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COAST OF NUBIA. [cm.

nowned Cleopatra, whose beauty enslaved
Marc Anthony; so that it is difficult to de­
termine the exact date of the inscription.
Finding it, however, in juxtaposition with the

fragment of a hieroglyphic tablet, mentioning
a colossal statue, it is not improbable that
both tablets had reference to the statue of the
god to whom the temple was dedicated by
one of the above monarchs. Had our stay
been more lengthened, I should have com­
pleted the excavation of this temple, as well as
of several private houses. Our labours might
possibly have been rewarded by the discovery
of some ancient monument, which, like the
famed Rosetta stone, would have contributed
to throw additional light on the mist-enveloped
literature of ancient Egypt.
The hope of finding the remaining portions
of the Greek tablets induced us to persevere in

our researches until we had entirely excavated
the chamber, but we were not successful. The
walls are covered with hieroglyphics, but the
% soft limestone with which they had been con­

structed has yielded to the effects of time;
and the figures, with the exception of those
given in the plan, are much defaced, and