Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/467

 ESXEH— THEBES— LUXOB—KABNAK. 879 also not the smallest spot is bare of inscriptions and pictures, including the • calendar of festivals,' and others that have essentially contributed to our know- ledge of ancient Eg'ptiun geography."* ESNEH. Below Edfu a gorge opens eastwards, through which formerly descended the Herusha marauders, ancestors of the present Ababdeh tribe. Against their incur- sions nimiMirts hud been constructed across the gorge, the entrance of which was commanded by a fort. The ^'illage of El-Kah now occupies the site of this strong- hold, which was the Nehhab of the ancient Egyptians, and the Eilethia of the Greeks. Amongst the numerous sepulchral caves excavated in the neighbouring rooks, one has been discovered in which are represented the victories of Ahmes, or Amosis, over the Shepherd Kings and the Ethiopian tribes. Lower down, the valley of the Nile broadens out as it approaches the modem Esneh, whoso fields and gardens occupy a considerable space on the left bank of the stream. The LntopoUs of the Greeks, Esneh still preserves its ancient name of Stii. Capital of a province and an industrial centre, producing blue cottons, shawls, and various kinds of pottery, it ranks as one of the chief trading places in "rpi)er Egypt. A portion of the surrounding plain is covered with sugar-cane plantations ; a few ddm-palras are also still seen, but farther down the vegetation along the river banks is almost entirely restricted to date-trees. The population of Esneh is of a very mixed character, comprising besides Coptic Christians and Mussulman fellahtu, Nubians, various tribes of Bejas, and others from the oases. It was to Esneh that the Alraeh of Cairo had been banished by Mohanmied Ali, and here tbey are still more numerous than elsewhere. The ancient temple of Sni, dedicated to Kneph, " Soul of the World," was partially freed in 1842 from the heaps of sand and refuse encumbering it ; but it still resembles a shrine in one of the Roman catacombs rather than an edifice erected above ground. The style of its architecture is much inferior to that of Edfu. Thebes — Luxor — Karnak. After describing a great bend below Esneh, and passing the pleasant village and sugar plantations of Erment, the Nile emerges on the plain where are seen 8cattere<l over both banks the still perfect or ruined monuments of mighty Thebes — a world of palaces, of colonnades, temples, and underground buildings. Nowhere else is such a splendid display of religious edifices presented to the view. Yet but a very small portion of Thebes of the ** hundred gates " has been preserved. The four chief groups of ruins still standing enclose a space of not moi*e than five square miles. But in the days when No, the " City," in a pre-eminent sense, better known under the name of Pa- Amen, or '* Abode of Ammon," was the centre of Egj-ptian trade and power, it stretched much farther north along the plains skirting the
 * O. Eberi, " £g}'pt, Descriptive, Uutorical, and Picturesque," ii., p. 826.