hieroglyphics; for a description of which we must refer the reader to the authentic pages of Travels along the Mediterranean. We are assured that these works are well executed, and indicate a more ancient date than most of the temples in Egypt; and yet stones, bearing hieroglyphics, are found here placed in an inverted position, and thereby supplying ground for a reasonable conjecture that they had been brought from the ruins of edifices still older than the one in which they are now incorporated.

- Esneh, the ancient Latopolis, is the next place which invites the attention of the scientific tourist. It is worthy of notice chiefly on account of a temple, the portico of which has been pronounced by Denon to be the purest fragment of Egyptian architecture, and one of the most perfect monuments of antiquity. It consists of eight columns with broad capitals, differing from each other in the ornament that they bear; in one it is the vine, in another the ivy, in a third the palm-leaf. The parts behind the portico are trivial and negligent as to their decorations. The sanctuary is totally destroyed; but, from what remains of the outer wall, there seems to have been an exterior gallery quite around the temple. The pronaos has still twenty-four columns, six rows with four in each. Various devices, resembling those at Dendera, appear on the ceiling between the columns; and in the space which separates the last row from the wall on each side, are represented the twelve signs of the zodiac, or perhaps certain astrological emblems denoting the influence of the heavenly bodies. The vicinity of Esneh, on both sides of the river, exhibits the remains of many buildings of which the history and the object have been long concealed in that darkness which still hangs over the former condition of Upper Egypt. Vestiges of primeval paganism can be traced, mingled with the more recent institutions of Christianity, but both now so much defaced by the ravages of civil war that the most diligent research fails to be rewarded with any adequate degree of success.

The grottoes of Eleithias, a town somewhat farther south and on the eastern side of the Nile, are extremely interesting, inasmuch as they represent, in the paintings with which the walls are decorated, many of the pursuits and habits that illustrate the private life of the ancient Egyptians. In this respect they are more important than even the

splendid sepulchres of Thebes; the ornaments in the latter being confined to the higher ceremonies of religion, or to the shadowing forth of those physical mysteries to which their pious rites are supposed to have had an immediate reference.

The great French work, and the less pretending volume of Mr. Hamilton, supply a very particular description of the works of art at Eleithias. In the largest of the grottoes visited by our countryman, there are three statues the size of life, representing a wealthy rustic with his two wives. One side of the wall is occupied with the picture of a feast, at which the master and mistress are seated together on a chair, richly dressed,—a favourite monkey at their feet is regaling itself on a basket of grapes. A servant, part of whose livery is the skin of a leopard, appears to introduce the guests, who are sitting in rows of men and women, each with a lotus in the hand. To some of these the attendants are presenting bowls and dishes, according to the usage which still prevails in many parts of the East. Behind the visiters are tables covered with sundry kinds of food; while the banquet is enlivened by the presence of musicians and dancers. One woman is playing on a harp; another on a double flute; three others are dancing in the style of those females known at Cairo under the name of Almeh; and a small figure, apart, is performing similar motions with a sword in each hand. The master is then represented walking, attended by his servants, who, among other things, are carrying a chair, a water-jar, and a mat, to visit his labourers at work: and accordingly the artist has here depicted the mode of hoeing, ploughing, sowing, and rolling of reaping the corn and gathering it in; of winnowing the grain, and the carriage of it to the granary; and, finally, the embarkation of bread or biscuit on board the Djerms. The farm-yard is next seen crowded with oxen, cows, sheep, goats, asses, mules, and other animals. Again, we see the vintage and the process of making wine; after which, the mode of catching and salting fish and water-fowl. Finally, fruits are presented to the master and his friends, and the whole concludes with offerings of gratitude to the gods.

In another part of the scene is the flax-harvest. The whole process of pulling the crop up by the roots, of carry

ing it away in small bundles and combing it, is very ingeniously represented. It may be observed that the complexion of the men is invariably red, that of the women yellow; but neither of them can be said to have any thing in their physiognomy at all resembling the negro countenance. The labourers are dressed in a sort of scull-cap, and in short close drawers, having very little hair on their heads; while the locks of the others who appear to superintend them spread out at the sides, after the fashion of the Nubians and Berberi above the Cataracts.

Next follow representations of ship-building and sailing, with all the machinery which belonged to their simple navigation. Nor are the amusements of the fowler forgotten, which seem to have consisted in the use of a net and a variety of other snares. The bow and arrow appear to have been also employed. The scene, after embracing a great number of occupations or pastimes, to which we cannot make a more particular allusion, closes with a funeral procession, into which all the pageantry and magnificence of Egyptian ceremonial are introduced, accompanied with the several emblems which were employed of old to denote the duties of this life and the hopes of the next.*

Leaving the instructive grottoes of Eleithias, we proceed to Edfou, the Apollinopolis Magna of the Greeks, which presents several architectural remains worthy of notice. There are two temples in a state of great preservation; one of them consisting of high pyramidal propyla, a pronaos, portico, and sekos, the form most generally used in Egypt; the other is periptoral, and is at the same time distinguished by having, on its several columns, the appalling figure of Typhon, the emblem of the Evil Principle.

The pyramidal propylon which forms the principal entrance to the greater temple is one of the most imposing monuments extant of Egyptian architecture. Each of the sides is a hundred feet in length, thirty wide, and a hundred high. Many of the figures sculptured on it are thirty feet in height, and are executed in so masterly and spirited a style as to add considerably to the grand effect of the building. In each division there is a staircase of 150 or 160 steps, which conduct the visiter into spacious apart

*Egyptiaca, p. 92.

ments at different elevations. The horizontal sections of each wing diminish gradually from 100 feet by 30, to 83 by 20, as will appear to the eye from the accompanying plate; although the solidity and height of the propylon give it more the aspect of a fortress or place of defence than of the approach to a religious edifice. As an explanation of this peculiarity, we are told that the addition of these gateways to a temple was permitted as a favour to such of the ancient kings of Egypt as, for their pious and beneficent actions, became entitled to perpetuate their names in the mansions of their gods. The Ptolemies, who claimed the right of sovereignty from conquest, indulged in the same magnificence, and built porticoes, propyla, and even temples. Cleopatra, in her misfortunes, is said to have removed with the most valuable part of her property to an edifice of a very extraordinary size and structure, which she had formerly erected near the fane of Isis. Most probably, as Mr. Hamilton thinks, it was a propylon of the kind just described. Nothing could be better adapted for her purpose; inasmuch as the variety of apartments offered every convenience that could be desired, and when the small door at the bottom of the staircase was closed, it was perfectly inaccessible.

In no part of Egypt are more colossal sculptures seen on the walls of a public building than on the larger temple at Edfou. These, we are told, are extremely well executed, and in some cases the colours are still completely unchanged. Priests are seen paying divine honours to the Scarabæus, or beetle, placed upon an altar,—an insect which is said to have been typical of the sun, either because it changes its appearance and place of abode every six months, or because it is wonderfully productive.* We regret to find that both the temples, though well preserved, are almost concealed among heaps of dirt and rubbish; indeed the terrace of the larger one is occupied by several mud cottages belonging to the villagers, and the interior chambers of the sekos are indiscriminately used as sinks, granaries, or stables.

Hadjur Silsili would not detain the traveller in his progress up the Nile, were it not for the immense quarries from which, it is very probable, were hewn at different times those remarkable columns, statues, and obelisks which lend

*Egyptiaca, p. 88; Denon, vol. ii. p. 184.