f 
 
 
TRAVELS 
 
 EGYPT, 
 
 BEING A CONTINUATION OF THE 
 
 ZvaUl: in tftt f^olg Hantr, 
 
 In 1817—18. 
 
 BY COUNT DE FOP.T^IN. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 '■ ^ PRINTED FOR SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS and Co. 
 
 BRIDE COURT, BRIDGE STREET J AND TO BE HAD CF ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall. 
 
BENJAMIN BENSLEY, PRINTEll, 
 Bolt-court, Fket-street. 
 
TRAVELS 
 
 IN 
 
 EGYPT, 
 
 In 1817—18. 
 
 IN our route across the Desert from el-Arych to Damietta, 
 we found only one Oasis, that of Romaic, on the evening 
 of the fourth day. It is a cluster of palm-trees concealed in a 
 valley of sand. In this solitary spot were a few cabins made 
 of the branches of the date-tree — and here we saw certain 
 Bedouins of a darker complexion than any I had met with 
 in these districts, who were not backward in the benevolent 
 offices of hospitality. We thanked them, and pursued our 
 route, encouraged with the expectation of reaching the sea- 
 shore about evening. I was informed that the fishermen's 
 boats, on leaving the lake Menzaleh, frequently touch on the 
 coast of Pelusium, where we arrived about ten at night. 
 
 Our drogoman, Abou Doaud, had worked up his imagina- 
 tion that he calculated on indulging in a repose the next 
 morning, but it turned out otherwise ; we could not on our 
 dromedaries cross the canal which here communicates with 
 the sea, the tide being against us rendered it impracticable, 
 and we were obliged to sleep on the shore. Ibrahim d'el- 
 Arych turned back to the Oasis, which we had left at some 
 distance, in quest of an Arab ^vho was better acquainted 
 with this labyrinth of canals than our guides, who con- 
 ceived the attempt to be too hazardous and difficult. We 
 could trace their discordant sentiments distinctly enough to 
 perceive that they did not confide in their own judgment, 
 and that we had insuperable obstacles to contend with. It 
 was at length agreed to defer the progress of crossing till the 
 morning. 
 
 The dawn of day brought with it our camel-driver, and 
 with him came a Bedouin whose physiognomy seemed to pre- 
 sage the inconveniencies we should have to encounter. The 
 sea had become very tempestuous from the violence of the 
 north wind. Behind us, to the right appeared the extent of 
 the Great Desert; on the left, canals and marshes overrun 
 ' VoYAiGEs and Travels; No. 1,F(jL J/. B 
 
2 Traveb m Egypt. 
 
 with reeds of enormous size, afforded a glimpse of the ruiiis 
 of Pelugium. Thousands of storks (Ibis) of a dazzling- white- 
 ness, collected together, lined all the sides of those monuments, 
 whose majestic figure, for the first time, particularly drew 
 my attention. Immense flocks of aquatic birds met our view, 
 as objects starting up out of this marshy plain. A terrible 
 hurricane had lately torn up the surface of this waste ; tor- 
 nados of sand, carried thither from the shore of Suez, filled 
 up many of the marshes and canals. The columns of Pelusium 
 and the ruins of Farama which inclose the ashes of Pompey, 
 were then almost entirely covered with it. 
 
 The Bedouin, whose perplexity of mind was equal to ours, 
 made an attempt to cross the canal, but after some fruitless 
 efforts, he was obliged to save himself by swimming, and the 
 camel-drivers insisted we should not be able to accomplish 
 the passage. 
 
 The Arab of Romal6 contended that the waters would fall 
 towards sun-set; but he entertained doubts whether, when we 
 had cleared a number of the canals, we should ever find any 
 way of embarking on the lake Menzaleh. He imposed upon 
 us ; and took care to pay himself too well for any of his re- 
 flections and suggestions arising out of the subject, though 
 treated on ever so slightly. The night came upon us, without 
 producing any change in our position, which was beginning- 
 to grow critical : the darkness only engendered gloomy im- 
 pressions. We kindled fires around our encampment, in 
 order to protect us from the ounces and the jackalls which 
 swarm along the banks and shores. In the morning, the 
 sea growing calm, we ventured to force a passage. The 
 largest camels were half immersed in water, and the poor 
 creatures, stunned by the noise and splashing of the waves, 
 were frequently on the point of throwing us into the sea 
 together with our baggage. 
 
 In this way the caravan traversed, with more or less diffi- 
 culty, a number of deep and miry marshes. An Arab walked 
 on before, sounding the fords with the wooden end of his 
 lance, thus serving as a guide; sometimes sinking in the mud, 
 he would press forward or occasionally step backwards : we 
 followed him as well as we could. 
 
 One man only was overset by his dromedaiy ; he was, how- 
 ever, an expert swimmer, and reached the shore without acci- 
 dent. These painful toils ended, we arrived at the place 
 where the fishermen have a sort of barracks in an advanced 
 post, but, on looking around us, we perceived that it was de- 
 serted. In want of every thing, and fatigued both in body 
 jwid mind, we felt ourselves overwhelmed with lassitude while 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 3 
 
 the ears of Abou Doaud were assailed with clamourous com- 
 plaints and lamentations. The Arabs did not readily under- 
 stand this, and I could only draw from them some vague and 
 incoherent expressions. 
 
 The caravan had exhausted the stock of provisions, and the 
 guides were importunate for leave to de-i>art, unless the rest 
 would agree to travel with them through the Desert, It was 
 not in our power to detain men in the service of the aga of 
 Jaffa, who could no longer be of use to us, and whose supply 
 of water was beginning to fail. Another Bedouin had joined 
 company with our guide, and both w^ere speculating on our 
 situation which they knew how to turn to account. They 
 proposed setting out in search of a boat ; we agreed to give 
 them a hundred piastres, if they would bring back with them 
 even the slightest canoe. They talked of an establishment of 
 fishermen, distant about four or five leagues, and we were 
 still eighty miles from Damietta, and about one league from 
 Pelusium. It Avas likewise decided that the caravan should 
 return to the Oasis of Romaic, and there wait for the captain 
 of the camel-drivers, who would also stay till the return of 
 the Bedouins. My servant John, and M. Linant, a young 
 cadet of the navy, who had left the Cleopatra to join company 
 with M. Prevost, determined to set out with the Arabs; they 
 were not daunted by the difficulties of an excursion whose 
 appearances were not vei-y promising. All four were cheer- 
 fully adjusting themselves for swimming, and we had to re- 
 main, encumbered with our baggage, in an island bare of all 
 wood and shelter. This part of the coast, frequently inun- 
 dated, is the lowest country in Egypt, and is intersected with 
 several small islands, some of which are wholly covered with 
 a stagnant and mephitic water. 
 
 At the distance of about three leagues on the banks of the 
 .ake, we found the ruins of a fort named Tyneh, erected by 
 the French during their expedition in Egypt, to oppose the 
 disembarkation of the English, and prevent them from ad- 
 vancing to Damietta. 
 
 I was now anxiously revolving the means of accomplishing 
 our retreat, and the more so on account of its difficulty, espe- 
 cially to M. Prevost, who worn down with toilsome travels in 
 the I)esert,never could have sustained the fatigue of swimming 
 the distance that separated us from Terra Firma. The most 
 feasible project, should the track of our Bedouins and com- 
 panions prove a wrong one, appeared to be to leave the bag- 
 gage and to proceed in the direction of the Oasis of Romaic, 
 where we could have hired Bedouins to convey letters for M. 
 Vasili Pack re, the French •onsul at Damietta, who would 
 
4 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 furnish us with a boat and guides. Soon after the depaf- 
 ture of our men, we perceived in the horizon a small vessel 
 that seemed to be steering towards us ; this cheering sight, 
 however, was of short duration ; it escaped our notice rather 
 too suddenly, as the boat did not approach sufficiently near, 
 but passed rapidly by. 
 
 Towards evening, M. Linant and my sen'ant returned, but 
 excessively fatigued and naked, and their feet torn with thorns, 
 having left the Bedouins in an island three leagues distant. 
 Their frequently plunging into marshy spots gave no great 
 promise of success, and the perplexity they experienced aug- 
 mented to a suspicion of treason, when they discovered a dead 
 body forsaken on the strand. Henceforth we little depended 
 on any chance of success to be derived fifom the Arabs. 
 
 We now were in view of a third Bedouin, completely naked, 
 meagre, and a truly wretched inhabitant of the Desert. We 
 discovered him on the other side of some rushes, whence he 
 surveyed us with eager attention. We called to him and he 
 readily came, squatting himself down before our lire. Night was 
 coming on; Abou Doaud, in a fit of melancholy, not knowing 
 whether to commit his soul to Jesus Christ or Mahomet, pro- 
 posed going to our new host in search of the boat, and I swore 
 by my own head, that he should be well rewarded. He set 
 out for the night, but would not pledge himself for a success- 
 ful attempt. We supped on three fishes brought by the Be- 
 douin ; our meagre repast we took over a veiy small fire, and, 
 wrapping ourselves up in our cloaks, anxious solicitude pelded 
 to the superior influence of sleep. 
 
 Just as the twilight ^^as dawning, the chief of the camel- 
 drivers, who broke in on our repose, came shouting to us with 
 all his might. Sultan, Sultan, a boat ! a boat ! and in fact we 
 saw with inexpressible joy, in the offing, a spot, •u''hich, a few 
 hours afterwards, bore the appearance of a sail approaching 
 towards us. 
 
 In reality it was one, though it reached us with some diffi- 
 culty, the wind being contrary. It was about three hours after 
 noon when it arrived, bringing back our three Arabs. The 
 bark was large and filthy, but in other respects, was both 
 handsome and commodious, and was managed by a few Arab 
 fishermen. 
 
 For thirty-six hours we had been without water, but we 
 found in the vessel a large pitcher full of water from the Nile. 
 This pure and cooling beverage, that seemed delicious to us, 
 made us forget our privations. While I was paying the Be- 
 douins, the sight of the money acted as a stimulus on our 
 boatmen, and produced an effect we had anticipated. They 
 
Tn 1817 and 1818. S 
 
 insisted on being paid in advance, and their chief, starting 
 fresh difficulties, grew more insolent and outrageous when he 
 saw the goods safely on board. 
 
 For three hours we vvere trifled with by the disgusting cu- 
 pidity and bad faith of these wretches, who were desirous of 
 taking all advantages from the difficulties of our situation. At 
 length I plunged into the bark with a drawn sabre in my hand, 
 and seizing the Rays by the beard, I threatened him with death, 
 if he Avould not instantly set sail ; this brought all our company 
 on the deck. The few words I ejaculated had their full effect; 
 no one made any answer. The chief's son threw himself at 
 my feet ; every thing we desired was acceded to, and in five 
 minutes our departure was adjusted. 
 
 Ten times in an hour our vessel was aground ; eveiy minute 
 the whole crew was in the water, pulling and pushing for- 
 ward, sometimes up to the shoulders in a greenish and foetid 
 mud. Might came on us while making these arduous effi^rts, 
 when suddenly a favourable wind brought our ship into the 
 lake Menzaleh, and wafted us w4th a rapid passage over it. 
 The next day, at seven in the morning, we were abreast of the 
 palm-trees on the shore of Damietta, after a wearisome in- 
 terval of thirteen days from our leaving Jafl'a. 
 
 The small harbour of Damietta on the Menzaleh is about a 
 league distant from the town. No sooner had I landed 
 than a Turkish Douanier pointed out to me on the shore a 
 large convenient building, adding that I should And Franks 
 there. A great number of Genoese and Venetian sailors were 
 busily employed in salting fish, in a square court surrounded 
 with large warehouses. M. Piozin, a Frenchman by descent, 
 superintended the establishment, on the account of Mohamed 
 Aly, pacha of Egypt, whose territoi*y we had just entered. 
 This concern is likely to turn out very advantageous, as the 
 lake Menzaleh supplies abundance of fish, and it appears to 
 me that the salt provisions of Damietta will soon acquire a 
 great celebrity in Europe. M. Piozin AA'as of great use to us, 
 and this lucky meeting wore away the un])leasant imi)ressions 
 we had imbibed, from the necessity of being always on our 
 guard against the Arabs. 
 
 Damietta is situated in 31 degrees, 25 minutes latitude, on 
 the shore of the easternmost mouth of the Nile, in the centre 
 of a plain intersected with canals enlivenekd by the Maters of 
 the river and embellished with palm-trees. The vegetation 
 about Damietta, to which the Arabs give the name of Doianydt, 
 is wonderfiilly prolific. Machines are necessarily in use to 
 bring up the waters to a level with the soil, Avhich is black, 
 rich, and rather elevated. The sugar-cane, banana-tree, rice. 
 
5 TYaveh in Egypt, 
 
 wheat, and bariey, are the common productions of the country, 
 the commerce of which, exclusively in the hands of the Pacha's 
 agents, is ah'eady immense, and may be still increased. 
 
 There are about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, four or 
 five hundred of whom are Christians of the Greek ritual. 
 The streets are narrow and unpaved, and the houses made of 
 bricks, but the whole are half destroyed. You cannot walk 
 in the town, without being under apprehensions of some worm- 
 eaten post or projecting part of a building falling on you: the 
 whole surface is covered with dust and rottenness ; the mosques 
 have lost their gates, and the minarets threaten to crush the pas- 
 senger with dilapidated and half broken down arches. The 
 bazars are narrow and inhabited by a population of the most 
 wretched description. The women walk wrapped up in a blue 
 drapery of coarse cloth ; the peak (painte) of their veil is fastened 
 between the eyes, by a little coin of gold or silver: to me they 
 had all the appearance of spectres. The ophthalmia is very 
 common and the number of the blind very considerable. 
 
 The name of the governor of Damietta is Hasan Aga ; he 
 is a creature of the Pacha of Cairo. I waited upon him and 
 the same day he returned the visit. This Turk is a polished 
 character ; he retains a portion of the urbanity of the court 
 of Selim, of which he was Capidgi Bdchy. 'The troops are 
 cantoned at Ezbeh, which is but an indifferent village, about 
 two leagues from Damietta, and whichr the French had forti- 
 fied. Two caserns for horse and foot had been recently erected. 
 
 The consul of France, Vasili Fackre, on receiving the 
 letter I had written to him, from M. Piozin's, instantly sent 
 me some horses. His chancellor or drogoman, a young 
 Smyrniot, Avith the captain of a French merchantman who 
 then happened to be at the consul's, came together to meet 
 me. While proceeding to the house of Vasili Fackre, my 
 head was busily ruminating on the contrast of our entrance 
 into Damietta, and the other circumstances of our journey, 
 which had been one continued series of privations and dis- 
 agreeable incidents of every kind. 
 
 I now found myself in an embellished countiy and on the 
 road to a good house, where civilities to me would engross 
 the attention of its inmates. In the access to Damietta, we 
 pass through an avenue overshadowed with date-trees and 
 lined Avith cabals; the fields are covered with labourers; 
 but in the city we found despotism reassuming all its usurped 
 rights. 
 
 We felt a solemn awe in tracing the ravages of the great 
 destruction every where to be discerned in Damietta, the 
 numerous minarets of which give it at a distance a certain 
 
hi 1817 and 1818. 7 
 
 air of pomp and grandeur. In every street, the houses on 
 both sides have projections supported by pillars which reach 
 up to the first story. A medley of blind persons, fish-mer- 
 chants, and buffaloes, with the processions of an execution, a 
 marriage, or an interment, perpetually cross the passenger's 
 way, amidst the din of horrid cries. Large stones, holes in 
 the gronnd, infectious canals, and houses in ruins, give the 
 city the appearance of having just weathered a long siege and 
 sustained some bloody assaults — every thing, in short, appears 
 to be in ruins, and the first glance of Damietta is not improved 
 by a longer residence. 
 
 A superb mansion has lately been built, out of the town, fo^: 
 Vasili Fackre, the honours of which he does with an air and 
 manner every way noble. This palace, encircled with fine 
 gardens, is situated on the banks of the Nile ; my reception 
 there was such as to fill my imagination with remembrances 
 of this second Aboul Qasem. Inheriting a large fortune, he 
 has added to it by commerce, but still enjoys it like a philo- 
 sopher. The destitute and the oppressed ever find in him a 
 benefactor and protector. Under a government the most ab- 
 solute, he maintains independence by his character, and he 
 is adored by his numerous slaves ; his house is ever open to 
 all the children of diversified misfortune. This consul has 
 great influence at the court of Mohamed Aly; the aga of Da- 
 mietta is prompt to obey his orders ; the mufti prostrates him- 
 self at his feet, and his divan is never empty of crowds that 
 come to kiss the hem of his robe and to court his patronage. 
 
 Vasili Fackre is of the Greek religion. He has the reputa- 
 tion of writing and speaking Arabic and Greek very correctly; 
 he also speaks the Italian with remarkable purity. He is now 
 at work on some translations of particular interest. His wife 
 and mother occupy the second story of his house. He did me 
 the distinguished honour, altogether unprecedented, to pre- 
 sent me to these ladies. His wife was covered over with dia- 
 monds and seated on an Ottoman of superb gold tissue. 
 
 It were devoutly to be wished that Vasili Fackre would 
 draw up a modern history of his countiy. I gathered from 
 him a number of details relative to the French expedition 
 in Egypt, and learned the reasons why the English were so 
 unsuccessful in their last expedition to this country. 
 
 I found in his library a selection of the best written books 
 in all languages. Good cheer presided at his board ; the 
 breakfast was often spread on the banks of the Nile, and we 
 quaffed the exhilarating wines of Champagne under the shade 
 of the citron groves of the Delta. Arabian music, the iden- 
 tical sounds which regaled the ears of the califs of Bagdad, 
 
8 Travels iu Eo^ypt, ■■ 
 
 gave a zest to the entertainments of this hospitable mansion, 
 where our sUechtest wishes were anticipated by a numerous* 
 train of slaves. 
 
 The Arab musicians are always accompanied by a buffoon, 
 (magannounj ; he skips about, i*idicules the musicians, throws 
 liimself into the most obscene postures, and never tails to 
 gratify the company, who express their plaudits, by clapping 
 hands and exclaiming ' Tayb, Tayb, md chd Allah.' 
 
 The ancient custom of keeping fools or buffoons, formerly 
 prevalent with the sovereigns of Europe, is still in vogue in 
 the East ; the lowest aga will not go abroad without a nmte,* 
 a little deformed dwarf, that for diversion is encumbered with 
 a load of arms ; the difficulties the little gentleman finds in 
 mounting a fiery courser, or the air mal-a-droit with which 
 he presents coffee or the pipe, furnish topics of unceasing 
 merriment to the lord and his courtiers. 
 
 Sometimes these buffoons are found with understanding and 
 wit; it happens also that occasionally some are tinctured with 
 a deep sense of their condition ; however, they conceal their 
 regrets in the form of tales or apologues conveying morals of a 
 severe tendency, but, in general, their grimaces are more 
 attended to than their verses. 
 
 The aga of Damietta had just married his dumb dwarf to 
 a poor little mute : and expectation was on the tiptoe at his 
 court, to see what results this pitiable union would produce. 
 
 I went to visit the bazar of black slaves ; a great number 
 had recently arrived from Darfour, but all had been sold, with 
 the exception of two negro women, one twenty and the other 
 fifteen years of age. The merchants ordered them to stand 
 up on my coming ; they were laid at length on a mat, and 
 covered up with a piece of black cotton cloth ; their locks 
 frizzled and plastered with grease, fell in regular folds on their 
 foreheads and shoulders ; a melancholy grief was depicted in 
 their countenances. I tried to bargain for the youngest, whose 
 figure was perfectly handsome, but a thousand Egyptian 
 piastres were asked for her. However, I left some roubiers (a 
 small Egyptian coin) Avith these unfortunate women, though 
 my drogomans insisted that they were already too happy by 
 being presented before my excellency. 
 
 A transaction that occurred on the eve of my departure 
 from Damietta, may give some idea of the dangers to which 
 the Franks in the Levant are exposed from the brutality of the 
 
 * M. de Choiseul Gouffier, when asked by a pacha cf Asia Minor if his 
 sovereign kept any butfoons, repUed that for such matters his master took 
 what the chance of society might put in his way. 
 
In \S\7 and 1818. 9 
 
 Turks. We were on our return from a village near Damietta, 
 in company with two other persons, M. Linant, whom I have 
 already mentioned, and M. Vian, who after sei-ving in the 
 French Marine, was soliciting an employment under the pacha 
 of Eg}pt. Here we met with an Albanese soldier rather 
 flushed with wine and armed cap-a-pie; about half a dozen 
 paces further, we found another completely intoxicated and 
 equally as well armed. The last instantly took aim at us, and 
 stood in that posture about a minute. I went up to him, and 
 getting the better of him, snatched his pistols, which I fired 
 into the air. The other Albanese who at first imagined we 
 should have dispatched his mad comrade, had put himself in 
 a menacing attitude to fire at us, but he soon learned our pa- 
 cific intentions, and was, in his turn, obliged to defend himself 
 against the other : they lay rolling on the ground, while we 
 made away from so disgusting a scene. 
 
 I went to demand satisfaction for this insult, of the aga of 
 Damietta, hoping it might prevent similar outrage to other 
 Europeans. Vasili Fackre entered into the matter with great 
 spirit ', the soldier was arrested, bastinadoed, and would have 
 been driven out of Damietta, if I had not procured his pardon. 
 
 We next hired a djerme* to reascend the Nile as far as 
 Cairo, but not till I had visited, with religious care, the en- 
 virons of Damietta, and especially the tract celebrated by the 
 victoiy of St. Louis, and called by the Arabs to this day, Bahar 
 Dam, the Sea of Blood. 
 
 I had already seen the mouths of the Nile, with such com- 
 munications of Lake Menzaleh and the sea, as are nearest to 
 Damietta. Certain dykes, broken down by the Turks, during 
 the crusades, for the security of the countn-, had turned a most 
 fertile plain into a vast sea ; the waters of Menzaleh cover the 
 remains of many cities. Tunis is one of the number ; its i*uins 
 are appearant above the i-ushes. Two columns indicate the 
 scite of this capital of the Delta, where formerly stood sump- 
 tuous palaces, the golden throne of the Pharoahs, and tem- 
 ples which preserved the secret, mysterious, and singular ce- 
 remonies peculiar to the worship of Isis. 
 
 I left Damietta on the 22d of December : the south wind 
 was unfavourable to our progress, and our advances were slow 
 and toilsome. The water of the Nile is turbid anfl yellowish, 
 but the taste is delicious. Its banks are every wliere sprinkled 
 with little villages. From the palm-trees and minarets in the 
 
 * A large flat boat at whose prow there is generally a pretty spacious room 
 or cabin. They sometimes carry twenty rowers, and in going up and down 
 the Nile, hoist a large sail as an auxiliary. 
 
 Voyages and Travels, No. 1. Vol. II. C 
 
10 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 vicinity, the environs of Damietta resemble Holland. A thin 
 border of cultivation lines the banks ; behind these are the 
 deserts. Both women and young girls, nearly in a state of 
 nudity, plunge into the water, perform their ablutions, and 
 depart with large pitchers which they fill and carry, with a 
 curious dexterity. 
 
 I passed the morning of December 25th, opposite the village 
 of Massoura. Here I cannot do better than refer my reader 
 to the description, by M. de Joinville, at once natural and 
 dignified. It was in this large plain that fortune proved 
 treacherous to French valour. Here are shown the remains 
 of a tower where the Mamelouks, according to report, made 
 an offer to St. Louis, though loaded with irons, of the throne 
 of the sultans. At this spot is a small agreeable village concealed 
 amon^ palm-trees. The sun was rising behind the mosque, 
 and the warblings of a thousand birds saluted this Christmas 
 morning, which reminded me of the month of June in Europe. 
 The river was covered with barks passing up and down ; among 
 this number was recognized the djermes of several rich Turks; 
 we observed them seated on carpets, surrounded with 
 slaves, and taking no other glimpse of the landscape than 
 what they could take in, without inclining the head aside, 
 without deranging the slightest fold of their turbans, or of 
 their ample cafetan. In the boats of their train were black 
 slaves to look after their horses, whose neighings and pawings 
 re-echoed along the shores. Other servants were preparing 
 coifee and sherbet ; and a fierce looking eunuch had charge 
 of the kange (a covered boat) that contained the women. 
 
 These lovely banks do not possess much variety, but all 
 around was animated. It was delightful to inspect companies 
 of boats laden with rice and wheat ; groups of young chil- 
 dren and adults in action and shouting ; a crowd of agitated 
 objects M'^hich shone resplendent to the sense, in unison with 
 the brilliant light and charming skies of this elysian climate. 
 
 The villages are generally situated on a rising ground. The 
 rest of the shore only rises three or four feet above the river, 
 which steals softly along its banks, without infringing on the 
 black rich soil formed by its regular and progressive alluvions. 
 Almost all these villages consist of thatched cottages, made of 
 mud and straw ; in shape they resemble a honey comb ; the 
 mosque alone is quadrangular, somewhat more respect- 
 able, and often an elegant minaret rises up out of these mole- 
 hills. 
 
 We were still about fifteen leagues from Cairo, and the py- 
 ramids reared their heads above the horizon of the Libyan 
 desert. The wind was less violent, and I landed on the fourth 
 
In 1817 and 1818 11 
 
 day, at Boiilaq, a little town Avliich serves as a suburb to Cairo. 
 There we found the advanced guard of the Mecca caravan ; 
 it consisted chiefly of Moghrebins, people of the Gharb or 
 West, the countries known to Europeans by the name of 
 Barbaiy States. Wearied with so long a journey, they lay down 
 stretched along by the side of their camels. We saw there 
 young men in the pangs of death, old men emaciated, turning 
 their sorrowful eyes to the plains of Fez and Mogadore which 
 these children of suffering were never to see again. 
 
 Et dukes moriens reminiscitur Argos. 
 
 ^^NEiD, lib. X. V. 782. 
 
 Overlooking the theatre of this camp, its picturesque situa- 
 tion presented a charming spectacle which we failed not to 
 enjoy. The costume of the Moghrebins, though simple, has 
 an air of elegance and grandeur; it consists of a blanket of 
 fine wool fitted to and covering the body, and reaching even 
 over the head, round which it wraps in magnificent folds. 
 Their complexion is olive-coloured ; a black beard studded 
 with white teeth, legs and feet naked, a girdle well stocked 
 with arms ; all these together, ;\vhen they form a numerous 
 body, inspire sublime ideas and present a beautiful scene 
 of imageiy worthy the pencil of the greatest masters. This 
 was a leading feature connected with the ideas we formed of 
 Cairo, when we first surveyed that singular city, with looks 
 of undescribable astonishment. 
 
 Cairo (Misr el Kahira) is situated at half a league distance 
 from the Nile, on its eastern bank, under an immense castle, 
 itself commanded by mount Mokatam. On one side the walls 
 are surrounded with trees, canals, and gardens; on the other 
 the Desert reaches up to the gates. After a time, I visited 
 the citadel, known to the Arabs by the name of Olha. The 
 fortress is itself a city, covered with monuments, ramparts, 
 towers, bastions, constructed at difterent periods, and half in 
 niins. We were shewn the hall where the sultan Salah-ed-dyn 
 gave audience. A considerable number of majestic columns, 
 brought at an immense expense from Memphis, are in con- 
 tact a second time, with the remains of the arches which they 
 supported. These monuments are now despoiled of their 
 riches ; every thing is mouldering away. The superb local is 
 turned into a menagerie, and the lion's paws tear the gilt orna- 
 ments in which the maxims of the Koran were interlaced with 
 the cypher of the conqueror of Richard Coeur-de-Lion. I 
 once saw one of these terrible animals thus avenge that chi- 
 valrous king (a sample of the magnificence of past centu- 
 ries) on a monument destined to immortalize his noble defeat. 
 
J 2 Ti'aiieh in Egypt, 
 
 Seated on the summit of those walls of stupendous height^ 
 my eye could delightfully overlook at once, Grand Cairo, 
 Boulaq, Fostat, Heliopolis, and the slow and solemn course of 
 the Nile. On the other side the river, among immense heaps 
 of sand, stood the pyramids of Gyzeh, of Sakkarah, and of Da- 
 chour on one side ; and on the other, the tombs of the califs 
 of the Fatimite, Ayoubite, and Baharite sultans : the splendid 
 horizon has the effect of drawing the past to our attention, 
 from its uniting the sepulchres of the Pharaohs with those of 
 the Arab princes. 
 
 Aftei'wards we repaired to what is here commonly called 
 Joseph's Well, though it was not the production of Jacob's 
 son, but the whole establishment was formed by sultan Yousouf 
 Abou Modaffar Ebn Ayoub, whose additional title of honour 
 was Salah-ed-dyn. His potent hand, which scooped out this 
 abyss, constructed also some of the most sumptuous edifices 
 of the East. This very work is a most remarkable object, de- 
 lineating traces of ability and true grandeur. By a large and 
 commodious staircase, you descend to the bottom of this vast 
 cavern, two hundred feet under ground; and with the aid of a 
 very simple machine, a great quantity of the purest and most 
 salutary water is constantly supplied. 
 
 The streets of Cairo are not paved ; they are winding and 
 often so narrow that the projecting bulks of the opposite houses 
 meet and compose a sort of arch. You are thus sheltered 
 from the sun and from the little rain that falls ; but there is no 
 security against the effects of the wind khamsyn.* This scourge 
 of Egypt is interlarded with a subtle, smothering dust, and 
 so dangerous for the eyes, that 1 shall not exaggerate in setting 
 down one-fourth part of the population of Cairo as completely 
 blind. 
 
 In this capital they still make mention of the revolt occa- 
 sioned, for the most part, by the unhappy inmates of the hos- 
 pital of Dj^mi el-Azhar, which created incredible confusion in 
 the city.f 
 
 The population of Cairo is composed of Turks, Arabs, Copts, 
 Armenians, and Jews. Those in easy circumstances ride about 
 the city on asses;]: that are very strong and swift. Women 
 
 * In Arabic it denotes ffty, as this disastrous wind commonly has the as- 
 cendant about fifty days. The baneful effects of the Semou?n,'A wind that 
 carries infection with it, are teldom felt any where but between Aleppo and 
 Bassora. 
 
 t More than twenty thousand blind individuals are fed in this mosque. 
 
 X Hoummars. The conductors of these asses are called haummdreh, and the 
 rnules caparisoned, and saddled for the use of the women are called baglei 
 hetta-el-nessouan ; the rich women are preceded by slaves, named says and 
 ahahdeh. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 13 
 
 witli veils, and Armenians seated on mules covered with rich 
 tapestry, and Turks on horseback ; these having (says) nm- 
 ning before them, roaring out, with impassioned accents, dah- 
 redj, imnek, oua ridjlah, indak, azdbi, which signifies ' Begone, 
 clear the way, have a care, take care of yourself.' 
 
 Long rows of camels and dromedaries stop up the passages. 
 Here is a throng of Metoualis, Albanese, Algerines, Abyssi- 
 nians, the inhabitants of Djeddah and of CosseyT, the Banian 
 of Moka, the Indian of Bombay, all of whom jostle and crowd 
 together with abusive language. The Bedouin falls at the 
 feet of the mufti w^hose retinue threatens to crush the pas- 
 senger ; the populace attack the Jews who have not time 
 to escape into the bazars of Khan-khalyl, or Hamsaouy; and 
 lastly, we find avast number of hungry dogs that follow, with 
 bowlings, the procession of the pilgrims returning from Mecca. 
 This is but a faint image of the spectacle Avhich Cairo pre- 
 sents to the traveller who visits that City of a Thousand 
 and One Nights ; the greatest of the great, the favourite and 
 magnificent object of fancy, and mistress of the .prophet's 
 smiles. 
 
 Protected by my mussulman costume, I distinctly examined 
 almost all the mosques of the city, which I entered with bended 
 knees. Here I mumbled over the formula of the faith, with 
 my beard in close contact with the sacred stone. I fre- 
 quently went to the mosque of sultan Hasan. This magnifi- 
 cent monument proudly proclaims the piety of the califs, 
 and the wonderfully elegant taste of the Arabian architects — 
 but marks of its impending min and destruction may be dis- 
 tinctly traced. It will become an immense heap of ruins, 
 like the enchanted pallaces of the Beys ; a considerable extent 
 of the city, one third, as it appears to me, will have the same 
 fate, and its fountains, which once charmed the sight, and 
 were so remarkable for their salubrity, freqnented by none, 
 may still water the luxuriant flowering shiiibs, the neglected 
 jessamine of Deiyeh and the rose-bud of Damascus. 
 
