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I
NOFRE’TARI. AN EGYPTIAN QUEEN.
Abou- Simbel.
NILE GLEANINGS
CONCERNING
THE ETHNOLOGY, HISTORY AND ART OF
ANCIENT EGYPT
AS REVEALED BY EGYPTIAN PAINTINGS AND BAS-RELIEFS.
WITH
Descriptions of |Mn;t antr its feat foch Couples to
tljc Moroni) (Cataract.
y
By VILLIERS STUART, of Dromana
“ Quid vetat * * * ridentem dicere verum?” — Horace.
WITH FIFTY-EIGHT COLOURED AND OUTLINE PLATES
FROM SKETCHES AND IMPRESSIONS TAKEN FROM THE MONUMENTS.
LONDON :
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1879.
[ATI Rights reserved.]
LONDON .*
BRADBURY, A.GNEW, & UO. , PRINTERS, WU1TEFKIAB8.
There is no country about which so many books
have been written as Egypt ; it might be supposed,
therefore, that nothing more is left to say on the subject.
This however is far from being the case : much still
remains to be discovered there ; much of what has
been already discovered still remains to be described.
Not many travellers who have published books on Egypt
have had a knowledge of hieroglyphics, and this fact
alone has closed against them most interesting fields
of knowledge. Finally, even things already described
may be placed in new and interesting lights, just as the
same pieces of glass in a kaleidoscope assume new
patterns when shaken by different hands. There is
plenty left to glean ; and as the thrifty Chinaman sifts the
dross left by careless Australian diggers as worthless,
and recovers many a grain of good gold that has
escaped notice, so have I hoped to follow where others
have gone before, and still find new and interesting
matters left to dish up for my readers.
VI
PREFACE.
I have avoided as far as possible describing what has
been described already, and what I have described is
derived from personal observation. I have visited some
places seldom visited, and not before described. I had
the good fortune to discover a hitherto unknown tomb,
which casts an important light upon an obscure period
of Egyptian history. I have described for the first time
the appearance of a tomb of great antiquity not before
violated, and in which the mummies lie in their original
position. I offer illustrations also never, I believe, before
published of the mystic subjects of Egyptian mythology
from the tombs of the Kings at Babel Moulouk. I offer
drawings of the oldest known tombs in the world
belonging to the third dynasty, sketched for the first
time, and differing in a marked manner from the tombs
even of the fourth dynasty which succeeded it. I also
offer some very instructive portraits of Kings, Queens,
Princes, and Chiefs.
I have endeavoured to take down from the walls, and
bring to life again as it were, for the inspection of my
readers, the historic personages of the remote past, so
that they may be enabled to realize of what aspect they
were and what costumes they wore.
The reproduction of their very lineaments appears to
me to be important as furnishing a clue not only as to
the branch of the human family to which they owe their
origin, but also as to the nations which owe their origin
to them. I may at once state here that I have been
PREFACE.
Vll
led to the conclusion that the Latin races are derived
to a very great extent from them through the Pelasgi,
the Greeks to a less extent, having a larger admixture
of Phoenician blood. This belief is founded on com¬
parisons of feature, language, religious tradition, designs
of pottery, &c.
I have ventured to draw some conclusions as to
Egyptian chronology, based upon the recently discovered
Table of Abydos, which I trust may prove both new
and true. I have also edged in little doses of hiero¬
glyphic lore, and have given inscriptions with their
translations which I hope may not be without interest.
I have added tables of temperature taken con¬
scientiously from day to day twice daily for more than
three months, which may be of value to those who are
in search of a winter health-resort. Having spent three
winters in Egypt, I am in a position to say that these
tables give a fair sample of the average winter climate
there, and I would call attention to the Nile river
temperatures, which I have taken a yard below the
surface, and which constitute a good gauge of the mean
throughout the winter, viz., 6o° — 65°.
There will also be found in the Appendix a double
Itinerary — one up, the other down — which may save
much trouble, as it is often perplexing work trying to
read the guide-books backwards on the way down, and
calculate distances on the return voyage.
At the end of Chapter XXXII. is a list of kings, con-
Vlll
PREFACE.
tained in the Table of Abydos, carefully rendered as
spelt in the hieroglyphic ovals, to which have been
added translations of the literal meaning of the names.
This is a novel feature, and I venture to think will
prove both interesting and instructive, as indicating
men’s modes of thought in very ancient times ; often
useful, too, in determining the order in which the
syllables of the names should be pronounced.
The illustrations, with few exceptions, are from my
own drawings. Some were sketched from the monu¬
ments in the ordinary way ; in some I have been assisted
by impressions taken by myself from the bas-reliefs ; in
others I have been aided by photographs ; two of them,
Plates XLVI. and XLVII., are simply fac-similes of
photographs. I had to decide whether the subjects
of the Plates should be presented in their actual con¬
dition, showing fractures and coloured only in patches,
the rest being worn away, or whether they should be
restored and presented to my readers, as far as pos¬
sible, in their original condition. The latter course
seemed most appropriate to a work, the main object
of which is to illustrate Egyptian Art as it actually
existed in ancient times. Many of the Plates, therefore,
must be understood to be restorations, but no colour or
pattern has been introduced without the authority of the
monuments. In most instances amply sufficient colour
remained to guide me ; even where this was not the
case, duplicate subjects on other monuments supplied
PREFACE.
IX
the missing links. Indian red and vermilion, Naples
yellow and chrome, olive green, indigo blue, light blue,
and lamp-black were the stereotyped pigments. ‘
All the coloured Plates, except XXXI. and XXXVI.,
have been lithographed by Mr. F. Guy of Cork, and
I hope it will be admitted that they do no discredit
to Irish workmanship ; all the plain subjects, except
Nos. XV., XXVII., XL., XLIV., XLVI. — L., LII., and
LV., have been executed by the same establishment.
I have ventured to trust to myself for the translations
of short hieroglyphic inscriptions and of names ; but I
gladly avail myself of this opportunity of acknowledging
the kindness and courtesy of Dr. Birch of the British
Museum, and of Brugsch Bey, author of the very inte¬
resting History of Egypt lately translated. The latter
was the Gamaliel at whose feet I sat, and whose excel¬
lent Grammar formed the foundation of my hieroglyphic
lore, subsequently increased by study of the monu¬
ments. I also acquired valuable information from him
personally while at Cairo, as well as from Mariette
Bey, to whose explorations Egyptologists owe so
much.
H. VILLIERS STUART, of Dromana.
Dromana,
November , 1879.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
TO CAIRO VIA SUEZ.
PAGE
Voyage out — An Impartial Mama — A Ducking— Port Said and its humours —
Coaling — The Suez Canal — Thoughts suggested by it on the Exodus — Suez
— Its Bazaar — Expedition to the Wells of Moses — Cruise in an Arab dhow
— By rail to Cairo— Ismailia ......... i
CHAPTER II.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART.
Its conventionalities accounted for — Used as auxiliary to writing— Alternate
Prosperity and Decay of— Divided into distinct periods, separated from
each other by long intervals of total paralysis — Vast Antiquity of — Earliest
Specimens of — Pyramid of Meidoum — Tomb of Nofre Ma, Third
Dynasty — Tomb of his wife Princess Atot . ...... 17
CHAPTER III.
MONUMENTS OF THE THIRD DYNASTY.
The Pyramid of Meidoum — The Tomb of Nofre-Maat — Curious Mosaics — A
Name of Good Omen — Tomb of Princess Atot — An Old World Sportsman
— A Loving Wife — A Dig at Darwin ... . . 27
CHAPTER IV.
OUR FIRST LANDING.
Off for the Second Cataract — First Stage Bibe — A fat Saint and Medicine Man
— Sheik Fodl — Going to the Dogs — A Bedouin Encampment — Mummy
Bow-wows — Gebel-e-Tayr — Monks with Domestic Tastes — Coptic Church
of Fifth Century — The Mountain of Birds — A Lonely Sentinel ... 40
CHAPTER V.
METAHARA.
An LTnsuccessful Expedition — Singular Geological Formation — The Valley ot
Cinders — The Curse of the Dervish — Petrilied Melons — Hyxna’s Den —
Antinoc — Dayr-el-Nakel — Isbaida — Ancient Tombs . . . . .
5i
CONTENTS.
XI 1
CHAPTER VI.
TOMB OF FIFTH DYNASTY.
TAGE
Ti’s Girls — Ancient Asses — Hippopotamus Hunt — “Can’st thou draw Leviathan
with a hook ? ” — Ti’s estimate of his own importance — A Fisherman’s
Paradise — Twelfth Dynasty Tombs ........ 62
CHAPTER VII.
TEL-EL-AMARNA.
Ruins of the ancient city of Khou-en-Aten — An interesting Tomb — Hunt for a
buried Monument — A hostile Garrison — A Parley and Treaty of Peace — -
Suggestions as to a still doubtful episode in Egyptian history ... 69
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CROCODILE CAVERNS OF GEBEL ABOUFAIDA.
Crystalline Bombs — A faint-hearted Ally — A Terrible end — A Weird scene —
Superphosphate of Crocodile — Resurrection of a Mummy ... 86
CHAPTER IX.
SIOUT.
Monuments of the thirteenth dynasty— A splendid Mausoleum — A Mummy
brought to life and made to speak ........
CHAPTER X.
DENDERA.
A Short Cut missed — Legend of Isis and Osiris — Its hold upon the Egyptian
mind accounted for — Cleopatra — -Visit to the Bazaars of a large town — The
Merry Wives of Keneh — Dates and Coffee ...... 96
CHAPTER XI.
ESNEH.
The Temple of Knouhm-Ra — A Native Levee— Walk through the Market
Place — Symptoms of Famine .........
CHAPTER XII.
ASSOUAN.
Kom Ombos — Shopping in Nubia — The Home of the Obelisk — Tax Gatherers
— Philae — Adam and Eve — Osiris ........ 108
CONTENTS.
Xlll
CHAPTER XIII.
PASSAGE OF FIRST CATARACT.
TAGE
Equitation extraordinary — The Governor of Nubia — An Exciting Experience —
Nubian Village Merchants . . . . . . . . .116
CHAPTER XIV.
NUBIAN MONUMENTS.
Gertassie — A Royal Winner of all Hearts — Coptic Calendar — Kalabshe —
Memorial Chapel of Rameses the Great — Bayt-el-Waly — The Game of
Tributes — Dakkeh — An amiable Brotherhood defeated — Coptic Saints and
Heathen Gods — The Treasure-chamber — An ancient Fortress — Interesting
Stele .
CHAPTER XV.
VALLEY OF LIONS.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way” — An Apostle in strange company —
Volcanic formation— Billingsgate in the Desert — Korosko— Purple and
g°ld . 139
CHAPTER XVI.
AMADA.
Memorial Chapel of the Family of Thothmes— A pretty Priestess— The Goddess
of Letters — An Epic Poem 900 years older than the Iliad — Why Thebes is
plural ............
CHAPTER XVII.
DERR.
Rameses again— Native Politeness— A Nubian Wedding— A Shindy— Ibreem—
A Bank garnished with Crocodiles— First View of the Colossi .
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE GREAT ROCK TEMPLES OF ABOU SIMBEL.
Rameses in his might— His Camp on the Orontes— His tame Lion— Plis best¬
loved Queen— His Duel— His Umbrella— His Family Pictures— His Car¬
riage and Horses .......
XIV
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
TEMPLE OF NOFRET ARI.
PAGE
Royal Robes — A Devoted Wife— Divine Beauties . . . . . .178
CHAPTER XX.
DATE OF RAMESES THE GREAT.
The Captivity and Exodus of the Children of Israel — The Treasure Cities —
Nubian Mutton — Christian Worship in Heathen Temples . . . . 183
CHAPTER XXI.
THE SECOND CATARACT-WADY IIALFEH.
The Second Cataract — Central African Terminus — St. George and the Dragon
— Dongola in the Distance — Abooseer — A Desert Shipwreck — An In¬
teresting Tomb — A Funeral 3000 years ago — Nubian Offerings to Plathor
— Korosko — Purchase of two Chameleons — Nubian Villages . . . 187
CHAPTER XXII.
DESCENT OF THE FIRST CATARACT.
An Old Mosque — Beautiful Scenery — Shooting the Rapids — Sehael — Memorial
Inscriptions — Kom Ombos . 200
CHAPTER XXIII.
MEMORIAL CHAPELS OF GEBEL SILSILIS.
Portraits of Menephthah and Horus — Rameses the Second — The Quarries of
Gebel Silsilis — An Egyptian Siberia — Edfoo ...... 207
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE KHEDIVE’S SUGAR FACTORY.
Forced Labour— Large Profits — A Fact for holders of Egyptian Bonds —
Brutal Treatment of the Factory Workmen — A Walk across Country-
Noisy Dogs — A Water-wheel— Industry of the Fellaheen — Scriptural
Allusions ........ .... 216
CHAPTER XXV.
TOMBS NEAR EL-KAB.
Ruins of Eilythias — Historical importance of Tombs at El-Kab — Genealogical
inscription— Career of a Naval Officer under the Seventeenth Dynasty _ Plis
Portrait — Paintings in the Tombs — The Bible and Egyptian History —
Esne .........
CONTENTS.
XV
CHAPTER XXVI.
MEDINET ABOU.
TAGE
Interesting Sculptures — Home Life of Sesostris — An Ancient Temple — Visit to
the Ramesseum— The Tombs of the Queens— Curious Sepulchre at Kournet
Murrae — Tomb of King Aai — Mummy of Amunoph the Third . . . 242
CHAPTER XXVII.
TOMBS OF TIIE PHARAOHS.
Our Cavalcade — Ayeesha— In Hades — Tomb of Sethi the First — Rameses the
Third — The Serpent Myth — The Egyptian Purgatory . . . .256
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A THEBAN CEMETERY.
A Nile Panorama — A Mummy offered for sale — Lunch with a Turkish Gentle¬
man — Tombs Occupied as Residences — Eleventh-dynasty Tombs — Ancient
Obelisks — Mummy of Queen Ah-Hotep ....... 268
CHAPTER XXIX.
HISTORIC NOTES.
Egyptian History Repeats Itself — Origin of the Ancient Egyptians— Analogies
of Language — European Character of Egyptian Features — Influence of
Climate — Cyprian Antiquities showing close connection with Egypt in
remote times ............ 276
CHAPTER XXX.
DEIR-EL-BAIIARI.
The Terrace Temple — Temple and Mausoleum — Beauty of the Sculptures —
Exploits of Thothmes the First — Ancient Egyptian f leet — Bas-relief of
Chariot Race — Welcome Home — Historically important Discovery made
by the Author — Antiquities collected at Thebes . . . . .291
CHAPTER XXXI.
KASR-EL-SYAD.
Tombs of the Sixth Dynasty — The Royal Game of Tributes — Tomb of Prince
Ta-IIotep — Ballianeh — Kom-es-Sultan — Mariette Bey’s Excavations —
Family Memorial Stele ..........
XVI
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXII.
the royal ancestors of rameses the great.
PAGE
Temple of Abydos— Bas-relief of young Rameses— The famous Tablet— Its
value in Egyptian chronology— Testimony of the Pyramids to Sethi’s accuracy 314
CHAPTER XXXIII.
SIXTH DYNASTY TOMBS IN GEBEL ABOUFAIDA.
Ekmin — A good Guide-map needed — Uselessness of Dragomen as guides —
Ancient Tomb near Gou-el-Kebeer — Rock-tombs under successive
dynasties — Mosaics at Beni-Hassan — A Coptic Church — Tombs of the Sixth
Dynasty — A Coptic Monastery — Bedressayn . 329
CHAPTER XXXIV.
SAKKARA.
The Apis Mausoleum — An English Encampment — Tomb of Ti — Arrival
at Cairo — Disaffection amongst the Khedive’s Troops — The Mecca Pilgrims
—Procession of the Mahal— A Fortune-telling Dervish .... 339
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE PROPHET’S BIRTHDAY.
A Desert Ride — Fossil Trees — Religious festival at Cairo — Dancing Dervishes
— Sunnites — The Sheik’s Ride over the Bodies of the Faithful— A Ghastly
Spectacle ............ 348
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE PYRAMIDS.
The Great Pyramid — Exploration of Interior of Pyramid of Menkaoura — Accu¬
racy of the Tables of Abydos confirmed — The Sphinx Repaired by Khafra
— A Colossal Recumbent Figure ........ 360
CHAPTER XXXVII.
ADIEU TO EGYPT.
The Pyramids of Dashoor— An Undisturbed Tomb of Great Antiquity — A
Sand Storm— Our Last Experience of Egyptian Antiquities — Present
Condition of the Fellaheen — Tax-collecting Thirty Years Ago and Now—
Mehemet Ali’s Canal — A Good Word for the Khedive— Corrupt Turkish
Officials ............. 366
CONTENTS.
XVII
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ATHENS.
PAGE
Home vid Greece — Mount Ida — A Classic Cruise — A Sea of Gems — The Piraeus
— A Greek Jarvey — The Acropolis — Mars Hill — Schliemann’s Treasures —
Relics from the Tomb of Agamemnon — Golden Masks — Isis in a Bovver
— Eleusis and Salarais 374
APPENDICES.
Chapter on Hieroglyphics, with Examples Alphabetically
Arranged . 385
Table of Hieroglyphic Titles frequently recurring on Monu¬
ments . 393
Meteorology of Egypt ; its Advantages as a Winter Residence . 404
Table of Temperatures, Maximum and Minimum, taken Daily
during Three Months, with Itinerary and Wind and Weather
Record from Log-book of “Gazelle” ..... 406
General Itinerary for Return Journey from Second Cataract
to Cairo . 409
Table of Hieroglyphic Names of some of the Principal Kings of
Egypt . 41 1
NOTES ON VARIOUS CHAPTERS . 417
INDEX . 427
b
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE. PAGE
io. NOFRE-TA-RI, an Egyptian queen — Abou simbel Coloured Frontispiece.
1. wells OF moses . Coloured 12
2. BAS-RELIEF FROM A TOMB OF FOURTH DYNASTY .... 59
3. HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNT — TOMB OF TI . 65
4. BAS-RELIEFS IN THE TOMB OF TI — FIFTH DYNASTY .... 62
5. bas-relief on a TOMB AT THEBES. (Discovered by the Author)
Coloured 82
6. THOTHMES AND THE GODDESS SEFEEK .... Coloured I48
7. BEHIND THE DOOR — AMADA . Coloured 146
8. PORTRAIT OF THOTHMES II. — AMADA . 1 53
9. EMANCIPATED AT LAST — NUBIAN DESERT . . . Coloured 190
11. THE PRINCE . Coloured 174
12. duel of rameses . Coloured 173
13. RAMESES AND HIS SONS . 1 76
14. RAMESES IN HIS CHARIOT, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS FIGHTING LION —
ABOU SIMBEL . 1 77
15. COLOSSAL STATUE OF PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER — ABOU SIMBEL . . 180
16. NOFRE-TA-RI AND THE GODDESS ANKE— ABOU SIMBEL . Coloured 182
17. A BABY PHARAOH — QUARRIES OF GEBEL SILSILIS . 210
18. TRIUMPH OF HORUS — GEBEL SILSILIS . 208
19. MINSTRELS AT A FEAST— WALL-PAINTING — EL KAB . Coloured 236
20. QUEEN TAI-T1, CONSORT OF AMUNOPH III. — TOMBS OF THE QUEENS 250
21. QUEEN tai-ti . Coloured 244
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xix
PLATE. PAGE
22. MUMMY COUCH . Coloured 258
23. ANUBIS TENDING MUMMY . Coloured 194
24. CAPTURE OF MYSTIC SERPENT — TOMBS OF THE KINGS . Coloured 260
25. WELCOME HOME — BAS-RELIEF IN TOMB OF THE PERIOD OF AMUNOPH II.
— thebes .......... Coloured 298
26. HOUSE OF MOURNING — BAS-RELIEF — THEBES . 268
27. STATUE OF RAMESES . 164
28. THE DINNER-HOUR — BAS-RELIEF — THEBES . 296
29. WAR trophies — deir-el-bahari . Coloured 292
30. PORTRAIT OF QUEEN HA-T-ASOU — DEIR-EL-BAHARI . . Coloured 29 1
31. ARCHERS OF QUEEN HA-T-ASOU’S GUARD . . . Colozired 294
32. IN AMENTI, THE PLACE OF DEPARTED SPIRITS . . . Coloured 264
33. THE MOST ANCIENT KNOWN OBELISKS IN THE WORLD . . . 273
34. COURTIER OF ICHOU-EN-ATEN — BAS-RELIEF — THEBES .... 30O
35. PORTRAIT OF YOUNG RAMESES . 314
36. SERVANTS BEARING FUNERAL OFFERINGS — TOMB OF SIXTH DYNASTY
PERIOD — KASR-EL-SYAD . Coloured 304
37- CHIEF OF SIXTH DYNASTY AND HIS DAUGHTER— KASR-EL-SYAD . 306
38. CHIEF OF SIXTH DYNASTY AND HIS WIFE, PRINCESS AM-UA-TE —
KASR-EL-SYAD . 308
39. chariot RACE, 1600 B.c . Coloured 296
40. CLEOPATRA, FROM BAS-RELIEF IN THE INTERIOR OF TEMPLE, DEN-
DERA . .98
41. sacred boat — abou simbel . Coloured 170
42. AT A LEVEE OF AMUNOPH II. — WALL-PAINTING — IBREEM Coloured 160
43. UMBRELLA SCENE . I72
44. MAP OF EGYPT, NUBIA, AND SINAI . 9
45. INSCRIPTION OF SENOFRE-OU AND OUSERS-RA — MINES OF SINAI . . 276
46. BAS-RELIEFS FROM ROCK TEMPLE NEAR KALABSHE .... 138
47. BAS-RELIEFS FROM ROCK TEMPLE NEAR KALABSHE . . . . 130
XX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE. PAOE
48. STATUE, CYPRUS . 288
49. ANTIQUE FRAGMENT OF GATEWAY FROM CYPRUS, SHOWING THE
EGYPTIAN WINGED GLOBE . 29O
50. FAC-SIMILE OF A PAPYRUS, IN THE AUTHOR’S POSSESSION, OBTAINED
BY HIM AT THEBES . 302
51. THE TWO STATUES 282
52. FAMILY MEMORIAL STELE — BOULAK . 312
53. ROYAL ANCESTORS OF RAMESES THE GREAT . 322
54. QUEEN AND FAMILY OF KIIOU-EN-ATEN . 72
55. NUBIAN LADY, SKETCH FROM STATUE, PERIOD OF AMUNOPH III. . 272
56 F. TOMB OF NOFRE-M A, THIRD DYNASTY — MEIDOUM . . • • 33
57 G. TOMB OF PRINCESS ATOT, THIRD DYNASTY — MEIDOUM . . 30
58. PLAN OF TOMBS OF THE KINGS . 256
WOODCUTS.
A FISHERMAN’S PARADISE . 66
PORTRAIT OF AMUNOPH III . 80
PORTRAIT OF KHOU-EN-ATEN . 8l
COPTIC ANGELS . 337
PORTRAIT OF SACRED BULL . . 338
NILE GLEANINGS.
CHAPTER I.
TO CAIRO VIA SUEZ.
Voyage out — An Impartial Mama — A Ducking — Port Said and its Humours —
Coaling — The Suez Canal — Thoughts suggested by it on the Exodus — Suez — Its
Bazaar — Expedition to the Wells of Moses — Cruise in an Arab Dhow— By Rail
to Cairo — Ismailia.
In the autumn of last year (1878) we took passage at
Marseilles for Egypt in the good ship Irawaddy, of 3500
tons. She is the largest steamer of the noble fleet of
the Messageries Maritimes, and has the merit of a first-
rate cuisine, and a cheery pleasant set of officers. The
most notable of our fellow passengers was a Chinese
envoy, who had been on some mission at Berlin. He
was a tall large man, of superhuman ugliness, and
behind him dangled a thick pigtail of glossy black hair,
which he cherished with great care ; it was the pride
of his manhood. His attire consisted of a richly
flowered satin robe, a mandarin cap and button,
and the usual thick-soled Chinese sabots. This pleni¬
potentiary was an object of much interest to us ordinary
mortals, the passengers. He was accompanied, of
course, by a native suite ; and also by a European inter¬
preter and secretary, a sharp clever fellow, who spoke
every language under the sun, but whose own nationality
we never succeeded in making out.
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. I.
H is Celestial Excellency graciously condescended
to acknowledge our little civilities, responding with
smiling courtesy. He was specially fond of watching
games of chess, making remarks in Chinese to the
afore-mentioned secretary. Occasionally a complicated
structure of ebony and silver was brought to him, which,
it was explained to us, was his pipe ; with this he used
to dive into his cabin, and presently a process of fumi¬
gation would commence in which, amongst us outside,
opium was supposed to play a part.
All went well with our distinguished fellow passenger,
until one day he was overtaken with sleep while re¬
clining in his deck chair. His pigtail hung temptingly
over the back, and proved irresistible to a couple of
graceless French children, who first began by handling
timidly the cherished appendage with inquisitive fingers,
and finally, familiarity breeding contempt, ended by
giving it a sharp tug like a bell-pull ! His Excellency
started up in horror at the atrocious outrage upon
his dignity. “ Ces diables d’enfants ” scampered off,
but were presently captured by the interpreter and
dragged before their mother, a French lady bound
for New Caledonia. The secretary explained in his
best French, and with much energy of language, the
enormity that her offspring had committed, and re¬
spectfully requested her to chastise them with cor¬
responding severity, and to apologise to his High¬
ness ; but the lady refused to see it in the same
light. She indignantly commanded him to unhand her
darlings, denied that they had done it at all, and inti¬
mated that if they had it was no great harm ; and she
marched off with one of her little angels in either hand,
swelling like a hen with ruffled plumes. Meanwhile his
Chap. I.*]
A DUCKING.
0
Excellency would not be comforted, but strode off to
his den, called for his pipe, and was no more seen
that day. The only memorable incident that happened
to ourselves shall be recorded as a caution to other
rebels against ship discipline. Bad weather coming
on off the coast of Crete, the steward entered our cabin
and screwed down the dead-light. To this we specially
objected, and no sooner was his back turned than we
unscrewed it again and replaced it with the inner plate-
glass window. Our spouse lay in the berth beneath,
reading Miss Edwards’ “ Egypt,” when suddenly there
was a shock, a shower of broken glass, and a tre¬
mendous rush of water. We had shipped a sea,
our cabin was a foot deep in water, and every stitch
of bedding and clothes saturated. The pretty little
stewardess, Marie, came to the rescue, lent new attire
of her own to the dripping lady, who had been covered
with broken glass as well as salt water, and took her to
her own cabin, where she would have been very happy
but for sundry waiters, friends of the fair Marie, who
kept putting in their heads, and seeing, as they thought,
their favourite on the sick list, exclaimed, “ Eh bien, done,
Marie, qu’est-ce que e’est?” As for us we were held
up to the other passengers as frightful examples of dis¬
obedience to discipline on board ship. Soon after this
adventure we entered the harbour of Port Said, where
we stopped to coal. While this unpleasant process was
going on, most of us went on shore to investigate the
humours of this strange town, which has sprung up
like a mushroom spawned by the Suez Canal. It was
a starlit evening, and the long straight thorough¬
fare, which extends at right angles with the landing-
place, was brilliantly illuminated and looked very pretty.
B 2
4
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. I.
It seemed to consist almost entirely of cafes chantants,
in most of which were orchestras of instrumental
music, composed of German and Hungarian girls, many
of them pretty. We were assured that they were “ tres-
hraves filles,” that they laid-by money as fast as they
could, and then returned home to get married. These
fair ones did not disdain to accept jugs of beer, which
were handed up to them from time to time and promptly
drained. They played fiddles, bass viols, drums, and
other instruments usually confined to the male per¬
suasion. Visitors are expected to take something for
the good of the house, so we sat at little tables and
sipped curaqoa punch, which the ladies admitted to be
less disagreeable than they expected. The excitement
of the roulette table was not absent from these cafes.
We saw some queer-looking people about, and accidents
with stilettos are not uncommon.
There is a floating population of Levantines, Greek
and Italian, of sinister aspect, very handy with knife
and revolver, also of loose dogs and jackasses, the latter
careering about the streets all night, and not unfre-
quently contributing their well-known solo to the con¬
certs of the cafes chantants.
There is a very comfortable and well-managed hotel
at Port Said, the ‘ Netherlands,’ belonging to the Duke
of - , at which we once stayed several days while
waiting for the Marseilles steamer. Our punch finished,
we made a tour of the shops. The ladies bought
Maltese lace and Syrian embroidery, and the gentle¬
men invested in Turkish cigarette tobacco. One of the
most unexpected products of this curious place were
woodcocks. There were stalls full of them : they are
brought from Albania. We returned loaded with blood-
Chap. I.]
PORT SAID.
5
oranges and other fruit, to find everything on board
covered with coal dust. Barges of that indispensable
mineral were being ferried to and fro by crews of naked
black men, screaming and vociferating like very fiends,
their ebony features illuminated by the lurid glare from
the bonfires which light them at their work. The
scene might have done duty as a tableau from the
infernal regions.
Next morning at sunrise we proceeded on our way
for Suez up the Canal, which is well worth seeing and
full of interest. One peculiarity of the trip through it
is, that as one sits on a lounge chair, on the deck of a
3500-ton ocean steamer, in a salt-water ditch so narrow
that one can pitch a biscuit on shore, there pass before
one, like a panorama, all the phenomena of desert life :
sand storms, Bedouins, strings of camels, boundless
horizons of desolate plains, &c. Along the Canal grows
a scanty fringe of tamarisk bushes, and amongst these
were many camels browsing, apparently in a half-wild
state, but of course they belong to some one or other.
We had several opportunities of landing and of ex¬
amining the geological formation of the Isthmus of
Suez, and of the sand and mud thrown out of the bed
of the Canal in the process of excavation. The latter
is just the stuff that would he formed at the bottom
of a brackish estuary. It is full of cockle shells of
quite modern pattern, and such as might he dredged up
now from any of the lagoons at the mouths of the Nile.
The impression produced upon our minds was, that
what is now the Isthmus of Suez has been at no very
remote period a shallow sea, cutting off by its channel
the continent of Africa and making it an island. So
perfectly modern were the shells that we suspect the
6
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. I.
Isthmus has emerged since the valley of the Nile has
been occupied by man ; that the process has been
gradual ; and that even in the days of Moses the width
of the Isthmus was considerably narrower than now,
and was still a chain of lagoons such as would account
for the expression of Pharaoh with reference to the fugi¬
tive Hebrews : “ They are entangled in the land.”
It was probably one of these shallow inlets that the
Children of Israel forded when the waters were driven
back for them by the interposition of Providence, and an
attentive examination of the geography of this region will
show that they must have crossed much further north
than is usually taken for granted. The land of Goshen
and the district of Succoth are much nearer to the
Mediterranean than to the Red Sea, and their natural
course would be due east from the districts in which
their settlements were situated, not southwards. Another
fact which confirms this conclusion is that on reaching
the eastern shore of the lagoon they had crossed they
found themselves several days’ journey north of the
wells of Elim, for we are told (Exod. xv. 22) that they
first marched three days and came to Marah, and then
after a further march, the length of which is not men¬
tioned, they came to Elim, but if they had crossed as far
south as Suez they would have found themselves less
than three hours’ journey from the Oasis. The whole
error seems to have arisen from the assumption that
the relative situation of sea and land was the same
three thousand three hundred years ago as it is now,
whereas abundant evidence meets one at every turn
during an ordinary walk that the land has been slowly
rising, and consequently that the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean have been receding further and further
Chap. I.]
GEOGRAPHY OF THE EXODUS.
7
apart, and were much closer together thirty-three cen¬
turies ago than they are now. Apart from this it would
be utterly inconceivable that Moses, who well knew the
road to the desert of Sinai, would have made so great a
blunder as to march southwards from Goshen, thereby
exposing his long-drawn-out column of fugitives to an
attack in flank, or that he would deliberately go out of
his way to place the Red Sea between himself and the
point he wished to reach, when the direct route of the
Isthmus lay before him. That he may have done it to
create an occasion for a miracle is quite untenable.
The result of our investigations led us to conclude
that he marched eastwards, and found himself confronted
by the chain of shallow lagoons which there is evidence
to show formerly existed here. The situation of several
of them has been brought to light by the canal of Lesseps,
which has refilled them. They are strung on the Canal,
like beads on a necklace, along its whole course, and
some of these are extensive enough to have compelled
a fugitive multitude, pressed by a pursuing army, to
endeavour to ford them rather than to expose their
flank to attack. Moreover, the sea they crossed is not
in the original Hebrew called the Red Sea, but the Sea
of Weeds, a term applicable to a reedy lagoon, but not
to the clear blue waters of the Gulf of Suez. We are
besides expressly told that they encamped at Migdol.
Now Migdol was not far from the Mediterranean, and
almost on Lake Menzaleh. It was the frontier city of
Egypt, upon the highway from Egypt to Palestine.
Ezekiel, in prophesying the destruction of the entire of
Egypt, instead of saying from north to south, uses the
expression from Migdol to Syene, because Migdol,
though not the northernmost inhabited town, was nearly
8
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. I.
so, and the best known, being on the desert route to
the Holy Land. It must be borne in mind that the
plain of Zoan, where we are told that the miracles of
Moses were wrought, was not far off. There were the
cities of Pithom and Succoth and of Rameses, and there
the Egyptian Court often sojourned. We are also told
that the Children of Israel encamped over against Baal
Zephon, which from its name must have been a town of
Phoenician or Canaanitish connections to the east of the
Delta, and could not have been on the Red Sea. Baal
was the name of the chief Phoenician god, and enters
frequently into the composition of names of Phoenician
towns, but not of purely Egyptian ones. Another place
mentioned is Pi-Hahiroth, a name signifying the mouth
of Hiroth. This must have been one of the numerous
minor outlets of the Nile, by which it discharges itself
into Lake Menzaleh; it could not have been on the Red
Sea, for there is no other river, and consequently no other
mouth, in the whole region. The passage of the Israel¬
ites, though only rendered possible by an interposition of
Providence, was yet brought about by the instrumentality
of natural causes. “ The Lord caused a strong east
wind to blow.” Now a strong east wind blowing down
the length of the Mediterranean would make a percep¬
tible difference in its level, heaping up the waters
towards its western end, and lowering them at the
eastern extremity. We know how strong winds influence
tides and often cause serious disasters, and might
have the effect of temporarily draining shallow lakes
connected with the great sea. We say this result would
be conceivable if we suppose the Mediterranean to be
the sea referred to, but utterly inconceivable in the
case of the Red Sea, for consider the words of Scripture :
I
ptllffi -f+.
■ — —
— — -
%
Chap. I.]
THE SUEZ CANAL.
9
“ The Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east
wind all that night, and made the sea dry land.” Now
if the Children of Israel had been encamped upon the
shore of the Red Sea, it would have required a north
wind to produce the same effect. An east wind would
have blown across a narrow channel at Suez, and could
have made little difference in the level. Moreover,
instead of making the sea go back, it would have driven
it forwards right in the teeth of the advancing host.
Everything therefore fits into our theory of the locality
of the Exodus except the unfortunate translation of Yam
Suph into “ The Red Sea,” whereas it really signifies
the “ Sea of Weeds.” Annexed is a map which we
hope will render the points of our argument clearer, and
may also enable our readers to follow more easily the
subsequent course of our wanderings.
A frequent incident of the passage of the Suez Canal
is to find that some clumsy pilot has run his ship
aground, and as two vessels cannot pass each other
except at certain stations, the fact of any breakdown is
telegraphed from station to station, and one has to wait
in a siding until the course is pronounced clear. From
this cause steamers are sometimes detained three
days in the Canal, though when there is no obstruction
they can get through in one. We were fortunate enough
to reach Lake Timsah the same evening at sunset,
and it was a sunset worth remembering. The sinking
orb, the western sky, and the whole surface of the lake,
were of one uniform blood-red, of an intensity that
cannot be exaggerated.
The following afternoon we reached Suez, but the
bay is so shallow that the steamer had to anchor
five miles off the town. We hired an Arab dhow,
IO
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. I.
manned by a very picturesque Nubian crew; the Reis,
squatted cross-legged in the stern, motionless and silent
as a statue, his ebony features surmounted by a snow-
white turban. The crew wore turbans of various colours,
and long blue bedgowns coming down to their heels —
a less suitable dress for a sailor it would be hard to
imagine. They made up for their chiefs immobility,
for they ran along the edge of the gunwale with the.
activity of monkeys, punting us across the shallow
waters of the bay. As we approached the shore the
Reis broke silence ; plucking me by the sleeve, he
uttered these words : “ Suppose custom-’ouse man say —
‘ Why you no pass custom-’ouse ? ’ — you have rupee
ready." His advice proved good ; no sooner did the
boat touch the hotel steps than a tall, turbaned
individual advanced. The Reis whispered, “ Dis custom-
’ouse.” The “ Custom-house ” thrust forth a dingy paw,
without going through any hypocritical form of words,
and I deposited in his palm a couple of francs.
“ Tahib” (good) grunted the representative of Egyptian
finance, and our portmanteaus were passed without
further parley into the hotel.
Next day we visited the bazaar, accompanied by a
native dragoman in a gorgeous orange-silk turban, who
was greeted by the Suez gamins as “ magnificent
George.” One of these little black wretches wanted
us to hire his donkey, recommending him as — “ dis
donkey, Lord Salisbury.” I suppose this distinction
was conferred upon our diplomatist, apropos of the
brilliant results of the Conference. The Suez bazaar
is very amusing, and as thoroughly Oriental as anything
to be seen in the East. There are specimens of all the
races from both sides of the Red Sea : Nubians, Egyp-
Chap. I.]
SUEZ.
I I
tians, Arabs, Turks, &c., in every variety of Eastern
costume, and in all the colours of the rainbow. The
costumes would, most of them, do capitally for a calico
ball ; the difficulty would be to match the complexions.
The bazaars contained native silks and embroideries,
carpets from Jeddah, and various stones, pebbles,
beads, and baubles, brought by the pilgrims from Mecca.
We had our monograms cut in Arabic characters on a
native seal. Suez is full of goats and sheep, which had
no visible means of subsistence, for Suez stands
between the desert and the Red Sea. The climate is
almost rainless, and there is not so much as a blade of
grass to be seen in the neighbourhood. We ascer¬
tained, however, from a series of observations made in
the town, that these animals subsisted on the straw
from European packing-cases and on the willow hoops
of barrels ; after this it did not surprise us to discover
that the mutton was tough, and that milk was scarce !
Our visit to the bazaar ended, “ magnificent George ”
was commanded to lead us to the shores of the Red
Sea, which he did, under protest — an unwilling Moses.
We wandered along its rippling edge, gathering some
very beautiful shells, corals, and seaweed, and meditat¬
ing on Pharaoh and the Israelites, whose emancipation
was so disastrous to that monarch.
Next day was devoted to a very interesting excursion.
We hired an Arab dhow and sailed down the east coast
of the Red Sea, till we reached a point opposite an oasis
in the desert, called the Wells of Moses. We took a
donkey with us in the dhow, whereon to transport M -
across the desert, and the landing of this beast was a
most ludicrous affair. The hold of the dhow was deep
(she had no deck), but four stout Nubians seized each
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. I.
I 2
a leg of the quadruped, and a fifth seized its tail and
tossed it aloft like a feather, brandishing the entire
animal in the air above their heads, and causing it to
cut a figure very compromising to its dignity. In this
operation “ magnificent George ” did not condescend
to lend a hand. The donkey was, I suppose, an old
reprobate, for his owner had christened him “ Doctor
Gully !” We had a three miles’ ride across the desert,
and were delighted to plunge into the green shade of
the palm grove, out of the glare and heat which pre¬
vailed outside. We were received by some Bedouin
Arabs, who made the wells their head-quarters, and do
a little cultivation with the aid of the brackish water
which the wells supply. The wells are in fact ponds,
from which the water is baled out in the skin of the
hinder half of a goat — the goat’s trowsers as it were.
We annex a drawing of the largest of these pools ; it
is lined with stone, and is of unknown antiquity ; it is
probable enough that when the Hebrew host clustered
round it a few days after the Exodus it presented much
the same aspect, and the seventy-two palm trees are
still represented by about the same number. Under the
shade of these palms the land was laid out in small
garden plots, each bordered with a rim of clay to retain
the water when irrigated. In these grew luxuriantly
beans, onions, salads, barley, tobacco, lentils, and other
crops; nor were sentiment and the ornamental forgotten,
for many rose trees and other shrubs adorned the scene
with their bright colours, and shed their sweet perfume
around. How wonderful a gift is water! but for those
insignificant looking pools of that element of very
brackish and doubtful quality, this oasis would have
been as the rest of the desolate waste around, instead
Chap. I.J
THE WELLS OF MOSES.
of the charming little paradise it is. The camel
which squats beside the water has his fore leg ban¬
daged, so that he cannot rise or stray away ; it is the
usual mode of tethering these much-enduring animals ;
if he had his liberty he would make short work of their
salads and other little garden crops.
The inhabitants are as free as air, and pay no taxes
to any man. They govern themselves on strictly Home
Rule principles. The Arabs brought us coffee and an
excellent salad, and some new-baked cakes hot from
the oven. The wife of one of them was doing the
baking while we were there, and showed us the whole
process. They give the cakes their round shape by
spinning them deftly in the air while still in the soft
dough state. We had brought a very well-furnished
hamper with us from Suez, and we made a capital
pic-nic lunch under the palm trees. The Arabs gave
M - a bouquet of roses, which she accidentally forgot
when leaving ; but half-an-hour after we had started a
tall handsome-looking Bedouin came running up to us
quite out of breath to restore the bunch of flowers, and
having presented them with smiling courtesy, he turned
back, refusing any recompense for his trouble, but
apparently rather hurt at our trying to induce him to
accept a reward.
After lunch we found that the wind had changed, and
that we should not be able to sail back, so I hired a
camel and we rode, via the desert, to Suez. The camel
turned out to be very rough riding, and long before
reaching Suez we felt as if we were riding a crocodile
bare-backed ! and came to the conclusion that our
person would suffer less damage by walking. We
noticed great numbers of Red Sea shells, looking quite
14
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. I.
fresh, as if only left there yesterday ; they strewed the
surface in all directions, and presented unmistakeable
evidence that the land had been slowly rising and the
sea retreating, a fact which forces itself upon one
throughout this region, as we have already observed in
speaking of the Exodus.
Next day we hired the same dhow, and sailed down
the west coast of the Red Sea to the foot of a mountain
called Jebel Attaka, taking our dinners with us ; we were
out all day, and had a most enjoyable cruise. Our craft
had lateen sails, and as there was a fresh breeze she
went like the wind ; one of the crew was a very devout
Mussulman, and spread his carpet at the bottom of the
dhow every three hours, turned his face towards Mecca,
and said his prayers. We respected him much for his
consistency, but some of his evolutions tried our gravity
severely, for he went down on all-fours, squatting like a
frog, and knocked his forehead repeatedly on the floor,
and as the dhow occasionally gave a lurch, he some¬
times knocked his head harder than he bargained for, and
was much chaffed by his comrades. We asked “mag¬
nificent George” why he did not say his prayers every
three hours ; he replied that “He said them all together
in the morning.” I must say we never managed to be
up early enough to see him do it. Towards sunset, the
sun shone full on Mount Sinai, far down the gulf, and
we had a very clear view of it, as also of Mount Serbal,
which some of the learned believe to have been the
mountain of the Commandments ; they are both of
grand and imposing aspect ; however, as the question is
complicated, I must reserve the controversy, as well as
our further adventures, for another time.
From Suez we took the railway to Cairo via Ismailia,
Chap. I.]
ISMAILIA.
15
and stayed over night at this desert city, which is
thoroughly French. It is a curious combination.
Around extends that wilderness which constitutes the
border land between Asia and Africa ; in front is the lake
of crocodiles, whose name suggests a former connection
with the Nile. It must have been once a freshwater
lake. These reptiles never inhabit salt water. Lake
Timsah, in the centre of the Isthmus, was probably fed
in ancient times by the Nile; hence it was a suitable
haunt for crocodiles. Lake Menzaleh, and all the sheets
of water between it and Timsah, communicated with the
Mediterranean, and were brackish, being largely diluted
with Nile water; they were not too salt for the growth
of reeds.
The Bitter lakes, on the other hand, fed from the Red
Sea, and further concentrated by evaporation, were
intensely salt. It may be that it was these that were
christened by the Israelites the waters of Marah, for we
are not told that Marah was a spring. In the midst
of such ancient associations stands this brand-new
French town, laid out in perfectly straight broad streets
lined with handsome trees, and in the centre is a square
full of beautiful flowers. We especially admired the
Poinsettias, which grow here with a luxuriance I have
never seen elsewhere. They were covered with masses
of scarlet blossoms.
There is a very neat, clean hotel (Hotel de Paris)
kept by a French woman, and we had an excellent
dinner, capital wine, and a civil, obliging landlady.
Lesseps is king here, and his palace occupies a pro¬
minent position in the town. It is enlivened by the
frequent arrival of steamers passing through the Canal ;
they all stop at Ismailia to take in a pilot.
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. I-
16
The entire journey from Suez to Cairo occupies about
seven hours. It is not our purpose to describe Cairo or
our experiences there, but we may mention that we
engaged our Nile boat through Messrs. Cook & Co.,
that that plan saved us a vast deal of trouble, and
that we fared far better in the commissariat line than
we had done upon former occasions, when we had
depended for the quality of our food on needy dragomen,
whose interest it was to buy the cheapest fowls and
sheep they could get ; and we experienced on this
occasion for the first time what really good chickens
and mutton were to be had when a fair price was offered
for them. Messrs. Cook & Co. left the choice of boat
to us, and we selected an iron dahabeeah, which had
the reputation of being the fastest on the river (the
Gazelle ). We had every reason to be satisfied with her
performances. I add the names and homes of her
crew and reis, good fellows all : — Reis, Dareis, Nubia ;
Achmet Mahomet, steersman, Nubia ; Achmet Tum-
taiem, chef de cuisine, Derr; Xair, second cook, Abys¬
sinia; Mahomet Mahmoud, chief waiter, Luxor; Yous-
souf Bechai, second waiter, Siout ; Achmet the Giant,
Esneh ; Ali Abderrachman, Assouan ; Suleiman Ach¬
met, Osman Mahomet, Abdallah Mahomet, Achmet
Dareis, Gazim Mahomet, Mahomet Omar, Mahomet
Gemmai, Achmet Suleiman, all from Assouan, — an in¬
structive museum of Nile nationalities.
CHAPTER II.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART.
Its Conventionalities accounted for — Used as auxiliary to writing — Alternate Pros¬
perity and Decay of — Divided into distinct periods, separated from each other
by long intervals of total paralysis — Vast Antiquity of — Earliest specimens of—
Pyramid of Meidoum — Tomb of Nofre-Ma, Third Dynasty — Tomb of his wife
Princess Atot.
Before commencing the diary of our adventures we
think it well to make some preliminary observations
upon Art amongst the ancient Egyptians, and also upon
their probable origin and early history. We have also
endeavoured to give in a popular form some idea to our
readers of the nature of Hieroglyphics. The subject of
Egyptian Art as revealed to us by the monuments,
deserves the first place, for to it we owe everything that
is known to us about the earliest Empire in the history
of mankind — that Empire which became the fountain¬
head and first source of European civilization ; which,
having its beginning at the enormously remote period of
nearly 4000 years before the Christian era, continued to
exist till that date unbroken ; and for several centuries
after that date its distinct national existence was main¬
tained, though under Roman government.
In all the annals of the world there is not another
instance of any system of civilization, characterised by
identity of language, religion, and government, having
so long a run. Commencing 3000 years before the
Romans, and 2400 before the Greeks came into being,
it may be said to have outlived both.
i8
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. II.
I doubt whether in engraving figures on the monu¬
ments the idea of Art for its own sake entered
into an Egyptian’s head at all. The object of their
paintings and bas-reliefs was not to produce master¬
pieces but to record the great deeds of their kings and
chiefs, and the pious and benevolent deeds of their
priests and citizens ; in fact, they regarded painting
and sculpture as only another means of writing, and
they only took just as much pains with the details as
was necessary to make their meaning clear ; just as a
man who has much writing to do is satisfied if he makes
his manuscript legible, but he never aims at making it
a work of art. Much has been said about the stiff con¬
ventionalities of their frescoes and sculptures, but they
had a very good excuse for this. They were required to
cover whole acres of wall with them ; and if the enormous
amount of work required to do this was to be got through
at all, the conventional style must be adopted. I saw a
tomb at Thebes, consisting of excavations in the living
rock, which covered one and a quarter acres of ground,
and every foot of the walls and ceilings of this vast mauso¬
leum was covered with sculptures. That was the tomb
of a private individual. Some of the kings built temples
by the score, and they too were covered within and with¬
out with paintings and sculptures. The Egyptians had
able artists among them, who were admirable draftsmen
and could draw with great spirit when they chose, but
first-rate artists cannot be conjured up in unlimited
numbers even at the bidding of a Pharaoh. I suspect
that in the case of their paintings the faces alone were
done by their best men. Many of these portraits are
exquisitely executed so far as the features go, while the
body and limbs are done with contemptuous careless-
Chap. II.] CONVENTIONALITIES EXPLAINED.
19
ness. They took pains with the portrait in order to
hand down to posterity what the personage they were
painting was like, but having effected this, they left the
rest to inferior hands. Exceedingly spirited pictures
are to be found, for instance (in Plate XII.), “ The
single combat of Rameses and the Libyan Chief,” an
exploit of which that monarch appears to have been
very proud ; in that instance a spirited painting was
necessary in order to place before beholders a vivid idea
of a spirited action. So also (Plate XIII.) his chariot
charge across the field of battle, followed by his sons,
is drawn with great life and vivacity ; the horses are
ill drawn so far as their shape goes, but their impe¬
tuous action as they sweep across the field of battle
is splendidly represented : that is because the action
was the essence of what they wished to represent,
whereas the shape was not. There is evidence of the
rapidity with which they drew their frescoes in the fact
that their outline was often completed in one operation,
the artist never taking his brush off the surface, but
completing the whole figure, shoulders, arms, legs, and
all, in one free flowing line. The king’s command was
urgent, and a host of figures had to be drawn in a given
time, but high art was out of the question in work
done at such pressure. A sufficient number, however, of
splendid specimens of Egyptian art remain to show us
what they could do when they had a fair chance. Sethi,
unlike his son Rameses, preferred quality to quantity,
and the monuments left by him, though few in number,
are covered with beautifully executed work.
The charge of conventionality is only too true as
regards the figures and attitudes of their men and
women as a general rule, but it is not at all true of the
20
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. II.
faces. They were particularly clever at portraiture, and
they carried it to an extreme, for in many instances
even the slaves have their names inscribed over their
heads, and an attentive examination will show that each
face has so decided an individuality of its own as not
to leave in doubt the fact that it is a portrait. See
Plates XXIX., XXXI. and XXXIV. In two of these
the figures are soldiers, and in XXXIV. is one of the
king’s courtiers. The faces will all be seen to differ
very considerably, and each to have a very decided
character of its own, notwithstanding that they are
members of pretty numerous groups. There occur
about no faces in the illustrations of this work. Many
of these are on too minute a scale to reproduce the
actual lineaments from the originals, as in the lower
panel of Plate IV. ; but in the original the faces are all
different, the name of each girl is attached, and there
can hardly be a doubt that they are all portraits. In
any case there can be no question as to Plates VII.,
VIII., X., XI., XVII., XVIII., XX. and XXI.,
XXV., XXX., XXXIV., XXXV., XXXVI., XXXVII.,
XXXVIII., and Plates LIV. and LI. being likenesses,
and very characteristic ones.
Indeed it would be surprising if the Egyptian artists,
who were able to hit off so successfully the characteristic
national traits of their enemies, and to give the distinc¬
tive peculiarities of race in their representations of
foreign peoples, had failed to hand down correctly the
features of their own distinguished men and women.
The very nature of hieroglyphics made them experienced
draftsmen, for it was necessary to give to each bird and
beast and reptile its distinguishing attitude and bear¬
ing ; otherwise one might have been mistaken for
Chap. II.] EGYPTIAN DRAFTSMANSHIP. 2 1
another. The bold wide-awake bearing of the hawk,
the humped-up sleepy figure of the owl, the stolidity of
the goose, the indolent gravity of the vulture, &c., &c.,
and the characteristic appearance of the ibis, the
stork, the plover, and the swallow, amongst birds ; so
among quadrupeds the stealthy tread of the panther, the
free action of the horse, the habitual aspect of the ram,
the ox, the crocodile, the eared snake, the cobra, &c., are
all rendered in the hieroglyphic writing with unerring
skill. So also the human figure occurs often, and is used
to convey various significations. The tottering gait of
the aged man leaning on his stick, and that of the child
scarcely yet able to walk ; the slave bearing burthens on
his head ; the archer kneeling to take sure aim ; — these
and many others are delineated in a few bold masterly
strokes, which never fail to convey the intended mean¬
ing. We can assert indeed from our own experience
that the drawing of hieroglyphics is excellent practice
for acquiring facility of draftsmanship.
The Egyptians were also good at animals ; their
cattle especially are always admirably done, but they
failed in horses ; this is the more curious, because they
could draw donkeys with life-like fidelity (see Plate IV.,
upper panel).
They were very successful with wild beasts : hippo¬
potami, giraffes, monkeys and apes of different kinds,
antelopes, ibex, leopards, &c., &c., occur in numerous
bas-reliefs, and are always good (see Plates III., IV.,
and XXXIX). They were capital caricaturists; an
example occurs in Plate XXXIV., at Tel-el-Amarna, in
the portraits of Khou-en-Aten and his family, and in
a portrait at Deir-el-Bahari, an Abyssinian lady who
has been artificially fattened to suit the Abyssinian
22
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. II.
taste — a practice which still prevails in those regions.
They drew ludicrous incidents with much humour (see
Plate IV.) ; also the Battle of the Boatmen, Boulak, and
the ape stealing fruit and afterwards biting the owner,
who tries to prevent him, in the same group.
Egyptian art varied very much at different periods,
advancing during settled times with peace and prosperity,
losing ground again in disturbed and troubled intervals,
disappearing totally during epochs of national disaster.
The earliest specimens extant are found in the tomb of
Nofre-Ma, treasurer to King Senofreou, of the third
dynasty, and in the tomb of his wife, Princess Atot.
These are described elsewhere. The figures are exe¬
cuted in a coarse kind of mosaic ; they are pitted all
over with square holes, filled up with cement of dif¬
ferent colours. This style disappears for ever with the
third dynasty. They contain also the earliest attempts
at bas-reliefs. These bas-reliefs are rough, the edges
being jagged and irregular, as if executed with imper¬
fect tools. There was a great advance during the
fourth and fifth dynasties, which are represented by
several powerful and long-lived monarchs. The sixth
dynasty appears to have been one of wars and tumults,
during which the Arts lost ground very much. The
sculptures are coarse, and a fashion set in of drawing
both men and beasts with enormous eyes. From the
sixth to the eleventh dynasty is a total blank. The
period is probably represented by a part of the host of
unsculptured and nameless tombs which are found in
every mountain range along the Nile. In the eleventh
and still more in the twelfth dynasty Egyptian Art takes
a fresh departure, and makes considerable progress
until the end of the thirteenth dynasty, when the invasion
Chap. II.]
DISTINCT PERIODS.
23
of the Shepherd Kings took place, and a period of
national disaster set in, which lasted for 500 years. At
the end of the seventeenth dynasty, with the expulsion
of the Shepherd Kings, there is a recovery, and the
eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties present the most
brilliant period of Egyptian Art, when the magnificent
temples, statues, obelisks, and the splendid tombs of
kings and chiefs, were built, and have continued to
attract the wonder and admiration of the world from
that day to this. The state of Art was very much
identified with the character of the reigning monarch.
It was by his command that the temples were built, and
it is the tombs of his courtiers whose inscriptions have
given us such an insight into the manners, customs and
history of the Egyptians. When the monarch was a
man of powerful character, who had firm hold of the
reins of government, and had taught his enemies at
home and abroad to stand in awe of him, the period is
marked by numerous monuments and abundant records
of the transactions of his reign, especially if, as
generally happened, his reign was a long one ; but
whenever a weak sovereign ascended the throne the
feudal chiefs of Egypt came to the front, and there was
a tendency to return to the feudal system of govern¬
ment by independent chiefs which existed before the
time of Mena. During such times the Arts were for¬
gotten, men having something else to think about ; no
monuments were erected, and no records remain.
In order, therefore, to have a connected idea of the
course and progress of Egyptian Art, it is necessary to
bear in mind these distinct epochs. The curtain rises
upon the Pyramid of Senofreou and the tombs of his
courtiers. These belong to the third dynasty, and date
24
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. II.
back to not less than 3500 years before the Christian
era. They are the most ancient known monuments in
the world. A continued improvement and an uninter¬
rupted succession of bas-reliefs and wall-paintings,
and of architecture, as exemplified in the tombs, carries
11s on through the fourth, fifth and sixth dynasties to
b.c. 3000. Then the curtain drops, the light is turned
off, and there is absolute darkness for at least four
centuries. At the close of the eleventh dynasty the
curtain rises again, and the tombs of Drah Abou ’1 Neg-
geh, of Beni Hassan, and Siout, carry us on to the end
of dynasty thirteen, i.e. from about 2600 b.c. to 2350 b.c.
Then the curtain drops again, and we are left in
darkness, more or less complete, for centuries. It then
rises finally at the very end of the seventeenth and the
beginning of the eighteenth dynasties, about 1800 b.c.,
to fall no more till the final extinction of Egyptian
national existence, at the close of the Roman Empire,
2000 years later.
But though the ancient Egyptians did not aim at the
beautiful and the artistic for their own sakes in their
bas-reliefs, sculptures, and paintings, yet they did so
in their architecture, as the graceful designs of their
lotus-bud and lotus-flower capitals testify ; the combi¬
nations of colours also used purely for the decorations
of these columns were skilfully chosen, and proved that
they had already discerned the principle that the
juxtaposition of the three primary colours — blue, red,
and yellow — was essential to a pleasing effect, and best
satisfied the eye of the beholder ; they recognized the
fact that flowers are Nature’s masterpieces of beauty;
they delighted in them, using them on all occasions ; they
covered their heads with them, carried them in their
Chap. II.] SOURCE OF ETRUSCAN DESIGNS.
25
hands, wreathed their wine cups and their water jars
with them, and chose them as models for their decorative
art. In the third-dynasty statues (Plate LI.) Princess
Nofre-Te wears a fillet with flowers painted upon it,
showing that their love for these frail things of beauty
dates back to the earliest times. There is one branch
in which they aimed conspicuously at the artistic for its
own sake, and that is in their pottery and in their orna¬
mental vases, bowls, and dishes of gold and silver. The
antique Etruscan patterns used to be regarded as the
fountain head to which the most graceful designs in
modern use must be traced, and it used to be observed
that we strove in vain to surpass them. It is now
known that their origin is much more ancient, and must
be sought not in Etruria but in Egypt ; that was the
source whence the people of Cyprus, Asia Minor, and
Greece and Italy obtained their first models, and it will
be found that the more archaic the specimens ot the
pottery of those nations, the more identical they are
with the Egyptian. No doubt as time went on they
improved upon and varied them, but the credit of
original design is due to that wonderful people of the
Nile valley. Some of the archaic Etruscan pottery has
imitations of hieroglyphics painted on it ; one celebrated
vase now in the Palermo Museum is girdled by the per¬
sonages of the Egyptian judgment-scene ; Anubis leads
the way, and the soul of the departed is ushered into the
presence of Osiris, Typhon the god of evil occupying the
centre of the procession. But the figures and treatment
are so modified as to prove that this vase is of Etruscan
workmanship, and not a direct importation from Egypt.
I have observed elsewhere that the Pelasgi who first
colonised Greece and Italy probably came as colonists
26
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. II.
from Egypt. Danaus, one of their leaders, was, accord¬
ing to Greek tradition, brother of King Sethi and uncle
of Rameses the Great, and we have in Plates XLVII. and
XLVIII. evidence that Cyprus was one of the stepping-
stones by which Egyptian ideas, if not the Egyptian
race, made their way to Asia Minor, Greece, and Europe.
The gifted author of “ Cities and Cemeteries of
Etruria” has reproduced for us the interiors of the old
Tuscan tombs, showing unmistakeable evidence in their
bas-reliefs and paintings, and in some of the religious
ideas they convey, of their Egyptian origin.
Not less beautiful than their pottery were the gold
and silver vases and dishes of Egypt as handed down
to us in the wall paintings of their monuments ; and
single flowers and wreaths of flowers were freely used
in the decoration of these vessels also.
Yet another branch in which their artistic genius
shows itself is in the designs of their daggers, necklaces,
earrings, bracelets, and enamelled monograms. We
have most interesting illustrations of these in the collec¬
tion of ornaments found in the coffin of Queen Ah Hotep,
near the obelisks figured in Plate XXXIII. This queen
seems to have belonged to the eleventh dynasty, for her
mummy was found in the eleventh-dynasty cemetery,
and at the foot of these eleventh-dynasty monuments ;
and the style and fashion of her coffin are identical with
those of the coffins of the Entefs found in the same
place. The difficulty is that the monogram of Ahmeses
of the eighteenth dynasty appears on one of the orna¬
ments, but there may have been two monarchs of the
same name. In any case, this splendid collection of
jewellery reveals to us at how advanced a stage of deco¬
rative art the Egyptians had arrived at that early period.
CHAPTER III.
MONUMENTS OF THE THIRD DYNASTY.
The Pyramid of Meidoum— The Tomb of Nofre-Maat — Curious Mosaics — A Name
of Good Omen — Tomb of Princess Atot — An Old World Sportsman — A Loving
Wife — A Dig at Darwin.
Although we did not visit the Pyramid of Meidoum
until our return from Nubia, still we think it desirable,
in order to maintain something like chronological order
in our examples of the progress of Egyptian Art, to
describe that and the exceedingly curious and in¬
teresting tombs that exist in its neighbourhood, now,
because they are the most ancient yet discovered, and
will enable us to begin at the beginning, and to intro¬
duce our readers to the point nearest the commence¬
ment of History and Art to which we have been hitherto
able to penetrate.
The Pyramid of Meidoum can be seen very well
from the deck of Nile boats. It is on such a colossal
scale that, although many miles distant, its details of
outline and construction can be discerned through a
good glass. Travellers, therefore, usually content
themselves with this comfortable mode of inspecting it,
especially as it is a long way from the river, and
involves a ride across a very rough country, pitted with
holes and gaping chasms that make it a miracle how
the donkeys manage to traverse it without breaking
their legs.
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. III.
All the guide-book writers tell you about it is what
they can see of its shape from their boat, together with
a rumour that it dates back to times even more ancient
than the Pyramids of Ghizeh. We determined to
examine it for ourselves, so we landed at Zowyeh, and
with some difficulty obtained donkeys. After a tedious
ride of an hour and a half across a country seamed with
cracks after the inundation, and without any road, we
reached the edge of the desert, which, to our surprise,
we found carpeted with numbers of dwarf purple Iris
in full blossom. It is a rare thing to find a wild flower
in Egypt, and an Iris is the very last flower one would
expect to find, as it delights in moisture ; however here
they were. The great pyramid, still distant two miles,
towered up before us, its enormous mass cut hard
against the sky, and another half-an-hour’s ride across
the desert brought us to it. It entirely differs from
those at Ghizeh in its mode of construction. It never
was finished, the king having no doubt died before its
completion. It stands on what appears to be a vast
cone of quarry rubbish, that rises from a plateau similar
to that on which the Pyramids of Ghizeh are built.
On clearing away the rubbish we found this cone to be
constructed of cut stone, and to be in fact the lower
portion of the pyramid, which seems to have been
finished only half way up, leaving the core naked. This
core rises in three gigantic steps, and presents much
the appearance of the fancy portraits of the Tower of
Babel.
The base has been used as a quarry for ages, and is
now a wreck, and buried beneath its own ddbris ; but
while still uninjured, it cannot have differed much
in appearance from annexed sketch. I measured the
Chap. III.]
SENOFREOU’S SEPULCHRE.
29
base, and found it to be 480 feet square, while the base
of the unfinished part measured 240 feet, exactly half.
The walls of this core are perfectly smooth, and the
stones closely fitted. The summit is not more acces¬
sible than that of an obelisk, and is only frequented by
eagles, which abound here, and build their nests in the
crevices of the masonry ; they were wheeling round and
round, and taking birds’-eye views of our party, won-
PRESENT ASPECT OF THE PYRAMID OF MEIDOUM.
dering what brought us there. In the centre of the
western face was an extensive excavation, an unsuc¬
cessful attempt having evidently there been made to
penetrate to the sepulchral chambers. This cavern
revealed the interior structure, which is all of roughly-
hewn blocks of limestone bedded in mortar. Senofreou,
more fortunate than Cheops and others of his successors,
still rests undisturbed beneath his colossal cairn, for his
tomb has never been violated.
We had observed at some distance another plateau
evidently containing tombs, and we broke gently to our
dragoman the fact that we meant to go on to them
3°
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. III.
before returning. He shrugged his shoulders with a
sigh of resignation, and invoked his cigarette to give
him patience.
On reaching these tombs we found in the very
first the oval of Senofreou in a most perfect state
of preservation (Plate LIV., No. 20), with his title of
Neb Maat, “ Lord of Justice,” beneath it. The tomb
differs in other respects entirely from those even of
the fourth dynasty which succeeded. The figures
and hieroglyphics were all in mosaic of peculiar struc¬
ture, consisting of a network of deep cells cut in
the hard limestone, and then filled up with cement
coloured to suit the subject. The cement is very hard,
and imperishable except by violence. All around the
desert was strewn with flint flakes, the instruments used
to carve the mosaics in the hard rock, more efficient no
doubt than the bronze tools or copper tools which they
possessed in those remote times. We brought away a
few of these flakes with us ; the edges had all been worn
to bluntness. It is probable that the use of flint and
agate implements long survived the introduction even
of iron. We found many specimens of sharp agate
flakes amongst the ruins of ancient cities, and, even so
late as the time of Moses, Zipporah seems to have
considered a splinter of flint a very eligible surgical
instrument.
As these tombs are older than the Pyramids of Ghizeh
we feel justified in describing minutely their form, which
does not at all resemble those of the succeeding dynasty.
They are merely deep recesses, consisting of a chamber
and an ante-chamber, the front of which is entirely
open. The sides and back are adorned with the mosaics
I have already alluded to. The name of the lord of the
Tomb of Princess Atot, Third Dynasty
Meidoui.
Chap. III.] TOMB OF NOFRE-MAAT. 3 1
tomb was Nofre-Maat, prince-cousin of the king.
Against the rock had been built brick chambers, the
interior of which was covered with a very smooth hard
cement, still brilliantly white. In these no doubt the
relatives assembled annually on the occasion of anni¬
versaries, and feasted there, holding a kind of posthu¬
mous wake.
It was in a similar tomb to those I have described,
and not very far off, that Mariette Bey found the pair
of statues of Ra Hotep and his wife, who sit up under
a glass case at the Museum of Boulak, looking so
ridiculously new, but not more new as to brightness
of colour than do these tombs, the most ancient known
ones in Egypt. The fact is that they, like the statues,
having until lately been hermetically sealed, have un¬
dergone little change since first they were sculptured
with flint flakes more than fifty centuries ago ; and had
they remained sealed up for another 5000 years they
would not, on the admission of light, have looked a
day older than they do now. Of course, absolute
dryness of climate is an essential condition of their
immunity from change ; but that they have had. As an
illustration of the way in which the most unstable
impressions may be preserved when not disturbed, we
may mention the fact that explorers, on entering hitherto
unviolated sepulchral chambers, have found there,
stamped in the sand, the footprints of the slaves who
carried in the mummies centuries ago ! These tombs
have now been open about seven years, and have
already suffered much at the hands of travellers. They
appear also to have been damaged by an earthquake,
for the enormous stones of which they are constructed
are split and cracked in all directions. The said stones
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. Ill
are truly cyclopean, for some of them measure no less
than 24 feet in length.
TOMBS OF THIRD DYNASTY.
Plate LVI. f. is the tomb of Nofre-Maat, whose
name being interpreted means Good and Just, an appel¬
lation of favourable augury. He is stated in the hiero¬
glyphic inscription to be Treasurer of the king, general
overseer, and a nobleman. The first objects that strike
one on confronting this monument are two human
forms marked out upon the marble-like limestone
faqade, on the left of the entrance in a series of little
square cells. These have once been filled with coloured
cement, the remains of which still stick in the angles.
The face, body, and legs of the man have been
executed in red cement, his loin-cloth in white, his
hair in black. The lady who clings to his arm has been
coloured yellow, with white dress and black hair. She
has an indistinct and ghost-like appearance, as well she
may, for she lived more than 5000 years ago, and her
attitude of affection tells us that men and women could
love each other at that remote period as devotedly as
now. In the same style, on the right hand, is another
figure leaning on a staff, and with his little son at his
feet. There are also hieroglyphics scattered over the
surface, setting forth the titles and offices of My Lord
Treasurer Nofre-Maat. Below may be remarked a
profile of his Excellency, showing that he was a good-
looking man, with an aquiline nose.
At the bottom or end of the tomb, which is of no
great depth, is another portrait of the owner, and on his
right a portrait of his wife, with her long hair over
her shoulders, her face turned towards her husband, and
Chap. III.]
TOMB OF NOFRE-M AAT.
her hand placed upon her heart, still making declara¬
tion to us of her love. Her name and title are over her
head : “ Princess Atot.” On a panel above the recess
is a rudely executed bas-relief of Nofre-Maat, seated, with
an inventory of funeral offerings before him. This
inscription contains very archaic characters not met
with in subsequent dynasties.
The peculiarity of the figures and hieroglyphics in
this tomb, is that they are all executed in the very
curious mosaic work I have already described. It
evidently went out of fashion with the third dynasty, for
I am not aware that it is ever found in the fourth or any
subsequent dynasty. It was replaced by painted bas-
reliefs, one specimen of which occurs here, but the art
was still in its infancy, as the rude and jagged edges of
the outlines testify. The intention of the mosaic work
was of course permanency, and permanent it certainly
was, for where the cement has not been picked out pur¬
posely it is still as sound and as bright in colour as
when first put in. Nor did the workmen trust to the
tenacity of the mortar alone to hold its own, for at the
bottom of each cell a deep hole has been drilled and a
peg inserted as an additional security against the
material dropping out ; in fact it can only be got out bit
by bit with a chisel and hammer. On one of the side
walls Nofre-Maat is being carried in his chair on the
shoulders of slaves ; and underneath is a procession of
attendants carrying baskets on their heads. I have
been thus particular in my description of this tomb,
because it is the most ancient known specimen of art in
the world. On the upper right-hand corner is the oval
of the tenant’s Royal Master Senofreou or Snofreou,
the earliest sovereign of whose exploits we have reliable
D
34
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. III.
contemporary records. We have records of King Mena
and of most of the kings of the first, second, and third
dynasties, but they are second-hand, not contemporary.
But of Senofreou there are still extant inscriptions
executed during his life, and that not only in Egypt, but
in the distant regions on the other side of the Red Sea,
on the rocks and in the caverns of Sinai. There his name
is cut in deep and lasting characters, as having defeated
the tribes who occupied that celebrated Peninsula ; as
having taken possession of and developed the mines of
copper, turquoise, and emerald which occur in its
desolate valleys. Nor was he less active at home, for
his name signifies the Reformer, and we may gather
from it that he gave an important impulse to civilization,
and amended the laws and improved the customs and
institutions of his country. His name occurs also in
papyrus genealogies as the ancestor of several dis¬
tinguished families, and he was the builder of a pyramid
more ancient and not far inferior in size to the world-
renowned Pyramids of Ghizeh, and even the name that
he gave to this his last resting place has come down
to us. It is The Pyramid of the Resurrection 2
The pyramid itself is not far off ; it is that step¬
shaped mountain of stone, built in gigantic terraces,
which forms a conspicuous land-mark for twenty miles
around, and which we have already described. At its
feet, as the custom was under the old Empire, cluster
the tombs of his courtiers and officers of state.
To how prodigiously remote a period in the history
of the human race does the name of Senofreou carry us
back ! He smote the Arabs of Sinai and worked its
mines and carried out his reforms not less than eleven
Chap. III.]
TOMB OF NOFRE-MAAT.
35
hundred years before the birth of Abraham, and two
thousand two hundred years before the siege of Troy,
and about two thousand six hundred years before Rome
was founded ! I have assigned the minimum antiquity
consistent with known facts, but a very much more
remote date is assigned by Mariette Bey and other
high authorities ; and yet they possessed the art of
writing, and the characters of that writing reveal to
us a number of implements and articles of furniture,
of pottery, and other incidents of civilization, as also
a variety of geometrical and mathematical figures.
Indications of their religion are very scarce, but
not altogether absent, for one of the hieroglyphics
consists of four little vases joined in one
nounced“ Khont.” Now these compound vases were
used for one purpose only, and that was for libations
to the Gods. One was probably to the supreme
God, and the other three for the Triad of subordinate
Deities. And this contrivance for pouring out all
four simultaneously was to prevent jealousy by giving
precedence to any, that none should be before or
after the others. The fact that no Gods ^re ever
represented upon the tombs of the ancient Empire is
probably due to their not having yet ventured to assign
shape or likeness to their deities.* But we know that
they brought Ammon Ra, Hathor, Isis, and Osiris with
them to Egypt, and assigned the original home of these
four divinities to Abyssinia. They are probably repre¬
sented by the four vases above figured, and which also
appear on the faqade of Nofre-Maat’s tomb (Plate LVI. f).
36
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. III.
We found in abundance all around these tombs the
implements with which the sculptures had been exe¬
cuted ; they consisted of flint flakes, all of them worn
and blunted with use. This does not prove that they
had not copper or even iron tools ; but these were still
too scarce and dear for general use, while the flint was
cheap and abundant.
The very characters forming the name of the former
inmate of this tomb prove that they had metal
implements J ^ 1 , the second hieroglyphic being
a reaping-hook, which from its shape could not have
been of flint, while on the wall is a representation of
a man cutting the throat of a spotted goat with a long-
bladed knife.
Close by is the tomb of the wife of Nofre-Maat, the
Princess Atot j. <W> [j ° . The fa9ade over the entrance
is occupied by a scene representing that grandee
amusing himself by netting wild fowl; his wife is seated
at a little distance looking on ; and as fast as his Excel¬
lency catches the birds, he sends them to her by his
servants. They are carrying them along very un¬
ceremoniously by the neck, regardless of their feelings.
The birds are protesting with flapping wings and open
beaks. Her Royal Highness receives them graciously,
takes them from the hands of the slaves, and probably
gives them a final knock on the head. The inscription
reads : — “ Princess Atot receives with pleasure the
game caught alive by the chief noble, Nofre-Maat,
invested with a collar of honour." *
* I have ventured to translate thus the seated figure bearing a collar on a staff,
which occurs here as part of che chiefs title ; it is an archaic sign, which is not met
with in later times.
Chap. III.]
TOMB OF PRINCESS ATOT.
37
Those were happy days that the poor widow looked
back to with fond regret, and therefore she had them
sculptured on her tomb after the ex-Treasurer had de¬
parted to other hunting-grounds. Had she lived in the
present generation she would have gone out snipe-shoot¬
ing with him, and have helped to carry his cartridges ; or
she might have been a less exemplary wife than was the
fashion in those times of primitive simplicity. Their
nursery was not empty, for on the wall at the end
behind their father are three little boys, with their
names over their heads. On the right hand of the facade
along the basement are servants carrying dishes of good
things for the great man’s supper, when he shall return
from his fowling expedition. One of these dishes
exactly resembles the fruit-stands raised on stems
lately in fashion at a dinner a la Russe. It is piled
up high, apparently with fruit. A little higher in the
corner is the group of a slave cutting the throat of a
spotted antelope with a knife, which I have before
alluded to. The blood is seen dropping from the wound.
The Princess’s name, Atot, is significant of the earliest
times, for it was the name of the grandson of Mena.
These tombs are built of enormous stones, some of
them 18 or 20 feet long, and thick in proportion. Many
of them must weigh fully 20 tons. They are of a
hard, close-grained limestone. After occupation they
were covered over with soil and completely buried : it
is to this they owe their preservation. They are of no
great depth, and are much less extensive than the tombs
of the fourth dynasty. Outside are the remains of brick
buildings, carefully plastered with white cement. It was
in these that the relatives assembled on mausoleum days,
there not being room enough in the tomb itself.
o
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. III.
Not far off from the family vaults of Nofre-Maat are
other tombs exactly similar, and in one of these were
found the two remarkable statues, sketches of which
I have given in Plate LI. This cemetery has not long
been opened up, and the discovery is due to Mariette
Bey. It is quite possible that the mausoleums of the
first and second dynasties may yet be discovered.
They are probably near some of the very ancient and
dilapidated pyramids that are strewn along the desert
all the way from Meidoum to Ghizeh, a distance of
about sixty miles. We know that they had pyramids
and memorial chapels, and that the latter were endowed,
for the services in honour of those early kings were
continued down to quite a late period in Egyptian
history.
The glimpses which we obtain of the family life of
that enormously remote period are deeply interesting.
