CHAP. III.

Leaves Cairo—Embarks on the Nile for Upper Egypt—Visits Metrahenny and Mohannan—Reasons for supposing this the situation of Memphis.

Having now provided every thing necessary, and taken a rather melancholy leave of our very indulgent friends, who had great apprehensions that we should never return; and fearing that our stay till the very excessive heats were past, might involve us in another difficulty, that of missing the Etesian winds, we secured a boat to carry us to Furshout, the residence of Hamam, the Shekh of Upper Egypt.

This sort of vessel is called a Canja, and is one of the most commodious used on any river, being safe, and expeditious at the same time, though at first sight it has a strong appearance of danger.

That on which we embarked was about 100 feet from stern to stem, with two masts, main and foremast, and two monstrous Latine sails; the main-sail yard being about 200 feet in length.

The structure of this vessel is easily conceived, from the draught, plan, and section. It is about 30 feet in the beam, and about 90 feet in keel.

The keel is not straight, but a portion of a parabola whose curve is almost insensible to the eye. But it has this good effect in sailing, that whereas the bed of the Nile, when the water grows low, is full of sand banks under water, the keel under the stem, where the curve is greatest, first strikes upon these banks, and is fast, but the rest of the ship is afloat; so that by the help of oars, and assistance of the stream, furling the sails, you get easily off; whereas, was the keel straight, and the vessel going with the pressure of that immense main-sail, you would be so fast upon the bank as to lie there like a wreck for ever.

This yard and sail is never lowered. The sailors climb and furl it as it stands. When they shift the sail, they do it with a thick stick like a quarter staff, which they call a noboot, put between the lashing of the yard and the sail; they then twist this stick round till the sail and yard turn over to the side required.

When I say the yard and sail are never lowered, I mean while we are getting up the stream, before the wind; for, otherwise, when the vessel returns, they take out the mast, lay down the yards, and put by their sails, so that the boat descends like a wreck broadside forwards; otherwise, being so heavy a-loft, were she to touch with her stem going down the stream, she could not fail to carry away her masts, and perhaps be staved to pieces.

The cabin has a very decent and agreeable dining-room, about twenty feet square, with windows that have close and latticed shutters, so that you may open them at will in the day-time, and enjoy the freshness of the air; but great care must be taken to keep these shut at night.

A certain kind of robber, peculiar to the Nile, is constantly on the watch to rob boats, in which they suppose the crew are off their guard. They generally approach the boat when it is calm, either swimming under water, or when it is dark, upon goats skins; after which, they mount with the utmost silence, and take away whatever they can lay their hands on.

They are not very fond, I am told, of meddling with vessels whereon they see Franks, or Europeans, because by them some have been wounded with fire-arms.

The attempts are generally made when you are at anchor, or under weigh, at night, in very moderate weather; but oftenest when you are falling down the stream without masts; for it requires, strength, vigour, and skill, to get aboard a vessel going before a brisk wind; though indeed they are abundantly provided with all these requisites.

Behind the dining-room (that is, nearer the stern,) you have a bed-chamber ten feet long, and a place for putting your books and arms. With the latter we were plentifully supplied, both with those of the useful kind, and those (such as large blunderbusses,) meant to strike terror. We had great abundance of ammunition, likewise, both for our defence and sport.

With books we were less furnished, yet our library was chosen, and a very dear one; for, finding how much my baggage was increased by the accession of the large quadrant and its foot, and Dolland’s large achromatic telescope, I began to think it folly to load myself more with things to be carried on mens shoulders through a country full of mountains, which it was very doubtful whether I should get liberty to enter, much more be able to induce savages to carry these incumbrances for me.

To reduce the bulk as much as possible, after considering in my mind what were likeliest to be of service to me in the countries through which I was passing, and the several inquiries I was to make, I fell, with some remorse, upon garbling my library, tore out all the leaves which I had marked for my purpose, destroyed some editions of very rare books, rolling up the needful, and tying them by themselves. I thus reduced my library to a more compact form.

It was December 12th when I embarked on the Nile at Bulac, on board the Canja already mentioned, the remaining part of which needs no description, but will be understood immediately upon inspection.

At first we had the precaution to apply to our friend Risk concerning our captain Hagi Hassan Abou Cuffi, and we obliged him to give his son Mahomet in security for his behaviour towards us. Our hire to Furshout was twenty-seven patakas, or about L.6:15:0 Sterling.

There was nothing so much we desired as to be at some distance from Cairo on our voyage. Bad affairs and extortions always overtake you in this detestable country, at the very time when you are about to leave it.

The wind was contrary, so we were obliged to advance against the stream, by having the boat drawn with a rope.

We were surprised to see the alacrity with which two young Moors bestirred themselves in the boat, they supplied the place of masters, companions, pilots, and seamen to us.

Our Rais had not appeared, and I did not augur much good, from the alacrity of these Moors, so willing to proceed without him.

However, as it was conformable to our own wishes, we encouraged and cajoled them all we could. We advanced a few miles to two convents of Cophts, called Deireteen78.

Here we stopped to pass the night, having had a fine view of the Pyramids of Geeza and Saccara, and being then in sight of a prodigious number of others built of white clay, and stretching far into the desert to the south-west.

Two of these seemed full as large as those that are called the Pyramids of Geeza. One of them was of a very extraordinary form, it seemed as if it had been intended at first to be a very large one, but that the builder’s heart or means had failed him, and that he had brought it to a very mis-shapen disproportioned head at last.

We were not a little displeased to find, that, in the first promise of punctuality our Rais had made, he had disappointed us by absenting himself from the boat. The fear of a complaint, if we remained near the town, was the reason why his servants had hurried us away; but being now out of reach, as they thought, their behaviour was entirely changed; they scarce deigned to speak to us, but smoked their pipes, and kept up a conversation bordering upon ridicule and insolence.

On the side of the Nile, opposite to our boat, a little farther to the south, was a tribe of Arabs encamped.

These are subject to Cairo, or were then at peace with its government. They are called Howadat, being a part of the Atouni, a large tribe that possesses the Isthmus of Suez, and from that go up between the Red Sea and the mountains that bound the east part of the Valley of Egypt. They reach to the length of Cosseir, where they border upon another large tribe called Ababdé, which extends from thence up into Nubia.

Both these are what were anciently called Shepherds, and are now constantly at war with each other.

The Howadat are the same that fell in with Mr Irvine79 in these very mountains, and conducted him so generously and safely to Cairo. Though little acquainted with the manners, and totally ignorant of the language of his conductors, he imagined them to be, and calls them by no other name, than “the Thieves.”

