provisions, except Dhourra, were entirely exhausted, I was desirous
of reaching some inhabited spot before night, and therefore proceeded
at a quick trot. In the course of our passage over the sand hills
we came opposite to Wady Halfa; and in ten hours reached the banks
of the river in front of Sukoy (سقوي), where I met with the
remains of a temple, but in a very dilapidated state. The whole
building is buried under mounds of sand and rubbish, except the
[Illustration] fragments of shafts of columns, standing as described
in the annexed figure. The four corner columns, and two of the side
ones, are square, the others are round; they appeared to be about
two feet and a half in diameter; no hieroglyphics, or sculptures,
are visible, and the stones are in a very decayed state. The temple
had been surrounded by a high brick wall, fragments of which are
still seen. I observed no other remains of antiquity in my hasty
view of this ruin. We continued at a brisk trot till the end of
eleven hours and a half, when we again reached the bank of the
river, opposite Dabrous, and crossed the dry bed of a branch of
the stream to an island, where some Kerrarish Arabs were encamped,
and we alighted at their tents, late at night, after a ride of
twelve hours. I celebrated my safe return into the northern parts
of Nubia by having a lamb, which I purchased of the Arabs for three
measures of Dhourra, roasted for my supper. The island is thickly
overgrown with tamarisk trees, which shoot up spontaneously upon
all the islands whose surfaces consist of alluvial mud, and not of
sand. I was informed, in the course of the night, that a caravan
of sixty camels of the Arabs Sheygya had arrived at Wady Halfa,
for dates. Although continually harassed by the predatory incursions
of the Sheygya, the Nubians never offer any insult to the merchants
of that nation, who visit their villages as friends.
_March 21st._ In passing over from the island to the main land, my
dromedary[50] sank into the mud, and it was with great difficulty
that I saved it: these animals walk with a firm step through sands
as high as their knee; but mud, the depth of an inch only, will
make them stumble. In half an hour we passed the village of Argyn
(اركين). The western shore, from the Cataract to this village,
is quite barren, and continues so to the north of it, where deep
sands cover the plain. In one hour and a half, we passed opposite to
Eshke. Two hours and a half, saw the village of Debeyra, on the east
bank; there is on that side an uninterrupted grove of date trees,
from Eshke to Serra. Our road lay N. E. by N. In four hours and a
half we came to Serra, nearly opposite the village of the same name,
on the east side. At five hours, are the ruins of a small temple,
not far from the river, in the midst of low sand hills: its main
building is about twenty-four feet square; the roof has fallen in,
and the lower parts only of the original walls remain; upon these the
Greeks had raised mud walls, and converted the ruin into a church,
which, in its turn, had become a mosque. There are no remains of
columns; and the hieroglyphics, and other sculptures, which cover
the walls, are worse executed than any I had seen, worse even than
those at Samne, abovementioned. The fragments of a battle-piece may
still be discerned upon the wall, and there is a very spirited, but
rudely executed group of Briareus, seized by the hair, and under the
victor’s knife, but protected by the out-stretched arm of Osiris;
it differs from the similar representation so often repeated on the
walls of the Egyptian temples; inasmuch as Briareus is not here a
many-headed monster, but of the natural human form, holding in his
arms a dying friend; both these figures have rings in their ears,
and the hair of the head is cut like that of the Arabs of this part
of Africa, in a form which has been mistaken for a cap by some
travellers, in describing the same head-dress in the figures of
the temples of Egypt. Opposite to this temple, on the east side,
is the hamlet of Artynok (ارتنوق), which lies to the north
of the eastern Serra. Five hours and a half, Faras, (فَرَس),
opposite the fertile island of that name. The sand-hills of Serra
continue till opposite Adhendhan; to the west is a wide plain,
with insulated rocky hills. At seven hours is a ruined Greek
church, the walls of which, in the lower half of their height,
are of stone, and in the remainder of bricks. At seven hours and a
half, we passed three sepulchres excavated in the sand-stone of a
low range of hills; they are coarsely worked; in their interior are
several Greek inscriptions of the time of the Lower Empire. Our road
was now E. N. E. Opposite Adhendan the western chain of mountains
terminates, and some low hills, separated from the river by rising
sandy ground, continue to the northward. In nine hours we reached
the shore, opposite Kosko. Nine and a half, crossed the dry bed of
a branch of the stream to the island of Ballyane; and alighted,
at the end of eleven hours, at the huts of some Kerrarish Arabs,
on its northern extremity, directly opposite the castle of Adde. All
these islands are deserted during the period of the inundation.
