DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0165
TIIEBES TO ASSUAN. 147
sculptured history, what pictured chambers, what buried
bronzes and statues may here await the pick of the ex-
cavator!
All next day, while the men were baking, the writer sat
in a corner of the outer passage and sketched the portico
of the temple. The sun rose upon the one horizon and set
upon the other before that drawing was finished; yet for
scarcely more than one hour did it light up the front of
the temple. At about half-past nine a.m. it first caught
the stone fillet at the angle. Then, one by one, each
massy capital became outlined with a thin streak of gold.
As this streak widened the cornice took fire, and presently
the whole stood out in light against the sky. Slowly then,
but quite preceptibly, the sun traveled across the narrow
space overhead ; the shadows became vertical; the light
changed sides; and by ten o'clock there was shade for the
remainder of the day. Toward noon, however, the sun
being then at its highest and the air transfused with light,
the inner columns, swallowed up till now in darkness, be-
came illuminated with a wonderful reflected light, and
glowed from out the gloom like pillars of fire.
Never to go on shore without an escort is one of the
rules of Nile life, and Salame has by this time become my
exclusive property. He is a native of Assiian, young,
active, intelligent, full of fun, hot-tempered withal, and as
thorough a gentleman as I have ever had the pleasure of
knowing. For a sample of his good-breeding, take this
day at Esneb—a day which he might have idled away in
the bazaars and cafes, and which it must have been dull
work to spend cooped up betwee7i a mud wall and an out-
landish birbeh, built by the Djinns who reigned before
Adam. Yet Salame betrays no discontent. Curled up in
a shady corner, he watches me like a dog; is ready with an
umbrella as soon as the sun comes round; and replenishes
a water bottle or holds a color box as deftly as though he
had been to the manner born. At one o'clock arrives my
luncheon, enshrined in a pagoda of plates. Being too
busy to leave off work, however, I put the pagoda aside,
and dispatch Salame to the market, to buy himself some
dinner; for which purpuse, wishing to do the thing hand-
somely, I present him with the magnificent sum of two
silver piasters, or about five pence English. "With this he
contrives to purchase three or four cakes of flabby native
sculptured history, what pictured chambers, what buried
bronzes and statues may here await the pick of the ex-
cavator!
All next day, while the men were baking, the writer sat
in a corner of the outer passage and sketched the portico
of the temple. The sun rose upon the one horizon and set
upon the other before that drawing was finished; yet for
scarcely more than one hour did it light up the front of
the temple. At about half-past nine a.m. it first caught
the stone fillet at the angle. Then, one by one, each
massy capital became outlined with a thin streak of gold.
As this streak widened the cornice took fire, and presently
the whole stood out in light against the sky. Slowly then,
but quite preceptibly, the sun traveled across the narrow
space overhead ; the shadows became vertical; the light
changed sides; and by ten o'clock there was shade for the
remainder of the day. Toward noon, however, the sun
being then at its highest and the air transfused with light,
the inner columns, swallowed up till now in darkness, be-
came illuminated with a wonderful reflected light, and
glowed from out the gloom like pillars of fire.
Never to go on shore without an escort is one of the
rules of Nile life, and Salame has by this time become my
exclusive property. He is a native of Assiian, young,
active, intelligent, full of fun, hot-tempered withal, and as
thorough a gentleman as I have ever had the pleasure of
knowing. For a sample of his good-breeding, take this
day at Esneb—a day which he might have idled away in
the bazaars and cafes, and which it must have been dull
work to spend cooped up betwee7i a mud wall and an out-
landish birbeh, built by the Djinns who reigned before
Adam. Yet Salame betrays no discontent. Curled up in
a shady corner, he watches me like a dog; is ready with an
umbrella as soon as the sun comes round; and replenishes
a water bottle or holds a color box as deftly as though he
had been to the manner born. At one o'clock arrives my
luncheon, enshrined in a pagoda of plates. Being too
busy to leave off work, however, I put the pagoda aside,
and dispatch Salame to the market, to buy himself some
dinner; for which purpuse, wishing to do the thing hand-
somely, I present him with the magnificent sum of two
silver piasters, or about five pence English. "With this he
contrives to purchase three or four cakes of flabby native