One or two of these straggled down to my boat to seek tobacco and coffee, when I told them, if a few decent men among them would come on board, I should make them partakers of the coffee and tobacco I had. Two of them accepted the invitation, and we presently became great friends.

I remembered, when in Barbary, living with the tribes of Noile and Wargumma (two numerous and powerful clans of Arabs in the kingdom of Tunis) that the Howadat, or Atouni, the Arabs of the Isthmus of Suez, were of the same family and race with one of them.

I even had marked this down in my memorandum-book, but it happened not to be at hand; and I did not really remember whether it was to the Noile or Wargumma they were friends, for these two are rivals, and enemies, so in a mistake there was danger. I, however, cast about a little to discover this if possible; and soon, from discourse and circumstances that came into my mind, I found it was the Noile to whom these people belonged; so we soon were familiar, and as our conversation tallied so that we found we were true men, they got up and insisted on fetching one of their Shekhs.

I told them they might do so if they pleased; but they were first bound to perform me a piece of service, to which they willingly and readily offered themselves. I desired, that, early next morning, they would have a boy and horse ready to carry a letter to Risk, Ali Bey’s secretary, and I would give him a piaster upon bringing back the answer.

This they instantly engaged to perform, but no sooner were they gone a-shore, than, after a short council held together, one of our laughing boat-companions stole off on foot, and, before day, I was awakened by the arrival of our Rais Abou Cuffi, and his son Mahomet.

Abou Cuffi was drunk, though a Sherriffe, a Hagi, and half a Saint besides, who never tasted fermented liquor, as he told me when I hired him.—The son was terrified out of his wits. He said he should have been impaled, had the messenger arrived; and, seeing that I fell upon means to keep open a correspondence with Cairo, he told me he would not run the risk of being surety, and of going back to Cairo to answer for his father’s faults, least, one day or another, upon some complaint of that kind, he might be taken out of his bed and bastinadoed to death, without knowing what his offence was.

An altercation ensued; the father declined staying upon pretty much the same reasons, and I was very happy to find that Risk had dealt roundly with them, and that I was master of the string upon which I could touch their fears.

They then both agreed to go the voyage, for none of them thought it very safe to stay; and I was glad to get men of some substance along with me, rather than trust to hired vagabond servants, which I esteemed the two Moors to be.

As the Shekh of the Howadat and I had vowed friendship, he offered to carry me to Cosseir by land, without any expence, and in perfect safety, thinking me diffident of my boatmen, from what had passed.

I thanked him for this friendly offer, which I am persuaded I might have accepted very safely, but I contented myself with desiring, that one of the Moor servants in the boat should go to Cairo to fetch Mahomet Abou Cuffi’s son’s cloaths, and agreed that I should give five patakas additional hire for the boat, on condition that Mahomet should go with us in place of the Moor servant, and that Abou Cuffi, the father and saint (that never drank fermented liquors) should be allowed to sleep himself sober, till his servant the Moor returned from Cairo with his son’s cloaths.

In the mean time, I bargained with the Shekh of the Howadat to furnish me with horses to go to Metrahenny or Mohannan, where once he said Mimf had stood, a large city, the capital of all Egypt.

All this was executed with great success. Early in the morning the Shekh of the Howadat had passed at Miniel, where there is a ferry, the Nile being very deep, and attended me with five horsemen and a spare horse for myself, at Metrahenny, south of Miniel, where there is a great plantation of palm-trees.

The 13th, in the morning about eight o’clock, we let out our vast sails, and passed a very considerable village called Turra, on the east side of the river, and Shekh Atman, a small village, consisting of about thirty houses, on the west.

The mountains which run from the castle to the eastward of south-east, till they are about five miles distant from the Nile east and by north of this station, approach again the banks of the river, running in a direction south and by west, till they end close on the banks of the Nile about Turra.

The Nile here is about a quarter of a mile broad; and there cannot be the smallest doubt, in any person disposed to be convinced, that this is by very far 80the narrowest part of Egypt yet seen. For it certainly wants of half-a-mile between the foot of the mountain and the Libyan shore, which cannot be said of any other part of Egypt we had yet come to; and it cannot be better described than it is by 81Herodotus; and “again, opposite to the Arabian side, is another stony mountain of Egypt towards Libya, covered with sand, where are the Pyramids.”

As this, and many other circumstances to be repeated in the sequel, must naturally awaken the attention of the traveller to look for the ancient city of Memphis here, I left our boat at Shekh Atman, accompanied by the Arabs, pointing nearly south. We entered a large and thick wood of palm-trees, whose greatest extension seemed to be south by east. We continued in this course till we came to one, and then to several large villages, all built among the plantation of date-trees, so as scarce to be seen from the shore.

These villages are called Metrahenny, a word from the etymology of which I can derive no information, and leaving the river, we continued due west to the plantation that is called Mohannan, which, as far as I know, has no signification either.

All to the south, in this desert, are vast numbers of Pyramids; as far as I could discern, all of clay, some so distant as to appear just in the horizon.

Having gained the western edge of the palm-trees at Mohannan, we have a fair view of the Pyramids at Geeza, which lie in a direction nearly S. W. As far as I can compute the distance, I think about nine miles, and as near as it was possible to judge by sight, Metrahenny, Geeza, and the center of the three Pyramids, made an Isosceles triangle, or nearly so.

I asked the Arab what he thought of the distance? whether it was farthest to Geeza, or the Pyramids? He said, they were sowah, sowah, just alike, he believed; from Metrahenny to the Pyramids perhaps might be farthest, but he would much sooner go it, than along the coast to Geeza, because he should be interrupted by meeting with water.

All to the west and south of Mohannan, we saw great mounds and heaps of rubbish, and calishes that were not of any length, but were lined with stone, covered and choked up in many places with earth.

We saw three large granite pillars S. W. of Mohannan, and a piece of a broken chest or cistern of granite; but no obelisks, or stones with hieroglyphics, and we thought the greatest part of the ruins seemed to point that way, or more southerly.

These, our conductor said, were the ruins of Mimf, the ancient seat of the Pharaohs kings of Egypt, that there was another Mimf, far down in the Delta, by which he meant Menouf, below Terrane and Batn el Baccara82.

Perceiving now that I could get no further intelligence, I returned with my kind guide, whom I gratified for his pains, and we parted content with each other.

In the sands I saw a number of hares. He said, if I would go with him to a place near Faioume, I should kill half a boat-load of them in a day, and antelopes likewise, for he knew where to get dogs; mean-while he invited me to shoot at them there, which I did not choose; for, passing very quietly among the date-trees, I wished not to invite further curiosity.

All the people in the date villages seemed to be of a yellower and more sick-like colour, than any I had ever seen; besides, they had an inanimate, dejected, grave countenance, and seemed rather to avoid, than wish any conversation.

