, formerly a dependency of Turkey, is now in reality, if not altogether in name, independent of the Porte, and is governed with absolute and unlimited authority by a man who, still retaining the title of pasha or viceroy, is content, under that denomination, to exercise all the rights and powers of a sovereign prince. The ancient form of the administration has, however, been preserved; and the present ruler, aware of the influence exerted on the minds of men by custom and names long familiar, has been careful to innovate as little as possible on the modes by which the country has hitherto been governed, or on the denominations of the government. The first administrative functionary is the kiaya-buy, or prime minister; under whom are placed all the secondary authorities, invested with powers conferred on them by the viceroy, and to whose office or tribunal all representations and private complaints, as well as the greater part of litigious disputes, are carried. The aga of the janizaries is charged with maintaining good order, and watching over the conduct of the troops. The wali, or aga of the police, exercises similar functions: he is the head of the gendarmerie; and his principal duty is to observe public women, and to pursue and seize all thieves and robbers. The direction of the markets, and the examination of weights and measures, are entrusted to the mohteseh, or aga of subsistence. The bash-aga, or superintendent of the civil police, causes the orders of the government to be executed, the streets to be patrolled day and night, and the coffee-houses and other public places to be watched by spies in his employment. In each quarter or district of the capital there is also a headsman or overseer, who is empowered to settle differences by arbitration, and is responsible for the peace and good order of his neighbourhood. All sorts of exactions, whether in the shape of fees or presents, have been abolished, and adequate salaries allotted in their stead; nor is it permitted to any officer, except the wali, who retains his former rights over prostitutes and thieves, to levy contributions on any pretext whatsoever. By the vigilance of the police, civil and military, and the activity of the district magistrates in removing bad subjects and allaying disturbances of every kind, the streets of Cairo have been rendered as safe as those of London, excepting only in the case of military tumults, which are now of rare occurrence; and by the extension of the same system throughout the country, crimes have been repressed, security afforded to person and property, and order established, in a land which was formerly filled with anarchy and violence.

The administration of justice has in like manner been improved, by being purified from some of the enormous abuses which formerly prevailed; but still, in Egypt as in other countries much farther advanced, the poor litigant contends at a great disadvantage with his rich adversary, and the law is even yet sometimes scandalously eluded in favour of the powerful. The cadi is the supreme judge, and holds his appointment only for a year; but he has under him sheikhs and other men of the law, who are not removable. The procedure before this judge is, as might be expected, exceedingly simple. The nature or relevancy of the process is first inquired into; parties are then fully heard, and witnesses, if necessary, examined; after which the members of the court deliver their opinions, and according to these the cadi at last decides. When the cadi is an easy, pacific man, the sheikhs convert their own houses into courts or tribunals, and arrogate to themselves the right of dispensing justice; but they discontinue their usurpations whenever they observe the supreme judge evince dispositions adverse to their interested views. The cadi also exercises the functions of a notary, and passes all contracts for the sale of real property, denominated hegged, exacting a fee or duty of two per cent. upon each. The average cost of a lawsuit is stated at four per cent. of the value in dispute; and of this proportional charge, which is paid down whenever judgment is pronounced, the cadi allows one fifth to the lawyers employed in his tribunal, and judiciously keeps the remaining four fifths to himself. He has, besides, other emoluments, which, added to the fees thus exacted, render his situation worth from five to six hundred purses.

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1 Mengin, Histoire de l'Egypte sous Mohammed-Aly, tom. ii. p. 255 et seqq. Egypt. or between L2000 and L3000 a year. With regard to their assessors, they are not considered as at all scrupulous about the means of improving their incomes; and in truth they are accused of resorting to practices incompatible with the slightest pretension on their part to judicial purity.

Besides the public functionaries above mentioned, there are others attached to the household or court of the viceroy; which is composed of the kiaya-hey or head of the civil administration, the khaznadar or treasurer, the divan-effendi or inspector of provisions, the scikdar or master of the household, the anaktar-aghassi or keeper of the wardrobe, the commandant of the citadel, and the superintendent of customs and excise, who are all paid by fixed salaries, so considerable in amount that some of them have been enabled to realize fortunes. The viceroy has also a body-guard, consisting of several hundred Mamlukes, and about six hundred yeomen of the palace; so that the establishment of his household, including subordinate functionaries in the civil and military departments, cannot be much short of fifteen hundred individuals. Many of these, however, are persons whom, on account of their merit, he has sought to attach to his service by placing them on his establishment, and who either hold nominal offices, or are kept as mere retainers until an opportunity offer for employing them to advantage.

The Said is governed by a pasha of two tails, who resides at Siout; and other pashas and beys are also placed at the head of the different branches of the administration, as already stated. Each province is divided into cantons; and these cantons are placed under the authority of the kiachefs and kaimancans, with whom are conjoined in office the cherbalettes for the direction of rural economy, and the cadis for administering justice. Each canton has also its scherif for the collection of the contributions, which he transmits quarterly to the treasury of the grand divan; but the collections of Upper Egypt are, we believe, centralized at Siout, whence they are remitted to Cairo.

It is exceedingly difficult, not to say impossible, to ascertain by what precise tenure land was held under the princes of the native dynasties by whom Egypt was anciently governed; but, judging from some papyral writings which modern ingenuity has deciphered, as well as from certain hints both in sacred and profane history, it seems evident that, in the days of the Pharaohs, a distinct property in the soil, however modified or affected, was recognized by the Egyptian monarchs. This, in fact, is attested by the title-deeds which have been found in the mummy-chests or coffins; and it may also be inferred from the transaction mentioned in Scripture, where Joseph transferred to the crown a large portion of land, giving to the famished peasantry, in return for their fields, a certain quantity of corn. It may also be observed in support of the opinion here stated, that, in the great Turin papyrus deciphered by Count Pollon, there is a very intelligible intimation of something like a law of prescription for securing persons whose right has not been challenged within a given time (thirty-eight years), in the undisturbed possession of their property; a circumstance which seems perfectly conclusive as to the existence of a distinct property in the soil, however that right may have been modified or restricted by the fundamental laws of the monarchy. This rule, by which unchallenged possession for a given period of time was sustained against a claim founded upon title alone without possession, appears to have been first laid down in a royal edict or decree, which is denominated "the benevolent," and to which accordingly distinct reference is made in the very remarkable monument to which we have alluded. For a long period subsequent to the Macedonian conquest, however, the territorial domain of Egypt appears to have been occupied on conditions somewhat analogous to those implied or involved in the system of fiefs or feudal tenures, which was at one time universal throughout Europe: the actual property of the soil was vested in the vassal; but a certain portion of the annual produce, or an equivalent for such portion, was made payable to the individual on whom the monarch, theoretically the proprietor of all the lands in the kingdom, had conferred the usufructuary interest, if not the feudal superiority.

Before the accession of the present viceroy, the representative of the Ottoman Porte was satisfied with levying a miri or land-tax, proportioned to the estimated value of the soil in point of quality and other advantages, and he at the same time acknowledged a quasi-right of ownership in the occupants, subject only to the payment of the territorial impost. But at present nearly all the lands, as well as the commerce and manufactures, of Egypt, belong to Mehemed Ali; who, having assumed possession of the territorial property of the country, granted, in name of compensation, to the former holders who were thus deprived, annuities or pensions for life, but left them nothing which they could transmit to their children or their heirs. The lands which were seized in this way belonged either to the Mamlukes, whom it was the policy of the viceroy, if not wholly to extirpate, at all events to disconnect and detach from every means of regaining power; or to certain establishments for feeding the poor, and supporting mosques, fountains, public schools, and other similar institutions; or, lastly, to the ancient class of proprietors in feu-hold, whose principles or management were not such as to secure the confidence of the viceroy. But even the owners of those lands which have as yet escaped seizure are not the masters of the crops which they raise; they cannot dispose of any part of the produce until the agents of the government shall have had the pre-emption of such portion as they may think fit to take at a price fixed by themselves; and, besides paying the established miri, or land-tax, they are bound to supply all the families attached to the court with agricultural produce at half its current price in the market, whilst the viceroy regulates the price of such surplus as can be spared for exportation.

With regard to those lands of which the absolute property is now vested in the viceregal government, they are let or farmed out in portions at fixed rents to the cultivators, who may sow as they please, or not sow at all; but who, whether the seasons be propitious or the reverse, must pay the stipulated rent, which is exacted with the utmost rigour; and as this is invariably fixed at the highest limit to which it can possibly be carried, the condition to which the Fellahs or cultivators have in consequence been reduced is one of extreme misery and wretchedness. This unhappy class, which seems destined to be equally oppressed whoever be master, and which feels the government of Mehemed to be even more grinding in its exactions than either that of the Turks or the Mamlukes, whom he superseded, is almost the only one which has derived no benefit from the various reforms he has introduced; and its situation would in fact be altogether intolerable and hopeless, were it not that the large standing army, which is principally recruited from the native population, opens up a field for the development of talent and enterprise, and holds out a certain and not very distant prospect of amelioration in the condition of this degraded caste. The natural fruits of such a system, however, are gene-

Kilmaud, Tableau de l'Egypte et de la Nubie, p. 23. With all his defects, however, Mehemmed Ali, if he has not outstripped his age, is at least prodigiously in advance of the people over whom he rules; and he is disliked by the more influential classes of his subjects for those very qualities which have raised him so high in the estimation of Europe. The indulgence which he has granted to religious sects of every denomination; the introduction of vaccination, and other improved surgical practices borrowed from Europe; and, above all, the establishment of a school of anatomy, where the waxen models procured from Italy have at length been superseded by actual dissections; these are innovations which have shocked the prejudices and alarmed the ignorance of the bigoted and fanatical Moslems. But Mehemmed, who in fact appears only to be a Turk among Turks, is not a man to be deterred from the pursuit of objects the accomplishment of which he foresees will be productive of great and certain advantages; and by his admirable management, combined with the outward observance of the rules of Islamism in his own person, he has overcome difficulties and surmounted obstacles which would have altogether appalled any ordinary man. Accordingly, whilst he has embellished mosques, decorated fountains, constructed reservoirs, and erected colonnades in honour of saints, for the gratification of the faithful, he has at the same time executed works of great public utility, some of which are calculated to confer lasting benefits on the country he now governs, and to accelerate more and more the development of its industry.

One of the most remarkable of these is the canal of Mahmoudych, which connects the harbour of Alexandria with the river Nile, near Fouah, and establishes a water communication between the capital and the principal port of Egypt. This magnificent work, which was opened on the 7th of December 1819, is forty-eight miles in length, ninety feet in breadth, and about eighteen feet in depth, and affords a means of conveyance by which the whole produce of the country may, without danger or delay, be brought to the place of exportation. A circumstance which occurred in 1817 first suggested to the pasha the idea of this great undertaking. In the winter of that year, when a scarcity prevailed all over Europe, multitudes of vessels resorted for grain to Egypt, where the crops had been unusually abundant; but owing to the difficulty of the bar at the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, and the tempestuous weather which prevailed along the coast, little or none of it could be conveyed in time to Alexandria; and hence, of about three hundred vessels which had assembled at that port, some were obliged to return in ballast, whilst others sailed with only half cargoes. This circumstance, which occasioned a heavy loss, and produced numerous disputes amongst the agents and merchants, suggested to the pasha the advantage of having a navigable canal to connect the main branch of the Nile with the port of Alexandria; and with his usual energy and decision he resolved to proceed as soon as possible with the undertaking. For this purpose he caused all the labourers in Egypt to be put in requisition, and a month's pay to be advanced, in order to enable them to provide necessaries; and to each village he allotted the extent of work which, it was expected, they were to perform. The Arabs, under their respective chiefs or sheikhs, were accordingly marched down in vast numbers to the line of the intended canal, along which they were distributed; and it is said that as many as two hundred and fifty thousand men were at one time employed at the work. The greatest Pharaoh of the olden time, including even Moors himself, could not have

In Egypt there are about four millions of feddans of land in cultivation. A feddan produces three ardebs or six quintals of cotton at the least, the same quantity of flax, from twelve to thirteen okes, or from fifteen to sixteen kilogrammes, of refined indigo, seven or eight ardebs of sugar, and other articles in proportion. Cultivation may be divided and classed as follows:

| Crop | Quantity | |---------------|----------| | Cotton | 200,000 feddans | | Flax | 100,000 | | Hemp | 100,000 | | Indigo | 100,000 | | Rice | 100,000 | | Sugar canes | 100,000 | | Dates, olives, &c. | 500,000 |

1,200,000 feddans.

The remainder of the land in cultivation, amounting to 2,800,000 feddans, is either appropriated to the raising of grain or to the purposes of horticulture. The total quantity of corn annually produced in Egypt has been estimated at three millions of ardebs, or six millions of quintals. Besides this, the country furnishes nitre, salt, natron, and soda; and about two hundred thousand ox and buffalo hides are annually collected for exportation. If to these products, then, be added the amount of the duties levied on industry and commerce, the gross return for all Egypt may be estimated at 68,600,000 great piastres, or L14,500,000 sterling. According to this calculation, the net revenue of the viceroy ought to be 25,000,000 great piastres, or L5,248,000 sterling; but if due allowance be made for contingencies, and if we take into account that this revenue is raised by means of extortion on the one hand, and monopoly on the other, we shall not probably err in making an abatement of 5,000,000 piastres from the nominal amount, and estimating it at L4,000,000 sterling. Egypt has also woollen, cotton, linen, and silk manufactures, some few of which were in a state of considerable activity even before Mehemmed Ali introduced his new system; but notwithstanding the powerful stimulus which the viceroy has given to the industry of his subjects, and the great improvements which have thence resulted, it is manifest that, in manufactures, it is vain for a people situated like the Egyptians to attempt to compete with the capital, machinery, and skill of Europe; more especially as the nature of their climate, and the extreme fertility of their soil, will always enable them to make advantageous exchanges, and to purchase superior articles at much less cost than inferior ones can be manufactured in their own country. The true policy of Mehemmed Ali is therefore to abandon entirely the system of monopoly to which he has hitherto clung with such blind tenacity; to render commerce perfectly free; to abstain religiously from interfering with the circulating medium, the alterations in which have hitherto been productive of so much evil; and, above all, to encourage and promote agriculture, which must ever remain the grand source of wealth to a country which, possessing a fertile soil, enjoys constant sunshine and the means of perpetual irrigation.

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1 Mengin, adi supra. Rifaud, Tableau de l'Egypte, p. 24. 2 A feddan is a land-measure equal to about one third of an acre. acted with greater energy than was displayed by the viceroy on this occasion. The whole excavation was completed in less than two months, at the end of which time the great mass of the labourers were permitted to return to their homes; but, in the autumn, several thousands were employed in facing certain parts of the excavation with masonry, equalizing the cut throughout, and thus rendering the whole navigable for vessels of considerable tonnage. The work having been carefully finished, was opened at the time above specified; and the increase of trade at the port of Alexandria has already proved the wisdom of the undertaking, and liberally rewarded the viceroy for his exertions.

The following view of the actual trade of Alexandria, extracted from the second edition of a most valuable and instructive work, contains much important information, and at the same time affords conclusive evidence of the rapidly improving state of Egypt:

"The imports principally consist of cotton stuffs, timber, hardware, iron and tin, tobacco, machinery, ammunition, silk goods, woollen staves, &c. The exports consist of raw cotton, wheat and barley, rice, linen, flax, linseed, sugar, coffee (from the Red Sea), drugs, gums, sal-ammoniac, calico, wax, &c.

"The principal articles of importation into this country from Egypt are cotton, flax and linseed, senna, and gum. Of these, cotton is by far the most important. We began to import it in 1823; and since then the imports have been as follows:

| Years | Bales | |-------|-------| | 1824 | 38,032 | | 1825 | 111,628 | | 1826 | 47,621 |

"In 1832, the French imported 25,897 bales of Egyptian cotton; the imports at Trieste during the same year were about 50,000 bales, and those at Deggendorf and Genoa were together about the same as at Trieste. The bale of Egyptian cotton weighs about 220 lbs. This important trade owes its existence almost entirely to the exertions of the pasha, by whom the cotton plantations have been established. The cotton exported is all long-staple, but of two sorts; one called in Egypt makko, and in England common Egyptian; the other, the produce of sea-island seed, called in Egypt Sennar, and in England sea-island Egyptian. Besides these two descriptions, Egypt produces from 15,000 to 20,000 bales of short-staple cotton, similar in quality to that of Smyrna, and chiefly consumed in the country. The cotton brought from Egypt is found to be amongst the most useful that is grown; that raised from sea-island seed ranks next to American sea-island. The exports from this country to Egypt principally consist of cotton goods and twist, earthenware, iron and steel, arms and ammunition, &c. Their real value amounted in 1831 to L122,832; but besides what goes direct, a good deal of British produce finds its way to Egypt at second hand from Malta, Smyrna, &c. Constantinople and the islands of the Archipelago are the great markets for the wheat and other grain exported from Egypt, the quantity sent to them being sometimes very large. The supplies are, however, extremely uncertain. Everything in Egypt depends on the Nile; and when it does not rise to the usual height, the crops are very much below an average. Beans are extensively cultivated, and have sometimes been brought to England, but rarely, if ever, with advantage to the importers. They are very inferior to English beans, and are peculiarly subject to the worm. No oats are raised in Egypt, the horses being entirely fed upon barley. Besides cotton, the pasha has turned his attention to the culture of sugar, indigo, &c. The first has long been raised in Egypt, but the exports are not very considerable. Silk is grown to some extent. The date-palm thrives in every part of Egypt, and the fruit is largely exported. It is singular, that notwithstanding the luxuriance of many of its vegetable productions, Egypt should be entirely destitute of timber.

"In 1831, there entered the port of Alexandria 1215 ships, of the burden of 198,299 tons. Of these the Austrian were the most numerous; next the English and Ionian; and then the French, Sardinian, Spanish, &c.

"Money. Accounts are kept at Alexandria, as at Cairo, in current piastres, each piastre being equal to 40 paras or medini, and each medino to 30 aspers. The medino is also divided into 8 horbi, or 6 forbi. A purse contains 25,000 medini. The piastres struck in 1826 contain a great deal of alloy; 15½ or 16 piastres = 1 Spanish dollar; hence 1 piastre = 3½d. sterling, very nearly. Payments in transactions of any importance are generally made in Spanish dollars.

"Weights and Measures. The yard, or pik, = 268 English inches; hence 100 piks = 74,438 English yards. The measures for corn are the rhobebe, and the quillot or kilos; the former = 4364 English bushels, the latter = 4729 ditto. The centaro or quintal = 100 rotolli; but the rotollo has different names and weights: 1 rotollo forfato = 9347 lb. avoirdupois; 1 rotollo zaidino = 1335 lb. ditto; 1 rotollo zanro or zaro = 207 lbs. ditto; 1 rotollo mina = 167 lb. ditto.

"Duties. With the exception of the commercial monopolies of the pasha, and the arbitrary principles on

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1 The arbitrary energy displayed by the pasha in the construction of this great work in so short a space of time could scarcely be unattended with much suffering; and even a considerable mortality; but the statement of some writers, that twenty thousand labourers fell a sacrifice to the unsparing rigour of the viceroy on this occasion, is a manifest exaggeration. The advance of a month's pay must have enabled the workmen to repair to the intended scene of operations without much inconvenience; and the liberal remuneration they received while employed in excavating the canal must have afforded them better subsistence than they could obtain in the command. If any extraordinary mortality occurred, therefore, it must have fallen, not upon the labourers, but upon the crowds of women and children, who, as in the feudal times, accompanied them to the neighbourhood of Alexandria. This practice, which it has been found impossible to check, has been attended with great inconvenience in other cases, particularly in that of the military conscription. In the year 1827, twelve thousand recruits being wanted for the army, were, as usual, taken by force from their villages; but when these conscripts appeared at their camp near Cairo, they were attended by upwards of fifty thousand followers of all ages and both sexes, who, of course, must have suffered great privations before they could return to their miserable, and, in many cases, distant homes. Something of the same kind may, at least, have occurred at Alexandria, on the occasion referred to. But whilst it is inconceivable that any such mortality as that above stated could have taken place amongst the labourers employed, it is highly probable that their followers may have suffered severely; and the Franks are accused of having suggested the undertaking, the current story is believed, partly because it affords a pretext for throwing upon a race otherwise hated for their superior intelligence, the odium which naturally enough attaches to the remembrance of an oppressive servitude.

2 M'Callum's Dictionary of Commerce and Navigation, art. Alexandria.

3 Lords' Report of 1827 on the Price of Foreign Corn, Min. of Ecol., p. 120; and private information.

4 Manuel Universel de Nielzenbrer. which he fixes the prices of commodities, there is nothing objectionable in his policy as to commerce. The duties on imports are only three per cent. We believe, however, that a small increase of the customs duty would compensate the pasha for the abolition of most of his monopolies; and there can be little doubt that his subjects would be materially benefited by the change.

The increase of trade which is here shown from recent and authentic documents has been the result of the zeal, energy, and perseverance displayed by the viceroy. But accident also contributed to promote his success. A Frenchman named Jumel having one day discovered in the garden of a Turk a plant of the cotton-tree, immediately turned his attention to the subject of its cultivation, and in a short time propagated it with so much success that the discovery of this plant may be considered as having changed the commerce and statistics of Egypt. So rapid was the progress made that, in a few years, the same individual who had discovered the solitary specimen just mentioned, and who had made the government acquainted with its manifold uses, both as an article of domestic manufacture and of foreign trade, erected at Boulaq, near Cairo, a large establishment for spinning, weaving, dyeing, and printing cotton goods, and introduced the latest improvements in machinery which had been made either at Rouen or Manchester, including, we believe, power-looms. In this extensive manufactory, which is formed on the model of the best establishments of the kind in Europe, steam is the principal moving power employed, and the whole is lighted up with gas prepared for the purpose on the spot. At Siout there is also a cotton manufactory, which, not long ago, was in full operation, affording employment to eight hundred men and boys, who earned ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty paras, and sometimes three piastres, a day; and similar establishments were about to be erected in other parts of Egypt.1 The principal difficulties experienced arise from this, that during the prevalence of the desert winds, which are charged with an impalpable sand, the machinery is liable to be disordered by the dust which then fills the air, and penetrates into the wheel-work and finer parts of the mechanism, disturbing and sometimes altogether stopping the movements; whilst, owing to the excessive dryness of the atmosphere, the wood-work is apt to get warped or rent, and the threads, becoming brittle, snap asunder with the least tension. But these disadvantages are in some measure compensated by the cheapness of labour in a country where the people, often in a state of famine, are obliged to be content with a scanty and miserable existence, and where the supreme ruler is directly interested in keeping down wages to the lowest possible point. In fact, it is only by this grinding and oppressive system, which renders labour in the cotton factories of Egypt one of the worst kinds of slavery, and but little preferable to that imposed by the Spanish conquerors of South America on the unhappy natives, that the viceroy can ever hope to compete with the manufacturers of Europe, or to undersell the merchants of India. Whenever the wages of labour in Egypt shall, from whatever cause, experience a rise, and the master manufacturer is no longer backed by absolute power, the whole fabric, which has been reared at an enormous cost, will fall to pieces of its own accord, and the dilapidated state of the cotton factories on the banks of the Nile will present to the eye of the traveller another practical proof of the absurdity of all attempts to force manufactures in a country where population can only be profitably employed in the cultivation of the soil.

The cotton now produced in Egypt is of a very superior quality to that which was formerly grown in the country, and the wool is considered as little if at all inferior to the best American. In the year 1829 the crop yielded nearly six millions of pounds; and a portion of it, sent to Liverpool on trial, was sold at the rate of a shilling a pound. The produce of the crop of 1823 was still more abundant; so much so, indeed, that, after supplying the demand in the ports of the Mediterranean, about fifty thousand bags were exported to England. This auspicious commencement only served to stimulate the energy of the viceroy. Tracts of ground long neglected were brought into cultivation, by clearing out the old canals and digging others for the purpose of irrigation; new species of cotton plants were obtained; improved modes of culture were adopted; the quality of the article was ameliorated in proportion as the quantity raised was increased; and so greatly has this branch of industry been extended, that the amount of cotton imported into this country from Egypt will at no distant period equal, if it do not exceed, that imported from America. In the culture of the cotton plant, indeed, the former country has a decided advantage in its favour. For, on the banks of the Nile, the crop is not exposed to the premature frosts and heavy rains, by which it is frequently injured in the more variable climate of the United States. In Egypt, an annual renewal of the soil, irrigation, and sunshine, are certainties; and as the accidents to which it is exposed are fewer, the supply must be proportionally less precarious.

Nor has the raising of cotton engrossed the whole attention of the viceroy; on the contrary, he has bestowed almost equal care on the cultivation of silk, flax, and the sugar-cane, to which may be added indigo, saffron or safflower, and henna, which are employed in the various processes of dyeing and calico-printing. In the valley of Tomlit, anciently the land of Goshen, a colony of five hundred Syrians has been established, for the purpose of improving the mulberry-tree and rearing silk-worms; and in the rich and beautiful province of Fayoum, the vine and the olive are again approaching that perfection which they had attained in ancient times. Tobacco is likewise cultivated to a considerable extent; but it is so indifferent in quality that none except Egyptians will use it. In a word, it is difficult to set limits to the productive powers of a country like Egypt, where heat is constant, and moisture in some measure at the command of the agriculturist; and where, besides these two great principles of vegetation, the soil is annually renewed by the deposits of the inundation. A more enlightened experience on the part of the ruler, and the enjoyment of greater freedom on that of the industrious classes, seem to be nearly all that is wanting in order to render this early abode of civilization, which is still beset with the remains of its ancient greatness and splendour, one of the richest and happiest countries on the face of the earth. But, with all his thirst for knowledge and his desire to improve, Mehemmed Ali has still much to learn, or perhaps to unlearn. Having created every thing himself, he naturally regards the whole as his own property, and is therefore almost a monopolist from necessity. He is everywhere, and in everything, intermeddling, dictating, or regulating, according to principles which can have no safe application, except in such extraordinary circumstances as those in which he originally found himself; his economical views are accordingly narrow in the extreme, and, if pushed to their consequences, will prove eminently pernicious; whilst his excise and custom-house regulations are formed upon

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1. Webster's Travels, vol. ii. p. 131. the very worst models which Europe could supply. But the time is fast approaching when he must yield obedience to the maxim pas trop gouverner, and when, ceasing to interfere with the private industry of his subjects, he must consent to entrust them with the guardianship of their own interests. In short, without a large share of freedom, there can be no permanent prosperity.

The pasha has another infirmity; which is also peculiar to his situation and character. He is ready to embark in almost any speculation connected with foreign trade; indeed frequently insists upon doing so; but then, though in general willing to allow his partners in such adventures time to make good their reimbursements, he is by no means equally disposed to bear his proportion of the loss; so that all they obtain from him is the loan of funds and his protection. Hence the trade with India, attempted under his patronage, ruined the smaller, and shook the more wealthy houses which engaged in it. But notwithstanding the failure of this first attempt, he is still most anxious to open an intercourse with the East, and, if possible, to re-establish that valuable traffic which was lost to Egypt through the ignorance and barbarism of its government, as well as by the discovery of the passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope. This is not only a favourite subject of speculation with the politicians of Cairo, but also engages deeply the attention of the viceroy, who, now that he has acquired Syria, and extended the frontier of his dominions almost to the Euphrates, will assuredly employ every expedient to which he can resort in order to accomplish this object.

In the meanwhile, Egypt can, either from its own produce or by means of its transit trade, supply the states on the shores of the Mediterranean with wax, hides, coffee from Mokha, myrrh, frankincense, cocculus indicus, assafoetida, ivory, rhinoceros-horns, tortoise-shell, sal ammoniac, senna, tamarinds, ostrich feathers, incense, balsam of Mecca, gum arabic, gum copal, benzoin, Socotrine aloes, coloquintida, gum ammoniac, galbanum, sagapenum (from a nondescript umbellate), epopanax, shishim seed (cassia abrus), spica celtica (a kind of spikenard), mukheb (dried fruit of prunus mahaleb), shubl or native alum, sulphur, musk, and gold dust. It also exports natron, which is less liable to spoil than artificial salts of the same description; but the extravagant price set on this article by the Egyptian government has greatly narrowed the demand, by compelling the merchants to make their returns in specie, which is done at a very considerable loss. The principal imports into Egypt are, the French cloths called mahouts and londrins, Florentine silks, scarlet skull-caps called fèz, gold lace, blotting-paper, glass, earthenware, hardware; watches from England; and similar articles from Germany and Italy, especially the caps called fèz. The imports are from France, England, Holland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, and the Mediterranean states; whilst the exports are produced in Egypt, India, Arabia, Abyssinia, Nubia, Sennar, and Kordofan. The commodities imported from Europe indicate not only an increase of wealth amongst the subjects of Mehemmed Ali, but also considerable progress in taste and refinement. We have not been able to ascertain the actual rates of the import, export, and transit duties; and the tables of Mengin, which reach no later than 1821, are already antiquated.

