IOGRAPHY. 5ANS, By W. Cooke Taylor, CIS THE FIRST, KING OF !., 36s. KENT. By the Rev. Erskine is LIFE AND HIS DEATH. Mm post 8vo., 12s. COMPARATIVE PHYSICAL >1., post 8vo., 5s. iilosophy of Spirits, Appari- TED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND A., F.R.S. 2 vols., post 8vo., 21s. DMIRAL SIR WM. SYDNEY 1 F. R S. 2 vols., 8vo., 28s. iER STANHOPE, EARL OF by Lord Mahon. 4 vols., 8vo., jOLUTION. By M. A. Thiers. Iations, by F. Shoberl. 5 vols., with an Historical Account By Samuel Eliot. 2 vols., 8vo , EL, KING OF CASTILE AND j - ™.„., post Svo., lCs. MEMOIRS AND ESSAYS ILLUSTRATIVE OF ART, LITERATURE, AND SOCIAL MORALS. By Mrs. Jameson. 1 vol., post 8vo., 10s. 6d. THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC OF SPAIN. By W. H. Prescott. Sixth Edition. 3 vols., crown 8vo., 18s. ; or in 3 vols., 8vo., 42s. HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO, with the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes. By W. H. Prescott. Fifth Edition. 3 vols , crown 8vo., 18s. ; or in 2 vols., 8vo., 32s. BIOGRAPHICAL AND LITERARY ESSAYS. By W. H. Prescott. 8vo., 14s. HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF PERU. By W. H. Prescott. Fourth Edition. 3 vols., crown Svo., 18s. ; or in 2 vols., 8vo., 32s. MEMOIRS OF PRINCE RUPERT AND THE CAVALIERS. By Eliot Warburton. Numerous fine Portraits. 3 vols., Svo. , 42s. THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. By the Author of “ Hochelaga.” 2 vols., 8vo., 28s. THE FAIRFAX CORRESPONDENCE. By Robert Bell. 4 vols., 8vo., 60s. A HISTORY OF THE JESUITS, from the Foundation of their Society. By Andrew Stein metz. 3 vols., 8vo., 45s. LOUIS XIV., and the Court of France in the Seventeenth Century. By Miss Julia Pardoe. Third Edition. 3 vols., 8vo., 42s. L I B IRA RY OF THE U N I VERS ITY Of ILLINOIS Received by bequest from Albert H. Lybyer Professor of History University of Illinois 1916-1949 RICHARD BENTLEY, New Burlington Street. HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. MEMOIRS OF THE REIGNS OF EDWARD VI. AND MARY. By Patrick Fraser Tytler. 2 vols., 8vo., 24s. NAVAL HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, with a Continuation op the History to the Present Time. By W. James. 6 vols., 8vo., 54s. MEMOIRS OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. By Horatio, Lord Orford. Edited, with Notes, by Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart. 4 vols., 8vo., 56s. BENTLEY’S COLLECTIVE EDITION OF THE LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE. 6 vols., 63s. LETTERS TO SIR HORACE MANN. By Horace Walpole. Second Series. 4 vols., 8vo., 56s. CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES OF ENGLISH SOCIETY, POLITICS, AND LITERATURE, comprised in a Series of Letters to the Coun- tess of Ossory. By Horace Walpole. Edited by the Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, M.P. 2 vols., 8vo., 30s. MEMOIRS OF THE CO CRT OF ENGLAND DURING THE REIGN OF THE STUARTS. By J. Heneage Jesse. 4 vols., 8vo., 56 s. MEMOIRS 01 THE COURT OF ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSES OF NASSAU AND HANOVER. By J. Heneage Jesse. 3 vols., 8vo., 42s. MEMOIRS OF THE CHEVALIER AND PRINCE CHARLES ED- WARD. By J. Heneage Jesse. 2 vols., 8vo., 28s. MEMOIRS OF EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS. By Charles Mackay, LL.D. 3 vols., 8vo., 42s. MEMOIRS OF KING HENRY V. By J. E. Tyler, B.D. 2 vols., 8vo., 21s. A HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME; Comprising Memoirs of the Courts of Elizabeth and James I. By Dr. Goodman, Bishop of Glou- cester. Edited by J. S. Brewer, M.A. 2 vols., 8vo., 18s. ILLUSTRATIONS OF ENGLISH HISTORY IN A NEW SERIES OF LETTERS; now first published from the original MSS. By Sir Henry Ellis. 4 vols., post 8vo., 24s. MEMOIRS OF THE TWO REBELLIONS IN SCOTLAND IN 1715 AND 1745; or the Adherents of the Stuarts. By Mrs. Thomson. 3 vols., 8vo., 42s. AN ACCOUNT OF THE KINGDOM OF CAUBUL AND ITS DEPEN- DENCIES IN PERSIA, TARTARY, AND INDIA. By the Right Honour- able Mountstuart Elphinstone. 2 vols., 8vo., 28s. A CENTURY OF CARICATURES ; on, England under the House of Hanover. By Thomas Wright. 2 vols., 8 vo., 30s. SOCIAL LIFE IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. By Miss Berry. 2 vols., small 8vo., 21s. DIARIES AND CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES HARRIS, FIRST EARL OF MALMESBURY. Edited by his Grandson. 4 vols., 8vo., 60s. MEMOIRS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON ; to which are now added a History of the Hundred Days, of the Battleof Waterloo, and of Napoleon’s Exile and Death at St. Helena. By M. Bour- rienne. Numerous Portraits. 4 vols., 8vo., 30s. THE LIFE AND REMAINS OF THEODORE HOOK. By the Rev. R. D. Barham. Second Edition. 2 vols., post 8vo., 21s. RICHARD BENTLEY, New Burlington Street. THE GOLDEN HORN; AND SKETCHES IN ASIA MINOR, EGYPT, SYRIA, AND THE H AURA AN. LONDON : R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. THE GOLDEN HORN; AND SKETCHES IN ASIA MINOR, EGYPT, SYRIA, AND THE HAURAAN. BY CHARLES JAMES MONK, M.A. TRIN. COL. CAM. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, tn ©riunarg to ffflajeg tg. 1851 . ► Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from . University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/goldenhornsketch02monk CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME, CHAPTER XI. THE PYRAMIDS. PAGE Ancient Historians — Modern Writers — Haram el Kedab — Dashoor — Memphis — Sakkara — Abooseer — The Sphinx — The Great Pyramids of Geezeh 1 CHAPTER XII. CAIRO. Arrival at Cairo — Bazaars — Sights of Cairo — The Hilometer — Shoobra — Heliopolis — Mahmoud — Preparations for De- parture — Escort of Bedouin Arabs 29 CHAPTER XIII. THE DESERT. Departure from Cairo — Road to Suez — Suez — Passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea — Ain Mftsa — The Desert — Wady Gharundel — Hummam Pharaoon— El Murckhah — W ady Maghara — W ady Mokattub — Feirftn — Serbal — Tents of the Welad Saeed — Convent of St. Catherine . . 42 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIY. PAGE Sinai — Horeb — The Mount of Moses — The Archimandrite — Departure — Sarbout el Khadem — Et-Tih — Wady el Arish — Nakhl — Aboo Kalee — Tlyarah Arabs — Change of Route — Eboda — Elusa — Beersheba — Mountains of Judah — Dhyheriyeh — Hebron 96 CHAPTER XY. Quarantine at Hebron — The Sindian — The Pools of Hebron — El Haram — Moslem Burial Ground — Women of the Place — Bethlehem — Arrival at Jerusalem 137 CHAPTER XYI. Jerusalem — Historical Notices — The Holy Sepulchre — Mosque of Omar — Jews’ Place of Wailing — The Modern City — Gethsemane — Mount of Olives — Kidron — Siloam — Yalley of Hinnom — Bethany — Jericho — The Jordan — The Dead Sea — Neby Mftsa 163 CHAPTER XYII. English Church at Jerusalem — Departure — Last Yiewof the Holy City — Tombs of the Kings — Neby Samwil — Gideon — Bethel — Shiloh — Shechem — Gerizim— Samaria — Jenin — Plain of Esdraelon— Nazareth — Mount Tabor — Tiberias — Negotiations at Shammakh 200 CHAPTER XYIII. The Hieromax — Plain of Basan — Mountains of Gilead — Pella — Mohammed Agha — Ajlftn — Souf — Gerash — Beni- sucker Arabs — Ed Durrah — Villages of the Hauraan — Bridal Party — Um Wulad 232 CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER XIX. THE HAURAAN. PAGE Bozrah — Suweideh — Kunaw&t — The Druses of the Hauraan — Schurbah — Arrival at Damascus 267 CHAPTER XX. Damascus — Arab Gratitude — Pharphar — Roman Road — Anti-Lebanon — Baalbeck — Zackhle — Road to Tripoli — Beyrout — Lady Hester Stanhope — Djo&n — Deir el Kam- mor — Conclusion 289 Appendix . 315 THE GOLDEN HORN. — 4. — CHAPTER XI. THE PYRAMIDS. ANCIENT HISTORIANS — MODERN WRITERS — EARAM EL KEDAB — DASHOOR — MEMPHIS — SAKKARA — ABOOSEBR — THE SPHINX — THE GREAT PYRAMIDS OF GEEZEH. The Pyramids of Egypt have been fertile sources of conjecture to both ancient and modern histo- rians : the accounts given by them of their origin and of the objects of their construction are far from satisfactory ; hut vague as are their surmises, they nevertheless demand our attention, and pre- sent us with sufficient data to enable us to form our own opinions on the marvels of the Memphite nome. According to Herodotus, the founder of the great pyramid of Geezeh, Cheops, was a cruel and tyrannical ruler. “ He closed all VOL. II. B 2 ORIGIN OF THE PYRAMIDS. the temples and forbade the Egyptians to perform sacrifices ; after which he made them all work for him. Some were employed in the quarries of the Arabian hills, to cut stones, to drag them down to the river, and to put them into boats, others being stationed on the opposite shore to receive them and drag them to the Libyan hills ; and the hundred thousand men thus employed were relieved by r an equal number every three months. Of the time passed in this arduous undertaking, ten years were taken up with the construction of the cause- way for the transport of the stones, — a work scarcely less wonderful,” he observes, “ in my opinion, than the pyramid itself : for it has five stadia in length, four hundred cubits in breadth, and the highest part is three hundred and two cubits, while the w’hole is constructed of polished stones sculptured with the figures of animals. Those ten years were occupied exclusively in the causeway, independently of the time spent in levelling the hill on which the pyramids stand, and in making the subterraneous chambers intended for his tomb, in an island formed by the waters of the Nile, which he conducted thither by a canal. The building of the pyramid itself occupied MODE OE CONSTRUCTION. 