New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-03-12

guide. delighted with having dragged ne into
that cbanner. buried deep in the dunb heart of
the mountain said not a word, and from the
awful stiffness of the place and the phantasma-
poric CLEAN of the wonderful figures on the walls,
could have imagined .lysef neophyte, on the
Threshold of the Osirian mysteries.
We rode to the Western Valley, still deeper
and wilder glen, containing tombs of the kings
Of the foreign dynasty of Atin-Re. We entered
the two principal ones, but found the paintings
rnde and insignificant. There are many lateral
passages and chambers aud In some places deep
pits, 'ong the edge OF which we were obliged to
crawl. In the last tomb a very long ard steep
staircase descends into the rock. AS we were
cropping after the guide, | called TO my friend TO
take care, as there was but single step, after
making slip. The words were scarcely out OF
nv mouth before felt tremendous thump, FOL
owed by number Of smaller ones, and iouna
myself sitting in heap of sand, at the bottom.
came off with few slight bruises, but my can
die was completely smashed.
THE MEMNoNIUM AND THE coLossI.
Returning to the temple of Koorneh, we took
path over the plain, through fields OF wheat,
lupins and ientils, to the two colossi, which we
had already seen from distance. These I'M
mense sitting figures, SO feet above the PLAIN,
which has buried their pedestals look over the
site of vanished Thebes and assert the grandeur
of which they and Karnak are the most striking
remains They were erected by Amunoph Ill,
and though the faces are totally disfgured, the
full, round beautiful proportions of the colossal
arms. shoulders and thighs do not belle the mar
veIous sweetness of the features which we still
see IN his tomb Except the head OF Antinous,
know of no ancient portrait so beautiful as
Amunoph The long and luxuriant hair, flowing
in hundred ringlets, the soft grace OF the
forehead, the mild serenity OF the eye, the line,
thin lines of the nostrils and the feminine ten-
demess OF the full lips triumph over the cramped
rigidity of Egyptian sculpture, and charm you
with the lightness and harmony of Greek art
| In locking on that head, | cannot help thinking
that the subject overpowered the artist, and led
him to the threshold of truer art Amunoph,
or Memnon, was poet IN soul, and 1t was
meet that his statue should salute the rising an
with a sound like that of harp string.
Modern research has wholly annihilated this
beautiful fable Memnon now sounds at all
travellers who pay an Arab five piastres to climb
into his lap. We engaged a vender of modern
scarabei, who threw off his garments, hooked
his fingers and toes into the cracks of the pol
ished granite, and soon hailed US with "sala-
mat p' from the knee of the statue. There is
certain stone on Memnon's lap, which, when
sharply struck, gives out a fine metallic ring.
Behind it is small square aperture, invisible
from below, where one Of the priests no doubt
stationed himself TO perform the daily miracle.
Our Arab raped on the arms and body of the
statute which had the usual dead sound OF stone,
and rendered the musical ring of the sun-smit-
ten block more striking. An avenue OF sphlnxes
once led from the colossi to grand temple, the
foundations of which we found about quarter
of mile distant. On the way are the frag
ments of two other colossi one of black granite
The enormous subtructions of the temple
and the pedestals of its columns have been
sufficiently excavated to show what superb
edifce has been lost to the world. crowd
OF troublesome Arabs, thrusting upon our atten-
tention newly baken cinerary urns, newly.roasted
antique wheat, and images OF all kinds fresh
from the makers hand disturbed quiet
examination of the ruins, and in order to escape
their opportunities we rode to the Memnonlum.
This edifce, the temple. palace of Remeses
the Great, is supposed to be the Memnonium
described by Strabo, and still bears the same
name 1t is built on gentle rise of land at the
foot of the mountain, and looks eastward to the
Nile and Luxor The grand stone pylon which
stands at the entrance of lis former avenue of
sphinxes has been half leveled by the fury Of
the Persian conGuerors, and the colossal granite
statue of Remeses, In the first court of the
temple, now lies in enormous fragments around
its pedestal Mere dimensions give no idea OF
this immense mass, the weight of which, when
entire, was nearly nine hundred tuns. How
poor and trifing appear the modern statues
which we call colossal, when measured with
this, one of whose toes is yard IN length, and
how futile the appliances of modern art when
directed to its transportation for distance of
one hundred and fifty miles The architrave at
| each end OF the court was upheld by four cary
atides thirty feet in hight. Though much de
faced, they are still standing, but are dwarfed
by the mighty limbs of Remeses. Ii is difficult
| 10 account for the means by which the colossus
was broken. There are no marks of any instru.
ments which could have forced such a mass
asundeI, and the only plausible conjecture |
have heard is, that the stone must have been
subjected to an intense heat and afterwards to
the action of water. The statue, in its sitting
position must have been nearly sixty feet in
| hight, and is the largest in the world, though
not so high as the rock .hewn monoths of Aboo.
Simbel The Turks and Arabs have cut several
mill.stones out of its head, without any apparent
diminution OF its size.
The Memnonium differs from the other tenn
pies of Egypt IN being almost faultless in its
symmetry, even when measured by the strictest