EGYPT.

Egypt, a country not less remarkable for its physical character than its historical records, and forming as it were the connecting link between Africa and the civilized world, consists, first, of a long and narrow valley, which follows the course of the Nile from Assouan to Cairo; and secondly, of the extensive plain which is .situated between the northern extremity of this valley and the Mediterranean Sea. Including the valley and the plain, it extends from the parallel of 24° N. where the river appears to force a passage for itself through the mountains of Nubia, to the vicinity of Damietta, in 31° 35' N. where the principal stream discharges itself into the ocean. The natural boundaries of Egypt are so distinctly marked, that its nominal or territorial extent has seldom much exceeded the area which is included within its physical limits. Immediately above the cataracts of Syene, or Assouan, there is a small island, called Philae by the Greeks, and Bilak by the Arabs,^[1. Both words, Phila and B'dak, are corruptions of the Coptic word Pi-lakh, meaning extremity. Quatremère, Mímoirci Géographique! nr l’ Egypte, i. 388. ] which from the earliest times constituted the southern limit or extremity of Egypt. From Syene to Cairo, the river flows along a narrow valley, included between two mountain ridges, which an Arabian author calls “the wings of the Nile,” one of them extending to the Red Sea, and the other terminating in the deserts of ancient Libya. The river occupies the middle of the valley as far as the strait called Djibbel-Silsili, which is about forty miles long; but at the mouth of this strait it runs along the right side of the valley, which is bounded by a steep line of rocks, cut as it were into peaks, whilst the ridge of hills on the left side is less precipitous, and generally presents an accessible slope, varying in acclivity. The mountains which confine the basin of the Nile in Upper Egypt are intersected by defiles, which on one side lead to the shores of the Red Sea, and on the other to the Oases.^[2. Malte∙Brun, Univereal Geography, iv. 22, English Translation. ] Near Benisouer, the valley of the Nile, already much widened on the west, presents on that side an opening, through which are observed the fertile plains of Fayoum, forming a sort of table-land, separated from the surrounding mountains on the north and west by a wide valley, of which a portion, always laid under water, constitutes what the inhabitants call Birket-el-Karoon. From the southern extremity of the Delta, near Cairo, the mountains recede eastward and westward; one called Djibbel-el-Nairon, stretching north-west towards the Mediterranean, the other named Djibbel-el-Attaka, running straight east to Suez, and both forming an angle of divergence of about 140°. At Battu-el-Bahara the river divides into two large branches, one of which flowing to Rosetta, and the other to Damietta, contain between them the triangular piece of insulated land called from its shape the Delta, Δ. The whole length of this tract, from Philae in 24° 3' 45" N. to the northernmost point of the Delta, amounts to about four hundred and fifty geographical miles; the mean width of the valley between Syene and Cairo is about nine miles; and the whole area, or superficial extent, from the shores of the Delta to the first cataract, falls little short of eleven thousand square miles.^[3. Girard, Mémoireenr ľ£gyjite, iii. 4. ]

The country of which we have described the boundaries and configuration is one which, to the scholar, the antiquary, and the philosopher, has long appeared the most interesting on the face of the earth. If not the very first, it was at least amongst the earliest, seats of civilization, which, from causes altogether unknown, struck its roots deep into the alluvial mud of the Nile. Long before the nations of the West had emerged from their primeval forests, Egypt had reached its zenith, and exhibited, completely formed, that extraordinary state of society in respect of laws, government, religion, and manners, which has occupied without exhausting the curiosity of succeeding times. The land of the Pharaohs was at once the cradle of science, the birth-place of letters, and the parent source of art as well as superstition; and, at a period long anterior to the dawn of civil history in other countries, it was covered with those monuments which the fury of five successive conquests, and the ravages of near forty centuries, have failed to annihilate. To Egypt Greece was indebted for the letters, science, art, philosophy, laws, government, and superstition, which she afterwards extended, altered, modified, or improved; and hence the polished nations of modern Europe, whose civilization is principally a derivative of that of ancient Greece, may trace the rudiments of their science, literature, and arts, to the ingenious people who were the primary instructors of the Greeks, and who, from a period far beyond the records of history, had settled on the banks of the Nile. But out of the materials which have reached our times, and which, in their transit through so many ages, have suffered almost every species of injury and mutilation, it must obviously be a task of prodigious difficulty to construct a chain of narrative, which shall connect the present with the past, without omitting some essential links; and it is plainly impossible, from piecing together mere fragments of ruins, to establish an unbroken concatenation between that which is and that which has once been. Like the bridge in the vision of Mirza, which in its nearer portion appeared tolerably entire, but in its more remote consisted only of broken arches, which gradually disappeared in the impenetrable mist that overhung the vast ocean of time in which it was lost, the history of Egypt, though it enables us to advance a certain way with a considerable degree of security, becomes at length only a collection of dislocated fragments, and is finally lost in that abyss of the elder time, of which there exists neither record nor monument. Still the materials on which we have to work are more ample and various than might be suspected by a superficial or perfunctory inquirer. VVe have, first, those monumental remains which have outlasted the ravages of time, war, revolution, conquest, and fanatical barbarism; we have, next, the direct accounts or incidental notices and statements of the Greek, Roman, and Arabian writers; we have, thirdly, the lights which modern science has diffused respecting the monuments which ancient science had constructed, and the institutions which ancient policy had founded; and we have, lastly, the marked advantage derived from the partial success which has crowned the efforts of modern ingenuity in attempting to decipher those inscriptions and writings which have formed the mystery of ages. From all these sources, and aided by the learned labours of those distinguished archaeologists who have devoted themselves [7:8:459]to illustrate the history, literature, and antiquities of ancient Egypt, we hope to derive sufficient materials to enable us to exhibit a clear and distinct digest of all that is at present known respecting the wonderful country, whose learning had become proverbial even in the days of Moses, and whose high civilization is attested by the colossal splendour of its monumental ruins. With this view we shall commence with its civil history.

SECTION I.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

Origin and Etymology of the name High Antiquity of early

Egyptian History—Obscurity in which it is involved—The only authority on which dependence can be placed Territorial

Division of Egypt whence and how peopled.—Ancient Inha bitants—Copts—Reign of the Priests—Revolution—Menes. —Age of this Monarch determined His character and Actions.

—Commencement of Legitimate History Fabulous extravagance of the Egyptian Chronology Dynasties from Menes to

Moeris.—Invasion and Conquest of Egypt by the Shepherds.— Substance of Manetho’s account—Additional particulars of these Invaders—Havoc committed by them—Their ultimate expulsion and retreat into Syria.—Opinion of Bruce as to the origin of this people Other opinions Indian tradition respecting the Pali or Shepherds.—Palestine Expulsion of the Shepherds not to be confounded with the Exode of the Israelites.—Amenoph Thothmosis I.—Thothmosis II—Moeris Thotbmosis Ill works executed by these Pharaohs, particularly Moeris.

—Lake Moeris or Lake Fayoum ⅛hamses the Great, other wise called Sesostris—Era of this Conqueror.—His Education. —His Exploits His Indian Expedition Results.—Return of Sesostris—Usurpation and treachery of his brother Ex pulsion of Armais, called also Danaus.—General State of Egypt at this period—Monuments erected and Improvements executed—Component parts of the Egyptian Empire—Internal condition—Division of the people into Castes—Trade, Commerce, and Industry.—Successors of Sesostris—Rhamses-Meiammon.—His Military Enterprises and Civil Labours—State of Egypt under the succeeding Pharaohs Expeditions of Che-

chonk and Osorchon—Ethiopian Invasion and Conquest of Egypt.—Sabacon—Anysias Selhon.—Twelve contemporary

Kings—Psammeticusl His proceedings—Attempt made by him to discover the Sources of the Nile.—Pharaoh-Necho or Nechus.—Circumnavigation of Africa.—war with Assyria.— Nechus defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, who became master of Egypt to the gates of Pelusium—Psammeticus II. or Psammis.—Pharaoh-Hophra or Ouaphré, called also Apries.—His treachery towards the Jews Egyptians defeated by the Cy-

reneans—Revolt—Apries defeated by Amasis, and strangled by his own people—Reign of Amasis.—Condition of Egypt— Amasis succeeded by Psammenitus Persian Invasion under

Cambyses—Siege and capture of Pelusium—Egyptians defeated in a general battle—Capture of Memphis—Barbarity of the Conquerors.—Fatal consequences of the invasion.—Depressed state of Egypt—Insurrections Put down by the Persians

Alexander the Great Greek Dynasty—Ptolemy Lagus, called also Soter—Events of his Reign His Character.—Ptolemy Philadelphus, surnamed Euergetes His Expeditions and

Conquests—Favour shown by him towards the Jews.—State of the Egyptian empire at this period—Ptolemy Philopater

Dissolute character of this Prince His Cruelty—Conduct towards the Jews—Minority—Ptolemy Epiphanes—Ptolemy Philometor—Euergetes II. called also Physcon—Disputed Succession.—various fortune of the struggle.—Interference of the Romans in the Affairs of Egypt Death of Philometor

Monstrous cruelty of Physcon His treatment of his wivesļ

an Egyptian Henry VIII. in this respect Revolt—Physcon restored—His Death—Ptolemy Iaithyrus Cleopatra his mother—Revolt quashed—Capture and destruction of Thebes

Alexander II—His barbarous conduct Ptolemy Auletes.—

Events of his Reign—Policy of Rome respecting Egypt

Pompey.—Julius Caesar.—Mark Antony.—Conduct of Auletes. —His Death.—Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy Dionysius. —Expulsion of the former—Restored by Caesar after Pharsa lia—Death of Caesar—The Triumvirate Defeat and Death of Antony—suicide of Cleopatra—Egypt reduced into a province of the Roman Empire—Hadrian severus.—Claudius.—

Aurelian—Introduction of Christianity State of Egypt under

Constantine—Rise and Progress of Islamism.

The country latterly known by the name of Egypt was anciently denominated d∙ixo, Mitzraim, ∙∣r*∙n, Matzor, and υ□l’ixrr, haretz Cham, the land of Cham. These names, especially the first, occur frequently in Scripture, and, according to the general opinion, the country was called Mitzrim, or Mitzraim, after the second son of Cham, though some have been inclined to think that the second son of Cham might have been called Mitorim, after the country. The name of Mitzrim, pointed by the Masorites Mitzraim in the dual form, probably indicated the two divisions of Egypt into Upper and Lower. Bochart has clearly established that Y* n , Matzor, signifies a fortress; and that Egypt was so called either from its being a region fortified by nature, or from the word tzor, which signifies narrow, and is sufficiently descriptive of the valley of Upper Egypt. The first of these etymologies, however, is to be preferred, because amongst the ancients Upper Egypt was considered as a natural fortification. With regard to Mitzrim, it is most probably a contracted mode of writing Matzorim, the plural of Matzoτ ; and as it may be considered as perilous to give it a dual form on the authority of the Masorites, the word Mitzrim, with its plural termination, may therefore be held as denoting the Upper, the Middle, and Lower Egypt. Amongst the ancient inhabitants of the country, it was denominated Chemi or Chaine, either from Chmom, signifying heat, or from Chame or Kame, signifying black, probably by reason of the burnt and black appearance of the soil. The etymology of the word Egypt has occupied the attention and puzzled the ingenuity of many learned writers. The most common opinion is, that A/yurro; is composed of aľa for ya∕a, terra, land, and l’vwre¢, or rather Koστo{, and consequently signifies the land of Kopt, or the Koptic land. But this etymology has been objected to; first, by reason of the alleged improbability that the whole country would be so named from an obscure town in the Thebais; and, secondly, because it was the river, and not the land on its banks, which was first called Aegyptus; objections which appear to be insuperable. The more probable opinion is that the word Aiguptos is a mere softening of Gups-Pta, or Aigups-Ptas, formed of gups or aigups, a vulture, and Pta or Ptas, daemon; the vulture being one of the principal symbols of the lkh-Ptahoτ or Daemon Ptah of the ancient Egyptians. But be this as it may, there can be little doubt that, whatever be the true etymology of the word Aiguptos or Aegyptus, the name of Copts or Kobths is nothing else than a corruption of the Greek term; and that by the name of Kobthi were designated, first, the Egyptians in general, and afterwards the Christians of Egypt in particular. But the natives of Egypt were not known by the name of Copts until the time of Amru.^[4. Drummond’s origines, or Remarks on the Origin of several Empires, States, and Cities, vol. ii. chap. 2. ]

The early history of Egypt claims a much higher antiquity than that of any other country, excepting perhaps China and Hindustan, and is consequently involved in darkness the more impenetrable. It is utterly impossible indeed to reconcile the accounts of different authors with each other, or with any common standard; and even the same authors are not always consistent with themselves. But some idea may be formed of the comparative value of the different catalogues of sovereigns, by observing which of them is confirmed by the testimony of the greatest number of respectable and unconnected writers, and [7:8:460]by inquiring, at the βame time, what internal evidence they afford of the truth or falsehood of their statements.

The only authorities on which dependence can be placed respecting the early history of Egypt, are Herodotus, Manetho, Eratosthenes, Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo, all of whom had been for longer or shorter periods in the country. Herodotus lived soon after the conquest of Egypt by the great Persian conqueror Cambyses, when the names of the later monarchs could scarcely have been forgotten. The earlier part of his history is certainly of a very apocryphal character; but as he does not continue the series of the kings further than Sesostris and Moeris, almost all his names are therefore sufficiently recent to be considered as within the province of legitimate history. Manetho lived under Ptolemy Philadelphus, to whom he dedicated his three books of the History of Egypt; and there is little doubt that the extracts preserved by Josephus, Eusebius, and Syncellus, although some of these may have passed from one compiler to another, are in general perfectly authentic. How much of the work was originally fabulous, and how much has been distorted by transposition and anachronism, it is impossible accurately to determine. But besides the original inadmissibility of so long a series of successive generations, the invention of which may possibly be imputed to the same national vanity which led the priests to boast to Herodotus of three hundred and thirty kings between Menes and Sesostris, there are several coincidences pointed out by Marsham, in the names and qualifications of princes mentioned at very remote periods, which tend strongly to encourage the opinion that the originals were respectively one and the same person. There are also other instances which render it not improbable that several of the persons enumerated may have been contemporary sovereigns of different subdivisions of the country: but, perhaps, this portion of Marsham’s theory has been carried a little too far; and, amidst so much confusion, it is not to be wondered that all his learning and ingenuity should have failed to establish any satisfactory result. He holds the catalogue of Eratosthenes in high and just estimation, although he was not acquainted with the very strong argument in favour of its authenticity, derived from the agreement of many of the etymologies with the acknowledged meaning of the terms in the Egyptian language; an agreement, indeed, which renders it more than probable that Eratosthenes, who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes, did actually receive these names from the priests of Diospolis. This interesting catalogue has been successively copied by Apollodorus, Africanus, Eusebius, and Syncellus; but how many of the names contained in it were really those of actual sovereigns of Egypt, and how many had been negligently or ignorantly read and pronounced, it is by no means easy to ascertain. It may be observed, that scarcely any of them are to be found in the works of other chronologers or historians. Diodorus is, upon the whole, a very candid and judicious writer; and although some modern critics have entertained considerable prejudices against him, it will be afterwards found that he had a correct knowledge of the Egyptian institutions. The accuracy and good sense of Strabo are so well known, that we cannot but regret the paucity of historical facts respecting Egypt to be found in his writings. Besides the works of these authors, there is an anonymous chronicle copied by Africanus, and from him by Syncellus, which affords a series of kings somewhat shorter than that of Manetho, and also more regularly filled; but it seems to be principally a compilation from Manetho, with some reference to the contemporary events of the scriptural chronology.^[5. Young on Egyptian Literature and Antiquities, art. Hiitoriography of Egypt. ]

Such being the principal sources of early Egyptian history, we shall now proceed to the more immediate object of this section, namely, to exhibit an outline of the civil history of ancient Egypt. And here, in order to render our narrative intelligible, it is proper to state both the ancient and modern divisions of the country. These have been suggested by the course of the river, and the general configuration of the valley of the Nile, between the cataract of Assouan and the sea. Anciently this remarkable country was divided into three parts, namely, Upper Egypt, called the Thebaid, because Thebes was its capital; Middle Egypt, called the Heptanomis, or Seven Governments; and Lower Egypt, or the Delta, extending to the Mediterranean.^[6. The figure of Egypt may be compared to the head and horn of an unicon, the delta being the head, and the long narrow valley of the Nile the horn inserted, as it were, therein. ] The Arabs and Ottomans have only changed the names of these divisions, which in fact are marked out by the hand of nature. First, Upper Egypt is called the Said, and includes the provinces of Thebes, Djirdjch, and Siout; second, Middle Egypt, called the Vostani, consists of the provinces of Fayoum, Benisouer, and Minyeh; third, Lower Egypt, called Ba-hari, or the maritime country, includes the provinces of Bahyrch, Raschid or Rosetta, Gharbych, Menouf, Mas-soura, Sharkich, and the Cairo district, consisting of the subdivisions of Kelioubeh and Atfihich. The appellation of Upper Egypt is sometimes taken in a strictly physical acceptation, and made to include all the provinces above Cairo.

The first tribes who peopled Egypt, that is, the valley of the Nile between the cataract of Assouan and the sea, probably came from Abyssinia or Sennaar. The current of population appears to have descended along the course of the stream, and to have gradually overspread the valley fertilized by its waters; but it is impossible to fix the period of this first migration, which, however, must have been very remote. The ancient inhabitants of Egypt belonged to a race of men in most respects resembling the Kennous or Barabras, the actual inhabitants of Nubia. In the Copts of Egypt we find none of the characteristics of the ancient population of that country. The Copts are the product of a confused mixture of all the nations who have successively domineered over Egypt; and it would therefore be absurd to expect to find amongst them the characteristic features of the ancient race. The first settlers who arrived in Egypt were nomadic, and had not more fixed dwellings than the Bedouins of the present day; they were then destitute of science, of arts, and of definite forms of civilization. It was the work of ages of favourable circumstances which led the Egyptians, at first errant, to apply at length to agriculture, and to establish themselves in a fixed and permanent manner: then, and then only, arose the first towns, which in their beginnings were only small villages, but, by the successive development of civilization, became at length great and powerful cities. The most ancient towns of Egypt were Thebes (Luxor and Karnak) Esnch, Edfou, and the others of the Saïd above Dendera. Middle Egypt was then peopled; but Lower Egypt had neither inhabitants nor towns until a later period. It was only in consequence of prodigious works executed by the labour of man that Lower Egypt became habitable.^[7. “Notice Sommaire sur l’Histoire d’Egypte, redige'e h Alexandrie pour le vice-roi, et remise à S. A. au mois de Novembre 1829,” being appendix No. 1 to the “Lettres tScrites d’Egypte et de Nubie en 1828 et 1829, par champollion Je Jeune.” Paris, 183X ]
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The Egyptians in the early stage of their progress were ruled by priests. The latter administered the government in every district of Egypt under a high priest, who again pretended to issue his orders in the name of God. This form of government, which is called a theocracy, resembled that by which the Arabians were governed under the first caliphs, though, in several respects, its construction was much less perfect. From its peculiar character, a government of this kind easily became unjust and oppressive, and, for a very long period, it retarded the advance of civilization. It had divided the nation into three distinct parts or castes; first the priests, then the military, and, thirdly, the people. The people alone laboured, and the fruit of all their toils was devoured by the priests, who kept the military in their pay, and employed them in keeping in check the rest of the population. But a period arrived when the military became weary of yielding a blind obedience to the priests. A revolution broke out, and the change which proved fortunate for Egypt was brought about by a military chief, named Menei or Menes, who became the head of the nation, established the royal government, and transmitted the power to his descendants in the direct line. From this period the country was ruled by kings, and the government became milder and more enlightened; for the royal power found a sort of counterpoise in the influence which the priesthood necessarily possessed, now that it was confined to its proper province of inculcating the laws of morality, and teaching the principles of the arts. Thebes still remained the capital of the kingdom; but king Menes, and his son and successor Athothes, laid the foundations of Memphis, which they rendered a strong city, and constituted their second capital. It was built at a short distance from the Nile; and its ruins have been found in the villages of Menf, Mokhnan, and particularly Mit-Rhahinch.

As the reign of Menes forms the extreme limit of legitimate curiosity in this interesting field of inquiry; and as all correct notions of Egyptian chronology must in a great measure rest on the determination of the period at which that monarch assumed or exercised the supreme power; various attempts have been made to fix this important epoch, from the data furnished either by monuments or by lists of dynastics and kings as given by the ancient authors. It will be sufficient for our present purpose, however, merely to state the results at which different inquirers have arrived. Menes, then, commenced his reign,
[table]

The mean of these different calculations is 2256, which, therefore, may be taken as perhaps the closest approximation to the truth. Amongst the principal authorities on which the reign of Menes has been determined as above, may be mentioned the statement of Josephus,^[8. Judau>r. Antiquitat. lib. viii. ] that Menes lived many years before Abraham, and that he governed Egypt more than 1300 years before Solomon. But Abraham was born 2153 years, and the son of David ascended the throne of Israel 1030 years before Christ; and these facts, combined with the account which is given in the old chronicle of the dynasty of kings which proceeded from Mitzraim, seem to warrant the conclusions of modern chronologers. It is evident, therefore, that Champollion has committed an egregious error in stating that, according to the ancient histories of Egypt, the epoch of the revolution which placed Menes on the throne was about six thousand years before the publication of Islamism. This is very nearly the double of the truth as ascertained by the very authorities to which he refers.

The actions of this monarch have been conveyed to us through the obscure and uncertain channel of tradition. On his accession he found the kingdom, like all priest-governed countries, in a most deplorable condition. Excepting the Thebais, the whole of it was a morass; and, though ruled by priests, the people were destitute of every kind of religion, as well as sunk in utter ignorance. According to Herodotus, Menes applied himself to remedy these evils. He diverted the course of the Nile, which before his time had washed the base of the sandy ridge near the borders of the Libyan desert, and thus protected from the inundations of the river the ground on which Memphis was afterwards erected. To accomplish this object, he erected a mound about twelve miles south from the future capital of Egypt; turned the course of the stream, a large branch of which had previously made its way through the valley of Fayoum, towards the Delta; and conducted it to the sea at an equal distance from the elevated ground by which on either side the country is bounded. Menes also acquired glory in war; but his best renown consists in having improved his country, and instructed his subjects in the arts of life. His death is said to have been occasioned by a hippopotamus.

We may here give an example of the fabulous extravagance of Egyptian chronology, as founded on the statements of the priests. Menes or Menas was the first mortal who sat upon the throne of Egypt, the country having before his time been governed by eight gods in succession. But Herodotus mentions, that the priests recited to him, from books, three hundred and thirty sovereigns, successors of Menes, of whom eighteen were Aethiopian princes, and one a queen called Nitocris. Now, allowing thirty-three years for a generation, the joint reigns of three hundred and thirty kings would amount to about eleven thousand years; a period which, according to the forged records of these priests, must have intervened between the reign of Menes and that of Sesostris. The statement of Diodorus Siculus, however, is by no means so violently opposed to truth and probability. He agrees with Herodotus in representing Menes as the first king of Egypt who reigned after the gods; but he says that after Menes fifty-two kings reigned during a period of fourteen hundred years, or about twenty-seven years at an average for each reign. This statement, though it falls short of the ordinary calculation, has at least a reasonable amount of probability in its favour, and indeed seems to be a pretty close approximation to the truth. Of the three hundred and thirty monarchs mentioned by Herodotus, on the authority of the sacred records, none except Moeris was distinguished by any acts of magnificence or renown; and hence he prudently abstains from loading his pages with the appellations and titles of this catalogue of royal lumber. It may, however, serve to assist the recollection of the reader, on this obscure and intricate subject, if we exhibit an abridged list of the kings who occupy the space between the accession of the first mortal sovereign of Egypt and the death of Moeris.
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First Dynasty, Egyptians, 253 Years.
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During the long interval between the reign of Menes and the death of Moeris, the most remarkable event which occurred, and one, too, which forms the first distinct piece of history we meet with respecting Egypt, was the invasion of the Pastors or Shepherds, which, according to the chronology here adopted, took place more than two thousand years before the birth of Christ. This irruption, as related by Manetho, happened in the reign of Timaus king of Egypt, when God being displeased with the Egyptians, exposed them to a great revolution; for a multitude of men, of obscure origin, pouring from the East into Egypt, made war on the inhabitants, who, being apparently unwarlike, submitted almost without resistance. The Shepherds, however, behaved with the greatest cruelty; they burned the cities, threw down the temples of the gods, put to death the inhabitants, and carried the women and children into captivity. This people came from Arabia, and were called Hyesos, or King-Shepherds. They held Egypt in subjection for more than two centuries and a halt’, at the end of which period they were compelled by a king of Upper Egypt, named Amosis, or Thothmosis, to abandon the country. This prince’s father had, it seems, gained great advantages over them, and shut them up in a place named Abaris or Avaris, that is, the Pass (afterwards called Pelusium), where they had collected all their cattle and plunder. Here they were closely besieged by Thothmosis with an army of 480,000 men; but at last the king, finding himself unable to reduce them by force, proposed a sort of capitulation, which was readily accepted: the Shepherds in consequence withdrew from Egypt with their families, to the number of 240,000 souls. Accordingly, they crossed the desert, and entered Syria; but fearing the Assyrians, who were then very powerful, and held Asia in subjection, they entered the land of Judaea, and built there a city capable of containing so great a multitude, which they called Jerusalem.

Such is the substance of Manetho’s statement, as preserved by Josephus in his tract against Appion; and, with the exception of the concluding part, where he seems to identify the savage invaders of Egypt with the peaceful family of Jacob, its accuracy can scarcely be called in question. It appears, indeed, that these barbarians having established themselves in Egypt, tyrannized over it for several centuries; that the progress of civilization was arrested, and the inhabitants ruined, by exactions and rapine; that the barbarians having elected a chief, the latter took the name of Pharaoh; and that it was under the fourth of these foreign chiefs that Joseph the son of Jacob became the prime minister of Egypt, and afterwards brought thither the family of his father, which thus became the source of the Jewish nation. But in process of time different parts of Upper Egypt freed themselves from the yoke of the strangers; and at the head of this resistance appeared the princes descendants of the Egyptian line of kings whom the barbarians had dethroned. Of these the most distinguished was Amosis, who, having collected sufficient forces, drove them from Memphis, which they had made their capital; attacked them in Lower Egypt, where they were firmly established; and ultimately, by means of the capitulation of Avaris or Avara, delivered Egypt from their tyranny.

Various opinions have been entertained as to the origin of the detested race which overthrew Thebes and tyrannized over all Egypt. According to Bruce, the Shepherds who invaded Egypt were no other than the inhabitants of Barabra, and carriers to the Cushites, who lived farther to the south. The latter had built many stately temples in Thebes and other cities of Egypt; yet, according to him, they had no other dwelling-places than holes or caves in the rocks. Being a commercial people, they remained at home collecting and preparing their articles, which were dispersed by the Barabers or Shepherds already mentioned. These, from the nature of their employment, lived in moveable habitations, as the Tartars do at this day. By the Hebrews, he tells us, they were called Phut, but Shepherds by every other people; and from the name Baraber the word Barabra is derived. By their employment, which consisted in dispersing the Arabian and African goods all over the continent, they had become a great and powerful people; and, from their opposite dispositions and manners, were frequently enemies of the Egyptians. To Salatis Bruce ascribes the destruction of Thebes in Upper Egypt, so much celebrated by Homer for its grandeur and magnificence. In fact, he reckons three invasions of this people; the first being that of Salatis already mentioned, who overthrew the primary dynasty of Egyptian kings from Menes, and destroyed Thebes; the second [7:8:463]that of Sabacon or So, a word which, according to him, was not the name of a single prince, but of a people, and signifies shepherd ; and the third, when, after the building of Memphis, 240,000 of these people were besieged as above mentioned. But this hypothesis is in the highest degree inconsistent; for how is it possible that the third invasion, antecedent to the building of Jerusalem, could· be posterior to the second, if the latter happened only in the days of Hezekiah?

There is less doubt as to the destruction of these barbarians. When forced to evacuate Egypt in virtue of the capitulation entered into with Amosis, they appear to have thrown themselves upon Syria, where several of their tribes fixed themselves, and became the ancestors of the Philistines, who occupied the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and occasionally extended their power as far as the banks of the Euphrates.^[10. In the language of Asia the word Pali denotes shepherds, and stan or sthan means country; so that Palis-tar. literally signifies shepherd-land, or the country of shepherds. But as Palistan is manifestly identical with Palestine, or the country of the Philistines, it is hence not improbable that the warlike nation which so frequently disputed the possession of the Syrian border with the descendants of Abraham were the progeny of the fierce herdsmen who for more than two centuries and a half held Lower, Middle, and even part of Upper Egypt subject to their despotic sway· (Russell’s Egypt, p. 69, 2d ed.) ] It is not a little remarkable that a tradition of the conquest of the Shepherds is still preserved among the tribes of Central India. In one of the sacred books of the Hindus, a record is preserved of two migrations from the East in remote times; one of the Yada-vas or Sacred Race, and the other of the Pali or Shepherds, who were a powerful tribe, and governed the whole country from the Indus to the mouth of the Ganges. Having passed the shores of the Persian Gulf, they took possession of Arabia, then crossed or turned the Red Sea, and occupied the lands on its western shore. But to a legend so wholly unsupported as this is, no weight or value can be attached. Many circumstances, however, conspire to render it probable that this people, whose memory was held in the greatest abhorrence in Egypt, by reason of their tyranny, were a Tartar or nomadic horde, and that, when expelled from that country, they settled on the shores of Syria, in the country which from them was called Palesthan or Palestine. The exode of the Israelites must not therefore be confounded with the expulsion of the Shepherds.

Amenoph, the son of Amosis, and the first of that name, having assisted in the expulsion of the Shepherds, with whom he had concluded the capitulation above mentioned, united all Egypt under his dominion, and raised the throne of the Pharaohs, that is to say, of the kings of the Egyptian race. He was the chief or head of the eighteenth dynasty. His entire reign, and that of his three successors, Thothmosis I., Thothmosis II., and Moeris-Thothmosis III. were devoted to the object of re-establishing a regular government, and raising up the nation, which had been crushed by so many years of servitude under a foreign yoke. The barbarians had destroyed everything; all therefore had to be reconstructed. These great kings spared no pains to raise up Egypt from its state of debasement; order was re-established throughout the whole kingdom; the canals, which had been neglected or destroyed, were repaired or re-formed; whilst agriculture and the arts, encouraged and protected, soon brought back abundance, and at once increased and perpetuated the resources of the government. In a little time the towns were rebuilt; edifices consecrated to religion appeared on all sides; and several of the monuments which are admired on the banks of the Nile belong to this interesting epoch of the restoration of Egypt by the wisdom of its kings. Of this number are the monuments of Sem-neh and Amada in Nubia, and several of those of Karnak and Medinet-Abou, which are the works of Thothmosis I. or of Thothmosis III. who is also called Moeris. This king, under whom the two obelisks of Alexandria were erected, is the Pharaoh who achieved the greatest undertakings; it is to him that Egypt owes the existence of the great lake of Fayoum. By immense works which he caused to be executed, and by means of canals and sluices, this lake became a reservoir which served to maintain, in the lower country, a perpetual equilibrium between the inundations of the Nile; to supply water when these were insufficient, or to withdraw it when they were excessive. Formerly it bore the name of Lake Moeris; at present it is called Birket-el-Karoun. These kings, and several of their successors, appear to have preserved in all its plenitude the royal power which they had recovered from the Shepherd chiefs; but they used it only for the advantage of the country, in correcting and reconstituting society, corrupted by slavery, and in restoring Egypt to the first political rank amongst surrounding nations.

At this period several nations of Asia had already attained a certain degree of civilization, and their power was believed to endanger the tranquillity of Egypt. Moeris and his successors often took arms, and carried the war into Asia or Africa, either to establish the dominion of Egypt, or to ravage and enfeeble those states, and thus to ensure the tranquillity of the Egyptian nation. Amongst these conquerors may be reckoned Amenoph IL, the son of Moeris, who rendered tributary Syria and the ancient kingdom of Babylon; Thothmosis IV. who invaded Abyssinia and Sennaar; and, lastly, Amenoph III. who completed the conquest of Abyssinia, and undertook great expeditions into Asia. There still exist monuments of this king. It was he who caused to be built the palace of Sohleb in Upper Nubia, the magnificent palace of Luxor, and all that part south of the grand palace of Karnak at Thebes. The two colossal statues at Kourna are understood to represent this illustrious prince. His son Horus chastised a revolt of the Abyssinians, and continued the works of his father; but two of his children who succeeded him, having neither the firmness nor the courage of their ancestors, lost in a few years the influence which Egypt had exercised over neighbouring countries. King Menephtha L, however, restored the glory of the country, and carried his victorious arms into Syria, Babylonia, and even the north of Persia.^[11. champollivn, Notice sommaire stir l’ Histoire d’Egypte, 1829; Lettres ícrites d’Egypte, appendix. ]

We come now to the era of his son Rhamses the Great, known also in history by the name of Sesostris.^[12. This monarch has been designated by a great variety of names. Thus he has been called Sesostris, Sesoosis, sesochis, Sesonchosis, Sethosis, Sethos, Ramesses, Rameses, Ramestes, Rhampstes, Rhamses, vexores, and Aegyptus. But most of these appellations were probably titular. Thus, Sesostris may be ΣE-ΣIOΣ-T-PH, Se-sios-t-re, which signifies filius domini, donum solis. Sesoosis may, in like manner, be a corruption for ΣE-ΣIOΣ-ΣIOΣ, Se-sios-sios, filius domini dominorum ; and Harnesses, derived from ΓH, Ré, sol, and me∑, mes, gignere, may have signified begotten by the sun. But it is impossible to render ancient Egyptian according to the grammatical rules established in the Coptic language. (Drummond’s Origines, vol. ii. p. ō00.) ] He was the first mighty warrior whose conquests are recorded with any degree of distinctness. Much diversity of opinion prevails as to the date of his reign. Some chronologers, among whom is Sir Isaac Newton, are of opinion that he [7:8:464]is the Sesak or Shishak who took and plundered Jerusalem in the reign of Rehoboam the son of Solomon. Others, however, place him still earlier; and Mr Whitson contends that he was the Pharaoh who refused to part with the Israelites, and was at last drowned in the Red Sea. Larcher, who builds his calculation on Herodotus, asserts that Sesostris mounted the throne of Egypt 1356 years before Christ; Hales places his accession to the crown at the commencement of the thirteenth century before Christ; and Sir William Drummond, who contests the assertion of Larcher, fixes the commencement of his reign at a period still more recent, namely, about the beginning of the eleventh century anterior to our era. Mr Bryant, again, endeavours to prove that no such person ever existed; but that in his history, as well as in that of many ancient heroes, we have an abridgment of that of the Cushites or Babylonians, who spread themselves over great part of the then known world, and everywhere brought the people in subjection to them. His reign is the most extraordinary portion of the Egyptian history. The father of Sesostris was told in a dream, by the god Ptha, that his son, who was then newly born, should be lord of the whole earth. Upon the credit of this vision, he got together all the males in the land of Egypt who were born on the same day with Sesostris, appointed nurses and proper persons to take care of them, and had them treated like his own child; being persuaded that they who were the constant companions of his youth would prove the most faithful ministers and soldiers in his riper years. As they grew up they were inured to laborious exercises, and, in particular, were never permitted to taste food till they had performed a journey of upwards of twenty-two of our miles. When the old king imagined they were sufficiently educated and trained in martial exercises, he sent them, by way of trial of their qualities, against the Arabians. In this expedition Sesostris proved successful, and in the end subdued that people, who had never before been conquered. He was then sent to the westward, where he conquered the greater part of Africa, and was only stopped in his career by the Atlantic Ocean. Whilst he was absent on this expedition his father died; and then Sesostris resolved to fulfil the prediction of Ptha at his birth, by actually conquering the whole world. With this view he divided the kingdom into thirty-six provinces, and endeavoured to secure the affections of the people by gifts both of money and land. He forgave all those who had been guilty of offences, and discharged the debts of his soldiers. He then constituted his brother Armais or Harmais regent, but forbade him to use the diadem, and commanded him to offer no injury to the queen or her children, and to abstain from the royal concubines. His army consisted of 600,000 infantry, 24,000 cavalry, and 27,000 chariots. Besides these land forces, he had two fleets; one of them, according to Diodorus, of four hundred vessels. Of these fleets, one was designed to make conquests in the west, and the other in the east; and therefore the former was built on the Mediterranean, and the latter on the Red Sea. The first of these conquered Cyprus, the coast of Phoenicia, and several of the islands called Cyclades; and the second subdued all the coasts of the Red Sea; but its progress was stopped by shoals and other difficulties which the navigators of those days were unable to pass, so that he seems not to have made many conquests by sea.

With the land forces Sesostris marched against the Ethiopians and Troglodytes, whom he overcame, obliging them to pay him a tribute of gold, ebony, and ivory. He then proceeded as far as the promontory of Dira, which lay near the Straits of Babelmandeb, where he set up a pillar with an inscription in sacred characters or hieroglyphics. He then marched on to the country where cinnamon grows, or at least to a country whence cinnamon at that time was brought, probably some place in India; and here he in like manner set up pillars, which were to be seen many ages afterwards. As to his further conquests, it is agreed by almost all authors of antiquity that he overran the greater part of the continent of Asia, and some part of that of Europe. Having ciossed the Ganges, he erected pillars on its banks; and thence marching northward, he ascended the plateau of Central Asia, subdued the Assyrians and Medes, directed his course towards the Caspian and the Black Sea, and invaded the Scythians and Thracians. Authors are not agreed that he conquered the nations last mentioned. Some even affirm that he was overthrown with great slaughter on the banks of the Phasie, by Timaus, prince of the Scythians, and obliged to abandon a great part of his booty and military stores; but whether he was successful or the reverse in these parts, it is a common opinion that he settled a colony in Colchis. Herodotus, however, does not say whether the colony was designedly planted by Sesostris, or whether part of his army, having refused to accompany him further, settled in that region. From his own knowledge he asserts that the inhabitants of the country were undoubtedly of Egyptian descent. This was indeed evident from the personal resemblance they bore to the Egyptians, who were of swarthy complexions, with frizzled hair;^[13. These physical marks of the African race, although they may afford a proof that the founders of the Colchian colony were, if not Africans, at least of African descent, yet warrant not the conclusion that the ancient Egyptians belonged exclusively to this family of mankind. That Africans, particularly the inhabitants of the countries now called Nubia and Abyssinia, served in the army of Sesostris, seems to admit of little doubt; and it is by no means impossible that the founders of the Colchian colony were exclusively of this race, which having been subdued by sesostris, and afterwards compelled to serve in his army, might naturally take the first opportunity that offered to detach themselves from a standard which to them was the emblem of subjection and humiliation. But it is a remarkable fact, that of the bodies found in the mummy cases, almost all those which have been unswathed and examined have strong red hair, and a cast of features somewhat resembling those of a New Zealander, and are as remote as possible from the general contour and expression of the negro countenance. ] but more especially from the conformity of their customs, particularly that of circumcision. The utmost limit of this monarch’s conquests, however, was in Thrace or Rumelia; for beyond this country his pillars were nowhere to be seen. These pillars he was accustomed to set up in every region which he conquered, with the following inscription, or one to the same purpose: “Sesostris, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, subdued this country by the power of his arms” Besides these, he left also statues of himself, two of which, according to Herodotus, were to be seen in his time; the one on the road between Ephesus and Phocaea, and the other between Smyrna and Sardis. They were armed after the Ethiopian and Egyptian manner, with a javelin in one hand and a bow in the other; whilst across the breast a line was drawn from one shoulder to the other, with the following inscription: “ This region I obtained by these my shoulders.” They were mistaken for images of Memnon.

The reasons assigned by this warlike prince for returning into Egypt from Thrace, and thus leaving the conquest of the world unfinished, were the want of provisions for his army, and the difficulty of the passes. Most probably, however, his return was hastened by the intelligence he received from the high priest of Egypt, concerning the rebellious[7:8:465] proceedings of his brother, who, encouraged by his long absence, had assumed the diadem, violated the queen, and appropriated the royal concubines. On receiving this news, Sesostris hastened from Thrace, and, nine years after he had set out on his expedition, arrived at Pelusium in Egypt, attended by an innumerable multitude of captives taken from many different nations, and loaded with the spoils of Asia. His brother met him at this city, where, it is said, though with but little probability, Sesostris accepted from the traitorous regent an invitation to an entertainment. On this occasion he drank freely, as old soldiers are wont to do, whilst the queen and the rest of the royal family joined in the compotation; but during the entertainment Armais caused a quantity of dried reeds to be laid round the apartment where they were to sleep; and as soon as the party, filled with wine and wassail, had retired to rest, he set fire to the reeds. Sesostris, however, perceived the danger, and finding that his guards, overcharged with liquor, were incapable of assisting him, he rushed through the flames, and was followed by his wife and children. For this wonderful deliverance he made several donations to the gods, particularly to the god of fire; and he then took vengeance on his brother Armais, who is said to be the Danaus of the Greeks, and who, being now driven out of Egypt, withdrew into Greece, where, under his new name, he acquired great renown.

This illustrious conqueror, the history of whose achievements is so dashed and brewed with fable and romance, is generally supposed to have been one of the best of princes, as well as bravest of warriors. He employed all the riches taken from the conquered nations, and the tributes he received from them, in the execution of immense works of public utility. He founded new cities, endeavoured to elevate the ground of some, and surrounded others with strong embankments of earth, to protect them from the inundation of the river; he dug new canals, and to him is attributed the first idea of a canal for connecting the Nile with the Red Sea; and he covered Egypt with a great number of magnificent structures, many of which are still in existence. These are the monuments of Ibsambul, Derri, Guirchch-Hanan,and Wady-Essebouah, in Nubia; and in Egypt those of Kournah, of El Medinch near Kournah, a portion of the palace of Luxor, and the grand hall with columns in the palace of Karnak, which had been commenced by his father. This last monument is the most magnificent structure ever reared by the hand of man. But Sesostris did not confine himself to these more than Herculean labours. Not content with adorning Egypt with sumptuous edifices, and desirous to promote the real welfare of the people, he published a body of new laws, the most important of which was that which gave to all classes of his subjects the right of property in its fullest extent. By this he divested himself of that absolute and unlimited power which his ancestors had preserved after the expulsion of the Shepherds; and immortalized his name, which, in fact, was always venerated as long as there existed in the country a man of Egypt acquainted with ancient history. Hence it was under the reign of Rhamses the Great, or Sesostris, that Egypt arrived at the highest pitch of political power and internal splendour.

Amongst the countries which were either subject or tributary to him, this great monarch reckoned Egypt, the whole of Nubia, Abyssinia, Sennaar, several countries of the south of Africa; all the wandering tribes of the deserts east and west of the Nile; Syria; Arabia, in which the most ancient kings had establishments, near the valley of Pharaoh; and also in the places now called Djebbeĩ-el-Mokatteb, El Niagara, and Sabouth-el∙Kadim, where there appear to have existed brass-founderies; the kingdoms of Babylon and Nineveh, now called Mossul; a great part of Anatolia, or Asia Minor; the Isle of Cyprus, and several islands of the Archipelago; and a considerable portion of the country now known by the name of Persia. At this period, when the star of the Pharaohs had reached its zenith, there existed regular and frequent communications between the Egyptian empire and that of India. The intercourse between these countries, indeed, appears to have been carried on with much activity; and the discoveries which are daily made in the tombs of Thebes, of stuffs of Indian fabric, of articles in wood the growth of India, and of hard-cut stones which certainly came from that country, leave no manner of doubt as to the commerce which ancient Egypt carried on with India, at a period when the European tribes and a great portion of the Asiatics were still in a state of barbarism. It is impossible indeed to explain the number and magnificence of the ancient monuments of Egypt, except on the supposition that the principal source of the immense wealth expend· ed in producing them consisted in the ancient commercial prosperity of the country. Hence it is well ascertained that Memphis and Thebes were the first centre of that commerce, before Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, Alexandria, Tadmor (Palmyra), and Bagdhad, all cities in the vicinage, as it were, of Egypt, enjoyed that advantage and distinction.

With regard to the internal condition of Egypt at this period, it appears that the arts and the sciences, as well as what may be denominated police, were then carried to a high degree of advancement. The country was divided into thirty-six provinces or governments, administered by functionaries of different grades, according to a complete code of written laws. The population amounted in all to between five and seven millions. Of this a part specially devoted to the study of the sciences, and to promote the advancement of the arts, was charged, besides the ceremonies of worship, with the administration of justice, the assessment and collection of the imposts invariably fixed according to the nature and extent of each portion of property measured beforehand, and with all the branches of the civil administration. This was the instructed and learned part of the nation, and it was called the Sacerdotal Caste. The principal functions of this caste were exercised or directed by members of the royal family. Another portion of the Egyptian nation was specially entrusted with watching over the external defence, and guarding the internal tranquillity, of the country. It was in the numerous families endowed and supported at the expense of the state, and which formed the Military Caste, that all the conscriptions and levies of soldiers took effect. They regularly maintained the Egyptian army on the footing of a war establishment, at the total strength of about 180,000 men.^[14. The first but smallest of the divisions of this army was trained to fight on cars or chariots drawn by two horses. This constituted the cavalry of that period, for cavalry properly so called did not then exist in Egypt. The remainder consisted of corps of infantry of different arms, viz. the soldiers of the line armed with a cuirass, a buckler, a lance, and a βword; and the light troops the archers, the slingers, and corps armed with hatchets or battle-axes. The troops were exercised in regular manoeuvres, marched and performed movements in line by divisions and companies, and executed their evolutions to the sound of the drum and the trumpet. These circumstances indicate an advanced civilization. See the article Army. ] The third class of the population formed the Agricultural Caste. Its members devoted all their labour and attention to the cultivation of the soil, whether as proprietors or as farmers; and the products belonged to them en propre, subject only to the deduction of a portion des-lined[7:8:466] for the support of the king, and also for that of the sacerdotal and military castes, which formed the principal, and indeed the most certain, revenues of the state. According to the statements of ancient historians, the annual revenue of the Pharaohs, including the tributes paid by foreign nations, may be estimated at not less than from L.27,000,000 to L.28,000,000 sterling. The artizans, the workmen of all kinds, and the merchants, composed the fourth class of the nation, or the Industrious Caste, which was subjected to a proportional impost, and thus contributed by its labours to defray the expense, as well as to augment the wealth, of the state. The productions of this caste raised Egypt to its highest pitch of prosperity. All kinds of industry were in fact practised by the ancient Egyptians; and their commerce with other nations more or less advanced, who formed the political world of that period, had experienced great development.

Egypt carried on a regular and extensive commerce in the grain which remained after supplying its own consumption. It derived great profit from its herds, and also from its horses. It supplied the world with its linen fabrics and with its cotton tissues, equalling in perfection and in fineness any thing which India or Europe has yet produced. The metals, of which Egypt contained no mine, but which it derived from the tributary countries, or by advantageous exchanges with independent nations, came out of its workshops manufactured into various forms, and changed either into arms, instruments, utensils, or into articles of luxury and dress, which were eagerly sought after by all the neighbouring nations. It exported annually a considerable quantity of pottery of every kind, as well as innumerable products wrought in glass and in enamel; arts which the Egyptians had carried to the highest pitch of perfection. Lastly, it provided the neighbouring nations with papyrus or paper, formed from the interior pellicles of a plant which several centuries ago ceased to exist in Egypt.^[15. The papyrus, called herd by the ancient Arabs, grew principally in marshy soils, and the cultivation of it proved a source of wealth to those who lived on the banks of Lakes Buurlos and Menzaleh or Tennis. ] The Egyptians had no monetary system at all similar to ours. For small commerce they had a money of convention; but in considerable transactions payments were made in rings of pure gold of a certain weight and diameter, or in rings of silver of a denomination and weight equally fixed. With them silver was a legal tender as well as gold. In regard to the state of the marine at this early period, we have not sufficient information to enable us to speak with confidence. It appears, however, that Egypt had a navy composed of large galleys, propelled both by oars and sails; and it may be presumed that the mercantile marine had also made considerable advances, although it is not improbable that commerce and navigation on an extended scale were carried on, in quality of brokers or agents, by a small tributary people of Egypt, whose principal cities were Sour, Saïd, Beirout, and Acre. In short, the internal prosperity of Egypt was founded on the great development of its agriculture and its industry. In the tombs of Thebes and of Sakkara are discovered at every step objects of improved and elaborate workmanship, showing that this people were acquainted with all the comforts of life, and all the enjoyments of luxury. No nation, ancient or modern, has in truth carried further than the old Egyptians the grandeur and richness of their edifices, or taste and recherche in furniture, utensils, costume, and decoration.

Such was Egypt at the period of its greatest known splendour. This prosperity dates from the epoch of the last kings of the eighteenth dynasty, to which belonged Rhamses the Great or Sesostris; a sovereign terrible to his enemies, but the benefactor of the nation, which he governed with prudence, and improved by his wise institutions. His successors enjoyed in peace the fruits of his labours, and preserved the greater part of his conquests, which the fourth of these in order, called Rhamses- Meiammon, a warlike and ambitious prince, still further extended, his entire reign being occupied with a series of successful enterprises against the most powerful nations of Asia. This king built the beautiful palace of Medinet-Abou at Thebes, on the walls of which may still be seen sculptured and painted all the campaigns of this Pharaoh in Asia, the battles which he fought on land and on sea, the siege and capture of several cities, and the ceremonies of his triumph on his return from his distant expeditions. This conqueror appears also to have improved the navy of Egypt, which had been neglected by his immediate predecessors.

Under the Pharaohs who reigned after Rhamses surnamed Meiammon, or Beloved of Ammon, Egypt enjoyed a long tranquillity. During this period of profound repose, although the warlike and conquering spirit with which the country had been animated during the preceding dynastics declined, Egypt must necessarily have improved its internal government, and advanced progressively in art and industry; but its external dominion became contracted from age to age, by reason of the increasing civilization of the countries, which thus scarcely owned its sway, and which, improved by their very connection with Egypt, could not be kept in subjection except by means of a military establishment out of all proportion to the resources and population of that country. A new political world had in fact been formed around Egypt The tribes of Persia, incorporated into one nation, already menaced the great united kingdoms of Nineveh and Babylon; whilst, on the other hand, the latter, aiming at depriving Egypt of important branches of commerce, disputed with that country the possession of Syria, and employed the Arab nations and tribes to harass its frontiers. In this conflict, the Phoenicians, naturally the commercial agents of these powerful rivals, sided sometimes with the one party and sometimes with the other, according to the interest of the moment; but the struggle was long and obstinate, the commercial existence of one or other of these powerful empires being at stake.

The military expeditions of Pharaoh Chechonk I. and those of his son Osorchon I. who overran Western Asia, maintained during some time the supremacy of Egypt; and it might long have enjoyed the fruits of these victories, if an invasion of ./Ethiopians or Abyssinians had not turned its whole attention to the south. But all its efforts were unavailing. Sabacon, king of the Ethiopians, having seized upon Nubia, passed the last Cataract with an army augmented by all the barbarous races of Africa, and poured this savage horde like a torrent down the valley of the Nile. After an unavailing struggle, in which its native prince, Pharaoh Bok-hor, perished, Egypt yielded to the conqueror. Sabacon began his reign with an act of great cruelty, causing the conquered prince to be burnt alive; nevertheless, when he saw himself firmly established on the throne of Egypt, he is said to have become a new man, and in fact he is highly extolled for his mercy, clemency, and wisdom. Sabacon is probably the So mentioned in Scripture, who entered into a league with Hoshea king of Israel against Shalmaneser king of Assyria.

Of Sabacon’s immediate successor little or nothing is known. After him reigned Sethon, who was both king and priest of Ptha. He gave himself up to religious contemplation; and not only neglected the military class, but deprived them of their lands. They were so much incensed [7:8:467]at this, that they entered into an agreement not to bear arms under him; and in this state of affairs Sennacherib king of Assyria arrived before Pelusium with a mighty army. Sethon now applied to his soldiers, but in vain; they unanimously persisted in refusing to march under his banner. Being therefore destitute of all human aid, he had recourse to Ptha, who, according to the legend, promised, that if Sethon would but go out against the Assyrians, he should obtain a complete victory. Encouraged by this assurance, the king assembled a body of artificers, shopkeepers, and labourers, and with this undisciplined rabble marched towards Pelusium. He had no occasion, however, to fight; for the very night after his arrival at Pelusium, an innumerable multitude of field rats having entered the enemies’ camp, gnawed to pieces the quivers, bowstrings, and shield straps; so that, next morning, when Sethon found the enemy disarmed, and on that account beginning to fly, he pursued them with terrible slaughter. In memory of this extraordinary event, a statue of Sethon was erected in the temple of Ptha, holding in one hand a rat, whilst the words, “Whosoever beholdeth me, let him be pious,” appeared to be issuing from the mouth.

Soon after the death of Sethon, the form of government was totally changed, and the kingdom divided into twelve parts, over which as many of the chief nobility presided. But this division subsisted only for a short time; for Psammeticus I. one of the twelve, dethroned all the rest, fifteen years after the division was made. The history of Egypt now begins to be divested of fable; and from this time it may be accounted as certain as that of any other ancient nation. The vast conquests of Sesostris were now merely matters of tradition, and Psammeticus possessed only Egypt itself. Indeed none of the successors of Sesostris, not even that monarch himself, had made use of any means to keep in subjection the countries which he had once conquered. Perhaps his original design was rather to pillage than to conquer; and hence his vast empire speedily fell to pieces. Psammeticus. however, endeavoured to extend his dominions by making war on his neighbours; but by putting more confidence in foreign auxiliaries than in his native subjects of the military caste, the latter were so much offended that upwards of 100,000 fighting men emigrated in a body, passed the Cataracts, and took up their residence in Ethiopia, where they established an independent state. To repair this loss, Psammeticus earnestly applied himself to the advancement of commerce, and opened his ports to all strangers, whom he greatly caressed, contrary to the maxims of his predecessors, who had refused to admit them into the country. He also laid siege to the city of Azotus in Syria, which held out for twenty-nine years against the whole strength of his kingdom; a sufficient proof that, as a warrior, Psammeticus was by no means very formidable to his enemies. He is said to have been the first king of Egypt who drank wine. He also sent to explore the sources of the Nile, and attempted to discover the most ancient nation in the world by an experiment which has been often recorded. Having procured two newly-born children, he caused them to be brought up without hearing the sound of a human voice; imagining that these children would naturally speak the original language of mankind. When, therefore, at two years of age, they pronounced the Phrygian word for bread, or some sound resembling it, he concluded that the Phrygians were the most ancient people in the world. This Pharaoh was but an indifferent logician.

Nechus, the son and successor of Psammeticus, and the Pharaoh-Necho of Scripture, was a prince of an enterprising and warlike genius. In the beginning of his • reign he attempted to cut through the isthmus of Suez, between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean; but owing to obstacles which nature had thrown in the way of such an undertaking, he was obliged to abandon the enterprise, after having lost 120,000 men in the attempt. After this he sent a fleet, manned with Phoenician mariners, on a voyage to explore the coast of Africa. Accordingly, having left the Red Sea, he sailed round the continent of Africa, doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and after three years returned to Egypt by the Mediterranean, having of course passed the Straits of Gibraltar. The most remarkable wars in which this king was engaged are recorded in the sacred writings. He marched against the king of Assyria; and being opposed by the king of Judaea, he defeated and killed his opponent at Megiddo; after which he set up King Jehoiakim, and imposed on him an annual tribute of a hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. He then proceeded against the king of Assyria, and having weakened him so much that the empire was soon afterwards dissolved, he became master of Syria and Phoenicia. But the end of his reign was unfortunate; for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, having come against him with a mighty army, the Egyptian monarch boldly ventured a battle, but was overthrown with great slaughter, and Nebuchadnezzar became master of all the country as far as the gates of Pelusium. His son Psammeticus IL, called also Psammis, endeavoured to recover the provinces which had been detached from Egypt, but without success.

But his successor Apries, the Pharaoh-Hophra of Scripture, in Egy ptian Ouaphré, was in some respects more fortunate. He is represented as a martial prince, and in the beginning of his reign as very successful. He took by storm the rich city of Sidon; and having overcome the Cypriots and Phoenicians in a sea-fight, returned to Egypt laden with spoil. It was probably this success which induced Zedekiah, king of Judaea, to enter into an alliance with Ouaphré against Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; an alliance the unfortunate result of which was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah; for when Nebuchadnezzar sat down with his army before Jerusalem, Apries marched from Egypt to relieve the city, but no sooner did he perceive the Babylonians approaching him, than he retreated as fast as he could, leaving the Jews exposed to the mercy of their enemies. By this cowardly or treacherous conduct, Apries justly brought upon himself the vengeance denounced by the prophet. The Cyreneans, a colony of Greeks, being strengthened by a body of their countrymen under their third king Battus, and encouraged by the Pythian oracle, began to expel their Libyan neighbours, and divide among themselves the possessions of those whom they had driven out. In these circumstances Andica, king of Libya, sent an embassy to Apries to implore his protection against the Cyreneans. Apries complied with this request, and sent a powerful army to his relief. But the Egyptians were defeated with great slaughter; and those who returned complained that the army had been sent out in order to be destroyed, and that the king might tyrannize without control over the remainder of his subjects. This notion having caught the attention of the multitude, an almost universal defection ensued. Apries sent Amasis, a friend in whom he thought he could confide, to endeavour to bring back the people to a sense of duty. But he was betrayed by Amasis, who, taking the opportunity of the ferment, caused himself to be proclaimed king. Both parties now prepared for war. The usurper had under his command the whole body of native Egyptians, and A pries such Ionians, Cariaι>s, and other mercenaries as he could engage in his service.. The army of Apries amounted only to 30,000; but though greatly inferior in number to the troops of his rival, yet as he well knew that the Greeks were much superior iα [7:8:468] valour, he did not doubt of victory. The two armies met, and drew up in order of battle near Memphis, where a bloody engagement ensued, in which, though the army of Apries behaved with the greatest resolution, they were at last overpowered by numbers, and utterly defeated, the king himself being taken prisoner. Amasis now took possession of the throne without opposition, and confined Apries in one of his palaces, but treated him with great care and respect. The people, however, were implacable, and Amasis therefore found himself obliged to deliver the prisoner into their hands. Apries was accordingly given up to those “who sought his life,” and who no sooner had him in their power than they strangled him, and laid his body in the sepulchre of his ancestors.

During the reign of Amasis, Egypt is said to have been perfectly happy, and to have contained twenty thousand populous cities. That good order might be preserved amongst such vast numbers of people, Amasis enacted a law by which every Egyptian was bound once a year to inform the governor of his province by what means he gained his livelihood; and if he failed in this, he was liable to be put to death. The same punishment he decreed to those who could not give a satisfactory account of themselves. This monarch greatly favoured the Greeks, and married a woman of Grecian extract. To many Greek cities, as well as particular persons, he made considerable presents. He likewise gave permission to the Greeks in general to come into Egypt, and either settle in the city of Naucratis, or carry on their trade upon the sea coasts; granting them also temples, and places where they might erect temples, to their own deities. He likewise received a visit from Solon the celebrated Athenian lawgiver, and reduced the island of Cyprus under his subjection.

This prosperity, however, ended with the death of Amasis, or rather before it. The Egyptian monarch having somehow incensed Cambyses, king of Persia, the latter vowed the destruction of Amasis. In the mean time Phanes of Halicarnassus, commander of the Grecian auxiliaries in the pay of Amasis, received some private disgust, and leaving Egypt, set out for Persia. He was a wise and able general, well acquainted with every thing which related to Egypt, and held in great estimation by the Greeks resident in that country. Amasis became immediately sensible of his loss, and therefore sent after him a trusty eunuch in a fast-sailing galley. Phanes was accordingly overtaken in Lycia, but not brought back; for having made his guard drunk, he continued his journey to Persia, and presented himself before Cambyses as the latter was meditating the destruction of the Egyptian monarchy. '

But Amasis had not the misfortune to behold the calamities of his country.^[16. “Son règne fut heureux et paisible,” says Champollion; “le commerce reprit un grand essor, et les richesses affluaient en Egypte; non qu’elle fût forte par elle-même, non qu’elle eût reconquis par les armes son influence au dehors, mais parce que dans ce temps-là les rois de Babylone cessaient de menacer l’Egypte pour resister aux peuples de la Perse, réunis sous un seul chef, Cyrus, qui attaqua impétueusement l’Assyrie et en fit graduellement la conquête, terminée par la prise et l’asservissement de Babylone." (Notice cur l’ Histoire de l’ Egypte.) ] He died about 525 years before Christ, after a reign of forty-two years, and left the kingdom to his son Psammenitus, just as Cambyses was approaching the frontiers of the kingdom.

The new prince was scarcely seated upon the throne when the Persian host appeared. Psammenitus drew together what forces he could, in order to prevent the invader from entering the kingdom. Cambyses, however, immediately laid siege to Pelusium, and made himself master of the place by a stratagem. Having placed in the front of his army a great number of cats, dogs, and other animals which were deemed sacred by the Egyptians, he then attacked the city, and took it without opposition; the garrison, which consisted entirely of Egyptians, not daring to throw a dart or shoot an arrow against their enemies, lest their weapons should kill some of the sacred animals. Cambyses had scarcely taken possession of the city, when Psammenitus advanced against him with a numerous army. But before the engagement, the Greeks who served under Psammenitus, in order to show their indignation against their treacherous countryman Phanes, brought his children into the camp, killed them in the presence of their father and the two armies, and then drank their blood. Enraged at so cruel an act, the Persians advanced to the combat, which proved long and bloody; but at the close of the day the Egyptians, overpowered by numbers, gave way. Cambyses prevailed, and the national independence of Egypt was for ever lost. Those who escaped from the field fled to Memphis, where they were soon after guilty of an outrage for which they afterwards paid dear. Cambyses sent a herald to summon them, in a small vessel from Mitylene; but no sooner did they observe this craft coming into the port, than they flocked down to the shore, destroyed the boat, tore in pieces the herald and all the crew, and afterwards carried their mangled limbs into the city in a kind of barbarous triumph. Not long afterwards, Memphis was taken by assault, and given up to pillage; whilst Psammenitus fell into the hands of an inveterate enemy, enraged beyond measure at the cruelties committed upon the children of Phanes, the Persian herald, and the Mitylenian sailors. The conquerors, being still a barbarous race, carried everywhere destruction and death. Thebes was sacked, its finest monuments were demolished or laid in ruins, and the iconoclastic fury of the conquerors raged even more fiercely against the temples than the palaces of the land, which was thus made desolate.

The rapid success of the Persians struck such terror into the Libyans, Cyreneans, Barcaeans, and other dependents or allies of the Egyptian monarchy, that they immediately submitted. Nothing now remained but to dispose of the captive king, and revenge on him and his subjects the cruelties which they had committed. This the merciless victor executed in the severest manner. On the tenth day after Memphis had been taken, Psammenitus and the chief of the Egyptian nobility were ignominiously sent into one of the suburbs of that city; and the king being there seated, saw his daughter coming along in the habit of a slave with a pitcher to fetch water from the Nile, and followed by the daughters of the first families in Egypt, all in the same miserable garb, with pitchers in their hands, drowned in tears, and loudly bemoaning their miserable situation. When the fathers observed their daughters in this distress, they all burst into tears, except Psammenitus, who only cast his eyes on the ground and kept them fixed there. After the young women came the son of Psammenitus, with two thousand of the young nobility, all of them with bits in their mouths and halters round their necks, who were led to execution. This was done to expiate the murder of the Persian herald and the Mitylenian sailors; for Cambyses caused ten Egyptians of the first rank to be publicly executed for every one of those who had been assassinated. Psammenitus himself was afterwards restored to his liberty, and had he not showed a desire of revenge, might perhaps have been entrusted with the government of Egypt; but being discovered hatching schemes against the conquerors, he was seized, convicted, and condemned to drink bull’s blood.
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The Egyptians, now reduced to the lowest degree of slavery, were placed at the mercy of satraps or governors appointed by the conquerors. Their country became a province of the Persian empire, and the body of Amasis, their late king, being taken out of the grave, and mangled in a shocking manner, was finally burnt. Never was conquest more complete, desolation more universal, or tyranny more fierce and unrelenting. It was the very frenzy of barbarous fanaticism let loose, like some evil spirit long kept in chains under darkness, to destroy the monuments of the proudest civilization which the world had ever yet seen, and which in some of its characteristics had far distanced all future rivalry.^[17. ïn a poetical “Address to the Mummy in Belzoni’s Exhibition,” which appeared about the time when that enterprising but unfortunate traveller exposed his Egyptian tomb and other curiosities to the view of the London public, and which has deservedly been admired for its picturesque vigour combined with richness and felicity of historical allusion, the fury which marked the whole career of the Persian conquest is indicated in the most graphic manner. Addressing the mummy, the poet asks Didst thou not hear the pother o’er thy head when the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses, Marched armies o’er thy tomb with thundering tread, O’erthrew Osiris, Orus, Apis, Isis, And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder. when the gigantic Memnon fell asunder ř ] In the moral chaos which ensued, the arts and sciences almost entirely disappeared from that very soil in which they had long flourished; and the learning of the Egyptians became merely a recollection or tradition of the past. But what was accounted by the superstitious portion of the people more grievous than all the rest, the sacred bull Apis was slain, and his priests were ignominiously scourged; treatment which inspired the whole nation with an unextinguishable hatred of the Persians. A similar spirit of vengeance dictated the attempt to seize the consecrated fane of Jupiter Ammon, situated in the great Oasis; an attempt which cost Cambyses half his army, and produced disaffection among the remainder. As long as the Persian empire subsisted, the Egyptians were never able to shake off the yoke. They revolted frequently, it is true, but in every instance they were ultimately overthrown with prodigious loss. The chiefs who headed these insurrections gained partial successes, and for a brief space even freed their country from servitude; but their generous efforts were soon exhausted against the constantly increasing power of the Persian empire, and the expected deliverance was not achieved.

But when Alexander (Iskander), at the head of an army of Greeks, overturned the dominion of the Persians in Asia, Egypt at length respired freely under this new and enlightened master; and if he had lived he would doubtless have raised it to something like its ancient renown. He founded the city of Alexandria, which he called after his own name, and destined to become the centre of the commerce of the world, for which, from its geographical position, it was eminently calculated; and he was meditating other plans equally enlarged and comprehensive, when all his projects were suddenly arrested by death.

Having thus arrived at the point where commences the history of the Greek rulers of Egypt, we shall, in order to ςpnnect that which precedes with what is to follow, exhibit a tabular view of the several Egyptian dynastics from the death of Moeris-Thothmosis III. to the accession of the first Ptolemy, the head of the Lagidae. It is proper to observe here, however, that this arrangement of the dynastics, founded on the information contained in the writings of Herodotus and Diodorus, differs very materially from that of Manetho, which will be presented under a subsequent head; and that it has been adopted in this place soiely with a view to the illustration of the narrative, to which it is more immediately applicable than the royal canon of Manetho.
[table]
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On the demise of Alexander the Great the Greek generals divided amongst them his conquests, when Egypt, together with Libya, and that part of Arabia which borders on Egypt, were assigned to Ptolemy Lagus, as governor, under Alexander’s son by Roxana, who was but newly born. But nothing was further from the intention of this governor than to hold these provinces in trust for another. He did not, however, assume the title of king until he found his authority too firmly established to be overthrown; nor did this happen until nineteen years after the death of Alexander, when Antigonus and Demetrius had unsuccessfully attempted the conquest of Egypt. Ptolemy then declared himself king, and became the head of the Greek dynasty which governed Egypt for nearly three centuries. From the time of his first establishment on the throne, Ptolemy, who had assumed the cognomen of Soter, reigned twenty years, which, added to the former nineteen, make up the thirty-nine years during which it is computed by historians that he reigned alone. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign he associated one of his sons, named Philadelphus, as his partner in the empire, at the same time declaring him successor to the throne, in prejudice of his eldest son, named Ceraunus; a preference which he was induced to give by his extravagant affection for Berenice, mother of Philadelphus. When the succession had been thus settled, Ceraunus immediately quitted the court, and fled into Syria, where he was received with open arms by Seleucus Nicator, whom, in order to evince his gratitude, he afterwards murdered.

The most remarkable transaction of this reign was the embellishing of the city of Alexandria, which Ptolemy made the capital of his new kingdom; and the establishment of the celebrated Alexandrian Library, in which were deposited all the treasures of ancient learning. (See the article Alexandria.) About 284 years before Christ, died Ptolemy Soter, in the forty-first year of his reign, and eighty-fourth of bis age. He was the best as well as the most accomplished prince of his race, and he left behind him an exampleof prudence, justice,and munificence which few of his successore chose to imitate. Learned himself, he was a great patron and encourager of learning in others; and whilst he proved himself one of the most eminent philosophers of his age, he also invited to his court, and placed in the schools which he had established in Alexandria, all those who were then most distinguished for scientific acquirements. To him learning and philosophy owe numerous and deep obligations; and for nothing are they more indebted than the practical direction which he gave to the pursuits of science, by withdrawing the speculations of the learned from the entities and quiddities of metaphysics, and the barren subtilties of scholastic systems of disputation, in order to engage them in the more profitable studies of history, geometry, medicine, and philosophy. In this indeed consisted the true glory of his reign. The employment to which he devoted his accomplished mind, and the encouragement which he afforded to true learning, reflect greater honour upon the memory of Ptolemy Soter, than all the magnificence of the Serapeion, all the brilliant utility of the Pharos, or the success which crowned his arms and issued in the extension of his empire. Besides the provinces originally assigned to him, he acquired those of Coelo-Syria, Ethiopia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Caria, and some of the Cyclades.

His successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus, added nothing to the extent of the empire; nor did he perform any thing worthy of notice except further embellishing the city of Alexandria, and entering into an alliance with the Romans. In his time Magas the governor of Libya and Cyrene revolted, and held these provinces as an independent prince, notwithstanding the utmost efforts of Ptolemy to reduce him to obedience. At last an accommodation took place; and a marriage was proposed between Berenice, the only daughter of Magas, and Ptolemy’s eldest son. But before this treaty could be carried into effect, Magas died; and Apamea, the princess’s mother, afterwards did all in her power to prevent the match. This, however, she was unable to effect, though her intrigues produced a destructive war of four years’ continuance with Antiochus Theus king of Syria, and the enacting of a cruel tragedy in the family of that prince. Philadelphus conveyed the waters of the Nile into the deserts of Libya, finished the Pharos near the harbour of Alexandria, and laboured to improve the navigable canal which connected the capital with both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. But he dishonoured himself by resenting the advice given to his father by Demetrius the librarian, who recommended to Lagus to allow the succession to proceed in the natural course, and to settle the crown on his eldest to the exclusion of his second son.

About 246 years before Christ, Ptolemy Philadelphus died, and was succeeded by his eldest son Ptolemy, who bad been married to Berenice, the daughter of Magas, as above stated. In the beginning of his reign he found himself engaged in a war with Antiochus Theus king of Syria. In this, however, he proved victorious, and brought with him two thousand five hundred statues and pictures, amongst which were many of the ancient Egyptian idols, which had been carried away by Cambyses into Persia. These were restored by Ptolemy to their ancient temples, and in memory of this pious act the Egyptians conferred on him the surname of Euergetes, or the Beneficent. In the expedition against Theus he greatly enlarged his dominions, made himself master of several countries situated beyond Mount Taurus, and carried his arms to the confines of Bactria. An account of these conquests was drawn up by Ptolemy himself, and inscribed on a monument, to the following effect:

“Ptolemy Euergetes, having received from his father the sovereignty of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Phoenice, Cyprus, Lycia, Caria, and the other Cyclades, assembled a mighty army of cavalry and infantry, with a great fleet and elephants out of Trogloditia and Ethiopia, some of which had been taken by his father, and the rest by himself, and brought thence and trained up for war. With this great force he sailed into Asia, and having conquered all the provinces which are situated on this side of the Euphrates, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Ionia, the Hellespont, and Thrace, he crossed the river with all the forces of the conquered countries, and the kings of those nations, and reduced Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Susiana, Persia, Media, and all the country as far as Bactria.”

On his return from this expedition, he passed through Jerusalem, where he offered many sacrifices to the God of Israel, and ever afterwards expressed great favour for the Jewish nation. At this time the Jews were tributaries of the Egyptian monarchs, and paid them annually twenty talents of silver. This tribute, however, Onias, then high priest, had for a long time neglected to pay, and the arrears in consequence now amounted to a very large sum. Soon after his return, therefore, Ptolemy sent one of his courtiers named Athenion to demand the money, and instructed him to acquaint the Jews that he would make war upon them in case of refusal. A young man, however, named Joseph, nephew of Onias, not only found means to avert the king’s anger, but even got himself appointed receiver-general, and by his faithful discharge of that important trust continued in high favour with Ptolemy as long as he lived.

Having at last concluded a peace with Seleucus, the successor of Antiochus Theus king of Syria, Ptolemy Euergetes[7:8:471] attempted the enlargement of his dominions to the south; and in this he was so successful that he made himself master of all the coasts of the Red Sea, both on the Arabian and Ethiopian shores, as far as the entrance of the Strait of Dira or Babelmandeb. On his return he was met by ambassadors from the Achaeans, who came to implore his assistance against the Aetolians and Lacedaemonians. This the king readily promised; but the envoys having in the mean while engaged Antigonus king of Macedonia to support them, Ptolemy was so much offended that he sent powerful succours to Cleomenes king of Sparta, hoping thereby to humble both the Achaeans and their new ally Antigonus. In this, however, he was disappointed; for Cleomenes, after having gained very considerable advantages over the enemy, was at last defeated in the battle of Sellasia, and obliged to take refuge in Ptolemy’s dominions. He was received by the Egyptian monarch with the greatest kindness, and a yearly pension of twenty-four talents was assigned him, with a promise of restoring him to the Spartan throne; but before this could be accomplished, the king of Egypt died, in the twenty-seventh year of his reign, and was succeeded by his son Ptolemy Philopater.

At this period the Egyptian empire had attained to a great height of power; and if the succeeding monarchs had been careful to preserve what was transmitted to them by Euergetes, it is probable that Egypt might have been capable of holding the balance against Rome, and, after the destruction of Carthage, might have prevented that haughty city from becoming mistress of the world. But after the death of Ptolemy Euergetes, the Egyptian empire being governed only by weak or vicious monarchs, rapidly declined; and henceforth it makes no conspicuous figure in history. Ptolemy Philopater commenced his reign with the murder of his brother; after which he gave himself up to all manner of licentiousness, and the kingdom fell into a state of anarchy. Cleomenes the Spartan king still resided at court; and being now unable to bear the dissolute manners which prevailed there, he pressed Philopater to give him the assistance which had been promised for restoring him to the throne of Sparta. This he insisted upon the more, because he had received advice that Antigonus king of Macedonia was dead, that the Achaeans were engaged in a war with the Etolians, and that the Lacedaemonians had joined the latter against the Achaeans and Macedonians. Ptolemy, when afraid of his brother Magas, had indeed promised to assist the king of Sparta with a powerful fleet, hoping by this means to attach the latter to his own interest; but now when Magas no longer stood in the way, it was determined by the king, or rather his ministers, that Cleomenes should not be assisted, nor even allowed to quit the kingdom. Of the disorders which ensued in the government, Antiochus king of Syria, surnamed the Great, took advantage, and attempted to wrest from the hands of Ptolemy the provinces of Coelo-Syria and of Palestine. But in this he was unsuccessful, and might easily have been driven altogether out of Syria, had not Ptolemy been too much occupied with his debaucheries to think of carrying on the war. The discontent occasioned by this negligence soon produced a civil war in his dominions; and the whole kingdom continued in the utmost confusion and disorder until his death, which happened in the seventeenth year of his reign and thirty-seventh of his age. A slave to his passions, addicted to cruelty, and incapable of governing, he at that early age sunk under a ruined constitution, amidst the universal scorn and contempt of mankind.

In this reign the Jews were inhumanly persecuted. The hatred of this people entertained by Philopater arose out of a remarkable occurrence. Whilst engaged in his Syrian expedition, the king of Egypt had attempted to enter the temple of Jerusalem; but he was prevented doing so by the Jews, a circumstance which filled him with the utmost rage against the whole nation. On his return to Alexandria, being resolved to make those who dwelt in that city feel the first effects of his vengeance, he published a decree, which he caused to be engraved on a pillar erected at the gate of his palace, excluding all those who refused to sacrifice to the gods worshipped by the king; by which means the Jews were debarred from suing for justice, or obtaining protection, when they happened to require it. By the favour of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy Soter, and Ptolemy Euergetes, the Jews at Alexandria had enjoyed the same privileges with the Macedonians. In that metropolis indeed the inhabitants were divided into three classes. In the first were the Macedonians, the original founders of the city, and the Jews; in the second were the mercenaries who had served under Alexander; and in the third the native Egyptians. By another decree, however, Ptolemy now ordained that the Jews should be degraded from the first rank, and enrolled among the native Egyptians; but that he might not seem to be an enemy to the whole nation, he declared that those who sacrificed to the gods of the Egyptians should enjoy their former privileges, and remain in the first class. Yet notwithstanding this tempting offer, only three hundred out of many thousand Jews who lived in Alexandria could be prevailed upon to abandon their religion in order to save themselves from slavery. Meanwhile, the apostates were excommunicated by their brethren; and this, being construed as done in opposition to the king’s order, exasperated him so much that he resolved to extirpate the whole nation, beginning with the Jews who lived in Alexandria and other cities of Egypt, and proceeding thence even to Judea and Jerusalem itself. Accordingly he commanded the Jews who lived in any part of Egypt to be brought in chains to Alexandria, and there to be shut up in the Hippodrome; and having sent for the master of the elephants, he ordered that functionary to have five hundred of these animals in readiness against the next day, to be let loose upon the Jews. But when at length the elephants were let loose, instead of falling upon the Jews, they turned their rage against the spectators and soldiers, great numbers of whom were destroyed; and this elephantine retribution, together with some strange appearances which were at the same time observed in the air, so terrified the king, that he commanded the Jews to be immediately set at liberty, and restored them to their former privileges.

