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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74151 ***
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 44.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+TEMPLE OF AMARAH.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+
+
+
+                               =TRAVELS=
+                                  IN
+                              =ETHIOPIA,=
+                ABOVE THE SECOND CATARACT OF THE NILE;
+                              EXHIBITING
+        THE STATE OF THAT COUNTRY, AND ITS VARIOUS INHABITANTS,
+                  UNDER THE DOMINION OF MOHAMMED ALI;
+                           AND ILLUSTRATING
+                 =THE ANTIQUITIES, ARTS, AND HISTORY=
+                                  OF
+                     THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF MEROE.
+
+                               * * * * *
+                        BY G. A. HOSKINS, ESQ.
+                               * * * * *
+
+                              WITH A MAP,
+   AND NINETY ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE TEMPLES, PYRAMIDS, ETC. OF MEROE,
+                     GIBEL-EL-BIRKEL, SOLIB, ETC.
+          FROM DRAWINGS FINISHED ON THE SPOT, BY THE AUTHOR,
+                    AND AN ARTIST WHOM HE EMPLOYED.
+
+                                LONDON:
+             LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMAN,
+                           PATERNOSTER-ROW.
+                                 1835.
+
+
+                                London:
+                      Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE,
+                          New-Street-Square.
+
+
+
+
+                                  TO
+                         =HER ROYAL HIGHNESS=
+                        =THE DUCHESS OF KENT.=
+
+    MADAM,
+
+            Your Royal Highness having been pleased to inspect, with
+some apparent interest, the portfolios of original drawings from which
+the illustrations of the annexed volume have been selected, I have
+ventured to solicit permission to inscribe the Work to Your Royal
+Highness.
+
+  It has little merit, perhaps, except fidelity of representation.
+But, claiming this for it, I presume to hope that it may obtain Your
+Royal Highness’s indulgent consideration, even though it should be
+found more deficient in other respects than I am willing to believe.
+
+      I have the honour to be,
+
+                 MADAM,
+
+              With profound respect,
+
+                     Your Royal Highness’s
+
+                          Most obedient
+
+                               Humble Servant,
+
+                                        THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+                              =PREFACE.=
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+The following work contains the observations made by the Author during
+a journey performed by him in 1833 into the higher parts of Ethiopia.
+It is illustrated by engraved representations of the most remarkable
+objects in that country, from large drawings, finished on the spot by
+himself, or under his direction.
+
+The monuments of Egypt, the most wonderful ever reared by human hands,
+have been described by numerous travellers, though there is still ample
+room for more full and accurate delineation. Even the antiquities
+of Lower Nubia have of late been repeatedly visited. But Ethiopia,
+above the second cataract, including the metropolis of the ancient
+kingdom of Meroe, had been explored by very few Europeans, and only
+two Englishmen; yet it abounds with monuments rivalling those of Egypt
+in grandeur and beauty, and possessing, in some respects, a superior
+interest. According to Heeren, Champollion, Rosellini, and other
+eminent inquirers, whose judgment was confirmed by my own observations,
+this was the land whence the arts and learning of Egypt, and ultimately
+of Greece and Rome, derived their origin. In this remarkable country we
+behold the earliest efforts of human science and ingenuity.
+
+Such were the objects which induced the Author to encounter the
+difficulties and hardships of a journey into the upper valley of
+the Nile. It were to be wished, that the task had fallen into abler
+hands; yet he may be permitted to mention, that he had, to a certain
+extent, been prepared for it, by a series of years spent in Italy,
+Sicily, Greece, and other countries, distinguished by splendid
+remains of antiquity. He resided afterwards for a year in Upper
+Egypt, delineating its most remarkable edifices, and studying the
+sculptures and the hieroglyphics. He had thus acquired considerable
+experience in architectural drawing, and he took care, by the use of
+the _camera lucida_, to secure the accuracy of his outline. He had,
+likewise, the good fortune to engage the services of a very able
+Italian artist. No spot of any consequence was left till a leisurely
+and careful delineation had been made of every object of interest
+which it contained. It is therefore hoped, that a tolerably complete
+and accurate delineation has now been made of the most important
+antiquities of Ethiopia.
+
+Although the illustration of ancient monuments formed the Author’s
+primary object, he has not neglected to make observations on the
+various and often singular tribes by whom the country is at present
+inhabited. He has been enabled to exhibit them under a new and very
+peculiar aspect, as no longer proud and independent, but reduced
+to complete subjection under the severe sway of that extraordinary
+character, Mohammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt. It is hoped that some light
+has been thrown upon the Turkish system of government, particularly in
+the provinces. Perhaps, also, the narrative of his journeys through
+extensive tracts of desert may be read with some interest. The original
+form of a journal has been retained, as that in which the impressions
+of the observer are given in the most faithful and brief manner.
+
+In the concluding chapters, the Author has endeavoured to collect
+into one view the scattered notices which alone record the history,
+commerce, and arts of the celebrated kingdom of Meroe, and to
+illustrate these by recent materials, collected by himself, and others,
+from the sculptures and inscriptions still remaining. Lamentably
+deficient as our information is on this important subject, it may be
+interesting to find the few particulars related in ancient history, and
+particularly in the sacred volume, in many respects so fully confirmed
+by the evidence of existing monuments.[1]
+
+
+
+
+                              =CONTENTS.=
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+  Intended Return to Cairo. — Arrival of Artist. —
+  Determination to penetrate to Meroe. — Motives. —
+  Advantages to be derived from the Discoveries of Young,
+  Wilkinson, Champollion, and Rosellini. — Departure from
+  Thebes. — Turkish Mode of Fasting. — Arrival at Assuan. —
+  Hints to Travellers on Turkish Etiquette. — Nazr of
+  Berber. — Unpromising Accounts of the Desert. — Detention
+  for Want of Camels. — Sheakh of the Ababde Tribe. — Ruins
+  of Elephantine and Assuan. — Bosnian Soldiers. — Water
+  Skins defective. — Arrival of the Camels. — Commencement
+  of the Journey. — Nubian Poverty. — Caravan from
+  Khartoun. — Cultivation in Lower Nubia. — Singular and
+  Picturesque Scenery. — Nubian Peasantry and their Slaves.
+  — Turkish Humanity. — Roman Enclosure at Dacker. —
+  Provisions in Nubia. — Similarity of a modern and ancient
+  Custom. — Nubians, their Prejudices, Poverty, Food, Want
+  of Religion, and Drunkenness. — Their domestic Comfort,
+  and comparative Freedom. — Wady el Arab. — Arrival at
+  Korosko. — Preparations for crossing the Great Nubian
+  Desert. — The Governor of Korosko. — Drunken Coptic
+  Secretary                                                     Page   1
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+  Commencement of the Journey across the Great Nubian
+  Desert. — Description of the Caravan. — Advantages of
+  Turkish Dress and Customs. — Provisions necessary for the
+  Desert. — Akaba, or Mountain Passes. — Dead Camels. —
+  Fear of Robbers. — Anxiety about the Stock of Water. —
+  Arab Opinion of Travellers. — Alarming Diminution of our
+  Water. — Dead Bodies of Slaves and Camels. — Hojab el
+  Jenous. — Bab el Korosko. — Age of the Camel. — Bahr Bela
+  Ma, or Sea without Water. — Mirage. — Perils and Charms
+  of the Desert Life. — Dilet el Doom, Valley of the Shade
+  of the Dooms. — Gold Mines. — Omrishi Sufir. — Wells now
+  dry. — El Murrah, or the Well of Bitter Waters. —
+  Hieroglyphics on the Rocks. — Colony of Bishareen. —
+  Height and Character of the Mountains. — Arab Songs. —
+  Gazelle. — Danger of leaving Caravan. — Absah Gold Mines.
+  — Storms in the Desert. — Cambyses. — Bruce. — Arab
+  Manner of mounting the Camel. — Manner in which the Arabs
+  repose. — Arrival at the Nile. — Estimate of the Length
+  of the Route and general Pace of the Camel                          17
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+  Abou-Hammed. — Fortified House of the Sheakh. — Island of
+  Mograt. — Population. — Tax to the Pasha. — Tropical
+  Rains. — Arab Raft. — Fortunate Escape. — Manner in which
+  the Camels pass the River. — Gagi. — Description of the
+  Harem of a Sheakh. — Office hereditary. — Habitation of a
+  Sheakh. — Ethiopian Flies. — Doum Trees. — Abou-Hashim
+  and other Villages. — Cultivation. — Arab Civilities. —
+  Berber Sheep and Goats. — Villages and Islands. — Arab
+  Burial-ground. — General Character of the Country. —
+  Tract of Desert. — Wild Asses. — Fifth Cataract. —
+  Present State of numerous Villages. — Arrival at
+  Makkarif, Capital of Berber                                         34
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+  Visit to the Governor. — Court and ancient Chiefs of the
+  Country. — Hospitable Reception. — Turkish
+  Entertainments. — Character of the Governor. — His
+  Attentions. — Style of living. — Dongolah Horses. —
+  Anecdotes, Costumes, and Portraits of the Chiefs. —
+  Turkish Knowledge of the Arts. — Bazaar of Makkarif. —
+  Houses. — Manufactory of Indigo. — Extent of Cultivation.
+  — Population. — Camels’ Hides. — Sugar Manufactory. —
+  Ethiopian Wool. — Bishareen Tribe. — Manner of collecting
+  their Tribute. — Ababdes and other Arab Tribes. — Turkish
+  Policy. — Burckhardt. — Character of the People. — Arabs
+  of the Desert                                                       44
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+  Departure from Makkarif. — Various Villages. — The
+  Mugrum, ancient Astoboras. — Route to Goss Redjab. —
+  Verdant Appearance of the Island of Meroe. — Voyage on
+  the Astapus. — Numerous Villages. — Cottages. —
+  Hippopotami. — Manner of destroying them. — Villages. —
+  Arrival at the Pyramids of Meroe                                    62
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                                MEROE.
+
+  Historical Evidence that this is the Cemetery of the
+  Capital of Ethiopia. — The imposing Appearance, Number,
+  Position, and Dimensions of the Pyramids. — Ethiopian
+  Arch. — Proofs that the Knowledge of the Arts descended
+  front Ethiopia. — Edifices of a pyramidal Form the best
+  adapted to resist the Ravages of Time. — Peculiar Style
+  of the Sculpture. — The Language of Hieroglyphics
+  generally known in Ethiopia. — The Style of the Sculpture
+  the Criterion of the Age. — Monumental, geological, and
+  historical Evidence that the Knowledge of the Arts
+  descended from Meroe. — Description of the Sculpture. —
+  Name of Meroe on the Monuments. — Meroe peculiarly
+  interesting, as the Birth-place of the Arts. — Sandstone
+  Quarries. — Site of the City. — Villages of the present
+  Inhabitants. — Agriculture. — Cailliaud                             66
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+  Departure from the Ruins. — Numerous Villages, one called
+  Meroueer. — Shendy. — Fortified House of the Melek. —
+  Insignificance of the present Capitals of Ethiopia. —
+  Population of Shendy. — Bazaar. — Prices of Camels,
+  Slaves, &c. — Manner of transacting Business. — Women of
+  Shendy. — Slave System. — Power of the ancient Meleks. —
+  Their Wives. — Army of the Pasha. — Death of Ismael
+  Pasha. — Metammah. — The Katshef of that Place, and his
+  Court. — Katshef of Shendy                                          86
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  Departure from Shendy. — Difficulties. — Desert. — Visit
+  from and Anecdotes of Lions. — Immense Ruins. — Confusion
+  of the Plan. — Built by bad Architects. — Detailed
+  Description of the principal Temple. — Style of the
+  Sculpture. — Other Ruins. — Singular Situation of the
+  Ruins. — The Purpose for which they were constructed. —
+  Their probable Age                                                  94
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+  Deficiency of Water. — Return to the Nile. — Wild
+  Animals. — Ancient Canal. — Temple of Abou Naga. —
+  Difficulties. — The modern Capitals of Ethiopia. —
+  Sennaar. — The Difficulty of penetrating to the Source of
+  the Bahr el Abiad. — Tribe of Arabs on its Banks. — Water
+  less sweet than that of the Bahr el Azruk. — Arab
+  Description of the River. — Inundation of the Nile. —
+  Return to Shendy. — Mameluke Exercise                              111
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+  Metammah. — Difficulty of finding Camels to cross the
+  Bahiouda Desert. — Wretched State of the Peasants when
+  attacked by Illness. — Intermittent Fevers. — Costumes of
+  Metammah. — Women of high Rank. — Their long Nails. —
+  Manner of increasing their Length. — Bahiouda Desert. —
+  Wells at Aboulay. — Reflections on the Desert Life. —
+  Shageea Tribe. — Wells called Gagdool. — Signor B.
+  unwell. — Hassanyeh Tribe. — Animals of the Desert. —
+  Greyhound Dog. — Well of Magaga. — Dangerous Illness of
+  Signor B. — Well of delicious Water called Haless. —
+  Beauty of the Scenery. — Shepherd Boys. — Character of
+  the Rocks. — Wells of good Water called Hannek and
+  Prasoli. — The Manner the Shageea salute. — Coptic
+  Christian Church. — Arrival at the Town of Meroueh. —
+  Hieroglyphics on a Slab in the Castle                              123
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+  Antiquities of Gibel el Birkel. — Description and
+  Dimensions of the Mountain. — Temple built by the Tirhaka
+  of the Bible. — Various other interesting Remains and
+  Temples. — Pyramids. — Circular and pointed Arch invented
+  in Ethiopia                                                        134
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+  Present Inhabitants of Birkel. — Funeral Ceremonies in
+  the Mahometan Burial-grounds. — Name of Rameses II. or
+  Sesostris. — Description of the present State of the
+  Country. — Indigo Manufactories. — The Shageea Tribe. —
+  One of their Meleks. — Pyramids of Nouri, dilapidated
+  State. — Curious Construction of one. — General
+  Dimensions. — Antiquity. — Comparison between the ancient
+  and modern Buildings of Ethiopia. — Return to Meroueh. —
+  Turkish Manner of being paid for Services. — Voyage down
+  the Nile. — Numerous Villages. — Shageea Tribe. —
+  Intoxication, Learning, &c. — Various Villages and
+  Islands. — Effects of the Climate and other Peculiarities
+  of this Country on the Character of the People. — Noble
+  Manners of the Arabs. — Dongolah Agous. — Probable Site
+  of Napata. — Negro Slaves. — Effects of the Cruelty of
+  their Owners. — Encroachments of the Desert. —
+  Cultivation. — Peasants                                            160
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+  Visit to the Governor. — Extent of his Government. —
+  Indigo. — Water Wheels. — Population. — Taxes. — Prices
+  of Produce. — Oasis of Dongolah, called El Gab. — Route
+  to Kordofan. — Information about that Country. — Baneful
+  Climate. — Captain Gordon. — Arab Tribes of Kordofan. —
+  General Appearance of New Dongolah. — The Bazaar. —
+  Curious Use of Ointment. — Merchandise. — The Bazaar. —
+  Slave Market. — Commerce carried on by Barter. — Curious
+  Manner of effecting Sales. — Dongolah Goldsmith. —
+  Auctioneers. — Various Arab Tribes. — Costumes. — Women,
+  the Elegance of their Attire. — Breaking of the _Rat_. —
+  Giraffe. — Hassanyeh Tribe. — Elephants                            176
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+  Marriage and other Ceremonies of Dongolah. — Character of
+  the People, their Habitations. — Women, their Amusements.
+  — Arab Tale. — Government of Dongolah                              189
+
+                              CHAPTER XV.
+
+  Departure from Dongolah. — Numerous Villages. — Island of
+  Argo. — Residence of the Melek. — Arab Accountants. —
+  Melek Tumbol. — Extent of his Territory. — Arab Manners
+  compared with European. — Philosophy of the Arabs. — The
+  Melek’s Dinner. — Military Force. — Garden. — Visit to
+  the Antiquities. — Numerous Vestiges of ancient Towns. —
+  Colossal Statues. — Remains of a large Temple. — Name of
+  Sabaco, the Conqueror of Egypt. — Entertainment of an
+  Arab Sheakh. — Richness of the Island. — Indigo. —
+  Ethiopian Fort. — Cataract of Toumbos. — Mutilated
+  colossal Statue. — Hospitality of an Arab Sheakh. —
+  Character of the Inhabitants. — Hippopotamus. — Alarming
+  Intelligence. — Revolt of the Mahas. — Dreadful
+  Consequences. — Our providential Escape. — Arab Stories
+  of Travellers                                                      204
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI.
+
+  Return to New Dongolah. — The Governor. — His Indecision.
+  — General Alarm. — Interview with the Governor. — His
+  difficult Situation and Want of Energy. — Increase of the
+  Insurgents. — Retreat of the Katshef of Haffeer. — Troops
+  marched out against the Insurgents. — Fears about the
+  Result. — Their Army. — The Battle. — Effects of the
+  Revolt. — Roads impassable. — Return of the Expedition. —
+  Turkish and Arab Evolutions. — Hassanyeh. — Funge. —
+  Curious Assemblage. — _Lululoo_ of the Women. — Turkish
+  System of Government in the Provinces, and present State
+  of the Peasantry and Arabs of the Desert above Wady
+  Halfah                                                             222
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+  Departure from El Ourde. — Alarms of the Caravan. — Melek
+  Backeet. — Return to Haffeer. — Detention in the Indigo
+  Manufactory. — Nubian Plants. — Second Expedition of the
+  Government. — Fanaticism of the Insurgents. — The Battle.
+  — Prisoners. — Departure from Haffeer. — Description of
+  the Caravan. — Cataract. — Effects of the Revolution. —
+  Splendid Ruins of Solib. — Excavated Tomb near Solib. —
+  Ruins of Sukkot. — Heat of the Climate. — Island of Sais.
+  — Remains of Christian Ruins. — Destructive Effects of
+  the Desert                                                         237
+
+                            CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+  Kasr Towaga. — Difficulty of crossing the River. —
+  Indolence of the Arabs. — Arab Sheakh. — Temple of
+  Amarah. — Present Inhabitants. — Wady el Hadjar. —
+  Fortified House on an Island at Dahl. — Cataract of
+  Uckma. — Bigotry of the Inhabitants. — Various Cataracts
+  of the Nile. — Mineral Spring at Tangoure. — Temples of
+  Semneh, on the Western Bank. — Curious Manner of crossing
+  the River. — Temple of Semneh, on the Eastern Bank. —
+  Inscriptions on the Rocks. — The Arab Robber Isah. —
+  Second Cataract of the Nile. — Inducements for Travellers
+  to extend their Journey beyond this Point. — Comparison
+  between Voyages in the Desert and at Sea                           259
+
+                             CHAPTER XIX.
+
+                       ON THE HISTORY OF MERGE.
+
+  Obscurity of her Annals. — Historical Associations
+  necessary to render a Country interesting. — Works of Art
+  historical Documents. — Lapidary Inscriptions. — Amunoph
+  III. — Memnon, King of Ethiopia. — Expedition of
+  Semiramis, Queen of Assyria, into Ethiopia. — Ethiopians
+  in the Army of Shishak marched to Jerusalem. — The
+  Sukkiims of Scripture. — Expedition of Zerah, the
+  Ethiopian King of the Bible, and his Defeat by the Tribes
+  of Judah and Benjamin. — The Ethiopian Dynasty of Kings
+  who reigned over Egypt. — The Testimony of the Historians
+  proved by lapidary Inscriptions. — The Name of Tirhaka,
+  King of Ethiopia, who defeated Sennacherib, King of
+  Assyria, found both on the Monuments of Egypt and
+  Ethiopia. — The Names and Titles of this Dynasty of
+  Kings. — Accordance of the Scriptural, monumental, and
+  historical Evidences. — The Sethos of Herodotus, the
+  Tirhaka of Scripture and of the Monuments. — The Sua,
+  King of Egypt of the Bible, the Sevechus of Manetho, and
+  the Shabatok of the Monuments                                      284
+
+                              CHAPTER XX.
+
+  The Emigration of Egyptian Soldiers at the Time of
+  Psammitichus. — Expedition of Cambyses. — Manners,
+  Customs, &c. of the Macrobians, &c. — Curious Customs of
+  the Ethiopians. — Ergamenes, the Ethiopian King’s,
+  Conquests in Lower Nubia. — Atarraman and Silco,
+  Ethiopian Kings. — Expedition of Petronius. — Queen
+  Candace. — Christianity first introduced into Ethiopia. —
+  Its Duration. — Napata, Capital of Candace. — Blemmyes
+  and the Nubians                                                    306
+
+                             CHAPTER XXI.
+
+                       ON THE COMMERCE OF MEROE.
+
+  Requisites for a State enjoying extensive Commerce. —
+  Advantageous Position of Meroe. — Probable Extent of her
+  Commerce. — The Facility afforded to its Extension by
+  Means of the Camel. — Commerce of Arabia and India. —
+  Abundance of Gold. — Iron and Gum. — Ethiopian Tribute to
+  Egypt. — Description of a splendid Ethiopian Procession
+  at Thebes. — Commerce of the Interior. — Causes of the
+  Decline of Meroe. — Diminution of her agricultural
+  Resources. — Exhaustion of Mines. — Rivalry of Egypt. —
+  Wars with Egypt. — Arab Conquest. — Present Commerce               321
+
+                             CHAPTER XXII.
+
+                         ON THE ARTS OF MEROE.
+
+  Affluence would introduce a Taste for the Arts. — The
+  Heat of the Climate favourable to Sedentary Pursuits. —
+  Private Emulation would afford farther Encouragement. —
+  Desire of distinguishing themselves by Intellectual
+  Pursuits. — Testimony of Diodorus that Knowledge was very
+  generally diffused in Ethiopia. — The Pyramids of Meroe
+  the oldest Specimens of Ethiopian Art. — Civilisation of
+  the Ethiopians proved by their monumental Edifices. — The
+  Ethiopians Inventors of the Arch. — Egyptian Arches. —
+  Ethiopian Sculpture. — Probable Cause of their peculiar
+  Style. — Reasons for preserving it. — Deference of the
+  Ptolemies and Romans for the Superstitions of the
+  Egyptians. — Pleasing Effect of the Egyptian and
+  Ethiopian Sculpture. — Admirable Manner of drawing
+  Animals, Hieroglyphics, and their Taste in Ornaments. —
+  Colouring on Ethiopian Sculpture. — The Knowledge of the
+  Arts descended from Ethiopia. — Complexion of the ancient
+  and present Inhabitants. — Accuracy of Diodorus’s Account
+  proved by the Monuments. — Taste for the Arts in a Nation
+  inseparable from other Intellectual Pursuits. — Works of
+  the Ethiopian King Tirhaka. — Review of the Antiquities
+  in Ethiopia. — Folly of comparing the present with the
+  ancient Inhabitants of the Valley of the Nile                      346
+
+
+
+
+                           =ILLUSTRATIONS.=
+                               * * * * *
+
+    MAP OF THE NILE from Assuan to the conflux of the Bahr El Abiad
+                            and the Azruk.
+
+                         ENGRAVINGS ON STONE.
+
+     PLATE                                                         Page
+
+        I. Shageea of the Desert and Camel Man of the               164
+           Ababde Tribe
+
+       II. Sheahk Beshir, and Son of a Bishareen Sheahk              46
+
+      III. Nazr ed Deen and Sheakh Sayd, Chief of the                44
+           Ababde Tribe
+
+       IV. Senna and Indigo Plants                                  240
+
+        V. General Plan of the Pyramids of Meroe                     66
+
+       VI. Principal Group of the Pyramids of Meroe                  68
+
+      VII. Sections of the Pyramids of Meroe                         70
+
+     VIII. View of the Pyramids of Meroe                             72
+
+       IX. View of the Pyramids of Meroe                             74
+
+        X. Sculpture in the Porticoes of the Pyramids of             76
+           Meroe
+
+       XI. Sculpture in the Porticoes of the Pyramids of             78
+           Meroe
+
+      XII. Sculpture in the Porticoes of the Pyramids of             80
+           Meroe
+
+     XIII. Plan of the Ruins of Wady Owataib                        100
+
+      XIV. Picturesque View of the ruins of Wady Owataib            102
+
+       XV. Picturesque View of the ruins of Wady Owataib            104
+
+      XVI. Costumes of Moussa, Son of a Melek of Berber,             88
+           and a Woman of Shendy
+
+     XVII. General Plan of the Ruins of Gibel el Birkel             134
+
+    XVIII. General View of the Ruins of Gibel el Birkel             136
+
+      XIX. View of the Temple of Tirhaka                            138
+
+       XX. View of the Temple of Tirhaka                            140
+
+      XXI. Plan of the Temple of Tirhaka                            142
+
+     XXII. Restoration of the Temple of Tirhaka                     144
+
+    XXIII. View of Temple of Amun Sekon Gibel el Birkel             146
+
+     XXIV. Plan of the Great Temple at Gibel el Birkel              148
+
+      XXV. View from the Great Temple at Gibel el Birkel            150
+
+     XXVI. View of the Pyramids of Gibel el Birkel                  152
+
+    XXVII. View of the Pyramids of Gibel el Birkel                  154
+
+   XXVIII. Sections of the Pyramids of Gibel el Birkel              156
+
+     XXIX. Sculpture in the Portico of a Pyramid at                 158
+           Gibel el Birkel
+
+      XXX. Melek of the Shageea Tribe                               162
+
+     XXXI. View of the Pyramids of Nouri                            166
+
+    XXXII. Plan of the Pyramids of Nouri                            168
+
+   XXXIII. View of a Colossal Statue in the Island of               210
+           Argo
+
+    XXXIV. View of a Colossal Statue in the Island of               212
+           Argo
+
+     XXXV. Restoration of the two Colossal Statues in               214
+           the Island of Argo
+
+    XXXVI. View of the Exterior of a Dongolah Cottage               192
+
+   XXXVII. View of the Interior of a Dongolah Cottage               194
+
+  XXXVIII. Shageea fighting                                         228
+
+    XXXIX. Hassanyeh Tribe                                          188
+
+       XL. Plan of the Temple of Solib                              246
+
+      XLI. View of the Temple of Solib                              248
+
+     XLII. View of the Temple of Solib                              250
+
+    XLIII. View of the Temple of Solib                              252
+
+     XLIV. View of the Temple of Amarah                   Frontispiece.
+
+      XLV. Ruins of Semneh                                          276
+
+     XLVI. Part 1. Grand Ethiopian Procession in a Tomb             328
+           at Thebes
+
+    XLVII. Part 2. Grand Ethiopian Procession in a Tomb             330
+           at Thebes
+
+   XLVIII. Part 3. Grand Ethiopian Procession in a Tomb             332
+           at Thebes
+
+     XLIX. Part 4. Grand Ethiopian Procession in a Tomb             334
+           at Thebes
+
+        L. Second Cataract of the Nile                              278
+
+       LI. Sculpture in the Temple of Semneh                        270
+
+      LII. Osshi Plant                                              240
+
+     LIII.} Hieroglyphic Inscriptions and Sculpture at
+          } Meroe and Gibel el Birkel
+      LIV.}                                                         286
+
+                           WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
+
+  View of the Cottages of Berber                                      1
+
+  View of the Fifth Cataract of the Nile                             41
+
+  View of the Pyramids of Meroe                                      69
+
+  View of the South-east Group of the Pyramids of Meroe              71
+
+  View of the fortified Residence of the ancient Meleks              87
+  or Kings of Shendy
+
+  View of the small Temple of Wady el Owataib                       102
+
+  Sections of the Columns at Wady el Owataib                        104
+
+  View of the Temple of Abou Naga                                   112
+
+  Plan of the Ruins of Abou Naga                                    113
+
+  Plan of the Pyramids of Gibel el Birkel                           149
+
+  View of the Pyramids of Gibel el Birkel                           151
+
+  View of the fortified House of Melek Tumbol                       206
+
+  View of the Ruins of an Ethiopian Fort                            216
+
+  View of the Cataract of Hennek                                    217
+
+  View of a Colossal Statue in the Quarries at Toumbos              218
+
+  Section of the Columns of Solib                                   247
+
+  View from a Tomb excavated out of the Rock near Solib             253
+
+  Plan of a Temple at Sukkot                                        254
+
+  View of a Temple at Sukkot                                        253
+
+  Plan of the Temple of Amarah                                      261
+
+  Harp of the Shageea                                               263
+
+  View of the Island of Dahl in the Wady el Hadjar                  265
+
+  View of the Temple of Semneh, West Side of the River              269
+
+  Plan of the Temple of Semneh, West Side of the River              271
+
+  View of the Temple of Semneh, East Side of the River              273
+
+  Plan of the Temple of Semneh, East Side of the River              274
+
+  Egyptian Arch formed by approaching Stones                        351
+
+  Egyptian Arch, elliptical                                         352
+
+  Egyptian Arch, Segment of a Circle                                353
+
+  Name in Hieroglyphics of King Sabaco                              296
+
+  Name in Hieroglyphics of King Sevechus                            297
+
+  Name in Hieroglyphics of King Tirhaka                             297
+
+  Name in Hieroglyphics of other Ethiopians of the Royal            298
+  Family
+
+  Name in Hieroglyphics of King Ergamenes                           314
+
+  Name in Hieroglyphics of King Atarramon                           315
+
+
+
+
+                                ERRATA.
+
+
+  Pages    5, 6, 43, 46. _for_ “Katschef, Katshief,” _read_ “Katshef.”
+
+          18, 19, 24, 32. _for_ “Ababdis,” _read_ “Ababdes.”
+
+          11, 12, 13, 14. _for_ “Melik,” _read_ “Melek.”
+
+          20. line 1. _for_ “danger of fatigue,” _read_
+              “danger and fatigue.”
+
+          32. line 1. for “Mogran,” _read_ “Mogram.”
+
+          44. line 3. _for_ “Dongolar,” _read_ “Dongolah.”
+
+          69. line 18. _for_ “monuments,” _read_ “tablets.”
+
+          80. line 9. _for_ “in the second row,” _read_
+              “in the same row.”
+
+         126. line 25. _for_ “eleven,” _read_ “ten.”
+
+         157. line 22. _for_ “Psammeticus,” _read_ “Psammitichus.”
+
+         157. line 25. _for_ “Thotmes,” _read_ “Thothmes.”
+
+         178. the prices of grain in this page are per ardeb.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: =THE NILE= from Assuan to the Conflux of the Blue and
+White Rivers; _Comprising the routes across_ The Great Nubian and
+Bahiouda Deserts. =By G. A. Hoskins, Esqr.=
+
+_London: London & Co. Paternoster Row. 1835._
+
+_J. Arrowsmith._]
+
+
+                               =TRAVELS=
+                                  IN
+                              =ETHIOPIA.=
+
+[Illustration: COTTAGES OF BERBER.]
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+INTENDED RETURN TO CAIRO. — ARRIVAL OF ARTIST. — DETERMINATION
+TO PENETRATE TO MEROE. — MOTIVES. — ADVANTAGES TO BE DERIVED FROM
+THE DISCOVERIES OF YOUNG, WILKINSON, CHAMPOLLION, AND ROSELLINI. —
+DEPARTURE FROM THEBES. — TURKISH MODE OF FASTING. — ARRIVAL AT
+ASSUAN. — HINTS TO TRAVELLERS ON TURKISH ETIQUETTE. — NAZR OF
+BERBER. — UNPROMISING ACCOUNTS OF THE DESERT. — DETENTION FOR WANT
+OF CAMELS. — SHEAKH OF THE ABABDE TRIBE. — RUINS OF ELEPHANTINE
+AND ASSUAN. — BOSNIAN SOLDIERS. — WATER SKINS DEFECTIVE. —
+ARRIVAL OF THE CAMELS. — COMMENCEMENT OF THE JOURNEY. — NUBIAN
+POVERTY. — CARAVAN FROM KHARTOUN. — CULTIVATION IN LOWER
+NUBIA. — SINGULAR AND PICTURESQUE SCENERY. — NUBIAN PEASANTRY
+AND THEIR SLAVES. — TURKISH HUMANITY. — ROMAN ENCLOSURE AT
+DACKER. — PROVISIONS IN NUBIA. — SIMILARITY OF A MODERN AND
+ANCIENT CUSTOM. — NUBIANS, THEIR PREJUDICES, POVERTY, FOOD,
+WANT OF RELIGION, AND DRUNKENNESS — THEIR DOMESTIC COMFORT, AND
+COMPARATIVE FREEDOM. — WADY EL ARAB. — ARRIVAL AT KOROSKO. —
+PREPARATIONS FOR CROSSING THE GREAT NUBIAN DESERT. — THE GOVERNOR
+OF KOROSKO. — DRUNKEN COPTIC SECRETARY.
+
+
+_Feb._ 1. 1833. Having spent twelve months in the valley of the Nile,
+I had designed to leave Thebes this week, and return to Cairo. To
+this long period had an intended stay of a few weeks been protracted,
+in consequence of my daily increasing devotion to the fascinating
+but laborious study of Egyptian antiquities. I cannot, however,
+escape some uncomfortable feelings when I contrast the prospect now
+before me, of privation and dreariness in a long journey through the
+desert, with the hopes I had indulged of returning now to Europe,
+to the enjoyments of social and domestic intercourse, and the
+refinements and comforts of civilised life. My boat was ready, and all
+preparations made for my voyage down the Nile, when its direction was
+changed by the arrival of Signor Bandoni, a skilful Italian artist,
+whom I had long anxiously expected. I then immediately determined
+to proceed with my projected journey to the antiquities of Meroe,
+and thus complete my investigation of the architectural wonders
+of the Nile. Wearied, however, with my previous labours at Thebes,
+and in the Oasis Magna, I had felt reluctant to make this arduous
+attempt without the assistance of an artist. Had I now lacked courage,
+the redoubtable appearance of my Lucchese ally would have inspired
+me with resolution to encounter the wildest Bishareen of the Nubian
+desert, or the hungriest lion of Ethiopia. The Signor brings with
+him his bosom companion, a double-barrelled Spanish _escopette_, of
+awe-inspiring calibre, the destructive powers of which, he assures me,
+have been frequently proved upon the turtle doves in the palm groves
+of the Nile: he animates me also with the assurance, that “non ha
+niente paura;” nor, since his landing in these barbarous regions,
+has he yet known bodily fear, except once, and that by mistake,
+when scared by the _lion-like_ roar of a buffalo, near the base of
+Pompey’s Pillar. The valley of the Nile, as far as Wady Halfah,
+has been described by many. Only six or seven Europeans have
+penetrated beyond that cataract; and, unfortunately, all even of
+those were not sufficiently acquainted with Egyptian antiquities,
+and competent, as artists, to give a satisfactory description and
+correct delineations of the interesting remains which still exist in
+those remote regions.[2] In using the term acquainted, I do not mean
+to state that any person has penetrated very deeply into the mysteries
+of Egyptian lore, much less can I pretend to have lifted “the veil
+of Isis which no mortal has yet raised;” but even a slight knowledge
+of the recent discoveries in hieroglyphics gives to the traveller
+of the present day an advantage over, perhaps, even the most learned
+travellers who visited this country before the discoveries of Young,
+Wilkinson, Champollion, and Rosellini. Egypt is no longer a field for
+speculative ingenuity and brilliant imagination. The daylight has
+appeared, and the efforts of talent and perseverance have cleared
+away many of the difficulties which obstructed the first labourers
+in this rich mine of antiquarian research. Enough is already known
+of hieroglyphics to make the subject be duly appreciated by literary
+men, and we may confidently expect important information from that
+source. The drawings which have hitherto been made in Upper Nubia
+are considered to be very inaccurate; much has been left undone, and
+the hieroglyphics have been but partially and imperfectly copied;
+while many of the inscriptions are totally unknown. Aware of these
+circumstances, and also that not a drawing or description of the
+antiquities of Meroe has yet been published in England, and hoping
+that my labours may be of some service to those interested in these
+subjects, I leave Thebes to encounter again the fatigues and perils
+of the desert; but Meroe is before me, the probable birth-place of
+the arts and sciences.
+
+I bade adieu, last night, to my kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hay, whose
+society, attention, and valuable services, have been an indescribable
+resource to me during my long residence at Thebes. I felt how
+gratifying it is, in setting out on a journey of this description,
+to have the warm wishes of others that it may be successful. “Bring
+as many drawings as you can,” was the good advice given to me,
+and which I intend to follow.
+
+I cannot perform impossibilities, by bringing the antiquities
+themselves; but I trust and hope, with the assistance of my
+camera lucida, my long experience in drawing that peculiar style
+of architecture and sculpture, and last, though not least, the
+valuable aid of my excellent Italian artist, Signor B., I shall be
+able to bring back drawings and plans which shall have the merit and
+value of strict accuracy. But I must disclaim, in the outset, any
+idea of adding much to the geographical knowledge of the interior
+of Africa. The object of my journey is Meroe, and to elucidate
+the existing vestiges of the ancient grandeur of the kingdom of
+Ethiopia. The wind this day has been favourable; but there was so
+little of it, that our progress has not been great.
+
+_Feb._ 2. We arrived at Esneh this morning at eight, and remained
+until ten. I wished to see the Governor, to procure from him a letter
+to the Nazr of Assuan, requesting him to assist me in procuring
+camels; but I was told that he was asleep, and would not be visible
+till late in the afternoon. It is now the month of Ramadan, during
+which the law forbids them to eat or drink before sunset; however,
+the Turkish grandees avoid this privation by turning night into day,
+sleeping the greater part of the latter, and devoting the former
+to business and their pleasures. This manner of keeping their
+fast is somewhat similar to the devotee Peter Pindar describes,
+who, when sentenced to perform a pilgrimage with peas in his shoes,
+wisely took the liberty to boil his peas. The wind being favourable,
+I could not wait the awakening of the Mahmoor.
+
+_Assuan.—Feb. 5._ In our journey of this and the two preceding days,
+we have only had six to seven hours of wind; however, this afternoon,
+we arrived at Assuan, and I immediately waited on the Nazr to procure
+camels. On entering a Turkish divan, the traveller is merely required
+to make a grave bow, placing his right hand to his left breast,
+and to seat himself on the divan in the Turkish style, which, for
+the information of those readers who have not been in the country,
+I should say is exactly that easy position, which it seems in Europe
+tailors only are privileged to assume. When seated, he usually salutes
+the great man again in the same manner as before; but if the latter
+be of very high rank, it is better to show respect by placing the
+right hand, first, to the lips, and then, above the forehead. A few
+complimentary speeches are now exchanged; such as “How do you do?”
+“What a tall man you are!” “What a fine beard!” “You are
+like one of us!” Welcome and thanks. Coffee is then presented to the
+traveller. The Pasha gives pipes to noblemen at his own divan only;
+but every English gentleman has a right to expect one, or to smoke
+his own at the divan of any of his subordinate officers. The Turk,
+if he is only a Katshef or Nazr, ought to make a kind of half rise
+from his seat when the traveller enters; but it is very seldom that
+his pride and desire of appearing a great man in his little court
+permits him to show this courtesy. All the Turks possess, or have
+the power of assuming, an apparently natural dignity of manner. The
+liberated slave, raised suddenly to rank and authority, seems always
+at his ease, as if born to the station that he fills. Education, that
+is, the having learned with difficulty to read and write a letter
+of four or five lines, makes no distinction, being an attainment in
+which those of the highest rank are sometimes deficient. I presented
+to the Nazr, a common-looking fellow, the Pasha’s firman, which,
+as usual, he kissed and placed to his forehead. As soon as his
+Coptic writer had read it to him, he ordered me a pipe, an attention
+previously omitted, and in the mean time offered me his own; but
+my servant at that moment entered with mine. I had ordered it,
+because my not assuming my right in this trifling etiquette would
+have made me less respected, not only by the Nazr and his court, but,
+what was of real consequence, by the Arabs, who were to accompany me
+across the desert to Berber. Generally I hate etiquette and ceremony,
+as the north and north-east winds of society; but I have found from
+experience, that with the Turks it is absolutely necessary to insist
+upon their observance. Travellers, in their ignorance of Eastern
+manners, are generally too humble to them. If even a Katshef pays
+them a visit, they rise from their seats and bow, as often and as
+low as if he were a monarch. Accordingly, when they return the
+visit, they have the mortification to perceive, that the Turk,
+misconstruing such European courtesy into obsequiousness, and an
+acknowledgment of inferiority, does not even rise to receive him;
+but, with a slight condescending nod, desires his visitor to be
+seated, and of course has less regard to his requests in matters
+of real importance. The days of Burckhardt are past. The traveller
+throughout Mohammed Ali’s dominions has now no occasion to submit
+to any indignity, or even incivility: his forbearance will gain him
+nothing except the consciousness of having fruitlessly submitted to
+the contempt of an ignorant and illiterate barbarian. I have dwelt
+upon this little circumstance, from my experience of its importance
+for the guidance of future travellers. The Nazr, during the rest of
+my visit, was profuse in his offers of services. He informed me, that
+the Government were themselves in want of camels; but that I should
+have the first that could be procured, which he hoped would be next
+day. Along with the Nazr was a Bey, just returned across the desert
+from Berber. I could get little information from him; and, indeed,
+could not ask many questions of him, as I found he had just been
+removed from the government in disgrace, on account of extortion. I
+might have guessed the cause from his physiognomy, for I have rarely
+seen so villainous a countenance. He did not seem neglected in his
+adversity, as numbers of Turks were visiting him, each kissing his
+hand, and wishing him a speedy return to the favour of the Pasha. He
+gave me no flattering description of the desert, telling me I should
+feel it bitterly cold at night, and should spend nine or ten days,
+without finding any water at all drinkable. The sorry condition of
+his camels, too, strongly confirmed the truth of this account.
+
+_Feb._ 6. I heard this morning, with surprise, that I should probably
+have to wait a week longer before procuring camels. Knowing the
+Turks to be adepts at procrastination, I went to the Nazr, and
+urged the necessity of my starting immediately. At my request, he
+sent for the Sheakh of the Ababdes, the tribe who provide camels to
+caravans and travellers for the journey between Assuan and Makkarif,
+the capital of Berber. They act also as carriers to the Red Sea,
+the Oasis Magna, along the Nile to Dongolah, and also across the
+western side of the great Nubian desert. The residence of the
+Sheakh being two hours distant, he did not arrive before this
+evening. I was agreeably struck with his appearance; he was a man
+of middle size; extremely regular features; a calm and dignified
+manner; a benevolent, and at the same time noble, expression of
+countenance. His dress was remarkably neat and clean. His turban
+and long linen gown were beautifully white and of good materials. He
+promised us that we should have camels the next day, and we agreed
+that the price should be seventy piastres for the use of each during
+the journey to Makkarif, where, it is said, we shall arrive in twenty
+days. It is rather annoying to be thus detained, since every day is
+of consequence, the season being so far advanced; but it is some
+consolation that our time has not been quite lost. The island of
+Elephantine is no longer adorned with temples. Some ruins of walls,
+a rude statue of Osiris, slight traces of the temple of Chnubis,
+and the Nilometer, are all the remains which now exist. The northern
+part resembles a garden ornamented with beautiful groves of palm trees
+and the richest cultivation. Syene offers still less to interest the
+antiquarian, but much to strengthen the believer in Holy Writ. The
+prophetic denunciation of Ezekiel is fulfilled. The tower of Syene
+has truly fallen from the pride of her power. The ruin of a pier,
+partly Roman but chiefly Arab, and an insignificant fragment of a
+temple, are the only vestiges of this once important city. Yet the
+natural scenery around is still beautiful, and the views from it,
+as well as from the Island of Elephantine, are the most lovely in
+Egypt. The castle of Syene, built by the Bosnian soldiers, forms,
+even in its ruined state, a highly picturesque object. Several of
+the descendants of the Bosnian soldiers are living at Assuan, and
+in Lower Nubia. I met with one as far south as Amarah.[3]
+
+_Feb._ 7. No camels are arrived; we are obliged, therefore, to
+delay another day. This requires some patience, when every thing is
+prepared for our expedition. I superintended this morning the filling
+of the skins with water: I am sorry to find them very indifferent,
+although the best I could procure.
+
+_Philæ.—Feb._ 9. After repeated applications to the Governor,
+I have procured at last nine camels and two dromedaries for
+ourselves. Any complaint of this delay would be unreasonable,
+otherwise than as a misfortune. Several Turks in the employment
+of the Pasha have been detained for want of them during this
+last fortnight; notwithstanding which, from their knowledge of his
+favour for travellers, they have given me the preference. Our start,
+however, is at last made. I have been very anxious to leave Assuan,
+having perceived an increasing disinclination on the part of my
+artist and servants to undertake the journey. The tales of some
+Arab merchants have excited among them so much alarm, that all my
+powers of persuasion and remonstrance were necessary to keep them
+from defection. They have unfortunately heard the exclamations
+of some of my old Nubian friends, the Rais of the Cataract and
+others, when I told them I was going to Shendy. “Wonderful! God
+is great! but are you not afraid to go into such a hot country,
+where it rains fire?” It has been no easy task to persuade them
+that a passage of eight or ten days over a desert, without water,
+and of twenty days without intermission on the backs of camels, can
+be an easy undertaking. I hope, for their sakes, we shall not have
+to suffer much: as to myself, I feel more indifferent. I am going to
+Meroe; and the idea of the desert, notwithstanding Burckhardt’s,
+and still more Bruce’s, description of it, does not damp my ardour.
