DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0168
A LOST CITY.
157
on board knew where it was, and, tempted by the
mildness and beauty of the night, [ stayed on deck
till a late hour. Several times we saw fires on the
banks, where Arab boatmen were passing the
night, and hailed them, but no one knew the place ;
and though seeking and inquiring of those who
had spent all their lives on the banks of the river,
we passed, without knowing it, a city-which once
carried on an extensive commerce with the Red
Sea, where the traces of a road to the emerald
mines and the fallen city of Berenice are still to be
seen, and the ruins of whose temples, with the
beautiful paintings in its tombs, excite the admira-
tion of every traveller.
We continued descending with the current all
night, and in the morning I betook myself to my
old sport of shooting at crocodiles and pelicans.
At about eleven o'clock we arrived at Esneh, the
ancient Latopolis, so called from the worship of a
fish, now containing fifteen hundred or two thou-
sand inhabitants. Here, too, the miserable sub-
jects of the pacha may turn from the contemplation
of their degraded state to the greatness of those
who have gone before them. In the centre of the
village, almost buried by the accumulation of sand
from the desert, and the ruins of Arab huts, is
another magnificent temple. The street is upon a
level with the roof, and a hole has been dug be-
tween two columns, so as to give entrance to the
interior. The traveller has by this time lost the
feeling of wonder and indignation at the barbarity
of converting the wonderful remains of Egyptian
VOL. I.—0
157
on board knew where it was, and, tempted by the
mildness and beauty of the night, [ stayed on deck
till a late hour. Several times we saw fires on the
banks, where Arab boatmen were passing the
night, and hailed them, but no one knew the place ;
and though seeking and inquiring of those who
had spent all their lives on the banks of the river,
we passed, without knowing it, a city-which once
carried on an extensive commerce with the Red
Sea, where the traces of a road to the emerald
mines and the fallen city of Berenice are still to be
seen, and the ruins of whose temples, with the
beautiful paintings in its tombs, excite the admira-
tion of every traveller.
We continued descending with the current all
night, and in the morning I betook myself to my
old sport of shooting at crocodiles and pelicans.
At about eleven o'clock we arrived at Esneh, the
ancient Latopolis, so called from the worship of a
fish, now containing fifteen hundred or two thou-
sand inhabitants. Here, too, the miserable sub-
jects of the pacha may turn from the contemplation
of their degraded state to the greatness of those
who have gone before them. In the centre of the
village, almost buried by the accumulation of sand
from the desert, and the ruins of Arab huts, is
another magnificent temple. The street is upon a
level with the roof, and a hole has been dug be-
tween two columns, so as to give entrance to the
interior. The traveller has by this time lost the
feeling of wonder and indignation at the barbarity
of converting the wonderful remains of Egyptian
VOL. I.—0