The intercourse by land with the countries to the south and west is carried on by means of kafias or caravans. Those from Sennaar and Darfur usually arrive in September or October, and depart as soon as they have sold their goods and completed their purchases. The sacred caravan of pilgrims bound to Mecca reaches Egypt about the time of the Ramadan, or Mahomedan lent, and sets off immediately after the commencement of the Belram, or Mahomedan carnival, in order that it may reach the holy city before the month of the festival (ahkt hajj) has expired. In March and October caravans from Mount Sinai bring dates and charcoal; from time to time small caravans arrive from the Oases, laden with dates; and when the ships from Djidda reach Suez, the same mode of conveyance is employed to transport their cargoes, consisting of the products of Arabia, Persia, and Hindustan, to the capital of Egypt. The caravans from Abyssinia, which travel northward through the desert east of the Nile as far as Esneh, bring ivory, ostrich feathers, and slaves of both sexes, destined for Cairo, the place where sales of live human stock are usually effected; and they carry back, as a sort of return cargo, manufactured articles of Venetian glass, woollen dresses, cotton and linen stuffs, shawls, and some other commodities purchased at Suez and Kenneh. The Ababdeh and Bicharis tribes also descend to Esneh, where, in exchange for metals, utensils, and grain, they give slaves, camels, and the gum which they gather in their deserts, as well as the charcoal which they prepare from the acacia trees; but the most valuable commodity they import into Egypt is senna, which they collect in the mountains between the Nile and the Red Sea, where it is produced without culture. The trade of Cosseir, a port on the western shore of the Arabian Gulf, is now only a trifling remnant of that commerce by which Egypt was once enriched. The exports consist of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, sugar, flowers of carthamus, lettuce oil, and butter; the imports are coffee, cotton cloth, Indian muslins, English silks, spices, incense, and Cashmere shawls.

The custom-house duties are, upon the whole, moderate. European goods pay an import duty of three per cent.; but Turkish produce is charged five per cent. at Alexandria, and four per cent. at Boulaq, the port of Cairo. For goods brought by land from the interior nine per cent. is exacted in one payment. The export duty is three per cent. to Europe, and five per cent. to Turkey; but goods sent by the Red Sea pay ten per cent. each way. Every camel-load from the Said, or Upper Egypt, pays twenty-five piastres, or seven shillings, at old Cairo; slaves are charged twenty-seven piastres, or nine shillings a head, at Derawell; and six piastres twenty paras, two shillings, at Cairo; ivory pays fifty piastres, or seventeen shillings, per quintal (cantar); and five at Cairo; rhinoceros-horns are charged ten per cent. ad valorem, and again at Cairo; gum arabic pays sixteen piastres, five shillings, per quintal, and twenty paras per pound; tamarinds and matrons are charged six piastres thirty paras; two shillings and three pence, per quintal, and six piastres at Cairo; and white ostrich feathers pay six piastres, two shillings, black one piastre, between three pence and four pence, per roil, and ten per cent. ad valorem at Cairo. Of the latest fiscal arrangements of the viceroy consequent on the great accession of territory which he obtained from the Porte as the price of the pacification which followed the victory of Koniah, no authentic information has yet reached us; and this is not a subject which admits of conjecture or speculation.

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1 See Tableau du Commerce de l'Egypte avec l'Europe. 2 All goods sent from Damietta to Syria used to pay two per cent. additional; but since the latter country has been ceded in full sovereignty to Mehemmed Ali, this duty has been withdrawn. 3 In Mengin's work, already so often referred to, and also in the Tableau du Commerce de l'Egypte, are contained very full details respecting the exports and imports of Egypt; but in the former the tabular returns do not come farther down than the year 1821, and The revenue of Egypt in the year 1821 was estimated at £2,249,379, derived from various sources; as, first, the miri or land-tax; secondly, the customs; thirdly, the resumed lands, comprehending nearly the whole of the cultivable soil; fourthly, the conquered territories, namely, Darfur, Semnaar, Nubia, and part of Arabia; fifthly, the monopoly of Egyptian commerce; and, sixthly, an excise on provisions. But from the more recent data furnished by Rifaud and others, it may be inferred, as already stated, that the actual revenue of the viceroy, exclusively of that which may be derived from his recent territorial acquisitions, cannot fall much short of £4,000,000 sterling; whilst, on the other hand, if these be included, and if the resources of Syria with its dependencies, and of the island of Candia, be taken into account, there can be little doubt that in a few years hence it will be augmented to five, six, or even seven millions sterling; a sum not more than sufficient for the support of the establishments which Mehemmed has created, and of late so greatly extended. The expenditure of Egypt in 1821 was calculated at £1,757,840; thus leaving a surplus of income, after defraying all charges, of more than half a million sterling. But when we call to mind that, since the period to which this estimate applies, the viceroy has created a regular army amounting to between 70,000 and 80,000 men; that he has acquired a fleet of twelve sail of the line, besides frigates and smaller vessels; and that all his other establishments must have been increased on a scale of proportional magnitude, we must at once perceive that such an estimate can have no application to the present time. Of the above sum, however, upwards of one third was required for the support of the armed force, the erection of barracks, and the purchase of arms; about £90,000 was remitted to Constantinople in name of tribute; a sum of £14,000 was devoted to the support of the church and the law, and nearly as much expended on the pilgrimage to Mecca; and the remainder, amounting to about £200,000, was required for the support of the viceroy's household, including his guards and yeomen of the palace. Formerly the revenue of Egypt passed through the hands of the Beys, who, after charging it with the expenses of government, were theoretically understood to remit the surplus to Constantinople. But, practically, no such remittance was almost ever made; for the different agents and collectors generally contrived so to manage matters that the expenditure overbalanced the income, and thus the Porte, instead of receiving any portion of the produce of the taxes, was frequently called upon to pay for the repairs of buildings and canals, which, as may readily be supposed, were never executed. Whilst the Mamluks had the ascendency, they extorted, publicly and privately, about a million and a half annually; but, when the French were in possession of the country, the imposts varied from year to year according to the state of the war, averaging upon the whole about nine hundred thousand pounds sterling.

There is the best reason to believe that, anciently, Egypt was much more densely peopled than at present. This fact, attested by all the ancient historians, may likewise be inferred from the monuments by which the Pharaohs sought to perpetuate the remembrance of their greatness, and still more from the works by which they endeavoured to extend as well as to maintain the productivity of the soil. Where food is abundant, population seldom fails to increase in rapid progression; and, on the other hand, where population is already pressing on the means of subsistence, the policy of nations so circumstanced is naturally, or we might perhaps say necessarily, directed towards augmenting the absolute quantity of food. At a very early period Egypt appears to have passed through the former and to have entered the latter state; whilst every fact mentioned in history, and every circumstance of real evidence supplied by the monuments still extant, conspire to prove that the ancient population of the great valley of the Nile exceeded its present amount in the proportion of nearly three to one. Before the Persian conquest, the inhabitants of all classes who acknowledged the authority of the Pharaohs were estimated at seven millions; nor, when we consider the natural fertility of the soil, and the extensive system of artificial irrigation employed at once to increase its productivity and extend the limits of cultivation, will this calculation appear exaggerated or improbable. Besides, it is certain that the desert now covers large tracts of soil which were anciently under cultivation, and which even yet might perhaps be reclaimed from the wilderness by means of canals for the purpose of irrigation derived from the upper sections of the Nile.

At present the population of Egypt, divided and clasped as already stated at the commencement of this section, is thought not to exceed two millions and a half; but this number, being apparently restricted to the inhabitants of towns and villages, together with such of the peasantry as are subject to taxation, does not apparently include the Arabs who occupy the deserts between the Nile and the Red Sea; and hence we shall probably be nearer the truth if we estimate the actual population of Egypt, all classes included, at three millions. No census has ever been taken of the inhabitants of this country; but as the number of houses has been ascertained for the purpose of taxation, Baron de Sacy, Mengin, and others, proceeding on this ground, and reckoning eight persons to a house in Cairo, and four in the provinces, have arrived at the following results:

| Houses | Inhabitants | |--------|------------| | In Cairo there are | 25,000 and 200,000 | | In Alexandria, Rosetta, Damietta, Old Cairo, and Boulaq, which are estimated at the same rate as the capital, there are | 14,532...... 58,128 | | In fourteen provinces, containing three thousand four hundred and seventy-five villages | 564,168...... 2,256,272 |

Total...........603,700......2,514,400

But, as already stated, this estimate does not appear to include the Arabs who inhabit so considerable a part of the country.

In a country like Egypt, the inhabitants of which are composed of so many different races, each professing a separate creed, there must necessarily exist a correspond-

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1 Malte-Brun; Mengin; Rifaud; Encyclopédie Métropolitaine, art. Egypt. 2 As the present viceroy has already caused an extensive cut to be made near Elephantine, in order to avoid the inconvenience and danger occasioned by the Cataracts, it seems highly probable, if he live, that he will make an attempt of the kind hinted at in the text. ing diversity of customs and manners. The habits of the Turk, for instance, easily distinguish him from the Mam- like or the Bedouin; the Copt can never be mistaken for the Jew, nor the Syrian for the Greek; and the wild tribes of the upper country have also each their peculiar modes and habits of life. But amidst all the diversity by which the different races are distinguished, many points of re- semblance may also be detected; and the principal fea- tures of the oriental character are nowhere more strongly marked than in Egypt. It is impossible indeed to live long in any country without yielding in some degree to the influence of its national character; and though the individuality of race may still be preserved with sufficient distinctness to be easily recognised, yet all classes will be found, on examination, to have received strong impres- sions from the predominant modes. Our present object is to endeavour to verify by a few examples the truth of this observation.

The condition of women in Egypt is much the same as in all other oriental countries, particularly those where Islamism prevails. They are for the most part kept in a state of strict seclusion; and in this the Copts imitate the Moslemins. When they go abroad or receive visits they are always veiled. A piece of cloth, varying in texture according to the rank of the individual, covers the head and face, allowing only the eyes to see and be seen through apertures provided on purpose. This usage is of very ancient origin, and is so intimately associated with the idea of female modesty, that it is never dispensed with excepting in very peculiar circumstances. "When any of the Egyptian women," says Napoleon, "found themselves by accident surprised without their veils, and covered only with that long blue shift which forms the clothing of the Fellahs' wives, they used to take up the lower part of the shift to hide their faces, preferring the exposure of any other part." Amongst the orientals, wives are sacred; and hence, in their intestine wars, the latter are always respected. Whilst the Mamelukes, for example, were carrying on war against the French, their wives re- mained at Cairo. Women decay very early in Egypt; and there are more of them brown than fair. In general their faces display a little complexion, but the predomi- nant hue is a light and transparent bronze. The most beautiful are either Greeks or Circassians, and with the latter, particularly, the bazars of the merchants who deal in female slaves are for the most part abundantly provid- ed. The Ethiopian women brought to Egypt for sale by the caravans from Darfur and other parts of the interior, though jet black, are exceedingly beautiful; their features being perfectly regular, and their eyes full of animation. The Circassians are more highly prized by the orientals than the Europeans, who, having formed their standard of beauty on different models, are at a loss to reconcile the specimens they have actually seen with those high-flown descriptions which fill the pages of eastern romance, and attribute all the charms of female loveliness to the natives of one favoured spot on the Persian side of the Caucasus.

Marriage takes place amongst the Moslemins without either party having ever seen the other, excepting by ac- cident. This results from the seclusion in which females are kept throughout the whole of the East. Sometimes, in- deed, the bride may have seen the bridegroom, but the latter can never have beheld his betrothed, or at least the features of her face, and for her charms and qualifications must therefore depend entirely upon report. Marriage, in fact, which is always negociated by the elder females of families, is merely a civil contract prepared by the mu- tual friends of the parties, and signed by the bridegroom and his guardian. Amongst the Copts, who are even more rigid than the Moslemins in the seclusion of their females, matrimonial alliances are contracted in a similar manner, and have precisely the same character. The ce- remonial usually observed in both cases has often been described, and need not therefore be repeated in this place. Mahommedan wives have certain privileges, of which they are very tenacious, and which their husbands cannot refuse them without passing for brutes and barba- rians, and enraged every body against them. Of these, the principal is that of going to the bath, which may be described as the women's coffee-house. Thither they re- pair as often as they feel inclined, and the bath is the place where political and other intrigues are contrived, and where marriages are planned. But, notwithstanding this indulgence, they feel deeply the restraint under which they are kept, and, from all that can be learned, would willingly conform to the Frank customs, if permitted to do so. Where women are excluded from society, refinement of manners must be wholly unknown. In the house of an Omanlee, the apartments allotted for the women are generally furnished with the richest and most expensive articles; but those of the men are remarkable only for a plain style of neatness.

The dress of the orientals bears no resemblance what- ever to ours, and is in all respects more ample and volu- minous, allowing greater freedom of motion and exertion. The turban is a much more elegant and convenient head- dress than a hat; and being susceptible of great variety in form, colour, and arrangement, discovers at the first glance the differences of nations and ranks. As the neck and limbs are not confined by bandages or ligatures, a native of the East may remain a month in his clothes without feeling fatigued by them. The different races and classes are of course differently dressed; but they all agree in wearing papooshes or wide pantaloons, large sleeves, and every other part of their dress full and ample. To protect themselves from the sun, they wear shawls; and a great quantity of silks, Indian stuffs, and cachemires, is intro- duced into the dresses both of men and of women; but they wear no linen. The Fellahs are covered with a blue shirt fastened round the middle. The Arab chiefs who traverse the desert during the scorching heat of the days cover themselves with shawls of all colours, which they also wrap round their heads, and thus protect the different parts of their bodies from the sun. Instead of shoes, both men and women wear slippers, which they leave on the edge of the carpet when they enter an apart- ment. It ought to be mentioned, however, that, since the military changes introduced by the present vicrory, European modes have been gradually gaining ground, and that even the dress on which the Osmanlee not un-

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1 Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 274. When Napoleon was in Egypt, he had several opportunities of seeing some of the most distinguished women in the country, to whom he granted audiences. "There were either the widows of beys or kiahefs, or their wives, who, in their absence, came to implore his protection. The richness of their dress, their noble deportment, their little soft hands and fine eyes, a dignified and graceful carriage, and very elegant manners, distinguished them as women of education and rank superior to the vulgar......Many of them stated their requests with perfect grace, and an enchanting tone of voice, displaying all the intelligence and sweetness of the most accomplished women of Europe. The propriety of their demeanour, and the modesty of their dress, gave them additional fascinations; and the imagination delighted in guessing at charms of which they did not even allow a glimpse." (Memoirs, ubi supra.)

2 See Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria, p. 76.

3 Napoleon's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 278, 279. reasonably prides himself in some danger of experiencing some curtailments and abridgments little calculated to improve its picturesque effect.

When the French occupied Egypt, there was neither coach nor cart in the country, excepting one which Ibrahim Bey had received from France, and which was accounted a very remarkable thing. Water-carriage being so abundant and easy, coaches and other vehicles are perhaps less necessary there than in any other country of the world. Horses are used for traversing the capital by all except women and lawyers, who, being apparently considered as equally effeminate, ride on mules or asses, surrounded by their attendants. When women have occasion to travel any distance, they are usually conveyed in panniers placed on the backs of camels. There is an immense quantity of asses in Egypt; they are large and of a fine breed, and at Cairo they in some measure supply the place of hackney coaches. In the capital no one in the Frank costume dares to appear in the streets on horseback. The style of living is much the same as that which prevails generally throughout Turkey; but as the viceroy, notwithstanding the prohibition in the Koran, does not scruple to drink wine, his example has introduced some degree of laxity into the manners of the capital, where there are many persons disposed to think that the practice of the pasha in this particular is entitled to more respect than even the prohibitory injunction of the Prophet. Among Europeans, however, who are under no restraint of any kind as to their mode of living, all sorts of indulgences are common; and at their tables may be found the most recherchés efforts of foreign cookery, garnished with the wines of Europe and the fruits of the East. Nor is it likely, now when the intercourse between them and the Turks is much more frequent and intimate than formerly, that their example can be without effect upon their guests and visitors; more especially as it is evidently the policy of the viceroy to break down Turkish customs, and to destroy the attachment of his countrymen to those modes and habits which have so powerfully contributed to keep them in ignorance, and nurse a spirit of intolerance. As to Mohammed himself, he labours under the imputation of being a freethinker, notwithstanding all he has done for the deliverance of the holy cities; and his character in this respect has not failed to produce a marked impression upon the sentiments of the higher classes in Cairo. As the viceroy himself cares for no man's religious creed, and is content to be served by a Christian, a fire-worshipper, or a votary of the Grand Lama, as well as by the most devout professor of Islamism, it may easily be supposed that those about his person or his court will not be slack in imitating his example in neglecting such distinctions.

The festival of opening the Kalidji, or admitting the water of the Nile into the canal of Cairo, by cutting the dike or embankment raised to exclude it until the river has attained a given height, is annually observed with every demonstration of joy, and forms one of the customs which have descended from the most ancient times. In Egypt there is no subject of such general and engrossing interest as the overflow of the Nile, upon which the productive-

1 An Egyptian lady mounted on a mule or an ass, and wrapped up from head to foot in a black mantle, has not inaptly been compared to a coffin placed upright on a saddle and covered with a pall.

2 The celebrated Sheikh Ibrahim (Burckhardt), with whom Mohammed was very fond of conversing, presented himself one day before the viceroy. "Pasha," said he, "I want to go and see the holy city, and pray at the prophet's tomb; give me your leave and firman for the journey."—"You go to Mecca and our blessed prophet's tomb!" said the prince; "that's impossible, Ibrahim; you are not qualified; you know what I mean; nor do I think you are a true believer."—"But I am, pasha," was the reply; "you are mistaken, I assure you; I am qualified, too, in every respect; and as to belief, have no fears about that; tell me any part of the Koran that I will not believe."—"Go to the holy city; go, Ibrahim," said the pasha, laughing heartily; "I was not aware you were so holy a man. Do you think I'll vex myself with questions from the Koran? Go and see the prophet's tomb, and may it enlighten your eyes and comfort your heart." (Carne's Recollections of Travels in the East, p. 248.)

3 Clarke's Travels, vol. v. p. 111. to undergo from the combined operation of the various causes presently at work, it is impossible not to be struck with admiration of the man by whom alone all these wonders have in fact been achieved, and who has written his name in such indelible characters upon the face of the interesting land where he has laid the foundations of a new empire. Comparing Egypt as it was at the commencement of the present century with its actual condition as described in the latest accounts which have reached us, we could almost persuade ourselves that, instead of thirty years, we had passed over three centuries, and that the striking contrast which is thus presented must be altogether unreal, a creation of oriental genius in its most imaginative mood, rather than the work of a mere human agent wholly unprovided with supernatural means. Anarchy has given place to order, and violence to the empire of the law. Arabs, Turks, Mamlukes, and Albanians have all been reduced into the most complete subjection to a government which has arisen from a chaos of discordant elements, and out of these gradually formed the "fair state," which is perhaps destined to become the centre of a new system of civilized nations. At the period of his accession to power Mehemmed found the soldiery mutinous and disorganized, the finances exhausted, property insecure, agriculture neglected, commerce annihilated; and, surrounded by ignorance, cruelty, treachery, and fanaticism, he knew that he could not attempt to advance a step except at the hazard of his life. Yet, endowed with invincible energy and perseverance, he has surmounted all obstacles, and compelled every class and order of men to yield implicit obedience to his government; and even in the depths of the Arabian desert he is feared and obeyed. Having destroyed a licentious and ungovernable militia, he has created a powerful army, which is controlled and governed by a stern system of discipline; his finances are in the most prosperous condition; new articles of produce have been raised; agriculture in all its branches has been improved and extended; works of the greatest magnitude and importance have been executed; commerce is carried on to an extent formerly unknown; ample security is afforded both to person and to property; and that confidence which is the first condition of prosperity universally prevails. From Alexandria to Assuan the road is as open and the security as complete as in the most civilized nations of Europe; at the Cataracts as well as at Cairo the traveller may repose in peace. But the moral change which he has wrought is much more extraordinary than all his military, political, commercial, agricultural and other improvements put together, and will, in its consequences, be productive of results still more important to the cause of civilization. He has attacked bigotry and fanaticism at their very source; and by frowning down ignorance, and letting in the lights of knowledge amongst his subjects, he has done more to subvert the empire of a creed essentially adverse to human improvement than all its declared enemies put together. That in his character many dark spots may easily be detected, it would be ridiculous to conceal, far less deny. He has both failings and vices as a ruler, which, although it would be vain perhaps to regret them, it is nevertheless instructive to point out for the benefit of those who study human nature under all its varied aspects. But, on the other hand, these are so completely eclipsed by his great and splendid achievements in almost every field where a superior mind can display its native energy, that we may perhaps be excused for having dwelt more on the bright than the shaded part of his character.

SECTION V.

MONUMENTAL AND OTHER ANTIQUITIES OF EGYPT.

Plan of description—Philae; its temples and monuments—Obelisk removed by Belzoni for Mr. Bankes—Importance of the inscriptions on this monument—Elephantine; its quarries—Senefer or Assuan—Measurement of a degree of the meridian by Eratosthenes—Omboe or Keum Ombo—Edfu or Apollonopolis Magna—Eleuthyia; its college of priests—Esneh or Latopolis—Hermonthis or Hermont—Thebes—Medinet-Habou—Temples and monuments in this division of the ancient capital—Biban-el-Moluk or gates of the kings—Catacombs or tombs of the kings—Discoveries of Belzoni among these hypogea—Sarcophagus of alabaster—Kourah—Characteristics of Egyptian architecture—The palace of Luxor—The temple of Karnak—Site and dimensions of Thebes—Origin of the name—Kous or Apollonopolis Parva—Coptos or Kebo—Ghermes or Komesh—Tentyris or Denderah; its monuments and antiquities—Planisphere or zodiac of Denderah—Speculations to which the planisphere has given rise refuted both by the calculations of science and by data fixed by the inscriptions—Abydos—Genealogical tablet discovered by Mr. Birch—Importance of this document to the historiography of Egypt—Diospolis Parva—Djirjeh—Ikhmim, Eckehm or Paimacolis—Antaeopolis or Kau—Lycomis or Sictout—Schmoun or Hermopolis Magna—Antinoë—Oxyrhynchus—Heracleopolis—Crocodilopolis—Afroditopolis—Labyrinth—Memphis—Mechanical labours of the Egyptians—Pyramids—Lake Moeris—Other antiquities.

As any attempt to classify the monumental antiquities of ancient Egypt would lead to the greatest confusion in topography, there are only two modes in which these remains can be described without creating embarrassment to the reader; namely, by taking them either in an ascending or descending order, with reference to the course of the river, on or near the banks of which they are almost all situated. But as we conceive that civilization, flowing from the interior, originally descended along the valley of the Nile, and as either method is equally conducive to perspicuity, we prefer the latter; more especially as it will bring us at once in contact, as it were, with some of the most extraordinary monuments in this land of wonders and prodigies.

Supposing, then, that we enter Egypt from Nubia on the south, and follow the course of the Nile downwards, the first place of note which occurs is the island of Philae, about six miles to the south of Syene or Assuan, and nearly thirty-four to the north of the tropic of Cancer. Occupying an area of barely nine hundred yards in circumference, and a hundred in breadth, this diminutive island nevertheless presents a variety of objects deserving of admiration, and calculated to revive a multitude of historical and classical recollections. Independently of other consi-

1 In effecting his improvements, Mehemmed had not to contend with a privileged aristocracy, inheriting historical names, and entrenched behind the prejudices of centuries. The incessant revolutions of which Egypt was the theatre, and the long-continued sway of the Mamlukes, whose power was based, not on opinion, but on force, had, even amongst the Arabs, destroyed much of the prestige in favour of the distinctions of hereditary rank, and worked incredible injury to the science of genealogy. How indeed could it be otherwise in a country where all respect was reserved for the purchased slave, whose relations were unknown, but whose bravery or other personal qualities had raised him to the highest honours? "I have heard," says General Regnier, "both Turkish and Mamluke officers say of a person who occupied great posts, 'He is a man of the best connections; he was purchased.'" (Regnier, De l'Egypte, p. 68.)

2 The Arabic name of Philae is Bilak, which is merely the old Egyptian name Pi-lek, signifying "the end or extremity," spelled in the Arabic fashion. derations, the etymon of its name affords presumptive evidence of the remoteness of the period at which this celebrated spot first formed the southern boundary of Egypt, or, as it were, the Nubian gate of the kingdom of the Pharaohs. But being considered as the burial-place of Osiris, adorned with temples, one of which was believed to have been erected by Isis in honour of her husband-brother, it has higher and more interesting claims to our attention; and as every thing which antiquity or sanctity could offer to warm the imagination or kindle the devotion of the votary seemed concentrated on this hallowed islet, it had accordingly become a favourite place of pilgrimage among the worshippers of Osiris at a period long anterior to the commencement of history. One of the names by which it is at present known, Djezaret-el-bahr or the Temple-Island, sufficiently indicates the character and the magnitude of the ruins with which it is covered; ruins which the neighbouring Arabs denominate Anas-el-Wojud, or the sociality of Wujud, who, according to their traditions, built these palaces as a retreat to which he might betake himself for the purpose of social or convivial enjoyment. Though the surrounding cliffs are of a dark-brown granite, the temples are all built of a bright white sandstone; and nearly the whole island is cased with walls of hewn stone, forming quays concave towards the stream, but convex towards the land, which give it the appearance of a modern escarpment.

This island is entirely covered with temples in large groups, and in a high state of preservation; and from a rocky eminence at its southern extremity the whole of the ruins may be seen at once. On the south-west side are two large temples, adorned with and connected by long colonnades, but manifestly of different ages; on the right is a small temple of Isis, with an isolated, unfinished building, having no remains of the cella, nor any appearance of an interior cornice; and on the left are an obelisk, and long porticoes leading to a large temple of Isis, near a smaller one dedicated to Hathor or the Egyptian Venus, which Champollion has pronounced the best in the island. The great temple of Isis, which is the southernmost of all, has two colossal pyramidal propylae, one between the dromos and pronaos, and another between the pronaos and portico, with a smaller one leading into the sekos or adytum. But none of these propylae are in lines parallel to each other, all of them, as well as the dromos, turning from the body of the temple, each about one point towards the east; an irregularity probably owing to the form of the island or the varying state of the rocky foundation, but which renders the building exceedingly complex. None of the existing monuments of Egypt is better calculated to convey an adequate idea of the magnificence by which they are characterized than the porche of this temple, which consists of twelve columns, four in front and three deep. The capitals, which are in pure Egyptian taste, represent varied forms and compositions of the palm branch, the domu leaf, and the lotus. These, as well as the sculptures on the columns, the ceiling, and the walls, have been painted in the most vivid colours, which still retain much of their original brightness; and there is reason to believe that the same was the case in the interior of this as well as of the other temples, although the damp and the nitrous quality of the confined air have entirely destroyed the colours. One of the majestic pylons of this temple, flanked by two square, tower-like masses of masonry rising pyramidically to the height of fifty-four feet, leads to the second court, and towers above everything around, being the loftiest building on the island; and both are richly ornamented with sculpture and hieroglyphics, the number of which is immense. Three large and several smaller chambers lead to the adytum or sanctuary, in one corner of which there is a granite block, containing a niche for the bird (a kind of hawk) venerated as the emblem of Osiris, and entirely covered with hieroglyphics. Bas-reliefs representing processions, festivals, sacrifices, and other scenes connected with the worship of the gods of Egypt, cover the walls within and without; and on the ceiling of the portico are sculptured a human figure, with a mitre on the head and a serpent in the hand, three female figures with the arms and legs extended, two canoes with paddles, two winged globes, a flying scarabaeus with hands, Osiris in his boat, and two birds flying with palm branches in their claws. Fragments of obelisks and lions consisting of red granite are strewed about upon the ground in front of the temple. According to the most probable calculation, this temple was commenced by Philadelphus, continued under Euergetes I. and Epiphanes, and completed by Euergetes II. and Philometer.

