DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12249#0068
38
THE NECROPOLIS.
spur called El Drah-aboo-Neggeh abuts like a headland
near the northern extremity of the Necropolis: the
southern may be said to be marked by a similar but
insulated hill called El Goornet Murrawee. Between
those the main chain recedes westwards with a cir-
cular sweep; but a third hill, El Shekh Abd-el-Goorneh,
rises up in tbe bay thus formed which, with irregular
undulations of rock and sand, stretches to the foot of
tbe precipitous cliffs, here constituting the first deep
stratum of the base from which the mountains in
the background spring into pyramidal peaks.
The three spurs just named, and particularly tbe
last from its central position, and the numerous door-
ways of tombs which pierce its sides at every point
with nearly the frequency but less than the regularity
of windows in some gigantic ruin, give its chief cha-
racter to any comprehensive view of the Necropolis
as seen in approaching it from the river. Something
of this general effect can be gathered from Plate II.
the details of which a subsequent chapter will more
fully explain. But the map (Plate I. p. 7) is necessary
to show the actual topography; and by referring to
it, a few pages, indicating the main points as they
occur in proceeding from one end to the other, may
give a fan approximate conception of the Necropolis
as a whole.
Starting at the southern extremity we find, first,
a large flat oblong space referred to in the former
chapter, and measuring about a mile and a half
in length and more than half a mile in breadth.
THE NECROPOLIS.
spur called El Drah-aboo-Neggeh abuts like a headland
near the northern extremity of the Necropolis: the
southern may be said to be marked by a similar but
insulated hill called El Goornet Murrawee. Between
those the main chain recedes westwards with a cir-
cular sweep; but a third hill, El Shekh Abd-el-Goorneh,
rises up in tbe bay thus formed which, with irregular
undulations of rock and sand, stretches to the foot of
tbe precipitous cliffs, here constituting the first deep
stratum of the base from which the mountains in
the background spring into pyramidal peaks.
The three spurs just named, and particularly tbe
last from its central position, and the numerous door-
ways of tombs which pierce its sides at every point
with nearly the frequency but less than the regularity
of windows in some gigantic ruin, give its chief cha-
racter to any comprehensive view of the Necropolis
as seen in approaching it from the river. Something
of this general effect can be gathered from Plate II.
the details of which a subsequent chapter will more
fully explain. But the map (Plate I. p. 7) is necessary
to show the actual topography; and by referring to
it, a few pages, indicating the main points as they
occur in proceeding from one end to the other, may
give a fan approximate conception of the Necropolis
as a whole.
Starting at the southern extremity we find, first,
a large flat oblong space referred to in the former
chapter, and measuring about a mile and a half
in length and more than half a mile in breadth.