There, as of old in their harem, they slept side by side, and, in spite of robbers, their mummies have preserved the ornaments with which they were adorned, on the eve of burial, by the pious act of their lords.  The art of the ancient jewellers, which we have hitherto known only from pictures on the walls of tombs or on the boards of coffins, is here exhibited in all its cunning.  The ornaments comprise a wealth of gold gorgets, necklaces of agate beads or of enamelled lotus-flowers, cornelian, amethyst, and onyx scarabs.  Pectorals of pierced gold-work, inlaid with flakes of vitreous paste or precious stones, bear the cartouches of Usirtasen III. and of Amenemhait II., and every one of these gems of art reveals a perfection of taste and a skilfulness of handling which are perfectly wonderful.

[Illustration:  395.jpg PECTORAL ORNAMENT OF USIRTASEN III]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-
     Bey.

Their delicacy, and their freshness in spite of their antiquity, make it hard for us to realize that fifty centuries have elapsed since they were made.  We are tempted to imagine that the royal ladies to whom they belonged must still be waiting within earshot, ready to reply to our summons as soon as we deign to call them; we may even anticipate the joy they will evince when these sumptuous ornaments are restored to them, and we need to glance at the worm-eaten coffins which contain their stiff and disfigured mummies to recall our imagination to the stern reality of fact.  Two other pyramids, but in this case of stone, still exist further south, to the left of the village of Lisht:  their casing, torn off by the fellahin, has entirely disappeared, and from a distance they appear to be merely two mounds which break the desert horizon line, rather than two buildings raised by the hand of man.

[Illustration:  396.jpg THE PYRAMID OF ILLAHUN, AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE FAiUM]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Golenischeff.

The sepulchral chambers, excavated at a great depth in the sand, are now filled with water which has infiltrated through the soil, and they have not as yet been sufficiently emptied to permit of an entrance being effected:  one of them contained the body of Usirtasen I.; does Amenemhait I. or Amenemhait II. repose in the other?  We know, at all events, that Usirtasen II. built for himself the pyramid of Illahun, and Amenemhait III. that of Hawara.  “Hotpu,” the tomb of Usirtasen II., stood upon a rocky hill at a distance of some two thousand feet from the cultivated lands.  To the east of it lay a temple, and close to the temple a town, Hait-Usirtasen-Hotpu—­“the Castle of the Repose of Usirtasen”—­which was inhabited by the workmen employed in building the pyramid, who resided there with their families.  The remains of the temple consist of scarcely anything more than the enclosing wall, whose sides were originally faced with fine white limestone covered with hieroglyphs