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THE CLIFF VILLAGES ROCK TEMPLES OF ABOOSAMBAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LESSER TEMPLE-STATUE OF ISIS- TERMINAL HEAD OF ATHOR-HUMAN SACRIFICEMYTHOLOGICAL SCULPTURES STATUES SCULPTURE OF THE EGYPTIANS AND GREEKS

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BED OF LAVA-VAST PETRIFACTIONS VALLEY OF HELL

Friday, January 25th. Wady Foorgundy. CCCXXVII. DURING the night it blew a gale, which dying away before morning, left the river covered with a slight fog. The air was keen and cold. Landing early, and continuing our walk among the palm groves, in the midst of which is situated the new village, or rather hamlet, of Ibrim, built after the destruction of the hill town, during the retreat of the Mamalooks towards Dóngola. The cleanliness of the natives is deserving of much praise; their houses being neat and comfortable, and the open spaces before the doors cleanly swept, and free from

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every kind of filth. This may partly arise from their comparative opulence, derived from their fertile soil, and excellent dates, the best, perhaps, in the world; but something must also be attributed to their taste for cleanliness; for the Egyptian Arabs, even when more wealthy, are, in this respect, much behind them. Being entirely independent of the governors and kiasheffs, who, thanks to Mohammed Ali, dared not offer us the slightest molestation, we never visited them, unless when their aid was necessary in procuring provisions, or arranging an affair with a guide or camel-driver. But the neatness and air of comfort observable in the kiasheff of Ibrim's dwelling, induced us to step into his divan, where he administers justice, and receives visitors. The apartment, spacious and lofty, was furnished with nicely matted divans, and had three unglazed windows, with handsome mat blinds on rollers, looking out upon the river.

CCCXXVIII. In the grove near this hamlet we observed a species of gourd, which having climbed the stems of two or three lofty date trees, its green and white fruit hung suspended from between the branches, while the tendrils and large verdant leaves formed a kind of net-work or sheath of foliage round the trunk, like the vines trailed upon barked oaks and elms in Savoy. Throughout this Wady numbers of small watch-towers are erected at intervals in the fields, on the top of which, as the corn ripens, a man is placed with a sling and stones, as in Rajpootana, to frighten away the birds. To a building of

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CASTLE OF IBRIM.

this kind the Scripture alludes, where it says, "and he shall be left desolate, like a watch-tower in a garden;" and, at this time of the year, nothing can possibly look more desolate than one of these grey towers, standing alone in the midst of the plain. Here, I observed a striking example of the ingenuity of these rude people, who, in the harvest time, when reaping their dhourra, had left the stalks about two feet high, that they might serve as sticks to the crop of kidney beans sown immediately on the removal of the corn.

CCCXXIX. About eleven o'clock, we reached the foot of the lofty hill, rising in one vast cliff perpendicularly from the water's edge, upon which the ruined castle and town of Ibrim, the Premnis of Strabo, is situated. Landing at the mouth of the rocky ravine, north of the castle, we climbed between loose stones and heaps of rubbish, to the summit, which commands a magnificent and boundless view over the desert; the numberless rocky valleys intervening, the meanderings of the river, the bold hills, surmounted with the tombs of Mohammedan saints, presenting themselves at once to the eye. The ruins, extending over the whole summit of the hill, possess no architectural importance, though a great portion of the castle walls is evidently of ancient date.* Two

* Among the names of travellers cut on the wall of one of the edifices near the edge of the rock, I observed that of Burckhardt (Ibrahim) 1813. A. L. Corry, J. Belmore, 1817. Hanbury and Waddington, 1820. W. Hamilton, no date.

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or three edifices, one of which had been used as a mosque by the Turks, contain several sandstone and granite shafts and capitals, which are also ancient. The capitals are of a peculiar form, square above, with a ram's head at each of the four corners, and between the heads a rose or rosette, alternating with a Greek ornament, sometimes denominated the Maltese Cross. One or two of these buildings have the appearance of places of Christian worship; and the high wind, moaning through the ruins, recalled the day I once passed in the church of our Lady of Guibray. In descending from the eastle towards the south, several square towers present themselves, built with small stones on the ruins of the ancient wall, which would seem to be of Roman construction. Viewed on this side, from the depth of the ravine, the castle, standing on scarped and inaccessible cliffs, exhibits a highly imposing appearance, and, during the prevalence of the ancient system of warfare, must have been impregnable; but artillery might easily be brought to bear upon it from the neighbouring heights. In the face of the cliff, about fifty feet above the river, are several small Egyptian grottoes, adorned with hieroglyphics and rude sculpture; but to reach them it is necessary to creep along the face of the precipice over a narrow ledge, in some places not exceeding two or three inches in breadth. We entered two of them, where we found in a niche the figures of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, arranged as in the large rock temples of Nubia.

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VILLAGE FORTRESSES.

CCCXXX. Near the village of Anké, on the eastern bank, about three leagues south of Ibrim, are two lofty insulated mountains, of very remarkable appearance, the northernmost resembling a vast marquee, whose rugged sides have been torn by the tropical rains into deep gorges, between which the mountain projects its roots, like enormous buttresses, into the plain. Viewed from the north, the second mountain seems to be the commencement of a chain. About four o'clock we passed the village of Toske, embosomed in date and mimosa groves. The upper part of the sakias, in some places not forty yards apart, was here surrounded by a sort of skreen, of clean dhourra stalks, which looked like neat yellow cane work; and the cultivation depending on them carefully conducted down to the water's edge. In the midst of the dwellings of the peasantry we observed a large building, something like the moiety of a propylon, about thirty-five or forty feet in height (furnished with loop-holes for musketry, like the village fortresses of Greece and Hindostan), to which the villagers probably retired, or transferred their most valuable property, during the incursions of the Bedouins. The aspect of the eastern bank is here eminently interesting; water-wheels, high garden walls, numerous scattered houses, and the pointed rocky pinnacles of lofty mountains presenting themselves in succession as the traveller ascends the stream. Beyond Toske the date-trees disappear, but the mimosas and tamarisks continue; and here a chain of low hills approaches the river. Passing

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