WE left Lakéta at dawn the next day. Being on higher ground and so much further in the desert, we felt the cold more than on the previous morning, and it was hard to realise that we should be seeking a shady spot for our luncheon1 at midday. We trotted3 our camels faster than previously4, as if in a hurry to get nearer the luminous5 red disk which was peering over the distant hills.
The desert so far was hard surfaced, and not the sandy waste one is given to expect. When I attempted to make Laura go at more than a fast trot2, I soon looked anxiously about for soft places below, and I was lucky in having kept my seat till she caught up with the rest of the party, when she as usual took her pace from that of the leader.
We passed nothing of exceptional interest during the first ten miles. The valley we followed would widen out to a mile or more, and sometimes contract to a few hundred feet. The rows of camel tracks, marked here and there by the skeleton of one which had fallen on the way, showed that this was still an important highway. I counted over twenty of these skeletons during one hour’s ride. Some may have been bleaching7 there222 for many years, but a few were of sufficiently8 recent date to make it advisable to keep on the windward side of them. The hackneyed camel ribs9 in the foregrounds of pictures of desert incidents are not the stage property I used to think they might be.
The Kasr el-Benat, or ‘the Castle of the Maidens,’ was the first object of real arch?ological interest we reached. It is a Roman station known formerly10 as the Hydreuma, and is still in a very fair state of preservation11. No new builders have been at work near here since, to use it as a quarry12 with ready-cut stones; and Time in the desert deals gently with the structures of bygone ages. Roman soldiers in charge of gangs of quarrymen have used the little vaulted13 chambers14 within the large rectangular enclosing wall.
A huge rock close by was covered with inscriptions15 and rude drawings, dating from the early dynasties to the times when Arab traders began to use this highway to the coast. Drawings and photographs were duly taken of these records; and during most of that day we zigzagged16 across the valley to wherever a smooth rock surface showed any likelihood of inscriptions being found. We were seldom disappointed, and on one rock in particular our interest was particularly excited, for the graffiti here threw some light on the much vexed17 question as to the age of Akhnaton when he first came to the throne. I have described elsewhere our excitement at Thebes when, during the previous season, the royal tomb of Queen Thiy was discovered; how, after the body had been bereft18 of its royal casing, the arch?ological world was startled to find that the body was that of a young man.
223 Since then Weigall has made out a strong case in favour of the mummy being that of the heretic Queen’s son, Ammonhotep IV. (vide the October number of Blackwood’s Magazine for 1907). This same Ammonhotep, when secure of his throne, at the instigation of his mother, proclaimed the worship of Aton—the one supreme19 God whose earthly manifestation20 was the sun’s disk—and, so as to sever21 every tie with the worship of Ammon and the lesser22 divinities of that pantheism, the young Pharaoh changed his name from Ammonhotep to Akhnaton, i.e. the Beloved of Aton.
The weak point in Weigall’s contention23 was the youth of the mummy, which Dr. Elliot Smith declared could not have exceeded some five-and-twenty years of age, and it was doubtful whether he could have inaugurated and carried out a great religious revolution had he died at so early an age.
The three cartouches on this rock face are: one of Queen Thiy, one of her son as Ammonhotep IV., and one of the same prince under the name of Akhnaton. The symbols of royalty24 are placed beneath each cartouche, while the rays of the sun’s disk embrace the three from above. This clearly proves that the Pharaoh was still a child when he came to the throne, and that his mother ruled in fact if not in name, otherwise the royal cartouches would not have been united as here they are; and it also proves that the worship of Aton had begun while the prince was still under the tutelage of his mother.
As the images of Ammon and the lesser divinities were destroyed during the youth of Akhnaton, so did224 the priests of Ammon, when the old religion was restored, deface the inscriptions relating to the newer creed25. The cartouches here of both Thiy and Akhnaton were partly erased26; but the rays, terminating in hands, from the disk above were left intact as if the workmen, sent to obliterate27 the ‘marks of the beast,’ feared to desecrate28 the divine symbol. Thus after three and a half millenniums this rock gives an echo of the religious movement which caused the fall of the eighteenth dynasty.
I have so far encroached on a subject fully29 treated by Weigall because I had devoted30 a chapter to it in Below the Cataracts31 and sent this into print before the subject had been so fully thrashed out, and while speculation32 was rife33 as to whom to ascribe the mummy found in the royal sarcophagus of the great Queen Thiy.