The death of Philopater was follow ed by a minority, his son and successor Ptolemy Epiphanes being only five years old at the period of his demise. This minority was chiefly remarkable for having afforded the Romans an opportunity of interfering in and powerfully influencing the affairs of Egypt. When, owing to the extreme youth of the Egyptian monarch, the kings of Syria and Macedonia had resolved to dismember and divide his dominions, the guardians of the young prince made application to Rome to interpose her authority in the cause of justice, and to prevent the aggrandisement of two grasping and unprincipled monarchs with the spoils of an unoffending country. It was always the policy of Rome to mask her ambitious views under the show of a regard to justice; and this application, which furnished the necessary pretence, whilst it held out hopes of future advantage, appeared too inviting to be refused. The request of the guardians was promptly granted, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus set sail for Alexandria to assume the direction of affairs, whilst ambassadors were dispatched to Antiochus and Philip, to make known to them the line of policy which the republic had [7:8:472]resolved to pursue. But the peace which Rome thus dictated terminated when Epiphanes took the sceptre into his own feeble hand. As he became corrupt, his subjects grew discontented; various conspiracies were formed against him; and although these were discovered and detected, he at length fell by the hands of an assassin, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his reign.

Ptolemy Epiphanes was succeeded by Ptolemy Philometor, who was only six years old. In the beginning of this reign a war commenced with the king of Syria, who, in the preceding reign, had seized upon the provinces of Coelo-Syria and Palestine. In the course of the war Philometor was either voluntarily delivered up to Antiochus, or taken prisoner; and the Alexandrians, despairing of his ever being able to recover his liberty, raised to the throne his younger brother, who took the name of Euergetes IL, but was afterwards called Physcon, on account of the prominenfabdominal rotundity which by his gluttony and sensual indulgence he had acquired. Physcon, however, was scarcely seated on the throne, when Antiochus Epiphanes, returning into Egypt, expelled him from that country,and restored the whole kingdom,except Pelusium, to Philometor. His design was to foment a war between the two brothers, that he might have an opportunity of seizing the kingdom for himself; and with this view he retained possession of the city of Pelusium, by which, as it formed the key of Egypt, he might at his pleasure enter the country. But Philometor, apprised of his design, invited Physcon to an accommodation, which was happily effected by their sister Cleopatra; and in virtue of the agreement then entered into, the brothers consented to reign jointly, and to oppose to the utmost of their power Antiochus, whom they considered as a common enemy. This family compact did not suit the views of the king of Syria, who invaded Egypt with a mighty army; but the Romans interfered,and prevented him from seizing on the country.

The two brothers were no sooner freed from the apprehensions of a foreign enemy than they began to quarrel with each other; and their differences soon reached such a height that the Roman senate interposed. But before the ambassadors employed to inquire into the merits of the cause could arrive in Egypt, Physcon had driven Philometor from the throne, and obliged him to quit the kingdom. On this the dethroned prince fled to Rome, where he was very kindly received by the senate, who immediately decreed his restoration. He was reconducted accordingly, and on the arrival of the ambassadors in Egypt, an accommodation between the two brothers was negociated. By this agreement Physcon was put in possession of Libya and Cyrene, and Philometor of all Egypt and the island of Cyprus; each of them being declared independent of the other in the dominion allotted to them. The treaty, as usual, was confirmed with oaths and sacrifices, and was broken almost as soon as made. Physcon was dissatisfied with his share of the dominions, and he therefore sent ambassadors to Rome to require that the island of Cyprus might be added to his other possessions. But this the ambassadors failed to obtain, and accordingly Physcon proceeded to Rome in person. His demand was evidently unjust, but the Romans, considering it as their interest to weaken the power of Egypt, without further ceremony adjudged to him the island in question.

Physcon set out from Rome along with two ambassadors; and having arrived in Greece on his way to Cyprus, proceeded to raise a number of mercenaries, with a design to sail immediately for that island and conquer it. But the Roman ambassadors having informed him that they were commanded to put him in possession of it by fair means, and not by force, he dismissed his army, and returned to Libya, whilst one of the ambassadors proceeded to Alexandria. Their design was to bring the two brothers to an interview on the frontiers of their dominions, and there to settle matters in an amicable manner. But the ambassador who went to Alexandria found Philometor averse to comply with the decree of the senate; and, in fact, he had recourse to so much evasion, that Physcon sent the other also to Alexandria, hoping that the joint persuasions of the two would induce Philometor to comply. But the king, after entertaining them at an immense charge for forty days, at last plainly refused to submit, and informed the ambassadors that he was resolved to adhere to the first treaty. Having received this answer, the Roman ambassadors departed, and were followed by others from the two brothers. The senate, however, not only confirmed the decree in favour of Physcon, but renounced their alliance with Philometor, and commanded his ambassador to leave the city in five days.

In the mean time the inhabitants of Cyrene having heard unfavourable accounts of Physcon’s behaviour during the short time he reigned in Alexandria, conceived so strong an aversion to him, that it was resolved to exclude him from their country by force of arms. On receiving intelligence of this resolution, Physcon hastened with all his forces to Cyrene, where he overpowered his rebellious subjects, and established himself in the kingdom. But his vicious and tyrannical conduct soon estranged from him the minds of his subjects; and some of them, having entered into a conspiracy against him, fell upon him one night as he was returning to his palace, wounded him in several places, and left him for dead. This he laid to the charge of his brother Philometor, and, as soon as he had recovered, undertook another voyage to Rome, where he made his complaints to the senate, and showed them the scars of his wounds, accusing his brother of having employed the assassins from whom he had received them. Though Philometor was known to be a man of humane and mild disposition, and therefore unlikely to have been concerned in such an attempt, yet the senate, offended at his refusing to submit to their decree concerning the island of Cyprus, listened to this false accusation, and carried their prejudices so far as not only to refuse an audience to his ambassadors, but to order them to depart immediately from the city. At the same time they appointed five commissioners to conduct Physcon to Cyprus, and to put him in possession of that island; enjoining all their allies in those parts to supply him with forces for that purpose.

Physcon having by this means got together an army which appeared to be sufficient for the purpose, landed in Cyprus; but being there encountered by Philometor in person, he was entirely defeated, and obliged to shelter himself in a city called Lapitho, where he was closely besieged, and at last obliged to surrender. Every one now expected that Physcon would have been treated as he deserved; but instead of punishing, his brother restored him to the government of Libya and Cyrene, adding some other territories instead of the island of Cyprus, and promising him his daughter in marriage. Thus an end was put to the war between the two brothers; the Romans being ashamed any longer to oppose a prince who had given such a signal instance of justice and clemency.

On the death of Philometor, occasioned by wounds received in battle, Cleopatra the queen intended to secure the throne for her son. But some of the principal nobility having declared for Physcon, a civil war was about to ensue, when matters were compromised on condition that Physcon should marry Cleopatra, that he should reign jointly with her during his life, and that he should declare[7:8:473] her son by Philometor heir to the crown. These terms were no sooner agreed to than Physcon married Cleopatra, and on the very day of the nuptials murdered her son in her arms. But this bloody deed was only a prelude to the cruelties which he afterwards practised on his subjects. He was no sooner seated on the throne as sole occupant than he put to death all those who had shown any concern for the murder of the young prince: he then wreaked his fury on the Jews, whom he treated more like slaves than subjects, on account of their having favoured the cause of Cleopatra; and even his own people were treated with little more ceremony. Numbers were every day put to death for the smallest faults, and often for no fault at all, but merely to gratify the inhuman temper of this tun-bellied despot. Towards the Alexandrians he acted with the greatest barbarity, indulging all the sanguinary caprices of the most wanton cruelty. In a short time, being wearied of his queen, who was his sister, he divorced her, and married her daughter, also called Cleopatra, whom he had previously ravished. In a word, his behaviour was so exceedingly wicked that it soon became quite intolerable to his subjects; and he was at length obliged to fly to the island of Cyprus with his new queen, and Memphitis, a son whom he bad had by her mother.

After the flight of the king, the divorced queen was placed on the throne by the Alexandrians; but Physcon, fearing lest a son whom he had left behind should be appointed king, sent for him into Cyprus, and caused him to be murdered as soon as he landed. This barbarity so provoked the people against him, that they pulled down and dashed to pieces all the statues which had been erected to him at Alexandria. The indignant act of the people being attributed by the tyrant to the instigation of the queen, he resolved to revenge it, by putting to death the son whom he had by her. Accordingly, without the least remorse, he caused the young prince’s throat to be cut; and having put his mangled limbs into a box, he sent them as a present to his mother Cleopatra. The messenger by whom this horrid present was conveyed was one of Physcon’s guards; and the man had orders to wait until the arrival of the queen’s birth-day, which was to be celebrated with extraordinary pomp, and in the midst of the general rejoicing to deliver the present. The horror and detestation occasioned by this unexampled piece of cruelty cannot be expressed. An army was soon raised, and the command of it given to Marsyas, whom the queen had appointed general, and enjoined to take all the necessary steps for the defence of the country. On the other hand, Physcon having hired a numerous body of mercenaries, sent them under the command of Hegelochus against the Egyptians. The two armies met on the frontiers of Egypt, and a bloody battle ensued; but at last the Egyptians were entirely defeated, and Marsyas was taken prisoner. Every one expected that the captive general would have been put to death with the greatest torments; but Physcon, perceiving that his cruelties only exasperated the people, resolved to try whether he might not regain their aífections by lenity; and therefore, having pardoned Marsyas, he set him at liberty. In the mean time Cleopatra, distressed by this overthrow, demanded assistance from Demetrius king of Syria, who had married her eldest daughter by Philometor, at the same time promising him the crown of Egypt as his reward. Demetrius accepted the proposal without hesitation, marched with all his forces into Egypt, and laid siege to Pelusium. But as this prince was no less hated in Syria than Physcon was in Egypt, the people of Antioch, taking advantage of his absence, revolted against him, and were joined by most of the other cities in Syria. Demetrius was accordingly obliged to return; and Cleopatra, being now in no condition to oppose

Physcon, fled to Ptolemais or St Jean d’Acre, where her daughter the queen of Syria at that lime resided. Physcon was then restored to the throne of Egypt, which he enjoyed without further molestation till his death, which happened at Alexandria, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, and sixty-seventh of his age.

Physcon was succeeded by Ptolemy Lathyrus, about a hundred and twenty-two years before Christ; but the latter had not reigned long when his mother, finding that he would not be entirely governed by her, stirred up the Alexandrians, who drove him from the throne, and placed on it his youngest brother Alexander. After this Lathyrus was obliged to content himself with the government of Cyprus, which he was still permitted to hold. But Ptolemy Alexander, finding that he was to have only the shadow of sovereignty, whilst his mother Cleopatra possessed all the power, stole away privately from Alexandria. The queen knowing well that the Alexandrians would never suffer her to reign alone, employed every artifice to bring back her son, who at last yielded to her entreaties; but soon afterwards understanding that she had hired assassins to dispatch him, he caused her to be murdered. The death of the queen was no sooner made known to the Alexandrians than, disdaining to be governed by a parricide, they drove out Alexander, and recalled Lathyrus.

The deposed prince for some time led a rambling life in the island of Cos; but having got together a few ships, he the next year attempted to return into Egypt, when, being met by Tyrrhus, admiral of Lathyrus, he was defeated, and obliged to fly to Myra in Lycia. From this place he steered his course’ towards Cyprus, hoping that the inhabitants would place him on the throne instead of his brother; but Chareas, another admiral of Lathyrus, having come up with him just as he was about to disembark, an engagement ensued, in which Alexander’s fleet was dispersed, and be himself killed. During these disturbances, Appion king of Cyrenaica, the son of Ptolemy Physcon by a concubine, having maintained tranquillity in his dominions during a reign of twenty-one years, died, and by his will left his kingdom to the Romans; a bequest by which the Egyptian empire was still further reduced and circumscribed.

Lathyrus being now freed from all competitors, turned his arms against the city of Thebes, which had revolted against him, and declared itself independent. The king marched in person against the insurgents, and, having defeated them in a pitched battle, laid siege to the ancient metropolis of Egypt. The inhabitants, however, defended themselves with great resolution for three years; but at last they were obliged to submit, and the city was given up to be plundered by the soldiery, who everywhere left the most melancholy traces of their rapine and cruelty. This calamity completed the destruction of Thebes, which until that time, notwithstanding all it had suffered under the Persians, was a place of wealth and consequence; but by the barbarous and vindictive policy of Lathyrus, the venerable city was reduced to a heap of ruins. Its fate was indeed peculiarly hard. First Memphis, and then Alexandria, had arisen to obscure its ancient splendour, and to attract each into its own bosom the wealth and population of the country; nor is it to be wondered that the citizens of Thebes should have evinced a desire to recover some share of the distinction of which they had been gradually deprived, and to secure to the Egyptians a seat of government at a greater distance from the arms and intrigues of warlike neighbours. But they paid dear for the attempt to establish their independence, and the overthrow of Thebes, begun by the Persian, was completed by the Greek.

About eighty-one years before Christ, Ptolemy Lathyrus[7:8:474] was succeeded by Alexander II., the son of the Ptolemy Alexander for whom Lathyrus had been expelled. This prince had met with many adventures. He was first sent by Cleopatra into the island of Cos, with a great sum of money, and all her jewels. But when Mithridates king of Pontus made himself master of that island, the inhabitants delivered up to him the young Egyptian prince, together with all the treasures. Mithridates gave him an education suitable to his birth; but Alexander, not thinking himself safe with a prince who had shed the blood of his own children, fled to the camp of Sylla the Roman dictator, who was then making war in Asia Minor. From that time he lived in the family of the Roman general, till the news of the death of Lathyrus reached Rome. Sylla then sent him to Egypt in order to take possession of the throne. But as the Alexandrians had before his arrival chosen Cleopatra as their sovereign, it was agreed, by way of compromise, that Ptolemy should marry this queen, and admit her as his partner in the throne. This was accordingly done; but it proved a fatal marriage to Cleopatra, for nineteen days thereafter the unhappy queen was murdered by her husband. Nor did the cruelty of the royal barbarian cease with the commission of this horrid crime. During the fifteen subsequent years he showed himself such a monster of wickedness, that a general insurrection at length broke out amongst his subjects, and he was obliged to fly to Pompey the Great, who was then carrying on the war against Mithridates king of Pontus. But Pompey having refused to concern himself in the matter, he retired to the city of Tyre, where he died some months afterwards.

While he remained at Tyre a sort of prisoner, Alexander sent ambassadors to Rome, in order, if possible, to move the senate in bis favour. But having been seized with the illness of which he died, before the negotiation was concluded, he, by his last will, made over all his rights to the Roman people, declaring them heirs to his kingdom; not out of any affection to the republic, but with the view of raising disputes between the Romans and his rival Auletes, a son of Ptolemy Lathyrus, whom the Egyptians had placed on the throne. The will was brought to Rome, where it occasioned warm debates, some being for taking immediate possession of the kingdom, whilstothers thought that no notice whatever should be taken of such a will, because Alexander had not the right to dispose of his dominions in prejudice of his successor, and to exclude from the crown those who were of the royal family of Egypt. Cicero, in particular, represented that such a notorious imposition would debase the majesty of the Roman people, and involve them in endless wars and disputes; that the fruitful fields of Egypt would be a strong temptation to the avarice of the people, who would insist on their being divided; and that by this means the sanguinary quarrels about the agrarian laws would be revived. These reasons had some weight with the senate; but what chiefly prevented them at this time from seizing on Egypt was, that they had lately taken possession of the kingdom of Bithynia in virtue of the will of Nicoedes, and of Cyrene and Libya in consequence of that made by Appion. They perceived that if they should, on a similar pretence, take possession of the kingdom of Egypt, this might expose their design of setting up a kind of universal monarchy, and cause a formidable combination to be formed against them.

Auletes, who now assumed and disgraced the title of Ptolemy, surpassed all the princes who went before him in the effeminacy of his manners. The surname of Auletes was given him because he valued himself on his skill in performing upon the flute, and was not ashamed even to contend for the prize in the public games. He took great pleasure in imitating the manners of the Bacchanals; he danced in a female dress, in the same measures which were used during the festivals of Bacchus; and he acquired a second surname descriptive of this particular accomplishment. As his title to the crown was disputable, the first care of Auletes was to get himself acknowledged by the Romans, and declared their ally; and this was obtained by applying to Julius Caesar, who was then consul, and immensely in debt. Caesar, glad of such an opportunity of raising money, made the Egyptian king pay dear for his alliance. Six thousand talents, a sum equal to about L.l, 162,500 sterling, were paid partly to Caesar himself, and partly to Pompey, whose interest was necessary for obtaining the consent of the people. Though the revenues of Egypt amounted to twice this sum, yet it was raised with great difficulty, and occasioned general discontent; and whilst the people were almost ready to take up arms, a decree passed at Rome for seizing the island of Cyprus. When the Alexandrians heard of the intentions of the republic, they pressed Auletes to demand that island as an ancient appendage of Egypt; and, in case of a refusal, to declare war against that haughty and imperious people, who, they now saw, though too late, aimed at nothing less than the sovereignty of the world. But the king having refused to comply with this request, his subjects, already provoked beyond measure at the taxes with which they were leaded, flew to arms, and surrounded the palace. The king, however, had the good fortune to escape their fury, and having immediately quitted Alexandria, set sail for Rome.

But on his arrival in the metropolis of the world he found that Caesar, in whom he placed his greatest .confidence, was then in Gaul. He was, however, received with great kindness by Pompey, who assigned him an apartment in his own house, and omitted nothing in his power to serve him. But notwithstanding the protection of so powerful a man, Auletes was forced to go from house to house soliciting the votes of the senators; and after he had spent immense treasures in procuring, or rather in purchasing, a strong party in the city, he was at last permitted to lay his complaints before the senate. It would have cost him less, and reflected more honour on his character, had he followed the advice given him by Cato, who, having met the fugitive prince at Cyprus, advised him to return to Egypt, and endeavour by more equitable conduct to regain the affections of his people, instead of repairing to Rome, where all the riches of Egypt would not be sufficient to satisfy the rapacity of the leading men. At the same time there arrived an embassy from the Alexandrians, consisting of a hundred citizens, who had been deputed to make the senate acquainted with the reason of their revolt.

When Auletes first set out for Rome, the Alexandrians, not knowing what had become of .him, placed on the throne his daughter Berenice, and sent an embassy into Syria, to Antiochus Asiaticus, inviting him to come into Egypt to marry the queen, and to reign in partnership with her. Before the arrival of the ambassadors, however, Antiochus had died, upon which the same proposal was made to his brother Seleucus, who readily accepted it. This Seleucus is described by Strabo as monstrously deformed in body, and still more so in mind. The Egyptians nicknamed him Kybiosactes, or the Scullion; a sobriquet which seems to have fitted him entirely. Scarcely was he seated on the throne, when he gave a signal instance of his sordid and avaricious temper. Ptolemy Lagus had caused the body of Alexander the Great to be deposited in a sarcophagus of massive gold. This the royal Scullion seized upon; and thereby so provoked his wife Berenice that she caused him to be murdered. She then married Archelaus, high priest of Comana, in Pontus, who pretended[7:8:475] to be the son of^ Mithridates the Great, but was, in fact, only the son of a general in the service of that illustrious monarch.

On hearing of these transactions, Auletes was not a little alarmed, especially when the ambassadors arrived, which he feared would overturn all the schemes in favour of which he had laboured and expended so much. The embassy was headed by Dion, a celebrated Academic philosopher, who had many powerful friends at Rome. But Ptolemy found means to get both him and most of his followers assassinated; and thus intimidated the rest to such a degree that they durst not execute their commission, nor, for some time, even demand justice for the murder of their colleagues. The report of so many murders, however, at last spread a general alarm. But Auletes, certain of the protection of Pompey, did not scruple to own himself the perpetrator of them; and though a prosecution was commenced against Ascitius, one of the assassins who had stabbed Dion, the chief of the embassy, and the crime was fully proved, yet the ruffian was acquitted by venal judges, who had all been bribed by Ptolemy. In a short time the senate decreed that the king of Egypt should be restored by force of arms; and all the great men in Rome were ambitious of this commission, which, they expected, would be attended with immense profit. Their contests on this occasion occupied a considerable time; and at last there was discovered a prophecy of the Sybil, which forbade the assisting an Egyptian monarch with an army. Ptolemy, therefore, wearied out with so long a delay, retired from Rome, where he had made himself generally odious, to the temple of Diana at Ephesus, there to await the decision of his fate. At this place he remained for a considerable time; but as he found that the senate came to no resolution, though be had solicited them by letters so to do, he at last, by Pompey’s advice, applied to Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria, a man of most infamous character, and ready to undertake any thing for money. The application was successful; and, though it was contrary to an express law for any governor to go out of his province without positive orders from the senate and people of Rome, yet Gabinius ventured to transgress this law, upon condition of being well paid for his pains. As a recompense for bis trouble, however, he demanded ten thousand talents; thatis,aboutL.l,937,500 sterling. Glad to be restored on any terms, Ptolemy agreed to pay the sum demanded; but Gabinius refused to stir until he had received one half of it. This obliged the king to borrow it from a Roman knight called Caius Rabirius Posthumius, Pompey interposing his credit and authority for the payment of the principal sum and interest.

Gabinius now set out for Egypt, attended by the famous Mark Antony, who at this time served in the army under him. He Was met by Archelaus, who since the departure of Auletes had reigned in Egypt jointly with Berenice, at the head of a numerous army; but the Egyptians were utterly defeated, and Archelaus taken prisoner in the first engagement. Gabinius might now have put an end to the war, but his avarice prompted him to dismiss Archelaus, on the latter paying a considerable ransom; after which, pretending that the captive had made his escape, fresh sums were demanded from Ptolemy for defraying the expenses of the war. For these sums Ptolemy was again obliged to apply to Rabirius, who lent him what money he wanted, on exorbitant interest; but at last Archelaus was defeated and killed, and thus Ptolemy again became master of all Egypt.

No sooner had Auletes regained possession of the throne, than he put to death his daughter Berenice, and oppressed his people by the most cruel exactions, in order to raise the money he had been obliged to borrow whilst in a state of exile. These oppressions and exactions the Egyptians bore patiently, being intimidated by the garrison which Gabinius had left in Alexandria. But notwithstanding the heavy taxes which Ptolemy laid on his people, it doesnot appear that he had any serious intention of paying his debts. Rabirius, who, as we have already observed, had lent him immense sums, finding that the king affected delays, undertook a voyage to Egypt in order to expostulate with him in person. But Ptolemy paid little regard to his expostulations, and excused himself on account of the bad state of his finances, at the same time offering to make Rabirius collector-general of his revenues, in order that, whilst thus employed, he might indemnify himself. The unfortunate creditor accepted the employment, in the hope of recovering his debt; but soon afterwards, upon some frivolous pretence or other, Ptolemy caused him and all his servants to be closely confined. This base conduct exasperated Pompeyas much as Rabirius; for the former had been in a manner security for the debt, as the money had been lent at his request, and the business transacted at h!β country house near Alba. However, as Rabirius had reason to fear the worst, he seized the first opportunity of making his escape, glad to escape with life from a debtor at once so faithless and cruel. To complete his misfortunes, he was prosecuted at Rome as soon as he returned, first, for having enabled Ptolemy to corrupt the senate with sums lent him for that purpose; secondly, for having debased and dishonoured the character of a Roman knight, by farming the revenues, and becoming the servant of a foreign prince; and, thirdly, for having been an accomplice with Gabinius, and sharing with him the ten thousand talents which that proconsul had received for his Egyptian expedition. But, by the eloquence of Cicero, Rabirius was acquitted; and one of the best orations to be found in the writings of that illustrious Roman was composed on this occasion. Gabinius was also prosecuted; and, as Cicero spoke against him, he very narrowly escaped death. He was, however, condemned to perpetual banishment, after having been stripped of all he was worth; and he lived in exile until the time of the civil wars, when he was recalled by Caesar, in whose service he lost his life.

Auletes enjoyed the throne of Egypt about four years after his/restoration, and at his death left his children under the tuition of the Roman people. Among the infants thus left to the protection of the republic were Cleopatra, who afterwards became so famous, and her brother Ptolemy Dionysius. As soon as these princes became of age, they were placed on the throne, and associated in the government; but their union was of short continuance, and each being supported by a numerous party, their dissensions soon terminated in a civil war. In this contest the queen was beaten, and compelled to seek refuge in Syria. But not long after her misfortune Julius Caesar appeared in Egypt: his victory at Pharsalia had given him Rome, he was now undisputed master of the republic, and he had come to Egypt to complete his conquest by quelling the intestine commotions which had distracted that kingdom. Cleopatra lost no time in repairing to Alexandria, and having managed to obtain a secret interview with the Roman general, speedily secured his powerful favour by her arts and caresses. This able but profligate soldier immediately restored her to power, and issued a decree in the name of the senate, which in fact existed only in his own person, ordaining that Ptolemy Dionysius and his sister Cleopatra should be acknowledged as joint sovereigns of Egypt. This arrangement, however, displeased the partizans of the young king, who had recourse to a stratagem, by which Caesar and his attendants narrowly escaped [7:8:476]destruction. A war soon afterwards ensued; Ptolemy was defeated and killed; and the power of the Romans was established by the right of conquest, no less than by the title of guardianship.

In order to satisfy the prejudices of the Egyptians, Cleopatra was now provided with a colleague; and her youngest brother, then not more than eleven years of age, was placed beside her on the throne. Such an appointment could not possibly serve as any' real restraint on the authority of the queen, or as a limitation of her power, although this was no doubt the object of the people in requiring it; but notwithstanding that the control thus established was in a great measure nominal, the apparent check was removed by the murder of the unhappy boy, who fell a victim to the remorseless jealousy which at the period in question inflamed, whilst it dishonoured, the descendants of Ptolemy Lagus. But the term of the dynasty which this great man had founded was now approaching. The murder of Julius Caesar, and the subsequent defeat of Mark Antony, raised the fortune of Octavianus above all rivalry or competition, and at length invested him with the purple, as the acknowledged head of the Roman empire. Cleopatra, whose charms had enslaved the triumvir to his ruin, escaped by a voluntary death from the vengeance of the conqueror. Suspecting that he intended to degrade her, by assigning her a place in the train of captives who were to adorn his triumphal ascent to the capitol, the favourite of Caesar and of Antony spared herself this ignominy by means of the friendly poison of an asp. With Cleopatra ended the line of the Greek sovereigns, and the descendants of Ptolemy Lagus, the founder of the Greek dynasty of Egypt, after having governed that country for the space of two hundred and ninety years.

From this time Egypt became a province of the Roman empire, and its history merged in that of the mighty people by whose lieutenants it was henceforth governed. Occasionally disturbed by intestine insurrections, and sometimes a prey to foreign war, it was nevertheless maintained against both domestic and external foes, until the decline of the Roman power under the successors of Augustus rendered it necessary to abandon the extremities in order to defend the heart of the empire, and to withdraw the legions from distant provinces in order to protect from the inroads of barbarians the countries situated on the Danube and the Tiber. In the beginning of the second century, the indefatigable Hadrian spent two years in Egypt, and during this stay laboured with his accustomed perseverance to revive among the natives a love of letters, and a taste for the beauties of architecture. At a somewhat later period, Severus made a similar visit to the land of the Pharaohs and Ptolemies, and, like his illustrious but eccentric predecessor, exerted himself to relieve the burdens and ameliorate the condition of the people; at the same time encouraging every attempt made to repair the ancient monuments, to replenish the libraries of Alexandria with books, and the museums with instruments and works of art, and, above all, to withdraw studious or contemplative minds from the dangerous and absurd pursuits of magic and judicial astrology. During the reigns of Claudius and Aurelian, Egypt was slightly agitated in consequence of the pretensions of Zenobia, queen of Tadmor or Palmyra, who, as a descendant of the Ptolemies, declared herself sovereign of Egypt, marched her armies to the frontiers of that country, and even gained some advantages over the Romans; but her troops being firmly opposed by the legions, at length sustained a total defeat, when the queen herself was taken prisoner and carried captive to Rome. At a subsequent period the Emperor Probus visited Egypt, where, under his auspices, many considerable works were executed; the navigation of the Nile was improved; and temples, bridges, portico, and palaces were constructed, chiefly by the hands of the soldiers, who acted as engineers, architects, and common labourers. But on the division of the empire by Diocletian, Egypt fell into a very distracted state; Achilleus at Alexandria, and the Blemmyes, a savage race of Ethiopians, having defied the arms of Rome. Resolved to punish the insurgents, the emperor opened the campaign with the siege of Alexandria; he cut off the aqueducts which supplied the city with water, and, notwithstanding a vigorous resistance, pushed his attack with so much steadiness and effect, that at the end of eight months the besieged submitted to the mercy of the conqueror. Busiris and Coptos were even more unfortunate than Alexandria. These proud cities, one distinguished for its great antiquity, and the other remarkable for its riches, acquired by the transit of the commerce of India, having continued their resistance to the last, were carried by assault and utterly destroyed.

The introduction of Christianity into Egypt was attended by many excesses on the part of the people, and even by some commotions which endangered the stability of the government. The adherents of the ancient faith, the worshippers of Ammon, of Knouphis, and of Ptha, naturally resisted the exposure of their idols, the desecration of their temples, and the destruction of their most sacred monuments; whilst, on the other hand, the ministers of Christianity, with a zeal which far outran the limits of discretion, wantonly insulted the opinions of the idolaters, whose ignorance they disdained to enlighten, and sometimes set at defiance the authority of the civil magistrate, when interposed for the preservation of the public peace. But after the conversion of Constantine the spirit of Christianity grew milder as its ascendency became more certain, and the power of the church was effectually exerted, in co-operation with the provincial rulers, for supporting the rights of the empire, and repelling the inroads of barbarians; nor was it until a new religion sprung up in Arabia, and gave birth to a dynasty of warlike fanatics claiming a direct descent from the new Prophet, that Egypt, wrested from the hands of its European conquerors, was forced to receive more arbitrary masters, and to submitto a severer yoke.^[18. Russell’s Egypt, pp. 91-95. ] At this era, when the crescent arose in. its first splendour over the cross, we terminate our retrospect of the ancient history of Egypt.

SECTION II.

HISTORY OF MODERN EGYPT.

New Religion and new Conquest—Islamism—Its genius and character Progress of the Moslemin arms Conquest of Egypt by Amru Library of Alexandria hurned by order of the Ca liph Omar—State of the country during the contests for the Caliphate. — Independent government established Achmed

Ebn-Tolun and his immediate successors—Dynasty of the Fatemite Caliphs—Moez Abu-el-Mansur Barar—Al Haltern.

—Al Taher.—Al Mostanser Billah—Proceedings and Rebellion of Bassasiri Defeated and killed by Togrol Beg—

Declension of the Empire of the Caliphs—Famine and pestilence—Intestine divisions Extinction of the Fatemite Caliphs.

—Aladad—Landing of the Crusaders in Egypt—Alliance entered into between them and Shawer, vizir of Aladad—Nuroddin, prince of Syria Progress of the Crusaders—Salah-eddin or Saladin Appointed vizir by his uncle Nuroddin Usurps [7:8:477] the sovereignty of Egypt—Rebellion—Crusade under william of Sicily—Panic and Flight of his Army Damascus, Aleppo, and other places besieged and taken by Saladin His triumphal entry into Cairo Contests with the Crusaders in Pales tine—Saladin defeated—A fleet of European ships in the Red Sea destroyed—Great battle on the Jordan, where the Christians were defeated with prodigious slaughter Tiberias, Pto lemais, and other places surrendered to the Sultan:—Jerusalem also taken after a brave defence—Loss sustained by the Christians.—Siege of Ptolemais Crusade under the Emperor of

Germany—Progress of the siege Arrival of Philip II. and

Richard Coeur de Lion in the camp before Ptolemais—Surrender of the place Battle of Ascalon, and defeat of Saladin.—

Truce of three years, &c—Death of Saladin—Crusaders defeated—successors of Saladin—Rise of the Mamlukes—The Borghites, who also assumed the name of Mamlukes Defeated and nearly exterminated by Sultan Selim Form of govern ment given to Egypt by the Sultan—Powers conferred on the Beys.—The Mamlukes recover their ascendency, owing to the neglect of Egypt by the Turks—Ibrahim Bey Ali Bey

Syrian campaign of Ali—His death and character Mohammed Bey—Siege of Jaffa-—Pyramid of Heads Fall of Acre.

—Death of Mohammed—Ibrahim and Murad Beys Their mutual jealousies and disputes—They agree to share the supreme power between them The expedition of Hassan Pasha, and re-establishment of the authority of the Porte Plague— Return of Murad and Ibrahim from exile French Invasion of

Egypt—Origin and objects of this enterprise Battle of the

Pyramids—Battle of the Nile—Bonaparte’s expedition to Syria—Jaffa—St Jean d’Acre—Siege of the latter place; defeat and return of Bonaparte to Egypt.—Battle of Aboukir, and destruction of a Turkish army—Departure of Napoleon fiom Egypt Desaix’s campaign in Upper Egypt—Coni⅜n-

tion of El Arisch.—Assassination of Kle ʹ ber.—Landing of the British under Sir Ralph Abercromby—Battle of Alexandria. —Subsequent operations—Capitulations of Cairo and Alexandria—Policy of Great Britain in regard to Egypt—The Beys. —Hassan Pasha His treacherous conduct—Massacre of the

Beys at Aboukir.—Remonstrances of the English Departure of the Capitan Pasha Kusruf.—Affairs of Egypt—Battle of

Damanhour, and defeat of Yussuf Bey—Meĥemmed Ali— His origin and early history—Circumstances of his rise— Mutiny of the Albanians Taher Pasha—His fall Mehemmed Ali and the Mamlukes—Ali Gezaïrli Defeated by the

Albanians and Mamlukes at Chalakan Projects of Meĥemmed.

—He foments discord among the Beys, whom he al length attacks Albanians ordered to return to their own country Me-

hemmed disobeys the mandate of the Porte, and is proclaimed Pasha by the people and the troops.—A body of Mamlukes enticed into Cairo and massacred.—State of affairs—Arrival of Saleh the Capitan Pasha The Albanians and the people again declare in favour of Ali—His formal investiture as viceroy of Egypt The Mamlukes British expedition of 1807—Affairs of Rosetta and El Hamad—Disastrous result of the expedition. —State of affairs after the evacuation of Egypt by the British. —Position of Ali Destruction of the Mamlukes resolved on.

—Dissimulation and treachery of the viceroy General mas sacre of the Mamlukes.—Details of the butchery at the Citadel of Cairo.—Conduct of Meĥemmed Ali throughout the affair— Subsequent measures to complete their extermination The extinction of the Mamlukes as a body—war with the wahabis—The viceroy proceeds to Arabia—wahabis defeated

Peace concluded Regular troops—views of the Viceroy—

Mutiny of the Albanians—Change of system adopted—War with the wahabis renewed Capture of Deraych, and severities of Ibrahim History of the formation of the Egyptian regular army Labours of Colonel Sèves and others Expe dition to Upper Egypt, Dongola, and Sennaar—Army augmented—Capture of Mecca—Actual force of the Egyptian army.—Schools and Colleges—Pay, clothing, and condition of the troops—Campaigns in the Morea—Egyptian navy—Its actual strength—War with Turkey—Campaigns in Syria, and beyond Mount Taurus.—Battle of Koniah.—Intervention of Russia.—Conclusion of Peace.—Character and designs of Mehemmed Ali.

We come now to the birth of a new religion, and we also approach the era of a new conquest. Islamism, which originated in a free and warlike nation, breathed the fiercest intolerance, and enjoined the destruction of infidels. Unlike the founder of the Christian religion, who, being a simple preacher, exercised no power upon earth, Mahommed became a king, and having declared that the whole universe ought to be subjected to his sway, commanded his followers to employ the sabre to destroy the idolater and the infidel, an injunction which they were not slack in obeying. The idolaters of Arabia were soon converted or exterminated; the infidels in Asia, in Syria, and in Egypt were attacked and conquered. As soon as Islamism had triumphed at Mecca and Medina, it served as a rallying point to the different Arab tribes, who were all imbued with the fanatical spirit; and the result was, that a whole nation, actuated by one fierce impulse, precipitated itself upon its neighbours. The progress of the Arabs therefore was rapid and irresistible. Inflamed by fanaticism, their armies at once attacked the Roman empire and that of Persia. The latter was speedily subjugated; the Moslemins penetrated as far as the Oxuβ, obtained possession of innumerable treasures, destroyed the empire of Chosroes, and pushed their conquests beyond the limits of Persia. In Syria, the victories which they gained at Aiquadiah and Dyrmonk put them in possession of Damascus, Aleppo, Amasia, Caesarea, and Jerusalem. By the capture of Pelusium and Alexandria they rendered themselves masters of Egypt, now wholly Coptic, and decidedly separated from Constantinople through heretical dissensions.

The conquest of this country was effected, in name of the Caliph Omar, by his able and politic general Amru Ebn-el-As. About the same time the famous library of Alexandria, which had been founded by the great Ptolemy, and which now formed the grand repository of ancient learning and science, fell a prey to the religious fanaticism of the conquerors. If, said the Caliph Omar, in ordering it to be consigned to the flames, if this library contains only what is in the Koran, it is useless; if it contains any thing else, it is dangerous. It must be confessed, that the spirit of destruction has seldom provided itself with a more convenient or comprehensive principle of self-justification. But this fact, and many others of the same nature, ought not to make us forget what we owe to the Arabian caliphs, the successors of Omar, who, so far from being actuated by such barbarous hostility to science, were constantly engaged in extending the βphere of human knowledge, and in embellishing society by the charms of their literature.^[19. Napoleon’s Manoin, vol. ii. Eorrτ, Religion. It is nevertheless possible that the successors of Mahommed may have been at first apprehensive lest the Arabs should suffer themselves to be enervated by the arts and the sciences, which were carried to so high a pitch in Egypt, Syria, and the Lower Empire. They had before their eyes the decline of the empire of Constantine, owing partly to perpetual discussions, scholastic and theological; and it is probable that this spectacle had prejudiced them against most libraries, which, in fact, were principally filled with books of this kind. But whatever may have been the immediate cause of the act which conferred such unenviable distinction on the name of Omar, it is certain that the Arabs were, for five hundred years, the most enlightened nation of the world. It is to them we are indebted for our system of numeration, our organs, solar quadrants, pendulums, and watches; and nothing can be more elegant, ingenious, or moral, than the literature which flowed from the pens of the writers of Bagdad and Bassora. (Memoir/, ubi supra.) ]

The conquest of Amru, though it laid the foundation of the Saracen power in Egypt, still left that country in an unsettled state; whilst the frequent contentions for the honours of the caliphate, which ensued during the ninth century, occasionally afforded it opportunities of asserting and attempting to re-establish its independence.
[7:8:478]

But no sooner had the struggle for supreme power been terminated by arms or by treaty, than the land of Mizraim, the inheritance of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies, was again compelled to receive the law from the conqueror. In the year 889, an independent government was established in Egypt by Achmed Ebn-Tolun, who had rebelled against Al Mokhadi, caliph of Bagdad; and it continued to be governed by him and his successors for twenty-seven years, when it was again reduced by Al Moktasi, who had succeeded to the caliphate. In about thirty years afterwards we find it again an independent state, united with Syria under Mahommed Ebn-Taj, who had been appointed governor of these provinces. But this government was also short lived; ibr in the year 968 Egypt was conquered by Jawhar, general of Moez Ledinillab, Fatemite caliph of Kairwan in Barbary.

No sooner had Moez received information of the success of his general, than he prepared to take possession of his new conquest. He ordered all the gold which he and his predecessors had amassed, to be cast into ingots, and conveyed on camels’ backs into Egypt; and, in order to show his determination to abandon his dominions in Barbary, and to make Egypt the place of his residence, he caused the remains of the three former princes of his race to be removed from Kairwan, and deposited in a mosque erected for that purpose in Kahira, or the City of Victory, the Grand Cairo of latter times. In order the more effectually to establish himself in his new dominions, and to fortify his conquest by all the force of religion, he suppressed the usual prayers offered up in the mosques for the caliphs of Bagdad, and substituted bis own name in their stead; and this was complied with not only in Egypt and in Syria, but even throughout all Arabia, the holy city of Mecca alone excepted. The unity of Islamism was thus interrupted, and a schism originated, which continued for upwards of two hundred years, and was productive of continual anathemas, and sometimes destructive wars between the caliphs of Bagdad and of Egypt. Having thus fully established himself in his conquest, Moez died in the forty-fifth year of his age, three years after he had left his dominions in Barbary, and was succeeded by his son Abu-el-Mansur Barar, surnamed Aziz-Billah.

The new caliph having ascended the throne at the age of twenty-one, committed the management of affairs entirely to the care of Jawhar, his father’s general and prime minister; and in 978 the latter proceeded to drive out Al Aftekin, the emir of Damascus; but at the end of two months the Egyptian general, who had laid siege to that city, was obliged to raise it, on the approach of an army under the command of Al Hakem, which, not being strong enough to engage in battle,.he could not prevent from effecting a junction with the forces of Al Astekin. He therefore retreated with the utmost expedition towards Egypt; but being overtaken by the two confederate armies, he was soon reduced to the last extremity', and only permitted to resume his march on condition of passing under Al Aftekin’s sword and Al Hakem’s lance. To this humiliating condition Jawhar was obliged to submit; and on his arrival in Egypt he advised Al Aziz to undertake an expedition in person against the combined army under the command of Al Astekin and Al Hakem. The caliph followed his advice; and having advanced against his enemies, overthrew them with great slaughter, at the same time making Al Astekin prisoner. Jawhar was afterwards disgraced, and died a. d. 990, and of the Hegira 381. About this time, also, Al Aziz having received intelligence of the death of the prince of Aleppo, sent a formidable army to reduce that place. But Lulu, who had been appointed guardian to the prince’s son, finding himself pressed by the Egyptians, demanded assistance from the Greek emperor, who accordingly ordered a body of troops to advance to his relief. Manjubekin, general of Al Aziz, being informed of their approach, immediately advanced to give them battle, and an obstinate engagement ensued, in which the Greeks were overthrown with great slaughter. Manjubekin then pushed on the siege of Aleppo; but meeting with more resistance than he had expected, and his provisions beginning to fail, he felt himself obliged to raise the siege. Enraged at this proceeding, the caliph threatened the general with vengeance, and commanded him to resume the siege. Manjubekin obeyed, and continued the siege for thirteen months, during which time the place was bravely defended by Lulu; but at last the Egyptians, hearing that a numerous army of Greeks was on its way to relieve the city, raised the siege, and fled with the utmost precipitation. The Greeks then took and plundered some of the cities possessed by Al Aziz in Syria; whilst Manjubekin made the best of his way to Damascus, where he set up for himself. Al Aziz, informed of this revolt, marched in person with a considerable army against the rebellious general; but being taken ill by the way, he expired, in the twenty-first year of his reign and forty-second of his age.

Al Aziz was succeeded by his son Abu-el-Mansur, surnamed Al Hakem, who, being only eleven years of age, was put under the tuition of a eunuch of approved integrity. This reign is only remarkable for the madness with which the caliph was seized towards its close. This first manifested itself by edicts alike absurd and tyrannical, and at length rose to such a height that he fancied himself a god, and no fewer than sixteen thousand persons were found to acknowledge him as such. They were mostly Dara-rians, a new sect which sprung up about this time, and were so called from their chief, Mohammed Ebn-Ismael, surnamed Darari, who is supposed to have inspired the mad caliph with this impious notion. Darari set up as a second Moses, and did not scruple to assert that Al Hakem was the creator of the universe; for which blasphemy he was stabbed in the caliph’s chariot by the hand of a zealous Moslemin. The sect, however, did not expire with its author. A disciple of his named Hamza, being encouraged by the mad caliph, spread it far and wide throughout his dominions; all the Mahommedan fasts, festivals, and pilgrimages, including that to Mecca, were abolished; and the zealous Mahommedans became greatly alarmed, supposing that Al Hakem designed entirely to suppress the worship of the true God, and introduce his own in its stead. But from this apprehension they were delivered by the death of the caliph, who at the instigation of his own sister was assassinated, in the year 1020.

Al Hakem was succeeded by his son Al Taher, who reigned fifteen years, and left the throne to a son under seven years of age, named Al Mostanser-Billah. In the year 1041, a revolt happened in Syria; but Al Mostanser having sent a powerful army into that country, reduced the rebels, and considerably enlarged the Egyptian dominions in Syria. In 1054·, an adventurer named Al Bassasiri, having quarrelled with the vizir of Al Rayera, caliph of Bagdad, fled to Egypt, and put himself under the protection of Al Mostanser, who thinking this a favourable opportunity for enlarging his dominions, supplied Bassasiri with money and troops, by which means he was enabled to possess himself of Arabian Irak, and to ravage that province to the very gates of Bagdad. Alarmed at the progress made by Bassasiri, Al Kayem applied for assistance to Togrol Beg, who possessing very extensive dominions in the East, immediately complied with this request, and soon arrived at Bagdad with a formidable army. But nothing of importance happened till the year 1058, [7:8:479]when Bassasiri, having found means to excite Ibrahim the brother of Togrol Beg to revolt, the latter was obliged to employ all his force against him. This gave Bassasiri an opportunity of seizing on the city of Bagdad, where he caused Al Mostanser to be immediately proclaimed caliph. The imperial palace was also plundered, and the caliph himself detained a close prisoner. But this success was short lived. In the year 1059, Togrol Beg having defeated his brother Ibrahim, and taken him prisoner, caused him to be strangled with a bowstring. He then marched to Bagdad, which Bassasiri abandoned at his approach; upon which the caliph Al Kayem was delivered up and immediately restored to his dignity. Bassasiri again advanced against the city; but in a battle which took place between the army of Togrol Beg and that of Bassasiri, the latter was defeated and killed. Thus the hopes of Al Mostanser were entirely frustrated; and from this period we may date the declension of the Egyptiau empire under the caliphs. They had made themselves masters of almost all Syria; but as soon as Bassasiri’s defeat and death were known, Aleppo revolted, and several other places followed its example. Al Mostanser sent a powerful army against the rebels, but it was entirely defeated, and his general taken prisoner.

This disaster was soon followed by others still greater. In 1066 a famine raged over all Egypt and Syria, and multitudes of people died in Cairo from want of food. Nay, to such a degree of misery were the inhabitants reduced, not only in Cairo, but throughout all Egypt, that the carcasses of those who died were sold for food at an exorbitant price, and the most loathsome animals were greedily devoured by a famishing people. The famine, as usual, was followed by the plague; and this again by an invasion of the Turks under Abu Ali Al Hasan-Naserod’dawla, the general who had been sent against the rebel chief of Aleppo, and defeated by him. The caliph was besieged in his own palace; and being in no condition to make resistance, the unfortunate prince was obliged to buy himself off at the expense of every thing valuable left in his exhausted capital and treasury. This, however, did not prevent the merciless plunderers from ravaging all Lower Egypt from Cairo to Alexandria, and committing the most horrid excesses throughout the whole of that portion of the country.

These events happened in the years 1067 and 1068. In 1069 and 1070 there occurred two other revolts in Syria; so that this country was now almost entirely lost to Egypt. In 1095 the caliph Al Mostanser died, after a reign of sixty years, and was succeeded by his son Abul Kasern, surnamed Al Mostali. The most remarkable event of this prince’s reign was his taking the city of Jerusalem from the Turks in 1098; but this success was of short duration, for the Holy City was the same year taken by the Crusaders.

From this time till the year 1164, the Egyptian history presents little else than a series of intestine broils and contests between the vizirs and prime ministers, who had in a great measure stripped the caliphs of their civil power, and left them nothing but a shadow of spiritual dignity. But these contests at last led to a revolution, by which the race of Fatemite caliphs was totally extinguished.

One Shawer, having overcome all his competitors, became vizir of Al Adad, or Aladad, the eleventh caliph of Egypt. But lie had not been long in possession of office when Al Dargam, an officer of rank, endeavoured to deprive him of his dignity; upon which both parties had recourse to arms, and a battle ensued, in which Shawer was defeated, and obliged to throw himself on the protection of Nuroddin, prince of Syria. The latter having received the fugitive graciously, and promised to reinstate him in his office of vizir, Shawer, as an inducement to Nuroddin to assist him more powerfully, told him that the Crusaders had landed in Egypt, and made considerable progress in the conquest of that country; and added, that in the event of being reinstated in his office, he would pay Nuroddin annually the third part of the revenues of Egypt, and besides defray the whole expense of the expedition. Nuroddin bore an implacable hatred to the Christians, and the more readily undertook an expedition against them, that he was to be well paid for his holy zeal in defence of the true faith. He therefore sent an army into Egypt under the command of Shawer, assisted by a general named Asadoddin; and as Dargam had cut off many generals whom he imagined favourable to Shawer’s interest, and had weakened the military force of the kingdom, he was easily overthrown by Asadoddin, who reinstated Shawer in the office of vizir. The faithless minister, however, no sooner saw himself established in office than he refused to fulfil his engagements with Nuroddin, and thus forced Asadoddin to seize on Pelusium and some other cities. Shawer then entered into an alliance with the Crusaders, and Asadoddin was besieged in Pelusium by the combined forces of the Christians and Infidels. But Nuroddin having invaded the Christian dominions in Syria, and taken a strong fortress called Harem, Shawer and his confederates hearkened to terms of accommodation, and Asadoddin was permitted to depart for Syria.

In the mean time, Nuroddin, having subdued the greater part of Syria and Mesopotamia, resolved to make the perfidious Shawer feel the weight of his resentment. He therefore sent Asadoddin back into Egypt with a force sufficient to compel Shawer to fulfil his engagements; but the vizir took care, before the arrival of Asadoddin, to acquit himself of the obligation he had come under, and thus for the present averted the threatened danger. But it was not long until he gave Nuroddin fresh occasion to send this general against him. That prince had now dζjven the Crusaders almost entirely out of Syria; but he was greatly alarmed at their progress in Egypt, and offended at the alliance which Shawer had concluded with them, and which he still persisted in observing. This treaty was also thought to be contrived on purpose to prevent Shawer from being able to fulfil his promise to Nuroddin, of sending him annually a third of the revenues of Egypt. Nuroddin, therefore, in 1166, again dispatched Asadoddin into Egypt with a sufficient force, attended by his nephew Salah-eddin,or Saladin, who afterwards became so celebrated. The invaders entered the kingdom without opposition, and having totally defeated Shawer and the Crusaders, made themselves masters of Alexandria, and overran all Upper . Egypt. Saladin was left with a considerable garrison in Alexandria; but after the departure of Asadoddin the Crusaders laid siege to that city, and the Syrian general was obliged to return to its relief. But the losses he had sustained in his expedition induced him to agree to a treaty with Shawer, by which he engaged to evacuate Egypt upon being paid a sum of money. No sooner had Asadoddin withdrawn, however, than Shawer entered into a fresh treaty with the Franks, by which he was to attack Nuroddin in his own dominions, whilst engaged in quelling a revolt which effectually prevented his sending more forces into Egypt. This treaty so enraged the Syrian prince, that he resolved to suspend for a time his other ambitious projects, and exert his whole strength in the conquest of Egypt.

By this time, however, the Crusaders had reduced Pelusium, and made considerable progress in Egypt, as well as in some other countries, through the divisions which reigned amongst the Mahommedan princes. Their conquests were marked by barbarities of which Infidels might [7:8:480]well bave been ashamed. Christians as well as Mahom-n>edans were put to the sword; their prisoners were sold as slaves; and the towns which they captured were given up to be pillaged by a licentious soldiery. From Pelusium they marched to Cairo, which was then in no posture of defence, and in the utmost confusion on account of the divisions which prevailed in it. But as soon as he heard of their approach, the vizir caused the ancient quarter of the town to be set on fire, whilst the inhabitants retired into the other districts; and he also prevailed upon the caliph to solicit the assistance of Nuroddin, which, in truth, the latter was much inclined of himself to grant, as it afforded him a fair opportunity both for driving the Crusaders out of Egypt, and for seizing the kingdom to himself. With this view he had already raised an army of 60,000 horse, and on receiving Aladad’s message he instantly gave them orders to march. The Crusaders had now arrived before Cairo, and so closely invested that place, that neither Shawer nor the caliph were aware of the approach of the Moslemin army which was hastening to their relief. The vizir, therefore, finding it impossible to hold out for any length of time, had recourse to his old expedient of treaties and promises; he sent the enemy 100,000 dinars, and promised them 900,000 more, if they would agree to raise the siege; terms which, as they dreaded the approach of Asadoddin, were very readily accepted by the Crusaders. The army of Nuroddin now approached the capital by forced marches, and were everywhere received with demonstrations of joy. On his arrival at Cairo, Asadoddin was invited by Aladad to the royal palace, where he was entertained in the most splendid manner; nor were Saladin and the other principal officers less magnificently treated. Shawer, also, conscious of his perfidious conduct, was not less assiduous in his attentions. But as he was believed to have formed a scheme for having the general and his principal officers seized and murdered during an entertainment, his head was struck off, and Asadoddin was made vizir in his stead. The latter did not, however, Jong enjoy his new dignity; for he died some months after his instalment into office, and was succeeded by the illustrious nephew of Nuroddin.

Saladin, the new vizir, was the youngest of all the grandees who had aspired to that office, and he had already given signal proofs of his valour and conduct. The circumstances which determined the caliph to give him the preference over so many competitors are not known; but it is certain that some of them were highly displeased with his promotion, and even publicly declared that they would not obey him. In order, therefore, to gain over to his interest these disappointed aspirants, Saladin found it necessary to distribute amongst them part of the treasures left by his uncle; and by means of this powerful instrument of corruption he soon governed Egypt without control, as had been customary with the vizirs before his time. Soon after his instalment into office, he also defeated and dispersed the negro guards of the royal palace, who had opposed his election; and having placed a strong garrison in the castle or citadel of Cairo, his power became firmly established.

For some time there subsisted between Nuroddinand Saladin a good understanding, which contributed in no small degree to raise the credit of the latter with the Egyptians. But in 1169 Nuroddin sent him orders to omit the name of Aladad, the caliph of Egypt, in the public prayers, and to substitute that of the caliph of Bagdad in its stead. This was not only a bold, but a dangerous attempt, as it might produce a revolt in favour of Aladad; and even if it did not, it afforded Saladin an opportunity of engrossing what small remnant of power had been left to the caliph. But Aladad was not sensible of the disgrace intended him; for when Nuroddin’s orders were received, he lay on his death-bed, past all hopes of recovery. On his demise, Saladin seized all his wealth and effects, consisting of jewels of prodigious size, sumptuous furniture, a library containing a hundred thousand volumes, and many other valuable possessions. He caused his family to be closely confined in the most retired part of the palace, and either manumitted his slaves, kept them for his own use, or disposed of them to others.

Saladin had now arrived at the highest pitch of wealth, power, and grandeur. He was, however, obliged to act with great circumspection towards Nuroddin, who still continued to treat him as his vassal, and insisted on the most implicit obedience to his commands. Saladin relied chiefly for counsel on his father Ayub, a consummate politician, who, ambitious of seeing his son raised to the throne of Egypt, advised him to continue stedfast in his resolutions, and, whilst he amused Nuroddin with feigned submissions, to take every method in his power to secure to himself the possession of so valuable a kingdom. Nuroddin himself, however, was too great a master in the art of dissimulation to be easily imposed on; and though he pretended to be pleased with Saladin’s conduct, he was all the while busily occupied in raising a powerful army, with which he intended the following year to invade Egypt-But whilst he was meditating this expedition, he was seized at Damascus with a distemper which put an end to his life, in the year 1173.

Though thus freed from the apprehension of so formidable an enemy, Saladin durst not yet venture to assume the title of sovereign, more especially when he saw the successor of Nuroddin at the head of a powerful army, and not less desirous than able to dispossess him. His first care, therefore, was to secure to himself an asylum in case he should be obliged to abandon Egypt; and having accomplished this object by the conquest of a considerable portion of Arabia Felix, he assumed the title of sultan or sovereign of Egypt, and was acknowledged as such by the greater part of the states. The zeal of the Egyptians for the Fatemite caliphs, however, soon produced a rebellion. The governor of a city in Upper Egypt having assembled an army of blacks, and marched into the lower country, was there joined by great numbers of other Egyptians; but Saladin dispatched his brother Malek against the insurgents, who were entirely defeated and dispersed. This, however, did not prevent another insurrection under an impostor, who pretended to be a son of the last Falemite caliph, and who had collected a body of 100,000 men; but before they had time to do much damage, they were surprised by the sultan’s forces, and entirely defeated, with the loss of nearly three fourths of their whole number.

About this time Saladin gained a considerable advantage over the Crusaders under the command of William II. king of Sicily. That prince having invaded Egypt with a numerous army, supported by a powerful fleet, had invested Alexandria both by sea and land. Saladin flew to the relief of a place the preservation of which was of so much importance to the success of his future plans, and he had mustered a force which he deemed sufficient to justify him in risking a battle; but before he had time to make the necessary dispositions, the Crusaders, seized with a sudden panic, fled with the utmost precipitation, leaving all their military engines, stores, and baggage behind them.

In the year 1175, the inhabitants of Damascus, jealous of the minister who had the tuition of the reigning prince, and governed all with an absolute sway, entreated Saladin to assume the sovereignty of that city and its dependencies; and the application was no sooner made than the sultan set out with Lite utmost celerity to [7:8:481]Damascus, at the head of a chosen detachment of seven hundred horse. Having settled affairs in that city, he appointed his brother Saif Al Islam governor, and set out for Hems, which he immediately invested. Having also made himself master of this place, he then proceeded to Hamah, which soon surrendered; but the citadel held out for some time. Saladin pretended that he accepted the sovereignty of Damascus and the other places he had conquered, only as deputy to Almalek-el-Saleh, the successor of Nuroddin, who was then under age; and that he was desirous of sending Azzoddin, who commanded in the citadel, with a letter to Aleppo, where the young prince resided. This so pleased Azzoddin that he took the oath of fidelity to Saladin, and immediately set out with the sultan’s letter. But he had not been long at Aleppo before he was thrown into prison by the minister’s orders; upon which his brother, who had been appointed governor of the citadel of Hamah in his absence, delivered it up to Saladin. The sultan then marched to Aleppo with a design to reduce it; but being vigorously repulsed in several attacks, he was at last obliged to abandon the enterprise. At the same time, Kamschlegin, Almalek’s minister, hired the chief of the Batanists, or Assassins, to murder the sultan, and several attempts were in consequence made on his life; but happily for Saladin all of them miscarried.

After raising the-siege of Aleppo, Saladin returned to Hems, which the Crusaders had invested. On his approach, however, they thought proper to retire; and the sultan then made himself master of the castle, which before he had not been able to reduce. This was soon followed by the reduction öWJaalbec. And these rapid conquests so alarmed the ministers of Almalek, that, entering into a combination with some of the neighbouring princes, they raised a formidable army, with which they hoped to crush the sultan at once. Saladin, however, dreading the event of a war, offered to cede to Almalek, Hems and Hamah, and to govern Damascus only as his lieutenant. But these terms were rejected, and a battle ensued, in which the allied army were utterly defeated, and the shattered remains of it shut up in the city of Aleppo. This produced a treaty, by which Saladin was left undisputed master of Syria, excepting only the city of Aleppo and the territory belonging to it.

In 1176, Saladin having returned from the conquest of Syria, made his triumphal entry into Cairo; and having allowed his troops some time for repose, he began to encompass the city with a wall of great extent, which however he did not live to complete. Next year he led a numerous army into Palestine to operate against the Crusaders. But here his usual good fortune deserted him. His army was entirely defeated; forty thousand of his best troops were left dead on the field; and the rest, having no towns in which they could find shelter, betook themselves to the desert between Palestine and Egypt, where the greater part of them perished from want of water. Even Saladin himself seemed to have been intimidated by this disaster: for in a letter to his brother he stated that he was more than once in the most imminent danger; and that God, as he apprehended, had delivered him from peril, in order to reserve him for the execution of some grand and important design.

în the year 1182, the sultan, at the head of a formidable army, set out on an expedition to Syria, amidst the acclamations of the people. He was, however, repulsed with loss both before Aleppo and Almasel, after having spent much time and labour in besieging these places. In the mean time a powerful fleet of European ships appeared in the Red Sea, and threatened the cities of Mecca and Medina. The news of this armament no sooner reach ed Cairo, than Abubekr, Saladin’s brother, who had been left viceroy in the sultan’s absence, caused another to be fitted out with all speed, under the command of Lulu, a brave and experienced officer, who sailed in quest of the enemy. A dreadful engagement ensued, but after an obstinate resistance the Christians were defeated, and the prisoners butchered in cold blood. This proved so severe a blow to the Europeans that they never again ventured to attempt any thing in this quarter.

In 1183 Saladin continued to extend his conquests. The city of Amida in Mesopotamia surrendered after a siege of eight days; and Aleppo, which he now attacked with better success than formerly, also capitulated. After the conquest of Aleppo, Saladin took three other cities, and then marched against his old enemies the Crusaders. Having sent out a party to reconnoitre the enemy, they fell in with a considerable detachment of Christians, whom they easily defeated, taking about a hundred prisoners, with the loss of only a single man on their side. Animated by this first instance of success, the sultan drew up his forces in order of battle, and advanced against the Crusaders, who had assembled their whole army at Sep-phoris in Galilee. On viewing the sultan’s troops, however, and perceiving that they were greatly superior in strength to what had at first been apprehended, the Christian leaders declined an engagement, nor could Saladin, with all hie skill and address, force them to accept battle. But though it was found impossible to bring the Crusaders to a decisive engagement, Saladin found means to harass them greatly, and destroyed great numbers of their men; he also carried off many prisoners, dismantled three of their strongest cities, laid waste their territories, and concluded the campaign with the capture of another strong town. For three years Saladin continued to gain ground on the Crusaders, yet without obtaining any decisive advantage; but in 1187 the fortune of war turned completely against the soldiers of the Cross.

The Christians in fact now found themselves obliged to venture a battle, on account of the ravages which the sultan committed on their territories, and the encroachments which he daily made on all sides. Both armies therefore resolved to exert their utmost efforts, and a fierce and bloody battle ensued. Night prevented victory from declaring for either side; but the fight was renewed with equal obstinacy next day, and the contest still remained undecided. On the third day the sultan’s men, finding themselves surrounded by the enemy on all sides but one, and on that also hemmed in by the river Jordan, so that all retreat was cut off, fought with the courage of despair, and at last gained a complete victory. Vast numbers of the Christians perished on this bloody field. A large body indeed succeeded in retiring to the top of a neighbouring hill covered with wood; but Saladin’s troops having surrounded the hill, set fire to the wood, and obliged them to surrender at discretion. Some of the captives were butchered as soon as they had delivered themselves into the hands of the enemy; and others, amongst whom were Lusignan the king of Jerusalem himself, Arnold prince of Alshabek and Alkarak, the masters of the Templars and Hospitallers, and almost the whole body of the latter, were thrown into irons. So great was the consternation which this sad reverse produced amongst the Christians, that one of Saladin’s men is said to have taken thirty of them prisoners, and tied them together with the cord of his tent, to prevent them from making their escape. The masters of the Templars and Hospitallers, with the knights acting under them, were brought into Saladin’s presence, when he instantly ordered them to be cut in pieces. He called these warlike monks assassins or batanists; and he had been accustomed to pay fifty dinars for the head of [7:8:482]every Templar or Hospitaller which was brought him. After the engagement Saladin seated himself in a magnificent tent, and placing the king of Jerusalem on his righthand, and Arnold prince of Alkarak on his left, he drank to the former, who was at that time ready to expire from thirst, and at the same time offered him a cup of snow water, which was thankfully received. The king then drank to the prince of Alkarak, who sat near him. But Saladin interrupted him with some warmth: “I will not,” said he, “suffer this cursed rogue to drink; for that, according to the laudable and generous custom of the Arabs, would secure to him his life.” Then turning towards the prince, he reproached him with having undertaken the expedition whilst in alliance with himself, and also with having intercepted an Egyptian caravan in the time of profound peace, and massacred the people of whom it was composed. But notwithstanding this, the sultan offered to grant him his life if he would embŗace Mahommedanism. The disgraceful condition was however rejected, and the sultan, with one stroke of his scimitar, cut off the prince’s head. This summary proceeding naturally alarmed the king of Jerusalem; but Saladin assured him he had nothing to fear, and that Arnold had brought his fate on himself by his want of common honesty.

The Crusaders being thus totally defeated and dispersed, Saladin next laid siege to Tiberias, which in a short time capitulated. He then marched towards Acca or Ptolemais, which likewise surrendered after a short siege. Here he found four thousand Mahommedan prisoners in chains, whom he immediately released; and as the inhabitants carried on a very extensive trade, he also discovered there not only vast sums of money, but likewise a great variety of valuable merchandise, all of which he seized and applied to his own use. About the same time his brother Almalek attacked and took a very strong fortress in the neighbourhood; after which the sultan divided his army into three bodies, that he might with the greater facility overrun the territories of the Christians, and thus in a short time made himself master of Neapolis, Caesarea, Seppho-ris, and other cities in the neighbourhood of Ptolemais. His next conquest was Joppa, which was taken by assault after a vigorous resistance. Saladin then marched in person against Tebnen, a strong fortress in the neighbourhood of Sidon, which was also taken by assault after a siege of six days, razed to the ground, and the garrison put to the sword. From Tebrien the victorious sultan proceeded to Sidon itself, which surrendered almost on the first summons. Berytus was next invested, and yielded to the conqueror in seven days.

Saladin, proceeding with his conquests, made himself master of Ascalon after a siege of fourteen days, and then invested the city of Jerusalem. The garrison was numerous, and made an obstinate defence; but Saladin having at last made a breach in the walls by sapping, the besieged desired to capitulate. This was at first refused; but a strong representation having been made by the Christian ambassador, who threatened that if an honourable capitulation was refused them, the garrison would kill their wives and children, massacre their prisoners, commit their property to the flames, and then sally out and sell their lives as dearly as possible, Saladin immediately called a council of war, at which the general officers to a man declared it as their opinion that it would be most prudent to allow the Christians to depart unmolested. They judged according to the maxim which recommends that a bridge of gold should be made for a flying or a desperate enemy. The sultan therefore allowed the garrison to march out freely with their wives, children, and effects, upon receiving ten dinars from every man capable of paying that sum, fiv,e from every woman, and two from every young person under age; whilst for the poorer class who were unable to pay any thing, the rest of the inhabitants contributed the sum of thirty thousand dinars.

Most of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were escorted by a detachment of Saladin’s troops to Tyre; and soon afterwards he advanced with his army against that place. As the port was blockaded by a squadron of five men of war, Saladin imagined that he might easily become master of it; but in this he found himself mistaken; for one morning at day-break a Christian fleet fell upon his squadron, and so entirely defeated it that not a single vessel succeeded in effecting its escape. About the same time Saladin himself was vigorously repulsed by land; and after calling a council of war, it was thought proper to raise the siege.

In 1188, Saladin, though his conquests were not so rapid and considerable as they had hitherto been, continued still superior to his enemies. He reduced the city of Laodicea and some other places, besides many strong castles; but he met also with several repulses. At length he took the road to Antioch; and having reduced all the fortresses, many of them deemed impregnable, which lay in his way, he intimidated Bohemond prince of Antioch so much that the latter desired a truce for seven or eight months; a request which, on account of the prodigious fatigues his men had undergone, and the circumstance of his auxiliaries now demanding leave to return home, Saladin was forced to comply with.

The heavy losses they had sustained, however, proved in some respects an advantage to the Christians, as they were thus obliged to lay aside those animosities which had proved the ruin of their affairs, and to act with more concert and unanimity. The brave men who had defended Jerusalem, and most of the other fortresses taken by Saladin, having retreated to Tyre, formed there a very numerous body; a circumstance which proved the means of preserving that city, and also of re-establishing their affairs. Accordingly, having received powerful reinforcements from Europe, they were enabled, in 1189, to take the field with thirty thousand foot and two thousand horse. Their first attempt was upon Alexandretta, whence they dislodged a strong body of Mabommedans, and then made themselves masters of the place with but little loss. They next laid siege to Ptolemais; but Saladin, as soon as he received intelligence of the fact, lost no time in marching to the relief of that place. After several skirmishes a general engagement followed, in which the soldan was defeated with the loss of ten thousand men. This enabled the Christians to carry on the siege with greater vigour; but so little acquainted were they with the methods of attacking strong places, that Ptolemais was enabled for two years to resist all their efforts, and was at last reduced rather by famine than by active warfare or military force.

This year the sultan was greatly alarmed on receiving intelligence that the emperor of Germany was advancing to Constantinople with an army of two hundred and sixty thousand men, in order to assist the other Crusaders. This prodigious armament, however, came at last to nothing. The multitude was so reduced by sickness, famine, and fatigue, that scarcely a thousand men reached the camp before Ptolemais. But the siege of that city was continued, though without success on the part of the Christians. They were repulsed in all their attacks; their engines were burnt with naphtha; and the besieged received supplies of provisions in spite of the utmost efforts of the besiegers, at the same time that famine and pestilence raged in the Christian camp, sometimes carrying off two hundred persons a day. But in 1191 the Christians received powerful succours from Europe. Philip II. of France, and Richard I. of England, surnamed Coeur∙de-Lion, arrived in the camp before Ptolemais[7:8:483]. The latter was esteemed the bravest and most enterprising of all the chiefs of the Crusade; and the spirits of the soldiers were greatly elated by the thoughts of acting under such an experienced commander. Soon after his arrival the English sunk a Mahommedan ship of large size, having on board upwards of six hundred soldiers, and a great quantity of arms and provisions, which was proceeding from Berytus to Ptolemais. Of the soldiers and the sailors who navigated this vessel, only a single person escaped, who, being taken prisoner by the English, was dispatched to the sultan with the news of the disaster. But the besieged still defended themselves with great resolution; and the king of England happening to fall sick, the operations of the besiegers were considerably delayed. On his recovery, however, the attacks were renewed with such fury that the place was every moment in imminent danger of being taken by assault. But although Saladin was informed of the condition to which it was reduced, and although it formed his principal magazine of arms, he found it impossible to march to its relief; and the inhabitants were therefore under the necessity of surrendering the place. One of the terms of the capitulation was, that the Crusaders should receive a very considerable sum of money from Saladin, upon the condition of their delivering up the Mahommedan prisoners they had in their hands; but Saladin refused to ratify this article, and, in consequence of his refusal, three thousand of those unfortunate men were slaughtered at once by orders of the king of England.

After the reduction of Ptolemais, Richard, now appointed generalissimo of the Crusaders, took the road to Ascalon, in order to besiege that place; after which he intended to make an attempt to recover Jerusalem. Saladin proposed to intercept him on his advance, and with this view placed himself in the way with an army of three hundred thousand men. On this occasion was fought one of the greatest battles of that age, or indeed of any other. After a terrible conflict, Saladin was totally defeated, with the loss of forty thousand men; and Ascalon soon afterwards fell into the hands of the Crusaders. Other sieges were subsequently undertaken with success, and Richard even approached within sight of Jerusalem; but by reason of the weakened state of his army, and the dissensions which prevailed in it, he found himself under the necessity of concluding a truce with the sultan. In the year 1192 this was accordingly agreed to, for the term of three years, three months, three weeks, three days, and three hours; and soon after it was concluded the king of England set out on his return to his own dominions.

In 1193 Saladin died, to the inexpressible grief of all true Moslemins, who held him in the utmost veneration. His dominions in Syria and Palestine were parcelled out amongst his children and relations in petty principalities. His son Othman succeeded to the throne of Egypt; but although he possessed the ambition, he wanted the enterprising genius of his father; and indeed Saladin had no successor capable of rivalling, far less eclipsing his renown. But Alcamel, to whom the sceptre devolved about the beginning of the thirteenth century, shed a lustre on his reign by repulsing the Crusaders, who for the fifth time had invaded the kingdom of the sultans. Damietta had yielded to the arms of the Christians; and, elated with their success, they advanced up the Nile, doubtless meditating the entire conquest of the country, when a general action took place, which in its issue proved disastrous, and compelled the invaders to accept a treaty, the conditions of which were more honourable to the generosity of the Moslemin conquerors than to the ability of the Christian commanders. Alcamel died at Damascus in 1238, and one of his sons, by name Aladel, was raised to the throne. But another claimant appeared in Nojmoddin, an elder brother of the deceased prince, and a bloody contest would probably have ensued, had not the young prince in the meanwhile disappeared or died. This circumstance led to the peaceable accession of Nojmoddin, who, like his predecessor, soon acquired great influence with the chiefs of the Crusade; whilst Richard, earl of Cornwall, perceiving that the sultan of Egypt possessed more power than the Syrian lords of Karak and Damascus, concluded an alliance with him, and thereby insured protection to the numerous Christian pilgrims when wending their weary way to the holy sepulchre.

Whilst affairs were thus unsettled, Nqjmoddin entered Syria, resolved, with the aid of the wild tribes who roamed through the adjoining desert, to make himself master of Damascus. A battle crowned his enterprise with success, and opened a path to still more signal advantages, when Louis the Ninth of France landed at Damietta with a new host of Crusaders, and in the absence of the sultan made considerable progress, taking several towns, and forcing the inhabitants to fly into the upper part of the country. Nojmoddin, then engaged in the siege of Emessa, hastened to the relief of his subjects; but, overpowered by fatigue and anxiety, his strength failed, and he died by the way, leaving the government to his son, an inexperienced youth. Nojmoddin, however, left one who was able and willing to avenge him. Apprehending no serious opposition, the Crusaders, with their habitual want of precaution, pushed recklessly into the interior, when, to their extreme surprise, they suddenly found themselves in presence of a formidable army, raised by the exertions of the sultan’s widow, the celebrated Shagir Aldor. A battle was inevitable; and Louis, compelled to fight at a disadvantage, was defeated and taken prisoner; whilst his followers, after enduring the greatest privations, were compelled to throw themselves on the compassion of the natives whose fields they had desolated, whose houses they had plundered, and whose hearths they had profaned.

The period at which we have now arrived is remarkable for the accession to power of a race of slaves, who, transformed into soldiers, became alike celebrated for their military qualities, and formidable by their exactions, to the country over which they domineered. It will be at once understood that we allude to the Mamlukes. The origin of this celebrated military caste dates from the time of Saladin. As a usurper, the sultan naturally put little confidence in the native troops; and hence, distrusting the fidelity of his subjects, he was led to place around his person a guard of foreigners, composed chiefly of slaves purchased or made captives in the provinces bordering on the western shores of the Caspian. Under succeeding sultans the power of these armed attendants was increased by new privileges; and in a short time they, like the celebrated pretorian bands at Rome, acquired or usurped the entire disposal of the sovereign authority. In the year 1250 the reigning sultan, Malek-al-Salek, was dethroned and slain by these mercenaries; in consequence of which crime the Mamlukes became sole masters of Egypt, and chose a sultan out of their own number. This was Ibeg, who, having been named regent during the minority of the young prince, married the queen-mother upon the death of that boy, and finally, supported by his companions in arms, stepped into the vacant throne.

The Mamlukes having obtained possession of the government, and neither understanding nor valuing any thing except the art of war, every species of learning soon decayed in Egypt, and barbarism in some measure resumed its ancient empire. Nor was their ascendency of long duration, notwithstanding their martial abilities. The fact is, that originally they formed but a small part of the [7:8:484]standing forces of Egypt; and as a numerous army was necessary in a country where, according to the fundamental maxim of government, every native must be a slave, they were at first at a loss how to act, being justly suspicious of the other portions of the regular force. But at length they resolved to purchase Christian slaves, and educate them in the same way as they themselves had formerly been; and these were commonly brought from Circassia, where the people, though they professed Christianity, made no scruple of selling their children. When they had completed their military education, these soldiers were disposed of throughout the fortresses erected in the country to keep down the inhabitants; and because in their language a fort was denominated borge, the new militia received the name of Borgites or garrison-troops. By this expedient the Mamlukes hoped to secure themselves in the sovereignty; but the result proved that they were mistaken in their calculations. The old Mamlukes having become proud, insolent, and lazy, the Borgites took advantage of their degeneracy, rose upon their masters, deprived them of the government, and about the year 1382 transferred it to one of their own number, by name Bar-cok, under whom the Mamluke dynasty, properly so called, was brought to an end, after having endured about a hundred and twenty years.

The Borgi tes, as well as their former masters, now assumed the name of Mamlukes, and became famous for their valour and ferocity of conduct. They were almost perpetually engaged in wars either foreign or domestic; and their dominion lasted till the year 1517, when they were attacked by Sultan Selim. The Mamlukes defended themselves with incredible valour; but being overpowered by numbers, they were defeated in every engagement. The same year the city of Cairo was taken, after great slaughter, and the Borgite sultan was obliged to fly. But having collected all his force, he ventured a decisive battle, in which he was defeated, the most romantic efforts of valour proving unavailing against the innumerable multitude which composed the Turkish army. A great number of his troops perished on the field; and the unhappy prince himself, seeing all hope utterly gone, took shelter in a marsh, whence he was dragged by his pursuers, and soon afterwards put to death. Nor did the vengeance of the conqueror stop here. Having erected a throne on the banks of the Nile, he caused the prisoners, amounting to upwards of thirty thousand men, to be brought before him, when he ordered them to be beheaded in his presence, and their bodies to be thrown into the river. With the death of Tuman Bey, and the wholesale butchery which followed it, ended the glory, and almost the existence, of the Mamlukes, who were now everywhere hunted out and cut in pieces.

But notwithstanding these barbarous proceedings, Selim did not attempt the total extermination of the Mamlukes, though this would have been quite agreeable to the maxims of Turkish policy. He seems to have considered, that if he should establish a pasha in Egypt, with the same powers with which those of other parts were invested, such a lieutenant or viceroy would, by reason of the distance from the capital, be under strong temptations to revolt. He therefore devised a new form of government, according to which, the power being distributed amongst the different members of the state, an equilibrium might be established, and the dependence of the whole upon himself might thereby be secured. With this view he chose a divan, or council of regency, consisting of the pasha or viceroy, and the chiefs of the seven military corps. To the former, who was to be in all cases president, it belonged to notify to the council the orders of the Porte, to transmit the tribute to Constantinople, and to provide for the safety of government, both external and internal; whilst, on the other hand, the members of the council had a right to reject the orders of the pasha, or even to depose him, provided they could assign sufficient reasons for so doing; and all civil and political ordinances required to be ratified by them. From the Mamluke Beys, who presided over the provinces, were chosen the Sheikh-el-Belled, or governor of Cairo; the Janizary Aga, or commander of the janizaries; the Defterdar, or accountant-general; the Emir-el-Hadgee, or conductor of the caravan to Mecca; the Emir-el-Said, or governor of Upper Egypt; and the Sheikh-el-Bekhen, or governor of the scherd’s. He then formed the whole body into a sort of republic; and with this view issued an edict, setting forth that a republican government was granted to the twenty-four sangiacs or governors of provinces. These were, 1. That the sovereignty of the Porte should be acknowledged by the republic, and, in token of obedience, its lieutenant should be received as the representative of the sultan; but if the said lieutenant should attempt to infringe any of its privileges, the republic might suspend him from his authority, and send to the Sublime Porte a complaint against him: 2. That in time of war the republic should provide twelve thousand troops at its own expense, to be commanded by a sangiac or sangiacs; 3. That the republic should raise annually, and send to the Sublime Porte, the sum of 560,000 aslany (afterwards augmented to 800,000, or about L. 100,000), accompanied by a sangiac, who should receive an acknowledgment for the same: 4. That the same sum should be raised for the use of Medina and Kiaba or Mecca: 5. That the janizaries should not exceed fourteen thousand in time of peace, though this number might be increased in time of war: 6. That to the sultan’s granaries should be sent annually a million measures of corn, 600,000 of wheat, and 400,000 of barley: 7. That, on fulfilling these articles, the republic should have a free government over all Egypt, independently of the sultan’s lieutenant, but on condition of executing the laws of the country, with the advice of the moollah: 8. That the republic should be in possession of the mint as heretofore, but on condition that it should be under the inspection of the sultan’s lieutenant, in order that the coin might not be adulterated: and, 9. That the republic should elect a Sheikh-el-Belled out of the number of Beys, to be confirmed by the sultan’s lieutenant; and that the said Sheikh-el-Belled should be the sultan’s lieutenant, and esteemed as the head of the republic. It was further provided, that if the sultan’s lieutenant should be guilty of oppression, or exceed the bounds of his authority, the Sheikh-el-Belled should represent the grievance to the Porte; and in case the peace of the republic should be disturbed by foreign enemies, the sultan guaranteed it his protection free of all expense.

