#0K 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 a»°»
 
 

 
 C . S . SCHnfftNT 
 
 i /:.//„ i ■ . , . .
 
 TRAVELS 
 
 IN 
 
 UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT: 
 
 UNDERTAKEN BY ORDER OF 
 
 THE OLD GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE; 
 
 BY 
 
 C. S. SONNINIj 
 
 ENCINEER IN THE FRENCH NAVY, AND MEMBER OF SEVERAt, 
 SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY SOCIETIES. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH FORTY ENGRAVINGS ; 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 Portraits, Views, Plans, a Geographical Chart, Antiquities, 
 
 Plants, Animals, &c. 
 
 Drawn on the Spot, under the Author's Inspection, 
 
 , Tolerantia rerum 
 
 Spemebat cunctas insuperata minas. 
 Venice nudato, ventos pluviasque ferebam. 
 Non mihi solstitium, non grave IV.gus erat. 
 
 Quainvis exiguo poteram requiescere sorano, 
 Et quamvis modico membra lovere cibo. 
 
 Corn. Gallus, Epig. l. Senect. Descr. 
 
 Translated from the French, 
 
 BY HENRY HUNTER, D. D. 
 
 NEW EDITION. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDAIE, PICCADTLLY. 
 
 1807-
 
 b. (Josnei.l, Printer, 
 Little Queen Street, London.
 
 51 
 
 
 lit 
 
 TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 WILLIAM PITT, 
 
 CHANCELLOR OF HIS MAJESTY'S EXCHEQUER} 
 
 UNDER PROVIDENCE, 
 THE BULWARK BETWEEN FRENCH AMBITION 
 
 THE LIBERTIES OF MANKIND, 
 THIS TRANSLATION 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 
 BY 
 HIS OBEDIENT SERVANT, 
 
 HENRY HUNTER, 
 
 a 2 
 
 1633102
 
 TRANSLATOR'S preface. 
 
 One of the first books of History put into our 
 hands, contains many curious and interesting par- 
 ticulars respecting ancient Egypt. The recollec- 
 tion of these carries us with a warmer impulse to 
 contemplate *he present state of things in that 
 country. The French nation, each individual 
 an Alexander, aims at nothing less than the con- 
 quest of the globe. After having over-run a great 
 part of Europe, they turned their eyes eastward to 
 Asia, and, without the vent, it was ijiJi, viri, and 
 the islands of the Egean Sea furnished another 
 department to the Republic. It was but a step 
 thence to Africa, to greet the Mameluc of Egypt 
 with the fraternal embrace, and add twenty more 
 to the departments of the Great Nation. The 
 
 a 3 auibitL>
 
 vi translator's preface. 
 
 an 
 
 ambition of the Kings of France has more th 
 once threatened the liberties of Europe ; but the 
 little finger of a modern Citizen of that country 
 is thicker than the loins of kings. They must 
 have a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto 
 heaven : Fiance must be aggrandized, and Paris 
 embellished, at whatever rate. 
 
 The publication of M. Sonnini's Travels throws 
 considerable light on Buonaparte's expedition. 
 Louis XVI. employed the former of these gentle- 
 men to travel through Egypt, merely in the view 
 of physical and commercial arrangements ; the 
 Directory send thither the hero of Italy, with a 
 vast army, to make a conquest of the country. 
 How it has sped the world by this time knows. 
 Caesar's laconic boast is now curtailed of its third 
 limb. The Republican General can go no far- 
 ther than the vent, vidi : but the vici lies buried 
 without the walls of Saint- Jean d'Acre. Our au- 
 thor is a very good observer of what is, but he 
 knows nothing of what will be: he is an excel- 
 lent naturalist, but a most wretched prophet : he 
 has mistaken the fond dreams of a patriotic ima- 
 gination
 
 translator's preface. vii 
 
 gination for a revelation from heaven ; and Tile 
 the baseless fabric of a vision leaves not a wreck be- 
 hind. 
 
 i 
 
 Both the writer and the warrior have conveyed 
 a most useful lesson to mankind : it is, to regard 
 with a jealous eye, a people, who, under every 
 form of government, still aim at domineering. 
 Whether they go forth in travelling parties or in 
 armed hosts ; whether they cultivate science or 
 till the ground; whether they plant the tree of 
 liberty or unfurl the bloody flag, the Frenchman 
 never loses sight of his motto, Extollenda est Gallia. 
 He has got liberty and fraternity in his mouth, 
 but mark, he has got a rod in his hand, and Flan- 
 ders, Holland, Switzerland, a great part of Ger- 
 many, and almost all Italy, have felt it to be a rod 
 of iron. 
 
 These Travels, and the political and com- 
 mercial views which they unfold, are peculiarly 
 interesting to Great Britain at this crisis. I 
 thought it a duty which I owed to ?ny country to 
 lay them before the Public without delay, and, to 
 
 a 4. keep
 
 viii translator's preface. 
 
 keep pace as much as possible with the general 
 impatience to see the work in English, ca^ed in 
 assistance toward forwarding the Translation. I 
 hold myself, however, responsible for. the whole, 
 flattering myself it will be found a fair and faith- 
 ful transcript of the original. 
 
 H. Ho 
 
 Hoxton, 
 gth August t 1799-
 
 AUTHOR'S preface. 
 
 A dawn of hope appears that Egypt, now so 
 vilely degraded, abandoned to plunderers and 
 barbarians, may at length recover the lustre which 
 once distinguished her among the nations of the 
 globe. Transferred into the possession of a peo- 
 ple as renowned as that which was once the boast 
 of antiquity, this celebrated country, which ages 
 of unrelenting destruction have completely dis- 
 guised, will re-assume her departed glory. The 
 men as well as the soil ; the territory as well as 
 its inhabitants, are hastening to wear a new as- 
 pect : and the period is at hand when Egypt shall 
 no longer be what she lately was. 
 
 It could not, then, be uninteresting to exhibit 
 a view of Egypt such as the French shall have 
 found it ; to depict the manners of the different 
 tribes who inhabited it, and among whom civi- 
 lization
 
 author's preface. 
 
 lization is going to succeed to gross and ferocious 
 ignorance ; to describe the wreck of august mo- 
 numents scattered over a soil rendered proud by 
 their boldness and their enormous masses ; to de- 
 lineate some traces of the rich attire which ge- 
 nerous Nature has incessantly displayed before the 
 eyes of ungrateful men, who never ceased, in their 
 turn, to requite her kindness with outrage ; in a 
 word, to present a sketch of this portion of Africa 
 before it shall have changed its appearance. This 
 representation will enable the reader to follow 
 with avidity the progress of an unexpected regene- 
 ration, and the labours which our compatriots are 
 gone to deposit in the bosom of immortality. 
 
 But for theseconsiderations, the work now sub- 
 mitted to the public had probably never seen the 
 light. The Author would have suffered the ma- 
 terials of it to sleep in his port-folio; but he 
 deemed himself under an obligation to render an 
 account to his country of the knowledge which he 
 had acquired, in the persuasion that, after having 
 served her with zeal, his duty was not completely 
 discharged, till he had consecrated to her, besides, 
 
 the
 
 author's preface. xi 
 
 the result of an enterprise engaged in, solely with 
 a view to make it subservient to the public good. 
 
 The work has been moulded into the form of 
 a relation, as best adapted to a book of travels. 
 There is a pleasure in laying hold of a traveller's 
 hand, in making one in his parties, in partaking 
 of his fatigues and dangers, as well as in enjoying 
 with him the success with which his researches 
 are crowned. But this relation has not the dry- 
 ness of a journal or of an itinerary. Observations, 
 elucidations, general reflections, relieve it from 
 such a tiresome monotony. 
 
 It was the Author's intention to have <riven a 
 new map of Egypt, more accurate than any one 
 hitherto exhibited; but he had not time sufficient 
 for executing his idea ; he has therefore adopted 
 D'Anville's chart, as the least defective which he 
 has had an opportunity of inspecting, though as- 
 suredly it leaves ample room for improvement. 
 Drawings exact, and taken on the spot, represent 
 objects of various kinds, most of them not gene- 
 rally known ; the singular figures discovered in 
 
 the
 
 xii author's preface. 
 
 the Temple of Isis, at Dendera, will attract parti- 
 cular attention. The Author takes credit to him- 
 self for having followed the advice of a learned 
 antiquarian, the Count de Caylus, wao exhorts 
 those who collect monuments of antiquity , to commu- 
 nicate them to the public, because their collection, 
 though it consist hut of a few articles, may present 
 singularities not to he found in the most extensive ca- 
 binets. The collection of drawings for this work, 
 contains, in fact, some very curious singularities. 
 Finally, nothing has been neglected that could 
 prevent these travels from sinking too far below 
 their subject, and the interest generally excited by 
 new destinies of a country fruitful in wonders.
 
 LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Portrait of the Author, C. S. Sonnini. To face Title. 
 
 Plate Page 
 
 i. i. Cleopatra's Needle. 2. Pompey's Column 117 
 
 2. Fossil Tooth, natural size — — 119 
 
 3. Carousse, a Fish of the coasts of Egypt — 197 
 
 4. Henna, a Plant — — — 268 
 
 5. View of part of the Ruins of Canopus — 351 
 
 6. Colossal statue, fluted, of the Ruins of Canopus 35* 
 
 7. 1. Part of the Ruins of Cai.opus. 2. Colossal Statue, 
 
 fluted, of the Ruins of Canopus — 353 
 
 8. View of Abou-Mandour — — 363 
 38. D'Anville's General Map of Egypt. 
 
 vol. ir. 
 
 23* Portrait of Mourat-Bey (page 283^ to face the Title. 
 
 9. AtlS, a Tree — fig. 1. Fiuit of the kishta — % 
 
 10. View of a Tent of the Bedouins — 99 
 
 1 1. View of the Monastt ry of Zaidi el Baramous 162 
 
 12. View of the Dovecots of Alguan — 200 
 
 13. Egyptian Idols — — — 213 
 
 14. Bust or Isis — — — ib, 
 
 15. Tragic Misks — — — , ib. 
 
 16. Egyptian Figures — — ib. 
 1 7. Egyptian Idols and Figures — — 240 
 iS. 1. Osiris. 2. Figureof a Woman unknown 241 
 19. r. Head of Vespasian. 2. Head of Arsinoe, Wife 
 
 of Ptolemeus Philadclphus — ib. 
 
 20. View
 
 xiv LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 Plate p agc 
 
 20. View of the Village of Terrana — 242 
 
 si. i. Fulful Beladi, a Plant. 2. The Schal, a Fish. 
 
 3. The Kac/wue, a Fish — — 169 
 
 22. Fishes of the Nile. 1. The HersL 2. The Karmouth. 
 
 3. The Keschere — — 240 
 
 23. Other Fishes. 1. The Schilby. 2. The Bouri. 3. The 
 
 Sardine, or S/ir at — — — 2 c6 
 
 24. Statue found in Thebais — — 33? 
 
 25. Section of the Pyramid of Gisah — 338 
 
 26. General Plan of the Mummies-Well at Sakkara 340 
 
 27. Other Fishes. 1. The Bolti. 2. The Bayatte. 
 
 3. The Benni — — — 24.1 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 28. View of the Column of Antinoe (page 43) to face the 
 
 Title. 
 
 29. Figure found at Echmimm — — I2 6 
 
 30. Capitals of the Column of the Temple of Dendera 157 
 
 31. Figures of the same Temple — — jb. 
 
 32. Other Figures of the same — — f^g 
 
 33. Another Figure of the same — — 160 
 
 34. Other Figures of the same — — 161 
 
 35. Other Figures of the same. Sceptre surmounted with 
 
 ajleurdelis — — — jb. 
 
 36. Extraordinary Figure of the Temple of Dendera 164 
 
 37. Colonnade of Thebes — — 237 
 
 CONTENTS.
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 SERVING AS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK. 
 
 Motives which induce travellers to publish their dis- 
 coveries — The delay of this publication accounted 
 for — Embarrassment which the traveller has to 
 encounter who is in haste to write — Travellers — 
 Hasselquitz — Savary — Prodigious changes which 
 the French are effecting in Egypt - i 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 Buffon — Departure from Montbard — Coral — Tro- 
 glodyte — Languedoc — Phalangi ie — V reservation 
 of fishes — Pleasant anecdote — Gulp of Lyons 1 4 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 Departure from Toulon — Come to an anchor — Coast 
 of Corsica — Genoa — The Opera — Elba and the 
 adjacent islands — Gale of wind — Arrival at Pa- 
 lermo ...... 23 
 
 Chap.
 
 ^.Vl CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 Maritime honours — English travellers — Palermo and 
 
 a 
 
 its environs - - - - - 36 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 Passage from Palermo to Malta — Soundings between 
 Sicily and the island of Malta, and between this 
 last and Africa — Coasts of Sicily — Pantalaria-— 
 Isle of Malta ; its nature, its cities , its produc- 
 tions - - - - - - 51 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 Meteorological observations — Galleys of Malta — Po- 
 litical and philosophical glance at the Order of 
 Malta — Antiquities and idiom of the island of 
 Malta — Maltese dogs — Passage from Malta to the 
 island of Canctia — Sailing birds — Arrival in 
 
 &gyp " IS 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Desert of Libya—Coasts of Egypt — Towers of the 
 Jrabs — Landing at Alexandria — Its ports — Its 
 commerce — Glimpse of the city of Alexandria 9 1 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 Modern Alexandria — Its inhabitants — Jews — Spirit 
 of revenge — Assassination of the Consul of Alexan- 
 dria , and of a Dutchman — Language — Ruins 10 1 
 
 Chap.
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. XVII 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 Enclosure of Alexandria by the Arabs — Cleopatra s 
 needles — Cleopatra — Palace of the kitigs of Egypt 
 — Pompcys column - - 114 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 Rains — Canal of Alexandria — Cisterns — Culture of 
 the country adjacent to the canal — Salt -wort — 
 
 JlirJs Sparroivs Caiacombs — Cameleons 
 
 Jackals - - - 13° 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 Natural history of the Jerbo of Egypt, with re- 
 marks on natural history in general, and a note 
 respecting a plan of travelling into the interior of 
 Africa - - - H 2 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 French factory — Statue — Adanson and his misfoi- 
 
 tunes — Augustus, another French interpreter 
 
 Antique tomb — The name of Alexander still re- 
 sptct \l in Egypt — Vtnetiuhs and English — Com- 
 merce — Germes — Fishes - 182 
 
 Chap. XII*. 
 
 Journey from Alexandria to Rossetta — Maadie — 
 
 Heraclea — Rossetta and its environs — Glance over 
 
 the Delta - 193 
 
 l. 1. b Chap.
 
 XV Ut CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 Chap. XIV. 
 
 Disturbances at Cairo — Oriental dress — Boats of 
 the Nile — Winter — Rossetta — Commerce — Rice, 
 its culture, and its antiquity in Egypt — Trefoil — 
 Oxen and cows - - * - il\ 
 
 Chap. XV. 
 
 Inhabitants of Rossetta — Pipes — Coffee-houses 
 
 Arabian tales — Manner of making the coffee 
 
 Shameful vices of the Egyptians — Wives of the 
 rich — Conversation by sig?is with one of them — 
 Particulars respecting those women — Jealousy of 
 the men — Homage paid to women - 240 
 
 Chap. XVI. 
 
 Wives of the commonalty — Black of the eyes — Alqui- 
 foux — Red of the hands and of the feet — Henna — 
 Depilatories — Plumpness of the women, their clean- 
 liness, their cosmetics - - - 261 
 
 Chap. XVII. 
 
 Egyptian dogs — Cats — Beautiful animal of this ge- 
 nus reared by the Author Domestic animals 
 
 Mangouste, or ichneumon — Species of tortoise of 
 the Nile hostile to the crocodile - 281 
 
 Chap. XVIII. 
 
 Castle of Rossetta Houhou Lapzving — Turtle- 
 doves — Cheveche— Lotus — Racket— —Cassia — Sy- 
 camore
 
 CONTESTS OF VOL. T. Xl.K 
 
 wamore — Schishme — Dour? a — Indian fink — Wild 
 ducks — Thrushes — I Food cock - - 304 
 
 Chap. XIX. 
 
 Natron — Bleaching of cloth and thread — Other uses 
 of natron — Senna — Birds — Description of a spe- 
 cies of falcon — Wagtail — Dragon-files — Wasp 
 
 — Cricket Ra in Delta Herons-'—- Coot 
 
 Quails — Snipes — Armed plovers — Feme- greek 320 
 
 Chap. XX. 
 
 Journey to Aboukir — Ruins — Bedouins — Port and 
 road for ships — Jew drogman — Red partridges— 
 Ruins of Canopus — Colossal and fluted statue — 
 Canopus — Governor, castle and village of Aboukir 
 — Little Pyramid — Return to Rossetta - 344 
 
 Chap. XXI. 
 
 Bedouins — Birds — Boghass — Tower of Canopus — 
 
 Abou-Mandour Grapes Desert Jackals — - 
 
 Lizards — Insects — Serpent — Difficulties respect- 
 ing the pyramid of Aboukir — Opinion of the Egyp- 
 tians ivilh regard to travellers - 359 
 
 TRAVELS
 
 TRAVELS 
 
 IN 
 
 UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SERVING AS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK. 
 
 Motives which induce travellers to publish their dis- 
 coveries — The delay of this publication accounted 
 for — Embarrassment which the traveller has to en- 
 counter who is in haste to write — Travellers — 
 Hasselquitz — Savary — Prodigious changes which 
 the French are effecting in Egypt. 
 
 It is rather late to enter on a career which ought 
 long ago to have been accomplished. It must 
 appear very extraordinary to deter to the seventh 
 year of the French Republic the publication of 
 travels which terminated in the year 1780. No 
 traveller surely ever advanced so slowly to meet 
 the public eye. Others, on the contrary, almost to 
 a man, discover an ardour of impatience, on their 
 return, to communicate the knowledge of their 
 labours and of their discoveries. This zeal, 
 vol. 1. B . highly 

 
 2 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 highly commendable, no doubt, is likewise ex- 
 tremely natural. In truth, when a man has had 
 the courage to cast himself away, if I may use the 
 expression, in countries remote, uninhabited, or, 
 what is still worse, inhabited by nations whose rude 
 or half- formed civilization is infinitely more dan- 
 gerous than the state even of savage humanity ; 
 when he has been endowed with a vigour capable 
 ofsurmounting obstacles, with the perseverance ne^ 
 cessary to overcome the difficulties which obstruct 
 his path at every step, and with the fortitude which 
 supports amidst the ills physical and moral to which 
 enterprises of this kind are necessarily exposed ; 
 when, in a word, talents, experience, or good for- 
 tune have extricated him out of dangers and dis- 
 tresses innumerable ; there is, it must be acknow- 
 ledged, a satisfaction, a real enjoyment in retracing 
 the variousevents which excited powerful emotions 
 during his progress, the obstructions, the fatigues, 
 the hazards which by turns attacked or threatened 
 the very existence of the traveller ; for if it be plea- 
 sant to call to remembrance calamities which are 
 past, it is still more so to relate them. 
 
 If to these motives purely personal, but which, 
 nevertheless, rarely fail toawakenageneral interest, 
 the man who has devoted himself to the dangers of 
 tedious peregrinations, unites views more exalted, 
 considerations more powerful ; if, transported with 
 
 the
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 3 
 
 the love of glory, or, which is the same thing, with 
 the love of public good, he has been sufficiently 
 happy to extend the sphere of knowledge, and to 
 add new realms to the empire of science, it be- 
 comes a sacred duty to give an account of his pro- 
 gress, and delay or neglect becomes equally repre- 
 hensible. My own pen has apparently recorded 
 the sentence of self-condemnation ; for amidst the 
 incredible number of men and things reviewed 
 during the course of twelve years of travelling and 
 observation, my collection must of necessity con- 
 tain many interesting objeets, and some of these en- 
 tirely new. I cannot complain of want of encou- 
 ragement. Friends, whom letters and the sciences 
 have rendered illustrious, pressed me to publish my 
 travels ; and BufFon, who deemed mine worthy of 
 being associated with his own immortal labours ; 
 BufFon, that Colossus of eloquence and philosophy, 
 wrote to me in these terms, in 1781: "I can 
 " have no doubt that you must be possessed of 
 i( many excellent observations, the publication of 
 " which would redound greatly to your honour." 
 
 But I enjoyed not the liberty of devoting myself 
 to an employment which requires composure, and 
 serenity of mind. How far, alas ! have I been from 
 tasting the delicious fruits of tranquillity ! Nature 
 had, if I may venture to say so, distinctly marked 
 my destination. With an ardent imagination, a 
 
 b 2 thirst
 
 4 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 thirst after science, apassion for discovery, the cool- 
 ness of intrepidity ; with a physical constitution fit 
 to encounter every hardship; I seemed to be formed 
 for enterprises the most hazardous, for the execu- 
 tion of projects the most uncommon ; and when, 
 after a long course of trial in this way, though still 
 in the prime of life, I returned to my native country, 
 that same Nature who has allotted to each of us 
 his particular disposition, seemed to punish me for 
 choosing a state of retirement, and at the same time 
 to accuse a government which scarcely ever under- 
 stood how to place men in the post adapted to them, 
 or to do itself honour by making a selection unsul- 
 lied by venality or intrigue. That robust tempera- 
 ment which had withstood the burning heat of an 
 African climate, the boiling humidity of theequator, 
 in South America ; which no excess of fatigue and 
 privation was able to subdue, sunk under the lan- 
 guor of repose. One violent malady succeeded an- 
 other ; a gloomy melancholy occupied the place of 
 mental activity, and a painful agitation of soul fol- 
 lowed close upon the salutary agitation of the body. 
 An absence of some years had stimulated a covet- 
 ous disposition in certain of my relations. In order 
 to recover what they had robbed me of, I was 
 obliged to find my way into what was then deno- 
 minated the sanctuary of Justice, but which proved 
 to be, in reality, the labyrinth of chicane, the walls 
 of which, bristled on all sides with sharp hooks, 
 
 loaded
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 5 
 
 loaded themselves with the spoils of those who had 
 the temerity to venture in. On the other hand, 
 men, who have often made me regret the insince- 
 rity of most of the eastern nations, the depredations 
 of the Arabs ; men among whom a female has been 
 seen to figure, the reproach of her sex and the dis- 
 grace of human nature ; men, beings maleficent 
 and dangerous, of whom society furnishes but too 
 many examples, and whom, for the sake of public 
 prosperity, it would be of importance to unmask ; 
 
 the M s, the U s, the Lef. s, and other 
 
 subaltern knaves, taking advantage of my inex- 
 perience in business, of my carelessness about pecu- 
 niary interests, of the frankness, the confidence, the 
 simplicity of a character generous, but credulous to 
 a fault, involved me in a thousand embarrassments, 
 overwhelmed me with tricks, and quirks, and wran- 
 glings ; and shameless plunderers contrived to di- 
 vide among themselves the tattered remnants of 
 my fortune, after tearing it in pieces, and torment- 
 ing, persecuting me day after day, till I was ready 
 to sink under vexation and disappointment *. 
 
 * " We find but too frequently that when an honest man 
 u happens to be involved in a dispute with a rascal, the rascal 
 " meets with powerful protectors, because the honest man sa- 
 " tisfies himself with being honest, whereas the rascal is sup- 
 " pie, flattering, insinuating; the meanest concessions cost him 
 " nothing ; he does whatever is required of him : the honest 
 *' man does that only which he ought to do." (Historical Essays 
 on Paris, by Sainte-Foix, vol. vij 
 
 b 3 Amidst
 
 6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Amidst so many causes of disgust, amidst con- 
 vulsions too violent to be endured by a sensibility 
 which promised to be the charm of my life, but > 
 which has proved its bane ; amidst distractions so 
 serious and so mortifying, how was it possible to 
 engage in an undertaking that required undivided 
 attention ? Where was the possibility of surmount- 
 ing difficulties of another kind, which arose out 
 of the very nature of the work ? Tv^lve years em- 
 ployed in traversing distant regions may, it is ac- 
 knowledged, furnish a large stock of information, 
 and extend the field of experience ; but this in- 
 tenseness of application does not constitute the 
 talent of writing, and the prosecution ot this spe- 
 cies of expedition is far from being favourable to 
 the formation of the scholar. Familiarized to the 
 image of personal destruction which the perils of 
 every day are incessantly presenting to him, a prey 
 to unremitting fatigue, pressed by wants which re- 
 cur almost without a moment's interval, the man 
 who devotes himself to the business of travelling, 
 ought to set out with a soul encompassed by a 
 threefold rampart, to shelter him from fear and 
 depression. Frequently intermixed with barbarous 
 and ferocious men, he is sometimes obliged to em- 
 ploy the services of savage natures which he is un- 
 able to restrain ; to these he must communicate a 
 portion of his own intrepidity, and as it is not 
 always easy to make an impression on gross and
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 7 
 
 irony characters, in order to rouse them, he (eels 
 himself at times constrained to borrow their lan- 
 guage. These circumstances taken together leave 
 an impress of harshness, which, to delicate eyes, 
 presents an appearance bordering on vulgarity, and 
 which exerts an irresistible influence on the style. 
 Besides, the efforts made to acquire the capacity of 
 speaking foreign languages, imperceptibly make a 
 man forget his own ; and with all this, no resource 
 in the consolations of literature, not so much as 
 leisure to direct the thoughts toward a subject of 
 that description. Such are the embarrassments in 
 which I must probably have felt myself entangled, 
 and out of which I must have extricated myself, 
 had I written the history of my travels immediately 
 on their termination. If the traveller is the histo- 
 rian of the men he meets on his way, he is at the 
 same time the historian of Nature ; and, in order to 
 do her the justice she deserves, he ought to be able 
 to paint her in full dress, as in her noble simplicity. 
 
 Perhaps I may be mistaken, but I am disposed to 
 think that, in the last-mentioned respect, my work 
 will have gained a great deal by the delay of pub- 
 lication, and that I shall have reason to applaud 
 myself on having complied with Montaigne's pre- 
 cept, addressed to authors: " Let them think se- 
 <c riouslyof the matter before they publish ; who is 
 " hurrying them ?" (Essays, book iii. ch. 9.) 
 
 b 4 -Egypt,
 
 8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Egypt, that ancient cradle of ihe sciences, where 
 the wonders of art and those of nature contended 
 for the prize of admiration, has been the object of 
 philosophic excursion in ancient as in modern 
 times. From Herodotus * down to Volney, writers 
 of equal celebrity, the multiplied details respecting 
 a country, of which the surface of the whole globe 
 presentsno parallel, demonstrate the curiosity which 
 it generally excited. But this frequence of tra- 
 vellers cannot exclude my pretension to a place 
 among the rest, a*nd I am not to be deterred from 
 speaking of Egypt by the number or renown of 
 those vvho have trodden the ground before me. 
 Barbarism and ruins have succeeded to the institu- 
 tions and the monuments of antiquity ; and the 
 difficulty attending the prosecution of research, 
 and of making observations, has not permitted mo- 
 dern travellers to examine every thing. There re- 
 mained after them, as there will still remain after 
 me, many objects, if not to be seen, at least to be 
 seen well. Besides, objects do not present them- 
 selves to all observers under the same point of view. 
 
 * M. Sonnini might have produced an authority at least as 
 respectable as that of Herodotus, and of still higher antiquity. 
 To Moses, the lawgiver of the Hebrews, mankind is indebted 
 for the earliest, most authentic and most interesting memoirs of 
 ancient Egypt, and he knew the country much better than 
 any traveller who has written since his time. But a reference 
 to Scripture would have degraded and sullied the pure and 
 philosophic page of a French republican. — H. H. 
 
 And
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 9 
 
 And just as every painter has his particular touch 
 and mode of colouring, which animate subjects, 
 already treated, with the graces of novelty, the tra- 
 veller who carries with him his own manner of ob- 
 serving, has likewise in his narratives his peculiar 
 mode of expression ; and it is from this combina- 
 tion of paintings that we are to expect the perfect 
 knowledge of a country so interesting, and the 
 more so that, it being impossible to know every 
 thing, each particular traveller applies himself in 
 preference to the particular object of his research. 
 Directed by his taste, and sometimes by an enthu- 
 siastic impulse, he relates every minute particular 
 connected with his darling pursuit, and overlooks 
 what is foreign to it. The botanist, accordingly, 
 in many cases, sees plants only; the zoologist, no- 
 thing but animals ; the antiquarian, nothing but 
 ruins ; the naturalist, only the phenomena of na- 
 ture ; the merchant, only the means of extending 
 commerce and increasing his fortune ; while the 
 politician confines his attention tothe relative situa- 
 tion of country to country. One scorns to descend 
 into detail, and presents the results of his observa- 
 tion in a mass ; whereas another dwells with mi- 
 nute exactness on particulars : one sometimes sa- 
 crifices accuracy to elegance of description, or to 
 copiousness of expression ; and another, a scrupu- 
 lous observer, but dull and destitute of genius, 
 
 communicates
 
 IO TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 communicates the dryness of his subject to his 
 manner of treating it. 
 
 A strikingexample, among thousands that might 
 be produced, of this predilection, against which 
 a man cannot be too much on his guard, is to 
 be found in the travels of Frederic Hasselquitz. 
 This pupil of Linnaeus, a most zealous inquirer, 
 but exclusively attached to the study of natural 
 history, being at Grand Cairo, wished to visit the 
 pyramids of Memphis ; but being arrived at the 
 foot of those monuments, equally renowned for 
 iheir enormous size and their antiquity, he soon 
 withdrew his attention from them, and fixed it en- 
 tirely on the formica-hones which swarm in the 
 sands of that district. Insects engrossed all his 
 powers of thought, and one of the most astonishing 
 works of all antiquity excited no emotion in his 
 breast. " The pyramids," says he, " magnificent 
 " as they are, make a slighter impression on the 
 " mind of a connoisseur in natural history than 
 " the industry of those puny animals *." 
 
 The generality of mankind will not give into 
 the opinion of the Swedish naturalist, of whom, to 
 
 * Travels in the Levant, by Fred. Hasselquitz, published 
 by Linnxns, and translated from the German at Paris, 1769, 
 part I. p. 107. 
 
 say
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. II 
 
 -say nothing of the extravagance of the comparison, 
 it may be observed, that it was hardly worth the 
 while to march so far as to the plains of Memphis 
 to bang with rapture over a nest of ants, so common 
 in other countries, Europe not excepted ; and that 
 a traveller exposeshimself toridicule, when, attach- 
 ed solely to a favourite object, he follows too close- 
 ly the letter of the proverb, ne sutor ultra crepidam. 
 
 It is farther to be remarked, that few French 
 travellers have penetrated into Upper Egypt. No 
 one of them who in modern times have acquired 
 celebrity, prosecuted his researches beyond the 
 plain of Saccara, that is, beyond the vicinity of 
 Cairo. Savary himself, who has published two vo- 
 lumes on the subject of Upper Egypt, never tra- 
 velled a single foot in it ; and the tone of assurance 
 with which he speaks of the country, and the de- 
 tail of his journey through it, as if he had really 
 performed it, are a stain on the reputation of that 
 elegant writer. I knew Savary well. 1 have seen 
 him at Alexandria, in the island of Candia, and 
 afterwards in France. The merited success of the 
 first volume of his Letters on Egypt, and he in- 
 tended to go no farther, as it contained the only 
 parts of that country which he had visited, actually 
 intoxicated him. lie took it into his head to add 
 to it the history of a journey never undertaken, 
 and found himself reduced to the necessity of ex- 
 tracting
 
 12 TRAVELS IN Ul'PER 
 
 trading from, andcopying Herodotus, Strabo, Dio- 
 dorus Siculus, and others. More fortunate than 
 Savary and many others, I had it in my power to 
 traverse the Sa&S, for this is the name given by the 
 Arabs to Upper Egypt, from ancient Cairo up to 
 Assouan ; and this consideration will perhaps ren- 
 der my work somewhat interesting. 
 
 But what interest more powerful in favour of 
 travels through Egypt can be imagined, than to 
 reflect that it is no longer in the hands of the Ma- 
 nielucs who oppressed it ; thattheFrench, in break- 
 ing asunder the brazen yoke under which lived in 
 a state of brutal subjection the descendants of the 
 most illustrious nation of antiquity, present to them, 
 together with the gift of liberty, the means of re- 
 covering illumination and the sciences, the first do- 
 main of their ancestors ! Egypt such as I paint it, 
 will soon cease to be what I saw it. An immense 
 space of time is going to elapse in a few days, and 
 not long hence, nay during my own lifetime, I 
 shall be only an ancient traveller, as those of an- 
 tiquity at present are with respect to us. So many 
 prodigies were reserved for the greatest nation in 
 the universe. Cities shall rise again out of their 
 rubbish ; the monuments, to which all approach 
 was interdicted by ferocious usurpers, are going at 
 length to become objects of inspection ; those 
 which ignorance and barbarism took pains to an- 
 
 4 nihilate
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 13 
 
 nihilate shall be restored to their ancient lustre, 
 while others shall re-appear which now lie buried 
 in the sand. The image of splendour shall every 
 where resume the place of the hideous picture of 
 destruction. Science is about to advance with the 
 pace of a giant. Canals, that copious source of 
 prosperity, are going to be cut or repaired. The 
 commerce of the world will naturally fall back into 
 its ancient channel ; and what the Pharaohs, in 
 the plenitude of their power, were afraid to under- 
 take, the junction of the two seas, Frenchmen, 
 conducted by a new Alexander, whom victory and 
 the sciences are emulous to crown, shall present to 
 the astonishment and admiration of future ages. 
 The mind is lost and confounded in contemplating 
 that immensity of glory with which the French na- 
 tion is encircling itself. Proud of belonging to it, 
 I feel an additional satisfaction in being able to 
 consecrate to my country the fruit of my labours*. 
 
 * As our Author had suppressed the history of his travels for 
 twice nine years, he would perhaps have acted prudently in 
 suppressing his prediction concerning the approaching state of 
 Egypt, till events had given him a firmer foundation whet eon 
 to rest them. The Gallic expedition to that country is assur- 
 edly of very uncertain issue. The vain-glory of a Frenchman 
 is truly ridiculous, and the idea of the French nation giving 
 liberty, happiness and the means of illumination to the coun- 
 tries which they overrun as a pestilence, is an insult to the 
 common sense of mankind. It merits the silent smile of indig- 
 nation and contempt. — H. H.
 
 14 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Buffon — Departure from Montbard — Coral — Tro- 
 glodyte — Languedoc — Phalangiste — Preservation 
 of fishes — Pleasant anecdote — Gulf of Lions. 
 
 On returning from my second voyage to Ame- 
 rica, I repaired to Montbard, where Buffon had 
 expressed a wish to see me. In this retreat I 
 passed the greatest part of six months; and that 
 period, which fled away with too much rapidity, is 
 assuredly the portion of my life which has furnished 
 memory with the most precious recollections. To 
 my abode at that temple of taste and the sciences 
 I am indebted for the little lam worth. They 
 were the winter months, and the severity of the. 
 weather secured us from intruders. My days flowed 
 there in a delicious succession, in the service and 
 society of the great man ; charming society, which 
 no inequality of temper ever ruffled, and which 
 I have no where since found ! Buffon was not of 
 the number of those men of letters whom Erasmus 
 humorously compares to the huge figures in Fle- 
 mish tapestry, which, to produce their effect, must be 
 viewed at a distance. His conversation was as agree- 
 able as interesting, and he blended in it an easy 
 gaiety, atone of good nature which put all around 
 
 him
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 15 
 
 m at their ease. To these social qualities he 
 united all the graces of a fine person ; he was, like 
 Plato, of the most commanding and robust stature : 
 broad shoulders announced his strength ; his fore- 
 head was elevated and majestic, and he commanded 
 observation by the elegance of his deportment, and 
 the dignity of his movements*. But he had be- 
 sides, what most of the ancients wanted, that at- 
 tention to his person, and that elegant neatness of 
 dress, which indicate attention and deference to 
 others. 
 
 Government had appointed M. Tott inspector 
 of the sea-ports of the Levant and of the Barbary 
 coast, and had issued orders to equip a frigate in 
 the harbour of Toulon, to carry him to the place 
 of his destination. I was commanded to embark, 
 on board the same ship, and to keep by her through 
 the expedition. But my orders were afterwards 
 countermanded ; I left the ship at Alexandria, to 
 pursue my travels through Egypt. I parted with 
 
 * Ei at et speciosissimo & robustissimo corpoi is habitji. Unde et a 
 latis humerisy amfilafrojite Cs* egregio totitts corporis babitit, orationis vi 
 & ubertate, Plato nuncupatus est. He possessed the most elegant 
 and robust figure. Hence, with the advantage of broad 
 shoulders, a large forehead and complete symmetry of person, 
 accompanied by an uncommon force and copiousness of speech, 
 he obtained the name of Ptato. (Life of Plato by Marsiliu; 
 Ficinut ) 
 
 Buffon
 
 l6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Buffon at Montbard, after receiving from him kind 
 wishes and embraces, which I valued as the bene- 
 diction of genius. The post conveyed me with its 
 usual rapidity to Marseilles, where I stopped only 
 a few moments. 
 
 i 
 
 A certain person had formed the project of dig- 
 ging through a hill in the neighbourhood of Ciotat, 
 down to the sea, the waters of which, in various 
 places of the coast, force themselves through im- 
 mense cavities a considerable way up the land. He 
 pretended that these subterranean cavities contain- 
 ed an immense quantity of coral, the easy attain- 
 ment of which would considerably increase that 
 branch of commerce, and enrich the projector. 
 Memorials on the subject had been addressed to 
 Versailles, in the view of obtaining permission and 
 assistance. The minister consulted Buffon, who 
 transmitted the memorials to me, that I might 
 make the necessary inquiries on the spot. On my 
 arrival at Ciotat I found the enterprise already re- 
 linquished ; the work had been given up almost 
 as soon as it began, and it was thought of no 
 more. 
 
 I was informed at Ciotat of a singular ceremony 
 practised there every year, the first days of Nivose. 
 A numerous assemblage of men, armed with sabres 
 and pistols, sally forth in pursuit of a very small 
 
 bird
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 17 
 
 bird called by the ancients troglodyte, a name 
 which Guenau de Montbeillard continues to give 
 it in the natural history of birds *. When they 
 have found it, which is no difficult matter, for care 
 is taken to have one always ready, they suspend it 
 on the middle of a long pole which two men carry 
 on their shoulders, as if it were a heavy load. This 
 whimsical procession parades thus through the 
 streets of the city ; they weigh the bird on a strong 
 balance, and afterwards sit down at table to divert 
 themselves. The name given there to the troglo- 
 dyte is not less whimsical than the species of festi- 
 val which it occasions. They call it putois (pole- 
 cat) or woodcock's father, on account of the re- 
 semblance of its plumage to that of the woodcock, 
 which they there allege to be generated by the 
 pole-cat, a great destroyer of the feathered race, 
 but not the producer of any one. 
 
 On returning to Marseilles, I stopped at Cassis, 
 where there are two manufactures in which coral 
 is polished and worked up ; the greatest part of 
 this commodity is exported to the coast of Africa, 
 and exchanged for human beings. The vineyards 
 which surround this little city produce a white- 
 wine, which is held in considerable estimation. 
 
 * Motacilla troglodytes. Lin. Syst. Nat. 
 VOL. I. C It
 
 iS TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 It was known at Marseilles, that it would re- 
 quire some time to complete the armament of the 
 frigate fitting out at Toulon. I proposed to make 
 an excursion into Languedoc, and, accompanied 
 by M. Tott's secretary, travelled by land to Cette, 
 of which Vernet has painted a superb view. In 
 the course of my walks round the city I picked up 
 some volcanic substances, and along the shore a 
 variety of shells and other marine productions. I 
 was astonished to find on the very brink of the sea, 
 and in the humid sea-weed, a singular species of 
 scarab, very rare in the north of France, and which 
 has been decorated with the name of phalangiste*, 
 because it is pretended that the long points of his 
 corslet have some resemblance to the pikes with 
 which the soldiers of the Macedonian phalanx were 
 armed. This is what the partisans of method in 
 natural history call vulgar names. And what a 
 strange vulgar name is that which, in order to be 
 understood, requires the most exact knowledge of 
 antiquity! Linnaeus has denominated the same in- 
 sect the giant Typhceus-f, which assuredly has no- 
 thing vulgar in it, and which seems but indifferently 
 descriptive of a scarab a few lines in length, and 
 
 * Geoffroi, Hist, abregee des Insectes des Environs de Paris, 
 torn. I. p. 72, plate V. fig. 3. 
 
 ■\ Scarabcsus Tjphxus, Lin. Syst. Nat. — Fabricius, Spec. In- 
 sect, p. 10, 
 
 whose
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT; 10. 
 
 whose nature it is to nestle under the excrement 
 of animals. 
 
 Those whose taste leads them to make collec- 
 tions of natural history, well know how difficult it 
 is to preserve the colours of fishes. Drawn out of 
 the fluid in which they live, deprived of the mois- 
 ture without which they cannot exist, they soon 
 lose, together with life, the lustre and reflexes of 
 their scales ; their discoloured skin assumes a livid 
 and tawny hue, and, in our cabinets, they no 
 longer preserve that appearance of life, which 
 seems still to animate other classes of animals. 
 Every thing that appeared to me of possible at- 
 tainment in this way, I found in the possession of 
 M. Bories, doctor of medicine at Cette. He had 
 devoted his attention to natural history, and par- 
 ticularly to the preparation of fishes, and the spe- 
 cimens which he had collected still retained, if not 
 the brilliancy, at least a part of the colours of 
 animated nature. This naturalist made a secret 
 to me of his method of preservation ; promising at 
 the same time to communicate it to BufTon, on 
 condition of certain arrangements. I know not 
 what has resulted from the correspondence which 
 I was at pains to establish between them. 
 
 We visited, on one side, the baths of Balaruc, 
 and> on the other, the vineyards of Frontignan, 
 
 c 2 which
 
 20 TRAVELS IN CfPER 
 
 which produce that spirituous and high-flavoured 
 liquor, excess in which has, oftener than once, 
 conducted the drinker to the hot bath. 
 
 We wished likewise to look at Montpellier, 
 and made that excursion along the finest road I 
 ever saw in France. 
 
 At last time pressed our return to the coast of 
 Provence, and we resolved to go by sea. We 
 agreed for our passage with the master of one of the 
 tartans then in the port of Cette. As we waited, 
 at our inn, for the hour fixed for sailing, the master 
 arrived, out of breath, to inform us, that M. the 
 commandant of the city desired our attendance at 
 his house, where several other persons, who were 
 to embark on board the same tartan, had already 
 assembled. He signified to me that M. the com- 
 mandant was highly displeased with me in parti- 
 cular, because that being an officer, I was leaving. 
 Cette without his permission. 
 
 Though it was in $ny power to have refused sub- 
 mission to a pretension so singular, we went to the 
 commandant's. He was an officer of invalids, hi3 
 name Qiierdle (Quarrel). Immediately addressing 
 himself to me, he said : " I am astonished, Sir, that 
 you have not paid me a visit ; I would have in- 
 vited you to eat soup with me." — " Sir," replied 
 
 I, " you 

 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2t 
 
 I, " you will readily forgive a stranger, a traveller, 
 " an officer who has no connexion with the milt* 
 " tary land-service, for being ignorant of your 
 "existence, however important it may be; and 
 u soups are not among the objects of my pursuit." 
 " That is enough, Sir," resumed M. Querelle, 
 somewhat disconcerted ; if you may go whenever 
 " you please : as to all these people," added he 
 with a tone of dignity, turning round to my fellow- 
 passengers, " let them go, I don't concern myself 
 " with them." We took our leave, laughing hear- 
 tily at this little adventure, the analogy of which 
 with the name of the commandant was so striking. 
 
 The wind had sprung up, the sea was in a state 
 of agitation, the sky overclouded ; every thing 
 announced the approach of 'foul weather. Our 
 master discovered little inclination to leave the har- 
 bour ; he yielded nevertheless to my importunity, 
 and we set sail, while the other tartans kept snug 
 in port, though it had been agreed that we should 
 sail in company. The night was tempestuous, 
 and a very heavy sea made our little bark to la- 
 bour exceedingly. It is well known how danger- 
 ous navigation is in that part of the Mediterranean 
 into which the Rhone precipitates itself. Hence 
 it has obtained the appellation of Golfe de Lion 
 (mare Leonis, Lion's gulf), being, thus to express 
 myself, terrible and cruel from the miseries which 
 
 c 3 the
 
 Q.Z TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the mariner has there to encounter, and the fre- 
 quent shipwrecks suffered, and not, as is commonly 
 imagined, from the name of the city Lyons, which 
 is at a considerable distance from those seas. We 
 suffered nothing, however, except some moments 
 of anxiety, and reached the harbour of Marseilles 
 without meeting any accident. I set out imme«? 
 diately for Toulon, 
 
 i)
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. £3 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Departure from Toulon — Come to an anchor — Coast 
 of Corsica — Genoa — The Opera — Elba and the 
 adjacent islands — Gale of wind — Arrival at Pa- 
 lermo. 
 
 At ten o'clock of the evening of April 26th, 
 1777, the frigate Atalanla, one of the finest in 
 the French navy, set sail from the road of Toulon. 
 She was under the command of M. Durfort ; her 
 crew consisted of near three hundred seamen, and 
 she mounted thirty-two cannon. Some persons 
 from Versailles, Monsieur and Madame Tesse, 
 M. d'Ayen, M.Mcung, had obtained permission to 
 embark with us, and were to be carried to Palermo, 
 to Malta and Syracuse. These persons were for- 
 rnerlvdenominated the Great ; but they had divested 
 themselves of the pride of courts, and were become 
 very agreeable people. Madame Tesse, one of the 
 wittiest women of her day, gave the tone to this 
 little colony of courtiers; and the politeness, the 
 frank and graceful probity of the commander, the 
 select character of the other officers, rendered the 
 company on board the Atalanta, the most amiable 
 society that can be imagined, and such as could 
 Jiardly be expected at sea. M. Tott, for his part, 
 
 c 4 had
 
 24 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 had with him an officer of cavalry, and a counsel- 
 lor of the Chatelet, a whimsical association, and 
 worthy of its author. Citizen Venture, the learned 
 interpreter of the oriental languages, and who is 
 now with the army of Egypt, was likewise embark- 
 ed on this expedition. It was no easy matter to 
 find accommodation for so much company ; it was 
 found necessary to dismount the four sternmost 
 guns, to make cabins on deck, and the powder- 
 room was so encumbered with temporary beds, 
 that it was impossible to turn about in it. 
 
 We sailed with a fair wind, but this was of no 
 long continuance. It presently became contrary, 
 and blew furiously from the east. The heavens, 
 covered with thick clouds, poured down an inces- 
 sant torrent of rain. On the morning of next day, 
 several kinds of birds were seen flying round the 
 vessel. I distinguished among them turtle doves, 
 small ring-collared plovers, and one blongios. 
 Some of those birds perched on the rigging, and 
 were so fatigued and stunned with the tempest, 
 that several plovers * were caught by the hand, 
 and the species of crab- eater ^ known by the name 
 of blongios. 
 
 J o" 
 
 * Pluvier a collier, BufFon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & petit pluvier 
 « collier des plan, enlum. No. 921. Charadrius hiaticula, Lin. 
 
 f Blongios, Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & blongios de Suisse t 
 pi. enlum. Nq. 328, Ardca minuta, Lin. 
 
 After
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 25 
 
 After having to no purpose endeavoured to ply 
 to windward by tacking;, we were under the neees* 
 sity of looking out for shelter, and came to an an* 
 chor, at two o'clock in the afternoon of the very 
 next day after our departure, in the road of 
 Vignettes, in the bay of Toulon. The coast near 
 which the frigate was moored is bold ; its cultiva- 
 tion extremely varied, the bastides* meeting the 
 eye from distance to distance, the smiling aspect 
 which it presents, form an agreeable contrast with 
 the arid and greyish mountains which rise behind, 
 and form the back ground of the picture. On the 
 declivity of some of those mountains, nevertheless, 
 feed the excellent sheep of the vicinity of Toulon, 
 on nutrimental and odoriferous plants. The straw- 
 berries which we found there, in great abundance, 
 were the finest flavoured I ever tasted. 
 
 The chase, which we could not pursue too far 
 from the vessel, procured us only a few quails al- 
 ready on their return from emigration. We like- 
 wise saw the lapwing there, and I shot a yellow 
 wagtail -J* and a small bird of a species never de- 
 scribed before Bu ffon, and winch he calls gavoue 
 
 * This is the name given, in the southern departments, to the 
 small country -seats built by wealthy individuals, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of cities. f 
 
 f BulFon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. enlum. No. 28, fig. r. 
 Motacilla Saarula, Lin. 
 
 from
 
 26 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 from the name chic gavotte , which it bears in the 
 part of the country formerly denominated Provence, 
 where it is likewise known by the name of chic- 
 moustache, from the black iillets which surround the 
 bill *. These last birds fiy about in pairs amidst 
 the shrubbery, in the cultivated fields which sur- 
 round the bastides ; they are far from being wild, 
 and their flight is short, not very lofty, and a good 
 deal resembling that of the sparrow. 
 
 The impetuosity of the east wind continued to 
 increase till it blew quite a storm, and we dropped 
 a second anchor. We remained in this state till 
 the 2d of May, when the wind coming round to 
 the north-west permitted us to weigh. 
 
 At day-break, the ^ of May, we perceived 
 the island of Corsica at the distance of six or 
 seven leagues, and as we approached, had an op- 
 portunity of examining the coasts of it. Those 
 which lie between cape Calvi and cape Corse, the 
 northernmost of the island, are lofty mountains, of 
 a barren and rocky appearance, with deep inci- 
 sions. The mountains of cape Calvi, under the 
 shelter of which is a large and safe harbour, are the 
 highest on this part of the coast ; their summits 
 
 ^ ( t * Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. art, Gavoue, & pi, enlum. Np. 
 626, fig. 1. Gavoiit de Provence.— Mustacoe Bunting, Latham, 
 Syn. ii. p. 175. — Embcrisa provincialis.lSuu 
 
 were
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2*J 
 
 were still covered with snow. Welikewise descried, 
 in the gull formed between the cap< j s Corse and 
 Calvi, Red-island, isola Rossa, a small low lying 
 island which guards a deep and important haven 
 against westerly winds. 
 
 We saw a great many porpoises * or blowers, 
 playing on the surface of the sea, an almost certain 
 presage of foul weather. In fact, it was now im- 
 possible for us to make Corsica, or to continue our 
 course, the wind having again become contrary, 
 and blowing a tempest ; we came to the resolution 
 of stopping at Genoa, where we arrived May 4th 
 at ten o'clock in the morning. 
 
 It will not be expected, surely, that I should give 
 a description of the city of Genoa : it is sufficiently 
 known, especially of late years, to dispense with 
 jny speaking 01; the subject. I shall only relate a 
 trifling incident, in which we were the principal 
 performers. Though apparently of no impor- 
 tance, it furnishes a trait of national characters, 
 and for that very reason nunts a place in the nar- 
 ration of a traveller. 
 
 Two female dancrrs held »he first rank in the 
 pallets of the opera ai Genoa ; both had the advan- 
 tages of youth and beaut) ; both were possessed of 
 
 * Delphinus phiccena. Lin. 
 
 equal
 
 28 TRAVELS TN UPPER 
 
 equal agility. But the Graces directed the move- 
 ments and the attitudes of the one, whereas the 
 steps and skips of the other, more surprising from 
 their nimblcness, were, after aJl, mere exertions of 
 bodily strength. The public applause was, how- 
 ever, exclusively reserved for this last, while the 
 former was received with indifference. It belonged 
 to Frenchmen to give lessons of taste, it belonged 
 to them to avenge the insulted Graces. We con- 
 certed measures together, and the officers and pas- 
 sengers divided themselves into several parties on 
 the next representation. As soon as the actress 
 whom we had determined to patronize appeared 
 on the stage, we received her with a burst of ap- 
 plause decidedly expressed. Some Genoese joined 
 in it; but the clamour, the clapping of hands, the 
 striking of canes of by far the great majority of the 
 spectators ensured victory to the other performer, 
 in spite of all our murmuring. We were not how- 
 ever disconcerted. Next day we called in more 
 auxiliaries, and exerted ourselves to make as much 
 noise as possible. Our opponents were not a whit 
 behind us; but as we were dispersed over every part 
 of the house, we daily brought over fresh proselytes, 
 This struggle excited some apprehension in the se- 
 nate, and an order was issued prohibiting all dis- 
 iurbanrc at the opera. We raised none ; but at 
 the opening of the ballet, an uproar arose which 
 stunned the car. Guards were stationed up and 
 3 down
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 20. 
 
 down the theatre : we were not greatly disquieted 
 at this. At length, after five or six representations, 
 during which the opposition gradually diminished, 
 wc had the satisfaction to see our principles gene- 
 rally adopted. The actress who, before our arri- 
 val, had constantly been received with unbounded 
 applause, ceased to enjoy the public approbation, 
 which was all transferred to her whom we protected. 
 Satisfied with this triumph, which was that of good 
 taste, we gave an entertainment on board the fri- 
 gate to both the ladies. She whose success we had 
 interrupted accepted with a very good grace, and 
 we did everything in our power to compensate the 
 slight reverse of reputation which we procured heiv 
 
 At this same spectacle it was that I saw, for the 
 first time, those degraded beings who have nothing 
 of man but the exterior. Sacrificed to the improve- 
 ment of the loveliest of arts, they acquire, at the 
 expense of their very existence, a voice sonorous, 
 melodious, but which is totally out of nature, as it 
 is neither the voice of a man nor of a woman. 
 France has not sullied itself with such a crime. 
 Unknown likewise to most of the nations of Eu- 
 rope, it was reserved for priests beyond the Alps, 
 the men, in whose hands excommunication was a 
 piece of armour so harmless, that they discharged it 
 in season, out of season ; these men shuddered not 
 at the thought of composing choirs destined to sing 
 
 the
 
 30 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the praises of Deity, and to make the arches of 
 his temple resound with the harmonious ac cents of 
 wretched victims whom, by a refinement in bar- 
 barism, they had expunge' i from the list of men* 
 But, what is hardly credible, this idea of mutilation 
 originated in the head of a woman. A celebrated 
 queen of antiquity, Semiramis, who by her riches, 
 her power, her victories, and the lustre of her reign, 
 was exalted to the highest rank of human beings, 
 Semiramis is the first who set the example of a 
 cruelty which is a blot on the page of history* 
 
 Pacherotti, whom Brydone had seen not long be- 
 fore on the stage of Palermo, and whose talents he 
 celebrates # , was then at Genoa. Notwithstanding 
 the vehement elogium pronounced on that song- 
 ster by the English traveller, I thought him far be- 
 neath the high reputation he had gained. His 
 voice was indeed full of sweetness, but his mode 
 of playing was spiritless, and his delivery totally 
 destitute of warmth : he was a thing to be heard 
 and not seen. His countenance, his gestures^ 
 though he was young and handsome, wore the ap- 
 pearance of constraint, of imbecility, which dis- 
 graced his smgiug. He otherwise fulfilled all that 
 was to be expected of him. In truth, the energy 
 of action, the fire of expression, which can flow 
 
 | * Travels in Sicily and Malta, Demeunief's translation, torn.. 
 M. p. 146, 147, and 200. 
 
 only
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 3 I 
 
 only from that of feeling, were incompatible with 
 his state of degradation. 
 
 ■'is 4 
 
 After having been detained, by contrary winds, 
 ten whole days in the port of Genoa, we took our 
 departure from it May 13th at six in the morning, 
 with a good breeze of wind from the north-east, 
 and rapidly increased our distance from the eleva- 
 ted and smiling shores of this part of Italy. Behind 
 us, the maritime Alps presented a vast amphithe- 
 atre whitened with eternal snows. The lofty moun- 
 tains which skirt the gulf of la Specia, and which 
 the French seamen pronounce FEspecie, appeared 
 in view; their summit was covered with snow, 
 and they appeared to me arid, and formed of rocks 
 cut perpendicularly. They are the quarries that 
 principally furnish the fine marbles of every spe- 
 cies which we import from Italy. We passed, 
 on our left, the island of Gorgona, which is sub- 
 ject to the Duke of Tuscany. It is of small ex- 
 tent ; its form is rounded, and its mountains, 
 which render it visible a great way off, seem to 
 be of the same nature with the adjacent coast. 
 We afterwards steered between cape Corse and 
 Capraria, a small island vulgarly called Cabraire, 
 belonging to the republic of Genoa. It is no- 
 thing but a rock almost entirely barren, but con- 
 taining, nevertheless, habitations which furnish 
 very excellent sailors. 
 
 On
 
 $2 TRAVELS IN t'PPLR 
 
 On the 14th the wind having become unfavour- 
 able, we plied to windward between Corsica and 
 the isle of Elba, one of the possessions of the 
 king of Naples. It contains two good harbours 
 and quarries of marble ; but it is particularly fa- 
 mous for its iron mines, and its forges, in which 
 the manufacture of that mineral is conducted 
 through a process which has been described by 
 Tron^on-du-Coudrai, a captain of artillery. This 
 process is more economical, more expeditious, and 
 at the same time more beneficial than that of the 
 furnaces generally employed for smelting in the 
 rest of Europe ; and it produces iron equivalent 
 to the best Swedish, as to toughness and ductility; 
 and more in quantity than from the ordinary 
 forges, without any increase of expense. The 
 mines of iron, and those of loadstone, with which 
 the isle of Elba is impregnated, render the ap- 
 proach to it perceptible by navigators, from the 
 variation the compass there undergoes. 
 
 That part of the coast of Corsica comprehended 
 between cape Corse and Bastia, is of a similar na- 
 ture with that which is opposite to it, and of which 
 I have made mention : in other words, it is formed 
 of steep mountains, some of which, those of greatest 
 elevation, were still covered with snow. The city 
 of Bastia presented to us an agreeable appearance ; 
 it is situated on the declivity of a hill: its port 
 
 cannot
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 23 
 
 cannot admit ships of war, but is very commo- 
 dious for vessels of small draught of water. 
 
 Towards noon, having got a fair wind, we passed 
 elope by Monte- Christ o, a barren and desert rock, 
 situated to the south, at no great distance from the 
 isle of Elba, from which it appears to have been 
 detached by some one of the mighty convulsions 
 that have not been un frequent in those seas. The 
 line which united these two islands may still be 
 traced by the Planosa (Planouse, or He Plate, Flat 
 Island), a ridge of rock scarcely appearing above 
 the water's edge, and reaching from the one to 
 the other. I was informed that this last-mentioned 
 ridge is the resort of a great quantity of sea-calves 
 and seals. 
 
 We saw astern of the ship a flock of petrels, 
 known to navigators by the name of birds of storm*. 
 It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when 
 they first came near us ; the weather was fine, the 
 wind at south-east, and almost calm. But about 
 seven o'clock the wind came round to the south- 
 west, and blew furiously. The sky was overclouded 
 and lowering, the night set in extremely dark, and 
 repeated flashes of lightning increased the horror 
 of it ; there was a dreadful swell in the sea, and 
 
 * Oiseau de temptte. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi, en- 
 Ium. No. wi.—ProceHaria pelagka t Lin. 
 VOL. I, D
 
 34 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 we were at last obliged to lie to all night under 
 our courses *. This gale lasted till noon of the 
 15th. We were then off the mouths of Boniface, 
 that is, the strait which separates the islands of Cor- 
 sica and Sardinia, and along a coast of from twelve 
 to fifteen leagues. It is hardly possible to navi- 
 gate in those seas, without encountering stormy 
 weather. The sea, repelled in contrary directions 
 by a vast extent of coast, and by numerous ridges 
 of rocks and quicksands, agitated by the winds, 
 the direction of which is liable to frequent change 
 from a multitude of straits, is there usually swelling 
 and tumultuous. During the foul weather of the 
 morning, the turtle-doves and quails, in expecta- 
 tion of finding an asylum from the tempest on 
 board the vessel, ventured to alight on her. But 
 this inhospitable retreat saved not these unfortu- 
 nate travellers from death ; they all suffered them- 
 selves to be caught by the hand, so fatigued were 
 they, or confounded by the tremendous uproar of 
 the elements in which they were involved. I ob- 
 served that the turtle-doves arrived in pairs. Shoals 
 innumerable of porpoises furrowed the waters at 
 a little distance 'from the ship, while, on another 
 side, the tortoise pressed heavily on the surface. 
 
 * What precedes, from the beginning of the last paragraph, 
 is related, in the History of the Bird of Storms, by BufFon (Hist. 
 Nat. des Ois.) as an extract from the Journal of a Navigator* 
 It was from my Journal that note was extracted.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 35 
 
 We had another brisk gale from the west-south- 
 west on the 16th, but not so violent as the first ; 
 and on the 17th we descried Ustica, one of the 
 little islands dependant on Sicily. It is only four 
 leagues round, and has the appearance of culti- 
 vation. It was the place of resort for the pirates 
 and corsairs who infested those seas ; about four 
 years ago, however, the king of Naples deter- 
 mined to build a fort to keep them off. We had 
 likewise before us the lofty shore of Cape Saint- 
 Vitto, in Sicily, and, at ten o'clock in the even- 
 ing, came to an anchor off the mouth of the har- 
 bour of Palermo. 
 
 d 2
 
 $6 TRAVELS IN U?PE» 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Maritime honours — English travellers — Palermo and 
 
 its environs. 
 
 It was an affair of no slight importance to settle 
 the manner in which ships of war were to give 
 and receive salutes in the ports of foreign nations. 
 Every commander had particular instructions on 
 the subject ; and if it was recommended to them 
 to support the glory of their flag in battle, it was 
 no less expressly prescribed not to let it down in 
 the form of the honours which they paid, or had a 
 right to demand. This idle ceremonial frequently 
 became the source of serious disputes, and dis- 
 turbed the tranquillity of nations. Punctilious 
 officers gravely employed themselves in a minute 
 detail of this weighty business. Some of this de- 
 scription have been known at Smyrna, the most 
 frequented port of the Levant for European vessels, 
 to claim and appropriaie to themselves, exclusively, 
 the discharge of cannon, by which merchant-ships 
 are accustomed to express their respect for men of 
 war, of whatever kind, on entering a harbour, and 
 to hasten the return of the salute, even before it 
 was finished, for fear that the ships of other powers § 
 should anticipate it as their due. As if the glory 
 of arms could consist in such frivolous emulation, 
 4 the
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 37 
 
 the furniture only of narrow minds, but totally un- 
 worthy of the military character, to whose talents 
 and intrepidity were confided the floating batteries 
 destined to waft along the ocean terror to the ene- 
 mies of the state, and protection to commerce ; as 
 if a simple omission in a point of civility, which 
 ought to be carefully distinguished from an insult, 
 did not rather degrade the person guilty of it, than 
 him who had a right to expect it. Many will re- 
 collect the phlegm of a Dutch officer's reply, in 
 the East Indies, to Bougainville, who put the 
 question to him, What form of salute he was to 
 receive, in case his ship should render the proper 
 honours to the Dutch fort ? tf When I pull off 
 " my hat to any one," answered the Dutchman, 
 *' it is orr my part a mark of politeness which I 
 " think due to him ; but I do not wait to inform 
 " myself beforehand whether he is, in return, to 
 " uncover his head," 
 
 Be this as it may, we were obliged to comply 
 with the custom ; and as soon as the Atalanta had 
 cast anchor in the port of Palermo, an officer was 
 dispatched with compliments to the Sicilian vice- 
 roy, and to settle with him the grand question of 
 salutes. It was agreed that the frigate should salute 
 by firing fifteen guns, and that the citadel should 
 return it by the like number. This arrangement 
 being made, we fired our salute ; but two hours 
 
 d 3 elapsed
 
 3.8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 elapsed before they were in a condition to repay 
 it. We could, however, take no offence at this 
 extraordinary delay, for we saw distinctly the can- 
 noneers labouring, without intermission, to raise 
 from the earth some pieces of ordnance half-buried 
 in it, to lift them up on blocks of wood to serve as 
 carriages, and at length put them in a condition 
 to be tired off. Such was then the state of the 
 Sicilian artillery. The corsairs of the Barbary 
 coast were well acquainted with this, and knew 
 how to avail themselves of it, by coming to cut 
 ships out of the very harbour. 
 
