274 EXTRACTS FROM 
crypts, stairs, and passages of the great building, and I 
spent a long time in the vast gloomy pillared hall, where 
the grey colossal unpainted blocks of stone, covered with a 
rich decoration of hieroglyphics, recall the long-past ages. 
One cannot imagine any more striking memorial of ancient 
days than this mysteriously beautiful temple of Dendera; 
and in fancy one could see the priests of this mighty cult, 
with their long white robes, high caps, and black curling 
beards, bringing offerings to the all-powerful deity of the old 
realm of the Nile. 
Incredible numbers of bats now dwell in the empty galleries, 
and in a dark corner of the great hall was sitting an owl, 
while a pair of ravens had made their nest on the cornice 
within the building. I shot the large jet-black female just as 
she was flying out through the entrance. 
From the flat roof of the temple we had a magnificent 
distant view of the green cultivated land on the one side, and 
on the other of a long stretch of desert backed by towering 
mountains. It was a stern solenin scene: grey ruins, desert 
wastes, lonely crags, nothing green, not even a genial gleam 
of sunshine to gladden the eye. 
The brilliant colour of the sky and the splendid effects of 
light were absent on this afternoon, for all was grey in tone, 
and the heavens were darkened, but not by clouds, since these 
are unknown in Upper Egypt, but by the heavy vapours and 
dense dust which, together with the oppressive enervating 
air, were the first signs of an approaching “ Khamsin,” the 
dreaded storm of the desert. 
In the evening we shot our way back to the steamer, and 
passed the night at the same station, proceeding on our 
journey early in the morning. 
A furious “ Khamsin ” was hurtling through the valley of 
the Nile, and the sand-clouds of the Sahara were rolling round 
the mountains like mists; while the sun, unable to force its 
