Item 01: Irene Victoria Read letters from her husband, 27 November 1914-1 November 1915 - Page 124
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[Page 124]
until about 40 years ago when they were unearthed by "Mariette." In some of the tombs there are very fine carvings, paintings & hieroglyphics all in a wonderful state of preservation. One huge tombs contains the coffins of about 30 sacred bulls – these are big hollow stones blocks of marble about the size of a small room – each has an enormous marble lid that must weigh several hundred tons – the extraordinary thing about these coffins is how they were every got along the narrow passages leading to the niches where they now rest. When found each coffin had a mummified bull in it – these are now in the museum at Cairo. After leaving Sakkara we visited the ruins of the ancient city of Memphis, but there is practically nothing of it that remains Close to Memphis are two very fine colossi of one of the Ramses, each is a statue in stone about 30 feet long. There is also a good Sphinx there. After our 10 mile journey on donkeys we got in a train & went along the banks of the Nile to Cairo where we got the tram out to Mena. I expected to be pretty stiff after the donkey ride, but thanks to a rather soft saddle & a fairly easy animal I managed to escape any serious discomfort.