valley which leads to the monastery called after the name of Saint Simon, or Simeon. It is a large, strong building, half monastery, half fortress, and is said to have been abandoned by its monks in the XIIIth century, but the statement lacks confirmation; architecturally it is of very considerable interest. It was wholly surrounded by a wall from about 19 to 23 feet high, the lower part, which was sunk in the rock, being built of stone, and the upper part of mud brick; within this wall lay all the monastery buildings. The monks lived in the north tower, in the upper storeys, where there were several cells opening out on each side of a long corridor; on the ramparts were a number of hiding places for the watchmen, and there are evidences that the building was added to from time to time. The church consisted of a choir, two sacristies, and a nave, the whole being covered with a vaulted roof, which was supported by columns. In the church were the remains of a fine fresco in the Byzantine style, which formerly contained the figures of Christ and twenty-four saints, etc., and also a picture of Christ enthroned. In a small rock-hewn chapel at the foot of the staircase which leads to the corridor, the walls are ornamented with figures of our Lord's Apostles or Disciples. Every here and there are found inscriptions in Coptic and Arabic. The Coptic texts usually contain prayers to God that He may show mercy upon their writers, who regard the visit to the monastery as a meritorious act; the oldest Arabic inscription states that a certain Mutammar 'Ali visited the monastery in the year A.H, 694, i.e., towards the end of the XIIIth century of our era. About a fifth of a mile to the east of the monastery lay the ancient cemetery, which was cleared out about seventeen years ago; the bodies. of the monks had been embalmed after a fashion, but they fell to pieces when touched. If the position of the Copts in Egypt in the XIIIth century be considered, it will be seen to be extremely unlikely that the monastery of St. Simon was flourishing at that time, and it is far more probable that it was deserted many scores of years before. From Abû Şaliḥ, the Armenian, we learn that there were several churches and monasteries at Aswân. Thus he says that on the island of Aswân, i.e., Elephantine, there was a church in which was laid the body of Abû Hadrî, and near this church was a monastery, which was in ruins in the days of Abû Salih, with 300 cells for monks. There were also the churches of Saint Mennas, the Virgin Mary, and the archangels Gabriel and Michael. The church of Saint Ibsâdah stood on the citadel of Aswân, on the bank of the Nile, and the saint was said to have the power of walking upon the water. The monastery of Abû Hadrî was on the mountain on the west," and it is probable that the monastery now called by the name of St. Simon is here referred to. 66 The gold mines, which are often referred to by writers on Aswân, were situated in the Wâdî al-'Alâkî, to the southeast of Aswân, in the country of the Bishârîn; these appear to be the mines that were worked by the Egyptians in the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties. The clay quarries were situated on the east bank of the Nile, just opposite to Elephantine Island, and were famous for red and yellow ochres, and for a fine clay, called the "clay of art," which was much used in making jars to hold Aswân wine. These quarries were worked in ancient days, and the stratum of clay was followed by the miners to very considerable distances into the mountains; the entrance to the workings is buried under the sand. Aswân was as famous for its granite, as Silsileh was for its sandstone. The Egyptian kings were in the habit of sending to Aswân for granite to make sarcophagi, temples, obelisks, etc., and it will be remembered that Unå was sent there to bring back in barges granite for the use of Pepi I., a king of the VIth dynasty. It is probable that the granite slabs which cover the pyramid of Mycerinus (IVth dynasty) were brought from Aswân. The undetached obelisk, which still lies in one of the quarries, is an interesting object. * Near the quarries are two ancient Arabic cemeteries, in which are a number of sandstone grave-stones, many of them formed from stones taken from Ptolemaïc buildings, inscribed in Cufic characters with the names of the Muḥammadans buried there, and the year, month, and day on which they died. We learn from them that natives of Edfû and other parts of Egypt were sometimes brought here and buried. The first Cataract, called Shellâl by the Arabs, begins a little to the south of Aswân, and ends a little to the north of the island of Philæ; six great cataracts are found on the Nile, but this is the most generally known. Here the Nile becomes narrow and flows between two mountains, which descend nearly perpendicularly to the river, the course of which is obstructed by huge boulders and small rocky islands and barriers, which stand on different levels, and cause the falls of water which have given this part of the river its name. On the west side the obstacles are not so numerous as on the east, and sailing and rowing boats can ascend the cataract on this side when the river is high. The noise made by the water is at times very great, but it has been greatly exaggerated by both ancient and modern travellers, some of whom ventured to assert that the "water fell from several places in the mountain more than two hundred feet." Some ancient writers asserted that the fountains of the Nile were in this cataract, and Herodotusf * A kind of Arabic writing in which very old copies of the Kor'ân, etc., are written: it takes its name from Kûfah, ¿‚Ú| El-Kûfa, a town on the Euphrates. Kûfah was one of the chief cities of 'Irâk, and is famous in the Muḥammadan world because Muḥammad and his immediate successors dwelt there. Enoch lived here, the ark was built here, the boiling waters of the Flood first burst out here, and Abraham had a place of prayer set apart here. † Bk. ii., chap. 28. reports that an official of the treasury of Neith at Sais stated that the source of the Nile was here. Many of the rocks here are inscribed with the names of kings who reigned during the Middle Empire; in many places on the little islands in the cataract quarries were worked. The island of Sehêl should be visited on account of the numerous inscriptions left there by princes, generals, and others who passed by on their way to Nubia. On February 6th, 1889, Mr. Wilbour was fortunate enough to discover on the south-eastern part of this island a most important stele consisting of a rounded block of granite, eight or nine feet high, which stands clear above the water, and in full view from the river looking towards Philæ. Upon it are inscribed thirty-two lines of hieroglyphics which form a remarkable document, and contain some valuable information bearing upon a famous seven years' famine. The inscription is dated in the eighteenth year of a king whose name is read by Dr. Brugsch as Tcheser early in the IIIrd dynasty; but internal evidence proves beyond a doubt that the narrative contained therein is a redaction of an old story, and that it is, in its present form, not older than the time of the Ptolemies. second line we are told :— In the In this time of distress the king despatched a messenger to Matar, the governor of Elephantine, informing him of the terrible state of want and misery which the country was in, and asking him to give him information about the source of the Nile, and about the god or goddess who presided over it, and promising to worship this deity henceforth if he would make the harvests full as of yore. Matar informed the messenger concerning these things, and when the king. had heard his words he at once ordered rich sacrifices to be made to Khnemu, the god of Elephantine, and decreed that tithes of every product of the land should be paid to his temple. This done the famine came to an end and the Nile rose again to its accustomed height. There can be no connection between this seven years' famine and that re corded in the Bible, for it must have happened some two thousand years before Joseph could have been in Egypt; but this remarkable inscription proves that from time immemorial the people of Egypt have suffered from periodic famines. The village of Mahâtah, on the east bank of the river, is prettily situated, and worth a visit. PHILE. Philæ is the name given by the Greeks and Romans to the two islands which are situated at the head of the First Cataract, about six miles south of Aswân; the |