Kasr Towaga. — Difficulty of crossing the River. — Indolence of the Arabs. — Arab Sheakh. — Temple of Amarah. — Present Inhabitants. — Wady el Hadjar. — Fortified House on an Island at Dahl. — Cataract of Uckma. — Bigotry of the Inhabitants. — Various Cataracts of the Nile. — Mineral Spring at Tangoure. — Temples of Semneh, on the Western Bank. — Curious Manner of crossing the River. — Temple of Semneh, on the Eastern Bank. — Inscriptions on the Rocks. — The Arab Robber Isah. — Second Cataract of the Nile. — Inducements for Travellers to extend their Journey beyond this Point. — Comparison between Voyages in the Desert and at Sea 259 CHAPTER XIX. ON THE HISTORY OF MERGE. Obscurity of her Annals. — Historical Associations necessary to render a Country interesting. — Works of Art historical Documents. — Lapidary Inscriptions. — Amunoph III. — Memnon, King of Ethiopia. — Expedition of Semiramis, Queen of Assyria, into Ethiopia. — Ethiopians in the Army of Shishak marched to Jerusalem. — The Sukkiims of Scripture. — Expedition of Zerah, the Ethiopian King of the Bible, and his Defeat by the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin. — The Ethiopian Dynasty of Kings who reigned over Egypt. — The Testimony of the Historians proved by lapidary Inscriptions. — The Name of Tirhaka, King of Ethiopia, who defeated Sennacherib, King of Assyria, found both on the Monuments of Egypt and Ethiopia. — The Names and Titles of this Dynasty of Kings. — Accordance of the Scriptural, monumental, and historical Evidences. — The Sethos of Herodotus, the Tirhaka of Scripture and of the Monuments. — The Sua, King of Egypt of the Bible, the Sevechus of Manetho, and the Shabatok of the Monuments 284 CHAPTER XX. The Emigration of Egyptian Soldiers at the Time of Psammitichus. — Expedition of Cambyses. — Manners, Customs, &c. of the Macrobians, &c. — Curious Customs of the Ethiopians. — Ergamenes, the Ethiopian King’s, Conquests in Lower Nubia. — Atarraman and Silco, Ethiopian Kings. — Expedition of Petronius. — Queen Candace. — Christianity first introduced into Ethiopia. — Its Duration. — Napata, Capital of Candace. — Blemmyes and the Nubians 306 CHAPTER XXI. ON THE COMMERCE OF MEROE.