Near Cairo are some ancient catacombs. These are situated beneath a mound in the middle of a plain, adjoining the pyramids of Saccara, which lies beneath the sandy surface. Dr. Clarke ascended into them by means of a rope-ladder. "The first chamber he entered contained scattered fragments of mummies, which had originally been placed on a shelf cut out of the rock, and extending breast-high the whole length of this apartment: there are two tiers or stories of these chambers, one above the other, all presenting the same appearance of violation and disorder, and smelling very offensively. At some distance from these, which were apparently appropriated to man, are those in which the sacred birds and animals were deposited; one apartment of which Dr. Clarke found filled with earthen jars entire, laid horizontally in tiers on one another, something like bottles in a wine-bin. They were about fourteen inches long, and conical in form, the cover being fixed on by some kind of cement; when opened, they were found to contain the bodies of birds (the ibis), with white feathers tipped with black, or the heads of monkeys, cats, and other animals, all carefully bandaged up in linen. Old Cairo sustained all the evils of a great famine in the year of Christ 597. We adopt the account given of this calamity from the Encyclopædia Londinensis:--"Of the number of poor who perished with hunger," says Abtollatiph, "it is impossible to form any probable estimate; but I will give the reader some information on this subject, whence he may form a faint idea of the mortality with which Egypt was then afflicted. In Mesr, and Cairo, and their confines, wherever a person turned he could not avoid stumbling over some starved object, either already dead, or in the agonies of death." From Cairo alone nearly five hundred were daily carried out to the burying-ground; and so great was the mortality in Mesr, that the dead were thrown out without the walls, where they remained unburied. But afterwards, when the survivors were no longer able to throw out the dead bodies, they were left wherever they expired, in the houses, shops, or streets. The limbs of the dead were even cut in pieces, and used for food; and instead of receiving the last offices from their friends, and being decently interred, their remains were attended by persons who were employed in roasting or baking them. In all the distant provinces and towns the inhabitants became entirely extinct, except in the principal cities, and some of the large towns, such as Kous Ashmunein, Mahalla, &c., and even there but a few survived.