+
+_Sail on the Nile.—Feb._ 10. We left Philæ this morning at half
+past seven, entered into the mountains, and at three o’clock
+descended again into the valley of the Nile; at a quarter to six,
+we pitched our tents on the banks of the river. The mountains we
+have passed are of the same character as at the cataract, chiefly
+of syenite, the exterior of which is darkened by the sun. The
+formation consists of the same round blocks, appearing at a distance
+as disjoined. The place where we are encamped, and indeed all the
+country we have traversed to-day, is miserably poor. The strip
+of cultivated land is not an eighth of a mile in breadth. Barley,
+cotton, and _sherangig_ are all that the country produces. The latter,
+which forms the chief food of the Nubian, is a hard disagreeable
+kind of pea, which no culinary art can render palatable to European
+taste. We have passed several small villages, each containing from
+ten to twenty houses. This morning we met a troop of cavalry from
+Khartoun, which had passed the desert, of which they gave us any
+thing but an encouraging description. They say we shall be ten days
+in crossing it; and “take care of your water” is their constant
+advice. The same admonition has been dunned in our ears more than
+a hundred times since the day that we arrived at Assuan.
+
+_Marwal.—Feb._ 11. We set out this morning at half past seven,
+and proceeded, for some time, on the banks of the river. Nearly
+opposite to the small temple of Kardassy, we again turned into the
+mountains. There the granite chain suddenly ceases, and the hills are
+of sandstone, until opposite Tafey, where again, for a short space,
+they are of granite, and then of sandstone. Arriving at the district
+of Kalabshy, I found the mountains partially composed of sandstone,
+and immediately afterwards of granite. The belt of cultivated land,
+on both sides of the river, is always extremely narrow, seldom
+above fifty paces wide; and sometimes the rocks extend to the water,
+scarcely leaving a narrow and dangerous path. My own camel fell, and
+also the one conveying the baggage. This is the first time that such
+an accident has occurred to me with these animals; and I ought to add,
+not to have the appearance of contradicting what I have elsewhere
+said, that any horse, or even mule, would have run considerable risk
+of stumbling over these slippery granite rocks. Before leaving Assuan,
+a fortune-teller came to my tent: being busy at the time, I ordered
+her away rather angrily. In her rage, she exclaimed that I should
+fall from my camel. I did not expect that her malediction would be
+so soon fulfilled. I had quite forgotten the circumstance; but my
+Arabs, shaking their heads, soon reminded me of it. My fall might
+have been serious, as such accidents with this animal generally are,
+if the creature had rolled immediately; but, the instant it stumbled,
+I leaped off, and escaped unhurt. Barley, sherangig, and cotton are
+the only productions I have observed this day: they are often mingled
+together, in patches, upon the same field. I observed the peasants
+breaking the sandstone and spreading it on the ground. The best way
+of seeing to advantage the scenery on the Nile is, certainly, to
+ride on its banks: in a boat the effect is lost. The finest view we
+have had this morning, was in descending from the mountains opposite
+Tafey. The basalt and red but exteriorly dark-coloured granite,
+contrasted with the light red sand of the desert, similar rocks and
+sands in the distance, in the midst the serpentine river with its
+verdant banks, adorned with groves of palm trees and the interesting
+remains of temples, all illumined with the clearest blue sky and the
+most gorgeous sunset, formed often a scene to which few painters
+could do justice. Though not romantic nor strikingly picturesque,
+according to the original import of those terms, yet the extraordinary
+contrast and magical effect produced by this wonderful combination of
+brilliant colours, are magnificent, and present almost insuperable
+difficulties to the artist who attempts faithfully to delineate
+such a landscape. Three hours before arriving here, we passed the
+small village of Abaho, in which I counted nearly thirty houses. The
+inhabitants are evidently wretchedly poor; however, they enjoy the
+luxury of idleness. Very few seemed engaged in any occupation. One
+woman I observed spinning cotton and two or three busy about their
+domestic concerns; but the many were enjoying _il dolce fur niente_
+of the Italians. They were almost all miserably clad; the clothes
+of both sexes were in rags, the children naked, and girls from
+fourteen to sixteen, with beautiful forms, and extremely graceful
+and elegant in their movements, had merely a covering which extended
+from the waist to a little above the knee. This ceinture, or _rat_,
+as it is called in Arabic, is made of thin thongs of hippopotamus
+hide, and fancifully ornamented with beads and small shells. The
+number of thongs is so great, that it fully serves its purpose as
+a covering. They wear it till they are married; an event, however,
+which often takes place before they are twelve years of age.
+
+_Dacker.—Feb._ 12. We left the village of Marwal at seven,
+and encamped here at sunset. Our route has this day, also, been
+alternately in the mountains and on the banks of the river. We
+observe the same poverty, the same sterility; villages of about
+a dozen houses each, constructed, in the rudest manner, of stones
+piled on each other. The cultivated land on the banks is never more
+than fifty paces wide, often not twenty, and in some parts the barren
+rocks extend to the river. We met, this morning, another troop of a
+cavalry regiment, returning by the desert from Khartoun. We shall,
+no doubt, meet traces of their passage,—dead camels, if not
+men. Some of their animals could scarcely crawl, and one of them
+dropped on the ground unable to proceed any farther. The master,
+a Turk, seemed very much concerned; but whether for the value of
+the beast, or real attachment to his fellow traveller, I will not
+decide; yet, in justice to his humanity, I must relate, that, when
+the Arabs wished to stab and cut it up for food, he refused his
+consent. Finding, however, that it was impossible the animal could
+proceed, or even live many hours, he ordered his servant to shoot it
+with his musket. This showed some feeling; for had he left it to die
+on the road, the Arabs would have killed it with their knives, and
+then could lawfully have eaten it. They were very much disappointed
+at being deprived of their repast, and considered it quite a waste
+of valuable food. We have passed the village and temple of Dandour
+(on the other bank), and are now encamped opposite the temple and
+village of Dacker.[4] Adjoining is a Roman inclosure of large extent
+with towers, constructed of unburnt bricks. There are no traces of a
+temple within the inclosure; but contiguous to the south-east corner
+are some fragments of a room still adorned with hieroglyphics and
+sculpture, but too much defaced for us to discover the subject. The
+style is very wretched, and evidently Roman. Mountains of hornblende
+and sandstone.
+
+_Wady el Elayat.—Feb._ 13. We quitted Dacker this morning, soon
+after sunrise, and have encamped this evening in a small valley near
+the river, and, as is generally the custom of the caravans, close to
+a village. There is not much provision to be procured from a Nubian
+village, frequently not even eggs and fowls. A half-starved sheep
+or kid may sometimes be purchased, but at a much higher price than
+in Upper Egypt. Yet there is no uniformity in the rates: you have a
+sheep one day for six piastres; and the next, perhaps at only thirty
+miles’ distance off, you must pay twelve, or even more, for one
+not larger. This arises, of course, from the poverty of the land,
+and the very little communication which exists between the different
+villages. My servants and camel-drivers like to chat with the women;
+and, perhaps, near the villages we are less annoyed by the wolves
+than we might be at a greater distance, the dogs of the peasants
+affording a certain protection, though I have often heard them
+snuffing around my tent. We have passed this morning the village
+of Uffidunia: the temple of that name is on the opposite side of
+the river. Our track has chiefly followed the banks of the Nile,
+but the views have not been very pleasing. The mountains consist
+chiefly of a soft sandstone, the surface of which is very much
+darkened by the sun. We have met another troop of the cavalry from
+Khartoun. The soldiers have all male or female slaves; some for
+their own service, others on speculation for the Cairo market. The
+women are almost entirely covered; sometimes I could distinguish
+a fine black eye glancing from under the coverings, but it is not
+considered decorous to notice them much. This etiquette, which still
+prevails so generally in the East, is the same ancient custom by which
+Themistocles profited to facilitate his escape to the Persian king. We
+are encamped at the borders of the province called Wady el Elayat.
+
+_Sungar.—Feb._ 14. We have been eleven hours in the district of
+El Elayat. We left the small village at the commencement of the
+Wady this morning at seven, and encamped here at sunset. This is
+the last village of the Wady. We have suffered more from fatigue
+than before; the road, or rather path, having led for a long time
+over the hills. Immediately after starting, we left the valley of
+the Nile for an hour and a half. That part of the road was not very
+fatiguing. We passed Seboua at eleven, and at two P.M. left the Nile,
+and were obliged to alight from our camels and climb the mountain,
+for three hours, over the most difficult paths we have yet met
+with. A notion prevails in Europe, that camels are incapable of
+crossing rough mountainous and stony roads; I can only say that,
+upon this rocky, and sometimes steep path, none of our camels fell;
+had we used horses, the difficulty would certainly have been as great,
+particularly when heavy loads were upon their backs. I would not have
+ventured to ride over, even on a mule. The mountains are of sandstone,
+some also of hornblende. I sketched, this evening, a native of this
+district, my dragoman in the mean time keeping him in conversation
+till I finished my sketch, without his having any suspicion what I was
+doing. All the Nubians have a superstitious prejudice against having
+their portraits drawn. I made some enquiries about the village,
+its name, the number of houses, and of inhabitants, &c. The poor
+peasants imagined I was employed by the Pasha to take an account
+of the country. Apprehensive that I should cause their taxes to be
+raised, they gave me a lamentable description of their poverty, saying
+that there were indeed eleven houses, but they were all tumbling to
+pieces; that they were miserably poor; had scarcely a rag to cover
+them; that their land did produce some little cotton and barley,
+but if I caused their taxes to be increased, they could not subsist,
+but must absolutely die of starvation. Man here may be said only to
+vegetate. He drags on, from day to day, a miserable existence, living
+on the coarsest food, and ignorant of any comfort. In examining,
+however, more closely, we find the peasants of Nubia possessing
+some great advantages over those of Lower and Upper Egypt. Their
+domestic comfort is decidedly greater. Their women, unlike those
+of Egypt, have always their faces uncovered, and enjoy in other
+respects much freedom; while that depravity as regards both sexes,
+which pervades the whole land of Egypt, is almost utterly unknown in
+these Nubian villages. They are also less oppressed; and, thanks to
+the poverty of their country, less annoyed by the presence of their
+rulers. Their predominant vice is drinking immoderately of bouza and
+arracki. There being only three mosques from the first to the second
+cataract, a distance of more than 220 miles, and their almost total
+deficiency of religious instruction, are perhaps some excuse for
+their violating, in this respect, so openly, and to such an excess,
+the precepts of the Koran.
+
+_Korosko.—Feb._ 15. We arrived at this village at ten o’clock. Here
+again commences a Nubian dialect, but different from the Kenous, above
+the first cataract. The district of Wady el Elayat, or Wady el Arabi,
+which we passed through yesterday, is the division between these two
+Nubian tribes. We have allowed our camels to rest this afternoon,
+previous to commencing to-morrow morning the fatigues, perils, and
+privations of the Great Desert: they are making the last hearty meal
+which they will enjoy for some time; the Ababdes are filling the water
+skins, while my servants are employed in foraging for provisions; no
+easy task in a Nubian village. Mr. B. has made me a view in colours
+of the extraordinary effect of the scenery in Nubia, produced by
+the wonderful contrast between the dark hills and the bright yellow
+sands, fringed with strips of the beautiful verdure on the banks of
+the river. The Governor, an Effendi, paid me a visit in my tent,
+and frankly asked me for several things which he saw, and fancied;
+which I as frankly refused. The visits of inferior Turks are always
+annoyances: it is very seldom that any information can be obtained
+from them, and their impertinence is without bounds. I was amused
+by his secretary, a Copt, who complained that he was affected by a
+pain in his chest when the weather was cold. I gave him some flannel,
+which I could ill spare, also some medicine; and, with other advice,
+I told him most peremptorily that he must drink no arracki (spirit).
+This last injunction disconcerted him exceedingly; and his master
+laughed heartily at an advice which he knew to be so unwelcome to his
+jovial secretary. I told him it would kill him. “Well,” said he, “if
+it kills me, _maktoob min Allah!_ it is written, but drink I must.”
+In the evening, he came to me again, half intoxicated. As I offered
+him no beverage, except coffee, he soon, with a cunning smile and an
+expressive nod, pulled out of his pocket a small bottle of excellent
+arracki and a little cup. I did not wish to offend the fellow, having
+occasion to leave some boxes in his charge until my return, and
+therefore endured his company for some time. At last, his intoxication
+increasing, he was quite insupportable, and I was obliged to desire
+my servant to turn him out. His good-humour did not forsake him, nor
+did he seem at all offended; coolly observing, that he was sorry I was
+tired of his company.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+COMMENCEMENT OF THE JOURNEY ACROSS THE GREAT NUBIAN DESERT. —
+DESCRIPTION OF THE CARAVAN. — ADVANTAGES OF TURKISH DRESS AND
+CUSTOMS. — PROVISIONS NECESSARY FOR THE DESERT. — AKABA, OR
+MOUNTAIN PASSES. — DEAD CAMELS. — FEAR OF ROBBERS. — ANXIETY
+ABOUT THE STOCK OF WATER. — ARAB OPINION OF TRAVELLERS. —
+ALARMING DIMINUTION OF OUR WATER. — DEAD BODIES OF SLAVES AND
+CAMELS. — HOJAB EL JENOUS. — BAB EL KOROSKO. — AGE OF THE
+CAMEL. — BAHR BELA MA, OR SEA WITHOUT WATER. — MERAGE. —
+PERILS AND CHARMS OF THE DESERT LIFE. — DILET EL DOOM, VALLEY
+OF THE SHADE OF THE DOOMS. — GOLD MINES. — OMRISHI SUFIR. —
+WELLS NOW DRY. — EL MURRAH, OR THE WELL OF BITTER WATERS. —
+HIEROGLYPHICS ON THE ROCKS. — COLONY OF BISHAREEN. — HEIGHT AND
+CHARACTER OF THE MOUNTAINS. — ARAB SONGS. — GAZELLE. — DANGER OF
+LEAVING CARAVAN. — ABSAH GOLD MINES. — STORMS IN THE DESERT. —
+CAMBYSES. — BRUCE. — ARAB MANNER OF MOUNTING THE CAMEL. — MANNER
+IN WHICH THE ARABS REPOSE. — ARRIVAL AT THE NILE. — ESTIMATE OF
+THE LENGTH OF THE ROUTE AND GENERAL PACE OF THE CAMEL.
+
+
+_The Great Nubian Desert.—Feb._ 16. This morning, at eight
+o’clock, we left Korosko, and entered the Desert. Having omitted
+until now giving a description of my caravan, I may mention, as
+useful to future travellers, the provisions and equipments which may
+be considered as necessary for a journey of this description. Both
+my artist, Signor B. and myself, wear the Turkish Nizam uniform. A
+traveller might, without much risk, retain his European dress;
+but it is most prudent and desirable to adopt the Turkish, as
+being the best suited, not only to the climate, but also to serve
+the important object of commanding respect. Those travellers who
+refuse this tribute to the customs of the country pay dear for
+their prejudice. If it does not expose them to frequent insult,
+they are at all events less esteemed by the natives; and they lose a
+decided advantage, in not having the comfort and luxury of a dress
+so admirably suited to the climate and manners of the East. Our
+unnatural tight trousers, waistcoats, and coats, with their padding,
+braces, straps, starch, stiffners, and stocks, in a tropical country
+would be intolerable. Another advantage of this comfortable and
+graceful costume is, that it enables you to repose with ease in any
+position. To sit bolt upright, on a hard chair, in such a latitude as
+this, is what no one could endure, who had experienced the luxurious
+ease of the Turkish divan. The rest of my caravan consisted of a guide
+(Habeer) on his dromedary; a very picturesque-looking fellow. Besides
+the usual arms of the Arabs, the long spear, sword, and shield of the
+hippopotamus, he had also a brace of pistols attached to his saddle,
+which he took great pride in displaying. He was very independent,
+and conscious of the importance of his office, so that I was afraid
+at starting he would not have been so manageable as I afterwards
+found him. My dragoman, Mahomet Abdini, a native of Cairo, was
+the cleverest servant I ever knew in any country: his wily tongue
+and insinuating address were often of more service to me than my
+piastres. I had, besides, a Greek servant, named Ibrahim, alias
+Michele; a Mahometan with the Arabs and Turks, and a Christian with
+his own countrymen. He speaks Italian fluently, and also the Turkish,
+Greek, and Arabic. He is the musician of the party; and his singing,
+accompanied by his fiddle, is vastly agreeable to the natives, but,
+being in the harsh style of the modern Greeks, is grating to my
+ears. I had, besides, a Copt, who had served me long and usefully
+at Thebes, in the dignified station of umbrella-bearer. Including,
+therefore, our Ababdes, owners of the camels, the full complement
+of my little caravan amounts to twelve persons and eleven camels. My
+stock of provisions chiefly consists of a large sack of Cairo biscuit,
+and another of rice. Besides these two chief requisites, and also
+charcoal, I have a good supply of groceries, tea, sugar, coffee,
+and wax candles, and last, but most important, twenty geerbahs of
+water, which I expect will be amply sufficient for the eight days of
+desert journey, though the Signor has forewarned me, most anxiously,
+more than fifty times, _che beve molto_. This is the desert in which
+Bruce and Burckhardt suffered so much. They took the easterly and more
+direct track, which commences at Deroueh, a little below Assuan, and
+therefore had a longer space to traverse, with, however, the advantage
+of meeting repeatedly with good water. At a quarter past six, P.M.,
+we encamped. Our road this day has been through a succession of
+narrow valleys, called Akaba, or mountain passes, and small plains,
+bounded by low picturesque hills. The valleys are covered with
+sand, in some places two feet deep, but generally much less, and
+sometimes the bare rock is visible. Sandstone forms the base of the
+valley and of the hills. There are, however, some of slate, varying
+from 150 to 180 feet in height. I observed a great variety in their
+forms. We have already met with a few of the horrors of the desert,
+particularly numbers of dead camels, some of which had perished
+lately, and vultures were feeding on their carcases. They seem also
+to have attracted the hyænas from their dens, as I discerned on
+the sand numerous traces of those animals. Some of our water-skins,
+I am sorry to find, are bad. I marvel Signor B. did not perceive
+this at Korosko, as he took an active part in tying them up. The
+journey from Assuan has injured them, yet, with care, I hope to have
+a sufficient supply. This evening the camel men objected to pitching
+my tent, saying that they were afraid of robbers. I did not yield to
+their alarms, as sleeping in the open air is an Eastern custom which
+I am not much inclined to try at this season of the year. I cannot
+conceive a tent to be much additional attraction to Arab plunderers,
+if there are any; but the depredations upon the water, I fear, are
+by my own Ababdes, as their own supply is small. I have, therefore,
+caused all the geerbahs to be carried into my tent. If we run short,
+and have to suffer, it shall not be for want of precautions. While
+my camel men were thus occupied, one of them asked me why I was
+subjecting myself to the danger and fatigue of such a journey,
+when I was rich enough to stay at home. The Arabs are now not so
+much surprised at travellers going to Wady Halfah. So many make that
+journey, that it is no longer a novelty; besides that, the Cangias
+(boats of the Nile), though any thing but agreeable to Europeans,
+appear luxurious to the peasants. They can easily conceive the
+pleasure of sailing in what they consider delightful conveyances,
+listening to the songs of the boatmen, smoking all the day, and
+eating and drinking of the best the villages can afford; but that
+travellers should voluntarily expose themselves to the fatigues and
+heat of the desert, apparently for the sake of a few old stones,
+is to them quite incomprehensible.
+
+_Desert.—Feb._ 17. A fearful accident has befallen us. To our utter
+dismay, four of our largest geerbahs are empty, the water having
+leaked out during the night. The skins are old, although the best
+we could procure at Assuan. The rest seem good: Heaven grant that
+they may prove so! the consequences of another such accident might be
+fatal. We have passed to-day the bodies of seven human beings who have
+doubtless recently perished from thirst and fatigue; we have seen also
+dead camels without number. We have travelled twelve hours through
+valleys of the same character as those we passed yesterday. Some of
+the hills might be from 230 to 250 feet in height, but the greater
+number from 100 to 150 feet. Many, like those of yesterday, are
+isolated, and some standing in the centre of the valleys. They consist
+chiefly of slate, but some are of sandstone. They are called Hojab el
+Jenous, from there being several representations of buffaloes drawn
+on the rocks by some rude artists, probably Arabs. The valleys are
+almost entirely covered with sand, on which I found many round balls,
+of the form of peaches, of iron glance. At sunset we left the valleys,
+the last hills of which are rather higher than the others, and are
+called Bab el Korosko, or the Gate of Korosko, and encamped behind
+a small hill, at the commencement of a large sandy plain, called
+Atmoor Bahr Bela Ma, that is, the sea without water. We have been
+twenty-two hours _en route_ in these valleys, which I consider not
+less than sixty miles, from the rate we have travelled. The Ababdes
+occasionally sing to animate their camels. The effect in accelerating
+their speed is quite extraordinary. First one camel-driver sings a
+verse, then the others answer in chorus. It reminded me somewhat
+of the Venetian gondoliers.[5] I noticed that they lingered near
+the bodies of the dead camels, being apparently more affected by
+them than by those of the slaves. The latter they perhaps knew not,
+while the camels were old acquaintances. I have often made attempts
+to learn the age which this animal usually attains, but have never
+been able fully to ascertain it. The general answer is, a hundred
+years. By examining and tracing the traditionary stories on the
+subject, I am led to conceive their span of life equal to that of
+man, and subject to similar frequent contingencies from different
+causes, such as extremes of heat and cold, excessive fatigue,
+and particularly the great neglect of the owners. This evening I
+have bestowed great pains on the preservation of the water, having
+suspended the suspicious geerbahs in my tent.
+
+_Feb._ 18. We mounted our camels this morning at half past six, and
+have had an exceedingly fatiguing ride of thirteen hours, forty miles,
+without any repose, struggling through one immense down of sand. There
+were some small hills of sandstone, with occasional thin layers of
+gypsum. The sand was very fatiguing for the camels: on its surface
+I found disseminated many of the round balls of iron flint, or iron
+glance, varying from four to eight inches in circumference. Their
+exterior is often uneven. I found, also, some balls, hollow like the
+others, and occasionally two united together. These were silicious
+conglomerates. I observed, also, numerous quartzose pebbles, and
+some fragments of white marble, the only specimens I have seen in
+this desert. The mountains are chiefly of slate. We have suffered
+very much from the fatigue of this day’s journey, and have still
+five days’ march through this waterless desert. The only object
+to interest me, and relieve the weariness of mind and body, has
+been the merage, so often described. Some travellers state that
+this phenomenon has deceived them repeatedly. This I am surprised
+at, since its peculiar appearance, joined to its occurrence in
+a desert where the traveller is too forcibly impressed with the
+recollection that no lakes or standing pools exist, would appear
+to me to prevent the possibility, that he who has once seen it can
+be a second time deceived. Still this does not diminish the beauty
+of the phenomenon:—to see amidst burning sands and barren hills
+an apparently beautiful lake, perfectly calm, and unruffled by any
+breeze, reflecting in its bosom the surrounding rocks, is, indeed,
+an interesting and wonderful spectacle; but it is a tantalising
+sight to the Arabs traversing the desert on foot, always with a
+scanty supply of water, and often, owing to their great imprudence,
+wholly destitute of it. There is much of the sublime to elevate,
+and of real danger to excite the mind, in the passage of the Desert:
+the boundless plains of sand, the thought of the distance from the
+habitations of man, and from the most common necessaries of life, the
+perpetual apprehension of falling short of water, and the certainty,
+that whoever, from fatigue or illness, is unable to keep pace with the
+caravan, will at once, with a camel and his share of the provision,
+be abandoned to his fate. And what a fate! Few left in this manner
+ever reach their destination. My Ababdes seem, also, to have a great
+fear of the Bishareen, who occasionally plunder the caravans. These
+alarms produce a certain excitement, which calls forth all the energy
+of the traveller: but were these dangers tenfold greater than they
+really are, the thought that I am approaching nearer and nearer to
+Meroe would sufficiently animate my courage.
+
+_Feb._ 19. We mounted our camels this morning at six, and at eleven
+we left the Bahr Bela Ma, which we had been eighteen hours in crossing
+(fifty-four miles). Our road began to wind amongst the mountains. The
+first valley we passed was of considerable breadth, and contained
+great numbers of doom and acacia trees. The former were not very
+large, bearing no fruit, and apparently drooping for want of water. In
+this valley, which is called Dilet el Doom, or Valley of the Shade
+of the Dooms, I observed traces of torrents. Three hours to the east
+of it, I am informed that there are appearances of exhausted gold
+mines, of the habitations of the miners, and the stones used by them
+in procuring the precious metal. The Arabs informed me that the rain
+falls here chiefly at the rising of the Nile, but that last year there
+was none, otherwise we should have seen herbage on the hills;—that
+twenty-four hours is sufficient to produce it. This valley has the
+appearance of having once been cultivated; but I could discover no
+remaining trace of habitations. They tell me that the Bishareen,
+when there is pasture on the hills, lead here their flocks, and
+pitch their tents in this pretty valley. Perhaps, when Ethiopia
+was more populous, and before the gold mines were exhausted, this
+road was much frequented; and probably, by sinking wells (for I feel
+persuaded that water might be found in these valleys), and by forming
+small colonies at suitable stations, a safe and rapid communication
+may have existed between the centre and extremity of the kingdom. A
+short distance out of the direct road is a well called Omrisha,
+now dry, but which contains water during the rainy season. About
+an hour and a half beyond this is another well, called Sufir, now
+also dry. The mountains consist generally of flinty slate, some
+few of sandstone. Their forms are broken, and very picturesque. At
+two o’clock we passed through a chain of hills, by a road which
+has evidently been artificially formed. This is another proof that
+pains have been taken by a more civilised people to diminish the
+difficulties of travelling in this region. At four P.M. we entered
+the valley of the spring called El Murrah, or the Well of Bitter
+Waters, the only one in the Desert that is not now dry; we encamped
+for the night, that our camels might have time to drink, and our
+men to repose. On one of the rocks of the valley of the spring are
+some hieroglyphics. I distinguished the name of the god Horus, and
+the hawk, the emblem of that divinity. There are four wells within
+a few feet of each other, all exceedingly salt, and considered by
+the Arab merchants and Turks as very unwholesome. One, however,
+is much better than the others. The Arabs and camels drink of this,
+and we have filled some of our water-skins, in case the stock from
+the Nile should not be sufficient; otherwise we shall not use it,
+as it is extremely salt, and strongly impregnated with iron. One
+of my servants, not content with his allowance of the water of
+the Nile, drank a large cup of it, which caused nausea and severe
+purging for some time afterwards. It has not the same effect on the
+Ababdes, who apparently enjoy it as much as their camels. There are
+six families of Bishareen stationed here, who attend to cleaning the
+wells from sand. The Pasha placed them in this valley, but gives them
+no allowance. They possess camels, with which they trade, and supply
+the merchants who need these animals. All the caravans give them a
+trifle. They live in tents made of mats; and their wild appearance,
+extraordinary head-dress, yet fine features, quite accord with our
+idea of dwellers in the desert. The nauseous salt water is their only
+beverage, but does not seem to disagree with them. I never beheld a
+more sad picture of savagery and desolation than their encampment. The
+Arab tribes, even the most remote, cannot be called savages, since
+they speak one of the richest and most beautiful languages in the
+world, and many of them are versed in the Koran; but the harsh and
+uncouth gibberish of these wild Bishareen is only intelligible to
+themselves. They inhabit tracts of country, where Nature seems almost
+to deny them a subsistence; and not even the terror of the Pasha’s
+vengeance can restrain their predatory propensities. A European
+must have powerful protection from their own chiefs to venture into
+their inhospitable wilds. The traveller who has little of novelty to
+interest his attention in the dreary desert cannot readily dispel
+the gloomy impression forced on his mind by contemplating man in
+this his lowest condition. When he reflects on the abject state of
+these naked Bishareen, their ignorance of religious principles, of all
+intellectual and civilised enjoyments, the scanty and precarious means
+by which their life is supported: a dish of coarse unground dourah,
+moistened by water of the most disgusting quality; a miserable tent
+their only shelter from the tropical sun, and from the nightly cold,
+so bitter in these regions, and so painful from its contrast with
+the mid-day heat: he is astonished at the physical phenomenon, that
+the constitution of man can endure so much privation; and he cannot
+but admire the mysteries of Providence, when he sees a human being
+of like capacities and passions with himself content and happy in
+a state so slightly removed from the condition of the brute.
+
+_Feb._ 20. This morning, at six, we left the Bishareen quite in
+joyance at having received a trifle more than the customary gift of
+a few piasters, and delighted with the privilege of scrambling for a
+few pieces of broken glass, which had been thrown out of my tent. I
+should state that last night, and also for two hours before we set out
+this morning, they had stationed themselves close to our encampment,
+like wild animals seeking their prey. Three quarters of an hour after
+our departure from the well, we left the mountains, and our road
+then lay over an immense plain of sand, sometimes very difficult
+for the camels to wade through, but generally not very soft, and
+indeed, occasionally quite hard. This plain, which is ten hours, or
+thirty miles, in extent, is almost entirely surrounded by hills. The
+width varies from about ten to fifteen miles. At five P.M. we again
+entered into the mountains, and waded through several narrow valleys,
+containing acacia trees. At six, that is, after twelve hours’ ride,
+we encamped. The mountains, called Cab el Kofas, or the Spilling of
+the baskets, particularly one about 400 feet high, at the entrance of
+this chain, are very picturesque. The effect of a tropical sunset upon
+them was magnificent. Their general height was about 200 feet, and
+some were of less altitude. Their form was generally a long continuous
+chain, with peaks of various forms. I observed some in the distance
+totally isolated, and having the appearance of pyramids. We should
+not have passed this plain so rapidly but for the common custom of
+the Arabs, before mentioned, of urging on their camels by singing:
+the effect is very extraordinary; this musical excitement increases
+their pace at least one fourth. I often asked the camel drivers to
+sing, not only to hasten our progress, but also for the pleasure of
+hearing their simple melodies. Some of their best songs possess a
+plaintive sweetness that is almost as touching as the most exquisite
+European airs. The words are often beautiful, generally simple and
+natural, being improvisatory effusions. The following is a very
+imperfect specimen. One takes up the song:—“Ah, when shall I
+see my family again; the rain has fallen, and made a canal between
+me and my home. Oh, shall I never see it more?” The reply to this
+and similar verses was always made by the chorus, in words such as
+these:—“Oh, what pleasure, what delight, to see my family again;
+when I see my father, mother, brothers, sisters, I will hoist a flag
+on the head of my camel for joy!” I asked a fine, handsome lad, who
+was singing this _ranz des vaches_ of the desert with the feeling of
+a Swiss, if he would go with me to England, to my village. He asked
+me how long I had been absent; I told him three years. “No,”
+said he, “I cannot go with you; if I were to be absent from my
+family three years, I should be very unhappy—I should be ill.”
+Near the place where we are encamped is another well, now dry.
+
+_Feb._ 21. We set out this morning at seven, and proceeded through
+defiles in the mountains, which at eleven we quitted. The valleys we
+passed through, for the first four hours, were strewed with quartz,
+a common kind of porphyry, and fragments of indurated clay slate,
+approaching to rubbarid jasper. The mountains were chiefly of flinty
+slate and hornblende. There are a few acacia trees in the valley, and
+here and there dried up grass. Among the latter we started a gazelle,
+which Mr. B. and I pursued round an isolated hill at the entrance of
+a large plain. We could scarcely have lost ourselves, particularly as
+I had a compass in my pocket; but, on our rejoining the caravan, the
+Habeer warned us not to leave it again, and told us many instances
+of Turks and others having been lost by following the gazelles
+into the mountains. A Nazr and Katshef perished, very recently,
+by their imprudent eagerness in chasing the animals through their
+winding valleys. Some time afterwards, a particular search having
+been made, they were found dead a considerable distance from the
+road, their hands clenched, apparently in the last agonies of that
+most horrid of deaths, which is produced by thirst. This creature
+might have been fancied our evil genius in the guise of a gazelle,
+tempting us to destruction; for, scarcely did we come within sight
+of the graceful coquette, than she bounded off, and, after a short
+career, stopped again.
+
+
+                    ····“Lasciva puella:
+
+  Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit antè videri.”—_Buc._ iii.
+
+
+She continued to lead us on in this wanton manner, until we were aware
+that we had wandered from the road further than was prudent. At last,
+she ran towards some narrow defiles; but we did not allow our ardour
+for the chase to carry us further. Although conscious we were in the
+direction the caravan must take, we did not see it for some time,
+and felt a strange inquietude on finding ourselves alone, destitute,
+and helpless, in the midst of this immense desert. I fired my gun,
+and, the signal being answered, our uneasiness was relieved. Towards
+the end of this chain of hills, about two hours’ journey east of
+the direct road, is a place called Absah, where there are traces of
+gold mines, and, as at the one at the same distance from the valley of
+the dooms, numerous remains of habitations, but apparently not very
+ancient. The stones with which they were worked remain, and there
+are wells now dry. The Arabs keep them a great secret, and will take
+no traveller to visit them, unless he has a particular order from
+the Pasha, and is protected by one of their chiefs. M. Bonomi, who
+enjoyed these advantages, will, I hope, soon give us an account of
+them. The result, I believe, of his investigation was, that they are
+now so exhausted, that they would not repay the labour of working. At
+eleven we entered a large sandy plain, and at four P.M. we passed some
+hills of a pyramidal shape. They are of syenite, and their formation
+is similar to the round granite rocks of the First Cataract. They are
+called El Talati Greibat—the Three Greibat—from their being at a
+distance apparently only three. They extend considerably towards the
+east; but some of them are so low as to be nearly covered with the
+sand. North-east of these I observed some hills of the same conical
+form, called Adaramat; but I was at too great a distance from them to
+perceive whether they were of granite. After eleven hours’ ride,
+we encamped in the plain at six. The wind is very high; I am almost
+afraid of my tent being carried away. For several days I have been on
+the look out, thinking it possible that on these light sandy plains
+I might see some of Bruce’s pillars of moving sand; but I have
+not been favoured with the view of any such _stalking_ prodigy;
+and I must declare that, notwithstanding the numerous deserts
+I have crossed, at different seasons, always making particular
+enquiries on the subject, I have neither seen nor heard of such
+as he describes. The wandering Arabs tell the women, children,
+and peasants of the Nile fearful stories of the whirlpool of the
+desert, and the terrible simoom; but such tales, embellished by an
+Oriental imagination, will rarely bear investigation. From what I
+have been able to ascertain, there are certain gusts of wind which
+occasionally sweep over these deserts, with clouds of sand, which
+prevent your distinguishing any object at all distant; but these are
+not very dangerous to caravans, except in those tracts where there
+are immense hills or accumulations of light sand, such as I have seen
+near the Oasis Magna, in the Libyan desert. The custom of caravans,
+when they have the misfortune to meet with such blasts, is to pitch
+their tents and shelter themselves within them. Whatever may be the
+quantity of sand, they are always safe if they can reach the summit,
+or place themselves under covert of a hill. I will mention here an
+instance of this kind, which, in returning from my first voyage up
+the Nile to the Second Cataract, along with Mr. Ponsonby, he and I
+witnessed, on the 14th of April, 1832. We were on the point of going
+that evening to the Isle of Elephantina, when a violent storm, which,
+considering the season, though rather too early, I might almost
+call Khampseen, came on. The whole day had been unusually hazy,
+the air thick and exceedingly oppressive. The extreme heat of the
+thermometer was 86° in the shade; at sunrise, 70°; sunset, 74°:
+86° was a few degrees higher than we experienced it several days
+previous and after; and I may also remark, that the day following,
+the thermometer did not rise above 79°. About five o’clock, an
+immense cloud of sand came sweeping along with a wind so violent,
+that a boat which was crossing the river to the island was driven
+back, and the air became so turbid and impregnated with sand, that
+it was impossible to distinguish any object ten yards from the bank
+of the river. We heard the peasants in the fields, seemingly wild
+with confusion and alarm, calling aloud to each other and for their
+children; and when the sand enveloped them from our sight, we still
+heard their cries. A scene so strange and impressive I shall never
+forget. The gale blew almost directly from the west, and seemed to
+be a specimen of those which have successively swept before them
+the hills of light loose sand, which, as the Egyptian traveller
+will recollect, have completely smothered the cultivated land on
+the western bank of the river opposite Assuan. We endeavoured to
+shelter ourselves from it as well as the old windows of our cangia
+would permit; but the sand penetrated every where, into my bed,
+arms, instruments, and linen; and even my watch was affected. I
+felt it in my eyes and between my teeth. I then made the reflection,
+how awful it would be to encounter such a simoom in the desert. It
+was by such a storm that the army of Cambyses is supposed to have
+been overwhelmed, as Dr. Darwin in his “Botanic Garden” most
+graphically describes it:—
+
+
+  Wave over wave the driving desert swims,
+
+  Bursts o’er their heads, inhumes their struggling limbs,
+
+  And one great earthly ocean covers all:
+
+  Then ceased the storm—Night bow’d his Æthiop brow
+
+  To earth, and listen’d to the groans below.
+
+                          ······Awhile the living hill
+
+  Heaved with convulsive throes, and all was still.[6]
+
+
+In mentioning that I have never heard of nor seen these sandy or
+meteoric pillars, which is the more remarkable since Bruce says
+he observed them day after day, I do not mean to affirm that he
+could not have seen that extraordinary phenomenon in this very
+desert. That adventurous and intrepid traveller has been already
+too much calumniated. I merely state that my own experience, and
+the numerous enquiries I have made, lead to the conclusion, that
+such phenomena are now unknown: it must, however, be recollected,
+that Bruce crossed this desert more in the interior. Those who have
+most strongly condemned Bruce for his occasional exaggerations and
+embellishments (into which he certainly fell), have forgotten that
+few other travellers have ever brought to their country so large a
+mass of fresh, interesting, valuable, and correct information. Salt,
+his most severe critic, in speaking of his drawings of the ruins of
+Axum, asserts that he was no draftsman; yet he contradicts himself
+in a variety of other instances, where he confirms the accuracy of
+Bruce’s delineations of plants and birds, which are more difficult
+to execute than an obelisk without hieroglyphics. Mr. B. is most to
+blame for not acknowledging sufficiently the services of his Italian
+artist. Many of his tales, marvellous as they at first appeared,
+have proved to be correct. There was a time in England, when, if
+a traveller mentioned any fact that was contrary to preconceived
+ideas, he was accused of error, and often, notwithstanding his
+previous character of honour and integrity, of wilful exaggeration,
+and even misrepresentation. Now, however, the mass of well-educated
+and scientific men have more liberal ideas, and, being anxious for
+information, are pleased to see the errors of earlier travellers
+corrected, and endeavour, with philosophical discrimination, to
+bestow on each the credit which is due to him.
+
+_Feb._ 22. My dromedary was on his knees at seven this morning. The
+Arab mounts his camel, by pulling down his head, placing his knee on
+its neck, and allowing the animal to raise him on its back. The first
+time I attempted to ascend a dromedary in this style, was on my route
+from the Oasis Magna; and I paid the penalty of my inexperience. I
+had pushed on in advance of my caravan nearly a couple of miles,
+when I had occasion to alight to adjust my saddle. Not doubting that
+I could mount with true Arab agility, I made the attempt; but deeming
+it necessary to spring with the return of the animal’s neck, our
+united force pitched me clear over its tail, leaving me sprawling on
+the sand,—a lesson to all too aspiring riders. The dromedary ran
+back at full speed to the caravan. For eleven hours before reaching
+any hills, except a small one called Faroot, we traversed an immense
+down, the full extent of which, from the hills called El Talati
+Greibat, to the smaller ones called Mogram, could not be less than
+forty miles, without any perceptible alteration in its level. It
+consists of sand, on which was disseminated a great variety of
+quartz fragments, principally of a deep red colour, and from a half
+to three inches in length. I observed, also, on the plain, numerous
+detached pieces of mica, and some curious specimens of granite. We
+passed at six P.M. the small range of mountains called Mogram, which
+are of flinty slate; and about two hours afterwards we encamped,
+after thirteen hours’ ride, in another plain. To-morrow morning we
+expect to arrive at the valley of the Nile. I look forward to that
+event with great pleasure. My servants are exhausted by the bodily
+fatigue for so many hours each day, the short allowance of water,
+the cold at night, sleeping in the open air, and other privations
+which they are obliged to submit to; and Signor B. begins to bear
+with impatience the want of his soup, the provident regulations of
+the desert not permitting our precious water to be employed for that
+purpose. For two days the wind has been high, and we have not been
+able to use our umbrellas as a protection from the scorching rays
+of an almost vertical sun. Our camels, also, have suffered from
+the thirteen days’ fatigue. We were obliged to leave one at El
+Murrah with the Bishareen, being unable to continue the journey. I
+observed, also, this afternoon, that my Ababdes seemed more than
+usually tired. Their manner of resting is peculiar. They walk on a
+short distance in advance of the caravan, choose a flat part of the
+desert, if possible, shaded by a rock, and extend themselves at full
+length flat on their backs, stretching out their arms and legs. This
+mode of reposing for a few minutes I have found to be very refreshing.
+
+_Arrival at the Nile. Village of Abouhammed.—Feb._ 23. We left
+this morning at seven, and reached the banks of the Nile in five
+hours. There is no apparent descent from the desert. Our fatigues
+and sufferings were all forgotten, and every one seemed to bless
+his stars, and think it luxury to quaff again the delicious waters
+of this most noble of streams, uncontaminated by the taste of the
+geerbah skins, and no longer confined to the scanty allowance of
+the caravan. The Ababdes have found here many relations and friends,
+and there seems to be no end to salamats and taip eens, to shaking
+of hands and embracing. At their request I have consented that the
+remainder of the day shall be devoted to repose and festivity. My
+servants have killed the fattest sheep they could find; part of
+which, and a small backsheesh (present of money), I have given to
+the Ababdes to complete their happiness. They are already at work,
+drinking the bouza; and I observe that some pretty Berber women with
+their jests and charms are increasing their hilarity. We have been
+eighty-six hours in this route:—
+
+                                                                  Miles.
+
+  33 hours in the valleys, at 2¾ miles per hour                    91¾
+
+  53 hours on the plains, which I calculate at 3 miles
+  per hour                                                        159
+                                                                  ----
+  This agrees very satisfactorily with the known
+  difference of latitude.[7] (See the Map.)                       250
+                                                                  ----
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+ABOU-HAMMED. — FORTIFIED HOUSE OF THE SHEAKH. — ISLAND OF
+MOGRAT. — POPULATION. — TAX TO THE PASHA. — TROPICAL RAINS. —
+ARAB RAFT. — FORTUNATE ESCAPE. — MANNER IN WHICH THE CAMELS PASS
+THE RIVER. — GAGI. — DESCRIPTION OF THE HAREM OF A SHEAKH. —
+OFFICE HEREDITARY. — HABITATION OF A SHEAKH. — ETHIOPIAN
+FLIES. — DOUM TREES. — ABOU-HASHIM AND OTHER VILLAGES. —
+CULTIVATION. — ARAB CIVILITIES. — BERBER SHEEP AND GOATS. —
+VILLAGES AND ISLANDS. — ARAB BURIAL-GROUND. — GENERAL CHARACTER
+OF THE COUNTRY. — TRACT OF DESERT. — WILD ASSES. — FIFTH
+CATARACT. — PRESENT STATE OF NUMEROUS VILLAGES. — ARRIVAL AT
+MAKKARIF, CAPITAL OF BERBER.
