"Chapter VIII: Thebes and Karnak." by Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards (1831-1892)
Publication: Edwards, Amelia B. A Thousand Miles Up The Nile. London: George Routledge and Sons, Limited, 1891. pp. 133-154.
COMING on deck the third morning after leaving Denderah, we found the dahabeeyah decorated with palm-branches, our sailors in their holiday turbans, and Reïs Hassan en grande tenue ; that is to say in shoes and stockings, which he only wore on very great occasions.
"Nehârak-sa'ïd – good morning – Luxor!" said he, all in one breath.
It was a hot, hazy morning, with dim ghosts of mountains glowing through the mist, and a warm wind blowing.
We ran to the side ; looked out eagerly ; but could see nothing. Still the captain smiled and nodded ; and the sailors ran hither and thither, sweeping and garnishing ; and Egendi, to whom his worst enemy could not have imputed the charge of bashfulness, said "Luxor – kharûf 1 – all right!" every time he came near us.
We had read and dreamed so much about Thebes, and it had always seemed so far away, that but for this delicate allusion to the promised sheep, we could hardly have believed we were really drawing nigh unto those famous shores. About ten, however, the mist was lifted away like a curtain, and we saw to the left a rich plain studded with palm-groves ; to the right a broad margin of cultivated lands bounded by a bold range of limestone mountains ; and on the farthest horizon another range, all grey and shadowy.
"Karnak – Gournah – Luxor!" says Reïs Hassan triumphantly, pointing in every direction at once. Talhamy tries to show us Medinet Habu and the Memnonium. The Painter vows he can see the heads of the sitting Colossi and the entrance to the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings.
We, meanwhile, stare bewildered, incredulous ; seeing none of these things ; finding it difficult, indeed, to believe that any one else sees them. The river widens away before us ; the flats are green on either side ; the mountains are pierced with terraces of rock-cut tombs ; while far away inland, apparently on the verge of the desert, we see here a clump of sycamores – yonder a dark hillock – midway between both a confused heap of something that may be either fallen rock or fallen masonry ; but nothing that looks like a Temple, nothing to indicate that we are already within recognisable distance of the grandest ruins in the world.
Presently, however, as the boat goes on, a massive, windowless structure which looks (Heaven preserve us!) just like a brand-new fort or prison, towers up above the palm-groves to the left. This, we are told, is one of the propylons of Karnak ; while a few whitewashed huts and a little crowd of masts now coming into sight a mile or so higher up, mark the position of Luxor. Then up capers Egendi with his never-failing "Luxor – kharûf – all right!" to fetch down the tar and darabukkeh. The captain claps his hands. A circle is formed on the lower deck. The men, all smiles, strike up their liveliest chorus, and so, with barbaric music and well-filled sails, and flags flying, and green boughs waving overhead, we make our triumphal entry into Luxor.
The top of another pylon ; the slender peak of an obelisk ; a colonnade of giant pillars half-buried in the soil ; the white houses of the English, American, and Prussian Consuls, each with its flagstaff and ensign ; a steep slope of sandy shore ; a background of mud walls and pigeon-towers ; a foreground of native boats and gaily-painted dahabeeyahs lying at anchor – such, as we sweep by, is our first panoramic view of this famous village. A group of turbaned officials sitting in the shade of an arched doorway rise and salute us as we pass. The assembled dahabeeyahs dozing with folded sails, like sea-birds asleep, are roused to spasmodic activity. Flags are lowered ; guns are fired ; all Luxor is startled from its midday siesta. Then, before the smoke has had time to clear off, up comes the Bagstones in gallant form ; whereupon the dahabeeyahs blaze away again as before.
COLONNADE OF HOREMHEB, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BRUGSCH-BEY.
And now