 The viceroy sent an officer on board to congra- 
 tulate us on our arrival, and to invite us to the 
 conversazione : this is the name given to the as- 
 semblies or domestic parties held in the opulent 
 houses of Italy. 
 
 We stopped only three days at Palermo. These 
 I employed in taking a rapid view of what appeared 
 curious in the city and its environs, already known 
 from different relations, and from the beautiful 
 drawings which have been taken of it. I shall 
 describe with similar rapidity what a stay so short 
 permitted me to remark. 
 
 The harbour, one of the safest in the Mediter- 
 ranean, defended by a fortress whose artillery, as 
 
 I have
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 39 
 
 I have just now said, had nothing formidable, is 
 semicircular. The city, the suburbs, and the walks 
 which surround them, present an amphitheatre 
 equally agreeable and variegated. A chain of 
 lofty mountains, bare and uncultivated, rise behind 
 the city, and render its position more picturesque. 
 It is shut in by four beautiful gates ; two streets, 
 which terminate in them, form, crossing each other 
 nearly at the centre, an open place, of no great ex- 
 tent, which they call the Ottangolo, and from which 
 you can see the four gates. These streets run in a 
 straight line ; they are broad, well built, and paved 
 with great stones. In the evening, a multitude of 
 shops and coffeehouses lighted up, the great num- 
 ber of carriages rolling along, illuminated by flam- 
 beaux, the crowds of people on foot pressing byeach 
 other, through the longest and the most respect- 
 able of these streets, resemble the splendour and 
 the hurlyburly of that of Saint-Honore, at Paris. 
 The Sicilians, who are not of the laborious class of 
 mankind, never go abroad but in a coach : it would 
 be deemed indecent for a man in affluent circum- 
 stances to make use of his legs. The number of 
 carriages is accordingly very great ; a stranger may 
 hire a very decent one at the rate of six or seven 
 shillings a day. Every body there wears a sword : 
 the cobler, with his leathern apron and greasy 
 jacket ; the hair-dresser, in his jerkin and his pow- 
 der-bag on his arm ; in a word, the artisan of every 
 
 d 4 descrip-
 
 40 TRAVELS IN ITPPER 
 
 description, going from his habitation in the ap- 
 propriate garb of his profession, has his side armed 
 with a long sword de Crispin, his head buried in 
 a large old perruque, and generally his nose loaded 
 with a pair of spectacles. 
 
 Those who have read Brydone's Tour through 
 Sicily and Malta, know that he has diverted him- 
 self at the expense of a Frenchwoman who keeps 
 the only inn for the accommodation of strangers at 
 Palermo. He employs half a chapter of his book 
 in painting, or rather caricaturing, the prattle and 
 vanity of that woman, and takes occasion from it 
 to extend his satire to French women in general, 
 which assuredly is neither just nor consistent with 
 gallantry. But their graces and amability, to which 
 "a well- merited homage is generally paid, can suf- 
 fer no imputation from the sarcastic humour of an 
 Englishman. Brydone is not the only traveller of 
 his nation who has indulged himself in speaking 
 slightly of ours ; and, in the eyes of every impartial 
 person, that spirit of jealousy and pride must ap- 
 pear not a whit less ridiculous than the little traits 
 of presumption of Madame Montagne, that is the 
 landlady's name. I ordered a dinner at her house, 
 in order to have an opportunity of talking with 
 her about Brydone, who had visited Palermo a few 
 years before. My hostess knew that he had pub- 
 lished many pleasantries of which she was the butt, 
 
 and
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT, 41 
 
 and that both she and her husband were treated 
 unhandsomely in his book ; but she was ignorant 
 of the particulars. I read the offensive passages. 
 On this she proved to me that Br\done had not 
 deviated far from the truth, in representing her as 
 a great talker : she was not soon exhausted in de- 
 tailing to me a number of little anecdotes which 
 had determined her to desire the Englishman to 
 look out for another lodging, and on this subject 
 pronounced a chapter at least as long as that of 
 the traveller. 
 
 The churches of Palermo, like almost all those 
 of Italy, are decorated most magnificently. Some 
 of them, that of the Jesuits, for instance, are so 
 overloaded with ornaments and riches as to offend 
 against good taste. But, besides the beautiful pic- 
 tures which adorn the inside of most of those edi- 
 fices, the superb altar of the church of Sainte-Ca- 
 tharine is particularly admired ; the church is con- 
 structed of the most beautiful marble, and which, 
 by a singular accident, forms, round the altar, a 
 broad border in festoons. In the cathedral, the 
 attention is arrested on the twenty-four columns of 
 oriental granite which support it, the tombs of por- 
 phyry, and an immense tabernacle of lapis-lazuli. 
 A priest, after having drawn aside, and with an air 
 of great mystery, four or five curtains one after 
 another, shewed me a great wooden crucifix, which 
 
 he
 
 42 .TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 he seriously assured me had been begun by S.Nico- 
 demus, who, having fallen asleep in the midst of 
 his labour, was very much surprised, on awaking, 
 to find the work finished. It was hardly worth 
 while, after all, to call in the assistance of a mi- 
 racle to complete such a miserable production. 
 
 If the churches at Palermo are exquisitely beau- 
 tiful, the temple there reared to nature and the 
 sciences, is in a woful state of decay : a proof that 
 there is in that city more devotion than curiosity, 
 more piety than taste for instruction. The mu- 
 seum is a confused assemblage of very uninterest- 
 ing objects. The collection of animals is the most 
 wretched that can be imagined, and consists only 
 of some monsters preserved in spirit of wine, and 
 of some skins eaten through by the mites, and 
 falling into tatters. The abbe, who shewed this 
 cabinet, told me, that the Jesuits bad carried off 
 or sold the most valuable articles which it con- 
 tained, at the time of their expulsion from the do- 
 minions of the king of Naples. There still remain, 
 however, some curious petrifactions and beautiful 
 morsels of antiquity, of which, as my guide in- 
 formed me, the ingenious Hamilton, ambassador 
 from England at the court of Naples, had given 
 drawings and a description. They likewise shew 
 there anatomical injections of a man and of a wo- 
 man, perfectly well executed by a Sicilian physi- 
 cian,
 
 AND LOWER. EGYPT. 43 
 
 cian, who was then alive. Fazello, who has written 
 a history of Sicily*, and other authors, have made 
 mention of the giants who are supposed to have 
 inhabited this island, and of their skeletons disco- 
 veied in the trenches which they dig in certain 
 places. There is nothing in the museum at Pa- 
 lermo which has any relation to men of extraor- 
 nary stature : I wished to enter into conversation 
 with my conductor on this subject ; but it was 
 impossible for us to understand each other, from 
 the extreme difference of our manner of pronoun- 
 cing the Latiu language, which I was under the 
 necessity of employing, not being sufficiently 
 master of the Italian. Among the whole number 
 of intelligent persons whom I have had an oppor- 
 tunity of consulting, I never found one who had 
 the slightest idea of ever having seen the remains 
 of a giant, or had heard it affirmed that such a 
 thing existed in all Sicily. 
 
 The fields of the environs are very pleasant. The 
 Bagar'ia^ in particular, a canton three leagues from 
 the city, is remarkable for the beauty of its plains, 
 the variety of its culture, the fertility of its soil, 
 and the numerous rural retreats with which it is 
 decorated. The road which leads to it is bordered 
 with aloes and the Indian fig. There it is we see 
 a shameful monument raised by a prince Palagoni 
 
 * Thomas Fazelli Decades, de Rebus Siculis. Catania, 1 749. 
 
 to
 
 44 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 to bad taste, it is too shocking to pass under the sim- 
 ple denomination of folly. Let the reader imagine 
 to himself the outside and the avenues of a noble- 
 man's country residence loaded with a prodigious 
 number of statues in stone, rudely hewn, huddled 
 together without order, and representing monsters 
 of a composition so disgusting that they cease to be 
 ridiculous. The interior is in the same style : the 
 walls of the apartments are plated with glass painted 
 into the appearance of false marble ; pieces of glass 
 which reflect the images in a thousand different 
 directions form the ceilings. There you find great 
 crucifixes, pyramids composed of cups, of saucers, 
 of coffee-pots, and of another species of vase which 
 certainly ought not to have a place in architec- 
 ture *. All these pieces are arranged in such a 
 manner, that they form an assemblage abominable 
 in the extreme. In the chapel, for example, there 
 is a group of beautiful angels, absolutely naked, 
 and of the most lively carnation ; in the midst of 
 them is a great figure in wood, of a dead man half 
 devoured by worms. It is, unfortunately, so well 
 executed as to appear natural, on the first glance. 
 I was told that several women, who had indulged 
 their curiosity in viewing this repository of absur- 
 dity the most grotesque, fainted away some of 
 them, and some with child sustained very serious 
 injury, by fixing their eyes on that truly horrible 
 
 * Chamber-pots, 
 
 figure,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 45 
 
 figure, after having first contemplated with com- 
 placency the beautiful forms and vivid colouring 
 of the angels. The proprietor of this mansion has 
 been put under an interdict, because he ruined 
 himself by the execution of these inconceivably 
 wild ideas ; for his city-palace is said to be fitted 
 up in the same taste with his country residence. 
 
 The chateau of prince de Valguarnera is close 
 by that of prince Palagoni, but has no resemblance 
 to it. The fabric, as well as the furniture, is in a 
 good taste ; its situation and prospects are delight- 
 ful ; an elegant theatre, on which dramas arc re- 
 presented for the amusement of domestic circles, 
 superb gardens, fine sheets of water, and, above 
 all, the princely character of the master, concur 
 in rendering this a most delicious retreat. 
 
 I likewise made a hasty trip to Montreah, a little 
 city built on the summit of a very steep hill. A 
 magnificent road, recently constructed, ]eads to it. 
 On its softened declivity, from distance to distance, 
 are beautiful fountains, whose living and limpid 
 waters refresh the thirsty traveller, while walls, 
 breast-high on both sides, the whole length of the 
 way, secure him from all danger, and the air which 
 he breathes is sweetly perfumed with the blossoms 
 of a forest of orange and citron trees which grow 
 in the valley. The view expands as you ascend on 
 
 this
 
 46 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 this charming road, and on reaching the summit 
 it becomes unbounded. Numerous inscriptions 
 catch the eye every step you take : they contain 
 most of them only a play of words, what the Ita- 
 lians call concettis. This one meets you on enter- 
 ing the road ; Ut facilius. — Et quo facilius, eo citius* 
 A vast church, reared by William the Good, con- 
 stitutes the principal merit of Montreale ; it is com- 
 pletely incrusted with mosaic work, and the grand 
 altar is of massy silver of exquisite workmanship. 
 
 Among the remarkable objects in the vicinity of 
 Palermo pointed out to strangers, they fail not to 
 singularize a convent of capuchins at a small dis- 
 tance from town, the beautiful gardens of which 
 serve as a public walk. You are shewn, under the 
 fabric, a vault divided into four great galleries, into 
 which the light is admitted by windows cut out at 
 the top of each extremity. In this vault are pre- 
 served, not in flesh, but in skin and bone, all the 
 capuchins who have died in the convent since its 
 foundation, as well as the bodies of several persons 
 from the city. There are here private tombs be- 
 longing to opulent families, who, even after anni- 
 hilation*, disdain to be confounded with thevulgar 
 part of mankind. It is said, trat in order to secure 
 the preservation of those bodies, they are prepared 
 
 * Our author is a thorough convert to the modern French 
 republican creed. — H. H. 
 
 by
 
 AND LOWER EGYP'l. 47 
 
 by being gradually dried before a slow fire, so as to 
 consume the flesh without greatly injuring the 
 skin. When perfectly dry, they are invested with 
 the capuchin habit, and placed upright on tablets 
 disposed, step above step, along the sides of the 
 vault ; the head, the arms, and the feet are left 
 naked. A preservation like this is horrid. The 
 skin discoloured, dry, and as if it had been tanned, 
 nay torn in some places, is glewed close to the bone. 
 It is easy to imagine, from the different grimaces 
 of this numerous assemblage of fleshless figures, 
 rendered still more frightful by a long beard on the 
 chin, what a hideous spectacle this must exhibit ; 
 and whoever has seen a capuchin alive, may form 
 an idea of this singular repository of dead friars. 
 
 But let us quit this lugubrious mansion, in which 
 man makes vain efforts to escape the destruction 
 that awaits him, and direct our looks to the smiling 
 and animated picture presented in the various pro- 
 ductions of the highly privileged soil of Sicily. 
 Warmed by the heat of a genial sky, and by sub- 
 terranean fires, the earth yields to almost every 
 species of culture *, Whether she clothes herself 
 in the most beautiful green, whether she teems with 
 
 In the garden of the Archbishop of Palermo there were 
 in the open ground several banana plants (Musa parad'uiaca, 
 Lin.) which bare flowers and fruits. 
 
 the
 
 48 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the golden harvests, the plenteousness of which, in 
 ancient times, procured for the island the name of 
 the Granary of Rome ; whether the trees of every 
 sort load themselves with flowers and fruits of the 
 sweetest perfume, she at all seasons displays the 
 rich garb of fecundity. What would she be, were 
 she better seconded by the men whom her fertility 
 should render less negligent, were they more active 
 and earnest to multiply the treasures which boun- 
 tiful Nature lavishes on them with so much grace 
 and munificence ? 
 
 The women whom 1 have seen in that part of 
 Sicily which I visited, are in general beautiful; they 
 have the character of being very susceptible of 
 tender impressions — happy disposition, for which 
 they are indebted to the mild influence of the at- 
 mosphere. Severity of climate blunts sensibility, 
 and but too often hardens the heart. 
 
 Rich pastures feed numerous herds of beautiful 
 oxen, of the same species with those of France. 
 " They constantly differ, nevertheless, in the form 
 " of their horns, which are veiy remarkable for their 
 " length, and the regularity of their figure ; these 
 " horns have only a gentle curve, and their usual 
 *' length, measured in a straight line, is three feet, 
 iC and sometimes three feet and a half : they are all 
 
 f< very
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 49 
 
 e( very regularly designed, and of a for ^ absolutely 
 " similar *." Game of every kind is there in 
 abundance, and that bird whose flesh, of an ex- 
 cellent flavour, claims a prescience even to the 
 bird of Pilars, the francolin v heath-cock), is not 
 scarce in this island -j-. 
 
 The sea appears to contend with the land in ge- 
 nerosity, in order to multiply the resources already 
 so abundant which the earth provides for the sup- 
 port and delight of human life. Fiah is there found 
 in great profusion : they fish for tunnies with that 
 species of sweep-net which is likewise used along 
 the coast of what was called Provence. They were 
 caught in such quantities during my residence at 
 Palermo, that the fishermen who hawked them 
 through the streets, preceded by a drum, sold them 
 at the rate of five farthings a pound ; and some 
 time before, while we anchored at the Vignettes, 
 the same fish cost at Toulon three pence the pound. 
 
 * I have distinguished this observation, respecting the Si- 
 cilian oxen, by marks of quotation, because Buffon, who had 
 it from me, has introduced it into the supplement to his History 
 of Quadrupeds, second art. des Bceufs. 
 
 f The francolin is not peculiar to Sicily, as has been asserted 
 in an abridged Description of Sicily, printed as a sequel to Bry- 
 done's Tour: " There are various species of fowls which are 
 ** to be found no where but in Sicily, such as the framolin 
 " (meaning francolin undoubtedly) :" but it is well known 
 that this bird likewise inhabits other warn) countries, 
 
 vol. 1. e Another
 
 5© TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Another treasure from the sea, near the coasts 
 of Sicily, is the coral, which reddens the bottom 
 of it, and the fishery of which furnishes employ- 
 ment for a great number of boats. Finally, that 
 nothing may appear destitute of life and motion, 
 the go'elands cleave the air with a rapid flight in all 
 directions, over the masts of the ships moored in 
 the harbour, and oppose the beautiful white of 
 their plumage to the brilliant azure of an atmo- 
 sphere almost always perfectly purft,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 5 1 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Passage from Palermo to Malta — Soundings between 
 Sicily and the island of Malta, and between this 
 last and Africa — Coasts of Sicily — F ant alar ia— 
 Isle of Malta ; its nature, its cities, its produc- 
 tions* 
 
 We sailed from the beautiful port of Palermo 
 May the 22d, a little after midnight. The fri- 
 gate had now all her guns mounted ; those which 
 had been sacrificed to the accommodation of the 
 passengers, and the absence of which deranged the 
 symmetry of the ship's appearance, were replaced. 
 Our courtiers had taken leave of us. Terrified at 
 the rough weather which we encountered at sea, 
 and particularly at the storm which attacked us off* 
 the mouths of Bonifacio, they did not choose to 
 expose themselves any more to the fury ot an cle- 
 ment so inconstant, and had formed the resolution, 
 after traversing Sicily, to cross over to Naples, 
 and return to France by land. They had been 
 assured at Versailles, and I have heard the same 
 opinion expressed at Paris, that a ship of war de- 
 fied all concussion in the midst of the waves, and 
 that they would be as tranquil at sea as in their 
 own houses. What was their astonishment to 
 perceive that a fabric so vast and so ponderous, 
 
 E a was
 
 52 tRAYELS IN UPPER 
 
 was merely a crazy plaything to the winds and 
 the foaming billows ! We lost an amiable society, 
 and I felt a very sensible regret in reflecting that 
 our separation made me lose the opportunity of 
 landing at Syracuse, and of viewing Etna, which 
 Nature seems to have placed in Sicily to exhibit 
 there, at once, an example of her power in her 
 beneficence as in her wrath. 
 
 At some distance from port we lay becalmed till 
 next day at noon. We had around the vessel a 
 multitude of small boats employed in the coral- 
 fishery ; we saw a great sea-tortoise, and several 
 of the fishes which the Mediterranean seamen call 
 mo'mes * (monks), and which are a species of sea- 
 dog. Four soldiers of the garrison of Palermo made 
 their escape on board, in a boat which they had 
 carried off; we received them, and sent back the 
 boat by a fisherman. Two of those soldiers were 
 French deserters. About two o'clock in the after- 
 noon, a Sicilian officer came off to reclaim them 
 in the name of the viceroy. They were under the 
 protection of the French flag; we refused to give 
 them up, and the officer returned on shore very 
 much out of humour at the bad success of his 
 mission. We had, on our part, lost at Palermo 
 
 . * They are likewise denominated angel Jis/iet, or simply angel. 
 Squalus squatina. Lin. S) st. Nat. Squalus pinna ant carens, ore in 
 ajiice capitis. Artedi, Gen. Pise. p. 507. 
 
 4 two
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 53 
 
 two of our ship's company, who had deserted 
 there, and whom it was impossible to recover. 
 
 BufTon had with learned sagacity demonstrated 
 that the Mediterranean sea, originally a lake of 
 no great extent, must have received, at distant 
 times, a sudden and prodigious increase at the era 
 when the Black Sea opened to itself a passage 
 through the Bosphorus, and at that, when the 
 sinking of the land which, at the site of the straits 
 of Gibraltar, united Africa to Europe, had per- 
 mitted the ocean to force its waters that way * : 
 his idea was, that most of the Mediterranean 
 islands constituted part of the continents, prior to 
 the grand convulsions which changed the face of 
 one part of the globe. In order to ascertain with 
 more precision his opinion respecting these epochas 
 of nature, he had requested me to satisfy myself as 
 to the depth of the sea between Sicily and Malta. 
 It was impossible to have a more favourable op- 
 portunity to fulfil his purpose. We had onboard 
 a coasting pilot, on old man of great experience, 
 and everyway respectable, who, during his nume- 
 rous voyages, had sounded that depth in many 
 places. I availed myself of the calm, to converse 
 with him at leisure on the subject ; and the result 
 of the interesting details with which he furnished 
 me, was perfectly conformable to the ideas of Buf- 
 
 * Theory of the Earth, and Epochas of Nature. 
 
 E 3 fon.
 
 54 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 fori. In fact, between the island of Sicily and 
 that of Malta, the depth of water is generally 
 from twenty-five to thirty fathoms ; and in the 
 very middle of the channel, where the depth is 
 greatest, we do not find it above a hundred. On 
 the other hand, between the isle of Malta and 
 cape Bon, in Africa, there is still less water, for 
 the soundings do not give above twenty- five or 
 thirty fathoms, through the whole breadth of the 
 channel which separates land from land. 
 
 A breeze from the east wafted us upon Saint- 
 Vitto, a lofty promontory cut perpendicularly. The 
 coast all the way from Palermo to this cape, is steep 
 and intersected by vallies, whose soil, loaded with 
 all the richness of cultivation, forms an agreeable 
 contrast with the aridityof the mountains which en- 
 close them. There is a considerable depth of water 
 along this shore, and vessels run no risk in com- 
 ing very nigh the land We soon passed between 
 Maritime and Favoyamw, two small islands belong- 
 ing to the king of Naples, and used as a place of 
 confinement for his state prisoners. In steering 
 our course for Malta we could perceive a long ex- 
 tent of the low-lying coasts of Sicily, between cape 
 Mdrsalh and cape Passat o, on the extremity of 
 which a fort has been constructed. In the hori- 
 zon we descried a chain of lofty mountains parallel 
 to the coast. The weather was fine, the sky clear, 
 
 the
 
 AND LOWER EGVPT. 5J 
 
 the vessel was gliding gently along a surface which 
 a light gale scarcely ruffled, and we could not tire 
 of feasting our eyes with the view of vast plains 
 embellished with all the charms of nature, and by 
 the diversity of the labours of agriculture. 
 
 On the morning of the 25th we found ourselves 
 close on Pantalaria, an island of much greater 
 length than breadth, elevated in the middle, and 
 terminating in a low point at each of its extremi- 
 ties. It is inhabited, and abundantly fertile. An 
 officer of the ship who, on a former voyage, had 
 been ashore there, informed me that there was but 
 one single spring in the whole island, but that on 
 the summit of the highest of its mountains, that 
 is, nearly in the centre of the island, there was a 
 lake of considerable extent. This lake is undoubt- 
 edly the crater of an extinguished volcano, for the 
 same officer had found on the spot all the indica- 
 tions of it, such as the lavas, pumice-stones, &c. 
 &c. The pass of Panlalaria is formidable to mari- 
 ners, especially in winter, for experience has taught 
 them that the seas which surround it are seldom 
 navigated without meeting a violent gale of wind. 
 
 In the evening we saw some swallows : we were 
 four leagues distant from Pantalaria, with the wind 
 at east. On the 26th, at three o'clock afternoon, 
 wc entered the port of Malta, one of the largest 
 
 e 4 and
 
 56 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 and most beautiful in the universe. The mouth 
 of it is very narrow, and defended on each side by 
 a formidable castle ; vessels are obliged to carry 
 beforehand ail the sail they can possibly set, in 
 order to acquire the impulse or the velocity requi- 
 site to carry them through this passage, in the midst 
 of which they find themselves suddenly becalmed, 
 from; the height of the forts, which exceeds that 
 of the mast-head. It was the custom of French 
 men of war to salute the place with thirteen guns, 
 which was returned by eleven ; when the ships of 
 the knighthood entered the ports of France, they 
 observed the same etiquette. If the galley of the 
 general of the order was in port, the ceremonial 
 required a second salute of fifteen guns to her, and 
 at the moment when the general came to return 
 the visit which the French commander was ex- 
 pected to pay first, he was received with a dis- 
 charge of thirteen guns. Every knight of the 
 order, who thought proper to amuse himself by 
 coming on board, was welcomed by the noise of 
 five cannon ; thus it frequently happened that a 
 French ship of war, if she was detained any length 
 of time in the harbour of Malta, was obliged to 
 expend more gunpowder than during all the rest 
 of her cruise. 
 
 The fortifications which defend the port and 
 city are the best in the world ; they are kept up 
 
 with
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 57 
 
 with extreme attention. Tt is well known that 
 the united forces of the Ottoman empire failed in 
 their attack of this impregnable rampart. It was 
 a conquest, or rather a new prodigy, reserved for 
 French valour. 
 
 The ridge of the houses, as in Italy and all over 
 the East, is a flat terrace. The city Valette, or 
 New-town, is well built ; the stones employed in 
 the construction of their edifices, and in the pave- 
 ment of the principal streets, are of a soft con- 
 sistency when they come from the quarry : they 
 harden by exposure to the air; but are, at the 
 same time, so extremely white as to injure the eyes, 
 especially when they reflect the rays of a burning 
 sun. The palace of the grand master was of vast 
 magnitude, and of a beautiful simplicity both 
 within and without. 
 
 The order of Malta had a public library, the 
 augmentation of which was abundantly rapid ; the 
 private libraries of the commanders were there de- 
 posited after their death ; the duplicate copies were 
 sold, and the produce served to purchase the books 
 which they had not. Several objects of natural 
 history were exhibited in this library, among which 
 was distinguished a petrified bone of great size ; it 
 passed, at Malta, for a piece of petrified wood, but 
 the bony texture was easily discernible, and I con- 
 vinced
 
 jS TRAVELS IN UPPER. 
 
 tinced some well-informed persons of its real na- 
 ture. It is part of the femur (thigh-bone) of a 
 large quadruped ; I sent a drawing of it to BufFon. 
 
 Another cabinet of curiosities, but much richer, 
 was in the possession of M. Barbaroux. Without 
 being of great compass, it contained some very va- 
 luable articles ; and the proprietor, who united 
 politeness to science, shewed it to strangers with a 
 very amiable complaisance. This little museum 
 contained several beautiful shells and curious pe- 
 trifactions ; a great number of medals were ar- 
 ranged in a cabinet of a very ingenious form. 
 Amidst the productions of art, you viewed there 
 with pleasure, a very large figured pearl, a beautiful 
 head painted in enamel in clar-obscuro^ and a great 
 medallion of crystal, engraved by Michael An- 
 gelo, I must not terminate this enumeration of 
 rarities, without making mention of one of those 
 phenomena, commonly denominated the sportings 
 of Nature, as if Nature could blunder or condescend 
 to trifle, and which are rather proofs of her power 
 and of the prodigious variety of the means which 
 she is pleased to employ. It was the portrait which 
 I saw in the collection of the chevalier Dcspennes, 
 charge des affairs from France, of a little girl, on 
 whose forehead was a third eye, much larger than 
 the other two, and which was itself equivalent to 
 two, as it had a double iris and central spot ; 
 
 the
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 59 
 
 the rest of the face was of the ordinary conforma- 
 tion. At the bottom of the drawing an inscrip- 
 tion in Italian informs you that this child was born 
 at the village of Monte Alegra, in Mercia, Ja- 
 nuary 5 ;, 1775 ; but the inscription did not bear, 
 and no one could inform me, whether the being 
 endowed with such an excess in the organ of vi- 
 sion, lived long. 
 
 We had just left a city rendered noisy by the 
 multitude of carriages. Here it is no disgrace to 
 walk, and horses and chariots do not rattle about 
 through the streets, to the annoyance of citizens 
 on foot. The grand master alone used a carriage 
 with six horses, and he scarcely ever employed it, 
 except in riding to his country-seat. The officers of 
 the order, and other inhabitants, had, for the same 
 purpose, chaises drawn by a single mule, which a 
 man led by a leathern thong ; a sage precaution, 
 and worthy of being imitated, wherever the safety 
 of man is attended to in preference to the giddiness 
 of luxury, the bustle of which, in populous cities, 
 is a continual subject of apprehension, and some- 
 times an instrument of death to the modest and 
 useful citizen. It were to be wished that an equal 
 security were there provided against the dangers 
 incurred in offering sacrifices to Venus, from the 
 multitude of her priestesses who flock thither from 
 all parts. They are the refuse of all nations ; and 
 
 their
 
 6o TRAVELS IN UPPEK 
 
 their concourse, which formed an epigram with 
 one of the vows of the knights, was singularly 
 pernicious to the crews of vessels frequenting those 
 seductive and perfidious resorts. 
 
 Brydone has amused himself with telling tales, 
 respecting the knights of Malta, somewhat similar 
 to those of which poor Madame Montagne, at Pa- 
 lermo, is the subject. On my arrival I found the 
 public mind violently exasperated against him, and 
 there was but too much ground for it. The truth 
 is, he describes the manner of life of the chevaliers, 
 without having been in intimacy with a single one, 
 during the whole time of his residence in the 
 island ; his picture, and this is not the only occa- 
 sion on which the same reproach may be addressed 
 to him, is far from being a likeness ; and when he 
 speaks of the mode of duelling between the 
 knights, of the crosses painted on the wall oppo- 
 site to the spot where one of them has been killed, 
 of the punishments incurred by such as refuse a 
 challenge*, they are so many errors escaped from 
 his pen, deceived undoubtedly by lying reports, 
 and too inconsiderately adopted. For my own 
 part, I found the utmost politeness of behaviour, 
 and the kindest attentions in the society of the 
 members of the order with whom I had any con- 
 nexion, and I recollect with gratitude the warm 
 
 * Tour through Sicily and Malta, vol. i, p. 363, &c. 
 
 reception
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 6l 
 
 reception and the cordial civilities which I met 
 with from several of them, and particularly from 
 citizen Dolomieux, whom the sciences have rank- 
 ed in the number of their most respected and 
 most illustrious partisans. 
 
 At the distance of a league from the new city 
 stands the old one, or Citla Vecchia ; it was the 
 residence of the bishop of the island. The cathe- 
 dral is a very beautiful edifice. There are to be 
 seen marbles the most invaluable, such as those 
 known by the name of fixe, green and yellow antique. 
 Though of a vast size, it is lined internally, the 
 whole length of the building, with crimson damask, 
 bordered with a broad lace of fine gold. These 
 religious monuments, more simple at Malta than 
 at Genoa or Palermo, are there likewise, in my 
 opinion, more beautiful, and in a better taste. In 
 truth, the extraordinary quantity of ornaments with 
 which the churches of Genoa are overloaded, pre- 
 sents to the dazzled eye tinsel merely, which, join- 
 ed to their over-cramped and niggardly construc- 
 tion, if I may be allowed the expression, destroy 
 that idea of magnificence and majesty which one 
 expects to meet in the temples of the Deity. From 
 the turrets of the cathedral, the eye easily disco- 
 vers Mount Etna and its thick smoke, though at 
 the distance of near sixty-seven leagues. 
 
 Near
 
 6% TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Near this church is a grotto of no great exfenf, 
 in the midst of which stands a very good statue of 
 St. Paul. This apostle, every one knows, is held in 
 high veneration among the Maltese, because, they 
 pretend, he landed on iheir island and delivered if 
 forever from he serpents, with which it was before 
 infested. The grotto has been scooped out of a 
 species of white earth, soft and calcareous, com- 
 monly enominated bole of Malta {bolus Meh terms) ; 
 but the name is improper, for the bole is a clayey 
 earth, more or less pure, consequently capable of 
 being vitrified, and nor subject to the attack of 
 acids; whereas the Maltese earth, on the contrary, 
 is of a calcareous nature, and produces efferves- 
 cence with these same acids. Burton has followed, 
 on this article, the opinion of most of the minera- 
 logists who preceded him, and who, copying from 
 each other, had considered the Maltese earth as a 
 bole, or argillous earth, and, in his History of Mi- 
 nerals, he has made a bole of it; but, what is not 
 easily to be conceived, is his mistaking the Mal- 
 tese earth for a red bole, though it be white as 
 chalk, with which it has, moreover, many other 
 points of affinity*. It is known at Malta by no 
 
 * " The red bole derives its colour from iron in rust It is 
 
 " with this bole that they prepare the terra sigJlata They 
 
 " likewise give it the names of Lertinos earth, holy earth* St. Paul's 
 " earth, earth of Malta, earth of Constantinople." BufFon Hist. 
 Nat. desJMineraux, art. des Bols. 
 
 other
 
 AND LOWCR EGYPT. 63 
 
 other name but that of Saint Paul's earth. They 
 make tablets of it, on which they impress the image 
 of the apostle, holding a serpent in his hand ; these 
 are exported to different countries of Europe, and 
 more particularly to Spain and Italy. It is from 
 this sort of preparation, that it has received in 
 commerce, as well as the other earths and boles to 
 which they communicate various impressions, the 
 name of terra sigillata (sealed or stamped earth). 
 It passes, at Malta, as a wonderful remedy in 
 many diseases, and as an infallible specific against 
 fevers ; but all its properties are reducible to one^ 
 that of furnishing a gentle sudorific. 
 
 The common people are not satisfied with as- 
 cribing qualities almost supernatural to the earth 
 of Saint Paul's grotto; they maintain besides that 
 its mass underwent no diminution, whatever the 
 quantity extracted from it. It is in the eyes of the 
 Maltese a constant miracle operated by Saint 
 Paul ; accordingly the earth which bears his name 
 is considered as a sacred substance in that island, • 
 Assuredly it docs not appear to undergo any sen- 
 sible diminution. This easy reproduction may be 
 attributed to the humidity of the grotto, and to 
 the earth's want of consistency. In order to un- 
 deceive those who affirm that it loses nothing of 
 its bulk, it would be sufficient to point out to 
 them the clearly apparent cavities formed by the 
 
 edge
 
 32, TRAVELS IN VPPER 
 
 edge of the instruments employed in detaching it 
 from the mass. But it is no easy matter to dis- 
 abuse persons accustomed to explain natural facts 
 by miracles. 
 
 A lichen entirely white grows over the interior 
 surface of the vault of St. Paul's grotto. 
 
 At some distance from the old city are found 
 vast excavations, which it is easy to dig and to ex- 
 tend, in a soil which presents very little resistance. 
 They are divided into numerous ramifications, 
 multiplied to such a degree that they formed a la- 
 byrinth, in which a man might lose himself and 
 perish, had not *he precaution been employed of 
 walling up the entrance of some of those subter- 
 ranean galleries ; they were formerly used as a 
 place of sepulture, catacombs, the name still given 
 them. Tombs of stone are placed in them on each 
 side, one above another ; they are of various sizes ; 
 a dome likewise of stone covers some of them, and 
 there is great reason to think that they were all en- 
 closed in the same manner. The part of those 
 stone-coffins on which the head of the dead per- 
 son rested, is raised about two inches above the 
 bottom, and there was cut into it the form of the 
 head and neck, so that they were enchased in this 
 species of dead pillow. Some coffins, broader than 
 others, presented an excavation for two heads ; 
 
 affection
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 6$ 
 
 affection had destined them, no doubt, for lovers, 
 or for husband and wife. 
 
 These catacombs appear likewise to have served 
 as a place of retreat, in times not very remote, to 
 the inhabitants of Malta, when their island be- 
 came a prey to the wars which have frequently 
 scourged it. Two ancient mills are here also pointed 
 out to you, and once more that image, the safe- 
 guard of a credulous people, the statue of St. Paul. 
 
 The island of Malta, situated nearly in the mid- 
 dle of the Mediterranean sea, between Sicily and 
 x\frica, is but seven leagues at its greatest length, 
 and four at its extreme breadth. Properly speaking 
 it is nothing but a rock, almost entirely bare. But 
 it is not of that kind of rock which the keen 
 tooth of time can hardly penetrate, and which 
 suggests the idea of complete aridity. It is a cal- 
 careous stone, extremely white, of a loose texture, 
 of a consistence by no means solid, and which 
 repels not all cultivation. Though most of the 
 numerous islands of the same sea have been the 
 focus or the result of the terrible explosions of 
 nature, that of Malta has not experienced their 
 violence, and is to be traced up to quite a differ- 
 ent origin. No vestige of a volcano is there per- 
 ceptible; and if you meet with lavason it, they 
 are those of Mount Vesuvius, impoited thither to 
 
 vol. i. f serve
 
 66 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 serve as grinding-stones for their mills, and to 
 make a pavement for their cities. You do not so 
 much as find in it vitrifiable substances; everything 
 there is calcareous, if you except the talc, the 
 gypse, and the clay ; and besides, this last substance 
 is found in very small quantities, and always mixed 
 with calcareous matter ; it is in greater abundance, 
 and more pure, in the isle of Gozzi, which is close 
 by that of Malta, and dependent upon it. 
 
 There are, moreover, no mountains in the 
 island of Malta, nor in that of Gozzi ; they are 
 nothing but a plain, interrupted by some hills of 
 very little elevation. 
 
 It is impossible to tire in admiring the industry 
 of the Maltese farmers, who have succeeded in 
 diffusing fertility over a rock, for the greatest part 
 naked, or scarcely covered by a few inches of earth. 
 In order to reduce a soil, apparently so ungrateful, 
 to a state favourable to vegetation, these laborious 
 men scoop out the rock, and break it down. The 
 parts nearest the surface, and which the contact of 
 the air had hardened, serve to construct, round the 
 fieid, a dry wall, which, at the same time, clears it 
 of the stony substances which are too solid to be 
 decompounded, and prevents the rain water from 
 washing away the vegetable earth. A part of the 
 rock is reduced, by dint of labour, into small par- 
 ticles,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 67 
 
 tides, and with these they mix a thin stratum of 
 mould, which they go in quest of sometimes as far 
 as to Sicily. This mixture is exceedingly prolific. 
 They cultivate with success the alimentary plants, 
 the millet, the annual cotton *. The fig and 
 other fruit-trees thrive extremely well ; here grow 
 to perfection those beautiful oranges, with a red 
 pulp, and of a delicious flavour, so highly es- 
 teemed in Europe. 
 
 But it must be acknowledged, notwithstanding 
 the ingenuity and industry of the Maltese, their 
 fields present little that pleases ; nay, their aspect 
 is absolutely disagreeable. The walls which en- 
 close their endlessly subdivided possessions, the 
 whiteness of the stones, a soil yellow and parched, 
 almost without trees and without verdure, form a 
 very harsh picture which fatigues the eye. Culture 
 never assumes a smiling aspect, unless when se- 
 conded by nature. 
 
 We must consider as one of the most powerful 
 efforts of Maltese industry, the formation of a great 
 garden, in which they were employed at St. An- 
 tonio, the grand master's country residence, about 
 half a league from the city. It was really a pro- 
 digy in a country where- it is so difficult to clothe 
 the ground ; any where else it would have been a 
 
 • Gas%ypium herbaceum. Lin. 
 
 f 2 mere
 
 68 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 mere ordinary garden, though it was decorated 
 with a great many flowers, among others with 
 magnificent double poppies*, and beautiful sca- 
 biust s-j~. The alleys, covered with fragments of 
 white stones, were uneasy to the feet, and tiresome 
 to the sight. The grand master, Rohan, gave us 
 an entertainment at this country palace. In the 
 city, no one could sit down to eat with that petty 
 sovereign, and at St. Antonio it was not the right 
 of every one to have a place at his table. Messrs. 
 Durfort and Tott, as having the rank of colonels, 
 were alone admitted to it, and even they were 
 separated from the grand-master by the whole 
 length of a great table. The other officers sat at 
 a different board, the honours of which were done 
 by the gentlemen of the palace, and, of a truth, 
 no one of us regretted the oppressive and cold 
 etiquette of the first table. After dinner, Rohan 
 laid aside all ceremony ; he mingled with his 
 company, and chose to be of all our parties. 
 
 The territory of Malta is likewise far from equal 
 to the support of its inhabitants. Most part of 
 the corns, of the cattle, in a word, every article of 
 consumption, the very soil, as we have just now 
 seen, are imported from Sicily, which is literally 
 the granary and the market of the Maltese. The 
 embarkations destined to the purchase of provi- 
 
 * Pajiaver rhceas. Lin. f Scabiosa atro-purpurea. Lin. 
 
 sionS;
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 69 
 
 sions, and which they call s pel anuria, are perhaps 
 the most expeditious that exist, and are manned 
 with the most hardy seamen in the world. 
 
 The stones got from the quarries of Malta, are 
 in request for the construction of houses ; their 
 softness, before they are exposed to the air, renders 
 them of easy adaptation to a. variety of purposes; 
 they are exported ready cut into our southern de- 
 partments, to Italy, and even to the Levant. 
 
 There was discovered, a few years ago, a sparry 
 and calcareous substance, to which they gave the 
 name of Maltese-stone. Many pieces of excellent 
 workmanship were manufactured out of it ; and 
 the grand- master, Finto, was so jealous of this ex- 
 clusive possession, that he prohibited the exporta- 
 tion of it, and even its manufacture by any one, 
 except his own people. His successor, Rohan Pol- 
 dux, was not tainted with a jealousy so contempti- 
 ble, and I had it in my power to procure specimens 
 of it, both rough and polished, which I have trans- 
 ferred to the national cabinet. But the true na- 
 ture of that substance appeared to be still a secret : 
 it generally passed for a marble, though its grain, 
 its consistence, and especially its formation, differ- 
 ed exceedingly from the grain, the hardness, and 
 the formation of marble. One of my fellow-travel- 
 lers, who, with a good deal of sprightliness and vo- 
 
 f 3 lubility.
 
 '/O TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 liability, but with a very scanty stock of knowledge, 
 was not afraid sometimes to hazard, with a tone 
 of self-sufficiency, opinions the most erroneous, 
 M. Tott, had laid it down as certain, that the 
 pretended marble of Malta was talc. This opi- 
 nion was favourably received, and the grand- 
 master appeared to be persuaded that it was 
 founded In truth. In support of it, M. Tott pro- 
 duced a fragment of that stone, a part of which 
 was, according to him, evidently talc, and he con- 
 cluded that no argument was capable of destroy- 
 ing a fact, which was, in reality, nothing more 
 than a supposition more than gratuitous In fact, 
 on the examination of this fragment, which was to 
 constitute the proof of an absurd assertion, it ap- 
 peared that the fascicles of needles of which it was 
 composed, had been cut diagonally in certain 
 places, and that these sections presented shining 
 and transparent plates, which exhibited a false 
 appearance of talc, of which our half-philosopher 
 had been the dupe. I was forced, so to speak, to 
 explain myself on this subject before a numerous 
 company. I declared, without reserve, that I could 
 not be of M. Tott's sentiment ; and I employed a 
 reasoning sufficiently simple to be easily compre- 
 hended by every body : it was, that talc resists 
 every attack of acids, whereas they produce the 
 most powerful effect on matters purely calcareous, 
 which are put to this test. M. Tott's opinion of 
 
 course
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 71 
 
 course fell to the ground, and that assuming gen- 
 tleman never forgave me the offence. 
 
 It was not difficult, moreover, to fix the place 
 which the pretended marble of Malta ought to oc- 
 cupy among stony substances. For on examining 
 the figure and the disposition of the fasciculi of 
 needles of which it is formed ; on observing the 
 concentric circles discovered on sawing it trans- 
 versely ; on paying attention to its want of con- 
 sistence, which prevents the possibility of manu- 
 facturing it into tables of any considerable size, 
 without their cleaving asunder; above all, on 
 studying its position in the rocks, you will pre- 
 sently discover those calcareous stalactites, those 
 concrete masses, produced by the infiltration of 
 water through calcareous substances ; in a word, 
 the alabaster of naturalists, which must not be 
 confounded with that much harder alabaster that 
 takes a polish so beautiful, and whose dazzling 
 whiteness is so much cried up. 
 
 It is found generally in irregular blocks, and 
 whose surface is crusted over with little buttons of 
 the same nature. That of Gozzi is the only one 
 which is sometimes found in strata, but these are 
 irregular, and of no great extent. The calcareous 
 rock which covers these blocks and these strata, is, 
 for the most part, winter and of a closer grain than 
 
 f 4 that
 
 72 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 that which composes the rest of the islands of 
 Malta and Gozzi : this is occasioned by the dis- 
 tillation of the waters, which, in passing through 
 that rock, carry along with them the lighter par- 
 ticles of it. The colours of the alabaster of Malta 
 vary, according to the districts where it is found ; 
 but they are always a mixture of yellow, gray, and 
 blackish. It admits of a fine polish. I have seen 
 very beautiful tables and large corner-buffets of it 
 in the palace of the grand-master. 
 
 The species of lichen proper for furnishing the 
 die known by the name oi or sill a herbce, generally 
 grows on rocks bathed by the sea *. The grand- 
 master proposed to take up with spirit this new 
 branch of commerce in his island, for which it is 
 indebted to the exertions and the researches of 
 citizen Dolomieux. 
 
 The sea on the coasts of Malta furnish in abun- 
 dance various species of fishes. The natives set a 
 high value on a sort which they call accola, and the 
 French ihon blanc (the white tunny). I never had 
 it in my power to ascertain its genus with preci- 
 sion, having seen it only when dressed for the 
 table; it does not attain the size of the common 
 tunny, but its flesh is whiter, and likewise more 
 
 * Fucus verrucosus t'mctorius. Tounief. Inst. Rei herb. — Lichen 
 roxella. Lin. 
 
 ' delicate.
 
 AN'D LOWER EGYPT. JJ 
 
 delicate. It is very probably that which Cette first 
 described, under the name of alalunga, in his 
 History of the Fishes of Sardinia, page 191*. 
 They likewise fish for coral and a variety of shell- 
 fish. Those most commonly caught are the date-j~, 
 whose grubs find no difficulty in securing a lodg- 
 ing in the soft and spongy stone of the shore ; the 
 pinna marina \, of which some attain a very large 
 size, being more than two feet in length ; the 
 prickly oyster §, which they catch even within the 
 harbour; the Noah's ark||; some species of the 
 telline and trumpet-fish, &c. &c. : they likewise 
 sometimes find, though rarely, the nautilus pap- 
 racms ^[. 
 
 The strata of calcareous substances of the 
 islands of Malta and Gozzi, likewise produce 
 abundantly petrifactions and fossils, it were easy 
 to form ample collections of these. I have seen 
 there sea-urchins transformed to spar, very large 
 vermiculars, oolithes, pisolites, the vertebrae of 
 fishes of an enormous size, huge glossopetres, and 
 very beautiful crapaudincs. These two last fossils 
 
 * Sc amber alalunga pinnis fiector alibus lengissimis. Artec]. Gen. 
 Pise. 222. — Scomber pinnis pectoral i bus longissimis, Jiinnulis cauda 
 
 utrinque sefitem Scomber alalunga. Lin. Syst. Nat. See also 
 
 the Encyclop. method. Hist, des Poissons, art. alalunga. 
 
 •(• Plitlas dactylics. Lin. % Pinna nobilis. Lin. § Ostrea 
 
 varia. Lin. || Area Noa. Lin. • Argonauta argo. Lin. 
 
 pass
 
 74 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 pass with the common people for the tongues and 
 eyes of serpents, though assuredly there is no 
 great resemblance between them : these are, in 
 their apprehension, authentic and irresistible evi- 
 dence of the miraculous service which St. Paul 
 rendered to their island, by destroying all the 
 serpents. But this is not the only instance to 
 prove that, under the hand of ignorance, the 
 history of nature has become that of superstition.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 75 
 
 CHAP. Vf. 
 
 Meteorological observations — Galleys of Malta — 
 Political and philosophical glance at the Order of 
 Malta — Antiquities and idiom of the island of 
 Malta — Maltese dogs — Passage from Malta to the 
 island of Candia — Sailing birds — Arrival in Egypt, 
 
 During our stay in Malta, that is, for the 
 space of twelve days, the winds varied from north 
 to north-east, and prevented the sailing of all 
 vessels. It blew violently; the sea was in a dread- 
 ful state of agitation, and, what appeared very ex- 
 traordinary to the inhabitants, it rained incessantly. 
 They never have rain in the island at this season. 
 Persons worthy of credit declared, that for forty 
 years they had lived there, no rain had ever fallen 
 at the beginning of the month of June. Another 
 ground of surprise was, that these rains were ac- 
 companied by thunder-claps, though no such 
 thing is heard there in summer-time; whereas 
 they arc very frequent and very violent in winter. 
 
 This bad weather, which, at this season, passed 
 for a phenomenon, brought in the galleys of the 
 Order. A salute of fifteen guns from the Atalanta 
 signalized their entrance into port, and the gal- 
 ley
 
 76 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 ley of the general saluted with four. They were 
 manned, or rather embarrassed, with an incredible 
 number of hands; the general alone had eight 
 hundred men on board. They were superbly or- 
 namented ; gold blazed on the numerous basso- 
 relievos and sculptures on the stern ; enormous 
 sails, striped with blue and white, carried on their 
 middle a great cross of Malta painted red ; their 
 elegant flags floated majestically ; in a word, 
 every thing concurred, when they were under sail, 
 fo render it a magnificent spectacle, But their 
 construction was little adapted either for fighting 
 or for standing foul weather ; the Order kept them 
 up, rather as an image of its ancient splendour, 
 than for their utility ; it was one of those ancient 
 institutions which had once served to render the 
 brotherhood illustrious, but now only attested its 
 feebleness and decay. 
 
 It is well known that the hospitable brotherhood 
 of St. John of Jerusalem, on exchanging tliis modest 
 designation for that of knights, became rather a 
 military than a religious association. The series 
 of wars which they had to maintain against the 
 Mahometans, had trained them to habits of intre- 
 pidity. Their history is a brilliant succession of 
 military exploits; and, whether in giving way to 
 immense forces and efforts, they were under the 
 necessity of abandoning Rhodes, covered with the 
 4 glory
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 77 
 
 glory of having made a defence which may be 
 considered as a prod g) ; whether in braving, at 
 Malta, the fury and the valour of Soliman, they 
 fixed the boundary of the Ottoman career; we see 
 them displaying, on all occasions, that heroic cou- 
 rage and skill which transform a handful of men 
 into a might) army. 
 
 In order to keep alive this martial ardour, this 
 genius of battles and of victories, it was necessary 
 for them to maintain that observance of rules, those 
 forms of discipline, that austerity of manners, which 
 constitute the force and the permanency of all mi- 
 litarv establishments. But the indolence, or rather 
 the dejection of the Mussulmans, was the epoch of 
 relaxation in the institutions of the Order. They 
 Successively disused their exercises, frivolous in ap- 
 pear! nee but attention to which had formed a nur- 
 sery ot heroes; luxury assumed the place of the no- 
 ble simplicity of soldiers; idleness, and the corrup- 
 tive cohorts that march in her train, succeeded tothe 
 activity . to the almost severity of warlike exertion ; 
 the hard n< ss of camps retired before the cfFemi- 
 naev el < hies. The struggle between the knights 
 and Turks had now dwindled into a phantom, 
 ot which some pitiful expeditions of corsairs kept 
 up the shadow ; the caravans or cruises of the gal- 
 leys, were now nothing but parties of pleasure to 
 and from the delicious havens of Sicily ; the de- 
 fence
 
 '/8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 fence of those superb ramparts, the monuments of 
 the glory of the Order, and of their enemy's shame, 
 was confided to foreign and mercenary soldiers ; 
 and that social energy, which had made one of the 
 greatest empires of the universe to tremble, was no 
 longer exemplified, except in the sparks of cou- 
 rage occasionally struck from a few individuals. 
 
 A horde of priests environed the Order of Malta. 
 Every where ambitious and restless, more audacious 
 under a sky which, with its temperature, heated 
 the imagination, they bore with impatience the 
 yoke of the chevaliers. They had oftener than 
 once attempted to shake it off, by making use of 
 their favourite arts, perfidy, superstition, and false- 
 hood. Reckoning on relaxation of discipline and 
 improvidence, they had dared, not long before our 
 arrival, to take possession of one of the forts which 
 defend the very city. This unexpected stroke 
 roused nevertheless, for a moment, that ancient va- 
 lour, the exercise of which seemed to be lost. Fifty 
 knights, with the commander d'Anonville at their 
 head, carried the fort by escalade, and seized the 
 greatest part of the insurgents. This revolt is still 
 the subject of much conversation at Malta, and to 
 which the bishop of the island was no stranger. 
 
 The sovereignty, at the same time, exercised by 
 the Order of Malta, over the two little isles under 
 
 their
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 79 
 
 their jurisdiction, was by no means oppressive. If 
 the statelincss of some of its members presented a 
 singular contrast with their state of nothingness, 
 and of dissimilitude to their predecessors, it could 
 affect only the intolerant pride of priests. The 
 most useful class, that of husbandmen, was pro- 
 tected. It was called to recollection through what 
 efforts they succeeded in covering, with the riches 
 of fruitful seasons, a soil which nature seemed to 
 have condemned to barrenness ; the sweat of their 
 brow was respected, and they gathered in peace- 
 ably, free from participation as well as from im- 
 posts, the fruits of their labours. Prosperity can- 
 not but smile at an exercise of authority so rare. 
 
 It was undoubtedly a strange policy, that of a 
 perpetual declaration of war, of which difference 
 in religious opinions was the apparent motive : these 
 were, in reality, merely the pretext. Charles V. 
 in permitting the establishment of the knights of 
 St. John of Jerusalem, in the islands of Malta and 
 Gozzi, exacted of them alliance with him in this 
 state of constant hostility. But the propagation of 
 the Christian religion was far from being the object 
 which he had in view. The Turks had rendered 
 themselves at that time formidable; they had pushed 
 their conquests in a manner alarming to the powers 
 of Europe, and the monarch found, in an associa- 
 tion of warriors accustomed to make head against 
 
 the 
 
 i
 
 So TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the Mussulmans, a rampart capable of protecting 
 bis own possessions against their enterprises. 
 
 Other nations likewise knew how to avail them- 
 selves of the obligations which the Order of Malta 
 had contracted. France, in particular, derived 
 great advantages from them. Though, for many 
 years past, that Order had fallen from its ancient 
 grandeur, though its war with the Turks was now 
 nothing more than an empty bugbear ; though, in 
 a word, its actual hostilities, as I have said, were 
 reduced to the cruises of a few miserable privateers, 
 the Maltese name was so formidable in the Turkish 
 seas, that the appearance of the smallest felucca 
 carrying the flag of the Order was sufficient to dif- 
 fuse terror, and to prevent the ships of the country 
 from venturing out. All carriage of jroods, in seas 
 where commerce has much activity, was through 
 the medium of foreign bottoms. Marseilles, and 
 the small ports adjacent, sent into them annually 
 near five hundred. These vessels returned, at the 
 end of three yeats, during which their crews had 
 subsisted at the expense of the Orientalists, to en- 
 rich our ports with the piastres of the Levant, 
 and with about five thousand seamen, whom that 
 species of coasting trade had formed and inured to 
 the navigation of a sea extremely difficult and em- 
 barrassed with a labyrinth of islands and shallows, 
 hese commercial and maritime riches France 
 
 owed
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 8l 
 
 owed to the institution of the knights of Malta, 
 and, in this political view, she had an interest in 
 maintaining it. 
 
 But if politics be the philosophy of governments, 
 philosophy is, in its turn, the politics of humanity, 
 and she took pleasure in contemplating with a 
 lively interest, in this same institution, formed of 
 Various elements, the germ of concord among na- 
 tions. In truth, an association of men of almost all 
 the nations of Europe, selected, in general, from 
 amonjr those whom a liberal education rendered 
 susceptible of the honourable impressions of the 
 soul, and of just reasoning; constrained to live in 
 an island, where they were secluded from all so- 
 ciety but that of their companions, and from ail 
 pleasures but those which they enjoyed in com- 
 mon ; habituated to the same exercises, subjected 
 to the same regulations, to the same regimen ; such 
 an association, I say, was exceedingly well adapted 
 for softening down the disparates existing between 
 nation and nation, and for melting away the harsh 
 shades of their character. And when it is con- 
 sidered that the greatest part of these same men, 
 on returning to their several focuses, were destined 
 to the exercise of important employments, fre- 
 quently to fill great political stations ; when they 
 were all viewed as members of the families styled 
 illustrious and puisscmt t there is no possibility of 
 
 vol. i. g doubting
 
 82 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 doubting that, by themselves or by their influ- 
 ence, they should not frequently moderate the 
 hatred and vehemence of cabinets against the 
 compatriots of their comrades, of their friends. 
 These remote causes have, perhaps oftener than 
 once, stopped the rivulets of human blood, which 
 have but too often moistened and profaned the 
 earth ; and perhaps too they have prevented the 
 effusion, at the moment it was going to break 
 forth. It is thus that the Maltese fraternity, by a 
 slow but certain operation, would, probably, have 
 realized that delicious dream of philanthropy, 
 
 universal peace, 
 
 - 
 
 It is abundantly evident, and it answers no 
 purpose to make the remark, that these reflec- 
 tions, presented such as they struck me when on 
 the spot, could be of no weight but under the an- 
 cient order of things, that is, at the era of my 
 voyage : they have since ceased to exhibit the 
 same interest. The French republic, which* in 
 the space of a few years, has hurried through 
 ages of glory, has just superseded the existence o( 
 the Order ; it has looked down with disdain on 
 the advantages which that institution procured to 
 France, and the hope of concord of which it 
 opened a glimpse to the nations. Speculations 
 like these were too narrow for the immen- 
 sity of her power. Mistress of the Mediter- 
 ranean, 
 
 \
 
 AftD LOWER EGYPT. 8 J 
 
 ranean *, by means of the conquest of Malta and 
 Gozzi, she has extended her departments as far 
 
 * Witness the complete destruction of the Toulon fleet, by a 
 British squadron under Lord Nelson, off the Mouth of the Nile, 
 the istand2d of August 179S, an event well known in France 
 previous to the publication of M. Sonnini's Travels. Let the 
 following authentic list declare the state of French sovereignty" 
 in the Mediterranean, when this vain-glorious rodomontade was 
 issuing from the press at Paris : 
 
 FRENCH LINE OF BATTLE. 
 
 i. Le Guerrier, 
 
 2. Le Conquerant, 
 
 3. Le Spartiate, 
 
 4. L'Aquilon, 
 
 5. Le Souverain Peuple, 
 
 6. Le Franklin, 
 
 7. L'Orient, 
 
 8. Le Tonnant, 
 
 9. L'Heureux, 
 
 10. Le Timoleon, 
 
 1 1. Le Mercure, 
 
 12. Le Guillaume Tell, 
 12. Le Gcnereux, 
 
 74 guns, 
 74 guns, 
 
 74 guns, 
 
 74 £ uns > 
 74 guns, 
 
 14. La Diane, 
 
 15. La Justice, 
 
 16. L'Artemise, 
 ; 7. La Scrieuse, 
 
 700 men — Taken. 
 
 700 men — Taken. 
 
 700 men — Taken. 
 
 700 men — Taken. 
 
 700 men — Taken. 
 80 guns, Soo men — Taken. 
 120 guns, 10 10 men — Burnt. 
 80 guns, 800 men — Taken. 
 74 guns, 700 men — Taken. 
 74 guns, 700 men— Burnt. 
 74 guns, 700 men— Taken. 
 80 guns, 800 men — Escaped. 
 74 guns, 700 men — Escaped. 
 
 FRIC ATES. 
 
 48 guns, 300 men — Escaped. 
 
 44 guns, 300 men — Escaped. 
 
 36 guns, 250 men — Burnt. 
 
 36 guns, 250 men — Dismasted 
 
 and sunk. 
 London Gar.ettt Extraordinary, Oct. id, 1798. 
 
 " Mistress of the Mediterranean !" Witness the blockade of 
 the remainder of the naval force of France in the ports of the 
 Mediterranean, by a British squadron under Earl St, Vincent, 
 this 12th July 1799. " Let not him who putteth on his har- 
 " fiess, boast as he that taketh it off." (Bible..) — H. H. 
 
 G 2 as
 
 84 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 as the seas of the Levant, and thus appropriated 
 to herself the commerce of it ; while, by her inti- 
 mate alliances with the nations who can no longer 
 have an interest separate from hers, she has accom- 
 plished the great work of social order, the fraterni- 
 zation of mankind # . 
 
 Before the island ©f Malta became the domain 
 of the Brotherhood of St. John of Jerusalem, it 
 had passed successively into the hands of several 
 potentates. From the Carthaginians down to the 
 Arabs it underwent a frequent change of masters j 
 the vestiges of antiquity in it are accordingly not 
 few. There was printed at Malta itself, in 1794, 
 a work in Italian, on the subject of those ancient 
 remains, produced from researches made by 
 digging up the ground in 1788 -f\ 
 
 If certain persons are to be believed, the Maltese 
 language is still more ancient than most of the 
 ruins discovered thefe, though it has long passed 
 for an uncouth mixture of Arabic and Italian. A 
 learned gentleman of Malta, Antonio Vassali, has 
 
 * This, translated into the language of truth, means unlimited 
 rejection to the tyrannical rule of, they say, thirty millions of - 
 despots. — H. H. 
 
 •j- Degli Apanzi di alchuni antichissimi Edifici, scoperti in Mal- 
 ta; Dissertatione storica-criticadel March. Barbaro Archit. cofr 
 ^opiose Annotazione del medezimo Autore, 1 794, in 4to. Eg. 
 
 lately
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2$ 
 
 lately vindicated his nation from the imputation of 
 having no idiom peculiar to itself, and he demon- 
 strates that their language is entitled to rank with 
 the most copious living languages *. 
 
 There is rarely to be seen now in Malta, the 
 beautiful species of spaniel, with a long silky fleece, 
 which goes by the name of the dog of Malta, and is 
 different from the hip-dog, with which it has been 
 confounded in books of natural history. The 
 breed of these little dogs seems to be almost ex- 
 tinct even at Malta, for you seldom meet with 
 one. But it was easy to procure there puppies of 
 a beautiful species of pointers. This calls to my 
 recollection that I no where saw so many and such 
 beautiful terriers, as in the streets of Genoa. 
 
