GRECIAN ARTISTS.

407

to the aborigines. Be this as it may, I here remarked in the countenance of Isis a voluptuous majesty, almost approaching the superb features of a Greek woman; while Osiris is divested of that quaint precision of face, which, in many temples, gives him the air of a pagan Quaker. Here he looks proud and manly, and not like a resuscitated mummy. This is particularly the case on the exterior face of the ancient chapel, — in the sepulchral chamber on the east, preserved from the injuries of the air by the modern casing, which seems to have been generally taken for a portion of the original edifice, though so evidently distinct from it, that you can see, and put in your hand between them, from top to bottom, more particularly on the west, where the space between the old chapel and the modern wall contains a staircase leading to the roof. Even the ancient fane, however, was never finished; the western exterior wall containing no sculptures, and the moulding and cornice having been left unpainted. Different kinds of stone were employed in the ancient and modern portions of the cella, the chapel being erected with a blueish, the casing with a tawnycoloured sandstone.

CCC. I have already observed that a small propylon originally stood in front of the ancient chapel, the space between them being exactly ten feet. Lateral walls, extending from this propylon to the casing on both sides, now form the back of the portico; but, instead of being constructed in the massive style of

408

PORTICO AND PROPYLON.

the old Egyptians, they consist of two thin parallel walls, the space between open on the outside, and looking extremely mean. The ancient narrow area, or dromos, is now built up into an apartment, and roofed; but in its southern walls you see the whole façade of the old chapel, richly ornamented with sculpture, torus, and cornice, projecting into the apartment fourteen inches at the bottom. The portico, which, with the great propylon, forms the third and most modern portion of the building, is erected in a clumsy style of architecture, and adorned with two pillars, partly built up in a mural skreen. The capitals, formed in imitation of the lotus, are broad, heavy, and surmounted by a plinth that supports the architrave. To the west of the entrance a doorway has been cut through the figures of the gods in the skreen, and on the opposite side a large aperture has been made, as if for a window. In the eastern wall likewise are two other small doorways. On the inside of the column, east of the entrance, is the figure of a man playing on a harp with twentyone strings, which being ugly, has been supposed to represent Typhon; but this is not quite conclusive, as many of the other gods of Egypt were gifted with but a small share of beauty. It is more probably the effigies of Phthah, the inventor of music, who organised all things by his divine harmony.* On the bottom of

*This is likewise the opinion of Creuzer, Rel. de l'Ant. Descr. des Planch. p. 46. Gau, Antiquités de la Nubie, pl. 24. No. 1. represents it as a bas-relief found at Dandoor; but, if such a figure occur there also, it entirely escaped our notice.

FIGURE OF PHTHAH.

409

the frame of the harp are what appear to be seven screws, one to every three chords, resembling in form the Greek delta. The figure of a Cynocephalus, walking upright, and bearing in his hands a long vase, with open mouth like a basin, and containing flowers (but this I did not note on the spot), occupies the interior of the other shaft, opposite Phthah. On the eastern side of the temple are the remains of a thick wall, about four feet high, which appears to have extended round the whole edifice. The different blocks of stone in this wall, as well as in the temple itself, were originally fastened together with massive clamps of metal, which is the true cause of the destruction of these buildings; for the natives, needing the metal, and restrained neither by taste nor superstition, have, in some places, in order to procure it, pulled down the walls, in others made large holes at the junction of the stones above, precisely where the metal was found. The roof of the temple consists of large blocks of stone, but inferior in size to those of Kalabshi. Fourteen yards in advance of the portico, is the modern propylon, eighty feet in length, fifteen in thickness, and about sixty in height; and consisting of two truncated pyramidal turrets, united in the centre by the architrave and cornice of the doorway. A small door in the southern face leads into the interior of the western turret, where we found four chambers one above the other. A narrow easy staircase ascends to the summit. From the second story there is a small door leading out upon the roof of the gateway, but

410

CHEAPNESS OF PROVISIONS.

no corresponding entrance conducts into the eastern

wing.

CCCI. All the while we were employed at this temple, numbers of the natives crowded about us; some through mere curiosity, others with small bronze coins, or agates from the desert. Here we purchased a sheep for nine piastres, or two shillings and three pence, returning the skin, which the Nubians dress with the wool on, and wear on their shoulders. On the western bank we observed a small neat aqueduct, straight as a line, constructed of mud, for the purpose of conveying water to the fields, which, south of Dakke, widen considerably. We did not cross to the eastern side in search of Metachompso, or land at Meharraka, being this day blessed with a fair wind, which induced us to reserve those ruins until our return. Owing to the prevalence of the breeze, the last night was a little colder than usual; but the weather, for many weeks, had been so beautiful, the skies so cloudless, and the nights so serene, that we had ceased to think of the matter.

CCCII. About noon we passed on the eastern bank, the house of the chief of the Ababdé, settled in this part of Nubia; — a small square neat building, with two windows towards the river, and an entrance from the south. Behind it was an extensive garden, surrounded with a good brick wall, and thickly planted with trees, the beautiful foliage of which appeared above the enclosure. Near this house, towards

ABABDÉ CULtivators.

411

the south, were several tower-like buildings, containing wheels for raising water, conveyed from thence by neat aqueducts to the upper part of the valley. The tamarisk is here plentiful, covering the western bank with verdure; and the land, on all sides, admirably cultivated, bearing strong evidence of the active industry of the Ababdé, who, forsaking the wandering life led by their forefathers, have settled and become cultivators.

CCCIII. Several miles farther south, near the village of Bardeh, the mountains on both sides approach the river, but those on the eastern bank are by far the more elevated. Though apparently of volcanic formation, they do not, like those to the west of Dakke, rise in isolated cones, but in chains or ridges, thrown irregularly between each other, and divided by deep gorges of the most dismal appearance. In many places, the naked rocks project in ragged strata from among the superincumbent masses of lava or cinders, and the tops of the mountains are pointed or conical. The narrow belt of cultivated land, running along the foot of these hills, was now covered with bright green corn, the wheat, exceedingly strong and clean, about two feet high, forming an agreeable contrast with the black rocks behind. In this part of the valley there are numerous silk trees. Many of the fields, now in stubble, had been cultivated with dhourra. The village of Bardeh stands on the eastern bank, near the river, in a small grove of date trees. On the opposite shore the cultivated land is