Chapter XIX

Antiquities of Agharmy. — Ruins of a Temple. — Ancient Palace. — Acropolis of the Oasis. — Tombs of the Ammonians. — Interior of Siwah. — Ruins of Beled er-Roum. — Many Ruins around Siwah. — Preparations for Departure.

Riding due east from the large town of Siwah, through cultivated fields well covered with green crops of young wheat, we came to an artesian well, which for perhaps thousands of years has watered this part of the plain. The water rises in a circular basin of ancient workmanship, which is admirably built with large dressed stones, from whence it flows by channels running in different directions. It is not very deep, and the volume of water which it discharges is so small, that it was emptied in two days, some few years ago, by persons in search of treasure. All, or nearly all, the walls of Siwah are of the same description; they were once more numerous than they now are; but the mechanical genius of the present inhabitants is so deficient that some of the wells, even within the memory of man, have been allowed to get stopped up by the falling in of their sides—one, for instance, on a hill to the south, to which medicinal virtues were ascribed. A circumstance which seemed to me worth recording is, that after a shock of an earthquake (and shocks occur here at intervals of about twenty years), the supply of water becomes more abundant; and even old wells have been reopened by the convulsion.

After passing this well, we proceeded directly to Agharmy (اغرمي), the modern name of the old acropolis of the Oasis. I had received several visits from the Sheikh of Agharmy, who had shown himself always very friendly; he had, in fact, on the death of his father, become a ward of Yusuf’s. He had promised to show me all that his town contained; but the jealousy of prying foreigners is such, that notwithstanding the presence of the soldiers, and the good words of the Sheikh, I should have left Siwah without seeing its most remarkable monument, as all my predecessors had done before me, but for the information given me by the Gibely. He had joined my party as a volunteer, with the secret intention, I believe, of watching my movements, in the hope that he should thus obtain some useful hints concerning the places where the hoards of the unbelievers, which he is firmly persuaded are concealed in all old ruins, ought to be dug for.

Agharmy is built on the platform of a lofty rock, which rises abruptly from the level of the surrounding gardens. It is entered only by a single gateway, from which a very steep winding road leads up into the town. A guard is stationed at the door to prevent the admission of any individual of the Lifayah, who, though only living at a distance of three quarters of an hour, are never allowed to enter it. This precaution is adopted in consequence of an old feud; the Lifayah having fifty or sixty years ago seized the town and expelled its inhabitants, who in turn, after several years of warfare, surprised the conquerors with the aid of the Gharbyin, and having recovered possession, they established sentinels, who still, day and night, guard the gate. A shed is built just without it, in which any of the Lifayah who wish to see inhabitants of Agharmy must wait, while a message is sent to fetch the person who is inquired for; and from this rule not even the Mufti is excepted. The ascent is closed by a second door, through which I passed, and presently arrived at a deep well, which I was assured is all that the town has to show in the way of antiquity. It is circular, built of regular layers of masonry, with stairs descending on the north side. Diodorus mentions a well, lying not far from the oracle, in which the animals for the sacrifice were washed; and this is undoubtedly the same, as evidenced by its ancient workmanship, and its being the only one in the place. It is about fifty feet deep, and is said to be fed by the waters of seven springs, which issue from the base of the rock on which the town is built. A few large stones, remains of ancient building, are imbedded in some of the modern cabins near this. When I had visited these, the Sheikh assured me that there was nothing more to be seen in the place; and being unwilling to provoke unnecessary jealousy, I was satisfied to return. Proceeding ten minutes to the south, I reached Omm Beida, that second Ammonium, which is mentioned as lying not far from the town. It is still very much in the condition in which it was found by Hornemann and M. Linaut de Bellefond, the author of the description published under the name of M. Drovetti, to whom he communicated it on his return.

