DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0315
DISCOVERIES AT ABOJJ SIMBEL. 297
Halfeh, and had remarked how fine the view must be from
that point. Beyond the fact that they are colored and that
the color upon them is still bright, there is nothing remark-
able about these inscriptions. There are many such at
Abou Simbel. Our painter did not, therefore, come here
to examine the tablets; lie was attracted solely by the
view.
Turning back presently his attention was arrested by
some much mutilated sculptures on the face of the rock, a
few yards nearer the south buttress of the temple. He had
seen these sculptures before — so, indeed, had I, when
wandering about that first day in search of a point of
view—without especially remarking them. The relief was
low, the execution slight; and the surface so broken away
that only a few confused outlines remained.
The thing that now caught the painter's eye, however,
Was a long crack running transversely down the face of the
rock. It was such a crack as might have been caused, one
Would say, by blasting.
He stooped—cleared the sand away a little with his hand
■—observed that the crack widened—poked in the point of
bis stick and found that it penetrated to a depth of two or
three feet. Even then it seemed to him to stop, not because
it encountered any obstacle, but because the crack was not
wide enough to admit the thick end of the stick.
This surprised him. No mere fault in the natural rock,
be thought, would go so deep. He scooped away a little
more sand; and still the cleft widened. He introduced the
stick a second time. It was a long palm-stick, like an
alpenstock, and it measured about five feet in length. When
be probed the cleft with it this second time it went in
freely up to where lie held it in his hand—that is to say,
to a depth of quite four feet.
Convinced now that there was some bidden cavity in the
rock, he carefully examined the surface. There were yet
visible a few hieroglyphic characters and part of two car-
touches, as well as some battered outlines of what had once
boon figures. The heads of these figures were gone (the face
of the rock, with whatever may have been sculptured upon
]fc> having come away bodily at this point), while from the
waist downward they were hidden under the sand. Only
some hands and arms, in short, could be made out.
They were the hands and arms, apparently, of four
Halfeh, and had remarked how fine the view must be from
that point. Beyond the fact that they are colored and that
the color upon them is still bright, there is nothing remark-
able about these inscriptions. There are many such at
Abou Simbel. Our painter did not, therefore, come here
to examine the tablets; lie was attracted solely by the
view.
Turning back presently his attention was arrested by
some much mutilated sculptures on the face of the rock, a
few yards nearer the south buttress of the temple. He had
seen these sculptures before — so, indeed, had I, when
wandering about that first day in search of a point of
view—without especially remarking them. The relief was
low, the execution slight; and the surface so broken away
that only a few confused outlines remained.
The thing that now caught the painter's eye, however,
Was a long crack running transversely down the face of the
rock. It was such a crack as might have been caused, one
Would say, by blasting.
He stooped—cleared the sand away a little with his hand
■—observed that the crack widened—poked in the point of
bis stick and found that it penetrated to a depth of two or
three feet. Even then it seemed to him to stop, not because
it encountered any obstacle, but because the crack was not
wide enough to admit the thick end of the stick.
This surprised him. No mere fault in the natural rock,
be thought, would go so deep. He scooped away a little
more sand; and still the cleft widened. He introduced the
stick a second time. It was a long palm-stick, like an
alpenstock, and it measured about five feet in length. When
be probed the cleft with it this second time it went in
freely up to where lie held it in his hand—that is to say,
to a depth of quite four feet.
Convinced now that there was some bidden cavity in the
rock, he carefully examined the surface. There were yet
visible a few hieroglyphic characters and part of two car-
touches, as well as some battered outlines of what had once
boon figures. The heads of these figures were gone (the face
of the rock, with whatever may have been sculptured upon
]fc> having come away bodily at this point), while from the
waist downward they were hidden under the sand. Only
some hands and arms, in short, could be made out.
They were the hands and arms, apparently, of four