Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/480

 390 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. search is prosecuted. Hence some hope has been expressed that sooner or later the excavators may light upon the very entrance of the crypt that led to the shrine of the god himself. To the original sanctuary has succeeded » monument which, however posterior to the temple of Osiris, is still none the less one of the most venerable in Egj-pt. This is the so-called Memnonium, here erected by Seti I. thirty-three centuries ago, in order to transmit his glory to future generations, but which his son, Ramses II., turned to far more account to perpetuate the memory of his own exploits. Geographical lists have been sculptured on the basement of this temple of Seti I., and the British Museum possesses a " table of Abydos," a mutilated list of kings from the temple of Ramses II. But a new " table of Abydos," containing the complete list of the seventy-six kings from Menes to Seti, has been brought to light by the researches of Mariette. Below Abydos the older monuments of Egyptian culture have for the most part disappeared. Here nothing is met except towns and villages, which, if not absolutely modern, no longer contain any important remains of ancient times. Git'fjeh or Gcrga, capital of a province, stands on the west side of the stream, which being here abruptly deflected from the opposite side, has eroded the left bank, carrying away half of the town, with its mosques and minarets. A little lower down, Sohag and the industrious town of Akhmui, the ancient Chemno and the Panopolis of the Greeks, face each other on either side of the river. Then follow on the western plain, Tahta and Ahidig, near which is a gorge still visited by pilgrims, who here assemble to worship the sacred serpent as of old. In this part of Upper Egypt the Coptic language survived for some time after it had become extinct elsewhere in the Nile Valley. SlUT. Farther on near the same bank, but more inland, are seen the picturesque out- lines of a large town, which under the slightly modified form of Sint or Assiuf has preserved its ancient name of Saut. This is the Li/copoHs, or " wolf town," of the Greeks, so named because it was dedicated to the god Anubis. Platinus was a native of Siut, which as the capital of all Upper Egj'pt is a place of some trade and industry. Here are made a peculiar kind of black, white, and red earthen- ware, and pipes so highly prized that they are even exported to foreign countries. The bazaar is well stocked with the produce of Dar-F6r and the surrounding oases, which finds an outlet through the neighbouring riverain port of Hamrah. Till recently the Coptic monks of the adjacent village of Zawiet-el-Deir carried on under special privilege the nefarious trade in the mutilation of children, who were afterwards sold as guardians of the Egyptian harems. Other Copts are more worthily employed in the weaving of linen fabrics, which have become one of the specialities of the industries of Upper Egypt.