Chapter IX: Book I (3)

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 Nile[104] 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 [105]False 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 paragraph[106]: “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 translator[107], 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 [108]Strabo 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 [109]Miniet, 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.

I cried out in Arabic, “Infidels, thieves, and robbers! come on, or we shall presently attack you:” upon which I immediately fired a ship-blunderbuss with pistol small bullets, but with little elevation, among the bushes, so as not to touch them. The three or four men that were nearest fell flat upon their faces, and slid away among the bushes on their bellies, like eels, and we saw no more of them.

We now put our vessel into the stream, filled our fore-sail, and stood off, Mahomet crying, Be upon your guard, if you are men, we are the Sanjack’s soldiers, and will come for the turban to-night. More we neither heard nor saw.

We were no sooner out of their reach, than our Rais, filling his pipe, and looking very grave, told me to thank God that I was in the vessel with such a man as he was, as it was owing to that only I escaped from being murdered a-shore. “Certainly, said I, Hassan, under God, the way of escaping from being murdered on land, is never to go out of the boat, but don’t you think that my blunderbuss was as effectual a mean as your holiness? Tell me, Mahomet, What did they do to you?” He said, They had not seen us come in, but had heard of us ever since we were at Metrahenny, and had waited to rob or murder us; that upon now hearing we were come, they had all ran to their houses for their arms, and were coming down, immediately, to plunder the boat; upon which he and the Moor ran off, and being met by these three people, and the boy, on the road, who had nothing in their hands, one of them snatched the turban off. He likewise added, that there were two parties in the town; one in favour of Ali Bey, the other friends to a rebel Bey who had taken Miniet; that they had fought, two or three days ago, among themselves, and were going to fight again, each of them having called Arabs to their assistance. “Mahomet Bey, says my Howadat Arab, will come one of these days with the soldiers, and bring our Shekh and people with him, who will burn their houses, and destroy their corn, that they will be all starved to death next year.”

Hassan and his son Mahomet were violently exasperated, and nothing would serve them but to go in again near the shore, and fire all the guns and blunderbusses among the people. But, besides that I had no inclination of that kind, I was very loth to frustrate the attempts of some future traveller, who may add this to the great remains of architecture we have preserved already.

It would be a fine outset for some engraver; the elegance and importance of the work are certain. From Cairo the distance is but four days pleasant and safe navigation, and in quiet times, protection might, by proper means, be easily enough obtained at little expence.

CHAP. V.

_Voyage to Upper Egypt continued--Ashmounein, Ruins there--Gawa
Kibeer Ruins--Mr Norden mistaken--Achmim--Convent of
Catholics--Dendera--Magnificent Ruins--Adventure with a Saint
there._

The Rais’s curiosity made him attempt to prevail with me to land at Reremont, three miles and a half off, just a-head of us; this I understood was a Coptic Christian town, and many of Shekh Abadé’s people were Christians also. I thought them too near to have any thing to do with either of them. At Reremont there are a great number of Persian wheels, to draw the water for the sugar canes, which belong to Christians. The water thus brought up from the river runs down to the plantations, below or behind the town, after being emptied on the banks above; a proof that here the descent from the mountains is not an optic fallacy, as Dr Shaw says.

We passed Ashmounein, probably the ancient Latopolis, a large town, which gives the name to the province, where there are magnificent ruins of Egyptian architecture; and after that we came to Melawé, larger, better built, and better inhabited than Ashmounein, the residence of the Cacheff. Mahomet Aga was there at that time with troops from Cairo, he had taken Miniet, and, by the friendship of Shekh Hamam, the great Arab, governor of Upper Egypt, he kept all the people on that side of the river in their allegiance to Ali Bey.

I had seen him at Cairo, and Risk had spoken to him to do me service if he met with me, which he promised. I called at Melawé to complain of our treatment at Shekh Abadé, and see if I could engage him, as he had nothing else to employ him, to pay a visit to my friends at that inhospitable place. This I was told he would do upon the slightest intimation. He, unfortunately, however, happened to be out upon some party; but I was lucky in getting an old Greek, a servant of his, who knew I was a friend, both to the Bey and to his Patriarch.