It was near four o’clock in the afternoon when we returned to our boatmen. By the way we met one of our Moors, who told us they had drawn up the boat opposite to the northern point of the palm-trees of Metrahenny.

My Arab insisted to attend me thither, and, upon his arrival, I made him some trifling presents, and then took my leave.

In the evening I received a present of dry dates, and some sugar cane, which does not grow here, but had been brought to the Shekh by some of his friends, from some of the villages up the river.

The learned Dr Pococke, as far as I know, is the first European traveller that ventured to go out of the beaten path, and look for Memphis, at Metrahenny and Mohannan.

Dr Shaw, who in judgment, learning, and candour, is equal to Dr Pococke, or any of those that have travelled into Egypt, contends warmly for placing it at Geeza.

Mr Niebuhr, the Danish traveller, agrees with Dr Pococke. I believe neither Shaw nor Niebuhr were ever at Metrahenny, which Dr Pococke and myself visited; though all of us have been often enough at Geeza, and I must confess, strongly as Dr Shaw has urged his arguments, I cannot consider any of the reasons for placing Memphis at Geeza as convincing, and very few of them that do not go to prove just the contrary in favour of Metrahenny.

Before I enter into the argument, I must premise, that Ptolemy, if he is good for any thing, if he merits the hundredth part of the pains that have been taken with him by his commentators, must surely be received as a competent authority in this case.

The inquiry is into the position of the old capital of Egypt, not fourscore miles from the place where he was writing, and immediately in dependence upon it. And therefore, in dubious cases, I shall have no doubt to refer to him as deserving the greatest credit.

Dr Pococke83 says, that the situation of Memphis was at Mohannan, or Metrahenny, because Pliny says the 84Pyramids were between Memphis and the Delta, as they certainly are, if Dr Pococke is right as to the situation of Memphis.

Dr Shaw does not undertake to answer this direct evidence, but thinks to avoid its force by alledging a contrary sentiment of the same Pliny, “that the Pyramids85 lay between Memphis and the Arsinoite nome, and consequently, as Dr Shaw thinks, they must be to the westward of Memphis.”

Memphis, if situated at Metrahenny, was in the middle of the Pyramids, three of them to the N. W. and above threescore of them to the south.

When Pliny said that the Pyramids were between Memphis and the Delta, he meant the three large Pyramids, commonly called the Pyramids of Geeza.

But in the last instance, when he spoke of the Pyramids of Saccara, or that great multitude of Pyramids southward, he said they were between Memphis and the Arsinoite nome; and so they are, placing Memphis at Metrahenny.

For Ptolemy gives Memphis 29° 50´ in latitude, and the Arsinoite nome 29° 30´ and there is 8´ of longitude betwixt them. Therefore the Arsinoite nome cannot be to the west, either of Geeza or Metrahenny; the Memphitic nome extends to the westward, to that part of Libya called the Scythian Region; and south of the Memphitic nome is the Arsinoite nome, which is bounded on the westward by the same part of Libya.

To prove that the latter opinion of Pliny should outweigh the former one, Dr Shaw cites 86Diodorus Siculus, who says Memphis was most commodiously situated in the very key, or inlet of the country, where the river begins to divide itself into several branches, and forms the Delta.

I cannot conceive a greater proof of a man being blinded by attachment to his own opinion, than this quotation. For Memphis was in lat. 29° 50´, and the point of the Delta was in 30°, and this being the latitude of Geeza, it cannot be that of Memphis. That city must be sought for ten or eleven miles farther south.

If, as Dr Shaw supposes, it was nineteen miles round, and that it was five or six miles in breadth, its greatest breadth would probably be to the river. Then 10 and 6 make 16, which will be the latitude of Metrahenny, according to 87Dr Shaw’s method of computation.

But then it cannot be said that Geeza is either in the key or inlet of the country; all to the westward of Geeza is plain, and desert, and no mountain nearer it on the other side than the castle of Cairo.

Dr Shaw88 thinks that this is further confirmed by Pliny’s saying that Memphis was within fifteen miles of the Delta. Now if this was really the case, he suggests a plain reason, if he relies on ancient measures, why Geeza, that is only ten miles, cannot be Memphis.

If a person, arguing from measures, thinks he is intitled to throw away or add, the third part of the quantity that he is contending for, he will not be at a great stress to place these ancient cities in what situation he pleases.

Nor is it fair for Dr Shaw to suppose quantities that never did exist; for Metrahenny, instead of 89forty, is not quite twenty-seven miles from the Delta; such liberties would confound any question.

The Doctor proceeds by saying, that heaps of ruins 90alone are not proof of any particular place; but the agreeing of the distances between Memphis and the Delta, which is a fixed and standing boundary, lying at a determinate distance from Memphis, must be a proof beyond all exception91.

If I could have attempted to advise Dr Shaw, or have had an opportunity of doing it, I would have suggested to him, as one who has maintained that all Egypt is the gift of the Nile, not to say that the point of the Delta is a standing and determined boundary that cannot alter. The inconsistency is apparent, and I am of a very contrary opinion.

Babylon, or Cairo, as it is now called, is fixed by the Calish or Amnis Trajanus passing through it. Ptolemy92 says so, and Dr Shaw says that Geeza was opposite to Cairo, or in a line east and west from it, and is the ancient Memphis.

Now, if Babylon is lat. 30°, and so is Geeza, they may be opposite to one another in a line of east and west. But if the latitude of Memphis is 29° 50´ it cannot be at Geeza, which is opposite to Babylon, but ten miles farther south, in which case it cannot be opposite to Babylon or Cairo. Again, if the point of the Delta be in lat. 30°, Babylon, or Cairo, 30°, and Geeza be 30°, then the point of the Delta cannot be ten miles from Cairo or Babylon, or ten miles from Geeza.

It is ten miles from Geeza, and ten miles from Babylon, or Cairo, and therefore the distances do not agree as Dr Shaw says they do; nor can the point of the Delta, as he says, be a permanent boundary consistently with his own figures and those of Ptolemy, but it must have been washed away, or gone 10´ northward; for Babylon, as he says, is a certain boundary fixed by the Amnis Trajanus, and, supposing the Delta had been a fixed boundary, and in lat. 30°, then the distance of fifteen miles would just have made up the space that Pliny says was between that point and Memphis, if we suppose that great city was at Metrahenny.

I shall say nothing as to his next argument in relation to the distance of Geeza from the Pyramids; because, making the same suppositions, it is just as much in favour of one as of the other.

His next argument is from 93Herodotus, who says, that Memphis lay under the sandy mountain of Libya, and that this mountain is a stony mountain covered with sand, and is opposite to the Arabian mountain.