+
+
+This part of the valley of the Nile is not very pleasing or fertile,
+the eastern bank being almost entirely swallowed by the desert. The
+village is called Abou-Hammed; and consists of a few houses, or rather
+wretched huts, built of mud and straw. The fortified house of Sheakh
+Halif is almost as large as the village itself: since his death it
+has not been occupied. It consists of a large quadrangular brick
+enclosure, with a circular tower at each corner. In the centre is
+a building of one story, in which are the divans and sleeping-room
+of the Sheakh. Along the enclosing walls are innumerable little
+huts,—the apartments of his wives and concubines, the latter of whom
+are said to have at one time amounted to no fewer than sixty. Opposite
+to this village is the Island of Mograt, which is principally
+remarkable for numerous fine doum trees, profusely scattered upon
+it. The Sheakh of this district paid me a visit, and informed me that
+it contained, chiefly residing on the island, twenty-five families;
+which, he said, probably consisted of 300 individuals. I remarked,
+that this was allowing a very great proportion for each family;
+but he replied, that one family consists sometimes of forty persons;
+a fact only to be accounted for by the polygamic privileges of the
+Mahometans. I am told that the district contains forty sakkeas,
+which confirms this estimate of the population, as seven or eight
+persons may always be reckoned to a wheel. The peasants of the island
+informed me that they pay twelve dollars and two ardebs of wheat
+as a tax for each sakkea. I searched over the eastern side of this
+island for antiquities; but without success, except a small fragment
+of a wall of unburnt bricks, apparently Saracenic. I neither found nor
+heard of any vestiges of its ancient rulers. The island is very rocky;
+I observed some of hornblende slate, and granite, with disseminated
+fragments of quartz, and beautiful specimens of Egyptian jasper. The
+Sheakh complained of its being rocky and not very fertile: “We toil
+hard,” said he, “but earn little:” yet this part of the valley
+of the Nile seems very healthy. The malaria which, higher up, after
+the time of the inundation, causes so much sickness and mortality,
+is here unknown. The tropical rains sometimes extend lower than this
+place, but not regularly: for three years rain has been entirely
+wanting, and the peasants complain of not having herbage in the
+valleys for their camels. I crossed the river to the Island of
+Mograt, on a raft or boat of the rudest description,—three logs
+of wood lashed together, with sides and square ends constructed
+in the same primitive manner. Perceiving that the natives passed
+in these safely, I did not hesitate to trust myself upon one. A
+peasant, with a clumsily constructed paddle, impelled and guided
+the raft; another holding up with one hand part of his dress, as a
+protection against the wind, while with the other he was employed
+in baling out the water. The servant I had with me was similarly
+engaged. Before we entered the raft it was one third full of water,
+which was immediately doubled by our additional weight. I did not,
+however, allow them to bale out much, as I perceived there was less
+danger of our being swamped than upset by the violence of the wind,
+and was therefore glad of the water for ballast. I sat at one end,
+not uselessly employed; for, as the raft seemed often inclined to
+turn over on one side or the other alternately, I kept it balanced by
+throwing my weight accordingly. I asked my Charon if they were often
+upset? “Yes,” said he, “repeatedly; but we are unembarrassed
+with clothes, and can swim to shore;” at the same time eyeing rather
+superciliously my wide Turkish trousers, which, had any accident
+occurred, would as infallibly have carried me to the bottom as if a
+millstone had been tied around my neck. In fact, my worthy friend,
+Charon, on his return to the island, after bringing me back, was
+upset, and saved his life by his dexterity in swimming. I scarcely
+had time to smoke a shibouk, when my servant came running in to give
+me this intelligence, and congratulate me on my escape; but as these
+Arabs, like crocodiles, swim nearly as easily as they walk, no danger
+was apprehended. I observed to-day the curious manner they transport
+the camels to the island. The men fill a large geerbah (water-skin),
+with air, on which they place themselves, and paddle across, leading
+the animals by a cord, and encouraging them to swim by their songs.
+
+_Gagi.—Feb._ 24. We set out this morning at eight, and encamped
+at the village of Gagi at five,—nine hours. Here, and in the
+island of the same name adjoining, they number fifty men, all
+of the Ababde tribe. In the island are six sakkeas, for each of
+which they pay to the government fourteen dollars and two ardebs of
+wheat. We are encamped, as usual, near the house of the sheakh. I
+walked into his harem without ceremony, and chatted with his wives
+and female slaves. Some of them were very beautifully formed;
+and being almost naked, they displayed finely shaped busts, and,
+I may say, almost perfect symmetry of shape; their features very
+regular, and their full dark eyes exceedingly expressive. The little
+drapery worn by them is adjusted with great taste, and they possess
+a natural ease of manner, neither bashful nor yet too forward, which
+is very engaging. The slaves were employed in making basket-work,
+and the wives reposing on their angareebs. I could not, in Egypt,
+have taken the liberty of entering a harem in this manner; but here,
+apparently, more freedom is permitted, for they did not seem at all
+offended; on the contrary, they gave me as much encouragement as I
+could desire. They examined my arms and dress, and were profuse in
+their admiration of my beard, and in exclamations, as, “Odjaib,
+whallah! wonderful, God is great! but he is a tall man.” The sheakh
+was smoking under the shade of some doum trees. He saw me enter,
+but had the politeness not to interfere. The title of sheakh was at
+one time always hereditary in Upper Egypt; but the Pasha, in most
+instances, put an end to this mode of transmission; choosing for that
+honour those that had best suited his purposes. In Upper Nubia, he has
+respected a little more the existing distinctions. There the office
+of sheakh is still in general hereditary: the eldest son succeeds to
+the father; and, in default of male issue, the eldest daughter enjoys
+the dignity. On account of the number of their wives, it rarely occurs
+that they have no son; but I am told there is an instance now, near
+Dongolah, of a female sheakh. I have described the fortified house
+of a great sheakh: that of one less powerful and wealthy consists,
+generally, of two large rooms, a divan and harem, between which is
+a pallisaded enclosure, where the flocks are kept. (See Vignette,
+p. 1.) The sheakhs offer us every night angoureebs[8] (bedsteads)
+made of wood and cords, but we are now so accustomed to sleeping on
+the ground that we no longer feel it a hardship. On this evening, and
+also that of yesterday, we have been annoyed by swarms of very small
+flies, like midges, which draw blood most copiously from our hands,
+but without leaving much painful irritation.[9] From Abou-Hammed to
+this village our route has always been through the desert, sometimes
+300 paces only, but often as much as three miles from the river. The
+banks are covered with doums and acacias; the fruit of the former
+is very well flavoured, tasting like good gingerbread, but the
+rind is very hard, and the little that is eatable is so difficult
+to get at, that it is really not worth the trouble. This tree has
+rarely, if ever, branches springing up from the root, like the palm
+tree. The small round and full yellow flower of the acacias emits a
+most delightful odour. The size of these trees is here very great,
+compared to those we see in Europe. The first two hours this morning
+I noticed porphyry rocks appearing above the sand, and fragments
+of the same disseminated; afterwards hornblende rock. Near here the
+rocks are of quartz.
+
+_Abou-Hashim.—Feb._ 25. We left Gagi this morning at seven,
+and encamped here at half past three P.M.—eight hours and a
+half. At half past ten we passed the village of Atmoon, situated
+on the opposite side of the river. It is inhabited entirely by
+Berbers. There are eleven sakkeas there. I am told that there are
+generally seven persons, including children, employed at each. At this
+village, and in the Island of Mero opposite, are twenty-three sakkeas,
+which pay ten dollars 150 piastres, and four ardebs of dourah each,
+equal to 210 piastres. Cailliaud has marked two islands, one Meri,
+the other Mero; but there is, in fact, only one, called Mero. The
+Island of Kourgos, we slept opposite to last night, extended
+until ten A.M. At half past ten we passed an isolated mountain,
+three miles on our left. During the greater part of the day we have
+passed over sandy flat plains; rocks of coarse granite, hornblende,
+and gneiss occasionally appearing above the surface, and fragments
+of the same and of quartz being also disseminated. I also remarked
+rocks and fragments of sandstone much charged with iron. At twelve
+we visited, close to the river, the ruins of a Saracenic castle of
+crude, that is, unbaked, bricks. The Arabs, by their description,
+had led us to expect antiquities. Our track this day has generally
+been a mile and a half distant from the river. (For the bearings,
+see the Map.) Shortly before arriving here, we observed fields of
+dourah; otherwise the banks of this side of the river are generally
+uncultivated, but covered with doum and large acacia trees. The
+productive land seems to be in the islands. The inhabitants of this
+village are mixed, there being some families of Ababdes, but the
+greater number Berbers. We always go to the house of the sheakh,
+who meets us with the usual Arab civilities, and gives us his hand,
+welcoming us as Mahometans, _Salam Aleycam_, and supplying us with
+sheep and milk. Some of these sheakhs have an air and bearing truly
+dignified and patriarchal. Their flocks of goats and sheep form
+their chief ostensible wealth: the sheep are small, and the wool
+worth very little, being so coarse as almost to resemble hair. Their
+colour is beautifully variegated, generally white and black, but in
+some cases white and brown. The mutton, though too young, is good,
+and the goats’ milk the best I ever tasted. We found, near the
+river, this morning, numerous shells of the genus Etheria, almost
+resembling the Ostrea.[10]
+
+_Feb._ 26. We left Abou-Hashim this morning at seven, and encamped at
+five P.M. At half past eleven we passed El Bagahra, and at half past
+one Neddi, the former a large, the latter a small, village. We passed
+also the small island of Essabeas, where there are four sakkeas;
+this island begins at Bagahra, and terminates opposite Neddi. Our
+route, all day, has been at a short distance from the river,
+over the same kind of downs and plains, covered with the doum and
+acacia trees. Near the villages I observed barley and cotton, but no
+dourah; the produce of the island, I am informed, is the same. These
+villages are entirely inhabited by the Berbers. We have passed
+no hills to-day, but I observed continually points of hornblende
+slate and coarse granite appearing above the sand. I have also been
+surprised to observe to-day, _in the desert_, great numbers of the
+same shells. We have passed, during these last three days, several
+burying-places of the Arabs. They consist of earthen or sandy mounds,
+half a foot high; the length and breadth, of course, depend on the
+size of the body. At each end of the mound is a piece of black slate
+rock, about a foot high, and along the centre is a narrow gutter,
+which is filled with loose little pebbles, and, what is singular,
+these are always of the same colour. Sometimes they consist of small
+pieces of yellow, and sometimes of white, quartz; and, occasionally,
+I observed them of the shells above mentioned. Considerable pains is
+evidently taken to choose these stones of exactly the same colour
+and description, and also generally of the same dimensions. The
+effect is very pleasing. The slabs at each end reminded me of the
+simple gravestones in our country churches: the recollection was
+interesting; but they could not stand the comparison; for where,
+indeed, in the wide world, is there any scene to be compared with
+the tranquil beauty of our village churches, diffusing a peaceful
+charm over the rural landscape of rich enclosures, snug parsonage,
+and baronial demesnes, peculiar to England. Here is but a dreary
+wilderness: nature stern and desolate; man nearly in the state of
+the savage. In this part of the valley the breadth of the Nile is
+generally about one third of a mile; but it varies exceedingly,
+being sometimes a whole mile, and occasionally not much above a
+quarter. The foliage on its banks renders it not unpleasing to the
+eye, particularly as contrasted with the adjoining deserts. The
+flatness of the country prevents its being picturesque, except in
+some parts, where rocks and little islands in the bed of the river
+break the monotony of the landscape. This evening we are encamped,
+not, as usual, near a village, but on the banks of the Nile, previous
+to passing a small tract of desert.
+
+_Granata.—Feb._ 27. We commenced our sandy route this morning at
+half-past six, and my caravan arrived at this village at half-past
+six P.M. Mr. B. and myself were only nine hours. Having pushed on our
+dromedaries, we crossed the small desert, before the fifth cataract,
+in six hours. This desert is sandy, with quartz and flinty slate
+disseminated. We saw, for the first time, three wild asses, which
+had been browsing among the acacias near the Nile. There are great
+numbers of them in the country, but the peasants very seldom succeed
+in catching or destroying them. A mixed breed is sometimes seen in
+the villages. From the description of the Arabs, I conceive that the
+zebra, also, exists in these deserts. The wild ass seems larger than
+the common one; but we were at too great a distance to observe them
+particularly. The peasants seldom chase them, but with a good horse
+it is not very difficult. The reader will recollect the beautiful
+and accurate description in Job, chap. xxxix.[11] We arrived at the
+fifth cataract at half past twelve, and remained three hours. It is
+not to be compared to either the first or second for picturesque
+effect. There are here no mountains, or even hills, and the fall,
+at a little distance, is scarcely perceptible. The sound is great,
+the rapids strong, and of such an extent, that, at this season of the
+year, certainly no boat of any size could pass: when the Nile is high
+there would be little difficulty. We made two views, looking north and
+south, and coloured them on the spot; but the vignette will give the
+reader an idea of this cataract of the Nile. Two hours below are the
+islands of Kermi, Drogueh, and Melor: almost opposite the cataract
+is a village called El Solymanieh. Doums and acacias, as usual,
+on the banks of the river. An hour before arriving, we passed the
+small village of Gouloulab. This village, where we are encamped,
+is very large, and said to contain 300 men. The island of Ertole,
+opposite, is represented to have the same population; but this,
+I think, is rather an exaggeration of the sheakhs’.
+
+[Illustration: FIFTH CATARACT OF THE NILE.]
+
+_El Makkarif, Capital of the ancient Kingdom, and now Turkish
+Province, of Berber.—Feb._ 28. We started this morning at seven,
+and at ten passed the large village of El Abadieh, a little below
+which, on the opposite side, is Engreyab; at a quarter past twelve,
+El Ferrakah, opposite which is Abselam; at half past twelve, El
+Dankel; at half past one, El Hassan (vestiges of a Saracenic castle),
+opposite which are the villages of Dekseet and Wady Shekeer; at half
+past one, the village of El Howe; at half past two, El Gadawab; at
+three, we passed a village called Housh, opposite which is Ellet Wady
+Gadallah; at a quarter past three, Mahanifa; at half past three, Dich;
+and at four entered the capital, Makkarif. Most of these villages
+are large, but many almost entirely deserted. In one of 120 houses,
+I counted only twenty that were inhabited. This is occasioned, not
+only by a decrease of population, but also by the wretched state
+of poverty to which the Berbers are now reduced. Many families who
+had formerly two, three, and even six houses, are obliged to content
+themselves with one, allowing the others to fall into ruin from not
+having the means or inducement to repair them. If still possessed of
+any wealth, their only means of preserving it, or, at all events,
+of transmitting it to their posterity, is to keep it secret; and
+by an affectation of poverty, lull any suspicion that may arise of
+their possessing treasure. Notwithstanding what I am told of their
+hidden wealth, I should suspect the examples to be few: the real
+distress is unfortunately far too evident. The houses are scattered,
+and often at a considerable distance from each other; never crowded
+together, like the cottages in the villages of Egypt. Being shaded
+by the graceful doum and acacia trees, they produce a rural and
+sometimes picturesque effect. According to the ancient divisions, we
+have only been this day in the province of Berber. Since we reached
+El Ferrakah, the character of the country has been quite different;
+more villages, a richer soil, and even the desert thickly studded
+with trees like a shrubbery. The country between Abou-Hammed and
+Grenata is included in the Turkish province of Berber, and as such
+I have described it. The natives are the Rabatat, once the terror
+of caravans. The heavy exactions they imposed on all travellers,
+or rather merchants, obliged the latter to take the long route
+from Derouey to Makkarif, the same in which Burckhardt and Bruce
+suffered so severely. The manners of the Rabatat seemed rougher,
+and their depravity more open, than I observe here.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR. — COURT AND ANCIENT CHIEFS OF THE
+COUNTRY. — HOSPITABLE RECEPTION. — TURKISH ENTERTAINMENTS. —
+CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNOR. — HIS ATTENTIONS. — STYLE OF
+LIVING. — DONGOLAH HORSES. — ANECDOTES, COSTUMES AND PORTRAITS
+OF THE CHIEFS. — TURKISH KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS. — BAZAAR
+OF MAKKARIF. — HOUSES. — MANUFACTORY OF INDIGO. — EXTENT
+OF CULTIVATION. — POPULATION. — CAMELS’ HIDES. — SUGAR
+MANUFACTORY. — ETHIOPIAN WOOL. — BISHAREEN TRIBE. — MANNER OF
+COLLECTING THEIR TRIBUTE. — ABABDES AND OTHER ARAB TRIBES. —
+TURKISH POLICY. — BURCKHARDT. — CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. —
+ARABS OF THE DESERT.
+
+
+Immediately on our arrival, we paid a visit to Abbas Bey, the
+governor of the province. He has a private house for his harem;
+but during the day he holds his court and takes his meals in one of
+the fortified houses of the sheakhs. At the door we found a number
+of soldiers and officers drinking coffee. The Turkish governor is
+obliged to furnish the officers attached to his court, as well as
+strangers and principal persons of the town who wish it, with as
+much of this beverage as they choose to drink; and so great is the
+consumption, that it is in fact the most considerable part of his
+official expenditure. We were ushered into a large room, forty feet
+by twenty, and proportionably high, with windows at one end, but,
+as usual, without glass: some small windows, above the larger, were
+covered with paper as a substitute. Around the room was a divan one
+foot high and four feet wide: one end was covered with mats, over
+which were thrown rich carpets and scarlet plush. The Governor,
+a man of about thirty, of a stern yet prepossessing appearance,
+was seated in the corner upon the skin of a panther. The courtiers
+were arranged on each side according to their respective ranks. On
+his right was the grand Cadi, in a brown dress, with a green turban
+(the badge of his having made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and being a
+sheriff, or descendant of Mahomet). He is a native of this country,
+and fills the offices of high priest and chief judge. The Bey paid
+him great attention; no doubt on account of his great influence
+with the people. He has a very jesuitical countenance: I thought
+of Alfieri’s celebrated speech in Saul. Next to this priest was
+Sheakh Sayd, the Chief of the Ababdes. (See Plate.) His family
+have held this title from time immemorial: the stamp of nobility
+is marked upon his high forehead; and there is an expression of
+dignified mildness in his countenance which commands respect: he
+interested me exceedingly. Another, but inferior, Sheakh of the
+Ababdes was seated next to Sheakh Sayd, in a blue linen dress. Next
+to the Ababde Sheakh was the Melek Nazr ed Deen. This man was
+forty years melek or king of this province. I am informed that the
+meleks of Shendy and Metammah attacked his kingdom, defeated him,
+seized his riches, and sullied the honour of his family. In revenge,
+it is said he fled to the Pasha of Egypt, and represented to him
+how easily he might subdue the country. The Arabs, and in this
+district particularly, extol in the most hyperbolical terms the
+merits of their great men. I will mention their expressions in a few
+instances as characteristic. According to their extravagant accounts,
+the war-cry of this melek was, “I am a bull, the son of a bull,
+and will die or conquer!” They assert that he is able to cut a
+camel in two with a blow of his sabre, and to eat a whole sheep to
+his breakfast. He really is an amazingly stout man for this country
+(see Plate I.), and both his appearance and manners are surly and
+repulsive, which, however, is not extraordinary, when we consider
+that he is now a disregarded pensioner (having merely the rank and
+pay of a katsheff), and no real authority in the extensive province
+where, at one time, his will was law. Several other personages were
+present, among whom were katsheffs, kaymacans, and artillery officers;
+Sheakh Beshir (see Plate II.), now melek of Shendy, and some sheakhs
+of the Bishareens. In the centre of the room stood about thirty
+attendants; cowhasses, with their silver-headed canes, armed with
+pistols and sabres; janissaries in the Albanian dress; mamelukes,
+Turkish soldiers, sheboukgees, slaves, &c. &c. The Bey was playing
+at drafts with Sheakh Sayd when we entered, but immediately closed
+the board, and rose from his seat. He received us very courteously,
+ordered us pipes and coffee in abundance, and a fresh supply of the
+latter at least every half hour; and, contrary to the Egyptian custom,
+there came usually two cups for each person at a time. Their manner
+of presenting it is in the highest style of Turkish fashion; holding
+the bottom of the fingan (cup) between the first finger and thumb,
+with the hand curved. It was presented at the same time to the Bey
+and myself; then to the others according to their rank. I presented
+to him the firman of the Pasha. He looked at the seal, kissed it,
+and applied it to his forehead in token of his obedience; but at
+the same time assured me that, on account of my being an Englishman,
+even if I had brought no firman, he would have done whatever was in
+his power to facilitate my plans. He would not allow us to leave
+him without partaking of his evening meal, a short description of
+which may amuse the reader.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 3.
+
+_On stone by J. Hamerton, from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+MELEK NUSSR ED DEEN.
+
+SHEAKH SAYD CHIEF OF THE ABABDE TRIBE.
+
+_Published by Longman & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+After we had well lathered our hands in the usual Turkish manner,
+the round white metal table was brought in, and we all squatted
+down on the floor, with due decorum, around it. We had first soup,
+and afterwards twenty dishes of meat, one following the other, and
+the dinner finished with a pillof of rice. We used wooden spoons for
+the soup, diving into the dish promiscuously; the meat we ate with
+our fingers, using always the thumb and two forefingers of the right
+hand; each person keeping as well as he could to his own angle of the
+dish. Holding a piece of bread in his hand, he fished out the pieces
+of meat, with a due proportion of gravy. The dishes were all small,
+and some of them very _recherchés_; but, as usual, it was mutton,
+mutton, nothing but mutton, though disguised in a great variety
+of forms, with herbs, beans, and sauces from Cairo. The hands of
+the Bey had the precedence in plunging into each dish, and the
+paws of the others briskly followed those of their leader. Having
+tasted one or two choice morsels, his Excellency nodded his head,
+and that plate vanished. A number of hungry attendants who were
+to dine upon the remains of the feast, waited in a string, and
+handed the dishes back and forward, from one to the other, with the
+greatest rapidity. Very little was said during the repast; indeed,
+whoever is so foolish as to converse on such an occasion runs
+a great hazard of faring indifferently. As it was, I had rather
+a scanty supper; for perceiving it was _bon ton_ to eat of every
+dish, and not knowing how many might follow, I did not duly profit
+by the precious moments. Old Nazr ed Deen, who, as I have stated,
+is reported to breakfast with such a voracious appetite, seemed by
+no means satisfied, although I observed that he made the best use
+of his time. The whole affair was finished in twenty minutes. Some
+of the dishes were not one minute on the table. The Bey, with his
+fugacious nod, reminded me of the physician at the island, who was
+so considerate for Sancho Panza’s digestive powers. I ought not
+to omit mentioning, that the Bey, as a special act of politeness to
+myself, selected often the most delicate morsels from the best dishes,
+with his own besmeared fingers, and placed them before me. I did not
+quite relish such a greasy gratification, but was obliged to swallow
+the compliment. Several slaves stood around the table with gullahs
+of cool water,—the only beverage permitted; others had large fans
+to keep away the flies. After we had performed our very necessary
+ablutions, smoked a pipe, and taken coffee, the Bey dismissed his
+court and attendants, and we had a long _tête-à-tête_ upon various
+subjects. Although evidently a brave man, he finds the difficulties
+of his situation trying and embarrassing. Having no trusty friend or
+confidant near him, he seemed glad of an opportunity of disburdening
+his grievances before a stranger, to whom there would be no disgrace
+or humiliation in expressing his fears and difficulties. “I have few
+or no friends here,” said he, “and many enemies. It is difficult
+to satisfy the demands of the Pasha, and not oppress the people. The
+Government at Alexandria are never content with the amount of the
+revenue; and yet are enraged if any complaints reach them, although
+they are the consequence of their own exorbitant demands; _but_
+I hope God will give me _good luck_, and enable me to keep my place
+to the satisfaction of my master.” We conversed about the province;
+his manner of managing the Arabs, with the statistics of the country;
+the affairs of the Pasha (to whom he seems very much attached, and
+hopes to see him master of St. Petersburgh, or at all events, of the
+recent acquisitions of that power from the Ottoman empire); the war
+with the Sultan; the conquest of these provinces; his own military
+exploits and valour; and the antiquities which are the object of my
+journey. Understanding that my artist was an Italian, he displayed
+his knowledge of that language, which extended only to two words,
+_buono e morte_, by taking hold repeatedly of Mr. B.’s arm, and
+at the same time that he repeated these words, he accompanied them
+with such a powerful grasp, as almost made poor Signor B. scream
+for pain.—“Anima del’ caina (del cane),” he said to me, in
+the Neapolitan dialect, “_buono o cattivo_ mi pare che mi vuol
+la _morte_.” Afterwards, the conversation turning upon animals,
+he showed me the skin of a pet lion, that he had killed because it
+had destroyed a sheep. I happened to appear pleased with it, when
+he instantly made me accept it. He then sent for a beautiful little
+monkey, of the grey capuchin kind, with which he also presented me. I
+took it into my special protection, and christened it with the name
+uppermost in my thoughts, namely, Meroe; and many a weary mile,
+till my return to Thebes, did it beguile me with its mischievous
+gambols on my camel. When I rose to take leave, the Bey said he
+would accompany me to my tent, and then offered me a fine large
+panther’s skin, on which he had been sitting. He did not give me
+these, as the Turks in general make presents, with the expectation
+of receiving others more valuable; for I told him, on receiving the
+first, that I had not contemplated making this journey when I left
+Europe, and had therefore nothing with me to offer him. He replied,
+“All Turks are not the same; there are good and bad of every
+nation: these are trifles; tell me how I can be of real service to
+you; and the only return I wish is, that you think well of me when
+you go to your own country.” He privately inquired of my dragoman
+if we were in want of candles, sugar, coffee, of another tent, or
+any thing else. Although we wanted nothing, we duly appreciated his
+kind intention. The style in which he came to my tent, and went to
+and from his harem every day, will give some idea of the state kept
+up in these provincial governments. He was preceded by his guards,
+armed with guns; then by four cowhasses, beating their massive
+silver-headed sticks on the ground,—a substitute for music: the
+Bey himself then followed, on foot or on his charger, having behind
+him six other guards, with guns, and a crowd of perhaps twenty
+servants. I was at a loss what return to make for his liberality:
+he had really shown himself such a fine fellow, that it was painful
+to be behind him in generosity. Having no suitable articles to spare,
+such as a gun, pistols, or a watch, the most proper gifts to a Turk of
+his rank, I could only beg his acceptance of a few trifles,—a new
+patent powder-flask and belt, a bag of English shot, a good English
+penknife, and a silver watch-guard. I gave him, also, a little stock
+of medicines, with directions how to use them; these he valued very
+highly, being aware on how slender a thread his life hangs in such
+a baneful climate as this.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 2.
+
+_On stone by W. Walton from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+SHEAKH BESHER. The present Melek of Shendy.
+
+SON OF A BISHAREEN SHEAKH.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+_March_ 1. This morning the Bey sent us a couple of fine sheep,
+and, before we were dressed, a cowhass called to summon me to his
+divan. He showed us his stables, in which were six horses, of the
+true Dongolah breed, black and brown, of whom the black were the
+finest, but all of them had rather upright pasterns, and four white
+legs: sometimes the white extends over the thighs, and occasionally
+over the belly. They are not light, slender horses like some of
+the best race of Arabs, being more remarkable for their strength:
+their appearance reminded me very much of the Egyptian horses,
+as represented on the walls of Thebes. They would make magnificent
+cavalry horses; but if they were brought on a race course, I think
+their appearance would induce few to back them, except, perhaps,
+for a _three-mile_ heat; certainly not for the St. Leger. The breed
+is rare now, and valuable. Even here a good Dongolah horse fetches
+from 50_l._ to 150_l._ After dinner he went to his harem to sleep,
+and then returned to the government-house. He then sent for me again,
+and kept me with him until ten at night. Dinner and supper were
+served in the same style as on the preceding day.
+
+_March_ 2. This morning the Bey sent for me as before, and kept me
+till after dinner, when I started for Shendy in his own boat, which
+he had the goodness to lend me. He invited me to make a longer stay,
+but I had no time to lose. These three days, however, have not been
+altogether mis-spent, as I have obtained some important information. I
+complained to the Bey yesterday, that, on account of the prejudices
+of the people, we were unable to draw any of the costumes of the
+country. The Bey very coolly declared, that whoever dared to refuse,
+he would cut off his head! Though this summary order was coolly
+received in the divan, we did not hesitate to avail ourselves of
+it, and immediately set to work, and drew the portraits of all the
+dignitaries of consequence at his court. I have already referred
+the reader to the portraits of Melek Nazr ed Deen, Sheakh Beshir,
+and Sheakh Seyd. Some of them were very reluctant, in spite of all
+our persuasion, particularly one native prince called Mousa. (See
+coloured plate, XVI.) His likeness, taken by Signor B., is admirable,
+the colour correct, and his figure is the finest specimen of manly
+beauty I have seen in this country. His breast, as will be observed
+in the plate, has somewhat of a projection, a peculiarity I have
+often observed in Upper Nubia. It is considered a great deformity,
+and those who have it often submit to a most painful operation for
+its removal. Mousa, when my artist had finished his portrait, begged
+the Bey to treat him as a man, and not show him like a beast. He
+is the son of a melek, but now serves as a groom. He is famous for
+his courage and dexterity in the use of the sabre. To use their own
+exaggerated Oriental language, he is capable of killing 100 men in
+battle. In our tent, yesterday, we took the figure and costume of a
+Bishareen boy, about eighteen, whose father, a powerful sheakh, had
+attempted to excite a revolt against the Pasha. Not being successful,
+he fled, and his son was detained in prison until the father paid
+a fine of 250 camels. By way of a jest, though a barbarous one,
+which I should not have allowed had I known of it, the Bey and his
+officers told the poor boy that we were to cut off his head, being
+Turks deputed from Cairo for that special purpose. He sat down on
+the ground in the attitude represented, with his head turned on one
+side, and remained motionless, in the same position, nearly three
+quarters of an hour. We remarked that we had never had a subject who
+sat so patiently. When we had finished, we told him he might get up,
+making him, at the same time, a small present; when, with a look of
+bewildered delight, he told us how differently he expected to have
+been treated, and that he had been awaiting every moment the stroke
+of the sabre.
+
+In the evening, when we were with the Bey, he sent for the poor
+youth, and frightened him again by telling him that, by virtue
+of the drawing we had made, we had a magical power over him,
+and should transport him with us into our own country. He opened
+his mouth aghast, asked every body if it were true, and seemed
+struck with horror at the idea of never again seeing his native
+deserts. He addressed his inquiries particularly to Sheakh Seyd,
+who, as chief of the Ababdes, he did not think capable of deceiving
+him; but I verily believe many of the meleks and chiefs present,
+who affected to join in the laugh, really had doubts and misgivings
+that such, in truth, was the necromantic power of our pencils, and
+particularly of the camera lucida, with which I drew several of
+them. My artist took the Bey’s likeness, at his own particular
+desire; I conceive, for one of his favourites. He was very well
+satisfied with the representation of his figure, rich costume, his
+sword and accoutrements, and of the fierceness of his mustachios;
+but he did not understand the shading, and begged my artist “to
+take away those black things.” Before leaving Makkarif, the Bey
+showed me round the indigo and hide manufactories belonging to the
+government. I parted from him with some regret, for he is decidedly
+the best Turk I have ever known; and it was a great pleasure for a
+few days to meet with such courtesy in these wild regions of interior
+Africa. Makkarif has little appearance of a capital. The bazaar should
+scarcely be dignified with such a title, as it only consists of six or
+seven miserable shops. The town is divided into seven divisions. The
+population may, perhaps, amount to 3500, though it is difficult to
+obtain exact information as to numbers. The houses are quadrangular
+huts of one story, like those in Lower Egypt—not however crowded
+together as those, but usually standing detached. Some of them are
+circular, and have thatched conical roofs—a description of cottage
+very general to the south of Berber. The residence of the governor,
+and of some of the sheakhs, resembled the fortified house surrounded
+by large courts, described at Abou-Hammed. There is here a large
+manufactory of indigo, a valuable branch of culture, which was
+introduced by the Pasha into this province five years ago. They
+cut it three times during the season, at intervals of about two
+months. To extract the dye, they place the stalks and leaves for
+eighteen hours in a cemented mud basin or cistern of water, which
+is then drawn off into another vessel: in this last they leave
+it only a few hours, stirring it well with sticks, and afterwards
+let it off into a caldron, in which the final process of boiling
+takes place, and indigo is produced of very good quality. The Pasha
+receives from this manufactory nearly 14,000 okres (weight), which
+is sent to Cairo, and sold there for fifteen dollars per okre. The
+government has greatly extended the cultivation of the cotton plant
+in this province. Considerable quantities of wheat and oats are also
+grown in it; but barley and dourah, particularly the latter, are
+the chief produce. In the Turkish province of Berber, which extends
+from Abou-Hammed to two days journey beyond Shendy, there are 6000
+feddans (measure) of cultivated land, and 500 sakkeas. There were 800
+of the latter, when first the Pasha took possession of the country,
+but misrule, or, perhaps, the system inevitably adopted in order to
+subdue entirely the country, has impoverished as well as depopulated
+it. The number of peasants, merchants, Arabs, and other residents,
+so far as I have been able to learn, may be estimated (including
+their families) at 30,000: this is independent of the Bishareen and
+other desert tribes who pay their tribute here. The number of sakkeas
+may appear small in comparison to the extent of the cultivation and
+the number of the inhabitants; but it may be remarked, that a great
+proportion of the arable land in this province is irrigated by the
+inundation of the Nile and by manual labour. Besides, the peasants,
+as well as the wandering tribes, subsist in a great measure by their
+flocks and by their camels, which are bred in great numbers, and of
+the finest quality, and sent to Cairo. Many also are sold here to
+the merchants and carriers of this place; also to those of Shendy and
+Sennaar. The price of a strong, ordinary camel is about ten or twelve
+dollars; of a dromedary, ten to thirty dollars. For several years
+the government have sent to Cairo from 1500 to 2000 hides. This year
+the Pasha has required 20,000. These hides are prepared with lime,
+salt, and the pod of the mimosa. The Pasha has also tried the sugar
+cane, which flourishes luxuriantly in the islands, though the people
+have not yet acquired any skill in the manufacture of it. There is
+a small sugar-house, but of the rudest construction. The canes are
+placed between two rollers, turned by oxen, which squeeze out the
+juice. The peasants themselves make a coarse kind of linen cloth,
+which may be called fine canvass, but seldom deserves a better name.
+
+Pliny says, that Ethiopia, as well as Egypt, was by the Greeks
+called _Etheria_, “without wool;” which may have been owing
+to the circumstance, that the Ethiopians, like the Egyptians,
+wore only linen; but perhaps it may rather allude to the extremely
+bad quality of the Ethiopian wool. The Bishareen pay their tribute
+to this government. They occupy the territory, and are generally
+supposed to be descendants, of the ancient Troglodites; but there
+is a name sculptured on the walls of Thebes, of a captured people,
+called Sharim, which, with the Coptic article Pi, makes Pisharim
+or Bisharim. Souakim, the capital, is fifteen days’ journey from
+this place, on which road water is found every day and a half:
+its inhabitants are called Edherbi and Hadendoah. Besides these,
+the Bishareen have other subordinate divisions, as the Amarrah
+and the Benishamah. As I have before stated, they are the most
+uncivilised of the Arab tribes, if they can be called Arabs, when
+they speak a language without any Arabic words, and lay no claim
+to Arabian descent. Their features are often striking, but their
+manner of dressing their hair, making it bushy and prominent both in
+front and behind, and often shaving it a little, gives them a savage
+appearance. Their dress generally consists of folds of linen of the
+country, often ragged and dirty, but always put on in a graceful
+manner, not unlike the ancient Greek drapery. War and plunder seem
+to be their element, and they are accused of being treacherous and
+deceitful: they are addicted also to petty theft. Many are poor
+in the extreme; some few rich and powerful, living luxuriously,
+as they deem it, on camels’ flesh and milk. The principal persons
+at Makkarif tell me that they count 200,000 houses or tents; but,
+notwithstanding the vast extent of their territory, this must be
+an exaggeration. The government finds always great difficulty in
+collecting their tribute. “We generally send,” said the Bey,
+“two soldiers at a time. If they are murdered, it is of no great
+consequence! for two men it would be absurd to lay waste a whole
+province; but if we sent twenty or thirty, and they were destroyed,
+it would create great alarm, and be a serious loss out of my small
+force of 400 cavalry. Once,” said he, with an air of triumph,
+“I was there with a large retinue, when a greatly superior number
+of Bishareen attacked us, during the night, as is always their
+custom. Nine of my men fled at the first onset, and falling into
+the hands of the enemy were immediately massacred. We resisted and
+escaped, but it caused great terror among my troops. Soon after we
+avenged the death of my nine brave fellows in our usual manner. We
+enticed to this place many of the Bishareen engaged in this affair by
+a promise of pardon: then we enclosed them in one of our fortified
+houses, and put them to death.” Some divisions of this tribe,
+who are almost quite independent, often plunder the caravans and
+small villages, and carry off cattle and other property; and they
+sometimes extend their predatory incursions as far as Dongolah.
+
+The Ababdes are divided principally into two tribes, the Maleykab,
+from Esneh to Assuan; and the Hashibani, from Assuan to Kash
+Kosseer. They are a fine race of men, and wear their hair in
+ringlets hanging behind their heads, and at the sides, nearly to
+their shoulders. Sometimes, but very rarely, their hair is bushy
+in front like the Bishareen. Their dress of coarse linen is always
+folded around them with the same graceful elegance. This tribe is
+much less numerous than the Bishareen, but they have the character
+of being braver. The number of their houses and tents was stated
+to me by their chief, Sheakh Sayd, at 50,000. During the conquest
+of this country, and on other occasions, they have been of great
+service to the Pasha, who therefore levies no direct tribute except
+from such as have allotments of land, and sakkeas, who pay for them
+like the peasants of the Nile. Burckhardt speaks of the treachery of
+the Ababdes. I have been with them for months in the Oasis Magna and
+other places, and cannot say I have experienced it. On the contrary,
+I have observed them more grateful for kindness, more attached,
+more proud of their liberty, and tenacious of their character, and
+more disinterested, than any other of the Arab tribes. The number
+domiciled in this province is very considerable. Besides these,
+I saw individuals of several other Arab tribes who frequent Berber,
+while others I only heard of. Among these are the Hassanyeh, who range
+from Berber to Kordofan, principally near Dongolah,—the Kababysh,
+to the south-west of the latter, extending to the White River,—the
+Benegerar, from Dongolah to Kordofan, in the Desert,—the Erfara,
+near Sennaar,—a large and powerful tribe called Rafarah, numbered
+with the Erfara,—the Shukriah, settled principally near Shendy,
+but also between Berber and Sennaar, and the Atbara and the Bahr
+el Azruk. The Eddibina, also, near Shendy,—the Djamelyeh, on
+the Bahr el Abiad,—the El Amran, to the east of the Mugrum, or
+Astoboras,—the Shelouks, ten days up the White River, or Bahr al
+Abiad. They are said to be tall, powerful men, always quite naked,
+and armed with bows and arrows, spears and shields; and I am told
+that they worship the sun. Their territory extends for a considerable
+distance on both sides of the river, but the division on the east
+side is called Denha. The Shelouks inhabit also numerous islands,
+communicating with each other by means of canoes, some of which are
+very large. The Bahr el Abiad was represented to me as being, in that
+part, ten times wider than the Bahr el Azruk:—the Numrum, also,
+a negro race of naked Pagans, twenty days’ journey from Sennaar,
+upon the White River. All these tribes, except the two last, are
+wholly or partly tributary to the Pasha. When we consider the slight
+comparative force with which his governments are generally supplied,
+we must confess his officers know how to manage their affairs,
+although the means they adopt are not always the most honourable. The
+government of Berber has only 400 cavalry to keep in subjection
+a population of 30,000, besides the many powerful tribes of the
+neighbouring deserts. The ancient chiefs of the country are almost
+all alive and at large. Each native is armed, and acquainted with the
+use of the sabre and lance, and some few have matchlocks. They see
+the prosperity of the country gradually decaying, and the population
+daily diminishing; yet such is their terror of the Pasha’s power,
+that, notwithstanding the small number of his troops, and the length
+of time it would require to bring forward reinforcements, no monarch
+in Europe has such absolute power, or sleeps more safe from bodily
+fear than the Governor of Berber. The relentless system, which has
+completely succeeded in Lower Egypt, of impoverishing the peasants,
+and reducing them by distress to complete vassalage, is gradually
+but successfully carried on by the Pasha in this country. The
+descendants, perhaps, of those tribes who defied the power of
+the Greeks and Romans, have been taught by Mohammed Ali to crouch
+beneath his yoke. He has done so, in despite of all the obstacles man
+and nature opposed to his ambition;—a brave resistance, cataracts
+amongst which many of his barks were lost, the horrors of the desert,
+burning climate, malaria, and fever, which at first nearly annihilated
+his army at “one fell swoop.” The statement of Cailliaud, that
+at Sennaar, the Pasha saw one third of his forces fall a prey to
+malignant and intermittent fevers, dysentery, and bilious attacks,
+shows at how dear a price these conquests were purchased. But
+the Pasha’s power in this country rests now on a basis which it
+would be difficult to shake,—a combination of vigorous policy in
+council, with superiority of arms and discipline in the field. The
+tribes now know from experience the weakness of their half fighting,
+half dancing hosts, with their lances, swords, and large unwieldy
+shields,—against the regular fire of disciplined troops. The very
+report of a cannon is irresistible to beings who have the utmost
+dread of a musket; and they can now contrast the effects of artillery
+with those of the comparatively harmless implements of their own
+warfare, which seldom inflict more than flesh wounds. Their former
+chiefs and meleks are now sinking fast to the wretched level of the
+peasants. Stripped of their patrimonial wealth and estates, and shut
+out from their other sources of gain—commerce and exactions—they
+are now obliged to pay court to the Turkish governors, to obtain
+or preserve a scanty pension, which is almost their only means of
+subsistence. The chiefs have suffered more than the peasants from
+the domination of the Pasha, who has followed the usual policy of
+all conquerors, by systematically aiming “to cut off the highest
+of the poppy heads.” The great mass of the people of every nation
+are generally indifferent to the misfortunes of the aristocracy,
+and are rarely animated, by individual attachment, or more enlarged
+views of national independence, to rise and deliver from oppression
+those who, perhaps, were once their own oppressors. Possibly, they
+may even feel a selfish exultation in seeing them reduced to their
+own level; forgetting that, while their ancient chiefs sink thus
+into poverty and obscurity, every hope of restoring the liberty of
+their country vanishes.
+
+I have not spent sufficient time in this province to judge accurately
+of the character of the people, and I dare scarcely attempt to
+delineate what the masterly hand of Burckhardt has so admirably
+accomplished. I have not his work with me, and do not remember
+minutely his account of the natives of this district. I must,
+therefore, make a short record of my own observations, though,
+probably, they will add but little to the information which he has
+communicated. I am sorry to confirm his statement, that the most
+extreme profligacy of manners prevails among the Berbers. They are
+entirely devoted to women; unfortunately, not only to their own wives,
+but, with lawless passion, to the wives of their neighbours. Adultery
+is far more common here than in any other part of the valley of the
+Nile; and there exists, also, in this and the adjoining provinces,
+a system which is a disgrace to human nature. The sheakhs, meleks,
+and chief men hire out their female slaves, or, rather, oblige them
+to carry on an infamous traffic here and in the different villages,
+and to pay to their master a monthly tribute out of the fruits. This
+is the climax of profligacy. A correct idea of the immoral state
+of the country may be formed, when those who, from their station,
+ought to endeavour to repress vice, are, by this system, its chief
+promoters. Slavery is horrible under any guise; but when the task
+of the unfortunate victim is to sacrifice every principle of honour,
+virtue, and decency, in order to satiate the avarice of a remorseless
+master, a more distressing picture of human wretchedness cannot be
+imagined. Besides the monthly tribute, they are dependent also for
+their own subsistence upon the passing caravans.
+
+The superstition of the Berbers keeps pace with their gross
+ignorance. I have already stated that, notwithstanding many attempts,
+I was never able, unless in the Bey’s presence, and through his
+despotic mandate, to overcome the apprehension and scruples of the
+Berbers, of both sexes, to allow their portraits to be drawn. Among
+those, too, who knew I was a Christian, I could often distinguish
+an ill-disguised contempt when I deviated in any respect from the
+Mahometan customs.
+
+Intoxication is another vice to which the Berbers are generally
+addicted, but seldom to any very gross excess. Their beverage
+is the bouza, a species of beer made of dourah, boiled in a jar,
+and drunk after a day or two, when it ferments. It is not of a very
+intoxicating quality, but they drink gallons of it at a sitting. One
+of the peasants intimated to me his regret that the Prophet had only
+promised them rivers of milk in his paradise, instead of bouza. They
+have also the meresi and bulbul, more delicate descriptions of the
+same beverage; and a strong but tasteless spirit (arrake), with a
+very wretched liquor which they call wine; both these last being
+extracted from the date. They are civil and attentive to strangers,
+but there is something overstrained in their obsequiousness. They
+have the reputation of being great thieves. Several old Egyptian
+merchants, and also my camel-drivers, advised me to take care of
+my baggage during the night, when I passed through Berber; always
+recommending me, for that reason, to encamp near the house of the
+sheakh. The women go about with their faces uncovered,—a privilege
+which, in Egypt, only the wives of the Arabs of the Desert enjoy. They
+have, generally, good figures, and a rather pleasing expression of
+countenance. The men are stout, but their features are seldom very
+prepossessing, or at all noble; and they are deficient in that open
+and dignified manner and deportment which distinguish the generality
+of the Arab tribes. The Arabs in general, but especially the Berbers,
+are averse to active exertion. I have often seen several of them
+sitting together for many hours in the shade, with their eyes half
+closed, in a listless and supine state, neither talking, nor engaged
+in any occupation. Sometimes they were smoking, yet at the same time
+apparently unconscious that pipes were in their mouths. Perfect
+repose of body and mind, the _dolce far niente_ of the Italians,
+is the highest felicity they are able to conceive. Endowed with
+an imperturbable stock of apathy,—more comfortable, perhaps,
+although not so intellectual, as European philosophy,—they submit
+to a distressing accident, which would throw one of our countrymen
+almost into a fever, without allowing their equanimity to be in the
+least disturbed. “_Mactub min Allah!_” it is written, It is the
+will of God! they exclaim, with placid resignation; and, instead of
+brooding over their misfortune, become immediately reconciled to it,
+and, with amazing facility, banish it from their thoughts.
