Chapter XXIX: Letter XXVI: Korusko, the 17th August, 1844

We did not accomplish our departure from Dongola before the 2nd of July. We went slowly down the western side of the river. That very day we passed over extensive fields of ruins, the dim remains of once flourishing towns, whose names have died away. The first we found were opposite ARGONSENE, others at KOÏ, and at MOSCH. The following day we arrived at HANNIK, opposite Tombos, in the province of MÁHAS. Here the Cataract country begins immediately, and a fresh Nuba dialect, which extends as far down as Derr and Korusko. The Nile, on the whole, retains its northerly direction as far as a high mountain, named after a former conqueror, Ali Bersi. Early on the third day we left this on our left hand. It is situated on the sharp bend of the river, from north-west to due east, from which point it is usual to cut off the largest portion of the province of Máhas by a desert road running in a northerly direction. We, however, followed the turns of the river, and dismounted near two old castles on the bank, at a grove of palm-trees, under whose shade we rested during the sultry mid-day hours. The nearest of these castles, so romantically situated between the fissures of the rock, I find differently named on every map, as FAKIR EFFENDI (Cailliaud); FAKIR EL BINT, from _Bint_, the girl (Hoskins); FAKIR BENDER, from _Bender_, the capital (Arrowsmith). In the dialect of this place, however, it is called FAKIR FENTI, or, in that of Dongola, FAKIR BENTI; and it is so named from the palm-trees at its foot, _Fenti_, _Benti_, being the names for palm and date.

On the 4th of July we got as far as SÊSE, a hill which bears the remnants of a fortress. Our servant, Ahmed, from Derr, related to us that, at the death of every king, his successor was led up to its summit, and there adorned with a peculiar royal cap. Castles like that of Sêse, many of which we saw, far and near, on the plateau beyond the river district, indicate an early, numerous, and warlike population, which has now almost entirely disappeared. The ruins, situated a quarter of an hour south of Mount Sêse, are called SESEBI. Here stood an ancient temple, of which only four columns stand erect, with palm capitals. They have the Shields of SETHÔS I., the most southern we have met with belonging to this king. Near these temple remains are the ruins of a large town, on an artificially raised piece of ground, of which the regular encircling walls may still be recognised.

On the 6th July we arrived at SOLB (Soleb), where a temple of considerable importance, and still in good preservation, was erected by Amenophis III. to his own genius, the deified RA-NEB-MA (Amenophis).[50] The rich representations belonging to this temple—the same to which once also belonged our own Ram from Barkal, and Lord Prudhoe’s Lion—gave us materials for almost five days’ work. We did not again set off before the 11th July.

Scarcely one hour to the north of this is situated GEBEL DOSCHE, a sandstone rock, projecting into the river, in which, on the river side, a grotto is cut, which contains representations of the third TUTHMOSIS.

The very same evening we arrived at SEDEÏNGA, where AMENOPHIS III. erected a small temple to his own wife, TII. In the midst of the picturesque heap of ruins, thrown one above another, rises one single column, which has remained standing. A great necropolis stretches out towards the west.

On the 13th of July we halted near a Schôna (such is the name given to the station store-houses maintained by government), opposite Mount ABIR or QABIR, a little below the northern point of the island of SAI. On the other side of the river, not exactly opposite, stands the village of AMARA, and near it the ruins of a temple. I was not a little surprised to recognise directly on the columns (six of which are still preserved) the fat Queen of NAGA and MERÖE, with her husband. This temple was built by them, an important testimony to the widely-extended dominion of that Ethiopian Dynasty. In the necropolis to the south of the temple I also observed fragments of inscriptions in the above-mentioned demotic Ethiopian alphabetic writing, such as I had also found near Sedeïnga.

The following day, after having visited the island of SAI, where we had found the scanty remains of a temple with inscriptions of Tuthmosis III. and Amenophis II., besides the remains of a town and a Coptic church, we proceeded farther, and on the 15th of July reached DAL, which forms the frontier between the provinces of Sukkôt and Batn el hagér (Stone-belly); at night we encamped at the Cataract of KALFA.

