NUBIA AND THE NILE RAPIDS. 359 



and islands, thickets of mimosa, groves of palms and sycamores, 

 towns and villages, everywhere bear essentially the same stamp. 

 But at the rock-masses of the first cataract, which form the last 

 barrier overcome by the stream as it presses towards the sea, 

 Egypt really ends and Nubia begins. No longer does the boat 

 glide smoothly on a surface majestically calm; it has to fight its 

 way among low masses of rock, and among rocky cones that rear 

 themselves above the waves. 



Nearing the first cataract, we see, high on a precipitous head- 

 land on the left bank, a wretched and yet impressive piece of 

 Arabic architecture, the sepulchre of Sheikh Musas, the patron 

 saint of the first rapids. Further on lies the island of Elephantine, 

 rich in palms, and immediately beyond is Assuan. The way is 

 hemmed in by masses of rock, from whose surface the waves, 

 storming for thousands of years, have not- succeeded in obliterating 

 hieroglyphics graven in the time of the Pharaohs. These rocks 

 compel the boat to follow a tortuous course, till at length it finds a 

 safe landing-place in a calm creek, which is, however, so near the 

 rapids that it is resonant with their raging. 



It is venerable ground on which we stand. Through the 

 inscriptions in the sacred characters of the ancient Egyptian people, 

 past ages converse with us in intelligible speech. " Ab ", or ivory- 

 store, was the name of the town Elephantine on the island of 

 that name, and the island remains though even the ruins of the 

 town have almost completely disappeared: "Sun" or Syene was 

 the township on the right bank where the modern Assuan stands. 

 Elephantine was the most southerly harbour of the old Egyptians 

 and the capital of the southern Nile district; it was the ancient 

 depot for produce from the interior, especially for ivory, highly 

 prized then as now. " Sun " was probably only a village of working 

 people, but as such by no means of less importance than Elephan- 

 tine. For near here, from the earliest times, the " Mat " or " Ethio- 

 pian stone" of Herodotus was quarried, and was brought to the 

 river-banks to be loaded on the boats, which bore it to its destination. 

 It was from this place that the valuable stone derived the name of 

 Syenite, which it still bears. 77 Inscriptions which are found on monu- 



