ARRIVAL AT ABOOSAMBAL.

447

Wady Ermyné about dusk, we shortly afterwards entered Wady Foorgundy, where the night air was exceedingly keen and cold.

Saturday, Jan. 26. Faras.

CCCXXXI. Leaving our moorings soon after. day-break, we found our hands and feet tingling with cold, as on a frosty morning in England. The course of the river, in ascending, is here W.N.W. In this part of the Wady the sands, on the western bank, descend to the edge of the stream, leaving barely sufficient space for a row of tamarisk and acacia trees. The opposite shore displays a belt. of cultivation, fluctuating in breadth, until we arrive at the point where the low hills project into the river, and form the line of separation between the Wady Foorgundy and the Wady Farrek, where the sand hills on the west are partially covered with copses of tamarisks. Beyond this point the course of the river is a little to the south of west. The north wind blowing almost a gale, we sailed at an extraordinarily rapid rate, and about eleven o'clock arrived at Aboosambal, where, directly opposite the temples, there is a large cultivated island, not marked in the

*

By the Nubians this name is pronounced Abasambal, the nearest approach to Abacimpolis, (supposed to have been the ancient appellation,) of any of the strange corruptions which it has undergone. Several authors have adopted the better known corruption of the Arabs, many of whom, however, say Aboosimbil. It has been written by different travellers in a variety of ways, Ebsambal, Ebsambool, Ibsambool, Ypsambul, &c. If the city of Abacis stood here, the Nile must unquestionably have flowed much farther to the east.

maps; to the east of which, in all probability, the Nile anciently flowed, leaving at the foot of the western mountains a considerable plain.

CCCXXXII. The two temples of Aboosambal are excavated in the rock, in the face of the mountains, the lesser about thirty-five, and the greater about fifty feet above the level of the river at low Nile. At present, the ascent from the water is difficult, the steep sandy bank being thickly covered with sedge and prickly mimosas. We landed under the smaller temple, where there is at present no terrace; and the sandy pathway, skirting the rock, is much too narrow to afford a view of the façade, or the colossal figures that adorn it. But, from whatever point beheld, the effect is exceedingly grand. On either side of the entrance are three colossal statues of gods, standing, with one foot advanced, in an equal number of recesses, flanked by huge sloping buttresses, covered with hieroglyphics, which appear to descend from the summit of the mountain. The first of these figures, commencing from the north, represents Horus, the second Isis, the third Osiris. The goddess is distinguished by her usual mitre, the cow's horns, with the full moon between them. South of the entrance, the order in which they are placed is reversed, first Osiris, second Isis, third Horus. Burckhardt erroneously represents the goddess holding the infant Horus in her arms; for the right hand hangs idly by her side, while the left, containing the handle of a sistrum now broken, is

FIGURES OF THE GODS.

449

pressed upon her bosom. North of the entrance, the sistrum, if it be such, is more entire, and held in the hand; not resting, as Dr. Richardson imagines, on the back of it. The countenance of Isis, both here and elsewhere, is soft and pleasing, but possesses nothing like grandeur; and the features of the male deities are chubby and undignified. To render the spectator sensible of the colossal proportions of these figures, the artist has placed by their sides female figures of the natural size, some dressed, others naked; an example of bad taste, of which even Pheidias was guilty when he represented his colossal Minerva bearing a diminutive figure of Victory in the hand. The same trick for it is no better-was also practised by the artist who sculptured the Hercules and Telephus, in the gallery of the Louvre.

CCCXXXIII. The first objects which arrest attention on entering the cella, are the six massive square columns without capitals, that appear to support the roof. They are disposed in two rows, one on either side; and exhibit a kind of terminal head of Athor, surmounted by an ornament like a temple or square tower, supposed to be emblematic of the universe, of which she was the mother.* Over the forehead runs a kind of full turban, which, passing behind the ears, and falling upon the neck on both sides, terminates in an involution, like the point of a ram's horn. Among the paintings on the walls the most pro

* Creuz. Rel. de l'Ant., t. i. Descrip. des Planch., p. 44. VOL. I.

G G

450

HUMAN SACRIFICE.

The

minent is the customary representation of a human sacrifice, executed with considerable spirit. victim is kneeling on one knee, while his right hand rests on the other, as if in the act of raising himself; and his face, in the fierce agony of despair, or in deprecating entreaty, is turned towards the sacrificer, who, bearing at his back a quiver filled with arrows, appears from his lofty mitre, with the uræus in front, to be a royal personage. The hand also that grasps the victim by the hair contains something resembling a sceptre; while in the other he wields a sickle-like faulchion, with which he is about to cut the throat of the kneeling man. Behind the royal executioner, Isis advances to save the captive, bearing a full blown lotus in one hand, while the other is extended towards the king, to stay him from his purpose; but her benevolent design is frustrated by Osiris, who presents himself before the sacrificer, and by stretching forth towards him a sacrificial instrument, commands the completion of the horrid rites. Some pantomime of this kind may probably have been enacted by the priests, when the blood of a human being was offered up to the manes of Osiris before his tomb.

CCCXXXIV. Passing on to the southern wall, we find the usual representations of the popular gods, but with some variety in their attitudes and employments. The first group consists of a goddess, playing on a kind of musical instrument before Osiris; while a strange bird-headed divinity stands behind her in

wonder, and is succeeded by Horus and Aroëris. Isis follows next, with a new and not ungraceful addition to her mitrea pair of wings descending behind the ears to the shoulders. Her head-dress is black, and richly ornamented. In the right hand she bears a small frame containing a scarabæus; and in the left three lotuses springing from one stem, which she is extending towards a goddess, with a mitre in the form of a corn-measure; probably the Ceres of the Egyptians. To this group succeeds a priest, presenting the small figure of a deity squatting on his hams to Osiris, seated on his throne, with the bird-headed sceptre, the emblem of power, in his hand. On the back or western wall, left of the doorway, we find a young priestess, who, having borrowed from her patron goddess her horns, moon, and mitre, approaches the throne of Isis, bearing an offering consisting of a full blown lotus, and a small frame containing a head of Athor, surmounted by a doorway, with a vine tendril on either side. Dif ferent versions of the same groups occur on the other sides of the chamber. It should be remarked that, in all these painted sculptures, the drapery of the female figures is so transparent, that the whole contour of the limbs and body is exhibited as if naked ; which is not effected in the Greek manner, by imitating the folds of a robe soaked in water, the exist ence of a garment being merely indicated by a tippet above, and a rich border below; the remainder being, to borrow a bold figure from Petronius, a kind of "woven wind," much too fine to be visible.