All that remains of this temple are, one lintel of the doorway, and part of what seems to have been the outer chamber which led to the sanctuary. My measures give twenty-three feet eight inches for the height of the remaining walls, and the inside width is fifteen feet nine inches. The roof is formed by blocks of stone, stretching from wall to wall, on each of which are two royal vultures, displayed side by side, holding swords or feathers in their claws, with bands of stars along the edges. The walls, of a limestone filled with shells, quarried in a neighbouring hill, are covered with sculptures, stuccoed and painted blue and green. These sculptures are in six bands, the fourth from the ground being filled with perpendicular lines of hieroglyphics. The others are rows of figures, the gods of the Egyptian mythology, who occupy the three lower bands, diminishing in size in each successive band from the ground. The only seated figure is the ram-headed Ammon, in the third row. Above this, is a procession of figures bearing offerings; and over this, a line of hawks, each bearing the jackal-headed stick, and above its head the globe, with the serpent issuing from it. The edifice is raised on a platform of rock; some of the walls which surrounded the inner inclosure can still be traced; but I could find no certain indication of the outer wall, which was formerly visible in the north-east corner. At the end of the platform, immediately in a line with the existing building, is a subterraneous passage, which probably marks the position of the sanctuary, as it would serve for the oracle. Some large masses of alabaster are scattered about this part of the ruins, which have been dug up in all directions by those most persevering of antiquarians the treasure-seekers.

Some visitor of ancient or modern times has left his name on the walls; and as I thought the vanity of seeking such a doubtful notoriety excusable in this place, I copied it. In large roman letters it is written—“AMIRO.” Who, or of what age, Mr. Amiro was, nothing indicated. A few yards to the south-by-south-west of Omm Beida is the celebrated fountain of the sun, a large pond, in several parts of which the water bubbles up, as if boiling. It has a saltish taste, and the thermometer in it marked 85°, that of the external atmosphere being 78°, affording thus a very appreciable degree of warmth in the cold nights of the desert. At a short distance, eastward from the ruins, is a place where, not many years ago, extensive excavations were made by a Turkish Governor, as usual, in search of treasure; his labour was rewarded by finding a bronze lion and three statues of the same metal, though called, by my native informants, gold. Returning from Omm Beida to Agharmy, I found, in a garden to the left, ruins of a temple-like building, consisting of two chambers; the first of which was twenty-two feet by seventeen, the second twelve feet by seventeen. They are built of very large stones, and on one side are fragments of fluted columns, but no capitals, nor anything which, as far as we saw, without digging, would indicate whether or not they belonged to a portico.

I was now able to examine the town, as seen from the exterior, occupying its lofty table-rock. I was astonished, as well as pleased, to perceive in its outer wall, on the north side, a large piece of ancient building in perfect condition. This, as far as I am aware, has not been remarked by any previous traveller, and I eagerly inquired if there were any appearance of buildings connected with this within the town. I was assured that nothing was visible in the interior, houses being built against it; but information which I derived from the Gibely induced me to return to the town a few days later, and I now proceed to describe the results of my second visit.

After passing the wall, a steep street to the right leads round a large group of houses, in some of which I remarked ancient foundations, and thence one reaches a very massive wall, built of large stones. A doorway has been broken in this leading into the court of a house. At my request this door was opened, and I found myself in the forecourt of a temple or palace, now divided in its breadth by a modern wall. On entering, to the right and left are two immense doorways, now walled up, with a pure Egyptian outline and well-cut cornice, but unadorned with hieroglyphics. This court now measures sixteen feet by ten feet, but in its original state it must have been nearly twenty feet wide. After much parley, the door to the right was opened, and to my astonishment I found myself in an apartment very low and dark, but whose sides were covered with hieroglyphics. A modern wall divides it in length into two chambers, and a flooring seemed to have been added to make a second story. Having penetrated so far, and being told there were no women in the house, I went up-stairs, where I found the sculptures continued on the wall up to a heavy projecting cornice, above which the wall is undecorated. A window in the end of the second chamber on this floor enabled me to see that it was the wall of this building which I had seen from below. This chamber, in its original dimensions, is about twenty-four feet long by fourteen broad, and twenty-one high, and from its cornice, which seems calculated to support a ceiling, I presume it consisted of two stories. In the upper and further room, as it at present exists, I found on the right a passage, made in the thickness of the walls, eight feet in length by two in width, which may have served as a place of concealment, there being no egress from it. In the lower room, on the left, is also a small chamber, about six feet by four feet, which seems to have formed a cupboard or some such repository.

