A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

142 TEMPLE OF LUXOR.
suddenly exclaimed, '* Eh bieii ! il faut convenir
que le peuple de ce pays sauvage est une fa-
meuse race ! Dire qu'ils out creuse cette enorme
riviere avec rien que leurs mains !
Nous
ne
serious pas capable d'en faire autant en France !
We scarcely allowed ourselves time to break-
fast before we were on shore. Early as the hour
was, the sun had already such power that the
sand actually scorched my feet ; but on we went,
valiantly braving that inconvenience, and the
suffocating clouds of dust raised by a ragged
troop of Arabs, who immediately surrounded us
with the usual clamour for bachshish ; and soon
we stood within the Temple of Luxor, alas ! so
choked up with a vile Arab village that we could
neither comprehend its disposition nor trace out
its outline. We could understand nothing but
the portions taken by us in detail as we passed
along them, carefully picking our steps that we
might not crush to death some pigeon so tame
that it would not move out of our way, or some
brood of tiny chickens just emancipated from the
egg-shell, or some new-born lamb or kid, or some
naked infant sprawling in the sand. Here, an
old ram butted at us from his dark corner, as if
to call our attention to the living type of the
Ram-headed Deity multiplied in the hierogly-
"