Hence our way led in the neighbourhood of the hot sulphur springs of Okmeh, whither I diverged from the caravan with Abeken. The road led us from the Shôna where we parted, along the craggy shore for above an hour, to a square tower, which has been erected over the fountain, and called Hammân Seïdna Solimân, after the architect. The tower, which is nine feet thick, and has an inward diameter of four feet, is now half full of sand and earth; the water rushes out of the east side of the tower to the thickness of your wrist, and on the other side sixteen little springs rise out of the sand within the space of a square foot; and here, where the water is at the hottest, it has not quite 44° Réaumur. The taste is sulphurous, and a white deposit lies all round the fountain on the ground. Every year the river rises above the spring, and indeed, above the tower, which stands at half the elevation of the shore. The water mirror had now risen to the height of a man, and had not yet reached the fountain. A rude hole is dug in the rubbish for the invalids that come hither, and is covered with rushes to keep off the steam. Somewhat further down the river, another streamlet comes out, which retains 40° of warmth at its mouth in the open air. The legend goes, that Okáshe, a friend of the prophet, was killed in a campaign to the south; his body swam up hither and then disappeared in the rocks on the opposite shore. His grave is still pointed out there at some distance from the river; a tree marking the spot. On the 17th of July we encamped near the temple of Semneh. The village only consists of a few straw huts,[91] shaded by some date-trees; yet the many fragments in the district show that there was once a much more considerable place here. The temple is surrounded by mighty ancient works of defence, the building of which goes as far back as the Old Empire, under Sesurtesen III., a king of the twelfth dynasty.[92] It seems that this king first extended the bounds of the Egyptian empire to this place; indeed, he is found at a later period worshipped as a local divinity. The temple, built by Tuthmosis III., in the New Empire, is dedicated to him and the god Tetûn conjointly. On the right shore too, near the village of Kummeh, old fortifications are found, and within them a still larger temple, already commenced by Tuthmosis II.