They carry us back 5000 years nearer the beginnings
of our race, and show us that whatever else may have
changed on earth, human nature was always the same,
and that men and women then were much what men and
women are now. The same affections and vanities and
ambitions and motives ; the same noble traits, and the
same weak points. We have advanced in knowledge ;
we have mastered several sciences; we have made steam
do our work for us ; we have made the lightning our
servant to carry our messages and to light our streets :
but it is doubtful whether our mental capacity is much
greater than that of the old Egyptians, or whether,
apart from their training, modern children would differ
at all in intellectual power from the sons of Nofre-Maat
and Princess Atot.
We have evidence too, were it needed, that the brute
Chap. III.]
A DIG AT DARWIN.
39
creation have not changed their form, size, colour, ap¬
pearance or language one tittle during the long period
of fifty centuries that has elapsed since the worthy
Treasurer’s fowling expedition. There are the geese in
the net, with yellow bills and white plumage ; and one
of them, with outstretched neck and open beak and
head depressed, is hissing his displeasure just like any
modern goose. One can see him hissing, so life-like is
the mosaic. I commend this proof of the unchangeable
persistency of species to the consideration of Mr. Dar¬
win. He claims the changes to be slow; but if going
on at all, some evidence of them would be perceptible
after an interval of 5000 years.
The following animals appear upon ancient monu¬
ments: — The ass, the ox, the dog, ape, monkey, hippo¬
potamus, giraffe, horse, lion, panther, cat, goat, sheep,
antelope, gazelle, cobra, eared snake, frog, crane, goose,
ibis, eagle, hawk, vulture, wasp and bee, crocodile ;
numerous fishes, both sea and freshwater; water turtle;
and many others, and none of them differ by a hair from
the same animals of to-day. It is worth observing that
among the antelopes which figure on tombs of the ancient
Empire is one now only found south of the Equator.
In hieroglyphics the sheep stood for Ba, the goose for
S, the frog for Hek, the ass’s head for Haw, &c., so
that we have proof also of the identity of animal sounds.
The Egyptian language maintained its existence for at
least 4000 years, but the languages of the brutes have
held their own from their creation until now.
CHAPTER IV.
OUR FIRST LANDING.
Off for the Second Cataract — First Stage Bibe — A fat Saint and Medicine Man —
Sheik Fodl — Going to the Dogs — A Bedouin Encampment — Mummy Bow-wows
— Gebel-e-Tayr — Monks with Domestic Tastes — Coptic Church of Fifth Century
— The Mountain of Birds — A Lonely Sentinel.
December g. — At noon on December 5, the owner of
the good boat Gazelle , having seen us comfortably
settled on board, wished us a good voyage and took his
leave ; and we shook out our great white sails, and
started for the Second Cataract. The first day we
made a splendid run, accomplishing sixty miles without
a check, and anchoring for the night a little below
Zeitoon. The wind then failed us ; thus for three
days we lay becalmed like the “ Ancient Mariner,” a
painted ship upon a painted river. The spell was at last
broken in the following manner : A rickety boat put off
from shore containing a fat man who sat in the stern
doing nothing, and a thin youth who struggled hard
against the swift current to reach us. We were for refus¬
ing the ragged strangers admission — not so the reis
and crew; they explained to us that this was a holy
man, a saint, who must be propitiated, or no luck could
attend our voyage. Thus admonished we made the fat
dervish welcome. He mounted the deck, his turban
his only garment ; he would have kissed us had we
encouraged him ; failing that he kissed the reis, the
Chap. IV.]
A MUMMY MINE.
41
steersman, the sailors, the cook, and cabin boy, singly
and individually, then blessed them collectively along
with the boat, and having popped their united contri¬
butions into his mouth, returned to shore the way that
he came. The curious thing is that, immediately on his
departure, the wind, which had for three days mocked
our hopes, sprang up in good earnest, filled our flag¬
ging sails, and whipped us along at a pace that made
the water murmur under our bows, gladdened our
hearts, and stereotyped for ever the faith of the crew in
the holy man.
Late in the afternoon we reached an ancient village
called Bibe, where I landed with the dragoman to
post a letter. In this we failed, for the simple reason
that there was no post office ; but the place itself was
as curious a specimen of an Egyptian village as I
have yet visited. I found myself among a multitude of
mounds from forty to fifty feet high, on the top of which
were perched the mud huts in which the present genera¬
tion of Bibites dwell. The winding valleys that mean¬
dered in and out among these mounds were the original
streets, retaining their first level pretty nearly, while
their steep sides presented sections of all the successive
generations of dwellings which had gone on accumu¬
lating, each built on top of the last ; these sections
exhibited strata of broken pottery and the debris of mud
bricks. In the deepest part of one of these valleys,
where some excavations had recently been made, I
came upon a bed of mummies cropping out like a coal
seam at the lower part of a high mound. The mum¬
mies were packed together as closely as they could be
stowed ; their clothes so fresh and recent that I hesi¬
tated at first to believe in their antiquity until I remem-
42
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. IV.
bered — first, that the making of mummies in Egypt
ceased at least 1500 years ago; and, secondly, that the
vast accumulation of debris beneath which these were
buried, some fifty feet below the present surface, bore
silent but conclusive testimony to the long ages
during which they had reposed there. The villagers
had dragged out and broken up many of them, hoping
to find ornaments or jewellery, but they were the mum¬
mies of poor persons, and contained nothing but the
remains of mortality, which littered the surface in the
shape of skulls, ribs, thigh-bones, rags, and mahogany-
coloured masses of what had once been human flesh,
but was now reduced to dried fibre, saturated with bitu¬
men. The work of destruction having yielded nothing
more valuable, the remainder of the slumbering dead
were left in peace. The mystery is how the mummies
came there, for the Egyptians were not in the
habit of burying them within the precincts of their
cities, but, on the contrary, far away from them.
It is evident, therefore, that Bibe must have been
the site of an ancient cemetery before it became a
town.
Among the mounds, and in and out through the
valleys already described, careered naked boys and girls
with pot-bellies, and shining nut-brown skins ; mixed
up with them were big buffaloes and funny little buffalo
calves, donkeys, turkeys, fowl, shaggy sheep, and lean
mangy dogs, quiet enough now, but who by-and-by
will begin a concert of fiendish sounds which will make
night hideous. On the summits of the mounds towered
up battlemented walls of mud, crowned with embra¬
sures, which consisted, however, of nothing more war¬
like than dove-cots, for the battlements were built of
Chap. IV.]
BIBE.
43
earthen jars, within which were the domestic esta¬
blishments of countless pigeons. The houses enclosed
court-yards, out of most of which grew tall date-palms ;
clusters of these decorated the summits of the mounds,
their long graceful fronds drooping over them and re¬
deeming them from utter ugliness and squalor. I came
also upon a couple of bushes of Hibiscus, covered with
gorgeous crimson blossoms. Having threaded my way
through this strange scene, I reached the outskirts of
the town, where stood the Railway Station and telegraph
posts, to add to the curious medley of things ancient
and modern, of life and of death. The Station was
built of mud, like all else here, but was honoured with
the dignity of whitewash, which had not, however,
lately been renewed, possibly owing to the fit of
economy insisted on by Mr. Rivers Wilson. The
furniture of the waiting-room was very simple — ottoman,
constructed of mud, with a grass mat thrown over it,
also one rickety deal table. On the ottoman squatted
some turbaned natives and one or two Turkish em¬
ployes in fezzes, smoking. In front over the platform
stretched a wide verandah of more grass mats, supported
on poles resting on mud columns. Near by stood an
apparently abandoned sugar factory, with a traction
engine half buried in the sand. Both factory and engine
had been paid for with the money of that sanguine race,
the British bondholders. Just as the sun was setting in
a glory of crimson and gold behind a row of date-palms
and telegraph posts, up came the train from Cairo, full
of ragged Arabs and Egyptian soldiers. There was also
an Italian woman, who keeps a shop at Minieh — how
came her lot to be cast in such a place ? — also Madam
Pagnon, manager of the new hotel established by
44
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. IV.
M essrs. Cook & Son at Luxor, accompanied by the
dragoman who is to take charge of their steamer
above the First Cataract — to him I entrusted my letter.
The railway freight did not look like a very paying one.
As I made my way back we were met by a damsel
attired in the most gorgeous robes of cotton : scarlet,
blue, and yellow. She was leaning on the arm of a
dissipated-looking Turkish employe with a crimson fez
and a gamboge complexion. The lady kissed her hand
to me with an impudent expression. “ Dis dance girl,”
explained my dragoman. I must say her figure did not
look much like dancing. Overhanging the river was a
rather picturesque building with windows ; it is a Coptic
monastery, containing a picture of St. George and the
Dragon. St. George of Bibe is, strange to say, claimed
as a saint both by Copt and Moslem, and both contri¬
bute to keep up his shrine. On the roofs of the water¬
side houses were many naked children clamouring for
baksheesh, and holding out their brown paws towards us
as we shoved off. We could not, however, have complied
with their request without landing and scaling the high
mounds and mud walls, on the top of which they were
perched. The moon now rose, a gentle breeze, soft
and warm, came off the shore, and we crept along the
bank in floods of silver light, and at last moored at
io p.m. some miles above Bibe.
December io. — After breakfast we passed Feshn, a
large sugar factory belonging to the Khedive. The tall
chimneys of this establishment consorted very oddly
with the slender graceful minarets of the town, as if
Manchester had been imported into a tale of the
“ Arabian Nights.” The good effects of the holy der¬
vish’s visit were not yet worn out, for the north wind
Chap. IV.]
GOING TO THE DOGS.
45
blew merrily all clay, and, although the current was
powerful, we ran almost 40 miles, passing Abou Girgeh,
and in the evening reached Sheik Fodl. On the
opposite side is the site of the ancient Cynopolis — -“the
city of dogs,” a name which might well be applied to
many a modern Egyptian town. As with men, so with
dogs, they used to ferry their mummies across the rivers
and bury them in the hills on the eastern side. On a
former occasion we visited this canine cemetery, and
shall therefore introduce here an account of our
adventures on that expedition.
We crossed to the east bank, and set out for the dog
mummy pits. Elias wanted us to walk there, but the
hills looked a long way off, so I insisted on donkeys.
An old man now came up and told us that not far
distant was an Arab encampment, which had horses ;
so we sent on the guide to negotiate, and sat down at a
curious place called “Mary’s Well;” it is simply a
sepulchre, into which we descended by eight steps ;
within are a number of chambers, each with a square
grave cut in the rock ; presently some Arabs appeared
on the ridge of the low hills opposite, leading a couple
of horses, with genuine Arab saddles and stirrups ; the
party were followed by half-a-dozen donkeys, of all ages
and both sexes, who had apparently accompanied them,
purely from sociable motives. In the distance were the
black tents and camels, and cattle of the wandering tribe.
They good-naturedly placed their steeds at our disposal,
and escorted us to our destination. Our road lay across
a plain, which was in fact one vast sheet of rock, in
some places as level as a London pavement, in others
full of holes. As we ascended the hills we observed
above us vast piles of bones, bleached white from
46
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. IV.
exposure to the sun, and on reaching the brow we found
that these were the remains of legions of mummies, of
dogs and men, that had been dragged forth from the
pits, stripped of their cere cloths, and left scattered in
heaps at the mouth of their tombs (Psalm cxli., 7) to
season, i.e., to be deprived by exposure of the skin and
muscle that still clung to them ; as soon as they are
seasoned they are shipped off for superphosphate. This
process has been going on for generations ; each year
a certain number of pits are emptied of their contents,
and yet the supply shows no sign of being exhausted.
The Arabs told us that there were plenty of pits still
untouched; they scrape away the sand, and find beneath
it a wall of masonry closing the mouth of the catacomb ;
on removing this there is disclosed a cavern as full as
it can be stuffed with mummies. Many dogs are often
found together in a sack ; sometimes they are in cages ;
sometimes they are arranged in rows ; often human
mummies are found amongst them. There are caverns
with nothing but dogs, and others with nothing but
men, and others with both mixed; the bones of all alike
go to make superphosphate ; sometimes they find a
slab of sycamore wood, with the portrait of a defunct
Egyptian painted on it — a last attention from his
friends. The dogs in sacks were, no doubt, poor
foundlings, that were buried by contract by the canine
undertakers of Pharaonic times. Now-a-days, one
seldom sees in Egypt any but the stereotype lean,
hungry, wolfish-looking animals that make night
hideous with their howling in every town on the Nile ;
but it is evident from the contents of these strange
repositories of dogs — “ who have had their day ” — that
in old times there were as many varieties and sizes of
Chap. IV.]1
AN ARAB CHATTERBOX.
47
dogs in Egypt as there are in Europe now, for here were
skulls and skeletons of dogs, great and small, from the
little egg-shell skull that might have belonged to a toy-
terrier, to the big, coarse cranium and long fangs that
might have belonged to a boar-hound. From this
desert ridge, so strangely crested with skeletons, the
view was very striking — on one side interminable ranges
of desolate mountains ; on the other the curious and
scarcely less desolate plain we had just crossed, and in
the foreground the great piles of white skulls and bones,
human and canine, and the fast-decaying rags in which
they had so long reposed — a weird scene and a curious
experience.
The mare I rode had a thorough-bred head and de¬
lightful paces; she wore the usual severe bit, which made
a very light hand necessary; she had such a delicate
mouth that a silken thread might lead her. Nothing
can look much more sterile and unpromising than the
desert inhabited by this tribe ; here and there a tuft of
some bitter thorny plant shows itself, but otherwise
there seems to be absolutely nothing that would support
as much as a rabbit, and yet these people manage to
find sustenance for horses and camels, and flocks and
herds, and to be rather a thriving and prosperous tribe.
Another mystery is that the empty dog tombs are
inhabited by many hyenas and jackals ; I suppose they
go there to wake their canine relatives, but what they
live on is a riddle which I cannot solve.
The Arabs chatted unceasingly, apparently regard¬
less of the fact that I could not understand a word they
said, but had recourse to our dragoman, who often
imparted to me in five words a fact which they had
made the nucleus of 500. However, I got a good deal
43
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. IV.
of information out of them, through the interpreter, as to
their manner of living.
While we were examining the defunct dogs, my mare
picked up a bit of mummy cloth and began to chew it ; I
suppose scanty keep cures them of being too dainty in
their diet.
One would suppose that bandages from a mummy
dog would be specially unpalatable ; however, no
wonder the poor thing was hungry, for the entire inland
region did not apparently contain vegetables enough to
support a goat. It was quite a long walk from one
blade of grass to another, and the tufts of thorny bitter
shrubs that cropped out here and there did not seem
calculated to rear fat stock.
This Bedouin tribe lived in booths of brown or
black cloth stretched upon an irregular framework of
sticks ; they were open in front, and in the entrance
of most of them sat a swarthy dame with eyes black as
night, glittering above her yashmak (Arab veil). So pro¬
bably sat Sarah on occasion of the angel’s visit. Their
occupation seemed to be tending a gipsy kettle, wherein
smoked the family supper ; the chief had a double tent,
divided by a camel-hair blanket, with one wife in each
division, a patent method of securing harmony between
the rival powers.
December n. — We, this morning, scrambled up the
cliffs of Gebel-e-Tayr (the Mountain of Birds), to visit a
Coptic monastery and church. We were received at
the great gate, by which the high walls surrounding it
are passed, by the turbaned brothers ; they showed us
with much pride their very ancient church. It is of
rude construction, nearly square, and supported on
stone columns of primitive style. The soil seems
Chap. IV.]
A COPTIC CHURCH.
49
to have risen round it, for the floor of the sacred
edifice is considerably below the surface ; in fact, the
building is half underground, and we reached it by
descending a flight of cellar-like steps. It dates
from the fifth century, but in Egypt that is very
modern indeed ; they produced their Coptic books, and
read some of the Gospel — “ The Marriage Feast of
Cana ” — to us in Coptic, chaunting it out in a sort ot
sing-song. We were much interrupted by the troops
of children who swarmed after us into the church, and
appeared surprisingly numerous for a monastery. The
Prior is a big, burly man in a turban, which he did
not take off in church. We tried to get a view of their
homes, but they would not invite us in, and I reduced
my “ baksheesh ” accordingly. They were very proud
of some antique pictures of saints, and a picture of the
Virgin, with an inscription in Arabic, giving the date as
1500. The Prior accepted a bundle of cigars, without
much pressing, and so did the brother who chaunted
the Gospel ; during this ceremony we were surrounded
by a crowd of the ladies of the establishment, each with
a little Copt in her arms, with a cross painted in indigo
on its forehead. It was under this monastery that
the poor Misses Gurney were drowned ; their boat
capsized during the night, and they and eight men
perished ; their bodies even were not recovered, for
the sand buried them, boat and all, before machinery
could be procured to extricate them, and so they sleep
at the bottom of the Nile, under the shadow of this
ancient Coptic church. The cliffs are called Gebel-e-
Tayr (the Mountain of Birds), because it is said that
they come in thousands, once a year, and hold a sort
of May meeting there. They have chosen their rendez-
50
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. IV.
vous well, for the high cliffs on which the monastery is
built command a magnificent view. The Arabs say
that before they break up they appoint one bird and
leave him in charge, and that he remains there on
guard until the following year ; certain it is that the
cliff, whenever we approached, always had a bird
perched upon it. It used to be the fashion with the
good monks to swim off and board passing boats,
clambering up the sides stark naked and dripping wet ;
but on one occasion they got into a great scrape, for,
having executed their usual manoeuvre, they found
they had boarded a dahabeeah containing the Khedive’s
hareem, and an order in council was issued by that
potentate forbidding them for ever afterwards to board
passing boats uninvited.
Soon afterwards we arrived at Minieh, but in order
to avoid the nocturnal concert of the dogs we crossed
to the other side and anchored for the night.
CHAPTER V.
METAHARA.
An Unsuccessful Expedition — Singular Geological Formation — The Valley oi
Cinders — The Curse of the Dervish — Petrified Melons — Hyaena’s Den— Antinoe
— Dayr-el-Nakel — Isbaida — Ancient T ombs.
December 12. — Zowyet el Mitteen is situated close to
the Arab cemetery of Minieh, nearly opposite that
town, and it is curious that defunct Mussulmans are
now ferried across the river for sepulture as defunct
Egyptians were ages ago. The view presented in the
foreground a pretty minaret or two, and behind that,
rising up the hill-side, hundreds of tombs with the
usual dome-shaped roofs. We landed to see some
grottoes in the hills near by, but found our course
obstructed by the canal. Ibrahim said there was a
bridge higher up, which turned out to be rather an
Irish bridge, for it was merely a point at which the
canal had run dry, and we had to descend into its bed
and scramble up on the other side. The grottoes proved
to be tombs of the eighteenth dynasty, in good style, but
wantonly defaced ; still the chief portion of the hiero¬
glyphics remain uninjured, and the history of the owner
of the tomb, who is represented there with his wife,
might easily be deciphered. The view from the entrance
was lovely, and commanded a panorama of river, moun¬
tain and desert, of vast extent ; the windings of the
silver flood, dotted along its banks with emerald-green
52
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. V.
fields, palm groves, villages, and towns, being trace¬
able until they were lost in the purple shimmer of far
distant haze. Our bird’s-eye view disclosed to us a fine
short cut by which we could avoid a bend in the river,
and arrive before the Gazelle , which was meanwhile
being laboriously towed along. We set off straight
across the hills, and, as anticipated, we soon found
ourselves close to the Nile, far ahead of our dahabeeah,
but, alas for the imperfection of human calculations ! we
had left out of the account the canal, which interposed
its sluggish waters between us and our floating home.
There was a gulf fixed, which cut us off from our
breakfast. The crew could get to us by the expedient
of stripping and wading across above their waists in
water and mud, but that would not have been an
eligible manoeuvre for ladies, so there was nothing for
it but to trudge on along the hot and dusty embank¬
ment, looking across at the Gazelle , as Moses looked
across at the Promised Land. The canal had been cut
through an ancient cemetery, and the heads and heels
of mummies projected from the soil, with an accompani¬
ment of rags and fragments of coffin wood, which did
not make the walk more cheerful. Hotter and yet
hotter it grew, and the canal still stretched before us in
a straight and endless perspective, until at last M -
declared that she could go no further. Luckily just
here there had been a land slip, which partly bridged
over the long barrier of water. Necessity is the mother
of invention, and a happy thought struck us to have the
Gazelle's gangway thrown across, and try whether it
would reach from the mass of clay to our side. It just
fitted, and we were presently safe in the bosom of our
family, which consisted of two brown waiters, one black
Chap. V.]
METAHARA.
53
cook with very little nose, one small cook boy, ten
sailors, and our Nubian reis, who were all there to
receive us ceremoniously on board, and rejoice over our
return. Ibrahim, our dragoman, had shared our toils,
and pitied himself much, but was soon solacing him¬
self in the doorway of his den with a series of cigarettes.
This, however, was not the last of his sufferings ; it was,
in fact, destined to be a day of trouble and of rebuke. I
had ascertained that in the hills further on were some
little-known tombs, very ancient, and dating back to
the fourth dynasty, the times of the pyramids, and
containing the names of early kings. Poor Ibrahim’s
mind was much disturbed when I broke to him that I
meant to visit these, for he foresaw a long, hot, and
dusty ride in lieu of the cool awning and soothing
coffee and cigarettes, which his soul loved. However,
we engaged donkeys at the village of Metahara, and a
guide was found who confidently assured us that he
knew the tombs, so off we set across the glaring sand
for the distant hills. It was noonday, and the shadow
of my donkey was directly beneath his belly ; the
silhouettes of my boot-tips showing right and left of the
same, were all the shadow I had to boast of. We set
our faces steadily towards a distant valley, which
seemed to grow still more distant as we advanced. On
the way we met two Bedouins, one carrying a load of
morsels of wood, which they find in the mountain
plateaux, and bring down to the villages to sell for fuel.
How that wood came there is one of the mysteries of
the desert. The other had a bundle of some aromatic
shrub, of which the people make a medicinal tea — “ do
deir belly good,” as Ibrahim explained. The Bedouins
observing that I was curious about it, handed me a
54
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. V.
handful, and strode on without waiting for thanks or
baksheesh.
We went on and on, and my mind misgave me that
we were going wrong, for my information had repre¬
sented the tombs as not very distant from the river. Our
guide, however, was confident ; he said not only was
there a very fine tomb, but also mummies. This last
statement caused excitement ; we thought we were on
the verge of new discoveries. We now entered a most
curious valley. Right and left its sides were in parallel
terraces, consisting of some porous material resembling
cinder ; there was no sign of life, animal or vegetable,
and the air was absolutely still ; not a breath was
stirring — nothing could be more burnt up, desolate and
lifeless. Masses of cinder, black globes of lava, as
round as bomb-shells, strewed the ground, and on all
sides the scene appeared to be the product of volcanic
fires. One might have imagined oneself traversing
some lunar valley, the withered skeleton of a once
living world. The formation proved, however, on exa¬
mination, not to be volcanic ; the terraces were not of
cinder, but of coral rag ; they had once been coral reefs,
and had formed the floor and margins of a shallow
sea. They were water-worn, and deeply fretted out
into miniature caverns, pits and holes. Enveloped in
the coral, and showing through in many places, were per¬
fectly globular masses of some black basalt-like material,
the debris of a yet more ancient formation round which
the coral insects had built, and which were now little by
little cropping out, and falling from their beds as the
soft brittle coral crumbled from around them by the
slow action of the winds and rainstorms — rare, but
violent when they do occur. The black globes also
Chap. V.]
THE DERVISH’S CURSE.
55
were not volcanic, but when broken proved full of fossil
shells, of an agate-like hardness. These curious bombs
varied from 15 inches to 3 feet in diameter, and in some
places had collected in considerable quantities. On the
plateau of Gebel Aboufaida I saw a level space covered
with them, the coral having been washed away, leaving
the surface strewn with these odd-looking spheres. The
Arabs had a legend that this was once a garden of
melons, and that a holy Dervish passing by, thirsty and
exhausted with his journey, asked the owner for one
melon. The churl, however, refused, observing that if he
was thirsty the Nile flowed below, where he might drink
as much as he pleased. The Dervish thereupon cursed
that garden, and the melons straightway turned to
stones, a lesson against churlishness for all future time !
We now found ourselves seven miles from the
river, and struck against going any further. Our
guide, however, assured us that we were close to our
prize, and presently took us a scramble up the rocks,
and proudly ushered us into a hyena’s den ! The
mummies consisted of the bones of camels, oxen, asses
and sheep, all gnawed by wild beasts. The effect of
this spectacle upon our tempers was not exactly what he
had anticipated. Ibrahim broke out in Arabic abuse.
The guide replied sulkily that he knew of no other
tombs, and there was nothing for it but to plod back
again, silent and crestfallen, and what made matters
worse, was, that we had taken no water with us, and
were parched with thirst. When about half-way back
an Arab came running from the village, and said that
he knew of a temple with columns and paintings ; to
him we hearkened, ever sanguine, and turned our heads
once more towards the mountains. After another
56
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. V.
hot ride of two hours he took us up to an ancient
quarry, in which were some obscure quarry marks, but
no hieroglyphics ! This time we were too crushed even
to blow up the guide. We sadly commenced our re¬
treat, even our asses stumbling along with drooping ears
and tails, and we got back to the boat just at sunset,
the miserable remains of an unsuccessful expedition.
Late in the evening Cook’s steamer passed full of
passengers, and we moored five miles below Beni
Hassan.
December 13. — At sunrise the crew worked hard to
come up with the steamer before she left Beni Hassan,
where she had stopped to allow the Cookites to visit the
famous twelfth-dynasty tombs, which furnished Sir
Gardner Wilkinson with most of his illustrations. As
we got opposite to the hills in which they are excavated,
we saw through our telescope the followers of Cook
flocking up the slopes like a swarm of flies, and running
hither and thither at the sound of the horn like a well-
trained pack of hounds. We expected letters and fresh
provisions by the Saidieli , but the first had not arrived,
and the second was limited to some bacon. We
anchored at sunset at the boundary between Middle and
Upper Egypt, under a cliff three miles above Roda.
December 14. — We visited the mounds of an ancient
city, and soon afterwards arrived at Sheckh Abbadeh,
where occur the ruins of the city of Antinoe, con¬
sisting of enormous quantities of broken pottery and
bricks. In the centre of this rubbish we saw the
columns of an ancient Egyptian temple ; the capitals
alone stood above ground, the rest being buried beneath
the before-mentioned debris. The capitals were covered
with the cartouches of Rameses the Great, Rameses
Chap. V.]
RUINS OF ANTINOE.
57
Mer Ammon — beloved of Ammon. These were in a
very perfect condition, even portions of the colours
remaining. The columns stood upright in their original
position, and if the rubbish were cleared away from
about them I have no doubt that a fine temple would
be brought to light. The existence of this temple in
the centre of Antinoe proves that the city was not built
by the Emperor Adrian, but dates back to the nineteenth
dynasty at least. Adrian may, however, have restored
it, and have changed the name in honour of his beloved
Antinous, who is said to have drowned himself here.
Until lately there stood here a magnificent colonnade, a
quarter of a mile in length, leading to a Roman amphi¬
theatre ; but it has been ruthlessly broken up, and its
component stones carried across the river to build a
sugar factory. While at breakfast they brought us a
coin of the reign of the Emperor Constantine, which we
bought. Later on Ibrahim announced that they had a
far finer one, beautifully engraved, and very curious. It
was produced with much circumstance, and with the
anticipation of big baksheesh. Ibrahim cannot read, but
we, on turning over the copper medal presented to us,
were much amused to find a bas-relief of a lady seated at
a sewing machine, with an inscription over her contain¬
ing this excellent advice : “ Keep your temper ! ” On the
reverse side was a head of Napoleon III., and the date
1854. Ibrahim, for a moment, was inclined to main¬
tain that the 1854 was b.c., and that the big-nosed
monarch might be Thothmes III. !
Later in the day we stopped at a place called Dayr-el-
Nakel, the Village of the Palm, and paid a visit to a
tomb containing a grand tableau of the colossal statue
of the owner being dragged along by a multitude of
53
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. V.
slaves. This tomb is even now full of interesting
paintings, sadly defaced ; it will soon vanish, for they
are cutting away its foundations for limestone, and
the roof and one side have already collapsed. This
tomb offers a good proof of the wonderful skill and
science of the Egyptians in preparing their materials for
fresco painting, for although the age of these tableaux
is, according to the most moderate computation,
not less than 4000 years, yet, wherever the surface has
not been wantonly defaced, the colours are as bright,
fresh, and vivid as the day they were finished — not a
single colour has faded, nor has the lime-facing peeled
off. We abstain from giving any detailed descrip¬
tion of these tombs, because they have been already so
exhaustively illustrated by Sir Gardner Wilkinson in
his “Ancient Egyptians,” that he has left us nothing to
glean. We will only observe that the whole group
belong to the same period as the tombs of Beni Hassan,
viz., the twelfth dynasty. On the opposite side of the
valley, however, are some yet more ancient of the sixth
dynasty, which we much regret time did not admit ot
our visiting, but we subsequently had ample oppor¬
tunities of making ourselves acquainted with the sculp¬
tures and paintings of that remote time ; and indeed we
have already made mention of some that we saw at
Isbaida. The style of art in all the numerous sixth-
dynasty tombs we examined was rude and decidedly
inferior both to that of the fourth and fifth which pre¬
ceded it, and to that of the twelfth which followed (see
Plates XXXVI., XXXVII., and XXXVIII.) They all
three differ markedly from each other, and we have no
hesitation in assigning by far the highest level of art to
those of the reign of Nofre-ar-kara of the fifth dynasty.
Bas-Relief from tomb of Fourth Dynasty.
Chap. V.]
ANCIENT TOMBS.
59
There is nothing equal to them until the times of the
Thothmes kings, 1200 years later.
December 15. — We took donkeys at el Bercha, and
rode up the mountains in search of some ancient tombs
I had heard of. We had a great scramble up some
precipices, but were rewarded by finding one of the sixth
dynasty, with the name of Pe-pi in more than one place;
in the inscription the name was in a square instead ot
an oval, as usual, and stood thus [j *jj ; the colour, a
pale blue, was still perfect on the hieroglyphics.
Pe-pi lived 2450 years before Christ. We found,
however, on the same mountain, yet higher up, still more
ancient tombs, in one of which the name of the builder
of the largest pyramid, Khoufou, appeared, side by side
with the king, sixth in succession from him, Ouskat.
I have to thank my moderate knowledge of hieroglyphics
for the interesting discovery that each of these ancient
kings bore the title of Hon Nuter, Servant of God, so
much nobler than the presumptuous title assumed by
the kings of later dynasties — Son of the Sun, &c. This
title, Servant of God, shows that the story told by the
priests to Herodotus about Khoufou, that he was a god¬
less man, who shut up all the temples, and forbade the
services, was unfounded. The doorway of this tomb was
surmounted by a round lintel in imitation of a palm
trunk, such as the lintels of the houses in those primi¬
tive times consisted of. The age of the last-named
tombs cannot be less than 4750 years, and if the esti¬
mates based on Manetho be true, they are considerably
older — about 1000 years older ; in any case they were
excavated not long after the completion of the Great
Pyramid. My calculation is based upon the table ot
6o
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. V.
royal ancestors carved by command of King Sethi in
the corridor of his temple at Abydos. Sethi was fond of
heraldry and genealogy, as his entire temple testifies.
He appears to have had this very corridor built specially
for the instruction of his son in the history of his ances¬
tors, and is represented in the act of introducing his son
into the presence of his ancestors, his entire list of whom
is there quite perfect, to the number of seventy-six, be¬
ginning with Menai. Sethi himself lived more than
1500 years before Christ, and he had at his command
every source of information obtainable ; his list is there¬
fore obviously likely to be correct ; however, I shall
have occasion to return to this subject later on, for it has
an important bearing upon Egyptian chronology. The
paintings in the Isbaida tombs are executed with great
spirit ; there is especially a very spirited bas-relief of a
hippopotamus attacking a boat, the clumsy proportions
of the huge beast, the creases in his fat sides, and the
tusks in his formidable jaws, and his fierce onset, open-
mouthed, are portrayed with much vigour, as also in
another place are the struggles and exertions ot some
fishermen who are hauling in a net full of fishes.
I find the hieroglyphics in these early tombs much
easier to read than those of later date ; the signs are
simpler and fewer in number. As time went on, addi¬
tional signs and more complicated ones were adopted,
though they still retained and used the early ones as
well to the very last.
We annex an illustration from a bas-relief in a fourth-
dynasty tomb. It represents a fowling scene ; the master
and his servants have enclosed a number of geese in a
decoy net, and are dragging it out from amongst the
weeds. The pond or lake is rendered by a conventional
«
CHAPTER VI.
TOMB OF FIFTH DYNASTY.
Ti’s Girls — Ancient Asses — Hippopotamus Hunt — “Canst thou draw Leviathan witli
a hook?” — Ti’s estimate of his own importance — A Fisherman’s Paradise —
Twelfth-dynasty Tombs.
In order to preserve chronological sequence we here
insert illustrations from a fifth-dynasty tomb which we
visited on our way back to Cairo (Plates III. and IV.) ;
these will be found to mark a very perceptible advance
in finish and delicacy of execution as compared with
the sculptures of the fourth, and still more of the third
dynasty periods. The long-continued settled times, free
from disputed successions and intestine disorder, had
favoured the arts of peace and conduced to their
advancement and development. Annexed is the oval
of Nofre-ar-kara, in whose reign the tomb was built in
which the bas-reliefs occur. Beneath his majesty’s
oval is the title of “the Pyramid of the Soul;” that,
therefore, was the name of this king’s pyramid. For
oval see Plate LI 1 1 ., No. 56; for title see Table ot
Pyramid Titles.
The lower panel of Plate IV. presents us with a
procession of the female slaves of a notable of the name
of Ti, an officer of the court of Nofre-ar-kara.
They are carrying on their heads baskets, boxes,
and other articles containing their master’s property.
One of them has a goose in her arms and a cage full of
Bas-reliefs in the tomb of ti.w Dynasty
Chap. VI.]
TI’S GIRLS.
63
pigeons on her head ; another bears a crate of the
porous water-bottles still in use on the Nile; another
loaves of bread ; another a chest with a lid. The fifth
has a crescent-shaped basket full of miscellaneous
articles ; behind each girl are hieroglyphics giving her
name and birth-place. No. i is Ti’s At, of the village of
grains; No. 2 is Ti’s Arp, of the place of wine; No. 3
Ti’s Enbes, of the village of grains ; No. 4 Ti’s Anta, of
the village of (Pet ?) ; No. 5 Ti’s Bes, of the village of
(Bakers ?) ; No. 6 Ti’s Pa, of the city of Ra (the sun) ;
No. 7 Ti’s Es, of the village of (sands ?). All these are
preceded by the hieroglyphics (j [j ; the first is T,
the others two A’s, together aa, which Egyptologists
declare were pronounced I ; the monogram, therefore,
reads Ti.
Their master had a very short name himselt, and he
gave his slaves names equally monosyllabic, and he
took good care that there should be no mistake about
their being his property. Besides the load balanced on
their heads, they each carry something on their arms or
in their hands ; the first a little reticule, the second ajar
with a rope handle, the third a vessel of wine, the fourth
a goose, the fifth a neat basket full of fruit, the sixth a
brace of papyrus or lotus flowers with long stems, the
seventh a pigeon. At first sight one would suppose
them destitute of clothing, though they have in fact
a close-fitting chemise supported by braces ; but the
sculptor has been careful to delineate the curves of their
figures just as if no garment intervened. They had a
great objection to concealing a lady’s points ; these are
always shown in princesses as well as slaves, no matter
what dress they may wear. Ti liked to have his girls
64
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VI.
well turned out, so he has given them all necklaces,
bracelets, and anklets, but, alas ! he has also inflicted
upon them the badge of servitude, for it will be observed
that one and all wear a stiff stock resembling a dog-
collar round their throats, like the Saxon serfs mentioned
by Sir Walter Scott in “ Ivanhoe.”
The faces are all different, and were probably por¬
traits ; in any case they show us what the features of
the lower-class Egyptians were like in very ancient times.
There is nothing African about them ; they resemble
rather the European cast of countenance.
In the upper panel is represented a different scene,
a procession of donkeys carrying panniers balanced on
their backs. This is not secured with any girth or
other fastening ; it is consequently necessary for a man
to walk beside each load and steady it with his hand.
In the case of the central group a catastrophe seems
imminent. It requires the united efforts of three men
to prevent the load slipping off, while a fourth has his
arm round the donkey’s nose, and is striving with all
his might to stop the brute, who, with the obstinacy
evidently as characteristic of his race in that day as in
this, is all the more bent on pushing on. The man
behind is holding him back by the tail with one hand,
while he props up the ill-adjusted load with the other.
Meanwhile the hitch in his progress has caused the ass
behind him to run his nose into the man’s back.
The artist seems to have been inspired with a spirit
of caricature, and as a bit of humorous draftsman¬
ship this bas-relief has considerable merit. The con¬
tents of these overgrown panniers was evidently grain,
for each of them is topped with a sheaf of wheat or
barley, very neatly tied in the middle. In front is a
Chap. VI.]
PORTRAIT OF TI.
donkey preceded by her foal, in which they have given
the soft fluffy look which baby donkeys have.
The men, like the women, have features more Euro¬
pean than African ; and they are possessed with the
conviction, which has obtained ever since the first day
that the very one-sided partnership was struck up be¬
tween men and asses, that the right thing to do with a
donkey is to beat it.
It is indicative of an advanced stage in the arts of
civilized life, that even Ti’s farm-donkeys should have
their saddle-cloths decorated with an ornamental fringe.
The surface upon which these bas-reliefs have been
carved is a very hard limestone. The minutest details
are beautifully finished, and indicate superiority over the
fourth dynasty, and still more over the third in sculpture
and design, as has been already stated.
Plate III. presents to us a portrait of Ti himself. He
is standing on the deck of a boat built of reeds knitted
together by transverse bands, his staff in one hand and
a loop of rope in the other. His dress consists of a
necklace and an apron. The old chief is a resolute¬
looking man, and no doubt kept his slaves in good
order. He is engaged in superintending the operations
of two other boats. The crew of one have succeeded
in throwing a couple of nooses of strong rope round the
neck and body of a hippopotamus, and are endeavouring
to dispatch him with long poles, thickened at the end
club fashion. The huge beast has opened his jaws
wide, and shows his formidable curved tusks, with
which he will destroy their boat if he can get the
chance before they have stunned him and dragged his
carcass to shore. He is determined not to assist them
in this latter process, for he has squatted down in
66
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VI.
stubborn opposition, and is endeavouring to bite the
ropes that hold him. The tableau reminds one of the
prophet’s query, “ Canst thou draw Leviathan with
a hook?” It must have been exciting sport, well
spiced with the element of danger. The men who
attacked such formidable game in frail canoes, and
with such simple weapons, must have had plenty of
pluck and courage. Behind the trammelled monster
are three other smaller hippopotami. One of them
is giving a vicious squeeze to a small crocodile, who
has intruded into their family circle ; while the other
two, dam and cub apparently, are engaged in playful
gambols. Behind them the waters are well stocked
with fish, which may be recognized as occurring in the
Nile at this day. The water is represented by the well-
known zig-zag lines, from which the hieroglyphic
is taken. Ti is being; punted along by his
boatmen with long poles, while behind him is another
Chap. VI.]
AN ANCIENT PIC-N1C.
67
boat with a wicker chair in the centre, in which a fisher¬
man is seated, and is just hauling out with his left
hand a specimen of that curious fish the Silurus.
He has a short stick in his hand to knock it on the
head with. This gentleman is evidently making a
holiday of it, for before him are loaves of bread and a
bottle and cup, the materials for a pic-nic dinner. Near
by, but beyond the scope of our Plate, is another boat,
in which a crocodile hunt is going on ; and one of the
party wears a life-belt of rushes, through which his head
and arms are passed.
Ti in this tableau presents us with his notion of his
own greatness and importance as compared with his
fellow-men, for he has had himself sculptured of a size
which, in proportion to his sailors, is as Brobdingnag to
Lilliput.
He evidently rose to office and influence by marrying
a relative of the royal family, for in another part of the
tomb his wife’s name and rank are given as Nofre-
hotep-se, princess, granddaughter of the king. Such
alliances were the surest passports to honours and
emoluments in those days.
Having finished our exploration of the Isbaida tombs,
we re-embarked and continued our voyage to Tel-el-
Amarna, which was reached in the evening. The
Gazelle anchored for the night opposite a village called
Hadji Kandeel.
Although I have not attempted any description of the
tombs of Beni Hassan and Dayr-el-Nakel, yet, as they
belong to a period which comes between the third,
fourth, fifth, and sixth dynasties on one side, and the
eighteenth and nineteenth on the other, I may take
this opportunity of mentioning that they differ from both,
68
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VI.
and have a distinct character of their own in their tomb
decorations. One peculiarity of this epoch is that the
bas-reliefs which were in fashion in preceding and sub¬
sequent times are replaced at Beni Hassan and Dayr-
el-Nakel by wall paintings on the flat; consequently,
when the colour is gone all is gone, and the record
will be lost ; whereas in the bas-reliefs, even when the
colours are gone, the outlines remain carved upon the
stone. The same peculiarity is observable in the
thirteenth-dynasty tombs at Siout. The hieroglyphics,
however, are incised with care, and are beautifully
engraved and finished ; they will remain long after
the paintings have been finally obliterated, a result
unhappily already nearly accomplished at Beni Hassan.
CHAPTER VII.
TEL-EL-AMARNA.
Ruins of the ancient city of Khou-en-Aten — An interesting Tomb — Hunt for a buried
Monument — A hostile Gar'rison — A Parley and Treaty of Feace — Suggestions 'as
to a still doubtful episode in Egyptian history.
Next morning, after breakfast, we started on an
expedition to some tombs belonging to a curious and
unique period of Egyptian history. We were ferried
over in our small boat — the natives call it a sandal ;
there was some difficulty in getting across, owing to
the strong current, and we got entangled in a labyrinth
of sand banks. Ibrahim said that in a few weeks’ time,
when the Nile had fallen a couple of feet more, the
banks we were floating over would be covered with
water melons ; the heat made us wish we had a few
then and there ; it took us at least half an hour to reach
the eastern bank. On landing we found the people in
the middle of the Durra harvest, which they were
cutting and carrying : the whole population, men,
women, and children, camels, donkeys, and dogs, had
all turned out for the purpose ; the children, both boys
and girls, were absolutely naked. I saw one girl attired
in a veil, and nothing else whatever !
The durra appears to be a most productive crop ; in
its habits of growth it somewhat resembles maize, and
the grains which fill its large heavy head are like grains
of Indian corn in miniature. While this crop was being-
gathered in, other crops were being planted, for in this
wonderful country it is always both seed-time and
70
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VII.
harvest, and three crops may be obtained from the same
land within the year. We left Ibrahim to bargain for
donkeys, and walked off towards the desert, where
stretched the ruins of the ancient city of Khou-en-Aten,
for a distance of two miles. The ground plan of many
of the houses was still plainly to be seen, with central
courts and side rooms opening off them, like the houses
at Pompeii. In many of them the walls stood about
breast high ; all built of unburnt bricks. There were,
however, enormous mounds covered with sand, and the
remains of temples or palaces may be buried beneath
these. Amongst the ruins were strewn fragments of a
very pretty kind of pottery painted in graceful patterns,
in various colours, especially a pale Sevres blue. It is
a proof of the skill with which these colours had been
prepared and applied, that though these fragments have
been lying exposed there on the desert for so many
centuries under a scorching sun by day and heavy dews
by night, and to the scouring action of violent sand¬
storms, and even occasionally to rain, yet the colours
were perfectly bright and fresh, and had not scaled off
in any instances we saw.
While we were poking about in search for relics, a
stone suddenly fell amongst us, and turning round we
became aware that a mob of boys had followed us, and
from them came the hostile demonstration. We could
not term them ragamuffins, for they had not a rag
amongst them, being perfectly naked. Our escort, con¬
sisting of a couple of the biggest of the crew, instantly
charged the enemy, brandishing their long sticks and
screaming Arab execrations. This caused the dusky
cohort to turn tail and skedaddle ; but in executing that
strategic movement they were caught between two fires,
Chap. VII.] RUINS OF KHOU-EN-ATEN. 7 1
for just at this crisis up came Ibrahim with the donkeys
and guides. These distributed a liberal share of blows
and whacks among the young rascals, and turned their
retreat into precipitate flight.
We now set our face towards the mountains in which
the tombs are situated. They were about four miles
distant, and our route lay across a perfectly level plain
as hard as concrete, but with stones and sea-shells
scattered over its surface ; it was probably in exactly
the same state now as when the funeral processions of
Khou-en-Aten and his family passed across it to their
splendid tombs thirty-five centuries ago. Certainly the
identical sea-shells that we saw lay there then, for there
had been no source whence a new supply could have
come. One is in fact met at every turn by evidence that
the valley of the Nile, with the entire desert between it
and the Red Sea, and on the western side also to an
indefinite distance, once formed an ocean-bed. I have
constantly found sea-shells in every part of the desert,
and the whole region is a marine formation, probably as
far south as the Second Cataract. On arriving at the
site of the tombs, we found that most of them had been
since our last visit buried beneath the sand ; so that,
although the upper parts of their fai^ades were visible,
yet the entrances were entirely blocked ; indeed, so
enormous was the accumulation before one of them that
the Arabs had christened it Om Ruml (Mother of Sand).
One of these temples had been discovered only a few
weeks before, and the sand still choked up its entrance,
so that it was with great difficulty we wriggled our way
in. The sailors and guides scraped out with their hands
a passage for the lady, who had, nevertheless, to enter
in a swimming attitude. Once inside we had plenty of
7 2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VII.
room, though the sand and rubbish rose opposite the
entrance, nearly level with the capitals of the columns.
This temple (which is carved out of the living rock, and
is subterranean) proved very curious ; it is one of the
few mementoes of a king of foreign blood and foreign
creed, who reigned about a century before Rameses
the Great. He abolished the Egyptian religion, and
introduced a Semitic form of worship, the symbol of
which was strikingly singular and curious : it was a
globe, from every side of which shot rays, reaching
from heaven to earth and terminating in hands. The
globe was emblematic of infinity and thus Deity. The
rays and hands represented the far-reaching power of
the Deity. The disk of the sun is the object of worship
imaged in the entire design. Within the temple is a
very interesting sculpture. The king and queen, with
the princesses and a little prince, are seated on a throne
at the gate of their palace; overhead is the sun disk
surrounding them with its rays, and supporting them
with its hands ; in front are assembled a great number
of ladies handing up to them necklaces and collars from
piles of those ornaments which are heaped up at the foot
of the throne. The royal party in their turn hand them
to the people. The scene here described represents one
of those anniversary festivals in which the Pharaohs took
such prominent part, and at which it was usual to dis¬
tribute tokens of royal favour to the people in the shape
of collars, such as were commonly worn by all classes in
Egypt. Behind the ladies are soldiers, archers, spear¬
men, and charioteers, who are also doing homage to the
king, and they bow low as they march past, while scribes
take note of their numbers. This sculpture is admirably
executed in intaglio, and the outlines are as fresh and
Queen and family of khou-en-Aten
Tel el Amaru a.
Plate 64.
Chap. VII.]
AN INTERESTING TOMB.
73
sharp as on the day they were first cut. The features of
the royal family, except the queen, differ totally from
the Egyptian cast, and are evidently all portraits ; the
king himself has an amiable, but rather weak counten¬
ance, very different from the stern resolute features of
the Rameses kings who succeeded, or the Amunophs
who preceded him. The queen has a particularly
sweet expression ; neither she nor her husband wear
any ornament whatever. King and queen occupy one
throne, and they have their family about them, little
girls of from five to ten years of age, whose delight it is
to take part in their parents’ proceedings, and to help
in the distribution of these honorary distinctions ; the
youngest, however, a little boy, is too young to do so,
and is stroking his mamma under the chin. Over the
head of the eldest daughter is the following inscription,
“ Royal daughter of her very body, Meri Aten, sprung
from the Queen, Lady of the two lands, Nofre-nofrou-
nofre-ti-tai-Aten. May she live for ever and to all
eternity.” Over the other is the same inscription except
the name, which is Makt Aten.
The festive character of the occasion is marked
by a corps of dancers, who are performing
with great vivacity something very like a High¬
land fling.
(We regret extremely that this very interest¬
ing tableau is too extensive to be got within
the limits of an illustration for this work, but
we annex the illustration from the Theban
tomb, Plate V., which, together with Plate
LIV., will help our readers to realise it.)
It is singular that though some obscurity
hangs over this episode of Egyptian history,
NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. VII.
yet we know more of the family, court, and
public life of Khou-en-Aten than of any other
Pharaoh. He and his consort seem to have
delighted in having every detail of it sculptured
and recorded ; and notwithstanding the whole¬
sale vindictive mutilation of these monuments
which went on after his dynasty died out, yet
enough remains to give us a clear narrative of
the doings and personal appearance of the
whole family. See Plate LIV.
The queen wears on her head something
like a king’s crown, probably to mark that she
was queen in her own right. We see their
family also at various stages. Here they are still in
the nursery, but in later tableaux they are represented
as grown-up young women. Subsequently three in
succession married and reigned as queens by hereditary
right.
Nofre-ti-tai-Aten seems to have ultimately died of
decline, for there is a very sad sculpture in which she
appears in the last stage of it, her cheeks hollow,
her once beautiful face shrunken to nothing, and death
obviously not far off. This portrait is executed with
terrible fidelitv. It is to he found in the northern
j
group of tombs.
This temple was never finished, some of the columns
being only partially disengaged from the rock ; none of
the sculptures were ever painted, and part of the wall is
covered with Indian-ink outlines for sculptures which
were never carried out, but the greater part of the walls
are quite blank ; perhaps the king died before it was
complete, and the temple was covered up and forgotten.
One remarkable thing about the emblems is their resem-
74
dfn
AA/WVN
K
o C
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- i
M
Chap. VII.] HUNT FOR A BURIED TOMB. 75
blance to Masonic symbols. There is a radiating globe
surmounting two pillars, which occurs repeatedly, and
has a very Masonic look. There is an interesting illus¬
tration of the origin of the oldest form of Egyptian
column ; two men standing opposite each other have
grasped a many-stemmed papyrus plant, and tied it with
bands immediately below the flowers, thus furnishing
the model for the column at once. Amongst the many
curious sculptures is one in which the queen is repre¬
sented as standing with her arms above her head, while
a nurse is holding up her baby to her breast. We shall
never know with what idea she chose to perform her
maternal duties in such an uncomfortable attitude. In
this temple-tomb is much broken pottery, which had
once contained offerings to the deceased. Amongst this
rubbish M - found the remains of a funeral bouquet,
the flower stems being still bound round a stick with a
bit of palm-leaf, a strip of the rind of a palm-leaf rib,
which did duty as bass matting ; and I found one of the
pads plaited from palm-fibre, which had served to carry
some jar containing funeral offerings. These articles
cannot be much less than 3000 years old, and were so
tender, from their great age, that they almost crumbled
at our touch. I took some impressions from this very
interesting temple, and we had to wait two hours while
they dried, the paper not being of the right sort. In
one corner there was a flight of steps, terminating in a
curious well, where the bats were holding high carnival,
and before long extinguished my light, leaving me to
grope my way back to the upper regions as best I could.
We were so much fascinated by this rock temple and
the curious glimpses it gave us of the family and public
life of that ancient king who lived before the Bible
76 NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. VII.
was written, that our dragoman, who had smoked out
his last cigar and yawned many times, had some diffi¬
culty in getting us away ; however, we re-formed our
cavalcade, and were nearly frizzled alive in crossing the
open desert, beneath the noon-day sun. We visited
some private tombs of the same period, which were also
very interesting, but were quite eclipsed by this royal
mausoleum. After his death Khou-en-Aten’s name was
everywhere obliterated by his successors, except in this
rock temple, which seems to have been buried by the
sand and to have escaped notice till now. Only one
other traveller had visited it since its discovery.
I remembered on a former occasion seeing a very
fine tomb, and I pointed out its direction to our guides,
and told them to take me there. They declared that
there were no more tombs, and that, if there were, they
were now buried. Finding I could get nothing further
out of them, I started on my own account across the
hills on foot, leaving the rest of the retinue to bring the
donkeys round the base. I was rewarded for my energy
by discovering the tomb, but the fa$ade was completely
blocked up with sand, except a low, narrow slit, imme¬
diately below the lintel of the entrance. Outside stood
two donkeys without saddles or harness of any kind,
while from within peered out two wild savage-looking
Arabs, armed with long flint guns, who warned us off.
Just at this crisis we were reinforced by the arrival of
Ibrahim and the guides, and a parley began. They
were obviously masters of the situation, for we could
only effect an entrance by crawling in on our, say,
waistcoats, either head foremost or tail foremost ; in
either attitude the owners of the long guns would have
had us at a grievous disadvantage. They demanded a
Chap. VII.]
INTERIOR OF TOMB.
/ /
liberal handful of piastres to let us in. I objected on
principle to submit to an arbitrary levy of blackmail ;
the situation was sufficiently ridiculous. After much
shrill disputing in Arabic between them, Ibrahim, and the
guides, I at last proposed a compromise, that they should
clear away some of the sand, and that I would pay them
liberally for their service. They grinned, and made a
show of scraping at the rubbish, with the effect of raising
much fine dust, in the midst of which we crawled in.
We found ourselves in an exceedingly handsome and
beautifully-sculptured tomb. On the left hand the roof
was supported by twelve stately columns with papyrus-
bud capitals supporting imitation beams. On the right
hand were also twelve columns, but these at the further
extremity were only partly disengaged from the rock, and
had been left unfinished, as also was a doorway, the out¬
lines of which had been sketched in black paint for the
architect’s guidance, but had never been cut. Opposite
the entrance, but low down, was a portal, which led to
the mausoleum, and over it were the names of the princes
and princesses of the Royal family who had been
buried there. The names were all in cartouches : —
Over the names was the disk of the sun, and four
figures, two male and two female, rested on one knee,
73
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VII.
engaged in an act of adoration. These figures were
all naked. At one corner a recess had been excavated,
with steps leading up to an altar. Near this was a
tunnel descending to a great depth downwards. The
rock had been cut into steps, which appeared much
worn. The execution of every part of this tomb was
so perfect, that one forgot that it was not built but
hewn out of the living rock ; the columns were beauti-
* Amunoph the Fourth had similar features to the above in the bas-relief dis¬
covered by the author at Thebes.
Chap. VII.]
KHOU-EN-ATEN.
79
fully proportioned and highly finished ; the stone beams
that surmounted them were covered with hieroglyphics,
attributing to Aten (the solar disk) all the king pos¬
sessed — his life, his house, his power, &c.
It has been taken for granted that Amunoph the Fourth
and Khou-en-Aten were one and the same person, be¬
cause Khou-en-Aten, at the commencement of his reign,
used the oval of the last Amunoph. I venture, how¬
ever, to doubt their identity for the following reasons : —
All the Amunophs had regular features, short straight
noses, well-shaped chins, and were rather inclined to
So
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VII.
stoutness ; whereas Khou-en-Aten had an unnaturally
long chin, a Jewish nose, and a thin slight effeminate
figure, and was altogether quite a caricature of a man ;
he never could have been an Amunoph.
When I visited the tomb of Queen Ta-i-ti,the mother
of Amunoph the Fourth, I saw there a portrait of her
son ; he did not at all resemble Khou-en-Aten, but
was very like the other princes of the eighteenth dynasty.
Finally, I was fortunate enough while at Thebes to
discover a tomb which had hitherto escaped notice,
having been completely buried beneath quarry rubbish.
On the left-hand side of the entrance was a bas-relief
of Amunoph the Fourth, surmounted by his cartouche,
and on the right was another of Khou-en-Aten, sur¬
mounted by his cartouche. No two men could have
been more unlike each other. The two portraits could
not by any possibility have been intended for the same
person. It was also significant that while the first had
been left uninjured, together with the oval containing
his name, the features of the other, together with
his name, had been purposely mutilated with hammer
and chisel ; the rest of the sculpture looked quite
fresh and in perfect preservation. The first king was
seated on his throne, with his wife standing dutifully
behind him, and his surroundings differed in no respect
from the other Egyptian sovereigns. There was no
solar disk or other sign of the worship of Aten, but
Khou-en-Aten was represented with the solar disk over
his head, and his throne and person were surrounded
by its rays, and each ray terminated in a hand like the
sculptures of Tel-el-Amarna. His queen was seated
on another throne exactly like his, and over her head
was her oval, defaced like her husband’s, but the titles
Chap. VII.] THE TWO QUEENS. 8 1
had been spared ; they read, Queen of the two lands
(i.e., Upper and Lower Egypt), royal consort, lady
chief, the beloved (Plate V.). My theory is that Khou-
en-Aten was a foreigner who held some office at the
court of Amunoph the Fourth, and that he married his
master’s daughter, and eventually reigned in her right ;
that on first coming to the throne he adopted his
father-in-law’s oval, and called himself Amunoph as a
matter of policy, but eventually dropped that name for
the one he is best known by. The priests hated him for
two reasons. First, because he was of stranger race,
and not descended from their native royal family ;
secondly, because he tried to force upon them his
foreign creed — the worship of the disk of Aten — to the
exclusion of Ammon and all the orthodox Egyptian
gods ; therefore, after his death, they did their best to
efface every vestige of his detested reign. He was
specially hated at Thebes, because he transferred the
seat of power from that ancient capital to Tel-el-Amarna,
and made the latter city, created and built by himself,
the metropolis of the empire, and degraded their town,
the head-quarters of the sacred college of priests, to the
rank of a provincial town. Therefore Khou-en-Aten’s
names and portrait were chiselled out with minute
care and vindictive malice ; and those of his queen,
who seconded his policy and religion, and was the first
cause of all their misfortunes, shared the same fate,
whereas they spared the effigies of the true Amunoph
the Fourth as being their legitimate sovereign. On the
fa9ade the oval of Amunoph the Fourth occurs simply
on the left-hand side over the king’s head. On the
right-hand side, over Khou-en-Aten’s head, the same
oval is introduced, but it is associated with two strange
G
82
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VII.
ovals quite alien from Egyptian notions, and it is worth
observing that, while they defaced the foreign ones, they
left the native one untouched. Were it possible that the
groups right and left of the portal were intended for the
same persons, they would all equally have been defaced
by the indignant priests, whereas, by sparing the one
pair and chipping out the other, they showed the two to
be distinct and regarded with very different feelings.
The name of the Queen of Amunoph the Fourth is
Nofre-ti-ti, i.e., Good Ti-ti ; that of the Queen of Khou-
en-Aten is Nofre-nofru-Aten-nofre-ti-tai — Good, best of
the good Ti-tai of Aten. This variation upon the first
name is quite consistent with, and indeed suggests,
their being mother and daughter. At Tel-el-Amarna a
strong piece of intrinsic evidence occurs that Queen
Nofre-nofru-nofre-ti-tai reigned in her own right — in
two columns of hieroglyphics over their heads, the
daughters are described as being sprung from her
specially. There is no other precedent for this, the
king being always the personage to whom the descent
of sons and daughters is ascribed, and it can only be
accounted for by the fact that the royal descent was
through the queen, not through the king.
Plate V. exhibits the ghosts of the two royal figures,
all chipped away, but still leaving the outline of the
king’s features, and displaying the long nose and long
chin which characterized his very peculiar countenance,
to identify him by ; the ovals containing his names, also,
although mutilated all over, still disclose enough of
the hieroglyphics to be recognized as identical with
those of Tel-el-Amarna. Every other detail of the bas-
relief has been left quite perfect. They have respected
the solar disk because, though under a different form,
still it was the sun whom they worshipped as Ra. They
Bas-Relief on a tomb at Thebes, discovered by the author
Chap. VII.]
TOMB AT TEL-EL-AMARNA.
33
lespected also the oval of Amunoph the Fourth, which,
as shown in the Plate, is quite uninjured. They did not
leave it as his name, but as the name of one of their
own legitimate kings. And what is very significant is
that, while taking so much trouble to obliterate Khou-
en-Aten and his wife, they have left Amunoph the
Fourth and his queen, on the other side of the entrance,
quite uninjured ; thus showing that they did not implicate
them in the impious proceedings of their successors.
The fact that Ivhou-en-Aten’s queen is represented
seated, and on an equality with her husband, supports
my view that it was in her right he reigned. She also
bears the title — The Queen of the Two Lands. At Tel-
el-Amaina also she is represented as associated with
the king in all public state ceremonials on equal terms,
which is quite unprecedented, except in cases of queens
in their own right. Her name, Nofre-nofru-Aten-nofre-
ti-tai, has a termination which recalls the names both
of the consoit of Amunoph the third and of the consort
of Amunoph the Fourth, as might be expected if she were
the granddaughter of one and the daughter of the other.
If, however, it was her husband and not she herself who
was of royal lineage, how came she by the royal name ?
In the tableau the officers of the court are paying
homage to their sovereigns, and the rank of two of
them is mentioned ; one is intendant over the hareem,
or women’s department, or nursery, the other is minister
of agriculture. The third personage has so peculiar a
physiognomy that we have thought it worth giving his
portrait. He must have been a foreigner ; but of what
race ? To the left of these three personages are a
group of courtiers having the rank of chiefs ; one of
them weais a fringe to his hood. The dresses of all
84
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VII.
differ very much from the usual Egyptian fashions.
They wear sleeves and long petticoats, with an upper
skirt terminating in a kind of Vandyke border.
The right-hand corner of this tomb was buried be¬
neath such heavy masses of large stones, and would
have required so much time and labour to clear and
excavate, that, time pressing, we had reluctantly to
leave it unfinished, and we have filled up that corner with
a group from one of the Tel-el-Amarna tombs. There
are two captains of charioteers making a low obeisance
to the king, and three other courtiers offering very
obsequious homage to the occupants of the thrones.
They wear the same dresses as the group to the left.
The pavilions on either hand may be gateways of the
palace : one of them is surmounted with a row of royal
asps, and is decorated with elaborately wrought panels ;
the upper one displays the eagle emblem of Ra, with
overshadowing wings spread out to protect the royal
oval ; underneath is the other cartouche, supported
heraldic fashion, by serpents, with emblems of power,
life, and purity. The columns of the opposite pavilion
have streamers attached below the capitals, which
represent bouquets of palm leaves bound together.
The two Arabs had now become our very good friends,
and rendered us various little services good humouredly
— helping to take impressions, &c. Having pretended
at first that they had come on purpose to clear out the
tomb for us, they now confessed that they had come to
collect bats’ dung to manure their water melons with.
They showed us a heap of that odoriferous material,
which they had tied in an old blue cotton gown, and
carried off on their donkeys. They returned with us to
the river, which we reached about sunset.
Chap. VII.]
AN ANCIENT ROAD.
85
On the desert I noticed a broad smooth track, tra¬
versing the entire distance, the surface free from stones,
the latter having been drawn away to the right and to
the left, and forming a boundary on either hand, like
the moraines of a Swiss glacier. This belt traversed
the entire distance from the ruins of the city to the
tombs. In answer to my enquiry, the guide told me
that this was the ancient road by which the mummies
were conveyed to their last resting-place. It must have
been laid out at least 3400 years ago, and yet there it
remained intact ; the edging of flints that marked it
out then mark it out still ; the hand of man has not
disturbed, nor have the sands buried them ; between
them runs a broad smooth highway.
It is impossible to visit Tel-el-Amarna without seeing
that the Khou-en-Aten dynasty must have occupied the
throne for a considerable period. The tombs are large
and numerous ; they are excavated in the rock on such
a scale that a long time must have been required for the
execution of the work, and after they were completed
and tenanted they must have been for many years
visited by the descendants of the occupants, for they con¬
tain enormous accumulations of broken earthenware, the
remains of the vessels in which offerings were brought an¬
nually by surviving relatives. These vessels were never
taken back again, but broken on the spot and left there.
It must have been a period of much prosperity and
luxury, judging from the rich dresses and furniture, and
the numerous chariots and horses sculptured on the
walls of these stately mausoleums, and the army seemed
to have been particularly well appointed, as every branch
of it is represented in the tableau of a royal review,
sculptured in one of the tombs.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CROCODILE CAVERNS OF GEBEL ABOUFAIDA.
Crystalline Bombs — A faint-hearted Ally — A terrible end — A weird scene — Super¬
phosphate of Crocodile — Resurrection of a Mummy.
December 17. — Strong wind. We reached Gebel Abou-
faida, and we may as well describe here an expedition
which we made upon a previous occasion.
We started from Shalagheel for the Crocodile Mummy
Caverns, with our dragoman and four guides. Our
way lay up the side of Gebel Aboufaida, a very steep
rugged track, up which the donkeys scrambled with
wonderful activity. Not far from the summit of the
pass occurred a slope covered with immense bomb¬
shaped stones, as thick as they could stand on the
ground ; they looked exactly as if chipped by human
hands into that shape ; this, however, was not the case
(see account of Metahara expedition, Chapter V.).
Each of them had at one point a projection like the fuse
of a shell ; they were of very hard crystalline limestone,
but all those which I examined contained a core of flint.
Soon afterwards we reached the great plateau of the
Gebel ; the view down into the valley below was mag¬
nificent, the Nile winding its way from the furthest
horizon, a river of silver in a broad green setting, and
all beyond tawny desert up to the great range of the
Libyan mountains. Immediately below were two large
villages, the flat-topped houses of which were nearly
Chap. VIII.]
A FAINT-HEARTED ALLY.
37
buried amongst palm groves ; however, our course soon
led us out of sight of cultivation and all sign of life,
towards the interior of the great plateau, where all was
a naked wilderness of rock and sand, desolate and life¬
less. The surface was tossed into great ridges, as if the
waves of the sea had suddenly been petrified ; the ground
was covered with glittering crystals, often of a large
size. After about an hour’s ride across this desert we
came to an insignificant-looking cleft in the surface —
this was the entrance to the cavern. The four guides
were furnished with candles, and Elias then addressing
me, coolly proposed that I should go down with them
alone, and he would await my return. I insisted on his
accompanying me, as otherwise I had no means of
making myself understood by the men. With a heavy
sigh he “caved in” and agreed to go. The men now
stripped stark naked, and each entered with a candle
and dagger (the latter was to cut up the mummies with).
I noticed that the dragoman allowed me to enter first.
After we had proceeded for about fifty yards along a
subterranean passage, consisting of a narrow labyrinth
of rocks, I heard Elias exclaiming in a very lamentable
tone: “I cannot, I cannot do it; please let me stay.”
Thus adjured, I reflected that so faint-hearted an ally
would not be of much use, and that perhaps he might
become insensible from terror or bad air, and block
our way out, so I decided to go on without him.
We noticed that the rocks were covered with a sticky,
greasy, black deposit, like tar. Our guides informed us
that this had been caused by a fire which had occurred
in this singular depot of departed reptiles. A party of
travellers had entered, and soon after a volume of smoke
came rolling out from the pit which forms the ante-room
88
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VIII.
to the caverns. Some sailors who had accompanied the
party, and who were awaiting their return outside, tried
to penetrate, but found the smoke so suffocating that
they had to abandon the attempt. Neither the unfor¬
tunate explorers nor their guides were ever seen again.
The fire smouldered on for several weeks, and when the
scene of the catastrophe was next visited some charred
bones of crocodiles and men and the ashes of many
mummies were all that remained to tell the tale of their
horrible death. It was surmised that they may have
lighted their cigars as an antidote to the bad air, and
that in doing so a spark may have fallen amongst the
mummy rags that litter the floor, dry and inflammable
as tinder. At that time the galleries were still packed
with reptiles, thickly swathed in linen bandages, much
nearer to the entrance than at present! Our guides
strove to cheer us with another story equally exhilarat¬
ing. Until lately there was to be seen sitting on a
stone in the central chamber, the grim figure of a
modern mummy, with the expression of despair still
stamped upon the distorted features ; it was the remains
of an Arab, who, having entered in search of treasure,
had lost his way and perished miserably, surrounded
by the dead whom he had come to plunder.
The atmosphere grew worse and worse as we pro¬
ceeded ; the heat was suffocating, and there was an
overpowering smell of ammonia. Sometimes the pas¬
sage was so low and narrow that it was with difficulty
we crawled through, one at a time ; our lights were
repeatedly extinguished by the bats which flew in our
faces incessantly, almost blinding us. I would have
given anything for a thimble-full of brandy, for I felt
quite exhausted, but the caitiff Elias had my flask with
Chap. VIII.]
A WEIRD SCENE.
89
him. Once or twice the cavern enlarged so that we
could stand upright, then it would become narrower
than ever ; at last we emerged into a chamber about
fifteen feet across, and high enough to stand up in ; in
the centre it was supported by a single thick, glittering
white stalactite. The floor of this chamber was covered
with palm branches, placed there not less than five-and-
twenty centuries ago, for the mummies to repose upon,
but still looking as fresh as if only put there last month.
All about lay mummies of crocodiles and mummies of
men. Igniting some magnesium wire, the brilliant
light fell upon such a scene as Dante never dreamt of
for his Inferno. The naked bronze figures of my guides
with their daggers, the strange weird forms of the
reptiles, with their long snouts displaying rows of sharp
white fangs, the grinning human heads (many with all
their hair still on), thick curly hair, and white gleaming
teeth and hollow eyes, that seemed to reproach us for
disturbing their rest, the litter of grave clothes, the shrill
complaining cry of the bats, as they flew hither and
thither, and then the dark shadows of the recesses that
opened on all sides and had served to store the mum¬
mies in — all this formed an experience never to be for¬
gotten, and scarcely to be surpassed by the wildest
nightmare. Suddenly one of the men gave a cry of
horror, and snatched the magnesium wire out of my
hand, for a spark of it had fallen amongst the palm
branches, and had they taken fire, we had never more
emerged alive. Amongst the curiosities of the place
were baby crocodiles, not more than twelve inches long,
and they varied from that size up to twelve feet. The
men afterwards told me, in answer to my questions, that
the largest they saw taken out measured fifteen feet.
90
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. VIII.
We once more dived into a narrow passage, right and
left of which still lay the mummies deposited in the
crevices ; the air grew even worse, and I could scarcely
breathe ; the brown skins of the men were streaming
with perspiration ; they tried to encourage me with the
words “more mummies,” but I felt that if I stayed much
longer I should join the ghostly company myself, so I
determined to turn back while I yet had strength. Oh,
for a thimble-full of brandy, or a cup of cold water ! I
scarcely knew how I got back. I shall never forget the
delicious sensation of the first taste of fresh air that met
me when about fifty yards from the entrance — the same
air that I had thought so villanous at starting — and
when I emerged, and took a good chest full of the pure
mountain ether, I felt as if I had just awoke from some
grim nightmare.
I enquired how it came that the mummies had all
been disturbed and scattered about ; they told me that
a great number had been taken away by the Viceroy,
but that the greatest destruction had been caused by a
German speculator, who, about three years ago, came
and employed men to bring out the mummies wholesale ;
he stripped off their bandages, and freighted a large barge
with them as rags for the paper mills ; the bones of men
and reptiles alike he carried off to make superphosphate
of, so that the poor Egyptians who took such pains to
find a resting-place where they might never be dis¬
turbed, have been applied as manure to the ground,
and will be eaten in the shape of bread grown from this
strangely compounded superphosphate. Such is life
and such is death !
They told me also that many of the human mummies
so abstracted had their faces and feet gilded thickly,
Chap. VIII.]
MUMMY RESURRECTION.
91
others merely had the mummy cloth that covered their
faces painted with their likenesses. The wonder is how
this strange mausoleum was ever discovered amid the
wild naked peaks of the Egyptian Sierra. While I was
resting, I offered the guides a dollar if they would re¬
enter the caverns, and bring me out another crocodile.
They disappeared into the bowels of the earth, and
after the lapse of half an hour we heard them below,
and then there slowly arose through the fissure the
grisly apparition of a human mummy stripped of its
bandages and therefore naked, but quite perfect,
mounting bolt upright from the depths beneath, as if
through the trap-door of a theatre, without any visible
motive power. A ghastly spectacle, strangely at discord
with the bright sunshine. How many centuries had
elapsed since the sun last shone upon that form ?
When I had sufficiently recovered, we packed the
mummies we had collected upon our donkeys. One of
the Arabs carried the large crocodile at right angles
across his saddle-peak. I wish I could have had the
group photographed : the turbaned rider— the shaggy
little beast he bestrode, and the grim reptile that shared
his saddle — a four-footed Lazarus come forth from the
grave it had occupied for at least twenty-five centuries.
One of the Arabs made a bundle of mummy legs and
arms, threw them over his shoulders, and marched on
ahead.
We thus proceeded along the mountain plateau for
several miles till we reached a steep ravine, down which
we scrambled into the plain below, and were presently
received on board with much curiosity as to the adven¬
tures we had undergone and the trophies we had brought
back.
CHAPTER IX.
SIOUT.
Monuments of the Thirteenth Dynasty — A Splendid Mausoleum — A Mummy
brought to life and made to speak.
December 18. — We reached Siout and paid a visit to
the bazaar, where we bought some daggers of native
manufacture ; they are of good design but of bad iron
and practically worthless. We bought some pottery
for which this district is famous. We then started for
the tombs, which I found cruelly mutilated since our
last visit. I examined very carefully the two tombs
above the tomb of Hapi Tefa.
The name of the king which occurs in the inscrip¬
tion in the Tomb of Shields is Meraikara, i.e., Valiant
Bull, beloved of Ra. This name does not occur in
the royal list at Abydos, but that list shows a long
series of kings beginning with the sixth dynasty, whose
family names were characterised by this termination
of Kara. It seems to have been adopted as distinctive
of the reigning family at this period. The name of
a king having this termination occurs in the eleventh
dynasty (Sanch-kara), whose reign is marked on the
monuments by an expedition via the Desert to the Red
Sea, and thence across to Arabia to fetch gums, spices,
and gold.
The twelfth dynasty contains no name having this
termination, but it re-appears in the thirteenth, of which
it is among the characteristics which point to a close
Chap. IX.] TOMBS OF THE THIRTEENTH DYNASTY.
93
family relationship between the eleventh and thirteenth
dynasties, the twelfth bearing throughout names differ¬
ing widely from either. In the Turin papyrus there
occur, in the list of the thirteenth-dynasty kings, several
imperfect names, of which only the termination Kara
remains, and it is probable that Meraikara may be one
of these.
Two other great tombs in the mountain behind Siout
belong to the thirteenth dynasty ; they are excavated on
a grand scale, and approach in size the tombs of the
kings at Thebes. Their walls are covered with hiero¬
glyphics, unfortunately so mutilated that the greater
part of them are illegible. This is especially to be de¬
plored, because the thirteenth dynasty is an obscure
period of Egyptian history; and as the inscriptions in
these tombs have reference to the deeds of such distin¬
guished officers of this dynasty, they could not have
failed to throw an important light upon their period.
Two of the tombs contain bas-reliefs of army corps,
showing their dress and accoutrements, and the miss¬
ing hieroglyphics would no doubt have recorded their
achievements, and might have proved that which is now
suspected, that the period covered by the thirteenth
dynasty was a period of civil wars. These interesting
monuments are being rapidly destroyed for the sake of
the limestone in which they are excavated. The whole
mountain is a mass of limestone, and any quantity
might be obtained without a single tomb being injured,
but of course it is less trouble to carry away the walls
and columns found in these tombs hewn ready to hand,
than to quarry the mountain in fresh places. For the
sake of this advantage, records of priceless value to the
historian are ruthlessly destroyed for ever, after having
94
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. IX.
escaped for 4000 years. If the work of spoliation goes
on much longer the roofs will fall in, and their total
destruction will be consummated. Even in their decay
they are grand monuments. The portals of one of them
cannot be less than twenty-five feet in height ; great
doors of that height closed the entrance, and the upper
sockets in which the pivots moved are still perfect, and
can be seen in the living rock high overhead.
Just within the entrance is a long inscription, well
preserved ; it is the charter providing funeral services
in honour of the builder of the tomb, ^ 1=1 (j
Hapi Tefa, feudal prince, Governor of the district of
Siout. This, like all Egyptian mausoleums, was exca¬
vated during the lifetime of the owner, and whatever
stage of construction they had attained at the time of
his decease, at that stage they remained ; it thus hap¬
pens that the innermost portion of excavated tombs is
nearly always unfinished and left in the rough. This is
the case even with the tombs of the kings at Thebes.
Hapi Tefa, however, lived to see a goodly home for his
mummy hewn out and covered with the records of his
greatness, his goodness, his power, his deeds of charity,
and his deeds of valour. His first care was to have
minute instructions engraved at the very entrance for
the maintenance of funeral services in his honour for
all time, and to this end he provides salaries for the
priests, and grants them certain privileges ; in fact, he
endows a sort of foundation, with the same intention
with which men in Christian times have left money to
pay for masses for their souls ; for a belief in Purgatory
formed a prominent and important feature in their reli¬
gious creed.
Chap. IX.]
A HERMIT’S RETREAT.
95
Hapi Tefa proved a great benefactor to bats, myriads
of which make his tomb their home, and flit to and fro
as if they were the restless spirits of the hosts of
mummies with which this mountain is even now lite¬
rally stuffed.
In early Christian times, one of these tombs, homes
of the dead, formed the retreat of a hermit, who had
a great reputation for sanctity ; even sovereigns sent
to consult him. One tradition is that he restored life to
the man to whom he was indebted for his cell, con¬
versed with him, and questioned him as to the history
of his earthly existence. Why was not some Special
Correspondent present to record the particulars of that
conversation ?
