Southport : Original Sources in Exploration
	Travels in Egypt, Nubia, the Holy Land, and Cyprus Henry Light
	Travels in Egypt, Nubia, the Holy Land, and Cyprus, by Henry Light.  (Published in 1818 by Rodwell and Martin, New Bond Street, London.) Part III (Chapters 5-6) Chapter 5. (p86) Departure for Philae from Deir—Temple at Seboo, at Ouffeddoonie—Caravan of Gelabs—Temple at Deboo—State of the inhabitants of the village—Grand approach to Philse—Character of the inhabitants between Philae and Ibrim —Language of the Nubians—Religion—Dress—Arms—Trade. Fig. METHOD of RAISING WATER. I arrived at Deir in the evening, and after receiving a visit from the little cashief, who took coffee and a glass of racky [26], descended the river with the stream.  The boat was now (p.87) prepared for rowing, and stripped of its masts and sails. The boatmen kept time to their oars with a loud and hoarse song. On the 27th, in the morning, we were at Coroskee [Korosko]; we continued to Seboo [Sebua], called by Norden Sebua, and Mr. Legh Sibhoi, where I landed to visit the temple remaining there. The sand of the desert had almost covered the portico and court in front. It consists of two pyramidal moles, facing the east, of masonry, having a gateway between. The moles are not more than thirty feet above the sand; their front ninety feet in length. The gateway is six feet wide, and about twenty in height. A cornice and torus surrounds the moles and the upper part of the gateway. Round the cornice of the moles a waving line is sculptured, without any other ornament. fig 11 drawn by H. Light COURT BETWEEN Propyleon & Portico at Seboo [Sebua] The gateway is twelve feet thick, and opens to a court almost filled with sand, in front of the portico, whose roof appears to be formed from the rock. It is joined to the moles by a colonnade of three square pillars on each side, on the front of which are disfigured statues in alto relievo, half buried in the sand. The pillars support an entablature, and are enclosed by a wall from the two extremes of the moles. The entablature of this colonnade is of single stones, from pillar to pillar, twelve feet long, four broad, and three deep. On these, and on the walls, are hieroglyphics and symbolic figures, representing some deity receiving (p.88) offerings: the usual subject of all the sculpture on the walls of Egyptian temples. Two rows of sphinxes led to the temple. They began at about fifty paces from the front. There are five remaining uncovered with sand; three in full length out of the ground, and the heads only of two others. The distance from each other in row is eighteen feet, and between the opposite rows thirty feet. They are about eleven feet from nose to extreme part. The two first are much decayed, or were never finished. The third, making the second in the left row, is highly finished; but its head, which lies near it, has been struck off. The head in the opposite row is equally well finished. The fifth makes the third in the left row. Between the two front sphinxes are gigantic figures in alto relievo, on pilasters. They are about fourteen feet high, and formed the entrance to the avenue. They have the left leg advanced, have a ceinture, breast-plate, and pyramidal casque, and are four feet broad across the shoulders. On the back of the pilasters are hieroglyphics, as well as on that part of the pilasters left uncovered by the statues. Similar statues, now thrown down, stood in front of the gateway of the moles; one of them, half buried in the ground, to the waist; the other shows the whole length, but is half covered with sand. All these are of the same hard sand stone as the moles. I could not discover any Greek inscription. Fig. 12 drawn by Henry light engraved by C. heath South view of ruins at Ouffeddoonee [Ofedinah] Having (p.89) left Seboo [Sebua] the evening before, we arrived on the 28th at Ouffeddounee [Ofedinah], where there are architectural remains, in the neighbourhood of a considerable village. I landed, and near the water-side found an oblong building, of about fifty-four feet in length and thirty in breadth, which seems to have been part of a primitive Christian church. There are sixteen columns, presenting six on the north and south sides, and four on the east and west, all perfect, of about two feet three inches in diameter. Of the surrounding wall the north side only is perfect. In the east end a sort of chancel projects southward, at right angles with the south columns, in which are painted Scriptural figures, like those in modern Greek churches. The capitals are not alike, nor do they appear to have been finished. They support a die and entablature composed of single stones from column to column, about six feet in length; the shafts are proportionably small. I saw many painted Greek inscriptions on the entablatures or frieze of the interior, in small characters, which I could not distinguish; the first words of all were, TO PRO SKYEMA . In the centre of the frieze on the west end, in a small stone tablet in relief, was the word IOHANNI, painted in red letters. In front of the south columns are several rows of stones in regular order, apparently of part of the building thrown down, on which were hieroglyphics; and, on one, some Greek (p.90) characters which I could not trace. A bare wall, near the south-east end of this ruin, contains symbolic figures of bad sculpture, evidently Scriptural [27]. Below Ouffeddounee [Ofedinah] we passed a caravan of Gelabs (slave-merchants), from Dongola, on their way to Siout, who had encamped on the west bank. I observed they were more attentive to the forms of the Mahometan religion than the natives of these parts, of whom I had scarcely seen any who attended to its ceremonies. On the 