+
+The Sennaar and Shendy merchants, chiefly Arabs, pass sometimes by
+this route; others go to Dongolah, across the Bahiouda desert. This
+is, however, a much shorter route, and for that reason often
+preferred. They furnish the bazaar of Makkarif with soap, spices
+with which they make an ointment to keep their skin soft, rice,
+Mocha coffee, mirrors, glass beads, and shells; and articles in
+cotton, such as handkerchiefs, shawls, and other dresses: they
+also bring tobacco and pipes, crockery, cooking dishes, &c. A great
+many camels are employed on this route, in conveying the officers,
+soldiers, and provisions from Assuan to Berber, Shendy, Khartoun,
+and Sennaar. When no other article is ready, the camels are laden,
+in return, with charcoal made of the osshi plant, which is excellent
+for gunpowder; but even for culinary use, the difference between
+its price at Berber and at Assuan, in consequence of its scarcity at
+the latter place, fully remunerates them for the carriage. A great
+number of camels are, at certain seasons, employed by the government
+in conveying down to Assuan the indigo, grain, hides, &c. levied as
+taxes in kind. This gives employment to the Arabs of the desert, and
+attaches these roving tribes, by the strongest chains of interest,
+to a more regular and less barbarous government than they have ever
+been accustomed to, and thus reconciles them to the relinquishment
+of their independence. When we consider the predatory and lawless
+habits they gloried in for ages previous to the Pasha’s conquest;
+the anarchy and confusion which afforded them such facilities for
+rapine, and in which their bold unruly spirits delighted, as the
+short though dangerous path to distinction and wealth,—it is
+surprising to see them thus quietly occupied in the vocations of
+peace, and earning their livelihood by honest industry. A tribute of
+applause is certainly due to Mohammed Ali, for effecting this great
+improvement in the habits and pursuits of the uncivilised hordes
+who occupy so considerable a portion of the continent of Africa.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+DEPARTURE FROM MAKKARIF. — VARIOUS VILLAGES. — THE MUGRUM,
+ANCIENT ASTABORAS. — ROUTE TO GOSS REDJAB. — VERDANT APPEARANCE
+OF THE ISLAND OF MEROE. — VOYAGE ON THE ASTAPUS. — NUMEROUS
+VILLAGES. — COTTAGES. — HIPPOPOTAMI; MANNER OF DESTROYING
+THEM. — VILLAGES. — ARRIVAL AT THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
+
+
+_March_ 8. We set sail, with a favourable breeze, from Makkarif,
+at one; and at half past one we passed the village of El Releh;
+and at two, Sowektab el Ekaba, on the western bank of the river;
+opposite to which, on the east bank, is a small village called
+Howed. At four we passed Wady Rowel, on the eastern side; at five,
+the small village of Sidin on the same side; at six, a large village
+called Karmim; at three quarters past six we passed Sayal, a small
+village on the east bank; at a quarter past seven, Dakkel, on the
+same side; at twenty minutes past seven, El Fodlet; and at half
+past seven we moored for the night at the village of Unmatur, on the
+western side. We have had a good wind, and certainly cannot have made
+less than three miles an hour. Opposite to Unmatur is the junction of
+the Mugrum, the ancient Astaboras, with the Nile, isolating from the
+Nubian and Libyan desert this part of Meroe. For some distance before
+reaching it, I observed that the colour of the water was very green,
+and had not the usual appearance of the Nile, which is comparatively
+clear at this season. I perceived also that the taste was different,
+and that it had a strong disagreeable smell. I regret that it is now
+dusk, so that I cannot observe more accurately the distinction of
+the waters of the two rivers; but I am informed, that for some space
+after the confluence, they remain unmixed. The width of the Mugrum,
+as the Astaboras is now called, from what I could learn, is, at the
+time of the rise, about 1000 feet. At this season, they tell me,
+it is almost stagnant. It swells many days earlier than the Bahr
+el Abiad or the Azruk; and I think the green colour that tinges
+the whole Nile for the first thirty or forty days after its rise,
+may be attributed to the influx of the waters of this river. The
+chief province or district on its banks is called Atbara, evidently
+a corruption from the ancient name of the river, which is curious,
+as any analogy is rarely to be found between the modern and ancient
+names in this country. Two hours before arriving at the junction, we
+passed a small shellal (cataract). The current was strong; a number
+of small rocks impeding the stream for about half way across. The
+banks are covered with beautiful groves of acacias, doums, and palm
+trees, and had generally a much more verdant appearance than we had
+before remarked; reminding me most forcibly of the observation of
+the pretorians sent by Nero:
+
+
+  Herbas circa Meroen demum viridiores, silvarumque aliquid
+  apparuisse.[12]
+
+
+From the best information I have been able to obtain, there are seven
+days’ journey from the mouth of the Mugrum to Goss Radjeb, the
+principal village on its banks: for the two first days, the direction
+of this river is nearly east. There are on this route few villages;
+the habitations chiefly consisting of encampments of migratory Arabs,
+who change their stations as often as they need fresh pasture for
+their camels and flocks. The chief tribe frequenting the banks of the
+Astaboras is that of the Bishareen; but its branches were described to
+me as distinguished by the following distinct names: The first day’s
+journey east, is called the district of the Atbara; the second,
+that of the Eddandoweh; the third day, towards the south, Attaka;
+the fourth, Giberta; the fifth, Medkirab; after which the district of
+Makkadi extends several days beyond Goss Radjeb. A merchant informed
+me, that, at this latter place, there are the remains of a temple,
+but without any sculpture, columns, or hieroglyphics. According to
+the accounts given to me by the most intelligent Arabs, this river
+abounds much more than the Nile in hippopotami and crocodiles,
+and the western bank is infested with lions.
+
+_March_ 3. Leaving Unmatur at seven, with a good wind, we began our
+voyage on what Strabo calls the river Astapus, but which the natives
+still call the Nile: passed, at a quarter past seven, the village of
+Hassal, west side, and El Dahmur east, at nine, Abouselam west, and
+Ambori east; at half past nine, Hossya east, Maholrab west; at half
+past ten, the island of Essaydrab; at twelve, the island of Gunnabra
+and the village of El Roweh west; at half past one, El Howyeh east,
+El Ferakah west; at three, the island of Tumfar, and the village
+of Alioh, to the east; at half past three, the island of Egaydag,
+and village of the same name, on the western bank; at half past four,
+the island of Nama; at three quarters past five, Gebata to the east,
+and Keytayab to the west. This day I have observed that some of the
+villages consist of circular huts with thatched conical roofs. The
+water has not the same colour nor the same disagreeable smell as
+that near the mouth of the Astaboras. We have seen many crocodiles
+and several hippopotami: upon our approach they disappeared under
+the water; but occasionally raised their enormous heads, which,
+at the distance we were then, appeared like those of buffaloes. We
+fired at them, but without any effect. The Arabs state that their
+only vulnerable part is their forehead. What Hasselquist says of
+the manner of destroying them, by placing salt peas on the bank,
+the eating of which may excite them to drink until they die,
+amused the Arabs vastly. Their only way of killing these animals,
+is by concealing themselves in the long grass or corn fields on the
+bank, near one of their tracks. When the hippopotamus approaches,
+they attack and pierce him with a barbed lance, to which a strong
+cord is attached. The animal rushes to the river, and they follow
+him warily on the banks, or in a boat, until his strength is quite
+exhausted, and he is almost dead. His usual expiring effort is to
+make for the shore, or his pursuers drag him thither as an angler
+does a fish. The peasants sometimes keep up fires during the night,
+to preserve their crops from his ravages. I observed to-day several
+beautiful woods on the islands; and, for the first time, monkeys—the
+small Grey Capuchin species.
+
+_Bagromeh Meroe.—March_ 4. During the last night we have passed
+the following villages:—
+
+  On the west bank.          Islands.              East bank.
+
+  Eggabrab.                                     Wady Abdelatif, or
+                                                Valley of the Slave
+                                                of the Beneficent.
+
+  Ennuba.                                       El Akareet.
+
+  Effadnia.                                     Eddyiga.
+
+  Ednamaat.                                     Gul el Mutmoor.
+
+  Es Sagadi, or the      Es Sagadi (large
+  Carpet.                island).
+
+  El Camair.                                    Betasaat.
+
+  El Helala, or the                             Shutaib.
+  Holy Place.
+
+  El Makmiah.            Makmiah (small         Gibel Immeli.
+                         island). Es Shilalah,
+                         or the Cataract.
+
+  Wady Youseph.          Taadra.
+
+  Hillet el Gerf                                Assour.
+  (village of the bank
+  of the river).                                Dankelah.
+
+                                                Bagromeh.
+
+Under the cheerful influence of a tropical morning, at seven, we
+arrived at the site of the ancient capital of Ethiopia.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                                MEROE.
+
+HISTORICAL EVIDENCE THAT THIS IS THE CEMETERY OF THE CAPITAL
+OF ETHIOPIA. — THE IMPOSING APPEARANCE, NUMBER, POSITION, AND
+DIMENSIONS OF THE PYRAMIDS. — ETHIOPIAN ARCH. — PROOFS THAT THE
+KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS DESCENDED FROM ETHIOPIA. — EDIFICES OF A
+PYRAMIDAL FORM THE BEST ADAPTED TO RESIST THE RAVAGES OF TIME. —
+PECULIAR STYLE OF THE SCULPTURE. — THE LANGUAGE OF HIEROGLYPHICS
+GENERALLY KNOWN IN ETHIOPIA. — THE STYLE OF THE SCULPTURE THE
+CRITERION OF THE AGE. — MONUMENTAL, GEOLOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL
+EVIDENCE THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS DESCENDED FROM MEROE. —
+DESCRIPTION OF THE SCULPTURE. — NAME OF MEROE ON THE MONUMENTS. —
+MEROE PECULIARLY INTERESTING, AS THE BIRTH-PLACE OF THE ARTS. —
+SANDSTONE QUARRIES. — SITE OF THE CITY. — VILLAGES OF THE PRESENT
+INHABITANTS. — AGRICULTURE. — CAILLIAUD.
+
+
+Agatharchides says the Astaboras unites its stream with the Nile,
+and forms the Island of Meroe; and Strabo (lib. 17.) says Meroe is
+formed by the conflux of the Astapus and Astaboras. Diodorus states
+the island to be 375 miles long, and 125 wide. The exact distance
+from Syene to Meroe is stated by Pliny to have been a subject of
+great dispute even in his time; which is the more extraordinary,
+when we consider the number of travellers who had then visited
+and even penetrated beyond the capital of Ethiopia. Pliny first
+mentions Delion as having travelled far beyond Meroe; afterwards
+Aristocreon, Bion, Basilis, and Simonides the younger, who wrote
+an account of that city. Timosthenes was sixty days in making the
+voyage by water. Eratosthenes reckoned the distance 625,000 paces, and
+Artemidorus 600,000. Bion gives us a list of towns, but no distances:
+the sixty days of Timosthenes, by water, is too indefinite a date to
+be of any use, although it agrees tolerably well with the account of
+Herodotus.[13] The 625,000 paces of Eratosthenes, equal to 590 miles,
+is about the length of the direct caravan road, which I find to be 560
+miles to the town. Artemidorus’s distance of 600,000 paces, equal
+to 568 miles, agrees more closely with my ascertained distance of that
+route, that is, across the Great Desert, by Korosko and Abou-Hammed.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 5.
+
+_From a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+GENERAL PLAN OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+Pliny says that this dispute concerning the distance to Meroe was
+finally settled by the prætorians and tribune sent by Nero for the
+purpose of exploring the country, which he had some intention to
+make a conquest of. There is little doubt, I conceive, that these
+men would follow the Nile, in order to observe all the towns, and
+report what resources there would be for an army. This will account
+for their calculating the distance to the island at 874,000 paces
+(817 English miles). Following most of the sinuosities of the Nile,
+I find it about forty miles more; but, as it cannot be supposed
+that they did not occasionally avail themselves of some of the many
+shorter routes now followed by the caravans, this may be considered
+to correspond with sufficient exactness.
+
+Pliny computes from Napata to the Island of Meroe, 360,000 paces (340
+English miles). If Gibel el Birkel be the site of ancient Napata,
+the distance by the longest road is only 240, a difference of 100
+miles; I therefore conceive that Gibel el Birkel cannot be the site
+of the ancient city of Napata, which, I think, we must look for 100
+miles lower down the river, perhaps at Old Dongolah. Ptolemy places
+it much more to the north. Pliny says, that from the commencement of
+the island to the town is 70,000 paces (66 English miles). I found
+the distance to be nearly 60 miles; a difference only of 6 miles:
+but these discrepancies are not surprising when we consider the vague
+information and dubious authorities from which he acknowledges that
+he compiled his account. I suggested, in crossing the Great Desert,
+the probability of its having formerly contained establishments
+and wells, at different stations, for the convenience of a more
+civilised population, and of this route having been anciently much
+more frequented by travellers. There is every reason then to suppose
+that Eratosthenes and Artemidorus took this route; which will make
+their calculations, as well as those of the prætorians by the Nile,
+accord very satisfactorily with the position of these ruins. Without
+bringing forward other proofs, the authority of Ptolemy is sufficient
+to dispel any doubt that might possibly remain upon the subject. That
+geographer places the capital of Ethiopia in latitude 16° 26′;
+a difference only of 30′ from the observation of Cailliaud. It
+is impossible to conceive the observation of that geographer to be
+exactly correct (which, indeed, is rarely the case); for, besides
+the absence of other ruins, we cannot imagine that there could have
+been another town so near the capital with such splendid cemeteries
+as these.
+
+Never were my feelings more ardently excited than in approaching,
+after so tedious a journey, to this magnificent Necropolis. The
+appearance of the Pyramids, in the distance, announced their
+importance; but I was gratified beyond my most sanguine expectations,
+when I found myself in the midst of them. The pyramids of Geezah
+are magnificent, wonderful from their stupendous magnitude; but for
+picturesque effect and elegance of architectural design, I infinitely
+prefer these of Meroe. I expected to find few such remains here, and
+certainly nothing so imposing, so interesting, as these sepulchres,
+doubtless of the kings and queens of Ethiopia. I stood for some time
+lost in admiration. From every point of view I saw magnificent groups,
+pyramid rising behind pyramid, while the dilapidated state of many
+did not render them less interesting, though less beautiful as works
+of art. I easily restored them in my imagination; and these effects
+of the ravages of time carried back my thoughts to more distant ages.
+
+Plate VIII. faithfully represents the principal group of the
+pyramids, and their present state of preservation, and the annexed
+view exhibits the most interesting of that group in detail. As every
+stone in these plates is drawn with the camera lucida, the reader
+will have the opportunity of studying their construction, and I may
+also add (particularly in the case of Plate IX.), of appreciating
+their picturesque appearance.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 6.
+
+_From a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PRINCIPAL GROUP OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The porticoes on the east side of each pyramid soon attracted my
+attention, and I passed eagerly from one to the other, delighted
+to find in several of them tablets of sculpture and hieroglyphics,
+which, few as they are, have, I trust, given us the assurance of
+the locality, and will, I hope, throw some light upon the mythology
+and arts of the Ethiopians. There are the remains and traces of
+eighty of these pyramids (see Plate V.): they consist chiefly in
+three groups. The principal and most imposing, at which I arrived
+first, is situated on a hill, two miles and a half from the river,
+commanding an extensive view of the plain. This group is arranged (see
+Plate VI.) nearly in the form of a bow, the string of which from A to
+W is 1050 feet, and following the curved _alignement_ of the pyramids
+from A to D, 625; D to W, 850, making in total extent 1425 feet.
+
+[Illustration: PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.]
+
+The plan will show that no regularity has been maintained in
+their position. Thus, the façade of portico A (see Plan) faces
+about north-east, while the generality of the other porticoes vary
+from east to south-east. The circumstance of the porticoes fronting
+generally towards the east, and not one to the north and south-west,
+proves a religious observance; but that there was no astronomical
+object in view, in their porticoes facing the rising sun, is certain
+from the variation in the directions, and from there being no attempt
+at mathematical precision. Although we cannot attribute to them the
+scientific object conceived by some to have been contemplated in the
+location of the pyramids of Memphis, still a happier combination of
+position could not be imagined for producing upon the mind those
+impressive feelings which the royal cemeteries of kings of an age
+so distant, and of a nation once so great and powerful, naturally
+inspire.[14]
+
+The following account of the different measurements of the pyramids
+will show the dissimilarity of their size. A (see Plate VI.) is 32
+feet square; B, 42 feet square; C, 52 feet square; D, 31 feet from
+east to west, and 27 feet 6 inches from north to south; F, 60 feet
+square; G, joined to the latter, of the same size; H, 63 feet square;
+I, 42 feet 6 inches by 40 feet; K, 42 feet square; L, 26 feet 6 inches
+by 23 feet 6 inches; M, 26 feet 6 inches by 21 feet; N, 29 feet
+square; O, 63 (this is without a portico); P, only 17 feet square,
+without a portico; R, 61 feet square; S, 30 feet square; T, 50 feet
+square; U, 29 feet square, V, 37 feet north to south, 39 feet east to
+west; W, 20 feet square; X, 20 feet square. Seven marked Y consist of
+pyramids in such a ruined condition that the exact plan cannot now
+be ascertained; but some of them, from the size of the porticoes,
+which can still be traced, have evidently been of importance.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 7.
+
+_From a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
+
+_London. Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The pyramids (Plate No. VII.) restored architecturally, will give the
+best idea of their original form and ornaments. The pyramid No. 3. is
+60 feet in diameter at the base, and 60 feet high; and is constructed,
+like most of the others, as shown in the plates, of stones, generally
+one foot high and two feet and a half long. The rim at the angles
+of No. III. is a great additional beauty; and many of them are thus
+ornamented. Most of them can be ascended; but the surfaces of some
+(as of Nos. 1. and 2.) are quite smooth. The appearance of a window in
+No. 1., thirteen feet from the summit, is curious; but it is merely
+an architectural ornament, and not for the purpose of admitting
+light into any room of the interior. There are thirty-one pyramids
+in the group, of which the plans of twenty-three may be traced;
+while to the south-east is another group of thirteen, in some degree
+of preservation, as will be seen by the above view. There are three
+other groups, two consisting of two pyramids each, and the other of
+six (see General Plan, Plate V.); and at 5600 feet to the west of
+the chief group, may be traced the remains of twenty-five pyramids,
+but almost buried.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH-EAST GROUP OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.]
+
+The porticoes I have before mentioned, situated on the eastern side
+of all the pyramids, consist generally of one room, which varies from
+12 to 6 feet in length, and from 11 to 6 feet in width. The portico
+of pyramid H consists of two rooms, the one leading out of the other:
+the first 8 feet long and 12 feet broad; the second the same breadth,
+but only 6 feet in length. Three steps, each 8 inches deep and 6
+inches high, lead into the portico of No. 3. Plate VII. The doorway
+is 3 feet 10 inches deep; the portico is 13 feet 8 inches long, and
+7 feet 6 inches wide; the height of the façade is 18 feet 4 inches.
+
+The façades of these porticoes are very elegant. In their forms
+we can clearly trace the origin of the Egyptian propylons. That
+of No. 3. Plate VII. consists of a doorway 3 feet wide, and the
+doorposts 6 inches wide. Above the door is an architrave, over which
+is a square beading, and over it, as in Egyptian edifices, rises a
+cornice ornamented with the globe and wings. The door is 11 feet 6
+inches high, and, including the architrave and cornice, 14 feet. The
+buttresses, on each side of the door, have a slight inclination
+inwards, but not so much as the Egyptian propylons. They measure at
+their base 7 feet 6 inches, at their summit 7 feet; others, 5 feet by
+4 feet 8 inches and 5 feet by 4 feet 10 inches. These measurements
+include the square beading at the angles. In Egyptian architecture
+this beading would be round. The square form here adopted, being
+more simple, affords another reason for supposing that the first
+idea of this great ornament to the Egyptian temples originated in
+Ethiopia. The height of this portico is 11 feet 4 inches: that of
+the pylons of all the porticoes nearly the same, whatever may be the
+height of the pyramids; but the length and width of the porticoes
+seem to vary in proportion to the size of the pyramids. At the
+extremity of most of these porticoes, opposite the entrance, is the
+representation of a monolithic temple, ornamented with sculpture,
+all very much defaced.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 8.
+
+_On stone by C. Hullmandel from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+It is evident that, from motives of curiosity, or perhaps avarice,
+attempts have been made to open many of the pyramids, but without
+success. From the appearance of those which have been partially broken
+into, I do not perceive the slightest probability that any of them
+contain galleries. Probably they are constructed over wells in which
+the bodies are deposited. That they are places of sepulture cannot be
+doubted, from their position, number, and, most particularly, from
+the subjects of the sculpture on the walls, which I will presently
+describe. One of the porches or porticoes is most interestingly
+curious, the roof being arched, in a regular masonic style, with what
+may be called a keystone. (See Plate VII.) This arch consists of four
+and five stones alternately; but, notwithstanding this irregularity,
+the principle is the same, the stones being held together only by
+lateral pressure. I trust to be able to establish, beyond dispute,
+that the arch has its origin in Ethiopia. The style of the sculpture
+in this portico, and the hieroglyphic names of kings on porticoes
+ornamented in a similar style, being, as I hope to prove, much more
+ancient than any in Egypt, where there is no specimen of a stone arch
+constructed in so regular a manner, we may consider such proficiency
+in architectural knowledge as a decided proof of the advanced state
+of the arts, at a very remote period, in this country.[15]
+
+A question which has long engaged the attention of literary men is,
+whether the Ethiopians derived their knowledge of the arts from the
+Egyptians, or the latter from the former. One of these hypotheses
+must be admitted, as the similarity of the style evidently denotes
+a common origin. These pyramids belong, without doubt, to the
+remotest age. No edifice, perhaps, is better calculated to resist
+the ravages of time, or the destructive efforts of man, than the
+pyramid; particularly when constructed, as these are, without any
+chambers in the interior. In a country where earthquakes are unknown,
+little rain falls, and the wind is seldom violent, ages must elapse
+before these vast masses of stone could be much dilapidated, unless
+buried by the desert, or carried away by man as materials for other
+buildings. The porticoes even of the pyramids that are standing,
+although adapted to their proportions, are almost all injured, and
+most of them destroyed. There are no symptoms of fanatical violence
+having been exercised on what remains. Their ruined and defaced
+condition must be entirely attributed to their great antiquity.[16]
+
+The sculpture is in a very peculiar style, which can scarcely
+be called good: the large figures, in particular, display a
+certain rotundity of form which I never observed in any Egyptian
+sculpture. The smaller figures have also this peculiarity; but,
+from their dimensions, it is not quite so perceptible, at least
+not so striking. The hieroglyphics are very much defaced; indeed,
+those I have copied are almost all that remain. The Ethiopians did
+not group their hieroglyphics so well as the Egyptians: their striking
+deficiency, in this respect, proves either a great corruption from the
+Egyptian style, or, most probably, a great improvement made by the
+latter on the Ethiopian invention. This is the more extraordinary,
+as Diodorus informs us that the knowledge of hieroglyphics was,
+in Egypt, confined to the priests: but that, in Ethiopia, they were
+understood by all.
+
+To any one who, like me, has made a long study of Egyptian monuments,
+the style of the sculpture, even in the absence of any known name,
+is generally sufficient to determine its epoch. This fact, of which
+those travellers who have spent any length of time in Egypt will
+be fully aware, may give additional weight to my opinion of this
+sculpture. It is all executed in basso relievo, with the exception
+of the hieroglyphics, which are in intaglio. The style is certainly
+by no means equal to the best at Thebes. It is unlike the style
+of the age of Osirtesen, the Thothmes, Rameses II. (Augustan age),
+Rameses III. (first decline), the florid style during the reign of
+Psammitichus, or the clumsy inelegant productions of the Persian
+(I refer to the sculpture in the temple of Darius in the Oasis
+Magna), Ptolemaic, or Roman dynasties. There is no resemblance to
+any of these styles, or appearance of its being a corruption from
+them. The ornaments, on the fragments which still exist, are all
+evidently peculiar to the country. Of the few that still remain,
+many are not found in Egypt, and appear to represent the rites of
+a religion much more simple and pure than the corrupted Egyptian
+mythology. They bear the stamp of originality, and I should say,
+therefore, that the Ethiopian style is antecedent to the others;
+that it is the earliest, though not the best.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 9.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+“The Ethiopians,” says Diodorus, “describe the Egyptians as one
+of their colonies led into Egypt by Osiris. They pretend, also, that
+Egypt, at the commencement of the world, was nothing but a morass;
+and that the inundations of the Nile, carrying down a great quantity
+of the alluvial soil of Ethiopia, had at length filled it up, and
+made it a part of the continent; and we see,” he says, “at the
+mouth of the Nile, a particularity which seems to prove that the
+formation of Egypt is the work of the river. After the inundation,
+we remark that the sea has repelled on the shore large masses of
+the alluvial soil, and that the land is increased.” Many writers
+on Egypt have confirmed this statement of Diodorus. The gradual
+increase of the depth of soil around different antiquities enabled
+the French _savants_, unassisted by the science of hieroglyphics,
+to decide, in many instances with tolerable accuracy, the date of
+their construction. The depth of the alluvial soil has ever been,
+and still continues, increasing; and as this progressive increase may,
+in every instance, be ascertained, there must have been a period when
+there was little or none; when Egypt was a mere morass, or rather a
+desert. The great population, power, riches, and civilisation of the
+Egyptians astonish us, particularly as we know that their prosperity
+was almost entirely derived from agriculture, and that the fertility
+of the land was produced altogether by the periodical overflowings
+of the Nile. These spread abundance and happiness over the country,
+created numberless beautiful islands, and changed into a smiling,
+luxuriant valley what was originally a morass, or, more properly
+speaking, an arid desert.
+
+
+  “Et viridem Ægyptum nigrâ fœcundat arenâ.”[17]
+
+
+The first cause, then, of all this fruitfulness was Ethiopia. No
+one, I think, will conceive it probable that a country originally
+possessing such advantages could have been long unselected by
+the descendants of Noah. Herodotus also calls the Ethiopians
+aboriginal. Considering, then, the rapidity with which man
+multiplies in a hot climate where no Malthusian restraints operate,
+and in the full enjoyment of the ease and abundance which so rich
+a soil must have secured to them, I think it not unreasonable to
+conclude that Ethiopia, even before Egypt emerged from the Nile,
+was peopled by a numerous and powerful race. I cannot conceive that
+a country possessing such agricultural and other advantages—and
+probably, on that account, the resort of surrounding and less
+favoured nations—could long remain poor. Riches would introduce
+a taste for elegance, and afford encouragement to invention; hence
+the arts would derive their origin. The population increasing,
+while the land, owing to the spoliations of the river, diminished in
+extent and richness, the necessity of emigration became obvious. At
+the command of their oracle, as was their custom (see Herodotus,
+ii. 139.), they quitted their homes and proceeded along the course
+of the river; settling in the lower valley of the Nile: they would
+plant there the religion, arts, and knowledge of their country. This
+conclusion is confirmed by the following strong passage from Diodorus,
+proving historically what is my own conviction from the examination of
+their monumental remains. “It is from the Ethiopians,” says he,
+“that the Egyptians learned to honour their kings as gods, to bury
+their dead with so much pomp; and their sculpture and their writing
+(hieroglyphics) had their origin in Ethiopia.”[18]
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 10.
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+SCULPTURE IN ONE OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The following is a description of the most important pieces of
+sculpture which I found on the walls of the porticoes. (Plate X.
+Sculpture.—Meroe.)
+
+The principal figure in this plate is a queen, plainly attired in
+a long robe, tight at the neck and ankles, and, what is not usual
+in Egyptian sculpture, closely fitted to the legs. The whole figure
+is singularly dissimilar to those represented in the sculptures of
+Egypt. It is strongly marked by corpulency, a quality still so desired
+by Eastern beauties; a curious circumstance, since this rotundity of
+form, which is the distinguishing feature of Ethiopian sculpture, and
+which, making its figures more bulky, and, perhaps, clumsy, than the
+Egyptian, is nevertheless rather pleasing to the eye, and, I think,
+more natural. I made this drawing with the camera lucida, in order to
+give the figure exactly, without any exaggeration. It will be observed
+that there are defects in the proportions, similar and as numerous
+as in Egyptian sculpture; for instance, the faulty manner of drawing
+the eye, the shortness of the arms, and the form not being fully
+made out. This queen has in one hand the lash of Osiris, and in the
+other a lotus flower. She is on the seat having the form of a lion,
+which differs very little from the one we often see on the walls of
+the temples of Egypt. Her sandals greatly resemble some specimens I
+have seen at Thebes, and are not unlike those the peasants here now
+wear. She is seated under a canopy, the top of which is decorated
+with the common Egyptian ornament of the heads and necks of serpents.
+
+Opposite to her have been placed three rows of figures, the first
+of which is quite destroyed; the second is injured, but sufficiently
+entire to render all the hieroglyphics and figures intelligible. The
+first represents a female pouring out libations to the queen. The
+vase into which the liquid is represented as falling has a shape
+which I have never seen in Egypt. This figure has the same rotundity
+of form, though, from the small scale, it is less conspicuous in
+my drawing. Behind this are six smaller figures or divinities. The
+first, from his attributes, and also the hieroglyphics, is the god
+Thoth, with both hands raised. The next is Horus, with two vases
+in his hands, from one of which he is apparently pouring water
+upon plants in two vases, on a stand which has nearly the form
+of a lotus-flower. Anubis is the next divinity, and he also has a
+vase in his hand. On one side of this latter figure is a vase, and
+on the other the lotus flower-stand. After these figures is Kneph,
+behind whom is a rude and ugly-shaped vase: then follow two figures
+very much defaced. From the hieroglyphics, one of them must be Seb,
+but those of the other I am not acquainted with. The only figure
+discernible in the third row is Anubis, pouring libations. This
+plate then exhibits four of the divinities generally represented in
+the judgment-scenes and mysteries of the dead. Thoth, Horus, Anubis,
+and Kneph present offerings to the queen, the occupant of the tomb.
+
+The consideration of the hieroglyphics of this and the other
+sculptures on the tombs of Meroe I will defer until another
+opportunity; only remarking, that the composition of the groups is
+rather inferior to that in the Egyptian edifices, and that the names
+in the ovals are unknown. I must also state that it appears to me
+that there is the name of Meroe in the last row of the tablet, before
+the queen. There is the hieroglyphic of three hills, emblematical
+of land; the plough and the disk, which, with the vowels generally
+omitted, may be read, land of Mero, or, in Coptic, Ⲙⲉ ⲢⲎ,
+“dilectus Sol,” not an inappropriate name. I have an imperfect
+drawing (given me by Sir William Gell) of a coin found by Mr. Ruppell,
+on one side of which is a boat and the three long lines, emblematical
+of the inundation. Above the boat are, apparently, the same two
+hieroglyphics of the plough and disk, which I conceive to be the
+name of the capital of Ethiopia.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 11.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+SCULPTURE IN THE PORTICO OF A PYRAMID AT MEROE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+Plate XI. This exhibits a subject more interesting. There has
+seemingly been a figure, similar to the queen (in Plate X.), on a
+lion-formed seat, but it is now too much defaced to discover exactly
+whether it has been a king or a queen. The style of the sculpture
+is, however, evidently Ethiopian. The centre of this group, also,
+is divided into three rows. The highest contains a representation
+similar to part of the great procession in the portico of Medenet
+Abou, at Thebes. In this interesting little fragment we have a proof
+that the Egyptians derived even their religious ceremonies from the
+Ethiopians. Although this row of figures is exceedingly injured,
+I distinguished clearly the jackal, ibis, and hawk standards,
+carried by priests shaved, and with long robes, like those in the
+procession at Medenet Abou; thus confirming what Diodorus says,
+that “the priests in Ethiopia observe the same order and the same
+customs as the Egyptians. Those who are devoted to the worship
+of the gods purify themselves, shave, and dress, in the same
+manner.” Following these standard-bearers is a curious figure
+of Anubis and four priests bearing a boat, but almost defaced. I
+cannot agree with those who suppose that this procession alludes
+to the expeditions of the Ethiopians, undertaken at the command of
+their oracle, or that it is as Heeren calls it the oracle ship. I
+consider it rather a religious type, emblematical of the passage of
+the soul into immortality; the voyage to “the undiscovered land,
+from whose bourne no traveller returns.”
+
+In the same row of this plate we have Isis, Osiris, Horus, and
+Thoth. The addition of the two former is important, when we consider
+that they are in a real Ethiopian edifice. Osiris is represented, as
+at Thebes, as president of Amenti, under the figure of a mummy; his
+lash in his hand, and the head-dress of the globe and feathers, &c.
+
+In the third row, Isis, with the head-dress of the hieroglyphic
+called the throne, is caressing a hawk on a pedestal; the type of
+her son Horus. The third row contains a variety of elegant vases. We
+have here the true origin of many that were once thought Greek, and
+only recently acknowledged to be Egyptian. The large figure, offering
+with one hand a vase of incense, and with the other pouring libations,
+is remarkable for his short girdle, made of the skin of a lion. This
+is another proof of the originality of the style. The common Egyptian
+and Ethiopian lion-formed seat had also, very probably, its origin
+here, where lions abounded. If in Egypt now, so thinly inhabited
+(compared to what it formerly was), there are none of these animals,
+it cannot be supposed that they existed there when the population was
+so much denser. Diodorus says, that, as there was no wool in Ethiopia,
+the inhabitants covered their nakedness with the skins of beasts;
+and the Ethiopians, under Arsamenes (Herod. vii. 69.), are described
+as clothed with the skins of panthers and lions. Strabo also says
+that some of them only wear a cincture of skins, the sheep being
+without wool. The ornament at the bottom of this plate is unique,
+representing serpents standing erect, with arms and hands, in which
+they are each holding a feather, the symbol of truth. I have never
+seen this representation in Egypt, but it reminds me of some of the
+subjects in the tombs of the kings. The ornament at the top of this
+plate, representing stars, that is, the heavens, is constantly seen
+in Egypt, and is also, seemingly, of Ethiopian derivation.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 12.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+SCULPTURE IN A PYRAMID AT MEROE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+Plate XII. (the third of Sculpture) represents the inner tablet,
+or the three rows of figures, in a subject upon the opposite wall,
+and is connected with the fragments of two figures, and adorned with
+decorations defaced, but apparently so precisely the same as Plate
+XI. that I have thought it unnecessary to repeat them. The smaller
+figures in this subject are also less perfect. In the first row is
+the fragment of a figure certainly meant for Osiris; before him may be
+distinguished four very small divinities, perhaps the genii of Amenti,
+and a lion, seated on a pedestal, the executioner of justice. In the
+same row is a curious group of four hogs. I have been told that a
+representation of these animals once existed on a tomb at Thebes; but
+this is the first time I have seen them sculptured on any edifice in
+the valley of the Nile. In the second row is a pedestal, upon which
+is the model of a monolithic temple. On one side of the latter is a
+goose, and on the other a hawk, emblematical of the divinities Seb
+and Horus; after which there is a representation of a tree, with
+a figure on each side, followed by Thoth, with his hands raised
+towards the figure of a mummy: the head of the latter is defaced;
+but its shape is important, as proving that the Ethiopians were
+acquainted with the art of embalming. The third row contains a
+pedestal, or altar, on which three figures are seated. One with the
+globe and horns is Isis; the third, Horus; the other, is defaced:
+behind these is a large twisted serpent. In the second row of this
+tablet, and also in Plate XI., is an altar or pedestal, on which
+are cakes of bread, and in the midst of them the flowers of the
+lotus; indicating, I conceive, that they are the bread of that
+plant. The figure with a ceinture of lion’s skin, in both these
+subjects, is pouring libations on the flowers, symbolical, perhaps,
+of the reign of the king, who, like the inundation of the river,
+had spread abundance and prosperity over the land. There were some
+other fragments on the porticoes, and in one I observed a balance,
+and Thoth and Horus weighing the actions of the deceased before the
+judge, Osiris; a common subject on the papyrus, and which is also
+seen on the walls of the Temple of Athor at Thebes, &c.
+
+At the extremity of each portico, as before observed, is the
+representation of a monolithic temple, above which are the traces
+of a funeral boat filled with figures, but all too defaced to be
+distinctly made out. In the centre of each boat is the sphere in
+the usual concave socket; and I was able, with much difficulty, to
+distinguish the divinities Kneph and Anubis. On each side of the boat
+is a pedestal on which is the bird with a human face representing
+the soul: one has a sphere on its head. Diodorus mentions that some
+of the Ethiopians preserved the bodies of their relations in glass
+(probably alabaster) cases, in order to have them always before
+their eyes. These porticoes may have been used to contain such cases.
+
+I have carefully described this interesting and magnificent cemetery;
+but how shall I attempt to express the feelings of the traveller on
+treading such hallowed ground? One who, in passionate admiration for
+the arts, had visited the chief galleries of Europe, gazed upon the
+breathing image of divinity in the Apollo of the Vatican, or the deep
+expression of the most poetical of statues, the Dying Gladiator of the
+Capitol; who had beheld and felt the pictorial creations of a Raphael
+and a Correggio, and, with delight, contemplated Grecian, Roman,
+and modern sculpture, could not be unmoved at finding himself on the
+site of the very metropolis where those arts had their origin. The
+traveller who has seen the architectural antiquities of Rome, and
+has admired the magnificent use that nation has made of the arch,
+making it the chief ornament of their baths, palaces, and temples,
+would be further deeply interested at finding here the origin of that
+discovery. These emotions would be felt with peculiar force by one
+who, like myself, had been fortunate enough to trace art through her
+earliest creations,—from the splendid Gothic edifices of the north
+to the ruins of the Eternal City—from Rome to Magna Græcia—from
+the magnificent Temple of Neptune at Pæstum to the still purer
+antiquities of Sicily, particularly at Girgenti, where nature and art
+seem to have vied with each other—from that interesting island to
+the Morea and the city of Minerva, where the knowledge of the arts,
+sown in the most genial soil, produced the perfection of elegance,
+chasteness, and magnificence. But the seeds of the knowledge of the
+Greeks were derived from Egypt; and the Egyptians received their
+civilisation from the Ethiopians, and from Meroe, where I now am
+writing. The beautiful sepulchres of that city afford satisfactory
+evidence of the correctness of the historical records. Where a
+taste for the arts had reached to such perfection, we may rest
+assured that other intellectual pursuits were not neglected, nor
+the sciences entirely unknown. Now, however, her schools are closed
+for ever, without a vestige of them remaining. Of the houses of her
+philosophers, not a stone rests upon another; and where civilisation
+and learning once reigned, ignorance and barbarism have reassumed
+the sway.
+
+These pyramids are of sandstone, the quarries of which are in the
+range of hills to the east. The stone is rather softer than the
+Egyptian, which, added to the great antiquity, may account for the
+very dilapidated state of most of these ruins; and also for the
+sculpture and hieroglyphics being so defaced. Time, and the burning
+rays of a tropical sun, have given them a brownish red tint, in some
+parts nearly black. As the operation of many ages is required to
+make this change on a light-coloured sandstone, a further proof is
+afforded of the great antiquity of the monuments. The stones being
+small, and easily removed, it is fortunate that the chief group of
+pyramids is so far distant from the Nile; otherwise, like those on
+the plain, near the river, a great proportion of them might have been
+carried away as materials for the erection of more modern edifices.
+
+This, then, is the Necropolis, or City of the Dead. But where was
+Meroe, its temples and palaces? A large space, about 2000 feet in
+length, and the same distance from the river, strewed with burnt
+brick and with some fragments of walls, and stones similar to those
+used in the erection of the pyramids, formed, doubtless, part of
+that celebrated site. The idea that this is the exact situation
+of the city is strengthened by the remark of Strabo, that the
+walls of the habitations were built of bricks: Εν δε ταις πολεσιν αἱ
+οικησεις εκ φοινικινων σχιζων διαπλεκομεναι και τοιχων εκ
+πλινθων. These indicate, without doubt, the site of that
+cradle of the arts which distinguish a civilised from a barbarous
+society. Of the birthplace of the arts and sciences, the wild natives
+of the adjacent villages have made a miserable burying-place:
+of the city of the learned—its “cloud-clapt towers,” its
+“gorgeous palaces,” its “solemn temples,” there is “left
+not a rack behind.” The sepulchres alone of her departed kings
+have fulfilled their destination of surviving the habitations which
+their philosophy taught them to consider but as inns, and are now fast
+mouldering into dust. As at Memphis, scarcely a trace of a palace or
+a temple is to be seen. In this once populous plain I saw the timid
+gazelles fearlessly pasturing. The hyenas and wolves abound in the
+neighbouring hills. This morning Signor B. met a man with the head
+of one which he was carrying in triumph to his village: he said
+that he had been attacked at once by three small ones when alone,
+and with no weapon but his lance. The small villages of Bagromeh[19],
+south of the ruins, consist of circular cottages with thatched conical
+roofs. The peasants have numerous flocks, which they send to pasture
+on the plain. On the banks of the river I observed cotton, dourah,
+and barley. Such is the present state of Meroe. It is an ample
+requital for my toilsome journey, to have been the first to bring
+to England accurate architectural drawings, &c. of all the remains
+of the ancient capital of Ethiopia, that city which will ever live
+in the grateful recollection of those who love the arts.
+
+_March 6._ My rais informed me, this morning, that he could wait
+no longer; that his orders from the Mahmoor were only to show us
+the ruins; that he knew the governor wanted the boat; and that he
+would not stay another night on any consideration. I should have
+wished to have remained a few days more at this interesting place,
+particularly with the view of making some excavations, but I must
+confess I had no great hopes of the latter being of much avail. Since
+the enterprising French traveller, M. Cailliaud was here, the desert
+must have made great encroachments on the ruins in the plain, as I
+saw nothing of the traces and almost plan, of a temple which he has
+marked in his General Plate, No. XXXI.
+
+It will be alleged that there are a great many discrepancies between
+my architectural and picturesque views and those of M. Cailliaud. I
+have only to remark that the former are by M. Bandoni, a most
+skilful Italian architect and painter of acknowledged reputation,
+whose sufficient recommendation to me was the patronage of that
+most distinguished of British antiquarians, Sir William Gell. The
+picturesque views are drawn by myself, with the utmost care and
+attention, and with the camera lucida; so that I can vouch for the
+correct position of every stone. M. Cailliaud has given several
+pieces of sculpture from the propylons. I observed that the façades
+of two of the porticoes were ornamented with sculpture, representing
+a king sacrificing prisoners—a subject so often seen in Egypt:
+they were very much injured; but had they struck me as being so
+extraordinary as he has represented them, I should certainly have
+drawn them separately. The figure which appears in my camera view
+(Plate IX.) has none of those peculiarities. The variations in the
+directions of the pyramids are most accurately marked; for I was very
+particular in my directions to Mr. B. on that subject. M. Cailliaud
+has left me the opportunity of being the first to present to the
+public several interesting pieces of sculpture, and numerous tablets
+which decorate the interior of the porticoes.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+DEPARTURE FROM THE RUINS. — NUMEROUS VILLAGES, ONE CALLED
+MEROUEER. — SHENDY. — FORTIFIED HOUSE OF THE MELEK. —
+INSIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRESENT CAPITALS OF ETHIOPIA. — POPULATION OF
+SHENDY. — BAZAAR. — PRICES OF CAMELS, SLAVES, ETC. — MANNER OF
+TRANSACTING BUSINESS. — WOMEN OF SHENDY. — SLAVE SYSTEM. — POWER
+OF THE ANCIENT MELEKS. — THEIR WIVES. — ARMY OF THE PASHA. —
+DEATH OF ISMAEL PASHA. — METAMMAH. — THE KATSHEF OF THAT PLACE
+AND HIS COURT. — KATSHEF OF SHENDY.
+
+
+At five P.M., I left, with great regret, the site of Meroe, and
+stopped for the night at half past seven. The navigation of the river,
+in the dark, at this season of the year, is dangerous, on account
+of the number of rocks. We have passed, this evening, the village
+of Abukatab, to the west, and on the east a large village called
+Kabushish, and an island of the same name. We passed Garburiah, a
+large village to the west, and we are now near El Gililife, a smaller
+one on the same side. Yesterday, and this morning, I was greatly
+alarmed for the health of my Dragoman. He has had a most violent
+dysentery, which I have at last cured with opium and calomel; the
+former sufficiently strong to keep him asleep. This attack might have
+been fatal to him had he not possessed a very strong constitution.
+
+_March_ 7. We set sail this morning, at six, with a favourable wind,
+and passed, at nine, a large village called Meroueer, on the west
+side. The resemblance to the ancient name is obvious, but there are
+no remains. At ten we passed the village of Sofra, to the west; at
+half past ten, the village of Gaher, same side, and the small island
+of Addadiker. Shortly afterwards, we passed the village of Unukatab,
+and arrived at Shendy at twelve.
+
+[Illustration: FORTIFIED RESIDENCE OF THE ANCIENT MELEKS, OR KINGS,
+OF SHENDY.]
