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and, had it broken, the kandjia would have been inevitably dashed to pieces. When the Nubian had made fast the rope round a block of granite, all hands quitted the poles, and, seizing the line, exerted themselves with the utmost vigour, until we were at length drawn up this rapid, and once more placed in smooth water. The other kandjia, by taking a different channel, ascended with less difficulty; but, in making the shore, was dashed with so much violence against our boat, that one of the men, in endeavouring to ward it off, received a dangerous contusion, and was supposed at the time to have broken his arm. Here we landed, to await the coming of the reis of the cataracts. Crowds of Nubians, men and boys, having assembled upon the shore, to behold our ascent, but still more to exhibit their own courage and dexterity, were constantly talking and laughing, leaping like so many chamois from rock to rock, and offering for five paras to swim down the cataract. One of them, getting astride on a small log of wood, and pushing off from the shore, fell into the current, by the force of which he was hurried down like an arrow for a considerable distance. But he well knew how to sit his log; and, availing himself dexterously of the counter-current, made a bold turn, and, regaining the command of the canoe, by paddling rapidly with his hands, reached the opposite shore in safety. Various were the contrivances resorted to by these ingenious lads to earn a few paras. One brought a small tortoise for sale; another was busily searching

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among the rocks for variegated pebbles; while a third endeavoured to excite our generosity by dint of agility and intrepidity.

CCLXI. At length, after much delay, the Arabs arrived, with a thousand excuses for coming too late; and, to make amends for this, seemed disposed to exert themselves vigorously in dragging the kandjias up the remaining fall. A cable being fastened to the mast, a number of natives, not less, perhaps, than seventy, at once putting their hands to the work, drew up the boats one after another, with great adroitness and facility. I now strolled over the rocks, admiring the magnificence of the scene, and by anticipation enjoying the pleasure of passing the limits of Egypt, and entering with the Nile into a new country, Ethiopia, the land of the Blacks, respecting which so many remarkable stories were current among the ancients. I was, moreover, impatient to be at Phile, the sacred island, in which the remains of Osiris repose, and which, in antiquity, no profane foot was permitted to tread. The whole vicinity of the cataracts is peopled with mysterious associations; and the sound of the dashing waters, mingled with the shouts of Nubians and Arabs, and repeated by the echoes of the mountains, appears, in a certain frame of mind, to augment their solemnity, and add greatly to the influence which they exercise over the imagination. Ideas of this kind, which owe their birth rather to mythology than to his

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tory, wholly occupied my fancy when I re-embarked upon the Nile, and sailed towards Philæ, between numerous diminutive isles, craggy, verdurous, or barren, which threw their long trembling shadows over its waters. So much of the pleasure which we experience on such occasions is referrible to the nature of our studies and the peculiar bent of our minds, that some may pass coolly and without emotion over spots, which, in more impassioned characters, excite the liveliest enthusiasm. On arriving at the village of Birbé, we re-shipped our baggage, and crossing over to Philæ, ran hastily through the principal ruins, the examination of which we reserved until our return. Here we found two English artists, Messrs. Hoskins and Jones, who, together with M. Gouri, a French architect, had pitched their tent among the ruins, which they were sketching and studying. They obligingly accompanied us to the temples, and afterwards invited us to dinner in their tent, in the patriarchal style; but the wind being fair, we resisted the temptation, and proceeding up the river, moored about night fall at Ipshir.

Wednesday, Jan. 16. Tafa.

CCLXII. Sailing early from this village, we arrived, about ten o'clock, at Parembolé. The fertile land, on either side of the river, is here exceedingly narrow; but every portion of it is brought into cultivation. The mountains, consisting of mere masses of naked granite, in many places approach the water's

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edge; while in other situations there are about three or four yards of cultivable soil, formed by the deposits of the river. To enlarge the extent of their fields, the industrious inhabitants construct long walls, or jetties, of large stones, running out at right angles with the banks to a considerable distance into the stream, narrowing its course, and allowing the mud, that quickly accumulates behind them, to harden into solid land, which is immediately brought into cultivation. I have observed a similar practice, on a smaller scale, upon the banks of the Rhone, in the Upper Valais; where, in fact, much land might thus be gained, had the Valaisans half the industry and energy of the Nubians. The skill, neatness, and enterprise of these people, who, having for ages enjoyed more freedom, are superior in vigour and hardihood to the Fellahs, excited our admiration. The ground, in this part of the valley, was every where laid out and cultivated with superior art and industry, though exactly on the same plan as in Egypt; and I also observed that the little canals conducting the water from the sakias to the fields were often raised upon small embankments of earth, about three feet in height, very neatly formed, and carefully kept in repair. The principal crops are wheat, barley, lupines, and a sort of kidney bean, now covered with a beautiful pale purple flower. In general, however, the corn seemed more backward than in Egypt; though we passed one field of barley already in the ear. In the sands about Parembolé, were numbers of young palm trees recently planted, protected from the wind, the cattle,

&c., by a circular wall of loose stones or mud, raised to the height of two or three feet about the trees. The palm, in fact, seems here, as in Egypt, to constitute the principal riches of the peasant; immense quantities of dates are annually exported down the Nile; and, in passing the frontier, at Birbé, we observed prodigious heaps exposed to the sun, and surrounded by an enclosure of mat-work, ready to be shipped, or transported on camels to Es-Souan.

CCLXIII. The temple of Parembolé stands at no great distance from the river. Landing a little to the north, we proceeded towards it across the narrow fields of the Nubians, and the sands of the desert, in the midst of which it is situated. From the river it is approached by three propylæa, standing in a right line with the several doors which lead up the centre of the building to the sanctuary, whence the Nile is visible through this architectural vista. A wall of large rough stones forms a square round the temple and the propylæa, from each of which a lateral wall extends to this enclosure, dividing the whole area into a succession of courts. Each doorway is adorned with the winged globe. The pronaos is adorned with four columns, with varied capitals; the intercolumniations are encumbered with a mural skreen, and upon the walls the usual gods are pourtrayed. Harpocrates, the child of grief and lamentation, conceived by Isis, in some mysterious way, after the death of Osiris,-the circumstance respecting which he, probably, enjoins silence to the votaries of