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

BIBAN EL MOLUK. 295
SO utterly barren and dreary, so destitute of even
a blade of grass, a weed, or a thorn to give it a
semblance of life, that Nature herself appears to
be dead there. Not the hum of an insect is to
be heard in the air, not even a lizard to be seen
darting amongst the loose stones of the rocky
pathway ; once, as we advanced, we saw two
ravens hovering over our heads, but they did not
descend—even they, the funereal ravens, flew far
away from that scene of utter lifelessness. Some
writer upon Egypt has aptly observed that the
approach to the tombs of the Kings may be
likened to the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
and the idea is a happy one ; gloomy, stern, and
dreary, with no perspective, save the dark sepul-
chre, that desolate tract fully realized my con-
ceptions of the solemn passage that leads from
the bright and busy world to the cold and silent
tomb. And as I cast my eyes upwards and be-
held the deep azure of the sunny sky above,
shedding warmth and light even upon the gloomy
gorge below, it seemed to me a glorious type of
those heavenly hopes that alone sustain the de-
parting soul through the dim terrors of that path
which we all must tread—the closing steps of
our earthly pilgrimage !
The valley of Biban el Moluk terminates in a