The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-30 00:00:00

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PRICE 7D.

EGYPTIAN MUMMIES.

(From a French Paper.) "
Having lately come from Egypt; where I so-
journed for one year, I felt it my duty to read at-
tentively the letter of M. Pariset,. respecting that
country, and as some of the propositions therein

are cantradictory to the information which I have
collected, I think it right to reply to them.
M. Pariset considers the embalming of
mummies merely as a means of salubrity re-

qnired by the climate and situation of the country,
Ltnd full Of that idea, he pickles, embalms, and
conveys to the tombs of the deserts and to the
catacombs, all the dead bodies of Egypt, which
he would there preserve from the plague,_which,
however, he says, must return as soon as they
cease to practice the method ofpreservation which
he points out. A little knowledge of the country,
and a visit to the catacombs, would hi\tve ex-

piained to him how devoid of a good foundation
his
,system is. The habitable land of Egypt is
a long gilt, or . tract of land occasionally wide,
but always lying between two deserts. I sup-
pose that here are to be found the true and only
cemeteries of the country, without reckoning those
to be found in every city and village, built on
hills, raised above the waters, and proportioned
to the population who used to take refuge there
during the inundations. We must go up to
Thebais before we discover the custom of laying
the dead in the hollows of the mountains. Lower
Egypt, where the mass of the,population must
have been, had no such resource.
I think the practice of embalming was always
reserved for the rich folk. The operation was
tedious,• and required at least.thirty immersions
in the water- of natron. It was also expensive,
if we may judge from the quantity of pitch,
bandages, and amulets deposited in the interior
of the mummy, and finally by the coffins some-
times three, which received the body.
M. Pariset; still pursuing his hygienic hypo-
thesis, subjects the bodies of animals, which died
during the inundation, to the same operation,
and deposits .these, salted and embalmed, beside
their masters. He must have been led to adopt
that ,notion..by reading in some histories that
Egypt contains vast heaps of embalmed animals.
But what proves that, at least- as regarded
brutes, the embalming was a religious pre-
cept is, that it is alWays the same animals,
reputed , sacred, that are to be found in
these vast charnel houses. I have carefully
examined those situated near the pyramid of
Zakkarah, and have always seen the Ibis cats,
and sometimes cameleons, but never any other
domestic animals, of which there must have been
abundance in Egypt, in the days of its glory.
M. Pariset seems embarrassed by the number of
bodies which the Delta must have received in
consequence of battles. But he may rest at
ease on this point, for the Delta is such. that
it could never have been the theatre of great
battles. Perhaps, after all, they used to bury. in
Egypt, as they still do there and everywhere else,
and that the dryness of the attriosphere.,, the
nature of the soil, impregnated with narron,
which received the bodies, and the Contilittfite
of the etesian winds, were sufficient to arrest the
pestilential results of the decomposition of such
masses of animal matter.
• In order to be consistent:with himself, M. Pa-
riset haS, after establishing it as a principle, that
the embalming Of bodies preserved Egypt from
pestilence, concluded that pestilence broke out
there from want of embalming, and consequently
that pestilence brings on and generates pestilence ;
but if this new system were true, it would follow
that a frightf'ul progress should have been made
for a long time, which would extirpate the po-
pulation of Egypt ; but happily facts, well ascer-
tained, show the falsity of this system. Very
seldom is one year of pestilence at Cairo followed
by another of the same deadly description—nay,
after one year of great mortality, they are confi-
dent for some time of safety: The last plague of
Egypt carried away, according to some 90,000
souls.; according to others, 30,000 ; end since
then the malady has not appeared. The plague,
then, must proceed from other causes than the
putridity arising from the non-embalming of
bodies.

