sculptured in a good style, showing the common objects priests with jugs offering to Isis, and Osiris, who is represented with the hawk's head, and carrying a crosier in his hand. Behind the structure is a small grotto, which has the appearance of a later date, and is most probably to be attributed to the early Christians; there being an inscription with the characters A+ among the fragments which are found in the area.*

These ruins, however, are surpassed in magnificence and interest by those of Guerfeh Hassan and Sibhoi, of which the relics are yet sufficiently entire to enable a scientific eye to delineate their plan and determine their object. It is justly observed, that the period when these edifices were constructed is a matter of pure conjecture; but it has been remarked, at the same time, that the most striking difference between the temples above and below the Cataracts is the high state of preservation of the stones and outward walls of the former, which have scarcely suffered from the effects of age. From this circumstance, it might at first sight be supposed that these remains of antiquity were more recent than the temples in Egypt; but that opinion is not warranted by any other evidence. It would be difficult, indeed, by any reasonable allowance in dates, to account for the fact now stated; and the real cause, it is probable, must be sought in the mild unchanging climate which prevails between the tropics. The corroding hand of time works very slowly in the absence of frost and rain, and of those extreme variations of the atmosphere which, in the zones called temperate, wage an incessant war with all the works of human art.†

Derr, which is at present considered the capital of Lower Nubia, is the residence of a chief who, while he acknowledges a nominal subjection to the Pasha of Egypt, seizes every opportunity of setting his authority at naught. The name just used, however, seems to apply to a district rather than a town or any partieular collection of houses; and the abode of the governor himself can only be distinguished by having in its vicinity a few mud cottages, and a somewhat

* Legh's Narrative of a Journey in Egypt and the Countries beyond the Cataracts, p. 142.

† Ibid. p, 150,

denser population. But his power, in the absence of law, and supported by three thousand barbarian troops, is extremely formidable. Plundered himself from time to time by the agents of the supreme government, he extorts a revenue from his miserable subjects at the point of the spear. He is constantly surrounded by more than three hundred armed slaves, ready to execute any order of capricious cruelty which he may be pleased to issue; for as his soldiers are his own property, purchased from the dealers of Dongola or Sennaar, they are in his hands the most passive instruments whether for good or for evil. Jealous of interference or inspection, he dreads the approach of strangers. When Mr. Legh and his friend Mr. Smelt made their journey into his district, it was with the utmost reluctance that he allowed them to proceed beyond Derr. He began by asking in a very boisterous manner what they wanted, and why they had come. It was in vain they replied, that they were desirous to pay their respects to him, and to see the remains of antiquity with which his country abounded. He answered that there was nothing curious to see; but "I suppose," he added, "you are come to visit the tombs of your ancestors?" They then solicited permission to go to Ibrîm, which he flatly refused; alleging first there was no object there worthy of their attention, and next that he had no horses to convey them. In short, it was not until his obstinacy had been subdued by the present of a handsome sword that he yielded his consent to their farther progress.

The town which the travellers were so desirous to visit is situated on the right bank of the Nile, at the southern extremity of a ridge of mountains, rising in some parts perpendicularly from the river, so as scarcely to leave room for a road. It stands on the eastern slope of the hill, having a citadel, which, being built on the summit, must formerly have been a strong position. Its height has been estimated at about two hundred feet above the current, which washes the foot of the rock whereon it is placed, and is at this point about a quarter of a mile broad. The walls that enclosed the fortress and the governor's house can still be traced with But no inhabitant now remains; not a vestige of life is to be seen within its boundaries. The destruction of Ibrim by the Mamlouks, when they passed into Dongola,

ease.

had been so complete that not even one solitary native was to be found wandering among its ruins, nor so much as a date-tree to indicate that it was once the abode of human beings. Burckhardt informs us that those savage horsemen carried away about twelve hundred cows, all the sheep and goats, and imprisoned the most respectable people, for whose ransoms they received upwards of a hundred thousand Spanish dollars. On their departure they put the aga to death, after having devoured or destroyed all the provisions they could find. This scene of pillage, as might have been expected, was followed by a dreadful famine.