Thus the power of the Mamlukes, which conquest and massacre had broken, was in some measure re-established by the arbitrary will or caprice of the conqueror; and it continued to increase until at last the Turkish dominion over Egypt became little better than a species of feudal superiority, recognised in principle, but disregarded in practice. But in order to understand how this transference of authority was produced, it is necessary to attend to the manner in which the race of Mamlukes was continued and multiplied in Egypt. This was not in the ordinary way, by marriage or descent; on the contrary, during all the time the Mamlukes maintained a footing in Egypt, few of them left subsisting issue, and almost all their children perished in the first or second descent. The means by which they were perpetuated and multiplied were the same by which they were originally established, namely, by slaves brought from the country whence they originally came. From the time of the Moguls this commerce continued on [7:8:485]¼

the banks of the Cuban and Phasis, in the same manner as it is carried on in Africa, by wars amongst the hostile tribes, and the misery or avarice of the inhabitants, who sold their children to strangers. The slaves thus procured were first brought to Constantinople, and afterwards dispersed throughout the empire, where they were purchased by the wealthy. When the Turks subdued Egypt they should undoubtedly have prohibited this dangerous traffic; and their omitting to do so in a great measure dispossessed them of their conquest, a consummation which a series of great political errors had otherwise been long preparing. In fact, the Porte had, for a considerable time, neglected the affairs of this province, and, in order to restrain the pashas, had suffered the divan to extend its power till the chiefs of the janizaries and ayahs were left without control. The soldiers themselves, having become citizens by the marriages which they had contracted, were no longer the creatures of Constantinople; and a change introduced into their discipline still more increased these disorders. At first the seven military corps had but one common treasury; and though the society was rich, individuals, not having any thing at their own disposal, could effect nothing. But the chiefs, finding their power diminished by this arrangement, had interest enough to get it abolished, and to obtain permission to possess distinct pro-E, lands, and villages. As these lands and villages, ver, depended on the Mamluke governors, it was necessary to conciliate them, in order to prevent their exactions. From that moment the Beys acquired an ascendency over the soldiers, who till then had treated them with disdain; and this ascendency continued to increase, as their government secured to them the possession of considerable riches, which they employed chiefly in creating friends and multiplying dependents. They increased the number of their slaves; and after emancipating them, employed all their interest to obtain various employments, and procure advancement in the army. These upstarts, retaining for their patrons the superstitious veneration common in the East, formed factions implicitly devoted to their will, and were ready at all times to execute their commands.

Accordingly, about the year 1746, Ibrahim, one of the kiayas or commanders of the janizaries, rendered himself in reality master of Egypt, having managed matters so well, that of the twenty-four Beys or Sangiacs, eight were members of his own household. His influence too was augmented by always leaving vacancies in order to draw the emoluments himself, whilst the officers and soldiers of his corps were attached to his interest; and his power was completed by gaining over to his interest Rodohan, the most powerful of all the chiefs. Thus the pasha became altogether unable to oppose him, and the orders of the sultan were much less respected than those of Ibrahim. On his death in 1757, his family, that is, his enfranchised slaves, continued to rule in a despotic manner. But having quarrelled amongst themselves, Rodohan and several other chiefs fell in the contests which ensued, and the utmost anarchy and confusion prevailed.

In 1766, while matters still continued in this state, Ali Bey, who had been a principal actor in the disturbances, gained a decided superiority over his rivals, and, under the successive titles of Emir-el-Hadgee, and Sheikh-el-Belled, he rendered himself absolute master of Egypt. The birth of Ali Bey, like that of the Mamlukes in general, is extremely uncertain. It is commonly believed that he was born among the Abazans, a people of Mount Caucasus, who, next to the Circassians, are most valued by the Turks as claves; and that having been brought to a public sale at Cairo, he was purchased by two Jews, brothers, named Isaac and Yussuf, who presented him to Ibrahim

Kiaya. At this time he is supposed to have been about thirteen or fourteen years old; and he was employed by his patron in offices similar to those of the pages belonging to European princes. The usual education of Mamlukes was also given him. He was taught to manage a horse adroitly; to fire a carbine or pistol with a sure aim; and to throw the djereed, a kind of dart or javelin used in the diversions of the country. He was also instructed in the exercise of the sabre, and taught a little reading and writing. In all feats of activity he discovered such fire and impetuosity, that he obtained the surname of Djendali or Madman; and as he grew up he discovered an ambition proportioned to the activity displayed in his youth, but which served to moderate and restrain the ardour of his disposition. About the age of eighteen or twenty he received his freedom, and his kind patron also promoted him to the rank of kiachef or governor of a district, and at last elected him one of the twenty-four Beys, at once the tyrants and oppressors of the unhappy Fellahs.

The death of Ibrahim in 1757 afforded him an opportunity of satisfying his ambition; and he now engaged in every scheme connected with the promotion or disgrace of the chiefs, and had a principal share in the ruin of Rodohan Kiaya, as already mentioned. The post of Rodohan was quickly filled by another competitor for his dangerous office, who, however, did not long enjoy his elevation; and in 1762 Ali Bey, who was then styled Sheikh-el-Belled, having caused Abderrahman, the real possessor of the office, to be exiled, managed to get himself elected in his stead. But he soon shared the fate of the rest, and was condemned to retire to Gaza. This place, however, being then under the dominion of a Turkish pasha, proved by no means either agreeable to or safe for Ali, who accordingly betook himself to another asylum, where he remained concealed until 1766, when his friends at Cairo procured his recal. On this he appeared suddenly in that city, killed four of the Beys who were inimical to his designs, banished the rest, and assumed the whole power. Still, however, his ambition was not satisfied. Indulging the loftiest aspirations of ambition, he determined to throw off his dependence on the Porte, and to declare himself sultan of Egypt. With this view he expelled the pasha, refused to pay the accustomed tribute, and, in the year 1768, proceeded to coin money in his own name. The Porte being at that time on the eve of a war with Russia, had not leisure to attend to the proceedings of Ali; so that the rebel chief had leisure and opportunity for forwarding his enterprise. His first expedition was directed against an Arabian prince named Hammam, under pretence that the latter had concealed a treasure entrusted to him by Ibrahim Kiaya, and that he had afforded protection to rebels. The command of the expedition he entrusted to his favourite Mohammed Bey, by whom the unfortunate prince was destroyed, and his territories despoiled. Ali next set about executing a plan which had been proposed to him by a young Venetian merchant, for rendering Djidda, the port of Mecca, an emporium for all the commerce of India; and he even imagined that he would succeed in causing the Europeans to abandon the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. With this view he fitted out some vessels at Suez; and having manned them with Mamlukes, commanded Hassan Bey to sail with the squadron for Djidda, and attack it, whilst a body of cavalry under Mohammed Bey advanced against the town. Both these operations were executed to his wish, and Ali became quite intoxicated with his success. Nothing but ideas of conquest now occupied his mind; and without considering the disproportion between his own force and that of the Grand Signior, he never once doubted that he would be able to maintain himself [7:8:486]against all the power of the Porte. And circumstances, it must be owned, were at this time favourable to his designs. Sheikh Daher was in rebellion against the Porte in Syria, and the pasha of Damascus had so exasperated the people by his extortions that they were ready for revolt. Having therefore made the necessary preparations, Ali, in 1770, dispatched about five hundred Mamlukes to take possession of Gaza, and thus to secure an entrance into Palestine. When Osman, pasha of Damascus, heard of the invasion, he prepared for war with the utmost diligence; whilst the troops of Ali Bey were, it is said, ready to fly at the first attack. But they were relieved from their embarrassment by Sheikh Daher, who hastened to their assistance; and Osman, dreading to encounter both, fled without offering the least resistance, thus leaving the enemy masters of Palestine. About the end of February 1771 the army of Ali Bey was put in motion. Its numbers have been variously represented, but it is probable that, including camp followers, a very numerous class in the East, it exceeded forty thousand men. This force, or rather armed multitude, commanded by Mohammed Bey, the friend of Ali, took the road to Acre, leaving wherever they passed frightful traces of their rapacity and want of discipline. At Acre a junction was formed with the troops of Sheikh Daher, consisting of fifteen hundred Safadins; Sheikh Daher’s subjects being so called from Safad, a village of Galilee, originally under his jurisdiction. These were on horseback, and accompanied by twelve hundred Motualis cavalry under the command of Sheikh Nasif, and about a thousand Moggrebin infantry. Thus they proceeded towards Damascus, whilst Osman prepared to oppose them by another army equally numerous and ill regulated.

The military operations in Syria in the year 1771 have been described by Volney. The combined army of Ali Bey and Sheikh Daher marched to Damascus. The pashas waited for them; they approached, and, on the 6th of June, a decisive action took place. The Mamlukes and Safadins rushed on the Turks with such fury, that, terrified at their onset, the latter immediately took to flight, and the pashas were not the last in endeavouring to make their escape. The allies became masters of the country, and took possession of the city without opposition, there being neither walls nor soldiers to defend it. The castle alone resisted. Its ruined fortifications had not a single cannon, much less gunners; but it was surrounded by a muddy ditch, and behind the ruins were posted a few musketeers, who alone were sufficient to check this army of cavalry. As the besieged, however, were already conquered by their fears, they capitulated on the third day; and the place was to be surrendered next morning, when at daybreak an extraordinary revolution took place.

This was the defection of Mohammed Bey himself, whom Osman had gained over in a conference during the night. At the moment, therefore, when the signal of surrender was expected, this treacherous commander sounded a retreat, and turned towards Egypt with all his cavalry, flying with as great precipitation as if he had been pursued by a victorious army. Mohammed continued his march with such celerity that the report of his arrival in Egypt reached Cairo only six hours before himself. Thus Ali Bey found all his expectations of conquest disappointed, and a traitor whom he durst not punish at the head of his forces. A sudden reverse of fortune now took place. Several vessels laden with corn for Sheikh Daher were taken by a Russian privateer; and Mohammed Bey, whom he designed to put to death, not only made his escape, but was so well attended that he could not be attacked. As his followers continued to increase daily in number, Mohammed soon became sufficiently strong to march towards Cairo; and in April 1772, having defeated the troops of Ali in a rencounter, he entered the city sword in hand, whilst the latter had scarcely time to make his escape with eight hundred Mamlukes. Ali proceeded to Syria, which he reached with difficulty, and immediately joined Sheikh Daher with the troops which accompanied him in his flight. The Turks under Osman were at that time besieging Sidon, but they raised the siege on the approach of the allied army, consisting of about seven thousand cavalry. Though the Turkish army was at least three times this number, the allies did not hesitate to attack them; and having gained a complete victory, their affairs now began to wear a more favourable aspect.

In the beginning of 1773, Jaffa, a place which had revolted, capitulated, and Ali Bey began to think of returning to Cairo. For this purpose Sheikh Daher promised to furnish him with fresh succours; and the Russians, with whom he had now contracted an alliance, made him a similar promise. But Ali ruined every thing by his own folly and impatience. Deceived by an astrologer, who pretended that the auspicious moment indicated by the stars had just arrived, and also misled by false information insidiously conveyed to him by the agents of Mahommed, who caused letters to be written to him urging his immediate return to Cairo, he set out with his Mamlukes and about fifteen hundred Safadins sent him by Daher, without waiting for further aid; but he had no sooner entered the desert which separates Gaza from Egypt, than he was attacked by a body of a thousand chosen Mamlukes who were waiting his arrival. They were commanded by a young Bey named Murad, who being enamoured of the wife of Ali Bey, had obtained a promise of the lady from Mohammed, in case he should bring him her husband’s head. As soon as Murad perceived the dust which announced the approach of Ali Bey’s army, he rushed upon the advancing force, defeated it, and took Ali Bey himself prisoner, after wounding him in the forehead with a sabre. Being conducted to the presence of Mohammed Bey, Ali was treated by the latter with every appearance of respect, and a magnificent tent was ordered to be erected for him; but in three days thereafter he was found dead, of his wounds, as was given out, though some affirm, perhaps with good reason, that he was poisoned.

After the death of Ali, Mohammed Bey became undisputed master of Egypt; but to the people this change of despots proved to be one from bad to worse. At first he pretended to defend the rights of the sultan; he remitted the usual tribute to Constantinople, and he took the customary oath of unlimited obedience; after which he solicited permission to make war against Sheikh Daher, the ally of Ali Bey. This request, although springingout of personal animosity, was nevertheless granted, and Mohammed made diligent preparations for war. Having procured a considerable train of artillery, he provided foreign gunners, whom he placed under the orders of an Englishman named Robinson; and, having completed the necessary preparations, he, in the month of February 1776, appeared in Syria with an army equal in number to that which he had formerly commanded when in the service of Alt Bey. Daher’s forces, unable to cope with so formidable a body, abandoned Gaza, which Mohammed immediately took possession of, and then marched towards Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, situated on a part of the coast the general level of which is very little above that of the sea. The city is built on an eminence in the form of a cone, and about a hundred and thirty feet in height. The houses distributed on the declivity rise above one another like the steps of an amphitheatre; and on the summit is a small citadel, which commands the town; whilst the bottom of the hill is surrounded by a wall without a rampart, of twelve or fourteen[7:8:487] feet in height and two or three feet in thickness, but without a ditch, and environed by gardens. The city was defended by five or six hundred Safadins and as many inhabitants, who had only a few brass cannon, twenty-four pounders, without carriages, which they mounted as well as they could on timbers prepared in a hurry.

Mohammed, finding he must have recourse to force, formed his camp before the town, in the most irregular and disorderly manner possible. Batteries were now erected upon a rising ground at the distance of about two hundred yards from the town, and the bombardment commenced. A wall only three feet thick, and without a rampart, was soon breached even by the ill-served artillery of Mohammed, and the Mamlukes advanced on foot to the assault; but the besieged coolly waiting till they arrived at the empty space between the city and wall, assailed them from the terraces and windows of the houses with such a shower of bullets, that the assailants retired, under a persuasion that the breach was utterly impracticable. Murad Bey brought them several times back to the attack, but all his efforts were vain. Six weeks passed in this manner; and Mohammed, distracted with rage, anxiety, and despair, had thoughts of abandoning the enterprise. But fortunately for him, the besieged, whose numbers were diminished by the repeated attacks, became weary of defending the cause of Daher; and some persons having begun to treat with the enemy, it was at length proposed to abandon the place, upon the Egyptians giving hostages. Conditions were agreed upon, and the treaty was on the point of being concluded, when, in the midst of the security which this circumstance occasioned, some Mamlukes entered the town. Numbers followed their example, and attempted to plunder; the inhabitants defended themselves, and the attack recommenced. The whole army then rushed into the town, which suffered all the horrors of a successful assault; men, women, and children, young and old, were indiscriminately cut in pieces; and Mohammed, equally mean and barbarous, caused a pyramid, formed of the heads of these unfortunate sufferers, to be raised as a monument of his inglorious victory.

This disaster everywhere diffused the greatest terror and consternation. Sheikh Daher fled, and Mohammed soon afterwards became master of Acre, where he behaved with his usual cruelty, and abandoned the city to pillage. The French merchants claimed an exemption, which was obtained with the utmost difficulty, and, but for a fortunate accident, would have been of little consequence. Being informed that the treasures of Ibrahim, the kiaya of Daher, had been deposited in that place, Mohammed immediately demanded them, threatening the merchants with death if they were not instantly delivered up; and a day was appointed for making the search; but before it arrived the tyrant had caught a malignant fever, of which he died after a short illness. When his death became known, the army, aware of the vengeance it had provoked, and being now without a head, made a precipitate and tumultuous retreat. This event occurred in the summer of 1776. Sheiklι Daher continued his rebellion for some time, but he was at last entirely defeated, and his head sent to Constantinople by Hassan, the Turkish capitan-pasha or high admiral.

As soon as the news of Mohammed’s death reached Egypt, Murad Bey hastened to Cairo in order to dispute the sovereignty with Ibrahim Bey, who had been entrusted with the government on the departure of Murad for Syria. Preparations for war were in consequence made on both sides; but at last, finding that the contest would be attended with equal difficulty and uncertainty, they came to an accommodation, by which it was agreed that Ibrahim should retain the title of Sheikh-el-Ðelled, and that the power which neither was inclined to relinquish should be divided between them. But the Beys and other chiefs who had been promoted by Ali Bey, perceiving their own importance totally annihilated by this duumvirate, resolved to shake off tĥe yoke, and therefore united in a league for supporting what they were pleased to term the house of Ali Bey. This combination was managed with so much silence and dexterity, that both Murad and Ibrahim were obliged to abandon Cairo. In a short time, however, having collected reinforcements, they returned and defeated their enemies; but notwithstanding this success, they were unable altogether to suppress the party which had been formed against them. À new combination was formed among the Beys, five of whom were sentenced to banishment in the Delta. They pretended to comply with this order, but took the road through the desert of the Pyramids, and, though they were pursued for three days, arrived safe at Minieh, a village situated on the Nile, forty leagues above Cairo. Here they took up their residence, and being masters of the river, soon reduced Cairo to distress by intercepting its provisions. A new expedition, therefore, became necessary, and Ibrahim took the command upon himself. In the month of October 1783 he set out with an army of three thousand cavalry, and the two armies soon came in sight of each other; but Ibrahim thought proper to terminate the affair by negociation. This gave great offence to Murad, who, suspecting some design against himself, immediately left Cairo. A war between the two sovereign colleagues seemed now inevitable, and the armies continued for twenty-five days in sight of each other, being only separated by the river. But negociations were at length opened; and the five exiled Beys, finding themselves abandoned by Murad, took to flight. They were however pursued and brought back to Cairo, and peace appeared to be re-established on a better footing than heretofore; but the jealousy of the two rivals having produced new intrigues, Murad was once more obliged to leave Cairo in 1784. He encamped, however, at the very gates of the city; and Ibrahim, dreading his power, or overawed by his boldness, found himself obliged in his turn to retire to the desert, where he remained till March 1785. A new treaty was then entered into, by which the rivals agreed to share the supreme power between them; an arrangement which certainly afforded but little prospect of lengthened tranquillity.

Matters were in this situation, when, in 1786, the Porte, having concluded a peace with Russia, resolved to reduce Egypt once more to a state of subjection and obedience. With this view, Hassan Pasha, famous for his exploits in the Morea and in Cyprus, was dispatched by the sultan at the head of a force amounting to twenty-five thousand men. Having effected a landing at Alexandria in the month of July, Hassan made instant preparations for advancing towards Cairo. But he was met near Mentorbes by Murad at the head of his Mamlukes, and a furious battle immediately ensued. The victory, however, remained with Hassan. The ground being still soft from the effects of the inundation, the Mamlukes, whose horses sunk in the mud, were unable to charge with their accustomed impetuosity, and the Turkish infantry thus gained a decided advantage. Had it not been for this fortunate circumstance, Hassan might have been shorn of some of his laurels in contending with that superb cavalry, by far the finest and most enterprising in all the East. As it was, Cairo opened its gates to the victorious pasha, who, after appointing a governor, continued his march in pursuit of the Beys into the Saïd. But finding the power of these chief’s still in some measure unbroken, and experiencing great difficulties in subsisting his army in the face of an [7:8:488]active and vigilant enemy, Hassan was induced, in the course of the following year, to accede to a treaty, by which the Beys were left in full possession of the country from Barbich to the confines of Nubia, upon condition of their relinquishing all claims to the territory below the place just mentioned. By this arrangement, he freed Lower Egypt ļrom the exactions of the Mamlukes, and secured to the inhabitants of that part of the country the benefit of something like a settled government. He also applied himself to lighten their burdens, to redress their grievances, and to fortify Cairo so as to enable it to hold out against any sudden inroad of the disaffected Beys; and his whole conduct indeed was alike distinguished for wisdom and moderation. But, in 1790, the plague appeared in its most virulent type; and after committing frightful ravages amongst the lower classes, who in all countries, and particularly in Egypt, are the first victims of a pestilence, it put an end to the life of Hassan Pasha. By this event the authority which had kept the Mamlukes in check was annihilated; and, after a short interval, during which an attempt was made to confirm the authority of the Porte, Murad and Ibrahim returned from exile, and once more assumed the sovereign power, in defiance of all the menaces of the divan.

But the domestic contentions by which Egypt had so long been distracted were now to be succeeded by foreign invasion. From an exaggerated notion of the importance of the British dominions in the East, which were regarded as a source of inexhaustible wealth to this country, the possession of Egypt, the channel through which the commerce of India anciently flowed into Europe, had long been viewed by the statesmen of France as a most desirable acquisition for that country. Various arguments, some of them plausible enough, were accordingly advanced in support of this conclusion. In particular, it had been contended that the communication between India and the southern parts of Europe, by the channel of the Red Sea, was the shortest, the safest, and the most economical; that the Nile might be connected with the Arabian Gulf by means of a canal cut across the isthmus of Suez; that, independently of the commerce of India, the country on the eastern shores of the Red Sea abounded in spices, perfumes, and other valuable products; that Africa had gold dust and ivory to give in exchange for the more bulky commodities of Europe; and therefore that Egypt, if occupied by one of the maritime powers of the Mediterranean, would prove a more valuable possession than all the British territories in India. From the time of Leibnitz, who addressed to Louis XIV. a memorial recommending the occupation of Egypt for the purpose of destroying the maritime and commercial ascendency of the Dutch, the speculation which he had in some measure originated continued to find favour with the statesmen of France; and when the naval pre-eminence of Britain, which a series of unexampled triumphs had placed on a firm basis, put an end to all hope of disputing with her the empire of the ocean, or again establishing a footing in India by means of armies transported by fleets, the project of seizing upon Egypt began to be anxiously discussed and seriously meditated. Nor was this scheme viewed merely in connection with objects of commercial enterprise, or even the extension of the colonial possessions of France. To the bold and ardent minds that now predominated in the French councils, it promised other and still more important advantages. The subjugation of Egypt by a nation whose territory bordered on the Mediterranean was considered as the most effectual blow which could be struck against the power of Turkey; whilst, by occupying that country with a powerful military force, and, as a necessary consequence, adding to it the possession of Syria, a position would be obtained from which the British possessions in India might be threatened, and perhaps in due time attacked. Ideas the most gigantesque were formed, and to men flushed with the confidence inspired by victory all things seemed possible.

It is not certainly known with whom originated the project of sending an expedition at this time to Egypt, and various persons have claimed or received the merit of the suggestion. It is beyond all doubt, however, that the ardent mind of Napoleon entered into the scheme with characteristic energy,^[20. Napoleon has himself explained the views with which this expedition was undertaken. “There were three objects,” says he, “in the expedition to Egypt: lrt, To establish a French colony on the Nile, which would prosper without slaves, and serve France instead of the republic of St Domingo and of all the sugar islands; 2 dly, To open a market for our manufactures in Africa, Arabia, and Syria, and to supply our commerce with all the productions of those vast countries; 'Adly, Setting out from Egypt as from a place of arms, to lead an army of 60,000 men to the Indus, to excite the Mahrattas and oppressed people of those extensive regions to insurrection. Sixty thousand men, half Europeans, and half recruits from the burning climates of the equator and the tropics, carried by 10,000 horses and 50,000 camels, having with them provisions for fifty or sixty days, water for five or six days, and a train of artillery of a hundred and fifty field-pieces, with double supplies of ammunition, would have reached the Indus in four months. Since the invention of shipping the ocean has ceased to be an obstacle, and the desert is no longer an impediment to an army possessed of camels and dromedaries in abundance. The first two objects were fulfilled, and, notwithstanding the loss of Admiral Brueys’ squadron at Alexandria, the intrigue by which Kleber was induced to sign the convention of El-Arisch, the landing of from 30,000 to 35,000 English commanded by Abercromby at Aboukir and cosseir, the third object would have been attained; a French army would have reached the Indus in the winter of 1801-1802, had not the command of the army devolved, in consequence of the murder of Kle ’ ber, on a man who, although abounding in courage, talents for business, and good-will, was of a disposition wholly unfit for any military command.” {Memoirs, vol. ii. part 2, p. 205.) ] and that the executive directory acquiesced in it with a readiness which perhaps arose as much from policy as conviction. The young soldier of Italy had already become too great for a republic. In a country which had recently witnessed so many revolutions, and where all distinctions are so liable to be eclipsed by military glory, the man who had dictated to Austria the preliminaries of Leoben could not but be an object of dread to a feeble and unpopular government; and hence it is at least a reasonable presumption, that the immediate advantage of removing to a safe distance a dangerous army and a still more dangerous military chief, weighed fully as much with the executive directory as any of the speculations to which we have alluded.

But be this as it may, an expedition was fitted out with all possible secrecy, and on the 18th May 1798 it sailed from Toulon. The squadron consisted of thirteen sail of the line, six frigates, and a dozen brigs, sloops, and cutters, having on board about forty thousand men of all arms, under the command of Napoleon, who had been named general-in-chief of the army of the East. After doubling Cape Corso and Cape Bonara, the expedition arrived on the 10th of June before Malta, which, through the degeneracy of the knights, surrendered almost without resistance; and having left a garrison in the island, it next steered for the coast of Egypt, which, after narrowly escaping an encounter with the British fleet under Lord Nelson, it reached on the 1st of July. The troops were immediately landed near Alexandria, and on the evening of the 5th that place was carried by assault. The general[7:8:489]-in-chief then passed several days in laying down the principles on which the city was to be fortified; and, in a short time, a complete system of works, capable of a long defence, was formed under the able superintendence of the principal French engineers.

Having given the necessary directions, and made suitable preparations, Napoleon left Alexandria to advance against the Mamlukes, who had resolved to dispute his passage towards Cairo; at the same time repeating to Admiral Brueys, who commanded the French squadron, the order previously given to enter the port of Alexandria, or, in case he should consider that impossible, to proceed to Corfu or Toulon. The first encounter with the Mamlukes took place at Shebreis on the 13th July. Here they waited the approach of the French army, which was drawn up so that each division formed a square, with the baggage in the centre; and they soon spread over the whole plain, outflanking the wings, and seeking on all sides a weak point to enable them to break the French line; but finding it everywhere equally formidable, and being opposed with a double fire from front and flank, they were compelled to retire with loss, after having made several fruitless attempts to charge. The French army then continuedjts advance, and was approaching Cairo, when information reached the general-in-chief that the Mamlukes, combined with the troops of that city, and with a considerable number of Arabs, janizaries, and spahis, were waiting for them between the Nile and the Pyramids covering Ghizch, where they boasted that the success of the invaders would terminate. Napoleon halted a day at Omedinar, to afford the troops some repose, and enable them to get their arms in readiness, and to prepare for battle. On the 21st, at one in the morning, the army marched from Omedinar, and at ten perceived Embabeh, and the enemy in line. Their right was supported on the Nile, where they had traced out a large entrenched camp, lined with forty pieces of cannon, and defended by about twenty thousand infantry, consisting of janizaries, spahis, and militia from Cairo. On this entrenched camp the Mamluke cavalry, amounting to between nine and ten thousand horse, rested its right, and extended its left in the direction of the Pyramids, crossing the road to Ghizch; whilst two or three thousand Arabs maintained the extreme left, and occupied the space between the Mamlukes and the Pyramids. These dispositions were formidable. But Napoleon, discerning that the intrenched camp was merely sketched out, and that the cannon were mounted on field carriages, and consequently immoveable, concluded that the infantry would not quit the intrenched camp, or that if they came forth it would be without artillery. On these data he made his dispositions for battle; resolving to prolong his right, and to follow the movement of that wing with his whole army, at the same time passing out of the range of the guns of the intrenched camp. Murad Bey, who commanded in chief, quickly divined the purpose of his antagonist; and comprehending at once that the fortune of the day depended on preventing the French from executing this movement, and availing himself of his numerous cavalry to attack them on their march, he advanced at the head of about two thirds of his horse, amounting to between six and seven thousand, and fell upon General Desaix, who was moving forward by the extremity of the French right. The charge was made with such rapidity that Desaix was for a moment compromised, and the squares appeared to be falling into confusion. But as the head of the corps of Mamlakes was not numerous, and the mass did not arrive for some minutes, the delay was sufficient to enable Desaix to complete the formation of the squares, and to receive the charge with coolness. Regnier supported Desaix on the left, whilst Napoleon, marching on the main body of the Mamlukes, placed himself between the Nile and Regnier. The Mamlukes were received with discharges of grape and musketry, and some of the bravest died almost on the bayonets of Desaix’s division; but the mass, by an instinct natural to horse, turned round the squares, and this frustrated the charge. In the midst of the fire, the dust, and the smoke, part of the Mamlukes regained the intrenched camp, against which the divisions of Bon and Menou immediately advanced, whilst General Rampon with two battalions occupied a defile between Ghizch and the camps. The most horrible confusion now prevailed at Embabeh. The cavalry had thrown itself upon the infantry, which, seeing the Mamlukes beaten, rushed into the djerms, caiques, and other boats, in order to pass the Nile; then the Mamlukes, perceiving that their retreat was in the wrong direction, attempted to regain the Ghizch road, but were driven back by Rampons battalions on the intrenched camp, where many of them fell. But many more were drowned in attempting to pass the Nile; and the intrenchments, artillery, pontoons, and baggage, all became the prize of the conquerors. Of this army of above sixty thousand men, not more than two thousand five hundred horse escaped with Murad Bey. Ibrahim fled into the eastern parts of the Delta, whilst Murad, with the remnant of his Mamlukes, retreated into the desert beyond Sakhara.^[21. It was at the commencement of the battle of the Pyramids that Napoleon addressed to his soldiers the words which afterwards became so famous: “From the tops of these Pyramids forty centuries look upon you.’· ]

But this victory was speedily counterbalanced by a signal overthrow which the French experienced at sea. Admiral Brueys, neglecting or disregarding the orders given by Napoleon to enter the port of Alexandria, had moored his squadron, for defending the entrance of Aboukir Bay, in a line of battle, flanked 1>y numerous gun-boats, four frigates, and a battery of guns and mortars on an island in their van. But this position, though strong, had a defect of which the quick eye of Nelson enabled him to take decisive advantage. On the 1st of August this great commander appeared off the mouth of the Nile with a squadron equal in force to that of the enemy, and instantly directed his course towards him. The French ships were at single anchor, with springs on their cables, and riding with their heads to wind, which was from the northwest. On this circicnstance the plan of attack was formed. About half the British ships got between the enemy and the shore, either by cutting through their line or sailing round the head of it; and the rest attacked on the outside. All dropped their anchors close alongside of their opponents; and by this disposition some of the French line were doubled on, whilst all engaged on the land side were taken unprepared. The battle began about six in the evening, and was long and obstinately contested. After it had lasted several hours, the L’Orient of 120 guns, which carried the French admiral’s flag, blew up with a terrible explosion, but not until the six headmost ships had surrendered. Next morning at daylight the action recommenced; but, with the exception of two sail of the line and two frigates which escaped, the other ships were either taken or destroyed. Never indeed was victory more complete. Of thirteen sail of the line, nine were captured and two destroyed, the Timoleon having shared the same fate as the L’Orient. The loss on the part of the French was necessarily great. Upwards of 5200 perished, and 3105, including wounded, were sent ashore by cartel. The British[7:8:490] loss in killed and wounded amounted to 895. Westcott was the only captain who fell.

After Cairo had surrendered to the French, Bonaparte formed his army into three divisions, one of which, commanded by General Desaix, was sent into Upper Egypt in pursuit of the Mamlukes; another was left for the defence of Cairo; and at the head of the third he marched in person in pursuit of Ibrahim Bey, who had taken his route towards Syria with a rich caravan. In order to render abortive the designs of Bonaparte, Britain formed an alliance with the Porte; and the chief preparations for carrying the concerted plan into effect were made in Syria, under the direction of Djezzar, pasha of Acre. The frontiers of Egypt towards Syria were to be attacked by an army from Asia Minor; and this operation was to be seconded by making a strong diversion towards the mouths of the Nile, and by various attacks in Upper Egypt with the remains of Murad Bey’s cavalry. Sir Sidney Smith left Portsmouth to superintend the execution of this extensive plan, and to afford every assistance in his power by means of the maritime force under his command. In the mean time, the harbour of Alexandria was blockaded by a force of four sail of the line and five frigates, under the command of Sir Samuel Hood; it having been found impracticable to burn or destroy the French fleet of transports, without the assistance of a land force sufficient to attack Alexandria.

In order to destroy the preparations of the Djezzar Pasha, and disconcert the plans of Sir Sidney Smith, General Bonaparte resolved to leave Egypt and march into Syria; and although the result of the expedition proved disastrous to the French interest, yet Bonaparte perhaps never undertook an enterprise with more rational expectations of ultimate success. The town of Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, was obstinately defended, but at last yielded to the superiority of Européen tactics. From this place the French general marched with his army in three divisions against St Jean d’Acre, to which he immediately laid siege. But the pasha was powerfully encouraged to make an obstinate resistance, by Sir Sidney Smith, who appeared off Acre with the Tigre and Theseus seventy-fours, and some smaller vessels; and in order to animate him still more, he sent a French engineer of distinguished merit, through whose means Sir Sidney had himself been enabled to effect his escape from the Temple. But although the fortress had been repaired by Colonel Philip-peaux, the engineer alluded to, yet if is more than probable that it could not have long held out against the skill and intrepidity of Napoleon, had not his heavy artillery, and siege equipage of every kind, been intercepted by the British, whilst on their way from Jaffa. After a protracted and bloody siege of sixty-one days continuance, during which the French had repeatedly mounted the breach, and been on the very eve of succeeding in their attempts, having in the last assault effected a lodgment in a tower within the body of the place, Napoleon was obliged to abandon all hope of reducing Acre, the garrison of which had been strongly reinforced, and, after sacrificing his heavy artillery, to commence his retreat towards Egypt. The siege began on the 20th of March, and was raised in the night between the 20th and 21st of May 1799. The French army retreated by Kantura, Caesarea, Jaffa, and Gaza; then crossed the desert, and stopped at El-Arisch, where Bonaparte left a garrison; and reached Cairo on the 14th of June, twenty-six days after breaking up from before Acre, having been much harassed in their retreat by the Syrians. The loss sustained by the French army during the four months of the Syrian expedition is estimated at seven hundred men who died of disease, five hundred killed in the different actions, and about eighteen hundred wounded; in all two thousand nine hundred men hors de combat. But even this is probably below the truth.

During the absence of General Bonaparte in Syria, no method had been left unattempted in order to ruin the interest of the French in Egypt, and kindle a rebellion in that country; and to a certain extent these efforts had been successful; but the presence of Bonaparte speedily restored tranquillity. His army had no doubt suffered severely in its retrograde march from Syria; but with such zeal and activity did he direct his attention towards its organization, that in the short period of three weeks it was in a condition to resume active operations, a though, according to the accounts then current, it had been completely buried in the burning sands of the desert. After affording the Turks all the assistance in his power, Sir Sidney Smith, on the 12th of June 1799, set sail from the bay of Acre, and proceeded first to Beruta on the same coast, whence he shaped his course to Lamica road in the island of Cyprus, in order to refit his little squadron. Having effected this object, he left Cyprus for Constantinople, in order there to concert measures with the Porte for expelling the French from Egypt. But in the meanwhile an event occurred which served for the time to confirm their ascendency. When Napoleon set out on the expedition to Syria, he left Desaix, with his division, to prosecute the war against the Mamlukes; but Murad, having retired before him as far as Syene or Assouan, baffled all the attempts of the French general to bring him to action, whilst he cut off detached parties, hung on the flanks and rear of the invaders, and intercepted their supplies. Accordingly, on his return from Syria, Napoleon, having reestablished the shattered discipline of his troops, was preparing to march against Murad, who had ventured down into the province of Fayoum, when he found himself suddenly called upon to confront another and apparently more formidable enemy.

On the 14th of July, the general-in-chief received intelligence from Alexandria that a Turkish fleet of from a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty sail had come to anchor in the bay of Aboukir, landed a body of troops on the shore of the peninsula, and carried the fort of Aboukir by assault. He accordingly issued directions to his officers to move towards the point threatened; and the first rendezvous of the army was appointed at Rhamanieh, on the left bank of the Nile. The advanced guard under Murat took the route to Ghizch, followed by the divisions of Lannes and of Bon; Kleber’s division marched from Damietta; Regnier, who was in Sharkich, received orders to march on Rhamanieh, after leaving a column of six hundred men to protect his communication; and the whole, including Menou’s moveable column, together with the park of artillery and the staff, moved on to Rhamanieh, which Napoleon reached on the 20th of July. The general-in-chief was in hopes that he would be able to destroy the army which had landed at Aboukir before that of Syria, raised during the two months which had elapsed since he quitted that country, could arrive before Cairo; and these hopes were completely realized. After the French army broke up from its position at the village of Ðirket, which had been fixed as the centre of its movements, it assembled near the Wells, between Alexandria and Aboukir; and Bonaparte fixed his head-quarters at the former place. The Turkish army amounted to about eighteen thousand men, and was receiving daily reinforcements; but it had no cavalry. It had taken up a position on the peninsula of Aboukir, which it was now engaged in fortifying by means of two lines of entrenchments; one joining the redoubt in front of the village to the sea, and the other three quarters of a league in advance, having the right supported[7:8:491] by a sand-hill commanding Lake Maadich, and the ìeft extending to the Mediterranean, so that it could march thence either on Alexandria or Rosetta. Concluding, from the nature of these fortifications, that the Turkish army wished to make this point its centre of operations, Napoleon made his dispositions accordingly. Having set out from Alexandria on the 24th, he proceeded to the Wells, about half way across the isthmus, where he encamped, and was there joined by all the troops which were at Birket. By the mistake of a company of sappers the Turks now learned, for the first time, that the general-in-chief and the French army were opposite them, and accordingly passed the whole night in making their final dispositions to receive the attack which they knew to be inevitable. The plan of the French general was to attack instantly, and either to gain possession of the whole peninsula, or at least to oblige the first line of the enemy to fall back on the second, by which means the French would be enabled to occupy the position of the first line, and to overwhelm the Turkish army, thus hemmed in, with bombs, howitzershells, and balls, of which there were immense supplies in Alexandria. Accordingly, Lannes, with eighteen hundred men, moved against the left of the enemy; Destaing, with a like number of troops, prepared to attack the right; and Murat, with all the cavalry and a light battery, divided into three corps, remained opposite the centre, ready to act according to circumstances. The skirmishers on both wings soon engaged with those of the enemy, and in a short time the battle became general. The Turks, however, maintained the combat with success, until Murat, having penetrated their centre at the head of his cavalry, wheeled his left to the rear of their right, and his right to the rear of their left, thus cutting off the communication between the first and second lines. The first line now fell into complete disorder, and rushed tumultuously towards the second, consisting of about nine thousand men; but being encountered by the French cavalry in the midst of the plain, their right was driven into the sea, and their left into Lake Maadich, whilst the columns of Lannes and Destaing advanced at the charge and vigorously pursued them. An unprecedented spectacle was now exhibited. To escape from the French cavalry and infantry, the fugitives threw themselves into the water, and were almost all drowned, scarcely a hundred men out of ten thousand having succeeded in getting on board the vessels. The French now advanced to the attack of the second line, and Lannes forced the entrenchments at the point of their junction with the lake, at the same time making a lodgment in the first houses of the village of Aboukir. Mustapha Pasha, who was in the redoubt, then made a sortie, debouching with a strong body, and separating the French right from the left, which he took in flank at the same time that he placed himself in rear of the right; but his attack was checked by the general-in-chief, who forced him to give ground, and enabled Lannes to continue his movement. Finding themselves thus cut off, the Turks instantly fell into the most frightful disorder, and, as General Destaing was advancing at the charge against the intrenchments on the right, they tried to regain the fort; but, like the first line, the second was now encountered by Murat’s cavalry, and had it not been for the village, which afforded shelter to those who had time to reach it, not a man of them would have escaped. As it was, three or four thousand Turks were driven into the sea, and Mustapha, with his whole staff, and from twelve to fifteen hundred men were surrounded and made prisoners. The French loss amounted to near three hundred men. Sir Sidney Smith was a spectator of this dreadful overthrow, having arrived in Aboukir, and landed during the action: he narrowly escaped being taken, and reached his ship with great difficulty.^[22. In describing “cette glorieuse journée,” a writer in the Dictionaire Historique, says, “La de'route est complète; l’ennemi, dans le plus grand désordre, et frappé de terreur, trouve partout les baïonnettes et la mort. Dix mille hommes se précipitent dans la mer; ils y sont fusillés et mitraillés.” (VOI. i. p. 10.) ]

The Turks had still left three or four thousand men, who occupied the fort, and barricaded themselves in the village. But as it was not thought possible to force the enemy in the houses which he occupied without great loss, protected as he was by the fort, a position was taken, and the most advantageous points were fixed on for placing heavy cannon, to raze the enemy’s defences without risk of further loss. General Menou conducted the siege with vigour and address, and after bombarding the fort for eight days, until it exhibited nothing but a heap of ruins, the son of the pasha and two thousand men laid down their arms, and became prisoners of war. In the fort the French found eighteen hundred men killed, and three hundred wounded.

On the 26th, Napoleon returned to Alexandria, where he first learned, as is said, from some English newspapers, the reverses experienced by the French, particularly in Italy and on the Rhine; as also the violent commotions which were agitating the interior of France. This determined him to abandon the East and return to Europe, in order to be in readiness to profit by events, and to take advantage of that fortune in which he already placed unbounded confidence. Berthier alone was entrusted with the secret intentions of the general-in-chief, and proved himself worthy of this confidence. Meanwhile, Admiral Ganthéaume was ordered to get ready two frigates with the utmost expedition, but without being informed as to their destination; and Napoleon brought with him Generals Lannes, Marmont, Murat, and Andréossi, together with Monge and Berthollet of the Institute; whilst Bes-sières and his guides received sealed notes, which were not to be opened till a certain day and a certain hour, at a particular point of the sea-shore, and which were found to contain orders for immediate embarkation. Another sealed packet, which was to be opened on the day after the frigates had sailed, contained the nomination of General Kléber to the chief command, and of Desaix to that of Upper Egypt.^[23. Napoleon has been severely censured for his desertion, as it is called, of his companions in arms. But his own answer appears to be quite decisive. “Napoleon," says he, “returned to France, lrt, Because his instructions authorized him to do so; he had carte-blanche in all respects: 2 dly, Because his presence was necessary to the republic: 3 dly, Because the army of the East, which was victorious and numerous, could not, for a long time, have any enemy to contend with; and because the first object of the expedition was accomplished: the second could not be attained so long as the frontiers of the republic should be menaced, and anarchy should prevail in the interior.” (Memoirs, vol. ii. part 2, p. 212.) If Kleber had not been assassinated, and if Menou, than whom a less military man never commanded, had not been at the head of the French army, Napoleon would probably have been spared the reproach of deserting this army from a foresight of coming misfortunes. It is evident, indeed, that when he left Egypt in August 1709, he thought that country secured to France, and hoped one day to be able to realize the second object of the expedition. Kléber had under his command 28,000 men, of whom 25,000 were in a condition to take the field; and there can be little doubt, we think, that, at the head of such a force, Ise would have been able to maintain himself in the country. ]

The departure of General Bonaparte appears to have revived the courage of Murad Bey, and inspired him with a determination to attempt something against the French.
[7:8:492]

But his enterprise proved unfortunate. Having descended the Nile as far as El-Ganayur, he was repulsed by a division of the army of Upper Egypt, under the command of General Morand; and being overtaken in his flight, his camp was surprised at Samahout, a great number of Mamlukes were entirely cut off, two hundred camels with spoils, a hundred horses, and a prodigious quantity of military implements, fell into the hands of the republicans; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the bey himself effected his escape. Thus signally defeated, Murad wandered through the inhospitable deserts of Upper Egypt in search of an asylum and the means of subsistence. But as he had proved an indefatigable enemy to the French, and was dreaded even in his misfortunes, Desaix resolved if possible to exterminate him; and for this purpose he caused two columns of infantry mounted on dromedaries to be immediately organised, the one commanded by himself in person, and the other by Adjutant-general Boyer. On the 19th of October, after a forced march of three days, these moveable columns overtook Murad in the desert of Sediman, and a combat immediately ensued. The Mamlukes, animated with the hopes of gaining possession of the dromedaries, fought with determined valonr. But their attack was met with such vigour on the part of the French, that they were soon put to flight, and pursued back to the deserts by their indefatigable antagonists.

On the 24th of September, a Turkish fleet of eighteen vessels came to anchor before Damietta, and was so rapidly increased by constant reinforcements, that towards the end of the subsequent month it amounted to fifty-three vessels. This fleet was commanded by Sir Sidney Smith, whose flag was hoisted on board of the Tigre. On the 1st of November, four thousand Turks having effected a landing, were attacked by General Verdier at the head of only a thousand men, and, notwithstanding their great superiority of numbers, were defeated with a loss of three hundred men killed, eight hundred prisoners, including Ismael Bey, the second in command, thirty-two stand of colours, and five pieces of cannon. After a number of other affairs, which were fought with various success, the French seemed willing to evacuate Egypt upon certain conditions; and in December, General Kléber, upon whom the chief command had devolved, made proposals of peace to the grand vizir. These were communicated to Sir Sidney Smith, and it was at length arranged that a conference should be held on board the Tigre, then at anchor in the bay of Acre. Kleber appointed as commissioners on the part of the French, General Desaix and Μ. Pous-sielgue, who, towards the end of December, embarked for the capital of Syria; but a gale of wind, which drove the Tigre to sea, prevented the ship, for eighteen days, from returning to the bay. The commissioners then made and received certain propositions in writing, after which they were landed; and on the 24th of January 1800, these terms, having been reduced into form, were mutually signed at El-Arisch. By this convention^[24. Napoleon affirms that “intriguing persons had made Kléber sign” the “capitulation” of El-Arisch (Memoirι, vol. ii. part 2, p. 214); and it is certain that the French officers generally were sick of the war in the East, and desirous to return to Europe. But as to the assertion that Kléber negociated with the allies merely to gain time, and that he never intended to accede to the convention; an assertion which has been reiterated in a great number of works, from the Travels of Dr clarke to the Memoirs of Bourrienne; it betrays an entire ignorance of facts. Kleber had actually signed the capitulation, and was preparing to execute it on the part of the French, when a notice arrived from sir Sidney Smith that hostilities were to be continued in consequence of Lord Keith’s rejection of the treaty. This prompt intimation, alike honourable to Sir Sidney and worthy of the British character, was duly appreciated by the French, when it became known to them that the Turks, apprised of the admiral’s refusal to ratify, intended to take advantage of Kléber’s ignorance, and to attack him whilst resting on his arms, in reliance on the faith of the treaty. The low morality of the Osmanlees led them to regard the meditated act of treachery as perfectly allowable; and accordingly they never forgave Sir Sidney for his generous integrity, considering him as one who had sacrificed their interests, if not betrayed their cause. ] it was stipulated that the French army, with all its stores, artillery, and baggage, along with the ships of war and transports at Alexandria, should be permitted to return to France unmolested by the allied powers. But Vice-admiral Lord Keith, who commanded in chief in the Mediterranean, refused to ratify the treaty entered into at El-Arisch; and the French, considering themselves as deceived and insulted, indignantly recommenced hostilities, and gained several advantages over the Turks. The British government, however, becoming sensible of the advantage of clearing Egypt of the enemy without bloodshed, at length agreed to accede to the convention. But it was now too late. Kleber, indignant at the deception practised on him, had turned upon the Turks at Heliopolis, routed the army of the grand vizir with great slaughter, and driven the remains of it into the desert of Syria; and Menou, who, on Kleber’s assassination,^[25. This gallant and experienced officer was treacherously assassinated by a janizary, whilst presenting a memorial for his peŗusal. Suspicion at first fell on Menou, who, as a différence subsisted between him and Kléber, was supposed to have hired the assassin; but the dying assertions of the murderer clearly established the injustice of this suspicion. If not impelled by mere fanaticism, the assassin was most probably hired by the grand vizir; and the abominable treachery which the Turks are known to have contemplated, after Lord Keith’s refusal to execute the convention of El-Arisch, serves to countenance this supposition. The assassin himself was impaled alive, his right hand was bαrned off, and his body was left to be devoured by birds of prey. Three sheikhs who were privy to his designs, but did not divulge them, were also beheaded. ] had succeeded to the chief command, encouraged by the hopes of receiving fresh supplies and reinforcements from Europe, and considering that the French had made themselves masters of all the strong posts throughout Egypt, resolved to retain possession of the country at every hazard, and to defend his positions against any force which might be brought to oppose him. Accordingly, after driving the wrecks of the grand vizir’s army from Gaza, where they had endeavoured to rally, and also threatening Syria with another inroad, he strongly fortified Alexandria, Damietta, and Rosetta, and not only completed the lines which had been commenced at Aboukir, but made several important additions, and put every place into such a state of defence as enabled it to bid defiance to any attack upon the part of the Turks.

In the mean time Great Britain was not idle. Having organized an army destined to invade Egypt and compel the French to evacuate that country, the command of it was entrusted to Sir Ralph Abercromby, who had distinguished himself both in the West Indies and in Holland. In the beginning of March 1801 he appeared off Aboukir Bay; but the weather having proved unfavourable, the disembarkation of the troops did not commence until the morning of the8th. Meanwhile the French having marched from Alexandria, took up a position on the heights of Aboukir, to oppose the landing of the British forces; but, by the admirable arrangements of the navy, the disembarkation was effected in spite of all opposition, and the enemy were dislodged from the sand-hills which commanded the landing place, by the troops gallantly charg- , ing up the heights the instant they were formed on the beach. The action lasted two hours; but the French having only about four thousand men to oppose nearly three times that number, were at length obliged to sound a retreat[7:8:493]. The loss of the French on this occasion was estimated at three thousand, and that of the British at fifteen hundred men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners. A portion of the army then moved forward, and on the 13th a sharp encounter took place, in which, owing partly to ignorance of the country and the delusion created by the mirage, several British regiments, including the 92d, suffered severely. But the battle which in a great measure decided the fate of Egypt took place on the 2lst of March, about four miles from Alexandria. It began at daybreak, by a false attack on the left of the British; but the efforts of the French were chiefly directed against the right of their opponents, which they attempted to turn, and at one time had nearly succeeded. Being at length repulsed, however, they next attacked the centre, though with less vivacity, and were here also defeated. None of these attacks was made with sufficient continuity, or in a manner which deserved success, being rather partial onsets than vigorous, decided, and sustained efforts directed to the accomplishment of a definite object. Having failed in his ill-directed attempts to penetrate the British line, Menou at length retired upon Alexandria, leaving the field of battle in possession of his adversaries. About two hundred prisoners fell into the hands of the British; but as the latter were much inferior in cavalry to the enemy, whose retreat was also covered by cannon planted on the opposite heights, they were unable to pursue their advantage. The loss of the British was very considerable, but the most irreparable part of it consisted in that of the commander-in-chief, who was mortally wounded, and died on the 28th. He was succeeded by General Hutchinson, the second in command, to whom was committed the completion of the conquest of Egypt.

The new commander-in-chief having invested Alexandria, at length proceeded against the French, whom he attacked on the 19th of May, near Rhamanieh, and forced to retire towards Cairo. He had under his command four thousand British troops, with an equal number of Turks under the capitan pasha. He then directed his march towards Cairo, from which the army of the grand vizir was at this time distant only four leagues, and where the main strength of the French army had now assembled. With nine thousand chosen troops, the grand vizir, assisted by some British officers then in his camp, gained an advantage over a body of from four to five thousand French; Uamietta soon fell into the hands of the allies; and the successor of Murad Bey, who had died of plague, having declared in favour of the British, joined General Hutchinson with fifteen hundred cavalry. Belliard, who commanded in Cairo, satisfied that without reinforcements from Europe the war could not be prosecuted with any prospect of success, now proposed terms of capitulation; and, on the 27th of June, a convention was accordingly concluded, by which the French agreed to evacuate Cairo, on condition of being sent to France, with their arms, cannon, baggage, and colours, without being made prisoners-of war. But Alexandria, which was strictly blockaded by General Coote, still held out; and Menou had somewhat hastily expressed a determination to bury himself in the ruins rather then surrender. Such vows, however, being generally made with a tacit mental reservation, are seldom observed with literal fidelity. A regular bombardment was commenced by the ships in the harbour, and the batteries on land;^[26. when General Hutchinson marched for cairo, leaving General Coote to blockade Alexandria, the latter officer, wishing to strengthen his position, and shorten the line of the blockade, had recourse to an expedient which wisdom and humanity must alike condemn. In the pocket of General Ruiz, who had been killed in the action of the 21st of March, there was found a letter written by Menou, expressing an apprehension that the British would cut the embankment along which was carried the canal of Alexandria, and thereby admit the waters of the sea into Lake Mareotis. From this moment the project unhappily suggested in this letter became a favourite object with the army. By securing the left and part of the front, the duty would be lessened, the French cut off from the interior, and a new scene of operations opened: these were the military advantages which the execution of this project would ensure, and the army thought of nothing else. But there were nevertheless grave objections to the measure. The mischief it might do was incalculable; the Arabs could give no information where the sea, if once let in, could be checked; and the ruin of Alexandria might probably be the consequence. Besides, it was argued that the inundation, whilst it covered the British left, would also secure the French front, except from a new landing. But every consideration yielded to the supposed urgency of the service, which superseded all remoter considerations; and the measure was determined on. To comprehend the precise nature of the operation, however, it is necessary to attend to the natural formation of the country. To the south and westward of Alexandria extends a valley, running in the latter direction upwards of forty miles, and forming the bed of the ancient Lake Mareotis. Of this hollow space a large portion was under the level of the sea, which, therefore, was only prevented flowing into it by the dike or embankment along which runs part of the canal from the Nile to Alexandria. General Coote accordingly directed four cuts of six yards in width, and ten yards asunder, to be made in this embankment; and his orders were executed with the zeal and alacrity generally displayed in the work of authorized destruction, when the fascines which protected the workmen were removed, the water rushed in with a fall of nearly seven feet, and with such force that the portions of the dike intervening between the cuts were all washed away; yet although the whole breach widened to the extent of a hundred yards, it was nearly a month before the valley filled and the water found its level. Thus a work which formed the pride as it had ever been the peculiar care of Egypt, which it had required the labour of ages to construct and consolidate, and which all former invaders, however barbarous, had spared, was in a few hours destroyed by the ruthless hands of British soldiers. (Stewart’s Military Service of the Highland Regimenti, vol. i. p. 482, 2d edition.) ] the defences began to give way; a practicable breach was made; and the besiegers were about to make preparations for the assault, when Menou, who evidently waited for the moment when he might yield without dishonour, signified his readiness to listen to terms. A convention was accordingly entered into, and on the 2d of September the garrison capitulated on nearly the same conditions which had been granted to General Belliard at Cairo.

It is not a little remarkable in itself, and may serve to illustrate the wisdom with which the affairs of this country were then managed, that after the campaign of 1801, which cost Britain several millions sterling, ten thousand of her best soldiers, and the commander-in-chief of her army, General Belliard at Cairo, and General Menou at Alexandria, obtained almost the same capitulation which Kléber, twenty months before (24th January 1800), had signed at El-Arisch; in other words, all these sacrifices had been made to bring about the same result which, but for the inexplicable opposition of Lord Keith, Sir Sidney Smith would have effected without the expenditure of a guinea or the loss of a single life. If ever glory was barren, therefore, that which the British had gathered in the expulsion of the French deserves such a qualifying epithet. But, however this may be, Egypt, after having been for more than two years the theatre of almost incessant conflicts, was once more reduced under the government of Turkey, and obliged to acknowledge the authority of the Ottoman Porte; a result, we may add, which proved as evanescent as all the other objects of British policy regarding that country.

It would indeed be difficult to give any satisfactory account of the views which Great Britain at this period entertained regarding Egypt. Her policy was too vacillating to be reconciled with any fixed principle of action.
[7:8:494]

At first she seemed disposed to establish her power in that country; then she renounced all idea of such an establishment; her ambassador at Constantinople applauded the destruction of the Mamlukes; then hopes were held out by her to the Beys, and whilst she neglected to apprise them of the danger which impended over them, she sought to save them when their ruin was inevitable. But the Beys merited different treatment. They had resolutely opposed the French from the first moment of the invasion, and by the heavy losses which they had sustained in this unequal contest, their power was so far reduced as to leave them in some measure at the mercy of the Turks. In assisting to expel the French from Egypt they had thoughtlessly sacrificed their own means of self-defence. But this circumstance gave them an undoubted claim to the protection of the British, whose allies they had been in the contest; and their claim was distinctly recognized by General Hutchinson, who interposed in their behalf, and exerted himself to procure for them the most favourable terms. The Capitan Pasha, however, had vowed their destruction, and, as usual with Turks, he set about the accomplishment of his object by means of dissimulation and treachery.

Pretending to enter into the views of General Hutchinson, who insisted that their rights and dignities should be restored to the Mamlukes, on condition of their paying the usual tribute to the sultan, Hassan reinstated Ibrahim Bey, who was now at the head of their affairs (Murad having fallen a victim to the plague), in his former office of Sheikh-el-Belled; he also lavished favours and caresses on the other chiefs, and sought by every means to gratify their pride, and, above all, to allay their suspicions. In this he was but too successful. Hassan enacted his part so well, and seemed so sincere in his professions, that these rough soldiers, forgetting all the lessons of former experience, suffered themselves to be led as it were blindfold into the snare which had been so artfully prepared for them. Accordingly, having so far attained his object, the Capitan Pasha invited the principal Beys of the house of Murad, including Osman Bey Tambourgi, Osman Bey Bardissi, Murad Bey Soghayr, and several others, to visit his camp at Aboukir. After some hesitation, they resolved to accept of Hassan’s proffered hospitality, and repaired to Aboukir, where they were received with every mark of honour and distinction. Their tents were placed in the demilune formed by the encampment of the troops, and pleasure and amusement were the order of the day. The time passed in paying visits of ceremony, and in military promenades, and already a month had elapsed without their receiving from the Capitan Pasha so much as even a hint of his intentions respecting them, or of the object of his invitation. This long silence alarmed them, and they expressed their fears to General Hutchinson; but that officer, never suspecting the atrocity which Hassan was meditating, assured them of the friendly dispositions of the pasha, and the good intentions of the Porte, towards them. This assurance, however, was not sufficient to quiet their fears; their distrust increased every instant; and several had resolved to quit the camp without taking leave of the pasha, and to return to Cairo.

But the crisis was at hand. Whilst matters were in this state, the Capitan Pasha and the Beys were invited to an entertainment to be given at Alexandria on the occasion of General Hutchinson’s resigning the command to Lord Cavan, prior to his departure from Egypt. On the morning of the day appointed for the festival the pasha had the Beys to breakfast in his tent; and, after the repast, the whole party embarked on board some boats which had been provided for the occasion. The pasha went in his own cutter with the Beys and some of their Mamlukes, whilst the other boats were appropriated to the officers of his suite. When they had proceeded to a short distance, the Capitan Pasha perceived a light skiff rapidly approaching: “There,” said he to the Beys, “are dpubtless dispatches for me from Constantinople.” Anon the skiff came alongside, and a packet was handed to the pasha, which he immediately broke open, and, on pretence of reading his dispatches more at leisure, stepped on board the small boat, which immediately dropped astern. Meanwhile the other boats proceeded on their course, the skiff following at a great distance; when, on entering the lake of Aboukir, the Beys suddenly discovered before them three large sloops filled with soldiers armed and ready for action. They now saw that they had been betrayed, and accordingly prepared to defend themselves. Mohammed Bey Manfoukh drew his sabre, and the rest followed his example; the sloops opened their fire, and these brave men fought like lions against the Turkish soldiers -, but in this unequal contest valour proved unavailing against numbers; and discharges of artillery and musketry hurled destruction amongst the boats. Osman Bey Tambourgi, Murad Bey, Osman Bey el Achkar, Ibrahim Kiaya Sennary, and several Mamlukes, were killed; whilst Osman Bey Bardissi and Ibrahim Bey Hussein were severely wounded. Those who escaped the massacre were taken prisoners, and carried on board the ship of the Turkish vice-admiral, where they were compelled to swear on the Koran that they would not demand to be given up to the British, and would remain in the hands of the Turks.

When the news of this catastrophe reached Alexandria, General Hutchinson dispatched General Stuart to the Capitan Pasha to reproach him with his abominable treachery; and at the same time the British army left its camp, and formed in order of battle opposite the Turks. The resentment of the troops knew no bounds, and they burned to avenge so sanguinary a violation of the laws of hospitality. But the Capitan Pasha, alarmed at this demonstration, lost no time in complying with the demands of the British general; the prisoners and the wounded were landed and conveyed to Alexandria; and to those who had fallen the British army rendered the honours of military sepulture.^[27. Mengin, //Moire de l’Egypte tout le Gouvernement de Mohammed-Aly, vol. i. pp. 13-16. Zcit∙chriβfiir Kumt und Gach. da Krieg- January and February 1831. Abrégé de r∕∕utaire dee Mamlυuke, Bulletin da Scienca Militaire/, vol x· p 219. ] The pasha then sent Isâk Bey, his interpreter and confidant, to endeavour to pacify the British general, who had been greatly exasperated at the treachery of the Turk, and who, in a conversation which ensued with the envoy, described the conduct of his master in the only language fitted to characterize its atrocity.

As soon as the objects of his expedition had been attained, Hassan, not chusing to winter in the open road of Aboukir, made the necessary preparations for embarking the troops under his command, and having broken up his camp, set sail for Constantinople. After his departure, Mohammed Kusruf, his favourite slave, who had been appointed pasha of Cairo, repaired to the capital in order to assume the reins of government. A Georgian by birth, this minion of fortune had owed his elevation to his plausible manners and artful flatteries; but, from want of prudence and knowledge of mankind, he soon showed himself unequal to the station to which he had been raised, and his inexperience proved the cause of his subsequent misfortunes. As soon as he had taken possession of his pashalik, Kusruf commenced military operations against the Mamlukes[7:8:495] l who, having rallied under Osman Bey Bardissi, had retired into Upper Egypt, their usual asylum, where they set the pasha at defiance. Having failed to induce them to return and fix their residence in the capital, the latter dispatched into the Saïd a corps of six thousand Albanians under the command of Taher, their chief, assisted by the celebrated Mehemmed Ali, then beginning to rise into power, with orders to seize Elfi Bey’, and to dislodge the Mamlukes. But this expedition proved abortive. Taher returned without effecting any thing of consequence, and all attempts at negociation proved equally unavailing. Emboldened by this failure, the Mamlukes descended into the province of Fayoum, which they plundered, and extending their ravages into the provinces of Minyeh and Benisouer, they at the same time threatened the capital itself. In these circumstances, Yussuf Bey, kiaya of Kur-suf, having assembled a considerable force, and been joined by Taher with his Albanians, received orders to proceed against the Mamlukes, and directed his march upon Damanhour, where part of them had encamped under the command of Osman Bey Bardissi. A battle ensued in the neighbourhood of this place; the Mamlukes, with their usual impetuosity, charged the left flank of the Turks, which had been left uncovered; the Turkish infantry, broken by the shock, fell into irretrievable disorder, and the sabres of the Mamlukes soon completed their overthrow. The first charge decided the victory. The Turks were miserably defeated, with the loss of about five thousand men killed and wounded; whilst the success of the Beys cost them only between sixty and seventy men. But the latter neglected to profit by their victory, and instead of pushing directly for the capital, which was in no condition to oppose them, they allowed the viceroy time to rally the fugitives, and to place Cairo in a tolerable state of defence.

The troops os'Taher Pasha and of Mehemmed Ali, by reason of their distance from the scene of action, had not taken part in the battle of Damanhour, which in fact had been fought by the Turks with only a part of their force, and before the Albanians could join. This, however, did not prevent Yussuľ, who had escaped the sabres of the Mamlukes, from attributing the loss of the battle to the cowardice or disaffection of Mehemmed Ali, who, as he alleged, had treacherously kept back his troops; and although the accusation appears to have been groundless, it was not on that account disregarded by Kusruf, who had already seen cause to dread the commanding talents and aspiring character of this remarkable person, and who, accordingly, resolved to avail himself of the pretext thus offered in order to effect his destruction. An attempt was accordingly made to bring him to trial for neglect of duty; but ere this could be effected, there broke out a revolt, which soon became a revolution, and which in its ulterior consequences has exercised the most powerful influence upon the destinies of Egypt. Before proceeding, however, to notice the circumstances attending this memorable revolt, headed by Taber Pasha, we shall interrupt the progress of the narrative for a little, and, in order that the connection of events may be preserved, take a retrospective survey of the origin, early fortunes, and gradual rise to distinction, of the remarkable individual who has so deeply impressed the great lineaments of his character upon the history of Egypt.

Mehemmed Ali, viceroy of Egypt, is a native of Caval-la, an obscure village in Rumelia, a district of Albania. Having lost his father in early life, he entered the service of the governor of his native town, under whom he appears to have received that species of training which qualifies a man to rise in such a country as Turkey, where energy, intrepidity, and expertness in the use of arms, are considered as the most valuable accomplishments. He commenced his career as a subordinate tax-gatherer, an office to which his activity had recommended him; and, in the discharge of his duty, he soon gave proofs of that decision of character and of those resources of mind for which he afterwards became so distinguished, exacting the money he was ordered to raise with most impartial rigour, and not sparing the blood nor even the lives of the unhappy peasantry over whom his fiscal jurisdiction extended, when they attempted, as sometimes happened, to resist his demands. It has been said that the youth is father to the man; and, upon the same principle, the Rumeliot tax-gatherer maybe described as father to the future pasha and viceroy. On one occasion, the inhabitants of a village having refused payment of the tax imposed on them, at first threatened, then resisted, and at last broke out into open revolt. Alarmed at this unusual boldness, and dreading the effect of the example, the governor sent for Mehemmed, who at once undertook to reduce them to obedience. Having assembled a few men, whom he hastily armed, the young collector accordingly proceeded at their head to the refractory village, where, having announced that he was charged with a secret mission, he entered a mosque, and summoned the principal inhabitants to meet him in the house of prayer. Not suspecting any violence, the heads of the village obeyed his summons; but no sooner had they come within the walls than he ordered them to be bound hand and foot, and immediately set off with his captives for Cavalia, pursued by the villagers, whom, however, he overawed by threatening, in case they made any attack, to put their friends to instant death. This vigorous proceeding, evincing a characteristic union of conduct and firmness, procured for him the rank of Bulukbashi, and a rich wife, a relative of his patron the governor. He next became a dealer in tobacco and other merchandise, a business which he is understood to have followed ½ , ith considerable success; and as mercantile pursuits are not held in Turkey to be incompatible with military duties, Mehemmed, ever careful not to neglect the latter, gradually worked his way up to that degree of consideration which gained him the command of the contingent of troops furnished by his native district to the army with which Turkey was then preparing to defend Egypt against the French. In 1798, Bimbashi or Major Mehemmed Ali reached Egypt with his contingent of three hundred Albanians, and from the day of his landing in that country his rise was uniform and constant. This command, which opened the field of future greatness to Ali, has been attributed by some to the fact of his having married a rich wife, just as the fortunes of Bonaparte have, by a similar class of reasoners, been ascribed to the accident which, in the same year, led to his union with the widow of General Beauharnois.

Not long after his arrival in Egypt, the Rumeliot tax-gatherer and tobacconist, by his gallant conduct on the field of battle, attracted the particular notice of the pasha, who recommended him to Kusruf, the governor of Cairo. This was his first step towards advancement in that country where he was destined ere long to establish an undisputed supremacy of power. After the massacre of the Mamlukes at Aboukir, he became a general of division in the army of Yussuf Bey, and was marching at the head of his division towards Damanhour, when the precipitation of Yussuf brought on the battle with the insurgent Mamluke chiefs, which terminated so fatally for the Turks. Yussuf, as we have already seen, attributed his miserable defeat to the alleged misconduct or disaffection of Mehemmed, whom he accused of having purposely delayed the advance of his division; and the charge, whether groundless or not, was entertained by Kusruf, now pasha of Egypt, [7:8:496]who accordingly resolved to expel the young Albanian general from that country. But he little knew the character of the person with whom he had to deal. The pay of the troops being considerably in arrear, they applied for redress to the pasha, who referred them to the defterdar, or minister of finance; but the latter being in no condition to satisfy 1 their demands, told them to go toMehemmed Ali, who, in his turn, assured them that he had not received a piastre for the liquidation of their claims, and at the same time encouraged them to persevere in their demand for payment. Meanwhile the viceroy sent orders to Mehemmed to appear before him in the night; but the latter, not unacquainted with the object of such private interviews, returned an answer stating that he would appear on broad day in the midst of his troops. The danger of the viceroy now became imminent. The soldiers demanded their arrears in an audacious tone, accompanied with menaces, which Kusrus, reckoning on his means of repression, had the imprudence to despise; a revolt immediately broke out; the artillery opened on the mutineers, who replied by volleys of musketry directed against the palace of the viceroy; and a fierce conflict ensued. The soldiers of Ali, who had been cantoned in the environs of the capital, now joined the insurgents, and the battle became general. At this moment, Taher Pasha, chief of the Albanians, went to present himselsbefore the viceroy, and to offer to become mediator between him and the exasperated troops. But Kusrus refused to see him, and sent him orders to return to his residence, without concerning himself about what was passing. Taher, however, chose to follow a different course. Repulsed by the viceroy, he now openl; r took part with the mutineers; and having, partly by force and partly by stratagem, obtained possession of the cita-, del, he attacked the palace, whence the viceroy was soon forced to fly with his wife and one or two attendants to Mansoura. In short, the revolt speedily became a revolution, and the vice-regal power passed from the hands of Kusrus to those of Taĥer Pasha.

But the power which the Albanian chief had acquired by mutiny was soon lost by misconduct. Taher governed only twenty-two days, during which brief space he committed all sorts of injustice and cruelty, and in particular caused two Coptic intendants and a merchant of Damascus to be decapitated. His career was cut short by two Turkish bimbashis, who anticipated the wishes of the Porte, which, on receiving intelligence of what had occurred in Egypt, dispatched a couple of capidgis-bashis for the head of Taher. The Mamlukes, seconded by Mehemmed Ali, now entered Cairo, and having formed an alliance with the Albanians, the government reverted into the hands of their chiefs, Ibrahim Bey and Osman Bey Bardissi, in conjunction with Mehemmed. The new allies then marched an army against Kusrus Pasha; besieged and took Damietta, into which the viceroy had thrown himself with his adherents; and having made the latter prisoner, conducted him back to Cairo. Meanwhile the Porte observing Egypt about to slip a second time through its fingers, lost no time in dispatching a new pasha, Ali Gezaïrli, to assume the direction of affairs; but as soon as the intelligence of his arrival reached the confederate chiefs, they quitted Damietta, marched against the intruder, and soon forced him to take refuge within the walls of Alexandria. Whilst matters were in this state, discord arose between the Mamlukes and Albanians. The latter demanded their pay, which had fallen into arrear, from Osman Bey Bardissi, and not receiving any satisfactory answer, they quitted the camp at Damanhour, and returned to Cairo under the conduct of Mehemmed Ali. Osman Bey Bardissi made the same movement with his Mamlukes, and returned to Cairo, where he resumed the direction of affairs. Profiting by this disunion, Ali Gezaïrli summoned the rebels to submit to his authority; and, to his great surprise, the summons was obeyed. Full of hope, and conceiving he had now the ball at his feet, Ali set out for Cairo at the head of a considerable force, instead of an escort merely, as had been agreed on. But the Mamlukes and Albanians, apprised of liis design, took up a position at Chalakan, near the Nile, where they awaited the arrival of the pasha. Ali here attempted to negociate, and even tried to draw over to his side some of the commanders of the confederate insurgents; but these men, aware that they had gone toe far to recede, treated his advances with disdain; and the Mamlukes having charged with their usual impetuosity, overthrew the pasha’s force in an instant, and put to death Ali himself, w hom they overtook in his flight from the field of battle.

As the undisputed ascendency of the Mamlukes might in the end have proved fatal to designs which Mehemmed Ali was now cherishing, the wily Albanian, who knew that he was an object of dread and suspicion both to Turks and Mamlukes, contrived to embroil Bardissi, the Hotspur of the Beys, with some of his associates, and to fan the flame of that discord which he had artfully kindled. These impetuous and headstrong men fell into the snare which had been laid for them; they went to war amongst themselves, and sought to exterminate one another, whilst Mehemmed took care to keep alive the disunion by which he was so soon to profit. At length, on the 12th of March 1804, he threw off the mask, attacked Bardissi and Ibrahim in their palaces, whence these brave men cleared a passage with their swords; and recognized Kusrus, whom he took out of prison in the citadel, as pasha of Egypt, intending, no doubt, to use the latter as an instrument for promoting his own ends. But shortly afterwards he again expelled the unfortunate viceroy, who was promptly replaced by Kurschid Pasha. Meanwhile the Beys having taken refuge in Upper Egypt, commenced war against the Turks and Albanians; and Elfi Bey, who had been for some time in England, having by this time returned, joined his brethren in arms; but his counsels, though they served to delay, could not avert the fate which now impended over the Mamlukes. An order issued by the Porte for the return of the Albanians to their own country, brought on the crisis which had been long prepared. Mehemmed, whose designs were in a great measure matured, disobeyed the mandate, upon the pretext that his services were still necessary to repress the audacity and insubordination of the Mamlukes. The people of Cairo rose, and the sheikhs and ulemas having proclaimed Mehemmed Ali their pasha, demanded his confirmation of the Porte, which was granted. The Mamlukes were now summoned to submit to the new governor; and as they hesitated or refused, a snare was laid for them which proved fatal to many of their numbers. Some sheikhs and Albanian captains with whom the governor maintained a secret understanding, having opened a communication with the Mamluke chiefs, promised to deliver up to them the gates of Cairo on the day of the festival of the inundation of the Nile. Accordingly, on the 18th of August 1805, a large party of Beys, who were devastating the environs of the city, penetrated into the suburbs, and, meeting with no resistance, entered Cairo itself, where all appeared equally tranquil. Nothing was heard but the sound of their martial instruments, whilst the terrified inhabitants, having shut themselves up in their houses, left the streets completely deserted. Dividing their numbers into two parties, they advanced resolutely, anticipating only a triumph; when, all of a sudden, as soon as they had become entangled in the narrow streets of the city, a rattling fire of musketry opened upon them from the houses in which their enemies[7:8:497] were concealed, and whence destruction showered upon their ranks. Recovering from the astonishment created by this unexpected reception, they rushed towards the gates of the city; but these having been shut immediately after their entrance, all retreat was cut off, and, with the exception of a small party who by some means contrived to make their escape, the whole perished under the musketry of an unseen enemy.