 The storm having spent itself, and the wind come 
 round, we left the port of Malta June 7th, 1777, 
 at three o'clock afternoon, and set sail for the island 
 of Candia. We had then in company a felucca, 
 of which M. Tott had made a purchase, for the 
 purpose of examining the coasts which the frigate 
 could not approach ; she was manned with Maltese 
 seamen. This was one of the ideas with which the 
 
 * Vocabulary of the Maltese Language, by Antonio Va^sali, 
 printed at Rome in 1796. See the Kncyclop. Mag. interesting 
 and valuable collection, Vol. IV. of the second year, p. 139. 
 
 g 3 somewhat
 
 86 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 somewhat whimsical imagination of M. Tott fre- 
 quently teemed : it was subjecting the navigation 
 of the frigate to a very unpleasant embarrassment, 
 the felucca not being able to sail at the same rate, 
 and totally unfit for encountering a gale of wind. 
 The captain soon tired of such a convoy, and I 
 have been informed that soon after he left Alex- 
 andria he staved and sunk her. 
 
 On the morning of the 8th, the weather being 
 extremely fine, and a light breeze from the north- 
 west, a bird of prey, which appeared to me to be a 
 male sparrow-hawk *, came and perched on the 
 yards of the frigate; we were from fourteen to fif- 
 teen leagues from all land. The sailors called him 
 a corsair, because he cruises to catch on their pas T 
 sage quails, and other migrant birds which cross 
 and re- cross those seas, a transit exposed to mani- 
 fold dangers. Sometimes precipitated into the bil- 
 lows by the impetuosity of the blast 5 sometimes 
 torn in pieces by the cruel pounces of cruisers 
 winged like themselves, those interesting and de- 
 fenceless creatures, on arriving upon the shores 
 which promised them repose, after so many dangers 
 and fatigues, rarely escape the death prepared for 
 them by man, the most voracious and the most 
 pitiless of all their enemies. 
 
 * Epervier, Hist. Nat. des, Ois — Fakonisus. Lin. 
 
 Our
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 8; 
 
 Our course lay eastward, and the wind soon came 
 <o blow from that quarter. It not only remained 
 contrary for two days, but likewise became very 
 violent, and agitated the sea to such a degree that 
 the ship laboured exceedingly. The bird, the fore- 
 runner of storms *, appeared in our wake, and we 
 prepared for what was hastening to overtake us. 
 
 On the 12th, with a clear sky, and our sails 
 filled with a favourable gale, we came in sight of 
 the island of Cerigo, the ancient Cythera, where 
 Venus landed when she arose out of the foam of 
 the ocean. Situated at the entrance of the Archi- 
 pelago of the Levant, that island actually consti- 
 tutes part of the French Republic, under the name 
 of the department of the Egean sea -f\ It befitted 
 the most amiable nation in the universe to possess 
 a spot which antiquity has consecrated to the love- 
 liest of goddesses. 
 
 We likewise discovered, at a small distance from 
 the department of the Egean sea, four parched 
 rocks, uninhabited, and cut perpendicularly : Ovo 
 (the egg), whose form is, in reality, abundantly 
 
 * L'Oiseau de itm^itC^—Jtrocellariapelagica, Lin. 
 
 f " Department of the Egean sea! ! !" What ridiculous re- 
 publican jargon ! " The most amiable of nations — the loveliest 
 " of goddesses ! ! !" and all this nonsense in a grave book of tra- 
 vels through Hgypt. — H. H. 
 
 e 4 similar
 
 TRAVELS IN UPPEB 
 
 similar to that of an egg ; the two Couffes, which 
 are a tolerable representation of the species of 
 panniers that go by that name in the commerce of 
 the Levant ; finally the Cerigotle, or little Cerigo. 
 On the 13th we dropped anchor in the deep bay 
 of Suda, in the isle of Candia. 
 
 The day after our departure from Malta, the 
 very day that a hawk perched on the frigate's sail- 
 yards, two other birds, a little gray sparrow *, and 
 a yellow wagtail \, likewise alighted on the rig- 
 ging. But less in a condition to support the fa- 
 tigue of a long flight, they suffered themselves to 
 be caught. As their size did not promise a great 
 repast to the appetite of the glutton, 1 prevailed so 
 far as to have them committed to my care. I car- 
 ried them into the great cabin, and there, after 
 having lavished caresses on them, which their state 
 of disquiet permitted them not to feel, I set them, 
 at liberty. Whether they had a presentiment of 
 the tempest which attacked us the day after, whe- 
 ther that, discovering no land, they were afraid to 
 venture themselves on a boundless sea, after a few 
 moments of uncertain flight, they re-entered by 
 the same window from which I had let them go. 
 From that moment they quitted not the great 
 
 * Passerinette, or little sparrow. B u Ton, Hist. Nat. des Ois, 
 & pi. enlum. No. 579, fig. 2. Motacilla passerina. Lin. 
 f Motacilla baarula. Lin. 
 
 cabin ;
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 8p 
 
 cabin; and if, terrified by any extraordinary noise, 
 they flew out by one of the poop-windows, or by 
 a port- hole, they returned presently some other 
 way. Though of different species, they lived on 
 the best terms with each other; the? hopped about 
 merrily on those terrible machines which hurl from 
 afar thunder and death ; nay, on a cannon was 
 placed their little portion of fresh water and their 
 crumb of bread ; this was likewise their place of 
 repose. Their confidence became complete: they 
 fluttered around a daily and somewhat noisy table 
 of twenty persons; and these lovely guests cheered 
 with their warblings, and by their lively and grace- 
 ful movements, a habitation so dry and so mono- 
 tonous. On our approach to the coast of the isle 
 of Candia, our pretty and interesting navigators 
 were eager to take their flight thither, and with- 
 drew from us, regaling our ears with airy whist- 
 lings, the sweet accents expressive of their joy, 
 perhaps of their gratitude. Charming birds ! you 
 forsook a mansion of dulness and insipidity to 
 which you communicated an appearance of life, 
 and you went to animate enchanting groves al- 
 ready embellished by all llie bounties of indulgent 
 nature. May you long remain there a testimony 
 of your prosperous voyage, ana ihere recollect, that 
 amidst the horror of tempest, and of billows in a 
 rage; that amongst men whom the necessity of 
 brajvinc;, night and day, dangers incessant, seemed 
 
 to
 
 90 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 to render little susceptible of the gentler affections 
 of the soul, you met with beings sensible and com- 
 passionate, 
 
 I had occasion to return twice afterwards to an- 
 cient Crete : the observations which I made there, 
 will naturally find their place in my Travels through 
 Greece, which will immediately follow the present 
 publication. On the other hand, the pages of my 
 journal, which contained the passage from the bay 
 to Suda to Alexandria, are lost ; but I recollect 
 perfectly, that they contained no detail of much 
 importance, We made a short stop at Paleo- 
 Castro, on cape Solomon, the easternmost point 
 of the isle of Candia. This is a region destitute of 
 every species of habitation, except the huts of 
 shepherds. The sight of a ship of war, accom- 
 panied by a felucca, made us pass, in the imagi^ 
 nation of those harmless swains, for a Maltese 
 armament ; they took to flight with their flocks 
 into the interior of the island, and abandoned to 
 us a coast which our very appearance had in an 
 instant converted into a desert. It did not require 
 much time to waft us to Alexandria, and a few 
 days were sufficient to convey us to the low an$ 
 gandy shores of Egypt.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 9 1 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Deserts of Libya — Coasts of Egypt — Towers of the 
 Arabs — Landing at Alexandria — Its forts — Its 
 commerce — Glimpse of the city of Alexandria. 
 
 When in going before the wind eastward, in 
 sight of the coast of Africa, you have passed 
 Derna *, where vessels loaded by the Turks some- 
 times stop, there remains, up to Alexandria, a long 
 extent of shore entirely unknown. It is in the 
 midst of those burning plains of Libya, a domain 
 never to be rescued from sterility, that we are to 
 look for the western boundaries of Egypt ; boun- 
 daries left undetermined from the remotest an- 
 tiquity. Disputes had arisen between the two co- 
 lonies settled on the banks of the lake Mareotis, 
 now dried up, respecting the confines of Egypt 
 and Libya ; they consulted the oracle of Jupiter- 
 Ammon ; his decision was, as Herodotus relates, 
 that all the country which the Nile inundated, by 
 its overflowing, should belong to the former of 
 these two countries ; a very uncertain line of de- 
 markation, as it depended on the greater or less 
 degree of labour and industry employed to convey 
 the waters of the river to different distances. Of 
 
 * Probably tlie Den his extrema of Strabo and Ptolomy. 
 
 what
 
 92 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 what importance is it, after all, to make an exact 
 division of those sandy heaps, those immense, 
 blanks on the habitable globe, and which no na- 
 tion can have an interest to parcel out, as no man 
 can possibly convert them into a habitation ? 
 
 But if those shores present nothing attractive to 
 commerce or to curiosity, they oppose tremendous 
 risks to navigation. Scarcely raised above the level 
 of the sea, they are uot perceptible at any distance. 
 A vessel with this coast on her lee, under a wind 
 blowing in-shore, in that prodigious bay laid down 
 in our geographical charts under the name of the 
 Gulf of the Arabs } has no shelter to expect ; no 
 port, no road opens to her a safe retreat ; and if it 
 be impossible for her to brave the impetuosity of 
 the winds and waves which are driving her toward 
 the land, she must be lost. There is no confidence 
 to be placed in the assertion of certain Arabs who 
 indicated to me, in the gulf which bears their 
 name, three ports, one of which thej represented 
 as affording excellent anchorage, and which they 
 called Port Sotiman. It would be madness in na- 
 vigators to expose themselves, on the faith of in- 
 formation so very problematical ; and on the sup- 
 position that they might, in reality, have the good 
 fortune, in desperate situations, to find some re- 
 fuge there, they would run an incredible risk, un- 
 less their ships were better armed than most of 
 
 those
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. $$ 
 
 those which cover the seas of the Levant, of a to- 
 tal loss, in a region abandoned to the pillage of 
 Africans. 
 
 To make the land of Alexandria is likewise at- 
 tended with difficulty and danger : this part of 
 Egypt is so low, that much circumspection is re- 
 quisite toward a safe approach to it. If your course 
 is from the Libyan side, that is, from the west, the 
 first indication of the land of Egypt is Abousir f 
 called by Europeans, the Towers of the Arabs. 
 These are two eminences, on each of which a 
 tower is constructed. They are distinguishable at 
 sea four leagues off. One of these towers is round, 
 the other square. At least this is the appearance 
 which they presented to my eye, on viewing them 
 from the offing. It would appear, nevertheless, 
 that their forms are different from what I supposed 
 them at a distance ; for Granger, who seems to 
 have made a survey of the edifices, describes them 
 differently * That 
 
 * u On the western extremity of this lake (Mareotis), is to 
 <l be seen the tower of the Arabs, called, by the people of the 
 >l country, the castle of Abousir. It is indeed a square tower, 
 " fourscore feet high, the faces of which arc each two' hun- 
 " dred and fifty feet broad ; built of very beautiful hewn stone ; 
 " the walls are fourteen feet thick. At the distance of a 
 " quarter of a league from this castle, there is a tower, square 
 M below, and the upper part round ; and, six leagues from 
 " thence, still to the westward, th«re is aaother, on the walls ot 
 
 "which
 
 94 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 That part of the coast of Egypt which is situ- 
 ated to the east of Alexandria, is easily distin- 
 guishable from that to the westward. It is not so 
 low, and is intersected by more inequalities ; nei- 
 ther is it quite so naked : some traces of cultiva- 
 tion are discernible, some date-trees and human 
 habitations. In a word, it is a sure sign that you 
 are in the direction of Alexandria, when you get 
 sight of Pompey's pillar, and, previous to that, of 
 two little rising grounds, which are behind the 
 present city, and within the precincts of the old. 
 But from whatever quarter you approach those 
 dangerous shores, it is impossible to employ too 
 much circumspection, because all these indications 
 are not visible at any great distance, and because 
 the currents get hold of ships, and carry them to- 
 wards Africa with a rapidity which it is easier to 
 foresee than to calculate. 
 
 Two ports, equally spacious, present themselves 
 to vessels intending to cast anchor close to Alex- 
 andria. The one, which is to the westward of the 
 city, is called the old harbour : its entrance is 
 somewhat difficult, on account of two shallows, 
 which leave but a narrow channel between them ; 
 but its interior is a deep bason, where there is good 
 
 •' which are to be seen the remains of an Arabic inscription, 
 
 " All these edifices are fallen into ruins."— Granger, Relation of 
 
 a Voyage to Egypt in 1 730, page 221. 
 
 anchorage
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 95 
 
 anchorage and shelter in the worst of weather. 
 The other, which is to the east, and separated from 
 the former by a peninsula of no great breadth, has 
 got the name of new harbour ; it has but a small 
 depth of water ; it is encumbered with a multitude 
 of rocks and shelfs, and is entirely exposed to the 
 north winds. If, notwithstanding, any one were 
 to imagine that this last port is almost entirely neg- 
 lected, he would deceive himself. Fanaticism, in 
 this case, carried the day against a rational and in- 
 telligent regard to interest. While the Alexan- 
 drians cheerfully associated with the nations of 
 Europe in commercial operations, they refused to 
 European vessels the means of maintaining, with- 
 out risk, an intercourse from which they derived 
 so many advantages. The vessels of the disciples 
 of Mahomet alone were permitted to enter the old 
 harbour; and, were the ships of other nations to 
 be wrecked, for want of a safe retreat, they had 
 not the power of penetrating into a sanctuary so 
 absurdly and so impolitically privileged. 
 
 At the entrance of new harbour is a shelf called 
 the Dia?nond. It is necessary to steer very close to 
 it, in order to escape the shallows which are on the 
 other side, and which, covered only with a few 
 feet water, are but the more dangerous. The 
 D'wrmnd t as well as the rocks adjacent on a level 
 
 with
 
 96 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 with the water, may probably be part of the ruins 
 of the ancient Pharos ; so that in modern times 
 vessels are shipwrecked on the fragments of the 
 noblest monument that ever was reared for their 
 preservation. 
 
 The sandy bottom of new harbour is filled with 
 rocks and rubbish ; and this humid field of ruin 
 frequently becomes that of the most horrible deso- 
 lation. Cables are worn and cut to pieces by con- 
 tinual friction on the stones. Ships pressing; on 
 each other in one line of direction along the ridge, 
 are hardly able to resist the violence of the north 
 wind, and the fury of the billows which it raises, 
 especially in the winter-time, that is, during the 
 months of November, December, and January* 
 the period when the air is a little cooled by the 
 'rains and stormy gales. On the approach of those 
 tempests, the crews desert their ships, for fear of 
 being dashed in pieces with them on the merciless 
 shore. The first ship whose cables give way falls 
 upon her next neighbour, and forces her from 
 her moorings ; the two together are driven with 
 increased violence upon a third, which is incapa- 
 ble of withstanding the increased shock, and, in an 
 instant, the whole series is confounded, crashed to 
 fragments, swallowed up. Scarcely a year passes at 
 Alexandria, without exhibiting disasters of this 
 
 sort,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 97 
 
 sort, which would be sufficient to render its port 
 unfrequented, could the love of gain be discou- 
 raged by dangers. 
 
 Ships of war, which require a depth of water, 
 are under the necessity of mooring as soon as they 
 have doubled the Diamond and the two shallows, 
 that is, just in the mouth of the harbour. The 
 frigate Atalanta passed above a month in this situ- 
 ation, violently strained by a continual rolling ; a 
 most uncomfortable position, which, however, I 
 preferred sharing with my friends to a settlement 
 on shore, though I had it in my power, as ir was 
 my destination to remain in Egypt. This abomi- 
 nable harbour is still more rocky to the ea-.t It is 
 unapproachable to any thing deserving the name 
 of a ship, and landing is impracticable. We en- 
 deavoured, to no purpose, to get on shore in a 
 small boat, with a design to take a view of the 
 obelisks which are on that side. It was well we 
 did not perish by the violent and repeated strokes 
 which the boat suffered on the stones from the 
 agitation of the water. 
 
 The harbour, detestable as it is, nevertheless sel- 
 dom fails to be crowded with ships. The perpe- 
 tual movement in it indicates the restlessness of 
 commerce. Here the riches of Asia and Africa are 
 loaded for the ports ot Europe, and here arc un- 
 
 vol. i. h loaded
 
 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 loaded the productions of European arts and ma- 
 nufacture. A geographical position of sue!) high 
 importance could not escape the genius of Alex- 
 ander. Amidst the rapidity of his conquests he per- 
 ceived, that in this place might be erected the the- 
 atre of mutual communication with all nations, 
 and suddenly he presented Alexandria to the ad- 
 miration and to the commerce of mankind. Dino- 
 crates had traced the plan of it under the eyes of 
 Alexander, and superintended the execution of it. 
 He was one of those men of vast and bold concep- 
 tions, whom Nature is frugal in shewing to the 
 world. History has transmitted to us a remark- 
 able and characteristic trait of his genius. With 
 a design to perpetuate the name and glory of the 
 greatest of conquerors, by a monument that should 
 last for ever, he had proposed to consecrate to this 
 purpose a part of the globe itself; by cutting an 
 enormous mountain, Mount Athos, into a statue of 
 him that should never be removed, having: the solid 
 earth for its basis ; a work that must have effaced 
 all the prodigies which even Egypt has produced. 
 Sublime idea ! It renders the artist worthy of rank- 
 ing with his hero. 
 
 With an Alexander to order the plan of a city, 
 and a Dinocrates to carry it into execution, some 
 conception may be formed how grand and mag- 
 nificent this city must have been. The kings of 
 
 Egypt
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 99 
 
 Egypt farther embellished it by admirable establish- 
 ments, the loss of which must excite regret. Under 
 the reign of one of the Ptolemies, Sostrates, ano- 
 ther architect of Cnidus, constructed a pharos, 
 which the ancients reckoned among the seven 
 wonders of the universe. Another king founded an 
 immense library. Alexandria, in a word, became 
 the centre of science and riches: it was the spot 
 of the globe where commerce flourished to the 
 greatest extent. Joseph us assures us, that it con- 
 tributed more to the Roman treasury in a month, 
 than all the rest of Egypt did in a year. The use- 
 ful and the agreeable arts were there cultivated 
 with similar success. Luxury crept in, and soon 
 attained its full height ; lively and brilliant plea- 
 sures degenerated into licentiousness : fastidious- 
 ness in delicacies became proverbial ; morals were 
 corrupted, and Alexandria was undone. A ter- 
 rible example, but constantly thrown away upon 
 the nations. 
 
 I shall not undertake to give a description of 
 that renowned city of Alexander. Many others, 
 without my aid, have endeavoured to execute that 
 task. Besides, details of this kind belong to the 
 province of History, and I must not forget that a 
 traveller is to give an account of what he has seen, 
 and not of what he has read. Monuments which 
 once promised to brave the attacks of time, have 
 
 h 2 crumbled
 
 IOO TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 crumbled into dust with the city which they were 
 reared to decorate : the flames which ferocity and 
 ignorance directed have devoured the library of 
 the Ptolemies : the pharos is buried under the 
 waters of the sea, and the tower which, in mo- 
 dern times, serves as a lighthouse, docs not so much 
 as indicate the spot where it stood. Modern Alex- 
 andria occupies only a very small part of the 
 ground encompassed by the city which Alexander 
 raised ; it is merely a city, or rather a town, of 
 yesterday, containing nothing of the ancient city 
 but a few scattered fragments. The character of 
 the inhabitants, the state of science, of the arts, of 
 commerce itself, in short, every thing is narrowed ; 
 and if the mind were not supported by feeding on 
 the remains of a city once so superb, no one could 
 have the courage to speak a word of that which 
 now is.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. IOI 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Modern Alexandria — Its inhabitants — Jews — Spirit 
 of revenge — Assassination of the Consul of Alex- 
 andria, and of a Dutchman — Language — Ruins. 
 
 I must advertise the reader, that having sojourned 
 oftener than once at Alexandria, I shall present 
 ray observations in a regular series, though made 
 at different eras. I shall quit therefore, for a few 
 moments, the form of the relation, and shall de- 
 scribe, by a single stroke, what I saw there at se- 
 veral intervals, and without restricting myself to 
 the order of the dates of my several remarks. I 
 shall observe the same rule, which appeared to me 
 more natural, and more commodious to the public, 
 when I have to speak of any other object which I 
 may have visited at different times. 
 
 " To write on the subject of the city of Alex- 
 <c andria minutely, after so many great personages," 
 Mys an excellent observer who travelled in Egypt 
 in the reign of Francis I. '* would be only to say 
 " the same thing over again *." Since the era at 
 which Beilon wrote, many authors, among whom 
 may be reckoned more than one great personage, have 
 
 * Beilon, Observ. book ii. ch. 19. 
 
 h 3 given
 
 102 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 given a description of the remains of that celebrated 
 city, and it is not possible, at present, to avoid re- 
 petitions. But, without mentioning some new ob- 
 servations with which the remains of ancient 
 Alexandria have furnished me, the curiosity of 
 those who may be disposed to read my book 
 would be little gratified, and their expectation 
 would be disappointed, if, in order to make them 
 acquainted with what still exists in regions of such 
 high renown, I should refer them to any other 
 books besides my own. Besides, I shall speak 
 only of objects which I have personally examined. 
 
 The latitude of Alexandria has been laid down, 
 by ancient astronomers, with sufficient accuracy. 
 P-olemy, who was himself an Egyptian, had placed 
 it, in his Geography, in 31° of north latitude, and 
 in ,30° 50' in his Almageste. Eratosthenes, more 
 exact, fixed it at 31 12', which comes extremely 
 n ar the observations of modern astronomers, to 
 whom the progress of the science, with the assist- 
 ance of better instruments, procured superior ad- 
 vantages. It has been determined by Chazelle, 
 of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, to be in 
 30 11' 20". Its longitude is 47 56' 33^. 
 
 The new city, or rather the town of Alexandria, 
 is built, the greatest part of it at least, on the brink 
 of the sea. Its houses, like all those of the Levant, 
 
 have
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. IO3 
 
 have flat terrace roofs : they have no windows, 
 and the apertures which supply their place are al- 
 most entirely obstructed by a wooden lattice pro- 
 jecting, of various form, and so close, that the light 
 can hardly force a passage. In those countries, 
 more than any where else, such inventions, which 
 transform a mansion into a prison, are real jalousies 
 (jealousies, window-blinds). It is through this 
 grate of iron or wood, sometimes of elegant con- 
 struction, that beauty is permitted to see what is 
 passing without, but eternally deprived of the pri- 
 vilege of being seen ; it is in this state of hopeless 
 seclusion that, far from receiving the homage which 
 nature demands to be paid to it by every being 
 possessed of sensibility, it meets only contempt 
 and outrage ; it is there, in a word, that one part 
 of the human race, abusing the odious right of the 
 more powerful, retains in degrading servitude the 
 other part, whose charms alone ought to have had 
 the power to soften both the ruggedness of the soil 
 and the ferocity of their tyrants. 
 
 Narrow and awkwardly disposed streets are with- 
 out pavement as without police; no public edifice, 
 no private building arrests the eye of the traveller, 
 and, on the supposition that the fragments of the 
 old city liad not attracted his attention, he would 
 find no object in the present one that could supply 
 
 n 4 matter 

 
 1 04 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 matter for a moment's thought. Turks, Arabians, 
 Barbaresques, Cophts, Christians of Syria, Jews, 
 constituted a population which may be estimated at 
 five thousand, as far as an estimation can be made 
 in a country where there is no register kept of any 
 thing. Commerce attracts thither besides, from all 
 the countries of the East, strangers whose residence 
 is extremely transient. This motley assemblage ot' 
 the men of different nations, jealous of, and almost 
 always hostile to each other, would present to the 
 eye of the observer a singular mixture of customs, 
 manners, and dress, if a resort of thieves and rob- 
 bers could repay the trouble of observation. 
 
 You see them crowd on each other in the streets, 
 running rather than walking: they likewise bawl 
 rather than speak. I have frequently stopped to 
 consider some persons who had all the appearance 
 of being agitated by violent rage : they gave to 
 their voice all the intensity which a broad and 
 brawny chest could supply ; their physiognomy 
 wore all the traits of passion ; their eyes sparkled ; 
 violent gestures accompanied modes of expression 
 which seemed still more violent. I approached 
 them under the apprehension that they were going 
 instantly to cut each others throats, and was asto- 
 nished to learn that they were only driving some 
 petty bargain, that not a word was of a threatening 
 4 complexion ;
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. IO5 
 
 Complexion ; that their exterior alone was in mo- 
 tion ; that, in a word, all this vehemence was only 
 their usual mode of buying and selling. 
 
 This custom of giving to the voice the most 
 powerful inflection of which it is capable, in speak- 
 ing, is common to almost all the eastern nations, 
 the Turks excepted, whose habits and deportment 
 are more grave and composed *. There is no per- 
 son amongst us but who must have remarked that 
 the Jews, that nation which has contrived to pre- 
 serve its own character and usages, in the midst of 
 other nations among whom they have been dis- 
 persed, likewise speak extremely loud, particularly 
 to one another. If you except a few individuals of 
 them, whose constraint, in an affected imitation of 
 our manners, sufficiently evinces that they are not 
 natural to them, you see them likewise, when they 
 march through our streets, with the body stooping 
 forward, and without bending the knee, taking 
 short but brisk and hurried steps, which come 
 nearer to running than the usual process of walk- 
 ing. They arc found again in Egypt, where they 
 live in a state of abjection still greater than else- 
 
 * " The Hindoos speak in a very loud tone of voice, which 
 " appeared to me disagreeable, till habit, which reconciles us to 
 " every thing, rendered it familiar to me." Letter cf a gentle- 
 man who passed several years in the military service of the Eng- 
 lish East India Company at Bombay, inserted into Voyages in 
 Europe, Asia, and Africa, by Mackintosh, vol. i. 
 
 where,
 
 I06 TRAVELS rN UPPER 
 
 4 
 
 where, such as we know them to be, avaricious, 
 dexterous, insinuating, and low cheaters. Their 
 depredations are not like those of the Bedouins and 
 the other thieves of Egypt, neither committed with 
 manly intrepidity, nor with open violence : they 
 are, as in Europe, ingenious sharping tricks, offi- 
 cious over-reachings, which fill their own purse, 
 and, without making a noise, empty that of their 
 neighbour. Such are the Jews wherever I have 
 met with them ; in all places their indelible vices 
 of character appear, so long as they persist in keep- 
 ing within the line which they have drawn be- 
 tween themselves and other nations ; it is likewise 
 observable, that in all places they practise the same 
 methods, the same craft, the same knavery, the 
 real plagues of social order ; in a word, that same 
 insensibility, that same ingratitude, with which 
 they have recently repaid the generosity and mag- 
 nanimity of the French nation. 
 
 Some Jewesses of Alexandria had, during my 
 residence there, opened their houses for the recep- 
 tion of Europeans ; they were deficient neither in 
 beauty nor wit : their society was by no means 
 without its allurements, and if there was ground 
 to accuse them of rather an immoderate appetite 
 for filthy lucre, the distinctive characteristic of the 
 male part of their nation, their imposition was at 
 least more palatable, their deceptions less pro- 
 voking,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 107 
 
 yoking, and it was no difficult matter to forgive 
 them. 
 
 It is abundantly obvious of what excesses men 
 are capable, who, in the most ordinary transactions, 
 display the symptoms of fury. When their soul is 
 elevated, when it partakes of the impetuous move- 
 ments of the body, they disdain all restraint. Like 
 an overbearing torrent, which strikes terror at once 
 by iis noise, and by the ravages which it commits, 
 they abandon themselves to all the vehemence of 
 passion ; then it is they really approximate to the 
 savage animals which come to dispute with them 
 the possession of the sands which they are equally 
 eaacr and intelligent to stain with blood. Hence 
 the insurrections, the tumultuous riots by which 
 Europeans have often suffered so severely. It is 
 worthy of being remarked, that this irritable cha- 
 ra< ter, th s proneness to sedition, likewise was, 
 though with less rage, that of the ancient inhabit- 
 ants of Alexandria. 
 
 If there he altars dedicated to the demon of re- 
 venge, in Egypt undoubtedly are the temples 
 which contain them : there she is the goddess, or 
 rather the tyrant of the human heart. Not only 
 the generality of the men, whose combination con- 
 stituted the mass of the inhabitants, never forgive, 
 but, however signal the reparation made, they 
 
 never
 
 IOS TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 never rest satisfied till they have themselves dipped 
 their hands in the blood of the person whom they 
 have declared to be their enemy. Though they 
 smother resentment long, and dissemble till they 
 find a favourable opportunity to glut it, the effects 
 are not the less terrible : they are not for that more 
 conformable to the principles of reason. If a Eu- 
 ropean, or, to use their term, a Franc, has pro- 
 voked their animosity, they let it fall without dis- 
 crimination on the head of a European, without 
 troubling themselves to inquire whether the party 
 were the relation, the friend, or even the compa- 
 triot of the person from whom they received the 
 offence : thus they purge their resentment of the 
 only pretext which could plead its excuse, and 
 their vengeance is downright atrocity. 
 
 Alexandria was still ringing, at the time of my 
 arrival at that city, with the noise of an assassina- 
 tion committed, a few years before, on the person 
 of the representative of the French nation in that 
 port *. A French hair-dresser was taking the di- 
 version of shooting in the environs of the town ; 
 an Arab picked a quarrel with him, which unfor* 
 Innately terminated in his discharging his piece at 
 
 * Citizen Volney has related this anecdote in his Travels 
 through Egypt and Syria. Our accounts do not perfectly agree. 
 I fdve the fact as I had it from eve-witnesses, and whose recol- 
 lection of it was still fresh. 
 
 the
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. IO9 
 
 the Arab, and killing him. This murder was pre- 
 sently noised abroad. The people took fire, and, 
 in their transport, resolved to sacrifice every Euro- 
 pean they could lay hold of. Their fury was with 
 no little difficulty appeased, by delivering up the 
 murderer to them, whom they hanged in the pub- 
 lic square ; but an Arab, the brother of him who 
 was killed, though a witness of the execution, did 
 not think himself sufficiently revenged ; he bound 
 himself by an oath to sacrifice the first Franc he 
 should meet to the manes of his brother. 
 
 All Europeansconfined themselves to their homes 
 for three whole months, in hope that the wrath of 
 this man would subside. At the expiration of that 
 period, and on information sufficient to set their 
 minds at rest, they believed it safe to go abroad. 
 For eight days they appeared as usual, in the city 
 and in the country, and no one had been in the 
 least molested. The consul had not hitherto dared 
 to shew himself: at length he thought that he too 
 might take the air, without running any risk. He 
 went to walk with a janisary of his guard on the 
 bank of the canal. Unfortunately for him, the 
 Arab, who, with the sentiment of revenge carefully 
 treasured up in his heart, went constantly armed 
 with a determination to gratify it, happened to be 
 in the same quarter. He approached the French- 
 man, who was under no manner of apprehension, 
 
 and,
 
 1IO TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 and, dastardly as cruel, brought him down to the 
 ground by a gun-shot fired through his ba< k. 
 Thejanisary, instead of taking vengeance on ihe 
 assassin, or at least of assisting the man whom it was 
 his duty to protect, tied off as fast as his heels 
 could carry him, and the unfortunate consul died 
 of the wound a few hours after. The French 
 merchants dispatched a fast-sailing boat to Con- 
 stantinople, todemand justice. The Ottoman Porte 
 sent officers with strict and severe orders on the 
 subject ; but these orders, at first evaded, remained 
 finally unexecuted. The villain did not so much 
 as quit the city, but shewed himself openly with 
 impunity. The merchants were under the neces- 
 sity of concealing their resentments for the sake of 
 their own safety ; and, beside the affront offered to 
 the French nation by the unpunished assassination 
 of her delegate, the national commerce had to re- 
 gret the expenditure of considerable sums, fruit- 
 lessly laid out in demanding a just reparation. 
 
 Events of this kind, unhappily, were not suffi- 
 ciently rare to ensure the tranquillity of those who 
 were obliged to live in Egypt, and in some parts of 
 Syria, where the people, beside their vicinity, have 
 a considerable resemblance to those of Egypt. To- 
 ward the end of October, 1 73 1 , the Dutch drog- 
 man or interpreter at Aleppo, was walking for 
 amusement with his consul. The peasants of a 
 
 village
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. Ill 
 
 village adjacent thought proper to accuse him of 
 having occasioned the death of a young man who 
 had drowned himself, and whose body they were 
 dragging out of the water. An accusation so ab- 
 surd was supported by the whole village. The cry 
 for vengeance was universal. They sent a deputa- 
 tion to the Pacha of Aleppo, demanding that the 
 Dutchman might be given up to them. The go- 
 vernor refused. The villagers stirred up the popu- 
 lace of Aleppo. A formidable mob threatened to 
 set fire to the city, and to massacre all the Francs, 
 unless the drogman, who had fled for refuge to the 
 Pacha's palace, was delivered up to them. That 
 officer, though perfectly convinced of the Dutch- 
 man's innocence, was obliged, in order to prevent 
 the most dreadful outrages, to order the ill-fated 
 European to be strangled, and his body to be given 
 to the mutineers, who hanged it up on a tree. 
 
 The picture which I have just presented of the 
 manncrs of the inhabitants of modern Alexandria, 
 gloomy as it may be, is by no means overcharged. 
 I have painted them such as I have seen them, I 
 might appeal, in support of what 1 have said, to 
 the testimony of the most respectable travellers, and 
 especially to that of the Europeans whom public 
 employments, commercial speculations, or curio- 
 sity, may have induced to reside any length of time 
 
 at
 
 112 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 at Alexandria, and who have been the witnesses i 
 perhaps the victims, of this character of ferocity. 
 If, on the entrance of a victorious army, they knew 
 how to assume the appearance of good people, it 
 is not to be wondered at. The cruellest of men is 
 commonly the most abject : he has no valour, un- 
 less when he is sure of being the stronger ; he fawns 
 the moment he feels himself weak ; but he retains 
 his character of perfidy and treason, and those arms 
 of grovelling souls he will certainly employ, as 
 often as he thinks he can pass undiscovered. 
 
 The Arabic is the language generally spoken at 
 Alexandria, as well as all over Egypt. But most 
 of the Alexandrians, those in particular whom com- 
 mercial intercourse brings into contact with the 
 merchants of Europe, speak likewise the Italian, 
 adopted in the ports of the Levant. The Moresco 
 or lingua Franca is likewise spoken there ; it is a 
 compound of bad Italian. Spanish, and Arabic. A 
 stranger could, more easily there than any where 
 else, provide himself with domestics, who, if they 
 were not of approved fidelity, had at least the fa- 
 cility of making themselves understood by persons 
 not well versed in the Arabic. A Serdar, an offi- 
 cer of no great consideration, had the command 
 there, and his power did not always extend so far 
 as to overawe an ungovernable populace. 
 
 A wide
 
 AI-'D LOWER EGYPT. II3 
 
 A wide extent of sand and dust, sn accumula- 
 tion of rubbish, was an abode worthy of the co- 
 lony of Alexandria, and every day they were la- 
 bouring hard to increase the horror of it. Co- 
 lumns subverted and scattered about ; a few others 
 still upright, but isolated ; mutilated statues, ca- 
 pitals, entablatures, fragments of every species 
 overspread the ground with which it is surround- 
 ed. It is impossible to advance a step, without 
 kicking, if I may use the expression, against some 
 of those wrecks. It is the hideous theatre of de- 
 struction the most horrible. The soul is sadden- 
 ed, on contemplating those remains of grandeur 
 and magnificence, and is roused into indignation 
 against the barbarians who dared to apply a sacri- 
 legious hand to monuments which time, the most 
 pitiless of devourers, would have respected, 
 
 vol. 1.
 
 114 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Enclosure of Alexandria by the Arabs — Cleopatra s 
 needles — Cleopatra — Palace of the kings of Egypt 
 — Pompey's column. 
 
 The enclosure of the city of Alexandria, once so 
 vast, being several leagues in circumference, and 
 containing near a million of inhabitants, had been 
 contracted by the Arabs on their invasion of it. It 
 is this new enclosure, formed of a hundred arched 
 towers and solid walls, which encompasses modern 
 Alexandria, the state of which, as we have seen 
 in the preceding chapter, was so deplorable. But, 
 too small for a zone of such extent, the existing 
 city is far from occupying the whole interior of it : 
 it is separated from the precinct by prodigious in- 
 tervals, which present only the image of the most 
 complete devastation, of piles of rubbish, and of 
 wreck scattered about. Some authors pretend 
 that these are the very walls which Alexander had 
 ordered to be built. This opinion, long ago 
 abandoned, has of late been revived by M. 
 Tott * ; but their architecture has nothing similar 
 to that of the Greeks or of the Romans ; it is 
 evidently in the style of the Arabs, *nd of the 
 
 * Memoirs of the Baron de Tott, vol. ii. p. 180. 
 
 same
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1 1 5 
 
 same kind with that of the walls of Cairo, which 
 were incontesiably built by them. The columns, 
 and other fragments of monuments really antique, 
 employed in building them, prove, beyond the 
 power of contradiction, that their construction is 
 more modern ; and the inscriptions in Arabic and 
 Kufique characters, with which the towers are 
 charged in several places, leave no doubt with re- 
 spect to their origin. It never was called in ques- 
 tion by the greatest part of travellers, of whom I 
 shall satisfy myself with quoting one, the learned 
 Pocock, whose researches into antiquity are, of all 
 others, the most profound. " It was," says he? 
 " in the year 600 of the Hegira, answering to the 
 " year 12 12 of the Christian era, that one of the 
 a successors of Saladin, who had just taken Egypt 
 " out of the hands of the caliphs of the race of 
 a Fatima, ordered the walls of modern Alexandria 
 " to be reared : he employed in this work, which 
 " is two French leagues in circumference, the 
 " wreck of the ancient city. The walls, and the 
 " hundred towers which flank them, are composed 
 " of fragments of marble and broken columns, 
 <( confounded with common stones *." 
 
 The thick walls, and the hundred towers with 
 which they arc flanked, embrace only, as we see 
 from this quotation, a circuit of about two leagues; 
 
 * Richard Pocock 's Travels, vol. i. p. 493. 
 
 1 2 whereas,
 
 Il6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 whereas, according to the most accurate measure- 
 ments, the city of ancient Alexandria was from 
 seven to eight leagues in circumference*. The 
 materials employed in the construction of some of 
 those towers, besides the fragments of the more 
 ancient monuments, are of a singular species, and 
 of which no traveller, so far as I know, has taken 
 notice. Common stones are to be seen only in 
 places which have been repaired, or more recently 
 constructed. Originally the mason-work was 
 composed of stony masses, consisting of a prodi- 
 gious quantity of small fossile and sparry shelly 
 concretions, mixed, without any order, with a 
 species of cement which binds the whole together; 
 so that this substance, which is of the hardest con- 
 sistency, appears to be a composition, an aggre- 
 gation of art, rather than a natural stone. 
 
 The solidity of the walls, the vast capaciousness 
 of the towers, which may be considered as so many 
 forts, rendered the enclosure of the Arabs a ram- 
 part capable of making a stout resistance. In de- 
 fiance of the dispositions and the efforts of the Ma- 
 melucs and their troops, a handful of Frenchmen, 
 without cannon, and almost without ammunition, 
 carried the place by escalade, in a few moments. 
 Alexander had laid the foundations of a city, the 
 memory of which has been perpetuated by its 
 * Richard Pocock's Travels, vol. i. p. 493. 
 
 commerce, 

 
 ' U ''/vatr-aa ^ / ,vv //c 
 
 '■s/i/iri/.. 
 
 ( 'I'U/iyn/ 
 
 />,//,//,,.,' tj Z.StedkdaU .
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 117 
 
 commerce, by the cultivation of science, and by 
 prodigies of art : Buonaparte has rescued the re- 
 mains of that very city out of the hands of barba- 
 rians, whose presence sullied the ruins of it ; he 
 has restored it to the general commerce which its 
 position ensures, and which will recall its ancient 
 splendour. It is not easy to determine whether of 
 these two heroes, the founder or the restorer, will 
 excite most admiration in the eyes of posterity. 
 
 Toward the eastern extremity of the crescent, 
 formed by the new bridge, and near the coast, are 
 two obelisks. It has been agreed to give them the 
 name of Cleopatra s needles, though it is by no 
 means certain that they were the work of that 
 Egyptian queen. To her likewise have been as- 
 cribed, without any one historical proof, the exca- 
 vations which go by the name of Cleopatra s baths, 
 and the construction of the canal which still con- 
 veys the waters of the Nile to the cisterns of Alex- 
 andria : a piece of homage rendered to the great 
 qualities of the last queen of the race of the 
 Ptolemies. Thus, while the name of the men 
 who reared most of the astonishing edifices of an- 
 cient Egypt, is absolutely unknown, posterity care- 
 fully preserves the memory of a woman, rendered 
 illustrious by her magnificence, her genius, her 
 heroic character, and her incomparable beauty; of 
 the woman, whose charms triumphed over the 
 
 1 3 greatest
 
 Il8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 greatest of the Romans ; of the woman, finally, 
 whom we can reproach only with the sallies of a 
 passion, not easily restrained in an ardent soul, and 
 under a burning sky, at which the graces disdain 
 not to smile, and which nature does not disavow. 
 
 One of Cleopatra's needles is still upright on its 
 base; the other is thrown down, and almost entirely 
 buried in the sand. The former shews what the 
 hand of man can do against time ; the latter, what 
 time can do against the efforts of man. I had it 
 not in my power to take their dimensions ; but an 
 ancient French traveller, who seems to have mea- 
 sured them with extreme accuracy, assures us that 
 their height is fifty-eight feet six inches, and the 
 breadth of each face of their base seven feet *. 
 They are each cut out of a single block of granite, 
 and charged on each side with hieroglyphical cha- 
 racters. The first figure of plate I. represents that 
 one of the two needles which is standing, viewed 
 from the north. The impression of the hierogly- 
 phics was still very distinct on the faces of this nee- 
 dle, and might be easily decyphered, except those 
 which look eastward, for these are entirely effaced. 
 
 Adjoining to those obelisks stood the palace of 
 the Egyptian kings. Superb vestiges are still dis- 
 cernible of its grandeur and magnificence. They 
 
 * Travels of M. de Monconys, 1695, vol. i. p, 307. 
 
 4 are
 
 ?s

 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. II9 
 
 are an inexhaustible quarry of pieces of granite 
 and marble, which the Alexandrians of to-day are 
 dishonouring, by employing them in common 
 with ordinary materials, in the construction of 
 their dwellings and other common edifices. Very 
 superficial digging in the site of this palace fur- 
 nished, more abundantly than elsewhere, medals 
 and engraved stones : they had become rarer, and 
 indeed were hardly to be found at all, when I was 
 at Alexandria. From those ruins too was extracted 
 the fossile grinding tooth, represented in the size of 
 nature, plate II. It passed for a human tooth, and 
 consequently that of a giant. But this opinion is in- 
 admissible by every one who has the slightest know- 
 ledge of anatomy. On comparing this tooth with 
 those of known animals, there is a complete con- 
 viction that it must have belonged to an elephant. 
 
 As you go out of the enclosure of the Arabs, by 
 the gate of the south, the eye is struck with one 
 of the most astonishing monuments which anti- 
 quity has transmitted to us. Proud of not having 
 sunk under the wastes of time, nor under the 
 more prompt and terrible attacks of superstitious 
 ignorance, rears its majestic head, the grandest 
 column that ever existed. (See figure 2, of plate 
 I.) It is of the most beautiful and the hardest 
 granite, and is composed of three pieces, out of 
 which have been cut the capital, the shaft, and the 
 
 1 4 pedestal.
 
 120 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 pedestal. I had not the means of measuring its 
 height, and travellers who have gone before me 
 are not perfectly agreed on this point. Savary as- 
 signs to it a height of a hundred and fourteen 
 feet * ; whereas Paul Lucas, who declares he had 
 taken an accurate measurement of it, makes its 
 height no more than ninety-four feet -j~. This last 
 opinion was generally adopted by the Europeans 
 of Alexandria. The height of the colu .1 , was 
 admitted there to be from ninety-four to ninety- 
 five feet of France. The pedestal is fifteen feet 
 high; the shaft with the socle seventy feet; finally, 
 the capital, ten feet ; in all, ninety-five feet. The 
 mean diameter is seven Feet nine inches. Admit- 
 ting these proportions, the entire mass of the co- 
 lumn may be estimated at six thousand cubic feet. 
 It is well known that the cubic foot of red Egyp- 
 tian granite weighs a hundred and eighty-five 
 pounds. The weight of the whole column, there- 
 fore, is one million one hundred and ten thousand 
 pounds, eight ounces to the pound. 
 
 However hard the substance of the column may 
 be, it has not escaped the corroding tooth of time. 
 The bottom o( the shaft is very much damaged on 
 the east side, and it is very easy to separate, on the 
 same side, thin laminae from the pedestal. It has 
 
 * Letters on Egypt, vol. i. p. 36. 
 
 f Journey of Paul Lucas, in 1714, vol. ii. p. 22. 
 
 beeii
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 121 
 
 been already remarked, that the hieroglyphics of 
 Cleopatra's needle were corroded on the face ex- 
 posed to that point of the compass. It is most pro- 
 bably the effect of the wind blowing from the sea. 
 Some have pretended, that on the opposite face, 
 that to the west, a Greek inscription was discernible, 
 when the sun bore upon it : but with all the at* 
 tention I could employ, it was not in my power to 
 perceive any thing of it. 
 
 The ground on which the pillar is raised having 
 given way, part of the pivot which supports it has 
 been laid open. It is a block of six feet only in 
 the square : it bears the weight, as a centre, of a 
 pedestal much larger than itself; which proves the 
 exact perpendicula; ity of the whole. It too is gra- 
 nite, but of a species different from that of the co- 
 lumn. The people of the country had built round 
 the pivot, in the view of strengthening the pedestal. 
 This piece of masonry, totally useless, was formed 
 of stones of various qualities, among which frag- 
 ments of marble, detached from the ruins of some 
 antique edifice, and sculptured with beautiful hie- 
 roglyphics, attracted notice. While some were 
 exerting themselves to Drevent the falling of the 
 monument, others, the Bedouins, as I was told, en- 
 deavoured to bring it down, in the hope of finding 
 treasure under its base when burst to pieces. For 
 this purpose they had employed the action of gun- 
 powder ;
 
 7 
 
 122 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 powder ; but very fortunately they had no great 
 skill in the art of mining. The explosion only car- 
 ried away a portion of the mason-work so idly in- 
 tended to be a prop to the pedestal. 
 
 Paul Lucas relates, that in 1714, a mountebank 
 having got upon the capital with a facility which 
 astonished every body, declared it was hollow at 
 top *. We have some years ago indications more 
 positive on the subject. Some English sailors con^ 
 trived to get upon the summit of the column, by 
 means of a paper-kite, which assisted them in fixing 
 a ladder of ropes : they found, as well as the man 
 mentioned by Paul Lucas, a great round hollow in 
 the middle of the capital, and moreover, a hole in 
 each of the corners. It is therefore certain, that 
 this chapiter served as a base to some statue, the 
 fragments of which seem to be irrecoverably lost. 
 Some friends of M. Roboli, who had been French 
 interpreter at Alexandria, have assured me that he 
 had discovered near the column, pieces of a statue 
 which, to judge from the fragments, must have 
 been of a prodigious magnitude : that he had them 
 conveyed to the house occupied by the French, 
 but that, notwithstanding the most diligent re- 
 searches, not being able to procure the other pieces 
 of it, he had ordered the first to be thrown into the 
 sea, close by that same house. They were shewn 
 ^Journey of Paul Lucas, in 1714, vol. K, p. 22. 
 
 to
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I 23 
 
 to me, but it was impossible for me to distinguish 
 any thing, for they are almost entirely buried un- 
 der the sand of the sea. I was farther informed, 
 that those fragments of a statue were of the most 
 beautiful porphyry. 
 
 We have nothing beyond conjecture, more or 
 less supported by evidence, respecting the era, and 
 the motives which dictated the construction of the 
 column of Alexandria. The name Pompeys column, 
 by which it is generally designed, indicates the ori- 
 gin commonly ascribed to it. Cesar, we are told, 
 ordered it to be erected, to perpetuate the memory 
 of the victory which he had gained over Pompey, 
 in the celebrated battle of Pharsalia. Relying on 
 the testimony of an Arabian author, Savary pre- 
 tends that it was a monument of the gratitude of 
 the inhabitants of Alexandria to the Roman em- 
 peror, Alexander-Severus*. Finally, others ascribe 
 the elevation of the pillar to a king of Egypt, Ptole- 
 meus-Euergetes. 
 
 Mr. W. Montague, whom his extensive erudi- 
 tion and singular adventures have raised to cele- 
 brity, had formed, during his long residence in the 
 East, a new opinion on the same subject. He main- 
 tained that the column was the work of Adrian, 
 another Roman emperor, who had travelled in 
 
 * Letters on Egypt, vol. i. p. 3 7. 
 
 Egypt.
 
 124 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Egypt. But he could adduce no proof in support 
 of this assertion : wishing, nevertheless, to give cur- 
 rency to his idea, he was under the necessity, in the 
 view of persuading others of the truth of what he 
 had persuaded himself, to employ a little ingenious 
 fraud. I have the fact from a witness of undoubted 
 veracity. The sly Englishman had got one of his 
 people to introduce a small coin of the emperor 
 Adrian, in a spot agreed on, between the ground 
 on which this pillar rests, and its sous-base. He 
 afterwards repaired to the place, attended by a nu- 
 merous company, and, after affected researches, he 
 dextrously unearthed the coin with the blade of a 
 knife, and ostentatiously displayed it as an incon- 
 testable proof of the truth of his position. He sent 
 an account of the discovery to his own country, 
 where it did not meet with much credit, and indeed 
 hardly could, with persons who knew the column. 
 The Greeks, it is true, from the time of Adrian, had 
 diffused over Egypt the principles of a beautiful 
 architecture, and of elegance in all the arts. A 
 judgment may be formed of this from the remains 
 of the city which that very emperor had caused to 
 be built in the upper part of that country, in ho- 
 nour of Antinous, a young man celebrated in an- 
 cient history for his extraordinary beauty of person, 
 and his generous devotedness to a Roman who has 
 been more cried up than he deserves. The columns 
 which still subsist at Anlinoe are cut with greater 
 
 delicacy,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 125 
 
 delicacy, and have forms more elegant than that of 
 Alexandria. Not that this last wants beauty ; but 
 its principal merit consists in the prodigious mag- 
 nitude of its dimensions, and the truly astonishing 
 enormity of its mass. 
 
 The same considerations which suggest a doubt 
 respecting the ascription of this pillar to the time 
 of Adrian, apply still more forcibly to that of the 
 emperor Severus. Abulfeda, quoted by Savary, 
 only says, " Alexandria possessesa renowned pharos, 
 "" and the column of Severus*." He adds not a 
 word more, and does not so much as point out the 
 spot where the column of Severus was reared. The 
 city of Alexandria contained such a number of co- 
 lumns, that it is impossible to ascertain to which of 
 them the passage of the Arabic historian is appli- 
 cable. Alexander-Severus traced his pedigree up 
 to Alexander the Great : it was natural for him to 
 prize a city founded by the conqueror his ancestor, 
 and it is by no means wonderful, that he should en- 
 deavour farther to embellish it by works of various 
 description, to supply the place of such as had been 
 thrown clown or destroyed, with those which had 
 already rendered it so magnificent. On the other 
 hand, on comparing the column dedicated to Se- 
 verus, and still existing in the ancient city of An- 
 tinoe, with that of Alexandria, we shall find it im- 
 
 * Description of Egypt, Savary's translation. 
 
 possible
 
 126 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 possible to conclude that they are both of one and 
 the same period. The hieroglyphics with which 
 the granite-pivot, the immoveable support of the 
 column, is sculptured, farther appear a new proof 
 of the period of its elevation, much more ancient 
 than the reigns of Adrian and Severus, and they 
 indicate a production of the most remote antiquity. 
 This consideration, united with the silence of his- 
 torians on the subject, seems to throw back even to 
 an era more distant than that of the defeat of Pom- 
 pey, the construction of the column which bears 
 his name. If amidst these uncertainties, which, 
 in defiance of the researches of the learned, fre- 
 quently involve the past and the future in the same 
 obscurity, I durst venture to hazard an opinion of 
 my own, I should be tempted to ascribe the honour 
 of the erection of the column of Alexandria to the 
 ancient times which produced so many prodigies in 
 Egypt, to those eras when myriads of men were em- 
 ployed, for years together, in transporting masses 
 of stone, the movement of which seemed to exceed 
 human strength, and to demand the exertions of 
 beings mere than mortal. 
 
 Whatever be in this sentiment, it would be dif- 
 ficult now to change the appellation so long af- 
 fixed to the column of Alexandria, and, whatever 
 good reasons may be alleged to the contrary, it is 
 very probable it will still retain the name of Pom- 
 
 peys
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1 27 
 
 peys column. Nevertheless it is likewise probable, 
 that posterity will recollect that this column was 
 the head-quarters, from whence Buonaparte issued 
 orders for the escalade and capture of Alexandria ; 
 that the bodies of the heroes who perished as the 
 victims of their own bravery, are deposited round 
 the pedestal, and that their names are engraven 
 upon it ; it is likewise probable that, more struck 
 with the genius of the victory, and of the sublime 
 combinations connected with it, than with that 
 which has conferred celebrity on ancient Egypt by 
 her works of stupendous magnificence, absorbed in 
 the immortality of the French nation, shall be dis- 
 posed to fix the era of this dawning glory, and that 
 to future ages the column of Pompey shall be the 
 column of the French Republic. 
 
 I have heard it said at Alexandria, that an idea 
 was formerly entertained of transporting to France 
 the column so much admired there. The Levan- 
 tins and the navigators of Provence considered 
 this enterprise as impracticable ; they forgot, or 
 perhaps they never knew that this very mass of 
 granite had been conveyed from the quarries of 
 Syene, that is, more than two hundred leagues : 
 they did not know that Caius Cesar had transported 
 from Egypt to Rome an obelisk of a hundred cu- 
 bits, or twenty-five fathoms, in height, and eight 
 cubits, or two fathoms, in diameter ; that Augustus 
 
 intended
 
 128 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 intended to put Rome likewise in possession of the 
 two obelisks reared at Heliopolis by Sesostris, and 
 which are each a hundred and twenty cubits high ; 
 that Constantine ordered the transportation of an- 
 other obelisk no less considerable, and in the con- 
 struction of which Ramases, king of Egypt, had 
 employed two thousand men ; they did not know 
 finally, that within these few years, Petersburgh has 
 conveyed into her bosom, from a very considerable 
 distance, a huge rock of three millions of pounds 
 weight. 
 
 Grand enterprises are the real monuments of the 
 glory of great nations. It would be worthy of that 
 nation which, in a few years, has surpassed in acts 
 of heroic valour, all that the page of Roman history 
 displays, to appropriate to herself the column of 
 Alexandria. If extraordinary means are requisite 
 for this purpose, the genius of the sciences, insepa- 
 rable from that of true glory, is there to devise them, 
 and the arts, which likewise rise with the people 
 who cultivate them, will not fail in the execution. 
 In the midst of one of the squares of Paris, that of 
 the Revolution, for example, the column could not 
 fail to produce the most majestic efFect. A colossal 
 statue might surmount its capital ; this should be 
 the image of Liberty : it would look down on the 
 palaces of the depositaries of power, and by its bold 
 and imposing attitude would strike terror into the 
 
 heart
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1 20. 
 
 heart of whoever dared to abuse authority, to op- 
 press or betray a nation of men, of whose power 
 it would be at the same time an eternal em- 
 blem *. 
 
 * Here the cloven foot is completely uncovered. A prin- 
 ciple is avowed, from which justice turns away her face, and at 
 which humanity shudders. Gracious Heaven ! what right has 
 France to plunder Rome of her pictures and statues, and Egypt 
 of her columns? The right which our author himself, a little 
 ago, execrated in the bitterest terms ; the right of the stronger 
 to oppress the weaker, the right of the tiger to tear the lamb. 
 Thus Paris is to be enriched and embellished at the expense of 
 all the nations of the globe, and the sacred name of liberty is 
 vilely prostituted to abet democratic tyranny. Ex uno disce om- 
 nes. It is the interest of all mankind surely, to resist a principle 
 so abominable, and to unite in crushing every attempt to reduce 
 it to practice.— H. H. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 1*0 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Ruins — Canal of Alexandria — Cisterns — Culture of 
 the country adjacent to the canal — Salt-wort— - 
 Birds — Sparrows — Catacombs — Cameleons — - 
 Jackals. 
 
 If on taking your departure from the pillar of 
 Alexandria, you proceed southward, you cross an 
 oblong gullet, spacious, and of considerable depth. 
 It contains the relics of ancient buildings, among 
 which are distinguishable, on a level with the 
 sand, thick and solid walls, disposed in form of 
 the letter T. Toward the extremity of the lon- 
 gitudinal branch of this T, there are two frag- 
 ments of columns of granite, and at the very ex- 
 tremity, a subterraneous excavation, the entrance 
 into which is now completely blocked up. The 
 people of the country call this place Guirge. Thence 
 you arrive at the canal or kalish of Alexandria. 
 
 In the times of Alexander and of the kings of 
 Egypt, Alexandria was not, as it now is, in the 
 midst of sands : it was not encompassed with that 
 zone of sterility, which renders its environs at 
 present so disagreeable. A lake, the Mareotis, 
 which was at no great distance, and two wide ca- 
 nals, one of which descended from Upper -Egypt, 
 
 and
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I3I 
 
 and the other issued from the branch of the Nile, 
 to which the name of Bolbotic has been given, pre- 
 served there a salutary coolness, at the same time 
 that they favoured vegetation and agriculture. 
 These works, which attested the grandeur and the 
 power of ancient Egypt, and the maintenance of 
 which was equally called for by the real wants and 
 the innocent pleasures of human life, were still kept 
 up, under the domination of the caliphs. Abul- 
 feda, an historian of Arabia, speaks of Alexandria 
 as a very great city, encompassed by superb gar- 
 dens*. The destruction of what had cost so 
 much pains and labour was reserved for the Turks. 
 Their spirit of devastation had dried up those re- 
 servoirs of water which, with their moisture, dif- 
 fused fertility, as it has quenched the sources of 
 knowledge, and of all mental energy in the peo- 
 ple who have been so unfortunate as to be subject- 
 ed to a despotism the most horrible. 
 
 Of these nothing now remains, and that too in a 
 state of degradation, but the canal of Lower Egypt: 
 during the inundation it received the waters of the 
 Nile at Latf, opposite to Fouah. It is passable by 
 three bridges of modern construction. Near the 
 first, toward the sea, is the entrance of the subter- 
 raneous conduit, which conveys the provision of 
 water for the inhabitants of Alexandria into the 
 
 * Description of Egypt. 
 
 k 2 cisterns,
 
 I32 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 cisterns, the arches of which supported the whole 
 extent of the ancient city, and which the whole 
 world is agreed in considering as one of the most 
 beautiful monuments on the face of the globe*. 
 The mouth of this aqueduct was walled up, but 
 when the water of the canal had attained, by the 
 swelling of the river, a certain height, the chiefs of 
 the city went in great ceremony to break down the 
 dike. When the cisterns were filled, it was built 
 up again, and the waters in the canal continued to 
 flow into the sea at the old harbour. It was by 
 means of a communication so easy, that, in former 
 times, the transportation of merchandise was con- 
 ducted all over Egypt. The dangerous passage of 
 the mouths of the Nile, and the hazards of the 
 sea, were thereby avoided. When I was at Alexan- 
 dria in 1788, it was not much under a hundred 
 years since it had been navigable by boats ; but this 
 canal, whose benefits are inestimable, was neglect- 
 ed by barbarians indifferent to their real interests. 
 The walls which supported its borders were going 
 to ruin every day ; the pavement of the bottom 
 was covered with successive layers of mud ; there 
 was no longer water sufficient to float a boat ; a 
 yellowish and ill-tasted water could hardly force its 
 way so far as to the cisterns, which were themselves 
 half destroyed ; the inhabitants were, of course, in 
 danger of a total failure of that necessary fluid, and 
 
 * It was not in my power to see them. 
 
 modem
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I33 
 
 modern Alexandria would have disappeared in the 
 sand, leaving only a resort for ferocious animals, 
 which seemed already to threaten it, as they roam- 
 ed round and round its walls. 
 
 The brink of the canal is animated by some of 
 the rich productions of living nature : at a greater 
 distance she appears dead ; nothing is to be seen 
 on all sides but sands, rocks, and sterility. Trees 
 and shrubbery grow by the water's side, and some 
 spots of verdure extend to the vicinity. Small ra- 
 mifications of water carry fecundity into the plains, 
 in which they sow barley, and cultivate a variety of 
 leguminous plants, particularly artichokes in abun- 
 dance. The culture of this district once extended 
 much farther : it would have been easy for the mo- 
 dern Alexandrians to push it still farther ; but they 
 had no activity, except for committing robbery ; and 
 it is not a matter of surprise that people who were 
 at no pains to preserve the only water that they 
 could drink, should not employ themselves in 
 procuring the other necessaries and comforts of life. 
 
 Such are the vestiges of the agriculture with 
 which ancient Alexandria was surrounded ; the 
 remains of those superb gardens which contributed 
 to its magnificence, and the deliciousness of which 
 Abulfeda cried up, down even to the limes of the 
 
 k 3 Arabs.
 
 134 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Arabs. In truth, a few trees scattered up and 
 down, and scarcely vegetating on that sandy dis- 
 trict, are far from being sufficient to veil its ari- 
 dity and ruggedness : several species of salt-wort, 
 acrid and saline plants, whose Arabic name kali 
 has been given to alkaline substances, are nearly 
 the only sort which possess the property of thriv- 
 ing on those coasts, and even there they rather 
 creep than rise. The Alexandrians burn them, 
 and derive from their ashes a fixed salt, which is 
 an object of commerce. 
 
 The verdure, the coolness, and the shade, had 
 attracted to the banks of the canal a multitude of 
 small birds. It was in the month of October : I 
 could distinguish the fig-pecker # , the common 
 lark -j~, and sparrows. Bird-catchers employ them- 
 selves in taking the two first species, and in there- 
 by destroying the only beings which could confer 
 on their habitations some appearance of gaiety. 
 But these birds, the sparrows excepted, were mere- 
 ly birds of passage at Alexandria : they rested 
 themselves from the fatigue of a long voyage near 
 the waters of the canal : these were hastening to 
 
 * Bee figue. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. enlum. No. 
 668, fig. I. Motacilla ficedula. Lin. 
 
 ■}■ L'alouette. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. enlum. No. 
 363, fig. 1. Alauda afvensis. Lin. 
 
 a state
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. J 35 
 
 a state which was to present to them nothing but 
 a bed of mud ; they were already stagnant, and 
 of a brackish taste, and the birds which had the 
 good fortune to escape the snares laid for them on 
 all sides, when they arrived, prepared to seek to- 
 ward the Delta, a land more fortunate, a situation 
 more cheerful, and retreats more tranquil. 
 
