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ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE.

almost altogether out of the question; as it has not even the advantage of being situated, like other Egyptian towns, in a date wood, being thrown in a straggling irregular shape on the slope of a barren hill. The view which it commands is every thing, the Nile having here the appearance of a narrow lake, surrounded on all sides by arid but picturesque rocks, at the foot of which is seen a belt of bright verdure, interspersed with scattered groves.

CCLI. As the boat darted rapidly over the water, the prospect changed every moment, one rocky height after another seeming to glide away or mingle with the distant mountains; while the eastern hills, intercepting the morning sun, threw their long shadows over the stream. We landed on the island near a small ruined staircase, leading, apparently, to the lowest level of the river, from which it may be entered by a doorway. This has been called a Nilometer; but I should rather suppose it to have been merely intended for a landing-place, like those numerous Ghats erected by pious individuals on the banks of the Ganges. It is now, however, in ruins, and the staircase partly filled with loose stones and mud. Nothing could be plainer than the style in which it was erected; and being contained in a wall, built for the purpose of breaking the force of the river, and preventing it from wearing away the soil, it may formerly have led to the grounds and dwelling of some wealthy inhabitant of the island. A little farther to

NILOMETER OF STRABO.

347

the south are many immense rocks of granite, rising considerably above the surface of the Nile, in one of which is observed a round opening, about four feet in diameter, formerly, perhaps, a deep well, whose rocky sides have now been broken or worn away nearly to a level with the water. Not many yards beyond are the remains of a lofty massive wall, erected upon the granite rocks here forming the banks of the stream, and exhibiting in two or three places perpendicular bands of hieroglyphics, which Belzoni supposed to be a Nilometer; mistakenly, no doubt, as they are buried, during the inundation, far beneath the water. The ruined edifice, of which the above wall forms a part, may possibly contain the real Nilometer described by Strabo; but the whole of the interior is now so entirely filled up with rubbish, that, without laborious excavations, nothing respecting it can be ascertained.

CCLII. Proceeding still farther towards the south, we came to a ruined wall, containing two windows looking out upon the river, which would appear to have been of Roman construction; but, in reality, there are no remains on the island worthy of the slightest notice, not even the fragment of the granite propylon mentioned by former travellers; for, whatever it may once have been, it is nothing now. phantine anciently contained a celebrated temple of Kneph, or Knuphis, the Agathodæmon, or "Good Genius," of the Greeks. About the signification of

Ele

348

EXTRAORDINARY PROSPECT.

the name, mythologists are divided, as usual: some supposing it to signify spirit, meditating on its own nature; others, simply, the eternal spirit, the cause both of good and evil. The name Kneph, however, in its original acceptation, signified “good.' good." This deity, eternal and infinite, the same with Kamophis, has by some been identified with Canopus; and like Saturn, or Kronos, was symbolically represented by a serpent swallowing its own tail, the emblem of eternity; but in process of time was confounded with the Nile.t

CCLIII. From the edge of the river we ascended over high mounds of ruins, covered with fragments of tiles and pottery, towards the centre of the island, from whence we enjoyed a magnificent prospect. The Nile, closely hemmed in on both sides, appears, south of Elephantine, to force its way with vast difficulty between vast cliffs and terraces of granite; its whole channel, in this direction, as far as the eye can reach, being broken by a thousand islands, some consisting of a cluster of rugged pinnacles of different heights, black and bare; others appearing like a pyramid of loose masses piled on each other by the Titans ; while here and there among this ruinous scene other islands of sefter aspect appear, adorned with beautiful ver

*Creuzer, Religions de l'Antiquité, t. i. p. 515. The ideas of this writer, who advocates the symbolical interpretation of all the objects of ancient worship, are in the highest degree misty and vague, and, in many places, not a little contradictory. His reputation is greater than his merit.

↑ Jablonski, Panth. Ægypt. i. 82, 83. 89, 90. 95. 98.

STATUE OF OSIRIS.

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dure, reeds, and grasses, and tamarisks, which, occupying every nook and fissure, run along feathering the slopes and lofty terraces of the rocks, and waving like so many hanging gardens over the stream below. The gaps and hollows of the Libyan chain are filled with yellow sand, brought thither from the desert by the winds, by whose agency it is disposed in smooth beautiful slopes, reaching down like beds of drifted snow to the very base of the mountains, where commence the diminutive fields of alluvial soil, covered, small as they are, with luxuriant vegetation. On the east are the grey rocks and shingly slopes, among which the eye detects the scanty remains of the Roman and Saracen towns.

CCLIV. The southern extremity only of Elephan tine is rocky, lofty, and barren. Towards the north, the surface of the island sinks gradually into a plain, covered with rich corn-fields, groups of cattle, dategroves, pastures, and villages. From the summit, where there is nothing but rubbish, we descended towards the granite colossal statue of Osiris, standing on the slope of the hill, among heaps of broken jars, &c. The god is represented in a sitting posture, with the arms crossed upon the breast, bearing a crosier in one hand, and a sceptre in the other; the features are nearly obliterated; in other respects the statue is in good preservation. Several of the natives now crowded about us with a few miserable antiquities, broken scarabæi, small idols of pottery, and coins half eaten with rust, which they had picked up among the

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BEAUTY OF THE WOMEN.

ruins. They were all ugly, squalid, and half-starved; yet Sir Frederic Henniker and Dr. Richardson thought the women of Elephantine beautiful. On my second visit, while in search of the neat baskets of different colours which are made there, I saw nearly all the inhabitants of the island; but I regret that I could discover nothing in the features of the natives to justify my joining in the compliment. The race, however, may have degenerated. Many of the early navigators saw beauty, we know, in the women of the South Sea Islands; but they had been a long time at sea, and our more fastidious contemporaries call their judgment in question. Abstracting all consideration of colour, -for Memnon, whom Ulysses pronounced the handsomest man, Achilles, perhaps, excepted, on the plains of Troy, was black, I have never seen, among either Arabs or Nubians, one woman who could be pronounced strictly beautiful. And if, as is exceedingly probable, the same thing held true of the ancient Egyptians, before the Macedonian conquest, when the mixture of Greek blood may have improved the race, we can easily comprehend why their sculptors never represented beauty; though in the countenance of Isis there is often a placid matronly tenderness, inferior to, but not unlike, that of the Virgin, by Sasso Ferrato, and the resem blance is increased by her being generally represented with the infant Horus on her lap.

CCLV. Returning to our boat, we rowed round the southern point of the island, whose extremity is