3-074-812 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Nile between the Cemetery of Assouan and the Island of Philae, 1883. 'The scenery of Upper Egypt...suddenly changes in the approach to Assouan...on the Nubian border...Huge rocks of black granite, or syenite, lie in the bed of the river above Assouan, and in some places on its shores, the aspect of which is more surprising after the monotonous mud-banks of the Lower Nile. The views...are nevertheless, beautiful, as well as striking in effect, from the exquisite contrasts of colour afforded by the yellow sand-hills...and the dark masses of stone which seem to have been carried down there by an inconceivable force of rushing waters in primeval times...Passing through the Arab cemetery, with its multitude of turbaned tombstones, the visitor reaches the famous stone-quarries from which the Pharaohs got nearly all the material for their mighty buildings, at least for the temples and obelisks of Luxor and Karnak. Some of the monoliths, already half-cut, which were intended to be sent down the Nile, and the probable destination of which may be guessed, are still lying there in their native bed of rock. The First Cataract or Rapid of the Nile, and the Sacred Isle of Philae, with its Temple of lsis, are several miles higher up the river'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.