Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travellers and a travel-book for the library. (1862) (14577341490)

Identifier: upnilehomeagainh00fair (find matches)
Title: Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travellers and a travel-book for the library.
Year: 1862 (1860s)
Authors: Fairholt, F. W. (Frederick William), 1814-1866
Subjects:
Publisher: London, Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress



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ffs. Many contain very old tombs, with subjectsfrom ordinary life depicted on the walls, similar to,and as old as, any in Egypt; they are mixed withothers of later date, when the Ptolemies and theRoman emperors were lords of the soil, thus provingthe adherence of all to the burial-place consecratedby the usages of many centuries. Gow is the ancient Antseopolis, the pretendedscene of the Greek fable of Hercules and Antseus.There are no remains beyond a few stones, of nointerest to the general traveller; the temple ofAnteus and the ruins of other buildings have beendestroyed by the encroachment of the river, and theabstraction of the stones for the purpose of con-structing the governors palace at Siout. Tahta is a large town on the western bank,situated in the midst of a fertile plain, withpicturesque views of the hills around it. It maybe described as an excellent specimen of its class.Plate IX. exhibits some of its principal features.Some of the houses are of a more ambitious altitude
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SIOUT TO KENEH. 187 than is usually found in these towns or villages;others are decorated with painted fronts, always instrong positive tints in compartments of geometricform. In the centre of the houses is a sibeel, orpublic fountain, whose welcome waters pour into theroadway. Portions of the walls of a ruined mosqueare in the foreground; and in advance of this, alongthe paths, is a group of tombs, each covered by aplaster superstructure, varying in design, but gene-rally with a group of conical ornaments on thesummit. An Egyptian graveyard has often aneglected, ruinous look; the crude brick and plastertombs crack and decay in the scorching heat • thedusty earth, too, without grass or plants, contrastsunfavourably with the greenness and solemn beautyof the tree-environed and flower-planted cemeteriesin Europe. At Raianeeah, some few miles farther, the riverwinds considerablv, and the eastern mountainscome close to the water. The course it takes leavesan isolated sand-bank of nearly