dwellings of the priests. From this chamber wé pass through a great portico and over a bridge into an immense hall, 247 feet long and 150 broad, in the middle of which is the shrine, consisting of one mass of rock. This monolith itself measures 103 feet long and 56 wide, while it rises to the most surprising height of 100 feet in a pyramidal form. It is hollowed out to the height of 17 feet, and supported by four rows of pillars, with colossal elephants which seem to bear the enormous mass and give life and animation to the whole. From the roof of this stupendous sanctuary, which has a gallery of rock round it, bridges lead to other side arches which have not yet been explored. The whole mass besides is covered with sculptures.*

A more minute comparison of the cave-temples of India with those excavated by the ancient Ethiopians, would lead us away from our proper subject. We may venture to remark, however, that there are many points of resemblance between the pagodas of the former country and the regular structures of Egypt, all the parts of which are above ground. For example, the pyramidal entrance to the one is analogous to the propylon of the other, while the large-pillared rooms which support a roof of stone are found frequently in the edifices of both regions. Among the numerous divisions of the cave at Ellora, there is an upper story of the Dasavatara, or the temple of Vishnu's incarnations, the roof of which is supported by sixty-four squarebased pillars, eight in each row. This chamber is about a hundred feet wide, and somewhat deeper;

British Museum, p. 182.

and as to general design may be compared with the excavated chambers of Egypt, which are supported by square columns. The massy materials, the dark rooms, and the walls covered with highly-wrought sculptures; and the tanks near the temple, with their enclosures of stone, and the steps for the pilgrims, are also equally characteristic of a pagoda and an Egyptian temple. To this we may add the high thick wall, of a rectangular form, carried all round the sacred spot. There is a farther resemblance worth noticing between some of the Hindoo temples and that of Phtha at Memphis. The latter had four chief entrances, or propyla, turned to the cardinal points of the compass; and this is also the case with the pagoda of Chillumbrum, and with another at Seringham. The first of these, according to Indian tradition, is one of the oldest in their country; which opinion is confirmed by the appearance of the principal temple contained within the walls; but other parts, such as the pyramidal gateways, the highly-finished sculptures, and the chain festoons, must be the work of a later date. seems probable, then, that this vast religious edifice was the produce of many ages; each adding something to enlarge and perfect the magnificent undertaking of former times.*

It

It is rather hazardous, says the author on whose statements we now rely, to point out minor resemblances between Ethiopian and Hindoo buildings, when the latter are so imperfectly represented. But one of Daniel's views exhibits an example of the latter in the background, which has a very Egyptian appearance. It is near Mahabalipoor. There are

* British Museum, p. 186.

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four pillars in front, the two extreme ones occupying the angles, and having behind them, in a right angle with the first row, three others, of which one indeed may be a pilaster. Thus the front row and the side rows form a portico, which is covered over with flat stones, exactly in the fashion of the Nile. In the centre of the wall, at the back part of the gateway, there appears to be a door.*

Leaving the rock-temples both in India and Nubia, over the history and design of which so dark a cloud is still suspended, we return to an examination of the more perfect class of structures; the intermediate stage, it is probable, between the excavations just mentioned and the magnificent buildings of Karnac and Luxor. We have already described the ruins of Soleb, which present to the eye of the artist so many things worthy of his admiration, and belong, it has been justly concluded, to an advanced era in the architectural history of the Ethiopian tribes. We therefore select the temple of Samné, as an additional specimen of the style now alluded to, which we have also taken the further pains to illustrate by means of the annexed view from the west, supplied by a recent traveller.

It is built, we are told, of sandstone, and differs in its shape from other Egyptian edifices, though it somewhat resembles in its plan the small chapel at Elephantine. It consists of a principal building about thirty-six feet in length and nine in width. On each side stood originally four small pillars, of which two remain on the one hand and three on the other; one of the former has a polygonal shaft, the

*British Museum, p. 187.

See page 53 of this volume.