ARRIVAL AT THEBES.

165

with the world, they made eager inquiries after intelligence from Europe and America, which we were unable to satisfy farther than by repeating the vague and perplexing rumours that reached Cairo just before our departure. The stuffed skins of several large crocodiles, which Mr. M. is carrying to America with other specimens of natural history and Egyptian antiquities, occupied the upper deck, and gave to this peaceful craft a rather dubious and formidable appear

ance.

CHAPTER XI.

Thebes. Situation.- Luxor.-Frank Boats.-Roman Pier.-Temple.Propylon.-Obelisk.-Colossal Statues.-Sculpture.-Portico.-Colonnades. - Adytum. - Accumulations. - Village within the Temple.Church.-Mutilations.-Material.-Progressive Plan.-Voyage to Assouan.-Valley of the Nile.-Cotton Fields.-Egyptian Cotton.-Irrigation. -Esneh.-Roman Pier.-Castle.-Ancient Temple.-Architecture.— Ornaments.-The Interior.-Columns.-Zodiac.- Bold Conjecture.Study of Hieroglyphics.-Age of this Temple.-Obstructions.-Delay.Mutual Distrusts.-Aspect of the Country.-Holy Tombs Benefit of Contrast.-Ruins.-Night at Edfou.-Frank Boat.-National Peculiarities.-Arab Salutations.-A courteous Sailor.-Soil and Products.-Tillage.-Sand.-Induration of the Soil.-Appearance of the Crops.-Meeting with a Countryman.-Jebel Silsily.-Quarries.-Adverse Wind.— Nautical Skill of our Crew.-Energy of the Rais.-Medical Treatment. -Unmerited Honour.-Temple of Quom Ombos.-Description.-Effect of Egyptian Architecture.

WISHING Our countrymen a good voyage, we resumed our own, and were soon in view of the monuments of an cient Thebes. The mountain west, or rather northwest Vilthat venerable metropolis, had been in sight throughuried in morning. The confined vale of the Nile here feet in height. a broad fertile plain, extending many mitct polish, stands Thebes occupied the lower or norther the propylon. The and extended from the Libyan quite nich we enter the temple,

166

SITUATION-LUXOR.

mountains, a distance of perhaps four or five miles. The site is beautiful and even magnificent-worthy of the most ancient of cities, and of the stupendous monuments which still attest its early grandeur. It occupies both sides of the river, the banks of which, and the elevated ground near the bases of the mountains, afforded commanding situations for temples, palaces, and other edifices. The royal and other celebrated tombs are excavated in the Libyan mountain, which limits the field of ruins on the northwest. It is here a lofty and picturesque pile, possessing all the interesting peculiarities of rich colouring, beautiful form and proportion, and graceful irregularity, of which I have spoken before. The monuments, like the ancient city, occupy both sides of the Nile the larger number the western, the more massive and stupendous the eastern side.

On the latter shore is Luxor, the harbour, ancient as well as modern, of the place. Here we moored our boat in company with six others bearing Christian flags, which had arrived before us. The stupendous remains of an ancient temple stand near the shore, and to these our observations to-day were confined. In proceeding from our boat to the ruins, we clambered up a massive wall of Roman architecture. The part which is visible may be fifteen feet high by nearly as many rods in length. It is mostly composed of large square stones without cement, and is in good preservation. The southern extremity is brick. This wall, which, in any other situation, would attract a large share of attention, is an ancient pier. The mud of the Nile and the drifting sand have filled up the old harbour and buried the

eater part of the pier, thus removing the landing-place scendf.present bank of the Nile thirty rods farther west. Mr. Morris,ear of the Temple of Luxor that rests upon the for a fellow-tratt looks eastward towards Carnac and its Cataracts, and werent ruins, with which this temple was Having been for manyan avenue of sculptured sphinxes,

one and a half miles in length. The propylon, or gateway, of the Temple of Luxor, then, is nearly 1000 feet from the Nile. It may be described as consisting of two towers or oblong masses of masonry, rising on either side of the entrance into the temple. The length of both, including the space or door between them, is about 200 feet. This measurement is made upon the present surface of the earth, which is above the natural perhaps thirty feet. These towers, or parts of the propylon, contract regularly from the foundation to the summit, and the length is, therefore, more than 200-it may be 250 feet. They are fifty-seven feet in height above the present surface. Two staircases—one impassable, the other nearly so-lead to their summits, where a good view is gained of the plan of the temple itself, which it is not so easy to obtain from below, and of the site and plain of Thebes.

