d to kill them; but whatever he is doing, he is always gigantic,
while his foes are mere helpless human beings. All these carvings are
brilliantly painted, and the whole front of the building glows with
colour; it is really a kind of pictorial history of the King's reign.

Now we stand in front of the gate. Its two leaves are made of cedar-wood
brought from Lebanon; but you cannot see the wood at all, for it is
overlaid with plates of silver chased with beautiful designs. Passing
through the gateway, we find ourselves in a broad open court. All round
it runs a kind of cloister, whose roof is supported upon tall pillars,
their capitals carved to represent the curving leaves of the palm-tree.
In the middle of the court there stands a tall pillar of stone,
inscribed with the story of the great deeds of Pharaoh, and his gifts to
the god of the temple. It is inlaid with turquoise, malachite, and
lapis-lazuli, and sparkles with precious stones.

At the farther side of this court, another pair of towers and another
gateway lead you into the second court. Here we pass at once out of
brilliant sunlight into semi-darkness; for this court is entirely roofed
over, and no light enters it except from the doorway and from grated
slits in the roof. Look around you, and you will see the biggest single
chamber that was ever built by the hands of man. Down the centre run two
lines of gigantic pillars which hold up the roof, and form the nave of
the hall; and beyond these on either side are the aisles, whose roofs
are supported by a perfect forest of smaller columns.

Look up to the twelve great pillars of the nave. They soar above your
head, seventy feet into the air, their capitals bending outwards in the
shape of open flowers. On each capital a hundred men could stand safely;
and the great stone roofing beams that stretch from pillar to pillar
weigh a hundred tons apiece. How were they ever brought to the place?
And, still more, how were they ever swung up to that dizzy height, and
laid in their places? Each of the great columns is sculptured with
figures and gaily painted, and the surrounding walls of the hall are all
decorated in the same way. But when you look at the pictures, you find
that it is no longer the wars of the King that are represented. The
inside of the temple is too holy for such things. Instead, you have
pictures of the gods, and of the King making all kinds of offerings to
them; and these pictures are repeated again