This destruction of tombs and temples has in Egypt been going on always. Of late years, indeed, there has been an increased demand for building materials, in consequence of some portion of the Khedivé’s numerous loans having been spent in public works, and in giving employment to a great many people who have had to build houses for themselves: the work of destruction, therefore, is now advancing at a greater rate than it ever did before. Many can confirm this from their own observation. Every one who revisits the country sees how rapidly and completely the stones of newly-opened tombs have disappeared. He saw them a few years ago: now he hears that they have been sent to the kiln. CHAPTER XXIX. POST-PHARAOHNIC TEMPLES IN UPPER EGYPT. Cui bono?—CICERO. The Ptolemaic temple of Edfou, unlike those of the Delta, has suffered little from the injuries either of time, or of man. It is substantially, both internally and externally, in the state in which it was two thousand years ago, when the inhabitants of the great city of Apollo passed in procession between its stately propylons, and entered its great court, to hear hymns sung in praise of, and to witness offerings made to, the child Horus, and the Egyptian Venus, or, as she is described in an inscription on the walls, “the Queen of men and of women,” to whom the temple was dedicated. The external walls are complete, so are all the chambers, halls, corridors, and courts within, even to the monolithic granite shrine. The well, too, to which you descend by a flight of steps, is still full of water. I seldom found a temple without its well. Many had lakes also annexed to them for ornament, for the performance of religious ceremonies, as that at Sais for the mysteries of Osiris, or for the boat procession in the funeral function, as at Thebes; or, in addition to these objects, to strengthen the defensive position of the temple. We know that this was a purpose for which the temples were used: in fact, each had its own trained and armed militia: and it is impossible to look upon such a structure as this temple of Edfou without perceiving that the idea of having a stronghold was included by the builder in his original design. The height and massiveness of the surrounding wall were such as to make either battery, or escalade, impossible, and there were no apertures left in it by which entrance could be effected. In fact, the temples gave the priests, and government, in every city an impregnable citadel, and one against which no exception could be taken, however strong it was made, for was it not all done for the glory of the gods of the city? And so the people were tricked into assisting to forge their own chains. Thoughts of this kind arise in your mind as you pass through the courts and galleries, ascend the propylons, and walk upon the roof of this magnificent fortress temple. Some of the sculptures on the walls, representing a royal boat procession on the river, enable us