1911-1912.] Notes on a Visit to Egypt. 42 1 



" Savoy " hotel. One can sympathise with Pierre Loti in his 

 lamentation, " La Mort de Philae," for no doubt the Cataract 

 has lost much of its grandeur since the construction of the 

 Great Dam. But we live in a utilitarian age, and I am sure 

 the Nubians who inhabit Assouan would not like to return to 

 the days of the Turkish tax-collector or to the horrors of the 

 slave-trade. 



One of the most interesting excursions from Assouan is to 

 the island of Philse, on which stands the beautiful temple and 

 sanctuary of Isis (Plate XXXVII., Fig. 1). 



Since the building of the Great Dam this island is sub- 

 merged most of the year, and as they were busy raising the 

 height by 23 feet, this temple is unfortunately doomed. 



We found it quite dry and covered with the colocynth or 

 bitter apple, which was in flower and fruit. The gourd is 

 collected by the natives and exported from Alexandria to 

 Europe for the manufacture of pills. 



The granite quarries from which the ancient Egyptians 

 obtained their material for the obelisks and colossi are 

 situated about a mile from Assouan. They are very much 

 hidden now by sand. 



It was with feelings of regret that we left Assouan for our 

 journey down the Nile (Plate XXXVIL, Fig. 2). 



Our most important excursion on this journey was made 

 from Baliana to inspect the magnificent ruins of the Temple 

 of Abydos, built by Sethos I. The coloured reliefs of this 

 temple are undoubtedly unsurpassed in Egypt. It also con- 

 tains the most wonderful genealogical record in the world — 

 the Tablet of Abydos — from which much of Egyptian history 

 has been constructed. 



In the Arabian Desert, not very far from Cairo, there is the 

 pretty oasis of Helouan, situated on a plateau surrounded by 

 steep limestone hills, and frequented by invalids on account of 

 its dry climate and sulphur springs. I spent a few weeks 

 here enjoying walks or rides across the desert. In some of 

 the gorges among the hills one can get a good idea of the 

 desert vegetation, which is certainly not prolific. Plate 

 XXXVIIL, Fig. 1, illustrates one of these gorges, Wadi Hof, 

 where the Zilla myagroides or desert thorn, with its pretty 

 lilac or white corolla, not unlike the Mathiola hicornis, grows 



