DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0162
RELICS OF ANCIENT INDUSTRY.
153
are still to be seen, and somewhere among these
extensive quarries travellers have found an unfin-
ished sphinx. I remember one place where there
was an irregular range of unfinished doors, which
might well have been taken for the work of be-
ginners, practising under the eyes of their masters.
Paul took a philosophic and familiar, view of them,
and said that it seemed as if, while the men were
at work, the boys playing around had taken up the
tools, and amused themselves by cutting these
doors.
On the opposite side, too, are quarries, and sev-
eral ranges of tombs, looking out on the river, ex-
cavated in the solid rock, with pillars in front, and
images of deities in the recesses for the altars. I
remember a beautiful chamber overhanging the
river like a balcony. It had been part of a tem-
ple, or perhaps a tomb. We thought of stopping
there to dine, but our boat had gone ahead, and
our want of provisions was somewhat of an imped-
iment.
At about four o'clock we saw at a distance the
minaret of Edfou. There was no wind, the men
were gently pulling at the oars, and I took one my-
self, much to the uneasiness of the rais, who thought
I was dissatisfied. Sloth forms so prominent a
feature in the composition of the Orientals, and
quiet is so material an item in their ideas of enjoy-
ment, that they cannot conceive why a man should
walk when he can stand, why he should stand
when he can sit, or, in short, why he should do
any thing when he can sit still and do nothing.
153
are still to be seen, and somewhere among these
extensive quarries travellers have found an unfin-
ished sphinx. I remember one place where there
was an irregular range of unfinished doors, which
might well have been taken for the work of be-
ginners, practising under the eyes of their masters.
Paul took a philosophic and familiar, view of them,
and said that it seemed as if, while the men were
at work, the boys playing around had taken up the
tools, and amused themselves by cutting these
doors.
On the opposite side, too, are quarries, and sev-
eral ranges of tombs, looking out on the river, ex-
cavated in the solid rock, with pillars in front, and
images of deities in the recesses for the altars. I
remember a beautiful chamber overhanging the
river like a balcony. It had been part of a tem-
ple, or perhaps a tomb. We thought of stopping
there to dine, but our boat had gone ahead, and
our want of provisions was somewhat of an imped-
iment.
At about four o'clock we saw at a distance the
minaret of Edfou. There was no wind, the men
were gently pulling at the oars, and I took one my-
self, much to the uneasiness of the rais, who thought
I was dissatisfied. Sloth forms so prominent a
feature in the composition of the Orientals, and
quiet is so material an item in their ideas of enjoy-
ment, that they cannot conceive why a man should
walk when he can stand, why he should stand
when he can sit, or, in short, why he should do
any thing when he can sit still and do nothing.