The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-05-12
Interesting Part Of Egypt.

THE REMAINS OF LAKE MERIs AND THE FA-
NOUS LABYRINTH-A NEW FIELD FOR
TRAVELLERS.
Correspondence New York Sun.
FAYoUM, March 2S-I have been resdina for
three weeks in this oasis, which lies about
seven miles to the southwest of Cairo. As il
is part of the country not often visited by
travellers, and is unique in its character and
full of historical traditions and associations, q
short account of it may be of interest to your
readers.
The Fayoum is most luxurious and fertile
district, surrounded by desert 1t measures
about twenty three miles, running north and
south, and tWenty-eight miles east and west.
1t lies twenty miles to the west of the Nile
valley, from which it is separated by low
range of the sandy Libyan hills On its ex-
IRENE western margin there is a large lake of
brackish water, thirty-fve miles long by seven
wide, called the Birket ell Kerym, beyond
which is the unexplored desert of the Sahara.
The remarkable feature of this lake is that
the level Of its waters is seventy feet below
| that of the Mediterranean, thus, In some re-
spects, resembling the Dead Sea- The most
elevated portion of the cultivated plateau of
the FayOum is 200 feet above the lake. The
consequences that it is the only part of Egypt
where there are brawling streams, picturesque
cascades, wooded gorges, lakes empowered in
trees, and scenic features which one does not
associate with the narrow valley and flat delta
OF the Nile, that compose the Egypt of our I'M
aginatons.
The Specification of the word Phiom in an
Gent Egyptian is march, and in extreme an
tiquity this was probably an accurate defini-
ton of this region. 1t was reclaimed, accord
ing to hieroglyphic records, by King Phiops
b. O. 5000, but It's celebrity dates from a later
period, when certain Amenhotep the Third,
B. g. $500, constructed the artificial Lake Moe
| ris, and built on its margin the tar famed Lab
yrinth, which was numbered by the ancients
among the seven wonders of the world
visited what remains of this marvellous strlct-
ure, which consisted, according to Herodotus,
of twelve courts and 5000 sets of chambers,
1900 above ground, and 800 beneath them
again underground. They did not open one
| into the other, but were entered from winding
| corridors which it was not possible to traverse
without guide. Situated on the confines of
| upper and lower Egypt, the Labyrinth was an
assemblage of courts where the grand councils
| of the nation were held, where the most sacred
| religious rites were celebrated, and from
| which as a central point the whole admins
| tration OF the country was carried on 1t is
| difficult to realize from a contemplation of it's
| present remains its former grandeur and mag
nificence. Placed at the edge of the desert,
| the chambers have long since been covered
| with sand, and beyond a fragment of papy-
! rus column, some carved blocks of granite a
| collection OF upper chambers of which the
crumbling crude brick walls alone remain.
nothing is LETT to indicate its ancient spendor.
| AT its northern extremity there's a pyramid
Of crude brick about $50 feet high, from which
a magnificent view is obtained over the whole
| oasis. The special interest which attaches to
| nh lac in no q. IL,
| est existing monument of the kind in Egypt.
having been erected by King Semempses,
whose tomb it is, about 400 years before the
pyramid of Ghizeh. The probability is that
excavations here on large scale would reveal
a buried metropolis, such as has been dis
covered at Sakkara, besides the plan and
| chambers of the Labyrinth itself
But neither the pyramid nor the Labyrinth
is SO wonderful as the traces which still exist
| to indicate the limits of the ancient Lake
| M9ris, which formed a reservoir by which the
Irrigation OF the whole province could be reg
| ulated. This lake was constructed by King
| Amenhotep, who led into it the waters of tie
Bahr Yussef, an affluent of the Nile, which
leaves that river near Stout, and after course
of 200 miles, is conducted through depression
OF the Llbyan Chain into the Fayoum The
bed OF Lake Mprls is now a vast fertile plain
covered with groves of date trees and will
fields of beans and cereals, but in old time il
measured sixty miles in circumference, wa:
twenty feet in depth, and navigated by boats
which in those days could sail into the FAY
cum from the Nile. Some idea of the stipend
Gus character of the work may be formed from
the fact that the artificial dykes which retained
its waters must have been thirty miles long
and III places thirty feet high and a hundred
and fifty feet thick. The lock gates at lila
hoon, about eight miles distant, where there il
a pyramid still existing, must have been upo1
a scale commensurate with the rest of the I'm
Y dertaking, for we are informed by Diodoru
that it cost fifty talents, OF about 500 000 every
time they were opened This lake possessed
character OF sanctity as well as Of utility, TO
here was kept the sacred crocodile, which wa
an object OF special worship to the nhabitant
ofthe province, who, we are informed, fed i
upon the choicest dainties, and even went 81
far as to adorn it with necklaces and earrings
Indeed, the district was called the Crocodile
politan Nome from this circumstance.
Five miles distant from the Labyrinth ant
upon the opposite margin of the lake are TIN
extensive mounds of the ancient city Of Croco
dilOpOlls- ArsinOe. | lived in the immediate
nelghborhood of this interesting locality, an(
was never tired Of exploring the vast area 0
brickbats, potsherds, bones, and rags whcl
coyer the surface of the ground for seyera
square miles. From beneath these hug
mounds OF debris unearthed human bodie
still wound in wrappings of mummy cloth
with skin tightly drawn over their ribs, an
their hair still remaining, and exhumed man,
curious records Of the past; an old broom,
piece OF fishing net, fragments of glass bot
ties and OF many -colored glazed pottery, be
sides picking up numerous coins, none c
them older, however, than the Policeman
, period.
The town of Medinet ell Fayoum, the mod
ern capital OF the province, and containin
about 5000 inhabitants, is situated near tlles
ruins. 1t is good specimen OF a Wild cour
&. try town, untouched as yet by civilization
with its narrow covered bazaar and motley POI
:: ulation of Fellahin, Copts, and Bedouin Arabs
This is intersected by the Bahr Yusset, Q
River of Joseph, called after the son Jacoo,fo
the popular tradition enormously has 1t tha
he ii was who led the Bahr Vessel into tn
district during the years of famine, and that t
him the great fertility of the province IS du
r Just outside of the town the river is damme
and divided into seven canals which are agar
d subdivided, thus carrying the waterfall throug
: the country. Owing to the slope OF the land
\ irrigated by means of undershot water vince
= = made of date FIBRE and which keep up a.col
. slant mournful creaking as they reyolVe al
upset their earthen buckets full OF water mi
the troughs provided for it. AT many OF tt
a nod mi n