On the left of the great temple of Isis is an uncovered enclosure formed by a colonnade, the intercolumniations of which are filled to nearly two thirds of their height; but to make amends for this, the plinths are raised to a disproportionate thickness. This structure, which has evidently been left in an unfinished state, was by the French architects called "the eastern" or "temple of Isis," from a supposition, now proved to be erroneous, that the great temple had been dedicated to Osiris. Before it lay a small obelisk of granite, which, though displaced, had sustained but little injury. This monument, which eventually proved of so much importance in regard to the deciphering of hieroglyphics, was first noticed by Mr W. J. Bankes in 1815; and two years afterwards Mr Belzoni,

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1 This honour was disputed by Abydos, Memphis, Busiris, and Tephi-Osiris. 2 Description de l'Egypte, Antiquités, tom. i. p. 12. Encyclopédie Métropolitaine, art. Egypt. 3 To this temple, which all travellers except Champollion have uniformly spoken of with enthusiastic admiration, the nilotic proemium famosum is fully as inapplicable as to any other monument in this land of wonders. (Hamilton's Egyptica, p. 45.) The Frenchman, however, admits that the sculpture is altogether worthy of the epoch which produced it, namely, the Greek, which he nevertheless considers as "une époque de décadence." (Letters, p. 115.) In fact, he is of opinion that everything at Philae is modern ("tout y est moderne") except the small peripteral temple of Hathor, and a propylon connected with the first pylon, which, according to him, was constructed and dedicated by Nectanebo I. (Letters, ibid. supra.) 4 The row of lions in front of this temple, and the occurrence of the same figure among the hieroglyphs, led the French savans to conclude that this temple was meant to be the house Leo, which the sun once appeared at the summer solstice, when the inundation commenced. But this cannot be in Leo at that season 2500 years before the beginning of our era; and hence M. Foucault concluded that this temple must have been built before that period, and within the limits of the 2163 years during which the sun was in Leo at the summer solstice. Similar inferences were drawn from the zodiacs found at Denderah and other places; so that "on travelling back," say the French philosophers, "for upwards of three thousand years, we can scarcely see a trace of the infancy of Egyptian architecture." (Description de l'Egypte, Antiq. I.) But, unfortunately for these speculations, Delambre has shown (Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tom. viii. p. 359) that they furnish no data for determining the age of the buildings which they adorn; and from the style of the sculptures, particularly on the propylon, and still more from the hieroglyphic texts, the epoch of the erection of the temple must be that which we have assigned. If the Greek inscriptions over the entrance and on the walls had received the attention which they deserve, several erroneous theories would have been avoided, and the extravagant antiquity ascribed to this and other buildings would have been at once disproved. (Encyclopédie Métropolitaine, art. Egypt.) acting on his account, succeeded, in spite of numerous difficulties and even dangers, in transporting it along the Nile to Rosetta; whence it was conveyed to England. The hieroglyphics on the shafts and the Greek inscription on the base of the obelisk were faithfully copied under the superintendence of Mr Bankes; and when the principles of interpretation applied by Dr Young to the triple inscription on the Rosetta stone were extended to the double inscription on the obelisk of Philae, it was ascertained that the Greek was merely a version of the Egyptian text; a discovery to which, as will afterwards be shown (see Hieroglyphics), we are in a great measure indebted for the formation of the phonetical alphabet. The Greek text has been ably illustrated and explained by the celebrated French Hellenist, M. Letronne.

At some distance from these temples, and near the water's edge, there is a large hall, the walls of which are covered with sculptures relating to the death of Osiris; and over these are scattered inscriptions of different ages, and in various characters, recording the names of pilgrims who had visited the temple-island in order to pay their devotions to the presiding deities of the place. At the northern extremity of the island there are the remains of a triumphal arch, and other works of Roman architecture; and on the north-east side an unfinished temple, exhibiting many peculiarities of structure, and showing that the arts were not always stationary in Egypt. In a word, within the compass of this little island, Nubian cabins, Arab huts, Christian chapels, Roman fortifications, and Egyptian temples, are crowded together in such a manner as to produce a painful sense of the lapse of ages, the transitory nature of empires, and the destructibility of human works, however colossal in magnitude or solid in construction.

Immediately below the Cataracts there is another small island in the river, which enjoys a celebrity scarcely inferior to that of Philae; we mean Elephantine, now called by the Arabs Djeziret-el-zahir or the Flowery Island, by reason of its luxuriant vegetation. In the time of Psammetichus this islet formed the last fortified place in his dominions, and under the Romans it was garrisoned by three cohorts. In point of size, it is so diminutive that, according to Champollion, "il ferait une peine un parc convenable pour un bon bourgeois de Paris." Heaps of rubbish mark the site of the town supposed to have given birth to the head of the Elephantine dynasty, and until recently there were remains of two temples covered with hieroglyphics, and approaching in design to the earliest temples of Greece. But within the last few years both these monuments have been destroyed in order to construct a barrack and magazine at Syene; and a little temple, dedicated to Knuphis by Amenophis III., has also disappeared. The only remnants left are two steps of a granite gateway, belonging to another temple of Knuphis, Sate, and Anukê, dedicated under Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great. A wall of the quay, however, exhibits, intermingled and mutilated, the wrecks of several ancient edifices of Elephantine, constructed under Morris, Mandoeui, and Rhames the Great; and in the remains of a chamber adjoining the stair of the quay are several curious hieroglyphic proskynemata, as well as in the inscription of a mutilated stele originally erected in honour of Mandoeui.

The quarries of Elephantine were worked in a very early age, and furnished the materials for many celebrated monuments. Amongst these may be mentioned the famous monolithic temple at Sais, formed of a single block of granite, the removal of which from Elephantine to the Delta employed two thousand men for the space of three years. On the wall of an ancient quay, over a flight of steps leading to the river, may still be seen the nilometer which is mentioned by Strabo. Physically considered, Elephantine is more properly the southern extremity of Egypt than Philae; for it is the last projection of the granite rock which forms the natural division between Egypt and Nubia, and beyond it the limestone tract of country commences.

On the eastern or right bank of the Nile, nearly opposite to Elephantine, stands the town of Assouan or Ossouan, the Syene of the Greeks, and the Souan of the Copts, in whose language the word signifies "the opening." From its proximity to the northern tropic it was fixed upon by Eratosthenes as the point of departure for his measurement of a degree of the meridian in order thence to calculate the circumference of the earth; and here also, according to Strabo, was the well which, as the gnomons cast no shadows at noon, marked the summer solstice. At Syene may still be seen the ruins of a temple consecrated to Knuphis and Saté, under the Emperor Nero. This monument, though it indicates an extreme decline of art in Egypt, is nevertheless exceedingly interesting, first, because it is the only one which bears the hieroglyphic legend of Nero; secondly, because it contains the phonetic-hieroglyphic name of Syene, viz. Soana, the same with the Coptic, and the root of the Syene of the Greeks and the Assouan of the Arabs; and, lastly, because the symbolic name of this town, resembling the plummet line of an architect or mason, seems to allude to the position of Syene under (or nearly under) the tropic, and to the famous well into which the sun's rays descended vertically at noon on the day of the summer solstice. On some granite rocks in the neighbourhood, Champollion discovered the homage of an Ethiopian prince called Memoss, to Amenophis III. and Taïa his queen; an act of adoration to Knuphis, the local god, for the safety of Rhames the Great and his children; and several proskynemata of private individuals, as well as public functionaries, to the divinities of Syene and the Cataract. For several centuries after the Arabian invasion, Assouan continued in a flourishing condition; but under the Fatemite caliphs it

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1 Belzoni's Travels, p. 347, et seqq., where an interesting account will be found of this difficult, and, as the result proved, perilous operation.

2 Recherches, p. 276. The inscription consists of a petition from the priests of Isis to Ptolemy Euergetes II. (v. c. 125 or 129), praying him to release them from the exactions of the magistrates and military officers stationed in the Thebaid, and to permit them to erect a stele or clypeus in commemoration of the equity and beneficence of their sovereign; a prayer which the existence of the commemorative obelisk proves to have been granted.

3 Encyclopédie Métropolitaine, art. Egypt.

4 Lettres, ubi supra; also, pp. 111 and 382.

5 Each city and place of Egypt had its patron. Knuphis and Saté reigned at Elephantine, Syene, and Béchée, and their jurisdiction extended over all Nubia; Phré presided at Théamboul, Derri, and Amada; Ptah, at Ghirshcheh; Anukê, at Maschakat; Thoth, the superintendent of Knuphis, over the whole of Nubia, having his principal fiefs at Ghebel-addeh and at Dakkeh; Oasis was lord of Dandour, Isis queen at Philae, Hathor at Théamboul, and Malouli at Kalabshir.

6 Description de l'Égypte, Antiq. p. 8. Girard, Mem. de l'Acad. des Sciences, tom. ii. p. 185, 1817. Encyclopédie Métropol. art. Egypt.

7 This is not strictly correct, as the ancient town of Syene, though somewhat to the south-west of the modern town of Assouan, is 37° 23' north of the tropic; so that, during the summer solstice, there must be some shadow at noon, though it is scarcely perceptible.

8 Namely, Knuphis, Saté, and Anukê. (Champollion, Lettres d'Egypte, p. 171.) became a prey to intestine divisions, and has long been reduced to a state of the utmost wretchedness.

Descending the Nile about twenty-seven or twenty-eight miles below Assouan, we reach Kom-Ombo, which stands on the site of the ancient Ombo, upon the right bank of the river. All the lower part of the ancient town, however, excepting that which has been washed away by the river, is now covered with a mound of sand, as its modern name indeed implies. But two temples, surrounded by a brick wall of great thickness, have escaped the general destruction, and both belong to the Greek epoch. The larger, which is of beautiful architecture, and has a fine effect, was commenced by Ptolemy Epiphanes, continued under Philometor and Euergetes II., and appears to have been completed during the reign of Soter II., whose name, with that of Cleopatra his queen or sister, may still be detected on some of the bas-reliefs. This temple, which is formed of a greyish sandstone, differs from every other building of the same kind in Egypt, in having two entrances, and consisting of two connected though distinct and perfectly symmetrical structures. It appears to have been consecrated to two triads, each of which had a distinct division or compartment allotted to it; the one, composed of Sevek-Ra, with the crocodile's head (the primordial form of Kronos or Saturn), Hathor or Venus, and their son Khons-Hör; the other, consisting of Aroëris, the goddess Tsoenmuté, and their son Pnevtho; and both together constituting the saviour gods of Ombo. The crocodile observed on the Roman medals of the Ombite nome is the sacred animal of the principal god Sevek-Ra. In the dedications, and in the cartouches or elliptical rings sculptured on the cornice of the pronaos, Cleopatra the wife of Philometor has a surname which can only be the Greek *Tryphane* or *Dropion*, but the former is considered as the more probable interpretation. This surname is repeated thirty times. The smaller temple of Ombo, like one of those at Phila and the temple of Hermuthis, was a *Mamisi*, or sacred edifice representing the birth-place of the young god of the local triad; in other words, a terrestrial image of the spot where the goddesses Hathor and Tsoenmuté had given birth to their sons Khons-Hör and Pnevtho. From ignorance of the local mythology, the authors of the *Description de l'Egypte* supposed that this temple had been dedicated to Isis and her son Horus.

Edfou or Edfu, the *Apollinopolis Magna* of the Greeks, is situated on the western or left bank of the Nile, about thirty-three miles below Kom-Ombo, and two miles from the water's edge. An ancient quay, with a flight of steps down to the river, and two temples at right angles to each other, but half buried in the sand, still remain. The larger of these is twice as long as it is broad, measuring about 440 by 220 feet; its largest columns are six feet four inches in diameter, twenty-one feet in circumference, and forty-two feet in height; and, as at Philae, Denderah, and other places, its roof is covered with peasants' huts, whilst the openings originally intended for the admission of light serve as sinks for the reception of filth. The two lofty pylons, which are conspicuous from the river, and the thirty-two columns of the peristyle to which they lead, form altogether a magnificent perspective. But this temple, the massive grandeur of which is so imposing, bears, nevertheless, several indications of the decay of Egyptian art under the Ptolemies, to whose epoch it entirely belongs; no trace of the ancient simplicity is discernible; and a profusion of elaborate but ill-conceived ornaments marks the transition from the noble gravity of the Pharaonic monuments to the fatiguing and endless *papillotage* of later times. The most ancient part of the decorations, namely, the interior of the naos and the right exterior side, belong to the reign of Philopater; the work was continued under Epiphanes, whose legends cover part of the shafts of the columns and the interior tablets of the right partition of the pronaos; and it was at length completed under the reign of Euergetes II. The sculptures of the exterior frieze and on the exterior walls of the pronaos were executed under Soter II., to whose reign also belongs the gallery on the right of the court before the pronaos; the gallery on the left, and indeed all the sculptures upon the two massive pylons, are of the age of Philometor. The wall of the enciente which surrounds the naos is entirely covered with sculptures, which (particularly those of the interior face) date from the reign of Soter II., and of Ptolemy-Alexander I., and contain the names of their respective queens, Cleopatra and Berenice. This magnificent edifice was consecrated to a triad composed of the god Harhôr, or celestial science and light personified, the goddess Hathor, the Egyptian Venus, and their son Har-sont-Tho or Horus, answering to the Eros of the Greek and Roman mythologies. The lesser temple of Edou, called the Typhonium, is one of those smaller edifices called *Mamisi*, which were always erected beside the great temples where a triad was adored. The Mamisi of Edfou represents the infancy and education of Har-sont-Tho, with whom flattery has associated Euergetes II., as sharing the caresses of the gods of every order. The large temple of Edfou is dedicated to Aroëris, the Apollo of the Greeks.

Six miles lower down the river, on the opposite or right bank, is El-kab, the ancient *Elethyia*; but the remains of its two temples have disappeared, these structures having lately been demolished in order to repair the quay of Esneh, or for some other recent erection. Not so much as a column has escaped; and the entire temple, situated outside the town, has shared the same fate. It appears, however, from fragments of inscriptions, that the temple of Elethyia, dedicated to Sevek or Saturn, and Sowan or Lucina, belongs to different Pharaonic epochs, and that those included in the city had been constructed and decorated under the reign of Queen Amensch, under that of her son Thoutmosis III., called also Meris, and under the Pharaohs Amenophis-Mennon and Rhamses the Great. Amyrteh and Achoris, two of the last kings of the Egyptian race, repaired these ancient edifices, and added some new constructions; but nothing attributable to the Greek or Roman periods has yet been discovered. The small peripteral temple which stood in the sandy plain about a mile and a half to the north of the town belonged to the age of Meris. But by far the most remarkable antiquities of Elethyia are the sepulchral caverns or *hypogées*, excavated in an insulated hill, of the common sandstone of the coun-

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1. Burckhardt, *Nubia*, pp. 131, 295, 516. 2. "Un fait curieux, c'est le surnom de *Tryphane* donné constamment à Cléopâtre, femme de Philomètère, soit dans le grande dédicace hiéroglyphique sculptée sur la frise antérieure du pronaos, soit dans les bas-reliefs de l'intérieur; c'est à vous autres Grecs d'Egypte d'expliquer cette singularité." (Champollion, *Lettres d'Egypte*, p. 110.) 3. Hamilton's *Egyptian*, p. 86, et seqq.; *Encyclopédie Métrapolitaine*, art. *Egypt*. 4. Jomard, *Description de l'Egypte*, t. 5, p. 30. 5. Champollion, *Lettres d'Egypte*, pp. 109 and 191. Both the temples at Edfou are in a high state of preservation; but Mr Hamilton, in his learned work upon Egypt, has entirely mistaken the meaning of the sculptures (*Egyptian*, p. 87); and the same thing may be observed of Jomard in the *Description de l'Egypte*. try, at the distance of about four hundred yards to the south-west of the town. These tombs belong to a very remote period, and in the variety and richness of their decorations rival those of Thebes; with this difference, however, that, instead of religious and military subjects, those of a familiar and domestic kind are alone represented. The first of these visited by Champollion and his party was the one whose painted bas-reliefs, relative to agricultural labours, fishing, and navigation, have been published by the Egyptian Commission in the French national work. This tomb, which is of high antiquity, had been excavated for the family of a hierogrammatist named Phaeph, attached to the college of priests at Elethya.

A second hypogeum, which proved to be that of the high priest of the goddess Ilythia or Elethya, from whom the town originally derived its name, bears the date of the reign of Rhamses-Meiamoun, and exhibits a multitude of family details, with some agricultural scenes, not in the purest taste. The tomb adjoining this is still more interesting in an historical point of view. It belonged to a person named Ahmosis, son of Obsechneb, chief of the boatmen of the Nile, who appears to have been a great personage in his day. In the remains of an inscription, this Ahmosis recounts his history for the benefit of all persons present and future, and states some particulars which fix the date at which he lived, namely, under the last king of the seventeenth dynasty, who overthrew the cruel tyranny of the Shepherds, and delivered Egypt from those remorseless barbarians. Another hypogeum, nearly in ruins, made Champollion acquainted with four generations of great personages who governed under the title of princes of Elethya during the reigns of the first five sovereigns of the eighteenth dynasty, viz., Amenoph and Amenoitop I., Thouthmosis I., Thouthmosis II., Thouthmosis III., or Meris, and Randofreh, daughter of Queen Amensheb, and sister of Meris. All these royal personages are successively named in the inscriptions on the tomb, and form as it were a supplement in confirmation of the genealogical table of Abydos discovered by Mr. Bankes.

Esneh or Esne, the ancient Latopolis, and the present capital of Upper Egypt, is about thirteen miles below El-kab or Elethya, and stands in a plain where the valley is nearly four miles and a half in width. Owing to the neglect of the canals requisite for the irrigation of the soil, which is not now reached by the inundation, the surrounding country had been reduced almost to a desert, and the town itself would probably have been abandoned, but for its port and the trade carried on by means of the Nile. Under the vigorous administration of Mehmed Ali, however, the canals have latterly been repaired, and various products, including cotton, raised on ground which was not long ago a sandy waste, apparently irreclaimable for the purposes of cultivation. At Esneh there are two temples; one of vast dimensions, which, the great Ammon be praised, has escaped destruction from having been converted into a cotton magazine; and another, much smaller, but remarkable for the peculiarity of its hieroglyphics. Both contain some of those symbolical zodiacs which have so greatly perplexed the whole tribe of Egyptian antiquaries. According to conjectures founded on a particular mode of interpreting the zodiac on the ceiling of the large temple, this monument has been regarded as the most ancient in Egypt; but the style of the sculptures, and, above all, the hieroglyphical inscriptions, prove that, in reality, it is one of the most modern to be found in that country. The latter, indeed, leave no doubt that the masses of the proaons were raised under the reign of the emperor Claudius, to whom there is a dedication in large hieroglyphics on the entrance, and that the corner of the façade, and the first row of columns, were sculptured under the emperors Vespasian and Titus; the posterior part of the proaons bears the legends of the emperors Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, and Commodus; some columns of the interior were decorated and sculptured under Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus; and, with the exception of some bas-reliefs, which belong to the epoch of Domitian, all those on the partitions of the right and left of the proaons contain images of Septimius Severus, and of Geta, the brother of Caracalla. The construction of this temple dates from the time of Claudius, and its sculptures come down as late as that of Caracalla. The remains of the naos, however, belong to the epoch of Ptolemy Epiphanes; but that is only yesterday compared with the date which some fanciful antiquaries had assigned to this monument. On one of two columns, however, whose shafts were almost entirely covered with hieroglyphics arranged artificially, Champollion discovered a commemorative record of a dedication of an ancient temple by Meris, otherwise called Thouthmosis III.; and in the quarter of the town known by the name of Sheikh-Mohammed-Ebeddri, he also found a dedication of Thouthmosis II., which, like the former, must have belonged to some old Pharaonic monument of Esneh. The great temple of Esneh was dedicated to one of the chief deities of the divinity Knuphis, who is described as ne-en-tho-Sne, or lord of the country of Esneh. This place is also remarkable on account of a large Coptic convent, supposed to have been founded by the disciples of Pachomius, and to possess the bones of the martyrs who suffered during the persecutions of Diocletian.

At a small distance from the Nile, in the third expan-

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1 Description de l'Egypte, p. 7. 2 In Egyptian Seneh-kab, or priests of Lucina, the goddess who was worshipped at Elethya. 3 Meiamoun is an epithet, and means literally "beloved by Ammon," or Jupiter. 4 Among the scenes represented on this hypogeum is one of the threshing or treading out of sheaves of corn by oxen, below which, in hieroglyphics, almost all of which are phonetic, is a chanson which the conductor of the oxen on the threshing-floor is supposed to sing. The ditty is addressed to the animals, and is as follows:

Tread out the grain, ye oxen, tread it faster; The work is yours, the bushels go to master.

This is not very brilliant poetry, we admit, and, probably, our translation has not improved it; but what occupies five lines in the original hieroglyphics we have found no difficulty in compressing into two; and the specimen is at least curious.

5 Champollion, Lettres d'Egypte, pp. 169, 194, 382. Hamilton, Egyptiques, p. 90, et seqq. 6 Ren de Sèe is the pure Egyptian name, and may be still read on all the columns and bas-reliefs of the temple. The Greek name of Latopolis or Letopolis (for it is spelled both ways), is supposed to have been formed from latos, a species of fish held in veneration at this place. (Egyptiques, p. 169.) 7 In the hieroglyphic ovals or rings the name is Caesar Tiberius Claudius Germanicus. 8 When Caracalla assassinated his brother Geta, he caused the name of the latter to be proscribed throughout the whole empire; and this proscription appears to have been executed to the letter even in the depths of the Thebaid; for the ovals containing the name of this unfortunate prince have almost all been carefully defaced and hammered out. "Mais ils ne l'ont pas été au point" (says Champollion) de m'empêcher de lire très-clairement le nom de ce malheureux prince: L'Empereur César-Geta le dirigeant. (Lettres d'Egypte, p. 200.) 9 The titles by which the Knuphis of Esneh is qualified are "lord of the country of Esneh, creator of the universe, vital principle of the divine essences, support of all worlds," &c. With this god are associated the goddess Neith, and the young Haké, who complete The triad adored at Esneh. "C'est aux mêmes divinités," says Champollion, qu'était dédié le temple situé au nord d'Esneh, dans une magnifique plaine, jadis cultivée, mais aujourd'hui herissée de broussailles qui nous déchirent les jambes, lorsque nous allâmes le visiter, en faisant à pied une très-longue course du Nil aux ruines, que nous trouvâmes tout nouvellement dévastées; ce temple n'est pas tel que la Commission d'Egypte l'a laissé; il n'en subsiste qu'une seule colonne, un petit pan de mur et le sous-basement presque à fleur de terre; parmi les bas-reliefs subsistants, j'en ai trouvé un d'Eurgyte Ier et de Bérénice sa femme; j'ai reconnu les légendes de Philopator sur la colonne, celles de Hadrien sur une partie d'architraves; et sur une autre en hiéroglyphes tout-à-fait barbares, les noms des empereurs Antonin et Véron." (Lettres d'Egypte, p. 204.)

1 See Lettres d'Egypte, p. 163.

2 Jarduell, Description de l'Egypte, Antiq. I. c. viii. p. 9, plates 91, 95. See also Hamilton's Egyptia, p. 111. With reference to the materials with which the Egyptian temples were constructed, the author last quoted observes, "It is singular that the ancient Egyptians do not appear to have employed granite in any of the buildings in Upper Egypt, except the obelisks and some few of the propylia, as at Thebes, Elephantine, &c. The rest are all of the common sandstone. Granite pillars seem to have been introduced so late as the time of the Christian emperors as there are none found in the ruins of Greek churches. Their proportions and their sculpture testify the want of taste, and the decline of the arts, which characterized the age in which they were raised. In Lower Egypt, we find granite to have been in use from the earliest times; whole temples, columns, propylia, &c. were constructed exclusively of this stone, as being the only one which could resist the frequent and violent rains in the Delta, and the moisture of the air." (Egyptia, p. 112.) This is very loose and inaccurate. In Upper Egypt the nearest and most accessible materials were used; and in the Delta, though the air be moist from its proximity to the sea, the rains are neither frequent nor violent.

3 Plan des Ruines de Thèbes; Description de l'Egypte, Antiquités, tom. ii. plate 1.

4 This peculiarity is confined to the edifice in question, and is not to be found in any other Egyptian building. (Encyclopédie Métropolitaine, art. Egypt.)

5 Researches and Operations in Egypt and Nubia, p. 121.

6 Hamilton's Egyptia, p. 137, et seqq. See also Denon's Travels in Egypt under the head of Medinet-Haboo. right there is also an inscription relative to embellishments which were executed under Ptolemy Soter II. The foundation of the palace dates as far back as the commencement of the eighteenth century before Christ; but several restorations are indicated by the inscriptions, which also fix the period at which they were made. 1. All the sculptures of the upper façades south and north were executed under the reign of Rhamses-Meiamoun in the fifteenth century before our era. 2. The columns of the protodoric order which support the ceilings of the galleries were repaired under the Mendesian Pharaoh, Acoris, about four centuries before Christ. 3. The restoration of the gates, and a portion of the ceiling of the grand hall, took place under Euergetes II. between the years 146 and 118 before our era. But the principal decoration of the edifice was executed under the reigns of Thoutmosis I., Thoutmosis II., and Thoutmosis III., called Meris by the Greek historians, particularly the last, in whose name all the dedications have been made. The sculptures are executed with remarkable accuracy and with exquisite fineness of detail, and the bas-reliefs are of the very best age of the art. War and battles form the principal subjects of the hieroglyphical tablets and inscriptions.

On the edge of the desert to the north and west of Medinet-Habou there are almost innumerable fragments of statues, columns, and other parts of buildings; and a quadrangular enclosure of brick walls is filled with broken remains of colossal figures and hieroglyphical tablets finely executed, whilst in a grove of mimosa or acacias similar relics of ancient sculpture occur at every step. In the plain, about half way between the desert and the river, are two statues called by some the statues of Memnon. They are about fifty feet in height, and seated each on a pedestal eighteen feet long, fourteen feet broad, and six feet high. The stone of which they are formed is a hard reddish sandstone, which, from the action of the weather, is in many places discoloured, and hence appears of a black, gray, brown, and even whitish hue. Few monuments of ancient magnificence have more interest attached to them than "Memnon's statue which at sunrise played," or at least that statue from which a certain mysterious sound was believed and reported to proceed every morning at sunrise; and no question has been more keenly agitated among Egyptian antiquaries than that which relates to the identification of the statue said to have possessed this wonderful property. The French have adopted the opinion of those who regard as the vocal statue of Memnon the fallen colossus in front of the temple which they call the Memnonium. But Pococke has decided in favour of the northernmost of the two statues above described; and Mr. Hamilton is inclined, on what appear to be good grounds, to prefer the opinion of our countryman. Strabo declares that the sound issued every day, resembling that of a slight blow; Pausanias agrees as to the statue uttering a sound daily at sunrise, but likens the sound uttered to that of the bursting of a string in a lyre or harp; Pliny relates the same extraordinary phenomenon, though his description of the vocal statue differs from that given by Strabo and Pausanias; and Philostratus says that it uttered a sound when the rays of the sun touched its lips. In addition to these testimonies, which, from the particulars respecting the statue mentioned collaterally, seem, on the whole, to favour the opinion of Pococke, we have those of the numerous Greeks and Romans who at different times visited this statue, and engraved their names on its legs and feet, declaring that they had heard the sound or voice of Memnon at a certain hour, generally, a short time after sunrise. Strabo, too, visited the statue,

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1 The change of a few stones by the Ptolemy above named is thus pompously landed in a hieroglyphic inscription which he caused to be cut on the masonry of the right side: "This beautiful repair was executed by the king lord of the World, the grand germ of the great gods, he whom Ptah has approved, living image of Ammon-Ra, the son of the sun, Ptolemy ever-living, the god beloved of Isis, the thousand-year god (after 1790 B.C.), in honour of his father Ammon-Ra, who has granted him the periods of the national assemblies upon the throne of Horus." The Egyptian, who was the real founder of the phalanx, has, however, been content with a simple intimation of his existence. On the embellishments of the rear wall is sculptured this line of inscription: "King Taharaka, the well-beloved of Ammon-Ra, lord of the throne of the world, lives." (Champollion, Lettres d'Egypte, p. 327.)

2 The dedication under the gallery on the right, which is one of the best preserved, will give an idea of all the rest. It is as follows: "First line. Life: Horus powerful, beloved of Phœnix, the sovereign of the higher and the lower regions, grand chief of all parts of the world, Horus resplendent, great by his force, he who has struck the nine bows (the nomadic tribes), the gracious lord of the world, the sun that gives stability to the world, the son of the sun, Thoutmosis, benefactor of the world, vivified now and for ever. Second line. He has caused these structures to be erected in honour of his father Ammon-Ra, king of the gods, to whom is dedicated this great temple, in the western part of the Thoutmosis of Ammon, in beautiful sandstone; this is what the king ever-living has done." (Champollion, Lettres d'Egypte, p. 329.)

3 One of the subjects of these battle-pieces a very correct idea may be formed from the following description of the contents of two tablets given by Champollion in the only memorial he has left of his Egyptian labours:

"1st Tablet. Grande bataille: le héros Egyptien, debout sur un char lancé au galop, décoche des flèches contre une foule d'ennemis fuyant dans la plus grande désordre. On aperçoit sur le premier plan les chefs Égyptiens montés sur des chars, et leurs soldats entremêlés à des alliés les Pekkaro, massacrant les Robou épouvantés, ou se liant comme prisonniers de guerre. Ce tableau seul contient plus de cent figures en pied, sans compter les chevaux.