 I was anxious to visit the Ezbeqyeh, of such celebrity for 
 the death of general Kleber, and as a place of arms for the 
 French. The palace which he inhabited is a frightful chaos 
 of stones and fragments, and such are all those in the vicinity. 
 The place of Ezbeqyeh forms a lake, during three months of 
 the year, but yields a fine soothing landscape of gardening, 
 the rest of the time. 
 
 The ensemble, however, is rather melancholy from the con- 
 fusion of dismembered objects piled in heaps; fatal conse- 
 quences of the wai-s of Aly-Bey, of Mohamed-Bey, Abou 
 Dahab, and those of Ismael-Bey, Avith the beys MourM 
 
14 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 and Ibr&hym. In short, the strong and terrible assaults on 
 Cairo, by the French, during the last siege, have caused deso- 
 lation to reign entirely over all the adjacent parts of the 
 city. 
 
 Whatever belongs to despotism prevails here, but notwith- 
 standing this, the soil of Egypt is grateful and wonderfully 
 fertile. Among the oppressive objects which meet the view, 
 are a number of rapacious Copts, Armenians, and Greeks, who 
 get the ear of the pacha, and gripe with their fangs the Fellah 
 cultivators, usurp an exclusive commerce and sink the value 
 of money: thus pursuing a depotic trade, by the sweat of the 
 brows of a people more oppressed, by odious and tyrannical 
 extortions, than any other in the %vorld. No words can convey 
 an idea of the dishonest artifices, the mean and mercenaiy prac- 
 tices of these revenue farmers, whom the European merchants 
 must keep fair with, who inspire the Turks with the most 
 profound contempt, and incur the universal hatred of the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 In this country, the curiosity of all is excited to look through 
 the political horizon, for some event that may be productive of 
 a revolutijOn. They would submit implicitly to any other go- 
 vernment^ pay homage and respect to the most Avhimsical 
 caprices of the crudest masters, the most detestably criminal 
 loilers, if, as in the malady of some diseased persons, the evil 
 could but change its nature. 
 
 Mohamed Aly, pacha of Egypt, was at Alexandria when I 
 arrived at Cairo. Mohamed Aga Daza Ouley, his kyahyah 
 bey, was commandant in his absence ; this is the second of- 
 ficer of the government and an intimate friend of Mohamed 
 Aly. M. Roussel, consul-general of France in Egypt, and who 
 resides at Alexandria, was then at Cairo; he had just arrived to 
 tender the king's presents to the pacha. On this occasion, his 
 zeal led him to associate me with his company, in performing 
 which part of the ceremony, after the necessary preparations, 
 we formed ourselves with the procession which was fiill and 
 magnificent, if not novel. 
 
 We were conducted to the audience of the kyahyah bey, 
 through the most populous streets of Cairo, on horses saddled 
 with veiy rich trappings : a number of the chaouyeh, of 
 Qaouas, of Says, of Arab Qaouis of the Daoueh, led the van, 
 while others caracoled on the flanks of the company. The ky- 
 ahyah bey received us in a large hall of the citadel, filled with 
 Mamelouks, with Ichaghassy and Albanese officers. After we 
 were seated on the divan, near the kyahyah bey, the two drogo- 
 mans standing up, compliments we exchanged; pipes deco- 
 rated with diamonds were brought, as was also coffee ; and 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 15 
 
 after a conversation of about half an hour, the consul of France 
 was invested with a kurque or pelisse of honour. We were 
 then conducted back to the foot of the staircase ; there a horse 
 was waiting for me, a present from the pacha, and, mounting 
 him, I returned to the quarter of the Franks which we inha- 
 bited. 
 
 A few days after this, I set out for the pyramids, accompa- 
 nied by M. Gaspary, second drogoman to the consulate of 
 France, and by Ismayi Rechouan, a French mamelouk. This 
 latter had remained in the country, on the French army 
 quitting Egypt, as did also about eight hundred soldiers of all 
 arms ; incorporated with the mamelouks, they had embraced 
 the Mahometan religion. Wars and the plague had decimated 
 their number ; they were now only about eighty, and they 
 complained of being neglected, and but indifferently paid. 
 Abdallah of Thoulouse, their first chief, was dead, and Selim 
 of Avignon, who succeeded him, was on the point of death 
 when I left Cairo. 
 
 After crossing the Nile at Fostat (old Cairo) whcih Norden 
 has erroneously taken for the ancient Memphis, the road leads 
 almost in a right line to the great pyramid of Gyzeh. We 
 had two leagues to pass across the meadows and gardens just 
 emerged from the fecundating inundations of the Nile. Ve- 
 getation droops all at once at about a quarter of a league from 
 the pyramids. Awakened from a long reverie, after contem- 
 plating these immense, eternal masses,* they appeared to me 
 raised on the confines of the Desert, as if to support a theme 
 advantageously in connexion with the sad frontiers of over- 
 whelming death. We surveyed this deserted sea of sterile 
 plains; fancy could not but lavish piaises on these proud cita- 
 dels which had gloriously baffled all the efforts of time, had 
 braved the fury of tempests rising, raging agahist them, like 
 the loud sea-waves against some rock unmoved, assigned to 
 them by God as their boundary. 
 
 I cannot pretend to display the impressions made on me, 
 and which my animated imagination pourtrayed, as I drew 
 nearer and nearer to the scite on which have been erected the 
 
 * A member of the Commission of Egypt, whose name alone would be 
 a sufficient authority, is of opinion that if all the stones of all the monuments 
 of Paris were laid together, they would not make up two-thirds of the great 
 pyramid of Gyzeh. Perhaps there may be exaggeration in one of his suppo- 
 sitions, that the great pyramid, if pulled down, would compose a wall ten feet 
 high and a foot and a half wide, capacious enough to inclose a country equal 
 in extent to France. The base of the square ot the Parthenon of Athens 
 stands about a sixth part of the height of the great pyramid. The square of 
 the temple here alluded to proves to be the exact measure of the ancient 
 Egyptian acre. 
 
\Q In 1817 and 1818. 
 
 most stupendous monuments ever constructed under the in- 
 spection of man. When standing at the feet of these enor- 
 mous structures, we felt that we could conceive nothing to 
 liken them to. The whole soul is arrested with emotions of 
 surprise, or rather stupor, which I cannot communicate to the 
 reader, and which do not yield till long after, to the noble and 
 pleasurable sensation of admiration. Indeed I was tempted to 
 think with the Tarykh Tabary, that these were the works of 
 the Pery, fairies that governed the world for two thousand 
 years, after which Eblis was charged by the Deity to drive 
 them away, and he removed them to a most secluded part of 
 the world. These pyramids, to which the Arabian author 
 gives the name to El-Ahrdm, the decrepid, are they the work 
 of Djihan ben-Djihan, king of the Genii, before the creation 
 of man ? " See," says the epitaph of Kaioumarath, first king 
 of Persia, " what is become of the people of Djihan, the son 
 of Djihan ; consider how time has sentenced to oblivion those 
 great remembrances!" 
 
 I could not follow the route of ordinary travellers, or listen 
 to the advice of my guides.* So ardent was my solicitude 
 to reach the summit of this artificial mountain, that I set 
 about the work, with renewed vigour of body, and an enthu- 
 siastic elasticity of soul. Though it required some time to 
 reach it, access to it was not very difficult, nor was I greatly 
 inconvenienced, during my journey upwards, as the angles 
 formed very lofty escaliers that served for a ladder or staircase. 
 When on the platform that forms the apex of the pyramid, I 
 considered the whole globe as immediately subject to my visual 
 range. Here were no obstacles to check the view; not only 
 the horizon of Suez, of Cosseyr, and Alexandria appeared dis- 
 cernable from this selected spot, but with a mild and liberal 
 relish of the scene, methought I could hover over the whole 
 moral world. My agitated mind beheld rapid transitions from 
 the lone retreats of Arabian shepherds, to the elegance, refine- 
 ment, and the voluptuous enjoyments of luxury ; here a desert, 
 a dreary and fearful abode, there a civilized population ! 
 On these frontiers, fancy redoubled her efforts to bring to my 
 remembrance what nature displayed in the conflicting passions, 
 the sufferings, the useless complaints of men, swallowed up in 
 the gulph of time, which was extinguishing even the fame of 
 empires that were no more, and undermining every where 
 those which exist. Indulging this briUiant and agreeable 
 
 * To travellers who would penetrate into the well of the great pyramid, or 
 into the caverns recently discovered in the second, I would recommend 
 to negotiate for the purpose, with a young Arab. named Abdil Naljy. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. ijr 
 
 rtverie, whilst listening to the murmurs of the Nile, I left it to 
 time and to the river to calculate between them the revolutions 
 of the globe, and, without heeding the riches or the bad go>- 
 vernment, wretchedness, and misery of the ])resent momtut, 
 all the celebrated objects which so much interest us, to survey 
 generations as only minutes in the solemn account — in the 
 solution of the highly venerable problem of the age of the 
 world. There were no emblems, no indication or sign, to yield 
 the least light as to the history of the pyramids ; no proof, no 
 character of any meaning could be traced on the interior walls ? 
 all the vestiges beneath and aroundj were as silent as the mo- 
 nument to whom they were consecrated. 
 
 Still reviewing and consecrating with enthusiasm this 
 gigantic building, this immense tomb, where lay the re- 
 mains of some dignified and majestic mortal, with ambition 
 above the ordinary standard, I re-called to mind the glorious 
 name of Leonidas which had passed down in a noble and 
 regular succession^ from his contemporaries to the present day. 
 Such spectacles as ancient Greece, the great mart of fame> 
 presents even'^vhere. How apparent the difference ! What a 
 degradation in point of individual fame, that the name of one 
 who must have desired to climb the summit of posthumous 
 renown, with a sort of wild and romantic enthusiasm should 
 now be totally and for ever lost! How impossible to atone for 
 such neglect ! The winds have paid veiy little respect to his 
 ashes ; they are scattered) and oblivion has mutilated and 
 destroyed his name and his hopes in the most effectual 
 manner. 
 
 I do not feel the necessity of entering into very ample de- 
 tails relative to the pyramids. It would be difficult to add to 
 the notices of Maillet, De Paw^ Niebuhr, Norden, Savaryj 
 Father Sicard, Volney, Denon, and the work published by the 
 Commission of Egypt. They have left behind a lustre so lu- 
 minous, that their Avorks already contain all the information 
 that seems necessary. I have annexed, hoWever, to my pub- 
 lication a general view of the pyramids of Gyzeh, that will 
 give a pretty clear idea of them. For the purposes of illustra- 
 tion, I have likewise prepared and introduced an accurate 
 plan of the operations which enabled M. Belzoni to make his 
 discoveries, and to pursue, with sufficient confidence, his re- 
 searches for penetrating into the second pyramid. 
 
 I cannot persuade myself that the simimits of these pano- 
 ramas have been taken as a point for astronomical observations. 
 The materials of their construction have doubtless been 
 brought from remote quarries, and it is obvious that the 
 earth has not been levelled for the object of removing impedi- 
 
 VoYAGES and Travels, Ao. 1. Vol. II. D 
 
18 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 ments ; the idea cannot be accepted, with any degree of com-r 
 men sense, as it would be to pre-suppose a mountain covering' 
 a region where the plain surface has no need of contending 
 against such an obstacle. 
 
 In matters of faith, sovereigns, without bestowing much at- 
 tention on them, act a credulous part as well as the people. 
 According to the religious dogmas of the Egyptians, their kings 
 were taught to believe, that, after four thousand years, a re- 
 animation would take place, — a resurrection of soul and body 
 would be brought about, provided the envelope which inclosed 
 their inanimate form were kept free from corruption. This 
 enables us to delineate the remarkable facility, the savage and 
 sombre sang froid with which sovereigns of a depraved cha- 
 racter can inspire terror and sport with the feelings of a whole 
 people, deaf to their crys, to conceal their most hideous and 
 disgusting relics under a congeries of rocks. 
 
 But who or what was this obscure king ? No passage 
 through the whole series of history has left any trace to kindle 
 the remembrance. In reference to such a subject, we can 
 collect no approximate ideas to treat of it, from the tyrannical 
 exactions ascribed to Cheops, or more particularly from the 
 adulteries of his daughter, as snatching a few traits of means 
 that might any how represent the full magnitude of charges so 
 enormous, in addition to labours so herculean. I have often 
 said to myself, though but a supposition, that the greatest 
 pyramid might be coeval with the siege of Troy, and with 
 the time occupied by laying the foundations of Solomon's 
 temple. 
 
 Before we entered into the pyramid, we broke our fast on 
 an enormous stone that served as a pediment to the portal. 
 Our descending gave rise to more disputes than were agreeable 
 among fifty Arabs and upwards, for the office of guide, in 
 tracing the labyrinth of the interior. Having adjusted mat- 
 ters as to the number and order of our escort, we lighted our 
 flambeaux, and ^vitli bodies crouching down ,^ we proceeded to 
 enter a corridor about three feet in height. The path goes 
 down with a descent rather rapid, and is interlaid with frag- 
 ments of stone that have fallen from the walls, or were brought 
 from the interior, in the last excavations made by M. Salt, 
 Consul-general of England, assisted by Messrs. Kabitzsch and 
 Caviglia. Those gentlemen had no reason to complain of the 
 want of success ; on the contrary, they proceeded as far as the 
 communication of the great well or crater with what is thought 
 to have been the royal sepulchral chamber ; they likewise dis- 
 covered a chamber at the lowest part of the pyramid, but we 
 are fully assured that the prosecution of their subterranean 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 19 
 
 journey, they found neither sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, statues, 
 nor even medals. 
 
 After descending and ascending about sixty paces, assisted by 
 an Arab, I arrived at the royal chamber, but with a face horribly 
 disfigured by the bats ; the only individual object it contains is 
 the sarcophagus, composed of granite crushed. Here I had to 
 encounter a sudden indisposition or severe fit of internal op- 
 pression hardly sup[)ortable, and the more distressing, because 
 wc seemed to be almost stifled with the vapour of our flam- 
 beaux. After re-ascending, in a crouching posture, our 
 return to the door of this terrible labyrinth gave an expres- 
 sion of life to our countenances, comforted each heart, and 
 made it expand with pleasure. Lone individuals, musing in 
 such a scene, must encumber various impressions of a dis- 
 couraging omen that would not fail to be attendant. 
 
 The colossal sphinx still rises thirty-eight feet above the sand 
 that the winds from the desert are accumulating about it. 
 My arrival was too late to avail myself of the labours of M. 
 Salt. On clearing away about the base of this statue, he had 
 foimd steps that communicated with the gates of alittle temple 
 <?rected between the feet of the sphinx. An unpardonable 
 egotism led him to block up again objects which call for an 
 active and vigorous investigation, which would throw great 
 light on the history of the arts in ancient days, would bestow 
 eclat on one of the most sublime monumental fictions to be 
 found in ancient Egypt. 
 
 Proceeding onward, we came to the village of Bousyr (an- 
 ciently Busiris) where we descended into the crater or bowl 
 of the sacred birds, and where some mummies were shewn 
 me that had recently been torn from the tombs with M'hichthe 
 plain is covered. I afterwards visited the pyramid of Sak- 
 karah, and the environs of Memphis, on one of those moon- 
 light nights, the splendour and benign influence of which I 
 should in vain offer to delineate faithfully to Europeans. My 
 servant, who had kept behind for some minutes, was somewhat 
 roughly handled by the Arabs. We ran t© his relief on hear- 
 ing his cries, but the Bedouins had secreted themselves behind 
 certain mounds of sand, where it would have been hazardous 
 to follow them. 
 
 On returning to the sombrous and dismal village of Bousyr, 
 I there divided my supper with two subaltern officers, Bosniacs, 
 whose presence presented a terrible scene to all the country 
 round, through enforcing the decree for exacting the vnyry, 
 an impost. 
 
 We passed the night in a little hut made of mud and straw ; 
 the stone, however, which served for a threshold to a door 
 
2Q Travels in Egypt, 
 
 gf the most irregular description, consisted of basalt, and was 
 covered with hieroglyphics involving, as in a mysterious cloud, 
 a text of embellished drawings and sketches that for illustra- 
 tion might be considered as invaluable. My Bosniacs, wishing 
 to do me the honours of Bousyr, were eager to lay theiv 
 batoons on some curious individuals that our court was very 
 much encumbered with. I thanked them for their benevolent 
 intentions, but declined their offer as not well worthy the ac- 
 ceptance. I slept on a mat, and we returned next day to 
 Cairo. 
 
 I next took a view of Matareh, the ancient Heliopolis, and 
 the antique Oh of the Egyptians. This city was conse-r 
 crated to the sun. Plato dwelt here for thirteen years, and 
 Avhile busily engaged in commerce, for he was a merchant, 
 was bestowing his leisure time and industry in preparing a 
 history of the countiy, and in endeavouring to take advantage 
 of all the deepest scientific sources he could come to the 
 knowledge of. Were it not for the travels of some philoso- 
 phers, for the Greek poets, and some Jews, we should have 
 known nothing of Egypt, the numerous inscriptions having 
 for many centuries been covered with obscurity to every tra- 
 Teller. 
 
 Heliopolis is abou,t fom* leagues distant from Cairo. San- 
 choniathan, the oldest historian after Moses, was much as- 
 sisted and facilitated in the collection and arrangement of his 
 materials in the aggregate by the priests of Mendez,* the prin- 
 cipal of the higher deities of Egypt, and an emblem of the 
 sun. Mendez imported the fecundating virtue of the earth j 
 was worshipped as the father of time, under the name of Osiris, 
 and the name of Amnion indicated his passage to the equator. 
 Hercules denoted his strength ; Horus, the progress of inunda- 
 tions; Serapis, his return to Capricorn, and Harpocrates, his 
 career in the winter. 
 
 An obelisk standing upright is almost the only vestige to be 
 seen at Heliopolis, to enliven the prospect. Situated in a flat, 
 it was at this time a lake, a remnant of the inundation which 
 lately had prevailed throughout. Some palm-trees were 
 gracefully waving on the edge of it; the same wind that was 
 shaking them was murmuring and whispering soft notes and 
 noises in the altitude of the obelisk ; and this inconstant rust- 
 ling of the wind, these deep hollow sounds, impressed our ima- 
 gination with the melanchQly idea, that as a mysterious veil, 
 they formed a resemblance to the papricious and fantastic re volu- 
 
 * The jackall was an emblem of the sua, from his piercing eye, and was 
 vyorshipped as such at Lycopolis. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 21 
 
 lions of the governments broken and thrown down, which this 
 unperishing monument has long been accustomed to witness. 
 This needle of granite seems to overtop the sands of Mataryeh, 
 to hail, with lively sensations, the rcmembranee of that Kleber, 
 who at the head of a French army fifteen thousand strong, 
 came, saw, and conquered a hundred thousand Turks com- 
 manded by the Grand Vizier in person. 
 
 A truth like this possesses a powerful charm with a French- 
 man. I am no stranger to the regrets expressed by the French 
 army of Egypt, for the noble character, the skilful talents and 
 amiable qualities of Kleber, fur the justice blended with saga- 
 city, the firmness blended with moderation, still cited as traits 
 in the character of Desaix. The children of the wretched fel- 
 lahs (rustics in Egypt) will consign to posterity the memories 
 of such glorious men, of such great events, certainly more 
 interesting than any that fame has presented to the public in 
 that quarter, or inscribed in her annals for some centuries past. 
 Here stands the only monument of that glorious campaign that 
 remains in Egypt; this, at least, will survive the ruins of the 
 country, and even the envious jealousy of our rivals. 
 
 I shall devote here a little portion of time to illustrate the 
 character of that celebrated personage who now governs 
 Egypt ; as also that of Yousouf Boghos, his first minister. 
 The relation of this episode, as a true narrative, will probably 
 be read with some interest. 
 
 Mohamed Aly Pacha, a native of La Cavalla, now between 
 forty-five and fifty years of age, commenced his public career 
 as hyn-hdchy, in the Grand Vizier's army, in the year 1800. 
 The first step which he ascended was to be made boulouk- 
 bdcey, at the taking of El-Arych by the Turks ; afterwards to 
 be colonel fser chichm^J under Mehemet Pacha Khosrou. Hav- 
 ing in the sequel besieged Khourchyd Pacha in the citadel of 
 Cairo, in 1804, he drove the Mamelouks* from that capital in 
 1805; the Albanese then confided to him the power of a 
 Pacha, by proclamation. This power he abused, by the mas- 
 sacre of all the remaining Mamelouks in the city, without ex- 
 ception; an operation that was not completed without the 
 most perfidious trcacheiy. The Mamelouks, however had 
 been secretly plotting against his power. 
 
 Mohamed had three sons; theeldest,Ibrahym Pacha, com- 
 manded the army of the Hedjaz against the Wechabites ; the 
 second Toussoan Pacha, who died of the plague at Kosetta two 
 
 * This title comes from the word makk, to possess, and signifies a person 
 who is the property of another. 
 
23 Travels in Egpyf, 
 
 years ago, and left a child five years of age ; the third, Ismayl 
 Pacha, is governor of Boulaq. 
 
 The pacha of Egypt has two daughters ; the eldest is mar- 
 ried to Mahram-bey, defterdar and governor of Upper Egypt. 
 Mohamed Aly does not know^ himself the precise number of 
 his soldiers), as the different commanders of corps find each an 
 interest in leaving it indeterminate, in order to purloin a part 
 of what they are obliged to disburse. When Mohamed Aly 
 Pacha set out to command in person, the army of the Hedjaz, 
 he halted at Suez to search profoundly into this matter, and, 
 seated on the sea shore, would have the troops he had with 
 him defile before him, intending to bestow on each soldier a 
 donative of two talaris.* No sooner had the distribution com- 
 menced than might be distinctly heard the discordant music 
 of the murmuring chiefs, which prevented him from com- 
 pleting his intended operations, lest it should tend to engender 
 insurrection. I shall, therefore, limit myself to a rough cal- 
 culation of thirty thousand men, w^ho are now well and regu- 
 larly paid. In this enumeration I do not take in the uncer- 
 tain amount of the Arab cavalry, very large bodies of which 
 have occasionally joined against the Wechabites. 
 
 The character of Mohamed Aly is not apparently degraded 
 by any sanguinary trait; but he is obstinate, headstrong, and 
 impatient of contradiction. For his portrait 1 must refer to 
 the sketch that Mohamed Pacha allowed me to make of him, 
 and which has been lithographed and executed in a very supe- 
 rior style by M. Horace Vernet; it will be found in this work. 
 Mohamed's manner proclaim a certain air of noblesse, and if 
 his attendants would permit him to fulfil his own wishes the 
 result would be more satisfactory ; he would establish, in 
 greater or less perfection, the finer models of our European 
 governments, especially as he now seems to reign here almost 
 exclusively, even over his most dangerous enemies whom he 
 has subdued. 
 
 Yousof Boghos, first drogoman and minister of Mohamed 
 Aly Pacha, is an Armenian, but born at Smyrna. His age is 
 about forty-five ; at first he was a merchant, and in 1800, came 
 to Egypt with some employment in the suite of the Grand 
 Vizier. Yousouf was afterwards interpreter to the English 
 mission, and accompanied the Grand Vizier, on his return to 
 Constantinople, where he procured a firman of drogoman, with 
 
 * A couple of pieces of eight, otherwise called douros. This Spanish coin 
 seems to be much admired in the east, and the people are much attached 
 to it. 
 
hi 1817 and 181B. 23 
 
 five hundred piastres per month. Boghos returned to Cairo 
 with Aly Pacha, then appointed governor of Egypt, and who 
 was afterwards killed by the Mamelouks. He was next at- 
 tached to the English mission, and being an expert drogoman, 
 he became first interpreter to Khourchyd Pacha. When this 
 latter was driven out of Cairo by Mohamed Aly, Boghos en- 
 tered into his service, and has remained in it ever since, not- 
 withstanding some affronts or menaces the situation may have 
 been productive of. 
 
 This man, of a supple, insinuating character, manages busi- 
 ness with a finesse bordering on a silent, attentive, respectftil 
 dissimulation. He caresses all people with a soft, obliging air, 
 and his address has a powerful effect upon all parties,producing 
 on their minds an acquiescence with his measures. He speaks 
 several languages with facility. His versatile mind is a strange 
 compound, though not exclusively composed, of audacity and 
 subtlety ; which of these is predominant it would be difficult 
 to determine. He bears all the characteristics of immense 
 wealth, but the situation has long been accustomed to storms, 
 and on that account is fluctuating; and the envy kindled by 
 his riches must occasionally apply some sense of danger to a 
 head like his, full of care. 
 
 The pacha of Egypt has a number of Franks in his suite, 
 and hisintercourse with them is mild, benevolent, liberal, and 
 engaging. Among them we meet with no man more deserv- 
 ing of this agreeable conversation than M. Drovetti, the ancient 
 Consul of France at Cairo, who has served with distinction in 
 our armies, and whose sage counsels have been of eminent 
 service to Mohamed Aly. 
 
 M. Drovetti has given many proofs of the disinterested be- 
 nevolence that tempers his character, and of the noble use he 
 makes of that entire confidence which he possesses. In his 
 solicitude for the welfare of others, it may be conceived that 
 his excellent bias has often contrived to forget himself. He 
 presumes no otherwise on his favour than to avail himself of 
 the privilege (whereof he is not a little proud) of pursuing his 
 researches and attempts, without molestation, to explore the 
 sandy excavations of Thebes and Memphis. He has a very 
 curious collection of Egyptian antiquities, and the most ardent 
 wish of his heart is to decorate with them the rich museum rf 
 Paris. To effect this purpose, he has overlooked many oppor- 
 tunities afforded him of realizing property, as offers have been 
 made him which it would be conceived difficult, but which he 
 has dared to resist. I shall have another occasion to speak of 
 M. Drovetti, who has had the kindness to communicate hie 
 ideas to me, in whose judgment I have implicitly confided, to 
 
24 Travels in Egypt. 
 
 whose advice, suggested by reason and friendshipj I am undei* 
 deep obligations. 
 
 Mohamed Aly has retained in his service a number of Italian 
 physicians. Dr. Gorachoukia, has pre-eminently acquired his 
 entire confidence, and so high an opinion is entertained of his 
 prescriptions, that he superintends every preparation for the 
 person of the pacha. This gentleman, vrho is a native of Pied- 
 mont, assembles, at his most agreeable parties, Franks of all 
 nations, who have established a kind of club of Freemasons in 
 Cairo. The club, of which the pacha is treasurer, never en- 
 gages in political concerns, but is much more interested in 
 long dinner parties, where they submit to lessen themsttlves 
 in the eyes of the Orientals, but engross all the attention of 
 the high pacha, who seems to enjoy their bacchanalian 
 reveries, and who is accustomed to pay with a good grace 
 and laughter, for the frequent banquets of his buffoons. 
 
 I never could guess the true reason why difficulty should 
 be found in granting me permission to visit the megyds (or 
 nieometer) of the isle of Roudah, opposite Old Cairo. This 
 monument actually stands within the precincts of a powder- 
 magazine. When I requested leave to enter it, the ky&hyah 
 bey replied, that he reserved to himself the pleasure of shewing 
 it me some days afterwards, but this I took for a soft denial, 
 and I no longer solicited it. 
 
 I frequently repaired to the baths, and spent many hours in 
 the interior of their compartments. Those at Cairo are the 
 most magnificent in the East ; here are a great number of 
 them, and they are for the most part very ancient erections. 
 The delicacy of design which pervades the mosaics constituting 
 the pavement, strikes each traveller, as also the form of the 
 basins, and the fine polish of the light columns which support 
 the cupolas ; eveiy thing, in short, unites to recall the master- 
 pieces of Arabian art, as springing up heretofore in the foster- 
 ing age and precise epoch of the califs, when architecture was 
 cultiv^ated in a better taste, and had secured a luxurious place 
 of retreat in the bosom of Grand Cairo. 
 
 if at any mysterious hour, I wished to forget the bu?^y mul- 
 titudes, to immerge in the soft impressions of a soothing soli- 
 tude, a satisfaction for which I must travel out of Caii'o, I used 
 to quit it by entering the spacious and vaulted passages of the 
 gate Bah el-Nasr, the form and character of whose architec- 
 ture, respectable and noble, were sweetly in accordance with 
 the City of a Thousand and One nights. I frequently passed 
 several hours in the cemeteries, as different scenes were pre- ' 
 sented to my view, in the deserted spots of the arid valleys 
 about mount Mokatam ; these descending into the region of 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 25 
 
 Gamaiel-Affifi, I took designs of those immense mosques to 
 which the task has been assigned of keeping watch over the 
 ashes of the Ayoubite, Seljeucide and Baharite sultans, 
 
 Mohamed Pacha,- however, engrosses the pious legacies be- 
 queathed for the consecration of these monuments ; these vast 
 mansions of the dead, those minarets, so varied in their form, 
 tottering more through decrepitude than age, can no longer 
 protect their memorials from the efforts of time ; these places 
 of lamentation are crumbling away, the elegant domes are 
 half consumed ; the painting and gold still remaining as or- 
 naments, leave a lustre by reflection, in the reservoirs of the 
 ablutions; the cypher of Mahomet and that of the calife 
 are nearly shattered remains, and no one comes cheerfully to 
 visit this dreary abode, to pray over these sepulchres of jasper, 
 in the midst of such tattered magnificence, wrapped in 
 wretched silence and almost unknown. 
 
 The illusions of memoiy to embellish the fame of princes 
 and chiefs so gallant and magnificent, scarcely exist any where; 
 no longer can give a fine relief to that which is no more; we 
 find no traces of these, buried as they are in the ashes of their 
 palaces. After Selim I. had mastered Egypt, in 1518, from 
 the epoch of his receiving the sacred standard of the investi- 
 ture of the Iraamship, Damascus, Bagdad, and Cairo have 
 been gradually, imperceptibly declining into a very ruinous 
 condition. Ignorance has undermined with a terrible desola- 
 tion all the treasures and power, all those respectable monu- 
 ments for which the glory of the califs had made itself re- 
 sponsible. 
 
 At this time, taking a general view of things, there may be 
 a few individuals that still approach these sepulchral arches, 
 these epitaphs and inscriptions, with faint recollections of the 
 Ommiades and the Abassides, names so triumphantly blended 
 "v^ith ancient story. The learned societies of Arabs in former 
 times named Meqamat have altogether ceased to exist. Some 
 poor v}oullas only, towards evening, chant the histories of 
 Antar, of roustan Zal, or of Beybars, kings of Egypt ; fables 
 succeed to the songs, and then terminate with the histoiy of 
 Bahloudd&n, buffoon to the calif Haroun el-Rachyd. 
 
 The disorderly militia of Mamelouks,* that from the time of 
 Melek Salah made all Egypt tremble, have been either re- 
 cently destroyed by, or have to bend the neck to Mohamed 
 Aly, in the lowest degree of humiliation. An order had just 
 
 * It is a remarkable fact that the Circassians, Georgians, Mingrelians, of 
 whom that formidable corps was composed, could never keep up a posterity 
 in Egypt, though provided with female slaves presenting the finest forms. 
 
 Voyages and Travels, No. 1, Vol. II. E 
 
26 Travels in Egyptj 
 
 been issued for the remainder to be ready to follow the cortege 
 of his son, in an intended ceremony, previous to his departure 
 for Mecca. 
 
 l now undertake the painful task of recounting, in a brief 
 notice, the particulars of the massacre. An inhabitant of Cairo 
 once addressed me thus: *'That day of cruel proscription and 
 contention, with all the passions let loose, arose, not gilt with 
 rays, but blood-coloured, as if seemingly to expect the tumul- 
 tuous agitation. The pacha seemed dull, gloomy, full of care; 
 at intervals, he would remain a considerable time, musing on 
 the most splendid festival* of the mussulmen, at which he was 
 to preside that very day, and, grinning horribly a ghastly smile, 
 his countenance would have made a subject of drawing, the 
 grand effect of which might be judged of from one impor- 
 tant point — the forced smile that formed one part, in fright- 
 fid contrast with the horror that had so great an ascendancy 
 over the other. He had caused the Mamelouks to receive 
 from him this expression of his regard : Eldest sons of the 
 prophet, now that we have a high relish for the charms of 
 peace, enjoying it in full freedom, hasten to learn how truly 
 sensible I am of the blessings it affords us ; come at my bidding 
 on this happy festival, in due pomp, to celebrate with me, the 
 departiu'e of my son for the tomb of the prophet." 
 
