DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0306
288 A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.
The palms of Wady Halfeh, blue with distance, came
into sight at the next bend; and by noon the Philaa was
once more moored alongside the Bagstones under a shore
crowded with cangias, covered with bales and packing-
cases and, like the shores of Mahatta and Assuan, popu-
lous with temporary huts. For here it is that traders
going by water embark and disembark on their way to and
fro between Dongola and the first cataract.
There were three temples—or at all events three ancient
Egyptian buildings—once upon a time on the western bank
over against Wady Halfeh. Now there are a few broken
pillars, a solitary fragment of brick pylon, some remains
of a flight of stone steris leading down to the river, and a
wall of inclosure overgrown with wild pumpkins. These
ruins, together with a rambling native Khun and u noble
old sycamore, form a picturesque group backed by amber
sand-cliffs, and mark the site of a lost city* belonging to
the early days of Usurtesen III.
The second, or great, cataract begins a little way above
Wady Halfeh and extends over a distance of many miles.
It consists, like the first cataract, of a succession of rocks
and rapids, and is skirted for the first five miles or so by
the sand-cliff ridge which, as I have said, forms a back-
ground to the ruins just opposite AVady Halfeh. This
ridge terminates abruptly in the famous precipice known
as the Kock of Abusir. Only adventurous travelers bound
for Dongola or Khartum go beyond this point; and they,
for the most part, take the shorter route across the desert
from Korosko. L------and the writer would fain have hired
camels and pushed on as far as Semneh; which is a matter
of only two days' journey from Wady Halfeh, and, for
people provided with sketching-tents, is one of the easiest
of inland excursions.
One may go to the Rock of Abusir by land or by water.
The happy couple and the writer took two native boatmen
versed in the intricacies of the cataract and went in the
felucca. L------and the painter preferred donkeying. Given
* " Un second temple, plus grand, mais tout aussi detruit que le
precedent, existe un pen plus au sud, e'etait le grand temple de la
villa Egyptienne de Beheni, qui exista sur cet emplacement, et qui
d'apres l'fitendu des debris de poteries repandus sur la plaine au-
jourdliui deserte, parait avoir ete assez grande."—Champolliorj,
Leltres ecritcs d'iZgypte, etc., ed. 1808; Letter ix.
The palms of Wady Halfeh, blue with distance, came
into sight at the next bend; and by noon the Philaa was
once more moored alongside the Bagstones under a shore
crowded with cangias, covered with bales and packing-
cases and, like the shores of Mahatta and Assuan, popu-
lous with temporary huts. For here it is that traders
going by water embark and disembark on their way to and
fro between Dongola and the first cataract.
There were three temples—or at all events three ancient
Egyptian buildings—once upon a time on the western bank
over against Wady Halfeh. Now there are a few broken
pillars, a solitary fragment of brick pylon, some remains
of a flight of stone steris leading down to the river, and a
wall of inclosure overgrown with wild pumpkins. These
ruins, together with a rambling native Khun and u noble
old sycamore, form a picturesque group backed by amber
sand-cliffs, and mark the site of a lost city* belonging to
the early days of Usurtesen III.
The second, or great, cataract begins a little way above
Wady Halfeh and extends over a distance of many miles.
It consists, like the first cataract, of a succession of rocks
and rapids, and is skirted for the first five miles or so by
the sand-cliff ridge which, as I have said, forms a back-
ground to the ruins just opposite AVady Halfeh. This
ridge terminates abruptly in the famous precipice known
as the Kock of Abusir. Only adventurous travelers bound
for Dongola or Khartum go beyond this point; and they,
for the most part, take the shorter route across the desert
from Korosko. L------and the writer would fain have hired
camels and pushed on as far as Semneh; which is a matter
of only two days' journey from Wady Halfeh, and, for
people provided with sketching-tents, is one of the easiest
of inland excursions.
One may go to the Rock of Abusir by land or by water.
The happy couple and the writer took two native boatmen
versed in the intricacies of the cataract and went in the
felucca. L------and the painter preferred donkeying. Given
* " Un second temple, plus grand, mais tout aussi detruit que le
precedent, existe un pen plus au sud, e'etait le grand temple de la
villa Egyptienne de Beheni, qui exista sur cet emplacement, et qui
d'apres l'fitendu des debris de poteries repandus sur la plaine au-
jourdliui deserte, parait avoir ete assez grande."—Champolliorj,
Leltres ecritcs d'iZgypte, etc., ed. 1808; Letter ix.