2nd Tablet. Les princes et les chefs de l'armée Égyptienne conduisent au roi victorieux quatre colonnes de prisonniers; des scribes écrivent et enregistrent le nombre des mains droites et des parties génitales coupées aux Robou morts sur le champ de bataille. L'inscription est très intelligible. Compte de prisonniers en présence de sa majesté; comptez sont au nombre de mille; mains coupées, trois mille; phallus, trois mille." Le Pharaon, qui passe chaque fois qu'il dépose les prisonniers, paisiblement assis sur son char, dont les chevaux sont retenus par des officiers, adresse une allocution à ses guerriers. Il les félicite sur leur victoire, et prodigue fort méritivement les plus grands éloges à sa propre personne... En dehors de ce célèbre tableau existe une longue inscription multireusement fort endommagée, et relative à cette campagne, qui date de l'an cinquième du règne de Rhamses-Meiamoun." (Lettres d'Egypte, p. 341, 342.)

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The history of the vocal statue of Memnon has lately been written by M. Letronne, in a paper inserted in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, new series, tom. x. "Ce sujet, curieux seulement en apparence, est devenu, sous la plume de M. Letronne, l'un des plus plaisants et des plus utiles à étudier dans la recherche des rapports et du mélange des opinions de la Grèce avec celles de l'Égypte." (Lettres, ubi supra.) and heard the mysterious voice. These statues, when entire, might be seen at a distance of twelve miles, towering like solitary rocks in the midst of the plain; and the surprising length of their shadows at sunrise long rendered them an object of curiosity at that hour; but, like the kindred oracles which once inhabited the adjoining places, they had become mute. The hieroglyphical inscription on the throne of the vocal osseus proves that it represents Amenophis or Pharaoh Menkauh, who reigned about seventeen centuries before the commencement of the Christian era.

Between Medinet-Habou and El-ebek or Kournah there is another mass of ruins as stupendous in their dimensions as they are admirable in their execution. They have been supposed by some to mark the site of the Memnonium, probably on account of the broken colossal statue of red granite which lies overturned within their precincts, while, according to others, they are the remains of the tomb of Osymandyas, the mighty conqueror whose sepulchre was to surpass every thing upon earth. This last denomination originated with the French Egyptian Commission; and several travellers still persist in employing that of the Memnonium, which is equally ill applied and incorrect. The real name of the structure whose ruins yet attest its stupendous magnificence is, the Rhamesséion, so called from Rhamses the Great, to whom Thebes was indebted for the edifice; and this name, accordingly, is found sculptured in a hundred places, and repeated in the legends of the friezes, architraves, and bas-reliefs, which decorate the palace. "L'imagination s'ébranle," says Champollion, "et l'on éprouve émotion bien naturelle en visitant ces galeries mutilées et ces belles colonnades, lorsqu'on pense qu'elles sont l'œuvre et furent souvent l'habitation du plus célèbre et du meilleur des princes que la vieille Égypte compte dans ses longues annales." No part of the Rhamesséion remains entire; but what has escaped the barbarism of the Persians and the ravages of time is sufficient to give a pretty exact idea of the whole. Within the walls, which inclose a space of more than two hundred feet in breadth by six hundred in depth, the whole area is a forest of pillars, interspersed with fragments and fallen statues. The body of the palace was approached by a noble propylion, fronting the fertile plain, and resting upon it; but the remainder of the edifice rests on the adjoining mountain, the rock of which has been levelled to form the floor. In the propylion there are passages leading to several chambers and to the roof; and this propylion is separated from the first wall of the palace by a distance of a hundred and sixty feet. In the court behind the propylion are the fragments of the enormous statue already alluded to. It has been broken off at the waist, and the upper part is now laid prostrate on the ground. This enormous statue measures sixty-three feet round the shoulders, thirteen feet from the crown of the head to the top of the shoulders, thirteen and a half from the shoulder to the elbow, and nearly seven feet over the foot. The face has been so entirely obliterated that nothing even of its general expression can now be discerned. "Next to the wonder excited by the boldness of the sculptor who made it," says Mr Hamilton, "and the extraordinary powers of those who erected it, the labour and exertions that must have been used for its destruction are most astonishing." The court which intervenes between the statue and the opposite quarter is about a hundred feet in width. Four square columns formerly stood on the opposite side of the door-way, making a row of eight, which faced a like number, some of which are still to be seen. Two sides of the court were bounded by a double row of enormous pillars, parts of the capitals of which, thirty-two feet in circumference, yet remain; and behind the square columns there were others of a similar description; so that, when the whole was roofed, it must have been a truly magnificent piazza. The fronts of the square columns have been carved into statues in full relief, measuring twenty feet to the shoulder; and below, the figures, which are all shaped like a soros, are rows of hieroglyphics. The pillars form the ruins of a central hall, the roof of which was supported by forty-eight columns; beyond this is a second hall entered by a door-way, and divided from the other by a cross wall; and the remains of a third, which are seen farther on, terminate the magnificent ruins of the Rhamesséion. The side walls which inclose this edifice have been removed, and many columns and statues have been destroyed; but the remnants, which have escaped all sorts of ravages, are sufficient to awaken boundless admiration of the power as well as genius which presided in the construction of the mighty fabric. The architecture throughout is perhaps in the purest and noblest style of any at Thebes. It would be endless to attempt any detailed description of the hieroglyphics, pictorial tablets, and bas-reliefs of this wonderful monument. They relate principally to the achievements and conquests of Sesostris, and the adoration of the gods of Thebes by that mighty potentate. The following is the dedication of the great hall, sculptured in name of the founder, in beautiful hieroglyphics, upon the architraves of the left side: "Haroëris all powerful, the friend of truth, the lord of the upper and lower regions, the defender of Egypt, the castigator of foreign countries, Horus the resplendent possessor of the palms, the greatest of conquerors, the king-lord of the World, sun guardian of justice approved by Ptah, the son of the sun, the well-beloved of Ammon, Rhamses, has caused these structures to be erected in honour of his father Ammon-Ra, king of the gods; he has caused to be constructed, in good white sandstone, the Great Hall of Assembly, supported by large columns with capitals imitating full-blown flowers, and flanked by smaller pillars with capitals imitating a truncated bud of the lotus; and he has dedicated the Hall to the lord of gods, for the celebration of his assemblies; this is what the king ever living has done."

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1 A large temple, and a great number of fine statues, have since been discovered near the same spot in the course of the excavations which were made under the direction of Mr Salt and other recent travellers in Egypt. 2 Diodorus Siculus, i. 47. 3 Lettres écrites d'Égypte et de Nubie, p. 261. 4 Egyptian, p. 167, 168. Mr Hamilton adds, "Its fall has carried along with it the whole wall of the temple [palace] which stood within its reach. It was not without great difficulty and danger that we could climb on its shoulder and neck; and in going down from thence on its chest I was assisted by my Arab servant, who walked by my side in the hieroglyphic characters engraven on the arm." 5 Captain Head's Eastern and Egyptian Scenery, Ruins, &c., p. 22. The excellent lithographic view of the Rhamesséion given in this work was taken from the back of the prostrate colossus. There also remain the fragments of a statue of black granite, represented in Captain Head's plate, which has been absurdly styled the brother of the younger Memnon, which Mr Belzoni conveyed home to England and placed in the British Museum. Like its exported companion, it has a benevolent expression of countenance, with the full Ethiopion expansion of nostril and lip by which the sphinxes in the neighbourhood are characterized. The features are somewhat elongated, but remarkably regular. For an account of Mr Belzoni's achievements, see Rambages and Operations, p. 40, et seqq. 6 Champollion, Lettres écrites d'Égypte, p. 273. In concluding his observations on this wonderful ruin, Champollion observes, "Le Rhamesséion est le monument de Thèbes le plus dégradé, mais c'est aussi, sans aucune doute, celui qui, par l'éclatante majesté de ses ruines, laisse dans l'esprit des voyageurs une impression plus profonde et plus durable." P. 291. Having shown by the legends and other evidence that the magnificent ruin which has been considered by some as the remains of the Memnonium, and by others as those of the Tomb of Osymandyas, is in reality the wreck of the Rhamessaeon, we shall now endeavour to ascertain the exact site of that celebrated edifice of Thebes called Amenophion by the Egyptians, but known among the Greeks by the name of the Memnonium. And here we may observe, that if what has been stated above respecting the statue of Memnon, or of Amenophis the third of that name, whom the Greeks call Memnon, be well founded, the position occupied by this and the corresponding colossus must in some measure determine the site of the Memnonium. Accordingly, the legends discovered on the ruins scattered about, such as the débris of architraves, portions of colossal figures, shafts of columns, and fragments of enormous bas-reliefs, together with the hieroglyphical inscriptions found in the hypogeum of the neighbourhood, which contained the mummies of the great officers charged, during their lifetime, with the guardianship of this edifice, all lead to the same conclusion which Jollos and Devilliers, in their excellent description of these ruins, had arrived at from other considerations; namely, that the ruins towards the extremity of which, on the side of the river, appear the two enormous monolith statues, about sixty feet in height, commanding the whole plain of Thebes, mark out the site of the Amenophion or Memnonium. These two figures, which are formed each of a single block of grey breccia, transported from the quarries of the upper Thebaid, and placed in a sitting posture on immense bases of the same material, with the hands extended on the knees in an attitude of repose, seem to have decorated the exterior façade of the principal pylon of the Amenophion; and, in an inscription on the seat of one of the figures, we find the names and titles of the third Amenophis of the eighteenth dynasty, called Memnon by the Greeks, who occupied the throne of the Pharaohs in the seventeenth century before the Christian era, most distinctly and accurately enumerated. The following is the concluding portion of this legend: "The lord sovereign of the upper and lower region, the reformer of manners, he who holds the world in repose, Horus, who, great by his power, has smitten the barbarians, the king sun lord of truth, the son of the sun, Amenophis, moderator of the pure region, beloved of Ammon-Ra, king of the gods." The dedication of this palace, which is altogether dramatic, being in the form of a dialogue between Amenoph or Amenophis and Ammon-Ra, "king of the gods," is entirely in accordance with the inscription of which we have here quoted a part: the king appears in the character of founder of the edifice, and the Jupiter of the Egyptian Pantheon thus responds to the invocation of his representative upon earth: "Approach, my son, sun lord of truth, of the germ of the sun, son of the sun, Amenophis; I have heard thy words, and I perceive the structure which thou hast executed; I who am thy father rejoice in beholding thy good works." The identity of the Memnonium of the Greeks and the Amenophion of the Egyptians is therefore no longer doubtful; and it is still less so, that "when the Memnonium was in all its glory," it formed one of the greatest wonders of the old capital of Egypt.

Situated behind the Amenophion, in a valley formed by the rocks of the Libyan mountain and a large marsh, detached from them on the side of the plain, is a small temple in a state of perfect preservation, which the French Egyptian Commission has described under the name of the Little Temple of Isis. It is entered by a small propylion of sandstone attached to the enceinte, and covered on the exterior side with sculptures heavily elaborated. Its situation is dreary and dismal. The tablets upon the bandeau of the gateway represent on the one side Ptolemy Soter II. presenting offerings to Hathor and the great triad of Thebes, Ammon-Ra, Mouth, and Chons; and on the other, the goddess Thmé or Théméi (Themis), and a triad formed of the hieracoccephalons god Mandou, his wife Ritno, and their son Harphré. The temple was therefore dedicated to Hathor or Venus, identified with Theméi or Themis; in other words, the principle of beauty was here worshipped mythologically in conjunction with that of truth and justice. This is completely confirmed by the hieroglyphical inscription sculptured along the frieze of the pronaos, part of which has been translated by M. Champollion. The naos is divided into three contiguous halls, forming as many sanctuaries, the principal of which, being that in the middle, is entirely covered with sculptures of an import similar to those already described. The sanctuary on the left was consecrated to Theméi, and all the tablets with which it is decorated relate to the functions performed by that goddess in Amenti, or the Egyptian Tartarus.

The palace of Kournah, though also of small dimensions compared with the great and important edifices we have described, is nevertheless an interesting monument, as it belongs to the Pharaonic times, and dates from the most glorious epoch in the annals of ancient Egypt. Besides,

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1 Champollion, Lettres écrites d'Egypte et de Nubie, p. 303, et seqq., mountains, on the border of the desert, are two blocks of grey breccia, each about thirty feet in length, which exhibit the form of enormous stela or pillars, and are covered with hieroglyphical tablets, which, according to Champollion, "ne montrent toujours le roi Amenophis-Memnon, accompagné ici de la reine Tam son épouse, accueillis par le dieu Ammon-Ra, ou par Ptah-Sokaris." P. 369.

2 The two sovereigns of this terrible place (where, according to the Egyptian mythology, the souls of men were judged), Osiris and Isis, receive at first the homages of Ptolemy and Arsinoë, gods Philopators; and on a cross or partition wall is sculptured the grand scene of the severest judgment. This vast bas-relief represents the hypostyle hall called in Egyptian Oët, or the court of Amenti, with suitable decorations. The grand judge Osiris occupies the further extremity of the judgment-hall; and at the feet of his throne appears the lotus, the emblem of the material world, together with the four cardinal points. The forty-two judges, assessors of Osiris, are ranged in a double line, each having his head surmounted with an ostrich feather, the symbol of justice; whilst, on a bench before the throne, the Egyptian Cerberus, or Tousou-ansou, a triple monster, at once crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus, opens his horrid jaws, ready to devour guilty souls. Towards the door of the tribunal appears the goddess Thméi redoubled, or twice represented, by reason of her twofold function of goddess of truth as well as of justice; and the first form, qualified as Thméi, ruler of Amenti (truth), presents the soul of an Egyptian, under a corporeal form, to the second personation of the goddess (justice), whose legend is as follows: "Thméi, who resides in Amenti, where she weighs the hearts of all men in a balance, and whom the wicked cannot escape." In the neighbourhood of him who is here undergoing his final trial are the words, "arrival of a soul in Amenti;" and further on is an infernal balance, into the scales of which Horus, the hawk-headed son of Isis, and Anubis the shakal-headed son of Osiris, are placing, the one the heart of the arraigned, and the other a feather, the emblem of justice; whilst, between the fatal instrument which is to decide the fate of the soul, and the throne of Osiris, is placed the bioccephalous god Thoth, described as "three great, the lord of Schmoum (Heropolis Magna), the lord of the divine words, the secretary of justice to the other gods in the hall of justice and of truth." This divine recorder writes the result of the trial to which the heart of the deceased Egyptian has just been subjected, and goes to present his report to the sovereign judge who presides in Hades. (Champollion, Lettres écrites d'Egypte, pp. 319, 320.) its appearance presents a character altogether new; and if its general plan suggests the idea of a private habitation, and seems to exclude that of a temple, the magnificence of the decoration, the profusion of the sculptures, the beauty of the materials, and the perfection of the execution, prove that this habitation formerly belonged to a rich and powerful sovereign. The remains of this palace occupy only the extremity of an artificial mound or bank of earth, on which there were formerly other structures connected with that which still exists; at least all the fragments scattered over the ground bear royal names belonging either to the last Pharaohs of the eighteenth or the first of the nineteenth dynasty. In the same line with these remains rises a portico a hundred and fifty feet in length and thirty in height, supported by ten columns, whose shafts are composed of wreaths of lotus-stems, whilst the capitals are formed of buds and flowers of the same plant, truncated so as to admit the coping. On the four faces of the capitals are sculptured with much care the royal legends of Menephta I., and also those of Rhamses the Great; and the names of these Pharaohs are likewise inscribed on the shafts of the columns, but joined together and included in a square tablet. The dedicatory legend which adorns the architrave of the portico, occupying its whole length, establishes two principal facts; first, that the palace of Kournah was founded and erected by Menephta I.; and, secondly, that his son Rhamses the Great, having completed the decoration of the edifice, surrounded it with an enceinte ornamented with propylons, and similar to that within which each of the great royal monuments at Thebes is contained. In fact, all the bas-reliefs which decorate the interior of the portico, and the exterior of the three gates which lead to the apartments of the Menephticen, represent Menephta I., and more frequently still Rhamses the Great, rendering homage to the Theban triad and to the other divinities of Egypt, or receiving from the munificence of the gods royal powers and precious gifts in order to embellish and prolong life. And the only sculptures of the edifice posterior to the time of Rhamses the Great consist of some royal ecomastic inscriptions, placed either on the sides or base-ment of the gates, but wholly unconnected with the primitive decoration; all of them, with the exception of one which contains the names and titles of Rhamses-Meiamoun, belonging to the reign of Menephta II., the son and immediate successor of Rhamses the Great.

The catacombs in the western mountains are not less abundant than the monuments we have described, in treas-

1 Champollion, Lettres, 390, et seqq. It may perhaps conduce to perspicuity, or at least serve to prevent mistakes, if we introduce here the eight reigns anterior to that of Rhamses-Meiamoun, in their chronological order. They stand thus: 1. Amenophis II. or Memnon; 2. Horus; 3. Rhamses I.; 4. Menephta I. or Ousire; 5. Rhamses the Great, or Sesostris; 6. Menephta II.; 7. Menephta III.; 8. Rhamserre; and, 9. Rhamses-Meiamoun. The monuments of different orders having clearly demonstrated that Rhamses the Great, the Sesostris of Herodotus, must be included in the eighteenth dynasty, as answering exactly to the Rhamses called Egyptian in the extracts of Manetho, that follows in Rhamses-Meiamoun, the Rhamses-Sethos of the same lists of Manetho, we recognise the head or chief of the nineteenth dynasty.

* The following is Manetho's catalogue of the Diospolitan dynasties and kings.

| XVIII. Dynasty. Diospolitan. | Years. | B.C. | |-----------------------------|-------|------| | 1. Thoutmosis or Amosis, reigned 24 | 1674 | | 2. Chabroh his son | 1650 | | 3. Amenophis | 1587 | | 4. Amenophis, son | 1517 | | 5. Mespheps, son | 1609 | | 6. Misphragmatopolis | 1683 | | 7. Thonosis or Thoutmosis, s. | 1600 | | 8. Amenophis, s. (Memnon) | 1651 | | 9. Horus, s. | 1620 | | 10. Acenchres, d. | 1579 | | 11. Rathotis, s. | 1556 | | 12. Acencheres, s. | 1541 | | 13. Acencheres II. s. | 1524 | | 14. Armais | 1513 | | 15. Rameses or Rhamses s. | 1507 | | 16. Armaises Meiamoun, s. | 1439 | | 17. Amenophis or Amenophth | 1429 |

| XIX. Dynasty. Diospolitan. | Years. | B.C. | |-----------------------------|-------|------| | 18. Rhamses the Great or Sesostris | 1424 | | 19. Rapaces | 1371 | | 20. Amenophites | 1303 | | 21. Rameses or Rhamses | 1248 | | 22. Amenemmes | 1233 | | 23. Thouts | 1226 |

| XX. Dynasty. Diospolitan. | Years. | B.C. | |-----------------------------|-------|------| | 24...35. Twelve kings | 1226 | are as fresh as when first laid on. The labours of Belzoni in exploring these tombs, and the success with which they were rewarded, are well known. Strength and resolution as herculean and inflexible as his were required to overcome the suspicions of the Arabs, the want of mechanical aid, and the heat and closeness of the caverns; but his perseverance was amply recompensed by the discovery of six tombs in this hypogean city of the dead. The most remarkable of these, with all its galleries, is upwards of three hundred feet in length, and is called by Belzoni the tomb of Apis, from his having found the mummy of a bullock in one of its chambers. In another apartment there was a magnificent sarcophagus of white alabaster, almost as transparent as crystal; and the whole excavation, sculptured and painted in the most finished style of art, was in the most perfect preservation.

These catacombs, as already stated, were the sepulchres of the kings of the three Diospolitan dynasties; and accordingly, by means of the hieroglyphical inscriptions, Champollion discovered the tombs of six kings of the eighteenth dynasty; that of Amenophis-Memnon, the most ancient of all, in an isolated part of the valley towards the west; and, lastly, those of Rhamses-Meiamoun, and six other Pharaohs, his successors, belonging either to the nineteenth or the twentieth dynasty. No sort of order, either in regard to dynasty or succession, appears to have been observed in the choice of situations for the different royal tombs; on the contrary, each sovereign seems to have caused his own to be dug wherever he found a vein of stone adapted for the purposes of sepulture and the intensity of the projected excavation. The royal catacombs, however, which have been thoroughly completed and finished are but few in number: these are, the tomb of Amenophis III. or Memnon, the decoration of which has been almost entirely destroyed; that of Rhamses-Meiamoun, that of Rhamses V., probably also that of Rhamses the Great, and, lastly, that of Queen Thaoser. All the others are incomplete. The tomb of the great Rhamses or Sesostris still exists, according to M. Champollion, and is the third on the right of the principal valley; but it has sustained greater injury than almost any others, and is filled nearly to the ceiling with rubbish. That of Rhamses V. is remarkable for a large tablet and an inscription on a cross wall in the apartment at the further extremity of the catacomb, containing images or delineations of the forty-two assessors of Osiris, intermixed with justifications which the king is supposed to offer to these severe judges, each of whom appears to be charged with investigating a particular offence or sin, and with punishing it in the soul of the sovereign subjected to their jurisdiction. The royal justification amounts merely to a negative confession, which, whatever may have been its effect in the Egyptian Amenti or Hades, would, in judging kings, certainly go a great way upon earth. It is somewhat in this strain: The son of the son Rhamses has not been guilty of great iniquities; he has not blasphemed; he has not been a drunkard; he has not been indolent or lazy; he has not seized upon the offerings devoted to the gods; he has not told falsehoods; he has not been a libertine; he has not stained himself with impuri-

ties; he has not hung down his head when hearing the words of truth; he has not been prolix in his talk; he has not had to devour his heart, or, in other words, to repent of any wicked action; and so on through the remaining thirty-one negations.

Having thus described the Diospolitan monuments on the western bank of the Nile, we now turn to the still grander and more magnificent remains with which the eastern bank of the river is adorned. No people, ancient or modern, can boast of an architecture approaching in magnitude and sublimity, not to mention elaborate decoration, to that of the old Egyptians, who conceived men a hundred feet in height, and not only planned, but erected temples and palaces larger than some modern cities. In Europe the imagination is easily transported beyond the dimensions of our proudest and most magnificent porticoes, and it can readily conceive something of the kind upon a still grander scale; but in Egypt it sinks abashed, overawed, and powerless at the base of the hundred and forty columns of the hypostyle hall of Karnak. The first sight of the wonderful structures on the right bank arrested the march of the French army; the troops, suddenly overpowering with awe and wonder, stood motionless, and it was only after a time that they could whisper to each other, "This is Thebes." The monuments on the eastern bank of the Nile are the palace of Luxor and the temple of Karnak.

In approaching the palace of the Pharaohs from the north, the first object which meets the view is a magnificent propylon or gateway two hundred feet in length, the top of which is elevated about sixty feet above the present level of the soil. And in front of this entrance are the most perfect obelisks in the world, each formed of a single block of red granite from the quarries of Elephantine; they are between seven and eight feet square at the base, and about eighty feet in height, and many of the hieroglyphical figures with which they are covered are cut an inch and three quarters deep, exhibiting at the same time the greatest nicety and precision of execution. Between these obelisks and the propylon are two colossal statues, also of red granite, measuring forty-four feet from the ground, and supposed, from the difference of the dresses, to have been, the one a figure of a male, and the other that of a female. Another propylon of similar proportions guards another approach, and from both gateways magnificent peristyles lead to the main body of this palace of the Pharaohs. Some of the columns of the peristyles are eleven feet in diameter. The sculptures on the pylons, like those at Medinet-Habou, represent the victories of Sesostris, with the greatest amplitude of detail. "It was impossible," says Mr Hamilton, "to view and to reflect upon a picture so copious and detailed, without fancying that I here saw the original of many of Homer's battles, the portrait of some of the historical narratives of Herodotus, and one of the principal ground-works of the narratives of Diodorus; and, to complete the gratification, we felt that, had the artist been better acquainted with the rules and use of perspective, the performance might have done credit to the genius of a Michael Angelo or a Julio Romano." In regard to the general plan of the palace and its environs, as

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1 Hamilton, *Egyptians*, pp. 136, 156. 2 Belzoni, *Researches and Operations*, p. 123 and 224, et seqq., but intermixed with each other nearly in the proportions of the rainbow, and so subdued by the proper introduction of blacks as not to appear garish, but to produce a harmony that in some of the designs is really delicious. "One would think it was in Egypt," says Mr Becher, "that Titian, Giorgione, and Tintoret, had acquired all that vigour and magic of effect which distinguishes them so remarkably from all other painters in point of arrangement, and principally in the happy disposition of their darks" (Young, *View of the latest Publications relating to Egypt*). 3 Champollion, *Lettres écrites d'Egypte*, p. 221, et seqq. 4 Napoleon's *Memoirs*, vol. ii. *Denon's Travels in Egypt*. well as the distribution of the entrances and of the interior of the building, the delineations of Pococke and Denon, to which may be added those contained in Captain Head's work, will serve to convey a more distinct and accurate idea of the magnificent design than can be communicated by any verbal description. "But without personally inspecting this extraordinary edifice," says Mr Hamilton, "it is impossible to have any adequate notion of its immense size, or of the prodigious masses of which it consists. In both these respects, and, combined with them, in respect to the beauty and magnificence of its several parts, it is, I should imagine, unique in the whole world." The founder of this marvellous palace is conjectured, from the inscriptions, to have been Amenophis-Memnon, or Amenophis III., who is supposed to have erected the series of edifices extending south and north from the Nile as far as the fourteen columns of forty-five feet in height, which also belong to the same reign. The dedication by this Pharaoh may be read on all the architraves of the columns, a hundred and five in number, and for the most part entire, which adorn the courts and inner halls. The bas-reliefs which decorate the palace of Amenophis relate chiefly to the religious acts performed by that prince in honour of the divinities of this portion of Thebes; namely, Ammon-Ra, Ammon-Ra-Generator, his secondary form, the goddess Tamoun, one of the forms of Neith, the goddess Mout, companion of Ammon-Ra, and the young gods Khons and Harké, the two great triads adored at Thebes. The two obelisks of red granite in front of the northern pylon were erected by Sesostris in order to decorate his Rhamessetion. This is proved by the hieroglyphic inscription on the obelisk on the left, which is in these terms: "The lord of the world, sun guardian of truth (or justice), approved by Phré, has caused this edifice to be built in honour of his father Ammon-Ra, and has also erected these two great obelisks of stone before the Rhamessetion of the city of Ammon."

The palace at Luxor communicates with the temple at Karnak; an edifice not less Titian in its dimensions, nor less marvellous in its structure. This temple has twelve principal entrances, each of which is composed of several propyla or colossal gateways, besides other buildings attached to them larger than most temples. The sides of some of these gateways are equal in dimensions to the bases of the greater part of the pyramids in the Heptanomis, and they are built in the same style, each layer of stone projecting a little beyond that immediately above it. One of the propyla is built entirely of granite, and adorned with hieroglyphics of the most finished execution; and on each side of several of these there have been colossal statues of basalt, breccia, and granite, some in a sitting posture, some erect, and varying from twenty to thirty feet in height. Avenues of sphinxes lead in several directions to the propyla, and correspond to the magnificence which they promise. The principal of these, continued across the plain to the palace at Luxor, establishes a communication to which there is no parallel upon earth. For the space of nearly a mile and a quarter (1026 toises, or about 6200 feet), a broad raised causeway, bordered by more than six hundred colossal sphinxes, representing lions with rams' heads, leads from the one edifice to the other; and another similar road, branching off from this, passed between figures of rams on lofty pedestals to a triumphal gateway leading to a temple, apparently the most ancient in Thebes. "On approaching the avenue of sphinxes which leads to the great temple, the visitor," says Belzoni, "is inspired with devotion and piety; their enormous size strikes him with wonder, and respect for the gods to whom they were dedicated." The body of the temple, which is preceded by a large court, at the sides of which are colonnades of thirty columns in length, and through the middle two rows of columns fifty feet in height, consists principally of a grand hypostyle hall or portico, the roof of which is supported by a hundred and thirty-four columns, some of them twenty-six and others thirty-four feet in circumference; and four beautiful obelisks mark the entrance to the adytum or sanctuary, near which the sovereign of the gods is represented as embraced by Isis. The adytum itself consists of three apartments, formed entirely of granite. The part of the edifice at which the branch of the avenue of sphinxes terminates is the most surprising of all amongst these astonishing monuments. From most points of view it appears a boundless, confused wreck of splendid buildings, scattered in every direction, without any perceptible order or design; but, when viewed from the north-west end of the principal group, the whole may be surveyed by the eye at once, and the extraordinary dimensions and magnificence of the great entrance from the west in some measure appreciated. An unfinished pylon, succeeded by an avenue of columns more than seventy-five feet in height, all of one block, but only one of them standing; a second pylon, leading to a hall three hundred and thirty-eight feet in length by a hundred and sixty-eight feet in breadth; a third pylon, opening into a court in which there are two obelisks more than seventy-two feet in height; and a fourth pylon, leading to a court in which is the largest obelisk ever formed of one stone; all these magnificent objects are seen following exactly in the same line, and forming a perspective, the effect of which cannot be conveyed by any drawing, much less by any description. The great obelisk is nearly a hundred feet in height, and, as already stated, is formed of a single block. The walls are everywhere covered with hieroglyphics or sculptures representing the battles, triumphs, sacrifices, processions, and festivals of the ancient Egyptians; and the colours with which they were decorated are still, in many places, extremely fresh and vivid. On the northern side of these gigantic edifices there were also triumphal arches, colonnades, sphinxes, and other monuments of Egyptian art and magnificence in vast numbers; but they have also suffered more or less from the ravages of fanatical invaders, or the slower but not less certain havoc committed by naturalized barbarians. On the great dwelling of Ammon,

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1 Hamilton's Egyptologia, p. 121. 2 Champion, Lettres écrites d'Egypte, p. 215. In a letter dated from Thebes, Champollion, speaking of the Egyptian architecture, observes: "It is evident to me, as it must be to all who have examined Egypt, or have an accurate knowledge of the Egyptian monuments existing in Europe, that the arts commenced in Greece by a servile imitation of the fine in Egypt, which was retained thus is commonly believed, at the period at which the first Egyptian colonies came in contact with the inhabitants of Attica or the Peloponnesus. Without Egypt, Greece could probably never have become the classical land of the fine arts; such at least is my belief touching this great problem. I write these lines almost in presence of bas-reliefs which the Egyptians executed with the most refined elegance of workmanship seventeen hundred years before the Christian era. What were the Greeks doing then?" 3 Hamilton's Egyptologia, p. 122. 4 Researches and Operations in Egypt and Nubia, p. 152. From the ruins within the area of the ancient temple ascribed to Osymundyas, Belzoni recovered many fine specimens of Egyptian art, which are now in the British Museum, and amongst these a statue which is supposed by some to represent that great conqueror, in other words, Sesostris. 5 Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. Champollion observed real portraits of most of the old Pharaohs renowned for their great actions, each with his appropriate physiognomy, and therefore distinguishable from the others. In the colossal tablets, which are as finished in execution as they are heroic in design, may be seen Manetho combating the enemies of Egypt, and returning in triumph to his native country; the campaigns of Rameses the Great are also represented with much fulness of detail; and Sesostris may likewise be observed dragging to the feet of the Theban trinity (Ammon, Mout, and Khons) the chiefs of more than thirty conquered nations, including amongst the last the Israelites or Jews. One of the bas-reliefs, representing Judah personified, contains, in hieroglyphic characters, the Iudahameleek, "the kingdom of the Jews, or of Judah," and thus forms a sort of commentary to the fourteenth chapter of the second book of Kings, which records the arrival of Sesostris at Jerusalem, and the success of that invader, at the same time establishing the identity of the Egyptian Scheschonk, the Sesostris of Manetho, and the Sesak or Scheshok of Scripture. This, it will be admitted, is a very remarkable and interesting discovery.