 In managing this affair which set all the Albanese in motion, 
 the potent wrath kindled in Mohamed's bosom was concealed 
 with solemn stillness ; the virulent attack meditated was not 
 made till the Albanese most devoted to the pacha had been 
 secretly lodged on the rampart, the towers, behind the battle- 
 ments. The Mamelouks, as feeling a respect for the enthu- 
 siasm of the day, arrive, with a cheerful, confident aspect ; 
 gaily decked, their horses and armour displayed a shew of or- 
 naments gratifying to the sight. 
 
 The pacha, seated on a carpet placed on the height of a ter- 
 race, where he could see without being seen, was smoking his 
 rich Persian pipe (the narguille) with three of his particular 
 and confidential officers behind him. Mohamed Aly turns 
 towards them, with an air of the profoundest silence ; the 
 object of his intentions is disclosed by his dark and terrible 
 look ; it is but too well understood and becomes the signal for 
 a very hot fire upon the Mamelouks, for the work of their 
 inevitable destruction. Suddenly exposed to the horrors of 
 such treachery, unable to form an estimate of the danger, 
 their agonizing efforts were useless to struggle against their 
 premeditated destiny. Their number, their courage, could 
 
 * That of tho departure of t be Emir Haggy. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 2/ 
 
 not save them ; men of blood themselves, they could not shun 
 the fury of their murderers. Some refugees there were ; es- 
 caping partly into Syria, and the remainder retiring to Don- 
 gola in Nubia. 
 
 The massacre and dispersion have not produced an effect so 
 powerful as to annihilate their existence. Released from the 
 terrors which had appalled and seized them, they are enrolling 
 volunteers among the Moors and Nubians, whom, according 
 to report, they are training to all the martial sports and exer- 
 cises formed in the institutions of their establishment once so 
 flourishing. Cairo may yet be jealous of the power they shall 
 possess ; may yet have to dread the effect of a fresh conquest, 
 and the alarms which a future invasion would necessarily 
 inspire. 
 
 Prior to this catastrophe, their internal dissensions had very 
 much reduced them ; one half adhered to the party of Osnian 
 Bey Bardissy, who died of the plague, and the rest submitted 
 to the orders of Elfi Bey, a victim of the same scourge. This 
 last was in the pay of England, and his defeat was owing to 
 that of the English, in their last unfortunate expedition to 
 Damietta. 
 
 My Mahometan dress was an important distinction that 
 particularly recommended and secured me facilities in visiting 
 the markets of the women slaves. In the bazars, among the 
 merchants, I was announced in the character of Osmanli Chah, 
 or a Turk of the north, which might well point out and ex- 
 plain why I could neither speak Turkish nor Arabic. 
 
 The most agreeable slaves* to be purchased at Cairo are 
 Abyssinians ;t it did not escape my notice that many of them 
 were beautiful figures, such as nature occasionally produces. 
 In some, the features appeared regular and refined, the out- 
 ward form elaborate, the complexion slightly tinged with olive, 
 but soft and transparent^ theirblack hair supple and attractive. 
 
 * The slaves brought from Abyssinia generally cross over the Red Sea, 
 from Masuah to Djeddah. They are mostly sold at Mecca; the remainder 
 are brought to Cairo, by the way of Suez or Coseyr. The Abyssinian Djellabs 
 bring their gold also to Cairo, which they exchange for various articles of trade 
 or curiosity. A missionary who has lived long at Gondar assumes the title 
 of bishop of Asel, a kingdom situated on the coast of the Red Sea, near the 
 Straits of Babel mandel. Myrrh and incense are its productions. 
 
 t Three different caravans conduct slaves and other merchandise from the 
 interior of Africa to Cairo ; one sets out from Mourzoak, the capital of Fezzan ; 
 the other from Sannoar ; the third from Darfour. They do not arrive in 
 Egypt at stated periods, but at intervals more or less distant. Their journeys 
 depend on incidental circumstances in connexion with the directions of the 
 chiefs, and some particular causes, as well as on the difficulty of procuring 
 slaves and other articles of commerce. 
 
28 Traveb in Egypt, 
 
 In the caravan that came from Darfour* were some very en- 
 gaging females professing the Christian faith, and much at- 
 tached to it. The handsomest were sold at the rate of four 
 or five thousand piastres of Cairo. I had no small trouble in 
 procuring permission to explore the private markets of the 
 white slaves. Some of those that I first saw were very ordi- 
 nary, and others of as opposite a description as can be conceived. 
 
 The day following my introduction, the chief of the French 
 Mamelouks took me to the house of a rich Arab merchant 
 which was furnished in a style of the most dazzling neatness 
 and radiance. This man who supplies the pacha's harem is in 
 partnership with the richest slave merchant of Damascus. He 
 showed us, among several women more or less handsome a 
 young Circassian, about fifteen years of age and a consum- 
 mate beauty. I was so captivated with the attractions of her 
 person and with her hard fate, that without considering the 
 little chance there v/as of getting her out of Egypt, I offered 
 six thousand piastres of Cairo for her. The poor unfortunate 
 seemed to wish for the bargain to be struck ; she rolled her 
 large black eyes on me, wet with tears, while handing me 
 the sorbet. She must have been a most excellent specimen, 
 a descriptive picture of nature's art, to be regarded as so 
 curious, in spite of her costume. A little red bonnet, edged 
 with gold, encircled the top of her head ; her brown locks, 
 cut in front, dropped in regular folds on her shoulders ; a 
 double robe drawn up tight, consisting of a stuff intei-woven 
 with silver was fastened by a little scbM placed in the girdle 
 above the hips ; large pantaloons cover all the lower parts. 
 Her arms were naked but ornamented with bracelets; her 
 feet were also naked, with the exception of small embroidered 
 slippers which it would be difficult to walk with except over 
 carpets. The merchant who had fixed the value of this slave 
 at eight thousand piastres, took some hours to consider of the 
 oflfer I made him, but I heard no more of him. 
 
 On quitting this place, I passed through the great mosque 
 of Hassanein, consecrated to the nieces of the prophet. Here 
 I was closely considering the causes and effects of burying alive 
 so many fine young women in a harem, a prohibited spot, 
 there to become the victims of the brutal cupidity and perverse 
 licentiousness of some ignorant, false, and profligate old mussul- 
 man. While musing on this order of things, and indulging in 
 conjectural observations on this Asiatic system, I was all of a 
 
 * Dar may signify a kingdom, sometimes a district, a village; four repre- 
 sents a deer. The Arabs have thus designated the inhabitants of a country 
 •who have ever fled before them. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 291 
 
 sudden roused from my reverie by an Arab mendicant, who 
 miide application to me in the words of a French petition. 
 His prayer was, " Ah, Sir, don't reject the suit of a poor bancal ; 
 give some relief to one that has not broken his fast to-day." 
 He had cursorily gleaned this sentence previous to the French 
 army leaving Egypt, and ingeniously appreciating the contents, 
 his eccentric mode of supplication to obtain alms in the cotfee- 
 houses of Cairo, whether deserving of it or not, amply succeeded 
 to his intention. The Mamelouk that attended me had assured 
 him that I was a Frenchman ; and the poor maimed object 
 made a proper use of the knowledge thus detailed. 
 
 I next went to visit the Moaristdn, the hospital of the insane; 
 a place abandoned to e\ ery kind of wretchedness, every kind 
 of human degradation that a mixture of miseries could produce. 
 These unhappy mortals are laid in infectious cells, M^iere they 
 are secured under (Touble grates, like so many wild beasts in a 
 menagerie. Some loaded with cliains, others bursting into 
 fits of immoderate laughter; others again, recognizing the in- 
 tricate and gloomy labyrinth of their confinement, were utter- 
 ing piercing cries, and gnawing their prison bars. One poor 
 woman, with her eyes closed, stood motionless in a corner of 
 her dungeon, and when her food was brought to her, it Avas 
 notified by pulling a cord fastened round her neck. 
 
 I set out from Cairo for Upper Egypt on the 13th of January 
 at night. As ascending the Nile was necessaiy to the acqui- 
 sition of matured information, I hired akanje manned with six 
 Nubian rowers, besides the rays or master. We agreed for five 
 hundred Egyptian piastres per month. We should have hud 
 two more men, but the proprietor of the bark, an inhabitant 
 of Sdyd, imbued with a character of treachery, liad neither kejit 
 his word as to the number of sailors, nor as to the hour of de- 
 parture. Just at the instant when I m as embarking at Old 
 Cairo, a dispute arose between him and his men, on whom he 
 was for exacting, by a partial spoliation of their pay ; this lasted 
 for several hours. Ismayl Rechov^n, who accompanied me in 
 this voyage, had an opportunity of displaying his disposition 
 and his power ; blows applied to the whole poss6, soon termi- 
 nated their differences, and, without waiting for the interference 
 of laws, he threatened to cut olf the master's head if we were 
 not on the voyage in a few minutes. His orders were obeyed 
 with wonderful submission. 
 
 I had another companion of my voyage, M. Martini, a young 
 Tuscan physician who had been long waiting for a safe oppor- 
 tunity to visit the ruins of Thebes. He was acute and learned 
 in his profession, besides being correctly versed in Italian and 
 French literature. I divided with him a little cabin, pompously 
 
30 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 named the chamber, where we could only enter by crouching' 
 low^ and we did not iind our accommodations for sleeping in it 
 to be much more convenient. My drogoman was a Syrian. 
 Mansour had been one of the Mamelouks of the guard. 
 Rechouan had quitted France for the East, about the time 
 that Mansour departed from Egypt with the French army. 
 After attending it through all its victories and reverses, Man- 
 sour returned, covered with wounds, to enjoy the respect of 
 his companions and to forget his fatigues, under the clear and 
 amiable skies of Egypt. 
 
 While ascending the Nile, the weather approximated to 
 four different characters, as if acting* from competition; a calm, 
 contrary wind, favourable wind, and a slight breath of wind ; 
 in this condition, we reached Beny-soueyb, on the sixteenth, 
 at night. 
 
 This city, lamentably ruinous, and situated on the western 
 bank of the Nile, evidently possesses some decided advantages, 
 from the country in its vicinity being considerably improved by 
 flourishing cultivation, and its verdant, luxuriant soil, embel- 
 lished with a forest of palm-trees. Mohamed Pacha has con- 
 verted it into a place of exile for the Albanese officers and sol- 
 diers, when, by savage and ferocious conduct, they disturb 
 the tranquillity of Cairo; on this account the garrison is very 
 numerous. Next morning we saw some almeh, public female 
 dancers, some of whom are vei*y handsome, performing 
 dances of a very animated description, in front of a coffee- 
 house on the banks of the river. Some Albanese chiefs, of a 
 rough cast of countenance, were enjoying this spectacle, 
 smoking their narguille, stretched on carpets and leaning on 
 cushions. 
 
 They were, it seems, celebrating a sort of military fete, in 
 honour of some success the pacha had obtained in the Yemen. 
 The soldiers were running about the streets like madmen, 
 firing pistols in the air, in the style of acclamation. Some 
 were plunging, with naked cangiass in their hands, as if in 
 merriment, on the young almeh, most of whom were their 
 mistresses ; so that there was a degree of jealous spite blended 
 with their divertisements. The young women sought for 
 refuge at the feet of these brutes, or kneeling before the 
 chiefs ; but the interference of even these could scarcely keep 
 within bounds those agitations of amorous pique which are 
 not unfrequently terminated by strokes of the dagger. Such 
 is a copy, as it came to our knowledge, of the character and 
 manners of the good people of Beny-soueyb, for the Bosniac 
 agas are neither better educated, nor more delicate than their 
 stupid soldiers. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 31, 
 
 From Boyad, opposite Beny-souoyl, on the eastern shore of 
 the Nile, commences the route to the monasteries of St. An- 
 thony and St. Paul, situated on mount Colzoum. The moun- 
 tains of Gebei and of Hadjar Mossoun, are a guide to the 
 sandy plain of El-bakarah; from the summit of the Kabil, 
 which terminates it, we discover the desert of El-Araba. 
 
 A few religious Copts inhabit these two convents, held in 
 such veneration by the Christians. Lofty walls afford protec- 
 tion from the incursions of the Bedouins, as well as from the 
 tygers, which swarm in those dreaiy solitudes. An aqueduct, 
 much impaired, conveys some brackish water to irrigate their 
 garden, some trees and leguminous plants. 
 
 In the neighbourhood are valuable quarries of marble, stu- 
 diously wrought ages ago under the Pharaohs, to adorn their 
 tombs. Those grottoes, excavated for the purposes of pomp 
 and power, have since become the asylum of penitence and 
 prayer. 
 
 Setting out on the 17th from Beny-soueyb, it took us three 
 days to reach Minyeh, the ancient Cynopolis; it was famous 
 for the worship of Anubis, a word which is supposed to signify 
 a gilt horizon. This little town, commanded by a cachef, suf- 
 fered much during the siege it had lately sustained. The 
 Mamelouks had strongly intrenched and vigorously defended 
 themselves there ; Mohamed Pacha, however, took the town 
 and almost totally destroyed it. The inhabitants lodge in bar- 
 racks and under the ruins. 
 
 We found at Minyeh a very obliging captain of the port; 
 he gave strict orders that our crew should have a reinforce- 
 ment of four sailors, without whose help we never could have 
 reached Mellaouy. We coasted this height on the 21st, about 
 two in the afternoon. On the morning I traversed the niins 
 of Antinoe,* a place which the active genius of Adrian had 
 replenished with brilliant monuments of more or less magni- 
 tude; all now lie buried under heaps of sand. Some pillars 
 start up here and there, merely to indicate the spot. On the 
 same evening, 1 went to visit the portico of Achmouneyn, 
 formerly Hermopolis, about a league from the Nile, on its 
 eastern shore. This monument, an animated production of 
 art, exhibits something peculiarly grand in its structure, but 
 it is completely isolated. There appears not the least trace of 
 the temple of which this was the peristyle. 
 
 * Origen, in his writings against Celsus, gives it out, that Antinous, a 
 favourite of the emperor Adrian, vsrought 'miracles in Egypt through his in- 
 cantations. It is thought that the city of Beza occupied the scite whereon 
 Antinoe was afterwardsbuilt by Adrian 
 
32 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 An Englishman, M. Brynion, has lately erected a manufac- 
 tory for refined sugar, on the pacha's account ; it stands on the 
 banks of the river, half a league from Mellaowy. The whole 
 establishment is the result of a well digested plan, and it is con- 
 ducted with all the zeal and information requisite for such an 
 undertaking. The products are very satisfactory. 
 
 Growing weary of the navigation, I determined on repairing 
 to Syout by land. The rich borders and local situations on the 
 Nile, in the estimation of my circumstances, seemed mono- 
 tonous ; one village resembled another. The Eastern bank 
 presented somewhat more of variety. Behind the line of 
 palm-trees arose the arid crests of Mount Mokatam, the chain 
 of which draws nearer and nearer to the -river, from Benig- 
 sonayl to Minyeh. The same species of cultivation every 
 where prevails, nor is there any contrast of different schemes 
 in the means made use of to further the object in view, which 
 is to raise the water of the river twenty or thirty feet above 
 its level j the Nile being constantly trenched and confined by 
 artificial banks cut perpendicularly. 
 
 I halted at Deyrout, a large village about three quarters of 
 a mile from the Nile, almost entirely concealed under palm- 
 trees and large sycamores. The cachef would insist on shar- 
 ing with us his pilaUj or stewed rice ; squatted round a small 
 wooden table, we sei-ve ourselves with handfuls of rice, and 
 each applies to his lips the bardaque or earthen vessel full of 
 fresh water, which goes round and is used even by the slaves 
 who are standing behind their master. The cachef's people 
 provided us with horses as far as to Ooussyeh, the most dreary 
 country village I had seen in Egypt. 
 
 I was for sleeping in the open air, but M. Martini being in- 
 disposed, insisted on our taking up the deserted house that the 
 Cheykh-el-Beled had intended for us, and in which the rats 
 and polecats were ranging all night. A poor Turk, governor 
 of Goussyeh undertook to boil the rice, and acted his part 
 with propi'iety. He had long been a prisoner among the 
 Russians, and owed his liberty to the conflagration of Moscow. 
 
 Keeping all along close to the edge of the Libyan Desert, 
 we arrived very late at Syout, the ancient Lycopolis. I had 
 letters of recommendation to a Greek merchant, by name 
 Anacharaas, in whose house I lodged. As we rested one whole 
 day at Syout, to employ my time, I took a drawing at the 
 break of day, of the Tschebat-el-Koffery, the mountain of 
 tombs and of the grottoes of Sababinath; these were secluded 
 spots inhabited by hermits in the first age of Christianity. 
 The Cenobites took possession of this asylum with no other 
 company than some mummies that had been quietly sleeping 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 33 
 
 there for many 'ages. Out of love Avith active life, for its many 
 disagreeable incidents, they were voluntarily speculating on 
 the image of sepulchral repose, restricting themselves to the 
 necessary circumstances that Avere in supposed unison with 
 such work. The Arabs occasionally in the depth of these 
 catacombs find sarcophagi of value. 
 
 Syout, capital of the Lower Thebaid, contains about fifteen 
 thousand souls. It stands at the foot of the Lybian chain, 
 three-quarters of a league from the Nile. Mohamed Bey, 
 son-in-law of Mohamed Aly Pacha, defterdar, or governor of 
 Upper Egypt, resides here, as also Achmekbey his kyahyah. 
 Both have well disposed minds that receive considerable plea- 
 sure in seeing strangers well treated. The former was ab- 
 sent, and ^he other was in a very languishing condition, from 
 the effects of an intemperate u../e of strong liquors. His ex- 
 cesses in this point have been, such, that from the many ca- 
 sualties he has been exposed to* it appears somewhat extraor- 
 dinaiy how he has held oat so long. 
 
 The only occupation of t^iese o^fiicers and their agents is to 
 drain the purses of ^Jtie inhabitants, and to exhaust the poor 
 country of Sayd vAth. taxes. All the little villages of this go- 
 vernment are o.verloaded with garrisons of Dalmatian or Me- 
 touali soldiers. Nothing seems to have been instituted here, 
 nothing a\iudmg to any benevolent object. The hearts are 
 hard an.u charity is cold. Part of the ease, the independence, 
 the Qpuleuce, to which the pacha is advanced arises from 
 the labour wrung out of the hard hands of these poor pea- 
 sants. All around, the Avhole system of society seems to be 
 convulsed, fallen ; the moral sense sickens, nature seems to 
 iauguish, and every where to inform us how humiliating the 
 state of the people is. 
 
 For the pacha alone are the lands cultivated ; the mer- 
 chants, thoughtless of affiuence, under impressions of terror 
 trade only for him. He has the monopoly of provisions, of 
 sla,ves, and even seizes on the burnt filix or fern of the fields. 
 There is a commercial intercourse between Syout and Abys- 
 sinia, Dongola, Darfour, and Cosseyr. The Djellabs or mer- 
 chants of Sennaar bring here black slaves ; also gold dust, 
 tamarinds, gum Arabic, elephants' teeth, ostrich feathers, and 
 the powder of chiche, very salutary for diseases of the eye so 
 frequent in Egypt. 
 
 M. Marrouchi, a Piedmontese physician in the service of 
 the bey of Syout, and who is incessantly occupied in fresh re- 
 searshes, was projecting a journey to the Great Oasis; he was 
 expecting to throw some novelty over an old subject, to set 
 some of its points in a new light, to combine parts into a goo^ 
 Voyages and Travels, No. 1, Vol. II. F 
 
34 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 whole. Often have I seen in Upper Egypt Italians bearing not 
 the usual marks of science, but with self-sufficiency expanding 
 to the range of the ignorance around them ; these soi disant phy- 
 sicians are never remiss in effi^-ontery, can inter agas and dis- 
 inter statues, with a good grace, preserve a due equipoise in , 
 society, and among its different ranks still defend their own 
 rights, still administer to their gratifications. Here let me 
 make honourable mention of M. Marrouchi, whose improved 
 and polished talents reflect a lustre on his accommodating 
 temper, and who is happily qualified to form a peculiar ex:cep- 
 tion to the weakness of nature above alluded to. 
 
 M. Anachamas is the most considerable merchant of Syout. 
 He corresponds chiefly with Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia 
 where he sends glass-work, linens, worm- wood, and straight 
 cimeters of German manufacture. 
 
 I left Syout on the 21st of January. We proceeded along 
 some vei-y rich fields, and the journey acquired an interest 
 from some discriminating embellishments. On one side was 
 the Nile, rolling along with impetuous rapidity. To the 
 right lay the Lybic Desert, deUneating a landscape on the 
 plain, whose fresh and varied colours here and there exhibited 
 an extensive and accurate contrast to the dull and repulsive 
 whiteness inherent in an incongruous mass of sand. Follow- 
 ing on, without being mentally fatigued, the horizon pre- 
 sented its varieties to our view, terminated by little bluish hills. 
 We halted for breakfast under a grove of superb palm-trees, 
 at a place called El-Maragha. We rested in the evening at 
 Tahta, the ancient Aphroditopolis, in a Latin convent of the 
 fathers of the Propaganda. 
 
 Some Italian religious offered us refreshment ; their monas- 
 tery is in ruins ; the monks, covered with dust, and groping 
 their way, up to the chin in the ray less gloom of poverty, see 
 nothing around them but the fragments of confiasion. M. 
 Martini, finding himself still worse, thought fit to tarry with 
 these religious, till the arrival of our kanje at Tatta, which, 
 however, had halted by the way, under the directions of Re- 
 chou^n. During the night, I left this spot for an excursion to 
 Mankie ; the whole route is sprinkled with villages, almost in 
 contiguity. The name of villages is given to a string of cottages 
 raised on little artificial mounts. From these poor buildings, 
 constructed with mud, a number of palm-trees shoot forth, as 
 from so many vases or flower-pots. Children in a state of 
 nudity, women covered with rags, men wrapped up in the 
 tattered remains of an old cloak, — dogs that haunt your 
 motions, while the inhabitants fly at your approach; — this 
 was the order in which the various kinds of objects pre- 
 
hi 1817 and 1818. 3S 
 
 vailed over our attention, all the way from Cairo to Luxor. — 
 But what a sun ! what vegetation ! How are the eyes be- 
 witched with those illusions of light, colouring the back ground 
 with a gay attire of the simplest, purest tints, beautiflilly com- 
 bined with other attractions of the most brilliant description ! 
 In the course of my journey to Mankie, while appreciating 
 these curious displays, my attention was attracted to a change 
 of form which the valley had undergone. Originally, an object 
 of magnitude, it was shrinking to comparative littleness. My 
 route lay not far from the Nile, or the Lybic mountains ; these 
 latter seem half swallowed up with sand, huge points of 
 blackish rocks raising their heads above it. 
 
 Here I met a great number of Moghrebins returning from 
 Mecca, by the way of Djeddah and Cosseyr. These, of all 
 the mussulmen, are the least civilized, and the most fanatical ; 
 wild, surly, gross, and insulting, though several were spent 
 with fatigue, and lay stretched at length on the sand, they 
 were yet competent to express in strong, irritating language, 
 their prevailing opinions and prejudices in opposition to the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 I arrived very late at Mankie. There I found the cachef 
 Oualy, to whom I was recommended, seated at the door of his 
 house, and judging a law-suit between some Arabian shepherds. 
 Never iu my life did I witness so great a noise and uproar. 
 So many little incidents, forwarded with so much intricacy and 
 bustle, caused us to imbibe a high opinion of the great strength 
 of lungs, and remarkable volubility of the pleaders. The 
 sensitive and testy cachef was seated smoking, with broad 
 grins and smiles; at length he pronounced a few words, and 
 the aching, throbbing parties were dismissed, like men who 
 had been naughty, with some smart blows of the batoon. 
 
 We passed a very indifferent night, in a little low chamber 
 without doors or windows, and pestered with rats. I must 
 not, however, pretend to complain for the seeming neglect 
 which I experienced; for the cachef 's musicians undertook to 
 give me a serenade, and it was no veiy pleasant part of officious 
 complaisance in me to make them desist. 
 
 A dozen of naked children, tied with cords, two and two, 
 lay stretched on the pavement of the cachef 's court, dying of 
 thirst and hunger ; they were hostages. These poor innocents 
 were already steeped in the horrors of captivity, as their 
 parents, from inability to pay the myiy, had fled to the Desert, 
 The Egyptians are still what they were under the reign of 
 the Pharaohs; 'tis for a master they cultivate their lands; for 
 him they cover the Nile with boats. The fellah of our times 
 is subservient to Mohamed Aly's cupidity, and may be cited 
 
36 \Tavds in Egypt, 
 
 as a compreiietisive instance of all that k iniserably slavish, 
 just as his quondam i^rogenitors v/ere miserable from suifering 
 by the selfish plans of those dealers in distress, who established 
 a firm for constructing the pyramids. 
 
 Travellers and voyagers are, so to speak, the journalists of 
 mankind at large. This number shall utter no interdict against 
 any depravity that is not interesting ; ray delineations, hoM^- 
 ever, must not exempt from censure poignant evils that afflict 
 humanity, of so recent a date. 1 repeat that I am writing 
 what has come under my actual observation. These 
 notes are a well drawn picture of my own impressions, though 
 couched in language crude perhaps, and inefficient for others. 
 In beholding such a pageant of calamities, my attention is 
 recalled to the mirror of my own thoughts. 
 
 Our traversing the space between Mankie and Farchout 
 was the occupation of thirteen hours. Here we must pass 
 through Girgeh, formerly the capital of the lower Thebaic!, as 
 also very near to Abydus, once famous for the temple of Is- 
 mandes. I had already seen the ground once possessed, adorned, 
 and illustrated by Chemmis, Panopolis, Anteopolis. This last 
 is now replaced by the Qaou el Kebyr ; in a word, I have re- 
 traced the vestiges of Aboutig, and those of Dicspolis Parva. 
 
 Syout has succeeded to the commerce and to the government 
 of Girgeh, the pitiable decay of which at the present moment 
 is in harmony M'ith the face of the country in general. How- 
 ever, the hamlets here are more thickly sown than ever ; at 
 the distance of half a league they seem objects of curiosity 
 and gratification ; but on a critical survey, nothing more dis- 
 gusting, more liable to a traveller's animadvertions. 
 
 I had frequently to contemplate processions of the inhabitants 
 going out to meet their people returning from the holy pil- 
 grimage. The cheykh-el-beled put himself at their head ; 
 then followed an Arab, striking some little dulcimers in ca- 
 dence ; others again, mounted on asses, were beating large 
 drums; a crowd of women were in the rear, ciying out, 
 screaming and hissing. Some were carrying, on a small 
 wooden table, the bread of Doui'ah, Vv'ith water to quench the 
 thirst of the travellers. 
 
 Those who remain in the villages (dyouars) on these occa- 
 sions, make it their business to cleanse and white-wash the 
 house of the pilgrim (Mggy) : and to paint with a coarse red 
 and blue, the doors of his dwelling place. 
 
 One thing struck me as particularly deserving of attention, 
 that throughout Egypt, the most obsei'vable distinction of 
 character pervading all the public or religions edifices, kans, 
 fountains, mosques, is expressed by dilapidations and decay. 
 
/n 1817 ^/"a 1818. 57 
 
 BliPiiding them together produces on the mind a sort of un- 
 natural, monstrous idea M-hicli cannot possibly escape the 
 traveller's notice. In a word, we may not absurdly consider 
 them as fitted by circumstances to be receptacles for the haunts 
 of the jackals. 
 
 Under the Mamelouk beys, the goverment felt some in- 
 terest, a sort of acknowledged partiality for the people, by ex- 
 tending the favour of their patronage throughout the districts 
 over which they presided. Report whispers what inclination 
 recollects, that their sway, in its general character, was rather 
 gentle and even tempered with paternal feelings. That aris- 
 tocratical republic is extinct, and the present rulers seem little 
 desirous of gaining even the semblance of what their prede- 
 cessors possessed in reality. In short, the mind turns in dis- 
 gust from a regimen partaking ot the grossest yices. The 
 pacha of Egypt, obliged to pay his troops, to vvhom he owes 
 his power, v»ith rigid punctuality, consigns his interests to the 
 management of rapacious Greeks and Armenians. This in 
 general appears to be the cause to which we may impute 
 the torturing and persecuted condition of the Egyptian people, 
 never so inhumanly and cruelly mangled, by a series of the 
 most unremitting usurpations, as at the present day. Terror 
 imposes silence on the disposition to murmur, and a discipline 
 so crabbed, austere, and desperate, assimilates this silence to 
 the seriousness of death. 
 
 In passing through Menfalout, 1 was greeted with a very 
 hospitable reception by the aga cachef. He is a Turk of 
 Erzeruum, young, rich, a sensualist, polite and obliging in his 
 address, with pretensions to the gifts of nature, in a noble and 
 engaging person. With Soliman Cachef, the repose of the 
 bed-chamber could not be forgotten ; he stretched himself 
 out on the cushions of Damascus a'.id the carpets of Persia. 
 A train of negro valets waited on him, kneeling, and servilelv 
 smiling at the strokes of the kourbache, (a very supple thong, 
 made of the skin of the rhinoceros ) laid on their heads by the 
 aga's son, a beautiful child six or seven years old. An excel- 
 lent Turkish breakfast was brought up, on a very shining 
 copper dish ; Ave had perfumed soap to wash with, and we 
 parted with mutual admiration, and some simple expressions 
 of regret AvhiL'h required no interpreter. 
 
 I could perceive on the other side of the Nile, by the help 
 of a telescope, a convent inhabited by some religious Copts, the 
 only access to which is by hoisting you up by a pulley to a 
 stupendous height. This is the only security' they have to 
 protect themselves from the extortions or insults of the Arabs. 
 
 I had already recognized near Minyeh, still keeping on the 
 
38 Travels iti Sgyptj 
 
 eastern bank of the Nile, the grottoes of Girgarfes, so cele- 
 brated for the austerity of the Anchorites who inhabit them. 
 Persecuted every where else, they found no shelter save in the 
 most frightful deserts. The mid beasts seemed to grow tame 
 with these men, so courageous and yet so gentle, listening to 
 their devotional chauntings, though occasionally they exhibited 
 their carnivorous propensities, by tearing open the tombs con- 
 taining the bodies of the Cenobites. 
 
 At Farchout, I descended into a little catholic hermitage, 
 belonging to the convent of the Prepaganda. The individual 
 that inhabits this spot, more dismal than any I had seen, was 
 absent. He would find next morning, on the worm eaten 
 table, which serves him for an altar, a small tribute of gratitude 
 from those who had reposed on his poor mat, and drunk water 
 out of his broken pitcher. 
 
 We cross the Nile not far from Aorchout, to take the direct 
 road to Qene, the ancient Caene. In our journey through the 
 country, no incident of importance occurred, and at the end 
 of it, fatigue| had made us languid and faint. The soil about 
 the eastern shore, whereon Qen^ is situated, is more stony 
 and less fertile than in other parts. The champaign, however, 
 is covered with date trees, and with a tree to which the Arabs 
 ^ve the name of doum, or large-leaved palm-tree. On the 
 same day I met two camels, very oddly loaded ; on the back 
 of one, seated on a table, a whole family was travelling; and 
 on the other a young black slave was carrying in his arms a 
 small dromedary just foaled. 
 
 By the pacha's order, a road was then making to terminate 
 at Jene. The cachef of the district was employing whole 
 tribes of Arabs in planting the caselier tree, intended to over- 
 shadow the road which is much frequented by the caravans of 
 Cosseyr. It seemed strange, and not very consistent with our 
 notions of the Arabs, to find them thus occupied, as scarcely 
 any travellers, ancient or modern, have discovered and noticed 
 in them an inclination for planting trees. 
 
 Qene seemed to me to contain a population of about ten 
 thousand souls, including three thousand Copts. This place 
 serves as a halting place for Cosseyr, from which it is distant 
 about two days journey. From Cosseyr the passage to Bombay 
 is sometimes made in twenty days. 
 
 At Cosseyr it rains frequently, but we could not forbear re- 
 marking that the temperature at Qene is always uniform, and 
 so hot, even in winter, that on the 28th of January, the atmos- 
 phere seemed to me on a par with that of the month of July at 
 Paris. MoUah Husseyn is the commandant at Qene ; he has 
 400 mea under him. They carry on a pretty brisk trade here 
 
In 1817 and 1818, 39 
 
 in linens, Cashmire shawls, pepper, ginger, and those earthen 
 vases that are known by the names ofbardaques. On the other 
 side the Nile appear the ruins of Tentyra, of which I shall have 
 occasion to speak hereafter ; and above Qene are the vestiges 
 of the ancient Coptos, destroyed in the reign of Dioclesian. A 
 large highway leads hence to the Berenices. 
 