3 twenty years. It is square, each face measuring- eight hundred feet in length, and the same in height. The greater part is of polished stones, most carefully put together, no one of which is less than thirty feet long. “ This pyramid was built in steps, and as the work proceeded, the stones were raised from the ground by means of machines made of short pieces of wood. When a block had been brought to the first tier, it was placed in a machine there, and so on from tier to tier by a succession of similar machines, there being as many machines as tiers of stones, or perhaps one served for the purpose, being moved from tier to tier as each stone was taken up. I mention this, because I have heard both stated. When completed in this manner, they proceeded to make out the form of the pyramid, beginning at the top, and thence down- wards to the lowest tier. On the pyramid was engraved in Egyptian characters the sum expended in supplying the workmen with raphamis , onions, and garlick ; and he who interpreted the inscrip- tion told me, as I remember well, that it amounted to 1,600 talents, (200,000/.) If that be true, how much more must have been expended on the iron B 2 4 THEIR HISTORY tools, the food, and clothing of the workmen, employing as they did all the time above men- tioned in the work itself, without taking into account the time spent in cutting and transporting the stones, and making the subterraneous chambers, which must have been considerable.” Herodotus goes on to mention an incredible story about a smaller pyramid having been built by the daughter of Cheops, each side of which is a hundred and fifty feet in length. “ After a reign of fifty years according to Egyptian chronologers Cheops died, and was succeeded by his brother Cephren, who followed the example of his predecessor in building a pyramid, but inferior in size to that of his brother. I measured them both. It has neither subterra- neous chambers, nor any canal flowing into it from the Nile, like the other, where the tomb of its founder is placed in an island, surrounded by water. The lowest tier of this pyramid is of Ethiopian stone of various colours. It is forty feet smaller than the great pyramid. Both are built on the same hill, which is about one hun- dred feet high. I was likewise informed that Cephren reigned fifty-six years, so that the ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS. 5 Egyptians were overwhelmed for one hundred and six years with every kind of oppression, and the temples continued to be closed during the whole time. Indeed they have such an aversion for the memory of these two princes, that they will not even mention their names, and for this reason they call the pyramids after the shepherd Philition, who at the time of their erection used to feed his flocks near this spot. “ After Cephren, Mycerinus son of Cheops, according to the statement of the priests, ascended the throne. He also built a pyramid, much smaller than that of his father ; it is square, each of its sides measuring two hundred and eighty feet, and it is made half way up with Ethiopian stone. Disapproving of the conduct of his father, he ordered the temples to be opened, and per- mitted the people, who had been oppressed by a long series of cruelties, to return to their work, and to their religious duties; and administering justice with great equity, he was looked upon by the Egyptians as superior to all the kings who had ever ruled the country.” Diodorus gives a somewhat similar account of the construction of the three great pyramids, and 6 REMARKS OF in reference to that built by Mycerinus, states that he died previous to its completion. “ Each side was made three hundred feet long at the base, with a casing of black stone, similar to that called Thebaic, as far as the fifteenth tier, the rest being Completed with stone of the same quality as the other pyramids. Though inferior in size to the other, it is superior in its style of building, and in the quality of the stone.” Strabo speaks of the two great pyramids being reckoned among the wonders of the "world. (< They are both,” he says, “ a stadium in height, of a square figure, and their height is little more than the breadth of the sides ; but one is larger than the other. Near the centre of the sides is a stone, which can be taken out, from which a passage leads into the tomb.” Pliny regards them as “ an idle and silly display of royal wealth. For some state the reason of their erection to have been either to deprive successors or ambitious competitors of the money, or to prevent the people becoming idle. Nor was this vanity confined to one person, and the traces of many begun and left unfinished may still be seen.” “ The main question of all,” he remarks, ANCIENT HISTORIANS. 7 “ is how they contrived to raise such immense masses of stone to such an enormous height.” This question we have already seen satisfactorily answered by Herodotus, while Pliny contents him- self with merely quoting two absurd conjectures on the part of later writers, some of whom suppose that mounds, composed of nitre and salt, were gradually formed as the work advanced, and were afterwards dissolved by the water of the river as soon as it was finished ; while others imagine that bridges were made of mud bricks, which, when the work was completed, were used to build private houses. These stories are evidently given by Pliny, not because he believed them to be pro- bable, but on account of their utter absurdity. He seems to take a pleasure in dealing with the marvellous, and in ridiculing much in Egyptian history that to a more impaitial mind would have afforded ground for further inquiry, while he seasons his work with the most improbable specu- lations of Greek antiquaries. An instance of the indifference with which he regarded the great works in this country occurs in a dry sententious passage, where he characterises that most beneficial and practical work, Lake Mceris, in the Fyoom, 8 MODERN WRITERS. as “ a vast ditch of which the Egyptians make as much parade as if it were one of the wonders of the world.” After enumerating several pyramids in the Arsi- noite and Memphite nomes, and among others the three larger ones, which have tilled the whole world with their renown, he proceeds to say, “ Before them is the Sphinx, even more wonder- ful, and having the appearance of a local deity of the neighbouring people. They suppose King Amasis was buried within it, and that the whole was brought to the place where it now stands, though in reality it is cut out of the natural rock, and worked smooth. The circumference of the monster’s head is 102 feet across the forehead, its length is 143, and its height from the belly to the highest point of the head 63 feet.” The author of “ The Nile Boat” observes that the pyramids have been regarded as erected for every conceivable and inconceivable purpose that could be imagined by superstitious awe, by erudi- tion groping without data in the dark, or rea- soning upon the scanty and suspicious evidence of Grecian writers. The more recent discoveries of Champollion, of Colonel Howard Yyse, and others, have removed much of the mystery in II ARAM EL KEDAB 9 which their history was enveloped ; and we may now safely pronounce them to be a series of royal mausolea, forming the most magnificent and strik- ing necropolis in the world. A bright sunny morning ushered in the new year; and a most inviting walk lay before us, through fields of corn, of clover and beans, with here and there, at the distance of about two miles from one another, villages almost hidden by the palms that surrounded them, or perched on the summit of a mound of considerable extent, mark- ing the site of an ancient town. Part of the w~ay lay across a large tract of ground, from which the inundation had only lately receded, and the plough was still at work. The land was intersected by ditches filled with water, across which we had to leap. A little beyond this ground, at a distance of about six miles from the river, stands H^ram el Kedab, or the false pyramid, perfectly isolated and alone in its grandeur. It is so called from the erroneous idea that its base is merely rock, and not part of the structure. It is square, and consists of three or four tiers of limestone built one above another, the lower tiers being buried in sand and in the accumulation of stones broken in fragments from the sides of this pyramid by the B 3 10 1IARAM EL KEDAB. Turks. It may be from 200 to 230 feet in height. That which appears to be the middle story or degree is considerably higher than the one above or below. Towards its centre the outer stones have a rough appearance, and project from the smooth surface to a height of eighteen or twenty feet. This is also the case in the lower degrees ; but on the whole the surface is beautifully polished, and the blocks have been fitted together with surprising accuracy and precision. It is built at an angle of about 75°. This fine monument has been greatly injured by the Turks, who have turned it into a quarry : but it seems to have withstood all their efforts, since the injury done on the northern side has not in the least affected the other sides or the stability of the pyramid itself. On returning to Soweh we sailed down to Sho- buk, twenty-one miles above Cairo, where we arrived late the same evening, intending to visit the pyramids of Dashoor and Sakkara, and Mitra- henny, the site of ancient Memphis, on the morrow. An English and an American boat that w T e passed on their way up the river, returned our salute of three guns. The canals and ditches that intersect the land ROAD TO DASHOOR. 