Shortly after losing sight of the tell-tale rock and the Roman Hydreuma, our path lay through a narrowing valley which contracted to a pass between imposing34 masses of granite35, now known as el-Mutrak es-Salam. It was an awe-inspiring pass. These gigantic and shiny black rocks which rose up on each side of us, deprived as they were of every vestige36 of growth, seemed hardly terrestrial, and suggested some landscape in the moon. There was no difficulty in finding a shady place for our midday meal and rest; but I was glad when we moved on, for there was something as oppressive in the aspect of the pass as there was in the atmosphere. More graffiti were found and duly photographed; but wishing to get into a more open country I pushed on ahead. I was safe not to lose my225 way as long as I followed the tracks of previous caravans38, which were plainly visible. After a couple of hours of this pass the black shiny rocks became hateful to me, and when I emerged into a wide valley again my spirits rose rapidly.
Ranges of sandstone rock were to the right and left of me, and though not as beautiful in form as the limestone39 cliffs of Der el-Bahri, they were congenial in colour, and set off the intense blue of the distant mountains.
My solitary40 ride had to come to an end when the road branched off on two sides of a range of hills on both of which were camel tracks, though not in equal quantities. There is no risking a wrong route in a wilderness41 such as this, so I chose a shady place, and felt proud when I induced my camel to go down on its knees. I tied up its foreleg in the approved fashion to stop its running away in case I might fall asleep. My companions might easily fail to see me, but they would be sure to catch sight of the camel.
I tried to analyse the charm of the desert, the ‘Call of the Desert,’ as Hichens aptly names it; for while I rested here its inexplicable42 charm pervaded43 my whole being. I am fond of my fellow-creatures and am in no wise cut out for the life of a hermit44; besides, many lonely places exist far removed from desert wastes where solitude45 can still be enjoyed. It was not, therefore, the feeling of solitude that could alone explain the desert’s attraction, now that I had left behind me the oppressive blackness of the Mutrak es-Salam pass. A drowsiness46 soon began to displace my futile47 analysis,226 when a slight tickling48 of my ankle prevented me from felling asleep. My presence was being resented by a colony of ants whose operations I was impeding49. I had to shift my position, and there being room enough for them as well as for myself in this vast desert, I returned those, which were exploring my leg, to their companions.
We were some fifty miles from any cultivation50, except the little oasis51 where we had last camped, so what on earth could have induced these ants to choose this spot? The inexplicable charm of the desert would soon fizzle out were we cut off from water and provisions; and where could these ants have found either? I followed the trails, which started from the nest, to discover what means of subsistence they had, and found that some camel’s dung, buried beneath the sand-drift, was the ‘call’ which had attracted them so far.
Hardly an hour had passed since we left the Nile valley but we had seen some animal life. Birds follow the camel tracks and flies and beetles52 infest53 the Mabwala, or stations, where the caravans rest. These are often in the only shady places, and they often obliged us to take our midday meals in the blazing sun; for we could hardly add a tent to the load which was carried on Selim’s longsuffering camel. We had seen two butterflies that very morning, and accounted for them as having been carried here by the prevailing54 wind. A poor look-out for them, for the desert reaches to the Red Sea coast. The ants puzzled me, for I saw no signs of any organic matter when I chose my resting-place.
227 Meditations55 in this climate soon end in sleep, and I became unconscious of my surroundings till I heard my name being shouted. I looked up, and behold56, my camel was gone, and following the track in the loose sand I saw Laura hobbling on three legs, about half a mile away, and making for the guide who rode the leading camel; my companions in the meanwhile were zigzagging57 across the valley to find me. When I caught the beast up and satisfied my friends that I was not lost, I made Laura go down on her knees to allow me to mount, and now all the cussedness of her camel nature showed itself. I had to undo58 the end of the halter which tied the foreleg into its bent59 position and also keep at a safe distance from Laura’s teeth. The instant I got it undone60, up she would jump before I had a chance of getting my seat. She did this several times, till I was obliged to hang on to her as best I could and climb into my saddle while she moved off.