 When we quitted Qene, it was to direct our course for 
 Qous. It is but a little town, but here we find some remains 
 of the monuments of ancient Egypt. Among others is a gate 
 which must either have been that of the city, or of some great 
 temple. A Greek inscription attests that this monument was 
 dedicated to the sun, by Cleopatra, and by Ptolemy, her son. 
 The gate lies buried in earth as high as to the top of the 
 arcade. In the covering of the arch appears a globe encircled 
 with serpents that seem to support it: round about are wings, 
 displayed or spread, and painted with colours yet pretty fresh. 
 Qous, supposed to be the ancient Appolinopolis Parva, has 
 nothing now to distinguish it but its alm^h, set out Avith strik- 
 ing and peculiar advantages of dress, with a tasteful, agreeable, 
 graceful drapeiy. The neck and arms of these dancers are 
 covered with bandages of glass, sprinkled with small bits of 
 gold and silver, with which they likewise trim their turbans. 
 The hair and eyelids of these feavlessjilles dejoye, are blackened 
 with khol, and their nails stained Avith the henne, seem to 
 bear a similitude to gold. 
 
 All these particulars, though so public and notorious, seemed 
 wonderful to Mansourd and to the Arabs that attended me. 
 The youngest almeh wanted no incentives to commerce the 
 dance ; and this scene was acting, previous to their bringing 
 us coffee. They likewise expressed their wonder, in the strong- 
 est manner, when they afterwards saw me leaning against an 
 overturned obelisk, drawing plans of or contemplating Qournah- 
 Medynet-Aboud, and those mountains devoted to the slumber 
 of the dead, in whose bowels and formed recesses, where gloom 
 and silence reign, so many generations had lain, in all di- 
 rections, through their immense caverns.. Nor must we for- 
 get that Byban-el-Molouk, that valley of kings, who had par- 
 ticularly enjoined that their bodies should be buried there. 
 
 Here are immense plains covered with avenues of sphinx, 
 which very singular objects well and tnily announce their cha- 
 racter of guides to every traveller who shall visit temples, that 
 in the philosophy of fancy, possess all the uncommon and vi- 
 sionary grandeur of workmanship of some principal genii. 
 
 Gates eighty feet high, covered with hieroglyphics, keep the 
 spectator's attention alive, while they conduct him to Luxor 
 or Thebes, to those temples whose mysterious sanctuary that 
 
40 Traveh in Egypt, 
 
 ingenioils and indefatigable miner, Time, has laid open, though 
 heretofore closed to the most learned and determined ex- 
 plorer. Large courts, surrounded with porticos, thousands of 
 sculptured columns,* defy the sands of the Desert to bury 
 them even in this the region of their invasion. They still sup- 
 port prodigious masses of stones,. of inconceivable magnitude, 
 and are covered over with the emblems of a religion in con- 
 formity to which these edifices were planned. A groupe of 
 obelisks, the least ruinous and most perfect as to preservation 
 that can any where be seen, seem to repine at their too great 
 distance from the sun, as if soax'ing to the highest pitch they 
 could aspire, and ambitious of a closer union, with him — 
 Each looks like one of his rays, of which indeed, they have 
 been designated as the image, though distinguished by cha- 
 racteristics not always so clear as those emanations. Every 
 spot points out and preserves many surprising marks of a ma- 
 jesty that overawes you ; allegorical forms of instruction, with 
 the free and bold use of invention, in the manner of architec- 
 tural composition, form structures and a species of finishing 
 that astonish and amaze you. 
 
 The little village of Luxor has been raised in a corner of the 
 Great Temple. Houses of mud and straw are in close con- 
 tract throughout with the highly animated and impressive 
 bases of those eternal columns. Arabian cows and mares are 
 tied to the foot of the sphinx. The mutilated throne of Horus 
 serves for a hearth, about Mdiich a few wretched families 
 shelter themselves in the cold weather, and who covered up the 
 feeble product of their labours in tombs of basalt and granite. 
 
 The temple of Luxor is built on a quay, affording an ample 
 supply of ground- Avork for a base. Eveiy one digs at random 
 in the quadrangles before tlie porches of those once sacred 
 placesf. Conjectural observations have been indulged in, and 
 antiquarian researches have occupied uncommon attention, in 
 tracing what may have escaped the rage of Cambyses, and an 
 enemy still more annoying, the fanaticism of Christians. Every 
 thing here may be properly denominated ruinous, and for the 
 
 * The Egyptian columns are never monolitlies, as the obelisks uniformly 
 are. This has induced some learned men to entertain doubts whether the 
 pillar, improperly called Pompey's, at Alexandria, can be considered or pro- 
 nounced a monument of the ancient Egyptians. 
 
 f Here follows a list of such niins in Egypt as I conceive might be explored 
 with the greatest probability of success: the isle of Elephantine, El Kab, 
 (FAethyiu) Thebes, Luxor, Karnack, Qournah, Medynet-Abow, Akhmym, 
 (the ancient Panupolis) Araba El Madfouneh {Ab>/dus) Achmouneyn, {Hermo~ 
 polls Miijj^nu,) Benehseh, (Oxyrinchm^ Medinctel Eayouro, Arsjnoe, Meter^- 
 nyeh, Abousyr and Memphis. 
 
/i 1817 and 1818. 41 
 
 most part of a melancholy tendency. Even the first Christian 
 churches seem to tell lis, in a tone and with an expression of 
 complaint, that they are fallini^ to pieces. Conformably to the 
 observations we have made, the spurious style of the Lower 
 Empire has impressed its image on the forms of the columns 
 and the rude ornaments of the architecture. 
 
 The mosques of Mahomet, intended as a succedaneum for 
 the altars of Jesus Christ, are no less hastening by a concur- 
 rence of circumstances to a certain downfall. The obelisk 
 alone, constantly retaining a vigour unrelaxed, in the austeri- 
 ties of a Desert, and spurning the ease of palaces, is still emi- 
 nent, and will long be blazoned by fame with more than com- 
 mon pomp. Neither the events of so many preceding ages 
 nor those of the present, have subverted those gigantic eleva- 
 tions ; there are important and not uniraproving objects of an- 
 tique curiosit}^ to be met with here, that look like immove- 
 able pillars of the celestial arch. 
 
 Med-Amoud was probably one of the suburbs of Thebes. I 
 visited its solitary jejune situation and made a drawing of its 
 temple, which rises up out of the greyish vestiges of a Copt 
 city now entirely abandoned. 
 
 I afterwards crossed the Nile^ina small barge, with an Arab 
 for a steersman, and the only one then to be found on the river j 
 a river once embellished with all the pomp of imperial state^ 
 with temples, gardens, and even the floating houses of its 
 ancient masters which it supported. What are become of 
 those gilded vessels, those purple sails, that cordage, tissued 
 with silver ? All those images, those vivid and pleasurable 
 emotions which so rapidly succeeded each other, are done 
 away ! a serious silence like that of death, replaces the dash- 
 ing of the oars, the applauding cries of the multitude, the 
 chaunting of the priest, and the harmony of that music with 
 which all-conquering sound effected a moral calm, tamed a 
 whole muster-roll of mighty passions in the perturbed bosoms 
 of the people. The melody of sweet music has flown to other 
 regions, presides among other nations — that music which arms 
 all the affections of nature with a new force, and can disarm 
 
 * This river was first called by the general name of Jaro, (a river,) it aftfet- 
 wards was known by that of Neilon, which signifies increasingat stated periods. 
 The priests celebrated festivals to his honour on the banks, without which 
 sacred and mysterious ceremony, the Egyptian people would never have locked 
 for the ordinary physical effects of an "^inundation. The periodical increase 
 of the Nile appears to be just what it was in ancient times, 16 cubits. It 
 begins at the end of June, and terminates at the beginning of September ; 
 its rise is about four inches a day, and it then sinks gradually till the next 
 solstice. 
 
 VoYAGKs and Travels, Nq, J, Vol IL G 
 
42 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 even orutal insensibility. In the present state of things, to 
 realize happiness, imagination must transport us to another 
 sphere, Avhere peace and tranquil pleasures reign in perfection. 
 
 The bateau arrived on the other side ; it Avas the 
 most populous part of Thebes. We learn from Strabo, that 
 houses five stories high could ill contain the industrious 
 swarms; the brilliant and splendid population of this city, 
 then adapted, in my opinion, to be the metropolis of all nations. 
 Thebes, mistress of the civilized world, was a glorious example 
 to all posterity, of the spirit of laws, of reason triumphantly 
 mixing mankind in enlightened masses, of polishing rude 
 countries, of reaching out the arm of civil power for the pro- 
 tection of property, of invoking the Supreme Being, of con- 
 structing walls and gates for the exclusion of enemies. 
 
 But this character so truly respectable, so remarkably gay, 
 has disappeared; yet [ must admire and reverence even the 
 ashes of those primitive fathers of the human race. In step- 
 ing forward, I approach their altars, their sepulchres ; I 
 stumble on their idols. There I recognise the colossus of 
 Amenophis,* in the erection of which, pride is supposed to 
 have reigned paramount; but was not the same moral evil 
 pre-eminent in its downfall ? The front of the head, half buried 
 in the sand, is a mountainous mass, and without deviating 
 from the precision of truth, the smileon the lips would uphold, 
 undegraded, the vulgar notions of a cavern. 
 
 After this, I penetrate into the sacred valley, where innu- 
 merable catacombs must inevitably occur to every exploring 
 attempt. I enter into the sepulchres of the kings. There, a 
 principle of common sense leads me to infer, from the high 
 magnificent colouring of the paintings, the ways of living and 
 religions rites of that ingenious people, our predecessors in 
 the walks of art and fancy ; there, from the remaining monu- 
 ments, we acknowledge the triumphs of those princes whose 
 sarcophagi, however, are all of them at present empty. 
 
 Thus the very view and delineation of these unite to prove 
 the brevity of human life, carry a desicive sway with them ; 
 my fancy, on the wing, testifies that the soul is the standard of 
 the man ; reason joins her in her flights, attesting that the 
 external parts of his structure are raised and established upon 
 frail atoms, though from the materials of his mind, he has 
 within himself a native power of profound thought, of celestial 
 contemplation, improved by his studious foretaste of another 
 and better world ; the only foundation of general niorality and 
 
 * If this statue were placed upright, it wonld overtop, by the whole head. 
 the greatest elevation of the Louvre. 
 
Jn 1817 dwd 1818. 43 
 
 the main stay of his hopes, in travelling: through the wil- 
 derness of this world. The masterly design and comprehen- 
 sive arrangement of such a combination as his, tell him he is 
 of celestial origin. 
 
 Here I plunged into the bowels of the earth, into subter- 
 raneous palaces distributed, divided in the style of art, up- 
 held by pillars covered with stucco and with paintings of an 
 exquisite finishing. These hieroglyphical figures are doubtless 
 the depositories of human knowledge ; the Egyptian priests 
 committed them to these depths, not to be removed but with 
 the wrecks of matter in the crush of our material Avorld ! 
 I ranged through a succesicn of large apartments, in the vast 
 depth of which Mas an alabaster sarcophagus, the only remain- 
 ing representative of many similar deposits. It is engraved, 
 covered with symbolical characters,* and in excellent preser- 
 vation. 
 
 In these dark, lonesome retreats, my spirit and temper were 
 no longer applicable to any impressions but those of the re- 
 corded powers of Aladdin, and the influence of his magic 
 charms. These operating with great strength, I could ima- 
 gine myself conducted by the light of the wonderful lamp, 
 on the eve of being initiated into some grand and preterna- 
 tural ceremony pregnant with mysterious meaning. The Be- 
 douin that attended us had an easy way of explaining these 
 difficulties. After the deluge, said he, the mountains were 
 softer, the men stronger and more powerful, the rocks and 
 stones lighter ; in this way were excavated these caverns of 
 the dead, and thus were the great mosques constructed that 
 overcast our Desert. 
 
 The genius of the ancient Egyptians was consecrated to the 
 tombs ; that of the Greeks Avas a ray of glory destined to irra- 
 diate the walks of active life, sacrificing to the graces, to 
 valour, and to beauty. The Egyptians buried their magnifi- 
 cence in subterranean mansions ; the Greeks, on the con- 
 trary, gloried in the splendid and beautiful scenery of temples, 
 of white marbles raised on elevated promontories, or on a 
 local eminently displaying all the rich exuberance of situa- 
 tion. 
 
 Some Bedouins, blacker and more withered than the mum- 
 
 * The hieroglyphic and hieratic characters were the Cursive langtiage ot' 
 the priesif , the sacred written language. The Coptic characters were Greek ; 
 the Coutic w ere those of ancient Arabia. The Coptic was the language ot" 
 the ancient Egyptians; the Coutic was an intermediate language, subservient 
 to the explanation of the hieroglyphics, and knrwn only to the priests. As 
 for the Samaritan, it is thought to have been the ancient Hebrew, or the 
 language of the Jews before their captivity, after which they adopted the 
 Chaldee characters. 
 
44 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 mies which they offer for sale, are the only guides in this sub- 
 terraneous labyrinth ; their families are lodged in some of the 
 adjacent tombs. Here the lance of these descendants of the 
 Troglodytes is supported in the arms of a caryatide (columns 
 in the shape of women) and there the children are sleeping 
 in sarcophagi replete with pictures of old and curious lite- 
 rature. The, whole space of sands hereabout comprehends 
 innumerable fragments of mummies, of papyrus, and gilt 
 bandelets or fillets. Every step kept attention powerfully alive, 
 for not confined within these limits, it was watching for a 
 moral speculation on the catastrophes produced by human 
 passions, on that vanity from the shackles of which human 
 nature is never free. A circumstance apparently trivial, yet 
 on the whole weighty, gave an imposing interest to the scene ; 
 the tribe of Oulad Aly was cariying on a trade with these re- 
 mains of the dead which they kept with anxious care as an 
 inestimable deposit, maintaining this impious commerce against 
 the pretensions of the other Arabs. 
 
 At some little distance in the plain are two colossi, placed 
 side by side, both seated, and with faces turned towards the 
 East. I could not consider them without a sort of terror at 
 such mountainous figures wrought by the hand of man, who 
 had even engraven his image upon them. No longer does 
 one of these statues utter harmonious sounds to salute Aurora, 
 and strike the senses of the traveller by reminding him of the 
 first rosy streaks of the morning. Here are inscriptions in all 
 languages, indicative of a sensibility filled with admiration, 
 and expressive of its first ebullitions, as the anxious spectator 
 felt them. 
 
 The names of several domvni terrarum, lords of the earth, are 
 discernable on the feet of the colossus, but our eyes rest, with 
 a rational, a fondly cherished esteem, on the name of Germa- 
 nicus, inasmuch as the progress of his journeyings into Upper 
 Egypt was universally marked by the most pleasing and au- 
 thentic traits of his beneficence. I know not whether it will 
 excite a smile of contempt, but the scene produced in me a 
 singular stage effect, when I found an obscure baronet com- 
 memorating his route to Thebes, with his name on the granite 
 in close connexion with Cpesar's. It had been recently done, 
 and not without some trouble. I will not say that this gen- 
 tleman shewed the superiority of his intellect when he records 
 the particular part of London wherein he dwells. A neigh- 
 bouring hermit (were there such an one) might have arrested 
 his hand, and informed him that a truly honest ambition is 
 modest, and that this statue contains not the names of Desaix, 
 of Rapp, and Belliard. There is uothing hereabouts to 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 45 
 
 recall the remembrance of the combat of Seydiman and 
 Benouthak. 
 
 The memnonium, Avhich tlie Arabs name El Kasr, or the 
 castle, stands at the foot of the mountain, and near the remains 
 of the largest colossus ; it is composed of stones of enormous 
 dimensions, and of a whitish colour. It is in a manner half 
 buried in the sand, like that of Medynet Abeu. On a part of 
 the platform of this immense building, may be seen the ruins 
 of Pappa. A little town with ramparts, a church pretty large, 
 a public place, were all raised on a part of the roof of this mo- 
 nument. After this, it may be necessary to add, that for 
 details, sketches, drawings, &c. illustrative of my text and 
 these wonderful loiins, the great work of the commission of 
 Egypt will be found truly picturesque and interesting. 
 
 I should say more, however, and observe that the above 
 views have not always embraced the ensemble of their cha- 
 racter, they want that grandeur of touch which is so conspicu- 
 ously distinguished in the originals. Perhaps the constant 
 recun'ence to the camer' obscure, may have streightened the 
 means requisite to produce admiration in the minds of the 
 artists employed in those ingenious works. I cannot always 
 trace in the imitations of those able copyists, the noble groupes 
 of majestic temples, of such strength and grandem* as to the 
 general effect, that the finest buildings of Rome and Greece 
 beside them, would seem like mere temporary matters, would 
 sink into the proportion of English gardens ! 
 
 Perhaps to form a more accurate idea of them, after seeing 
 the above designs, it would be avisable to consult the pages 
 of M. Denon's voyage. In the discussion of merits so undeni- 
 able, so intrinsic, he unites, in one manner, beaut}', splendour, 
 and a natural, easy turn of expression. This animated artist 
 was the Joinville of our last expedition to Egypt. His courage, 
 his uniform sang froid, materially contributed to the success 
 of his studies, to the accuracy of his researches. His ideas 
 and views are so comprehensive and rare, that his work is 
 become classical, and will ever delineate the history of the 
 arts, exhibit copies of correctness and contribute to the glory 
 of the French name. 
 
 The heat was already insupportable at Thebes in the first 
 days of March. It is so ovenvhelming in the summer, that 
 the Arabs compare it to the roarings of a lion. Among the 
 infinite diversity of climates, the effect of this is such, that the 
 skies seem on fire, nature appears in flames, and now it is that 
 the stones crack and split, and portions of the temples of the 
 Thebaid crumble and give way, I remember once that with 
 a dog watching and pursuing my tfack, I was gathering up 
 
46 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 pebbles, I found them burning hot. In the night, however, 
 we surmounted these difficulties, most striking were the differ- 
 ences then obsei-vable; an harmonious stillness in the approaches 
 near to and round about us 5 noises from the countiy at a 
 distance — these were discriminating marks to distinguish night 
 from day j nights to elevate the season to the rank of spring, 
 reducing the heat to a level with mean temperature. I must 
 acknowledge that I indulged in many opportunities of obtain- 
 ing acquaintance with its beauties: roaming along the banks 
 of the Nile, as evening came on, I perused its boundaries, with 
 as much amusement, as I could have enjoyed at Rome, in Augfust, 
 on the shores of the Tiber. 
 
 On these occasions 1 frequently met with buffaloes plunging- 
 into the river, and saw objects of a more animating interest, 
 flocks of the ibis, of a resplendent whiteness, spreading their 
 silver wings and perching on the backs of the wild animals, 
 which accommodated themselves with ease to the incum- 
 brance, as if conscious of bearing something sublime and 
 sacred. I found in the flo wings of the river, a subject uncon- 
 nected with the excess of refinement, but characteristic of 
 simplicity and nature ; my habits and curiosity pursued the 
 theme as interesting to my mind. It is hardly necessary to 
 add, that the same waters equally quench the thirst of the 
 lions of Sabala, the tygers of Goyam, and carry the bark of the 
 inhabitant of Dongola, and the floating rafts of Sennaar. Its 
 course to Thebes was mild and gentle, though silently under- 
 mining the altars formerly erected to the river god by the 
 gratitude of the people. 
 
 M. Salt, the English consul, with a numerous suite, had 
 taken up his residence under tents, in the valley of Byb^n-el- 
 Molouk. He was superintending the researches directed by 
 the Antiquarian Society of London, relative to the chief and 
 most valuable remains of Thebes. A number cf presents and 
 a yet more profuse distribution of money had overpowered the 
 barren affections of the Arabs, and all his enterprises among 
 them had succeeded in an amicable and wonderful manner. 
 M. Drovetti maintains a struggle with difficulty and persever- 
 ing consistency against these Arabs, who, in the present 
 state of Egypt, frequently deprive the people of their rights, 
 and have too much power and influence therein. 
 
 Drovetti had two agents at Thebes ; the one, Yousef, a French 
 Mamelouk, was excavating the western bank of the Nile ; the 
 other, named Riffo, was exploring and digging within the local 
 of the temple of Karnach. The last is a Marseillese, small in 
 stature, but bold, enterprising, and choleric ; occasionally beat 
 ing the Arabs who had neither leisure nor taste to comprehend 
 
 I 
 
In 181/ and 1818. 47 
 
 the Provenfal tongue. On the day of our arrival, we saw him 
 disinter a bas-relief of rose granite in perfect preservation, 
 nine feet in height, representing the three divinities, Osiris, 
 Isis, and Horus. Two hundred Arabs were at work and fre- 
 quently fortunate ; for some days I engaged half of them at 
 my own charges, but had little better success at Luxor than I 
 had in Attica. 
 
 At Thebes I met with a French mineralogist, M. Caillaud, 
 who was returning from an expedition on the banks of the Red 
 Sea. He had been deputed, by Mohamed Aly, to go in quest 
 of an emerald mine, Avorked in ancient times, but long since 
 forgotten. He had, in fact, discovered a vein of a pale green 
 emerald. For accomplishing his purpose, he had set out from 
 Redessi, a village belonging to the tribe of the Ahabdeh, si- 
 tuated at the distance of about two days journey above Luxor. 
 His escort consisted of two Mamelouks and a hundred and 
 twenty Arabs. On the fourth day their supply of water failed, 
 and it was not till the seventh that they reached Zabara beyond 
 the Desert of that name. 
 
 At the little town of Secket, supposed to be one of the Be- 
 renices, M. Caillaud discovered the ruins of eight hundred 
 houses and the remains of three temples, tAvo of which in 
 high preservation, had been hollowed out in the mountain ; 
 appearances indicate that the place had been inliabited by 
 miners. 
 
 This traveller had noticed a thousand excavations, some of 
 which penetrated a hundred feet under ground, in a granitic 
 and schistous talc. According to him, three hundred persons 
 might be introduced and labour at their ease, if not with great 
 effect, in the quaiTies. 
 
 M. Caillaud's caravan had undergone many privations, and 
 even lost some individuals in its route, and returned by the 
 ancient Eletheyia. This perhaps was a branch communicating 
 w iih the high road from Coptos to the Great Berenice. 
 
 As an occasional relaxation from fatigue, M. Caillaud in- 
 dulged his genius in sporting with the penetration and anti- 
 quarian knowledge of a certain contemporary ti'aveller then at 
 Thebes; an enlightened character in matters of general obser- 
 A'ation, but not equally successful in the liner shades, and more 
 precise determinations of profound research. M. Caillaud in- 
 structed an Arab to present him with a pipe on which had been 
 engraven, with some art, several hierogiyphical and Coufic 
 characters. This amateur of rareties, though wide were the 
 range and scope of his enquiries, was a stranger to the by- 
 charite pipes, commonly used in Abyssinia. Nor could the 
 
48 Travels in Egypt 
 
 scent of the tobacco undeceive him ; a bituminous perfume 
 pervading the channel had been introduced, as particularly 
 favourable for deception. This gentleman examined the pipe 
 with great care, and conceiving it to be an object extremely 
 interesting, with many thanks paid the mysterious Bedouin 
 thirty-five dollars, meaning to embelHsh the description of his 
 journal with much ornamental information relative to the 
 history of the pipe. Men of learning and conjecture will no 
 doubt occupy their time and display their industry in various 
 historico-scientific notes for the illustration of his text. 
 
 M. Caillaud, who was then proceeding to Cairo, has since 
 made a second voyage into Upper Egypt. Setting out from 
 Esne, for the Great Oasis, after a journey of four days and a 
 half through an ocean of sand, he reached the Oasis, the cir- 
 cuit whereof comprehends, as he conceives, about fifteen 
 leagues. He was hospitably received by the Arabs. 
 
 Here M. Caillaud discovered a large temple dedicated to 
 God the Creator^ he states its dimensions to be equal with 
 those of Medynet-Abou ; in it he found* an inscription in 
 Greek of nine thousand words which he copied, and which, if 
 translated, would no doubt interest and delight the classical 
 reader. M. Caillaud also measured five other smaller temples, 
 and traced the vestiges of five abandoned villages. 
 
 The Arabs of this Oasis, are in the habit of cultivating rice. 
 The interior part is nearly deserted, and the springs scattered 
 over the Oasis produce a water that is brackish and insalu- 
 brious. In the sequel M. Caillaud returned to Farchout. The 
 publication of his work will be highly satisfactory to the 
 learned, and tend to elucidate a portion of Egypt, in which 
 inquiries have been productive of few facts relative to the 
 subject. 
 
 We may set down the Great Oasis as situated in the alti- 
 tude gr region of Thebes ; the second Oasis will be parallel 
 with that of Fayoum, and the third, bearing the name of 
 Syouah, in which it is thought the vestiges of the temple of 
 Jupiter Hammon may be found, will be best explored, by set- 
 ting out from Alexander. 
 
 M. Caillaud proposes to take another journey into Eg^yjit, 
 where, for prosecuting the great objects of his meritorious 
 labours, for the production of his work in a proper manner, 
 the government will doubtless be instrumental in procuring 
 hiiiji the requisite means of supplies. 
 
 * This monument, according tojM. Caillaud^ is 191 feet in length. 
 
In 181/ and 1818/ 49 
 
 Yousef,* a French Mamclouk, in the employ of jM. Dro- 
 vetti, had his habitation in a sepulchral grotto at Qournah ; 
 he was absent when I called on him. A young girl made 
 signs to me to sit down on a mat, and placing herself before 
 me, was considering me attentively. Yousef then introduced 
 himself, and applying himself to the young woman, in terms 
 rather severe, ' She should have remained where she was,' 
 said he to me. I had already seen this poor Egyptian squat- 
 ting and stooping in a corner of the cavern. ' She has more 
 room to stow herself in than you may think for,' said the 
 Mamelouk. A torch was lighted, we descended about twenty 
 escaliers, ere we could reach some large square rooms, twelve 
 feet wide, and seven high, cut out in pretty hard free stone 
 the first chamber led into three others : we found the itlave at 
 the foot of the stairs, seated on a chest of mummy ; she rose up, 
 threw herself at her master's feet, and respectfully kissed his 
 hand. This young Bedouin, of the tribe of the Ababdeh, had 
 been given him, it seems, in a tour he had made to Cosseyr. 
 Alliance with a Mamelouk was considered as an honour by 
 the tribe ; the Mamelouk, however, treated his spouse rather 
 roughly, but 1 ratified the conditions of peace between them. I 
 had another opportunity of seeing, in broad daylight, the yellow 
 meagre visage of the Bedouin, and her large black eyes were 
 expressive of profound acknowledgements. 
 
 While 1 remained at Thebes, my life crowded with inci- 
 dents, Avith a body overpowered with fatigue, but a mind 
 seeking only amusement and entertainment from the ad- 
 ventures of my peregrinations, my emotions become deeply 
 interested, and an acquaintance with the circumjacent scenery 
 rivetted me to the spot. At the approach of evening, reclined 
 on the batiks of the Nile, I attended to the dances of the 
 Arab Ghaoudzy, a wandering tribe, which could boast of its 
 spirited, supple, and agreeable almeli. These never marry 
 but in their own tribe ; their easy spouses live by the talents 
 and gracefiil agility of their wives, and are content to act the 
 part of butfoons in the pantomimes which they exhibit. 
 
 On this occasion, let me briefly state a circumstance some- 
 what singular, which occurs in the day time, on removing 
 from the shores of the Nile ; — thirst will give rise to a feverish 
 complaint, almost unknown in Europe, and creates a sensa- 
 tion not a little embarrassing, and which I feel myself unequal 
 to the task of explaining. It is attended with sleep and deli- 
 rium ; in general, dreams produce an accumulation of un- 
 
 * Originally a drummer, and left behind, when very young, at the time 
 of the French army leaving Egypt. He is now a zealous Mahometan, of 
 an intrepid character, and very intelligent. 
 
 Voyages and TaAViiLS, No. 1, Vol, II. H 
 
50 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 pleasing- recollections referring to charming objects, iced 
 potations, and the scenery of fresh vallies embellished by na- 
 ture, clothed nith all the beauties that fancy can create. 
 Memory lingers among these scenes which the imagination 
 inspires, and where it will still dwell, connected with all the 
 powerful, the tormenting emotions which tantalizing images 
 can excite. The memory provides a source of associations 
 that give its most terrible character to the appearances of this 
 disorder. 
 
 I had intended to visit Elephantine, (El-Sag) Syene, Philse, 
 Ibsamboul, to penetrate as far as the Isle of Meroe — but the 
 spirit of adventure must ever enter into the minds of those 
 who have any imagination, must arise to accompany it in 
 every fresh scene. Objects that have been often explored, 
 and long familiar, are only like common occurrences — the 
 ordinary events of every day. To strike with an appearance 
 of magnificence or beauty, places but little known are more 
 fitted to excite enthusiastic sentiments or ideas, to create a 
 new sense, as it were, for supporting the fatigues and priva- 
 tions of long travels. It is a remarkable fact which I cannot 
 help observing, that we would rather be the rivals than the 
 imitators only of others. To supply deficiencies is the modest 
 aim of the best authors, and we had rather advance new 
 opinions, at the hazard of expecting opposition, than tread 
 the same local rounds of parts and places, before known and 
 cited. In the new discoveries and improvements made, we 
 shall not have to combat disgust and disappointment. 
 
 An instance of this occurred to me on the spot. An English 
 family had just arrived at Thebes, on their return from the 
 Cataracts. Lord and Lady Belmour had been visiting a part 
 of Nubia, indulging themselves in all the pomp, parade, and 
 grandeur, of luxurious speculation. Four large bateaux were 
 in the train of the one w^hich conveyed them ; husbands, 
 wives, young children, chaplains, surgeons, nurses, cooks, all, 
 in various phrases, were anxiously talking of Elephantina. 
 
 But with me now the illusion vanished ; the fascination which 
 too frequently dignifies — the splendid dress that had clothed 
 my thoughts, as to those objects, had now become common 
 place; they seemed dignified trifleg, not rich enough for 
 my nobler ideas. I even quitted Luxor much sooner than I 
 intended, when, notwithstanding the dead and deep silence 
 pervading its venerable ruins, notwithstanding the absence 
 of many other interruptions, I met with one exception, an 
 English waiting- woman, in a rose-coloured spencer, a parasol 
 in her hand, crossing- me, at almost every turn. That very 
 night I set out for Tentyra. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. ^1 
 
 We descended the Nile, with a contrary wind, for my 
 kanje had at length arrived, but it was only the evening 
 before. In it came Dr. Martini, but so much an invaHd, that 
 scarely could he drag his slow body along the lengthened 
 shore, to snatch a few glimpses of Thebes. This young 
 Italian died soon after. To the inhabitants of Cairo he had 
 given a sample of his talents, and they will have to lament, 
 with unaffected sorrow, the loss of a skilful physician, of a 
 man distinguished for his erudition, wit, assiduity, and very 
 honourable moral sentiments. 
 
 The Temple of Tentyra* is situated at the distance of half 
 a league from the Nile, and at a mile's distance from a chain 
 of rocks steep and abrupt. Its platform is covered and sur- 
 rounded with the remains of a Copt city, now entirely de- 
 serted. These little buildings were constructed of earthern 
 bricks baked in the sun, and appear to be of a similar kind 
 with the ruins of Medynet Abou, bnt the temple is in better 
 preservation than those at Thebes. The paintings that de 
 corate the inner roofs and ceiling of the peristyle, still retain 
 a brilliant lustre. Here the curious spectator may investigate 
 with precision the various phenomena of that famous zodiac, 
 a subject which has embarrassed philosophers, and the dis- 
 cusson of whose theory in many particulars would, perhaps, 
 introduce a variety of changes into the religious chronology 
 that has been delivered, adopted, and handed down to our 
 days. 
 