29th and 30th of May we continued descending the Nile to the cataracts of Galabshee [Kalabsha], where I was tempted to land, for the purpose of sketching the grand scene they presented to my view: but as we approached the shore, the natives of the neighbourhood ran down with their weapons, dancing and howling, as if to oppose my landing; I therefore thought it more prudent to continue my voyage. We arrived at Deboo [Deboud] on the 31st of May. Here, on landing, to examine the ruins of the temple I mentioned in my ascent up the Nile, I found the greatest part of the population of the village had taken refuge in its enclosure for protection against the attacks of that of another; which, to revenge the murder of one of their number by an inhabitant of Deboo, committed nightly depredations on the latter, (p.91) hamstringing cattle which they could not carry off, plundering and murdering every male inhabitant they could find: this was to be continued till one of the family of the murderer was sacrificed to their revenge. I observed that the people of this village were more friendly to me than any I had met with: no person asked for a present, and all seemed anxious to show me what was to be seen; which might perhaps be imputed to their fears. Not knowing how soon their enemies might appear, 1 contented myself with taking a general view of the ruins. They consist of three gates to pyramidal moles; of which latter no traces now remain. These gates are behind each other, at unequal distances; and behind the last, a portico of four columns, with entablature, cornice, and side-walls in high preservation. The first gate is plain, with a cornice and fillet above the doorway, which is about sixteen feet high. In the cornice is a small oblong in relief, apparently intended for an inscription. The gateway is twelve feet thick of masonry. There are openings at the top, differing from any thing I had seen in other temples, and which in fortification would be said to be for orgues. The second gateway is twenty-two paces distant, and has a winged globe in the cornice. The doorway is rather wider than the first, though of the same thickness. The next (p.92) gateway is nine paces distant, and the portico from this fourteen paces. The breadth of the portico is nearly sixty feet. The columns are plain, with the capitals of the centre differing from those on the sides. They are half engaged in a wall, which has a cornice and fillet, and outlines of symbolic figures. The centre is raised to form a gateway. The depth of the portico is about fourteen feet, and has hieroglyphics in the interior, as high as the wall in which the columns are engaged. On the left on entering, is a doorway leading to an inner room, plain, and without roof. Three of the stones of the ceiling of the portico, which was composed of single stones, laid perpendicularly from the front to the the rear, remain. The portico is divided by a lateral wall from several small rooms, which seemed to be mere passages to the sanctuary. On the side walls of the first are hieroglyphics and symbolic figures. It is without ceiling, nine feet wide and eighteen deep. Beyond is a second chamber, on each side of which are others, and last of all the sanctuary, in which are two monolithic temples, of single blocks of granite, in high preservation, and highly ornamented. The largest is about twelve feet long and three wide; the other rather smaller. Their ornaments differ.  The last rooms are without hieroglyphics, and the doors without cornice or ornament (p.93). The second room and side chambers have ceiling; that of the sanctuary is in ruin. The whole depth, from the front of the portico to the end, is seventy feet. The front walls at the sides of the columns, the entablature, and cornice are plain. The shafts are about fifteen feet high and three in diameter, and without ornament. The whole was enclosed by walls, of which only a few layers remain. On one of the gateways I saw some defaced Greek characters. We left Deboo [Deboud] on the same evening, and arrived at Philae soon after sun-rise on the 1st of June. The approach to this place from the south presented a view still more sublime and magnificent than that from the north and west. If, as is generally related, it lay on the boundary [28] line of the ancient kingdom, and formed an entrance to it, the sight of so much grandeur must have impressed a stranger with awe and admiration, that would have humbled him before the people he was visiting. The people who occupy the shores of the Nile between Philae and Ibrim are, for the most part, a distinct race from (p.94) those of the north. The extent of the country is about one hundred and fifty miles; which, according to my course on the Nile up and down, I conceive may be about two hundred by water, and is estimated at much more by Mr. Hamilton and others. They are called by the Egyptians Goobli, meaning in Arabic the people of the south. My boatmen from Boolac applied Goobli generally to them all, but called those living about the cataracts Berber. Their colour is black; but the change to it, in the progress from Cairo, does not occur all at once to the traveller, but by gradual alteration to the dusky hue from white. Their countenance approaches to that of a negro; thick lips, flattish nose and head, the body short, and bones slender: the leg bones have the curve observed in negroes: the hair is curled and black, but not woolly. Men of lighter complexion are found amongst them; which may be accounted for by intermarriage with Arabs, or a descent from those followers of Selim the Second who were left here upon his conquest of the country. On the other hand, at Galabshee [Kalabsha] the people seemed to have more of the negro than