+
+_Shendy._—On the eastern banks of the river is one of the old
+fortified houses of the Meleks, now the residence of the government. I
+called to pay my respects to the Katshef, but was informed that he
+was asleep. I proceeded to the town, which is about a mile distant
+from the river. Burckhardt, by his very detailed account of Shendy,
+conveys almost an impression that it is a considerable place; but,
+though the capital of a once important province, that succeeded to
+all that remains of the commerce of Meroe, as a city it can never have
+been worthy of much notice. Any of the little towns in Lower and Upper
+Egypt have ten times more the appearance of a metropolis. The houses
+are little better than mere hovels; there are no shops, no _cafés_:
+the country in the immediate vicinity is wretchedly barren. The
+town may now contain 600 or 700 houses, and not more than 3000 or
+3500 inhabitants. The dwellings are not crowded together, as in the
+villages of Egypt; they are spacious, and have often interior courts:
+the streets are wide, and there are in the town several open spaces,
+or squares, some of which are used as market-places.
+
+It fortunately happened to be the day of the bazaar, which gave me
+an opportunity of seeing what articles were exposed for sale, and
+also of observing the Arabs and peasants who attend the market. The
+most valuable articles offered for sale were camels, dromedaries,
+and slaves. The price of a male negro is from 10 to 20 dollars: they
+are preferred young, being then more docile and less lethargic than
+at a maturer age. Female slaves, when old, are valued according to
+their acquirements: when young, being destined for the harem, they
+rank according to their personal attractions, and vary from 30 to
+100 dollars. Abyssinians, when young and beautiful, as they often
+are, bring from 60 to 100 dollars. Camels were selling for 9 and 10
+dollars each,—the best, 12 and 14; dromedaries, 12 and 20; and even
+50 dollars for a high-bred Bishareen. There was a great show of oxen
+with humps on their shoulders, like those of ancient Egypt, as they
+are always represented on the walls. (See the one in the view of a
+Dongolah cottage, Plate XXXVI.) There were also sheep and goats in
+the bazaar: the sheep, 6 to 9 piastres (1_s._ 6_d._ to 2_s._ 3_d._),
+skin included. The price of the goats, if they yield much milk, 10
+piastres (2_s._ 6_d._). I remarked several peasants selling a coarse
+common kind of goat’s-milk cheese, for which there is apparently
+a great demand. The Cairo merchants bring a variety of articles:
+white cotton dresses; cutlery of a very inferior quality, such as
+twopenny knives, or razors, which sell here for fivepence; soap;
+Abyssinian coffee (very good); beads; shells; small glass mirrors;
+kohl (antimony), to tint their eyelids, and hennah to colour the
+hands of the swarthy beauties; and a variety of spices and essences.
+
+Their manner of dealing is peculiar. When I asked the price of a
+camel (for I thought of buying some for my journey homewards), they
+would not name one, but asked me how much I would give. I made an
+offer for a dromedary to a man, who refused it, but still declined
+saying how much he would demand. I soon gave up such a tedious
+process of making a bargain. I observed some good specimens of the
+Shendyan beauties. (See Plate XVI.) They have their hair twisted in
+tresses and hanging down on each side of their faces; their dress is
+of coarse materials, but flowing, graceful, and generally adjusted
+with much taste and elegance.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 16.
+
+_On stone by G. Scharf, from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+A WOMAN OF SHENDY.
+
+MOUSSA. Son of a Melek of Berber.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+Shendy, Berber, Dar Shageea, Dongolah, &c., previous to their
+submission to the Pasha, had each its own Melek, independent or
+tributary to the great Melek of Sennaar. Each of the sons of these
+petty kings had estates assigned to him; but they all acknowledged
+the head of the family, that is, the reigning Melek, contributed
+to his support and defence, submitted to his laws and commands,
+and served him in war. This order of Meleks, or nobles, was most
+numerous; and they established their power by the same base system
+alluded to in my account of Berber, and to which I refer with
+reluctance, as developing the means by which the Meleks obtained
+political influence in this part of the interior of Africa. Such a
+profligate, and, fortunately, unique system of family aggrandisement
+tended obviously to the complete demoralisation of the country. They
+purchased, or made captive in their wars, female slaves; of which
+some possessed thirty, others as many as a hundred, and some five
+hundred. These unfortunate creatures, as already stated, were placed
+by the meleks in the different villages, and obliged to gratify the
+avarice of their masters, and earn their own scanty livelihood by the
+abandonment of their virtue. The only privilege these most wretched
+of slaves possess is, that when they have paid to the melek a sum
+equal to their purchase money or present value, the custom of the
+country precludes him from selling them. It is at his option to
+sell or not the child to the father. The price of the infant is
+generally from 150 to 200 piastres. The daughters, when grown up,
+succeed to their mother’s “heritage of woe.” The compulsion
+under which these victims act is some apology for this systematic
+depravity. They pride themselves as superior to the common almæ,
+and are not considered in the same light by the virtuous women in the
+village, who never admit the almæ into their houses, or hold any
+intercourse with them. These slaves, on the contrary, are not only
+permitted to visit them and join in their occupations and festivals,
+but are admitted to their friendship. They are allowed to be present
+at their wedding and funeral ceremonies, though not to join in the
+dance. The sons of these slaves, as already noticed, are sometimes
+sold, particularly when the melek is in want of money; but generally
+they are brought up to cultivate the ground of their chief, and, when
+necessity requires, rally around his standard, and accompany him to
+battle. From their earliest infancy, they are entirely devoted to
+the despotic will of their melek; evincing great attachment to his
+person, and zeal in the execution of his commands, as the only means
+by which they can hope for emancipation. This singular kind of family
+connection may, perhaps, account for the supreme authority in this
+country having been so seldom disturbed, and for the rare occurrence
+of those revolutions so common in such petty uncivilised states. The
+result of the system was, that the melek had always a large force
+of slaves and dependants, besides those of the meleks his kinsmen,
+who were also implicitly devoted to his will, and deeply interested
+in maintaining the peace and security of the kingdom.
+
+The meleks were the only aristocracy of the country. Each, before the
+Pasha’s domination, took four wives; and many, regardless of the
+limit set by the Koran, even more. They tell me that Melek Tumbol of
+Argo has had twenty-one.[20] Their wives, who are always daughters
+of meleks, pass their time in the harem; for it is considered a
+degradation to have a son by a slave or woman of low rank, or to
+allow their wives to work. The Pasha, by depressing the meleks, has
+diminished, but not destroyed, this system of slavery; and at some
+future period it may be the means of exciting a combined effort to
+expel his descendants. Serving, as some of the Shageea slaves do,
+in his army, they have, of course, learned the use of fire-arms, and
+could turn them against their oppressors. There are 500 of the Shageea
+tribe in the pay of the Pasha. But, perhaps aware that the security
+of their dominion over this country consists in their discipline,
+and the superiority of their arms, the government have not admitted
+into their army any of the Arab tribes of this vicinity; and these
+Shageeas being at a distance, near Habeesh, little danger is to be
+apprehended from them now: indeed, so long as they are so far distant
+with the army, they may be considered as hostages for the fidelity
+of their province. Hourshid Bey, the governor of Sennaar, besides
+the 500 Shageea slaves, has also under his command nearly 5000 men,
+consisting of Mograbins, from Lower Egypt, Fellaheen, and Turks. With
+this force, he extends every campaign the Pasha’s dominion on the
+Blue River, and sends every year never less than 500, and often as
+many as 3000 slaves, the trophies of his victories, to Cairo.
+
+Before the conquest of Ismael Pasha, Shendy, I understand, was rather
+more populous: but this was the town where that unfortunate prince
+met his fate. The circumstances connected with this event, according
+to the information I obtained here, differ, in some respects, from
+those which have been stated by other travellers. It might seem that
+the accounts obtained by those who passed immediately after his death
+were likely to be most correct: but often the contrary is the case;
+for events in the course of time have new light thrown upon them, and
+the rashness and imprudence of Ismael Pasha were naturally glossed
+over at the moment. He came from Sennaar to Shendy with about ten
+Mamelukes. The Meleks Nimr (tiger) of Shendy, and Messayad of Metammah
+(a eunuch who once belonged to Sultan Foddal of Darfour), came to
+pay their homage to him. The Pasha demanded of Nimr a subsidy, to
+the value of 100,000 dollars, in money, slaves, and cattle: Nimr,
+in no very polite terms, declared his inability, when the Pasha,
+in a fit of passion, struck him with his pipe. Nimr, enraged at this
+insult, was on the point of drawing his sabre and attacking the Pasha;
+but Melek Messayad pacified him, advising him, in the dialect of the
+Bishareen, which they both understood, to delay his revenge until
+evening, and at present to promise a compliance with the exorbitant
+requisition. The two chiefs, after leaving the presence, ordered their
+slaves and people to prepare a quantity of wood. The Khasnar Dar Bey
+of the Pasha observed these preparations, and was overheard by an
+Arab advising the Prince to effect his escape: but the latter, with
+the pride peculiar to the Turks, replied, “Am I not a Pasha? and
+what Arab dare touch me?” A few hours after dark, they surrounded
+the house with faggots, set fire to them, and the unfortunate Prince
+and the Mamelukes who were with him perished in the flames. Nimr
+fled up the country, married a daughter of a king of Habeesh, and
+is still the inveterate enemy of the Turks. The same night Melek
+Messayad fell upon the few troops that were stationed at Metammah,
+and massacred them. Messayad was afterwards killed by the Deftar Dar
+Bey, as were also a great number of the Shendyans, suspected to be
+connected with the murder of the Prince. In consequence of this event,
+the government have made Metammah, on the opposite side of the river,
+their chief place of residence, and several of the inhabitants of
+Shendy have removed thither.
+
+Metammah, situated one hour’s walk from the river, is a much
+more desolate-looking place than even Shendy. You see streets full
+of sand, scarcely an inhabitant, no _brio_, no bazaar: the houses
+are common hovels. Such are the present capitals of Ethiopia. The
+only habitable abode is one of the fortified castles of the Sheakhs,
+now occupied by a Katshef, who commands this part of the province. I
+paid him a visit, but found him a stupid fellow, and could procure
+no information from him on any subject, especially concerning the
+locality of the antiquities in the desert I was anxious to visit. His
+house presented a complete contrast to that of the governor of
+Berber, being filthy in the extreme, so that I was almost afraid to
+sit down on his divan. The servants who presented the coffee were
+the most wretchedly dressed fellows I have seen in the country. The
+conversation was chiefly about backsheesh (presents), and the spirit
+they exhibited, in discussing the prices of the camels I required for
+my journey into the desert, was very disgusting. The Katshef’s son
+entered the room, and fired off an English pistol at the window,—a
+Turkish hint that another pistol would be acceptable. The Katshef
+asked me to stop and dine with him; but really the appearance of
+the place was not sufficiently promising to induce me to accept his
+offer. He ordered me a horse to convey me back to my tent, and gave
+me a dirty scoundrel as a guide who did not know the road. The moon
+had not risen; and, it being extremely dark, we missed the track
+in crossing the plain: fortunately, the light of a fire, which I
+knew came from a hut near my boat, served me as a guide. The horse,
+several times, nearly fell, in consequence of the roughness of the
+ground. On arriving at my tent, I gave the urchin three piastres,
+with which he was not satisfied, although the clothes, or rather rags,
+on his back were not worth half the sum.
+
+_March_ 8. I returned this morning to Shendy, and waited on the
+Katshef, an old retired officer, not now in the employ of the
+Pasha; but, having been useful in his day, he receives his pay, and
+lives here in good style. He gave us an excellent dinner: the most
+remarkable dish was a preparation of meat with _raib_, a kind of sour
+milk, which is very refreshing in this climate; he also assisted us in
+making the necessary preparations for our excursion into the desert.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+DEPARTURE FROM SHENDY. — DIFFICULTIES. — DESERT. — VISIT FROM
+AND ANECDOTES OF LIONS. — IMMENSE RUINS. — CONFUSION OF THE
+PLAN. — BUILT BY BAD ARCHITECTS. — DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
+PRINCIPAL TEMPLE. — STYLE OF THE SCULPTURE. — OTHER RUINS. —
+SINGULAR SITUATION OF THE RUINS. — THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH THEY WERE
+CONSTRUCTED. — THEIR PROBABLE AGE.
+
+
+March 9. We left Shendy later than we intended, having been delayed by
+the following little difficulties. I had engaged from the government
+six camels, with three drivers, of which they only sent me one driver.
+As I found I should lose a day, or perhaps two, in going back to
+Metammah, and there were said to be none procurable here, I was forced
+to yield this point. I had also stipulated for a Turkish soldier, who
+accompanied Cailliaud, and for a habeer (guide), and had agreed to give
+twelve piastres per day for these two persons. Before setting out, I
+asked the soldier, “where was the habeer?” “I am the habeer,” he said.
+“Where, then,” asked I, “is the soldier?” “Oh,” said he, “I am soldier
+and habeer both.” I was resolved not to start without another, my own
+men not being sufficient to load the camels. After a long dispute,
+he at length procured me an Arab. This is a specimen of the little
+annoyances to which travellers are generally liable in dealing with
+Turks. The desert to-day has had the appearance of a shrubbery, being
+richly covered with long yellow grass, acacias, tamarinds, and thorns,
+and enlivened with numerous herds of gazelles. Every two or three
+minutes we saw six or eight, but so wild that our attempts to approach
+them were fruitless.
+
+_Ruins of Wady Owataib, or Mecaurat.—March_ 10. We started this
+morning at six, and at eleven arrived at these interesting ruins. We
+passed, at about nine, a range of soft sandstone hills, which run
+from east to west.
+
+I was surprised to find in this situation, which may be called the
+interior of the Desert, such extensive remains of antiquity. They
+consist of an edifice, containing temples, courts, corridors,
+&c. destined for purposes not religious only, but civil, domestic,
+or military. After taking a general survey, I returned to my tent
+for my portfolio, pencils, &c. My dragoman met me, with a bewildered
+look, and communicated to me intelligence which was any thing but
+agreeable. A man, who was driving cattle, the only person we have
+met to-day, came and asked my servants, who were pitching the tent,
+if they were not afraid of lions, as they seemed to be preparing
+to pass the night amongst the ruins. He told them that he brought
+his cattle here to pasture only during the day, when the lions are
+asleep in their dens among the mountains, but through the night
+they prowl all over this part of the plain; and only six nights
+ago four of them had killed three of his cattle, within 200 yards
+of our tent. He showed them the spot where their bones lay, and
+advised us immediately to quit this place, and remove either to the
+Nile, or to a distant mountain, whither he was going, and where we
+should be in safety. These tidings caused no slight consternation
+in my little caravan; some repented having come, others wished to
+return immediately; all seemed dismayed at the idea of passing the
+night exposed to such unpleasant visiters. Was I then to leave the
+antiquities of Meroe, and abandon the hope of being able to procure
+any further memorials of their magnificence? There were only two
+alternatives: to return with the mortification of having failed in
+one of the great objects of my journey, and still, as we could not
+arrive before night, perhaps incur the same danger; or to take the
+necessary precautions for defence in case of being attacked by these
+animals. I chose the latter course, and made my men collect all the
+wood that could be found, to keep up fires during the night. I sent
+my dragoman and the Turkish soldier towards the neighbouring hills,
+to see if they could discover any traces of them. After an hour they
+returned, and said they had seen none. The fact was, my dragoman did
+not know their footprints, and the Turk concealed the truth. Scarcely
+had I finished an address to my artist and servants, endeavouring
+to assure them that, after this intelligence, we should, with proper
+precautions, be perfectly safe, when, looking down, I perceived, in
+my very tent, the distinct traces of a lion; but I put my foot upon
+them, and said nothing. I could discover no other marks about the
+ruins; but a very light wind is sufficient to efface the impression
+on a loose sandy desert like this. This evening I have established
+a watch, and kept it myself five hours. My servants are sleeping on
+the ground, according to their custom, and have taken the precaution
+to form the camels into a sort of fortification, by tying them down
+in a circle round themselves. They are now all sleeping soundly,
+unconscious of danger, except my habeer, who has fastened the heel
+of his camel to his own leg, knowing well that the instinct of that
+creature (trembling and restive whenever a lion is near) will warn
+him of danger, and at the same time the animal will be prevented
+from flying off and escaping without his master.
+
+_March_ 11. I had not been long asleep, during the watch of my
+servants and artist, when I was suddenly roused. The Turk had seen two
+lions among the ruins, within 100 yards of my tent, and had fired his
+gun to frighten them away. I immediately ordered additional fires
+to be lighted: shortly afterwards, the peasant, who had advised
+us against encamping here, came to us for protection. By the light
+of the moon he had perceived the approach of two lions, which, he
+said, were behind him in the plain. I went a short distance from
+my tent, with the Turk, to reconnoitre, and I heard them roaring
+at no considerable distance. The roar soon became very distinct,
+even in my tent, but it did not prevent my falling asleep, as I was
+dreadfully fatigued by the previous day’s work, the long watch I
+had made, and the excessive heat. This was yesterday extraordinary
+for the season, being 110° in the shade (of the temple), though the
+extreme has been hitherto 98° and 100°. I slept the remainder of
+the night. This morning we found that the four lions had rambled all
+over the ruins, and their traces were quite fresh in every part. They
+had evidently been deterred only by our fires from attacking us. I
+ascertained them, by their footsteps, to be two males and two females;
+one of the males must have been very large, the females much smaller.
+
+Every place and country has its danger, but few spread more alarm
+than this terror of the deserts. Seas and oceans have their tempests,
+in which vessels are frequently shipwrecked; and, even in smooth
+water, rocks and shoals send many to a watery grave. The traveller,
+even on the king’s high road, has sometimes to dread banditti. How
+many accidents occur even to the citizen on his holyday trips! Thus
+he who has never quitted his native country, and the traveller
+in foreign lands, are alike beset with perils; but there are few
+dangers which cannot be alleviated, often prevented, by prudent and
+precautionary measures, and which, stripped of the terrors in which
+heated imaginations have clothed them, present in their reality much
+that is alarming. By simply keeping up a few fires, the merchants
+who pass these deserts sleep securely, in defiance of their being
+infested by the most formidable of all wild beasts. I should, however,
+state, that instances are mentioned of fires not having this effect,
+when the lions are excessively pressed by hunger, particularly at the
+season when they require food for their young. Towards evening (for
+it is very seldom, if ever, that the lion is seen during the day),
+one alone has often arrested a large caravan. In some instances they
+have been known to attack men; but are generally content with an ox
+or a camel, which they kill, and sometimes, particularly if they
+have left their females or young in their den, carry away a large
+part on their shoulders. The number of these animals must increase
+rapidly every year, for it is very seldom that an instance occurs
+of one being killed.
+
+They tell me, that a party of twenty peasants went lately to destroy
+two which had taken a station within a very short distance of the
+river, and committed great ravages among the flocks. The men were
+armed with lances, shields, and sabres. They traced the lions to
+their den, and began lighting fires, to drive them out. The female
+darted past them immediately. The male remained some time, until he
+could no longer endure the smoke, when he began to roar in a most
+terrific manner; he then rushed out, infuriated, upon the peasants:
+not one, however, of these gallant assailants had the courage to
+fling his lance, but each, without any consideration for the fate of
+his friends, sought his own security in flight. Fire-arms only are of
+use against these formidable animals, but the Italian proverb is said
+to be true of them:—_Il lione ferito alla morte non s’avvilisce
+ancora_. They are generally seen two and four together, often more,
+but always in pairs. They are very rarely disturbed; and, as no
+attempts have been made to exterminate them, their number is said
+to have increased considerably during these last few years. This
+may be considered the place where their haunts begin. They infest
+the road to Sennaar and the west side of the Atbara; but travellers
+incur less danger in the beaten track of the caravans than when,
+like us, they deviate from it.
+
+The reader will recollect that, at the entrance of this desert,
+I observed great numbers of gazelles, but for several miles round
+these ruins and hills I saw none. These timid creatures prefer the
+risk of approaching the habitations of man, considering the arts of
+the peasants to destroy them less perilous than the vicinity of the
+lions. The latter know the places in the plain where the gazelles
+sleep, and, favoured by the darkness of night, dart upon their
+victims, whose superior swiftness only avails them when sometimes the
+roaring of their enemy intimates his approach. The Arabs tell some
+singularly superstitious tales of the generosity of the lion. The
+following has been related to me as a fact, by different peasants; but
+I must confess that, like the generality of Arab tales, it partakes
+of the marvellous: yet, perhaps, with a _mélange_ of fable, there
+may be some kind of foundation of truth. They say, that when the lion
+seizes the cow of a peasant, he will permit the owner to carry away
+a portion; particularly if he asks for it in the name of his mother,
+wife, or family, _and takes it without showing any fear_.—I must
+apologise to the antiquarian, and perhaps to readers in general,
+for this long digression from my description of these antiquities,
+but I promised to give some account, not only of the remains, but
+also of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia.
+
+The plan (see Plate XIII.) which I give of these ruins was made
+with the utmost care by my artist, Mr. B., and drawn out on the
+spot. I can testify for the pains that were taken to render it as
+accurate as possible. The ruin is too much destroyed for the plan
+to be perfectly correct, as to the size and situation of some of
+the doors, and the dimensions of many of the apartments; still,
+there is all that is necessary to exhibit to the reader the general
+form of the edifice. Even if all the walls were remaining, without
+any inscription to elucidate them, it would still be doubtful what
+this extraordinary mass of building has been. The appearance of
+the ruins is very imposing, from their immense extent; and I will
+give a detailed description of them, as they are certainly the most
+curious and inexplicable I have yet seen in Ethiopia. They consist
+of chambers, courts, corridors, and temples, in an enclosure or
+parallelogram, 760 by 660 feet; but in more accurate numbers the
+entire circumference is 2854 feet. The north-east side is 660 feet
+long; the north-west, the only side on which there are entrances,—
+
+                                              Ft.  In.
+
+  From the angle to the door                   88   0
+
+  Width of the door                            13   0
+
+  To the central entrance                     220   6
+
+  Width of the central entrance                16   0
+
+  Thence to the other entrance                228   0
+
+  Width of that entrance                       16   0
+
+  Thence to the angle                         188   0
+                                              -------
+      Total north-west side                   769   6
+
+            south-west side                   665   0
+
+            south-east side                   760   0
+
+            north-east side                   660   0
+                                             --------
+  Total circumference of the edifice         2854   6
+                                             --------
+
+On the north-east, south-east, and south-west sides, there are no
+entrances into the enclosure. The wall on the north-west side cannot
+be traced accurately through its whole extent. There have apparently
+been three entrances on this side; the central one, which is the most
+distinguishable, leads into a large court, 620 feet wide and 144 feet
+long. Opposite to the central entrance, on the south-east side of
+the court, is a long narrow corridor, 8 feet wide and 205 feet long,
+which leads to the principal temple, situated in a court 94 feet long
+by 85 feet wide. To give an exact idea of the situation of this court,
+I should state, that from the wall of the court to the enclosure on
+the south-east side is 106 feet; 165 feet to the enclosure on the
+south-west side; 204 feet from the north-west and 150 feet from the
+north-east side. Although not exactly in the centre of the structure,
+a slight examination of the plan will enable the reader to perceive
+that, from its situation, size, and the circumstance of the corridors
+leading into it, that edifice was, evidently, the principal temple:
+it is 47 feet long, from north-west to south-east; and 40 feet
+6 inches broad. The large court, and the corridor from it to the
+temple, in a line with the central entrance of the enclosure, clearly
+indicate that the grand entrance was on the west side; and yet it
+is singular there is no doorway in the temple on that side. There
+are five entrances into the latter; one on the south-east side,
+two on the north-east, and two on the south-west. In front of the
+south-east end have been twelve columns, three feet and a half in
+diameter, in two rows of six each; before the west end, six columns,
+and five at each side, not including the columns at the angles:
+making, altogether, twenty-eight columns. There are the remains of
+four columns, which ornamented the interior of the temple. In front
+of it, on the south-east side, is a doorway which leads into a room
+20 feet by 26, with two chambers on one side and one on the other;
+before them is an inclined parapet: an architectural ornament to the
+façades of temples, of which there are examples even in the best
+style of Egyptian edifices, such as at Solib. (Plate XL.) The axis
+of the door leading through this room to the parapet is the same as
+that of the central edifice into the temple. The circumstance of this
+inclined parapet wall, and there being a double row of columns only
+at this end of the temple, prove that it fronted to the south-east.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 13.
+
+_From a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+RUINS OF WADY OWATAIB OR MECAURAT.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The court containing the inclined parapet leading into the temple is
+125 feet wide and 75 feet long: several doors lead out of it; one to
+the east into a court of 96 feet long and 165 feet broad, in which is
+a small temple fronting the south-west. A few rows of steps lead up to
+a portico which was ornamented with four columns, fragments of which
+are still remaining. On each side of the door leading from the portico
+into the temple is a colossal statue, very much mutilated, being
+now without either head or arms. They are attached to the wall in
+the Egyptian manner, and they have the attitude of one foot advanced
+before the other, like the Egyptians. The style of one is tolerably
+good; the other, that is, the one on the east side of the doorway,
+is much inferior. They are accurately represented in my drawing. The
+exterior of this little temple is 53 feet by 45: at the angles is the
+Egyptian beading. The doorway is ornamented with a twisted serpent
+on each side. The interior, which consisted of one room, contains the
+remains of two columns without their capitals. From their situation,
+there appears to have been originally six: on the walls are some rude
+scratches, but undoubtedly modern. South of the principal temple is a
+large court, 258 feet long and 248 feet broad. On the north-east side
+of the principal temple is a corridor 7 feet wide and 96 feet long,
+having a north-west direction, whence it turns to the south-east for
+45 feet, and leads into a court where there is another small temple:
+this had also a portico before it, which was ornamented with four
+columns. The exterior of this temple measures 52 feet by 29. In
+the interior there are now the remains of four columns, from the
+position of which there seem to have been originally eight. On the
+south-west side of the principal temple is a corridor 86 feet long
+and 12 feet wide, having a south-west direction, whence it turns
+to the north-west for 20 feet, and leads to some small rooms, and
+also into a large court 88 feet long, containing two small chambers,
+in one of which are the fragments of three columns.
+
+[Illustration: SMALL TEMPLE AT WADY EL OWATAIB.]
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 14.
+
+_On stone from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+WADY OWATAIB.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+I will attempt no further description of this extraordinary
+edifice. The reader will perceive, from the inspection of the
+plan (Plate XIII.), how utterly impossible it is to give a more
+detailed, and, at the same time, clear, description of its various
+compartments. The confusion of successive rooms, corridors, small
+and large courts, and temples, together with the total absence of any
+attempt at regularity, excited my curiosity to find out the nature of
+this singular construction. It has evidently been built by wretched
+architects, at different periods, in an age when the art had sadly
+declined in Ethiopia; but, before alluding to the different surmises
+concerning the object of its erection, I will first give a detailed
+description of the principal temple in the centre. The view (Plate
+XIV.) will give a good idea of its present state of preservation. The
+columns in Plates XIII., XIV., and vignette, executed architecturally,
+will sufficiently indicate the style of art: a few fragments of
+capitals alone remain, and those are on the north-east side of the
+temple. It will be seen by Plate XIV. that the forms only of several
+of the capitals are visible, but only one fragment has the appearance
+of having been finished. (See vignette.) Their form is somewhat
+similar to that usual in the Ptolemaic age of architecture in Egypt;
+but the ornaments of the fragment, above alluded to, consist only of
+parallel lines: whether these terminated in the lotus flower cannot
+be ascertained, but there certainly is a resemblance, though not
+complete, to a Ptolemaic capital. Under the capital of this column
+are seven rows of beading; the rest of the shaft, consisting of five
+pieces, is fluted, except the lowest stone, which is ornamented with
+the lotus flower. The style of the fluting is Grecian. The shaft
+swells out a little towards the lower part, and is rounded off at
+the bottom. It bears another resemblance to the Egyptian style in
+the base it rests upon being circular. There remains one fragment
+(see vignette), of a fluted column with a smooth panel in the centre,
+in which a wreath is sculptured in imitation of the leaves of the
+palm tree. Another fragment of a column is ornamented with sculpture,
+and at the base the triangular ornament not unlike the Egyptian.
+
+[Illustration: COLUMNS AT WADY EL OWATAIB.]
+
+The sculpture is in very high relief—not less than 1¾ inch; but
+the style is decidedly bad: the figures are generally from about 3
+to 4 feet in height; and, notwithstanding their defaced condition, I
+could distinguish that some of them are _en face_; but the rudeness of
+the execution of what remains perfect, demonstrates an epoch when the
+arts had wofully degenerated in this their parent land. At Uffidunia,
+in Lower Nubia, an edifice well known to be Roman, there is a piece
+of sculpture on the detached propylon very much in this style. The
+view (Plate XV.) represents fortuitously almost all the most perfect
+fragments which now exist; and so completely shows the style of
+the sculpture, that I regretted the less not having time to make
+separate drawings, particularly as not a single hieroglyphic remains,
+or has ever existed, to elucidate the sculpture. I trust, therefore,
+that the accurate notes I took on the spot, of every fragment I
+could find, and the specimens of the style in my drawings, will be
+considered quite sufficient. What sculpture remains, is chiefly on
+the lower part of two columns and on several fragments which lie
+scattered about: some of the figures are _en face_, and some _en
+profile_. Notwithstanding their defaced condition, I distinguished
+the following:—Thriphis with the lion’s head, _en profile_;
+the hawk-headed divinity (Horus); two figures, seemingly goddesses,
+but not very discernible, _en face_; a divinity with a vase; Kneph,
+_en face_, with a globe at his breast; a goddess, _en face_, in a
+kind of monolithic temple. On another fragment I discerned a figure
+presenting offerings with one hand, and the other raised behind
+his head. On another large fragment, Isis, Horus, and a king were
+discernible: the ovals of his name seem never to have been filled
+up. On another fragment I observed a border consisting alternately
+of a lion and the goddess of truth with outstretched wings. As there
+are no hieroglyphics, the names of these divinities are, of course,
+only inferred from the presence of their usual attributes. Except
+on these fragments of columns in front of the central temple,
+there are no other remains of sculpture in any part of these ruins,
+with the exception of the two fragments of colossal statues I have
+before alluded to as ornamenting the façades of the small temple
+to the east. There are some other ruins at a short distance from the
+great enclosure, but they are of little importance. One of the rooms
+contains the remains of six columns, on one of which is sculptured
+an elephant destroying a dog with his trunk, and on another a winged
+lion is represented killing a man.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 15.
+
+_On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+WADY OWATAIB.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+I have now only to advert to the singular situation of these ruins,
+their probable use, and the age when they were most probably
+erected. In a direct line, they are distant from the river six
+hours’ journey, which may be sixteen or eighteen miles. About a
+quarter of a mile from the ruin, I saw three or four blocks of stones,
+but no indication of their having formed part of an aqueduct, and
+there are no traces of wells; but both may have existed, and be now
+entirely buried by the sand of the desert. I could not, however,
+observe or hear of any decided traces of aqueducts between the
+ruin and the river. The occupants of the edifice may have been
+supplied with water by geerbahs, as the peasants of Metammah and
+other villages distant from the river are at this day.[21] If
+the edifice was only used as a residence during the season of the
+malaria, the rain water might have been preserved in cisterns and
+in the sacred lakes; but rain does not invariably fall here every
+year, and would afford, therefore, only a precarious supply. Those,
+however, who constructed such a building would certainly know how
+to sink a well, and, from the appearance of the ground, the trees,
+and the vicinity of the mountains, I do not conceive it would be a
+very laborious undertaking to find water.
+
+Cailliaud considered this edifice to have been a college of priests;
+and Professor Heeren supposes it to be the celebrated Ammonium. I
+think neither of these suppositions probable. With regard to
+the first, we know that the priests were always surrounded with
+representations of the divinities and the mysterious language of
+hieroglyphics; but is it not remarkable that there is no structure
+either in Egypt or Ethiopia so destitute of the sacred writing as
+this? The priests, also, are supposed, with great probability, to
+have themselves executed the sculpture and hieroglyphics; and they
+cannot be imagined to have been unacquainted with that language. It
+must, on the contrary, have formed a principal branch of their
+education. I think it, therefore, very improbable that the place
+where they would be occupied in teaching hieroglyphics should, of
+all the ruins in the valley of the Nile, be the only one destitute
+of them; that where instruction was given in the mysteries of their
+religion, there should be so few representations of the gods, and
+those few almost of no use to the student, from being unexplained
+by hieroglyphics. One would imagine they would have gladly availed
+themselves of the opportunity of the unoccupied walls to exercise
+the skill of the students. If this were a college, their system of
+education must assuredly have been very defective, if they did not
+take care to have the mysteries they taught represented on the walls
+of the universities, and not on those of the temples only. We must
+consider the Ethiopians as ignorant indeed, if we suppose that they
+neglected to place them where they would have been really useful,
+while they covered with these subjects their temples, where they
+would be less observed, and the interior of the porticoes of their
+tombs, which were rarely opened. Had it been a college, some urchin
+would have shown his progress in the study by carving his name in
+hieroglyphics; and, considering that this was more the fashion with
+the ancients than the moderns, we should have as long a list of
+Ethiopian names _here_ as we have of English at Eton or Harrow. In
+such a seminary, I conceive, the walls of the chambers, corridors, and
+temples, inside and outside, like the temples and palaces of Egypt,
+would have been decorated with sculpture. The walls are not rough,
+but smooth and finished; it has therefore not been the original
+intention to embellish them with such subjects.
+
+Had this edifice, as Professor Heeren supposes, been the Ammonium,
+the original seat of the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, at whose command
+those religious colonies issued forth, which carried civilisation,
+arts, and religion from Ethiopia to the Delta; had this been the
+centre and stronghold of the superstitions of the Nile; the priests,
+the guardians of the sacred rituals, would not have omitted to
+decorate the abode of their great divinity with art and magnificence
+proportionate to the wealth and power of so great a nation. Well
+aware of the awe with which the appearance of mysterious learning
+inspires the vulgar, they would not have neglected to adorn the walls
+with imposing and mysterious subjects, to augment their veneration,
+to excite them to devotion, and to munificence in their offerings to
+the god. It accords in no degree with the religious pomp elsewhere
+displayed by the Ethiopians and Egyptians, to conceive that this
+unfinished and comparatively insignificant temple contained the golden
+altar, the “holiest of holies,” of their great divinity. That
+the great Ethiopian oracle, whose celebrity even Homer has testified,
+should not have had a more magnificent habitation than this, cannot
+be admitted. We know, from Pausanias and others, the costly presents
+which were made to the oracles of Greece; and can we conceive that
+the Ethiopians, probably equally, if not as more ancient, a much
+more religious and superstitious people, would have allowed their
+celebrated Ammonium to be the least finished, least magnificent
+and imposing, of all the temples which now exist in the valley of
+the Nile?
+
+It is a more probable supposition that, as the wealth of the oracle
+of Apollo at Delphi exposed it from the beginning to the enterprises
+of avaricious and impious men, and was too powerful a temptation
+even to the Phocians, in the same manner the great oracle of Ammon
+in the valley of the Nile, particularly in a country like Ethiopia,
+where history tells us that gold was once so plentiful, might suffer
+from the celebrated altar which was dedicated to its worship being
+loaded with the valuable and magnificent devotional offerings
+of a wealthy and superstitious people. Such parade and splendour
+would serve as incentives to the enemies of their religion, equally
+anxious to appropriate the spoil and eradicate the superstitions of
+the worshippers of Ammon. But it is most probable that, at the time
+when the religion of the Gospel was widely spread in this part of
+Africa, some Christian king of Ethiopia, zealous, and desirous of
+obliging his subjects to embrace the true religion, and aware that,
+if his faith prevailed at all, it must prevail, to use the language
+of Paley, by the overthrow of every statue, altar, and temple in
+the world, may have utterly destroyed not only the Ammonium, but
+also many of the other temples; and this may account for the few
+remains of sacred edifices which are now found in Ethiopia. Another
+argument, in answer to the supposition of Professor Heeren, is, that,
+among the numerous representations of the divinities on the columns
+of the principal temples, there is not one single figure of Ammon,
+except with the attributes of Kneph.
+
+This edifice may have been a _château de chasse_ of the king, or a
+palace in which he passed the rainy season, which might then, as now,
+be unhealthy near the Nile. The objection to this supposition is,
+that the kings as well as the priests were generally, and probably
+always, surrounded with religious pomp and ceremony. I conceive it,
+therefore, a more reasonable conjecture that it was an hospital, to
+which invalids, particularly those suffering from malaria, were sent
+during the rainy season. This will account for the immense courts and
+chambers, and the insignificance of the temples, evidently intended
+for persons of little consideration. From the experience I have
+had of the climate of the desert, I must say I consider them much
+more healthy, in any season, than the valley of the Nile. At the
+instigation, I conceive, of some person acquainted with this fact,
+the Pasha established a splendid hospital and college at Abou Zabel,
+situated in the Desert, about twelve miles from Cairo. The dryness of
+the atmosphere, the sand immediately absorbing any rain that falls,
+renders these wildernesses in the highest degree salubrious. The
+stones of which this edifice is constructed are nearly the same size
+as those of the pyramids of Meroe; that is, about 1 foot high and 2½
+feet long, and are apparently quarried from the neighbouring hills.
+
+With regard to the antiquity of the ruins, it does not appear to me to
+be very great. The sculpture, which, in the absence of hieroglyphics,
+forms the only criterion, resembles, as already mentioned, that
+on the propylons at Uffidunia; not exactly indicating that they
+were built at the same period, but that they belonged equally to
+the last stage of sculpture in the two countries; and, as the arts
+first flourished in Ethiopia, they may have decayed there earlier
+than in Egypt, particularly as the wealth and power of this country
+diminished more rapidly, the Nile washing down to the lower valley
+the source of their affluence and prosperity. From the Grecian
+character of the fluting of the columns, as well as from the plan
+of the temple and sculpture, it is not improbable that this edifice
+was constructed about the period of Ergamenes, whose reign was coeval
+with that of Ptolemy II. Diodorus describes this king of Ethiopia as
+having had a Greek education, and having introduced into this his
+native country a taste for the philosophy of Greece, and delivered
+himself and his people from the tyranny of the priests; and perhaps,
+I may add, he endeavoured, by the introduction of foreign ornaments,
+to regenerate a taste for architecture and sculpture: but in this
+specimen we only see the last effort of a people whose greatness was
+passed away, their taste corrupted, and all the lights of knowledge
+and civilisation just expiring. The elegant pyramids of Meroe differ
+as widely, in taste and execution, from the immensely extensive
+but ill-planned ruins of Wady el Owataib, as the best sculpture at
+Thebes, during the age of Rameses II., differs from the corrupted
+style under the Ptolemies and Cæsars.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+DEFICIENCY OF WATER. — RETURN TO THE NILE. — WILD ANIMALS. —
+ANCIENT CANAL. — TEMPLE OF ABOU NAGA. — DIFFICULTIES. — THE
+MODERN CAPITALS OF ETHIOPIA. — SENNAAR. — THE DIFFICULTY OF
+PENETRATING TO THE SOURCE OF THE BAHR EL ABIAD. — TRIBE OF ARABS ON
+ITS BANKS. — WATER LESS SWEET THAN THAT OF THE BAHR EL AZRUK. —
+ARAB DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVER. — INUNDATION OF THE NILE. — RETURN
+TO SHENDY. — MAMELUKE EXERCISE.
+
+
+I had intended to have proceeded from the ruins of El Owataib to
+those of El Mecaurat, farther in the Desert; but my stock of water
+was almost exhausted, in consequence of my guide and camel-driver
+not having brought their own supply, according to agreement,
+also on account of several of my own geerbahs proving bad, and our
+consumption, owing to the extreme heat, having been twice what we
+expected. Signor Bandoni seems to be apprehensive of a deficiency,
+and anxious to guard against it; for yesterday evening I found him
+in my tent with his mouth at a three-gallon geerbah. His draughts
+were profounder than his philosophy, for by his earnestness he seemed
+intent on trying whether he himself possessed that valuable faculty
+which his experience in the desert had taught him the camels possess;
+that of imbibing, at one draught, a sufficient store for a week. We
+left the ruins at half-past twelve, and arrived at the Nile at half
+past six. We saw on our road numerous traces of the lions, hyenas,
+tigers (nimr), wild asses, and ostriches, and near the river,
+guinea-fowls. Shortly before arriving at the Nile, we passed the
+bed of a canal which seemed to be ancient. They informed me that it
+extends very far into the Desert towards the ruins of Mecaurat.
+
+_March_ 11. We left this morning at seven, and reached the ruins
+of Abou Naga at nine. The two square pillars which remain of
+this temple, are very curious. On each side is a representation
+of what is generally called a figure of Typhon, above which is
+the head of Isis or Athor. These figures are very much injured,
+but the style is extremely bold and decidedly very ancient. The
+people above Meroe, says Diodorus, worship Isis and Pan, and also
+Hercules and Zeus. This Typhonian figure is called Pthah by many,
+and considered as an immediate emanation from Jupiter. We have here
+two more divinities to add to the Ethiopian list: I use this name,
+for of all the antiquities existing in the valley of the Nile, these
+have the most ancient appearance. The drawing will give an exact
+idea of the style of the sculpture. The reader will remark that
+this is no effort of a feeble and corrupt taste, no imitation of a
+foreign (Egyptian) style, but the spirited work of an early period,
+when the productions of art would naturally be more remarkable for
+force and vigour than for exquisite or delicate finish. There are
+no hieroglyphics, nor any appearance of there ever having been any,
+which may be considered another proof of their great antiquity, an
+edifice in which they are absent must either be of the most ancient
+or most modern date: and certainly this latter description cannot
+belong to the present structures. The style has evidently the stamp of
+originality, and I therefore think it may be considered a fragment of
+perhaps one of the most ancient temples which has ever been erected
+in honour of the two great divinities, Isis and Typhon, or rather,
+I should say, of the two principles of good and evil existing in the
+world: for Isis, the Ceres of the Greeks, is a type of that benevolent
+care of the Deity which furnishes men with the fruits of the earth;
+and she is worshipped under the form of a woman, emblematical of
+the maternal fondness of the great divinity. Under that view, she is
+sometimes represented with her son, the infant Horus, on her knees,
+as the source of the multiplication and increase of the human race.
+
+[Illustration: TEMPLE OF ABOU NAGA.]
+
+The figure which, in deference to the general opinion, I have called
+Typhon, has been considered by many to be that of Pthah, from the
+circumstance of almost similar representations having been found with
+the name of that divinity in hieroglyphics; but, in the absence of
+any inscription to decide the question of what this figure has been,
+I must confess that I conceive it not impossible that it may be the
+Hercules of the Ethiopians. Hercules, or the god of strength, would
+be a type of the attribute of power in the great divinity; and that
+this should be a leading representation in the primitive ages, is
+not surprising, as, of course, muscular strength would then be the
+endowment most highly prized. The fables of Hercules clearing the
+earth of monsters were very probably partly derived from Ethiopia,
+together with the worship of the divinity. The mythology of the
+Ethiopians, as I may, perhaps, venture to mention more particularly
+on a future occasion, appears by no means to have been a gross
+polytheism. I do not mean to say that the “uncultivated mass,”
+as Gibbon styles them, very little removed in point of intellect
+from their fellow-labourers the oxen, could have entertained very
+pure notions of religion; I only agree with those who conceive that
+the more educated and enlightened classes worshipped these different
+symbolical forms, not as separate and equally powerful divinities, but
+as the types of the different attributes of the One great Deity. This
+temple, which was about 150 feet long, seems to have been ornamented
+with six pilasters, five feet square; but it was impossible to trace
+the plan satisfactorily: and as I conceive the materials to have
+been carried away, an excavation would be of little use. The plan
+(2300 feet in circumference) shows that the town has been small,
+and built of sun-burnt bricks.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE RUINS NOW CALLED ABOU NAGA.]
+
+I had intended to have gone from this place to the ruins of Mecaurat,
+at eleven hours’ distance in the desert. The soldier who officiated
+as my guide, on leaving the ruins of Wady el Owataib yesterday,
+said that we could not visit the ruins of Mecaurat, as they were
+situated farther in the desert; that we should most probably meet
+with lions on the road; and that the danger would indubitably be
+much greater than on the preceding night; that, at this season of
+the year, it was folly to think of going there without a guard
+or large caravan; and, to conclude, that he would not incur the
+responsibility of taking me. This morning, to my surprise, he said
+he was willing to accompany me, if I desired. In this uncertainty I
+asked for information from the sheakhs and different peasants I met;
+and the result of these enquiries was, that, Mecaurat being farther
+in the mountains, lions are much more numerous there than at Wady
+el Owataib; that we should probably fall in with them on the road;
+that this was the most dangerous season, from their food being
+scarce, and that none of the peasants lead their flocks there,
+since fires do not always succeed in repelling them. A few years
+ago there were few or none; but now the number was so great that I
+ought not to hazard going. In fact, not one, by bribes or threats,
+could be induced to join our caravan.