I have already said that the thirteenth dynasty, to
which these tombs belong, is an obscure period, which
has much puzzled Egyptologists. One discovery has
lately been made with respect to it, viz., that it, in any
case, preceded the invasion of the Shepherd Kings, for
a monument of the eighteenth king of this dynasty, by
name Smonch-ka-ra-Mermese, was found by Mariette
Bey lately at Tanis, the Zoan of the Bible; and over
the inscription had been engraved, at a later period,
the name of Apophi, one of the best known of the
Shepherd Kings. The surname, Mermesa, means com¬
mander of armies. The statues of other kings of this
dynasty have also been discovered at Bubastis, at Tanis,
and also at the remotest point of Nubia. These facts
show that they were not mere local chiefs, but were
masters of all Egypt, and reigned before the Hycsos
conquered and occupied the northern portion of it.
CHAPTER X.
DENDERA.
A short cut missed — Legend of Isis and Osiris — Its hold upon the Egyptian mind
accounted for — Cleopatra — Visit to the Bazaars of a large town — The Merry
Wives of Keneh — Dates and Coffee.
December 22. — About 7 a.m. we reached the nearest
point to the north of the Temple of Dendera, and we
had told Ibrahim to let us know when we reached it,
for the river forms a long, narrow loop here, making a
peninsula of the promontory, on the neck of which the
ruins stand. Across this neck run the telegraph posts
as a guide. Boats, in following the course of the stream,
have to make a detour of eight miles ; but, by disem¬
barking opposite a village called Ouled Hamrah, tra¬
vellers can ride or walk across the isthmus in three
miles, visiting the temple en route , and joining their
boat again on the other side, thus saving much time ;
for this is a difficult reach, and boats generally occupy
several hours in getting round it. Ibrahim, either
designedly or through misunderstanding, carried us
past the point for disembarkation, and it was not
till 11 a.m. that we reached the village of Dendera,
entailing a long hot walk to the temple. One of the
crew marched along bearing a lady’s saddle on his
head, on the chance of getting a donkey for M - ;
ultimately a baby donkey was found feeding in a corn¬
field, seized, and saddled forthwith.
Chap. X.]
TEMPLE OF DENDERA.
97
I shall not attempt any general description of this
temple, it has been so often described before, and
are not its measurements and dimensions written in
the indispensable “ Murray”? but there are some points
of special interest to which attention may profitably be
drawn. Dendera passes for a comparatively modern
temple among antiquarians, being only eighteen or
nineteen centuries old ; it stands, however, on the site
of a temple as ancient as any in Egypt. In exploring
the foundations, stones were found with inscriptions
showing that a temple stood here in the time of the
Pyramids, which was repaired and enlarged succes¬
sively by Khoufou and Pepi of the fourth and sixth
dynasties, and entirely rebuilt by Thothmes the Third
of the eighteenth. Now it has been found to be
the invariable practice among the ancient restorers
of Egyptian temples always to reproduce the tradi¬
tions, the dedications, and religious character of their
predecessors. Although, therefore, the architecture
of Dendera belongs to a debased period, and its
sculptures show signs of the decay of Egyptian art ;
although it was built under the auspices of Greek
and Roman dynasties, and it is on that account re¬
garded with colder interest than the splendid monu¬
ments erected by the Amunophs, the Thothmes, and
the Rameses kings, from fourteen to seventeen centuries
earlier ; yet the legends and traditions which its sculp¬
tures have preserved are second to none in antiquity
and interest or in value, as illustrating Egyptian my¬
thology and the allegories that lay beneath it. The
hieroglyphics and tableaux are of modern execution ;
but the story they convey is so ancient as to be lost
in the night of prehistoric time before Egypt yet had
H
98
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. X.
a king, and while it was still a community of inde¬
pendent tribes, each governed by an independent
chief.
In the chambers on the roof is illustrated the highly
poetical and romantic legend of Isis and Osiris, — a story
of passionate love and devoted affection, covering an
allegory of the great conflict between good and evil,
and of the ultimate triumph of goodness inspired by love
over the designs and machinations of the power of evil.
There is in this story that touch of nature to the magic
spell of which Shakespeare alludes in the well-known
passage. The passionate love and romantic affection
of Isis and her triumph over Typhon, the prince of evil,
has touched the sympathies and riveted the hearts ot
countless generations of men. It is the secret of the
hold which the Egyptian religion maintained over the
Egyptian people for at least 4000 years, and accounts
for the fact that even in its death agonies, when its
practice was proscribed and its temples dismantled,
men were yet found ready to risk their lives for it ; and
it was only finally extinguished by the strong arm of
arbitrary power, its last fortress being the Temple of
Philae, specially dedicated to Isis and Osiris, the hero
and heroine of this powerful romance.
The Temple of Dendera is more especially associated
with the memory of Cleopatra, and contains several
portraits of that celebrated queen, both on the exterior
and interior walls. We have selected one from the
interior (Plate XL.) ; it was evidently executed when she
was no longer dans sa premiere jeunesse, but we can still
discern the remains of beauty. The features are purely
Greek, not so much of the classic statues, which was
more or less idealised, as those of the Greek women we
Cleopatra,
From Bas-relief in the interior of Iemple,
Dendera.
Chap. X.]
THE MERRY WIVES OF KENEH.
99
may see in Athens at the present day. The Egyptians
did not attempt to idealise ; they sculptured what they
saw with honest fidelity, and we need have no doubt of
the truthfulness of this interesting bas-relief.
In all the representations of her she wears a smile,
which was no doubt characteristic ; so consummate a
mistress of the ait of fascination knew well the power of
a winning smile. The figure, as usual, is most imper¬
fect ; she wears a graceful head-dress and a necklace of
large pearls.
Opposite Dendera lies the important commercial city
of Keneh. This is one ol the best specimens of an
inland town in Egypt, and has a capital bazaar, which
we lost no time in visiting ; it is at the junction of the
traffic between the Red Sea and the Nile, the caravan
journey to Kosseir, on the Red Sea, being very short ;
by this route therefore come large quantities of Mocha
coffee, and of the finest dates in the world, from the
country about Mecca. We wished to take with us some
of both of these commodities, and we were introduced
to a date merchant, who invited us up-stairs. Of course
the first proceeding was to offer us coffee, and while we
were sipping our Mocha, I became aware that we were
performing the operation beneath the fire of some inqui¬
sitive eyes. The room we sat in was commanded by
an angle of the building close by, with lattice-work win¬
dows. I saw these cautiously opened, and some girlish
faces, with bright eyes and black hair, braided with gold
ornaments, and a vision of scarfs, ear-rings, and neck¬
laces , the owners of these possessions were immensely
amused by the English lady and gentleman, and tele¬
graphed as plainly as eyes could speak, that I was not
to betray them ; unluckily, however, before long a sup-
IOO
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. X.
pressed titter from themselves penetrated to the ears of
the merchant, and darting an angry look in the direction
of his womankind, he slammed-to the jalousie and cut
the fun short off. Poor girls ! no doubt the glimpse of
the Giaours, their strange garments and western ways,
furnished wherewith to chatter for the next twenty-four
hours. The bazaar is a narrow passage, not ten feet
wide, with mats spread overhead from house to house,
to keep out the sun ; right and left of this are a set of
cupboards, at the bottom of which squats the owner,
with all his goods within reach, the remotest of them
being within arm’s length. Some of them, when the
thoroughfare is a little wider, have ottomans made of
the all-useful Nile mud outside their shops; upon them
they place carpets, and sit there themselves smoking,
and they invite customers to sit down on them and offer
them pipes and coffee while the bargain is being con¬
ducted. Ever and anon a camel with an enormous load
would come by in the middle of the transaction, and
make a retreat into the nearest recess necessary. The
camel, as he stalks along with stately and deliberate
strides, looks out with those large lustrous eyes from
beneath the drooping lids, with quiet dignity, but he
moves on regardless of what his load may come in con¬
tact with, and I was once brushed off my donkey, saddle
and all, by a load of sugar cane, which there was no
room to escape, and which hung down too low to duck
under. While M - was in the bazaar, she spied some
curious little crocodiles in red earthenware, which took
her fancy. She entered into negotiations for the pur¬
chase of them, when our crew made sounds of remon¬
strance ; however, she bought them, and on our
dragoman coming up and seeing them, he laughed and
Chap. X.]
BAZAAR AT KENEH.
IOI
said that those were made for the natives to scratch
themselves with, and that the crew were scandalised at
the idea of their sitteh (lady) possessing such a thing.
We spent several hours in the bazaar ; we bought
native bracelets, we bought Mocha coffee, we bought
dates, we bought Keneh jars, and benefited native trade
generally. It was a most amusing place. Some of the
Egyptian pottery is of elegant design, and they make
many pretty articles. Presently the time for the mid¬
day meal arrived, and each merchant drew up a strong
net in front of his shop and vanished : these nets
supply the place of plate-glass windows, but it would
not do in London to leave jewellery behind them
while the jewellers went home to breakfast. In this
bazaar we saw some Bishareen Arabs from the Red
Sea, men of wild aspect, with long curls down their
backs, and fierce restless eyes, looking as if they
valued a man’s life at a remarkably low figure. There
were also plenty of Almehs — dance-girls — sauntering
along, covered with bangles, bracelets, anklets, and
earrings.
When we got back to the boat we found the crew in
great excitement ; one of the gaunt, famished-looking
dogs, which infest every Egyptian village, had got at
our poultry, and had bolted a fowl whole, feathers
and all ; the crew rushed after him with oars, boat¬
hooks, sticks — anything they could catch up, “ furor
arma minis tr at.” The dog was too wise to go on shore ;
he scuttled along between the boats and the bank, where
the mooring ropes overhead protected him ; the crew
thrashed these ropes with blows, any one of which, had
it reached him, would have put an end for ever to his
depredations every time a rope was hit he yelled, but
102
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. X.
he distanced his pursuers until the foremost of them
was tripped up by a rope and measured his length on
the ground, and the rascal got off scot free, the contour
of our fowl being distinctly perceptible through his lean
sides.
CHAPTER XI.
ESNEH.
The Temple of Knouhm-Ra — A Native Levee — Walk through the Market Place —
Symptoms of Famine.
We passed Thebes without stopping, except to call
for letters, and pushed on, anxious, for certain reasons,
to reach Assouan with as little delay as possible.
December 25. — We stopped at Esneh, to spend our
Christmas Day, and to enable the crew to bake a
month’s supply of bread ; as this is the last opportunity,
enough must be taken to carry them to the Second
Cataract and back. No public oven exists in Nubia.
We visited the Temple, or rather its portico, for the
rest of it is all buried beneath the town. The portico
is, however, a very grand specimen of Egyptian archi¬
tecture, the capitals of its twenty-four columns being
especially fine, and one has a good opportunity of
examining them, for they are on a level with the surface,
the rest of the building being entirely below it, con¬
stituting a mammoth cellar beneath the houses of the
inhabitants of Esneh. I was glad to see that a guardian
is appointed to protect it from injury, admittance being
obtained through a gate, which is kept locked. On
entering we observed a number of books lying about
promiscuously al fresco , and were informed that these
were the archives of the town. A shower of rain would
have converted the whole into papier mache, but it never
rains here. We found an inscription containing the
cartouche of Thothmes the Third (Plate LIII., No. 70),
104
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XI.
from which it appears that the temple, which the
present structure replaces, was built by Thothmes
about sixteen centuries earlier. The two generations
of temples therefore cover a period of 3500 years. I
took impressions of the most important portion of the
inscription, at least as much of it as could be reached.
The former title of Esneh occurs in the course of it,
thus £ © the city of Knouhm, the god to whom
both temple and city were dedicated ; later on occurs the
name of another city, viz., Nebaou, thus y'jj' ^ The
disk, with a cross inscribed, like a bas-relief of a hot-
cross bun, means a town, and is the determinative
which always follows the name of a town. Opposite
the entrance, over the great doorway which led into the
sanctuary, occurs the dedication of the temple, viz., the
God Knouhm enclosed in a large disk. The hiero¬
glyphics in this temple are very badly and carelessly
executed, and suggest the idea of either having been
done by contract by some Greek who took the job at
so much per thousand square yards, or by some artist
who did not understand what he was inscribing, and
who considered one bird or beast as good as another,
whereas different birds convey different and very opposite
sounds and meanings, and in the genuine Egyptian
sculptures the character of each bird is carefully
stamped upon it, and their figures are drawn with much
spirit. Thus no confusion or mistake is possible. One
does not find out with how much skill they are executed
until one tries to reproduce them, but in hieroglyphics
of Greek and Roman times it is difficult to recognize
whether a particular bird is an eagle, a hawk, a vulture,
Chap. XI.] A NATIVE LEVEE. 105
or an owl, and they all bear a family resemblance to
crows.
In the temple a young English gentleman was sketch¬
ing. He told me that he had come by a native cargo
boat, and was travelling in the most independent way,
without dragoman or any other of the usual adjuncts,
having mastered enough Arabic to do his own market¬
ing. I could not help admiring his spirit and courage,
and I looked hard at him to see whether he had been
much bitten ; a native cargo boat being a conveyance in
which it is always taken for granted that anyone but a
native would be eaten alive by every sort of insect
pest. I did not, however, observe a single bite, or per¬
ceive him to indulge in a solitary scratch. He had
been all over Japan, India, and Australia. He paid us
a visit in the evening, and showed us some of his
Japanese sketches.
In the afternoon I called upon the Governor of the
district. He received me in a lofty, airy apartment,
which was reached through a courtyard planted with
trees. He was a good-looking old gentleman, a Turk,
in the usual fez and blue frock, and had the most per¬
fect and courtly manners. He placed me next him at
his right hand on the divan, presented me with a
cigarette made with his own fingers, which is considered
a special compliment, and an attendant brought in
coffee in the usual little egg cup with brass holder. He
inquired with great interest how matters were going in
Afghanistan, and seemed glad to hear that we were well
on the way to Jellalabad, and would probably be at
Cabul early in the spring, not that he loved England,
but that he hated Russia, and looked upon the Ameer as
a Russian limb, a stab in which would cause the greedy
106 NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. XI.
old bear in the background to wince. He was im¬
mensely tickled at my observing that the Russians were
gentry who liked taking out their hot chestnuts with
other people’s paws, and he laughed and rubbed his
hands for ten consecutive seconds. The Governor
seemed to be holding a levee. Three mudirs in turbans
and the usual long native gown were honoured, like my¬
self, with seats on the divan, others less favoured were
standing. Several times turbaned natives entered,
saluted, and presented him with despatches, which he
hastily glanced over, and then stamped and placed
on a table beside him. Near the door, sitting in
a chair by himself, was a very good-looking boy of about
fourteen years of age. He had a golden yellow silk
turban and loose black cloth robe, embroidered in gold
and lined with purple. This robe was open, and under¬
neath he wore a blue silk dress. I was informed that
he was the son of the Governor of Nubia, who had
come on some errand of importance. In a few days
this Governor is about to start for Cairo, to assist at a
congress of chiefs of districts to consult about Rivers
Wilson’s proposed reforms. I ventured to put a question
as to the intended changes, but my host replied with
great reserve, and evidently did not wish to discuss the
subject. He gave me a letter to the Governor of Nubia,
which he said would ensure our getting up the cataract
without delay, and I then took my departure. On our
way back we passed through the market-place, which
presented a very animated scene. It was an open
square, with the usual little Oriental shops round it. The
eastern side was chiefly occupied by a mosque with a
graceful and picturesque minaret. Some of the shops
were shaded by verandahs of ragged mats, supported
Chap. XI.J
MARKET-PLACE AT ESNEH.
107
on sticks. The square was filled by a squalid and
motley crowd. There were a considerable proportion of
petty traders squatting on the ground, with baskets of
dates, onions, dried lentils, or fresh vegetables, also
cakes of coarse-looking bread, which I tasted, and found
sweet and good ; others had trays of matches, cigarette-
papers, and tobacco to sell. Standing about were
crowds of natives, smoking, chatting, laughing and
joking, as if there were no such things as Turkish
officials, taxes, sugar-factories, and bastinadoes. There
was also a liberal sprinkling of buffaloes and buffalo
cows and calves, sunning themselves and placidly chew¬
ing the cud, the said cud consisting of refuse sugar cane
and dourra tops, hard fare requiring vigorous grinders.
They seemed to belong to no one in particular, and
apparently considered they had as good a right to
lounge about the public square as anyone else. Now
and then camels, with loads much too big for the
thoroughfares, would emerge from a narrow street, push
their way through the crowd across the square, and
enter another lane still narrower. The population of
this Place Vendome of Esneh was completed by the
usual complement of donkeys and mangy yellow dogs.
We observed many starved-looking old men, women,
and children crouching dejectedly in the narrow alleys,
refugees from the country, driven in by the famine
caused by the excessive inundation of last summer,
which had washed away their crops and left them with¬
out food. These poor creatures competed with the dogs
for every morsel of garbage that could possibly be
devoured, and we saw them pick up and chew raw
unripe beans and lentils dropped from the bundles of
cattle fodder carried past them by the camels.
CHAPTER XII.
ASSOUAN.
Kom Ombos— Shopping in Nubia — The Home of the Obelisk — Tax-Gatherers —
Philse— Adam and Eve — Osiris.
December 26. — Left Esneh, 6.45. Wind strong. Sailed
all day without stopping till we got to Silouah, where
we anchored below Gebel Silsilis. We were unable to
sail after dark on account of the rocks and rapids above
this place.
December 27. — Wind failing, we passed Kom Ombos,
and spent an hour in examining the ruins. I discovered
on the eastern face the cartouche of Ounas. In the
afternoon the breeze freshened. We sailed forty miles,
and anchored about five miles below Assouan.
The ancient Egyptian name for Assouan was (1
Soun, converted by the Greeks and Romans into Syene,
and by the Arabs, who dislike beginning with S, into
Assoun or Assouan.
December 28.— On awaking, and taking a bird’s-eye
view from our cabin window of the outer world, a very
amusing scene occupied the foreground. A number of
Nubian men, women, and children were squatting on the
sandy shore with their wares arranged on mats before
them, patiently awaiting our appearance, smoking and
chatting with our crew the while ; but no sooner did we
Chap. XII.]
SHOPPING IN NUBIA.
109
step forth, than the greatest excitement prevailed, they
started up with one accord and took to brandishing
their merchandize over their heads, advertising them
by power of lung, and deafening us with a perfect Babel
of sounds. They held out at arms’ length towards us,
ostrich eggs, Nubian spears, armlets, necklaces, brace¬
lets, porcupine quills, bows and arrows, ebony clubs,
daggers, ostrich feathers, leopard skins, hippopotamus-
hide whips, cunningly made baskets, and Egyptian
antiquities ; our dragoman took very good care not to
let them come on board. Their wares were handed in
for our inspection, they themselves were made to keep
their distance ; and when we went on shore, we landed
under escort of a body-guard of our crew, who kept the
Nubian merchants off with their sticks.
A little higher up the beach were the goods of a
caravan, bound for Khartoum; boxes and bales arranged
in a circle formed a sort of camp ; their saloon, reception-
room, and dining-room was the home of the travellers
by day, and their dormitory by night. We visited them
at the hour of breakfast ; their wants were being minis¬
tered to by a number of Nubian girls, some having
milk to sell, others cheese, butter, new-baked cakes,
cucumbers, buttermilk, and other delicacies. Some
were smoking, some were cooking, some were bar¬
gaining with the vendors of eatables ; in the middle
was a sort of trophy supported on three poles, and
consisting of water skins ; jars covered with goats’ hide
with the shaggy hair still on, lanterns, pots, and other
camp equipage. Outside the magic circle squatted
some camels ; it was a very picturesque and amusing
scene. I visited them again at night, when they were
rolled up in their camels’-hair rugs and wraps, jammed
1 IO
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XII.
in closely between the bales, and smoking themselves
to sleep, in the soft silvery moonlight. Next morning,
several scores of camels were being loaded, kneeling
in a circle, and grunting discontentedly, with a rumbling
and gurgling in all their stomachs (they have four), at
every additional package that was added to their load ;
some of them even turned their long necks and bit at
the turbans of their task-masters ; then at the signal
that their load was complete, they jerked themselves
abruptly to their feet, and now that they knew the worst,
all grumbling ceased. The camel is a decided ventri¬
loquist, and all his stomachs engage simultaneously in
the performance.
We started for Philas on donkey-back, riding through
a scene of desolation which can scarcely be surpassed.
The desert itself is broken up into vast piles of granite
boulders, which furnished the raw material for most of
the stately statues and colossi, and all the obelisks of
Egypt, and in all directions one still sees the chisel-
marks of Pharaoh’s quarrymen, and the hieroglyphic
inscriptions and cartouches of the Pharaohs themselves.
But among these mementos of the most ancient dynas¬
ties in the world are strewn the remains of the Roman
occupation, and later still of the Arab occupation — the
debris of three successive races, the first in granite, the
last two in clay, for the desert about Assouan is choked
with the ruins of unburnt-brick houses. We met, en route ,
many turbaned Nubians riding on donkeys, and fol¬
lowed by their wives (generally two) on foot — this
arrangement effectually prevents any dispute between
the fair ones ; we met also many camels striding along
in their stately deliberate fashion, carrying bales of
dates and cotton or returning empty.
Chap. XII.] THE HOME OF THE OBELISK.
I I I
The desolate valley through which one passes on the
way to Philse, is in fact a cataract run dry; it presents
exactly the same appearance as the present cataract
would if the Nile were to leave its bed — innumerable
islands of black granite boulders worn and polished by
the licking action of the water, continued through long
ages, the soil between being scoured out by the mighty
flood, and leaving nothing but the stony skeleton. It
is, however, matter of history that a great reef of rocks
which dammed up the Nile below Assouan gave way
and permanently lowered the river level to the extent of
about twenty-five feet. This catastrophe happened at
some period between the twelfth and the eighteenth
dynasty. There are innumerable hieroglyphic inscrip¬
tions on the rocks in this valley, but none of them
older than the eighteenth dynasty. The evidences of
the former state of things are very obvious ; as one
rides along one sees thick strata of Nile mud deposited
high overhead, under foot is the sandy floor of the
river, and right and left it has written its own story on
countless monuments of stone.
Occasionally we came to a little oasis with a well, the
water of which was baled out on the land by the sakeer
or water-wheel, and formed a little paradise of rich
crops and palm groves amid the surrounding desolation.
There issued forth from the mud huts a swarm of
Nubians, some with clothes and some without, but most
of them offering silver bracelets and rings, necklaces,
and other ornaments of solid silver of barbaric execu¬
tion but of good design. These mud hovels looked as
unlikely a find for such a profusion of the precious metals
as an Irish turf cabin. We were much amused at
several naked little Nubians, who had not on a rag or
I I 2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XII.
stitch of any description, brandishing enormous sun¬
flowers which they wanted us to buy; when we refused,
they took headers into the water, disappearing, sun¬
flowers and all. At one of these villages there was a
magnificent spreading sycamore tree, under which were
gathered the turbaned elders of the community, smoking
and holding friendly converse ; nor was literature absent,
for one of them was reading a document and another
was writing. The scene struck us as quite worthy of
Eden, and feeling much interested we asked our drago¬
man the history of this happy group. — “ It is the
Pasha’s officers collecting taxes,” was the brief reply.
Alas for Eden ! After two hours’ ride we came in sight
of the lovely Philse, the Egyptian Isle of Saints, the
resting-place of Osiris, a jewel whose setting is of the
wildest; just above the cataract, at a point where the
Nile takes its course through enormous piles of black
granite boulders, its romantic temples and palm groves
lie embedded like a fairy scene amid the surrounding
desolation. We landed under the great temple and
scrambled about amongst the ruins, while Elias and
some of the crew laid out our lunch in a beautiful temple
overhanging the river. We fell in with a couple of
French priests who had made their way through Egypt,
partly on foot and partly in a small native boat, without
a cabin. They had already lunched, but they accepted
a glass of wine, and they pointed out to us a very
interesting sculptured chamber, the walls of which
present in a series of tableaux the death and resurrection
of Osiris ; in one of these Isis is represented as covering
her husband’s dead body with her wings.
While at Philae I met a Turkish pasha and his suite ;
he was on his way to take charge of one of the new
Chap. XII.]
ADAM AND EVE.
I 13
districts won for the Khedive by Gordon. He looked
like a man of ability and energy, qualities which he will
much need among his wild and lawless subjects.
In the same chamber, on the roof of the temple, I
came upon a very curious bas-relief, representing ap¬
parently the story of the Fall. There were Adam and
Eve and the tree of knowledge and the serpent, the
latter a cobra erect, with its hood inflated and looking
specially venomous. Adam and Eve were clothed in
Egyptian fashion. I examined this sculpture very
closely, thinking it must be of Christian origin, and that
some portion of the original sculptures must have been
erased to make room for it. I could however discover
no traces of this ; it was all of a piece with the
hieroglyphics and the usual symbols and figures of
heathen mythology about it. I have since ascertained
that the tree is supposed to grow over the grave of
Osiris, and represents life springing out of death ; that
Adam and Eve are two priests, watering and tending it ;
and that the serpent is the spirit of Osiris, revealing
itself to the two priests. The tree itself is the Tamarisk,
which caught and held the body of the Incarnate God
as the waves washed it to and fro on the sea-shore till
Isis found it.
In Egyptian mythology Osiris was represented as
having lost his life in the struggle against the powers of
evil, and to have been raised again to sit for ever among
the gods. There is much in the legend of the death
and resurrection of Osiris which would lead one to
suppose that it was a corruption of and based upon
some primitive revelation or prophecy which the ances¬
tors of the Egyptians may have brought with them from
the common cradle of the human race.
r
1 1 4
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XII.
On part of the walls I found the name j] ®
Abten, corrupted by the Greeks into Abaton, inacces¬
sible — the ancient name of the neighbouring island
of Biggeh. This we explored on leaving Philas. There
is also a statue of Amunoph the Second with his oval,
which was, however, so worn that it was with difficulty
I deciphered it.
In front of this statue is the ruin of a temple ; the
columns and portico are cumbered with the clay huts of
the inhabitants, in and out of which one has to creep
to see its architectural details. In this strange jumble
of sculptured granite and of sordid hovels, we acquired
more fleas than information for our pains. In one
of these habitations the master of the house showed
us, with great pride, a granite shrine, which he used
as a cupboard for his wife’s greasy finery ; these arti¬
cles smelt strongly of castor oil. The flocks and herds
of the community appeared to consist of one very lean
goat. The temple is not of much interest ; it is of
late date, and coarse execution. It was dedicated to
Athor. But there once stood here a temple of some
note, much older than Philas, dating back at least to
the time of Amunoph the Second, as is proved by the
statue of that monarch close by. The panorama from
the rocks above is worth a scramble. The view of
Philae is very beautiful ; that lovely island is always
beautiful from whatever point one sees it.
Amongst other inscriptions was one making mention
of anniversary festivals over which Rameses had pre¬
sided in the thirty-first year of his reign, fourth month,
third day of the month, and also in his thirtieth and
thirty-fourth years. There were also four handsome
Chap. XII.] AN ANTIQUE WARDROBE. I I
cartouches, side by side, surmounted by globes and
ostrich feathers, with heraldic supporters right and left,
in the shape of serpents rampant, and embellished
further beneath with , the sign for Nubia, the
land of gold. They were the ovals of Thothmes the
Third, and of Psammeticus 1000 years later.
m
CHAPTER XIII.
PASSAGE OF FIRST CATARACT.
Equitation extraordinary— The Governor of Nubia — An Exciting Experience —
Nubian Village Merchants.
After leaving Biggeh we scrambled across the rocks
to the cataract, and while there a number of nearly
naked Nubians advanced, each carrying a log of wood,
bestriding which, they boldly pushed out into the roaring,
seething waters, and were presently hurried along at
the rate of at least fifteen miles an hour down the
rapids. They guided their logs with their hands,
sitting their wooden steeds magnificently, never allowing
them to turn over or spin round, and keeping an up¬
right position throughout ; thus they passed down in
procession, a performance not easily forgotten ; it was
the most skilful and daring piece of equitation I have
ever witnessed. The regulation baksheesh for this per¬
formance is the sum of one shilling, divided amongst
them. They rode the furious torrent with so much
ease and grace, that it seemed as if anyone could do.
Some time ago a young Englishman undertook to
achieve the same feat, but the angry cataract crumpled
him up and beat him to death in a moment. We saw
his grave among the granite chips in Pharaoh’s quarry
on our way to the unfinished obelisk. We concluded
the day by going down the lesser rapids in a four-
Chap. XIII.] THE GOVERNOR OF NUBIA.
117
oared boat ; it was exciting work, and we were twice
nearly swamped, once through the breaking of a row-
lock just at the most critical moment.
On the occasion of our former visit, the last viceroy
was the most splendid specimen of a Nubian we had
ever seen : six feet six inches high, coal-black, and of
splendid physique. He had been recently dismissed for
certain equivocal transactions with the Abyssinian war,
and for flogging men to death. The new proconsul was
a man of very mild manners, and opposed to the use
of the time-honoured bastinado. He was a native of
Lower Egypt. His last office had been that of Con¬
troller of the Railway at Alexandria. We were re¬
ceived with great courtesy, and after the usual cere¬
mony of pipes and coffee, he introduced the subject of
our letter, and promised to facilitate our passage of the
cataract by every means in his power, and to urge the
sheik, or head man of the cataract, to pass us up
without delay. We then took our leave, and prepared
for the ascent of the famous Iron Gates of the Nile.
We determined to remain on board during the pas¬
sage up. Just before we started, the Governor came to
return our visit. He smoked his cigarette and sipped
his coffee on our ottoman on the quarter-deck. His
presence had a favourable effect on the cataract men in
keeping them up to the mark, the more especially as he
announced his intention of riding out later in the day to
a point half way up to see how they were getting on.
After the usual interchange of civilities he took his
leave and pushed off in his boat for the other side, and
we immediately hoisted sail and stood up the river
straight for the rapids. Our deck was occupied by
about forty men. Our reis was deposed from this
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIII.
I iS
moment, and the Cataract Reis reigned in his stead.
Our faithful steersman, who had remained at his post
day and night, and brought us safely through many an
intricate channel, was replaced by another Nubian of
more intense blackness. The commencement of our
progress was quiet enough. We crept along before a
rather feeble north wind, the genii of the cataract
squatting in groups, smoking, chatting and laughing,
and so we left Elephantine behind, with its tall palm
groves and emerald-green carpet of young wheat, and
then on, past a rugged island of granite, showing many
a great cube of stone carved out for some ancient
temple, and never taken away ; in other places the rock
showed rows of holes made to receive the wooden plugs
which were to swell and split them open. Presently we
turned a corner, and found ourselves in another world.
Assouan and every trace of civilization or habitation was
left behind. It was a world of rock, sand, water, and
sky. There was nothing green, nothing living, except
a stray vulture wheeling overhead. The great river
was converted into a lake begirt with black granite
cliffs, set in golden-yellow sand ; its bosom studded
with countless islets of shining rounded boulders ; the
waters were still and quiet, as if fatigued after the excite¬
ment of the rapids, and overhead was the blue sky and
the bright sun growing hotter and hotter. Our peaceful
time did not last long ; we turned sundry corners and
found ourselves in another lake ; there was a sound of
many waters, and its surface was covered with eddies.
The breeze now freshened ; not before it was wanted,
for the current was growing too strong for us. The
men cast aside their cigarettes, and everyone got to his
post. Some were at the main sheet, ready to slacken
Chap. XIII.J AN EXCITING EXPERIENCE. I 1 9
or to haul in as circumstances might require ; others
armed themselves with long poles to push us off the
rocks ; others were at the ropes, ready to throw them¬
selves into the flood at a moment’s notice ; others stood
by the anchor, ready to drop it on the instant, for there is
not much time for deliberation ; the channels are very
narrow, and at any moment the treacherous wind might
fail, in which case we might be borne back on some
great rock before we could count ten, and then the
chances are the Gazelle would be done with for ever,
and all our possessions settle down with her and leave
us poor indeed.
But though one appears to go through a series ol
hair-breadth escapes, catastrophes are not frequent.
Our crew, swelled by forty additional hands, are now
numerous enough to work a frigate, and good for any
emergency. Gallant fellows, all ready at a moment’s
notice to risk their lives in the boiling torrent ; for
under those black skins beat bold, fearless hearts. The
Nubian, at all events, is not inferior to the white man
either in courage or in quickness of resource. These
men have been familiar with the whirlpool and the
torrent from their infancy, and are quite amphibious.
While we have been watching their preparations, a
struggle has been going on between wind and stream,
in which the latter has been getting the better. Our
big sails are full and the ropes straining ; but for
minutes together we do not gain an inch. The pilot
steers straight for a rock which divides the torrent and
breaks its force a little, and under its shelter we forge
ahead a few yards only to fall back again and again,
for the pressure on our bows is tremendous. At last
the wind increases, the long antennas-like yards bend
I 20
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIII.
to it, the cordage strains, and the steersman sees his
opportunity and faces the full force of the stream, and
we are pushed up the rapid into the comparatively
smooth pools above it ; but soon after this the Nubians
suddenly desert us, and leave us to spend the night in
the heart of the cataract. It is a way they have got, for
they are a fickle lot. I call up our dragoman and threaten
to complain to the Governor ; but there is no hope of
getting them together again. It is within two hours of
sunset, so we remain for the night moored to a rock,
and sleep none the worse for the continuous roar of
the turbulent waters all round us. Next morning the
Governor, who had probably heard how we had been
treated, came on board, summoned the sheik before
him, and gave him a blowing-up in Arabic. He then
announced to us his intention of seeing us safe through
the cataract himself, a piece of practical civility for
which we were not at all prepared. Our letter of in¬
troduction had evidently done us good service. The
Nubians being now under the Governor’s eye, set to
work with a will, the more so as his Excellency had
brought with him a tall native attendant armed with a
bamboo, which I saw him use more than once.
The ascent is tantalizing work. It is really mad for
one minute and dead for sixty. There are a succes¬
sion of rapids to be passed, which the Arabs call Babs
or Gates. At each of these they spend an hour or two
screaming and vociferating, but not apparently doing
much : they are engaged in carrying out cables and
making them fast to the rocks. Chateaubriand calls
the Arabs un peuple criant ; that is certainly true of the
Nubians. There were at least 150 men on deck and
on shore frantically yelling, gesticulating, and trying
Chap. XIII.] THE GOVERNOR AT DEJEUNER.
I 2 I
to outroar the surging torrent. “ Twenty men cry,
one help,” thus pithily did our native waiter sum them
up. The Governor had been captain of a Turkish ship,
and he issued some orders which, as an old sailor, he
was well qualified to do.
He condescended to share our dejeuner. Accustomed,
Eastern fashion, to eat with his fingers, he was rather
embarrassed by our knives and forks. He was haunted,
also, by a suspicion that there might be pork in each
dish ; and the only entree he partook of with confidence
was an omelette. We offered him mustard with one
dish, which, being too polite to refuse, and ignorant of
its nature, he helped himself to as if it had been some
preserve; and he suppressed his emotions with well-bred
self-control when he discovered his mistake. After¬
wards when we offered him strawberry jam he took it
warily, and began with a very homoeopathic dose, thinking
it might be another rather strong English delicacy. We
produced, with pride, an English Crosse and Blackwell
tongue ; but nothing would convince him that it was not
that Mahometan abomination, ham.
We carried on a conversation through our dragoman.
He informed us, among other things, that the newly-
added provinces near the Equator were, as yet, a dead
loss to the Viceroy, costing vast sums and bringing in
nothing ; but that in time it was expected, when order
was established and population and cultivation in¬
creased, that the taxes would be very productive ; that
slave-hunting had thinned their numbers and paralyzed
industry ; but now that was at an end, and an important
improvement would soon he perceptible. He lamented
that want of funds had arrested the progress of the Soudan
railway, for it would have promoted the development of
122
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIII.
the Equatorial provinces very much, and materially
expedited their advance in the paths of civilization.
But for this obliging functionary we should not have
got through even on the second day. The passage of
the cataract cannot be said to be quite free from
danger, at all events to the ship. We stood an ex¬
cellent chance, on several occasions, of having her
bottom stove in ; we went on rocks three or four times
with an ominous grinding sound. A rope once gave
way, and we swung on to a rock with a bang that
made the Gazelle shiver in every fibre ; and had she
not been very strong it must have knocked a hole in
her bottom and scuttled her out of hand. The reis
smote his hands together in despair, and rushed down
into her hold to see whether she had sprung a leak.
The scene on shore was highly picturesque. The
rocks swarmed with turbaned men — most of them had
turbans on and nothing else ; they dived in and out of
the water like otters ; they were hauling at half-a-dozen
ropes like Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s picture of the ancient
Egyptians dragging a Colossus.
At 4.30 we passed the last and worst rapid, and
emerged into the smooth water above Philae. That beau¬
tiful and romantic island, with its temples, stately even
in their ruin, burst upon us like a fairy scene as we
rounded one of the huge granite cairns amidst which
we had spent the last two days. The Governor now
took leave and returned to Assouan, and the Gazelle
spread her white wings and steered for the south. We
passed Dabod at 10 p.m., having a lovely moonlight
night and a gentle breeze for sailing, and about an
hour afterwards we dropped anchor near the Island of
Margos.
Chap. XIII.] NUBIAN VILLAGE MERCHANTS.
123
Wherever one lands in Nubia, the manner and cus¬
tom of the villagers is to meet the strangers on the
hank, and besiege them with offers of the following
articles 1st, jewellery, such as bracelets, necklaces,
and rings ; 2nd, skins of wild beasts ; and 3rd, with
antiquities. We were very much amused at a small
and very poor village we landed at, by the villagers
offering us, as representatives of these three staples, a
pair of brass earrings, a pebble from the river bank,
and the skin of a domestic cat ! On our way up we
met a dahabeeah being towed by a steamer ; on enquiry,
we heard that one of the gentlemen had nearly shot his
foot off while out after crocodiles, and was hurrying
back to meet a surgeon, whom he had telegraphed for
to Cairo ; we heard that the foot would have to be ampu¬
tated— a sad ending to a pleasure trip.
CHAPTER XIV.
NUBIAN MONUMENTS.
Certassie — A Royal Winner of all Hearts — Coptic Calendar — Kalabshe— Memorial
Chapel of Rameses the Great — Bayt-el-Waly — The Game of Tributes — Dakkeh
— An amiable Brotherhood defeated — Coptic Saints and Heathen Gods — The
Treasure-chamber — An ancient Fortress — Interesting Stele.
December 31, 1878. — We reached Gertassie at 1 p.m.
and visited the Temple, which stands on an eminence
above the river, with most picturesque effect ; it is
dedicated to Athor, and her head appears on some of
the capitals. There are no hieroglyphics or cartouches
to enlighten one as to the date, but it must belong to a
late Roman period, for on the capitals are sculptured
bunches of grapes, an ornament of quite foreign archi¬
tecture. We measured a stone twenty-four feet in length
stretching from pillar to pillar. Near at hand are very
extensive sandstone quarries, from which the stones for
Philae were cut, as the inscriptions state.
We afterwards walked on to a ruined town a mile
further south ; the walls are still nearly perfect, built
of enormous stones rudely cut and irregularly placed,
reminding one of Cyclopean structures; they are double,
forming galleries, within which the garrison could pass
from bastion to bastion without exposing themselves ;
here and there flights of steps led up to the ramparts.
Chap. XIV.] A ROYAL WINNER OF HEARTS.
125
The space which this curious fortification enclosed is
now occupied by a Nubian village.
A couple of hours later we reached Tahta and visited
two temples of unknown date ; one of them was in
good style, but without sculptures or hieroglyphics, and
there was no means of ascertaining to what period it
belonged.
Several of our self-constituted Nubian escort were
armed with spears and long flint guns ; one of these
showed us a very handsome hunting-knife presented to
him by H'.R.H. the Duke of Connaught in acknowledg¬
ment of his services in pursuit of crocodiles ; his name
was Mahommad Abder-Salem.
The Nubians are so very eager to sell every article
they possess for cash, that when he held out the glitter¬
ing blade towards us we thought he was offering it for
sale, and we asked him whether that was so ; but he
drew himself up very proudly, and said with emotion,
the young English “ Soultan ” had presented it to him
with his own hands, and that he would never part with
it as long as there was life left in his body.
It was evident that the winning, kindly, considerate
manner of the Prince had made him as popular amongst
this remote African community as it has done among
his own people and in his own country.
There were in the plain a number of ruined buildings
constructed of large blocks of stone laid in concave
courses, dipping considerably from the corners towards
the centre. It is difficult to conjecture what their pur¬
pose can have been. We passed a ruined temple which
had done duty so early as the fourth century as a
Christian church, and contained some creditably painted
pictures of saints and a Coptic calendar, stencilled in
126
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIV.
red upon the wall. The slayer of crocodiles offered to
show me two more temples on the mountain plateau
above, and led the way up the rocks. It was
very stiff climbing, but the Nubians were rather too
officious with their assistance ; the two fellows with
the guns revolved about me like satellites, and I
should have felt much happier if they had not so fre¬
quently favoured me with a perspective down the long
barrels of those crocodile penetrators, especially as they
were loaded. However, when we reached the summit, I
was rewarded with a really magnificent panorama. Im¬
mediately below lay the narrow rocky gorge through
which the Nile at this point forces its way. That so
vast a body of water should be compressed within such
a narrow channel seems as great a miracle as the Geni,
in the “Arabian Nights” romance of the fisherman,
gathering himself together into the copper vessel. It is
here very deep, and rushes along with great velocity.
To the north, far away on the horizon, lay the serrated
range of mountains near Assouan. Towards the south
granite peaks and ridges succeeded each other till they
were lost in the purple distance, while, like a silver
thread running through all, the mighty river gleamed
here and there amid its wild setting, and relieved the
savage desolation with its belts of palms and its bright
green patches of cultivation. The temples turned out
to be two more of the buildings I have already alluded
to ; they contained fragments of sculpture and fragments
of hieroglyphics too broken to be deciphered. We
reached Kalabshe at nightfall, and anchored under the
shadow of the great Temple, which had a striking effect
in the silver moonlight.
January i, 1879. — We set off early to visit a grotto
Chap. XIV.]
BAYT-EL-WALY.
127
cut in the mountain side above, to commemorate the
victories of Rameses. Though small, it is particularly
interesting. It contains some beautifully executed
intaglios of the Egyptian Napoleon. They are cut with
very great care, and there is no doubt that they are
perfect portraits. Like his modern antitype he had
delicately moulded features. The two which interested
us most were in the inner chamber. They represent
him returning from his first campaign at the early age
of sixteen, and being received by his mother, who
embraces him most affectionately. His features are
drawn with equal care. The group is repeated on each
side of the entrance ; but, though the attitude is the
same, the queen-mother wears a totally different cos¬
tume in each. She had very noble features, such as
became the high-born dame she was, for she was the
heiress of all the Pharaohs, and claimed a pedigree
reaching back to Menai. She is represented in the
guise of the Goddess Anke on the right-hand wall, and
in that of Isis on the left. It was a favourite piece of
vanity with the Pharaohs to affect that their mothers
were divine, and that they were suckled by goddesses ;
but in these tableaux the portrait of the human mother
is given to the goddess, and it will be observed in the
instances before us that their features have just the
amount of resemblance to those of Rameses that might
be expected to exist between mother and son.
It is evident that these bas-reliefs had not yet been
discovered by that terrible destroyer the British tourist,
for the colours were nearly as fresh as the day they were
first laid on ; even the colour of her eyes was still pre¬
served — a hazel grey. Rameses is represented in this
group as a mere youth, and he is looking up into his
128
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIV.
mother’s face with an expression of devoted affection.
The hieroglyphics above the group state that she is his
mother, the Divine Anke.
One cannot gaze upon these portraits without emotion,
when one calls to mind that they are the portraits ot
those who lived before the time of Moses. The bas-
reliefs I have described are in the most obscure recess
of this rock temple, and they appear to have escaped
notice. I have not met with any mention of them in
any author or in any guide-book. The remaining sculp¬
tures are well known and have often been described.
It is evident that the events they commemorate cover a
considerable portion of the life of Rameses. There are
wars in the south against the Ethiopians, and wars in
the north-east against the people of Syria, and there are
the usual conclusions at which all ancient wars arrived,
viz., the payment of tribute by the vanquished. The
sculptures are very spirited ; Rameses is slaying his
enemies with great slaughter, crushing them beneath
the wheels of his chariot, shooting them with arrows,
lopping off their heads with swords, and causing them
generally to have a very bad time of it. When they
knock under, however, he receives their ambassadors
graciously, especially when they are accompanied by
long trains of tribute bearers ; he allows them the
honour of being introduced into his presence by his son,
and he sits on his throne with his celebrated pet lion at
his feet. They know his tastes and have not forgotten
that as a mighty hunter he delights in wild beasts,
and so they bring him every kind of beast that Africa
produces — giraffes, lions, leopards, apes, antelopes, and
many more, all figure in the procession. Then there
are sacks of gold rings, bales of spices, and bundles ot
Chap. XIV.] BAS-RELIEFS OF RAMESES. 1 29
ivory. If the Khedive can get as much baksheesh out
of his new Ethiopian subjects it will be a good thing
for the bondholders. On one wall is the siege of a town
in Palestine, at which the king engages in single combat
with a Syrian chief. These sculptures of war scenes
are not in the temple itself, but carved on the face of the
rock avenue which leads to it. I believe the temple to
have been excavated in his youth as a memorial chapel
of his first campaign, and that later in life he added
these records of successive triumphs on the outer
walls.
In Plate XLVII., at top left-hand corner, an officer is
bringing living prisoners before the king, who sits under
a canopy embowered in royal asps, to receive them.
His tame lion is at his feet ; before his snout is his
name, Semam-keftu-ef,'* — -“Tearer to pieces of his
enemies.” Another group also attends this levee ; one
of the royal princes is introducing to his father four
chiefs.
In the next panel Rameses is placidly performing
upon a Syrian a surgical operation which will leave
him minus his head ; while a dog flies at the unlucky
barbarian, bent apparently upon excavating his liver.
To the right the king is seen stepping over the rail of
his chariot, with his foot on the pole, seizing one of the
flying foe by his scalp-lock.
Immediately below the heir apparent, Prince Amen-
hi-kop-sef, whose portrait is given Plate XI., introduces to
his father the Governor of the South, who is in charge
of the tribute — the Colonel Gordon of his day ; his name
is Amen-em-ape, son of Paour. The king rewards his
successful zeal by commanding him to be invested with
* “ Tear’em ” is not unknown in modern canine nomenclature.
K
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIV.
I 30
a collar of honour, which ceremony is being performed
by two attendants, who are fastening it round his neck.
The lucky envoy has also been presented with a golden
cup, which one of the attendants holds in his hand ; on
the table is a row of specimen plants, probably seedling
palms from Equatorial Africa.
The king is seated under a canopy exactly as in the
left-hand corner above, but there was not room for this
figure. Amongst the tribute may be observed three
chairs, no doubt of costly materials, also ostrich eggs
and feathers, feather fans, skins of wild beasts, bows,
bottles (of red and white wine?), pieces of cloth,
&c., &c.
In the procession, at the bottom of Plate XLVII., may
be observed a negress carrying her two children in a
large basket, which is slung on her back by a band
passing round her head ; she is also leading by the hand
an older member of her family, a boy, upon whose head
is perched a long-tailed monkey ; several other monkeys
also accompany the party, who are preceded by their
chiefs under the escort of Prince Khaem. Amongst the
animals is an ox with human hands attached to his
horns — a negro fetish, no doubt. There are also a pair
of greyhounds, a giraffe, an ostrich, a panther, and a
gazelle, a lion and an antelope— a happy family of
sufficiently miscellaneous ingredients. How they would
“ draw ” at the Aquarium !
We spent some hours here sketching, and then
descended to Kalabshe, to inspect the great temple there.
It was of vast size, and was evidently intended by its
builders to rival Karnak ; but, alas ! for the vanity of
human pride, while many of the intended sculptures
were but half finished there came an earthquake, and
Fjas reliefs from Rock Temple, rear KALABSHE.
Chap. XIV.]
TEMPLE AT KALABSHE.
IS*
the huge structure toppled down like a house of cards.
I never saw such a scene of ruin as the interior presents,
though the outer walls, owing to their enormous
strength and solidity, are still tolerably perfect ; inside
fragments of columns, immense beams of stone, broken
sections of capitals, formed mountains of debris mixed
up in indescribable confusion. On the main walls and
on the very few columns still left standing, the figures
of gods and Roman emperors and the outlines of
hieroglyphics were sketched in red ochre ready for the
sculptor, whose work was interrupted by the catastrophe
before he reached them. The early Christians had
established themselves in a portion of the ruins, for
there were still to be seen frescos of saints and angels
painted on the walls over the deities of Egyptian mytho¬
logy. These were less rudely executed than usual, and
showed traces of gilding.
January 2. — I visited Dendoor, a neat little s x
temple of the early Roman period. I found in it a
a cartouche which was new to me, Peraara, i.e. ”
Pharaoh, “ The Great House of Ra.” The
Emperor Augustus was sometimes thus designated.
At noon we met Cook’s steamer on its way back from
the Second Cataract. I boarded it, and gave our letters
to post, and we got some necessary stores. Immediately
afterwards we reached Gerf Hossein, and landed to visit
a rock temple of the reign of Rameses. It must once
have been a stately monument. The face of the rock
outside had been sculptured, as at Beit-el-VValy, with
tableaux of the conqueror’s exploits ; but some hostile
hand had been at work, and had carefully destroyed
them, leaving only traces, amongst which his figure is
plainly discernible, and a few hieroglyphics. The same
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIV.
fanatical hands had done their best to ruin the interior
of the temple, not only with crowbar, pick, and chisel,
but also by filling it with combustibles to the very ceiling
and then setting it on fire. The walls were covered
with a tarry deposit, and black with smoke ; the surface
of the stone had been calcined. The sculptures, once
richly painted, presented only scanty traces of colour ;
but here and there portions still remained, having sur¬
vived the ravages both of time and of fire. That a
single morsel of colour should have escaped, is another
proof of the wonderful art and skill with which the
Egyptians compounded, prepared, and laid on their
pigments. Even in its disfigured and mangled con¬
dition, there was much grandeur in this rock temple.
Six colossal figures supported the roof ; they were
statues of Rameses himself. In the walls around were
excavated niches containing figures of the gods and
goddesses to whom the temple was consecrated. In
several of these their divine hands rested in friendly
attitude on the king’s shoulder, who was seated between
them. His partiality for the ladies was even here mani¬
fest, for it was always between two goddesses he took
his seat ; and in the hieroglyphics he announced himselt
still to be beloved by the divine ladies — beloved of
Pthah, beloved of Athor, beloved of Isis.
In the evening we reached Dakkeh just at sunset, and
went on shore to have a hasty look at the Temple of
Thoth there.
DAKKEH.
This temple was built about 250 b.c., on the site of a
much more ancient one of the time of Thothmes the
Third, by an Ethiopian monarch of the name of Arkamen,
Chap. XIV.] AN AMIABLE BROTHERHOOD.
called Ergamene by the Greeks. The relations between
the Ethiopian priests and the Ethiopian kings had
been peculiar. The latter must have been a most
obsequious race, and the former rather exacting ; for
whenever they thought that their king had reigned
long enough, and that change and a little promotion
would be desirable, they sent the unhappy sovereign a
message requesting him to be good enough to perform
the happy dispatch and make away with himself.
Now Arkamen had an excellent constitution, and
reigned a long time, and there seemed every probability
of his reigning considerably longer. “II faut arreter
cela ” was the word ; besides, they wanted the fun of a
new coronation ; so the amiable brotherhood sent him
the usual message, considerately leaving it open to him
to strangle himself, or to stab himself, or to poison him¬
self at discretion. But this time they had mistaken
their man. Arkamen possessed originality ; he did not
see matters in the same light as his predecessors ; he
thought the argument about the new coronation par¬
ticularly weak ; the request of the priests seemed un¬
reasonable ; he did not see any necessity for a new
coronation. It struck him that he would be missed
much more than they would, especially by himself ; so
he put himself at the head of a detachment of soldiers
and marched down to the sacred college, like an ancient
Cromwell dissolving the Long Parliament. He pounced
upon them before they knew where they were, and had
them all beheaded, and reigned happy ever afterwards.
In fact he was thenceforward particularly distinguished
by his piety, and, amongst other things, rebuilt the
ruined temple of Thothmes at Dakkeh, taking good care
to put plenty of his own cartouches in it.
134
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIV.
January 3, ’7g. — We landed at sunrise and ascended
the great towers of the temple, which command a very
peculiar panorama. The whole surface of the desert as
far as the eye can reach is dotted over with volcanic-
looking cones of a rich red brown colour, changing to
purple in the distance. These rise out of the golden
sand singly in isolated peaks and in groups of peaks, and
occasionally in long ranges of mimic Alps. This scenery
extended to both sides of the Nile, and its weird deso¬
lation was only relieved by a very narrow fringe of cul¬
tivation along the river banks, by a few groups of palms
and by stunted bushes of mimosa. It formed a strange
setting for the temple, and one could not help wonder¬
ing how this wilderness had ever supported population
enough to require or to build such stately places of
worship. The desert broke like an ocean in waves of
sand against the very walls of the temple, and had
strewn against it piles of stones of an extraordinary
variety of colours, and looking as if they had been
vomited out of the throat of some volcano. On the
opposite side of the Nile, in keeping with the surround¬
ing desolation, stood a ruined city, with huge towers
and bastions which still stand sentry over the wrecked
chambers and partition walls of houses that had once
been the homes of living men and women. In the
temple itself, on the ceiling, mixed up with flights of
sacred vultures and rows of heathen deities, are painted
the figures of Coptic saints. On one wall were also
paintings of three men on horseback, life-size, and
really fairly executed. In the centre chamber, Arka-
men is many times represented making pious offerings
to the gods. He is drawn with thick lips and a thick,
flat nose, quite Ethiopian, and presents a strong con-
Chap. XIV.]
TEMPLE AT DAKKEH.
135
trast to the straight, classic features of Augustus, who
added to the temple at a later date, and whose portrait
there appears. We found a curious chamber or cell
only three feet wide and six feet long, but running the
whole height up to the roof. It was quite dark, and
must have been intended to conceal the sacred treasures.
It was most carefully sculptured throughout, and the
sculptures looked so fresh and sharp in their outlines,
that they might have been finished but yesterday. In
the temple I found the hieroglyphic name of the place
Techka. In the foundations I found the
stones of a much more ancient structure, presenting
repeatedly the cartouche ovals of Thothmes the Second
and Thothmes the Third ; and I again in these found
the name which is evidently the origin of its present
name, Dakkeh : this seems hitherto to have escaped
notice. The Greek name was totally different. There
is a curious allegory of the Nile on one of the walls — a
female decorated with papyrus and lotus plants, bearing
in her hand samples of the good things the Nile pro¬
duces — bread and fruit, and fish, and ducks and geese.
Up her legs and back ran in single file a regiment of
Nile birds, while at her feet stood a fat bull. The
feathered parasites promenading on her back gave us
rather a creepy sensation.
We now crossed the river to explore the ruined city.
Its walls were 15 feet thick, and in some places about
35 or 40 feet high. From the summit there is a pano¬
rama similar to the one seen from the propylaeum of the
temple, but with this difference, that the temple itself
formed a striking object standing there in desolate soli¬
tude in the middle of the desert, offering silent evidence
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIV.
136
of grandeur and power that has passed away for ever.
The end of this city had evidently not been peace ; it
had been destroyed by fire, and so fierce had been the
conflagration that walls of great thickness had been
calcined right through as they stood. Not far off we
found the remains of a temple, which must have been
of considerable size, for we counted the pedestals of
sixteen columns still in situ , and the pediments of others
over a considerable surface ; we found stones bearing
the oval of Thothmes the Third, and a stele with the
following inscription, as I have interpreted it, —
SQUARE STONE FOUND BY THE AUTHOR AT RUINED CITY OPPOSITE
DAKKEH, WITH INSCRIPTION OF THOTHMES.
“ Thothmes Nofre Kafer Menkephera, Son of the
Sun, Perfect of God, Beloved of Horus, Lord of the
town of Techka. Granted life for evermore.”
This stele was partly buried in the ground, and the
inscription was underneath, turned upside down ; it had
only just been unearthed, and thanks to the friendly
sand it was in so perfect a state of preservation that
even the blue paint still showed in the hieroglyphics.
We were very proud of our discovery, because it sets at
rest the disputed question as to the ancient name of this
Chap. XIV.]
AN INTERESTING STELE.
137
town and its opposite neighbour Dakkeh, and shows
that thirty-six centuries ago they bore the same name
as now almost unchanged — Techka, pronounced Tekka.
It would appear, therefore, that the native population
never accepted the new name given by the Greeks, but
amongst themselves continued to call these towns by
their ancient names, and that when Greeks and Romans
had alike passed away, the Arab invaders adopted the
name by which it was known among the natives. We
also saw a stele with a long inscription and a cartouche
no longer legible, but which a few years ago still displayed
the oval of Amenemhe the Third of the twelfth dynasty,
i.e., 4800 years ago. This stele is of great historical
interest ; it mentions the eleventh year of the reign of
this ancient king, and it is a great pity that it should
have been so maltreated ; the inhabitants of the neigh¬
bouring village have unfortunately discovered that it
makes a capital grindstone, and they now grind all
their tools upon it ; fully half the inscription is thus
already destroyed, and the remaining half will soon
follow. It is much to be deplored, when these monu¬
ments have been so wonderfully preserved through all
the long centuries during which they were sealed books
to mankind, that now, when at last we have found the
key and have power to decipher their revelations, their
destruction should proceed at such an alarming pace.
In one of the courtyards of the village I found the half
of another stele, well preserved, but without any oval to
show its date. I saw also the remains of papyrus bud
columns of an early period. Later in the day we
reached Maharraka : near it is the wreck of the most de¬
based Roman temple we had yet seen ; there is, however,
a curious bas-relief on its walls of a Roman lady seated
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIV.
138
under a fig-tree, and not far off a very Roman boy.
The whole thing must have been among the latest
specimens of the hybrid Romano -Egyptian art, and as
it was the last to come, so it was the first to go. The
Roman lady is supposed to be Isis, and perhaps the fat
boy was intended for Horus.
This evening we had rain for the first time since
leaving Cairo, and it rained quite heavily, after having
been cloudy and gloomy all day. About 4 p. m. we
passed a ruined city, in which the houses were sur¬
prisingly perfect.
Annexed (Plate XL VI.) is a scarce illustration of the
bas-reliefs of Beit-el-Waly. The King is seen charging
a negro army, or rather an unarmed mob, clad in
leopard skins, like the Zulus. They are hopelessly
routed, and have lost all military formation ; some of
them have fled to their kraal, consisting of the beehive¬
shaped huts still in fashion in Equatorial Africa, over¬
shadowed by palms, also peculiar to the same region.
The fugitives are flinging dust on their heads in token
of despair. In the background a negress is boiling a
gipsy-kettle near her hut, while her son, a mere boy,
runs up to her and announces the disaster, probably of
his father’s death. In vain has the poor widow pre¬
pared the evening meal, for the head of the family will
never return to share it ! The group of the King
dragging a chief from the tower of a besieged town has
its exact counterpart in an Etruscan tomb, where
Hercules is represented dragging the chief of the
Lapithae from a similar tower, and the whole composi¬
tion of that fresco so closely resembles the bas-relief at
Beit-el-Waly that one would suppose the Tuscan artist
must have chosen it for his model.
Bas-reliefs from Rock Temple, near KALABSHE.
CHAPTER XV.
VALLEY OF LIONS.
“ Where there’s a will there’s a way”— An Apostle in strange company — Volcanic
formation— Billingsgate in the Desert — Korosko — Purple and gold.
January 4. — Cloudy and gloomy. A great change
after having had unclouded sunshine for five weeks. At
10 a.m. we reached the Valley of Lions, so called by
the Arabs from the avenue of sphinxes which leads to
the Rock Temple excavated in the mountain behind.
We marched up the valley between the two colossal
statues of Rameses, which stand grandly on guard at
the commencement of it, and through the avenue of
sphinxes, six only of which are visible, the rest being
buried beneath the sand. We then passed through the
propyl sei or great towers, which are nearly perfect. On
the face of them is recorded, amongst other things, the
victories of Rameses over the Syrians (Rotenou). Be¬
hind them is a colonnade of gigantic stones supported
on Osride columns which conducted us to the entrance
to the temple. We were informed that it was quite
impossible for us to get in, and that two years had
elapsed since anyone had succeeded in effecting an en¬
trance. This was quite sufficient to make us resolve to
effect an entrance at any price. They told us that it
was buried beneath a mountain of sand. The last fact
was obvious, for where the doorway ought to have been
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XV.
I 40
there was a steep inclined plane of bright yellow sand,
which had descended in an avalanche from the plateau
above ; there were hundreds of tons. We had heard
before that the entrance was blocked, and had come
armed with a dustpan to remove it. We got a number
of natives together and some of our crew ; these scorned
the dustpan, and set to work in their own fashion with
baskets, using their hands for shovels ; as fast as they
cleared it out it came running back like quicksilver.
After hours of labour and the expenditure of many
dollars, we succeeded by bringing up water on men’s
heads from the Nile, a mile off, jug by jug, in wetting
the sand sufficiently to give it consistency and so make
a hole through it large enough to admit a man’s body.
As I crawled and wriggled in I realised the sensation of
a fox going to earth ; once inside I found myself in a
temperature like that of the finishing-room of a Turkish
bath, and our candles burnt dim. The paintings in
this temple were perfectly fresh and scarcely at all da¬
maged. At the entrance of the main chamber Rameses
was carrying on a flirtation with Isis, who was stroking
him under the chin, resting her other hand on his
shoulder and looking into his face in a most coaxing
fashion ; further on he had proceeded to business, and
was hard at work offering to the gods. At the far end
he had reserved his grandest offering of all for Ammon,
the special deity to whom the temple is consecrated ;
but the Coptic monks, who were in possession about
the fourth and fifth centuries, had substituted a full-
length portrait of St. Peter with his keys in his hands,
and to him Rameses was presenting Nile geese and
other Egyptian delicacies ! The painting of St. Peter
was in itself interesting as a specimen of early Christian
Chap. XV.] AN APOSTLE IN STRANGE COMPANY. 141
art ; it was not without merit as a picture. Surrounded
as he was with all the strange figures of the Egyptian
mythology, and confronted by the great conqueror who
had been the scourge of the Eastern world fifteen cen¬
turies before his time, the effect was very striking.
The Apostle, like the other figures, was painted life-
size ; but he stood in the place of honour on a kind of
dais at the end of the chamber, and seemed to be pre¬
siding over the whole strangely-assorted synod. The
Arabs threw the light specially upon him, and I shall
not easily forget the effect. There were in this chamber
two splendidly decorated sacred boats ; the colouring
of them was exceedingly rich. There were four other
chambers, the walls of which were covered with hiero¬
glyphics and paintings, all in first-rate preservation.
In one of these chambers was a mummy-pit, a fact
which shows that this must have been intended for a
tomb like those at Thebes. I have not seen this alluded
to in any author who mentions this temple. I copied
all the hieroglyphics on one wall, as I espied the name
of more than one city, and thought the inscriptions
might prove historically interesting. I was prevented
from doing more by the stifling heat, which compelled
me to bolt prematurely out of my earth.
The view from the mountain-side immediately above
the temple was very striking, the great towers and the
avenue of sphinxes forming a most imposing fore¬
ground ; and the singular landscape of hundreds of
square miles of desert covered with the dark purple
volcanic cones I have already alluded to, formed a
perfectly unique panorama. Later in the day I ascended
one of these cones. They are covered with masses of
lava of a very dark red, almost black colour. I am not
142
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XV.
a geologist, and I may be committing an awful blunder
in hazarding an opinion ; but the only way in which I
could account for the extraordinary appearances which
the desert here presents, is to suppose that the whole
region has been lowered down by some gigantic lift into
the volcanic kitchen in the bowels of the earth, and
then when it had been thoroughly done, in fact, rather
overdone, it had by the same agency been heaved up
again to the surface !
January 5, 'yg. — Fourteen miles north of Korosko
I started on an excursion up into the mountains to
examine again the volcanic appearances. The whole
region in which it occurs is a sandstone formation, and
stratified ; but the surface has been fused in all direc¬
tions, and has run into a dark, very dark purple slag.
Sheets of this stuff, while in a semi-fluid condition, have
been bent back upon itself, still however retaining
traces of its stratification. This lava breaks with glassy
fracture. It is excessively hard and difficult to break,
and when struck it gives out a metallic sound. Some
of it when broken contains lumps of calcined lime and
magnesia enclosed in the hard slag ; they are in the
state of powder, and do not effervesce in acid, showing
that their carbonic acid has been discharged by heat,
and that their glassy prison had cut them off from re¬
absorbing it from the atmosphere. "Since it has under¬
gone its fiery ordeal, this region has been under the sea,
for I found sea-shells similar to those along the Red
Sea. I found, also, many specimens of fossil wood.
Some of the mountains were as black as pyramids of
Newcastle coal.
On my way back I came upon a ruined city. There
was a stone building in the centre of it and many houses,
Chap. XV.] BILLINGSGATE IN THE DESERT.
M3
the basement storeys of which were still standing. In
these occurred several small arched recesses, and one
of these I found full of castor-oil seeds, black and rotten
with age. A native brought me a beautifully sculptured
Egyptian head, which he had found among the rubbish.
The skin was painted red and the hair black ; the eyes
also presented traces of paint. He offered it in exchange
for gunpowder, and with this prize I returned on board ;
but not long were we allowed to contemplate our trea¬
sure undisturbed. We presently heard from the cool
recesses of our cabin a torrent of abuse poured down
upon the Gazelle from the river bank above, in a shrill,
piercing female voice. I sallied forth, and found a
fierce duel of words going on between our dragoman
and a sable matron, who stood gesticulating, screaming,
storming, and waving about her arms, which were deco¬
rated with handsome and solid silver bracelets. The
medium of vituperation was Arabic. They were calling
each other names of increasing potency; when Ibrahim
made a successful thrust, its effect was perceptible in
redoubled passionateness on the part of the lady, but
he himself came not off unscathed. It turned out that
the apple of strife was the disembodied Egyptian head,
which I had just acquired, as I supposed, in fair barter.
The man to whom I had given the gunpowder sneaked
off on the dame’s appearance, and was no more seen.
She declared the head was her property, not his, that
the gunpowder was a baksheesh to him, and that a
certain tale of piastres must be paid to her, the right¬
ful owner, as well. The war waxed fierce and desperate
between them ; but at last she seemed to have levelled
at our champion an epithet of more than common
potency, for he suddenly gave in and counted out the
144
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XV.
required sum, flung it on shore enveloped in a blue rag,
and straightway there prevailed a great calm.
In the evening we passed Korosko, where several
parties had pitched their tents, surrounded by bales and
boxes. They were waiting for camels to take them to
Khartoum, for Korosko is the point at which traders
leave the Nile to take the short cut across the desert
to Soudan ; a dreary voyage of ten days across a region
which is absolutely without water. Korosko itself is a
mere collection of the usual mud houses, and does not
even boast a mosque.
January 6. — Ascended a high volcanic peak. There
were plenty of tracks of gazelles, hyaenas, and jackals,
on the sand at foot. I picked up many shells and some
fossil wood. The view from the summit of this cone
was magnificent. I looked down into the valley behind
Korosko, through which the caravans travel to Khar¬
toum. All around were countless mountain ranges, with
sharp Alpine outlines of a dark purple colour, almost
black. These rose out of a sea of golden sand.
To the north were the mountains of Assouan, ninety
miles off, yet cut clear and sharp, for there was no
atmospheric mist whatever. So far as the optical effect
went, every outline was as sharp as if there had been
no atmosphere.
CHAPTER XVI.
AMADA.
Memorial Chapel of the Family ot Thothmes — A pretty Priestess — The Goddess of
Letters — An Epic Poem 900 years older than the Iliad — Why Thebes is plural.
The Temple ol Amada is small, but very interesting.
It differs from all the temples of that period, in the
primitive simplicity of its construction ; there is no
attempt whatever at architectural ornament. The
portico is supported by plain square pillars, except
one row of polygonal form. It seems to have been
a kind of family memorial chapel, devoted chiefly
to the worship of ancestors. Upon the foremost
column of the portico, on the left hand as we enter,
is the cartouche of Ousertasen the Third, of the
twelfth dynasty, an ancestor of whom Thothmes seems
to have been particularly proud, for he built a temple
to his memory at Semneh, as far south as the Third
Cataract, which still exists in tolerable preservation.
It is probable enough that Ousertasen was the founder
of the original Temple of Amada, and that it was
rebuilt by the kings of the eighteenth dynasty in its
original style, which is very antique, the square and
polygonal columns recalling the twelfth dynasty tombs
of Beni Hassan. The interval that separated the
two periods of the twelfth and eighteenth dynasties
was from 750 to 1000 years. Upon the other columns
146
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVI.
of the portico are many royal ovals. Thothmes the
Second, Queen Ha-t-Asou, Amunophsthe First, Second,
and Third, Thothmes the Fourth ; also Sethi and
Rameses the Second ; so that Amada seems to have
always been a favourite family memorial chapel.
On its walls are painted bas-reliefs of almost all the
Thothmes and Amunoph kings. Thothmes the Second
does homage to his father Thothmes the First ; Amunoph
the Second does homage to his father Thothmes the
Third ; and Thothmes the Third does homage to his
father, whose name is not mentioned. There is a series
of interesting family portraits. Thothmes does not
give his sister Ha-t-Asou’s portrait ; but I found her
cartouche. He was on unfriendly terms with her, be¬
cause she and her second husband, Amense, kept the
young hero in leading-strings too long. Behind the
door, on the right of the entrance, there is a very pretty
tableau of Isis embracing Thothmes. Her face is very
beautiful. She is kissing him ; and, to prevent miscon¬
struction, the following inscription is placed in hiero¬
glyphics over her head : — “ The Queen of Heaven, the
Goddess Isis, his divine mother”; while over his head
is placed his name in the usual oval.
I warrant me that the king took good care that Isis
should be personated upon these occasions by the very
prettiest of the priestesses. The bas-relief is damaged,
some envious individual having hammered out the lips
of Thothmes just as they were meeting those of the
goddess. We have restored them in our drawing.
In the group before us, the colours and details of the
king’s dress are very perfect ; but those of the goddess
are less so, and have been supplemented from other
bas-reliefs of Isis, as, for instance, the pattern on the
BEHIND THE DOOR
Amada .
Chap. XVI.]
THOTHMES THE THIRD.
147
lower part of her dress. The attitude of the pair is an
exact reproduction, and so are the faces. The king’s
may be accepted as an actual portrait of Thothmes the
' Third. It has the straight nose which characterized
almost all the sovereigns of the eighteenth dynasty,
except Amunoph the Second, who had an aquiline nose,
and is so represented in this temple. We have a good
opportunity of satisfying ourselves at Amada that the
faces really were portraits, and not mere conventional
faces ; for there occur on its walls representations
of a number of different members of the same family,
and there is an unmistakable individuality about them
all.
In the tableau of Thothmes and Isis, the king carries
the key of life in one hand and a staff in the other. He
wears a helmet upon his head with a golden border and
covered with rings, probably of chain mail. Over his
brow is the royal asp, also of gold. Round his neck is an
elaborate necklace, terminating in vermilion drops upon
a blue ground ; he is naked to the waist, with the excep¬
tion of the afore-mentioned collar and bracelets. Round
his waist is a girdle, from which depends an ornament
analogous to and answering the same purpose as the
Highlander’s sporran. It was heavy with gold, and
weighted at the bottom with a couple of golden asps.
Both this and the girdle were panelled in blue, red, and
gold. Behind this apron is a loin cloth striped red. We
have before us a complete representation of the dress
and aspect of a monarch who lived about two hundred
years before Moses. His companion, the pretty Isis,
wore a blue hood with a golden ornament over her
brow, resembling a serpent. Her neck and arms are
adorned with the usual collar and armlets. Her dress
148
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVI.
is suspended by braces ; the pattern upon it I have sup¬
plied from a painted bas-relief at Beit-el-Waly. In
this, as in all other Egyptian paintings from the third
dynasty down to the Ptolemies, the lady’s complexion
is rendered in the conventional yellow, and the gentle¬
man’s in Indian red, by way of contrasting the fairness
of the one with the brown, sunburnt hue of the other.
The features of Isis are wonderfully European.
There are two inner chambers at the back of the
vestibule ; one of them probably the library, for on the
left-hand wall is a life-size group of Thothmesthe Third
and the goddess Sefekh, “ The Lady of Writings,” as
she is styled in the hieroglyphic inscription over her
head. Every temple had a library attached to it, in
which the records were preserved by the priests. No
doubt Thothmes caused the history of the wars in
which he and his ancestors had distinguished them¬
selves, and the treaties and lists of tributes he had
imposed upon conquered peoples, to be inscribed in
papyrus and stowed away here. Here too, no doubt,
were records of his peaceful triumphs, the temples he had
built, the canals and other public works he had executed ;
the provisions for the endowment of the temples and
its staff of priests, the local regulations for the govern¬
ment of the surrounding district, family genealogies,
and many other things. Would that those precious
papyri had survived, what a light might they have
thrown upon that remote period ; but alas ! there is evi¬
dence that they perished on the spot in some accidental
conflagration, or perhaps in some invasion of the
/Ethiopians, for the walls of the library are all black¬
ened with smoke and covered with a tarry deposit.
Nevertheless the original colours are still visible, and
Thotmes hi and The Goddess Sefekh
AM ADA .
Chap. XVI.]
THE GODDESS OF LETTERS.
149
the hieroglyphics and bas-reliefs are in excellent pre¬
servation.
The goddess Sefekh is very pretty ; she wears a
golden star upon her head surmounted by a crescent,
a panther skin covers her shoulders and descends
nearly to her ankles. She holds in one hand a wand
and in the other what looks like a club. She is appa¬
rently conferring some mark of divine favour or privilege
upon Thothmes, or announcing a reply to his prayers,
and I dare say was personated, as in the group behind
the door, by some pretty priestess.
Thothmes was not only a warrior, he also had literary
tastes, and there have come down to us important illus¬
trations of the literature of his reign, so that there is a
significance in his flirtation with the goddess of letters,
which reminds one of the story of the Roman king Numa
and the nymph Egeria.
Amongst the examples is a poem engraved upon a
stele or memorial stone which we copied. We are in¬
debted to Mariette Bey for the following translation,
which I render from the French. Ammon Ra, Lord of
Nes-ta-ui (Karnak), is represented as addressing the
monarch in these words : —
“ Approach me and rejoice in the contemplation of
my favours towards thee — oh my avenger, Ra-men-
Kheper — granted everlasting life. I am glorified by thy
vows ; my heart swells with delight at thy welcome ap¬
proach to my temple. I embrace thy limbs with my
arms to endow them with salvation and life ; dear to me
is thy piety in presenting the statue which thou hast set
up in my sanctuary. I it is that will reward thee ; I it
is that gives thee power and victory over all nations. I
it is that bring it to pass that thy influence and the fear
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVI.
150
of thee are upon every country, and that thy terror has
extended to the four pillars of heaven. The dread which
thou inspirest in all the world I augment it. I grant
that thy war cry penetrates to the midst of the bar¬
barians, and that the princes of all the nations are
united under thy hand. I myself stretch forth my hands
— for thee I gather together the Nubians by thousands
and tens of thousands, the people of the North by the
million. I grant that thou overturn thine enemies be¬
neath thy sandals, and that according unto my word
thou smitest the chiefs of the unclean. The earth in
its length and its breadth, towards the east and towards
the west, is under thy orders.
“Thou penetratest unto all the peoples, with joyful
heart ; none of them sets foot upon the territory of thy
majesty, but I guide thee so that thou reachest them.
“ Thou hast crossed the great river of Mesopotamia
as a mighty conqueror as I commanded thee ; thy war
cries resound in their ears, even within their caverns
of refuge, and I deprive their nostrils of the breath
of life.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite the
princes of Tahi; I hurl them beneath thy feet when
thou traversest their lands. I have caused them to
behold thy majesty even like unto a Lord of Light —
thou dazzlest them even like unto the glory of my
countenance.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite the
peoples of Asia, and to lead into captivity the chiefs of
the country of the Rotennou (Syria). I have caused
them to behold thy majesty wearing the girdle, seizing
thy arms and giving battle from thy war chariot.
“ I am come, and I grant thee to smite the people of
Chap. XVI.]
AN ANCIENT EPIC POEM.
1 5 1
the East, to penetrate to their cities. I have caused
them to behold thy majesty, even as it were the star
Seschet (the evening star), which shooteth forth its
flames and bestoweth the dew.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite the land
of the West — Kefa and Asi are subject to the dread of
thee. I have caused them to behold thy majesty as it
were a bull young and full of spirit — his horns are on
his brow, and nothing can resist his strength.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite the inha¬
bitants of all lands ; the countries of Maten tremble
with fear in thy presence. I have caused them to be¬
hold thy majesty as it were a crocodile — he is the dread
lord of the waters, no one dare approach him.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite those
who dwell in the isles ; the maritime populations are
subjected to thy war cries. I have caused them to be¬
hold thy majesty as it were an avenger who mounts
upon the back of his victim.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite the
Tahennu — the islands of Tana ; thy influence has taken
possession of them. I have caused them to behold thy
majesty as it were a lion terrible to view, who croucheth
upon their carcases throughout their valleys.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite the
regions of the waters, to the end that they who
border the great sea be bound by thy hand. I have
caused them to behold thy majesty as it were the
monarch of the wing (the winged monarch) that soareth
and graspeth in his view all that he willeth to do.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite those
who are in their (deserts ?), to the end that the Heruscha
(Bishareen Arabs) may be led by thee into captivity. I
I K2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVI.
have caused them to behold thy majesty as It were the
jackal (Anubis) of the South, who in his hidden course
overruns the land.