elsewhere; thicker lips, and hair more tufted, as well as a more savage disposition. The Nubian language is different from the Arabic. The latter, as acquired from books and a teacher, had been of very little use to me in Egypt itself; but here, not even the vulgar dialect of the Lower Nile would serve for common (p.95) intercourse, except in that district extending from Dukkey [Dakka] to Deir [Derr], where the Nubian is lost, and Arabic prevails again:  a curious circumstance; and, when considered with an observation of the lighter colour of this people, leads to a belief of their being descended from Arabs. The Nubian, in speaking, gave me an idea of what I have heard of the clucking of Hottentots. It seems a succession of monosyllables, accompanied with a rise and fall of voice that is not disagreeable. I saw few traces among them of government, or law, or religion. They know no master, although the cashief claims a nominal command of the country: it extends no farther than sending his soldiers to collect their tax, or rent, called Mirri. The Pasha of Egypt was named as sovereign in all transactions from Cairo to Assuan. Here, and beyond, as far as I went, the reigning Sultan Mahmood was considered the sovereign; though the cashief's was evidently the power they feared the most. They look for redress of injuries to their own means of revenge, which, in cases of blood, extends from one generation to another, till blood is repaid by blood. On this account, they are obliged to be ever on the watch and armed; and, in this manner, even their daily labours are carried on:  the very boys go armed. They pro- fess to be followers of Mahomet, though I rarely happened to observe any of their ritual observances of that religion. Once (p.96), upon my endeavouring to make some of them comprehend the benefit of obedience to the rules of justice for punishing offences, instead of pursuing the offender to death as they practised, they quoted the Koran, to justify their requiring blood for blood. Their dress, for the men, is a linen smock, commonly brown, with red or dark coloured scull cap. A few wear turbans and slippers. The women have a brown robe thrown gracefully over their head and body, discovering the right arm and breast, and part of one thigh and leg. They are of good size and shape, but very ugly in the face. Their necks, arms, and ankles, are ornamented with beads or bone rings, and one nostril with a ring of bone or metal [29]. Their hair is anointed with oil of cassia, of which every village has a small plantation. It is matted or plaited, as now seen in the heads of sphinxes and female figures of their ancient statues. I found one at Elephantina, which might have been supposed their model. Their little children are naked. Girls wear round the waist an apron of strings of raw hide, and boys a girdle of linen. Their arms are knives or daggers, fastened to the back of (p.97) the elbow or in the girdle, javelins, tomahawks, swords of Roman shape, but longer, and slung behind them. Some have round shields of buffalo hide, and a few pistols and musquets are to be seen. Their dealings with one another, or strangers, are carried on more by way of barter than money, which, I was informed, had not come into general use among them till lately. The para, which they call faddah, of forty to the piastre, by them as well as Egyptians called goorsh; the macboob, of three piastres; and Spanish dollar called real, or fransowy, then worth seven and a half piastres, were current among them. In the price of cattle, a cow sold for twenty macboobs, and from that to forty; a calf from three to seven; a sheep from two to three. Dates and senna are their chief articles of trade; and no present can be more acceptable than gunpowder of European manufacture to their chiefs. With regard to food, they prefer bartering to money, and esteem corn above every thing; but bread, in any European shape, is unknown. Theirs is commonly made of millet (doora) thicker than the oatmeal cakes of Scotland, and of that shape. I had little opportunity of gaining geographical knowledge in this country. Since Norden's time, who visited it in the years 1737 and 1738, great changes have happened.(p.58)  Some places mentioned by him are no longer spoken of, and perhaps lie overwhelmed with sand. He makes Nubia to begin at Galabshee [Kalabsha], upon what authority I know not. I met with less difficulty of travelling than he seems to have encountered, yet could not extend my researches much farther, on account of the excessive heat. There was nothing in the state of the country to deter me from proceeding, if I had been so inclined. The Pasha's authority seemed well enough established, for a traveller under his protection to proceed as far as Dongola; and the good understanding between him and the English, had induced his officers to afford me every assistance. But, at Dongola, the Mamelouks held the country on the west bank; and, perhaps, would not have respected a person bearing firmans from the Pasha. However, I had often cause to observe, that the late appearance of French and English armies in Egypt had taught the inhabitants every where to respect the Franks more than they used to do; although no opportunity seemed ever to be lost of gross cheating and imposition of every kind, in all the dealings I had with them, not excepting the Sheik of Assuan. I learned, from the natives, that at Wawdee Elfee, four days' journey above Ibrim by water, there were shellaals, rendering the Nile impassable for some days' travelling; and no boats of passage to be seen between that and Dongola; but could obtain no information of the state of the river (p.99) beyond that place. The names of the villages given me beyond Ibrim, on the west