SOLEB— AMAEAH— SEMNEH— EMKA. 303 



been but recently planted. At one time the English appear to have entertained 

 the project of constructing a fort, and maintaining a permanent garrison in the 

 Selimeh oasis for the purpose of commanding the route to Darfur, and overawing 

 the neighbouring peoples in the Nile valley. 



SoLEB — Amarah. 



The usual route by river to the Selimeh oasis starts from the village of Soleh, 

 below the Third Cataract. The houses of the village are overtopped by the ruins 

 of a temple, one of the finest and largest specimens of ancient Egyptian workman- 

 ship to be found in Nubia. The columns which still stand are as elegant as those of 

 Greek temples ; but the sculptures and inscriptions in honour of Amenemha III. 

 are not numerous, and the interior is a mere chaos of rubbish. 



Lower down on the right bank of the river stand the sculptured pillars of the 

 temple of Amarah, surrounded by palm groves, whose fruit is the most highly 

 valued throughout the whole of Nubia. Here begins that region of gorges and 

 rapids which the Arabs call " Botn-el-Hagar." Although the cliffs on both sides 

 almost meet here and there, the banks of the river are everywhere cultivated. 

 When the strip of alluvia is only a few yards broad, it is usually sown with 

 haricots or lentils ; but when the arable zone is not so narrow it is used for raising 

 crops of durrah ; and if still more extensive it bears a few palms, under which 

 nestle small groups of huts. 



The crests of the neighbouring rocks are crowned by the towers of strongholds 

 and the walls of ancient entrenched camps. The remains of a feudal system 

 similar to that of Europe, the Nubian castles differ little from those of the Rhine, 

 except that the battlements and keeps are built in red brick, whilst the roofs, 

 slightly inclined, are broader at the base than at the simimit, and all the towers are 

 conical. One of the thermal springs which rise in these gorges on the banks of 

 the Nile, is much frequented by the sick persons of the surrounding country, but 

 only during the season of low water, as at other periods the beach is covered by 

 the floods. The sands give birth to several springs, many of which are probably 

 rivulets which filtered through from the Nile during the floods, and are now 

 returning to the main stream. 



Semneh — Emka. 



At Semneh, one of the few villages situated in the Botn-el-Hagar, two cliffs on 

 the banks of the Nile each bear an Egyptian fortress of the twelfth dynasty. At 

 the period of the inundations the broad bed of the Nile is entirely flooded ; but 

 at low water nearly the whole of the space comprised between the two cliffs is 

 occupied by shining black granite rocks, pierced with holes and intersected by 

 deep crevasses. It is now merely a narrow channel about 100 feet broad, through 

 which rushes a foaming body of water at the rate of several hundred cubic feet 

 per second. In no other part of its course does the Nile present a more magnificent 

 appearance. 



