Chapter XXVIII: Letter XXVI

KORUSKO. _August 17, 1844._

Our departure from Dongola did not take place till the 2nd July. We journeyed slowly down the west side of this river; and on the same day we came to large fields of ruins, the inconsiderable remains of once flourishing cities whose names are lost. The first we found opposite Argônsene, others near Koï and Mosh. On the following day we passed near Hannîk, opposite Tombos, in the province of Máhas; here begins the Cataract district and a new Nubian dialect, which extends to Derr and Korusko. The Nile takes a northerly course till it comes to a high mountain named after a former conqueror, Ali Bersi; this we passed to the left early on the third day. It lies on the sudden turning of the river, from north-west to due east, where it is usual to avoid the greater part of the province of Máhas by a northerly desert road. We, however, followed the windings of the river, and came in the neighbourhood of old forts on the shore, to a grove of palm-trees, in whose shade we rested during the heat of mid-day. The nearest of these forts so romantically situated among the rent rocks, I find differently named upon every map, as Fakir Effendi (Cailliaud), Fakir el Bint, from _bint_, the Maiden (Hoskins), Fakir Bender, from _bender_, the metropolis (Arrowsmith); it is, however, called Fakir Fenti in the dialect of the country, or Fakir Benti in that of Dongola, and is so named from the palms at their foot (_Fenti_, _benti_, means palms and dates).

We arrived on the 4th of July at Sêse, a mountain on which is the remains of a fortress. Our servant Ahmed (from Derr), informed us that after the death of every king, his successor was led to the top of this mountain, and decked with a peculiar royal head-dress. Such forts as Sêse, of which from the high land we saw many both far and near, tell of a former numerous and warlike population, which has now almost disappeared. The ruins, lying about a quarter of an hour to the south of Mount Sêse, are called Sêsebi. Here stood an old temple, of which, however, only four columns, with palm capitals, remain standing; these bear the cartouches of Sethos I., the most southerly that we have found of this king. In the neighbourhood of these remains, are situated the ruins of a city, on an artificial platform, the regular circumvallation of which is still to be recognized.

On the 6th of July we got to Solb (Soleb), the well-preserved and considerable temple of which was erected by Amenophis III., to his own genius, the divine Ra-neb-ma (Amenophis.)[90] The rich decorations of this temple, (the same to which our ram from Barkal, and the lions of Lord Prudhoe once belonged,) furnished us with employment for nearly five days. On the 11th of July we first departed again.

Scarcely an hour hence to the northward lies Gebel Dôshe; a sandstone rock projecting to the river, in which a grotto is hewn on the river side, containing sculptures of Tuthmosis III.

The same evening we got to Sedeïnga, where Amenophis III. built a temple to his own wife Tü. In the midst of the picturesque heap of ruins a single pillar stands up. To the west, a great grave-field extends.

On the 13th of July we stopped at a _shôna_ (so are the Government station magazines called), opposite Mount Abir or Qabir, a little below the northern point of the island of Saï. Indirectly over the river, lies the village of Amara, and in its neighbourhood, the ruins of a temple. I was not a little astonished to recognize the stout queen of Naga and Meroë and her husband, on the columns, of which six are still remaining. This temple was built by them, an important testimony of the far extending government of that Ethiopian dynasty. On the grave-field to the south of the temple, I also remarked fragments of inscriptions in the already mentioned Demotic-Ethiopian alphabet, of which I had also found some examples in the neighbourhood of Sedeïnga.

After we had paid a visit to the island of Saï, on the next day, where we had found the few remains of a temple with inscriptions of Tuthmosis III., and Amenophis II., besides the ruins of a town and a Koptic church,--we proceeded onward, and arrived on the 15th of July at Dal, which forms the frontier between the provinces of Sukkot and Batn el hag’er (Stonebelly). At night we encamped by the cataract of Kalfa.