side, are Washebbak, Toshkai, Armeenee, Forgnnt, Fairey, (one day on horseback;) Guster, Andhan, Artino, Serrey, Deeberrey, Ishkeer, (two days;) Sahabba, Dabbarosy, Wawdee Elfee, {shellaals, Nile impassable, three days, four by water;) Wadelhowja, Owkmee, Serkey Mattoo, (one day;) Farkey, Wadelwalliam, Gintz, Atab, Amarra, Abbee, (two days;) Tebbel, Artinoa, Koikky, Ibboodeerkey, Sawada, (three days;) Irraoo, Oshey Mattoo Wawrvey, Koyey Mattoo, Irrew, SaddeefFent, Delleeko, Caibac, Wawdelmahas, Noweer, Farreeg [30] from which to Dongola two days, in all eight days distant from Wawdee Elfee. In this space, they said there were pictures, by which they meant hieroglyphics, in the rocks, the whole way; and also temples, in which were paintings like those at Dukkey [Dakka]. They mentioned, that at a place called Absimbal [Abu Simbel] [31] on the west bank, a day and a half from Ibrim, there was a temple like that at Seboo [Sebua]; and another of the same sort at a place called Farras, three hours farther on the same side. I regretted that no more information was to be procured on this (p.100) subject; because it seemed to me, that the higher I advanced up the Nile, the signs of the ancient progress of Christianity southward on its banks, became apparent in the Greek inscriptions and other remains of antiquity, of which I had observed nothing below Philae. I remarked that no buffalo, though very common north of Assuan, was to be seen between Philae and Ibrim. Crocodiles were common here, but no hippopotamus appeared; but the natives spoke of it as seen during the time of inundation in the shellaals, particularly at Galabshee, calling it Farsh el bahr (the sea-horse). My voyage was made when the Nile was nearly at its lowest state, which circumstance must be attended to in the consideration of my descriptions. CHAPTER VI.(p.101) Return from Philae to Assuan—Nature of the cataracts—Descent of the Nile— General observations on the nature of the antiquities of Egypt—Egyptian wolf—Large lizard—Ancient reservoir at the temple of Diospolis at Thebes— Mummy caverns and mummies at Goornoo—Picturesque situation of temple at Dendyra—Devotion excited by it to the sepoys of Sir David Baird's army—Visit to Sacarrah—Arrival at Cairo—Ceremony of cutting the dyke. Fig. Monumental block and temple at Hermontis On the 2d of June I left Philae, on foot, and walked round by the cataracts to Assuan, having sent my servant and baggage the usual road across the desert. In this excursion cataracts, and was delighted with the wild sublimity of the scene, of which the buildings of Philae form a part. The rocks, through which the Nile passes, cover a space of about a mile and a half; the limits of which are large masses of granite and sand stone: the intermediate ground is a ridge of irregular masses of the same substance, through which the Nile, in this season of the year, flowed in small streams, the largest of which was not three feet wide; some of them had a fall of about a foot, with the rapidity of a mill stream. The 3Tounger part of the natives of some small spots of cultivated ground, Ayhich even in this barren region were to be seen, endeavoured to attract my attention in hopes of reward, by jumping into the stream, and allowing themselves to be carried down by it. On my arrival at Assuan, I determined on leaving the neighbourhood of the sheik, whose inclination to cheat and interrupt me I had before observed; and therefore crossed in my boat to the west side of Elephantina, on the 2d of June, when I again enjoyed the beauties of this remarkable island; and ascended the sandy hills of the Mokattam on that side of the Nile to the ruins of a convent, where the Gothic, or rather Saracenic architecture, brought to my re- collection some of those I had seen in England. After this, on the 3d of June, I began to descend the Nile; and visit, in succession, the numerous remains of (p.103) ancient Egypt, for whose description I refer the reader to Mr. Hamilton's work on the antiquities of that country, and to other writers on the same subject. I felt they wanted that charm or interest which is raised in other countries whose history is known, where the traveller ranges over the ground on which heroes and remarkable men, whose actions are familiar to him, once dwelt. But here, though treading the soil where sprang the learning, and genius, and arts, to which Europe has been indebted for its present superiority among nations; where the magnificence of ancient Egypt still remains to prove the existence of all these in perfection, he can only admire the "res antiquae Laudis et artis," without any sentiment of attachment to persons or times. He is lost in admiration, and has no idea but that of the sublime. A long night of oblivion has intervened, to cut off all but conjectures of their history. My wonder and surprise were continually excited at the enormous masses of building which had defied the ravages of time: 1 was astonished at the grand and beautiful designs, and fine taste in their execution, still seen in many of the buildings; at the exquisite symmetry and neatness with which the massy columns have been raised and formed of stones, whose size yet leaves our ideas of architecture in amazement. At Hellaal (p.104), the ancient Elethias, numerous tombs in the Mokattam, included in a space of more than two miles, part of which is in a large amphitheatre, formed by the hills retiring to the east from a narrow chasm, showed the existence of an immense city, of which there are no remains, except a few columns, one small building, and an entrenchment of unburnt bricks, whose base is forty feet, and called forth the speculations of Denon and other travellers. The tombs contain paintings, supposed to