Now this surely cannot be called Geeza; for Geeza is under no mountain, and the Arabian mountain spoken of here is that which comes close to the shore at Turra.

Diodorus says, it was placed in the straits or narrowest part of Egypt; and this Geeza cannot be so placed, for, by Dr Shaw’s own confession, it is at least twelve miles from Geeza to the sandy mountain where the Pyramids stand on the Libyan side; and, on the Arabian side, there is no mountain but that on which the castle of Cairo stands, which chain begins there, and runs a considerable way into the desert, afterwards pointing south-west, till they come so near to the eastern shore as to leave no room but for the river at Turra; so that, if the cause is to be tried by this point only, I am very confident that Dr Shaw’s candour and love of truth would have made him give up his opinion if he had visited Turra.

The last authority I shall examine as quoted by Dr Shaw, is to me so decisive of the point in question, that, were I writing to those only who are acquainted with Egypt, and the navigation of the Nile, I would not rely upon another.

Herodotus94 says, “At the time of the inundation, the Egyptians do not sail from Naucratis to Memphis by the common channel of the river, that is Cercasora, and the point of the Delta, but over the plain country, along the very side of the Pyramids.”

Naucratis was on the west side of the Nile, about lat. 30° 30´, let us say about Terrane in my map. They then sailed along the plain, out of the course of the river, upon the inundation, close by the Pyramids, whatever side they pleased, till they came to Metrahenny, the ancient Memphis.

The Etesian wind, fair as it could blow, forwarded their course whilst in this line. They went directly before the wind, and, if we may suppose, accomplished the navigation in a very few hours; having been provided with those barks, or canjas, with their powerful sails, which I have already described, and, by means of which, they shortened their passage greatly, as well as added pleasure to it.

But very different was the case if the canja was going to Geeza.

They had nothing to do with the Pyramids, nor to come within three leagues of the Pyramids; and nothing can be more contrary, both to fact and experience, than that they would shorten their voyage by sailing along the side of them; for the wind being at north and north-west as fair as possible for Geeza, they had nothing to do but to keep as direct upon it as they could lie. But if, as Dr Shaw thinks, they made the Pyramids first, I would wish to know in what manner they conducted their navigation to come down upon Geeza.

Their vessels go only before the wind, and they had a strong steady gale almost directly in their teeth.

They had no current to help them; for they were in still water; and if they did not take down their large yards and sails, they were so top-heavy, the wind had so much purchase upon them above, that there was no alternative, but, either with sails or without, they must make for Upper Egypt; and there, entering into the first practicable calish that was full, get into the main stream.

But their dangers were not still over, for, going down with a violent current, and with their standing rigging up, the moment they touched the banks, their masts and yards would go overboard, and, perhaps, the vessel stave to pieces.

Nothing would then remain, but for safety’s sake to strike their masts and yards, as they always do when they go down the river; they must lie broadside foremost, the strong wind blowing perpendicular on one side of the vessel, and the violent current pushing it in a contrary direction on the other; while a man, with a long oar, balances the advantage the wind has of the stream, by the hold it has of the cabin and upper works.

This would most infallibly be the case of the voyage from Naucratis, unless in striving to sail by tacking, (a manœuvre of which their vessel is not capable) their canja should overset, and then they must all perish.

If Memphis was Metrahenny, I believe most people who had leisure would have tried the voyage from Naucratis by the plain. They would have been carried straight from north to south. But Dr Shaw is exceedingly mistaken, if he thinks there is any way so expeditious as going up the current of the river. As far as I can guess, from ten to four o’clock, we seldom went less than eight miles in the hour, against a current that surely ran more than six. This current kept our vessel stiff, whilst the monstrous sail forced us through with a facility not to be imagined.

Dr Shaw, to put Geeza and Memphis perfectly upon a footing, says95, that there were no traces of the city now to be found, from which he imagines it began to decay soon after the building of Alexandria, that the mounds and ramparts which kept the river from it were in process of time neglected, and that Memphis, which he supposes was in the old bed of the river about the time of the Ptolemies, was so far abandoned, that the Nile at last got in upon it, and overflowing its old ruins, great part of the best of which had been carried first to build the city of Alexandria, that the mud covered the rest, so that no body knew what was its true situation. This is the opinion of Dr Pococke, and likewise of M. de Maillet.

The opinion of these two last-mentioned authors, that the ruins and situation of Memphis are now become obscure, is certainly true; the foregoing dispute is a sufficient evidence of this.

But I will not suffer it to be said, that, soon after the building of Alexandria, or in the time of the Ptolemies, this was the case, because Strabo96 says, that when he was in Egypt, Memphis, next to Alexandria, was the most magnificent city in Egypt.

It was called the Capital97 of Egypt, and there was entire a temple of Osiris; the Apis (or sacred ox) was kept and worshipped there. There was likewise an apartment for the mother of that ox still standing, a temple of Vulcan of great magnificence, a large 98circus, or space for fighting bulls; and a great colossus in the front of the city thrown down: there was also a temple of Venus, and a serapium, in a very sandy place, where the wind heaps up hills of moving sand very dangerous to travellers, and a number of 99sphinxes, (of some only their heads being visible) the others covered up to the middle of their body.

In the 100front of the city were a number of palaces then in ruins, and likewise lakes. These buildings, he says, stood formerly upon an eminence; they lay along the side of the hill, stretching down to the lakes and the groves, and forty stadia from the city; there was a mountainous height, that had many Pyramids standing upon it, the sepulchres of the kings, among which there are three remarkable, and two the wonders of the world.

This is the account of an eye-witness, an historian of the first credit, who mentions Memphis, and this state of it, so late as the reign of Nero; and therefore I shall conclude this argument with three observations, which, I am very sorry to say, could never have escaped a man of Dr Shaw’s learning and penetration.

1st, That by this description of Strabo, who was in it, it is plain that the city was not deserted in the time of the Ptolemies.

2dly, That no time, between the building of Alexandria and the time of the Ptolemies, could it be swallowed up by the river, or its situation unknown.

3dly, That great part of it having been built upon an eminence on the side of a hill, especially the large and magnificent edifices I have spoken of, it could not be situated, as he says, low in the bed of the river; for, upon the giving way of the Memphitic rampart, it would be swallowed up by it.

If it was swallowed up by the river, it was not Geeza; and this accident must have been since Strabo’s time, which Dr Shaw will not aver; and it is by much too loose arguing to say, first, that the place was destroyed by the violent overflowing of the river, and then pretend its situation to be Geeza, where a river never came.