 The Temple of Tentyra possesses all the proportions on 
 which both majesty, beauty, and simplicity are founded j it'is 
 certainly the most perfect, the most admirable, and in the 
 best possible preservation of all the Egyptian monuments that 
 we have any knowledge of; it is in fact the type and model 
 of them a^l. The sun was approaching the horizon, was 
 gilding the columns of that quadrangle, which, for centuries 
 he had been illuminating, and darkness was hovering wide, 
 with black wings, over those immense vaults. The silence of 
 this sequestered spot, the breeze of evening ruffling the heath, 
 the whole landscape presented to the mind's eye a regular 
 chain of contrasting particulars, a large variety of weighty 
 
 • The inhabitants of Tentyra were pourtrayed in ancient history as » 
 daring band, raised to a new species of renown for engaging with the croco- 
 diles, with an address and intrepidity never to be sufficiently extolled. To 
 illustrate this, by example, in all points, they were introduced into the spec- 
 tacles of the NaumachitE at Rome. I must candidly state, however, one very 
 remarkable fact counteracting this very ingenuous praise, the Tentyrites were 
 accused of canibalism, of having devoured their prisoners, in combat with the 
 vanquished inhabitjuits of Cambos. 
 
i)2 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 circumstances to engender pensiveness, mingled M'ith others^ 
 to excite ebullitions of sensibility and to enchant. We returned 
 to our bateaux in deep silence, and I gave free scope to the 
 workings of my rambling imagination, without parlying with 
 reason or the sensations that evaporate in slow investigation. 
 1 read, as it were the histoiy of past events, as I found them 
 amusing or interesting; — ancient Tentyra, the credulity of 
 its inhabitants, the numberless hidden yet powerful springs of 
 superstition, by which the juggling priests found their way to 
 the hearts of the people, the opulence, festivals, and downfall 
 of Tentyra — these scenes T reviewed, with an historical eye, 
 to which many recollections gave an insinuating interest. 
 
 While thus employed, a poor native fellfth approached me, as 
 one struck with aweand feeling a distrustful anxiety, to offer me 
 some little idols of bronze. It is not easy to free these natives 
 from the shackles that the presence of an European imposes 
 on them, nor would it have been possible for us to account for 
 such their fears, had we not been eye-witnesses of a fact that 
 may well excuse the Arabs for that aversion which they 
 continually shew to travellers. 
 
 A Frank, whose country I cannot recollect, but I feel a 
 sensible pleasure that he was no Frenchman, was making ex- 
 cavations in Upper Egypt. Being informed that an Arab had 
 discovered in his field, a vase foil of medals, he wished to 
 purchase them, but the owner, whose intention was to go 
 and sell them at Cairo, refused to bargain with him. The 
 Frank applies to the Cachef, and the fellah, when brought 
 before him, flatly denies his having made any discovery. On 
 this, his cheeks are branded with a red liot iron ; unable to 
 endure the torment, he admits the fact, and the treasure is 
 produced. The Frank and the Cachef have a fellow-feeling 
 in the low price they set on the medals, and the unhappy 
 Arab, dismissed by those that were insensible of his sufferings, 
 and dishonoured, has to lament the horrid audaciousness and 
 infamy that could thus contend for his prize, regardless of his 
 convulsive agonies. 
 
 As our vessel moved slowly and heavily, Mehemet d'Asouan, 
 the R&ys of my kanje, observing that I was reading, with my 
 back against a mast, came softly to say that Boreas was not 
 sufficiently attentive to his business, from being employed in 
 overlooking or observing me. I took the hint, and penetrat- 
 ing into his ideas, that Ave should be exposed to miscarriages, 
 if I did not immediately desist, I sstved him the labour of fur- 
 ther admonition, and closed my book on the spot. 
 
 This voyage was particularly favourable for making obser- 
 vations on the crocodiles (in Arabic temsdh) that were sleepin^^ 
 
hi 1817 and 1818 53 
 
 on sand banks, or islets, which are numerous in the river. 
 None of tliose animals appeared to me to exceed twelve or 
 fifteen feet in length. Their young lay basking beside them, 
 and the shot of a musket would precipitate the whole family 
 into the Nile. We saw a number of them in front of Crocodo- 
 polis, where this horrid animal, consecrated to Typhon,* the 
 evil principle, according to tradition, had a magnificent temple. 
 In the vicinity were also LakeMoeris, and that labyrinth which 
 Herodotus has described and embellished, with all the orna- 
 ments of style, but, without deviating, as I conceive, from, 
 historic truth. The reader, perhaps, will not be displeased 
 to find here a brief account of it. 
 
 After the death of Sethos, a priest of Vulcan, and the last 
 priest M-ho reigned over the whole of Eg)'pt, the country was 
 laid out in twelve divisions, each of which had its separate 
 monarch. These twelve princes lived in perfect harmony, 
 and resolving to bequeath to posterity some common monu- 
 ment that should commemorate their reign, they agreed, in 
 the excursiveness of an artificial fancy, to erect one of a vei*y 
 singular kind. They made choice of a labyrinth to be con- 
 structed on a plan equally calculated to attract attention and 
 admiration ; and however comprehensive the design,'the judi- 
 cous and masterly arrangements could not fail to secure the 
 success of the undertaking; The scite fixed upon was a httle 
 beyond Lake Mceris, and not far from a city called the city of 
 crocodiles. 
 
 ' I have seen and considered,' says Herodotus, ^ this speci- 
 men of Egyptian art, and, having entered distinctly into the 
 whole management, I must pay this just and animated tribute 
 of applause to it, to say that language fails to give a due and 
 full discussion of its merits. All the labours and edifices of 
 the Greeks cannot be put in competition with it, either on the 
 score of labour or expense ; all the ingenuity and diligence 
 expended on them will be found to be but scanty materials 
 compared with it. The temples of Ephesus and Samos are 
 strongly marked with features that may justly entitle them to 
 wonder, but let all the essential circumstances of their de- 
 scription be delineated, in all their peculiarities, and I aver 
 that they are exceeded by the pyramids, any one of which 
 may be safely paralleled with a number of Greek structures, 
 taken in a collective view ; the labyrinth, however, is entitled 
 
 * The word Typhon is compounded of Then, a wind, and of Phou, perni- 
 cious In like manner, the word Nephthys, a s} mbolical divinity of the 
 Eg}'ptian5, comes from Neph-theu, a country exposed to the winds. 
 
54 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 to a much more extraordinary degree of admiration than that 
 which even the pyramids can claim. 
 
 *But noAv as to its minute and more varied particulars. 
 The Labyrinth is composed of twelve courts surrounded with 
 walls, the gates of which are placed in direct opposition, six 
 to the north and six to the south, but all contiguous; the 
 whole enclosed with an uniform circumference or line of walls 
 facing the exterior country. There are two sets of apart- 
 ments, fifteen hundred subterraneous and fifteen hundred 
 above ground ; three thousand in all. 
 
 ' I visited the upper apartments and traced the interior with 
 precision ; thus I must maintain the consistency of all asser- 
 tions that stand upon my own evidence, as I can speak with 
 accuracy, from having been an eye-witness. With respect to 
 the subterranean apartments, I know nothing but from re- 
 port. The governors of the Labyrinth would not allow them 
 to be shewn, as they served for sepulchral depositories of the 
 sacred crocodiles, and of the kings who had been at the whole 
 charge of the construction. I can speak, therefore, in terms 
 strongly marked and positive, of the superior apartments, but 
 those under ground are implicated in the obscurity here im- 
 puted to them. However what I have seen of them, stands 
 in no need of confirmation from the voice of fame, as having 
 been within their limits, my knowledge of them is complete ; 
 and acting ingenuously as to a liberal confession of my senti- 
 ments, I must admit and acknowledge that I regard these 
 works as attaining the pinnacle of jierfection, and, according 
 to my ideas, surpassing every other erection that human skill 
 and industry have ever attempted to raise. In the scale of 
 comparison, there must be one exception, which is Lake 
 Moeris. 
 
 ^ We are lost in praise and wonder, when entering into the 
 details, the endless multiplicity of winding passages that lead 
 from the courts to the mansions, or principal part of the houses, 
 and from the issues or outlets that lead to other courts. Each 
 mansion has a large groupe of chambers that terminate in pas- 
 tades.* Going out of these pastades, you proceed to other 
 buildings, the chambers of which you must pass through, in 
 order to enter into other courts. 
 
 ' The roof of all these mansions is of stone as well as the 
 walls, which are every where decorated Mdth figures in bas-re- 
 lief. Every court is inclosed with a colonnade of white stones 
 in perfect contact with each other. 
 
 * Pastade denotes the space or rather tvvo-thirds of the space that Hes be- 
 tween the antes or antte. See Vitruvius on Architecture, hook vi. chapter 10. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 55 
 
 * At the angle where the Labyrinth terminates, appears a 
 pyramid of tifty orgyes on which a number of animal figures 
 have been carved. The way to it is by a souterrain. 
 
 ' This memorial of the Labyrinth cannot be viewed without 
 veneration, but in speaking of Lake Moeris in its vicinity, Ave 
 come to a still bolder flight of imagination, must take a more 
 soaring spirit, as it paints a scenery of invention and action, 
 a profusion of laborious and distant operations, that imply the 
 highest expression of capacity to form a basis for such a specu- 
 lation. 
 
 'Its circuit takes in three thousand six hundred furlongs 
 which make sixty schoenas, that is, a circumference equal in 
 extent to the whole maritime coast of Egypt. This lake, which 
 stretches longitudinally from North to South, is about fifty or- 
 gyes deep at the places where deepest. It was scooped out by 
 the hand of man, and to indicate this, might be the reason 
 which induced him to fix, altnost in the middle of the lake, 
 two pyramids, each fifty orgyes in height above the water, and as 
 many underneath. Both the pyramids are surmounted with 
 a stone colossus seated on a throne.* 
 
 Gliding with a gentle pace over the sands, we at length 
 reached the spot where the white and chalky rocks of Gebel- 
 Teyrf form a boundary to the Eastern bank. They are cut 
 perpendicularly, and flanked with natural towers ; regular grot- 
 toes at an immense height from the loop-holes. In the picture 
 of this citadel, you might find even battlements among its ge- 
 neral features. It looks like an ill-omened place, and the river 
 takes its course along the edge of its precipitous walls, with a 
 silent pace. One consequence of my examination was, that it 
 seemed to me to have been the retreat of the enchanter Mer- 
 lin ; no critical survey Avas requisite to perceive that it Avas a 
 solitary asylum for innumerable aquatic birds. A little Coptish 
 conA'ent formed an artificial apex to one of its peaks. 
 
 As all that concerns such a tableau seems above ordinary 
 curiosity, one object of its gratification occurred in a naked 
 Arab that nimbly and dexterously Avas leaping from rock to 
 rock — then he darted suddenly into a crevice of the mountain, 
 and in a few minutes rose upon the bank, springing out of a 
 cavern level Avith the Avater; we reassumed our survey of him, 
 and at that moment, we all allowed that he Avas the true image 
 of a savage. He came to ask alms. This poor Bedouin re- 
 
 * Herodotus, Hist, book ii. chap. 147 and 148, translated by Larcher. 
 t Meaning the mountain of the birds; the same word from which, by cor- 
 ruption, we have formed Gibraltar. 
 
56 . Travels in Egypt, 
 
 ceived with much pleasure, the piastre of Cairo that I gave 
 him, which he carefully lodged within his jaws; I had coupled 
 with it some fragments of bad bread which he gazed on in 
 raptures, and in an instant, he was gone to regain his dear 
 mountain, singing out, with strong and clear notes, and break- 
 ing forth into exclamations of joy. I saw with pleasure how- 
 he sported with the river god, the course and changes of the 
 current could not impede the strong and direct efforts with 
 which he imperiously buffeted the waves ; he skimmed along 
 their surface, as if they were in blind acquiescence to his au- 
 thority. In short, he afforded to me the best elucidation of 
 any thing I had seen in the Deserts; gave the best evidence of 
 what man is in his primitive state — in the state of nature. 
 
 Next day, opposite to Minyeh, we met with the captain of 
 the port of that place, who was on a visit to all those parts of 
 the bank where his authority extended. This man, a Turk of 
 Natolia, had been of service to me ; his manners were soft 
 and courteous ; he came on board my kanje to smoke his pipe ; 
 he afterwards drank some coffee, accepted of the half of a 
 sheep and a looking-glass, and made me ample offers of 
 service. Afterwards he set out for Qaou. The temple for- 
 merly visible in this village is altogether in ruins ; one erect 
 column only remains; its base is undermined by the river, any 
 sudden rise of which would doubtless overthrow this last ves- 
 tige of a grand building. The wind turning favourable, we 
 moved rapidly along the front of Mount Colzoum, by Beny- 
 Soueyf, and the banks of Arsinoe, so celebrated for its canals, 
 culture, gardens, and the perfume of its roses. 
 
 On my landing at Old Cairo, I was saluted with a hearty 
 welcome, by M. Gounaud, a Lyonnese, and a very ingenious 
 mechanician, who had just been establishing several manufac- 
 tures, on account of the pacha of Egypt. Thebes is to Cairo, 
 what Cairo may be considered in relation to Marseilles, and so 
 I could fancy that I had already arrived in Europe. 
 
 I was also hailed with the congratulations of the Franks 
 who frequently came to declare their decided satisfaction at my 
 return. All the European travellers distinctly pronounced 
 their keen regrets for the loss of two individuals in favour of 
 whom they all seemed interested. It would be very difficult 
 to supply the place of M .Bourchardt, of Basle, who, though a 
 young man, had already attained the highest celebrity for his 
 erudition and enterprise ; for that strong character of explor- 
 ing, tinith and acquiring novel information ; for that love of 
 oriental literature ( he was expert in the eastern languages ) 
 which he had uniformly displayed — all which claim the praise 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 57 
 
 of pre-eminent excellence. M. Bourchardt was known in 
 Egypt by the name of Cheykh Ibrahym ; he had lived in habi- 
 tual intercourse with the Arabs, appeared in their costume, 
 made a profession of their religion, had been long famiUarized 
 to the Desert, and Avas making preparations to penetrate into 
 the interior of Africa, when he was suddenly, in the course 
 of a few days, carried off by an acute distemper. Cheykh 
 Ibrahym was in the pay of the British goverment and devoted 
 to the English interest. His MSS. which are said to be very 
 curious, have been consigned to the care of the English consul. 
 
 The Chevalier de Lascaris, whose recent death was not so 
 pungently deplored, and whose life had been a scene of agita- 
 tion, had followed the fortune of general Buonaparte, after the 
 capitulation which put Malta into his possession ; fame reports 
 that he was privy to and a party concerned in the negociation 
 which was succeeded by that treaty. He grew weary of the 
 military service, and leti the French army, to remain in the 
 East, when they quitted Egypt. 
 
 In his peregrinations among the Arabs, he took a number of 
 wives ; his restless humour brought him at length to Cairo, 
 where Mohamed Pacha employed him in the instruction of his 
 icoglans, pages. He complained rather too freely of the in- 
 feriority of his situation, and it is thought that his intriguing 
 temper and indiscreet menaces were the means of hastening 
 his death, some unnatural circumstances of which gave rise 
 to a suspicion of poison. Such was the calamitous exit of the 
 descendant of one of the princes of Trebisond. 
 
 M. the Abb^ de Janson had arrived at Cairo from a tour in 
 Syria, on the very day of my return to Thebes. The fatigues 
 of travelling had brought a serious complaint on him, which 
 the religious of the convent of the Holy Land, with whom he 
 lodged, were endeavouring to relieve, with the tenderest solici- 
 tude. 
 
 In the hopes of deriving advantage from a communication 
 of his excursion to Mount Libanus, to Balbeck, and to Damas- 
 cus, I requested a note from him to the Emir Beschir, a prince 
 of the Maronites and Druses, wiio resides in the neighbour- 
 hood o( Deyer-el-Kamar, or the convent of the moon on Mount 
 Libanus, so as to observe and comment on scenes and districts 
 in a portion of Asia but little known. He entertained me with 
 hopes ; but his ultimate refusal gave me reason to conclude that 
 he meant to publish his own observations without my partici- 
 pation. 
 
 At the time of my return to Cairo, my attention was uni- 
 versally directed to Arabia Felix, and notwithstanding the suc- 
 
 VoYAGEs and Travels, No. 1. Vol. 11. 1 
 
58 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 ^cessful enterprizes of the pacha against the Wechabites, Egypt 
 was not without alarms as to the issue of the war.* 
 
 These Wechabites, animated with a double portion of the 
 military and religious spirit, were not discouraged with a few 
 reverses, but bore in mind that a few years before they had 
 been in possession of Mecca and Medina. This insurrection 
 originated with two Arabs, who, after sailing to Persia and Ma- 
 labar, taken up with commercial speculations, fell to reasoning 
 upon and weighing the diversity of religions that every where 
 prevailed, and hence they came to adopt the doctrine of uni- 
 versal toleration. 
 
 The fundamental principles of the Wechabites ai-e, that God 
 alone is the object of adoration and invocation; that addresses 
 to any prophet, in our prayers, is a-kin to idolatry; that 
 Moses, Jesus Christ, Mahomet, &c. were indeed great men, 
 gifted with an original bias for doing all possible good, that their 
 actions were edifying, &c. but that neither the angel Gabriel, 
 nor any other celestial spirit ever stamped with inspiration 
 any work that has hitherto appeared among mortals. 
 
 One of these two Arabs, named Ahd-el-Ouaheb, had created 
 an independent estate in the Nadjd, about the year 1760; the 
 second, called Me/crami/, Cheykh of Nadjeran, had adopted the 
 opinions of the former, and by his valour and perseverance, 
 acquired a respectable sovereignty in those countries. 
 
 The present chief of the Wechabites is named Abdoul MaS' 
 saoud;f he was then closely besieged in the city of Deryeh, 
 the capital of Yemen. This place, according to report, had 
 been invested by the troops of Mohamed Aly, in which ser- 
 vice the experience and bravery of a French officer, named Ves- 
 sieres, had shone very conspicuous. The pacha entertained 
 me with eulogiums on his character, in a conversation with that 
 prince at Alexandria. 
 
 The principal dependence of the Wechabites is on a nume- 
 rous cavaliy, which incessantly harasses an enemy, attacks con- 
 voys from points the most distant, and proves a constant source 
 of terror to the two large caravans of Cairo and Damascus, 
 when proceeding to Mecca or on their return. The war, how- 
 ever, has a tendency to exalt the pacha in the opinion of the 
 
 *Now that we have more ample information, it appears that the prompt 
 measures of the pacha have been more decisive and fortunate than appear- 
 ances bespoke when I was in his country. 
 
 t Later intelUgence from Egypt announces the capture of Deryeh and the 
 entire subversion of the power of the Wechabites. Abdoul-Massaoud was sent 
 prisoner to Constantinople and put to death, after suffering the most excru- 
 ciating tortwres. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 59 
 
 Turks, and so far it proves of advantage to him. They consi- 
 der him as the defender and avenger of the Mahometan faith 
 The war has likewise furnished him with an opportmiity o 
 completely occupying or exterminating the Albanese militia, 
 that after placing Mohamed Aly on the throne of Egypt, were 
 perpetually conspiring against him, and whose chiefs had 
 twice given up to pillage the richest bazars of Cairo.* 
 
 Here let me indulge in a strain of honest praise, while I en- 
 large a little on the merits of several Franks, which have been 
 strongly impressed on my mind, and whose conduct does ho- 
 nour to their feelings ; they have claims of no ordinary force 
 upon my gratitude. 
 
 M. Asselin de Chervitte, vice-consul of France, possesses a 
 very honourable portion of general information, united with 
 the most conspicuous modesty. His knowledge of oriental 
 languages is vei*y considerable ; the result of his interesting 
 studies and researches will one day enroll him among the emi- 
 nent benefactors to mankind. 
 
 M. Gaspary may well be noticed among the travellers, as 
 having attended me to the pyramids. M. Duclos, a French 
 merchant, treated me with the hospitality of his house in the 
 Franks' quarter (Fy-l-hara-el-Franguy) ; his good will anb 
 wishes are desei^ving of the greatest praise. Madame Bar- 
 thelemy, niece to the author of the Travels of Young Anarchar 
 sis, was born in the Le\'ant, but has been several times inEu- 
 rope. Her mind is imbued with the vivacity of youth, and throws 
 a veil over her years, in reference to the events of which she 
 always speaks in the handsomest manner of Voltaire's kind 
 behaviour to her. 
 
 I must enumerate among the leading persons employed in 
 commerce M. Colliere and M. Mongin, for the Avarm attach- 
 ment to, and personal interest in my concerns, which they 
 evinced. 
 
 I must not forget Dr. Dussap whom to quote fairly, and cer- 
 tainly without any deviation from the truth, we must represent 
 as a most curious and important fac-simile of one of the an- 
 cient pupils of Hippocrates, so well were his manners, dispo- 
 sition, and habit adapted to his local situation ; a physiognomy 
 
 * I have been assured hy some that the pacha, hemmed in by those rebels 
 in the citadel of Cairo, had insinuated to them underhand, that pillaging the 
 warehouses would be more proiitable than an increase of pay; the tempting 
 lure succeeded beyond all expectation; the pacha was emancipated, and he 
 indemnified the merchants ot Cairo in the sequel. In a few days the pacha 
 saw himself standing on a still higher ground. A little money proved an 
 additional stimulus to those whose delight was havoc, those dogs of war, who 
 brought him in the heads of all the ringleaders of the sedition. 
 
CO Travels in Egypt, 
 
 expressive of coolness and calmness, a robe depicting the clia" 
 racters of learning and respectability ; a comely beard, a solemn 
 and dignified d<?portment — these circumstances appear to 
 have been admirably expressive of his strong mind, such as Ave 
 might well impute to those Greek physicians that abounded 
 in the courts of the ancient sovereigns of Asia. 
 
 A surgeon of the name of Royerhad recently lost his life, 
 in a way (if it be not presumption to speak thus on such a 
 subject) that looked like some decisive operation of Providence, 
 or receiving the stroke of divine vengeance. This criminal 
 ruffian undertook the charge of poisoning, at Jaffa, the few 
 wounded men that the French army had been obliged to leave 
 behind, after raising the siege of St. Jean d'Aci'e. Destitute 
 of that intrepid courage which Desgenettes possessed ; unable 
 to imitate his heroic refusal, this detestable villian put in execu- 
 tion the cruel orders that consigned to death those innocent 
 and unfortunate sufferers. This wretched man had fixed his 
 residence in Egypt, as it is doubtful whether the declared ex- 
 isting laws in France would have permitted him to live. A 
 slight fall from his horse gave rise to an ulcerous wound that 
 rendered him peculiarly obnoxious ; besides being in such a 
 predicament that his very bowels were preyed upon, we need 
 not be surprised that the most horrible torments, with all the 
 ravings of a madman, should attend his catastrophe. 
 
 I often repaired to the house of M. Macardley, who acts -as 
 vicegerent for the consulate of Austria and that of Russia, on 
 the behalf of M. Rosetti. 1 have beheld and contemplated 
 this venerable, blind, and paralytic person, who long acted a 
 brilliant part under the goverment of the Beys, and is now 
 eighty-two years of age. M. Rosetti Avas the friend and confi- 
 dant of Mourad, and under him acquired a considerable for- 
 tune Avhich he expends in a very noble way. Being an expert 
 negociator, he was ever employed in any political transactions 
 that Egypt might be concerned in Avith the European powers. 
 He remains only the shadow of what he was thirty years ago, 
 in importance of character. He was knoA^m to the Arabs by 
 the name of Khaoiidg-el-Kebyr, meaning the great merchant. 
 Robed in furs, Avith slaves to support his long pipe, he smokes 
 away his time, the only source of recreation now left him. 
 
 M. Bogthi, the Swedish consul, from Avhose family I have re- 
 ceived favours and attentions equivalent to those of Monsieur 
 and Madame Macardley, is a conductor of the manufactories 
 set on foot by the pacha of Egypt. He has introduced to the 
 pacha a digested plan for subjecting the Avaters of the Nile to 
 new irrigations. A most unlucky accident had lately taken 
 place in this family. Madame Bogthi had inadvertently gone 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 61 
 
 out into the streets of Cairo with her daughter, aged fourteen, 
 and both dressed in the European style ; a mob pursued them, 
 and a fanatic soldier killed the unfortunate daughter, in her 
 mother's arm8, M^ith a pistol-shot. 
 
 I must not quit Cairo, as a subject, without taking some no- 
 tice of the depraved manners that disgrace the character of its 
 inhabitants. Never have the vices been so expertly trained 
 to the full career of profligacy ; never has infamy so largley 
 emanated from a libidinous effrontery, unparalleled in its acti- 
 vity. The grandees set the example, and their devices to flat- 
 ter and inflame the passions, are imitated by the mass of the 
 people, on every occasion and in every shape. The second 
 person officiating in the government, far from concealing his 
 base inclinations, makes a shew of them openly, as the objects 
 of the same may be readily characterized and distinguished 
 by the beauty of their horses, and the novelty as well as splen- 
 dour of their costume. 
 
 From this discreditable choice and taste, the women are so 
 far neglected that it is often difficult to find purchasers for the 
 most beautiful of slaves. The public baths are the special 
 places of resort ventilated with all the poisonous and glowing 
 passions ; their dreadful area contains all that is so terrible to 
 the moral feelings, so prejudicial and fatal to the cause of 
 virtue. It is melancholy to reflect that the Christians are not 
 exempt from the contagion of such infectious immoralities ; 
 they can talk, without a blush, of their tenderness, their jea- 
 lousy, and a thousand other corresponding associations. 
 
 In order to proceed to Rosetta, called by the Arabs Rachyd, 
 I embarked in a Mdch, a trading vessel loaded with articles of 
 commerce. We had to regret our not having pitched upon a 
 lighter vessel, as we were dreadftilly annoyed by the rats. 
 Never did I behold any so large, so daring, and in such num- 
 bers. We passed by the ruins of Terraneh, the point from 
 which travellers proceed to the desert of St. Macarius. A 
 number of monasteries, amongst them those of Syrien and St. 
 George, are still inhabited by the Copts. These religious live 
 in extreme poverty, and are in possession of valuable MSS. 
 written on the skin of the antelope ; their convents lie on the 
 route of the Oasis of Syouah. 
 
 We should have obtained ample information and interesting 
 details relative to all this part of Egypt, if the unfortunate 
 death of colonel Boutin had not occurred. This French of- 
 ficer was no less distinguished for the depth and variety of his 
 information, than for his courage, fortitude, and equanimity : 
 when on the eve of returning to his countiy, he was assassi- 
 nated detween Balbeck and Tripoli. 
 
62 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 M. Davenat, first drogoman to the consulate of France in 
 Egypt, has been making the tour of the Great Oasis. The 
 iiiins of the temple of Amnion, are at present, for the most 
 part, hid under the waters of the lake, which yet admit of a 
 glimpse of stones, pillars, and broken statues in an immense 
 quantity.* The Arabs of the Oasis of Ammon are rapacious, 
 and entertain jealous fears of the Europeans, so that few travel- 
 lers have been able to penetrate to these celebrated ruins, and 
 all conspire to speak of them in a vague or mysterious manner. 
 They lie west of the Coptic convents, and of the valley of the 
 lakes of Natron, about three days journey and a half; these 
 lakes are passable by means of an immense surface or cause- 
 way covered with petrified M'^ood. 
 
 The two shores of the Nile up to Rosetta, are replenished 
 with villages constantly embowered with palm-trees. Osman 
 Aga was then commanding a camp of Albanese in the plain of 
 Foveh, on the eastern bank of the Nile. Proceeding in our 
 route, we came opposite to Semenoud, the place where the 
 canal that carries the waters of the Nile to Alexandria in the 
 time of inundation, so as to fill the vast cisterns of that city, 
 terminates. 
 
 No where did I perceive the face of nature so smiling, so 
 debonair, but no where are the passions, the human face divine, 
 veiled in modifications of such a heart-rending melancholy. 
 Never did I view a picture so replete with a silent musing, 
 gloomy as night — a picture of oppressed man, bewailing his 
 adverse fortune, indulging unremitted grief, as at Rosetta. 
 The landscape is the greenest, the freshest, the most animated 
 and exhilarating, for the gayest ornaments of nature that 
 Egypt any where exhibits, but all this unrivalled beauty and 
 softness disappear to the wretched inhabitants, whose cada- 
 verous looks fall dejected on the ground, their strength wither- 
 ing or lost, under the cim^ter of Hallil Effendy, govenpr of 
 Rosetta. 
 
 The plague had begun its ravages in Rosetta, and I fre- 
 quently witnessed its forlorn victims forsaken of all, lan- 
 guishing under the groves of banana-trees, pomegranates, and 
 orange-trees, that lined the adjacent banks; there those un- 
 fortunate persons breathed out their last sighs, in the cruel* 
 and convulsive agonies of despair. I could not reconcile my 
 ideas to the voluptuous scenes pourtrayed, in such lively co- 
 lours, by Savary. With difficulty can I persuade myself, that 
 
 * See W. G. Brown's Travels into Upper and Lower Egypt, and into the 
 Darfgur ; as also F. Ilornemann's Travels into the Interior of Africa, 
 
Tn 1817 and 1818. 63 
 
 the models of the charming scenes which he depicted were 
 to be found under the palm-groves of the Delta. 
 
 Rosetta was built in the time of the califs, near the ruins 
 of a city, the vestiges of which may yet be traced in the vi- 
 cinity of the convent of Abou-Mandour. Some thousands of 
 bateaux were waiting for a southerly wind, to enable them to 
 clear the bogMz or bar of the Nile. The wind in any other 
 point, raises a conflict between the waves of the sea and the 
 waters of the river ; this struggle and these swellings often 
 prove fatal to vessels attempting to weather this dangerous 
 passage. The river currents are daily changing, and it would 
 be a needless task to look for its ancient mouths, Canopicus 
 and Bolbitena. We may easily compute the quantum of land 
 gained from the sea by the Delta, if we consider that the 
 castle of Rachyd was erected for a protection to the shore, 
 though at present three leagues distant from it. 
 
 I had intended to visit Saleh-Agiar, the ruins of the ancient 
 Sais, on the temple of which was legible that famous inscrip- 
 tion. 'I am what I am, what I always have been, what I 
 always shall be ; no mortal has ever lifted up the lappet of 
 my robe !' 
 
 I beUeve it is in the chapter of accidents that researches 
 might be advantageously prosecuted, not only in Saleh-Agiar, 
 but also in Atrib, the ancient AthribeSy as also at Bahbeyt, for- 
 merly Isidis Oppidum, at Imay el-Emdyd, the ancient Tlimuis, 
 in Mogdan, which was Bubastis, through which the famous 
 canal of the Ptolomies passed, and lastly at Butis, where stood 
 the sanctuaiy of Latona, consisting of a single block of gra- 
 nite brought from Upper Egypt. 
 
 We afterwards crossed the Desert in order to go to Alexan- 
 dria, and it proved a long journey. Not the slightest vestige 
 remains of the rich Canopus, or its temple dedicated to Se- 
 rapis; the name of this city signifies the land of gold. It had 
 a pottery of earthen pitchers, and there are vases of an ele- 
 gant form that still bear the name of Canopus. Further on is 
 Aboukir,* doubly famous for an unfortunate display of valour 
 in thd French marine, and for a signal victory which our army 
 gained there on a more solid element. The shores hereabout, 
 illuminated by the dreadful conflagration, astounded by the 
 tremendous cannonade, re-echoing with the groans of so 
 
 * There are not above a hundred inhabitants now resident at Aboukir. 
 Whatever antiquities it might have afforded have been buried under heaps of 
 sand, in the course of the last fifteen or twenty years. The present pacha 
 made some attempts to fish up the relics of the naval combats, but he has 
 now abandoned all thoughts or it as they are too deep sunk in the mud. No 
 sounding or diving hitherto could come at a single cannon. 
 
64 Traveb in Egypt, 
 
 many wounded men, are now sombrous, silent, and deserted. 
 The sea has frequently disgorged enormous fragments of those 
 floating fortresses which it had formerly devoured. 
 
 After tracing the banks of lake Madyeh, after having seen 
 the ruins of the Taposiris Paroa of antiquity, I arrived very 
 late at the first ward or quarter of Alexandria, by the Arabs 
 called Iskanderyeh. This city is defended by walls, with battle- 
 ments, and gates of an imposing appearance ; a large and 
 deep foss embraces the whole circuit of the walls. In one 
 part of this vast space, we find the modern Alexandria. The 
 adjacent territory, for half a league before you arrive at the 
 walls, is strewed or rather covered with ruins. I particularly 
 noticed some Mosaic pavements in tolerable preservation. 
 
 There are ruins here that even overspread other ruins. 
 Two or three mutilated and demolished Alexandrias, thus 
 repose one over the other. The buildings have crumbled 
 away, the space which they occupied is indicated by massive 
 heaps /)f earth covered over with columns and fragments of 
 costly marble. One solitary obelisk aspires to raise its head 
 above all this scene of desolation ; another has been over- 
 thrown, and lies prostrate over some half opened vaults, which 
 serve as an asylum for a number of dogs, without owners. 
 
