484 VILLAGE OF FARAS. only, in Lower Nubia, the hippopotamus is still found. By day he never emerges from the Nile; but when the husbandmen are retired to rest, and a general silence prevails, he rears his huge bulk out of the water, and, ascending the banks, feeds until morning among the corn fields. The villagers seemed to have been long asleep, for there was no sound in the streets, or a light in any window; and we walked about for some time, knocking in vain at several doors; suspicion of our intentions, or other motives, restraining them from answering to our call. At length, however, the pilot, apparently well known in every village from Wady Halfa to EsSouan, found some one who recognised his voice; and in a few minutes four men came forth, offering to be our guides to the ruins. CCCLXI. Though the temple, hypogeum, or sepulchre we were in quest of, is situated in the western desert, at a considerable distance from the village, our guides, having been acquainted with the neighbourhood from childhood, could have found their way to the spot blind-fold. The appearance of the desert, always interesting, always new, seemed, on this occasion, more magnificent than ever. all sides, to the very verge of the horizon, shining sand-hills, partly covered with tamarisks and acacias, roughened the waste, whose interminable surface appeared, in the bright light of a tropical moon, to be covered with a deep fall of snow; and our footsteps, falling noiselessly upon the sand, likewise On MOONLIGHT IN THE DESERT. 485 favoured the illusion. The splendour also of the stars and moon was indescribably beautiful, recalling to mind the matchless description in the Iliad, where the poet compares with the lights of the firmament the innumerable watch-fires flashing on the Trojan plain. Οἱ δὲ, μέγα φρονέοντες, ἐπὶ πτολέμοιο γεφύρῃ The dusky hollows, the narrow ravines, the white peaks of the sand-hills glittering in the distance, the boundless expanse of the wilderness, the beauty and absolute stillness of the night, unbroken even by the bark of a jackal, were circumstances in strict accordance with the magnificent picture of Homer. * Which Pope has rendered into English with infinite felicity: "The troops exulting sate in order round, O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, CCCLXII. Our guides, wrapped, like Moggrebyns, in white burnooses, tripped lightly before us, laughing and talking in a language of which not even my interpreter could comprehend a single syllable. The hour appeared to be a long one: valley, ravine, and sandy plain were successively traversed; we were already far out in the desert; and no ruin appeared. When questioned by the pilot, the Nubians replied that we had still some distance to travel. It was late: the suspicion crossed our minds that they had lost their way, in which case we might wander all night in the wilderness in the vain search of so small an object as a temple. They seemed, however, to be perfectly confident in their knowledge, never looking about them, or appearing a jot more at a loss than if they had been travelling over an English highway. CCCLXIII. At length, after a walk of nearly two hours, we reached a narrow sandy valley, between two low hills; and here, our guides informed us, was the temple we were in search of. On carefully scrutinising the appearance of the place, however, we could perceive neither wall nor column. It was clear, therefore, that if any structure existed, it must be subterranean; and accordingly, after a short search, we discovered, in the face of the rocks, evidently smoothed by art, a small triangular opening, leading into the interior of the hill. A light was quickly struck, and while the Nubians, who had no curiosity to gratify, sat down on the sand near the entrance, we crept in, and found ourselves in the chamber of TOMBS IN THE DESERT. 487 a tomb. The form and arrangement of the apartments were Egyptian, but neither hieroglyphics nor sculptures were any where visible. In the third chamber a square deep well, of which the bottom was invisible, seemed to lead to a lower suite of apartments; but here, for a moment, our progress was stopped by a singular obstacle. Ten thousand bats, which had been sleeping quietly on the walls, roused and terrified by our lights, disengaged themselves in clouds, and flying about in all directions, struck against our face, breast, head, and hands, threatening to extinguish the tapers. On looking upwards, we saw them clinging by myriads to the roof, all in convulsive motion, with glittering eyes, open mouths, and hideous trembling wings, seeming in their fear to be hanging one to the other, tier below tier. Had they remained there it had been well; but when we approached the mouth of the excavation, they swept so thickly through the air, ascending and descending this grave-like opening, that it was with the greatest difficulty we prevented them from striking the lights out of our hands. CCCLXIV. In spite of their numbers, however, we contrived to lower ourselves into the well, which we found less deep than we had expected; and proceeding along the narrow passage, arrived in a sepulchral chamber from which four passages diverged. Here we halted, being unable to determine which to select, partly because we apprehended losing ourselves in these subterraneous galleries, of unknown 488 SWARMS OF BATS. number and extent, and partly from the prodigious multitude of bats assailing us on every side, flapping their cold wings in our faces, or against the back of our neck. At this moment Suleiman, who was still in the chambers above, exclaimed that they had knocked out his light, and at the same time a cloud of them sweeping by us, extinguished ours also, leaving us all in total darkness in the midst of the tomb. But this by no means quieted our persecutors, who continued flitting about like swarms of bees; and not being able to direct our footsteps, we moved into the midst of the vermin, which clung and crawled over us with the most disgusting familiarity. Fortunately the attendants had brought flint and steel, so that in a short time the tapers were rekindled, and we continued our examination of the remaining chambers. The walls, roof, and doorway of one small cell towards the north were literally coated with bats, with their mouths open, their wings moving, and their bright little eyes glittering in the light of the taper. CCCLXV. Through a hole in the wall, about three feet from the floor, in a corner of this cell, but much too small to afford a passage, we discovered another suite of sepulchral chambers; and in one of the apartments was a mummy pit, into which we possessed no means of descending. Having explored every other part of the sepulchre, without finding either sculpture or hieroglyphics, we returned by the way we had entered; and in the face of the hill, at a |