“ Never did a cemetery deserve the name of necropolis better than this of Akhmim; it is really a town, whose inhabitants are counted by thousands, each day adding to their numbers, without any sign of nearing the end after the labors of fifteen months. I have explored the hill over an extent of at least two miles in length, and everywhere I have found it covered with human remains. ”

“ Only the rich had the privilege of occupying a separate chamber, and of ensuring, by pious foundations, the prayers of a special priest; people of fortune, and belonging to the middle classes, intrusted the mummies of their defunct relatives to undertakers or contractors affiliated with the clergy, who stored the bodies in their premises, and for the payment of an annual rent, or a lump sum, undertook to look after their preservation, and celebrate the canonical ceremonies on the days appointed by the ecclesiastical law. ”

“ Even the animals had their hypogea, mixed with those of human beings; here are hawks in hundreds in wooden boxes; there we find jackals piled up in holes. The truth is, Egypt is far from being exhausted; its soil contains enough to occupy twenty generations of workers, and what has come to light is as nothing. ”