4Z TRAVELS IN UPPER 



Antinoe had filled the place of the ancieiit 

 Egyptian city of Ab'ulus, in which a divinity who 

 bore the name of Besa was worshipped. This god 

 delivered oracles, and his celebrity long supported 

 itself. The ancient c\{y o( Ahidics, and that of An- 

 tinoe, are now equally ruinous. What remains 

 of this last excites regret for its destruction. You 

 behold not in these ruins the unwieldy and gigan- 

 tic monuments, those enormous masses of stone, 

 which the Egyptians raised rather to astonish than 

 to charm the eye. Every thing there was in just 

 proportion, all possessed those dehcate contours, 

 and those ele<rant forms of the beautiful architect 

 ture of the Greeks and of the Romans. 



My rm made many difficulties about approach- 

 ing the shore which covers the ruins of Antinoe. 

 It is peopled by the worst tribe of Egyptians, and 

 the most determined robbers. They attacked Mr. 

 Bruce, when, on crossing the Sciid, he intended to 

 stop at this place*. I observed all the precautions 

 which prudence suggested, and I landed with my 

 draughtsman. The extensive site, strewed with the 

 most beautiful fragments, overwhelmed me with 

 astonishment and admiration. It must have occu- 

 pied a considerable time to travel over them all. 

 The ni2;ht approached, and it was impossible either 



* Travels to the Sources of the Nile, 



to 



