176 
DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
banks are cut in the form of a wall. An island 
of still larger size than Philee, and in its imme- 
diate vicinity, is probably the Tacompsus of Ste- 
phanus Byzantinus, which that geographer men- 
tions as adjacent to Philse. From the name it 
may be inferred that Tacompsus was devoted to 
the worship of the crocodile, since kamsa or 
kompso, according to Herodotus, was the name 
of that animal in the ancient Egyptian language. 
About a league above Philae, the village Deboude 
exhibits the remains of various ancient structures, 
with a ruined canal, lined with stone, and forty 
feet in breadth ; and at Hindau, about two 
leagues higher on the Nile, similar ruins become 
still more numerous.* As the traveller advances 
he still recognizes the vestiges of ancient gran- 
deur ; magnificent ruins emerge from the sands, 
and he often finds large stones covered with hie- 
roglyphics, though unable to discover the edifices 
from which they have been taken. The valley 
of the river is confined by sandy declivities and 
precipices of granite, till it reaches the village of 
Teffa, about nine leagues beyond which it is 
crossed by the imaginary line that divides Egypt 
from Nubia. After entering Nubia, the valley 
preserves the same aspect, and the breadth of the 
flat country between the mountains and the Nile 
* Norden's Travels, Vol. II. p. 130. 
