2

HAYT EL ADJOUR.

from Birbé* to Es-Souan. When the captain of the Cataract arrived, I therefore landed with my interpreter; and, taking asses at Birbé, followed the ordinary road towards the north, over a narrow sandy plain, or rather valley, winding between rocky precipitous mountains. It soon became evident that the Nile could never have flowed, according to the hypothesis of Norden, through this valley, since, as Burckhardt observes, the ground rises for about four miles, from Philæ towards Es-Souan, after which the descent is towards the north. At a short distance from Birbé begin the ruins of the Hayt el Adjour, or ancient brick wall, mentioned by Denon, and supposed by Burckhardt to have been intended as a defence against the inroads of the Bedouins of the eastern mountain, at the time when "a brisk overland transport trade" existed between Phila and Syene. It is difficult to say for what purpose it was intended; but if the Bedouins of those days at all resembled their valiant descendants, nothing is more certain than that it could never have served as a defence against them. In one week they would have made breaches in it sufficiently wide to have admitted all the cavalry of the desert. And where were they

when the wall was building?

Nor was it, as the

Here, according to Abou Selah, stones were anciently set up, marking the respective limits of Egypt and Nubia. "Between Nubia and the country of the Musulmans two stones are placed on a mountain, in the middle of the Nile; and opposite is a high and fortified castle called Bilak, containing well built houses and excavations, which are the work of the ancients." - Quatremère, Mém. Géograph, sur l'Egypte, t. i. p. 389.

natives pretend, the embankment of a canal. Where was the other embankment? Where were the sluices? Besides, it does not proceed for a certain distance on the same level, and then, where a sluice might have existed, rise perpendicularly, but gradually ascends and descends with the inequalities of the ground.

CCCCIV. About two miles from Birbé we observed, on the summit of a steep rocky hill, a small square building, the appearance of which from below was picturesque; but on ascending the rocks I found it to be merely a house of clay, the dwelling-place, perhaps, of some Mohammedan anchorite. A little farther is a very neat edifice, with water-jars for the traveller, and a large clean chamber open to the north. The aspect of the precipices bordering the road is bold and striking, rising in black pyramidal masses, in many places chiselled with hieroglyphics and the figures of gods. About two miles and a half from Es-Souan commences that extensive Mohammedan cemetery, containing, according to Makrizi, the remains of twenty-one thousand persons, who, about the year 806 of the Hejira, perished of the plague. But to such extravagant relations no credit is due. The ancient Saracen town, whose extent can still be traced, was never, I imagine, sufficiently peopled to furnish the plague with so many victims, even had it swept off the whole of its inhabitants; and a large proportion must have survived to have erected so many grave-stones. The popular tradition appropriates these monuments to sixty thousand prophets, or holy

4

ARABIC LEGEND.

men, who flourished in former ages at Es-Souan. They are about two feet in height, by sixteen inches in breadth; and the inscriptions, in neatly-engraved characters, are of considerable length. Many have been trampled down, or broken but fortunately there exists among the natives a superstitious belief that whoever violates the sanctity of these graves will be stricken with immediate death; in proof of which they relate a story of a drunken Turk, who, to show his contempt for the saints, fired his pistol at one of the tombs, staggered forward a few paces, and dropped down dead. I saw the mark of the ball, which seemed to be quite recent; but for the fate of the Moslem I cannot vouch. Among these humble monuments are many more sumptuous mausolea, consisting of a neat dome resting on four arches, or on a square basis. Alighting at the commencement of the cemetery, we proceeded to Es-Souan on foot, in company with an Arab lady, attended by a number of female slaves. She was young, but large and robust, and wore loose trowsers, like a man.

CCCCV. At Es-Souan I found my own kandjia waiting on the shore. The captain and crew appeared exceedingly rejoiced at my return, crowding round me, and kissing my hands, after the manner of the East. Monro arriving soon after, we prepared to depart immediately. As my boat was putting off from the shore, Mr. Hoskins, whom I had met at Philæ, came up in company with an Italian artist, intending to proceed across the desert to Sennaar. I now once

more visited the island of Elephantine, in search of those elegant Nubian baskets, of a greyish-white colour, variegated with numerous fanciful ornaments in bright red, manufactured by the women from the leaves of the date tree. Among the dancing girls who came down to entertain us with their performances, on the banks of the river, there was one young woman evidently of French extraction; who, though pale, and in ill health, possessed a fine oval countenance, with very pleasing features: she did not dance, however, but accompanied the music with her voice. The dancers were two little girls, the one a goodlooking Berber, about fourteen or fifteen; the other an Arab girl, somewhat older. Their performance was equally lascivious with that of the Caireen Almé. The little Berber had a look of perfect innocence, and seemed not to think herself degraded by labouring in her vocation; but her companion, though wanton and impudent, appeared conscious of debasement. The. weather being exceedingly calm I descended the stream rapidly, and soon overtook the other boat, which had started some hours before. It was already late when we arrived at Koom Ombos; but the moon affording a brilliant light, I spent the evening among

the ruins.

Wednesday, Feb. 6. Hajjar Silsilis. CCCCVI. Koom Ombos, situated on an eminence rising considerably above the surrounding country, is visible from afar, and, though the great temple is now half buried, its appearance is picturesque and magnifi

6

PORTICO OF THE TEMPLE.

cent. Formerly, a lofty brick wall, intended to protect it from the encroachment of the desert, surrounded the whole edifice, forming an extensive court; but this is now partly destroyed. On the outside of the enclosure, as about the rocks of Silsilis, we find a great number of silk trees. To the south of the lofty eminence on which the ruins are situated, at the very foot of the wall, is a deep muddy valley, annually overflowed by the river, where sedge and long grass, whose rankness proves its fertility, now unprofitably occupy the soil. The most prominent object, at the first view, is what seems to be one wing of a vast propylon, though it does not appear how it could have been united to the other wing, if there ever existed one. It may have been simply a kind of turret, erected for show, in the corner of the great brick enclosure. From its back, indeed, which exhibits no traces of sculpture, we discover it to have been connected with some lofty wall or edifice: the other sides. are adorned with hieroglyphics and bas reliefs. This pyramidal turret rises to the height of about one hundred and fifty feet above the river, and its base is encumbered with enormous blocks of stone* from above, covered with figures of the sacred vulture.

CCCCVII. From this point we ascended to the great temple, which possesses no propylon. The portico is still distinguished by an aspect of extraordinary grandeur, in spite of the sands which almost

* One of these blocks measured 21 feet 2 inches in length; 8 feet 10 inches in breadth; and 7 feet 6 inches in depth.