+
+Notwithstanding this discouraging information, I was anxious not
+to leave any of the antiquities of Ethiopia unexplored; and I felt
+that I might have gone without very great risk, because we had a
+proof, the night before last, of the effect of fire in frightening
+lions away; and I believe, as long as there are camels, or any kind
+of cattle, they would not, if unmolested, attack a human being. I
+had learned, also, that there was one edifice not much ruined, and
+conceived that in it a fortification might soon be made, which a lion
+could not penetrate. My servants seemed evidently afraid, but said,
+wherever I went they would accompany me; but my artist made so many
+objections that I told him, in disgust, he might go or not, as he
+thought proper. He took me at my word, and refused to accompany
+me. I at first determined to go alone: but, after considering
+that I should have to leave two camels and a servant with him;
+that my caravan would thus be reduced in number; and as no other
+camels could be procured, their owners being afraid of the lions,
+I should not be able to take enough of water to enable me to stay
+at the ruins a sufficient time to make all the drawings that would
+be necessary; I gave up the expedition, conceiving that it was of
+little importance. My funds, also, are now considerably reduced,
+and I am not in a country where I can easily replenish them. The
+heat is every day more intolerable. I ought, for private reasons,
+to have long since been in Europe; my health has for several days
+been very indifferent, from these annoyances, the excessive heat,
+which for the first few days of its commencement is always most
+prejudicial, and I must confess myself not a little disgusted.
+
+I must be satisfied with having been at Meroe, on the site of the
+capital of Ethiopia, which appears to me a satisfactory termination
+to my more important labours in the lower part of the valley of the
+Nile; and when the reader considers that I have now been nearly
+fourteen months above Cairo, leading almost the life of an Arab,
+without any of the comforts and charms of the civilised world,
+I think he will not reproach me for not extending my travels to
+Sennaar and the banks of the White River. Indeed, even had not
+a private duty _obliged_ me to return to England, I should not,
+I think, have gone very much farther south, as I could spend my
+time much more usefully at Thebes; for, except those in the desert,
+there are no antiquities beyond this point.
+
+As to the modern capitals of Ethiopia, nothing can be more miserable
+than those I have already seen. Sennaar, I am told, great, splendid,
+and beautiful as the Arabs represent it, is very little larger,
+and has not much more the appearance of a capital, than Shendy,
+which, as I have said before, cannot be compared to many of the
+small towns in Egypt. The poetical minds of the Arabs are fond of
+describing in glowing terms the beauty of distant objects; as the
+ancients placed the Garden of the Hesperides in the most remote
+region; but the descriptions of modern travellers, and the accounts
+of many sensible Turks, have satisfied me that Sennaar is not worth
+half a day’s journey, and certainly not twenty-two, which would
+be necessary to go thither and return.
+
+As to the Bahr el Abiad, or White River, it would be extremely
+difficult, if not impossible, to penetrate to any distance on
+its banks; and it is now more than ever impracticable to attempt
+the discovery of its source. The Governor at Kordofan has his
+_gazwah_, or hunt for slaves, on the banks of that river: there is,
+therefore, scarcely a family in that part that has not lost some
+relation,—fathers their sons, husbands their wives, brothers their
+sisters, children their parents,—and all would rejoice to avenge
+their loss on the first white man who should imprudently venture into
+their territory. The source of the Nile could only, I conceive, be
+discovered by an armed force; and even that method would present great
+difficulties. It would require a large army to subdue the great extent
+of country through which the Bahr el Abiad probably passes. Not only
+the chiefs, but the whole population, instead of any of them joining
+the standard of the invader, or furnishing him with provisions, would
+resolutely oppose him. Each man would fight with desperation for the
+preservation of his property, family, and liberty. The Shillooks,
+Numrum, and other brave and warlike tribes on the White River, are
+not ignorant of the wretched lot of their brethren in Cairo. Many
+a fugitive slave has carried the intelligence to his tribe of the
+misery and hardships they endured after they were taken prisoners;
+their sufferings from the scanty allowance of water in the desert;
+the numbers who perished from fatigue, heat, and thirst; their painful
+journey on foot, bound in the most cruel manner; their wretched food;
+their ignominious exposure for sale in the Cairo market; and, perhaps,
+the cruelty of their taskmasters. These are injuries, I think,
+sufficient to sharpen their sabres, and inflame their hatred and
+thirst for revenge, on all Mahometans and white men. The traveller
+being French or English would be of no avail. They distinguish but
+two races, Pagan and Mahometan, and two colours, black and white,
+their friends and enemies.
+
+As to the source of the Bahr el Abiad, and the situation of the
+Mountains of the Moon, as the Arabs of this neighbourhood have
+never been there, or seen any person who has visited either the one
+or the other, their suppositions are not worth more, if so much,
+as the conjectures of any intelligent man in London. I think it
+more candid to confess that these subjects are still involved in a
+mystery, which the armies of the Pasha may possibly one day clear up;
+yet he can never subdue that country with the facility with which
+he made himself master of the valley of the Nile: the difference of
+creed, and the deep-rooted hatred against him which prevails there,
+would oblige him almost to exterminate the whole population before
+he could enjoy a peaceable possession of the territory. If his
+ambitious views are diverted by European interference from another
+track with his immense resources, large and disciplined army,
+and the great superiority derived from fire-arms and artillery,
+he might penetrate even to the source of the White River, and solve
+that problem which has perplexed the literary men of every age. No
+private individual would be so rash as to attempt this discovery. Were
+there any possibility of success, for the hope of immortality,
+men could be found to encounter fearlessly the heat and fatigue,
+and other ordinary dangers of the journey; but no one would be so
+foolish as to expose himself to the certain death which would be
+the result of any attempt made at this period.
+
+This discovery would have been more easily accomplished before the
+Pasha’s conquest; before the war of colour, if I may so describe it,
+commenced: but there does not seem to have been any recent intercourse
+between the inhabitants of the kingdom of Shendy and the tribes on the
+banks of the White River. If any credit can be given to the accounts
+of the Arabs, there are cannibals not very far up its stream. I was
+told that twenty days above its junction with the Bahr el Azruk, there
+is a tribe of Arabs mixed with the Pagans. I can scarcely believe
+this latter statement, otherwise it would present a somewhat less
+difficult method of penetrating to a certain distance. I have been
+assured by several Arab merchants, and also Turks, that the water of
+the river is less sweet than that of the Azruk, that the caravans
+stationed on what they call the Island, between the two rivers,
+universally prefer the water of the latter. The Egyptians, therefore,
+are indebted to the Azruk for the singular sweetness of the waters of
+the Nile. The Arab’s invariable description of the Bahr el Abiad is,
+that it has waves like the Red Sea, but the current is not powerful
+like that of the Blue River; that a boat would sail rapidly up,
+on account of the prevailing northerly winds, but it would be more
+difficult to descend. It is not improbable that the reason of the
+superior rapidity of the Blue River is its greater proximity to its
+source in the mountains, whilst the Bahr el Abiad may pass through
+immense districts, where the surface is more level and uniform.
+
+Of the inundation of the Nile I will speak hereafter; only remarking
+at present, that during the whole of this journey I have not met
+one sensible Arab, who was ignorant that the rains in Ethiopia were
+followed by the rise of the river, and that, according to the wetness
+of the season, the inundation was more or less beneficial. I do not
+mean to say that they are acquainted with the real causes of those
+rains,—the rarefying of the air by the sun in his approach towards
+the tropic, and the consequent rush of vapour from the neighbouring
+seas; but the circumstance of the peasants here all being aware of
+the rain as the season of the inundation, excites my surprise how
+the ancients, particularly as many of them visited Meroe, could be
+so ill acquainted with, or, indeed, have the slightest doubt of,
+the true cause. The flourishing state of the country at that period,
+and the probable extent of its commerce, renders this still more
+singular. If they had not been actual witnesses to the tropical rains,
+(and, according to Pliny, many were,) they must have heard of them,
+over and over again, from authentic sources. The most uneducated
+peasant in Europe, were he to see the rain fall in torrents for
+a long period, the little rivulets running into a river in his
+vicinity, and yet not be aware why the latter was swollen, would be
+considered to display a tenfold degree of stupidity. It can only
+be accounted for by their preferring to ornament their works with
+ingenious speculations rather than admit an explanation which they
+could not account for.[22] We arrived at Shendy this evening at nine.
+
+_Metammah.—March_ 12. This morning the katshef at Shendy, with
+his servants and dependants, went through the Mameluke exercise
+for our amusement. Six entered the list on each side. Their lances
+were stalks of the palm tree, about four or five feet long. The
+combatants were about 300 or 400 yards apart at the commencement,
+but when the contest became more animated, not more than 100. Each
+one sallied out when he liked, armed with a single lance, and, when
+there was no opponent in the field, rode near the opposite party,
+and generally, when at the distance of from twenty to thirty feet,
+flung his lance at his adversaries within their limits, to excite them
+to come forth; otherwise, when the field was full, at those who were
+galloping back from pursuing their adversaries. The attacked party
+trusted to the speed of the horse to save him from the lance of the
+one who followed him, who, having in his turn flung his lance, was
+rode after by another of the opposite party, and thus the ball was
+spiritedly kept up. The requisites for these manœuvres are, perfect
+management of his horse, dexterity in avoiding his adversary’s
+lance, and catching it, if possible, with his hand, which enables
+him to turn again upon the assailant. They are only, as I have said,
+allowed to go out with one lance, and when they have thrown it, are
+dependent on their agility, and the swiftness of their horses, to
+save themselves from their pursuers; but the qualities most admired,
+and most necessary, are strength and dexterity in throwing the lance,
+and fearless indifference to blows. Each well-directed and successful
+aim was hailed with a shout of admiration, and those who seemed to
+fear the contest were evidently despised. The exercise is fine, but
+the wounds received are sometimes not slight. There is no ostensible
+respect of persons. The servant throws his lance at his master,
+and the master at the servant; yet, somehow, the katshef escaped
+always amid the numbers of lances which were showered around him:
+a clever courtier knows how to direct his aim. Between the servants
+the game sometimes became serious, and blows were exchanged with
+the appearance of real enmity.
+
+I saw this morning a number of mats and baskets made by the women,
+some of which are very beautiful. They make here, also, very neat
+sandals, almost exactly resembling those of the ancients. At noon I
+crossed to Metammah. I found that the katshef was absent. The soldier
+he had deputed to perform the duties of his office promised me eight
+camels, to cross the desert of Bahiouda to Meroueh.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+METAMMAH — DIFFICULTY OF FINDING CAMELS TO CROSS THE BAHIOUDA
+DESERT. — WRETCHED STATE OF THE PEASANTS WHEN ATTACKED BY
+ILLNESS. — INTERMITTENT FEVERS. — COSTUMES OF METAMMAH. —
+WOMEN OF HIGH RANK. — THEIR LONG NAILS, MANNER OF INCREASING THEIR
+LENGTH. — BAHIOUDA DESERT. — WELLS AT ABOULAY. — REFLECTIONS
+ON THE DESERT LIFE. — SHAGEEA TRIBE. — WELLS CALLED GAGDOOL. —
+SIGNOR B. UNWELL. — HASSANYEH TRIBE. — ANIMALS OF THE DESERT. —
+GREYHOUND DOG. — WELL OF MAGAGA. — DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF SIGNOR
+B. — WELL OF DELICIOUS WATER CALLED HALESS. — BEAUTY OF THE
+SCENERY. — SHEPHERD BOYS. — CHARACTER OF THE ROCKS. — WELLS
+OF GOOD WATER CALLED HANNEK AND PRASOLI. — THE MANNER THE SHAGEEA
+SALUTE. — COPTIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH. — ARRIVAL AT THE TOWN OF
+MEROUEH. — HIEROGLYPHICS ON A SLAB IN THE CASTLE.
+
+
+_Metammah.—March_ 13. A sufficient number of good camels, or
+rather dromedaries, being difficult to find, I was detained the
+whole of the day near this miserable little town, where there is
+nothing to be seen. The country, even at this season, is not free
+from malaria. Several peasants suffering from intermittent fever
+applied to me for relief. Some I saw wretchedly ill, lying on their
+angoureebs, without any advice, or, apparently, any person to attend
+them, left to live or die according to the violence of the attack or
+the strength of their constitutions. When the rains extend to this
+place, which is not always the case, fevers are very prevalent:
+dysentery also is very common: I have had an attack myself, and
+two of my servants suffered severely from it. I used successfully a
+powerful dose of opium and calomel. To my servant, who was very ill,
+I gave six grains of calomel and one of opium at a time.
+
+Once a week, in each of these small towns and villages, there is a
+bazaar; a curious scene, on account of the different costumes of the
+Arabs who resort to them from the country. At Metammah many of the
+inhabitants have adopted the fashion of their conquerors, and shaved
+their heads. The costumes of some of the women of high rank are said
+to be very beautiful, but it is difficult to obtain a sight of them;
+and I must confess I have not enjoyed that good fortune. My dragoman,
+however, an impudent fellow, contrived, upon some pretext, to enter
+the harem of the present melek of Shendy, whose wife is daughter
+of the celebrated Nimr, who murdered Ismael Pasha. Her husband has
+gone to the war with Hourshid Bey. The intruder found this queen,
+as he called her, in a large room reposing in a most dignified
+manner on a beautiful angoureeb, covered with the fine mats of the
+country. She was reclining at full length; her head was supported by
+a wooden pillow of about the width of a hoop, and of a semicircular
+form to admit the head, and sustained by a column 4 to 6 inches high
+with a broad flat base, [Symbol]. They are almost exactly similar to
+those often found in the ancient tombs of the Egyptians, and which,
+notwithstanding their apparent discomfort, are now very generally used
+in every part of Upper Nubia. The ladies of Shendy, however, value
+them highly, since, being so narrow, they do not disarrange their
+hair; a serious consideration, if it be true, as I am informed, that
+the _coiffure_ of the Shendyan beauties requires nine hours’ work
+to be quite _comme il faut_. This lady’s hair was very curiously
+dressed, beautifully plaited, and bushy at each side, projecting
+behind and flat above the forehead. On this flat part were two plates
+of gold, one above the other, and in the centre of her forehead was
+a large gold ring. She wore two handsome gold earrings, and bracelets
+of massive gold on her arms, and the same above her ankles. She wore
+the cotton dress of the country, but finer than usual, and over her
+neck was a beautiful shawl of Souakim with a broad silk border. He
+represented her features as being extremely small and delicate; her
+eyes very large and fine, and her complexion much fairer than that
+of the women of the country in general. He described her as the most
+beautiful woman he had seen since leaving Cairo, and doubted if,
+in his life, he had observed any one superior to her. She looked,
+he said, like a queen.
+
+In a circle, squatted on the ground beneath, were about twenty
+female slaves, some very beautiful, busily employed in pounding and
+preparing spices for the ointment with which they perfume their
+persons and soften their skins. Her nails were extremely long;
+a decided indication, in this country, of high rank, as proving
+that the person never condescends to employ her fingers in any
+work. To promote their growth, they are held over small fires of
+cedar wood. This is an ancient custom, and Cailliaud mentions having
+observed, at Naga, a representation of a queen with long nails;
+and it still prevails among the Chinese of the highest rank. This
+wife, or queen, of the melek, possesses a large fortune, said to
+amount to 50,000_l._ sterling; an enormous amount for a country
+like this. She increases it daily by commerce, keeping constantly
+in her employ Arab merchants, who trade in caravans on her account
+to Abyssinia, Kordofan, Sennaar, and Cairo. Their chief traffic now
+is in slaves. Two of her merchants were in the room when my dragoman
+entered. She eyed him at first fiercely and haughtily, and asked him
+whether he was one of the Christians just arrived, and how he dared
+to enter there? Being a clever insinuating fellow, with the advantage
+of being a Mahometan, he soon ingratiated himself into her favour,
+and had some dinner ordered for him. As she was the first queen he
+had ever seen, and the daughter of the celebrated Nimr, he examined
+her very attentively. The reader will perhaps be dissatisfied with
+a description thus given upon hearsay; but I should state that,
+from numerous enquiries, I have found it perfectly applicable to the
+great ladies in this country; and my dragoman, although an Arab, is
+the most intelligent clever servant I have met with any where. The
+account of this great lady may remind the reader of Bruce’s Sittina.
+
+_March_ 14. We started this morning at noon; and now, thank Heaven,
+my face is toward the north, and every day will bring me nearer
+England. I have still a journey of nearly 1600 miles before I even
+reach Alexandria, with deserts to pass and hardships to undergo.[23]
+We have suffered already very severely from heat and fatigue. For
+some time past the thermometer, between eleven and four, has been
+96° to 100° in the shade; on one day as high as 104°, and another,
+110°. The wind blows almost every day very strong from the north;
+but in the interior deserts of Africa, the atmosphere soon becomes so
+heated, by the scorching sun, that the wind which, in other regions,
+braces and invigorates man, is felt as hot and oppressive. It is
+refreshing at night, and near the river; but in the desert, for a
+great part of the day, almost insupportable. Our umbrellas, with
+which we sheltered ourselves from the sun, have been all broken by
+the wind, and others we had constructed met to-day a similar fate;
+but we protect ourselves with our sheets as well as we can. There is
+no apparent ascent from the Nile into the desert. After five hours’
+journey we encamped for the night. The desert is slightly covered
+with sand, but not so much as to impede the camels: in other respects
+it almost resembles a park, covered, to a great extent, with trees
+and herbage, though the latter has rather a burnt appearance. The
+trees are chiefly acacias, bearing full yellow flowers, and in their
+forms sometimes resembling small oaks, others the tops of the Italian
+pine trees.
+
+_March_ 16. We have been ten hours _en route_ this day. As we
+advanced into the desert, I observed not quite so many trees,
+and also less herbage. After five hours’ journey—that is,
+ten after leaving the Nile—we arrived at a spot called Aboulay,
+where numerous wells occur. The Arabs filled their water-skins; and,
+had I not been well provided from the Nile, I should have drunk of
+it without hesitation, as it seemed tolerably sweet and wholesome.
+
+On this journey I could not escape from some serious and even
+painful reflections. However the traveller may be fascinated with
+this kind of life,—free from the restraints and passions of the
+world; living in the patriarchal style; mounted on his dromedary;
+sleeping under a tent, and sometimes without one; covered with no
+other canopy than the blue sky;—exquisite as may be the pleasure of
+exploring unfrequented lands, treading unbeaten paths, and leading his
+caravan over these terrible wildernesses; still, there are thoughts,
+not to be resisted, which crowd upon the mind, and unnerve even the
+strongest. This is not the land of our birth; we are strangers to
+the customs, manners, language, and religion of the people: their
+hospitality and civility are merely the effort of their benevolence,
+and the performance of a duty. No tie of relationship, no chain of
+affection, no sympathy of ideas, no bond of union, exists between
+us. The dissimilarity of our colour, of the climate and aspect of
+the country, as compared with ours, is not more complete than that
+of our habits and feelings. All that we love, all that we care
+for, is separated from us by immense tracts of desert sands; and
+we have to pass rivers, seas, and several thousand miles before we
+reach the land of our home. I can also assure my fair countrywomen
+that it is no trifling deprivation to see and converse with none
+but these swarthy savage beauties, from whose society no man of any
+refinement can derive the slightest gratification. My Italian artist,
+who sings remarkably well, entertains me sometimes with the favourite
+airs from Rossini’s and Bellini’s operas, and he talks to me so
+much of “la bella Italia,” that I long to be again there—_but
+on my way to England_.
+
+My camel-drivers, with the exception of two Ababdes, whom I met and
+engaged as they had passed the Nubian desert with me, are of the
+tribe of the Shageea—fine tall warlike-looking fellows, with their
+hair dressed almost like the Ababdes; but the Shageea generally wear
+beards and mustachios. Their complexion is decidedly darker than that
+of the Ababdes, which is a dark brown; but theirs is a darker brown,
+and sometimes approaches almost to a black, but still very different
+from the cold colour of the negroes. The Shageea have occasionally
+wider nostrils than we should think correct, and rather thick lips,
+otherwise their features would resemble exactly the European. We
+have seen numbers of gazelles, and several flocks of sheep, and
+passed many isolated hills: the sand is firm, and not fatiguing for
+the camels. Six inches below the surface is sandstone rock.
+
+_March_ 17. We have been ten hours on the road. Had it not been
+for the extreme heat, and my health being indifferent, I should have
+enjoyed my journey through this desert; for, although not picturesque,
+the abundance of acacias makes it extremely beautiful. We have passed
+several isolated hills; and on the sand yesterday, as well as to-day,
+I observed many of the round balls of iron-flint, or iron-glance,
+sometimes of a red, but generally of almost a black, colour. A
+distinguished mineralogist has informed me that they are common sand,
+agglutinated by oxide of iron, such as may be seen on Hampstead Heath,
+&c., rolled by water. They are similar to those observed during my
+first two or three days’ journey in the great Nubian desert.
+
+_March_ 18. After four hours’ ride I arrived at a range of
+mountains, the crust of which consists of quartz and decomposed
+granite; but the basis of most of the rocks in this quarter is
+sandstone. At a distance I fancied we were approaching a passage cut
+through the mountains; but on arriving it proved a deep recess in
+the rock, having the appearance of being worn by a torrent, and now
+forming a well, or rather cistern, almost entirely protected from
+the rays of the sun by a projecting rock. During the winter, and
+when the tropical rains extend so far north, the water is above five
+times its present depth, which is only eight feet. It is now green,
+and disagreeable to the taste; but, fortunately, my stock of Nile
+water is not finished, as I must confess I should not have relished
+to quench my thirst, under a burning sun, with this beverage. My
+satisfaction was the greater when I observed that my camel-drivers,
+when they had filled their water-skins, bathed and washed themselves
+in the pool; doubtless the usual custom of the caravans. We expected
+to find flocks here, and procure an additional supply of meat. My
+artist being extremely unwell, and wishing for soup, I gave a
+backsheesh of ten piastres to one of the camel-men, who mounted
+an unloaded dromedary, and went out of the road, towards the west,
+to a source of water, where he said there were Arabs of the tribe
+of the Hassanyeh: he joined us after three hours, having succeeded
+in purchasing a goat for five, and an excellent gazelle for two,
+piastres. We have seen numerous herds, of five or six each, of the
+latter, but have never been able to approach within shot of them. At
+a short distance from hence, they tell me that there are antelopes
+(Arabic, _buggera el Atmoor_). It is singular that, on this side of
+the river, ferocious animals are rare. There are some few hyenas, but
+the panthers and lions seem confined chiefly to the Island of Meroe.
+
+This reservoir of water, called Gagdool, is out of the direct road;
+we went from it due west for a short time, and then resumed our course
+towards the north-west. I should have made a drawing of these rocks,
+but I was really so unwell that I felt unequal to the exertion. At
+noon we reposed for a short time under our tent. There are abundance
+of acacias, but they afford little shade; whence the Arab proverb,
+“The friendship of man is like the shade of the acacia.” At Shendy
+I bought a splendid greyhound dog; perhaps of a larger species than
+ours, stronger, and with more bone, but showing much breeding. I was
+surprised to find the true race of greyhound dog in the centre of
+Africa; but, in fact, there is a representation of it on the walls
+of a tomb at Thebes, forming part of magnificent offerings received
+from Ethiopia. (See Plate XLVI.) I should have been glad to have
+brought him to England, but he died in consequence of the heat,
+added to his fatigue in following the camel, and perhaps not having
+sufficient water, although I spared him as much as I could out of my
+own individual stock[24], in order that I might save him. I placed
+him on the back of a camel; but he would not remain.
+
+_March_ 19. Nine hours this day. We arrived at eleven at a well,
+in a valley at the commencement of a range of granite rocks of the
+usual round formation by which they are always known: quartz nodules
+were scattered in the valley. The water of this well is the best we
+have tasted since we left the Nile, yet not what I should like to
+drink. The Arabs say that we shall arrive at a better to-morrow. The
+source is called Magaga. We encamped earlier than usual this evening,
+my artist being unable to go any farther. Last night he had a severe
+attack of bilious fever. Calomel is the best remedy for that complaint
+in this climate. I gave him a dose of six grains, and this morning
+he was wonderfully better, but the fatigue and heat of the day have
+brought on a relapse. He wants spirit to assist in throwing off the
+disease, is afraid of dying in the desert, and thinks it impossible
+he shall live to see the Nile again. He fancies that without plenty
+of sustenance he cannot exist; and therefore forces his appetite,
+instead of living abstemiously, as he ought. I have given him six
+grains more this evening, but have found great difficulty in inducing
+him to take them, although he is sensible of the benefit he derived
+from the others. I am exceedingly anxious about the effect of the
+medicine, from the responsibility I feel in having brought him into
+the deserts. His reproaches on the subject are harassing, although
+unjust; for he was engaged under the condition of making this journey.
+
+_March_ 20. My artist was exceedingly ill the early part of last
+night, but at last he fell into a profuse perspiration, after which
+he dropped asleep, and awoke this morning quite relieved. He allows
+a certain merit to the pills, but much more to his having vowed
+to present wax candles to the Madonna on his return to Italy:
+he has made other promises of the same kind for deliverance from
+various dangers. An hour after starting this morning, we arrived at
+a well called Haless, situated, like the one we passed yesterday,
+in a valley. The water is most delicious, quite equal to that of
+the Nile. We emptied all our geerbahs of the water they contained,
+which, from the extreme heat, had become black and bad, and filled
+them from this delicious fountain. I never enjoyed any luxury so
+much as this cold, clear, fresh draught.
+
+We encamped after nine hours’ ride. Although the scenery is
+not sufficiently bold to be termed picturesque, it is impossible
+to conceive a more beautiful desert; valleys and rocks with
+mountains, whose forms are varied, broken, sometimes conical, but
+never monotonous. The low grounds are covered with sweet-smelling
+acacias. The herbage has certainly, at this season, a very burnt
+appearance; but had there been a greensward, instead of these yellow
+sands and this long discoloured grass, few spots would be more lovely
+than the Desert of Bahiouda.
+
+_March_ 21. We rode ten hours to-day. The plains are rather more
+extensive, but still beautiful. We met, this morning, shepherd boys
+with geerbahs on their arms, containing their provision of water, and
+they had a few loaves of dourah bread tied in their garment. In this
+way they conduct their flocks to the pasturages distant from the well,
+and return when their stock of provision is consumed. I observed,
+several times, this morning, traces of torrents. The mountains in this
+desert are generally of grey and pink-coloured granite, often of the
+description called syenite; many are of sandstone, hornblende, and
+conglomerates; while others are of decomposed granite and decomposed
+felspar. At eleven o’clock we passed a well of good water called
+Hennek, now forty feet deep and proportionally wide. There are no
+traces of its being recently excavated, nor any thing to mark it
+as ancient, but it is too great an undertaking for the Arabs of the
+present age to have accomplished. We are encamped near another source
+of rain water, called Prasoli. There are about twenty houses or sheds
+scattered around, inhabited by peasants and their flocks. We have
+met two caravans of merchants from Dongolah. The manner the Shageea
+salute, leaning their right arms over the breasts and shoulders
+of each other, has a very dignified and noble appearance, and is
+quite in harmony with that frank sincerity and honest affection,
+which characterise the Arabs of the desert.
+
+_March_ 22. We set out, as usual, at seven, and, at twelve o’clock
+of the eighth day from Metammah, arrived again at the river. A short
+distance from the Nile, in a wild solitary situation, we passed some
+fine ruins of a large Coptic church. It is built of stone covered with
+cement. There are several windows, and naves in the interior. There
+are also several doors, and over them the Maltese cross. At the
+top of the building are remains of an Egyptian cornice and beading,
+but the plan of the interior is evidently that of a church. It was
+built, probably, of the materials of a temple, of which the peasants
+inform me that the traces were recently visible, but are now entirely
+buried by the encroaching sands of the desert. I went to the place
+where it was said to have existed, but could find no vestiges of
+it. We were detained some time on the south side of the Nile, but,
+after firing repeatedly, a boat came over for us.
+
+Immediately on arriving at the town of Meroueh, I paid a visit to
+the katshef who has the command of this district. I found him very
+anxious to be of service to us; and his assistance was most useful
+in enabling me to procure a fresh supply of bread; a thing difficult
+to be had in a country where very little of any grain except dourah
+is either raised or eaten. I was fortunate in obtaining as much
+rice as I was in need of from the soldiers, who were very willing
+to sell their rations. Our sugar and tea is consumed: the latter,
+of course, is not to be procured in such a region as this. In this
+village, or rather little capital of the province of Dar Shageea,
+and in the country around, we could only find one loaf of sugar,
+which was black, and the owner made me pay ten times its value.
+
+We left the camels, which brought us across the desert, on the
+other side of the river: we, therefore, cannot go on to Gibel el
+Birkel this evening, since no other camels can be found to carry
+the luggage. As the distance is more than an hour’s walk, I have
+not time to go and return before dark, and am therefore obliged to
+restrain my curiosity until to-morrow.
+
+Meroueh is an ill-built miserable place. In the fortress where the
+katshef resides, and which formerly belonged to Melek Shoush, is a
+pedestal of basalt, on which are two ovals, with names and titles
+on them, which I could not copy, on account of the accumulation of
+filth that covered them. I had it washed, and traced sufficient of
+the hieroglyphics to perceive that the name is the same as that of
+an Ethiopian king I afterwards found on the great temple at Gibel el
+Birkel. In the court of the same castle is a fragment of a statue of
+the same material, the sculpture of which is good. The coincidence
+between the modern name of Meroueh and the ancient capital Meroe
+is curious. Was this the commencement of the kingdom of which Meroe
+was the metropolis?
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+ANTIQUITIES OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL. — DESCRIPTION AND DIMENSIONS OF THE
+MOUNTAIN. — TEMPLE BUILT BY THE TIRHAKA OF THE BIBLE. — VARIOUS
+OTHER INTERESTING REMAINS AND TEMPLES. — PYRAMIDS. — CIRCULAR
+AND POINTED ARCH INVENTED IN ETHIOPIA.
+
+
+Gibel el Birkel is situated an hour’s walk, or three miles and a
+half, to the east of the small town of Meroueh, and the mountain is
+5150 feet distant from the Nile. It is an insulated hill, situated in
+a large plain; and below it, on the south side, are the ruins, also
+the cultivated land and the river. The other sides of the mountain
+are bordered by the desert, which has, no doubt, made encroachments
+on what was once cultivated land. The height of the eminence is about
+350 feet. The exterior is rough, part of it having been worked to
+furnish materials for the temples, and more recently large masses
+have fallen, and almost entirely buried two temples which were
+situated beneath. The hill is of sandstone, of a soft description,
+which accounts for the dilapidated state of all the remains; for
+not only would the influence of time and the seasons be greater,
+but the difficulty would, of course, be less in destroying them. In
+some parts, the mountain is nearly perpendicular: the form is very
+picturesque, and highly imposing, particularly at a distance.
+
+My general view (Plate XVIII.), drawn by myself with the camera
+lucida, will give a correct idea of the site of the ancient city;
+but it differs so much from the view Cailliaud has published, that
+it will scarcely be recognised as the same place; and, indeed,
+nearly all our plans and drawings are equally dissimilar. I can
+only state, that neither time nor pains were spared, either by my
+artist or myself, to render ours as accurate as possible. The total
+circumference of the mountain (see Plate XVII.) is about 5000 feet,
+which may be divided thus:—
+
+                                                                   Feet.
+
+  From the temple of Isis or Typhonium to the temple
+  destroyed by the mountain                                          400
+
+  From the latter to the Grand Temple                                100
+
+  To the point where the mountain takes a direction
+  almost to the north, passing the traces of the town,
+  which extends for 500 feet                                         600
+
+  Direction towards the north                                        700
+
+  Ditto towards the north-west                                      1100
+
+  Ditto towards the south-west                                       100
+
+  Ditto nearly south                                                2000
+                                                                    ----
+                                                                    5000
+                                                                    ----
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 17.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr. & L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The form of the eminence is not very unlike that of the Acropolis
+of Athens, but there certainly never was any fortification on this
+rock. Some broken pottery and bricks, on the eastern side, indicate
+the site of the town. On the opposite, or western side of the
+mountain, but more in the desert, are two groups of pyramids. One
+consists of nine, the other, still farther in the desert, of
+eight. They are surrounded by sand, on the surface of which great
+quantities of quartz pebbles are disseminated.
+
+Besides the two temples, mentioned as having been destroyed by the
+falling of a part of the mountain, there are the remains of eight
+other edifices, principally temples. The one I first arrived at,
+situated at the south-west corner of the mountain, is perhaps the
+most interesting of all. (See Plate XIX.)
+
+I admired exceedingly the beautiful and picturesque form of Gibel el
+Birkel; but the ruins in the distance, scattered beneath the southern
+side of the mountain, excited to the greatest degree my curiosity. I
+felt, indeed, that I was undoubtedly approaching the site of the
+capital of a formerly rich and flourishing region. The situation
+at once announces it, and the magnificent remains bear testimony to
+its importance, and, I may truly add, to the taste, knowledge, and
+refinement of the ancient inhabitants of this now deserted city. Plate
+XX. is a view of the ruins which first engaged my attention. It shows
+the remaining fragment of the propylon, and the manner in which
+the columns forming the first court were ornamented. The head of
+Isis adorns the eastern and western sides of the columns, fronting
+the avenue and enclosure, where they would be seen conspicuously,
+but the other two sides have merely the lotus flower; an economy of
+sculpture never seen in Egyptian edifices. This drawing also shows
+the entrance into the chambers which were excavated out of the
+rock. Plate XIX. is the best point of view that I could fix upon,
+and indeed a better could not be desired, as it shows seven columns,
+ornamented with the capitals of the head of Athor, which are all that
+remain; and it also comprises the only Typhonian pillar that is now
+entire in the portico. My drawings will, I trust, give the reader
+a full idea of the imposing appearance of these ruins. I will now
+enter into a more detailed architectural description of this temple,
+of which we have given the plan and section, Plates XXI. and XXII.
+
+The length of this temple is 115 feet 6 inches, the breadth (in the
+interior) 50 feet 2 inches. The pylon is almost entirely destroyed,
+but sufficient is left to prove that its depth was 11 feet 3 inches,
+and total width 62 feet 6 inches: there are no remains of the
+entrance into this portico, but I have restored it according to
+the usual form. This pylon leads into a portico 59 feet long and
+50 feet 2 inches wide. I know not why Cailliaud and others have
+made two rooms of this portico, and a difference in the diameter of
+the columns. My artist had sufficient time to make the plan, which,
+with the section, were drawn out, as I give them, on the spot. This
+was our habitation, and in my examination of the ruins I did not
+see any authority to induce me to suppose that there had been two
+apartments. All the columns were so easily traced, that the plan,
+with the exception of the propylon, may be considered entire.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 18.
+
+_On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+GENERAL VIEW OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+This portico consists of two rows of seven columns each, and two rows
+of the same number of square pillars. The latter form the centre
+avenue, while the columns are arranged between the pillars and
+exterior wall. The centre rows, forming the avenue into the temple,
+are ornamented on the side fronting the avenue with figures of the
+deformed Pthah, or what is generally called Typhon, above which
+is a capital, decorated with representations of the lotus flower,
+supporting ovals; between the latter are branches of palm trees. One
+of these pillars remains entire, and the traces of the others
+are visible. Behind them are circular columns, with the capitals
+of the head of Athor, above which is the common representation of
+the monolithic temple with the serpent and globe. On the reverse is
+the same. The sides are decorated (as I have said in my description
+of Plate XX.) with the lotus flower, instead of the head of Athor,
+above which are similar monolithic temples. The sculpture of these
+heads of Isis is tolerable (see Plate XIX.), but not so bold as on
+the pillars at Naga. The diameter of the columns is 3 feet 6 inches;
+their total height 17 feet 6 inches, including the bases. The shaft
+of the column, consisting of five pieces, measures 9 feet. The head
+of Athor 3 feet 4 inches, the monolithic temple 4 feet 6 inches. The
+diameter of the Typhonian pillars is 4 feet 3 inches. The columns
+with the Athor-headed capital rest on circular bases, 4 feet in
+diameter, and 8 inches high; the figures of Typhon are 12 feet 4
+inches high; the total height of the pillar 17 feet. The height of
+the legs of this figure is 4 feet 6 inches; the length of the body
+from the shoulder to its legs 6 feet; the head is 3 feet 8 inches
+long; making in all 14 feet 2 inches. The difference from the total
+height of the statue, which is only 12 feet 4 inches, is accounted
+for by the circumstance of the head of the monster reaching over
+its breast, the shoulders being nearly on a level with its ears,
+while its belly hangs down between its legs.
+
+The side walls of the temple seem never to have been above 5 feet
+6 inches high, as may be observed in the section. Besides the wall
+not being broken, the circumstance of the capitals of the columns
+being ornamented, on the sides fronting the wall, with the heads
+of Isis, whilst on the north and south sides the architect did
+not take the trouble thus to decorate them, proves that, from the
+lowness of the wall, such an ornament was there quite requisite. The
+circumstance, also, of the sides of the column towards the centre
+avenue being in a great measure concealed by the Typhonian figures,
+would suggest the idea of this variation from the general plan, and
+induce them to erect only a low wall, in order that the columns with
+the Athor-headed capital might be visible. This portico leads into a
+room excavated out of the rock, ornamented with two figures of Typhon:
+the height of these, including a kind of basket above their heads,
+and plinths (see section), is 12 feet 4 inches. The sides of this
+room are ornamented with sculpture, representing the king Tirhaka,
+and his beautiful and royal bride Amentikatah, making offerings and
+libations to the god Amun Ra, Lord of the Rulers, with the head-dress
+of a large globe and two feathers; behind whom is Maut, with a plain
+helmet on her head. On the opposite side the king, with the titles,
+God beneficent, Lord of the World, Beneficent King, Son of Phre
+(Pharaoh), is offering vases to the divinity Io, whose head-dress
+consists of four plain feathers. She has the jackal-headed staff in
+one hand, and in the other the _crux ansatus_. Behind this divinity
+is a representation of Koht, with the head of a lioness, sustaining
+a globe. I have copied the hieroglyphics, as also the dedicatory
+inscription around the room.
+
+On the columns of the portico scarcely any hieroglyphics are legible;
+those few that are so I have copied. The room last described leads
+into the sanctuary, also excavated out of the rock. It is 22 feet
+10 inches long, by 12 feet 8 inches broad, and is ornamented with
+sculpture, representing the king making offerings to the divinities,
+with the attributes of Amun Ra, Neith, Honsoo, Horus, Kneph, and
+Thoth. On the west side of the sanctuary is another excavated room,
+22 feet 10 inches long, and 7 feet 6 inches wide. This is also
+ornamented with sculpture, much broken, representing the king making
+offerings to Kneph, Thoth, and Horus.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 19.
+
+_On stone by C. Hullmandel, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+TEMPLE OF TIRHAKA, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+On the east side of the sanctuary are two rooms, the first 17 feet
+long by 7 feet 7 inches wide. The sculpture represents the king, with
+the attributes and titles of Thoth, addressing numerous divinities
+seated, all with the same figure of a mummy and a jackal-headed staff
+in their hands. Before the first is a pedestal with a lotus flower
+upon it. The second room, leading out of the last I have described,
+is unfinished, and is only 5 feet long and 7 feet wide. The plan
+will show that the rooms on each side the sanctuary have no direct
+communication with the latter, but lead out of the first excavated
+chamber.
+
+This is not only the most curious of all the temples of Gibel el
+Birkel, four of the chambers being excavated out of the rock; but
+it is also in every respect the most picturesque and interesting,
+particularly from being in the best preservation. Though an
+excavation, it is apparently not very ancient.[25] I found no other
+name upon it than that of Tirhaka, which is found on the columns
+of the portico, and also in the interior. This is the Pharaoh, as
+will be seen by the Historical Appendix, who assisted Hezekiah in
+his war against Sennacherib. In clearing out the stones and rubbish
+from the sanctuary, to make it a more comfortable residence, I made
+the curious discovery of a gutter, 4 inches deep and 9 inches broad,
+which crosses the ancient stone floor. It was probably to receive
+the blood of the sacrifices.
+
+The sculpture of this temple has not the striking characteristics
+of the true Ethiopian style; it more resembles the Egyptian, and
+is good, though by no means the best. It is not improbable that
+this Ethiopian dynasty, being possessed also of Egypt, introduced
+into their own country a taste for the improved style of Egyptian
+sculpture. Ages must have elapsed before the Ethiopian manner could
+have changed to one so entirely different as this is.
+
+The next ruin I arrived at is marked D in the plan, and is nearly
+300 feet distant from the Typhonium. This space of 300 feet between
+the two temples is covered with ruined fragments, doubtless part
+of the city. The temple D is not remarkable for architectural
+beauty. It is much injured, and the sculpture and hieroglyphics
+which ornamented the interior are quite defaced; scarcely a vestige
+of the latter remaining to tell that they existed. The plan of the
+temple may be distinctly traced. It consisted only of two rooms:
+the first ornamented with four columns; the second is the sanctuary,
+in which is a plain stone for an altar: the length of the edifice
+is 85 feet, and the width 65. I saw no reason to suppose that it
+ever had an additional portico in front. The defaced state of the
+hieroglyphics and sculpture is no proof, in this instance, of its
+great antiquity, but may be accounted for by the peculiar softness
+of the stone. Close or adjoining to this temple, on the east side,
+are some walls and columns of other edifices (E in the plan); but,
+from what remains, little, I think, would be gained by an excavation,
+as there are no hieroglyphics.
+
+At 125 feet to the north, that is, behind the last-described ruins,
+are the remains of the propylon of a small temple. (See the foreground
+of Plate XXIII., and to the right, in the distance, of Plate XXV.) Its
+south side is ornamented with sculpture, representing the king
+sacrificing prisoners to Amun; a subject so often repeated on the
+propylons of Egypt. The other side of the propylon is also ornamented
+with sculpture. (See Plate XXIII.) It represents a sphinx on a
+pedestal, under which is a figure with feathers, and also a pedestal
+with some vases. I copied the hieroglyphics which were legible. They
+contain the name and titles of a king called Amun Sekon. The upper
+part of the oval, on the south side of the propylon, is destroyed;
+but on the north, where it is perfect, it seems to be _Strength of
+Amun Sekon_. The similarity of the name Sekon and Sethus, the first
+of the nineteenth dynasty, is curious. The hieroglyphics above the
+sphinx seem to allude to the offering of an obelisk to the king, and
+the inscription above the vases states their number to be forty. The
+width of this temple is 60 feet. The _sekos_ has been destroyed by
+the falling of part of the mountain; and another temple, C, close
+adjoining, has suffered in a similar manner. Of the latter still
+slighter traces remain: a few fragments of columns and part of a
+wall alone indicate that it ever existed.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 20.
+
+_On stone by C. Hullmandel, from a Drawing by L. Bandoni Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+TEMPLE BUILT BY TIRHAKA, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+_Great Temple at Gibel el Birkel._—The temple I next arrived at, 75
+feet from the latter, marked F in the plan, had attracted my attention
+on first arriving at the mountain. It is now little more than an
+immense confused pile of ruins. One column only remains entire;
+having the capital of the form of the lotus-bud; denoting its epoch,
+not only by its style, but by the name still legible on the slab
+of the capital. Of the vast number of columns which ornamented the
+porticoes, vestibules, and apartments of this enormous edifice, one
+only remains; a sad relic of departed splendour: and this, defaced,
+tottering, and almost bent with age, cannot long answer the purpose
+of transmitting to posterity the name of its royal founder. It
+seems almost by a miracle to have survived the ruin which surrounds
+it: and we may congratulate ourselves on this circumstance; for,
+if it had fallen a generation earlier, the fragments would have
+been swallowed up by the desert or carried away by the Arabs; and,
+consequently, the style of the architecture, and the name of the
+king who, perhaps, built this splendid edifice, would have remained
+wrapped in impenetrable mystery.
+
+Few temples in Egypt are more extensive or finer than this must
+once have been. Sufficient still remains to show its extent
+and magnificence: traces of columns, fragments of battle-scenes,
+and sacred processions, display its _architectural_ beauty and the
+interesting historical events which once adorned its walls. The cruel
+hand of time, some convulsion of nature, or, what is most probable,
+the barbarous hand of man, have destroyed them, and thus torn many
+interesting pages from the history of the world.
+
+A general view of these ruins may be seen in the background of Plate
+XXIII., which gives a correct idea of the confused mass that now
+remains; and my view (Plate XXV.), the most picturesque of any that
+I have of Gibel el Birkel, represents in the foreground the solitary
+column before mentioned. The separate plan (Plate XXIV.) of this
+temple I drew myself, and spared no pains to make it as correct as
+possible, excavating for that purpose: and had I been less acquainted
+with Egyptian edifices, I could not have succeeded so well. The
+exact form of the first propylon of this temple is not discernible,
+being quite destroyed, great part of the stones carried away, and the
+rest covered almost entirely with the sand which drifts continually
+from the desert. The dimensions given to the propylon in the plan,
+I obtained by some little excavation, and by observations of the
+ground. I do not pretend to say they are quite correct; but, from the
+dilapidated state of this part of the temple, more exact measurements
+cannot, I think, now be obtained. To understand fully the following
+detailed description of this edifice, the reader must refer to my
+plan. The total length of the temple is nearly 500 feet. The first
+court is 150 feet long, and 135 wide, and was surrounded by a row
+of columns, 5 feet 9 inches in diameter, resting on bases 7 feet 6
+inches in diameter. Nine only of these columns are now visible. These,
+however, are sufficient to afford a correct idea of what the court
+has been. I obtained the intercolumniation by excavation, and have
+thus ascertained that this court must have been ornamented with 26
+columns, and not more, as it has been represented. There were nine
+on each side, including the angles, and four at each end.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 21.
