372

GATES OF KALABSHI.

ing them. In the narrow channel of the river beneath were two or three small islets, partly covered with vegetation.

CCLXVIII. Being quite alone, my thoughts had perhaps wandered homeward, and time was slipping by unperceived. But I was at length roused by the sound of my companion's voice among the rocks below, calling aloud to me to descend, as the wind had freshened, and we might possibly reach Kalabshi in the course of the day. The breeze, however, was slight, scarcely sufficient to carry us through the

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Gates," where the black perpendicular cliffs, viewed from the river, seemed doubly grand, more especially when, by the illusion arising from the shifting of the point of view, as the kandjia advanced before the wind, they were put into apparent motion, and appeared to be following each other in solemn procession down the stream. Having passed this strait, the valley widens, and cultivation again commences. In a short time we once more found ourselves becalmed, on a smooth sandy promontory on the eastern bank, where the Arabs, playful and thoughtless as children, immediately poured forth upon the beach, and began to amuse themselves with their usual sports. We also landed, and, in default of better employment, reclined upon the sand, watching the ripple of the waves, and the motions of the birds upon their surface. The mind, on such occasions as this, seems to derive pleasure out of nothing. There was no new or remarkable feature in the scene.

It

ARRIVAL AT KALABSHI.

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was not the first time we had lain down upon the sand, or gazed idly at the river, or enjoyed the delightful warmth of the sun yet that small level promontory, the pipes we smoked, and the coffee we drank there, with the lovely serenity of the blue stream, the glittering plumage of the birds, and the splendour of the sky, took a much deeper hold upon my memory than objects far more striking.

CCLXIX. The calm was not of long continuance, a light breeze soon springing up, by the aid of which we were enabled, in a few hours, to reach Kalabshi. As we approach this town, -the Talmis of the ancients, the eastern mountains present, for a considerable distance, the appearance of a vast Cyclopean wall, consisting of huge loose masses piled irregularly upon each other. On arriving at Kalabshi, we immediately landed, and walked between copses of mimosa, and over fields of lupins, to the great temple, formerly approached from the river by a flight of steps, now destroyed or buried in mud, though the parapets remain. Having ascended these, we proceeded over a paved area to a second flight of steps, leading to the summit of a broad causeway, one hundred and forty feet in length, extending to the foot of the magnificent terrace on which the temple is erected. On either side of the causeway runs a low wall, along the centre of which a broad band of brass, or some other metal, formerly extended, the groove into which it was received still existing un

374

PROPYLON OF KALABSHI.

injured. A third flight of steps, seventeen in number, and about fourteen inches broad, ascends to the terrace, forty feet in breadth, which extends along the whole front of the propylon.

CCLXX. This propylon, one hundred and twelve feet in length, sixty in height, and twenty in thickness, having never been completed, has the appearance of a naked wall; and from the poverty and meanness of the effect it produces, we may discover the taste and judgment of the Egyptians in covering the exterior of their edifices with bas reliefs. The doorway, both within and without, is ornamented with frieze, moulding, and cornice, on which the usual figures are sculptured. Passing under this lofty gateway, we enter the dromos, now so completely encumbered with fragments of broken columns, cornices, entablatures, and vast blocks of loose stones, that it is extremely difficult to traverse.

It was

formerly surrounded by a peristyle, of which one column only is now standing. The pronaos is adorned with twelve columns, and the intercolumniations, as usual, are closed in front by a mural skreen, reaching half-way up the shaft. The foliage of the capitals consists, in some cases, of a series or cluster of the fan-like leaves of the doum tree, elegantly arranged; in others, of vine leaves, surmounted by vine tendrils and bunches of grapes.

CCLXXI. On entering the pronaos, we observe the façade of the ancient fane, surrounded with

HUMAN SACRIFICE.

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a fine bold moulding, enchased in a frame-work of modern masonry, and forming the cella of the present edifice. The space enclosed within this moulding is covered with sculptured figures, among which the most remarkable is the representation of a human sacrifice; where the victim, whose whole clothing consists of a scanty waist-cloth, is on his knees, with his hands tied behind his back. Behind him stands a priest with lofty mitre, who, with one hand, holds him by the long hair, while in the other he brandishes a small axe, ready to strike off his head. This horrid scene takes place in the presence of Osiris Hierax, who is seated on his throne, enjoining and enjoying the spectacle. The other figures are precisely the same as are represented on other Egyptian edifices, except that they are perhaps less stiff and angular than ordinary. The ceiling is blue, and sprinkled thickly with stars, partly black, and partly white, though originally it is probable they were gilded. Among the female figures on the walls of the adytum, there is one whose black hair is twisted into innumerable small tresses, falling perpendicularly all round the head, exactly like those of the Nubian women of the present day. These tresses are bound close by a narrow fillet, which, passing round the head, is tied behind; and a small serpent, issuing from among the curls, seems darting forwards over the forehead. The petticoat-like garment, in which the majority of the figures on the temple are clothed, projects forward in a sharp point; and on this some

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SYSTEM OF ORACLES.

thing like a fan is painted in bright colours, the handle towards the extremity, and the irradiations spreading over the whole front of the garment.

CCLXXII. The adytum is lighted by four small horizontal loop-holes, diverging inward; and at its south-eastern corner is a square aperture, one foot nine inches broad by eighteen inches high, leading into two dark chambers of small dimensions, built one behind the other, in the thickness of the wall. A similar aperture leads from the first into the second cell, and both contain a solid block of stone, exactly fitting the apertures, and intended to close them, when, for some purpose or another, the existence of the apartments was to be concealed. I I suspect that the whole contrivance was connected with the system of oracles. Possibly a priest was concealed in these dark cells, whose voice, seeming to issue from the solid wall, might, to the wise Egyptians, appear to be the voice of a god. A few feet below the entrance is a very narrow doorway, leading from the adytum into the adjoining apartment, through which the sacred jugglers, when it suited their purposes, might steal in or out. Beneath the staircase ascending to the roof are two other dark chambers, but what their use may have been is unknown.

CCLXXIII. Upon more narrowly examining the painted sculptures adorning the interior, we discovered a group unlike any thing elsewhere observed; apparently representing a company of female Psylli,