a large temple, of which this excavation was the inner sanctuary. The
pyramids were close by these ruins. I counted seventeen, some of them in
ruins, and others perfect. Those which were uninjured were small, of a
height greater than the breadth of the base, which was generally about
twenty feet square; the sides resembled steep stairs. They were however
compactly and very handsomely constructed of hewn stones, similar to the
rock before mentioned, and probably taken from it. Before some of these
pyramids, and attached to one of their sides, we found low buildings,
resembling small temples, and, judging from the interior of one we found
open, intended as such, as the inside of this one was covered with the
usual hieroglyphics and figures. It would be a work of little difficulty
to open the pyramid to which was attached the little temple I entered,
as the figure of a door of stone in the pyramid is to be seen, when
inside of the temple, attached to its side. In view from this place,
many other pyramids were in view higher up the river, on the opposite
bank, one of them large. The people of the country called the place I
visited, "Meroe" as likewise the whole territory where these ruins
are found. The ruins I have mentioned do not appear ever to have been
disturbed. I doubt not that several remains worth research lie concealed
under the rubbish, which here covers a great space of ground. No other
remains of antiquity are visible in this place besides those I have
mentioned. The immediate spot where they stand, and its vicinity
backward from the river, is covered by the sand of the Desert,
underneath which probably many more lie concealed.

The river Nile has been represented, and I think with justice, as one
of the wonders of the world. I do not consider it as meriting this
appellation so much on account of its periodical and regular floods, in
which respect it is resembled by several other rivers, as on account
of another circumstance, in which, so far as I know, it is without a