Hence our way led in the neighbourhood of the hot sulphur springs of Okmeh, whither I diverged from the caravan with Abeken. The road led us from the Shôna where we parted, along the craggy shore for above an hour, to a square tower, which has been erected over the fountain, and called Hammân Seïdna Solimân, after the architect. The tower, which is nine feet thick, and has an inward diameter of four feet, is now half full of sand and earth; the water rushes out of the east side of the tower to the thickness of your wrist, and on the other side sixteen little springs rise out of the sand within the space of a square foot; and here, where the water is at the hottest, it has not quite 44° Réaumur. The taste is sulphurous, and a white deposit lies all round the fountain on the ground. Every year the river rises above the spring, and indeed, above the tower, which stands at half the elevation of the shore. The water mirror had now risen to the height of a man, and had not yet reached the fountain. A rude hole is dug in the rubbish for the invalids that come hither, and is covered with rushes to keep off the steam. Somewhat further down the river, another streamlet comes out, which retains 40° of warmth at its mouth in the open air. The legend goes, that Okáshe, a friend of the prophet, was killed in a campaign to the south; his body swam up hither and then disappeared in the rocks on the opposite shore. His grave is still pointed out there at some distance from the river; a tree marking the spot.

On the 17th of July we encamped near the temple of Semneh. The village only consists of a few straw huts,[91] shaded by some date-trees; yet the many fragments in the district show that there was once a much more considerable place here. The temple is surrounded by mighty ancient works of defence, the building of which goes as far back as the Old Empire, under Sesurtesen III., a king of the twelfth dynasty.[92] It seems that this king first extended the bounds of the Egyptian empire to this place; indeed, he is found at a later period worshipped as a local divinity. The temple, built by Tuthmosis III., in the New Empire, is dedicated to him and the god Tetûn conjointly.

On the right shore too, near the village of Kummeh, old fortifications are found, and within them a still larger temple, already commenced by Tuthmosis II.

The most important discovery that we made here (which I only mention cursorily, as I have at the same time sent a complete account of it to Ehrenberg), is a number of short rock inscriptions, which give the highest Nile levels for a series of years, under the government of Amenemha III. (Mœris), and his immediate successors. These accounts are partly valuable historically, as they brilliantly confirm my conjecture, that the Sebekhotep immediately followed the twelfth dynasty, and are partly of peculiar interest for the geological history of the Nile, as they prove that the river rose, four thousand years ago, nearly twenty-four feet higher than at present and, therefore, must have caused quite different proportions of inundation and soil for the upper and lower country. The examination of this curious locality, with its temples and rock inscriptions, employed us for twelve days.

On the 29th of July we went from Semneh to Abke, and visited on the next day the old fortress north of that place, which is called El Kenissa, (the church,) and therefore probably contained one at some period. From the top of this fortress we had the most magnificent prospect of the principal cataracts of the whole district. Three great falls were distinguishable in the broad rocky islet valley from the smaller ones; several hundred islands passed under review to yonder black mountains. Toward the north, however, the wide plain stretched, which extend from Wadi Halfa to Philae. The gradual change in the geological construction of the rocks was plainly visible, as we descended from the last ridge of the shore crags into the great plain, from which but a few single sandstone cones arise from the bed of a dried up ocean. These are no doubt the sources of the endless sand, which, driven by the north wind into the mountains, rendered our journey to Semneh so difficult.

On the 1st of August we quitted Wadi Halfa in three barks,and passed through districts already well-known. Next morning we came to Abu Simbel, where we stopped nine days, in order to secure the rich representations of the two rock temples as complete as possible. I sought for a long time for the remarkable Greek inscription which Leake found on one of the four mighty Ramses-colossi, until I happily discovered it in the rubbish on the left leg of the second colossus from the south. I was obliged to have a great excavation made, in order to obtain a perfect impression on paper. There seem to me to be no grounds whatever not to take the inscription for that for which it proclaims itself, viz. for a memorial of the Greek mercenaries, who came hither with Psammetichus I. in pursuit of the rebellious warriors. Among the rest of the inscriptions of the colossus I find some Phœnician ones.

After we had visited rock monuments on the opposite shore, near Abahûda and Shataui, we left Abu Simbel, on the 11th of August, and next stopped on the right shore near Ibrîm, the ancient Primis, the name of which I have found written hieroglyphically PRM. On the left bank, opposite Ibrîm, lies Anîbe, in the neighbourhood of which we found and drew a solitary, but well preserved private grave of the time of the twentieth dynasty. Then we went on to Derr, where we received the richest of post-bags, which filled us all with joy.

With these treasures we hastened, by way of Amada, hither to Korusko; the charming palm groups of which had become dear to us during our long though unwilling stay last year. To-day (Sunday) we have, therefore, determined to celebrate the fortunate completion of our journey in the gayest reminiscences. Our barks lie quietly by the shore.