The descent of the hill to where the Pyramids were, and the number of Pyramids that were there around it, of which three are remarkable; the very sandy situation, and the quantity of loose flying hillocks that were there (dangerous in windy weather to travellers) are very strong pictures of the Saccara, the neighbourhood of Metrahenny and Mohannan, but they have not the smallest or most distant resemblance to any part in the neighbourhood of Geeza.

It will be asked, Where are all those temples, the Serapium, the Temple of Vulcan, the Circus, and Temple of Venus? Are they found near Metrahenny?

To this I answer, Are they found at Geeza? No, but had they been at Geeza, they would have still been visible, as they are at Thebes, Diospolis, and Syene, because they are surrounded with black earth not moveable by the wind. Vast quantities of these ruins, however, are in every street of Cairo: every wall, every Bey’s stable, every cistern for horses to drink at, preserve part of the magnificent remains that have been brought from Memphis or Metrahenny.—The rest are covered with the moving sands of the Saccara; as the sphinxes and buildings that had been deserted were in Strabo’s time for want of grass and roots, which always spread and keep the soil firm in populous inhabited places, the sands of the deserts are let loose upon them, and have covered them probably for ever.

A man’s heart fails him in looking to the south and south-west of Metrahenny. He is lost in the immense expanse of desert, which he sees full of Pyramids before him. Struck with terror from the unusual scene of vastness opened all at once upon leaving the palm-trees, he becomes dispirited from the effects of sultry climates.

From habits of idleness contracted at Cairo, from the stories he has heard of the bad government and ferocity of the people, from want of language and want of plan, he shrinks from the attempting any discovery in the moving sands of the Saccara, embraces in safety and in quiet the reports of others, whom he thinks have been more inquisitive and more adventurous than himself.

Thus, although he has created no new error of his own, he is accessary to the having corroborated and confirmed the ancient errors of others; and, though people travel in the same numbers as ever, physics and geography continue at a stand.

In the morning of the 14th of December, after having made our peace with Abou Cuffi, and received a multitude of apologies and vows of amendment and fidelity for the future, we were drinking coffee preparatory to our leaving Metrahenny, and beginning our voyage in earnest, when an Arab arrived from my friend the Howadat, with a letter, and a few dates, not amounting to a hundred.

The Arab was one of his people that had been sick, and wanted to go to Kenné in Upper Egypt. The Shekh expressed his desire that I would take him with me this trifle of about two hundred and fifty miles, that I would give him medicines, cure his disease, and maintain him all the way.

On these occasions there is nothing like ready compliance. He had offered to carry me the same journey with all my people and baggage without hire; he conducted me with safety and great politeness to the Saccara; I therefore answered instantly, “You shall be very welcome, upon my head be it.” Upon this the miserable wretch, half naked, laid down a dirty clout containing about ten dates, and the Shekh’s servant that had attended him returned in triumph.

I mention this trifling circumstance, to shew how essential to humane and civil intercourse presents are considered to be in the east; whether it be dates, or whether it be diamonds, they are so much a part of their manners, that, without them an inferior will never be at peace in his own mind, or think that he has a hold of his superior for his favour or protection.

CHAP. IV.

Leave Metrahenny—Come to the Island Halouan—False Pyramid—These buildings end—Sugar Canes—Ruins of Antinopolis—Reception there.

Our wind was fair and fresh, rather a little on our beam; when, in great spirits, we hoisted our main and fore-sails, leaving the point of Metrahenny, where our reader may think we have too long detained him. We saw the Pyramids of Saccara still S. W. of us; several villages on both sides of the river, but very poor and miserable; part of the ground on the east side had been overflowed, yet was not sown; a proof of the oppression and distress the husbandman suffers in the neighbourhood of Cairo, by the avarice and disagreement of the different officers of that motely incomprehensible government.

After sailing about two miles, we saw three men fishing in a very extraordinary manner and situation. They were on a raft of palm branches, supported on a float of clay jars, made fast together. The form was like an Isosceles triangle, or face of a Pyramid; two men, each provided with a casting net, stood at the two corners, and threw their net into the stream together; the third stood at the apex of the triangle, or third corner, which was foremost, and threw his net the moment the other two drew theirs out of the water. And this they repeated, in perfect time, and with surprising regularity. Our Rais thought we wanted to buy fish; and letting go his main-sail, ordered them on board with a great tone of superiority.

They were in a moment alongside of us; and one of them came on board, lashing his miserable raft to a rope at our stern. In recompence for their trouble, we gave them some large pieces of tobacco, and this transported them so much, that they brought us a basket, of several different kinds of fish, all small; excepting one laid on the top of the basket, which was a clear salmon-coloured fish, silvered upon its sides, with a shade of blue upon its back101. It weighed about 10 lib. and was most excellent, being perfectly firm and white like a perch. There are some of this kind 70 lib. weight. I examined their nets, they were rather of a smaller circumference than our casting nets in England; the weight, as far as I could guess, rather heavier in proportion than ours, the thread that composed them being smaller. I could not sufficiently admire their success, in a violent stream of deep water, such as the Nile; for the river was at least twelve feet deep where they were fishing, and the current very strong.

These fishers offered willingly to take me upon the raft to teach me; but I cannot say my curiosity went so far. They said their fishing was merely accidental, and in course of their trade, which was selling these potter earthen jars, which they got near Ashmounein; and after having carried the raft with them to Cairo, they untie, sell them at the market, and carry the produce home in money, or in necessaries upon their back. A very poor œconomical trade, but sufficient as they said, from the carriage of crude materials, the moulding, making, and sending them to market, to Cairo and to different places in the Delta, to afford occupation to two thousand men; this is nearly four times the number of people employed in the largest iron foundery in England. But the reader will not understand, that I warrant this fact from any authority but what I have given him.

About two o’clock in the afternoon, we came to the point of an island; there were several villages with date trees on both sides of us; the ground is overflowed by the Nile, and cultivated. The current is very strong here. We passed a village called Regnagie, and another named Zaragara, on the east side of the Nile. We then came to Caphar el Hayat, or the Toll of the Tailor; a village with great plantations of dates, and the largest we had yet seen.

We passed the night on the S. W. point of the island between Caphar el Hayat, and Gizier Azali, the wind failing us about four o’clock. This place is the beginning of the Heracleotic nome, and its situation a sufficient evidence that Metrahenny was Memphis; its name is Halouan.

This island is now divided into a number of small ones, by calishes being cut through and through it, and, under different Arabic names, they still reach very far up the stream. I landed to see if there were remains of the olive tree which Strabo102 says grew here, but without success. We may imagine, however, that there was some such like thing; because opposite to one of the divisions into which this large island is broken, there is a village called Zeitoon, or the Olive Tree.

