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

THE SECOND CATARACT. 199
What a splendid view it commands !
The
Second Cataract covers a space of six or seven
miles in length, infinitely more intricate than the
first one, from the innumerable rocky islets that
are thickly sprinkled throughout its whole ex-
tent ;
indeed I cannot imagine how any boat can
darn its way among them, or live through the
narrow rapids that rush and tumble in all direc-
tions. Far, far off to the south we could just
discern the mountains of Dongola, like a purple
cloud on the transparent horizon, but I felt not
a wish to approach nearer to them ; for here,
arrived at the furthest limit to which I had
bounded my wanderings before I left home, and
while measuring the great distance that separates
me from many so dear to me, my heart yearns
only for a return to them, and a sort of sick
impatience has come over me to commence
retrograding, which I never experienced wliile
progressing forwards,—and yet all of interest that
the voyage possesses is still before me !
The rock of Abousir presents towards the
Cataracts an almost perpendicular wall, pierced
here and there with holes, which the wild doves
and pigeons have converted into a magnificent
natural dovecote. Towards the desert it is ac-
cessible bv a succession of lower crags, which