Frank ran below for a copy of the book, and soon returned with it. As they neared the ruins of Karnak the youths compared the scene before them with the printed picture, and tried to imagine themselves carried back to the time of Rameses and Sethi, when the temple was perfect, and not a stone of the vast mass had been displaced from its proper position. [Illustration: A "BARIS," OR FUNERAL-BOAT.] "A procession is approaching the temple," said the Doctor, "in one of the celebrations for which the ancient Egyptians were famous. You see it passing along a raised causeway to the gate which admits to the grand enclosure; it carries banners with the devices of the King, and midway between the gate and the building at the end of the causeway you see one of the sacred boats in which the souls of the dead are ferried over the lake that separates this world from the next. This lake is symbolized by a small lake, or basin, in the enclosure of the temple; you see it in the fore-ground of the picture, and if it had not usually become filled with sand you would find it in all our visits to the ruins of these temples. A part of the funeral ceremony consisted of ferrying the mummy over the sacred lake in a _baris_, or funeral-boat; there were generally several boats in a procession, and that containing the mummy was usually towed by one of the others. "The wall of the enclosure was made high enough to prevent those on the outside from seeing what went on within. It is supposed that the priests wished to keep their rites and ceremonials to themselves, and were only willing to be seen when they had made proper preparations. Sometimes there were two and sometimes four gates, but generally there was only one point of entrance, which was always carefully guarded. "The procession is just passing the outer gate-way, and leaving the paved road which leads to it. The gate-way consists of two massive towers, or _propylæ_ connected at the top by a broad platform, and the passage beneath is amply large enough for all the wants of the processions that enter the place. Beyond the gate-way is another paved road, guarded on each side by a row of sphinxes, with their faces turned toward the causeway, and never deserting it for an instant, with their solemn stare. Sometimes the outer causeway was protected by sphinxes the same as the inner one, but this was the case only with the most important temples. At the end of this road we generally find a couple of obelisks, and close beyond them is a second propylon, more massive and much taller than the one at the entrance. Passing this propylon we enter an open court surrounded with a columned portico, and having a third propylon extending across its centre. Passing this court-yard we reach the great hall, whose roof, supported by many columns hewn from solid stone, admits only a dim and sombre light. Here the procession halts while the ceremonies for which it came are completed.