ALEXANDRIA, Modern, is built upon a neck of land be-
tween the two ports. That to the westward, the ancient
Eunostos, now the old port, is by far the best. It stretches
from the town westward to Marabout, nearly six miles,
is about a mile and a half wide, and has three entrances. The
first, or that nearest the city, has seventeen feet of water,
and is about two miles south-west from the large building
situated a little to the westward of the town, called the palace. The entrance, however, is difficult. The eastern side of the second or middle entrance is marked by buoys, which lie about two miles and three quarters south-west from the palace: it is about a quarter of a mile wide, and has, where shallowest, twenty-seven feet of water. The third or western entrance, which is the best, has its western boundary about three eighths of a mile from the east end of Marabout Island, is about half a mile wide, and has at its shallowest part from twenty-five to twenty-seven feet of water. The new or Asiatic harbour is on the eastern side of the town. The space for anchorage in it is very limited; and being exposed to the north winds, with a foul and rocky bottom, the cables of vessels soon chafe and part, by which serious accidents sometimes happen, from the violent collision of the vessels thus driven from their moorings.
The country around Alexandria is entirely destitute of water. That necessary is supplied from the Nile by the kalidj, a canal of 12 leagues, which conveys it every year at the time of the inundation. It fills the vaults or reservoirs dug under the ancient city; and this provision serves till the next year. It is evident, therefore, that were a foreign power to take possession, the canal would be shut, and all supplies of water cut off. It is this canal alone which connects Alexandria with Egypt; for, from its situation without the Delta, and the nature of the soil, it really belongs to the deserts of Africa. Its environs on the western and southern side are sandy, flat, and sterile, without trees or houses; on the eastern side the country is broken and undulating, and adorned in the vicinity of the town with well-cultivated gardens. The famous tower of Pharos has long since been demolished, and a castle, called Pharillon, built in its place. The causeway which joined the island to the continent is broken down, and its place supplied by a strong bridge of several arches.
Some parts of the Saracenic walls of the city are yet standing, and present a fine specimen of ancient masonry. They were flanked with large towers, about 200 paces distant from each other, with small towers in the middle. Below were some extensive casemates, which might serve for galleries to walk in. In the lower part of one of the towers was a large square hall, the roof of which was supported by thick columns of Thebaic syenite. Above were several rooms, over which were platforms more than 20 paces square. The ancient reservoirs, vaulted with so much art, which extend under the whole town, remain almost entire at the end of 2000 years.
Of Cæsar's palace there remain only a few porphyry pillars, and the front, which is almost entire, and very beautiful. The palace of Cleopatra was built upon the walls facing the port, with a gallery on the outside, supported by several fine columns. Not far from this palace are two obelisks, vulgarly called Cleopatra's Needles. They are of Thebaic stone, and covered with hieroglyphics. One is overturned, defaced, and lying under the sand; the other is on its plinth. These two obelisks, each of which is a single stone, measured 70 feet high, by 7 feet 7 inches at the base. Denon, who went to Egypt along with the French army in 1798, supposed that these columns decorated the entrance of the palace of the Ptolemies, the ruins of which still exist at no great distance from the place of the obelisks. Towards the gate of Rosetta are five columns of marble, on the place formerly occupied by the porticoes of the gymnasium. The rest of the colonnade, the design of which was discoverable 150 years ago by Maillet, has since been destroyed by the barbarism of the Turks.
But what most engages the attention of travellers is the pillar of Pompey, as it is commonly called, situated at a quarter of a league from the southern gate. It is composed of red granite. The capital, which is Corinthian, with palm
leaves, and not indented, is nine feet high. The shaft and the upper member of the base are of one piece of nearly 90 feet long and 9 in diameter. The base is a square of about 15 feet on each side. This block of marble, 60 feet in circumference, rests on two layers of stone bound together with lead; which, however, has not prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of them, to search for an imaginary treasure. The whole column is 98 feet 9 inches high; 29 feet 8 inches in circumference; and the diameter at the top of the capital measures 16 feet 6 inches. It is perfectly polished, and only a little shivered on the eastern side. Nothing can equal the majesty of this monument: seen from a distance, it overtops the town, and serves as a signal for vessels. On a nearer approach, it produces an astonishment mixed with awe. One can never be tired with admiring this beautiful column, the length of the shaft, or the extraordinary simplicity of the pedestal. This last has been somewhat damaged by the instruments of travellers, who are curious to possess a relic of this antiquity. The column was considered inaccessible, till it was scaled about half a century ago by the wild frolic of a party of English sailors, who conceived the project of emptying a bowl of punch on the top of this celebrated monument. Dexterously availing themselves of the movements of a paper kite, they succeeded in fastening a rope to the summit, by which they ascended, and performed this great achievement. They discovered a foot and ankle, the only remnant of a gigantic statue which had originally adorned it. It was ascended by Captain W. H. Smyth, R.N. in 1822, for the purpose of ascertaining, by a series of angles taken from its summit, whether, as he had imagined, it had been erected as a mark at the north end of the degree of the meridian measured by Eratosthenes. At that time it was ascended by many persons; and Mr Madden mentions an English lady who breakfasted and wrote a letter from this elevated position. At the base, on the west side of the pedestal, some English officers found a Greek inscription, from which it would appear to have been erected in the time, and to the honour, of the emperor Diocletian; although the monolithic shaft appears of far greater antiquity.
