ABU KLEA (ABUKLEA WELLS), a' place in the eastern Sudan, west of the Nile, on the desert route from Korti to Metammeh, 23 miles north northwest of the latter and about 120 miles from Khartum. Here a battle was fought 17 Jan. 1885 between a British force of 1,500 under Gen. Sir Herbert Stewart and 12,000 Mandists, of whom 5,000 actually attacked.
Owing to the jamming of a gun, a corner of the British square was broken, the Arabs rushed through, and after a desperate hand-to-hand struggle were driven off. The British lost 18 officers including the giant Col. Fred Burnaby and 150 men. Over 1,200 Arabs were killed.
i'boo-sim'bel, or IPSAM BUL, site of two remarkable Egyptian temples, situated on the left bank of the Nile, in Nubia, south of Assuan, in latitude 22° 22' N. Both these monuments of ancient Egypt were built by Rameses II, 1388-22 }Lc., the smaller one being dedicated to the goddess Hathor while the larger one was dedicated to Ammon of Thebes, Harmachis of Heliopolis and Ptah of Memphis. The fagade of the latter measures
119 feet across and stands over 100 feet in height, before which are four sitting colossi, each over 65 feet in height, each representing the Pharaoh. The interior, divided into two large halls and 12 minor chambers and corridors, is fully 180 feet in depth, and the walls are decorated with some of the finest and best pre served examples of ancient Egyptian mural decorative art. The vast outer hall, 54 by 58 feet, is supported by two rows of square pillars, to each of which is attached a statue of the Pharaoh reaching up to the roof. In front of the smaller temple are six statues, each three feet in height, representing Rameses and his consort. Both temples were discovered by Burckhardt in 1817. In 1912 the great colossi of the temple façade were repaired by filling their cracks with cement.