 The sparrows, on the contrary, more habituated 
 to the society of man, because their flesh, less de- 
 licate, provokes not his appetite, do not migrate ; 
 except in some excursions, in quest of more ample 
 means of subsistence, they leave not inhabited 
 places, and make them likewise their own residence. 
 They are domesticated birds, forming round us a 
 voluntary aviary of impudent parasites, who par- 
 take, whether we will or not, both of our food and 
 of our habitation ; they have, in Egypt, the same 
 character which we know them to possess in Eu- 
 rope, the same familiarity, the same effrontery, the 
 same voraciousness. They are there likewise the 
 uninvited guests of the Alexandrians ; they are to 
 be seen in all the inhabited districts of Egypt ; 
 Ihey are in like manner diffused over Nubia, and 
 even over Abyssinia. Excessive heat, therefore, 
 does not disagree with them ; at the same time 
 they are not to be found along the western coast 
 of Africa ; from cape Blanc, or near about it, they 
 
 k 4 are
 
 X36 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 are replaced by the bengalis*, the senegalis -}•, 
 and the lut!e sparrows of the Senegal :£. Not 
 being able, after what I have just now said, to 
 ascribe the cause of this fact to the excessive heat, 
 I think I can account for it from the difference of 
 the alimentary plants used in those parts of Africa. 
 Wheat and its kindred grains are cultivated in 
 Egypt, in Nubia, in Abyssinia, just as on the Bar- 
 bary coast ; they cease to be so toward the vicinity 
 of cape Blanc ; other nutritive plants supply their 
 place to the negroes which inhabit to the south of 
 that promontory ; and the grains of those plants 
 are no longer a food suitable to sparrows ; so that 
 if they do not frequent all the corn-bearing coun- 
 tries, it is at least certain that they never fix a re- 
 sidence in those where that species of grain and 
 its kindred plants are not cultivated. 
 
 The rapid glance which we have just taken of 
 some of the productions of animated nature, re- 
 freshed the imagination, fatigued with hovering 
 over fragments and rubbish. Thanks be to the 
 mother of all beings! Eternal praises be ascribed 
 
 * The bengaii, Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. enlum. 
 No. 115, fig. 1. Fringilla bengalus. Lin. 
 
 f The senegali, Buffon, H.st. Nat des Ois. & pi. enlum. 
 No. 157, fig. 1. and the stript-d senega i, ibid. & pi. enlum. No. 
 157> fi&" 2 - Fringilla senega! a. Lin. 
 
 % Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Oi?. & pi. enlum. No. 280, fig. %. 
 
 to
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I37 
 
 to her unchangeable beneficence ! It was her will 
 to preserve on a parched and red-coloured soil, 
 and amidst the horrors of destruction, a point in 
 which she knew, in defiance of the efforts of bar- 
 barians who discerned her not, how to make some 
 articles of her beautiful dre^s to appear in shining 
 colours. It is with regret that the feet withdraw, 
 that the eyes turn aside from a spot which compa- 
 rison renders so enchanting. My pen exerts itself 
 to communicate to the reader the delightful sensa- 
 tions there excited in my own bosom. But we 
 must hasten to reach a country on which Nature 
 has lavished her treasures. That thought revives 
 my courage ; for we have still to wade through 
 sands, and must first plunge into the gloomy man- 
 sions ot the dead, into the catacombs. 
 
 They are at a short distance from the canal : 
 they are galleries lengthening a prodigious way 
 under ground, or rather into the rock. They have, 
 in all probability, been at first the quarries which 
 furnished stones for the construction of the edifices ! 
 of Alexandria, and, after having supplied the men 
 of that country with the materials of their habita- 
 tions, while they lived, are themselves become their 
 last abode after death. Though vast, they did not 
 require very painful labour, the layer of sione being 
 wft and calcareous ; it is as white as that of Malta, 
 and, like it ; the consistence is increased by the im- 
 pression
 
 J3& TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 pression of the air. But the rock of Malta is bare, 
 whereas that of Egypt is, for the most part, cover- 
 ed with the sands. It is undoubtedly on account 
 of the want of hardness in the rock, that the ancient 
 Egyptians had plastered over the interior of the 
 galleries with a kind of mortar, which has acquired 
 a wonderful solidity, and which it is very difficult 
 to break. Most of those subterraneous alleys are 
 in a ruinous state. In the smaller number of those 
 into which it was still possible to penetrate, you 
 might see on both sides three rows of coffins, 
 piled on each other : they are not, as at Malta, cut 
 lengthwise, but transversely : their greater sides 
 are on an inclined plan inwardly, so that the bot- 
 tom of the coffin is much narrower than the up- 
 per part. At the extremity of some of those gal- 
 leries there are separate apartments with their cof- 
 fins, and reserved, no doubt, for the sepulture of 
 particular families, or of a peculiar orderof citizens. 
 
 If the Arabs are to be believed, the catacombs 
 have a subterranean communication with the py- 
 ramids of Memphis. Such an opinion of their 
 immense extent has an appearance of exaggera- 
 tion : it is not, at the same time, beyond the other 
 gigantic labours of the Egyptians, and the fact well 
 deserves to be ascertained. It is more certain that 
 they extend as far as the sea, at. the bottom of the 
 old harbour ; at least the three grottos or cavities 
 
 cut
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 13$ 
 
 cut out in the rock on the coast, and which Euro- 
 peans have decorated, improperly enough, with 
 the name of Cleopatra s baths> seem to be a con- 
 tinuation of them. 
 
 At the entrance of the catacombs I have seen 
 several eameieons *. It is now well known, that 
 the changing of their colours is not to be ascribed 
 to the objects presented to them ; that their dif- 
 ferent affections increase or diminish the intensity 
 of the tints, with which the very delicate skin 
 which covers them is, as it were, marbled : that 
 they are not satisfied with nourishment so unsub- 
 stantial as air ; that they require more solid ali- 
 ment, and swallow flies and other insects ; and that, 
 finally, the marvellous stories which have been told 
 respecting this species of lizard, are merely a tissue 
 of fictions, which have disgraced the science of na- 
 ture down to this day. I have preservedsome eame- 
 ieons, not that I was tempted to repeat the experi- 
 ment of Cornelius Le Bruyn, who after having 
 gravely assured us, that the eameieons which he 
 kept in his apartment, at Smyrna, lived on air, adds, 
 that they died one after another, in a very short 
 space of time-}-; but I wished to satisfy myself to 
 what a point they could subsist without food. I 
 
 * Cameleon. Lacepede, Natural History of oviparous Qua- 
 drupeds. — Lacerta chameleon. Liii. 
 
 f Voyage to the Levant, vo!. i. p. 515. 
 
 had
 
 14.O TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 had employed every precaution to prevent entirely 
 their having any, without ceasing to be exposed to 
 the open air. They lived thus for twenty days : 
 but what kind of life ! From being plump, as they 
 were when I caught them, they soon became ex- 
 tremely thin. With their good plight, they gra- 
 dually lost their agility and their colours; the skin 
 became livid and wrinkled, it adhered close to the 
 bone, so that they had the appearance of being 
 dried before they ceased to exist. 
 
 The catacombs likewise frequently serve as a re- 
 treat for the jackals, which swarm in this part of 
 Egypt : they always march in numerous squadrons, 
 and roam around the habitation of man. Their 
 cries occasion much disturbance, especially in the 
 night-time ; it is a sort of yelping which may be 
 compared to the shrill complainings of children of 
 different ages. They greedily devour cadaverous 
 substances and the garbage on laystalls; in a word, 
 cruel as voracious, they are an object of apprehen- 
 sion even to man. 
 
 It is of the jackal that we are to understand all 
 that authors have said of the wolf, and even of the 
 fox of Africa; for, admitting that these animals 
 have, to a certain degree, a relation to each other, it 
 ishowever well known, that thereare neither wolves 
 nor foxes in that part of the world. The name 
 
 given
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I4I 
 
 given to the jackal in Egypt isdeib: the fellah, or 
 the peasantry of the country, likewise call them, 
 alter some popular legend no doubt, abou Soliman, 
 Soliman's father. 
 
 These ferocious animals are not afraid of ad- 
 vancing close up to Alexandria ; they traverse its 
 enclosure during the night; they frequently spring 
 over it by the breaches made in the wall ; they en- 
 ter into the city itself in quest of their prey, and fill 
 it with their cries : a species of association worthy 
 of the men by whom it was inhabited. 
 
 But an animal more gentle, and at the same time 
 more extraordinary, which occupies subterraneous 
 apartments in the vicinity of Alexandria, is the 
 gerboise or jerbo.
 
 142 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 Natural history of the jerbo of Egypt, with remarks 
 on natural history in general, and a note respecting 
 a plan of travelling into the interior of Africa. 
 
 What the reader is now going to peruse has 
 been already published, a great part of it at least, 
 in the Journal of Physics of the month of Novem - 
 ber 1789. I at that time determined to lay before 
 the public my observations on the jerbo, because 
 BufFon, not having been able to procure a single 
 individual of this genus of quadrupeds, nor accu- 
 rate information respecting their manner of life, 
 has described it from very defective information. 
 The work of Mr. Bruce, who has preceded me in 
 the publication of his travels, as he had likewise 
 preceded me in the expedition itself, had not yet 
 appeared at the period when my memoir was 
 printed. That illustrious traveller has confirmed 
 what I had said on the subject of the jerbo, and he 
 has enabled me to rectify a mistake in nomencla- 
 ture into which I was led, and BufFon before me, 
 on the authority of one of his compatriots, Dr. 
 Shaw, by a false application of name. But how- 
 ever interesting the notes respecting the jerbo may 
 be, which are introduced into Mr. Bruce's travels, 
 
 mine,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I43 
 
 mine, beside the merit of priority in point of time, 
 contain more facts, and present a history more 
 complete, of those singular animals ; this is at least 
 the idea entertained of them, at the time, by the 
 learned world ; I satisfy myself with quoting the 
 authors of the Encyclopedic Journal. In the ac- 
 count which they gave of the fifth volume of 
 Travels vi Nubia arid Abyssinia, by Mr. James Bruce, 
 and after having transcribed his chapter on the jer- 
 bo, they add : " The ancients had described this 
 M animal. Herodotus, Theophrastus, and the 
 " Arabs, make mention ofthejerbo; but among 
 " the moderns, no naturalist has described it better 
 " than M. Sonnini, &c. who has travelled several 
 " years to promote the progress of natural history." 
 The compilers of that publication afterwards give 
 an extract from my observations *. 
 
 The memoir, which I printed in 1787, will here, 
 therefore, naturally find a place, and the rather, 
 that it will now appear accompanied with additions 
 highly interesting to natural history. 
 
 Since the time that the eloquent compositions of 
 BufFon have given a powerful impulse to the sci- 
 ence of nature, which he has had the skill to render 
 so attractive and so amiable, varieties have been 
 
 * Encyclopedic Journal for the month of September, A. D. 
 
 discovered
 
 144 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 discovered in the family of the jerb©. But the first 
 result which I have obtained from an attentive ex- 
 amination, and accurate descriptions of several of 
 those animals, has ascertained to me, that there 
 existed but one variety of them in Egypt, where 
 they are multiplied without end. In fact, among 
 all those which 1 have oi^erved at different times 
 and in different places, I never remarked the least 
 dissimilitude of either torm or colour. 
 
 For the facility of pronunciation, I shall dis- 
 tinguish this gerboise of Egypt, by the name of 
 jerbo, under which Buffon has given a description 
 of it *, though its real name, its Arabic name, be 
 jerboa. It is a mistake in Hassclquitz, which Bruce 
 has likewise corrected^, to say that the Arabs call 
 it garbuka \. 
 
 That travellers, unacquainted with natural his- 
 tory, and consequently without taste for observa- 
 
 * Natural History of Quadrupeds, art. Gerboise. — Lepus 
 cauddelongata, Lin. Syst. Nat. edit. 9. Mus jaculus, ibid. edit. 12. 
 Dipus jaculus, ibid. edit. 13. — Mus jaculus Jiedibus posticis longissi- 
 mis, cauda extretni villas a. Hasseiquitz, Travels in Palestine, 
 vol. ii. p. 6, and Mem. of the Acad, of Upsal, 1750, p. 17.— 
 Gerbo. Cornelius Le Bruyn's Travels, p. 406. — Gerboise. Paul 
 Lucas, Travels, vol. ii. p. 73. — Jerboa. Shaw's Voyage, p. 248. 
 — The two-footed mouse of the mountains, called by the Ara- 
 bians jerbo. Michaelis, quest. 92, &c. &c. 
 
 f Travels in Nubia and Abyssinia, vol. v. is;i, 
 
 % Hasselquitz, in the place above quoted. 
 
 tions
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 145 
 
 tions of this kind, should, at first sight, and with- 
 out farther examination, have imposed false deno- 
 minations on foreign animals, fiomsome apparent 
 relation, whether in respect of form or mode of 
 living, with known animals, is not a matter of 
 surprise : their manner of viewing objects was su- 
 perficial and vulgar, the results had the same de- 
 fects. But there is good reason to be surprised, that 
 naturalists by profession, that Hasselquitz, for ex- 
 ample, the pupil of an illustrious master, should 
 have fallen into the same errors. Me is so much 
 the less excusable, that he did not fix on the de- 
 nomination to be appropriated, till after a long and 
 even minute examination. But he had, like his 
 master Linnaeus, the mania of referring to the same 
 genus, beings which nature had separated. This 
 union of objects, frequently very remote from each 
 other in the true system of nature, was founded 
 merely on certain approximations in the exterior 
 forms : approximations isolated, vague, taken by 
 chance, and so destitute of foundation, that they 
 might be given up, and were in fact given up, to 
 assume others equally precarious, by means of 
 which, the same animal changed place or genus, 
 at the pleasure of the nomenclator *. 
 
 After having examined each form in particular, 
 to catch and to compare their combination; above 
 
 * See the proof of this in the nomenclature introduced in the 
 first note, bottom of the preceding page. 
 
 vol. i. l all
 
 I46 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 all to study the manners, the modes of life; to bring 
 to the observation of nature neither prejudice, nor 
 the spirit of system; to see things as they are, and 
 not as we would have them to be; such is the cha- 
 racter of the real naturalist, whereas that of the 
 vocabulary-compiler is to confound every thing. 
 The jerbo furnishes us with an example of this 
 confusion in the science of nature ; certain resem- 
 blances, each taken separately, have suggested com- 
 parisons between it and the hare, the rabbit, the 
 rat, the field-mouse, &c. though they so evidently 
 differ from each other that any man without the 
 slightest knowledge of natural history, provided 
 he possessed a sound understanding, would readily 
 distinguish them. Nevertheless these very im- 
 proper denominations of hare, rabbit, rat, field- 
 mouse, &c. have been indiscriminately applied to 
 the jerbo, by naturalists and ill-informed travel- 
 lers; and it is worthy of remark, that erudition 
 without genius, sometimes produces the same 
 effects that ignorance does. 
 
 It is in the burning climates of Africa, princi- 
 pally, that Nature seems to have taken pleasure in 
 varying, in a manner altogether singular, the forms 
 of the beings which she has placed there, and in 
 deviating from the rules and the proportions which 
 she seemed to have adopted, if, however, that can 
 be called a deviation, which is a proof of her bound- 
 less and inexhaustible fecundity. On that fiery soil 
 
 it
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I47 
 
 it is we find the giraffe or cameleopard, remarkable 
 for the disproportionate height of his fore-legs *. 
 We likewise find an extreme disproportion between 
 the legs of the jerbo ; but the hinder legs are, in 
 this animal, excessively long, whereas the fore 
 scarcely appear. These long limbs, or, to express 
 myself with greater precision, these long feet, for it 
 is the tarsus which is so immoderately lengthened, 
 are of use to the jerbo only in his progressive move- 
 ment : those before, which may be considered as 
 little hands, are useless to him in removing from 
 place to place. He hops after the manner of birds; 
 and this kind of motion, which would be very con- 
 straining to every other quadruped, is so much 
 adapted to him, that his running, or rather his leap- 
 ing, is very nimble and very speedy. He then is 
 an animal which, with four feet, seems to be with- 
 drawing from the class of quadrupeds, to assume 
 somewhat of the impress of that of birds. Placed 
 on the first step of the passage from the one to the 
 other, he constitutes the first degradation of qua- 
 drupeds, and commences the progression from these 
 to birds. The celebrated man who has carried the 
 torch of philosophy into the sanctuary of nature, 
 was the first to establish this sublime and important 
 truth : that the workmanship of Nature had not 
 been intersected by wide intervals, nor by sudden 
 
 * Giraffe. Buffon, Nat. Hist. Quadrupeds. — Camcleopardalit 
 giraffa, Lin, 
 
 l 2 breaks;
 
 I48 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 breaks ; that all her productions were mutually 
 connected ; that the transition from class to class, 
 from genus to genus, from species to species, was 
 conducted by gradual shades of difference ; and 
 that those classes, those genera, those species were, 
 in the eyes of the philosopher, only so many signs 
 calculated to relieve the mind, so many divisions 
 to assist the memory. 
 
 Though the transition from quadrupeds to birds 
 has not been hitherto distinctly traced, though all 
 the points of it be not yet ascertained, we are not 
 the less warranted to consider this union as existing : 
 we have the commencement of it in the jcrbo, and 
 the last gradation in the bat. There is all the rea- 
 son in the world to believe, that the series of suc- 
 cessive shades will unfold itself in proportion as good 
 observers shall devote themselves to travelling, in 
 countries not yet disclosed to natural history. I am 
 convinced that the interior of Afriea, a region to 
 this day virgin in respect of discovery, contains a 
 multitude of new and valuable objects, the know- 
 ledge of which would diffuse light inconceivable 
 on all the parts of general physics. May I be per- 
 mitted, in this place, to communicate the design 
 which I had formed, some years ago, of penetrat- 
 ing into those regions which, till now, have been 
 deemed, inaccessible ? jMy intention was to range 
 the whole length of the continent of Africa, through 
 
 its
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I49 
 
 its middle, from the hardly known Gulf of Sidra, 
 to the Cape of Good Hope. I claim the honour of 
 having conceived this project, which scares the 
 imagination, and of having felt myself possessed of 
 courage to put it in execution, had government 
 deigned to second my views. I shall return, after- 
 wards, to unfold the plan which I had traced, and 
 which, had it been followed out, would have en- 
 sured to France the glory of an enterprise till then 
 unattempted, and which other nations seem de- 
 sirous to take out of her hand. But I proceed to 
 the description of the jerbo. 
 
 His size is nearly that of a large rat : the head 
 is broad, large in proportion to the body, flattened 
 a-top, and of a clear pale red with a blackish shade; 
 the upper jaw projecting beyond the lower; both 
 the one and the other furnished with two incisive 
 teeth only ; those above broad, cut in right angles, 
 flat and divided lengthwise, by a groove passing 
 through the middle; finally, those of the under jaw 
 longer, convex externally, pointed at their extre- 
 mity, and bent back inwardly. It is evident that 
 these teeth are, or not far from it, disposed and 
 formed as those of the hare, of the rat, and of the 
 field-mouse, and this resemblance has procured all 
 these names to the jerbo. It would have been just 
 as reasonable to take him for a beaver, or for a 
 porcupine, which are equally destitute of canine 
 
 l 3 teeth,
 
 150 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 teeth, and have only four incisives. The snout 
 is short, broad, and obtuse ; a number of stiff 
 hairs extend from side to side, and form long 
 whiskers. The nose is naked, white, and carti- 
 laginous : the eyes, large and prominent, have 
 the uis brown ; the ears are long, large, and co- 
 vered with hair so short, that unless you look at 
 it close, you would suppose them naked. Ex- 
 ternally, they* are white in the lower part, and 
 gray through the rest of their length : their in- 
 side, as well as the sides of the head, are of a very 
 clear pale red, with a mixture of gray and 
 blackish ; they entirely surround, for about a third 
 of their length, the auditory passage, so that they 
 represent exactly the upper part of a paper cornet. 
 This conformation must increase, in animals, the 
 faculty of hearing, and, above all, guard the inte- 
 rior of the organ against extraneous substances 
 which might otherwise find admission. 
 
 ■&• 
 
 The body is longish, broader behind than before, 
 and well clothed with hair, long, soft, and silky. 
 That which covers the upper part and the sides of 
 the body is ash coloured almost the whole length 
 through, and of a clear pale red toward the point, 
 which is blackish : but as the ashy part is not ap- 
 parent, it may be said that the fleerycoat is a clear 
 pale red, and variegated with blackish lines run- 
 ning zig-zag. These tints, somewhat dark, con- 
 trast
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 151 
 
 trast agreeably with the beautifully shining white 
 of the under part of the body. 
 
 The fore- feet are so short that they scarcely pro- 
 ject beyond the hair ; they are white and have five 
 toes, the greatest of which, or interior toe, is very 
 short, rounded at the extremity, and has no nail. 
 The other four, the second whereof outward is the 
 longest, are of considerable lengthy and armed 
 with great hooked nails. The heel is very much 
 raised, and the inside, or sole of the foot, is 
 naked and flesh-coloured. I have already re- 
 marked that they might be taken for hands ; in 
 truth they are of no service to the jerbo for walk- 
 ing, but only for laying hold of his food and car- 
 rying it to his mouth, and also for digging his hole. 
 
 The hinder legs are clothed with long hair of a 
 faint red and white: the long feet are almost en- 
 tirely naked, especially on the outside; which 
 must of necessity be the case, as the animal, 
 whether in motion or at rest, is continually sup- 
 ported on this part of the body. Those feet, so 
 excessively lengthened out, have three toes; that 
 in the middle is somewhat greater than the other 
 two; they are all furnished with short nails, but 
 broad and obtuse; they have besides on the heel 
 a species of spur, or rather a very small rudiment 
 of a fourth toe, which constitutes a point of rc- 
 
 l 4 semblance
 
 15^ TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 semblance between the jerbo of Egypt and the 
 alagtaga of Tartary, described by Gmelin *, and 
 which has probably escaped Hasselquitz, as well 
 as many others. Moreover, the toes and the heel 
 are furnished, on the under side_, with long hair, 
 all of gray tinged with yellow, excepting those 
 which cover the root of the toes, and whose colour 
 is blackish. The nails, both before and behind, 
 are of a dingy white. 
 
 According to Hasselquitz, in the passage above 
 referred to, the tail of the jerbo is three times 
 longer than the body; I never found it, however, 
 longer than a little above one-half more. Its 
 circumference is not onuch greater than that of a 
 large goose-quil , but it is quadrangular, and not 
 round ; it is gray-coloured, deeper on the upper 
 than on the under side, and covered with a sleek 
 hair down to its extremity, which terminates in a 
 tuft of long silky hair, half black, half gray. 
 
 On comparing this description with that which 
 Gmelin has given of the alagtaga, in the New Com- 
 mentaries of the Academy of Petersburgh (vol. v.), 
 it will appear, that the jerbo has a strong resem- 
 blance to it ; they have both the same number of 
 toes on the fore- feet, the spur on the hinder, the 
 same length of tail, &c. which is a proof of two 
 
 * Nov. Comment. Acad. Petropol. torn. v. art. 7. 
 
 things :
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 153. 
 
 things: first, that the jcrbo and the alagtaga are 
 one and the same animal ; secondly, that the de- 
 scriptions which have been given of the jerbo are 
 not very accurate. What chiefly suggested doubts 
 to Burton's mind, respecting the identity of the 
 jerbo and the alagtaga, was the disparity of the 
 climates which each inhabited, the former being 
 resident in Africa, and the alagtaga being found 
 in the cold regions of Siberia. But this is not the 
 only instance which might be adduced to the same 
 effect. Many species of animals are scattered over 
 the icy countries of the north, and over the sultry 
 districts of the south. Rats take pleasure to reside 
 in very hot climates, and they live very comfort- 
 ably in the north of Sweden. Hares inhabit with 
 equal convenience the burning sands of Africa, 
 and the snows of Lapland, of Siberia, of Green- 
 land, &c. &c. 
 
 It is likewise certain that the gerboise of Cyre- 
 naVs, or the desert of Barca, described by Mr. Bruce, 
 in vol. v. of his Travels in Nubia and Abyssinia, is 
 only a variety in the tribe of the jerbo ; the slight 
 differences remarked not being, by far, sufficient to 
 constitute two distinct species. To the researches 
 of Mr. Bruce we are farther indebted for the exact 
 knowledge of another animal, which had very im- 
 properly been confounded with the jcrbo, and to 
 which he has given the name of danian-israil, or 
 
 Iamb
 
 1 54 TRAVELS Itf UPPER 
 
 lamb of Israel. So far from having the singular 
 and very distinctive character of the jerbo, namely, 
 the excessive length of the hinder legs, this daman 
 has all his legs equal, or nearly so, and he has no 
 tail, whereas that of the jerbo is very long. Dr. 
 Shaw * was the first who fell into the mistake of 
 confounding two animals so very unlike ; and this 
 error was successively copied, till Mr. Bruce de- 
 tected it, whose observations have thrown much 
 light on a subject formerly involved in doubt and 
 darkness. By taking the jerbo for the daman-israel, 
 the same which the Hebrews called schafan, all that 
 Arabian authors have said of the second has been 
 ascribed to the first. In truth, on reading the phi- 
 lological dissertations which have been composed 
 on the subject, and after the jerbo was well known, 
 a man was embarrassed in attempting to discover 
 in that quadruped, the mode of living, the instinc- 
 tive sagacity, the profound wisdom, which the 
 writers of the East have so much cried up, and 
 which Solomon celebrates in his Proverbs-}-. Thus, 
 it is ascertained, that whatever has been written by 
 the Hebrews or the Arabians, on the subject of the 
 superior qualities of a species of animals which dig 
 
 * Travels through Barbary. 
 
 ■f Quatuor sunt minima terra, & ipsa sunt sapientiora sapievtibus 
 
 Lefiusculus ; it is thus that the Vulgate translates the word, 
 
 but the schafan is the animal described : Plebs invalid^ qua col- 
 locat inpetru cubile suum. Proverbs, xxx. 24. 26. 
 
 their
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 155 
 
 their common habitation in a body, in certain parts 
 of the East, is to be understood of the daman, and 
 not of the jerbo : with this addition, nevertheless, 
 that a naturalist might reasonably expect some al- 
 lowance should be made for certain exaggerations 
 in the oriental style. 
 
 I present a table of the principal dimensions of 
 the jerbo. It is the mean term of measurements 
 taken of several subjects, and these females, be- 
 cause females first fell in my way. The difference 
 of magnitude between the sexes is besides very in- 
 considerable. 
 
 Inches. Lines. 
 Length of the body, from the tip of 
 
 the nose to the root of the tail — 5 6 
 Length of the head, taken in a straight 
 line, from the tip of the nose to the 
 nape — — — — 18 
 
 Breadth of the snout at its extremity o 4 
 
 Breadth of the aperture of the mouth, 
 taken from one corner of the jaw 
 to the other — — — o 3! 
 
 Projection of the upper jaw beyond 
 
 the under — — — — o 3* 
 Length of the upper teeth — — -02 
 Length of the under teeth — — o 3 
 Distance between the two nostrils — 01 
 
 Distance
 
 I56 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Inches. Lines. 
 Distance between the tip of the nose 
 
 and the anterior angle of the eye o 10 
 Distance between the posterior angle 
 
 of the eye and the ear — — o 2| 
 Distance between the two angles of 
 
 the eye — — — — ° 5 
 Distance between the anterior angles of 
 
 the eyes, taken in a straight line 1 o| 
 
 Length of the ears — — 16 
 
 Breadth of the ears, at the base — o 5 
 
 Distance between the ears — — ° 9 
 
 Length of the tail — — — 8 6 
 
 Thickness of the tail at its root — 02 
 
 Total length of the fore-legs — l 7 
 
 Length of the great toe — — o if 
 
 Length of the second toe measured 
 
 with the nail — — — ° 3 
 
 Total length of the hinder-legs — 62 
 Length of the middle toe measured 
 
 with the nail — — — o 
 
 Length of the spur ■ — — — o 
 
 10 
 1 
 
 The female has eight teats, the position of which 
 is remarkable ; they are situated more outwardly 
 than those of other quadrupeds. The first pair is 
 beyond the joint of the shoulder, and the last is 
 rather under the thigh than under the belly. The 
 other two pairs, being on the same line, are thus 
 placed rather on the sides than under the body. 
 
 The
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 157 
 
 The male is modelled on a scale somewhat 
 smaller than the female, but the difference is very 
 trifling. The tints of their fleece are likewise, in 
 general, not quite so deep. The testicles do not 
 appear outwardly. The penis, in its ordinary 
 state, is itself concealed in a very thick sheath: 
 when erected, it is fifteen lines long, and two and 
 a half round, at the root. The aperture of the 
 gland is formed by two cartilaginous rings ; the 
 prepuce has, in its upper part, two little hooks, 
 likewise cartilaginous, white, and three lines long, 
 which, bending forward, come to terminate nearly 
 on the brim of the prepuce itself. These hooks, 
 pretty thick at their insertion, terminate in a point 
 surmounted by a small yellow button, resembling 
 the antherae of certain flowers. The whole of the 
 prepuce is garnished, besides, with very small white 
 points, cartilaginous, and bent backwards toward 
 the root of the penis. From this singular conform- 
 ation of the parts, there is reason to believe that 
 the copulation of the jerbos must, like that of cats, 
 be accompanied with moments of pain, or even 
 that the gland, once inserted into the female or- 
 gan, cannot be for some time extracted, as is the 
 case with the canine species. 
 
 With a mighty apparatus, relative to the small 
 size of the jerbo, for the business of propagation, 
 it is presumable, that their amorous affections are 
 
 ardent.
 
 1$$ TRAVELS IN UTPEIt 
 
 ardent. It appears that they are equally prolific; 
 for they are very numerous in Arabia, in b)iia, in 
 Egypt, and in Barbary. In the north, probably, 
 these faculties are enfeebled; nay, I presume to 
 conjecture they are lulled to sleep there, during 
 the most rigorous part of the season, and that, for 
 this reason, they do not multiply so fast as in more 
 southern climates. 
 
 During m> residence, or, to speak more pro- 
 perly, during my rambles in Egypt, I dissected 
 some jerbos; but as time is almost always want- 
 ing in travels of this kind, I satisfied myself with 
 examining, whether the interior of those animals, 
 so singular as to their external forms, presented 
 any thing extraordinary. My principal object 
 was to ascertain more particularly, that they had 
 but a single stomach, and thai, of consequence, 
 they had not the faculty of ruminating. This 
 would have been a reply lo one of the questions 
 which Michaelis, professor at Gottinguen, had 
 addressed to the travellers dispatched into the 
 East, by the king of Denmark ; namely, " Is the 
 "jerbo a ruminating animal * ?" A question al- 
 ways originating in the same mistake, that of 
 confounding the jerbo with the daman-israe'I, or 
 the schafan of the Hebrews. Some subjects, pre- 
 
 * The intelligent and curious Travellers, or Instructive Ta- 
 blets, vol, ii. p. 321, 
 
 served
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1 59 
 
 served in brandy, were destined as a supplement, 
 in the sequel, to what I had not been able to 
 describe. But a long immersion in the fluid, and 
 frequent transportation from place to place, had 
 affected the viscera to such a degree, that they 
 were almost equally livid, mollified, and mace- 
 rated. The subject in highest preservation, pre- 
 sented to me the following details : 
 
 "to 
 
 On being taken out of the brandy, this jerbo 
 weighed four ounces six grains. As it was very 
 much impregnated with the fluid, its real weight 
 cojld be, at most, four ounces. 
 
 At the aperture of the abdomen, the brandy 
 filled the cavity of it : the altered viscera had lost 
 their natural colour. 
 
 The stomach was not perceptible. 
 
 The small intestines presented, on the first sight, 
 only confused lineaments, so sunk were they; the 
 greater were somewhat more distinct : the colon 
 formed in the right side two spiral windings appa- 
 rent outwardly; the rectum descended almost in a 
 straight line to the left. 
 
 Finally, the bladder, quite compressed, shewed 
 itself in the under part. 
 
 The
 
 l6o TRAVELS IM UPPER 
 
 The stomach was situated almost altogether to 
 the left, very much sunk and concealed by the 
 liver. I wished, to no purpose, to examine the 
 dimensions and the forms of ihe stomach and of 
 the intestinal canal : on the slightest attempt to 
 raise those parts, or to remove them from each 
 other, they separated, and presented only formless 
 fragments. The case was the same as to the me- 
 sentery, the vessels, &c. &c. 
 
 The liver was composed of three lobes and one 
 lobule. Two lobes were exterior, the one right, 
 the other left, contiguous and separated only by 
 a deep scissure, in which passed a little of the 
 cellular texture, a vestige of the suspensory liga- 
 ment. The posterior lobe was entirely situated 
 to the left ; in other respects, those three lobes 
 presented to me neither semicircular incision nor 
 appendice; but under the right lobe, in the pos- 
 terior part, I found an irregular lobule, to which 
 adhered some of the cellular texture, that seemed 
 to be the vesicle of the gall. I say seemed \ for 
 here, as frequently in other cases, the bad condi- 
 tion of the membranous parts very much mace- 
 rated, rendered it impossible to distinguish the 
 first forms of them. The structure of the liver it 
 was more easy to ascertain ; at the same time its 
 parenchyma was not the less separable from it by 
 a slight pressure. 
 
 The 
 4
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. l6 1 
 
 The right kidney was in a state of tolerable pre- 
 servation ; its figure was oval, convex above, flat- 
 tened below : it was five lines and a half in length, 
 and three in breadth. On the upper side, in the 
 membranous fragments, I distinguished a very small 
 gland, oval, and somewhat hard. 
 
 The left kidney was not in such a good state of 
 preservation as the right ; it appeared somewhat 
 more considerable. The bladder was very mus- 
 culous, flattened, oval, and narrower at bottom ; 
 it was in very good preservation, and was five lines 
 long and two broad in the upper part. 
 
 The jerbo is commonly found in Lower Egypt, 
 principally in the Bahire, or western part. The 
 denomination of rats, or mice of the mountain, has 
 been improperly applied to them ; for all the lower 
 part of Egypt is a plain. Hasselquitz, in the pas- 
 sages already quoted, alleges, that these denomi- 
 nations have been invented by the French. This 
 is not the only occasion on which this traveller has 
 fallen into error, from an inclination to speak 
 slightingly of our nation. The small number of 
 Frenchmen trading to Egypt, do not know what 
 rat of the mountain means ; the literati of other na- 
 tions are the persons chargeable with transforming 
 the jerbo into a rat # . 
 
 * See the nomenclature at the beginning of this chapter. 
 vol. r. m The
 
 l62 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 The sands and rubbish which surround modern 
 Alexandria, are very much frequented by the jerbo. 
 They live there in troops, and with their nails and 
 teeth dig a habitation for themselves in the ground. 
 I have been told that they can penetrate even 
 through the softish stone which is under the layer 
 of sand. Without being actually wild, they are 
 exceedingly restless : the slightest noise, or any 
 new object whatever, makes them retire to their 
 holes with the utmost precipitation. It is impos- 
 sible to kill them, but by taking them by surprise. 
 The Arabs have the art of catching them alive, by 
 stopping up the outlets of the different galleries 
 belonging to the colony, one excepted, through 
 which they force them out. I never ate any of 
 them, but their flesh does not pass for a great de- 
 licacy ; the people of Egypt, however^ do not re- 
 ject it. Their skin, which is soft and shining, is 
 used as a common fur. 
 
 I fed for some time, while I was in Egypt, six 
 of those animals in a large cage of iron wire. The 
 very first night they had entirely gnawed asunder 
 the upright and cross sticks of their prison ; and I 
 was under the necessity of having the inside of the 
 cage lined with tin. They lived on wheat, rice, 
 nuts, and every species of fruit. They were very 
 fond of basking in the sun : the moment you put 
 them in the shade, they clung close to each other, 
 
 and
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. l6j 
 
 and seemed to suffer from the privation of warmth. 
 We have been told that the jerbo slept by day, 
 and never in the night-time ; for my own part, I 
 have observed precisely the contrary. In a state of 
 liberty, you meet them in broad daylight, gather- 
 ing round their subterraneous habitations, and 
 those which I fed under my own eye never were 
 more lively nor more awake than when exposed 
 to the full blaze of the sun. Though they have 
 much agility in their movements, gentleness and 
 tranquillity seem to form their character. Mine 
 suffered themselves to be stroked with great com- 
 posure ; there was among themselves no noise, 
 no quarrelling, even when food was scattered 
 among them. Besides, they discovered no symptom 
 of joy, of fear, or of gratitude. Their gentleness 
 was by no means amiable, it was not interesting ; 
 it appeared to be the effect of a cold and com- 
 plete indifference, approaching to stupidity. Three 
 of those jerbos died one after another, before I left 
 Alexandria ; I lost two more on a rough passage 
 to the island of Rhodes, where the last, through 
 the negligence of the person who had the charge 
 of him, got out of his cage, and disappeared. 
 When the vessel was unloaded, I had diligent 
 search made for him, but all to no purpose ; he 
 bad undoubtedly been devoured by the cats. 
 
 M 2 It
 
 164 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 It seemed difficult to preserve those little ani- 
 mals in a state of captivity, and still more so to 
 transport them into our climates. It is of import- 
 ance, besides, to advertise those who may be dis- 
 posed to import them into Europe, of the precau- 
 tions which it is indispensably necessary to em- 
 ploy in keeping them while on ship-board : they 
 are the same with those used in bringing over the 
 agauti*, or acouc1if\, and the other quadrupeds 
 with gnawing teeth, of America. They must be 
 kept closely shut up in cages or in casks, with- 
 out a possibility of their escaping ; their natural 
 disposition inciting them to devour every thing, 
 they might occasion very considerable damage to 
 a ship in the course of a voyage : and, being capa- 
 ble of eating through the hardest wood, might en- 
 danger her sinking. 
 
 I had scarcely published my observations on the 
 gerboise of Egypt, in 1787, when there appeared 
 on that subject, in the Journal of Natural History J, 
 aletterofM.Berthout-van-Berchem. That learned 
 gentleman charges me with two mistakes, gratui- 
 tously enough, as in the two contested points I 
 
 * Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Animaux Quadrnpedes. — Cavia 
 agutu Lin. 
 
 f Id. Supplem. to the Hist, of Quad. — Cavia acuschy. Lin. 
 \ By Messrs. Bertholon and Boyer, A. D. 1788, No. 12. 
 
 have
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. l6^ 
 
 have truth upon my side. I had prepared my an- 
 swer, but citizen Lamethrie, to whom I proposed 
 the insertion of it in the Journal de Physique, as 
 composing a sequel to my observations, remarked 
 to me, that having refused to publish M. Ber- 
 thout's critique, it would have had an awkward 
 appearance to let my reply appear in it. I give it 
 in this place ; and as I employ, in disculpation of 
 my pretended mistakes, only the words and the 
 quotations of M. Van-Berchem himself, I begin 
 with transcribing his letter. This little discussion, 
 moreover, will not be wholly useless; it will fur- 
 nish new elucidations on the natural history of the 
 gerboise, at the same time that it will shew how 
 far criticism, when it lays stress on minutiae) runs 
 the risk of misleading. 
 
 Letter on the true nomenclature of the gerboise ; by 
 il/. Berlhout-van-Berchem the younger, perpetual 
 Secretary to the Society of Physics, at Lausanne, 
 
 " In a work on quadrupeds which I have just 
 •' published, will be found a detailed history of the 
 " gerboise. I satisfy myself at present with giving 
 " the true nomenclature of that animal, which 
 u proves that the alagtaga and the gcrboa are two 
 *' different species, that M. Sonnini lias committed 
 " an error in classing them together (Journal de 
 
 M 3 " Physique,
 
 1 66 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 " Physique* November 1787, byM. de Lametbrie), 
 " though his memoir contains, in other respects, 
 " some very interesting remarks on those animals. 
 
 l < It is to M. Pallas that we are indebted for the 
 <c best natural history of the gerboise. But as it 
 " would be tedious to transcribe here the exami- 
 <e nation which he has made of the nomenclature 
 " of those animals, I must refer the reader to his 
 " book * ; and will say, after him, that there are 
 *' two species of gerboise. The first, of which M. 
 " Buffon speaks under the name of alagtaga, and 
 " which ought to be written alak-daaga, has five 
 te toes on the hinder (eet ; the second has only 
 " three, and differs from it likewise in several other 
 u characters. In order to distinguish this first spe- 
 " cies, which M. Pallas denominates mus jaculus, 
 fl I shall call \ijaJma, from the name given to it by 
 " the Calmucs, andshall preserve to the second spe- 
 ** cies the name of gerlo, or gerhoa. M. Pallas has 
 " observed three varieties in the jalma* which ap- 
 " pear to differ principally in the size. The most 
 11 common, which is of a middling size between 
 " the other two, is the jalma, or alak-daaga. It is 
 " often found in eastern Tajtary, in the deserts of 
 " Siberia, and in the regions beyond the Baikal-f . 
 ** It is likewise found in Syria, nay even so far off 
 
 * Neva Species QuaJrupedum. Mus jaculus, p. 275, 
 I Ibid. p. 285.
 
 AND LOWER BGYPT. l6j 
 
 " as India. M. Pennant says it is to be found in 
 " Barbary * ; but there is no authentic evidence 
 ** that thejalma is an inhabitant of Africa : he even 
 u remarks that it prefers colder countries than what 
 <( suit thegerboa, an inhabitant of warmer climates-^. 
 
 " The second variety is the largest of all ; it is 
 " more rare than the first : they give it the name of 
 11 marine jahna, and it is to be found in the grassy 
 " hills of the TanaTs, of the Volga, of the Rhymnus, 
 t( and of the Irtis %. It is to this variety we are to 
 " refer the. animal which Dr. Shaw has erroneously 
 " described under the name of daman-isra'el, and 
 H which is of the size of the rabbit. 
 
 " The third variety is found, with the large one, 
 M toward salt meridional marshes of the Caspian 
 " sea, and with the middle sized one, in the vici- 
 " nity of the Volga, and of the Rhymnus. They 
 " give it the name of choin-jalma || ; it is the small- 
 " est of the three. The largest, or marine jalma, 
 " is of the size of a squirrel ; the middle-sized, or 
 "Jalma, is about as big as a rat, and the smallest is 
 " scarcely so large as a field-mouse. 
 
 '* All these families have five toes on the hinder 
 " foot ; and in the great number which M. Pallas 
 
 * History of Quadrupeds, p. 429. f Pallas, book already 
 quoted, p. 286. ^ Id. ibid. p. 284. || Id. p. 291. 
 
 m 4 " examined,
 
 l68 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 " examined, he never saw a single variation as to 
 " the number of toes. But what has led Messrs. 
 *' BufFon and Sonnini into an error, is the faulty 
 " description given by Gmelin, who never saw any 
 <( but a single individual, probably disfigured, and 
 " which presented to him only three toes and a 
 " spur, or four toes*. He is likewise mistaken with 
 " respect to the manners of thisanimal, in ascribing 
 li to it those of the lepus ogotona ; an error which 
 " has been since copied by the younger Gmelin. 
 " Messer-Chmidt, who had left a good description 
 " of this animal, does not pretend to say that it had 
 t( only four toes-]-. It must be admitted then that 
 " this species is entirely distinct from the follow-' 
 " ing, which has only three toes on the hinder foot. 
 
 M The gerbo, of which M. BufFon has given us 
 <f a very good description, after M. AllamandJ, and 
 *' which M. Pallas calls mus sagitta\\, and M. Pen- 
 " nant Egyptius gerboa\, is found in Asia, between 
 u the Tanai's and the Volga, where M. Pallas fre- 
 " quently saw it, and in the sandy hills to the south 
 " of the Irtis, as well as in the schistes of the Olta- 
 *' ique mountains. In general, it inhabits countries 
 " more meridional, and digs its hole in sandy and 
 " soft ground, not inhabited by the jalma. It is 
 
 * Pallas, book already quoted, p. 282. f Id. p. 282. 
 
 % Button, Supplem. vol. vi. p. 292. (| Pallas, above, p. 306, 
 
 § Hist, of Quadr. p. 427. 
 
 « well
 
 AND LOWER' EGYPT. 169 
 
 " well known that this animal likewise lives in 
 " Egypt, Barbary, Palestine, and the deserts be- 
 " tween Bassora and Aleppo. 
 
 " I shall only indulge myself in one remark more 
 '*■ on an assertion of M. Sonnini, that the gerbo 
 " was never more lively and alert than when ex- 
 " posed to the full blaze of the meridian sun. This 
 " is a very singular affirmation, for M. Klokner, 
 " who was in possession of some of those animals, 
 " declares positively that they sleep in the day- 
 " time, and are afraid of the light (Buffon, Supp. 
 " vol. vi. p. 264). 1 have likewise seen at Lau- 
 " sanne, in the collection of M. Doyat, four or 
 " five gerboises, which he brought with him from 
 " Arabia, and which kept themselves concealed and 
 " at rest in the daytime; finally, M. Pallas says, 
 " in positive terms, of the musjacultts: Protracti in 
 n lucem diu, vix pedibus imistunt, quasi stupidi vel 
 " ebrii, mutique, nee aures facile vitali vigor e eri- 
 " gunt, vixque ad salt and urn excitari possunt, car- 
 " cere calidiore forsan len/iores redditi*. M. Pallas 
 lt adds, that those animals grow benumbed in win- 
 
 * Pallas, the work already quoted, p. 288. When exposed 
 to the light for any considerable time, they become incapable 
 almost to stand, as if they were stupified or drunk, and, struck 
 dumb, they want animal vigour sufficient so much as to prick 
 up their ears, nor can any stimulus excite them to dance about, 
 being perhaps rendered sluggish by the increased heat of their 
 prison. 
 
 *' ter.
 
 17O TRAVELS>iJN UPPER 
 
 tf ter. I finish this letter with observing, that not 
 " only M. Pallas, but likewise Messrs. Pennant, 
 " Zimmerman, and all good zoologists are of the 
 " same opinion on the subject. I have the honour 
 « to be, &c." 
 
 Lanazle, June ist, 1788. 
 
 Sonnims Reply to M. Berthout-van-Berchem, t$e. 
 
 Permit me, Sir, to address this note to you, rela-* 
 tive to my memoir on the subject of the gerboise 
 of Egypt, in the same journal in which it has been 
 published *. This memoir seems to have been the 
 sole object of your letter ; and this consideration, 
 the attention which you have paid to it, and the 
 handsome terms in which you have mentioned it, 
 would be reasons sufficiently powerful to induce 
 me to make an attempt to efface certain blemishes 
 which you think are perceptible in it. As the re- 
 searches of naturalists ought to have a tendency 
 toward one and the same centre, toward a common 
 focus, truth, to deviate from that object, in what- 
 ever manner it may be, is to commit a crime. In 
 this view, nothing can be more just, nor at the same 
 time more noble, than to acknowledge and dis- 
 
 * I mentioned before the reason which prevented the insertion 
 of my reply in the Journal ds Physique. 
 
 avow
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 171 
 
 avow error, against which no man stands secure, 
 This is the track which Buffon constantly pursued; 
 this is the great, the manly example he has left to 
 all who write on natural history, and which I would 
 be zealous to imitate, were I not convinced, that 
 classing together the alagtaga and the gerbo, as 
 two animals of the same species, I am not only free 
 from the blame which you impute to me, but that 
 not even the slightest mistake can reasonably be 1 aid 
 to my charge. In fact, Sir, you will please to re- 
 mark, first of all, that, in my memoir, it was no 
 part of my intention to compose the nomenclature 
 of the gerboise race. I employed myself as little as 
 I possibly could in that dry, unacceptable, and too 
 frequently useless labour. My design simply was to 
 speak of the gerboiscs which I have seen in Egypt, 
 and to represent them exactly as they fell under 
 my observation. In describing the jerbo, the only 
 race of this genus to be found in that part of Africa, 
 I was struck with its resemblance to another ani- 
 mal of the same genus, a native of northern coun- 
 tries, and which Gmclin has described under the 
 name of alagtaga ; and I have said : /lie jerbo and 
 ihe alagtaga of Gmelin, appear to me one and the 
 same animal; though I felt some difficulty in be- 
 coming the proselyte of this approximation, on ac- 
 count of the extreme opposition of climates. Nay, 
 I acknowledge that, if reflection had not suggested 
 to me other species of quadrupeds, living equally in 
 
 cold
 
 1 7:t TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 cold regions, and under a burning sky, I should 
 have been extremely diffident in assigning a de- 
 cided identity to two animals, the descriptions of 
 which, nevertheless, presented me with numerous 
 and unequivocal conformities. 
 
 Buffon, who never had an opportunity of ob- 
 serving the jerbo, and who had not seen, any more 
 than myself, the alagtaga, except in Gmelin's de- 
 scription, had presumed that these two quadrupeds 
 were of the same species. I, who have examined 
 the jerbo very closely, was enabled to express my- 
 self in a more positive manner. But neither Buffon 
 nor 1 have advanced that the gerboises of eastern 
 Tartkny, of the deserts of Siberia, and nf the regions 
 leyond the Baikal^ were all similar to that of which 
 Gmdin has spoken, nor even that this last existed 
 in those countries. We have only admitted the 
 testimony of a man of gravity, whose remarks are 
 deposited in the collection of the Imperial Aca-* 
 demy of Petersburg!), and this testimony, it must 
 be admitted, is still far from being destroyed, 
 
 I shall confine myself, Sir, \o your own quota- 
 tions. It is certain that when M. Pallas, whose 
 celebrity is most honourably acquired, communi- 
 cates his particular observations, not the shadow of 
 doubt can be raised against them. We must, ac- 
 cordingly, consider as incontestable that, in the 
 3 northern
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I73 
 
 northern countries which I have just named, there 
 are gerboises, called alak-daaga, which differ from 
 the alagtaga of Gmelin, as they have five toes on 
 the hinder foot. M. Pallas adds, that, common in 
 the north, they are nevertheless scattered over 
 Syria, and even as far as to India, countries in 
 which lives equally the jerbo, that is, the gerboise 
 with three toes, with a spur or rudiment of the 
 fourth toe, the alagtaga of Gmelin. The British 
 Pliny, Mr. Pennant, asserts that they are met with 
 likewise in Barbary, and I can see no good reason 
 why M. Pallas should call this last fact in question, 
 on the remark that they prefer colder countries than 
 the gerboa likes, who is the inhabitant of warm cli- 
 vutes; as if several districts of Syria were not as 
 hot as Barbary, at least as the parts into which 
 the observers have penetrated. 
 
 Here then we have two races closely allied, in 
 other respects, that of the alak-daaga and of the 
 jerbo, which exist together to the south, though the 
 latter be more numerous there than the former. 
 Is it not probable that both the one and the other 
 may be found in like manner to the north, where 
 the jerbo will, in his turn, be much scarcer ? This 
 conjecture becomes more probable, or rather it 
 ceases to be one, when we read in your letter, Sir, 
 that the intelligent naturalist, M. Pallas, has fre- 
 quently seen the jerbo in Asia % between the Tana'is and 
 
 the
 
 174 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the Volga , and in the sandy hills to the south of the 
 Jrtis, as well as in the schist es of the Altdiqut moun- 
 tains', that is, in the north of Russia, in Tartary, 
 and in Siberia. 
 
 After this, it is assuredly very possible, as you 
 rightly observe, Sir, that Gmelin may have fallen 
 in with only a single individual of the race of the 
 jerbos, always becoming scarcer and scarcer as you 
 advance northward, and that he should have given 
 it the name of alagtaga, or, if you will have it so, 
 of alak-daaga, under which the people of those 
 countries, not much accustomed to employ them- 
 selves in reckoning the number of the toes of ani- 
 mals, and in taking their dimensions, comprehend 
 the whole generation of gerboise. But it is not 
 credible that a well-informed traveller, and accu- 
 rate with respect to other objects of much greater 
 importance, should not have possessed the skill to 
 distinguish an animal mutilated to such a degree as 
 to be deficient in some of its members, and of cur- 
 tailed dimensions, as you are pleased to suppose. 
 It is still more difficult to believe that he should 
 have amused himself with describing a creature of 
 the imagination, and that, by a chance still more 
 inconceivable, this creature of pure invention 
 should really exist in other climates widely remote 
 and totally opposite. 
 
 Gmelin
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I75 
 
 Gmelin has not then committed a mistake, in 
 describing what he saw, and which, conformably 
 to the more modern observations which you, Sir, 
 produce, he must have seen in the countries which 
 he traversed. On the other hand, it is inconsistent 
 with good logic to impute error to him, when all 
 that can be alleged against him amounts to one or 
 two negative proofs, which are totally insufficient 
 to annihilate one single positive proof. It has ap- 
 peared to me, for some years past, that travellers 
 and naturalists indulged themselves rather too 
 lightly in contradicting their predecessors. This 
 is not the place to examine whether science has 
 gained much from this general tone of criticism ; 
 but it has induced me to insist on M. Gmelin's 
 justification, independent of its connexion with 
 my own. In truth, on the supposition that this 
 observer had carried imposition so far as to paint 
 a quadruped, the forms of which were not such as 
 he had ascribed to it, we should not be the less 
 warranted to affirm that the jerbo of Egypt has a 
 very striking resemblance to another gerboise de- 
 scribed in the Commentaries of the Academy of 
 Petersburgh, under the denomination of alagtaga ; 
 this is all I pretended to say, without presuming 
 to pronounce respecting its reality, any more than 
 respecting the degree of confidence to be granted 
 to the traveller who had described it. 
 
 The
 
 2^6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 The opinion which affirms that the jerbo and the 
 alagtaga of Gmelin are but one single and the same 
 species, has been adopted by the judicious M. Al- 
 lamand, one of the foreign naturalists on whom 
 BufFon set the highest value. In giving his details 
 relative to a gerboise sent from Tunis to M. Klok- 
 ner, and after having said that it was of the same 
 race with the jerbo of BufFon, the Dutch professor 
 adds : 7/ (the jerbo) forms a genus apart, and that a 
 very singular one, with I lie alagtaga, of which M, 
 Gmelin has given us the description and the figure, hut 
 which approaches so nearly to our jerbo, that it is im- 
 possible not to consider it, with M. de Bufifon, as a va- 
 riety of the same species *. On the other hand, Buf- 
 fon, who, in describing at first the jerbo after Ed- 
 wards and Hasselquitz, had made only one species 
 of it with the alagtaga of Gmelin -j-, has persisted 
 (that is his expression) in not separating them in his 
 Supplement to the natural History of four-footed 
 Animals, and no one, Sir, is better qualified than 
 yourself to appreciate the weight of the opinion of 
 the French naturalist, when, not disdaining to dart 
 the glance of genius on a discussion rather of words 
 than of facts, and after having weighed the more 
 recent authorities to which you yourself appeal, 
 he finds himself confirmed in his first sentiment. 
 
 * BufFon, Suppl. to Nat. Hist, of Quadrup. Add. of the 
 Dutch Editor (M. Allamand), art. Gerboise or Jerbo. 
 f Nat. Hist, of Quadrupeds, art. Gerboises. 
 
 As
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1 77 
 
 As to your second remark on my assertion, that 
 the jerbos were never more lively and alert than when 
 they were exposed to the full blaze of the sun, a fact 
 which to you appears extremely singular, you must 
 permit me, Sir, to observe in my turn, that my 
 proposition, such as I stated it, did not pretend to 
 describe jerbos in general, nor those which live in 
 perfect liberty, but only certain individuals which 
 1 kept confined in a cage. The expression I made 
 use of rendered it impossible to misunderstand my 
 meaning, for my words precisely are : those which 
 I fed never were more lively and alert, &c. It is 
 not matter of much surprise that animals which, 
 left to themselves, find a habitation, and pass the 
 greatest part of their life in holes dug out of an in- 
 flamed sand, and a burning layer of chalk, should 
 suffer from the privation of heat, on finding them- 
 selves exposed to the impressions of the open air, 
 to the winds, to the coolness of the night season ; 
 and this reason alone would be sufficient to ac- 
 count for the different character of mine, shut up 
 as they were for the most part in the shade, and 
 recovering new life and motion from the genial in- 
 fluence of the rays of the sun. 
 
 I was not ignorant that the gerboise, sent from 
 Tunis to Mr. Klokncr, slept during the whole day, 
 and awoke at the approach of night * ; but what 
 
 * Suppl. to the Hist, of Quadr. by Buffon ; Art. of the add. 
 of profess. Allamande, 
 
 vol. i. N inference
 
 1/8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 inference can be deduced from the habits of a little 
 isolated and very delicate animal, when, forced 
 away from the heat of its natal soil, it finds itself 
 transported into a climate cold and humid, like 
 that of Holland ? This reflection applies with equal 
 force to those which M. Doyat preserved alive at 
 Lausanne. I have likewise, in favour of my opi- 
 nion, testimony not liable to suspicion ; in the 
 first place, that of my own eyes, which are suffi- 
 ciently good to merit some confidence ; next, that 
 of many Europeans who saw my jerbos at Alex- 
 andria ; and, finally, that of the crew of the po- 
 lacre, the Fortune, on board of which those jerbos 
 were for a whole month. 
 
 But I have extended my proposition, I acknow- 
 ledge, and have advanced that jerbos were to be 
 met with in the daytime in the vicinity of their 
 subterraneoushabitations; which supposesthat they 
 are not continually lulled to sleep. Could the 
 Arabs interpose between you and me, they would 
 assure you, Sir, that they shoot the jerbos with their 
 fowling-pieces the moment they issue from their 
 holes. But an undeniable testimony, because it 
 proceeds from a good zoologist and an illustrious 
 traveller, is that of Mr. Bruce. He relates that, in 
 an unfortunate journey through the part of Africa 
 formerly known by the name of Cyrena'is or Pen- 
 tapolis, and where the jerbo is more common than 
 elsewhere, he employed his attendants, and the 
 
 Arabs
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1 79 
 
 Arabs who accompanied him, in killing them with 
 sticks, to prevent any injury being done to their 
 skins *. A little farther on he adds, that the Arabs 
 of the kingdom of Tripoli, who hunt the ante- 
 lope, find much amusement in teaching their grey 
 hounds to turn suddenly on the jerbo ; that a beau- 
 tiful little greyhound, presented to him by the 
 prince of Tunis, frequently afforded him the plea- 
 sure of this kind of hunting ; that the chase lasted 
 long, and that he has several times seen, in a large 
 court well enclosed, the greyhound a full quarter 
 of an hour on the pursuit before he could seize his 
 nimble preyf. All these circumstances, assuredly, 
 sufficiently demonstrate that the jerbos are not in- 
 disturbable sleepers in the daytime. 
 
 The passage from M. Pallas, protracti in Jucem, 
 Sec. which you quote at full length, to run down 
 my assert ion, makes not the least against it; and this 
 remark will no more escape good zoologists than all 
 men of good sense, as, in this passage, the animal 
 in question is of a species and country different 
 from the mus jaculus of M. Pallas, that is to say, of 
 the alak-daaga, or gerboise of the north, which you 
 have taken too much pains to distinguish from the 
 jerbo, to admit of their ever being henceforward 
 
 * Travels in Nubia and Abyssinia, by James Bruce, Esq. vol. 
 v. p. 149. 
 
 t Id. ibid. vol. v. p. 15L 
 
 n 2 confounded
 
 iSo TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 confounded with each other. Recollect, Sir, on 
 the contrary, that M. Pallas has frequently seen 
 his mus sagittti) the jerbo, in the sandy hills, &c. 
 Now, I should be glad to know,, how it was possi- 
 ble frequently to see animals that sleep all day 
 long, in subterraneous galleries ? 
 
 Besides, I never meant to assert that the jerbo 
 did not sleep at all in the day, and did not keep 
 awake at all in the night. My sole intention was 
 to limit the too general assertion of those who lulled 
 him asleep all day long, and kept him awake the 
 whole night through. I am even strongly disposed 
 to believe that his sleep is longer and less inter- 
 rupted, when the sun is above the horizon than 
 when he has left it. This is a relation which the 
 jerbo would have with many other quadrupeds 
 which seek for the means of subsistence, and en- 
 gage in their running and hunting parties, rather 
 in the shade than by the light of day. It is unne- 
 cessary to produce instances of this ; they are 
 abundantly well known. 
 
 More than enough, undoubtedly, has been said 
 in the discussion of a question not of superior im- 
 portance. In attempting to keep the gerbo awake, 
 it is far from being impossible that we may have 
 set the reader asleep. I shall therefore subjoin only 
 a single word : I had presumed that the gerboise 
 
 fell
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. l8t 
 
 fell into a state of numbedness and stupefaction in 
 the north, during the most rigorous part of the 
 season, and that accordingly propagation must go 
 on much more slowly than in meridional coun- 
 tries. You have satisfied me, Sir, that M. Pallas 
 completely verifies my conjecture, which flatters 
 me beyond conception. 1 am not the less dis- 
 posed, on this account, publicly to express my re- 
 spect for you. 
 
 N3
 
 l82 TP-AVELS IN UP?ER 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 French factory — Statue — Adanson and his misfor-> 
 times — Augustus , another French interpreter — » 
 Antique tomb — The name of Alexander still respect* 
 ed in Egypt — Venetians and English— Commerce 
 — Germes — Fishes. 
 
 While at Alexandria, I lodged in the house oc- 
 cupied by the French consul and the merchants 
 of that nation : it is close upon the sea, at the 
 bottom of the new harbour. It forms a square, 
 the sides of which enclose a large court, and 
 around it, under arcades, a series of warehouses. 
 The arcades are supported by columns, or, to ex- 
 press myself more accurately, by the fragments of 
 columns pilfered from the rubbish of the ancient 
 city : several of them are of granite, and one pf 
 porphyry. 
 
 There was likewise in this court, a statue, of 
 the size of nature, in white stone, and representing 
 a woman sitting, with a child standing by her side. 
 It is a tolerable piece of sculpture ; the drapery, in 
 particular, has a great deal of merit. Some Arabs 
 had found this statue buried in ruins, and sold it 
 to a French interpreter, who intended to have it 
 
 transported
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. l8j 
 
 transported to his own country. But he died be- 
 fore he had an opportunity of executing his design ; 
 and from that time to the present, the statue has 
 remained in a state of exposure to the shocks of 
 bales of merchandise, which are incessantly moved 
 about in the court, and which bad even mutilated 
 it, without exciting any concern either to preserve 
 it, or to convey it to its place of destination, where 
 assuredly it would have met with a cordial recep- 
 tion. The genius of destruction must have domi- 
 neered with unbounded sway over regions bestrewed 
 with the dismal effects of her power, seeing it had 
 forced a passage into the enclosure dedicated to the 
 use of a civilized nation. 
 
 Thelodging apartments are over the warehouses; 
 the casements are of consequence very lofty, and a 
 single gate, of great solidity, shuts in this vast range 
 of building. They farther strengthen it, on tumul- 
 tuous emergencies, by bales piled a-top of each 
 other. If the commotion did not subside, and there 
 was ground of apprehension that the populace would 
 break, in, all the inhabitants of the factory slid down 
 from the windows in the night-time, and fled for 
 refuge on board of some vessel. 
 
