EGYPT, AND SYRIA. 135 
. Thefe venerable ruins, probably the moft antient in the world, 
extend for about three leagues in length along the Nile. Eaft 
and Weft they reach to the mountains, a breadth of about two 
leagues and a half. The river is here about three hundred 
yards broad. The circumference of the antient city muft there- 
fore have been about twenty-feven miles. 
In failing up the Nile, the firft village you come to within the 
precindts is Kourna^ on the Weft, where there are few houfes, 
the people living moftly in the caverns. Next is Abuhadjadj^ 
a village, and Karnak, sl fmall diftri£t, both on the Eaft. Far 
the largeft portion of the city ftood on the Eaftern fide of the 
river. On the South-weft Medinet-Abu marks the extremity of 
the ruins ; for Arment, which is about two leagues to the South, 
cannot be confidered as a part. 
' Modern authors have ftyled the fite of Thebes Luxor, a name 
which is not in my journal taken on the fpot, nor does my 
memory retain a trace of fuch an appellation, not to mention 
that the word is not Arabic. Some write Akfor, which convinces 
me that both are corruptions of El Kujfur, the real term, which 
is ftill applied to the ruins by the Arabs. Norden is very im- 
perfect in his Arabic names, as well as his topography. 
In defcribing the ruins, we fhall begin with the moft conft- 
derable, which are on the Eaft of the Nile. The chief is the 
Great Temple, an oblong fquare building of vaft extent, with a 
double colonnade, one at each extremity. The mafly columns 
and 