Canon Tristram says: ‘The camel is by no means an amiable61 animal, and its owner never seems to form any attachment62 to his beast, nor the animal to reciprocate63 kindness in any degree. I never found one camel valued above his fellow for intelligence or affection. A traveller always makes a friend of his horse, most certainly of his ass6, sometimes of his mule64, but never of his camel. I have made a journey in Africa for three months with the same camels, but never succeeded in eliciting65 the slightest token of recognition from one of them, or a friendly disposition66 for kindness shown.’ Canon Tristram never wrote truer words. Laura was a beast! I would do my best228 to get something for her to feed on, other than on her hump, when we should reach Kosseir; but no corner of my eye would moisten when Laura and I should part company.
When we got to a further reach in the valley, we were surprised to see some gazelle. This was more surprising than the ants, for surely gazelle could find neither fodder67 nor water here. That the poor creatures had been frightened further and further away from the cultivation was probable, but until they returned there nothing but a long fast awaited them; if they were making for the coast, nothing to feed on awaited them there. We were near enough to have shot some with a rifle, but I am glad to say that none of us had a rifle; we had even packed up our revolvers with the baggage. We regretted the latter for a moment the next day, but of this anon.
We reached a second Roman station as the shadows were lengthening68; it was considerably69 smaller than the Hydreuma of the morning, and was also in a worse state of repair. We heeded70 it little beyond using one of the walls for our backs while Selim brewed71 us some tea. The guide climbed one of the hills to see if there was any sign of the baggage, and on his reporting that none was visible, we could take the next ten or twelve miles to B?r Hammamat at our ease. The colour of the landscape took extraordinary combinations as the sun declined, and as we again approached the blackish hills which contracted the caravan37 route.
The lower-lying sandstone hills turned a greyish violet, except where a roseate light caught their summits,229 and purple black hung about the base of the Hammamat mountains. The altitude of the latter being considerably more than any we had so far seen, the heights still reflected the light from the setting sun—a flame-colour split up in violet patches of shade. It was wonderful, but was it beautiful? Where strange combinations of colour and form are first seen, this question is often difficult to answer. We watched the dark shades rise and spread over these mountains till they told black against an ash-grey sky. The Rehenu Valley of the Egyptians was a spooky place to enter. Our path wound through great masses of breccia rock, and it contracted in places so that we could hardly ride abreast72. The darkness increased till the camels of my companions were lost in the gloom, and the white helmets rising and falling with the motion of the beasts were soon all that I could see of our party.
Our track becoming quite invisible, there was just a chance that our Ababdi guide might take a wrong turning, and if once well out of the beaten road, in a wilderness such as this, it is doubtful whether we could find our way before our water-supply gave out.
The longed-for moon showed herself at last, and by her light we pursued our way to the well where we had settled to camp for the night. The valley opens up here to a considerable width, and the well, known as B?r Hammamat, is a conspicuous73 object in the centre. There was nothing now to do but to wait for our baggage camels, and to keep ourselves as warm as we could.
Our guide rode back to reconnoitre, and when we230 could distinguish an answer to his calls, other than the echo, we were filled with a sense of relief.
Lakéta is only thirty miles from B?r Hammamat, but with our crossing and recrossing the valleys in search of graffiti we must have ridden half again as far. Dinner and sleep, and an easy day to follow, were pleasant things to contemplate74.
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1
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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4
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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bleaching
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| 漂白法，漂白 | |
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8
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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10
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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12
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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15
inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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16
zigzagged
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| adj.呈之字形移动的v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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18
bereft
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| adj.被剥夺的 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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24
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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26
erased
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| v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除 | |
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27
obliterate
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| v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去 | |
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28
desecrate
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| v.供俗用，亵渎，污辱 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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31
cataracts
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| n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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caravans
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| （可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队） | |
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39
limestone
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| n.石灰石 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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41
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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42
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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43
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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45
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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46
drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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47
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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48
tickling
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| 反馈，回授，自旋挠痒法 | |
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49
impeding
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| a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的 | |
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50
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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51
oasis
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| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方 | |
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52
beetles
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| n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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53
infest
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| v.大批出没于；侵扰；寄生于 | |
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54
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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56
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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zigzagging
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| v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的现在分词 )；盘陀 | |
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58
undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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59
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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reciprocate
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| v.往复运动；互换；回报，酬答 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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eliciting
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| n. 诱发, 引出 动词elicit的现在分词形式 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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68
lengthening
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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heeded
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
brewed
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| 调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡） | |
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abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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