But it is much easier to state that which does
not engender pestilence, than that which does
engender it in Egypt. It may be inferred, how,
ever, that it does not originate in this country,
and that M. Pariset has advanced an ill-founded
assertion, NN hen he made Egypt the cradle of
this malady, which is, I am disposed to believe,
a sad and melancholy honour which must be left
to Turkey in. Europe. In fact, the plague is
permanent at Constantinople, very frequent at
Alexandria, which is in continual contact with
this capital, and very rare at Cairo, of which
Alexandria thus becomes the lazaretto. When
it arrives directly at Cairo from Turkey it is
dangerous : when propagated through Egypt it
is frightful. Besides this scourge, as capricious
in its march as it is mortal in its effects, drives
away science and observation. It carries its
ravages every where and all at once, or rather,
circumscribing itself, it depopulate's Cairo and
spares Boulac, which is its fauxbourg ; it depo-
pulates Rosetta, and confines itself there. Dur-
ing the occupation of our first army, it destroyed
our soldiers and spared the inhabitants ; but on
its re-appearance in the third year, it respected
Frenchmen, and struck its deadly blow upon the
natives almost exclusively. After the departure
of the French army, it left Egypt in repose for a
long period.
Winter rains and a greatinundation are looked
upon in general as the precursors of this dread•
ful visitation ; and yet sometimes it has happen•
ed, that during the prevalence of both these
causes united, there was no disagreeable result.
In support of his opinion that the plague ori-
ginates in Egypt, M. Pariset speaks of the losses
sustained by our army in the East, but he can-
not be aware of the medical history of that army,
published by M. Desgenettes, who was physi-
cian-in-chief. He would there see, to his as-
tonishment no doubt, that our army consisted of
30,000 men, and during three years' sojourn,
only 1,683 individuals perished by, plague, of
which the greater part was in Syria; that the
21st Regiment of Light Infantry, stationed
almost always in Upper Egypt, lost only 2C
men out of the 2,000 of which it consisted.--
We shall, add, by way of interesting informa-
tion, and in compliment to the climate of Egypt,.
as well as out of admiration for our army, that
during its sojourn in this country, the whole

athount of deaths wa.s 0n1y1a,915 Ater— What
army in Europe, of equal numbers, suffered so
little loss ?

A lone and learnitse:diebastreesidt:iileeNro,e,nn,
wlpoaictrthaliicotituielrasrcoo:uhdlaid:
alone arrive it positive; Stations: The climate
Pl:icfarEregY4rulFca4maticilabbe;ie to its indigenous produc-
tions, it rejects and destroys every thing trans-
planted into it. The produce of Europe soon
decays there, and even men, strangers to the
soil, can scarcely perpetuate their species,
as has been observed by Volney ; and per-
haps this is one Of the causes of the continual
despotism which has blasted this beautiful coun-,
try, in which the masters have never been
brought up with their slaves. As it may be sd-
tnitted that the son of Mehemet Ali will suc
ceed his father in his Government, we shall then
be able to see if the inheritance will be profitable
to the unhappy Egyptian ; and if delivered by
the parent from the pillage.of the Mamelukes, lie
will also, by the son who has succeeded him, be
freed from the ruinous monopoly.

B. C. D. V.

THE BREAKWATER.

(FrOm the Plymouth Journal. )

Our statement that a great saving to the public
was likely to result from the visit of the Lord
High Admiral to that important national under.*
taking, the Breakwater, has, we are aware, caused
much speculation, and excited many doubts and
fears. The 'speculation has been, as to the
means whereby such, a saving could be effected ;
the doubts have been, as to the practicability of
any of the plans which suggested themselves ;
and the fears - have been., lest the work should be
stopped altogether; or that the adoption of some
new plan would so ' far tbrovi back the work,
that many years would berequired to bring it
again to its present superior state of organizati ono.
To give a proper turn to these speculations, td
remove the
.doubts and ease the- fears," would
have been an easy task to us in the first instance :
and we should have done so, but that we held it
our duty previously to sift the matter to the
.bot-
tom, and to lay none but authentic information,
before our readers. Having obtained such infor-
mation we now hasten to relieve ell doubts
upon the subject.
For several years past, much powerful interest
has been used for the erection of a battery of 20
guns on the western arm of the Breakwater, near
the intended light-house, and there was every
probability that such an arrangement would b;,,;
carried into effect.- To have done this properly/
the base of the. Breakwater must hive been con-
siderably extended on the north side, so as to
give breadth-for the -erection of a barrack-room,
store-house, and Magazine, without which 'a bat-
tery would be useless ; and-to have effected this
extension in 66 feet of water, would have re-
quired many hundred thousand tons of stone,
and an immensity of time and labour. Besides.
owing to the exposure of the situation, where
the sea in a. south-west gale breaks full 30 feet
-high-,-tlle base of the building must be at least
that height to render --it tenantable. Taking all
these matters into consideration, it will be found
that the proposed 'appeUdite to the Break Wafer
could not, at the most moderate calculation, be
executed for less than 300,0001. In this point
it is that the saving is proposed. The subject
was very minutely entered into by the Lord
High Admiral and Sir Thomas. Byam Martin .
and the result of their examination was, that a
floating battery would answer-all the purposes, at
one-hundreth part of the expense. A ship
of war woofed within the Breakwater would
i'. serve as a -convenient receiver for-seamen end
stores, and at the same time present to an
i enemy a battery of 50 guns. Such is the plan
by which it is proposed to effect an important
• saving of public money, and ive doubt not that it
will meet the approval of all who maturely and
i fairly consider the subject. We should never
vote for the curtailment of public works, when
r we consider that-they promote public good ; but
if the same end can be obtained for one shilling,
upon which twenty shillings may plausibly be
expended, we must not hesitate to vote
.for the
• one shilling plan.

