Cairo, Dec. 10.

The first excavator of the Valley of the Kings in modern days may be said to be Belzoni. His work was done between the years 1815 and 1810 He it was who discovered the tomb of Sety I., which is still known locally as Belzoni’s tomb. It had been greatly plundered. but still he found sufficient to make a name for himself amongst explorers and antiquarians of the day. The alabaster sarcophagus of this king, sold to Sir John Soane, was the principal treasure that rewarded his excavations. It is now in the Soane Museum, Lincoln’s Inn fields.

I fancy that the Expedition Francaise were working at the same time in this part of the Royal Necropolis, and that they discovered in Wadi Ein, or the second valley, the half-open tomb, already freely plundered, of Amenhotep III. and Queen Tya. This led Belzoni to investigate the same valley, and there he found the tomb of Ay.

Champillion. Rossellini, and Dirmichen all investigated and worked at the tombs whilst, somewhat later, the celebrated Lepsius opened the tomb of Rameses II, as well as the greater part of Mineptah’s large mausoleum. After Lepsius, the cemetery was left undisturbed until M. Loret, then director of the Cairo Museum, in the early ‘nineties, discovered the tomb of Amenhotep II. In this tomb he found, besides the mummy of the king, several missing kings of Egypt, as well as the bodies of two or three unidentified persons, presumably of high rank.

Next came Signor Schiaparelli. who did not meet with much success, and then Mr. Theodore Davis, of Boston, began excavating the valley. He continued until 1913-14, when failing health and the belief that this particular part of the necropolis was exhausted caused him to relinquish his labours.. At the beginning, he was singularly successful. he began by finding the tombs of Thothmes IV. and Queen flat Hatsheput These were dug out for him by Mr. Carter. who was then Inspector of Antiquities in Upper Egypt On.Mr. Carter resigning this office, Mr. Davis’s researches, were continued by Messrs. Quibell (then Inspector), Ayrton. H. Jones, and H. Burton. One of his greatest discoveries- was the tomb (probably a cache) of Youia and Touinaa, the parents of Queen Tye.

Another interesting find was the so-called tomb of Queen Tye. which really had little to do with this celebrated Queen, but was the spot where her heretic son, King Khuenaton, was hidden, after being brought from El Armana. Altogether, . Mr. Davis found eight to ten tombs and pits, the walils of some of which were beautifully decorated., and many of which contained extremely interesting objects. For the last three or four, seasons of Mr. Davis’s digging, however, little or practically nothing was found.

Mr Carter's discovery

All former excavators of this valley have been accustomed to work on the system of “sondages “—that is, making pits in rubbish in likely places In the hope of finding a tomb entrance. When the late Mr Gaston Masperro gave me the concession he was not at all hopeful of my discovering anything. Mr. Davis’s discoveries had been so easily attained, with such a small number of men, and he had dug in so many spots. that certainly it seemed doubtful whether anything’ had ‘escaped him or former excavators.

Mr. Carter and I therefore decided that we must excavate down to actual bedrock, and ply no attention to former workers’ rubbish. Thus I have, I suppose, moved something like one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand tons of rubbish, In doing so we came across much untouched ground, but beyond the finding of some alabaster vases and a few minor and mostly broken objects, nothing had rewarded our efforts until this autumn.

At last, on November 5 this year, Mr. Carter, - who was working on the spot which we had. been, so far unable to touch, owing to the fact that’ it was right in front of the Important tomb of Rameses VI. and that this tomb was much visited by tourists, came upon a stop cut in the rock. He continued clearing .away steps, and after freeing a few more. came to a wail covered with cement, on which the seal at the Royal Necropolis was faintly discernible. This seal consists of nine captives, in rows of three, and a jackal couchant above them, and is only used an the royal portion of Theban cemeteries. After carefully examining, the sealings, ho cabled to me that at last he had made a fine discovery, and, having covered up the spot, he waited until I arrived.

The Treasure House

On my arrival at Thebes we set to work at once to clear away the rubbish, and, as we di4 so. we came across various broken objects, such as broken pottery, flowers, and some skins which had been used to carry water in.

The doorway now being completely free, we again examined the sealings, and discovered that at the right-hand corner an entrance had been effected by a thief and bad afterwards been reclosed and sealed by the inspectors in the time of Rameses IX for, on the undamaged portion, the .cartouche of King Tutankhamen was apparent, although much worn, and on a small portion of plaster, broken Into by the robber the seal of “nine captives “. could be seen. All these seals were very indistinct, and most of them hAve been preserved for future examination -.

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