11 between the river and the Libyan desert were still more than half full of water ; one of the former through which I waded was nearly fifty yards across, with the water almost up to my middle ; but as two or three damsels, who dwelt in the village beyond, appeared nothing loth to walk through it, 1 felt constrained to follow their ex- ample, instead of walking a mile and a half out of my road to a bridge. I must have presented a strange appearance to the Arabs in my European dress, my trowsers turned up to no purpose above the knee, my gun in the right hand above my shoulder, a pair of shoes in the left, (for the mud alone reached half way up my legs, so that I should inevitably have lost one or both of my shoes, had I worn them,) the tails of my coat float- ing behind me on the surface of the water, while I was slipping and sliding about in the mud, and withal receiving instructions, scarcely a word of which I could understand, concerning certain spots to be visited or avoided near the middle of the canal, from a good-natured peasant girl, who waited till I was safely landed on the opposite bank, before she commenced her passage with a con- siderable bundle on her head. I could not help 12 PYRAMIDS envying the damsel her single loose robe, which offered no impediments in walking through the water, and required so little trouble in raising or lowering it according to the depth of mud and water. The distance from Shobuk to the first, the brick pyramid of Dashoor, is about five miles, but by the route we were constrained to take it could scarcely have been less than seven. It is situated about half a mile from the verge of cultivation, which is bounded by a pretty picturesque little grove of acanthus, apparently cultivated with great care ; and beneath it the green sward afforded rich pas- turage to the best looking flock of sheep that we have seen in Egypt. We commenced by ascend- ing the brick pyramid, which presents to the eye a vast, crude, and shapeless mass. The bricks contain an unusual quantity of chopped straw. They have been baked and hardened by the sun ; and like all those of ancient date, as well as those of the present day used in the construction of the houses of the peasantry, simply resemble clods of peat or dried earth. From the summit of this pyramid are distinguishable eighteen other pyra- mids, including the great ones of Geezeh, not to OF DASHOOR. 13 mention several smaller ones in their vicinity, which were visible through a telescope. The second, or southernmost pyramid, is of considerable size and height, and is remarkable from the cir- cumstance of its summit, or about three-eighths of the structure, having been constructed, at a dif- ferent angle from the lower part. The lower angle is 54°, the upper is 43°. It gives a singular and not very pleasing appearance to the pyramid. The angle was probably depressed in order to com- plete the work more speedily ; for according to the original plan its dimensions would have been considerably greater. We commenced the ascent at the south-western corner. The view from the summit over the desert as far as the Libyan hills, with the pyramids scattered in the fore- ground, and to the right the rich plain at our feet with the Nile flowing through the midst of it, and the distant city of Cairo just visible in the distance, was very fine and imposing. According to my measurement, for the accuracy of which I will not vouch, this pyramid is 320 feet in height, originally about 334 feet, for the apex has been broken and cast down. The length of the side, (it being, as far as it is possible to judge, 14 PYRAMIDS a perfect square,) at the base is 614 feet. It is cased in sandstone, the surface of which has re- ceived a good polish. The stones used in its con- struction are not laid horizontally, but incline at a considerable angle to the surface of the ground and slope inwards. To the south of this in its immediate vicinity is a small brick pyramid, sup- posed by Colonel Yyse to have been originally 181 feet square, and 106 high. The southernmost brick pyramid, he says, was 342 feet six inches square, and 267 feet six inches high, of which only 156 feet now remain. That to the north, which once bore an inscription engraved on stone, and affixed to it by King Asychis, as Herodotus informs us, was 350 feet square, and 315 feet six inches high, now reduced to ninety feet. The in- scription was as follows : “ Do not despise me, when compared to the stone pyramids ; I am as superior to them as Jupiter to the other gods. For men plunging poles into a lake, and collecting the mud thus extracted, formed it into bricks of which they made me.” Round the great pyramid there has been a cir- cuit wall, probably built of limestone, as I inferred from the white line, which plainly marks the posi- Or DASHOOR. 15 tion of tlie wall ; the whole of it, however, has been carried away. The northernmost pyramid of Dashoor is 126 feet high, and about 181 feet square. It is situated nearly a mile from the others. The entire coating, which was of lime- stone, has been carried away or broken ; fragments lie scattered around. In all probability it has served as a quarry for building some of the palaces and mosques of Cairo. The under surface is a species of sandstone, of an inferior quality to that of the southern pyramid. It has a more pleasing appearance than the other, especially from a dis- tance, since the same angle is preserved throughout. It was too late when we returned to our boat to visit Sakkara and Mitrahenny the same after- noon, so we dropped down the river about a couple of miles, in order to be ready to start early the next morning in search of the site and remains of the mighty Memphis. Alas ! where are they now to be found? Strabo, in speaking of that city says, “ Near to the pyramids is Memphis, the royal residence of the Egyptians, distant three schcenes from the Delta. It has a temple of Apis, who is the same as Osiris. Here the bull Apis is kept in an enclosure, and treated as a 16 MEMPHIS. god . . . His temple is close to that of Hephaestus, (Ptliah,) which is very magnificent, both in size and other respects. Before the dromos lies a colossus of a single stone ; and in this space it is customary to have bull fights, the animals being trained for the purpose by persons who are like the breeders of horses, and having fought together, the reward is adjudged to the victor. At Mem- phis is also a temple of Venus, supposed to be a Greek goddess .... The city is large and popu- lous, next to Alexandria in size, and like that, filled with foreign residents. Before it are some lakes ; but the palaces, situated once on an ele- vated spot, and reaching down to the lower part of the city, are now ruined and deserted. Con- tiguous are the grove and lake. ” “ The taking of Memphis by the Persians, under Cambyses,” observes Wilkinson, “was the first blow received by this ancient city, which con- tinued to be the capital of the lower country until the wealth of Alexandria had raised its importance to such a point, that Thebes and Memphis gradually decreased in size and opulence ; and in the time of the Romans Memphis held a secondary rank, and Thebes had ceased to be MEMPHIS. 17 a city. Memphis still continued to enjoy some consequence, even at the time of the Arab inva- sion ; and though its ancient palace was a ruin, the Governor of Egypt, John Mecaukes, still resided in the city, and it was here that he con- cluded a treaty with the invaders, after they had succeeded in taking the strong Roman fortress at Babylon. The wealth, as well as the inhabitants of Memphis, soon passed to the new Arab city of Eostat, and the capital of Lower Egypt in a few years ceased to exist. The blocks of stone of its ruined monuments were taken to build modern edifices ; and we find Pococke, a hundred years ago, expressing his astonishment that the position of Memphis should be entirely unknown. Modern discoveries have ascertained its site ; but we are surprised to find so few remains of this vast city.” A few hundred yards from the western bank of the Nile is the modern village of Mitrahenny and a long range of extensive mounds, covered with palm-trees, and extending for nearly a mile in the direction of the pyramids of Sakkara. Some broken fragments of granite columns arrested our attention for a few moments, as we rode over the site of Memphis, but there w r as 18 COLOSSAL STATUE AT MEMPHIS. nought beside the admonitus loci to give them any particular interest in our eyes. A little further on towards the extremity of the lake, then almost filled with water, we came to the fine colossal statue of Remeses the Great lying on its face, which, at the period of our visit, had some feet of water around it in the pit, where it was found by Signor Caviglia and Mr. Sloane, who presented it to the British Museum, on the condition of its being removed to England. Part of the placid countenance of the monarch was however visible ; the whole is in excellent preservation, and the expression of the features is remarkably beautiful. The royal oval is sculptured on his side, and in the centre. A figure of his daughter is repre- sented at his side, reaching a little above his knee. The colossus was originally in a standing position, and measured forty-two feet six inches in height. It was broken a little above the feet in its fall. Can this be the statue of Sesostris mentioned by Herodotus as standing before the temple of Hephaestus ? It is of exceedingly hard limestone, and has not suffered from remaining so long underground. The back of the column, against which the statue leaned, must have pro- PYRAMIDS OF SAKKARA. 