_March 22d._ We recrossed, to the shore, over the sands left on
the decrease of the waters, and passed the village of Ballyane
(بليني). At one hour and a half, ascended a steep sandy
mountain: the mountains on both sides are close to the river. On
the east side is Wady Fereyg: on the west side the mountain bears
the name of Ebsambal (اِبسَمبَل), probably a Greek word,
the final syllable _bal_ being a modification of _polis_. When we
reached the top of the mountain, I left my guide, with the camels,
and descended an almost perpendicular cleft, choaked with sand, to
view the temple of Ebsambal, of which I had heard many magnificent
descriptions. There is no road at present to this temple, which
stands just over the bank of the river; but, it is probable, that
some change may have taken place in the course of the stream, and
that there may have been formerly a footpath along the shore,
by which the temple was approached. It stands about twenty
feet above the surface of the water, entirely cut out of the
almost perpendicular rocky side of the mountain, and in complete
preservation. In front of the entrance are six erect colossal
figures, representing juvenile persons, three on each side, placed in
narrow recesses, and looking towards the river; they are all of the
same size, stand with one foot before the other, and are accompanied
by smaller figures, which I shall presently describe. They measure
from the ground to the knee six feet and a half, and are placed
in the following order: 1. A juvenile Osiris, with a narrow beard,
and a tiara on his head, accompanied by two small upright figures,
about four feet in height, one on each side of his legs. 2. Isis,
with Horus in her arms, and a small figure [Illustration] also,
on each side; though coarsely executed, the expression of the
countenance of the Isis is truly grand and benevolent. 3. A youth,
with the usual high bonnet upon his head, his arms hanging down,
and two small figures like the preceding. These are on one side of
the door. On the other side is, 4. The same youth; 5. Isis, having
the globe, encompassed by two serpents, upon her head; and 6. the
youth a third time; each with the two small accompanying figures,
as before. Of the small figures, some of those on the side last
mentioned differ from the others in having the hair on the right
side of the head falling in a thick bunch upon the right shoulder,
while the left side is shaved. The spaces between the niches where
the large figures stand, are covered with hieroglyphics. A small
door leads into the pronaos of the temple, which is supported
by six square columns, each three feet square: the pronaos is
thirteen paces in length, and seven in breadth. The capitals of
the columns represent heads of Isis, similar to those at Tintyra,
except that they are in much lower relief, and in the same style as
the sculptures on the walls of the temple; the ornament represented
on these heads is in the form of a temple, and the hair falls down
in two thick ringlets, differing in this respect, also, from the
figures at Tintyra. The narrow cella is entered from the pronaos
by one large, and two small gates; it is only three paces in depth,
with a dark chamber on each side. The adytum is seven feet square;
the remains of a statue, cut out of the rock, are visible in the
back wall, and in the floor is a deep sepulchral excavation. The
walls of the three apartments are covered with hieroglyphics,
and the usual sacred figures of the Egyptian temples. The figures
seem all to have been painted yellow, excepting the hair, which,
in several of them is black; that of Isis is in black and white
stripes. Offerings to Osiris of lotus and of leaves of the Doum
tree, are frequently represented; and, as in all the Nubian temples,
Briareus, beneath the hand of the victor, is repeated in several
places; he is here again of the natural human form. The temple of
Ebsambal seems to have been the model of that at Derr, to which I
think it much anterior in date; it was no doubt dedicated to the
worship of Isis. The style in which the sculptures are executed
denotes high antiquity. A few paces to the north of the entrance,
in the rock above it, is a bas-relief of Osiris, in a sitting
posture, with a supplicant kneeling with extended arms before him:
both figures are surrounded with hieroglyphic characters. I was
afterwards informed, at Derr, that there is, near this temple,
on the bank of the river, the statue of a man somewhat above the
human size, with the Egyptian corn measure under his arm; and that
it is completely overflowed during the inundation.
