DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
From these relations, we figure to ourselves the 
stupendous precipices of Niagara, the vast un- 
broken flood \^hich agitates the air to a whirlwind 
in its fall, the thundering reverberation of the 
rocks, the white cloud of spray, and the prostrate 
Indian adoring the awful divinity of the waters. 
If ever these ideas were applicable to the water- 
falls of the Nile, that period is long past. From 
the relation of Diodorus, however, who describes 
the regurgitation of the river as inundating the 
plains of Nubia, it may be conjectured, that, in 
the lapse of time, through the constant attrition 
of so considerable a body of water, the fall of the 
river has been gradually rendered less precipitous, 
and the chasm of the rocks more considerable. 
About four miles beyond the cataract of the Nile 
lies El-Heiff, the ancient Philae. In this isle, or 
rather rock of granite, which is only one hundred 
and fifty fathoms long and seventy broad, are con- 
centrated some of the most curious and pictu- 
resque remains of Egypt. Three entire temples, 
the ruins of a Roman fort, and the vestiges of two 
other temples, are here discernible. The plan of 
the temples is very irregular, probably from hav- 
ing been the work of dilFerent periods. The exte- 
rior part of the building is adorned with colossal 
sculptures, and the ornaments and capitals of the 
columns are exquisitely finished. The capitals are 
of four kinds, representing the calyx of the lotus^ 
