DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0092
RETURN FROM UPPER EGYPT.
61
effect to the ruined temples of the sacred island, which,
surrounded by palm-trees and vegetation, formed a sin-
gular contrast to the portentous and grotesque masses
of granite on the island of Bigge, and on the adjacent
shores.
The river here presented the appearance of a vast
lake, nor was it possible to contemplate unmoved that
mighty and wonderful stream, the sources of whose
periodical visitations are veiled in the same obscurity
which still involves the history of those powerful nations
whose industry once clothed its banks with fertility; and
whose science, called into action by superstitious enthu-
siasm, ennobled them with buildings of such matchless
grandeur and beauty, that the very ruins have for suc-
cessive ages commanded universal admiration. Nor can
it be recollected without increased interest, that many
of those noble monuments, evincing in their construction
so much power and skill, and decorated with so many
elaborate devices, were raised in very early ages, cer-
tainly at no long time after the deluge; and that they
therefore not only afford convincing proofs of the refine-
ment, to which mankind had attained before that great
event, but also testify that Egypt was the source from
which Greece first, Rome next, and subsequently through
them the rest of Europe derived the chief part of their
civilisation, and knowledge.
25th. — I sent the boat to Es Souan, and went early
in the morning to Philse. The hypaathral temple near
which I landed is extremely lofty, and, if intended for
effect, must have been constructed upon principles totally
different from those, which directed the works at Abou-
61
effect to the ruined temples of the sacred island, which,
surrounded by palm-trees and vegetation, formed a sin-
gular contrast to the portentous and grotesque masses
of granite on the island of Bigge, and on the adjacent
shores.
The river here presented the appearance of a vast
lake, nor was it possible to contemplate unmoved that
mighty and wonderful stream, the sources of whose
periodical visitations are veiled in the same obscurity
which still involves the history of those powerful nations
whose industry once clothed its banks with fertility; and
whose science, called into action by superstitious enthu-
siasm, ennobled them with buildings of such matchless
grandeur and beauty, that the very ruins have for suc-
cessive ages commanded universal admiration. Nor can
it be recollected without increased interest, that many
of those noble monuments, evincing in their construction
so much power and skill, and decorated with so many
elaborate devices, were raised in very early ages, cer-
tainly at no long time after the deluge; and that they
therefore not only afford convincing proofs of the refine-
ment, to which mankind had attained before that great
event, but also testify that Egypt was the source from
which Greece first, Rome next, and subsequently through
them the rest of Europe derived the chief part of their
civilisation, and knowledge.
25th. — I sent the boat to Es Souan, and went early
in the morning to Philse. The hypaathral temple near
which I landed is extremely lofty, and, if intended for
effect, must have been constructed upon principles totally
different from those, which directed the works at Abou-