On the 15th of December, the weather being nearly calm, we left the north end of the island, or Heracleotic nome; our course was due south, the line of the river; and three miles farther we passed Woodan, and a collection of villages, all going by that name, upon the east: to the west, or right, were small islands, part of the ancient nome of which I have already spoken.

The ground is all cultivated about this village, to the foot of the mountains, which is not above four miles; but it is full eight on the west, all overflowed and sown. The Nile is here but shallow, and narrow, not exceeding a quarter of a mile broad, and three feet deep; owing, I suppose, to the resistance made by the island in the middle of the current, and by a bend it makes, thus intercepting the sand brought down by the stream.

The mountains here come down till within two miles of Suf el Woodan, for so the village is called. We were told there were some ruins to the westward of this, but only rubbish, neither arch nor column standing. I suppose it is the Aphroditopolis, or the city of Venus, which we are to look for here, and the nome of that name, all to the eastward of it.

The wind still freshening, we passed by several villages on each side, all surrounded with palm-trees, verdant and pleasant, but conveying an idea of sameness and want of variety, such as every traveller must have felt who has sailed in the placid, muddy, green-banked rivers in Holland.

The Nile, however, is here fully a mile broad, the water deep, and the current strong. The wind seemed to be exasperated by the resistance of the stream, and blew fresh and steadily, as indeed it generally does where the current is violent.

We passed Nizelet Embarak, which means the Blessed Landing-place. Mr Norden103 calls it Giesiret Barrakaed, which he says is the watering-place of the cross. Was this even the proper name here given it, it should be translated the Blessed Island; but, without understanding the language, it is in vain to keep a register of names.

The boatmen, living either in the Delta, Cairo, or one of the great towns in Upper Egypt, and coming constantly loaded with merchandise, or strangers from these great places, make swift passages by the villages, either down the river with a rapid current, or up with a strong, fair, and steady wind: And, when the season of the Nile’s inundation is over, and the wind turns southward, they repair all to the Delta, the river being no longer navigable above, and there they are employed till the next season.

They know little, therefore, and care less about the names or inhabitants of these villages, who have each of them barks of their own to carry on their own trade. There are some indeed employed by the Coptic and Turkish merchants, who are better versed in the names of villages than others; but, if they are not, and find you do not understand the language, they will never confess ignorance; they will tell you the first name that comes uppermost, sometimes very ridiculous, often very indecent, which we see afterwards pass into books, and wonder that such names were ever given to towns.

The reader will observe this in comparing Mr Norden’s voyage and mine, where he will seldom see the same village pass by the same name. My Rais, Abou Cuffi, when he did not know a village, sometimes tried this with me. But when he saw me going to write, he used then to tell me the truth, that he did not know the village; but that such was the custom of him, and his brethren, to people that did not understand the language, especially if they were priests, meaning Catholic Monks.

We passed with great velocity Nizelet Embarak, Cubabac, Nizelet Omar, Racca Kibeer, then Racca Seguier, and came in sight of Atsia, a large village at some distance from the Nile; all the valley here is green, the palm-groves beautiful, and the Nile deep.

Still it is not the prospect that pleases, for the whole ground that is sown to the sandy ascent of the mountains, is but a narrow stripe of three quarters of a mile broad, and the mountains themselves, which here begin to have a moderate degree of elevation, and which bound this narrow valley, are white, gritty, sandy, and uneven, and perfectly destitute of all manner of verdure.

At the small village of Racca Seguier there was this remarkable, that it was thick, surrounded with trees of a different nature and figure from palms; what they were I know not, I believe they were pomegranate-trees; I thought, that with my glass I discerned some reddish fruit upon them; and we had passed a village called Rhoda, a name they give in Egypt to pomegranates; Salcah is on the opposite, or east-side of the river. The Nile divides above the village; it fell very calm, and here we passed the night of the fifteenth.

Our Rais Abou Cuffi begged leave to go to Comadreedy, a small village on the west of the Nile, with a few palm-trees about it; he said that his wife was there. As I never heard any thing of this till now, I fancied he was going to divert himself in the manner he had done the night before he left Cairo; for he had put on his black surtout, or great coat, his scarlet turban, and a new scarlet shaul, both of which he said he had brought, to do me honour in my voyage.

I thanked him much for his consideration, but asked him why, as he was a Sherriffe, he did not wear the green turban of Mahomet? He answered, Poh! that was a trick put upon strangers; there were many men who wore green turbans, he said, that were very great rascals; but he was a Saint, which was better than a Sherriffe, and was known as such all over the world, whatever colour of a turban he wore, or whether a turban at all, and he only dressed for my honour; would be back early in the morning, and bring me a fair wind.

“Hassan, said I, I fancy it is much more likely that you bring me some aquavitæ, if you do not drink it all.” He promised that he would see and procure some, for mine was now at an end. He said, the Prophet never forbade aquavitæ, only the drinking of wine; and the prohibition could not be intended for Egypt, for there was no wine in it. But Bouza, says he, Bouza I will drink, as long as I can walk from stem to stern of a vessel, and away he went. I had indeed no doubt he would keep his resolution of drinking whether he returned or not.

We kept, as usual, a very good watch all night, which passed without disturbance. Next day, the 17th, was exceedingly hazy in the morning, though it cleared about ten o’clock. It was, however, sufficient to shew the falsity of the observation of the author, who says that the Nile104 emits no fogs, and in course of the voyage we often saw other examples, of the fallacy of this assertion.

In the afternoon, the people went ashore to shoot pigeons; they were very bad, and black, as it was not the season of grain. I remained arranging my journal, when, with some surprize, I saw the Howadat Arab come in, and sit down close to me; however, I was not afraid of any evil intention, having a crooked knife at my girdle, and two pistols lying by me.

What’s this? How now, friend? said I; Who sent for you? He would have kissed my hand, saying Fiarduc, I am under your protection: he then pulled out a rag from within his girdle, and said he was going to Mecca, and had taken that with him; that he was afraid my boatmen would rob him, and throw him into the Nile, or get somebody to rob and murder him by the way; and that one of the Moors, Hassan’s servant, had been feeling for his money the night before, when he thought him asleep.

I made him count his sum, which amounted to 7½ sequins, and a piece of silver, value about half-a-crown, which in Syria they call Abou Kelb, Father Dog. It is the Dutch Lion rampant, which the Arabs, who never call a thing by its right name, term a dog.—In short, this treasure amounted to something more than three guineas; and this he desired me to keep till we separated. Do not you tell them, said he, and I will throw off my cloaths and girdle, and leave them on board, while I go to swim, and when they find I have nothing upon me they will not hurt me.

