DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0364
346 A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.
will, from above or below, looking north or looking south,
it makes a charming sketch.
IE transported to Dab6d on that magic carpet of the
fairy tale, one would take it for a ruin on the "beached
margent" of some placid lake in dreamland. It lies be-
tween two bends of the river, which here flows wide, show-
ing no outlet and seeming to be girdled by mountains and
palm-groves. The temple is small and uninteresting; bo-
gun, like Dakkeh, by an Ethiopian king and finished by
Ptolemies and Cajsars. The one curious thing about it is a
secret cell, most cunningly devised. Adjoining the sanc-
tuary is a dark side-chamber; in the floor of the side-
chamber is a pit, once paved over; in one corner of the pit
is a man-hole opening into a narrow passage; and in the
narrow rmssage are steps leading up to a secret chamber
constructed in the thickness of the wall. We saw other
secret chambers in other temples,* but not one in which the
old approaches were so perfectly preserved.
From Dabod to Phils is but ten miles; and we are bound
for Torrigur, which is two miles nearer. Now Torrigur is
that same village at the foot of the beautiful sand-drift,
near which we moored on our way up the river; and here
we are to stay two clays, followed by at least a week at
Philse. No sooner, therefore, have we reached Torrigur
than Rei's Hassan and three sailors start for Assuan to buy
flour. Old Ali, Riskalli and Miisa, whose homes lie in the
villages round about, get leave of absence for a week; and
we find ourselves reduced all at once to a crew of five,
with only Khaleefeh in command. Five, however, are as
good as fifty when the dahabeeyah lies moored and there is
nothing to do; and our five, having succeeded in buying
some flabby Nubian cakes and green lentils, are now quite
* In these secret chambers (the entrance to which was closed by a
block of masonry so perfectly fitted as to defy detection) were kept
the images of gold and silver and lapis lazuli, the precious vases, the
sistrums, the jeweled collars, and all the portable treasures of the
temples. We saw a somewhat similar pit and small chamber in a
corner of the Temple of Dakkeh, and some very curious crypts and
hiding-places under the floor of the dark chamber to the east of the
sanctuary at Philse, all of course long since broken open and rilled.
But we had strong reason to believe that the painter discovered the
whereabouts of a hidden chamber or passage to the west of the
sanctuary, yet closed, with all its treasures probably intact. We
had, however, no means of opening the wall, which is of solid
masonry.
will, from above or below, looking north or looking south,
it makes a charming sketch.
IE transported to Dab6d on that magic carpet of the
fairy tale, one would take it for a ruin on the "beached
margent" of some placid lake in dreamland. It lies be-
tween two bends of the river, which here flows wide, show-
ing no outlet and seeming to be girdled by mountains and
palm-groves. The temple is small and uninteresting; bo-
gun, like Dakkeh, by an Ethiopian king and finished by
Ptolemies and Cajsars. The one curious thing about it is a
secret cell, most cunningly devised. Adjoining the sanc-
tuary is a dark side-chamber; in the floor of the side-
chamber is a pit, once paved over; in one corner of the pit
is a man-hole opening into a narrow passage; and in the
narrow rmssage are steps leading up to a secret chamber
constructed in the thickness of the wall. We saw other
secret chambers in other temples,* but not one in which the
old approaches were so perfectly preserved.
From Dabod to Phils is but ten miles; and we are bound
for Torrigur, which is two miles nearer. Now Torrigur is
that same village at the foot of the beautiful sand-drift,
near which we moored on our way up the river; and here
we are to stay two clays, followed by at least a week at
Philse. No sooner, therefore, have we reached Torrigur
than Rei's Hassan and three sailors start for Assuan to buy
flour. Old Ali, Riskalli and Miisa, whose homes lie in the
villages round about, get leave of absence for a week; and
we find ourselves reduced all at once to a crew of five,
with only Khaleefeh in command. Five, however, are as
good as fifty when the dahabeeyah lies moored and there is
nothing to do; and our five, having succeeded in buying
some flabby Nubian cakes and green lentils, are now quite
* In these secret chambers (the entrance to which was closed by a
block of masonry so perfectly fitted as to defy detection) were kept
the images of gold and silver and lapis lazuli, the precious vases, the
sistrums, the jeweled collars, and all the portable treasures of the
temples. We saw a somewhat similar pit and small chamber in a
corner of the Temple of Dakkeh, and some very curious crypts and
hiding-places under the floor of the dark chamber to the east of the
sanctuary at Philse, all of course long since broken open and rilled.
But we had strong reason to believe that the painter discovered the
whereabouts of a hidden chamber or passage to the west of the
sanctuary, yet closed, with all its treasures probably intact. We
had, however, no means of opening the wall, which is of solid
masonry.