Travels in Ethiopia, above the second cataract of the Nile

by G. A. Hoskins

June 12. A curious circumstance happened to me last night. I am rather attached to a pretty little capuchin monkey which I received from the Governor of Berber, and which (an unusual circumstance with these animals) shows some little gratitude for my attentions. Several times it has escaped among the acacias of the desert; but, notwithstanding the temptation of the gum, it never attempted to run away when I went for it myself. I was anxious that it should not share the fate of my Dongolah greyhound, and die of fatigue. Having taught it to be clean, and being unwilling to trust it to my servants, I carried it always on my own camel, to shelter it from the sun; and as the poor little animal suffered exceedingly from the cold at night, I allowed it to sleep under the margin of the covering of my divan. For some nights past it had got into the habit of laying its head on the corner of my cushion, and, amused at this manœuvre, I indulged it; but the ticking of my watch always annoyed it, and several times it had attempted to take it away; but, aware of this antipathy, and the mischievous propensities of the race, I always wore my chain around my neck. Last night, when in bed, I looked at the watch, which was a hunting one, and having broken the hinge of the gold covering of the face, omitted, I presume, to fasten it with the spring. This morning, on being called, I looked, as usual, at my watch, and found that this piece was missing. I immediately cast my eyes on the monkey, and saw, by its fluttering and leaping about, and the ruffling of its skin, which always takes place when it is afraid, that it was the culprit; yet all my efforts to find the covering were useless. My bed was on the sand of the desert, in which, no doubt, the animal, on seeing it loose, had buried it deep, thinking, by that means, to get rid of its nightly annoyance, or, perhaps, from its usual instinct of taking every opportunity to do mischief.

We set out an hour before sunrise, and, crossing a short but heavy sandy desert, arrived, in two hours, at Lamulay. The rocks, at starting, were of gneiss, but there occurred afterwards some of serpentine and grey granite; and I observed some of quartz, and very small particles of the latter disseminated over the sand. There is a cataract at Lamulay, but it is not so loud as the one we heard last night, at Uckma. The view is very fine at this part. We were two hours in going from Lamulay to Tangoure. The rocks were chiefly of two descriptions of quartz. We came then to another cataract, making the sixth from Dongolah:—the first at Hannek; the second at Kouki; the third at Dahl; the fourth at Uckma; the fifth at Lamulay; and the sixth at Tangoure. All these may be passed without much difficulty for about six weeks or two months in the year; but at this season no description of boats could pass. Between the above-mentioned places the river and the rocks on the opposite side make so many bends, first east and afterwards north-west, that our roads, across the little deserts, on the west side might often be considered as the strings of a bow. On the eastern side of the river there seems to be a continued range of picturesque rocks. We miss, I fear, much fine scenery in not being able to follow closely the bank.

Two hours north of Tangoure there is said to be a spring of mineral water, about 100 yards from the river, which flows in small quantities out of the rock into an ancient reservoir, and is described as so hot that the vapour will answer for a bath. I regretted much not being able to visit it, but I must have gone on foot, and, being to-day far from well, could not have endured the excessive heat; but I have this information not only from the natives, but also from Monsieur M., at Dongolah, who had visited it. We started from Tangoure this afternoon, at half past two, and, after five hours’ march, halted in the desert for the night. The rocks are of granite, serpentine, porphyry schist, and quartz. Strata of these minerals occurred, sometimes alternately, every few minutes.

June 13. Whenever there are antiquities to be seen, I care not how little sleep I take. I had my men up soon after midnight, and in three hours we arrived, as the sun was rising, at the Temple of Semneh. This temple is more remarkable for its situation than for architectural beauty. It consists of a single narrow room 28 feet by 10 feet, with a plain façade, in the centre of which is the entrance. The exterior sides of this room are ornamented with square pillars, and one polygonal column. The temple faces the south, which is singular, particularly for an edifice constructed by an Egyptian king. On the eastern side are three square pillars standing entire, and the base of another; and on the western one column, one square pillar, and the base of a third. The [view] shows this side, and also the façade of the temple. The pillars sustain blocks of stone, that is, architraves, which still remain, projecting about one foot beyond the columns. I thought, at first, from this projection, that they might have extended to other walls; in which case the edifice would have some resemblance to the sanctuary in the small temple at Medenet Abou; but, from there being no remains to support this supposition, and also from the projection being very small, and, I might say, the architrave’s extending so far beyond the centre of the column, I conceive that the temple has never been finished, and the architraves hewn to the size of the columns.

TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.

The interior and exterior of the walls of this little temple are covered with sculpture and hieroglyphics; but, unfortunately, in some parts, rather defaced. Over the entrance, the king is represented on his knees making offerings to Kneph. The original sculpture of part of the façade of the temple has been defaced to make room for a more modern work, and for a long tablet of hieroglyphics, which I copied. The sculpture, from its style, is certainly Roman; the figures not well drawn, and the hieroglyphics wretchedly executed: the subject represents a woman, with a lotus flower, making offerings to a divinity with the head-dress of the horns and two feathers. The hieroglyphics and sculpture of every other part of the temple are in a good style. The name and titles of Thothmes III., Sun, Establisher of the World, is executed in intaglio on the column and square pillars, and the same name in basso relievo is every where visible on the walls. In the interior of the temple the same subject is repeated four times, but in only one instance is very distinguishable. (See [Plate LI.]) The king, Thothmes III., is represented making offerings to his ancestor Osirtesen, seated as a divinity in the boat of the sun, with the crook and lash of Osiris in his hands.

Before Osirtesen are four standards, one with a representation of the ibis, emblematical, no doubt, of Thoth: the others are not visible. These standards are supported by arms emanating from the cross of life, and the sceptres of the divinities; emblematical, I conceive, of their being the standards of the gods, perhaps of the divinities of Amenti, Thoth, Horus, and Anubis. One is of Thoth, evidently, from the ibis; the others are defaced. The reader will observe how different this style of sculpture (see [Plate LI.]), which is the best Egyptian, is to the Ethiopian (see [Plate X.]). They have evidently had a common origin; but there is a marked difference in the execution. On the western side of the exterior of the temple the king is represented making offerings to different divinities, principally Kneph. I copied all the hieroglyphic inscriptions. The hieroglyphics on the columns and pillars are merely the names of Thothmes. The column which I have stated as polygonal has a base and a square slab for its capital.

Pl. 51.