. 58.] TO CHARLES WRIGHT. 575 



stone's ministry. I shall have a deal to read up. 

 But here our days pass on with scarce a thought of 

 the modern and western world, except on Christmas 

 and New Year's days. I wish I could give you 

 some idea of our life here, and of all we see and en- 

 joy, but you must imagine it. We are well supplied 

 with books, especially relative to Egypt, are busy 

 from morn to night in a leisurely way, and are in- 

 tensely comfortable. . . . 



We had yesterday for Dendera, where the temple, 

 as to structure, is in most complete preservation, but 

 the architecture is of the rather debased Ptolemaic 

 period, and the sculptures on the walls, never equal, I 

 imagine, to those at Abydos, have been sadly defaced 

 by the early Coptic Christians. But all was very in- 

 teresting, and the ladies were all with us to enjoy it. 



Evening. We are lying eight miles below Thebes, 

 which we expect to reach early to-morrow morning, 

 and to receive and dispatch letters. So I must 

 close this. We are writing at nine P. M., with almost 

 all the cabin windows open. The day has been like 

 one of July in England, in one respect unusually 

 like, for the sky has been overcast with light clouds, 

 and the air sultry, ending as such a day might with 

 a sudden and brief storm of wind only, though it 

 seemed about to rain ; but it is now still, and the 

 stars are shining out of a clear sky. 



TO CHARLES WRIGHT. 



NUBIA, BELOW DEKB, January 21, 1869. 



Let me begin a line to you from this ^Ethiopian 

 region. The object is to inclose to you some fresh 

 seeds of Ficus sycomorus, the true sycamore or 

 fool fig, - - not bad to eat. They were gathered 