A few yards in front of the propylon, and south of the entrance, stands a beautiful obelisk of red granite, ten feet square at the base, and more than eighty feet high. It is covered with hieroglyphics, the most perfect and beautiful I have seen. They are nearly two inches deep, and appear as fresh and entire as a recent inscription. Their sharpest angles, as well as those of the immense mass in which they are chiselled, are not abraded or blunted in the slightest degree. There was another similar obelisk opposite to this, in front of the northern half of the propylon. It is now standing in the Place de Concord, in Paris, close to the spot where Louis XVI., Robespierre, &c., were beheaded.

Between the obelisks and the propylon, on the right and left of the entrance, are two colossal statues, said, by Wilkinson, to be those of Rameses II., which, though buried in rubbish to the breast, still measure twenty-two feet in height. A third, of red granite, retaining a perfect polish, stands a little farther north, also in front of the propylon. The front of this massive pile, through which we enter the temple,

is covered with sculpture, which represents a battle-scene taken from the history of Egypt. It contains a great many figures, all spirited and excellent in their kind, and indicating much advancement in the art, This sculpture has not failed to call forth the warmest admiration of travellers and artists. Many parts of it, however, are obscure and partially obliterated from the huge blocks of stone which have been less successful than the granite obelisk in front of them in resisting the ravages of time. My weak nerves and eyes would not allow me to follow the representation.

I have hitherto spoken only of the gateway and its sumptuous ornaments. This leads into a portico about 200 feet long by 160 broad. It is formed by a gallery of two rows of columns half concealed by vile hovels, as are the remains of the wall covered with hieroglyphics. A long avenue, formed of two rows of columns, fourteen in all, each twenty-nine feet in circumference at the present surface and nearly forty high, conducts from this portico to another enclosure, formed likewise by double rows of columns. These are inferior in size to those last mentioned, but still very large. Each column is composed of several frusta of sandstone of unequal thickness. This apartment is nearly 160 feet long by 140 wide.

Next succeeds a colonnade, ten columns in length by three in breadth, all covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions. A cross wall separates this from a second cluster of columns, eight in length by four deep. Here, finally, is the temple proper, or sanctuary, which is only an inconsiderable chamber. Still farther are many small rooms, and some larger ones, supported by columns. The entire length of this edifice is stated to be about 800 feet, by a breadth varying from 300 feet to the mere width of a passage between two parallel rows of columns. It is difficult, if not impossible, to take the measurement accurately.

The general effect of this vast structure is greatly im

paired by heaps of rubbish, and yet more by the mud huts of an Arab village within its precincts. No contrast could be more perfect than the one here exhibited between the ancient and the modern. I should think that two or three hundred people, at the least, live within the temple. Another part is occupied as a government storehouse, while a mosque and a school find accommodation in the portico next the propylon. Within the same ample fane are stables and cowhouses, rife with the lore that has mocked the genius and erudition of ages. I saw goats penned on the top of lofty and beautiful columns, and several cottages occupy a similar aerial site. The ground-plot of this temple is a mere labyrinth formed of these vile dens and the filthy lanes conducting to them. It literally swarms with people, who seem to be peculiarly degraded. You must bow your head low in order to enter their houses, not to mention the more serious annoyances within; and these places must be visited, or only a very unsatisfactory view of the temple can be had. The expense would be inconsiderable of sweeping this rubbish all away, and of bringing into a clear view this noble monument. There is certainly not much probability of such

an event.

A part of this temple has been used as a church, as is manifest from the crosses cut in the walls. Other mutilations have been made in attempting to obliterate the figures of the sacred animals of the Egyptians sculptured on different parts of the building. This effort of misguided zeal has met with little success, as the outline of nearly every figure remains perfect, and the chipping only serves to attract more marked attention. It is, indeed, a pretty good guide to one not very fresh in his mythological reading.

The material of this splendid structure is sandstone. Several statues of grotesque and unnatural forms-monstrous combinations of parts of different quadrupeds with each VOL. I.-P