 In former times there was only a vice consul at 
 the head of this establishment ; but M. Tott, in 
 the course of his inspection, had recalled the consul 
 
 n 4 from
 
 184 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 from Cairo, where it was impossible to protect him 
 from the insults and persecution of the Mamelucs, 
 and fixed him at Alexandria. It is easy to judge 
 that here he was not much more secure. The 
 French flag waved on the terrace of the factory ; 
 it would have been better, perhaps, not to display 
 it at all, as it was impossible to procure respect for 
 it from those barbarians. 
 
 Among the few Frenchmen who resided there, 
 and whose generous and obliging character can 
 never be obliterated from my memory, I must dis- 
 tinguish a name dear to the sciences, that of Adan- 
 son. The brother of the Academician of Paris, de- 
 voted, from his youth up, to the study of the orU 
 ental languages, had for a long time fulfilled the 
 delicate functions of an interpreter in the Levant. 
 He had undergone, in Syria, one of those cruel in- 
 flictions which are equally the reproach of the go- 
 vernment which orders them, and of that which 
 suffers them to pass unrevenged. The victim of 
 . his duty, he was likewise so of the detestable bar- 
 barity of a Pacha. Enjoined, in concert with his 
 colleague, and in the name of the French nation, 
 to present well founded remonstrances, they were 
 both doomed, by order of the ferocious Mussul- 
 man, to the horrid punishment of the bastinado on 
 the soles of the feet. The other interpreter ex- 
 pired under the hands of the executioner, and 
 
 Adanson,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 185 
 
 Adanson, still more unfortunate perhaps, his feet 
 mangled and exquisitely painful, almost entirely 
 deprived of the power of walking, survived his 
 execrahle chastisement, and the affront offered to 
 France, which her government left unpunished as 
 well as that of the assassination of her consul at 
 Alexandria. 
 
 A catastrophe so terrible would have been alone 
 sufficient to awaken the liveliest interest in favour 
 of M. Adanson, had he not been, in other respects, 
 highly estimable, for his talents and extensive illu- 
 mination. But the rewarding of modest and distant 
 merit did not enter into the detail of ministerial ar- 
 rangements. Their gilded folding-doors scarcely 
 ever opened, except to gaudy embroidery or im- 
 portunate insignificance. The man who possessed 
 talents only lived, for the most part, isolated, un- 
 noticed, unrewarded, if, however, this state of se- 
 questration were not a retinue more brilliant and 
 more honourable than that of unjust and undistin- 
 guishing power. Adanson vegetated at Alexandria, 
 and there partook of the functions of interpreter 
 with M. Augustus, whose wit and amenity of dis- 
 position werealmost a phenomenon in that country, 
 and which would have raised him to honourable 
 distinction in every country in the world. Had I 
 pnly to express my satisfaction in having received 
 
 certain
 
 l86 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 certain formal civilities, I should have dispensed 
 with making particular mention of these two in- 
 terpreters, without knowing whether they are still 
 within reach of hearing this expression of my gra- 
 titude ; but to them, and to their illuminated com- 
 plaisance, I stand indebted for the facility with 
 which I was enabled to make my observations in 
 countries of no easy access ; and travellers will 
 feelingly perceive the value of such encounters ; 
 for they know, as I do, how rare they are, 
 
 I had heard mention made of a curious monu- 
 ment,a kind of antiquetomb, deposited in a mosque 
 without the precincts of Alexandria ; to no pur- 
 pose did I express a desire to see it ; I was assured 
 that the attempt would be dangerous, and withal 
 impracticable. The French consul and M. Adan- 
 son earnestly entreated me not to think of it. M. 
 Augustus, however, less timid, engaged to conduct 
 me thither by stealth, and without the privity of 
 other Frenchmen. A janisary of the factory ac- 
 companied us : the scheick of the mosque, mum 
 as called by the Turks, cureby the Christians, was 
 waiting for us, and we were permitted to examine 
 every thing tolerably at our leisure, in considera- 
 tion of a certain douceur agreed upon between M, 
 Augustus and the priest. This temple is very an- 
 cient ; it was reared by one of the Caliphs ; the 
 
 walks
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 187 
 
 walls are incrustcd with marbles of various co- 
 lours, and there are still to be seen some beautiful 
 remains of mosaic work. 
 
 The tomb, the object of our curiosity, and which 
 may be considered as one of the most beautiful 
 morsels of antiquity preserved in Egypt, had been 
 transformed, by the Mahometans, into a kind of 
 little pool, a reservoir consecrated to contain the 
 water for their pious ablutions. It is very large, 
 and would form an oblong rectangle, were not one 
 of the shorter sides rounded in shape of a bathing- 
 tub. It was probably, of old time, covered with a 
 lid : but no traces of it are now visible, and the 
 laver is entirely open. It is all of a single piece, 
 and of a superb marble spotted green, yellow, red- 
 dish, &c. on a ground of a beautiful black ; but 
 what renders it peculiarly interesting, is the pro- 
 digious quantity of small hieroglyphical characters 
 with which it is impressed both inside and out- 
 wardly. A month would scarcely be sufficient to 
 copy them faithfully : we have not hitherto, of 
 course, had exact drawings of them. That which 
 I saw, in my return from Egypt, in the possession 
 of the minister Berthin, at Paris, could only serve 
 to convey an idea of the form of the monument, 
 the hieroglyphics having been traced purely from 
 imagination, and as chance directed. It is nearly 
 the same thing as if, in trying to copy an inscrip- 
 tion,
 
 l88 TRAVELS IjST UPPER. 
 
 tion, one should content himself with writing down 
 the letters, without order and without connexion. 
 Nevertheless, it is only by copying, with scrupulous 
 accuracy, the figures of this symbolical language, 
 that we can attain the knowledge of a mysterious 
 composition, on which depends that of the history 
 of a country once so celebrated. When that lan- 
 guage shall be understood, we may perhaps learn 
 the origin of the sarcophagus, and the history of 
 the puissant man whose spoils it contained. Till 
 then it is but the vague and flitting field of con- 
 jecture. 
 
 By the side of the coffin, on a piece of gray 
 marble, of which the pavement of the mosque is 
 composed, I perceived a Greek inscription, but in 
 Roman characters : as they were in a great mea- 
 sure obliterated, it must have required more time 
 than we could spare to decipher them. All I was 
 able to distinguish, at the first glance, was the 
 word CONSTANTINON. 
 
 It was formerly impossible to procure admission 
 into this mosque, and this accounts for the silence 
 of travellers on the subject of the sepulchre which 
 renders it so interesting. A duke of Braganza was 
 the first European who visited it, or rather who 
 discovered it, for chance merely led to the disco- 
 very. He happened to be passing by the temple ; 
 
 the
 
 AND LOWER EGYrr. 189 
 
 the gate was open ; he perceived no one within 
 sight, and had the curiosity to step in. Some chil- 
 dren who had observed him, flocked together and 
 surrounded him with loud outcries. Had they 
 been heard, it would have proved fatal to the Por- 
 tuguese prince ; he pulled out his purse, and si- 
 lenced the children by throwing some pieces of 
 money among them, which purchased him a free 
 and peaceable exit. Since then, M. Montague, 
 whom I have formerly had occasion to mention, 
 offered in vain a very considerable sum for per- 
 mission to visit the interior of the mosque. But 
 some time afterward, being committed to the 
 charge of a scheick, whose thirst of gold triumph- 
 ed over the laws of fanaticism, it was opened for 
 the admission of every stranger who was disposed 
 to pay a chequin for it. The same year that 1 ar- 
 rived at Alexandria, several Englishmen went in 
 without ceremony ; some of the populace per- 
 ceived them, and murmured aloud. The com- 
 mandant of Alexandria hastened to reprimand the 
 scheick, and laid him under an injunction to ad- 
 mit no Christian whatever. The noise occasioned 
 by this incident, in a country where Europeans 
 live in a state of continual alarm, was too recent 
 not to leave some solicitude behind. But our visit 
 to the mosque was so prudently conducted, that 
 no injury ensued, and no one ever received in- 
 formation on the subject. 
 
 I was
 
 190 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 I was witness, one day, of the terror excited in 
 the minds of the French belonging to the factory, 
 from the idea only of a seditious tumult at Alex- 
 andria. A merchant arrived with intelligence 
 that an European had killed a native of the coun- 
 try. The gate of the factory was instantly shut ; 
 the bales began to be put in motion to strengthen 
 the bulwark ; inquiries were made on board what 
 vessel they could run for safety, by dropping from 
 the windows, when, fortunately, information was 
 received that one Mussulman had killed another. 
 
 Nevertheless, if a perpetual communication 
 with the different nations of Europe had qot hi- 
 therto been able to soften the manners of the 
 Alexandrians, it must be acknowledged that it 
 had already disposed them to less intolerance on 
 some particular points. Alexandria was, for ex- 
 ample, with Rossetta, the only city of Egypt 
 where Europeans were allowed to retain their na- 
 tive garb. Every where else they were prohibited 
 to appear except in the oriental habit. It was 
 not safe, however, to make an imprudent use of 
 this indulgence ; for, if we shewed ourselves in 
 numerous bodies, or made any thing like an 
 ostentatious appearance, particularly at a distance 
 from the shipping, we run the risk of being in- 
 sulted. 
 
 It
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I9I 
 
 It was impossible to refrain from bearing some 
 good-will to the inhabitants of this country, for 
 having preserved to their town the name of the an- 
 cient city. We find Alexandria^ in the Arabic name 
 Escanderle -, and the indignation, which you arc 
 unable to restrain, against the barbarians by whom 
 the new city was rather infested than peopled, 
 ceased for a moment on hearing them, which hap- 
 pened to me oftcner than once, pronounce the 
 name of Alexander with marks of respect. It is 
 with them the attribute of courage and of victory. 
 Ennte Scander, say they sometimes, ihon art an 
 Alexander ; this is in their eyes the highest eulo- 
 gium of valour. So true it is that monuments of 
 brass and marble are not those which perpetuate 
 the memory of men. Great actions alone possess 
 the power of transmitting their names from age to 
 age. Every thing else is effaced, every thing 
 perishes : virtue and benefits conferred remain, as 
 unchangeable monuments reared in the heart, the 
 eternal heritage of admiration and ratitude. 
 
 TheVcnetiansand the English had likewise com- 
 mercial establishments at Alexandria. The former, 
 just as the French, pursued, in carrying on trade, 
 the same track with their predecessors. The Eng- 
 lish, on the contrary, employed themselves in strik- 
 ing out new paths. The frequent voyages of their 
 agents to India, their prodigality, which secures to 
 
 them
 
 192. TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 them the good- will of the chiefs of the country, 
 always disposed to favour those most who pay them 
 best, in a word, their activity in conducting opera- 
 tions which they take care to keep secret, all an- 
 nounce the project which they had conceived, and 
 which they had already in part effected, of appro- 
 priating to themselves the exclusive commerce of 
 India through the Red-sea. 
 
 The city of Alexandria, so contracted in modern 
 times, did not furnish a consumption of any im- 
 portance. The commerce accordingly there car- 
 ried on is a commerce of deposit ; but, as I have 
 said, it was considerable, and may become im- 
 mense. The custom-houses returned very large 
 sums: the collection of this revenue was intrusted 
 to a company of Christian merchants of Syria. To 
 form a judgment of their address, it will be suffi- 
 cient to say that they had supplanted the Jews, to 
 whom that branch of the revenue had been for- 
 merly committed. 
 
 The merchandise transported in European bot- 
 toms to Alexandria, is conveyed by water-carriage 
 to Cairo, from whence, after having furnished a 
 supply to the necessities and to the luxury of that 
 populous city, it is dispersed over all Arabia, over 
 Upper Egypt, and even over Abyssinia. Thelittle 
 barks employed in carrying goods from Alexandria 
 
 3 to
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT, I93 
 
 to Rossetta, the first city of Egypt on the Nile, and 
 to carry back to Alexandria the commodities of 
 Egypt and of Arabia, go by the name of germes. 
 They are good stout boats, and of a tolerably 
 handsome construction. They are not decked, 
 and draw but little water, and, according to their 
 size, have two or three masts, with very large tri- 
 angular sails, the yards of which, fixed to the top 
 of the mast, cannot be lowered ; so that whatever 
 weather it may be, the seamen are obliged to 
 mount to the mast-head to take in the sails, a pro- 
 cess as tedious as it is difficult. Their burden is, 
 in general, from five to six tons. It would be 
 very easy, no doubt, to construct vessels with 
 decks, of a much larger size, and which should 
 not require a greater draught of water. Goods 
 would not be so much exposed, on board of such 
 boats, to be wet and injured by the sea-water, as 
 is frequently the case, and conveyance would not 
 be subject to retardations, sometimes prejudicial 
 to commerce, from a swell of sea which forbids 
 the navigation of ihe germes. Though the distance 
 they have to run at sea is scarcely more than twelve 
 leagues, and though there is a bay on the passage, 
 in which they can find a safe retreat, at Aboukir, 
 this coasting voyage is far from being without dan- 
 ger. If a violent gale raises a swell on the shal- 
 lows, where it is always most tumultuous, they 
 run the risk of filling and sinking. But the most 
 vol. 1. o imminent
 
 I94 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 imminent danger which they have to encounter, is 
 at the discharge of the western branch of the Nile, 
 the ancient Bolbitica, now called the Branch of 
 ^Rossetta. It is a bar formed by the sands, on which 
 the billows driven by the winds from the sea, and 
 met by the current of the river, break with incon- 
 ceivable impetuosity. A little islet, dividing the 
 discharge of this branch, leaves, on either side, a 
 strait called in the language of the country, boghass, 
 canal or strait : but this passage is far from practi- 
 cable the whole breadth through. There is only 
 a very narrow channel which the moveableness of 
 the sands and the agitation of the water are chan- 
 ging every day. A pilot, rets, or master of the 
 boghass, is continually employed in taking the 
 soundings of this ever-varying pass, that he may 
 indicate them to the germes. Notwithstanding 
 these precautions, they frequently run aground, 
 and very soon, tilled with masses of sand and wa- 
 ter, perish with their lading and their crews. Ac- 
 cidents are more frequent in entering the Nile, 
 than on the outward passage, the germes coming 
 from the sea not having it in their power to dis- 
 pense with taking the pass, when they come close 
 upon it; whereas, ongoing down with the cur- 
 rent of the river, they can easily get back, if, on 
 approaching the bar, they find the passage hazard- 
 ous. During the increase of the Nile, the wa- 
 ters being more elevated, accidents seldomer hap- 
 pen :
 
 AND LOWER EGY?T. IQ5 
 
 pen : but when the river has retreated into its 
 bed, it is so shallow at the place of discharge, 
 that boats can hardly get through without touch- 
 ing the ground. However habituated the Egyp- 
 tian mariners may be to the business, they never 
 pass this way without trembling. Some of them 
 have been pointed out to me, who had undergone 
 such paroxysms of terror from this cause, that 
 their beards were turned white by it. During the 
 summer of 1778, there was no more than three 
 feet water in the channel. It has even been observed, 
 that the bottom rose progressively from year to 
 year. The same thing has happened in the Da- 
 mietta branch, the boghass of which, though sur- 
 rounded with banks of sand, which long practice 
 had taught the seamen to shun, did not pass for 
 dangerous : it was not even taken into considera- 
 tion in the arrangements made by merchants re- 
 specting the freight of germes. Nevertheless, to- 
 ward the end of 1777, during my residence at Ros- 
 setta, this passage was absolutely closed up, after 
 the rise of the Nile was at its height, and the first 
 barks which attempted to pass were lost. The 
 danger incurred on that of the Rossetta branch 
 was increasing every year, in proportion as the 
 bottom rose; and, as it was useless to expect, 
 from the ignorance and apathy of Egyptians, the 
 skill and labour requisite to confine the current, 
 and to procure a greater depth of water in the 
 
 o 2 channel, '
 
 196 TRAVELS TN UPPER 
 
 channel, there was all the reason in the world \o 
 presume that, in a little time, no boat whatever 
 would venture to encounter that formidable bar. 
 In this case, they must perhaps have thought of 
 clearing out the canal of Alexandria, or, if the 
 carelessness of the inhabitants had infatuated them 
 to such a degree as to neglect a work of so much 
 importance, all communication by water must 
 have been interrupted between Alexandria and the 
 rest of Egypt, and commerce reduced to employ 
 the expensive transportation of merchandise by 
 land carriage. 
 
 This is the mode generally adopted by the tra- 
 vellers and traders of Europe, as well as by those 
 who prefer a slight increase of expense to the risk 
 of being drowned in the boghass. This is the 
 conveyance I made use of in all the excursions I 
 ever undertook between Alexandria and Rossetta. 
 
 Before I quit the coast, I must take notice of 
 the sea fishes which I had occasion to remark, 
 among the numerous species of which their fish- 
 ery consists. I have seen there that species of 
 thornback known by the name of the sea-eagle* 1 , 
 the flesh of which is hard and ill-tasted ; the sea- 
 
 * Raia corpore glabro, aculeo Jongo serrato in caudd pinnata. 
 Arted. Gen. 45.- — Raia aquila. Lin. \ 
 
 eat 3
 
 
 
 
 -\r 
 
 
 if. 
 
 
 
 S." 
 
 x i 
 
 5S * 
 
 • 
 
 X 

 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I Qj 
 
 cat *, which is not much better ; the palamides^ a 
 species of small tunny-)-; the pointed fish which 
 they call the eel%^ and the mullet ^ t which you 
 see frisking about in calm weather, in shoals innu- 
 merable, on the surface of the water. They like- 
 wise catch there that fish which on the tables of 
 the Romans occupied a distinguished place, and 
 to which they gave the name of wolf, from its vo- 
 raciousness |j. The seamen of Provence call it 
 carousse. I have had a drawing made of one of 
 those fishes, which was two feet and a half long. 
 (See plate III.) Its head was bluish; it had red 
 spots on the opercles of the gills, and the body of 
 a blue blackish, and shaded with gray; these tints 
 were deep above the lateral line, and clearer un- 
 der it, with a yellowish mixture. Finally, what 
 is more interesting to the lovers of good cheer, 
 you may cat excellent roaches thereof. 
 
 * Squalus dorsovario ; pinnis ventralibus concretis. Arted. Gen. 
 4.4. — Squalus catulus. Lin. 
 
 ■j- Scomber pelamis, fiinnulis inferioribus septem ; corf ore lineis 
 utrinque quatuor n'v^ris. Arted. Gen. 25. — Scomber pelamis. Lin. 
 
 % Esox rostro cuspidato, gracilis subteriti, spitl.amali. Arted. 
 Gen. 10. — Eiox belone. Lin. 
 
 § Trigla capite glabra lineis utrinque quatuor luteis Jo'igitudini- 
 hbus /jatallclis. Arted. Gen. 171. — Mullus surmuletus. Lin. 
 
 || Perca labrax, pinnis rtorsalibus distinctis, secunda? radii qua' 
 tuordecim. Arted. Gen. Pise. 30. — Perca labrax. Lin. 
 
 ^ Trigla capite glabra, cin is geminis in maxilla inferior:. Arted. 
 Gen. 171. — Mullus barbatus. Lin. 
 
 °3
 
 I98 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Journey from Alexandria to Rossetta — Maadie — He- 
 racleu — Rossetta and its environs — Glance over the 
 Delia. 
 
 Placed between the Mediterranean sea on one 
 side, and a sea of sand on the other, modern 
 Alexandria is isolated, and seems to belong to no 
 country. In order to arrive in other lands, it is 
 necessary to Irust the inconstancy of the waves, 
 or to force a way through immense wastes, im- 
 pressed with the seal of the dereliction and the 
 reprobation of nature. It is, or almost so, a de- 
 sert which you have to cross, in travelling by land 
 to Rossetta. 1 have performed that journey seve- 
 ral timrs ; the first in company with the inspector- 
 general Tolt, attended by a numerous retinue, 
 among whom Savary was one. We left Alexan- 
 dria July 1 ith, 1777, at seven o'clock in the even- 
 ing. This train, I had almost said this rabble of 
 foreigners dressed as Frenchmen, gave umbrage 
 to the inhabitants ; we encountered, in passing 
 through the city, insults of various kinds, and were 
 even pelted with stones, one of which, too well 
 aimed, gave me a rude stroke on the breast. If I 
 had possessed any faith in augury, I should, un- 
 doubtedly, have relinquished a journey whose 
 
 commencement
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. I99 
 
 commencement was so inauspicious. A misadven- 
 ture of another kind overtook us at some distance 
 from the city. The ass, loaded with the provisions 
 for the belly, enraged at bearing a burden of so 
 much importance, shook off her panniers: bottles, 
 plates, pies, &c. all was reduced to shivers. Half 
 an hour almost was spent in collecting the wreck 
 of this halt, and a horse, less headstrong, was load- 
 ed with the fragments. We were speedily over- 
 taken by the night; it was impossible to have been 
 darker, and besides the irksomeness of marching 
 a long time without seeing any thing, in regions 
 utterly unknown, it was to me just as if I had not 
 quitted Alexandria. I had, as my particular suite, 
 an old servant well versed in the art of travelling, 
 a young draughtsman, and a naval gunner. We 
 proceeded in a close platoon, and, together with a 
 janisary, composed the advanced guard. After 
 having got half way on our route, we halted to 
 take a little rest. When it became expedient to 
 put the body again in motion, every one had to run 
 in quest of his own beast which he had let loose, 
 and which the darkness prevented him from find- 
 ing or distinguishing : all was outcry, wrangling; 
 the muleteers were beating each other, thejanisa- 
 ries beating every body. In the midst of this 
 hurly-burly, my little cohort was mounted, from 
 the moment that the signal for decamping was 
 made, and we enjoyed at our ease, the comic 
 
 o 4 scenes
 
 200 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 scenes which were passing around us. We had 
 taken care to range our mules apart, and could 
 resume them at pleasure. A complete hour was 
 wasted in rectifying a disorder which might easily 
 have been prevented ; and this observation is not 
 foreign to the purpose : it proves that in travel- 
 ling, as in military expeditions, order and atten- 
 tion are equally indispensable, and that by neglect- 
 ing them, inconveniences are sometimes incurred 
 s.tillgrcater than even that of the loss of precious time- 
 
 We arrived at Rossetta at six o'clock in the 
 morning, and slept till dinner-time, without mind- 
 ing the preparations going forward under the direc- 
 tion of a capuchin almoner, for celebrating a solemn 
 mass, which was to be followed by a Te Deum. In 
 the afternoon we set off for Cairo with the same 
 rapidity; remained almost continually close shut 
 up in that city for a month, and returned to 
 Rossetta with the same speed that we left it. This 
 is what our gentlemen of bon ton call travelling. 
 They return afterwards to Europe, to reason with 
 assurance on every subject, and sometimes to write 
 of, and to describe, objects which they never saw. 
 
 It is, moreover, the custom to travel between 
 Alexandria and Rossetta in the night-time, in order 
 to escape the sultry heat of a burning sun. But 
 devoted, for a lon^ series of )ears, to pursue my 
 
 travcle
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 201 
 
 travels through climates of fire, I had learned to 
 support all the ardour of the orb of day; fully 
 convinced, besides, that there is never too much 
 light for a traveller who wishes to procure useful 
 information. I have since travelled over the same 
 ground in the day-time: it is computed to be a 
 Journey of about twelve hours. Carriages not 
 being in use there, they employ mules, which you 
 find ready for hire, both at Alexandria and Ros- 
 setta, at a fixed and very moderate price. Their 
 pace i» a very long amble, by means of which they 
 can cover a great deal of ground, without fati- 
 guing themselves too much. These animals were 
 so habituated to the road, that it'was unnecessary 
 to guide them, and that, whether by night or by 
 day, they never deviated from their course, which, 
 on a moving sand, can neither be traced nor 
 formed into a path ; they had, accordingly, neither 
 bridle nor bit, but only a sorry halter. 
 
 Though there be no place of habitation on this 
 route, it is not, properly speaking, a desert. You 
 see on one side, for half the way, and at a little 
 distance, a few straggling houses and a town ; and, 
 through the remainder, you meet with si^ns which 
 indicate that the habitations of men are not very 
 remote. Besides, the traveller has no reason to be 
 apprehensive of the violent gusts of wind from the 
 south, so formidable in the vast plains of sand with 
 
 which
 
 
 202 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 which Egypt is surrounded. Savary, who was ac- 
 quainted with no desert but this, has applied to it 
 what he has heard related of such as are really so. 
 " Wo be to him/' exclaims he, " whom a whirl- 
 " wind from the south surprises in this solitude \ 
 " Unless he is provided with a tent to shelter him, 
 " he is assaulted by clouds of burning dust which 
 fill his eyes and mouth, and deprive him of the 
 power of respiration and of sight. The wisest 
 " course is to perform this journey by night */* 
 Nothing assuredly can be more terrible than those 
 whirlwinds from the south, but it is certain that 
 nothing of this kind is to be apprehended between 
 Alexandria and Rossetta ; that no one there ever 
 lost his life by clouds of burning dust, and that it 
 is physically impossible such a calamity should befal 
 the traveller in those parts. In fact, the wind is 
 cooled as it comes from the south, by the waters 
 of the lakes and of the canals which it crosses, and 
 they would intercept the columns of sand carried 
 along by the wind, if, besides, it could raise a very 
 great quantity in passing over the cultivated plains 
 of Baliira. There existed a danger more real ; that 
 of being plundered. There were, it is true, guards 
 established to protect the roads. They were to give 
 notice in both the cities, whenever they perceived 
 any suspicious body of men ; travelling then under- 
 went interruption till proclamation was made that 
 
 * Letters on Egypt, vol. i. p. 45. 
 
 the
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2O3 
 
 the track was clear. But the expeditions of the 
 Bedouin robbers, and, according to circumstances, 
 they all are so, are executed with so much promp- 
 titude, overtake the traveller so unexpectedly, from 
 cantons out of which no human being was looked 
 for, that the very act of robbery is the first signal of 
 their presence, and that it is far from a thing un- 
 common for travellers to become the victims of it. 
 
 On leaving Alexandria, the course is to the east- 
 north-east, and you travel along the base of a pro- 
 montory which, from Alexandria, rises towards the 
 north. At its extremity is Aboukir, a town built 
 on the ruins of Canopus. The coast of this pro- 
 montory, as I have already remarked, is not so low 
 as that of the tower of the Arabs, and though 
 formed ot hillocks of sand, neither has it the same 
 aspect of solitude and sterility: human habitations, 
 and land in a state of cultivation, meet the eye. 
 
 After riding about six leagues, you find yourself 
 on the brink of a kind of lake, a remainder of the 
 Canopic branch of the Nile. At present, to speak 
 properly, it is nothing but a salt-water marsh, 
 which has no longer any communication with the 
 Nile, except at the season of its greatest height. 
 It is fordable on horseback when the river, in its 
 inundation, or the sea raised by a tempest, have 
 not increased its depth ; in these cases it is crossed 
 
 by
 
 204 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 by a boat, which was perhaps the least safe and 
 the most incommodious of all ferries. The mouth 
 of this ancient branch of the Nile is very much 
 straitened, and formed by a bar of sand. The 
 goelands* graze at all times the surface of the 
 water, to surprise the small fry from the sea which 
 enter by it ; I have likewise seen there the coot-j~ 
 and the pelican +. On the eastern bank is a vast 
 square building, the construction of which is si- 
 milar to that of the French factory at Alexandria ; 
 it is similar to that of all the caravanseras in 
 Egypt, hockals ; but in giving them the name of 
 inn§, it must be allowed that certain travellers 
 have done rather too much honour to a place 
 where there is absolutely nothing else to be had 
 but a well of detestable water. 
 
 This place is named Maadie, which signifies 
 passage. With an intention to discover some 
 vestiges of the ancient Heraclea, the position of 
 which Dr. Shaw determines by that of Maadie, I 
 visited with all the accuracy of observation this 
 building, as well as its environs ; but whether it 
 
 * Mouette cendree. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. — Larus canus. 
 Lin. 
 
 f Foulque. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pl.enlum. No. 197. 
 — Fulica atra. Lin. 
 
 % Pelican. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. enlum. No. 87. 
 •~~Pelicanus onacratulus. Lin. 
 
 § Cornelius Le Bruyn. 
 
 be
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 205 
 
 be that Heraclea was situated elsewhere, or whe- 
 ther the sands have completely concealed its ruins, 
 I could perceive nothing that indicated the edifices 
 of a remote period ; the house, constructed of 
 white stones, and these not very hard, is entirely 
 modern. Except the gate, in rearing which they 
 have employed a large block of granite, and ano- 
 ther fragment of gray marble enriched with sculp- 
 ture, nothing antique is there to be seen. But 
 about half a league farther on, you remark on the 
 coast some ancient walls and wrecks, which the 
 eye can pursue, in calm weather, advancing a 
 considerable way into the sea, and these are pro- 
 bably the traces of Heraclea. 
 
 After having rested a few hours under the shade 
 of the walls of the building of Maadie, we got 
 into the open plain. The land is so low in this 
 gulf, for from Abouk'ir the sea forms a vast bay, 
 that, but for dikes of a very solid construction, 
 the waters would cover a great extent of country: 
 in stormy weather they force themselves over the 
 dikes, spread behind the elevated coast of the 
 promontory of Aboukir, and inundate all the vici- 
 nity. You keep close by the sea for almost four 
 leagues, on the sand which is bathed by the bil- 
 lows, the dry sand being too much in a moveable 
 state. You trample under foot shells of every 
 species, among which I could distinguish muscles, 
 
 pholads,
 
 206 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 pholads, limpets, and trumpets. Sea-larks*, 
 chevaliers^, maubechesj, hop and flutter about 
 on the shore ; some curlews § likewise rcsort 
 thither in quest of their prey, while swarms of 
 goelands, of the great and of the small species, 
 cross each other as they skim incessantly along the 
 face of the waters ; numerous tribes of porpoises 
 reflect the vivid colours of the rainbow from their 
 arched and humid backs ; the waves themselves 
 which, as they return in succession to spread over 
 the beach, seem to play among the feet of the 
 mules ; all these objects compose a spectacle 
 which inspires pleasure and attracts attention, 
 when for a long time one has been encompassed 
 only with a steril uniformity ; they agreeably fix 
 the eyes, and prevent their roving toward the 
 south, where all that presents itself to view is a 
 sandy wild, terminating in hills of the same de- 
 scription, and sadly interrupted by here and there 
 an isolated and straggling palm-tree. 
 
 Travellers are glad to stop for a few moments at 
 the tomb of a holy Mahometan, built close by the 
 sea ; an Arab, who lives there, presents coffee and 
 
 * Alouette de mer. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. enlum. 
 No. 581. — Tringa cinclus. Lin. 
 
 f Chevalier commun. Id. ibid. No. 844. — Tringa littorea. Lin. 
 
 2 Maubeche commune. Id. ibid. — Tringa callidris. Lin. 
 
 § Courtis, first species. Id. ibid. No. 8 1 S.—Scelopax arquata, 
 Lin. 
 
 4 brackish
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. lO*] 
 
 brackish and warm water, which the thirst, occa- 
 sioned by the heat of the sun and by the dust, 
 makes a man swallow with delight. A small brick 
 tower admonishes you that you must quit the 
 shore* ; other little towers, which you perceive in 
 the same direction, that of east-south-east, serve 
 as a guide into a moving plain, in the midst of 
 which you might easily lose yourself, and so much 
 the more that the city of Rossetta, begirt, toward 
 the west, by accumulated sands, is not discernible 
 till the very instant that you enter the first street. 
 You reckon, before you arrive, eleven of those 
 little towers, some of which having a greater cir- 
 cumference than the others, are not massy, and 
 present, in their interior, a shelter to travellers, 
 and a place of prayer to the Mahometans-}-. 
 
 Here 
 
 * This little tower of brick is probably that which Danville 
 calls Casa Rossa in his chart of' Egypt. 
 
 f Dr. Shaw (vol. ii. of his Travels, p. 22) says, that the ca- 
 ravans are directed from Medea to Rossetta, a space of four 
 leagues, by great stakes driven into the ground, similar to those 
 of Schibkah el- low dea, or lake of the marks in Barbary. But, 
 without mentioning the calculation of the distance, in which 
 there is a small mistake, these marks of Schibkah el-low-dca t ac- 
 cording to the same Dr. Shaw (vol. i. p. 274), are nothing but 
 trunks of the palm-tree, whereas those which indicate the road 
 to Rossetta are towers built of brick. I would not have pointed 
 out this slight inaccuracy in the work of a traveller less esti- 
 mable, and whom I consider as one of the most intelligent and 
 
 tfae
 
 iOS TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Here the scene changes, as it were, by enchant- 
 ment ; the transition could not be more sudden, 
 nor the contrast more striking: it is no lopger a 
 series of those overwhelming ruins, of plains ren- 
 dered hideous by sterility ; it is Nature decorated 
 with all her costliness of apparel, and scattering 
 her gifts with magnificence unexampled, and v\ith 
 a profusion equally varied and uniformly sup- 
 ported. The eye, inflamed by a scorching sun, 
 torn by grains of sand scattered through a burn- 
 ing atmosphere, reposes dcliciously on a horizon 
 which presents to it images the most refreshing, 
 and smiling with the gayest aspect. 
 
 Rossetta is a handsome city, very populous, sim- 
 ply but agreeably built. It is modern, and if it 
 does not contain edifices of an imposing architec- 
 ture, it displays nothing, at least, to excite disgust. 
 The Nile bathes its walls on the east side; ren- 
 dered less impetuous by the waters which it fur- 
 nishes, as it flows, to canals and watering conduits, 
 repelled besides by the bar which separates it from 
 the sea, at the place of its discharge, it has not the 
 dangerous rapidity of great rivers; it carries with 
 
 the most correct of those who have traversed that part of Africa. 
 The most rational supposition that can be formed on the subject 
 is, that Shaw, just as almost every other body, travelled by 
 night from Alexandria to Rossetta. 
 
 tranquillity
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 200. 
 
 tranquillity the riches of three quarters of the 
 globe, and diffuses abundance over its shores ; its 
 vicinity has nothing to create an alarm, and its 
 very extravagations are benefits. 
 
 A vast cultivated champaign extends to the 
 north of the city; it is laid out in garden-grounds: 
 these are not divided and enclosed, in a dry harsh 
 manner, by gloomy walls -, odoriferous hedges sur- 
 round groves of perfume still more odoriferous. 
 Neither must you go thither in quest of those 
 straight-lined alleys, of those stiff flower borders, 
 or those methodical compartments, the monuments 
 which art rears in our monotonous enclosures. 
 Every thing there seems to be the arrangement of 
 chance : the orange and the citron trees interlace 
 their branches, and the pomegranate hangs down 
 by the side of the corsosol. Under a sky which 
 never knows the blighting of a hoar-frost, their 
 flowers exhale, at all seasons, a perfume which the 
 sweet odour of the clusters of the henna * renders 
 still more delicious. Pot-herbs grow luxuriantly 
 under this balmy shade. The date-tree, rearing 
 its summit above the other trees of its vicinity, 
 presents a deviation from the slightest appearance 
 of uniformity : no one tree, no one plant, has a de- 
 terminate place; every thing there is varied, every 
 thing is scattered about with a species of irregula- 
 
 * A tall shrub, of which 1 shall say more presently. 
 
 vol. i. v rity
 
 HO TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 ri<y subjected to no law but profusion, and which 
 may be reviewed, day after day, with new pleasure. 
 Is not this confusion, after all, the symmetry of na- 
 ture ? The sun has scarcely power to force his rays 
 through the foliage of those tufted orchards ; small 
 streamlets convey thither, winding as they flow, 
 the coolness and the aliment of vegetation ; ser- 
 pentine paths lead to them. There it is that the 
 indolent Turk, seated all day long with his pipe 
 and his coffee, seems to meditate profoundly, and 
 thinks of nothing. More worthy of enjoying those 
 enchanting retreats, had he the skill to share them 
 with a beloved female companion ; but the ex- 
 ample of the birds, the amorous cooing of the 
 turtle-doves, which animate those bowers of nature, 
 are incapable of disposing his soul to tenderness, or 
 of stealing him out of his cold apathy, out of his 
 melancholy insensibility. He flees, with disdain, 
 the commerce of a sex whose presence would con- 
 fer additional charms on scenes of delight, and, 
 under the dominion of proud indifference, would 
 repel the hand of the Graces, were they to attempt 
 to raise there an alfar to conjugal bliss. The unso- 
 cial Mussulman respects, at least, what he disdains 
 to imitate: those same turtle-doves, emblem of 
 love and fidelity, live by him in perfect security j 
 he never thinks of disturbing their repose ; he takes 
 pleasure in beholding them court his society ; in a 
 word, they are to him sacred birds. The European 
 
 alone
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 211 
 
 alone dared to violate this asylum : i have some- 
 times seen him, regardless of the murmurs of the 
 natives, making it a pastime to scatter terror and 
 death among a winged generation of lovers ; bar- 
 barous amusement, for which the pretext of dis- 
 playing address as a marksman, or the slight mo- 
 tive of utility, could plead no excuse, as those 
 birds, habituated to the haunts of man, never shun 
 the presence of the stranger, and as, on the other 
 hand, their flesh furnishes but a sorry repast. 
 
 If the eye is carried to the other side of the 
 river, a plain expands to view which has no boun- 
 dary but the horizon : this is the Delta *. Issuing 
 out of the bosom of the waters, it preserves the 
 freshness of its origin : to the golden tints of exu- 
 
 DC 
 
 berant autumn succeeds, the very same year, the 
 verdure of the meadows. Orchards, similar to 
 those in the vicinity of Rossetta, groups of trees, 
 green all the year round, others scattered about at 
 random, flocks of every kind diversify the points 
 of view, and enliven this rich and verdant portion 
 of Egypt. Numerous towns and villages enhance 
 
 * I am well aware that the ancients took the base of the Delta 
 from the Canopic branch of the Nile (Strabo, bookxvii.); but 
 this Canopic branch being lost," and the land contained between 
 it and Rossetta being sandy, bteril, and uninhabited, the Delta, 
 which is associated with the idea of fertility, ought no longer to 
 be taken but from the Holbitic branch, that of Rossetta. 
 
 p 2 the
 
 212 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the beauty of the landscape ; here, the cities dis- 
 play in vista their lofty and pointed turrets; there, 
 expand lakes and canals, a source of fecundity in- 
 exhaustible ; every where are distinguishable the 
 signs of an easy cultivation, of an eternal spring, 
 and of a fertility incessantly renovated and endlessly 
 varied *-. 
 
 Rossetta is likewise the place of Egypt whose 
 tranquillity is the least liable to discomposure. 
 Nothing is known there of those insurrections, 
 those tumults, that restless agitation which disturb 
 the peace of the other cities. There the stranger 
 was in perfect security, and could walk about at his 
 ease, without being obliged to assume the dress of 
 the country, which it was impossible for him to do 
 in any other part of Egypt. He rambled over the 
 plains, he penetrated into enclosures, he traversed 
 the gardens in every direction, trampled vegetation 
 under his feet, while no one took offence at what 
 he did. In the course of those delightful excur- 
 sions, which I loved frequently to repeat, the hus- 
 bandman or the gardener invited me into his cot- 
 tage, and treated me with coffee. With the same 
 manners, the same usages, the same ignorance and 
 fanaticism, the inhabitants of Rossetta would have 
 remained, as those of the ruins of Alexandria, as 
 
 * An idea may be formed of this part of Egypt, by casting the 
 eye over plate VIII. of this work. 
 
 those
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 213 
 
 those who live at the bottom of the parched rocks 
 of Upper Egypt, the most ferocious barbarians on 
 the globe ; but, planted on a soil fertile and smil- 
 ing, whose freshness aud copious productions 
 temper the ardour of the climate and the dryness of 
 the atmosphere, their manners are softened, their 
 character has lost its asperity : a change to be 
 ascribed to the happy dispositions of nature, and to 
 the influence of agriculture, which is, still more 
 than commerce, the first instructor of nations, and 
 the most direct method to draw them from a state 
 of barbarism, and to stimulate them to a rapid and 
 assured progress towards civilization. 
 
 p 3
 
 214 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Disturbances at Cairo — 'Oriental dress — -Boats of the 
 Nile — Winter — Rossetta-*- Commerce — Rice, its 
 culture, and its antiquity in Egypt — Trefoil — 
 Oxen and cows. 
 
 Whether it be that the traveller, after having 
 dwelt for some time in the dust, and amidst the 
 ruins of Alexandria, after having traversed the 
 twelve leagues of scorched plains, which separate 
 that city from the banks of the Nile: in a word, 
 after having surmounted the hills of sand which 
 run close up to Rossetta on the west, arrives there, 
 or rather seems all at once to drop into it ; or 
 whether he has quitted a disagreeable and dan- 
 gerous residence at Cairo, a habitation at Rossetta 
 becomes a most desirable retreat, which compa- 
 rison renders delicious. With an intention to 
 penetrate into Upper Egypt, and afterwards into 
 Abyssinia, 1 had, at first, made a rapid progress to 
 Cairo, as I have mentioned, in company with M. 
 Tott, who left me there. Circumstances could not 
 have been more unpropitious. The dissensions 
 which so frequently arise among the potentates of 
 Egypt had reached the highest pitch of fury. The 
 Said was filled with combatants, and infested with 
 
 robbers ;
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 11$ 
 
 robbers ; while at Cairo, the European, confined 
 to his own home, or, at least, to a narrow quarter 
 of the town, trembling every moment for his life, 
 durst not shew his face amidst a confusion, an up- 
 roar, of which it is impossible to form an idea, 
 without having lived in this capital of Egypt. I 
 waited in expectation that the troubles would sub- 
 side, and permit me to enter on the execution of 
 my design ; but wearied out with the anxious state 
 of inaction to which I was reduced, tired of living 
 the life of a recluse, and seeing no prospect of the 
 era when Egypt was to resume a tranquillity which 
 could admit of travelling through it without being 
 exposed to certain danger, I resolved on returning 
 to Rossetta, a privileged country, which the com- 
 motions of the rest of Egypt did not reach, and in 
 which the stranger had it in his power to walk 
 about unmolested, especially if he had the pru- 
 dence to conform to the customs of the country. 
 
 I had, at Cairo, laid aside my European dress, 
 and assumed the Turkish habit. To this I was 
 obliged to make a sacrifice of my hair ; an enor- 
 mous turban, a la Druse, enveloped, in various 
 rounds, my close-shaven head, and sheltered it 
 from the attacks of an ardent sun ; vestments long 
 and wide, which a silken girdle hardly confined, 
 covered my body, without compressing it, and left 
 every limb perfectly at case. No part is cramped, 
 
 p 4 nothing
 
 t 
 2l6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 nothing strains in the Oriental garb ; and, after 
 having worn it for some time, you become sensible 
 how incommodious are the strictures of our narrow 
 and scanty apparel, and you find the resumption 
 of it uneasy. My draughtsman and my two 
 French attendants had, in like manner, changed 
 their garments ; but they wore a habit less ample 
 and more spruce ; that of the serrachs, foot sol- 
 diers attached to the beys : mustachios garnished 
 pur lips, and long scimitars dangled along by our 
 sides. 
 
 We left Cairo with heart-felt satisfaction, Octo- 
 ber 20th, 1771, at one o'clock in the afternoon, 
 and embarked on board a kanja, a species of boat 
 employed in the navigation of the Nile. Their 
 construction is elegant, and they sail remarkably 
 well ; you have them of various sizes. At the 
 same time that they serve for the conveyance of 
 merchandise, they have in the after-part, for the 
 accommodation of passengers, one or more well- 
 aired apartments, which would be abundantly 
 agreeable, were they not infested with myriads of 
 fleas, lice, bugs, and other vermin. During the 
 two days and two nights of our passage to Rossetta, 
 it was impossible for me to close my eyes for a 
 single instant, and my companions were in the 
 same deplorable condition. A prey to the inces- 
 sant bitings of a prodigious quantity of those 
 
 abominable
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 217 
 
 abominable insects, we were tormented in a man- 
 ner altogether inconceivable ; our bodies were an 
 uninterrupted continuity of little wounds and 
 smarting blisters. I had been exposed, in South 
 America, to the stings of innumerable swarms of 
 musquitos, but I do not remember that I ever suf- 
 fered so much as in that accursed kanja. 
 
 These boats likewise have, as the gcrmes of 
 Alexandria, immense triangular sails, attached to 
 sail-yards of a very extraordinary length. (Sec 
 plate VIII.) These yards too, like the others, arc 
 not made to lower; and when the vessel is under 
 sail, it is impossible to make them change their side 
 of the mast, aloft, to go on the other tack ; so that 
 in the frequent necessity of putting about, occa- 
 sioned by the sinuosities of the Nile, the sails are 
 for some time backed close to the masts and 
 shrouds, without a possibility of reefing or lower- 
 ing them. The wind being unsteady, the squalls 
 frequent and furious, and the boatmen ignorant in 
 the extreme, it is by no means uncommon to see 
 some of those boats, in such a position, go to the 
 bottom. The one on which wc were embarked, 
 was freighted for my sole use ; there was no one 
 on board but ourselves and our bao-^age. \ na d 
 leisure and opportunity to converse with the mas- 
 ter. I endeavoured to make him comprehend that, 
 by means of certain slight arrangements, it would 
 
 be
 
 2l8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 be easy for him to avoid the danger, but too real, of 
 oversetting. He admitted all I said ; but still had 
 recourse to the ordinary argument of jog-trot igno- 
 rance : it is the common -practice. 
 
 We encountered, during these two days of na- 
 vigation on the Nile, a very thick fog, which did 
 not disperse before ten o'clock in the morning, 
 when it fell in a very fine shower of small rain. 
 These fogs were the forerunners of winter. But, 
 by the word winter, is not to be understood that 
 sharp and cold temperature which, for several 
 months of the year, checks the progress of vegeta- 
 tion, and inches the human species so severely, 
 over the greatest part of our Europe. Hoar-frosts 
 are unknown in the climate of Lower Egypt. The 
 water is never congealed, and Nature never clothes 
 herself with that mantle of old age, under which we 
 would think her expiring, were we not habituated 
 to behold her regularly resuming her spring attire. 
 There, the winds from the sea, and the rains, only 
 cool the air, during the three winter months*, 
 without freezing the fluids, without rendering ar- 
 tificial heat necessary to man, without interrupting 
 the progress of vegetation, without the verdure's 
 ceasing to embellish the plains and to delight the 
 eye. 
 
 * The months of November, December, and January. 
 
 It 

 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2 1 9 
 
 It is under this happy temperature, and on a soil 
 wonderfully fresh and verdant, that the city of Ros- 
 setta is situated, where we arrived on the 2 2d of 
 the month, at four o'clock in the afternoon, not 
 having been retarded a single instant on tl)e voyage. 
 
 I went on shore at the house of the vice-consul 
 of France, M. de Troiii, whose taste for the belles- 
 lettres provided him with a charm for his solitude ; 
 I accepted the lodging under his roof, which he 
 tendered me in the most gracious manner ; and I 
 found again in the interpreter, Forneti, the same 
 attentions, the same complaisance, for which I 
 stood indebted to Messrs. Adanson and Augustus, 
 while at Alexandria. Some French merchants 
 lived in the same building ; it was a vast hockal t of 
 a similar form, but much more lofty than that of 
 the French factory at Alexandria. It is close upon 
 the Nile, and, like all the other houses of Rossetta, 
 is built of brick. 
 
 The city is named by the natives, Raschid, the 
 Arabic appellation which it bore as far back as the 
 time of the geographer Edrissi, in 1 1 53, and which 
 the Europeans have transformed into Rossetta *. 
 
 Some 
 
 * And not Rostfta, as it is now commonly written. Rosett 
 is, I grant, softer in the pronunciation : this word suggests an 
 idp mere pleasant and mure analogous to the delicious fragrance 
 
 and
 
 220 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Some others have thought that it was the site of 
 Canopus : but this is a mistake. The Canopic 
 branch is the salt-marsh of Maadie, and the ruins 
 of Canopus are at Abouhir. Rossetta presents no 
 one trace of antiquity ; it is, nevertheless, certain 
 that it cannot be far distant from the spot where 
 the ancient Metelis, or Metihs, stood, of which 
 Slrabo and Ptolemy make mention, and which was 
 on the western shore, and near the discharge of 
 the Bolbitic branch of the Nile *, 
 
 It is, beyond contradiction, the most agreeable 
 city in Egypt, and would be so any where else. Its 
 houses much better built, in general, than those of 
 Cairo, its position on the bank of the river, the 
 
 and fertility of the gardens with which the city is surrounded; 
 but, where proper names are concerned, it is custom which must 
 give the law, and custom pronounces the first syllable hard, 
 Rosset'.a, derived from the still harsher Arabic name, RaschU. 
 This is assuredly a very frivolous observation, and I would not 
 forgive myself for having made it, unless, on my publishing, in 
 the Journal (I e Physique, some observations on the hippopotamus, 
 a certain Traveller, in a note which he annexed to them, had given 
 me a grave rebuke, for having written the Arabic word baar 
 with only a single r. Oh ! when a man has undergone criticism 
 for an r too little, he is equally exposed to it for an s too much. 
 What is singularly pleasant, this Traveller, instead of an r put \r\ 
 his correction az; so that it became necessary, the month fol- 
 lowing, by a second erratum to correct the first. 
 
 * The Romans named the mouth of this branch of the Nile, 
 Belbitlnum ostium. 
 
 prospect
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 22 1 
 
 prospect which it commands of the Delta, present- 
 ing the smiling image of the richest cultivation, 
 the perfumed groves which surround it, the pure 
 and wholesome air you there respire, have procured 
 for it the well-merited name of the Garden of Egypt. 
 Every article of necessary or luxurious consumption 
 is there to be found in profusion; there you behold 
 long streets formed by a double row of shops, in 
 which every species of merchandise is exposed to 
 sale ; the necessaries of life are in the greatest abun- 
 dance, and at a very moderate price. But Rossetta 
 possessed allurements sufficient, without ascribing 
 to it others which have no existence, and depend- 
 anceon which might have betrayed travellers into 
 error, and involved them in distress. Cornelius Le 
 Bruyn, for example, who saw inns wherever he 
 went*, or his translator for him, says, that Rossetta 
 it the most agreeable of cities , from the great number 
 of inns for the comfortable accommodation of travel- 
 lets -]-. Who would not have imagined from this, 
 that no precaution on the part of the traveller was 
 requisite in order to be at Ins ease on arriving at 
 Rossetta, and that lie had only to alight at the first 
 house of entertainment that caught his eye ? But 
 be would have been sadly disappointed, for there 
 is absolutely no such thing in the city. The cara- 
 
 * Look back to page 204. 
 
 f Traveli of Cornelius Le Bruyn, vol. ii. p. 1 10, note a. 
 
 vanscras,
 
 222 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 vanseras, which by no means supply their place, 
 present nothing, usually, here as well as in the 
 other countries under the Turkish government, 
 but a mere place of retreat, destitute of every man- 
 ner of accommodation except four bare walls, 
 where nothing is furnished but water, and where 
 the stranger is laid under the necessity of pro- 
 viding himself with every thing he wants. Tra- 
 tellers from Europe were usually received by the 
 merchants of their several nations, who were settled 
 in hired houses of their own. 
 
 Rossetta is the commercial depository between 
 Cairo and Alexandria ; it there diffuses life, mo- 
 tion, and abundance. It likewise possesses some 
 branches of commerce peculiar to itself, such as 
 sp'Jin cotton dyed red, which comes to market from 
 the adjacent cantons ; dressed flax, linen and cot- 
 ton stuffs, drugs for silk-dying, the materials of 
 oriental clothing, &c. &c. Another object which, 
 without being so considerable as at Damietta, is not 
 for that of less importance, is the exportation of 
 rice, in Arabic, rouss *. At the time of my arrival, 
 toward the end of October, they were busily em- 
 ployed in the drying of this valuable grain, a whole- 
 some and pleasant aliment to many of the nations 
 of the earth ; they were spreading it out on the 
 terraces of the houses, and in the public squares. 
 
 * Oryza sativa. Lin. 
 
 It
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 223 
 
 It is alleged that to this operation is to be ascribed 
 the multitude of gnats * with which the city and 
 the interior of the houses were at that season filled. 
 In truth, there are not such swarms of them at 
 other times. After the rice is reaped, they issue in 
 crowds innumerable from the inundated fields in 
 which the preceding generation had deposited 
 their eggs. They come to torment men ; and to 
 suck their blood, to dart stings more pungent 
 than those of the musquitos, so well known, of 
 South America -j-. 
 
 Rice is sown, in Lower Egypt, from the month 
 of March till May. During the inundation of the 
 Nile, the fields are covered by its waters ; and, in 
 order to retain them as long as possible, they raise 
 around each field little dikes, a kind of mound to 
 prevent their running off. Aqueducts serve to 
 supply them with additional moisture; for it is 
 necessary to the plant's thriving, that the root be 
 constantly soaked in water. The earth is so com- 
 pletely drenched with this process, that in some 
 places you sink into it up to the middle. Rice is 
 about six months in the ground before it attains 
 full maturity; and is generally cut down about the 
 middle of November. The use of the flail is not 
 
 * Culex antennis pilis vertici/afis ; rosiro cinerto, apice nigro, 
 crassiuiculo ; dorso fusco, fasciis sex pal/u/is. Formal, Descrip. 
 Animal. Oriental. 
 
 ■f- Culex hcemorrhoidalii. Lin. 
 
 known
 
 224 TRAVELS INT UPPER 
 
 known in Egypt. In order to separate the grain 
 from the straw, they prepare, with a mixture of 
 earth and doves dung, spacious areas, well com- 
 pacted and made perfectly clean. On these the 
 rice is deposited in deep layers. They next employ 
 a species of cart, formed of two pieces of wood 
 fastened together by two cross bars, nearly of the 
 form of those sledges which are used to drag heavy- 
 loads along the pavement of the streets of our 
 cities. Between the lengthwise sides of this sledge 
 are fixed transversely three rows of little wheels of 
 solid iron, and brought to an edge at the circum- 
 ference. On the fore part, a seat very high and 
 very broad is rudely constructed. On this a man 
 is placed, who guides two oxen which are yoked 
 to the machine, and the whole is moved slowly, and 
 in a circular direction, over all the parts of a pile of 
 rice, till no more grain remains attached to the 
 straw. Having undergone this operation, it is 
 spread out in the air to dry. The manner of turning 
 it over is very amusing. A great many men walk 
 alongside of each other, and each of them furrows, 
 with one foot, the layer of grain, so that in a few 
 moments the whole mass is stirred about, and what 
 was before undermost is again exposed to the air. 
 
 The rice, when dried, is carried to the mill, 
 where it is stripped of its husk or envelope. This 
 mill consists of a single wheel turned round by oxen, 
 
 and
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 225 
 
 and which puts in motion many levers, at the ex- 
 tremity of which is a cylinder of iron near a foot 
 long, and hollowed below. They beat into the 
 troughs which contain the grain. By the side of 
 each trough a man is stationed, whose assiduous 
 employment it is to bring forward the rice to the 
 action of the cylinders. His attention to this bu- 
 siness must be undistracted : for he would run the 
 risk of having his hand crushed off, if he failed to 
 draw it back at the instant. This part of the pro- 
 cess being executed, the rice is withdrawn from 
 the mill, and sifted in the open air, which is per- 
 formed in a very simple manner, by filling a small 
 sieve with as much grain as a man can easily carry ; 
 he raises this sieve-full above his head, and gently 
 pours the rice out of it, with his face from the 
 wind, which carries off the chaff and dust. The 
 rice thus cleaned is put a second time to the mill 
 to be whitened. They mix salt with it in the 
 troughs, which contributes greatly towards giving 
 it a fair colour, and, above all, towards its pre- 
 servation. It has now passed through the whole 
 preparatory process, and is ready to go to market. 
 
 It is only on the low lands of Lower Egypt that 
 rice is cultivated. Farther to the south, the soil, 
 too elevated, could not admit of being soaked by 
 the sheet of water which, in order to the success of 
 this branch of agriculture, must be diffused over 
 
 vol. 1. a the
 
 Il6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the whole surface. The Delta, that inexhaustible 
 deposit of the riches of nature, furnishes a prodi- 
 gious quantity of it- That which is reaped in the 
 vicinity of Rossetta is in higher estimation than 
 that of the plains which surround Damietta. This 
 superior quality is probably to be ascribed to the 
 mode of preparation, which is more carefully at- 
 tended to in the former of these two cities ; for 
 the nature of the climate and soil is the same. In 
 the neighbourhood of both, the culture of rice 
 succeeds equally well, and its produce is v equally 
 astonishing. The profits of the proprietors of rice- 
 grounds are valued, in good years, those in which 
 the elevation of the Nile produces the greatest 
 expansion of its waters, at fifty per cent, after 
 deducting all expense. 
 
 It has frequently been proposed in France, to 
 appropriate to herself the culture of rice ; it would 
 prove, assuredly, a valuable acquisition to our do- 
 mestic agriculture. But, if we reflect that in 
 Egypt it requires six months to come to maturity, 
 and that, during these six months, it stands in 
 need of constant heat and humidity, few parts of 
 the republic will be found, which promise, for 
 this branch of culture, certain and abundant crops. 
 
 It has been a subject of much discussion, to as- 
 certain whether or not the ancient Egyptians cul-* 
 
 tivated
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 227 
 
 tivated the rice-plant; and, as is the case in almost 
 all inquiries of a similar nature, the mind is still 
 left in a state of uncertainty. According to Messrs. 
 Shaw* and Goguet-j~, the people of Egypt, in an- 
 cient times, lived on rice. But M. Pauvv asserts, 
 that this plant was a greater stranger to those 
 very Egyptians, than the cassavi of Brasil is, 
 at this day, to the inhabitants of Germany. He 
 adds, that it was not till the time of the caliphs that 
 the first grain of rice was imported from India 
 into Lower Egypt, where the cultivation of it first 
 began in the environs of Damietta, and he quotes 
 Frederic Hasselquitz as his authority^. In truth, 
 the Swedish traveller has affirmed that, conform- 
 ably to appearances, the Egyptians learned the 
 method of cultivating rice, under the domina- 
 tion of the caliphs : for, says he, it was during 
 their reign, that a great many useful plants were 
 imported thither, by the way of the Red Sea §. 
 We have then nothing for it but a conjecture of 
 Hasselquitz, supponed by no authority whatever. 
 
 On the other hand, the opposite sentiment, that 
 which reckons the cultivation of rice among the 
 
 * Shaw's Travels, p. 391. 
 
 -j- Orgin of Laws, vol. ii. p. 344. 
 
 X Philosophical Researches respecting the Egyptians and 
 Chinese, vol. i. p. 138. 
 
 § Voyage to the Levant, by Fred. Hasselquitz, translated 
 from the German, part i. p. 163. 
 
 a 2 other
 
 2i8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 other branches of agriculture with the ancient 
 Egyptians, rests on a fact not easily to be destroyed. 
 M. de Caylus, whom his taste for antiquities has 
 raised to celebrity, describes an idol of Osiris, in 
 bronze, which had been enclosed in a case of plas- 
 ter. In order to render the joinings of this case 
 more firm and solid, over a substance so smooth 
 as bronze, and without a hold in several places, 
 they had made use of the straw of rice, very easily 
 distinguishable* . M. Pauw, it is true, calls in 
 question the botanical knowledge of M. de Cay- 
 lus^, as U it required profound skill in the 
 science of plants, to be able to distinguish the 
 straw of rice from that of other farinaceous vege- 
 tables. Besides, the examination of this idol was 
 not made by M. de Caylus only ; M. de Bose de- 
 livered a dissertation, before the Academy of In- 
 scriptions and Belles- Lettres, in December 1739, 
 on the same figure of Osiris, gilded in a very- 
 singular manner, and which he had seen a short 
 time before, in the possession of the Count de 
 Caylus. They had both of them accurately exa- 
 mined the gilding which covered it, and had ob- 
 
 * Collection of Antiquities, vol. i. p. 13, 14. See likewise 
 the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettre»- 
 of Paris, vol. xiv. p. 13. 
 
 f Philosophical Researches respecting the Egyptians and 
 Chinese, vol. i. This pretended rice-straw, if M. Pauw is to 
 be credited, is nothing else but the stalks of millet cut down. 
 Note at bottom of p. 138. 
 
 served.
 
 AND tOV/ER EGYPT. 229 
 
 6crvcd, that in order to make the layer of white, 
 to which the gold was applied, adhere to the 
 bronze, the artist had first overlaid the figure 
 with a good layer of glue, besprinkled all over 
 with chips of rice-straw *. 
 
 On the report of Herodotus, one of the alimen- 
 tary plants of the ancient Egyptians, was the 
 olyra\. There cannot he a greater conformity, 
 unless being absolutely the same, between this 
 word and osayraf, the name which the Greeks 
 gave to rice, and this conformity so striking would 
 be an incontestable proof of the antiquity of the 
 culture of rice in Egypt, if Citizen Larcher, whose 
 opinion is preponderating on such a subject, had 
 not assured us, that after a close and accurate 
 examination of a great number of passages of the 
 ancients, the olyra is not the rice-plant, but spelt §. 
 M. Pauvv had asserted that it was the rye||, the 
 name of which is totally unknown at this day in 
 
 * Mem. of the Acad, of Inscr. and Belles-Lettres, the passage 
 above quoted. 
 
 f Book ii. § 77. 
 
 % This cannot be a typographical error, but a mistake of the 
 Author. The Greek word is opi/£a, o>yza, and not ozyra ; the 
 fanciful etymological resemblance of course disappears, and all 
 the learned reasoning upon it falls to the ground. — H. H. 
 
 § Triticum spelt*. Lin. See Larclier's Translation of Hero- 
 dotus, book ii. § 77, note 258. 
 
 j| Philosophical Researches, p. 138. 
 
 a 3 Egypt*
 
 <L$0 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Egypt, and which, in all probability, never con- 
 stituted a part of the ancient agriculture of that 
 country. But these are nothing more than the 
 very luminous conjectures of science : a contra- 
 dictory fact still maintains its ground, that of the 
 straw which covered the antique statue of Osiris, 
 so accurately examined by Messrs, de Caylus and 
 de Bose. 
 