That the magnificent ruins of Medinet-Habou, Luxor, and Karnak, are the remains of the Thebes described by Homer, the earliest capital of the world,

That spread her conquests o'er a thousand states, And poured her heroes through a hundred gates,

cannot possibly be doubted. According to the admeasurement made by the French, the distance of these ruins from the sea amounts to eight hundred and fifty miles, and from Elephantine two hundred and twenty-five, thus corresponding pretty exactly with the 6900 and 1800 stadia respectively mentioned by Herodotus. Exclusively of the hippodrome and of Medamund, the circumference of the ruins is from fourteen to fifteen thousand metres, which agrees with the 140 stadia, or seventeen miles and a half, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus as the circumference of the ancient capital of Egypt. The origin of the name of this celebrated city, as well as the date of its foundation, is unknown. It has been conjectured, however, that the word Thebes is derived from the Egyptian word Thbaki, signifying "the city;" and hence the Diopolis of the Greeks is, in this view, a mere translation of the Thbaki-antepi-Amoun, or the city of Ammon the most high god. The No-Ammon of the Hebrews, though identical in import with the Greek name, applies not to Diopolis Magna, but to Diopolis Parva, in the Delta.

Kous, called Kous-birbir by the Egyptians, occupies the site of the Apollonopolis Parva of the Greeks. Of its ancient edifices there exists only a propylaeum, half buried in the sand. This propylaeum was dedicated to the god Aroëris; and his images, sculptured on all the faces, are adored on that which looks towards the Nile, being the principal one. The upper face towards the temple is covered with sculptures, amongst which may be discovered the royal legends of Ptolemy-Alexander I., who also takes the surname of Philometor. With respect to the Greek inscription, the restitution of ΣΩΤΗΡΕΣ, at the commencement of the second line, proposed by M. Letronne, is undoubtedly right; but the proposed substitution of HAIHI for APHIPEI is not equally fortunate, the words APHIPEI-ΘΕΙ being still distinctly legible. At Keft, Keft, or Coptos, which, like Kous, is near an opening into the valley of Cosseir, nothing remains entire. The temples were demolished by the Christians, and the materials employed in building a large church, in the ruins of which may be found numerous portions of Egyptian bas-reliefs. Amongst the royal legends were recognised those of King Nectanebo, and of the Emperors Augustus, Claudius, and Trajan; from which it may be inferred that the city of Coptos contained few monuments of high antiquity. It is first mentioned in history under the Ptolemies; it attained its greatest prosperity in the time of Strabo; it began to decline about the beginning of the eleventh century; it was greatly reduced in the fourteenth, and is now a wretched Arab village, distinguished only by the remains which we have mentioned. Kennch or Ghenneh has now succeeded Keft and Kous as the entrepot for the Arabian and Indian commerce with Egypt, and it is the place where all the caravans and pilgrims travelling eastward usually assemble.

Opposite to Kennch is the village of Denderah, on the left bank of the Nile, surrounded by groves of date, palms, and domms; the latter of which is seldom or never seen farther northward. About a mile and a half to the east of this village lie the ruins of Tentyrus, occupying an area of more than a mile in length, about half a mile in breadth, and rather more than two miles and a half in circumference. Amidst the high mounds and dilapidated walls of this ancient city are the remains of a small hypaethral temple, about sixty feet square, consisting of twelve columns placed at the sides, and connected by a wall reaching to within sixteen feet of their capitals, but entirely free from hieroglyphical sculptures, and with capitals which in form approach to those of the old Tuscan order. The entrances, two in number, are in a line with the other approaches to the great temple, and seem to mark out this small edifice as having formed one of its appendages. At a short distance from the building in question is the principal propylon of the great temple, that magnificent edifice which has rendered Denderah so long famous among the cities of Egypt. This propylon is one of the most perfect models of Egyptian architecture; and, notwithstanding one side has in part fallen down, it still retains the true Egyptian character of grandeur and simplicity.

*Je n'essai pas Egypt.

de décrire l'impression," says Champollion, "que nous fit le grand propylon et surtout le portique du grand temple. On peut bien le mesurer, mais en donner une idée c'est impossible. C'est la grâce et la majesté réunies au plus haut degré." The height of this gateway is forty-two feet, the width thirty-three, and the depth seventeen; each front, as well as the interior, is covered with sculpture beautifully executed; and upon its roof was the celebrated planisphere now at Paris, and so long the subject of extravagant speculations connected with the chronology of Egypt. For some reason, whether arising from war, revolution, or deficiency of money, the flanks have been left unfinished. The portico, which so particularly attracted the admiration of Champollion, and is indeed most beautiful, consists of twenty-four columns, disposed in three rows, each being above twenty-two feet in circumference, thirty-two in height, and covered with hieroglyphics. The capitals of the columns are square, with a front face of Hathor, to whom the temple was dedicated, on every side. These pictures fill a space of eight feet each; the plinth that crowns the capital is high; and the whole is completed by a rich entablature, surmounted with the bold cornice which is always so striking in Egyptian architecture. This beautiful structure, if clear of rubbish, would present a front of a hundred and sixty feet, with a height of sixty feet; the whole exhibiting a magnificent picture of nearly a thousand square feet, relieved by processions and other decorations. Several chambers, attached to the interior of the temple, are covered with astronomical, or perhaps rather astrological decorations; and the calculations deduced from these occasions at one time so powerful a prepossession in favour of their extreme antiquity, that some very obvious proofs of the contrary were overlooked. Comparatively speaking, the edifice is modern. As its basis rests on a terrace which is still nearly fifteen feet above the level of the neighbouring country, whilst similar terraces at Thebes are only on a level with the surface of the Nile, above which they were once greatly elevated, it may therefore be inferred generally, that the great temple at Denderah was not older than the time of the Ptolemies, or perhaps than that of the Romans. Such was the conclusion deduced by Visconti, and after him by Belzoni, whose practical investigations enabled him to ascertain the fact upon which the inference rests. But, on the other hand, Jollois, judging, as he says, from the style and execution of the sculptures, maintains that they cannot have been finished subsequently to the time of Cambyses. Unfortunately for this opinion, however, the hieroglyphics upon the walls of the temple completely confirm the evidence afforded by the Greek inscription over the entrance of the pronaos, and establish the correctness of Visconti's conclusion. The epochs of the decoration may be very briefly stated. The most ancient part is the exterior wall at the extremities of the temple, where are figured in colossal proportions Cleopatra and her son Ptolemy Caesar. The superior bas-reliefs belong to the time of Augustus, as also the exterior lateral walls of the naos, with the exception of some small portions, which only date from the reign of Nero. The pronaos is entirely covered with imperial legends of Tibérius, Caius, Claudius, and Nero; but in the interior of the naos, as well as in the chambers and edifices constructed upon the terrace of the temple, there does not exist a single sculptured oval or cartouch. None of the sculptures in these apartments go farther back than the time of Trajan or Antoninus; and they resemble that of the propylon on the south-east, which dates from the reign of the latter, and, being dedicated to Isis, conducted to the temple of that goddess, which is placed behind the great temple, dedicated, as already mentioned, to Hathor or Venus. The grand propylon above described is covered with images of the emperor Domitian. With regard to the Typhonium, it appears to have been decorated under Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius; but, from a Greek inscription, it would seem that one of the propylons was erected by the inhabitants of the nome in the thirty-first year of the reign of Augustus, A.D. 23.

At, or rather a little below, Denderah, the Nile suddenly changes its course, and for about nine miles runs nearly due west, after which it resumes its original direction. Near the bend or elbow formed by the return of the river to its course, lay the town of Abydos, once the second city of the Thebaid; and at a small distance from the Nile, near the western mountains, was the residence of an ancient king, called Ismandis by the Egyptians, and Memon by the Greeks. At the latter place are the remains of a fine building, which some antiquaries have agreed to denominate a Memnonium, but which is now known by the name of El-Berba or the temple. In one of the inmost chambers of the edifice Mr W. J. Bankes, in 1818, discovered a large hieroglyphical tablet, containing a long series of royal names, which have since been deciphered conformably to the principles first expounded and exemplified by Dr Young, and found in the main to correspond with those in the Royal Canon of Manetho. The interesting relic of antiquity thus discovered, and which has become so celebrated in hieroglyphical literature under the name of the tablet of Abydos, exhibits a genealogical table of the immediate predecessors of Rhamesses the Great, the Sesostris of Herodotus, and, from the data which it furnishes, compared with other documents, enables us to ascertain, with some degree of probability, that Sesostris, under whom the sculptures were executed, must have ascended the throne of Egypt about the year before Christ 1473. Further, the epoch thus determined, though certainly liable to some objections, is nevertheless supported by numerous concurring and independent testimonies, which, from their striking coincidence, warrant a reasonable expectation that the true era of Sesostris, which is the grand key to so many other impor-

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1 Lettres écrites d'Egypte, p. 90. 2 "Non déplaise à personne," says Champollion, "les bas-reliefs à Dendérah sont détectables, et cela ne pouvait être autrement; ils sont d'un temps de decadence. La sculpture s'était déjà corrompue, tandis que l'architecture, moins exposée à varier puisqu'elle est un art établi, s'était soutenue digne des dieux d'Egypte et de l'admiration des tous les siècles." (Lettres, p. 91.) Mr Hamilton's opinion is diametrically opposed to that which is here expressed (see Egyptiques, p. 193); and indeed it is not easy to conceive how architecture could sustain itself in a state of perfection, "worthy of the gods of Egypt, and the admiration of all ages," if the other kindred arts had fallen into such a "detestable" condition as M. Champollion seems to intimate. 3 Mr Hamilton speaks of this temple with unusual enthusiasm. "After seeing innumerable monuments of the same kind throughout the Thebaid," says he, "it seemed as if we were now arrived at the highest pitch of architectural excellence that ever was attained on the borders of the Nile. Here we found concentrated the united labours of ages and the last efforts of human art and industry, in that regular uniform line of construction which had been adopted in the earliest times." (Egyptiques, p. 195.) 4 Inscription de l'Egypte, Antiq. iv. § 2, p. 62. 5 Letronne, Recherches, p. 180; Champollion, Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique, p. 367. Lettres, pp. 91, 92. 6 Champollion, Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique, pp. 214, 245. See also Lettres a M. le Duc de Blacas d'Aulps, dated from the Egyptian Museum at Turin. The population of Abydos, as well as that of Diospolis Pareo or Hô, appears to have been transferred to Ptolemais, the capital of the Thinite nome, at or near Syis, the Psi or Soi of the Egyptians.

Girge or Djirdjeh, the present capital of the Said, is situated half way between Abydos and Ptolemais, and about twelve miles south of the latter; and on a rising ground, distant nearly a mile from the river, lies Ikhmim, the ancient Panopolis, where the great dispenser of the generative, fructifying, and productive powers was devoutly worshipped. The temples of Ikhmim, once so splendid, are now reduced to a few fragments. This place has about four thousand inhabitants, many of whom are Copts, and about one half Roman Catholics, principally engaged in the manufacture of coarse woollen cloths. Cau or Gau-el-kobir, or Great Gau, the ancient Anteopolis, was at some distance from the river in the time of Ptolemy, but, owing to a change in the bed of the stream, which is constantly encroaching on the eastern side of the valley, it is now close to the Nile. Here was the proaos or vestibule of a fine temple, which, by the encroachment of the river, had been severed from the eastern shore and insulated; but in 1819 it became a complete mass of ruins, in consequence of an unusually powerful inundation. The inscription on the proaos proves that it was dedicated to Anteus, and the other gods worshipped in the same temple, by Ptolemy Philometor, and Cleopatra his sister and queen, about 150 years before Christ; and it appears that the cornice was repaired by the Emperors Aurelius, Antoninus, and Verus, in the year 164 of our own era. The Siout of the Copts is the Lyropolis of the Greeks. The latter name was derived from the worship of the jackal, to which its inhabitants were peculiarly devoted. The only monuments of antiquity near Siout are some mounds of rubbish outside the town, and numerous sepulchres or catacombs in the neighbouring mountains. At Manfalout was an ancient city not mentioned by the Greek or Roman writers, and a little lower down the stream the catacombs are very extensive; whilst at Tarut-el-Sherif, still further north, the canal called Bahr Yussuf, or Joseph's River, branches off from the Nile, and passing along the base of the Libyan chain of hills, at length falls into the Birket-el-Kerou or Lake Meris. The Shmoun of the Copts and the Ashmounine of the Arabs is the Hermopolis Magna of the Greeks. The ruins of Hermopolis cover an area of nearly four miles in circumference; but a portico, with a double colonnade, in a massive and uncommon style of architecture, forming one of the finest monuments of Egypt, and serving to convey some idea of the former splendour of this seat of the Egyptian muses, has recently been destroyed. The temple of Ashmounine was dedicated to Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes or god of wisdom, and the reputed inventor of the arts and sciences. The decline of Hermopolis may be dated from the building of Antinoë, now Sheikh Abadéh, on the opposite side of the river; a city founded by Hadrian in honour of his favourite Antinous. Its remains, consisting of colonnades, triumphal arches, baths, and amphitheatres, form a singular contrast to all the surrounding objects, and are quite foreign to the soil on which they stand. There are few columns standing; and those which are of granite have evidently been taken from more ancient edifices.

Few remains of the cities which once flourished in the Heptanomis or northern part of Middle Egypt can now be discovered, yet quarries and catacombs continually mark out the spots on or near which they must have stood. At Beni-Hassan, on the eastern side of the Nile, are some remarkable excavations, many of which are adorned with paintings as fresh as when the colours were newly laid on; in the northernmost of these the ceilings are covered with planispheres similar to those at Thebes and Lycopolis, and the clustered columns which support the roof are formed in imitation of the trunks of palm trees. Most of the scenes and objects depicted in these hypogea relate to domestic life, and some of the designs are said to be in the Etruscan style. On the opposite side of the river, lower down, and close to the Bahr Yussuf, is Belmesch, on

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1. The ruins at El-Kherbeh are supposed by Jomard to be those of the Memnonium. (See Description de l'Egypte, Antiq. tom. iv. pl. 35, p. 8.) 2. De Sacy, Abd-el-Latif, pp. 316, 371. 3. The Egyptian name of Panopolis was Khemmo or Khemmis, whence the Coptic Khmim or Shmim. (Diodorus Sic. i. 18, p. 50; and Strabo, xvii. i. p. 457.) 4. The Coptic name of this place, Tkôû, has been preserved in the Arabic. (Legh's Travels, p. 40.) 5. This inscription has been skilfully restored by Letronne. (Recherches, pp. 42, 51.) At Cau or Gau, which is now a dirty Arab village, there are large quarries and numerous sepulchres. Here, too, the fabulous battle was fought in which Typhon and his adherents were defeated. (Diodor. Sicul. i. 21, p. 34.) 6. Belzoni, Researches, &c. p. 29. 7. Jomard, Description de l'Egypte; Hamilton's Egyptica, p. 297, et seqq.; Legh's Travels, p. 34. M. Champollion spent fifteen days at Beni-Hassan, during which time he was principally occupied in copying some of the designs in the catacombs. The subjects of these hypogean delineations are, Agriculture; Arts and Trades; the Military Caste; Song, Music, and Dancing; the Triumphs of Domestic Animals; Portraits; Games, Exercises, and Diversions; Domestic Justice; Family Circles; Historical and Religious Monuments; and, lastly, Zoology; the whole being calculated to throw much light on the manners, customs, habits, and pursuits of a singular people, who, both above ground and below it, sought to perpetuate the memorials of their civilization. The following descriptive details give us an insight into their private life and habits of the ancient Egyptian race.

I. Agriculture. Dessins représentant le labourage avec les bœufs ou à bras d'homme; la semaise, le foulage des terres par les bœufs, et non par les pores, comme le dit Hérodote; cinq scènes de charrue; le piéchage, la moisson du blé; la moisson du lin; la mise en gerbe de ces deux espèces de plantes; la mise en meule, le battage, le mesurage, le dépôt en grenier; deux dessins de grands greniers sur des plans différents; le lin transporté par des ânes; une foule d'autres travaux agricoles, et entre autres la récolte du lotus; la culture de la vigne, la vendange, son transport, l'écrasage, le pressoir de deux espèces, l'un à force de bras et l'autre à mécanique, la mise en bouteilles ou jardres, et le transport à la cave; la fabrication du vin cuite, etc.; la culture du jardin, la cueillette des banâch, des figues, etc.; la culture de l'ognon, l'arrosage, etc.; le tout, comme tous les tableaux suivants, avec légendes hiéroglyphiques explicatives; plus l'intendant de la maison des champs et ses secrétaires.

2. Arts et Métiers. Collection de tableaux, pour la plupart coloriés, afin de bien déterminer la nature des objets, et représentant le sculpteur en pierre, le sculpteur en bois, le peintre de statues, le peintre d'objets d'architecture; meubles et menuiserie; le peintre peignant un tableau, avec son échelle; des scèvres et commis aux écritures de toute espèce; les ouvriers des carrières transportant des blocs de pierre; l'art du potier, avec toutes les opérations; les marcheurs pétrissant la terre avec les pieds, d'autres avec les mains; la mise de l'argile en cône, le cône placé sur le tour; le potier faisant la panse, le goulot du vase, etc.; la première cuite au four, la seconde au séchoir, etc.; la coupe du bois; les tisserands, d'avirons et de rames; le charpentier, le menuisier; le fabricant de meubles; les scieurs de bois; les ébénistes; le coloriage des cuirs et maroquins; les cordierier; la filature; le tissage des toiles à divers métiers; le verrier et toutes ses opérations; l'orfèvre, le bijoutier, le forgéron. 3. Caste Militaire. L'éducation de la caste militaire, et tous ses exercices gymnastiques, représentés en plus de 200 tableaux, où sont retracées toutes les poses et attitudes que peuvent prendre deux hallebardiers, attaquant, se défendant, reculant, avançant, debout, renversés, etc.; on verra par là si l'art Égyptien se contentait de figures de profil, les jambes unies... the site of the ancient Oxyrynchus; and still farther north, at the entrance of Fayoum, was Heracleopolis Magna, the Hues of the Copts, and the Almas of the Arabs; but no trace of either city can now be discovered. The hatred of the crocodile, for which the inhabitants of Heracleopolis were noted, and their feuds with their neighbours the Arsinoites, have been recorded by ancient poets and historians. This city was sacred to the Egyptian Hercules, the founder and patron of irrigation by means of canals. Here the Nile passes close under the base of the Arabian hills, and leaves the most extensive as well as the richest tract of corn lands in all Middle Egypt. The name of Arsinoë is now called Fayoum, the Arabs having in this as in other instances preserved the Egyptian name. Its principal city was originally called Crocodilopolis; but this name was exchanged for that of Arsinoë by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who imposed the latter in honour of his sister.

Medinet-el-Fayoum, or the city of Fayoum, is built from the materials, and is partly on the site, of the ancient capital Crocodilopolis; but the principal remains of the ancient city lie to the north of the present town, and occupy a space of two miles and a half by about two. Two ancient pedestals of colossal dimensions, and separated about a hundred yards, are called by the natives Pharaoh's feet; they are about thirty-three feet every way. A fallen obelisk of red granite, covered with hieroglyphical inscriptions, is also another monument of the ancient Arsinoë. To the north of Heracleopolis or Ahnas was Aphroditopolis, the capital of a nome bearing the same name, and situated between those of Heracleopolis and Memphis. Its Coptic name is Tpèh or Petpièh, whence the Arabs have formed Atfih, Atfich, or Atafich. Between Aphroditopo-

lis and Memphis, but nearer to the latter, and at some distance from the western bank of the river, was the town of Acanthus, and a celebrated temple of Osiris situated in a grove of the Thebaic thorn, whence probably the town derived its name. But at none of these places are there any remains deserving particular description.

According to the concurring testimony of ancient writers, the Labyrinth was a structure equal in magnitude to the Pyramids, and still more wonderful in its design. It was the work of several kings at that early period when there were almost as many sovereigns as nomes; and adjoining to it was the tombs of the princes by whom it had been erected. "I have seen that building," says Herodotus, referring to the Labyrinth, "and it exceeds all description. The same may indeed be said of the Pyramids, each of which, taken separately, is equal in value to many of the greatest works of the Greeks taken together; but the Labyrinth in truth excels even the Pyramids." It consisted of twelve courts, surrounded by covered porticoes, having their gates opposite to each other, six of them being turned to the north and six to the south, and the whole included within the same outer wall or enceinte; and there were two suites of chambers, the one under and the other above ground, and immediately over the former. These chambers were three thousand in number, namely, fifteen hundred above and as many below ground. The Greek historian went through and examined the chambers above, but he was refused admission to those below, which, it was alleged by the priests, were used as sepulchres for the sacred crocodiles, and for the kings who had erected the Labyrinth; a strange enough association, though not unimpressive with re-

et les bras collés contre les hanches. J'ai copié toute cette curieuse série de militaires nus, luttant ensemble; plus, une soixantaine de figures représentant des soldats de toute arme, de tout rang, la petite guerre, un siège, la tortue et le bélier, les punitives militaires, un champ de bataille, et les préparatifs d'un repas militaire; enfin, la fabrication des lances, javelots, arcs, flèches, massues, haches d'armes, etc. 4. CHANT, MUSIQUE ET DANSE. Un tableau représentant un orchestre avec un violoncelle, un violon, un hautbois, un chanteur, un musicien accompagné de la harpe, est secondé par deux chœurs d'une dizaine de quatre hommes, l'un d'eux cinq femmes, et colles-ci battent la mesure avec leurs mains; c'est un opéra tout entier; des joueurs de harpe de tout sexe, des joueurs de flûte traversière, de flageolet, d'une sorte de cornet, etc.; des danseurs faisaient diverses figures, avec les mesures des qu'ils dansent; enfin, une collection très-curieuse de dessins représentant les danseuses (ou filles publiques de l'ancienne Égypte), dansant, chantant, jouant à la paume, faisant divers tours de force et d'adresse. 5. Un nombre considérable de dessins représentant l'Éducation des Bestiaux; les bouviers, les bœufs de toute espèce, les vaches, les veaux, le tirage du lait; la fabrication du fromage et du beurre; les chevriers, les gardiens d'ânes, les bergers et leurs moutons; des scènes relatives à l'art vétérinaire; enfin, la basse-cour, comprenant l'éducation d'une foule d'espèces d'oiseaux et de canards, et celle d'une espèce de cigogne qui était domestique dans l'ancienne Égypte. 6. Une première base du recueil ICONOGRAPHIQUE, comprenant les portraits des rois Égyptiens et de grands personnages. 7. Dessins relatifs aux Jeux, Exercices, et Divertissements. On y remarque la course, le jeu de la paille, une sorte de main-chaise, le souffle, le jeu de piquets plantés en terre, divers jeux de force; la chasse à la bête fâcheuse, un tableau représentant une grande chasse dans le désert, et où sont figurées 15 à 20 espèces de quadrupèdes; tableaux représentant le retour de la chasse; le gibier est porté mort ou conduit vivant; plusieurs tableaux représentent la chasse des oiseaux au filet; un de ces tableaux est de grande dimension, et garni avec toutes les couleurs et le faire de l'original; enfin, le dessin en grand des divers pièges pour prendre les oiseaux; ces instruments de chasse sont peints isolément dans quelques vignettes; plusieurs tableaux relatifs à la pêche; 1, la pêche à la ligne; 2, à la ligne avec canne à pêche; 3, au trident ou à la fourche; 4, au filet; plus la préparation des poissons, etc. 8. JUSTICE DOMESTIQUE. J'ai réuni sous ce titre une quantité de dessins de petits reliefs représentant les délits commis par des domestiques; l'exécution de la sentence, sa défense, son jugement par les intendants de la maison; la condamnation et l'exécution qui se borne à la bastonnade; dont procès-verbal est remis, avec le corps du procès, entre les mains du maître par l'intendant de la maison. 9. LE MENAGE. J'ai réuni dans cette série, déjà fort nombreuse, tout ce qui se rapporte à la vie privée ou intérieure. Ces dessins fort curieux représentent, 1, diverses maisons Égyptiennes, plus ou moins somptueuses; 2, les vases de diverses formes, utensiles et meubles, le tout colorié, parce que les couleurs indiquent invariablement la matière; 3, un superbe palanquin; 4, des espèces de chambre à portes battantes, portées sur un traineau et qui ont servi de voitures aux anciens grands personnages de l'Égypte; 5, les singes, chats, et chiens, qui faisaient partie de la maison, ainsi que des animaux et autres individus mal conformés, qui, 1500 ans et plus avant Jésus-Christ, servaient à désopiler le rate des seigneurs Égyptiens, aussi bien que, 1500 ans après, celle de nos vieux barons d'Europe; 6, les officiers d'une grande maison, intendants, scribes, etc.; 7, les domestiques portant les provisions de bouché de toute espèce; les servantes apportant aussi divers comestibles; 8, la manière de tuer les bœufs et de les dépécher pour le service de la maison; 9, une suite de dessins représentant des cuisinières préparant des mets de diverses sortes; 10, enfin, les domestiques portant les mets préparés à la table du maître. 10. MONUMENTS HISTORIQUES. Ce recueil contient toutes les inscriptions, bas-reliefs, et monuments de tout genre portant des légendes royales, avec une date exprimée, que j'ai vue jusqu'ici. 11. MONUMENTS RELIGIEUX. Toutes les images des différentes divinités, destinées en grand et colorées d'après les plus beaux bas-reliefs. 12. NAVIGATION. Recueil de dessins représentant la construction des bateaux et des navires de diverses espèces, et les jeux des marinsiers, tout-à-fait analogues aux joies qui ont lieu sur le Soudan dans les grands jours de fête. 13. Enfin, ZOOLOGIE. Une suite de quadrupèdes, d'oiseaux, de reptiles, d'insectes, et de poissons dessinés et colorisés avec toute fidélité d'après les bas-reliefs peints ou les peintures les mieux conservées de l'Egypte, qui conserve déjà près de 200 individus, est du plus haut intérêt; les oiseaux sont magnifiques; les poissons peints dans la dernière perfection, et on aura par là une idée de ce qu'était un hippopotame Égyptien un peu soigné. Nous avons déjà recueilli le dessin de plus de 14 espèces différentes de chiens de garde ou de chasse, depuis le berger jusqu'au basset à jambe longue." (Lettres écrites d'Égypte.)

