situated at the entrance of the gorge leading to Bab-el-Molook. It was reared to the memory of Rameses I. by his son Sethi, and belongs to the same era as the temple at Abydos.

The Tombs of the Kings in the valley of Bab-el-Molook have been called the "St Dennis" of the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties.

The Tomb of Sethi I. (No. 17, commonly called Belzoni's tomb), is the most magnificent. Belzoni found it had been already opened when he discovered it half a century ago; "but every bas-relief was then perfect, and every painting as fresh as on the day of its production.

The Tomb of Rameses III. (No. 11) is much inferior in artistic work to that of Sethi. Towards the middle of the tomb are the chambers which chiefly merit attention. Varied scenes are represented, amongst others the famous harpists, of which so many copies have been made. This tomb received its common name of Bruce from the traveller of that name, who was the first to make it known. There was once a sarcophagus of red granite in the principal chamber, of which the lid is now at Cambridge, and the other portion at the Louvre.

The Tomb of Sethi II. (No. 15) is distinguished by figures in high relief at the entrance.

The Tomb of Rameses IV. (No. 2) is distinguished by its high ceiling and slight inclination. At the end of the tomb the granite sarcophagus is still in its place.

Tomb of Rameses VI. (No. 9) is 243 feet in length, and is remarkable for the astronomical representations on its ceilings.

Tomb of Rameses IX. (No. 6) contains very striking pictures representing the idea of resurrection after death.

The Rameseum or Memnonium is without a rival in Egypt for elegant sculpture and architecture. It was built by Rameses II., the praises of whose greatness are inscribed on the walls. In front of the first court are two partly demolished pylons. One of these structures seems to stand by a curiosity of equilibrium. Both are adorned by sculptures representing battle scenes in the campaign of Rameses. In the large court are figures of Rameses, with the attributes of Osiris. In this court was once the most gigantic statue in Egypt, cut from the solid block of granite. It was 17 metres (about 54 feet) in height, and is calculated to have weighed 887 tons. THE COLOSSI, both representing Amunoph III., once stood before the pylon of the temple of that monarch. They stand nearly 60 feet high. The northernmost of these statues was known as the vocal MEMNON, and was celebrated for the sounds which issued from it, when the first morning rays of the sun fell on it. Strange to say this only happened after it had been repaired, after an earthquake, and ceased after a second restoration. Some writers assign these sounds to expansion of fissured portions under the influence of the sun's rays. Others say that a priest hid himself in the interior, and struck the bell-sounding stone still existing in the lap of the statue. In his "Nile Notes of a Howadji," Curtis thus refers to the legend:

66

Looking into the morning mists of history and poetry, we find that Homer mentions Memnon as a son of Aurora and Titho, King of Ethiopia, and brother of Priam, the most beautiful of warriors, who hastened with myriads of men to assist uncle Prium against the Greeks. Achilles

slew Memnon under the walls of Troy, and the morning after his death, as Aurora put aside the darkness and looked vaguely and wan along the world, the first level look that touched the lips of the hitherto silent statue on the plain, evoked mysterious music. There were birds, too, Memnonides, who arose from out of the funeral pyre of Memnon, and as he burned, fought fiercely in the air, so that more than half fell offerings to his manes. Every year they return to renew the combat, and every year with low wailings they dip their wings in the river water and carefully cleanse the statue."

The mysterious music was heard, or heard of, by poets, historians, and emperors. Strabo says he heard it, but the statue was then broken. This is the first mention of the phenomenon. For two hundred years the music was heard by many. Severus repaired the statue, and the mysterious melody ceased.

The so-called Temple of Medeenet-Haboo consists of the ruins of two temples, one of Thothmes III. and another of Rameses III.

The temple of Thothmes III. is the smaller of the two. The court (80 feet by 125 feet) belongs to the Roman epoch. It bears the names of Titus, Adrian, Antoninus, &c.

The temple of Rameses III. consists of a Palace and Temple, separated by a court, forming together a structure second only to Karnak in grandeur-a labyrinth of courts and innumerable pillars and colonnades. Many parts are still perfect, but all around columns lie scattered.