represent the profession of the deceased; and, amongst the articles of husbandry, in one of them is the sickle, now unknown to the modern inhabitants of Upper Egypt, who pull the corn up by the roots. It was in the mountains above Hellaal, that I saw the Nems, an animal larger than the fox, resembling a wolf or jackall, which Hassalquist calls the Ichneumon. Not far from this, I was surprised by the appearance of a large reptile of the lizard kind, about eight or nine feet long, of a rich green colour, creeping amongst some sount bushes near the shores of the Nile. It answered the description of the animal which some old traveller, whose name I cannot exactly recollect, found in the Syrian desert; and stamps as the real dragon whom St. George was said to have encountered. The boatmen gave a name to it, which I neglected to write down, and it escaped my memory to ask it again. It appears to be of the Guaina kind. The portico of Esneb (p.105), which the French cleared of the surrounding rubbish, was again made the receptacle for the dirt of the inhabitants of that part of the town. The northern columns are, however, still uncovered; the southern ones are buried up to their capitals in sand and dust. I was precluded from the possibility of drawing this portico in its present state, from the existence of a mud wall within three or four feet in a parallel direction. The temple at Aphroditopolis, about a mile and a half north of Esneh, has been much damaged within the last eight or nine years, by one of the Mamelouk chiefs, who fancied he should discover treasure there; and, in conse- quence, blew up part of it with gunpowder. If the first visit to Luxor disappointed me, I was amply repaid by my second, when I had time to consider the proportions of its parts, where the diameters of the columns were upwards of eight feet, supporting, at a height of forty, masses of stone of more than eighteen feet in length, with a breadth and depth of six. I found a village containing three or four hundred inhabitants, partly built amongst the columns, and partly on the terrace of the sanctuary, supposed to be the tomb of Osmandyas. My visit to Carnac [Karnak], the ancient Diospolis, a ruined temple farther from the banks of the river, on the same side as Luxor, was equally gratifying. It was impossible to look (p.106) on such an extent of building without being lost in admiration; no description will be able to give an adequate idea of the enormous masses still defying the ravages of time. Enclosure within enclosure, propylasa in front of propykea; to these, avenues of sphinxes, each of fourteen or fifteen feet in length, lead from a distance of several hundred yards. The common Egyptian sphinx is found in the avenues to the south; but, to the west, the crio sphinx, with the ram's head, from one or two that have been uncovered, seems to have composed its corresponding avenue. Those of the south and east are still buried. Headless statues of grey and blue granite, of gigantic size, lay prostrate in different parts of the ruins. In the western court, in front of the great portico, and at the entrance to this portico, is an upright headless statue of one block of granite, whose size may be imagined from finding that a man of six foot just reaches to the patella of the knee. The entrance to the great portico is through a mass of masonry, partly in ruins; through which the eye rests on an avenue of fourteen columns, whose diameter is more than eleven feet, and whose height is upwards of sixty. On each side of this are seven rows, of seven columns in each, whose diameter is eight feet, and about forty feet high, of an archi- tecture which wants the elegance of Grecian models, yet suits the immense majesty of the Egyptian temple. Though (p.107) it does not enter into my plan to continue a description which has been so ably done by others before me, yet, when I say that the whole extent of this temple cannot be less than a mile and a half in circumference, and that the smallest blocks of masonry are five feet by four in depth and breadth, that there are obelisks of eighty feet high on a base of eighteen feet, of one block of granite; it can be easily imagined that Thebes was the vast city history describes it to be. A panoramic sketch which I made of the great temple, gives some slight idea of its extent. My attention was arrested, in the precincts of one of the courts of this temple, by an ancient reservoir, which, either from accidental or natural circumstances, contained a watery fluid of a thick reddish colour, of a briny taste, sending forth a stench that impregnated the air to the leeward for at least half a mile off, and when approached was almost insupportable: had it existed in the winter months, the time when former travellers have generally visited Egypt, it would have doubtless attracted their attention. It was now the latter end of June, the hottest season of the year, and the above-mentioned effluvia may have arisen from stagnant water, impregnated with the nitre which every where enters into the composition of the sandy soils of Egypt. The greatest part of the ground on the west bank of the Nile, where are the Memnonium, its statues, the ruins at (p.108) Medinat A boo, and Goornoo, and the ancient tombs, is left uncultivated. The Arab village of Medinat Aboo is aban- doned. The Troglodites of Goornoo still inhabit the empty caverns; and I could not find in what manner they derived their subsistence. Some spots of thicket in the plains contain the sount, a species of thorn, which employed a few of them in cutting it into faggots. Formerly the caverns were the haunts of the robbers who infested the Nile, and were driven from their holds by the French; who, after in vain attempting to dislodge them in common pursuit, were, (as related by Denon,) obliged to use fumigation, which, after the entrances of the caverns that were connected with each other were stopped up, compelled the people who had taken refuge to surrender.  