He brought me about a gallon of brandy, and a jar of lemons and oranges, preserved in honey; both very agreeable. He brought likewise a lamb, and some garden-stuffs. Among the sweetmeats was some horse-raddish preserved like ginger, which certainly, though it might be wholesome, was the very worst stuff ever I tasted. I gave a good square piece of it, well wrapt in honey, to the Rais, who coughed and spit half an hour after, crying he was poisoned.

I saw he did not wish me to stay at Melawé, as he was afraid of the Bey’s troops, that they might engage him in their service to carry them down, so went away with great good will, happy in the acquisition of the brandy, declaring he would carry sail as long as the wind held.

We passed Mollé, a small village with a great number of acacia trees intermixed with the plantations of palms. These occasion a pleasing variety, not only from the difference of the shape of the tree, but also from the colour and diversity of the green.

As the sycamore in Lower Egypt, so this tree seems to be the only indigenous one in the Thebaid. It is the Acacia Vera, or the Spina Egyptiaca, with a round yellow flower. The male is called the Saiel; from it proceeds the gum arabic, upon incision with an ax. This gum chiefly comes from Arabia Petrea, where these trees are most numerous. But it is the tree of all deserts, from the northmost part of Arabia, to the extremity of Ethiopia, and its leaves the only food for camels travelling in those desert parts. This gum is called Sumach in the west of Africa, and is a principal article of trade on the Senega among the Ialofes.

A large plantation of Dates reaches all along the west side, and ends in a village called Masara. Here the river, though broad, happened to be very shallow; and by the violence with which we went, we stuck upon a sand bank so fast, that it was after sun-set before we could get off; we came to an anchor opposite to Masara the night of the 19th of December.

On the 20th, early in the morning, we again set sail and passed two villages, the first called Welled Behi, the next Salem, about a mile and a half distant from each other on the west side of the Nile. The mountains on the west side of the valley are about sixteen miles off, in a high even ridge, running in a direction south-east; while the mountains on the east run in a parallel direction with the river, and are not three miles distant.

We passed Deirout on the east side, and another called Zohor, in the same quarter, surrounded with palms; then Siradé on the east side also, where is a wood of the Acacia, which seems very luxuriant; and, though it was now December, and the mornings especially very cold, the trees were in full flower. We passed Monfalout, a large town on the western shore. It was once an old Egyptian town, and place of great trade; it was ruined by the Romans, but re-established by the Arabs.

An Arabian [110]author says, that, digging under the foundation of an old Egyptian temple here, they found a crocodile made of lead, with hieroglyphics upon it, which they imagine to be a talisman, to prevent crocodiles from passing further. Indeed, as yet, we had not seen any; that animal delights in heat, and, as the mornings were very cold, he keeps himself to the southward. The valley of Egypt here is about eight miles from mountain to mountain.

We passed Siout, another large town built with the remains of the ancient city [111]Isiu. It is some miles inland, upon the side of a large calish, over which there is an ancient bridge. This was formerly the station of the caravan for Sennaar. They assembled at Monfalout and Siout, under the protection of a Bey residing there. They then passed nearly south-west, into the sandy desert of Libya, to El Wah, the Oasis Magna of antiquity, and so into the great Desert of Selima.

Three miles beyond Siout, the wind turned directly south, so we were obliged to stay at Tima the rest of the 20th. I was wearied with continuing in the boat, and went on shore at Tima. It is a small town, surrounded like the rest with groves of palm-trees. Below Tima is Bandini, three miles on the east side. The Nile is here full of sandy islands. Those that the inundation has first left are all sown, these are chiefly on the east. The others on the west were barren and uncultivated; all of them mostly composed of sand.

I walked into the desert behind the village, and shot a considerable number of the bird called Gooto, and several hares likewise, so that I sent one of my servants loaded to the boat. I then walked down past a small village called Nizelet el Himma, and returned by a still smaller one called Shuka, about a quarter of a mile from Tima. I was exceedingly fatigued with the heat by the south wind[112] blowing, and the deep sand on the side of the mountain. I was then beginning my apprenticeship, which I fully compleated.

The people in these villages were in appearance little less miserable than those of the villages we had passed. They seemed shy and surly at first, but, upon conversation, became placid enough. I bought some medals from them of no value, and my servants telling them I was a physician, I gave my advice to several of the sick. This reconciled them perfectly, they brought me fresh water and some sugar-canes, which they split and steeped in it. If they were satisfied, I was very much so. They told me of a large scene of ruins that was about four miles distant, and offered to send a person to conduct me, but I did not accept their offer, as I was to pass there next day.