“ I am come, and I grant unto thee to smite the Anou
of Nubia, to the end that the Remenem be beneath thy
hand. I have caused them to behold thy majesty as it
had been they who are thy two brothers — their arms
embrace thee (or clasp themselves together over thee) to
confer upon thee . It is I who protecteth
thee, oh my cherished son ! Horus, valiant bull, reign¬
ing over the Thebaid.”
One is struck by a certain analogy in this poetical
composition with some passages in the Bible — the
same ascription of all the power and the glory and the
merit to God Almighty, and something of the same
rhythmical recurrence of phrase, and the claim of
Thothmes to be the God’s avenger recalls similar pas¬
sages of like character in Holy Writ. It will be observed
also that the king claims to invade the enemy by the
express command of God.
Thothmes was himself an author ; his diary during
one of his campaigns is extant. In this, like a subse¬
quent famous conqueror, Caesar, he details minutely the
incidents of the expedition, makes reflections on the
conduct of his generals, gives a list of the routes they
took, the stations they stopped at, the towns they con¬
quered, the spoil they captured, and the tribute they im¬
posed. This unique fragment of history is preserved
upon the walls of Karnak.
Even his name illustrates his interview with the
Egyptian muse Sefekh, for Thothmes means sprung
from Thoth, the God of letters.
On the wall opposite is Amunoph the Second driving
PL V
PORTRAIT OF THOTMES II
Am ADA
Chap. XVI.]
THOTHMES THE SECOND.
153
before him four calves. They have ropes tied to their
legs, after the manner of Irish pigs, and the royal
herdsman has gathered the four ropes’ ends together in
his hand, and is armed with a stick, with which he beats
one of them. There is a hieroglyphic before each calf
stating its colour, which is, however, superfluous, as
their colours are all well preserved. They are hlack,
red, white, and speckled. At the end of each rope is
the key of life. The tableau is no doubt allegorical.
The animals are exceedingly well drawn and wonderfully
life-like.
In another chamber of the temple is a portrait of
Thothmes the Second. He has delicately cut features,
and wears much the same dress as his brother, Thothmes
the Third. He is presenting some offering in a vase,
from which issues a flame of fire. He does not wear
the royal crown, but a hood with a lappet, like a lady.
His reign, though short, was long enough to carry on a
couple of campaigns against the south, and to leave his
mark on the temple of Karnak. He seems to have
reigned jointly with his sister, Ha-t-Asou, and they
appear together on several monuments. On his death
she assumed sole sovereignty, and banished her youngest
brother, who was much younger than herself, to the
marsh country near the mouths of the Nile, where his
youth and early manhood were spent.
At the end of the principal chamber is a long inscrip¬
tion stating how Amunoph the Second had in his Syrian
campaign slain with his own hand seven kings (kings
seem to have been plentiful down there) ; with six
of them he decorated his capital Thebes, but he mag¬
nanimously spared one and sent it up by water to the
metropolis of /Ethiopia, to he hung up over the gates
i54
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVI.
11 pour encourager les autres ,” and as a mild hint that
he would stand no nonsense.
Among the interesting things contained in this temple
is one hieroglyphic form in which Thebes was written.
The two cities of Tape pronounced together as Tapui,
and accounting for the plural number which Homer
uses in speaking of it, and which has been employed
ever since — Thebae. Thebes was in fact cut in two by
the Nile, and thus formed twin cities. In the hierogly¬
phics the T is common property, but each has its own P.
The vowels are omitted as usual ; the repetition twice
confers upon it a dual termination : that was a rule of
Egyptian grammar. It is interesting to observe how
well informed Homer was about the Egyptian capital,
though it was situated 600 miles inland. No doubt it
was known in his time as the head-quarters of luxury,
civilization, and refinement, as it also was of learning
and of the arts and sciences. However, Amada was
built goo years before Homer’s time. This hieroglyphic
occurs in an obscure part of the temple. It has been
blackened with smoke, but the hieroglyphic is perfect.
I have not seen mention of it in any author, and but
for some acquaintance with hieroglyphics I should have
passed it unobserved.
Other names by which Thebes was designated are
Us-no-te, the Town of Us — purity, and simply No-te —
the town par excellence , as we speak of London as town ;
“ I am going to town,” i. e., to London. Another of its
aliases was No-Amen, city of Amon. Thus is Thebes
designated in the Bible. See Jer. xlvi. 25; Ezek.
xxx. 14-16; Nahum, 3-8. In Scripture Memphis is
called Noph, an abbreviation of its Egyptian name
Nofre, the Beautiful.
CHAPTER XVII.
DERR.
Rameses again — Native Politeness — A Nubian Wedding — A Shindy — Ibreem — A
Bank garnished with Crocodiles — First View of the Colossi.
January 8. — Landed at Derr to see the Rock Temple.
It is in a very damaged condition, having been burnt
like that at Gerf Hossein, hut on the exterior face we
observed the bas-reliefs of the children of Rameses the
Great, the boys on the left hand and the girls on the
right. There was a column of hieroglyphics placed
beside each of them. These were much injured, but
I was enabled to decipher one having reference to the
eldest son, stating that he had been appointed priest of
some god, and in the temple he is represented accom¬
panying his father, and assisting him in offering sacri¬
fice. The Pharaohs themselves, like the Roman
emperor, held the office of High Priest ; so no doubt
the early appointment of the boy to the priesthood was
intended to qualify him for the duties he would have to
perform when he came to the throne. Everyone who
has examined the Egyptian monuments is aware how
large a space in the every-day duties of an Egyptian
king consisted of religious ceremonials, and that of a
very complicated nature, necessitating an early initia¬
tion. The eight sons all carried insignia of office, and
were clothed in a long dress reaching to their heels.
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVII.
I56
The nine daughters carried each a sistrum in her hand.
It was stated of the third daughter that she had been
appointed priestess of Isis.
There had been some very spirited sculptures of battle
scenes ; these too were much damaged, but some
interesting portions were still visible, amongst others
Rameses accompanied by his tame lion in an engage¬
ment with the enemy. He has the limb of a man in his
mouth, and must have added considerably to the terror
of his master’s onset. In this scene Rameses is fight¬
ing on foot. Unfortunately a doorway has been cut
right through the lion, but his head and forequarters are
still tolerably perfect.
On our way back we called upon the Governor
of Derr. His residence is very neatly built of mud,
on a terrace overhanging the river. We were shown
into a large room, the ceiling of which consisted of
rough palm trunks laid side by side close together,
exactly like those imitated in tombs of the Pyramid
period — 5000 years ago. The windows were not
glazed, but were filled with lattice work of the mid¬
ribs of palm leaves. Round three sides of the room
ran an ottoman of dried mud, covered with carpets.
The first part of our entertainment consisted of small
cups of hot syrup, flavoured with otto of roses. This
was followed by the best black coffee I have tasted in
Egypt, and by cigarettes of excellent tobacco, which his
Excellency informed us was grown in Nubia.
Our host was in European costume, except the inva¬
riable fez, and appeared to have made his toilette very
hastily, for the wrong buttons had been mated with the
wrong button-holes, and appeared in a diagonal and
irregular fashion. The conversation turned on Mr.
Chap. XVII.]
A NUBIAN WEDDING.
157
Rivers Wilson. We expressed a hope that his new
system might improve the resources of the country.
He ejaculated “ Inshallah,” in a dubious tone, and said
that the people were very poor and very tired, the taxes
were so heavy.
Our visit over, he immediately returned it, and came
on board the Gazelle , where we reciprocated his pipes
and coffee, and amused him by showing him all our
European knicknacks — an enamelled opera-glass espe¬
cially took his fancy.
A NUBIAN WEDDING.
After leaving Derr we came upon a Nubian wedding
party, and stopped to see what was going on. All the
women and girls were covered with necklaces and brace¬
lets, and their hair was full of silver ornaments — such
hair ! plaited into scores of little plaits, and shining with
castor oil. I landed with a Palais Royal necklace in my
hand, and requested to see the bride. Of course she was
the most babyish-looking of all the maidens there. I put
the necklace round her neck, whereat the whole party
were highly delighted, and there never was such a display
of white teeth. They then began beating two big drums,
clapping hands, singing in chorus, and dancing, and
the men meanwhile squatted round, and smoked and
looked indolently on. We sent them a tin of mixed
biscuits, a chef d' oeuvre of Huntley and Palmer’s, which
set them all munching and grinning alternately, they
were such a merry crew. The tin was emptied in a
trice and added to the bride’s trousseau ; said trousseau
was contained in a train of huge baskets carried on
their heads by the friends of the bride, who marched with
158 NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. XVII.
them in procession down to a country boat, which lay
under the bank with its lateen sail loose and ready to
start. An awning of mats was arranged on the
quarter-deck of the little craft, and into this the baby-
bride was conducted, and they sailed across the river.
One of our sailors, the Giant, amused them very much
by taking one of these flat baskets, pretending to play
upon it like a tambourine, and skipping about in the
most absurd way.
The Giant, by the way, came by a ducking the day
before. Two of the crew began fighting, and he and
the steersman tried to separate them, but the com¬
batants immediately made common cause and pitched
them both, one after the other, into the water. Their
turbans were seen floating down the stream, and they
emerged ruefully, with their shaven pates bare and
their long blue gowns clinging round them, like
drowned rats. Meanwhile, others of the crew joined
in, and the scrimmage seemed likely to become
general. The original combatants were fighting in the
bottom of the boat — biting, scratching, and clawing
each other, growling and roaring like tigers. At
this crisis the reis came on the scene armed with a
particularly hard and knotty rope’s-end, and began
laying about him indiscriminately ; and, without at all
inquiring into the merits of the quarrel, he collared
the first man he could and dragged him by the heels
to a convenient part of the deck, and proceeded to
administer a shower of blows that made the poor fellow
yell and howl. The minute the reis let go he
bounded on shore at one spring, and sat on the bank
crying like a child, and rubbing himself very hard on
the region which had just made such a close acquaint-
Chap. XVII.]
IBREEM.
T59
ance with the rope’s-end. After the reis had applied
the same penance impartially to several more, peace
was restored. There is a beautiful simplicity in the
Egyptian system of punishment. Their maxim is that
if wrong is done some one must be beaten, not neces¬
sarily the guilty party ; in fact, there is this positive
advantage in the innocent being liable to suffer, for it
immediately becomes the interest of all good citizens
to suppress misdoing lest they pay the penalty in their
own persons ; and then all the cumbrous machinery of
petty sessions, and county courts, and swearing-in wit¬
nesses, and sifting evidence, is dispensed with, and the
administration of justice wonderfully simplified.
In the Derr district the water-wheel nuisance reaches
its highest point ; they are less than ioo yards apart,
and they keep up such a dismal concert of creaking
and moaning, as if they were groaning over the taxa¬
tion and oppression of their country. Such scarecrows
the cattle are that work them, for the wretched
creatures are kept at it day and night, until they are
as transparent as lanthorns.
IBREEM.
January g. — Arrived at Ibreem at i p.m. Here are
some so-called tombs in the face of a perpendicular
cliff. I was hauled up to them by ropes, and found
them terribly damaged, evidently with malice prepense.
The ovals of the kings had been the special mark ot
ill-will, and had all been nearly effaced. A careful
examination showed them to be all of the Thothmes and
Amunoph time and family, except one which displayed
the names of Rameses the Second. The same ovals
i6o
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVII.
are on the face of the cliff above them, in such an
inaccessible position that they have escaped injury.
These grottos are not tombs ; they contain no mummy-
pits, or any other indication of a sepulchral purpose.
They are memorial chapels, each commemorating his¬
torical events. One of Amunoph recorded the arrival
of a deputation of chiefs from some conquered country,
bringing with them, amongst other things, three full-
grown tigers. A portion of this scene is fortunately
well preserved, and I sketched as much of it as I had
room for. I must leave the other two tigers and their
keepers, together with some ostriches, giraffes, and the
group of chiefs to the reader’s imagination.
Amunoph is seated on his throne in state ; under a
pavilion behind him stands the queen, carrying a
wand, surmounted with the emblem of purity ; her cap
is decorated with the cow’s horns, emblematical of the
goddess of beauty.
The king is attended by courtiers bearing, the one a
sun-screen, the other an ostrich-feather fan. In front of
the pavilion the tigers are brought up in procession by
three Egyptians- — they are beautifully drawn ; the animal
being unknown in Egypt there was no conventional
precedent for it, the artist had to study them and draw
them according to his own lights, and he has hit off
their characteristics with wonderful success ; the out¬
lines are still perfect, but much of the colour has been
chipped off ; the deep buff ground with traces of red
markings was all that was distinguishable. It is a
great pity that the rest of the tableau was destroyed.
What remains is highly interesting, and I thought it
worth sketching; the man who has charge of the leading
tiger has his hand resting familiarly on the beast’s
. Levee of amunoph ii
Wall Painting-, Ibreem.
Chap. XVII.] FIRST VIEW OF THE COLOSSI.
1 6 1
shoulder. Amunoph carries in his hand the axe, the
symbol of power, and his name is inscribed above him ;
behind him is a bowl, mounted on a staff, the emblem
of chieftainship Neb, meaning Lord. From the
pillars of the pavilion float pennants; over the tigers
is a long inscription in good preservation, which I
regret I did not copy.
Another of these chapels contained a tableau ot
Rameses receiving a deputation, but so destroyed that
few details were recognizable. Most of the grottos
contained a recess with the statues of a triad of divini¬
ties. Having succeeded in descending without breaking
my neck, I next clambered up to the ruined fortress on
the top of the cliff ; there is a splendid view, and any
amount of shells of houses, mostly two storeys high and
built of stone ; it is of Roman date.
January io. — Dead calm ; towards evening a slight
breeze sprang up, and we crept on slowly a few miles.
At sunset we saw four large crocodiles on a sandbank;
one of them must have been at least 18 feet long. When
he observed the Gazelle approaching he got to his legs,
and with slow deliberate steps, walked along the bank,
keeping his great heavy body well off the ground. I never
saw a crocodile show himself off so grandly; he entered
the river in the same leisurely fashion, and swam for a
couple of minutes with his back above water.
January n. — I started across the desert. The sun,
as it rose, threw its first rays upon the colossal figures
of Rameses, who sit on guard like gigantic sentries
before the great rock temple of Aboo Simbel ; they are
visible from a distance of several miles, and it took me
nearly two hours to reach them from the time they first
M
162
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVII.
came into view. On the way I found a large oyster
shell and some fossil wood. In the desert I came upon
the foundation of an ancient city; the walls were seven
feet thick and built in straight parallel lines of stone. I
found here a scarabaeus beetle exactly like those in the
hieroglyphics; they are now rare, and as they make their
appearance in summer, travellers seldom see them. I
descended upon the temples down the steep glacier¬
like bed of golden sand which, also glacier fashion, is
ever moving on, slowly but irresistibly engulfing every¬
thing in its route. It has once before buried these huge
monuments, including the colossal figures 66 feet high,
and in a few years, if left to itself, will have buried them
again.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE GREAT ROCK TEMPLES OF ABOO SIMBEL.
Raineses in his might — His Camp on the Orontes — His tame Lion — His best¬
loved Queen — His Duel — His Umbrella — His Family Pictures — His Carriage
and Llorses.
When standing opposite the colossal statues of
Rameses which form the fa9ade of the temple, one’s
first impression is that the faces are full and fleshy —
this is owing to the great breadth of the head ; a more
careful examination from the side, and when the lights
and shadows bring out the true conformation, shows the
faces to be really thin, as one would expect in the case
of so restless a spirit.
We have taken great pains to get the traits correctly,
and we can guarantee that our portrait is, at all events,
true to the statue.
The lady standing, parasol in hand, upon one of the
toes, was the lady’s maid ; she is in exact proportion, as
is also the lad who reclines beside the knee of the giant.
Every one will admit that the beauty of outline and
proportion in the features is a marvel of skill and art
when the gigantic scale of the sculpture is taken into
account ; but the limbs and body are executed with the
carelessness upon which we have observed before.
This monster man of stone, repeated in four-fold effigy,
M 2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVIII.
I 64
two to the right and two to the left of the entrance,
reminded us of the Scripture text, “ While the strong
man armed keepeth his palace his goods are in peace;”
it is peculiarly appropriate to all the great Pharaohs.
The prosperity, safety, and power of the empire ebbed
and flowed with the personal strength of character of
the reigning sovereign. Rameses was a type of this.
He began his reign by dealing a series of powerful
blows to his neighbours all round — north, south, east,
and west ; he established the terror of his name by a
succession of raids upon Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia,
/Ethiopia, Libya, and Asia Minor; he was very thorough
in his policy. He placed himself at the head of vast
armies and marched with them across waterless deserts,
broad rivers, and great mountain chains; nothing
stopped him — there were no roads, no bridges, no pon¬
toon trains, but his intense personal energy of character
overcame all obstacles ; he made a desolate heap of
every fenced city that opposed his progress ; he slew by
thousands the populations that refused to surrender at
his summons ; every camping place was adorned with
piles of hands, heads, and other members of the
slaughtered enemy. It was one of his daily duties in
these expeditions to sit on the tail-board of his chariot,
while his officers counted them out and flung them into
ghastly pyramids of reeking carrion at his feet, and he
looked on, no doubt, with the same amiable benign
expression which is imprinted on all his statues; at last
an end was made, the invaded tribes, thinned in num¬
bers, broken in courage, heart, and spirit, surrendered at
discretion. Hordes of them, men, women, and children,
were, with the camp cattle and sheep, driven along
before the army to be brought back to Egypt, and to
Colossal Statue op Rameses the Great.
Abou Simbel.
Chap. XVIII.] RAMESES IN HIS MIGHT. 165
drag out the rest of their lives in the mines and quarries,
the stick their daily portion, and misery, disease and
death their final end. The remnant of the people were
laid under tribute, and knew well that if they failed, year
by year, to appear before their tyrant with the tale of
treasure and offerings imposed upon them, the destroying
host would soon again be among them. As long as
Rameses lived, the terror of his name was on all the
Eastern world ; none dared to incur his wrath, but
remained under his feet in abject submission ; his very
throne was decorated with groups of prisoners on their
knees and with their arms pinioned behind their backs —
that was his proudest emblem ; thus did he avenge the
invasion and long humiliation of the Shepherd Kings.
This much is to be said in defence of his policy, that if
he had not invaded them they would have invaded him,
and have occupied Egypt again as they had done before.
When the last nation that yet ventured to struggle for
independence was beaten down and, like Alexander, he
sighed that there were no more worlds to conquer, and
had to seek other outlets for his restless spirit, he
became a devotee ; he took to architecture with the
same devouring energy that he had hitherto displayed
in war; he became a great builder; pyramids had gone
out of fashion, but he covered all Egypt and Nubia
with temples, statues and obelisks, from remote Tilthiopia
to the mouths of the Nile ; and having an iron consti¬
tution he continued to wield his sceptre for the long
period of 67 years, during all which time his early policy
bore its expected fruit ; the chastised nations remem¬
bered that terrible chastisement and crouched submis¬
sively at his feet, and the supremacy of Egypt remained
unquestioned.
i66
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVIII.
Such was the man whose portrait we have here given ;
it is a grand face, and corresponds to the vigour and
strength of his character. His name, Ra-Meses, being
interpreted means sprung from Ra (the Sun), and he
certainly did his best to justify this proud appellation
by his deeds, though, no doubt, had he lived in modern
times, the justice of his policy might have been
challenged, and questions would have been asked in
Parliament, but he would not, I think, have stepped
down from his throne quite so meekly as the late
Khedive.
Following the example of Pepi and Nofrekara of the
sixth dynasty, of the Ousertasens of the twelfth, and
the Amunophs and Thothmes, kings of the eighteenth
dynasties, he shared in person the dangers he asked his
troops to face, and was a very Coeur de Lion in the
fight, engaging in single-handed combat on foot, as well
as scouring the plain in his chariot, followed by his
sons, and he filled up the intervals with lion and buffalo
hunts. It was characteristic of him that his very pet
was a tame lion.
It was not in the nature of things that no retribution
should follow these high-handed proceedings ; as time
went on, the decimated nations recruited their numbers,
a new generation arose, who began to forget the
lessons of terror taught in the last ; they only remem¬
bered with vindictive indignation the wrongs of their
forefathers, and chafed at the ignominious tribute which
they themselves were still required to pay, year by year,
to the Egyptian despot. Then, when in process of time,
Rameses paid the debt of nature, and was gathered to
the tomb ; when the once vigorous limbs were bandaged
with mummy clothes and laid in the granite sarcophagus
Chap. XVIII.J
THE EXODUS.
167
in the painted and sculptured mausoleum, and slid along
the inclined way down the dark tunnel into the bowels
of the mountain of Bab-el-Melook ; and when his
thirteenth son, Menephtha, a man of weak character,
strove to wield his father’s sceptre, then was the signal
for revolt. First one tribe, and then another, refused to
pay tribute any longer, and a series of ineffectual wars
were waged with varying effect, and the supremacy of the
empire was shaken. The details of these incidents have
not come down to us. One great event only stands out
in high relief — the hitherto enslaved children of Israel,
who had built for his father the treasure cities of Ra-
meses and Pithom, found a heaven-sent leader to eman¬
cipate them from the yoke of the son, and marched
across the frontier unopposed by the sympathising
vassal tribes that occupied the Isthmus of Suez and
the peninsula of Sinai. Rameses had held all those
lands with an iron grasp, but the arm of the feeble
Menephtha was not long enough to reach them there.
Later on a still more humiliating retribution befel the
memory of Rameses. Among the subjugated races were
the proud and brave Persians ; they never forgot their
wrongs, and when Cambyses, several centuries later,
invaded Egypt, he marched to Thebes, broke open the
mausoleum of Rameses, shattered his granite sarco¬
phagus, tore his mummy limb from limb, and scattered
the remains on the surface of the desert — the most
dreaded fate that could befal an Egyptian, for they
believed that their resurrection depended upon the in¬
tegrity of their bodies being maintained inviolate.
This alternate process of subjugation under powerful
Pharaohs, and of revolt under weak ones, was often
repeated; it had gone on from an early period, dynasty
1 68
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVIII.
after dynasty, and may be considered as an epitome of
the History of Egypt.
Memorials of Rameses occur in abundance all along
the valley of the Nile, but nowhere are so many
mementos of him gathered together as at Abou Simbel.
Here his whole life in all its various phases is depicted :
beside him is the temple of his first and most beloved
queen, Nofretari ; at his knees and between his feet
stand his sons and daughters ; on the walls are per¬
petuated the memory of his battles, his sieges, his
headlong chariot charge, his acts of devotion to the
Gods ; the details of his camp life, the dress, arms, and
accoutrements of his soldiers, and the most carefully
executed portraits of himself, as well as the most im¬
pressive specimen of his architectural achievements, the
world-famed Rock Temple, from the fagade of which
the Napoleon of ancient times still gazes upon us, the
fire of haughty pride still lights up those eyes of stone,
and the broad brow still proclaims to us his commanding
genius and iron strength of will.
The first view of this wonderful fa$ade is a sight
never to be forgotten. It ranks in one’s memory with
one’s first view of Naples, or Mont Blanc, or Niagara.
I think it is even more impressive, coming upon it sud¬
denly out of the desert than if approached by way of
the river. A masterpiece of human art amid a scene
of desolation — such an utter wilderness, that during a
five-mile walk I met but two human beings, — a nearly
naked African woman accompanied by a boy. They
were tending a dozen sheep browsing on the mimosa
bushes, of which there was a scanty growth on the
sand-hills near the river.
Beside the great temple of Rameses, there is on one
Chap. XVIII.]
THE PRIESTS’ LIBRARY.
169
side a smaller one built by his queen, Nofretari, as a
memorial of her love for her honoured husband ; and
on the other side a much smaller temple, dedicated to
Thoth, the god of letters. This last is conjectured to
have been the priests’ library. If so it cannot have
been much used, for when opened in 1874 its fresco
paintings were as fresh in colour as if it had only just
been excavated ; and it must have been buried in the
sand almost from the day it was completed. There is
a very full and minute description of it in the interest¬
ing work of Miss Edwards, by whose party it was dis¬
covered and cleared in 1874. There was, however, one
angle which was not cleared ; and in this I discovered
the hieroglyphic name which Abou Simbel bore in the
time of Rameses ^J^ = Abbou. The ancient name
has, therefore, survived unchanged. On the left of
the entrance is this inscription in hieroglyphics : —
“ Whosoever enters here let him purify himself four
times,” i.e., let him perform four ablutions. This
inscription occurs on the right hand as you enter ; and
Rameses himself, who stands there in his dress of
ceremony, appears to be uttering the command.
The colouring of all the bas-reliefs is very rich and
brilliant ; we annex an example in the Sacred Boat
(Plate XLI.). Attached to it are a pair of long shafts, by
means of which it was carried on the shoulders of the
priests; the fastenings may be observed between the boat
and the platform which gives it stability. The whole
structure is placed upon an altar, which has a red table¬
cloth spread upon it. In the panel are the ovals of the
king, and a mutilated inscription in which the words
‘‘the property” or “devoted to the service of the
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVIII.
170
gods ” can be deciphered. The inscription above the
sanctuary reads, “ Thothti, Lord of Abou, Amon Lord
of Abou.” On the panel of the sanctuary itself are
stencilled alternately the emblems of stability and life.
The crew of black figures are dolls, not real men ; over
the prow is the sacred hawk, emblem of Ra; behind him
a sphinx, emblem of the king. The sun-screens were
carried in procession ; they are adorned with the mono¬
gram of Rameses ; the papyrus and lotus flowers are of
course artificial, and, together with the vase of real
flowers in front, and those beneath, figure there just
as flowers often figure on our altars, as offerings to
Ra, whose image is concealed behind the fringed curtain
of the sanctuary ; two of the crew are kneeling in
adoration, fore and aft of the sacred shrine, which the
chief priest and the sovereign alone had the privilege
of entering. The two stands under the shafts, besides
flowers, have vessels of libation ranged in a row ; those
to the right have spouts, and appear to have furnished
models for the coffee-pots of domestic life. In Plate
XXXV. the prince is seen using one of these vessels in
the act of libation. The two ostrich-feather standards
were carried by chiefs who took part in the procession.
In the bow of the boat was the eye of Osiris, accidentally
omitted in the lithograph.
Abou Simbel occupies a distinguished place amongst
Egyptian monuments, if not a unique one, from the
daring conception of its plan, and the marvellous art
and success with which it was carried through ; from
its strange position on a lonely mountain spur, which
thrusts itself out into the Nile here barring the passage
along the shore ; and from the historic importance of
the record it has preserved safely for our perusal through
Sacred Boat, abou simbel
i .
Chap. XVIII.] RAMESES’ CAMP. 171
the vast period of thirty-four centuries of time. The
sculptors and artists who covered the interior with
frescos were worthy of the occasion. They have carved
a series of painted bas-reliefs which, for vigour and spirit,
have no parallel among the paintings of antiquity. The
headlong charge of Rameses, sweeping across the battle¬
field in his chariot like a whirlwind, and followed by
three of his sons in their chariots ; the tableau of his
single combat on foot with the Syrian chief ; the scene
in which he draws up his chariot, accompanied by his
tame lion, in the midst of the fight to receive some
prisoners, would be masterpieces in any age. The
glimpses we get of the stage of civilization which the
nations at war with Egypt had attained 400 years before
the siege of Troy, and before the Greeks had acquired
the art of writing, are extremely instructive.
The north wall places before us, not only the arms,
accoutrements, the strategic system, the minutest de¬
tails of the camping arrangements of the Egyptians, but
it gives the only information we possess as to these
matters in the case of their contemporaries. Descend¬
ing to details, the army is represented in an entrenched
camp ; the horses picketed in rows and feeding on grass
or hay which is brought them by the soldiers. Near
one angle is the king’s pavilion, watched over by the
sacred vultures ; but watched over, also, by some sharp
sentries, who have just caught a would-be assassin near
the royal tent. One man is holding him by the scalp-
lock, which distinguishes the Syrians of the Orontes ;
the other is running him through with his javelin. In
other parts of the camp are the infantry : some at
supper, squatting, Eastern fashion, round their big pot,
and scooping out their food with their fingers, as they
172
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVIII.
do to this day. The king’s lion is being fed by his at¬
tendant, who seems rather afraid of him ; he approaches
“ Tearer to pieces of his enemies,” pawing the air with
his hand in the “ poor fellow ” style of Pickwick’s Winkle.
There are covered provision carts passing through the
camp, drawn by oxen ; there are groups of men repair¬
ing broken chariot-wheels or cleaning their accoutre¬
ments ; there is a brawl going on, and the disputants
have come to blows. In several places soldiers, who
have got into some scrape, are being beaten with a
stick, without the ceremony of a court-martial. In one
corner a trooper is trying to stop a baggage-donkey,
who has begun to bray, by thrashing him vigorously ;
but I do not believe that anything short of decapitation
ever did stop, or ever will stop, a jackass when once
he has commenced that solo performance of which he
seems so proud. These and many other incidents of
camp-life are crowded into a great bas-relief, giving a
bird’s-eye view of the Egyptian encampment ; and one
cannot help admiring the ingenuity with which the
artist has managed to represent so much detail in a
comparatively limited space.
Near by is the fortified town which they are there to
take, with its battlemented walls and tall towers, and
the Orontes is made to flow round it, and from its moat
the Orontes itself meanders over the whole length of the
great north wall, and along its banks are represented
all the incidents of the campaign, the flight of peaceable
citizens with their wives and children, bag and baggage,
the march of heavy infantry with forests of spears
and shields, archers and swordsmen, and innumerable
chariots charging or flying or meeting in the shock of
onset, some of them empty, their luckless crew slain,
an ancient umbrella.
ABOU SIMBEL.
1,5
I
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.
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t
c\
CO
v — -f ® > ©
til IJ
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iyoj
DJ
on
H;3
duel of rameses II
ABOU SlffllEL .
Chap. XVIII.] DUEL WITH THE LIBYAN CHIEF.
173
and the horses taking the opportunity to graze. There
are prisoners disarmed and tied together by a rope and
led along in single file ; in one place Rameses himself
has turned about in his chariot, a trooper holds the
horses, and the king has sat down on the tail-board
while officers count out piles of heads of slaughtered
enemies. In another place he is seated on his throne
and the prisoners are brought before him ; there is a
bas-relief of an officer of charioteers holding the king’s
umbrella (Plate XLIII.), with a great vulture embroidered
upon it ; he has stepped down from his chariot, and is
looking back at some soldiers curiously equipped. They
have on their heads a crescent and ball, and they carry
in their hands straight pointed swords of great length
and breadth and large round shields. They are foreign
auxiliaries ; an inscription above them states them to be
of the nation of Sha-i-tani ; they have foreign features,
and the artist has manifestly caricatured them.
In the bas-relief several Egyptians intervene between
the officer and the soldier, but I have taken the liberty
of introducing him into the Plate in order to show the
details of his dress and equipment.
On the opposite wall the duel between Rameses and
the Libyan chief at once attracts attention. The figures
are rather above life size, and the crisis has been
chosen when Rameses, having borne back his adversary
in an onset of resistless impetuosity, is in the act of
despatching him with his spear. The expression of
hatred and despair on the doomed man’s countenance
the painter has rendered with great power, as, while
falling backwards, he looks up in the face of his victorious
foe, and the last objects he beholds in life are the golden
serpent upon Pharaoh’s brow and the eyes of fire that
1 74
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVIII.
blaze beneath it. The spear point is descending with
lightning speed, and in another moment he would be in
eternity. This duel is historic. The nationality of the
chief is mentioned in the last hieroglyphics of the
inscription over his head ; the words are “ of the
Tahennou (the Libyans) chief.”
While poking about the temple I saw a head with the
side lock appearing above the sand, which I recognized
as being one of Rameses’ sons. I called up some of the
crew to scrape away the sand, and we laid bare a row of
eight sons with an inscription beside each, stating his
profession, &c. Having seen a similar bas-relief at
Derr I concluded that it was, as there, balanced by a
corresponding row of daughters on the opposite side ; we
scraped away more sand and found the young ladies of
the family also ; there were nine princesses, as at Derr,
and each of them also had an inscription to herself.
The princesses were rather carelessly sculptured, and
were evidently not portraits, being all alike. Much
greater pains had been taken with the sons ; they were
portraits, and their features, especially the eldest, were
beautifully cut, and their dresses and insignia of rank
minutely detailed ; incidental evidence as to the row of
sons, which is headed by this prince, being really por¬
traits, presented itself soon afterwards.
Plate XI. is a fac-simile representation of the eldest
son. Beside him are two columns of hieroglyphics
giving his name, offices and titles, which read thus : —
“Of the order of Nobles a Royal Secretary; Com¬
mander of Infantry, having the rank of a chief ; eldest
son of the king, begotten of his body, beloved of him.
Amen-hi-khop-sanef, Prince.”
Here, acording to Egyptian custom, the name comes
Eldest Son of Rameses,
Contemporary of Moses.
Chap. XVIII.] A CONTEMPORARY OF MOSES.
175
last. The features have a Jewish look. The nose is
aquiline, like that of his father Rameses and his eldest
sister Ba-ta-Anta. He wears the side lock of the heir ap¬
parent kept together by three clasps. (In Plate XXXV.
is a representation of a very beautiful and elaborate
clasp worn by the prince’s father in his youth.) Amen-
hi-khop-sanef is attired in court dress, which appears to
have been of some semi-transparent material, through
which the outline of his arms and breast is visible.
It is something in the form of a mantle, the skirt and
sleeves of which hang behind him ; the latter are retained
in their places by fillets or ribbons, which come over his
arms, and are tucked in at the waist behind a panelled
belt, similar to that of Thothmes in Plate VII. Below
this is the usual kilt or short petticoat, which takes the
place of the simple loin-cloth of earlier dynasties (see
Plate IIP). On his ankle and wrists are the collar and
bracelets worn by all Egyptians, and almost universal
throughout Africa still. In his hand he carries the staff
surmounted by the ostrich feather, the insignia of a chief,
attached to which are two cords, ending in tassels. The
ostrich feather is worked in gold in a conventional form,
though no doubt originally a real feather was the
emblem used.
Additional interest attaches to this portrait, with its
details of the court dress of the period, from the fact
that this young prince was a contemporary of Moses,
and probably an associate of his, both being members
of the royal household, and it is likely enough that
before the patriotic instincts of the Hebrew lawgiver
developed themselves, he wore the same court dress on
state occasions as the brother of his adoptive mother.
Amen-hi-khop-sanef did not live to succeed his father,
i;6
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XVIII.
nor was he his favourite son. He does not appear to
have possessed the warlike instincts of his family, and
is not represented as accompanying his governor on the
battle-field. It will be observed that his right hand
is extended in the Egyptian attitude of homage — that is,
towards a bas-relief of Rameses himself, which occurs
upon the entrance of the temple, and typifies the
reverence paid in Egypt by children to their parents.
While I was sketching the scene in which three sons
in their chariots follow their father on the battle-field, I
observed that the foremost had features differing
markedly from the eldest son, whom I had expected to
find there, but I remembered the face as occurring
among his younger brothers. I set to work to spell out
the hieroglyphics over his head, and found that he was
in fact the fifth son ; the other two turned out to be the
second and third. Each of the princes had a charioteer
with him, who protected him with a large shield against
the arrows and javelins of the enemy, but their father,
with characteristic pride, disdaining to have any man
as forward as himself in the fight, stood alone in
his chariot, without a shield, with the reins tied round
his waist, as he drew his bow without checking the
headlong career of his steeds. He would conquer or
die alone. Probably, like other great commanders, he
had unbounded faith in his destiny, and knew not
what fear was. Observe that both in this and in
other chariot scenes the horses are clothed in rugs,
elaborately striped and patterned, and tied under
their bellies with bows and ribbons. The harness is
very complicated ; they have head-stalls and snaffle-bits
much like ours, but neither collars nor traces ; they
drew by the pole alone, which was provided with a cross
Abou Simbel.
RAMESES II. ACCOMPANIED BY HIS FIGHTING LION
Chap. XVIII.]
RAMESES’ CHARIOT.
1 77
piece, the ends of which were fastened to their withers
by an intricate arrangement of belts and straps, which
are passed round their necks and between their fore
legs, and very carefully secured. Attached to these were
rings, through which the reins passed, as with us. In
front of the king’s chariot extended a projection richly
ornamented with a row of golden asps and supported
on a stay ; the object of this seems to have been for the
cap of the quiver to fall back upon when opened.
The upper part of the south wall was devoted to
religious subjects. Amongst them was a curious tableau
of Rameses kneeling beneath the tree of life at the feet
of Horus; he kneels on a footstool, and Horus is pre¬
senting him with the emblem of life.
There are six other chambers besides the portico. In
some of these hieroglyphics and figures have been out¬
lined in black paint, but left uncut or in various stages
of incompleteness ; no doubt the great king died before
they were finished.
N
CHAPTER XIX.
TEMPLE OF NOFRETARI.
Royal Robes — A Devoted Wife — Divine Beauties.
The smaller temple, dedicated to Rameses by his
queen, is a monument of the romantic love and affection
which prevailed between the royal pair, and is interest¬
ing on that account. The numerous portraits of Queen
Nofretari which it contains show that she was very
beautiful, and they indicate also a strength of character
and purpose which accounts for the hold which she
retained upon her husband’s affection to the last. Her
name signifies “the good companion” — a model name
for a wife. I was fortunate enough to get some
very perfect fac-similes of her face in profile taken
from several different groups. The outlines were un¬
injured, and the colour of one in an out-of-the-way
part of the temple well preserved. Outside this
temple are four colossi, two of the queen and two of
the king, with their children at their feet. Both the
colossi of the queen have been much damaged, per¬
haps by her successor, the Khetan princess, whom
Rameses married after Nofretari’s death. Enough still
remains to give one an idea of her full face, and
which confirms the impression of beauty and sweetness
of expression conveyed by the painted intaglios within
the temple.
Chap. XIX.]
QUEEN NOFRETARI.
I 7 9
The portrait of her, Plate X., is chiefly drawn from a
coloured bas-relief at the back of one of the pillars on
the left-hand side of the temple, but the details of the
dress are taken from one of the other figures.
She wears on her head the coronet which was the
distinguishing ornament of royal princesses. On her
brow is the asp, which it is the peculiar prerogative of
reigning sovereigns and their consorts to wear. Her
hood, fringed with gold, is surmounted by the vulture,
the emblem of maternity. One of the portraits shows
the head of the vulture alongside the asp ; in others it is
omitted. I have preferred to follow the latter in this
respect, as the two ornaments together have a rather
clumsy effect. The asp is decorated with horns, be¬
tween which is the disk, emblem of the sun. It is an
interesting fact that her head-dress and lappet are
fringed with black lace, of a pattern still in use. Her
ear-ring is of large size, like those worn at this day by
Indian women, and it passes through the middle of her
ear — not, as with us, through the lobe ; it was probably
too heavy for the latter. Over head is inscribed her
name and titles, “ Nofretari Mer-en-Mut,” i.e., Nofre-
tari, beloved of Maut. Over the name is the inscription
“ Wife of the King, the Lady Chief.” In her hand she
carries a sistrum of copper, barred with copper rods
strung with large beads ; beneath is a head of Hathor.
This article, so often seen in the hands of Egyptian
ladies of distinction, is supposed to have been used as
a talisman against the evil eye or evil influences. In
some of the bas-reliefs the royal beauty is represented
with a loose flowing dress with sleeves. (See Plate XVI.) .
In Plate X. I have given her the more old-fashioned
dress, supported by braces. The details of form,
N 2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIX.
I So
pattern, and colours are all carefully copied from a
bas-relief in the same temple.
In the various tableaux the queen is always repre¬
sented accompanying her husband in his religious func¬
tions, and she even stands behind him while he is
decapitating his enemies.
The daughters do not appear to have inherited her
beauty. They look haughty and disagreeable. One of
them is the Ba-ta-Anta who has been made the heroine
of an Egyptian novel, “ Uarda,” by a modern author.
Her profile is very like her father’s ; the same pro¬
minent eyes, the same aquiline nose, and the same
determined cast of features, but lacking the benevolent
expression which he is nearly always represented as
wearing, even when thrusting his foes through with his
spear. Resembling her father, she ought to have
been handsome, but what is becoming in so eminently
masculine a personage as Rameses may be very much
the reverse in a young lady. I give a sketch of her
statue in Plate XV. There is much nobility and strength
of character expressed in her features. She is repre¬
sented standing at her father’s feet, and as a matter of
history she was the favourite daughter of Rameses, and
was even entrusted by him with a share in the govern¬
ment of the empire in his old age, or when absent on
warlike expeditions.
It is said that she became queen, but she is only given
the title of princess on her tomb. Her portrait, which
occurs in the Tombs of the Queens at Thebes, also gives
the idea of energy and decision of character.
In the statue great pains have been taken by the
sculptor with her face and head-dress, but the limbs
and body are executed with the characteristic careless-
Chap. XIX.] PRINCESS BA-TA-ANTA. 1 8 1
ness which I before had occasion to notice. The
statue is of colossal size, and stands up to the knees in
the sand-drift which has descended from the mountain
above, and is slowly, but surely, burying the great
temple again as it has done before.
She wears apparently no dress whatever, except her
hood ; in fact, she is presented to us in the same bathing
costume in which she rescued the infant Moses.
The smaller temple contains paintings of several
goddesses. Some of them are very pretty, and must
have been drawn from living models ; perhaps the queen
made her maids of honour sit for them. The dedica¬
tion of the temple to her husband reads thus : —
“ To the sovereign of the two lands, Lord of
Upper and Lower Egypt, Ouser-Ma-Ra, Son of the Sun
(beloved of him ?), Lord of crowns, Rameses Mer-
Ammon, his loving Lady Queen and princess Nofre-
tari has built a temple in the locality of Abbou by the
waters. Grant him life for evermore.”
This temple was evidently excavated much earlier
than the great one near by. Rameses and his fair
spouse were in their prime ; their children were quite
young. In the other the beautiful queen appears but
once ; the sons are warriors, the daughters are already
passees. The king himself, as carved in the colossi,
in the interior, has an aged look. This is not the
case in the battle scenes, because at that time he was
young, and the artist has drawn him as he was at the
time the incidents took place. But in the colossi his
battles are over ; his supremacy in the eastern world is
undisputed ; and he is resting from his labours, during
the long period of peace and prosperity which occupied
the latter portion of his reign. It was a long reign of
182
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XIX.
sixty-seven years, and his great campaigns were fought
in the early part of it. He devoted those years of peace
to covering all Egypt and Nubia with magnificent monu¬
ments and temples, and in beautifying Thebes especially,
besides building other cities ; e.g., the cities of Rameses
and Pithom, in which the captive Israelites were em¬
ployed. The former of these was evidently named in
honour of himself. This mention of the city of Rameses
offers an important landmark as to the much-disputed
question of the chronology of his reign.
In Plate XVI. Queen Nofretari— still a bride, not yet
wearing the vulture head-dress, emblem of maternity — is
presenting offerings to the goddess Anke. She may
have been praying for a son ; in her left hand she holds
some convolvulus flowers, in the other the emblem of a
small temple which she is perhaps vowing if her wishes
are accomplished. Her attire is that in which she is
oftenest represented ; she has rosettes in her shoes, and
her hair is dressed very simply and gracefully. The
costume of Anke is here faithfully reproduced, including
the pattern and colours of her skirt, waistband, braces,
and necklace, as also the throne on which she is seated.
The head-dress is quite peculiar to this goddess, who
was specially worshipped in Nubia. She also, like the
queen, wears blue rosettes in her shoes.
Nofretari and the Goddess Anke, abou simbel
CHAPTER XX.
DATE OF RAMESES THE GREAT.
The Captivity and Exodus of the Children of Israel — The Treasure Cities —
Nubian Mutton. — Christian Worship in Heathen Temples.
The translators of our version of the Bible have fixed
the date of the Exodus at 1491 b.c., which is a century
earlier than that assigned by modern Egyptologists, but
the following considerations will show that, instead of
fixing too early a date, they have not thrown back the
date far enough; for instance, St. Paul (Acts xiii. 20),
says, “After that (the Exodus) he gave unto them
judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years,
until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a
King: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis.”
This monarch reigned forty years (Acts xiii. 21). David
also reigned forty years (1 Kings ii. 11). “The days
that David reigned over Israel were forty years : seven
years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years
reigned he in Jerusalem.” By 1 Kings xi. it appears
that Solomon also reigned forty years and died during
the reign of Shishak, King of Egypt, whose reign is
known to bear date 985. The actual date of the plunder
of Jerusalem was 979. We have, therefore, 450+ 120 =
570 years from the Exodus to Shishak. Now that would
throw back the date of the Exodus to 1549. It appears,
therefore, that the Biblical commentators, instead of
fixing too early a date for the Exodus, have assigned a
date later than appears consistent with the definite and
184
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XX.
circumstantial statements of Scripture, but which would
he rendered consistent with them if we assume the
margin which seems implied in St. Paul’s expression
“ by the space of” to amount to fifty-eight years.
Now it happens that we have another and a quite
independent measure for the interval between Rameses
and Shishak. Between those two Pharaohs seventeen
reigns elapsed, i.e. seventeen generations. It has been
found that, in counting by generations, we may allow
three generations to a century ; if we adopt this
standard, those seventeen reigns would cover 566 years,
which tallies with remarkable closeness with the com¬
putation from the Scripture statements. We arrive,
therefore, by two distinct and perfectly independent
methods of computation, at results absolutely identical,
for the very definite Bible statements place an interval
of 570 years between the death of Solomon and the
Exodus ; the computation by generations back from
Shishak brings out the interval between him and the
death of Rameses at 566 ; and if we suppose the capture
of Jerusalem to have occurred about four years after the
death of Solomon, the two results tally exactly to a year !
I think, therefore, that we are justified in concluding that
the Bible commentators did not assign too early a date
when they fixed 1491 as the year of the Exodus ; indeed,
we cannot consistently with Scripture assume any later.
This would throw back the death of Rameses to 1500,
and his reign would have begun about b.c. 1567.
The fixed facts we have to go upon are that Rameses
the Second was the sovereign for whom the children of
Israel built the treasure cities of Rameses and Pithom,
because we know from Egyptian records that the city
of Rameses at all events was built in his reign, and
Chap. XX.]
THE TREASURE CITIES.
185
we know from Biblical sources that the Children ol
Israel built it for him. We know also that his
reign endured for an extraordinarily long period, viz.,
sixty-seven years, and that it is implied by the Bible
expression, “ it came to pass that in process of time
he died,” that the Pharaoh of the Captivity did live
to an unusually protracted old age. The same fact
also follows from the long exile imposed upon Moses in
the land of Midian, while the monarch whose wrath he
had incurred by slaying an Egyptian in defence of a
Hebrew slave, continued to live. If we suppose that
Rameses attained his hundredth year, and that Me-
nephtha had been fourteen years upon the throne at the
time of the Exodus, then the eldest daughter of Rameses
would probably be the adoptive mother of Moses. It
would certainly be inferred from the Scripture narrative
that she was the daughter of the same Pharaoh whose
long life imposed the long exile upon Moses, and for
whom the Hebrews built the city of Rameses. This
king lived so long that his twelve eldest sons all died
before him, and it was the thirteenth son, Menephthah,
who succeeded him. There is in the Memnonium a list
of his sons, and there over the thirteenth, Menephthah,
a royal oval has been engraved subsequently, no doubt
by command of that king himself after his succession.
Our camping ground at Abou Simbel was peculiar.
The two temples occupy the feet of two mountain spurs
which project into the river right and left, forming the
sides of a steep and narrow ravine, down which descends
an avalanche of sand, with a slope as steep as the side
of the Great Pyramid, and forming as sharply defined a
triangle. This sand-slope is fringed along the river
side with tufts of mimosa bushes and coarse Halfeh
iS6
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XX.
grass. The first thing our crew did was to land their
live stock, and we had quite a little pastoral scene there,
two very black and ragged sheep nibbling away at the
bushes, and the turkeys and fowl luxuriating in their
emancipation from the long confinement of their coops.
Amongst them lolled sundry of the crew, their long blue
robes contrasting admirably with the orange-coloured
sand ; now they lay in the sun on their backs, and
when they were roasted enough on that side they
turned over and took a spell of slumber on their — well,
digestion — with intervals of cigarettes. They having
nothing to do, the farmyard came in for a considerable
share of their attention, and all the live stock became
the sailors’ pets and were well fed. We looked compla¬
cently on at these proceedings, hoping that when the
crisis arrived both mutton and poultry would be found
much improved in plumpness. The Nubian mutton, by
the way, is the best on the Nile, for the sheep are fed on
dates, but they are dearer than below ; therefore, the
dragomen buy cheap skinny wretches in Egypt, and tow
them after the dahabeeah all through Nubia, feeding
them on stolen food and not much of that, till what
between starvation and pining, they become as palatable
as an old boot.
January 12 {Sunday). — We read service in the Great
Temple, amid impressive surroundings. All about us
were the varied deities of Egyptian mythology : lion¬
headed, ape-headed, ibis-headed, eagle-headed, jackal¬
headed. From out the deep shadows of the vast sub¬
terranean hall started the giant forms of the stone colossi
at whose feet we sat. The first lesson was singularly
appropriate, Isaiah, ch. xliv., in which the vanity of
graven images and of human pride is alike denounced.
CHAPTER XXL
THE SECOND CATARACT - WADY HALFEH.
The Second Cataract — Central African Terminus — St. George and the Dragon —
Dongola in the distance — Abooseer — A Desert Shipwreck — An Interesting
Tomb — A Funeral 3000 years ago— Nubian offerings to Hathor — Korosko —
Purchase of two Chameleons — Nubian Villages.
Before service was quite over the steamer arrived,
and amongst the passengers were some acquaint¬
ances of ours, Mr. and Mrs. B. As the steamer
was to tow us back from the Second Cataract, we had
to leave at once for Wady Halfeh. We sailed all day
and most of the night, and arrived at n a.m. on the
13th at the foot of the Second Cataract.
January 13. — We saw, to our surprise, a very
fine railway station here, — it is the terminus for the
projected Central African line, which was to have
opened up the lake districts, to have promoted their
civilization and development, and to have dealt the
finishing blow to the slave trade in these regions.
This magnificent project is, however, for the present
suspended, owing to the new policy of economy in¬
sisted on by Mr. Rivers Wilson and — want of cash.
About thirty miles of the line is actually at work, and
a great deal more is levelled and ready for the rails.
As a speculation it never could pay ; but it would pro¬
bably be worth carrying out as a great Government work,
if they could afford it. The scheme appeals to one’s
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXL
1 88
imagination, and one wishes it success ; but I fear
hard-headed practical men of business have condemned
it as too costly. We called upon the English commis¬
sioner here, and afterwards upon the chief engineer
of the railway. He and his wife received us very
courteously, and the lady complained of the difficulty
of dealing with the natives. She showed us a black
girl whom she had bought as a slave, and then
given her her liberty. This poor girl and her little
brother had been kidnapped by Arab slave-dealers while
minding some sheep for their parents, who were destined
never to see either their sheep or their children again.
The price which the lady had paid for the girl was six
napoleons. She had evidently fallen into good hands,
as was proved by her plump, well-fed figure and happy,
merry face. I fear, however, that this Nubian Topsy
was not a profitable investment for her kind-hearted
employer, for during our visit we heard behind the
scenes an awful crash, which must have involved a
catastrophe to at least an entire tea-service. A pretty
little tame gazelle, a couple of monkeys, and a Cuban
dog completed their list of pets, who all had the run of
the verandah together.
January 14. — We manned our boat with a picked
crew, and set out on our exploring expedition up the
cataract ; it can be ascended by dint of hard work and
skilful management about half-way. The Ultima Thule
is a singular rock which rises perpendicularly from
beside the tortured waters and overhangs them, giving
a splendid bird’s-eye view of the ten miles of rapids
and falls which constitute the Second Cataract. I
landed at one point and came upon an old Coptic
church, still so perfect that it could scarcely be called
Chap. XXL] ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 189
a ruin. The walls were covered with paintings of
saints and angels, and with several life-size frescoes
of St. George and the Dragon. It is curious how
constantly the oldest of things are dished up again
under a new disguise. The original of St. George and
the Dragon is the ensign of an ancient Egyptian city,
which viewed the crocodile as an emblem of the evil
one, and adopted, as their favourite sculpture, an Egyp¬
tian hero transfixing that reptile with a spear.
The trip up the rapids was very interesting. The
scenery is quite different from the First Cataract ; not
nearly so picturesque. It consisted of hundreds of islands
and rocks scattered over the whole width of the river¬
bed, which here expands to at least a mile and a half.
These islets are decorated with stunted mimosa bushes,
gum-trees, and an occasional date-palm ; but what it
lacks in picturesqueness it makes up for as a cataract.
It is in some places a succession of falls — at one point
equalling Schaff hausen on the Rhine in height. I walked
a long way beyond Abooseer and ascended a mountain,
from the summit of which I had a splendid view of the
entire length of the rapids, extending over nearly ten
miles ; I saw a range of high black cliffs above the falls,
and the broad expanse of the Nile, as smooth as a lake,
at their feet. This is the manner and custom of all
rivers ; there is always an interval of lake-like tran¬
quillity before they engage in the turmoil and conflict
that awaits them presently. It is so at Niagara and all
other falls I have ever seen. The atmosphere was so
clear that the high mountains of Dongola, distant 150
miles, were cut hard and sharp against the southern
horizon, betraying their distance by their microscopic
proportions, but not by any mistiness of outline. I re-
190
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXL
turned to Abooseer by the caravan route. It was littered
with the remains of camels, some entire skeletons,
others dried up into huge mummies, their skin stretched
over their hoop-like ribs as tight as the parchment of
a drum. It was significant that their heads were all
turned towards the north. They had toiled across the
waterless desert from the far-distant Soudan to drop
exhausted, famished, and consumed with thirst within
a few hours of their journey’s end. Most of them are
immediately broken up and carried off by hyaenas, limb
by limb ; but occasionally there is a glut. After the
passage of a large caravan there are more carcases
than even the hyaenas and vultures can devour, and
they are left to parch and wither up beneath the burn¬
ing sun. On our way we had passed some caravans
preparing to start for the south. Each of them con¬
tained a tent for the chiefs of the expedition, with a
high rampart of boxes and bales built round it like a
wall and forming a covered yard, affording shelter from
wind and sun and sand. Around, squatting on their
bellies, were the camels, the motive power of the cara¬
van. Poor beasts ! what torments of hunger and thirst
and fatigue await them ; and how many of them will
drop on the death-strewn track.
Abooseer is about half way through the cataract, and
our boat had been hauled up to that point with much
toil and difficulty, but the return journey was very
exciting work as we shot through one rapid after another,
and had many hair-breadth escapes from sunken rocks.
On the northernmost of the hundreds of islands amongst
which the Nile impatiently tears its way here, there
are the ruins of an ancient fortified town ; it formed the
garrison of this part of the valley in the days of the
EMANCIPATED AT LAST ! NUBIAN DESERT
Chap. XXL] ANCIENT NILE LEVEL. 1 9 1
Pharaohs, and some of its tall towers still stand almost
perfect, and form very picturesque objects. The tem¬
perature to-day was the highest we had experienced ;
it was 8i° in a thorough draught in our cabin, in the
coolest place we could find for our thermometer. On
shore, amongst the rocks and in the glare of the sand,
it cannot have been less than ioo°.
While at Wady Halfeh I went to visit Colonel Gordon,
Gordon Pasha as he is called here ; he was, however,
away in the lake district. He is quite a king in these
southern Nile regions, and has almost absolute power.
He has a pretty residence near the Station, a house
enclosed in high walls of mud bricks whitewashed ;
within these walls is a small tropical garden, in the
midst of which his dwelling-house stands. I regretted
very much that the absence of the great man deprived
me of the honour of making his acquaintance. We had
an additional reason for regretting it. We had set our
hearts on reaching the Third Cataract ; the more so as
near it are sculptured on the rocks the annual records
of the Nile levels for a number of years during the reign
of an ancient king of the twelfth dynasty. These
hieroglyphics with their tide-marks prove that at that
remote period, over 4000 years ago, the river level was
twenty-three feet higher than it is now, an extremely
interesting fact, which accounts for the power, wealth,
and abundant population of Nubia in those days. We
wished to make drawings of these rocks with their
hieroglyphic records, but our arrival there depended
upon our getting a lift on the railway; in this we failed —
it was a matter of courtesy. We had been accustomed
to so much civility from all the Turkish officials with
whom we had come in contact, that we could not help
192
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXL
regretting that a Turk was not in command here also.
Gordon Pasha’s viceroy was, however, an Englishman,
and we did not receive either the favour we wanted
nor any other act of kindness from our fellow-country¬
man.
We spent forty-eight hours at Wady Halfeh. The
sailors were employed in stowing away the spars and
preparing for our return voyage down stream ; we were
then taken in tow by Cook’s steamer. A disaster
nearly befel us, however, for about an hour after we
started the paddle-boat struck on a sandbank ; we
rushed past her, and in doing so caught against her
sponsons and laid open the side of our cabin. In four
hours we reached Abou Simbel again, when the steamer
cast us adrift owing to a sandstorm, and we stopped
there sketching for three days. On January ig, the
storm having abated, we set out on our way home.
While at the Second Cataract we observed the Southern
Cross for the first time. It is a beautiful constellation ;
when it first rises it appears in a reclining position with
its left limb downwards, lying on its side with its head
towards the east, but by degrees it erects itself up¬
right like a true cross, and finally falls over on the
other side with its head toward the west, and so sinks
below the horizon. We were very sorry to turn our
backs upon it and say adieu, at Ibreem, which we
reached on January 20. Near this ruined city we took
donkeys, and visited a tomb in the mountains. It is on
the western side of the river, some miles inland, has
been overlooked by travellers, and is little known ; it
is consequently in a particularly fresh and uninjured
condition, the colours being all as bright as when first
laid on. Though small, only about fifteen feet square, it
Chap. XXI.] AFTER DEATH THE JUDGMENT.
193
is full of paintings of great interest ; one of these is a
portrait of the tomb itself, the outline of the mountain
shoulder in which it is excavated is faithfully represented,
together with the fa£ade of the tomb. Outside are
assembled the whole funeral party ; nearest the tomb’s
portal the mummy himself is supported in an upright po¬
sition by his eldest son ; a flower has been placed on the
head of the deceased. At his feet kneels his wife throwing
dust on her head with one hand, while with the other she
touches her departed lord for the last time, and her face
is upturned and gazing towards his semblance painted
on the outer case. The whole attitude and the expres¬
sion of her grief is very touching ; the son also, with
the disengaged hand, is scattering dust on his head.
Behind her stands a priest clad in a leopard’s skin, and
sprinkling from three vases the waters of life and purifi¬
cation ; behind him again is a notary carrying a casket,
from which he has drawn a square document of con¬
siderable size, which he is reading ; it is probably the
dead man’s will ; and behind him again came the
general train of mourners. This tableau brought vividly
before one the incidents of a funeral 3000 years ago.
The widow wears dark blue. Above this is a represen¬
tation of the Judgment. Anubis sits beneath a great
balance ; in one of the scales is an effigy of the goddess
of justice wearing her ostrich feather ; in the other scale
is the heart of the deceased. On the right stands Thoth,
with tablet in hand, the roll of the great book, ready
to inscribe the name of the deceased as among the
justified or the damned. On the left stands Set, the
incarnation of evil, in the form of a hideous beast, look¬
ing up wistfully at the beam, and hoping that the soul
of the departed may be found wanting on being weighed,
o
*
194 NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. XXI.
and may become his prey. But see ! the scales are
exactly equipoised, and he is saved. The next tableau
shows the presentation of the deceased by Horus and
two other deities to Osiris ; behind Osiris stands a
ministering spirit, holding in his hand the symbols of
three great religious festivals, in which no doubt
deceased had taken a distinguished part.
Next these comes a picture of the ex-chief and his
wife doing homage to their household gods, Hathor,
Horus, and Sebek. Further on, the farmstead is
drawn ; the work of ploughing and reaping is going on,
his cattle are being ferried across the river in boats on
their way to pasture, while other boats are carrying
home the harvest. Further on he and his wife appear
in the presence of the gods to receive their approbation
in having built a temple ; then they receive company,
male guests carrying their batons of office, the ladies
smelling lotus blossoms ; then they give a dinner party,
and there is a table covered with good things, about
which the guests are seated, while attendants pour out
wine for them. Before dinner the servants pour water on
their hands. Above this a public ceremony takes place.
Rameses the Sixth is seated under a pavilion upon a
throne, resting his feet on a footstool ; above his head
are his ovals and titles, before him the chief bows low,
and receives the ostrich-feather wand, which confers on
him the rank of prince. Next to this, in the full tide of
his gratitude, he and his wife are doing homage to a
statuette of the king.
Soon after this event death seems to have cut short
the career of his success, for his wife is standing alone,
with her two sons trying to comfort her ; however, the
signification of this painting is not very clear. On the
TOMBS OF THE KlNG-S , THEBES
Chap. XXI.] MODERN VOTARIES OF HATHOR. 1 95
east wall is a long inscription containing a recital of
the chief events of his life. I regret much I had not
time to copy it. On the back wall is a very curious
painting : on the side of a mountain stands a temple
with a conical or pyramidal roof. At the foot of the
mountain the chief is on his knees in an attitude of
adoration ; advancing upon him is the same hideous
beast who stood by at the judgment scene ; this time he
is on his hind legs, and brandishes a club in one hand,
and in the other is a creature like a gigantic scorpion.
From behind the mountain appears the head and neck
of a cow, decorated with the globe and ostrich plumes.
This is Hathor, who comes to save him. There were
inscriptions, which might have explained it all, but I
had not time to copy them. There was also an em¬
balming scene ; the deceased prince was laid out on a
sofa, and Nephthys and Anubis were engaged swathing
the limbs and anointing them with essences.
The mummy pit was in the centre of the entrance
chamber, and had apparently never been disturbed — at
least the Nubians said so. Behind the portico was a
kind of sanctuary, in which was seated a cow-headed
figure of Hathor. Hathor’s specialite was fecundity ;
therefore, in pagan times married couples who had not
been blessed with children used to sacrifice to her and to
make pilgrimages to her shrines, to win from her the
wished-for treasures. It is a striking instance of how
hard a traditional belief dies, that to this day the
Nubians who have no children come to this grotto of
Hathor in full faith that their pilgrimage will endow
them with fertility and ensure them children. They
even, as in ancient days, make libations to the goddess.
I observed in the tomb a quantity of modern Nubian
196
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXL
crockery, and was told by the native guide that they are
the fragments of vessels which barren couples have
brought there full of water ; that they pour out the
contents before Hathor and then break the vessel, and
afterwards spend the night in the tomb at the feet of the
cow-headed idol. Vainly has Theodosius and his edicts,
vainly have the fanatical Moslems laboured to kill the
old mythology, i.e., superstition ; it survives still, and
Hathor still has her votaries and her offerings.
In the evening we arrived at Korosko. There several
caravans were assembled waiting for camels to transport
them and their merchandize to Khartoum, and we
walked through them and inspected their tents. Some
Greek merchants courteously invited us in, and we
carried on a conversation in Italian. It is a ten days’
journey across a desert in which neither water nor food
for their camels was to be found. I asked whether
many of them did not die ; they said yes, and when
they dropped their loads were left by the road-side till
next trip, when empty camels were taken to bring them
on. They showed us their camp equipment ; they had
a good stout tent, carpeted with velvet-pile carpet, and
two comfortable iron bedsteads. They evidently did
not mean to rough it out on the desert more than neces¬
sary. We told them we had been at Athens and how
much we admired it, but it struck us that they listened
to our praises rather coldly ; probably they hailed from
some rival town. We wished them “ buono viaggio ”
and departed. Amongst the caravans were great heaps
of grain and dates, fenced in with matting, but not very
safely, for we encountered a lucky donkey who appeared
to have been presented with the freedom of the city of
Korosko, for he was wandering from one pile to another,
Chap. XXI.]
A CHAMELEON’S TACTICS.
197
now helping himself to a mouthful of dates, and then
taking a dig at the corn ; he had made the most of his
opportunities, for he was as rotund as a balloon. As the
Irishman said, “ Sure he’d ate till he’d bust and
wouldn’t bust after all ! ” At the end of the town we
were shown a crocodile killed on a sandbank opposite.
It measured 10 feet 6 inches long. That reptile’s last
experiences of life had not been very happy ; in fact, he
had evidently had a horrible quarter of an hour to finish
with, for he was chopped and hacked in all directions;
there were bullet wounds through his stomach, and
deep gashes in his back, sides, head and tail.
The staple of Korosko are caravans and coffee-shops.
There is a post-office and a civil Egyptian post-master,
who speaks a little French. There is a hill near, from
which a fine view may be obtained of the valley along
which caravans travel on their way to Khartoum.
Next morning we left for Assouan, and paid a visit
eii route to the Valley of Lions, where we were given
some grapes, the only ones we saw in Nubia. We also
bought two chameleons, chiefly from motives ol
humanity, for the young merchant who offered them, a
naked little wretch as black as jet, had tied their tails
into a knot and was swinging: them about in a manner
that gave one vertigo to look at. We gave these two
interesting reptiles the run of the cabin. They climbed
up the curtains and explored the windows, and devoured
the flies that there did congregate, and so long as they
lived we were free from that fifth plague of Egypt.
Their plan of attack was worth watching. They ad¬
vanced with slow, stealthy, deliberate step and half-
closed eyes, and when within an inch of their prey their
long tongue was shot out with lightning rapidity and
1 98
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXL
suddenness and the fly was gone ; but a pleased expres¬
sion stole over the chameleon’s features, a perceptible
wink flickered for a moment in his eye, as his throat
undulated during the passage of the wriggling insect,
and the creature’s skin assumed a deeper and richer
green. This was not destined to be our last zoological
purchase that day, for on landing later at Kalabshe we
were offered a very strange animal, the fresh-water
turtle, which we added to our live stock. We succeeded
in bringing him safely to Ireland, but a few weeks after
his arrival he died of cold.
Before quitting Nubia I may as well say a few words
about its modern condition. The population is by no
means homogeneous ; in some places there is a strong
dash of Abyssinian blood, with comparatively straight
hair and mahogany complexions ; in another, Arab
features predominate, with fairer complexions ; in
others, the pure Nubian, with frizzled woolly hair and
coal-black skins. The Romans were here for centuries;
but if any of their descendants survive, they have be¬
come so assimilated to the native races as to leave no
trace of European blood perceptible.
The Nubian villages differ most markedly from the
Egyptian. They are enclosed in high mud walls,
neatly plastered. These walls are to keep out the
hyaenas and other wild beasts. Inside are found col¬
lections of huts built of mud and stones mixed. In
one place I came upon a village which occupied the
interior of an ancient Egyptian fortification. The walls
were quite perfect, of immense thickness, and built of
large cut stones ; the entrances consisted of the usual
Egyptian portals, with the winged globe over them.
Outside the huts are big cylindrical jars, 8 feet high,
Chap. XXI.]
THE MODERN NUBIANS.
199
of sun-dried mud, in which they store their grain. The
wardrobes in which the women keep their finery are
cabinets made of mud and dried in the sun ; a door
frame has been fitted in while the mud was in a soft
state, and in this is fixed a door with a latch for
fastening. Burglars in that part of the world must
have an easy time of it.
We did not observe above Assouan any traces of the
distress which prevailed in the early part of the season
below it ; in fact, the excessively high Nile which wrought
such havoc amongst the crops in Egypt, and caused
such widespread starvation and misery, was all in
favour of the population of Nubia, for they never can
have too much water. Their golden age was that
ancient time when the Nile used to rise twenty-three feet
higher than it does now, for then extensive plains were
cultivated which are at the present time desolate wastes
covered with sand drifts.
The Nubians are a most industrious people, taking
advantage of every nook and angle in which a little Nile
mud has lodged to eke out their little garden patches,
and they fight with the desert and contest its supremacy
foot by foot, wringing from it every morsel of surface
that can by irrigation be turned into cultivated land.
They are a fine, hardy, independent, spirited race,
very free from crime, and always genial and good
humoured.
One of the ancient Egyptian designations for Nubia
was Khont-Hon-Nofre, which signifies literally the
Fountain-head of the Good Servant, a name still ap¬
propriate, for the best servants in Egypt at the present
day are Nubians.
CHAPTER XXII.
DESCENT OF THE FIRST CATARACT.
An Old Mosque — Beautiful Scenery — Shooting the Rapids — Sehael — Memorial
Inscriptions — Kom-Ombos.
January 25. — We spent the day at Philae, waiting
for the cataract men, who were engaged in bringing up
two dahabeeahs. From the roof of the temple we had a
fine view of the boats passing the last rapid. While
here we made an excursion to an old mosque higher
up the river — it is built of stones taken from the
temple. They are covered with hieroglyphics and
limbs, heads, and tails of Egyptian gods and goddesses,
which consort oddly with a Mahometan place of wor¬
ship. I observed on these stones several cartouches of
the Caesars. They had not taken the trouble to obli¬
terate them, but in revenge had turned them bottom
upwards ; and in that undignified position was to be
read the proud title “ Autocrat or Caesar.” The view
from the upper floor of this mosque was very fine.
Apropos of a large lizard I shot, our dragoman in¬
formed me that lizards were produced out of the bad
eggs of crocodiles. I have no doubt he believed it.
We left Philae at sunset, and I shall never forget the
beauty of the scene. A dahabeeah was just coming up
the cataract, the sky was golden, the temples on the
Chap. XXII.]
A PATRIARCHAL SURNAME.
201
island stood out clear cut against the yellow sky, and
the young moon was floating like a crescent boat above ;
the rocks and boulders of the cataract looked weird and
black, rearing their fantastic shapes in every direction
as we glided silently past them ; it was a charming
adieu to Nubia, where we had spent a very happy
month.
January 26. — We were awoke before sunrise by a
frightful babel of discordant sounds on the quarter¬
deck overhead. It was the cataract men who had
arrived, and were all shouting at the top of their voices,
as their manner is, as if trying to outroar Niagara.
We soon cast loose, and the servants came in to
fasten the windows and stow away the crockery, as the
plunging of the ship in going down the rapids may
make great havoc of things breakable, and a sea may
be shipped through an open window. We were soon
on deck, just as the first rays of the sun had tipped
the hills with fire. We left pretty Maratta behind us,
borne quickly along by the seething waters, and were
presently amidst the castellated piles of granite
boulders so well known to all who have visited Nubia.
Amongst the personages that took up their position
on the quarter-deck was a dervish, who unfurled a
faded banner with an Arabic inscription embroidered
upon it. We inquired its signification, and were startled
at the translation, for it was, “the Friend of God,” the
same appellation as had distinguished Abraham. The
crew firmly believe that the presence of this holy man
ensures them against disaster. This saint of the
modest banner sat swaying his body to and fro and
reading the Koran — the most powerful and efficacious
prayers in it — which we were told consisted of curses
202
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXII.
and denunciations against the infidels and prayers for
their destruction — not very reassuring for us !
The reis gets excited as we approach the first
rapid ; he shouts to the sailors to pull with all their
might. There are twenty men at the oars, two to each,
for the boat must have as much way of her own as
possible, quite independent of the impetus of the torrent,
or she will not obey her rudder. He gesticulates wildly
to the steersmen at the helm, and beckons to them to
steer first this way and then that as the rocks crop up ;
and so the Gazelle takes her plunge, and tears along
at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, rolling amongst
eddies and breakers. This first performance is quickly
over ; it is a sort of preliminary canter, a breather to
get us into wind for what is coming, for presently we
arrive in sight of a confused turmoil of waters, a hor¬
ribly steeply inclined plane of water, fringed with foam¬
tumbling waves, eddies, whirlpools, smaller cataracts,
and speckled here and there with big black rocks, like
plums in a pudding. Our lady’s maid, who nearly
fainted at the first rapid, now makes up her mind that
her destruction is certain, and flings herself on the
deck. Our pilots make all on board squat down low.
The reis this time looks really anxious ; the pilots at
the tiller brace themselves up for the encounter ; the men
tighten their turbans, and partly strip off their clothes,
to be ready for a possible swim. We feel the least bit
creepy, as the boat rushing on suddenly leaves the
horizontal, and the deck from stem to stern forms an
angle with the sky. She plunges down the great gate
of the cataract at the rate of twenty miles an hour. She
glances here and there amongst the rocks much as a
walnut shell would ; all hold their breath ; the men
Chap. XXII.]
RECORDS ON THE ROCKS.
203
forget to scream, and the reis telegraphs his orders to
the pilots with his arms. The sailors tear madly at
the oars, and a dozen hair-breadth escapes are crowded
into the space of as many seconds. We glance aside
and round a big rock, and the deck resumes the hori¬
zontal. It is over, and we are safe through. All set
up a loud cheer ; there is a sigh of relief, and men and
officers, dragoman and passengers, all shake hands and
exchange congratulations. We pass some more rapids,
but they are trifles to the great gate. I have shot the
rapids of the St. Lawrence, but those of the Nile struck
me as much the graver venture of the two.
We landed at the island of Sehael, just below the
falls, to examine the inscriptions on the rocks ; they are
very numerous and curious, and extend over a period of
2000 years. The earliest we saw was Ousertasen the
Third, of the twelfth dynasty, 2800 years b.c. ; the latest,
Psammeticus, 600 b.c., a period of 2200 years, during
which Egyptian monarchs have recorded their passage
on their way to or from Ethiopia, upon the rocks of the
cataract in hieroglyphics, adding low bas-reliefs repre¬
senting them in the act of offering thank-offerings to the
gods. Some of these are painted, and still retain their
colour, after so many centuries of exposure to sun and
sand-storms. Amongst these last is Amunoph the
Second, 3500 years old, and yet the colours are bright.
He is accompanied by his son, a very small boy, who
follows at his heels. There is a special interest about
Ousertasen’s, for it was inscribed while the Nile was
still at its original level, 23 feet higher than now ; and
accordingly it stands high up on the rocks. I made
a sketch on the spot, and I thought it worth copy¬
ing the inscription. They are all cut in granite, and
204
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXII.
Ousertasen’s showed its great age by the fact that a
process of decay in the granite itself had set in, the
once polished surface being corroded and eaten by
the tooth of time, and the outlines somewhat blurred.
High up amongst the loftiest rocks of the island,
however, I found another inscription and a statuette cut
in bold relief in a niche which must have been much
older even than Ousertasen ; the granite had so entirely
decayed that the features of the statue had dissolved
and were undistinguishable. There were many lines of
hieroglyphics in like manner quite decayed and illegible.
No clue, therefore, existed to the date except the
condition of the stone, which, though in a sheltered
angle of the rocks and less exposed than Ousertasen, was
much further gone. It may have been of the Pyramid
period. The figure wore a long dress and long hair
coming over the shoulders.
One of the inscriptions was very short, merely “ Mer-
Hotep, twenty years a chief.” Most of the private in¬
scriptions were those of priests and scribes. Amongst
the kings were Ousertasen the Third, the Thothmes,
Rameses the Second, Rameses the Fifth, and Rameses
the Seventh. On rocks near the island occur Psam-
meticus, Abries, and other late Pharaohs. In scrambling
among the granite peaks in search of inscriptions I
came upon some magnificent views of the cataract
scenery, which is very peculiar and striking.
We left Assouan the same day, after taking cere¬
monious leave of the good-natured Governor, who had
been very civil and of real service in hastening our
passage both up and down the cataract. We bade
good-bye to Nubia with great regret, having had most
agreeable experiences of its climate, scenery, and an-
Chap. XXII.]
KOM OMBOS.
205
tiquities, and we found the peculiarities of its very
lively and excitable population highly amusing ; but,
unless partial to the perfume of castor-oil, keep well
to windward of them, and don’t get into a crowd.
The first place we stopped at after leaving Assouan
was Kom-Ombos, a vast mound formed entirely by the
accumulated debris of generations upon generations of
houses, and crowned with the ruins, splendid even in
decay, of the twin temples of Horus and Savek — light
and darkness. On the lofty southern face of masonry
which rises directly out of the river I made out, to
my great surprise, the monogram of Unas; it was
(Plate LIII., No. 33) in a nearly square shield. Unas
was a king of the fifth dynasty. I examined it very at¬
tentively. It is in a position which would be perfectly
inaccessible, except by the aid of ropes, and it occurs
on a stone of considerable size, which has been covered
with hieroglyphics which have been purposely erased
and scooped out ; and my impression is that the stone
was brought from some ancient temple and used by the
Ptolemies in the construction of this. The oval of Unas
is the only portion of the stone which has not been
obliterated. It happens that it is very peculiar, and
does not resemble that of any other Pharaoh ; more¬
over, under it is the | J3 Hon Neter (Servant of God)
belonging to the ancient empire. I found also amongst
the debris two very large stones, both bearing the ovals
of Thothmes the Third and of the queen regent, Ha-
t-Asou, with the effigy of the former and all his royal
titles, and claiming to have built the temple of Savek.
