CHAPTER XI.

Quarries of Silsilis.-Kom Ombos.-El Kab.-Tomb Sculptures. -Esni.-Potter's Wheel.-Dendera.-Ekhmin.-The Exodus.

THE QUARRIES OF SILSILIS.

THESE famous sandstone quarries are well worthy of a visit from the traveller. The ancient Egyptians were furnished with all their building materials from these exhaustless sources. There are grottoes with hieroglyphics and sculptures of the time of Osiris, a great conqueror, who lived thirteen centuries B. C. Huge masses of detached rock, some rough-hewn and others chiselled, are lying as if ready for transport. All is still and oppressively silent in these quarries, once astir with labour and click of hammer and chisel. From them were drawn the materials from which sprang pyramids and temples, obelisks and palaces, the ruins of which we now look upon.

We stopped on the shore of Kom Ombos to visit its ruined temple, which is not

of very ancient date, having been built in the reign of Ptolemy Philometer, 180 B.C. The pillars which support this temple are more than two-thirds buried in sand, the accumulation of centuries, and yet some of the hieroglyphics are as sharp as if recently cut. The winged globes over the portico are in excellent preservation. Can this be the emblem of the ancients referred to by the Prophet, when he speaks of 'the land overshadowed by wings?' On every temple one sees the same device, generally over the entrance, and often repeated in different parts of the same building.

At Edfoo, there are remains of a splendid temple, built by the same Ptolemy, and not entirely excavated. There were marks of fire as well as other evidences of the destroyer's hand upon the ruins; the walls were covered in some places with a thick smoke-crust like the back of a chimney. 'And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he (Nebuchadnez

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zar) shall burn them and carry them away captives.' He shall break also the images of Bethshemish that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.'

TOMBS AT EL KAB.

We took donkeys from the shore to this place, not only interesting on account of its tombs, but also as being the site of the ancient city of Lucina. We walked around the walls which once encircled the city, but now enclose a naked undulating plain, and here and there a heap of scattered bricks. The tombs are high up in the cliffs. On the walls of these small sepulchral chambers, unlike the kingly abodes of the Theban dynasty, are painted in well-preserved colours, the life and death of the deceased. One of these scenes depicts a funeral. The sarcophagus is borne on the shoulders of two men. Next comes the spirit of the dead, who is represented as a very lean personage, followed by a row of men dragging a small boat containing

the body of the deceased across the river of Death. The illness, death, and process of embalming were given in detail. What a flood of light these sepulchral writings throw upon the manners and customs of this ancient people!

ESNÈ.

Esnè boasts a fine old temple, which was excavated by order of Mehemet Ali. The columns are very remarkable, and there are many colossal heads of a most unique. character. Near Esnè is Keneh, which has been for ages noted for its potteries. One doubts if even the shapes have been altered since the time of Moses. The rude construction of the potter's wheel,' brings forcibly to mind the figurative language of Scripture. No one could pass it with indifference. The soft clay is moulded by the hand in the same manner to-day as it was in earliest times. In Scripture, God's power over nations is often figuratively expressed as that of a potter over the clay. And Jeremiah, alluding to the guilt

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of the house of Israel, threatens her for her idolatries in words which came forcibly to mind as we stood watching the pot ter at work in his low shed: 'Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.' Again, in the breaking of a potter's vessel is foretold the coming judgment of the Jews for their rebellion against God: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again.' Such is the prophecy of the Jews' dissolution, a broken nation, that cannot be made whole again,' till the same hand that scattered shall restore them. Still more palpable is the figure when one observes that the vessel which the Eastern potter moulds with his hands into shape cannot be mended if it breaks. He throws it aside as worthless, and commences afresh. After visiting these 'potteries,' we made an excursion to Dendera, opposite to Keneh, on the other side of the Nile. Here exists one of the best-preserved temples of Egypt, and very