Here, as at Omm Beida, I could see no appearance of a cartouche among the sculptures on the walls; but I might have overlooked them, if any such exist, as only a cursory examination was reluctantly granted me by my guides; the walls, moreover, were perfectly blackened by smoke, and the only light we had was that of a flaring palm-branch. Leaving this building by the door by which I had entered, and turning round its exterior, I found the remaining part of the wall of the court, with another large doorway, similar to those I had already seen. Proceeding southwards from this I came upon indications of walls, and from the edge of a hill of rubbish to which I had advanced, I saw the wall just below my feet. I now turned away, leaving the western door of the old building I had entered behind me, and after a few steps came to a gigantic gateway (under which the road passes) of less finished, though good workmanship, and formed of stones of Cyclopean size. Other antiquities may probably exist among the houses, but my time was so short, and the unwillingness of the people to allow me to push my investigations further was so great, that I was unable to make a more satisfactory examination of the locality.

Agharmy is undoubtedly the ancient Acropolis of the Oasis, as it is described by Diodorus Siculus. He says that it had three walls, the first inclosing the palace of the kings; the second the women’s apartments (the harem) and the oracle; the third containing the habitation of the guards—this is, I believe, from Quintus Curtius; having no means of examining the originals, I quote at second-hand or from memory. I suppose that the building still so well preserved is a part of the palace of the kings; and if the three walls are understood as having been not concentric, but the chords of a curve dividing the inclosure into three (the only reading which I think admissible), we have the present town nearly exhibiting the distribution of the old Acropolis. A wall, now principally formed of houses, runs round the edge of the table-rock, and the town can only be entered by a steep ascent on the south-east. At the extremity of this, where the present guard is lodged, I suppose was drawn the first wall, defended by the barracks of the Satellites. In the space beyond this were the palace of the women and the temple, near the well which still exists, separated by a wall (one of whose massive gateways I passed under) from the royal palace.

Outside the town, in the rock on which it is built, and nearly beneath the remains of what I call the palace, is a cave eight feet by six feet, which seems to have been formerly the mouth of a passage cut in the rock, a postern from the Acropolis. The abruptness of the sides of the rock, the fragments scattered round its base, the springs which flow from beneath, the apricots and pomegranate trees with their lively shade around it, render the exterior view of Agharmy a most picturesque desert scene.

I spent an afternoon on the Gara el Musaberin, the hill of mummies, which lies to the north-east of the town. Its surface is literally, in every part, cut into caves, all of which seem to have been violated by the Siwy, those ransackers of tombs. In many there are still heaps of bones, in general bleached by the sun; and in two I found fragments of well-preserved remains, wrapt in a coarse cotton cloth, with stripes of bright red and blue. Several of these tombs exhibit great care in their execution, not a few, towards the summit, have decorated portals, and many are plastered with a fine stucco, on which are traces of painting in blue or red. The Ammonians seem to have interred their dead without coffins, as there are no remnants of wood scattered among the graves; and those who told me of their discoveries here and in once cultivated tracts to the west (though they had found many mummies), never seem to have met with them in coffins.[10]

To the south of Siwah is a curious hill called Gibel el Beyruh, formed of five cones. It contains several excavations, which have been used as tombs, but which seem to have been originally the quarries whence the stone, for building the temple was taken. There was formerly a spring here, celebrated for its medicinal virtues, but now sanded up, called ’Ain el Handalieh.

Accompanied by the brother of the Mufti, the only one of the Sheikhs of the Lifayah whom I could trust, I went to see the town proper of Siwah. We first went to the date yards (mestahh, مستاح), in which the dates are piled up in great heaps, the ground being divided by stones, which distinguish each individual’s property. These stone places are three in number, and lie in the plain to the north of the town; they are surrounded by a wall, with a gate to each, one belonging to the Gharbyin, one to the Lifayah, and the centre one to members of both communities. They said that thus left exposed to the sun and air the dates will keep for a long time, neither subject to decay nor to the attacks of insects.

Crossing the open space which separates the mestahh from the foot of the town, we passed the chapel of Sidi Suleiman, who is the most venerated Marābut of this place; he seems, indeed, to have succeeded, in the estimation of the surrounding Arabs, to the old sanctity of Ammon. All disputes and lawsuits, which in Moslem jurisprudence are decided by the oaths of the parties, are adjourned to Sidi Suleiman for decision; and many who fear not to swear falsely by God and his Prophet will speak the truth here, as the Sheikh is said never to have left a false oath sworn in his name unpunished.