Ibrahim and Bardissi, more distrustful than their associates, had not participated in the imprudence to which so many of their number had fallen victims; and having retired into Upper Egypt, the ordinary refuge of the conquered, they defeated the troops of the pasha, and prevented the collection of the imposts; whilst Elfi, the most powerful of the Beys, reigned in Fayoum, Ghizch, and part of Lower Egypt. Mehemmed Ali at the head of a body of troops followed their movements as far as the confines of the province of Keloubych; but finding all his efforts unavailing against so active and enterprising an enemy, he returned to Cairo. The contest between Ali and the Mamlukes continued to be carried on with various fortune, though, upon the whole, to the advantage of the new governor; when the policy of England, the hatred of Kurschid towards the pasha, the influence of the gold of Elfi Bey at Constantinople, and the suspicions entertained of Mehemmed, determined the Porte to reestablish the government of the Mamlukes. Accordingly, on the 1st of July 1806, Saleh, capitan pasha, arrived at Alexandria with 3000 men of the Nizam-jedid, and ordered Mehemmed to quit Egypt for the pashalik of Salonica. A capidgi-bashi was also dispatched to Cairo to command the attendance of Ali at Alexandria, where, it was pretended, he would be formally invested with his new government. But the Rumeliot peasant was not the man to fall into so obvious a snare. Having worked his way to the eminent station which he then occupied with only five hundred men at his disposal, it was not likely that he would descend from the vantage-ground on which he stood, when surrounded by fifteen hundred resolute Albanians, ready to die in his defence. Accordingly he appealed both to the attachment of the people of Cairo, and to the affection of the Albanians; nor did he appeal in vain. The former declared loudly in his favour; and the latter, drawing their sabres, swore to conquer or die along with him. “Cairo,” said he, “is to be publicly sold; whoever will give most blows of the sabre will win it, and remain master.” In this coin his Albanians were quite prepared to pay down the price of the Egyptian capital upon the shortest notice. But no actual collision took place. Elfi Bey, who had promised fifteen hundred purses (L.30,000 sterling) to the grand vizir, failed to perform his engagement; dissensions broke out between him and the other Beys, who dreaded lest the protection of England should render him too powerful; and the Porte, finding itself on the eve of a war with Russia, was in no condition to engage in a contest in Egypt. Saleh accordingly received instructions to treat with the pasha upon the principle of recognizing his power; and shortly afterwards Mehemmed Ali received from the Porte his formal investiture as viceroy of Egypt. Seeing all his hopes thus frustrated, Bardissi died of grief at Monfalou, Elfi Bey soon followed him to the tomb, and his troops having disbanded, part of them entered the service of the viceroy, whose force was further increased by a battery of ten pieces of English artillery served by European cannoniers.^[28. Abrigi de ΓHietoire dee Mamlouke. Bulletin dee Sciencce MilU. tom. X. p. 222. Zeilecňrįfí fur Kumt und Geech, dee Krieg. 1831. ]

The remains of the Mamlukes, who, as usual, had taken shelter in Upper Egypt, did not now exceed two thousand five hundred horsemen, exclusively of the Arabs their allies; and the viceroy was preparing to proceed against them, in the hope of effecting their extermination, when he received dispatches from Constantinople, announcing the commencement of hostilities between Great Britain and the Ottoman Porte, and soon afterwards found himself called to contend with a new enemy. The English ministry having resolved to send a second expedition to Egypt, a body of about five thousand men from Sicily landed near Alexandria on the 17th and 18th of March 1807, the whole being under the command of Major-General Mackenzie Fraser. The object of this ill-fated expedition was to unite with the Beys, and, by their assistance, to prevent Egypt from falling again into the hands of the French, whose ambassador at Constantinople was understood to exercise a predominating influence in the politics of the Divan. But whatever may have been the views entertained by the British government, nothing short of the most profound ignorance of the state of Egypt, the broken and dispirited condition of the Mamlukes, and the actual amount of the Turkish forces in that country, can account for their sending out such a handful of men, whom, if their calculations had been founded on the slightest knowledge, they must have been sensible they were exposing to almost certain destruction. The disembarkation of the troops was completed on the 18th, and Alexandria, after a trifling resistance, surrendered on the 20th of March. A strong detachment under Generals Wauchope and Meade was then sent to take possession of the fort and heights of Abou-Mandour, on the left bank of the Nile, above Rosetta, and afterwards to occupy Rosetta itself. The first part of this service was accomplished without opposition; and the second proved a miserable failure. Having imprudently carried his detachment into the streets of Rosetta, which are only a few feet wide, with high, flat-roofed houses on either side, pierced by windows like loop-holes, and forming a better defence to a weak enemy than a walled town, Wauchope, who had been allowed to enter without interruption, was suddenly assailed with vollies of musketry from every part, whilst the troops were unable to return a single shot with any effect, and, after an unavailing struggle, were forced to retire with the loss of nearly three hundred officers and soldiers killed and wounded. General Wauchope paid for his temerity with his life, and General Meade was wounded. This repulse disconcerted the whole enterprise, and the troops retired to Aboukir, whence they were ordered to Alexandria. But the general being still anxious, if possible, to get possession of Rosetta, he resolved to make a second and more methodical attempt to carry that town. Batteries were accordingly constructed; a line was taken up between the Nile and the gate of Alexandria; a chain of posts was established between Lake Etko and El Hamad; and when all was ready the batteries opened against the town. But their fire made little or no impression on the heavy and strong masses of building; the Turks and Albanians gave themselves no concern about the fate of the inhabitants, who were the principal sufferers; and as the houses contained scarcely any furniture, all attempts to set the town on fire proved abortive. At this period much was expected from the co-operation of the Mamlukes, who, it was thought, would descend from Upper Egypt and keep the Turks and Albanians in check; but, like all the other calculations connected with the expedition, this proceeded upon utter ignorance of the real state of affairs, and was destined to encounter speedy and severe disappointment. The enemy daily increasing in numbers[7:8:498] and boldness, surrounded and cut off the post at El Hamad, which had been placed beyond the reach of support; the others, being similarly circumstanced, speedily shared the same fate; and no alternative remained but to retire to Alexandria, in the face of a victorious enemy, with a powerful cavalry, of which he boldly but ineffectually endeavoured to avail himself. The retreat was ably covered by Colonel, now Lieutenant-General Sir John Oswald, with the remains of the 35th and 78th regiments, whose firm front and steady fire checked the advance of the enemy, particularly at Etko, where he suffered a sharp repulse, and discontinued all further attacks. The troops remained at Alexandria until the 22d of September, when the whole embarked for Sicily. In this wretchedly-planned and worse-conducted expedition, which tarnished the glory of the British arms on the very ground where six years before they had triumphed over the veteran soldiers of France, the loss was necessarily great; and the prisoners were treated with every species of contempt and barbarity, whilst no less than four hundred and fifty heads of their comrades who had fallen were publicly exposed at Cairo.^[29. Stewart’s Military service of the Highland Regiments, vol. ii. p. 274, 277∙ Mengin, Hist, de l’ Egypte, tom. i. p. 280, 281. ’ ]

The evacuation of Egypt by the English proved a stunning blow to the Mamlukes, who, seeing all hope of regaining their former ascendency at an end, sunk into a state of extreme discouragement, and sought to forget their misfortunes by abandoning themselves to miserable and degrading pleasures. Their military ardour seemed in a great measure quenched; they had no longer any success against their enemies, yet their pride prevented them from making a tender of submission. They felt that resistance was hopeless, yet they shrunk from any acknowledgment of the weakness of which they were but too conscious. Matters were in this state when Mehemmed, moved only by considerations of policy, resolved upon their final destruction. Menaced at once by the Bedouins and the Mamlukes, he could not advance a step in any direction without danger. His people, incessantly pillaged and ransomed, were ready to break out into open revolt; whilst, to add to his embarrassments, the Porte, seconded by all true Moslemins, pressed him to· march against the Wahabis, who had seized upon the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and put to scorn the armies of Persia and Turkey. He saw that he might beat the Mamlukes, but he could not destroy them as long as they could retire to the desert and live at the expense of the inhabitants; and, on the other hand, whilst he was no stranger to the motive which induced the Porte to urge him to engage in an expedition against the fierce sectaries of the Arabian desert, which, it was confidently hoped, would end in his destruction, he was convinced that a refusal on his part to march against the enemies of the true faith, and to attempt the deliverance of the holy cities, would for ever ruin him in the opinion of all good believers. In these circumstances, and impelled by’ the most powerful motives, he resolved to prepare the way for the distant enterprise prescribed to him, by exterminating the enemy at his doors.^[30. Mengin. Russell. Bulletin des Sciences Milit. ubi supra. Zedschriβ, &.C. lü'il. ]

But in order to succeed in his object, it was necessary to draw the Mamlukes to some place whence flight might be impossible; and in laying the snare the utmost caution and prudence were requisite, as a single false step, or the slightest precipitation, on his part, would have alarmed the suspicions of his intended victims, and baffled the whole scheme. Mehemmed accordingly commenced by gaining over to his side Selahin Elfi, whom he appointed commandant of Ghizch, and loaded with valuable presents. The Mamlukes could not resist the effects of this example; all of them sighed after Cairo, and wished to exchange their wandering and comfortless mode of life for the pleasures of the capital. The aged Ibrahim warned them of the fate which awaited them, if, without due precaution, they placed themselves in the power of the perfidious pasha; and the projects of the latter were several times baffled by the cautious and experienced Bey. But the profound dissimulation and artful management of Mehemmed ultimately prevailed over the admonitions of the veteran chief; and, about the beginning of 1811, the greater part of the Beys, with their suites, repaired to Cairo. Here they celebrated in festivities the remembrance of their ancient power, and appeared even to brave the pasha himself, who, having assembled an army to march against the Wahabis, was preparing to review it previously to its departure. At length the first of March arrived. This was the day named for the investiture of Toussoun, the viceroy’s favourite son, upon whom the Porte had conferred the dignity of pasha of two tails, and who had been appointed by his father to the command of the army destined to serve in Arabia. Four persons only were admitted into the secret. At the time appointed, all the grandees, military chiefs, and Mamlukes, arrayed in their splendid uniforms, proceeded to the citadel, and were ushered into the hail of audience, where they offered their congratulations to the pasha, who received them with great apparent affability. When the ceremony had concluded, the signal for departure was made by the viceroy, and the column, in the midst of which were the Mamlukes mounted on their superb chargers, descended by a narrow road cut out of the rock, and leading from the citadel to the gate of El Azab and the square of Roumeyleh. As soon as the head of the column had entered Cairo, the gate of El-Azab was shut, and the chief of the Albanians, Saleh-Koch, apprized his soldiers in a few words that the pasha commanded them to exterminate the Mamlukes. Without uttering a single word the Albanians immediately ascended the steep sides of the road, which they promptly lined; and scarcely had this moment apprized the Mamlukes of the danger which menaced them, when a terrible fire was directed against them from the ramparts of the citadel, as well as from the heights which commanded the road. Confined in this gulf, into which there now rained a deluge of fire, the Mam-ìukes sprung from their horses, which became unmanage-ble; tore away the lower garments which impeded their movements; and attempted, in their turn, to mount the rocky acclivities on either side of the road. But all their efforts were unavailing. Half-naked, with their sabres in their hands, they çlambered up the heights, and died frantic with rage and despair at not being able to reach their enemies.

Scarcely had the column begun to defile from the citadel when the pasha’s movements betrayed his anxiety; and on hearing the first discharges of musketry his agitation redoubled, his visage became deadly pale, and his lips quivered. It was indeed a terrible moment. He knew the value of his enemies; success might be doubtful; his orders might not be well executed; the frantic energy of despair might overthrow all his combinations. He was in the very crisis of his fate; his own existence and that of his family depended on the issue of the combat, which he had so treacherously commenced; and no safety remained for him except in the complete execution of the general [7:8:499]massacre which he had planned, not only in Cairo, but throughout all Egypt. Whilst matters remained in suspense, therefore, a thousand appalling apprehensions appear to have arisen in his agitated mind. At length heads, the usual signal of victory, were brought, and laid at his feet. But the sight of these bloody trophies, though it appears to have somewhat abated his terrors, did not restore serenity to his countenance. In a little time Men-drici, one of the pasha’s physicians, entered his apartment, and warmly congratulated him on the success of his enterprise. “The affair is finished,” said the Genoese, with an air of gaiety; “this is a day of rejoicing for your highness.” Alehemmed made no answer to the heartless remark of the Italian, but looking around in a dark and suspicious manner, seemed apprehensive lest some Mamluke, escaped from the carnage, should come to avenge upon him the slaughter of his comrades. Twenty-three Beys and more than a thousand Mamlukes were the victims of this bloody day. Having finished their task of butchery, the Albanians entered Cairo in triumph, and,' under the pretext of searching for Mamlukes, penetrated into the houses and committed all sorts of excesses. For two days the city was abandoned to pillage, and not less than five hundred houses were sacked by the licentious soldiery. At length Mehemmed descended from the citadel with an escort, and, preceded by executioners, traversed the city, where he re-established order, and received the felicitations of the sheikhs and the ulemas, over the bloody corpses of his enemies.^[31. Mengin, lfirtoire de ľ£g¶pte tout Maliommed-Alg, tom. i. pp. 363, 364, et seqq.; Life and Adventurer of Giovanni Finati, vol. i. p. 101, et seqq.; Abrégé de ΓHirtoire dee Mamlouke ; Bulletin, tom. x. pp. 223, 224. The account of the massacre, contained in the “Adventures of Finati,” differs in some particulars from the less picturesque but probably more accurate account of Mengin, who was on the spot at the time, and an eye-witness of part of the tragedy. Xn the text we have chiefly followed the Abrégé, which appears to have been compiled, with singular care and accuracy, from the best authorities. Many anecdotes have been told of the conduct of the Mamlukes on this dreadful occasion; but the most remarkable is that which relates to Arnim Bey, brother to the celebrated Elfi, and the only one otthe Beys who escaped the massacre. Being detained by business, īie was too late to occupy his proper place in the procession, and he only arrived in the citadel when the troops were defiling through the gate on their return to the city. Having reined up his charger, he waited until the column had entered the hollow road, intending to join his own body; but seeing the gate suddenly closed, and all retreat intercepted, whilst discharges of musketry immediately followed, the gallant chief, preferring to be dashed in pieces rather than to be slaughtered by concealed enemies whom it was impossible to reach, urged the charger which he rode until the horse clambered upon the rampart, when, spurring the noble animal to desperation, he leaped headlong down the precipice, a height of more than forty feet. The horse was killed on the spot, but ⅛e rider remained unhurt, and, having made his way into the city, at length succeeded in effecting his escape to syria. The desperate leap which Arnim took from the parapet of the citadel has been compared to leaping out of a four-pair-of-stairs window. According to another account, the Bey was received and sheltered by some Arabs, who, notwithstanding the offer of a large reward, refused to deliver him up. (Finati, p. 64.) ]

Such was the tragical scene which formed as it were the denouement of the complicated drama of intrigue, dissimulation, treachery, and cruelty in which Mehemmed had all along been the principal performer; and thus was in a great measure attained the object to which all his actions İıad constantly tended, namely, the destruction of the Mamlukes. The remains of this unfortunate militia, pursued by the viceroy’s troops, passed the Cataracts, and" threw themselves into Nubia; but being quickly followed, they were overtaken in their retreat, and again defeated with great loss. Their repeated misfortunes, however, seem at length to have restored to them somewhat of their original energy; for, issuing from the deserts, they afterwards appeared in Dongola, and took possession of the country, of which, however, they were only able to occupy a part. Ibrahim, the oldest of the Beys, died at the age of eighty-four. But the Mamlukes, though now reduced to a small number, had not yet exhausted the hatred of Mehemmed. His son Ismael, in carrying his arms into the interior of Africa, attacked them once more in 1820, and compelled them to abandon their new country. This was the finishing blow. The few who had escaped so many casualties dispersed, and from this time the Mamlukes as a body ceased to exist. Originally formed in the middle ages, this intrepid cavalry ever afterwards entertained for infantry the contempt which that arm then merited; and its fall is principally to be ascribed to the circumstance that, whilst infantry had been greatly improved in discipline and stability, it had neglected to make any corresponding change either in its organization or manner of fighting. Hence the French infantry wrested Egypt from its hands, and the Albanian infantry completed its ruin. Still, considered merely as a body of horse, the Mamlukes continued to the last to maintain the reputation which they had originally acquired, as at once the finest and most daring cavalry which the world had ever seen.

The massacre of the Mamlukes, and the measures subsequently adopted for completing their destruction, having effectually secured the viceroy against all danger from the enemies whom he most dreaded, he now found himself at liberty to devote his attention to the state of affairs in Arabia. Thither Toussoun Pasha had, as already stated, been sent to command the army destined to act against the Wahabis;^[32. In the year of the Hegira 1110, or of our era 1691, a sheikh of the village of El-Ayeynch had a son, named Mohammed-Abd-el-wahíb, whom he destined to succeed him. The youth was initiated by his father in the elements of Islamism, and afterwards sent to college at Bassorah, there to complete his studies. Having finished his education, and performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, he returned to his native country, but afterwards withdrew to Horymlâ, where he took unto himself a wife. In this new retreat he undertook to reform the manners of the inhabitants, who, however, far from relishing his maxims, forced him to take refuge amongst his countrymen. But he did not remain long among the latter, having been banished by orders of the governor of the province of El-Hassan, who was incensed at an act of barbarity which he had caused to be committed. In this conjuncture, Abd-el-wahâb accepted an asylum which had been offered him at Deraych or Deraeych, the capital of the Nedjd, by Mohammed-ebn-souhoud; and it was in this city that he commenced the exposition of those principles of reform which were soon to exert so powerful an influence over Arabia. The emir Souhoud had calculated that, favoured by a change of religion, he might be enabled to extend his possessions; nor was he disappointed in his expectations. From all parts ardent sectaries came to off er their arms and their services to the inspired sheikb; ‘ and in a short time the villages of El-Ayeynch, Horeymlâ, El-Ammarych, and Manfouah had received his doctrine. On his part, Souhoud directed his views towards the Nedjd, and made incursions into the neighbouring provinces, most of which were attended with success. The emir died in 1765, leaving the power to his son Abd-el-Aziz, who had already signalized himself in several military expeditions, the command of which had been entrusted to him by Ebn>souhoud. This young prince, aided by his son, enlarged the dominions which had been left to him by his father, and greatly increased the wahabite power. He imposed tribute on his neighbours, took possession of El-l<yad and El-Delem, seized on the province of El-Kharg, and ruled over all the surrounding tribes. Being a witness of these triumphs, which ensured the success of his reform, and grateful for the services which Souhoud the son of Abd∙el-Aziz rendered to his cause, Mohammed-Abd-el-wahâb collected the principal inhabitants of Deraych, in order by their means to ensure to this prince the succession of Abdel-Aziz; and he died several years afterwards (14th June 1787), at the advanced age of ninety-five. But this event did not diminish the zeal of the followers of his doctrine; and such was the terror which the Wahabis inspired on all sides, that the towns in the neighbourhood of Bassorah were obliged to implore the protection of the Pasha of Bagdad, who, in 1796, caused a considerable army to march against the heretics. The troops of the pasha were however repulsed by Souhoud, who, encouraged by this success, ventured the following year to make an incursion into the province of El-Irak, situated between Bassorah and Bagdad, where he committed dreadful ravages with impunity. The Scherif Ghaleb, who had long struggled in vain against the growing power of these formidable enemies, was constrained to make peace with their chiefs; and Salem-ebn-Schekban of Byehch felt himself equally obliged to submit to the prince of Deraych. Intoxicated with these successes, Aziz now wished to attack the Persians as well as the Turks; and accordingly he sent bis son at the head of 20,000 men, who directed their march upon Kerbeleh. On the 20th of April 1810, the wahabis took possession of this city, which the Persians account sacred, as containing the tomb of Ali, and put all the male inhabitants to the sword. Souhoud, thinking that he had not yet done enough, next directed his march towards Mecca, forced the Scherif Ghaleb to fly, and interrupted the most sacred ceremonies of Islamism. Meanwhile the sacrilege which Abd-el-Aziz had committed in the eyes of the Persians did not pass unpunished; for a fanatic having undertaken to avenge the violation of the tomb of Ali, proceeded to Deraych, and poignarded the prince whilst he was reciting his prayers in the mosque. But Souhoud in his turn swore to avenge the death of his father. Accordingly, having assumed the chief command of the wahabis, he marched the following year against Bassorah, without being intimidated by the menaces of the Shah of Persia. The Scherif Ghaleb thought the moment favourable for striking a blow in retaliation of the injury he had sustained; but the check which his arms experienced constrained him to sue for peace; and soon afterwards he was under the necessity of submitting entirely to Souhoud. The latter, at the head of 40,DOO men, now made a pilgrimage to Medina, in order at the same time to prevent the arrival of the caravans; and left in that city one of his generals whom he appointed governor. From Medina he proceeded to Mecca, and after having there piously fulfilled all the duties of the pilgrimage, he caused the tomb of the Prophet to be broken open, and unscrupulously took possession of the riches it contained, such acts of sacrilege, boldly committed, and frequently repeated, roused the indignation of the whole Moslemin world; and the viceroy of Egypt was in consequence enjoined by the Porte, as above mentioned, to march against the audacious heretics. The wahabis are a sect of Mohammedan Socinians, who regard all pilgrimages, relics, ablutions, and other outwar<l ceremonies or symbols, as rank idolatry, and who, professing the principles of pure deism, reduce the whole duty of man as a religious being, to prayer and good works. (Mengin, Hist. de l’Egypte sous le Gouvernement de Mohammed Aly, tom. i. p. 378, et seqq. For an admirable account of the Wahabis, see also Anastasius.) ] and the campaign, though somewhat inauspi-ciously commenced, had already been attended with some [7:8:500] success. After the battle of Safra, Toussoun had been compelled to retire to Iambo; but having received reinforcements from Egypt, he resumed the offensive, and advanced towards Medina, of which he soon made himself master. Having dispatched one of his officers to Constantinople with the keys of Medina, and large presents of money, jewels, and coffee for the sultan, Mehemmed set out in person for Arabia; and having crossed the Red Sea, he proceeded to Djidda, where he was received with the utmost kindness and hospitality by the Scherif Ghaleb, in return for which the iatter was arrested by order of the pasha, deprived of his office, and sent as a prisoner to Cairo, probably from a suspicion of entertaining treasonable designs. But whatever may have been the cause, the palace of the scherif was plundered of immense treasures, part of which were applied to the support of the army, and part also transmitted in the shape of presents to the sultan. When the latter, however, came to understand how these had been acquired, he dispatched a capidji with a firman ordaining the viceroy to restore the property to the rightful owner. From Djidda, Mehemmed proceeded to Mecca, in order to pay his devotions at the shrine of the Prophet; and having thus acquired the character of Hadji, he assumed the command of the army, which, under Toussoun, had recently experienced some reverses, His presence in the camp restored discipline and confidence among the troops; disorder ceased, their spirits revived, and, anticipating victory under such a leader, they longed for an opportunity of revenging their losses, and obliterating the recollection of their defeats. Nor did it suit the views of the viceroy to baulk their wishes in this respect. As soon as he found himself in a condition to take the field, he concentrated his forces, and marched against the Wahabis, whom he routed and put to flight. The main body of the Turkish army then entered the country of the Nedjd, whilst Toussoun, at the head of a division, marched on El-Rass, which he took by a stratagem, but was afterwards obliged to evacuate from want of provisions. The Wahabis, finding that the fortune of war had thus turned against them, now made proposals of peace; and, with a view to a negociation, an armistice was agreed to. But as it soon became evident that their principal object was to gain time, Toussoun, who, in the interval, had received reinforcements and supplies of all kinds from Medina, resolved to march against the enemy and to give them battle. This brought the latter to their senses; a negociation was opened, and as Mehemmed had urgent reasons for treating, peace was speedily concluded between him and Abdallab-ebn-Souhoud, chief of the Wahabis; after which the pasha immediately took his departure for Egypt, where his presence had become necessary. In the depths of the Arabian desert he had received intelligence of the return of Napoleon from Elba; and as he foresaw that this event would plunge Europe again into war, and knew that, even to the moment of his fall, Bonaparte had cherished the hope of recovering Egypt, he set out with all baste from Medina, sailed from Djidda for Cosseir, and arrived at Gbizch on the 18th of June 1815, the day of the battle of Waterloo. The following morning he made his public entry into Cairo.

Mehemmed Ali, well aware that tactics often supply the place of numbers, and that bravery without discipline is alike unmanageable and unavailing against regular troops, had long had the intention of clothing and instructing his troops in the European manner; and indeed, from the period of his first accession to power, he had encouraged the formation and training of Turkish and Albanian troops according to the Frank discipline. But it was only after his return from Arabia that his determination was manifested in a formal manner. Having secured the services of several French officers who had been trained in the school of Napoleon, he repaired to Boulak on the 2d of August, and, after some preparatory exhortations, he began to exercise the troops of his son Ismael. These he put through some evolutions, at the same time declaring that he wished to establish among them the nizam-jedid, and that whosoever should disobey his orders would be severely punished and then expelled from the army. The troops murmured, but Mehemmed remained firm. A regular course of drilling was immediately commenced, and enforced with all the rigour of oriental despotism, whilst the success of his arms encouraged him to persevere. But excessive pressure at length wrenched off the head of the screw, and the spring recoiled with tremendous force. The soldiers mutinied, murdered their officers, plundered Cairo, and marched in a body, towards the citadel for the avowed purpose of putting Ali to death. Fortunately the pillage of the bazars attracted their attention in the first instance; the chiefs of the government, who were quite unprepared for an attack, had time to recover from their [7:8:501]surprise; and the pasha, apprised of the revolt while at his palace of Ezbekych, caused arms and ammunition to be distributed amongst the inhabitants of the Frank division of the capital. His palace was indeed attacked; but the guard, having thrown up entrenchments, repulsed the assailants; and the viceroy had previously quitted it for the citadel, which he entered by the mountain gate, accompanied by a numerous escort. Here he was in comparative safety; but he had nevertheless to endure many bitter hours of anxiety and suspense; and, as he could not know how far the mutinous spirit had extended, nor confide even in those around him, he must have felt that he was liable every ŉnoment to be dragged forth and torn in pieces. When the fury of the revolt had somewhat exhausted itself, and the sated indignation of the mutineers had momentarily subsided, Mehemmed re-appeared; and the full force of his character may be understood from the union of wisdom and firmness which he displayed on this critical occasion. He showed neither fear nor anger, distrust nor indignation; but immediately issued a proclamation, pledging himself, if the troops would return to their duty, to discontinue the obnoxious system, to grant a general amnesty, and to indemnify the merchants and inhabitants who had been pillaged, for the losses they had sustained. This declaration produced the desired effect; the troops gladly availed themselves of the proffered pardon, coupled as it was with the promised abandonment of the European discipline; Cairo was restored to tranquillity; and as the number implicated in the guilt of disaffection was too great for punishment, even by way of example, the viceroy wisely judged it prudent to adhere strictly to the conditions of the amnesty he had proclaimed. No pains were spared by the government, however, to discover the prime movers and ringleaders of the revolt; and notwithstanding the assertion of Finati, that no clew was ever obtained that could lead to the detection of the principal instigators of the mutiny, there is some reason to believe that they were not unknown to the pasha; for it was observed that, shortly afterwards, several persons died sudden deaths, and many of the chiefs and Beys disappeared, no one knew how or by what means.

The treaty which had been hastily concluded with the Wahabis proved of short duration; indeed scarcely had the Egyptian army retired, when the fierce and warlike heretics of Deraych again flew to arms. At the head of forty thousand of these sectaries, Souhoud marched to Medina, which he obliged to open its gates; and following up his success, he proceeded to Mecca, which he took with as little difficulty. At the latter city he broke open the tomb of the prophet; abstracted numerous jewels, such as diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, which had long been venerated by all true believers; melted the golden vessels, chandeliers, and vases; and having exposed the whole to public sale, distributed the money amongst his soldiers. Nor was the former city treated with more respect by these Mahommedan schismatics, who despised all outward show and parade in matters of religion, placing their whole reliance on the joint efficacy of prayer and of good works. As might have been expected, such bold acts of sacrilege excited against Souhoud the indignation of every true Moslemin; and the government at Constantinople, fully as much alarmed at the progress of his arms, as shocked at his impieties, immediately sent orders to the viceroy of Egypt to chastise the daring heretic, and to deliver the holy cities out of his hands. An army was accordingly assembled and marched into Arabia under the command of Ibrahim Pasha, Toussoun having fallen the victim of either disease or poison. Notwithstanding the motley composition of his force, Ibrahim, who now entered upon that career of victory which has since rendered him so celebrated as a commander, succeeded in accomplishing all the objects contemplated by the expedition. Having concentrated his troops at Henakeych, he marched on El Mayouch, which he occupied in force, at the same time baffling an attempt made against it by the Wahabite chief; and soon afterwards laid siege to El-Rass, which he thrice assaulted, but without success. The situation of the Turkish army now became critical; but although Ibrahim felt himself under the necessity of raising the siege, he nevertheless rejected proposals of peace which were made by Abdallah-ebn-Souhoud. But though baffled before El-Rass, the Egyptian commander took in succession Khabra, Aneyzch, Boureydch, and laid siege to Chakra, which capitulated in a few days. He then marched against Dorama, which he carried by assault, and sacked, putting the inhabitants mercilessly to the sword. From Dorama he proceeded to Deraych, the capital of the Wahabis, which he besieged. This was the grand operation of the campaign, and here accordingly he met with the most determined resistance. For three months did the brave defenders successfully repulse every attempt to take the town; and all the efforts of Ibrahim would have been unavailing had not want at length compelled them to surrender. With the capture of this place the campaign against the Wahabis terminated; but not so the severities of Ibrahim, who is remembered as the scourge of Arabia and the destroyer of Deraych. In a moment of passion the viceroy had threatened to exterminate the heretics, and not to leave one stone upon another of their city. The former part of this menace Ibrahim found it impossible to execute, but the latter was carried into effect to the fullest extent. The unfortunate Souhoud was sent as a prisoner to Constantinople, where he was beheaded like a common malefactor, notwithstanding the viceroy had interceded for his pardon; those of the inhabitants who had escaped the sword were driven into the desert, where many of them perished; and Ibrahim, having spread far and wide the terror of his name, returned in triumph to Egypt.

But excessive severity generally defeats its object. The cruelties of Ibrahim, so far from extinguishing the Wahabite reformation, appear only to have inflamed and exasperated the spirit of resistance by which it was animated. Hence in 1824 the war was renewed with as much ferocity as ever, and protracted during the three following years, in which it was carried on with various success. Latterly, however, owing to the struggle made by the Greeks to recover their liberty, and the consequent detention of the troops under Ibrahim in the Morea, the contest was allowed to slumber, and at length it terminated with the capture of Mecca, which was effected under the direction of a French officer. Achmet Pasha, who commanded in chief, was very inferior to Ibrahim both in genius and enterprise; and although he frequently defeated the enemy, he wanted the skill and address necessary to enable him to profit by victory. The only relation of these campaigns is that of Planat, which is exceedingly meagre, and, excepting an itinerary of the marches and countermarches of the pasha, contains few particulars deserving of attention.

The mutiny at Cairo, though it had had the effect of interrupting the execution of the viceroy’s scheme for introducing the European discipline, did not lead to the abandonment of the design. Mehemmed was resolved to possess a regular army trained on the European model, and when he found the Turks and Albanians unmanageable, he applied himself to the natives of Egypt. He had the good sense to attribute his first failure to the imprudent rigour which he had employed; and, therefore, he resolved to change his system, and to make bis military projects [7:8:502]popular by rendering them desirable. His next object was to secure the services of an European officer properly qualified to lay the foundation of that revolution in tactics which he now meditated; and in Colonel Sèves he was fortunate in finding an officer exactly suited to his purpose. In 1818 or 1819 Sèves, the son of a miller at Lyons, formerly a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry in the French army, and aide-de-camp to Marshal Ney, an officer of approved courage and of an intrepid and enterprising character, having been persecuted in his own country, and forced to expatriate himself, went to seek an asylum in Egypt; and he was living in great misery at Alexandria, when the pasha arrived there some time after his landing. Having learned that a superior French officer had come to seek an asylum in his territory, Mehemmed, who was then meditating the project of reform which he afterwards adopted and carried through with so much success, sent for Sèves, received him graciously, and granted him an allowance of L.200, without any definite employment. The only duty which he had at first to perform was to answer the questions which the pasha frequently put to him respecting the Emperor Napoleon, his victories, his armies, and the French empire. Several months passed in this way, and Sèves was puzzling himself to account for so much munificence without any apparent motive, when Mehemmed, who had been long meditating an excursion into Upper Egypt and Sennaar, sent for him, and inquired if he would undertake to organize some regular battalions in the Egyptian army. Happy to be employed, and pleased to have an opportunity of testifying his gratitude towards his benefactor, Sèves at once agreed to make the attempt; and being provided with money and invested with unlimited power, he at once applied himself to the task which he had undertaken. He associated with himself several French and Italian non-commissioned officers, who were exercising various professions at Alexandria, and with their assistance commenced his work. His first battalions were raised out of a great number of vagabond Turks and Arabs, the only class indeed to which he could apply; and out of these the instructors selected the most intelligent, in order to form them into model platoons, and also prepare them to act as sub-instructors. Sèves and his assistants had to surmount the greatest difficulties, obliged as they were to take man after man without distinction, and thus to enact a sort of pantomime. The repugnance of the Turks to these innovations was inconceivable, and often manifested itself by the most violent acts. The lives of the instructors, indeed, were frequently in danger; and several musket-balls were fired point blank at Sèves, who escaped as if by a miracle. But he was not to be intimidated in the discharge of his duty; and, amidst dangers of every kind, he went straight to his object with unflinching intrepidity and perseverance.^[33. On one occasion, when a volley was fired, a ball whizzed past the ear of Sèves, so close as almost to graze the skin, without betraying the slightest emotion, or taking the least notice of the circumstance, he ordered the party to re-load their pieces, and merely saying, “You are very bad marksmen,” gave the word to fire. They did so; and no ball was now heard to hiss through the air. The cool courage of the Frenchman disarmed their resentment; and, from being au object of the deepest hatred, he became the .dol of their admiration. (Planat, Hutoire delà fíígíneration de F Egypte, p. 28.) ] At length, in about a year, several battalions appeared in line, armed with English, Austrian, and French muskets, and with sabres of all sorts and models.

Such was the nucleus of the disciplined army which Mehemmed Ali now possesses, and which has amply rewarded him, by its brilliant successes, for the liberality and wisdom which presided in its formation. Nor did the viceroy lose any time in making a trial of the new battalions, in the long-projected expedition to Upper Egypt. Ismael Pasha, his second son, assumed the command of the army; Sèves, however, directed the campaign; the regular troops carried all before them; and Upper Egypt was conquered. The viceroy had promised a brilliant recompense to Sèves if the Egyptian army returned victorious from Sennaar; but, in point of fact, Mehemmed gave him none, ^nd in this he obeyed the imperious law of necessity. The instructors could hold no command in the army unless they embraced Islamism; their authority was confined to the ground on which the troops were manoeuvred, and, in actual service, to the council of war. The pasha durst not trample under foot the prejudices of his subjects, whose fanaticism he was far from sharing; whilst, appreciating the merit of Sèves, afterwards known by the name of Soliman, he felt the necessity of giving that officer a superior command in the army. To reconcile everything therefore, he proposed to the Frenchman to abjure the Christian religion, at the same time promising him a brilliant fortune, the title of Bey, and other tempting advantages, in the event of compliance. Sèves, however, rejected the viceroy’s proposition, and was immediately dismissed from all his employments. But, partly by poverty, and partly also by the influence of Drovetti, consul-general of France, his scruples were at length overcome, he became a Moslemin, was raised to the dignity of Bey, and received the command of a regiment of infantry. But although Soliman-Bey (Sèves) was endowed with the energy and capacity necessary to conduct the instruction of the Egyptian army, nevertheless, it was only after the arrival of General Boyer, in the year 1824, that it really began to assume consistence. In a short time this officer performed wonders. The army increased in numerical force, in moral, and in discipline; the instructors, respected and well treated, laboured with increased zeal and success; and when the troops were ordered to take the field, these men marched at their head against the enemies of the pasha. To Domergue, a French officer, born at Carcassonne, the viceroy owed the conquest of Mecca and of the country of the Wahabis; whilst, on the other hand, it was the Marquis of Livron, agent of the pasha in France, who supplied every thing necessary for the materiel of the army, and who provided the pasha with artillery instructors and with surgeons.^[34. Oc l’Egypte et de ton Organisation Militaire. Paris, 1831. ]

The preparations for the war in the Morea determined the pasha to augment his regular troops; and a great number of Piedmontese and Neapolitan refugees having about this time arrived in Egypt, Äli soon acquired a formidable and well-appointed army. It was in part destroyed, however, during the campaign in the Morea; but he afterwards added nine regiments of cavalry, and at present it is finer and stronger than ever.

According to an authentic statement published in 1831, the Egyptian army is composed of a general staff; of infantry, including artillery; and of cavalry. Ibrahim Pasha is commander-in-chief of the army; and the sons or relations of the pasha are the only lieutenant-generals with the title of pasha. Each brigade of infantry or cavalry has its general. Two regiments compose a brigade, and the regiments of guards are each commanded by general officers. The total number of the latter, therefore, is fifteen, with rank suivaient to that of major-general. The artillery has two generals with the title of Bey, one of whom is the director, and has the inspection of founderies, laboratories, workshops, arms, and the like. The infantry is [7:8:503]composed of a regiment of guards and fourteen regiments of the line, each consisting of four battalions of a thousand men; thus making a total of fifty-six thousand. The artillery, with the train, consists of one regiment of six thousand men, and the engineers of two battalions of six hundred each, besides a company of artificers two hundred strong, and a company of gendarmerie of the same force. The cavalry, which has only been formed since 1828, is by no means equal to the infantry. It is composed of a regiment of guards, of four squadrons, each consisting of four troops, into which Turks only are admitted, and eight regiments of the line, forming four brigades, making, with supernumeraries, four thousand five hundred men and horses. The total strength of the Egyptian army is therefore 67,600 infantry, and 4500 cavalry.^[35. Military men will no doubt remark the great disproportion between the infantry and cavalry of the Egyptian army; but it ought to be kept in view that we only speak here of the regular army, and not of the whole forces which Mehemmed Ali bas at his disposal; and that, moreover, the battalions of infantry bad been ten years in line ere the model squadron of cavalry began to be organized. when the cavalry was formed, Captain Thurlet of the 13th regiment of French chasseurs, happening to be in Egypt, was charged with its organization; but as this was a task beyond his ability to execute, the Marquis de Livron was commissioned to engage three c∕<yi d’cicadrom to complete the instruction of the brigades, and accordingly sent out Deschales, Petit, and Toucheboeuf-Clairemont, who are now the only superior officers attached to the cavalry. The subaltern officers were taken from the infantry, from the schools, and from the counting-houses of Alexandria, where a number of discharged military men, whom the Restoration of 1315 had forced to quit France, were employed as clerks. The horses of the cavalry are in general excellent, and they are classed in squadrons according to their shades of colour. (De l’ Egypte et de son organisation Militaire. Paris, 1831.) ]

This army is recruited by a stern system of impressment, the most arbitrary and iniquitous which can well be conceived; yet, excepting at the moment of its operation, it is scarcely felt as an evil. Once with the regiment, the young soldiers soon become reconciled to their new mode of life; they acquire a taste for the service, and speedily forget, in the enjoyment of the comforts provided for them, the violence which tore them from their miserable homes. They are excellently clothed, have abundance of wholesome food, and even exercise a sort of superiority over their countrymen. A soldier is a kind of authority; he in fact makes the law; and the people tremble before an uniform. Hence in this army, thus recruited by violence, there are scarcely any desertions. Besides, the Arabs, of whom it is principally composed, are intelligent, observing, inquisitive, brave; they love the service, both for its immediate advantages, and also because promotion from the lowest to the highest ranks is thrown open to all; they feel that they are men, and already begin to lay aside that fanaticism which at first opposed the most formidable obstacle to the success of the viceroy’s plans. The only danger to which Mehemmed is exposed appears to consist in the tendency of such elements to too great a transition, and in the formation of opinions incompatible with the existence of even an enlightened despotism. But whilst the reins of discipline are held by a steady and vigorous hand, there will be little ground for alarm on this score; though any undue relaxation would, in all probability, be productive of the greatest misfortunes. The chief hazard to Mehemmed’s system arises from this, that it is so closely connected with, and dependent upon his personal character. But he may leave a successor worthy of his talents.^[36. De I’ Egypte et de ten Organisation Militaire. Bulletin des Sciences Milit. torn. x. p. 270. ]

With a view to the consolidation of his military reforms, the viceroy has established a number of schools and colleges, the principal of which we shall now briefly advert to. The school of the staff is at Kaukch. It contains an indeterminate number of pupils, and is provided with professors of mathematics, fortification, and design; branches which, however, are as yet but indifferently taught. A cavalry school has been organized at Ghizch, in the palace of Murad Bey, and is under the orders of a French cavalry officer named Varrin. It contains a hundred pupils, who, during a course of two years, are instructed in military equitation, hippiatrics, and cavalry evolutions; but hitherto no great progress has been made in any of these branches. At Bouzah-a-Bel there is a school of surgery, the object of which is to supply the regiments with surgeons. The pupils show address and good will; buttheir teachers allege that, when left to themselves, they become good for nothing. This school is under the direction of Dr Clot of Marseilles, a man of great merit and undoubted knowledge. A school of pharmacy has also been opened at the same place, under the superintendence of an Italian named Alexandri. The school of veterinary surgery is likewise established at Bouzah-a-Bel, and is under the management of a Frenchman named Hamont, an élève of the school of Al fort, and a man of merit. Besides these, there was a school of military music at Kaukch, for training regimental bands; but, in 1829, Ibrahim Pasha ordered it to be suppressed, probably from motives of economy; and the only establishment of the kind at present in existence is a school of trumpeters, in the camp of Soliman-Bey, where a hundred pupils are trained according to the French mode.

The pay, appointments, and clothing of the Egyptian army are not only equal, but in several respects superior, to those of any army in Europe. The monthly pay of a general, or, to speak more correctly, the pay from one moon to another, is L.120 besides rations; that of a colonel is L.90, that of a lieutenant-colonel L.30, that of a captain L.10, and that of a lieutenant L.3, exclusively of rations. A general receives fifteen rations a day, a common soldier one, and the intermediate grades in proportion to their relative positions in the scale of rank. The pay of the non-commissioned officers is likewise ample: and that of the common soldier is eighteen piasters a month, besides his daily rations and his clothing. The ration is composed of bread, rice, oil, butter, beans, salt, and meat, and is served out twice a week. The clothing of the army is excellent, and the dress of the officers superb. The uniform of the generals, as well as that of the Turkish officers, is scarlet embroidered with gold; all the difference consisting in the quantity and richness of the embroideries. The distinctive marks of military rank are crescents and stars. Those of a lieutenant-general are crescents enriched with diamonds, in the middle of which are placed three stars, also in diamonds; those of a brigadier-general are the same crescents with two stars only; those of a colonel are the same crescents with only one diamond star; those of a lieutenant-colonel are two crescents in gold with a star in diamonds; those of a major are two crescents with stars in gold; those of a captain two crescents and stars in silver; and those of lieutenants and sub-lieutenants a crescent in silver. These decorations are placed on both breasts, and have a very brilliant effect. On occasions of ceremony, the superior officers also wear scarlet pelisses, fastened with two large clasps of gold set with emeralds. The loins are begirt by a sash; and the Turkish papooshes have given way to a less voluminous and more convenient nether habiliment, which is made fast under the knees, and fitted close to the legs.
[7:8:504]

In point of arms and equipment the infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers resemble the corresponding branches of the French service, upon which, indeed, the whole has been modelled; and the same observation applies to the mode in which the troops are disposed, whether in cantonments or in camps. Nor are the men any longer liable to arbitrary punishments. Every soldier charged with a breach of military discipline must be tried before he can be bastinadoed, and some other penalty less degrading, as confinement, degradation, or hard labour, is generally inflicted. Officers, again, when accused of a dereliction of duty, are placed under arrest; and the question of their guilt or innocence is commonly left to the determination of a court-martial. By these wise provisions the moral character of the Egyptian army has been raised to a level with that of the best troops in Europe; and its devotion (as already stated) has been further secured by the impartiality with which promotion is bestowed, and by the highest grades of the service being thrown open to the ambition of the humblest soldier in the ranks.^[37. Bulletin de» Science» Militaire, tom. x. p. 274. ]

Nor in thus organizing a powerful army has the viceroy neglected to provide himself with a respectable navy. His ambition, indeed, has all along been to raise Egypt to the rank of a naval power; and it was no doubt principally with this view that he seems to have early resolved to possess himself of Syria; a country which, from its extensive line of coast, and its internal resources for ship-buikl-ing, afforded every facility for the development and execution of his plans. As early as the year 1824, he had accordingly either acquired by purchase, or caused to be built for his service, a considerable number of ships of war; and, notwithstanding the disaster which befel his squadron at Navarino in October 1827, he prosecuted his original design with such systematic perseverance, that he not only repaired the loss he had sustained, but greatly augmented his marine both in number and in force. According to the most authentic information which we have been able to obtain, therefore, the Egyptian navy consists at present (1833) of twelve sail of the line, one of which is a first-rate carrying a hundred guns, about as many frigates, some of them double-banked, and a great number of corvettes, brigs, schooners, and sloops of war; a naval force equal, if not superior, to that of the Porte itself, and which, in fact, during the Syrian campaign of Ibrahim, defeated the Turkish fleet off Tripoli, thereby contributing in the most essential manner to the success which crowned the pasha’s enterprise.

The superiority of troops disciplined according to the European method was strikingly evinced by the results of the expedition to Upper Egypt and Nubia, and still more by those of the concluding campaigns against the Wahabis, which fully realised the most sanguine expectations of the viceroy. But the prowess and efficiency of that army which had been alike victorious in the deserts of Arabia, and in those of Dongola and Kordofan, were destined to be further proved on a much more celebrated theatre of action. The sultan having required the pasha of Egypt to assist with his forces in putting down the insurrection in Greece, an expedition consisting of sixty ships of war of all sizes, and a hundred transports, having on board seventeen thousand infantry, eight hundred cavalry, and artillery both for service in the field and for sieges, together with ammunition and provisions for a long campaign, sailed from Alexandria in July 1824, the whole being under the command of Ibrahim Pasha; but having touched at Rhodes, in the hope of effecting a junction with the Capitan Pasha commanding the Turkish fleet, and the ships of war having suffered considerable damage in an encounter with the Greek squadron under Canaris, it did not reach Modon in the Morea until the end of February 1825. The events of the three campaigns which followed belong rather to the history of Greece than to that of Egypt. It will be sufficient to state here that Ibrahim was successful at nearly every point; that the strong places of the Morea had, almost without exception, yielded to his arms; and that his father was believed to cherish a design of establishing his own power in the Peloponnesus; when the treaty of London changed the aspect of affairs, and the naval battle of Navarino, fought on the 20th of October 1827, proved a most “untoward event” for the viceroy’s designs, depriving him of the fruits which he expected to reap from Ibrahim’s victories, and completely isolating the Egyptian army, which depended for its chief supplies on Alexandria. The final deliverance of the Morea was effected by the French expeditionary force of fifty thousand men under General Maison, which, having cleared the country of the Egyptians, delivered it up to the provisional government which had received or assumed the reins of authority in Greece.^[38. Planat, fíi»t. de la Régénération de l’Egypte, p. 258 et seqq. ]

But if, yielding to the pressure of superior force, Mehemmed was compelled to quit his hold of the Morea, still he was not altogether a loser; for, during the campaigns in the Peloponnesus, his army acquired experience in all sorts of military operations, and may be said to have in some measure prepared itself for achieving those brilliant successes which lately shook the Ottoman empire to its foundations, and humbled the pride of Sultan Mahmoud. From the commencement of the contest with Turkey till the decisive conflict at Koniah, in which tactico and irregular troops were equally overthrown, and the road to Constantinople completely uncovered, its career was one of uniform victory. The fate of Syria was decided by the battle of Damascus, which proved the great inferiority of the Turkish infantry; Aleppo opened its gates; the barrier of Mount Taurus, hitherto regarded as a rampart of Constantinople, was crossed; and, descending into the plains of Anatolia, Ibrahim swept onward like a torrent, until, arrested for a moment at Koniah by an enemy resolved to make a last effort to retrieve its reverses, he there completed the series of his winged victories, and beheld “Stamboul’s diadem” almost within his grasp. The rest is too well known to make it necessary for us to enter into details. Denied the aid which he solicited from Great Britain, the sultan was reduced to the humiliating necessity of applying for help in his day of need to the power whose ambitious designs he had the most reason to dread; whilst Russia, eager to avail herself of the opportunity thus offered, of giving to her aggrandising policy in regard to Turkey a protective rather than an aggressive character, lost no time in responding to the sultan’s demand; and, in a short space, the strange spectacle was exhibited of a Muscovite corps d’armée cantoned in the vicinity of Constantinople, and of a Muscovite fleet at anchor in the Bosphorus. The sultan was saved; peace was concluded; and the «’hole of Syria, with its dependent territories, rewarded the successful rebellion of Me-bemmed Ali.

The individual by whom all this and more has been accomplished would, even under the most favourable circumstances, have been accounted an extraordinary man; and amongst Turks he is certainly to be regarded as little less than a prodigy. His own greatness, indeed, is the immediate result of a creative power vigorously but skilfully[7:8:505] exerted, and almost invariably directed towards the accomplishment of some object calculated to promote improvement and advance civilization; nor has the general policy of his government been less distinguished for ability, address, and energy, than was the conduct of those great measures by means of which he regenerated Egypt, and laid the foundations of his own supremacy. His army alone is a wonderful achievement; his fleet scarcely less so: and if the brilliant victories of the one have rewarded that wisdom which knows how to amend a fault, and that liberality which, when judiciously exercised, is all-powerful in its influence on the human mind, the day is probably not distant when the triumphs of the other will cause the flag of Egypt to be alike respected in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. But it is not by the splendour of his winged victories, nor the extent of his rapid conquests, that the name of Mehemmed Ali will be honoured and distinguished. His arc much higher and more difficult achievements than mere feats of arms; his is a nobler and more enviable glory than that which is reaped amidst the strife and carnage of the battlefield. It was the proud boast of Napoleon that he found France in the kennel, and placed her in the van of Europe. But with more truth and less ostentation might Mehemmed Ali say the same thing concerning Egypt. Napoleon, indeed, found confusion, but, as observed by an able writer, still it was the confusion of brilliant materials. Not so the Albanian, who out of a mere chaos of ignorance, treachery, and ferocity, has formed a kingdom possessing a disciplined and victorious army of seventy-five thousand regular troops, with a respectable marine of twelve ships of the line and more than thrice that number of frigates and other vessels of war. Nor is this all. He has organized a vigilant police, by means of which Egypt, formerly a land of violence and bloodshed, has been rendered as safe as any part of England or France; he has established an active and vigilant administration of the laws, by which persons and property enjoy security; he has constructed roads, formed canals, and introduced manufactures; he has improved agriculture, extended commerce, and reared an industrious population; and, notwithstanding all the cost of his various establishments, and the heavy expenditure incident to a state of frequent warfare, he has forestalled none of his ordinary revenues. During his reign the exports and imports of Egypt have accordingly risen from a mere trifle to several millions annually. Eager to obtain useful information himself, he has diffused a thirst of knowledge amongst his subjects, by making the possession of it the indispensable condition of advancement either in civil or military employments; he has ministered to the mental wants of his people by the erection of schools and colleges in various parts of his dominions; and he has, from time to time, sent young men into Europe, not to ape its fashions or copy its manners but to study the laws, institutions, and practical working of modern civilization, and to carry back the results of their observation for the improvement of their own country. His government, it is true, is a naked despotism, and, with all its general wisdom and beneficence, exhibits some of the worst features of that species of government; whilst the unhappy Fellahs are still ruled, if not oppressed, by a rough coercive hand, and exposed to exactions indicating a short-sighted cupidity on the part of their rigorous taskmaster. But, on the other side, it must be admitted that the strong arm of absolute power, guided by a stern and resistless will, could alone have effected that renovation which has been produced in Egypt; and as to his exactions and monopolies, Mehemmed Ali may easily silence rebuke on this head by pointing to many scarcely less odious or objectionable than his own which are still selfishly upheld in some of the most enlightened communities of Europe. And let it also be remembered that, as establishments must be maintained, the chief cause of the severity of his imposts has been the extent of his improvements, by which in time their rigour will be mitigated; and that monopoly is the price which must in the first instance be paid for the introduction of new and more effective modes of industry. Nor have the actual results belied the calculations on which this enlightened and vigorous ruler has proceeded. A country long devoted to misrule now teems with labour, and produces cotton and flax which may compete with the best in our markets; it exports silk, sugar, tobacco, and various other commodities, besides grain; and as long as personal security is maintained by an impartial administration of the law, these will continue to multiply in a land where an annual renewal of the soil, irrigation, and sunshine are certainties. Such are the triumphs which have been effected by the Albanian peasant, who has established an independent empire in Egypt.^[39. Mehemmed Ali is now in the sixty-third year of his age; he is rather short in stature, thick set, and inclined to embonpoint; his countenance is large, his forehead high, his nose aquiline, and his general expression indicative both of firmness and penetration; he bears himself with easy dignity, without the smallest approach to hauteur or reserve, and, for a Turk, is remarkably social and communicative; and his dress is usually plain, the only expense which he indulges in matters connected with personal decoration being lavished upon his arms, which are richly studded with diamonds. In a word, his appearance and demeanour immediately impress strangers with a conviction that he is no ordinary man; whilst his eager and inquisitive curiosity, continually on the alert in quest of information, shows that he has not only appreciated the importance of knowledge generally, but learned that it is the only solid basis of power. The following anecdotes of this remarkable person have been collected by Dr Russell, from the works of recent Egyptian travellers. “ ‘ On our arrival being announced,’ says Dr Richardson, ‘ we were immediately ushered into his presence, and found him sitting on the corner of the divan, surrounded by his officers and men, who were standing at a respectful distance. He received us sitting, but in the most gracious manner, and placed the Earl of Belmore and Air Salt upon his left hand, and his lordship’s two sons and myself at the top of the room on his right. The interpreter stood, as well as the officers and soldiers, who remained in the room during the whole time of the visit. He began the conversation by welcoming us to Cairo, and prayed that God might preserve us, and grant us prosperity. He then inquired of the noble traveller how long he had been from England, and what was the object of his journey to Egypt.; to aU which he received satisfactory answers. His highness next adverted to the prospect before him—the Nile, the grain-covered fields, the pyramids of Djizch, the bright sun, and the cloudless sky—and remarked, with a certain triumphant humour on his lip, that England offered no such prospect to the eye of the spectator.* He was told that the scenery of England was very fine. “How can that be,” he shortly rejoined, “seeing you are steeped in rain and fog three quarters of the year ř” He next turned the conversation to Mr Leslie’s elegant experiment of freezing water in the vacuum of an air-pump; which he had never seen, but admired prodigiously in description, and seemed to anticipate with great satisfaction a glass of lemonade and iced water for himself and friends, as the happiest result of the discovery. Talking of his lordship’s intended voyage up the Nile, he politely offered to render every possible facility; cautioning him at the same time to keep a sharp look-out when among the Arabs, who, he believed, would not take any thing from him or his party by violence, but would certainly steal if they found an opportunity of doing it without the risk of detection. He then related a number of anecdotes touching the petty larcenies of that most thievish race; some of which were by no means without contrivance or dexterity. But the one which seemed to amuse both himself and his friends the most, was that of a traveller, who, when eating his dinner, laid down his spoon to reach for a piece of bread, and by the time he brought back his hand the spoon was away; the knife and fork soon shared the same fate; and the unfortunate stranger was at length reduced to the sad necessity of tearing his meat, and lifting it with his fingers and thumb, like the Arabs themselves. Many persons were near, but no one saw the theft committed; and all search for the recovery of the property was in vain, we now took leave of the viceroy, leaving him in the greatest good humour; he said we might go everywhere, and see every thing we wished, and that he hoped to have the pleasure of seeing us again.’ In reference to the freezing experiment, we may mention, that Mehemmed Ali, very soon after the visit now described, obtained from England, through Mr Salt, the requisite apparatus. The machine on its arrival was conveyed to his palace, and some Nile water was procured for the purpose. He hung over the whole operation with intense curiosity; and when, after several disappointments, a piece of real ice was produced, he took it eagerly in his hand, and danced round the room for joy like a child, and then ran into the harem to show it to his wives. “No one has attempted to conceal that there is in the temper of Mehemmed Ali, intermingled with many good qualities, a deep tincture of barbarism and fierceness. Impatient of opposition, and even of delay, he occasionally gives himself up to the most violent bursts of passion; and in such moments there is hardly any cruelty which he will not perpetrate or command. For instance, some time ago he had ordered that the dollar should pass for a fixed number of piasters, and it was mentioned in his presence that the rate was not strictly followed. His highness expressed some doubt of the fact, when the head interpreter carelessly observed that a Jew broker, whom he named, ha<l a few days before exchanged dollars for him at the rate asserted. * Let him be hanged immediately,’ exclaimed the pasha! The interpreter, an old and favourite servant, threw himself at his sovereign’s feet, deprecating his own folly, ann imploring pardon for the wretched culprit. But all intercession was in vain; the viceroy said his orders must not be disregarded, and the unfortunate Jew was instantly led to his death. We find proofs of a similar sally at Djidda, where he appears to have used his own hands to inflict a punishment which he thought it inexpedient to remit. Hoseyn Aga, the agent for the East India Company, resident in that town, was, says a recent traveller, a remarkably fine-looking man, displaying an air of dignity mixed with hauteur; handsomely clad, too, though the heavy folds of his muslin turban were studiously drawn over his right eye to conceal the loss of it, for Mehemmed Ali one day in a fit of rage pulled it out. Yet these men are friends—great friends just at present, and will remain so as long as it may be convenient and agreeable to both parties to consider each other in that light. But the master of Egypt is not at all times so ferocious. For example, when Mrs Lushington was at Alexandria, intelligence was brought to him that a small fort at the entrance of the harbour had been taken possession of by certain Franks, and that the Turks belonging to it had been made prisoners, some consternation prevailed among his people; but instead of being angry, he laughed heartily, and swearing by his own eyes—his favourite oath—that they must be English sailors, he directed his interpreter to write to their captain to order his men on board ship again. Upon inquiry it proved as the pasha had anticipated; the men had landed, got drunk, and crowned their liberty by seizing on the fort, and confining the unfortunate Turks, who, indolently smoking their pipes, never could have anticipated such an attack in time of profound peace. He evinced equal self-command, and still more magnanimity, when he first heard of the event which destroyed his infant navy and humbled his power, we allude to the battle of Navarino. He had not finished the perusal of the unwelcome dispatches, when he desired a European consul to assure his countrymen and all the other Franks that they should not be molested, and that they might pursue their wonted occupations in perfect security. Among the ships lying in the harbour was the wreck of one of the pasha’s own vessels. The captain had committed some crime which was represented by his crew to the viceroy, who ordered him immediately on shore to answer bis accusers, conscious of guilt, he pretended sickness, till a second message from the same quarter left him no alternative; and unable longer to shun his fate, he sent all his crew ashore, and calling to an old and faithful servant, the only person on board, he hade him jump out of the port into the sea; at the same time, having loaded two pistols, he fired into the magazine, and blew up the ship and himself together, when the story was related to the pasha, he said, ‘ These are Frank customs; this is dying like an Englishman !’ “There is something characteristic in the following notice by sir Frederick Henniker, who remarks, that the pasha appeared to him to have a vulgar low-born face, but a commanding intelligent eye. ‘ He received us in the court-yard, seated on a sofa, and wielding a pipe, dressed like a private individual, as Turks of real consequence generally are, excepting on gala days. The vice-consul and myself sat down on the sofa with him. Pipes are not offered except to equals; coffee served up,—no sugar, even though the pasha himself has a manufactory of that article,—the attendants ordered to withdraw; no pride, no affectation, even though the pasha is an upstart. Remained nearly an hour discoursing on English horses, military force, the emerald-mines at Cossier, his son’s victory over the M’ahabis, and his expected triumphal entry.·—It is generally stated, that since Mehemmed Ali has felt h imself secure in the pashalik he has ceased to be cruel. Seldom now does he take away life, and never with torture; and if his subordinate officers were as well disposed as himself, the people, notwithstanding the oppressive taxes, would feel their property more secure. One instance of his prompt justice excited much astonishment; although a slower and more regular method would not, it is probable, in a nation so completely disorganized, have produced an equal effect. A kiachief who had not been long accustomed to the government of the viceroy punished one of his own servants with death. He was called before Mehemmed, who asked him by what authority he had committed this outrage. He thought it enough to urge in his defence that the man was his own servant. True, retorted the pasha, but he was my subject; and, in the same breath, passed sentence that the culprit should be immediately beheaded,—an effectual warning to the rest of the grandees present. This act of severity has saved the lives of many of the Arabs, who, in former times, were sacrificed by their Turkish masters on the most trifling pretences. In short, Mehemmed is well spoken of by most European travellers, though in general they estimate his character by too high a standard—the principles and habits of their own countries. There is only one author whose impression was rather unfavourable: ‘ I sat in the divan,’ says he, ‘ with my eyes fixed on him; I wanted to examine the countenance of a man who had realized in our day one of those scenes in history which, when we have perused it, always compels us to lay down the book and recover ourselves. There he sat—a quick eye, features common, nose bad, a grizzled beard, looking much more than fifty, and having the worn complexion of that period of life. They tell you he is not sanguinary; men grow tired of shedding blood as well as of other pleasures; but if the cutting off a head would drop gold into his coffers, he would not be slow to give the signal. His laugh has nothing in it of nature; how can it have? I hear it now—a hard, sharp laugh, such as that with which strong heartless men would divide booty torn from the feeble. I leave him to his admirers·’—‘ In the usages of the table,’ says Mr Garne, ‘ he is still an Osmanlee; knives, forks, and other useful appendages, never make their appearance at his meals. About five years ago some English travellers were graciously received by him, and pressingly invited to dine. But not even in compliance with the taste of his guests would he depart from his own habits; for, wishing to show a noble lady particular attention, he took a large piece of meat in his hand, and politely placed it before her. Perfectly dismayed at the compliment, and the sight of the savoury morsel which rested on her plate, she turned to her companion, who was more used to oriental manners, and earnestly asked what she was to do. “Eat it to be sure,” was the reply. She looked at the pasha; his fine dark eye seemed to rest on her with a most kind and complacent expression; and there was no help for it but to follow the excellent advice given her by her more experienced friend.’” ( View of Ancient and Modern Egypt, p. 358, et seqq.) ] He is [7:8:506]believed to cherish schemes of ambition still more gigantic than any which his past career has disclosed. The caliphate and an Arabian empire have, it is thought, long floated before his wishful eye; and there can be little doubt that, in the event of a new rupture with Turkey, Bagdad and the holy cities would be irrecoverably lost to the Porte, and restored to the successors of the Saracens. Wherever the Arabic language is understood, the power of Egypt seems destined to prevail.^[40. Edinburgh Review, vol. fix. p. 124, et seqq. we have great pleasure in acknowledging that, for the leading features of the character of Mehemmed All, as above delineated, we have been indebted to a very able article in this journal on the state and relations of the Turkish empire, we have merely filled up, as it were, the masterly sketch drawn by the reviewer. ] But our business here is not with speculation, but facts.
[7:8:507]

SECTION III.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT.

General description and physical conformation of the country.— Its divisions—Is Egypt the gift of the Nile?—Opinions of Savary, Bruce, Shaw, volney, and others on this subject— various depth of the alluvial soil—Attempts to ascertain the mean rate of the deposition of mud or sediment by the river.— Speculations of the French philosophers—Supposed difference of level, and conclusions thence deduced as to the comparative antiquity of existing monuments.—The Nile.—Its branches

Supposed position of the source of the Bahr-el-Abiad, or true Nile—Its alleged communication with the Niger—Course of the river—The Gataracts or Rapids Nature of these—Phy sical aspect of the country.—The mouths, ancient and modem, of the river—Its navigation The soil Lakes and canals

The periodical inundation of the Nile—Cause of this phenomenon—Modes in which the waters of the inundation are distributed for the purposes of irrigation—Air and climate of Egypt. —Etesian winds—Hot. winds—The Khamsim of Egypt, the samiel of Arabia, and the Simoom of the Desert.—Interesting particulars connected with these winds given by volney and Bruce.—Diseases Plague Oph thalmia—Hydrocele Cutaneous distempers.—Malignant Fevers.—Treatment.—Geological structure and characteristics of Egypt.

Egypt occupies the north-eastern portion of Africa, and is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean, on the east by the Red Sea, on the south by Nubia, and on the west by the deserts of Libya. Its physical configuration has been generally described at the commencement of this article. “Pour se peindre en deux mots l’Egypte,” says Volney, “que l’on se représente, d’un côté one mer étroite et des rochers, de l’autre d’immenses plaines de sable, et au milieu un fleuve coulant dans un vallée longue de cent cinquantes lieues, large de trois à sept, lequel, parvenu à trente lieues de la mer, se divise en deux branches, done les rameaux s’égarent sur un terrain libre d’obstacles, et presque sans pente.”

Egypt is divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower. Upper Egypt extends from Nubia to the province of Cairo; Middle Egypt comprehends the province of Cairo, and the lateral provinces; and all the country included between the territory of Cairo, the Mediterranean, the isthmus of Suez, and Libya, forms Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt is only a long narrow valley, confined between two chains of mountains running from north to south, which commence at the last cataract of the Nile, and on reaching Cairo separate to the right and left as if to enable the Nile to extend its arms; the eastern chain taking the direction of Mount Colzum, and the western terminating in some sand hills near Alexandria. The former terminates on the borders of the valley by an escarpment, which in some places has the appearance of a very elevated wall or rampart, intersected at intervals by ravines; whilst the latter generally terminates in a gentle slope, excepting at the elbow formed by the Nile in the direction Kennch, where it becomes more precipitous towards Siout.

The mountains which form the boundaries of this valley are the more deserving of attention, because from them, under the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, and the Antonines, were obtained the materials not only for those stupendous monuments, which, even in their state of ruins, still make Egypt a land of wonders, but also for many of the public buildings of Italy, the remains of which attest alike the munificence of the Roman emperors, and the genius of the Roman artists. Beyond these mountains are deserts bounded by the Red Sea on the east, and by other parts of Africa on the west.

Four leagues from the Nile, and opposite Cairo, these mountains are only a ridge of rocks of about forty or fifty feet in height, dividing Egypt from the plains of Libya; and this ridge accompanies the course of the river, at a greater or less distance, like embankments intended to confine the general inundation.

Lower Egypt, comprehending all the country from Cairo to the sea, forms a triangle nearly equilateral, at least if it be reduced to the space included between the two arms of the Nile, which discharge themselves into the sea, the one at Rosetta and the other at Damietta. The base of this triangle is estimated at about seventy leagues. The name of Delta, which the Greeks gave to this part of Egypt, was applied on account of its resemblance in point of form to the fourth letter of their alphabet.

With respect to the formation of the Delta, it has been the opinion of many, even in very ancient times, that it was produced by the mud brought down by the inundations of the Nile; and this notion was adopted by Savary, who argues strenuously in support of it. In those early ages in which history has fixed no epoch, a certain people, according to him, descended from the mpuntains near the Cataracts, into the valley overflowed by the Nile, which was then an uninhabitable morass overgrown with reeds and canes. In what manner, or from what motive, these people were induced to descend from their ancient habitations to take up their residence amidst bogs, or how they found means to penetrate into a morass which is described as impenetrable, we are not informed, neither is it to our present purpose to inquire. At that time, however, the sea, it seems, washed the base of those mountains where the Pyramids were afterwards built, and advanced far into Libya. It covered also part of the isthmus of Suez, and the whole of what is now called the Delta formed a great gulf. But after many ages the Egyptians, by what means is not stated, formed canals to carry off the stagnant waters of the Nile; opposed strong embankments to check its periodical inundations; and, tired of dwelling in the caverns of rocks, built towns and cities upon spots elevated either by nature or art. Already the river was confined within its bounds, the habitations of men were placed out of the reach of its inundations, and experience had taught the people to foresee and announce them, when one of the kings of Egypt undertook to alter the course of the river. After running a hundred and fifty leagues between the barriers already described, the river, meeting with an insurmountable obstacle to the right, turned suddenly to the left, and, taking its course to the southward of Memphis, spread its waters throughout the sands of Libya. But the prince here spoken of caused a new bed to be dug for it to the eastward of Memphis, and, by means of a large dyke, obliged it to return between the mountains, and discharge itself into the gulf which bathes the rock on which the castle of Cairo is built. The ancient bed of the river was still to be seen in the time of Herodotus, and may even, it is alleged, be traced at this day across the deserts, passing to the westward of the natron lakes. To the herculean labours of this nameless monarch, Egypt, according to Savary, is indebted for the Delta. A regurgitation of the sea being occasioned by the enormous weight of the waters of the Nile, which precipitated themselves into the bottom of the gulf, the sands and mud carried along with them were collected into heaps; and thus the Delta, at first inconsiderable, arose out of the sea, from whose domain it was, so to speak, conquered. In short, it was a gift of the river, and it has since been defended from the attacks of the ocean by raising embankments along its base. Five hundred years before the Trojan war, the Delta was, according to Herodotus, in its infancy, eight cubits of water being then sufficient to overflow it. Strabo informs us that boats passed over it from one extremity to the other; and that its towns, built upon artificial eminences, resent-bled[7:8:508] the islands of the Aegean Sea. At the time when Herodotus visited this country, fifteen cubits were necessary to cover all Lower Egypt; but the Nile then overflowed the country for the space of two days’ journey to the right and left of the island, or Delta strictly so called. Under the Roman empire sixteen cubits produced the same effect; when the Arabs got possession of the country seventeen cubits were requisite; and at this day eighteen are necessary to produce a plentiful crop. Sometimes, however, the Nile rises to the height of twenty-two cubits; and the cause of this phenomenon is the accumulation of mud. Thus, in the space of rather more than three thousand two hundred years, the Delta, according to Savary, was elevated fourteen cubits.

It is natural to imagine, he adds, that the Delta has increased in length as well as in elevation. Under the reign of Psammeticus, the Milesians, with thirty vessels, landed at the mouth of the Bolbitinic branch of the Nile, now that of Rosetta, where they fortified themselves, and built a town called Metelis, which, in the Coptic vocabularies, has preserved the name of Messil. But this town, formerly a sea-port, is now nine leagues distant from the sea; and to this extent the Delta, according to him, has increased in length from the time of Psammeticus to the present day. Homer, in his Odyssey, makes Menelaus state', that in the stormy sea which washes Egypt there is an island called Pharos, the distance of which from the shore is such that a vessel with a fair wind may make the passage in a day. But from the manner in which he speaks of the Delta in other places, we may suppose that the island of Pharos, in his time, was not less than twenty leagues distant from the Egyptian coast, though it now forms part of the harbour of Alexandria. Great rivers occasion prodigious changes on the surface of the globe; sometimes elevating, at their mouths, islands which in time become portions of the continent. It is thus, according to Savary, that the Nile has formed almost all Lower Egypt, and created out of the waters the Delta, forming an equilateral triangle whose base is about seventy leagues; it is thus that the Meander, constantly repelling the waves of the Mediterranean, and gradually filling up the gulf into which it falls, has placed in the middle cf the land the town of Miletus, formerly a celebrated harbour; it is thus that the Tigris and the Euphrates, descending from the Armenian hills, and sweeping with them in their course the sands of Mesopotamia, are imperceptibly filling up the Persian gulf.

Such are the reasons assigned by Savary for the opinion that the greater part of Lower Egypt had been produced by the operation of the Nile. But his theory has been strenuously contested by other travellers, particularly by Bruce, who has discussed the subject at considerable length. He begins by observing, that as the upper country of Egypt is merely a valley bounded by rugged mountains, it may hence seem natural to imagine that the Nile, overflowing the lower part, would be more ready to wash away the soil than add to it. It is stated by Dr Shaw, and confirmed by Bruce, that there is a gentle slope from the middle of the valley towards the foot of the mountains on either side, so that the middle, in which is the channel of the Nile, is really higher than any other portion of the valley. Large trenches are cut across the country from the channel of the river, and at right angles with its bed or channel, as far as the base of the mountains. As the river swells the canals become filled with water, which, descending to the base of the mountains, runs out at the farther extremity, and overflows the adjacent level country. When the water, having attained the lowest ground, begins to stagnate, it does not acquire any motion, by reason of the canals being at right angles with the channel of the Nile, unless in the case of excessive rains in Ethiopia, when the water by its regurgitation again joins the stream. In this case the motion of the current is communicated to the whole mass of waters, and every thing is swept away by them into the sea. It has been asserted that there was a necessity for measuring the height of the inundation, on account of the quantity of mud brought down annually by the waters, by which the landmarks were so covered that the proprietors could not distinguish their grounds after the river had subsided. But whatever might be the reason of this covering of the landmarks in ancient times, it is certain that the mud left by the Nile could not be the cause in the time of Herodotus, or during any period of time mentioned by that historian. He assigns only one foot of increase of soil throughout Egypt in a hundred years, from the mud left by the river; and the increase during one year, therefore, being only the hundredth part of a foot, could not possibly cover any landmark whatever. Besides, the Egyptian lands are at this day separated by huge blocks of granite, which frequently have gigantic heads; and these, at the rate mentioned by Herodotus, could not be covered in several thousand years. Besides, the Nile does not now bring down any great quantity of mud. Throughout Abyssinia, the channel of every torrent has been worn to the bare rock, and almost every rivulet runs in a hard stony bed, all the loose earth being long ago washed away; so that an annual and equable increase of the earth from the sediment or deposit of the waters is impossible. Bruce made a great number of trials of the water of the Nile during the time of its inundation, in different places. At Basboch, when just leaving the cultivated parts of Abyssinia, and about to enter Sennaar, the sediment was composed of flit earth and sand, and its quantity was exceedingly small. At the junction of the Nile and Astaboras the quantity of sediment was very little augmented; it consisted still of the same materials, though sand predominated in its composition. At Syene the quantity of sediment was almost nine times greater than before; but it was now composed almost entirely of sand, with a very small quantity of black earth. He also made a similar experiment at Rosetta, which however was not so often repeated as the others; but the result of the whole was, that in the strength of the inundation the sediment consisted mostly of sand, and, towards the end, it was in a great measure composed of earth. Had the Nile brought down the quantities of mud which it has been said to do, it ought to have been most charged with it at Syene, as there it contained the whole that was to be conveyed by it into Egypt. Instead of this, however, the principal part of the sediment at this place consisted of sand; which is accounted for from the vast quantities raised by the winds in the deserts between Gooz and Syene, and swept along the descending valley of the Nile towards Middle and Lower Egypt.

Bruce further adopts and argues in favour of the opinion that there has been a continual decrease of water since the creation of the world. In this case, therefore, if the land of Egypt had been continually increasing in height, whilst the water which was to cover it decreased, there must have been frequent famines on account of the want of a sufficient inundation. But so far is this from being the case, that, according to the testimony of several Arabian manuscripts, there had not, when Bruce was in Egypt, been one scarce season from the lowness of the inundation for thirty-four years, though during the same space famine had been three times experienced in consequence of too great an abundance of water. If there had been such an increase of land as Herodotus and others suppose, it must now have been very perceptible in some [7:8:509]of the most ancient public monuments. This, however, is by no means the case. The base of every obelisk in Upper Egypt is to this day quite visible, excepting where covered by drift-sand. Near Thebes there are still extant two colossal statues, plainly designed as nilometers, and which ought by this time to have been almost covered with earth; but, notwithstanding the length of time these monuments have remained there, they are still bare to the very base.

The strongest argument which the advocates for the increase of land in Egypt make use of is, that the measures by which the quantity of inundation is determined are smaller now than they were in former times; and these small measures are said to have been first introduced by the Saracens. But, as Bruce observes, such an expedient could not have answered any good purpose, as no decrease of the measure could have augmented the quantity of corn produced by the ground. Savary admits that, to render his calculation concerning the increase of land in Egypt absolutely exact, it would be necessary to determine the precise length of the Greek, Roman, and Arabian cubit, and even to know the different alterations which that measure had undergone among the nations who employed them; but this nicety he considers as unnecessary, regarding the general fact to be fully established by what he had said before. Bruce, however, has treated the subject with much greater accuracy. From the situation of Canopus, the distance between Egypt and Cyprus, and the extension of the land to the northward, he concludes that no addition of any consequence can have been made to it for three thousand years past. The only argument left for the increase of land, therefore, must be derived from the nilometer. The use of this instrument was to determine the quantity of the inundation. The first step was to ascertain what space of ground was overflowed in a given number of years; and this being determined by mensuration, the next point was to determine the produce of the ground upon an average. Having thus become acquainted with the greatest and least crops produced, together with the exact extent of ground overflowed, they were furnished with all the necessary principles for constructing a nilometer; and nothing now remained but to erect a pillar in a proper place, and divide it exactly into cubits. This was accordingly done; the pillar was first divided into cubits, and these again were subdivided into digits. The first division of this kind was undoubtedly that mentioned in Scripture, and called the cubit of a man, being the length of the arm from the middle of the round bone in the elbow to the point of the middle finger; a measure still in use among all rude nations. But as no standard could be found by which this measure might be exactly determined, authors have differed very much concerning the true length of the cubit when reduced to our feet and inches. Dr Arbuthnot reckons two cubits mentioned in Scripture, the first containing one foot nine inches and ∙⅛I⅛tbs of an inch, and the second one foot and -⅛¾⅛ths of a foot; but Bruce is of opinion that both these estimates are too large. He found, by mensuration, that the Egyptian cubit was exactly one foot five inches and three fifths of an inch; and Herodotus mentions that in his time the cubit used for determining the increase of the Nile was the Samian cubit, containing about eighteen of our inches. The latter also informs us, that, in the time of Moeris, the minimum increase of the inundation was eight cubits, at which time all Egypt below the city of Memphis was overflowed; but that in his own time sixteen, or at least fifteen cubits, were necessary to produce the same effect. But to this account Bruce objects, that Herodotus could have no certain information concerning the nilometer, because the priests, who alone had access to it, refused to tell him anything of the matter. Herodotus also states, that in the time of Moeris a great lake was excavated in order to carry off the waters of the inundation; and this superfluous quantity Bruce supposes to have been conveyed into the desert for the use of the Arabs, whilst by such a vast drain the rise of the water on the nilometer would undoubtedly be diminished. But even granting that there was such a difference between the rise of the water in the time of Moeris and in that of Herodotus, it does not appear that any thing like it has ever since occurred. Strabo, who travelled into Egypt four hundred years after the time of Herodotus, found that eight cubits were then the minimum, as well as in the time of Moeris. From some passages in Strabo, however, it appears that it required a particular exertion of industry to cause this quantity of water to produce a plentiful crop; but there is not the least reason to suppose that the very same industry was not necessary in the time of Moeris; and hence it cannot be maintained that any increase of land is indicated by the nilometer. About a hundred years afterwards, when the Emperor Hadrian visited Egypt, we learn from unquestionable authority that sixteen cubits were the minimum when the people were able to pay their tribute; and that in the fourth century, under the Emperor Julian, fifteen cubits were the standard of contributions. Both of these accounts correspond with that of Herodotus. But Procopius, who lived in the time of Justinian, informs us that eighteen cubits were then requisite as a minimum.

From these accounts, so various and so discordant, it is obvious that no certain conclusion can be drawn. It is not easy indeed to determine the reason of this difference in point of fact. The only conjecture which can be offered is, that as it appears a smaller quantity of water will, by proper management, answer the purpose of producing a plentiful crop, so it is not unreasonable to suppose that at different periods the industry of the people has varied so much as to occasion the difference in question. This would undoubtedly depend very much upon the governor for the time; and indeed Strabo informs us that it was by the great care of the governor Petronius that such a small quantity of water was made to answer the purpose. From the whole of the above statements, however, it is probable that no increase of land was indicated by the nilometer from the time of Moeris to that of the Emperor Justinian. On the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens, their barbarous and stupid caliph destroyed the nilometer, causing another to be built in its stead; and afterwards fixed the standard of paying tribute considerably below what it had usually been. The Egyptians were thus kept in continual terror, and constantly watched the new nilometer, to observe the gradual increase or decrease of the inundation. On this he ordered the new nilometer to be destroyed, and another to be constructed, and all access to it to be denied to the people; a prohibition which was continued to Christians until the time of the present viceroy. From his own observations, however, Mr Bruce concludes that fifteen cubits are now the minimum of the inundation; and as this coincides with the accounts given in the times of Herodotus and Hadrian, he infers that, from the earliest ages to the present time, the same quantity of water has been necessary to overflow this country.