 The pillar of Dioclesian standing on an elevation, presides 
 over the melancholy region, like a triumphant monument an- 
 nouncing the achievements of human skill and industry, over 
 Neptune's empire. For it is certain that the sea once washed 
 a large portion of that district which subsequently had been 
 decorated with theatres, palaces temples, hot-baths, &c. the 
 grace and glory of that Alexandria which formed a very con- 
 siderable image of Thebes and of Memphis. A castle indif- 
 ferently fortified serves to protect the Isle of Pharos, whose 
 very name has long been made use of, to designate marine 
 monuments of a similar destination. The lights placed in the 
 night on the height of this magnificent tower were enrolled 
 among the stars by the gratitude of the mariners, as expres- 
 sive of analogous benefits. 
 
 Difficulties multiply upon all such as would ascertain the 
 sumptuous palace of the Ptolemies, that vast library superior 
 to all others as an immense deposit of human knowledge. 
 There it was that fanaticism, ignorance, and absolute power 
 gained an easy but cruel victory over science, polite literature, 
 philosophy, and historical antiquities. 
 
 What would the conqueror of proud Tyre, whose great name 
 is referred to Avhenever Alexandria engages attention, what 
 would he behold, whose active zeal founded the city, for the 
 promotion of commerce, and the diffusion of reciprocal ad- 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 65 
 
 vantages to European and African Society, should his great 
 shade arise to investigate those tracts that once were the 
 arena of his glory ? 
 
 One monument yet remains here of the primitive church ; 
 it was dedicated to St. Athanasius, and had been supplied in 
 rich abundance with the spoils of palaces and temples. A 
 barbarous task has perverted those materials to a bad use, 
 yet it is certain that its general appearance maintains a to- 
 lerably consistent style of grandeur. It is now transformed 
 into a mosque, but it is a neglected spot ; devotion here has 
 become sterile and unproductive, and in a short time, this 
 sanctuary that reminds us of Chrysostom, Eusebius, and 
 Origen — writers that Mali ever be read with pleasure and in- 
 struction — will be buried in its own i*uins. We see the lofty 
 arches in every part giving way. 
 
 Alexandria was the scene of Mark Antony's deep and re- 
 peated debaucheries ; there the luxury of Cleopatra (if not 
 ever young, ever voluptuous) appeared inexhaustible. Alex- 
 andria was the gymnasium of the earlier Christians, the school 
 of the wranglers and subtle disputants of that theological 
 world, where all the sourest passions were interested and 
 agitated ; where the pampered minds were hurried into actions 
 that posterity will not suffer to pass unreproved. 
 
 But what is modern Alexandria? Speaking pointedly and 
 positively, it is a wretched place that only fills us with asto- 
 nishment, by impressions of the past, and from which we 
 turn with disgust, surveying what it is at present. At one 
 time, two millions of inhabitants monopolized the commerce of 
 the world; that conscious superiority is now lost in a con- 
 temptuous view of ashes and fragments. Its shores seem 
 amazed at the terrific forebodings of the ocean which is furi- 
 ously encroaching upon that whole line of coast — marbles, 
 Avhose lustre astonishes the poor Arab, are half sunk in froth 
 and waves. The clouded colours of the jasper, the agate, 
 and alabaster that he stumbles on, make him believe that the 
 soil here contains hidden treasures ; he calls to mind the tra- 
 ditions of the aged, and the marvellous stories of his child- 
 hood ; then eagerly searching for gold which he never finds, 
 his hand w ill sometimes lay hold of cameos and other valu- 
 able gems, that embellished the forehead of ancient and ad- 
 mired princes, or clothed with additional beauty the neck of 
 ' some Egyptian belle. 
 
 The first subject to surprise or affect me, on my en- 
 trance into the city, was the spectacle of an execution. A 
 thinking mind would be shocked at the little attention paid 
 in this country to humanity, in the case of punishment*. 
 
 Voyages and Travels, No. 1, Vol. II. K 
 
66 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 The Motdceh, an officer of the police, whose task it is to su- 
 perintend the regulation of weights and measures, in the dis- 
 charge of his duty, was every day cutting off the noses and 
 ears of the delinquents. On this occasion, he was inflicting 
 punishment on an oil merchant convicted of using light 
 weights and measures. To make up the deficiency of this 
 man's weights, they were extracting blood from his body, till 
 a sufficient quantum was procured. 
 
 Mohamed Aly, Pacha of Egypt, was then in Alexan- 
 dria, encircled by a numerous and brilliant court. He has 
 erected a palace here, and some considerable buildings to 
 serve for a seraglio ; these are situated beyond the ancient 
 harbour. His harem, as I am informed, consists of five hun- 
 dred women, who he studiously endeavours to humour and 
 entertain, indulging them in their pleasures, and frequently 
 loading them with rich presents. A train of eunuchs, 
 (chaouchyj, without end, are ever on the alert in their 
 service. 
 
 From his terrace may be seen the two harbours, Diocle- 
 sian's pillar, the Needles of Cleopatra, the porta Canopica, or 
 Gate of Rosetta, the antique baths, the khalydj, or ruins on 
 the banks of the canal, which the eye cannot penetrate to the 
 end of; including a part of the desert of Cyrene, which is 
 nothing but a plain of sand, with a very small quantity of the 
 plant el-kaly growing on it, and also an extensive view of the 
 ocean. 
 
 Some Albanese of Mohamed's guard were then at their ex- 
 ercise, shooting at a mark ; it seemed one part of their amuse- 
 ment to make their balls whistle in the ears of such as were 
 proceeding to the palace. The roaring noise of this mus- 
 ketry came so near the apartment wherein I was first intro- 
 duced to the pacha, that it was with difficulty we could hear 
 each other speak. 
 
 My reception was most gracious ; Mohamed Aly expressed 
 his concern at his being absent from Cairo, during my resi- 
 dence there. His physiognomy has an air of animation, and 
 his looks are full of expression. He was smoaking ; his Ver- 
 million narquill^ was completely studded with diamonds. I 
 remarked in the hall of audience, what is rather uncommon 
 among the Turks, a portrait of the Grand Seignior. It was 
 taken down that I might view the detestable object more 
 attentively. Mohamed had just received this present from 
 his highness, who had not done amiss in coupling Avith it a 
 ring or diamond of enormous bulk. Mahomed Aly respect- 
 fully applied this to his forehead, before I was permitted to 
 admire it. He had made a return for this favour, by just 
 
In 1817 and 1818 <ft 
 
 sending off for Constantinople an elephant and some panthers, 
 but very little money. 
 
 Mohamed's conversation is often interrupted, by a sort of 
 convulsive sob or hiccup. It was the effect, as common fame 
 reports, of a violent poison, whose fatal progress had been 
 prevented in time, but so as to leave this complaint, for the 
 relief of which the most skilful physicians in Europe have been 
 consulted to no purpose. 
 
 A mode of living so voluptuous and yet so replete with agi- 
 tation, must inevitably shorten his days, but the representa- 
 tions of his confidants make no impression on his very ardent 
 inclinations, nor can they check the gratification of his sensual 
 passions. 
 
 Several instances are quoted of gratitude, which the pacha 
 has evinced, and which do honom* to his character. Very 
 lately he made strict search for an European consul, formerly 
 residing at Cavalla, Mohamed's county, where the consul had 
 rendered services to Mohamed's family, and even to himself, 
 then only a simple chief of the janissaries. The consul was 
 found to be in a condition bordering on wretchedness, but 
 when he came to understand the promises, the importunities, 
 the letters of Mohamed, the sudden change of fortune, so re- 
 quisite apparently for promoting most effectually his welfare 
 and happiness, operated so differently on a languid and en- 
 feebled frame, that it brought on his premature dissolution. 
 In matters of religious faith, this prince is very tolerant, and 
 he makes no scruple of drinking in public, the wines of 
 Chyr&z, of Cyprus, and of Bourdeaux. 
 
 In the height of our conversation, while Mohamed was 
 speaking of France, with a lively interest, evincing an acu- 
 rate acquaintance with her situation and resources, some Arab 
 Bedouins were introduced, of the tribe of Oubid Aly, who 
 presented him with a young panther, a white antelope, and a 
 small ostrich. At this Mohamed Aly smiled; the Bedouins 
 prostrate, crawled to kiss the hem of his robe, and remained 
 in that position, till raised by the Chiaoux, who drove them 
 from the divan or hall with little ceremony. 
 
 Yousouf Boghos, first drogoman and confidential minister 
 to Mohamed Aly, served me for interpreter, whenever I had 
 occasion to wait on the pacha, which happened not unfre- 
 quently during my residence in Alexandria. M. Drovetti iic- 
 compauied me occasionally, and those interviews frequently 
 lasted several hours. 
 
 The pacha testified an inclination to live on an amicable 
 footing with the King of France, the reputation of whose 
 great and amiable qualities he was no stranger to, I ex- 
 
(J8 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 pounded to him more fully, the true situation and circum- 
 stances of France, in relation to the rest of Europe, and he 
 seemed willing to profit by my ideas. 
 
 When our acquaintance had ripened into intimacy, he per- 
 mitted me to make a drawing of his portrait; he likewise 
 would have me take one of M. Drovetti in his presence, and he 
 was not a little surprised at the resemblance. On the subject 
 of sketches and drawings, he expressed dissatisfaction with 
 the plans which he had just received from his son Ibr^hym 
 Pacha, and from which it was not easy to judge of his opera- 
 tions in the Hedj^z. 
 
 Mohamed Aly frequently entertained us with the history of 
 his projects, of the difficulties constantly arising to retard the 
 progress of the foundries and various manufactories which he 
 had established ; he descanted on the bad faith of the chiefs, the 
 awkwardness of the workmen, the scanty materials to be pro- 
 cured from Europe, in the way of instruction to render them 
 more intelligent, though he had sent a number of agents into 
 Europe for the purpose. 
 
 He would, at times, indulge in a transition to the system of 
 defence which he had set up for the whole maritime coast of 
 Egypt ; then he would dwell with complacency on the pro- 
 bable advantages — advantages which the event has realized. 
 With pleasure he greeted the recollection of the fruitless at- 
 tempt made by the English, in their second invasion; and he 
 prognosticates, after their late successes in Europe, that seeing 
 his Albanese had repulsed the British forces, they might ven- 
 ture to cope with the elite of European discipline and tactics. 
 
 The pacha does not fail to commemorate the behaviour of 
 the French army in the several actions of the pyramids, of 
 Aboukir, and of Heliopolis, and to recount the bons mots and 
 traits of generosity of individual soldiers. The orientals, in 
 general, testify a high regard for that cool intrepidity which 
 can calmly brave the terrors of death, which can conquer 
 without abusing victory, without indulging in improper modes 
 of treating a vanquished enemy. 
 
 I have heretofore made mention of Armenians and Greeks 
 in the circle of Mahomed Aly's retinue. It was in the reign 
 of Mahomet IV." that the grand vizier Cuprogli, for the first 
 time, took Greeks into his service, employing them in his most 
 secret consultations relative to his public and private affairs. 
 Panagiotti was the first drogoman publicly officiating in that 
 character to the Ottoman Porte, and there have not been 
 wanting since a number of Greeks elevated to the most con- 
 fidiental situations. 
 
 In Mohamed's court there are likewise Italian adventurers 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 69 
 
 who contend with the Greeks for the palm of superiority ; this 
 repacious band are incessantly urging him on to undertakings 
 and commercial speculations that may be pronounced imprac- 
 ticable, their only aim being to secure an employment or pre- 
 ferment for themselves, and to provide additional resources for 
 pushing their fortunes ; they are for the most part bankrupts 
 from Genoa, Leghorn, Trieste, or even from Smyrna. 
 
 In the pacha's court, as in those of Europe, there is much 
 of that sinister feeling and genuine suppleness which can 
 assume the humblest demeanor in the master's presence, but 
 when his back is turned, presuming upon the apathy and dismay 
 of inferiors, who have been long and well inured to submission, 
 will indiscriminately go lengths the most censurable and un- 
 natural, and that too on the most trifling occasions, more ef- 
 fectually to display the malignity of an unbounded insolence. 
 Under the turban as under the hat with feathers, these self- 
 same characters, let favour but cool, or fortune turn tail upon 
 them, and the grace of humility exerts on them her highest, 
 her most brilliant powers; to all aj^pearance, they become 
 polite, humane, and generous. 
 
 Disgraced courtiers talk at Cairo as much as they do at 
 Paris, of their very zealous and sincere intentions to have 
 corrected faults, to have made alterations and done an infinity 
 of good, had not a reverse of fortune prevented their being 
 favoured with opportunities. Under the meridian of the 
 Egyptian court similar qualities will excite similar feelings, 
 habits, or modes, as under the Parisian ; here we see many 
 plausible characters, in a variety of ways, contriving to reap 
 fame or advantage, not from any excellence inherent to them- 
 selves, but from the ingenious hints or services of others. In 
 a word, in the oriental divans we meet with a groupe of cha- 
 racters basking with the liveliest sensations and emotions in 
 court sunshine, always ready to derive some advantage from 
 the downfall of their best friends, if the event can be foreseen, 
 and if other circumstances will let them pursue such au object 
 with infallible effect. 
 
 It is true, however, that the convulsions of Europe have 
 brought into Egypt a number of unfortunate but worthy in- 
 dividuals, men of sense and honesty ; but the pacha, so often 
 imposed on by designing men, will decide equally on all being 
 alike, and will entertain such a distrust of Europeans, that 
 men of honour and character will be involved in a condemna- 
 tion pronounced on a phalanx of intriguers. 
 
 Mohamed Aly's inclinations are decidedly for commerce ; 
 he is thought to be concerned in the house and firm of Briggs, 
 at Alexandria. It is English merchants that almost monopo- 
 
70 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 lize and manage the trade to India, by the route of Suez. The 
 pacha reaps some advantage through the medium of this in- 
 tercourse, which he encourages, as from the customs he draws 
 back a part of the money he has laid out. A rate of twelve 
 per cent, is charged on all goods coming from India, such as 
 china, muslins, tea, pepper, rhubarb, silk, refined sugar, in- 
 digo, cinnamon, nankeen, white cottons of every price, coifee, 
 Cashmire shawls, tapissendies from Palliacata and from Visa- 
 pour, and sheets (chitesj from Masulipatan and from Ama- 
 dabad. 
 
 Connected as it was thought with some mere mercantile 
 project, the pacha had just sent off YousefBozzaire, brother to 
 his physician, to Bombay, with 500,000 piastres of the genuine 
 stamp and full value; the real object was not certainly known. 
 No where is money so depreciated as in Egypt; it has no 
 standard, no intrinsic value. Were it not that the pacha 
 resorts to the most vigorous and tyrannical measures, to en- 
 force the exchange of the talari, at nine piastres, the piastre 
 of Spain would at least be worth twelve piastres of Cairo. At 
 Mecca twelve piastres are equivalent to a talari, and on this • 
 footing the pacha pays his troops, now in pursuit of the We- 
 chabites, and who are at Deryeh, the capital of Hedj^z. The 
 piastre of Egypt, which is not really worth more than eight 
 sous of France, twenty years ago was worth five and twenty. 
 The fact is that the coin is adulterated; it contains but a small 
 portion of silver ; lead and copper are its chief ingredients. * 
 
 The myry is generally rated according to the extent of the 
 lands, including some valuation of the product. The feddSnf 
 impost may amount to eight pataques or eight English shil- 
 lings, but the fellahs are, besides, subjected to several indirect 
 contributions that two often look like downright extortion. 
 
 As the goverment is entirely military, every thing depends 
 on the will of the chief; and his privy- counsellors are such 
 only as he admits into his familiarity. The inhabitants of the 
 capital, and especially the foreign merchants, look back with 
 regret on the government of the Mamelouks who never con- 
 cerned themselves with trade, while Mohamed Aly has succes- 
 
 * Pieces of tea and five (parahs) when exehanged for piastres and demi- 
 piastres, bear a premium of six or seven per cent, and the real genuine parahs 
 a premium of thirty to thirty-five. The reason of which is, that it is only 
 these latter that will pass at Constantinople. There is another coin also 
 current called mughhauby; these are gold sequins and worth ten piastres. A 
 fourth part of the maghouby is equal to two piastres and a half. The sequin 
 of Venice is equal to twenty-one piastres of Cairo ; the doubloon of Spain to 
 one hundred and forty-four piastres. 
 
 f The feddan is the quantum of land which a pair of oxen can plow over 
 in a day amounting to very nsar an acre. 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 7! 
 
 sively engrossed some of its most important branches. In the 
 lapse of about five years, goods of every description, including 
 even provisions, are become objects of the most odious mono- 
 poly. 
 
 There are two Arabs, both merchants, that pass here at pre- 
 sent for being the richest in Egypt. One of these, Seyd el- 
 Maharouky, resides at Cairo 5 the other, Seyd Mohamed el- 
 Gharb^, lives in Alexandria ; this latter manages the consulate 
 of Tunis. Both have agents at Djeddah, at Moka, and at 
 Bombay. The commercial houses in the greatest repute in 
 1818, were J. Popolani, at Alexandria, with Foralouria and 
 Tileh^ of the same place ; Paolo Ambar, an Austrian, and the 
 rich Vasili Fackre, of Damietta. 
 
 The articles that chiefly enter into the commerce of Alexan- 
 dria with Europe are wheat and rice. They export likewise, 
 gum, coffee, wool, cotton, sugar, ostrich feathers, saffron, flax, 
 leather, linens, and gold dust. 
 
 Ismayl Pacha, second son of Mohamed Aly, was then at Alex- 
 andria with his father. Ismayl is disagreeably ugly, and 
 possesses but little influence with his father. The viceroy 
 regrets exceedingly the son that has been recently carried on 
 by the plague at Rosetta. I heard several, among others, M. 
 Drovetti, celebrate his character, as formed on the model of 
 no ordinary excellence. Toussoun Pacha fell a victim to hi* 
 passion for a young slave, whom he would not abandon though 
 thoroughly apprised that she was struck with the plague ; the 
 two lovers were not divided in their deaths, which took place 
 nearly at the same time. Fame is pleased to report, that 
 Toussoun Pacha possessed generous and elevated sentiments, 
 in addition to all the advantages of manly beauty in a fine 
 person. He has left a son, five years of age, who is doated on 
 by his grandfather, Mohamed Aly. 
 
 I waited on Prince Ismayl, who expressed an ardent incli- 
 nation to travel in Europe ; but I think he would be ill qualified 
 for such a purpose. Maharam-bey, governor of Alexandria, 
 has married a daughter of the pacha. The garrison, that dread 
 his severity, consists, like the rest of the Turkish army, of 
 Spahis, Bosniacs, Walachians, Servians, and Turks of Asia 
 Minor ; there has lately been an augmentation here of Moghre- 
 binsfrom Morocco, and of a corps of Algerines. 
 
 It is easy to see that the power of Mohamed Aly is not fixed 
 on a more solid basis than that of his predecessors, even ad- 
 mitting, in its full extent, his absolute power over the Egyptian 
 people, and his complete independence of the Porte. The 
 premature death of Toussoun Pacha leaves him, in a manner,. 
 
72 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 without an heir. One circumstance fell under my consi- 
 deration, the attentions practised by the agents of a certain 
 great power, their insinuating manner of address with the 
 Cheykhs, their liberalities to the people, their solicitude to 
 interpose between the judges and parties accused, to procure 
 pardons for the condemned, &c. — all these views I have enter- 
 tained respecting who may be considered as the heirs of Moha- 
 med Aly ; and I think myself warranted, by good authorities, 
 to guess whom. 
 
 Even now, skilful engineers are surveying the coast of the 
 Red Sea, and some excellent memoirs have already enlightened 
 the British government as to its true interests, and the line of 
 conduct it ought topursueinan affair so delicate and important. 
 English officers are frequently to be met with here, returning 
 from India, or repairing thither, by the way of Cosseyr. The 
 cut is short and the passage easy, at certain times of the year. 
 This last port has also of late become the medium of a more 
 direct and enlarged intercourse with those of Moka and 
 Bombay. 
 
 I generally used to spend the day with M. Drovetti. He 
 had shipped off for Leghorn no small part of his collection, yet 
 I could see remaining a number of medals of the most exqui- 
 site rarity. There ought to be a descriptive catalogue, an 
 analytical synopsis of the whole. Such is the arrangement of 
 these curious monuments, that the history of Egypt may be 
 learnt from them in a few hours, and in a manner the most 
 agreeable and certain. I could not help noticing the Arabs, 
 as his most active partisans, his kan, or residence, was in- 
 cessantly beset with applications for the vending of mummies, 
 bronzes, coins, and occasionally cameos. The efforts of those 
 inhabitants of the Desert to procure him these supplies, had 
 been determined and persevering, and for the most part suc- 
 cessful. So well did they know their man, that they always 
 left him, as a purchaser, to estimate their articles as he thought 
 fit. His just and noble character had merited their universal 
 applause, and they ever departed perfectly satisfied with the 
 prices which he set, and which were frequently to his own 
 disadvantage. 
 
 Among the mummies, T saw the head of one that had been 
 embalmed, three thousand years ago perhaps, but in such per- 
 fect preservation, that the physiognomy yet retained, as in a 
 spirited outline, the expression of the last pangs of the priest 
 of Memphis. 
 
 M. Drovetti shewed me some caskets of cedar wood, richly 
 decorated, serving for the toilettes of the ladies, with a collec- 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 73 
 
 tion of tablettes (small working tables) needles, scissoi*s, bob- 
 bins, wove articles of several descriptions,* pallets with the 
 colours on them still fresh and brilliant, and a valuable sheet 
 of papyrus. 
 
 Lodging at M. Ronssel's, consul-general of France, the 
 Avhole time of my stay in Alexandria, 1 cannot speak too highly 
 of his loyalty, his very obliging deportment, and polite address. 
 The conduct of this gentleman has been too strongly marked 
 by long and honourable public services to pass unnoticed by 
 those acquainted with him ; he at length intends to seek re- 
 pose after labours so incessant in the bosom of his country. 
 
 At Alexandria I waited on M. Huyot; my intention was to 
 return with him, into the north of Syria, to avail myself of his 
 information and talents in a tour to Balbeck, Damascus, and 
 Palmyra, but I learned from letters just received from Smyrna, 
 that this artist would not have it in his power to undertake 
 the voyage. Several shi])s of the French squadron there, had 
 received fresh orders, so that there was no chance of forward- 
 ing to Alexandria any vessel that might have conv'eyed M. 
 Huyot and myself to the Tripoli of Syria. M. Halgan^ the 
 commandant, was to proceed to Newfoundland. 
 
 Roused by this intelligence from my reverie, I paused, and 
 new circumstances introduced new sentiments ; it was now at 
 length that I thought in good earnest, of bidding adieu to 
 Egypt and the oriental world. The recollections of its monu- 
 ments and of the numerous arenas where French valour had 
 been so conspicuously prominent had foftened the asperities 
 of my fatigues, had given me a pleasing opportunity of admir- 
 ing the past. I may venture to assert that in those moments 
 I should have thought myself happy to have been one of the 
 lowest ranks in the rear guard. Its trophies were as so many 
 guide-posts for me, and I had only to traceits career, under the 
 shade of palm-trees that embellished the heritage of the Pha- 
 raohs and the Ptolomies. 
 
 M. the Abb^ de Forbin, Janson, and M. Prevost, at the same 
 time, quitted Alexandria, for Smyrna and Constantinople. The 
 public may form no improper idea of the admirable labours of 
 this latter, from interesting parts of them already published[; 
 and I am particularly anxious for the remainder appearing 
 with a success, as I hope proportioned to his merits, and which 
 may do honour to his well founded claims upon its protection. 
 
 Voyages have the effect of giving to the mind a new bias, a 
 
 * In the temple of Minerva, at Saraos, was kept a linen cuirass of Pharaoh 
 Oniasis. The weaving was truly singular, each thread being twisted with 
 365 other threads, in allusion to the days of the .year. 
 
 Voyages and Travels, No. 1, Fol. II. L 
 
74 Travels in Egypt, 
 
 new temper, casting it as it were over gain, in respect to all 
 the 5weet and lively sensations depending upon nature, on our 
 first enjoyments and wants. I can say with confidence, that 
 what formerly were sources of consolation and concern no 
 longer appear so ; after the strong impressions that possess the 
 imagination subsequent to a long voyage, a sad and bitter dis- 
 appointment ensues. The chagrin which the traveller left on 
 the shore at his departure, has apparently fixed its abode there, 
 to wait his return. 
 
 The fatigues, and more especially the dangers of a voyage to 
 the Levant, are constantly exaggerated. The enormous ex- 
 pense is the only real inconvenience attendant on the under- 
 taking, for such as enjoy good health and possess an honour- 
 able portion of firmness and fortitude. 
 
 A voyage to the Levant will be a real and almost destructive 
 waste of money to a private individual ; mine cost me very 
 dear, though I had my passage on board one of his majesty's 
 ships, with two other persons that accompanied me, and which 
 conveyed me, as before mentioned, to Syria. The prodigal 
 expenditure of some English gentlemenhas excited the cupidity 
 of the orientals, engendering a mass of imposition and corrupt 
 practices; the smallest monumental remains are not to be 
 come at, without paying excessively dear for them. 
 
 The credit and opulence of England must ever be taken into 
 consideration in delineating circumstances relative to the 
 Egyptian antiquities. England can assume to itself the power 
 of acting as almost exclusively the mistress of them $ while the 
 French journals were forming estimates of the value of my 
 labours, were indulging amusing speculations on my deportation 
 of colossi, they were ignorant of the fact, that the transport 
 of a single colossal head from Thebes to Alexandria, cost the 
 English consul five hundred guineas ; that the present circum- 
 stances and situation of the French government and people, 
 would not authorise such an expenditure, and that all the ac- 
 quisitions which I had made at Athens, at Cairo, and Thebes, 
 for the royal museum, amount only to twenty eight thousand 
 francs, including in this sum, the whole charges of the depor- 
 tation of these marbles to Paris. 
 
 M. Huyot is collecting on my account, antique materials in 
 Asia Minor and Upper Syria. He proposes to visit Balbeck 
 and Palmyra. 
 
 A writer must think highly of the interest he disseminates 
 over his work, if he thinks himself authorized to enter into 
 considerable details, when taking leave of his readers, con- 
 cerning the general and particular arrangement of preparatory 
 circumstances. I shall not trouble them with many additional 
 
In 1817 and 1818. 75 
 
 remarks on the adieus of my friends, my impatient waiting for 
 the embarkation, the vessel that conveyed me, or the conflict 
 of tempests ^vhich we most successfully, most safely combated, 
 in our return that occupied forty-two days. 
 
 Neither shall I introduce any observations on events fre- 
 quently so important in similar cases— such as my seizing the 
 iielni, in a delicate crisis, enforcing- obedience by the ascen- 
 dant of superior intelligence, saving the vessel, and adroitly 
 evading, not without a sense of dignity, the grateful acknow- 
 ledgments of such as would be indebted to me for their lives. 
 In this strong light, adventurous authors often travel over a 
 beaten ground j then appear the most romantic feats of the 
 daring voyager, triumphantly performed. In the moment of 
 shipwreck, wrapped up in the cloak of calm philosophy, con- 
 templating death with a steady look, his great soul distends 
 with the magnitude of the danger. 
 
 My representation will be less brilliant, for it will not be, 
 a scene of fictitious glor}'. Indisposed, enfeebled, Avithout an 
 appetite for food, I crawled up two or three times, from the 
 cabin, to view the mythological coast of the Isle of Crete, the 
 sands of Tripoli, the summit of Ithonie, Mount .-Etna, and the 
 Rock of Pantalaria, so often wetted with the bitter tears of 
 exiles, and lastly the skeleton of Carthage. 
 
 Our vessel was a very small one, and not a breeze could 
 blow which did not seem tempestuous. The captain, skilful 
 and experienced in his business, was a Marseillese, but of a 
 temper the most surly I had ever known. With a damaged 
 ship, almost swallowed up by the waves, we reached at length 
 the Gulph of Hieres. Under shelter of the Porteros and Por- 
 querolles islands, we beheld a calm azure sea, the coast per- 
 ftimed with flowers of the orange-tree, fresh bread and pure 
 water. We can readily reconcile ourselves to good cheer ; it 
 now seemed congenial with nature to eat on the following day, 
 exceUest oysters, green peas, and ripe strawberries • in a 
 word, to make a transition from privations of ever\' kind to a 
 profusion of the most delicate viands. 
 
 Our political convulsions have at different periods driven 
 so many of our countrymen from their native soil, that it is 
 difficult to express their impassioned regrets, the ardour of 
 desire with which a Frenchman longs for and hails his happy 
 return to it. It is a common feeling, but I think it more 
 forcibly impressed on the mind of a Frenchman than on 
 others. In a foreign land, how extremely important, how 
 peculiarly and wonderfully sweet to touch on particular's con 
 nected with its history, fine soil, &c. To the young man it is 
 the arena of his glory, the scene of his courtship and love. Th 
 
7^ . Travels m Egypt. 
 
 veteran braves fatigues and dangers, to come and breathe his 
 last sighs on the pillow of its bosom. The exile may attempt 
 experiments, but they will be unsuccessful, to remedy that 
 imperfect relish of enjoyment which the hospitalities of a 
 foreign clime might seem to provoke. My fei-vent wish is, 
 that hereafter we may have only voluntary exiles. May the 
 hearts so long embittered by the cruel pangs of separation, 
 beat with rapture at the solid, the inestimable benefit of re- 
 visiting their hallowed country ! 
 
 With transport 1 welcomed the mountains of Provence; 
 their arid aspect I was well aware of, but the subject was one 
 that I doated on. For thirty days I lay immured in the laza- 
 retto of Marseilles. The polite attentions shewn to me by the 
 governors of that establishment, the benevolent kindnes of M. 
 de Montgrand, the tender solicitudes of M. de Villeneuve, oc- 
 casional visits from M. Revoil, with books to peruse and an 
 opportunity of courting a repose that I stood in need of, miti- 
 gated the causes of complaint, and I could feel myself in almost 
 agreeable circumstances. Ere long I received letters from 
 my family and friends, and we went, my companions in the 
 voyage and myself, to return thanks on the rock of Notre 
 Dame de la Garde, to the patroness of the seas, and of the 
 wandering voyager, for our happy return into the land of our 
 forefathers. 
 
 NOTES 
 

 NOTES 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A MORE PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF CERTAIN CITIES AND 
 PLACES WHICH ARE MENTIONED IN THE TEXT. 
 
 Islands of Milo and Argenti^ra. 
 
 0» the second of September we approached the anchorage of Milo. The 
 French corvette le Zephyr, belonging to the Levant station, which was to be 
 relieved, and which had been cruizing here some days, joined the squadron: 
 we learnt from her that the plague was spreading in the Archipelago, and 
 had broken out at Smyrna. 
 
 At half past seven in the evening we came to anchor in the Bay of Milo : the 
 weather was stormy ; and precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the 
 vessels during the night. 
 
 We had to make such frequent tacks in the bay of Milo, the ancient Melos : 
 that distinct views were afforded us of every part of the island. The pilot who 
 took charge of the frigate was the first Greek I had seen : my imagination 
 dwelt with enthusiasm on his origin, which I endeavoured to trace in the gra- 
 vity of his features, and in the harmony of his language. On the following 
 morning he accompanied me on shore. It was scarcely day-break when I 
 climbed an elevated mountain named Mavrouticho, having on its summit a 
 small monastery dedicated to Saint Elias (stouna Elia.) It had not any other 
 inhabitant besides a poor Caloyer,* who presented to me figs, bread, and 
 cheese. From the door of the hermitage the whole of the Grecian Archipe- 
 lago was discernible, these celebrated islands being enveloped in a sea of a 
 lively blue, which presented a gentle gradation of tint as it extended towards 
 the horizon. Near to us lay Argentiera ; and still nearer within the island 
 of Milo itself, I saw at my feet the village of Castri, and. the ruins of a theatre of 
 white marble, the contour of which was displayed amid a forest of cypresses. 
 At the sea side in the vicinity of ancient tombs^ lay the ruins of Milo, a city 
 which owed its origin to the commerce of the Venetians, but the steeples 
 and domes of which now seem to depend on the palm-trees for their only sup- 
 port. The branches of these trees penetrate into the interior of the churches, 
 heir roots spreading into the sepulchres, and their tops elegantly crowning 
 he Corinthian capitals which convey a faint representation of them. These 
 groves so picturesquely placed among the scattered remnant of Milo, have 
 had leisure to grow since the time when that cit}', once so flourishing, butnow 
 so insalubrious, and almost entirely forgotten, was abandoned by the Vene- 
 tians. 
 
 * The Caloyers arc Greek Monks, of the order of Saiut Basil. 
 