Poor Ha-t-Asou was given no royal titles, though her
reign was a very brilliant episode of Egyptian history,
206
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXII.
as the paintings and inscriptions of Deir-el-Bahari and
the obelisks of Karnak testify.
I may observe here that after the death of a sovereign
the successors, when mentioning their heirs, did not
give them any titles except that of prince, and often
gave their name only. Ousertasen is thus mentioned at
Amada and Thothmes the Third at Esneh
The hieroglyphics to the right of the queen’s monogram
signify the temple of Sebek. I annex Amennouhat’s
oval, with the hieroglyphic name of Kom-Ombos. It
is thus written
© c*
— The town of Noub or
©
Noubi.
The city must have been a very ancient one, judg¬
ing from the mountain of debris which had accumulated
even before the temples were built ; perhaps the first
structure of all was built by Unas.
Amennouhat had two ovals —
Ma-ka-ra,
“ Just by Grace of God,” and the one which appears in
the Table of Kings, No. 29, and spells Amen Knouhm-
te Ha-t-asou, i.e., “ Amen Lady Providence, Leader of
Princes.” It is possible that this title, “ Leader of
Princes,” may have reference to the fact that she was
the guardian of her brothers.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MEMORIAL CHAPELS OF GEBEL SILSILIS.
Portraits of Menephthah and Honrs — Rameses the Second — The Quarries of Gebel
Silsilis — An Egyptian Siberia — Edfoo.
The strong current bore us swiftly on twelve miles
farther down stream to the ancient quarries hewn out
of “ The Mountain of the Chain.” One of the first
features that we noticed towards the southern end was
what looked like a row of opera-boxes overhanging the
river, and excavated side by side. These turned out to
be miniature memorial chapels, the interiors of which
were covered with sculptures and paintings, all pre¬
serving the memory of different kings ; in fact, Gebel
Silsilis is a most snugly-arranged place for visiting
Egyptian royalty. A custom prevailed for each king
to hew out a memorial chapel at the great quarries, and
these chapels are arranged in family groups. One
cluster contains those of the First, Second, and Third
Thothmes and of the queen regent, Ha-t-Asou, and of
her husband, Thothmes-Men-Kepher-ra-se, the father,
sons, daughter, and son-in-law. Another contains
Horus, Sethi, Rameses the Second, and Menephthah and
their wives in one chapel. A third, the architecture of
which is peculiarly elegant and classical, Sethi, Ra-
2o8
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIII.
meses, and Menephthah. These three monarchs had
been already included in one extensive Valhalla com¬
menced by Horus; but they seem to have been discon¬
tented with only a share in a chapel, and to have made
up their minds to do the thing well and to have one
apiece.
Then there are unsociable Pharaohs who stand iso¬
lated; amongst these are Ousertasen the First, Shishak,
and Rameses the Twelfth, and one of them, Amunoph
the Third, has crossed the river and established himself
in a little temple, all by himself, on the opposite side.
Pepi, of the sixth dynasty, the most ancient yet found,
contented himself with carving his name upon the rock.
The whole period covered by these monuments is,
according to Mariette Bey’s chronology, no less than
the vast period of 2700 years. Nowhere else in Egypt
have you so much that is interesting, concentrated into
so small a space. It is a very cabinet of Egyptian
history ; and we have here an opportunity of seeing the
portraits of several celebrated kings, side by side, of
comparing them and becoming familiar with their
features.
We may satisfy ourselves also that they are really
portraits, and not conventional faces, for they all
differ, and in each group the family resemblances can
be recognized and traced. There is a family likeness
running through all the Thothmes group, and also
through the Rameses group ; but the latter have quite
a distinct cast of features from the former. I was
fortunate enough to find a portrait of Menephthah, the
Pharaoh of the Exodus, uninjured; it has the prominent
nose of his father, Rameses the Second, exaggerated
almost to caricature. It is a remarkable face, with a
Chap. XXIII.] MENEPHTHAH AND HORUS.
209
harsh, disagreeable expression, quite consistent with his
wayward dealings with Moses.
There is at Boulak, a bust of some king unknown, oi
which Mariette Bey says “ que nous supposons etre
Menephthah ; ” but it has not the slightest resemblance
to the Rameses family. It has a short retrousse nose,
and a weak expression, differing totally from the Me¬
nephthah at Gebel Silsilis. We have the portraits of
Rameses’ children at Abou Simbel, both sons and
daughters, and they all have prominent features.
The portrait of Horus, the last of the race of
Thothmes’s family, is also interesting; it is executed
with the care and delicacy of a cameo, and presents a
sweetness of expression consistent with the tradition of
his character. He is seated on his throne, and carried
on the shoulders of twelve chiefs, in a triumphal
procession, in which his victorious troops share.
We could not get the entire tableau into our illustra¬
tion, but we append the central and most interesting
figure, Horus himself, together with the twelve chiefs,
who carry him. The king’s face is a fac-simile of the
face in the bas-relief. The throne reminds us of that of
Solomon (1 Kings x. ig). “And the top of the throne
was round behind : and there were stays on either side
on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the
stays." On the right of the king is his official name,
“ Hor-em-Hib, beloved of Ammon.”
In front and behind, sun-screens are borne aloft to
shade his majesty ; he carries a sceptre in his hand,
formed like a shepherd’s crook ; on the panel of his
chair are lotus and papyrus flowers, signifying Upper
and Lower Egypt. The twelve men who carry him
all wear ostrich plumes, the insignia of a chief or noble.
2 10
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIII.
The hieroglyphics in front and also at the back are
fragments only, the rest being obliterated. The ovals
on the sun-screens I have filled in on the authority of
other similar ornaments ; those at Gebel Silsilis had
been defaced.
Plate XVII. represents Horus being suckled.
The queen is styled, in the inscription opposite her
nose, “his divine mother.” The whole legend reads —
“ Beloved of his mother, the divine lady-chief ; master
of the two lands ; lord of the crowns (of the two king¬
doms), Ser Kaferou-ra-Sotepenra Hor-an-em-aheb Mer
Ammon.” A pretty long name ! Like all Egyptian
titles, it has its meaning, however, and may be trans¬
lated as follows : Ra, chief of the illustrious, approved
of the sun; Horus of the red crown; the joyous, beloved
of Ammon.
The queen’s head-dress is peculiar; I do not remem¬
ber to have seen elsewhere the curling side-lock which
she wears. She has the asp, emblem of royalty, on her
brow, and in the original bas-relief is pretty, and has a
very sweet expression, which has been lost in the hard
lines of the lithograph ; not a trace of colour remains.
Her baby carries the key of life in his hand, and wears
on his head the royal cap, to imply that he was born to
royalty, although, as an historic fact, he did not reign
in his own right, but in his wife’s, Sempt-mut, youngest
sister of Khou-en-Aten’s queen.
The baby face is very like that of the full-grown king,
in Plate XVIII.
In the same temple is an historically important
inscription, in which Rameses the Second claims to
have presided at great national festivals in the thirtieth,
thirty-fourth, thirty-seventh, and forty-fourth years of
PaXVII.
A BABY PHAROAH,
Quarries of Gebel Silsilis.
Chap. XXIII.]
GEBEL SILSILIS.
2 I I
his reign, another incidental confirmation of the long
period during which he held the reins of power and
directed the destinies of Egypt.
There are also several private chapels belonging to
officials, scribes, and superintendents ; most of these
are, more or less, defaced, but one of them which,
by the nature of its subjects and its style, may be
assumed to belong to the sixth dynasty, is in a com¬
paratively perfect condition ; it occupies a rather in¬
accessible position, and to that it owes its preservation.
This and other early tombs are situated so near the
present water-mark of the high Nile, that it is evident
that the reef of rocks which once dammed up the river,
down to the period of the twelfth dynasty, and caused
it to have a much higher level than at present, must
have existed above this point. At Gebel Silsilis the
level cannot have been higher than it is now, otherwise
the chapels would have been under water.
The Thothmes chapels overhang the river, and pro¬
ject over it in the order of their succession, resembling
nothing so much as a tier of opera boxes, the entrances
being square and low and without ornament, set close
together, and ranging in a parallel row. Those of the
Rameses family, on the other hand, are embellished with
lotus-bud columns and other architectural ornaments.
THE GREAT QUARRIES OF GEBEL SILSILIS.
We crossed over to the opposite side to visit the
quarries, and I know nothing which impresses one more
with the enormous expenditure of labour during a vast
lapse of time than these quarries ; there are several
great quadrangles big enough to accommodate Trafal-
2 I 2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIII.
gar Square, National Gallery, Monument, and all!
You find yourself in a world of stone surrounded by
perpendicular walls, which in some places must be
ioo feet high. In these enormous cavities the sand¬
stone has been cut in square blocks as a farmer cuts
his hay into square trusses (this last comparison, which
was very appropriate, was suggested by our English
maid who accompanied us) ; blasting was of course
unknown, every inch of the stone was obtained by
manual labour. The sides of the quarries are in
many places decorated with plans of temples and ele¬
vations of pilones and gateways cut as models by
the architects. In one place we found a huge sphinx
nearly finished, but abandoned owing to a flaw, which
caused the upper part of the head to split off ; upon it
are a number of minute measurements and lists of pro¬
portions for the guidance of the sculptor ; this monster
was about 18 feet long. The extent of the excava¬
tions looked vast enough to have supplied stones for all
the temples and monuments in Egypt, and those of the
opposite side are not much inferior. Yet, added to these,
there are the great quarries at Assouan and at Toura
in the Mokattam range, besides numerous smaller ones.
One recoils from contemplating the amount of human
toil and suffering which these represent, for it was all
done by forced labour ; men were torn from their homes
and families to wear out their lives here. It was the
Egyptian Siberia to which prisoners of war and enslaved
peoples were condemned. What gangs of captives left
hope behind them as they entered here to die prema¬
turely of excessive labour and despair, goaded on to the
last by the stick of the taskmasters, till they dropped
dead where they stood ! Those great shafts of stone,
Chap. XXIII.] AN EGYPTIAN SIBERIA. 213
those obelisks, those colossi, were moved inch by inch,
the sole propelling power being thousands of human
hands, for it often occupied a couple of thousand men
two years to convey an obelisk from its bed in remote
Syene to Thebes or the Delta. The large obelisks were
always conveyed by land, and as they came from the
quarries of Syene, which are on the east bank of the
Nile, it is on the east side of the river only that large
obelisks were erected. Some writers have imagined
that a mystic reason determined the limitation of
obelisks to the eastern side, but the physical obstacle to
conveying shafts of stone weighing 300 tons across the
Nile sufficiently accounts for the fact without going
further. Less ponderous stones were conveyed by
water during the inundation.
Gebel Silsilis means in Arabic the Mountain of the
Chain ; it is said that a chain used once to be stretched
across the Nile at this point, and they showed us a
great column of sandstone which has been left standing,
and which is capped with an umbrella-shaped rock re¬
sembling nothing so much as a mushroom on its stalk.
The chain was attached, as tradition goes, to this and
to its fellow on the opposite bank. The Nile is here at
its narrowest, 600 yards in width.
EDFOO.
In the evening we dropped some miles down stream,
and next morning, January 28, we reached Edfoo about
8 a.m. I had visited this place twice before ; when I
first saw it, nearly thirty years ago, the roof and the
great tower alone were visible, the rest being buried in
the debris of the ancient city and of many subsequent
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIII.
214
generations of houses. A village occupied the roof,
and access to the interior was obtained through a sort
of well-hole in the middle of the village ; now it is
thoroughly cleared out, and is a most magnificent and
perfect specimen of an Egyptian temple. It has been
so thoroughly ransacked and so exhaustively described
that it would be difficult to say anything new about it ;
I shall not therefore attempt to do so. It is the work of
the Ptolemies, and there is not the same antiquarian
fascination about it as the temples of the Pharaohs
possess, for the national monarchy, the native race of
Pharaohs, was extinct. The Ptolemies were Greek by
birth and education and instincts. One suspects them
in their Egyptian masquerade of insincerity. However
splendid their temples, somehow one feels that the real
thing is no longer there ; one cannot shake off the im¬
pression in a Ptolemaic temple that these sovereigns
with Greek names and faces consorting ill with their
Egyptian dress, are going through a mummery and
sham performance in their offerings to Egyptian gods,
and in the splendid endowments with which they bribed
the Egyptian priests. Their temples are no longer a
genuine manifestation of the national life and civiliza¬
tion of an ancient people ; there is a consciousness of
something hollow and unreal. Edfoo is a triumph of
architecture, but the associations that invest temples
like Karnak and Abydos with such deep interest are
wanting. It is this, and not the lack of antiquity, for
Edfoo was begun 2100 years ago, and is older than
the Colosseum or the Palace of the Caesars at Rome,
older indeed than most of the Forum or than Pom¬
peii ; but it derives some interest from the fact that it
is a restoration of an ancient temple that stood here
Chap. XXIII.]
TEMPLE OF EDFOO.
215
in the days of the Thothmes kings, for I have seen
mention of it in their monuments, and tradition assigns
it a much more ancient origin even than that. I saw
some sculptured fragments of the old temple, but they
unfortunately presented no royal monogram to fix the
date.
Apropos of Edfoo being a reproduction from the time
of Thothmes, I found here a duplicate of a singular
allegory I saw in the Temple of Thothmes at Amada ;
the king is driving before him four calves, each with a
sign attached, a black one, a red one, a speckled one,
and a white one. The black one has the sign khem,
which stands for cultivated Egypt ; the red one is the
desert ; the other two are still an enigma to me, but are
perhaps known to some more accomplished Egypt¬
ologist than myself.
I ascended the great propylon, and as I looked down
upon the temple I had to admit that it was a mag¬
nificent architectural monument. From this tower there
is a grand panorama of Nile scenery, and immediately
beneath a bird’s-eye view of the town that enabled us to
act the part of Asmodeus, and to see what the inmates
of the houses were doing, for most of them were on the
roofs. We also looked down upon a funeral that was
going on in the cemetery ; the mourners surrounded the
grave much as an English funeral party would, and the
dragoman told me they were engaged in prayer.
CHAPTER XXIV.
the khedive’s sugar factory.
Forced Labour — Large Profits — A Fact for holders of Egyptian Bonds — Brutal
Treatment of the Factory Workmen — A Walk across Country — Noisy Dogs — •
A Water-wheel — Industry of the Fellaheen — Scriptural Allusions.
After leaving Edfoo we landed at a village where
there was a sugar factory ; the village itself was very
clean and neat, consisting of long rows of whitewashed
cottages, with flat roofs ; in front of them were planted
four rows of mimosa trees ; it was market-day, and
people had brought in their asses laden with wares and
provisions ; a sort of fair was going on, each merchant
having his wares spread out on a mat under the trees ;
behind this he squatted, cross-legged, smoking the
chibouque of tranquillity and awaiting customers. There
were many gardens, and amongst others a very large
and fine one belonging to the Khedive. We knocked at
the gate, which was fastened ; a dusky turbaned youth
presently appeared, and drew forth from under a stone
a wooden key (this last proceeding reminded me of
the manner and custom of Irish gardeners), wherewith
he gave us admission, and we were ushered into the
presence of a Turkish gentleman — the Khedive’s in-
tendant ; this gentleman very civilly invited us to
inspect the garden, and loaded us on departing with
fruit and flowers, which made our saloon gay for many
days afterwards. We went to see the children at
Chap. XXIV.] A BUSY SCENE. 21 7
school ; they were squatting all round, with their faces
to the wall, doing their writing lessons ; they wrote
beautifully neat hands, using a reed pen, and writing
texts from the Koran, in Arabic characters, upon sheets
of tin, which did duty as slates. The schoolmaster, an
intelligent-looking young man, in a white turban and
blue dress, was much pleased at the interest we took in
his school, but our dragoman cut short our stay, whis¬
pering the single word — “ fleas ! ” We did not go,
however, till the boys had sung us a hymn. We then
paid a visit to the sugar factory ; this was a busy scene,
1200 hands being employed, besides a whole army ot
camels, donkeys, and horses ; the camel loads of cane
are thrown upon a broad travelling endless band, which
conveys them along till it drops them into a hopper,
where they are crushed between two immense steel
rollers, the juice gushing out in torrents ; from beneath
the rollers it runs through copper pipes into the vats,
where it is boiled till it gets quite thick ; as it cools it
becomes a mixture of crystallized sugar and treacle ;
this is put into centrifugal cylinders, which, whirling
round at the rate of iooo revolutions a minute, the
treacle separates and escapes through the perforated
sides, leaving the sugar in beautifully white and pure
crystals behind it. The chief manager is a French
gentleman ; he gave us much information about the
government of these factories and the system of forced
labour. It appears that this particular establishment
employs 1200 men ; of these 400 are permanently on
the staff, and carry on that portion of the work which
requires skill and experience ; they do get some pay,
and the remaining two-thirds, viz., 800 men, not only
get no pay, but they have to find themselves both in
2 I 8
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIV.
food and in tools ; compared with this 2d. a day, and
find yourself, would be a rich and happy lot. These
800 men are not, of course, patriotic enough to volun¬
teer ; they are obtained in this wise : — The Sheik of
each neighbouring village receives notice that he must
supply 100 men ; it is left to his own discretion to select
them ; having done so, he marches them up to the fac¬
tory with their tools, baskets, and provisions, and they
have to work there for a fortnight, at the end of which
period they are relieved by another hundred from the
same village, and they are free to go home and make
up for lost time on their farms. While they have been
toiling for the Khedive, or rather for the holders of the
Khedive’s bonds (for to the bond-holders all the profits
now go), their wives and children have been carrying on
the farm-work as best they can ; meanwhile the unfor¬
tunate head of the family has not been having a good time
of it, and must return home rather cross ; not only has
he had to leave his own farm-work, at perhaps the
busiest crisis of the season, to toil gratis for a man
whom he never saw, but he has to work under the
shadow of the stick, and in a factory the temperature of
which is raised by the boilers and furnaces to that of
the stoke-hole of a Red Sea steamer ; and (let Sir W.
Lawson quote this fact in his next speech) they get
through all this without one thimble-full of beer. During
three months the work goes on day and night ; each
man is allowed occasional spells of rest, during which
time they fold themselves up, head and all, in their camel-
hair robe, and sleep soundly on the stone floors, without
even a pillow, and amid all the din of the machinery, so
exhausted are the poor fellows by the unremitting toil
and heat. The furnaces are fed with the refuse of the
Chap. XXIV. A FACT FOR BONDHOLDERS. 219
canes, after the sap is squeezed out ; they do not use
much coal ; this factory has, this season, turned out
100,000 cwts. of sugar, worth 4,000,000 francs, of which
1,000,000 is clear profit. All the factories south of
Thebes are very profitable, but in those north of it the
climate does not suit sugar-cane sufficiently well to
make its cultivation pay ; it is a tropical plant, and
though it will grow, it does not really ripen far north of
the tropics. While here I saw a long train of boys
and girls carrying immense jars of molasses on their
shoulders, and there walked beside them men in fezzes,
armed with whips, and they used them too on the backs
of these poor creatures whenever they did not go fast
enough for them, or whenever they strayed out of line.
And yet these poor people are by nature so light¬
hearted that they sang and laughed as they went along,
and minded it as little as the rest of the pack grieves
when one hound gets the lash. Consider , oh English¬
men who hold Daira bonds , that this is the machinery
through which your seven per cent, dividends are wrung
from the people ! It is true that in each individual case
this forced labour, with its miserable accompaniments,
only lasts a fortnight, but what a parenthesis it must be
in the season’s experiences ! Before, however, pouring
out the vials of our indignation on their ruler, we must
remember that he inherited the system— that forced
labour has been an institution of the country ever since
the Pyramids were built, and that the present ruler has
only followed in this respect in the wake of his predeces¬
sors from the time of Mena downwards, the only
difference being that the old kings built pyramids, while
the Khedive makes sugar loaves.
While we were in the factory one of the men fell from
220
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIV.
a gallery and was mortally injured ; he was carried out
in a dying state. On emerging we inquired for him,
and were shocked to find him lying in the sun and
covered with flies — left to die there like a dog. No man
had had the charity to moisten his lips or to carry him
into the shade, or to fan the flies away, or to alleviate
his sufferings in any way. We indignantly appealed to
the overseer, and did not leave until we had seen him
made as comfortable as his condition would permit.
Poor fellow ! his emancipation did not seem to be very
distant. His wife and children in some far-off village will
await his return in vain when his term of forced labour
is expired, and unless by chance they will never know
what his fate has been. We fanned his face and spoke
to him, but he appeared scarcely conscious.
We were assured that the victims of the corvee are
often, when their term is up, left to find their way home,
perhaps two or three hundred miles off, as best they can
— not unfrequently they never return at all.
We afterwards took a long walk across country, from
the river’s bank to the edge of the desert ; they were
already harvesting their beans, peas, and barley, and
breaking up the land for another crop ; the harvest was
being carried by the camels, who came staggering along
under loads that made them look like walking hay¬
stacks ; it seemed, however, to be a kind of carnival
among the animals — all were turned loose to eat up
what was left on the ground, buffaloes, sheep, goats,
asses, and camels — all were making the most of their
opportunity to have a good blow-out, and were as rotund
as balloons. Many of the villagers were camping out,
so as to be near the scene of their labours ; they lived
in enclosures made of mats, and open to the sky, and
Chap. XXIV.] A WALK ACROSS COUNTRY.
22 1
the pigeons and poultry had emigrated with them, and
in and out scampered a parcel of pot-bellied little
niggers, whose bill for clothes must have been ex¬
tremely light, for they had no covering but their own
brown skins. Some of the sleeping arrangements were
remarkably simple : there were oval enclosures of Nile
mud, with a narrow opening at the end, and a sort of
cup-shaped hollow at one part ; each of these enclosures
was the sleeping accommodation for one person, and
the cup was to hold a jar of water, to which the occu¬
pant might put his lips “ when so disposed.” Certainly
a rainless climate simplifies domestic arrangements
wonderfully ; here the weather is always perfect ; the
nights are as fine as the days, and bread and water are
the only ingredients required to render life enjoyable—
perfectly happy ! We came upon a village where they
were making large pots on the usual potter’s wheel —
that and the never-failing supply of Nile mud being
their only stock-in-trade. While we were watching the
operation, an old woman whose dark bronze features,
coloured like a dirty halfpenny, rather resembled an ill¬
shaped pipkin, rushed up to M - and kissed her. I
am afraid she was not so grateful for the compliment
as she ought to have been.
We passed through a village consisting of the usual
mud houses with flat roofs, huddled together without
any attempt at order ; some of them were built of da¬
maged pots, “ our failures,” the interstices between
them being plastered with mud and chopped straw ;
there were also tall square pigeon towers of the same,
the pots serving for breeding places for these birds,
which swarm in hundreds round every Egyptian village ;
overhead a couple of vultures were sailing round and
2 2 2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIV.
round, on the look-out for garbage. Here and there
were mounds of rubbish, which served as the easy chairs,
lounges, and ottomans, for a parcel of long lean dogs;
there they lay, basking in the sun, with a pleased smile
about their mouths, sometimes lazily twitching an ear,
when an extra troublesome fly annoyed them ; they
were taking it easy, like dogs who had been making a
night of it. As they snoozed there they looked the most
quiet, peaceable animals possible ; who would have
believed that these were the identical brutes who kept
up such a diabolical chorus of barking, howling, and
yelling, all night long — the brutes that the night before
we had dreamt with such savage joy of hurling boot-
jacks at ! That mangy yellow cur must be the very one
that came down close to the boat and howled till he
woke us ; then we gradually became aware that while
he was performing this solo, the chorus was tuning up
and preparing to join in with them; their friends in the
village opposite took up the running, and barked and
yelled in competition — it was strophe and anti-strophe
— the concert grew fast and furious ; the horrid convic¬
tion seized us that sleep was impossible, and that we
were destined to listen to that fiendish uproar all
through the long night, until rosy morn. Then I nerved
myself to the desperate effort of arousing the reis, the
dragoman, and the crew, and insisted on being moored
further off ; the drowsy sailors murmured, but at last
got up, and calling much on Allah, pushed off into mid¬
stream, and dropped down until the horrid sounds were
softened by distance and stole across the water, ming¬
ling gently with our dreams.
We continued our walk across country until we
reached the desert. Not far from the edge of it was a
Chap. XXIV.] INDUSTRY OF THE FELLAHEEN. 223
deep well, the water from which was being raised for
irrigating purposes, by a sakeer or water-wheel ; some
palm logs had been stuck upright round it, and mats
were laid across, forming a picturesque bower, with a
tree overhanging, under the shade of which a pair of
bullocks were plodding away at their monotonous round ;
the shaft consisted of a split palm trunk, and attached
to this, behind the bullocks, was a basket in which
squatted a naked little nigger, six years old ; his duty
was to keep the team going, and this he did with his
shrill small Arab voice, and with a stick much taller
than himself. He seemed quite proud of the responsi¬
bilities of office. Over the wheel were strung two cables
of palm fibre, to these were attached a number of earthen
pots which, as the wheel revolved, dipped into the water
thirty feet below, and when they reached the surface
they poured forth their contents into a trough as they
turned over the wheel ; these operations are attended
with a creaking droning sound — a melancholy music
that accompanies one everywhere, night and day, in
Upper Egypt. The groups of natives we met called out
“ baksheesh,” in a good-humoured sort of way; it was
only a time-honoured form, for they did not seem in the
least to expect that we would give them any. Even the
babies in arms, innocent yet of the gift of speech, held
out their little brown palms towards us, and acted ‘‘bak¬
sheesh ” in dumb show. One cannot help liking the
Fellaheen ; their imperturbable good humour, their in¬
dustry, their perfect sobriety, the wonderful patience
with which they bear their hard lot, are deserving of
admiration, and they always meet one with a cheery
pleasant smile, and are so obliging, and they brighten
up so if one does but bestow on them a kind word or
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIV.
2 24
look ; for my part I was always glad of an excuse for
giving them a piastre or two. Poor people ! how happy
they would be if there was no forced labour to tear
them away from their homes, and if they were allowed
to till their bit of land in peace, and without fear of
those pale men in fezzes (the Turkish officials) darken¬
ing their lives with the shadow of the bastinado, and of
bastinado-extorted taxes. While on this subject I may
mention some of the abuses under which the peasantry
suffer. The collectors of taxes are required to produce
from each village a stated amount, but there is nothing
to prevent them levying double the sum due and pocket¬
ing the difference, or dividing it with those whose con¬
nivance must be secured for the success of the operation.
The unhappy fellah can get no redress, for if the eyes
of Justice are bandaged her palm is wide open, and her
decrees are an affair of dollars and piastres.
Then the manner of assessing the proportion due is
most mischievous and vexatious. The crops must not
be cut till the village mudir has inspected them ; mean¬
while, in a hot, dry climate, the interval between the
ripening of the grain and its shedding is almost an affair
of hours. If the crop is to be saved from being half
wasted and scattered on the ground, the mudir must be
bribed to come and view it early. Another serious
injustice is the exemption of the Turkish Pashas and
the European merchants and shopkeepers from taxation.
There is a large population of Greeks, Italians, French,
English, and German, who contribute nothing to the
revenue, although they have grown rich on the loans,
the interest of which weighs so heavily on the country.
The sweeping away of this unjust exemption alone
would afford vast relief to the native population. If the
Chap. XXIV.]
CORRUPT OFFICIALS.
225
taxes were levied evenly, fairly, and on sound principles,
the resources of the country would be quite sufficient to
meet the interest of the debt and the expenses of govern¬
ment and administration too, without pressing unduly
on the peasantry. It must be remembered that part of
the sum levied as taxes is in fact their rent.
The prevalent corruption is so great that the Khedive
himself is robbed in all directions. A case came under
our notice, which, as it offers a good illustration of the
sort of abuses that prevail, may be worth recounting.
An official was sent down to a certain district by his
Highness to superintend the cutting of 500 acres of
sugar-cane ; when he reached the locality he found indeed
the acies there, but not a cane upon them ! He reported
accordingly, and a commissioner was despatched to
investigate the circumstances. This officer judiciously
proceeded to bastinado the subordinates ; meanwhile
their superiors, the real delinquents, who had been
drawing funds for large sums for the sowing, planting,
cultivating, and irrigating of the said farm, and coolly
pocketing the money, laid their heads together, and came
to the conclusion that the commissioner must be pro¬
pitiated. I hey made up a richly-filled purse and
presented it to him. T his opened his eyes to their ex¬
planations ; he transmitted to his master such an
account of the transaction as satisfied him that no one
was to blame. The real sinners got off with their
plundei scot free, and the official who had honestly
reported the misdeed was informed that his services
were no longer required, and the cause of corruption
and abuse triumphed. There are no public-houses in
the villages, nor do they ever touch intoxicating drinks,
and, as a consequence, there is no crime. I regret to
226
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIV.
say that the only exceptions to this immunity from the
curse of drink are the Coptic villages, where they seem
to consider that their Christianity bestows upon them
the privilege of getting drunk, and that each dram they
swallow is an additional proof of orthodoxy.
When we got back to the river we met a string of
buffaloes coming up out of the mud, in which they
delight to wallow, when they have a chance ; no doubt
it was thus that Pharaoh’s kine came up out of the
river, all the more ill-favoured for having their lean ribs
plastered with clay. The Egyptian buffalo is called the
water ox, as it is almost amphibious, and will float for
hours with nothing but its nose and flat horns visible.
It is wonderful how many passages in Scripture, the
force and meaning of which remain otherwise obscure,
are elucidated by a visit to Egypt. Job speaks (ch. iii.
14, Isaiah xiv. 18) of the kings and counsellors of the
earth building desolate places for themselves. A visit
to the tombs of the kings of Thebes, excavated in the
side of the most desolate mountain recesses, makes
these obscure allusions at once clear. A visit to other
tombs, outside which lie the scattered bones of the
mummies that formerly tenanted them, gives straight¬
way vivid force to David’s expression, Psalm cxli. 7
(Bible version) : “ Our bones lie scattered at the mouth
of the graves as when one heweth wood.” For there
lie the sun-bleached fragments of what were once the
frameworks of men and women, just like chips of wood
left by the woodcutter.
CHAPTER XXV.
TOMBS NEAR EL-KAB.
Ruins of Eilythias— Historical importance of Tombs at El-Kab — Genealogical
Inscription — Career of a Naval Officer under the Seventeenth Dynasty — His
Portrait — Paintings in the Tombs — The Bible and Egyptian History — Esne.
In the evening we anchored near the ruins of the
ancient city of Eilythias: its Egyptian name was Nekheb,
after a vulture-headed deity who was there worshipped.
The Greeks chose to identify this goddess with their
Diana, although no analogy is apparent. We wandered
about the ruins until it grew dark, and our cook sent
an impatient message that dinner would be spoilt. It
is well worth exploring ; a vast quadrangle, surrounded
by high walls of immense thickness, with inclined
planes leading up from the interior to the summit of the
ramparts, which when perfect must have formed a level
coping wide enough for several chariots to drive abreast.
From this elevated position one looked down upon the
ruins of hundreds of houses, arches, cellars, and loop-
holed walls, and one portion of the enclosed space
seems to have been specially dedicated to the temples
of the gods, the solid stone foundations of which may
still be traced. At no great distance, however, up the
valley to the east are several small memorial chapels in
good preservation, which have escaped the destruction
228
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXV.
which has been the lot of those within the city. They
date back to the Thothmes and Amunoph period, but
there are on the rocks in the same valley inscriptions
even more ancient, executed in the sixth and twelfth
dynasties, and recording the venerable names of Teta
and Pepi. Next morning we started for the hills, which,
honey-combed with long rows of tombs, were visible
from the deck of the Gazelle. On our way we observed
every depression in the soil in which the water of the
inundation had rested to be crusted with nitre or soda.
January 29. — The tombs at El-kab consist chiefly
of a series all appertaining to one family of the
name of Ahmes. They cover a period of time
beginning with the last kings of the seventeenth
dynasty, about 1800 b.c., and extending through the
entire of the eighteenth dynasty, that brilliant period
which included Ahmeses (Amosis), the Amunophs, the
Thothmes, and Ha-t-Asou, and extend into the nine¬
teenth dynasty, the latest ovals being those of various
Rameses kings. They, therefore, span an interval of
about 400 years. They are of considerable historic
importance, for they throw light upon that obscure time
when the so-called Shepherd Kings occupied Lower
Egypt, and prove satisfactorily that a collateral line of
native monarchs reigned contemporarily with those in
Upper Egypt. Several members of this family were
also long lived. Their careers extended over more than
one reign, and in the histories of their lives which their
mausoleums contain, they give us the sequence of
sovereigns during whose time they successively flou¬
rished, thus offering valuable confirmation of existing
lists of the members of these dynasties.
While poking about among the more neglected and
Chap. XXV.]
GENEALOGICAL INSCRIPTION.
229
dilapidated tombs, which the Arab guides assured me
were “ Ma fish,” no good, I spied the monogram of
Amosis peeping above the rubbish that obstructed its
mouth, and I immediately set my men to work to clear
out the entrance. I found a mutilated inscription con¬
taining a connected genealogy of nearly the whole
eighteenth dynasty, giving in succession the names of
Amosis, Amunoph the First, Thothmes the First,
Thothmes the Second, Thothmes the Third, and the
Queen Regent, Ammon-nou-het, and underneath that
the bas-relief of a royal prince, whose ancestry was
probably thus traced, and who was no doubt connected
by marriage with the Ahmeses family. I copied as much
of the inscription as was legible (and I think it suffi¬
ciently valuable to notice). I observed that in this list,
as over her memorial chapel at Gebel Silsilis, Ammon-
nou-het is not given the titles of absolute sovereignty,
but is called princess and lady chief. She did exercise
sovereign power for many years, but it must have been
as regent.
We copied also an inscription of twenty-five columns
of hieroglyphics in another well-known tomb belonging
to a naval officer, who began his career under the
last king of the seventeenth dynasty, Rasekanen the
Second, or the Great, who inaugurated the work of
driving out the alien race of the Hycsos, and finished
brilliantly a dynasty which commenced in obscurity and
national misfortune. This inscription contained the
ovals of Rasekanen, Ahmeses, and Amunoph the
First; in the course of it was a figure of a chariot,
which is important, for it shows at how early a period
this engine of war was in use, and as the drawing
represents it unharnessed and without horses, the way
230
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXV.
in which the pole is constructed at the extremity for
attachment to the shoulders of a pair of horses is
shown.
Our readers will scarcely thank us for the twenty-five
columns of hieroglyphics, but we append the translation,
for which we are indebted to that eminent Egyptologist,
Br ugsch Bey. It is both interesting and historically
important, for it is a contemporary record of the final
campaign, in which the Shepherd Kings were driven
out of the Delta, and Upper and Lower Egypt reunited
under one sceptre. This event was consummated under
Ahmeses, the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, the
Amosis of the Greeks. He was the king who “ knew
not Joseph.”
Thus speaks the old veteran, who fought by the side
of that monarch throughout his campaign, and assisted
at the taking of the last stronghold of the Hycsos, the
city and fortress of Avaris I. : —
“ The chief of the sailors Aahmes, a son of Abana, I
speak to you to all people, and I give you to know the
honourable praise which was given to me. I was pre¬
sented with a golden chain eight times in the sight of
the whole land, and with male and female slaves in great
numbers. I had a possession of many acres. The
surname of ‘ the brave ’ which I gained never vanished
away in this land. I have completed my youthful
wanderings in the town of Nukheb. My father was a
captain of the deceased Ra Sekenen ; Baba, son ot
Roant, was his name. Then I became captain in his
place on the ship The Calf , in the time of the lord of
the country Aahmes the deceased. I was still young
and unmarried, and was girded with the garment of the
band of youths. Still, after I had prepared for myself a
Chap. XXV.] A NAVAL OFFICER’S CAREER.
231
house, I was taken on the ship The North because of
my strength. It was my duty to accompany the great
lord — life, prosperity, and health attend him ! — on foot
when he rode in his chariot. They besieged the town
of Auaris. My duty was to be valiantly on foot before
his holiness. Then was I changed to the ship Ascent in
Memphis. They fought by sea on the lake Pazetku of
Auaris. I fought in a struggle with fists, and I gained
a hand. This was shown to the herald of the king.
They gave me a golden present for my bravery. After
that a new fight arose in this place, and anew I fought
in a struggle with fists in that place, and I gained a
hand. They gave me a golden present another time,
and they fought at the place Takem, to the south of the
town (Auaris).
“ I gained of living prisoners a grown-up man. I
went into the water — him also bringing to remain aside
from the road to the town. I went firmly holding him
through the water. They announced me to the herald
of the king. Then I was presented with a golden
present again. They conquered Auaris. I gained in
that place prisoners, a grown-up man and three women,
which makes in all three heads. His holiness gave
them to me for my possession as slaves. They besieged
the town Sherohan in the sixth year. His holiness took
it. I brought booty home from here, two women and a
hand. They gave me a golden present for valour. In
addition the prisoners from it were given to me as
slaves. After then that his holiness had mown down
the Syrians of the land of Asia, he went against Khont-
Hon-Nofre* to smite the mountaineers of Nubia. His
holiness made a great destruction among them. I
* Literally “the Source of the Good Servant.”
232 NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. XXV.
carried away booty from that place, two living grown-up
men and three hands. I was presented with a golden gift
another time ; they also gave me three female slaves.
“ His holiness descended the stream. His heart was
joyful, because of brave and victorious deeds. He had
taken possession of the south and of the north land.
There came an enemy from the southern region ; he
approached ; his advantage was the number of his
people. The gods of the southern land were against
his fist. His holiness found him at the water Tent-ta-
tot. His holiness brought him forth a living prisoner.
All his people brought booty back. I brought back two
young men when I had cut them off from the ship of the
enemy. They gave me five heads besides my share of
five hides of arable land in the town. It happened thus
to all the ship’s crew in the same way. Twice there
came that enemy, whose name was Teta. He had
assembled with him a bad set of fellows. His holiness
annihilated him and his men, so that they no longer
existed. So there were given to me three people and
five hides of arable land in my town. I conveyed by
water the deceased king Amenhotep I. ; then he went
up against Kush to extend the borders of Egypt. He
smote these Nubians by means of his warriors; being
pressed closely they could not escape. Bewildered,
they remained in the place just as if they were nothing.
Then I stood at the head of our warriors and I fought
as was right. His holiness admired my valour. I
gained two hands, and brought them to his holiness.
They sought after inhabitants and their herds. I
brought down a living prisoner, and brought him to his
holiness. I brought his holiness in two days to Egypt
from Khnumt-hirt (that is, the upper spring). Then I
Chap. XXV.] A NAVAL OFFICER’S CAREER.
233
was presented with a golden gift. Then I brought
forward two female slaves besides those which I led to
his holiness, and I was raised to the dignity of a
champion of the prince. I conveyed the deceased king
Thutmes I. when he ascended by water to Khont-Hon-
Nofre to put an end to the strife among the inhabitants
and to stop the attacks on the land side, and I was brave
(before him) on the water. It went badly on the attack
of the ship, on account of its upsetting. They raised
me to the rank of captain of the sailors. His holiness
— may life, prosperity, and health be allotted to him ! ”
H ere follows a rent which according to the context is
to be filled up in such a manner as to show that a new
occasion calls the king to war against the people of the
south. “ His holiness raged against them like a panther,
and his holiness slung his first dart, which remained
sticking in the body of his enemy. He fell fainting
down before the royal diadem. There was then in a
short time a (great defeat), and their people were taken
away as living enemies. And his holiness travelled
downwards ; all nations were in his power. And this
wretched king of the Nubian people found himself bound
on the fore part of the ship of his holiness, and he was
placed on the ground in the town of Thebes. After this
his holiness betook himself to the land of the Rutennu to
cool his anger among the inhabitants of the land. His
holiness reached the land of Naharina. His holiness found
— life, prosperity, and health to him! — these enemies.
He ordered the battle. His holiness made a great
slaughter among them. The crowd of the living
prisoners was innumerable, which his Majesty carried
away in consequence of his victory. And behold I was
at the head of our warriors. His holiness admired my
234
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXV.
valour. I carried off a chariot of war and its horses
and those which were upon it as living prisoners, and
brought them to his holiness. Then I was afterwards
presented with gold.
“ Now I have passed many days and reached a grey old
age. My lot will be that of all men upon the earth. [I
shall go down into the lower world and be placed in the]
coffin which I have made for myself.”
At the end of the tombs was a perfectly preserved
portrait of the old sailor and his wife. He was a bluff,
resolute-looking man, more European than Egyptian in
features, and not handsome. A short and rather snub
nose, a low solid brow, and, what is most unusual with
Egyptians, wearing his own hair, and whiskers on his
lower jaw, and wearing also a short beard curling
upwards from his chin, after the manner of mariners to
be seen any day at Portsmouth. On his own showing,
he took a very important part in promoting the success
of his royal masters, both by sea and land. There is
one thing which the Egyptian chiefs invariably did
well, and that was the blowing of their own trumpets.
In this and other tombs of the same group the sons
and daughters of the inmates are represented seated at
the funeral feast ; the ladies in one row, the men in
another, and over the head of each is a hieroglyphic
inscription stating the sonship or daughtership, and
adding their name.
These names are often of value, for in tombs in which
no royal cartouche occurs to determine the date, it can
be approximately fixed by the names given to the chil¬
dren, for the practice prevailed of naming children after
the contemporary sovereign. In the present instance,
the name of the eldest daughter was Ta'i, a sovereign of
Chap. XXV.] PAINTINGS IN THE TOMBS.
235
\\
the seventeenth dynasty, while the name of one of the
sons was Ahmeses, the first king of the eighteenth
dynasty (see Table of Kings). Tai is a name which
in one form or other remained in fashion all through
the eighteenth dynasty ; amongst others, the cele¬
brated Queen of Amunoph the Third bore the name
of Tai-ti (see Plates XX., XXI.) As this family
seem to have been very prolific, their ingenuity must
have been severely taxed to find names for all their sons
and daughters. Baba Abana claims to
have had no less than fifty-two, and we fwT]
000
counted seventeen daughters in this tomb ; - 7
one of them was named Noub-em-Heb. ^
Some of the younger sons recalled the
last monarch under whom Ahmes lived. There was an
Amen and a Hotep, thus economically splitting the
royal name of Amen Hotep. There was also a Thothti,
the name of Amen Hotep’s son, Thothmes the First,
then still a youth. In Plate XIX. the name Ahmeses
appears in the upper right-hand corner as the name of
the lady beneath, Ahmeses Nofre-te, i.e., “ Nofre-te,
child of the moon.”
One of the tombs was full of agricultural scenes, but
these have been so exhaustively described by Sir Gard¬
ner Wilkinson, and other well-known authors, that I
prefer to dismiss them with bare mention. They are
very interesting and well preserved.
In the same tomb is a capital group of musicians.
They are all women. One is giving the time by clapping
her hands ; one is playing the double pipe ; a second
the harp, which has twelve strings. These strings were
coloured red, showing them to have been of copper,
(they have, in error, been printed black in Plate XIX.) ;
NILE GLEANINGS.
V V
236
[Chap. XXV.
while a boy is clattering a couple of bones apparently,
so that the Christy Minstrels have a very early precedent
for that important functionary, “Bones.”
We mentioned the orchestras of girls at the cafes
chantants at Port Said. It will be seen that it is a very
ancient fashion to have both wind and string instru¬
ments played by female performers.
While the concert is going on, a member of the band is
carrying round a bowl to the guests to collect coppers.
It is at the funeral feast that this concert takes place ;
so the mourners were evidently bent on keeping up their
spirits as well as they could. Nor were there wanting
baked meats and pots of wine to sustain them in their
grief. In another tomb they seem to have been less
light hearted ; the poor widow is bowed down before the
mummy, her long hair thrown forward over her head
and hanging before her face, and the daughters are
throwing dust on their heads, while further on is a
tableau of the coffin being borne to the grave, and of
the son, still a lad, walking beneath it.
The processes of washing and embalming the dead
are minutely given. It is to be observed that under
the ancient dynasties neither funeral subjects, nor the
scenes after death, are ever represented, only agricul¬
tural scenes, fishing and hunting scenes, festive scenes,
and the incidents of every-day life. These tombs seem
to mark a transition period, when the two subjects were
mixed ; later on came a period when the mystic subjects
of the judgment and of the Egyptian purgatory pre¬
dominated. I have already alluded to the fact that some
of these tombs were contemporary with the last period
of the Shepherd Kings, i.e., contemporary with the
period of Joseph. Now, in connection with this, Brugsch
MINSTRELS AT A FEAST
Wall Painting El-Kab
Chap. XXV.]
TOMB OF BABA ABANA.
237
Bey, in his “ Geschichte Egyptens,” communicates a
very important discovery which he made.
The father of the sailor chief, Ahmes Abana, was a
man of the name of Baba Abana, and his tomb is close
by. In it is a recital of the incidents of his life,
especially of those which tend to plead his justification
before the gods his judges. Amongst these he pleads
that during a famine of many years’ duration he fed the
people.
He says :
—
>COO
4
JL\
V
AAAAAA j |
iii Aii
Au
There being
kak
famine
kheperou
manifested
em
during
akhau C7i
many
renpi
years
AAAAAA
a _ a
artu-an
I provided
ta
corn
AAAAAA @
1
en no t
to the city
k
em
in
hah
each
neb
famine.
So run the hieroglyphics, and I have put their for¬
tunately particularly plain and indisputable translation
beneath them. I have only modified one expression in
Brugsch’s translation. He renders ft/wwv (artuan) —
“ I gave ; ” it literally means “ I prepared,” as he him¬
self observes in a foot-note. “I provided” therefore
appears to me as close a rendering as can be given,
and it is clearly borne out by the Greek word apTwco,
artuno — used by Homer specially with reference to the
providing of food. It will be seen that this Homeric
word is identical with the Egyptian, both in sound,
orthography, and sense, and adds a very interesting
illustration of how closely Greek and other European
languages are linked with the ancient Egyptian in the
relation of stem to root. Now, as a famine of several
years’ duration is a very rare, if not an unprecedented,
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXV.
238
event in Egypt, and as Baba Abana’ s time exactly corre¬
sponds with Joseph's , we are warranted in assuming
that he is speaking of that very famine that occupies
so important a place in the Bible and in the early
history of the Israelites. But independently of the
very great interest which attaches to this independent
and incidental testimony to the accuracy of the
Bible narrative, it is also of value in a historical
point of view, for it offers an additional point of contact
between the Bible and Egyptian history, and enables
us to fit in the elements of the latter more accurately
in their places. These points of coincidence with the
Bible narrative are the sheet anchor of the Egyptian
chronologist, and offer the only fixed data he has to
go upon in calculating the chronology of the early
dynasties preceding the nineteenth. In those times
points of contact with the history of other races was
impossible, for either they had no written records or
those records have perished. Egyptian history for ages
pursued its course solitary and alone ; it acquired a
companion and a parallel record for the first time when
Moses wrote the annals of his race. The performances
of Baba Abana appear to have been great in every
way, for he tells us that he had fifty-two children, and
adds that he had provided beds and chairs and tables
for each, and the milk of three cows, fifty-two goats,
and eight she-asses. The perfume consumed was one
Hin (this is obscure, and leaves the way open to con¬
jecture). He quaintly adds, “ if any one should suppose
that I am joking, I invoke the god Mont as a witness
that I speak the truth.” Talleyrand must have had Baba
Abana in view when he said, “ Un pere de famille est
capable de tout.” He goes on to say, “ I gave curdled
Chap. XXV.] THE ABYDOS TABLET CONFIRMED.
239
milk in jugs, and beer in the cellar in more than suf¬
ficient measure. I provided corn, loving the good God,
I attended to seed time, and a famine having manifested
itself for many years, I provided wheat for the town in
each year of famine.” (See page 237.)
We concluded that Mariette Bey had removed this
precious inscription to a safer place, for having spent
the whole day in hunting for it, and having run
through endless columns of hieroglyphics, we failed to
find it.
I append yet another translation by Brugsch Bey. It
is an inscription on one of these tombs ; it belongs to a
generation later than the old sailor, and is historically
interesting as carrying on the sequence of sovereigns of
the eighteenth dynasty, and confirming the accuracy ol
the table of Abydos.
“ I served the deceased King Aahmes. I gained for
him as booty in the land ... a living prisoner and
a hand. I served the King Amenhotep I. I seized for
him in the land of Kush a living prisoner. Again in the
service of the deceased King Amenhotep I., I took for
him in the north of the land of the Amu-kahak three
hands.
“ I served the deceased King Thotmes I. ; I seized for
him in the land of Kush two living prisoners besides the
living prisoner which I took away from Kush. I do not
count that here.
“ Again, in the service of the King Thotmes I. I seized
for him, in the land of Naharina, twenty-one hands, a
horse, and a chariot of war. I served the deceased
King Thotmes II. I brought for him from the land of
the Shasu a great number of living prisoners. I do
not count them here.”
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXV.
240
This short inscription gives us the names of four
successive sovereigns under whom this officer served.
He began his career at the end of the reign of Ahmeses ;
he continued it under that of Amunoph the First, and
under that of his successor Thothmes the First; he
finished his long term of military command under
Thothmes the Second. The land of Naharina means
the land between the two rivers, i.e. Mesopotamia.
This private record is a good example of how the
table of Abydos and other lists of kings are confirmed,
and the accuracy of the sequence of reigns placed
beyond doubt by contemporary records. We saw similar
inscriptions on fourth and sixth dynasty tombs of indi¬
viduals whose lives had spanned three reigns, and in
whose epitaphs the names of the successive monarchs
under whom they had served are given, together with
the nature of the services they had rendered and of the
rewards they had received.
In Plate XLVII. we have a tableau of an officer bring¬
ing prisoners to the king, and we can thus realise the
scene in which the hero of the above presents himself
before his sovereign with his leash of living prisoners
from the land of the Shasu.
It will be observed that we write the name of the
founder of the eighteenth dynasty, Ahmeses, instead of
the conventional Ahmes ; our reason for doing so is that
the last two hieroglyphics of the monogram spell
meses — we have the authority of Manetho for it. He
writes the name in Greek ’'A/xaio-t?. Then there is
the analogy of Rameses, which terminates with the
same two characters ; for the same reasons Thothmes
ought to be pronounced Thothmeses, and it is in fact
written ©ou^/xwcris by Manetho, who no doubt gave
Chap. XXV.]
ESNE.
241
the nearest rendering he could to the Egyptian sound
of these names.
In the evening we returned to the Gazelle , having
spent ten hours in exploring these very interesting tombs
and in copying inscriptions.
Next day, January 30, we reached Esne, and paid a
second visit to the temple of Knouhm Ra, and spent
some time in the town exploring the bazaar, specially
with a view of judging of the condition of the popula¬
tion. It seemed to us that the distress had abated
very decidedly, and business had revived. The harvest
promised well, and quantities of cotton and grain were
being brought into town by long strings of camels for
shipment.
R
CHAPTER XXVI.
MEDINET ABOU.
Interesting Sculptures — Home Life of Sesostris— An Ancient Temple — Visit to the
Ramesseum — The Tombs of the Queens — Curious Sepulchre at Kournet Murrae —
Tomb of King Ai — Mummy of Amunoph the Third.
January 31. — We reached Luxor before midday, and
moored the Gazelle to the east of a canal which enters
the Nile near the great temple. Our object in placing
the canal between ourselves and the town was to inter¬
pose that obstacle between us and the dogs that infest
it, and as a matter of fact we found it a quiet berth for
our floating home.
On our way to Medinet Abou, the Memnonium
was passed, which we observed had become greatly
dilapidated since our visit two years ago. To our
indignation we learnt that they had been quarrying
stones there to build a canal embankment. We passed
also close by the colossi, and I noticed over the head
of the queen, who stands at the knee of the giant, the
same oval that I met on the table of genealogies
at El-Kab — Ta-i-ti (see Plates XX., XXI.). She was
the queen of Amunoph the Third, in whose honour
these colossi were erected. They stood at the en¬
trance of a great temple built by him, and in the
rear of them the scattered stones of the temple may
still be seen, with Amunoph’s cartouche upon them.
Chap. XXVI.] INTERESTING SCULPTURES.
243
Medinet Abou was built by Raineses the Third, whose
reign was sixth in succession from his great prede¬
cessor, Rameses the Second. They are now even often
confounded. Rameses the Third was also a mighty
conqueror, and as he lived nearer the commencement
of Greek history, he was better known to the Greeks,
and is in fact their Sesostris. He lived about 1300 b.c.
Medinet Abou was built by him to commemorate his
exploits, and it differs from other similar monuments in
combining a royal palace with a temple, or rather in
having a royal palace annexed to it. At its entrance still
stand in good preservation several apartments of this
structure ; it was three storeys high, and its lofty walls
were crowned with oval pointed battlements, suggested
by the shields of the soldiers who lined the parapet of a
besieged fortress. I climbed up into one of the chambers
armed with a powerful opera-glass, and I was enabled to
make out the details of the very interesting sculptures
that adorn its walls far better than we had succeeded in
doing on either of our previous visits. There were
several groups ; in one of them the king is seated in his
chair, behind him are two eunuchs carrying short-
handled fans ; close by them is a table with refresh¬
ments ; in front of his majesty stands the queen, wear¬
ing the coronet which distinguishes royal princesses ;
this coronet is surmounted with a diadem, and beneath
this ornament the opera glass revealed a strikingly
beautiful face, admirably executed, and with an amount
of expression unusual in Egyptian sculptures. She is
caressing the king with one hand, while she holds his
crown with the other ; I annex a sketch to show her
head-dress, but it does not by any means do justice to
her beauty (see Plate XXI.). On another wall was a
R 2
244
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVI.
group in which the king is seated as before ; behind
him are two ladies, one holding a fan, the other a tray
with fruit, and an ostrich feather mounted on a short
handle ; in front of his majesty the queen is represented
again — he is chucking her under the chin. In a different
apartment the royal pair are engaged in playing chess
or draughts ; she is standing and he seated, and the
chess table is placed between them, but her figure is
so much defaced that it is difficult now to discern the
traces of it. When I first visited Egypt it was still in
good preservation.
A recent authoress has mistaken the coronet on the
queen’s head, in these groups, for a basket of flowers ;
but if she had taken the trouble to visit the tombs of the
queens, she would have seen there that this coronet was
worn by several of the royal ladies, by Ta-i-ti, wife of
Amunoph the Third, and by Isis, wife of Rameses the
Fifth. In the tomb of Ta-i-ti its structure is minutely
detailed ; it consists of seven stems of gold springing
out of the usual princess’s diadem, and surmounted by
discs of gold, patterned and engraved. The same
queen’s crown occurs also in the tombs at Bab-el-
Melook, in a tableau representing the king accompanied
by his consort ; and we observed it in one of the private
tombs. A doubt has been expressed as to whether the
chambers so decorated really were the apartments of a
royal residence, and it has even been conjectured that
the sculptures that adorn the walls are allegorical, and
illustrate the king’s visit to the abodes of the blessed,
and that the crowned beauty is in fact a personage
corresponding to the Mahometan houri ; the grounds
for these doubts are the absence of precedent for the
annexation of a palace to a temple, and the absence
Tai -Ti , Consort of Amunoph III
Tombs of the Queens.
Chap. XXVI.]
SESOSTRIS AT HOME.
245
of the queen’s oval. But the nature of the sculptures
and the character of the building appear to us to
settle the question. The edifice differs totally from
any temple or portion of a temple in having battle¬
ments, and indeed in every other respect it is quite
distinct from the main structure, being merely joined
on to it, and architecturally incongruous ; the fact
of its being an isolated example of a royal palace
may be due to the custom of each king building a new
residence for himself and destroying that of his prede¬
cessor ; a wasteful practice still in vogue with Egyptian
viceroys and other Oriental potentates. As for the
tableaux that adorn it being allegorical, such an alle¬
gory would be utterly without precedent and opposed
to Egyptian religious thought and ideas.
The subjects of the sculptures are unmistakably
domestic, and show us Sesostris at home in the bosom
of his family. This is so palpable that some of our
crew who accompanied us exclaimed spontaneously,
“ The hareem of the Soultan ! ”
It was the well-known practice of the Egyptians to
cover the walls of any chamber with representations of
the scenes that took place there, thus illustrating the
purposes for which it was designed. The tableaux here
are suitable to the king’s dwelling rooms, but incon¬
gruous with any religious or state uses ; and as the
sovereign was also pontiff and high priest, there was
nothing unnatural in having his residence attached to
his temple, just as the Vatican is annexed to St.
Peter’s. As for the absence of tbe queen’s oval we
have observed other instances of it. The royal pair had
thrown aside in their home the cares and ceremonies of
state, and the lady’s crown proclaimed her rank suffi-
246
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVI.
/ N
JJ <2
u
ciently. It is also possible that there may once have
been a cartouche there containing her name, which
has been subsequently erased by the jealousy of some
successor ; that, at all events, would not be without
precedent. Be that as it may, her head-dress and sur¬
roundings leave no room for doubt that she was the
crowned consort of Rameses the Third. We know from
other sources that he had a lawful wife. I annex her
cartouche. Isis Ma-ta-ro-ta, queen of Upper
and Lower Egypt. Her tomb is still extant in
the valley of the tombs of the queens, and in a
neighbouring valley we saw a very beautiful
stele representing her with the king and his little
son on some state occasion. In this interesting
tableau the king is presenting offerings to the
gods at one of the anniversary festivals, while the
mama is amusing herself by kissing the child.
Having examined the group attentively and sketched
the queen’s head-dress by the aid of a powerful opera-
glass, by means of which I verified every detail, I can¬
not be mistaken. I can, however, readily understand
that as the sculpture is high overhead, the crown might
on a superficial inspection be mistaken for a basket
of flowers, an error into which even Sir Gardner
Wilkinson appears to have fallen. The only difference
between the diadem at Medinet Abou and that of Queen
Ta-i-ti, figured in Plate XXI., is that the latter has only
seven stems and balls, whereas the former has nine.
Rameses the Third evidently pulled to pieces other
temples to construct Medinet Abou, for I saw in many
places built into the walls, topsy-turvy, the ovals of
older kings, especially of Sethi and of Rameses the
Second. These temples must have been nearly brand-
Chap. XXVI.]
AN ANCIENT TEMPLE.
247
new when he broke them up to furnish material for his
own, for Raineses the Second lived only 150 years
before him. Shades of his ancestors ! Dead lions
seem to have been no better off in Egypt than else¬
where ! Nor were these the only plumes he borrowed.
He is suspected of having annexed sundry of his
renowned ancestors’ exploits, and to have clapped them
on his own monument. There was one, however, of
his forefathers whom he did respect, and that was
Thothmes the Third. There is a small temple which
intrudes most inconveniently into the plan of the great
one, it was built by that monarch, but Rameses had
not the heart to throw it down, and so it stands to
this day. An examination of this ancient structure
reveals the fact that Thothmes also worked up the
materials of yet more ancient temples in building his,
for I found, inserted upside-down in the masonry, stones
bearing the ovals of kings of the twelfth and other early
dynasties ; and some very curious names occurred
amongst them. He also, however, had his scruples, and
he has spared a portion built by Amenemhe the First,
which is still extant. Its date is about 2800 b.c. ; it
is, therefore, 4700 years old. It comes, as a temple,
next the Pyramids and the Temple of the Sphinx in
antiquity of structure. Stele and rock tombs of the
sixth and even earlier dynasties occur ; but I know of
no temples of so early a date.
The entire length of the great south wall of Medinet
Abou is covered with hieroglyphic numbers; inventories,
apparently, of the properties of the temple, and of the
rations furnished for the support of the priests, and for
offerings to the gods. If these have not already been
deciphered, they would be well worth copying.
248
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVI.
The north wall, its battle scenes by sea and land,
and its lion hunts, are too well known to need descrip¬
tion. I observed among the Egyptian troops some
soldiers wearing the same curious equipments as the
Shaitani at Abou Simbel, with ball and crescent helmets,
but no longer armed with the enormously long knives
and sheaths, which here appear (see Plate XLIII.).
On our way back we visited the Ramesseum, a
monument devoted to ancestry by Rameses the Second.
There occurs in it, in two places, an array of the sons
of this king, with their names over their heads ; similar
lists exist at Derr and at Abou Simbel ; but whereas
at these last places there are only eight, they have
increased here to twenty-two. The first eight bear the
same names, and even in the same order as at Abou
Simbel and Derr ; it may, therefore, be assumed that
they are placed according to seniority. I observed that
in a blank space was the head of the thirteenth son. A
royal oval has subsequently been introduced, thus con¬
firming the fact that his successor, Menephthah, was his
thirteenth son. Both the oval and the name have been
defaced purposely. Rameses must have outlived twelve
of his sons.
There is a curious tableau representing the con¬
ception of Rameses, and even here he is represented
wearing the crown of sovereignty. This difficult sub¬
ject is in allegorical form ; it is most delicately and
ingeniously managed.
We rode on from here to the Tombs of the Queens;
they are situated in a valley quite as wild and desolate
as those of the kings. The way to them lies behind
Medinet Abou, from which they are not very distant ;
they are in a narrow ravine of white chalky material,
Chap. XXVI.] THE TOMBS OF THE QUEENS.
249
and at mid-day the glare of light and the heat are
intense.
The guide books say that all these tombs have
suffered by fire, and little can be traced except in that
of Queen Taia; but I saw six tombs on which the
colours were quite fresh and bright. The fact is, the
guides are a lazy set, and will never show more than
they can help, unless you stimulate them with a promise
of special tips for each additional tomb they bring you
to ; by this means I got out of my guides several inter¬
esting stele in neighbouring valleys, in addition to the
tombs I have alluded to.
One would have supposed that a tomb excavated in
the rock would offer no material for a conflagration, but
the bodies of the poor princesses have been dragged out
of their resting places, their mummies torn to pieces, in
search for jewellery, &c., and then piled in a heap in the
tomb and made a bonfire of ; and as they are enveloped
in linen clothes, saturated with bitumen, they burn very
freely. The heat has been sufficiently fierce to calcine
the walls in several instances. Thus they themselves
have been cruelly made the material for destroying their
own tombs ; an outrage as inhuman as seething a kid in
its mother’s milk. Amongst these ill-fated mausoleums
is that of Ba-ta-Anta, the eldest daughter of Rameses
the Second, and the supposed benefactress of Moses.
There has escaped, however, one very perfect cartouche,
and one profile portrait which, while preserving the
same aquiline features as her statue at Abou Simbel,
gives a much more favourable impression of her temper.
Her oval reads, Ta-Ba-ta-aa-on-An-t-a.
In the tomb of Isis Ma-ta-ro-ta, queen of Rameses the
Third, is a broken sarcophagus and some paintings.
250
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVI.
One of them represents the goddess Hathor as a cow
being ferried across a river, and in the boat before her
is a large vessel full of grass for refreshment en route.
In that of Ta-i-ti, Hathor is represented standing at the
foot of a mountain.
The most interesting tomb, and the most perfect and
richly painted, is that of Ta-i-ti. She is a personage
of some historic interest, because she was the mother
of Amunoph the Fourth, who is supposed to have
subverted the established religion of Egypt, and
introduced foreign customs. She herself, however,
is represented on her tomb as worshipping the usual
Egyptian deities most piously, and as the tomb must
have been decorated with her sanction, she at all
events cannot have been the authoress of the religious
eccentricities referred to. I have entered fully into this
question, however, in a previous chapter on the subject
of Tel-el-Amarna and its historic indications. Ta-i-ti’s
son is represented on her tomb offering to the memory
of his mother. He does not at all resemble Khou-en-
Aten, with whom he is supposed to be identical (see also
page 295).
This queen must have been very beautiful, to judge
by her portrait which occurs here. Contrary to the
usual custom she is given a pale pink complexion.
She wears a foreign costume richly coloured, and open
in front.
It is a kind of Persian tunic, with long sleeves over
the arms, adorned with fringes, and it is quite open all
the way down the front, with a very rich and beautiful
border of divers colours. The lady does not appear
to have worn any under dress ; prudishness was evi¬
dently not the fashion of the day, and both in this and
Tai -Ti , Consort of Amunoph III
TOMBS OF THE QUEENS.
Chap. XXVI.] PORTRAIT OF QUEEN TA-I-TI.
251
many other instances we must admit that the costumes
of Egyptian queens did some violence to our sense of
decency, though the modern eel-skin costume ought
to have inured one to that. Ta-i-ti wore a rich but
very peculiar head-dress. Her coronet was of gold,
surmounted by a vulture wearing the crown of Upper
Egypt ; the bird’s wings were outstretched, as if pro¬
tecting the head of his beautiful mistress. In front of
him were two asps erect, symbolizing the sovereignty
of the upper and lower country. Over her brow she
wore the royal asp, and beneath her coronet the usual
vulture head-dress, emblematic of maternity. This
complicated and cumbrous tiara would have looked
top-heavy, had it not been for the lovely face that
peeped out from beneath it ; but beauty will carry off
almost anything, and lend attractions to the most un¬
graceful costume.
The portrait we annex (Plate XX.) we can guarantee
as a faithful and accurate reproduction of Queen Ta-i-
ti’s features, and it acquires additional interest from the
fact that her toilette apparatus is in the British Museum.
There, under a glass case, will be found the little por¬
celain vases in which she kept her cosmetics. They
have her monogram and that of her husband engraved
or stamped upon them ; they were discovered in her
tomb.
Opposite the royal beauty, and on level with her face,
were her titles and the usual oval containing her name
(see Plates XX. and XXI.). They read as follows : —
“ Wife of the King, chief lady (of the realm), mistress
of the two lands (of Upper and Lower Egypt), Ta-i-ti
princess — she is blessed.” Her hood has been printed
black, but it was blue in the original. The names of
252
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVI.
her father and mother are Juah and Shuah. She is
believed to be a foreigner owing to these names, which
have an outlandish sound. Her own name, however, is
thoroughly Egyptian. Another circumstance which is
relied on to prove her foreign origin is her complexion,
which is fair instead of the conventional yellow. But
this is not conclusive, for we have seen pink complexions
in undoubtedly Egyptian tombs, though it was not
usual.
On the wall on the opposite side of the corridor is
the same queen wearing a different coronet (Plate XXL).
It is similar to the one which I have already described
as adorning the brow of Isis Ma-ta-ro-ta, consort
of Rameses the Third. It consisted of seven slender
shafts rising out of the coronet, and terminating in
disks engraved with a pattern ; the whole idea was
taken from a quiver of arrows, which were not tipped
with feathers, as with us, but with circular pieces of
some light material — perhaps leather. This fresco has
been much defaced, the crown alone being uninjured.
We have, however, fortunately been enabled to supply
the missing portions from the duplicate portrait vis-a-
vis, which is particularly perfect and fresh in colour
(see Plate XXI.).
Our Arab guide offered an explanation of the calcined
condition of so many of the tombs of the queens, which
is, that the Romans in after times brought their dead
there to burn, and constructed their funeral pile of the
mummies, which they used as fuel, found ready to hand
on the spot — to such base uses may we come !
On our way home we saw a curious tomb at Kournet
Murrae, belonging to one Hooi, a royal prince. He
had occupied a government in Ethiopia, and the walls
Chap. XXVI.] TOMB AT KOURNET MURRAE.
253
of the tomb are covered with tableaux of deputations
from semi-independent tribes of Abyssinia and Equato¬
rial Africa, who had come to offer homage and bring
gifts to the king, and whom he introduced into the
royal presence. The most remarkable figure was a
negro princess in a chariot drawn by hornless oxen,
like the polled Angus breed. She was elaborately
dressed, and wore on her head a diadem, fixed to the
top of which was a much decorated umbrella — a head¬
dress hardly suited for windy weather !
There were paintings of the large Nile boats in which
she and her suite had travelled, and her chariot ap¬
peared on the deck, and her oxen in the hold. She
had quite a fleet, bringing giraffes, leopards, bales of
tropical produce, gold rings and vessels, ingots of
copper and iron, &c., and a curious trophy representing
a negro beehive-shaped house, with giraffes nibbling
the palm-tree tops outside. These animals were evi¬
dently common in those days, and were rather a
nuisance, as they are represented stealing the fruit.
Having heard of two tombs far away in the mountain
which are seldom visited, we, in our capacity of gleaners,
set out to explore them. They are in a valley to the west
of the tombs of the Raineses family, and are situated in
a cul-de-sac , surrounded by precipices garnished with
water-worn columns, at least 700 feet high, like those
in Saxon Switzerland, but arid and burnt up, and as
devoid of life as the Mountains of the Moon.
The first mausoleum I entered descended at a very
steep incline down into the hard limestone. There were
no hieroglyphics or paintings in the succession of long
tunnels which we traversed, but at last we reached a
great hall. The centre of this was occupied by a sarco-
254
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVI.
phagus of rose-colourecl granite. It was beautifully
executed ; at each corner stood a goddess, embracing
with her outspread wings the two sides of the angle. It
was covered with hieroglyphics, but the cartouches had
been utterly effaced except one, which had been over¬
looked. It was quite unknown to me at that time,
but I have since ascertained that it contains the
name of a sovereign who married a daughter of Khou-
en-Aten, and reigned in his wife’s right. He is
known as King Aai, but that is but a small part of his
entire name, which reads, Kafer-Kaferou-ra-ar-ma-
Nuter-Aai-nuter-hic-ouas. But notwithstanding the
length of his name,
OVAL OF KING AAI, PRECEDED BY TITLE.
the Egyptians regarded him as a usurper, and did their
best to efface it after his death. He is said to have
governed wisely and well. It is worth observing that
he calls himself Prince , not king.
Khou-en-Aten died without surviving male issue.
The son who figures in one of the tableaux at Tel-el-
Amarna as being fondled by his mother as a little
child, never came to maturity ; but his sisters, of whom
there were several, throve and grew up, and married
officers of their father’s court, who subsequently became
kings’ consorts, and reigned in succession. None of
them seem to have left any children, and when the
last of them was laid to rest the throne reverted to a
collateral branch of the royal family, from which
sprang the distinguished series of the Rameses kings.
On the great wall facing the entrance was a procession
(WM
Chap. XXVI.] MUMMY OF AMUNOPH III.
255
consisting of two princes being led along by goddesses
into the presence of Osiris. The princes had Egyptian
complexions, but with square, heavy jaws, and not at
all resembling either the Amunophs or the Rameses
kings ; but the Osiris was represented as a negro —
black, and with negro features, flat nose and thick lips ;
the cartouches were destroyed everywhere, evidently on
purpose. The second tomb was that of Amunoph the
Third. The approach was similar, — a succession of
long tunnels without sculpture, turning and twisting
zigzag fashion, as if the mummy had been trying to
escape its pursuers by doubling like a coursed hare.
Alas, in vain ; for, on reaching the great hall, there
stood the sarcophagus broken and rifled. Behind it I
found the mummy all dismembered and scattered about
the floors in fragments.
Amunoph must have been a big man, judging from
the length and stoutness of the thigh-bone, which
measured ig^ inches in length ; the skull still had the
scalp attached, and was unusually thin. The fashion
of covering the sepulchral chambers with mystic sub¬
jects does not seem to have been introduced till the
nineteenth dynasty. There are none here nor in any
of the eighteenth-dynasty tombs that I have seen. The
subjects of the paintings were the introduction of Amu¬
noph into the presence of Osiris by sundry gods and
goddesses ; he himself is everywhere portrayed with the
regular Amunoph features. The colours were perfectly
bright and fresh and the paintings uninjured, thanks to
the fact that few travellers take the trouble to come
here.
CHAPTER XXVII.
TOMBS OF THE PHARAOHS.
Our Cavalcade — Ayeesha — In Hades — Tomb of Sethi the First— Rameses the
Third — The Serpent Myth — The Egyptian Purgatory.
Next day, February 3, we devoted to our first visit
to Bab-el-Melook. This name is purely Arabic, and
signifies the gate or gorge of kings ; it is applied to the
narrow ravine in which the mausoleums of the Rameses
family are situated. It is a long expedition, and there¬
fore an early start is necessary, both to give time for
all the sight-seeing that has to be crowded into one day
if possible, and also to avoid the heat of the mid-day
sun. Accordingly, at daybreak, the sand-bank to which
we were moored was occupied by a group of Arab donkey
boys and their much-enduring quadrupeds, patiently
waiting for the Hawagis to appear. So, toilet and coffee
completed, we summoned Talhami to give some final
injunctions about lunch, then stepped forth, mounted
our steeds, and took our way across the sand, which
was knee-deep. We soon came to a shallow branch of
the Nile, across which we waded up to the saddle-girths
in water, our donkeys plunging and floundering along
among the holes in the muddy bottom, threatening
every minute to disappear bodily from under us, and
give us the benefit of a bath gratis ; however, two tall
Arabs placed themselves on each side of M - , and
PLATE 58.
PLAN OF TOMBS OF THE KINGS.
(BAB EL MOLOOK.)
Chap. XXVII.]
OUR CAVALCADE.
257
held up her and her donkey together. In returning,
our dragoman, steed, and all, disappeared beneath the
waves in company, so that the danger of a ducking was
by no means imaginary. The cavalcade consisted of
Talhami, a couple of guides, our sailor body-guard, a
sumpter mule with the lunch, and two very pretty bright¬
eyed Arab girls carrying water-bottles on their heads for
our benefit. The prettiest of them was called Ayeesha,
but unluckily her water-bottle was old and broken and
dirty, whereas her rival had a very smart new one.
Poor little Ayeesha ! she trotted after us over hill and
down dale, and across the fiery Libyan hills. With her
bright eyes and her merry laugh, and chanting her little
English phrases to us in the most musical of voices as
she tripped along. On our next expedition she had
bought a new jug, and made me drink out of it so often
that I felt as if I was assuming its shape and rotundity.
M - ’s donkey kept up a sort of grunting, grumbling
solo all the time, so we christened him the vocal Mem-
non. Egyptian donkey-boys are most ingenious in their
pleas for baksheesh. One of these heard us lamenting
that our steeds were so badly fed, so presently the little
wretch came up and said, “ I say, Mas’r, donkey very
hungry, baksheesh for donkey, I no money buy
grass.” After about an hour’s ride we entered a wild
weird valley, utterly destitute of life : on either hand
were barren, desolate mountains and rocks of fantastic
shape, reflecting back the glaring light and fiery heat
of the sun with terrible intensity : for another hour we
threaded our way along this gorge in silence and per¬
spiration, until it ended in a cul-de-sac closed in by an
amphitheatre of peaks, between which avalanches of hot
tawny sand descended into the valley. The whole scene
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVII.
25S
was the wildest and most desolate that can be imagined,
and called irresistibly to mind David’s expression, —
“ The valley of the shadow of death.” Certainly they
could not have chosen a more appropriate place for the
royal cemetery of the Pharaohs. Here and there
among the limestone debris holes were discernible in
the mountain side, they looked like holes and nothing
else ; these, however, were the entrances of the tombs.
They had once had magnificent fafjades, sculptured and
painted ; these were destroyed by Cambyses, who also
broke open and defiled the sarcophagi containing the
royal bodies, and scattered their contents, twenty-five
centuries ago. Then the curtain of sand and rubbish
descended on them, and hid them out of sight, to be
again discovered and again forgotten, until they have
now been discovered for the last time for the benefit of
tourists, and the hordes of travellers, who are fast de¬
stroying finally and for ever the venerable and interest¬
ing paintings and sculptures which Cambyses spared.
The corridors leading to the great rock-chambers, ex¬
cavated in the heart of the mountain, are covered with
tableaux illustrating the every-day life of the Egyptians ;
but in the chambers themselves you seem to have taken
leave of earth, and to be transported into a world of
phantoms. Serpents and strange monsters twine about
the walls ; gorgons and chimeras dire march in grim
procession ; the soul appears in the presence of its
judges, who each execute their special office, and each
god of the Egyptian mythology executes his peculiar
function. One brings in and introduces the spirit of
the deceased ; another weighs his good deeds in the
scales against an ostrich feather ; the heart of the de¬
ceased is put into the balance, in the shape of a heart
Tombs of the Kings.
Chap, XXVII.]
IN AMENTI.
259
with a cross. Happy he who is weighed and not found
wanting. Behind stand the Egyptian Minos and Rha-
damanthus, backed by the ape-headed executioners ; then
comes the purgatory, in which the soul is represented
going through its appointed periods of purification,
3000 years in all ; each period is marked off by a door.
Damned souls are depicted in the shape of swine
driven along by malicious-looking baboons, armed with
scourges. Ceilings, walls, and columns — whole acres of
polished rock are covered with these gloomy pictures ;
and we issue forth again into the daylight with the sense
of relief of a man waking from a nightmare. The colours
are still fresh and vivid, and we had with us magnesium
wire ; even that powerful light scarcely sufficed to illu¬
mine the gloomy vaults overhead ; but as it burnt fitfully,
strange and portentous forms seemed to start out from
the indigo background of the roof — -the whole ceiling
was dotted with golden stars. The temperature of the
tombs is about 8o°; but that seemed cool in com¬
parison with the fiery atmosphere we had to face when
we emerged into the blazing sun outside.
As one gazes on the strange, grim, tableaux within,
bats glide about — silent and ghostlike, and their wings
lightly brush one’s face ; and they seem to belong to
the phantom world around, and to lend reality to them.
While reading a powerful novel we know that the cha¬
racters are fictitious, and yet we cannot shake off the
feeling that they were living personages, and our sym¬
pathy is with them for the time, as if their trials and
sufferings were real ; so is it in these tombs, one knows
that these paintings are but expressions of extinct super¬
stitions, and yet they are so vivid, and their remote and
venerable antiquity, and their strange situation there in
26o
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Ciiap. XXVII.
the bowels of the mountain, give them such power over
us, that we cannot help feeling while in their presence
a sensation of awe ; nor must we lose sight of the fact
that they are a very vivid expression of the great prin¬
ciple of future rewards and punishments, and of the
immortality of the soul.
