544 WONDEES OP AET^ jgOP' 
single temple, which requires half a mile to 
The remains of this temple are thus described by 
Of the hundred columns of the portico 
smallest are seven feet and a half in diameter, and to iP 
twelve. The space occupied by the circumvall‘''tif'’^j3t)lf^ 
temple contains lakes and mountains. In short, to 
to form a competent idea of so much magnifit-^^iii/, 
reader ought to fency what is before him to be a 
he who views the objects themselves rubs his ^y^-rr^ 
whether he is awake. fmm > ,.ii 
The avenue leading from 
Luxor, a space nearly half a league in e.xtent, i 
constant succession of sphynxes and other 
figures to tire right and left, together with fmg' ^ 
stone walls, of small columns, and of statues.” , f"'. 
The village of Luxor is also built on the side ot ^ 
of a temple, not so large as that of Karnac, but m 
state of preservation, the masses not having a® ^ 
through time, and by tlie pressure of their 
The most colossal parts consist of fourteen 
nearly eleven feet in diameter, and of two statues ‘ 
at the outer gate, buried up to the middle of the 
having in front of them the two largest and best r 
obelisks known. The French, when in EgyP‘jj,^te^.^< 
their means insufficient, not to hew out, but 
transport these two monuments, which are not i» 
fragment of one of the numerous edifices of the * jje ^ 
city of Thebes. They are of rose-colour 
seventy feet above the ground, and to judge by 
which the figures seem to be covered, about 
may be reckoned to be concealed from the 
all one hundred feet for their height. Their pt ^ 
perfect ; and the hieroglyphics with which tliey 
being cut deep, and in relief at ffie bottom, ^ si 
hand of a master, and a beautiful finish, 
which could touch such hard materials must 
UaV® . 
an admirable temper; and the machines 
enormous blocks from the quarries, to transport 
and to set them upright, together with the tinas 
the labour, surpass aU conception ! 
In speaking of the gate of the temple, wl 
come that of the village of Luxor, Denou 
follows. 
K. f 
IL Ui lAlV^ Village ^ *\\Q 
' Nothing can be more grand, and at “* 