The Palace was probably intended as a monument of military architecture rather than as a habitation. The main part of the edifice consists of two pyramidal

towers. In the interior decoration lies the chief interest of the Palace. Here Rameses III. is seen in many pictures. At the entry gate he is shown presenting his prisoners to the gods, and specimens of the races inhabiting Western Asia, Libya, and Soudan are to be seen. The court measures 110ft. by 135ft., and is remarkable for the seven Asiride

columns, which reveal the funereal character of the temple, for the statues are those of the king himself, with the attributes of Osiris. On the other side are eight columns, with papyrus capitals. After examining the various tableaux on the surrounding walls, commemorating the warlike achievements of the king, the visitor passes through the granite portals of the second pylon into the inner court. This measures 123ft. by 133ft., and its height to the cornice is nearly 40ft. "Corridors covered with sculptures brilliantly coloured surround the four sides, in front of which is an inner peristyle, supported on the north and south by Osiride pillars, and on the east and west by massive columns with capitals representing the flower of the lotus closed. In the centre of the court are remains of columns once forming part of the Christian cathedral erected when Medeenet-Haboo was a Coptic settlement."

The Necropolis of Thebes, in coming from Luxor, lies beyond the Temple of Koorneh, to the left of the road leading to the Babel-Molook.

The portion of the cemetery first reached- that of Drah Aboo'l Negga-contains little to attract attention. It is undoubtedly the most ancient Necropolis in Thebes, containing tombs of the eleventh, seventeenth, and early eighteenth dynasties.

The Necropolis of Assasseef,

farther south, contains tombs of the nineteenth, twenty-second, and twenty-sixth dynasties. One immense excavated tomb occupies over an acre of ground.

The Tombs of Sheykh Abd-elKoorneh are further south from Assasseef; they are cut into the mountain side. No. 35 is the most interesting, as its sculptures have yielded an immense amount of information as to the manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians. The tombs of Koornet Murraee, and other collections of sepulchres, lie farther in the same direction.

The remains of Thebes on the eastern bank of the Nile consist almost exclusively of Luxor and Karnak.

Luxor is a fine approach to Karnak. Ruins are mingled in splendid confusion. One obelisk stands erect, its companion having been removed to the Place de la Concorde at Paris. The Temple of Luxor was built under the eighteenth dynasty, in the reign of Amunoph III. (1600 B.c.). The lofty colonnade on the riverbank was added in the reign of Horus (1480 B.C.)., whilst the great court, with two obelisks, the colossal statues, and the pylon were added by Rameses II. In the interior, the names of Tirhakeh, Psammetichus, and Alexander are also inscribed.

Luxor is a market town, deriving its name from words signifying "The Palaces."

The road from Luxor to Karnak lies over a plain, sprinkled with remnants of the ancient city. "We rode," says the author of The Crescent and the Cross,' "along a wide plain covered with coarse grass, and varied by some gloomy little lakes and acacia shrubs, when, at the end of an hour, our guide reined in his horse, and pointed with his spear towards the south. There lay

Karnak, darkening the whole horizon with portals, and pyramids, and palaces. We passed under a noble archway, and entered a long avenue of sphinxes; all their heads were broken off, but their pedestals remained unmoved since the time of Joseph. It must have been a noble sight in the palmy days of Thebes-that avenue of two hundred enormous statues, terminated by that temple. Yet this was only one of many; at least seven others, with similar porticoes and archways, led from this stupendous edifice. We rode through half a mile of sphinxes, and then arrived at the temple, the splendour of which no words can describe.

"A glorious portal opened into a vast court, crowded with a perfect forest of the most magnificent columns, 36ft. in circumference, covered with hieroglyphics, and surmounted by capitals-all of different patterns and richly painted. No two persons agree on the number of these apparently countless columns; some make it amount to 134, others to 160; the central ones measure 66ft. in height, exclusive of the pedestals and abacus. Endless it would be to enter into details of this marvellous pile; suffice it to say that the temple is about one mile and three-quarters in circumference, the walls 80ft. high and 25ft. thick."

The visitor enters the temple by the propylon, 370 feet in breadth, and with one tower 140ft. in height. Through a court surrounded by corridors, and with a small temple built by Rameses III., another propylon is reached, with statues of Rameses III. in red granite and the Grand Hall is then entered.

In another court, surrounded by Osiride pillars, stands the largest obelisk known, being 92ft. in height and 8ft. square.

