cultivate the ground. For our part, we will hasten on to where yon pale
gleam of yellow light is pouring between the propylæa and the body of
the temple over the court-yard upon an enormous mountain of rubbish. It
was the moon that had risen--not to enlighten the scene, but to render
it more dim and mysterious, more full of strange shadows and illusions.
On such occasions it is difficult even for the least imaginative to
check a thought of what that pale, thoughtful-looking orb, which has
watched the changing aspects of this scene for so many thousand years,
could tell if it had a tongue! We gazed inquiringly at it; but as it
rose higher and higher, and poured down more light on all objects
around, it seemed to smile at our inquisitiveness, and to bid us turn
less eager glances towards the dust and rubbish of old times, where
perchance we may find a precious stone, perchance a bit of broken
glass--but bend our eyes more steadfastly to the future, the centuries
unborn, the inevitable, though not yet created infinite.

Edfou is situated at a little distance inland on the western bank of the
Nile. As usual, the land in the neighbourhood of the river is high in
comparison with that which is beyond--that is to say, there is a
continual descending slope to the edge of the desert, where at this time
of year there is, as it were, a succession of large ponds,
water-channels, and marshes. It is impossible to reach the desert except
by a long, elevated, tortuous dike, which begins near the town and
terminates near the foot of a spur of the Libyan chain, some three or
four miles distant. By the aid of the telescope we could distinguish in
the niches of the rock a variety of dark spots resembling the entrances
of grottos; and, hearing that others had made the same observation,
though without undertaking the fatigue of a visit, we determined to set
out next morning, and combine a little sporting with antiquity-hunting.