jr6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



rious there ; but he left with me his son, and a 

 part of his servants, to whom he gave.it in charge, 

 not to permit the country people to approach, 

 and, above all, to be particularly careful that no 

 person disturbed me in my operations. 



I found myself before one of the most beautiful 

 monuments of ancient Egypt, which time, and the 

 fatal genius of destruction, had equally assailed; 

 but which, in part, withstood their strokes and 

 their effort?. In the midst of ruins and rubbish, 

 occupying a vast space of ground, a temple still 

 rears itself entire, and in high preservation ; a 

 testimony of the grandeur and the magnificence 

 of ancient Tenfyris. This is one of the most 

 striking edifices on which antiquity has endea- 

 voured to impress the seal of immortality, which 

 the Egyptians have had constantly in view, in the 

 prodigious works which they executed. It was de- 

 dicated to Isis, and this tutelary divinity of Egypt 

 was worshipped there under the form of a cat. 



The temple is built in the form of an oblong 

 square, and of white stones extracted from the cal- 

 careous rocks of which the neighbouring moun- 

 tains are composed. The front is one hundred and 

 thirty-two feet and some inches in length. In the 

 middle of the cornice, a little below the architrave, 

 is a globe supported by the tails of two fishes. 



Enormous 