The island of the Pharos, called by the Arabs, Rondah-el-Tyn, or the Garden of Fig-trees, lies in a N.E. and S.W. direction, to the N. of the city, and consists of a dry saline soil, and dazzling white calcareous rocks, bordered with reefs, especially on the S.W. side. At its north-eastern extremity is situated the castle, a large and lofty square building, which, previous to 1842 was surmounted by a lighthouse in the form of a minaret, a substitute for the ancient magnificent structure, which stood on a rock in the eastern harbour. The castle has been strongly fortified, and occupies a small island joined to the larger one by a dike, constructed in part of ancient granite columns laid crosswise. A new lighthouse was erected in 1842, on the most westerly point of the island. It has a fixed light, 180 feet above the level of the sea, which in clear weather is visible at a distance of nearly 20 miles. The high coasts of the island shelter the old harbour from the violent winds that blow between N.W. and N.E. At its south-western extremity, called Ras-el-Tyn, or Fig-tree point, there is a naval hospital, capable of holding 300 beds, with spacious, lofty, and well-aired apartments. The foundations of the ancient Pharos are to be seen in a calm day below water.
On the south-west side of the city, at a mile's distance, are situated the catacombs, the ancient burial-place of Alexandria; a remarkable object, although they cannot be compared to those of the ancient Thebes. The Baron de Tott, in describing these, observes "that Nature not having furnished this part of Egypt with a ridge of rocks, like that which runs parallel with the Nile above Delta, the ancient inhabitants of Alexandria could only have an imitation by
Alexandria. digging into a bed of solid rock; and thus they formed a Necropolis, or City of the Dead. The excavation is from 30 to 40 feet wide, 200 long, and 25 deep, and is terminated by gentle declivities at each end. The two sides, cut perpendicularly, contain several openings, about 10 or 12 feet in width and height, hollowed horizontally; and which form, by their different branches, subterranean streets. One of these, which curiosity has disencumbered from the ruins and sands that render the entrance of others difficult or impossible, contains no mummies, but only the places they occupied. The order in which they were ranged is still to be seen. Niches, 20 inches square, sunk six feet horizontally, narrowed at the bottom, and separated from each other by partitions in the rock seven or eight inches thick, divided into checkers the two walls of this subterranean vault. It is natural to suppose, from this disposition, that each mummy was introduced with the feet foremost into the cell intended for its reception; and that new streets were opened, in proportion as these dead inhabitants of Necropolis increased. This observation, he adds, which throws a light on the catacombs of Memphis, may perhaps likewise explain the vast size and multitude, as well as the different elevations, of the pyramids in Upper and Lower Egypt.
About seventy paces from Pompey's pillar is the canal of the Nile, which was dug by the ancient Egyptians, to convey the water of the Nile to Alexandria, and fill the cisterns under the city. This canal had ceased altogether to be navigable, till Mahommed Ali spent immense labour and cost in restoring it. The work was begun in 1819, and completed within a year, at a melancholy sacrifice of human life. Unfortunately, the Italian engineers whom he employed were entirely destitute of the skill necessary to conduct so great and arduous an undertaking. They took no measures to protect the canal against the fresh influx of mud from the Nile, so that it was soon choked up, and still requires frequent cleaning out. It now forms the regular line of communication between Alexandria and the Nile for the overland passage to India. The distance between Alexandria and Atfeh, where passengers embark on the Nile, is 48 English miles.
Alexandria, in modern times, until its complete fortification by Mahommed Ali, has never ranked as a place of strength. Accordingly, when attacked by Bonaparte in 1798, it surrendered almost without a blow. The French were very industrious in forming the place, if not into a regular fortress, yet into a very strong entrenched position. They appear to have succeeded. In 1801 Sir Ralph Abercromby undertook his memorable expedition. On the 13th and 21st March he gained, in the plain before Alexandria, two successive victories, of which the last was most complete and signal, though purchased by the life of the distinguished commander. Yet it was still not considered possible to carry Alexandria, unless by regular siege; the conclusion of which, on the 2d September, was accompanied by a general convention for the evacuation of Egypt by the French armies.
In 1807 a British force under the command of General Frazer landed and took possession of Alexandria without resistance; but being repulsed in two successive attempts upon Rosetta, they finally evacuated it on the 23d September of the same year.
It has recently begun to recover some degree of prosperity, from its being an important station on the overland route to India, by which the distance is shortened more than a half, and rendered comparatively safe and expeditious. Steamers from England, Marseilles, Trieste, and Constantinople sail regularly to and from Alexandria; and the goods, mails, and passengers which they convey, pass by the Mahmoodieh canal and the Nile, through Cairo and the desert, to and
from Suez, which communicates with India by the Red Sea steamers. The consequence has been a rapid increase of population, and enlargement of the town. In the Turkish quarter, however, the streets are still narrow and irregular, and the greater part of the houses very humble and poor. In the Frank or European quarter, the houses are clean and whitewashed, generally elegant and well-built, in wide, airy streets, and it contains a large new square, where are found the principal hotels and most of the consulates. The houses are built of brick or of stone, dug from the ruins of the ancient city. In the environs there are a number of handsome villas, with well-inclosed gardens. Its exports are chiefly corn, cotton, flax, wool, rice, opium, senna, and other African products; and its imports are cotton, woollen, and silk goods, hardware, iron, machinery, coals, &c. In the year 1847, 2019 vessels of the united burden of 409,516 tons entered its port; of which 465 vessels, of 136,499 tons, were British; and in 1849, 1651 vessels, of which 336 were British. In 1843 the value of its imports was £1,005,412, and of its exports, £1,321,268. It has a new palace, a custom-house, and two theatres; a naval arsenal, a marine hospital, a dry dock, a military and a naval school, several mosques, synagogues, and Christian churches; and since 1840 a Protestant church. Its population amounts to about 60,000 exclusive of the military, and is of a very mixed character, consisting of Turks, Copts, Armenians, Greeks, Syrians, Jews, and Europeans.
Alexandria is about forty leagues north-west of Cairo. A railway is at present (1853) in the course of construction between these two places. Long. 30. 10. E. Lat. 31. 12. N.