destroyed in the civil wars under which it sunk; yet more ruins remain to attest 
its greatness and former splendour than exist of any city of the Delta, which, at a 
later period, became the seat of government. 
Such associations irresistibly arise with the contemplation of this scene. The 
statues, and the temples on the western plain where those who lived had worshipped; 
and the necropolis of the millions who had died in Thebes, and were buried at the 
bases of the Libyan hills, which bound the plain, lie before the spectator; and above 
Goorna, the entrance to the valley is seen which leads to Biban El Molook, the 
gate of the tombs of the kings, where the great of the earth made their sepulchres 
with such art of concealment that, after three thousand years, some remained till our 
own day to be discovered by the indefatigable Belzoni. 
Isaiah, xix. 1, 2. Ezekiel, xxx. Eoberts’s Journal. Sharpe’s Egypt. 
APPROACH TO THE TEMPLE OF WADY SABOUA, NUBIA. 
These ruins are situated on the western bank of the Nile and about five hundred 
yards from the river, in what, it is highly probable, was formerly a fertile plain; 
now, deep sands have drifted over it, and buried the portico of the Temple; a few 
straggling prickly plants are the only signs of vegetation, and not a hut is to be seen 
around: the smooth surface is undisturbed, except by the trail of the serpent or the 
tiny footmarks of the lizard: so entirely have the words of prophecy been fulfilled:— 
“ I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, 
even unto the borders of Ethiopia.” 
At a distance the propylon is imposing, though plain. The most striking feature 
of the Temple is a long dromos, or avenue, of andro-sphinxes: in their state of mutilation 
they are supposed by the Nubians to be lions, whence the name Wady Saboua, or 
“the valley of the lions.” After traversing the short interval from the river, a flight 
of steps, having on either side a standing colossal figure, about ten or eleven feet 
in height and twenty feet apart, leads to a broad, and formerly elevated, causeway 
of hewn stone, one hundred and eighty feet long, which, bounded by the row of 
sphinxes, continues to the great entrance of the Temple. At the end of the avenue, 
and at the base of the propylon, two statues, larger than those at the entrance, are 
lying. The material of which the Temple is built is sandstone, much decayed, and 
the stones are disjointed and displaced; the first effected by the slow action of Time, 
but the latter seems to have been caused by some sudden natural convulsion. 
Eoberts’s Journal. 