1 Belzoni, Researches, &c. p. 212.

2 Encyclopédia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ference to the origin and real nature of animal worship. The chambers above ground, which he had himself seen and examined, the same historian describes as greater than all other human works. The communications between these multitudinous chambers, and the winding passages leading from one court into another, were so varied as to occasion infinite surprise and no little dismay. These passages led from the chambers into porches, from the porches again into other apartments, and from these chambers into other courts; the roof and walls of all of them were of stone, and covered with sculptures; each court was surrounded by a colonnade of white stone, the blocks of which were joined as closely as possible; and at the angle which terminated the Labyrinth was a pyramid of forty orgyias, or about two hundred and fifty feet, in height, on which was sculptured large figures of beasts, and the entrance to which was under ground. Such is the account of this extraordinary structure given by Herodotus, from whom Strabo does not materially differ; but other ancient writers seem to be at variance with both, probably from not attending to the circumstance that the work was executed at intervals by different princes. Commenced by Mendes, it was continued by Tithoes or Petesecus, and finished by the twelve kings, and Socharis the son of Sesostris. The pyramid of the Labyrinth alone remains.

Still descending the Nile, and passing, for the present, Birket-el-Keroum or Lake Meris, we come to the ruins of Memphis, the second capital of Egypt, the foundation of which was ascribed to the first king of that country, named Menes. After the successive generations of Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, who have plundered Memphis in the wantonness of victory, or for the purpose of transferring its monuments to Alexandria or Cairo, we may well wonder that, exclusively of those eternal structures the pyramids, enough should still remain to enable us to determine the exact site of this capital of the Pharaohs. The temple of Ptah, the Hephaestus or Vulcan of the Egyptians, was, according to Herodotus, a most wonderful edifice; and adjoining to it was a temple dedicated to Osiris, in which the sacred bull Apis was kept, another consecrated to Hathor or Venus, and a third to Serapis. The Serapeion stood in a place where the sand was so loose and deep that the sphinxes forming the avenue in front of it were buried, some one half, and others up to the neck, and a person proceeding to the temple ran some risk if overtaken by a tempest, owing to the columns of sand raised and drifted about by the wind. Of the great temple of Memphis nothing but débris remains; yet the blocks of granite and breccia scattered about attest its dimensions to have been nearly equal to those of the most gigantic monuments of the Thebaid; whilst the fragments of columns, colossal statues, obelisks, and propylia, are perhaps the relics of the great northern vestibule, which is usually enumerated amongst the works of Meris. In the time of Strabo, Memphis was second only to Alexandria in point of size and population; and there were ports for shipping both before the city and the palace. The latter had been built on a rising ground near to the lower part of the town, in a grove of its own, with a port adjoin-

1 On this subject see a chapter full of ingenuity and originality in Sir William Drummond's Origines. 2 Herodotus, Traduction de Larcher, tom. ii. pp. 496, 503. Encyclopédie Métropolitaine, art. Égypt. 3 Hamilton's Egyptiana, p. 315. Belzoni was so much occupied in exploring the interior passages and chambers of the Pyramids, that he entirely neglected Memphis; and the same observation applies to a later and much more gifted traveller, M. Champollion. The latter indeed promised to examine the whole plain of Memphis, from Monyet-Rahineh to Djizeh; "je pousserai de là (Moyet-Rahineh) des reconnaissances sur Sakkarah, Daschour, et toute la plaine de Memphis, jusqu'aux grandes pyramides de Gizeh; et après avoir couru le sol de la seconde capitale Egyptienne, je mettrai le cap sur Thèbes." But if he carried his design into execution, the results have not been communicated to us. (Lettres, p. 62.) 4 Geographia Nubica, p. 98. been sufficient to expel their doubts had any remained.

The position, the distance from the fork of the Delta, the vicinity of the pyramids and the plain of mummies; and, in particular, the gigantic nature of the ruins themselves, all unite to prove that the site fixed on by Pococke and Bruce is the right one.

In those countries where absolute temporal power is allied with and reinforced by spiritual dominion, and where a superstition inflexible in its sway over the many readily lends all its influence to give effect to the will of one, believed to be the earthly representative or vicegerent of the gods, we may expect to find works executed, which in point of magnitude far surpass any thing to be met with amongst nations otherwise more favourably circumstanced in regard to liberty. When men live under the double thraldom of a despotism which wields the powers both of earth and heaven, and is identified with a system of religious belief, which recognises in the head of the state a lineal descendent of the gods, all their labour and all their energies must necessarily be at the command of a ruler who can thus give to his most arbitrary decrees the authority of religion, and whose own will is his only law; and hence it is in the power of a sovereign so circumstanced to accomplish undertakings which baffle ordinary calculations, and transcend all ordinary means. When Stesicrates proposed to Alexander to convert Mount Athos into a statue of the victorious monarch, the left arm of which should form the base of a city containing ten thousand inhabitants, while the right was to hold an urn whence a river should discharge itself into the sea, he assumed, on the part of the conqueror, an exercise of power over human agents, the most reckless and unsparring of which there is any example out of Egypt. In the latter country, the principle assumed by the Greek projector appears to have been systematically reduced to practice; the whole labour and energies of the nation were made available for the execution of the designs of its monarchs; and hence, in the unparalleled magnitude and durability of the public works which were reared under the Pharaohs, we have conclusive evidence of the complete and total subjugation of the people to their authority. Such a prodigality of labour and expense is compatible only with the supposition that it was lavished under the decrees of a merciless and inflexible despotism; and the hands of slaves were no doubt employed in elaborating the inextricable intricacies of the Labyrinth, or realising the vast conception of the Pyramids. Herodotus, it is well known, ascribes the largest of the Pyramids, that of Cheops, to a profligate and tyrannical prince, who compelled the people at large to perform the work of slaves, and, in the enormous structure which he reared, left an eternal monument of the merciless energy to which it owed its origin.

The number of pyramids scattered over Egypt is very great; but by far the most remarkable are those at Djizeh, Sakbara, and Daschour; and the first of these places, situated on the western bank of the Nile, and nearly in the latitude of Cairo, is distinguished above the others by possessing the three principal pyramids mentioned by Herodotus, and which are still justly numbered amongst the wonders of human art. The largest of these pyramids, which goes by the name of Cheops (Kobts or Kopts?), stands on an elevation upwards of a hundred and fifty feet above the subjacent plain; and although it has suffered much from human violence, immense heaps of broken stones having fallen down each side, and formed a high mound towards the middle of the base, yet the corners remain pretty clear; and, as the accumulation of sand is, owing to the elevation of the site, less than round the other pyramids, the foundation is easily discoverable, particularly at the north-west angle, though it is impossible to see along the line of the base, on account of the heaps of rubbish, or to make any accurate measurement thereof. The entrance is on the north side, nearly in the centre, or about an equal distance from each angle, and the passage slopes downward at an angle of about twenty-six degrees, for about a hundred feet from the entrance, when it opens into an apartment seventeen feet long, fourteen feet wide, and twelve feet high. From this apartment a similar passage ascends, at nearly the same angle, to another chamber of larger dimensions, being upwards of thirty-seven feet in length, seventeen feet in width, and about twenty feet in height, which is lined all round with large slabs of highly polished granite, whilst the ceiling consists of nine immense flags stretching from wall to wall. In this chamber, which does not reach beyond the centre of the pyramid, stands a sarcophagus of red granite, highly polished, but without sculptures or hieroglyphics; it is seven feet six inches in length, three feet three inches in width, and about as much in depth; but it has no lid, nor was anything found in it except a few fragments of the stone with which the chamber is decorated. A third chamber, still higher in the body of the pyramid than either of the two just mentioned, was discovered by Mr Davison about sixty years ago; and the same apartment was recently entered and more fully explored by Mr Cavighia, who found its sides coated with red granite highly polished, and ascertained that the unevenness of the floor was occasioned by its having been formed of the individual blocks of syenite which constitute the roof of the chamber below. Mr Davison also discovered and descended into the well, as it is called, of which Pliny has left a description. It consisted of three distinct shafts, the first of which was twenty-two feet in depth, the second twenty-nine, and the third ninety-nine, thus making the total descent one hundred and fifty feet, or, including five feet between the first and second shaft, one hundred and fifty-five. But the latest and most complete survey of the secret chambers or caverns of the Pyramid of Cheops is that made by Mr Cavighia, who, besides sounding the depths of the celebrated well discovered by Mr Davison with nearly similar results, cleared out the principal passage into the pyramid, and having advanced as far as two hundred feet, discovered a door on the right hand, which opened into the bottom of the well; after which, finding that the passage did not terminate at the door-way, he continued his advance to the distance of twenty-three feet beyond it, when it took a horizontal direction for about twenty-eight farther, and ultimately opened in a spacious chamber, sixty-six feet long by twenty-seven broad, immediately under the central point of the pyramid. Communicating with this spacious apartment on the south side is a narrow passage, which runs horizontally into the rock for upwards of fifty feet, and then abruptly terminates; another at the end, which commences with an arch, and runs about forty feet into the solid rock of the Pyramid; and a third, which, however, is so obscurely mentioned, that neither its direction nor dimensions can be ascertained. It is much to be regretted that none of those who have occupied themselves in exploring these interior passages and chambers, should

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A plan of the ruins of Memphis, drawn by Jacquin, is given, along with a detailed account of them, in the Description de l'Egypte. The wrist of the colossus which M. Coutelle caused to be removed, and to which reference is made in the text, shows that, according to the ordinary proportions in such cases, it must have been about forty-eight feet in height. have thought of publishing a plan of them, which indeed is quite essential to enable us to understand their various ramifications and bearings. The greatest discrepancy has prevailed both in ancient and in modern times as to the height and magnitude of the pyramid of Cheops; so much so, that either the standards referred to must have been different, or the summit of the enormous structure has been considerably lowered since the days of Herodotus. The following table exhibits only a small portion of the variation which applies to the measurement and estimated bulk of this pyramid:

| Ancients | Height of the Great Pyramid | Length of the side | |----------|-----------------------------|-------------------| | Herodotus | 800 feet | 800 feet | | Strabo | 625 | 600 | | Diodorus | 600 | 700 | | Pliny | | 708 |

Mean: 675

| Moderns | | | |-----------|----------------------------|-------------------| | Lebrun | 616 | 704 | | Prosper Albinus | 625 | 750 | | Thevenot | 590 | 612 | | Niebuhr | 440 | 710 | | Greaves | 444 | 648 | | Davison | 461 | 746 | | Trench | 470 | 704 |

Mean: 510

Mean of Ancient and Modern: 592

Number of Layers or Steps:

| Greaves | 207 | | Maillet | 208 | | Lewenstein| 260 | | Pococke | 212 | | Belon | 250 | | Thevenot | 208 | | Davison | 206 |

Mean: 221

As an approximation, therefore, we may assume with safety that the Great Pyramid is four hundred and eighty feet in height, on a base about seven hundred and fifty feet each way; or, in other words, that it covers an area of nearly eleven acres, and rises to an elevation of a hundred and twenty-seven feet above the cross of St Paul's, whilst its solid contents exceed seventy millions of cubic feet.

The second pyramid, called that of Cephrenes, was entered and explored in 1816, by the indefatigable Belzoni, who has given an interesting account of his labour in accomplishing this object, in his Researches and Operations in Egypt and Nubia, to which we refer for the details. His first attempt was not attended with success; but being convinced that this pyramid was similar in construction to that of Cheops, he minutely examined the exterior of the Great Pyramid; and having corrected his calculations as to the point of entry, he searched more to the east on the northern face, and at length succeeded in discovering a granite entrance four feet in height and three feet and a half in width, which dipped towards the centre for more than a hundred feet, at an angle of twenty-six degrees. Having removed the rubbish by which this passage was obstructed, he found his progress stopped by a block of granite, which proved to be a portcullis, and seemed to present an insuperable barrier to the prosecution of his researches. "It stared me in the face," he observes, "and said ne plus ultra, putting an end, as I thought, to all my projects." But on close inspection, he discovered that a regular groove or cavity had been formed to receive this portcullis; and as it happened to be elevated about eight inches from the lower part of the groove, thus leaving a considerable aperture underneath, he was enabled gradually to raise it. Here, however, the granite passage ceased, and a horizontal passage of nearly the same dimensions opened and extended about twenty-three feet, terminating at a shaft or well fifteen feet deep. Having descended the latter by means of a rope, the adventurous explorer found another passage with the same angle of inclination as that by which he had first descended, but running in a contrary direction, and off from the centre; and from the bottom of the well a passage also ran towards the centre of the pyramid. Following the latter, which proceeded in the direction just mentioned, Belzoni soon found that it terminated in a chamber at the centre of the pyramid. On entering this chamber, which he afterwards found to be forty-six feet in length, upwards of sixteen feet in width, and between twenty-three and twenty-four feet in height, he searched for the sarcophagus, which, after some delay, he found sunk into the floor. It was of the finest granite, about eight feet in length, three feet and a half in width, and above two feet in depth, and was surrounded by large blocks of granite, placed so as to prevent its removal; but the lid having been drawn to one side, was broken, and not a single sculpture or hieroglyph was to be found upon it. Some bones, said to be those of a bull, were discovered mixed with the rubbish. This chamber, which is nearly of the same dimensions as that of the Great Pyramid, and which is cut out of the solid rock, appears, from an Arabic inscription written in charcoal, and transcribed by a Copt employed by Belzoni for the purpose, to have been visited by the curious of a former age. The indefatigable explorer then returned to the well or shaft, and proceeding along the passage of the centre already mentioned, found that at the distance of forty-eight feet it communicated with a horizontal passage, also running outwards to the length of fifty-seven feet. A side passage led into a chamber, which however contained nothing save an inscription like that found in the first. From the extremity of the horizontal passage another was found to run inwards with a rise of twenty-six feet, until it terminated at the base of the pyramid, which thus appears to have had two entrances. In this last passage, as in the other, there is a groove for a portcullis. The dimensions of the pyramid... thus opened and explored were ascertained by Belzoni to be as follow:

The base, each side ........................................... 684 feet. The perpendicular height ........................................ 456 The coating, from top to where it terminates ........................................ 140

These pyramids are said to have been coated or cased from top to bottom; and indeed forty feet of coating still remain on that of Cephrenes. But the Great Pyramid has no appearance of having been touched in this way; and on that of Cephrenes the coating was probably never completed, as no indications of it were discovered by Belzoni when removing the sand from its base. The next pyramid, called by the name of Mycerinus, and situated beyond that of Cephrenes, seems to have been cased with granite; at least fragments of that material were found amongst the rubbish. This pyramid still remains to be opened by some future traveller, Belzoni having failed in the attempt. It is only about a hundred and sixty feet in height; and beyond it is another of still smaller dimensions, having its summit crowned by one large block of stone, as if for a pedestal. The stability of these enormous piles is increased by the stones having been fixed so as to slope inwards; and so perfectly have they been adjusted, that not one of them has swerved from its position. As nothing but the solid rock itself could have formed a foundation for such structures, a sufficient space was levelled, part of the hill being escarped for the purpose. The pyramids of Sakhara are three miles south of those of Djizeh, and the pyramids of Daschour are beyond those of Sakhara, whilst many more of brick or of stone are scattered over the plain, intermixed with the excavations, cemeteries, and fragments of statues or edifices, extending over a space of several miles, and serving to mark out the site of the second capital of the Pharaohs. Fronting the river, and opposite the pyramid of Cephrenes, the colossal Sphinx reclines in ample majesty, a proper companion for the mighty piles which we have been considering. It is hewn out of the solid rock, and is covered with hieroglyphics and symbols of various kinds. Through the persevering exertions of Mr Caviglia, the whole statue was laid open to its base, and an area cleared to the extent of a hundred feet from its front. On the digits of the left paw are several indistinct legends and an inscription in verse, which Dr Young has restored; on those of the right are a few of the usual dedicatory phrases, which it is unnecessary to repeat here.

As the pyramids have neither inscriptions nor bas-reliefs or sculptures of any kind, we are left entirely to conjecture as to the period at which they were erected, or the uses to which they were appropriated. One circumstance, however, is most remarkable. In all the pyramids which have been opened, whether at Djizeh or Sakhara, amounting to at least six, the entrance has in every case been discovered near the centre of the base of the northern face; and the passage inwards from the exterior entrance has as uniformly been found to slope downwards at an angle which never varies. In the Great Pyramid, the inclination of the passage is stated by Greaves at twenty-six degrees; but Caviglia determined it at twenty-seven; and this angle is common to all the sloping passages in the edifice. The same conclusion was formed by Belzoni in regard to the pyramid opened by him, the angle in all the sloping passages or channels being about twenty-six degrees; and on opening one of the small pyramids towards the south, Caviglia found the inclination of the passage the same, whilst at the end of it were two chambers connected together, and both empty. Now, as it is scarcely possible that this coincidence could have been accidental, it has been concluded that these passages or tubes were connected with the celebration of some great festival, the time of which was determined by observing the transit of some particular star across the meridian below the pole, whence an accurate measure of sidereal time, an object in itself of great importance, might also be obtained. But, whilst it would not be easy to devise a method better adapted for observing the transit of a star with the naked eye, than watching its motion across the exterior orifice of such a lengthened tube, yet no safe conclusion can be deduced from the coincidence of inclination alluded to; first, because there is reason to suspect that we have not yet got the true measure of the angle which these passages form with the plane of the horizon; secondly, because it has not been ascertained whether the angle of inclination is the same in all the pyramids which have been opened, or whether there is a difference in the angles of the approaches of the pyramids of Djizeh, Sakhara, and Daschour, corresponding to the difference of latitude of these several places; and thirdly, because, from an expression made use of by Mr Caviglia, it would seem that in one at least of the pyramids opened, the angle of inclination was equal or nearly so to the elevation of the pole, or the latitude of the place. In short, the material facts on which alone any reasoning can be built have not yet been ascertained with sufficient accuracy and precision to warrant the inference which has been somewhat hastily drawn from them, although, as a mere conjecture or hypothesis, it has a reasonable degree of probability in its favour, especially if we consider the exact position of these structures with reference to the four cardinal points. At the same time, there is every reason to believe that these enormous piles were used for other than astronomical purposes. The bones found in the chamber of the pyramid of Cephrenes, not to mention other circumstances, seem to indicate some connection with the worship of Apis; and besides, from the care with which the entrances appear to have been concealed, it is not impossible that they were intended for sepulchral purposes.

Confidence in his own views to induce the discoverer to continue the operation, when his predecessors, possessed of much greater means, had completely failed. It is not much to be wondered, therefore, that Belzoni should have felt disposed to resent conduct such as that which is described in the following extract:—“One thing more I must observe respecting the Count de Forbin. On his return from Thebes, I met him at Cairo, in the house of the Austrian consul. I had begun the task of opening the Pyramids, and had already discovered the false passage. The count requested, in a sort of sarcastic manner, when I had succeeded in opening the Pyramid, which no doubt he supposed I never would, that I would send him the plan of it, as he was about setting off for Alexandria the next day, and thence to France. I thought the best retaliation I could make was to send him the desired plan; and I did so as soon as I opened the Pyramid, which was in a few days after his departure. Would any one believe that the noble count, on his arrival in France, gave out that he had succeeded in penetrating the second pyramid of Djizeh, and brought the plan of it to Paris? Whether this be the fact or not, will appear from the following paragraph taken from a French paper now in my possession:—‘On the 24th of April, Monsieur le Comte de Forbin, director-general of the Royal Museum of France, landed at the lazaretto of Marseilles. He came last from Alexandria, and his passage was very stormy. He has visited Greece, Syria, and Upper Egypt. By a happy chance, some days before his departure from Cairo, he succeeded in penetrating into the second pyramid of Djizeh. Monsieur Forbin brings the plan of this important discovery, as well as much information on the labours of Mr Drovetti at Karnak, and on the works which Mr Salt, the English consul, pursued with the greatest success in the valley of Beban-el-Malek, and in the plain of Medinet-Abou. The museum of Paris is going to be enriched with some of the spoils of Thebes, which Monsieur Forbin has collected in his travels.’ Was this written,” exclaims Belzoni, “by some person in France, in ridicule of the Count de Forbin, or is it an attempt to impose on the public by a tissue of falsehoods?” (Vol. I p. 393.) sible that, both in the pyramid of Cheops and in that of Cephrenes, there may yet be many undiscovered chambers. The chamber which contains the sarcophagus in the former is equal to a good-sized drawing-room; but there might be five thousand such chambers within the pyramid; and as structures so enormous must have been reared for some great object, or what was considered as such, it is probable that much still remains to be discovered in their interior. It is not impossible that the records of the kingdom of the Pharaohs may yet adventure be found in some crypt "far ben" in these eternal register-houses.

In speaking of the mechanical labours of the ancient Egyptians, it is impossible to pass unnoticed Lake Moeris, which is described by Herodotus as not less wonderful than the Labyrinth. Its circumference, he informs us, measured three thousand six hundred stadia, making sixty scheini or four hundred and fifty miles; an extent equal to the sea-coast of Egypt. Its greatest length stretched from north to south, and its greatest depth was not less than fifty orgyias, or thirty-six fathoms. He is of opinion that it was excavated by the hand of man; and his reason for this belief is, that about the middle of the lake there were two pyramids, each fifty orgyias, or two hundred and twelve feet above, and as much below the water, whilst on the summit of each there was placed a colossus of stone, in a sitting posture, or throned. The waters of this lake, he adds, were entirely derived from the Nile, and its fisheries paid one talent of silver, or L225, to the crown, every day for six months during the decrease of the waters, and twenty minas, or L75, for the remaining six months during their increase; thus yielding an annual revenue of L54,600. Herodotus also states, on the authority of the inhabitants, that this lake has a subterraneous channel, or passage, westward into the Libyan desert, in the line of the mountain which rises above Memphis; and, from those who dwelt on its shores, he further learned that the earth dug out of the excavation which formed the lake was thrown into the river, and washed down by the current into the sea; an explanation with which he appears to have been perfectly satisfied. This account, exhibiting the characteristics of simplicity and truth, is substantially confirmed by the statements of Diodorus Siculus and Pomponius Mela, except that the latter makes the circumference five hundred miles instead of four hundred and fifty; and all coincide in the opinion that its object must have been to save the country from the effects of an excessive inundation, by affording a receptacle for the surplus flood, and at the same time to keep in reserve a supply of water for the parched lands in the vicinity, or to meet the wants of a dry season in the Delta. But, as the water of this lake has a disagreeable taste, and besides is almost as salt as the sea, contracting its saline property from the nitre with which the surrounding land is everywhere impregnated, it is probable enough that it was originally constructed rather to prevent an evil than to secure a benefit, to counteract an excessive rather than to eke out a deficient inundation.

The dimensions of this lake in modern times do not in any degree correspond with the statements which have been recorded by the ancients. According to Pococke, at the time when he visited Egypt it was only about fifty miles in length and ten in breadth; and Mr Browne, who travelled at a still later period, estimated the length at between thirty and forty miles, and the breadth at not more than six miles. It appears, therefore, that the limits of this inland sea have been much contracted; and further, that the process of diminution is going on at a rate distinctly perceptible. Anciently the waters of Lake Moeris covered a large portion of the valley of Fayoum, and, when the inundation exceeded a certain height, probably found an outlet from the north-eastern extremity, along the course of the Bahr-bilama or Waterless River, thus reaching the sea to the westward of Lake Mareoticus and Alexandria. That the Nile originally flowed through the valley of the Natron Lakes, is now generally admitted; and the opinion is strengthened by the conformation of the adjoining country, the existence of the bed or channel of a river, extending to the sea, but now dry, and more especially by the escarpment of the chain of mountains, shutting the entrance of the valley north of the Pyramids, which appears to have been caused at some period by the action of the running water, as may indeed be observed in all the mountains at the base of which the Nile flows at the present day. In its present contracted dimensions, Lake Moeris is called by the Arabs Birket-el-Keroum, the Horn or Bow Lake, being so named either from its figure, or from the celebrated ruin near to its south-western extremity, denominated Kasr Keroum by the Arabs, and till lately supposed to form part of the Labyrinth. The canal called Bahr Yussuf, or Joseph's River, is about a hundred and twenty miles in length, and, on entering the province of Fayoum, is divided into a number of subordinate branches, supplied with a variety of locks and dams. Two other canals also communicated between the lake and the stream, and, by means of the sluices at their junction with the river, admitted or excluded the water, according as the Nile rose above or fell below a certain limit. These were the principal achievements of Moeris, whose works are to be sought for not so much in the lake which bears his name, and seems to be rather a natural basin skilfully appropriated to a purpose of great public utility than a work of labour and art, as in the immense cuts and excavations which connected this lake with the Nile, and in the mounds, dams, and sluices, which rendered it available for extensive and systematic irrigation, the prime cause of fertility in Egypt. We shall not attempt here to describe the reticulation of canals, and other works therewith connected, by means of which this benevolent object was in a great measure insured, and a sort of equilibrium established in the supply of the fluid so essential for the purposes of cultivation; but shall merely content ourselves with observing, that the author of such works of unquestionable utility is the real benefactor of his kind, and that the glory which encircles the name of Moeris-Thoutmosis is a thousand times more enviable, because more beneficent in its character, than that of the founder of the Labyrinth, or of the merciless taskmaster who reared the Great Pyramid.

In this land of wonders there are many other works and monuments well deserving of being described; but the limits assigned to the present section having been already exceeded, it is necessary to bring it to a close, without entering into details which would be found to possess only a secondary kind of interest. We cannot conclude, however, without expressing our deep regret that, under the comparatively enlightened government which has now been established in Egypt, the destruction of ancient monuments should be carried on with a systematic and calculating perseverance, which, unless checked, must in a few years annihilate the finest and noblest remains that have escaped the united ravages of time and barbarism. Let us hope, however, that the viceroy may be in-

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1 Head, Eastern and Egyptian Scenery, Ruins, &c. pp. 46, 47. Russell, View of Ancient and Modern Egypt, p. 150, et seqq. SECTION VI.

PANTHEON OF EGYPT.

Knephis or Agathodemon—Phtha or Phthah—Neith—Re or Phré—Rhea—Ish.—Appos.—Kronos—Thoth—Osiris—Auréris—Typhon—Isis—Nephtis—Thueris—Beon—Ares—Shem or Semus.—Buto.—Horus, Hor, or Horsést—Harpocrates—Anubis—Arzaphes—Athor or Hathor—Amun or Ammon—Menes—Busiris—Macedon—Bubastis—Sarnis—Shuman or Esmanus—Panayles—Tidrambo—Thermuthis—Canopus—Menuthis—Besu—Proteus—Nilus—Apis.—Mnevis or Mayis.

In the selection of authorities respecting the principal deities worshipped by the Egyptians, it will be most convenient to consider the respective personages in their chronological, or rather genealogical order, as far as any Egyptian evidence can be obtained to ascertain their places in the mythological system.

Agathodemon, Cneph, Chnophis, or Knephis, appears to be the oldest representative of the divine power admitted by the Egyptians, although his attributes are not distinctly ascertained, except as the parent of Ptaha, whose origin is referred, in the works of the spurious Hermes, to an egg of Cneph or Kneph, which is perhaps the Coptic IHHNIFI, or genius of spirit. Even before this Cneph we are told of the existence of an Eion or Icton, which has been supposed to mean IHHTHO, or genius of the whole world; but this seems to have been a sort of chaos, and the personification is not generally admitted. Eusebius makes Cneph distinctly synonymous with Agathodemon; and this interpretation seems to identify the term with the Knephis, of whom Strabo mentions a temple in Elephantine, since IHHNIFI would naturally mean good geniuses, the word NIFI occurring frequently in other compounds. In a Greek inscription now in the British Museum, the

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1 It would perhaps be too much to expect that Mohammed Ali, engrossed with objects of present ambition, should evince any very decided predilection for "Egypt's elder times," or give himself much trouble to conserve the monumental remains of twenty-five dynasties of kings. The viceroy, we fear, is too decided an utilitarian to concern himself about objects of antiquarian research or learned curiosity; and it is highly probable that a kaleidoscope, a magic ring, or any other innocent scientific toy, would interest him much more deeply than the discovery of a new cella in an old temple, or a translation of a hieroglyphic inscription, recording the titles and narrating the campaigns of Soestros. At the same time it would be exceedingly desirable if he could be made aware that, however little he may care about such matters, they are of importance to others; and that the wanton demolition of monuments which has of late years taken place under the eyes, and even by the directions, of some of his agents, is calculated to deprive the country over which he rules of its principal attraction to European visitants. Nothing, we should think, would be more easy than to make the pasha comprehend that he has a direct and tangible interest in at least preventing the continuance of the barbarity which has recently been in so many instances committed; and if the European residents in Egypt were to join in a representation on the subject, there can scarcely be a doubt that it would have the desired effect. In the year 1829, M. Champollion, whilst on the eve of quitting Egypt, transmitted to the viceroy a Note "pour la conservation des Monuments de l'Egypte," in which the conduct of his agents was very pointedly denounced, the extent of the havoc committed by them clearly detailed, and the precautions necessary to be adopted in order to arrest the progress of the evil distinctly specified; but this representation being unsupported, and many of the collectors of antiquities at Alexandria and Cairo secretly encouraging the dilapidations complained of, in the despicable view of giving a fictitious value to their collections, it produced no sensible effect, and the work of destruction has since gone on with but little interference. Accordingly, some of the most illustrious of Egyptian civilization, which had outlasted the casualties of forty centuries, and the ravages of five conquests, have lately perished by the hands of destroyers more barbarous and unparring than either the wild Persians of Cambyses or the fanatical Arabs of Amr.