They have since been kept in order by Ibrahim Pasha, whose summary mode of punishment, accompanied even with torture, has had great effect in putting a stop to their piracies on the Nile; though I was very nearly undergoing the mortification of losing my papers and sketches, which were next at hand to many other things taken away unperceived, during the night of the ]7th of June, from my boat, when moored near Luxor: luckily, I heard a rustling, which I supposed to be that of rats; and made a noise to drive them from my bed, the usual passage of these animals, which caused the robbers to decamp. I found out my loss as soon as day-light appeared, and thought (p.109) myself fortunate in escaping so well; as it is not at all an uncommon thing for a boat to be completely emptied of its valuables, by the dexterity of the Nile pirates, in the course of a night, even when the boatmen are on board. When I applied to the caimacan of the village to assist me to recover my loss, he seized on two unfortunate peasants, formerly suspected of theft; and, unknown to me, put them into heavy irons, and gave them the bastinado on the soles of the feet, to induce them to confess themselves guilty. After in vain offering a reward and promise of pardon, to give some information relative to my loss, I obtained their release. A word from me would have sent them to Siout, where they would most likely have been executed. The state of subjection to which the peasants of Egypt are reduced, even at this distance from Cairo, may be conceived, when it is known that in none of the villages is there more than one Turk who acts as caimacan, or lieutenant to the cashief of the district. He rules with absolute sway, imprisons, bastinadoes, and casts into irons at pleasure; though the punishment of death is left to the award of the Pasha or his minister. The chief mode of subsistence of the Troglodites of Goornoo seemed from the pillage of the tombs, of which they daily discover new ones; whence, the dead bodies being taken, they are broken up, and the resinous substance found (p.110) in the inside of the mummy forms a considerable article of trade with Cairo. I creeped with difficulty through a small opening into a new found tomb, where I traversed, crawling sometimes on my hands and knees, and sometimes upright on my legs, thousands of dead bodies lying in regular horizontal layers side by side; these were of course the mummies of the lower order of people, being only covered with simple teguments, and smeared over with a composition that preserved the muscles from corruption. The suffocating smell, and the natural horror excited by being left alone unarmed with the wild villagers in this charnel house, made me content myself with visiting two or three chambers, and quickly return to the open air. Many curious mummies of human beings, and other animals in high preservation, were offered me for sale. I bought one of the most valuable, a male. It was wrapped in linen of a yellowish colour, no part of the body being exposed; of the usual tapering shape of mummies; the linen quite perfect, as if just from the hands of the artist. The Egyptian character was traced in a border that passed through the centre, lengthways of the folds, from the head to the feet; and a tressellated ornament of the palm-leaf lay loose on the surface, placed, as may be supposed, for the same purpose as flowers on our modern corpses.  This mummy was laid in a large chest of sycamore, which was without a (p.111) blemish, and the upper surface of the lid contained a rich profusion of coloured hieroglyphics. I was happy in being able to present my purchase to Colonel Misset. Fig.13 statue of Memnon, thrown down at Thebes The vast blocks still remaining of the statues of Memnon and his queen, thrown down, according to Herodotus, by the first Cambyses, are calculated to raise the traveller's idea of the magnitude of all the works undertaken by the ancient Egyptians. The head of the female, described by Denon in such high terms, and by Mr. Hamilton, might be easily taken away: it would be a rich specimen of the sculpture of Egypt, and is worthy of the attention of the British government; and being the only remaining mass that is still preserved unblemished, I felt a wish to remove it, as well as the foot of Memnon, but the expense deterred me [32]. There would have been no difficulty, for the inhabitants were well disposed to assist me in any thing I wished to do, with the promise of reward. My visit to the tombs of the kings, which are nearly two miles from the other antiquities, was made in the heat of the day. I was happy to take shelter in the passage to one of them, where I found half a mummy, that had been (p.112) stripped of its covering, and appeared to have been found there. The prospect of getting a royal mummy made me search for others; and I employed some of the peasants in clearing away the ruins from the chamber near which it was found, but to no purpose. The teeth of the last mentioned mummy were very regular, perfectly white, and part of the hair of the head remaining. Denon has given an interesting description of the approach to the tombs of the kings. After continuing for half an hour in a long winding valley, the traveller at last arrives unexpectedly at a chasm, where the rock seems to have been divided by art, leaving a passage, not level with the ground, of four or five feet, through which he enters into a wide amphitheatre of rocks, in the sides of which are the entrances