From this place, entering by a flight of steps one of the fourteen doors, I was introduced into the interior of the town. A servant carried a lamp, which I soon found quite necessary, for without a light no one unacquainted with the locality could find his way through the dark lanes which run through the town. The principal street, some ten feet wide by seven or eight feet high, runs round the rock which forms the nucleus of this agglomeration of houses; from this branch other streets, seldom more than four feet wide, and so low that one must bend the head to pass through them. There are four wells, two saltish, and two of sweet water; into two of them the light is allowed to enter, the houses being built round, not over them. Excepting here, neither air nor light enter the town from above; it is not, therefore, wonderful that every year Siwah is visited by a typhoid fever, whose virulence is so great that during its continuance no stranger ventures to approach the Oasis.

Having made the round of the place, and tasted the waters of its wells, I was not sorry to return to sunlight, and again to breathe a less stifling atmosphere. We now turned eastward, and crossed a space surrounded by houses and containing some booths for the market which is held here during the date season; the space is called Sebucha (سبوخه). We then entered a very pretty grove of palm-trees, dotted with the summer residences of the wealthier inhabitants, and thence in five minutes reached the small town of Menshich (منشيه), built on level ground, and for the most part in ruins. It was then completely deserted, all the inhabitants having, on the approach of the soldiers, removed into Siwah.

Excepting the foundations of some of the houses on the Gara, the western extremity of the town, in which I was lodged (where a layer or two of masonry or cuttings in the rock may sometimes be remarked), I saw no traces of antiquity in any of the buildings, but, as of old, the houses are built with blocks of rock salt, sometimes almost pure, cemented together with mud. From the dryness of the climate this kind of wall is perfectly solid, and will even resist artillery, the ball driving in only so much of the material as will give it a passage. The reader must not, however, imagine that the buildings of Siwah display the glittering appearance which the fairy-like palaces in some of the German salt-mines present. To the eye nothing is apparent but the mud with which they are plastered, and they most prosaically resemble the rudest village structures in Egypt.

The only excursion in the neighbourhood which I could make was to Beled er-Roum, of whose ruins, and the treasures concealed in them, I had heard extraordinary accounts from the natives. It lies nearly north by north-west from Siwah, the road leading over a causeway, built, I believe, by a former governor, across the salt lake which bounds Siwah on this side. The water is shallow, and from the film of crystallised salt which covers it to a considerable distance, it has the appearance of being frozen. Passing through groves of palms and olives, we came in an hour and a half to a large mass of shapeless ruins, built of sandstone and salt, called Dāhĭba. An hour further through hills, all of them containing cave-tombs, brought us to Beled er-Roum. We first came upon a collection of small ruins, built of unburnt bricks, in one of which are two well-turned vaults. In the rocks close to them are some well-executed tombs, and I am inclined to ascribe a similar use to these buildings, which may date from about the second century; the people call them the houses of the infidels. A little further on are the ruins of the temple, which, with a disposition resembling the Egyptian, is of almost pure Doric architecture, without a trace of hieroglyphics, and the stones of which it is built are only two feet six inches by one foot. The cornice of the sanctuary, or furthest apartment, is composed of four flutings; that of the exterior room is one very large curve, whose outline is completely Doric. There remain now portions of only three rooms. The inner one, with two small windows, is sixteen feet five inches in breadth by fifteen feet six inches long. The centre room, with the same breadth, is only eight feet six inches long; and the exterior one, now in great part ruined, is fifteen feet eight inches long. Their height is eighteen feet seven inches. The roof of the inner compartment has fallen, and its masses encumber the sanctuary; of that of the second chamber there still remain four immense stones, stretching from wall to wall, like that of Omm Beida. The sanctuary is entered by a large doorway with pilasters, and the space is narrowed by short square pillars, with very broad capitals, which almost touch, so that the passage left is only broad enough for one person, while above there is formed by the summit of the capitols, a sort of window cut off the height of the door. In front, and in a line with the remaining building, extends a long substructure, the foundation of the remainder of the temple, which seems to have three times exceeded the fragment which is preserved, and about thirty yards further on is an extensive vaulted subterranean, running at right angles to the line of the temple.