With respect to what has been urged by Savary concerning the former distance of the island of Pharos from the mainland to which it is now joined, and also regarding the city of Metelis having been once a sea-port, Volney proves that he has quoted Strabo unfairly, and consequently that no stress whatever should be laid upon a garbled authority. The principal, indeed the only evidence, which remains, therefore, is the passage already quoted [7:8:510]from Homer, iň which it is stated that the island of Pharos was as far distant from one of the mouths of the Nile as a vessel could sail in one day before the wind. But it is to be observed that, when Homer speaks of the distance of this island, he does not mean its distance from the shore opposite, as Savary has translated him, but from the river Nile; and, further, that by a day’s sail we must not understand the indefinite distance which the vessels, or rather boats, of the ancient Greeks, could navigate in a day, but an accurate and determinate measure of five hundred and forty stadia. This measure has been ascertained by Herodotus, and is the precise distance between Pharos and the Nile, allowing, with Μ. d’Anville, twenty-seven thousand toises to five hundred and forty stadia. It is therefore far from being proved that the increase of the Delta or of the continent was so rapid or extensive as has been represented; and, if such an opinion were maintained, it would still be impossible to explain how the land at this point, which has not gained half a league since the days of Alexander, should have gained eleven in the much shorter period which elapsed from the time of Menelaus to that of the Macedonian conqueror. The utmost extent of the encroachment of the land upon the sea, however, may be learned from the words of Herodotus; who informs us, that the breadth of Egypt, along the sea-coast, from the Gulf of Plinthine to the Lake Serbonis near Mount Casius, is three thousand six hundred stadia, and its length from the sea to Heliopolis fifteen hundred stadia. For, allowing the stadium of Herodotus to have been equal to between fifty and fifty-one French toises, it follows that the fifteen hundred stadia just mentioned are equal to seventy-six thousand toises; which, at the rate of fifty-seven thousand to a degree, gives one degree and nearly twenty minutes and a half. But, from the astronomical observations of Niebuhr, the difference of latitude between Heliopolis and the sea is one degree twenty-nine minutes at Damietta, and one degree twenty-four minutes at Rosetta; and hence, supposing the measures of the historian and the observations of the traveller to be both accurate, there is a difference of three minutes and a half, or a league and a half of encroachment on the one side, and eight minutes and a half, or three leagues and a half, on the other.

The doctrine, therefore, that Egypt is absolutely the gift of the Nile, a doctrine which was originally proposed by Herodotus, appears to be wholly untenable. From the facts above stated, indeed, we may conclude, first, that the apparent augmentation of the land, arising from the encroachment of the river on the sea, has, in a long tract of ages, been exceedingly trifling; and, secondly, that even this superficial increase may be in a great measure, if not altogether, attributed to errors arising from the comparison of the ancient with the modern standards of measurement. But although the surface of Egypt may have undergone little change in point of extent, from the supposed encroachments of the river, there can be little doubt whatever that the alluvial deposits made by the Nile during its periodical inundations must, in the course of ages, have become considerable. Accordingly, the men of science who accompanied the French expedition to Egypt undertook to measure the depth of alluvial matter actually deposited; and, proceeding on the data thus obtained, they attempted to deduce the mean rate of accumulation, and thence to form conjectures respecting the comparative antiquity of a number of the monuments situated on the banks of the river. By sinking pits at different distances, and in a variety of places, both on the margin of the stream and on the outer edge of the stratum of alluvial matter, they ascertained that the surface of the soil slopes downward from the banks of the river to the base of the hills on either side; that the thickness or depth of the deposit is generally about ten feet near the current, but decreases gradually in proportion as it recedes from the stream; and that beneath the mud there is a bed of sand, analogous to that of the adjoining deserts, on which the alluvial deposit is, as it were, superimposed. Thus the surface of the valley has acquired a convex form, similar to that observed in the plains which border on the Mississippi, the Ganges, and other great rivers, where the alluvial deposits are generally most considerable on the margin of the currents. This being the case, then, the next step was to ascertain the mean rate of accumulation or deposition of alluvial matter in a given period of time, in order thence to form a sort of chronometrical scale, by which the age in which any monument or work of art in the immediate neighbourhood of the river had been erected might be determined by approximation. Assuming that in the original erection of monuments, whether temples, palaces, or statues, the men by whom they were constructed would not place their foundations or bases below the level of the river at ordinary or average inundation, and adopting as the standard of comparison the received chronology of the world, it is obvious that, from the total depth of the alluvial deposit, the mean secularaccumulation would be at once obtained, and that this, again, would give the number of ages which had elapsed since any monument situated as we have already described had been founded.

But there is another mode of arriving at the same or similar results. We learn from Herodotus, that unless the river rose fifteen or sixteen cubits, it did not overflow its banks, and no contributions were levied; and under the Arabs sixteen cubits was the lowest elevation which would allow of an assessment. But the accumulation of soil has raised the standard; and unless the water rise considerably higher, there is now no chance of an abundant harvest. In 1779, which was a bad year, the water rose at the mikyas or nilometer, sixteen cubits and two inches; but in 1800 it reached eighteen cubits three inches. Now, supposing this height to be exactly equivalent to the standard of sixteen cubits at the time the mikyas was erected (A. d. 847), the difference between the two numbers (two cubits and three inches) will give the increase of elevation in the bed of the river since the year 847; so that we have 1∙49 metres, or 3∙77 feet, as the numerical expression for the accumulation of soil in about nine centuries and a half, or nearly four inches in a century. Again, at Elephantine near the southern extremity of Egypt, the ancient nilometer mentioned by Strabo is still standing, and the highest measure marked upon its scale is twenty-four cubits; but the water, when at its greatest elevation, now rises 2∙413 metres, or nearly eight feet, above that mark, whilst, as appears from an inscription on the wall, it rose only 0∙31 of a metre, or l∙01 foot, above the same point at the commencement of the third century of our era. The difference, then, between these numbers (2 , 11 metres, or 6∙9 feet), gives the accumulation of soil in the bed of the river, at that place, during sixteen hundred years, that is, supposing no increase to have taken place in the absolute quantity of water in the river; and from this it follows that the secular or centenary accumulation amounts to 0∙132 of a metre, 0∙434 of a foot, or rather more than five inches. The approximation of the results thus obtained from independent data affords a very strong presumption in favour of their accuracy; and we shall probably come very near the truth in assuming the mean of both, or four inches and a half, as the average secular accumulation. Among the dates thus ascertained, we shall now proceed to mention some of the most remarkable.

And. first, the depth of the soil around the colossal statue of Memnon at Thebes gives only 0∙106 of a metre, [7:8:511]or rather less than four inches, as the rate of secular accumulation, whilst the mean of several observations made in the valley of Lower Egypt gives 0∙126 of a metre, or rather more than four inches. But the basis of the statue of Memnon, having been placed on an artificial mound, must have been originally raised above the level of the inundation; and, from excavations made near it, the French ascertained that the original height of the terrace was six metres, or 19∙686 feet, above the level of the soil. A similar result was obtained from examining the foundations of the palace at Luxor;^[41. This word is an European corruption of El-okior or El-Ocιοr. ] and, in both cases, no doubt remained that the foundations of these edifices were above the level of the river at ordinary or average inundations. Taking 0∙126 of a metre, therefore, as the mean secular accumulation of alluvion, the depth of the soil round the statue of Memnon, divided by this quantity, gave 4760 as the number of years which had elapsed since the monument in question had been erected, or 2960 years before Christ. But, according to the system of chronology founded on the Samaritan text and the Septuagint version of the Scriptures, the deluge occurred in the year 3716 before Christ; and, therefore, according to the above calculation, and proceeding on the data we have mentioned, the erection of this colossal statue took place 756 years after the flood, which is also the approximate date of the foundation of Thebes.^[42. According to the reckoning in the Hebrew text, the deluge occurred 2348 years before Christ; and hence, comparing the above calculation with this chronological estimate, the celebrated metropolis of the Thebaid was founded 612 (2960—2348) years before the flood. Klaproth, however, has shown that, in this matter, a preference ought to be given to the Samaritan text, or even to the Septuagint version, inasmuch as a singular approximation to the former is obtained by taking a mean between it and the Hindu and chinese epochs. (J∕iα Polyglotta, 2δ, 29.) ] Again, the alluvial deposit collected around the base of the obelisk of Luxor indicates, in the same way, that it was erected about fourteen centuries before the Christian era. Thirdly, the causeway which traverses the plain of Siout, or Lycopolis, furnishes similar data for concluding that it was founded nearly twelve hundred years anterior to the same epoch. Lastly, the pillar or obelisk at Heliopolis, six miles from Cairo, appears, from the same sort of evidence, to have been raised about the period last mentioned; but as the waters of the inundation recede more slowly on the plain of the Delta than in the valley of Upper Egypt, the accumulation of alluvial soil will consequently be more rapid there than higher up the stream, and hence the foundations of edifices and monuments will be at a proportionally greater depth than those of the same antiquity in the middle and upper provinces.^[43. Encyclopedia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. “To form these calculations,” says the able and learned writer whom we have here followed, “with such accuracy as would render them less liable to controversy, more time and observation would be requisite than could be given by the French during the short period they continued in undisturbed possession of Egypt; one general and important consequence, however, arising from their inquiries can hardly be overlooked or denied, viz. that the dates thus obtained are as remote fiom the extravagant chronology of the ancient Egyptians as they are consistent with the testimony of both sacred and profane history with regard to the early civilization of that country.” , ]

It is obvious, however, that no great reliance can be placed on such calculations as those of which we have here endeavoured to give some account, and that several elements of error enter into the premises from which they have been deduced. In the first place, the experiments made by the French to ascertain the depth of the alluvial soil were too few in number, and too hastily performed, to render it safe to adopt the results obtained as the basis of reasoning. Secondly, the deposition of mud or soil in the valley of Egypt must have proceeded more rapidly in ancient times than it does in the present day, when all the rocks over which the Nile and its tributaries now flow have long been washed bare, or even than it has done ever since its effects first became an object of inquiry and examination. Thirdly, it is impossible to ascertain whether the measures referred to by the ancient historians were always of the same standard, or whether, in fact, there was any fixed standard at all. And, lastly, the variations in the different systems of chronology are, independently of all other considerations, a double source of uncertainty in such calculations as those which we have been considering. In fact, the very thing to be proved is in some measure taken for granted, and the assumption contained in the premises is merely reproduced in the conclusion. At the same time, in as far as any value may be attached to the dates thus ascertained, they unquestionably serve to negative the extravagant chronology of the ancient Egyptians, and to reduce it within those limits which history, both sacred and profane, has assigned to the early civilization which took root on the banks of the Nile. Further, it is manifest that, though the level of the land has been raised, its superficial extent towards the sea has not been materially increased, and that there appears to be but little ground for the apprehension expressed by Dr Shaw, that in process of time the whole country will be raised to such a height as to prevent the river from overflowing its banks, and that Egypt, deprived of the annual inundation, will, from being the most fertile, become one of the most barren parts of the universe.^[44. Shaw’s Traι∙elι, vol. ii. p. 23δ. ] “As the formation of land in the Delta,” says Dr Russell, “proceeds at a quicker rate than in the higher parts of the basin, the issue of water into the sea becomes year after year less rapid, and consequently less copious; the current is retarded by the accumulation of mud; the mouths are successively choked by the increasing masses of sand and soil; and hence, in the course of ages, the stream, creating a barrier against its own escape, will be thrown back upon the more elevated portion of the valley, and become the willing servant of the agriculturists from Rosetta to the Cataracts.”^[45. Russell’s Fi<w of Ancient and Modem Egypt, p∙ 42. ]

The soil of Lower Egypt is so horizontal and so equal, that at the moment when, on approaching it from the sea, the date trees are discovered in the horizon, the mariner is still about twenty miles distant from the coast; and if he penetrates the country by one of the branches of the Nile, he ascends by so gentle an inclination that he cannot advance more than a league in the hour. The aspects of the plain vary but little. These are, palm trees, isolated or in clusters, which become fewer as you advance; villages built of earth, and having an air of ruins; a surface without apparent limits, which, according to the season of the year, is a sea of fresh water, a marshy plain, an expanse of verdure, or an immense field covered with sand, over which the eye wanders fatigued by the monotony of the prospect. In advancing towards the apex of the Delta, or the point where the bifurcation of the Nile takes place, there are discovered towards the west three isolated masses, which from their forms are immediately recognized as the Pyramids. A little further on commences the valley of the Nile, which is prolonged towards the south, between two chains of heights nearly parallel, for about a hundred and fifty leagues. By its extent, its arid aspect, and its sterility, the eastern bank of the river justifies the denomination of desert which it has received; whilst the western [7:8:512]bank, which is only the crest of a rock covered with sand, presents the appearance of a mound or causeway. In short, let the reader imagine on one side a narrow sea and rocks, on the other immense plains of sand, and in the middle a river, flowing through a valley of a hundred and fifty leagues in length, and from three to seven in width, which at the distance of thirty leagues from the sea separates into two arms, the branches of which wander over a soil almost free from obstacles and void of declivity, and he will be enabled to form a tolerable idea of this singular country. At the same time, the change of the seasons communicates variety even to the narrow valley of the Nile. Towards the winter solstice vegetation appears; the verdure of the meadows delights the eye; a multitude of odoriferous shrubs perfume the air; and Egypt forms then a delicious garden. At the vernal equinox the soil, subjected to all the influence of a sky without clouds, and of continual winds, which often blow with great violence, becomes dry and dusty; whilst, at a still later period, namely, after the periodical inundation, by which it is almost entirely renovated, it is only a vast marsh.^[46. Rifaud, Tableau de V Egypte et de la Nuhie, p. 3, 4. ]

The Nile, which is the largest river of the old world, and may be described as the great artery of Egypt, has its true sources in a region to which the restless foot of adventure has not yet penetrated; and little more is known of them now than in those days when they excited the curiosity of Caesar, and occupied the researches of Eratosthenes. The learned librarian of Alexandria, indeed, distinguished three principal branches of the Nile. The first or most easterly, being identical with the Tacazé of the moderns, flows down the northern side of the tableland of Abyssinia; the second known branch, or the Bahr-el-Azrek, after making a circuit or detour on the table-land of Abyssinia, descends through the plains of Sennaar; and both are tributaries of the Bahr-el-Abiad or White River, which is the true Nile, and probably has its sources in the elevated chain to the south of Darfur, called Djibel-el-Kumri or Mountains of the Moon. The hypothesis of a connection between the Niger and the Nile has been destroyed by recent discoveries, which leave no longer any doubt that the former discharges itself into the sea by several mouths between the Bights of Benin and Biasra. Browne, indeed, has positively asserted that the rivers Misselad and Bar-koolla run from south to north; but even this fact, which is generally admitted, does not allow us to suppose any other communication between the Nile and the Niger than may be formed by canals, like those of the Cassiquiari in Guiana, winding along a table-land, where the sources of the Misselad and Bar-koolla are at a short distance from each other and from those of the Nile; or, perhaps, as it has been affirmed that travellers have passed by water from Timbuctoo to Cairo, it may be supposed that the sources of all these rivers are sufficiently near to admit of intercommunication by means of temporary lakes formed during the rainy season. But the Bahr-el-Abiad, or true Nile, whatever be its source, receives two large rivers from Abyssinia, and then turning to the southward, makes an extensive sweep through the country of Dongola. But at three different points of its course it is intersected by mountains, and at each it has forced a passage for itself through the rocky barrier. The second cataract in Nubia is the most violent and the most difficultly navigable. The third is at Syene or Assouan, the point where the Nile enters Egypt. The height of this cataract, which has been greatly exaggerated bysome travellers, varies according to the season, and is generally about four or five feet. The Cataracts are in fact rapids rather than falls; and at the second, of which an admirable description has been given by Belzoni, the water rushes onward with great velocity. The ridges of rock which formerly crossed the line of the river, and gave rise to the celebrated falls the sound of which was heard at the distance of many a league, and stunned the neighbouring inhabitants, have been insensibly worn down by attrition, until the falls have disappeared, and rapids only remain.^[47. “A similar effect, which time will produce on the cliffs of Niagara,” says Dr Russell, “will be attended with a similar result on the chain of lakes that terminate in Erie, the contents of which will at length find their way to the ocean along the bed of the St Lawrence. In the remote ages of the future, the immense valleys now occupied by the superior, Michigan, and those other inland seas which form so striking a feature in North America, will be covered with flocks, herds, and an agricultural population, and only watered by a fine river passing through their centre. In this way the interior of every continent is drained, while new tracts of alluvial land are added to its extremities.” (Ff«v of Ancient and Modern Egypt, p. 43.) ] From Syene to Cairo the river flows along the valley, between two mountain ridges, one of which extends to the Red Sea, and the other terminates in the deserts of Libya. The river occupies the middle of the valley as far as the strait called Djibbel-Silsili, about forty miles in length, at the mouth of which it runs along the right side of the valley, which is bounded by a steep line of rocks cut into peaks, whilst the ridge on the left is accessible by a slope of varying acclivity. The mountains which confine the basin of the Nile in Upper Egypt are intersected by defiles, which on one side lead to the shores of the Red Sea, and on the other to the Oases. Near Benisouer, the valley, already much widened on the west, presents on that side an opening, through which is obtained a view of the fertile plains of Fayoum, forming a sort of table-land, separated from the mountains on the south and west by a wide valley, a portion of which, being always laid under water, is hence called Birket-el-Karoun. Near Cairo, the chains which limit the valley diverge on both sides, whilst in front opens the vast plain of the Delta; and at Battu-el-Bahara the river separates into two branches, one flowing to Rosetta, the other to Damietta, and forming together two sides of the equilateral triangle called the Delta; which, however, was larger in former times, being bounded on the east by the Pelusiae branch, which is now choked up with sand, and on the west by the Canopic branch, which is partly confounded with the canal of Alexandria, and partly lost in Lake Etko.^[48. Malte-Brun, Geography, vol. iv. p. 20, Eng. transi. Girard, Memoiree cur l’Egypte, tom. iii. p. 13. ]

In ancient times the Nile discharged itself into the sea by seven different mouths or embouchures. The first of these was the Canopic mouth, which flowed into the sea near Canopus, a town situated 120 stadia or fifteen miles to the east of Alexandria, and corresponds with the present outlet of Lake Etko, or, according to others, with that of the Lake of Aboukir or Maadich, through which the Nile then flowed;^[49. This was also called the Hcracleotic and Naucratic mouth; the one from a ∕feracleion or temple of Hercules, and the other from Naucratis, a town on its banks. (See Coote’s l’lan du Nouveau Canal d’.ilacandríe dit Mahmoudych, annexed to Mengin’s ∕∕irt∙ de r Egypte.) ] the second was the Bolbitic or Bolbitine, from Bolbitiné, a town on its banks, near the place where Rosetta now stands; the third, the Săitic, from Sai's, confounded by Strabo with Tanis, probably the opening into the present Lake Burlos; the fourth, the Sebmnytic, from Sebennytus, the course of which is supposed to be marked by the canal of ⅛ibin-el-koum; the fifth, the Phatnitic, Pathmetic, or Bucolic, which passes by Damietta, and now forms the eastern branch of the Nile; the sixth, the Mcn- [7:8:513]desian, so named from Mendes, a town sacred to the Egyptian Pan, which is lost in Lake Menzaleh, the mouth of which is represented by that of Dibeh; and the seventh, the Pelusiae, which seems to be represented by what is now the most easterly mouth of Lake Menzaleh, near the spot where are still to be seen the ruins of Pelusium.^[50. In the time of Herodotus, the river, it appears, divided, near the point of the Delta, into three principal arms: the Canopic (1) on the west, the Pelusiae (7) on the east, and the sebennytic (4) in the middle; whilst from the latter there issued two smaller arms, the Saïtic (3) on the west, and the Mendeslan (6) on the east. These were considered as natural channels; but the two remaining arms, namely, the Bolbitinic, between the Canopic and saïtic, and the Bucolic, to the west of the Mendesian, were artificial. ] But the septem ostia Nili, or seven mouths of the Nile, are at present reduced to two, namely, the Bolbitinic and Phatnitic, or those of Rosetta and Damietta; and of the other five scarcely any distinct vestiges are now traceable, except a canal or two, which are only navigable during part of the year.

The depth and rapidity of the Nile vary according to the particular place and the season of the year. In its ordinary state, the river, from its mouth to the Cataracts, carries no vessel exceeding sixty tons burden. At Damietta it is seven or eight feet deep when the waters are low; but at Rosetta the depth does not exceed four or five feet in the same state of the river. When the waters are high, the depth at both embouchures is increased about forty-one feet, and corvettes carrying twenty-four guns can then sail up as far as Cairo. During the inundation the navigation is facilitated by means of agents which act in a contrary direction; for whilst the strength of the current carries vessels rapidly from the Cataracts to the bogaz or embouchure, the strong northerly winds, which prevail during nine months of the year, enable them with their sails set to ascend the river with almost equal rapidity. When the river is low, and the stream consequently less powerful, these winds, which are constant during the time they prevail, often render it impossible for vessels to make their way downwards even with their sails furled; and hence the practice at such times is to row down the stream during the night, when the wind has subsided, and to halt somewhere during the day; whilst, on the other hand, the vessels which are upward bound sail during the day, and come to an anchor during the night. The passage from Cairo to the Mediterranean occupies from eight to ten days; but, by means of steam navigation, it might easily be performed in less than half that time. When both voyages are practicable, it is an interesting sight to see the numerous boats impelled by opposite agents, passing one another with almost equal rapidity. The mouths of the Nile arc of difficult navigation even during the high state of the river, the shifting sand-banks constantly creating unforeseen dangers. With the aid of a little address, combined with courage, the Cataracts are sometimes passed; the lowest in particular being, as above stated, a rapid rather than a fall, and the others, though more perilous, partaking of the same character.

It has already been observed, that the soil of Lower Egypt chiefly owes its existence to the deposition of mud or earth by the Nile, which has also formed the banks at the different mouths of that river. The mud of the Nile first covered the low ground nearest to its bed or channel, whilst the increase of soil from the deposition of mud was more gradual in its progress in distant parts; and hence arose the formation of lakes. But these in their turn were gradually filled up by the land formed out of the deposited mud of the river, which consequently increased the boundaries of Lower Egypt, by taking from the sea; yet as the tendency of the sea is to resist such encroachments, it is probable that the ground formed by the deposited mud of the Nile will no longer continue to increase in one direction without diminishing in another. The experience of centuries has fully evinced, that the sea has actually taken more from the extent of Egypt than has been compensated by the mud of the Nile. By the simple operation of physical causes, it may be concluded, that if nature and art do not co-operate, if the water be permitted to increase, and the channels of the different branches be augmented, the sea will continue to snatch new lands from the inhabitants; and this appears to be the inevitable doom of Egypt, unless counteracted by the labour and ingenuity of man. A large proportion of the land formerly watered by the branches of the Nile already described, is now the bed of Lake Menzaleh. Lake Bourlos, as we have seen, is not far from the mouth of what was formerly called the Sebennytic branch, and Lake Maadich is near the mouth of the ancient Canopic arm. But Lake Mareotis was at too great a distance from the Nile to be filled up with the mud which it deposits, and its waters were diverted from the lake by a canal which had been cut for the conveyance of water to the city of Alexandria; and hence, having no communication with the sea, its waters were gradually evaporated, and it continued nearly, if not altogether dry until those of the sea were let into it by the British during the siege of Alexandria, in the manner already described. There are also a few lakes which owe their origin to the redundant waters of the Nile diffusing themselves over hollow places in which they are confined, and which only disappear by the gradual process of evaporation. In addition to the branches and chief canals already mentioned, there are numerous lesser canals in Lower Egypt which convey the waters of the inundation, w hilst dykes in different districts serve to retain them. By these waters the more elevated grounds are fertilized, and then other cantons in succession, after which they are poured into the lakes, or are lost in the sea.

The cause of the fertility of Egypt is the Nile, without which, as it almost never rains in that part of the world, the whole country would soon become an uninhabitable desert. Swelled by the rains which fall in Abyssinia, the river begins to rise about the month of May; but the increase is inconsiderable till towards the end of June, when it is proclaimed by a public crier through the streets of Cairo. About this time it usually rises to the height of five or six cubits; and when it has attained sixteen, great rejoicings are made, and the people cry out that God has given them abundance. This commonly takes place about the latter end of July, or at farthest before the 20th of August; and the sooner it occurs, so much the greater are the hopes of a good crop. Sometimes, though rarely, the necessary increase does not take place till a later period of the season. In the year 1705 the river did not swell to sixteen cubits till the 19th of September; and the consequence was that the country was depopulated by famine and pestilence. In ordinary circumstances, however, the rise of the Nile commences at the summer solstice, or towards the end of June; it attains its greatest height at the autumnal equinox, or towards the end of September; it then remains stationary for several days, and at length diminishes, but at a less rapid rate than that at which it rose. But as the Nile of itself cannot overflow the whole country so as to fertilize it, there are cut from it across the country innumerable canals, by which the water is conveyed to distant places; and almost every town or village has [7:8:514]one of these canals. In those parts of the country which the inundation does not reach, and where more water is required than it can furnish, as for irrigating of gardens, recourse is had to artificial means for raising it from the river. In former times Archimedes’ screw was employed for this purpose; but it is now disused, and instead of it the Persian wheel, and other engines of more modern and approved construction, have been introduced. The rise of the inundation is measured, as has already been observed, by an instrument adapted for the purpose, and called a nilometer. This is placed between Gizch and Cairo, on the point of an island in the middle of the river, but somewhat nearer to Gizch. It consists of a round tower with an apartment, in the middle of which is a cistern neatly lined with marble. The bottom of this cistern reaches to that of the river, and there is a large opening by which the water has free access to the inside. The rise of the water is indicated by an octagonal column of blue and white marble, on which are marked twenty cubits of twenty-two inches each. The two lowermost of these have no subdivisions; but each of the rest is divided into twenty-four parts called digits; and the whole height of the pillar is thirty-six feet eight inches. When the river has attained its proper height, all the canals are opened, and the whole country is laid under water. During the time of the inundation a certain vertical motion of the waters takes place; but notwithstanding this, the Nile is so easily managed, that many fields lower than the surface of its waters are preserved from injury merely by a dam of moistened earth seldom more than eight or ten inches in thickness. This method is used particularly in the Delta when it is threatened with a flood.

As the Nile does not always rise to a height sufficient for the purposes of agriculture, the former sovereigns of Egypt expended great labour in cutting proper canals, and in forming lakes or reservoirs, in order to supply the deficiency. Some of these are still preserved, but until the reign of the present viceroy great numbers had been rendered useless through the indolence or barbarity of his predecessors. Those which convey the water into Cairo, the province of Fayoum, and Alexandria, were formerly most attended to by the government; but now all are equally under its superintendence, and kept in a state of good repair. A number of other canals, under the care of those who derive advantage from them, proceed from that arm of the Nile which flows past Damietta, and fertilize the province of Sharkich, which, forming part of the isthmus of Suez, is the most considerable of Egypt, and the most capable of a great increase of cultivation. The plains of Gaza, situated beyond this province, and possessed by the Arabs, would be equally fertile were it not for the propensity of these people to destroy every thing within their reach. A number of other canals run through the Delta; and the remains of those which watered the provinces to the eastward and westward show that in former times these were the best cultivated parts of Egypt. We may also presume, from the extent of the ruins of Alexandria, the construction of the canal, and the natural level of the lands which encompass the Lake Mareotis, and extend westward to the kingdom of Barca, that this country, now almost a desert, was once sufficiently rich in productions of every kind to furnish the city of Alexandria with its whole subsistence.

The air and climate of Egypt are extremely hot, not only from the height of the sun, which in summer approaches to the zenith, but from the want of rain, and the vicinity of those burning and sandy deserts which lie to the southward. In the months of July and of August, Reaumur’s thermometer stands, in the shade, at the height^[51. Tableau de l’Egypte et de la Nubie, p. 9, 10. ] of twenty-four or twenty-five degrees above the freezing point; and in the southern parts it is said to rise sti∏ higher. Hence the two principal seasons to be distinguished in Egypt are the cool and the hot, or spring and summer, with a very short winter in the north. “La temperature de l’Egypte,” says Rifaud, “varie selon la latitude et l’époque de l’année où l’on fait des observations. Dans le nord, le thermomètre descend en hiver jusqu’à deux ou trois degrés au-dessus de zéro; dans les chaleurs, il descend rarement au-dessous de 22 degrés. Dans le sud, vers Ecouan (Assouan) on a constaté des chaleurs de 34 degrés à l’ombre, et le thermomètre, placé dans le sable, marquait jusqu'à 54 degrés au soleil. 1 The summer continues during the greater part of the year, namely, from March to November, or even longer; and by the end of February the sun is intolerable to a European even at nine o’clock in the morning. During the whole of this season the air seems to be inflamed, the sky sparkles, and profuse perspiration takes place, even without the least exercise, and although covered with the lightest dress. But this heat is tempered by the inundation of the Nile, the fall of the night dews, and the subsequent evaporation; so that some of the European merchants, as well as the natives, complain of the cold in winter. The dew which we speak of is not formed regularly throughout the summer, as with uş, the parched state of the country not affording a sufficient quantity of vapour for this purpose. It is first observed about the end of June, when the river has begun to rise, and consequently a greater quantity of water is converted into vapour by the heat of the sun, which being soon condensed by the cold of the night air, descends in copious dews.

It might naturally be imagined, that as, during three months in the year, Egypt is a wet and marshy plain, the excessive evaporation and the putrefaction of the stagnant waters would render it exceedingly unhealthy. But this is by no means the case. The great dryness of the air causes it to absorb vapours of all kinds with the utmost avidity; and these rising to a great height, are carried off by the winds either to the southward or northward, without having time to communicate any of their deleterious effects. This dryness is so remarkable in the internal parts of the country, that meat exposed to the open air does not putrefy even in summer, but soon becomes hard and dry like wood. In the deserts dead carcasses dried in this manner, and which have become so light that one may easily raise that of a camel, are frequently met with. In the maritime parts, however, such dryness of the air is not to be expected, and the same degree of moisture which is usually met with in such situations prevails. At Rosetta and Alexandria, iron cannot be exposed to the air for twenty-four hours without rusting. The air of Egypt is also strongly impregnated with saline particles. The stones, says Volney, are corroded by natron or mineral alkali; and in moist places crystallizations are to be found which might be taken for saltpetre. The wall of the Jesuits’ garden at Cairo, built with earth and bricks, is everywhere covered with a crust of natron, as thick as a crown piece; and when this garden has been overflowed by the waters of the kalid, or canal, the ground, after they have been drained off, sparkles on every side with crystals, certainly not brought thither by the water, which shows no indication of salt either to the taste or by distillation. But whatever may be the quantity of salt contained in the earth, Volney’s opinion of its being produced by the air can [7:8:515]scarcely be maintained. The salt in question is excessively fixed, and cannot be dissipated into the air without the violent heat of a glass-house furnace; and even after this has been done, it cannot remain diffused throughout the atmosphere, but must quickly descend. No experiments have ever shown that any salt was or could be diffused in the air, except volatile alkali, which is now known to be formed by the union of two permanently elastic fluids; and it is certain that a saline air would quickly prove fatal to the animals who inhaled it. The abundance of this kind of salt in Egypt only shows, therefore, that by some unknown operation the heat of the sun forms it cut of the two ingredients of earth and water, though we do not yet understand the manner in which it is effected, nor are we able to imitate this natural operation. To this saline property of the earth is ascribed the excessive quickness of vegetation in Egypt, which is so great that a species of gourd called kara will, in twenty-four hours, send forth shoots of four inches in length; but, probably from the same cause, no exotic plant is found to thrive in Egypt. The merchants are obliged annually to send to Malta for their garden seeds; and though the plants thrive very well at first, yet if the seed of them be preserved, and sown a second year, they become too tall and slender.

By reason of the extreme dryness of the air, Egypt is in a great measure exempted from the phenomena of rain, hail, snow, thunder, and lightning. Earthquakes are also seldom heard of in that country; though they have sometimes proved very fatal and destructive, particularly one which happened in the year 1112. In the Delta it never rains in summer, and very seldom at any other season. In 1761, however, such a quantity of rain unexpectedly fell, that a great number of houses built of mud walls tumbled down, in consequence of being soaked with the water. In Upper Egypt the rain is still less frequent; but the people, sensible of the advantages which result from it, always rejoice when any falls, however insufficient it may be to supply their wants. But this want of rain is supplied by the water of the inundation, and by the heavy dews already mentioned. The latter originate partly from the waters of the inundation, and partly also from the sea. These dews are more or less copious according to the direction of the wind. They are produced in the greatest quantity by the westerly or northerly winds, which blow from the sea; but the south and south-east winds, blowing over the arid deserts of Africa and Arabia, produce none whatever.

The periodical return of winds from a certain quarter is a very remarkable phenomenon in this country. When the sun approaches the tropic of Cancer, they shift from the east to the north; and during the month of June they always blow from the north or north-west. They continue northerly all the month of July, only varying sometimes towards the east, and sometimes in a contrary direction. About the end of the latter month, and during the whole of August and September, they blow directly from the north, and are of but moderate strength, though generally weaker in the night than during the day. Towards the end of September they return to the east, though they do not absolutely fix in that point, but blow more regularly from it than from any other except the north and north-west. As the sun approaches the southern tropic they become more variable and tempestuous, blowing most commonly from the north, north-east, and west, which they continue to do throughout the months of December, January, and February; and, during that season, the vapours raised from the Mediterranean condense into a mist, and even sometimes into rain. Towards the end of February, and during the succeeding month, the winds blow more frequently from the south than from any other quarter. During the whole of the months of March and April they blow from the south, south-east, and south-west; sometimes from the north and east, the latter winds being most prevalent about the end of that month, and continuing during the whole of May. “Les vents d’ouest et de nord-ouest,” says Rifaud, “poussent vers l’Egypte les sables des déserts de l’Afrique. Ces sables, aprèsavoir franchi la chaine Liby que, descendent dans la vallée, et rétrécissent de plus en plus la bande de terrain cultivable. Ces sables, uniquement composés de grains quartzeux, s'accumulent en dunes en quelques endroits.”^[52. Tableau de r Egypte et de la Nubic^ p. 10. ]

It is to the long continuance of the north winds, formerly denominated the Etesian winds, that Egypt probably owes its extreme dryness, as well as part of the inundation by which it is fertilized. From the month of April till July there appear to be two immense currents in the atmosphere; the under one blowing from the north, and the upper one from the south. By the former the vapours are raised from the Mediterranean and the southern parts of Europe, whence they are carried over Abyssinia, and dissolve on the lofty chains of the interior in immense deluges of rain; whilst by the latter the superfluous vapours, or those raised from the country of Abyssinia itself, are carried northward toward the sources of the Euphrates, where the clouds coming from the south, and descending into the lower part of the atmosphere, dissolve in like manner into rain, and produce an inundation of the Euphrates similar to that of the Nile, and immediately succeeding it. Bruce had an opportunity of ascertaining this fact in the month of June 1768; for whilst on a voyage from Sidon to Alexandria, be observed great numbers of thin white clouds moving rapidly from the south, and in direct opposition to the Etesian winds.

Besides the ordinary winds here spoken of, Egypt is visited with the destructive blasts common to all tropical countries which have extensive deserts in their neighbourhood. The most destructive of these has been distinguished by various names, such as poisonous wind, hot wind, Samiel, the wind of Damascus, Khamsin, and Simoom. These are different names for the same wind, which is denominated Khamsin in Egypt, Samiel in Arabia, and Simoom or Seimoum in the desert. “Dès que ce vent de sud commence à souffler, l’atmosphère se trouble; one teinte pourpre plus ou moins vive la colore; le ressort de l’air et son élasticité cessent; one chaleur seche et brûlante les remplace, en même temps que des tourbillons, semblables aux émanations d’une fournaise ardente, se succèdent par intervalles. Lorsque cet état de l’atmosphère n’est que faible, il cause un mal-aise général, dont tous les êtres organisés se ressentent; à un degré plus intense, il rend malade, et peut même causer la mort.”^[53. Tableau de l’ Egypte et de la Nubie, p. 8. ] Blasts of this description are in Egypt denominated “winds of fifty days,” because they most commonly prevail during the fifty days preceding and following the equinox; though, were they to blow constantly during one half of that time, an universal destruction would be the consequence. Of the effects of these winds travellers have given various descriptions. Volney states that the violence of their heat may be compared to a large oven at the moment of drawing out the bread. They always blow from the south, and are undoubtedly produced by the motion of the atmosphere over extensive tracts of hot sand, by which it is deprived of its moisture, and heated as if it had passed through a furnace. When they begin to blow, the sky (as stated by Rifaud in the passage already quoted) loses its usual serenity, [7:8:516]and assumes a dark, heavy, and alarming aspect; even the sun himself lays aside his usual splendour, and becomes of a violet colour. This terrific appearance seems not to be occasioned by any real haze or cloud in the atmosphere at that time, but solely by the vast quantity of fine sand carried along by these winds, and which is so excessively subtile that it penetrates everywhere. The motion of this wind is always rapid, but its heat is not intolerable till after it has continued for some time. Its pernicious qualities are evidently occasioned by its excessive avidity for moisture. It dries and shrivels up the skin; and the lungs being also powerfully affected by it, suffocation and death sometimes ensue. The danger is greatest to those of a plethoric habit of body, or who have been exhausted by fatigue; and putrefaction soon takes place in the bodies of such as have fallen victims of“the hot breath of the desert.” Its extreme dryness is such that water sprinkled on the floor evaporates in a few minutes; all the plants are withered and stripped of their leaves; and, in the case of human beings, fever is instantly produced by the suppression of perspiration. It usually lasts three days, but is altogether insupportable if it continue beyond that time. The danger is greatest when the wind blows in squalls, and when travellers happen to be exposed to its fury without any shelter. The best method in this case is to stop the nose and mouth with a handkerchief. Camels, by a natural instinct, bury their noses in the sand, and remain in this position until the gust has passed by. The inhabitants who have an opportunity of retiring to their houses, instantly shut themselves up, or descend into pits made in the earth, till the destructive breath of the desert be overpast.

The description of a blast of this kind which overtook Bruce in the desert of Nubia is still more striking than that given by Volney. Pillars of moving sand, raised by the winds in the desert, were observed by the traveller on this occasion in all their terrific majesty. Sometimes they appeared to move slowly; at other times they rushed on with incredible swiftness, so that they could not have been avoided by the fleetest horse. Sometimes they approached so near that they threatened destruction to the whole company. Frequently the tops, having reached an immense height, so as to be lost in the clouds, suddenly separated from the columns, and dispersed themselves in the air; sometimes the whole column broke off near the middle, as if it had received a cannon shot; and the size of some of the columns was such that at the distance of three miles they appeared about ten feet in diameter. Next day, however, they seemed of a smaller size, but more numerous, and sometimes approached within two miles of the party. The sun was now much obscured, and the transmission of his rays gave the columns of sand an appearance resembling pillars of fire. This was pronounced by the guide to be a sign of the approaching Simoom or hot wind; and he directed, that when it arrived, the people should fall upon their faces and keep their mouths on the ground, in order to avoid inhaling this pernicious blast. On his calling out that the Simoom was coming, Bruce turned for a moment to the quarter whence it came, which was the south-east. It appeared like a haze or fog of a purple colour, but less bright than the purple part of the rainbow, and seemed about twenty yards in breadth, and twelve feet above the ground. It moved with such rapidity, that before he could turn round and fall prostrate, he felt the vehement heat of its current upon his face; and even after it had passed over, which was very quickly, the air that followed was of such a heat as to threaten suffocation. Bruce had unfortunately inhaled some portion of the pernicious blast; by which means he almost entirely lost his voice, and became sub ject to an asthmatic complaint, from which he did not recover for nearly two years. The same phenomenon occurred twice afterwards during the journey through this desert. The second time, the blast came from the south a little to the east, and seemed to have a shade of blue blended with the purple, its edges being less perfectly defined; and it resembled a thin smoke, having about a yard in the middle tinged with blue and purple hue. The third time, it was preceded by an appearance of sandy pillars more magnificent than any which had yet been observed; and the sun shone through them in such a manner as to give to those which were nearest the appearance of being spangled with stars of gold. The Simoom which followed had the same blue and purple hue as before, and was followed by a most suffocating wind, which lasted for about two hours, and reduced our travellers to the lowest degree of weakness and despondency. This wind always came from the south-east, whilst the sandy pillars, which prognosticated its approach, kept to the westward, and occupied the vast circular space inclosed by the Nile to the west of the route followed by the travellers, sweeping round by Chagre towards Dongola. The heaps of sand left by them when they fell, or raised by the whirlwinds which carried them up, were twelve or thirteen feet in height, and exactly conical in shape, tapering to a fine point, whilst their bases were well proportioned.

Though the climate of Egypt is far from being unhealthy, yet there are not a few diseases which seem to be peculiar to that country, and originate either in the constitution of the atmosphere, or in the manner of living among the inhabitants. Till lately the plague was supposed to be one of these native diseases; but it is now agreed that this distemper never originates in the interior parts of Egypt; it always begins at Alexandria, and passes thence successively to Rosetta, Cairo, Damietta, and the rest of the Delta. It is likewise observed that its appearance is almost invariably preceded by the arrival of some vessel from Smyrna or Constantinople; and if it has been very violent in either of these cities, the danger of Egypt is just so much the greater. In fact, it is found to be in reality a native of Constantinople, whence it is exported by the absurd negligence of the Turks, who refuse to take any precautions to prevent the spreading of the infection. As they sell even the clothes of the dead, and as ships laden with this pernicious commodity used to be sent to Alexandria, it is no wonder that it should have made its appearance in the latter place. As soon as it is found to have reached Cairo, the European merchants shut themselves up with their families in their khans or lodgings, and take care to have no further communication with the city. But there is a remarkable difference between the plague at Constantinople and that which occasionally appears in Egypt. In the former place, it is most violent in summer; but in the latter, winter is the season of danger, the disease always disappearing in the month of June. It is also observed, that the water-carriers of Egypt, whose backs are constantly moist, from the nature of their occupation, never take the plague. Every fourth or fifth year, Egypt was till latterly visited with this dreadful scourge.

A malady which seems to be peculiar to Egypt is blindness. This is so common at Cairo, that out of a hundred persons whom Volney accidentally met on the streets he reckoned twenty quite blind, ten without the sight of one eye, and twenty others with their eyes red, purulent, or blemished. Almost every one wears a fillet, which is a token of an approaching or convalescent ophthalmia. In considering the causes of this disorder, Volney reckons the sleeping upon terraces as a principal one. The south wind cannot, according to him, be the cause, otherwise the Bedouins would be equally subject to it with the Egyptians [7:8:517] themselves; but the principal cause, he thinks, is the poor and little nutritive food on which the natives are obliged to subsist.^[54. This is no doubt one cause of the distemper; but Rifaud has shown that there are others. “On a attribué la fréquence des ophthalmies en Egypte aux vents qui soufflent périodiquement; je croirois plutôt pouvoir trouver la cause de cette maladie dans l’habitude où sont les Egyptiens de coucher sur les terrasses pendant neuf mois de l’année. Il faut considérer que les campagnes de l’Egypte sont d’immenses plaines, où la lumière est très vive; leur terrain est sec, friable, et brûlant, particulièrement en été; il est argilleux et crayeux, contenant le nitrate de potasse, le natron, et le muriate de coude. D'ailleurs, les jours sont d’une chaleur excessive, tandis que les nuits sont fraiches, humides, et nébuleuses, ces circonstances physiques réunies ne peuvent agir sur l’organe de la vue sans y causer des désordres. On a remarqué que les ophthalmies sont plus communes en été qu’en hiver, et que les animaux y sont sujets aussi-bien que les hommes. (Rifaud, Tableau de F Egypte, p. 9.) ] The cheese, sour-milk, honey, confections of grapes, green fruits, and raw vegetables, which are the ordinary food of the common people, produce in the stomach a disorder which physicians have observed to affect the sight; and the raw onions, especially, which they devour in prodigious quantities, have a peculiarly heating quality. Bodies thus nourished abound in corrupt humours, which constantly seek a discharge; and, diverted from the ordinary channels by habitual perspiration, these humours fly to the exterior parts, and fix themselves where they find the least resistance. They therefore naturally attack the head, because the Egyptians, by shaving it once a week, and covering it with a prodigiously hot headgear, principally attract to it the perspiration; and if the head receive ever so slight an impression of cold on being uncovered, this perspiration is suppressed, and falls upon the teeth, or still more readily on the eyes as being the tenderest part. The ancient Egyptians, who went about bareheaded, are not mentioned by physicians as having been so much afflicted with ophthalmia as the modern; and the Arabs of the desert, who cover their heads slightly, especially when young, are but little subject to this disease. In Egypt, blindness is often the consequence of small-pox; a disorder which, until lately, when vaccination was partially introduced by Mehemmed Ali, used to be very frequent and fatal. Another cause of this distemper may perhaps be found in the fine impalpable sand which is carried about by the wind, and also in the intolerable brilliancy of the sunbeams reflected from a burning and sandy soil impregnated with nitrous salt.

Besides these, there are two diseases less commonly met with in Egypt; namely, a cutaneous eruption, which returns annually, and a swelling of the testicles, which often degenerates into an enormous hydrocele. The former comes on towards the end of June or beginning of July, making its appearance in red spots and pimples all over the body, which occasion a very troublesome itching, and is probably occasioned by the waters of the Nile, which towards the end of April become putrid. The hydrocele most commonly attacks the Greeks and Copts, and is attributed to the quantity of oil which they make use of, as well as to their frequent hot bathing. In the spring season malignant fevers occasionally prevail. In the treatment of these bleeding is found prejudicial, whilst vegetable diet, and bark in large quantities, have been found useful.

We have already described the geographical configuration of the valley of the Nile, with its natural boundaries consisting of two elevated ridges between which the river flows for about a hundred and fifty leagues. These mountain chains are on many accounts highly deserving of attention, but on none, perhaps, more than by reason of their geological structure and characters. After passing through a district of primitive formation, they enter that of the secondary and floetz-trap kind, and terminate in deposits belonging to the most recent species of stratified rocks.

The granite or southern district extends from Philoe to Assouan, in 24° 8 , 6" N. and 33° M E., and consists for the most part of syenite or oriental granite, in which may still be observed the quarries whence the ancient Egyptians detached the stupendous monoliths required for their co- ' lossal statues and obelisks. The granite is occasionally diversified by alternations of gneiss, porphyry, clay-slate, quartz, and serpentine, erroneously described as a greencoloured marble, containing imbedded in them a variety of carnelians and jaspers; and there has also been observed in this district a granular foliated limestone or marble, exhibiting various hues, as white, grey, yellow, blue, red, and, when combined with serpentine, forming the rock known by the name of verde-antico From the quarries of Philoe, Elephantine, and Syene, were obtained the beautiful oriental or rose-coloured granite, called syenites by Pliny, from the place near which it abounded, but differing from the syenite of modern mineralogists. In this rock two thirds of the mass consists of felspar, varying in colour from a pale pink to a brick red; and the remainder is composed of mica exhibiting a metallic lustre, and diaphanous quartz, with sometimes a small quantity of hornblende, in which case it becomes the syenite of Werner. Pliny denominates it Thebaic stone, not from there having been any quarries of this rock in the neighbourhood of Thebes, but from the frequency of its occurrence in the gigantic monuments of the ancient capital of Egypt. The rose-coloured variety seems chiefly confined to the vicinity of Elephantine, though it is also found unmixed for some distance on both sides of the river. As syenite is connected by numerous shades and gradations both with the common granite and also with the succeeding species of rock, so we have accordingly the granitello of lapidaries when it is fine grained, grey syenite when the felspar is of that colour, black and white granite when the felspar is white and the mica black, and Egyptian or oriental basalt when it has been extracted from veins in which the mica and hornblende prevail in black homogeneous masses, with scarcely any admixture of felspar. The hardness of this stone is such as to preserve its surface uninjured by exposure to the atmosphere. But the remarkably perfect state in which the monuments of Egypt are found ought perhaps to be ascribed to the uniform dryness of the air, and the almost total absence of rain; and this is rendered more probable by the circumstance, that in the Delta, especially near the sea, where showers occasionally fall, and the atmosphere is charged with a greater quantity of moisture, the process of decomposition has commenced, and in some places made considerable progress.^[55. Encydup<rdia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ]

Between Assouan and Esnch, in 25° 19 ’ 39’ N. is the argillaceous sandstone or middle district, which supplied slabs for most of the temples; and beyond it the northern or calcareous district stretches to the southern angle or vertex of the Delta. At Esnch, indeed, the rocks assume the calcareous character, and retain it until they merge into the plain below Cairo, at the southern limit of the lower division of Egypt. From this last chain were quarried, not only the solid part of the Pyramids, but also materials for many public buildings, which, as they proved excellent stores of lime and stone for the Arabs and other barbarians who for so many centuries desolated Egypt, have long since been destroyed. The steep perpendicular cliffs of this limestone formation impart to the portion of the country where it prevails a hard and monotonous aspect, [7:8:518] contrasting unfavourably with the bold and picturesque forms of the mountains in the south, which offer new' points of view in continual succession, and give an agreeable variety to the landscape, even when the inundation is at its greatest height. The limestone of this region exhibits a splintery or conchoidal fracture, is grey or variegated in colour, and contains numerous petrifactions of shells, corals, and fishes. A similar rock occurs in the ridges bounding the transverse valley which leads to Cosseir; and in the same mountain district there are hills of limestone conjoined with gypsum. Here also the sand is partly calcareous and partly quartzose, thus indicating the composition of the strata from the debris of which it has been formed. The site of the ancient capital of Egypt is at the lower limit of the middle or sandstone district, and from the quarries of Djibbel-el-Silsileh or the Mountain of the Chain, were obtained the materials used in the construction of its stupendous temples and palaces. Here the sandstone terminates and the freestone begins; the hills are no longer parallel, but diverge in various directions; and on the first level of any extent below the Cataracts are found the ruins of Thebes, covering a large portion of the valley. From this point the calcareous chain continues on each side of the valley to the summit or vertex of the Delta, where the hills open to the east and west, uniting with the Libyan chain on one side, and inclining towards the mountains of Arabia Petraea on the other. But though generally calcareous, this chain, especially near the desert, is occasionally intersected by isolated masses of sandstone.^[56. Encyclopoedia Metropolitana, art. Egypt· Russell, view of Ancient and Modern Egypt, p. 466. ]

But the most singular portion of Egypt, in a geological point of view, is that which is cońiprehended in the Bahr-bilama or waterless sea, and the basin of the natron Jakes. These two valleys run parallel to each other. The mountain of natron skirts the whole length of the valley of that name, but it contains none of the rocks which are found scattered about in the valley, such as quartz, jasper, and petrosilex. In the direction of this valley is a series of six lakes, the banks and waters of which are covered with crystallizations consisting of muriate of soda or sea salt, and carbonate of soda or natron. When a volume of water contains both these salts, the muriate of soda is the first to crystallize, and the carbonate of soda is then deposited in a separate stratum; but the two crystallizations sometimes affect separate localities in insulated portions of the same lake. The ridge which separates the basin of the natron lakes from the valley of the Bahr-bilama consists chiefly of natron mixed with muriate of soda, which saltis also found in the valley of the wilderness in thin compact layers supported by strata of gypsum, and in other deserts, where it occurs in a state of crystallization, sometimes under the sand, but much more frequently upon the surface. The valley of the Bahr-bilama, separated, as already described, from that of natron, is about eight miles in breadth. In the sand with which its surface is everywhere covered, trunks of trees have been found in a state of complete petrifaction. It is thought by some that a branch of the Nile once passed in this direction.^[57. Mémoires sur l’Egypte, tum iii. p. 255. Denon, tom. ii. pp. 49, 158, 195, 208. Andréossy, Mémoire sur la vallée des Lacs de Natron, dans la Description de l’Egypte, torn. i. Malte-Brun, Geography, vol. iv. p. 29. ]

Of the more precious minerals found in Egypt we shall only give a brief enumeration. The topaz, which is said to have attracted the attention of some ancient kings, is still found in various places, particularly in an island called Zamorget, or the island of topazes, in the Red Sea. Emeralds were anciently obtained by means of excavation, in the mountainous ridge which skirts the western shores of the Arabian Gulf, and constituted an article of com merce among the Romans; and Bruce speaks of an island of emeralds in the same sea, but, upon examination, it was found to produce nothing more valuable than fluor spar. Chrysoberyl is also enumerated amongst the mineral productions of Upper Egypt. The rarest varieties of quartz to be met with in any part of Africa are the Egyptian avanturine, and the rock-crystal of the northern shores. Chalcedony and carnelian have been picked up on each bank of the Nile, both in the upper and lower provinces. Agate belongs to the rocks which diversify the monotony of the desert to the eastward of Cairo. Jasper occurs in veins of considerable thickness in the clay-slate which bounds the upper part of the valley of the Nile, between Esnch and Siout; but a finer kind, for which Egypt has long been celebrated, is found both in the sandy waste between Cairo and Suez, and also in that part of the country below Benisouer, where it occurs imbedded in a species of conglomerate. Actynolite, epidote, and hornblende, to which may be added heavy spar, or sulphate of barytes, are frequently to be met with in the transverse valleys which diverge from Upper Egypt towards the Red Sea, particularly in the valley of Cosseir.

The mountains of Egypt, and those of the countries immediately contiguous thereto, have been so imperfectly explored that we are still ignorant of the amount and diversity of their metallic treasures. But, from the early advancement of the useful arts in Egypt, and particularly from the gigantic labours of the Anakim of ancient days, in not only detaching but working into a great variety of forms enormous blocks of the hardest granite, it may safely be concluded that iron was not unknown to them, that it must have been fourni at no great distance from the great works in which it was employed, and that the subjects of the elder Pharaohs were also acquainted with the method of converting it into steel. Their quarries whence gigantic blocks were detached, their obelisks covered with hieroglyphics frequently cut in relief, and their statues chiselled out of the hardest rock, indicate, in a manner not to be misunderstood, that instruments of the best temper must have been placed in the hands of their workmen and artists, and that they wrought with tools of the finest steel, which, of course, they must have known how to prepare. With regard to the precious metals, although Africa affords a considerable quantity of gold, which is obtained in the form of dust, or collected by washing from the sand of rivers or the alluvial soil of valleys between ranges of mountains, yet the position of Egypt deprives it, in a great measure, of this source of wealth. But in the countries above the Cataracts, particularly in Kordofan, there are several tracts where this metal is found in considerable quantities; and hence, probably, arose the opinion, so prevalent amongst the ancients, that Ethiopia was a country which abounded in gold. In our time, however, the supply of this metal received at Cairo and Alexandria is derived from that elevated region which contains the sources of the Gambia, the Senegal, and the Niger, and from the district of Bambouk, situated to the north-west of the lofty range which forms as it were the back-bone of the African continent. Of silver, copper, lead, and antimony, no traces whatever are to be found below Abyssinia. To Egypt nature having given the Nile, seems to have considered that precious gift, annually renewed, as an adequate compensation for the want of products far less available to the wants and necessities of man.^[58. Murray, Historical Account of Travels and Discoveries in Africa, vol. ii. pp. 424, 438. Lyall, Principles of Geology, vol. i. p. 238. ]
[7:8:519]

These geological notices are, we admit, exceedingly imperfect. But hitherto travellers have, from various causes, bestowed much less attention on the geology of Egypt than the subject unquestionably requires; and, even in Lyall’s Principles of this science, all that we meet with respecting either the valley of the Nile or the Delta is at once so meagre and superficial that it deserves to be signalized only for its want of satisfactory information. As yet no extensive or connected series of observations has been made in regard to the direction and inclination of the strata, either in the mountainous ridges within which the Nile is confined, or in the transverse valleys which branch off towards the Red Sea on the one hand and the Oases on the other; and although we are reminded of the usual mineralogical distinctions, and meet with much learned phraseology about primitive, secondary, floetz, and alluvial formations, yet we search in vain for any thing like systematic views based on accurate observation, and are thus compelled to rest satisfied with conjecture, where, if facts had been supplied, we might have been in a condition to reason on established philosophical principles. Egypt is therefore a field which is still in a great measure unexplored by the scientific geologist, but it is nevertheless one which will amply repay the judicious and persevering labourer; and we trust that the period is not distant when a regular mineralogical survey will be executed of a country which, all circumstances considered, is certainly one of the most remarkable and interesting upon the face of the earth.

SECTION IV.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ACTUAL STATE OF EGYPT.

Ancient and modem divisions of Egypt—Relative positions of the provinces of each division Population Turks, Copts,

Arabs.—Distinction between the Arabs and copts—Descent of the latter—The Coptic language.—Turks.—Greeks—Jews.— Total population—Civil government of Egypt—Court and household of the viceroy. — Local authorities Tenure of land—Mode in which it is cultivated—Condition of the Fellahs or Cultivators—Canal of Mahmoιιdych, between the Nile and Alexandria—Circumstances which led to and attended the construction of this great work Trade of Alexandria Pro gress of the cultivation of cotton, and the introduction of cotton manufactures—Quantity of raw cotton exported Silk, flax, sugar, tobacço, and other commodities.—System of monopoly and pre-emption Its disadvantages and probable results.

—Indian trade—Imports and exports.—Caravans-—statistics of Egypt Manners and Customs Comparative condition of that country before and under the government of Mehemmed Ali. Its future prospects.—General reflections.

In modern as well as in ancient times, Egypt is divided into three principal parts: namely, the Balihari, corresponding to the Delta or Lower Egypt; the Vostani, corresponding to the Heptanomis, or Middle Egypt; and the Saïd, corresponding to the Thebaid, or Upper Egypt. This division is indicated by the course of the river and the configuration of the country. The Bahhari, or Lower Egypt, includes the provinces of Bahhirch, Rosetta or Raschid, Gharbich, Menouf, Manssourah, and Sharkich. The Vostani, or Middle Egypt, comprehends those of Cairo, Gizch, zlttafich, Kelioubeh, Fayoum, and Benisouer. The Saïd, or Upper Egypt, consists of the provinces of Siout, Djirdjch, and Kennch or Thebes.

The province of Bahhirch occupies the north-western province of Egypt, but is not comprised in the Delta properly so called. Its limits are the Mediterranean towards the north, and on the east and south-east the branch of the Nile between Darasouch and Rosetta; whilst a line, exterior to Lake Mareotis, commencing at the Arabs’ Tower, and sweeping to the south-east, would complete the circumscription of the province. The principal places of Bahhirch are, Alexandria and Aboukir on the coast, and, ascending the Rosetta branch of the Nile, the towns of Deirout, Rhamanieh, and Damanhour. To the west and south-west of this province is the valley of natron, or the valley of the waterless sea. The province of Rosetta is inconsiderable, and stretches along the right bank of that arm of the Nile which terminates at the bogaz. Its most important point is the town of Rosetta. Gharbich extends from the sea on the north, where it borders with the province of Rosetta, to that of Menouľ on the south. The capital of Gharbich is Mehallet-el-Kebir; and this province also contains the towns of Fouah, Samanhout, Tintah, and Zephtch. Lake Bourlos is situated in this province. Menouf is at the vertex of the angle formed by the two branches of the Nile which proceed, the one to Rosetta, and the other to Damietta. The capital is Menoufych, to the south-west of which are the village of Melik and the fort of Taouch. The province of Manssourah extends to the right of the Damietta branch of the river, and is bounded on the north by Lake Menzaleh. In proceeding from the north to the south, the traveller successively reaches the village of Esbeh, and the towns of Damietta, Farescout, and Manssourah. On the eastern bank of Lake Menzaleh is the town of the same name. Sharkich is situated to the east of the canal of Moez. This canal, which is the ancient Tanitic branch of the river, dommences at the place where the ruins of Abril are observed, close to Ðanha, and runs north-east into Lake Menzaleh, at no great distance from the site of the ancient Pelusium. The country between Abril and Pelusium is one of the most fertile in Egypt, and contains several rich towns and villages, such us Guenieh, Heiheh, Kars-Four-Nighch, and others. The eastern part of the province of Sharkich is traversed by the road which leads from Cairo to Syria. Belbeis is the most considerable town which the traveller meets with in this direction; then come the group of Horaïn, and the canton of Salahich, on leaving which he crosses the isthmus of Suez, and reaches El-Arisch, and lastly Gaza, the first town of Syria on the side of Egypt. Such are the different provinces of Lower Egypt, with their relation to one another in point of position.

Passing on to Central Egypt we come to Cairo, the capital of the country. This city stands at the distance of half a league from the Nile, and extends in an easterly direction towards the mountains, about two leagues. It is three or four leagues in circumference, and contains many fine places or squares, nearly three hundred mosques, and from four hundred thousand to four hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. Boulak, a town situated on the eastern bank of the Nile, is close to Cairo, of which it is the entrepôt or port. Here all the boats which come from Lower Egypt discharge their cargoes. Gizch or Djizch is situated on the western bank of the Nile, at a short distance from the Pyramids, which are hence called the Pyramids of Gizch or Cairo. The town of Gizch, though of moderate extent, is, in the estimation of Europeans, the most agreeable in all Egypt. The province of Fayoum is situated to the south-west of Gizch, and is very populous and fertile. Its capital is Medina, a town of some importance. A portion of Fayoum is constantly submerged. At the distance of two leagues from the bridge of Illaoun is the junction of the two great canals which supply it with water. These are the Bahr-Yussuf and the Darout-Scherif. The Bahr-Yussuf extends fifty leagues from the point of the Saïd, where it commences, to that of Fayoum, where it terminates. The province of Benisouer is situated to the south-east of Fayoum. Its capital, Ðenisouer, distant thirty-eight leagues from Cairo, is one of the most important towns in Egypt. The other places of note are Be-beh, [7:8:520]Fechnch, Abou-Girgeh or Abou-Djirdjch, and Che-ronch.

Having arrived at the confines of the Saïd, the traveller, if, without leaving the valley of the Nile, he traverse the three provinces of which it is composed, will successively reach Minyeh, in latitude 28° 29', and Benesef; the islands of Sohorrah and Gerabich; Saoudi, Abouzir, Tou-nah, Achmoneìn, and Salam. Siout, a kind of capital, is situated in latitude 28° 51'; and farther on is Djirdjch, another large town. Then come the towns of Bardys, Belynch, Hayou, and Dendera, in latitude 26° 10 ’, opposite to which is Quench or Kennch. Medinet-Abou, Karnak, and Luxor, are situated in latitude 25° 44' 15". Still ascending, we next reach Assfoun, then Esnch in latitude 25° 17', and lastly Edfou, which is six leagues south of Esnch. Assouan, in latitude 24° 27', is a town at a short distance from the ancient Syene, and the island of Philoe. Four leagues above Kennch, and nearly opposite Dendera, the ancient Tentyra, is the entrance of the valley of Cosseir, which leads to the port of the same name on the Red Sea.

The population of Egypt is chiefly composed of Turks, Copts, and Arabs, intermixed with Greeks, Jews, and Syrians. The schismatic Copts are estimated at a hundred and sixty thousand, and the Catholic Copts at five thousand souls. But the Arab class is by far the most numerous. It comprehends, first, the posterity of those who came to establish themselves in this country at the epoch of the invasion of Amru in 640, and who appear to have divided amongst them the lands of Lower Egypt, to the prejudice of the conquered Greeks; secondly, the Arabs who at subsequent periods came to join the first invaders, and who settled in Upper Egypt; and, thirdly, the Bedouins, who, instead of applying themselves to agriculture and commerce, live a wandering life, in families or in tribes, dwelling in tents, which they pitch sometimes on the borders of the Nile and sometimes in the desert, and are equally ready to use the arms which they constantly carry about, either for the purpose of plunder or for that of self-defence. The Copts are descended from the people enslaved and dispossessed by the Arabs; that is, from a mixture of Egyptians, Persians, and particularly Greeks, who, under the Lagidae and the Constantines, so long occupied Egypt. This people differ from the Arabs and from the Turks in their religion, which is a form of Christianity; they differ also in the features of their visage, which exhibits the negro type, and in the colour of their skin, which is of a dingy and as it were smoked yellow. In the Arab the head is of a fine oval form, the forehead large, the eye brilliant but deep set in the head, the nose developed, and the mouth well formed, whilst the bright sunburnt hue of the skin is wholly different from the tarnished colour of the Copts. But as the negro type, if we may judge from the monuments, was that of the ancient Egyptians, and as this type, which is quite distinct from that of the Arabic race, still predominates amongst the Copts, it may hence be inferred that the latter, though a people of mixed origin, have never in any sensible degree amalgamated with the former, and that in the main they are the descendents of the ancient inhabitants of the country. To the Arabs, indeed, the Copts bear nearly the same relation that the Gauls did to the Franks under the first race of French kings; but the permanence of the ancient type shows that the admixture with Persians and Greeks had only been partial, and that amongst this people alone can we hope to find any distinct traces of the forms and language which obtained in Egypt in the days of Rhamses, Moeris, and Amenophis. Even the name which they still bear seems to betray their origin.^[59. The monosyllable Gopt or Kept is evidently the root of the word A∣∙l’TΠ∙τ<ι, or A.-ΓΟΠ-τ«, Aegyptus. This, we think, has been made sufficiently apparent at the commencement of the present article. (See D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orient, v. Kebt and Kibt. Malte-Brun, Geography, iv. p. IOC. Kircher, Prodromus Koptus. Herodotus, Euterpe.") ]

That the Coptic language has been formed from that of ancient Egypt, of which it may in one sense be considered as a precious remnant, is proved beyond dispute by the researches of Etienne-Quatremère and Klaproth.^[60. Etienne-Quatremère, Rechercher sur la Langue et la Littérature Egyptienne. Klaproth, Examen Critique dee Travaux de feu Μ. Champollion sur les Hiéroglyphes. Adelung, Mithridates, continued by vater. ] But still the modern idiom represents the ancient form of speech in a very incomplete and imperfect manner; and, besides, all that we possess in the former is confined to fragments of the Bible and of the lives of the saints, together with some Copto-Arabic glossaries of a comparatively recent date. The language itself has, moreover, ceased to be spoken; and all that portion of its vocabulary which occurred in the treatises composed by the monks of the Thebaid, is now irrecoverably lost. In the Christian versions all the pagan expressions relative to the ancient religion of the country were also carefully avoided by the translators, who preferred introducing Greek terms; and, from the list of words comprehended in the lexicos, there must further be deducted a great number of Arabic terms, which only found a place there because the original names had been altogether lost. The Coptic, therefore, as it now exists, is only a mutilated and imperfect fragment of a language through which various traces and lineaments of an elder form of speech are more or less faintly reflected; and, like the people from whom it derives its name, it is of mixed origin and impure descent, though not so corrupted, however, as to obliterate the characteristic type of the more ancient language, out of the remains of which it was principally formed. Two dialects of this language have been distinctly recognised, namely, the Bashmuric and the Theban; but, to say nothing of its scanty vocabulary, its general character is that of a rude and almost monosyllabic idiom. It is totally devoid of inflexions; its grammatical modifications are few and limited; and the accidents of gender and case are expressed by prefixes, in which respect it exhibits some aflinity to the Hebrew and other oriental languages, particularly the Ethiopic.^[61. Edinburgh Review, vol. lviii. p. 471 ]

The religion of the Copts is that form of Christianity which was derived from the sect of the Eutychians; and the head of their church is the patriarch of Alexandria, who is elected by the great body of the clergy, and is everywhere implicitly obeyed. The officiating ministers are supported by the voluntary contributions of their flocks; and no person can be ordained who is unmarried, nor is any one who has been ordained permitted to marry a second time. But the monks from whose number the bishops are uniformly chosen are bound by their vows to observe strict celibacy; they are supposed to be dead to the world, and are hence prohibited from forming any connexion at variance with this supposition. The Copts practise the rite of circumcision, as well as auricular confession and other ceremonies or observances common both to the eastern and western churches. The great body of them are therefore schismatics; but, as we have already stated, there are at Cairo about five thousand who have conformed to the Roman Catholic communion, and who receive instruction under the direction of certain members of the College of the Propaganda at Rome.
[7:8:521]

Of the Turks little need be said here. After the taking of Constantinople by Mahommed II. they extended their conquests to the south, and in their turn made themselves masters of Egypt. But a power formed in Egypt as early as the sixth, and destroyed by the Turks at the beginning of the seventeenth century, resumed its ascendency after this long minority, and, excepting some short intervals, during which the Ottoman government displayed extraordinary vigour, domineered over the country, until the period of the French invasion in 1798, when it received a blow from which it never afterwards recovered. It was however reserved for Mehemmed Ali to complete the work which the French had begun, and not merely to destroy the power, but almost to annihilate the very race, of the Mamlukes. The Turks in Egypt are like the Turks everywhere else; men of grave features, sleek forms, fine dark eyes, large noses, handsome mouths, thin lips, short necks, and indolent habits; haughty, obstinate, prejudiced, and reserved, but, when stimulated by fanaticism or revenge, as fearless as the Damascus blades, which they use with so much expertness and address. The Greeks domiciled in Egypt to the regular features unite all the ingenuity and versatility which distinguished their ancestors; and they are charged, we fear not altogether unjustly, with a certain degree of sharpness, if not chicanery, in their mercantile transactions. The Jews in Egypt have the same physiognomy as in Europe, and are there, as everywhere else, devoted to the pursuits of commerce, but despised, insulted, buffeted, and oppressed in a manner which would exhaust the patience of almost any other race of men in existence. In the large towns they enter into competition with the Copts for situations in the customs, and for the management of property belonging to the rich; and, in consideration of gain, they are content to endure every species of contumely which insolent brutality, inflamed by religious hatred, may choose to inflict upon them. There are three thousand of this people in Cairo, where they inhabit a district which bears the distinction of their name, and is remarkable as the spot where, by reason of its crowded and filthy state, the plague commonly makes its first appearance.

Upon the whole, the inhabitants of modern Egypt may be rated and classed as follows:
[table]

Egypt, formerly a dependency of Turkey, is now in reality, if not altogether in name, independent of the Porte, and is governed with absolute and unlimited authority by a man who, still retaining the title of pasha or viceroy, is content, under that denomination, to exercise all the rights and powers of a sovereign prince. The ancient form of the administration has, however, been preserved; and the present ruler, aware of the influence exerted on the minds of men by custom and names long familiar, has been careful to innovate as little as possible on the modes by which the country has hitherto been governed, or on the denominations of the government. The first administrative functionary is the kiaya-bey, or prime minister; under whom are placed all the secondary authorities, invested with powers conferred on them by the viceroy, and to whose office or tribunal all representations and private complaints, as well as the greater part of litigious disputes, are carried. The aga of the janizaries is charged with maintaining good order, and watching over the conduct of the troops. The wa)i, or aga of the police, exercises similar functions: he is the head of the gendarmerie; and his principal duty is to observe public women, and to pursue and seize aD thieves and robbers. The direction of the markets, and the examination of weights and measures, are entrusted to the mohteseb, or aga of subsistence. The bash-aga, or superintendent of the civil police, causes the orders of the government to be executed, the streets to be patrolled day and night, and the coffee-houses and other public places to be watched by spies in his employment. In each quarter or district of the capital there is also a headsman or overseer, who is empowered to settle differences by arbitration, and is responsible for the peace and good order of his neighbourhood. All sorts of exactions, whether in the shape of fees or presents, have been abolished, and adequate salaries allotted in their stead; nor is it permitted to any officer, except the wali, who retains his former rights over prostitutes and thieves, to levy contributions on any pretext whatsoever. By the vigilance of the police, civd and military, and the activity of the district magistrates in removing bad subjects and allaying disturbances of every kind, the streets of Cairo have been rendered as safe as those of London, excepting only in the case of military tumults, which are now of rare occurrence; and by the extension-βf the same system throughout the country, crimes have been repressed, security afforded to person and property, and order established, in a land which was formerly filled with anarchy and violence.^[62. Mengin, Hietvire de l’Egypte tout Muìuunmed-Aly, tom. ii. p∙ 255 et seqq. ]

The administration of justice has in like manner been improved, by being purified from some of the enormous abuses which formerly prevailed; but still, in Egypt as in other countries much farther advanced, the poor litigant contends at a great disadvantage with his rich adversary, and the law is even yet sometimes scandalously eluded in favour of the powerful. The cadi is the supreme judge, and holds his appointment only for a year; but he has under him sheikhs and other men of the law, who are not removeable. The procedure before this judge is, as might be expected, exceedingly simple. The nature or relevancy of the process is first inquired into; parties are then fully heard, and witnesses, if necessary, examined; after which the members of the court deliver their opinions, and according to these the cadi at last decides. When the cadi is an easy, pacific man, the sheikhs convert their own houses into courts or tribunals, and arrogate to themselves the right of dispensing justice; but they discontinue their usurpations whenever they observe the supreme judge evince dispositions adverse to their interested views. The cadi also exercises the functions of a notary, and passes all contracts for the sale of real property, denominated heggch, exacting a fee or duty of two per cent, upon each. The average cost of a lawsuit is stated at four per cent, of the value in dispute; and of this proportional charge, which is paid down whenever judgment is pronounced, the cadi allows one fifth to the lawyers employed in his tribunal, and judiciously keeps the remaining four fifths to himself. He has, besides, other emoluments, which, added to the fees thus exacted, render his situation worth from five to six hundred purses, [7:8:522] or between L.2000 and L.3000 a year. With regard to his assessors, they are not considered as at all scrupulous about the means of improving their incomes; and in truth they are accused of resorting to practices incompatible with the slightest pretension on their part to judicial purity.

Besides the public functionaries above mentioned, there are others attached to the household or court of the viceroy; which is composed of the kiaya-bey or head of the civil administration, the khaznadar or treasurer, the divaneffendi or inspector of provisions, the selikdar or master of the household, the anaktar-aghassi or keeper of the wardrobe, the commandant of the citadel, and the superintendent of customs and excise, who are all paid by fixed salaries, so considerable in amount that some of them have been enabled to realize fortunes. The viceroy has also a body-guard, consisting of several hundred Mamlukes, and about six hundred yeomen of the palace; so that the establishment of his household, including subordinate functionaries in the civil and military departments, cannot be much short of fifteen hundred individuals. Many of these, however, are persons whom, on account of their merit, he has sought to attach to his service by placing them on his establishment, and who either hold nominal offices, or are kept as mere retainers until an opportunity offer for employing them to advantage.

The Saïd is governed by a pasha of two tails, who resides at Siout; and other pashas and beys are also placed at the head of the different branches of the administration, as already stated. Each province is divided into cantons; and these cantons are placed under the authority of the kiachefs and kaimacans, with whom are conjoined in office the cherbalettes for the direction of rural economy, and the cadis for administering justice. Each canton has also its schcraf for the collection of the contributions, which he transmits quarterly to the treasury of the grand divan; but the collections of Upper Egypt are, we believe, centralized at Siout, whence they are remitted to Cairo.^[63. Rifaud, Tableau de r Egypte et de la Nubie, p. 23. ]

It is exceedingly difficult, not to say impossible, to ascertain by what precise tenure land was held under the princes of the native dynastics by whom Egypt was anciently governed; but, judging from some papyral writingswhich modern ingenuity has deciphered, as well as from certain hints both in sacred and profane history, it seems evident that, in the days of the Pharaohs, a distinct property in the soil, however modified or affected, was recognized by the Egyptian monarchs. This, in fact, is attested by the title-deeds which have been found in the mummy-chests or coffins; and it may also be inferred from the transaction mentioned in Scripture, where Joseph transferred to the crown a large portion of land, giving to the famished peasantry, in return for their fields, a certain quantity of corn. It may also be observed in support of the opinion here stated, that, in the great Turin papyrus deciphered by Count Pollon, there is a very intelligible intimation of something like a law of prescription for securing persons whose right has not been challenged within a given time (thirty-eight years), in the undisturbed possession of their property; a circumstance which seems perfectly conclusive as to the existence of a distinct property in the soil, however that right may have been modified or restricted by the fundamental laws of the monarchy. This rule, by which unchallenged possession for a given period of time was sustained against a claim founded upon title alone without possession, appears to have been first laid down in a royal edict or decree, which is denominated “the benevolent,” and to which accordingly distinct reference is made in the very remarkable monument to which we have alluded. For a long period subsequent to the Macedonian conquest, however, the territorial domain of Egypt appears to have been occupied on conditions somewhat analogous to those implied or involved in the system of fiefs or feudal tenures, which was at one time universal throughout Europe: the actual property of the soil was vested in the vassal; but a certain portion of the annual produce, or an equivalent for such portion, was made payable to the individual on whom the monarch, theoretically the proprietor of all the lands in the kingdom, had conferred the usufructuary interest, if not the feudal superiority.

Before the accession of the present viceroy, the representative of the Ottoman Porte was satisfied with levying a miri or land-tax, proportioned to the estimated value of the soil in point of quality and other advantages, and he at the same time acknowledged a quasi-right of ownership in the occupants, subject only to the payment of the territorial impost. But at present nearly all the lands, as well as the commerce and manufactures, of Egypt, belong to Mehemmed Ali; who, having assumed possession of the territorial property of the country, granted, in name of compensation, to the former holders who were thus deprived, annuities or pensions for life, but left them nothing which they could transmit to their children or their heirs. The lands which were seized in this way belonged either to the Mamlukes, whom it was the policj’ of the viceroy, if not wholly to extirpate, at all events to disconnect and detach from every means of regaining power; or to certain establishments for feeding the poor, and supporting mosques, fountains, public schools, and other similar institutions; or, lastly, to the ancient class of proprietors in feu-hold, whose principles or management were not such as to secure the confidence of the viceroy. But even the owners of those lands which have as yet escaped seizure are not the masters of the crops which they raise; they cannot dispose of any part of the produce until the agents of the government shall have had the pre-emption of such portion as they may think fit to take at a price fixed by themselves; and, besides paying the established miri, or land-tax, they are bound to supply all the families attached to the court with agricultural produce at half its current price in the market, whilst the viceroy regulates the price of such surplus as can be spared for exportation.

