"There was a ladder by the side of one of the coffins, so that we climbed into it, and found that four or five persons could sit there comfortably. And think that these coffins were of solid blocks of granite, and were brought down the Nile from Assouan, and put in the rooms made for them! How they were put there nobody can tell; a thousand men worked for three weeks to take out one of these coffins, under the direction of an engineer, and, with all sorts of pulleys and apparatus, he only got it a short distance along the gallery. The enterprise was then abandoned, and the coffin stands where they left it. "Irreverent visitors sometimes call these tombs the 'bull pits,' and they speak of the necropolis of Sakkara as the 'bone-yard.' But there are no bulls here at present, and the tombs of the surrounding region have been so thoroughly explored and plundered, that it would not be easy to find any bones in them." [Illustration: AN ARCHED TOMB AT SAKKARA.] CHAPTER X. AN ORIENTAL BATH.--EGYPTIAN WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS. The excursions to Gizeh and Sakkara had not been altogether free from dust, and, consequently, the suggestion of an Oriental bath was not out of place. The boys had heard of the baths of Damascus and Constantinople, and the wonderful tales of travellers concerning them; the Doctor said the baths of Cairo were exactly like those of the cities mentioned, and they could satisfy their curiosity by trying one. The guide advised them to go early in the forenoon, and accordingly they left the hotel a little after ten o'clock. The Doctor had no fondness for the genuine Oriental bath, and the youths made the excursion in the company of their guide. A short walk brought them to the establishment, which was in a gloomy-looking building, surmounted with a large central dome and several smaller domes. Frank could not understand the peculiarity of the bath architecture till he went inside, and found that the principal room was lighted by the central dome, while the others gave light to the smaller apartments. The windows were so small that the light was quite dim, and in some places only served, as Fred expressed it, to make the darkness visible. The office of the bath-keeper was close to the entrance, and here the guide paid for the admission of the youths; they had left all their valuables at the hotel, and consequently had no use for the chest where the watches and purses of the bathers were deposited. Near the keeper was a cupboard, from which he took a supply of towels for the youths, and they were then directed to the dressing, or, rather, the undressing room, where they were assigned to couches, and exchanged their clothing for towels. According to the custom of the establishment, one towel was wrapped around the head and the other about the waist, and thus arrayed our young friends were hardly to be recognized.