Having, as I supposed, seen all the antiquities of Ebsambal, I was
about to ascend the sandy side of the mountain by the same way I
had descended; when having luckily turned more to the southward,
I fell in with what is yet visible of four immense colossal statues
cut out of the rock, at a distance of about two hundred yards from
the temple; they stand in a deep recess, excavated in the mountain;
but it is greatly to be regretted, that they are now almost entirely
buried beneath the sands, which are blown down here in torrents. The
entire head, and part of the breast and arms of one of the statues
are yet above the surface; of the one next to it scarcely any part
is visible, the head being broken off, and the body covered with
sand to above the shoulders; of the other two, the bonnets only
appear. It is difficult to determine, whether these statues are in
a sitting or standing posture; their backs adhere to a portion of
rock, which projects from the main body, and which may represent
a part of a chair, or may be merely a column for support. They do
not front the river, like those of the temple just described, but
are turned with their faces due north, towards the more fertile
climes of Egypt, so that the line on which they stand, forms an
angle with the course of the stream. The head which is above the
surface has a most expressive, youthful, countenance, approaching
nearer to the Grecian model of beauty, than that of any ancient
Egyptian figure I have seen; indeed, were it not for a thin oblong
beard, it might well pass for a head of Pallas. This statue wears
the high bonnet usually called the corn-measure, in the front of
which is a projection bearing the figure of a nilometer; the same
is upon the bonnets of the two others: the arms are covered with
hieroglyphics, deeply cut in the sand-stone, and well executed;
the statue measures seven yards across the shoulders, and cannot,
therefore, if in an upright posture, be less than from sixty-five
to seventy feet in height: the ear is one yard and four inches in
length. On the wall of the rock, in the centre of the four statues,
is the figure of the hawk-headed Osiris, surmounted by a globe;
beneath which, I suspect, could the sand be cleared away, a vast
temple would be discovered, to the entrance of which the above
colossal figures probably serve as ornaments, in the same manner
as the six belonging to the neighbouring temple of Isis: I am also
led to conjecture, from the presence of the hawk-headed figure, that
this was a temple dedicated to Osiris. The levelled face of the rock
behind the colossal figures, is covered with hieroglyphic characters;
over which is a row of upwards of twenty sitting figures, cut out of
the rock like the others, but so much defaced, that I could not make
out distinctly, from below, what they were meant for; they are about
six feet in height. Judging from the features of the colossal statue
visible above the sand, I should pronounce these works to belong to
the finest period of Egyptian sculpture; but, on the other hand,
the hieroglyphics on the face of the rock are of very indifferent
execution, and seem to be of the same age as those in the temple
at Derr. A few paces to the south of the four colossal statues,
is a recess hewn out of the rock, with steps leading up to it from
the river; its walls are covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions,
and representations of Isis, and the hawk-headed Osiris.
The temple of Ebsambal serves as a place of refuge to the inhabitants
of Ballyane, and the neighbouring Arabs, against a Moggrebyn tribe
of Bedouins, who regularly, every year, make incursions into these
parts. They belong to the tribes which are settled between the Great
Oasis and Siout. When they set out, they repair first to Argo,
where they commence their predatory course, plundering all the
villages on the western bank of the river; they next visit Mahass,
Sukkot, Batn el Hadjar, Wady Halfa, the villages opposite Derr,
and lastly Dakke; near the latter place, they ascend the mountain,
and return through the desert towards Siout. The party usually
consists of about one hundred and fifty horsemen, and as many
camel-riders: no one dares oppose them in Nubia; on the contrary,
the governors pay them a visit, when they arrive opposite to Derr,
and make them some presents. The incursions of this tribe are one
of the principal reasons, why the greater part of the western bank
of the Nile is deserted. Whenever they advance towards Ballyane, its
inhabitants retreat with their cattle to the temple of Ebsambal. The
Moggrebyns, last year attempted to force this place of refuge,
but failed, after losing several men.