19 truded above the ground, and has in consequence been much hacked, leaving the surface very rough. A few yards to the north is a small granite column, nearly buried in the alluvial soil, with a square capital, having on each side the head of Isis, very perfect. A ride of three miles, the last over the sands of the desert, brought us to the principal pyramid of Sakk&ra, which disappointed me not a little, as I had formed a grander idea of it the pre- ceding day at Daslioor than subsequent inspec- tion seemed to warrant. This pyramid is of sandstone, built in six stories or degrees, about 350 feet long at the base on the north and south sides, and 390 on the east and west. The stones incline slightly inwards. The exterior coating has been stripped off from the surface. The remains of several buildings and some small pyra- mids are in its immediate vicinity, the whole having once been surrounded by a walled enclosure. In the neighbourhood of the great pyramid are numerous ibis mummy pits, in which the sacred birds have been stowed away in long earthen pots, mostly crumbling into dust. A party of workmen were engaged clearing away the sand from one of 20 PYRAMIDS OF SAKKARA. these pits, preparatory to opening it. They were employed by some person residing at Cairo. It was built of stones, cemented with mortar, differ- ing in this respect from the pyramids, where no mortar has been used, although the stones have been fitted together with admirable precision. In all directions bones and mummy-cloths as well as the skulls of men and animals lay scattered around, and the sand for more than two miles between the pyramids of Sakk^ra and Abooseer was slightly whitened with small bleached fragments of bones. As we were seated at lunch beneath the shade cast upon us by the pyramid, a reptile, resembling a crocodile in miniature, with an enormous head, but less than a foot in length, crept out from below the stone which served us as a table. The guides pronounced it to be venomous, so we dis- patched it with all convenient haste, the fragments of stone around affording ready weapons. There is a second rough pyramid to the north-east of the other, but it merely resembles a great heap of stones. We rode across the desert to the pyramids of Abooseer, distant about two miles and a half. They are three in number, and built in degrees. We had plenty of time on hand, and were in ABOOSEER. 21 no hurry to return to the boat ; otherwise these pyramids will not repay the trouble of going any distance out of the way to pay them a visit. They are formed of sandstone, and the exterior coating has been removed. We returned to Mitrahenny by a more northerly road, on a high causeway, built as a defence against the inundation. In the vicinity of the modern village, we found a few more granite blocks, one of which bore the oval of Osirtasen III., of the 17th dynasty, which ruled in Lower Egypt during the seventeenth century B.c., in the time of Joseph. Our last night on the Nile, in the comfortable boat that had for so many weeks been our home, was spent in the immediate vicinity of Geezeh and the celebrated egg-ovens, which were not at work during our stay at Cairo, nearly opposite to the Island of Rhoda and old Cairo, and not far from the spot where we moored our boat on the evening of the 31st of October; when we were setting forth with somewhat exalted notions re- specting the wonders of Egypt that lay before us, though fortunately our expectations were not doomed to be disappointed. Soon after sunrise, on the 4-th of January, the 22 THE SPHINX. boatman, whom we had despatched to Old Cairo, returned with donkeys ; and as soon as they were ferried across, we started for the Great Pyramids of Geezeh. A ride of an hour and three quarters brought us to the celebrated Sphinx, which has been so often described by travellers that I shall only remark that, although the features have been greatly injured, the nose broken, and the face nearly flattened, there still remains sufficient to show that, notwithstanding its enormous size, it was not deficient in beauty. It lies in a hollow to the south-east of the great pyramid, and the greater part of it is buried in sand. Several Greek exvotos, or dedicatory inscriptions, were cut upon its paws, and others on its right face to Ares, Harpocrates, and Hermes. In the area in front of it was a small altar, which has been entirely buried in the accumulated sand of ages. “ The deification of the Sphinx,” observes Wilkin- son, “ is singular, because that fanciful animal is always found to be an emblematic representation of the king, the union of intellect and physical force ; and is of common occurrence in that cha- racter on the monuments of early and recent Pha- raonic periods.” THE GREAT PYRAMID. 23 I had been somewhat disappointed at the size of the pyramids, even when within a few hundred yards of them ; and it was not until I stood imme- diately below them that their full size and ex- traordinary grandeur and magnificence burst upon me. Then, and not till then, did I fully realize the preconceived notions I had formed of those stupendous monuments, which have filled the world with their fame, and seem likely to main- tain their celebrity so long as the world itself exists. I began by ascending the first, commonly known by the name of the pyramid of Cheops. Several Arabs proffered their assistance. I declined, how- ever, and in less than nine minutes, I found myself on its summit. The immensity of the mass of stones upon which I was standing is diffi- cult to picture to the mind ; while, on the other hand, ' the impressions once received will not easily be effaced from the memory. During half an hour I enjoyed the fine prospect around me, with Cephren’s pyramid, scarcely less than the one upon which I stood, immediately behind ; and it was with regret that I commenced the descent, after standing on the summit of the highest struc- 24 THE GREAT PYRAMID. ture in existence that has been raised by the hands of man. It is four hundred and sixty feet nine inches in height, and when entire, with its apex, was full twenty feet higher. The length of each face was seven hundred and fifty-six feet, twenty- four feet being allowed for the outer casing stones, all of which have long since been taken away for the erection of mosques and other buildings at Cairo, during the reigns of the Caliphs. The area on which it stands is nearly the same as that of Lincoln’s Inn Fields ; the latter, however, has a slight advantage. Incredible as it may seem, the solid contents of this pyramid have been calculated at no less than eighty-five millions of cubic feet. Having lighted a couple of bougies, and taking two guides with me, I entered the passage on the northern face of the pyramid leading to the two principal chambers. For some time we had to ascend, and I found the polished granite pavement so slippery as to make it necessary to take off my shoes, to enable me to preserve my equilibrium. The king’s chamber, the principal apartment in the pyramid, is thirty-four feet by seventeen feet six inches, and about nineteen in height. It is built entirely of granite, the roof being formed by large THE PYRAMID OF CEPHREN. 25 blocks of the same material resting upon the side walls. At the upper end is a large sarcophagus of red granite. In this as well as in the other principal chamber that we visited are long tubes formed in the walls, and coming down from the exterior of the pyramid in a slanting direction for the purpose of admitting fresh air into the apartment. Contrary to our general experience in the inner chambers of Egyptian temples and tombs, we found it to be perfectly good and wholesome in the centre of these mighty monuments. There are five other chambers above, only to be reached by means of ladders. The second pyramid, of Cephren, was about 453 feet in height, allowing rather more than six feet for the fallen apex. The base was 707 feet in length, allowing seventeen feet for the casing stones that have been removed from the greater part of the pyramid. From the summit, however, it is still cased for some way downwards with polished stones, like the pyramid at Dashoor ; but from a distance it presents a singular and rather unpleasing appearance, while the overhanging casing stones render the ascent somewhat difficult. The passages leading into this pyramid are formed VOL. II. C 26 THE PYRAMID OP MYCERINUS. entirely of granite, and slant downwards. They lead only to one main chamber, where is a sar- cophagus sunk in the floor. The third pyramid, of Mycerinus, or Mencheres, as his name appears in hieroglyphics, has three principal chambers, and six smaller ones, evi- dently intended to hold sarcophagi. The entrance to this pyramid was opened by Colonel Howard Yyse. The roof of one of the chambers is pointed, while the huge granite blocks incline at a very acute angle to one another. Not one of them has fallen or been displaced. By an upper passage we found our way to the top of this roof, and discovered that it was a second or false ceiling, the upper one being flat, and consisting of immense blocks of granite, simply laid across from wall to wall. In this chamber was found a stone sarcophagus, which was, unfortunately, lost on its way to Eng- land, the vessel having gone down at sea ; but the wooden coffin, with the name of the king which it contained within it, is now in the British Museum ; where there is also a mummy, found in the passage of this pyramid, lying between two large stones. The present height of the pyramid is 203 feet, and its base, 333 feet. EXCELLENCE OF OUR CREW. 27 On the south side of this are three smaller pyramids, which some writers have supposed to have been built by these kings as mausolea for their wives in the vicinity of their own. In the centre one is the name of the king Mencheres, painted on a stone in the roof of the chamber, the same that occurs on the wooden coffin above men- tioned that was brought from the third pyramid to the British Museum. I cannot conclude this chapter without adding a few words in praise of our boatmen on the Nile. It has never been my fortune to take up a volume of travels in Egypt in which the rais and crew have not been represented as a worthless set of fellows, on no account to be trusted, upon w r hom kindness was thrown away, while the fear alone of the basti- nado, and sometimes not even that, could keep them at their work, or under any sort of restraint. Such is their general character, as it has gone forth to the world. I feel greater pleasure, therefore, in offering my testimony in their favour, having