DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0274
2o6
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. [chap xxix
fight; but the eloquent mouths of our pistols dissuaded them,
and added weight to an injunction to row, if they valued their
lives. This restored discipline at once, and they pulled with
such hearty good-will that we reached Dendera that evening.
On arriving there, we left the boat, to visit the temple, telling
the rais he might sail away, if he dared ; and then, leaving no
fire-arms behind us, we started across a jungle-covered plain for
the famous ruins that vindicated their sacred character by
inducing the Indian troops under Sir David Baird to kneel down
and pray before them.
As, after bright sunshine, it is some time before our eyes re-
cover their perception of objects in the shade, so, after Carnak,
all other buildings appear divested of interest and grandeur,
until our bigotry for the former subsides. Thus we found at
Dendera, that though its appearance at any other time would
have struck us as magnificent, demands on the sublime had been
rendered so unconscionable by Carnak, that we could not ap-
preciate this beautiful temple as it deserved. It is pronounced
by critics to afford a lamentable proof of the decadence of
architectural art under the Ptolemies; but to the mere eye of
curiosity its appearance is very majestic and imposing, and
nothing can be more rich than the carvings and hieroglyphics
that adorn the massive pillars crowned with heads of Isis. The
ceilings are covered with the celebrated astronomical paintings;
and the next most popular representation throughout this edifice
seems to be that of serpents, which appear in every variety of
form and attitude ; some are walking on human legs, and some
spinning erect upon their tails like corkscrews, while they pre-
sent strange offerings to deities equally preposterous. We
crawled upon our hands and knees through many dark pas-
sages, and emerged upon a terrace commanding a noble view.
When the priests of old stood here, and looked upon that wide
realm over which they held unlimited influence, how little did
they think of the coming time, when their faith should be for-
gotten, or derided; and strangers, from a land unknown in their
estimation of the world, should stand there alone ! The solitude
all around us was profound : the sudden arrest of cultivation,
when bordering the desert, was curious; for there the high corn
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. [chap xxix
fight; but the eloquent mouths of our pistols dissuaded them,
and added weight to an injunction to row, if they valued their
lives. This restored discipline at once, and they pulled with
such hearty good-will that we reached Dendera that evening.
On arriving there, we left the boat, to visit the temple, telling
the rais he might sail away, if he dared ; and then, leaving no
fire-arms behind us, we started across a jungle-covered plain for
the famous ruins that vindicated their sacred character by
inducing the Indian troops under Sir David Baird to kneel down
and pray before them.
As, after bright sunshine, it is some time before our eyes re-
cover their perception of objects in the shade, so, after Carnak,
all other buildings appear divested of interest and grandeur,
until our bigotry for the former subsides. Thus we found at
Dendera, that though its appearance at any other time would
have struck us as magnificent, demands on the sublime had been
rendered so unconscionable by Carnak, that we could not ap-
preciate this beautiful temple as it deserved. It is pronounced
by critics to afford a lamentable proof of the decadence of
architectural art under the Ptolemies; but to the mere eye of
curiosity its appearance is very majestic and imposing, and
nothing can be more rich than the carvings and hieroglyphics
that adorn the massive pillars crowned with heads of Isis. The
ceilings are covered with the celebrated astronomical paintings;
and the next most popular representation throughout this edifice
seems to be that of serpents, which appear in every variety of
form and attitude ; some are walking on human legs, and some
spinning erect upon their tails like corkscrews, while they pre-
sent strange offerings to deities equally preposterous. We
crawled upon our hands and knees through many dark pas-
sages, and emerged upon a terrace commanding a noble view.
When the priests of old stood here, and looked upon that wide
realm over which they held unlimited influence, how little did
they think of the coming time, when their faith should be for-
gotten, or derided; and strangers, from a land unknown in their
estimation of the world, should stand there alone ! The solitude
all around us was profound : the sudden arrest of cultivation,
when bordering the desert, was curious; for there the high corn