The Arabs told us a story of a boy who lost his way
and was left all night in Belzoni’s tomb ; in the morning
he was found there raving mad ; he never recovered to
narrate his adventures or what dire apparitions had
robbed him of his wits.
Any one who has a taste for solving allegories, let
him bring a good supply of provisions and come and
stay for a month in one of these royal mausoleums, and
he will have a most delightful time of it.
Some of the tableaux, I feel bound to say, have but a
very thin veil of allegory over them, and are easy to
interpret, but these are outrageously indecent.
The most beautifully executed tomb of all is that of
Sethi the First ; the figures and hieroglyphics are in
bold relief, and are beautifully painted ; they have such
a very fresh new look, and the colours are so brilliant
as to be absolutely startling ; they are not even dusty,
for as the air in these subterranean recesses is quite still
and motionless there is no dust.
But alas ! what time has spared, what the Persians
and all succeeding generations of destroyers have left
undisturbed, have been terribly marred and mutilated
by a man of our own generation, and that by one from
whom one would have expected some veneration for the
monuments of antiquity, for he is himself an eminent
antiquarian, but he has not scrupled to cut and carve
the sculptures and inscriptions in the most ruthless
1 XXIV
Capture of the mystic Serpent
Tombs of the Kings
Chap. XXVII.] TOMB OF SETHI THE FIRST.
261
manner ; out of the very heart of almost every inscrip¬
tion he has hacked a great square as if to put it beyond
the power of Egyptologists and of future travellers to
read them, and to ensure that he himself should be the
last traveller to see this beautiful tomb in its perfection.
We ourselves saw it twenty years ago, and it was then
perfect, but the ruthless Goth came since and spent two
or three years in rifling it. Could Belzoni behold its
present condition, he would regret that he had ever
opened it ! I am happy to say the havoc has not been
committed by an Englishman.
One of the prettiest allegories that remain are the
twelve hours of the night, represented by twelve female
Genii, each with a star over her head and her name
in hieroglyphics beside her ; the hours of the day are
represented by twelve male Genii, also wearing stars.
The allegory of the Resurrection occurs in the tomb of
Rameses the Third, and is represented by the horizon
of heaven, supported by a female figure and the sun just
rising above it ; this is so placed that a ray of light can
penetrate from the entrance of the tomb 350 feet off and
pass over the sarcophagus and illuminate this emblem
of eternal hope.
A large number of the subjects which cover the walls
are illustrated chapters from the book or ritual of the
dead, and much of the hieroglyphic text is of the nature
of prayers to different divinities at various stages of the
soul’s progress after death. Many of them have also
reference to the passage of the Sun in his sacred bark
through the realms of night and the infernal regions back
to the East. I have selected one tableau from this
curious and interesting series to illustrate this subject.
Plate XXIV. might have borne the title of the Beauty
262
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVII.
and the Beast. The pretty lady in the starry dress is
named in the inscription behind her, “ The Serke or
Cirke;”*she has managed to fascinate the huge ser¬
pent, and holds him in bondage with her kerchief ; this is
one of a series of tableaux which depict the adventures of
the Sun on his way back to the East. The Egyptians had
not attained to a sufficiently advanced point in science to
solve the problem of how the sun in his daily course, hav¬
ing sunk behind the western horizon, returned to rise
at the opposite quarter of the heavens. They therefore
made a romance of it ; they supposed him to be conveyed
in a boat along a subterranean river, and to encounter
on the way a series of adventures, dangers, and difficul¬
ties, which were warded off or surmounted by the aid of
certain supernatural beings. In the tableau before us
he has reached a bend of the river, in which a malignant
serpent called Apophis resides ; this monster has sinister
designs upon the solar bark and its occupants, and is
advancing to the attack, but a benevolent enchantress
called in the inscription Serk or Circe, gets him into her
power, creates a diversion, and makes Apophis a not
unwilling captive. We are indebted to Dr. Birch, of the
British Museum, for the following translation of the
hieroglyphics: — “The back bend of the river” (top
line). The rest reads in vertical columns from left to
right.
“ In this is the Apophis of this bend in the Hall or
lower world of Hades— navigable part of the waters is
the name of this bend of the river, 440 cubits in its
length, 440 cubits in its breadth.”
The identity of the Egyptian goddess Serke with the
* Owing to the omission of the vowels we cannot tell whether it should be written
Sirke or Serke ; in either case it would be pronounced Cirke.
Chap. XXVII.] BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 263
Greek K 1/0/07 and the Latin Circe is confirmed by
Homer’s statement that the latter was the daughter of
the Sun ; now Serke was daughter of Ra the Sun, and
we see her here engaged in exerting her fascinations
over the serpent, the enemy of her father, in order to
defend him from the attack of his mystic foe. The fact
that she is leading the monster with her sash, a pleased
and willing captive, implies witchcraft ; she has cast
some spell upon him ; and it is difficult to resist the
conclusion that this star-begirt enchantress is the
original of the Circe of the Latins and the Greeks, and
why not ? it is only one more instance of how Egypt
was the first source of Greek and Roman tradition.
It is a remarkable and striking fact that the Chinese
have a precisely analogous myth of a malignant serpent,
who swallows up the Sun ; and I have seen a most
curious group of sculpture brought from the remote
forests of Cambodia, where they occurred in a ruined
temple ; it consists of a procession of men carrying an
enormous serpent, and it has its exact counterpart in
the tombs of the kings in several places. The Chinese
also, in their most ancient form of writing, have the
same sign for the sun as the Egyptians, viz., a circle
with a dot in the middle. To the left is a continuation
of the tableau exhibiting the solar bark advancing on its
course ; in the bow stands the goddess, Nephthys, with
her arms outstretched in the endeavour to ward off the
serpent. Knouhm-Ra himself is stationed under a
pavilion in the centre of the vessel, the crew consist of
Genii, one of whom is at the helm and steers by the
double rudder. There is an illustration of the solar
bark in the double plate (page 264) which is much the
same, with the exception of the goddess in the bow.
264
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVII.
The double Plate XXXII. gives four distinct subjects
from the Tombs of the Kings.
The scene of all of them is laid in the infernal regions;
two have reference to the adventures of the soul after
death, the other two to the passage of the solar bark
referred to (page 262). The panel at the left-hand
upper corner records the passing of the deceased
through a succession of mansions representing transmi¬
grations, a certain series of which must be accomplished
before he can attain to the blessedness of a perfected
spirit.
There are long rows of these with a hieroglyphic
name over each gate ; but as they do not differ except
in the hieroglyph, we have contented ourselves with two ;
over one of them is inscribed Ar Pir ; over the other
Seb (see Plate XXXII.)
The lower panel appears to represent the purification
of the soul from sin by fire ; each furnace bearing a
different name. The analogy between these scenes and
the doctrine of purgatory is obvious ; the attendants
who stand at the mouths of the furnaces are Genii, the
obedient slaves of the mystic figure, who stands a head
and shoulders taller than they to the right of the Plate.
He holds significantly in one hand a staff surmounted
with the emblem of purity , in the other the sacred Tau,
the key and emblem of life ; the colours are all cor¬
rectly given as in the original. The solar bark offers a
good illustration of the mode of steering adopted in
ancient times, viz., by two oars suspended from upright
posts ; when the pilot wished to turn his craft to the
right, he raised the left-hand blade out of the water and
immersed the right ; when he wished to turn to the left,
he raised the right-hand blade and immersed the left ;
Chap. XXVII.]
KNOUHM-RA.
265
when he wished to steer right ahead, he left both
immersed. The tassel-like terminations of the boat
have a very ancient origin ; they perpetuate the memory
of the primitive times when men knew not how to
fashion boats of timber, and built them of bundles of
reeds, bound and knitted together by transverse ties, the
ends forming a brush or tassel at the extremities, where
they protruded beyond the confinement of their bonds ;
however, we must leave such sublunary considerations,
and remember that we are in the Egyptian Hades.
Foremost among the crew stand two Genii, and behind
them the goddess Isis ; the centre is reserved for the
most important passenger, Knouhm-Ra, the sun god,
beneath a bower consisting of a serpent, not the hostile
Apophis, but a friendly monster, whose name appears
beneath him, “ Men-ha-men.”
Knouhm-Ra appears to have been the supreme deity
of the Egyptians, corresponding to the Jupiter Ammon*
of the Greeks, and signifying The Supreme Spirit ; he is
represented as taller than Isis or than Ra, to show
his pre-eminence. But why was he represented with
the head of a ram ? Behind stands Ra, the sun
god, who seconds his supreme chief. May not this
be an Egyptian way of saying that the sun carries out
the purposes of the Almighty ? Behind Ra come three
more Genii, and last of all comes the coxswain, who,
like the same functionary in an Oxford eight-oar,
appears to have been selected as a light weight.
The central panel represents some situation in
Hades which we cannot explain. The serpent, no
doubt, is Apophis, but who are the fairies ? Are they
casting a spell over him, or is he menacing them ?
See Appendix, Note on Jupiter Ammon.
266
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVII.
They are walking along the bank of a river — probably
that very bend of the Stygian stream of which it is said
(see Plate XXIV.), “ In this is Apophis.”
There are twelve of these ladies in all, but we had
only room for ten in our illustration ; they, perhaps,
signify the twelve hours of the night. In another
chamber the twelve hours of the night are so repre¬
sented, and each of the fairies has the name of the
hour over which she presides, attached to her.
In such charming company Apophis will, no doubt,
forget his designs upon the solar bark ; he appears to
have had a weakness for the fair sex ; witness the
facility with which Circe captivates him and leads him
off with a silken scarf.
In the great hall, in which the latter scene occurs,
there is a console table, extending round three sides of the
apartment (this is figured in Plate XXII.). It is richly
painted, and appears to have been designed to place the
mummies of the royal family upon. On the panels
beneath are representations of mummies, each with a
hieroglyphic over it. On the walls behind are pro¬
cessions of the hours of the day, represented by male
Genii, with stars ; and the hours of the night by fairies,
with stars. There are also many other subjects of a
strange and mystic nature. In one place there is a row
of hooded snakes, which have been figured (Plate XXII.),
and a long settle, in the form of a serpent, supported
on legs, upon which rest more mummies. The extent of
one of these tombs would be about equal to a great
cathedral, and every inch of the walls and ceilings
is covered with paintings and sculptures.
The ceilings are covered with highly allegorical
groups, having an astronomical signification, and
Chap. XXVII.] A STRANGE BANOUET-HALL. 267
bearing upon the Egyptian Calendar and the Heavenly
bodies.
Endless other subjects crowd the walls of these
cavern mausoleums. They would fill many albums, and
are strange, mysterious, and sometimes bizarre to the
last degree. The work of sketching them is not a
pleasure, for the heat is very great, and those who
object to bats have here a bad time of it. We are glad
to make our way back to daylight, and to take our
repast at the entrance of one tomb, while our donkeys
were stabled in another.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A THEBAN CEMETERY.
A Nile Panorama — A Mummy offered for Sale — Lunch with a Turkish Gentleman —
Tombs Occupied as Residences — Eleventh-dynasty Tombs — Ancient Obelisks —
Mummy of Queen Ah-Hotep.
We returned across the mountains by a pass the
guides knew of instead of by the way we came, and
while ascending often looked back into the desolate
amphitheatre below, and into the valley along which such
stately processions must in the old time have wended
their way to deposit the Pharaohs in their last resting-
place. From the summit of the pass we had a mag¬
nificent view over the Nile and the broad expanse
of the Theban plains, with its two colossi in the centre
sitting as they have sat there for the last three thousand
years. Scattered over the plain were the ruins of great
temples including Karnak, Luxor and Medinet Abou,
and between us and that plain lay a vast cemetery,
honeycombed with tombs of the men who had planned
and executed such vast works, and had been the living
units of the most ancient empire in the world. While
crossing this city of the dead we saw a jackal scuttling
away — the only living thing visible besides the long
shadows of ourselves and our donkeys, cast by the
setting sun.
When I was in Egypt before, any one might, without
let or hindrance, plunder these tombs and hunt for
mummies; the consequence was, that the ancient ceme-
>4
n.
THE HOUSE OF MOURNING.
Bas-Relief; Thebes.
Chap. XXVIII.] A MUMMY OFFERED FOR SALE. 269
teries were littered all over with fragments of mummies
and their cere clothes. They were dug up by hundreds
and torn to pieces in search for jewellery and antiqui¬
ties. This robbery of tombs is now strictly prohibited
under severe penalties, and those ambitious of possess¬
ing a mummy can only acquire one under the rose.
One day while we were among the tombs, we were
mysteriously invited to visit a certain cavern ; an Arab
conducted us along its dark recesses until we came
to a door — this was constructed of thick planks, across
which were marching long processions ' of Egyptian
gods ; it was in fact a patchwork of mummy cases 3000
years old, the sycamore wood of which was so hard
that it was with much difficulty that nails were driven
into it. Having passed this curious portal, we found
ourselves face to face with a mummy in the most perfect
state of preservation : the colours were as fresh and
brilliant as when first laid on ; the face was evidently a
portrait — that of a young and pretty woman. This
treasure was offered to us for sale, and it was suggested
that we might on opening it, find jewellery worth ten
times the amount demanded. The price, however, was
large, and we felt that it would be rather like buying a
pig in a poke. The cave had once been a tomb, and
now formed the dwelling-place of our host. We saw
his wife, to the extent at least of one eye ; she shyly
covered the rest of her face with her gown — she had
with her a queer quaint little girl, with a lemon-yellow
face, and a long bright pink gown ; to her we gave some
baksheesh, and took our leave. The den reminded me
much of Crusoe’s cavern.
We were invited by a Turkish gentleman, whose
acquaintance we had made, to lunch with him ; he had
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVIII.
270
a sort of chalet upon the mountain slope among the
rocks. It was a curious place for a summer house, for
the mountain side was all honeycombed with tombs ;
but the view over the plain of Thebes, and across the
Nile to Luxor and Karnak, was superb. His banquet
hall was a long narrow room, with no other furniture
ihan a well-cushioned divan running round three sides
of it ; on the fourth were the windows and door, the
former carefully shaded to keep out the sun. A low
table was placed in the centre of the room, round which
we all squatted Turkish fashion on carpets. The first
dish presented to us was a sort of thin pancake soaked
in milk and lemon juice — to appreciate this dish, one’s
palate must be educated. We had brought with us a
mayonnaise of fish, which we asked leave to produce,
and which our host appreciated enormously without any
education. Cold chicken and other things followed, and
between the courses, milk acidulated with lime juice
was handed round. Our host spoke English, and gave us
much interesting information about Egyptian matters.
After dessert, Egyptian servants brought round a silver
ewer and basin and a towel, and poured water over our
hands ; we were then invited to recline at full length on
the ottoman, leaning on our elbows, and some excellent
Mocha coffee was handed about in little cups in silver
sockets ; the next proceeding was amber-mouthed
tchibouks and Latakia tobacco of first-rate quality;
when one pipe was finished, our attendant brought a
fresh one ready lighted. M - declined to join in this
ceremony, whereupon our host, thinking she must be
tired, insisted on tucking her up on the ottoman, and
made her take a nap. Our dejeuner was an interesting
little Oriental experience.
Chap. XXVIII.] GUESTS OF THE DEAD.
271
Amongst the curiosities of smaller tombs belonging
to private individuals in the Theban cemeteries is the
way in which the natives have taken up their residences
in them. You will find them living in apartments, the
walls of which are covered with sculptures and paintings
of men and women whose lives and whose loves and
feasts were contemporary with the Amunophs and the
Thothmes who bore sway between 3000 and 4000 years
ago. On the walls are depicted their feasts and their
funerals, their furniture and fashions of dress and
ornament, their amusements and employments, their
private pursuits, their public exploits and achievements.
Often they have recorded some great and memorable
occasion where they have received some honour from
their sovereign, and then the Pharaoh himself is repre¬
sented seated in state beneath his canopy, and receiving
the worthy to whom the tomb belonged.
If he was an officer, processions of soldiers and of
chariots are arranged along the wall, and he is march¬
ing at their head, or if he is a priest he is sacrificing to
the gods. In these tombs the ladies of the family are
not forgotten. The wife sits close to her husband, with
her head lovingly laid on his shoulder, and all along
the lower part of the wall is often a dado, consisting of
their sons and daughters, each with his or her name in
hieroglyphics over their heads. They are seated on
stools, the boys on one side, the girls on the other ; the
walls being covered with the family history, written in
hieroglyphics wherever there is room to squeeze them in.
In these old-world sepulchral grottoes, and amid these
scenes, the natives bivouac. They have erected cup¬
boards and wardrobes built of Nile mud. They have
no bedsteads or chairs ; they sleep on the floor on a
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVIII.
little durra straw ; that is their whole stock of furniture,
with the exception of pots and jars of Nile mud, baked
in a kiln, and amongst these roll the babies, with their
little eyes almost eaten out of their heads by flies which
neither they nor their parents ever dream of brushing
off. Mixed up with these a couple of goats and
two or three sheep, and perhaps a buffalo calf,
complete the family circle. The pot is boiled over
a fire made with camels’ dung and durra straw, and
perhaps a limb or two of a mummy — a very witches’
caldron, and the pungent smoke rolls back, blacken¬
ing and soiling the paintings and sculptures with
a greasy soot. In the background, far in the rear at
the extremity of the tomb, in a recess, sit up in state
two figures larger than life, and black with the smoke of
ages. They are the portrait statues of the former
tenants of this weird dwelling-place. What makes the
combination still more incongruous is that figures,
statues, the likeness of any graven image, is an abomi¬
nation to the Mahometan.
The state of things I have described is found in the
tombs on the Theban plain and on the lower slopes of
the hills, and of course the colours in these are anything
but fresh. High up in the hills, however, are tombs
which have never been used as dwellings ; in some of
them the colours are ridiculously brilliant, as if only
completed yesterday, but large patches have been broken
out of the walls at the instigation of unscrupulous
travellers, and of course always the most interesting
portions are selected by the destroyer. In a few years
these relics of the most ancient civilization in the world
will have disappeared for ever.
There is a vast cemetery belonging to the eleventh
Plait 55.
SKETCH FROM STATUE OF A NUB I AH LAHY
Period of Amunoph.
FLjaxm.
THE MOST ANCIENT KNOWN OBELISKS IN THE WORLD.
DRAH ABOU 'L NEGGAH.
Chap. XXVIII.] ANCIENT OBELISKS. 273
dynasty where this has actually occurred. It is several
square miles in extent, and is so honey-combed with
tombs that you can only cross it by picking your way
along the ridges that divide one mummy pit from
another. It is often like walking along the edge of a
knife, while right and left of you yawn pits of unknown
depth, once filled quite full of mummies, while whole
streets of funeral chambers, with square-cut portals, are
beneath your feet, and in almost all of these the paint¬
ings and sculptures have been destroyed. Even here,
however, we managed to glean some interesting remains,
for by persevering search and promises of baksheesh
to our guides, we came upon eleventh-dynasty tombs in
which some paintings survived, and they were all
interesting, and differed from those of later dynasties.
Here was found the mummy of Queen Ah-Hotep. Close
to the place where the poor queen was dragged from
her resting-place I saw two broken obelisks, the in¬
scription on which stated that they had been erected by
King Entef.
The obelisk at Heliopolis is supposed to be the most
ancient in Egypt, being of the twelfth dynasty, but
those figured in Plate XXXIII. are more ancient still,
for they were erected by a king of the eleventh dynasty.
They lie broken up into several large pieces. These
were partly buried in the sand, but I set a party
of Arabs to work, and in a couple of hours’ time
we had them cleared to the base. I present my
readers with drawings showing two of their faces.
The inscription on the right-hand monolith reads as
follows : — “ The crowned Horus, Sovereign of the
Mountain Lands, Perfected of God, Son of the Sun,
granted life for evermore.” The inscription on the left-
274
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXVIII.
hand one reads, “ Noub-kafer-ra, Perfect of God, made
for himself good and splendid temples.” The hiero¬
glyphics in these obelisks were very well preserved,
owing to the friendly protection of the sand beneath
which they were buried. They are the most ancient
that have yet been discovered, being at least one thou¬
sand years older than the one that now stands on the
Thames Embankment. It was close to them that the
mummy of Queen Ah-Hotep was found, and near by
also were discovered the coffins of several kings of the
eleventh dynasty. They were covered with gold from
head to foot ; round the neck of the queen was a neck¬
lace of solid gold, consisting of nine rows of ornaments,
each row being different. In the coffin were also found
magnificent earrings, consisting of large golden bees.
There were besides enamelled bracelets of very beautiful
workmanship and daggers with gold handles : amongst
other ornaments were two lions chasing each other
down the blade ; these were inlaid in gold, and were
executed with great spirit. These royal ornaments are
striking examples of the artistic taste and skill of the
Egyptians of that remote period. To give an idea of
the antiquity of these interesting ornaments I may men¬
tion that King Entef reigned upwards of 2000 years b.c.
It has always been supposed that there were no obelisks
erected on the western side of the Nile, and it was
thought that some superstition limited them to the
eastern bank of the river. These monuments of Entef,
however, are on the western side, and prove that no
religious scruple existed on the subject. The fact that
the majority of the obelisks were on the eastern side is
probably owing to the quarries of red granite, out of
which they were hewn, being on that side. Their
Chap. XXVIII.] ARRIVAL OF PRINCE HASSAN.
275
enormous weight proved an insurmountable obstacle to
carrying them across the river, as we observed in the
description of Gebel Silsilis. In reference to the diffi¬
culties of getting them across the water it is significant
that the two obelisks in the island of Phils are compar¬
atively small, probably owing to this very difficulty, and
that is the case also with the pair I have here figured.
Feb. 2. — We attended service at the comfortable hotel
established in Luxor by that enterprising firm, Messrs.
Cook & Co. The lessons were read by a member of
Parliament, who was collecting facts about the famine,
which in due time he dispensed from his place in that
august assembly. I never heard the Scriptures more
impressively rendered. The sermon was on the resur¬
rection of the body, a subject which derived additional
point in that region, surrounded as we were by evidences
of the firm faith of its ancient inhabitants in this
doctrine.
Before we left Luxor Prince Hassan arrived, and
there was a grand illumination in his honour. All the
European and native dahabeeahs were decked with
hundreds of lanterns, and the reflections in the broad
mirror of the Nile had a beautiful effect. The blaze of
light on the water was rivalled on land by the con¬
sulates and other houses, which were festooned with
lamps, and sent forth bouquets of rockets to the great
delight of the natives.
CHAPTER XXIX.
HISTORIC NOTES.
Egyptian History Repeats Itself — Origin of the Ancient Egyptians — Analogies of
Language — European Character of Egyptian Features— Influence of Climate —
Cyprian Antiquities, showing close connection with Egypt in remote times.
Before describing our visit to Deir-el-Bahari it will
be well to make a few observations upon the course of
Egyptian history and the origin of its people, because
there are inscriptions on this ancient temple which
throw considerable light upon the origin of the race
who have played so important a role in the civilization
of Europe. The attempt to trace back Egyptian history
to its source is much like tracing back the Nile to
its head-waters, as, after following up its stream for
hundreds of miles, you will still find the same villages,
the same palm-trees, the same mountain ranges in
monotonous uniformity ; so in the stream of Egyptian
history the same events, the same triumphs in peace
and war, seem to recur again and again. If you begin
with the nineteenth dynasty, you find Rameses the
Third invading his neighbours, overthrowing Libyans
in the west and the wandering tribes on the east, carry¬
ing his arms into Syria and triumphing over the kings
and chiefs of Asia Minor, or building new temples, and
developing the gold, silver, or copper mines of Sinai, or
the alabaster quarries of Egypt. If you go back five
reigns, to the annals of Rameses the Second, you find
the record of his exploits so exactly similar that you
H
INSCRIPTION OF SENOFRE-OU AND OUSERS RA, MINES OF SINAI.
Chap. XXIX.] HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.
2 77
might suppose that his descendant had borrowed them
for his own glorification ; or go back to a previous
dynasty, the eighteenth, and you find the great warrior
kings, the Thothmes and Amunophs, fighting the same
list of enemies, and achieving the same triumphs; or
skip over six dynasties and go back to the twelfth,
the triumphs of peace and war seem but vain repeti¬
tions : the story is the same, the name alone is changed.
Or spring back another six dynasties, to the times of
King Pepi and Nofrekara, and you still find them
slaughtering the Ethiopians, levying tributes on their
neighbours, restoring temples, opening-up roads to the
desert of Sinai, working its turquoise mines and bringing
its gold and silver to Egypt, mingled with notices of
buildings of the Pyramids and other public works ; and
in the scanty records we have of the third dynasty, at
which point the stream of history runs dry, we find
Senofreou fighting the tribes to the east of the Red
Sea, and his name is inscribed on the rocks of Sinai.
Egyptian history resembles the Nile, also, in its solitary
course. As that river Hows on all alone, unaided by a
single tributary, for hundreds of miles through the desert ,
imparting life and fertility to its arid sands, so for a long
tale of centuries did the current of Egyptian history
flow on its lonely course without a contemporary, deve¬
loping on its way the arts of civilized life, including that
gift peculiar to man of recording thoughts and events in
writing and painting and sculpture, while other races
were yet enveloped in the night of barbarism and savage
ignorance, and passed away without trace or record.
With regard to the origin of the ancient Egyptians,
there seems no doubt that the Egyptian races were of
the same origin as the European — both came from Asia ;
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIX.
278
there is reason to believe that they found their way into
Egypt from Arabia by way of the Straits of Bab-el-
Mandeb, and then through Abyssinia. The reasons for
believing them to be of the same race as that which
peopled Europe are, first, their features ; second, the
analogies of their language. In the latter we find many
words almost identical with words in the Indo-Germanic
languages ; for instance, mut is the ancient Egyptian
for mother. In the German the word mutter , and in
the Latin the word mater , and in the Greek the word
meter , are all evidently derived from the same root ;
but the identity may be traced much further. Here is
a list of languages in which the same word occurs with
trifling variations : —
Egyptian
German .
Sanscrit
Latin
. mut.
. mutter.
. mdtar.
. mater.
Greek .
English .
Gaelic.
meter.
mother.
mathair.
So from the root men : — •
Egyptian
. men, stability, strength.
Greek
. . rnenos, strength.
Greek also
. menethos, quality of strength.
Cornish
. . men, strong.
Greek
. menein, to remain.
Latin
. . manere, to remain.
German
. . macht, might.
Chinese
. . men, mountain.
Latin
. mons, mountain, emblem
permanence.
Again —
Egyptian .
. . ar, to make.
Latin
. ars, art.
Greek
. . aprvo), to make.
Chap. XXIX.J ANALOGIES OF LANGUAGE.
279
Egyptian . . artuan, to prepare.
Greek . . . aprvveiv, to prepare.
German . . artig, civilized, polished, prepared.
Greek . . . apros , bread, i.e. prepared wheat.
Egyptian . . ua, one.
Latin . . . units, one.
German . . cin, one.
Egyptian . . . sas, six.
German . . seeks , six.
Latin . . . sex, six.
Greek . . . hex, six.
Egyptian . . . nen, nothing.
English . . none.
German . . . nein, no.
Italian . . . niente, nothing.
Egyptian . . . tari, a companion (feminine).
Greek . . . hetaira, a companion (feminine).
Egyptian . . . ennou, waves.
Latin . . . under, waves.
Egyptian . . . Hapi, the Ape-headed God.
English . . . ape.
German . . . affc.
Egyptian . . tet, to suckle, and the
English . . . teat, are obviously connected.
And a word related to the idea of mother, viz., a
woman’s breast,
is in —
Egyptian .
maa.
Greek
. . mamma
Sanscrit
. ma.
Welsh .
. mam.
Malay
. maa.
Cornish
. . mam.
Persian .
. mama.
2So NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. XXIX.
Egyptian
. sau, to drink.
German
. . saufen, to drink.
Egyptian
. tu, to give.
Latin
. do, I give.
Egyptian
. hati, the heart.
German
. herz, the heart.
English
. heart.
With the well-known Egyptian word Ra, the Sun, the
word ray in English and radius in Latin are probably
connected.
The Egyptian hieroglyph for ioo is C. Query, may not
our sign for a hundredweight, cwt., be derived from it ?
The Egyptians termed a daughter sat. The Arab
word for a lady is sit. Again, the word atefou (fore¬
fathers) re-appears in the Latin word atavi (forefathers).
The Egyptian word for beetle was kafer ; the German
word is the same unchanged ; and the same word
re-appears in English in cockchafer. The Egyptian for
blessed is maclierou ; the Greek machar.
Amongst the analogies of language is the feminine
article, which is te in Egyptian and die in German and
rj in Greek. They resemble the Greek, also, in having
a dual number as well as a singular and plural ; thus
obelisk, a pair of obelisks, would be the dual, and
obelisks would be the plural ; each have different ter¬
minations, viz. : — Tekhen, an obelisk; Tekhenoui, two
obelisks, dual ; Tekhenou, plural, several obelisks.
With the above score of examples, taken at random
from my very limited Egyptian vocabulary, we must rest
satisfied. Interesting as the subject is, it would lead
me too far afield to follow it further ; even these quoted
are sufficiently striking.
Chap. XXIX.] ORIGIN OF THE EGYPTIANS.
281
They point to the conclusion either that Europe was
colonized from Egypt, or else both the European and
Egyptian races sprang from the same Asiatic country ;
but there are other links between certain European
races and the ancient Egyptians; for instance, the forms
of their pottery. Etruscan vases and the ancient Greek
pottery are only reproductions of the far more ancient
Egyptian forms. The same may be said of the earliest
agricultural implements, — the plough and the sickle, or
the ornaments worn by men and women, such as bead
necklaces and bracelets ; and articles for furniture, such
as couches and chairs. I think it not improbable that
the Pelasgic Greeks, the most ancient Greek race known
to us, came from Egypt ; in fact, the Greeks themselves
claimed an Egyptian origin both for themselves and their
gods, and represented Danaus, first of their founders,
as the son of a king of Egypt. It is well known that
the architecture of the Pelasgi was constructed of
enormous blocks of stone like that of the Egyptians ;
their tombs were vast piles of stones, presenting a rude
analogy to the Pyramids, beneath which were sepul¬
chral chambers, built of large stones, and containing
the bodies of the deceased, along with the objects they
had used during life. Now these Pelasgi were ulti¬
mately driven out of Greece by colonies from Phoenicia,
and they spread themselves westward, occupying Italy
and Gaul, and even throwing themselves into Britain.
There is strong reason to believe that the Etruscans
were a branch of the Pelasgic family, and that both came
from Egypt. Mere community of origin would not
account for the Etruscans not only having decided
affinities of language with the Egyptians, but also
having Egyptian forms of pottery, Egyptian sculptured
282
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIX.
and painted tombs, Egyptian mythologic deities, Egyp¬
tian scarabaei, and Egyptian views of the judgment,
e.g., the ushering of the soul into the presence of its
judges by the jackal-headed Anubis. All these coinci¬
dences point to a direct Egyptian origin.
I have already said that, besides language, the
features also of the ruling class of the ancient Egyp¬
tians point to the common origin of them and of the
European races. It is remarkable that the farther
you go back the more European the faces become.
I present to my readers truthful portraits of the two
most ancient statues in the world ; they were found
in a tomb of the third dynasty, and are considerably
older than the Pyramids. On looking at them one
is immediately struck by the European character
of the features. The young man with his little
moustache and straight nose, if dressed in European
costume, might be met in London to-morrow without
incurring any remark ; and the lady, if fashionably at¬
tired, would only attract attention as being remarkably
good-looking. Their eyes are put in in rock crystal ;
those who know how difficult it is to make artificial
eyes look natural, will admire the soft and natural ex¬
pression of these. The fact that they were able to turn
and polish so excessively hard a substance as rock-
crystal, and to fit them neatly into such a substance as
crystalline quartz, and that again in a setting of copper,
speaks volumes for the advanced stage which the arts
must have reached even at so remote a period as the
third dynasty. The next most ancient statue known is
that of Khafra,the builder of one of the Great Pyramids ;
his features also might be those of a European. There
is in the Museum at Cairo a very remarkable wooden
PRINCE RA-HOTEP & PRTNCESS NOFRE-TE
Statues, third dynasty.
Chap. XXIX.] EUROPEAN CHARACTER OF FEATURES. 283
statue ; this was found in the same cemetery as the
two statues first mentioned ; it has crystal eyes put in in
exactly the same manner ; it wears the same dress as
the statues of the Prince Rahotep and the Princess
Nofre-te, which I have already described; and there
can be no doubt that it belongs to the same period.
The face might be that of a burly German farmer.
In the neighbourhood of the Pyramids there are great
numbers of tombs belonging to the courtiers, priests,
and officers of state of the fourth dynasty, and present¬
ing us with scores of portraits of the men of that time ;
one and all of them are strikingly European. It is a
curious thing, however, that in later times the governing
race appears to have undergone a modification, and
have a more Semitic look than in the early times above
referred to ; this may have arisen from intermarriages
with the neighbouring Asiatic states. I allude to the
nineteenth and subsequent dynasties. The facts I
have cited do not, of course, prove that the Egyptians
came from Europe, that would be contrary to all tra¬
dition and all probability ; but they give good grounds
for concluding either that Europe was partly colonized
from Egypt, which I think most probable, or that both
Egypt and Europe are colonized from the same centre.
So far as we obtain any clue from language, it is to be
observed that the most primitive forms, the roots from
which many European words were derived, are found
in the ancient Egyptian ; I mean that the root in its
simplest form is found there, while the stem, the further
development of it, is found in Europe. It may, of course,
be that Europe was colonized both via Asia Minor and
via Egypt.
It is a remarkable fact that no negro or even Nubian
284
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIX.
face occurs amongst the thousands of faces sculptured
on tombs and temples previous to the eighteenth
dynasty. We have examined endless groups of people,
slaves, labourers, soldiers and boatmen of dynasties
three, four, five, six, twelve and thirteen, but never suc¬
ceeded in finding a single truly African face previous to
the eighteenth dynasty, and then they occur in abund¬
ance and continue to do so down to the monuments of
latest date. It was not because the Egyptians had not
penetrated to Nubia in ancient times — Pepi’s name
is found on memorial stele in Nubia; his campaigns
there are mentioned, and he must have taken many
prisoners and made many slaves, but in all the nu¬
merous sixth-dynasty tombs not a Nubian face is to
be seen, nor a black skin. Is it incredible that the
black complexion and woolly wigs of the tropical Africans
may be due to slow changes from the effects of climate ?
that is a trifling demand upon our credulity compared
with what Mr. Darwin requires us to believe.
There are plenty of examples of the modifications of
complexion brought about in a long course of ages by
climate ; the Hindoos are a case in point. The Indian
dialects, of which Sanscrit is the key, proclaim the
common origin of that people with the Asiatic and
European races, and so do their features, which are
distinguished by colour alone from those of northern
people ; these differences are due to climate. The very
name Adam, which means red earth, seems to point to
the first parents of the human race not having been
fair ; probably they were of a medium complexion —
those of their descendants who made their homes in the
North became fairer, while those in the' South became
darker than their prototypes. In the animal world we
Chap. XXIX.] INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE. 285
see analogous changes — the ptarmigan is a grouse
whose colour has been changed by climate and
surroundings ; so the Arctic hare, but hair, feathers,
and skin are all closely allied, and changes that we
know to have occurred in the case of the former from
the effects of climate we may assume to be possible in
the latter. Other physiological differences in the negro
may be accounted for by his surroundings ; the more
animal conformation of his features may be due to the
fact that the indolent life and relaxing climate of Equa¬
torial Africa are unfavourable to the intellect but favour
the predominance of the more animal propensities.
Having followed the course of the Nile for 1000 miles
we observed that the population became gradually darker
as we travelled south, and that there was no sharply
defined line between the sunburnt Arab and the compa¬
ratively light-coloured inhabitants of Alexandria and
the swarthy Nubians of the Second Cataract, but that
we passed from one extreme to the other by impercep¬
tible gradations. The Nubian differs from the negro
in having much less of the animal cast of feature which
characterises the latter ; that is due to the fact that the
Nubian climate differs totally from Equatorial Africa,
the home of the true negro, in being keen and bracing,
and also the conditions of the Nubian’s life require
intelligence and industry— the cultivation of the Nile
banks being still dependent upon artificial irrigation
and constant watchfulness and exertion.
I regret very much that I have no knowledge of any
of the African dialects, but it would be deeply interesting
to know whether any analogies of language could be
traced between them and the populations of Asia and
Europe ; we suspect some links would be found to exist,
286
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIX.
and we believe firmly in the common origin of the whole
human race. We can trace a very decided and unmis¬
takable relationship of tongue from the Sanscrit of the far
East to the Cornish and Welsh of the far West, and the
argument from community of language and tradition, to
community of origin appears irresistible.
It will be asked why I say that the old Egyptians
came from Asia by way of Abyssinia. The reasons for
thinking so are that the Egyptians traced the home of
their gods, that is to say, of their most ancient traditions,
to Abyssinia ; they called it the sacred land, and when¬
ever they represented the inhabitants of Abyssinia they
represented them as identical in dress and complexion
with themselves. It would even seem that their lan¬
guage must have been similar. There is an elaborate
series of bas-reliefs on the walls of Deir-el-Bahari
representing an expedition to Abyssinia ; in these the
Egyptian commissioner is represented as landing and
immediately entering into conversation with the chief
of the country, who receives him on his arrival with
every mark of friendship and respect. The country
referred to is the lowland seaboard of Abyssinia ; the
Egyptians reached it in their fleet by way of the Red
Sea, and the products of the country are represented as
consisting of ivory, gold, spices, myrrh and other tro¬
pical products, while amongst the animals are repre¬
sented the giraffe, the lion, and the dog-headed ape ;
this last, though not found in Egypt itself, was never¬
theless worshipped at a very remote period — a fact
which offers another link to connect their early origin
with Abyssinia, and more especially with the lowland
tropical portion of it beyond Cape Guardafui, now
called the Somali country. The hieroglyphic inscrip-
Chap. XXIX.] SPREAD OF CIVILIZATION.
287
tions of Deir-el-Bahari speak of a mountain cut into
terraces, their northern landing-place, which might lead
to its identification. In fact, since writing the above, I
met the captain of a ship, who told me that a marked
feature of the Somali country was, that in the vicinity of
the sea extended level plains, backed at a little distance
inland by mountain plateaux, which rose from the low
country in parallel terraces , and would correspond to the
mountain cut into steps spoken of in the inscription.
This formation extends from the Galla country as far
south as Zanzibar. The people are painted in the bas-
reliefs with the same red complexions, dress, and appear¬
ance as those of Egypt, so much so as to be scarcely
distinguishable from them.
As to the question whether civilization began in
the north and rolled southwards, or whether it began
in the south and advanced northwards, it must be borne
in mind that owing to the peculiarity of the country in
having a magnificent highway in the shape of the river
Nile from end to end, the whole valley must have been
in such perfect communication that any advance made
in civilization in one part of it would be soon imparted
to the rest. It is assumed that civilization began in the
north because the earliest durable monuments are found
there, but it might as reasonably be argued that because
the most durable and imposing monument of ancient
British civilization is found at Stonehenge, that there¬
fore Salisbury Plain was the cradle of British civiliza¬
tion. The fact is that civilized arts must have been in
process of development for centuries before the speci¬
mens of it which have come down to our time were
called into existence. Civilization probably had its be¬
ginnings amongst the independent tribes that occupied
288
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIX.
the Nile Valley before they were united together under
one sovereign. When that event happened it is easy to
account for Memphis having become the head-quarters
and the capital of the now united country, because it
was in the vicinity of by far the largest tract of culti¬
vable land in all Egypt, yiz., the Delta, and would
therefore attract the largest population. Whatever arts
the primitive tribes had possessed would be drawn to¬
gether there, and become developed with increased
rapidity. It is quite possible, therefore, that civilization
may have begun in the south and yet have attained its
highest development in the north ; but, as I have
already said, the whole population was so knitted to¬
gether that no one part could long have a monopoly in
any branch of civilized attainments.
Another indication of the southern origin of their
civilization occurs in the hieroglyphics, for we find
amongst them the elephant, the giraffe, the dog-headed
ape ; all animals of tropical Africa, and which never
could have existed in the wild state in Egypt proper.
The monuments of their early civilization have
perished, but the testimony of their written characters
still remains, and also the testimony of their traditions
to indicate a southern origin.
It is argued that because the Pyramids are in the
north, and because they and the tombs about them are
the earliest examples of Egyptian civilization that have
come down to us, that therefore civilization must have
commenced in the north. But it would be absurd to
suppose that the Pyramids and the tombs that cluster
round them were the earliest fruits of civilization, for
they contain, as I have pointed out, the evidences of
an already advanced stage of the arts ; they indicate
Chap. XXIX.]
CYPRIAN ANTIQUITIES.
289
where the previously scattered strength of the nation
was first concentrated and gathered together into one
mighty stream, but they are far from taking us back to
the first sources to which that broad and strong current
owed its origin.
The Pyramids are older than the temples ; the monu¬
ments of much later dynasties than those of the
Pyramids have perished utterly. It is therefore not
wonderful that the monuments of earlier dynasties,
and of the independent tribes that preceded all the
dynasties, should have perished and left no trace.
As a matter of fact we know that Menai was a
Southerner. He came from Abydos, not far north of
Thebes ; but he made Memphis the seat of his govern¬
ment because it stood at the apex of the Delta, the
most extensive habitable tract, and therefore the most
populous in Egypt.
There can be no doubt that one of the stepping-
stones between Egypt and Greece was Cyprus. The
antiquities of that very interesting island suggest un¬
mistakable kinship with Egypt on the one hand and
with Greece and Etruria on the other ; and the same is
discernible in the Trojan antiquities dug up by Schlie-
mann, which decidedly recall Cyprus.
We annex two illustrations of subjects discovered
by Cesnola there — one of a statue wearing the royal
apron and asps of Egypt, and the other showing the
winged globe, which occurs on every Egyptian temple.
It is a significant fact that the apron is of a pattern
which was in fashion during the eighteenth dynasty.
Thothmes wears it in the kissing scene (Plate VII.,
and Plates VIII. and VI.) With the nineteenth dynasty
a new fashion of aprons came in, and the previous
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXIX.
290
fashion vanished for ever ; therefore, the apron worn by
the statue fixes the date approximately ; it was between
1800 and 1600 b.c.
The two lions which surmount the winged globe
remind us strongly of the gate of lions at Mycenae.
Schliemann found an Egyptian ornament in the grave
of Agamemnon, and Homer displays a considerable
knowledge of Egypt ; he even knew how many gates
Thebes had. It is evident, therefore, that close ties
existed between Egypt and Greece. In fact, the Greeks
claimed that their gods came from thence, and the
story of Venus rising out of the sea probably means
nothing more than that Hathor, the Egyptian Venus,
was brought by ships from Egypt to Cyprus. The
transformation of Hathor into Venus may be traced in
the statuettes from Idalia found by Cesnola. First she
appears cow-headed, then with cow’s ears and a
woman’s face, and finally with human ears. The god
Neptune may also be traced to Egypt, for his name
reads Neb(t)ennou, “ The Lord of Waves.”
The t has been introduced for euphony.
It is worth observing that the armlets worn by the
statue are identical in form with some that we found
amongst the ruins of Elephantine.
While looking at the features of the Cyprian figures
at the British Museum, we pondered where we had
seen those lineaments before, and then recollected that
they were wonderfully like the golden masks found by
Schliemann in the tomb of Agamemnon at Mycenae.
Another Greek myth of Egyptian origin is that of the
infant Hercules strangling the serpents. It is only a
reproduction of the child-god Horus strangling snakes
with both hands.
Antique Fragment of Gateway from Cyprus, showing
the Egyptian winged Globe_hys.! 1879.
Portrait of Queen ha-. t -as oil
Deir -el -Bahari
Pl 2)0
CHAPTER XXX.
DEIR-EL-BAHARI.
The Terrace Temple — Temple and Mausoleum — Beauty of the Sculptures — Exploits
of Thothmes the First — Ancient Egyptian Fleet— Bas-relief of Chariot Race — •
Welcome Home — Historically Important Discovery made by the Author —
Antiquities collected at Thebes.
February 4. — Deir-el-Bahari (the Monastery of the
North). This temple is interesting, both historically
and owing to the great beauty of the sculptures. It
was the family mausoleum of the Thothmes kings and
of Queen Amen Khnoum-t-Ha-t-asou,* daughter of
Thothmes the First, sister of Thothmes the Second,
and of Thothmes the Third.
The main edifice stands before a perpendicular preci¬
pice, against which it is built, and forms the fron¬
tispiece, as it were, of the stately tombs behind it,
which are excavated in the limestone. The approach is
by an inclined avenue, lined with gigantic eagles. It
rises above, in a series of terraces built of a hard marble¬
like white limestone, carved with historical tableaux in
bas-relief, and with hieroglyphics, engraved with such
beautiful minuteness of detail as to resemble cameos.
The subjects were expeditions in the reigns of Thoth¬
mes the First, and of his daughter, successively into the
country of Pount, called “the sacred.” It is repre¬
sented as a land abounding in trees, and producing
amongst other things ivory, which would be consistent
with the lowlands near Cape Guardafui, beyond the
* Her name signifies “ Amen, the Lady Providence Leader of Princes.”
u 2
2Q2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXX.
straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. The funeral chambers are
behind and below. We lunched on the uppermost
terrace of the three, where the remnants of the monastery
afford shade. The terrace is airy, and commands a
magnificent view.
In every part of the temple and mausoleum of Deir-
el-Bahari the ovals of Ha-t-Asou have been defaced. In
many places they have been cut away completely, and
the oval of Thothmes the Third substituted ; and he
has even stooped to the meanness of so inserting his
name, that it might appear that his sister’s triumphs
had been achieved by himself. In one place where this
has been done the truth is betrayed by a standard
bearing the name of Ha-t-Asou ; it is carried by one of
the soldiers. Thothmes has carried his vindictiveness
into the tomb, and has effaced his sister’s names and
titles even there. Her vault is a small one, but beau¬
tifully painted. In it were found two stone sarcophagi,
which were violated and plundered not many years ago.
I found a woman’s foot there, which may have belonged
to the poor queen.
One small chamber in the temple apparently escaped
the notice of Thothmes, for in it occurs the oval of
Ha-t-Asou uninjured, and also her portrait in a perfect
state of preservation (see Plate XXX.) She is in the
act of sucking the sacred cow, Hathor. This deity
seems to have been her patron saint. On one of the
terraces she is represented as feeding it. The cow is
eating from her hand, but the head of the queen has
been cut away and the head of Thothmes substituted
so clumsily as to betray itself at once.
One of the most interesting of the sculptures is that
depicting the triumphant return of Thothmes the First
I
DEIR EL Bah ART.
Chap. XXX.] SCULPTURES AT DEI R-EL-B AHARI.
293
from some expedition. The soldiers, as they approach
their native land, step out briskly ; they carry branches
in their hands, and are met by a deputation of citizens
who slay fat oxen and sheep to feast them with. In the
procession figure a couple of tigers, led along by their
keepers (see Plate XXIX.) In the inscription above
they are mentioned, in the right-hand column of hiero¬
glyphics, as “two tigers alive,” the railway key before
the bird’s beak being the sign of life ; and the bird
itself gives that adjective a plural termination, the key
above being Ank, singular, and the key with the bird
Ankou plural. I wish all the hieroglyphics were as
easily deciphered.
Plate XXXI. brings before us the archers of the queen’s
guard. In the hieroglyphic inscription above they are
designated the corps of the good lads of Southern
Egypt. It will be observed that each soldier carries his
bow carefully protected by a case or wrapper, probably
of leather. They are decidedly in light marching order,
and are burthened with nothing that is not absolutely
essential either for decency or efficiency, except their
bracelets and necklaces.
They are advancing at the double, preceded by a
trumpeter, and as regards lightness of equipment and
rapidity of movement were probably not surpassed by
any modern regiment of chasseurs or light infantry.
It will be observed that each face is different ; the
Egyptians may be justly charged with conventionality
in their figures, but not in the features. In every
group sculptured on the walls of Deir-el-Bahari there is
a distinct individuality stamped upon every face as if it
were a portrait. It is not unlikely that many of them
were portraits. Archer two, who carries an axe as well
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXX.
294
as a bow, is stouter of body than the rest, and one
cannot help thinking that he is some well-known mem¬
ber of the corps whose likeness is here given. This and
other groups are no doubt chosen delegates forming
deputations from the various branches of the queen’s
army on the occasion of their triumphant return from
the land of Pount (Abyssinia).
The vertical line of hieroglyphics has reference to a
body of sailors of the fleet, who occupy the next panel.
The upper terrace seems dedicated to the exploits of
Thothmesthe First, and the two lower-terraces to those
of his daughter. On one wall is sculptured a whole
fleet of ships ; they are taking on board the spoils of
the country they have invaded : vessels of gold, bales of
various kinds of produce. Amongst other things they
are importing trees, the roots of which, with balls of
earth and matting wrapped round them, are carried on
poles between two men. The same trees appear after¬
wards in great tubs. In the water beneath the ships
are seen the fishes peculiar to the Red Sea, including
the sea cray-fish. Each galley is rowed by forty men,
and the oars pass through loops of rope. The rigging
and all the arrangements of the ship are minutely
given. The queen, determined to match the two tigers
which formed a feature in her father’s triumphal proces¬
sion, is importing a live lion to figure in hers, and it is
to be seen in a cage on the deck of one of the ships.
The whole series of sculptures is extremely interesting,
the more so when it is remembered that they record
events that happened about 200 years before Moses was
born.
After leaving Deir-el-Bahari, we visited a series of
tombs of the Thothmes and Amunoph period, all of
RCHER'S of Queen Ha-t-asous Guard,
deir el bah are
>
Chap. XXX.]
A BATHING SCENE.
295
them in the neighbourhood, and all belonging to
people of strangely Ethiopian physiognomy. There
were periods when the African element got the upper
hand, and when the ruling classes are presented to
us with decidedly Nubian features, the royal family
themselves alone excepted ; such a period occurs early
in the eighteenth dynasty. The portraits of the leading
men and their wives have decidedly African features. I
give specimens of them (Plates XXV., LV.). The period
in question immediately followed the expulsion of the
Shepherd Kings, and the re-establishment of the power
of the Pharaohs in Lower as well as in Upper Egypt.
It is likely enough that it was with the aid of the
Nubians that the Pharaohs succeeded in re-establishing
their power in the north, and of course it was only
natural that while all Northern Egypt was in the hands
of foreigners, the southern population, that is, the Nu¬
bians, should have acquired increased importance at
Thebes. Also Amunoph the First married an Ethio¬
pian queen. She is painted black on more than one
monument, and this, of course, would give increased
influence to her fellow-countrymen at Court.
In one of the tombs in the group we next visited was
a bathing scene ; the ladies have been undressed by
their maids, and have their hair hanging down their
backs and about their shoulders ; a slave walks back¬
wards for decency’s sake to present a cup of something
to one of the dishevelled dames. A sailor who accom¬
panied me exclaimed, “ Hamman Hamman ” (Turkish
bath). In the panel beneath, the ladies were remaking
their toilettes, their maids handing them their necklaces,
doing up their hair, and settling their ornaments. In
one of the tombs the statues of the father and mother of
296
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXX.
the family were seated in a recess, and were so perfect
and looked so like life as to be absolutely startling.
This tomb was of the early date of Amunoph the Second.
I have already observed above that in this and other
tombs of the eighteenth dynasty at Thebes the faces
had a very Nubian cast ; it was so with the statues
in question, the faces were black and covered with a
varnish that still retained its gloss ; the resemblance
between their features and the portraits of the same
personages on the walls was perfectly preserved. This
tomb was occupied by a native family ; painted groups
of ancient Egyptian men and women, armed with
lotus flowers and handsome necklaces, formed the
decoration of their apartment, and they were specially
proud of the statues at the extremity, which sat up
looking very much pleased with themselves. I sketched
the lady by the light of a tallow candle held by an Arab
(Plate LV., p. 266). She wears round her neck an
amulet, contained in a double vase suspended from her
bead necklace. Down the front of her skirt is a column
of hieroglyphics stating that her brother was treasurer
of the king’s gold and silver.
Plate XXXIX. — This bas-relief, executed in the reign
of Amunoph the Second, is one of the earliest represen¬
tations of horses and chariots to be found on the monu¬
ments. It is probable that they were introduced by the
Syrian invaders, who so long maintained possession of
Northern Egypt, and were in course of time adopted by
the Theban kings somewhere about the commencement
of the eighteenth dynasty. The group before us sug¬
gests that the art of charioteering was still in its
infancy, for the construction is rude and clumsy, the
wheels have only four spokes, the horses are ill-drawn,
Preparing for a Chariot Race , B.C. 1600
Bas -relief .-Thebes.
Pi
p
o
X
01
a
p
p
I — I
p
a
a
E-1
BAS-RELIEF, THEBES,
Chap. XXX.] BAS-RELIEF OF CHARIOT RACE.
297
as if their forms were new and strange to the sculptors,
and the grooms are evidently foreign — they have not
Egyptian features, and one of them wears a fringe to his
head-dress. Their attitudes are spirited ; the lad who
stands in front with the rein in his hand, checking the
impatience of his steeds, is particularly good and
life-like, but the animals themselves are clumsily
executed. They are standing on their toes, and have
every veterinary fault a horse can possess. The artist
has, however, determined to be conscientious, and has
made a point of putting in all their legs. They are
evidently preparing for a race. We know that in Asia
Minor and Cyprus it was the custom in ancient times to
have chariot races at their funeral feasts, and it is likely
enough that such exhibitions may have become cus¬
tomary in Egypt also at anniversary festivals at the
graves of the deceased, or the lord of this tomb may
have had a passion for equestrian sports, and may have
directed them by will to be celebrated in his honour in
memoriam after his death. The dinner hour (Plate
XXVIII.) occurs in the same tomb. One groom is enjoy¬
ing the sweets of slumber, his legs dangling over the
tail of his car, his fingers have relaxed their grip of
reins and whip, and his features bear the placid expres¬
sion which implies a good digestion and an easy con¬
science as his nap progresses. His comrade has given
one of his nags a feed, and squats before him, watching
him eat with much interest. The nose of the beast,
together with its provender, has been broken away.
Over the lad’s head is a tree of very stiff conventional
form, beneath the shadow of which he is taking his
midday rest. The animals appear to be jennets, not
horses, for though they have short ears, which may have
298
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXX.
been clipped to equine dimensions, their tails are not
those of horses. There is a fidelity to nature in the
whole group which has much artistic merit.
The same tree occurs in the tomb again with baskets
of provisions and a row of wine jars under it; there is
also a slave with a big water-bottle on his shoulders,
while another has opened the lid of a large box, which
rests against the tree, and is putting something or other
into it.
It is a great pity that the walls of this tomb have
been calcined by fire and all trace of colours de¬
stroyed, and the bas-reliefs themselves have been
reduced by the same cause to a tender and crumbling
condition.
Plate XXV. — This belongs to a period early in the
eighteenth dynasty, soon after the release of the
Egyptians from the thraldom of the Hycsos, which for
several centuries reduced the native sovereigns to the
position of vassal chiefs. We here again see evidence that
during this eclipse the Nubian element had come to the
front, for the master and mistress of this tomb are both
Nubians of pure blood. The lord, a trusted officer of
King Amunoph the Second, has just returned from some
distant post. If I recollect aright, the inscription states
that he has been away from home three years ; I did not
copy it, but a significant hieroglyph has come into the
illustration on the left. It is the sign Khem, one of the
monograms for Egypt, to which beloved home he has
just come back. He receives a warm welcome ; his wife
throws her arms about his neck with true African im¬
pulsiveness, and he has not returned empty-handed, for
he is clasping a necklace round her neck, while near at
hand are stands with refreshments, which she has pro-
H
o
K
m
□
o
m
BAS-RELIEF IN TOMB OF THE PERIOD OF AMUNOPH II. THEBE S
Chap. XXX.] AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.
299
vided for her husband’s delectation. This little domestic
episode from the far-off past has that touch of nature
which makes all the world akin, be their skins black,
white, or red, and reminds us that whether in the six¬
teenth century before, or the nineteenth century after,
Christ, all mankind are linked together by impulses and
feelings common to all and ever constant and unchange¬
able. The lady wears on her wrists bracelets of a
pattern still common in Nubia. The faces are full
of expression, but the bodies and limbs are executed
with more than ordinary carelessness.
February 8. — My gleaning this day was rewarded by
a brilliant success. While poking about at the base of
a rock, half buried beneath an avalanche of quarry
rubbish, I espied a portion of the globe, or radiating disk,
which figures so often at Tel-el-Amarna, and set a crew
of natives to clear away the debris. I discovered it to
be a tomb which reproduced the peculiarities hitherto
supposed only to be found at Tel-el-Amarna, but the
execution was infinitely superior ; the sculpture was in
very white limestone.
On one side of the entrance was represented Amunoph
the Fourth and his queen, beneath a canopied pavilion.
The king, unlike other Egyptians, was unusually stout ;
he had however the Amunoph features, nor was there
anything remarkable about him. One of the cartouches
was defaced, the other was that of Amunoph the
Fourth ; opposite them was a long hieroglyphic inscrip¬
tion, which I copied.
On the other side of the portal were Khou-en-Aten and
his queen. The former a most peculiar-looking man,
with a very long chin and long nose, with a slight thin
figure and an effeminate look ; he never could have
300
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXX.
been an Amunoph, but his wife resembles Tai-ti, the
wife of Amunoph the Third, and I suspect that the true
explanation of the mystery that hangs over this curious
episode in Egyptian history, of which her husband is
the hero, is that she was the daughter and heiress of
Amunoph the Fourth, and married a foreigner, Khou-
en-Aten, who reigned in right of his wife.
The queen of Amunoph the Fourth bears the name
of Nofre-ti-ti. Her monogram is so given by Fepsius
in his great work. Moreover, that eminent authority
also gives a portrait of her husband, which differs
totally from Khou-en-Aten.
The queen of Khou-en-Aten bears the name of Nofre-
nofrou-nofre-ti-tai-Aten.
Not identical, at the same time that they just present
the resemblance that might be expected in the names
of mother and daughter.
My reasons for thinking so are as follows : The
queen bore the name of Ti-tai, i.e., if I am right, her
grandmother’s name with the syllables transposed, and
it was the fashion in Egypt to take the name of the
grandparents rather than of parents. The names of
the three queens read in the following order: — i. Ta-i-
ti ; 2. Ti-ti ; 3. Ti-tai-Aten. The queen No. 3 is re¬
presented at Tel-el-Amarna, wearing not the coronet
usually worn by queens-consort, but a royal crown
covered with the asps of sovereignty. She is always
represented taking part jointly with her husband in
state ceremonials and in religious functions, and as
sharing with him the homage of their subjects.
On all occasions she is represented as seated on an
equality with her husband, not standing as the wives of
the Pharaohs usually are ; finally there is the evidence
XXXIV.
Portrait of a Courtier of khou en Aten.
BAS-RELIEF, THEBES.
Chap. XXX.]
KHOU-EN-ATEN’S QUEEN.
301
of family likeness. She has a very sweet charming
expression and beautifully delicate features, like Tai-ti,
wife of Amunoph the Third. They are represented at
Tel-el-Amarna as having a son, whose name is given,
and it is nearly the same as his mother’s; this son died
early and appears no more.
Moreover, over the heads of each of her daughters
who are with her on her throne are inscriptions stating
that they are sprung from the queen Nofre-nofru-ti-tai-
Aten. This is quite unprecedented, and shows that
the royal descent was in her, not in her consort.
The words are, “royal daughters of her very body,
springing from the queen, the chief, Nofre-nofru-ti-tai-
Aten. May she live for ever.” The whole formula
being that peculiar to a sovereign reigning in her own
right. Her youngest sister Bent Mut married Horus,
who reigned in her right. This seems conclusive as to
the royal descent being in the sisters.
The tomb we saw at Thebes at all events conclusively
proves that the singular looking personage who figures
on all the tombs at Tel-el-Amarna is not identical with
Amunoph the Fourth, for as I have already said, on
one side of the portal is Amunoph the Fourth, with
his wife standing behind him, and without the Aten disk
over his head, or anything else to distinguish him
specially from other Pharaohs. On the other side is
Khou-en-Aten, with his wife seated behind him and
with the distinctive titles of royalty.
We have given an illustration of the right-hand side
of the fa9ade of this tomb, page 72, in our account of
Tel-el-Amarna. We give here the portrait of one of the
courtiers, who is making a profoundly obsequious obei¬
sance to his sovereign ; the face is a most remarkable
302
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXX.
one ; the singular features and the straight hair show
him to be a foreigner, most likely a fellow-countryman
of Khou-en-Aten, and favoured on that account with
a good place at court.
The sun worship and the Jewish features seem to
point to Phoenicia as the native land of king and
courtier.
We regret extremely that we were baffled by circum¬
stances in endeavouring to obtain a drawing of the
left-hand side of the faqade of this remarkable and
interesting tomb. We copied the inscription from the
latter, and it appeared that it belonged to a functionary
of the name of Raineses , who lived in the reign of both
kings, viz., Amunoph the Fourth and Khou-en-Aten.
The features of Khou-en-Aten had been purposely
hammered out, as well as those of his queen, while
those of Amunoph the Fourth had been respected and
left untouched.
We remained at Thebes until February g, and paid
several visits to Bab-el-Melook, sketching and taking
impressions. While here we obtained some interesting
antiquities ; amongst others, a papyrus, a fac-simile of
which we annex, and we are indebted to Dr. Birch,
of the British Museum, for the following translation of
it ; it is in the nature of a prayer, and an insight into an
Egyptian’s modes of religious thought.
“ Oh ! ruler of the waters thou that contest up out of the
river , seated on the throne of thy boat. Go forth in thy
direction of yesterday. Sit thou on the deck of the
(solar) bark. I have joined thy crew. I am a perfected
spirit.
“ Oh Sun in thy name of Ra ! shouldest thou cross
in the eye of seven cubits, the pupil of which is three
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Chap. XXX.]
AN ANCIENT PAPYRUS.
303
cubits, make me a perfected spirit. Thou art ever sure
I am saved. Oh Sun in the name of the Sun ! when
thou passest over the dead beings inverted, let me stand
upright. I am a perfected spirit. I am saved, thou art
secure, I am preserved.
“ Oh Sun under thy name of Sun, when thou openest
the secret places in the gate of Amenti , the place of
departed Spirits , rejoicing the heart of the Gods, restore
to me my heart, for I am a perfected Spirit. Thou art
sure, I am saved, as thy limbs are sound so are my
limbs sound.” (The mention of the heart and limbs has
reference to the Egyptian belief in the resurrection of the
body.)
The age of this papyrus is not less than 2500 years.
It was found amongst the bandages of a mummy at
Thebes.
The vignette with which the papyrus is illustrated
consists of the sun bark. The eagle-headed figure
beneath the canopy is Ra the Sun God seated on his
throne “ on the deck of his boat; ” he is being ferried
along by a genius.
The passages in italics are slightly modified by me in
order to render the sense clearer.
This prayer is supposed to be offered by the spirit of
deceased after death. It is in fact extracted from a
chapter of the Book of the Dead, a collection of liturgies
from which it was usual to select portions and have them
inscribed on papyrus and deposited with the mummies
in their tombs.
A large majority of the papyri still obtainable consists
of such extracts ; the entire Book of the Dead if
translated would probably fill a volume at least as large
as our Book of Common Prayer.
304
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXX.
We obtained, amongst other objects of antiquarian
interest at Thebes, a complete bead of hair, found with
the mummy lady whom it had adorned in life. It
had been very carefully enveloped in linen bandages,
the owner hoping, no doubt, that she might be allowed
to wear it in the world to come. It consisted of an in¬
finity of little curls, jet black, and long enough to hang
over the shoulders, nearly to the waist ; it had been
cut off, and was so fragile that it scarcely bore being
touched. Amongst our treasures were also four mummy
jars, used for placing the viscera of the deceased in ;
their lids consisted of the heads of the four genii — Tuaut-
mutf, Hapi, Amset, and Kabsenouf. The first had the
head of a jackal ; the second, of an ape ; the third, of a
man ; and the fourth, of a hawk (see Plate XXIII.,
page i qo — Anubis tending Mummy). The vases alluded
to will be observed beneath the couch on which the
mummy is placed.
CHAPTER XXXI.
KASR-EL-SYAD.
Tombs of the Sixth Dynasty — The Royal Game of Tributes — Tomb of Prince Ta-
Hotep — Ballianeh — Kom-es-Sultan — Mariette Bey’s Excavations — Family
Memorial Stele.
February g. — We left Thebes, and had a rapid and
prosperous run to Kasr-el-Syad, about seventy miles
below Thebes.
February io. — We moored the Gazelle near Kasr-
el-Syad, “ The House of the Hunter,” and made an
expedition to some tombs of the sixth dynasty, in the
mountains inland, on the eastern bank of the Nile.
On the way we called at a Coptic monastery in search
of information, but the good brothers had all gone to
town, it being market day. Our dragoman asked an
Egyptian whom we met, to fetch them, but he being
a good Mussulman refused, whereupon our draggy in
a rage, caught up a big stone in one hand, and
seized the end of the unlucky Mahometan’s turban in
the other, and pulled it off, and I had to interfere to
prevent further violence; we then advanced towards
the mountains which towered up above us, seemingly
not more than a mile off, but the more we advanced,
the further they seemed to recede; we walked, and
walked, and walked until we were ready to drop ;
hotter and hotter grew the sun, as its rays beat
back fiercely from the perpendicular cliffs, and more
X
3°6
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXI.
and more querulous grew we. At last our guide led us
up one of the spurs of the mountains to the tombs, and
we were fully rewarded for our sufferings. They were
most interesting, the cartouches of the Pharaohs they
contained showed them to belong to the sixth dynasty ;
few things in Egypt are more ancient than that, except
the Pyramids, which date back to the fourth dynasty.
We had lately viewed the tombs of the kings of Thebes
with much awe as being 3500 years old, but here were
tombs 1200 years older ! The style and details of
their sculpture and paintings gave proof of this enor¬
mous antiquity, differing in many particulars from the
stereotyped forms of later tombs ; the head-dresses
were totally different, so were the implements, the
plaited baskets, arms, boats, paddles, and other things.
The giraffe is drawn among other animals on the wall,
which proves that the people of the sixth dynasty were
in communication with Equatorial Africa. The men
were represented with their heads closely shaven, and
a fillet tied round them with a neat bow at the back,
and the long ends sticking out stiffly behind. The
women had their hair plaited into a pigtail with a
large ball at the end like a pump handle. One
very striking peculiarity in all these figures was that
the eyes were drawn very large indeed, though the
other features were perfectly well proportioned. The
muscular anatomy of the limbs was also much more
artistically represented than in later tombs, when a
stereotyped conventional form was adopted and pre¬
scribed by law : a fatal bar to the further development
of Egyptian art.
The master of the tomb is seated on a lion’s-foot
chair, dressed in a leopard skin, a fore paw of which
XXVII. KASR-EL-SYAD
I
Chap. XXXI.] TOMBS OF THE SIXTH DYNASTY.
307
comes over his shoulder, while a hind claw rests on his
thigh, and the tail hangs over his knee. There were
there processions of boats, processions of animals,
forming part of the tribute from Ethiopia, over the
reception of which Ta-Hotep had presided, and pre¬
senting evidence of how ancient a royal game is the
game of tributes ; for we learn here that it was already
in fashion under the sixth dynasty. There were also
long files of men carrying the goods and chattels of the
deceased, and there were extensive hieroglyphic inscrip¬
tions which would, if deciphered, prove most interesting.
Outside these tombs were tablets engraved upon the
rock, covered with hieroglyphics, probably recording the
visits of relatives subsequently to the interment. In one
of these the visitor is accompanied by his wife, and the
head-dresses of both were most curious (see Plates
XXXVI., XXXVII., XXXVIII.)
We got back to our boat after five hours’ hard work,
and were not sorry to find an excellent breakfast await¬
ing us. On our way back we crossed an ancient brick
bridge over the dry bed of an old canal, and a little way
beyond we found the very narrow path obstructed by a
young camel who was rolling himself like a donkey, not
discouraged by the difficulties caused by his hump ; he
was so intent upon this exercise that he would not get
up. A native offered us a beautiful fragment of the
frieze of a temple which he had broken off; we longed
to possess it, but felt scruples about encouraging the
destruction of the temple by buying it, whereupon our
dragoman suggested that we should call up a squadron
of the crew, bastinado the man, and carry oft the prize
without paying him, thus triumphantly achieving both
objects. However, we were not yet sufficiently oriental-
X 7
308
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXI.
ized to carry out this suggestion, which otherwise had
its merits. “ Thy servants are beaten ” is as true of
the poor Egyptian now as it was in the days of the
Pharaohs, and the stick is often the only pay they get
for their labours.
February io. — In the tomb of Prince Ta-Hotep, who
flourished during the sixth dynasty, I discovered side
by side the names of three kings of that dynasty, in
whose reigns he had lived (see Nos. 36, 37, and 38 in
Plate LIII.) They were Merira, Merenra, and Nofre-
kara ; beneath each of their ovals were their respective
titles, which were as follows : — Merira of the good
Pyramid, servant of God ; Merenra of the Pyramid of
the good resurrection, servant of God ; Nofrekara of the
Pyramid of life, servant of God.
One interesting conclusion which results from this
discovery is the valuable testimony of a contemporary
of these kings as to the accuracy of the list found at
Abydos, and sculptured by the directions of King Sethi
of the nineteenth dynasty, 1500 years later.* Another
interesting fact brought to our notice is the titles by
which the Egyptian sovereigns of that remote period
were distinguished. Each king built during his lifetime
the pyramid that was to serve as his sepulchre, and he
gave it such name as his fancy suggested ; we learn
from the inscription on the walls of Ta-Hotep’s tomb
that they bore during life as titles the names so fixed
upon, and they all in common bore the additional title
of “ servant of God,” a nobly chosen distinction.
The tomb of Prince Ta-Hotep and another of the
same period containing the cartouche of Pepi, are
According to Mariette Bey, 2200 years later.
Egyptian Chief, VIth Dynasty. & his Wife, Princess Am-ua-te.
KASR-EL-SYAD.
XXVIII
Chap. XXXI.]
TOMB OF PRINCE TA-HOTEP.
309
situated side by side in the mountains, about seventy
miles below Thebes. They are, as may be supposed
from their great antiquity, much defaced, and it requires
an attentive examination to distinguish the sculptures
which still remain ; but it is wonderful how they come
out bit by bit as one’s eyes become accustomed to the
scanty light. We had felt rather sceptical as to the lapse
of time assigned by the great Egyptologists, for the gap
between the sixth and the eleventh dynasties ; but having
only a few days before closely examined the remain¬
ing sculptures and paintings of the eleventh dynasty
at Drah-Aboo-Neggah at Thebes, and thus being
qualified to judge by comparison of such indications
of greater antiquity as their respective conditions can
afford, we have no doubt that the interval is fully as
great as Bunsen estimates, and are inclined to think
that it is greater. The sculptures in Ta-Hotep’s
tomb are cut in hard limestone, and in many parts
they have not been destroyed by the hand of man,
but have become faint by the infinitely slow process of
waste of the stone itself. The style of the painting and
of the hieroglyphics is also vastly more antique than in
the eleventh-dynasty remains at Thebes, as are the
fashions of dress and the types of the men and women
depicted on the walls.
There are several large boats manned by twenty-four
rowers, and having a cabin astern and another amid-
ship ; one of them is towing a papyrus boat after it. Ta-
Hotep is represented seated, with his little daughter at
his feet. The quivers with the arrow heads showing
above seem to have suggested the coronet worn by
Egyptian queens (see Plate XXL)
On the rocks near the entrance were engraved no less
3io
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXI.
than six votive tablets dedicated to Ta-Hotep by his
children and grandchildren ; he must therefore have been
a personage of considerable note.
Next day, February n, we reached Ballianeh, where
we stopped to visit the interesting and historically most
important Temple of Abydos. Our route lay through fields
of beans, wheat, and other spring crops, across much
the same country as that described in Chapter XXIV.
While threading our way along a narrow path with
a high wall of sugar-cane right and left, we met some
camels with heavy loads of the same slung right and
left of their humps ; they thus not only blocked further
passage entirely, but overhung considerably on both
sides. A dead-lock ensued, and we stood facing each
other for a moment or two, then the dragoman broke
out into fierce invective, which caused the owner of
the camels to drive his huge team forwards, knocking
us over, donkeys and all, in amongst the cane stems,
fortunately, for had we fallen beneath the feet of the
camels there would have been no more Nile gleanings.
Having got ourselves together again, and crept out from
amongst the crop, we relieved our feelings by taking
part in angry altercation, but as the Arabs did not
understand us, they were not much damaged by our
pointed remarks.
We arrived soon afterwards, at a village, and stopped
at the Sheik’s house. Here we were received by a
curious crew, who stood about the gates of the court¬
yard, or leaned against the wall, in tipsy and helpless
attitudes. They were Egyptian priests, princes, gods,
and sacred animals of red granite, lately dug out of the
ancient cemetery near by. They must have rejoiced the
heart of Mariette Bey, and by this time no doubt are in
Chap. XXXI.]
KOM-ES-SULTAN.
311
the Boulak Museum. After an interview with the Sheik,
who courteously invited us into the court -yard to inspect
other antiques, we continued our route through the
palm groves, till we emerged at the vast funeral mound
of Kom-es-Sultan.*
THE MOUND OF THE KING.
This rises sixty feet above the level of the country,
and is composed entirely of the debris of tombs that
have accumulated from the earliest times. Here,
according to Egyptian tradition, Osiris was buried ;
and it was the ambition of the wealthy to be buried as
near this holy spot as possible. For generations and
for ages the dead accumulated here, and looking into
the yawning chasm which Mariette Bey has dug right
down to the bottom through the centre, one sees,
strata above strata, the ruined walls of tombs, and the
bodies and limbs of mummies flung about in ghastly
profusion ; legs, arms, skulls, thigh bones, trunks,
entire mummies stripped of their grave clothes and
exposed to the glare of the noonday. They had
been stripped naked in the search for scarabasi, rings,
necklaces, and other ornaments of the dead. The
envelopes and mummy cases had been taken, the
only things deemed worthless were the poor wrecked
remains of humanity upon which such infinite pains
had been lavished to ensure them unbroken rest and
immunity from the desecration of decay.
Plate XXXVII. is an illustration of a relic extracted
from Kom-es-Sultan. It is a very interesting subject ;
* Kom in Arabic signifies a round hill, and the word reappears in the old English
word coomb, well known in the Lake District of Cumberland, into the composition
of which name it enters — “ the Land of Coombs or Hills.”
312
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXI.
being a good example of a funeral stele or memorial
stone, hundreds of which have lately been unearthed
here by Mariette Bey. On the left hand at the top
are represented the father and mother enthroned on
a kind of double chair, beneath which is seated their
favourite daughter. She has brought a special little
table of offerings ; she holds a lotus in her hand, and
a flower is fastened round her head by the stem, while
her long hair hangs about her shoulders. In front
of the parents stands their eldest son, presenting a
table of funeral offerings. It is stated in the inscrip¬
tion over his head that he was a priest, and that his
name was Men-Ammon. He is followed by a servant,
bearing a bouquet of flowers and a drink-offering,
probably wine. On the panel beneath are four more
daughters and four sons ; one of the sons, the one
seated nearest to the table, and facing the young ladies,
is stated in the inscription to be deceased, the word
“ blessed ” being added to his name. His three surviving
brothers and his four sisters are assembled there
on the anniversary of his death, and have presented
the customary offerings ; they have brought him a
flower, which he is holding in his hand, while on the
table before him are a bundle of leeks, a basket of fruit,
some loaves of bread and cakes ; under the table is a
jar of wine, with a flower entwined round it. It was
the custom with the Egyptians to assemble every year
in the tombs of their relatives on the anniversary of their
death, and to have a funeral feast. They imagined on
these occasions that their dead relatives were present
and took part in their feasts, and they are always so
represented. The names of each son and daughter are
written in hieroglyphics over their heads. The deceased
Family Memorial Stele.
B OULAK .
PL.Lll
Chap. XXXI.] FAMILY MEMORIAL STELE. 313
brother was, it appeared, a secretary, and his name
Ha-ta-ti— under it is written, “ of blessed memory ; ”
the name of the brother behind him was Te-sa-Ammon ;
the name of the pet daughter, who is seated behind her
parents’ chair, is Nofre-te-sou. The subject at top of
this interesting tombstone represents the eyes of the
god Osiris. He was the god who presided over the
judgment of the souls of the departed. Underneath
is a double representation of the god Anubis, who was
always painted with a jackal’s head ; the one on the
left is Anubis of Southern Egypt, the one on the right
is Anubis of Northern Egypt ; the circle with the cross
preceded by a lily represents the north country, whereas
the circle and the cross with its compound flower on the
left represents the land of the south ; the hieroglyphic
inscription which occupies the bottom panel of the stone
is a prayer to Osiris and to Anubis of the North and of
the South to grant the dead justification in the land of
departed spirits, and also that he may enjoy in abundance
all funeral offerings. I may observe here, that almost all
the representations of feasts in Egyptian tombs are
funeral memorial feasts, and the persons taking part in
them are members of the family ; they are the givers of
the feast, and their guests are the dead.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE ROYAL ANCESTORS OF RAMESES THE GREAT.