The 21st, in the morning, we came to Gawa, where is the second scene of ruins of Egyptian architecture, after leaving Cairo. I immediately went on shore, and found a small temple of three columns in front, with the capitals entire, and the columns in several separate pieces. They seemed by that, and their slight proportions, to be of the most modern of that species of building; but the whole were covered with hieroglyphics, the old story over again, the hawk and the serpent, the man sitting with the dog’s head, with the perch, or measuring-rod; in one hand, the hemisphere and globes with wings, and leaves of the banana-tree, as is supposed, in his other. The temple is filled with rubbish and dung of cattle, which the Arabs bring in here to shelter them from the heat.

Mr Norden says, that these are the remains of the ancient Diospolis Parva, but, though very loth to differ from him, and without the least desire of criticising, I cannot here be of his opinion. For Ptolemy, I think, makes Diospolis Parva about lat. 26° 40´, and Gawa is 27° 20´, which is by much too great a difference. Besides, Diospolis and its nome were far to the southward of Panopolis; but we shall shew, by undoubted evidence, that Gawa is to the northward.

There are two villages of this name opposite to each other; the one Gawa Shergieh, which means the Eastern Gawa, and this is by much the largest; the other Gawa Garbieh. Several authors, not knowing the meaning of these terms, call it Gawa Gebery; a word that has no signification whatever, but Garbieh means the Western.

I was very well pleased to see here, for the first time, two shepherd dogs lapping up the water from the stream, then lying down in it with great seeming leisure and satisfaction. It refuted the old fable, that the dogs living on the banks of the Nile run as they drink, for fear of the crocodile.

All around the villages of Gawa Garbieh, and the plantations belonging to them, Meshta and Raany, with theirs also joining them (that is, all the west side of the river) are cultivated and sown from the very foot of the mountains to the water’s edge, the grain being thrown upon the mud as soon as ever the water has left it. The wheat was at this time about four inches in length.

We passed three villages, Shaftour, Commawhaia, and Zinedi; we anchored off Shaftour, and within sight of Taahta. Taahta is a large village, and in it are several mosques. On the east is a mountain called Jibbel Heredy, from a Turkish saint, who was turned into a snake, has lived several hundred years, and is to live for ever. As Christians, Moors, and Turks, all faithfully believe in this, the consequence is, that abundance of nonsense is daily writ and told concerning it. Mr Norden discusses it at large, and afterwards gravely tells us, he does not believe it; in which I certainly must heartily join him, and recommend to my readers to do the same, without reading any thing about it.

On the 22d, at night, we arrived at Achmim. I landed my quadrant and instruments, with a view of observing an eclipse of the moon; but, immediately after her rising, clouds and mist so effectually covered the whole heavens, that it was not even possible to catch a star of any size passing the meridian.

Achmim is a very considerable place. It belonged once to an Arab prince of that name, who possessed it by a grant from the Grand Signior, for a certain revenue to be paid yearly. That family is now extinct; and another Arab prince, Hamam Shekh of Furshout, now rents it for his life-time, from the Grand Signior, with all the country (except Girgé), from Siout to Luxor.

The inhabitants of Achmim are of a very yellow, unhealthy appearance, probably owing to the bad air, occasioned by a very dirty calish that passes through the town. There are, likewise, a great many trees, bushes, and gardens, about the stagnated water, all which increase the bad quality of the air.

There is here what is called a Hospice, or Convent of religious Franciscans, for the entertainment of the converts, or persecuted Christians in Nubia, _when they can find them_. This institution I speak of at large in the sequel. One of the last princes of the house of Medicis, all patrons of learning, proposed to furnish them with a compleat observatory, with the most perfect and expensive instruments; but they refused them, from a scruple least it would give umbrage to the natives. The fear that it should expose their own ignorance and idleness, I must think, entered a little into the consideration.

They received us civilly, and that was just all. I think I never knew a number of priests met together, who differed so little in capacity and knowledge, having barely a routine of scholastic disputation, on every other subject inconceivably ignorant. But I understood afterwards, that they were low men, all Italians; some of them had been barbers, and some of them tailors at Milan; they affected to be all Anti-Copernicans, upon scripture principles, for they knew no other astronomy.

