SCIOPTICON MANUAL. 117 



striking manner the desolation that prevails over all 

 these Egyptian ruins. The total circumference of Kar- 

 nak, including its numerous pyl^e or gateways, is a mile 

 and a half. The row of columns seen in the picture are 

 part of the Hall of Columns. 



THE APPROACH TO PHIL.E. Philas, the " Jewel of the 

 Nile," is situated a short distance from those rapids of 

 the Nile, known as the first cataracts. These cataracts 

 are formed by the bed of the river being crossed by a 

 formation of granite, through which it has cut its way, 

 producing a series of rapids. Opposite to these cataracts 

 stood the ancient city of Syene. It was from the quarries 

 at Syene that the Egyptians obtained their monoliths, 

 whether obelisks or statues. These were sculptured on 

 the spot, and then transported by the labor of men to 

 the places where they were to be erected. The island 

 of Philse contains about fifty acres, and is covered with 

 ruins of temples and palaces, all of which belong to the 

 Ptolemaic period. The basin of black jagged mountains 

 folding it in on all sides, yet half disclosing the avenues 

 to Nubia and Egypt; the clusters of palms, with here 

 and there a pillar or wall of a temple, the ring of the 

 bright river, no longer turbid, as in lower Egypt; of 

 these it is the centre, as it was once the focus of their 

 beauty. 



YIEW ON THE ISLAND OF PHIL^. The temple which 

 belongs to the era of the Ptolemys, and is little more 

 than two thousand years old, was built by various mon- 

 archs, and is very irregular in its plan. The columns of 

 the temple are very different from those of Luxor and 

 Karnak, indicating the result of the contact of Greek and 

 Egyptian systems of architecture. Above the true capi- 

 tal is a square block that bears on its four sides the head 



