| From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr. | Printed by C. Hullmandel. |
SCULPTURE IN THE TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.
Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835.
In the interior of the temple is the fragment of a statue of Osiris, badly executed: the head is wanting, and on the breast is the crook and lash. I conceive the style to be Egyptian Roman. It is very probable that this temple, originally dedicated to Kneph, was afterwards, in the more corrupt Roman age, appropriated to the peculiar worship of Osiris. This edifice (see [Plan]) is in a large irregular brick inclosure, the walls of which are generally seven to eight feet thick: this is not of Egyptian, but apparently of Roman, construction. In some parts masses of brick project from the wall, perhaps to support them; their ruined state makes it impossible to decide certainly, but I am inclined to believe them to be entrances.
PLAN OF RUINS.
I went to examine the pass or cataract of Semneh, which I had some difficulty in reaching, having to climb for a considerable space over the granite rocks. The latter are generally rose-coloured, extremely hard; but there are some rocks of basalt shining like black lead, and I observed light thin strata of quartz. The width of this channel, the only one the Nile passes through, when it is low, I found to be a stone-cast. The river rushes through with great rapidity, so that I could not cross here from the number of vortices caused by the excessive force and velocity of the current.
June 14. Wishing to pass over the river to the temple on the opposite side, I commissioned the sheakh to collect the inhabitants, and make me some kind of boat. This morning, at eleven o’clock, he came to inform me that a raft was ready, and men to steer it. My Arabs having taken the camels and dromedaries to pasture at a distance from the temple, I was obliged to set out on foot, and, after walking three quarters of an hour, amid severe heat, I arrived at the place where they intended to cross, fully two miles south of the pass or cataract. The river in this part is about a third of a mile wide, and, except in one or two places, where the current is rather strong, it was scarcely ruffled. The peasants had constructed two rafts, one for ourselves, the other for the servants. They were simply trunks of the acacia lashed together, on which they placed dourah for us to sit on. All the inhabitants of the country were collected to see the expedition. Ten or twelve men, some on geerbahs (water-skins), others on pieces of wood, supported and conducted each raft, two or three on each side, and four behind, pushing it along. Doubting the security of the boat, I had taken the precaution to take off my clothes, and fasten them on my head, like the Arabs. This was fortunate; for the dourah straw was soon saturated with water.
Nothing could be more picturesque than the boats and their conductors. The Arabs had all their clothes tied on their heads, and they carried their charms, arms, knives, swords and spears, fastened in the same manner. Shouting and singing, they pushed us across very cleverly: the only difficulty was in passing the parts where the current was strong. We had also some little fear of the crocodiles. Three Turks shot two in this very place only two months ago, and yesterday we saw one on the shore. The peasants at first refused to take us across for this reason, but the promise of a few piastres more, and the use of my firman, silenced their fears. I did not myself conceive that there was the slightest real danger on this account, as I have observed that the crocodile invariably flies from boats or any number of persons together. After landing we had another three quarters of an hour of fatiguing walk to the temple on the eastern side, which (see [General View]) is almost exactly opposite the other. Some parts of our road was over low burning sand-hills, in which we sunk at each step up to our ankles; the heat excessive under a directly vertical sun.
