a large town of Upper Egypt, situated on the eastern bank of the Nile. 'One admires there (says Abulfeda, as quoted by M. Savary) a temple which is comparable to the most celebrated monuments of antiquity. It is constructed with stones of a surprising size, on which are sculptured innumerable figures.' Though this town be fallen from its ancient splendour, it is still one of the most beautiful of Upper Egypt. According to M. Savary, an Arab prince commands there, and the police is well attended to. The streets are wide and clean, and commerce and agriculture flourish. It has a manufacture of cotton stuffs, and pottery, which are conveyed over all Egypt. It is the same that Herodotus calls Chemmis, and Strabo Panopolis, or the city of Pan, who was worshipped there. Herodotus says, that Perseus was a native of this city, and that his descendants had established festivals there in his honour. It has lost its ancient edifices, and much of its extent; the ruins of the temple, described by Abulfeda, being without its limits to the north. Nothing remains of it but some stones, of such magnitude that the Turks have not been able to move them. They are covered with hieroglyphics. On one of them are traced four concentric circles, in a square. The innermost of these contains a sun. The two succeeding ones, divided into 12 parts, contain, one, 12 birds, the other, 12 animals, almost effaced, which appear to be the signs of the zodiac. The fourth has no divisions, and presents 12 human figures: which M. Savary imagines to represent the 12 gods, the 12 months of the year, and the 12 signs of the zodiac. The Egyptians, says Herodotus, were the first who divided the year into 12 months, and employed the names of the 12 gods. The four seasons occupy the angles of the square, on the side of which may be distinguished a globe with wings. M. Savary thinks it probable that this stone belonged to a temple dedicated to the sun, that the whole of these hieroglyphics mark his passage into the signs of the zodiac, and his course, whose revolution forms the year. The columns of this temple have been partly broken to make lime and millstones. Some of them have been transported into one of the mosques of Achmim, where they are placed without taste; others are heaped up in the squares of the town.

M. Savary tells us of a serpent which is worshipped here, and is the wonder of the country. "Upwards of a century ago (says he) a religious Turk called Sheik Haridi died here. He passed for a saint among the Mahometans; who raised a monument to him, covered with a cupola, at the foot of the mountain. The people flocked from all parts to offer up their prayers to him. One of their priests, profiting by their credulity, persuaded them that God had made the soul of Scheik Haridi pass into the body of a serpent. Many of these are found in the Thebais, which are harmless; and he had taught one to obey his voice. He appeared with his serpent, dazzled the vulgar by his surprising tricks, and pretended to cure all disorders."

Some lucky instances of success, due to nature alone, and sometimes to the imagination of the patients, gave him great celebrity. He soon consigned his serpent Haridi to the tomb, producing him only to oblige princes and persons capable of giving him a handsome recompense. The successors of this priest, brought up in the same principles, found no difficulty in giving sanction to so advantageous an error. They added to the general persuasion of his virtue that of his immortality. They had the boldness even to make a public proof of it. The serpent was cut in pieces in presence of the emir, and placed for two hours under a vase. At the instant of lifting up the vase, the priests, no doubt, had the address to substitute one exactly resembling it. A miracle was proclaimed, and the immortal Haridi acquired a fresh degree of consideration. This knavery procures them great advantages. The people flock from all quarters to pray at this tomb; and if the serpent crawls out from under the stone, and approaches the suppliant, it is a sign that his malady will be cured. It may be imagined that he does not appear till an offering has been made proportioned to the quality and riches of the different persons. In extraordinary cases, where the sick persons cannot be cured without the presence of the serpent, a pure virgin must come to solicit him. To avoid inconveniences on this head, they take care to choose a very young girl indeed. She is decked out in her best clothes, and crowned with flowers. She puts herself in a praying attitude; and as the priests are inclined, the serpent comes out, makes circles round the young suppliant, and goes and reposes on her. The virgin, accompanied by a vast multitude, carries him in triumph amidst the general acclamation. No human reasoning would persuade these ignorant and credulous Egyptians that they are the dupes of a few impostors; they believe in the serpent Haridi as firmly as in the prophet." E. Long. 31. 55. N. Lat. 26. 49.