Among the Europeans who visit Egypt there is annually a great number who, not being attracted thither by any commercial pursuit, are only actuated by a desire to contemplate on the spot the remains of ancient splendour and renown, and to examine for themselves the vestiges of the first form of civilization of which any trace has descended to modern times; and as these persons may now, under the protection of the viceroy's vigorous government, pursue their inquiries in perfect safety, it is obvious that their sojourn in the different provinces of Egypt and Nubia must entirely depend on the monuments which are scattered along both banks of the Nile, and that whilst science and literature may be enriched by their observations, the country itself must also be benefited by their personal expenditure, whether disbursed in the employment of labour to clear out monuments, in satisfying an active curiosity, or in the acquisition of divers products of ancient art. In short, as a large amount of capital is annually imported into Egypt by travellers of this description, it is clear that the government of the viceroy, if it consulted the real interest of the country, would devote its attention to the conservation of those edifices and monuments which form the principal, if not the sole objects for which such travels are undertaken by a crowd of individuals belonging to the most distinguished classes of European society; that, so far from permitting wanton and gratuitous destruction, it would adopt measures to arrest even the progress of ordinary decay; and that its subordinate functionaries, instead of being the destroyers, would be made the protectors and defenders of the Cyclopian works of ancient days. The actual case, however, is far different from this; and learned Europe now bitterly deplores the entire destruction of a crowd of ancient monuments, the annihilation of which has been caused by the hands of less learned and less remorseless remains.

But, to come to particulars, amongst those which have been recently destroyed are, firstly, all the monuments of Scheik-Abad, of which there now only exist some granite columns, that, from their dimensions and hardness, appear to have defied the efforts of the destroyers; secondly, the temple of Aschmunein, one of the finest monuments of Egypt; thirdly, the temple of Kan-el-Kehir, which the Nile has partially undermined, thereby facilitating the work of demolition; fourthly, a temple to the north of the town of Esneh; fifthly, a temple opposite Esneh, on the right bank of the river; sixthly, three temples at El-Kab or El-Eitz; and, seventhly, two temples in the island opposite Assuan, the ancient Syene, called Geziret-Assouan. From this enumeration, then, embracing only a short period, and excluding the destruction of the last two years, it appears that thirteen or fourteen ancient monuments, three of which in particular were of the very highest interest to travellers and learned men, have been entirely demolished. But the positive loss, great as it is, falls far short of that with which the learned world is threatened from the progress of this systematic dilapidation, which, if it continues to advance in a similar ratio, will in ten years hence level with the ground the principal edifices and monuments of Egypt and Nubia. We are not without hopes, however, that the viceroy may be induced to interpose his authority in order to arrest these deplorable devastations. M. Champollion laid before him a catalogue raisonné of the monuments both of Egypt and Nubia, at the same time indicating the means proper to be adopted for their future preservation; and other individuals of weight will, we trust, exert their influence with Mohammed Ali in order to persuade him to take the necessary steps for accomplishing the object desired. If his highness would only take upon himself the character of conservator of

These temples, palaces, and tombs stupendous, Of which the remains are treasured up, he would entitle himself to the gratitude of all Europe, at the same time that he advanced his own real interest and glory; for, besides the advantages to which we have already alluded, it ought to be kept in view that the temples, palaces, tombs, and all other kinds of monuments, which still attest the power and greatness of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies, are at the same time the noblest ornaments of modern Egypt. emperor Nero is called the good genius of the world; and the winged globe hovering over the inscription seems to allude to this piece of flattery; but the Knuphis or Knumis of the amulets of later times is a serpent or a dragon raising itself on its tail, having rays about its head; and surrounded with stars. The name of Agathodaimon is inserted by Manetho amongst the fabulous kings, im- mediately before Kronos.

The same authority attributes a still higher antiquity to Phtha, whom it places as the first of the fabulous kings of Egypt; he is universally considered as the great ancestor of the other deities, and is especially called the father of the sun, as we learn from various chronologers, as well as from Callisthenes and others. He seems to have been a personification of the creative, and perhaps of the generative power, designated under the character of a workman or an architect. He is sometimes compar- ed to Prometheus, as the discoverer of fire; but Hephe- stus or Vulcan is his common representative in the Greek and Roman mythology; although it must always be re- membered, that, between the imaginary personages of dif- ferent nations the identity must naturally be accidental and imperfect. Cicero and Eusebius mention Phtha as the same with Vulcan; and Eratosthenes, on the authority of the Egyptian priests, interprets moephtia, Philophtes- tus or loving Vulcan, which in Coptic would be exactly expressed by maiphtah, as maion is loving a brother. Mr Akerblad quotes from a Coptic sermon of Sinnethi the words, "Hephestus, who is Phtha;" and this remark- able passage proves, as he justly observes, how much Ja- blonsky was mistaken in his orthography of Phtha, on which he founded one of his fanciful etymologies.

Neith, the Minerva of the Egyptians, had a cele- brated temple at Sais, in which was the well-known in- scription respecting the goddess of universal nature, whose offspring, in the translation of the inscription, as preserv- ed by Proclus, is said to be the sun. It seems therefore natural to call Neith the wife of Phtha; as Plato also ob- serves that arts were invented by Vulcan and his wife; but we are told that Neith is to be considered as both male and female. The name is mentioned by Plato as synonymous with Minerva, and Eratosthenes explains Nitocris, Minerva the victorious.

Re, or Phre, the Sun, otherwise called Ox, is men- tioned by Manetho as the son of Vulcan. He married Rhea, and having discovered her infidelity, condemned her to bear no offspring on any day or any night of the whole three hundred and sixty that then composed the year. Plutarch says that he was represented by a young child rising out of a lotus; but this emblem is more attri- butable to Horus, who is another of the forms of the so- lar power, and is sometimes improperly confounded with Apollo. The word Phre is often found in Greek letters on the amulets, accompanied by emblems of the sun.

Rhea, the wife of the Sun, may perhaps have derived her name from Re; she appears to be identical with the Urania, or female Heaven, of Horus Apollo, the Coptic phr being feminine. Jablonsky makes Rhea the same with Athor or Hathor, but he adduces no sufficient autho- rity for the opinion. She is said to have been familiar both with Kronos and with Thoth; and Diodorus calls her the wife and sister of Kronos.

Ion, the Moon. Plutarch tells us that Hermes play- ed at dice with the Moon, probably as presiding over the calendar, in order to gain a time for the birth of Rhea's children, and to evade her husband's curse; so that the Moon must be considered as one of the oldest deities. The Egyptian name being masculine, the Moon can scarce- ly have been worshipped as a goddess; and whatever re- lation may have been imagined to exist between Isis and the lunar influence, the two deities were certainly not identical.

Apopis, a brother of the Sun, is mentioned by Plutarch as having made war against Jove. But the Jupiter of Manetho stands much lower on the list, the order being Vulcan, the Sun, Agathodaimon, Kronos, Osiris with Isis, Typhon, Horus, Arcs, Anubis, Hercules, Apollo, Ammon, Tithoes, Sosus, and Jupiter; the last nine being denomi- nated semigods.

Kronos, or Saturn, is only known from his connection with Rhea, the wife of the Sun. His character probably bore some relation to a personification of Time and Antiquity.

Thoth, Theuth, or Taaut, one of the most celebra- ted of the Egyptian deities, is sufficiently identified with Hermes or Mercury, by the testimony of a variety of au- thors. Diodorus mentions him as the scribe or secretary, and privy counsellor of Osiris. He is generally consid- ered as the inventor of letters and of the fine arts. Plu- tarth and Horus Apollo observe that he was typified by the ibis, which was sacred to him. Plutarch also says that he had one arm shorter than the other.

Osiris, properly Oshiri or Ousiri, meaning in Coptic energetic or active, which is precisely one of Plutarch's in- terpretations of the name, was the deity most universally adored throughout Egypt, and possessing the principal at- tributes of Bacchus, Adonis, and Pluto; besides being often compared to the Nile, and sometimes to the Sun. He was genealogically considered as the son of the Sun and of Rhea; and at his birth, on the first of the supplementary days of the calendar, a voice was heard, proclaiming that he was Lord of all. He married his sister Isis, and, according to Diodorus, left her to govern his kingdom during his mi- litary expeditions, resembling those of Bacchus, being ac- companied by Pan, Hercules, and Macedon, having a ship which was the prototype of the Argo of the Greeks, with Canopus for his pilot. He was at last treacherously shut up alive in a coffin by Typhon, aided by seventy-two con- spirators, together with an Ethiopian queen Asa. The coffin, being thrown into the Nile, was carried to one of its mouths, and there left on shore: it became afterwards inclosed in the trunk of an erica, which grew round it, and which constituted one of the columns of King Mal- cander's palace; but the body escaped from its confine- ment, and was found by Typhon as he was hunting; he divided it into fourteen parts, which were afterwards found scattered in different places by Isis, and buried separately. Osiris, however, returned from the dead to console his wife, and to conduct the education of his son Horus. There was a mystery in his identification with Pluto, of which the old authors affect to speak with reverence. His dress was generally white, but sometimes black. He is represented as carrying a whip, which is supposed to be intended for the punishment of Typhon. Plutarch says that he is typified by a hawk, and denoted hieroglyphi- cally by an eye and a sceptre.

Aperis, a twin-brother of Osiris, and, like him, the son of the Sun and of Rhea, was born on the second sup- plementary day. He is also called the elder Horus, and is considered by some of the Greeks as their Apollo.

Typhon, the spurious son of Rhea and Kronos, was born on the third supplementary day, and married his sister Nephtis. He is characterized by a red colour, and is supposed to have been a personification of the effects of scorching heat. He is also compared to the earth's shadow, as causing eclipses of the moon. The celestial habitation of his soul was supposed to be in the Great Bear. According to Plutarch, his Egyptian names were Seth, Bebon, or Balyn, and Smy; the word Typhon being apparently of Greek origin.

Isis, Ise, or Es, was supposed to be the offspring of Thoth and Rhea, born on the fourth supplementary day; she was also sometimes called the daughter of Prometheus. She is generally compared to Ceres, or the Earth, and is made the deity of fertility and of maternal love. She was also esteemed analogous to Proserpine, as the queen of the lower regions, and the wife of Pluto; thus she is called by Aristides "the saviour and conductress of souls;" and, in some Roman inscriptions copied by Zoëga, she is made "the guardian of the ashes of the dead." Horus Apollo says that her head was sometimes adorned with vultures' plumes; but Herodotus tells us that she was represented with cow's horns, like Io; other authors however say that, after Horus, in revenge for his father's death, had made Typhon prisoner, Isis imprudently set him at liberty, and Horus, therefore, tore the regal diadem from her brow, but that Thoth or Hermes substituted for it a helmet made of a bullock's head. Her soul was supposed to have its residence in the Dog Star, the Sothis of the Egyptians. Her dress was of many colours. She is sometimes compared to the moon; but this idea appears to be foreign to the oldest mythology, as well as to the genius of the Egyptian language. She has also been somewhat arbitrarily confounded with Minerva by Plutarch, in speaking of the inscription of the temple of Sais, which confessedly related to the Egyptian Minerva, who was indisputably the goddess Neith; although in consequence of this inattention, the "robe" mentioned in the inscription has been called the "robe of Isis," and the expression has been almost proverbially employed as denoting mystery and secrecy.

Nephthys, rather than Nephthys, the spurious daughter of Rhea and Kronos, was born on the fifth supplementary day. She is sometimes called by the Greeks Teleute, that is, consummation; and sometimes Venus and Victory. She is mentioned by Firmicus as the sister and companion of Isis; and Plutarch says that the face of Isis was sometimes represented on the sistrum, and sometimes that of Nephthys.

Theron, a concubine of Typhon, is only noticed as having been pursued, on her way to visit Horus, by a huge snake, which was killed by Horus' people.

Beon, who is sometimes confounded with Typhon, is also mentioned as one of his companions.

Ares is inserted among the fabulous kings of Manetho. Vettius Valens says that the planet Mars was called by the Egyptians Artes; and Cedrenus makes the name Ertesi. Herodotus tells us that Mars was worshipped at Paphlagonia.

Somus, or Shom, was probably the personage called the Egyptian Hercules by the Greek writers. Thus, the great Etymologicum has Chon for this deity, and Eratosthenes writes his name Sem, both of these having been probably intended to express the Coptic jom or sjom, strength, which seems sometimes to have been written jem or sjem. Diodorus mentions this Hercules as a general of Osiris, whom he left behind with Isis. He is said to have been killed by Typhon, but to have been revived by the smell of a quail. Herodotus asserts that the word Hercules is originally Egyptian; but in this, as in many other instances, his interpreters must have misinformed him, perhaps from misunderstanding his questions; for his Egyptian etymologies are almost uniformly erroneous. Thus, when the priests had shown him, or rather Hecateus, whose original story he seems to have copied and disfigured, the statues of three hundred and forty-one successive generations of high priests, who were neither gods nor heroes, but each a piroms, the son of piroms, he tells us that piroms means beautiful and brave; whilst, in fact, the literal sense of piromi, in the modern Coptic of Lower Egypt, which is simply a man, restores to the observation of the priests an intelligible and consistent sense.

Buto, the nurse of Horus and of Babastis, compared to the Latona of the Greeks, must be considered as anterior to the birth of Horus.

Horus, Hor, Or, or Horsiesi, was the son of Isis and Osiris. Jablonsky observes that a king Ur is mentioned by Manetho, and that Or was in later times the name of a certain monk, and Taor of a nun; the Egyptians have always, as Lucian informs us, had a propensity to adopt the names of their deities for their own, so that they may have become current in families without any immediate reference to their origin. Akerblad also found Horsiesi as an Egyptian name, and conjectured, with much probability, that it originally meant Horus the son of Isis, or being an abridgment of sheri, as it appears also to have been in the name of Siphoas, or rather Siphas, which is explained by Eratosthenes, the son of Vulcan. Horus is often confounded with the Sun, perhaps from the resemblance of his name to the Hebrew aor, light; whilst Suidas makes him rather analogous to Priapus. He was nursed by Buto, in the city Butus. The most remarkable exploit of his youthful days was the pursuit and conquest of Typhon, in revenge for his father's death. The constellation Orion was supposed to be the habitation of his soul. His dress was white. Damascus, as copied by Photius, informs us that he was represented with his finger on his mouth.

Harpocrates was a son of Osiris, from a visit paid to Isis after his death. He was also born prematurely, and was weak in his lower limbs. Eratosthenes seems to have called him Phrourates; and phrokhrat, in Coptic, means dried or withered feet.

Anubis was the offspring of Osiris and Nephthys, whom he had mistaken for Isis, and who exposed the child; but Isis recovered him, and he became her faithful attendant. He was considered as belonging both to the upper and the lower worlds, and was therefore compared to the horizon; and he seems to have been typified by a dog, or figured with a dog's head. He attended Osiris in his military expedition; and he is sometimes erroneously confounded with Mercury, and even with Saturn. A cock was usually sacrificed to him; and Pliny tells us that his images were properly made of gold, in allusion to his name; a remark which is amply explained by the Coptic word nub, which still signifies gold.

Arabes is mentioned by Plutarch as a son of Isis; but the same name is said to have been sometimes applied to Osiris.

Athor, Hathor, or Athyr, was the Venus of the Egyptians, according to the Great Etymologicon. Herodotus mentions a temple of Venus as Atarbechis, which might be translated the city of Venus, baki in Coptic meaning city; although Plutarch enumerates Athyri among the different names of Isis. Strabo informs us that at Memphis a sacred cow was fed in honour of Venus.

Amun, or Amoun, the Jupiter of the Egyptians, though apparently a personage of much less importance than the Greek and Roman Jupiter, was worshipped by the Ammonians, under the form of a human figure with a ram's head. Hecateus, as quoted by Plutarch, denies that this term is the proper name of the deity, and observes, very truly, that it is an Egyptian word meaning come, by which the god was supplicated to appear. The word, however, implies also glory, or splendour. If there was a more appropriate term for this deity, it may possibly, as Mr Akerblad has observed, have been Ho, which was the Egyptian name of the city called by the Greeks Diospolis Parva. It is remarkable that Manetho gives us a Zeus distinct from Ammon, interposing Tithoes and Sosus as intermediate kings.

Anteus, Entes, or Mendes, is said to have been left by Osiris as a viceroy or lieutenant-governor, together with Busiris, for the assistance of Isis during his absence. He is generally identified with Pan, though Diodorus mentions Pan as having accompanied Osiris on his expedition. At Mendes a goat was fed in honour of this deity, and Plutarch seems to say that this goat was called Apis, as well as the bull fed at Memphis. He was also generally represented with the face and legs of a goat. Herodotus calls him one of the eight gods, older than the twelve; but Diodorus makes the eight senior gods of the Egyptians the Sun, Kronos, Rhea, Ammon, Juno, Vulcan, Vesta, and Mercury. Out of these, however, Juno and Vesta cannot easily be identified in the Egyptian mythology.

Busiris, a name composed of B-Ousirei, or Ph-Ousirei, that is, Osiris with a prefix, is only mentioned by Diodorus as a colleague of Anteus in his government.

Macedon, according to Diodorus, was a companion of Osiris in his expedition.

Bubastis was a sister of Horus, preserved and nursed with him by Buto in the city of Butus. She is compared by various authors to Artemis or Diana; Apuleius gives us Bubastis for the Egyptian name of the plant Artemisia; and Bubastis is addressed in a Greek epigram in the place of Diana, considered in her obstetrical capacity.

Sarapis, an ancient deity of the Greeks, was raised into a more distinguished rank by the honours paid him, as identical with Pluto, by Ptolemy Soter, who had found an image of Pluto at Sinope, accompanied by Cerberus and a dragon, which he brought to Alexandria, and established in the Serapeum there, as belonging to Sarapis. Some of the ancients were however of opinion that the word Sarapis meant only the "feast of Apis;" and, indeed, the Coptic shaiiri, which signifies to feast, agrees tolerably well with this etymology, however improbable the opinion founded on it may be esteemed. Sarapis is also supposed to have had some relation to the regulation of the Nilometer, which consisted of a column with different heights marked on it, in the centre of a bath or well, into which the water of the river was admitted.

Esmunus, or Shmun, was the eighth son of Sadycus by one of the Titanides, and brother of the Dioscuri and Cabiri; all of them names which seem as foreign to the Egyptian mythology as the word shmun is familiar to the language, meaning simply eight. He is, however, said by Damascus to have been the Egyptian Asclepius, although Manetho gives the name Tosorthrus to this deity, making him a son of Pan and Hephstobule.

Paamytes is mentioned by Hesychius and Plutarch as a Priapic deity; he is also made by Cratinus synonymous with Sokaris.

Tithrambo, according to Epiphanius, was analogous to the Hecate of the Greeks.

Thernuthis, though generally understood to be only a name of the sacred serpents worn in the crown of Isis, is distinguished by Epiphanius as an independent deity; and if we may judge by the signification of the Coptic word, which means mortiferus, her character must have been somewhat analogous to that of Nemesis.

Canopus, or Canolus, had a temple which is mentioned by Dionysius Periegetes. The jars called Canopi were often made porous, to serve as filters, and are mentioned by Hesychius, in the word Stactae; but we are not exactly informed how far they were connected with this deity.

Menuthis was the wife of Canopus, and seems to have given her name to a village near the town Canopus, which is mentioned by Stephanus. Epiphanius calls her Exemuthis.

Bes is only known from Ammianus Marcellinus, who mentions an oracle dependent on him.

Proteus, though noticed as a king of no very high antiquity, is said to have had a temple erected to him as a hero. Diodorus says that his Egyptian name was Cetes; though Herodotus, as in other instances, fancies, from some misapprehension, that the Greek and Egyptian names were identical; and he observes that similar honours were also paid to Perseus, another hero known to the Greeks.

Nilus, whether as a king or merely as a river, appears to have received divine honours. The Egyptian name of the Nile seems to have been simply Philaro; the Ethiopians call it Siris; the Amehri of Kircher's vocabulary was probably a name of later date.

Apis, a bull consecrated to Osiris, was fed with divine honours at Memphis, the principal burying-place of that deity, of whose soul he was considered as the living image. He was all over black, except some small white spots, and some other particular marks not of common occurrence. He was sometimes said to be the offspring of a cow and a ray of moonlight.

Mnevis, or Mayis, was also a black bull sacred to Osiris, kept at Heliopolis; although some authors assert that he was sacred to the sun. Aelian mentions also a black bull called Onuphis; and Macrobinus speaks of a bull named Pacis, or Bacis, which was kept at Hermontis. For the cow that was consecrated to Venus it does not appear that any particular name has been recorded.

SECTION VII.

OF THE EGYPTIAN CALENDAR.

Importance of the subject.—Its connection with the system of mythology.—Authorities.—Testimony of Eratosthenes.—Year of the Greeks of Alexandria no other than the Julian year.—Commencement of the ancient or moveable Egyptian year.—Sun's place in the zodiacal signs.—Consequences deduced therefrom.—The Egyptian calendar.—Date of a monument from the astronomical symbols.—Zodiacs of Esneh and Denderah.—Date of the latter.—Form of the year of Libra in the zodiac of Esneh.—Explanation of the beatles in the zodiac of Denderah.—No astronomical records of importance discovered, or perhaps discoverable, in hieroglyphical literature.—The months of the fixed or Alexandrian year.

From the mythology of Egypt we pass to the consideration of its calendar, which, besides being intimately connected with its system of religion, has often been a subject of speculation both with critics and with astronomers. The inquiry is no doubt in itself somewhat intricate; but the principal difficulties have arisen from the ignorance or carelessness of the Greek authors who have written on the Egyptian mythology. The Baron Alexander von Humboldt and M. Jomard have displayed great learning and research in collecting authorities on this subject; and nothing is wanting to establish the propriety of their acquiescence in the opinion of Petavins, except a little less indulgence for the extreme inattention of Plutarch, and a more marked deference to the important testimony of Eratosthenes, a writer whose catalogue of the Egyptian kings has already been noticed as bearing intrinsic marks of the authenticity of his information, and whose competency, as an accomplished astronomer, to discuss the regulation of the calendar, is of still greater notoriety. Geminos, a Greek astronomer of the Augustan age, has very distinctly stated that the later Greeks had been in the habit of mentioning the Egyptian festivals as connected with particular seasons of the year, in spite of the clearest evidence that their mythological year consisted of 365 days only, and that their anniversary festivals must necessarily have passed in succession through every part of the natural year. "It is a common and inverterate error among the Greeks," says Geminius, "to believe that the festival of Isis happens at the winter solstice. This was indeed true a hundred and twenty years ago, but it is now a month earlier; and such a mistake betrays the grossest ignorance of the Egyptian calendar. In former ages this festival was celebrated not only as late as the winter solstice, but, at an earlier period of time, even at the summer solstice; as Eratosthenes expressly states in his Commentary upon the Octoeterides."

The later inhabitants of Lower Egypt, and especially the Greeks of Alexandria, had certainly a stationary as well as a wandering year; but this was no other than the Julian year, which was introduced here some little time after its establishment in other parts of the Roman empire, and which was probably the only year ever employed by the Coptic Christians, although it can scarcely have been adopted at any time by the Pagan Egyptians. The common opinion is, that the Julian calendar was established at Alexandria in the year twenty-five before Christ, the first month Thoth then beginning on the 29th of August, as the Coptic year continued to do ever after. Thus Vansleb found, in the seventeenth century, that Thoth began on the 8th of September new style, which was the 29th of August old style. A passage of Theon, in his Commentary on Ptolemy, would rather incline us to fix on the 1st September for the beginning of the Alexandrian year; but the ecclesiastical authority is more direct, and it is confirmed by the present usage of the Abyssinian church. The quadrennial intercalation of a sixth supplementary day took place, according to the Abbe Boyer, at the end of the second year after the Julian bisextile; so that, in the year preceding the bisextile, the first of Thoth happened on the 30th of August. From these authorities we have no difficulty in ascertaining the beginning of the ancient or moveable Egyptian year for any earlier or later period; reckoning both ways, for the sake of simplicity, in Julian years.

| B.C. 1500 9d Sept. O.S. | B.C. 400 1st Dec. | |------------------------|------------------| | 1400 8th Aug. | 300 6th Nov. | | 1300 14th July. | 200 12th Oct. | | 1200 19th June. | 100 17th Sept. | | 1100 25th May. | B.of C. 23rd Aug.| | 1000 30th April. | 100 29th July. | | 900 5th April. | 200 4th July. | | 800 11th March. | 300 9th June. | | 700 16th Feb. | 400 15th May. | | 600 21st Jan. | 500 20th April. | | 500 26th Dec. | |

It is of importance, in the discussion of some representations of astronomical objects, to determine at what time of the year the sun entered the respective signs, according to the Egyptian calendar, or, more particularly, what was the sun's place in the starry zodiac at the commencement of the year for different periods of time. Taking, then, 6h. 9m. 8s. for the excess of the sidereal above the Egyptian year, we find that 1424 Julian years were required for a complete revolution of the sun's place on the first Thoth, and 119 for each sign. Now since, about a century before the establishment of the Julian calendar, the sun entered Libra on the 24th of September, and since the Egyptian year began on that day, in 120 before Christ, it follows that Libra had been the first constellation during the whole of the preceding century; for, at this period, the beginning and end of the signs of the ecliptic agreed very nearly with those of the corresponding constellations of the zodiac. The first constellation of the Egyptian year will therefore stand nearly thus:

| From 1552 B.C. | 484 Ψ | |----------------|-------| | to 1433 Ψ | 365 Ψ | | 1314 Ω | 247 Π | | 1196 Ω | 128 Δ | | 1077 Π | 9 Ψ | | 958 Β | A.C. c. 110 Ω | | 840 Ο | 228 Ω | | 722 Χ | 347 Π | | 603 Ξ | |

We may take, for an example of an Egyptian date, that of the Rosetta stone, in the ninth year of Ptolemy Epiphanes, or 196 before Christ, when the Egyptian year must have begun on the 11th of October; consequently the first of the sixth month, Mechir, was the 9th of March, and the 18th of Mechir, which is made synonymous with the 4th of Xanthicus, the 26th of March; so that Xanthicus must constantly have begun on the 22d of March, if the intercalations were properly adjusted; and this agrees sufficiently well with Usher's table of the Macedonian lunar months, which may therefore be supposed to have been generally employed by the Greeks in Egypt.

If we attempt to determine the date of a given monument from astronomical symbols contained in it, we must suppose that they represented the state of the heavens with respect to the Egyptian year at the time in question. Thus, in the zodiacs of the ruins at and near Esneh or Latopolis, the constellation Pisces seems to be the first sign, as it really was about 800 before Christ, or in the time of Bocchoris and of the Ethiopian dynasty. It is, however, equally possible that Virgo may have been intended for the first sign, and this would answer either to the century immediately preceding the birth of Christ, or to a period fourteen centuries earlier. The zodiac at Denderah appears to begin with Leo; and unless we suppose its antiquity extravagantly great, we must refer it to the time of Tiberius, as Visconti has indeed already remarked. Mr Hamilton has confirmed this opinion by the collateral evidence of inscriptions in honour of the Roman emperors; although, with respect to the difference of time implied by the difference of a sign in the beginning of the zodiacs, he is rather inclined to adopt the sentiments of Landeau, who refers it to the effect of the precession of the equinoxes; imagining, without any kind of authority, that the division of the signs corresponded to the period of the solstices, a period which never constituted a marked feature in the Egyptian calendar.

In the zodiac at Esneh the sign Libra is denoted, as is usual in the Roman representations, by a female holding the balance; whilst the Egyptian constellation, in most other instances, is without the female. Servius, however, informs us that the Romans borrowed this sign from the Egyptians, the Greek astronomers having considered it as a part of the Scorpion; so that there is no reason to question the antiquity of the ceiling, from the occurrence of this constellation in it. The sign Cancer, both here and elsewhere, has eight feet, and it has certainly no connection with the figure of the sacred beetle, which occurs many thousands of times in other places, but never with more than six feet.

The beetles in the zodiac of Denderah have a very different signification, and the whole representation is much more of a mythological than of an astronomical nature. The beetle near the beginning of the zodiac is the well-known symbol of generation, and he is in the act of depositing his globe. On the opposite side, at the end of the

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1 Geminius in Petavii Uranologia. Par. 1639, f. p. 33. zodiac, is the head of Isis, with her name, as newly born; both the long female figures are appropriate representations of the mother; and the zodiac between them expresses the "revolving year" which elapsed between the two periods. This explanation is completely confirmed by a similar representation of two female figures on the ceiling of the first tomb of the kings at Biban-el-Molouk; one with the beetle, and the other with the name of the personage just born. Between them, instead of the zodiac, are two tablets, divided into 270 squares, or rectangles, corresponding to the number of days in nine Egyptian months, with ten circles placed at equal distances, probably intended to represent full moons, and relating to the ten incomplete lunations to which these days must belong. The number 270 is too remarkable to be supposed to have been introduced by mere accident; and when the argument is considered as a confirmation of other evidence, in itself sufficiently convincing, the whole must be allowed to be fully conclusive.