had the good fortune to meet with a rais, who had been for eleven years in the service of the same master, whose real worth and steady conduct at a time, when our worthless dragoman endeavoured C 2 28 PERIOD OE VOYAGE ON THE NILE. to seduce the men from their duty, merited our * highest encomiums. I cannot give a better proof of the good behaviour of the Arab boatmen than by stating that on no one occasion during the whole voyage were we called upon to reprimand or to inflict the slightest punishment upon any individual in the crew. The following statistics connected with the voyage may prove of some interest to those who intend to spend a winter in the delightful climate of Egypt. Time of sailing and towing the boat from Cairo to Wady Halfeh (second cataract), fifteen days eight hours. Time of mooring the boat between Cairo and Wady Halfeh, twelve days eighteen hours. Time of rowing and sailing from Wady Halfeh to Cairo, twelve days five hours. Time of mooring the boat between Wady Halfeh and Cairo, twenty-four days nineteen hours. Total voyage from Cairo to Wady Halfeh and back, sixty-five days two hours. CHAPTER XII. CAIEO. ARRIVAL AT CAIRO — BAZAARS— SIGHTS OF CAIRO — THE NILOMETER — SHOOBRA HELIOPOLIS — MAHMOUD — PREPARATIONS FOR DE- PARTURE — ESCORT OF BEDOUIN ARABS. “ Donkey, Hawagee!” shouted vociferously the dusky troop of Cairene donkey-hoys long ere the boat had reached the quay of the port of Boolak. A brisk canter through the avenue of sycamores brought us to the Suez gate of the city,* whence the race round the Esbekieh, or great square, be- tween the ass and its driver, was far more amusing to the lookers-on than to the Hawagee, who was trying to maintain his balance upon the lofty pillion, that nearly eclipsed the little animal under him. With what anxiety are letters opened ! with what avidity are their contents devoured ! what files of newspapers to be read ! what wars and * See Note A, at the end of the volume. 30 CAIRO. rumours of wars to be discussed ! Still, though lowering the aspect, the elements at strife, and deep crimson tinging the horizon in which set the sun of ’Forty-Eight, the storm yet hovered around; Prance had indulged in no new revolution ; but stranger far, Louis Napoleon Buonaparte was President of the French Republic, elected by a majority of some millions of votes over Dictator Cavaignac. January is not the month, of all others, to spend in Cairo. Plash, plash, beats the rain against your windows, and when at last the sun bursts forth in all its strength, the poor donkey, so despised and ill-used in England, is the only resource in your peregrinations through the narrow and dirty streets of the capital. During my stay in Cairo, I struck up a great friendship with a Turk, who kept a miscellaneous shop for seggddehs (prayer-carpets, or as we should call them, hearth-rugs), fezzes 3 amber mouthpieces, and every species of turban and girdle wherewith to entrap the unwary Frank. Scarcely a day passed that I did not pay a visit to his shop in the Turkish Soock (market), where he always welcomed me, and notwithstanding my noncompliance with the general practice of taking BAZAAES. 31 off one’s shoes and leaving them below, made me mount the raised floor of his cell and seat myself in oriental fashion on his carpet. The tobacco purse is drawn from his bosom and given to the boy, who fills a pipe, lights it, replaces the mouth- piece, and hands it to the guest. He then sends to the nearest coffee shop, and in less than a minute the cavagee appears with two small coffee cups brim full of thick boiling coffee, while for the Frank sugar is provided. Sometimes a second cup is brought when the pipe is refilled. In this manner have I spent many an odd half hour, and seen more of eastern life and eastern manners in a short month, watching the different scenes in the bazaars and observing the passers-by, than I could have learnt under the guidance of an experienced dragoman in a year. My very small stock of Arabic was considerably increased by the force of circumstances in attempts at conversation with my Turkish friend; for I never visited him with a laquais de place or dragoman, for several obvious reasons; and in the end, I not only brought him considerable custom, but my friends were enabled to make their purchases at from fifteen to twenty per cent, cheaper than they could have done with a laquais de place , 12 BARGAINING IN THE BAZAARS. hose per centage is not unfrequently one-fifth of the whole purchase-money. Buying and selling are here as at Stamboul very tedious operations, and require no small stock of patience on the part of the purchaser, particularly if he come fresh from England, with notions of a fixed price for every article. When asked the price of anything the shopkeeper generally demands about double the real value of the article ; the customer offers, per- haps, a third of the sum named. This is of course refused, but the original demand is lowered; the cus- tomer then bids something more, and at length with the aid of a pipe and a cup or two of coffee a price is agreed upon and the purchase effected. A bargain of any importance is never concluded under half an hour, and sometimes days are required to arrive at the juste milieu , during which time a constant war of words is carried on with great apparent warmth and vehement gesticulation, but in spite of appearances with great good-humour on both sides. Many articles are brought into the bazaars by their owners and delivered to the dellalin or auctioneers, who perambulate the market and receive biddings, calling out the last offer. These auctions are car- ried on in so leisurely a way that there is no fear SIGHTS OF CAIRO. 33 of having an article thrust unexpectedly upon you. Amber mouth-pieces especially are often to be pur- chased in this manner at a very reasonable price. I will not ask the reader to accompany me to the citadel, the scene of the final massacre of the Memlooks, to examine the spot where Emin Bey accomplished the most extraordinary leap on re- cord, or to admire the new mosque of Mohammed Ali. I will leave the picturesque tombs of the caliphs on the eastern, and the sepulchres of the mighty Ibrahim and his kindred amid the domes of Imaan e’ Shaffaee on the southern side of the city, to the long train of mourners from the hareem, who visit the “ city of the dead” each Friday, riding on the high asses of Barbary, and enveloped from head to foot in the face-veil which con- ceals the whole of the features except the eyes and reaches nearly to the feet, and in the hab'arah (a cloak of glossy black or white silk, according as the fair Wearer is married or single), which effec- tually conceals the rest of the person. And now the ashes of Mohammed Ali are mingled with the dust. How are the mighty fallen ! Egypt, once the pride of the whole earth, is in bondage with her children ! Grievously has the land been bur- C 3 34 THE KILOMETER. dened during the last forty years, but her rulers were men. I would fain hope that a worse fate does not await the subjects of Abbas Pasha. The island of Rhoda, opposite to Fost^t, Old Cairo, is famous for the Nilometer, which consists of a graduated column in a square chamber, by means of which the daily rise of the river is ascer- tained, and the result proclaimed every morning, during the inundation, by criers in the different quarters of the capital. It is supposed to have been erected by Caliph Mamoon early in the ninth century of our era. As I observed in a previous chapter, the rise of the Nile, in the autumn of 1848, was so extraordinary as to cover the island and the gardens of Ibrahim Pasha with several feet of water. Before I proceed on my onward journey- ings, I must not omit to bestow a passing word on the pretty orange gardens of Shoobra, where that fine venerable looking oldman, with his long hoary beard, who passed in his carriage every morning through the Esbekieh, regardless of what was going on around him, used to dwell, until death at last gained the victory over the iron frame, which had long outlived the mind. The ride to Shoobra for nearly four miles is through a pleasant avenue of acacias PALACE AT SHOOBEA. 35 and sycamores, planted by Mohammed Ali ; the gardens are open to European visitors, and are a favourite resort for the higher classes in Cairo. A magnificent fountain of enormous dimensions is surrounded by a handsome pagoda, with apart r ments furnished with every European as well as Eastern luxury. The fetes held in these gardens may well rival those which have charmed our young imaginations as detailed in the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. I shall only further notice the remains of a once famous place, Helio- polis, the site of which is about seven or eight miles eastward of Cairo. The name of the modern village is Matareeh. I was not a little dis- appointed at finding nothing but a single obe- lisk to mark the magnificence of that ancient city. It bears the ovals of Osirtasen I., who reigned more than seventeen hundred years before the Christian era. The perennial tree of the Virgin, and the petrified wood, in the vicinity of Matareeh, are among the objects of curiosity which the traveller feels it his duty to visit; but in compassion for his readers, spares them the infliction of the dry details. My preparations were at length completed for 36 STAY AT CAIRO. my journey through the desert of Arabia Petrasa, and the day fixed for my departure. I had not shown my wonted alacrity in making the necessary arrangements for my outfit, as the season was scarcely far enough advanced for traversing the desert of Sinai ; my companion too was anxiously expecting letters by each mail, without which he could not leave Cairo ; and last, though not least, I had met with so great a measure of kindness and hospitality from our Consul* General and his bro- ther, to whom my only recommendations were that I was a stranger and a fellow-countryman, that I felt loth to leave the world, civilization, friends, all behind me, and trust myself alone to the care of a few Bedouins in the solitary desert. I narrowly escaped an irreparable loss by my fit of dilatoriness. One morning, soon after my arrival in Cairo, a thickset middle-aged Egyptian brought a parcel to my room which had been left for me at the hotel ; his open smiling countenance and straightforward address attracted my notice. “ Signore, lei ha besogna d’ un dragomano?” in- quired the swarthy native, at the same time hand- ing me a heap of papers, which he drew with great care out of his bosom ; one or two of the signa- MAHMOUD. 