to the tombs: some are covered; others just show the cornice; others again are open, and present the whole front, which is generally of plain masonry, of about six feet wide and high. The difficulty with which researches have been always made in Egypt, has confined the drawings taken by travellers, and even the scavans of the French army, to mere objects of antiquity; whereas their situation and corresponding scenery are often very interesting, and well worth being presented to public view.   fig.14 drawn by H. Light engraved by Shepherd View in the plain of Dendrya The ruins of Dendyra, so often described, so accurately drawn by the French scavans and (p.113) the late captain Hayes of the engineers, who accompanied Mr. Hamilton, are in a plain near the foot of a part of the Mokattam, which rises boldly behind them, and is so singularly broken into masses, that I was surprised they had never formed part of the picture in which the portico is represented. It was here, as 1 have observed in my preface, that our sepoys, in their march from Keenah to join the army of Lord Hutchinson, imagined they had found their own temples, and were very angry with the Egyptians for their neglect of their deities. I have understood from English officers who accompanied the Indian army, that the sepoys performed their devotions in these temples with all the ceremonies practised in India. This event affords a strong proof of that connexion in remote antiquity which the researches of the late Sir William Jones's society at Calcutta have led the learned there to believe between Egypt and India. I cannot help again remarking, that an inquiry into this connexion might serve to explain many obscure points of ancient history, now wholly lost in fables, and would be worthy the attention of those who favour the pursuits of literature and the arts; and that a traveller in Egypt, capable of comparing his remarks there with what he would find in British India, might accomplish this great and desirable task. I left Dendyra with regret on the 29th of June, and having stopped at the other remains of Egyptian architecture (p.114) on the banks of the river as I proceeded downwards, I arrived at Bardish on the 18th of July, where I prepared for visiting the pyramids of Sacarra [Sakarra]. I found there was some apprehension from the Arabs of the desert, who were inclined to take advantage of the Pasha's absence, to wage war against the Egyptians. I, however, put myself into the hands of one of the Arab chiefs who still preserved his obedience, and set out for the plains in which the pyramids are situated. I confess I felt some repugnance to descend with my conductor into the chamber of the one that is open, knowing the state in which the Arabs were. However, as I had often before risked much to gratify curiosity, I confided in the Arab's faith, stripped myself to the waist in my shirt, bound a handkerchief round my head, and having left my servant at the entrance with his musquet, I slid down the shaft which leads to the chambers, accompanied by the Arab and one of my boatmen, all three having a lighted taper in our hands. The entrance was so narrow, that I was obliged to lie flat on my face, and work myself through the sand and dirt which blocked up the passage to the chamber.  Having got through, I was gratified by finding myself in a lofty apartment, of a wedge-like form, meeting at the top almost in a point: it was faced with stones which had a high polish, but whose substance I could not distinguish, being quite black with age. These stones were eighteen feet in length (p.115) and three or four in breadth, joined without cement, yet so closely united as not to admit the point of a penknife in their interstices. They were in projecting layers from the summit, the uppermost overhanging in succession those below them, which retired with the angle of inclination of the sides of the chamber. At the south side, even with the ground, was another opening, leading to a second chamber, similar to that I have described; and, according to the account given by Mr. Davison, in the memoirs relative to Turkey [33], published by Mr. Walpole, there is a third chamber. I was prevented from further research, and hurried from my observations by hearing the report of a musquet at the mouth of the shaft. My first sensations were of course not very agreeable, as I imagined my servant had been attacked; but I found, on ascending, that my alarm had been needless, and that he had fired at a hyena, which, though wounded, had made its escape. From these pyramids I went to the village of Metrahenny, and descended to Boolac on the 19th of July, when I again became an inmate in Colonel Misset's house. I found that the plague had raged in this part of Egypt with great violence during mj' absence, which had obliged him to cut (p.116) off all communication between his house and the exterior; that in Cairo the inhabitants had died at the rate of two hundred a day; and that it continued raging for two months, when the increasing heat of the weather had stopped its progress. The effect of heat on this disorder is evident from its rarely spreading into Upper Egypt as far as Siout. The Pasha's son Ibrahim had taken more than ordinary pre- caution to prevent the chance of its progress at his government, by ordering his physician to inspect the sick, and even dead bodies before their funeral, in order to be on his guard against it if it should find its way there. At Cairo there had been some scruples on the part of the sheiks of the religion with regard to encouraging common precautions, which the Kaya Bey had recommended. The Koran was, however, consulted, and the necessary construction put to a part of it which related to disease. The