6n the further side. The mountain, they said, was Stuffed with them ; and it is possible. Assuredly the pits are a mine of nitrate ; and this exportation of mummies for manure may effect one good thing at least, by causing them to be emptied. Treasures may lie beyord the vaults where those myriads of crocodiles are stored.— St. James' Gazette.