All these buildings undergo continual dilapidations through the researches of the treasure-seekers; and it is probable that, at no distant date, this temple will in this manner be entirely destroyed; for it unfortunately happens that treasure, enclosed in a box of obir-wood, is supposed to exist somewhere within the stones which form the roof. I was shown a Moghraby manuscript, containing detailed directions where to seek for treasures, and stating of what they consisted.

Other antiquities exist in places round Siwah, their distance varying from six hours to two days; but I was kept in such uncertainty as to the time when we were to leave, and I was so unwilling to take the responsibility of detaining the troops, that I gave up my intention of visiting them. Mummies are not unfrequently found in subterranean repositories built in the sand of a Hattyeh five hours distant to the west; and in these graves glass or earthenware vessels are sometimes discovered. There is a place called Dogha (دوغه), a day and a half to the east, never visited by the Siwy, of which I heard from a man who had reached it in tracking some lost camels. He said that there was there a temple like that of Omm Beida, in front of which were rows of warriors on horseback, cut in stone. These may, not impossibly, be sphinxes. He further told me that the earth in this Hattyeh is black, with a strong smell of sulphur when thrown on the fire. I should be inclined to suppose this may be a sulphate of some metal; the more so, that the Gibely told me a man had brought, he knew not from where, a handful of similar earth, which, when exposed to the heat of a furnace, left a button of a white metal in the bottom of the crucible. I think it is Caillaud who speaks of sulphur mines in Siwah; but though the hot springs and occasional earthquakes are a proof of volcanic action in this neighbourhood, no one I spoke with had any knowledge of the existence of either yellow or white sulphur.

At Beled er-Roum I spent an hour in the orchard of one of my friends; and in vain attempted to put this time to profit by learning the distinguishing marks of the different kinds of date-trees. It requires a very practised eye to discover the different varieties when not in fruit; the stems and leaves are so similar in all, that my guide was unable to point out the marks by which one is known from the other. The Siwah dates are of four kinds:—the waddy وُدي, used for feeding cattle; the s’aïdy سعيدي, which, with water, are pressed into a cake; the gh’azaly غزالي, a long brown date; and, lastly, the most highly prized, the farechy فَِراخي, whose fruit is short, nearly white, and crisp, as if candied.[11]

This day there blew a violent chamsin wind, which raised clouds of sand, rendering it almost impossible for any one to see a few yards ahead, and against which spectacles were no protection. Nothing would have tempted me to brave it but the necessity of being ready to start on the following day. On my return, I announced to the Commandant that I had completed my tour of the antiquities; and would detain him no longer. My eyes and skin were still smarting from exposure to the wind; and I was, perhaps, a little annoyed when he answered that, Inshallah! we should start the day after to-morrow. But that day was Tuesday, a bad day for starting; the next, Wednesday, was still more unlucky; therefore, on Thursday, we were positively to go; and, early in the morning of that day, almost before dawn, came an officer to see if I were ready. By this time, I had learned a lesson in punctuality, and did not hurry myself; but by eight, my camels were being loaded, under the superintendence of one of the Buluk-bashis, who seemed now to think every five minutes of value. I knew that the eighty water-skins had not yet been filled, and looked forward to a departure late in the afternoon as the most that could be hoped for; but when at last, being fairly turned out of my house, I took refuge at the castle, I found there was to be a fresh palaver on the subject of the prisoners. I was now thoroughly tired of the question; and, like Falstaff, I was somewhat ashamed of the ragged regiment who were to be carried in my suite, so I told Hassan Aga he might do as he pleased on his own responsibility; whereupon, he took from them a written engagement to present themselves, one and all, at Cairo on that day month. I held my peace till all was done, and they were dismissed; after which I drily said to him, “I have no hand in the matter; not one of them will come.” And the event proved that I was right.

It was now too late in the day to think of starting; and, having made up my mind to preserve my good-humour, at least, as far as the Egyptian frontier, I adjourned with Hassan to the front of the castle, where a carpet was spread, and the officers, old and young, joined by several of the men, gave us the amusement of a game of the Jerid. I had never before seen this really graceful exercise; but it has been so often described that I refrain from speaking of it.