From Ebsambal our road lay E. N. E. along a barren, sandy shore. At
three hours and a half from our setting out in the morning, we
passed some ruined Greek chapels; and at the end of six hours
and a half, alighted (opposite to Formundy, on the east side),
at an Arab tent, in which was a young man, and a pretty girl,
his cousin; their relations lived on the east side, and had sent
them over to watch a few sown fields. I asked the girl whether
she was not afraid of remaining alone with the youth? “O no,”
she replied, “is he not my cousin?” (ليش اخاف ما هو
ابن عمي). Cousins among the Bedouins are considered almost
in the same light as brothers and sisters.
_March 23d._ A continuation of the high sandy shore. We left the
river to our right, and made a short cut across the plain, in a
N. E. by E. direction. In two hours and a half, we passed, at about
one hour’s distance to our right, the village of Tosko, which
stands on both sides of the river. Five hours, Mosmos (مُسمُس),
a village on the west bank, opposite to Wady Bostan. Six hours,
passed Wady Shubak, on the east bank; from thence our road was
E. N. E. over a wide plain, between the western mountains and the
river. At nine hours, saw, to our right, the village of Kette. About
two miles distance from the river is an insulated hill, composed of
sand-stone, in which a small sepulchral chamber has been formed,
seven paces in length, three in breadth, and five feet and a half
in height, with a sepulchral excavation in the centre; adjoining
to it is a smaller chamber, in the bottom of which is a bust placed
between two seats, destined probably for mummies. The sides of the
principal chamber are covered with paintings, the colours of which
are as well preserved as those in the tombs of the kings at Thebes,
though they are not so well executed; the principal subjects are
figures making offerings and paying adoration to Osiris and Apis:
I observed on one side a Cynocephalus embalming a body extended upon
a table before him; and on another, the same figure holding in his
hand a balance, before which stands a sphinx: in the small chamber
agricultural subjects are depicted, as ploughing, sowing, hoeing,
&c. There are no other sepulchres in this place. It will always be
matter of surprise that similar excavations are not frequently found
in the mountains of Nubia, abundant as they are in those of Egypt,
in the neighbourhood of all ancient cities. In eleven hours we came
again to the river, at a village called Ayfe (عيفه); and at the
end of eleven hours and a half reached Tomas (توماس), where we
alighted, at a house belonging to Hassan Kashef. This is a large
village, and the greater part of its inhabitants are descendants
of the Arabs Gharbye, by whom Nubia was formerly occupied.
_March 24th._ In about one hour and a half from Tomas, we arrived
opposite Derr, where is a ferry to convey passengers across. After
waiting some time for the boat, which happened to be on the opposite
side, I saw Hassan Kashef himself enter it, to cross the river;
when he reached the shore, he received me very coolly; “You had
no business,” said he, “in Mahass; why did you not return,
after reaching Sukkot?” He then asked me what presents I had
given to his brothers. I told him that I had given them no presents,
as I had none to give. “I wonder, then,” he said, “how they
let you pass, for you had no letters to them.” I replied, that
they had treated me very kindly, and had even killed a lamb for me;
though this was not the truth, and I only said so by way of rebuke
to Hassan Kashef, who had not offered me any animal food, while I
remained with him. I then entered the boat, which the governor’s
slaves dragged along shore, to Tomas, where the Kashef wished
to inspect some fields. Here I witnessed one of those cruel acts
of despotism which are so common in the East: in walking over a
large field, with about thirty attendants and slaves, Hassan told
the owner that he had done wrong in sowing the field with barley,
as water-melons would have grown better. He then took some melon
seed out of his pocket, and giving it to the man, said, “you had
better tear up the barley and sow this.” As the barley was nearly
ripe, the man of course excused himself from complying with the
Kashef’s command: “Then I will sow them for you,” said the
latter; and ordered his people immediately to tear up the crop, and
lay out the field for the reception of the melon seed. The boat was
then loaded with the barley, and a family thus reduced to misery,
in order that the governor might feed his horses and camels for
three days on the barley stalks.