Ibrîm is said to be the ancient Primmis, and the account of it given by Strabo, as fortified by nature, is confirmed by the actual appearance of the place. But when this geographer states that the Romans, in marching from Pselcha or Kalabshe, passed over the mounds of sand under which the army of Cambyses was buried, he is imagined to be at variance with Herodotus, who relates that the host of the Persian monarch, when surprised by the clouds of moving dust, was proceeding to chastise the Ammonians. Hence it is inferred that their route must have lain in a direction quite contrary to that of the Romans under Petronius, who was sent to punish the Ethiopians for an irruption into the Thebaid. These remarks, however, are founded on the assumption that the Ammonians must necessarily be the inhabitants of the particular district of Libya where the celebrated temple of Jupiter was erected; whereas there is reason to believe that a sanctuary, dedicated to the same god under the character of Ammon, stood in the peninsula of Meroë near Shendy, the principal seat of the Ethiopians. It is therefore not at all improbable that the troops of Persia and of Rome followed the same line of march. Near the town of Moscho there is still a position known by the name of Cambysis Erarium-the treasury of Cambyses,-while it is admitted that the legions advanced as far as Napata, a station considerably farther to the south.

The space between Ibrîm and the second cataract presents no interest but such as may be attached to its ancient buildings, more especially the temple of Ebsamboul, which we shall hereafter describe with some degree of minuteness. The obstruction in the river, occasioned by numerous rocks and small islands, which begins at Wady Halfa, continues

about a hundred miles, and in the low state of the flood puts a stop to all such vessels as cannot be partly carried overland on men's shoulders. The falls vary according to the period of the inundation; a fact which may to a certain extent explain the discrepancy between the several authors whose works have been recently given to the world, and who received very different impressions in the vicinity of the principal cataract. One tells us that the declivity was so trifling that the descent of the stream, so far from creating a rushing noise, could hardly be perceived by the eye; while another assures us that it was heard in the night at the distance of about half an hour, or nearly two miles. Burckhardt, whose statement we have just copied, adds, that the valley is very romantic; that when the inundation subsides many small lakes are left among the rocks; and that the banks of these, overgrown with large tamarisks, have a picturesque appearance among the black and green stones. The tract is called the Dar el Hadjar or Batn el Hadjar, the district of cliffs or bed of shelves.

An American who engaged in the service of Ishmael Pasha during the expedition to Dongola and Sennaar, and who has published an interesting narrative of his voyage up the Nile, begs his readers to remember that what is called the second cataract is properly a succession of swift rapids, which, as we have already observed, extend fully a hundred miles from Wady Halfa to Sukkot. He counted nine of these; some of which, particularly the second, fifth, seventh, and ninth, were very dangerous to pass, although the river had subsided but a few feet. Before his party arrived at the fifth, called the Shellal of Ambigool, two boats were wrecked against the rocks which crowd the channel; and before they could pass the ninth, the Shellal of Dal, several accidents of the same kind took place. To clear these two falls, it was necessary to employ about a hundred men to drag the boats one after another against the current. At the former the stream is interrupted by a ledge of rocks reaching nearly across, over which it precipitates itself. Between this shelve, indeed, and the western shore, there is a practicable passage, wide enough to allow a boat to be hauled up the current, which here runs very furiously.*

* Narrative of Expedition, p. 5.

D

Near the upper part of the second cataract the country becomes extremely beautiful and fertile; verifying all the reports respecting the excellence of the soil in the provinces beyond Nubia. In some places the river is not less than five or six miles broad, enclosing numerous islands on which agricultural produce might be increased to almost any amount. The scenes of verdure on the left bank far surpass the finest views of rural magnificence in the Saïd, while the mode of culture is not inferior to that pursued in the most improved districts of the Lower Nile. The author of the Narrative asserts that some of the grounds watered by the stream might, by the hands of enlightened industry, be made capable of producing every thing which the art of man, operating upon a fine soil under a soft climate, could possibly effect. Many parts of Dongola exhibit the same rich qualities, and present the same hopes to the farmer; and, in short, it is manifest that nothing besides a good government is required to render those extensive districts the abode of plenty, contentment, and civilization.

The Nile has with justice been represented as one of the wonders of the globe. Its course has been compared to the path of a good man amid a wicked generation. It passes through a desert, dry, barren, and hideous; on the portions of which, contiguous to its banks, it deposites the richest soil, which it continually waters and nourishes. This gift has been the source of subsistence to several powerful nations, who have established and overthrown mighty kingdoms, and have originated the arts, the learning, and the refinement of the greater part of the ancient world. Those nations-instructers and pupils-have perished; but the remains of their stupendous labours, the pyramids and the temples of Egypt, Nubia, Dongola, and Meroë, are more than sufficient to excite respect for the great people who founded them.

Under this impression a voyage up the Nile may be considered as presenting an epitome of the life of man. We meet at almost every stage with the monuments of his tyranny, his superstition, or his luxury, but with few memorials of his talents directed to the improvement and protection of his fellow-creatures. We also everywhere perceive the traces of Almighty justice on his crimes. On the banks of this ancient river we behold cities, once famous for power and wealth, reduced to a heap of sand like the wilderness; and temples, once