for
rt
hhieteldewreoscautclird
There is, moreover, a stronger objection to the
or
h
oende oxbfpyoa
ale)lalttotneadr yt
nations--the
t iahgtti
huthe
:a,lhu pis
cel n
on
th
light to guide the mariner in his trackless course.
course. If in warfare, shot he fired from a light-
house, or its immediate neighbourhood, as a re-
turn in kind may be expected, it is impossible to
foresee, although it is easy to imagine, the ex -
tent of injury which may result to mankind.
Lighthouses should ever be on neutral ground—
they should ever be held sacred. Therefore we
must condemn at once, without entering into the
question of pecuniary cost, the plan which would
place a battery beside a lighthouse. The plan,
no doubt, was dictated by the best of motives,
but it is, nevertheless, indisputably bad. It can-
not stand a. moment iii comparison with that of
the floating battery now suggested, and which
can be effected at an infinitely smaller expence.

AFFAIR OF HONOUR.--It is rumoured in
the circles of ton, that a certain Worthy Baronet, who
does not reside at any great distance from this shrine of
health and pleasure, meeting an Ex-Banker, who is als
well known here, used such language towards him, relative
to a late failure, as is said, no gentleman could patiently
bear. ThiS intemperate effusion, so runs the report, called
forth, not only an immediate reply equally intemperate,
but shortly afterwards a billet, not a billet dour, but ✓hat
is politely ycleped "a challenge." We have not yet heard
whether the friends of the parties have interposed, or
whether the honourable contest is to take place.—Chelten-
ham Chronicle.

A few days ago, a gentleman and an Hiber-
nian were riding together on the top of the Newark and
Grantham coach, when the foirna missing his hatulkir-
chief, very rashly charged his felloir traveller with having
stolen it, but soon findilig it agaiiii he had the good manners
,
to beg pardon for the affront, saying, it was a mistake ; t)
which honest Pat replied with the
greatest. readiness,
"
" Arrah my dear then, it was a mutual mistake, you took
me for a thief, and I took yon for $ gildsman!

years ago was Curate
rwho was evidently
ind, said he could rest
BANEFUL EFFECTS OF SUPERSTITION.---
A few days ago, an old man, who resides at Chesterfield,
el
sil:eodp ia-
visited this town for the purpose of mking the advice and
prayers of a Clergyman, who some
olafbothuerinfogrmeundreprlagcre;at
.dTishtereopooorf
neither night nor day. It appeared he bad by some means
incurred the displeasure of an old woman, who lives in'the
same neighbourhood, and he said she had bewitched him.
no
oe
argument
gas.
mfuelnl yt
o;impressedentreaties with
were
ee
availableidea
osh she
alter
supernatural powbr, to torment her fellow creatures, and
nion. —Sheffield Courant.

From the attacks recently made on the boats
laden with flout' between this town and Carrick-on-Suir,
it was found nessary to have a party of (the 88th) soldiers
stationed in the old Castle of Poulakerry. On Sunday
night some daring villain fired a shot through one of the
port-holes, which is about six feet from the ground, and
in the direction where the soldiers slept---the shot unfor-
tunately struck the sentinel on duty in the arm, shattered
the bone, and rendered amputation necessary on Monday.
This operation was skilfully performed by Surgeon Dum-
breck of the 88tla, and the poor felloW, we have just heard,
is going on as well as can be expected. We trust the har-
dened perpetrator of this wanton deed will speedily be de-
tected.— Tipperary Free Press.