These priests lived in great ease and safety, were much protected and favoured by this Arab prince Hamam; and their acting as physicians reconciled them to the people. They told me there were about eight hundred catholics in the town, but I believe the fifth part of that number would never have been found, even such catholics as they are. The rest of them were Cophts, and Moors, but a very few of the latter, so that the missionaries live perfectly unmolested.

There was a manufactory of coarse cotton cloth in the town, to considerable extent; and great quantity of poultry, esteemed the best in Egypt, was bred here, and sent down to Cairo. The reason is plain, the great export from Achmim is wheat; all the country about it is sown with that grain, and the crops are superior to any in Egypt. Thirty-two grains pulled from the ear was equal to forty-nine of the best Barbary wheat gathered in the same season; a prodigious disproportion, if it holds throughout. The wheat, however, was not much more forward in Upper Egypt, than that lower down the country, or farther northward. It was little more than four inches high, and sown down to the very edge of the water.

The people _here_ wisely pursuing agriculture, so as to produce wheat in the greatest quantity, have dates only about their houses, and a few plantations of sugar cane near their gardens. As soon as they have reaped their wheat, they sow for another crop, before the sun has drained the moisture from the ground. Great plenty of excellent fish is caught here at Achmim, particularly a large one called the Binny, a figure of which I have given in the Appendix. I have seen them about four feet long, and one foot and a half broad.

The people seemed to be very peaceable, and well disposed, but of little curiosity. They expressed not the least surprise at seeing my large quadrant and telescopes mounted. We passed the night in our tent upon the river side, without any sort of molestation, though the men are reproached with being very great thieves. But seeing, I suppose, by our lights, that we were awake, they were afraid.

The women seldom marry after sixteen; we saw several with child, who they said were not eleven years old. Yet I did not observe that the men were less in size, less vigorous and active in body, than in other places. This, one would not imagine from the appearance these young wives make. They are little better coloured than a corpse, and look older at sixteen, than many English women at sixty, so that you are to look for beauty here in childhood only.

Achmim appears to be the Panopolis of the ancients, not only by its latitude, but also by an inscription of a very large triumphal arch, a few hundred yards south of the convent. It is built with marble by the Emperor Nero, and is dedicated in a Greek inscription, ΠΑΝΙ ΘΕΩ. The columns that were in its front are broken and thrown away; the arch itself is either sunk into the ground, or overturned on the side, with little separation of the several pieces.

The 24th of December we left Achmim, and came to the village Shekh Ali on the west, two miles and a quarter distant. We then passed Hamdi, about the same distance farther south; Aboudarac and Salladi on the east; then Salladi Garbieh, and Salladi Shergieh on the east and west, as the names import; and a number of villages, almost opposite, on each side of the river.

At three o’clock in the afternoon we arrived at Girgé, the largest town we had seen since we left Cairo; which, by the latitude Ptolemy has very rightly placed it in, should be the Diospolis Parva, and not Gawa, as Mr Norden makes it. For this we know is the beginning of the Diospolitan nome, and is near a remarkable crook of the Nile, as it should be. It is also on the western side of the river, as Diospolis was, and at a proper distance from Dendera, the ancient Tentyra, a mark which cannot be mistaken.

The Nile makes a kind of loop here; is very broad, and the current strong. We passed it with a wind at north; but the waves ran high as in the ocean. All the country, on both sides of the Nile, to Girgé, is but one continued grove of palm-trees, in which are several villages a small distance from each other, Doulani, Consaed, Deirout, and Berdis, on the west side; Welled Hallifi, and Beni Haled, on the east.

The villages have all a very picturesque appearance among the trees, from the many pigeon-houses that are on the tops of them. The mountains on the east begin to depart from the river, and those on the west to approach nearer it. It seems to me, that, soon, the greatest part of Egypt on the east side of the Nile, between Achmim and Cairo, will be desert; not from the rising of the ground by the mud, as is supposed, but from the quantity of sand from the mountains, which covers the mould or earth several feet deep. This 24th of December, at night, we anchored between two villages, Beliani and Mobanniny.

Next morning, the 25th, impatient to visit the greatest, and most magnificent scene of ruins that are in Upper Egypt, we set out from Beliani, and, about ten o’clock in the forenoon, arrived at Dendera. Although we had heard that the people of this place were the very worst in Egypt, we were not very apprehensive. We had two letters from the Bey, to the two principal men there, commanding them, as they would answer with their lives and fortunes, to have a special care that no mischief befel us; and likewise a very pressing letter to Shekh Hamam at Furshout, in whose territory we were.