But what security, said I, have you that I do not rob you of this, and get you thrown into the Nile some night? No, no, says he, that I know is impossible. I have never been able to sleep till I spoke to you; do with me what you please, and my money too, only keep me out of the hands of those murderers. “Well, well, said I, now you have got rid of your money, you are safe, and you shall be my servant; lye before the door of my dining-room all night, they dare not hurt a hair of your head while I am alive.”

The Pyramids, which had been on our right hand at different distances since we passed the Saccara, terminated here in one of a very singular construction. About two miles from the Nile, between Suf and Woodan, there is a Pyramid, which at first sight appears all of a piece; it is of unbaked bricks, and perfectly entire; the inhabitants call it the 105False Pyramid. The lower part is a hill exactly shaped like a Pyramid for a considerable height. Upon this is continued the superstructure in proportion till it terminates like a Pyramid above; and, at a distance, it would require a good eye to discern the difference, for the face of the stone has a great resemblance to clay, of which the Pyramids of the Saccara are composed.

Hassan Abou Cuffi was as good as his word in one respect; he came in the night, and had not drunk much fermented liquors; but he could find no spirits, he said, and that, to be sure, was one of the reasons of his return; I had sat up a great part of the night waiting a season for observation, but it was very cloudy, as all the nights had been since we left Cairo.

The 18th, about eight o’clock in the morning, we prepared to get on our way; the wind was calm, and south. I asked our Rais where his fair wind was which he promised to bring? He said, his wife had quarrelled with him all night, and would not give him time to pray; and therefore, says he with a very droll face, you shall see me do all that a Saint can do for you on this occasion. I asked him what that was? He made another droll face, “Why, it is to draw the boat by the rope till the wind turns fair.” I commended very much this wise alternative, and immediately the vessel began to move, but very slowly, the wind being still unfavourable.

On looking into Mr Norden’s voyage, I was struck at first sight with this paragraph106: “We saw this day abundance of camels, but they did not come near enough for us to shoot them.”—I thought with myself, to shoot camels in Egypt would be very little better than to shoot men, and that it was very lucky for him the camels did not come near, if that was the only thing that prevented him. Upon looking at the note, I see it is a small mistake of the translator107, who says, “that in the original it is Chameaux d’eau, water-camels; but whether they are a particular species of camels, or a different kind of animal, he does not know.”

But this is no species of camel, it is a bird called a Pelican, and the proper name in Arabic, is Jimmel el Bahar, the Camel of the River. The other bird like a partridge, which Mr Norden’s people shot, and did not know its name, and which was better than a pigeon, is called Gooto, very common in all the desert parts of Africa. I have drawn them of many different colours. That of the Deserts of Tripoli, and Cyrenaicum, is very beautiful; that of Egypt is spotted white like the Guinea-fowl, but upon a brown ground, not a blue one, as that latter bird is. However, they are all very bad to eat, but they are not of the same kind with the partridge. Its legs and feet are all covered with feathers, and it has but two toes before. The Arabs imagine it feeds on stones, but its food is insects.

After Comadreedy, the Nile is again divided by another fragment of the island, and inclines a little to the westward. On the east is the village Sidi Ali el Courani. It has only two palm-trees belonging to it, and on that account hath a deserted appearance; but the wheat upon the banks was five inches high, and more advanced than any we had seen. The mountains on the east-side come down to the banks of the Nile, are bare, white, and sandy, and there is on this side no appearance of villages.

The river here is about a quarter of a mile broad, or something more. It should seem it was the Angyrorum Civitas of Ptolemy, but neither night nor day could I get an instant for observation, on account of thin white clouds, which confused (for they scarce can be said to cover) the heavens continually.

We passed now a convent of cophts, with a small plantation of palms. It is a miserable building, with a dome like to a saint’s or marabout’s, and stands quite alone.

About four miles from this is the village of Nizelet el Arab, consisting of miserable huts. Here begin large plantations of sugar canes, the first we had yet seen; they were then loading boats with these to carry them to Cairo. I procured from them as many as I desired. The canes are about an inch and a quarter in diameter, they are cut in round pieces about three inches long, and, after having been slit, they are steeped in a wooden bowl of water. They give a very agreeable taste and flavour to it, and make it the most refreshing drink in the world, whilst by imbibing the water, the canes become more juicy, and lose a part of their heavy clammy sweetness, which would occasion thirst. I was surprized at finding this plant in such a state of perfection so far to the northward. We were now scarcely arrived in lat. 29°, and nothing could be more beautiful and perfect than the canes were.

I apprehend they were originally a plant of the old continent, and transported to the new, upon its first discovery, because here in Egypt they grow from seed. I do not know if they do so in Brazil, but they have been in all times the produce of Egypt. Whether they have been found elsewhere I have not had an opportunity of being informed, but it is time that some skilful person, versed in the history of plants, should separate some of the capital productions of the old, and new continent, from the adventitious, before, from length of time, that which we now know of their history be lost.

Sugar, tobacco, red podded or Cayenne pepper, cotton, some species of Solanum, Indigo, and a multitude of others, have not as yet their origin well ascertained.

Prince Henry of Portugal put his discoveries to immediate profit, and communicated what he found new in each part in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, to where it was wanting. It will be soon difficult to ascertain to each quarter of the world the articles that belong to it, and fix upon those few that are common to all.

Even wheat, the early produce of Egypt, is not a native of it. It grows under the Line, within the Tropics, and as far north and south as we know. Severe northern winters seem to be necessary to it, and it vegetates vigorously in frost and snow. But whence it came, and in what shape, is yet left to conjecture.

Though the stripe of green wheat was continued all along the Nile, it was interrupted for about half a mile on each side of the coptish convent. These poor wretches know, that though they may sow, yet, from the violence of the Arabs, they shall never reap, and therefore leave the ground desolate.

On the side opposite to Sment, the stripe begins again, and continues from Sment to Mey-Moom, about two miles, and from Mey-Moom to Shenuiah, one mile further. In this small stripe, not above a quarter of a mile broad, besides wheat, clover is sown, which they call Bersine. I don’t think it equals what I have seen in England, but it is sown and cultivated in the same manner.

Immediately behind this narrow stripe, the white mountains appear again, square and flat on the top like tables. They seem to be laid upon the surface of the earth, not inserted into it, for the several strata that are divided lye as level as it is possible to place them with a rule; they are of no considerable height.

We next passed Boush, a village on the west-side of the Nile, two miles south of Shenuiah; and, a little further, Beni Ali, where we see for a minute the mountains on the right or west-side of the Nile, running in a line nearly south, and very high. About five miles from Boush is the village of Maniareish on the east-side of the river, and here the mountains on that side end.

