TAA iv.01.03

and passed them back to Callender who passed them on to a native 

and then up a chain of men in the passage to get them clear of the 

tomb. It took nearly two hours altogether and we must have been 

sights by the time it was over, dusty, dishevelled and perspiring. 

As the hole widened we could see clearly within, and found that 

the chamber was taken up almost entirely by this huge wooden 

erection over the coffin there being only a space of about eighteen 

inches all round it. At one point we had to stop work to collect 

the scattered beads from a necklace dropped by plunderers.

          When the hole was wide enough Carter had a good look in 

and found we could xxx[?]/<just> get round the right side of the tabernacle 

and walk along. He reported the outer door of the tabernax[?]/<c>le was 

open, but that there was a second smaller one inside with the 

door still sealed and that there was another chamber opening off 

to the right. We then passed in our big travelling electric 

light, and Carnarvon and Lacan^sic {Lacau} x[?]/<w>ent in to see. Then Lady Evelyn –

the only woman present, with Sir William Garstin, and then the 

others two by two. It was curious to watch them come out. With 

hardly an exception each person threw up his hands and gasped. 

Lucas and I went in together when it came to our turn. There 

was just room to squeeze round the xxx[?]/<corner> of the tabernacle and 

walk along the side of it. In the middle were the great swing 

doors with open bars. Within you could see the second structure 

with sealed door and above it, on a frame, a pall dropping over it, 

of linen, spangled with gold stars. Between the first and second