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very much resembling that of the Alexandrian pillar. There are
also a handsome circular niche and some architraves with orna-
ments, in the declining Greek or Roman taste. The same use
has been made of the materials of the other temple; but there
are here the upper parts of several of the original columns just
above-ground. They measure fifteen feet in circumference.
The walls of the antient town are to be traced in several places,
particularly where they faced the mountains, running in a direc-
tion East-north-east and West-south-west. At equal distances
of one hundred and fifty feet were semicircular towers projecting
forty feet beyond the wall. They are built with great solidity,
of bricks baked in the sun, but considerably smaller than those
we had seen at Eleithias. The walls are thirteen feet thick.
Half a mile to the North-east of the ruins, at a small village
called Elkeman, we saw a small and plain temple without any
columns, but the walls covered with hieroglyphics, representing
the usual offerings, priests and deities. Its Northern angle rests
on the bank of the great canal of Gopht, which is carried to a
considerable distance across the plain.
Passing along under the South-south-west wall of the town,
we came to a very handsome causeway which strikes directly
over the plain in a South-easterly direction towards the moun-
tains. This was beyond a doubt intended to facilitate the pas-
sage of the caravans over a country intersected by canals and
frequently immersed underwater; and it must have led to the
route across the Desert to Berenice, as it now does to that of
Cosseir. About a quarter of a mile from the city, and near a
large tank or reservoir, this causeway divided into two,—the one
still leads' straight to the eity gate, the other seems to have been
continued to the river side. At the point of junction there are re-
mains of a considerable establishment, probably for purposes of
trade,
very much resembling that of the Alexandrian pillar. There are
also a handsome circular niche and some architraves with orna-
ments, in the declining Greek or Roman taste. The same use
has been made of the materials of the other temple; but there
are here the upper parts of several of the original columns just
above-ground. They measure fifteen feet in circumference.
The walls of the antient town are to be traced in several places,
particularly where they faced the mountains, running in a direc-
tion East-north-east and West-south-west. At equal distances
of one hundred and fifty feet were semicircular towers projecting
forty feet beyond the wall. They are built with great solidity,
of bricks baked in the sun, but considerably smaller than those
we had seen at Eleithias. The walls are thirteen feet thick.
Half a mile to the North-east of the ruins, at a small village
called Elkeman, we saw a small and plain temple without any
columns, but the walls covered with hieroglyphics, representing
the usual offerings, priests and deities. Its Northern angle rests
on the bank of the great canal of Gopht, which is carried to a
considerable distance across the plain.
Passing along under the South-south-west wall of the town,
we came to a very handsome causeway which strikes directly
over the plain in a South-easterly direction towards the moun-
tains. This was beyond a doubt intended to facilitate the pas-
sage of the caravans over a country intersected by canals and
frequently immersed underwater; and it must have led to the
route across the Desert to Berenice, as it now does to that of
Cosseir. About a quarter of a mile from the city, and near a
large tank or reservoir, this causeway divided into two,—the one
still leads' straight to the eity gate, the other seems to have been
continued to the river side. At the point of junction there are re-
mains of a considerable establishment, probably for purposes of
trade,