With regard to those lands of which the absolute property is now vested in the viceregal government, they are let or farmed out in portions at fixed rents to the cultivators, who may sow as they please, or not sow at all, but who, whether the seasons be propitious or the reverse, must pay the stipulated rent, which is exacted with the utmost rigour; and as this is invariably fixed at the highest limit to which it can possibly be carried, the condition to which the Fellahs or cultivators have in consequence been reduced is one of extreme misery and wretchedness. This unhappy class, which seems destined to be equally oppressed whoever be master, and which feels the government of Mehemmed to be even more grinding in its exactions than either that of the Turks or the Mamlukes, whom he superseded, is almost the only one which has derived no benefit from the various reforms he has introduced; and its situation would in fact be altogether intolerable and hopeless, were it not that the large standing army, which is principally recruited from the native population, opens up a field for the development of talent and enterprise, and holds out a certain and not very distant prospect of amelioration in the condition of this degraded caste. The natural fruits of such a system, however, are general[7:8:523] abundance and individual misery ;—the traveller sees with astonishment the richness of the harvests contrasted with the wretched state of the mud villages inhabited by the peasantry; and whilst he is convinced that no country is more prolific than Egypt of all those products which minister to the wants of man, he is also satisfied that there is none perhaps where the great body of the people are upon the whole more miserable.^[64. Mengin, ubi tupru. Rifaud, Tableau de l’Epupte, p. 24. ]

In Egypt there are about four millions of feddans^[65. A seddân is a land-measure equal to about one third of an acre. ] of land in cultivation. A seddân produces three ardebs or six quintals of cotton at the least, the same quantity of flax, from twelve to thirteen okes, or from fifteen to sixteen kilogrammes, of refined indigo, seven or eight ardebs of sugar, and other articles in proportion. Cultivation may be divided and classed as follows:
[table]

The remainder of the land in cultivation, amounting to 2,800,000 feddans, is either appropriated to the raising of grain or to the purposes of horticulture. The total quantity of corn annually produced in Egypt has been estimated at three millions of ardebs, or six millions of quintals. Besides this, the country furnishes nitre, salt, natron, and soda; and about two hundred thousand ox and buffalo hides are annually collected for exportation. If to these products, then, be added the amount of the duties levied on industry and commerce, the gross return for all Egypt may be estimated at 68,600,000 great piastres, or L.14,500,000 sterling. According to this calculation, the net revenue of the viceroy ought to be 25,000,000 great piastres, or L.5,248,000 sterling; but if due allowance be made for contingencies, and if we take into account that this revenue is raised by means of extortion on the one hand, and monopoly on the other, we shall not probably err in making an abatement of 5,000,000 piastres from the nominal amount, and estimating it at L.4,000,000 sterling. Egypt has also woollen, cotton, linen, and silk manufactures, some few of which were in a state of considerable activity even before Mehemmed Ali introduced his new system; but notwithstanding the powerful stimulus which the viceroy has given to the industry of his subjects, and the great improvements which have thence resulted, it. is manifest that, in manufactures, it is vain for a people situated like the Egyptians to attempt to compete with the capital, machinery, and skill of Europe; more especially as the nature of their climate, and the extreme fecundity of their soil, will always enable them to make advantageous exchanges, and to purchase superior articles at much less cost than inferior ones can be manufactured in their own country. The true policy of Mehemmed Ali is therefore to abandon entirely the system of monopoly to which he has hitherto clung with such blind tenacity: to render commerce perfectly tree; to abstain religiously from interfering with the circulating medium, the alterations in which have hitherto been productive of so much evil; and, above all, to encourage and promote agriculture, which must ever remain the grand source of wealth to a country which, possessing a fertile soil, enjoys constant sunshine and the means of perpetual irrigation.

With all his defects, however, Mehemmed Ali, if he has not outstripped his age, is at least prodigiously in advance of the people over whom he rules; and he is disliked by the more influential classes of his subjects for those very qualities which have raised him so high in the estimation of Europe. The indulgence which he has granted to religious sects of every denomination; the introduction of vaccination, and other improved surgical practices borrowed from Europe; and, above all, the establishment of a school of anatomy, where the waxen models procured from Italy have at length been superseded by actual dissections; these are innovations which have shocked the prejudices and alarmed the ignorance of the bigoted and fanatical Moslemins. But Mehemmed, who in fact appears only to be a Turk among Turks, is not a man to be deterred from the pursuit of objects the accomplishment of which he foresees will be productive of great and certain advantages; and by his admirable management, combined with the outward observance of the rules of Islamism in his own person, he has overcome difficulties and surmounted obstacles which would have altogether appalled any ordinary man. Accordingly, whilst he has embellished mosques, decorated fountains, constructed reservoirs, and erected colonnades in honour of saints, for the gratification of the faithful, he has at the same time executed works of great public utility, some of which are calculated to confer lasting benefits on the country he now governs, and to accelerate more and more the development of its industry.

One of the most remarkable of these is the canal of Mahmoudych, which connects the harbour of Alexandria with the river Nile, near Fouah, and establishes a water communication between the capital and the principal port of Egypt. This magnificent work, which was opened on the 7th of December 1819, is forty-eight miles in length, ninety feet in breadth, and about eighteen feet in depth, and affords a means of conveyance by which the whole produce of the country may, without danger or delay, be brought to the place of exportation. A circumstance which occurred in 1817 first suggested to the pasha the idea of this great undertaking. In the winter of that year, when a scarcity prevailed all over Europe, multitudes of vessels resorted for grain to Egypt, where the crops had been unusually abundant; but owing to the difficulty of the bar at the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, and the tempestuous weather which prevailed along the coast, little or none of it could be conveyed in time to Alexandria; and hence, of about three hundred vessels which had assembled at that port, some were obliged to return in ballast, whilst others sailed with only half cargoes. This circumstance, which occasioned a heavy loss, and produced numerous disputes amongst the agents and merchants, suggested to the pasha the advantage of having a navigable canal to connect the main branch of the Nile with the port of Alexandria; and with his usual energy and decision he resolved to proceed as soon as possible with the undertaking. For this purpose he caused all the labourers in Egypt to be put in requisition, and a month’s pay to be advanced, in order to enable them to provide necessaries; and to each village he allotted the extent of work which, it was expected, they were to perform. The Arabs, under their respective chiefs or sheikhs, were accordingly marched down in vast numbers to the line of the intended canal, along which they were distributed; and it is said that as many as two hundred and fifty thousand men were at one time employed at the work. The greatest Pharaoh of the olden time, including even Moeris himself, could not have [7:8:524]acted with greater energy than was displayed by the viceroy on this occasion. The whole excavation was completed in less than two months, at the end of which time the great mass of the labourers were permitted to return to their homes; but, in the autumn, several thousands were employed in facing certain parts of the excavation with masonry, equalizing the cut throughout, and thus rendering the whole navigable for vessels of considerable tonnage. The work having been carefully finished, was opened at the time above specified ⅛ and the increase of trade at the port of Alexandria has already proved the wisdom of the undertaking, and liberally rewarded the viceroy for his exertions.^[66. The arbitrary energy displayed by the pasha in the construction of this great work in so short a space of time could scarcely be unattended with much suffering, and even a considerable mortality; but the statement of some writers, that twenty thousand labourers fell a sacrifice to the unsparing urgency of the viceroy on this occasion, is a manifest exaggeration. The advance of a month’s pay must have enabled the workmen to repair to the intended scene of operations without much inconvenience; and the liberal remuneration they received while employed in excavating the canal must have afforded them better subsistence than they can ordinarily command. If any extraordinary mortality occurred, therefore, it must have fallen, not upon the labourers, but upon the crowds of women and children, who, as in the patriarchal times, accompanied them to the neighbourhood of Alexandria. This practice, which it has been found impossible to check, has been attended with great inconvenience in other cases, particularly in that of the military conscription. In the year 1827, twelve thousand recruits being wanted for the army, were, as usual, taken by force from their villages; but when these conscripts appeared at the camp near Cairo, they were attended by upwards of fifty thousand followers of all ages and both sexes, who, of cφurse, must have suffered great privations before they could return to their miserable, and, in many cases, distant homes, something of the same kind may, no doubt, have occurred at Alexandria on the occasion referred to. But whilst it is inconceivable that any such mortality as that above stated could have taken place amongst the labourers employed, it is highly probable that their followers may have suffered severely; and, as the Franks are accused of naving suggested the undertaking, the current story is believed, partly because it affords a pretext for throwing upon a race otherwise hated tor their superior intelligence, the odium which naturally enough attaches to the remembrance of an oppressive servitude. ]

The following view of the actual trade of Alexandria, extracted from the second edition of a most valuable and instructive work,^[67. M‘CuUoch’s Dictionary of commerce and Navigation, art. Alexandria. ] contains much important information, and at the same time affords conclusive evidence of the rapidly improving state of Egypt:

“The imports principally consist of cotton stuffs, timber, hardware, iron and tin, tobacco, machinery, ammunition, silk goods, woollen staves, &c. The exports consist of raw cotton, wheat and barley, rice, linen, flax, linseed, sugar, coffee (from the Red Sea), drugs, gums, sal-ammoniac, saffron, wax, &c.

“The principal articles of importation into this country from Egypt are cotton, flax and linseed, senna, and gum. Of these, cotton is by far the most important. We began to import it in 1823; and since then the imports have been as follows:
[table]

“In 1832, the French imported 25,807 bales of Egyptian cotton; the imports at Trieste during the same year were about 50,000 bales, and those at Deghorn and Genoa were together about the same as at Trieste. The bale of Egyptian cotton weighs about 220 lbs. This important trade owes its existence almost entirely to the exertions of the pasha, by whom the cotton plantations have been established. The cotton exported is all long-staple, but of two sorts; one called in Egypt makko, and in England common Egyptian; the other, the produce of sea-island seed, called in Egypt Sennaar, and in England sea-island Egyptian. Besides these two descriptions, Egypt produces from 15,000 to 20,000 bales of short-staple cotton, similar in quality to that of Smyrna, and chiefly consumed in the country. The cotton brought from Egypt is found to be amongst the most useful that is grown; that raised from sea-island seed ranks next to American sea-island. The exports from this country to Egypt principally consist of cotton goods and twist, earthenware, iron and steel, arms and ammunition, &c. Their real value amounted in 1831 to L.122,832; but besides what goes direct, a good deal of British produce finds its way to Egypt at second hand from Malta, Smyrna, &c. Constantinople and the islands of the Archipelago are the great markets for the wheat and other grain exported from Egypt, the quantity sent to them being sometimes very large. The supplies are, however, extremely uncertain. Every thing in Egypt depends on the Nile; and when it does not rise to the usual height, the crops are very much below an average. Beans are extensively cultivated, and have sometimes been brought to England, but rarely, if ever, with advantage to the importers. They are very inferior to English beans, and are peculiarly subject to the worm. No oats are raised in Egypt, the horses being entirely fed upon barley. Besides cotton, the pasha has turned his attention to the culture of sugar, indigo, &c. The first has long been raised in Egypt, but the exports are not very considerable. Silk is grown to softie extent. The date-palm thrives in every part of Egypt, and the fruit is largely exported. It is singular, that notwithstanding the luxuriance of many of its vegetable productions, Egypt should be entirely destitute of timber.^[68. Lordr Report o∕ ’ 1827 on the Price of Foreign corn, Min. of Evid. p. 120, and private information. ]

“In 1831, there entered the port of Alexandria 1215 ships, of the burden of 198,299 tons. Of these the Austrian were the most numerous; next the English and Ionian; and then the French, Sardinian, Spanish, &c.

“ Money. Accounts are kept at Alexandria, as at Cairo, in current piastres, each piastre being equal to 40 paras or medini, and each medino to 30 aspers. The medino is also divided into 8 borbi, or 6 forli. A purse contains 25,000 medini. The piastres struck in 1826 contain a great deal of alloy; 15į or 16 piastres = 1 Spanish dollar; hence 1 piastre = 3∣d. sterling, very nearly. Payments in transactipris of any importance are generally made in Spanish dollars.

“ Weights and Measures. The yard, or pik, = 26'8 English inches; hence 100 piks = 74∙438 English yards. The measures for corn are the rhebebe, and the quthot or kisloz ; the former = 4∙364 English bushels, the latter = 4∙729 ditto. The cantaro or quintal = 100 rottoli, but the rottolo has different namesand weights: 1 rottolofor-foro = ∙9347 lb. avoirdupois; 1 rottolo zaidino = 1∙335 lb. ditto; 1 rottolo zauro or ∑aro = 2∙07 lbs. ditto; 1 τottolo mina — 1∙67 lb. ditto.^[69. Manuel Univercel de Nclkenbreher, ] “ Duties. With the exception of the commercial monopolies of the pasha, and the arbitrary principles on [7:8:525]which he fixes the prices of commodities, there is nothing objectionable in his policy as to commerce. The duties on imports are only three per cent. We believe, however, that a small increase of the customs duty would compensate the pasha for the abolition of most of his monopolies; and there can be little doubt that his subjects would be materially benefited by the change.”

The increase of trade which is here shown from recent and authentic documents has been the result of the zeal, energy, and perseverance displayed by the viceroy. But accident also contributed to promote his success. A Frenchman named Jumel having one day discovered in the garden of a Turk a plant of the cotton-tree, immediately turned his attention to the subject of its cultivation, and in a short time propagated It with so much success that the discovery of this plant may be considered as having changed the commerce and statistics of Egypt-So rapid was the progress made that, in a few years, the same individual who had discovered the solitary specimen just mentioned, and who had made the government acquainted with its manifold uses, both as an article of domestic manufacture and of foreign trade, erected at Boulak, near Cairo, a large establishment for spinning, weaving, dyeing, and printing cotton goods, and introduced the latest improvements in machinery which had been made either at Rouen or Manchester, including, we believe, powerlooms. In this extensive manufactory, which is formed on the model of the best establishments of the kind in Europe, steam is the principal moving power employed, and the whole is lighted up with gas prepared for the purpose on the spot. At Siout there is also a cotton manufactory, which, not long ago, was in full operation, affording employment to eight hundred men and boys, who earned ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty paras, and sometimes three piastres, a day; and similar establishments were about to be erected in other parts of Egypt.^[70. webster’s Travclt, vol. ii. p. 131. ] The principal difficulties experienced arise from this, that during the prevalence of the desert winds, which are charged with an impalpable sand, the machinery is liable to be disordered by the dust which then fills the air, and penetrates into the wheel-work and finer parts of the mechanism, disturbing and sometimes altogether stopping the movements; whilst, owing to the excessive dryneβs of the atmosphere, the wood-work is apt to get warped or rent, and the threads, becoming brittle, snap asunder with the least tension. But these disadvantages are in some measure compensated by the cheapness of labour in a country where the people, often in a state of famine, are obliged to be content with a scanty and miserable existence, and where the supreme ruler is directly interested in keeping down wages to the lowest possible point. In fact, it is only by this grinding and oppressive system, which renders labour in the cotton factories of Egypt one of the worst kinds of slavery, and but little preferable to that imposed by the Spanish conquerors of South America on the unhappy natives, that the viceroy can ever hope to compete with the manufacturers of Europe, or to undersell the merchants of India. Whenever the wages of labour in Egypt shall, from whatever cause, experience a rise, and the master manufacturer is no longer backed by absolute power, the whole fabric, which has been reared at an enormous cost, will fall to pieces of its own accord, and the dilapidated state of the cotton factories on the banks of the Nile will present to the eye of the traveller another practical proof of the absurdity of all attempts to force manufactures in a country where population can only be profitably employed in the cultivation of the soil.

The cotton now produced in Egypt is of a very superior quality to that which was formerly grown in the country, and the wool is considered as little if at all inferior to the best American. In the year 1822 the crop yielded nearly six millions of pounds; and a portion of it, sent to Liverpool on trial, was sold at the rate of a shilling a pound. The produce of the crop of 1823 was still more abundant; so much so, indeed, that, after supplying the demand in the ports of the Mediterranean, about fifty thousand bags were exported to England. This auspicious commencement only served to stimulate the energy of the viceroy. Tracts of ground long neglected were brought into cultivation, by clearing out the old canals and digging others for the purpose of irrigation; new species of cotton plants were obtained; improved modes of culture were adopted; the quality of the article was ameliorated in proportion as the quantity raised was increased; and so greatly has this branch of industry been extended, that the amount of cotton imported into this country from Egypt will at no distant period equal, if it do not exceed, that imported from America. In the culture of the cotton plant, indeed, the former country has a decided advantage in its favour. For, on the banks of the Nile, the crop is not exposed to the premature frosts and heavy rains by which it is frequently injured in the more variable climate of the United States. In Egypt, an annual renewal of the soil, irrigation, and sunshine, are certainties; and as the accidents to which it is exposed are fewer, the supply must be proportionally less precarious.

Nor has the raising of cotton engrossed the whole attention of the viceroy; on the contrary, he has bestowed almost equal care on the cultivation of silk, flax, and the sugar-cane, to which may be added indigo, safranon or safflower, and hennch, which are employed in the various processes of dyeing and calico-printing. In the valley of Tomlut, anciently the land of Goshen, a colony of five hundred Syrians has been established, for the purpose of improving the mulberry-tree and rearing silk-worms; and in the rich and beautiful province of Fayoum, the vine and the olive are again approaching that perfection which they had attained in ancient times. Tobacco is likewise cultivated to a considerable extent; but it is so indifferent in quality that none except Egyptians will use it. In a word, it is difficult to set limits to the productive powers of a country like Egypt, where heat is constant, and moisture in some measure at the command of the agriculturist; and where, besides these two great principles of vegetation, the soil is annually renewed by the deposits of the inundation. A more enlightened experience on the part of the ruler, and the enjoyment of greater freedom on that of the industrious classes, seem to be nearly all that is wanting in order to render this early abode of civilization, which is still bestrewed with the remains of its ancient greatness and splendour, one of the richest and happiest countries on the face of the earth. But, with all his thirst for knowledge and his desire to improve, Mehemmed Ali has still much to learn, or perhaps to unlearn. Having created every thing himself, he naturally regards the whole as his own property, and is therefore almost a monopolist from necessity. He is everywhere, and in everything, intermeddling, dictating, or regulating, according to principles which can have no safe application, except in such extraordinary circumstances as those in which he originally found himself; his economical views are accordingly narrow in the extreme, and, if pushed to their consequences, will prove eminently pernicious; whilst his excise and custom-house regulations are formed upon [7:8:526]the very worst models which Europe could supply. But the time is fast approaching when he must yield obedience to the maxim pas trop gouverner, and when, ceasing to interfere with the private industry of his subjects, he must consent to entrust them with the guardianship of their own interests. In short, without a large share of freedom, there can be no permanent prosperity.

The pasha has another infirmity, which is also peculiar to his situation and character. He is ready to embark in almost any speculation connected with foreign trade, indeed frequently insists upon doing so; but then, though in genera] willing to allow his partners in such adventures time to make good their reimbursements, he is by no means equally disposed to bear his proportion of the loss; so that all they obtain from him is the loan of funds and his protection. Hence the trade with India, attempted under his patronage, ruined the smaller, and shook the more wealthy houses which engaged in it. But, notwithstanding the failure of this first attempt, he is still most anxious to open an intercourse with the East, and, if possible, to re-establish that valuable traffic which was lost to Egypt through the ignorance and barbarism of its government, as well as by the discovery of the passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope. This is not only a favourite subject of speculation with the politicians of Cairo, but also engages deeply the attention of the viceroy, who, now that he has acquired Syria, and extended the frontier of his dominions almost to the Euphrates, will assuredly employ every expedient to which he can resort in order to accomplish this object.

In the meanwhile, Egypt can, either from its own produce or by means of its transit trade, supply the states on the shores of the Mediterranean with wax, hides, coffee from Mokha, myrrh, frankincense, cocculus indicus, assafoetida, ivory, rhinoceros-horns, tortoise-shell, sal ammoniac, senna, tamarinds, ostrich feathers, incense, balsam of Mecca, gum arable, gum copal, benzoin, Socotrine aloes, coloquintida, gum ammoniac, galbanum, sagapenum (from a nondescript umbellate), epopanax, shishm seed (cassia absus), spica celtica (a kind of spikenard), mahleb (dried fruit of prunus mahaleb), shebb or native alum, sulphur, musk, and gold dust. It also exports natron, which is less liable to spoil than artificial salts of the same description; but the extravagant price set on this article by the Egyptian government has greatly narrowed the demand, by compelling the merchants to make their returns in specie, which is done at a very considerable loss. The principal imports into Egypt are, the French cloths called mahouts and )ondrins, Florentine silks, scarlet skull-caps called fez, gold lace, blotting-paper, glass, earthenware, hardware; watches from England; and similar articles from Germany and Italy, especially the caps called fez. The imports are from France, England, Holland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, and the Mediterranean states; whilst the exports are produced in Egypt, India, Arabia, Abyssinia, Nubia, Sennaar, and Kordofan. The commodities imported from Europe indicate not only an increase of wealth amongst the subjects of Mehen>med Ali, but also considerable progress in taste and refinement.^[71. See Tableau du Commerce de l’Egypte avec l’Europe. ] We have not been able to ascertain the actual rates of the import, export, and transit duties; and the tables of Mengin, which reach no later than 1821, are already antiquated.

The intercourse by land with the countries to the south and west is carried on by means of kafilas or caravans. Those from Sennaar and Darsûr usually arrive in September or October, and depart as soon as they have sold their goods and completed their purchases. The sacred caravan of pilgrims bound to Mecca reaches Egypt about the time of the Ramadan, or Mahommedan lent, and sets off immediately after the commencement of the Beiram, or Mahommedan carnival, in order that it may reach the holy city before the month of the festival (ahh'l hijjah) has expired. In March and October caravans from Mount Sinai bring dates and charcoal; from time to time small caravans arrive from the Oases, laden with dates; and when the ships from Djidda reach Suez, the same mode of conveyance is employed to transport their cargoes, consisting of the products of Arabia, Persia, and Hindustan, to the capital of Egypt. The caravans from Abyssinia, which travel northward through the desert east of the Nile as far as Esnch, bring ivory, ostrich feathers, and slaves of both sexes, destined for Cairo, the place where sales of live human stock are usually effected; and they carry back, as a sort of return cargo, manufactured articles of Venetian glass, woollen dresses, cotton and linen stuffs, shawls, and some other commodities purchased at Siout and Kennch. The Ababdch and Bicharis tribes also descend to Esnch, where, in exchange for metals, utensils, and grain, they give slaves, camels, and the gum which they gather in their deserts, as well as the charcoal which they prepare from the acacia trees; but the most valuable commodity they import into Egypt is senna, which they collect in the mountains between the Nile and the Red Sea, where it is produced without culture. The trade of Cosseir, a port on the western shore of the Arabian Gulf, is now only a trifling remnant of that commerce by which Egypt was once enriched. The exports consist of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, sugar, flowers of cartħamon, lettuce oil, and butter; the imports are coffee, cotton cloth, Indian muslins, English silks, spices, incense, and Cashmere shawls.

The custom-house duties are, upon the whole, moderate. European goods pay an import duty of three per cent.; but Turkish produce is charged five per cent, at Alexandria, and four per cent, at Boulak, the port of Cairo. For goods brought by land from the interior nine per cent, is exacted in one payment. The export duty is three per cent, to Europe, and five per cent, to Turkey;^[72. All goods sent from Damietta to Syria used to pay two per cent, additional; but since the latter country has been ceded in full sovereignty to AIehemmed Ali, this duty has been withdrawn. ] but goods sent by the Red Sea pay ten per cent each way. Every camel-load from the Saïd, or Upper Egypt, pays twenty-five piastres, or seven shillings, at old Cairo; slaves are charged twenty-seven piastres, or nine shillings a head, at Deraweh, and six piastres twenty paras, two shillings, at Cairo; ivory pays fifty piastres, or seventeen shillings, per quintal (cantar), and five at Cairo; rhinoceros-horns are charged ten per cent, ad valorem, and again at Cairo; gum arabic pays sixteen piastres, five shillings, per quintal, and twenty paras per pound; tamarinds and natrons are charged six piastres thirty paras, two shillings and three pence, per quintal, and six piastres at Cairo; and white ostrich feathers pay six piastres, two shillings, black one piastre, between three pence and four pence, per roti, and ten per cent, ad valorem at Cairo. Of the latest fiscal arrangements of the viceroy consequent on the great accession of territory which he obtained from the Porte as the price of the pacification which followed the victory of Koniah, no authentic information has yet reached us; and this is not a subject which admits of conjecture or speculation.^[73. In Mengin’s work, already so often referred to, and also in the Tableau du Commerce de l’Egypte, are contained very full details respecting the exjiorts and imports of Egypt; but in the former the tabular returns do not come iärther down than the year 1821, and the latter contains little or no information of a subsequent date. The same observation also applies to the general statistics embodied in the Histoire de l’Egypte sous le Gouvernement de Mohammed-Aly. But as Egypt, during the last ten or eleven years, has made more rapid advances than some countries do in a century, we have for this reason abstained from loading our pages with details which, however accurate with reference to the time when they were prepared, would nevertheless convey a very imperfect notion of the progress in industry, commerce, and the arts, which has actually been made within the last few years. ]
[7:8:527]

The revenue of Egypt in the year 1821 was estimated at L.2,249,379, derived from various sources, as, first, the miri or land-tax; secondly, the customs; thirdly, the resumed lands, comprehending nearly the whole of the cultivable soil; fourthly, the conquered territories, namely, Darfur, Sennaar, Nubia, and part of Arabia; fifthly, the monopoly of Egyptian commerce; and, sixthly, an excise on provisions. But from the more recent data furnished by Rifaud and others, it may be inferred, as already stated, that the actual revenue of the viceroy, exclusively of that which may be derived from bis recent territorial acquisitions, cannot fall much short of L.4,000,000 sterling; whilst, on the other hand, if these be included, and if the resources of Syria with its dependencies, and of the island of Candia, be taken into account, there can be little doubt that in a few years hence it will be augmented to five, six, or even seven millions sterling; a sum not more than sufficient for the support of the establishments which Mehemmed has created, and of late so greatly extended. The expenditure of Egypt in 1821 was calculated at L.1,757,840; thus leaving a surplus of income, after defraying all charges, of more than half a million sterling. But when we call to mind that, since the period to which this estimate applies, the viceroy has created a regular army amounting to between 70,000 and 80,000 men; that he has acquired a fleet of twelve sail of the line, besides frigates and smaller vessels; and that all his other establishments must have been increased on a scale of proportional magnitude, we must at once perceive that such an estimate can have no application to the present time. Of the above sum, however, upwards of one third was required for the support of the armed force, the erection of barracks, and the purchase of arms; about L.90,000 was remitted to Constantinople in name of tribute; a sum of L.14,000 was devoted to the support of the church and the law, and nearly as much expended on the pilgrimage to Mecca; and the remainder, amounting to about L.200,000, was required for the support of the viceroy’s household, including his guards and yeomen of the palace. Formerly the revenue of Egypt passed through the hands of the Beys, who, after charging it with the expenses of government, were theoretically understood to remit the surplus to Constantinople. But, practically, no such remittance was almost ever made; for the different agents and collectors generally contrived so to manage matters that the expenditure overbalanced the income, and thus the Porte, instead of receiving any portion of the produce of the taxes, was frequently called upon to pay for the repairs of buildings and canals, which, as may readily be supposed, were never executed. Whilst the Mamlukes had the ascendency, they extorted, publicly and privately, about a million and a half annually; but when the French were in possession of the country, the imposts varied from year to year according to the state of the war, averaging upon the whole about nine hundred thousand pounds sterling.^[74. Malte-Brun; Mengin; Rifaud; Encyclopedia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ]

There is the best reason to believe that, anciently, Egypt was much more densely peopled than at present. This fact, attested by all the ancient historians, may likewise be inferred from the monuments by which the Pha raohs sought to perpetuate the remembrance of their greatnes3, and still more from the works by which they' endeavoured to extend as well as to maintain the productiveness of the soil. Where food is abundant, population seldom fails to increase in rapid progression; and, on the other hand, where population is already pressing on the means of subsistence, the policy of nations so circumstanced is naturally, or we might perhaps say necessarily, directed towards augmenting the absolute quantity of food. At a very early period Egypt appears to have passed through the former and to have entered the latter state; whilst every fact mentioned in history, and every circumstance of real evidence supplied by the monuments still extant, conspire to prove that the ancient population of the great valley of the Nile exceeded its present amount in the proportion of nearly three to one. Before the Persian conquest, the inhabitants of all classes who acknowledged the authority of the Pharaohs were estimated at seven millions; nor, when we consider the natural fertility of the soil, and the extensive system of artificial irrigation employed at once to increase its productiveness and extend the limits of cultivation, will this calculation appear exaggerated or improbable. Besides, it is certain that the desert now covers large tracts of soil which were anciently under cultivation, and which even yet might perhaps be reclaimed from the wilderness by means of canals for the purpose of irrigation derived from the upper sections of the Nile.^[75. As the present viceroy has already caused an extensive cut to be made near Elephantine, in order to avoid the inconvenience and danger occasioned by the Cataracts, it seems highly probable, if he live, that he will make an attempt of the kind hinted at in the text. ] At present the population of Egypt, divided and classed as already stated at the commencement of this section, is thought not to exceed two millions and a half; but this number, being apparently restricted to the inhabitants of towns and villages, together with such of the peasantry as are subject to taxation, does not apparently include the Arabs who occupy the deserts between the Nile and the Red Sea; and hence we shall probably be nearer the truth if we estimate the actual population of Egypt, all classes included, at three millions. No census has ever been taken of the inhabitants of this country; but as the number of houses has been ascertained for the purpose of taxation, Baron de Sacy, Mengin, and others, proceeding on this ground, and reckoning eight persons to a house in Cairo, and four in the provinces, have arrived at the following results:
[table]

But, as already stated, this estimate does not appear to include the Arabs who inhabit so considerable a part of the country.

In a country like Egypt, the inhabitants of which are composed of so many different races, each professing a separate creed, there must necessarily exist a corresponding[7:8:528] diversity of customs and manners. The habits of the Turk, for instance, easily distinguish him from the Mamluke or the Bedouin; the Copt can never be mistaken for the Jew, nor the Syrian for the Greek; and the wild tribes of the upper country have also each their peculiar modes and habits of life. But amidst all the diversity by which the different races are distinguished, many points of resemblance may also be detected; and the principal features of the oriental character are nowhere more strongly marked than in Egypt. It is impossible indeed to live long in any country without yielding in some degree to the influence of its national character; and though the individuality of race may still be preserved with sufficient distinctness to be easily recognised, yet all classes will be found, on examination, to have received strong impressions from the predominant modes. Our present object is to endeavour to verify by a few examples the truth of this observation.

The condition of women in Egypt is much the same as in all other oriental countries, particularly those where Islamism prevails. They are for the most part kept in a state of strict seclusion; and in this the Copts imitate the Moslemins. When they go abroad or receive visits they are always veiled. A piece of cloth, varying in texture according to the rank of the individual, covers the head and face, allowing only the eyes to see and be seen through apertures provided on purpose. This usage is of very ancient origin, and is so intimately associated with the idea of female modesty, that it is never dispensed with excepting in very peculiar circumstances. “When any of the Egyptian women,” says Napoleon, “found themselves by accident surprised without their veils, and covered only with that long blue shift which forms the clothing of the Fellahs’ wives, they used to take up the lower part of the shift to hide their faces, preferring the exposure of any other part.”^[76. Memoir·, vol. ii. p. 27 4∙ when Napoleon was in Egypt, he had several opportunities of seeing some of the most distinguished women in the country, to whom he granted audiences. '∙ These were either the widows of beys or kiachess, or their wives, who, in their absence, came to implore his protection. The richness of their dress, their noble deportment, their little soft hands and fine eyes, a dignified and graceful carriage, and very elegant manners, distinguished them as women of education and rank superior to the vulgar Many of them stated their requests with perfect grace, and an enchanting tone of voice, displaying all the intelligence and sweetness of the most accomplished women of Europe. The propriety of their demeanour, and the modesty of their dress, gave them additional fascinations; and the imagination delighted in guessing at charms of which they did not even allow a glimpse.’* (Memoir·, ubi supra.) ] Amongst the orientals, wives are sacred; and hence, in their intestine wars, the latter are always respected. Whilst the Mamlukes, for example, were carrying on war against the French, their wives remained at Cairo. Women decay very early in Egypt; and there are more of them brown than fair. In general their faces display a little complexion, but the predominant hue is a light and transparent bronze. The most beautiful are either Greeks or Circassians, and with the latter, particularly, the bazars of the merchants who deal in female slaves are for the most part abundantly provided. The Ethiopian women brought to Egypt for sale by the caravans from Darfur and other parts of the interior, though jet black, are exceedingly beautiful; their features being perfectly regular, and their eyes full of animation. The Circassians are more highly prized by the orientals than the Europeans, who, having formed their standard of beauty on different models, are at a loss to reconcile the specimens they have actually seen with those high-flown descriptions which fill the pages of eastern romance, and attribute all the charms of female loveliness to the natives of one favoured spot on the Persian side of the Caucasus.

Marriage takes place amongst the Moslemins without either party having ever seen the other, excepting by accident. This results from the seclusion in which females are kept throughout the whole of the East. Sometimes, indeed, the bride may have seen the bridegroom, but the latter can never have beheld his betrothed, or at least the features of her face, and for her charms and qualifications must therefore depend entirely upon report. Marriage, in fact, which is always negociated by the elder females of families, is merely a civil contract prepared by the mutual friends of the parties, and signed by the bridegroom and his guardian. Amongst the Copts, who are even more rigid than the Moslemins in the seclusion of their females, matrimonial alliances are contracted in a similar manner, and have precisely the same character. The ceremonial usually observed in both cases has often been described, and need not therefore be repeated in this place.^[77. See Travel· in Africa, Eįsypt, and Syria, p. 76∙ ] Mahommedan wives have certain privileges, of which they are very tenacious, and which their husbands cannot refuse them without passing for brutes and barbarians, and enraging every body against them. Of these, the principal is that of going to the bath, which may be described as the women’s coffee-house. Thither they repair as often as they feel inclined, and the bath is the place where political and other intrigues are contrived, and where marriages are planned. But, notwithstanding this indulgence, they feel deeply the restraint under which they are kept, and, from all that can be learned, would willingly conform to the Frank customs, if permitted to do so. Where women are excluded from society, refinement of manners must be wholly unknown. In the house of an Osmanlee, the apartments allotted for the women are generally furnished with the richest and most expensive articles; but those of the men are remarkable oniy for a plain style of neatness.

The dress of the orientals bears no resemblance whatever to ours, and is in all respects more ample and voluminous, allowing greater freedom of motion and exertion. The turban is a much more elegant and convenient headdress than a hat; and being susceptible of great variety in form, colour, and arrangement, discovers at the first glance the differences of nations and ranks. As the neck and limbs are not confined by bandages or ligatures, a native of the East may remain a month in his clothes without feeling fatigued by them. The different races and classes are of course differently dressed; but they all agree in wearing papooshes or wide pantaloons, large sleeves, and every other part of their dress full and ample. To protect themselves from the sun, they wear shawls; and a great quantity of silks, Indian stuffs, and cachemires, is introduced into the dresses both of men and of women; but they wear no linen. The Fellahs are covered with a blue shirt fastened round the middle. The Arab chiefs who traverse the desert during the scorching heat of the dog-days cover themselves with shawls of all colours, which they also wrap round their heads, and thus protect the different parts of their bodies from the sun. Instead of shoee, both men and women wear slippers, which they leave on the edge of the carpet when they enter an apartment.^[78. Napoleon’s Memoir·, vol. it. p. 278, 279. ] It ought to be mentioned, however, that, since the military changes introduced by the present viceroy, European modes have been gradually gaining ground, and that even the dress on which the Osmanlee not unreasonably[7:8:529] prides himself is in some danger of experiencing some curtailments and abridgmentslittie calculated to improve its picturesque effect.

When the French occupied Egypt, there was neither coach nor cart in the country, excepting one which Ibrahim Bey had received from France, and which was accounted a very remarkable thing. Water-carriage being so abundant and easy, coaches and other vehicles are perhaps less necessary there than in any other country of the world. Horses are used for traversing the capital by all except women and lawyers, who, being apparently considered as equally effeminate, ride on mules or asses, surrounded by their attendants.^[79. An Egyptian lady mounted on a mule or an ass, and wrapped up from head to foot in a black mantle, has not inaptly been compared to a coffin placed upright on a saddle, and covered with a pall. ] When women have occasion to travel any distance, they are usually conveyed in panniers placed on the backs of camels. There is an immense quantity of asses in Egypt; they are large and of a fine breed, and at Cairo they in some measure supply the place of hackney coaches. In the capital nq one in the Frank costume dares to appear in the streets on horseback. The style of living is much the same as that which prevails generally throughout Turkey; but as the viceroy, notwithstanding the prohibition in the Koran, does not scruple to drink wine, his example has introduced some degree of laxity into the manners of the capital, where there are many persons disposed to think that the practice of the pasha in this particular is entitled to more respect than even the prohibitory injunction of the Prophet. Among Europeans, however, who are under no restraint of any kind as to their mode of living, all sorts of indulgences are common; and at their tables may be found the most recherchés efforts of foreign cookery, garnished with the wines of Europe and the fruits of the East. Nor is it likely, now when the intercourse between them and the Turks is much more frequent and intimate than formerly, that their example can be without effect upon their guests and visitors; more especially as it is evidently the policy of the viceroy to break down Turkish customs, and to destroy the attachment of his countrymen to those modes and habits which have so powerfully contributed to keep them in ignorance, and nurse a spirit of intolerance. As to Mehemmed himself, he labours under the imputation of being a freethinker,^[80. The celebrated Sheikh Ibrahim (Burckhardt), with whom Mehemmed was very fond of conversing, presented himself one day before the viceroy. “Pasha,” said he, “I want to go and see the holy city, and pray at the prophet’s tomb; give me your leave and firman for the journey.”—“You go to Mecca and our blessed prophet’s tomb !” said the prince; “that’s impossible, Ibrahim; you are not qualified: you know what I mean: nor do I think you are a true believer.”—“But I am, pasha,” was the reply; “you are mistaken, I assure you; I am qualified, too, in every respect; and as to belief, have no fears about that; tell me any part of the Koran that I will not believe.”—“Go to the holy city; go, Ibrahim,” said the pasha, laughing heartily; “I was not aware you were so holy a man. Do you think I’ll vex myself with questions from the Koran? Go and see the prophet’s tomb, and may it enlighten your eyes and comfort your heart." (carne’s Recollection» of Travel» in the Eait, p. 2411.) ] notwithstanding all he has done for the deliverance of the holy cities; and his character in this respect has not failed to produce a marked impression upon the sentiments of the higher classes in Cairo. As the viceroy himself cares for no man’s religious creed, and is content to be served by a Christian, a fire-worshipper, or a votary of the Grand Lama, as well as by the most devout professor of Islamism, it may easily be supposed that those about his person or his court will not be slack in imitating his example in neglecting such distinctions.

The festival of opening the Kalidji, or admitting the water of the Nile into the canal of Cairo, by cutting the dike or embankment raised to exclude it until the river has attained a given height, is annually observed with every demonstration of joy, and forms one of the customs which have descended from the most ancient times. In Egypt there is no subject of such general and engrossing interest as the overflow of the Nile, upon which the productive ness of the country wholly depends; and, accordingly, on the occasion in question, the sounds of festive rejoicing, intermingled with music, songs, and cries of “Allah illah Allah,” are heard all over the capital. The river god, the beneficent genius of Egypt, is then pouring abundance out of his watery urn. Besides, the inhabitants of Cairo, like the populace of all great cities, are fond of pageants and shows, and, upon such occasions, amuse themselves with feats of strength and dexterity, as also with singing and dancing. Buffoons exhibit for the entertainment of the multitude, whose ready laugh responds to their stale jests and coarse pleasantries. But the almehs, or improvisatrices, who are performers of a different class, reserve the exercise of their talents for the amusement of the affluent. These females, being called in to relieve the solitude of the harem, teach its inmates new airs, repeat verses or poems, initiate the Egyptian ladies in the mysteries of improvisation, and perform dances, which are often of a very unbecoming and lascivious character. Some of these women, however, are persons of cultivated minds and agreeable conversation; they perform their recitations with considerable effect, and possess a great command over their native language, which they speak with purity and grace. The practice of hiring women to utter lamentations for the dead is still observed at Cairo, to the great annoyance of the Frank population, who detest the doleful howlings of these professional mourners. In the capital, and also in some of the large towns, charmers of serpents occasionally exhibit their extraordinary feats, to the amazement and horror of the bystanders, brandishing live reptiles of the most poisonous description, and then tearing them with their teeth. But the practitioners of this perilous art do not always escape with impunity.

A printed book was a rare sight in Egypt until Mehemmed Ali introduced, along with other improvements, an European press, and founded a printing establishment. A class of men, similar to the copyists and caligraphers of the middle ages, earned a subsistence by making transcripts of the Koran, the Arabian Nights, and other works in demand, some of which were beautifully executed in inks of various colours.^[81. clarke’s Travel», vol. v. p. 111. ] But the occupation of these artists is now in a great measure gone, and the penman will soon be altogether superseded in such work by the compositor. In fact, the publication of a newspaper was some time ago commenced under the auspices of Mehemmed Ali; and although the Egyptian Moniteur does not enjoy, and indeed cannot be permitted to exercise, that freedom of speculation and boldness of remonstrance for which the press is distinguished in the free countries of Europe, yet it is apparently more unfettered than most of the journals in Germany, and contains much useful information respecting the remoter parts of the Egyptian dominions, as well as in regard to the improvements from time to time introduced with a view to continue the movement in advance which has already been communicated by the viceroy to almost all classes of the people under his sway.

In contemplating the improvements which have already been effected in Egypt, and the still more extensive and complete renovation which that country seems destined [7:8:530]to undergo from the combined operation of the various causes presently at work, it is impossible not to be struck with admiration of the man by whom alone all these wonders have in fact been achieved, and who has written his name in such indelible characters upon the face of the interesting land where he has laid the foundations of a new empire. Comparing Egypt as it was at the commencement of the present century with its actual condition as described in the latest accounts which have reached us, we could almost persuade ourselves that, instead of thirty years, we had passed over three centuries, and that the striking contrast which is thus presented must be altogether unreal, a creation of oriental genius in its most imaginative mood, rather than the work of a mere human agent wholly unprovided with supernatural means. Anarchy has given place to order, and violence to the empire of the law. Arabs, Turks, Mamlukes, and Albanians have all been reduced into the most complete subjection to a government which has arisen from a chaos of discordant elements, and out of these gradually formed the “fair state,” which is perhaps destined to become the centre of a new system of civilized nations. At the period of his accession to power Mehemmed found the soldiery mutinous and disorganized, the finances exhausted, property insecure, agriculture neglected, commerce annihilated; and, surrounded by ignorance, cruelty, treachery, and fanaticism, he knew that he could not attempt to advance a step except at the hazard of his life. Yet, endowed with invincible energy and perseverance, he has surmounted all obstacles, and compelled every class and order of men to yield implicit obedience to his government; and even in the depths of the Arabian desert he is feared and obeyed. Having destroyed a licentious and ungovernable militia, he has created a powerful army, which is controlled and governed by a stern system of discipline; his finances are in the most prosperous condition; new articles of produce have been raised; agriculture in all its branches has been improved and extended; works of the greatest magnitude and importance have been executed; commerce is carried on to an extent formerly unknown; ample security is afforded both to person and to property; and that confidence which is the first condition of prosperity universally prevails. From Alexandria to Assouan the road is as open and the security as complete as in the most civilized nations of Europe; at the Cataracts as well as at Cairo the traveller may repose in peace. But the moral change which he has wrought is much more extraordinary than all his military, political, commercial,agricultural and other improvements put together, and will, in its consequences, be productive of results still more important to the cause of civilization. He has attacked bigotry and fanaticism at their very source; and by frowning down ignorance, and letting in perforce the lights of knowledge amongst his subjects, he has done more to subvert the empire of a creed essentially adverse to human improvement than all its declared enemies put together. That in his character many dark spots may easily be detected, it would be ridiculous to conceal, far less deny. He has both failings and vices as a ruler, which, although it would be vain perhaps to regret them, it is nevertheless instruc tive to point out for the benefit of those who study human nature under all its varied aspects. But, on the other hand, these are so completely eclipsed by his great and splendid achievements in almost every field where a superior mind can display its native energy, that we may perhaps be excused for having dwelt more on the bright than the shaded part of his character.^[82. In effecting his improvements, Mehemmed had not to contend with a privileged aristocracy, inheriting historical names, and intrenched behind the prejudices of centuries. The incessant revolutions of which Egypt was the theatre, and the long-continued sway of the Mamlukes, whose power was based, not on opinion, but on force, had, even amongst the Arabs, destroyed much of the prestige in favour of the distinctions of hereditary rank, and worked incredible injury to the science of genealogy. How indeed could it be otherwise in a country where all respect was reserved for the purchased slave, whose relations were unknown, but whose bravery or other personal qualities had raised him to the highest honours? “I have heard,” says General Regnier, “both Turkish and Mamluke officers say of a person who occupied great posts, ’ He is a man of the best connections; he was purchased.’” (Regnier, De l’ Egypte, p. 68.) ]

SECTION V.

MONUMENTAL AND OTHER ANTIQUITIES OF EGYPT.

Plan of description—Philae; its temples and monuments

Obelisk removed by Belzoni for Mr Bankes Importance of the inscriptions on this monument—Elephantiné; its quarries. —s.vene' or Assouan.—Measurement of a degree of the meridian by Eratosthenes.—Ombos or Koum Ombo—Edfou or Apollonopolis-Magna—Elethya; its college of priests—Esneb or l√ιtopolis∙—.Hermonthis or Hermont Thebes Medinet-Habou—Temples and monuments in this division of the ancient capital—Biban-el-Moluk or gates of the kings—Catacombs or tombs of the kings—Discoveries of Belzoni among these hypogaa — Sarcophagus of alabaster—Kourah characteristics of Egyptian architecture—The palace of Luxor.—The temple of Karnak—Site and dimensions of Thebes Origin of the name Kous or Apollonopolis-Parva Coptos or Kebto.—-

Ghennch or Kennch—Tentyris or Denderah; its monuments and antiquities.—Planisphere or zodiac of Denderah Specu lations to which this planisphere has given rise refuted both by the calculations of science and the dates fixed by the inscriptions.—Abydos.—Genealogical tablet discovered by Mr Bankes. —Importance of this document to the historiography of Egypt. —Diospolis-Parva—Djiŗjeh—Ikhmim, Eckmoum, or Panopolis—Antaeopolis or Kau—Lycopolis or Siout Schmoum or

Hermopolis-Magna.—Antinoë—Oxyrynchus—Heracleopolis. —Crocodilopolis—Aphroditopolis—Labyrinth Memphis

Mechanical labours of the Egyptians Pyramids Lake Moe ris.—Other antiquities.

As any attempt to classify the monumental antiquities of ancient Egypt would lead to the greatest confusion in topography, there are only two modes in which these remains can be described without creating embarrassment to the reader; namely, by taking them either in an ascending or descending order, with reference to the course of the river, on or near the banks of which they are almost all situated. But as we conceive that civilization, flowing from the interior, originally descended along the valley of the Nile, and as either method is equally conducive to perspicuity, we prefer the latter; more especially as it will bring us at once in contact, as it were, with some of the most extraordinary monuments in this land of wonders and prodigies.

Supposing, then, that we enter Egypt from Nubia on the south, and follow the course of the Nile downwards, the first place of note which occurs is the island of Philae,^[83. The Arabic name of Philae is Bilak, which is merely the old Egyptian name PiJakh, signifying “the end or extremity,” spelled in the Arabic fashion. ] about six miles to the south of Syene or Assouan, and nearly thirty-four to the north of the tropic of Cancer. Occupying an area of barely nine hundred yards in circumference, and a hundred in breadth, this diminutive island nevertheless presents a variety of objects deserving ofadmi-ration, and calculated to revive a multitude of historical and classical recollections. Independently of other considerations, [7:8:531]the etymon of its name affords presumptive evidence of the remoteness of the period at which this celebrated spot first formed the southern boundary of Egypt, or, as it were, the Nubian gate of the kingdom of the Pharaohs. But being considered as the burial-place of Osiris,^[84. This honour was disputed by Abydos, Memphis, Busiris, and Teph-Osiris. ] and adorned with temples, one of which was believed to have been erected by Isis in honour of her husbandbrother, it has higher and more interesting claims to our attention; and as every thing which anti¶uity or sanctity could offer to warm the imagination or kindle the devotion of the votary seemed concentrated on this hallowed islet, it had accordingly become a favourite place of pilgrimage among the worshippers of Osiris at a period long anterior to the commencement of history. One of the names by which it is at present known, Ďjeziret-el-birba or the Temple-Island, sufficiently indicates the character and the magnitude of the ruins with which it is covered; ruins which the neighbouring Arabs denominate Anas-el∙ Wojud, or the sociality of Wojud, who, according to their traditions, built these palaces as a retreat to which he might betake himself for the purpose of social or convivial enjoyment.^[85. Description de l’Egypte, Antiquités, tom. i. p. 12. Encyclop<rdia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ] Though the surrounding cliffs are of a dark-brown granite, the temples are all built of a bright white sandstone; and nearly the whole island is cased with walls of hewn stone, forming quays concave towards the stream, but convex towards the land, which give it the appearance of a modern escarpment.^[86. Burckhardt, Nubia, v. p. 130. ]

This island is entirely covered with temples in large groups, and in a high state of preservation; and from a rocky eminence at its southern extremity the whole of the ruins may be seen at once. On the south-west side are two large temples, adorned with and connected by long colonnades, but manifestly of different ages; on the right is a small temple of Isis, with an isolated, unfinished building, having no remains of the cella, nor any appearance of an interior cornice; and on the left are an obelisk, and long porticos leading to a large temple of Isis, near a smaller one dedicated to Hatliôr or the Egyptian Venus, which Champoilion has pronounced the best in the island. The great temple of Isis,^[87. To this temple, which all travellers except cpampollion have uniformly spoken of with enthusiastic admiration, the minuit pra. sentia famam is fully as inapplicable as to any other monument in this land of wonders. (Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 45.) The Frenchman, however, admits that the sculpture is altogether worthy of the epoch which produced it, namely, the Greek, which he nevertheless considers as “une époque de décadence.” [Lettres, p. 1 IS.) In fact, he is of opinion that everything at Philae is mo<fcra∙f" tout y est moderne”} except the small peripteral temple of Hathôr, and a propylon connected with the first pylon, which, according to him, was constructed and dedicated by Neclanebo I. [Lettres, ubi supra.) ] which is the southernmost of all, has two colossal pyramidal propyla, one between the dromos and pronaos, and another between the pronaos and portico with a smaller one leading into the sekos or adytum. But none of these propyla are in lines parallel to each other, all of them, as well as the dromos, turning from the body of the temple, each about one point towards the east; an irregularity probably owing to the form of the island or the varying state of the rocky foundation, but which renders the building exceedingly complex. None of the existing monuments of Egypt is better calculated to convey an adequate idea of the magnificence by , which they are characterised than the porticoof this temple, which consists of twelve columns, four in front and three deep. The capitals, which are in pure Egyptian taste, represent varied forms and compositions of the palm branch, the domm leaf, and the lotus. These, as well as the sculptures on the columns, the ceiling, and the walls, have been painted in the most vivid colours, which still retain much of their original brightness; and there is reason to believe that the same was the case in the interior of this as well as of the other temples, although the damp and the nitrous quality of the confined air have entirely destroyed the colours. One of the majestic pylons of this temple, flanked by two square, tower-like masses of masonry rising pyramidical-ly to the height of fifty-four feet, leads to the second court, and towers above everything around, being the loftiest building on the island; and both are richly ornamented with sculpture and hieroglyphics, the number of which is immense. Three large and several smaller chambers lead to the adytum or sanctuary, in one corner of which there is a granite block, containing a niche for the bird (a kind of hawk) venerated as the emblem of Osiris, and entirely covered with hieroglyphics. Bas-reliefs, representing processions, festivals, sacrifices, and other scenes connected with the worship of the gods of Egypt, cover the walls within and without; and on the ceiling of the portico are sculptured a human figure, with a mitre on the head and a serpent in the hand, three female figures with the arms and legs extended, two canoes with paddles, two winged globes, a flying scaraboeus with hands, Osiris in his boat, and two birds flying with palm branches in their claws. Fragments of obelisks and lions consisting of red granite are strewed about upon the ground in front of the temple. According to the most probable calculation, this temple was commenced by Philadelphus, continued under Euergetes I. and Epiphanes, and completed by Euergetes II. and Philometor.^[88. The rows of lions in front of this temple, and the occurrence of the same figure among the hieroglyphs, led the French savans to conclude that this emblem was meant to mark the sign Leo, in which the sun once appeared at the summer solstice, when the inundation commenced. But the sun ceased to be in Leo at that season 2Λ00 years before the beginning of our era; and hence Μ. Fourier concluded that this temple must have been built before that period, and within the limits of the 2163 years during which the sun was in Leo at the summer solstice, similar inferences were drawn from the zodiacs found at Denderah and other places; so that “on travelling back,” say the French philosophers, “for upwards of three thousand years, we can scarcely see a trace of the infancy of Egyptian architecture." [Description de l’ Egypte, Antiq. i.) But, unfortunately for these speculations, Delambre has shown [Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tom. viii. p. 389) that they furnish no data for determining the age of the buildings which they adorn; and from the style of the sculptures, particularly on the propylon, and stiU more from the hieroglyphic texts, the epoch of the erection of the temple must be that which we have assigned. If the Greek inscriptions over the entrance and on the walls had received the attention which they deserve, several erroneous theories would have been avoided, and the extravagant antiquity ascribed tu Ulis and other buildings would have been at once disproved. [Encyclopxdia Metropolitana, art. Egypt.} ]

On the left of the great temple of Isis is an uncovered enclosure formed by a colonnade, the intercolumniations of which are filled to nearly two thirds of their height; but to make amends for this, the plinths are raised to a disproportionate thickness. This structure, which has evidently been left in an unfinished state, was by the French architects called “the eastern” or “temple of Isis,” from a supposition, now proved to be erroneous, that the great temple had been dedicated to Osiris. Before it lay a small obelisk of granite, which, though displaced, had sustained but little injury. This monument, which eventually proved of so much importance in regard to the deciphering of hieroglyphics, was first noticed by Mr W. J. Bankes in 1815; and two years afterwards Mr Belzoni, [7:8:532]acting on his account, succeeded, in spite of numerous difficulties and even dangers, in transporting it along the Nile to Rosetta,^[89. Belzoni’s Travel/, p. 347, et seqq. where an interesting account will be found of this difficult, and, as the result proved, perilous operation. ] whence it was conveyed to England. The hieroglyphics on the shafts and the Greek inscription on the base of the obelisk were faithfully copied under the superintendence of Mr Bankés; and when the principles of interpretation applied by Dr Young to the triple inscription on the Rosetta stone were extended to the double inscription on the obelisk of Philae, it was ascertained that the Greek was merely a version of the Egyptian text; a discovery to which, as will afterwards be shown (see Hieroglyphics), we are in a great measure indebted for the formation of the phonetical alphabet. The Greek text has been ably illustrated and explained by the celebrated French Hellenist, Μ. Letronne.^[90. Recherches, p. 279. The inscription consists of a petition from the priests of Isis to Ptolemy Euergetes II. (a. c. 125 or 126), praying him to release them from the exactions of the magistrates and military officers stationed in the Thebaid, and to permit them to erect a stelé or cippus in commemoration of the equity and beneficence of their sovereign; a prayer which the existence of the commemorative obelisk proves to have been granted. ] At some distance from these temples, and near the water’s edge, there is a large hall, the walls of which are covered with sculptures relating to the death of Osiris; and over these are scattered inscriptions of different ages, and in various characters, recording the names of pilgrims who had visited the temple-island in erder to pay their devotions to the presiding deities of the place. At the northern extremity of the island there are the remains of a triumphal arch, and other works of Roman architecture; and on the north-east side an unfinished temple, exhibiting many peculiarities of structure, and showing that the arts were not always stationary in Egypt. In a word, within the compass of this little island, Nubian cabins, Arab huts, Christian chapels, Roman fortifications, and Egyptian temples, are crowded together in such a manner as to produce a painful sense of the lapse of ages, the transitory nature of empires, and the destructibility of human works, however colossal in magnitude or solid in construction.^[91. Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ]

Immediately below the Cataracts there is another small island in the river, which enjoys a celebrity scarcely inferior to that of Philae; we mean Elephantine, now called by the Arabs Djeziret-el-zahir or the Flowery Island, by reason of its luxuriant vegetation. In the time of Psammeticus this islet formed the last fortified place in his dominions, and under the Romans it was garrisoned by three cohorts. In point of size, it is so diminutive that, according to Champoilion, “il formerait à peine un parc convenable pour un bon bourgeois de Paris.^[92. Lettre/ écrite/ d,' Egypte et de Nubie, p. 171· ]” Heaps of rubbish mark the site of the town supposed to have given birth to the head of the Elephantine dynasty, and until recently there were remains of two temples covered with hieroglyphics, and approaching in design to the earliest temples of Greece. But within the last few years both these monuments have been destroyed in order to construct a barrack and magazine at Syene; and a little temple, dedicated to Knuphis by Amenophis III., has also disappeared.^[93. Lettre/, ubi supra; also, pp. Ill and 382. ] The only remnants left are two steps of a granite gateway, belonging to another temple of Knuphis, Saté, and Anuké,^[94. Each city and place of Egypt had its patron. Knuphis and Saté reigned at Elephantiné, Syené, and Beghch, and their jurisdiction extended over all Nubia; Phré presided at Ibsamboul, Derri, and Amada; Phtah, at Ghirschch; Anuké, at Maschaket; Thoth, the superintendent of Knuphis, over the whole of Nubia, having his principal fiefs at Ghebel-adhch and at Dakkch; Osiris was lord of Dandour, Isis queen at Philae, Hathôr at Ibsamboul, and Malouli at Kalabscbir. ] dedicated under Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great. A wall of the quay, however, exhibits, intermingled and mutilated, the wrecks of several ancient edifices of Elephantine, constructed under Moeris, Mandoueï, and Rhamses the Great; and in the remains of a chamber adjoining the stair of the quay are several curious hieroglyphic proskynemata, as well as in the inscription of a mutilated stelé originally erected in honour of Mandoueï. The quarries of Elephantine were worked in a very early age, and furnished the materials for many celebrated monuments. Amongst these may be mentioned the famous monolithic temple at Sai’s, formed of a single block of granite, the removal of which from Elephantine to the Delta employed two thousand men for the space of three years. On the wall ofan ancient quay, over a flight of steps leading to the river, may still be seen the nilometer which is mentioned by Strabo. Physically considered, Elephantiné is more properly the southern extremity of Egypt than Philae; for it is the last projection of the granite rock which forms the natural division between Egypt and Nubia, and beyond it the limestone tract of country commences.^[95. Description de l’ Egypte, Antiq. p. 8. Girard, Mem. de ΓΛcad, de∕ Science/, tom. ii. p. 185, 1817∙ Encyclopaedia Metrop. art. Egypt. ]

On the eastern or right bank of the Nile, nearly opposite to Elephantiné, stands the town of Assouan or Ossou-an, the Syené of the Greeks, and the Souan of the Copts, in whose language the word signifies “the opening.” From its proximity to the northern tropic it was fixed upon by Eratosthence as the point of departure for his admeasurement of a degree of the meridian in order thence to calculate the circumference of the earth; and here also, according to Strabo, was the well which, as the gnomons cast no shadows at noon, marked the summer solstice.^[96. This is not strictly correct, as the ancient town of Syené, though somewhat to the south-west of the modern town of Assouan 37' 23" north of the tropic; so that, during the summer solstice, there must be some shadow at noon, though it is scarcelv - ] At Syene may still be seen the ruins of a temple consecrated to Knuphis and Saté, under the Emperor Nerva. This monument, though it indicates an extreme decline of art in Egypt, is nevertheless exceedingly interesting, first, because it is the only one which bears the hieroglyphic legend of Nerva; secondly, because it contains the phoneticohieroglyphic name of Syené, viz. Souan, the same with the Coptic, and the root of the Syene of the Greeks and the Assouan of the Arabs; and, lastly, because the symbolic nameof this town, resembling the plummet line of an architect or mason, seems to allude to the position of Syene under (or nearly under) the tropic, and to the famous well into which the sun’s rays descended vertically at noon on the day of the summer solstice. On some granite rocks in the neighbourhood, Champollion discovered the homage of an Ethiopian prince called Memosis, to Amenophis III. and Taia his queen; an act of adoration to Knuphis, the local god, for the safety of Rhamses the Great and his children; and several proskynemata of private individuals, as well as public functionaries, to the divinities of Syené and the Cataract.^[97. Namely, Knuphis, Saté, and Anuké. (Champoilion, Lettre/ <l’ Egypte, p. 171.) ] For several centuries after the Arabian invasion, Assouan continued in a flourishing condition; but under the Fatemite caliphs it [7:8:533]became a prey to intestine divisions, and has long been reduced to a state of the utmost wretchedness.^[98. Burckhardt, NιΛιa, pp. 131, 395, 516. ]

Descending the Nile about twenty-seven or twenty-eight miles below Assouan, we reach Koum-Ombo, which stands on the site of the ancient Ombos, upon the right bank of the river. All the lower part of the ancient town, however, excepting that which has been washed away by the river, is now covered with a mound of sand, as its modern name indeed implies. But two temples, surrounded by a brick wall of great thickness, have escaped the general destruction, and both belong to the Greek epoch. The larger, which is of beautiful architecture, and has a fine effect, was commenced by Ptolemy Epiphanes, continued under Philometor and Euergetes 1I., and appears to have been completed during the reign of Soter II., whose name, with that of Cleopatra his queen or sister, may still be detected on some of the bas-reliefs. This temple, which is formed of a greyish sandstone, differs from every other building of the same kind in Egypt, in having two entrances, and consisting of two connected though distinct and perfectly symmetrica) structures. It appears to have been consecrated to two triads, each of which had a distinct division or compartment allotted to it; the one, composed of Sevek-Ra,with the crocodile’s head (the primordial form of Kronos or Saturn), Hathór or Venus, and their son Khons-Hór; the other, consisting of Aroëris, the goddess Tsonenufré, and their son Pnevtho; and both together constituting the saviour gods of Ombos. The crocodile observed on the Roman medals of the Ombite nome is the sacred animal of the principal god Sevek-Ra. In the dedications, and in the cartouches or elliptical rings sculptured on the cornice of the pronaos, Cleopatra the wife of Philometor has a surname which can only be the Greek Tryph<ene or Dropion, ^[99. “Un fait curieux, c’est le surnom de Tryphane donné constamment à Cléopâtre, femme de Philométor, soit dans le grande dédicace hiéroglyphique sculptée sur la frise antérieure du pronaos, soit dans les bas-reliefs de l’intérieur; c’est à vous autres Grecs d’Egypte d’expliquer cette singularité.” (Champollion, Lettres ir Egypte, p. 110.) ] but the former is considered as the more probable interpretation. This surname is repeated thirty times. The smaller temples of Ombos, like one of those at Philae and the temple of Hermonthis, was a Mammisi, or sacred edifice representing the birth-place of the young god of the local triad; in other words, a terrestrial image of the spot where the goddesses Hathór and Tsonenufré had given birth to their sons Khons-Hôr and Pnevtho. From ignorance of the local mythology, the authors of the Description de l’ Egypte supposed that this temple had been dedicated to Isis and her son Horus.

Edfou or Edfu, the Apollinopotis Magna of the Greeks, is situated on the western or left bank of the Nile, about thirty-three miles below Koum-Ombo, and two miles from the water’s edge. An ancient quay, with a flight of steps down to the river, and two temples at right angles to each other, but half buried in the sand, still remain. The larger of these is twice as long as it is broad, measuring about 440 by 220 feet; its largest columns are six feet four inches in diameter, twenty-one feet in circumference, and forty-two feet in height; and, as at Philae, Denderah, and other places, its roof' is covered with peasants’ huts, whilst the openings originally intended for the admission of light serve as sinks for the reception of filth. The two lofty pylons, which are conspicuous from the river, and the thirty-two columns of the peristyle to which they lead, form altogether a magnificent perspective.^[100. Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 66, et seqq. Encyclopadia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ] But this tem ple, the massive grandeur of which is so imposing, bears, nevertheless, several indications of the decay of Egyptian art under the Ptolemies, to whose epoch it entirely belongs; no trace of the ancient simplicity is discernible; and a profusion of elaborate but ill-conceived ornaments marks the transition from the noble gravity of the Pharaonic monuments to the fatiguing and endless papillotage of later times. The most ancient part of the decorations, namely, the interior of the naos and the right exterior side, belong to the reign of Philopater: the work was continued under Epiphanes, whose legends cover part of the shafts of the columns and the interior tablets of the right partition of the pronaos; and it was at length completed under the reign of Euergetes II. The sculptures of the exterior frieze and on the exterior walls of the pronaos were executed under Soter II. to whose reign also belongs the gallery on the right of the court before the pronaos: the gallery on the left, and indeed all the sculptures upon the two massive pylons, are of the age of Philometor. The wall of the enciente which surrounds the naos is entirely covered with sculptures, which (particularly those of the interior face) date from the reign of Soter IL and of Ptolemy-Alexander I. and contain the names of their respective queens, Cleopatra and Berenice. This magnificent edifice was consecrated to a triad composed of the god Harhat, or celestial science and light personified, the goddess Hathór, the Egyptian Venus, and their son Harsont-Tho or Horus, answering to the Eros of the Greek and Roman mythologies. The lesser temple of Edfou, called the Typhonium,^[101. Jomard, Description de l’ Egypte, i. 5, 30. ] is one of those smaller edifices called Mamniisi, which were always erected beside the great temples where a triad was adored. The Mammisi of Edsou represents the infancy and education of Harsont-Tho, with whom flattery has associated Euergetes II. as sharing the caresses of the gods of every order. The large temple of Edsou is dedicated to Aroëris, the Apollo of the Greeks.^[102. Champollion, retira <l’Egyple, pp. 109 and 191. Both the temples at Edfou are in a high state of preservation; but Mr Hamilton, in his learned work upon Egypt, has entirely mistaken the meaning of the sculptures (Egyptiaca, p. 87); and the same thing may be observed of Jomard in the Description de l’ Egypte. ]

Six miles lower down the river, on the opposite or right bank, is El-kab, the ancient Elethya ; but the remains of its two temples have disappeared, these structures having lately been demolished in order to repair the quay of Esnch, or for some other recent erection. Not so much as a column has escaped; and the entire temple, situated outside the town, has shared the same fate. It appears, however, from fragments of inscriptions, that the temple of Elethya, dedicated to Sevek or Saturn, and Sowan or Lucina, belongs to different Pharaonic epochs, and that those included in the city had been constructed and decorated under the reign of Queen Amenseh, under that of her son Thouthmosis III., called also Moeris, and under the Pharaohs Amenophis-Memnon and Rhamses the Great Amyr-tch and Achoris, two of the last kings of the Egyptian race, repaired these ancient edifices, and added some new constructions; but nothing attributable to the Greek or Roman periods has yet been discovered. The small peripteral temple which stood in the sandy plain about a mile and a half to the north of the town belonged to the age of Moeris. But by far the most remarkable antiquities of Elethya are the sepulchral caverns or hypog<ea, excavated in an insulated hill, of the common sandstone of the country, [7:8:534]at the distance of about four hundred yards to the south-south-west of the town. These tombs belong to a very remote period, and in the variety and richness of their decorations rival those of Thebes; with this difference, however, that, instead of religious and military subjects, those of a familiar and domestic kind are alone represented. The first of these visited by Champoilion and his party was the one whose painted bas-reliefs, relative to agricultural labours, fishing, and navigation, have been published by the Egyptian Commission in the French national work.^[103. Description de l’ Egypte, p. 7∙ ] This tomb, which is of high antiquity, had been excavated for the family of a hierogrammatist named Phapeh, attached to the college of priests at Elethya.^[104. In Egyptian Sowan-kah, or priests of Lucina, the goddess who was worshipped at Elethva. ] A second hypogocum, which proved to be that of the high priest of the goddess Ilythia or Elethya, from whom the town originally derived its name, bears the date of the reign of Rhamses-Meiamoun,^[105. Aíeiamoun is an epithet, an<l means literally “beloved by Ammon,” or Jupiter. ] and exhibits a multitude of family details, with some agricultural scenes, not in the purest taste.^[106. Among the scenes represented on this hypogocum is one of the threshing or treading out of sheaves of corn by oxen, below which, in hieroglyphics, almost all of which are phonetic, is a chançon which the conductor of the oxen on the threshing-floor is supposed to sing. The ditty is addressed to the animals, and is as follows:— Tread out the grain, ye oxen, tread it faster; The work is yours, the bushels go to master. This is not very brilliant poetry, we admit, and, probably, our translation has not improved it; but what occupies five lines in the original hieroglyphics we have found no difficulty in compressing into two; and the specimen is at least curious. ] The tomb adjoining this is still more interesting in an historical point of view. It belonged to a person named Ahmosis, son of Obschnch, chief of the boatmen of the Nile, who appears to have been a great personage in his day. In the remains of an inscription, this Ahmosis recounts his history for the benefit of all persons present and future, and states some particulars which fix the date at which he lived, namely, under the last king of the seventeenth dynasty, who overthrew the cruel tyranny of the Shepherds, and delivered Egypt from those remorseless barbarians. Another hypogecum, nearly in ruins, made Champoilion acquainted with four generations of great personages who governed under the title of princes of Elethya during the reigns of the first five sovereigns of the eighteenth dynasty, viz. Amenoph or Amenoftep I. Thouthmosis I. Thouthmosis II. Thouthmosis III. or Moeris, and Ranofreh, daughter of Queen Amenseh, and sister of Moeris. All these royal personages are successively named in the inscriptions on the tomb, and form as it were a supplement in confirmation of the genealogical table of Abydos discovered by Mr Bankes.^[107. Chainpoliiun, Lettre» d’Egypte, pp. 109, 194, 382. Hamilton, Egyptiaca, p. 90, et seqq. ]

Esnch or Esné, the ancient Latopolis, ^[108. Eim or Sm is the pure Egyptian name, and may be still read on all the columns and bas-reliefs of the temple. The Greek name of Latopolis, or Letopolis (for it is spelled both ways), is supposed to have been formed from latuι, a species of fish held in veneration at this place. (Egyptiaca, p. 100.) ] and the present capital of Upper Egypt, is about thirteen miles below El-kâb or EIethya, and stands in a plain where the valley is nearly four miles and a half in width. Owing to the neglect of the canals requisite for the irrigation of the soil, which is not now reached by the inundation, the surrounding country had been reduced almost to a desert, and the town itself would probably nave been abandoned, but for its port and the trade carried on by means of the Nile. 'Under the vigorous administration of Mehemmed Ali, however; the canals have latterly been repaired, and various products, including cotton, raised on ground which was not long ago a sandy waste, apparently irreclaimable for the purposes of cultivation. At Esnch there are two temples; one of vast dimensions, which, the great Ammon be praised, has escaped destruction from having been converted into a cotton magazine; and another, much smaller, but remarkable for the peculiarity of its hieroglyphics. Both contain some of those symbolical zodiacs which have so greatly perplexed the whole tribe of Egyptian antiquaries. According to conjectures founded on a particular mode of interpreting the zodiac on the ceiling of the large temple, this monument has been regarded as the most ancient in Egypt; but the style of the sculptures, and, above all, the hieroglyphical inscriptions, prove that, in reality, it is one of the most modern to be found in that country. The latter, indeed, leave no doubt that the masses of the pronaos were raised under the reign of the emperor Claudius,^[109. In the hieroglyphic ovals or rings the name is Coetar Tiberiu» Claudiu» Germanicu». ] to whom there is a dedication in large hieroglyphics on the entrance, and that the corner of the façade, and the first row of columns, were sculptured under the emperors Vespasian and Titus; the posterior part of the pronaos bears the legends of the emperors Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, and Commodus; some columns of the interior were decorated and sculptured under Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus; and, with the exception of some bas-reliefs, which belong to the epoch of Domitian, all those on the partitions of the right and left of the pronaos contain images of Septimius Severus, and of Geta, the brother of Caracalla.^[110. when Caracalla assassinated his brother Geta, he caused the name of the latter to be proscribed throughout the whole empire; and this proscription appears to have been executed to the letter even in the depths of the Thebaid; for the ovals containing the name of this unfortunate prince have -almost all been carefully defaced and hammered out. “Mais ils ne l’ont pas été au point (says champollion) de m’empêcher de lire tres-clairement le nom de ce malheureux prince: L'Empereur cesaii-Geta le directeur.” (Lettre» d’Egypte, p. 290.) ] The construction of this temple dates from the time of Claudius, and its sculptures come down as late as that of Caracalla. The remains of the naos, however, belong to the epoch of Ptolemy Epiphanes; but that is only as yesterday compared with the date which some fanciful antiquaries had assigned to this monument. On one of two columns, however, whose shafts were almost entirely covered with hièroglyphics arranged artificially, Champollion discovered a commemorative record of a dedication of an ancient temple by Moeris, otherwise called Thouthmosis III.; and in the quarter of the town known by the name of Sheikh-Mohammed-Ebbedri, he also found a dedication of Thouthmosis II. which, like the former, must have belonged to some old Pharaonic monument of Esnch. The great temple of Esnch was dedicated to one of the chief forms of the divinity Knuphis, who is described as nee-en-tho-Sné, or lord of the country of Esnch.^[111. The titles by which the Knuphis of Esnch is qualified are “lord of the country of Esnch, creator of the universe, vital principle of the divine essences, support of all worlds,” &c. with this god are associated the goddess Neïth, and the young llâké, who complete the triad adored at Esnch. “Cest aux mêmes divinités,” says champollion, “qu’était dédié le temple situé au nord d’Esnéh, dans une magnifique plaine, jadis cultivée, mais aujourd’hui hérissée de broussailles qui nous déchirèrent les jambes, lorsque nous allâmes le visiter, en faisant à pied one très-longue course du Nil aux ruines, que nous trouvâmes tout nouvellement dévastées; ce temple n’est plus tel que la Commission d’Egypte l’a bissé; il n'en subsiste qu'une scule colonne, un pétit pan de muret le soubassement presque à tleur de terre; parmi les bas-reliefs subsistants, j’en ai trouvé un d’Evergète 1 er . et de Bérénice sa femme; j'ai reconnu les légendes de Philopator sur la colonne, celles de Hadrien sur one partie d’architraves; et sur one autre en hiéroglyphes tout-à-fait barbares, les noms des empéreurs Antonin et vérus.” (Lettres d’Egypte, p. 204.) ] This place is also remarkable on account of a large Coptic convent, supposed to have been founded by the disciples of Pachomius, and to possess the bones of the martyrs who suffered during the persecutions of Diocletian.

At a small distance from the Nile, in the third expansion[7:8:535] of the valley, is situated Ermont or Erment, upon the site of the ancient Hermonthis, the capital of a nome or department of the same name, and the see of a Coptic bishop. A temple of moderate dimensions, but of peculiar design, and distinguished for the beauty of its columns and sculptures, still remains. This temple is a Mammisi consecrated to the goddess Ritho, and, as the bas-reliefs prove, constructed and sculptured in honour of Cleopatra the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, when she gave birth to Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar. The triad here adored consisted of the god Mandou, the goddess Ritho, and their son Harplireh; and Caesar, no doubt, wished to be the Mandou of the new Ritho, as Caesarion was the Har-phrch of both. “Du reste,” says Μ. Champoilion, who waxes facetious on the occasion, “c’était assez l’usage du dictateur Romain de chercher à compléter la triade, lorsqu'il non contrait surtout des reines qui, comme Cléopâtre, avaient en elles quelque chose de divin, sans dédaigner pour cela les joies terrestres.” The body of the temple is still entire, and its cella consists of two compartments, a larger and a smaller, but some of the columns have been overturned. The import of the hieroglyphical inscriptions is very fully stated by Champollion.^[112. See Lettre» d’Egypte, p. 105. ] This temple alsocon-tains a zodiac, the epoch of which, if it were considered determinable by such fanciful calculations as those we have already alluded to, would be altogether incredible.^[113. Jomard, Description de l’Egypte, Antiq. i. c. viii. p. 9, plates 91, 96. See also Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 111. with reference to the materials with which the Egyptian temples were constructed, the author last quoted observes, " It is singular that the ancient Egyptians do not appear to have employed granite in any of the buildings in Upper Egypt, except the obelisks and some few of the propyla, as at Thebes, Elephantiné, &c. The rest are all of the common sandstone. Granite pillars seem to have been introduced so late as the time of the christian emperors, as they are only found in the ruins of Greek churches. Their proportions and their sculpture testify the want of taste, and the decline of the arts, which characterized the age in which they were raised. In Lower Egypt, we find granite to have been in use from the earliest times; whole temples, columns, propyla, &c. were constructed exclusively of this stone, as being the only one which could resist the frequent and violent rains in the Delta, and the moisture of the air.” (Egyptiaca, p. 112.) This is very loose and inaccurate. In Upper Egypt the nearest and most accessible materials were used; and in the Delta, though the air be moist from its proximity to the sea, the rains are neither frequent nor violent. ] Near to these ruins is a Christian church, which has been constructed out of the spoils of Grecian as well as Egyptian temples.

In the broadest part of the section of the valley forming its third enlargement, where the Nile is about four hundred and fifty yards in width, and runs from southwest to north-east, between Kournah or Gournah on the north, and El-Nahariyah on the south, the splendid remains of Thebes, the wonder of antiquity, a city the date of whose destruction was long anterior to the foundation of most other cities, are spread over a large area occupied by nine distinct townships, viz. El-Akalitch, Nacah-Abu-Hamud, Koum el-bairat, and Medinet-Habou to the west; Kournah or Gournah to the north; Luxor or El-oksor close to the river’s edge; and Kafr-Karnak and Me-damud on its eastern side.^[114. Élan de» Ruines de Thébes ; Description de l’ Egypte, Antiquités, tom. ii. plate 1. ] The most remarkable of these places, with the Titanian ruins which are spread over their surface, we shall now endeavour as shortly as possible to describe.

