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

248 DEBOD.
period of Ergamenes the Ethiopian, he who
founded Dakkeh ; but it was progressively adorn-
ed down to the time of Augustus, when the
work was interrupted. In the interior sanc-
tuary there are no hieroglyphics on the w^alls ;
and the stones destined for the completion of the
w^ork, but which were never employed, are lying
there as if only awaiting the return of the ma-
sons to resume operations. The original founder
of Debod appears to have had pretensions far
beyond the capabilities of the locality, for to
this little temple there are what I have not as
yet observed in any of the stupendous edifices I
have visited,—three propyla ! What
w^ould I
give to behold one of these temples cleared of
its rubbish within and without, with its pave-
ment unincumbered by endless layers of dust and
broken pottery, its roof disengaged from heaps
of ruined huts, its portals unobstructed by blocks
of sandstone and granite, its sculptured columns
purified from the defacing filth of the bat,
in short, in such order and keeping as render our
ruined fanes in England so beautiful as well as
so touching in their decay !
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