16 
TAXIS. 
himself (81, 82 and two at Bulak), besides a group 
of the youthful,king protected by a deity, of which 
only the king’s head remains. These statues were 
placed facing towards the entrance; this is shown 
by the northern statue of Murmashau having the 
added inscription of Ramessu II. on its own left 
side, and the southern statue having the inscrip¬ 
tion on its own right side, i. e. on the two sides 
seen on going up the middle of the temple> 
leaving the two outer sides plain. These sta¬ 
tues have all been overthrown, by doubtless the 
same causes as all the rest of the monuments 
here, obelisks, colossi, and others. The covet¬ 
ousness of builders has always placed a pre¬ 
mium on limestone, which has led to its being 
abstracted from beneath every monument in the 
place; and though we cannot doubt that all the 
temple had a fine limestone pavement, such as we 
now may see buried under eight or ten feet of 
earth at the eastern end, yet every stone in this 
part has been broken away and carried off, leaving 
only a mass of chips, which were removed by 
Mariette, and now lie in heaps on either side of 
the excavation. 
22. Beyond these statues stood two early 
obelisks from which Ramessu II. had erased the 
original inscriptions (117, 136), and which in 
turn had been broken up and used for building 
material by later despoilers: they were over 
thirty-two feet high, judging by the more perfect 
one. About this region must have existed many 
structures, principally of limestone, now entirely 
destroyed. We see the traces of these in the 
many blocks of granite, left strewing the ground 
on both sides, and in the door-lintel of Siamen 
(138). There also existed courts here of Ra¬ 
messu II., as is shown not only by the numerous 
blocks with his name, but by the jamb of a small 
pylon (134), about eight feet high, with figures 
of Ptah and Mut; and by lintels of doorways 
bearing his name (147, 128, 129, 130). In 
these courts probably were placed the two altars 
of offerings which remain at 106 and 115. Also 
to the north of this, at the place where two 
trenches join together in one wide clearance (see 
plan) many fragments of a chamber, with a 
starred roof and painted with red and blue, were 
found. No name occurred with them, but, from 
the style, they seemed to be between the twentieth 
and twenty-sixth dynasties; and a piece of the 
top edge of a granite shrine was also found there, 
w'hich seemed to be of about the time of the 
twenty-sixth or a later dynasty. Probably this 
chamber was built under the twenty-second or 
twenty-fifth dynasty, both of which have left other 
remains here. Seti II. also did some work, as 
one block (141) bears his names; and Tahraka 
added one large stela (the lower part of which was 
discovered by Mariette and translated byDe Rouge, 
the upper being discovered this year), and ap¬ 
parently a second inscription on a cut-up column 
of Ramessu II. 
From this region on towards the sanctuary there 
lie the ruins of a great wall ; only the inscribed 
blocks are shown in the plan, and there are many 
others beside these along the line from block 145 
to 162. Granite alone is left here (beside one 
block of sandstone, 143), and all the blocks are 
utterly confused, owing apparently to having 
been overturned in the course of removing the 
limestone, which formed part of the wall. As 
this wall is but fifteen feet south of the axis of 
the temple, it would seem probable that there was 
a similar wall (but built nearly all of limestone) 
at the same distance noi’th of the axis, forming a 
passage, thirty feet wide, up to the sanctuary. 
Perhaps the fragments of obelisks, etc., 129. to 
136, may be remains of this wall, as those blocks 
have been re-used. The block of sandstone or 
quartzite (143) is important, as it seems to show 
two rebuildings after Ramessu II. The quality 
of the stone is that used by Ramessu, and not 
like that of the twelfth dynasty, and the style of 
a figure on it is Ramesside; but after it had served 
its original purpose this stone was placed as a 
threshold, much worn, and deeply grooved by a 
sliding body, probably a door running on metal 