37 tures to the testimonials arrested my attention. “ Siete voi Mahmoud?” " Si Signore.” “ Cognoscete dunque il Signor Warhurton ?” “ Sicuro, Signore.” I could scarcely believe that I was so fortunate as to find the well-known dragoman of the author of the “ Crescent and the Cross ” still disengaged. So after desiring him not to offer his services to any one without first speaking to me, I dismissed him for the nonce. Having fully satisfied myself on that score, and having received congratulations from my friends on my good fortune in engaging so experienced a successor to the unworthy Ali, I bethought myself two days after our interview of instituting a search for Mahmoud, who, however, was not forthcoming. As was my custom every morning after breakfast, I walked down to Shep- herd’s hotel, where several of my friends were staying and in vain sighing for the north wind to allow them to commence their voyage up the Nile; when, on entering the coffee-room, I found to my dismay Mahmoud in the very midst of a treaty with two Americans, who were arranging to start on the morrow for Thebes, return thence to Cairo, cross the short desert to Jerusalem, visit Nazareth, and ride through the Hoty Land to 38 MAHMOUD. Beyrout, and embark on board the steamer for Smyrna — all in tbe short space of six weeks! Fortunately for me the Americans and Mahmoud could not understand one another ; and as Shep- herd was acting as interpreter, I explained the state of the case to him, and had the mistake rectified ; for he had sent for Mahmoud under the impression that he was quite free, and, in the end, I believe, found a servant for the Americans, with whom they could communicate in their native tongue. For fear of losing my recovered trea- sure, I sent Mahmoud at once to my apartment, kept him in sight all the way, and lost no time in installing him in the office of dragoman. During my wanderings in the desert and throughout my Syrian tour, the never-failing good-humour and excellent qualities of this matchless dragoman in no small degree enhanced the pleasure of my travels, and left little to be desired in the in- valuable possession of an honest and faithful Egyptian servant. I will not try the patience of the reader with a long list of articles for desert use and consump- tion ; suffice it to say, that tents, camels, pro- visions, and Nile water, were provided ere the eve PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE 39 of departure. Our escort consisted of Ttir Arabs under the command of Sheikh Hossayne’Rehebby, the chief of the Welad Saeed tribe, whose head- quarters are in the vicinity of Mount Sinai. The contract was signed and sealed with great formality at the British consulate, the number of camels fixed, and the price determined by a regular tariff ; the only casus belli , or ground of discussion, (a sine qua non with every Bedouin), which w^as left for arrangement among themselves, being the pro- portion which the several tribes of the Welad Saeed, Rahamee, and Eleykat were to bear in supplying the camels. I fixed my departure for the evening of the 30th of January, being obliged with sincere regret to leave my com- panion in the voyage of the Nile behind at Cairo, as the mail had arrived without the expected letters. The confusion incident on departure may be more easily imagined than described. I had left everything to Mahmoud, and all went on smoothly till they came to the last package. The stipulated number of camels were fairly laden, and quickly marched off, when it was discovered that a cwt. of hard biscuits remained to be stowed away ! The strife of words that ensued beggars 40 ARAB DISPUTE. description : bedlam broken loose could not have presented so extraordinary a scene. Mahmoud, having almost pledged his word for only five camels, felt his character at stake since I had con- sented to take six. Each party stamped and raved, and nearly exhausted their stock of vitu- perative expressions in virtuous indignation at the mutual charge of broken faith. Neither party would give way, the camels should be unloaded, and the Hawagee might stop where he was. We sat for some time in my room in the Hotel d' Orient, enjoying the scene below, but as matters instead of mending seemed to be growing worse, I called Mahmoud upstairs and quietly suggested that the cwt>. of biscuits should be left behind. This de- termination on my part he communicated to the Arabs, and, at the moment, I really believe would have acted upon it, for he had grown warm in the dispute, and perhaps felt some little mortification at not having sooner gained his point. In my ignorance I supposed the Arabs would have been contented to leave the sack behind ; for I had made up my mind not to submit to be bullied into hiring a seventh camel, infinitely preferring the loss of the biscuits, which in fact I had from AMICABLE ARRANGEMENT. 41 the first voted de trop. I patiently awaited the result of the message. But how shall I describe the electrifying effect of Mahmoud’s announce- ment? llle regit diciis animos et temperat iras. In an instant Sheikh Hossayn himself shouldered the sack, placed it on one of the spare camels, of which about a score had come to see their com- panions loaded, in the next moment was the picture of good humour, and sent word to the Hawagee that his camel was ready for him to mount. I heard not a word more of the biscuits, but I learnt a lesson to the effect that whatever might have been my intention of leaving them in Cairo, the Arabs could not enter into my views on that subject, but preferred taking such dainty food along with them into the desert. CHAPTER XIII. THE DESERT. DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO — ROAD TO SUEZ— SUEZ — PASSAGE OF THE ISRAELITES THROUGH THE RED SEA — AIN MUSA — THE DESERT — WADY GHARUNDEL — HUMJIAM PHARAOON — EL MURCKHAH — WADY MAGHARA — WADY MOKATTUB — FEIRAN — SERB.&L — TENTS OF THE WELAD SAEED — CONVENT OF ST. CATHERINE. A last long farewell to Cairo and the valley of the Nile. I have bidden adieu to civilization, friends, and all the ties which bind one to society, and launched forth alone upon the uninviting desert. It is difficult to imagine a more complete change than that from the ease and luxuries of a boat on the Nile, surrounded with all the comforts of home, to the fatiguing and monotonous life in the desert. Dangers, to be sure, there are now few, if any, to encounter. The enterprise and determination of Burckliardt, Legh, Irby and Mangles, and other travellers, who overcame every difficulty, have opened for us a high road among the tribes of Arabia Petraea. There is something in the slow DEPARTURE EROM CAIRO. 43 rocking motion of the dromedary, which engenders a dreaminess, that pervades the whole system, and produces a change in the feelings and sympathies of the traveller, as complete as the striking one in the country through which he is passing from that which he has j ust left. True it is, a new page in the hook of life is open before him, every line of which is full of interest, and carries him on to the con- templation of nature in her roughest but most un- sullied garb. The setting sun was already disappearing behind the citadel, when I rode through the Esbekieh on a young dromedary that capered about to the im- minent danger of my neck at the sound of the saiss' whips, as they cleared the road for the car- riages of their masters round the great square of Cairo. I was seated on an accumulation of pillows, saddle bags, and great coats, with a seg- gadeh on the top of all, which raised me above the pommel of the saddle to a height of nearly nine feet from the ground. Fortunately I kept my seat, and in less than an hour we reached the usual place of encampment a little to the east of the Caliphs’ tombs at the foot of the red mountain. The young moon was already bright when we halted, and, as 44 TENT FURNITURE. the short twilight of the East quickly fades away, was the more welcome in starting with us on our journeyings through the desert. The tents were soon pitched, a charcoal fire lighted, and in an hour and a half dinner was announced by the indefati- gable Mahmoud, by which time I had made my- self perfectly comfortable in my new home. The internal arrangements of my tent are soon described. A single pole in the centre supports the canvass, which is stretched with ten cords. Opposite to the entrance are placed a pair of Rus- sian leather saddle-bags, containing my all. On the ground are spread two small common carpets ; a mattress, unfolded upon a Macintosh sheet and covered w r itli a seggadeh, forms a comfortable divan on the one side ; a small table and camp stool occupy the other. A paper lamp is suspended from a pole near the centre. Behold the picture com- plete. I had finished dinner, and was sipping my boiling coffee from a diminutive cup between the fragrant whiffs of the best Lataldyeh, inhaled through a cherrystick tchibouke, when a visitor was an- nounced in the person of no less important an indivi- dual than Aboo Kalee, the Sheikh of the Tiy&rah ABOO KALEE. 