I returned to Derr with Hassan Kashef, but remained there only a
few hours. I dismissed my honest Kerrarish guide, Mohammed Sad;
at parting, I gave him a woollen Mellaye,[51] which he had long
before expressed a great desire to possess. He was a good man, but
had one defect, and a very great one in a guide: he never could be
prevailed upon to tell me the distances of places; or state the
spot where we should halt for the night. Whenever I questioned
him on these points his constant reply was, Allah ysahhel aleyna
(الّه يسهّل علينا), “May God smooth our path!”
and when I pressed him for a decisive answer, he would exclaim:
“God is great; he can prolong distances, and shorten them.”
Like many Arabs, he thought, that to pronounce, with any degree
of certainty, on the future, is an insult to the Deity, and the
occasion of misfortunes in a journey; few of them, therefore, ever
speak of any thing to be done without adding; “In shallah” (ان
شاآله). If it pleases God: but my old guide would not even go so
far; and always evaded conversing on what was likely to happen. At
parting, when he asked me for my Mellaye, I answered, “May God
smooth your path,” a phrase usually employed towards beggars,
when they are civilly told to be gone; “No,” said he, “for
once, I will beg you to smooth it;” so I gave him the Mellaye,
and a small present in money; and am confident that Abou Sad will
never forget me. On taking leave of Hassan Kashef, I offered him my
pistols, as a present, for I certainly had reason, upon the whole,
to be satisfied with his behaviour towards me; but he was in a very
ill humour, and told me, that they were not pistols fit for a Kashef;
and that he wanted a pair of long pistols, such as the Mamelouks
carry in their holsters. I promised to send him such a pair, and
thus we parted. I have already written to Cairo for the pistols,
and the Kashef will be not a little surprised at receiving them;
for it is very unusual in the East to remember the services of any
one, whose good offices are no longer wanted.
As long as Egypt enjoys a settled government, travellers may
proceed through Nubia with safety, as that government will
always be respected by the Nubian chiefs, at least as far as Wady
Halfa. Whenever the Kashefs have nothing to apprehend from Egypt,
I suspect that no traveller will be able to penetrate farther than
Derr, but that he will there be stripped of his property, and sent
back. In any case, it is necessary to be furnished with presents,
particularly if all the three brothers happen to be at Derr; for
they are extremely jealous of each other, and if a present were
given to one only, the two others would certainly prevent the
traveller from proceeding farther into the country.
Being furnished with a new guide, who was to accompany me to Assouan,
I recrossed the river, and slept this night, at one hour and a half
from Derr, nearly opposite Diwan, in a hut which some labourers
had built at a water wheel.
_March 25th._ At one hour and a half from where I slept, is a
place near the river called Hassaya (حسّايه), where a village
formerly stood; here are the ruins of a small temple. The pronaos
is sixteen paces in length, and consists of three rows of square
[Illustration] columns, four in each row, and two feet square,
with a row of four round ones next the cella; the whole are without
capitals. The hieroglyphics are badly sculptured; the beetle is
the figure most frequently met with on the columns. The pronaos
is encompassed by a wall, which fills up the intervals between the
outer rows of columns. The cella is entered from the pronaos through
a narrow chamber; on either side of the cella is an apartment, equal
to it in depth, but narrower; there is no adytum. The walls of the
cella have a thick coat of plaister, on which are paintings of Greek
saints. The temple is interesting on account of its preservation,
being almost entire; but the sands have accumulated considerably
round its walls and columns. There is a well paved terrace on
the top of the cella; and the Greeks had built a cupola over the
pronaos. I believe this to be the temple mentioned by Norden, as
situated near Amada. About twenty yards distant from it, towards
the river, are the foundations of another stone edifice.