DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0157
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121
a narrow pass, more ruins and foundations were to be
perceived of the same kind, and further up in the moun-
tains parts of the Gisr El Agoos, (the wall, that is said
to have extended from the sea to Es Souan) still exist.
This wady, or pass, soon after turns to the right, and
continues its course through the mountains till it reaches
the Nile near Kom Achmar. To the northward, near
Djebel Sheik Embarek, a grotto, which contained in a
niche opposite the entrance the remains of two figures,
and a sepulchral shaft, had been excavated in the rocks;
and near it was a descent, that probably led to other
tombs. These excavations, and several others of the same
kind were full of loose stones, and rubbish. Whilst I was
examining these grottoes, several Arab girls arrived from
a small encampment of Bedouins, who had come down
the wady from the desert; they possessed a few sheep,
and goats, but were extremely poor. The weather was
fine, and, together with the fertility of the crops, and
the singing of the birds, reminded me of an English
spring.
Mounds of rubbish, broken pottery, fragments of ar-
chitraves, of cornices, and of squared stones, and masses
of brick work apparently Roman mark the site of Acoris,
near the Arab village of Tebneh, which is situated at the
eastern extremity of a fertile, but neglected plain, about
two miles from the river. These ruins are at the en-
trance of a valley, which extends still farther to the east-
ward in several directions, and also to the south behind
a range of cliffy mountains, which in every part contain
excavations, and tombs, and are ascended by means of
terraces carried along from one grotto to another. The
river, and the adjacent country are seen to great advan-
121
a narrow pass, more ruins and foundations were to be
perceived of the same kind, and further up in the moun-
tains parts of the Gisr El Agoos, (the wall, that is said
to have extended from the sea to Es Souan) still exist.
This wady, or pass, soon after turns to the right, and
continues its course through the mountains till it reaches
the Nile near Kom Achmar. To the northward, near
Djebel Sheik Embarek, a grotto, which contained in a
niche opposite the entrance the remains of two figures,
and a sepulchral shaft, had been excavated in the rocks;
and near it was a descent, that probably led to other
tombs. These excavations, and several others of the same
kind were full of loose stones, and rubbish. Whilst I was
examining these grottoes, several Arab girls arrived from
a small encampment of Bedouins, who had come down
the wady from the desert; they possessed a few sheep,
and goats, but were extremely poor. The weather was
fine, and, together with the fertility of the crops, and
the singing of the birds, reminded me of an English
spring.
Mounds of rubbish, broken pottery, fragments of ar-
chitraves, of cornices, and of squared stones, and masses
of brick work apparently Roman mark the site of Acoris,
near the Arab village of Tebneh, which is situated at the
eastern extremity of a fertile, but neglected plain, about
two miles from the river. These ruins are at the en-
trance of a valley, which extends still farther to the east-
ward in several directions, and also to the south behind
a range of cliffy mountains, which in every part contain
excavations, and tombs, and are ascended by means of
terraces carried along from one grotto to another. The
river, and the adjacent country are seen to great advan-