From an inscription on the obelisk we learn that it was surmounted by a small pyramid of pure gold, that the whole column was gilded from top to bottom, and that the time spent in erecting it in this place, including its transportation from the quarries of Assouan, was only seven months. Of course it would be impossible to catalogue the marvels of Karnak. The author last quoted says, "From the desert or the river, from within or from without, by sunshine or by moonlight -however you contemplate Karnak-appears the very aspect in which it shows to most advantage. And when this was all perfect, when its avenues opened in vistas upon the noble temples and palaces of Sesostris, upon Gournou, Medeenet-Haboo, and Luxor, when its courts were paced by gorgeous priestly pageants, and busy life swarmed on a river flowing between banks of palaces, like those of Venice magnified a hundred-fold-when all this was in its prime, no wonder that its fame spread even over the barbarian world, and found immortality in Homer's song.

"For many a day after I had seen it, and even to this hour, glimpses of Thebes mingle with my reveries and blend them with my dreams, as if that vision had daguerreotyped itself upon the brain, and left its impress there

population 7000, is a place of some trade, with bazaars, a market, and a colony of dancing girls. It is considered the most healthy town in Egypt, and has been called "the most picturesque and amusing city on the Upper Nile." It stands on mounds, the accumulated heaps of the ancient city of Latopolis.

Near Esneh is the palace built by Mahomed Ali. That prince, when staying here in 1842, had the portico of the Temple of Esneh in the middle of the town cleared from rubbish. The portico, which is the only portion visible, contains twenty-four columns, 19ft. in circumference and 65ft. high, the capitals being imitations of the doom-palm, vine, papyrus, &c.

El Helleh (E.), and the mounds of Kom Ayr (W.), the last pyramid within the limits of Egypt is seen, that of El Koóla (W.), a limestone structure about 60ft. square, in a ruinous condition.

El Kab (52 miles from Luxor) is celebrated for its grottoes and other remains of the ancient city of Eileithyias, the city of Lucina.

Eileithyias was a fortress guarding the entrance of a gorge from which Arab tribes used to descend upon the valley.

Edfou (W.), is a short distance from the river. In the middle of the village stands its TEMPLE.

In general plan and arrangement it is similar to that at Denderah, and the uses to which the various portions of the building were applied were probably the

bulging at the centre; on each side are four small rooms. At the extreme end of the building is the Naos, or sanctuary, the place of deposit of the sacred emblem.

Leaving Edfou we pass the ruins of the Arabian town of Booáyb (on the E.), also the village of Silweh on the same side. On the west bank the ravine of Shut-el-Rágel is passed. Hágar-Silsileh, or Gebel Silsileh, the Mountain of the Chain, is 92 miles from Luxor.

Kom-Omboo (E.) is an interesting relic doomed to destruction, for the Nile is gradually undermining all that is left of the temple. Here was the tank where the sacred crocodile bathed. We soon reach ASSOUAN.

"Assouan astonishes the traveller," says M. Mariette; "one is tempted to think oneself in a new world. Egyptians, Turks, Barabras, half-naked Bicharis, and negroes of every kind mingle here. The inhabitants of Khartoom are especially striking by their grand mien, black faces, and their fine heads, reminding one of the best types of northern races. To complete the picture, the merchandise consists of exotic gums, elephants' teeth, and the skins of beasts. In the midst of the crowd circulate the hawkers, no longer dealing in antiquities, but in clubs of ebony, pikes, lances, and arrows, whose iron points are said to be poisoned."

of the "tower of Syene" as marking the southern limit of the kingdom-thus, "from Migdol to Syene" was a familiar expression to the customary Hebrew phrase, "from Dan to Beersheba."

In the vicinity of Assouan may be seen several remains of Saracenic walls, and numerous tombs of sheikhs and saints.

The Island of Elephantine faces Assouan. One of its Arabic names signifies "Island of Flowers." Whilst at Assouan the Egyptian element predominates in the population, at Elephantine the traveller finds himself surrounded by Nubians.

"The Nubians," says Bartlett, "are tall and slender in person. There is something of elegance in their general appearance, and the cast of their features is rather intellectual. They are of a soft dusky black or bronze tint, with a very fine skin, and they delight to oil their bodies, and to load their sable ringlets with unguents anything but odoriferous to the European nose. Their women have often elicited admiring remarks from travellers."

The First Cataract of the Nile is three miles above Assouan. The cataracts are simply rapids produced by the waters of the river dashing through scattered rocks.

The Ascent of the Cataract in a dahabeah can be effected by those who think the excitement worth the expense.

From Assouan to Phile the scenery is very wild. The land route is to the convent of the Austrian Mission, where a boat is taken for the island.

Philæ dates from a little before the foundation of Alexandria. The Egyptian deities were mostly worshipped in Triads. The three to whom Philae was dedicated were Osiris, Isis, and Horus.

The principal ruins on the