+
+_Drawn by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+TEMPLE OF TIRHAKA, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_London. Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The propylon of the second court is also much injured, but not to
+the same extent as the first. On the south-west side, which is less
+injured than the other, I found the remains of a staircase leading
+to the top of the edifice. The depth of this propylon, which is 28
+feet, I was able to ascertain with more precision than the other. The
+second court is 125 feet long and 102 wide. It was curiously laid
+out, in a manner which first made me conceive it to have originally
+formed two rooms: the first containing four rows of six columns each,
+two on each side; and the second room, six rows of columns of three
+each: but, on further examination, I found that there was no mark
+on the side walls of its having been thus divided. There is a thin
+wall, which connects together the seventh and eighth columns of the
+centre avenue, that is, the last of the columns that would have
+been in the first room, and the first of the second. This proves
+that this could never have formed more than one court; for, had it
+been divided into separate rooms, these columns could not have been
+connected. I conceive it most probable that, as the architectural
+part of a temple was generally constructed before the ornamental,
+the columns may have been erected with the intention that it should
+have been divided into two rooms; but that afterwards, as the making
+the whole one apartment formed no very great architectural defect,
+though it certainly was one, this arrangement was adopted, probably
+in order to afford a more continued space for the procession which
+adorned the walls. Otherwise, rooms leading into the sanctuaries,
+ornamented with six rows of columns, of three each, agree exactly
+with the general description of an Egyptian temple.
+
+With some little excavation, I found the traces of all the columns
+marked in the plan on the western side, and two on the other, with
+a similar connecting wall above mentioned: the width of the centre
+avenue was 17 feet. The diameter of the columns is 5 feet 5 inches;
+and they rest on circular bases. A reference to the plan will show
+that the nine columns on each side, forming the centre avenue, are in
+an exact line. The six columns of the second row, on entering, are
+in a line with the intercolumniation of the second and third rows,
+of what I, at first, erroneously conceived to be a separate portico.
+
+On the west side of the second propylon are the fragments of a
+battle-scene, now almost unintelligible. Shattered pieces of a
+warhorse, of a king drawing his bow, and of slain combatants, denote
+that the historical representation of some celebrated conflict has
+been sculptured there. The side walls of this court seem to have
+been covered with splendid processions, perhaps equal to that in
+the beautiful portico at Medenet Abou; but nothing remains, except,
+in one place, a few heads; in another, the hawk and jackal standards,
+and several fragments of feet and limbs; and here and there, one or
+two hieroglyphics occur. I regret exceedingly that these sculptures
+are so completely destroyed, as, doubtless, they would have made
+an interesting addition to the pages of history. The battle, with
+its horrors—the resistance, flight, and slaughter—the fiery
+steed, trampling on the dying—the portraits and the names of the
+vanquished people—the warrior’s triumph and gratitude to the
+gods, and the processions in commemoration of his victory—were,
+no doubt, sculptured on these walls. This once beautiful temple,
+and the historical records with which it was adorned, are now almost
+entirely destroyed. Sufficient only is remaining to prove the beauty
+of the style, and make us sensible of the loss we have experienced
+in its destruction. The nature of the event these sculptures told,
+may be imagined; but as matter of history it is lost for ever.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 22.
+
+_From a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+TEMPLE partly excavated out of the Rock GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The next room is 51 feet long and 56 feet wide, and was ornamented
+with a row of five columns on each side, the diameter of which is
+4 feet 2 inches, and they rest on circular bases: the latter are
+on pedestals. On each side of this room was a gallery, in one of
+which there now remain two columns. It seems to me probable, from
+the space between the last-described room and the sanctuary (see
+Plan), that a gallery crossed the temple at the end of the third
+room, out of which there were probably three outlets. Those at the
+sides would lead into small chapels, and the centre one into the
+sanctuary. As I have no authority, however, for this supposition,
+I have not marked it in my plan; but the reader who has studied the
+construction of Egyptian edifices will perceive its probability.
+
+The sanctuary is, fortunately, in better preservation: its width
+is about 16 feet, the length uncertain. The wall which enclosed it
+could only have been of a certain height, perhaps a few feet, as,
+immediately behind it, on each side, are four columns, the diameter of
+which is 4 feet. Near the extremity of the sanctuary is a beautiful
+granite altar, which I found almost entirely covered with rubbish,
+and got it cleared. The device is very elegant, representing four
+kings, or, rather, four representations of the same king, Tirhaka,
+supporting the Egyptian entablature; and the base of the altar is
+also tastefully ornamented. Between the figures are four ovals: two
+containing the phonetic name of Tirhaka, accompanied with the titles
+of Son of Phre, or Pharaoh, the Sun, always living. The other two
+ovals contain the prænomen of the king Sun, very beneficent; above
+which is the title King, and below it the hieroglyphics signifying
+eternal life, or always living. There is a line of hieroglyphics round
+the figures, containing a dedication of the buildings to his father
+Amun Ra, &c. On the east side is a subject, not uncommon in Egypt,
+of the two divinities of the Nile, supporting with cords a pedestal,
+over which is the name of the king. I copied the hieroglyphics of
+this tablet. On the west side of the altar is a subject exactly
+similar to the east, but very much defaced and broken.[26] Behind
+the sanctuary is a room or inner sanctuary, 37 feet long by 21 feet
+6 inches wide. A door leads out of it, on the western side, into two
+small rooms. To the west of the altar, before described, is a much
+larger one of basalt, 8 feet 6 inches square. There are no figures
+on this altar, but some hieroglyphics, all of which I have copied:
+they contain the name and titles of King Pepi, or, as Rossellini,
+perhaps more correctly, calls him, Pionchei. The name of this king
+I found also on the walls; but, on the capital of the column which
+is still remaining there is an oval almost resembling the prænomen
+of Amunneith, or, according to Mr. Wilkinson, Amun m gori III. If
+it be the same, I must candidly state that this is very probably an
+Egyptian, and not an Ethiopian, edifice; for the name on the columns
+is generally that of the builder of the temple. There are other rooms
+(as will be seen by my plan), which I have not attempted to describe,
+being almost quite unintelligible.
+
+The appearance of this temple, at a distance, is very picturesque;
+but there is little in the detail to interest the traveller; its
+architectural ornaments and sculpture being entirely destroyed,
+except the one column already mentioned, and it, too, is considerably
+injured, and off the perpendicular. To the architect, this temple
+is interesting, as its plan can almost be fully traced. The mere
+painter, seeking only the picturesque, would find few advantageous
+points of view. But to me these ruins were deeply interesting, since,
+accustomed as I am to Egyptian edifices, I found sufficient, even in
+the little that remains, to understand perfectly what it has been. I
+easily restored, in my conception, the lofty propylons, the splendid
+courts, surrounded with the most chaste forms of Egyptian columns;
+the porticoes, sanctuaries, statues, and avenues of sphinxes;—every
+part enriched by the art of the painter and sculptor;—the walls and
+propylons covered with the representations of mythological mysteries,
+military exploits, and animated battle-scenes, which form the _chefs
+d’œuvre_ of Egyptian art. I could trace, also, the portraits of the
+heroes, hieroglyphical tablets, containing the history of the scenes,
+and displaying the king’s piety and munificence in his offerings to
+the gods. Thus, I restored the temple in my imagination; and, indeed,
+there was good authority for all that I have enumerated. Were I to
+refer to a period still more remote, and, filling up the vague, and
+not sufficiently explicit authority of the historians, describe the
+bronze, gold, silver, ivory, ebony, and precious stones, with which
+it was, perhaps, adorned; the Oriental magnificence which was most
+probably displayed; the mysterious ceremonies of the most mysterious
+of religions; the sacrifices and burnt-offerings; the deceiving
+oracles, the crafty priesthood, and the ignorant multitude gazing,
+with superstitious awe, at their imposing functions,—I might then
+be accused of rambling into the regions of fancy; for, unfortunately,
+there are no sufficient records yet to enter into this subject: but
+if the study of hieroglyphics is still continued, the veil of Isis
+may, perhaps, be raised. The Arabs have carried away a great part
+of the materials of this temple; and, in a short time, the little
+that is remaining of this, the _Selinunte_ of Ethiopian edifices,
+will be entirely buried by the sand which is daily drifted in upon
+it from the desert.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 23.
+
+_On stone by C. Hullmandel, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+_Other Ruins at Gibel el Birkel._—Twenty yards to the west of
+the Typhonium, marked in the plan, are the remains of another small
+temple, excavated in the rock. The first court was ornamented with
+columns, and on the walls I could distinguish traces of sculpture,
+but now too much defaced to be legible. Besides the temples already
+mentioned, situated under the mountain, there are the traces of
+another, 200 feet from the great propylon of the large temple;
+that is, about 700 feet from the mountain, towards the river. A
+fragment of a wall, 6 feet by 3 feet, is all that now remains:
+300 feet beyond the latter is a single column, with a lotus-flower
+capital. From this column to the river are 4100 feet. The mountain
+is, therefore, 5100 feet distant from the Nile.
+
+To the north of the great temple are the ruins of buildings, chiefly
+of brick, which seem to have formed part of the city, but they are of
+no very great extent. Here are scattered numerous pieces of pottery,
+and fragments of the same description of bread stamps which are found
+at Thebes, but these are without hieroglyphic inscriptions. To the
+east of the great temple, in the plain, are columns and traces of
+other temples, but now almost entirely buried by the sand.
+
+I have described all the temples now existing at Gibel el Birkel,
+and mentioned the remains and traces of nine, and will now treat
+of the monumental decorations of its interesting Necropolis. The
+magnificence, power, and piety of the monarchs of Ethiopia are
+displayed in the public works erected in honour of the gods. In
+this beautiful cemetery, we have monuments either of the gratitude
+and attachment of their subjects, or, more probably, of their own
+ostentation. The kings of Egypt are supposed, for many reasons,
+which I will mention at another opportunity, to have had their tombs
+constructed long before their decease; and this instructive memorial
+of the transient nature of their earthly greatness was worthy of
+the wisdom and philosophy of so great a nation. The Ethiopians
+probably had the same custom; and considering, as Diodorus says of
+the Egyptians, their palaces only as inns where they tarried for a
+day, they took care to have a more suitable habitation provided for
+that state, in which they believed that they were to rest for ages.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 24.
+
+_Drawn by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+GREAT TEMPLE, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_London. Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The pyramids are on the western side of the mountain. The first
+group, of two, is 700 feet north-west of the Typhonium, the temple
+I described as excavated in the rock. (See the General Plan and
+vignette.[27]) The first, A, is 30 feet square; 40 feet to the
+west of this, is the other, B, which is only 23 feet square. The
+pyramid C, in the plan, is 235 feet distant from the latter, and
+measures 30 feet by 26: twenty feet farther to the west is pyramid
+D, which is 27 feet square. The one marked E, in the plan above,
+adjoining the latter, is 36 feet square; and F, partly behind this,
+is of the same size. Sixteen feet to the north of F, and north-west
+of the pyramids C, D, E, is the largest one at Gibel el Birkel,
+which is 88 feet square: the angle of this is more obtuse than that
+of any of the other pyramids at Gibel el Birkel. The ruined state of
+this large pyramid, and also of the others already described, will
+be seen in the distance in Plate XXVII. One hundred and forty-five
+feet to the north of this large pyramid is a small one, H, which is
+only 25 feet square. The angle of this is much more acute, the height
+being considerably more than the diameter at the base. It is scarcely
+at all injured: the apex of the pyramids at this place, like those
+in the Isle of Meroe, was never pointed. A flat space was always
+left at the top for a statue, perhaps, or some other ornament. One
+hundred and twenty-four feet to the west of the latter is another,
+I, 23 feet square. This is very much ruined, particularly on one
+side, but there are the remains of a portico before the south-east
+side. The other eight pyramids, of which I have given the dimensions,
+were without this ornament: at all events, there are no traces now
+remaining, that induced me to suppose that any of them had porches
+in front. The present state of the pyramids above described may be
+observed in the distance of Plate XXVII.[28]
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE PYRAMIDS OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.]
+
+About 600 feet to the north-west is a fine group of eight other
+pyramids, situated on an eminence, which adds greatly to their effect,
+and gives them, at a distance, a still more imposing appearance. They
+extend for 550 feet from east to west; five of them have porticoes,
+or porches, the direction of which is about south-east, but rarely
+exactly the same. (See Plan.) Plate XXVI. is a general view of
+these pyramids, and the vignette represents one in detail. These
+being accurate camera-lucida drawings, and every stone correct,
+the reader will be able to judge of the neat construction of some
+of these edifices, the regularity in the size of the stones (see
+Plate XXVI.), and the manner in which they are joined together,
+without cement. Plate XXVII. is a view of a group of these pyramids,
+which also shows their construction; and in the distance is seen
+the mountain and the other group of pyramids.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 25.
+
+_On stone by W. P. Sherlock from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+GREAT TEMPLE, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The height of these monuments varies from 35 to 60 feet. They
+consist, according to their height, of from 30 to 60 steps each,
+receding about 6 inches. They, therefore, may be ascended, but
+with difficulty. They have smooth borders at the angles, like
+some of the pyramids at Meroe. The first, marked K in the plan,
+p. 149., 600 feet distant from the mountain, is about 65 feet
+square. It seems to have had no portico, but it is quite in ruins;
+it stood upon a stone basement. Thirty-six feet to the west of the
+latter is the pyramid L. This is 33 feet square, a mass of ruins,
+and no traces of the portico to be seen. This pyramid is the first
+to the right in Plate XXVI.; and although rather indistinct, from
+being placed in the distance, its dilapidated state may still be
+observed. Ninety-five feet to the west of this is M, which is 38 feet
+square. This has a portico before it: the summit of it is visible in
+Plate XXVI. On the hard cement with which the interior of this portico
+is covered, I observed some remains of painting, rather indifferently
+executed. Fifteen feet to the south, and in the view almost covering
+the last, is pyramid N. This is 44 feet square and 51 feet high,
+and has a portico before it. Unfortunately, very few figures were
+distinguishable; but sufficient to prove the identity of the style,
+which is decidedly Ethiopian. As a further confirmation of this fact,
+there is an inscription in Ethiopic characters. The masonry of this
+pyramid is very well executed. This pyramid is the first that may
+be remarked as entire in Plate XXVI.
+
+[Illustration: PYRAMIDS OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.]
+
+There are porticoes, as I have said, before five of this group
+of eight pyramids, almost similar to those before the pyramids
+of Meroe. Some of these are ornamented with sculpture; but,
+unfortunately, destitute of hieroglyphics, which never appear to
+have been inserted upon them. I copied out of the pyramid N, the
+most beautiful specimen of sculpture that now remains. (See Plate
+XXIX.) The style may easily be perceived to be Ethiopian, from the
+roundness of the arms, and the proportions being generally more
+bulky than those of the Egyptians. This style differs so widely from
+that remaining in the temple built by Tirhaka, that many ages must
+certainly have elapsed before such an important change could have
+taken place. The subject which I have copied is not particularly
+interesting, being merely a presentation of offerings, but there is
+a variety and elegance in the groups, seldom surpassed in Egyptian
+productions. The offerings consist chiefly of branches of palm
+trees, goats, cattle, &c., and libations. In the highest row,
+Osiris is represented seated on his throne, as judge of Amenti,
+and the divinities Anubis and Horus, are also in the same line. The
+divinity with the globe and horns, in the second row, is probably
+Isis; and the last in the second row is a figure of Typhon.
+
+A personage larger than the others is holding incense on the
+same elegant description of tray, having the form of a hand and
+arm, which we see in Egypt. He is presenting it to the king, or
+occupant of the tomb, who is represented seated under a canopy, on a
+lion-shaped chair or throne, which differs, in a very slight degree,
+from that we so often see in the sculptures of Egypt. The dress of
+the king is different from the Egyptian. His necklace is curious:
+he has in one hand a large and strong but beautifully-formed bow,
+and in the other an arrow and a branch of the palm tree[29]: the
+goddess of truth, with outstretched wings, is immediately behind his
+throne. The traces of colour which still remain on this sculpture
+I marked on my original drawing.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 26.
+
+_On stone by W. P. Sherlock from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PYRAMIDS OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+On the other side of the portico, opposite to this sculpture, is
+another subject, representing about 100 figures, rather curiously
+grouped; also some large figures exactly similar to those above
+described.
+
+In the other porticoes no sculpture is perceptible, except some
+fragments similar to the large figures in this plate.
+
+At the end of some of the porticoes appear traces of the funeral
+boats, similar to the one I described at Meroe. Notwithstanding some
+differences, they appear to have the same signification as those over
+the tombs of the kings. This circumstance, and the representation
+of the goddess of truth, Osiris, the president of Amenti, and the
+assistant divinities, Anubis, Thoth, and Horus, are proofs that
+these were indubitably tombs.
+
+These pyramids seem to have been the object of some learned curiosity
+or avarice. Deceived by the false doors beneath the boats of the sun
+at the end of the porticoes, persons have endeavoured, by blasting
+the stones, to discover some inner chambers, and set at rest for ever
+the question how, and for what purpose, they were constructed. The
+rude force of barbarians, perhaps of Arabs, animated, probably,
+by the hope of discovering treasure beneath, seems to have been
+exercised in utterly destroying others.
+
+Judging from the pyramids which are almost entirely ruined, and
+from those that have been partly broken down, I do not conceive that
+there is any chamber in the interior, but think it more probable that
+the body was deposited in a small well, above which the pyramid was
+afterwards erected. Yet Diodorus says that the Ethiopians differed
+from other nations in the honours which they rendered to their
+dead. “Some,” says he, “throw the bodies into the river,
+believing that to be the most honourable sepulture which they
+can give. Others keep them in their houses, shut up in niches of
+alabaster, thinking it advantageous for a child to have ever before
+his eyes the image of his father; and those who wished to preserve
+the memory of their predecessors enclosed their bodies in a coffin of
+baked earth, and interred them in the neighbourhood of the temples.”
+The reader will have perceived, from these passages of Diodorus,
+that it is not impossible that these porticoes may have been used to
+contain the coffins; thus enabling the friends or children to visit
+them, at the same time protecting them, to a certain degree, from the
+hand of violence and the inclemency of the seasons. The mummies in
+the Roman tombs in the Necropolis, in the Oasis Magna, were in wells;
+and the Egyptians usually, but not invariably, interred their dead in
+those receptacles. Many of the pyramids have no porticoes; therefore,
+in those instances, the body must be underneath, probably in a well;
+but the construction of these porticoes may have had its origin in
+the piety and affection of individuals wishing to have the bodies of
+their relations preserved in an accessible place, where, at certain
+seasons, they could visit their remains, recall past scenes, indulge
+their grief in bewailing their loss, and have ever before their eyes
+a memorial of the brief sojourn of man in this valley of tears.
+
+The pyramid marked O in the plan is thirty feet distant to the west
+of N. This is 53 feet square, and the height 58 feet. This pyramid
+is the second in Plate XXVI., and the B of Plate XXVIII. It will be
+observed, in the view, that the upper part is very dilapidated; the
+portico is very much injured; and, in consequence of the broken state
+of the ground, it does not appear in my view. The sculpture which
+it contains is of little importance. A figure offering incense to
+the king, with the head-dress of a globe, long feathers, and short
+horns. There is also a representation of the funeral boat.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 27.
+
+_On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PYRAMIDS AT GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The next (P, in the plan) is 35 feet square. This is the third,
+from the left, in Plate XII., and is one of the most perfect. The
+height is 48 feet, and the interior width of the portico is 6 feet 6
+inches. This portico is arched. There seems to have been some ornament
+(perhaps an inscription) attached to many of the façades of the
+pyramids; for near the summits are circular holes, in which, probably,
+rivets were inserted. Mr. Waddington found a piece of granite in
+one. Near the summit of this there are three of these holes.
+
+Q is 36 feet square. There are no traces of its ever having had any
+portico. This is the second, from the left, in Plate XXVI. The summit
+is very much injured.
+
+Pyramid R is the first to the left. In the vignette, page 148.,
+and Plates XXVI. and XXVII., it will be observed that it is
+almost perfect, but that the roof of the portico has partly fallen
+in. This pyramid is also represented as restored in Plate XXVIII. An
+examination of this plate will afford to the reader a good idea of
+the beauty of the architectural forms of these pyramids. A, which
+corresponds with R in the plan, is 41 feet in diameter, and the
+height is 46 feet. The angles of these pyramids being so much more
+acute than those of Geezah, adds greatly to the elegance of their
+architectural form. The small ornament at the angles is pretty, and
+enhances very much the effect. The façade of the portico is also
+pretty, but, as will be seen by the plates, has quite a different
+form from the façades of the porticoes of the pyramids of Meroe. At
+the latter place the doorway is between two towers, which, although
+on a small scale, are almost similar in design to those of the great
+propylons of Egypt. These, as will be seen by the plate, have more
+the appearance of small temples. The façade is narrower at the top
+than at the bottom, the total width of the latter being 20 feet, and
+at the top 17 feet 6 inches. The square band and the cornice give it
+more the appearance of a small temple. The architrave over the door is
+ornamented with the globe and serpents. This pyramid is also arched.
+
+In describing the pyramids of Meroe, I mentioned that the arch I
+there found was a segment of a circle; but here it is very important
+to observe that there are not only specimens of that, but also
+one of the pointed arch. The latter, consisting of six stones, is
+accurately drawn in the section. The stones are slightly hollowed
+out to the shape of the arch, but do not advance beyond each other,
+like the arch near the temple excavated out of the rock at Thebes,
+but are supported only by _lateral pressure_.[30] The stones of this
+arch are not joined with cement; but above the roof are a quantity
+of small stones, which are kept together by a soft description of
+cement. That these arches are not recently added, is proved, not only
+by the appearance of the monuments themselves, being exactly of the
+same description of fine hard sandstone, and of the same colour; but
+still more certainly by the circumstance, that the portico I mentioned
+as covered with cement, and painted in the ancient Ethiopian style,
+is also, fortunately, arched. The interior of this arch is covered
+with cement, which is harder than the stone, and painted.
+
+The paintings on the arched roof, and the sides of the portico, are
+evidently of the same period. As I have formerly observed, owing,
+probably, to its very great antiquity, the painting is nearly defaced;
+but still there was sufficient to convince me that the style is
+certainly Ethiopian, of a far more ancient date than the sculpture
+in the temple of Tirhaka.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 28.
+
+_Drawn by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PYRAMIDS OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_London. Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The reader will observe, also, in the section, a specimen of a
+semicircular arch. They are drawn very small, as belonging to the
+pyramids, but they are not, on that account, less accurate; and,
+therefore, almost equally useful as if they had been made separate
+plates. The stone forming the keystone of this semicircular arch is
+1 foot 9 inches in length; the stones supporting it, corresponding
+precisely, 2 feet 1 inch, and the one on each side following these,
+to the spring of the arch, 2 feet 4 inches. The arch, then, not
+only the circular, but the pointed, had its origin in Ethiopia. The
+oldest known in Europe is, I believe, that in the Cloacum Maximum,
+supposed to have been built in the time of the Commonwealth. The
+great antiquity, of the one on the Tiber is proved by its singular
+construction, forming almost, as it were, three arches beneath
+each other.
+
+I am aware that the learned will be sceptical concerning the
+antiquity of these. There are no remains in stone to prove that
+the Egyptians were so far advanced in the construction of the arch
+as these specimens show that the Ethiopians were. The only stone
+arch that exists in Egypt is the one at North Der, at Thebes; and
+that one proves that the Egyptians were acquainted with its beauty,
+but not its utility and the correct mode of constructing it. The
+vaulted tomb of stones at Memphis is of the time of Psammitichus,
+who reigned immediately after the Ethiopian dynasty. The brick
+arches in the tombs at Thebes, covered with cement, on which are the
+royal name of Thothmes and Amenoph, prove that the Egyptians were,
+at that period, acquainted with the arch; but it is rather singular
+that there is no earlier specimen: whence, I think, we may infer,
+as those were built soon after the terrible wars commenced, which are
+represented on the walls at Thebes, that the Egyptians then, for the
+first time, invaded Ethiopia, and there saw and became acquainted with
+that useful construction. There seems to me no reason to suppose that
+the knowledge of the utility and construction of the arch passed from
+Egypt into Ethiopia: the contrary is much more probable, as we have
+here far more perfect specimens than are found in Egypt; and as there
+is no doubt of the very great antiquity of these ruins, can there
+be any, that the invention of the arch had its origin in Ethiopia?[31]
+
+The sandstone of which the pyramids are built is of a much harder
+quality than that of the temples, being either from a vein in the
+mountain which is now exhausted, or, as I conceive is most probable,
+brought from distant quarries. This is an extraordinary proof that
+the greatest pains were taken in the construction of these edifices,
+to enable them to resist the ravages of time.
+
+As to the antiquity of these structures, I conceive it to be very
+great. Some of them appear more ancient than any that exist in the
+valley of the Nile, with the exception, perhaps, of the pyramids
+of Meroe and Nouri. They are the tombs of a dynasty of kings
+whose names are now unknown. That they were royal sepulchres,
+and not those of private individuals, is, I think, evident from
+their being as magnificent as the pyramids at Meroe, which we know
+to belong to kings from the ovals which they contain; and many
+of the individuals in these tombs have the serpent, the emblem of
+royalty, above their foreheads. If this had been the site of Napata,
+I should conceive that the dilapidated state of the ruins might have
+been caused by Petronius, who led there the Roman arms; but in the
+Historical Appendix I will give the reader a further account of that
+celebrated expedition. I trust that the hieroglyphic inscriptions
+which I have copied will contain much valuable information; and that,
+at all events, the name of a place, evidently once so considerable,
+may again, with certainty, be enrolled in the list of cities. Her
+habitations and her palaces are utterly destroyed: the desert is
+swallowing up the remains of her temples; and the sepulchres of her
+kings are fast decaying. A city where the arts evidently were once
+so zealously cultivated,—where science and learning appear to have
+reigned,—is now possessed by ignorant barbarian tribes. Where are
+the descendants of that people who erected these splendid monuments to
+their gods? Were they exterminated by the warlike tribe who now occupy
+this territory, driven into other regions, or blended with the race
+of their conquerors? These are questions of great importance, which I
+may endeavour to illustrate in my historical chapter, but which I pass
+by at present, as scarcely belonging to a topographical description.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 29.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+SCULPTURE IN A PYRAMID AT GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+It is a circumstance, perhaps, worthy of remark, that some of the
+most perfect heads sculptured on the pyramids had almost a European
+profile. The Shageea—the brave tribe of Arabs who now possess
+the magnificently rich and fertile plain near Gibel el Birkel, and
+whose territory extends, on one side nearly to the fourth cataract,
+and on the other to Dongolah—have, notwithstanding the darkness
+of their complexion, nothing of the Negro features.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+PRESENT INHABITANTS OF BIRKEL. — FUNERAL CEREMONIES IN THE MAHOMETAN
+BURIAL-GROUNDS. — NAME OF RAMESES II. OR SESOSTRIS. — DESCRIPTION
+OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE COUNTRY. — INDIGO MANUFACTORIES. —
+THE SHAGEEA TRIBE. — ONE OF THEIR MELEKS. — PYRAMIDS OF NOURI,
+DILAPIDATED STATE. — CURIOUS CONSTRUCTION OF ONE. — GENERAL
+DIMENSIONS. — ANTIQUITY. — COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ANCIENT AND
+MODERN BUILDINGS OF ETHIOPIA. — RETURN TO MEROUEH. — TURKISH
+MANNER OF BEING PAID FOR SERVICES. — VOYAGE DOWN THE NILE. —
+NUMEROUS VILLAGES. — SHAGEEA TRIBE. — INTOXICATION, LEARNING,
+ETC. — VARIOUS VILLAGES AND ISLANDS. — EFFECTS OF THE CLIMATE
+AND OTHER PECULIARITIES OF THIS COUNTRY ON THE CHARACTER OF THE
+PEOPLE. — NOBLE MANNERS OF THE ARABS. — DONGOLAH AGOUS. —
+PROBABLE SITE OF NAPATA. — NEGRO SLAVES. — EFFECTS OF THE CRUELTY
+OF THEIR OWNERS. — ENCROACHMENTS OF THE DESERT. — CULTIVATION. —
+PEASANTS.
+
+
+The inhabitants of the village of Birkel have their burying-place
+on the edge of the desert. Two women died while we were there. On
+such occasions the females of the village assemble in the house of
+the deceased, to cry and bewail her death. Generally, after two or
+three hours, they carry the body to the grave. On their arrival at
+the burial-ground, they assemble round the corpse, and make a low
+melancholy howl, and the nearest relations, with dishevelled hair
+and loud lamentations, perform a kind of lascivious but graceful
+dance; not very unlike that of the almæ in Lower Egypt, but the
+movements here are different. They do not, like the almæ, remain
+fixed to one spot, but move forward rather gracefully, bending their
+knees and back, and throwing up their bosoms, keeping time to the
+clapping of hands and their wild _lululoo_, of which there are two
+descriptions, one expressive of grief, and the other of joy. This
+dance is not so very indecent as the Egyptian dance. When the body
+is laid in the ground, stones are erected over the head and feet,
+between which they make a narrow channel, as I mentioned before,
+filled with small pebbles, generally of quartz, but invariably of one
+colour. I asked of several persons an explanation of this ceremony;
+but the only reply was, “It was the custom.” Burckhardt states
+(page 269.), that a fakeer told him that it was a mere meritorious
+custom; that there was no necessity for it, but that it was thought
+that the soul of the deceased, when hereafter visiting the tombs,
+might be glad to find these pebbles, in order to use them as beads,
+in addressing its prayers to the Creator.
+
+In the centre of the burying-ground is a large tomb of a saint: this
+is also built of stone. These stones are all taken from the temples,
+but they are generally without sculpture or hieroglyphics. On one
+stone, however, I discovered half of the name of Rameses II. or
+Sesostris. This is curious, and reminded me that Strabo[32] speaks
+of a sacred mountain in Ethiopia, where there was a temple of Isis,
+built by that conqueror; and Herodotus says that Sesostris, that is,
+Rameses II., was the only Egyptian king who made himself master of
+Ethiopia. My accidental discovery of this name, is, I think, strongly
+corroborative of the correctness of these two passages: this may
+be the mountain alluded to. That conqueror must have constructed
+some edifices, otherwise I should not have found his name. The
+temple of Isis may be the one excavated in the rock, and afterwards
+adorned with sculpture, by Tirhaka; and the statement of Herodotus,
+that he was the only king who subdued the Ethiopians, is, I think,
+proved by the fact, that, with the exception of the one which _may
+be_ that of Amunneith III., on the column of the great temple, this
+is the only name I have found of an Egyptian king either here or at
+the Island of Meroe. I begged the katshef who governed the district
+to desire the peasants to take the stones that they required from
+the mountain, urging that, as strict Mahometans, they ought not to
+take them from Pagan ruins; but, unfortunately, there is no law in
+the Koran by which this is forbidden. Here, therefore, is another
+cause which will contribute to the speedy and utter destruction of
+what still remains of this interesting city.
+
+To give the reader an idea of the present state of fertility of this
+country, notwithstanding that the desert has enormously encroached
+on the cultivated land, the following particulars may not be
+uninteresting:—The katshef of Meroueh commands as far as Wanly,
+down the river, one day by land, about thirty miles; and up the
+river as far as Berber, two days by land. Within this small extent,
+over which only the banks of the Nile are cultivated, there are 1368
+water-wheels, which pay to the government twenty dollars each, that
+is, 27,360 dollars; besides which, the government gain considerably
+by obliging the peasants to plant indigo, which they purchase from
+them at twelve piastres the cantar. They have calculated that they
+make 190 drachms of indigo from each cantar. Under the government of
+Dongolah, there are five manufactories of indigo,—Meroueh, Handek,
+Haffeer, Dongolah Agous, and El Ourde. The manufactory here produces
+1846 okres[33] every year, and is now increasing. The peasants are
+unwilling to cultivate this plant, as the labour is very great; and
+they do not consider the price they receive a sufficient remuneration.
+
+The Shageea who cultivate this district are less oppressed than
+their neighbours: they are, as Burckhardt and Waddington have
+remarked, considered the bravest of the Arab tribes. This warlike
+race alone never bent their knees to the great Sultan of Sennaar. It
+is impossible to convey to the reader an adequate idea of the power
+these daring warriors once possessed. The name of a Shageea was
+a host in itself. I have been repeatedly assured, that a single
+horseman has often been known to alight at a peasant’s hut, order
+the owner to hold his horse, whilst he entered into his very harem,
+ate with his wives, and often, it is said, still more shamefully
+abused his power. Death or slavery was the fate of the meleks of
+the neighbouring tribes who dared to offend them. Mounted on their
+dromedaries or horses, armed with lances, swords, and shields,
+they scoured the province, sweeping away the herds, massacring
+all who had the courage to resist, and carrying away men, women,
+and children into captivity. War was their sole delight; the cry to
+arms their most welcome sound. Mothers appeased the cries of their
+infants by the sight of a spear; and the lovely maiden only yielded
+her hand to the distinguished warrior. Their exploits are the theme
+of many a song; and other tribes seem to have forgotten their wrongs
+in admiration of the bravery of their oppressors. The blessings of
+peace, agriculture, and domestic repose were considered irksome by
+these proud warriors. They obstinately and gallantly resisted the
+invasion of the Pasha, till they found it vain, with their lances
+and sabres, to contend against fields of artillery and disciplined
+troops armed with the musket. Understanding that the Pasha was going
+to make war against Melek Nimr and the Shendyans, who were also their
+enemies, they joined his troops, and gradually came completely under
+subjection to him. The government, however, treats them with some
+respect. As I have stated before, a Shageea regiment is still in
+the Pasha’s service, and engaged in the war against the Negroes,
+at the southern extremity of his kingdom.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 30.
+
+A MELEK OF THE SHAGEEA TRIBE.
+
+_On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The ancient race of the meleks still exists, but the fortunes of
+many are wofully changed. I took the portrait of one, an uncommonly
+fine-looking fellow, who was constantly in the temple where I resided,
+talking with my servants. (See Plate XXX.) His long gown, or shirt,
+is called, in Arabic, _e’tobe_. The shawl, or _el melayah_,
+is always put on very gracefully. Their sandals, or _nohel_, are
+useful in walking on the sand, except when the latter is soft and
+heated by the sun: they then afford them little protection, as their
+feet constantly sink above the sole. As there was no barber in the
+village, and I was told he had some skill in shaving, I allowed him to
+officiate in that capacity; but most anxiously shall I avoid to have
+my head again shaved by the son of a king. Never did I endure such
+a scarification. His razor, one of the twopenny sort from Trieste,
+was blunter than even a French table-knife; and he had no means
+of sharpening it, but, according to the custom of the country,
+on his bare arm. He drew blood four times, and scraped my head in
+such a manner that it smarted for several hours afterwards; but it is
+impossible to endure the wearing of one’s hair in this climate after
+having once been accustomed to the luxury of having it shaved every
+week; and having lost my penknife, I have been obliged to take my own
+razor to cut my pencils. Travellers, in these unprovided regions, must
+often have recourse to strange means of supplying their necessities.
+
+Plate I. represents a Shageea with the dress of the desert—merely
+a cloth around his waist: his colour is darker than the other, which
+is accounted for from the life he leads, continually exposed to the
+scorching sun.[34]
+
+During our residence in the temple of Tirhaka we were often troubled
+with wolves, attracted, I presume, by the smell of the meat, and
+who made too free with our larder. Fatigued always by measuring
+and drawing all the day under this burning sun, we slept too
+soundly to detect the thief; indeed, the roaring of a lion would
+scarcely have roused our Arab servants: but we had a guardian of
+another description, whose instinctive vigilance proved fatal to
+the intruder. The little monkey the Mahmoor of Berber gave me was
+chained to, and had his bed among, a heap of stones in the corner
+of the sanctuary where Mr. B. and I slept. The poor little animal,
+frightened most desperately at the approach of so powerful an enemy as
+a wolf, and, besides his bodily fear, having, of course, an interest
+in the preservation of our larder, succeeded in rousing us by rolling
+down the stones that were near it. It did this three nights together:
+last night, one of my servants succeeded in shooting the thief.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 1.
+
+_On stone by W. Walton from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._
+
+CAMEL MAN OF THE ABABDE TRIBE.
+
+SHAGEEA OF THE DESERT.]
+
+_April_ 1. This afternoon we spent three hours in sailing eight miles
+to the pyramids of Nouri. They are situated in a slightly elevated
+part of the desert, a full half hour’s walk from the river. There
+are traces of thirty-five pyramids, of which about fifteen only are
+in any kind of preservation. These are not very interesting, except
+as tombs, and from their imposing appearance, not being ornamented
+with porticoes or hieroglyphic inscriptions. The pyramids are all at
+right angles, and their direction is generally nearly the same. Their
+size varies from 110 feet square to 20. (See plan, Plate XXXII., and
+picturesque view, Plate XXXI.) There are eight above 80 feet square,
+and four more above 70 feet square: their height is generally about
+the same as their diameter.
+
+Plate XXXI. is the most picturesque of three views which I made of
+these pyramids; but the most remarkable for size does not appear in
+this view. The plan will show that it measures at the base about
+110 feet square. It consisted of three stages. Part of one having
+fallen, discovers another pyramid underneath. They seem to have added
+this second pyramid around the inner one, in order to increase its
+size, or, perhaps, to make the body underneath doubly difficult to
+get at. The Egyptian method of building pyramids with stages was,
+I think, by first erecting a pyramid with a very acute angle, and
+then building around it the first stage from the summit, and so on,
+in like manner, as many as were required.
+
+The pyramids are surrounded by the desert, which, I conceive, has
+already covered the remains of several others. The waves of the great
+Libyan ocean have probably swallowed up the traces of the city and
+its temples, which, from the extent and imposing appearance of its
+cemetery, must have been considerable. The interior of some of the
+pyramids is of puddingstone, very much decomposed. The sandstone with
+which these monuments are covered, and often constructed, is rather
+soft, as is nearly all the sandstone in Ethiopia; which circumstance,
+and also their very great antiquity, may be the reason, perhaps,
+of the very dilapidated state of the ruins.
+
+Close to these pyramids, and almost surrounding them, are the traces
+of a canal from the Nile; which, according to my information, reaches
+for a considerable distance into the desert. This circumstance proves
+that the cultivated land extended much farther into the interior than
+at present. Cailliaud supposed this place to have been the cemetery
+of Gibel el Birkel; arguing that Thebes also had her tombs on the
+opposite side of the river. But those of Gournah, and in the Valley
+of the Kings, if not close to what formed part of the great city of
+Thebes,—which, however, is very probable, from the numerous splendid
+temples and palaces, of which there are still magnificent remains
+on that side,—were, at all events, in the suburb, and exactly
+opposite the great city, and not eight miles distant up the river,
+as these are from Gibel el Birkel. Moreover, the tombs at Thebes
+are on the western side, probably because the mountains on that
+side are nearer to the river, and afforded greater facilities for
+excavations than those of the eastern range. That the inhabitants
+of Gibel el Birkel, therefore, should have chosen this place for
+their necropolis, when they had space for hundreds on the spot where
+her pyramids are now standing, or, at all events, might have erected
+them, if they preferred it, immediately opposite on the western side
+of the river, is an idea which no person who reflects on the subject
+can entertain. They are most probably the tombs of another dynasty,
+and of a city whose name may be among the many we meet with in the
+itineraries. We may guess which of them it was; but such surmises,
+without any proofs to support them, are entirely useless.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 31.
+
+_On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PYRAMIDS OF NOURI.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+I could not help drawing a comparison between these pyramids and the
+celebrated ones at Geezah. The latter, although in a worse climate
+and more exposed situation, have evidently suffered far less from
+the ravages of time. There is scarcely one pyramid here which is
+not so dilapidated that its architectural beauty is almost entirely
+lost. The tropical rains seldom, if ever, reach so far north as
+this province; yet numbers of the pyramids are quite destroyed, and
+others are mere masses of shapeless ruins, without a vestige of their
+ornaments remaining. From their appearance I should conceive these to
+be the most ancient ruins in the valley of the Nile: but there are no
+hieroglyphics remaining, to give us the name of the city or its kings;
+and no sculpture, from the style of which we might have a better idea
+of the period when they were constructed. This necropolis is now more
+a place for the philosopher than the artist: the city and its people
+are gone. The splendid mausoleums of its kings are little better
+than piles of ruins: the histories which they recorded are lost for
+ever. The dreary terrible desert which surrounds them seems silently
+devouring its prey, and many ages will not elapse ere this, the real
+Typhon, will have swallowed up every vestige of its ancient grandeur.
+
+I conceive it not improbable that this is the site of the ancient
+capital of this province, which may have been destroyed in the
+wars between the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, perhaps by the great
+Sesostris; and the city at Gibel el Birkel may have dated from its
+ruin the increase of her magnificence. Succeeding generations may
+have found the site of Gibel el Birkel more advantageous, and the
+favour of a new dynasty of kings may have enabled the new capital to
+eclipse her rival on the southern bank. I mentioned, after crossing
+the Bahiouda Desert, and arriving at the Nile, that the peasants
+informed me of some ruins which are now covered by the desert. I
+conceive the existence of these to afford further confirmation of
+the former opulence of this country. I cannot suppose, for a moment,
+that the city to which this necropolis belonged was so far distant.
+
+It is melancholy to see such numerous vestiges of imposing and
+splendid structures, demonstrating the power, magnificence, and
+knowledge of the former inhabitants of a province whose present
+possessors scarcely have sufficient ability to construct for
+themselves habitable mansions. The hovels of the peasants are
+miserable in the extreme. The castles of the sheakhs are better,
+but the rooms which they contain are extremely rude. This part of
+Africa was formerly harassed by continual wars of one tribe and
+nation against another. The necessity of guarding against surprise
+obliged them to fortify their habitations, and having models in their
+vicinity of ancient fortresses of the Ethiopians, the princes gave
+to their residences a somewhat more tolerable appearance.
+
+_April_ 3. We returned to Meroueh this morning, and I received
+a visit from the katshef and his suite. His professed object was
+to enquire whether he could be of any service to me, but his real
+aim was chiefly to receive half the pay of the boat (120 piastres)
+which he had procured for me, to take us to Nouri, and thence to
+Dongolah. I paid him the money as he desired, but he did not take the
+trouble of giving it to the rais (the captain of the vessel), who,
+poor fellow, of course, said that it was all right, as complaint
+would only have procured him the bastinado. This is the usual way
+in which the government remunerate themselves for any pains they
+bestow in making arrangements for travellers.
+
+We started at twelve, and passed, this evening, Kajjib, an old
+Arab village, picturesquely situated on a rock. We stopped for
+the night at the ruin of an old Saracenic castle, called Baheet,
+of considerable size, with towers and a citadel. It has evidently
+been of great strength, the walls being very thick; the inner part is
+built of brick; the exterior of stones piled together, as roughly as
+the enclosing wall of a field in England. The rocks are of sandstone.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 32.
+
+_Drawn by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+PYRAMIDS OF NOURI.
+
+_London. Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+_April_ 4. We have this day passed the Island of Shenderab at half
+past seven; the Island of Manderab at eight, the village of Korti and
+islands of Ingolass and of Onato at half past eight; the small village
+on the western bank, called Ambicol, at ten; the Island of Sennat at
+one; the village of Defur at three P.M.; Genati at half past three,
+and stopped for the night at the small Island of Bishaba.[35]
+
+_April 5._ At seven we passed the village of Debba el Dolib; or,
+as it is generally called, Debba, the commencement of the road
+to Kordofan, and the last village of Dar Shageea. With all their
+faults, the Shageea are the most interesting of the Arab tribes
+I have seen. Their manly appearance, extreme valour, and open and
+frank and noble manners, are very engaging; but I am sorry to find
+that they are addicted to intoxication beyond any tribe I have
+met with, spending the greater portion of their earnings in bouza,
+and particularly in the strong spirit of the country distilled from
+dates. Burckhardt (page 70.) has justly extolled their courage and
+good faith, and hospitality to strangers that have friends among
+them: but his account of their schools and learning would scarcely
+be applicable to the Shageea of the present day, who are too much
+enamoured of the dance and the cup to submit to the _ennui_ of study.