45 Arabs, to whose care I was to be consigned at Nakhl. The Sheikh had arrived somewhat unex- pectedly at Cairo ; and the ostensible object of this visit was to obtain a few hundred piastres in ad- vance for services to be performed in futuro. The Hawagee, however, was firm, and decidedly declined. After the usual civilities of tchiboukes and coffee, the Sheikh took his departure, but returned in the morning with the request of a loan of 200 piastres to buy corn and grain at Cairo. The terms of the agreement signed at the Consulate obliged me to pay Hossayn e’ Rehebby 900 piastres in advance for the journey to Sinai, the remainder to be paid on our arrival at Nakhl, where we enter the territory of the Tiyarah Be- douins, of whom more anon. Suffice it to say that the wily Sheikh was for once outwitted by the experienced Mahmoud, and we parted at length with mutual professions of esteem. Early in the morning the Tfir Arabs went into the city to purchase grain and provisions, so that we did not start till 10.50 a.m., when we took the route followed by the Indian mail (Derb el Hamra) towards Suez. The day was delightfully warm. Our caravan consisted of ten camels, and 46 PROVISIONS FOR THE JOURNEY about the same number of attendants, but some of the latter returned the following day. My goods had been distributed among six camels, or more properly speaking, dromedaries, while the rest carried corn and provisions for the tribe which was in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai. The first carried two canteens and the kitchen ; the second, a couple of water-barrels, and a cafass containing thirty chickens ; a third, my saddle-bags and the tents ; a fourth, some dozen baskets of eggs, oranges, mishmish (dried apricots), rice, potatoes, &c., while high above all was squatted, in truly Oriental style, the plump round figure of Mah- moud, whose watchful eye surveyed the whole caravan, as he brought up the rear and entered into conversation with Hossayn, or amused the poor Bedouins with his stories of town life. I have already described the equipment of my own dromedary. On the front pommel of the wooden pack-saddle were suspended two zem- zemeehs (water-skins) for my private use, and a leathern pipe-case. On the pommel behind were slung a rifle and double-barrelled gun in their red leathern cases. The Sheikh bestrode the sixth dromedary, which carried in addition no incon- THROUGH THE DESERT. 47 siclerable amount of charcoal, not to mention the aforesaid cwt. of biscuits. The motion of the dromedary is not so disagreeable as I had expected, but becomes fatiguing after a time, and affects more particularly the lower part of the back and spine, as the body naturally assumes a curved shape in endeavouring to keep time with the slow pace of the animal, not altogether unlike rowing, without, however, the advantage of a ful- crum to assist the rider in regaining the upright position. This fatigue insensibly wears away, as the traveller accustoms himself to sit cross-legged in Arab fashion, and supports his feet on the neck of the animal he is bestriding. After continuing our slow progress for six hours, we came to a halt at 4.50 p.m., in Wady Ansury, at a short distance from one of the Tran- sit Company’s stations. The tent was soon pitched, one of the tallest Arabs holding the pole, while Mahmoud drove in the pegs with surprising ra- pidity ; in the meantime a fire was lighted, and the camels were allowed to wander in search of the prickly herbs that grow here and there in the wadies, or water-courses. In a little more than an hour they returned of their own free will, and 48 ENCAMPMENT. lying down formed a complete circle round the Bedouins’ fire, in expectation of their allowance of beans. The two tribes of which my party consists encamped on different sides of Mahmoud’s tent. The Welad Saeed, and Rahamee, forming part of the Sowalha, the principal tribe of the Tur Arabs, were on one side ; the Eleykat on the other. My tent was about forty feet from that of my dragoman \ so that I had a full view of the whole party, camels and all, forming a picturesque group in the open air. We passed during the day the whitened bones of many poor camels lying by the side of the road on the spot where they fell, as well as the carcases of two horses but lately dead ; one of which was being quietly dis- cussed by three jackals, while the other had just fallen to the lot of the hungry vulture. Sheikh Hossayn, for I must drop the cacophonious E’ Re- hebby, paid me a visit after dinner, and thanks to the lessons from my friend in the bazaars, we generally succeeded in making ourselves intel- ligible to each other, though we were occasionally obliged to summon Mahmoud to our assistance. Hossayn was the only person I ever met with in the East who did not care for smoking. Ilis ROAD TO SUEZ. 49 weakness was coffee, and Mahmoud was too ami- able not to indulge the old Sheikh, as far as pru- dence would permit. I was up and dressed by 6 a.m. (Feb, 1.) ; but the Bedouins were difficult to arouse, and then their fire had to be kindled, and breakfast pre- pared ; so that, in spite of all my endeavours to start at sunrise, we were not fairly off till 7.50 a.m. The wind had risen during the night, and was blow T - ing fresh this morning from west-north-west. It increased during the day, so that I found a great coat and bornoos (an Arab cloak) quite a luxury. We continued to follow the road made by the Transit Company. Both yesterday and to-day we passed several specimens of petrified wood, lying by the roadside. Some were of considerable size, and have probably been washed down the wadies after an extraordinary fall of rain from the neigh- bourhood of Matareeh, where is the celebrated petrified forest. In about two hours we entered an immense plain, across which we journeyed during the whole day. We met two small parties of Arabs, each numbering six camels, on their w r ay back from Suez, and three men travelling on foot, with their zemzemeehs slung round their necks. VOL. II. D 50 ROAD TO SUEZ. About 4 p.m. we passed the Dar el Humra, “ the red house,” the first station of the pilgrims on their way to Mecca, which is marked by a fine acacia tree, called Om e 9 Sharameet, “ the mother of rags,” standing alone in the midst of the wide desert. At 4.50 p.m. Mahmoud and I, who had trotted on in advance of the caravan, selected a spot slightly sheltered from the strong westerly gale, which, during the evening, almost threatened destruction to the tent, and shortly afterwards the rest of the party arrived, and the encampment was speedily formed. Owing to the late heavy rains, a considerable quantity of water was collected in large pools in the lower parts of the plain. The only living creatures that we saw during the day were three large vultures, numerous ravens, and a few small birds that appeared to be quite out of their element. The hills on our right and left receded far away, and for the first time I beheld the deceptive appearance of the mirage, sporting with the breeze, to which it seemed to owe its birth. Mahmoud has proved himself to be a first-rate caterer, and no mean proficient in the art of cook- ing. His fowls are large and well fed, unlike their brethren throughout Egypt ; his dates are COMMOTION IN THE CAMP. 51 excellent, his oranges sweet, the coffee true Mocha, his curries peerless, he attends to everything him- self, is never for a moment at a loss, and prepares dinner with surprising rapidity. My beverage, as on the Nile, is brandy and water : one of the barrels is kept exclusively for my private con- sumption ; the other is to be refilled for washing and culinary purposes as occasion requires, or op- portunity permits. Tea proved a great luxury in the evening, and as I had long before ceased to take milk with it, I looked forward to the refresh- ing draught, after the long day’s march, with an indescribable relish. A hard biscuit soaked in water, and slightly roasted, I found even prefer- able to Cairene bread at dinner. Soon after sunset the wind fell, when, as I was sitting in my tent writing, after dinner, I was suddenly aroused by the voice of Mahmoud exclaiming in no measured tones, and apparently growing very excited. I was not kept long in suspense at this unusual ebullition of feeling on the part of my dragoman. He had just been engaged in killing a chicken for the morrow’s dinner, and placed it on the ground while he entered his tent: on returning in a few mo- ments he found it had vanished. Suspicions of D 2 52 JACKALS. a four-footed marauder were immediately raised ; so I took my gun, and, by the light of the young moon, made the rounds of our camp. Within the circuit I had marked out I heard an undeniable sound of crunching bones. On approaching the spot whence the sound came, I saw a head and pair of eyes, and fired. A short angry howl was the only response, and the contents of the second barrel were lodged in the suspicious object. It turned over dead, and proved to be a fine jackal, who had seized the occasion of Mahmoud’s back being turned to possess himself of so dainty a mor- sel, which proved too tempting to allow of its being carried away, or shared with his less daring friends in a place of safety. I was punished during the night by the dismal howling of a large pack of jackals, which, though I sallied forth against them, were discreet enough to keep at a respectable dis- ance, or to retire at my approach. Feb. 2 . — The warmth of an Egyptian climate has not deserted us in the desert, as my daily register shows. This morning, at 5 o’clock, the mercury in the thermometer was at 50° Fah. At 4 p. m. 64° Fah.; at 9 p. m. 61° Fah. The wind, which had partially lulled during the night, broke PLAIN OF EL MUKRIH. 