At Akalitch the remains of an ancient hippodrome or race-course are visible, and at its northern extremity is Medinet-Habou, or the Town of the Father, containing the remains of a castellated palace with embattled walls,^[115. This peculiarity is confined to the edifice in question, and is not to be found in any other Egyptian building. (Encyclopaedia Metro, politaua, art. Egypt.) ] and a temple with propyla of gigantic dimensions, besides majestic colossal figures, caryatides, and long rows of ’ columns richly ornamented. This temple, which may be the Memnonium of Strabo, is in size and massiveness inferior only to that of Diospolis, but fully equal to it in the richness and variety of its sculptures. An outward inclosure or brick wall seems to have contained three distinct though connected buildings, to which have been arbitrarily assigned the respective names of the chapel, the palace, and the temple. A small pronaos, a propylon, and a portico conduct as usual to the adytum of the chapel, which, from its size, would in any other place deserve to be classed amongst the temples. The palace was only approached by a side doorway from the pronaos of the chapel until the principal entrance from the plain, which had been blocked up with sand, was opened by the indefatigable Belzoni.^[116. Researches and operations in Egypt and Nubia, p. 121. ] Of this building one tower only remains. It is divided into three stories, in each of which are two apartments. The stone pavement of the lower rooms is still perfect, but the upper floors and the wooden beams which supported them have entirely disappeared. The interior walls are not covered with such a profusion of sculptures as those without. The great gateway of the temple, which faces the palace at the distance of about three hundred feet, is covered with the usual sculptures; it is about a hundred and fifty feet in length and sixty in height, and conducts into a court which is about a hundred and twenty feet square. On either side there runs from this gateway to the next a colonnade; that on the right consisting of eight pilasters, to each of which is affixed a mitred statue of Thoth or Hermes, and that on the left of as many columns, each richly sculptured. The soffites and walls of these colonnades are also crowded with sculptures, the forms and colours of which are well preserved.^[117. Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 137, et seqq. see also Denon’s Travels in Egypt under the head of Medinet-Habou. ] In the chapel, which appears to have been a work of the fourth century before our era, all the bas-reliefs still extant represent king Nectanebo, of the thirtieth or Sebennytic dynasty, adoring Ammon-Ra, the sovereign of the gods, and receiving the gifts and benefactions of all the other divinities of Thebes. But adjoining to it there is a pylon of moderate dimensions and fine proportion, which, having been erected under the domination of the Ethiopian king Taharaka (the Tirhakah of Scripture), in the seventh century before our era, contains, in the inscriptions and bas-reliefs which decorate the faces of the masonry, and also the gateway which separates them, the names, titles, and praises of this invader, which were afterwards proscribed when the Saïtes ascended the throne of the Pharaohs. On the masonry of the [7:8:536]right there is also an inscription relative to embellishments which were executed under Ptolemy Soter II.^[118. The change of a few stones by the Ptolemy above named is thus pompously lauded in a hieroglyphic inscription which he caused to be cut on the masonry of the right side: “This beautiful repair was executed by the king lord of the world, the grand germ of the great gods, he whom Phtah has approved, living image of Ammon-Ila, the son of the sun, Ptolemy ever-living, the god beloved of Isis, the saviour god {ιcter NT-NOHEM), in honour of his father Ammon-Ila, who has granted him the periods of the national assemblies upon the throne of Horus.” The Ethiopian, who was the real founder of the pylon, has however, been content with a simple intimation of his existence. On the entablature of the gateway is sculptured this brief inscription: “King Taharaka, the well-beloved of Ammon-Ila, lord of the thrones of the world, lives.” (champoilion, Lettre» d’Egypte, p. 327∙) ] The foundation of the palace dates as far back as the commencement of the eighteenth century before Christ; but several restorations are indicated by the inscriptions, which also fix the period at which they were made. 1. All the sculptures of the upper façades south and north were executed under the reign of Rhamses-Meiamoun in the fifteenth century before our era. 2. The columns of the protodoric order which support the ceilings of the galleries were repaired under the Mendesian Pharaoh, Acoris, about four centuries before Christ. 3. The restoration of the gates, and a portion of the ceiling of the grand hall, took place under Euergetes II. between the years 146 and 118 before our era. But the principal decoration of the edifice was executed under the reigns of Thouthmosis I. Thouthmosis II. and Thouthmosis III. called Moeris by the Greek historians, particularly the last, in whose name all the dedications have been made.^[119. The dedication under the gallery on the right, which is one of the best preserved, will give an idea of all the rest. It is as follows: “ First Hue. Life: Horus powerful, beloved of Phré, the sovereign of the higher and the lower region, grand chief of all parts of the world, Horus resplendent, great by his force, he who has struck the nine bows (the nomadic tribes), the gracious lord of the world, the sun that gives stability to the world, the son of the sun, Thouthmosis, benefactor of the world, vivified now and for ever. Second line. He has caused these structures to be erected in honour of his father Ammon-Ila, king of the gods, to whom is dedicated this great temple, in the western part of the Thouthmoscion of Ammon, in beautiful sandstone; this is what the king ever-living has done." (champollion, Lettre», p. 329.) ] The sculptures are executed with remarkable accuracy and with exquisite fineness of detail, and the bas-reliefs are of the very best age of the art. War and battles form the principal subjects of the hieroglyphical tablets and inscriptions.^[120. Of the subjects of these battle-pieces a very correct idea may be formed from the following description of the contents of two tablets given by Champollion in the only memorial he has left of his Egyptian labours: “I er Tableau. Grande bataille: le héro Egyptien, debout sur un char lancé au galop, décoche des flèches contre one foule d’ennemis fuyant dans la plus grande désordre. On appenjoit sur le premier plan les chefs Egyptiens montés sur des chars, et leurs soldats entremêlés à des alliés les Fekkaro, massacrant les llobou épouvantés, ou se hant comme prisonniers de guerre. Ce tableau seul contient plus de cent figures en pied, sans compter les chevaux. “2« Tableau. Les princes et les chefs de l’armée Egyptienne conduisent au roi victorieux quatre colonnes de prisonniers: des scribes comptent et enregistrent le nombre des mains droites et des parties génitales coupées aux llobou morts sur le champ de bataille. L’inscription porte textuellement: ‘ conduite des prisonniers en présence de sa majesté; ceux-ci sont au nombre de mille; mains coupées, trois mille; phallus, trois mille.’ Le Pharaons, aux pieds duquel on dépose ces trophées, paisiblement assis sur son char, dont les chevaux son retenus par des officiers, adresse one allocution à ses guerriers; il les félicite sur leur victoire, et prodigue fort naïvement les plus grands éloges à sa propre personne...En dehors de ce curieux tableau existe one longue inscription malheureusement fort endommagée, et relative il cette campagne, qui date de l’an cinquième du règne de Uhamses-Meiamoun.” {Lettre» d’Egypte, p. 341, 342.) ]

On the edge of the desert to the north and west of Medinet-Habou there are almost innumerable fragments of statues, columns, and other parts of buildings; and a quadrangular enclosure of brick walls is filled with broken remains of colossal figures and hieroglyphical tablets finely executed, whilst in a grove of mimosas or acacias similar relics of ancient sculpture occur at every step. In the plain, about half way between the desert and the river, are two statues called by some the statues of Memnon. They are about fifty feet in height, and seated each on a pedestal eighteen feet long, fourteen feet broad, and six feet high. The stone of which they are formed is a hard reddish sandstone, which, from the action of the weather, is in many places discoloured, and hence appears of a black, gray, brown, and even whitish hue. Few monuments of ancient magnificence have more interest attached to them than “Memnon’s statue which at sunrise played,” or at least that statue from which a certain mysterious sound was believed and reported to proceed every morning at sunrise;^[121. Dimidio niagiece resonant ubi Memnone chordce. JüVENAL. ] and no question has been more keenly agitated among Egyptian antiquaries than that which relates to the identification of the statue said to have possessed this wonderful property. The French have adopted the opinion of those who regard as the vocal statue of Memnon the fallen colossus in front of the temple which they call the Memnonium. But Pococke has decided in favour of the northernmost of the two statues above described; and Mr Hamilton is inclined, on what appear to be good grounds, to prefer the opinion of our countryman. Strabo declares that the sound issued every day, resembling that of a slight blow; Pausanias agrees as to the statue uttering a sound daily at sunrise, but likens the sound uttered to that of the bursting of a string in a lyre or harp; Pliny relates the same extraordinary phenomenon, though his description of the vocal statue differs from that given by Strabo and Pausanias; and Philostratus says that it uttered a sound when the rays of the sun touched its lips.^[122. Hamilton’s EgypHaca,p. 168, et seqq. Pococke’s Travel». ] In addition to these testimonies, which, from the particulars respecting the statue mentioned collaterally, seem, on the whole, to favour the opinion of Pococke, we have those of the numerous Greeks and Romans who at different times visited this statue, and engraved their names on its legs and feet, declaring that they had heard the sound or voice of Memnon at a certain hour, generally, a short time after sunrise.^[123. One of the numerous Greek inscriptions upon the legs and feet of the vocal colossus of Memnon has been restored as follows: "Exav,, iyù utib,ut Baaβi*si Φ∙,if ras ftiùs Míµwvaf s Φaμtwφ. τ Hafiβs if»»v l¢urã ßeteibüíĩi rņĩt ∑aβir^, 'ΩζUf Is τζdιτus aλ,uf irχι ĩçóµts KoιζaiΛ> ’ A⅜4αHr ι riμr l rγ os*ατ∙ isiavrũ. "Aµura ĩ “A/vç uuoσι ×ui ∙riauζa. The history of the vocal statue of Memnon has lately been written by Μ. Letronne, in a paper inserted in the Mémoire» de l’ Académie de» lnicriptions et Bclles-Lettres, new series, tom. x. “Ge sujet, curieux sculement en apparence, est devenu, sous la plume de Μ. Letronne, l’un des plus piquants et des plus utiles à étudier dans la recherche des rapports et du mélange des opinions de la Grèce avec celles de l’Egypte." {Lettre», ubi supra.) ] Strabo, too, visited the statue, [7:8:537]and heard the mysterious voice. These statues, when entire, might be seen at a distance of twelve miles, towering like solitary rocks in the midst of the plain; and the surprising length of their shadows at sunrise long rendered them an object of curiosity at that hour; but, like the kindred oracles which once inhabited the adjoining fanes, they had become mute. The hieroglyphical inscription on the throne of the vocal colossus proves that it represents Amenoph is or Phamenoph 11, who reigned abnut seventeen centuries before the commencement of the Christian era.^[124. A large temple, and a great number of fine statues, have since been discovered near the same spot in the course of the excavations which were made under the direction of Mr salt and other recent travellers in Egypt. ]

Between Medinet-Habou and El-ebek or Kournah there is another mass of ruins as stupendous in their dimensions as they are admirable in their execution. They have been supposed by some to mark the site of the Memnonium, probably on account of the broken colossal statue of red granite which lies overturned within their precincts, while, according to others, they are the remains of the tomb of Osymandyas, the mighty conqueror whose sepulchre was to surpass every thing upon earth.^[125. Diodorus Siculus, i. 47∙ ] This last denomination originated with the French Egyptian Commission; and several travellers still persist in employing that of the Memnonium, which is equally ill applied and incorrect. The real name of the structure whose ruins yet attest its stupendous magnificence is, the Rhamesseion, so called from Rhamses the Great, to whom Thebes was indebted for the edifice; and this name, accordingly, is found sculptured in a hundred places, and repeated in the legends of the friezes, architraves, and bas-reliefs, which decorate the palace. “L’imagination s’ébranle,” says Champollion, “et l’on éprouve émotion bien naturelle en visitant ces galeries mutilées et ces belles colonnades, lorsqu’on pense quelles sont l’ouvrage et furent souvent l’habitation du plus célèbre et du meilleur des princes que la vicille Egypte compte dans ses longues annales."^[126. Lettrce teritee rΓ Egypte et de Nubie, p∙ 261. ] No part of the Rhamesseion remains entire; but what has escaped the barbarism of the Persians and the ravages of time is sufficient to give a pretty exact idea of the whole. Within the walls, which inclose a space of more than two hundred feet in breadth by six hundred in depth, the whole area is a forest of pillars, interspersed with fragments and fallen statues. The body of the palace was approached by a noble propylon, fronting the fertile plain, and resting upon it; but the remainder of the edifice rests on the adjoining mountain, the rock of which has been levelled to form the floor. In the propylon there are passages leading to several chambers and to the roof; and this propylon is separated from the first wall of the palace by a distance of a hundred and sixty feet. In the court behind the propylon are the fragments of the enormous statue already aīluded to. It has been broken off at the waist, and the upper part is now laid prostrate on the ground. This enormous statue measures sixty-three feet round the shoulders, thirteen feet from the crown of the head to the top of the shoulders, thirteen and a half from the shoulder to the elbow, and nearly seven feet over the foot. The face has been so entirely obliterated that nothing even of its general expression can now be discerned. “Next to the wonder excited by the boldness of the sculptor who made it,” says Mr Hamilton, “and the extraordinary powers of those who erected it, the labour and exertions that must have been used for its destruction arc most astonishing.”^[127. Egyptiaca, p. 167, 166. Mr Hamilton adds, “Its fall has carried along with it the whole wall of the temple [palace] which stood within its reach. It was not without great difficulty and danger that we could climb on its shoulder and neck; and in going down from thence on its chest 1 was assisted by my Arab servant, who walked by my side in the hieroglyphic characters engraven on the arm.” ] The court which intervenes between the statue and the opposite quarter is about a hundred feet in width. Four square columns formerly stood on the opposite side of the door-way, making a row of eight, which faced a like number, some of which are still to be seen. Two sides of the court were bounded by a double row of enormous pillars, parts of the capitals of which, thirty-two feet in circumference, yet remain; and behind the square columns there were others of a similar description; so that, when the whole was roofed, it must have been a truly magnificent piazza. The fronts of the square columns have been carved into statues in full relief, measuring twenty feet to the shoulder; and below the figures, which are all shaped like a soros, are rows of hieroglyphics. The pillars form the ruins of a central hall, the roof of which was supported by forty-eight columns; beyond this is a second hall entered by a door-way, and divided from the other by a cross wall; and the remains of a third, which are seen farther on, terminate the magnificent ruins of the Rhamesseion. The side walls which inclose this edifice have been removed, and many columns and statues have been destroyed; but the remnants, which have escaped all sorts of ravages, are sufficient to awaken boundless admiration of the power as well as genius which presided in the construction of the mighty fabric.^[128. Captain Head’s Eastern and Egyptian Scenery, tìnine, ⅜c. p. 22. The excellent lithograph view of the Rhamesseion given in this work was taken from the back of the prostrate colossus. There also remain the fragments of a statue of black granite, represented in Captain Head’s plate, which has been absurdly styled the brother of the younger Memnon, which Mr Belzoni conveyed hence to England, and placed in the British Museum. Like its exported companion, it has a benignant expression of countenance, with the full Ethiopian expansion of nostril and lip by which the sphinxes in the neighbourhood are characterized. The features are somewhat elongated, but remarkably regular. For an account of Mr Belzoni’s achievement, see fíecearchee and operatione, p. 40, et seqq. ] The architecture throughout is perhaps in the purest and noblest style of any at Thebes. It would be endless to attempt any detailed description of the hieroglyphics, pictorial tablets, and bas-reliefs of this wonderful monument. They relate principally to the achievements and conquests of Sesostris, and the adoration of the gods of Thebes by that mighty potentate. The following is the dedication of the great hall, sculptured in name of the founder, in beautiful hieroglyphics, upon the architraves of the left side: “Haroëris all powerful, the friend of truth, the lord of the upper and lower regions, the defender of Egypt, the castigator of foreign countries, Horus the resplendent possessor of the palms, the greatest of conquerors, the king-lord of the World, sun guardian of justice approved by Phré, the son of the sun, the well-beloved of Ammon, Rhamses, has caused these structures to be erected in honour of his father Ammon-Ra, king of the gods: he has caused to be constructed, in good white sandstone, the Great Hall of Assembly, supported by large columns with capitals imitating full-blown Howers, and flanked by smaller pillars with capitals imitating a truncated bud of the lotus; and he has dedicated the Hall to the lord of gods, for the celebration of his assemblies; this is what the king ever living has done.”^[129. ChampoUion, Lettree ícritee d’Egypte, p. 273. In concluding his observations on this wonderful ruin, Champollion observes, “l.e Rhamesseion est le monument de Tlièbes le plus degrade, mais c’est aussi, sans aucune doute, celui qui, par ľ’éldgante majesté de ses ruines, laisse dans l’esprit des voyageurs une impression plus profonde et plus durable.” P. 291. ]
[7:8:538]

Having shown by the legends and other evidence that the magnificent ruin which has been considered by some as the remains of the Memnonium, and by others as those of the Tomb of Osymandyas, is in reality the wreck of the Rhamesseion, we shall now endeavour to ascertain the exact site of that celebrated edifice of Thebes called Amenophion by the Egyptians, but known among the Greeks by the name of the Memnonium. And here we may observe, that if what has been stated above respecting the statue of Memnon, or of Amenophis the third of that name, whom the Greeks call Memnon, be well founded, the position occupied by this and the corresponding colossus must in some measure determine the site of the Memnonium. Accordingly, the legends discovered on the ruins scattered about, such as the debris of architraves, portions of colossal figures, shafts of columns, and fragments of enormous bas-reliefs, together with the hieroglyphical inscriptions found in the hypogoea of the neighbourhood, which contained the mummies of the great officers charged, during their lifetime, with the guardianship of this edifice, all lead to the same conclusion which Jollois and Devilliers, in their excellent description of these ruins, had arrived at from other considerations; namely, that the ruins towards the extremity of which, on the side of the river, appear the two enormous monolith statues, about sixty feet in height, commanding the whole plain of Thebes, mark out the site of the Amenophion or Memnonium. These two figures, which are formed each of a single block of grey breccia, transported from the quarries of the upper Thebaid, and placed in a sitting posture on immense bases of the same material, with the hands extended on the knees in an attitude of repose, seem to have decorated the exterior facade of the principal pylon of the Amenophion; and, in an inscription on the seat of one of the figures, we find the names and titles of the third Amenophis of the eighteenth dynasty, called Memnon by the Greeks, who occupied the throne of the Pharaohs in the seventeenth century before the Christian era, most distinctly and accurately enumerated. The following is the concluding portion of this legend; “The lord sovereign of the upper and lower region, the reformer of manners, he who holds the world in repose, Horus, who, great by his power, has smitten the barbarians, the king sun lord of truth, the son of the sun, Amenothph, moderator of the pure region, beloved of Ammon-Ra, king of the gods.” The dedication of this palace, which is altogether dramatic, being in the form of a dialogue between Amenoph or Amenothph and Am-'

mon-Ra, “king of the gods,” is entirely in accordance with the inscription of which we have here quoted a part: the king appears in the character of founder of the edifice, and the Jupiter of the Egyptian Pantheon thus responds to the invocation of his representative upon earth: “Approach, my son, sun lord of truth, of the germ of the sun, son of the sun, Amenothph ; I have heard thy words, and I perceive the structure which thou hast executed; I who am thy father rejoice in beholding thy good works.” The identity of the Memnonium of the Greeks and the Amenophion of the Egyptians is therefore no longer doubtful; and it is still less so, that “when the Memnonium was in all its glory,” it formed one of the greatest wonders of the old capital of Egypt.^[130. chatnpollion, Lettre» écrite» d’Egypte et de Nubie, p. 303, et seqq. Among the ruins of the Amenophion, on the side of the Libyan mountains, on the border of the desert, are two blocks of grey breccia, each about thirty feet in length, which exhibit the form of enormous »leite or pillars, and are covered with hieroglyphical tablets, which, according to Champoilion, “nous montrent toujours le roi dmenophiι-Memnon, accompagné ici de la reine Taïa son épouse, accuillis par le dieu Amon-lia, ou par Phtah-Socharis.” P. 309. ]

Situated behind the Amenophion, in a valley formed by the rocks of the Libyan mountain and a large mamelon detached from them on the side of the plain, is a small temple in a state of perfect preservation, which the French Egyptian Commission has described under the name of the Little Temple of Isis. It is entered by a small propylon of sandstone attached to the enceinte, and covered on the exterior side with sculptures heavily elaborated. Its situation is dreary and dismal. The tablets upon the bandeau of the gateway represent on the one side Ptolemy Soter II. presenting offerings to Hathôr and the great triad of Thebes, Ammon-Ra, Mouth, and Chons; and on the other, the goddess Thmé or Themeï (Themis), and a triad formed of the hieracocephalous god Mandou, his wife Ritho, and their son Harphré. The temple was therefore dedicated to Hathôr or Venus, identified with Themeï or Themis; in other words, the principle of beauty was here worshipped mythologically in conjunction with that of truth and justice. This is completely confirmed by the hieroglyphical inscription sculptured along the fńeze of the pronaos, part of which has been translated by Μ. Champoilion. The naos is divided into three contiguous halls, forming as many sanctuaries, the principal of which, being that in the middle, is entirely covered with sculptures of an import similar to those already described. The sanctuary on the left was consecrated to Themeï, and all the tablets with which it is decorated relate to the functions performed by that goddess in Amenti, or the Egyptian Tartarus.^[131. The two sovereigns of this terrible place (where, according to the Egyptian mythology, the souls of men were judged), Osiris and Isis, receive at first the homage of Ptolemy and Arsinoë, gods Philopators; and on a cross or partition wall is sculptured the grand scene of the psychostasis. This vast bas-relief represents the hypostyle hall called in Egyptian O*⅛Λ, or the court of Amenti, with suitable decorations. The grand judge, Osiris, occupies the further extremity of the judgment-hall; and at the foot of his throne appears the lotus, the emblem of the material world, surmounted with images of his four children, the directing genii of the four winds or cardinal points. The forty-two judges, assessors of Osiris, are ranged in a double line, each having his head surmounted with an ostrich feather, the symbol of justice; whilst, on a bench before the throne, the Egyptian Cerberus, or Teouóm-enement, a triple monster, at once crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus, opens his horrid jaws, ready to devour guilty souls. Towards the door of the tribunal apj>ears the goddess Thmeï redoubled, or twice represented, by reason of her twofold function of goddess of truth as well as of justice; and the first form, qualified as Thmeï, ruler of Amenti (truth), presents the soul of an Egyptian, under a corporeal form, to the second personation of the goddess (justice), whose legend is as follows: “Thmeï, who resides in Amenti, where she weighs the hearts of all men in a balance, and whom the wicked cannot escape.” In the neighbourhood of him who is here undergoing his final trial are the words, “arrival of a soul in Amenti;” and further on is an infernal balance, into the scales of which Horus, the hawk-headed son of Isis, and Anubis the shakal-headed son of osiris, are placing, the one the heart of the arraigned, and the other a feather, the emblem of justice; whilst, between the fatal instrument which is to decide the fate of the soul, and the throne of Osiris, is placed the biocephalous god Thoth, described as “thrice great, the lord of schmoun (Hermopoľu Magna), the lord of the divine words, the secretary of justice to the other gods in the hall of justice and of truth.” This divine recorder writes the result of the trial to which the heart of the deceased Egyptian has just been subjected, and goes to present his report to the sovereign judge who presides in Hades. (Champollion, Lettre» écrite» d’Egypte, pp. 319, 329.) ]

The palace of Kournah, though also of small dimensions compared with the great and important edifices we have described, is nevertheless an interesting monument, as it belongs to the Pharaonic times, and dates from the most glorious epoch in the annals of ancient Egypt. Besides, [7:8:539]its appearance presents a character altogether new; and if its general plan suggests the idea of a private habitation, and seems to exclude that of a temple, the magnificence of the decoration, the profusion of the sculptures, the beauty of the materials, and the perfection of the execution, prove that this habitation formerly belonged to a rich and powerful sovereign. The remains of this palace occupy only the extremity of an artificial mound or bank of earth, on which there were formerly other structures connected with that which still exists; at least all the fragments scattered over the ground bear royal names belonging either to the last Pharaohs of the eighteenth or the first of the nineteenth dynasty. In the same line with these remains rises a porticoa hundred and fifty feet in length and thirty in height, supported by ten columns, whose shafts are composed of wreaths of lotusstems, whilst the capitals are formed of buds and flowers of the same plant, truncated so as to admit the coping. On the four faces of the capitals are sculptured with much care the royal legends of Ňlenephtha I. and also those of Rhamses the Great; and the names of these Pharaohs are likewise inscribed on the shafts of the columns, but joined together and included in a square tablet. The dedicatory legend which adorns the architrave of the portico occupying its whole length, establishes two principal facts; first, that the palace of Kournah was founded and erected by Menephtha I.; and, secondly, that his son Rhamses the Great, having completed the decoration of the edifice, surrounded it with an enceinte ornamented with propylons, and similar to that within which each of the greatroyal monuments at Thebes is contained. In fact, all the bas-reliefs which decorate the interior of the portico and the exterior of the three gates which lead to the apartments of the Menephtheion, represent Menephtha I. and more frequently still Rhamses the Great, rendering homage to the Theban triad and to the other divinities of Egypt, or receiving from the munificence of the gods royal powers and precious gifts in order to embellish and prolong life. And the only sculptures of the edifice posterior to the time of Rhamses the Great consist of some royal onomastic inscriptions, placed either on the sides or basement of the gates, but wholly unconnected with the primitive decoration; all of them, with the exception of one which contains the names and titles of Rhamses-Meiamoun, belonging to the reign of Menephtha II. the son and immediate successor of Rhamses the Great.^[132. Champollion, Lettres, 380, et seqq. It may perhaps conduce to perspicuity, or at least serve to prevent mistakes, if we introduce here the eight reigns anterior to that of Rhamses-Meiamoun, in their chronological order. They stand thus: 1. Amenophis II. or Memnon; 2. Horus; 3. Rhamses I.; 4. Menephtha 1. or Ousireï; 5. Rhamses the Great, or Sesostris; 6. Menephtha II.; 7∙ Menephtha III.; 8. Rhamerreb; and, 9. Rhamses-Meiamoun. The monuments of different orders having clearly demonstrated that Rhamses the Great, the Sesostris of Herodotus, must be included in the eighteenth dynasty, as answering exactly to the Rhamses called Aegyptui in the extracts of M anetho, it follows that in Rhamses-Meiamoun, the Rhamses-Sethos of the same lists of Manethu, we recognise the head or chief of the nineteenth dynasty. ]

The catacombs in the western mountains are not less abundant than the monuments we have described, in trea sures illustrative of the ancient history of Egypt. In the valley of Biban-el-Molouk, a rocky ravine to the southwest of Kournah, are the sepulchres of the kings of the three Diospolitan or Theban dynastics, being the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth.^[133. The following is Manetho’s catalogue of the Ďiospolitan dynastics and kings. XVIII. Dynasty· Ďiospolitan. , , Years B. c. Years. B. C. 15. Ramesses or Rhamses s. ļ ( . R 1 . r ,, 1. Thouthmosisor Amosis, reigned 24 1874 16. Armesses Meiamoun, s . f ' 2. Chebron his son 13 1750 17∙ Amenophis or Amenophtb 15 1439 3. Amenophthis 20 1737 4. Ammosis, sister 18 1717 XIX. Dynasty. Ďiospolitan. • l’ vf^¶uîľľŋľt'î.’Åľiľ " ∙'>∙ι i<-∙>∙* 18. Rhamses the Great or Sesostris 53 1424 î ÄKÄ¾î:::::: . i .≡ g∙ y -~ ⅛ -, ·» «· «. An>enuphi,, « (Memnon). 31 ISŞ1 “⅛,mem, or Klmmra } “≡ £ Sa⅛==zS I" «· *=·”· » «; 11. lωho⅛.⅛ IS ISSS 23. Thoen, 7 1233 12. Acencheres, s 17 1541 — r , . τ ,. ι∙. 13. Acencheres II. 11 1524 XX. Dynasty. Ďiospolitan. 14. Armais 6 1513 24...35. Twelve kings 125 1226 ] The site chosen for the royal necropolis appears to be eminently suited to its melancholy destination; for a valley or ravine, encased, as it were, by high precipitous rocks, or by mountains in a state of decomposition, presenting large fissures, occasioned either by the extreme heat or by internal sinking down, and the backs of which are covered with black bands or patches, as if they had been in part burned, is a spot which, from its loncliness, desolation, and apparent decay, harmonizes well with our ideas as to the most fitting locality for a place of tombs. No living animal, it is said, frequents this valley of the dead; even the fox, the wolf, and the hyena shun its mournful precincts; and its doleful echoes are only awakened at intervals by the foot of the solitary antiquary, led by inquisitive curiosity to pry into the very secrets of the grave. The catacombs or hypogoea are all constructed on nearly the same plan, yet no two of them are exactly alike: some are complete, others appear never to have been finished, and they vary much in the depth to which they have been excavated. In general, the entrance is by the exterior opening of a passage twenty feet wide, which descends gradually about fifty paces, then expands whilst the descent becomes more rapid, and is continued for some distance farther. On either side of this passage is a horizontal gallery, on a level with the lowest part of the first descent; small chambers also branch off sides of the second descent; at the interior extremity there is a spacious and lofty apartment, in the centre of which is placed the royal tomb; and beyond this there are commonly other small chambers at the sides, whilst in some cases the principal passage is continued a long way into the rock. The royal tomb is for the most part a sarcophagus of red or grey granite, circular at the one end and square at the other; but where there is no sarcophagus a hole or grave is discovered, cut in the rock to the depth of from six to thirty feet, and which appears to have been covered by a granite lid. Almost all the lids, however, belonging to the graves excavated in the rock, have either been removed or broken. In those sepulchres which have been finished, the walls from one end to the other are all covered with sculptures and paintings executed in the best style of ancient art; and, owing to the unparalleled dryness of the atmosphere in Egypt, the colours, where they have not been purposely damaged, [7:8:540]are as fresh as when first laid on.^[134. Hamilton, Egyptiaca, pp. 155, 156. ] The labours of Belzoni in exploring these tombs, and the success with which they were rewarded, are well known. Strength and resolution as herculean and inflexible as his were required to overcome the suspicions of the Arabs, the want of mechanical aid, and the heat and closeness of the caverns; but his perseverance was amply recompensed by the discovery of six tombs in this hypogean city of the dead. The most remarkable of these, with all its galleries, is upwards of three hundred feet in length, and is called by Belzoni the tomb of Apis, from his having found the mummy of a bullock in one of its chambers. In another apartment there was a magnificent sarcophagus of white alabaster, almost as transparent as crystal; and the whole excavation, sculptured and painted in the most finished style of art, was in the most perfect preservation.^[135. Belzoni, Researches and Operations, p. 123 and 224, et seqq. Mr salt observes that the colours are generally pure and bril, hant, but intermixed with each other nearly in the proportions of the rainbow, and so subdued by the proper introduction of blacks as not to appear gaudy, but to produce a harmony that in some of the designs is really delicious. " One would think it was in Egypt,” says Mr Bechey, “that Titian, Giorgione, and Ťintoret, had acquired all that vigour and magic of effect which distinguishes them so remarkably from all other painters in point of arrangement, and principally in the happy disposition of their darks.” (Young, Vira of the latest Publications relating io Egypt.) ] These catacombs, as already stated, were the sepulchres of the kings of the three Diospolitan dynastics; and accordingly, by means of the hieroglyphical inscriptions, Champoilion discovered the tombs of six kings of the eighteenth dynasty; that of Amcnophis-Memnon, the most ancient of all, in an isolated part of the valley towards the west; and, lastly, those of Rhamses-Meiamoun, and six other Pharaohs, his successors, belonging either to the nineteenth or the twentieth dynasty. No sort of order, either in regard to dynasty or succession, appears to have been observed in the choice of situations for the different royal tombs; on the contrary, each sovereign seems to have caused his own to be dug wherever he found a vein of stone adapted for the purposes of sepulture and the immensity of the projected excavat ion. The royal catacombs, however, which have been thoroughly completed and finished are but few in number: these are, the tomb of Amenophis III. or Memnon, the decoration of which has been almost entirely destroyed; that of Rhamses-Meiamoun, that of Rhamses V., probably also that of Rhamses the Great, and, lastly, that of Queen Thaoser. All the others are incomplete. The tomb of the great Rhamses or Sesostris still exists, according to Μ. Champollion, and is the third on the right of the principal valley; but it has sustained greater injury than almost any others, and is filled nearly to the ceiling with rubbish. That of Rhamses V. is remarkable for a large tablet and an inscription on a cross wall in the apartment at the further extremity of the catacomb, containing images or delineations of the forty-two assessors of Osiris, intermixed with justifications which the king is supposed to offer to these severe judges, each of whom appears to be charged with investigating a particular offence or sin, and with punishing it in the soul of the sovereign subjected to their jurisdiction. The royal justification amounts merely to a negative confession, which, whatever may have been its effect in the Egyptian Amenti or Hades, would, in judging kings, certainly go a great way upon earth. It is somewhat in this strain: The son of the son Rhamses has not been guilty of great iniquities; he has not blasphemed; he has not been a drunkard; he has not been indolent or lazy; he has not seized upon the offerings devoted to the gods; he has not told falsehoods; he has not been a libertine; he has not stained himself with impuri ties; he has not hung down his head when hearing the words of truth; he has not been prolix in his talk; he has not had to devour his heart, or, in other words, to repent of any wicked action; and so on through the remaining thirty-one negations.^[136. cbampollion, Lettres écrites d' Egypte, p. 221, et seqq. ]

Having thus described the Diospolitan monuments on the western bank of the Nile, we now turn to the still grander and more magnificent remains with which the eastern bank of the river is adorned. No people, ancient or modern, can boast of an architecture approaching in magnitude and sublimity, not to mention elaborate decoration, to that of the old Egyptians, who conceived men a hundred feet in height, and not only planned, but erected temples and palaces larger than some modern cities. In Europe the imagination is easily transported beyond the dimensions of our proudest and most magnificent porticos, and it can readily conceive something of the kind upon a still grander scale; but in Egypt it sinks abashed, overawed, and powerless at the base of the hundred and forty columns of the hypostyle hall of Karnak. The first sight of the wonderful structures on the right bank arrested the march of the French army; the troops, suddenly overpowered with awe and wonder, stood motionless, and it was only after a time that they could whisper to each other, “This is Thebes.”^[137. Napoleon’s Memoirs, vol. ii. Denon’s Travels in Egypt. ] The monuments on the eastern bank of the Nile are the palace of Luxor and the temple of Karnak.

In approaching the palace of the Pharaohs from the north, the first object which meets the view is a magnificent propylon or gateway two hundred feet in length, the top of which is elevated about sixty feet above the present level of the soil. And in front of this entrance are the most perfect obelisks in the world, each formed of a single block of red granite from the quarries of Elephantiné: they are between seven and eight feet square at the base, and about eighty feet in height, and many of the hieroglyphical figures with which they are covered are cut an inch and three quarters deep, exhibiting at the same time the greatest nicety and precision of execution. Between these obelisks and the propylon are two colossal statues, also of red granite, measuring forty-four feet from the ground, and supposed, from the difference of the dresses, to have been, the one a figure of a male, and the other that of a female. Another propylon of similar proportions guards another approach, and from both gateways magnificent peristyles lead to the main body of this palace of the Pharaohs. Some of the columns of the peristyles are eleven feet in diameter. The sculptures on the pylons, like those at Medinet-Habou, represent the victories of Sesostris, with the greatest amplitude of detail. “It was impossible,” says Mr Hamilton, “to view and to reflect upon a picture so copious and detailed, without fancying that I here saw the original of many of Homer’s battles, the portrait of some of the historical narratives of Herodotus, and one of the principal ground-works of the narratives of Diodorus; and, to complete the gratification, we felt that, had the artist been better acquainted with the rules and use of perspective, the performance might have done credit to the genius of a Michael Angelo or a Julio Romano.” In regard to the general plan of the palace and its environs, as [7:8:541]well as the distribution of the entrances and of the interior of the building, the delineations of Pococke and Denon, to which may be added those contained in Captain Head’s work, will serve to convey a more distinct and accurate idea of the magnificent design than can be communicated by any verbal description. “But without personally inspecting this extraordinary edifice," says Mr Hamilton, “it is impossible to have any adequate notion of its immense size, or of the prodigious masses of which it consists. In both these respects, and, combined with them, in respect to the beauty and magnificence of its several parts, it is, I should imagine, unique in the whole world.”^[138. Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 121. ] The founder of this marvellous palace is conjectured, from the inscriptions, to have been Amenophis-Memnon, or Amenophth III., who is supposed to have erected the series of edifices extending south and north from the Nile as far as the fourteen columns of forty-five feet in height, which also belong to the same reign. The dedication by this Pharaoh may be read on all the architraves of the columns, a hundred and five in number, and for the most part entire, which adorn the courts and inner halls. The bas-reliefs which decorate the palace of Amenophis relate chiefly to the religious acts performed by that prince in honour of the divinities of this portion of Thebes; namely, Ammon-Ra, Ammon-Ra-Generator, his secondary form, the goddess Tamoun, one of the forms of Neïth, the goddess Mouth, companion of Ammon-Ra, and the young gods Khons and Harké, the two great triads adored at Thebes. The two obelisks of red granite in front of the northern pylon were erected by Sesostris in order to decorate his Rhamesseion. This is proved by the hieroglyphic inscription on the obelisk on the left, which is in these terms: “The lord of the world, sun guardian of truth (or justice), approved by Phré, has caused this edifice to be built in honour of his father Ammon-Ra, and has also erected these two great obelisks of stone before the Rhamesseion of the city of Ammon.”^[139. Champoilion, Lettre» écrite» d’Egyplc, p. 215. In a letter dated from Thebes, Champollion, speaking of the Egyptian architecture, observes: “It is evident to me, as it must be to all who have examined Egypt, or have an accurate knowledge of the Egyptian monuments existing in Europe, that the arts commenced in Greece by a servile imitation of the arts in Egypt, much more advanced than is commonly believed, at the period at which the first Egyptian colonies came in contact with the inhabitants of Attica or the Peloponnesus. without Egypt, Greece would probably never have become the classical land of the fine arts; βuch at least is my belief touching this great problem. I write these lines almost in presence of bas-reliefs which the Egyptians executed with the most refined elegance of workmanship seventeen hundred years before the Christian era. what were the Greeks doing then ?” ]

The palace at Luxor communicates with the temple at Karnak, an edifice not less Titanian in its dimensions, nor less marvellous in its structure. This temple has twelve principal entrances, each of which is composed of several propyía or colossal gateways, besides other buildings attached to them larger than most temples. The sides of some of these gateways are equal in dimensions to the bases of the greater part of the pyramids in the Heptanomis, and they are built in the same style, each layer of stone projecting a little beyond that immediately above it. One of the propyla is built entirely of granite, and adorned with hieroglyphics of the most finished execution; and on each side of several of these there have been colossal statues of basalt, breccia, and granite, some in a sitting posture, some erect, and varying from twenty to thirty feet in height. Avenues of sphinxes lead in several directions to the propyla, and correspond to the magnificence which they promise. The principal of these, continued across the plain to the palace at Luxor, establishes a communication to which there is no parallel upon earth.^[140. Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 122.. ] For the space of nearly a mile and a quarter ( 1026 toises, or about 6200 feet), a broad raised causeway, bordered by more than six hundred colossal sphinxes, representing lions with rams’ heads, leads from the one edifice to the other; and another similar road, branching off from this, passed between figures of rams on lofty pedestals to a triumphal gateway leading to a temple, apparently the most ancient in Thebes. “On approaching the avenue of sphinxes which leads to the great temple, the visitor,” says Belzoni, “is inspired with devotion and piety; their enormous size strikes him with wonder, and respect for the gods to whom they were dedicated.”^[141. Retearche» and operation» in Egypt and Nubia, p. 152. From the ruins within the area of the ancient temple ascribed to Osymandyas, Belzoni recovered many fine specimens of Egyptian art, which are now in the British Museum, and amongst these a statue which is supposed by some to represent that great conqueror, in other words, Sesostris. ] The body of the temple, which is preceded by a large court, at the sides of which are colonnades of thirty columns in length, and through the middle two rows of columns fifty feet in height, consists principally of a grand hypostyle hall or portico the roof of which is supported by a hundred and thirty-four columns, some of them twenty-six and others thirty-four feet in circumference; and four beautiful obelisks mark the entrance to the adytum or sanctuary, near which the sovereign of the gods is represented as embraced by Isis. The adytum itself consists of three apartments, formed entirely of granite. The part of the edifice at which the branch of the avenue of sphinxes terminates is the most surprising of all amongst these astonishing monuments. From most points of view it appears a boundless, confused wreck of splendid .buildings, scattered in every direction, without any perceptible order or design; but, when viewed from the north-west end of the principal group, the whole may be surveyed by the eye at once, and the extraordinary dimensions and magnificence of the great entrance from the west in some measure appreciated. An unfinished pylon, succeeded by an avenue of columns more than seventy-five feet in height, all of one block, but only one of them standing; a second pylon, leading to a hall three hundred and thirty-eight feet in length by a hundred and sixty-eight feet in breadth; a third pylon, opening into a court in which there are two obelisks more than seventy-two feet in height; and a fourth pylon, leading to a court in which is the largest obelisk ever formed of one stone; all these magnificent objects are seen following exactly in the same line, and forming a perspective, the effect of which cannot be conveyed by any drawing, much less by any description. The great obelisk is nearly a hundred feet in height, and, as already stated, is formed of a single block.^[142. Encyclopoedia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ] The walls are everywhere covered with hieroglyphics or sculptures representing the battles, triumphs, sacrifices, processions, and festivals of the ancient Egyptians; and the colours with which they were decorated are still, in many places, extremely fresh and vivid. On the northern side of these gigantic edifices there were also triumphal arches, colonnades, sphinxes, and other monuments of Egyptian art and magnificence in vast numbers; but they have also suffered more or less from the ravages of fanatical invaders, or the slower but not less certain havoc committed by naturalized barbarians. On the great dwelling of Ammon, [7:8:542]Champollion observed real portraits of most of the old Pharaohs renowned for their great actions, each with his appropriate physiognomy, and therefore distinguishable from the others. In the colossal tablets, which are as finished in execution as they are heroic in design, maybe seen Mandoueï combating the enemies of Egypt, and returning in triumph to his native country; the campaigns of Rhamses the Great are also represented with much fulness of detail; and Sesonchis may likewise be observed dragging to the feetof the Theban trinity (Ammon, Mouth, and Khons) the chiefs of more than thirty conquered nations, including amongst the last the Israelites or Jews. One of the bas-reliefs, representing Judah personified, contains, in hieroglyphic characters, the Iüdahamelek, “the kingdom of the Jews, or of Judah,” and thus forms a sort of commentary to the fourteenth chapter of the second book of Kings, which records the arrival of Sesonchis at Jerusalem, and the success of that invader, at the same time establishing the identity of the Egyptian Scheschonk, the SesonchisofManetho, and the Sesakor Scheschôk of Scripture. This, it will be admitted, is a very remarkable and interesting discovery.^[143. Champollion, Lettres, p. 99. According to the Bible, Sesonchis attacked and took Jerusalem in the fifth year of the reign of llςhoboam; and it is this victory, accordingly, which the bas-relief of Karnak commemorates. The personification of the kingdom of Judah represents the physiognomy of the Jewish people, as it was conceived by the Egyptians in the tenth century before our era; and it is not impossible that Rehoboam himself may have sat for the portrait. The hieroglyphic legend which fixes the character of the tablet is given on the margin. The personification we have been obliged to omit; it appears, however, to have been executed with that fidelity of physiognomy which is remarkable in all the ancient Egyptian works of art referable to the foreign nations whom they have represented on their monuments. Upon the whole, if this discovery be taken in connection with others, particularly the delineations of captive Jews found by Belzoni in the catacombs of Biban-el-Molouk, and the deciphering of the name of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia by Mr Šalt, it will not be disputed that Scripture history may receive illustrative confirmation from the study of Egyptian antiquities. ]

That the magnificent ruins of Medinet-Habou, Luxor, and Karnak, are the remains of the Thebes described by Homer, the earliest capital of the world,

That spread her conquests o’er a thousand states, And poured her heroes through a hundred gates, cannot possibly be doubted. According to the admeasurement made by the French, the distance of these ruins from the sea amounts to eight hundred and fifty miles, and from Elephantiné two hundred and twenty-five, thus corresponding pretty exactly with the 6800 and 1800 stadia respectively mentioned by Herodotus. Exclusively of the hippodrome and of Medamoud, the circumference of the ruins is from fourteen to fifteen thousand metres, which agrees with the 140 stadia, or seventeen miles and a half, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus as the circumference of the ancient capital of Egypt. The origin of the name of this celebrated city, as well as the date of its foundation, is unknown. It has been conjectured, however, that the word Thcb(ε is derived from the Egyptian word Thbaki, signifying “the city and hence the Piospolis of the Greeks is, in this view, a mere translation of the Thbaki-antepi-Amoun, or the city of Ammon the most high god. The No-Ammon of the Hebrews, though identical in import with the Greek name, applies not to Diospolis Magna, but to Diospolis Parea, in the Delta.^[144. Champollion, Egypte tons let Pharaons, tom. i. p. 218, and tom. ii. pp. 132, 133. ]

Kous, called Kous-birbirby the Egyptians, occupies the site of the Apollonopolis Parva of the Greeks. Of its ancient edifices there exists only a propylon, half buried in the sand. This propylon was dedicated to the god Aroëris; and his images, sculptured on all the faces, are adored on that which looks towards the Nile, being the principal one. The upper face towards the temple is covered with sculptures, amongst which may be discovered the royal legends of Ptolemy-Alexander I., who also takes the surname of Philometor. With respect to the Greek inscription, the restitution of ∑∩THPES, at the commencement of the second line, proposed by Μ. Letronne, is undoubtedly right; but the proposed substitution of HΛI∩I for AP∩HPEI is not equally fortunate, the words AP∩HPEI-ΘEΩI being still distinctly legible.^[145. The error of Μ. Lelronne, in the latter case, appears to have been caused by the figured design in the Description de l’ Egypte, which distinctly bears hλi∩i, instead of aγ∩hγei, as read by Mr Hamilton and others. ] At Keft, Kebt, or Coptos, which, like Kous, is near an opening into the valley of Cosseir, nothing remains entire. The temples were demolished by the Christians, and the materials employed in building a large church, in the ruins of which may be found numerous portions of Egyptian bas-reliefs. Amongst the royal legends were recognised those of King Nectanebo, and of the Emperors Augustus, Claudius, and Trajan; from which it may be inferred that the city of Coptos contained few monuments of high antiquity. It is first mentioned in history under the Ptolemies; it attained its greatest prosperity in the time of Strabo; it began to decline about the beginning of the eleventh century; it was greatly reduced in the fourteenth, and is now a wretched Arab village, distinguished only by the remains which we have mentioned.^[146. Jollois and Devilliers in Description de l’Egypte, tom. ii. ch. 10, p. 63. ] Kennch or Ghennch^[147. Probably the Kani of the Mamluk Territorial Register. Abd-el-latis, 704. ] has now succeeded Keft and Kous as the entrepôt for the Arabian and Indian commerce with Egypt, and it is the place where all the caravans and pilgrims travelling eastward usually assemble.

Opposite to Kennch is the village of Denderah, on the left bank of the Nile, surrounded by groves of date, palms, and domms; the latter of which is seldom or never seen farther northward. About a mile and a half to the east of this village lie the ruins of Tentyris, occupying an area of more than a mile in length, about half a mile in breadth, and rather more than two miles and a half in circumference. Amidst the high mounds and dilapidated walls of this ancient city are the remains of a small hypaethral temple, about sixty feet square, consisting of twelve columns placed at the sides, and connected by a wall reaching to within sixteen feet of their capitals, but entirely free from hieroglyphical sculptures, and with capitals which in form approach to those of the old Tuscan order. The entrances, two in number, are in a line with the other approaches to the great temple, and seem to mark out this small edifice as having formed one of its appendages. At a short distance from the building in question is the principal propylon of the great temple, that magnificent edifice which has rendered Denderah so long famous among the cities of Egypt. This propylon is one of the most perfect models of Egyptian architecture; and, notwithstanding one side has in part fallen down, it still retains the true Egyptian character of grandeur and simplicity.^[148. Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 194. ] “Je n - essaierai pas [7:8:543]de décrire l’impression,” says Champollion, “que nous fit le grand propylon et surtout le portique du grand temple. On peut bien le mesurer, mais en donner one idée c’est impossible. C’est la grace et la majesté reunies au plus haut degré.”^[149. Lettre écrite d? Egypte, p. 90. ] The height of this gateway is forty-two feet, the width thirty-three, and the depth seventeen; each front, as well as the interior, is covered with sculpture beautifully executed;^[150. “Non déplaise à personne,” says Champollion, “les bas-reliefs à Dendérah sont détestable·, et cela ne pouvait être autrement; ils sont d’un temps de décadence. La sculpture s’était déjà corrompue, tandis que l’architecture, moins sujette à varier puisqu’eUe est un art chiffré, s’était soutenue digne des dieux d’Egypte et de l’admiration des tous les siècles.” (Lettre·, p. 91.) Mr Hamilton’s opinion is diametrically opposed to that which is here expressed (see Egyptians, p. 193); and indeed it is not easy to conceive how architecture could sustain itself in a state of perfection “worthy of the gods of Egypt, and the admiration of all ages," if the other kindred arts had fallen into such a “detestable” condition as Μ. champollion seems to intimate. ] and upon its roof was the celebrated planisphere now at Paris, and so long the subject of extravagant speculations connected with the chronology of Egypt. For some reason, whether arising from war, revolution, or deficiency of money, the flanks have been left unfinished. The portico which so particularly attracted the admiration of Champollion, and is indeed most beautiful, consists of twenty-four columns, disposed in three rows, each being above twenty-two feet in circumference, thirty-two in height, and covered with hieroglyphics. .„The capitals of the columns are square, with a front face of Hathôr, to whom the temple was dedicated, on every side. These pictures fill a space of eight feet each; the plinth that crowns the capital is high; and the whole is completed by a rich entablature, surmounted with the bold cornice which is always so striking in Egyptian architecture. * This beautiful structure, if clear of rubbish, would present a front of a hundred and sixty feet, with a height of sixty feet; the whole exhibiting a magnificent picture of nearly a thousand square feet, relieved by processions and other decorations.^[151. Mr Hamilton speaks of this temple with unusual enthusiasm. “After seeing innumerable monuments of the same kind throughout the Thebaid,” says he, “it seemed as if we were now arrived at the highest pitch of architectural excellence that ever was attained on the borders of the Nile. Here we found concentrated the united labours of ages and the last efforts of human art and industry, in that regular uniform line of construction which had been adopted in the earliest times.” {Egyptiaca, p. 195.) ] Several chambers, attached to the interior of the temple, are covered with astronomical, or perhaps rather astrological decorations; and the calculations deduced from these occasioned at one time so powerful a prepossession in favour of their extreme antiquity, that some very obvious proofs of the contrary w ere overlooked. Comparatively speaking, the edifice is modern. As its basis rests on a terrace which is still nearly fifteen feet above the level of the neighbouring country, whilst similar terraces at Thebes are only on a level with the surface of the Nile, above which they were once greatly elevated, it may therefore be inferred generally, that the great temple at Denderah was not older than the time of the Ptolemies, or perhaps than that of the Romans. Such was the conclusion deduced by Visconti, and after him by Belzoni, whose practical investigations enabled him to ascertain the fact upon which the inference rests. But,on the other hand, Jollois, judging, as he says, from the style and execution of the sculptures, maintains that they cannot have been finished subsequently to the time of Cambyses.^[152. Description de l' Egypte, Anti<∣. iv. § 2, p. 62. ] Unfortunately for this opinion, however, the hieroglyphics upon the walls of the temple completely confirm the evidence afforded by the Greek inscription over the entrance of the pronaos, and establish the correctness of Visconti’s conclusion. The epochs of the decoration may be very briefly stated. The most ancient part is the exterior wall at the extremities of the temple, where are figured in colossal proportions

Cleopatra and her son Ptolemy Caesar. The superior bas-reliefs belong to the time of Augustus, as also the exte- ' rior lateral walls of the naos, with the exception of some small portions, which only date from the reign of Nero. The pronaos is entirely covered with imperial legends of Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, and Nero; but in the interior of the naos, as well as in the chambers and edifices constructed upon the terrace of the temple, there does not exist a single sculptured oval or cartouch. None of the sculptures in these apartments go farther back than the time of Trajan or Antoninus; and they resemble that of the propylon on the south-east, which dates from the reign of the latter, and, being dedicated to Isis, conducted to the temple of that goddess, which is placed behind the great temple, dedicated, as already mentioned, to Hathôr or Venus. The grand propylon above described is covered with images of the emperor Domitian. With regard to the Typhonium, it appears to have been decorated under Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius; but, from a Greek inscription, it would seem that one of the propylons was erected by the inhabitants of the nome in the thirty-first year of the reign of Augustus, a. d. 23. ^[153. Ietronne, Recherche·, p. 180; champollion, Priait du Système Hiéroglyphique, p. .387∙ Lettre·, pp. 91, 92. ]

At, or rather a little below, Denderah, the Nile suddenly changes its course, and for about nine miles runs nearly due west, after which it resumes its original direction. Near the bend or elbow formed by the return of the river to its course, lay the town of Abydos, once the second city of the Thebaid; and at a small distance from the Nile, near the western mountains, was the residence of an ancient king, called Ismandis by the Egyptians, and Memnon by the Greeks. At the latter place are the remains of a fine building, which some antiquaries have agreed to denominate a Memnonium, but which is now known by the name of El-Berba or the temple. In one of the inmost chambers of the edifice Mr W. J. Bankes, in 1818, discovered a large hieroglyphical tablet, containing a long series of royal names, which have since been deciphered conformably to the principles first expounded and exemplified by Dr Young, and found in the main to correspond with those in the Royal Canon of Manetho. The interesting relic of antiquity thus discovered, and which has become so celebrated in hieroglyphical literature under the name of the tablet of Abydos, exhibits a genealogical table of the immediate predecessors of Rhamses the Great, the Sesostris of Herodotus, and, from the data which it furnishes, compared with other documents, enables us to ascertain, with some degree of probability, that Sesostris, under whom the sculptures were executed, must have ascended the throne of Egypt about the year before Christ 1473.^[154. Champollion, Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique, pp. 244, 245. See also Lettre· à Μ. le Duc de Bissau dΑulpι, dated from the Egy p. tian Museum at Turin. ] Further, the epoch thus determined, though certainly liable to some objections, is nevertheless supported by numerous concurring and independent testimonies, which, from their striking coincidence, warrant a reasonable expectation that the true era of Se sostris, which is the grand key to so many other important[7:8:544] dates, will ultimately be fixed beyond the possibility of controversy.^[155. The ruins at El-Kherbeh are supposed by Jomard to be those of the Memnonium. (See Description de l’ Egypte, Antiq. tom. iv. pl. 35, p. 8.) ] The population of Abydos, as well as that of Diospolis Parva or Hó, appears to have been transferred to Ptolemais, the capital of the Thinite nome, at or near Syis, the Psoi or Soi of the Egyptians.^[156. De Sacy, Abd-el-latìf, pp. 31 G, 571. ]

Girgé or Djirdjch, the present capital of the Saïd, is situated half way between Abydos and Ptolemais, and about twelve miles south of the latter; and on a rising ground, distant nearly a mile from the river, lies Ikhmim, the ancient Panopotis, where the great dispenser of the generative, fructifying, and productive powers was devoutly worshipped.^[157. The Egyptian name of Panopolis was Khemmo or Khemmis, whence the coptic Khmim or Shmim. (Diodorus Sic. i. 18, p. 30; and Strabo, xvii. i. p. 457∙) ] The temples of Ikhmim, once so splendid, are now reduced to a few fragments. This place has about four thousand inhabitants, many of whom are Copts, and about one half Roman Catholics, principally engaged in the manufacture of coarse woollen cloths. Cau or Gau-el-kebir, or Great Gau,^[158. The Goptic name of this place, Tkoii, has been preserved in the Arabic. (Legh’s Travels, p. 40.) ] the ancient Antocopolis, was at some distance from the river in the time of Ptolemy, but, owing to a change in the bed of the stream, which is constantly encroaching on the eastern side of the valley, it is now close to the Nile. Here was the pronaos or vestibule of a fine temple, which, by the encroachment of the river, had been severed from the eastern shore and insulated; but in 1819 it became a complete mass of ruins, in consequence of an unusually powerful inundation. The inscription on the pronaos proves that it was dedicated to Antsus,and the other gods worshipped in the same temple,^[159. This inscription has been skilfully restored by Letronne. (Recherches, pp. 42, ðl.) At Cau or Gau, which is now a dirty Arab village, there are large quarries and numerous sepulchres. Here, too, the fabulous battle was fought in which Typhon and his adherents were defeated. (Diodor. Sicul. i. 21, p. 34.) ] by Ptolemy Philometor, and Cleopatra his sister and queen, about 150 years before Christ; and it appears that the cornice was repaired by the Emperors Aurelius, Antoninus, and Verus, in the year 164 of our own era. The Siout of the Copts is the Lycopotis of the Greeks. The latter name was derived from the worship of the jackal, to which its inhabitants were peculiarly devoted. The only monuments of antiquity near Siout are some mounds of rubbish outside the town, and numerous sepulchres or catacombs in the neighbouring mountains. At Manf'alout was an ancient city not mentioned by the Greek or Roman writerβ, and a little lower down the stream the catacombs are very extensive; whilst at Tarut-el-Sherif, still further north, the canal called Bahr Yussuf, or Joseph’s River, branches off from the Nile, and passing along the base of the Libyan chain of hills, at length falls into the Birket-el-Keroun or Lake Mreris. The Shmoun of the Copts and the Ashmounein of the Arabs is the Hermopolis Magna of the Greeks. The ruins of Hermopolis cover an area of nearly four miles in circumference; but a portico with a double colonnade, in a massive and uncommon style of architecture, forming one of the finest monuments of Egypt, and serving to convey some idea of the former splendour of this seat of the Egyptian muses, has recently been destroyed. The temple of Ashmounein was dedicated to Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes or god of wisdom, and the reputed inventor of the arts and sciences. The decline of Hermopolis may be dated from the building of Antinoe, now Sheikh Abadch, on the opposite side of the river; a city founded by Hadrian in honour of his favourite Antinous. Its remains, consisting of colonnades, triumphal arches, baths, and ampitheatres, form a singular contrast to all the surrounding objects, and are quite foreign to the soil on which they stand. There are few columns standing; and those which are of granite have evidently been taken from more ancient edifices.^[160. Belzoni, Researches, &c. p. 29. ]

Few remains of the cities which once flourished in the Heptanomis or northern part of Middle Egypt can now be discovered, yet quarries and catacombs continually mark out the spots on or near which they must have stood. At Beni-Hassan, on the eastern side of the Nile, are some remarkable excavations, many of which are adorned with paintings as fresh as when the colours were newly laid on; in the northernmost of these the ceilings are covered with planispheres similar to those at Thebes and Lycopolis, and the clustered columns which support the roof are formed in imitation of the trunks of palm trees. Most of the scenes and objects depicted in these hypogoea relate to domestic life, and some of the designs are said to be in the Etruscan style.^[161. Jomard, Description de l’ Egypte; Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 297, et seqq.; Legh’s Travels, p. 34. Μ. Champollion spent fifteen days at Beni-Hassan, during which time he was principally occupied in copying some of the designs in the catacombs. The subjects of these by hypogaean delineations are. Agriculture; Arts and Trades; the Military Gaste; Song, Music, and Dancing; the Training of Domestic Animals; Portraits; Games, Exercises, and Diversions; Domestic Justice; Family circles; Historical and Religious Monuments; and, lastly, Zoology; the whole being calculated to throw much light on the manners, customs, habits, and pursuits of a singular people, who, l>oth above ground and below it, sought to perpetuate the memorials of their civilization. The following descriptive details give us as it were an insight into the private life and habits of the ancient Egyptians. “1. Agriculture. Dessins représentant le labourage avec les bocufs ou à bras d’hommes; le semage, le foulage des terres par les béliers, et non par les pores, comme le dit Hérodote; cinq sortes de charrue; le piochage, la moisson du blé; la moisson du lin; la mise en gerbe de ces deux espèces de plantes; la mise en meule, le battage, le mesurage, le dépôt en grenier; deux dessins de grands greniers sur des plans difiérents; le lin transporté par des ânes; one foule d’autres travaux agricoes, et entre autres la récolte du lotus; la culture de la vigne, la vendange, son transport, l’égrenage, le pressoir de deux espèces, l’un à force de bras et l’autre à mécanique, la mise en bouteilles ou jarres, et le transport à la cave; la fabrication du vin cuit, etc.; la culture du jardin, la cueillette des bamich, des figues, etc.; la culture de l’ognon, l’arrosage, etc.; le tout, comme tous les tableaux suivants, avec légendes hiéroglyphiques explicatives; plus l’intendant de la maison des champs et ses secrétaires. 2. Akts et Metiebs. collection de tableaux, pour la plupart coloriés, afin de bien déterminer al nature des objets, et représentant le sculpteur en pierre, le sculpteur sur bois, le peintre de statues, le peintre d’objets d’architecture; meubles et menuiserie; le peintre peignant un tableau, avec son cheva. let ; des scribes et commis aux écritures de toute espèce; les ouvriers des carrières transportant des blocs de pierre; l’art du potier avec toutes les opérations; les marcheurs pétrissant la terre avec les pieds, d’autres avec les mains; la mise de l’argile en cône, le cône placé sur le tour; le potier faisant la panse, le goulot du vase, etc.; la première cuite au four, la seconde au séchoir, etc.; la coupe du bois; les fabricants de cannes, d’avirons et de rames; le charpentier, le menuisier; le fabricant de meubles; les scieurs de bois; les corroyeurs; le coloriage des cuirs ou maroquins; les cordonnier; la filature; le tissage des toiles à divers métiers; le verrier et toutes ses opérations; l’orfèvre, le bijoutier, le forgeron. 3. Caste Militaire. L’éducation de la caste militaire, et tous ses exercices gymnastiques, représentés en plus de 200 tableaux, où sont retracées toutes les poses et attitudes que peuvent prendre deux habiles lutteurs, attaquant, se défendant, reculant, avançant, debout, renversés, etc.; on verra par là si l’art Egyptien se contentait de figures de profil, les jambes unies et les bras collés contre les hanches. J'ai copié toute cette curieuse série de militaires nus, luttant ensemble; plus, one soixantaine de figures représentant des soldats de toute arme, de tout rang, la petite guerre, un siège, la tortue et le bélier, les punitions militaires, un champ de bataille, et les préparatifs d’un repas militaire; enfin, la fabrication des lances, javelots, arcs, flèches, massues, haches d’armes, etc. 4. Chant, Musique, et Danse. Un tableau représentant un concert vocal et instrumental; un chanteur, qu’uu musicien accompagne sur la harpe, est secondé par deux choeurs, l’un de quatre hommes, l’autre de cinq femmes, et celles-ci battent la mesure avec leurs mains: c'est un opéra tout entier; des joueurs de harpe de tout sexe, des joueurs de flûte traversiere, de flageolet, d’une sorte de conque, etc.; des danseurs faisant diverses figures, avec les noms des pas qu’ils dansent; enfin, one collection très-curieuse de dessins représentant les danseuses (ou filles publiques de l’ancienne Egypte), dansant, chantant, jouant à la paume, faisant divers tours de force et d’adresse. 5. Un nombre considérable de dessins représentant l’Education des Bestiaux; les bouviers, les bocufs de toute espèce, les vaches, les veaux, le tirage du lait; la fabrication du fromage et du beurre; les chevriers, les gardeurs d’ânes, les bergers et leurs moutons; des scènes relatives à l’art vétérinaire; enfin, la basse-cour, comprenant l’éducation d’une foule d’espèce d’oies et de canards, et celle d’une espèces de cigognequi était domestique dans l’ancienne Egypte. 6. Une première base du recueil Iconographique, comprenant \es portraits des rois Egyptiens et de grands personnages. 7· Dessins relatifs aux Jeux, Exciicices, et Divertissements. On y remarque la mourre, le jeu de la paille, one sorte de main-chaude, le mail, le jeu de piquets plantés en terre, divers jeux de force; la chasse à la bête fauve, un tableau représentant une grande chasse dans le desert, et oû sont figurées 15 à 20 espèces de quadrupèdes; tableaux représentant le retour de la chasse; le gibier est porté mort ou conduit vivant: plusieurs tableaux représentent la chasse des oiseaux au filet; un de ces tableaux est de grande dimension, et gouaché avec toutes les couleurs et le faire de l’original; enfin, le dessin en grand des divers pièges pour prendre les oiseaux; ces instruments de chasse sont peints isolément dans quelques hypogées; Îdusieurs tableaux relatifs a la pêche: 1, la pêche à la ligne; 2, à la ligne avec canne; 3, au trident ou au bident; 4, au filet; plus a préparation des poissons, etc. 8. Justice Domestique. J’ai réuni sous ce titre one quinzaine de dessins de bas-reliefs représentant des délits commis par des domestiques; l’arrestation du prévenu, son accusation, sa défense, son jugement par les intendants de la maison; sa condamnation et l’exécution, qui se borne à la bastonnade, dont procès-verbal est remis, avec le corps du procès, entre les mains du maitre par l’intendant de la maison. 9. Le Menage. J'ai réuni dans cette série, déjà fort nombreuse, tout ce qui se rapporte à la vie privée ou intérieure. Ces dessins fort curieux représentent, 1, diverses maisons Egyptiennes, plus ou moins somptueuses; 2, les vases de diverses formes, utensiles et meubles, le tout colorié, parce que les couleurs indiquent invariablement la matière; 3. un superbe palanquin; 4, des espèces de chambre à portes battantes, portées sur un traineau et qui ont servi de voilures aux anciens grands personnages de l’Egypte; 5, les singes, chats, et chiens, qui faisaient partie de la maison, ainsi que des nains et autres individus mal conformés, qui, 1500 ans et plus avant Jesus-christ, servaient à désopiler le rate des seigneurs Egyptiens, aussi bien que, 1500 ans après, celle de nos vieux barons d’Europe; 6, les officiers d’une grande maison, intendants, scribes, etc.; 7, les domestiques portant les provisions de bouche de toute espèce; les servantes apportant aussi divers comestibles; 8, la manière de tuer les bocufs et de les dépécer pour le service de la maison; 9, one suite de dessins représentant des cuisiniers préparant des mets de diverses sortes; 10, enfin, les domestiques portant les mets préparés à la table du maitre. 10. Monuments Historiques. Ce recueil contient toutes les inscriptions, bas-reliefs, et monuments de tout genre portant des legendes royales, avec une date exprimée, que j’ai vus jusqu’ici. 11. Monuments Religieux. Toutes les images des différentes divinités, dessinées en grand et coloriées d’après les plus beaux bas-reliefs. 12. Navigation. Recueil de dessins représentant la construction des bâtiments et barques de diverses espèces, et les jeux des mariniers, tout-à-fait analogues aux joûtes qui ont lieu sur la Seine dans les grands jours de fête. 13. Enfin, Zoologie. Une suite de quadrupèdes, d’oiseamr, de reptiles, d’insectes, et de poissons, dessinés et colories avec toute fidélité d’après les bas-reliefs peints ou les peintures les mieux conservées. Ce recueil, qui compte déjà près de 200 individus, est du plus haut interet: les oiseaux sont magnifiques, les poissons peints dans la dernière perfection, et on aura par là one idée de ce qu’était un hypogée Egyptien un peu soigné. Nous avons déjà recueilli le dessin de plus de 14 espèces différentes de chiens de garde ou de chasse, depuis le lévrier jusqu'au basset à jambes tarses" (Lettres écrites d’Egypte.) ] On the opposite side of the river, lower down, and close to the Bahr Yussuf, is Behnesch, on [7:8:545]the site of the ancient Oxyrynehus ; and still farther north, at the entrance of Fayoum, was Heracleopolis Mayna, the Hnes of the Copts, and the Almas of the Arabs; but no trace of either city can now be discovered. The hatred of the crocodile, for which the inhabitants of Heracleopolis were noted, and their feuds with their neighbours the Arsinoites, have been recorded by ancient poets and historians. This city was sacred to the Egyptian Hercules, the founder and patron of irrigation by means of canals. Here the Nile passes close under the base of the Arabian hills, and leaves the most extensive as well as the richest tract of corn lands in all Middle Egypt.^[162. Belzoni, Researches, ócc. p. 212. ] The nome of Arsinoë is now called Fayoum, the Arabs having in this as in other instances preserved the Egyptian name. Its principal city was originally called Crocodilopotis ; but this name was exchanged for that of Arsinoë by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who imposed the latter in honour of his sister. Medinet-el-Fayoum, or the city of Fayoum, is built from the materials, and is partly on the site, of the ancient capital Crocodilopolis; but the principal remains of the ancient city lie to the north of the present town, and occupy a space of two miles and a half by about two. Two ancient pedestals of colossal dimensions, and separated about a hundred yards, are called by the natives Pharaoh’s feet; they are about thirty-three feet every way. A fallen obelisk of red granite, covered with hicroglyphical inscriptions, is also another monument of the ancient Arsinoë. To the north of Heracleopolis or Alinas was Aphroditopotis, the capital of a nome bearing the same name, and situated between those of Heracleopolis and Memphis. Its Coptic name is Tpeh or Petpich, whence the Arabs have formed Atfih, Atfich, or Ataiich. Between Aphroditopo-

lis and Memphis, but nearer to the latter, and at some distance from the western bank of the river, was the town of Acanthus, and a celebrated temple of Osiris situated in a grove of the Thebaic thorn, whence probably the town derived its name. But at none of these places are there any remains deserving particular description.^[163. Encyclopedia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ]

According to the concurring testimony of ancient writ ers, the Labyrinth was a structure equal in magnitude to the Pyramids, and still more wonderful in its design. It was the work of several kings at that early period when there were almost as many sovereigns as nomes; and adjoining to it was the tombs of the princes by whom it had been erected. “I have seen that building,” says Herodotus, referring to the Labyrinth, “and it exceeds all description. The same may indeed be said of the Pyramids, each of which, taken separately, is equal in value to many of the greatest works of the Greeks taken together; but the Labyrinth in truth excels even the Pyramids." It consisted of twelve courts, surrounded by covered porticos, having their gates opposite to each other, six of them being turned to the north and six to the south, and the whole included within the same outer wall or enceinte; and there were two suites of chambers, the one under and the other above ground, and immediately over the former. These chambers were three thousand in number, namely, fifteen hundred above and as many below ground. The Greek historian went through and examined the chambers above, but he was refused admission to those below, which, it was alleged by the priests, were used as sepulchres for the sacred crocodiles, and for the kings who had erected the Labyrinth; a strange enough association, though not uninstructive with reference[7:8:546] to the origin and real nature of animal worship.^[164. On this subject see a chapter full of ingenuity and originality in Sir william Drummond’s originci. ] The chambers above ground, which he had himself seen and examined, the same historian describes as greater than all other human works. The communications between these multitudinous chambers, and the winding passages leading from one court into another, were so varied as to occasion inĥnite surprise and no little dismay. These passages led from the chambers into porches, from the porches again into other apartments, and from these chambers into other courts; the roof and walls of all of them were of stone, and covered with sculptures; each court was surrounded by a colonnade of white stone, the blocks of which were joined as closely as possible; and at the angle which terminated the Labyrinth was a pyramid of forty orgyias, or about two hundred and fifty feet, in height, on which was sculptured large figures of beasts, and the entrance to which was under ground. Such is the account of this extraordinary structure given by Herodotus, from whom Strabo does not materially differ; but other ancient writers seem to be at variance with both, probably from not attending to the circumstance that the work was executed at intervals by different princes. Commenced by Mendes, it was continued by Tithoes or Petesuccus, and finished by the twelve kings, and Socharis the son of Sesostris. The pyramid of the Labyrinth alone remains.^[165. Herodotus, Traduction de Larcher, tom. ii. pp. 49ß, 505. Encyclopedia Metropolitana, art. Egypt. ]

Still descending the Nile, and passing, for the present, Birket-el-Keroun or Lake Moeris, we come to the ruins of Memphis, the second capital of Egypt, the foundation of which was ascribed to the first king of that country, named Menes.^[166. Herodotus, ii∙ 99. ] After the successive generations of Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, who have plundered Memphis in the wantonness of victory, or for the purpose of transferring its monuments to Alexandria or to Cairo, we may well wonder that, exclusively of those eternal structures the pyramids, enough should still remain to enable us to determine the exact site of this capital of the Pharaohs. The temple of Phtha, the Hephaestus or Vulcan of the Egyptians, was, according to Herodotus, a most wonderful edifice; and adjoining to it was a temple dedicated to Osiris, in which the sacred bull Apis was kept, another consecrated to Hathôr or Venus, and a third to Serapis. The Serapeion stood in a place where the sand was so loose and deep that the sphinxes forming the avenue in front of it were buried, some one half, and others up to the neck, and a person proceeding to the temple ran some risk if overtaken by a tempest, owing to the columns of sand raised and drifted about by the wind. Of the great temple of Memphis nothing but debris remains; yet the blocks of granite and breccia scattered about attest its dimensions to have been nearly equal to those of the most gigantic monuments of the Thebaid; whilst the fragments of columns, colossal statues, obelisks, and propyla, are perhaps the relics of the great northern vestibule, which is usually enumerated amongst the works of Moeris.^[167. Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 315 Belzoni was so much occupied in exploring the interior passages and chambers of the Pyramids, that he entirely neglected Memphis; and the same observation applies to a later and much more gifted traveller, Μ. champollion. The latter indeed promised to examine the whole plain of Memphis, from Monyet-Kahinch toDjizch; “je pousserai de là (Monyet-Itahinch) des reconnaissances sur sakharah, Daschour, et toute la plaine de Memphis, jusqu' aux grandes pyramides de Gizch; et après avoir couru le sol de la seconde capitale Egyptienne, je mettrai le cap sur Thèbes.” But if he carried his design into execution, the results have not been communicated to us. {Lettrcι, p. 62.) ] In the time of Strabo, Memphis was second only to Alexandria in point of size and population; and there were ports for shipping both before the city and the palace. The latter had been built on a rising ground near to the lower part of the town, in a grove of its own, with a port adjoin ing; but at the period when Strabo wrote it was unoccupied and in ruins. The site and name of this ancient city were well known in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,^[168. Geographia Nubie aril, p. 98. ] as appears from the account of it given by El-Idrisi under the denomination of Menph or Memph, which is merely an abbreviation of the Egyptian word Memfi or Memphi. Amongst the antiquities specified by Abdu’l-latif may be mentioned the Beit-al-akhdar or Green Tabernacle, a monolithic temple thirteen feet and a half in height, twelve feet in length, and ten feet and a half in breadth, having a chamber formed within it ten and a half feet in height, nine feet in length, and seven feet and a half in breadth, and covered both within and without with sculptures, some cut into the stone and some in relief, and with inscriptions in ancient characters. On the outside there was a representation of the sun in the eastern quarter of the heavens, with many figures of stars and spheres; in front were two large statues of stone, and within was one of gold representing Aziz, the eyes of which were two valuable gems. This tabernacle or temple was fixed upon a basis of large massive blocks of granite, and the monolith out of which it had been formed was of the same description of rock. Another monument also mentioned by the Arabian geographer was an idol or statue, consisting of a single block of red granite, which, exclusively of its pedestal, was about forty-six feet in height, fifteen feet from side to side, and from back to front in proportion. “What talent, resolution, and patience must have been combined to produce such works as these; what various instruments and unremitting labour; and to what an extent must not the forms and proportions of bodies, especially those of the human body, have been studied, to enable the artist to determine so exactly the mutual relations, distance, and proximity, as well as the corresponding articulations of every limb !” Such is the natural and just remark elicited from Abdu’l-latif after surveying the ruins of Memphis, which even in his time occupied a space of about nine miles in every direction. Yet so rapid has the work of destruction proceeded, especially since the fourteenth century, that few points have been more debated in modern times than the site of this celebrated city; and, excepting its pyramids, and the great plain of mummies, which attest the vicinity of the spot whereon stood the second capital of Egypt, it might almost be said, Etiam periere ruina. But its distance from the Pyramids and the apex of the Delta having been clearly pointed out by Strabo, Pococke and Bruce were hence led to fix upon the neighbourhood of Mokhnan and Monyet-Rahineb, two villages on the left or western bank of the Nile, as the ground on which Memphis had once stood; and this opinion was completely established by the French during their occupation of Egypt. At Monyet-Rahinch, about one league from Sakhara, they found so many blocks of granite covered with hieroglyphics and sculptures around and within an esplanade three leagues in circumference, inclosed by heaps of rubbish, that they were convinced these must be the ruins of Memphis; and the site of some fragments of one of those colossuses which, according to Herodotus, were erected by Sesostris at the entrance of the temple of Phtha, would have [7:8:547] been sufficient to expel their doubts had any remained.^[169. A plan of the ruins of Memphis, drawn by Jacotin, is given, along with a detailed account of them, in the Deecription de r Egypte. The wrist of the colossus which Μ. Coutelle caused to be removed, and to which reference is made in the text, shows that, according to the ordinary proportions in such cases, it must have been about forty-eight feet in height. ] The position, the distance from the fork of the Delta, the vicinity of the pyramids and the plain of mummies, and, in particular, the gigantic nature of the ruins themselves, all unite to prove that the site fixed on by Pococke and Bruce is the right one.

In those countries where absolute temporal power is allied with and reinforced by spiritual dominion, and where a superstition inflexible in its sway over the many readily lends all its influence to give effect to the will of one, believed to be the earthly representative or vicegerent of the gods, we may expect to find works executed, which in point of magnitude far surpass any thing to be met with amongst nations otherwise more favourably circumstanced in regard to liberty. When men live under the double thraldom of a despotism which wields the powers both of earth and heaven, and is identified with a system of religious belief, which recognises in the head of the state a lineal descendent of the gods, all their labour and all their energies must necessarily be at the command of a ruler who can thus give to his most arbitrary decrees the authority of religion, and whose own will is his only law; and hence it is in the power of a sovereign so circumstanced to accomplish undertakings which baffle ordinary calculations, and transcend all ordinary means. When Stesicrates proposed to Alexander to convert Mount Athos into a statue of the victorious monarch, the left arm of which should form the base of a city containing ten thousand inhabitants, while the right was to hold an urn whence a river should discharge itself into the sea, he assumed, on the part of the conqueror, an exercise of power over human agents, the most reckless and unsparing of which there is any example out of Egypt. In the latter country, the principle assumed by the Greek projector appears to have been systematically reduced to practice; the whole labour and energies of the nation were made available for the execution of the designs of its monarchs; and hence, in the unparalleled magnitude and durability of the public works which were reared under the Pharaohs, w e have conclusive evidence of the complete and total subjugation of the people to their authority. Such a prodigality of labour and expense is compatible only with the supposition that it was lavished under the decrees of a merciless and inflexible despotism; and the hands of slaves were no doubt employed in elaborating the inextricable intricacies of the Labyrinth, or realising the vast conception of the Pyramids. Herodotus, it is well known, ascribes the largest of the Pyramids, that of Cheops, to a profligate and tyrannical prince, who compelled the people at large to perform the work of slaves, and, in the enormous structure which he reared, left an eternal monument of the merciless energy to which it owed its origin.

