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

250 philye.
lifeless wildernesses of stone ? But at Pliiki) the
grace and softness of nature blends so beautifully
with the grandeur of art, as to render the last
resting-place of Osiris, like *' the green spot on
memory's waste," a thing apart — a solitary gem,
—a gracious exception to a stern and monotonous
rule.
Placed above the confines of the First Cataract,
just far enough from it to be beyond the turmoil
of its rocks and rapids, the Sacred Isle, calm and
smiling, reflects in the smooth water, on whose
bosom it appears to float, its belt of bright ver-
dure rising in terraces from the waves, its grace-
ful tufts of palm-trees, and its prodigal confusion
of ruins, in lovely contrast to the chaotic masses
of black granite and basalt that bound the pro-
spect on either side of the river. As we ap-
proached it from the south, the two great pro-
pyla of the temple of Isis were the first objects
that sti-uck our view ; but gradually as we coast-
ed round to its northern extremity, dromos, and
colonnade, and peristyle and pronaos unrolled
themselves, and lastly, the loveliest feature of all,
the small temple known by the name of Pharaoh's
Bed, and by some supposed to cover the tomb of
Osiris.
Near to that temple we landed. Perhaps, to