 M. Pauw, in the same work, wherein paradoxes 
 are no rarities, goes still farther : he insists, that 
 supposing the ancient Egyptians to have been ac- 
 quainted with rice, they would have been on their 
 guard against the cultivation of it, because, ac- 
 cording to him, this species of culture is sufficient 
 to generate endemical diseases in a country where 
 it never thunders, at least very rarely, and where 
 the atmosphere, impregnated with saline sub- 
 stances which the fire of heaven does not con- 
 sume, is very much subject to corruption * ; nay, 
 he insinuates that this is one of the causes of the 
 pestilence, which he erroneously supposes to be 
 an epidemical disease in Egypt. What has be- 
 trayed M. Pauw into this mistake, for he never 
 saw the rice-grounds of Egypt but in his closet, is 
 his considering them as marshes, the idea of rice- 
 ground being generally associated with that of a 
 
 * Philosophical Researches, p. 89, 90. 
 
 marsh
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 23 I 
 
 marsh which it is dangerous to stir, on account of 
 the exhalations which issue from it. But in the 
 vast plains of Lower Egypt, besides that the strong 
 and regular winds would purge the atmosphere of 
 the noxious vapours with which it might be loaded, 
 it is not on marshy grounds that the rice is raised; 
 a stagnant and infected water by no means covers 
 the plains in which it is produced ; they moisten 
 it, they bathe it with the water of the river, which 
 all the resources of art are employed in conveying 
 to it : this water runs off, and they give over sup- 
 plying their conduits with more, as soon as the 
 plants stand no longer in need of moisture. 
 Another species of crop^, which does not require 
 such copious refreshment, and which absorbs the 
 remains of an excessive humidity, succeeds to that 
 of rice, and beautiful carpets of verdure assume 
 the place of the yellow robe, with which, a little 
 before, the self same plains were clothed. 
 
 As soon as the rice is reaped, the Egyptians 
 sow a beautiful variety of trefoil, which they call 
 bai sun *. The seed of it is scattered over the sur- 
 face of the ground without the labour of plough- 
 ing or digging, and it sinks to a sufficient depth 
 in a soil which, at that period, is still abundantly 
 
 * Trifolium Alexandrinum, Forskal, Flora EgyptLco-Arabica, 
 p. 139, Noia. Some travellers have confounded the batsim with 
 the sainfoin : it is a species, or rather variety, of our trefoil. 
 
 u ± humid.
 
 232 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 humid. Fortunate country, where the earth needs 
 not to be painfully torn to open her bosom to 
 fecundity, where i? is sufficient, if I may use 
 the expression, for (tie husbandman to indicate 
 the kind of riches which he wishes to have, in 
 order to their being lavished upon him ; where, 
 in a word, Nature seems to remit to man, who is 
 incessantly offering violence to her, all labour 
 and even all acknowledgment ! This trefoil yields 
 three successive crops, before it again resigns 
 its place to the rice : the second of these is always 
 more beautiful than the other two, because then 
 the plant has room to spread out its roots, and 
 the stalk is no longer cramped by the stubble, It is 
 easily conceivable how beautiful and brilliant such 
 an alternation of produce must be, and which no 
 other country on the globe can display. The barsim, 
 green or dried , is the most common, and the most 
 succulent food of the brute creation, whether in 
 pasture, or in the fold. One essential quality of 
 this excellent fodder, and which it is more natural 
 to ascribe to the climate than to difference of spe- 
 cies, is this, that I never saw it occasion to the 
 animal that sudden and sometimes mortal infla- 
 tion, which our trefoil scarcely ever fails to pro- 
 duce, when the animals pasture on it, or eat it 
 newly cut, in too great a quantity, and without 
 mixture. 
 
 In
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2J3 
 
 In speaking of the best species of fodder, an 
 opportunity offers of speaking a few words on the 
 kind *j( animals most valuable to agriculture. 
 The ox is, without controversy, of all domestic 
 animals, the one which renders the most import- 
 ant services to man. Among a warlike and con- 
 quering people, the horse will be placed in the 
 first rank; bat that nation will be neither rich 
 nor happv. With a sage nation, which considers 
 agriculture as the real source of public prosperity, 
 the ox will have the preference. Behold that 
 horse so stately ; with what rapidity he scours the 
 plain ! what agility, what majesty in all his move- 
 ments ! His eyes sparkle, his mouth whitens 
 with foam ; extended nostrils scarcely leave' the 
 passage free for a burning and interrupted snort- 
 ing ; he seems to partake of the ardour of the war- 
 rior who had subjected him to the bridle. Both 
 the one and the other present, no doubt, a very 
 imposing spectacle; but neither the one nor the 
 other is capable of extracting his subsistence out 
 of the bowels of the earth ; it is the fruit of the 
 painful efforts of that poor drudge, whom you 
 perceive in the back-ground, bending oppressedly 
 over a ploughshare dragged forward by oxen, 
 which modestly animate the courage and the con- 
 stancy of labour; he it is who forces the earth, 
 by tearing it asunder, to yield productions always 
 
 new j
 
 234- TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 new ; he alone knows how to employ iron in 
 achieving the only conquest which Nature avows. 
 
 It is well known in what estimation oxen were 
 held in ancient Egypt ; they furnished deities to 
 that superstitious people ; their worship was uni- 
 versally diffused ; many cities had their peculiar 
 divinities of this species whose persons were sacred. 
 The celebrity of the on Apis is known all the world 
 over, which became the first of this herd of gods: 
 he had his altars ; maintained his priests ; he deli- 
 vered oracles. No heifer was ever put to death, 
 and the law declared it sacrilege to dare to eat their 
 flesh # . They performed funeral obsequies in ho- 
 nour of ordinary oxen when they happened to die; 
 for excepting those which were offered in sacrifice 
 to the gods, scarcely any were killed ; it was un- 
 lawful to put to death any which had ever worn 
 the yoke ; this was a reward for their services, a 
 kind of grateful acknowledgment, far remote from 
 the harshness, from the ferocious ingratitude of 
 most of our farmers, toward the laborious animals 
 to which they are indebted for the means of sub- 
 sistence ; and this harshness and insensibility have 
 a much greater influence than is commonly ima- 
 gined on the public morals. The Egyptian go- 
 
 * To this very day, the murder of a man or of a calf, is the 
 only crime which the Hindoos punish with death. Mackinr 
 tosh's Travels, vol. i. p. 312. 
 
 vernment*
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2$$ 
 
 vernment, in concert with the priests, supported 
 this religious enthusiasm in favour of animals the 
 most useful to a nation, with whom almost all 
 the laws had a reference to agriculture. What 
 attention, what respect must not have been paid 
 toward the perfecting of a species every individual 
 of which might pretend to the honours of apotheo- 
 sis ? For if attentions are bestowed on what we 
 love, superstition is lavish of them on what it 
 adores. 
 
 To no purpose should we look in the very con- 
 siderable number of oxen actually existing in 
 Egypt, for the vestiges of that perfection of beauty 
 which they must have had in ancient times. Though 
 the race of them be still abundantly handsome, it 
 is easy to conceive that, having been long neg- 
 lected, it must have greatly degenerated ; they 
 have, in general, small horns, and the hair dun- 
 coloured, more or less deep, a colour which docs 
 not require, in my apprehension, a very great 
 effort of the pencil ; though Maillei tells us that 
 " those animals arc of such exquisite beauty, that 
 <e the pencil is incapable of representing it*." I 
 can bear witness, that in making the complete 
 tour of Egypt, I never met any one ox which 
 struck me either from its form or colours. In de- 
 picting them as the most beautiful in the world, 
 
 I Description of E ^ypt, by M, Maillet, in .jto. part ii. p. 27. 
 
 the
 
 Z$6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the same author would have the oxen of Egypt 
 pass likewise for the best of all. " Their flesh," 
 says he, " is admirable ; it does not yield in qua- 
 " lity to that of the oxen of Hungary, nor to any 
 " other whatever; nay, it has this farther excellence, 
 "that of being extremely nutritious*." This 
 meat, nevertheless, is far from having the flavour 
 of the beef which we eat in France. The asser- 
 tion of Maillet, false in the fact, is likewise so in 
 the principle. In truth, it contradicts a general 
 observation which every traveller has it in his 
 power to ascertain, namely, that the flesh of the 
 animals of very hot regions has neither the succu- 
 lenc j nor the savour of that of animals of the 
 same species, fed in cold or temperate climates. 
 Veal which, with us, furnishes an aliment deli- 
 cate and wholesome, has, in Egypt, flesh flabby, 
 insipid, and consequently not very salubrious. I 
 have made the same remark in the countries of 
 South America adjacent to the line, and in which 
 the calves, killed at the age when ours are sent to 
 the butcher, would not be eatable, from the flab- 
 biness and insipidity of their flesh ; so thai till it 
 has had time to acquire sufficient consistence, they 
 are obliged to let the young animal grow, until, 
 ceasing to be a calf, it would pass every where else 
 for a bullock. Veal is not eaten in Egypt : the 
 laws of the Mahometans prohibit the use of that 
 
 * Id. ibid. 
 
 food j
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1^1 
 
 food; and the Cophts. who have adopted almost 
 all the customs of their tyrants, likewise abstain 
 from it. 
 
 It has been affirmed that the cows of Egypt 
 produce twins at a birth*. This happens some- 
 times, no doubt ; but though less rare perhaps 
 than in Europe, this degree of fecundity by no 
 mrans passes for an ordinary thing. It was natural 
 that, after having endeavoured to establish the 
 superiority of the Egyptian bull, Maillet should 
 talk in the same tone of exaggeration of the cow ; 
 accordingly, he was not satisfied with allowing 
 her two calves at a birth, and boldly asserts that 
 cows have been known to produce four at once-j~. 
 Such hasty observations, which disgrace a narra- 
 tive of facts, would undoubtedly have had no place 
 in that of Maillet, if death had allowed him time 
 to digest, himself, the memoirs which he had 
 collected, and of which the greatest part belonged 
 to him only because he had been furnished with 
 them. I have read a very long one, deposited in 
 the chancery of France, at Rossetta, composed for 
 M. Muilldt, by a French merchant residing there, 
 and I have found it again, printed at full length, 
 in the work of the consul. It is very difficult, 
 
 * Cornelius Le Bruyn's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 101, note ».— 
 Paul Luca \ Voyage, &c. &c. &c. 
 t Description of Egypt, part ii. p. 5. 
 
 when
 
 238 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 when a man does not observe for himself, when he 
 throws together materials supplied by a variety of 
 hands, and when he credulously admits the rela- 
 tions, almost always unfounded, of the people of 
 the country, to avoid falling into a multiplicity of 
 errors. 
 
 The oxen, in Egypt, are employed in a very 
 easy husbandry. The industry of the inhabitants 
 not having acquired the art of availing themselves 
 of the assistance of water and wind to put in mo- 
 tion their mills and their numerous hydraulic ma- 
 chines, apply to them likewise the strength of the 
 ox. Each of the rice-mills, which I lately men- 
 tioned, requires forty or fifty of those animals, and 
 this kind of machinery being considerably multi- 
 plied at Rossetta and at Damietta, beasts of this 
 sort could not but fetch a very high price : they 
 usually sold for two hundred and fifty francs each 
 (near ten guinea:), an exorbitant valuation in a 
 country where pasture is so abundant ; dismal 
 effect of a horrible despotism ; but few calves are 
 reared, little thought is exercised about to-morrow, 
 where it is uncertain whether fortune, whether 
 existence itself, shall exist another day. 
 
 Oxen in the yoke have their head at liberty : 
 the yoke or the lever, fixed by a leathern strap, 
 rests on the last vertebrae of the neck, so that the 
 
 strain
 
 AND LOWER ECYPT. 239 
 
 strain is made by the exertion of the shoulders. 
 This method is in general use all over Turkey, and 
 it appears to me exceedingly commodious : the 
 animal is more at its ease, has more force and 
 speed, than when it is in the fatiguing and ex- 
 tremely awkward attitude of pulling by the head. 
 It is to this method we must ascribe the thickness 
 of the withers, which the oxen of Egypt have more 
 elevated than those of our European countries. It 
 is possible, at the same time, that this may be a 
 natural swell, and that, on this account, they 
 may be considered as approaching to the bison, or 
 hump-backed ox *. 
 
 * Bosferus. Lin.
 
 24° TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Inhabitants of Rosselta — Pipes Coffee-houses > — ■ 
 
 Arabian Tales Manner of making the coffee-' — ■ 
 
 Shameful vices of the Egyptians — fVives of the 
 
 rich- — Conversation by signs with one of them 
 
 Particulars respecting those women Jealousy of 
 
 the men — Llomage paid to women. 
 
 After the eye has wandered with delight over 
 a portion of the brilliant agriculture of Egypt, it 
 is reluctantlv brought back to the interior of 
 cities. There, it is the picture of fertile and gene- 
 rous nature ; here we are presented with the sacri- 
 legious efforts, to contradict and violate her, of 
 men incapable of relishing, of enjoying her beau- 
 ties. There, sensations the gentlest and the most 
 pure follow each other in rapid succession, and 
 deliciously fill the feeling soul. Here, the mind 
 'is shocked at the hideous aspect of the vices which 
 ; domineer in a society equally degenerate and cor- 
 rupted. But I have engaged to present, without 
 disguise, my observations of every kind, and those 
 which have a reference to the manners of the ex- 
 isting Egyptians ought to find a place in a gene- 
 ral description. 
 
 Rossetta
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 24I 
 
 Rossetta not having, like Alexandria, an imme- 
 diate communication with the sea, yon do not find 
 it swarming with those multitudes of foreigners, of 
 adventurers, of dangerous men, whose agitation, 
 tumult, and uproar are their clement, and which 
 render a residence at the city last named, so very 
 disagreeable. Remote from the bustle of sea-ports, 
 and from the frequent political convulsions of 
 Cairo, its inhabitants were abundantly peaceable. 
 Not that the European was there secured entirely 
 from insult : he had, at times, disagreeable cir- 
 cumstances to encounter, but they were slight in 
 comparison with those which persecuted him at 
 Alexandria, and which absolutely oppressed him at 
 Cairo. The silly and ridiculous pride which per- 
 suades the Mahometans that they alone of man- 
 kind are adopted by the Deity, that they are the 
 only persons to whom he ought to open his bo- 
 som, a pride which the doctors of the law or the 
 priests, the vainest and most intolerant of all men, 
 took great care to foment, was the principal source 
 of those unpleasant attacks. The Turk describes 
 the European by no other epithet than that of infi- 
 del ; the Egyptian Mussulman, still coarser, treats 
 him merely as a dog. With him, Christian and dog 
 were two terms so exactly synonimous, and in such 
 frequent use, that no attention was paid to the dif- 
 ference, and that they were indiscriminately em- 
 ployed by persons who had no intention to offer an 
 
 vol. x. r insult.
 
 242 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 insult. Europeans, in the usual dress of their 
 own country, were likewise exposed, at Rossetta, 
 to be hooted at, in the more populous quarters of 
 the town, and to be pursued with repeated shouts 
 of Nouzranu Nazarene. The Jews likewise under- 
 went there those petty persecutions, and, though 
 stationary inhabitants of the country, were much 
 worse treated in it than the Christians of Europe. 
 But that nation is composed of degraded indivi- 
 duals, and deserves to be despised, inasmuch, as, 
 insensible to contempt, to the disgrace accumula- 
 ted on them by wave upon wave, they suffered 
 themselves, if I may use the expression, to be de- 
 luged with it, provided you left them the facility of 
 glutting their vile and insatiable thirst of gold. 
 Habited in the oriental stvle, they were obliged, 
 in Egypt, to wear a head-dress, and to be shod, in 
 a peculiar and appropriate manner ; but what prin- 
 cipally distinguished them, was the tufts of hair, 
 or of beard, which they were forced to let grow, and 
 to keep up, close by the ear, on both sides of the 
 face. Most of the merchants were Turks or Sy- 
 rians ; there were some likewise from Barbary. 
 The Cophts, that degenerate race, descended from 
 the ancient Egyptians, resided there in consider- 
 able numbers. Some Arabs too were domesticated 
 in that city, and the plains adjacent were inhabit- 
 ed and cultivated by the fellahs ; a term which, 
 in Egypt, conveys an idea of contempt, as in an- 
 cient
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 243 
 
 cicnt times that of feasant did with us, to 
 which it corresponds, when the intention is to ex- 
 press rude vulgarity and gross ignorance. The 
 chief command was intrusted to an officer of the 
 Mamelucs, to whom they gave the title of Aga. 
 
 The most ordinary pastime here, as well as all 
 over Turkey, is to smoke and drink coffee. The 
 pipe is never from the mouth from morning to 
 night: at home, in the houses of others, in the 
 streets, on horseback, the lighted pipe is still in 
 hand, and the tobacco-pouch hangs always at the 
 girdle. These constitute two great objects of lux- 
 ury ; the purses which serve to contain the provi- 
 sion, are of silken stuffs richly embroidered, and the 
 tubes of the pipes, of an excessive length, are of. the 
 rarest, and, for the most part, of the sweetest scent- 
 ed wood. I brought home one made of the jas- 
 mine-tree, which is more than six feet lon<r : it 
 may convey an idea of the beauty of the jasmines 
 of those countries, seeing they push out branches 
 of that length, straight, and sufficiently large to 
 admit of being bored. The pipes of more com- 
 mon wood are covered with a robe of silk tied with 
 threads ot gold. The poor, with whom the smoke 
 of tobacco is a necessary of first-rate importance, 
 make use of simple tubes of reed. The top of the 
 pipe is garnished with a species of mock alabaster, 
 and white as milk : it is frequently enriched with 
 
 r 2 precious
 
 244 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 precious stones. Among persons less opulent, the 
 place of this is supplied by faucets. What goes into 
 the mouth is a morsel of yellow amber, the mild 
 and sweet savour of which, when it is heated or 
 lightly pressed, contributes toward correcting the 
 pungent flavour of the tobacco. To the other ex- 
 tremity of those tubes are adapted very handsome 
 cups of baked clay, and which are commonly de- 
 nominated the nuts of the pipes. Some of them are 
 marbled with various colours, and plated over with" 
 gold-leaf. You find them of various sizes : those 
 in most general use through Egypt are more capa- 
 cious ; they are, at the same time, of greater dis- 
 tention. Almost all of them are imported from 
 Turkey, and the reddish clay of which they are 
 formed is found in the environs of Constantinople. 
 There was a Turk at Rossetta who excelled in this 
 species of manufacture. I took great pleasure 
 sometimes to look over him while at work : a great 
 diversity of small sharp-pointed tools served him to 
 impress, with exquisite delicacy, various designs on 
 the clay in its state of softness ; but the process 
 was long and tedious : his pipe-nuts accordingly 
 sold very dear. I had some from him which cost 
 me so high as 'six franks (five shillings) apiece. 
 Some of them were covered with a capital pierced 
 full of holes, in form of a per fuming- pan f This 
 Turk, who had lived a good deal at Constantino- 
 ple, was not destitute of address ; his shop was the 
 
 resort
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 24;, 
 
 resort of the most considerable personages of Ros- 
 sctta; he was a great friend to the French, and he 
 employed his credit to procure for me the means 
 of travelling comfortably through Lower Egypt. 
 
 It is difficult for Frenchmen, especially for those 
 who are not in the habit of scorching their mouth 
 with our short pipes and strong tobacco, to con- 
 ceive the possibility of smoking all daylong. P^irst, 
 the Turkish tobacco is the best and the mildest in 
 the world ; it has nothing of that sharpness which, 
 ill European countries, provokes a continual dis- 
 position to spit ; next, the length of the tube into 
 which the smoke ascends, the odoriferous quality 
 of the wood ol which it is made, the amber tip 
 which goes into the mouth, the wood of aloes with 
 which the tobacco is perfumed, contribute more 
 towards its mildness, and to render the smoke of 
 it totally inoffensive in their apartments. The 
 beautiful women, accordingly, take pleasure in 
 amusing their vacant time, by pressing the amber 
 with their rosy lips, and in gently respiring the 
 fumes of the tobacco of Syria, embalmed with 
 those of aloe-. It is not necessary, besides, to draw 
 up the smoke with a strong suction; it ascends 
 almost spontaneously. They put the pipe aside, 
 they chat, they look about, from time to time they 
 apply it to the lips, and gently inhale the smoke, 
 which immediately makes its escape from the half- 
 
 h 3 opened
 
 246 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 opened mouth. Sometimes they amuse themselves 
 by sending it through the nose : at other times 
 they take a full mouthful, and artfully blow it out 
 on the extended palm,, where it forms a spiral co- 
 lumn, which it takes a few instants to evaporate. 
 The glands are not pricked, and the throat and 
 breast are not parched by an incessant discharge of 
 saliva, with which the floors of our smokers are 
 inundated. They feel no inclination to spit, and 
 that affection, so customary with us, is, in the 
 East, considered as a piece of indecency in the 
 presence of persons entitled to superior respect ; 
 it is, in like manner, looked upon as highly un- 
 polite to wipe the nose while they are by. 
 
 The Orientalists, who arc not under the neces- 
 sity of labouring, remain almost always in a sitting 
 posture, with their legs crossed under them ; they 
 never walk, unless they are obliged to do so ; and 
 do not stir from one place to another, without a par- 
 ticular object to put them in motion. If they have 
 an inclination to enjoy the coolness of an orchard 
 or the purling of a stream, the moment they reach 
 their mark they sit down. They have no idea of 
 taking the air, except on horseback, for they are 
 very fond of this exercise. It is a great curiosity to 
 observe their looks, as they contemplate an Euro- 
 pean walking backward and forward, in his cham- 
 ber, or in the open air, retreading continually the 
 
 self-
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 247 
 
 self-same steps which he had trodden before. It 
 is impossible for them to comprehend the meaning 
 of that going and coming, without any apparent 
 object, and which they consider as an act of folly. 
 The more sensible among them conceive it to be 
 a prescription of our physicians which sets us a- 
 waiking about in this manner, in order to take an 
 exercise necessary to the cure of some disorder. 
 The negroes, in Africa, have a similar idea of this 
 practice, and I have seen the savages of South 
 America laugh at it heartily among themselves. It 
 is peculiar to thinking men ; and this agitation of 
 the body participates of that of the mind, as a kind 
 of relief to its extreme tension. Hence it comes 
 to pass that all those nations, whose head is empty, 
 whose ideas are contracted, whose mind is 
 neither employed, nor susceptible of meditation, 
 have no need of such a relaxation, of such a di- 
 version of thought: with them, immobility of body 
 is a symptom of the inert state of the brain. 
 
 Those who arc oppressed by want of employ- 
 ment, and this is the heritage of the rich, retire to 
 the gardens, of which I have presented a sketch, 
 and, evermore seated, delight themselves with 
 breathing a cool and balsamic air, or in listening 
 to wretched music. If they do not choose to go 
 out of town, they repair to one of the coffee- 
 
 11 4 houses,
 
 24-8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 houses, of which we should form a very erroneous 
 idea, in judging of them by our own. It is a 
 mere tobacco-smoking rendezvous, totally destitute 
 of decoration, and in which nothing absolutely is 
 to be found, except coffee and a live coal to light 
 the pipes. Mats are spread for the company, and 
 these places of resort arc frequented by the men of 
 all nations who reside in Egypt. There is nothing 
 that deserves the name of conversation : a few 
 words only drop occasionally. The Turk is cold 
 and taciturn ; he looks down on every other na- 
 tion with disdain. The African is less disposed to 
 silence, but likes to follow the example of the 
 Turk, and those who are not Mussulmans take no 
 pains to shun the appearance o( a servile subjection 
 to the taste of their tyrants. With the pipe in one 
 hand, a cup of coffee in the other, they slowly wash 
 down every four or five whiffs of tobacco, with a 
 gulp of coffee. Dancing girls, buffoons, extem- 
 pore dcclaimers, come to tender their services, and 
 to earn a bit of money. There is scarcely one of 
 those haunts but what attracts to it some story-tel- 
 ler by profession, who is never tired with talking, 
 nor his auditors of listening to him. The narra- 
 tions of those indefatigable orators are, for the most 
 part, very insipid and tiresome. The Arabian wri- 
 ters, however, from whom their stories are bor- 
 rowed, sometimes furnish them with some that are 
 
 excellent.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 249 
 
 excellent. Such is the one that follows, which I 
 committed to memory, because it is short and 
 poignant. 
 
 <( A Turk had repeated to hits wife a sermon 
 " delivered by the Iman of his mosque. The 
 " priest had been declaiming on the sacredness 
 " and the obligations of wedlock. * All those,' 
 " said he, * who acquit themselves of their duties 
 " early in the night, perform a work as merito- 
 " rious as if they sacrificed a sheep. Those who, 
 " in the middle of the night, render a second tri- 
 " bute, do as much in the eyes of the gods, as if 
 " they sacrificed a camel. Those, finally, who, 
 Cl at sun-rising, render a third homage to the 
 " sanctity of their union, merit as much as if they 
 " had ransomed a slave.' The wife, deeply con- 
 " cerned about her husband's salvation, says to 
 <c him, as the evening approached : ' My friend, 
 <c let us sacrifice a sheep;' and the sheep was sa- 
 " crificcd. At midnight the Turk was awaked; 
 " * Come, my friend,' said she, * let us sacrifice a 
 ° camel :' this sacrifice too was offered up. Scarcc- 
 " ly had the day begun to dawn, when the fervent 
 u Mussulman-iadv admonished her spouse that 
 " the moment was come for ransoming a slave; 
 " when turning towards her, with outstretched 
 " arms: ' Alas ! my dear soul,' said he, ' it is I who 
 (i am thy slave ; 1 conjure thee set me at liberty.'" 
 
 If
 
 25O TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 If a person be ever so little known, he can 
 scarcely pass through a street without being invited 
 in, and requested to drink corTee. This expres- 
 sion of politeness is to such a degree a matter of 
 habit, that those who do not possess a single 
 grain of coffee, such as the gardeners of Rossetta, 
 never fail to make an offer of it, though you 
 would embarrass them exceedingly by accepting 
 it. Th«v do not make use of utensils of iron for 
 
 J 
 
 roasting the beans of 4he coffee plant : it is in an 
 earthen vessel that this operation is performed. 
 They afterwards pound them in a mortar of 
 earthen-ware or wood, which preserves their per- 
 fume much better, than by reducing them to 
 powder in a mill. The vicinity of Arabia renders 
 it perfectly easy to provide themselves with the 
 excellent coffee which it produces. In the opinion 
 of delicate palates, forly beans are little enough 
 to make one cup fit for drinking; and no where 
 do you meet with it so highly flavoured. They do 
 not suffer it to stand still a moment. When it 
 has boiled three times over the fire, and drawing 
 off successively, and at each boiling, a coffee-pot 
 full with a long handle, they pour it into cups, 
 and though it be not quite clear, there is no 
 reason to regret the want of sugar, which it is not 
 the custom at this place to mix with it. 
 
 I shall
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1$ I 
 
 I shall not undertake to delineate all the other 
 usages which the Egyptians have in common with 
 other Mahometans. These details belong more 
 properly to the history of Turkey, and would 
 carry me too far. I shall satisfy myself with men- 
 tioning such as I have more particularly observed. 
 
 If the inhabitants of Rossetta are less barbarous 
 than those of the other parts of Egypt, they are 
 not for that less ignorant, less superstition-, nor 
 less intolerant. We find among them, though with 
 shades somewhat softened, the same harshness of 
 character, the same implacable aversion to the na- 
 tions of Europe, the same propensity to revenge; 
 in a word, the same perfidy; and they abandon 
 themselves to the same detestable vices. The pas- 
 sion contrary to nature which the Thracian dames 
 avenged by the massacre of Orpheus, who had ren- 
 dered himself odious by gratifying it*, the incon- 
 ceivable appetite which dishonoured the Greeks 
 and Persians of antiquity, constitute the delight, or, 
 to use a juster term, the infamy of the Egyptians. 
 It is not for the women that their amorous ditties 
 are composed : it is not on them that tender ca- 
 resses are lavished ; far different objects inflamo 
 them. Sensual pleasure with them has nothing 
 amiable, and their transports are merely paroxysms 
 
 * lilt tt'tam Thracum populisfuit auctor, amorem 
 
 In ttneroi tramferre mares. Ovid. 
 
 of
 
 2£2 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 of brutality. This horrid depravation, which, to 
 the disgrace of polished nations, is not altogether 
 unknown to them, is generally diffused over 
 Egypt : the rich and the poor are equally infected 
 with it ; contrary to the effect which it produces in 
 colder countries, that of being exclusive, it is there 
 associated with the love of women. After having 
 glutted his favourite and criminal inclination, the 
 man of those countries retires to his harem, and 
 there burns a few grains of incense in honour of 
 Nature, to whom he has just been offering a 
 horrid outrage; and with what worship, spirit of 
 love, does he honour her ! Abominable sacrificer, 
 he knows nothing of those gentle reciprocations 
 of affection, of that delicious oblivion, of those 
 ardent transports of two souls which understand 
 each other, and cleave to each other : no delicacy 
 in the accessories, no decency of arrangement, 
 nothing graceful in the details; all is brutal, 
 every thing wants animation, every thing is re- 
 stricted to physical propensity the most disgusting. 
 
 The outrages which the Egyptians offer to na~ 
 ture do not stop there: other beings besides par- 
 take of their horrible favours, and their wives are 
 frequently in competition with the beasts of the 
 field, and postponed to them. The crime of 
 bestiality is familiar to those monsters under a 
 fruman form; they avow it with the most impu- 
 dent
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 253 
 
 dent effrontery, and wretches have been seen 
 abandoning themselves to it, at Rossctta, in open 
 day, in the more retired streets. 
 
 But let an impenetrable curtain drop over scenes 
 so shocking, and let us penetrate into the retreats 
 where beauty languishes, where, like the flower 
 which the caresses of the zephyr abandon, and re- 
 sign to the blighting breath of the impetuous 
 south wind, deprived of the homage of sensibility, 
 it withers and wastes under the yoke of a jealous 
 barbarian, who torments her with his suspicions, 
 and pollutes her with his profaned touch. 
 
 The wives of the masters of Egypt, of the other 
 Mamelucs, of the Turks settled in the country, of 
 the rich inhabitants of the cities, were not Egyp- 
 tian women : they were originally from other 
 countries of the East, and particularly from the 
 parts of Greece in which beauty is a valuable and 
 constant property. 
 
 Perpetually secluded, and going abroad very 
 rarely, and under a veil, or, to express myself more 
 accurately, under a mask, with which the face is 
 completely covered, the sun can impress no ble- 
 mish on the freshness, on the colouring of their 
 complexion ; and an acrid and saline air can never 
 affect the fairness and the delicacy of their skin. 
 
 And
 
 254 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 And for whom are so many charms so carefully 
 preserved ? For one single man, for a tyrant who 
 holds them in captivity. An insuperable line of 
 separation is drawn, in those countries, between 
 the two constituent halves of the human species : 
 the one, the graces of which form a contrast so 
 agreeable with the force, and the masculine beau- 
 ties of the other, a prisoner here, becomes the ex- 
 clusive possession of a few individuals. No man 
 can enter the place where the women are, the 
 proprietor himself excepted ; no one must behold 
 their faee. No where is jealousy carried to such a 
 horrid excess; no where is it more ferocious. An 
 inevitable death awaits the stranger who shall have 
 made an attempt to introduce himself into the 
 apartments reserved for the females, or to address 
 a few words to them, on meeting them out of 
 doors. Not that those beautiful captives have no 
 disposition to burst asunder some links of their 
 chain, and certain adventures have come to my 
 knowledge, of which they had been frankly at the 
 whole of the expense. But such instancesofgood luck 
 were extremely hazardous, and assignations of this 
 sort were kept with much anxiety and trepidation. 
 
 During my first residence at Cairo, I one day sur- 
 prised, without intending it, a young Frenchman, 
 who, behind the half-drawn curtains of a lattice in 
 the consul's house, was busily employed in making 
 
 a variety
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 255 
 
 a variety of signs; I came up to him, and asked 
 whether there might not be some indiscretion in 
 witnessing a conversation which appeared to me 
 extremely animated, though not a single word was 
 articulated. He readily admitted the truth of my 
 remark. He was on the point of leaving Cairo, 
 and besides, he could attach no interest but that of 
 singularity, to the knowledge of a female, of whom 
 he had scarcely a half view, and with whom he 
 could have no communication but at the distance 
 of more than sixty feet. I distinguished, through 
 a grating of wood, the figure of a woman who 
 lodged on the opposite side of the kalisch y or canal 
 of Cairo. She returned the Frenchman's signs, 
 and these silent interviews were repeated several 
 times a day, at hours agreed upon. I did not fail 
 to make one of them, without being seen by the 
 lady. I learnt the art of signals, which, in a country 
 where it is impossible to speak to women, is a very 
 expressive language, and I myself was soon in a 
 condition to be a very tolerable telegraph. The 
 young man, obliged to take his departure with the 
 consul, had taken his last farewell of the lady. Left 
 alone in the house, I presented myself to supply 
 his place. I signified that, being a Frenchman like 
 the other, I came to express the same sentiments, 
 and to tender the same homage. Soon tired of 
 peeping through the close bars of a contracted 
 window-blind, and of addressing my vows only to 
 
 a beauty
 
 256 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 a beauty which might be altogether imaginary, I 
 requested that it might be displayed in all the lustre 
 of unclouded day. Difficulties were started ; I 
 persisted, and was promised that toward the evening 
 the lady would ascend to the terrace of the house. 
 I got up to my own, and perceived an elegantly 
 dressed female appear, but still at the distance of 
 threescore feet, and still wearing her veil. This 
 was even worse than the panes of her cross-barred 
 lattice, through which I saw at least an intersected 
 figure. I entreated her, in the most importunate 
 of attitudes, that this impertinent veil might dis- 
 appear. A black slave who attended her mistress, 
 joined her entreaties to my supplications : all was 
 to no purpose. The last favour which such a wo- 
 man can bestow, is to display her person ; and, from 
 an unaccountable notion of modesty, she would 
 rather exhibit her whole figure than uncover her 
 face. The next day I renewed my solicitations, 
 and they were crowned with some success. After 
 many difficulties, the officious negress, who was in 
 her mistress's secrets, tore aside the veil, and 1 be- 
 held a female young and beautiful. The carnation 
 of shame diffused over her countenance a very vivid 
 colouring, which gradually faded, till nothing re- 
 mained but the roses of beauty. From that mo- 
 ment, the most perfect liberty directed our mute 
 conversations. I had received the highest possible 
 token of benevolence. My beautiful neighbour 
 
 gave
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2 tf 
 
 gave me to understand, that her husband, who 
 was an old Turkey merchant, intended to go a 
 long journey in a short time, and she engaged me 
 to cultivate a closer intimacy, by passing over to 
 her house. She pointed out to me a little door 
 that opened toward the canal, and which was 
 never employed as an entrance but for the purpose 
 of fetching water from it. The black slave was 
 to wait for me when the night shut in, and intro- 
 duce me in perfect safety. She informed me, that, 
 in order to reach this door, I had only to cross the 
 breadth of the canal, at that time perfectly dry ; 
 and she swore by her head (a French woman would 
 have said by her heart), that I did not run the 
 slightest risk. I became difficult in my turn. 
 The fearful consequences with which such a step 
 might be followed were, in my eyes, a barrier, 
 which the most amiable and ingenuous advances, 
 which assurances the most affectionate, could not 
 determine me to surmount. Several evenings 
 passed away in this species of conflict, between 
 the eloquent, though not uttered, invitations of 
 a tender desire, and the resistance of prudence fre- 
 quently but feebly opposed. But we had been 
 detected; our interviews by means of signals, had 
 excited the indignation of certain Mahometans, 
 and the discharge of a musket from one of the 
 adjacent terraces, and the ball of which whizzed 
 close by my ear, gave me notice that it was high 
 vol. i. s time
 
 258 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 time to terminate those steril encounters, and 
 made me sensible how well advised I had been in 
 not having crossed the canal. 
 
 These same women frequently visit each other. 
 Decency and reserve do not always defray the ex- 
 pense of their conversations. The absolute want 
 of education and of principle; the idleness and 
 abundance in which they softly pass their days ; 
 the constraint in which they are unremittingly 
 kept, by men extremely unacquainted with deli- 
 cacy either of sentiment or in conduct ; the assu- 
 rance which they have that the inclinations of 
 these men are directed towards other objects ; the 
 vivacity of their affections ; the climate, which 
 communicates its fires to hearts so fruitlessly dis- 
 posed to tenderness; nature, whose powerful 
 voice, too frequently misunderstood by those 
 whom she calls to partake of her laws as well as 
 of her pleasures, rouses their sensations ; every 
 thing contributes to direct their vivid imagina- 
 tion, their desires, their discourse, toward an ob- 
 ject which they are not at liberty to attain. They 
 amuse themselves in their little parties with com* 
 pletely changing clothes, and in mutually assum- 
 ing each other's dress. This species of metamor- 
 phosis only serves as a prelude and a pretext to 
 sports less innocent, and of which Sappho passes 
 for having taught and practised the details. In- 
 telligent
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 1 59 
 
 telliffcnt in the art of amusing, and not of cxtin- 
 guishing the ardour which consumes them, the 
 same disorder pursues them still into solitude ; 
 . sad resources, miserable indemnifications of a pri- 
 vation, which, under a temperature equally warm 
 and dry, and to souls all on fire, appears no easy 
 matter to support. 
 
 The men are well aware of these dispositions, 
 and their jealousy is offended at it. Not only do 
 they bar all access to the apartments of the women 
 to every other man ; for that name is not to be 
 given to the mutilated beings, who have the figure 
 only ; but they do not permit the introduction of 
 even inanimate objects which might favour illu- 
 sion. They know not what it is to repose confi- 
 dence in the discretion of a wife; they are not 
 afraid to make sure that those who, under their 
 roof, pass for the most reserved, may not let slip 
 opportunities of becoming unfaithful, nor find the 
 means of satisfying their temperament. The mon- 
 sters ! They have the presumption to talk of fide- 
 lity ; their mouth dares to pollute, by pronouncing 
 it, the name of honour ! Unfaithful to Nature, 
 whom they serve only by outraging her, they 
 carry their impudence so far as to pretend to the 
 most desirable favours of her fairest workman- 
 ship ! They perceive not, wretches as they are, 
 that the infidelities of which they complain, are 
 
 » 2 the
 
 l6o TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the well-merited recompense of their own con- 
 temptuous behaviour, of their rigour, and of their 
 criminal and disgusting caprices ! Let them open, 
 if they can, their heart to a delicate love, their soul 
 to the sanctity of friendship, to the confidence 
 which it commands, to the kind attentions which 
 it keeps alive, and they will see whether that sex, 
 which they calumniate, because they know it only 
 by the horrible and ponderous chains of iron with 
 which they load it, knows how to correspond to 
 sentiments of honour, and whether it is not itself 
 the precious sanctuary of afFections the most ten- 
 der, and of the constancy which perpetuates them t 
 in that sacred abode *. 
 
 * It will be asked, perhaps, how it was possible for me to 
 procure information of what passes in the interior of Harems y 
 seeing access to them is so severely guarded : the means which 
 I employed are simple ; but I must be permitted to refrain from 
 disclosing them : it is sufficient to be assured of the truth and 
 exactness of the details ; and on this the reader may fully de- 
 pend.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2.6 I 
 
 CHAP. xvr. 
 
 Wives of the commonalty — Black of the eyes — Al- 
 quifoux — Red of the hands and of the feel — Henna 
 — Depilatories — Plumpness of the women, their 
 cleanliness, their cosmetics. 
 
 Wherever an excessive luxury is concentrated 
 in a privileged class in the cities, indigence, and 
 all the horrors which follow in its train, are the 
 heritage of the most numerous class, and the de- 
 
 CD ' 
 
 solation of the plains. It would betray great ig- 
 norance of the state of women in Egypt, to 
 imagine that they are all endowed with the same 
 charms, that they enjoy the same delicate accom- 
 modations of life, as the beautiful foreign dames 
 of whom I have been just speaking, and who, si- 
 milar to exotic flowers, whose lustre is to be pre- 
 served only by attention and management, live 
 solely in the employment of prolonging the dura- 
 tion of the gifts derived from nature, and of adorn- 
 ing them by the richness of art. The women of 
 the lower order, instead of that whiteness, of that 
 delicate colouring with which the complexion of 
 the first is animated, have, like the men of the 
 same country, a tawny skin, and as the males of 
 the same order, they wear the impress and the 
 tatters of frightful poverty. Almost all of them, 
 
 s 3 especially
 
 262 TRAVELS IN UPPKR 
 
 especially in the country, have no other clothing 
 but a species of large tunic with sleeves, extremely 
 wide, and which serves at once for gown and shift ; 
 it is open on both sides from the arm-pit down to 
 the knee, so that the movements of the body are 
 easily seen through the apertures ; but women 
 there are little concerned about that, provided the 
 face is not exposed to view. 
 
 It is not sufficient for opulent and idle women 
 to be adorned with so many natural charms ; they 
 must besides endeavour to increase and set off 
 beauty by the assistance of the arts of the toilette, 
 which is likewise with them an object of superior 
 importance. But this art consists entirely in an- 
 cient and invariable usages : fashion never de- 
 ranges the uniformity of their practices, never in- 
 volves them in caprice upon caprice; and if an- 
 cient and unchanging modes be a proof of slight 
 advancement toward perfection, may it not like- 
 wise be affirmed, that a restless versatility in fa- 
 shion is a symptom of degeneracy in those whom 
 it torments ? 
 
 The most remarkable trait of beauty, in the East, 
 is large black eyes, and it is well known that nature 
 has made this a characteristic sign of the women 
 of those countries. But, not content with these 
 gifts of nature, those of Egypt employ every effort 
 
 of
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 263 
 
 o( art to make their eyes appear larger and blacker. 
 For this purpose, females of every description, Ma- 
 hometan, Jew, Christian, rich and poor, all tinge 
 the eyebrows and the eyelashes with black lead*, 
 known, in the commerce of the Levant, by the 
 name of alquifoux or arquifoux. They reduce it to 
 a subtile powder, to which they give consistency 
 by mixing it with the fuliginous vapour of a lamp. 
 The more opulent employ the fumes of amber, or 
 of some other fat and odoriferous substance, and 
 have the drug always prepared, at hand, in small 
 phials. With this composition they themselves 
 paint the eyebrows and eyelids, and with a small 
 morsel of wood, of reed, or of feather, they like- 
 wise blacken the lashes with it, by passing it with 
 a light hand between the two eyelids; an opera- 
 tion which the Roman ladies practised of old, and 
 which Juvenal has described with so much exacti- 
 tude-)*. They besides mark with it the angles of 
 the eye, which makes the fissure appear greater. 
 
 The ebony of those eyes so black contrasts agree- 
 ably with the dazzling white of the skin of the 
 beautiful Circassian women, and imparts vivacity 
 to their complexion : but this opposition of colour 
 
 * Minede plomb tessulaire. Galena tcssulata. 
 -{• Ilia supacilium, modicdfuligine factum 
 Obliquci producit acu, pingitque, tiemi;:tes 
 Attollem oculos. 
 
 s 4 produces
 
 264 TRAVELS IN UPPER. 
 
 produces the most agreeable effect at a little dis- 
 tance ; close up to it the layer of paint is too ap- 
 parent, and it even impresses on the physiog- 
 nomy a shade of gloominess which has something 
 harsh in it. 
 
 The French merchants of Cairo had large con- 
 signments of alquifoux. Part was consumed in 
 the country, by the beautiful eyes of the women ; 
 but by far the greatest quantity was exported to 
 Arabia and the land of Yemen, where it was em- 
 ployed as a varnish for pottery. They pretended 
 that what they had from England was of a supe- 
 rior quality to any other : but this branch of com- 
 merce produced only very moderate returns. 
 
 If large black eyes, which they are at pains to 
 darken still more, be essential to Egyptian female 
 beauty, it likewise requires as an accessory of first- 
 rate importance, that the hands and nails should be 
 dyed red. This last fashion is fully as general as 
 the other, and not to conform to it would be rec- 
 koned indecent. The women could no more dis- 
 pense with this daubing than with their clothes. 
 Of whatever condition, of whatever religion they 
 may be, all employ the same means to acquire this 
 species of ornament, which the empire of fashion 
 alone could perpetuate, for it assuredly spoils fine 
 hands much more than it decorates them. The 
 
 animated
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 265 
 
 animated whiteness of the palm of the hand, the 
 tender rose colour of the nails, are effaced by a 
 dingy layer of a reddish or orange-coloured druo-. 
 The sole of the foot, the epidermis of which is not 
 hardened by long or frequent walking, and which 
 daily friction makes still thinner, is likewise loaded 
 with the same colour. 
 
 It is with the greenish powder of the dried leaves 
 of the henna, that the women procure for them- 
 selves a decoration so whimsical. It is prepared 
 chiefly in the Said, from whence it is distributed 
 over all the cities of Egypt. The markets are 
 constantly supplied with it, as a commodity of 
 habitual and indispensable use. They dilute it in 
 water, and rub the soft paste it makes on the parts 
 which they mean to colour : they are wrapped up 
 in linen, and at the end of two or three hours the 
 orange hue is strongly impressed on them. Though 
 the women wash both hands and feet several times 
 a day, with lukewarm water and soap, this co- 
 lour adheres for a long time, and it is sufficient to 
 renew it about every fifteen days. That of the 
 nails lasts much longer, nay it passes for inefface- 
 able. In Turkey, likewise, the women make use 
 of hernia, but apply it to the nails only, and leave 
 to their hands and feet the colours of nature. It 
 would appear that the custom of dying the nails 
 yvas known to the ancient Egyptians, for those of 
 
 mummies
 
 266 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 mummies are, most commonly, of a reddish hue *. 
 But the Egyptian ladies refine still further on 
 the general practice : they too paint their fingers, 
 space by space only, and, in order that the co- 
 lour may not lay. hold of the whole, they wrap 
 them round with thread at the proposed distances, 
 before the application of the colour-giving paste, 
 so that, when the operation is finished, they have 
 the lingers marked circularly, from end to end, with 
 small orange-coloured belts. Others, and this 
 practice is more common among certain Syrian 
 dames, have a mind that their hands should present 
 the sufficiently disagreeable mixture of black and 
 white. The belts which the henna had first redden- 
 ed, become of a shining black, by rubbing them with 
 a composition of sal-ammoniac, lime, and honey. 
 
 You sometimes meet with men likewise who 
 apply tincture of henna to their beards, and anoint 
 the head with it. They allege that it strengthens 
 the organs, that it prevents the falling off of the 
 hair-j~ and beard, and banishes vermin. 
 
 The henna is a tall shrub, endlessly multiplied in 
 Egypt. The leaves are of a lengthennd oval form, 
 
 * See Memoir on Embalment by M. de Caylus, in the Mem. 
 of the Acad, of Inscr. and Bel. Let. vol. xxiii. p. 133. 
 
 f The followers of Mahomet, it is well known, preserve, on 
 the crown of the head, a long tuft of hair. 
 
 opposed
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 267 
 
 posed to each other, and of a faint green colour. 
 The flowers grow at the extremity of the branches 
 in long and tufted bouquets ; the smaller ramifica- 
 tions which support them are red, and likewise 
 opposite : from their arm-pit cavity springs a small 
 leaf almost round, but terminating in a point. The 
 corolla is formed of four petals curling up, and of 
 a light yellow. Between each petal arc two white 
 stamina with a yellow summit; there is only one 
 white pistil. The. pedicle, reddish at its issuing 
 from the bough, dies away into a faint green. The 
 calix is cut into four pieces, of a tender green up 
 toward their extremity, which is reddish. The 
 fruit or berry is a green capsule previous to its ma- 
 turity ; it assumes a red tint as it ripens, and be- 
 comes brown when it is dried : it is divided into 
 four compartments, in which are enclosed the seeds 
 triangular and brown-coloured. The bark of the 
 stem and of the branches is of a deep gray, and 
 the wood has, internally, a light cast of yellow. 
 
 This shrub had at first been considered as a spe- 
 cies of privet # , to which it has, in truth, many re- 
 lations; but differences in the parts of fructifica- 
 tion have determined botanists to make a distinct 
 genus of it, to which Linnaeus has given the name 
 odawsoriia, and, to the species in question, that of 
 
 1 
 
 * LigusUum vulgare. Lin. 
 
 lawsonia-
 
 268 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 lawsonia inermis * . Its Arabic name is henne, or 
 hanna ; and with the article elhenne, or elhanna ; in 
 Turkey trjey call it karma, or alkanna. Though its 
 figure has been already published in several books 
 on natural history -f, it has not been faithfully re- 
 presented in any one, or with such exactness of de- 
 tail, as in the drawing which I had taken of it at 
 Fvossetta. See plate IV. in which the different 
 parts of the shrub are accurately copied after nature. 
 
 Miller cultivated the henna in England, where 
 it was necessary to keep it constantly in the hot- 
 house. It does not yet make part of the rich and 
 magnificent collection of living plants in the na- 
 tional garden of France. But the scientific exer- 
 tions of the learned gentlemen who are partaking 
 of the glory of the astonishing expedition to Egypt, 
 will not delay, undoubtedly, to rank, among the 
 number of the triumphs which a grateful country 
 shall owe them, that of a charming and useful plant. 
 More happily situated than England, the French 
 Republic will be able, perhaps, to embellish one 
 
 * Lcfwsonici'inermis, folih subsessilibus ovatis, utrinque acutis, 
 Liu. Octandr. monogyn. — Lawsonia spinosa, albenna. Hasselq. 
 Voyage to rhe Levant. N. B. That the epithet of sfiinosa is by 
 no means applicable to \\\thenna, for it has no thorns. — Laiusonia 
 inermis. Forsk. Flora Egyptiaco-Arabica. 
 
 f Walt. Hort. 3, t. 5. — Rhead. Malab. 4, t. 57.— Rauwolf, 
 Jtin. t,6o. — Bellon. edit. Clus. p. 135, &c. &c. 
 
 day
 
 pw

 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 269 
 
 day the agriculture of her southern departments 
 with it, and add this branch of commerce to all 
 those with which she is already enriched. 
 
 In truth, this is one of the plants the most grate- 
 ful to both the sight and the smell. The gently 
 deepish colour of its bark, the light green of its 
 foliage, the softened mixture of white and yellow, 
 with which the flowers, collected into long clusters 
 like the lilach, are coloured, the red tint of the ra- 
 mifications which support them, form a combina- 
 tion of the most agreeable effect. These flowers, 
 whose shades are so delicate, diffuse around the 
 sweetest odours, and embalm the gardens and the 
 apartments which they embellish. They accord- 
 ingly form the usual nosegay of beauty. The wo- 
 men, ornament of the prisons of jealousy, whereas 
 they might be that of a whole country, take plea- 
 sure to deck themselves with these beautiful clus- 
 ters of fragrance, to adorn their apartments with 
 them, to carry them to the bath, to hold them in 
 their hand, in a word, to perfume their bosom with 
 them. They attach to this possession, which the 
 mildness of the climate, and the facility of culture, 
 seldom refuse them, a value so high, that they 
 would willingly appropriate it exclusively to them- 
 selves, and that they suffer with impatience Chris- 
 tian women and Jewesses to partake of it with 
 them. The victim of tyranny, beauty, in those 
 
 countries,
 
 27° TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 countries, has likewise then its despotism ! But it 
 has nothing in it harsh nor maleficent : its ca- 
 prices are amiable ; it bears only on flowers. 
 
 A remarkable singularity is, that the perfume 
 which the flowers of the henna exhale, ceases to 
 be agreeable when you smell to it very close : it 
 is then almost entirely absorbed by a very decided 
 <p:rmatic odour. On crushing some of those 
 flowers between the fingers, this last odour pre- 
 dominates : it is then indeed the only one percep- 
 tible. This particularity is a source of insipid 
 pleasantries to the ivils of the country, and the 
 property ascribed to the hernia of procuring abor- 
 tion, renders them inexhaustible. They extract from 
 those same flowers a perfumed water, which sup- 
 plies their place during the short space which they 
 themselves disappear. As to the numerous medi- 
 cinal virtues which the different parts of the plant 
 are said to possess, nothing certain has hitherto 
 been established by experiment. Several authors 
 have made the enumeration, and I satisfy mvself 
 with referring to them *. 
 
 But the useful and admitted properties of the 
 henna are not limited to objects of pleasure or 
 
 * Vide Prosp. Alpin. de Plantis Egyp. cap. 13. — Ejnsdem 
 deMedicam. Egyp. lib. 4. cap. 1. — Boutii Notas in Garciam ab 
 Hoi to, in cap. 3. lib. 2. &c.&c. 
 
 of
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. . I'] I 
 
 of fashion. The arts too derive manifold advan- 
 tages from the powder of its leaves. It is easily- 
 conceivable that a substance which it furnishes 
 with so much facility, a colour adherent, durable, 
 and which may, according to the mixture with 
 other ingredients, be extended from yellow to the 
 most lively red, cannot fail to supply ample re- 
 sources to the dyer. It will probably come in time, 
 and perhaps soon, to increase those of France, 
 where its use is not known, and where the skill of 
 our artists will turn it to all the good account of 
 which it is susceptible. It formed, in behalf of 
 Egypt, a branch of commerce far from inconsi- 
 derable. Fourteen or fifteen ships were loaded 
 annually, at Alexandria, with these leaves reduced 
 to powder, and exported to Smyrna, to Constan- 
 tinople, to Salonica, from whence tlicy found 
 their way over several countries of the north, and 
 among the rest, I have been told, into Germany ; 
 they are employed there in the dying of furs, and 
 in the preparation of leathers. 
 
 The henna grows in great quantities in the vici- 
 nity of Rossetta, and constitutes one of the prin- 
 cipal ornaments of the beautiful gardens which 
 surround that city. Its root, which penetrates to 
 a great depth with the utmost ease, swells to a 
 large size in a soil soft, rich, mixed with sand, and 
 such as every husbandman would wish to have to 
 
 work
 
 272 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 work upon ; the shrub of course acquires a more 
 vigorous growth there than any where else ; it is 
 at the same time more extensively multiplied : it 
 grows however in all the other cultivated districts 
 of Egypt, and principally in the upper part. 
 
 There is much reason to presume that the henna 
 of Egypt is the kupros of the ancient Greeks. 
 The descriptions, incomplete it is admitted, which 
 authors have given of it, and particularly the form 
 and the sweet perfume of its flowers which they 
 have celebrated, leave scarce any doubt respecting 
 the identity of these two plants*. Besides that, 
 the clusters of Cyprus, hotrus cypri, of the Song of 
 Songs *-f~, can be nothing else but the very clusters 
 of the flowers of the henna. This is at least the 
 opinion of the best commentators. Consult 
 Scheuchner's Sacred Physics, vol. i. p. 198 ; Ju- 
 nius, and a host of interpreters. 
 
 It is not at all astonishing that a flower so deli- 
 cious should have furnished to oriental poesy agree- 
 able allusions and amorous comparisons. This fur- 
 nishes an answer to part of the 45th question of 
 
 * The name of hipros is no longer in use among the modern 
 Greeks ; they give to the henna the corrupted denominations of 
 kene, kna, &c. The seamen of Provence, whose vessels were em- 
 ployed in the carriage of the powder of henna, called it quene. 
 
 •j- Chap. i. v. 13, 14. Bofrtis cypri dilectus meus mihi, in vine is 
 Engaddi. 
 
 4 Michaelis,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 273 
 
 Michaelis *, for the flower of henna is disposed in 
 clusters, and the women of Egypt, who dearly love 
 the smell of it, are fond of carrying it, as I have 
 said, in the spot which the text indicates, in their 
 bosom -f-. But it is not so easy to solve the diffi- 
 culty which perplexed Michaelis, when he after- 
 wards calls for an explanation of the words which 
 follow : in the vineyards of En-gedi J, and what 
 relation have the bunches of cypress with vine- 
 yards ? For my part, I know of none, unless it be 
 that its flowers have, from their disposition, a re- 
 semblance to those of the vine. 
 
 One of the things which the love of self, and the 
 desire of pleasing others, make most in request 
 with the women of Egypt, is to have the skin soft 
 and smooth all the body over, without suffering 
 the slightest appearance of roughness to remain. 
 The parts veiled by nature lose with them their 
 umbrage, and the whole is equally smooth and 
 
 * " What can be the meaning, in the amorous style, of the 
 " clusters of the cypress, Cant. i. 14 ? He cannot be speaking 
 " of the leaves, the powder of which serves as a drying-drug to 
 " the orientalists, but of the flowers. Did the women of those 
 " countries carry them in form of nosegays in the place which 
 " the text indicates r" (Intelligent and Curious Travellers, &c. 
 hy Michaelis, vol. i. quest. 45, />. 172.) 
 
 f J '/iter uiera, v. 13. 
 
 $ In vineis Engaddi, ibid, and Michaelis, the place formerly 
 quoted. 
 
 vol. i. t polished.
 
 274 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 polished. It is a known fact, that the disciples of 
 Mahomet are in the habit of divesting themselves 
 of every covering of hair : the very men, with 
 whom mustachios are an ornament, and a long 
 beard a distinctive sign, reject every excrescence 
 of this kind on any other part of the body, and 
 the inhabitants of Egypt, of whatever description, 
 have adopted the same taste. In former times, the 
 priest alone shaved the whole body every third 
 day, in order, says Herodotus, that no vermin, nor 
 filth of any kind, should be generated on men 
 devoted to the service of the gods •. In modern 
 times, every Egyptian shaves himself in like man- 
 ner, and they are not much the less for that preyed 
 on by vermin. The generality only make use of 
 the razor for this operation, which they frequently 
 repeat. Others, as in Turkey, employ a depilatory 
 which the Turks call rusma, and the Arabians nou- 
 ret, a very ordinary drug, and which is sold for a 
 trifle. It is not, as has been believed, a mineral 
 substance, found in a state of complete prepara- 
 tion, as a depilatory, it! the bowels of the earth. 
 It stands in need of an artificial preparation, and 
 of an alloy, in order to attain the requisite pro- 
 pert) 7 . In truth, Bellonius, the first who has de- 
 scribed (at Cuta, in Galatia) the source of a mineral 
 which they call rusma -\-, adds, that the mineral 
 
 * Herodotus, Larcher's translation, book ii. § 3. 
 ■\ Observ. book iii. ch. 33. 
 
 alone
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. If $ 
 
 alone cannot answer the purpose, till, after they 
 have reduced it to a very subtile powder, mixing half 
 as ?nuch quicklime as rusma, they dilute it in some 
 vessel with water*. Thus, the rusma of Bello- 
 nius does not furnish a depilatory by itself, and it 
 contains some caustic substance, which, mixed 
 with lime, communicates that property to it. And 
 this presumption is confirmed by the experiment 
 of Citizen Valmont de Bomare, who, having re- 
 ceived from* Constantinople some small morsels of 
 mineral rusma, perceived that, when thrown on 
 burning coals, a vapour immediately exhaled 
 from it, which led him to suspect that it is a cal- 
 chilis mineralized by sulphur and arsenic -f. The 
 same naturalist says farther, that this depilatory is 
 very rare in France, and sold there for its weight 
 in gold. But how is it possible to reconcile this 
 scarcity, this high price, with the abundance of 
 rusma in Turkey ? How could a thing so common 
 have remained unknown till now ? It is presented 
 in all the bathing-houses; and it would have been 
 easy for Frenchmen, who, in the great ports of the 
 Levant, take pleasure in frequenting them, to have 
 procured some of it to send into France. But it 
 was that, conformably to the observation ofBello- 
 nius, ill understood, and altered in many works 
 on the materia medica, they would not see the 
 
 * Observ. book iii. ch. 33. 
 
 | Diet, of Nat. Hist, artic. Rusma. 
 
 t 1 rusma
 
 276 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 rusma in a preparation, and that they were always 
 looking for it in the mineral, an ore extracted from 
 the earth and slightly burnt, of which Bellonius 
 has made mention, without attending that a few 
 lines below he subjoins, that it needs to be mixed 
 with lime, in order to produce the effect expected. 
 
 This mixture is the real rusma of the Turks; 
 and, as I have just said, the Arabs give it the name 
 of nouret, a word which, according to the Turkish 
 dictionary, is of Persic extraction. It is certain 
 that the rusma and the nouret are the same sub- 
 stance, or rather the same composition ; and if you 
 consult the same Turkish dictionary, under the 
 words nure and nuret *, you will see that they 
 give this name to a depilatory, composed of chalk 
 and arsenic. 
 
 It is, in truth, with arsenic or orpiment -f, 
 mixed with quick-lime J, that they prepare in the 
 baths of Egypt, the drug which makes the hair fall 
 off. The proportion is seven parts lime to three 
 of orpiment. When they mean to apply it, they 
 find it necessary to retire to a very warm place, 
 
 * Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalium, &c. Aut. MeninskL 
 Vienna, 1680. 
 
 f In Arabic, zernicL 
 X Tn Arabic, guir. 
 
 such
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 277 
 
 such as the stove-baths of the East, in which a 
 copious perspiration distils from all parts of the 
 body. They dilute the mixture with water, and 
 rub it gently on the part to be depilated. A few 
 moments after, they try if the hair is detaching it- 
 self; they then take it off without feeling any 
 pain, and wash in warm water. Care must be 
 taken not to let the paste remain too long, other- 
 wise it would burn the skin. This does not pre- 
 vent the hair from growing again, and, after some 
 time, it is found requisite to repeat the operation. 
 
 The women, and, at present, I am speaking 
 only of such as are married, for young Women 
 keep themselves as nature made them, and it is 
 not till the very day of marriage tlrat they are pi- 
 tilessly stripped of the veil of nature ; the women, 
 I say, jealous of diffusing over their whole person 
 an exact and uniform polish, employ neither 
 razor nor nouret, which leave after them vestiges 
 offensive to the touch, which it is their great so- 
 licitude to prevent. Nothing can resist an ex- 
 treme desire to appear perfectly beautiful. They 
 submit to a painful operation, to a violent and 
 total deracination, which is performed by an ap- 
 plication of honey made into a paste with turpen- 
 tine, or some sort of gum ; and when this plaster 
 is become dry, it is torn off with all that adheres 
 to it. Fortunately there is no need to return often 
 
 T 3 tO
 
 278 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 to this rather severe process. If a reproduction 
 appears, it is only a soft down, like the finest 
 wool ; and, after a few years, vegetation of this 
 sort is absolutely destroyed. Should nature com- 
 mit a mistake in giving, to any of those females, 
 a beard on the face, they use the same recipe to 
 make it disappear, beyond the possibility of re- 
 turning. 
 
 Next to the desire of having the skin soft, and 
 of the most beautiful polish, the great anxiety of 
 those ladies is to acquire as great a degree of 
 plumpness as possible. The taste of the men does 
 not incline them to slim and taper shapes, to ele- 
 gant and limber forms ; they love women that are 
 fat, and they accordingly employ every effort to 
 become so. In order to attain this high degree, 
 this perfection of beauty, they make use of various 
 drugs, as the nuts of the cocoa-tree, the bulbs of 
 the hermo-dactyl *, rasped down and mingled 
 with sugar. They never fail, after lying-in, to 
 eat plentifully of this last species of paste or com- 
 fit, in the persuasion that it is the surest means 
 of recruiting their strength, and of regaining the 
 flesh they have lost. 
 
 * In Arabic, chamire. The greatest part of it, consumed in 
 Egypt, comes from Arabia. It grows likewise in sufficient 
 abundance in the vicinity of Aboukir. 
 
