Edwards, Amelia B.: A thousand miles up the Nile (New York, [1888])

200

A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.

depressed at the tip ; the nostrils sire open and sensitive ;
the under lip projects; the chin is short and square.

Here, for instance, is an outline from a bas-relief at
Bayt-el-AVclly. The subject is commemorative of the
king's first campaign. A beardless youth, fired with the
rage of battle, he clutches a captive by the hair and lifts
his mace to slay. In this delicate and
Dantesque face, which lacks as yet the
fullness and repose of the later portraits,
we recognize all the distinctive traits of
the older Barneses.

Here, again, is a sketch from Abydos,

in which the king, although he has not

yet ceased to wear the side-lock of youth,

is seen with a boyish beard, and looks

four years older' than in the previous

some three
portrait.

It is interesting to compare these
heads with the accompanying profile
of one of the caryatid colossi inside
the great temple of Abou Sirnbel; and
all three with one of the giant portraits
of the facade. This last, whether re-
garded as a marvel of size or of por-
taiture, is the chef-d'oeuvre of Egyp-
tian sculpture. We here see the great king in his prime.
His features are identical with those of the
head at Bayt-el-Welly; but the contours are
more amply filled in and the expression is
altogether changed. The man is full fifteen
or twenty years older. He has outlived that
rage of early youth. He is no longer impul-
sive, but implacable. A godlike serenity, an
•almost superhuman pride, an immutable will,
breathe from the sculptured stone. lie has
learned to believe his prowess irresistible and
himself almost divine. If- ho now raised
his arm to slay it would be with the stern placidity of a
destroying angel.

The annexed wood-cut gives the profile of the southern-
most colossus, which is the only perfect—or very nearly per-
fect—one of the four. The original can be correctly
peon from but one point of view; juid that point is