way in which the plague was prevented from making its way into the harem of the Pasha, corresponds with the idea generally held of Turkish government, where the interests of the chief and the people are opposed. It was as follows. As soon as the plague had begun to rage at Cairo, the harem of the Pasha was removed to a village in the neighbourhood of Gizeh, where he has a palace; but as the inhabitants of the village had communication with Cairo, they were driven away, obliged to seek habitations where (p.117) they could, and no provision made for their subsistence. The consequence of such oppression may be easily conceived. The Kamseen winds, which had been prevalent in my voyage up the Nile, had been succeeded, as usual, by the north winds in my descent, often with such violence as to prevent the possibility of continuing my course, and produced the sickness felt at sea to some of my boat's crew. At Thebes, about the 20th of June, the same time mentioned by Denon, I observed the beginning of the inundation, with the same preceding symptoms, a stillness of water, and its change to a muddy white colour. By the time I arrived at Boolac it was much increased; its daily rise was announced by the public criers [34]; and on the 12th of August 1 was witness to the ceremony of cutting the dyke of the canal conveying the waters of the Nile to Cairo. I formed one of a party, consisting of Colonel Misset's secretary and his wife, and Mr. Buckingham, whose name I have before mentioned. We hired a cangia, and left Boolac before day- light, amongst crowds of boats.  Each boat had a light; and  (p.118) the shores of the Nile near the mouth of the canal were lined with people, and illuminated with the lamp I have described in the preceding part of the work. Our boatmen kept time to their oars with songs, not particularly modest. As soon as it was day-light Mr. B. and myself landed:  we found a tent pitched for the Kaya Bey and his suite on the left of the canal, which takes its rise near the aqueduct. All the disposable troops were under arms, to overawe the populace that were assembled in immense crowds; the cavalry ranged in rear, the infantry in front. When the Kaya Bey and his suite appeared, the work- men stationed at the dyke of the canal began to destroy it. In the mean time, the canal was filled with males of all ages, scrambling for the money thrown to them by the Kaya Bey and his officers, who kept them occupied in this way till the waters of the Nile were ready to break down the dyke, which at last was overpowered, and they rushed in with a force that carried every thing before them. In a moment the crowd was washed away, with a velocity that excited horror and anxiety for the thousands that were in one instant floating and swimming with the stream, and carried out of sight. What lives were lost I could not learn; and not the least interest was taken in their late: whether they escaped or drowned was perfectly indifferent to the lookers on. I have read (p.119) in some traveller that a human effigy was thrown into the canal, at the time the waters of the Nile flowed in, a substitute for the human victim mentioned by Herodotus; but, for the story of the former offering, there is no foundation. Indeed, the numerous votaries to the waters of the Nile, appear to be a sufficient immolation to them. It is moreover an invariable custom of all mothers to bring the children, that have been born since the inundation of the former year, to the canal, and wash them in the newly-arrived waters; in which also the populace of Cairo take the earliest opportunity of purifying themselves. I had delayed my departure from Egypt till after the cutting of the dyke, that I might employ the interval in taking a general view of Cairo from the heights of the Mokattam, on the east of the Nile. I signified my desire to do so to the Kaya Bey, and begged permission to reside in the newly-erected fort [35]: this was granted, and a tent pitched for me on the spot I fixed on for taking my view. I remained there six days, and completed my undertaking.  In this time I had a visit from the Kaya Bey in form, and it was considered (p.120) a mark of great honour; though its object was tosee my drawing; which, after twisting and turning about, he returned to me in despair, not being able to understand it. A visit to the pyramids of Gizeh was of course one of my excursions from Boolac; and having seen them, I prepared for my journey to Holy Land. Footnotes: 26. Racky, a sweet spirit distilled from dates, much used by the Nubians.. 27. One had reference to the Virgin, sitting under a tree. 28. The word Philae is not, according to M. Quatremere, derived from the Greek; but from the Egyptian Pilakh, extremity, alluding to its being the frontier town of Egypt. Mem. sur l'Egypte, i. 388. For the Greek origin of the word, see Tillemont, H. des Em. 4. Walpole's note, p. 420. 29. Isaiah, iii. 21. speaks of the "nose jewels," and Ezek. xvi. 12. See Lowth in locum. Walpole's note, p. 422. 30. Most of these villages are on the east bank of the Nile, 31. Absimbal [Abu Simbel], mentioned by Mr. Belzoni, the artist employed by Mr. Salt, as Ybsambul, which he has described. 32. I understand this head has been removed by Mr. Salt, and is on its way home. 33. Walpole,. P. 359. 34.  Benjamin of Tudela mentions in his time, that the Nilometer was measured every day during the inundation by a man, who then cried to the inhabitants of Misraim and Tsohan, "Thank God! for the river has risen to such and such a height." These words are still used. He travelled in the 12th century. 35. See chapter on military defences of Egypt and Syria, in part ii. [Return to Table of Contents]
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