There is indeed little chance of our discovering any astronomical records of importance among the profusion of hieroglyphical literature which is still in existence. Herodotus tells us that the Greeks derived their acquaintance with astronomy from the Babylonians, though they were supposed to have learned the elements of geometry from the Egyptians; and it is well known that Ptolemy the astronomer, who lived at Alexandria, and who, as well as Eratosthenes before him, must have had easy access to all the knowledge of the Egyptian priests, refers to no Egyptian observations, but employs the Babylonian records of eclipses which had happened a few centuries before his time; records which, as Pliny informs us, were preserved on a particular kind of bricks, the same, perhaps, which have been brought to Europe in our own times, as undeciphered specimens of the nail, or arrow-headed character. But a certain degree of geometrical knowledge can scarcely be denied to a people who had made very considerable progress in sculpture and architecture, at a time when all Europe was immersed in the profoundest barbarism, and who must necessarily have had frequent occasion for the employment of agrarian measurements. The Egyptians must also have been good practical chemists; so far, at least, as was required for the preparation of brilliant, diversified, and durable pigments; and even their devotion to alchemy, which derives its name from having been the secret or dark study of Egypt, must have led them to make some little progress in experimental philosophy, although neither their manufacturers nor their magicians could have any right to boast of solid acquirements in genuine science.

The months of the fixed or Alexandrian year were these:

1. Thoth, began 29th August, O.S. 2. Paopli, 28th September. 3. Hathor, Athor, or Athyr, 28th October. 4. Choiak, 27th November. 5. Tobi, 27th December. 6. Mechir, 26th January. 7. Phamenoth, 25th February. 8. Pharmuthi, 27th March. 9. Pashon, 26th April. 10. Paoni, 26th May.

11. Epiphi, 25th June. 12. Mesori, 25th July.

The years are commonly dated from the era of the martyrs of Diocletian, beginning in the autumn of 284.

SECTION VIII.

REMARKS ON VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS RELATING TO EGYPT.

General observations—French national work—Hamilton's Egyptian tales—Travels of Ali Bey, or Sonner Bashin—Legh's Narrative—Captain Light's Travels—Mr Walpole's Collection of Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey—Journal of Dr Hume—Colonel Leake's Map of Egypt—Quarterly Review—Captain Caviglia; his labours and researches—Mr Belzoni; his discoveries in the catacombs at Biban-el-Molouk, and in the Pyramid of Cephrenes—Mr Salt and Mr Bankes—Sheikh Ibraim (Burckhardt); his travels and researches in Nubia—Mr Cailliaud—Discovery of Berenice—The Egyptian Society; Its collection of hieroglyphics—Trilingual or trigrammatic stone of Rosetta—First attempts made to decipher its triple inscription.—Reference to the article HIEROGLYPHICS.

By reason of the very early progress which the inhabitants of Egypt had made in the arts of civilized life, the antiquities and literature of that country have always been considered as objects of the highest interest and curiosity, though involved in inextricable obscurity; but we have acquired, in the course of the last thirty years, and are still continuing to acquire, such additional information respecting them as promises, if completely confirmed by future researches, to establish the whole of our knowledge respecting this marvellous country on a new and a sure foundation.

The labours of the French Institute at Cairo have been communicated to the public in a work of unexampled splendour and magnificence, the Description de l'Egypte, which was some time ago completed at the cost of the government. Many of the monuments brought by the British army to England have also been accurately and elegantly engraved in this country; and a variety of travellers of different nations have published accounts of their numerous observations and discoveries made in Egypt and the neighbouring countries.

The first in order of these that it will be necessary to notice is Mr William Hamilton's volume, entitled Remarks on several parts of Turkey, Part I. Aegyptiaca. London, 1809, 4to. It appears that the power of the French in Egypt having terminated in September 1801, the temporary possession of the country was at first divided between the Turks, the Mamlukes, the Arabs, and the English, a circumstance which afforded some convenience to a European traveller, although it had no tendency to enlarge the sphere of his observations. In the beginning of October, Captain Leake and Lieutenant Hayes were appointed by General Hutchinson to make a general survey of Egypt, and of the country beyond it, if it should be found practicable to penetrate farther south. Mr Hamilton, who had resided at the British head-quarters for the purpose of corresponding with Lord Elgin upon the events of the war, was now at liberty to join these gentlemen in their expedition; and the various information which, with

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For much valuable information, laboriously collected and clearly digested, respecting the peculiarities of the form of year used by the ancient Egyptians, more especially as regards the influence which these peculiarities are supposed to have exercised on their modes of calculating and recording the dates of their civil history; and also for some very original and ingenious speculations concerning the primitive form and probable origin of the Egyptian calendar, astrological as well as civil, together with an examination of the period and circumstances of the first introduction of the zodiac into Greece; the reader may consult A Dissertation on the Calendar and Zodiac of Ancient Egypt, by W. Mure, Esq.; a work which, from the learning and research embodied in it, no less than from the novelty of some of the speculative views it unfolds, will amply repay the most attentive perusal. their assistance, he collected, respecting the remains of the ancient Egyptian magnificence, bears ample testimony to the good taste, as well as to the industry and accuracy of the whole party. On account, however, of the disturbed state of the country, and of a multitude of other difficulties, both moral and physical, they were unable to proceed farther south than a few hours' journey beyond Syene, to a village called Debod, opposite to which they observed the ruins of Barembre, the Parembole of the ancients, among which they found a Greek dedication of a temple to Isis by Ptolemy Philometor and his queen. They also collected a variety of inscriptions from other parts of Egypt, to which they added drawings and descriptions of the remains of the buildings to which they belonged; and, at Alexandria in particular, Mr Hamilton was enabled, in company with some other gentlemen, by examining the inscription on Pompey's pillar in different positions of the sun, to ascertain the name of Diocletian as that of the emperor to whom it was dedicated, and also to detect some traces of the name of Pompeius, who has been shown by M. Quatremère to have been a prefect of Egypt under that emperor. It is to be regretted, however, that the Coptic inscriptions, which are sometimes found mixed with the Greek, have not been more generally copied by travellers.

Señor Badia, a Spaniard, who is supposed to have been sent into the East on the business of the French government, published two volumes of his Travels, under the name of Ali Bey. They embody some documents relating to the recent history and present state of Egypt, but contain very little information respecting its antiquities.

Mr Legh and Mr Smelt visited Egypt in 1812. They extended their tour as far as Ibrim, and observed in their way many remains of ancient buildings, some of which were in perfect preservation; but they were unable to attain the second Cataract, which was said to be three days' journey farther south.

Besides some other interesting antiquities which he collected, Mr Legh obtained in the island of Elephantine a few Thebaic manuscripts, written with a chalybeate ink on skins of leather, which he afterwards deposited in the British Museum. They appear to be principally conveyances of estates, dated at Cyrshe or Gyrsho, a place fifty or sixty miles beyond Assouan or Syene; and, though unimportant in themselves, they tend to illustrate the history of the kingdom of Nubia in the middle ages. This kingdom seems to have been almost forgotten by some late travellers and geographers, although it was formerly remarkable for having been, according to an old tradition, one of the first that embraced Christianity, even in the time of the Queen Candace, one of whose servants was baptized by St Philip, and who appears to have been one of the immediate successors of the Candace mentioned by Strabo as having attacked the province of Egypt, and having been conquered by Petronius in the time of Augustus. The kingdom of Nubia extended as far north as Syene, which continued to be the boundary of the Musulman power in the tenth century, and probably much later. To the south it originally comprehended Ethiopia, its capital Meroë being placed in latitude 17°, on an island in the Nile, or rather on a peninsula formed by its principal branches. Candace had also a palace at Napata, which Pliny makes about five hundred Roman miles beyond Syene, and three hundred and sixty short of Meroë.

In the seventh century, the Nubians seem nominally to have been made tributary to the Arabs; but they remained in fact almost wholly independent of them in their government, and their religion was entirely subjected to the spiritual direction of the patriarchs of Alexandria. Early in the tenth century the Nubians attacked Syene, not as rebels, but as legitimate enemies. They were, however, repulsed soon afterwards. A little later we find that George, king of Nubia, was a mediator between the king of Abyssinia and the patriarch, whom he persuaded to send bishops from Alexandria into Ethiopia. In the eleventh century, Solomon, king of Nubia, abdicated in favour of his nephew George, and retired to a monastery, within three days' journey of Syene; whence he was brought by the Saracens to Cairo, and there treated with great attention as a sort of state prisoner. It is also said that a king Cyriac once raised a hundred thousand men to assist the Christians against the Mussulmen; but the magnitude of the number renders the whole story more than doubtful. We learn from Hartmann's notes on Edrisi, that Abulfeda in the fourteenth century, and Bakoui in the fifteenth, spoke of the Nubians as still Christians; and it seems highly probable that they continued to exercise their religion till about the time of Sultan Selim in the beginning of the sixteenth century, if not still later; for Vanseh, who was at Siout in 1678, tells us that the churches were then still entire, though they were shut up, Christianity having become completely extinct for want of pastors. He gives us the names of seventeen bishoprics, which had constituted three provinces: the first province he calls Maracu, and attributes to it the bishoprics of Korta, Ibrim, Bucoras, Dunkala or Dungala, Sai, Termus, and Scienhur; the second province seems to hold a middle place; and in the third he mentions Soper as the capital of the kingdom, without noticing Nuahah, which is the name given to the metropolis by the Arabic authors. D'Herbelot, who died in 1695, speaks of the patriarch still resident at Dongola, and appointed by the patriarch of Alexandria. At any rate, there can be little doubt that the "King John" mentioned in the manuscripts of Gyrsho as a Christian must have been a king of Nubia, and rather a predecessor of the Mek of Dongola than a Greek emperor, whose authority was probably never acknowledged in this country, and least of all when Egypt was in the possession of the Arabians. The remains of the churches mentioned by Vanseh were observed in many parts of Nubia, by Captain Light of the Royal Artillery, covered generally with paintings of scriptural subjects, and not uncommonly appearing to have been originally built for pagan temples. At Dakké Captain Light found the name of Hermes inscribed as that of the deity to whom the temple situated there must have been dedicated; and it will be interesting to inquire if any hieroglyphics can still be found on this remarkable edifice, which will bear a similar interpretation. More recently Captain Light published a separate volume of his Travels, London, 1818, 4to.

Mr Walpole's collection contains also some older papers by Mr Davison, who was British consul at Algiers, and accompanied Mr Wortley Montague to Egypt in 1763. Mr Davison, as already stated, discovered in the Great Pyramid a room before unknown, immediately over the chamber which contains the sarcophagus; and he descend-

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1 Acts, viii. 2 Strabo, book xvii.; Pliny, book vi., chap. xxix.; Hist. Byzant., vol. xxxi.; Ancient Universal History, fol., vol. vii.; Modern Universal History, vol. i.; Vanseh, Hist. de Pegl. d'Alexandrie, Par. 1777, p. 29; D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient.; Narrative of a Journey in Egypt, and the Country beyond the Cataracts, by Thomas Leigh, M. P., 4to., Lond. 1816; Squatichal Inscriptions from Nubia, Archaeologia, xix., p. 169. 3 Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey, edited by R. Walpole, M. A., 4to., Lond. 1817, p. 492, 465. ed the three successive wells to the depth of a hundred and fifty-five feet. He also described the catacombs of Alexandria, which seem to have been principally employed by the Greek inhabitants of that city. The same volume contains a very interesting account of the customs and manners of modern Egypt, from the journal of Dr Hume.

A considerable addition has been made to our knowledge of the geography of Egypt by the publication of Lieutenant Colonel Leake's accurate and elegant map of that country, comprehending also a sketch of Nubia, as far as the southern Cataract, which appears to be the limit of the existing remains of antiquity. Besides the results of his own personal survey, Colonel Leake has employed the observations of the French astronomers for the determination of the situation of the different places; and, with respect to the remoter parts, he had the advantage of consulting the manuscript papers of the lamented Mr Burckhardt, who unhappily fell a victim to a dysentery at Cairo in October 1817, after having obtained, by a long residence in the country under the name of Sheikh Ibrahim, an intimate acquaintance with every thing that could have tended to facilitate the further prosecution of his projected expedition into parts of the continent still more remote.

Besides the ruins of Greek churches scattered throughout this country, the principal points of Nubia, which are remarked as exhibiting remains of still greater antiquity, are the Parembole of the Itinerary of Antoninus near Debd, and Tzitzzi, now Klitzzi, both of which had been visited by Colonel Leake and Mr Hamilton; Kardassy or Gartas; Taphis and Contra Taphis, now Tafta; Kalabshi, the ancient Talmis; Meroway, the ancient Tutzi, near Gyrsh; Paelcis, now Dakké and Corte, still Korti; Maharraka, supposed to be the Hieroscammon of the Itinerary, and which may very possibly have been the Maracu mentioned by Vansleb as an archbishopric; Seboua; Hasseya; Derr; Ibrim, the Premnis of the ancients; Yssambul, perhaps the Abociss, with its two temples, still better known by the labours of the active and ingenious Belzoni; Beyllany, or rather Feregy; Serra, probably Phthisris; Sukkoy, perhaps Cambosis; Samne, not improbably the Acina of Nero's spies; Amara, possibly Stadyisis; and Soleb, not far short of the southernmost Cataract, where the author is disposed to place the Napata of the ancients, in latitude about 19°. This situation would agree very well with the distances of Napata from Syene and from Meroë; but it is impossible to admit that this Cataract can be so far south as even 20°, consistently with the testimony of other geographers respecting the latitudes of Mosho and Sukkot; and indeed the course of the river is laid down more nearly north and south than the description of Burckhardt requires.

The Quarterly Review, in various numbers, afforded a highly interesting and gratifying detail of the operations and discoveries which had been conducted in Egypt by several of our spirited and enterprising countrymen. Amongst these Mr Bankes proceeded the farthest south in the steps of Mr Burckhardt, and made collections and drawings of a great number of striking remains of antiquity; and he sent home to this country a variety of statues and bas reliefs, as well as large manuscripts on papyrus, in the epistolographic or encorial character. Mr Salt was also indefatigable in his exertions, and he most fortunately found an assistant of Herculean strength of body, and of proportional energy of mind, in the person of Mr Belzoni. The head called a young Memnon, now in the British museum, which weighs eight or ten tons, and which is one of the very finest specimens of Egyptian sculpture extant, was a joint present of Mr Salt and Mr Burckhardt; and Mr Belzoni, as already stated, had the merit of having conducted the very difficult operation of bringing it down to the Nile. Mr Hamilton conjectured that it might have belonged to the statue described by Philostratus as a Memnon of great beauty; but the remaining fragment of the hieroglyphical inscription agrees better with the name of another sovereign, apparently of the same family, who is represented in several other magnificent monuments at Thebes and elsewhere.

Captain Caviglia, the master of a mercantile vessel in the Mediterranean, exerted himself with singular activity and perseverance in examining the interior of the great pyramid of Cheops. After having retraced the forgotten steps of Mr Davison, he succeeded in pursuing the principal oblique passage two hundred feet farther downwards than it was before practicable, and in discovering at this point a communication with the well, which descends from the floor of the upper chamber. This communication affording him a freer circulation of air, he was enabled to proceed twenty-eight feet farther in the passage, when he found that it opened into a spacious chamber, sixty-six feet by twenty-seven, but of unequal height, immediately under the centre of the pyramid, which Mr Salt supposes to have been the place of the theca, or sarcophagus, mentioned by Strabo as situated at the end of the oblique passage, though at present no sarcophagus is to be found in it. The floor is elevated thirty feet above the level of the Nile, so that the water could never have flowed into this part of the pyramid, to surround the tomb of Cheops, as Herodotus imagined. Some passages leading out of this chamber appear to terminate abruptly, without opening into any others. The dimensions of the upper chamber, which still contains a sarcophagus, are only thirty-five and a half feet by seventeen and a quarter, and eighteen and three fourths high.

Captain Caviglia having proceeded to examine a number of detached mausoleums, more or less dilapidated, in the neighbourhood of the pyramids, found their embellishments chiefly in the style of the Theban catacombs; and, what is not a little remarkable, they sometimes contained images too large to have been brought in through the doors or windows. Some of the stones with sculptures were placed upside down; and it was conjectured that these might possibly have been portions of the original casing of the pyramids, which is said to have been sculptured, but which is now fallen down. His next undertaking was the very arduous task of digging away the sand in front of the great Sphinx; a share of the expenses of this labour, which amounted to eight or nine hundred pounds, being contributed by Mr Salt and some other gentlemen. The body of the monster is principally formed out of the solid rock, and the paws are of masonry, extending forwards fifty feet from the body; between them were found several sculptured tablets, so arranged as to constitute a small temple or chapel; and farther forwards a square altar with horns, which seems to have been employed for burnt offerings.

Mr Belzoni, after many fruitless efforts, succeeded, as already mentioned, in discovering the entrance into the second pyramid of Cephrenes, in which Herodotus had asserted that there were no chambers. An Arabic inscription testifies that the pyramid had once been opened in the presence of the Sultan Ali Mahomet the First, Ugloch, who may possibly have been the Ottoman emperor, Mahomet the First, in the beginning of the fif-

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1 Map of Egypt, two sheets, Lond. 1818. 2 Quarterly Review, No. 31. 3 Ibid. No. 36. Among the Theban catacombs Mr Belzoni discovered six new tombs; the most remarkable of which, with all its galleries, three hundred and nine feet in length, he called the tomb of Apis, from having found the mummy of a bullock in one of its chambers. In another apartment was the magnificent sarcophagus of white alabaster already mentioned; and the whole excavation, sculptured and painted in the most finished style of art, was found in the most perfect preservation.

In Nubia the spirit and perseverance with which the little band of excavators pursued the attempt to penetrate into the temple of Ysambul were not less worthy of admiration. Mr Belzoni and his servant, accompanied only by Mr Beechey, were abandoned on some futile pretence by the Arab workmen whom they had employed, and were unable to procure for many weeks any other food than durra or millet. They had resolution enough, however, to proceed with their enterprise as manual labourers, and they were at last amply rewarded for their perseverance. In front of the temple there were four colossal statues, sixty feet high, one of which had been thrown down; but it was only after digging for three weeks, through a hundred and fifty feet of sand, that our adventurers succeeded in entering the temple, consisting of fourteen chambers and a great hall, cut out of the solid rock, and ornamented with sculptures superior in point of execution to the greater part of those which are found in Egypt; besides eight colossal statues thirty feet high, which are placed in the hall. Mr Belzoni also found at Thebes a colossal head and arms, supposed to have belonged to a Horus; and his lady discovered, during his absence in Nubia, a fine statue of white marble, supporting a ram's head on its knees.

Though Burckhardt's untimely end interrupted his farther progress in Africa, yet with respect to Nubia his observations were complete, and he had himself prepared his journals for publication, in a form which does equal credit to his diligence and judgment in observation, and to his candour and good taste in the simple and elegant narration of that which he had observed.

It appears that the Nile, between the first and second Cataracts, runs chiefly through a country of sandstone, and is navigable throughout this extent; but at the Cataract of Wady Halfa, a little above Ysambul, the sandstone terminates, and the district of granite and other primitive rocks begins, extending a hundred miles farther upwards; and in this space the course of the river is interrupted by frequent shallows and small falls. The roaring of the fall at Wady Halfa may be heard at the distance of a mile or two; but the part of the river that falls is only about twenty yards over. There are, however, three falls in succession, and the neighbouring scenery is very romantic. Immediately beyond this country is Kolbo, the principal place in the district of Sukkot, for there is no town of that name; then the island Say, probably the Sai of Vansleb; and four hundred and fifty miles above Assouan, according to Mr Burckhardt's reckoning, is Timareh, in the district of Mahass, the farthest point to which he penetrated, within fifteen or twenty miles of the remotest Cataract, and a day and a half's journey only from Mosho by the shortest road. The country through which he passed was supposed to contain a population not exceeding a hundred thousand, and governed by three Kaishefs, who are brothers, and tributary to Egypt, but inclined to favour the Mamlukes, who were established in the neighbourhood of Dongola. At Mahass a series of more than twenty little kingdoms begins, which extend to Semmar. At Mosho begins the kingdom of Dongola; and near the same place is the island of Argo, a whole day's journey in length, with a brick castle in it. There are many other islands in the course of the river through Dongola, which extends for five days' journey. The country is celebrated for a very fine breed of horses, like the Arabian, but much stronger, and fed, as Bruce observed, the horses in the same neighbourhood, on straw only. The city of Merawe, singularly resembling the ancient Meroë in name, is the metropolis of the Shegyya Arabs, beyond Dongola, and is remarkable for schools of high reputation, which are particularly celebrated for their penmanship.

The languages spoken in Nubia are the Kensy and the Nouba, the former of which was confined to the northernmost parts of the country. These languages somewhat resemble each other, but they differ essentially from the Arabic, although the people are supposed to be the descendants of Bedouin Arabs, who spread from the East in the middle ages, with the exception of a few of the original inhabitants, who remain about Tafa and Serra, having become Mahomedans. But however this may be, it is certain that the languages exhibit no traces whatever of any dialect of the old Egyptian; and this circumstance affords a very strong argument in confirmation of the author's assertion, that the Christians had in general been expelled from Nubia before the time of Sultan Selim; the three garrisons of Bosnian soldiers, whom this prince established in Assouan, Ibrim, and Say, having been sent by the express invitation of one of the rival factions of Arabs, who occupied the country, and remaining still distinct from the rest of the population, and being governed by their own Agas. We can only reconcile these facts with the testimonies in favour of the existence of Christianity in Nubia down to about the same time, by supposing that its extinction must have been gradual, and that the Thebale language, and the ancient religion of the country, dwindled away by degrees, not for want of pastors only, but from the hostility of the Arabian intruders.

A concise but clear and satisfactory description of the various temples noticed in Colonel Leake's map, is inserted in the relation of Mr Burckhardt, who conjectures that the order of their antiquity is nearly this: 1. Ysambul; 2. Gyrshe; 3. Derr; 4. Samné; 5. Ballyaneé; 6. Hasseya; 7. Seboun; 8. Aamara and Kalabshé; 9. Dakké and Marrakhi; 10. Kardassy; 11. Merowau; 12. Dehód; 13. Korty; and, 14. Tafa. The small temple at Ysambul has a head bearing a temple for the capital of its columns, like those at Denderah, but with a lock of hair hanging down on each side. The statues before the great temple, which is supposed to have been dedicated to Osiris, are of remarkably fine forms. In a small temple at Kalabshé there are some good historical sculptures of a victory obtained over the southern countries beyond Meroë. But the sculptures at Dakké Mr Burckhardt thinks superior to any others of the Egyptian school, and such as might have been considered as fit ornaments for a Grecian building. In a small temple at Samné there is still an image with the attributes of Osiris, and there are figures of a Pamales.

Mr Burckhardt has given several Greek inscriptions, many of which had been copied by Captain Light a little differently. One of these begins with the words "This is the homage of Caius Cassius Celer;" not Vulsilina, as it had been read from Captain Light's manuscript. At Marrakhi, the writer of one inscription has very benevolently included the reader in his petition for a blessing from "Isis, the goddess with ten thousand names, and from..." the sun Serapis." At Kardassy, an inscription dated under the Philips, the successors of the Emperor Gordian, records the munificence of Psentuaxis, who gave to the temple "twenty pieces of gold in his first priesthood, and thirty in his second." In fact, there is scarcely any trace of the old Egyptian language to be found in any existing monument, employed upon any other occasion than for the most unimportant memorials of the most insignificant personages.

Several years ago, an article appeared in one of the French journals, announcing the discovery of a ruined city situated a few leagues from the Red Sea, by a young French traveller, M. Cailliaud, nearly in the latitude of Assouan, and called by the Arabs Sekelle. It has still many temples, palaces, and private houses standing; so that it may in some respects be compared to Pompeii. The architecture is Grecian, with some Egyptian ornaments; and several inscriptions prove that it was built by the Ptolemies, one of the temples having evidently been dedicated to Berenice. The situation agrees sufficiently well with that of the ancient city Berenice; but the city may easily have been at some little distance from a harbour bearing the same name; and no other town of any magnitude seems to have existed in the neighbourhood. It was through Berenice, according to Pliny, that the principal trade of the Romans with India was conducted, by means of caravans which reached the Nile at Coptos, not far from the point at which the present shorter route by Cosseir meets the river.

Whilst so much had been done abroad for the recovery of the lost treasures of Egypt, it appears that no less labour had been silently employed in pursuit of the investigation at home; and, partly with a view to perpetuate the continuance of these efforts, an association was formed in London, of which the first and immediate object was merely to insure the preservation, and to facilitate the study, of all that remains of Egyptian literature, by making a collection of drawings of all the hieroglyphical inscriptions in existence, and printing them lithographically, in a form most convenient for reference and examination, under the title of Hieroglyphics, collected by the Egyptian Society. The plates do credit to the manipulation of Mr Ackermann's press, as well as to the extreme neatness and accuracy of the draughtsman who was employed on them. They can scarcely be said to have been published, as they were only distributed amongst a limited number of subscribers; but as they were presented to several public libraries in different parts of Europe, they may be consulted by the general reader without difficulty.

In the midst of all the zeal and activity displayed by our countrymen who had travelled or who were resident in Egypt, it is much to be regretted that their attention had not been turned to an object paramount to all the rest in its importance for the substantial advancement of our acquaintance with the ancient history and literature of the country; that is, the recovery of the lost fragments or of some of the duplicates of the trilingual, or rather trigrammatic stone of Rosetta; a monument which has enabled us to obtain a general idea of the nature and subject of any given hieroglyphical inscription, by pursuing the investigations carried to an unexpected extent by the discoverer Dr Young, whose interpretation was communicated to the Antiquarian Society by Mr Rouse Boughton, together with copies of some fragments of manuscripts which this gentleman had brought from Egypt.1 M. de Sacy, and more especially Mr Akerblad, had made some progress in identifying the sense of the several parts of the second or enchorial inscription of the stone; but they had scarcely at all considered the sacred characters; and it was left for British industry to convert to permanent profit a monument which had before been a useless though a glorious trophy of British valour.

It must be recollected that every analysis of an unknown object of this nature must unavoidably proceed more or less by the imperfect argumentation sometimes very properly called a circle, but which, in such instances, may be more aptly compared to a spiral, or to an algebraical approximation; since, by assuming certain incorrect suppositions, not too remote from the truth, we may render them, by means of a continual repetition of the calculation, more and more accurate, until at length the error is rendered wholly inconsiderable; and in this manner we often satisfy the conditions of a problem which it would be impracticable to solve by a more direct method. A process thus tedious and laborious, however, loses the greater part of its interest when the solution is obtained; and it is no longer necessary to explain in detail every step through which it has passed. The deciphering of the Rosetta stone is fortunately in a great measure independent of any hypotheses of this kind extraneous to itself; and the Greek text affords at once the first approximation for beginning the process. But, in order to extend the inquiry to other objects, a variety of authorities must be compared and appreciated. We must select from the Greek authors an abstract of the religious superstitions and of the civil ordinances of the Egyptians; and it will be necessary, in making this selection, to have some regard to the results which have been obtained from an examination of the principal hieroglyphical monuments still extant, in order that we may avoid the confusion which would be the necessary consequence of adopting indiscriminately the whole mass of contradictory matter, which various mythological authors have collected or invented upon the subject; and considering how absurdly and monstrously complicated the Egyptian superstitions really were, it becomes absolutely essential to separate that which is most fully established, or most generally admitted, from the accidental or local varieties which may have been exaggerated by different authors into established usages of the whole nation, and still more from those which have been the fanciful productions of their own inventive faculties. Unfortunately, by far the greater number of the existing monuments of Egypt are of a mythological nature; so that their Pantheon, or rather Pantherion, acquires an interest altogether foreign to its real character, on account of the utility of a general knowledge of the subject in developing the nature of the language employed. The accounts which have been preserved of the customs and civil ordinances of the country are still more discordant than those which relate to their deities, but they may yet in some instances be illustrated from monuments which remain in existence. Respecting the early history and chronology of Egypt, we can do little more than appreciate the various degrees of plausibility of the different fables that have been related, and the comparative credulity of the authors who have appeared to believe in them; for hitherto no hieroglyphical records have been discovered, which can afford us much assistance in this department of the investigation; though it is by no means impossible that a continued series of the sovereigns of Egypt, from the earliest times, may have been chronicled in more than one of the innumerable multitude of inscriptions hitherto uncopied and unexamined. See the article Hieroglyphics.

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1 Archaeologia, vol. xviii. p. 61. Museums Criticum, No. vi. and vii.