And then the whole temple would resound with the clashing of music, and the glory of the god of Thebes was celebrated in the depths of the forbidden halls.
***** Like a cloud, like a veil, the continual red-coloured dust floats everywhere above the ruins, and, athwart it, here and there, the sun traces long, white beams, But at one point of the avenue, behind the obelisks, it seems to rise in clouds, this dust of Egypt, as if it were smoke.

For the workers of bronze are assembled there to-day and, hour by hour, without ceasing, they dig in the sacred soil.

Ridiculously small and almost negligible by the side of the great monoliths they dig and dig.

Patiently they clear the ruins, and the earth goes away in little parcels in rows of baskets carried by children in the form of a chain.
The periodical deposits of the Nile, and the sand carried by the wind of the desert, had raised the soil by about six yards since the time when Thebes ceased to live.

But now men are endeavouring to restore the ancient level.