53 forth into a perfect hurricane from the south-west this morning. As we fortunately received its force nearly in our backs, it did us no harm, and seemed to affect the temperature of the air in a very slight degree. We met two camel litters, each borne between two camels, one before the other, and a few detached parties of Arabs. We started at 7 a.m. precisely, for though I rose before 5 o’clock and dressed by candlelight, the feeding the camels, packing up, and replacing the loads on the un- willing beasts, occupied two full hours ; and, do what you will, you cannot induce an Arab to quit the fireside and his pipe, until the embers of both are nearly extinct, so that the loading the camels principally devolved upon Mahmoud and two lads, who were of great use to us during the journey. After quitting the great plain of El Mukrih about 11 a.m., the sandstone hills on the left began to close in upon us, and a high ridge on our right ran nearly parallel with our course, at a distance of about three miles. The name of the range is Mukrih el Weberah. I walked for an hour or two during the day. For the most part I ride some- what in advance of the caravan, and read. I find the trot of the dromedary its easiest pace, but the 54 BATTLE IN WADY EMSHASH. walk has ceased to be so fatiguing as I at first apprehended it would be. I can read for an hour at a time without difficulty, and then put away the book for half an hour, and recommence in the same manner. At 3.30 p. m. I selected a spot for our halt in Wady Emshash, with the high range of Djebel Atakah to our backs, so as to shelter us tolerably from the wind, which however fell again about 7 p.m. I find Hossayn’s after-dinner visits more and more agreeable, and when abstruse words are brought into play, Mahmoud is ever ready at hand to interpret them. Hossayn is a fine old Bedouin, has a dignified and easy manner, and speaks with interest and pleasure of the European travellers whom he has conducted through the desert. Among the number are M. Leon de Laborde, Lord Castlereagh, and others, to whom he desires his salaam. Many years ago, he tells me, he was engaged in this very valley (Wady Emshash) in a battle with another tribe, in which his party, numbering only eighty, gained a victory over 150. In recounting the deeds of his youth he speaks with great anima- tion ; and there is something so peculiarly honest and straightforward in the looks of the old Sheikh, HAJ ROUTE. 55 that your sympathies are at once enlisted in his favour, and you almost identify yourself with his national feelings and animosities. The latter, however, have nearly all passed away, and an universal peace reigns through the peninsula of Sinai. Feb . 3. — We started this morning with the sun at 7 a.m., and proceeded past the fortress of Ajrud, the second station of the Mecca pilgrims, situate a little to the right of the road to Suez. It contains a well of brackish water, 250 feet deep. The morning was perfectly calm, and during the day we had little, if any, wind. At 8.30 a.m, Suez appeared in sight, distant seemingly about an hour’s march. After proceed- ing for nearly two hours at our usual pace of two miles and three-quarters to three miles an hour, I sent off Hossayn with the caravan round the head of the gulf ; and taking Mahmoud and two of our Arabs with me, set off at a good round trot on my dromedary, passed Bir Suweis, the well of Suez, and arrived at length at the receding town at 11.20 a.m., which was distant nearly four hours’ march from the spot where it first broke upon our view. We had accomplished the journey 56 SUEZ. between Cairo and Suez in twenty-seven hours ; or, allowing two caravan hours for the last increase of speed, in twenty-eight, instead of thirty-two hours, as reckoned by Wilkinson and Robinson. I was hardly prepared to find Suez so good a town ; for excepting only Siofit, it is incomparably superior to any place in Upper Egypt. Having walked through the bazaars with Mahmoud, and purchased half a sheep and afresh supply of char- coal, 1 took a turn along the busy quays, whilst Mahmoud made himself known to his brother, who was a waiter in the English hotel. A great number of small vessels, with only a single mast, for the coasting trade in the Red Sea, were at anchor in the harbour. The steamer, with the Indian pas- sengers and mail, was expected that evening or on the following day, and active preparations were being made for their transit to Cairo. The town of Suez is situated on a promontory lying be- tween the natural head of the gulf, and the nar- row arm that runs up northward, which the Israelites are supposed to have crossed in their passage through the Red Sea, Not a vestige of a tree or shrub exists in the neighbourhood, vegeta- tion is at a standstill, and Suez owes its present SUEZ. 57 importance and size entirely to the link which it forms in the great chain of communication between Great Britain and her Indian empire. The modem town of Suez appears to have been built in the first half of the sixteenth century. The early Arabian writers speak only of Kolzum, which Abulfeda, at the beginning of the fourteenth cen- tury, describes as a small city. Subsequent tra- vellers mention a fortress or castle near the foot of the mountain of Suez, probably Djebel Atakah, at the end of the gulf, where was a landing place, to which spices and wares were brought from Et-Tur, in the Sinaitic peninsula, and thence carried to Cairo and Alexandria. It has always been a place for building fleets, for which the timber and materials have been brought across the desert on camels from the Nile. During the Crusades Saladin built a fleet at Kolzum to be employed against the Christians, who had at- tacked Ailah. In the time of Niebuhr Suez was still un- enclosed ; there are now walls on three sides, falling rapidly into decay, while to the N.E. it is open to the sea. The houses are built of bricks dried in the sun ; the principal bnildings being the D 3 58 SUEZ. governor’s palace, three or four mosques, and several khans, built on the same plan as college courts in our universities. Robinson states the number of Mussulman inhabitants to be 1,200, with 150 Christians of the Greek Church. There are few inducements to a traveller to make a long halt at Suez ; if he arrive towards nightfall at the town, let him pitch his tent outside the walls, and send on the caravan at sunrise the next morning ; he will not be long in following in its track. Soon after leaving Suez we met a long caravan of camels, very different in size and strength from our light dromedaries, winding across the gulf about two miles north of the town, and marching in single file, on their way from Gaza, with soap, oil, and candles, to Cairo. The tide being out we crossed the gulf at the same spot instead of making a long detour round its extremity, and so were enabled to rejoin our party about 4 p.m,, and finally reached Ain Mtisa, the wells of Moses, and halted there for the night at 5.10 p.m., after a march of above ten hours. Let us pause for a few moments, and consider the ground we have just been treading, the ford by which we have crossed the Red Sea, and the grand PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 59 and imposing form of Djebel A taka, “ the Mount of Deliverance,” behind which the setting sun has just withdrawn his fierce rays. Can we picture to our minds the events of that awful night, when the people of the Lord, numbering more than two million souls, hemmed in on every side — on their left and in front the sea, to their right Djebel At&ka, behind them the host of Pharaoh — felt their hearts die away within them through fear, and murmured against Moses for bringing them forth from the land of Egypt ? “ Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to-day : for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” At the command of the Lord, Moses stretched out his rod over the sea; “ and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground : and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s GO PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off the wheels of their chariots, so that they drave them heavily again, at the command of the Lord, “ Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared ; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord over- threw the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them ; there remained not so much as one of them.” In endeavouring to fix upon the spot where the Israelites passed through the Red Sea there are two main points to be considered, which if satis- factorily explained, seem to me to afford con- clusive evidence on the subject. I am mainly indebted to Dr. Robinson for the following elu- cidation of this much xeocata qucestio . The points to which I allude are the means by which the miraculous deliverance was effected, and the time during which the passage took place. Through- out the Sacred Writings we observe that the miracles of the Lord are mostly performed, when practicable, PASSAGE OE THE RED SEA. 61 by natural means, supernaturally applied. Such was the case with the miracle in question. “ The Lord caused the sea to go out by a strong east wind? The Hebrew word signifying the east wind is said to include any wind from the eastern quar- ter ; and a strong north-east wind acting upon an ebb tide, would have the effect of driving out the waters from the narrow arm of the sea above Suez, while the more northern part of the arm, which was much broader and deeper than at pre- sent, would remain covered with water ; so that the waters would be a wall to the Israelites on the right hand and on the left. It may be remarked that in no other part of the gulf could a wind blowing from the east produce this effect ; and this circumstance forms one ground for negativing the theory that the passage took place lower down the gulf, at Wady Taw&rik. The second main point, the time during which the passage was effected, affords still stronger tes- timony in favour of the supposition that the Israelites crossed the arm of the gulf above Suez.