From this point our road passed near the hot sulphur spring of OKMEH, to which I turned off from our caravan road with Abeken. It led us from the Schôna, where we separated, along the rocky bank, above an hour backwards to a square tower, which has been erected over the spring, and which is now called after its builder, HAMMÂM SEIDNA SOLIMÂN. The tower, which is 9 feet in diameter, and in the inside 4 feet wide, is now half filled with sand and earth; the stream of water, about the thickness of a man’s wrist, issues from the eastern side of the tower; on the other side, within the space of a square foot, sixteen little whirlpools rise out of the sand, and here, where the water is hottest, it is not quite 44° R. (131° Fahr.). It tastes sulphureous, and a white substance is deposited on the earth round the spring. Every year the river rises above it, and even over the tower, which stands half-way up the river bank. The surface of the water had now only risen to about the height of a man, and had not yet reached the spring. A rough hole is dug into the rubbish for the sick who come here, and is covered with branches to keep back the stream. Somewhat farther down the river another small spring of water appears, which has a temperature of 40° R. (122° Fahr.) when it issues from the ground. The saying goes, that OKASCHE, a friend of the Prophet’s, was killed in a campaign in the south, his corpse floated down hither, and then disappeared in the rock on the opposite bank; there, even now, at some distance up the river, his grave is shown; a tree marks the spot.

On the 17th July we encamped at the temple of SEMNEH. The village consists only of a few straw huts, which are shaded by some date palms, but the number of potsherds in the neighbourhood prove that a place of some importance stood here formerly. The temple is surrounded with very ancient fortifications, of immense dimensions; its erection dates even as far back as the Old Monarchy under Sesurtesen III., a king of the 12th Dynasty. It appears that this king first enlarged the limits of the Egyptian Monarchy as far as this point; indeed it has been found that at a later period he was himself worshipped in these districts as a divinity of the country. The temple which Tuthmosis III. erected here in the New Monarchy, is also dedicated to him, and to the god TETUN. On the right bank, also, at the village of KUMMEH, there are still some old fortifications, and within them a still larger temple, which was even begun by Tuthmosis II.

The most important discovery which we made here, and which I shall only mention briefly, because I am at this moment sending a more detailed account of it to Ehrenberg, is a number of short rock inscriptions which mark the highest rises of the Nile during a series of years under the government of AMENEMHA III. (MŒRIS), and of his immediate successors. These statements have in some measure a _historical_ value, as they decidedly confirm my supposition that the SEBEKHOTEPS followed immediately after the 12th Dynasty, and they are in some measure peculiarly interesting for the geological history of the Nile valley; because they prove that the river, above 4000 years ago, rose more than 24 feet higher than now, and thereby must have produced totally different conditions in the inundation and in the whole surface of the ground both above and below this spot. Our examination of this remarkable locality, with its temples and rock-inscriptions, occupied us twelve whole days.[51]

On the 29th July we went from Semneh to ABKE, and the following day visited the old castle situated to the north of it, which is called el Kenissa, the church, and formerly therefore probably contained one. From the top of this castle we had the most magnificent prospect of the chief cataracts of the whole country. Three great falls could be distinguished from the smaller ones in the broad, rocky island valley, and the eye passed over several hundred islands, as far as the black mountain range on the opposite bank. But towards the north the wide plain spread out, which extends from Wadi Halfa to Philæ. The succession of the different kinds of rock was most distinctly visible as we descended from the last ridge of the rocks on the banks into the great plain, from which some single cones of sandstone alone protruded, as if from the bed of a primitive ocean. Here undoubtedly are the sources of the everlasting sand, which, driven by the northern wind among the primitive mountains, rendered our road to Semneh very difficult.

On the 1st of August we left WADI HALFA in three boats, and from this point again sailed through a country with which we were already acquainted. The following morning we came to ABU SIMBEL, where we spent nine days, in order to become perfectly acquainted with the copious representations on both the rock-temples. I long searched in vain for the remarkable Greek inscription which Leake had found on one of the four great Ramses Colossi, till I fortunately re-discovered it, buried tolerably deep, on the left leg of the second Colossus from the south. I was obliged to make a great excavation to obtain a perfect impression of it on paper. I see no reason why we should not take this antique inscription for what it states itself to be, namely, memoranda of the Greek mercenaries, who came hither with PSAMMETICUS I. in pursuit of the rebellious warriors. Beneath the other inscriptions on the Colossus, I also found some Phœnician inscriptions.

After we had visited from this point some other rock-monuments on the opposite bank at ABAHUDA and SCHATAUI, we quitted Abu Simbel on the 11th of July, and next halted on the right bank near IBRÎM, ancient PRIMIS, the name of which I have also found in hieroglyphics written P.R.M. Ibrîm is situated on the left bank opposite ANÎBE, near which we discovered, and made a drawing of, only one private tomb from the period of the 20th Dynasty, but it was in good preservation. Thence we proceeded to DERR, where we got the largest despatch of letters we have yet received, so that it was a real holiday for us. With these treasures we hastened past AMADA to this spot KORUSKO, whose delightful group of palms had won our hearts during our long, though involuntary, detention there last year. We have fixed upon the present Sunday to celebrate with pleasant recollections the happy termination of our southern journey. Our boats lie quietly beside the bank.