It is not unusual, in the more expensively prepared mummies, to find the _inside_ of the _outer_ or wooden case ornamented with figures in outline; but I do not recollect any such that were coloured: the greatest labour appears to have been always bestowed on the second or internal coffin, or case which immediately contains the body. The outer, or wooden case, which is generally believed to be made of sycamore-wood, is sometimes wrought out of the solid, that is, excavated; and sometimes composed of several pieces joined by _dowels_, or wooden pegs, instead of nails. I never saw an instance of iron or metal being employed. This outer case is also usually of considerable thickness, viz., from two to three or four or more inches, and generally coated thickly with distemper colour, on which is painted various emblematical devices in a very inferior manner; the mask or face sometimes gilded, sometimes red (male), sometimes yellow (female). I never observed any appearance of varnish having been employed on the colours of this outer case. On wrenching open the upper and lower portions of this outer or wooden case, which are united by flat tenons received in sockets and fastened by pegs, and apparently glue in the joint, the second or _inner case_ appears. This case has not any wood in its composition, except a small piece at the bottom, or foot-board, on which the feet of the mummy rest. This case is composed of at least ten or a dozen layers of linen of the same quality as that which envelopes the body; these laminæ are very firmly cemented together by a material apparently glue and lime, or plaster. This case is originally moulded on a rude mass or model of clay and straw, of the size and form of the swathed body intended to be afterwards contained in it, and when sufficiently dry to retain its form, the clay and straw are scraped or scooped out from the back part which is left open, or rather apparently cut open for that purpose, and then the body is introduced, and the edges of the aperture brought together and secured by a very simple and ingenious method of drum-like bracing, and the seam and lacing covered afterwards with a strip of cloth, glued or cemented, over them. This, with the foot-board, which is braced in or secured in the same manner, rendered the body as it were, hermetically sealed in its chrysalis case.