The Temple of Abydos — Bas-relief of young Rameses — The famous Tablet — Its value
in Egyptian chronology — Testimony of the Pyramids to Sethi’s accuracy.
On leaving Kom-es-Sultan we passed the alabaster
temple of Rameses, and presently reached that of Sethi.
This is so fully described in guide-books, and its paint¬
ings are so similar to those of other temples, that we
shall not dwell upon them ; they are executed with
the same care and high finish that distinguishes all
Sethi’s work. The most interesting are the series which
exhibit the king opening the sanctuaries of the gods in
succession with his own hands, and also the nursery
scene in which young Rameses, still a baby, is being
petted and fondled by his mother and the ladies of the
Court. All this, however, is far eclipsed in interest by
the sculptures in the dark corridor at the south corner,
for in this was found, a few years ago, the famous
Tablet of Abydos.
It is a long dark corridor, blackened with the smoke
of some conflagration, but fortunately otherwise unin¬
jured. On the left hand are names of no less than 130
deities — all the gods and goddesses, major and minor,
of the Egyptian Pantheon. Beneath each is the town or
district which was specially devoted to him or her. At
the end of this panel stands Sethi and his idolized son,
destined later to leave his mark so deeply on the annals
PORTRAIT OF RAMESES THE GREAT IN HIS YOUTH
'u.XXXV ABYDOS
I
i
Chap. XXXII.] BAS-RELIEF OF YOUNG RAMESES.
3J5
of his generation, and, indeed, on the history of the
world. The father is instructing the son in the theo¬
logy of his religion, and the latter is pouring out a
libation to the gods. The bas-relief of young Rameses
(Plate XXXV.) is beautifully executed, more care having
evidently been lavished upon it than on anything else
in the entire temple. As a specimen of sculpture it is
quite a gem, and may be accepted as an accurate por¬
trait of the youthful hero. He wears the side lock, the
distinguishing ornament of royal princes. His head
has been shaved both at the back and over the brow,
leaving the side lock, and we know from statues that
it was worn on one side only. There are, however,
many instances in which the shaving was dispensed
with (see Plate XI.) This cherished appendage was
made the occasion for some dandyism. The prince has
secured his with a clasp most elaborately ornamented
with pearls and gold, and terminating in front with the
royal asp, presently to be worn on his brow, but mean¬
while biding its time below. Beneath this comb or
clasp the hair has been plaited into long tresses,
forming a fringe, carefully trimmed into a graceful
shape. Round his neck he wears a double string of
beads and a handsome collar. A panther skin is
thrown over his shoulders, with the head and claws
attached ; this is kept in its place by ribbons, while
round his waist is tied an apron, fastened with a leo-
pard’s-head buckle. His names are engraved upon a
golden plate suspended in front by four straps, after
the manner of a Highland kilt ; on arms and wrists are the
usual armlets and bracelets, each of the latter being ot
a different pattern. In the left hand the young prince
carries a roll of papyrus, on which no doubt were in-
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXII.
316
scribed the list of the Sacred Pantheon — the lesson he
had to learn ; with his right he is pouring out a libation
to them, which falls into a vessel of flowers placed there
for the purpose.
The figure is life-size, and we took a very careful
impression of it, and can guarantee Plate XXXV. being
an accurate reproduction — a fac-simile.
On the opposite wall father and son stand in much the
same attitude, but the bas-relief is considerably mutilated.
Now it is not the gods, but the to be scarcely less
venerated ancestors, that the royal pair are contemplat¬
ing. Sethi is waving one hand towards them, while he
carries an incense burner in the other, still flaming.
The noble youth gazes upon the long lines of his fore¬
fathers with even greater interest than he did upon the
gods. He holds in his hand another papyrus, in which
the illustrious names are inscribed — what price would
that papyrus fetch could it now be retrieved ? In front
of the group is an inscription of some length, a sort of
preface, and beyond that extends, in four long rows, the
names and titles of seventy-six kings, beginning with
Menai (see Plate LI 1 1) . Upon this monogram of hoary
and fabulous antiquity one cannot gaze, as Mariette Bey
observes, without emotion. There they all are in bold
relief, splendidly cut upon the hard marble-like lime¬
stone; there they are in chronological succession, letting
in a flood of light where Egyptologists had hitherto
been groping in hopeless darkness and perplexity. The
preface to the tablet states that it is dedicated to the
male ancestors'" of King Sethi who have been sovereigns
of Upper and Lower Egypt. A little consideration will
* The word “ ancestors ” does not actually occur, but the instruction of his son in
the history of his ancestors is plainly its purpose ; this is manifest from the whole
composition of the Tableau.
Chap. XXXII.] THE FAMOUS TABLET. 3 1 7
show how considerable a proportion of Egyptian
sovereigns are excluded by this preamble from the list
here given. It shuts out those princes who, though
legitimate, were masters of only a part of the Egyptian
empire. It shuts out female sovereigns, even though in
the direct line of descent, and also some male legitimate
sovereigns whose branches died out, and who were
therefore not ancestors. It shuts out all collateral
reigns. Consistently with these exclusive rules he
has omitted, as we might have expected from his
preface, all the dynasties which existed during that
long period of eclipse while half Egypt was in the
possession of an alien race, the Hycsos or Shepherd
Kings, i.e., from the twelfth to the eighteenth dynasty,
as well as all the dynasties during which intestine
divisions left the country under a divided sway, when
the power of the feudal chiefs revived under a succes¬
sion of weak sovereigns, none of whom had absolute
possession of the reins of government. This appears
to have been partially the case from the sixth to the
eleventh dynasty. He has also omitted the two queens
N-i-t-a-kere (Nitocris) and Ha-t-Asou, in accordance
with Rule I., and Amunoph the Fourth and his
successors in accordance with Rule II.
Even after this severe pruning there still remain
seventy-six monarchs. Now let us see to what chrono¬
logical conclusions this leads us. If there be assigned
to these seventy-six monarchs the same average
duration of reign that our own thirty-four English
sovereigns have enjoyed, viz., twenty-four years, one
with another, they alone make up a period of no less
than 1824 years. Sethi lived more than 1500 years
b.c. Even therefore had the Abydos tablet been
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXII.
exhaustive, the date of Menes, the first king of the
seventy-six, must have been thrown back to 3324 years
before Christ, i.e., 5203 years ago. But we have
already shown that it was very far from exhaustive ;
we have to add the long period of 500 years, at least,
during which Northern Egypt was in the power of those
foreign invaders, the Hycsos.
This interval embraces the entire time of the period of
Abraham’s visit, and of Joseph’s Egyptian career. We
must add the reigns of two queens already referred to,
and the reigns of Amunoph the Fourth and his three
successors, with whom his branch died out. Queen
Ha-t-Asou reigned along time, and Queen Nitocris lived
long enough to leave her mark in history. Amunoph
the Fourth and his three successors lasted for a suf¬
ficient period to revolutionize the Egyptian religion, and
to establish a new capital of great extent and importance,
as a visit to the ruins of Tel-el-Amarna will prove. One
hundred years will therefore be a very moderate period
to allow for the two queens and for the Khou-en-Aten
period. Then there is the interval between the sixth
and twelfth dynasties, which cannot be put at less than
200 years, exclusive of the kings belonging to it com¬
prised in Sethi’s list. Altogether, therefore, the minimum
total that must be added to the date of the foundation of
the Egyptian empire by Menes cannot be reduced below
800 years, further throwing back that date, therefore,
to 4124 years b.c., i.e., to 6003 years ago, and the
date of the Great Pyramid to 3600 b.c., i.e., to 5479
years ago.
But the average duration of reign, in the early
dynasties at all events, is considerably in excess of the
more modern average. , As a matter of fact we know
Chap. XXXII.}
SETHI’S CHRONOLOGY.
3 1 9
that during periods of stability several of the Egyptian
reigns were very long. Cheops (Chufu) and Khafra
reigned each fifty years, Pepi reigned ninety-five, and
Rameses reigned sixty-seven. The inscription of
Senofreou, Plate XLV., page 276, is dated in the forty-
second year of his reign ; that alongside in the forty-first
year of King Ousersra’s reign ; and inscriptions at
Beni Hassan in the forty-third year of Ousertasen’s
reign, &c.
Manetho gives 285 years as the period spanned
by the nine reigns of the fourth dynasty, i.e., nearly
thirty-two years for each sovereign. In the sixth
dynasty six reigns span 198 years, i.e., thirty-three to
each king. The average for the fifth is about the same;
and these terms of life are confirmed by independent
records found in the genealogies occurring on memorial
stele and in papyri. The lives of these early sovereigns
were longer, owing either to superior vigour of constitu¬
tion or because the cares of state sat more lightly upon
them. The period, therefore, to be assigned to the
seventy-six kings of Sethi’s list must be extended in the
proportion of about one-fourth, in order to be consistent
with existing records.
In proposing the annexed chronology, therefore, it
must be understood that it is put forward as a minimum
calculation, and admitted to fall short of that required
by historic records ; the intervals also assumed
between dynasties six and twelve, and again between
twelve and eighteen, are much below those assigned
by tradition and by Manetho’s history ; it must be
remembered that Manetho’s statements are official,
compiled by command of one of the Ptolemies, while
most of the contemporary records still existed.
32°
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXII.
And it cannot be doubted that Ptolemy selected the
ablest and most intelligent historian of his time for the
work, and placed at his disposal every source of inform¬
ation at his command.
It may be said, but how can we be sure that Sethi’s
list is not a mere compilation of priestly legends ? It
happens that within the past ten years we have dis¬
covered the means of testing Sethi’s accuracy. Numerous
sepulchral stele have been discovered at various places ;
the tombstones of men whose families served under
more than one sovereign. In this way we have the
names of several successive kings mentioned in their
order. The same is the case with family tombs ; I saw
one tomb in which nearly the entire of the eighteenth
dynasty was mentioned in their order ; another in which
three kings of the sixth dynasty were mentioned in their
order ; another in which four kings of the fourth dynasty
are given in succession ; another begins the sixth
dynasty and extends into the reign of Pepi ; another
takes up the record in the reign of Pepi, and continues
to the end of that dynasty. All these pieces of inde¬
pendent evidence confirm the absolute accuracy of
Sethi’s list. The only apparent inaccuracy I have suc¬
ceeded in discovering is the position he assigns to
Ouskaf of the fourth dynasty. I saw a tomb in which
Ouskaf is placed by a contemporary next to Chufu, and
he is so placed in more than one stele and in several
papyri, but there may have been more than one Ouskaf,
as there are more than one Ata, and Chufu may have
been succeeded by an Ouskaf who died childless, whose
reign was brief, and who would not therefore appear in
Sethi’s list. Sethi’s hobby was genealogy ; he had at
command all the sources of information which the empire
Chap. XXXII.]
SETHI’S CHRONOLOGY.
32 1
contained. He drew up his list no less than 3380 years
ago; comparatively near, therefore, to the historic times
he records. And so far from showing any disposition to
swell his list with legendary names and to exaggerate
the number of his predecessors, he has, as already
observed, pruned it down most closely and excluded from
it all that he possibly could. Moreover, it would be as
easy to imagine Queen Victoria in error as to the suc¬
cession of the sovereigns her predecessors as to imagine
an Egyptian king, who had made the subject his special
study, to be ignorant of the kings who reigned before
him, and whose descendant and representative he claimed
to be.
Modern Egyptologists of twenty years ago compiled
their chronology under very great difficulties ; almost all
the papyrus had perished, nine-tenths of the monu¬
ments had perished, the archives kept in a hundred
temples by the priests had been burnt, they had perished
in that cruel conflagration of the Alexandrian library, in
which 400,000 papyri are said to have been ruthlessly
destroyed. They were straining to see into a remote past
of thousands of years with very inadequate landmarks.
Sethi had to encounter none of these difficulties. The
archives, carefully kept and jealously guarded, were all
intact ; papyri from the time of the immediate suc¬
cessor of Menes even existed. We know of one which
is quoted written by the second king. The order of suc¬
cession was as plain to Sethi and his contemporaries as
that from William the Conqueror to Queen Victoria is to
us. His list was also made out with great deliberation.
He built a noble gallery especially to record it in for
the instruction of his son, and that son has proved his
faith in it by subsequently copying it and having
3“ 2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXII.
it sculptured on the wall of a temple which he built.
Moreover, it is confirmed by other tablets and lists and
papyri, which, though very imperfect and disconnected
fragments, still, so far as sequences of kings do occur,
confirm the tablet of Abydos.
Wherever Manetho and Sethi differ, I should un¬
hesitatingly give my faith to Sethi. He wrote 1400
years nearer the events ; Manetho wrote after a large
proportion of the records of the early dynasties had
probably perished. Still, in the main, Manetho’s table
of kings does not differ materially from Sethi’s, except
in putting in whole dynasties which Sethi, for the
reasons already explained, passed over in silence. I
have sought to reduce the remoteness of date to the
minimum that the evidence would allow.
I began my inquiries into Egyptian chronology with
a strong prejudice against the remote dates claimed, but
after carefully sifting all the evidence I could get at, both
from books and from monuments, I can come to no
other conclusion, after three visits and many years’
inquiry, than that the minimum dates that can be
assigned for the foundation of the Egyptian empire are
those above put forward. Mariette Bey, who has
devoted his life to the study of the subject, assigns 5004
b.c. as the date of Menes, and 4235 b.c. as the date of
the Great Pyramid ; thus estimating their antiquity as
more than 800 years greater than I have done.
Other silent witnesses to the remote period to which
the Egyptian monarchy extends back, exist in the
long array of pyramids which, in a more or less
ruined state, strew the desert for sixty miles, from
Meidoum to Memphis. They are said to amount to
seventy in number ; and, having ridden through them
Chap. XXXII.]
TABLET OF ABYDOS.
for miles, I can well believe it. Now the building ot
pyramids went out of fashion previous to the eleventh
dynasty, but we do not know how long before ; per¬
haps the latest were built under the sixth. At all events
we have here conclusive evidence that previous to the
eleventh dynasty seventy kings reigned in succession
long enough to build these vast sepulchral structures.
There were seventy kings whose reigns were each long
enough to construct for himself one of these vast se¬
pulchres ; that would represent 1700 years. To this
must be added the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, four¬
teenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
dynasties before we arrive at Sethi. We know pretty
accurately the length of the twelfth and eighteenth dy¬
nasties. The twelfth lasted 175 years, the eighteenth
about 270, making 445 years in all ; this, added to
1700, makes 2145 before Sethi, which added to his 1500
b.c. (which in round numbers mounts up to 3500 b.c.) is
5400 years ago. Observe how closely this independent
calculation from the seventy pyramids tallies with that
from Sethi’s Tablet. Be it remembered that this calcu¬
lation leaves out of the reckoning the entire of the thir¬
teenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth
dynasties, within which occurs the reign of the Hycsos,
estimated at 500 years.
Brugsch Bey showed me 240 royal scarabaei of dif¬
ferent kings collected by himself ; forty of these were of
unknown reigns. Now, even at the rate of four to the
century, these would represent 6000 years ! However,
no doubt a certain percentage of these were collateral.
We copied the entire collection of royal ovals in the
table of Abydos, seventy-six in number, and we give
them in Plate LI 1 1 . We have had to modify the arrange-
324
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXII.
ment of the rows in order to get them within the limits
of the Plate, which is not a fac-simile either of our
drawing or of the tablet, but the series of ovals is cor¬
rect, and we have numbered them for convenience.
During the entire period that Sethi’s tablet of seventy-
six kings covers, Egypt had no contemporary record ;
during the reign of his son, for the first time, Egyptian
history acquires a contemporary companion in the writ¬
ings of Moses.
We annex the English equivalents for the hiero¬
glyphics in the ovals, together with their significations,
which will we hope prove interesting as illustrating the
ancient modes of thought, giving indications of their
religious views, and helping to determine the sequence
of syllables in disputed names. For instance, No. n,
Bai-en-Nuter, has been written by some Egyptologists
Nuter-bai-en, but as “ Bai ” means spirit, “ en ” of, and
“Nuter” god, it is clear that the en (“of”) would be
out of place if put last, and that Bai-en-Nuter is the
natural grammatical sequence, a conclusion confirmed
by the Greek equivalent given by Manetho, “Binothris.”
The idea involved in the name is instructive and
interesting.
Chap. XXXII.] ANCESTORS OF RAMESES.
325
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Corresponding Name in
Table of Abydos. Interpretation of Name. Manetho's Table.
26
NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. XXXII.
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Chap. XXXII.] ANCESTORS OF RAMESES. 327
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Manetho gives the family names, by which, therefore, these Kings are now best known.
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXII.
o
2S
APPROXIMATE CHRONOLOGY,
RECKONED BACKWARDS FROM THE FIXED DATE OF THE
CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM BY SHISHAK, b.c. 979, AND BASED
UPON THE TABLET OF ABYDOS AND THE EXODUS.
b. c.
Death of Solomon ....... 980
Death of David ........ 1020
Death of Saul ........ 1060
Coronation of Saul ........ 1100
Government by Judges 450 years ; but as St. Paul says
“ by the space of,” thus leaving some margin, we
will assume that this interval was 59 years less,
and adopt the date fixed by the Bible commen-
tators for the Exodus ....
.
1491
Death of Rameses the Second . . . .
About
1500
Birth of Moses ......
•
1570
Accession of Rameses . ... .
.
1576
Foundation of Nineteenth dynasty
.
1600
Expulsion of Hicsos . ... .
.
1790
Foundation of Eighteenth dynasty
•
1800
Death of Joseph ......
•
1820
Visit of Abraham to Egypt ....
•
2000
Invasion of Shepherd Kings . . . .
.
2250
Foundation of Thirteenth dynasty
•
2450
Foundation of Twelfth dynasty . . . . .
Uncertain interval between Twelfth and Sixth dynas¬
ties, over 500 years assigned by Manetho; we will
assume not more than 200 years.
2650
End of Sixth dynasty .....
.
2850
End of Fifth dynasty . ... .
.
3050
End of Fourth dynasty ....
.
3300
Great Pyramid finished about . . . .
.
3450
End of Third dynasty .....
.
3500
End of Second dynasty ....
.
37°°
End of First dynasty .....
.
3950
Foundation of Egyptian Empire by Menes
.
4200
CHAPTER XXXIII.
SIXTH-DYNASTY TOMBS IN GEBEL ABOUFAIDA.
Ekmin — A good Guide-map needed — Uselessness of Dragomen as Guides — Ancient
Tomb near Gou-el-Kebeer — -Rock-tombs under successive Dynasties — Mosaics
at Beni-TIassan — A Coptic Church — Tombs of the Sixth Dynasty — A Coptic
Monastery — -Bedressayn.
February 12. — After a most interesting sojourn at
Abydos we returned to the Gazelle , and next day a run
of forty-four miles brought us to the important market-
town of Ekmin. We landed, intending to visit some
tombs, in which one of the successors of Amunoph the
Fourth is represented, Aai by name. I was particularly
anxious to see this sculpture, as it refers to an obscure
episode in Egyptian history, and every scrap of infor¬
mation we can get about it is therefore interesting ; but
we found no one in the town who could guide us, and
the guide-books are so vague in their description of
its whereabouts as to be useless. A really good guide-
map for Egypt is greatly needed, for in Egypt it is the
only guidance travellers have to depend upon. The
highly-paid dragomen are utterly valueless as guides,
and they carry their ignorance of the Egyptian monu¬
ments to affectation. They are messmen and nothing
else. They hate and detest the whole business of sight¬
seeing. They are a lazy, indolent lot, whose beau ideal
of happiness is to loll in a comfortable chair smoking-
cigarettes and drinking coffee ; or if they come to a
large village they vanish on the pretence of buying eggs
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXIII.
330
or chickens, but really to have cigarettes and coffee, and
a gossip with their acquaintance there. They deem it
a disgrace to be seen exerting themselves, and they give
the crew and waiters far more trouble in attending on
them and in helping them up and down banks, or in
and out of the boat, than their masters do. They think
it a personal grievance if a traveller wishes to see any¬
thing beyond the routine of Karnak, Denderah, and
Edfoo ; and we once trusted to our dragoman to show
us the way to Karnak, only a quarter of a mile distant
from the river, and he misled us. The most honest
and obliging dragoman we had was a Syrian of the
name of Talhami. The dragomen, even if they knew
of an interesting monument besides the stock ones,
would carefully conceal it ; and as they are one’s only
medium of communication with the natives, they would
not tell one the information that the natives could supply.
The present guide-books are minute in their instructions
how to find temples which everyone knows and which
are big enough to be discerned miles off, but are mis¬
leading as to lesser ones ; and I have wandered about
all day in search of small but historically interesting
monuments which accurate guidance would have led to
in half an hour. The best guidance of all would be
an ordnance map, with every known archceologic rem¬
nant marked upon it and the route to it traced out from the
river.
An excellent ordnance map, the French survey, for
government purposes has been published, and it only
needs an enterprising publisher of guide-books to mark
these objects upon it as suggested to make it perfect.
Such a map would be cheap at a five-pound note to
any traveller wishing to see the antiquities of Egypt
Chap. XXXIII.] GEBEL SHECIC HERREDEE.
thoroughly, or to gather historical or archceologic
information.
“ Murray’s Guide-book ” is admirable, but, like all the
rest, it is deficient in special maps. No doubt this will
be amended in a new edition soon to appear, and much
needed.
February 13. — This morning for the first time there
was a fog on the river. We ascended Gebel Sheck
Herredee, a magnificent rocky bluff which projects into
the Nile. Half-way up are many tombs, and above
them vast excavations — caverns formed while quarry¬
ing for building stones. Square columns have been
left to prop up the ceiling. I measured one of these
grottoes and found it 300 feet long by 100 feet deep. It
contained several stelae covered with hieroglyphics and
sculptured figures. The view from the entrance over
the valley of the Nile was superb, as the fog rolled away,
unveiling the great plain below with its towns and
villages and canals and cultivation, and the Libyan
desert beyond. Later in the day we visited some
ancient tombs near Gou-el-Kebeer ; from the antique
style of sculpture and of the hieroglyphics they may be
older than the Pyramids. The first I saw was excavated
to imitate a house ; in those primitive times the dwellings
were only one storey high, and were roofed with palm
trunks laid side by side in the rough ; the lintels of the
doors and windows also consisted of undressed palm
trunks; their appearance had here been exactly imitated,
the stone ceiling having been chiselled out into the
form of round beams laid close together. There
were several large boats with masts shaped like a
step-ladder, so as to dispense with stays fore and aft.
They were rowed by fourteen men, squatting on their
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXIII.
heels, and steered by three men. A slave driver stood
over the rowers, whip in hand ; the boat itself was
evidently dug out of the solid, like an Indian canoe.
On another part of the wall the wife of the owner was
seated in a boat made of papyrus stems bound together,
so that Moses’ ark of bullrushes was a very ancient
invention. With her was her maid-servant, carrying a
bundle ; the attendant’s name was inscribed over her
head. The hieroglyphics were of very antique style; the
lord of the tomb claimed to be the relative of a king —
I wish he had specified what king — and the same rank
was assigned to his wife, who was sitting opposite to
him at a little table. He was a priest in the most sacred
house of Horus, and she was a priestess ; beside her a
little daughter, whose name is given — Sa-nofre-t. The
mother’s name was Princess Af-a.
The idea of the tomb was to render it a repro¬
duction of the home he occupied in life ; there were the
imitation windows and imitation doors, and walls which
recalled the scenes of his life in the flesh ; boats for the
river, and cattle for the land, and there was piled up for
him the food he preferred.
The whole style proclaimed extreme antiquity — the
dug-out canoes, the thick clumsy table and chairs,
the low roof, the palm trunks not being barely indi¬
cated as at the Pyramids, but being conscientiously
executed in complete relief. They were primitive times
evidently when men were contented with dwellings of
very modest dimensions and materials, and this ancient
chief’s house, the original of this tomb, bore the same
relation to the tombs of Ti of the fifth dynasty &c.,
as Henry the Eighth’s house in Fleet Street bears to
Buckingham Palace.
Chap. XXXIII.]
FOURTH -DYNASTY TOMB.
^
oo *5
I feel no hesitation in assigning to this tomb an
antiquity at least equal to that of the Pyramids ; it
struck me as the most antique monument I had seen
in Egypt, except the third-dynasty tombs at Meidoum.
There were three sets of statues inside the tomb, and
one group outside very clumsily executed ; they repre¬
sented father, mother, and daughters.
In another tomb not far off and of the same period,
were seven daughters standing in a row, with the name
of each one over her head. There were similar groups
of statues also in this tomb.
The scale of these rock-hewn private mausoleums
gradually increased, as I have already observed; they
were of modest dimensions during the third and fourth
dynasties, decidedly larger under the fifth and sixth ;
under the twelfth dynasty they had attained the spacious
excavations which we see at Beni Hassan. Under the
thirteenth they grew larger still, examples of which may
be seen in the Stabil Antar and other rock tombs at
Assyout ; while under the eighteenth and nineteenth
dynasties they developed into those subterranean
cathedrals, the tombs of the kings, priests, and officers
of state, which have attracted the wonder and admiration
of the world ever since. Not less did the style of
sculpture painting and decoration develop under succes¬
sive dynasties. Already in the fifth the thick and
clumsy hieroglyphics of the fourth are giving way to
more refined workmanship. The advance gained then
was, however, lost during the sixth, but there was a
revival under the eleventh and twelfth in the style of
hieroglyphic sculpture, for early in the twelfth we find
them beautifully executed, e.g ., in the tombs of Ameni
and of Khnoum-ba-Hotep, at Beni Hassan. Not less
334
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXIII.
excellent is the carving of the hieroglyphics and car-
touches on the ancient obelisks of King Antef of the
eleventh dynasty, which we saw at Drah-Abou-Neggah.
We visited Beni Hassan for the third time on our
way down ; the subjects there found have been so
thoroughly and exhaustively described by Sir Gardner
Wilkinson and others that there is not much left to
glean, hut I found two or three specimens of mosaic
work there. One of them is a pair of shoes carried by a
slave after his master — they are exceedingly well done;
and while the portrait of their owner is much defaced
and blackened and obscured beyond recognition, the
shoes stand out sharply defined, nearly all that has
survived of the once proud Egyptian chief. The mosaic
is set in particularly hard cement. It is not easy to
guess why these articles were thus peculiarly dis¬
tinguished ; perhaps they were shoes of honour, or had
some special history attached to them. They are old
shoes now, no less than 4500 years old; probably there
are not many more ancient specimens of mosaic in the
world. (Since writing the above I have seen far more
ancient mosaics at Meidoum.)
In a valley near Beni Hassan are some cat mum¬
mies. My donkey boy fished out one with its legs still
covered with fur, which however crumbled as one
touched it.
February 14. — We undertook an expedition up into the
mountains behind Beni Mohammet-el-Koofoor to visit
some tombs of the remote period of the sixth dynasty.
While we were waiting for donkeys, a fine, handsome,
stately-looking personage in a snow-white turban and
long flowing robes came forward and took charge
of us. He placed mats for us to sit on in an open
CHAP. XXXIII.] SIXTH-DYNASTY TOMB. 335
space in the centre of the town, and there the
elders gathered round us, squatting cross-legged,
smoking, and contemplating us in silence, or with
an occasional Inshallah in reply to the remarks we
made through our dragoman ; meanwhile our portly
friend brought us coffee from his house, and very good
it was. Then we were taken to see a Coptic church ; it
was redeemed from utter ugliness by four domes ; these
were pierced with holes, through which the interior was
lighted. Inside was a very handsome screen, carved
and inlaid with ivory, ebony, and some light-coloured
wood ; this screen divided the sanctuary from the nave.
Over it were three paintings, the Virgin and Child in
the middle ; on the left a very fat St. George on an
obese charger piercing a particularly small dragon with
his spear, and on the right St. Michael trampling upon
Satan; the latter appeared to be in a poor way, but I
fear has since revived. We had a long hot ride of two
hours to the mountains, and some tough climbing up
the flanks of Gebel Aboufaida to the tombs ; they all
belonged to officials of King Nofre-Kara of the sixth
dynasty ; they are consequently about qgoo years old. I
had only time to examine hastily the hieroglyphics in
one of them ; they referred to the services performed
for their royal masters by the occupants of the tomb,
and the rewards conferred upon them by their sovereigns.
One of them had received three collars of honour, and
felt so proud of them that he appeared in the tomb with
the three collars in a box beside him, the box being
similar to those I saw in an eleventh-dynasty tomb at
Drah-Abou-Neggah. Moreover Nofrekara had conferred
upon him the highest distinction it was in the power of
a Pharaoh to bestow — he had made him priest of his
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXIII.
336
pyramid, the Pyramid of Life, as he had designated it
(see Appendix, Table of Titles). His appointment as
priest did not necessitate his giving up his warlike avo¬
cation, for he is portrayed near the entrance brandishing
a short scimitar in a ferocious manner. The personages
in these tombs, like their contemporaries at Kasr-el-
Syad, are represented, both men and women, with very
large eyes, and the style of painting is markedly antique.
Among other things was a painting of a boat with a
treble mast and a bow, reminding us of the bow of a
racing yacht, the stem projecting beneath the water.
The king’s oval appeared threefold in an inscription,
the titles being varied beneath each, but the title of the
Pyramid of Life is common to all, as is also that of
servant of God.
I regretted exceedingly that owing to the lateness of
the hour I had not time to copy the inscriptions on these
tombs. Notwithstanding their great antiquity, they are
very legible, and as they contain the biographies of
officers of state, and set forth the services in which they
were employed, they probably might shed an interesting
light upon the history of that remote time. It is seldom
that the inscriptions on tombs so ancient are legible
continuously ; the other paintings are much defaced by
Mahometan fanaticism, and the long and fatiguing
expedition would scarcely repay any travellers except
collectors of inscriptions. On our way back we were
met by the superior of a Coptic monastery at the foot of
the mountain, who invited us to visit him and have some
refreshment. The monastery is a great battlemented
enclosure of crude brick ; through the embrasures we
could see the heads and the inquisitive dark eyes of the
women peeping at us as we approached. The interior
Chap. XXXIII.]
A COPTIC MONASTERY.
O'* *7
03/
consisted of a perfect warren of cells and little courts,
and in the centre was the church, having four domes,
the perforations in which were the only source of light
for the interior. There were pictures of St. George and
St. Michael, and a carved screen of ivory and ebony for
the sanctuary ; the walls were adorned with miniature
angels represented as follows in bright colours.
We were shown into an apartment in the Prior’s house ;
the only furniture consisted of a low brick wall at one
end, upon which were spread grass mats. Excellent
coffee, however, and cordial smiling hospitality, to which
a charm was added by the savage desolation of the
mountains around, made up for the want of more
costly furniture. I inquired of my host what the harvest
prospects were for the coming season, and he said they
were magnificent, there never had been finer crops ; a
statement confirmed by observation during our many
walks and rides across country.
The district about Gebel Aboufaida is not con¬
sidered safe ; the sheik of the village sent an escort with
us of men with long, sharp-pointed spears and one rifle,
and in fact we encountered some very ill-looking groups
of men whom we would rather not have met after dark.
February 15. — We reached Tel-el-Amarna, and paid
its monuments a second visit, but we have already
described them (Chapter VII.), and included in that ac¬
count all our observations on them.
February 16. — We stopped at Mellawy, and spent
three hours at Beni Hassan. See page 334.
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXIII.
February 17. — On this day a south wind set in, and
we sailed 80 miles, having both wind and current in our
favour, a rare luxury.
Next day, February 18, all was changed, and we had
our evil things ; the wind went round to the north, and
blew half a gale right in our teeth, with the accompani¬
ment of a furious sand storm. The crew struggled on
to Zowyeh, however, and from thence we rode to
Meidoum. We have already described this very
interesting expedition (Chapter III.) Instead of re¬
turning to Zowyeh, we cut off an angle of the river by
making our way to Riggeh, whither the Gazelle had
preceded us. The Meidoum expedition requires fully six
hours. In the evening, the wind having moderated, we
pushed on, and, sailing all night, reached Bedressayn
early next morning.
PORTRAIT OF THE SACRED BULL APIS, SKETCHED FROM COLOURED BAS-RELIEF
ON AN APIS SARCOPHAGUS — SAKKARA.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
SAKKARA.
The Apis Mausoleum — An English Encampment — Tomb of Ti — Arrival at Cairo —
Disaffection amongst the Khedive’s Troops— The Mecca Pilgrims — Procession
of the Mahal — A Fortune-telling Dervish.
February ig. — We started from Bedressayn for Sak-
kara. In passing the hole in which the colossal statue
of Rameses lies, face downwards, smiling blandly at the
Nile mud which forms his couch and simmers in the
hot sun within a few inches of his nose, we observed a
pic-nic party beneath the date palms, which we were
hospitably invited to join. Time did not admit of this,
but we were afterwards told that their errand there was
to superintend the rescuing of Rameses from his present
undignified position, and that it is their intention to
place this fine statue on a pedestal. I hope this is true,
and that their enterprise may succeed. Our dragoman
was much exercised at the eccentricity of Englishmen
in wasting money in propping up a one-legged statue !
The Pyramids of Sakkara are not nearly so curious
as that at Meidoum, but the Apis Mausoleum and the
tomb of Ti, or Tih, as the guide-books call him in
defiance of his hieroglyphic orthography, are exceedingly
interesting.
On descending into the former one finds oneself in a
vast subterranean cellar, in the corridor of which the
mummy bulls were stored away like some curious
vintage, each in his own bin, the said bins forming
340
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXIV.
lateral chambers right and left. Every chamber con¬
tained an enormous granite sarcophagus, a great mono¬
lith hollowed out. The apartment excavated in the
solid granite block was spacious enough to have
formed a very fine loose box for the bull when living —
12 x 9 x g feet in the clear. The Prince of Wales
and his party lunched in one of them during his
Royal Highness’s visit to Cairo. Mariette Bey once
attempted to extract an apis sarcophagus ; he had a
tramway laid down and a steam engine and every
modern appliance to effect his object, but he failed to
get the ponderous mass out, and there it sticks near the
entrance. The old Egyptians had brought it over hill
and hollow all the way from Nubia; our modern
engineers failed to move it 500 yards ! They are all ol
black granite, except one which is rose-pink. Upon
this is a portrait of Apis, with the markings that con¬
stitute the difference between a vulgar bull and a divine
apis carefully detailed in colour, black and white. I drew
him on the spot.
Close by the entrance to the Serapeum was the
encampment of an English nobleman, consisting ot
half-a-dozen tents, flying the British banner, with many
smartly-dressed native attendants, smoking and sipping
coffee, and taking it very easy. The group out there in
the wilderness, amid the wrecks of pyramids and the
remnants of tombs and mummies, formed a picturesque
contrast.
Not far off is the tomb of Ti, whose hieroglyphic name
is Taa, pronounced Ti (see Plates III. and IV.). We
copied the oval of the king, which occurs on the walls —
Nofre-ar-ka-ra (see No. 56, Plate LI 1 1.) There is in the
Abydos list only one king bearing this name, viz., No. 56,
Chap. XXXIV.]
ARRIVAL AT CAIRO.
341
the twentieth king in succession after Pepi. If this was
Ti’s sovereign his tomb is of much later date than is
usually supposed, and in fact the style of the sculptures
would lead one to suspect the same thing, still he would
come within the compass of the ancient empire.
In the Sakkara list, however, there occurs in the
fifth dynasty a sovereign of the same name, Nofre-ar-
kara, and from intrinsic evidence, and from the locality
and surroundings of this tomb, Mariette Bey ascribes it
to this reign.
On the left of the entrance are bas-reliefs of two
aviaries full of poultry. In these the somewhat diffi¬
cult perspective is perfectly correct, and that artist at all
events understood the principle of the vanishing point.
In the evening we reached Cairo, and put up at the
Grand New Hotel, which is splendidly situated upon
the Esbeekieh Gardens ; it is scrupulously clean, and its
situation the most airy and healthy in Cairo.
We immediately experienced a violent contrast
between the peaceful tranquillity of our dahabeeah life
and the agitation in which we found the city plunged.
A crisis had occurred — the European Commission had
given the screw of economy a twist too much in refusing
their arrears of pay to the army they w^ere causing the
Khedive to disband ; the officers had mutinied, and had
gone in a body to the War Office to demand their due ;
they had had no pay for many months, and had to live
on credit ; had been saddled with the Khedive’s cast-off
wives to boot, and were now to be turned out penniless
upon the world. They said they would rather be shot
at once than starve by inches. The soldiers sym¬
pathised with their officers ; and when at the War Office
they were commanded to fire upon them, they grounded
342
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXIV.
their arms and refused. Nubar Pasha was mobbed.
The English Commissioner had his beard pulled ; his
French coadjutor fared no better. A pistol was levelled
at the Khedive by an officer, whose hand was chopped
off by one of the suite. A general revolt seemed immi¬
nent ; it was only averted by sacks of coin, which were
distributed to the troops on account.
The more timid Europeans were for bolting by the
next steamer, but just at this crisis the plague broke out
somewhere in Syria, quarantine had been established,
and the great Mediterranean steamers refused to take
passengers from Egypt — passing by on the other side,
like the uncharitable Levite.
Immediately that it was known that they could not
get away, every traveller was mad to be off, and the
air was thick with rumours ot danger. Nor was an out¬
break of fanaticism at all improbable ; it was, unluckily,
the season for the great annual religious revival
amongst the Mahometans, at Cairo, and we were
warned not to attend the entry of the Mecca pilgrims.
In addition to these agitating incidents, another exciting
piece of news awaited us in the disaster of Isandula and
the loss of valued friends.
February 23. — We drove out to visit the camp of the
Mecca pilgrims. It was pitched on a tract of waste on
the Abassieh road, now covered with the tents of the
guard of the Holy Carpet ; their horses were picketed
each near that of its owner. In the centre was a large
marquee lined with green, containing the gold em¬
broidered cloth which forms the cover of the Mahal and
the holy banners, while a wild-looking fellow with a gold
inlaid pistol, two feet long, stuck in his belt, and another
in his hand, marched up and down before the entrance,
Chap. XXXIV.]
THE MECCA PILGRIMS.
343
and scowled at us as we approached. A few yards in
front is the Mahal, beneath which the carpet is carried.
It is constructed in imitation of a mosque with five
minarets. Close by were littered three gigantic camels.
They are the largest of their species that can be pro¬
cured, and are set apart for the special duty of the
Pilgrimage, and are never used for any other purpose ;
they are fat and well fed. We regretted to hear that
the result is that they are ill-tempered, unruly, and
dangerous, and have to be tied up very short. They
presented a great contrast to the horses of the guard —
Cossack ponies, mere bags of bones — -capable, however,
of enduring the great fatigue and hardship of the desert
journey.
Next day, in defiance of warnings to the contrary,
we drove to the citadel to see the procession which
brings back the Mahal from Mecca, and restores it to
its resting-place in the citadel. The road was lined
with holiday-making townspeople. We were conducted
by a very courteous officer of the Khedive’s suite close
to the handsome marquee which that potentate occupies
during the ceremony. His Highness was surrounded
by a very brilliant group, consisting of his sons in
splendid uniforms of green and gold, and of the chief
officers of state. He was engaged in conversation with
the two chiefs of the Mollahs, who looked pale and
emaciated with fasting, as the Mahometan public
expects they should. They wore white turbans with
long gold fringes. The marquee was surrounded by a
body-guard of hussars in a very elegant uniform of
drab, profusely braided with gold, and with gold-
embroidered sabretaches ; they wore crimson fezzes.
There were also a number of infantry sentries. The
344
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXIV.
marquee was pitched immediately beneath the citadel,
which towered above it, the wall over which the
Mameluke leaped his horse on the occasion of Mehe-
met Ali’s massacre, forming a conspicuous feature.
Facing the marquee was the Place d' Amies or Champ
de Mars, lined on three sides by Egyptian infantry, and
on the fourth by the equipages of the ladies of the
hareem, wearing the most transparent of gauze veils,
through which their eyes flashed with redoubled lustre,
which lent their beauty an extra charm, and some of
them were very beautiful. This part of the pageant
reminded one of the procession of ladies on the way to
a drawing-room at Buckingham Palace, nor were the
Circassian beauties less willing to be looked at and
admired.
Near each carriage was a fat eunuch or two, whose
horses, handsomely caparisoned in velvet and gold, were
led about by pages. Presently we heard in the distance
the wild music of the Turkish military bands, and
on came the procession. Conspicuous amongst them
was the Soudan regiment, thorough-bred negroes,
recruited in the Lake region of the far south, many
of them rescued from Arab slave dealers. They are
black, with the flattest of noses and the thickest of
lips. Their white uniforms and red fezzes became
them very well. They are remarkably tall men, but
are said to be delicate, and to suffer much from the cold
nights, which are the rule here, but are unknown in their
own equatorial latitude. Next to them came the Volun¬
teer Guards of the Mahal, a wild cut-throat looking
crew, mostly Syrians, sunburnt and shaggy, stuck all
over with stilettos and pistols, and riding wiry little
ponies without an ounce of spare flesh. They were
Chap. XXXIV.] PROCESSION OF THE MAHAL.
345
headed by a kind of band of the most diminutive kettle¬
drums, which, however, were vigorously beaten, and
made a noise very disproportioned to their size. Next,
towering high above the procession and the crowd, was
seen approaching the Howdah or Mahal, covered with
a great silk canopy, splendidly embroidered in gold with
texts from the Koran. On it came, perched on the
summit of the biggest camel, and swaying to and fro,
pendulum fashion, keeping time to the measured stride
of the huge beast that carried it ; it seemed an un¬
wieldy burthen even for him. The neck of this camel
was dyed with hennah. On his nose he wore a plume oi
ostrich feathers, and his forehead was hung with little
mirrors, which flashed in the sun like diamonds. The
Mahal was followed by the second camel, carrying the
standard-bearer and the sacred banner ; then came the
strangest-looking feature of the procession — the Sheik
of the Holy Caravan, an obese fellow stripped to the
waist, and exposing a tawny brown-yellow skin, with
folds of fat beneath it. He was bare-headed, and wore
his own hair, closely curling and iron-grey ; it was his
only protection against the sun. He was perched upon
the hump of the third of the big camels, amid cushions
which hid his lower half. His eyes were half closed,
and with an affected smile he rolled his head from
side to side unceasingly, Keeping time to the stride ot
his camel. It is said that he continues this rolling
action all the way to Mecca and back. The procession
advanced until opposite the Khedive, and then entered
the Place d’Armes, the circuit of which it made three
times, filing past the ladies of the hareem and the
troops which lined its four sides. It was accompanied
by a surging crowd, that enveloped it like a troubled
346 NILE GLEANINGS. [Chap. XXXIV.
sea, on the waves of which the great embroidered how-
dah was seen plunging about like a very crank ship,
followed by the fat Sheik, placidly rolling his iron-grey
head, and smiling upon the assembled multitude. It
must have been a great day for the hareem. The cortege
once more emerged and halted a moment opposite the
Viceroy, and then slowly wended its way up to the mosque
of Mehemet Ali, where the holy carpet was deposited.
The Khedive entered his carriage and drove off, escorted
by his hussars and aides-de-camp, a brilliant Oriental
group, only spoilt by one piece of bad taste — behind his
carriage were perched a couple of powdered footmen in
London liveries and gold-laced livery hats, which looked
execrable amongst the turbans and fezzes and flowing
Oriental robes. As a pageant, the whole thing was well
worth seeing, and we were indebted to the marked cour¬
tesy of the Khedive’s officers for seeing it so perfectly
as we did. By no means the least interesting part of it
were the streets of the old town along the line of the
procession ; the whole population had turned out in
holiday attire; the little shops were converted into opera-
boxes, in which sat the women and children decked
in all the colours of the rainbow, surrounding the more
sober-hued pere de famille , whose fez capped each
group ; the women were of course veiled. The upper sto¬
reys of these old Cairo houses overhang the streets, and
often meet, displaying a great wealth of carved woodwork.
The little carved wood turrets which project from every
house are particularly graceful and pretty ; they are
the depots for the porous water-jars which keep the Nile
water so delightfully cool and fresh. The object of the
lattice-work turrets is to keep a current of air circulating
round them.
Chap. XXXIV.] A FORTUNE-TELLING DERVISH. 347
We went with some ladies to visit an old fortune¬
telling dervish in one of those streets. Somewhat to
their alarm, he lay in bed, buried beneath a quilt of
many colours. At his head sat a young woman veiled,
but showing a very keen pair of eyes. Having pro¬
pitiated him with sundry coins, which it was explained
to us were for charity, not for the soothsayer, who
was above such sublunary considerations, the seance
began ; the quilt was thrown aside, and disclosed a
naked man, much to the dismay of our fair friends.
He told the fortunes of the ladies in a series of specially
enigmatical sentences, which they were imprudent enough
to press the interpreter to explain more distinctly ; this
drew forth from the long-nosed Greek who acted in that
capacity some plain speaking which covered them with
confusion and blushes.
He made one good shot with regard to a gentleman
present. He was an ex-M.P., at present unattached.
The wizard declared that he had occupied a green
seat once, and would occupy it again. This prophecy
seems likely to bring about its own fulfilment, for the
gentleman in question is said to be now canvassing an
Irish constituency, and to have a good chance of success.
Some one propounded a question to the magician
involving a trap, but the cunning old rogue pretended
to have fallen into a trance, and not another word could
be extracted from him.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE PROPHET’S BIRTHDAY.
A Desert Ride — Fossil Trees — Religious Festival at Cairo — Dancing Dervishes —
Sunnites — The Sheik’s Ride over the Bodies of the Faithful — A Ghastly
Spectacle.
March I. — We are always glad of an excuse for a
ride on the desert. Having, therefore, heard of some
remarkable fossil trees three hours west of the Great
Pyramid, we set out in quest of them. After passing
the pyramid plateau, we struck straight into the
Libyan desert. Our way lay up the course of an
ancient river-bed, broad enough to have been once the
channel of the Nile ; nor were there wanting indications
that it may have been so, for we crossed great tracts
of fossil mud, exactly resembling the present annual
deposit, and still seamed with cracks that opened in it
as it dried for the last time. The whole tract is now
partly above the level of the present Nile. The beds
of mud were laid bare wherever the wind had scoured
away the sand. This was probably its channel before
Mena diverted it by his great embankment at Mem¬
phis. As we rode along we observed sweet-scented
mignonette, desert hyacinths, dwarf geraniums, and
other flowers unknown to us ; also tufts of an aromatic
shrub of which the gazelles are very fond, as the little
pointed footprints around each bush plainly show.
The surface of the desert was strewn with a great
variety of stones. There were large numbers of flint
Chap. XXXV.]
FOSSIL TREES.
349
flakes which one would have been tempted to suppose
had been chipped by human hands, but for the vast
quantities in which they occurred. Mixed with these
were rolled masses of quartz, of basalt, hard limestone,
&c. ; and for miles before we reached the fossil trees,
fossil wood occurred in abundance in large pieces.
A ride of three and a-half hours from the pyramid
plateau brought us at last into the presence of what
must be, I think, the most remarkable fossil tree in the
world. Beneath a high conical hill lay three great
limbs of a tree, the butt of which was buried beneath the
sand. Much of the bark was still attached and retained
its colour, reddish chocolate, exactly resembling the bark
of the Scotch fir in appearance and texture. I measured
the longest limb and found it to be 43 feet 6 inches in
length to where it entered the sand, and 10 feet 4 inches
in girth — a monolith worthy to be compared to one of the
obelisks; the limb that lay next it was thicker still, being
12 feet in girth, the third had been of similar size, but
was much broken. This tree had evidently died of old
age, for the head had been decayed and reduced to
touchwood before it became changed into stone. The
cells of the grubs that had bored their way into it were
visible. We tried to clear away the sand and bare the
butt, but we had only sticks to work with. We brought
up quantities of fossil wood which had rotted before it
was petrified into hard crystalline agate.
We spread out the contents of our pic-nic basket on
one of the limbs, which made a broad and convenient
table, and lunched facing the Pyramids, now twelve
miles distant; they look more stately than from the Cairo
side, for they rise up out of the desert without anything
intervening to dwarf their proportions, and they still
350
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXV.
looked wonderfully near ; in fact, had we not just dis¬
mounted after more than three hours’ ride in a straight
line from them we should have found it difficult to
believe that they were beyond an easy walk. Having
contemplated them through the smoke of the cigarette
which wound up our repast, we walked round to the
back of the conical hill I have already alluded to ; here
we found other fossil trees more or less perfect, but far
inferior in size to the one we have described, and the
whole surface was littered with fragments of fossil wood
of all sizes. We judged much of it to be acacia wood,
or gum-arabic trees ; some of it resembled ash in colour
and grain, some was as black as ebony, and some was
veined with purple ; there were also specimens of a
variety of palm, but not the date. We ascended the hill,
which was also crowned with quantities of fossil wood,
and there I found a fossil stick showing three very dis¬
tinct cuts made with an axe of some kind while the wood
was still in its natural state. We brought it away
with us. The ground was littered in many places with
chips, as if split off with an axe.
It is evident that a totally different climate must
formerly have prevailed here, and that there once existed
a forest region covering what is now arid desert. It is
possible that, as has been conjectured, the Great Sahara
once formed an inland sea, which would quite suffice to
account for the existence of forests here, for it would at
once bring the climate of the Atlantic coast with it and
render the Libyan hills as green and fertile as the Atlas
mountains now are.
The view from the summit was very fine. On one
side it commanded a vast expanse of desert scenery, on
the other were the three groups of the pyramids of
Chap. XXXV.] RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL AT CAIRO. 351
Ghizeh, the pyramids of Sakkara, and the pyramids of
Dashoor, and beyond them, far away, could be traced the
course of the Nile, by its border of green fields and palm
groves.
Cairo was more than twenty miles distant, but so
clear was the air that the citadel and the minarets of
Mehemet Ali’s mosque could still be discerned. To the
north lay the Delta, a vast green plain, flat as a billiard-
table, and terminating only with the horizon.
The discovery of the fossil forest was in this wise: an
Englishman in his survey from the top of the large
pyramid thought he discovered another pyramid far
away in the desert, and engaged camels and set out to
verify his discovery. His pyramid turned out to be the
conical-shaped hill I have spoken of, and which the
Arabs have christened Dixon’s Pyramid. Our explorer
must have been consoled by the discovery of the remark¬
able fossil remains which occur here.
The whole excursion from the time we left Cairo
occupied eleven hours, and is a rather fatiguing one,
especially under a hot sun, but for those who do not
object to a seven hours’ desert ride it is worth making.
In connection with the birthday of the Prophet, there
takes place at Cairo a kind of religious revival, which
lasts about a fortnight, and terminates with the ride of the
Doseh. During the entire of this time the town is en
fete , the native streets are lined with booths, and danc¬
ing, smoking, and sweetmeat eating are the order of the
day, or rather of the night, for that is the festive time ;
then all these booths, hundreds in number, are brightly
illuminated, and the population, all turbans, fezzes,
long robes, and gay colours, circulate through the
crowded thoroughfares. This savours more of Vanity
352
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXV.
Fair than of religion, but amongst the holiday makers
move religious processions, men bearing torches, beat¬
ing drums, and singing hymns. Scores of them march
along with painted lanterns, and the effect is very
pretty. The most remarkable development, however,
of the revival I have yet to describe. There is a
great open space, about the size of Chester race¬
course. In the centre of this is an illumination of
festoons of lamps hung from a row of tall masts there
erected for the occasion, while the four sides are lined
with large marquees, enclosed on three sides, but
entirely open towards the fourth, so that the proceedings
in all of them are quite public, and as easily seen as
if enacted in the centre of the square. The interior
of these marquees is richly embroidered, and is all
ablaze with candelabra, and hundreds of lights of all
kinds festooned from side to side, hanging from the
roof in sconces and placed on tables or stands ; the
floors are all covered with handsome carpets, and around
the sides and at the back are ottomans. These marquees
are occupied by colleges of dervishes and their congre¬
gations. In the centre, ranged in two rows facing each
other, are, perhaps, about ioo men, all in new clean
white turbans and red fezzes ; these are the congre¬
gation, and their proceedings are most extraordinary.
Whatever they do they do in concert, and keep time to
the clapping of hands or to a low moaning refrain. One
congregation are rolling their heads round and round,
swaying their bodies the while from their waist upwards.
Others are weaving with their heads from right to left,
and from left to right, like a pendulum of a clock. Others
are bobbing backwards and forwards, accompanying the
movement with sounds like the barking of dogs. Others
Chap. XXXV.]
DANCING DERVISHES.
n r 'j
jjv)
are dancing the “ perfect cure,” leaping perpendicularly
into the air with frantic energy, faster, faster, and faster
yet, until it makes one dizzy to watch them, and one
expects to see them drop from exhaustion. This is
religious exercise with a vengeance. All are terribly in
earnest. One feels astonished at the powers of endu¬
rance they exhibit, and in waiting to see the performance
out one’s patience is exhausted long before they give in.
When their religious trainers think they have had
enough, they give the signal, and the movement is
allowed to subside, and the performers stand for a
few moments panting and streaming from every pore,
and then begin again to roll their heads or weave or
bob according to their congregational persuasion, and
the whole performance is gone through da capo by the
same zealots, or another set come forward and take
their place. Reckoning the performers in all the mar¬
quees together, we estimate the numbers simultaneously
enacting these strange scenes at from three to four
thousand.
Meanwhile the sides and back of the tents are occu¬
pied by others squatting and looking on, and waiting
to take their turn, while at the end is the place of
honour ; and some grey-bearded dervish with extra big
turban sits there and acts as master of the ceremonies.
While these strange orgies are going on within, there
is a long procession of spectators circulating outside, in
carriages, on horseback, or on foot ; officers in uniform ;
ladies of the hareems thinly veiled and beautifully
dressed, those of the Khedive preceded by outriders
and followed by mounted eunuchs ; state functionaries ;
European residents and travellers of all nations, form
a singularly mixed procession, which moves from tent
A A
354
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXV.
to tent, stopping a while at each. If one were to see
a single individual going through the contortions of the
devotees within, one would set him down as a hopeless
lunatic ; but when one sees a thousand of one’s fellow-
men so engaged, and so terribly in earnest, the spectacle
becomes painfully impressive. What they are enduring
would be deemed a cruel punishment, severe even for
Glasgow Bank directors ; yet these thousands are under¬
going this punishment voluntarily. Dante might have
pictured some of the damned souls in his “ Inferno ”
condemned to this penance eternally for a lifetime of sin.
One cannot but be impressed on witnessing these suffer¬
ings, self-inflicted, by hundreds at once. The most bizarre,
grotesque contortions become impressive when asso¬
ciated with an earnest purpose, and when they are the
indexes of deeply-founded religious feeling. One thing
is certain, that Islamism has not yet lost its hold ; and
the spectacle we beheld that night undeceived us, and
convinced us that these Orientals are as far from being
converted to Europeanism as ever.
The men we saw were not exclusive bodies of fanatic
devotees, but the rank-and-file of the population — the
sailors who worked our dahabeeah, the servants who this
morning swept out the corridors of our hotel, trades¬
people, artizans, but no women. In Italy and France
one sees congregations all women and no men ; but
here they are all men and no women. They were work¬
ing themselves up to the pitch of fanaticism, to fling
themselves under the horse’s hoofs of the Sheik.
They were in a mood to commit any act of wild
frenzy and religious mania, without counting the
earthly consequences. Had their pastors intimated to
them that the act most pleasing to Allah they could
Chap. XXXV.]
SUNNITES.
355
perform would be to slay the infidels, they were in the
mood to massacre every European in Cairo, and to burn
every house that sheltered an unbeliever. One or two
marquees there were where the proceedings were
more sober. Men sat cross-legged on their carpets
engaged in silent prayer and muttering with their lips,
and occasionally bending forward till their foreheads
touched the ground ; others, again, were engaged in
grave conference and discoursing upon religious
doctrines. Amongst the sects who figure on these
occasions are the Sunnites. They are robed in white ;
and it is their practice to cut themselves with knives
until the blood gushes out, so that their snowy drapery
becomes stained with gore and presents a ghastly
appearance. To such a pitch of recklessness do they
work themselves up, that they have been known to chop
off their fingers, and have even died of their self-inflicted
wounds ; they are, fortunately, not numerous in Cairo.
The impulse at the root of all these proceedings is a
craving to do something ; to suffer something tangible
and visible for God’s sake ; to feel that they have ex¬
piated something of the burthen of their sins by what
they undergo ; and earned some claim to divine favour
by what they do in Allah’s name. It is a pity that
they and other sects nearer home do not spread evenly
throughout the year in moderate proportions the zeal
which they thus concentrate into a few days’ madness —
that they do not serve God soberly every day, regardless
of self-denial.
One side of the square is lined with the marquees
of the Consuls, of the Sheik-ul-Islam, and of the chief
Ulemah, of the Khedive, and of sundry pashas of high
rank ; these are magnificently furnished with sofas and
356
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXV.
chairs upholstered in satin, and lighted with cut-glass
chandeliers and great silver candelabra. At most of
them hospitality is offered to European visitors, in the
shape of coffee and sweetmeats. They are as splendid
as rich embroidery, handsome carpets, and a blaze of
light can make them, and the effect is very striking.
The proceedings here are, of course, marked by the
tranquil self-possession of well-bred society; and coming
upon them after the feverish excitement of the other
three sides of the square, the perfect calm here prevail¬
ing offers a curious and impressive contrast ; it is as
the stillness of a lake to the turmoil of the cataract.
The interior of the Khedive’s marquee is crimson and
gold, with furniture upholstered in amber satin ; the
Khedive himself is there, and Mr. and Mrs. Rivers Wil¬
son, and the Sheik-ul- Islam and another chief of the
Mahometan hierarchy. His Highness pays marked at¬
tention to the representatives of the Prophet. It is said
that since the advent to power of Nubar Pasha, and of
the English and French Commissioners, he has begun
to believe in purgatory, and has become very devout.
The last scene in the drama is the progress of the Sheik
on horseback from the mosque.
We secured the highest carriage our dragoman could
procure in Cairo, and were fortunate enough to take up
a position nearly opposite the Viceroy’s marquee. We
had a first-rate view of the whole proceedings. The
marquees in the glare of daylight had lost their bril¬
liancy, and looked like a ball-room the next morning,
or like a transparency by daylight. The course is kept
clear in front of them, for the ride of the Sheik over the
bodies of the faithful is to take place there. Opposite
them are countless carriages as close as they can be
Chap. XXXV.] SHEIK OF THE SAIDIEH’S RIDE.
357
packed ; the front is occupied by the ladies of the hareem
in a cloud of tulle lace, through which the Circassian
beauties look all the more fascinating. The Khedive
drives past to his tent, looking pale and worried, and
takes no notice of his wives in the neat broughams ;
not the ghost of a nod does he bestow on any of them.
There is a dense crowd of the Cairene populace amongst
the carriages, and all along the line these are plentifully
beaten by the soldiers, by the eunuchs, by the runners,
and by the syces ; everyone who has a stick thrashes the
unresisting bodies of those who have not ; it has been
the portion of the Egyptian people since the days of
Menes. Now there is a distant hum of excitement,
and many green banners embroidered in gold are seen
descending the hill down into the square. On come a
confused, excited crowd along the narrow lane preserved
between the carriages on one side and the marquees on
the other. The crowd consists of a multitude of little
groups of men, in the centre of each of which is a poor
creature without his turban, naked to the waist, and with
his black scalp-lock dishevelled and hanging about his
shoulders. He is pale with opium, pale as death ; he is
supported by his friends, swaying to and fro, scarcely
conscious ; his eyes half glazed, his mouth half open,
his vitality more than half departed, after a fortnight’s
exhausting excitement and the last dose of the drug of
oblivion. These are the victims ; they are easily to
be descried in each group. Their friends lay them down
in the dust of the road close alongside of each other, so
that neither man nor beast can pass without trampling
them under foot ; their friends kneel down beside them
and fan them with the skirts of their long blue robes.
One is penetrated at this spectacle by a feeling of pro-
35$
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXV.
found pity. They get a good deal more trampling than
they bargained for. The soldiers there, to maintain
order, run to and fro on their bodies ; officials with
messages and orders take the same route. Amongst the
rest an English footman, in a long white livery over¬
coat, is seen plunging and stumbling along, looking
sorely perplexed and evidently finding the footing very
uncertain. One man advanced tearing live snakes to
pieces and swallowing the writhing morsels ; another
brandished a naked scimitar as he marched along.
Then on came the holy standards of green and gold,
at least a dozen in number ; they also pass over the
prostrate bodies of the devotees. Following them is to
be seen a figure in a huge green turban, mounted upon
a white Arab horse splendidly caparisoned in green
velvet embroidered in gold ; he, too, is deadly pale, sup¬
ported by two men on each side, swaying in his saddle as
if drunk, but looking as if in pain of mind if not of body ;
two horsemen form his escort. On they come, the horses
unable to see what they are trampling on, but evidently
feeling the footing insecure. As they pass along a
moaning, wailing sound follows their footsteps ; it
comes from the poor creatures beneath their feet, and
as soon as they have passed each victim is raised high
up by his friends for air. Some of them are evidently
more or less badly hurt, and all of them are nearly
suffocated. Their pallid faces held up over the heads
of the crowd present a ghastly spectacle, and might
easily be mistaken for so many corpses, for they have
no longer vitality enough left to struggle or show any
other signs of life than a low moan. Having had an
excellent view of the whole transaction, we can vouch
for it that those before us did not attempt to rise or
Chap. XXXV.]
A GHASTLY SPECTACLE.
359
escape or evade the horses’ hoofs ; I doubt whether
they had strength or consciousness left to do so. Like
the gladiators butchered to make a Roman holiday, these
were pounded and crushed to make spectacle for the
British tourist and their American cousins, who, as the
hoofs descended and the groans resounded, felt that they
were having the value of their money, and would have
voted themselves done if the victims had got up and run
away. Nor must the ladies of the hareem be forgotten,
whose bright eyes peeping over their gauze veils looked
on with an air of languid interest. As for the poor
devotees, having had the misfortune ourselves to lie
beneath our horse in a narrow ditch and to be trampled
on as he arose to his feet, we can answer for it that
their sensations are not enviable.
One of our party saw a poor fellow’s head trodden on
by the Sheik’s charger ; he was badly hurt, his jaw
being broken. The wounded were taken away out of
sight by their friends, to be laid out on straw in mud
hovels, a prey to flies, and to awake from the trance to
a consciousness of pains and aches. The spectators
went home to lunch and a siesta, and to sally forth
again in the evening to see the fireworks with which
th t fete winds up.
The following evening we passed the arena which
had witnessed the above described scenes ; we could
scarcely believe our eyes — the marquees, the tall flag¬
staff's, the gay crowds, the dervishes and devotees, had
all vanished like Aladdin’s enchanted palace, and in its
place was a tract of waste land, garnished with dust-
heaps, and peopled only by vultures and mangy dogs
busily engaged in devouring the garbage of which they
were the sole legatees.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE PYRAMIDS.
The Great Pyramid— Exploration of Interior of Pyramid of Menkaoura — Accuracy of
the Tables of Abydos Confirmed — The Sphinx Repaired by Khafra — A Colossal
Recumbent Figure.
Of course during our several sojournings at Cairo we
paid many visits to the world-famed Pyramids, and
examined carefully both the interiors and the exteriors
of the three best known ones.
A recent writer has expended much ingenuity in
attempting to prove that they were built, not as
tombs, but as standards of capacity and measurements,
and for astronomical purposes, but there can be no
doubt that their primary purpose was for sepulture and
to preserve the mummy of the king safe from dismem¬
berment till the day of the resurrection ; therefore every
king of the ancient empire built a pyramid, and it was
the first work he took in hand on his accession. Those
who have not examined into the evidence for its accuracy
look upon the lists of kings previous to the fourth dynasty
as fabulous and doubtful, but the custom I have alluded
to has furnished us with solid evidence as to the
existence and succession of kings from Menes to Chufu,
for every king built a pyramid, every pyramid had its
chapel, every chapel had its endowment, and every
endowment had priests to enjoy them, and the priests
took very good care that the memory of the king, with
its endowments, should not die out. Centuries after the
Chap. XXXVI.]
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
361
death of each king the services continued to be per¬
formed, and each priest was proud to announce upon his
own funeral stele that he had had the honour of being
the priest of such and such a king’s pyramid. Some of
them were pluralists, and were priests of several pyra¬
mids, which they regarded as all the higher honour, and
recorded accordingly.
Among the names chosen by kings of the ancient
empire for their pyramids are (see Table of Titles) the
pyramid of good abiding, the pyramid of the rising sun,
the pyramid of splendour ; this last is the title of the
Pyramid of Chufu, the great pyramid so famous in all
ages and countries.
The Great Pyramid, i.e., that of Kephren the Chief,
that of Mycerinus, pyramid of justification, the pyramid
of spotlessness, the resurrection of the soul, the pyramid
of the soul, the most enduring place, the most sacred
place, the pyramid of goodness, the pyramid of disem¬
bodied spirits, etc., etc.
There were many series of pyramids whose names
have come down to us on stele and monuments ; the
practice of building them seems to have ceased before
the eleventh dynasty. The size of the Great Pyramid is
due to the longevity of Chufu, who reigned fifty-six
years, and went on adding layer after layer of stony
envelopes to his pyramid during all this unusually long
career, as rings are added year by year to the giants of
the forest. When he thought he could not reasonably
expect to live much longer he finished up with a smooth
outside casing of granite, polished and adorned with
hieroglyphic inscriptions. Byron well sums up the
purposes of these structures. They are monuments of
the vanity of human efforts to escape the decree, “ Ashes
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXVI.
362
to ashes, dust to dust.” Monuments, also, are they of
tyranny and oppression, and of the abuse of absolute
despotic power.
The two qualities to which the Great Pyramid owes
its fascination are its antiquity and its bigness. To
give an idea of the latter we offer the following calcula¬
tions. When perfect it contained eighty-five millions of
cubic feet of cut stone ; this would furnish a railway
embankment of cut stone 10 feet 6 inches high and
6 feet broad that would reach all the way from London
to Holyhead, and an express train, travelling forty miles
an hour, would require six hours to get to the end of it.
Or it would build a wall 6 feet high and half a yard
thick that would extend right across Africa, or from
Cairo to Lake Victoria, or from Liverpool to the coast
of Newfoundland, right across the Atlantic.
It was still perfect at the time of the Arab invasion,
and was at that time covered with hieroglyphic inscrip¬
tions. An Arab writer calculated that these inscriptions
would have filled 10,000 pages. What a mine of wealth
would they have been to historians and chronologists !
The destruction of this wonderful monument owed its
commencement to the fanaticism of the Caliphs, who re¬
garded the sculptures as idolatrous. They, however, also
found their account in dismembering it, for it furnished
stone enough to build all the palaces and mosques in
Cairo, and the fortifications as well. It has been used
as a quarry ever since, and is so used still. The Khedive
drew stone from it to build a pavilion, erected there
at the time of the opening of the Canal for the
accommodation of the Empress of the French. Out of
it also was constructed the bridge for the Empress to
pass over on the same occasion. The pavilion of
Chap. XXXVI.] PYRAMID OF MENKAOURA.
363
Mariette Bey too was, I am told, built with stones taken
from the Pyramids. Never was there a monument that
took so much destroying. Even after all these depreda¬
tions it probably looks much the same at a few miles’
distance as it did in the days of the Pharaohs. The
worst injury inflicted upon it in recent years is the cut¬
ting away of an entire corner to build an hotel ; this has
injured its symmetry on a near view very much,
though not perceptible at a distance.
For beauty of proportion that of Khafra is most to
be admired, nor does it appear to the eye less in bulk
than that of Khoufou. The third, that of Menkaoura,
is the most curious, and deserves more attention than
it usually gets. The exploration of the interior is highly
interesting. The first feature that arrests one’s atten¬
tion after entering is a great vestibule, the walls of
which are embellished with no less than twenty-eight
imitation windows. At the further end of this grand
hall one enters a corridor cut through the solid rock ;
this descends at a pretty steep angle towards a point
directly beneath the apex of the pyramid. The walls
are plastered with a thin coating of cement, which still
adheres to them. At last one reaches a subterranean
vault excavated in the rock far below the surface of the
platform upon which the vast structure rests. One feels
oppressed by the idea of the millions of tons of stone
that are piled overhead. Within the vault a chamber
has been constructed of enormous blocks of granite,
beautifully fitted and jointed together ; it seems the
work of gnomes rather than of human beings, for how
could they move and fit into place those ponderous
masses in such a confined space ? What years of toil
it must have cost to move them one by one along the
364
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXVI.
narrow corridor and to hoist them up into position — toil
aggravated tenfold by the stifling atmosphere, the dark¬
ness and the want of space to erect suitable machinery
for the work. It seemed such waste of labour, too, for
a rock-cut chamber of noble dimensions had been
already completed, and the granite lining was all super¬
fluous ; but Menkaoura willed it, and so it had to be
done. And when the inevitable end came, the body of
the despot was stored up there in a coffin of sycamore
wood, to be unearthed at last by inquisitive Englishmen
fifty centuries later, and borne off in triumph to the
shelves of the British Museum ! There the wooden case
may be inspected, and the withered skeleton of the once
mighty monarch discerned within it. On the lid is
painted in black the name that was once a talisman of
power — the monogram “ Menkaoura.”
All around the pyramids are the tombs of the
courtiers, the officers, the ministers of state, eccle¬
siastical, civil and military, of the three reigns, the
grandees who lived and flourished while those world-
famed monuments were a-building. They are all full
of interesting paintings and illustrations of the manners,
customs, and surroundings of those times, but I fear to
weary my readers by describing them. In many the
colours are still wonderfully fresh. I possess drawings
of the entire interior of one of them — inscriptions,
colours and all — but they could not be reduced to a
sufficiently small scale for octavo illustration. About
one hundred of these tombs have been opened. When
the light is first admitted the colours are perfectly bright
and fresh, but they soon wither before the depredations
of travellers and the takers of papier-mache impres¬
sions ; for, as the surface has to be freely sponged and
Chap. XXXVI.]
THE SPHINX.
365
soaked with water in this process, the frescoes of course
suffer each time, and before long are entirely washed
out. These tombs are all built of great blocks of stone,
and contain several chambers. They have subsequently
been buried beneath piles of sand and quarry rubbish,
and have the effect of being subterranean. They are
historically interesting, for there occur here numbers of
royal ovals of the early dynasties in chronological suc¬
cession. These contemporary records confirm the tablet
of Abydos most satisfactorily. The general subjects of
the bas-reliefs are similar to those in Plates II., III., and
IV. Other objects of interest in the neighbourhood of
the pyramids are the great temple of the Sphinx, built
of vast blocks of polished rose granite and alabaster.
This structure is alluded to by Khafra in the inscription
on his statue as having been repaired by him, so that it
passed for an ancient monument even in his day. The
primitive simplicity of its square columns, absolutely
without inscription, sculpture, or architectural decora¬
tion of any kind, attests its vast antiquity. This, too, is
entirely buried many yards deep beneath debris ; there
is an inclined corridor leading down into it. In the
court is a well, in which was found the statue of Khafra
with the inscription above alluded to.
Near by is a shaft fifty feet deep, cut through the solid
rock. At the bottom lies a sarcophagus of green diorite,
with a recumbent figure of colossal dimensions smiling
blandly up at the beholder from the bottom of his
retreat. A spiral gallery has been cut by which access
was gained to the floor of the pit, which is about forty feet
square. No doubt the sarcophagus had slid down this
on rollers. In the sides are recesses in which some stone
coffins may still be seen — all, of course, rifled long ago.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
ADIEU TO EGYPT.
The Pyramids of Dashoor — An Undisturbed Tomb of Great Antiquity — A Sand
Storm — Our Last Experience of Egyptian Antiquities — Present Condition of the
Fellaheen— Tax-collecting Thirty Years Ago and Now — Mehemet Ali’s Canal
— A Good Word for the Khedive — Corrupt Turkish Officials.
We promised some Arabs a liberal reward if they
would discover for us an undisturbed tomb with the
mummies in their original positions. After a delay of
many days, during which they continued their excava¬
tions, we were early one morning summoned with much
mystery and conducted on foot (they feared to trust the
donkey-boys) several miles across a tract of desert to a
place not far from the Pyramids of Dashoor, i.e., the
most ancient cemetery in Egypt. We were here lowered
by ropes down a square shaft cut vertically in the rock to
a depth of about forty feet. At the bottom of this pit
was a doorway which admitted us into a small chamber,
io x 12 feet, excavated in the hard limestone. On
the floor, with their heads towards the east, lay two
mummies. They had never been touched since they
were first laid to rest there by loving hands in hope of
the resurrection ; not a fold of their cerecloths had been
disturbed. There they lay, side by side, close together ;
ash-grey forms, like masses of cobweb, as if their outer
covering had been woven by spiders ; on these the light
of our candles flickered, and the shadows came and went,
showing indistinctly the outlines of their features. They
Chap. XXXVII.] AN UNDISTURBED TOMB. 367
had nothing of the doll-like look that mummies usually
have, and which is apt to make one forget that they are
men and women. They had the aspect of bodies in their
shrouds, nothing more. One was that of a tall large
man, the other smaller, probably man and wife. A
solemn feeling came over us as we looked at them and
reflected that they had reposed there just as we saw
them for perhaps 5000 years, not divided in death, but
keeping each other company during their long sleep.
Could they have spoken, what a light would they have
thrown upon the early history of the human race ! It
had once been modern times with them too, perhaps it
had seemed to them that the world was beginning to
grow old, that God’s purposes were well-nigh accom¬
plished, and that they would not have long to wait for
the summons to eternal life, but it was as true then as
now, that of that day and that hour knoweth no man.
Even the Arabs looked on with reverence. The mum¬
mies appeared sound and solid as they lay there, but when
one of the Arabs put his hands beneath the shoulders of
the larger one, and tried to raise it up, it collapsed to
fragments ; it broke up so completely that not even the
skull remained — it was as if it had been a phantom.
The bones of the arm still kept their shape, but on being
taken up broke with their own weight. The only thing
about it which retained any cohesion was the linen that
had lain beneath the back ; it had been of fine quality,
as the close small grain of it proved, and it must have
been honest stuff indeed, for it still made a slight resist¬
ance to being torn, but all the rest of the cerecloth had
fallen to dust, together with the frame they enclosed.
They had been there for centuries before Abraham
visited Egypt. Since their tenancy of that chamber
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXVII.
368
began, empires had come and gone — that of the
Pharaohs, that of the Ptolemies, that of the Caesars, the
Empires of Assyria, of Persia, of Greece, and of Rome,
had been born and had lived out their career and
perished since the two forms before us were first laid
there on that floor, closing the story of two human lives.
But at last came the hour when the spell was to be
broken, and when the outward semblance of humanity,
so long retained, was to vanish, and the decree “ dust
to dust ” was to be fulfilled.
I can only account for the fragile condition of these
mummies by their great antiquity. Not far off were the
ruins of pyramids older than those of Khoufou and
Khafra, reaching back to the second dynasty, and per¬
haps to the time of Menes. These relics were probably
1500 to 2000 years older than the specimens one sees at
Thebes, and that vast amount of time tells even upon a
mummy.
We felt deep remorse as we looked upon the frag¬
ments, and forbade the Arabs to touch the remaining
one. They then took us to another shaft, similar to the
one we have just described, and not far off. We were
lowered as before, and at the bottom found two cham¬
bers ; in one of these were three large stone sarcophagi,
close side by side, with their heads towards the east ;
the lids were still in their places, and one of them
appeared to have been cemented on ; they were much
too ponderous for us to stir. Between them was a small
stone coffin of a child five or six years old ; the lid
of this was gone, and it was empty. There were no
hieroglyphics nor any ornament upon any of them, and
they were all rudely made. They could not be opened
without crowbars, and we were saved the temptation of
Chap. XXXVII.] A SAND STORM. 369
violating them, for it was our last day here, and we were
compelled to set out homewards next morning.
While returning laden with a bundle of notes and
sketches in one hand and an umbrella in the other,
suddenly and without warning there was a violent gust
of wind ; in an instant the air was filled with sand,
which drove through our clothes like needles and pins.
I could not open my eyes, and was nearly suffocated ;
the umbrella was unfurled as a screen, but the whirl¬
wind snatched it out of my hands and tore it to shreds
— never was there such a wreck of a gingham ! Away
went my papers and sketches in the direction of the
Sahara, where they are probably careering about still
on windy days, and those precious records were lost to
science for ever.
But my anguish on this score was postponed by much
more urgent physical sensations. Every grain of sand
seemed converted into a sharp needle, which stabbed
me through the tweed of my tourist suit, as if nothing
intervened. I felt as if doomed to perish by the agency
of millions of punctures. It was impossible to stand
upright. Screening my eyes with my hands, I looked
round ; the Arabs had vanished. I saw a mummy shaft
close by, climbed down into its friendly shelter, and
took refuge in the chamber at the bottom. The process
by which every temple and tomb here becomes buried in
sand soon became apparent, for rills and rivulets of
sand came trickling down all round, just as streams of
water do in a rain storm. The tempest lasted half-an-
hour, during which there was plenty of leisure to note
my surroundings, which consisted of skulls, bones,
mummy rags, and fragments of stone coffins.
Just below the mouth of the shaft was a curious little
B B
370
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXVII.
chapel excavated in the rock, supported on square
columns.
When I emerged, my escort crawled one by one out
of similar shafts ; the scattered forces were reunited,
and we got back to our carriage without further ad¬
venture.