78 Explanatory Notes, 
 
 The inhabitants have withdrawn themselves to the village of Castri, si- 
 tuated on a lofty hill, and containing a population of between two and three 
 thousand souls. These Greeks appeared to me to be industrious ; and T was 
 atruck with the cleanly appearance of their small white houses, each of which 
 is provided with a gallery or balcony. Within these balconies the young girls 
 were seated at their work, and singing, while, from time to time, they darted 
 the most expressive glances on the Greek youths who, with a surprising agility, 
 made their way through the steep and rugged streets. 
 
 From Milo I was desirous to pass over to Argentiera. These two islands 
 are in a manner contiguous to each other, at a point which we had to seek 
 across uncultivated grounds. Several of the valleys, of a moderate depth, 
 present all the features of a volcanic origin. A few vines, loaded with grapes, 
 ©f an exquisite flavour, are scattered here and there. At length, after walk- 
 ing for about two hours, we came to a small creek. Several of the inha- 
 bitants of Milo, the greater part of them suffering from fever, were our fel- 
 low passengers in the boat which carried us across. The passage from Milo 
 to Argentiera appeared to me to be about a mile. 
 
 The Island of Argentiera was long in the possession of the Venetians. The 
 miserable town, where we found a reception at the house of the French vice- 
 consul, was built by them ; it has the air of a large hospital, in a ruinous 
 state shut in by crenated gates. It was not difficult, behind mounds of ruins, 
 to repel the attacks of the Barbary corsairs ; but the ramparts were not of 
 sufficient strength to protect the inhabitants of Argentiera against the French 
 buccaneers of the seventeenth century, whose very mention still inspires terror 
 in the islands, and along the coasts of the Levant. 
 
 Spiro Franco Poulo had, a few months before, at the head of fifty men, 
 committed great ravages in Argentiera, and thrown the inhabitants into the 
 utmost consternation. He carried off several young girls ; the French vice- 
 consul succeeded in effecting his escape ; but his wife had like to have fallen 
 a victim to the ferocious brutality of this chief of the Mainotes. He was at 
 length made prisoner, and I saw him in irons on board the corvette I'Espe- 
 rance. He had been brought back from Toulon, where the tribunal did not 
 feel itself competent to bring him to trial. He subsequently escaped to Smyr- 
 na; and it is much to be dreaded that, being again at large, he will commit 
 fresh ravages on the population of Argentiera, the finest and poorest in 
 Greece. 
 
 A Greek, the agent of the Captain Pacha, and who had taken up his abode 
 at the house of the French vice-consul, came to exact the Rharadj. He made 
 the bishop, who treated him with the utmost respect, fill his pipe ; and it was 
 afterwards presented to him by the prelate, with an hypocritical submission 
 quite as diverting as the treasurer's importance. 
 
 Once a year, the inhabitants of Milo and Argentiera are made to feel still 
 more sensibly the tyranny of the Turks, who employ a subaltern agent, be- 
 longing to one of the public departments of Constantinople, of the same de- 
 scription of the one who was now plundering Argentiera, not only to collect 
 the tribute, but to preside as jud^e in the civil causes subsisting between in- 
 dividuals, which latter function he discharges with a promptitude equal to 
 his ignorance. The expeditious mode this commissary employs in adminis- 
 tering justice might be impartial, were it not that, as it is offered to the high- 
 est bidder, it is sure to oppress the feeble and the poor still more frequently 
 than if the decrees were to be pronounced by a cadi in the plenitude of his 
 power. The island is governed by primates, selected from among the heads 
 of the most ancient families, and the richer proprietors, who hold the ma- 
 gistracy for a year or two. 
 
 The theatre of Milo was discovered by Baron Haller, of Munich, who 
 recently fell a victim, in the Morea, to a close application to study, and to 
 
JSxplanatory Notes. 79 
 
 his indefatigable researches after antique monuments. I have rarely met 
 with so much modesty combined with the rare talents displayed by this 
 learned traveller whose loss must have been severely felt in Bavaria. 
 
 We experienced great hospitality from the individuals composing the 
 family of the vice-consul. His young wife, who had been brought up at 
 Constantinople, accompanied her husband to this dreary spot, where a few 
 months alter their arrival, Franco Paulo plundered their house, and threat- 
 ened their lives. They occupied one. of the best ruins, for they did not deserve 
 the name of houses, in Argentiera : it consisted of four cracked walls, rudely 
 white-washed, and furnished with worm-eaten benches and tables. The 
 whole of the population crowded to the door to procure a sight of us Bad 
 bread, fruit, and wine of a tolerable quality was served up to us. I was the 
 more distressed at observing the penury of their condition, because both the 
 vice-consul and his family mani*^ested so ardent a wish to treat us hand- 
 somely. The sole consolation of this young couple resulted from a union 
 to bring about which, they had many obstacles to surmount. 
 
 The soil of Argentiera bears, like that of Milo, the stamp of a volcanic 
 origin. Besides scoriie and masses of pumice, scattered on its surface, it 
 abounds in the particular whitish earth, called cimolia, which the ancients 
 converted to so many useful purposes ; it is soft to the feel, and of a grassy 
 and argillaceous quality. 
 
 I hastened from this dreary spot. On my way to the sea-side, 1 was sur- 
 rounded by a swarm of half-famished natives, whose cra.vings for alms were 
 not to be appeased until I had distributed among them the amount of two 
 piastres which procured me numberless benedictions. I descended to the 
 haven by deep ravines, having their surface crusted with sulphur : a boat 
 was there in waiting to take us back to Milo. It was a beautiful night. We 
 sailed along the rugged coast, formed of fantastically shaped rocks, which 
 seemed like so many giants armed for the defence of the shores. The land- 
 wind wafted to us, sometimes sulphurous exhalations, and at others the 
 odour of the orange-Hower, of th e elder, and of the various balsamic plants 
 with which the island of Milo is overspread. 
 
 I purchased, on the following day, two fine fragments of female statues. 
 After my departure, the researches for antiquities, made at Milo, were very 
 successfiil. M. Montagues, Commander of the frigate I'Active, found in a 
 tomb, a casque of gilt bronze in the highest preservation, an urn containing 
 ashes, two small gold chains, and several other objects, which he has since 
 presented to the Royal Museum. 
 
 Our stay at Milo was marked by a very distressing accident. M. Huyot 
 who had accompanied me to take the dimensions of the Theatre, and to visit 
 Argentiera, fractured his leg two days after our arrival. This accident was 
 followed by very calamitous circumstances. He was confined to his bed for 
 six months, after having suffered excruciating pains, owing to the limb hav- 
 ing been badly set, as well as to the extent of the injury. It was decided that 
 he should take his passage to Smyrna, where he was hospitably received, 
 and treated with the most affectionate care, by the Monkish Missionaries of 
 that city. 
 
 This unforlunate event was the more distressing to me, because so dis- 
 tinguished an architect as M. Huyot, whose professional skill was combined 
 with many useful accompUshments, would have be^n a great help to me at 
 Athens. I was left without any other companion ^'r'-ide M. Prevost, whose 
 enthusiastic ardour, when he set out to visit the cuuntries of the Levant, 
 was now damped by a deep and settled grief, which cast a gloom over 
 whatever came in his view. 
 
 I bade a sorrowful adieu to M. Huyot, who remained on board the frigate 
 la Cleopatre, bound to Smyrna, and took my passage for Athens in the brig 
 
80 Explanatory Notes. 
 
 le Lezard connnanded by M. de Navailles. A young volunteer, M. Linant, 
 had been discharged from the frigate, to accompany M. Prevost, and assist 
 him in his operations. The Abbe Janson embarked with us. 
 
 The Phoenicians appear to have been the first inhabitants of the Isle of 
 Melos. According to Festus it derived its name from a certain Melus, from 
 Phcenica, and Syncellus traces this Phoenician Establishment to the time 
 when Minos I. the son of Europe reigned in Crete. 
 
 The Phoenicians gave it several names. Bochart insists that Melos 
 is not the name of a person, but that in the Phoenician tongue it signifies 
 fulness, from the nature of its earth, v^'hich, when ditches were made in it, 
 quickly supplied tlie vacuity, and filled them up again. This might 
 have occurred in some parts of the Island, as the soil is volcanic, and there 
 are elevations and swellings still visible near the crater, which M. Olivier 
 visited in his travels, but it could not have taken place universally, for 
 then no buildings could have been raised upon it. 
 
 In the battle of Salamis there were two penteconteres furnished by the 
 islanders, as Herodotus reports, and it appears that the Athenians and 
 Lacedemonians frequently contended for the occupation or sovereignty of it. 
 
 In the Christian era, it became the see of a bishop under Rhodes, as 
 MetropoUtan, and even now, or at least very lately, there were two bishops, 
 one of the Greek ritual and the other of the Latin. 
 
 In the thirteenth century, it constituted part of the duchy of Naxia, 
 under Mark Sanudo, first Duke of the Archipelago, who lived contempo- 
 rary with Henry, of Flanders, brother of Baldwyn I. It was afterwards dis- 
 membered from that duchy by John Sanudo, sixth Duke of the Archi- 
 pelago, who rehnquished his claim to it in favour of Prince Mark, his 
 brother, who gave it in dowry to his daughter Florentia, on her marriage 
 with Francis Crispo. This Crispo acquired the sovereignty of the whole 
 Duchy of the Archipelago. In the sequel, Barberossa, Captain Pacha, con- 
 quered Milo for Soliraan II. 
 
 The island is, in general, very fertile, and it was formerly so much so, 
 that the harvest might be looked for thirty days after sowing the seed ; so 
 Theophrastus writes. This fertility is attributed to the volcanic nature of the 
 soil, and to the great quantity of Sulphur contained in it. 
 
 Ephesus. 
 
 The flourishing condition of Ephesus, during several ages, considered as 
 one of the principal cities of Asia Mhior, and the Metropolis of Ionia, has not 
 been sufficient to preserve its memory from the ravages of time ; a veil is 
 thrown over its origin, which it is hopeless to attempt to remove. For 
 illustrations on this head, we have chiefly to regret the works of Xenophon, 
 of Ephesus, who wrote a history of the city ; those of Creophylus, cited by 
 AthensEus ; the description of the Temple by Democritus, of Ephesus ; that 
 by Philo, of Byzantium, of which a fragment only remains, and the voyage 
 of the consul Mucianus into Ionia ; he was contemporary with Pliny the 
 Naturalist, who made honourable mention of him. 
 
 According to some authors, and Justin is of the number, the Amazons 
 founded a number of cities in Asia Minor, and among others, Ephesus. 
 Pausanias relates that Ephesvis was originally founded by Croesus and Ephe- 
 sus, the sons of Cayster, and that it took the name of the latter. 
 
 Homer makes no mention of Ephesus. When Croesus turned his arm 
 against the lonians, Ephesus was the first city that he attacked, but he 
 granted them an honourable capitulation, with permission to live agreeably 
 to their own laws. 
 
 In the Persian wars, Xerxes took possession of Ephesus, but he acted 
 there with moderation, shewing respect to its monuments. During the me- 
 
Explanatory Notes. 81 
 
 morablc Pelopponnesian war, the Ephesians adroitly took part with the vic- 
 tors, alternately. On the victory of 7K.gospotamos, gained over the Athe- 
 nians, by the Laciedemonians, the Ephesians set up at Olympias the statues 
 of Lysander and some other Spartan generals of inferior celebrity ; and when 
 Conon defeated the Lacedasmonian fieet, near Cnidos, Ephesus was no less 
 eager to erect for him at Olympias a statue of brass, as also to Timotheus, 
 and other Athenian generals. 
 
 Whether impelled by fear, or moved by sentiments of gratitude, or whether 
 from awishto flatter, they erected statues likewise to Philip, fatherof Alexander 
 the Great. But when Memnon, general of Darius, the rival of Alexander 
 the Great, had established the Persian dominion at Ephesus, he laid the 
 city under a very heavy tribute, banished the principal iuhabitants and con- 
 fiscated their property ; he also pillaged the temple of Diana, and threw 
 down the statue of Philip. After the victory of the Granicus, Alexander 
 expelled the Persians from Ephesus, restored liberty to the citizens, recalled 
 those whom Memnon had banished, substituted a democracy for the power 
 of the nobles, and punished all who had been concerned in demolishing the 
 statue of Philip. 
 
 According to Strabo, Lysimachus, one of the successors of Alexander, 
 changed, in some measure, the scite of the city, enlarging and extending it 
 towards the sea-coast. He intended to change its name into that of Arsinoe, 
 his wife, but after his death the ancient name revived. 
 
 We learn from Polybius, that Ephesus had been always considered as a 
 place of importance. The Kings of Egypt kept up a body of troops there, 
 to protect the trade of Asia Minor with Egypt. Antiochus the Great (196 
 years before the Christian eera) took possession of the city, as being a very 
 advantageous position for him, in relation to Ionia and the Hellespont, and 
 which might likewise serve as a fortress against the enterprises of any power 
 from Europe, especially the Roman ; a power, which then, at the instigation 
 of Hannibal, he was preparing to encounter, Antiochus passed a winter at 
 Ephesus, it served him as a place of arms, whence he sent forth his troops 
 to reduce Smyrna, Lampsacus, and a part of the Chersonesus. It was at 
 Ephesus that Scipio Africanus had an interview with Hannibal, either to give 
 him confidence as to tlie views of the Romans concerning him, or perhaps 
 to render him suspected with Antiochus. Ephesus became the centre of 
 negociations and ot military projects, and the place where the troops of An- 
 tiochus retreated after their defeat. About the same time, the Consul, M. 
 Manlius, after conquering the Galatians, took up his winter quarters at 
 Ephesus. It was near Myonnesiis, that the fleet of Antiochus was defeated 
 by the Roman and Rhodian fleets united, under the orders of .^milius Re- 
 gillus. Florus calls this great battle the battle of Ephesus, and he compares 
 it to that of Salamis. It helped forward the negociation for peace which was 
 soon after concluded, (A. D. before the Christian aera, 188,) and by which 
 Antiochus abandoned Hannibal, and ceded to Eumenes, King of Pergamus, 
 and an ally of the Romans, Ephesus, with a number of other cities. 
 
 Atthetimeof the general massacre of the Romans, by order of Mithri- 
 dates, a great number of them were slain at Ephesus. The Romans gene- 
 rally set this city at the head of Ionia. The pro-consuls and praetors repaired 
 thither, previous to setting out for their respective governments. Lucullus 
 resided there some time after his success over Mithridates, and there he 
 gratified his luxurious propensities, by displaying a scene of magnificence 
 astonishing even to a people that had witnessed all the pageantry of the 
 Satraps. His splendid manner must have been gratifying to the taste of the 
 Ephesians, addicted as they were to pomp and pleasures, and attired in ha- 
 biliments the most costly the East could afford. Augustus was partial to 
 Voyages and Travels, iVb. 1, Vol. II. M 
 
82 Explanatory Notes. 
 
 Ephesus, and subsequent to his visits, a temple was erected there to Julius 
 Caesar, and in honourof the city of Rome. 
 
 Under the reign of Tiberius, Asia Minor was convulsed with a dreadful 
 earthquake, which overthrew twelve, or, according to some authors, fourteen 
 cities. Though Tacitus makes no mention of Ephesus among the destroyed 
 cities, Eusebius does, and his opinion seems to be warranted by a monu- 
 ment discovered at Pouzzoli, in 1697. A large sq^uare base of white marble 
 appears to have supported a colossal statue ; this base is ornamented with 
 bas-reliefs, in the best style, representing fourteen cities of Asia Minor. It 
 is not unlikely that this statue was raised in honour of Tiberius, (year 21 of 
 the Christian ara) to commemorate his distributions for repairing the dis- 
 asters occasioned by the earthquake. The city of Ephesus, one of the finest 
 figures of the bas-relief, is in the costume of the Amazons. The flame that 
 appears onher head, alludes, perhaps, to the conflagration of the temple. 
 
 The Ephesians had a port constructed by Attains II. King of Pergamus; 
 in the time of Nero, the entrance to it was widened. In Strabo's time, it 
 was a very considerable commercial depot. 
 
 But what constituted the leading feature for determining the character of 
 Ephesus, was its temple, pronounced, by the ancients, one of the Seven 
 Wonders of the World. It was dedicated to Diana, and raised at the charge 
 of all the cities of Asia Minor. According to Pliny, it was 220 years m 
 building. The aera of its foundation is involved in darkness. 
 
 We may probably assign the foundation of the temple to the middle of the 
 seventh century prior to the Christian sera. We may collect from indirect 
 notices in Strabo, Vitruvius, and Pliny, that the first architect was Chersi- 
 phron, assisted by Rhoecus, and Theodorus, of Samos. 
 
 This structure must have employed a succession of artists, among whom 
 may be classed the names of Metagenes, of Demetrius, and Poinius. 
 
 In the year 356 before Christ, on the day of the birth of Alexander the 
 Great, an infatuated wretch named Erostratus, wishing to perpetuate his 
 name by coupling it with some important event, set fire to the temple of 
 Ephesus. The sacrilegious monster was punished according to his demerits, 
 and the Ephesians by a law forbade his name to be mentioned. 
 
 The second building of the temple may be ascribed exclusively to the 
 Ephesians, who contributed, with eager emulation, to the immense expen- 
 diture ; the women giving up their gold and jewels to defray their part of the 
 cost. Chersiphron's plan was probably enlarged, and it is certain that the 
 new temple excelled the ancient one in extent and splendour. 
 
 Alexander, to ease the vast charges of the inhabitants, resigned in their 
 favour their tribute to the Persian governors, and would have finished the 
 building at his own cost, if they would allow him to inscribe his name on the 
 temple. The Ephesians adroitly evaded this ambitious offer by a compli- 
 ment, that it was not fitting that one divinity should erect a temple to 
 another. 
 
 In the construction of this edifice, a luxurious imagination seems to have 
 rioted ; the timber work and gates were of ebony, cedar, cypress, &c. and 
 ■were all in excellent preservation, when Mucianus, the consul, visited the 
 place, 400 years after its building. 
 
 Authors vary as to the materials whereof the statue of Diana was made : 
 it is admitted however to have been of wood, as were almost all the oldest 
 statues in Greece, and which went by the name or xoana ; for this purpose 
 ebony, cyprus, cedar, oak, ivy, the lotus, and the citrm were used. Vitruvius 
 maintains that the idol was made of cedar, and Pliny reports that the consul 
 Mucianus, one of the last who had seen it, judged it to be of the wood of the 
 wild vine tree. It was given out that the idol remained undefaced, though 
 the temple had been on fire seren times. 
 
Explanatory Notes. 88 
 
 In the primitive ages of Christianity, Ephesus was the first of the Seven 
 Churches of Asia. It is recorded that Mary, the mother of Jesus, resided 
 there in the latter part of her hfe. St. John the Apostle wrote his Gospel 
 there, and there spent the remainder of his days, after his return from Patmos. 
 From his name of Hagiox Theulogos, the sacred theologian, comes the word 
 Aio Solouk, now given to Ephesus, and which is only a corruption of the 
 other. There yet remains a church consecrated to St. John, who it is gene- 
 rally supposed was buried in it. 
 
 St. Paul was preaching at Ephesus, for the space of nearly three years, and 
 appointed Timothy bishop of the Christian church there. 
 
 Seven councils were held at Ephesus, one of which was oscumenical or 
 general, the others maybe considered as only provincial synods. 
 
 Ephesus shared in the fate of the other cities of Asia Minor, when) the 
 Mahometans and Turks were extending their conquests. 
 
 After a series of struggles and bloody contests, between the Greek and 
 Ottoman emperors, Ephesus at length was taken by Mahomet I. and has 
 ever since remained m the peaceable possession of the Turks. Its com 
 mercial opulence had been long removed to Smyrna and Scala Nova, and 
 what Pliny formerly represented as the lustre and glory of Asia* is now a 
 heap of ruins, and overspread with the gross darkness •f barbarism. 
 
 Cossarea. 
 
 Cfesarea, a city of Syria on the Mediterranean, went anciently by the name 
 of the Tower of Strato, from Strato, a Grecian, wiio founded it. Herod spent 
 ten years in decorating this city with temples and with a harbour. The 
 Apostle Paul remained two years a prisoner at Caesarea, prior to his removal 
 to Rome, to await the sentence of Nero. 
 
 We learn from Theophanes, that in the 29th year of Justinian, the city 
 was peopled with Jews and Samaritans, who rebelled against Jthe Christian 
 government. 
 
 In the year 1102, the Christians, under Baldwyn I. besieged Caesarea, and 
 forced the inhabitants to retire into the magnificent temple erected by king 
 Herod in honour of Augustus Caesar. The besieged held it out for some 
 time, but at length were all put to the sword or made captive. The Genoese 
 had, for their share of the plunder, a large basin consisting of a single 
 emerald, and, according to report, they still presetve it with religious care in 
 their city. 
 
 The Christians held possession of the city till the time of Saladin, who took 
 and entirely destroyed it. The castle was afterwards demolished by Con 
 radin ; notwithstanding which, an attempt was made to rebuild the city by 
 some pilgrims. Still later, St. Louis raised it up from its ruins, and put it in 
 a state ot defence ; but in 1264, Bondogdary took it by treachery, and it has 
 ever since remained in possession of the Turks, Caesarea was at one time 
 the metropolis of the whole country. There most ofthe martyrs of Palestine 
 suffered, and there Eusebius presided as bishop ; that Eusebius who composed 
 a history ofthe Church, the life of Constantine, &c. It was also the country 
 of Procopius ; at present it lies in ruins. 
 
 Damascus 
 
 The pachalik of Damascus, which is the fourth and last government o 
 Syria, takes up nearly the whole eastern part of it. It extends to the North, 
 from Marra, on the route to Aleppo, nearly to Habroun in the South East of 
 
64 Explanatory Notes. 
 
 Palestine ; the western division proceeding along the Antilibanus and the 
 Upper Jordan, comprehends Nablous, Jerusalem, Habroun, &c. The eastern 
 line passes into the desert, towards the canton of Tadmor, or Palmyra. In 
 this vast extent of country, the soil and products are various. The plains of 
 Hauran, and the banks of the Orontes, are the most fertile, yielding wheat, 
 barley, doura, sesamus, and cotton. In the country of Damascus and the 
 Upper Bequaa, the soil is sandy and filter for the growth of tobacco and fruit 
 trees than any other productions. The mountainous districts are appro- 
 priated to the olive, mulberry, and other fruit trees, and very frequently to 
 the vine, from which the Greeks make wines, and the Mussulmen collect 
 dried grapes. 
 
 Jerusalem, 
 
 According to Josephus, Jerusalem was built in the year 2023 from the 
 creation, in a rocky and barrensoil, byMelchizedeck, andwas known anciently 
 by several other names. Its scite occupied Mounts Moriah and Acra, and 
 it was surrounded with mouniains. Its territory and environs were watered 
 by the springs of Gehon and Siloam, and by the torrent or brook of Kedron. 
 Jerusalem might have been deemed the capital of i'alestine in the reigns of 
 David and Solomon ; it became at length peculiar to the kingdom of Judah. 
 David built a new city on Mount Zion, opposite to the ancient one, being 
 separated from it by the Valley, of Millo. David also augmented and em- 
 bellished the old city ; but bolomon, I'rom the number and stateliness of the 
 works which he erected, rendered Jerusalem one of the most beautiful cities 
 of the East. 
 
 After the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, to the Babylonish captivity, by an 
 order from Cyrus, the temple of Jerusalem was rebuilt, and the city began 
 to be re-peopled ; but it was not till the return of Nehemiah, about 80 years 
 after, that the walls and gates were set up, and the city was completely 
 re-edified. Alexander enters it without violence, and confers many 
 privileges on the Jews. After his death, it fell successively under the 
 dominion of the kings of Egypt and Syria. Among the latter, Antiochus 
 Epiphanes evinced a deep-rooted hatred to the Jewish nation and religion ; 
 he took the city, gave it up to plunder, and placed in the temple the statue pf 
 Jupiter Olympius. 
 
 Pompey, among his other achievements in Syria, besieged and took Jeru- 
 salem. In the reign of Herod, the temple was rebuilt a second time. In the 
 year 7 1 from the birth of Christ, Titus besieged and utterly destroyed the 
 city. Adrian rebuilt it, and gave it the name of iElia. Under Constantine 
 the city recovered its ancient name. 
 
 Jerusalem was taken by the Saracens, in the year 636, but in 1099, in the 
 timeofth'„ Crusades, it became the head of a Christian monarehy, which 
 lasted 88 years, under 9 kings. In 1517, it fell under the dominion of the 
 Turks, who still retain possession of it. 
 
 The Temple of Solomon. 
 
 The temple of Jerusalem stood in the lowest quarter of the city, at the 
 distance of one hundred paces from the walls, in an easterly direction and on 
 Mount Moriah, the same M'heron Abraham was to have immolated Isaac 
 by a divine injunction. Solomon employed 30,000 workmen, and laid out 
 immense sums in the preparations for cutting timber, hewing stones, and in 
 the finishing of an edifice so august. It was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 but rebuilt by Zerubabel ; 586 years after which rebuilding^ it was consumed 
 in the conflagration of the city under Titus. 
 
 At present, on the scite, and on the eastern part of Mount Moriah, where 
 
Explanatory Notes. 85 
 
 stood the Sanctum Sanctorum, a Turkish mosque appears, the entrance to 
 which is through a quadrangle, 500 feet in length and 400 in width. Tweh'e 
 gates open into this quadrangle, each under a sort of arch, containing four or 
 hve lamps ; these serve as oratories to the Mahometans when the doors of 
 the temple are closed. 
 
 The whole exterior of this mosque is decorated with marble tablets, and da- 
 masked glazed tiles or lozenges, painted over with moresque gildings, afford- 
 ing a rich feast for the eyes, when exposed to the sun's rays, by the dazzling 
 lustre which they emit. The roofing is of lead, and the panes of glass are of 
 diftertnt colours. 
 
 In the interior are thirty-two pillars of grey marble, arranged in two rows; 
 the sixteen largest support the first arch, and the others the dome, each hav- 
 ing its pedestal and chapiter. Hound about the pillars are handsome chan- 
 deliers, made of steel or gilt copper, wherein 7000 lamps are kept burning, 
 from Thursday after sun-set till Friday noon, and every year during the whole 
 time of Ramadan or Lent, which lasts a montli. 
 
 In the centre of the mosque is a marble turret with eighteen steps on the 
 outside leading to its sumnut ; here the cadi takes his place every Friday from 
 twelve to two o'clock, during the celebration of the Mahometan rites. 
 
 To this building, as a substitute for the temple of Solomon, the Arabs give 
 the name of Harani ; besides which, there is another called by them Djami-el- 
 Hadnih, being the Temple of the Virgin, about 100 or 120 paces from that of 
 Solomon, towards the South. Next to the former, it is the most superb edi- 
 fice in the Holy Land. Its form is oblong from North to South ; the stone- 
 work is of a beautiful description, as are also three arches overlaid with lead 
 and standing on two rows of pillars of a grey stone. 
 
 Tlie Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 The chrirch of the Holy Sepulchre takes in the Holy Sepulchre, Mount 
 Calvary, and several other consecrated places. The empress Helena erected 
 one part of it, as a covering for the Holy Sepulchre, but the Christian princes 
 who succeeded added largely to its dimensions by including Mount Calvary, 
 which is about fifty paces distant from the Sepulchre. 
 
 In former ages Mount Calvary %vas without the city, and was the place where 
 criminals were executed; to leave room for the multitude of spectators there 
 was a large space between the Mount and the city walls. 
 
 The church of the Holy Sepulchre is very irregular in its structure from 
 the variety of positions which it occupies ; it is nearly in the form of a cross, 
 about 20 paces long and 70 broad. It has three domes or cupolas ; the one 
 that stands over the Holy Sepulchre serves for a nave to the church ; it is 30 
 paces in diameter, and is open at the top like the Rotunda at Rome. It is 
 certain that there is no vaulting or arches ; the roof is supported by large 
 rafters of cedar brought from Mount Libanus. There were formerly three 
 doors to this church ; at present there is only one, the key of which is care- 
 fully guarded by the Turks that no pilgrims may enter without paying the 
 nine sequins or thirty-six livres, the rate imposed by the Turks. This gate 
 remains always closed, and it is only through a small Avindow, crossed with 
 iron-bars, that provisions are introduced from without to those within who 
 are of eight difterent nations. 
 
 The first is that of the Latins or Romans, represented by religious corde- 
 liers. They watch over the Holy Sepulchre, the part of Mount Calvary 
 where our Lord was nailed to the cross, the place where the holy cross was 
 found, the stone of unction, and the chapel or spot where our Lord appeared 
 to the women after his resurrection. The second nation is the Greeks, who 
 have the choir of the church, wherein they officiate ; in the middle of it is a 
 
86 Explanatory Notes. 
 
 small marble circle, the centre of which is reckoned there the middle of the 
 earth. The third nation is the Abyssinian ; they possess the chapel that con- 
 tains the column of Impropere. The fourth nation is the Coptic or Egyp- 
 tian Christians ; they have a small oratory near the Holy Spulchre. The 
 fifth is the Armenians : they have the chapel of St. Helena and that where 
 the raiment was cast lots for and divided. The sixth nation is the Nestorians 
 or Jacobites from Syria and Chaldea ; they have a small chapel called the 
 Magdalen, where Jesus appeared to Mary as the gardener. The seventh na- 
 tion is that of the Georgians, who lived between the Great Sea and the Cas- 
 pian ; they occupy the spot whereon the cross was erected, and the cage or 
 prison wherein our Lord was detained while preparations were making to fix 
 It in the earth. The eighth nation is that of the Maronites who inhabit 
 Mount Libanus, and who acknowledge the papal supremacy like the Latins. 
 
 Each nation, besides the particular situations here mentioned, and which 
 all within side are free to visit, occupy some other portion in which they do- 
 miciliate, and wherein they perform the sacred offices. The priests and reli- 
 gious, when once admitted within, must remain there two months, till others 
 are sent to relieve them from the convent in the city. Too long a confine- 
 ment in it would not be consistent with health, as the influx of fresh air is but 
 scanty, and the walls and vaults emit a noisome damp. 
 
 In entering the church you meet with the stone of unction, on which the 
 body of Jesus is reported to have been laid, while anointing with myrrh and 
 aloes. From the indiscretion of some pilgrims who had broken it, it is now 
 covered with white marble, and fenced with a small iron balustrade, to pre- 
 vent any from walking over it. On the upper part are eight lamps, kept con- 
 stantly burning. The stone is within three inches of being eight feet long, 
 and wants one of two feet in breadth. 
 
 The Holy Sepulchre looks like a little closet excavated or chiseled out 
 in the rock. The door which points to the East is but four feet in height 
 and two and a quarter in width; so that you must stoop in order to 
 enter. The inside Is nearly a square, six feet, wanting an inch in length, and 
 six feet, wanting two inches in breadth, and from the floor to the cieling 
 eight feet one inch. 
 
 About the spot where the cross was planted, 50 lamps are kept continually 
 burning. The spot whereon our Lord was nailed to the cross has also 32 
 lamps, kept constantly burning, by the monks, the cordeliers, who celebrate 
 mass there every day. The whole of Mount Calvary, formerly so ignomi- 
 nious, is now inclosed with walls, and looks like a chapel included within the 
 great church. It is divided in two by an arcade. 
 
 The Lake AsphaltiteSy or the Dead Sea. 
 
 This vrhole region is evidently volcanic. A number of flourishing cities, 
 have, by a tremendous explosion, been overwhelmed with volcanic ravages 
 and are now covered with the bituminous and sulphureous waters of the 
 bitter lake. Even in our times, it spouts fortli volleys of smoke, and fresh 
 crevices are continually opening on its banks. We may conceive that the 
 Jordan formerly traversed the whole plain, and perhaps fell into e Medi- 
 terranean, through the valleys that extend in the direction of Gaza 
 
 Analysis of the Water of the Dead Sea^ 
 
 The analysis was made m an iron-tinned vessel, sealed hermetically. 
 When drawn out from the vase, it had no bituminous or other ill-scented 
 flavour. It seemed a little discoloured, but quickly became transparent. 
 The taste was very salt and bitter, and there were no visible traces of any 
 microscopic animalculae. 
 
Explanatory Notes. St^' 
 
 Its density, in the temperature of seven degrees centigrade, is of 12,283. 
 It is such that a man may easily float on it, without an effort to swim, but 
 not to the extent that Strabo makes mention of, that a person might stand 
 upright in it, and not sink beneath the navel. 
 
