"It strikes me," said the Scot, "that you had better leave off there. You will soon land yourself in the maze if you go on to treat of the causes of Pelasgian migration, of Phoenician settlements in the north and west, of the influences of Egyptian learning on Athens and Abraham, for I suppose the Pharaoh whom Abraham visited was one of the kings of the Delta."

Thus warned, the Antiquary stopped, reserving some remarks on the worship of Amen till they should be at Karnac.

At length the Collector appeared, but his face did not wear that expression of quiet satisfaction which betrayed a good find. Still hope remained, for a Copt, who had passed us a few minutes before and gone on along the road, was, it seemed, the owner, or an emissary of the owner, of something "very wonderful," and only waited to get safe out of the town in order to show the treasures he had for sale. So we mounted and rode on.

We shortly overtook the Copt, and the Collector waited behind with him. They conversed mysteriously side by side for a long way, and when the baggage came up we sent it on, and lingered ourselves by the way. In the far distance behind us we saw the Collector dismount and sit down under a hillock with his companion. We were not unwilling to delay. The donkeys, which had kept up so bravely until now, began to exhibit plain signs of fatigue. Why they should do so now, after two

comparatively easy days, we could not understand. Even William showed his unquenchable vivacity only by insisting on constantly creeping out of the road to one side, and it took a whole drove of the most attractive asses to extract from him more than a pointing of the ears and a long-drawn sigh. We did not know, till the end of the journey the next day, what was the cause of this unwonted conduct. Then we discovered, to our vexation, that owing to the neglect of the donkey-boys, or to some cause beyond their control, the poor brutes had, one after the other, acquired galled withers; and it was a shocking blister on one side that made our poor William try to escape from his sufferings by going to the other.

Presently our friend overtook us. His face still wore an air of disappointment. The Copt either would not, or could not, show anything except a few beads and a little silver amulet of no value. "He had nothing about him either," added the Collector, wearily, "for I insisted on patting him all over."

We soon reached Goos, or Coos: and there, having passed through a large but most desolate-looking town, found our camp in a lovely grove of palms, on clean, green grass; the table ready, and the appetising fumes of a splendid dinner already scenting the gale. But hot water was first the order of the day. With a portion thereof we had each a bath, and the residue made us a cup of tea.

Already we knew by certain clear indications that we were approaching Luxor. One of these was the increased price of the few anteekas we were offered for sale, and another the constant presence, in every string of beads, of the forged scarabs which I have already described.1 One Arab, or perhaps Turk, for he affected European clothes, brought an immense supply, several hundreds at least, and all of them forgeries. We drove him away with such open marks of ignominy that we were not much troubled during the rest of the evening with what the owners themselves knew to be false. I remember very little after half-past eight, but awaking some hours later saw the Collector still examining a store of curiosities and two turbaned natives drinking coffee and watching his expression with keen eyes. The effect was Rembrandtesque in the extreme"Nicodemus," or "Robbers dividing their spoils," -wonderful chiaroscuro,-but, nothing puts one to sleep like staring at a candle.

1 See p. 146.

Shenhoor-A Martyr's Grave-A Mirage-A Sandstorm-The View of Karnac-The Dedication of the Temple-Amen, Lord of Poont -Hymn to Amen-Ra-Karnac, a Christian Church-The Obelisks of Hatasoo-The Ride ended.

WE had not ridden many miles from Goos before we entered the great circle of mountains which is round about Thebes. Towards eleven o'clock we reached a canal which seems to mark the corner at which the river turns for its great bend past Keneh. Northward of this point it runs towards the west

southward, its course is almost directly north. The passage of the canal was found impossible till we came down to the shore of the Nile, and even there, though the mouth is very shallow to retain the water after the inundation, the banks are so high that we had to get off our donkeys and lead them over.

of

We now steered for Shenhoor, where the tall minaret has been aptly compared to an Irish round tower. These towers are common on the mosques the upper country, but this one, being the only tall building in the neighbourhood, is very conspicuous. It lies three miles or more from the Nile, and is little visited by travellers, who in their upward voyage are in a hurry to see Karnac, and on their return are generally sick of temples. But the little temple of Shenhoor, the "abode of Horus," is worth a visit. It is a mere miniature building, but wonderfully perfect. It is not easy to understand how it escaped the Christian iconoclasts of the fourth century, for a Christian church, of which few remnants are now visible, stood just in front. The Collector suggested that it was because its precincts had been used as a burial-place by the Christians, a theory borne out by his discovery on the south wall of a little circular wreath of laurel, which in his opinion marked the grave of a martyr.

From the roof of the little temple, which bears in many places the oval of Tiberius, we caught our first sight of the great pylons of Karnac. They were