RETURN FROM UPPER EGYPT.
83
with their tails into the water before they devour it.
The Catchief sent me a present, and came himself in
the evening, when I procured the use of his horses for
the examination of the plain on the other side of the
river. ^Thermometer at night, 57°.^
31s/.-—Thermometer 78°. I again went to Karnac,
and examined the ruins where the torso was found; and
afterwards the Great Temple: the more I saw of it, the
greater were my admiration and delight. In the evening
the boat was removed to Gournon.
January 1st, 1837. — I set out early in the morning
for Biban El Moluc. Beyond a strip of cultivated land
near the river, and the ruins of a temple, apparently
of great antiquity, and supposed to have been built
by Osirei, father of Sesostris,2 the plain is covered
with barren sands, which towards the mountains form
mounds, and hillocks, some of which seem to have
been tumuli, and others the effects of repeated exca-
vations amongst the shafts, and mummy pits. Vast
quantities of blanched bones, black rags, broken mummy
boards, gums, and resinous substances present a scene
of extensive and of wanton spoliation, altogether pe-
culiar to this extraordinary place.3 The mountains
likewise abound with ruined tombs, whence thousands
* It is called El Ebek by Mr. Hamilton.
3 It may with great probability be inferred, from the authority of
Homer, and from many of the fables and traditions of antient mythology,
that, together with longevity, mankind were originally endowed with
superior intellectual and bodily faculties. It would also appear that
castes were established, that brass and iron manufactured (without which
83
with their tails into the water before they devour it.
The Catchief sent me a present, and came himself in
the evening, when I procured the use of his horses for
the examination of the plain on the other side of the
river. ^Thermometer at night, 57°.^
31s/.-—Thermometer 78°. I again went to Karnac,
and examined the ruins where the torso was found; and
afterwards the Great Temple: the more I saw of it, the
greater were my admiration and delight. In the evening
the boat was removed to Gournon.
January 1st, 1837. — I set out early in the morning
for Biban El Moluc. Beyond a strip of cultivated land
near the river, and the ruins of a temple, apparently
of great antiquity, and supposed to have been built
by Osirei, father of Sesostris,2 the plain is covered
with barren sands, which towards the mountains form
mounds, and hillocks, some of which seem to have
been tumuli, and others the effects of repeated exca-
vations amongst the shafts, and mummy pits. Vast
quantities of blanched bones, black rags, broken mummy
boards, gums, and resinous substances present a scene
of extensive and of wanton spoliation, altogether pe-
culiar to this extraordinary place.3 The mountains
likewise abound with ruined tombs, whence thousands
* It is called El Ebek by Mr. Hamilton.
3 It may with great probability be inferred, from the authority of
Homer, and from many of the fables and traditions of antient mythology,
that, together with longevity, mankind were originally endowed with
superior intellectual and bodily faculties. It would also appear that
castes were established, that brass and iron manufactured (without which