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crypts, stairs, and passages of the great building, and I 

 spent a long time in the vast gloomy pillared hall, where 

 the grey colossal unpainted blocks of stone, covered with a 

 rich decoration of hieroglyphics, recall the long-past ages. 

 One cannot imagine any more striking memorial of ancient 

 days than this mysteriously beautiful temple of Dendera; 

 and in fancy one could see the priests of this mighty cult, 

 with their long white robes, high caps, and black curling 

 beards, bringing offerings to the all-powerful deity of the old 

 realm of the Nile. 



Incredible numbers of bats now dwell in the empty galleries, 

 and in a dark corner of the great hall was sitting an owl, 

 while a pair of ravens had made their nest on the cornice 

 within the building. I shot the large jet-black female just as 

 she was flying out through the entrance. 



From the flat roof of the temple we had a magnificent 

 distant view of the green cultivated land on the one side, and 

 on the other of a long stretch of desert backed by towering 

 mountains. It was a stern solemn scene : grey ruins, desert 

 wastes, lonely crags, nothing green, not even a genial gleam 

 of sunshine to gladden the eye. 



The brilliant colour of the sky and the splendid effects of 

 light were absent on this afternoon, for all was grey in tone, 

 and the heavens were darkened, but not by clouds, since these 

 are unknown in Upper Egypt, but by the heavy vapours and 

 dense dust which, together with the oppressive enervating 

 air, were the first signs of an approaching " Khamsin," the 

 dreaded storm of the desert. 



In the evening we shot our way back to the steamer, and 

 passed the night at the same station, proceeding on our 

 journey early in the morning. 



A furious " Khamsin " was hurtling through the valley of 

 the Nile, and the sand-clouds of the Sahara were rolling round 

 the mountains like mists ; while the sun, unable to force its 



