'A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 281 



large and well-cultivated island, where we steamed up the 

 eastern arm of the river, and soon saw the small but charmingly 

 situated temple of Kum-Ombu ; and as night was falling we lay 

 to below the temple, near a dahabeeyah occupied by Europeans. 



The dragoman belonging to this party a clever Dal- 

 matian sportsman, called Paulovich came on board the 

 steamer after dinner and advised us to get a bleating kid and 

 go to the temple, hide ourselves well, and watch for wolves. 

 No sooner said than done ; and at nine o'clock I crept with 

 Hoyos up the steep banks, and rambling about the desolate 

 temple we found, on its western side, a pillar which would 

 serve as a good hiding-place. So we tied the kid up a few 

 paces in front of it, and watched for two hours with the 

 greatest attention ; but nothing stirred. 



It was a weirdly beautiful scene : the old temple, with its 

 gloomy colonnades, and the boundless desert, broken only by 

 a few rocks and ruins, all illumined by the splendid African 

 moon not with the pale lamplight moonshine of Europe, but 

 with a brightness like that of day, which showed the smallest 

 stone, and allowed the sportsman on the watch and even the 

 artist at his drawing to see quite clearly. 



Unluckily the Europeans from the dahabeeyah were also 

 out shooting near our hiding-place, and came past the temple 

 with the cackling hens that they had taken with them as 

 lures ; so that our best hopes vanished, and we returned 

 to our steamer. Still, I shall never forget that beautiful 

 moonlight night. 



The ruins of the temple are exceptionally picturesque, but 

 half-buried in the sand ; and Kum-Ombi (i. e. the hill of 

 Ombu ; hieroglyphic Nubi, i. e. the golden town ; Greek 

 Ombos or Ombi) was the capital of the district, afterwards 

 called Ombites. Both the town and the temple were detested 

 by the rest of Egypt; for here Set, the ancient Egyptian 

 Typhon, was worshipped in one of his principal forms. The 