The number of pyramids scattered over Egypt is very great; but by far the most remarkable are those at Djizch, Sakhara, and Daschour; and the first of these places, situated on the western bank of the Nile, and nearly in the latitude of Cairo, is distinguished above the others by possessing the three principal pyramids mentioned by Herodotus. and which are still justly numbered amongst the wonders of human art. The largest of these pyramids, which goes by the name of Cheops (Kobts or Kopts?), stands on an elevation upwards of a hundred and fifty feet above the subjacent plain; and although it has suffered much from human violence, immense heaps of broken stones having fallen down each side, and formed a high mound towards the middle of the base, yet the corners remain pretty clear; and, as the accumulation of sand is, owing to the elevation of the site, less than round the other pyramids, the foundation is easily discoverable, particularly at the north-west angle, though it is impossible to see along the line of the base, on account of the heaps of rubbish, or to make any accurate measurement thereof. The entrance is on the north side, nearly in the centre, or about an equal distance from each angle, and the passage slopes downward at an angle of about twenty-six degrees, for about a hundred feet from the entrance, when it opens into an apartment seventeen feet long, fourteen feet wide, and twelve feet high. From this apartment a similar passage ascends, at nearly the same angle, to another chamber of larger dimensions, being ' upwards of thirty-seven feet in length, seventeen feet in width, and about twenty feet in height, which is lined all round with large slabs of highly polished granite, whilst the ceiling consists of nine immense flags stretching from wall to wail. In this chamber, which does not reach beyond the centre of the pyramid, stands a sarcophagus of red granite, highly polished, but without sculptures or hieroglyphics; it is seven feet six inches in length, three feet three inches in width, and about as much in depth; but it has no lid, nor was any thing found in it except a few fragments of the stone with which the chamber is decorated. A third chamber, still higher in the body of the pyramid than either of the two just mentioned, was discovered by Mr Davison about sixty years ago; and the same apartment was recently entered and more fully explored by Mr Caviglia, who found its sides coated with red granite highly polished, and ascertained that the unevenness of the floor was occasioned by its having been formed of the individual blocks of syenite which constitute the roof of the chamber below. Mr Davison also discovered and descended into the well, as it is called, of which Pliny has left a description. It consisted of three distinct shafts, the first of which was twenty-two feet in depth, the second twenty-nine, and the third ninety-nine, thus making the total descent one hundred and fifty feet, or, including five feet between the first and second shaft, one hundred and fifty-five. But the latest and most complete survey of the secret chambers or caverns of the Pyramid of Cheops is that made by Mr Caviglia, who, besides sounding the depths of the celebrated well discovered by Mr Davison with nearly similar results, cleared out the principal passage into the pyramid, and having advanced as far as two hundred feet, discovered a door on the right hand, which opened into the bottom of the well; after which, finding that the passage did not terminate at the door-way, he continued his advance to the distance of twenty-three feet beyond it, when it took a horizontal direction for about twenty-eight farther, and ultimately opened in a spacious chamber, sixty-six feet long by twenty-seven broad, immediately under the central point of the pyramid. Communicating with this spacious apartment on the south side is a narrow passage, which runs horizontally into the rock for upwards of fifty feet, and then abruptly terminates; another at the end, which commences with an arch, and runs about forty feet into the solid rock of the Pyramid; and a third, which, however, is so obscurely mentioned, that neither its direction nor dimensions can be ascertained. It is much to be regretted that none of those who have occupied themselves in exploring these interior passages and chambers, should [7:8:548]have thought of publishing a plan of them, which indeed is quite essential to enable us to understand their various ramifications and bearings. The greatest discrepancy has prevailed both in ancient and in modern times as to the height and magnitude of the pyramid of Cheops; so much so, that either the standards referred to must have been different, or the summit of the enormous structure has been considerably lowered since the days of Herodotus. The following table exhibits only a small portion of the variation which applies to the measurement and estimated bulk of this pyramid :—
[table]

As an approximation, therefore, we may assume with safety that the Great Pyramid is four hundred and eighty feet in height, on a base about seven hundred and fifty feet each way; or, in other words, that it covers an area of nearly eleven acres, and rises to an elevation of a hundred and twenty-seven feet above the cross of St Paul’s, whilst its solid contents exceed seventy millions of cubic feet.^[171. Vide Nouet’s Report to the Institute at Cairo, published in the account of their proceedings; also Hamilton’s Egyptiaca, p. 325. captain Head’s estimate, however, is considerably greater than that which is given in the text. “This pile, as it now stands,” save he, “is in altitude nearly 150 feet above the cross of st Faul’s, and is ascended on each side by steps, having their lower laver resting on a space equal in size to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, one side being 780 feet....The solid contents of the Pyramid of Cheops exceed 75,000,000 cubic feet....viewing these masses, the soul shrinks abashed and awe-stricken, and reflects upon the countless generations which have been swept from the earth, and how many more they are destined to survive.” (Eastern and Egyptian Scenery, Ruins, &c. p. 46.) ]

The second pyramid, called that of Cephrenes, was entered and explored in 1816, by the indefatigable Belzoni, who has given an interesting account of his labour in accomplishing this object, in his Researches and Operations in Egypt and Nubia, to which we refer for the details. His first attempt was not attended with success; but being convinced that this pyramid was similar in construction to that of Cheops, he minutely examined the exterior of the Great Pyramid; and having corrected his calculations as to the point of entry, he searched more to the east on the northern face, and at length succeeded in discovering a granite entrance four feet in height and three feet and a half in width, which dipped towards the centre for more than a hundred feet, at an angle of twenty-six degrees. Having removed the rubbish by which this passage was obstructed, he found his progress stopped by a block of granite, which proved to be a portcullis, and seemed to present an insuperable barrier to the prosecution of his researches. “It stared me in the face,” he observes, “and said ne plus ultra, putting an end, as I thought, to all my projects.” But on close inspection, he discovered that a regular groove or cavity had been formed to receive this portcullis; and as it happened to be elevated about eight inches from the lower part of the groove, thus leaving a considerable aperture underneath, he was enabled gradually to raise it. Here, however, the granite passage ceased, and a horizontal passage of nearly the same dimensions opened and extended about twenty-three feet, terminating at a shaft or well fifteen feet deep. Having descended the latter by means of a rope, the adventurous explorer found another passage with the same angle of inclination as that by which he had first descended, but running in a contrary direction, and off from the centre; and from the bottom of the well a passage also ran towards the centre of the pyramid. Following the latter, which proceeded in the direction just mentioned, Belzoni soon found that it terminated in a chamber at the centre of the pyramid. On entering this chamber, which he afterwards found to be forty-six feet in length, upwards of sixteen feet in width, and between twenty-three and twenty-four feet in height, he searched for the sarcophagus, which, after some delay, he found sunk into the floor. It was of the finest granite, about eight feet in length, three feet and a half in width, and above two feet in depth, and was surrounded by large blocks of granite, placed so as to prevent its removal; but the lid having been drawn to one side, was broken, and not a single sculpture or hieroglyph was to be found upon it. Some bones, said to be those of a bull, were discovered mixed with the rubbish. This chamber, which is nearly of the same dimensions as that of the Great Pyramid, and which is cut out of the solid rock, appears, from an Arabic inscription written in charcoal, and transcribed by a Copt employed by Belzoni for the purpose, to have been visited by the curious of a former age. The indefatigable explorer then returned to the well or shaft, and proceeding along the passage of the centre already mentioned, found that at the distance of forty-eight feet it communicated with a horizontal passage, also running outwards to the length of fifty-seven feet. A side passage led into a chamber, which however contained nothing save an inscription like that found in the first. From the extremity of the horizontal passage another was found to run inwards with a rise of twenty-six feet, until it terminated at the base of the pyramid, which thus appears to have had two entrances. In this last passage, as in the other, there is a groove for a portcullis.^[172. Researches and operations in Egypt and Nubia, p. 267, et seqq. The opening of this pyramid had so long been considered an object of so hopeless a nature that, as Mr salt has observed, it is difficult to conceive how any person could have been found sanguine enough to nicke the attempt; and even after the laborious discovery of an entrance which had to be forced, it required great resolution and confidence in his own views to induce the discoverer to continue the operation, when his predecessors, possessed of much greater means, had completely failed. It is not much to be wondered, therefore, that Belzoni should have felt disposed to resent conduct such as that which is described in the following extract :—“One thing more I must observe respecting the Count de Forbin. On his return from Thebes, I met him at cairo, in the house of the Austrian consul. I had begun the task of opening the Pyramids, and had already discovered the taise passage. The count requested, in a sort of sarcastic manner, when I had succeeded in opening the Pyramid, which no doubt he supposed I never would, that I would send him the plan of it, as be was about setting off for Alexandria the next day, and thence to France. I thought the best retaliation I could make was to send him the desired plan; and I did so as soon as I opened the Pyramid, which was in a few days after his departure, would any one believe that the noble count, on his arrival in France, gave out that he had succeeded in penetrating the second pyramid of Djizch, and brought the plan of it to Paris? whether this be the fact or not, will appear from the following paragraph taken from a French paper now in my possession: —‘ On the 24th of April, Monsieur le Comte de Forbin, director-general of the Royal Museum of France, landed at the lazaretto of Marseilles. He came last from Alexandria, and his passage was very stormy. He has visited Greece, Syria, and Upper Egypt. By a happy chance, some days before his departure from Cairo, he succeeded in penetrating into the second pyramid of Djizch. Monsieur Forbin brings the plan of this important discovery, as well as much information on the labours of Μ. Drovetti at Karnak, and on those which Mr salt, the English consul, pursued with the greatest success in the valley of Beban-el-Malook, and in the plain of Medinet-Abou. The museum of Paris is going to be enriched with some of the spoils of Thebes, which Monsieur Forbin has coUected in his travels.’ was this written,” exclaims Belzoni, “by some person in France, in ridicule of the Count de Forbin, or is it an attempt to impose on the public by a tissue of falsehoods ?” (Vol. i. p. 393.) ] The dimensions of the pyramid [7:8:549]thus opened and explored were ascertained by Belzoni to be as follow :—
[table]

These pyramids are said to have been coated or cased from top to bottom; and indeed forty feet of coating still remain on that of Cephrenes. But the Great Pyramid has no appearance of having been touched in this way; and on that of Cephrenes the coating was probably never completed, as no indications of it were discovered by Belzoni when removing the sand from its base. The next pyramid, called by the name of Mycerinus, and situated beyond that of Cephrenes, seems to have been cased with granite; at least fragments of that material were found amongst the rubbish. This pyramid still remains to be opened by some future traveller, Belzoni having failed in the attempt. It is only about a hundred and sixty feet in height; and beyond it is another of still smaller dimensions, having its summit crowned by one large block of stone, as if for a pedestal. The stability of these enormous piles is increased by the stones , ,having been fixed so as to slope inwards: and so perfectly have they been adjusted, that not one of them has swerved from its position. As nothing but the solid rock itself could have formed a foundation for such structures, a sufficient space was levelled, part of the hill being escarped for the purpose. The pyramids of Sakhara are three miles south of those of Djizch, and the pyramids of Daschour are beyond those of Sakhara, whilst many more of brick or of stone are scattered over the plain, intermixed with the excavations, cemeteries, and fragments of statues or edifices, extending over a space of several miles, and serving to mark out the site of the second capital of the Pharaohs. Fronting the river, and opposite the pyramid of Cephrenes, the colossal Sphinx reclines in ample majesty, a proper companion for the mighty piles which we have been considering. It is hewn out of the solid rock, and is covered with hieroglyphics and symbols of various kinds. Through the persevering exertions of Mr Caviglia, the whole statue was laid open to its base, and an area cleared to the extent of a hundred feet from its front. On the digits of the left paw are several indistinct legends and an inscription in verse, which Dr Young has restored; on those of the right are a few of the usual dedicatory phrases, which it is unnecessary to repeat here.

As the pyramids have neither inscriptions nor bas-reliefs or sculptures of any kind, we are left entirely to conjecture as to the period at which they were erected, or the uses to which they were appropriated. One circumstance, however, is most remarkable. In all the pyramids which have been opened, whether at Djizch or Sakhara, amounting to at least six, the entrance has in every case been discovered near the centre of the base of the northern face; and the passage inwards from the exterior entrance has as uniformly been found to slope downwards at an angle which never varies. In the Great Pyramid, the inclination of the passage is stated by Greaves at twenty-six degrees; but Cavig)ia determined it at twenty-seven; and this angle is common to all the sloping passages in the edifice. The same conclusion was formed by Belzoni in regard to the pyramid opened by him, the angle in all the sloping passages or channels being about twenty-six degrees; and on opening one of the small pyramids towards the south, Caviglia found the inclination of the passage the same, whilst at the end of it were two chambers connected together, and both empty. Now, as it is scarcely possible that this coincidence could have been accidental, it has been concluded that these passages or tubes were connected with the celebration of some great festival, the time of which was determined by observing the transit of some particular star across the meridian below the pole, whence an accurate measure of sidereal time, an object in itself of great importance, might also be obtained. But, whilst it would not be easy to devise a method better adapted for observing the transit of a star with the naked eye, than watching its motion across the exterior orifice of such a lengthened tube, yet no safe conclusion can be deduced from the coincidence of inclination alluded to; first, because there is reason to suspect that we have not yet got the true measure of the angle which these passages form with the plane of the horizon; secondly, because it has not been ascertained whether the angle of inclination is the same in all the pyramids which have been opened, or whether there is a difference in the angles of the approaches of the pyramids of Djizch, Sakhara, and Daschour, corresponding to the difference of latitude of these several places; and thirdly, because, from an expression made use of by Mr Caviglia, it would seem that in one at. least of the pyramids opened, the angle of inclination was equal or nearly so to the elevation of the pole, or the latitude of the place. In short, the material facts on which alone any reasoning can be built have not yet been ascertained with sufficient accuracy and precision to warrant the inference which has been somewhat hastily drawn from them, although, as a mere conjecture or hypothesis, it has a reasonable degree of probability in its favour, especially if we consider the exact position of these structures with reference to the four cardinal points. At the same time, there is every reason to believe that these enormous piles were used for other than astronomical purposes. The bones found in the chamber of the pyramid of Cephrenes, not to mention other circumstances,, seem to indicate some connection with the worship of Apis; and besides, from the care with which the entrances appear to have been concealed, it is not impossible[7:8:550] that, both in the pyramid of Cheops and in that of Cephrenes, there may yet be many undiscovered chambers. The chamber which contains the sarcophagus in the former is equal to a good-sized drawing-room; but there might be five thousand such chambers within the pyramid; and as structures so enormous must have been reared for some great object, or what was considered as such, it is probable that much still remains to be discovered in their interior. It is not impossible that the records of the kingdom of the Pharaohs may yet peradventure be found in some crypt “far ben” in these eternal register-houses.^[173. Head, Eattern and Egyptian Scenery, ňaim, &c, pp. 46, 47. Russell, view of Ancient and Modern Egypt, p. 150, et seqq. ]

In speaking of the mechanical labours of the ancient Egyptians, it is impossible to pass unnoticed Lake Moeris, which is described by Herodotus as not less wonderful than the Labyrinth. Its circumference, he informs us, measured three thousand six hundred stadia, making sixty schoeni or four hundred and fifty miles; an extent equal to the sea-coast of Egypt. Its greatest length stretched from north to south, and its greatest depth was not less than fifty orgyias, or thirty-six fathoms. He is of opinion that it was excavated by the hand of man; and his reason for this belief is, that about the middle of the lake there were two pyramids, each fifty orgyias, or two hundred and twelve feet above, and as much below the water, whilst on the summit of each there was placed a colossus of stone, in a sitting posture, or throned. The waters of this lake, he adds, were entirely derived from the Nile, and its fisheries paid one talent of silver, or L.225, to the crown, every day for six months during the decrease of the waters, and twenty rainas, or L.75, for the remaining six months during their increase; thus yielding an annual revenue of L.54,000. Herodotus also states, on the authority of the inhabitants, that this lake has a subterraneous channel, or passage, westward into the Libyan desert, in the line of the mountain which rises above Memphis; and, from those who dwelt on its shores, he further learned that the earth dug out of the excavation which formed the lake was thrown into the river, and washed down by the current into the sea; an explanation with which he appears to have been perfectly satisfied. This account, exhibiting the characteristics of simplicity and truth, is substantially confirmed by the statements of Diodorus Siculus and Pomponius Mela, except that the latter makes the circumference five hundred miles instead of four hundred and fifty; and all coincide in the opinion that its object must have been to save the country from the effects of an excessive inundation, by affording a receptacle for the surplus flood, and at the same time to keep in reserve a supply of water for the parched lands in the vicinity, or to meet the wants of a dry season in the Delta. But, as the water of this lake has a disagreeable taste, and besides is almost as salt as the sea, contracting its saline property from the nitre with which the surrounding land is everywhere impregnated, it is probable enough that it was originally constructed rather to prevent an evil than to secure a benefit, to counteract an excessive rather than to eke out a deficient inundation.

The dimensions of this lake in modern times do not in any degree correspond with the statements which have been recorded by the ancients. According to Pococke, at the time when he visited Egypt it was only about fifty miles in length and ten in breadth; and Mr Browne, who travelled at a still later period, estimated the length at between thirty and forty miles, and the breadth at not more than six miles. It appears, therefore, that the limits of this inland sea have been much contracted; and further, that the process of diminution is going on at a rate distinctly perceptible. Anciently the waters of Lake Moeris covered a large portion of the valley of .Fayoum, and, when the inundation exceeded a certain height, probably found an outlet from the north-eastern extremity, along the course of the Bahr-bilama or Waterless River, thus reaching the sea to the westward of Lake Mareotis and Alexandria. That the Nile originally flowed through the valley of the Natron Lakes, is now generally admitted; and the opinion is strengthened by the conformation of the adjoining country, the existence of the bed or channel of a river, extending to the sea, but now dry, and more especially by the escarpment of the chain of mountains, shutting the entrance of the valley north of the Pyramids, which appears to have been caused at some period by the action of the running water, as may indeed be observed in all the mountains at the base of which the Nile flows at the present day. In its present contracted dimensions, Lake Moeris is called by the Arabs Birket-el-Keroun, the Horn or Bow Lake, being so named either from its figure, or from the celebrated ruin near to its south-western extremity, denominated Kasr Keroun by the Arabs, and till lately supposed to form part of the Labyrinth. The canal called Bahr Yussuf, or Joseph’s River, is about a hundred and twenty miles in length, and, on entering the province of Fayoum, is divided into a number of subordinate branches, supplied with a variety of locks and dams. Two other canals also communicated between the lake and the stream, and, by means of the sluices at their junction with the river, admitted or excluded the water, according as the Nile rose above or fell below a certain limit. These were the principal achievements of Moeris, whose works are to be sought for not so much in the lake which bears his name, and seems to be rather a natural basin skilfully appropriated to a purpose of great public utility than a work of labour and art, as in the immense cuts and excavations which connected this lake with the Nile, and in the mounds, dams, and sluices, which rendered it available for extensive and systematic irrigation, the prime cause of fertility in Egypt. We shall not attempt here to describe the reticulation of canals, and other works therewith connected, by means of which this beneficent object was in a great measure insured, and a sort of equilibrium established in the supply of the fluid so essential for the purposes of cultivation; but shall merely content ourselves with observing, that the author of such works of unquestionable utility is the real benefactor of his kinĉl, and that the glory which encircles the name of Moeris-Thouthmosis is a thousand times more enviable, because more beneficent in its character, than that of the founder of the Labyrinth, or of the merciless taskmaster who reared the Great Pyramid.

In this land of wonders there are many other works and monuments well deserving of being described; but the limits assigned to the present section having been already exceeded, it is necessary to bring it to a close, without entering into details which would be found to possess only a secondary kind of interest. We cannot conclude, however, without expressing our deep regret that, under the comparatively enlightened government which has now been established in Egypt, the destruction of ancient monuments should be carried on with a systematic and calculating perseverance, which, unless checked, must in a few years annihilate the finest and noblest remains that have escaped the united ravages of time and barbarism. Let us hope, however, that the viceroy may be induced[7:8:551] to interpose, and that present convenience or advantage will no longer be purchased at so heavy a cost to art and antiquity.^[174. It would perhaps be too much to expect that Mehemmed Ali, engrossed with objects of present ambition, should evince any very decided predilection for “Egypt’s elder time,” or give himself much trouble to conserve the monumental remains of twenty-five dynastics of kings. The viceroy, we fear, is too decided an utilitarian to concern himself about objects of antiquarian research or learned curiosity; and it is highly probable that a kaleidoscope, a magic disc, or any other ingenious scientific toy, would interest him much more deeply than the discovery of a new cella in an old temple, or a translation of a hieroglyphic inscription, enumerating the titles and narrating the campaigns of Sesostris. At the same lime it would be exceedingly desirable if he could be made aware that, however little he may care about such matters, they are of importance to others; and that the wanton demolition of monuments which has of late years taken place under the eyes, and even by the directions, of some of his agents, is calculated to deprive the country over which he rules of its principal attraction to European visitants. Nothing, we should think, would be more easy than to make the pasha comprehend that he has a direct and tangible interest in at least preventing the continuance of the barbarity which has recently been in so many instances committed; and if the European residents in Egypt were to join in α representation on the subject, there can scarcely be a doubt that it would have the desired effect. In the year 1829, Μ. champollion, whilst on the eve of quitting Egypt, transmitted to the viceroy a Note “pour la conservation des Monumens de l’Egypte,” in which the conduct of his agents was very pointedly denounced, the extent of the havoc committed by them clearly detailed, and the precautions necessary to be adopted in order to arrest the progress of the evil distinctly specified; but this representation being unsupported, and many of the collectors of antiquities at Alexandria and Cairo secretly encouraging the dilapidations complained of, in the despicable view of giving a factitious value to their collections, it produced no sensible effect, and the work of destruction has since gone on with but little interruption. Accordingly, some of the finest monuments of ancient Egyptian civilization, which had outlasted the casualties of forty centuries, and the ravages of five conquests, have lately perished by the hands of destroyers more barbarous and unsj>aring than either the wild Persians of cambyses or the fanatical Arabs of Amru. Among the Europeans who visit Egypt there is annually a great number who, not being attracted thither by any commercial pursuit, are only actuated by a desire to contemplate on the spot the remains of ancient splendour and renown, and to examine for themselves the vestiges of the first form of civilization of which any trace has descended to modern times; and as these persons may now, under the protection of the viceroy’s vigorous government, pursue their inquiries in perfect safety, it is obvious that their sojourn in the different provinces of Egypt and Nubia must entirely depend on the monuments which are scattered along both banks of the Nile, and that whilst science and literature may be enriched by their observations, the country itself must also be benefited by their personal expenditure, whether disbursed in the employment of labour to clear out monuments, in satisfying an active curiosity, or in the acquisition of divers products of ancient art. In short, as a large amount of capital is annually imported into Egypt by travellers of this description, it is clear that the government of the viceroy, if it consulted the real interest of the country, would devote its attention to the conservation of those edifices and monuments which form the principal, if not the sole objects for which such travels are undertaken by a crowd of individuals belonging to the most distinguished classes of European society; that, so far from permitting wanton and gratuitous destruction, it would adopt measures to arrest even the progress of ordinary decay; and that its subordinate functionaries, instead of being the destroyers, would be made the protectors and defenders of the Cyclopian works of ancient days. The actual case, however, is tar different from this; and learned Europe now bitterly deplores the entire destruction of a crowd of ancient monuments, the demolition of which has been so complete that not the least trace of them remains. But, to come to particulars, amongst those which have been recently destroyed are, firrt, all the monuments of Scheik-Abadch, of which there now only exist some granite columns, that, from their dimensions and hardness, appear to have defied the efforts of the destroyers; tecondly, the temple of Aschmunein, one of the finest monuments of Egypt; thirdly, the temple of Kau-el-Kebir, which the Nile had partially undermined, thereby facilitating the work of demolition; fourthly, a temple to the north of the town of Esnch; fifthly, a temple opposite Esnch, on the right bank of the river; ňxthly, three temples at El-Kab or El-Eitz; and, κventhly, two temples in the island opposite Assouan, the ancient Syené, called Geziret-Assouan. From this enumeration, then, embracing only a short period, and excluding the destruction of the last two years, it appears that thirteen or fourteen ancient monuments, three of which in particular were of the very highest interest to travellers and learned men, have been entirely demolished. But the positive loss, great as it is, falls far short of that with which the learned world is threatened from the progress of this systematic dilapidation, which, it it continues to advance in a similar ratio, will in ten years hence level with the ground the principal edifices and monuments of Egypt and Nubia, we are not without hopes, however, that the viceroy may be induced to interpose his authority in order to arrest these deplorable devastations. Μ. Champollion laid before him a catalogue rauonné of the monuments both of Egypt and Nubia, at the same time indicating the means proper to be adopted for their future preservation; and other individuals of weight will, we trust, exert their influence with Mehemmed Ali in order to persuade him to take the necessary steps for accomplishing the object desired. If his highness would only take upon himself the character of conservator of Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, Of which the very ruins arc tremendous, he would entitle himself to the gratitude of all Europe, at the same time that he advanced his own real interest and glory; for, besides the advantages to which we have already alluded, it ought to be kept in view that the temples, palaces, tombs, and all other kinds of monuments, which still attest the power and greatness of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies, are at the same time the noblest ornaments of modem Egypt. ]

SECTION VI.

PANTHEON OF EGYPT.

Knuphis or Agathodaemon Phtha or Plithah—Neïth—Ké or

Phré.—Ilhea—Ioh Apopis. Kronos Thoth Osiris.—

Arueris Typhon Isis.—Nephlhé Thucris.—Bebon

Ares.—shorn or Somus Buto Horus, Hor, or Horsiesi—

Harpocrates.—Anubis—Arsaphes.—Athôr or Hathôr—Amun or Amoun Mendes Busiris Macedon Bubastis.—sara-

pis Shmun or Esmunus Paamyles Tithrambo—Ther-

muthis—canopus—Menuthis Besa Proteus Nilus—

Apis.—Mneuis or Mnyis.

In the selection of authorities respecting the principal deities worshipped by the Egyptians, it will be most convenient to consider the respective personages in their chronological, or rather genealogical order, as far as any evidence can be obtained to ascertain their places in the mythological system.

Agathodaemon, Cneph, Chnuphis, or Knuphis, appears to be the oldest representative of the divine power admitted by the Egyptians, although his attributes are not distinctly ascertained, except as the parent of Phtha, whose origin is referred, in the works of the spurious Hermes, to an egg of Cneph or Kneph, which is perhaps the Coptic iHHNiFi, or genius of spirit. Even before this Cneph we are told of the existence of an Eicton or Ieton, which has been supposed to mean ihhtho, or genius of the whole world ; but this seems to have been a sort of chaos, and the personification is not generally admitted. Eusebius makes Cneph distinctly synonymous with Agathodaemon; and this interpretation seems to identify the term with the Knuphis, of whom Strabo mentions a temple in Elephantiné, since ihhnufi would naturally mean good genius, the word nufi occurring frequently in other compounds. In a Greek inscription now in the British Museum, the [7:8:552] emperor Nero is called the good genius of the world, and the winged globe hovering over the inscription seems to allude to this piece of flattery; but the Knuphis or Knumis of the amulets of later times is a serpent or a dragon raising itself on its tail, having rays about its head, and surrounded with stars. The name of Agathodaemon is inserted by Manetho amongst the fabulous kings, immediately before Kronos.

The same authority attributes a still higher antiquity to Phtha, whom it places as the first of the fabulous kings of Egypt; he is universally considered as the great ancestor of the other deities, and is especially called the father of the sun, as we learn from various cbronologers, as well as from Callisthenes and others. He seems to have been a personification of the creative, and perhaps of the generative power, designated under the character of a workman or an architect. He is sometimes compared to Prometheus, as the discoverer of fire; but Hephaestus or Vulcan is his common representative in the Greek and Roman mythology; although it must always be remembered, that, between the imaginary personages of different nations the identity must naturally be accidental and imperfect. Cicero and Eusebius mention Phtha as the same with Vulcan; and Eratosthenes, on the authority of the Egyptian priests, interprets moephtha, Philephoes-tus or loving Vulcan, which in Coptic would be exactly expressed by maiphγiiah, as maison is loving a brother. Mr Akerblad quotes from a Coptic sermon of Sinnethi the words, “Hephaestus, who is Phtah ;” and this remarkable passage proves, as he justly observes, how much Jablonsky was mistaken in his orthography of Phthash, on which he founded one of his fanciful etymologies.

Neitii, the Minerva of the Egyptians, had a celebrated temple at Sai's, in which was the well-known inscription respecting the goddess of universal nature, whose offspring, in the translation of the inscription, as preserved by Proclus, is said to be the sun. It seems therefore natural to call Neïth the wife of Phtha; as Plato also observes that arts were invented by Vulcan and his wife; but we are told that Neïth is to be considered as both male and female. The name is mentioned by Plato as synonymous with Minerva, and Eratosthenes explains Nitocris, Minerva the victorious.

Re, or Phre, the Sun, otherwise called On, is mentioned by Manetho as the son of Vulcan. He married Rhea, and having discovered her infidelity, condemned her to bear no offspring on any day or any night of the whole three hundred and sixty that then composed the year. Plutarch says that he was represented by a young child rising out of a lotus; but this emblem is more attributable to Horus, who is another of the forms of the solar power, and is sometimes improperly confounded with Apollo. The word Phré is often found in Greek letters on the amulets, accompanied by emblems of the sun.

Rhea, the wife of the Sun, may perhaps have derived her name from Rė ; she appears to be identical with the Urania, or female Heaven, of Horus Apollo, the Coptic PHE being feminine. Jablonsky makes Rhea the same with Athór or Hathôr, but he adduces no sufficient authority for the opinion. She is said to have been familiar both with Kronos and with Thoth; and Diodorus calls her the wife and sister of Kronos.

Ioh, the Moon. Plutarch tells us that Hermes played at dice with the Moon, probably as presiding over the calendar, in order to gain a time for the birth of Rhea’s children, and to evade her husband’s curse: so that the Moon must be considered as one of the oldest deities. The Egyptian name being masculine, the Moon can scarcely have been worshipped as a goddess; and whatever relation may have been imagined to exist between Isis and the lunar influence, the two deities were certainly not identical.

Apopis, a brother of the Sun, is mentioned by Plutarch as having made war against Jove. But the Jupiter of Manetho stands much lower on the list, the order being Vulcan, the Sun, Agathodaemon, Kronos, Osiris with Isis, Typhon, Horus, Ares, Anubis, Hercules, Apollo, Ammon, Tithoes, Sosus, and Jupiter; the last nine being denominated semigods.

Kronos, or Saturn, is only known from his connection with Rhea, the wife of the Sun. His character probably bore some relation to a personification of Time and Antiquity.

Thoth, Theuth, or Tamil, one of the most celebrated of the Egyptian deities, is sufficiently identified with Hermes or Mercury, by the testimony of a variety of authors. Diodorus mentions him as the scribe or secretary, and privy counsellor of Osiris. He is generally considered as the inventor of letters and of the fine arts. Plutarch and Horus Apollo observe that he was typified by the ibis, which was sacred to him. Plutarch also says that he had one arm shorter than the other.

Osiris, properly Oshiri or Ousirei, meaning in Coptic energetic or active, which is precisely one of Plutarch’s interpretations of the name, was the deity most universally adored throughout Egypt, and possessing the principal attributes of Bacchus, Adonis, and Pluto; besides being often compared to the Nile, and sometimes to the Sun. He was genealogically considered as the son of the Sun and of Rhea; and at his birth, on the first of the supplementary days of the calendar, a voice was heard, proclaiming that he was Lord of all. He married his sister Isis, and, according to Diodorus, left her to govern his kingdom during his military expeditions, resembling those of Bacchus, being accompanied by Pan, Hercules, and Macedon, having a ship which was the prototype of the Argo of the Greeks, with Canopus for his pilot. He was at last treacherously shut up alive in a coffin by Typhon, aided by seventy-two conspirators, together with an Ethiopian queen Aso. The coffin, being thrown into the Nile, was carried to one of its mouths, and there left on shore: it became afterwards inclosed in the trunk of an erica, which grew round it, and which constituted one of the columns of King Mal-cander’s palace; but the body escaped from its confinement, and was found by Typhon as he was hunting; he divided it into fourteen parts, which were afterwards found scattered in different places by Isis, and buried separately. Osiris, however, returned from the dead to console his wife, and to conduct the education of his son Horus. There was a mystery in his identification with Pluto, of which the old authors affect to speak with reverence. His dress was generally white, but sometimes black. He is represented as carrying a whip, which is supposed to be intended for the punishment of Typhon. Plutarch says that he is typified by a hawk, and denoted hieroglyphi-cally by an eye and a sceptre.

Arueris, a twin-brother of Osiris, and, like him, the son of the Sun and of Rhea, was born on the second supplementary day. He is also called the elder Horus, and is considered by some of the Greeks as their Apollo.

Typhon, the spurious son of Rhea and Kronos, was born on the third supplementary day, and married his sister Nephtluĭ. He is characterized by a red colour, and is supposed to have been a personification of the effects of scorching heat. He is also compared to the earth’s shadow, as causing eclipses of the moon. The celestial habitation of his soul was supposed to be in the Great Bear. According to Plutarch, his Egyptian names were Setts, Bebon, or Babyn, and Smy ; the word Typhon being apparently of Greek origin.

Isis, Isι, or Esι, was supposed to be the offspring of [7:8:553]Thoth and Rhea, born on the fourth supplementary day; she was also sometimes called the daughter of Prometheus. She is generally compared to Ceres, or the Earth, and is made the deity of fertility and of maternal love. She was also esteemed analogous to Proserpine, as the queen of the lower regions, and the wife of Pluto; thus she is called by Aristides “the saviour and conductress of souls and, in some Roman inscriptions copied by Zoëga, she is made “the guardian of the ashes of the dead." Horus Apollo says that her head was sometimes adorned with vultures' plumes; but Herodotus tells us that she was represented with cow’s horns, like Io; other authors however say that, after Horus, in revenge for his father’s death, had made Typhon prisoner, Isis imprudently set him at liberty, and Horus, therefore, tore the regal diadem -from her brow, but that Thoth or Hermes substituted for it a helmet made of a bullock’s head. Her soul was supposed to have its residence in the Dog Star, the Sothis of the Egyptians. Her dress was of many colours. She is sometimes compared to the moon; but this idea appears to be foreign to the oldest mythology, as well as to the genius of the Egyptian language. She has also been somewhat arbitrarily confounded with Minerva by Plutarch, in speaking of the inscription of the temple of Sais, which confessedly related to the Egyptian Minerva, who was indisputably the goddess Nelth; although in consequence of this inattention, the “robe” mentioned in the inscription has been called the “robe of Isis,” and the expression has been almost proverbially employed as denoting mystery and secrecy.

Nephthe, rather than frephthys, the spurious daughter of Rhea and Kronos, was born on the fifth supplementary day. She is sometimes called by the Greeks Teleuté, that is, consummation; and sometimes Venus and Victory. She is mentioned by Firmicus as the sister and companion of Isis; and Plutarch says that the face of Isis was sometimes represented on the sistrum, and sometimes that of Nephthé.

Tiiueris, a concubine of Typhon, is only noticed as having been pursued, on her way to visit Horus, by a huge snake, which was killed by Horus' people.

Bf bon, who is sometimes confounded with Typhon, is also mentioned as one of his companions.

Akes is inserted among the fabulous kings of Manetho. Vettius Valens says that the planet Mars was called by the Egyptians Arles ; and Cedrenus makes the name Er-tosi. Herodotus tells us that Mars was worshipped at Pa-premis.

Somus, or Shorn, was probably the personage called the Egyptian Hercules by the Greek writers. Thus, the great Etymo)ogico has Chon for this deity, and Eratosthenes writes his name Sem, both of these having been probably intended to express the Coptic jom or sjom, strength, which seems Sometimes to have been written jem or sjem. Diodorus mentions this Hercules as a general of Osiris, whom he left behind with Isis. He is said to have been killed by Typhon, but to have been revived by the smell of a quail. Herodotus asserts that the word Heracles is originally Egyptian; but in this, as in many other instances, his interpreters must have misinformed him, perhaps from misunderstanding his questions; for his Egyptian etymologies are almost uniformly erroneous. Thus, when the priests had shown him, or rather Hecataeus, whose original story he seems to have copied and disfigured, the statues of three hundred and forty-one successive generations of high priests, who were neither gods nor heroes, but each a piromts, the son of pir<>mis, he tells us that piromis means beautiful and brave ; whilst, in fact, the literal sense of piromi, in the modern Coptic of Lower Egypt, which is simply a man, restores to the observation of the priests an intelligible and consistent sense.

Buro, the nurse of Horus and of Bubastis, compared to the Latona of the Greeks, must be considered as anterior to the birth of Horus.

Horus, llor, Or, or Hors ∣ esi, was the son of Isis and Osiris. Jablonsky observes that a king Ur is mentioned by Manetho, and that Or was in later times the name of a certain monk, and Taor of a nun; the Egyptians have always, as Lucian informs us, had a propensity to adopt the names of their deities for their own, so that they may have become current in families without any immediate reference to their origin. Akerblad also found Horsiési as an Egyptian name, and conjectured, with much probability, that it originally meant Horus the son of Isis, si being an abridgment of siieri, as it appears also to have been in the name of Siphoas, or rather Siphthas, which is explained by Eratosthenes, the son of Vulcan. Horus is often confounded with the Sun, perhaps from the resemblance of his name to the Hebrew Aoa, light ; whilst Suidas makes him rather analogous to Priapus. He was nursed by Buto, in the city Butus. The most remarkable exploit of his youthful days was the pursuit and conquest of Typhon, in revenge for his father’s death. The constellation Orion was supposed to be the habitation of his soul. His dress was white. Damascius, as copied by Photius, informs us that he was represented with his finger on his mouth.

Harpocrates was a son of Osiris, from a visit paid to Isis after his death. He was also born prematurely, and was weak in his lower limbs. Eratosthenes seems to have called him Phrucrateβ; and phrokhrat, in Coptic, means dried or withered feet. Anubis was the offspring of Osiris and Nephthé, whom he had mistaken for Isis, and who exposed the child; but Isis recovered him, and he became her faithful attendant. He was considered as belonging both to the upper and the lower worlds, and was therefore compared to the horizon; and he seems to have been typified by a dog, or figured with a dog’s head. He attended Osiris in his military expedition; and he is sometimes erroneously confounded with Mercury, and even with Saturn. A cock was usually sacrificed to him; and Pliny tells us that his images were properly made of gold, in allusion to his name; a remark which is amply explained by the Coptic word nub, which still signifies gold. Arsaphes is mentioned by Plutarch as a son of Isis; but the same name is said to have been sometimes applied to Osiris.

Athor, Halhôr, or Athyr. was the Venus of the Egyptians, according to the Great Etymologico. Herodotus mentions a temple of Venus as Atarbechis, which might be translated the city of Venus, baki in Coptic meaning city; although Plutarch enumerates Athyri among the different names of Isis. Strabo informs us that at Mo-memphis a sacred cow was fed in honour of Venus.

Amun, or Amoun, the Jupiter of the Egyptians, though apparently a personage of much less importance than the Greek and Roman Jupiter, was worshipped by the Ammonians, under the form of a human figure with a ram s head. Hecataeus, as quoted by Plutarch, denies that this term is the proper name of the deity, and observes, very truly, that it is an Egyptian word meaning come, by which the god was supplicated to appear. The word, however, implies also glory, or splendour. If there was a more appropriate term for this deity, it may possibly, as Mr Akerblad has observed, have been Ho, which was the Egyptian name of the city called by the Greeks Diospolis Parva. It is remarkable that Manetho gives us a Zeus distinct from Ammon, interposing Titboes and 8osus as intermediate kings.

Antaeus, Entes, or Mendes, is said to have been left [7:8:554]by Osiris as a viceroy or lieutenant-governor, together with Busiris, for the assistance of Isis during his absence. He is generally identified with Pan, though Diodorus mentions Pan as having accompanied Osiris on his expedition. At Mendes a goat was fed in honour of this deity, and Plutarch seems to say that this goat was called Apis, as well as the bull fed at Memphis. He was also generally represented with the face and legs of a goat. Herodotus calls him one of the eight gods, older than the twelve; but Diodorus makes the eight senior gods of the Egyptians the Sun, Kronos, Rhea, Ammon, Juno, Vulcan, Vesta, and Mercury. Out of these, however, Juno and Vesta cannot easily be identified in the Egyptian mythology.

Busiris, a name composed of B-Ousirei, or Ph-Ou-sirei, that is, Osiris with a prefix, is only mentioned by Diodorus as a colleague of Antaeus in his government.

Macedon, according to Diodorus, was a companion of Osiris in his expedition.

Bubastis was a sister of Horus, preserved and nursed with him by Buto in the city of Butus. She is compared by various authors to Artemis or Diana; Apuleius gives us Bubasthis for the Egyptian name of the plant Artemisia; and Bubastis is addressed in a Greek epigram in the place of Diana, considered in her obstetrical capacity.

Sarapis, an ancient deity of the Greeks, was raised into a more distinguished rank by the honours paid him, as identical with Pluto, by Ptolemy Soter, who had found an image of Pluto at Sinope, accompanied by Cerberus and a dragon, which he brought to Alexandria, and established in the Serapeum there, as belonging to Sarapis. Some of the ancients were however of opinion that the word Sarapis meant only the “feast of Apis;" and, indeed, the Coptic shaiiri, which signifies to feast, agrees tolerably well with this etymology, however improbable the opinion founded on it may be esteemed. Sarapis is also supposed to have had some relation to the regulation of the Kilometer, which consisted of a column with different heights marked on it, in the centre of a bath or well, into which the water of the river was admitted.

Esmunus, or Shmun, was the eighth son of Sadycus by one of the Titanides, and brother of the Dioscuri and Cabiri; all of them names which seem as foreign to the Egyptian mythology as the word shmun is familiar to the language, meaning simply eight. He is, however, said by Damascius to have been the Egyptian Aesculapius, aithough Manetho gives the name Tosorthrus to this deity, making him a son of Pan and Hephaestobule.

Paamyles is mentioned by Hesychius and Plutarch as a Priapic deity; he is also made by Cratinus synonymous with Socharis. Tithrambo, according to Epiphanius, was analogous to the Hecate of the Greeks.

Thermuthis, though generally understood to be only a name of the sacred serpents worn in the crow n of Isis, is distinguished by Epiphanius as an independent deity; and if we may judge by the signification of the Coptic word, which means mortiferus, her character must have been somewhat analogous to that of Nemesis.

Canopus, or Canobus, had a temple which is mentioned by Dionysius Periegeteβ. The jars called Canopi were often made porous, to serve as filters, and are mentioned by Hesychius, in the word Stactice ; but we are not exactly informed how far they were connected with this deity.

Menüthis was the wife of Canopus, and seems to have given her name to a village near the town Canopus, which is mentioned by Stephanus. Epiphanius calls her Eume-nuthis. Besa is only known from Ammianus Marcellinus, who mentions an oracle dependent on him.

Proteus, though noticed as a king of no very high antiquity, is said to have had a temple erected to him as a hero. Diodorus says that his Egyptian name was Cetes; though Herodotus, as in other instances, fancies, from some misapprehension, that the Greek and Egyptian names were identical; and he observes that similar honours were also paid to Perseus, another hero known to the Greeks.

Nilus, whether as a king or merely as a river, appears to have received divine honours. The Egyptian name of the Nile seems to have been simply phiaro ; the Ethiopians call it Siris ; the ameiri of Kircher’s vocabulary was probably a name of later date.

Apis, a bull consecrated to Osiris, was fed with divine honours at Memphis, the principal burying-place of that deity, of whose soul he was considered as the living image. He was aD over black, except some small white spots, and some other particular marks not of common occurrence. He was sometimes said to be the offspring of a cow and a ray of moonlight.

Mneuis, or Mnyis, was also a black bull sacred to Osiris, kept at Heliopolis; although some authors assert that he was sacred to the sun. Aelian mentions also a black bull called Onuphis; and Macrobius speaks of a bull named Pacis, or Bacis, which was kept at Hermonthis. For the cow that was consecrated to Venus it does not appear that any particular name has been recorded.

SECTION VII.

OF THE EGYPTIAN CALENDAR.

Importance of the subject—Its connection with the system of mythology Authorities.—Testimony of Eratosthenes Year of the Greeks of Alexandria no other than the Julian year— commencement of the ancient or moveable Egyptian year.— sun’s place in the zodiacal signs.—Consequences deduced therefrom conditions of determining the date of a monument from the astronomical symbols—Zodiacs of Esnch and Denderah. —Date of the latter—Form of the sign Libra in the zodiac of Esnch Explanation of the beetles in the zodiac of Denderah.

—No astronomical records of importance discovered, or perhaps discoverable, in hieroglyphical literature.—The months of the fixed or Alexandrian year.

From the mythology of Egypt we pass to the consideration of its calendar, which, besides being intimately connected with its system of religion, has often been a subject of speculation both with critics and with astronomers. The inquiry is no doubt in itself somewhat intricate; but the principal difficulties have arisen from the ignorance or carelessness of the Greek authors who have written on the Egyptian mythology. The Baron Alexander von Humboldt and Μ. Jomard have displayed great learning and research in collecting authorities on this subject; and nothing is wanting to establish the propriety of their acquiescence in the opinion of Petavius, except a little less indulgence for the extreme inattention of Plutarch, and a more marked deference to the important testimony of Eratosthenes, a writer whose catalogue of the Egyptian kings has already been noticed as bearing intrinsic marks of the authenticity of his information, and whose competency, as an accomplished astronomer, to discuss the regulation of the calendar, is of still greater notoriety. Geminus, a Greek astronomer of the Augustan age, has very distinctly stated that the later Greeks had been in the habit of mentioning the Egyptian festivals as connected with particular seasons of the year, in spite of the clearest evidence that their mythological year consisted of 36ò days only, and that their anniversary festivals must neces sarily have passed in succession through every part of the [7:8:555]natural year. “It is a common and inveterate error among the Greeks,” says Geminus, “to believe that the festival of Isis happens at the winter solstice. This was indeed true a hundred and twenty years ago, but it is now a month earlier; and such a mistake betrays the grossest ignorance of the Egyptian calendar. In former ages this festival was celebrated not only as late as the winter solstice, but, at an earlier period of time, even at the summer solstice; as Eratosthenes expressly states in his Commentary upon the Octaeterides.” ^[175. Geminus in Petavìì Uranologia. Par. 1630, f. p. 33. ]

The later inhabitants of Lower Egypt, and especially the Greeks of Alexandria, had certainly a stationary as well as a wandering year; but this was no other than the Julian year, which was introduced here some little time after its establishment in other parts of the Roman empire, and which was probably the only year ever employed by the Coptic Christians, although it can scarcely have been adopted at any time by the Pagan Egyptians. The common opinion is, that the Julian calendar was established at Alexandria in the year twenty-five before Christ, the first month Thoth then beginning on the 29th of August, as the Coptic year ccntinued to do ever after. Thus Vansleb found, in the seventeenth century, that Thoth began on the 8th of September new style, which was the 29th of August old style. A passage of Theon, in his Commentary on Ptolemy, would rather incline us to fix on the 1st September for the beginning of the Alexandrian year; but the ecclesiastical authority is more direct, and it is confirmed by the present usage of the Abyssinian church. The quadriennial intercalation of a sixth supplementary day took place, according to the Abbé Boyer, at the end of the second year after the Julian bissextile; so that, in the year preceding the bissextile, the first of Thoth happened on the 30th of August. From these authorities we have no difficulty in ascertaining the beginning of the ancient or moveable Egyptian year for any earlier or later period; reckoning both ways, for the sake of simplicity, in Julian years.
[table]

It is of importance, in the discussion of some representations of astronomical objects, to determine at what time of the year the sun entered the respective signs, according to the Egyptian calendar, or, more particularly, what was the sun’s place in the starry zodiac at the commencement of the year for different periods of time. Taking, then, 6h. 9m. 8s. for the excess of the sidereal above the Egyptian year, we find that 1424 Julian years were required for a complete revolution of the sun’s place on the first Thoth, and 119 for each sign. Now since, about a century before the establishment of the Julian calendar, the sun entered Libra on the 24th of September, and since the Egyptian year began on that day, in 120 before Christ, it follows that Libra had been the first constellation during the whole of the preceding century; for, at this period, the beginning and end of the signs of the ecliptic agreed very nearly with those of the corresponding constellations of the zodiac. The first constel lation of the Egyptian year will therefore stand nearly thus:
[table]

We may take, for an example of an Egyptian date, that of the Rosetta stone, in the ninth year of Ptolemy Epiphanes, or 196 before Christ, when the Egyptian year must have begun on the 11th of October; consequently the first of the sixth month, Mechir, was the 9th of March, and the 18th of Mechir, which is made synonymous with the 4th of Xanthicus, the 26th of March; so that Xanthicus must constantly have begun on the 22d of March, if the intercalations were properly adjusted; and this agrees sufficiently well with Usher’s table of the Macedonian lunar months, which may therefore be supposed to have been generally employed by the Greeks in Egypt.

If we attempt to determine the date of a given monument from astronomical symbols contained in it, we must suppose that they represented the state of the heavens with respect to the Egyptian year at the time in question. Thus, in the zodiacs of the ruins at and near Esnch or Latopolis, the constellation Pisces seems to be the first sign, as it really was, about 800 before Christ, or in the time of Bocchoris and of the Ethiopian dynasty. It is, however, equally possible that Virgo may have been intended for the first sign, and this would answer either to the century immediately preceding the birth of Christ, or to a period fourteen centuries earlier. The zodiac at Denderah appears to begin with Leo; and unless we suppose its antiquity extravagantly great, we must refer it to the time of Tiberius, as Visconti has indeed already remarked. Mr Hamilton has confirmed this opinion by the collateral evidence of inscriptions in honour of the Roman emperors; although, with respect to the difference of time implied by the difference of a sign in the beginning of the zodiacs, he is rather inclined to adopt the sentiments of Lalande, who refers it to the effect of the precession of the equinoxes; imagining, without any kind of authority, that the division of the signs corresponded to the period of the solstices, a period which never constituted a marked feature in the Egyptian calendar.

In the zodiac at Esnch the sign Libra is denoted, as is usual in the Roman representations, by a female holding the balance; whilst the Egyptian constellation, in most other instances, is without the female. Servius, however, informs us that the Romans borrowed this sign from the Egyptians, the Greek astronomers having considered it as a part of the Scorpion; so that there is no reason to question the antiquity of the ceiling, from the occurrence of this constellation in it. The sign Cancer, both here and elsewhere, has eight feet, and it has certainly no connection with the figure of the sacred beetle, which occurs many thousands of times in other places, but never with more than six feet.

The beetles in the zodiac of Denderah have a very different signification, and the whole representation is much more of a mythological than of an astronomical nature. The beetle near the beginning of the zodiac is the well-known symbol of generation, and he is in the act of depositing his globe. On the opposite side, at the end of the [7:8:556]zodiac, is the head of Isis, with her name, as newly born; both the long female figures are appropriate representations of the mother; and the zodiac between them expresses the “revolving year” which elapsed between the two periods. This explanation is completely confirmed by a similar representation of two female figures on the ceiling of the first tomb of the kings at Biban-el-Mo)ouk; one with the beetle, and the other with the name of the personage just born. Between them, instead of the zodiac, are two tablets, divided into 270 squares, or rectangles, corresponding to the number of days in nine Egyptian months, with ten circles placed at equal distances, probably intended to represent full moons, and relating to the ten incomplete lunations to which these days must belong. The number 270 is too remarkable to be supposed to have been introduced by mere accident; and when the argument is considered as a confirmation of other evidence, in itself sufficiently convincing, the whole must be allowed to be fully conclusive.

There is indeed little chance of our discovering any astronomical records of importance among the profusion of hieroglyphical literature which is still in existence. Herodotus tells us that the Greeks derived their acquaintance with astronomy from the Babylonians, though they were supposed to have learned the elements of geometry from the Egyptians; and it is well known that Ptolemy the astronomer, who lived at Alexandria, and who, as well as Eratosthenes before him, must have had easy access to all the knowledge of the Egyptian priests, refers to no Egyptian observations, but employs the Babylonian records of eclipses which had happened a few centuries before his time; records which, as Pliny informs us, were preserved on a particular kind of bricks, the same, perhaps, which have been brought to Europe in our own times, as undeciphered specimens of the nail, or arrow-headed character. But a certain degree of geometrical knowledge can scarcely be denied to a people who had made very considerable progress in sculpture and architecture, at a time when all Europe was immersed in the profoundest barbarism, and who must necessarily have had frequent occasion for the employment of agrarian measurements. The Egyptians must also have been good practical chemists; βo far, at least, as was required for the preparation of brilliant, diversified, and durable pigments; and even their devotion to alchemy, which derives its name from having been the secret or dark study of Egypt, must have led them to make some little progress in experimental philosophy, although neither their manufacturers nor their magicians could have any right to boast of solid acquirements in genuine science.

The months of the fixed or Alexandrian year were these :—
[table]
[table]

The years are commonly dated from the era of the martyrs of Diocletian, beginning in the autumn of 284.^[176. For much valuable information, laboriously collected and clearly digested, respecting the peculiarities of the form of year used by the ancient Egyptians, more es∣>ecially as regaids the influence winch these peculiarities are supposed to have exercised on their modes of calculating and recording the dates of their civil history; and also for some very original and ingenious speculations concerning the primitive form and probable origin of the Egyptian calendar, astrological as well as civil, together with an examination of the period and circumstances of the first introduction of the zodiac into Greece; the reader may consult A D'n>ertati ∣∣ n on the Calendar and Zodiac of Ancient Egypt, by W. Mure, Esq.; a work which, from the learning and research embodied in it, no less than from the novelty of some of the speculative views it unfolds, will amply repay the most attentive perusal. ] l

SECTION VIII.

REMARKS OK VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS RELATING TO EGYPT.

General observations.—French national work—Hamilton’s Egyptiaca Travelsof Ali Bey, or Senor Badia—laegh’s Narrative.—

Captain Light’s Travels.—Mr VV'alpole’s Collection of Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey.—Journal of Dr Hume. —Colonel Iaeake’s Map of Egypt—Quarterly Review—Captain Caviglia; his labours and researches.—Mr Belzoni; hisdis-coveries in the catacombs at Biban-el-Molouk, and in the Pyramid of Cephrenes—Mr Salt and Mr Bankes—Sheikh Ibrahim (Burckhardt); his travels and researches in Nubia—Mr Cailliaud Discovery of Berenice—The Egyptian Society.— Its collection of hieroglyphics.—Trilingual or trigrammatic stone of Rosetta First attempts made to decipher its triple inscription—Reference to the article Hieroglyphics.

By reason of the very early progress which the inhabitants of Egypt had made in the arts of civilized life, the antiquities and literature of that country have always been considered as objects of the highest interest and curiosity, though involved in inextricable obscurity; but we have acquired, in the course of the last thirty years, and are still continuing to acquire, such additional information respecting them as promises, if completely confirmed by’ future researches, to establish the whole of our knowledge respecting this marvellous country on a new and a sure foundation.

The labours of the French Institute at Cairo have been communicated to the public in a work of unexampled splendour and magnificence, the Description de l’ Egypte, which was some time ago completed at the cost of the government. Many of the monuments brought by the British army to England have also been accurately and elegantly engraved in this country; and a variety of travellers of different nations have published accounts of their numerous observations and discoveries made in Egypt and the neighbouring countries.

The first in order of these that it will be necessary to notice is Mr William Hamilton’s volume, entitled Remarks on several parts of Turkey, Part i. Aegyphaca. London, 1809, 4to. It appears that the power of the French in Egypt having terminated in September 1801, the temporary possession of the country was at first divided between the Turks, the Mamlukes, the Arabs, and the English, a circumstance which afforded some convenience to a European traveller, although it had no tendency to enlarge the sphere of his observations. In the beginning of October, Captain Leake and Lieutenant Hayes were appointed by General Hutchinson to make a general survey of Egypt, and of the country beyond it, if it should be found practicable to penetrate farther south. Mr Hamilton, who had resided at the British head-quarters for the purpose of corresponding with Lord Elgin upon the events of the war, was now at liberty to join these gentlemen in their expedition; and the various information which, with [7:8:557]their assistance, he collected, respecting the remains of the ancient Egyptian magnificence, bears ample testimony to the good taste, as well as to the industry and accuracy of the whole party. On account, however, of the disturbed state of the country, and of a multitude of other difficulties, both moral and physical, they were unable to proceed farther south than a few hours’journey beyond Syené, to a village called Debód, opposite to which they observed the ruins of Barembre, the Parembole of the ancients, among which they found a Greek dedication of a temple to ìsis by Ptolemy Philometor and his queen. They also collected a variety of inscriptions from other parts of Egypt, to which they added drawings and descriptions of the remains of the buildings to which they belonged; and, at Alexandria in particular, Mr Hamilton was enabled, in company with some other gentlemen, by examining the inscription on Pompey’s pillar in different positions of the sun, to ascertain the name of Diocletian as that of the emperor to whom it was dedicated, and also to detect some traces of the name of Pompeius, who has been shown by Μ. Quatremère to have been a prefect of Egypt under that emperor. It is to be regretted, however, that the Coptic inscriptions, which are sometimes found mixed with the Greek, have not been more generally copied by travellers.

Señor Badia, a Spaniard, who is supposed to have been sent into the East on the business of the French government, published two volumes of his Travels, under the name of AH Bey. They embody some documents relating to the recent history and present state of Egypt, but contain very little information respecting its antiquities.

Mr Legh and Mr Smelt visited Egypt in 1812. They extended their tour as far as lbrim, and observed in their way many remains of ancient buildings, some of which were in perfect preservation; but they were unable to attain the second Cataract, which was said to be three days’ journey farther south.

Besides some other interesting antiquities which he collected, Mr Legh obtained in the island of Elephantiné a few Thebaic manuscripts, written with a chalybeate ink on skins of leather, which he afterwards deposited in the British Museum. They appear to be principally conveyances of estates, dated at Cyrshe or Gyrshe, a place fifty or sixty miles beyond Assouan or Syené; and, though unimportant in themselves, they tend to illustrate the history of the kingdom of Nubia in the middle ages. This kingdom seems to have been almost forgotten by some late travellers and geographers, although it was formerly remarkable for having been, according to an old tradition, one of the first that embraced Christianity, even in the time of the Queen Candace, one of whose servants was baptized by St Philip,^[177. Acts, viii. ] and who appears to have been one of the immediate successors of the Candace mentioned by’ Strabo as having attacked the province of Egypt, and having been conquered by Petronius in the time of Augustus. The kingdom of Nubia extended as far north as Syené, which continued to be the boundary of the Mussulman power in the tenth century, and probably much later. To the south it originally comprehended Ethiopia, its capital Meroë being placed in latitude 17°, on an island in the Nile, or rather on a peninsula formed by its principal branches. Candace had also a palace at Napata, which Pliny makes about five hundred Roman miles be yond Syené, and three hundred and sixty short of Meroë. In the seventh century, the Nubians seem nominally to have been made tributary to the Arabs; but they remained in fact almost wholly independent of them in their government, and their religion was entirely subjected to the spiritual direction of the patriarchs of Alexandria. Early in the tenth century the Nubians attacked Syené, not as rebels, but as legitimate enemies. They were, however, repulsed soon afterwards. A little later we find that George, king of Nubia, was a mediator between the king of Abys-βinia and the patriarch, whom he persuaded to send bishops from Alexandria into Ethiopia. In the eleventh century, Solomon, kin^of Nubia, abdicated in favour of his nephew George, and retired to a monastery, within three days' journey of Syené; whence he was brought by the Saracens to Cairo, and there treated with great attention as a sort of state prisoner. It is also said that a king Cyriac once raised a hundred thousand men to assist the Christians against the Mussulmen; but the magnitude of the number renders the whole story more than doubtful. We learn from Hartmann’s notes on Edrisi, that Abu)feda in the fourteenth century, and Bakoui in the fifteenth, spoke of the Nubians as still Christians; and it seems highly probable that they continued to exercise their religion till about the time of Sultan Selim in the beginning of the sixteenth century, if not still later; for Vansleb, who was at Siout in 1673, tells us that the churches were then still entire, though they were shut up, Christianity having become completely extinct for want of pastors. He gives us the names of seventeen bishoprics, which had constituted three provinces: the first province he calls Maracu, and attributes to it the bishoprics of Korta, Ibrim, Buco-ras, Dunkala or Dungala, Sai, Ternius, and Scienhur; the second province seems to hold a middle place; and in the third he mentions Soper as the capital of the kingdom, without noticing Nuabah, which is the name given to the metropolis by the Arabic authors. D'Herbelot, who died in 1695, speaks of the patriarch still resident at Dongola, and appointed by the patriarch of Alexandria. At any rate, there can be little doubt that the “King John” mentioned in the manuscripts of Gyrshe as a Christian must have been a king of Nubia, and rather a predecessor of the Mek of Dongola than a Greek emperor, whose authority was probably never acknowledged in this country, and least of all when Egypt was in the possession of the Arabians.^[178. strabo, book xvii.; Pliny, book vi. chap. xxix.; Hist. Byrant. vol. xxi.; Ancient Universal History, fol. vol. vii.; Modem Universal History, vol. i.; vansleb. Hist, de l’Egh. d’Alerandrie, Par. 1677, p∙ 29; D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. ; Narrative of a Journey in Egypt. and ths country beyond the cataracte, by Thoma» I,egh, Μ. P∙ 4to, Lend. 1816; Sepulchral /ascriptions from Nubia, Areha*olo-gia. xix. p. 169. ] The remains of the churches mentioned by Vansleb were observed in many parts of Nubia, by Captain Light of the Royal Artillery, covered generally with paintings of scriptural subjects, and not uncommonly appearing to have been originally built for pagan temples. At Dakkĕ Captain Light found the name of Hermes inscribed as that of the deity to whom the temple situated there must have been dedicated; and it will be interesting to inquire if any hieroglyphics can still be found on this remarkable edifice, which will bear a similar interpretation.^[179. Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey, edited by R. walpole. Μ. A. 4to, Lond. 1817, 0. 402. 46S. ] More recently Captain Light published a separate volume of his Travels, London, 1818, 4lo.

Mr Walpole’s collection contains also some older papers by Mr Davison, who was British consul at Algiers, and accompanied Mr Wortley Montague to Egypt in 1768. Mr Davison, as already stated, discovered in the Great Pyramid a room before unknown, immediately over the chamber which contains the sarcophagus; and he descended[7:8:558] the three successive wells to the depth of a hundred and fifty-five feet. He also described the catacombs of Alexandria, which seem to have been principally employed by the Greek inhabitants of that city. The same volume contains a very interesting account of the customs and manners of modern Egypt, from the journal of Dr Hume.

A considerable addition has been made to our knowledge of the geography of Egypt by the publication of Lieutenant Colonel Leake’s accurate and elegant map of that country, comprehending also a sketch of Nubia, as far as the southern Cataract, which appears to be the limit of the existing remains of antiquity. Besides the results of his own personal survey, Colonel Leake has employed the observations of the French astronomers for the determination of the situation of the different places; and, with respect to the remoter parts, he had the advantage of consulting the manuscript papers of the lamented Mr Burckhardt, who unhappily fell a victim to a dysentery at Cairo in October 1817, after having obtained, by a long residence in the country under the name of Sheikh Ibrahim, an intimate acquaintance with every thing that could have tended to facilitate the further prosecution of his projected expedition into parts of the continent still more remote. Besides the ruins of Greek churches scattered throughout this country, the principal points of Nubia, which are remarked as exhibiting remains of still greater antiquity, are the Parembole of the Itinerary of Antoninus near Debôd, and Tzitzi, now Klitzie, both of which had been visited by Colonel Leake and Mr Hamilton; Kardassy or Gartaas; Taphis and Contra Taphis, now Tafa; Kalabshĕ, the ancient Talous; Merowan, the ancient Tutzis, near Gyrshe; Pselcis, now Dakké and Corte, still Korti; Maharraka, supposed to be the Hicrosycaminon of the Itinerary, and which may very possibly have been the Maracu mentioned by Vansleb as an archbishopric; Seboua; Hasseya; Derr; Ibrim, the Premnis of the ancients; Ybsambul, perhaps the Aboccis, with its two temples, still better known by the labours of the active and ingenious Belzoni; Beyllany, or rather Fereyg; Serra, probably Phthuris; Sukkoy, perhaps Cambusis; Samne, not improbably the Acina of Nero’s spies; Aamara, possibly Stady-siβ; and Soleb, not far short of the southernmost Cataract, where the author is disposed to place the Napata of the ancients, in latitude about 19⅜°. This situation would agree very well with the distances of Napata from Syené and from Meroë; but it is impossible to admit that this Cataract can be so far south as even 20°, consistently with the testimony of other geographers respecting the latitudes of Mosho and Sukkot; and indeed the course of the river is laid down more nearly north and south than the description of Ðurckhardt requires.^[180. Map »J Epypt, two sheets, I.and. U118. ]

The Quarterly Review, in various numbers, afforded a highly interesting and gratifying detail of the operations and discoveries which had been conducted in Egypt by several of our spirited and enterprising countrymen. Amongst these Mr Bankes proceeded the farthest south in the steps of Mr Burckhardt, and made collections and drawings of a great number of striking remains of antiquity;^[181. Qaartrrly Review, No. 31. ] and he sent home to this country a variety of statues and bas reliefs, as well as large manuscripts on papyrus, in the epistolographic or enchorial character. Mr Salt was also indefatigable in his exertions, and he most fortunately found an assistant of Herculean strength of body, and of proportional energy of mind, in the person of Mr Belzoni. The head called a young Memnon, now in the British museum, which weighs eight or ten tons, and which is one of the very finest specimens of Egyptian sculpture extant, was a joint present of Mr Salt and Mr Burckhardt; and Mr Belzoni, as already stated, had the merit of having conducted the very difficult operation of bringing it down to the Nile. Mr Hamilton conjectured that it might have belonged to the statue described by Philostratus as a Memnon of great beauty,·^[182. ∙ Ibid. No. 36. ] but the remaining fragment of the hieroglyphical inscription agrees better with the name of another sovereign, apparently of the same family, who is represented in several other magnificent monuments at Thebes and elsewhere.

Captain Caviglia, the master of a mercantile vessel in the Mediterranean, exerted himself with singular activity and perseverance in examining the interior of the great pyramid of Cheops. After having retraced the forgotten steps of Mr Davison, he succeeded in pursuing the principal oblique passage two hundred feet farther downwards than it was before practicable, and in discovering at this point a communication with the well, which descends from the floor of the upper chamber. This communication affording him a freer circulation of air, he was enabled to proceed twenty-eight feet farther in the passage, when he found that it opened into a spacious chamber, sixty-six feet by twenty-seven, but of unequal height, immediately under the centre of the pyramid, which Mr Salt supposes to have been the place of the theca, or sarcophagus, mentioned by Strabo as situated at the end of the oblique passage, though at present no sarcophagus is to be found in it. The floor is elevated thirty feet above the level of the Nile, so that the water could never have flowed into this part of the pyramid, to surround the tomb of Cheops, as Herodotus imagined. Some passages leading out of this chamber appear to terminate abruptly, without opening into any others. The dimensions of the upper chamber, which still contains a sarcophagus, are only thirty-five and a half feet by seventeen and a quarter, and eighteen and three fourths high.

Captain Caviglia having proceeded to examine a number of detached mausoleums, more or less dilapidated, in the neighbourhood of the pyramids, found their embellishments chiefly in the style of the Theban catacombs; and, what is not a little remarkable, they sometimes contained images too large to have been brought in through the doors or windows. Some of the stones with sculptures were placed upside down; and it was conjectured that these might possibly have been portions of the original casing of the pyramids, which is said to have been sculptured, but which is now fallen down. His next undertaking was the very arduous task of digging away the sand in front of the great Sphinx; a share of the expenses of this labour, which amounted to eight or nine hundred pounds, being contributed by Mr Salt and some other gentlemen. The body of the monster is principally formed out of the solid rock, and the paws are of masonry, extending forwards fifty feet from the body; between them were found several sculptured tablets, so arranged as to constitute a small temple or chapel; and farther forwards a square altar with horns, which seems to have been employed for burnt offerings.

Mr Belzoni, after many fruitless efforts, succeeded, as already mentioned, in discovering the entrance into the second pyramid of Cephrenes, in which Herodotus bad asserted that there were no chambers. An Arabic inscription testifies that the pyramid had once been opened in the presence of the “Sultan Ali Mahomet the First, Ugloch,” who may possibly have been the Ottoman emperor, Mahomet the First, in the beginning of the fifteenth[7:8:559] century.^[183. Quarterly fíeviey, No. 36, 37, 38. ] Among the Theban catacombs Mr Belzoni discovered six new tombs; the most remarkable of which, with all its galleries, three hundred and nine feet in length, he called the tomb of Apis, from having found the mummy of a bullock in one of its chambers. In another apartment was the magnificent sarcophagus of white alabaster already mentioned; and the whole excavation, sculptured and painted in the most finished style of art, was found in the most perfect preservation. In Nubia the spirit and perseverance with which the little band of excavators pursued the attempt to penetrate into the temple of Ybsambul were not less worthy of admiration. Mr Belzoni and his servant, accompanied only by Mr Beechey, were abandoned on some futile pretence by the Arab workmen whom they had employed, and were unable to procure for many weeks any other food than dhur-ra or millet. They had resolution enough, however, to proceed with their enterprise as manual labourers, and they were at last amply rewarded for their perseverance. In front of the temple there were four colossal statues, sixty feet high, one of which had been thrown down; but it was only after digging for three weeks, through a hundred and fifty feet of sand, that our adventurers succeeded in entering the temple, consisting of fourteen chambers and a great hall, cut out of the solid rock, and ornamented with sculptures superior in point of execution to the greater part of those which are found in Egypt; besides eight colossal statues thirty feet high, which are placed in the hall. Mr Belzoni also found at Thebes a colossal head and arms, supposed to have belonged to a Horus; and his lady discovered, during his absence in Nubia, a fine statue of white marble, supporting a ram’s head on its knees.

Though Burckhardt’s untimely end interrupted his farther progress in Africa, yet with respect to Nubia his observations were complete, and he had himself prepared his journals for publication, in a form which does equal credit to his diligence and judgment in observation, and to his candour and good taste in the simple and elegant narration of that which he had observed.

It appears that the Nile, between the first and second Cataracts, runs chiefly through a country of sandstone, and is navigable throughout this extent; but at the Cataract of Wady Haifa, a little above Ybsambul, the sandstone terminates, and the district of granite and other primitive rocks begins, extending a hundred miles farther upwards; and in this space the course of the river is interrupted by frequent shallows and small falls. The roaring of the fall at Wady Haifa may be heard at the distance of a mile or two; but the part of the river that falls is only about twenty yards over. There are, however, three falls in succession, and the neighbouring scenery is very romantic. Immediately beyond this country is Kolbe, the principal place in the district of Sukkot, for there is no town of that name; then the island Say, probably the Sai of Vansleb; and four hundred and fifty miles above Assouan, according to Mr Burckhardt’s reckoning, is Tinarch, in the district of Mahass, the farthest point to which he penetrated, within fifteen or twenty miles of the remotest Cataract, and a day and a half’s journey only from Mosho by the shortest road. The country through which he passed was supposed to contain a population not exceeding a hundred thousand, and governed by three Kaishess, who are brothers, and tributary to Egypt, but inclined to favour the Mamlukes, who were established in the neighbourhood of Dongola. At Mahass a series of more than twenty little kingdoms begins, which extend to Sennaar. At Mosho begins the kingdom of Dongola; and near the same place is the island of Argo, a whole day’s journey in length, with a brick castle in it. There are many other islands in the course of the river through Dongola, which extends for five days’ journey. The country is celebrated for a very fine breed of horses, like the Arabian, but much stronger, and fed, as Bruce observed of the horses in the same neighbourhood, on straw only. The city of Merawe, singularly resembling the ancient Meroë in name, is the metropolis of the Sheygya Arabs, beyond Dongola, and is remarkable for schools of high reputation, which are particularly celebrated for their penmanship.

The languages spoken in Nubia are the Kensy and the Nouba, the former of which was confined to the northernmost parts of the country. These languages somewhat resemble each other, but they differ essentially from the Arabic, although the people are supposed to be the descendants of Bedouin Arabs, who spread from the East in the middle ages, with the exception of a few of the original inhabitants, who remain about Tafa and Serra, having become Mahommedans. But however this may be, it is certain that the languages exhibit no traces whatever of any dialect of the old Egyptian; and this circumstance affords a very strong argument in confirmation of the author’s assertion, that the Christians had in general been expelled from Nubia before the time of Sultan Selim; the three garrisons of Bosnian soldiers, whom this prince established in Assouan, Ibrim, and Say, having been sent by the express invitation of one of the rival factions of Arabs, who occupied the country, and remaining still distinct from the rest of the population, and being governed by their own Agas. We can only reconcile these facts with the testimonies in favour of the existence of Christianity in Nubia down to about the same time, by supposing that its extinction must have been gradual, and that the Thebaic language, and the ancient religion of the country, dwindled away by degrees, not for want of pastors only, but from the hostility of the Arabian intruders.

A concise but clear and satisfactory description of the various temples noticed in Colonel Leake’s map, is inserted in the relation of Mr Burckhardt, who conjectures that the order of their antiquity is nearly this: 1. Ybsambul; 2. Gyrshe; 3. Derr; 4. Samnĕ; 5. Ballyané; 6. Hasseya; 7. Seboua; 8. A amara and Kalabshé; 9. Dakké and Maharraka; 10. Kardassy; 11. Merowau; 12. Debôd; 13. Korty; and, 14. Tafa. The small temple at Ybsambul has a head bearing a temple for the capital of its columns, like those at Denderah, but with a lock of hair hanging down on each side. The statues before the great temple, which is supposed to have been dedicated to Osiris, are of remarkably fine forms. In a small temple at Kalabshé there are some good historical sculptures of a victory obtained over the southern countries beyond Meroë. But the sculptures at Dakké Mr Burckhardt thinks superior to any others of the Egyptian school, and such as might have been considered as fit ornaments for a Grecian building. In a small temple at Samné there is still an image with the attributes of Osiris, and there are figures of a Paamyles on the walls.

Mr Burckhardt has given several Greek inscriptions, many of which had been copied by Captain Light a little differently. One of these begins with the words “This is the homage of Caius Cassius Celer not VulsiHus, as it had been read from Captain Light’s manuscript. At Maharraka, the writer of one inscription has very benevolently included the reader in his petition for a blessing from “Isis, the goddess with ten thousand names, and from [7:8:560]the sun Serapis.” At Kardassy, an inscription dated under the Philips, the successors of the Emperor Gordian, records the munificence of Psentuaxis, who gave to the temple “twenty pieces of gold in his first priesthood, and thirty in his second.” In fact, there is scarcely any trace of the old Egyptian language to be found in any existing monument, employed upon any other occasion than for the most unimportant memorials of the most insignificant personages.

Several years ago, an article appeared in one of the French journals, announcing the discovery of a ruined city situated a few leagues from the Red Sea, by a young French traveller, Μ. Cailliaud, nearly in the latitude of Assouan, and called by the Arabs Sekelle. It has still many temples, palaces, and private houses standing, so that it may in some respects be compared to Pompeii. The architecture is Grecian, with some Egyptian ornaments; and several inscriptions prove that it was built by the Ptolemies, one of the temples having evidently been dedicated to Berenice. The situation agrees sufficiently well with that of the ancient city Berenice; but the city may easily have been at some little distance from a harbour bearing the same name; and no other town of any magnitude seems to have existed in the neighbourhood. It was through Berenice, according to Pliny, that the principal trade of the Romans with India was conducted, by means of caravans which reached the Nile at Coptos, not far from the point at which the present shorter route by Cosseir meets the river.

Whilst so much had been done abroad for the recovery of the lost treasures of Egypt, it appears that no less labour had been silently employed in pursuit of the investigation at home; and, partly with a view to perpetuate the continuance of these efforts, an association was formed in London, of which the first and immediate object was merely to insure the preservation, and to facilitate the study, of all that remains of Egyptian literature, by making a collection of drawings of all the hieroglyphical inscriptions in existence, and printing them lithographically, in a form most convenient for reference and examination, under the title of Hieroglyphics, collected by the Egyptian Society. The plates do credit to the manipulation of Mr Ackermann’s press, as well as to the extreme neatness and accuracy of the draughtsman who was employed on them. They can scarcely be said to have been published, as they were only distributed amongst a limited number of subscribers; but as they were presented to several public libraries in different parts of Europe, they may be consulted by the general reader without difficulty.

In the midst of all the zeal and activity displayed by our countrymen who had travelled or who were resident in Egypt, it is much to be regretted that their attention had not been turned to an object paramount to all the rest in its importance for the substantia) advancement of our acquaintance with the ancient history and literature of the country; that is, the recovery of the lost fragments or of some of the duplicates of the trilingual, or rather trigrammatic stone of Rosetta; a monument which has enabled us to obtain a general idea of the nature and subject of any given hieroglyphical inscription, by pursuing the investigations carried to an unexpected extent by the discoverer Dr Young, whose interpretation was communicated to the Antiquarian Society by Mr Rouse Boughton, together with copies of some fragments of manuscripts which this gentleman had brought from Egypt.^[184. Arcturotogia, vol. xviii. p. 61. Afiueurn Criticum, No. vi. and vii. ] Μ. de Sacy, and more especially Mr Akerblad, had made some progress in identifying the sense of the several parts of the second or enchorial inscription of the stone; but they had scarcely at all considered the sacred characters; and it was left for British industry to convert to permanent profit a monument which had before been a useless though a glorious trophy of British valour.

It must be recollected that every analysis of an unknown object of this nature must unavoidably proceed more or less by the imperfect argumentation sometimes very properly called a circle, but which, in such instances, may be more aptly compared to a spiral, or to an algebraical approximation; since, by assuming certain incorrect suppositions, not too remote from the truth, we may render them, by means of a continual repetition of the calculation, more and more accurate, until at length the error is rendered wholly inconsiderable; and in this manner we often satisfy the conditions of a problem which it would be impracticable to solve by a more direct method. A process thus tedious and laborious, however, loses the greater part of its interest when the solution is obtained; and it is no longer necessary to explain in detail every step through which it has passed. The deciphering of the Rosetta stone is fortunately in a great measure independent of any hypothesis of this kind extraneous to itself; and the Greek text affords at once the first approximation for beginning the process. But, in order to extend the inquiry to other objects, a variety of authorities must be compared and appreciated. We must select from the Greek authors an abstract of the religious superstitions and of the civil ordinances of the Egyptians; and it will be necessary, in making this selection, to have some regard to the results which have been obtained from an examination of the principal hieroglyphical monuments still extant, in order that we may avoid the confusion which would be the necessary consequence of adopting indiscriminately the whole mass of contradictory matter, which various mythological authors have collected or invented upon the subject; and considering how absurdly and monstrously complicated the Egyptian superstitions really were, it becomes absolutely essential to separate that which is most fully established, or most generally admitted, from the accidental or local varieties which may have been exaggerated by different authors into established usages of the whole nation, and still more from those which have been the fanciful productions of their own inventive faculties. Unfortunately, by far the greater number of the existing monuments of Egypt are of a mythological nature; so that their Pantheon, or rather Pantherion, acquires an interest altogether foreign ιθ its real character, on account of the utility of a general knowledge of the subject in developing the nature of the language employed. The accounts which have been preserved of the customs and civil ordinances of the country are still more discordant than those which relate to their deities, but they may yet in some instances be illustrated from monuments which remain in existence. Respecting the early history and chronology of Egypt, we can do little more than appreciate the various degrees of plausibility of the different fables that have been related, and the comparative credulity of the authors who have appeared to believe in them; for hitherto no hieroglyphical records have been discovered, which can afford us much assistance in this department of the investigation; though it is by no means impossible that a continued sériée of the sovereigns of Egypt, from the earliest times, may have been chronicled in more than one of the innumerable multitude of inscriptions hitherto uncopied and unexamined. See the article Hieroglyphics. (a.)