 The
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 2%) 
 
 The idea of a very fat woman is almost always 
 associated in Europe with that of softness of flesh, 
 of the flattening of forms, of defect of the elasti- 
 city of the contours. It would be a mistake to 
 think this is a representation of the women of Tur- 
 key, in general, where they all endeavour to get 
 into flesh. It is, in the first place, indubitably 
 certain that the women of the East, more favoured 
 of nature, preserve longer than others their firm- 
 ness of flesh ; and that attractive property, added 
 to the softness, to the fairness of their skin, to 
 the freshness of their carnation, renders them very 
 agreeable, very desirable masses, when their em- 
 bonpoint is not carried to excess. 
 
 Moreover, there is no country in the world 
 where the women carry farther an attention to 
 cleanliness, than in those countries of the East. 
 The frequent bathings, the perfumes, the employ- 
 ment of every art that can soften and embellish 
 the skin, to preserve all their charms, nothing is 
 neglected, and the most minute details succeed 
 each other with a scrupulous exactness. Such 
 pains are not thrown away. Women are no 
 where more constantly beautiful ; no where is the 
 talent of seconding nature better understood ; no 
 where, in a word, are women more skilled, nor 
 more practised in the art of retarding and of re- 
 pairing the ravages of time ; an art which has its 
 
 t 4 principles
 
 280 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 principles and practices innumerable. I amused 
 myself with making a collection of them, not only 
 in Egypt, but likewise in Greece, where I resided 
 a considerable time, and enjoyed very particular 
 opportunities of completing my collection. Cer- 
 tain European ladies have sometimes courted me 
 to open it in their favour: but I check myself; 
 this is not the place for making such communica- 
 tions, and the book of a traveller ought not to 
 degenerate into a course of cosmetics.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 281 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 Egyptian dogs — Cats — Beautiful animal of this genus 
 reared by the Author — Domestic animals — Man- 
 gouste, or ichneumon — Species of tortoise of the Nile, 
 hostile to the crocodile. 
 
 Amidst the population of Rossetta there exists 
 a horde of animals which, repelled by man, to 
 whose personal use nature seems to have destined 
 them, are nevertheless incapable of deserting him ; 
 and, as it were in defiance of his unkindness, per- 
 sist in rendering him service. In all ages, and 
 among all civilized nations, the dog has merited, 
 if I may presume to say so, to enter into alliance 
 with mankind. Savages themselves, who scarcely 
 live in societv with each other, rear the canine 
 race, and share with them the labours and the 
 fruits of the chase. From a ridiculous prejudice, 
 the offspring of a religion still more ridiculous, 
 the Mahometans alone hold this animal in abhor- 
 rence. With them he is an unclean beast, which 
 they will not admit into their houses, which they 
 carefully shun, and which they dare not touch, un- 
 der pain of becoming themselves unclean. Hence 
 a judgment may be formed of the full import of 
 
 the
 
 ^82 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the term dog which they bestow on the nations of 
 Europe: very different in this, as well as in every 
 other respect, from the ancient Egyptians, who 
 rendered a particular worship, and the highest ho- 
 nours, among other animals, to the most sagacious 
 of all, to that one whose excellent qualities make 
 him most worthy of human attentions *. 
 
 From one of those inconceivable contradictions, 
 prevalent particularly among Mussulmans, there 
 are few cities in the world which contain so many 
 dogs as those of Egypt, or, at least, there is no one 
 which has the appearance of containing more, be- 
 cause they are there constantly assembled in the 
 streets, their only habitation. There they have no 
 other supplies of food but what they can pick up at 
 the doors of houses, or scramble for by raking into 
 filth and garbage. The females drop their young 
 at the corner of some retired and unfrequented 
 street ; for a disciple of Mahomet would not per- 
 mit them to approach his habitation. Continually 
 exposed to the cruel treatment of the populace; 
 massacred sometimes, without mercy, by an armed 
 mob; subjected to all the inclemency of the ele- 
 ments; hardly finding the means of supporting a 
 wretched existence ; meagre, irritated to madness, 
 frequently eaten up of a mange which degenerates 
 
 * The worship of the dog was universally diffused over Egypt. 
 
 sometimes
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 283 
 
 sometimes into a species of leprosy, hideous even 
 from the forlornncss of their condition, those mi- 
 serable animals inspire as much compassion, as 
 they excite contempt and indignation against the 
 barbarians among whom they live. 
 
 It is undoubtedly astonishing, that amidst a life 
 of misery and suffering, many of those dogs should 
 not be subject to attacks of the hydrophobia. But 
 this malady, rare in the northern parts of Turkey, 
 is still more so in the southern provinces of that 
 empire, and is totally unknown under the burning 
 sky of Egypt. I never saw a single instance of it; 
 and the natives whom I have consulted on the 
 subject, had not so much as an idea of the disease. 
 It would appear, nevertheless, that madness has 
 not always been a stranger in this country, since, 
 according to the hieroglyphics of Orus-Apollo *, 
 quoted by M. Pauw, the persons employed in em- 
 balming the sacred dogs, when those animals had 
 died of the hydrophobia, contracted a particular 
 malady -j~. The same author remarks, it is true, 
 that accidents of this sort were not very common. 
 It may likewise be possible, that the passage from 
 Orus-Apollo might admit of another interpreta- 
 tion. Be this as it may, it is very certain that at 
 
 '■' Book i. chap. 381. 
 
 f Philosophical Researches respecting the Egyptians and 
 Chinese, vol. ii. p. 112. 
 
 present
 
 284 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 present in Egypt*, as well as in other parts of 
 Africa, and in the hottest zone of America, dogs 
 are never attacked with the canine madness. So 
 that observation contradicts a plausible presump- 
 tion, and apparently founded on natural principles, 
 namely, that madness must prevail in proportion 
 to the intensity of the heat ; a proposition contra- 
 dicted by facts, and they will throw, perhaps, 
 some light on the nature of this cruel malady, and 
 on the method of curing it. 
 
 The dogs of Egypt are a race of tall greyhounds, 
 which would be very beautiful, were they cared for, 
 or if they were only less cruelly treated. In losing 
 the elegance of their forms, they ought to have, 
 one would think, no longer the same impress of the 
 qualities which, every where else, render them so 
 recommendable. Nevertheless theirinstinct, though 
 perhaps impaired, is by no means extinguished. 
 You see them going and coming through the most 
 frequented streets, and shunning to touch the 
 
 * " M. Lecointre, who resided in Egypt, assures us that, in 
 " this country, the hydrophobia never appeared, and that at 
 " Aleppo, where there is a prodigious multitude of dogs of 
 " different species, roving about, abandoned to themselves, and 
 " without a master ; that there, where those animals perish in 
 " great numbers, for want of water and food, and by the heat 
 " of the climate, the hydrophobia never was seen." (Mem. on 
 the Means of curing the Hydrophobia, by M. de Matheis, in- 
 serted in the Biblioth. Physico-Econom. A. D, 17&4, p. 216.) 
 
 clothe*
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 285 
 
 clothes of the passengers, with an attention truly 
 curious, and much more interesting than the solici- 
 tude of the silly Mussulman to keep the skirt of 
 his robe out of the animals' way. They even keep 
 watch for the security of their executioners ; they 
 are the terror of thieves in the night-time ; on the 
 quays, in boats, in the woods, and in the interior 
 of cities, all kinds of merchandise are confided to 
 their vigilance. An admirable instinct, a native pro- 
 pensity to be useful to man, excites them to under- 
 take an oversight which no one imposes on them, 
 nor so much as indicates to them, and it would be 
 impossible to approach a deposite surrounded by 
 those spontaneous guardians. But what is no less 
 singular is, that those dogs do not remove from the 
 quarter in which they were born ; they form them- 
 selves into separate tribes, which have limits that 
 they never transgress ; one that should pass from 
 onequarter to another, would be presently assaulted 
 by the whole cohort, in respect of which he would 
 be an intruder, and could with difficulty escape. 
 
 The Bedouins, who, at all points, are less super- 
 stitious than the Turks, have a breed of very tall 
 greyhounds, which likewise mount guard around 
 their tents; but they take great care of these use- 
 ful servants, and have such an affection for them, 
 that to kill the dog of a Bedouin would be to en- 
 danger your own life. 
 
 4 With
 
 286 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 With an aversion as decided as it is unjust for a 
 species of animals which, in despair of imitating 
 him, man has constituted the symbol of an unalter- 
 able fidelity and attachment, the Turks have a great 
 partiality in favour of cats. Mahomet was fond of 
 them. It is related of him, that being called away 
 on pressing and important business, he chose rather 
 to cut off the sleeve of his robe, than disturb a cat 
 which lay asleep on it. Nothing more was neces- 
 sary to render these animals an object of very high 
 consideration, though their extreme cleanliness, the 
 purity and lustre of their fur, their soft tranquillity, 
 their calm and reserved caresses, had not otherwise 
 rendered them amiable beings in the eyes of the 
 Mussulmans. The cat accordingly is not excluded 
 from their mosques ; she is welcomed there as the 
 favourite animal of the prophet, and as the enemy 
 of other troublesome animals; whereas a dog that 
 should presume to enter into their temples, would 
 pollute them by his presence, and incur instant 
 death. But obliged to flee from men, to whom 
 he would desire to consecrate his domestic qualities, 
 and the perfection of his instinct, no dog is tempted 
 to resort to the places where men assemble ; he 
 would then have neither master to follow, nor 
 friend to accompany. 
 
 In ancient Egypt cats were held in great venera- 
 tion, but dogs were still more so. When a cat 
 
 died
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 287 
 
 died in a house, a natural death (for if any one 
 killed a cat, though involuntarily, he could not 
 escape death), the owner of the house shaved his 
 eyebrows only ; but if a dog died, he shaved his 
 head and the whole body*. They carried into 
 consecrated houses the cats which happened to 
 die, and after having embalmed them, interred 
 them at Bubastis-|~, a considerable city of Lower 
 Egypt, now called Basta. 
 
 These honours, these prerogatives, were not a 
 matter of taste merely ; they had a grand political 
 object in view, the interest, nay the very subsistence 
 of a whole people. It was necessary to put under 
 the immediate protection of the laws, a species of 
 animals, whose protection was itself indispensable, 
 against the prodigious multitudes of rats and mice, 
 with which Egypt is infested. Apotheosis appeared, 
 to the priests, the surest means for procuring respect 
 from the people for objects which they had the 
 greatest interest to preserve. What difference, in 
 fact, does it make, in the case of idolatrous reli- 
 gions, whether you worship a man or a cat, a 
 woman or an onion ? Are they not all at an equal 
 distance from the Deity ? Since men will be super- 
 stitious, is it not best that they should be usefully 
 so ? Happy the nations whose superstition tends 
 
 * Herodotus, book ii. § 6. Larcher's translation. 
 f Id. ibid. § 67. 
 
 toward
 
 288 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 toward the improvement of agriculture, and the 
 furtherance of the general good ! 
 
 With a nation, for which physical objects are 
 all in all, and morals next to nothing, the seductive 
 exterior of the cat appeared preferable to the 
 docility, to the exquisite instinct, to the sagacious 
 fidelity of the dog. A single trait of this kind 
 frequently characterizes a nation much better than 
 an aggregation of observations respecting customs 
 and practices, which soon become things of course, 
 which, in process of time, are considered as totally 
 indifferent, and which at length we like as well to 
 observe, as to take the trouble to change. Is not, 
 in reality, a judgment soon formed of a people, 
 when we know that they have the dog in abhor- 
 rence, and entertain an affection for the cat, 
 because this last carefully conceals her excrement, 
 and does not devour the offal of the laystalls, on 
 which the dog's natural appetite sometimes leads 
 him to find a meal ? 
 
 There are cats in all the houses of Egypt. You 
 see some of them, in the mansions of the rich, par- 
 taking of the cushions, the indulgence and the in- 
 dolence of their masters, who take pleasure in strok- 
 ing them with the hand, and in lavishing caresses 
 on them, which those cold and haughty beings 
 would not deign to bestow on creatures possessed 
 
 of
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 289 
 
 of infinitely more sensibility. In a word, short of 
 deification, as in the time of the ancients, it is im- 
 possible iur them to be better treated. 
 
 The cats in this country, it is true, arc very- 
 gentle and ver\ familiar. They have no distrust 
 of man, the ferocious character which, in some 
 parts of France, renders them a race of animals 
 rather wild than domestic. But these differences 
 are as much the work of man as the effect of the 
 influence of climate. In the department where I 
 live, and in those adjacent, the cat, especially in 
 the country, is the most miserable of beings, next 
 to the horses set apart to husbandry. Masters and 
 servants agree in hunting the cat, in beating her, 
 in pel ling her with stones, in worrying her to 
 death by the dogs, after having almost starved her 
 to death. If hunger, which her leanness clearly 
 witnesses, incites her to spy the moment for steal- 
 ing a little morsel, the pretended thief, because 
 nature would not suffer her to let herself die of 
 absolute inanition, pays, with her life, the address 
 she had employed to support it. How is it possible 
 that cats should not assume, undi r the discipline of 
 such masters, whose cruelty to animals borders on 
 barbarity, a wildness of physiognomy, an impress 
 of ferociousness ? And if you compare those 
 wretched cats of my country, with such a<= are en- 
 tertained at Paris, where, more kindly treated, and 
 vol. 1. 1 sheltered
 
 29O TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 sheltered from perpetual alarm, they are of an 
 amiable familiarity, you will have a new proof of 
 the influence which the character of man exercises 
 over that of the brute creation. 
 
 I had in my possession, for a long time, a most 
 beautiful Angora cat *. Long and silky hairs co- 
 vered it entirely ; its thick tail formed a magnifi- 
 cent plume, which the animal elevated, at pleasure, 
 above its body. Not one spot, not one shade tar- 
 nished the dazzling white of its coat. Its nose, and 
 the turn of its lips, were of a tender rose colour. 
 Two large eyes sparkled in its rounded head, the 
 one of which was a light yellow, and the other 
 blue. This beautiful cat had still more of ama- 
 bility than of grace in its movements and in its at- 
 titudes. With the physiognomy of goodness, she 
 possessed a gentleness truly interesting. You 
 might treat her in what manner you pi ased, 
 never did her claws advance from their sheaths. 
 Sensible to kindness, she licked the hand that ca- 
 
 * The custom of speaking of cats of Angola for Angora, is 
 not yet abolished. It is even to be found in some of the mo- 
 dern works of science. Open the Encyclopedia Methodica, at 
 the article kakatoes, and vou will see that one of these vellow- 
 crested birds took delight in playing with an Angola cat. An- 
 gola is upon the western coast of Africa, and Angora is in Asia 
 Minor, not far from Smyrna. It is there that are found those 
 animals with long hair, from which are manufactured our beau- 
 tiful camlets. 
 
 ressed
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. a<}I 
 
 ressed her, even that which tormented her. On a 
 journey, she reposed tranquilly on your knees ; 
 there was no occasion to confine her ; no noise 
 whatever gave her the least disturbance, provided 
 she was near me, or to some other person whom 
 she had been in the habit of seeing. In my solitary 
 moments, she adhered to my side, interrupted me 
 frequently in the midst of my labours or my medi- 
 tations, by little caresses extremely affecting : she 
 likewise followed me in my walks. During my 
 absence, she sought and called for me incessantly 
 with the utmost inquietude ; and if I was long in 
 re appearing, she quitted my apartment, and at- 
 tached herself to the person of the house, for 
 whom, next to me, she entertained the greatest 
 affect 'on. She recognised my voice, and seemed, 
 to find me again, each time, with increased satis- 
 faction. Her advances were not oblique, her gait 
 was frank, and her look as gentle as her character : 
 she possessed, in a word, the nature of the most 
 amiable dog, beneath the brilliant fur of a cat. 
 
 This animal was my principal amusement for 
 several years. How was the expression of its at- 
 tachment depicted upon its countenance ! How 
 many times have her tender caresses made me for- 
 get my troubles, and consoled me in my misfor- 
 tunes ! How frequently has a being, of a species 
 accused of treachery, presented in my abode a 
 
 u 2 striking
 
 2CJ2 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 striking contrast with a crowd of real traitors, who, 
 under the mask of friendship, besiege the house of 
 the honest man, that they may the better deceive 
 him ; with those vipers whom my breast has so 
 frequently warmed, to be as frequently stung by 
 them ! For the misfortune of humanity the life 
 of the wicked man is long. These execrable 
 wretches, whose names my pen should trace, were 
 it not reserved for the justice of Heaven to signa- 
 lize them out of the stroke for its thunder, are still 
 in the vigour of life, in the commission of crimes 
 with unrestrained audaciousness ; and my beau- 
 tiful and interesting companion perished. After 
 several days of suffering, during which I never 
 forsook her, her eyes, constantly fixed on me, 
 
 were at length extinguished My tears flowed 
 
 They flow at this moment. .....Feeling hearts will 
 
 pardon me this digression of sorrow and of grati- 
 tude. Those which are hardened with self-love 
 and insensibility give me no uneasiness: it is not 
 for them I write. 
 
 The warm climates of these ancient countries, 
 which man has covered with his colonics and his 
 flocks, from periods too deeply enveloped in the 
 obscurity of a far distant era to be ascertained with 
 any precision, nourish animals the most gentle and 
 docile, of those kinds which he has appropriated to 
 himself, whilst those which, in the depopulated 
 
 parts
 
 AND LOWER EGYFT. 293 
 
 parts of these very countries, have continued wild, 
 are extremely ferocious. Domestic animals are no 
 where more familiarized, and, I may say, more 
 completely domesticated than in the warm coun- 
 tries of the East. The horse, ardent as the air 
 which he respires, is there, nevertheless, as gentle as 
 a lamb. The buffalo, scarcely recovered from his 
 state of savage liberty, displaying still the counte- 
 nance of ferocity, is as tractable as the ox is in Eu- 
 rope. He quietly permits himself to be mounted 
 and led along, and a child is sufficient to conduct 
 numerous flocks of them. It is not in the nature 
 of the soil and of the aliments, nor even in the tem- 
 perature of the climate, that we must, seek for the 
 reason of that gentleness of character, which is not 
 to be found elsewhere. It is not here, in fact, a 
 want of energy, nor a natural indolence, such as 
 lias been observed in those animals which inhabit 
 the very warm, but, at the same time, extremely 
 humid regions of southern America. Each species 
 is endowed with all the tire, with all the strength, 
 with all the vigour of which it is susceptible. 
 
 But it is the man of these countries who, after 
 . ing acquired the possession of those useful ani- 
 mals, has understood how to derive the greatest ad- 
 vantage from this conquest. That part of the East 
 has been, at every period, the abode of wandering 
 nations, who, possessing no other property but their 
 
 u 3 (locks,
 
 2-94 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 flocks, had no other care but that of preserving 
 them. They do not banish them to places de- 
 tached from their own habitations ; they permit 
 them to live in the midst of themselves ; they do not 
 depise nor abandon them, and they conduct them 
 wherever their own erratic mode of life prompts. 
 Without folds to enclose their charge, they have 
 no occasion for shackles to confine them. The 
 dromedary, pasturing at liberty through the day, 
 at night comes to squat himself before his master's 
 tent ; and this same tent shelters the Bedouin and 
 his family, as well as his mare, a few goats, and 
 some sheep. Nothing separates them ; they pass 
 in this manner the nights together, without confu- 
 sion, without accident, and in the most perfect tran- 
 quillity. It is not surprising that animals, which 
 form with man a society so intimate, should be the 
 tamest in the world ; and as they are Bedouins, or 
 people resembling Bedouins, who have supplied, 
 and are daily supplying other nations, established 
 in the same country, with them, it is no longer sur- 
 prising that you observe there, in general, gentle 
 and peaceable habits in all the domestic animals. 
 
 An animal that might augment the number of 
 those which the Egyptians have accustomed to do- 
 mesticity, is the mangouste, or ichneumon *. Much 
 
 * Mangouste. BufFon, Hist. Nat. des Quadrupedes, Vivera 
 ichneumon. — Lin, 
 
 a has
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 295 
 
 has been written concerning it, and much of this 
 writing has been fabulous. It was one of the ani- 
 mals held sacred in ancient Egypt. Honours were 
 rendered to it on its death ; it was maintained with 
 the greatest solicitude during life ; funds were set 
 apart for its support, as well as to that of other 
 species ; they served up to him, as to cats, bread 
 steeped in milk, or fish of the Nile cut down into 
 morsels*; and it was generally forbidden to kill 
 any of the race. Object of the worship of a cele- 
 brated people, the pretended protector of the most 
 singular country in the world, against a scourge 
 the most grievous to an agricultural nation, a stran- 
 ger and unknown in our climate : what a field 
 for the production of the marvellous! Accord- 
 ingly it has not been spared. The greater part of 
 travellers have seen the mangouste without ex- 
 amining it ; and with their minds prejudiced by 
 the stories which the ancients and the moderns 
 have spread respecting if, they have successively 
 copied their relations. It was reserved for the torch 
 of criticism, guided by the genius of BufFon, to 
 dissipate a multitude of errors which obscured na- 
 tural history in general, and that of the mangouste 
 in particular -j-. I shall not repeat here what may 
 
 * See the notes upon the translation ot Herodotus, by Lar- 
 cher, sect. 65 and 67. 
 
 f See the Natural Hist, of Quad. Animals, art. of the Man- 
 
 u 4 be
 
 296 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 be read with infinitely greater pleasure in the work 
 oJ the sublime painter of nature. But as I had it 
 in my power to observe the mangouste in its na- 
 tive country, and in its state of liberty, I will give 
 the anal) >is of my remarks upon this quadruped, 
 and J will endeavour to establish the opinion 
 which ought to be formed of its utility, by ie- 
 duci.:^ 10 their just estimate services vvhich have 
 been much boasted of, and still more exaggerated*. 
 
 With very great dispositions to familiarity, the 
 mangou>tcs arc* not ai together domestic in Egypt. 
 Not only do they now rear none in their habita- 
 tions, bus the inhabitants have not even the recol- 
 lection that their ancestors reared any. Most pro- 
 bably, then, those vvhich jBellonius-|~and Prosper 
 Alpinus £ assert that they had seen domesticated., 
 were merely a few individuals preserved rather as 
 objects of curiosity than for any useful purpose; 
 for if they hunt away rats and mice, they likewise 
 seize upon the poultry, and this appetite would 
 more than overbalance the good which they could 
 do, in purging the houses of noxious animals, 
 which cats would destroy more certainly, and 
 with les,s inconvenience. 
 
 * These remarks on the mangouste, or ichneumon of Egyjit, have 
 been already printed m the Journal de Physique, for the month of 
 May 1785. 
 
 f Observ. liv. ii. chap. 22. 
 
 I Descrip. d'Egypte, lib. iv, 
 
 Having
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 297 
 
 Having some resemblance, in their habits, to 
 weasels and pole c<»ts, they feed upon rats, birds, 
 and reptiles. They ramble about the habitations 
 of men, they even steal into them, in order to sur- 
 prise the poultry, and to devour their eggs. It is 
 this natural fondness for eggs which prompts them 
 frequently to scratch up the sand with the intention 
 of discovering those which the crocodiles deposit 
 there, and it is in this manner that they prevent, 
 in reality, the excessive propagation of these de- 
 testable animals. But it is absolutely impossible 
 to abstain from laughing, and not without reason, 
 when we read of their leaping into the extended 
 mouths of the crocodiles, of their sliding down into 
 their belly, and not returning till they have eaten 
 through their entrails *. If some mangoustes have 
 been seen springing with fury on little crocodiles 
 presented to them -j~, it was the effect of their ap- 
 petite for every species of reptiles, and not at all 
 that of a particular hatred, or of a law of nature, 
 in virtue of which they would have been specially 
 commi-sioned to check the multiplication of those 
 amphibious animals, as many people have ima- 
 gined \. It had been at least equally reasonable 
 
 to 
 
 * See almost all the ancient authors, and, among the moderns, 
 Maillct, Jauna, ai.d others. 
 
 f Maillet, Descrip. de l'Egypte, partie ii. page 34. 
 
 \ Maillet, in the part already quoted. See likewise the His- 
 tory of Cyprus, of Jerusalem, and of Egypt, by the Chevalier 
 
 Dom,
 
 298 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 say that Nature placed mangoustes on the earth 
 merely to prevent the too great propagation of 
 chickens, to which they are far more hostile, in 
 reality, than to crocodiles. 
 
 And what proves more clearly that men have 
 been mistaken in ascribing such intentions to Na- 
 ture respecting mangoustes, is this : in more than 
 half of the northern part of Egypt, that is to say, 
 in that part comprised between the Mediterranean 
 sea and the city of Siout, they are very common, 
 although there are no crocodiles there ; whilst 
 they are more rare in Upper Egypt, where the cro- 
 codiles are, in their turn, more numerous. The 
 mangoustes are no where more multiplied than in 
 Lower Egypt, which, better cultivated, more in- 
 habited, more humid, and more shaded, presents 
 also more abundantly the means of supplying 
 them with prey and with food, and, I again repeat 
 it, crocodiles never appear there. 
 
 I will do away on this subject an error which 
 would not be of the slightest importance, in the 
 
 Dom. Jauna, vol. ii. Present State of Egypt, page 1230. And 
 observe that this last gentleman, in almost every thing the faith- 
 ful copyist of Maillet, has on this subject refined upon his model, 
 by adding other fables, which Maillet rejected with disdain. It is 
 in this manner that people frequently contrive to write immense 
 quartos, 
 
 writings
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 299 
 
 writings of a traveller ofless reputation than Dr. 
 Shaw : this will he a proof, in addition to many 
 others, of the distrust and the discernment neces- 
 sary when you visit foreign countries, on every oc- 
 casion, when not having it in your power to make 
 your own observations, you believe that you may 
 give credit to information too frequently defective. 
 " The Egyptians," says Mr. Shaw, " are so little 
 " acquainted with the real crocodile, which they 
 " call timsah, and which it is so unusual to find be- 
 (t low the cataracts of the Nile, that the Egyptians 
 " are not less curious to see one than the Euro- 
 " peans *.*' Dr. Shaw, who was no further than 
 Cairo, has adopted too easily an assertion contrary 
 to truth, as well as to the testimonies of the tra- 
 vellers who preceded him. If he had received more 
 accurate information, he would have learnt that 
 Upper Egypt, below the cataracts, is infested with 
 crocodiles as real as they are multiplied. 
 
 The antipathy to the crocodile, improperly at- 
 tributed to the mangouste, is really an innate in- 
 stinct in an animal of a totally different species; in 
 this has happened what may have frequently passed 
 before our eyes, in more than one instance ; whilst 
 they were giving to the mangouste the credit of 
 maintaining a continual and desperate war against 
 the crocodiles, a species of tortoise of the Nile was 
 
 * Truncation of the Travels of Dr. Shaw, vol. ii. page 167; 
 
 levelling
 
 300 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 levelling at them more certain, though, at the same 
 time, less skilful blows, and laboured with success 
 for their destruction. When the little crocodiles 
 are hatched, and repair to the river, this tortoise 
 springs on them, and devours them. Maillet was 
 not ignorant of this fact, but he did not think pro- 
 per to give his report concerning it from the testi- 
 mony of the people of the country, although prefer- 
 able when it regards facts' so generally known. 
 " I know," writes this consul, "that some persons 
 u pretend that this animal (the ichneumon) is 
 " merely a species of whitish tortoise, which the 
 " Arabs call cersf (it is thirse, the generic name 
 of tortoises in Arabic). "*They tell you that, by 
 " a natural instinct, she narrowly watches the 
 " crocodile when she goes to lay her eggs, and to 
 •' bury them in the sand ; and that as soon as the 
 " crocodile withdraws, she goes to find them out, 
 " in order to break and eat them... .But without 
 " mentioning the figure which Dapper has given 
 " us of the ichneumon, which in no one respect 
 " resembles the tortoise, the numerous representa- 
 " tions in stone of this animal which still remain 
 " to us, and several of which are accompanied 
 " with hieroglyphical characters, leave no room to 
 " doubt that this can only be what is called Pha- 
 il raoh's rat." (This is only saying that we must 
 not doubt the existence of the ichneumon, or mail- 
 gouste, which no one disputes.) " This/' con- 
 tinues
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 3C1 
 
 tinues he, " is a species of wild pig, very pretty, 
 " and easily tamed, the hair of which is bristled 
 " like a porcupine *." Thus is this rat trans- 
 formed into a little pig, Sec. &c. ; it must be ad- 
 mitted that such authorities as these have very 
 little weight in natural history. 
 
 This species of tortoise is to be found only in the 
 Upper Nile, to which crocodiles are confined. To 
 convey an idea of the advantage with which this 
 th'irse of the Egyptians and Nubians wages war 
 with the crocodile, I shall relate an observation, 
 certified to me by persons of Thebai's, of undoubted 
 veracity on other occasions. It is, that they have 
 been in a situation to remark, that out of fifty 
 young crocodiles, the produce of one hatching, 
 seven only had escaped the th'irse. To this ani- 
 mal, therefore, Egypt is particularly indebted for a 
 very sensible decrease of a species of reptiles, as 
 hideous from their form, as dangerous from the fe- 
 rocity of their disposition. On this account, it 
 would have merited, by a juster claim than the 
 mongouste, to be the god of the ancient Egyp- 
 tians, and the wonder of travellers who publish. 
 
 But this valuable race of testaceous animals must 
 likewise have its enemies ; for it is not multiplied 
 to the degree that it ought to be, considering the 
 fecundity of the genus. May not the mangouste 
 
 * Deicript. de l'Egypte, partic ii, page 33 et 34. 
 
 herself
 
 301 TUAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 herself be blamed for this curtailed propagation, 
 which, prompted by her appetite for eggs, may de- 
 stroy those which the tortoises, as well as the cro- 
 codiles, hide in the sand ? She would, in this case, 
 be friendly to the crocodile, instead of his impla- 
 cable enemy, as has been pretended. 
 
 The name of mangouste, and that of ichneumon, 
 are, at present, unknown in Egypt; as little do we 
 meet with the denomination of Pharaoh's rat, 
 which Hasselquitz has very erroneously alleged to 
 have been imagined by the French. With a little 
 reflection, or rather, with less partiality, he might 
 have seen that the Italian Pietro della Valle *,that 
 Cornelius Le Briiyn, a Dutchman -}~, had employed 
 it; that Klein, who was not a Frenchman, had 
 given it besides to the Indian-pig J, &c. he. If 
 this traveller had been less precipitate in forming 
 his judgment, he would have comprehended, that 
 a vulgar denomination ought not to be rigorously 
 discussed, especially when it is not improper; and 
 the one in question is not so whimsical as a thou- 
 sand phrases of nomenclature which he had got by 
 heart. But he had the mania of criticizing our na- 
 tion, a mania for which BufFon has reproved him 
 
 * Voyages, Paris, 1670, vol. i. p. 239. 
 f Voyages to the Levant, new edit. 1725, vol. ii. p. 7a. 
 Note a by the Editor. 
 
 % Klein de Quadrupcdibuu 
 
 smartly
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. JOJ 
 
 smartly enough to work a cure, had he lived to 
 see his work *. 
 
 When a man has fallen into repeated mistakes, 
 it excites a suspicion that he is frequently wrong. 
 BufFon would not rely on the authority of Hassel- 
 quitz, when he says, that the Arabic name of the 
 mangouste, in Egypt, is nems, and has given the 
 preference to Dr. Shaw's testimony, who assures us 
 that, in Barbary, nems is the appellation given to the 
 weasel, and tezer-dea to the mangouste -f-. Never- 
 theless, it is indubitably certain, that the Egyptians 
 of to-day, who, to mention it by the way, have no 
 more consideration for the mangouste than we 
 have for pole-cats, call it nems, and the weasel they 
 denominate herse. I have even had opportunity to 
 ascertain that the two live animals which M. de 
 Vergennes, ambassador of France at the Ottoman 
 Porte, had given orders to have sent to him from 
 Alexandria to Constantinople, to be forwarded to 
 Buffon, and which actually reached him, were 
 nems, the mangouste of Egypt. But this difference 
 of names, in different countries, has nothing extra- 
 ordinary in it. Though the Arabic language be 
 equally diffused over Egypt and Barbary, the dia- 
 lects have so little resemblance, that the Barba- 
 resque and the Egyptian find it extremely difficult 
 to understand each other. 
 
 * Natural History of the Mangouste, in a note. 
 f Shaw's Travels, the place already quoted.
 
 304 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Castle of Rossetta — HouJwu — Lapwing — Turtle- 
 doves — Cheveche — Lotus — -Racket — Cassia — Sy- 
 camore — Schishme — Dour r a — Indian- pink — 
 Wild- ducks — Thrushes — Woodcock. 
 
 My excursions in the environs of Rossetta were 
 frequent, and they were always new sources of 
 pleasure and instruction. I did not fail to carry 
 my fowling-piece with me ; it enabled me to pro- 
 cure the different species of birds which give ani- 
 mation to the plains, before so interesting, from the 
 variety and the abundance of the plants cultivated 
 there. I went, the 24th of October *, to an old 
 ruined castle which is at some distance, and to the 
 north of Rossetta. It was designed, as well as an- 
 other placed upon the opposite shore of the Nile, 
 as a defence to the entrance of the river. At pre- 
 sent, both the one and the other are a very little 
 short of a league from the sea. The one I am 
 speaking of, the construction of which is generally 
 
 * I am well aware that the date of my excursions will appear 
 very trifling to all but naturalists : they will feel that it is essen- 
 tial to determine, for example, the epochas at which I may have 
 encountered such and such a bird, in order to ascertain that of 
 their passage into Egypt. 
 
 attributed
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 305 
 
 attributed to Saint Louis, at the time of the cru- 
 sades, is almost entirely demolished ; it mounted 
 still some pieces of cannon, but totally unfit for 
 service. Monuments far more ancient had been 
 employed in building it ; several stones were to be 
 still seen there, ornamented with hieroglyphics. I 
 had drawings taken of some of these antique stones, 
 and dispatched them to the minister Bertin, with 
 several others of whose fate I am equally ignorant. 
 
 The date-trees are very greatly multiplied in all 
 these countries. Several kinds of birds perch on 
 their long foliage, whilst others hop, from branch 
 to branch, in the thick hedges of the enclosures. 
 I killed that day houhous, lapwings, turtle-doves, 
 and a cheveche. 
 
 The first of these birds, although very common 
 in the environs of Rossetta, and, as I have been 
 informed, in those of Damietta, was not known 
 to naturalists previous to my journey into Egypt. 
 I sent descriptions of them, with notes, to Buf- 
 fon ; and his ingenious fellow-labourer, Guenau 
 de Montbcillard, has published them in the Natu- 
 ral History of Birds, article of thchouhou of Egypt. 
 Although this little discovery in ornithology be 
 my property, I will not repeat the details of it 
 here, the work of Buffon being in the possession 
 of every body. The little which I am going to 
 
 vol. 1. x add,
 
 306 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 add, is the fruit of posterior observations, to those 
 which are already consigned to the Natural His- 
 tory, general and particular. 
 
 The houhous have very short wings, and yet they 
 are long in proportion to the body. They ac- 
 cordingly fly indifferently : they can neither soar, 
 nor even cross, on the same flight, a space of 
 ever so little extent : if they do not meet with 
 some shrub on which they can perch, they are 
 soon obliged to let themselves, so to speak, fall to 
 the ground. Finally, they possess only the faculty 
 of flying as swiftly as is necessary, in order to 
 catch the grasshoppers, and the other insects of 
 the same species, of which they compose the prin- 
 cipal part of their subsistence. They are not at 
 all wild, and you can approach them very nearly. 
 
 If any thing could determine us to abandon the 
 methods of natural history, founded merely on 
 some exterior forms of animals, and by which 
 those are frequently classed together whose na- 
 tures are entirely opposite, it would be, without 
 doubt, the comparison of the houhou with the cuc- 
 kow, of which two species have been made of the 
 same genus. In reality, the common cuckow, the 
 only one of all birds which displays neither atten- 
 tion to, nor affection for her progeny, the only 
 one which carries her indifference so far as to 
 
 abandon
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 307 
 
 abandon them to a strange mother, whose hopes 
 she has had the barbarity to annihilate ; the only 
 one, in fine, which nature has deprived of the 
 happiness of rearing her brood, and of lavishing 
 on them those tender cares which, in our woods, 
 are observed in these little winged communities; 
 the cuckow, I say, is too dissimilar from its habits, 
 which form an exception in the history of animals, 
 to a bird whose manners possess nothing but what 
 is highly interesting. The houhou is not a solitary 
 bird: they go in pairs, and the attachment which 
 unites them appears durable ; she sits on her eggs 
 and rears her brood. It does not go to seek for 
 the thick shades of the forests, it takes pleasure 
 in places inhabited. It does not dread the neigh- 
 bourhood of man ; and modest in its plumage, 
 from the grave tone of its voice, and from the 
 gentleness of its manners, it employs itself in ren- 
 dering him services, by continually hunting those 
 insects which devour the harvests ; a new proof 
 that brilliancy and noise are not always the com- 
 panions of utility. A difference in their manners 
 equally characteristic, whatever may be, in other 
 respects, the outward resemblance, separates very 
 distinctly two species of birds, which have only 
 some slight similarity in form, and even this si- 
 milarity abundantly remote, as the houhou has the 
 nail of the posterior claw bending inward, straight 
 and lengthened, like that of the lark ; whereas 
 
 x 2 this
 
 308 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 this remarkable conformation is not to be found 
 on the foot of the cuckow. 
 
 One of the most common birds in Lower Egypt, 
 principally at the commencement of winter, is 
 the lapwing*. To those which do not quit the 
 country, flocks of birds of passage add them- 
 selves, which, from northern regions, come to 
 seek, together with a warmer climate, a more 
 plentiful supply of nourishment, and this they 
 find in the great number of insects which the Nile, 
 on withdrawing itself, leaves exposed. These are 
 very fat, and their flesh is tender and well-tasted : 
 on the contrary, the sedentary lapwing is reckon- 
 ed very bad eating -f~. The inhabitants do not 
 kill them: they are not at all wild; there is a 
 considerable number of them in the tumultuous 
 city of Cairo, where they build their nests in per- 
 fect security on the roofs of the houses. 
 
 I have frequently seen, in Egypt, lapwings col- 
 lected in small bodies. When one of them is se- 
 parated from the rest, she calls her companions by 
 a shrill cry, repeated twice, zi, zi. When they 
 
 * Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlum. No. 52. — Upvpa tpops. 
 Lin. 
 
 \ Lapwings are eaten in several parts of Italy. I have seen 
 them generally ornamenting the hooks of the cook-shops of 
 Genoa. 
 
 are
 
 AND L0AVER EGYPT. 309 
 
 are perched, their note, which it gave me plea- 
 sure to listen to with attention, ma}' be very well 
 expressed by the syllable poun, which they pro- 
 nounce with a strong and grave voice, generally 
 three times successively; at each time they bring 
 back their long beak on their breast, and raise up 
 their head in a lively manner. Sometimes, also, 
 they utter a hoarse and disagreeable sound, and this 
 only once. In a state of rest, their crest and beak, 
 turned backward, are on thesamchorizontal plane. 
 
 There is, as well as in the lapwings, a great dif- 
 ference in the quality of the flesh, between the 
 turtle-doves of passage, and those which do not 
 quit Egypt. The first furnish very good eating, 
 whereas the others are a mere dry and tasteless 
 viand. The turtle-doves which arrive in Egypt in 
 the autumn, and which extend themselves from 
 the sea up to Cairo, are of the common species *, 
 and those which inhabit the country, form a very 
 distinct race. The upper part of the head, and of 
 the neck, is of a light lint gray; the back, and 
 the superior coverings of the wings, of the same 
 colour, but the red tint is more vivid. Upon the 
 upper part of the neck is a half-collar, black and 
 narrow; the threat and the inferior coverings of 
 the tail are white; the under part of the neck is 
 
 * Tourterelle commun. BufPon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. 
 tnlum. No. 394. — Columbaturtur. Lin. 
 
 x 3 of
 
 3iO TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 of a delicate lint gray ; the stomach and the belly 
 are of a dirty white. The first plumes of the 
 wings are brown shaded with red, and the others 
 ash coloured, and bordered, without and within, of 
 a light ash gray. The feathers of the tail are, in 
 gradation, of a light ash colour, and terminated 
 with white, excepting the one most exterior on 
 each side, which is entirely white. All the plumes, 
 those oi the wings, as those of the tail, are, under- 
 neath, of a deep ash colour for nearly a third part 
 of their length ; the remainder is white, but their 
 colour is much lighter in the females. The iris of 
 the eye is orange-coloured ; the beak, ashen ; the 
 tarsus and the toes are of a rose colour. 
 
 I preserved, during two years, several pairs of 
 these beautiful birds, and I never could perceive 
 any alteration in the colours of their plumage; 
 from whence it follows, that the other turtles, 
 which might be compared with them, are of dif- 
 ferent species, or, at least, of constant varieties in 
 the same species; such are, for example, the tur- 
 tle-doves, with a ring round their necks, of Bar- 
 bary, which would perfectly resemble these, if the 
 ground of their plumage were not of a beautiful 
 white ; it further follows from this, that the know- 
 ledge of the species of turtledoves, foreign to our 
 climate, is not yet acquired, and that in being too 
 hasty in classing together several kinds, in reality 
 
 separate,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT- 3U 
 
 separate, much confusion has been created in their 
 history. The race of turtle-doves with a ring 
 round the neck, of Egypt, less fat and more de- 
 licate than those of Europe *, appear to be the 
 same with that of the turtle-cloi-e iv'ith a ring, 
 of Senegal, described by Brisson -j~, as far as we 
 can judge from the ensemble of the descriptions. 
 
 Furthermore, these turtle-doves, of whatever 
 species they be, whether travellers or domesticated, 
 are equally preserved by the inhabitants of Egypt : 
 they do not kill, and never eat them. Wishing to 
 know the motive of this abstinence among people 
 who possess so little in the greater part of their ac- 
 tions, I learnt that it was for the honour of huma- 
 nity. It is a consequence of the respect due to 
 hospitality, which the Arabs hold in such high esti- 
 mation, and of which they have communicated 
 some shades to the people who dwell among them. 
 They would regard it as a violation of this hospi- 
 tality not to spare those birds which come with a 
 perfect confidence to live amongst them, and there 
 to become skilful but useless preceptors of love and 
 tenderness. The very farmer who sees his harvests 
 
 * Tourterelle k collier. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. 
 enlum. No. 244. — Columba risona. Lin. 
 
 f Ornith. tome i. page 95, gen. i. Tourterelle & collier da 
 Senegal. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. Etrangers qui ant rap- 
 port aux tourterelles, art. 2. — Columba vinacea. Lin. 
 
 x 4 a prey
 
 312 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 a prey to the flights of turtle-doves which alight on 
 his fields, neither destroys nor harasses them, but 
 suffers them to multiply in tranquillity. This con- 
 descension was not imitated by Europeans; they 
 did not make the least scruple of killing the turtle- 
 doves in the fields. It was from them that I learnt 
 the delicate distinction between the flesh of the one 
 and of the others. But they durst not have put 
 them openly to death at Cairo, where they are 
 greatly multiplied, and perfectly familiar. On my 
 first journey, I had the pleasure of seeing there, at 
 the end of the month of August, a pair of ring- 
 necked turile-doves build their nest on the shelf of 
 a window in the consul's house. Habituated to 
 the protection of man, and having nothing besides 
 to dread from the intemperature of the atmosphere, 
 these gentle birds employed very little art in this 
 work ; it was nothing but a few straws negligently 
 laid across. The female deposited there, on the 
 night of the 28th, an egg, which would undoubt- 
 edly have been followed by another. I took the 
 utmost precaution that she should not be disturb- 
 ed, and I was not sparing of my orders, that her 
 arrangements might be perfectly free from inter- 
 ruption ; but all was in vain. The nest, the eggs, 
 were carried off, and with them the fruits of the 
 love of that species of bird which best knows the 
 feelings of it, and the satisfaction which I should 
 have enjoyed in watching their progress, and in 
 
 observing
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 31J 
 
 observing them during the period of incubation, 
 and the attention which they bestow on their 
 young. A Turk, an Egyptian would have had 
 respect to these affecting operations of nature ; an 
 European annihilated them. 
 
 Whether these turtle-doves attach themselves 
 to the heart of cities so hospitably disposed to- 
 wards them, or whether they adorn retirements 
 more natural, they are in both without distrust, 
 and their familiarity is equally endearing. The 
 orchards of Rossetta are filled with them ; the 
 presence of man does not intimidate them, but 
 they arc more frequently heard than seen ; they 
 take delight to hide among the thick and inter- 
 laced branehes of the orange and lemon trees, and 
 seldom do they rise to the summit of the palm- 
 trees which overtop them. Their cooings declare 
 that they have chosen the most beautiful of trees 
 for the throne of their love, and that, under a 
 balmy shade, they are concealing from every eye 
 its most delicious mysteries. 
 
 In fine, the last bird which I fell in with on my 
 expedition to the western castle of Rossetta was 
 a cheveche or screech-owl*. It differed, in- 
 cjeed, somewhat in colour from those of Europe ; 
 
 * Cheveche ou petite choueI16. Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. 
 enlum. No. 439. — Strix passer ina. Lin. 
 
 but
 
 314 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 but these differences, so common among birds of 
 this kind, did not appear to me sufficiently decisive 
 to constitute a variety, much less a distinct species. 
 It seems useless, therefore, to present the particu- 
 lar description I have taken of it. It is well 
 known that screech-owls see much better during 
 the day than other birds of night ; and, indeed, 
 I killed this one at noon-day, perched upon a 
 tree. Its name in Egypt is sahr ; it was a female. 
 
 On this day I travelled over a very delightful 
 country. It was enriched by the cultivation of 
 numerous plants ; several sorts of trees shaded 
 and formed in some places beautiful groves. The 
 waters which refreshed the country vied with the 
 land, and also lent their tribute to an useful ferti- 
 lity ; the large leaves of the lotus covered the sur- 
 face of the rivulets and ditches, and announced 
 an abundant crop of roots. 
 
 This plant is the noufar of the Arabians, which 
 we have called nenufar. It isa water-lily, with white 
 and odoriferous flowers *. Its roots form one of the 
 most common aliments of the Egyptians, as they 
 formerly did under the name of lotus. It appears 
 singular that several authors, from Maillet -j~down 
 
 * Nymjihaa lotus, Lin.— Forskal, Flora Egyptiaco-Arabica, 
 p. 100. 
 
 •j- Description of Egypt, part ii. p. 18. 
 
 tQ
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 315 
 
 to M. Pauw*, should have overlooked this lotus 
 in the nymphea, and that the latter should have 
 declared that this plant had disappeared out of 
 Egypt, where it formerly grew in great abundance. 
 Savary had already exposed thiserror of M. Pauw, 
 but he goes too far when he says it is not won- 
 derful that this learned gentleman should have been 
 mistaken, since most of the travellers who have jour' 
 neyed over Egypt have never seen the lotus -f. On 
 the contrary, it is impossible even to enter Egypt 
 without seeing many ot them ; for in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Rossetta, the numerous ditches of the 
 fields where rice is cultivated, are filled with them. 
 
 But what has contributed to confuse the history 
 of the lotus nymphea is, that it has frequently been 
 mistaken for a totally different plant, which the 
 ancients also called lotus, and which composed 
 the principal nourishment of certain nations of 
 Africa, who on that account were called lotophagi. 
 This latter bears no relation to the lotus which 
 grows in Egypt ; it is a shrub, a species of wild 
 jujube-tree, as Citizen Desfontaines has ascertain- 
 ed J, and which grows in several parts of Bar- 
 
 * Philosophical Researches respecting the Egyptians and Chi- 
 nese, vol. i. p. 157. 
 
 f Letters on Egypt, vol. i. p. 8, notei. 
 \ Journal de Physique, October 1 788. 
 
 bar 
 
 y.
 
 316 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 bary *. However this may be, the nymphea of 
 Lower Egypt yields a kind of tubercle, which is 
 gathered when the waters are withdrawn. Those 
 which are left are sufficient to reproduce the plant. 
 They are dried and preserved to be eaten, boiled 
 like our potatoes, which they nearly resemble in 
 taste ; but they have less consistency, and are not 
 so spongy, so that they are swallowed with diffi- 
 culty, and it would not be easy to eat more than 
 one of them without being obliged to drink. 
 They are sold ready dressed, and at a very redu- 
 ced price, in the streets of Rossetta, where the 
 lower classes eat them in great quantities. 
 
 Among useful plants, I observed the racket "f~, 
 the fruit of which the inhabitants also eat, and 
 among the trees the seissaban, or theyellow flowered 
 and sweet-smelling acacia ^, and the sycamore fy. 
 The foliage of the latter is of a very beautiful 
 green ; its branches expand, and cover with their 
 shade a vast extent of ground. Its wood is very 
 hard, and almost incorruptible. The ancients em* 
 
 * Rhamnus lotus. Lin. 
 
 -j- Cactus ofiufitia. Lin. 
 
 J Ficus sycamorus. Lin. — Ficus sycamorus vera. Forskal, Flora 
 Egyptiaco-Arabica, p. 180. 
 
 § The cassia of gardeners. Mimosa farnesiana. Lin. N. B_ 
 This seissaban must not be confounded with the sesban (ceschy~ 
 tnene sesban. Lin.), a shrub with yellow flowers about the size 
 of the myrtle, and with which the Egyptiansmake their hedges. 
 
 ployed
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. $IJ 
 
 ployed it, for the most part, in making cases for 
 mummies : its fruit does not hang, like that of 
 other trees, along the boughs and branches, and 
 at their extremity ; it is fastened to the trunk 
 itself and to the larger stems. It is a species of 
 fig very like the common one, but more insipid. 
 The natives eat it with pleasure; it is considered 
 a£ refreshing, and calculated to quench thirst. 
 
 The schishme is a scarcer shrub, and one which 
 is only cultivated as a curiosity in some of the 
 gardens of Rossetta, It bears leguminous flowers 
 of a deep yellow, and oblong leaves terminating 
 in a point. Long pods, bent in the form of a 
 scythe, succeed the flowers; these contain flat- 
 tened seeds, shaped like a heart, the middle of 
 which is gray, and surrounded with a large border, 
 jutting out and of a brown colour. The Egyp- 
 tians consider these seeds as a specific against 
 ophthalmy, a disease so prevalent in their coun- 
 try. They pound them, and reduce them to a 
 yellow powder, which is blown into the eyes 
 either pure or mixed with pulverised sugar. Al- 
 though the schishme thrives very well in the cool 
 and shaded places of the fields of Rossetta, the 
 seed which it produces there is not esteemed; 
 that is preferred which is brought from Nubia, 
 where probably this shrub is indigenous. 
 
 I saw
 
 318 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 I saw besides several fields covered with a 
 species of large millet, which in Egypt is called 
 donrra*. It is an object of great cultivation, 
 which yields an abundant harvest. Its produce is 
 estimated at nearly fifty- fold. The Egyptians 
 make bread, or rather indifferent muffins, of the 
 seed of the dourra-, they likewise ascribe to it 
 great efficacy in healing fractures of the limbs, 
 applying it when reduced to a powder. 
 
 The great Indian pink, or African -f~, displayed 
 its beautiful yellow flowers amidst other plants, 
 in different gardens. 
 
 We had reached the period in which wild 
 ducks of various sorts arrive from every quarter 
 in Lower Egypt. The smaller kind, as the teal, 
 come thither at the beginning of October, and 
 the larger ones appear later. They all assemble 
 on the lakes of the Delta, which are not far from 
 Rossetta and Damietta, and form innumerable 
 flocks which do not take their departure till after 
 winter. They are caught with nets ; and this 
 game, which was very productive, had not escaped 
 the fiscal tyranny of the Mamelucs or of their 
 overseers ; it was farmed out, and was conse- 
 
 * Holcus durra. Lin. — Forskal, Flora Egyp.-Arab. p. 174. 
 f Tagetes erecta, Lin. — Forskal, ibidem, page 120. 
 
 3 quently
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 319 
 
 qucntly exclusive. Great quantities of these birds 
 were brought to the markets of Rossetta, and 
 were sold to very good account. As the Maho- 
 metans ate no animal which had not been bled, 
 the throats of the wild ducks were cut, in which 
 state they were left living, after having their wings 
 broken, which were fastened over the back, so 
 that it was very difficult to get one of these birds 
 which was not mangled, or whose plumage had 
 not been damaged. 
 
 The thrush arrives in the same countries at the 
 same season, to remain till the month of March. 
 But whilst the wild ducks flock to enliven the 
 collections of distant waters, the thrush remains 
 near human habitations. It takes delight in the 
 same orchards as the turtle-dove, and seeks, like 
 it, the thick and balmy groves of the orange and 
 lemon tree. 
 
 A peasant called me near a covert, and told me 
 that he had just seen a woodcock enter. I found 
 him there accordingly. These birds do not, for 
 the most part, take their passage into Egypt till 
 the month of November, but they are few in 
 number. It is a singular thing to see the wood- 
 cock, which seems to be a bird peculiar to cold 
 climates, seek a gentle winter even in countries 
 $0 far to the southward. 

 
 320 
 
 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 Natron — Bleaching of cloth and thread — Other uses 
 of natron — Senna — Birds — Description of a spe- 
 cies of falcon Wagtail — Dragon-flies — Wasp- 
 Cricket — Rain — Delta — Herons — Coot — Quails 
 — Snipes — Armed plovers — Feme-greek. 
 
 There arc in Rossetta magazines of natron, and 
 manufactures in which it is employed. It is well 
 known that this is an alkaline earthy salt, or 
 mineral alkali, found more particularly in Egypt, 
 in the middle of a desert, to which the ancients 
 gave the name of the Desert of Nitria, because 
 our saltpetre being entirely unknown to them, 
 they had given the name of nitre to that substance, 
 which the Arabs describe under the denomination 
 of natroum, from which we have derived natron. It 
 is from having neglected to examine the passages 
 of Theophrastus, of Dioscorides, of Galen, and of 
 Pliny, that several moderns h; ve confounded nitre 
 and rkatron, which are very d liferent substances. 
 
 It is uncommon to meet with natron perfectly 
 pure. Besides the earthy matter which is almost 
 always mixed with it, it is not an entirely free al- 
 kali; it is usually united to marine salt, to Glauber's 
 
 salt,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 321 
 
 salt, and, finally, to a small degree of vitriolic 
 tartar. In the magazines two sorts are to be dis- 
 tinguished ; tie common and the sullan'ie : this an- 
 swers to the word royal, by which are designated in 
 France several commodities of a superior quality. 
 This W/tf //-natron is whiter, better crystallized, 
 and more pure than the common ; it is conse- 
 quently more powerful, and, in the use of it, a 
 smaller quantity is employed. 
 
 This mineral alkali possesses the same proper- 
 ties with the vegetable alkali, or salt-wort ; but it 
 possesses them in a superior degree of virtue. Its 
 principal use is for the bleaching of thread and 
 cloth. The following is the method which I have 
 seen pursued at Rossetta. The skeins of thread 
 are laid in a large copper built in mason-work ; a 
 layer of natron is placed upon them : afterwards 
 cold water is poured on it, in a sufficient quantity 
 to soak the thread and the natron. They are thus 
 left altogether for the space of three days, at the 
 end of which the thread is drawn out, and sus- 
 pended on sticks placed over the kettle. When 
 it is drained, a fire is kindled under the copper, 
 and the water in which the thread had been steep- 
 ed with the natron is made to boil, after having 
 some lime added to it. The thread is dipped in 
 it, and washed several times, stirring it through 
 this hot lye, without leaving it there. It is im- 
 
 vol. 1. y mediately
 
 $21 TRAVELS IK UPPER 
 
 mediately carr'*.d to the Nile, where it is washed 
 and beaten. It is afterwards spread out, in order 
 to dry. 
 
 When the skeins are pretty dry, they are wash- 
 ed anew in the whey which flows from cheeses, 
 in Arabic called mesch. This is a sort of dressing 
 which gives quality to the cloth ; and when the 
 Egyptians handle a cloth not very stout, they say 
 it has no mesch. 
 
 To bleach two hundred pounds of thread it 
 commonly requires one hundred pounds of natron, 
 and from sixty to eighty pounds of lime ; observ- 
 ing, however, that the j«/ta;/ -natron, that is to say, 
 that which is the purest, being more powerful than 
 the common, must be used in a smaller quantity. 
 Without this precaution, the thread or the cloth 
 would run the hazard of being burnt. 
 
 So expeditious a method of bleaching cloth and 
 thread, would merit being attempted in France. It 
 is said that it was formerly adopted at Rouen, but 
 that it had been laid aside because it burnt the 
 cloths*. It is possible that they did not make the 
 proper preparations, nor observe the same process 
 as the Egyptians, for it is very certain that neither 
 their threads nor cloths were burnt. The com- 
 
 * Voyage de la Boullaye le Gouz, Paris, 1657, page 383. 
 
 merce
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 323 
 
 merce in natron, a very brisk one for Turkey, and 
 equally so in the state of Venice, where this alkali, 
 mixed with gray- stone, forms those beautiful blown 
 glasses of Murano, had entirely come to nothing, as 
 far as it regarded France. However, it apparently 
 made an effort to revive, towards the end of the 
 year 1777. A French merchant, established at 
 Rossetta, at that time consigned a pretty large 
 quantity of natron to his correspondent at Mar- 
 seilles. I was never in a situation to discover 
 whether this dawning of commerce was produc- 
 tive of any fortunate consequences; but our ma- 
 nufactures, our trade, would reap very great ad- 
 vantages, if the natron, which nature produces 
 abundantly in Egypt, were to become a branch of 
 commerce as lively as it is practicable. 
 
 It is not only to the bleaching of cloths and 
 thread that the use of the natron is restricted in 
 countries where it is produced. It is likewise used 
 in dying, in the preparation of leather, in glass- 
 making, in whitening linen, in pastry instead of 
 leaven, in preserving viands and making them ten- 
 der, and, finally, in mixing with snuff, and giving 
 it a higher degree of poignancy. With regard to 
 this last mode of using it, I conjecture that we 
 shall not be tempted to imitate it. It is not the 
 less general in Egypt, the inhabitants of which do 
 not care for our tobacco without a mixture, because 
 
 y 2 it
 
 324 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 it makes no more impression on their organ, ac- 
 customed to the pungency and the sharpness of 
 natron, than if it were so much dust. 
 
 I can make a reply, by the way, to the seventh 
 part of question sixty-four of Michaelis * : Does 
 the natron, extracted from the lake which is in the 
 desert of St. Macarius, serve Egypt for the purpose 
 of salting, and sometimes instead of kitchen salt P Do 
 the poor, at least, make this use of it P Is it like- 
 wise employed in the salting of bread? Marine salt 
 is in great abundance in Egypt, and at a very low 
 rate, for this reason, the inhabitants have no oc- 
 casion to supply any deficiency in this article with 
 natron, which is not so cheap. In the eighth part 
 of the same question M. Michaelis farther de- 
 mands, Whether natron is to he found no where 
 hut in the lake of the desert of Saint Macarius f It is 
 to be found in a lake called Terr ana, because from 
 this village it is conveyed to be embarked upon 
 the Nile, and this lake is, in reality, in the desert 
 of Nitria, or of St. Macarius. There is likewise 
 some in a less considerable lake, in the neighbour- 
 hood of Damanhour ; but that of Terrana is the 
 largest, and supplies much more of this material. 
 
 The duties on natron were farmed out, and the 
 trade was very productive, both to the merchant 
 
 * Voyageurs savans etcurieux, on Tablettes instructives, &c. 
 
 and
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. J2 5 
 
 and the public treasury. This farming did not re- 
 semble the forced adjudication of the senna, which 
 the government of Cairo had pretended to impose 
 upon the European merchants who resided there. 
 They were obliged to buy a large quantity of this 
 drug, which is gathered in Upper Egypt. This was, 
 with respect to them, a species of avan'ie (intole- 
 rant impost *) ; for the culture of senna was so con- 
 siderable, that they could not find sale for it. The 
 Venetian merchants took the third of the annual 
 produce, and the French the other two thirds ; 
 the price of which, to these last, amounted to more 
 than 25,000 francs ( iooo guineas). The loss was 
 still augmented by the agreement which they had 
 made with the druggists of Marseilles, not to sell 
 the senna to any but them ; and these, on their side, 
 were authorized not to take a larger quantity than 
 they had occasion for. The result of this agree- 
 ment was, that the greatest part of the senna re- 
 mained on the hands of the French merchants. 
 They had Still, in their house at Rossetta, maga- 
 zines which had continued full for several years. 
 
 Whilst our merchants, bound by their contract 
 with the Massilian druggists, were losing consider- 
 
 * Avanie : it is thus that they name in the commerce of the 
 Levant, those violent and vexatious means which the Turks 
 employ 10 extract money from Europeans. These intolerances 
 succeeded each other in Egypt in a dreadful manner. 
 
 y 3 ably
 
 326 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 ably on this commodity, the Venetians made large 
 profits by it, by sending it into Holland, where it 
 had an extensive sale. Some of the English bought 
 it themselves at Cairo from the Venetians, and 
 found means to receive good profits from it. 
 
 To conclude, it is an error to describe the senna 
 of the Levant by the denomination of the senna 
 of Alexandria. It is shipped there in reality, but 
 it does not grow in the neighbourhood of that 
 city ; it thrives no where in Egypt but towards 
 the cataracts of the Nile, near Assouan. Its 
 Arabic name is sena *. 
 
 On a little excursion which I took the 4th of 
 November, I killed a k ing's- fisher f, a thrush of 
 the large sort J, and a bird of prey, which has not 
 been described, and which appeared to me a species 
 of falcon. The upper part of the beak was hooked 
 at the extremity, and covered underneath with a 
 yellow skin ; the second feather of the wing was 
 longer than the others, and those of the tail were 
 in slight gradations. Its entire length is one foot, 
 that of the beak nine lines and a half, from the 
 
 * Cassia senna. Lin.— Cassia lanceolata. For skal, Flora Egyp- 
 tiaco- Arabic?, page 85. 
 
 f Martin pecheur ou alcyon. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et 
 pi. enlum. No. 7;. — Alcedo ispida. Lin. 
 
 % La draine. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlum. No. 
 489. — Turdus viscivorus. Lin. 
 
 extremities
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 327 
 
 extremities of the wings at their full extension, 
 two feet all but an inch, that of the wings nine 
 inches; to conclude, that of the tail six inches; 
 it measures more than fifteen lines with its wings 
 folded, or in a state of repose. 
 