I pitched my tent by the river side, just above our bark, and sent a message to the two principal people, first to the one, then to the other, desiring them to send a proper person, for I had to deliver to them the commands of the Bey. I did not choose to trust these letters with our boatman; and Dendera is near half a mile from the river. The two men came after some delay, and brought each of them a sheep; received the letters, went back with great speed, and, soon after, returned with a horse and three asses, to carry me to the ruins.

Dendera is a considerable town at this day, all covered with thick groves of palm-trees, the same that Juvenal describes it to have been in his time. Juvenal himself must have seen it, at least once, in passing, as he himself died in a kind of honourable exile at Syene, whilst in command there.

_Terga fugæ celeri, præstantibus omnibus instant,_
_Qui vicina colunt umbrosæ Tentyra palmæ._
JUV. Sat. 15. v. 75

This place is governed by a cacheff appointed by Shekh Hamam. A mile south of the town, are the ruins of two temples, one of which is so much buried under ground, that little of it is to be seen; but the other, which is by far the most magnificent, is entire, and accessible on every side. It is also covered with hieroglyphics, both within and without, all in relief; and of every figure, simple and compound, that ever has been published, or called an hieroglyphic.

The form of the building is an oblong square, the ends of which are occupied by two large apartments, or vestibules, supported by monstrous columns, all covered with hieroglyphics likewise. Some are in form of men and beasts; some seem to be the figures of instruments of sacrifice, while others, in a smaller size, and less distinct form, seem to be inscriptions in the current hand of hieroglyphics, of which I shall speak at large afterwards. They are all finished with great care.

The capitals are of one piece, and consist of four huge human heads, placed back to back against one another, with bat’s ears, and an ill-imagined, and worse-executed, fold of drapery between them.

Above these is a large oblong square block, still larger than the capitals, with four flat fronts, disposed like pannels, that is, with a kind of square border round the edges, while the faces and fronts are filled with hieroglyphics; as are the walls and ceilings of every part of the temple. Between these two apartments in the extremities, there are three other apartments, resembling the first, in every respect, only that they are smaller.

The whole building is of common white stone, from the neighbouring mountains, only those two in which have been sunk the pirns for hanging the outer doors, (for it seems they had doors even in those days) are of granite, or black and blue porphyry.

The top of the temple is flat, the spouts to carry off the water are monstrous heads of sphinxes; the globes with wings, and the two serpents, with a kind of shield or breast-plate between them, are here frequently repeated, such as we see them on the Carthaginian medals.

The hieroglyphics have been painted over, and great part of the colouring yet remains upon the stones, red, in all its shades, especially that dark dusky colour called Tyrian Purple; yellow, very fresh; sky-blue (that is, near the blue of an eastern sky, several shades lighter than ours); green of different shades; these are all the colours preserved.

I could discover no vestiges of common houses in Dendera more than in any other of the great towns in Egypt. I suppose the common houses of the ancients, in these warm countries, were constructed of very slight materials, after they left their caves in the mountains. There was indeed no need for any other. Not knowing the regularity of the Nile’s inundation, they never could be perfectly secure in their own minds against the deluge; and this slight structure of private buildings seems to be the reason so few ruins are found in the many cities once built in Egypt. If there ever were any other buildings, they must be now covered with the white sand from the mountains, for the whole plain to the foot of these is o’erflowed, and in cultivation. It was no part, either of my plan or inclination, to enter into the detail of this extraordinary architecture. Quantity, and solidity, are two principal circumstances that are seen there, with a vengeance.

It strikes and imposes on you, at first sight, but the impressions are like those made by the size of mountains, which the mind does not retain for any considerable time after seeing them; I think, a very ready hand might spend six months, from morning to night, before he could copy the hieroglyphics in the inside of the temple. They are, however, in several combinations, which have not appeared in the collection of hieroglyphics. I wonder that, being in the neighbourhood, as we are, of Lycopolis, we never see a wolf as an hieroglyphic; and nothing, indeed, but what has some affinity to water; yet the wolf is upon all the medals, from which I apprehend that the worship of the wolf was but a modern superstition.