Boush is about two miles and a quarter from the river. Beni Ali is a large village, and its neighbour, Zeytoom, still larger, both on the western shore. I suppose this last was part of the Heracleotic nome, where 108Strabo says the olive-tree grew, and no where else in Egypt, but we saw no appearance of the great works once said to have been in that nome. A little farther south is Baida, where was an engagement between Hussein Bey, and Ali Bey then in exile, in which the former was defeated, and the latter restored to the government of Cairo.

From Maniareish to Beni Suef is two miles and a half, and opposite to this the mountains appear again of considerable height, about twelve miles distant. Although Beni Suef is no better built than any other town or village that we had passed, yet it interests by its extent; it is the most considerable place we had yet seen since our leaving Cairo. It has a cacheff and a mosque, with three large steeples, and is a market-town.

The country all around is well cultivated, and seems to be of the utmost fertility; the inhabitants are better cloathed, and seemingly less miserable, and oppressed, than those we had left behind in the places nearer Cairo.

The Nile is very shallow at Beni Suef, and the current strong. We touched several times in the middle of the stream, and came to an anchor at Baha, about a quarter of a mile above Beni Suef, where we passed the night.

We were told to keep good watch here all night, that there were troops of robbers on the east-side of the water who had lately plundered some boats, and that the cacheff either dared not, or would not give them any assistance. We did indeed keep strict watch, but saw no robbers, and were no other way molested.

The 18th we had fine weather and a fair wind. Still I thought the villages were beggarly, and the constant groves of palm-trees so perfectly verdant, did not compensate for the penury of sown land, the narrowness of the valley, and barrenness of the mountains.

We passed Mansura, Gadami, Magaga, Malatiah, and other small villages, some of them not consisting of fifteen houses. Then follow Gundiah and Kerm on the west-side of the river, with a large plantation of dates, and four miles further Sharuni. All the way from Boush there appeared no mountains on the west side, but large plantations of dates, which extended from Gundiah four miles.

From this to Abou Azeeze, frequent plantations of sugar canes were now cutting. All about Kafoor is sandy and barren on both sides of the river. Etfa is on the west side of the Nile, which here again makes an island. All the houses have now receptacles for pigeons on their tops, from which is derived a considerable profit. They are made of earthen pots one above the other, occupying the upper story, and giving the walls of the turrets a lighter and more ornamented appearance.

We arrived in the evening at Zohora, about a mile south of Etfa. It consists of three plantations of dates, and is five miles, from Miniet, and there we passed the night of the 18th of December.

There was nothing remarkable till we came to Barkaras, a village on the side of a hill, planted with thick groves of palm-trees.

The wind was so high we scarcely could carry our sails; the current was strong at Shekh Temine, and the violence with which we went through the water was terrible. My Rais told me we should have slackened our sails, if it had not been, that, seeing me curious about the construction of the vessel and her parts, and as we were in no danger of striking, though the water was low, he wanted to shew me what she could do.

I thanked him for his kindness. We had all along preserved strict friendship. Never fear the banks, said I; for I know if there is one in the way, you have nothing to do but to bid him begone, and he will hurry to one side directly. “I have had passengers, says he, who would believe that, and more than that, when I told them; but there is no occasion I see to waste much time with you in speaking of miracles.”

“You are mistaken, Rais, I replied, very much mistaken; I love to hear modern miracles vastly, there is always some amusement in them.”—“Aboard your Christian ships, says he, you always have a prayer at twelve o’clock, and drink a glass of brandy; since you won’t be a Turk like me, I wish at least you would be a Christian.”—Very fairly put, said I, Hassan, let your vessel keep her wind if there is no danger, and I shall take care to lay in a stock for the whole voyage at the first town in which we can purchase it.

We passed by a number of villages on the western shore, the eastern seeming to be perfectly unpeopled: First, Feshné, a considerable place; then 109Miniet, or the ancient Phylæ, a large town which had been fortified towards the water, at least there were some guns there. A rebel Bey had taken possession of it, and it was usual to stop here, the river being both narrow and rapid; but the Rais was in great spirits, and resolved to hold his wind, as I had desired him, and nobody made us any signal from shore.

We came to a village called Rhoda, whence we saw the magnificent ruins of the ancient city of Antinous, built by Adrian. Unluckily I knew nothing of these ruins when I left Cairo, and had taken no pains to provide myself with letters of recommendation as I could easily have done. Perhaps I might have found it difficult to avail myself of them, and it was, upon the whole, better as it was.

I asked the Rais what sort of people they were? He said that the town was composed of very bad Turks, very bad Moors, and very bad Christians; that several devils had been seen among them lately, who had been discovered by being better and quieter than any of the rest.—The Nubian geographer informs us, that it was from this town Pharaoh brought his magicians, to compare their powers with those of Moses; an anecdote worthy that great historian.

I told the Rais, that I must, of necessity, go ashore, and asked him, if the people of this place had no regard for saints? that I imagined, if he would put on his red turban as he did at Comadreedy for my honour, it would then appear that he was a saint, as he before said he was known to be all the world over. He did not seem to be fond of the expedition; but hauling in his main-sail, and with his fore-sail full, stood S. S. E. directly under the Ruins. In a short time we arrived at the landing-place; the banks are low, and we brought up in a kind of bight or small bay, where there was a stake, so our vessel touched very little, or rather swung clear.

Abou Cuffi’s son Mahomet, and the Arab, went on shore, under pretence of buying some provision, and to see how the land lay, but after the character we had of the inhabitants, all our fire-arms were brought to the door of the cabin. In the mean time, partly with my naked eye and partly with my glass, I observed the ruins so attentively as to be perfectly in love with them.

These columns of the angle of the portico were standing fronting to the north, part of the tympanum, cornice, frize, and architrave, all entire, and very much ornamented; thick trees hid what was behind. The columns were of the largest size and fluted; the capitals Corinthian, and in all appearance entire. They were of white Parian marble probably, but had lost the extreme whiteness, or polish, of the Antinous at Rome, and were changed to the colour of the fighting gladiator, or rather to a brighter yellow. I saw indistinctly, also, a triumphal arch, or gate of the town, in the very same style; and some blocks of very white shining stone, which seemed to be alabaster, but for what employed I do not know.

No person had yet stirred, when all on a sudden we heard the noise of Mahomet and the Moor in strong dispute. Upon this the Rais stripping off his coat, leaped ashore, and flipped off the rope from the stake, and another of the Moors stuck a strong perch or pole into the river, and twisted the rope round it. We were in a bight, or calm place, so that the stream did not move the boat.

Mahomet and the Moor came presently in sight; the people had taken Mahomet’s turban from him, and they were apparently on the very worst terms. Mahomet cried to us, that the whole town was coming, and getting near the boat, he and the Moor jumped in with great agility. A number of people was assembled, and three shots were fired at us, very quickly, the one after the other.