 The feathers on the top of the head are black in 
 the middle, and reddish in the other parts; those 
 of the sides of the head are variegated with gray, 
 black, and red, excepting those below the eyes, 
 which are black, with a gray spot at the posterior 
 angle of each eye. All the upper part of the body 
 is of a reddish brown, with transversal rays of black. 
 The throat is covered with gray feathers, and al- 
 most entirely fringed. The upper part of the sto- 
 mach is reddish, with black and longitudinal spots. 
 The remainder of the under part of the body is 
 gray tinged with red. The feathers of the legs 
 are of the same colour, but their stem and their 
 extremities are black, which form a sort of tears of 
 this colour. The upper part of the wings is va- 
 riegated with brown, gray, white, and a reddish 
 hue. The tail is of the same colour with the 
 back, but is striped transversely with black. The 
 beak is gray towards its base, and blark through 
 all the remainder. The iris is the colour of a 
 hazel-nut ; the skin around the eyes, the tarsus, 
 and the toes is yellow, like that of the basis of the 
 beak ; to conclude, the claws are black. 
 
 y 4 This
 
 328 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 This was a female. The intestinal canal was 
 one foot nine inches and a half. The membra- 
 nous stomach was filled with animal substances, 
 among which I distinguished some parts of large 
 insects. The food of this bird must have been 
 extremely plentiful, for I never in my life saw one 
 so fat. Of three which I shot this same day, this 
 alone remained to me, the two others, though 
 fallen from the tree on which they were perched, 
 having made their escape, and lost themselves in 
 the gardens, at the moment when 1 was going to 
 take them up. 
 
 This species of birds of prey commonly take 
 their stations on the tops of date-trees, and utter a 
 sharp cry. This might probably be the same with 
 that described by Fqrskal, as a species of falcon *. 
 There is, in reality, a good deal of conformity in 
 our descriptions. Forskal inquires afterwards whe- 
 ther tin's be a real falcon, or a kite, and whether it 
 may nql be the fajco forjicalus of Linnaeus. This 
 J will assuredly not uncjerw.k to resolve, as For- 
 skal, much better versed than myself in the art of 
 
 * Fa!co cera pedibusque flavis, supra pinereus, subtus ferru- 
 gineus, alis supra fuscis; cauda foifkata, fusco fasciata, longi- 
 fudine corporis,. Arab. Addaj. Forskal, Desciip. Animal ium, 
 page 1. According to the description of the Danish professor, 
 Gmelin has described the tame bird in the third edition of the 
 Syiitma Natuxe of Linnaeus, under the denomination of falco 
 fgyp'ws, 
 
 unravelling
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 329 
 
 unravelling the phrases of nomenclature, has not 
 been able to decide accurately on this point. But 
 as far as I am able to judge, the bird which I am 
 describing is of the falcon genus. 
 
 I likewise saw in the hedges the troglodyte * | 
 chaffinches in every place ; larks in the open 
 country ; and, near the waters, a great number 
 of wagtails, or laundresses -j~. This species is 
 extended all over Egypt, and they appear to dwell 
 there constantly. The yellow wagtail, on the 
 contrary, is only a bird of passage J, and this 
 was the first time that it appeared there that year ; 
 it returns towards the spring. The two species 
 have the same manner of living ; they both fre- 
 quent the neighbourhood of dwelling-houses and 
 of the waters. However, the laundress ap- 
 proaches man more familiarly ; she enters into 
 the cities, hops about lightly and with confidence 
 on those places over which the rice is spread, not- 
 withstanding the number of labourers who are 
 employed in drying this grain. The yellow wag- 
 tail gives more willingly the preference to the 
 country. 
 
 f See p. 1 7. 
 
 f Lavandiere. BufFon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlum. No. 
 P52. — Mot ac ilia alba. Lin. 
 
 % Yellow wagtail. Buffun, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlum. 
 No. 28, fig. 1 . — Motacilla baarula. Lin. 
 
 It
 
 330 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 It appears as if all the most charming produc- 
 tions of nature had assembled themselves in the 
 gardens of Rossetta, and there presented to the 
 man capable of appreciating their value, the riches 
 which she does not always scatter around. These 
 delicious spots were then enamelled with little ani- 
 mated and winged bodies, sparkling with the most 
 brilliant purple, sometimes fluttering amidst the 
 branches of the shrubs, and sometimes eclipsing 
 the lustre of the flowers on coming close to them. 
 You behold there a considerable number of a re- 
 markable species of beautiful insects, the elegance 
 of whose appearance, and their attire, have pro- 
 cured for them the name of damsels (dragon-flies # ). 
 The entire body of this sort is of the finest purple ; 
 the wings, orange coloured at the bottom, have a 
 spot of the same colour towards the extremity : a 
 black line, which separates the whole length of the 
 body underneath, still contributes to heighten its 
 purple hue. The length of this insect is eighteen 
 lines; that of the corselet, which is covered with 
 down, also purple-coloured, is four lines and a 
 half, and its breadth two lines and a half; the. 
 win<rs measure one inch and two lines. 
 
 o 
 
 A beautiful species of another genus of insects, 
 less innocent than the dragon-fly, also give lustre 
 
 * Libellula. 
 
 to
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 3}I 
 
 to this spot by their colours. A wasp ten lines 
 long, is very common there. She has two large 
 black eves, and upon the crown of the head three 
 little black, points, disposed in the form of a tri- 
 angle, and resembling eyes ; the front of the 
 head i.s of a beautiful yellow ; a triangular spot 
 of the same colour between the antennas, which 
 also have a slight tinge of yellow at the bottom ; 
 the antennas are purple the rest of the length. 
 The remainder oi the head, the corselet, and the 
 thighs, are purple; the legs and the tarsus of a 
 brown gray; the claws black; to conclude, the 
 wings yellowish in the upperpart, and gray in the 
 under. 
 
 The first ring of the belly is of a shining black, 
 bordered on the belly only, with a beautiful yel- 
 low ; this border is itself terminated by a little 
 line, which appears to be of the purest gold. The 
 second ring is entirely bluck ; the third is yellow 
 above and below ; it is divided above in its breadth 
 by a black line, accompanied on each side with a 
 spot likewise black, and, on the under part of the 
 same ring, there is, on each side, another black 
 spot smaller than those which are on the upper 
 part. The fourth circle is black above, and 
 brown below : finally, the other circles are of a 
 blackish brown. 
 
 I found
 
 232 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 I found several individuals of the same species, 
 the colours of which were less brilliant, with 
 some differences in the shades. These wasps, 
 very common in the country, appear also in the 
 cities. Several of them entered into my chamber 
 at Rossetta. 
 
 At this season you frequently meet, besides, a 
 species of hopping insects, known by the name of 
 grillon, grillus (cricket). I believe it has not been 
 described, or designed, and I am going to depict 
 it. This cricket is fourteen lines long, and its 
 greatest breadth is a little more than three lines ; 
 the antennae are five lines, the sheaths thirteen ; 
 they extend beyond the body three lines. 
 
 The distribution of the colours is elegant : the 
 antennae are red, the crown of the head is marked, 
 lengthwise, by a blackish line, bordered with yel- 
 low, and which extends upon the corselet enlarg- 
 ing itself. The large eyes are striped lengthwise 
 with black and white ; the little smooth eye in the 
 middle of the head is of an orange colour : you 
 might take the others for little beads of the most 
 brilliant gold ; the rest of the head is of a greenish 
 gray ; the rest of the corselet, and the under part 
 of the belly, are of gray shaded with yellow ; the 
 ppper part of the belly is greenish. 
 
 This
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. J3J 
 
 This insect has, besides, sheaths of a dull red, 
 with a stripe of an apple green on a third of their 
 length : the wings outstretched of gray tinged 
 with yellow, and their fibres or nerves red ; the 
 thighs of the two first rows with yellow claws; 
 the legs, the tarsus, and the palettes, red ; the 
 claws black ; the thighs of the posterior legs, yel- 
 low on the outside, and reddish within ; the legs 
 and the tarsus of the most beautiful red, with 
 tints of the liveliest blue on the upper part of 
 the legs. 
 
 The 6th of November, at three in the morning, 
 a considerable shower of rain fell, with a wind 
 from the north-north-west. This epocha was not 
 uninteresting ; for this was the first rain of the 
 year which descended to cool the atmosphere of 
 Lower Egypt, and, as I have already said, this 
 was the commencement of that season to which 
 the name of winter was given, because the tem- 
 perature became less scorching. 
 
 The next day I crossed the Nile, and took a 
 long walk over the humid and verdant soil of the 
 Delta. This part of Lower Egypt is an immense 
 plain, but it has not that fatiguing monotony so 
 general in level countries. The cities and the 
 villages are built upon little eminences, which 
 raise them above the height of the inundation. 
 
 Groves
 
 254- TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Groves always smiling with verdure, detached 
 trees, but at very small distances from each other, 
 bound the view, and do not permit it to extend 
 itself but by numerous openings, which conduct 
 it to prospects more or less distant, more or less 
 pleasing. Enclosures,, where plants of every spe- 
 cies "flourish, where the golden apples of the 
 orange-tree crown the sweetest of perfumed flow- 
 ers, and the useful and modest pot-herbs ; plains 
 on which fertility has fixed her abode, even the 
 huts of labouring men, the animals which live 
 around them, every thing gives delight in a land- 
 scape so variegated ; all rejoices the soul and gra- 
 tifies the sieht. 
 
 '&• 
 
 A multitude of birds collect themselves in a 
 country so beautiful : they seem, by their num- 
 bers, by their movements, and by the diversity of 
 their accents, to celebrate there that continual ban- 
 quet of nature, these eternal blessings of fertility. 
 
 I saw, in this place, turtle-doves of two species, 
 blackbirds, lapwings, and white .herons, which the 
 French who inhabit Egypt, name the ox-keeper, 
 because, in reality, they seek the places frequented 
 by these animals, follow them, and often perch on 
 their backs *. In Egypt two species of herons are 
 
 * Aigrette. Buffbn, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlum. No. 
 901. Ardea garzetta. Lin. 
 
 found ;
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 335 
 
 found ; the plumage of all of them is of a dazzling 
 white, but they differ with respect to size. The 
 small species is the most common ; the individuals 
 which compose them, likewise differ from each 
 other in the colour of their feet ; some of them 
 are black, others greenish, and several are yellow. 
 There is every reason to presume that this variety 
 is the effect of age, or of sex, and not a distinction 
 of race. The large and the small species carry on 
 their backs long fringed and silky feathers, which 
 serve to form plumes and tufts. All of them have 
 not this natural attire ; perhaps it is peculiar to the 
 males only. However this may be, it was very 
 ea*y to procure, in Egypt, the most beautiful fea- 
 thers of these birds, for they were greatly multi- 
 plied in the lower parts of that country, and more 
 particularly towards Damietta, where the waters, 
 which they are fond of frequenting, occupy a 
 greater space. The inhabitants do not hunt them, 
 and no person thinks of them as food. 
 
 I smile, at this moment, when I recall to mind 
 the little occurrence to which the herons gave 
 birth, on my journey fi )m Rossetta to Alexandria 
 with M. Tott. He had in his train, a little sur- 
 geon quite puffed up with folly and self-suffi- 
 ciency. Uniting together their knowledge in na- 
 tural history, they were clearly of opinion, that 
 the numerous herons, whose dazzling whiteness, 
 3 emblem
 
 3$6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 emblem so affecting of candour and of virginity # , 
 forms the most beautiful ornament of the shores of 
 the Nile, were the ibis of the ancients, birds on 
 which antiquity conferred the highest honours. 
 Nothing that could be urged against it would in- 
 duce them to alter their opinion. A contemptuous 
 censure fell on those travellers who had preceded 
 them, and who had not sufficient observation to 
 see the ibis in Egypt, whilst they had encountered 
 a multitude of them the first time they set foot 
 there. They congratulated themselves on being 
 in a situation to ascertain that the ibises were the 
 most common birds in Egypt ; they also deter- 
 mined to make an ample collection of them. 
 Whenever they descried a heron, they bawled as 
 loud as they could, to direct the Egyptian sailors 
 to manoeuvre so as to bring them within gun- shot 
 of their mark. These latter grew impatient, and 
 swore at so many delays and so much labour, of 
 which they could not conceive the importance. 
 Nearly two hundred shots were fired upon the 
 herons, but, fortunately for them, the sportsmen 
 were as bad marksmen, as they were ignorant of 
 natural history ; and two or three only of these 
 
 * It is a beautiful idea of Hasselquitz (Travels to the Le- 
 vant) to name the white heron, virgin heron, ardea virgo. If 
 every denomination presented so much truth, and so many 
 charms as this does, nomenclature would cease to be a science 
 so arid. 
 
 birds
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 337 
 
 birds fell the victims of the exalted opinion which 
 had been formed of their species. The shooting- 
 match would not have concluded so soon, and we, 
 to all appearance, should have been eight days in 
 reaching Cairo, from the numerous zig zags which 
 our heroes of the chase led us through, and the 
 frequent pauses with which they interrupted our 
 navigation, if the surgeon, in a transport of orni- 
 thological enthusiasm, had not allowed himself to 
 fall into the hold of the boat, exactly into the 
 middle of a kettle of lentils which was cooking 
 for the boat's crew. This catastrophe was the sig- 
 nal of peace with the pretended ibis, and we were 
 enabled to continue our voyage without any other 
 inconvenience than the fatigue of hearing excla- 
 mations on the importance of a pretended disco- 
 very which had very nearly cost the surgeon rather 
 more than it was worth. 
 
 I discovered in an aquatic spot, which was co- 
 vered with reeds, a coot *, or morella, in Egypt 
 hoor : 1 have since then had an opportunity of pro- 
 curing several of these birds, and on comparing 
 them with the description which Buffon has given, 
 I remarked some difference of tints in the plu- 
 mage. The most striking of these differences is 
 
 * Foulque. Buffon, Hist. Nat. desOis. etpl.enlum. No. 197. 
 —Fulica atra. Lin. 
 
 vol. i. z on
 
 33$ TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 on that naked portion of the leg above the knee ; 
 this is, according to Buffbn, encircled with red, 
 but in the coots which I have seen this circle was 
 yellow. These birds are fat in general, and their 
 flesh is tender and well tasted. 
 
 I likewise found a quail, which I killed. It was 
 not usual to see them at this period ; it was the 
 only one in the canton through which I roved. It 
 is in the month of September that the passage of 
 the quails commences on the coasts of Egypt. 
 They then assemble themselves, more peculiarly 
 in the sandy island which divides the mouth of the 
 Nile near Rossetta. But I shall have occasion to 
 return to the subject of the truly wonderful pas- 
 sage of these birds. 
 
 The fields which had just been stripped of the 
 crop of rice were filled with snipes*. They were 
 there singularly numerous. A huntsman of Ros- 
 setta brought us one day a basket-full of these 
 birds, which he had killed with a gun in the course 
 of a few hours. For my own part, I killed a 
 dozen, and missed as many more, in the morning. 
 This is pleasant sport, because you always have a 
 shot, but it is likewise very fatiguing. The light 
 
 * Becassine. Buffcm, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. enlum. 
 No, 883. — Scolopax gallinago. Lin.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 339 
 
 earth of the rice-grounds is so deeply impregnated 
 with water, that you sink at every step you take, 
 and sometimes half way up your body. The 
 snipes arrive at the beginning of November in 
 search of the aquatic cantons of Lower Egypt, and 
 they pass the whole of the winter there. 
 
 There are also, but fewer in number, armed 
 and crested plovers •. The Europeans resident in 
 Egypt call them dominicans, on account of the re- 
 semblance which the distribution of black and 
 white with which their plumage is variegated, 
 gives them to the habit of this order of monks. 
 These plovers, exactly the same with those which 
 I had seen some years before, in the month of 
 August in the countrv of the Iolofs, on the western 
 coast of Africa, delight to frequent the borders of 
 pools of water, on the brink of rivers, and in all 
 humid places, although they never go into the 
 water. These are noisy and wild birds ; you ap- 
 proach them with difficulty; but if they have 
 learnt to fly from man, that tyrant of the animal 
 creation, they enjoy among themselves love and 
 the pleasures of sociability, they are never alone, 
 they are always to be seen in pairs or in little 
 troops, 
 
 * Pluvier a aigrettes. Btiffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. 
 enlum. No. 801, under the name of the armtd plover of Senegal. 
 —GftOradiius spinorus. Lin. 
 
 z 2 They
 
 34° TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 They sold in the streets of Rossetta the stalks of 
 the fenu-grcek*. This plant is cultivated as fodder; 
 and it would hold the first rank among all the 
 sorts of food which Lower Egypt supplied to ani- 
 mals, if the barsim, a species of clover peculiar to 
 this country, and of which I have already sppken, 
 did not exist there. Its Arabic name is helbe. 
 
 Although this helbe of the Egyptians is a suc- 
 culent fodder for the numerous cattle which cover 
 the plains of the Delta ; although horses, oxen, 
 and buffaloes, eat it with equal pleasure ; it did 
 not appear to be particularly destined for the food 
 of animals, because the barsim supplies them with 
 a much better and more abundant aliment. But 
 what will appear very extraordinary, in this coun- 
 try abounding in singularities, the Egyptians them- 
 selves eat fenu greek ; for this reason it maybe 
 called with propriety the fodder of men. 
 
 It is in the month of November that, in the 
 streets of the cities, they call green helbe to sell. 
 It is tied up in large bundles, which the inhabit- 
 ants are eager to buy at a low price, and which 
 they devour with incredible avidity, without any 
 species of seasoning whatever. They pretend that 
 this singular food is an excellent stomachic, a spe- 
 cific against worms and the dysentery ; in a word, 
 
 * Trigonella ftvnum-greeum. Lin. 
 
 a pre-
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 34I 
 
 a preservative against a number of maladies. I 
 also ate some bunches of this fenu-greek. I did 
 not find it unpleasant, but I was far from experi- 
 encing, in this sort of repast, the same pleasure 
 with the people of the country. With regard to 
 its effects, I neither received benefit nor injury 
 from it. 
 
 The Egyptians do not content themselves with 
 devouring the stalks and the leaves of the fenu- 
 greek, they likewise make the seeds to spring up, 
 and eat the long shoots. It is a highly valued pre- 
 paration in their eyes, which possesses in an emi- 
 nent degree the virtues which they attribute to the 
 plant. To obtain a quick germination of the seeds, 
 they fill a basket with them, which they allow 
 to soak in a running water during two or three 
 days : they afterwards heat it up on a bed of straw 
 or grass, in order that they may become warm ; they 
 cover a portion of the seeds thus soaked with little 
 earthen vessels, in the form of mutilated cones, 
 and open at top. It is from these openings that the 
 bhoots, which very soon grow large, spring forth, 
 uniting themselves together, and they stop them 
 there by bending them downwards. At length 
 they lift the vessel filled with these young shoots, 
 and eat them with the seeds which produced them. 
 You may purchase twelve little pots thus stored for 
 a medina, that is to say, nearly a halfpenny of our 
 
 z 3 money.
 
 34 2 TRAVELS IN UPP£R 
 
 money. It is necesssay to have a high degree of 
 confidence in these germs, to eat such a quantity 
 of them as the Egyptians do, for they are of a 
 very strong bitter. They likewise burn the seeds, 
 and prepare them in the same manner as coffee, 
 adding to them the juice of lemons. This beve- 
 rage is very pleasant. I will not say so much for 
 a ragout greatly in vogue in the same country, 
 and which is composed of the shoots of the helbe 
 dressed with honey. 
 
 Furthermore, the Egyptians regard this plant 
 as endowed with so many good qualities, that it 
 is in their eyes a real panacea. Prospero Alpini 
 has entered into long details upon its uses in me- 
 dicine *. After so many excellent properties, real 
 or imaginary, it is not surprising that the Egyp- 
 tians should hold fenu- greek in such high esti- 
 mation, that, according to one of their proverbs, 
 Happy are the feet which press the ground on which 
 the helbe grows. 
 
 But independently of these properties, not yet 
 fully demonstrated, the culture of the fenu-greek 
 is worthy of being extended in France. It is an 
 admirable fodder, which preserves the health of 
 
 * See his books respecting the plants of Egypt and the me- 
 dicine of the Egyptians. 
 
 horses,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 34^ 
 
 horses, and even contributes to heal their diseases. 
 I have cultivated it successfully for several years, 
 in my solitary abode at Manoncourt, in the de- 
 partment of Meurthe. (See the periodical paper 
 called Le Cultivateur, the 2jth Messidor of the 3d 
 year ; a journal which, under a modest title, is of 
 the greatest utility.) 
 
 x 4
 
 344- TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 Journey to Aboukir — Ruins — Bedouins — Port and 
 road for ships — Jew drogman— Red partridges — 
 Ruins of Canopus — Colossal and fluted statue— 
 Canopus — Governor, castle, and village of Abou- 
 kir — Little Pyramid — Return to Rossetta. 
 
 Between Rossetta and Alexandria there re- 
 mained for me still another place to examine, 
 formerly celebrated under the name of Canopus, at 
 the present day the Aboukir of the Arabs, and, by 
 corruption, the Bequie of European navigators. 
 Iknew that it was well worth seeing, and I de- 
 parted for the purpose of visiting it on the 12th 
 of November. M. Forneti, drogman at Rossetta, 
 had an extreme desire to accompany me, and we 
 took with us a janisary, my draughtsman, and 
 two servants. 
 
 Mounted upon mules we scaled the hills of 
 sand ; the arid and moving rampart which en- 
 circles the city of Rossetta to the westward. We 
 entered into the plain of the Turrets or Pillars*, 
 we afterwards gained the shore of the sea, which 
 we followed up to the lake of Maadie. 
 
 * See page 206. 
 
 A flock
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 345 
 
 A flock of the vultures of Egypt, to which has 
 been given, rather improperly, the name of Pha-. 
 raolis chickens *, were feasting on the putrid car- 
 cass of a dead animal cast upon the sand. 
 
 We were detained a full hour on our passage 
 over the lake Muddle, owing to the bad construc- 
 tion of the boat. With an ordinary ferry-boat 
 we could not have taken a quarter of an hour. A 
 little before our arrival at this remnant of the Ca- 
 nopic branch of the Nile, we had encountered a 
 little camp of Bedouin Arabs, composed sirrfply 
 of four tents, under which men, women, and ani- 
 mals assembled together. The wandering life of 
 these vagrant and thievish people will not allow 
 them to continue long in one place. They pre- 
 sented us with some very bad water, which thirst 
 prompted us to swallow, and for which we paid 
 them pretty liberally. 
 
 After leaving Muddle we regained the sea-shore, 
 along which a dike or causeway has been built, 
 in order to repel the waters, the sandy earth being 
 on a level with the sea. On this dike there are 
 turrets placed from distance to distance. We 
 quitted the road of Alexandria, and continuing to 
 
 * Foreign birds, which have a resemblance to the vulture. 
 Art. 2. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des. 0\%.'—Vultur percnopterus. Lin. 
 
 journey
 
 34-6 TRAVELS IN VPTEK 
 
 journey along the coast, we arrived at Aboukir 
 gt one o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 This is now nothing more than a village, with 
 a castle built upon the point of a cape, which ad- 
 vances pretty far into the sea. Some shelves, de- 
 tached in front of the cape, contain, in the large 
 bay which the coast forms in this place, a little 
 port, where the vessels are in safety, even at the 
 very foot of the castle, and in front of which there 
 is a very good road. This was the usual anchor- 
 jng-place for French frigates when they cruised 
 in those latitudes. It was equally resorted to by 
 merchant-ships, which were obliged by stormy 
 weather to shun the new, the little frequented and 
 dangerous port of Alexandria, as well as by the 
 germes of the country, when they could not gain 
 Alexandria, nor get clear of the Boghass of the 
 Nile, at the mouth of the branch of Rossetta. 
 
 It was in this same sand, but at too great a dis-* 
 tance from the coast, that the fleet of the republic, 
 commanded by the brave and unfortunate Brueys, 
 sustained a combat so disadvantageous, against 
 the English fleet, under the command of Nelson ; 
 an engagement which it would have been easy 
 and prudent to avoid, and the unsuccessful issue 
 of which has spread a new brilliancy of glory 
 over French valour.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 347 
 
 We alighted at the house of a Jew, the agent by 
 patent of the consul-general of France in Egypt. 
 His ancestors nad constantly exercised the same 
 functions with honour and fidelity. He had a 
 great degree of affection for the French ; indeed 
 he looked on himself as one of them. He was a 
 man gentle, obliging, in a word, the most worthy 
 man of a Jew that I ever was acquainted with. 
 His salary was six parats, or medinas, or from three- 
 pence halfpenny to a groat a day. It was impos- 
 sible to give a more sorry payment for the services 
 he had rendered to the French vessels which came 
 to an anchor off Aboukir, and which could not 
 dispense with his assistance in an isolated spot, 
 where there was not a single European. Formerly- 
 only a salary of four medinas was given, as I saw 
 in the regulation made in 1 706, by M. de Gatines, 
 comptroller of the navy, and joint commissary for 
 the general inspection of the sea-ports of the Le- 
 vant. The article which concerned the settlement 
 of a drogman of Aboukir, and which I transcribe, 
 because it has a relation to the port of Alexan- 
 dria, and the navigation of the coast of Egypt, is 
 couched in the following terms : " As several 
 " French vessels have taken in their lading for 
 u some years at the roads of Bequlers, and because 
 " it is of advantage to keep up this custom, which 
 " extends the liberty of lading, and may, in the 
 ** end, be of service to the nation, if it is under 
 " the necessity of quitting Alexandria, the port of 
 
 M which
 
 348 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 " which is filling up from day to day : We de- 
 " cree, in order to save the trouble and expense of 
 " several goings and comings express to and from 
 *' Alexandria to Bequiers, which have cost the 
 u nation large sums ; and likewise that we may 
 " have a person properly qualified, who will pay 
 " attention to every thing embarked there; that 
 '•' a Jew drogman shall be established in that 
 " place, at the rate of four medinas of wages a 
 *' day, including every thing, which shall be 
 " passed in the accounts of Alexandria." 
 
 Another inspector-general, M. Tott, wished* in 
 1777, to deprive the French nation of those ser- 
 vices which had appeared to them of so much im- 
 portance in 1706. He had announced that a drog- 
 man would no longer be maintained at Aboukir. 
 These are what may be called ruinous economies, 
 and they were not uncommon. Whilst the useful 
 servant of the public was stripped of his subsistence, 
 the pockets of the powerful man, to whom obliga* 
 tion was felt, provided he did not do mischief, were 
 filled with gold. Giving himself very little trouble 
 about the public interest, the object of the warmest 
 wishes of the useful citizen, but almost always put 
 to one side, his eyes were but too frequently open 
 only to that which could flatter his ambition, and 
 satisfy his love of money. However, the represent- 
 ations and the solicitations of the merchants of 
 Alexandria triumphed over the whims of ignorance 
 
 4 of 

 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 349 
 
 of local circumstances, and the shabby place of 
 drogman of Aboukir was kept up. The poor Jew 
 informed us he had learnt that his little pension 
 was to be torn from hiin. Fie added, with a noble 
 simplicity : / have been always perfectly tranquil. 
 I would have displayed the honourable warrants with 
 which my ancestors were furnished, the attestations of 
 the important services which they have rendered to 
 the French nation, the proofs of the active zeal for its 
 interests, which has animated myself, and it is im- 
 possible that the justice of a government to which I 
 am attached, should have permitted me to be deprived 
 of the means of existence. We were cautious not 
 to disturb his affecting security ; but I said to mv 
 companion : The good man is simple, poor, and 
 perhaps necessary ; he will not be listened to : he 
 will be sacrificed, without the least attention being 
 paid to his rights, to his services, any more than 
 to his remonstrances. Such sacrifices as these are 
 the usual pleasures of governments, and the most 
 common acts of their justice. 
 
 1 
 
 The house of MalUm-Yousef* (this is the name 
 of the Jew) is in a delightful situation : it is suffi- 
 
 * The word Mallum answers to that of master: Mallum 
 Yousef, Master Joseph. This is the appellation which the Turks 
 give to those whom they do not choose to distinguish, but 
 whom, however, they raise rather «bove the lowest classes of 
 tlit people. 
 
 ciently
 
 350 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 ciently spacious, and would have afforded very 
 commodious apartments, if they had been cleaned. 
 Travellers are obliged to provide themselves with 
 bread ; you can find none to purchase at Abou- 
 kir. This excepted, you could procure there, very 
 easily, fish, sea urchins, oysters, and other shell- 
 fish ; and you might depend upon the attentions 
 of the drogman and his son for the purchase of 
 such provisions. They kept ia their house a pair 
 of red partridges *. They told us that these birds 
 frequently visited Aboukir, and that it was not 
 difficult to take them, even alive. As soon as we 
 had finished our frugal repast, prepared by the 
 wife of our host, we remounted our mules to visit 
 the ruins which are in the environs. 
 
 These vestiges of an ancient city occupy a vast 
 extent of ground. All is overthrown, all is de- 
 stroyed. The soil is strewed with ruins, which still 
 present wonderful beauties, and what remains on 
 the surface gives you an idea of what might be 
 discovered, if you had the liberty of digging 
 there; but researches of this nature are positively 
 interdicted among an ignorant and superstitious 
 people, who not knowing any other riches than 
 gold, imagine that travellers journeyed over their 
 countries only with the intention of carrying off 
 
 * Bartavelle, ou perdrix grecque. Buffori, Hist. Nat des 
 
 Ois. et pi, cnlum. No. 231.— ZV/rao nz/W. Lin. 
 
 their
 
 J 
 
 X 
 
 N: 
 
 4
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 35 I 
 
 their buried treasures, and could not believe that 
 the monuments of the arts were the motives of 
 their excursions. 
 
 I saw several pillars overthrown : they were of 
 the finest granite ; their shafts were fluted, and of 
 one single piece, although of an astonishing size : 
 the capitals were of the most beautiful workman- 
 ship. The Jew drogman told me, that he had seen 
 a part of these pillars still standing upright, and a 
 broad arch which formed the entrance of a subter- 
 raneous cave: but the country people had broken 
 them all down to carry away the stones, which 
 they employed in building, or in the repairs of the 
 dikes which formed a barrier against the waters of 
 the sea. There remained still, the openings of sub- 
 terraneous galleries built of brick, and in very to- 
 lerable preservation : rubbish had choked up the 
 entrance. In a word, ail that was discoverable aa- 
 nounced that formerly the most magnificent edifices 
 had flourished on this site. The inhabitants of 
 Aboukir call these superb ruins the city of Pharaoh. 
 
 Upon the brink of the sea you discern the foun- 
 dations in pretty good preservation, of a spacious 
 and regular building, in the middle of which there 
 is a subterraneous cave giving way to the sea : in 
 it you see at a distance ruins which prove, that in 
 this place, as in many others, it has gained upon 
 
 the
 
 2$1 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 the land. I had a drawing of these ruins taken. 
 (See Plate V.) By the side of these vestiges, blocks 
 of granite of different forms are broken down and 
 laid in heaps. In the middle is a colossal statue 
 of a woman, and, what is very singular, fluted all 
 its length. This is also of granite, and it is over- 
 thrown and mutilated in some parts. The sea, 
 though ever so little agitated, covers it with its 
 waves; if you wish to examine it at leisure, you 
 must take the advantage of calm weather. Chance 
 was favourable to me, and I caused a drawing of 
 it to be taken as it then existed. (See Plate VI. 
 in which the statue is represented with the ruins 
 that surround it.) Plate VII. fig. 2. displays it 
 alone and detached. 
 
 The people of the country had been struck with 
 this extraordinary statue, andas the ensemble of the 
 ruins was in their sight the city of Pharaoh, this was 
 also in their opinion the daughter of Pharaoh. The 
 designer of a Frenchman, who was in Egypt at the 
 same time with me, and who visited Aboukir, had 
 represented it as perfect in its execution, and in its 
 preservation; he had drawn it, not as it was/in 
 reality, but as he believed it ought to be, that is to 
 say, upright, and resting on a pedestal of his own 
 imagination. Such drawings as these are rather - 
 calculated to mislead than to give information, and 
 they should never be permitted to enter the port- 
 folio
 
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 '/n/ >>/ ///<■ At/t-nj <y CwnoAua , 
 
 f^/'/./a/. //.r///, e /////,;/, ,>///><' (/Ccwm of <<m<yt 
 
 <r/ip/if/.> 
 
 FubWhed fy I StcckdaU .
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. $53 
 
 folio of a traveller. I can answer for the fidelity 
 of all my drawings ; my draughtsman was accus- 
 tomed to the most scrupulous exactness, and they 
 were all taken under my own eye. 
 
 A-propos of this Frenchman : the Jew told us 
 that when he came to Aboukir, he omitted to take 
 with him, in the researches which he made in the 
 environs, a man of the country appointed by the 
 governor, and that this latter, piqued at it, exacted 
 under form of avanie a chequin from the traveller. 
 Of consequence, he took care that we should be 
 accompanied by the governor's son himself, and 
 engaged that I should give him as a recompense, 
 a pataca or six francs (five shillings}, and this 
 was to avoid a demand of seven livres six sous 
 (6s. iod.), the value of a chequin in Egypt. This 
 combination appeared extremely diverting to us. 
 
 By the side of this statue is a very large sphynx 
 partly broken, the supporter of which has a fillet of 
 hieroglyphics almost entirely effaced. (See Plate 
 VII. fig. i .) These are the remains of a celebrated 
 city, founded by the Greeks, and embellished with 
 all the most superb and most graceful inventions 
 of art. A magnificent temple, of which these 
 wonderful pillars of granite, at present broken 
 down, formed to all appearance a part, was con- 
 secrated to Scrapis. Strangers arrived there in 
 
 vol. i. a a crowds,
 
 3^4 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 crowds, rather to enjoy the pleasures which thej 
 tasted in the city, than to sacrifice to the divinity. 
 The surrounding country was decked in all the 
 richness of nature, while that ofluxury, scattered 
 with profusion, shone in the city. The attractions 
 of its situation, the beauty of the climate, the ease 
 which reigned there, the delicacies of good cheer, 
 the pleasures of every species which appeared to 
 have adopted this as their most favourite abode, 
 every thing united to render this spot enchanting, 
 and to form of its population an assemblage of 
 happy men *. But dissoluteness of manners soon 
 arrived there at its highest pitch ; licentiousness 
 raged without control ; the pleasing illusions, 
 the amiable condescension of women, which has 
 no value but in as much as it is inspired by tender- 
 ness, degenerated into effrontery -f ; in a word-* 
 the sage durst no longer land on this shore J. 
 
 The excesses of luxury, and the general depra- 
 vity of manners, are the certain forerunners of 
 the approaching fall of states^ and of the degrada- 
 tion of nations. Canopus has vanished : the de- 
 
 * . . . . Pelceigensfortunata Canopi. Virg. Georg. lib. 4. 
 
 f Every day and every night, according to Strabo, the canal 
 ttas covered With vessels filled with men and women, who- 
 danced and sung with the utmost wantonness. 
 
 $ When the sage wishes to retire, he will never choose Cano- 
 pus for the place of his retreat. Seneca, epistle 51. 
 
 scendants.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. ^5$ 
 
 scendants of those who were its inhabitants are 
 mere barbarians ; the Nile has refused to moisten 
 a depopulated soil ; the plains are barren and de- 
 sert ; not a particle of the monuments has pre- 
 served its place or its position ; all is fallen, all is 
 overthrown, all is turned upside down, and the 
 magnificent and delightful Canopus exists no lon- 
 ger but in the remembrance of a few individuals. 
 
 The day after our arrival at Aboukir, M. For- 
 ncti and I went to pay a visit to the governor, 
 who was a barber. Apprized of our intention by 
 the Jew, he had been in haste to array himself in 
 his finest clothes, and to dress his head in a white 
 schall. We found him seated in his shop, with a 
 fan composed of feathers in his hand. He re- 
 ceived us with all the solemnity of a vizier; how- 
 ever, he offered us his services in any way which 
 might be agreeable to us. He would very will- 
 ingly have presented us with coffee, but the 
 coffee-house he told us was shut. When we 
 withdrew, he gave himself as little disturbance as 
 upon our arrival. Furthermore, he was on the 
 best terms with our host ; and not without reason, 
 for he was not only his governor but likewise his 
 barber. 
 
 We had demanded and obtained permission to 
 enter the castle, which is of little importance. It 
 
 a a 2 is
 
 3j6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 is surrounded, on the side next the land, with a 
 ditch, filled by the water of the sea. There 
 is a light-house, which is so poorly illuminated, 
 that you cannot perceive it till you are pretty close 
 to it. Some pieces of cannon of a very small size 
 defend the fort ; but they did not deter the Rus- 
 sians from carrying off the germes, directly under 
 the batteries. The governor had sent with us a 
 guide through the castle, his lieutenant, a very 
 dirty and lousy officer. He was so well pleased 
 with our liberality, that, from pure gratitude, he 
 endeavoured with all his might to carry us a -fish- 
 ing, because he was a fisherman to his trade. 
 
 During the day, the village of Aboukir ap- 
 peared to be without inhabitants ; the doors of the 
 houses were shut ; not a person was to be seen in 
 the streets. The reason of this was, that almost 
 all those who lived there were either fishermen 
 or sailors belonging to the germes. 
 
 When we left the castle, we passed by the 
 shop of the governor, which was no longer that 
 of a barber. He proposed to me to purchase a 
 good engraved stone, to which he affixed a high 
 price, because he had caused his name to be in- 
 scribed on the reverse of the antique engraving. 
 In order that I might get into the good graces of 
 
 a man,
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 357 
 
 a man of such importance, I gave him payment 
 Tor his seal a little above its value. 
 
 In the market-place there is a long black stone 
 loaded with hieroglyphics. A man of Aboukir 
 perceiving that 1 considered every fragment of an- 
 tiquity with attention, and that I sought to disco- 
 ver them, came to offer me a statue which he said 
 was very beautiful, but partly buried. I sent one 
 of my attendants with this man, who could not 
 find his statue again. However, that he might 
 not altogether lose his time, and the profits he 
 hoped to receive, he set himself to removing the 
 earth, and in a moment he discovered a very fine 
 marble monument loaded with hieroglyphics ; he 
 came immediately to inform us of it ; we went to 
 the place, and I saw a little pyramid in perfect 
 preservation o( the most beautiful black marble, 
 and covered along each side of its base with a 
 fillet of hieroglyphics equally well preserved. I 
 bought it of a man to whom it belonged as little 
 as it did to me, and I gave it in charge to the Jew 
 drogman, to send it to me at Rossetta by the first 
 germe which departed from Aboukir. We may 
 form an estimate of the riches of this mine of anti- 
 quities, covered only by a slight bed of earth and 
 rubbish, since a man, in less than half an hour, 
 And without any implement but his hands, with 
 
 a a 3 which
 
 358 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 which he scratched up the ground at random, 
 discovered a precious fragment. 
 
 This purchase made, we took leave of the good 
 Jew ; we got upon the road which leads to Ros- 
 setta, where we arrived at ten o'clock at night. 
 We saw on the shore several laundresses, and on 
 the palm-trees, blackbirds which arrive in the 
 northern part of Egypt at the same time with the 
 thrushes, at the commencement of winter. Their 
 passage is more numerous after the rains have 
 begun to fall. It is said, that at that time they 
 are very fat and delicate. Five or six jackals 
 passed close by us ; the brightness of the moon 
 permitted us to distinguish them, and they did not 
 seem at all intimidated at meeting us. 
 
 During the whole of this day a very violent 
 wind blew from the east-south-east; the weather 
 Was gloomy, and in the evening we had rain. The 
 sea ran high, and its waves arose dashing against 
 the sides of the dikes of Aboukir, and spread with 
 fury along the coast. Their roarings diffused 
 themselves over the solitude which we were tra- 
 versing, and which they seemed resolute to 
 invade.
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 359 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 'Bedouins — Birds — Boghass — Tower of Canopus—r 
 Abou-Mandour — Grc.pes — Desert — Jackals — 
 Lizards — Inseels — Ser petit — Difficulties respect- 
 ing the pyramid of Aboukir — Opinion of thf 
 Egyptians ivith regard to travellers. 
 
 On my return from Aboukir, I had a wish to 
 take a near view of the Mouth of the Nile, the 
 Bog/iass, so celebrated on account of its dangers, 
 and of the shipwrecks which happen there. The 
 vice-consul, his drogman, and a French mer- 
 chant had a desire to be of the party, and we took 
 our departure, mounted on asses. We stopped in 
 the gardens above the castle; some Bedouin Arabs 
 were encamped there ; their tents were not large, 
 and still less comfortable; they announced the 
 wretchedness of those to whom they served as a 
 shelter. The women do not cover their faces, as 
 is the custom of those people who are settled in 
 Egypt. The freshness of youth rendered those 
 who were the least aged among them sufficiently 
 agreeable, notwithstanding the embrowned tint of 
 their skin, and they seemed to be of a very com- 
 plaisant disposition. 
 
 We were very soon surrounded by these women, 
 who demanded some assistance from us ; one or 
 
 a a 4 two
 
 360 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 twomedinas* was enough to satisfy them. The 
 old ones perceiving that these trifling presents were 
 bestowed more willingly on the young, took care to 
 employ them as their solicitors, in order to awaken 
 our interest and our benevolence. They laughed 
 outright when they found that this attention had 
 good success, and above all when they remarked 
 that the young girls became the objects of some 
 tender glances. Whilst my companions were hold- 
 ing a pretty lively conversation with the youthful 
 Arabs, I was surrounded by a group of old women 
 horribly ugly ; they had, to appearance, judged 
 me to be more generous than the others ; they 
 obliged me to remain in the midst of them, and 
 would not permit me to proceed. I had a thou- 
 sand difficulties to make my escape, and I congra- 
 tulated m} self sincerely on getting out of this circle 
 of importunate old women, whose decrepit and 
 blackish figures were rendered still more hideous 
 by several black compartments which they had 
 formed on the chin by pricking the skin of it. 
 
 There were in these gardens turtle-doves, 
 thrushes, blackbirds, and upon the date-trees 
 some large beaks -j~. I saw here also two birds of 
 prey, of the species formerly described as a species 
 
 * The medina in Turkey, parat, is a piece in which there 
 is a small portion of silver, and is worth rather more than a 
 halfpenny. 
 
 f Gios bee. Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlijm. No. 
 99. — Loxia coccothaustes. Lin. 
 
 Of
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 361 
 
 of falcon ; and I killed, near a little pool of water, 
 two young woodcocks, vulgarly called wMte-tails, 
 and by the Proven 9a! s bechots *. The male and 
 the female were together. 
 
 '£> 
 
 On continuing our route towards the sea, the 
 grounds which the Nile had overspread, were slip- 
 pery, miry, and intersected with ditches. Our 
 beasts fell down, sinking into the sloughs, and 
 frequently leaving us in the water or in the mud. 
 No one of us was exempted from such accidents as 
 these, nor from the mutual pleasantries which we 
 passed upon each other. At length we arrived near 
 that narrow and formidable pass of the bar which 
 enclo&es the Nile. The sea, agitated from the 
 main, broke against it with fury, and there lifted 
 up its perturbed waves, mingled with foam and 
 sand. We saw at this spot the tops of the masts of 
 two germes which had been cast away some days 
 before, and upon the coast, sailors employed in 
 bearing away the dead bodies of some of their com- 
 rades which the sea had thrown upon the shore. 
 
 The coast is low, and entirely formed of sand; 
 it was covered with a number of water-birds, such 
 as goelands, sea-larks, herons *J~, &c. &c. These 
 
 * Becasseau. BufFon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. ct pi. enlum. No. 
 643. — I'ringa ochrojun. Lin. 
 
 -j- Htion commun. Button, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlum. 
 No. 787. — Ardea cinerea. Lin. 
 
 last 
 
 1
 
 362 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 last were singularly wild ; it was impossible to <*et 
 near them. 
 
 The next day I went about half a league to (he 
 south of Rossetta, to see a tower which has been 
 called that of Canopus, from the mistaken supposi- 
 tion, that the city of Rossetta occupied the place 
 of ancient Canopus. This tower has been built 
 in modern times, on a little hill of sand, which, 
 at this part, forms the western shore of the Nile. 
 It is square ; it has been half demolished, and 
 what remains announces an approaching ruin. 
 In the under part, the inhabitants of this canton 
 shewed an opening into a subterranean cave, 
 which, according to them, led to Alexandria. 
 
 On the top of the tower, the view extends itself 
 all around; it has no other bounds but those which 
 nature has set. Immense plains develope them- 
 selves to the sight ; but how diversified are the pic- 
 lures which it is permitted to wander over ! how 
 majestic are they ! and on what other spot could 
 we behold an assemblage similar to this ! In these 
 scenes so variegated, the most magnificent as well 
 as the most terrible decorations of nature pass 
 successively before the eyes. To the east, coolness 
 and fertility display their treasures over the beau- 
 tiful carpet of the Delta ; to the north, the .sea, 
 source of wealth and of misfortune, rolls its waves, 
 
 the
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 363 
 
 the images of inconstancy ; and towards the west, 
 the barren covering of sterility has fixed its ever- 
 lasting abode in the deserts of Libya. 
 
 Nearly at the foot of the tower, and upon the 
 very brink of the Nile, is a mosque consecrated to 
 a holy Mussulman. He is called Abou-Mandour, 
 which signifies father of light. If he is the father 
 of light, he is likewise the terror of sands, for, 
 without him, they would Ions: a<ro have over- 
 spread the city of Rossetta, and reunited it to their 
 gloomy domain. The belief of Mahometans does 
 not stop in so fine a road. Abou-Mandour is the 
 enemy of every species of sterility, and the women 
 who arc visited with it come to imnlore his assist- 
 
 r 
 
 ance, and to perform a nine days devotion under 
 the scheick of the mosque: it is very rare, say they, 
 that their wishes are not granted. The devotion 
 to a protector so very powerful is general. Not 
 a boat passes before this place consecrated to him, 
 without the mariners and the passengers making 
 an offering to the scheick, in order that they may 
 engage the saint to be favourable to them. 
 
 Plate VIII". presents a view of this mosque. 
 Before it is the Nile, which, a little higher, after 
 you ascend it in a southward direction, forms a 
 considerable elbow towards the east-quarter-cast, 
 and afterwards it takes the direction of the south. 
 On the other side are the smiling plains of the 
 
 3 Delta,
 
 364 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 Delta. This landscape was taken at the foot of 
 the tower of Canopus. 
 
 Ten or twelve years before my arrival at Ros- 
 setta, a Turk, who lived there, had dug the gtound 
 in the environs of this tower. He found here some 
 beautiful pillars of granite, which he caused to be 
 conveyed to Rossetta, in the view of employing 
 them in the construction of a building. Ali Bey, 
 advertised of this discovery, imagined, or pretended 
 to believe, that the Turk had found gold there. 
 He condemned him to pay a considerable sum, 
 which totally deprived him of the means of build- 
 ing, and gave him ever afterwards a disgust for 
 making researches. A part of these pillars were 
 still on the shores of the Nile, opposite to the 
 house of the French, and tie others had been 
 broken for different purposes ; they belonged, ac- 
 cording to appearance, to the ancient city of Me- 
 telis, of which the tower of Canopus marks the site. 
 
 Opposite to the mosque of Abou-Mandour^ upon 
 the eastern shore of the Nile, are two or three 
 houses. They are called Maadie , because they are 
 at the spot of the usual passage of the Delta. 
 Above Maadie is Boussouralh, a village formerly 
 very much dreaded from the great number of thieves 
 who inhabited it, and who pillaged the boats. A 
 Bey, Mehemet, has exterminated them. A little 
 above Boussourath is Hashbet, another village. 
 
 On
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. $6$ 
 
 On the western shore at a little distance above 
 Abou Mandour, is Dgeddte, a pretty considerable 
 village, in the environs of which, a large number of 
 vines grow in the sand. From thence is conveyed 
 the provision of grapes for Rossetta and Alexandria. 
 
 Although they do not make any wine in Egypt, 
 the roots of the vines are there very much culti- 
 vated. They are generally planted in the sand, 
 where they have a rapid growth, and the grapes 
 which they produce acquire a delicious perfume. 
 The greater part of those which are eaten there, 
 are of that species of which the fruits only contain 
 a single stone. The Arabic name of the grape is 
 aneb. The leaves of the vine are of great utility 
 in the kitchens of Egypt ; they serve to envelope 
 lage balls of hashed meat, one of the dishes most 
 commonly presented at good tables. It is neces- 
 sary that the leaves should be young, and they 
 are frequently sold at a dearer rate than the grapes 
 themselves. 
 
 The wines of the vicinity of Alexandria, and of 
 some other cantons of Egypt, were anciently much 
 celebrated. It would be easy for us to restore their 
 lost reputation, by covering the sandy soil with 
 the excellent plants of the vine which remain in it. 
 
 The sands, in the environs of the tower of Ca- 
 nopus, assume an appearance of life, from the 
 
 assemblage
 
 $66 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 assemblage of several birds. I distinguisbed per-' 
 coptner vultures ; several lapwings which hopped 
 about seeking their food upon the sand, that is to 
 say, different species of insects; laundresses; and, 
 finally, crested larks or cochevis *. 
 
 Whilst the draughtsman, with whom I left the 
 janisary of the consul, was working at the land- 
 scape of Abou-Mandour, I buried myself in the de- 
 sert. At a distance this sandy region appears to be 
 a plain surface. However, it is furrowed with steep 
 hills of sand, which form between them narrow and 
 deep valleys, at the bottom of which you soon ar- 
 rive without the trouble of walking thither. It is 
 sufficient to let yourself go, and the moving sand, 
 which crumbles under your feet, conveys you 
 gently down. These deep intersections are, ac- 
 cording to all appearance, the work of those waters 
 which have flowed over a soil so ungrateful at the 
 present, and which formerly they rendered fertile. 
 
 The traces of different animals were imprinted 
 on the sand: I recognised those of numerous 
 jackals, and their recent dung which they had care- 
 fully covered with sand, scratching like cats. 
 
 The dust which overspreads these beds of sand is 
 go fine, that the lightest animal, the smallest insect, 
 
 * Cochevis, ou la grosse alouette huppe. Buffon, Hist. Nat. 
 des Ois. et pi. enlum. No. 503, fig. 1. — Alauda cristata. Lin. 
 
 leaves
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 367 
 
 leaves there, as on snow, the vestiges of its track. 
 The varieties of these impressions produce a pleas- 
 ing effect, in spots where the saddened soul expects 
 to meet with nothing but symptoms of the pro- 
 scriptions of nature. It is impossible to see any 
 thing more beautiful than the traces of the passage 
 of a species of very small lizards extremely common 
 in these deserts. The extremity of their tail forms 
 regular sinuosities, in the middle of two rows of 
 delineations, also regularly imprinted by their four 
 feet, with their five slender toes. These traces 
 are multiplied and interwoven near the subterra- 
 nean retreats of these little animals, and present a 
 singular assemblage which is not void of beauty, 
 
 I am going to describe one of the principal cha- 
 racters of these lizards; they have, in reality, five 
 toes on every foot j those of the two hinder feet 
 are considerably longer than those of the fore, and 
 they arc all armed with nails. The eyes arc very 
 large relatively to the dimensions of the body; the 
 tail is round, and terminates in a slender point. 
 r l he scales of the upper part of the head are broad, 
 and of an irregular form ; those on the upper 
 part of the body, the thighs, and the legs, are 
 semicircular and very small : those underneath 
 the body are oblong; those of the belly have the 
 form of lozenges placed horizontally ; the tail is 
 covered circularly with fillets of scales, like a 
 
 mutilated
 
 368 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 mutilated cone ; the tongue is broad, blackish, 
 and forked at the tip. 
 
 The largest of those lizards which I measured 
 was seven inches in length, and its tail was four 
 inches four lines. Their medium size is from 
 four to five inches. The upper part of the head 
 is of a greenish yellow, speckled aith blackish 
 spots; all the upper part of the body is variegated 
 with green and yellow, with brown and sinuous 
 lines, which contrast very prettily with the ground 
 tint ; the toes and the nails yellow ; the tail, 
 above, of green shaded with yellow, and spotted 
 with blackish points, the colour of which be- 
 comes fainter on approaching the tip of the tail ; 
 finally, all the under part of the body and of the 
 legs of a greenish gray, as is the under part of 
 the tail, with the exception of a slight tinge of 
 red, which mingles itself about half of its length 
 and at its extremity. This red tint is more or 
 less strongly marked in different individuals. I 
 have also observed that the spots of the head and 
 on the back varied by the form, and by a very shi- 
 ning bright on some of these reptiles, and ex- 
 tremely black upon others; varieties which doubt- 
 less are only those proceeding from age or sex. 
 
 To a beautiful scaly robe these little reptiles add 
 liveliness and agility in their motions. They dis- 
 appear
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 369 
 
 appear very quickly into the numerous holes which 
 they form at the foot of rare plants and shrubs of 
 a rude aspect, and which appear to partake of the 
 barrenness of the soil where they vegetate. They 
 do not conceal themselves there a Ions time, and 
 we could very easily surprise them by watching 
 when they came out of their retreat, and present- 
 ing the butt end of our guns to them. I took a 
 living one in my hand ; he bit one of my fingers 
 with all his might, but he did not do me any in- 
 jury ; his jaws and his teeth, which are very slen- 
 der, were too weak to occasion any pain, 
 
 I found upon the sands that species of carabus 
 aptirus, or without wings under the sheaths, de- 
 scribed by Citizen Olivier, under the denomination 
 of the spotted carab *, and another species with 
 wings under its sheaths, the body of which is 
 lengthened and flattened, is four lines and a half 
 long, and it has a broad and bordered corselet, 
 with two little hollows on the posterior border; the 
 sheaths bordered and lightly marked with longitu- 
 dinal lines each one of three points; the upper 
 part of the head and of the corselet, as well as the 
 
 * Carabus aptirus ater, thorace corJato, albo marigi/iato, elytris ma- 
 cults plurimis albu — Carabus mult i gut tat us. Curabe mouchet6. 
 Olivier, Enc. Meth. Nota. These carabs are the same insects 
 which Geoffroie has called bu/irestts. Hist, des Imectes des Env. 
 de Paris. 
 
 vol. i. b b sheaths,
 
 37© TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 sheaths, of a beautiful shining and golden green \ 
 the sheaths bordered with a dazzling gold colour ; 
 all the upper part of the body black ; the antennae, 
 the thighs and legs of a bright yellow ; to con- 
 clude, the tarsus of a deep yellow. 
 
 Four other insects also presented themselves to 
 my view. One, which was four lines in length, was 
 a tenebrion. The corselet was rounded, convex, 
 and bordered, each sheath convex, so that theplace 
 of their junction was hollow; the body terminated 
 in an obtuse point ; the upper part of the head, of 
 the corselet and of the sheaths dotted with very 
 small points, more discernible upon the sheaths 
 than upon the head and the corselet. The insect 
 is entirely of a beautiful shining black *. 
 
 The second species was a cricket, acrydium. Its 
 length was two inches two lines. The shining 
 eyes were striped with black and brown ; its beau- 
 tiful wings were gray and covered with several 
 spots, some yellow, and others orange-coloured. 
 The rest of the insect was variegated with yellow 
 and a yellowish green. 
 
 * It is possible that the insects I now describe may have been 
 already indicated by some authors : but the uncertainty which, 
 remains from indicative terms, has often arrested me, and I 
 thought it was better to give a description, than to waste time in 
 making researches, respecting the greater or less degrees of pro- 
 bability in their applications, 
 
 These
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 37 1 
 
 These large crickets are very common in the 
 sands which I traversed ; they fly better and to a 
 greater distance than the other insects of the same 
 species, and it is not easy to catch them. 
 
 The third insect which I found in the same de- 
 sert, on the brink of a little bason of rain water, 
 was an aquatic scorpion, hepa or nepa. Its an- 
 tenna?, if, indeed, we ought to regard as anten- 
 nae, parts which have a greater resemblance to 
 claws, are in the form of the nippers of crabs. It 
 has but one joint on each tarsus. The eyes are 
 very large and black. The abdomen, extremely 
 flattened, is terminated by two appendages in form 
 of a forked tail. The wings are blackish ; the in- 
 sect is yellow in every other part. Little length- 
 ened eggs, pointed, and of a bright red, were at- 
 tached by one of their extremities to the belly of 
 this individual. 
 
 Finally, the fourth species was a scarabeus, ( i/^ht 
 lines in length. The antennae were in a knot like 
 leaves, and the head broad and flattened in front ; 
 it formed a projecting plate on its summit, by two 
 small points, and by other little advancing points 
 on its anterior border. The corselet was broad, 
 bordered, and shining on the half of its length, 
 and rough as shagreen through the remainder. A 
 shield between the sheaths ; these were striped 
 with little pointb hardly discernible j the body was 
 
 b £ 2 convex
 
 37^ TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 convex above, and almost as thick as broad. The 
 claws were short, the thighs broad and thick ; 
 those of the posterior pair of claws in particular, 
 were uncommonly broad, and had the form of 
 little balls in some degree flattened. This extra- 
 ordinary size of the hinder legs gave this scarabeus 
 a very singular carriage. 
 
 Its colours are easy to describe. It is of a beau- 
 tiful shining black above : a golden line marks the 
 separation of the head and the corselet *, the an- 
 tennae, the claws, and the under part of the body, 
 are entirely reddish. 
 
 I had observed upon the sand a trace, which 
 formed a regular design, and which at first led me 
 to imagine that this was the impression of the folds 
 of a serpent. Curious to know to what animal this 
 track belonged, I followed it for about a hundred 
 paces, and I discovered the scarabeus, which was 
 proceeding on his way heavily and incessantly. He 
 must have taken a long time to traverse this space. 
 His thick and round body, his short claws of an 
 astonishing size, in comparison of the whole mass, 
 indicated his strength, which he seemed to employ 
 in making little journies through the desert. 
 
 We likewise saw a very little serpent shining 
 with the most beautiful colours. We could not 
 come up with it before it had creeped into a hole, 
 concealed bv the low branches of a shrub.
 
 AJffD LOWER EGYPT. o>1 3 
 
 On returning to my lodging at Rossetta, M. For- 
 ncti shewed me a letter which he had just received 
 from the Jew drogman at Aboukir. He informed 
 us that, at the moment of the embarkation of the 
 little pyramid, the garrison of the castle had op- 
 posed it. M. Forneti went immediately to the 
 Aga of Rossetta, who had also the command of 
 Aboukir; and he had obtained, not without a 
 great many difficulties, an order that the pyramid 
 should be allowed to depart. That officer had been 
 already informed of the affair before M. Forneti 
 mentioned it to him. lie pretended that the peo- 
 ple with whom we had bargained for the purchase 
 of the marble had not a right to sell it ; and that 
 to him alone we ought to have made application. 
 This gave me to understand that I must lay my 
 account with paying for it twice over. The Aga 
 added, that he had been assured that the little 
 pyramid was quite full of gold. In consequence 
 of this idea he gave orders, that immediately upon 
 the arrival of the pyramid at Rossetta, it should be 
 brought to him first, in order that he might exa- 
 mine it, and see himself the gold which it con- 
 tained. If he should not discover any, he con- 
 scnted to sell it to us. 
 
 The ignorant Aga did not confine himself to 
 these precautions ; he secretly sent for the janisary 
 who had accompanied us to Aboukir, to learn of 
 him, if there was not concealed gold in the piece 
 
 of
 
 374 TRAVELS IN UPPER 
 
 of marble. This janisary, who had for a long 
 time been attached to the service of the French, 
 and who was accustomed to accompany them, 
 knew that gold was not the object of their re- 
 searches in Egypt, and did all he could to unde- 
 ceive the Aga, but it was in vain ; the Mameluc 
 would not believe that a stone could have value in 
 our eyes; and the questions which he asked on 
 this subject were extremely diverting. 
 
 At last the pyramid arrived from Aboukir. When 
 it was disembarked at the port of Rossetta, it at- 
 tracted a crowd of the curious. Exclamations on 
 its beauty resounded on every side. This was in 
 their estimation a precious stone, in the real sense 
 of that expression, and this was because it shone 
 in the sun. They could not refrain from uttering 
 a sentiment of respect towards the Francs, who 
 had possessed the sagacity to discover a stone so 
 worthy of admiration. 
 
 There was every reason to believe that the ab- 
 surd conversation of so manystupidadmirers would 
 reach the ears of the Aga, and that they would 
 confirm him in his ideas of treasure. M. Forneti 
 and 1 agreed to leave the marble on the quay, and 
 to assume the appearance of thinking no longer 
 about it. However, the Aga, who had had suffi- 
 cient time to convince himself that he had taken 
 so much trouble about what was, in reality, nothing 
 
 but
 
 AND LOWER EGYPT. 375 
 
 but a stone, was astonished at the small degree of 
 eagerness which we displayed to carry it off. He 
 called the janisary, in order to discover the mo- 
 tives of an unconcern which was only apparent. 
 This man, who had received his cue, replied to 
 the Aga, that after the pretensions which he had 
 made respecting the stone, we had thought no 
 more of it; but that, notwithstanding, we would 
 still take it, if he would consent not to put too 
 high a price upon it. The janisary returned with 
 an order to have it conveyed to my lodging, with 
 an assurance that the Aga would abate consider- 
 ably in his pretended rights, and that he would 
 settle the matter with M. Forneti. I got clear, in 
 reality, for a very trifling present. 
 
 Circumstances prevented my taking the little 
 pyramid when I departed from Egypt. I left it in 
 a magazine of the French house at Rossetta, and 
 committed it to the care of the consul. If any per- 
 son thought that he was at liberty to carry it off, as 
 a thing abandoned, I entreat him to recall to mind 
 that his acquisition cost me a great many troubles, 
 much management, and much uneasiness. I say 
 nothing of the money. I must believe that I have 
 the right of reclaiming it, and surely the motive of 
 my reclamation will influence the possessor to re- 
 store this superb fragment of antiquity, as 1 have no 
 other desire than to present it to the national mu- 
 seum,
 
 37^ TRAVELS IN EGYPT. 
 
 seum, in which it is worthy of occupying a distin- 
 guished place. 
 
 Furthermore, the opinion that the researches of 
 Europeans had no other object than the discovery 
 of treasures buried or shut up in the monuments of 
 antiquity, was that of all the inhabitants of Egypt ; 
 and it was become one of the greatest obstacles 
 which the traveller had to overcome. A Turk of 
 Rossetta had, at the door of his magazine, a very 
 beautiful piece of granite, upon which hieroglyphic 
 figures were engraved in perfect preservation. 
 After having a drawing of it taken *, I proposed 
 to the owner that he should sell me the granite 
 itself; I offered besides to have another stone set 
 up in its place at my own expense. The Turk 
 would never listen to any proposal : he alleged as 
 the motive of his refusal, that this granite was 
 full of gold. The man was poor, and when I de- 
 manded why he did not break his stone, in order 
 to extract those riches for which he appeared to 
 have so much occasion, he replied, that this would 
 be a wicked and dangerous action, because his 
 stone was a talisman. 
 
 * This drawing is one of those which, at different epochas, I 
 sent into France, and which have disappeared. I regret not 
 having preserved them; several of them were interesting, and 
 would have been suitable ornaments for this work. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
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