Thus ended our last and most impressive experience
of Egyptian antiquities.
Before taking leave of Egypt, it may not be amiss to
make a few observations on the present condition of its
people. The excessive inundation of the previous
summer had undoubtedly caused much distress and
misery by washing the crops out of the ground and
leaving the fellaheen without food ; but although we
lost no opportunity of visiting the villages both along
the river and in the interior, and saw many lean and
hungry figures, we did not come across those examples
of living skeletons and other horrors which some writers
on the crisis have described. The worst cases by far
were to be seen in the water-side towns, for here the
starving congregated in hope of relief, and those who
formed their impression of the condition of the whole
country from what they saw here from the deck of
Cook’s steamer must have formed dark impressions
indeed of its condition, for there at the river side were
assembled all the naked and hungry, in the hope of
coppers from good-natured passengers. But that would
be like judging the condition of the people of England
from the sights and scenes of St. Giles or Bethnal Green.
At the time we left, things were rapidly improving, for
there is a harvest every four months, and the new
harvest promised splendidly.
Much has been said about the misery inflicted by the
Chap. XXXVII.]
TAX COLLECTING.
371
process of raising the interest on the Khedive’s debts ;
but having spent a winter in Egypt nearly thirty years
ago, when there was no national debt, it is my opinion
that the extortion and oppression were much worse then
than now. The taxes were wrung from the wretched
fellaheen by the bastinado, which was to be seen in
daily operation ; every farthing that could be wrung out
of the people was exacted then as now, the only
difference being the pockets into which the plunder went.
A host of Turkish bloodsuckers got it then — the creditors
get it now. I well remember it used to make my blood
boil to see the cruel oppression that went on. Twenty
thousand men perished in making the canal that connects
Alexandria with the Nile; that canal was dug without
spade or shovel ; it was dug by human hands laboriously
scraping out the soil with their fingers, filling it into
baskets, and conveying it away on their heads. Those
unhappy creatures were torn from their homes and
driven to their work under the lash and the stick ; the
money intended for their maintenance was embezzled
by Turkish officers, and they fell a prey to misery,
starvation, and fever ; and it is a fact that 20,000 men
in the prime of life perished in executing Mehemet Ali’s
command, and the rest got back to their homes crippled
and broken in health and strength and utterly destitute.
As for taxation, I well remember how they complained
that such a heavy tax was put upon the water-wheels,
that they had to resort to the primitive expedient of
irrigating their land by hand, and that every single date-
palm, including the males, which are barren, were
taxed, and the tax on them exacted even where they
had been blown down or carried away by the inun¬
dation. The money so raised went to enrich the
B B 2
37 2
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXVII.
Viceroy, the Pachas, and the Turkish officials, to pay
for the armies, the fleets, the wars, and ambitious
schemes of their tyrants. Things are not so bad now.
The Khedive, with all his faults, has eased their bondage.
I cannot but think that we have been rather hard upon
him. What other Oriental potentate would have gone
so far as he did, in endeavouring to win the good
opinion of Europe and to promote Western ideas ? He
went great lengths to put down the slave trade ; he
made vast sacrifices to enable the Suez Canal to become
an accomplished fact ; but for his assistance it could not
have succeeded. He constructed railways, canals, irri¬
gation works, and attempted to carry out other schemes
of national utility. It was England herself who inter¬
fered to prevent his establishing communication with the
great lakes in Central Africa via the Red Sea, though
nothing would have dealt such a blow to the slave¬
hunting interest there. His chief fault was his exces¬
sively sanguine disposition ; he tried to do everything
all at once ; he did not stop to count the cost ; he
resorted to the most reckless financing, believing that
his schemes would prove reproductive and pay in the
end. He meant well all the time, and really wished to
benefit his country.
When at last he was driven into a corner by the
collapse of his credit, he submitted to most humiliating
concessions in order to avert bankruptcy ; he was placed
in relations towards European Commissioners requiring
great tact and forbearance to render his position
tolerable, and the utter want of tact on their part soon
rendered it intolerable and drove him to bay. He has
been now deposed, but it is doubtful whether we shall
gain much by his downfall. One thing I am sure of,
Chap. XXXVJI.] CORRUPT TURKISH OFFICIALS. 373
that travellers in Egypt will miss the courteous treat¬
ment which they invariably experienced at his hands.
He always did his best to render their stay in his
dominions safe and agreeable.
As for any reform in the general condition of the
peasantry, no real improvement is possible so long as
the present corrupt race of Turkish officials remains in
power. Nothing but a staff of European administrators,
similar to the system established in India, would eman¬
cipate the peasantry from the oppression, extortion, and
misgovernment of which they are now the victims. See
remarks towards the end of Chapter XXIII. on the
abuses from which the fellaheen suffer.
I doubt the wisdom of allowing Egypt to make de¬
fault even in the unified debt, for that would be to
damage her credit and drive away capital. I know of
no country that would better repay the judicious outlay
of capital, especially in irrigation works, by means of
which vast tracts now barren might be brought into
cultivation, and the loss inflicted by a low Nile reduced
to a minimum.
It is true that portions of the national debt have been
expended upon costly follies, but no inconsiderable por¬
tion has been expended upon works of national utility.
Besides, if costly follies are to constitute a bar to the
payment of those who advanced the funds, how much
of the English national debt would bear interest ? The
follies of the Khedive sink into insignificance beside our
great war in America, which cost us so many millions in
the vain effort to withstand the onward march of their
independence. We might as well have expended it in
trying to keep the Atlantic at low-water mark !
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ATHENS.
Home vi& Greece — Mount Ida — A Classic Cruise— A Sea of Gems— The Piraeus —
A Greek Jarvey — The Acropolis — Mars Hill — Schliemann’s Treasures — Relics
from the Tomb of Agamemnon — Golden Masks — Isis in a Bower — Eleusis and
Salamis.
As some of my readers may be glad to have a hint as
to an alternative and less hackneyed route by which to
return to England than either Marseilles or Southampton
can offer, I venture to add some notes of a line we
adopted in the spring of 1877, and which we found
exceedingly interesting and agreeable.
April 15. — We left Alexandria by the Egyptian
steamer, direct for Athens. We had rough weather for
the first thirty-six hours, and few escaped a forfeit to
Neptune. We passed Crete quite close, and the even¬
ing sun set behind the lofty ridges of Mount Ida in a
flood of purple and gold. Next morning we were in
smooth water, among the islands of the Aegean Sea. I
went on deck at six, just as we were approaching Melos,
the home of the islanders who fought so bravely at
Salamis, and who were afterwards so ill-requited by the
Athenians for their patriotism, for in the Peloponnesian
war which followed they massacred every male in the
island and took all the women and children prisoners
because they refused to fight against their cousins of
Lacedaemon. However, now its beautiful coast line of
hills and valleys and plains lay before us steeped in a
Chap. XXXVIII.]
A CLASSIC CRUISE.
375
glory of rose-colour and crimson, poured upon it by the
rising sun across a sea of sapphire, it seemed a picture
of beauty and peace, and it was difficult to realise that
it had ever been a scene of such a bloody tragedy. Melos
consists of a bouquet of three islands, which unite to
form a magnificent amphitheatre as we approach from
the south. Close to us on the other side is Polycandros;
then there passed before us all day long, in stately pro¬
cession, rising one after the other out of the blue waves,
the islands famed in Grecian story : Ciphnos, Paros,
Naxos, Cythnos, and Ceos, and the snow-clad heights of
Andros, while on our left arose the rugged peaks ot
Sparta; then we passed the Gulf of Nauplia, with the
plain of Argos at its head, and entered the Saronic Gulf.
To the north-east lay Cape Sunium, round which the
Athenian fleets had so often sailed, and then we steamed
past the purple mountains of Attica, Hymettus, and Pen-
telicus, and close on our left lay the island of TBgina,
and before us far-famed Salamis ; and behind that
again towered the lofty peaks of Cythseron. North and
north-west the chain was carried on by the still snow-
flecked mountains that form the back-bone of the isthmus
of Corinth, while west and south the mountains among
which lie Mycenae, Argos, Nauplia, and Trezene, com¬
pleted the frame of the picture. This vast horse-shoe of
peaks and ridges, formed a back-ground worthy of a
panorama, which cannot be surpassed in beauty or
historic interest. Presently, as our glass swept the
horizon and searched among the recesses in the hills,
we spied a little group of ruins on a rock, embosomed
among the spurs of Hymettus. We can just make out
a confused mass of columns and architraves ; they are
the skeletons of the group of temples that once formed
376
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXVIII.
the glory and the crown of the Acropolis of Athens.
They are still ten miles off, but in the wonderfully clear
atmosphere of Greece they stand out sharp and distinct.
Soon afterwards we cross Phalerum bay, and pass close
to the tomb of Themistocles and glide into the snug
harbour of the Piraeus. There is a railway from Piraeus
to Athens, but we preferred driving by road, as being
more interesting and a less ignominious mode of ap¬
proaching the city of Pericles and Socrates. We
secured a good carriage, driven by a shock-headed
fellow in a blue coat, with silver buttons, surmounted
by a much-battered hat ; he looked very like a Paddy,
and when we asked his fare we almost expected that he
would pull his shaggy forelock and reply with a grin,
“ Anything yer honour plazes.” We drove along an
avenue of fig trees past the ruins of the long walls that
protected the road from Athens to the sea. We stopped
half-way at a wine shop, where “ Paddy ” had a drink
of Greek wine ; he offered us a glass, which turned out
the most bitter compound of resin ; it must have been
a fine tonic. The Acropolis towered overhead as we
approached the town, and indeed formed an absorbing
object of interest all the way. We hurried up there on
arriving, and were just in time to see the sunset from its
brow ; there lay Salamis in the blue gulf near, for the
anxious citizens to watch the changing fortunes of that
momentous sea fight — and there, opposite to it, stood
the rock on which Xerxes sat enthroned while his
galleys went down beneath the blood-stained water.
Behind us clustered the tall marble columns of the Par¬
thenon, as they have stood on guard there for twenty-
two centuries. Not far off was Mars Hill and the rock-
cut steps which St. Paul ascended, and from which he
Chap. XXXVIII.]
THE ACROPOLIS.
377
addressed those inquisitive citizens who crowded round
him to hear that last new thing which he had come to
tell them.
It would be hopeless to enumerate all the objects ot
intense interest that thronged us on all sides. We
watched the changing hues of orange and crimson until
they faded out in the western sky behind Cythaeron and
Helicon, which stood out in dark masses of purple and
indigo against the glowing background, and then went
home to dinner after a day that began at the southern
extremity of the Grecian Archipelago and ended amid the
ruins of old Athens. In twelve hours we had passed
from the southern limit of the Aegean Sea through the
whole territory of sea and land which formed the Greek
Empire — that famous confederacy of little States which
gave its stamp to the arts, sciences, philosophy, and
literature of Europe. It must not be forgotten, however,
that she derived the first beginning of them all from
Egypt.
Our hotel stands opposite the Acropolis, so that we
could feast our eyes upon its grand outline to our hearts’
content. Next day we obtained permission to see the
antiquities discovered by Dr. Schliemann ; they had been
laid out for the inspection of the Princess of Wales, so
that we were specially fortunate. The first thing that
struck us was their wonderful profusion ; the studs, but¬
tons, rings, leaves, and scales, all of pure gold, were there
in hundreds. The collection included all the objects
described by Schliemann in his letters. Prominent
amongst them were the golden masks which were found
covering the faces of the dead kings and princesses of
Mycenae. Each of these consisted of a thin plate of
gold, very much larger than was necessary to form the
378
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXVIII.
mask ; in the centre were stamped the features, and the
surplus gold formed a wide, irregular margin around ;
there had been no idea of economising the precious
metal ; the features totally differed from each other, and
they must all of them have been particularly unpleasant-
looking people. The mask attributed to Agamemnon
has very large eyes and a small mouth, and a most for¬
bidding scowl ; his eyes are represented wide open,
whereas those of the others are closed in death, the
overlapping eyelashes being represented by marks like
stitches. Cassandra (if it be her) appears as a wizened,
little old woman’s face. One of them has long whiskers
(no moustache) ; another has an enormous mouth, as if
it had been slit open. There was the cow’s head ot
silver, with long golden horns.* There were a great
many gold cups and vessels ; these are of very primitive
workmanship (indeed, some of them resemble those tin
pannikins which are sold to emigrants, at a penny a
piece, with a handle clumsily fastened on with three
rivets). Imagine such a pannikin made by an amateur —
ill-shaped, and with an attempt to beat out in the sides
rude forms of leaves and flowers. Such were those
before us, only of solid gold, rivets and all. Some were
an improvement on these, having two handles, and vase¬
like shapes, and one must have been engraved by a
foreign artist (perhaps an Egyptian prisoner), for there
is on it a group of lions chasing each other round the
rim, and exactly like the lions inlaid on Queen fAh-
* The cow’s head was emblematic of Athor, the Egyptian Venus; it is beautifully
modelled, and is probably also Egyptian work.
f Queen Ah-Hotep was the mother of Amosis, the first king of the 18th Egyptian
dynasty, and lived about 1800 B.C. Her sarcophagus — discovered twelve years ago —
contained a splendid collection of jewellery, which is now to be seen at the Cairo
museum. Amongst other things is a steel dagger, with her name inlaid in gold, and
also two lions chasing each other down the blade.
Chap. XXXVIII.] SCHLIEMANN’S TREASURES. 37 9
Hotep’s dagger. There were bronze swords, with
handles of solid gold ; there were some massive signet
rings, one with a chariot and horses, and the principal
occupant shooting a stag with his bow, while his
charioteer keeps the horse in full speed ; another has a
mortal struggle between two men (these are scratched
on the ring with much spirit but little art). There is
amongst these native objects, one undoubtedly foreign —
viz., the Egyptian goddess Isis, in a shrine, embowered
in papyrus blossoms. The workmanship of this is far
beyond the powers of the primitive artists who wrought
the cups and rings. There were baldricks and greaves
and diadems, and a couple of breast-plates, all of gold ;
there was a leg bone, with part of the gold armour still
on it ; there were numbers of octopus’ eyes, arms, bag
and all — apt emblems of those pirate chiefs who founded
the little Greek States — men who kept their eyes about
them, and seized all they could lay hold on. No doubt
it was to those qualities that the possession of this great
abundance of gold was due ; they got plenty of it by
plunder, and found it the handiest of all metals to work
in — these Knights of the Golden Fleece. There were
also models of houses, with birds on the roof, and the
figure of a woman with a bird on each shoulder and
O
another on her head. These curious representatives of
the earliest dawn of Greek art have been called pre¬
historic, and so on, but antiquity is quite a relative term.
To us, who had just returned from the contemplation of
Egyptian relics, the period of Agamemnon appears quite
modern ; the same era which constituted the dawn of
art in Greece witnessed the evening of it in Egypt. The
best period of Egyptian art was 500 years earlier than
the Trojan war. The word pre-historic is also used
380
NILE GLEANINGS.
[Chap. XXXVIII.
rather recklessly and thoughtlessly. Greece, it is true,
had no written history in the days of Agamemnon, but
Egypt had a history deeply cut in the granite of her
tombs and temples, commencing 2000 years before
Helen’s fatal beauty fulfilled its mission of mischief, and
we had seen the bas-relief of a king (who lived 400 years
before her) contemplating his list of seventy-six royal
predecessors, and looking back to the time of Menes as
his limit of history. That antiquity, too, is but compara¬
tive. The Sphinx is the oldest monument in Egypt,
and yet it contains within it the witnesses of a far more
remote antiquity, for its body consists of a mass of lime¬
stone, full of sea shells, that tell how the ocean once
rolled over the arid sands that now surround it.
Next day we made a very charming expedition to
Eleusis. Passing through the vale of Daphne, we came
down upon the shore of the Bay of Salamis. The sea
is here so completely land-locked, that it has all the
effect of a very beautiful lake, embosomed among high
mountains; conspicuous among these was the peak on
which Xerxes took up his position during the battle of
Salamis, and towering above all was Mount Helicon.
The scenery acquired additional loveliness from the
splendid colouring which the clear Greek climate spread
over it, and every inch of land we passed was classic
ground — every plain, every hill, every bay and inlet
of the sea had many classic memories attached, and
were famous in story. Our road was the Via Sacra,
over which so many processions had wended their way
to take part in the mysteries of Eleusis, and at Eleusis
itself we saw the great temple of Ceres, built to com¬
memorate her search for her daughter Proserpine.
Shortly afterwards we continued our homeward jour-
Chap. XXXVIII.]
HOME !
38l
ney, via the Isthmus of Corinth, whence a small Greek
steamer conveyed us to Corfu, touching at Patras,
Zante, and Cephalonia, and coasting along Ithaca and
Leucadia, famous for its wild boars.
We spent a week at the charming Ionian Islands,
and then took the Austrian Lloyd to Trieste, thence
over the Sommering Pass to Vienna, not forgetting to
visit the tamous caverns of Adelsberg on our way.
We can confidently recommend the above as an
interesting and delightful route for the return voyage.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
— -
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Everything seems to point to the conclusion that the
Egyptian race sprang from an Asiatic immigration. There are
reasons for believing that the immigration took place across
the Red Sea from the opposite coast of Arabia Felix, via the
Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb and Abyssinia (see Chap. XXVII.).
The race once established, were, by their peculiar geographical
position, much isolated, occupying as they did a valley 1000
miles in length, separated by vast deserts from the rest of the
world both of the East and West. This immigration took
place before they had attained the art of writing, i.e., the art
which tends to stereotype a language and to check extensive
changes in it. Whatever language, therefore, they brought
with them from Asia would be modified, as it has a tendency
to be in all languages when not fixed by writing ; their isolated
position would favour the development of a peculiar lan¬
guage, departing further and further from the types existing
in the land whence they came ; and, as a matter of fact,
the ancient Egyptian is a tongue perfectly sui generis in its
idioms, though containing the roots of many European words,
but the same causes that brought about this peculiarity of
tongue also favoured in a high degree the development of
civilization and of advancement in the arts, for the wide
deserts within which the happy valley was enclosed consti¬
tuted a vast fortress, within which they were unmolested and
undisturbed through long ages ; with all the necessaries ot
life supplied in abundance by the bountiful Nile, with the
c c
386
APPENDIX.
finest climate in the world, freed from the necessity of defend¬
ing themselves either against man or the elements, and sur¬
rounded by plenty, which it required only cultivation and
industry to secure— everything favoured a rapid increase and
multiplication, for they had plenty of leisure — more leisure
than any other people upon earth at that time to devote to
the arts. Thus it came to pass that they were the earliest
among men to attain anything like a highly developed civi¬
lization, and the first also to devise a system of writing
their language. The system they did devise was highly ori¬
ginal, and their conservative disposition led to their retaining
it, much as it was at first, down to the last stage of their
national existence, i.e., for a period of not less than 4000
years. For all that vast period of time both the tongue and
the written characters remained substantially the same. As
it was in the time of the Roman emperors so it was in the
time of Menai 4000 years before, and no one can tell how
much longer before Menai.
It is well known that the first clue to deciphering hiero¬
glyphics was supplied by the Rosetta stone, which contained
a long hieroglyphic inscription, together with a key (a crib,
schoolboys would call it), in the shape of a Greek translation ;
but the manner in which the clue was obtained may not be so
generally known. The learned men who were confronted by
the riddle and the materials for its solution, were much in the
position of the fox who went to dine with the crane — the
supper was in the jug, but the unlucky Reynard could not get
his head down its long narrow neck and bring his snout in
contact with its savoury contents. Thus did the savants
stand before that tantalizing stone when some one ’cuter than
the rest noticed certain ovals enclosing an assortment of hiero¬
glyphics, and that these corresponded to the names of various
Cleopatras and Ptolemies in the Greek translation. They
spelt these out, and so got the phonetic values of a few hiero¬
glyphics. Cleopatra supplied seven, Ptolemy six more ; but
what was better still, it showed them how they might obtain
any number, for in the monuments of well-known kings were
HIEROGLYPHICS.
337
many ovals. Armed with a liberal stock in trade, they began
spelling out the text on the Rosetta stone, and soon found
that it was in a form of Coptic — a language still known to
the learned; then their fortunes were made, the jug was
broken, and they fell tooth and nail on the supper.
A nearer acquaintance with the hieroglyphics does not
increase one’s admiration for that method of writing. As one
comes to understand them, the romance of mystery falls away,
and they resolve themselves into a very clumsy and complex
contrivance for registering thoughts and ideas. There are
said to be over 3000 signs — this is bad enough ; an alphabet
of 3000 letters to begin with. It is encumbered with a most
unnecessary redundancy, a great many signs being used to
convey the same sound ; but what is worse is, that the same
sign is often used to express several totally different sounds,
and to obviate the hopeless perplexity that this would occa¬
sion a system of determinatives was added to eke out the sense
and give a clue to it.
I can only account for the endless inconsistencies of hiero¬
glyphic writing by supposing that originally each of the various
tribes, amongst whom Egypt was parcelled out before Menes
united them under his sceptre, had a set of signs of their own
with a general resemblance, but with a considerable diversity
of detail, and that when they were united they were all jumbled
together, the signs in use among all being retained.
Some of the signs are easily remembered, as is the case with
the animals which were chosen to symbolise the sounds they
emit ; thus the ram represents the syllable ba, the goose sse,
the frog hek, the ass head haw, the eared snake fu, &c. ; other
creatures were used to express the syllable of which the name
by which they were known consisted. The Egyptian for
beetle is kafer, and accordingly wherever the beetle occurs in
hieroglyphics it spells kafr (it is curious that kafer is also the
German for beetle) ; en is a wave, and accordingly a waved
line represents N. It is not in this class of signs that the
confusion occurs ; they are always used to convey the same
syllabic sound, but in the more artificial and arbitrary ones.
APPENDIX.
388
There is another variety of characters which are somewhat
further fetched as it were than those I have cited. The axe in
primitive times gave them power, and so came to be a symbol
of power, and so of the Deity ^ it is curious that the form so
used is the form of the stone axe in use before metals were
discovered ; however, the axe always represents God. In the
vast majority of cases the train of ideas which led to the
choice of a particular sign cannot be traced, but appears
quite arbitrary. Nothing can be more devoid of consistent
method.
Originally, no doubt, the Egyptian language was mono¬
syllabic, and the writing was simply pictorial — man, horse, tree,
&c., being represented by the forms of these objects. Then
the efforts to commit ideas and thoughts to writing led to the
introduction of symbolism, and ultimately to quite arbitrary
signs. The art was probably in a transition state compounded
of ideograms, symbols, and arbitrary signs (the last varying in
different tribes), when it was stereotyped by the fusion of
tribes under Menes, after which the conservatism of the priests
forbad further change and retained the incongruous medley
as it was. The same conservatism led to its being retained
by the priests, long after the people had adopted the more
convenient system known as the Demotic, i.e., the abbreviated
running hand. It was once thought hieroglyphics were a
mystic system invented by the priests and peculiar to them,
and of which they only possessed the key, but this is not the
case ; it began by being the national method of writing, and
only ended in being peculiar to the priests.
Special difficulties are added to the labour of deciphering
this ancient writing by the omission of most vowels, and by
the fact that no spaces or other methods were adopted to show
where one word ended and another began, and by their
practice of writing indifferently from left to right, from right
to left, and from top to bottom, or from bottom to top. In
the case of the Royal cartouches the name will often begin
in the middle, continue at the bottom, and end at the top,
HIEROGLYPHICS.
389
without anything to indicate what order the characters come
in. The scribes were guided in their arrangement purely by
symmetry ; they arranged the various figures in the sequence
that looked neatest. It is much as if we were to take the
letters that compose the name of Queen Victoria and scatter
them on a shield haphazard, and then leave the reader to make
out what name the letters spelt. From long practice one
acquires an instinct which guides one in the reading of Royal
cartouches. We nevertheless owe a great debt of gratitude to
the Egyptians, for we owe our alphabet to them. Several
Greek and Latin letters can be traced to the hieroglyphics
(and the Demotic) ; thus en, a wave, is the sign for the letter
N, and our letter N is an abbreviation of it. | is one of the
signs for the letter M, and is our M almost unchanged. A
goose is one of the hieroglyphics for S, our S is the neck of a
goose ; it is the same with a very slight addition ; 'j = ta and
Tat. In these it is not difficult to trace the parent of our small
and capital T. It is worth observing that the derivation is
more obvious in the Latin alphabet than in the Greek — at
least there is less modification, and the origin is clearly more
direct; but there is no doubt that both alphabets had their
root and source in Egypt, and it is thought that when the
Shepherd Kings were expelled they took a selection of Egyp¬
tian letters with them. Cadmus introduced into Greece an
alphabet of sixteen letters, a little later than this event. It
must be remembered that ages after the Egyptians had used
the primitive hieroglyphic system it was still prehistoric times
with the ancestors of the Greek and Latin races, and that they
borrowed the art of writing from the Egyptians at what was
a comparatively late period in Egyptian history, and after a
running hand and an abbreviated mode of writing had been
adopted by their scribes ; they were thus spared the process
of passing through the primitive and clumsy steps of the art,
and had the advantage of taking it up at an advanced stage,
390
APPENDIX.
and had the opportunity of further improving upon it by the
beautiful simplicity of our present alphabet.
The Egyptian language was chiefly but not quite mono¬
syllabic, and words in which more than one syllable occur can
generally be traced to a monosyllabic root, or be shown to be
a combination of two monosyllabic words. Scattered up and
down it are not a few stray words traceable to a common root
with other languages, sometimes with one, sometimes with
another, not specially with any. This is what one would
expect if we suppose that all languages in the remote past had
a common origin, a certain number of words having escaped
modification sufficiently to be recognisable.
The Egyptian Ar, to make, to fashion, recalls the
Latin Ars, art : -1 men = to remain, is evidently of the same
origin as the Greek jixemv, menein, to remain, the Latin,
manere (for further examples see Chapter XXVII.).
The Egyptians, like the Greeks, had the dual number as
well as the plural. It would be worth enquiring whether the
Abyssinian has anything in common with the Coptic. It is
curious that I have found more words having a resemblance
with the Latin than with any other that I am acquainted
with.
Amongst the eccentricities of hieroglyphics is the pains
they took occasionally to remedy their obscurity ; having used
a sign which stood for a syllable of several letters, they would
then follow it with all the separate letters in detail, and finally
finish up with a portrait of the bird, beast, fish, tree, plant, or
thing they intended to convey. Words conveying abstract ideas
were also thus supplemented ; thus friendship would, after
having been duly spelt, be followed by the picture of two
men walking lovingly, hand in hand ; another oddity, an
amusing one, is their method of marking the feminine gender.
After the name of a woman they put an egg — thus, O, and the
sex of the goddess is similarly marked. The privilege of lay¬
ing eggs being limited to female fowl, the distinction was
HIEROGLYPHICS.
3 91
extended to the fair sex of a higher order ; sometimes they
drew a figure of a lady seated as well.
These determinatives were not pronounced ;
o ^
O
would be “ the Lady Tafnut here we have all three feminine
signs affixed where one would have sufficed ; the first four
signs compose the name Ta-f-nut, the three last are only
determinatives, and were not pronounced.
One of their many inconsistencies is that they will employ a
long array of signs to express some particle, or adverb, or pre¬
position, or inflection of tense, or a possessive pronoun, while
more important objects are often represented by a single
and very simple sign — thus ^ nuter, the axe, represents God ;
2 Sou, King; ? Hak, a chief captain or commander ; while
/WWV\
''"IT only mean ye ;
ar, means to make ;
while, to represent the future tense, two snakes, a bird,
a weaver’s shuttle, and a skull cap are added — thus,
This combination means will make ; the
provoking thing is that hieroglyphics might so easily have
been converted into a compact and simple method of convey¬
ing thought, and it is astonishing that so clever and intelligent
a people should for long ages have remained contented with a
system of writing so full of easily remedied imperfections. But
notwithstanding all their perversities and vagaries, the study
of hieroglyphics is extremely interesting, because they enable
you to trace and follow the mental processes by which man
in his primitive state invented and devised means of repre¬
senting abstract ideas. The sign for love is the hoe, their
earliest implement of cultivation 3^-.. This would first be
used to denominate cultivation, and as men only cultivate
that which they prize it would come to be used for the idea
of prizing, valuing, or loving ; the sequence of ideas is to be
traced in the Latin cultus worship, cultus having originally
stood for cultivation. The implement forming the above
392
APPENDIX.
hieroglyphic consisted of two pieces of woocf, one for the
handle and one for the cutting or chopping action, united at
the point with a peg, and prevented from yielding to the drag
or strain in working by a short piece of rope of twisted palm
fibre, thus Similar hoes are still in use in Egypt.
It is the retention of its primitive character which renders
the study of hieroglyphics so interesting, for one is able to
trace the working of the minds of the men of that remote
period in their devising of a means to represent their thoughts
and to admire the ingenuity with which they do it.
As there occur among the 3000 signs which constitute their
alphabet a vast number of tools and instruments used in the
arts, and also of objects the product of trades and arts, it is
manifest that the knowledge and practice of these arts must
have preceded the art of writing. The 3000 signs are highly
instructive therefore as showing us the objects with which
their minds were familiar.
The name of their very first king, Menai, was written with
a battlemented fortress M, the sign for water AA/V'AA N ,
and a knife (j (J twice repeated, thus (J (J = ai ; they, there¬
fore, at that remote time, knew how to build and battlement
fortresses, and how to make knives. Long inscriptions have
been preserved to us contemporary with the Pyramids, a few
even older ; these contain not only an infinity of tools, imple¬
ments, vases, ornaments, and articles of furniture, betokening
an advanced stage of perfection in the arts, but also proofs
of scientific knowledge and pursuits, for there occur many
purely mathematical figures and also various astronomical
signs, but no examples have come down to us of that first
stage of hieroglyphics, when they were ideogrammatic, i.e.,
simply pictures of the objects intended to be conveyed. a
It is worth noting that one of the signs for Egypt is V
Am. This may be connected with its scriptural designation
as the land of Ham.
EXAMPLES OF HIEROGLYPHIC WORDS
OF FREQUENT OCCURRENCE, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED,
WITFI SOME GRAMMATICAL FORMS, TOGETFIER WITH THE
TITLES MOST OFTEN MET WITH ON THE MONUMENTS.
H
4
/WWW
/WWW
1 1 1
*
I o
4
6
Q
T
Atef, father.
Ara-t, the sacred serpent Ara— Urseus.
A-r-t-i, the jaws.
Aa-n-i, the dog-headed Ape.
A-t-a, a misdoer, an evildoer.
r\ q ^ /www
Annuk, I; also (J ^ _ _ or or wwv' J.
Annou , we.
Apen, these.
Ab-t, a month.
At-t, a net.
Ank, life.
394
APPENDIX.
:&
Him-t, lady.
Hon, slave.
!
Hon-t, female slave.
n
Hw S>
Hehui, the ears.
^ O
<=> w
Ildti, the heart (dual).
1 ^ Cx ^
r\ AA/WVA W
Haiti, the horns. Hcn-i-i =Hen.
&\z
Heron, days, or, with one stroke^ ^ day.
l^S
Q,
Hetet, light.
Her or Hir, countenance (meaning varies
with context.)
n ^
J \\ r^—B
Kcbti, the arms.
4 -*%
Ka, also, and — Greek kcu.
Khesef, to drive off, defend.
©
/WWW M M
Ci ^
Khenti, the feet.
Khuti, inhabitants of the spheres of light.
$
Khnuhm, to provide.
Khnuhm, to provide.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
395
q Kha, sunrise, resurrection.
Q Khu, splendid.
Msahu, crocodile.
Arabic Timsah.
Ma-au , a cat.
<c==> \\ -<2>-
Mcrti, the eyes.
Menti, people of the West.
T
M, in or on; e.g.,
Y ra =
<=> = on
1 1 O wvw\
AAA/'AA
ill
em her pen = on this day.
Men , abiding, an abode.
Mcs , sprung from, born of.
Nofre, a youth, good, goodness, innocence,
thence.
Nofre-t, a maiden.
I^UBv
raMQ
N uter, god.
Nutcr-i-t, goddess.
Nhi-t, sycamore.
Another mode
gender.
of indicating the feminine
n f£i fu a *1 3
APPENDIX.
396
I
©
CL 1 I
AAAAAA
or with ill
/wwv\
or
I I 1
\"or
O
iVe&, lord, master.
Nen-t, town, residence, place.
Nunti, townspeople (Nen-t-i.)
Na, or Naou, “ the,” plural definite article.
Ne, or Non, “ the,” plural definite article.
Nai, these , plural demonstrative, both sexes
Nan, the plural definite.
AAAAAA
Nu-k, I ; also /w'w' ennuk I.
Nu-a, mine.
AAAAAA
Ntuck , thou, masc. Thou, fern.
o ©
AAAAAA
A9m/, he, masc.
.
r Ntus, or Ntust, she, fern.
AAAAAA
HIEROGLYPHICS.
397
AAAAAA ^
AAAAAA
J? Ill
AAAAAA
AAAAAA
c> III
AAAAAA O AAAAAA
q e ! mi
AAAAAA - H -
AAAAAA
^ III
AAAAAA |
- ^ :
Ntuten, you or ye, plural.
Ntusen or Ntuu, they.
Pa, the, definite article, masculine.
Pa, ditto.
Pa, ditto; also without □; also §|
Pai, this, masc. demonstrative.
Pai, ditto.
Pan or Pen',; also ^ pen, this, masculine.
Per, a house ; ^ (j per a, my house ; per
k, thy house ; ^ 1 per f, his house ;
AAAAAA ^
AAAAAA
J? Ill
AAAAAA
AAAAAA
o III
AAAAAA O AAAAAA
q e ! mi
AAAAAA - H -
AAAAAA
^ III
AAAAAA |
- ^ :
(TO o
per
i i i
oa, our,
I Ml
tenon, your, per on senon,
their houses.
39§
APPENDIX.
Rotui, the feet.
ft
s
© i
Rot, man, same with three kneeling figures
— men rotou.
Renpi-t, a year.
Rpa, nobleman, i.e., of the order of nobles.
Ra (Latin, res), a fait accompli, a thing.
Rcnih, evening.
Ropir, gate of the town.
ft r
Rem, to cry, to shed tears.
Rer, to turn, turn oneself about. German,
rtihren, to stir, to move.
Rcr (with determinative annexed), that
which rolls on — time. French, roux,
wheels, i.e., that which rolls. Latin,
ruere, to roll or rush forward at a
furious pace.
Rcr, all round — all.
1
Son, brother.
WMAA
Son-t, sister.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
399
C3D ^ 63
<=> \\ 63
1]
I I I
I I I
/W/WW
(3 /WWW
/WWW
1
/WWW
Sa, son.
Sa-t, daughter.
Sa-ti, the legs.
Scrti, the nostrils.
Sera , little, young, idem + 1 1 1, the little ones.
Sekher, a plan.
Scftu, a book.
Sds, six.
Sekht, to catch.
Scnib, health.
Sail, to drink. Sau, Coptic.
Suten, king.
Suteni-t, kingdom.
Seb-a-i-t, advice, information.
©
/WWW
v (
Tekhen, an obelisk © v .. Teckhenoui,
/WWW 7/ «Lb \\
dual, two obelisks.
Ta, the world CT^=! the two worlds or lands.
<7 <7
4oo
APPENDIX.
•<-a2-
I
1
* \> Tcb-t, the shoe ^ a pair of shoes.
Totui, the hands.
=±3 Tua-t-i, people of the lower world.
or
Tef, father^.^ Tefou, fathers.
Ta, the = feminine definite article.
: with [J(| Tai, this = feminine demonstrative.
1 Ten, this = feminine demonstrative
wvw\
or or
AAAAAA
pronoun.
Tema-k, thy town; suffix thy, thy town.
Tu, Tu , give ; V^r determinative of giving.
Determinative of light.
Tat, emblem of stability.
Ua, one, indefinite article, as ua atef, a father.
Uaa, a boat.
Us, pure;
| = emblem of purity.
Ounas, a king of the fifth dynasty. The
first syllable of his name — oun —
signifies being — Greek euiv, being.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
401
Number of Royal
Oval in Table of Abydos
corresponding to
Pyramid Title
(Plate LIII.)
20
21
23
As
A^
©
A^
26 A ft Hi
Men-kha, pyramid of the rising. Senofreou.
Mcn-khu-t, pyramid of light. Khoufou.
Men-ur, the chief pyramid. Khafra.
Mcn-Absetou, the most purifying of places.
Ouserskaf.
32
Men-nofre, the good abode. Tatkara.
Men-kha-Baiou, pyramid of the rising of
souls. Sahoura.
Aaa/w
t
Men-Baiou, abode of souls. Ata.
Men-men-nofre, pyramid of the good abiding.
Pepi.
37 AJ
Men-en-Kha-nofre, pyramid of the good resur¬
rection. Merenra.
38
A Q. =
A— a 1 AAA/WI
Men-Ank, pyramid of life.
Men-Tat-setou, the most
Teta.
Nofre-kara.
stable of places.
Nofre-sctou , the best of places. Unas.
Men-Ba, pyramid of the soul. Nofre-arkara I.
No. 56 is the oval of Nofre-arkara II.
Neb-mut, lord of the sacred vulture.
Ara-ncb, lord of the royal asp.
D D
402
APPENDIX.
Number of Royal
Oval in Table of Abydos,
corresponding to
Pyramid Title
(.Plate LIII.)
Neb-taoui, lord of the two lands.
Neb-Khaou, lord of the crowns.
i:
T
S?
A
1
The crowned Horus.
Him-te-su, royal wife.
Ka, the valiant bull.
Scr, the ruler, i.e., wielding the baton of
sovereignty.
Hak, magistrate.
Ha, chief.
Ncb-maat, lord of justice.
Mur, overseer.
Sewer, privy counsellor.
Su Pet, king of heaven. Title of Amen Ra.
Supreme, royal.
LETTERS OF THE HIEROGLYPHIC ALPHABET,
WITH SIGNS OF THE SYLLABIC SOUNDS
ASSOCIATED WITH EACH LETTER
A i - 0, A I (J; AN |.
AA AB -O’, ; AM -|j— , Q ; AN AR^>; AH — .
B J*; BA
C represented by SSe and — and fj .
D and T interchangeable, <=>, cr^.
F w; Fu \ A-
G S.
h ra. I-
I \\ or QQ.
K ^=^5, U, A.
; Kafer ; KHEM c=«>=a.
KHA Q; KHEB
KHEN KHER |, QZV
L and R interchangeable, <cz>.
M T> _>> ^=5 Ma 2-
N NOU o; NOUB NOFRE J.
Ou e, fl, OUN + >
OUR ; OUSER "I ; OUAS OUTS |.
P □, I; PA PER n ; PIR n; PEH
• ; RA o ; RES ^ ; ROUT ; RENPET
, f|; SSe”^; SEB *; SER .
STEP (or Sotep) A — -> ; SH m.
Q ^
R <=
S — -
Sebek
SET -e-; Sep 3£Et ; SU
T q, £=> ; TA^j, also-^, | ; TOUM ^a.
U see OU. UA US j.
Z
<4M°.
I) l) 2
THERMOMETER RECORDS AND METEOROLOGI¬
CAL OBSERVATIONS ON WINTER CLIMATE
OF EGYPT.
{Temperatures taken twice daily for three months.')
Instead of indulging in generalities about the climate of
Egypt, we considered it safer to give in the form of a table of
temperatures the actual degrees of heat and cold which
characterise a winter on the Nile; these observations have
been made carefully from day to day, and the maximum and
minimum temperatures recorded. A novel feature of this
table is the temperature of the river, which was also taken
daily at sunrise, and represents the mean result of all the
variations occurring during the previous twenty-four hours.
In connection with this, a curious result was elicited — viz.,
that while from Cairo to Esneh the thermometer constantly
recorded about 66°, above that point the river temperature
sank steadily as we advanced southwards until it reached its
minimum at the Second Cataract — viz., 58°. This unexpected
phenomenon proves that in winter the nights are colder in
Nubia than in Egypt, and also that owing to the extreme dry¬
ness of the climate the excessive radiation and evaporation at
night have a decided effect in lowering the temperature of the
water. The general conclusion which we may adopt as to the
winter climate of Egypt is that it is about equivalent to the
summer climate of France, but much drier.
It may safely be considered the finest climate in the world.
I have seen instances of obstinate coughs which had defied all
medical treatment disappear as if by magic soon after reaching
Cairo; and we met a young man who had been brought there
THERMOMETER RECORDS.
405
by his friends in an apparently dying state who, after three
months’ residence and a trip to Thebes, got rid of all his bad
symptoms, recovered flesh, and seemed in fair health and
spirits.
Most confidently of all can dahabeeah life be recommended
for those who have been mentally over-worked — who are
exhausted by the cares of office or the worries of business, or
by dissipation ; the splendid climate, the bright surroundings,
the exemption from excitement and annoyance, the interest of
new scenes, and the restorative effects of expeditions on
camel-back, donkey-back, or on foot, to visit monuments
which must excite something like enthusiasm even in the
most matter-of-fact minds, are medicines which no apothe¬
cary’s shop can supply.
It is true that those who neither sketch nor care about
geology, ethnology, Egyptology, or any other ology, will often
find time hang heavily on hand ; but even to these, if their
minds have been overtaxed, the enforced mental rest is as
beneficial as imprisonment is to the habitual toper.
With regard to the expense of a winter in Egypt, if visitors
are content to remain in Cairo, sixteen shillings per day per
head will suffice ; but if they wish to make the grand trip to
the Cataracts and back by dahabeeah, the minimum will be
five pounds per day for three persons, and an additional pound
per day for every member of the party beyond that number.
We found that we were saved much trouble by engaging
our boat through Messrs. Cook & Co. ; we had one of the
fastest boats on the Nile — the Gazelle — and a better and more
abundant dietary than had been our lot on either of our
previous visits. It is an obvious advantage to have to deal
with a responsible and influential firm who have a character to
lose ; moreover, their steamers afford them the means of per¬
forming various kindly offices for their dahabeeah clients — in
the conveying of letters and newspapers, and in the matter of
fresh meat, fruit, and other provisions.
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE AND ITINERARY FROM LOG-BOOK OF “ GAZELLE.
406
APPENDIX,
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N. W., feeble .
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N. , moderate
N., moderate
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Nile River
Temperature, j
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ITINERARY,
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73
rt
ITINERARY FOR HOMEWARD VOYAGE FROM
SECOND CATARACT.
( With distances in English miles between fifty -two stations.)
Abou Seer to Wady Halfeh
Wady Halfeh to Abou Simbel
Abou Simbel to Ibreem ....
Ibreem to Derr ......
Derr to Amada ......
Amada to Korosko .....
Korosko to Valley of Lions (Wady Sabouah)
Valley of Lions to Maharraka
Maharraka to Ruined City of Koortee
Koortee to Dakkeh .....
Dakkeh to Gerf H ossein ....
Gerf Hossein to Dendoor ....
Dendoor to Kalabshe ....
Kalabshe to Tafah .....
Tafah to Gertassie .....
Gertassie to Dabod .....
Dabod to Philse .....
Pliilse to Assouan .....
Assouan to Kom Ombos ....
Ivom Ombos to Gebel Silsilis
Gebel Silsilis to Edfoo ....
Edfoo to Elkab ......
Elkab to Esneh .....
Esneh to Erment ......
Errnent to Luxor .....
Miles.
• 7
. . 40
• 34
• • 13
. 4
7 '2
. I2|-
. . 20
• 3a
• • 3?
• io£
• • 9
• 13
. . 6f
• 7
• • i5
• 10^
• • 5
Total - 222
• 26^
• • 15
. 26
• • 13J
• x7\
. . 26
. Si-
Total - 133
Carried over . . . 355
4io
APPENDIX.
Miles.
Brought forward . . . 355
Luxor to Neggadeh ....
. . 22
Neggadeh to Keneh . ....
. 22 j
Keneh to Kasr-el-Syad
. . 29^
Kasr-el-Syad to Farshoot ....
. 8
Farshoot to Ballianeh ....
. . i8£-
Ballianeh to Girgeh .....
. 8
Girgeh to Mensheeyah ....
• • 13
Mensheeyah to Sonhag ....
. XI
Sonhag to Tahtah .....
. . 26
Tahtah to Gow-el-Kebeer ....
. 12^
Gow-el-Kebeer to Abonteg .
. . i4i
Abonteg to Siout .....
• i5
Siout to Manfaloot ....
. . 26
Manfaloot to Gebel Aboufaida .
• .. Hi
Gebel Aboufaida to Tel-el-Amarna
. . 17
Tel-el-Amarna to Mellawee
• 7
Mellawee to Rhoda ....
. . 6
Rhoda to Beni Hassan .
. 11
Beni Hassan to Minieh ....
. . . 141
Minieh to Golosaneh .
22g-
Golosaneli to Abou Girgeh
. . 12}
Abou Girgeh to Maghagha
• I5i
Maghagha to Feshun ....
. . 14
Feshun to Benisooef .....
. 19
Benisooef to Zowyeh ....
. . 18
Zowyeh to Bedreshayn ....
. 40
Bedreshayn to Cairo ....
• • 15
Total - 450
Combined Totals
805
TABLE OF HIEROGLYPHIC NAMES OF SOME OF
THE PRINCIPAL KINGS OF EGYPT.
The list here given of the names of kings as sculptured on the
monuments is necessarily incomplete, but it includes all the principal
rulers of Egypt from Menes of the First Dynasty to the Emperor
Commodus, soon after whose time the practice of sculpturing inscrip¬
tions in hieroglyphs ceased.
A king’s name is always enclosed in an elliptical frame with a base,
called by Champollion a cartouche, by others an oval or shield. As
has been already explained, after the earlier dynasties each king, in
addition to his own name, assumed a royal name on ascending the
throne. In the following list the cartouche with the private name is
placed first, and that with the royal name second. The rendering of
the royal name is placed underneath the double cartouche ; that of the
private name, when given, above it.
L* The names above the ovals are the throne names, read vertically from the top to
the bottom of each oval. For the order in which the syllables were pronounced ,
seepage 327.
Mena. II Senefc- jlShooioo. Kbafra. M i •- As:>eskef.||ITserkaf Saoora. Neier- Kuenuser
|| 100. || Kaoura. || arkara. or An.
V. Dynasty — continued. VI. Dynasty.
Ivaka. Hormenkaoo. Tatkara, or 4ssa. Oonas. (I Teta. Fepi, Merenra. Nef< r-
kara.
©
fU
III!
Senef-
erka.
XI. Dynasty.
Noobkkeperra. Nebkerra.
[©)
f3T\
rsF
'£
U-
1
LLJ
LLJ
Enentef. Mentuhotep.
Rasbotepheb.
Anienembat I.
XII. Dynasty.
Rakkeperka.
'ip
flf|
o>
ki
tVirtasen I.
Rauoobkaoo.
Amenemhat II.
412
APPENDIX.
XII. Dynasty — continued.
XIII. Dynasty.
Rakbakbeper. Rakhakaoo,
rnni'
©
mi
2
Raenmaat. Raniaakheroo.
/f^\ /^T\
Rakhanefer. Kasekeuen.
£~**\
a
y
lU
Osirtasen II. Osirtaseu Ill. Amenembat III. Ameueinbat IV. Sebekhotep V. Teoakeu.
XVI II. Dynasty.
Ranebpebti. Raserka. Raakheperka. Raakheperen. Raraaka. Ramenkheper.
Aabmes. Amonhotop Thothmesl. Tbotkmes II. Amennoohet, Thotbmeslll.
or Ainunopb I. or Hatasuo.
XVIII. Dynasty— continued.
Raakbeperoo. Ramenkbeperoo.
<0^ (keM*
Jrn^J
tflf
Rainaneb.
Rakheperneferuaenra. Raserkbeperoo.
/TeTN
f >
%■
M
^o7\
itr^
Amenhotep II. Tbotbmes IV. Amenhotep IIL Amenhotep IV. or Hor-em-lieb
Kboo-en-aten. (Horus).
XIX. Dynasty.
Ramenpehti.
if
1
VJ2.
Ramoses 1.
Ramenma.
ffrtJi
15Z
k*m\ (BfM
i ill
Meneptah or Sethi I.
Rauserraa-sotepcnra.
(i
Rameses U.
$J 2i
Meneptab II.
XIX. Dynasty— continuel.
XX. Dynasty.
ltauserkbeperoo. Rauser- Rausernia-
khamcramen. meramen.
Sethi U. or Meueptuh III. Setnakt. || Rameses III. Ramoses IV.
Ramose* V •
HIEROGLYPHIC NAMES OF PRINCIPAL KINGS. 413
XX. Dynasty— continued.
Raineses VI. Humeses VII. Humeses VIII. Raineses IX. Raineses X. Raineses XII.
XXI. Dynasty.* II XXII Dynasty.
Pehor. Piankh. Piskarn. II bln shonk 1., Osorkon I.
I or Sbiskuk.
XXII. Dynasty — continued. XXIII. Dynasty.
Tukelotk I., Osorkon II. llSkeskonk III. Take- Pishal. Skeskonk IV.
or Tiglutk. || lotk II.
XXIV. Dynasty. ||
XXV. Dynasty.
|| XXVI. Dy.
H,
0
>
la
Jy
Ella
Pctubastes. Rocchoris.il
Sabaco.
Skabatak.
tn
Tirliakall.
Pauiinne-
tichus I.
XXVI. Dynasty — cmtinued. jl XXVIl. Dy.
Neco. Psamrne- Hoplira, Psamme- Amasis. II Cambyses.
tichus II. or U ah bra. ticiius III. II
* It is very difficult, if not impossible, to refer each of the kings of this and the
succeeding dynasties down to the 26th to his appropriate place. The arrangement
here given is approximately correct.
4*4
APPENDIX.
XXVII. Dynasty— continued. || XXVIII. Dy. || XXIX. Dynasty.
(SI
Pi
Hi!
MX1
l^j
Darius.
f@uf\
A
fil
fil®
OLU |
s
)zd'gLi
Xerxes.
Arta- ,
1 Amyrtrcus.
xeixes. U
Nepbe- Achoris. Psammuthis.
rites.
Nectanebo. II Alexander. Philip Ari- || Ptolemy Philadelphia. Euergetes I.
|l dams || Soter.
XXXIII. Dynasty — continued.
(fiTh
s/lh
t\ i
v» V
g
w
feu;
Pi
isl
A*
'M
ks
( [sft
m « >
ill
y& m
m s
Si j£=L]
l'hiiopator.
F.pipbanes.
Philometor.
Physcon or
Euergetes II.
MS
fHi
Lathyrus.
li*
t_V
n
jlsES
w
w
Alexander I.
XXX I II. Dynasty — continued.
Auletes. Cleopatra. Ciesarion and Cleopatra.
XXXIV. Dynasty.— The Caesars.
<W\
HI*
!l~<
Augustus.
Tiberius.
Caligula.
HIEROGLYPHIC NAMES OF PRINCIPAL KINGS. 4 1 5
Claudius.
XXXIV, Dynasty— continued.
Hadrian.
XXXIV. Dynasty— continued.
XXX IV. Dynasty — continued.
Lucius Verus. Oommodus.
NOTES.
NOTE ON CHAPTER V.
Hon nuter, servant of God. I fear the attribute of modesty can be
conceded only within very narrow limits even to the kings of the Ancient
Empire, for although towards the Gods they assumed the humble title
of their servants, ministers, or priests, they presented themselves to their
subjects as divive, arrogating the title of “The Reigning Horus,” &c.
The title Pharaoh given them in the Bible has nothing to do with Ra,
the Sun — it is written in Egyptian Per-aa, “ the great house,” and some¬
times Per-aa-y?(7, the great house or temple of Ra. See “ Dendoor ”
in Index.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XIII.
The Reis of the Cataract considers himself king of that rugged and
wild region, and will brook no interference. We heard an amusing
story of an English Admiral, who considered that, as a distinguished
sailor, he had a right to a voice in navigation of any kind. The Reis of
his dahabeeah had already suffered much, and he communicated his
sorrows to the monarch of torrents and whirlpools ; and when our gallant
tar tried on the same dictation with him, that potentate determined to
make an example of him, and kept him, on one plea or another, three
weeks in the cataract.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXIV.
Amongst other abuses that were detailed to us as incidents of the
sugar factory system was the following : — Attached to each factory are
E E
418
APPENDIX.
a number of bullocks, and on inquiring how these were fed we were
assured that no rations of fodder are issued for their sustenance, but
that the men in charge, and who are responsible for their condition
under penalty of the stick, go out at night and steal provender for them
from the neighbouring farms ! This is another way of making bricks
without straw ! Yet we were told that money is regularly remitted from
the treasury, both for the feeding of the beasts and for a small pay¬
ment to the men, but is intercepted en route , and never reaches its
destination.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XVI.
Nes-taoui — the tongue of the two lands. The word nes in this sense
reappears in the names of headlands round our coast, e.g., in Dunge-
ness, Sheer-ness, Shoebury-ness, &c., to indicate tongues or promon¬
tories of land.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXVII.
Amend literally means the place of mystery, the hidden secret place.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXIX.
Amongst Etrurian customs brought with them from Egypt was the
distinguished place they gave to their women in the social system. In
bas-reliefs, paintings, and sculpture they are always represented as
sharing on equal terms with their lords in all the incidents of life j at
feasts and funerals, at public games and private entertainments, man and
wife recline lovingly side by side. As in Egypt also, they traced their
genealogies through the female line, holding that, though there might
be doubt as to the fathers, there could be no doubt as to the mothers.
Amongst their importations from the banks of the Nile was that very
peculiar musical instrument the double pipe (see Plate XIX.), introduced
NOTES.
419
by them, and subsequently in use throughout Italy. We have, of course,
no means of fixing the date of their migration, but it must have been
subsequent to the adoption of the Demotic character, because the
Etrurian alphabet, as with other branches of the Pelasgic race, was a
modification of the Demotic. Nor is it now possible to ascertain
whether they migrated direct by sea from Africa, or whether they
reached Italy by successive migrations, via Cyprus, Asia Minor, Greece,
and Thessaly. The latter is the most probable, and is in accordance
with their traditions. Colonies from the then teeming population of the
Nile valley may have joined them subsequently. It is not unlikely that
the original Pelasgic migration may have taken place at the time of the
expulsion of the Hycsos by Arnosis, between 1700 and 1800 b.c., i.e.,
almost 1000 years before the foundation of Rome.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXX.
I have adhered to the conventional form of the Queen’s name, viz.,
Hatasou, but it would be more correct to write it Ha-te-sou, the te
being the feminine determinative. ITa signifies leader — te, female — sou,
princes. This, however, was only part of her designation. Her actual
name was Amen, to which was added the soubriquet Knouhm-Te, i.e.,
she who provides, or regent — Ha-te-sou, leader of princes, i.e., guardian
of her brothers Thothmes II. and Thothmes III. during their minority.
She was originally associated in the government with her father,
Thothmes I. She had capacity for the post, and liked the business of
empire, and on her father’s death she continued to rule, first as guardian
then as associate of Thothmes II., and on his death she filled the same
relation towards Thothmes III. The latter found that his sister was
rather too much of a “ lady providence,” and kept him in leading-strings
over long. He never forgave her, and showed a vindictiveness which is
a blot on his splendid reputation.
Her reign was at all events a brilliant period in Egyptian history, and
her character presents some analogy to that of our own “ good Queen
Bess.” As the jealousy of that able sovereign prompted her to keep
her rival in prison, so did Platesou keep her brother a prisoner in the
marshes of the Delta.
e e 2
420
APPENDIX.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXXII.
In the interpretations of the names of kings, I have translated the
syllable “ ka,” so often recurring, “by the grace or favour of.” It might
also bear the sense “impersonation of,” but there are several names
with which that sense would not be consistent, whereas the secondary
meaning, “ by the grace of,” is consistent with all, and accords with that
veneration of the Egyptians for their gods which prompted them to
ascribe all glory and merit that was in them to their deities.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXXIII.
The portrait of the Sacred Bull Apis, at end of Chapter XXXIII.,
represents the peculiar markings which stamped him as an incarnation
of divinity. The colouring was pure black and white. Apis sometimes
appears upon funeral stele bearing away the deceased on hisbackMazeppa
fashion, and at full gallop, into the presence of the gods.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXXIV.
It is related by Herodotus that Cambyses, King of Persia, while at
Memphis, commanded the Sacred Bull to be brought into his presence,
and then manifested his scorn for the superstition of the Egyptians by
thrusting his sword into the beast’s thigh. The thigh-bone was much
injured, but the priests took away their wounded idol, and nursed him
so skilfully that he eventually recovered and lived to a good old age.
Mariette Bey, during his first visit to Egypt, on exploring the Apis
mausoleum, succeeded in finding the mummy of that identical bull, with
extensive scars in the hide and thigh-bone, the latter being deformed
owing to the injury received from the sword of Cambyses 2400 years
ago, thus attesting the truthfulness of Herodotus’ narrative. This was
not to be the last adventure which that mummy was destined to
encounter. Mariette Bey, being suddenly summoned back to France,
buried the precious relic in the sand ; subsequently an Austrian arch¬
duke, during a visit to Egypt, unearthed accidentally the Frenchman’s
prize, and, believing it to be an original discovery of his own, carried it
NOTES.
42 1
off with him to Austria, and poor Mariette searched for him in vain on
his return.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Temple of the Sphinx belongs apparently to the Megalithic
period, anterior to the development of ornamental architecture. The
stones of which it is constructed are enormous. It contains, amongst
other things, a number of vast bins, like wine bins, in a double tier, one
above another. These recesses are about 20 ft. deep and 10 ft. wide.
Each of them has a ceiling consisting of one single slab. These
resemble the receptacles of the Apis Sarcophagus at Sakkara; at all
events, the whole plan of the structure suggested to me that it was
designed for a mausoleum, combined with a memorial temple.
After it was completed it was overlaid with cyclopean blocks of stone,
layer above layer, and buried beneath them. This monument probably
illustrates the fashion of sepulchral memorial that preceded that of
pyramids. It may be the funeral vault of Menes and his family.
I annex a sketch, drawn from memory, showing the general plan
correctly, though there may be one or two errors of detail.
NOTE ON CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Caverns of Adelsberg. — We obtained here one of the blind fish found
in the subterranean lakes. It has no trace of eyes. Its gills are
external, floating like blood-red tassels on each side of its head. It is
about 10 inches long. When first captured its body was colourless ; we
have now had it in our possession for three years, and it has from
exposure to light become black. It is in perfect health and in good
condition, although it has had no solid food in all that time. It is kept
in perfectly clean water, changed frequently, and in this it finds some, to
us invisible, means of subsistence.
NOTE ON THE COMPLEXION OF THE EGYPTIANS.
It must not be supposed that the red and yellow colours in which the
complexions of men and women were rendered represents their real flesh
422
APPENDIX.
tints. The Etrurians in this, as in so many other points, following the
example of their Egyptian parent stock, painted their men and women
red and yellow. Examples may be seen in the museum at Florence,
notably in the case of the battle of the Amazons, in which the Greek
men are coloured red, and the Amazon women yellow. In the Bible,
Ezek. xxiii. 14, occurs the following passage : “ Men pourtrayed upon
the wall ; the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion
They therefore also painted their men with red complexions. Yet it
can scarcely be supposed that either the Greek, or the Latin, or the
Chaldean complexion was really red in those days. In any case, differ¬
ence of complexion cannot be urged as an objection to the theory ot
an Egyptian origin for the Etrurians, nor for the whole Pelasgic race,
of which they were a branch. The Latin races are still characterised
by a sallowness of complexion, with a tendency to become more
swarthy in hot climates.
I11 Spain the skins both of men and women grow darker as you
travel southwards, nor is there much difference of tint between southern
Spaniards and northern Africans.
NOTE ON PLATE LIII., OVAL 25.
There is a difference of opinion among Egyptologists as to the
phonetic value of the seated figure of a prince in Oval 25. A priori
we should expect its value to be “-57/,” “a prince,” and this expecta¬
tion is confirmed by Manetho, who in this, as in many other cases,
is the Egyptologist’s friend. In the Sakkara tablet occurs an oval
with the
same
sign O
If the sound represented by the
doubtful sign be “ su,” the name would read Su-ses-ra. And how
does Manetho, an Egyptian priest, converting it into Greek, render it ?
Why, by “ Sisires.” This Greek version is a pretty close reproduction,
and appears conclusive. The Sisires of Manetho correspond in his
table to the Aseskaf of the tablet of Abydos. The signification of
“ Su ses ra ” would be “ Follower of Supreme Ra."
In Plate LIII., No. 25 should be Su-sesk-ef (instead of Aseskef) ;
the Sovereign (Ra), his follower ; the Sisires of Manetho.
NOTES.
423
It is evident that the Su-sesk-ef of the tablet of Abydos, the Su-sesk-ra
of the tablet of Sakkara, and the Sisires of Manetho, are variations of
the same name.
Su-sesk-ef means The Supreme, his follower ; Su-sesk-ra means
follower of the Supreme Ra. Only a slightly varied way of saying
the same thing.
The word “ sesk ” — he who follows — is probably the Egyptian root of
the Latin sequi, to follow.
The primary meaning of the word “ su” was probably over. Hence,
over all — highest — the most high — the supreme — amongst gods — Ra —
amongst men — the king.
It is the Egyptian root of the Latin “ su-per,” “over,” also of the
Latin su-premus, of which summits, “ the highest,” is an abbreviation ;
also of su-perior, and of the English “ sum,” /.<?., the supreme result.
It enters also into the composition of the French souzerain and of
the English sovereign.
One would have thought that a monosyllable of two letters could
scarcely bear to lose one of them and yet retain its individuality, yet
that is the case with this etymological germ, for if it became super
among the Latins, it became \mep ( huper ) among the Greeks, and iiber
among the Germans, prone always to convert p into b. It would seem,
therefore, that the u is the ultimate germ, the verbal monad, as it were,
of this interesting root.
It loses, however, even the ?/ in the Anglo-Saxon “ over,” derived from
the German i/ber, but it recovers both its j and its ?/, and its early appli¬
cation, in the word “ souzerain,” which is a rechauffe of all its attributes.
Now what hieroglyphic did the Egyptians select to convey the sound
and idea of “ su ? ” Why, a flozeer — the supreme development of the
plant, and commonly that which overtops the rest of it. Hence the
flower ^ represents the King and Royalty, and its proper determinative
is an enthroned figure. Under the ancient empire it was used to
represent “ the supreme,” the most high among gods — Ra — as well as
the supreme among men. With reference to the use of the flower,
there is an analogy of idea in Tarquin’s hint that he wished the destruc¬
tion of the nobles, conveyed by lopping off the heads of the flowers
in his garden. Its application to the Deity was retained by the
Hebrews : “ Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made
with hands • ” and we have adopted this most appropriate use of it from
424
APPENDIX.
them. We also apply it to earthly princes when we designate them
Your Highness.
In its application to the Pharaohs ^ Su was often associated with
A ° and then became Suten. But it was often used without this ter¬
mination, simply as Su. An instance occurs in the Sinaitic inscription
on the right, Plate XLV., second line, where the king is styled Su.
It is always used simply when applied to the gods, as in
Su nuterou, King of the Gods — of frequent occurrence. It is always
used simply also when employed as the adjective Royal or Supreme.
There was another word of similar sound, but not connected with it —
Sou — He — which reappears in the Latin suus, His, and sui,
of Him.
The seated figure which suggested these observations is the deter¬
minative of Su in its sense of supremacy, and when pronounced it
was pronounced Su.
NOTE ON KING No. 7, PLATE LIII.
This oval encloses nothing but the figure of a man bearing a staff,
but there are one or two points which are remarkable ; he wears the
royal asp on his brow, the common attribute of all Egyptian monarchs,
but he wears also a robe not met with in subsequent times — a long
flowing garment descending to his feet; perhaps such long robes were
in fashion in his day. I met with a figure of granite so draped on the
heights of the island of Sebael. (See Chapter XXII.) Its appearance
betokened extreme antiquity.
The contents of the cartouche give us no clue to the name of this
king. The corresponding monarch in Manetho’s list is Semempses.
It is an interesting fact that the staff held in the hand of this remarkable
figure of a king of the first dynasty is the emblem of purity, typified by
the head of a gazelle, the same emblem that was used down to the latest
days of the Egyptian monarchy.
* The hieroglyphics above marked with an asterisk have accidentally been made to
face the wrong way.
NOTES.
425
NOTE ON EGYPTIAN RELICS IN CYPRUS.
Since writing Chapter XXIX., in which I mention that the apron
of the statue from Cyprus is of the pattern in fashion under the
eighteenth dynasty, my attention has been directed to the fact that
Thothmes III., of the eighteenth dynasty, invaded and occupied Cyprus
— a fact confirmed by the discovery there of his cartouche upon various
objects found by Cesnola. This invasion took place 500 years before
the siege of Troy. It is worth noting as one among many indications
that this interesting island was a stepping-stone between the East and
Greece, that the Greeks took with them the name of Olympus, the
sacred mountain of Cyprus, and assigned it to their Mountain of the
Gods in Thessaly. An important Grecian town of Pelasgic origin was
named Thebes in honour of the Egyptian metropolis.
NOTE ON THE ORIGIN OF JUPITER.
The Greeks and Latins claimed that their Supreme God Jupiter
Ammon was derived from Egypt, and of course the name Ammon is
readily identified with Amen Ra ; but the origin of the name of J upiter
is not so obvious. The following explanation has occurred to me : —
Amen Ra is often styled Su Pet — supreme in heaven. Nowit is not
difficult to imagine Su Pet Amen becoming corrupted into Jupeter
Ammon ; nor “ Su,” the Supreme, into Zeus.
The word “ Amen ” signifies “ the Hidden one,” an impressive desig¬
nation for their supreme deity.
INDEX.
PAGE
PAGE
Abooseer
190
Atot, Princess, tomb of .
• 33
Abou Simbel
163
Ayeesha ....
. . 257
Abydos, Table of .
316
Abyssinia .
00
Ah Ilotep, Queen .
273
Ballianeh
. . 310
Ahmes .....
2 37
Bas-relief . . . .
. 296
Amada ....
US
— of Rameses
• • 3i5
Ammon-Ra ....
i49
Ba-ta-Anta . . . .
180, 249
Amunoph II. .
146
Bayt-el-Waly .
. . 127
— Levee of .
160
Bedouin encampment .
. 4S
Anubis ....
152
193
Bedressayn
• • 338
Analogies of language .
278
Beni Hassan
• 333
Ancient fortress
135
Bibe ....
. . 41
— obelisks .
273
Bitter Lakes .
• 15
— roadway
84
Bombs, crystalline .
. . 86
— temple
26
— tombs
53
Anka, goddess
182
C.-ESAR (ovals of)
. . 200
Antinoe ....
56
Cairo . . . . .
. 16
Antiquities, Cyprian
290
— arrival at
• ■ 34i
— Egyptian
290
Calendar, Coptic .
. 125
Apis Mausoleum .
339
Cambyses
. 167, 258
Arab horses
45
Canal, Suez .
5
— tents ....
45
Canine concert
. . 222
Arkamen (the Ethiopian) .
133
Captivity and exodus of children of
Art, Egyptian
17
Israel
. . 1S3
— conventionalities
19
Caravan for Khartoum .
109
— earliest specimen of
22
Cataract, Second
. . 187
— decline and rise of
22
— First (descent of) .
. 201
— origin of Grecian
25
Cavalcade
. . 27
— — of Etruscan
25
Central African terminus
. 187
Assouan ....
100
Chameleons
. . 197
Athens ....
376
Chariot race .
• 297
428
INDEX.
Christian worship in heathen
temples .....
Circe . . . . .
City of Rameses ....
— Pithour . . .
Cleopatra .....
Colossal figure .....
— statues, first view of
Colossi . . . . . .
Collecting taxes ....
Cook and Co. . . . .
Coptic calendar ....
— church . . . . .
— monastery ....
— saints . . . . .
Crocodiles, large ....
— mummy caves
Cyprian antiquities
Cyprus, lions of . . .
Daickeh
Dancing dervishes
Darwin, remarks on .
Date of Rameses .
Dayr-el-Nakel
Deir-el-Bahari
Dendera .
Dendoor
Derr
— temple of
Dervish fortune-telling
Dog mummies
Dongola .
Doseh ....
Duel of Rameses
Duke of Connaught
Edfoo -
Edwards, Miss
Egyptian art .
— features .
— fleet .
— history .
— origin of .
— purgatory
— vast antiquity of
Egyptians, origin of
PAGE
• 277
Eilythias, ruins of .
. . 227
Ekrnin .....
• 329
Elim ....
. . 6
El-Kab, tombs of .
. 228
Encampment, English
. . 340
— Bedouin .
. 48
Esneh ....
• 103
Exodus of Israelites
6
Facade of Abou Simbel .
• • 163
Famine in Joseph’s time
• 237
Festival, religious, Cairo .
■ • 35i
First stage, Bibe .
• 4i
Flint instruments
• • 36
Formation, geological .
• 54
Friend of God
. . 201
Fossil trees ....
• 35i
Funeral 3000 years ago
• • 193
Gebel-el-Tayr
. . 48
— Sisilis
. 211
— Sheck Herredee
• • 331
— Aboufaida .
• 335
Genii ....
. . 261
Geological formation
• 54
Gertassie
. . 124
Girl water-carrier .
• 257
Goddess of letters
• ■ 149
Governor of Assouan
• 1 17
— Esneh .
• • 105
Greek-cut hieroglyphics
104
Gou-el-Kebeer .
■ • 33i
Hades ....
* • 259
Iia-t-asou ....
. 291
Hathor’s modern votaries .
. . 196
Flippopotamus hunt
■ 65
History, Egyptian .
. . 276
Historically important discovery by
the author
• • 299
Horus, King
. 209
Hyaena’s den .
• • 55
Hymn of Thothmes III.
16
TAGE
186
262
8
8
98
339
161
163
1 12
16
125
337
n -» ft
125
161
87
290
290
132
353
39
183
57
291
97
131
155
155
347
45
189
35i
173
125
213
169
17
283
294
276
277
259
24
INDEX. 429
PAGE
Ibreem . 159
Infernal regions .... 259
Inscriptions ..... 203
of Thothmes . .136
Isbaida . ..... 60
Isis and Osiris, legend of .98
Isroailia .... , 15
Justice, Egyptian . . . . 225
Judgment scene .... 193
Kalabsiie . 13°
Karnac . . . • 149
Kasr-el-Syad . . . . 3°5
Kenah, shopping at . -99
Khedive’s sugar factory . 216
— troops disaffected . 341
— a good word for . . 37
Khetan Princess .... 178
Khou-en-Aten . . • • 79
— courtier of . . 301
Kings of Eighteenth Dynasty . 144
Kom Ombos . . . 108, 205
Kom-es Sultan . . . . 311
Knouhm Ra, temple of . .103
Korosko . . . 142
Kournet Murrae .... 252
Lake Menzaleh .... 7
— Temsah .... 9
Lava formation . . . . 141
Legend of Isis and Osii is . . 98
Levee, native . . . . . 105
Library, Abou Simbel . . .169
Libyan chief . . . . . 173
Lion of Rameses . . . .166
Luxor . 242
Mahal, procession of . . . 343
Mariette Bey . . . . . 149
Mariette Bey’s excavations . • 311
Mars hill . ... 376
Masonic signs . . . -73
PAGE
Manetho . , , . . 319
Medinet Abou .... 242
Mehemet Ali’s canal . 37
Meidoum, pyramid of . . .27
Meinephtha . . . 167
Memorial chapel .... 145
— inscriptions . . . 203
■ — ■ stele .... 312
Melons, petrified . . . . 55
Menai ...... 322
Mesopotamia . 164
Migdol ..... 7
Misgovernment . . . . 37
Monastery, Coptic . . . 336
Monks . . . . . . 49
Mosaics at Beni Hassan . . 334
Moses, wells of . . 1 1
Mosque, old . . . .201
Monuments of Thirteenth Dynasty 92
Mummy for sale . . . . 269
— of Queen Ah-Hotep . 273
Musicians . . . . . 235
Mystic paintings . . . .258
Naval officer, seventeenth dynasty 237
Nile level, ancient . . . . 191
Nofre-Ma, tomb of . -32
N ofre-N ofru-ti-tai- Aten . . 73, 79
Nofretari . . . • .168
— - description of . . . 178
• — portrait, frontispiece.
• — ■ temple of . . .178
Noub . 206
New hotel ..... 341
Nubia ...... 108
governor of . . 117
— offerings . . . . 195
— village merchant . .123
• — villages . . . . . 198
— wedding . . . 157
Obelisks . no
— ancient. . . . 273
Objects found at Thebes . . . 303
Orontes, river .... >72
Osiris at Philre . . . . 112
430 INDEX.
PAGE
PAGE
Ousertasen
203
Pyramid, Dashoor .
366
Oysters on desert . . . .
162
— Gizeh
360
— Meidoun .
27
- — Menakaoura .
363
Papyrus, translation of
302
— the great .
361
Passage of the Cataract . . .
1 17
Pelasgi
281
Pepi
59
Quarries of Gebel Silsilis .
211
Persia .
167
Queen Ah Hotep, mummy of .
273
Petrified melons . . . .
55
— Ti-tai-Aten, portrait of
.
74
Pharaohs,
tombs of
256
Philse .
112
Pilgrims of Mecca
342
Ra Hotep ....
31
Poem, epic .....
149
Rameses the Great .
127
Poinsettias .....
i5
— bas-relief of .
315
Portrait of
Amunoph III. . .
78
— chapel of
127
—
Ba-ta-Anta
i75
— eldest son
174
—
courtier of Khou-en-
- — ■ hareem of
245
Aten . . . .
301
— ■ tame lion of .
171
—
daughter of Khou-en-
— the Second
207
Aten
73
— the Second, portrait of
314
—
eldest son of Rameses .
174
— the Sixth
194
—
Horus . . . .
209
— the Third .
243>
261
—
Khou-en-Aten
79
Ramesseum ....
248
—
Menephthah .
208
Religious festival
351
—
Nofretari. Frontispiece.
Resurrection.
260
—
Nubian lady
269
Riding the cataract .
n6
—
Prince Ra Hotep
283
Rock tombs ....
331
—
Princess Nofre-te .
283
Romantic love of Isis
98
—
Queen Cleopatra . .
98
Rotennou ....
150
—
— Ha-te-Sou
292
Ruined city ....
124
—
— Nofre-ti-tai . .
73
—
— Tai-ti
251
— .
Rameses . . .
166
Sacred boat . . . .
169
—
Rameses in youth
3i5
Sakkara ....
339
—
Sefekh . . . .
14S
Scarabaeus, 240 royal
323
—
Sixth Dynasty chief
306
Schliemann’s treasures .
377
—
Ta Hotep .
308
School, Arab ....
217
—
Thothmes II. . .
i53
Scriptural allusions
226
—
Thothmes III.
i47
Sculptures, interesting
242
— .
Ti .
65
Sea of weeds
7
—
young lady of the sixth
Second Cataract
188
dynasty .
312
Sefekh, goddess of letters
148
Port Said
4
Sehael . . . . .
203
Tottery
25
Senofreou ....
30
Fount
291
Sepulchre at Kournet
252
Priestess
149
Serpent-myth
262
Princess Atot . . ...
33
Sesostris .....
243
Ptolemies,
the ....
214
Sethi the First, tomb of
260
INDEX.
/
431
Sethi's temple
Shaitani
Sheik of the Saidiehs ride
Sheik Fodl
Shishak
Shooting the rapids ,
Side lock
Sinai peninsula
Siout ....
Sistram ....
Sixth Dynasty tombs
Slave girl
Smoke-disfigured temple
Southern cross
St. Peter
Suez Canal
Sugar factories
Sun worship . . .
Syrian victories of Rameses
Table of Abydos
240, 316
Tablet, the famous
• 3D
Tahennu ....
• • 151
Ta-Hotep, Prince.
• 308
Taia, Queen
. . 249
Ta-i-ti, Queen
. 242
Talhami ....
• • 330
Taxes, assessing of
. 224
Tel-el-Amama
. . 69
Temple of Deir-el-Bahavi
. 291
— Sethi
• • 3H
— Sphinx .
• 365
Thoth ....
• • 193
Thothmes the First
. 291
— Second
• • 153
Third .
• H7
Tomb of Aai .
• • 254
PAGE
Tomb of ancient . . -53
- — antiquity . . . . 367
— eleventh dynasty . . 273
— Khou-en-Aten . . . 72
— Nofretari . . .168
— Prince Ta Hotep . . 30S
— Princess Atot ... 36
— • Sethi the First . . . 260
— sixth dynasty . . . 306
~ Ti . 340
— twelfth dynasty . . 67
— at El-Kab . . . . 228
— of the queens . . . 248
Treasure chambers . . 135
Tribute bearers . . . .130
Turkish corruption . . . 225
— luncheon .... 269
Uarda . 180
Valley of Lions . . . . 197
Very great slaughter . . .128
Victories of Rameses . . . 128
Villages, Nubian .... 198
Virgin tomb . . . . . 367
Wady Halfeh . . . .187
— railway station . . . 1S7
Water-wheels . . . .159
Wedding, Nubian . . 157
Welcome home .... 298
Wells of Moses . . . . 11
Wild iris . 28
Zeitoon . 40
Zowyet ..... 28
PAGE |
. 260 1
• 173
• 357
• 45
• 183'
. 202
■ 315
. I67
. 92
156, I79
• 334
. 188
• 132
192
. 141
9
. 216
• 72
• 139
THE END.
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