 The water exposed to a cold of seven degrees of thawing temperature, 
 did not precipitate any salt, which proves that it is not saturated. But in 
 that of fifteen degrees, when by evaporation, it has lost 471 centiemes, or 
 hundredth parts of its weight, it will lay a deposit of marine salt. A hun- 
 dred parts of the water leave, by evaporation, a saline residuum, which, 
 when thoroughly dried, and taking account of the marine acid, disengaged 
 from it by the heat, weighs 2624. 
 
 Jordan and its Water. 
 
 The water of Jordan is perfectly transparent and has no perceptible taste. 
 This transparence is disturbed a little, by an infusion of nitrate of barite and 
 oxolate of ammoniac, which indicates that it must contain a portion of sulphate 
 of calx. It also contains proportions of marine salt, and of muriate magnesia, 
 with a very slight quantity of sulphate of calx. This last, however, is much 
 more abundant in the water of Jordan than in that of the Dead Sea. 
 
 Jaffa. 
 
 This place was formerly called Joppa, which is thought to denote beauty, 
 pulchritudo aut decor. In Arabic, it is pronounced Yafd. It lay within the por- 
 tion of Ephraim, together with Lyddah and Eamleh. Joppa was taken five 
 times by the Egyptians and the Assyrians. Judas Maccabeus set fire to it, 
 and it was afterwards plundered and nearly destroyed by Cestius, a Roman 
 General, and by Vespasian. In the time of the Crusades, William de Sa- 
 bran was stationed there to protect the vessels of the Genoese and Pisans. 
 Richard Cceur de Lion took it from Saladin, and we read, in those times, 
 of a Gautier de Brienne, as Count of Japhe, or Jaffa. The Queen of St. 
 Louis lay-in there of a daughter, named Blanche. In the sequel Jaffa was 
 taken by the Sultans of Egypt,, and lastly, it fell under the dominion of the 
 Turks. 
 
 Arabian Horses. 
 
 It was in Syria that I had opportunities of observing the finest horses of 
 this description. The dearest and most rare are of the race of Oal Nagdi. 
 Bassora is their country ; they are beautiful, gentle, exceedingly swift, of a 
 bay-brown colour, and frequently dapple grey. Some possess an intelligence 
 that appears wonderful. Examples are cited of an unbounded attachment to 
 their masters. Valued at the high price of 8000 piastres. A mare was lately 
 sold at St. J. d'Acre, for 15,000 piastres. 
 
 Different breeds. The race of Guelje, originally from Yemen, are patient, 
 indefatigable and extremely gentle, valued at about 4000 piastres. The 
 Secldouy, from the eastern part of the Desert. — Price much the same. Ocel 
 Mefki. — Superb and stately, but less able to endure fatigue. The rich 
 Turks of Damascus value them highly ; they are procured from the adja- 
 ceat deserts; price about 3000 piastres. Ocd Sabi, resemble the Mefki, but 
 reckoned inferior. Price from 1200 to 2000 piastres. Ocel Tre'idi, handsome, 
 but apt to be restive, and with less of intelligence and boldness than the other 
 breedis. Price from 900 to 1000 piastres. 
 
88 Explanatory Notes. 
 
 Camels. 
 
 Of these we find four different species in the East. The first is the 
 Arabian Camel which carries the heaviest burdens, has but one hump or 
 bunch, and but Httle hair on the body. The second is the dromedary, or 
 running camel, called hedji/n by the Arabs; smaller, nimbler, and with only 
 one bunch. Some of these, in a long trot, can clear the distance of twenty 
 leagues, from sun-rise to sun-set, but this species is scarce, and dear. The 
 Turkman camel is of the third class, and of these the caravans of Persia 
 and those that travel from Aleppo to Smyrna and Constantinople consist ; legs 
 shorter and stronger than those of the Arab camel : colour browner, and the 
 the hair of the neck reaching to the ground. The fourth species is the Bac- 
 trian camel, which has two bunches and is in common use in China Tartary, 
 but is scarce in Lower Asia. 
 
 ^scalon. 
 
 Ascalon stood near the coast of the Mediterranean, between Azoth and 
 Gaza, almost 520 furlongs from Jerusalem, and was one of the cities of the 
 Philistines. After the death of Joshifa, the tribe of Judah took possession of 
 it. The ancients frequently make mention of a kind of garlick (echalote) that 
 grew in its neighbourhood. Origen takes notice of some wells thereabouts 
 that, agreeably to tradition, had been dug by Abraham and Isaac. We learn 
 from Eutichias Eba-Batrik, that Maounie Ebn-Aby-Syfan was the first of the 
 Mahometans that in the seventh year ot the reign of Omar, the son of 
 Khettab, took possession of this city, after a regular siege. As a later event, 
 the CaUf of Egypt, on hearing that Baldwyn II. had entered Ascalon, fitted 
 out an armament of 66,000 men in 70 galleys, to retake it (in 111?) but was 
 repulsed with the loss of 7000 men, by an inferior force of Crusaders, consist- 
 ing only of 6000. Baldwyn III. after seven months siege, became master of 
 it m the year 1154. Baldwyn IV. gave it with Jaffa, to WiUiam Longsword, 
 Marquis of Montferrat, as a portion with his sister Sibylla. At length it fell 
 into the hands of infidels, with the other parts of Palestine, and still remains 
 in their possession. 
 
 Ascalon is often mentioned in the sacred history, and it appears from the 
 Apocryphal writings, that Jonathan, one of the. valiant Maccabee Chiefs came 
 and laid siege to it, after having defeated Apollonius. Herod, the Ascalonite, 
 was a native, and thence derived his surname. 
 
 Gaza. 
 
 Gaza as well as Ascalon, were included within the five lordships of the 
 Philistines ; it frequently changed masters, having been successively under 
 the dominion of the Jews, the Chaldeans, and the Persians ; it was afterwards 
 taken and destroyed by Alexander. There had been two cities of this name ; 
 Little, or the New Gaza, called by the ancients, the maritimey or naval, and 
 situatgd on the sea-coast, and the old city, at the distance of a small league 
 from it. Antiochus took and plundered Gaza, after driving out the Egyptian 
 garrison. Thevenot, in his Voyage to the Levant, takes some notice of it, 
 whose account I shall here quote. 
 
 ' Gaza appears to have been a very considerable place, as is evident from 
 its ruins which every where abound with marble pillars and other august re- 
 mains. I saw some eemeteries there, all the sepulchres of which were of 
 marble, and among the rest, one inclosed with walls, and appropriated to a 
 particular Turkish family; it was full of sepulchres consisting of large pieces 
 of a very beautiful marble, and which are but fragments of the splendour 
 which formerly illustrated the city. In the vicinity stands its castle, which is , 
 
Explanatory Notes. 89 
 
 quite round, with four towers, one at each corner, and the whole in good re- 
 pair ; it is not very large, and has tvvo iron-gates. Near the castle is the se- 
 raglio of the pacha's women, as also a fragment of Roman wall of materials 
 so well cemented as not to be broken with the hammer. Gaza is a small city, 
 but it contains a besestem kept in prettj' good order. 
 
 * There is a church of the Greeks here, indifferently large; the middle ar- 
 cade is upheld by two marble pillars, which, with their cornices, are of the 
 Corinthian order. Here is likewise an Armenian church. Without the city 
 are several beautiful mosques, all overlaid with marble on the outside, and 
 which I take to have been preserved monuments of the ancient city.' 
 
 Grand Cairo. 
 
 Cairo, the metropolis of Egypt, was originally built by Gibuaher,the general 
 of Mbez-le-dyn-illah, first calif of the Fattimite race, in the year 358 of the 
 Hffigira, or 968 of the Christian JEra. The sultan Saleh-ed-dyn surrounded 
 the city with walls. Cairo appeared in the zenith of its splendour under the 
 reign of the Mamelouk sultans. The date of its decay will commence with 
 the Turkish emperor Selim, who made a conquest of the country in 1517. 
 Its commerce had already begun to decline, from the Portuguese having dis- 
 covered a new route to the Inches, by the Cape of Good Hope. Cairo has 
 been often subjected to military plunders and devastations; a sultan named 
 Hakenbiamr-iltah set fire to it in 1019, and the flames destroyed at least one- 
 fourth of the city. The still increasing poverty of the inhabitants has ever 
 operated to prevent their rebuilding it ; yet, as whatever riches are in the 
 country now centre here, attempts have been made lo set up some of the 
 houses out of the old materials. The present population may consist of about 
 500,000 individuals, distributed into two divisions, Boulaq and old Cairo. In 
 the city may be counted 400 mosques with minarets, where public prayers are 
 held ; the principal are those ot El-Azhar, which is a sort of university to 
 Cairo, and to which youth repair from all parts of Asia and Africa, to learn the 
 Oriental tongues, and the next that of Sultan Hasan. 
 
 Thebes or Diospolis. 
 
 The following notice of Thebes is by Diodorus Siculus. ' The Great 
 Diospolis, to which the Greeks have given the name of Thebes, was six 
 leagues in circuit. Its founder Busiris, erected several great buildings in it, 
 which he enriched with magnificent presents. The world re-echoes with the 
 fame of its power and opulence, long since celebrated by Homer. Its gates, 
 and the numerous vestibules of its temples, made that poet give it the name 
 of Hecatompylos, or the City with a Hundred Gates. Never was there such a 
 profusion of offerings in gold^ silver, ivory, of colossal statues and obelisks, 
 consisting of one single stone. Four principal temples constitute the most 
 prominent objects. The most ancient possessed a grandeur, and costly orna- 
 ments hardly to be described; it was half a league in circumference,* being 
 inclosed witli walls 24 feet in thickness, and 70 in height. The richness and 
 finishing of the interior ornaments corresponded with the majesty diffused 
 over ihe whole. Several kings had successively contributed to illustrate and 
 embellish it. The temple is yet remaining, but the gold, the silver, the ivory, 
 and the precious stones were carried off when Cambyses set fire to all the 
 temples of Egypt.' 
 
 * Diodorus here must comprehend the sphinx avenues, the porticos, with all the 
 other courts and buildings round as connected with the temple, properly so called. 
 
 Voyages and Travels, iVb. 1, Vol. II. N 
 
90 ' Explanatory I^otes^ 
 
 Strabo makes mention of Thebes; I skall quote his report of it: — 
 
 * Thebes or Diospolis has npw only the wrecks of its former grandeur, ruins 
 stretched over a space of eighty furlongs in length. Here aie still a great 
 number of temples, destroyed in part by Cambyses. The inhabitants sought 
 shelter in Arabia, and on the opposite bank of the river. Two colossi of 
 stone, placed side by side, attract much observation. One of these is still 
 whole, the other, according to report, has been overthrown by an earthquake. 
 The same common fame announces that the part of thi* which yet remains 
 on the base, emits a sound once every day. Beisg eager to search into the 
 truth of this matter, I proceeded thither in the train of iEhus Ga lus, who 
 had many to accompany him, and was moreover attended by a numerous 
 body of soldiers. I certainly heanl a sound emitted at the first hour of the 
 day, but I cannot positively say whether it came from the base or from the 
 colossus, or whether it was made by some one ot the by-standers ; for we are 
 naturally disposed to think of any other cause rather than to coriceive it the 
 effect of a certain disposition of the stones. Beyond the memnonium are the 
 tombs of the kings, chisled out in the rock; there are about 40 of them; the 
 workmanship is singular and striking, and well worthy to fix the attention of 
 travellers. Some remaining obelisks bear different inscriptions that comme- 
 morate the power, the grandeur of those sovereigns, and the riches of their 
 extensive empire, an empire which once included ^cyihia, Bachiana, and the 
 country of Ionia. They likewise bear witness to the immense tributes which 
 they imposed on their subjects and feudatories, and the number of their 
 soldiers, or militia, amoimting to a million.' 
 
 Let me here recall some particulars connected with my first view of Thebes, 
 and not before noticed. The night of our arrival we passed stretched out on 
 the Sand, and wrapped up in our cloaks, under the portico of the temple. 
 
 But what were my emotions when I first grasped the columns, now become 
 perceptible objects, that I had long been measuring by anticipation, and with 
 which my imagination had been so long pre-occupied I 
 
 Glorious was the effect of day-light, when on the appearance of Aurora, 
 from the summit of the portico which we had mounted, we could mix and 
 combine our observations on the select materials which composed our land- 
 scape. In one continued act, a superincumbent glance might range over 
 Luxor, Karnack, Med-amoud, with the reliq^ues of the quays on the Nile, and 
 a world of diversified objects on the other side. Here I was richly gratified, 
 my expectations indulged with striking illustrations of my classical remem- 
 brances, these superb antiquities being no other than those which Homer 
 commemorates, as excelling in grandeur and beauty, when alluding to Heca- 
 tompylos, or the city with a hundred gates. 
 
 Memnonium. 
 
 The colossus of Thebes, known by the name of Memnonium, has been fre- 
 quenthr mistaken for the statue of Osymandyas. Strabo asserts that it was 
 named Ismandes. These words are described from Ou Smandi, signifying to 
 give omt a sound, a property which this statue possessed, according to report, 
 at the dawTi of day and at sun-set. Its true name was Ameiiophis.* 
 
 Germanicus visited this statue. On the legs are to be seen Greek and 
 
 ^'""■^ nouphi means to bring good tidings, because at the vernal equinox, which 
 the Egyptians had reason to value highly, this statue pronounced the seven vowels 
 ^wu *^°™P°*® *^^ music of mortals, and are an image of the seven planets, 
 wbich, from their harmonious course, had been dignified by the priests, with tht 
 title of celestial muric. 
 
Explanatory Notes. 91 
 
 Eoman inscriptions, attesting as a prodigy the harmonious sounds emitted by 
 the colossus, in distinctly pronouncing the seven vowels. I can readily con- 
 ceive that some curious mechanism was resorted to by the priests to accom- 
 plish this ingenious device. This apparent miracle ceased in the fourth 
 century of the Christian asra. * Writers make mention of a phenomenon 
 somewhat similar at Megara, where a particular stone gave out sounds, when 
 it was struck by an instrument of iron. 
 
 Many of the learned, and amoag others, M. Denon, will not admit that it 
 was one of the two statues yet standing upright in the plain, that possessed 
 the power of emitting harmonious sounds. I shall transcribe here what he 
 says respecting the great colossus now lying overthrown, near the gate of the 
 temple known by the name of Memnonium. Its proportion was 75 feet, the 
 torsus and the legs are yet visible ; on the arm there is an hieroglyphical in- 
 scription. This was most probably the statue of Memnon, as it stood before 
 the building that Herodotus and Strabo assign for the Memnonium. To 
 overthrow it must have required no little zeal and labour, and would seem to 
 imply a wish to explore some great mystery, or to put away idolatrous 
 worship.' 
 
 Extract from the Courier of Mount Mokatam. 
 
 * The Italians, whose national pride is gratified by the reflection that they 
 were once lords of Egypt, still ahn at acquiring celebrity in that land of won- 
 ders. Captain J. B. Caviglia, formed a resolution last year, to penetrate into 
 the great pyramid of Gyzeh ; it was open, but required some exertion to as- 
 cend to the apartments of the king and queen. His courageous attempt, 
 however, proved successful, and has not only removed all doubts as to the 
 famous well, but has also dissipated such fabulous conjectures as the subject 
 might hare given rise to. We need not enlarge on his further operations, of 
 which ehbugh has been already published, and concerning which we are dis- 
 posed to do him all imaginable justice. 
 
 < While Captain Caviglia was exploring the great pyramid, the Sieur John 
 Belzoni of Rome, was providing for the deportation of the famous colossal 
 bust, known by the name of young Memnon, from Upper Egypt to Europe. 
 At the same time he was making observations on Thebes, to discover certain 
 tombs of the ancient kings, as the rapid increase of the Nile had obliged him 
 to desist from his researches in Nubia, relative to the great temple of Abou- 
 samboul, consecrated to Osiris. 
 
 His labours, throughout the whole of last year, have been attended with 
 the most complete success. He discovered six regal tombs, one of which ex- 
 hibits the most superb workmanship that the remains of Egyptian grandeur 
 can any where furnish. He entered into the temple of AbousamboOl, which 
 is believed to have been constructed in the times ot tlie ancient Egyptians. 
 It is excavated in the rock, and measures 150 feet in length, with a breadth 
 proportionable. Its area includes 14 chambers or apartments, with a large 
 hall and 8 colossi, of the proportion of 30 feet each. 
 
 In the environs of the temple of Karnack, he traced a line of sphinx, of 
 black granite, about 20 feet under ground, and encompassed with a very 
 strong wall. He likewise discovered the colossal head of Horus, much larger 
 than that of young Memnon. 
 
 M. Belzoni's labours of the present year are likely to be still more gratify- 
 ing and successful. Without any powerful patronage, unassisted by sub- 
 .scriptions, or with the zeal of fellow-labourers, he has very lately made an 
 opening into the . second pyramid of Gyzeh, and ascertained the path of 
 Orpheus. Expectation is on the tiptoe to hear of fresh souterrains and 
 chambers contained in this pyramid, and to communicate forthwith to the 
 public, something novel and important. Certain it is that till now, this 
 pyramid had not been opened, nor is there any tradition to encourage the 
 
92 , Explanatory Notes. 
 
 notion that it has. Here we must do honour to the genius that now presides 
 over Egypt. Under the wing of his hberal protection, talents are authorised 
 to prosecute labours and researches; and a presumption may seem warrant- 
 able, that the arts and sciences will once more regain a footing ;«re post liminii, 
 on that soil which they had quitted, to embellish Greece and other regions of 
 the globe. 
 
 < Aramianus Marcellinus has given the name of syringes to the passages 
 that lead from one apartment to another, and which are kcown to have been 
 160 feet beneath the foundation of the pyramids.' 
 
 With the help of a number of Arabs, M. Belzoni has been enabled to 
 transport the Colossal head of the statue, known by the name of the bust or 
 head of young Memnon; why it is so called is not known. The inhabitants 
 of Loumah are a savage race, that were never tamed under any preceding 
 government, and who would never have complied with such operations, in 
 other times, and under very different circumstances. 
 
 The discovery of the great temple of Abousamboul, which stands near the 
 second cataract, and within 200 paces of the western bank of tl»e Nile, must 
 not be attributed to M. Belzoni; the Hon. Mr. Banks, a traveller of reputa- 
 tion, was first gratified with a view of it, he succeeded in measuring the 
 upper part of the Colossal statues, which ornament the fa9ade. The only 
 obstacle to hinder entering it was the accumulated sand, and which, as the 
 Nile flows immediately beneath, it wonld have been easy to throw into the 
 river. These mounds of sand, driven by southerly winds, certainly did not 
 exist there in the time of the ancient' Egyptians. It is admitted by all the 
 travellers that have carefully examined the left 6ank of the Nile, in the tract 
 reaching from the first to the second cataract, that a great proportion of land 
 susceptiole of cultivation, with a number of houses, and especially ancient 
 Coptic monasteries, now lie buried beneath sands, drifted there by the south 
 winds In several districts these winds are so violent, that, notwithstanding 
 the prodigious altitude of the Lybic chain, enormous columns of sand pass 
 over their very summits, collecting in heaps, and overwhelming, or burymg, 
 whatever might seem to impede. 
 
 As to the sphinxes, found at Karnack, some French gentlemen had been 
 superintending labours there, on the very spot where M. Belzoni and M. 
 Salt have since realized the possession of them, but as they could not re- 
 move them, they were covered up again. It is likewise notorious, that Mr. 
 Barlow, an American gentleman had procured the removal of two to Cairo, 
 on account for Mr. Bankes, long before M. Belzoni had engaged in the search 
 of antiquities. 
 
 ' Doubts are entertained whether the head ascribed to Ilorus can have 
 really been what it is thought; the bonnet with which it is surmounted, is 
 not a characteristic trait. 
 
 ' The world is under obligations to M. Belzoni, for having opened a tomb 
 of the kings in the valley of Byban El-Molouk, one of the finest and best 
 preserved monuments that ancient Egypt could have furnished. He will be 
 intitled to still higher encomiums, if he can find a passage into the interior 
 of the second oyramid. Objections are made to the new name which he has 
 assigned to the souterrain, in which he is now employed, the path of Orpheus/ 
 
 Inhabitants of Egypt. 
 
 The Copts are the most ancient inhabitants of Egypts. Perhaps their name 
 has been derived from Coptos, a city of the Thebaid, or from Cobtos, circum- 
 cised. Though not endowed with the genius of their ancestors, they seem to 
 have retained their ancient vulgar tongue. As they are generally in trade, 
 or concerned with the direction and management of the lands, the pacha, 
 the beys, and cachefs, mostly employ them as writers or agents. The Copts 
 
Explanatory Not^. 93 
 
 are Christians, bvit given to monothelism, that is, denying the two wills in 
 Christ, the divine and human. Tiieir books are written in the Coptic, but 
 they do not appear to be acquainted with the principles of the language As 
 the Pentateuch, their sacred book, has an Arabic translation, it would not be 
 difficult to acquire thereby a pretty accurate acquaintance with the Coptic. 
 As a people, the Copts are superstitious, subtle, and eager of gain, but gentle 
 and humane. Trained to servile notions and endurance, they yield without 
 a struggle to the spoliation of their hard-earned emoluments, being seldom 
 so fortunate as to enjoy them long in security. 
 
 Next to the Copts, the Arabs are the most ancient people of Egypt. From 
 the seventh century to the twelfth, they ruled in the country with sovereign 
 power. Two thirds of the Egyptian population consist of Arabs. Those of 
 them that till the soil go by the name of fellah. Of a degenerate cast, they 
 seldom evince that good faith and uprightness which are often found among 
 the Bedouins. Spread through numerous villages on the shores of the Nile, 
 these wretched slaves can glean but a miserable pittance from their masters, 
 who nevertheless compel them to take a part in their quarrels. 
 
 The connexion of the Bedouins with the governors of Egypt is far more 
 precarious, yet occasionally they are obliged to purchase their protection and 
 aid. Noble and generous traits are often seen to adorn their character. They 
 are given to hospitality, and true to their engagements. A grand idea of 
 what man was, in his primitive state, may be formed from contemplating 
 the stamina of his character in the Bedouin Arab. 
 
 The Moghrebins or Western Mahometans are pretty numerous in Egypt ; 
 they are for the most part fugitives, or banished from Fez and Morocco, and 
 are of an intrepid character, but vindictive and treacherous. 
 
 The corps of Arabs is made up of real Turkish janissaries. They form the 
 body-guard of the pachas, to whom they often prove very troublesome or 
 formidable. 
 
 The three or four millions of inhabitants that Egypt contains, suffer severely 
 from the oppression of certain Christian Greeks, and certain Jews, who are 
 constantly urging on the government to fresh and still more scandalous out- 
 rages on a poor and emasculated population. The cimeter will often execute 
 justice on those underling tyrants; but no restitution appears to be made to 
 the unhappy individuals who have been grossly and infamously plundered. 
 
 Sciences and Literature of the Arabians. 
 
 The Arabians, before Mohamed, were not altogether destitute of literature. 
 Those of Hedjaz or Arabia Petraa, and of Mesopotamia, are alone mentioned, 
 there not being any precise information relative to the state of scientific and 
 literary acquirements in Arabia Felix. All we know is, that the Hemyarites, 
 inhabitants of the south of Arabia, had a writing, which disappeared about 
 the time of Mohamed, and which is unknown to us. With respect to the 
 Arabians occupying the middle and north of the Peninsula, it appears that 
 writing was introduced among them not more than a century before Moha- 
 med. We possess, however, several poetic compositions anterior half- 
 a century, more or less, to that legislator ; which, being joined to the tra- 
 ditions, and to the style of the Koran, prove that the language was fixed, 
 that the rules of grammar, of prosody, of metre, and of rhyme, had been 
 determined ; and that, consequently, there existed a literature. If we may 
 be allowed to entertain a belief that the Greek language was cultivaled, and 
 had poets, before the time of Homer, we may also be persuaded that the 
 celebrated poets Amriolkais, Lebid, Amron-hen-Kelthoum, &c, were not 
 the first to polish the language, to enrich it, and to subject it to the rules of 
 metrical composition. Relativelv to the sri(Mices, whether philosophical, 
 
94 Explanatory Notes. 
 
 physical, or mathematical, we have not any data on which to found a belief 
 that they were cultivated by the Arabians. They may have had a sufficient 
 knowledge of the stars to guide them in their deserts ; may have observed 
 the phenomena and habits of their domestic animals; and may have been 
 acquainted with the virtues of certain remedies, astrology, divination, magic, 
 and wiichcratt ; may have been benefitted by these observations, so as to 
 form a sort of systematic theory; but they are not masters of what are 
 strictly nained sciences. The cultivation of these, therefore, did not spring 
 up among ihe Arabians until after Ismalism, and may be ascribed to the 
 conquests ot the Mussulmans, and to their intercourse with the Persians, 
 Syrians, and Greeks. For their poetry they were not indebted to strangers ; 
 but all ti;e sciences, not excepting theology and jurisprudence, in the pos- 
 session of the Mussulmans, were the result of their mixture with the con- 
 quered nations. It is probable, that medicine was the door by which the 
 philosophy of the Greeks was, together with all the rational sciences, first 
 instilled into the Arabians. Astrology led also, it would appear, to the in- 
 troduction ot astronomy among them ; and, as a necessary sequel, to all the 
 mathematical sciences. 
 
 Towaids the close of the second century of the Hegira, tlie sciences in 
 general flourished at the court, under the protection of the califs; and 
 Greek philosophy, blended with the theology of the magi, and probably with 
 Judaicai subtleties, divided the Mussulmans into a multitude of sects, and 
 armed, (thanks to political divisions) the followers of Mohamed against each 
 ether 1 l)us, if the diffusion of learning conferred on the Arabians a higher 
 degree of civilization, it also introduced among them vices and scourges to 
 which they had been before strangers. 
 
 The cultivation of the sciences j)enetrated wherever Mahometanism spread, 
 and was preserved in the states which were successively formed in that vast 
 monarchy, and which held themselves in a great measure independent of the 
 sovereign of Bagdad, to whom they did homage out of pure motives of cour- 
 tesy. It was also preserved in the couHtries which, like Egypt, were entirely 
 separated from the califat of Bagdad ; and, up to the twelfth or thirteenth 
 century of our ^ra, the Mussulmans did not cease to cultivate every scientific 
 acquirement. The invasion of the Mogols, the establishment of the Turkish 
 and l.urd dynasties, the political revolutions of Africa, and the loss of the 
 Moorish ascendanc) in Spain, successively led to the decline of the sciences, 
 and of literature in the Mussulman territories. 
 
 How much each science in particular owes to the Arabians, has not beei*. 
 precisel\ determined. It may, however, be said that, on the one hand, the 
 mathematical sciences, and all the applications derived from them, such as 
 meclianic>, and the construction of instruments, and, on thfe other, rational 
 philosophs , are the two branches of human knowledge in which they have 
 made ihe greatest progress. Religious prejudices, which do not allow them 
 to practise anatomy, have retarded their progress in the natural studies, and 
 in medicine ; the latter science having been with them rather an arbitrary sys- 
 tem than ihe result of observations. The subtlety of their understanding is 
 more particularly to be remarked in their books of logic, of dialectics, and of 
 rhetoric, in their dogmatic and polemic theology, and in their treatises of civil 
 right, and of the rites of religion. Their numberless commentaries on the 
 Koran suffice alune to prove the high degree to which they have earned the 
 spirit ot' analysis ; and if there still exists among them a certain portion of 
 mental cultivation, it is to be ascribed to the necessity they are undter of stu- 
 dying and understanding these commentaries, seeing that the Koran is the 
 only source ot all their positive right, and of their morality. To this consi- 
 fieration may be added their taste for poetry, which requires the study of 
 -grammar, and all its intricacies. 
 
Explanatory Notes, 95 
 
 Egyptian Coins. 
 
 It was in the reign of Argandes, under the Persian dominion, that the first 
 coins were struck and passed current in Egypt. But a small number were 
 put into circulation. A tew are sometimes found in the sand>< that have 
 been so often sifted by the Arabs, but those that are met wi'h nev r reach 
 higher than the age of Alexander. Under the Pto'emies cert 'in ciiies, (of 
 which number were Pelushim, Thebes, INIemphis and Abydos) had the privi- 
 lege of coining money. 
 
 It is thought that the Pharaohs were not so rich as many h ive imagined. 
 Statues of bronze and gold were very rare in Egypt. The gold circle on the 
 tomb of Osymandyas, and the gold statue of the Delta, are conceived to be of 
 doubtfiil authenticity'. The Athenians, say some, expended more on their 
 statue of Minerva, than the Egyptians on one of the great obelisks of Sais. 
 
 Colleges. 
 
 In ancient Egypt were four chonialim or colleges ; one at Thebes, one at 
 Memphis to which Orpheus, Thales, and Democritus repaired ; one at Helio- 
 polis, visited by Plato and Eudoxus, and one at Sais, wherein Solomon was a 
 student. Certain ancient records made Athens ro be a colony trtJin Sais. 
 The college of this city had never possessed such immunitie- a- he otiiers. 
 llie three former deputed each ten persons to Thebes, who there comi'o.-ed a 
 tribunal of thirty judges over whom an archidica^t or lord chief justice pre- 
 sided. 
 
 Castes. 
 
 The Egyptian people were originally divided into tvelve castes, tvyo of 
 which, the Hermetjbii and the Calasyrii were military tribes. 1 hey inha- 
 bited the Delta, in the North of Egypt. In coincidence with this, it is re- 
 marked that the rayas and the naires, military castas of Indians, inhabit the 
 North of that country. 
 
Section of the Second Pyramid of Gheza, in Egypt 
 
 The plate which represents this subject is a correct and authentic copy of the 
 efforts of M. Belzoni, in the prosecution of his important undertaking. The pub- 
 lic interest relative to it has been invariably kept up, though it might seem to 
 have been weakened on the rumour of his death ; an event that must have been 
 feelingly deplored, with real anxiety. M. Belzoni however lives — and lives to 
 keep our attention powerfully alive, by a display of brilliant labours that shew 
 an evident superiority of intellect. This young Roman is in the employ of the 
 Antiquarian Society* of London. A rich exuberance of ingenuity, extraordinary 
 physical forces, unite to quahfy him for a work that requires intelligence, courage, 
 and enterprize. He is attached to the British interest, and is six feet in height. 
 
 I learn from the last letter of the Consul-General of France, dated March 8, 
 1819, that M. Belzoni, in the name of the Consul of England, was to take pos- 
 session after my departure, of a colossal arm of rose granite, that had belonged 
 to me at Thebes, but which I could not remove, from the river being then re- 
 markably shallow. Had I remained in Egypt, I should have been careful not to 
 have relinquished my right to it. 
 
 A. First opening made by M. Belzoni, and afterwards abandoned. 
 
 B. Second opening made by the same, at the distance of forty to fifty feet from 
 the middle of the pyramid, which, after raising some stones, by degrees presented 
 a very regular entrance, 
 
 C. A straight passage, which goes in a slope 102 feet, from No. 1 to No. 2, cut 
 in a fine polished granite, and being about three feet and a-half in height, and as 
 much in breadth. 
 
 D. A sort of door of granite, in form of a trap, which opens and shuts. 
 
 E. A straight passage, about twenty-two feet long, from No. 2 to No. 3, and 
 from three feet and a-half to four feet high, which continues unto the chamber 
 H. and abutting on a perpendicular descent to the depth of tea to twelve feet. 
 
 F. Opening in the rock, or kind of breach, about thirty feet. 
 
 G. Straight passage, about 157 feet long, from No. 7. to No. 4. at from six to 
 eight feet high, conducting to the grand apartment H, and also serving to return by. 
 
 H. Spacious chamber, with a sarcophagus, whereof the covering is thrown 
 down in the monument. 
 
 I. Hollow in a stone, filled with rubbish, which, some one suspecting to be 
 another passage, had employed himself to verify. 
 
 J. Passage of forty-tight feet long, from Ho. 5. to No. 9. 
 
 K. Straight passage from No. 6 to No. 7. conducting also by another passage to 
 the second chamber L. 
 
 L. The second chamber. 
 
 M. A small place cut in the rock. 
 
 N. A passage shut up, which is supposed to conduct to another way out of the 
 Pyramid. 
 
 * This must be a mistake. The speculations and studies of the Antiquarian 
 Society seldom extend beyond the primitive remains of England, and the antiquities 
 of tomb-stones in our country church-yards. — Editor. 
 
 Printed by Benjamin Bensley, 
 Nelson Square. 
 
V 
 

 ifct-x'