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

288 THE RHAMESSEIUM.
Rhamesseium is very grandioso. There are the
ruins of a peristyled court, with pilasters, against
which are placed colossal standing statues, with
their arms crossed over their bosoms, and bearing
in one hand the crosier, and in the other the
flagellum : and there is a noble hypostyle, or hall
of columns, covered with the usual sculptures;
and part of the roof still entire, formed of enor-
mous blocks of sandstone. And what is rare,
there are no Arab hovels encumbering these fine
remains ; and the only rubbish scattered about,
consists in the vast fragments that have been
rent from their original positions, and lie here
and there in ruinous confusion, mingled with
monstrous portions of the wonderful statue, each
morsel large enough to furnish materials for the
labours of a modern sculptor. Amidst the ruins
of Western Thebes, neither obelisks nor avenues
of sphinxes remain, and it is therefore a question
if any of the former ever existed there ;
the sight
of two mutilated sphinxes of breccia overturned
and prostrate in the dust, convinced me that
there had once been those noble adjuncts to
the approach to a temple on the western bank.
* * * * *
From the palaces of the ancient Thebans to
their tombs, the transition is short ; within the