DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0450
432 A THOUSAND MlLBS UP THE NILE.
even of the first dynasty; and some day or another they
may discover to us the hitherto unknown and hidden en-
trance to the tomb of the god."*
I bitterly regretted at the time that I could not at least
ride to the foot of Kom-es-Sultan; but I think now that I
prefer to remember it as I saw it from afar off, clothed
in mystery, in the gloom of that dusky evening.
There was a heavy silence in the air, and a melan-
choly as of the burden of ages. The tumbled hillocks
looked like a ghastly sea, and beyond the verge of the
desert it was already night. Presently, from among the
grave-pits, there crept toward us a slowly moving cloud.
As it drew nearer—soft, filmy, shifting, unreal—it proved
to be the dust raised by an immense flock of sheep. On
they came, a brown compact mass, their shepherd showing
dimly now and then through openings in the cloud. The
last pale gleam from above caught them for a moment ere
they melted, ghostlike, into the murky plain. Then we
went down ourselves, and threaded the track between the
mounds and the valley. Palms and houses loomed vaguely
out of the dusk; and a caravan of camels, stalking by with
swift and noiseless footfall, looked like shadows projected
on a background of mist. As the night deepened the air
became stifling. There were no stars and we could scarcely
see a yard before us. Crawling slowly along the steep
causeway, we felt, but could distinguish nothing of the
plain stretching away on either side. Meanwhile the frogs
croaked furiously, and our donkeys stumbled at every step.
When at length we drew near Samata, it was close upon
ten o'clock, and Eeiis Hassan had just started with men
and torches to meet us.
Next morning early we once again passed Girgeh, with
its ruined mosque and still nnfallen column ; and about
noonday moored at a place called Ayserat, where we paid
a visit to a native gentleman, one Ahmed Abu Ratab Aga,
to whom we carried letters of introduction. Ratab Aga
owns large estates in this province; is great in horseflesh;
and lives in patriarchal fashion surrounded by a numerous
clan of kinsfolk and dependents. His residence as Ayserat
consists of a cluster of three or four large houses, a score
* " Ibid," p. 148. The hope here expressed was, however, not
fulfilled; tombs of the fourth or fifth dynasties being, I believe, the
earliest discovered. [Note to second edition.]
even of the first dynasty; and some day or another they
may discover to us the hitherto unknown and hidden en-
trance to the tomb of the god."*
I bitterly regretted at the time that I could not at least
ride to the foot of Kom-es-Sultan; but I think now that I
prefer to remember it as I saw it from afar off, clothed
in mystery, in the gloom of that dusky evening.
There was a heavy silence in the air, and a melan-
choly as of the burden of ages. The tumbled hillocks
looked like a ghastly sea, and beyond the verge of the
desert it was already night. Presently, from among the
grave-pits, there crept toward us a slowly moving cloud.
As it drew nearer—soft, filmy, shifting, unreal—it proved
to be the dust raised by an immense flock of sheep. On
they came, a brown compact mass, their shepherd showing
dimly now and then through openings in the cloud. The
last pale gleam from above caught them for a moment ere
they melted, ghostlike, into the murky plain. Then we
went down ourselves, and threaded the track between the
mounds and the valley. Palms and houses loomed vaguely
out of the dusk; and a caravan of camels, stalking by with
swift and noiseless footfall, looked like shadows projected
on a background of mist. As the night deepened the air
became stifling. There were no stars and we could scarcely
see a yard before us. Crawling slowly along the steep
causeway, we felt, but could distinguish nothing of the
plain stretching away on either side. Meanwhile the frogs
croaked furiously, and our donkeys stumbled at every step.
When at length we drew near Samata, it was close upon
ten o'clock, and Eeiis Hassan had just started with men
and torches to meet us.
Next morning early we once again passed Girgeh, with
its ruined mosque and still nnfallen column ; and about
noonday moored at a place called Ayserat, where we paid
a visit to a native gentleman, one Ahmed Abu Ratab Aga,
to whom we carried letters of introduction. Ratab Aga
owns large estates in this province; is great in horseflesh;
and lives in patriarchal fashion surrounded by a numerous
clan of kinsfolk and dependents. His residence as Ayserat
consists of a cluster of three or four large houses, a score
* " Ibid," p. 148. The hope here expressed was, however, not
fulfilled; tombs of the fourth or fifth dynasties being, I believe, the
earliest discovered. [Note to second edition.]