"And again: how extraordinary the contrast of the serenity and the savageness of the kings! Raineses, with his placid smile, grasping the shrieking captives by the hair, is the frontispiece of every temple; and Ammon, with a smile no less placid, is giving him the falchion to smite them. The whole impression is that gods and men alike belong to an age and world entirely passed away, when men were slow to move, slow to think; but that when they did move or think, their work was done with the force and violence of giants. One emblem there is of true monotheism—a thousand times repeated—always impressive and always beautiful—chiefly on the roof and cornice, like the cherubim in the Holy of Holies—the globe with its widespread wings of azure blue, of the all-embracing sky: 'Under the shadow of Thy wings shall be my refuge.'"

Beyond Ipsambul, the Nile comes floating, not through mountain passes, but through an absolute desert. The second cataract, by stopping the navigation, terminates the explorations of ordinary travellers; nor is there much beyond to tempt inquiry. In the dim distance two isolated mountains mark the route to Dongola, and they are often veiled in the clouds of sand driven upwards by the winds over the wide expanse of the desert.