+
+At half past seven we passed the Island of Geri, and a village
+called Kutti, on the western bank. At half past four P.M. we passed
+a small island called Amduburgh, and stopped soon after at Tangus,
+another small island. The wind being invariably against us, we have
+scarcely made any progress, and that only by tacking. The river is
+about half a mile broad in this part of the valley, and occasionally
+even wider. There is scarcely any cultivated land, except on the
+islands. The desert, generally, on each side of the river, presents
+not an object to cheer the eye or relieve the mind. When the banks
+of the river were sufficiently low to afford us an extensive view,
+we saw only immense tracts of waste bounded by the horizon. The
+peasants chiefly inhabit the islands, where they seem to have taken
+refuge from the encroachments of the desert, being seldom able,
+with their inadequate means, to resist its approach; but, as I have
+before mentioned, there are still some villages on the banks, like
+little oases, but not so beautiful. Notwithstanding some advantage of
+their situation, and their feeble efforts to protect their fields,
+year after year the Libyan and Nubian deserts are said to extend
+their sway.
+
+The gravity of the Arabs, who seldom laugh, and scarcely ever,
+even under the influence of intoxication, give way to boisterous
+mirth, must be in a great measure attributed to the character
+of their country. Considering these people as living under a sky
+which is ever the same, clear and beautiful, and accustomed to one
+uniform landscape, the river, its islands, and surrounding wastes;
+knowing few other nations, creeds, or customs; having ever before
+their eyes these dreadful wildernesses; experiencing their horrors,
+and feeling their destructive effects; it is not surprising that
+we find them more grave than the inhabitants of southern climes in
+general. Even boys have the carriage and demeanour of men. Neat in
+their dress and simple in their manners, there is no affectation,
+no dandyism. How ill-placed would such follies be in a region like
+this! Natural and easy in their address, erect in their carriage,
+they often display a calm and noble dignity of demeanour, which
+I have never seen surpassed in any civilised capital. They salute
+you courteously, and talk with gravity of your plans. There is no
+feverish anxiety to shine in conversation, nor any obligation to
+converse with you. After the first compliments, unless any of them
+have enquiries to make, they seldom speak. Every day is equally
+beautiful and unclouded, therefore the weather is rarely, if ever,
+the subject of conversation; and we have not, as in Europe, the bore
+of discussing its appearance twenty times a day.
+
+_April_ 6. At six A.M. we passed Ahmoor, a small village on the west
+bank of the river, and at nine we arrived at Dongolah Agous.
+
+_Dongolah Agous._—After having seen that Shendy, Berber, and
+Metammah, though the capitals of provinces, are but miserable places,
+I did not expect to find Dongolah otherwise; still I could not have
+conceived that a town once so considerable, the metropolis of a
+large district, whose name so often occurs in history, would have
+presented now so wretched an aspect.
+
+Part of the town is in ruins. The desert has entered into its
+streets: many of the houses are entirely covered with sand, and
+scarcely an inhabitant is to be seen. One might have thought that
+some dreadful convulsion of nature, or some pestilential disease, had
+swept away the population. Part of the city is, indeed, remaining,
+but until I entered the houses not a human being did I meet with. I
+observed some houses in the town, of a superior appearance, having
+divisions of rooms, galleries, and courts, and evidently belonging
+to individuals once rich; but they are now almost all deserted. In
+some of them that we entered I saw some good-looking women: the men
+were idling away the day smoking and sleeping. Such is the scene of
+desolation and inactivity which now presents itself to the traveller
+at Dongolah. The mosque used by the inhabitants, until recently,
+was a large building, which tradition represents as very ancient,
+and as being built 200 years before the Hegira: but it is evidently
+of a much more modern date. It contains some granite columns, of
+bad workmanship, belonging to the early Christian age.
+
+I asked whether the residence of the Turkish government at El Ourde
+was the cause why the city was so deserted, but was told that that
+circumstance had made little or no change. This was the proud reply of
+poverty. I have been informed by others, that, before the Pasha’s
+conquest, many of the inhabitants were in better circumstances, and
+the town more populous, but that they are now scattered elsewhere:
+many of them fled to Kordofan and Sennaar, on the approach of
+the Pasha.
+
+I conceive it not improbable that this is the site of Napata. Pliny so
+distinctly places that city 100 miles lower down the Nile than Gibel
+el Birkel, that I see no reason for supposing that immense extent
+of ruins to be the remains of a town which he describes as so very
+insignificant. Besides the distance agreeing so exactly with Pliny’s
+account, the position of Dongolah Agous, as a military station, to
+resist the arms of Petronius, would certainly be advantageous. The
+desert and the present city may have covered the vestiges of the
+temples Petronius destroyed.
+
+I left Dongolah Agous at three, without having made any drawings of
+the place, not conceiving it worth the delay. At half past three we
+passed the large Island of Gadar; at four, Ullow; and, after passing
+numerous villages and islands, we stopped for the night at Gemin,
+a very small village.
+
+_April_ 7. We passed this morning the village of Handak, situated on
+the western side near the base of the river, and the small Island
+of Marouerti, which resembles rather the ancient name of Meroe,
+and must, I think, be a corruption of it. Names analogous to that
+of the ancient capital of Ethiopia seem to be given indiscriminately
+to villages on the banks and the islands.
+
+I saw this evening a number of slaves going to Cairo. The
+manner in which they were clogged, to prevent their escaping or
+rebelling against their owners, was disgraceful and revolting in
+the extreme. Each slave wore a clog made of a wooden pole, four
+feet long, with a collar, of a triangular form, large enough to
+admit his head: this triangular collar rests upon their shoulders,
+and is so contrived with straps that it is impossible for them to
+throw it off. When they walk, they are obliged to carry it before
+them; and at night their hands are tied to the centre of the pole,
+and their feet to the bottom of it. The owners of the slaves showed
+me, with the malicious grin of fiends, the effects of the cords,
+and the weight of the machine on the hands, necks, and legs of their
+victims. They confessed that they were often obliged to free their
+slaves entirely from this torture, in order to preserve their lives:
+I saw several in this situation, who seemed to have suffered severely
+from being previously loaded with this machine.
+
+I attempted to reason with one of the owners; and urged, that,
+as he was obliged to leave them free occasionally, and run the
+risk of their escaping, he might as well do so always, and that
+he would find it his interest, as many actually died from this
+treatment. I told him he ought, as a good Mahometan, to adopt a
+more humane method of securing them. He told me, that he could not
+liberate them all at once; for they had recently threatened that,
+if ever they had the opportunity, they would kill him, and dye a
+red _tarboush_ (Turkish cap) with his blood. The slaves understood
+this part of our discourse, and some laughed at this expression; but
+in general they appeared in a dreadful state of apathy and torpor,
+quite indifferent to the interest they saw me take in their situation.
+
+They were all negroes, with high cheek-bones, triangular faces, eyes
+sunk deep in the head, thick lips, complexion a cold bluish black
+colour, an expression heavy and unpleasing, and without a spark
+of talent in their countenances. They were continually demanding
+fire. After the extreme heat of the day, when the sun has set,
+there follows a degree of cold, which, though slight, and to me
+most agreeable, is no doubt felt severely by the slaves, who are
+quite naked, and accustomed to a hotter climate; and they feel it
+more sensitively, having been exposed the greater part of the day
+to the burning sun. We make very little progress, the wind being
+always strong against us.
+
+_April_ 8. We passed to-day the village of El Urub. Nothing can be
+more tedious and uninteresting than this voyage: we have scarcely
+seen any cultivated ground since we left the town of Meroueh,
+except the islands; the desert has almost entirely overspread the
+banks of the Nile; and where there was once, perhaps, a happy and
+numerous population, a people acquainted with the arts, rich cities
+and villages, now no other track is to be seen but that of the
+timid gazelle, which finds a secure pasture on the bushy acacias
+which on each side border the river. The glaring reddish yellow
+sands have supplanted the rich cultivation, and waves of sand have
+swallowed up the vestiges of the temples and palaces which adorned
+the cities. Where were the numerous towns whose names we read in the
+itineraries? Are there no monuments remaining of their magnificence,
+no traces of their habitations? The vessel buried in the fathomless
+deep leaves but fragments which are soon covered by the waters. Thus
+the Libyan and great Nubian deserts, ever active and incessant in
+their attacks, have concealed entirely from our view the little,
+perhaps, which the hand of time, and more destructive ravages of
+war and religious fanaticism, had spared.
+
+
+  “No trace remains where once thy glory grew:
+
+   The sapp’d foundations by thy force shall fall,
+
+   And, whelm’d beneath thy waves, drop the huge wall:
+
+   Vast drifts of sand shall change the former shore—
+
+   The ruin vanish’d, and the name no more.”—POPE’s _Iliad_, book vii.
+
+
+The rocks are of sandstone. There are some in the centre of the river,
+whose channel, at this season, when the water is low, the barks
+dare not navigate during the night, which they would otherwise do,
+as there is then seldom any wind.
+
+Our cabin being only three feet high, we are obliged to lie on our
+beds day and night. I find this much more fatiguing than travelling
+on the camels. For myself, I should never have chosen this mode
+of conveyance; but my artist was in such a bad state of health,
+that he declared himself unequal to the exposure to the heat and
+the slow fatiguing pace of the caravan.
+
+_April_ 9. Wind still contrary: no variety in the scenery. I will
+not fatigue the reader with a mere list of names of villages, but
+must refer him to my map, in which they are all marked down.
+
+_April_ 10. There was no wind this morning; and we should have
+arrived at Dongolah at nine, A.M., had we not received a visit from
+a French physician in the employ of the Pasha. To meet a European,
+in this country, is an occurrence so agreeable, that we could not
+resist spending half the day together.
+
+Some of the islands in this district are very rich. I remarked, on
+one, numerous sugar-canes; and, in several, a mode of irrigating the
+land unknown in Egypt, and displaying more skill than is usual in the
+Pasha’s dominions. The ground near the Persian wheels is very often
+uneven, and cannot be levelled without considerable labour: they,
+therefore, form aqueducts with stakes or pieces of wood from one to
+three feet high, as may be requisite, and place on them the conduit,
+which is made of earth. These aqueducts are extremely picturesque,
+as well as ingenious, being generally neatly constructed, and covered
+with grass. All the watercourses in this country are attended to with
+great care. The peasants are invariably well clothed, and appear
+in easy circumstances. I observe them occasionally assembled in an
+evening, under the palm trees, smoking, and sometimes drinking a
+cup of Abyssinian coffee, their greatest luxury.
+
+_April_ 11. The wind being still contrary, and my patience exhausted,
+I sent for camels from Dongolah, five miles distant. The governor
+there, understanding that we were travellers, immediately sent us
+some of his own dromedaries.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR. — EXTENT OF HIS GOVERNMENT. — INDIGO. —
+WATER WHEELS. — POPULATION. — TAXES. — PRICES OF PRODUCE. —
+OASIS OF DONGOLAH, CALLED EL GAB. — ROUTE TO KORDOFAN. —
+INFORMATION ABOUT THAT COUNTRY. — BANEFUL CLIMATE. — CAPTAIN
+GORDON. — ARAB TRIBES OF KORDOFAN. — GENERAL APPEARANCE OF
+NEW DONGOLAH. — THE BAZAAR. — CURIOUS USE OF OINTMENT. —
+MERCHANDISE. — THE BAZAAR. — SLAVE MARKET. — COMMERCE CARRIED
+ON BY BARTER. — CURIOUS MANNER OF EFFECTING SALES. — DONGOLAH
+GOLDSMITH. — AUCTIONEERS. — VARIOUS ARAB TRIBES. — COSTUMES.
+— WOMEN, THE ELEGANCE OF THEIR ATTIRE. — BREAKING OF THE
+_RAT_. — GIRAFFES. — HASSANYEH TRIBE. — ELEPHANTS.
+
+
+_El Ourde, or New Dongolah.—April_ 10-14. We arrived here at
+two o’clock, and immediately paid a visit to Ibrahim Effendi,
+the governor of this province. He is a man about fifty-five years of
+age, and of the most unprepossessing appearance: he stoops to such a
+degree, that his head nearly touches his knees. I am told that he has
+no talent, but has attained this important situation entirely through
+the intrigues of the harem. He has, however, the character of great
+probity—a rare virtue among Turks; and is disliked by the Copts,
+because he examines rigidly their accounts, and will not allow them
+to trade and speculate with the public money. He is despised by the
+Turks, because he does nothing for them, and lives in no style. He
+has only one Mameluke to give him his pipe and wait upon him. I saw
+no other servants, but observed that a few soldiers were brought in
+to make a show and line the walls. On his divan there were only a
+few officers, apparently of inferior rank, and certainly of a very
+shabby appearance.
+
+M. Martin, a French apothecary, stationed here in the employ of the
+Pasha, very kindly pressed us to take up our abode in his house;
+and we were glad of the opportunity of enjoying, for a short time,
+a greater degree of comfort and cleanliness than we have been
+accustomed to for several months. He also assisted me in finding
+the persons best qualified to give me information.
+
+The Mahmoor, the day after our arrival, paid me a visit, was very
+communicative, and made himself agreeable, to the astonishment of
+Monsieur l’Apothicaire, and in the evening he sent me a roasted
+sheep; an attention, I understand, that he never was guilty of before
+to travellers or natives.
+
+This government extends from Abka[36] to Wady el Gamer, near
+Berber. There are 5000 sakkeas (water wheels), which generally
+irrigate from four to five feddans each when planted with grain. The
+indigo requires more water, for they calculate three quarters of a
+feddan of land to one wheel. They produce in this province, 10,000
+okres of indigo. Each water-wheel requires four oxen, and four or
+five men and children. The population may, therefore, be calculated
+at about eight for each water-wheel; which would make 40,000 for this
+district; and I conceive 10,000 may be added for those who cultivate
+the land by the hand, merchants, servants, &c. Some of the islands
+have been planted this year, for the first time, with sugar-canes,
+which have proved to be excellent; but they planted them without
+reflecting that they had no machinery ready to manufacture sugar with,
+and no person who understood the business. As the sugarcane requires
+a water-wheel for each feddan, they do not intend to plant them
+again. The governor obliged the peasants and soldiers to purchase
+the sugar-canes at a certain price, in order that the revenue might
+not suffer from the experiment.
+
+There are some portions of the banks of the river, and particularly
+the islands, which are cultivated after the inundation, and irrigated,
+when necessary, by raising the water from the river with buckets
+and other simple processes. Land irrigated in this manner is taxed
+according to the quantity and description of produce. Each water-wheel
+pays to the government 20 dollars, 15 in money and 5 in produce; a
+heavy tax, when we consider that formerly, when under their native
+meleks, they only paid 1 dollar, a sheep, and two pieces of linen,
+value 6 piastres each; in all, little more than a tenth of the
+present tax.
+
+The revenue of this government, after paying the various expenses,
+salaries, and the troops of the garrison, is greatly absorbed by their
+having to furnish camels to convey the different species of produce,
+such as indigo and grain, and slaves, which are sent to Cairo. In
+particular, 2500 camels are loaded with gum, brought annually from
+Kordofan. It is purchased from the peasants there at the rate of
+5 dollars the camel-load, which consists of three cantars of 150
+rotles[37] each; and the government sell it in Cairo for 20 dollars
+the cantar; that is, 60 the load: deduct about 10 dollars for the
+expense of the journey, and also 5 for the purchase-money, there
+remain 45 dollars clear profit for the Pasha, which, on 2500 loads,
+is 112,500 dollars net. Elephants’ teeth are also purchased in
+Kordofan for 16 dollars the cantar, and sold in Cairo for 80 dollars,
+and often more.
+
+The government, as I have before stated, take part of the taxes in
+grain: the following is a list of the prices paid by them, compared
+to the current prices in the bazaar or market:—
+
+           Government Prices.      Prices in the Bazaar.
+
+              _s._    _d._            _s._     _d._
+
+  Barley       3       9               3        0
+
+  Dourah       3       9               3        0
+
+  Wheat        4       3               4        6
+
+  Maize        3       9               3        0
+
+The price of mutton (fat, for cooking) in the bazaar, is 1_d._
+per rotle.
+
+                                          _s._   _d._        _s._   _d._
+
+  The price of a sheep                     1      6     to    2      0
+
+  The price of meat, per lb.               0      0¾    or    0      1
+
+  The linen cloths of the country,
+  particularly of the district of
+  Mahas, 24 piques in length, but
+  very narrow                              2      0
+
+  Cotton, best kind (Belloe) per lb.       0      3
+
+The dourah is sown before the rising of the Nile, and is cut in
+four months; and afterwards they have another crop, but it is not so
+good. The barley is sown after the Nile has retired, and is reaped
+four or five months afterwards; wheat the same. The indigo plants
+remain in the ground three years, and are cut three times each year,
+with an interval of two months between each cutting. After dourah,
+maize is planted, and after maize other kinds of grain.
+
+Seven hours’ journey west of this place, amid the desert, is an
+oasis called El Gab (the Wood), consisting of a forest of doums,
+acacias, and some few date trees. It contains several springs, and
+the Arabs send their camels thither in the summer to pasture on the
+trees. This oasis has no antiquities nor traces of having ever been
+inhabited; it extends, parallel with the Nile, nearly as far as Debba,
+but, like all oases, is divided occasionally by the desert.
+
+The caravans from this place to Kordofan, and on to Darfour,
+enter the desert at Debba el Dolib, a village I mentioned in
+descending the river from Meroueh. From Debba to Shambrick, five
+days: the water there not always good; but on the road to Harazi,
+five days, and thence to the capital, on digging to the depth of
+two or three feet, and sometimes less, they never fail of finding
+good water. Zaagsouee, eleventh day; Kadjama, twelfth day; the
+residence of a katshef of Kordofan, Gouniah, thirteenth day; Mumat,
+fourteenth day; Sherian-Abousieh, fifteenth day; Borah, sixteenth day;
+Kordofan, or the capital, Ibazig, on the seventh day from Harazi,
+and the seventeenth from the Nile, or Debba el Dolib.
+
+I made repeated enquiries of both the Arabs and Turks, but did not
+hear of there being any antiquities there. This journey would be
+interesting for a naturalist, as they tell me that during the rainy
+season there is a very great variety of birds: but it is then very
+unhealthy. Ague and intermittent fevers are very prevalent. A French
+physician, who had been stationed there some time, informed me that
+during the rainy season he often took quinine in small quantities,
+and conceived that, by that means, he had preserved himself from a
+complaint which is so dangerous to Europeans.
+
+The enterprising but unfortunate Captain Gordon fell a victim to
+this climate.[38] I was told that he had visited several of the
+mountain regions of Kordofan, and, to use the expression of the
+Arabs, “had written down all the country.” He had commenced his
+journey with the intention of endeavouring to discover the sources
+of the Bahr el Abiad; but there was not the most remote chance of
+his succeeding. Roustan Bey, who was then, and is now, the governor
+of that country, would have allowed him to accompany his troops
+in hunting for slaves in the neighbourhood of the White River. He
+might have added something to our knowledge of the geography of the
+country on that river; but to discover its source was impossible.
+
+As a hint to future travellers, I should notice a mistake
+which he made, from not being acquainted with the customs of the
+country. Instead of making a handsome present to Roustan Bey of a
+gold watch, or fire-arms, which he should have done, considering
+the essential and extensive services he required, he gave him some
+gilt ornaments for his wives: but the Turks having a great contempt
+for any article that is not genuine, the Bey was naturally vexed
+at a present which appeared to him so very insignificant. Captain
+Gordon was not to blame, I understand, but his dragoman, for
+this inauspicious commencement of their expedition. The Arabs and
+Turks say that Captain Gordon died on account of having taken too
+much physic. In a country where so much is left to nature, and the
+medical art so little known, it is not surprising that his frequent
+applications to his medicine chest, to relieve a severe attack of
+intermittent fever, should have given rise to this report.
+
+Before leaving Dongolah, this unfortunate traveller left a large
+sum of money with a Turkish aga in whose house he lodged. When his
+servant, after his death, returned to Dongolah, he called upon the
+aga, and demanded his master’s property. The Turk, a notorious
+scoundrel, proposed to the servant to divide the money and property,
+and thus induced him to sign a certificate that his master had
+left only a few old clothes, and no money. As soon as the Turk had
+received this document, he refused to give any portion of what he
+had promised to the servant; who, in revenge, accused him before the
+government. I was not able to learn with certainty whether the money,
+and, what was of far more consequence, his papers, ever reached his
+friends. I purchased at Dongolah a piece of Newman’s Indian ink,
+which formerly belonged to him.
+
+I obtained from authentic sources the following information of the
+different Arab tribes in the kingdom of Kordofan and its vicinity:—
+
+_The Kababysh._ These Arabs are also found in the Bahiouda
+Desert. They possess camels and horses, and transport merchandise
+to Sennaar, Darfour, and to this place. Their chief is called
+Melek Selim.
+
+_The Buggara._ They possess flocks, and are occupied in hunting the
+elephant and the giraffe. Moussa is their chief.
+
+_The Benigerar_ have great abundance of horses and camels. They
+are generally engaged in transporting merchandise, sometimes to
+Darfour. They are often at war with the Kababysh.
+
+_The Hammer_ are chiefly cultivators of the ground. They possess also
+camels, and trade to Darfour, but do not come to this place. They are
+occupied also in tanning the skins of animals, and the government
+employs them in their hunting expeditions for slaves. Their arms
+resemble those of the other Arab tribes,—the oval spear, the lance,
+and sword. Hadji Merien is their chief or king, that is, melek.[39]
+
+_The Hadowyeh_ are cultivators, and join the expeditions of the
+government like the Hammer: they possess good dromedaries, and their
+melek is Uhmar, son of Dowel.
+
+_Messabouee._ Cultivators, and also assist the government in their
+slave expeditions: their melek is Uhmar, son of Hashim.
+
+_Danaglih._ Peasants of the country; cultivators.
+
+_Konjarah._ A tribe from Darfour: the masters of the country, under
+Magdum Selim, on the arrival of Roustan Bey, who killed their chief
+in battle[40]: their present chief is Sultan Tema.
+
+The province of Kordofan is exceedingly productive to the Pasha,
+and so also would Darfour be; and ere now that province would
+have been annexed to his kingdom, had not his ambitious views been
+turned towards Constantinople. A desert, I am told, of five days’
+journey separates the two provinces. He might extend his conquests
+thither without any apprehension of interference from the European
+powers. If the peace in Syria continues, and Mohammed Ali lives,
+that country, notwithstanding the warlike and powerful tribes who
+inhabit it, will soon form a part of the Pasha’s immense dominions;
+and Europeans will be enabled to explore it with greater advantage
+than our celebrated traveller Brown.
+
+Dongolah, or New Dongolah, as I should call it, has far more the
+appearance of a capital, than any place I have seen in Ethiopia. The
+citadel is fortified with walls and towers sufficient to defend
+it from the attacks of the Arabs, but not long against a European
+army. There are a few pieces of cannon brought here by Ismael Pasha,
+and there is generally a garrison of from 300 to 800 men, but most
+commonly from invalid regiments, that have suffered by the more
+unhealthy climates of Kordofan, Khartoun, and Sennaar, and are sent
+here as fit for no other service. They have built an hospital, but,
+although full of invalids, it is not yet finished,—the rooms are
+without roofs, and the beds of earth.
+
+There are several _cafés_ in the town, much better than I expected:
+one is very handsome; large, airy, and furnished with a divan
+covered with carpets. Here the lazy Turks kill the day: smoking,
+seeing the people pass by, playing draughts and other games, and
+drinking coffee and sherbet.
+
+The bazaar is superior to that of Assuan. The articles for sale
+consisted of different stuffs, silk, linen, and cotton; tarboushes
+(red Turkish caps), shoes, glassware, cures for ophthalmia (some
+of which seemed on examination to contain zinc); and a variety of
+pipes, from the handsome Persian anguilles and long Turkish pipes,
+with their amber mouthpieces, worth two or three pounds each, to
+the humble pipe of the peasant, value threepence: coarse thread and
+common needles; salt, from the mines of Selima, white and beautiful
+like crystal; a variety of cases for amulets, such as the women wear
+around their necks and the men on their arms (see the various plates
+of costumes); coffee from Mocha and Abyssinia; loaf sugar, white and
+brown; tamarinds from Sennaar and Kordofan; and a variety of arms,
+sabres, lances, daggers, and pistols; and in every shop on sale,
+spices and ginger, cloves, coriander seed, sandal wood, and a kind of
+kernels, seemingly of cherries, which are said to come from Italy;
+the natives extract oil from them. With the spices they make the
+ointment which both males and females, particularly the latter,
+use in this country to render their skin soft. I have seen them
+sometimes almost naked, and smeared with this substance as if they
+had been dipped in butter; and I have often seen the Arabs of the
+desert place two or three pounds of mutton fat on their heads, and
+walk on till the sun had melted it, when not only the head and face
+were covered with the liquid grease, but it flowed in streams down
+their backs. They consider their different ointments as particularly
+conducive to health, especially after fatigue. There is an old custom
+still kept up in the country. When an Arab or Turk arrives in a
+village after a fatiguing day’s journey, he generally gets some of
+the female slaves I have spoken of at Shendy, to rub him for half an
+hour all over with this ointment. It is very pleasant and refreshing,
+cooling and softening to the skin, which has been burnt and dried up
+by the scorching winds of the desert. I also observed in the bazaar
+common looking-glasses, and beads of glass and other materials.
+
+There were several separate markets for slaves, men, women, boys,
+girls, and eunuchs. Most of the latter are from Abyssinia. I am
+informed that they are generally the victims of the brutality
+of the Abyssinians of neighbouring states. Besides increasing
+the value of their slaves, they appear to wish to imitate the
+ancient Egyptians, whose cruelty in that respect is explained in
+the triumphant procession on the walls of Medenet Abou, at Thebes. I
+saw one extremely beautiful Abyssinian girl on sale for 150 dollars,
+and for another not remarkable for her beauty 80 were demanded.
+
+I observed a custom, which is peculiarly characteristic of this
+district: the peasant girls, and also the men, bring from the country
+small quantities of grain and other produce, which they exchange for
+perfumes and spices for their hair and persons. This is conformable
+to our European idea of remote and uncivilised people, carrying on
+commerce simply by barter. They showed me in the bazaar some rudely
+shaped pieces of iron, said to be the money of Darfour.
+
+Some of the peasant girls buying spices in the bazaar were
+very pretty. I told one, that had she been a slave I would have
+purchased her. She laughed at my compliment, and replied, with great
+_naïveté_, that, upon her conscience, she was no slave.
+
+To make a purchase in the bazaar is sometimes rather difficult. I
+asked one of the merchants the price of a pipe, which I thought of
+buying. The man was confused, and could not make up his mind how
+much he ought to ask; but, seeking to enhance its value by praise,
+without replying to my question, he continued to extol its different
+excellencies. The other merchants pressed him to name a sum. The
+man was very much embarrassed, particularly as we had desired him to
+state the lowest at which he could sell it, otherwise we should not
+treat with him. It was only, however, when he saw me walking away,
+that he could resolve to ask only twice the value of the article. It
+is the custom here for the purchaser to bid, and not for the merchant
+to name the price. If the offer does not equal his expectations,
+he says, _Eftah Allah!_ “May God open your eyes!” or, “May
+God improve your judgment!”
+
+I went into a shop in which there was a shabbily dressed
+common-looking fellow squatted on the ground, with a few miserably
+rude tools before him, on a board. I conceived he might be a joiner,
+and must confess I was rather surprised at finding that he was the
+first goldsmith in Dongolah. They cannot work European gold. They
+generally employ the gold of Sennaar, which is of a superior quality,
+being pliable and malleable, like lead. This man told me that my
+watch was not gold, for he had never seen gold so dark-coloured.
+
+They have a custom here, as well as at Cairo, of selling merchandise,
+such as clothes, &c. by auction in the street. The auctioneer walks
+about, calling aloud the price. One makes an offer, and the man walks
+on; another meets him, who likes the article, and bids higher. The
+owner promotes the sale by giving occasionally a bidding himself.
+
+The crowds in this bazaar, as compared with the deserted streets of
+Berber, Shendy, and Metammah, and the variety of costumes worn by
+Turks and Caireens, Fellaheen (or, as they are more properly called
+here, Dongoloue), Bishareen, Ababde, Shageea, and other tribes,
+formed a scene gay, and not unpleasing, particularly after the
+solitudes of the desert.
+
+The costumes of Dongolah are somewhat different, but, perhaps,
+less remarkable, than any I have seen in Ethiopia. The women, when
+they are married and have had children, have their hair dressed on
+each side of their face, in three rows of ringlets, or tresses, the
+lowest often reaching to their shoulder. The other females are only
+permitted to wear two rows. The head-dress of the women of Shendy is
+rather different: they wear their hair loosely projecting from each
+side and behind, while on the top of the head it is quite flat. But
+what is most extraordinary in the costumes of this country is the
+inimitable grace and elegance with which their robes are adjusted,
+often almost equalling the drapery of the ancients. Were it possible
+to collect correct drawings of their almost innumerable methods of
+folding their _melayah_, the large long piece of linen cloth which
+forms their chief, and often only, covering, I question if such
+drawings would be believed any thing else than copies of the Greek
+and Roman draperies, or studies of ancient costume. A sculptor would
+assuredly call them walking statues.
+
+The young girls, before being married or having arrived at the age
+of discretion, only wear the rat, the Nubian covering, composed, as
+already mentioned, of thin thongs of the hide of the hippopotamus,
+which reaches from the waist almost to the knee, and is coquettishly
+ornamented with masses of silver, and a variety of shells and
+beads. It is considered sufficiently modest in this country, where
+no consequence is attached to the exposure of the body and limbs;
+otherwise, so far as it extends, it forms an elegant and impenetrable
+skreen. (See girl in Plate XXXVII.) The changing of this costume,
+or breaking of their rat, upon their marriage, is rather a curious
+ceremony, which I will presently describe; but when the rat is torn
+merely on account of the advanced age of the girl, and not at her
+marriage, only a sheep is killed, and she and her relations receive
+the congratulations of their hungry friends.
+
+Skins of animals are often exposed for sale in the bazaar, but they
+are generally too ill prepared to be of any use for stuffing, often
+wanting the most essential parts, such as the feet, and even the
+head. Had I been half an hour earlier there, on the day of my arrival,
+I could have bought for four shillings the skin of a giraffe. This
+animal, only so recently known in Europe, is found in great numbers
+on the road from Debba to Kordofan, between Sabrian and Gibel el
+Arazi, and behind Kordofan, on the Bahr el Abiad, the territory
+of the Buggara tribe. The government do not encourage the Arabs
+to seek for them. On the contrary, without an express permission
+from the Pasha, no Arab, Turk, or traveller is allowed to purchase
+one. When the peasants catch them for the government, they receive
+a remuneration of twenty-five dollars, which is considered very
+handsome. Had I been provided with a permission from the Pasha,
+I was told that I should have had little difficulty in procuring
+one at that price. At the time of the _haref_ (the rainy season),
+the Hassanyeh retire with their herds and camels into the mountains
+and valleys, which afford ample pasture for their cattle for three
+or four months. They protect themselves from the little rain that
+falls with _shambries_ (tents made of goat skins). During this season
+the chase also contributes to their support. When there is no rain,
+which is very often the case, the sun, being then almost vertical,
+produces a heat so excessive that the gazelles, giraffes, ostriches,
+&c. are said to become much less capable of escaping pursuit than
+during winter. The Hassanyeh then on their swift horses catch them
+without much difficulty.
+
+This tribe (Hassanyeh) is very extensive, and trade to Kordofan;
+and great numbers of them in this neighbourhood convey merchandise
+to Assuan. They are very fine-looking fellows, more grave in
+their manners than even the Arabs in general. They wear their hair
+plaited, and tight behind; differing, in this respect, from any other
+tribe. (See Plate XXXIX., in which they are represented straining the
+common bouza of the country through a straw funnel.) I have travelled
+with several of them, and liked them exceedingly. In the same tracts
+with the giraffe is found also the antelope, or, as it is called, the
+cow of the desert (_buggera el Atmoor_), with straight and twisted
+horns (see Plate XXXVII.); also gazelles in abundance. The elephant
+is found in Abyssinia, and, it is said, also above Sennaar, in the
+province of Fazoql, and in that of the Buggara, behind Kordofan. There
+are a great many of the gemet cat in this neighbourhood. They have
+small thin heads, long backs of a grey colour, with brown spots, and
+a black streak along the centre. Some of them are eighteen inches
+long, besides the tail, which measures twelve inches. The colour
+of the latter is alternately grey and black. Mr. M. had several in
+cages: when set at liberty in a room, they seemed to be very timid,
+and one of them was rather savage. Their velocity is extraordinary.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 39.
+
+THE HASSANYEH TRIBE.
+
+_On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+MARRIAGE AND OTHER CEREMONIES OF DONGOLAH. — CHARACTER OF THE
+PEOPLE, THEIR HABITATIONS. — WOMEN, THEIR AMUSEMENTS. — ARAB
+TALE. — GOVERNMENT OF DONGOLAH.
+
+
+An account of the ceremonies of marriage, &c. in this part of
+the interior of Africa may not be uninteresting to the reader,
+as differing much from those we are accustomed to, and elucidating
+the manners of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia. Though I travel
+for the purpose of studying the remains of the ancient grandeur of
+these realms, I omit no opportunity of observing the customs of the
+present inhabitants, their condition and government.
+
+The ceremonies of marriage vary in a slight degree in almost every
+district of the valley of the Nile; but in no place are they more
+curious than in the province of Dongolah. The nuptial ceremony
+of every country appears singular in another. The Arab would be
+astonished at the solemnity of our weddings, particularly at the
+weeping which sometimes takes place, although, perhaps, he would
+have no objection to the plum-cake; and, if impatient to possess
+his treasure, would not dislike the marriage _sans façon_ by the
+blacksmith at Gretna Green. Our customs would appear as strange
+to him as even the following description of an Arab wedding to a
+British reader.
+
+As soon as a Dongaloue has collected a small sum, sufficient,
+according to his condition, to defray the expenses of the fête, he
+looks out for a girl suited to his taste. Having fixed his choice,
+he sends two persons to make his proposals to her father, or whatever
+relation has charge of her. When he is accepted, and the friends
+on both sides agree to the wedding, he sends his intended bride a
+variety of presents; the _gourbab_, or drapery of linen which they
+wear around their waists, and also other pieces of wearing apparel,
+shawls, and linen; and, besides these gifts, he sends her also money,
+wood, and, according to his fortune, from four to forty ardebs of
+grain. Accompanied by his friends, he then goes to the house of
+the bride; her father meets him at the door, and in the presence
+of the cadi, and of the relations and friends of both parties, and
+of the fakeers of the village (men who can read and write a little,
+and have the reputation of being pious Mahometans), the father gives
+away his daughter, and the bridegroom receives the gift. “I give
+you my daughter for wife:”—“I take your daughter for wife,”
+is all that passes; the cadi and other witnesses of the contract then
+invoke God and the Prophet to bless their union. In the mean time the
+girls and matrons of the village are inside the house with the bride.
+
+The cadi having witnessed the agreement and taken his departure,
+the father of the girl invites the bridegroom into the house. A
+curious scene then commences, which baffles description: the female
+friends of the bride, having hid her in some secret room, as soon as
+the bridegroom enters, rush upon him, and begin pulling him about,
+and pinching him, often not in the gentlest manner. The husband hunts
+in every direction for his bride; but her friends, first drawing him
+on one side, and then on the other, and pinching him unmercifully,
+fully occupy his attention, and prevent his making the discovery. At
+length, worn out with fatigue, and having supported his character by
+fighting as good a battle as he was able, he gives them a handsome
+present of money to inform him where she is. Then commences another
+ceremony—the tearing of the rat, or cincture, as I have already
+mentioned. The rat, on this occasion only, is protected and covered
+with folds of linen, tied and knotted in the most complicated
+manner. The bridegroom endeavours to undo this Gordian knot, amidst
+the laughter of the bride and her friends: but the latter are not
+merely idle spectators; they commence again pulling him about, and
+pinching him most maliciously. The bride also does not omit the
+opportunity of giving him slily an affectionate pinch or two. At
+last, he is obliged to purchase again the assistance of the girls;
+and they generally make him pay dear. If his first present is not
+sufficiently liberal, they continue tormenting him until he has
+satisfied their expectations.
+
+The women having taken off the covering that protected it, the
+bridegroom seizes the rat, and tears it in pieces; the bride, on this
+occasion only, has a piece of linen underneath; yet it sometimes
+happens that the wicked bridegroom succeeds also in snatching away
+this under-covering, and turns the laugh against his bride; this,
+however, is considered here little more than a harmless jest.
+
+For seven days they continue feasting and dancing. The bride generally
+keeps her face covered during this time, but the bridegroom is
+permitted to laugh and practise with her what we should call rather
+rough jokes, as their chief amusement seems to be pinching. On the
+seventh evening, the bridegroom conducts his bride to his house,
+and another curious custom is practised. The male friends of the
+husband and the female friends of the bride assemble around a large
+board, on which a great quantity of grain or dates is placed. When
+the signal is given, the parties commence a scramble, each striving
+most earnestly to collect the largest quantity. If the women succeed,
+the wife is to rule her husband; if the contrary, the husband is to
+be master of his own house. If this ceremony took place in Europe,
+the men, through indolence and politeness, and being engrossed
+in various pursuits, not to say deference for the good sense and
+peculiar talents of the fair sex in managing domestic affairs,
+might gladly cede the greater quantity to the women; but here it is
+considered too great a disgrace for a man to relinquish any portion
+of his authority to his wife, to admit of such courtesy.
+
+When they name their children, there is very little ceremony: four
+days after the birth the name is given, and a sheep is killed for
+the fête.
+
+The ceremony of the circumcision of the male is also curious: it
+takes place when the child is about four or six years of age. All
+the friends and relations of the family assemble at the house
+of the father, bringing with them presents according to their
+means,—horses, oxen, cows, corn, money, &c. After partaking of
+some refreshment, they walk in procession to the river, and all
+the males bathe together. On their return to the house, the child
+is placed on an angoureeb, and the ceremony performed. A bunch of
+flowers is then placed in his hand, with scents, and the relations
+and friends pass the one after the other, kiss and smell the bouquet,
+and give the child as liberal a present as they can afford. There
+is, generally, so great a mixture of persons on these occasions,
+that these gifts vary from upwards of two pounds to one penny:
+all, however, are expected to give as much as they can afford. In
+Egypt they often postpone this ceremony until the child is twelve
+or fourteen years of age; but in this country the family gain so
+large a sum by it, that they seldom if ever delay it so long. For
+the girls there is no fête: at most they merely kill a sheep. This
+ancient ceremony probably had its origin in this country. Herodotus,
+after mentioning that the Phœnicians and Syrians derived the custom
+from the Egyptians, seems to doubt whether the Egyptians had it from
+the Ethiopians, or the Ethiopians from the Egyptians.
+
+I described a funeral at Gibel el Birkel in Dar Shageea. Here, also,
+they sometimes dance on these occasions, but not often. It is an old
+custom, and not considered strictly Mahometan. Both sexes are buried
+on the very same day that they die, generally a few hours afterwards.
+
+The contests which took place between the Arabs of the mountains and
+the Berberene peasants, cultivators of the land, are suppressed by the
+authority of the Turkish rulers; but their contempt for each other is
+often displayed. When an Arab of the desert is oppressed by a soldier,
+his first exclamation is, “Do you take me for a Berberene?” The
+latter, in return, pride themselves on not being obliged to lead
+the vagrant lives of the wandering Arabs. The peasants of Dongolah
+are extremely honest: no bar nor lock is necessary, to secure the
+door against the thief; nor is falsehood known among them. They
+are always hospitable to the extent of their means. I never saw a
+peasant sit down to eat, without inviting all that were near him to
+take a share; and the poor and fatigued traveller is never refused
+a night’s lodging and an evening meal.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 36.
+
+_On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+EXTERIOR OF A DONGOLAH COTTAGE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The inhabitants of Upper Nubia have been so many years accustomed
+to the Turks, that white men are now no longer looked upon with
+horror. Burckhardt tells an amusing tale, that, in the bazaar
+at Shendy, he raised his turban, and showed his white shorn head
+to a peasant girl, who, I suppose, had never seen flesh so white
+before, and, terrified at the sight, exclaimed, “Um del Allah min
+Shatan!”—“May God preserve me from the Devil.” This is one
+of their favourite expressions; but the white man now incurs no risk
+of having it so peculiarly applied to himself.
+
+Most of the houses of the peasants are of mud, that is, the alluvial
+soil of the Nile, mixed with cow and horse manure; the latter is
+much used: straw is rarely added. Many of the houses in the country,
+built of dourah straw, are extremely picturesque. The two views
+(Plates XXXVI. and XXXVII.), taken from nature, will give the reader
+a good idea of their construction, and also their inhabitants. The
+lordly Turk is smoking on the only angoureeb in the house; one man
+is grinding on a stone, for his lazy wife, whose business it is
+considered to be, merely as much dourah as will suffice for their
+mid-day and evening meal; and others are occupied in making and
+drinking their favourite beverage the bouza. I have already noticed
+the graceful style of the costumes both of the men and women; the
+latter are often handsome, having fine forms and a good expression.
+
+The wives are generally virtuous and gay: the dance is their favourite
+amusement, but not so much indulged in here as in the province of
+Dar Shageea. Their greatest delight is listening to the tales of
+the country, which, though simple, are full of imagery, and have,
+in the Arab language, a peculiar charm. A translation, I fear,
+cannot give a full idea of their beauty. The following is a tale I
+heard related by a little Ababde girl of thirteen; and even at an
+earlier age their memories are stored with similar stories, which,
+if any one had the disposition and the leisure to collect them,
+would form a considerable and not uninteresting supplement to the
+Thousand and One Nights.
+
+
+                            DONGOLAH TALE.
+
+
+“Amnah was the most lovely of the daughters of the Nile: fair as the
+sand of the desert, the gazelle was not more elegant in form, or more
+graceful in its movements. Her bust was beautiful, and her skin soft
+and pliant to the touch. Her face was as the light of day; her eyes
+were bright as the stars; her teeth whiter than the polished ivory;
+and a lovely and ever-constant smile illumined her countenance. Nature
+had done her utmost; Fortune equalled her rival in loading her with
+its favours. Her necklaces were numerous, and of the finest gold;
+and great was the weight of gold on her wrists and ankles. Her hair
+was beautifully plaited, and decorated with the largest and rarest
+pearls, and broad plates of gold above her forehead; and two large
+and most precious ornaments set with diamonds hung gracefully from
+her ears. Her rat (cincture) presented every variety of colour; the
+skin of the hippopotamus was never cut so fine: it was ornamented
+with the most curious shells and pieces of gold and silver attached
+coquettishly in the most becoming manner; and the border of the rat
+around her waist consisted of coral and pearls. From her waist to her
+knees, only, this graceful ornament skreened her form; and there was
+not one of the youths of the village and of the neighbourhood, who
+had ever seen Amnah, who did not sigh and regret bitterly his being
+unworthy that her rat should be broken for him. ‘The houries of the
+paradise of the prophet cannot,’ said they, ‘be more enchanting,
+endowed with such ravishing beauty, or such extraordinary talents.’
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 37.
+
+_On stone by J. Hamerton from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+INTERIOR OF A DONGOLAH COTTAGE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+“She was, at the same time, the gayest of the gay, and also
+acquainted with all the learning of her tribe. Her father and other
+travellers had related to her the history and customs of other
+countries, and from them she had learnt the traditions and wars of
+her native land. Every passage of the Koran was familiar to her;
+and it was whispered she had devoted herself secretly to the study
+of astrology (el ahlem el felek), and the more hidden sciences
+of the Arabians. At midnight she was often seen alone, gazing at
+the heavens; and for this reason the nomage she received for her
+beauty and understanding was blended with a certain feeling almost
+approaching to fear. Too beautiful, pure, and learned to be of this
+world, she was considered by the ignorant peasants more as an angel
+of light (melik e’ nour), than a frail inhabitant of earth.
+
+“At the death of her father, after she had accompanied his remains
+to the grave, and for some time had lamented his loss, Amnah, weary
+of the constraint to which her sex subjected her, and anxious to
+visit those scenes which she had so often heard described, left her
+native village. The morning after her departure, at the entrance of
+a small town, she observed an old man covered with vermin. ‘My
+father,’ said she, ‘let me free you from those tormentors;’
+and she began killing the animals, until suddenly the man fell
+dead at her feet. ‘It is the will of God!’ she exclaimed, and
+immediately dressed herself in his clothes, and pursued her journey.
+
+“Thus disguised, and safe by the power of magic from detection,
+she procured a dromedary swift as the wind, and visited the different
+regions she had heard described; sometimes joining one caravan,
+and sometimes another. The immense treasures on her person were
+little diminished by this expense; when, one day, the people of
+the caravan with which she travelled perceived a cloud of sand
+approaching them, and shortly afterwards distinguished a troop of
+horsemen at full gallop. Amnah and her companions urged on their
+camels, but, finally, finding flight useless, they endeavoured to
+hide themselves in a large well, which the heat of the summer had
+dried up. But the horsemen had seen them enter, and, delighted to
+have their prey secured, they offered to the young leader of their
+band his choice, whether he would have for his portion the first or
+the last of the persons whom they should find in the well.
+
+“Their chief, named Mustapha, was only twenty-one years of age,
+but renowned for his skill in the use of the matchlock, the sabre,
+and the lance. His shield, of the hide of the hippopotamus, was almost
+useless; for with his sabre he parried the blows of his enemies;
+with a slanting cut of his Damascus blade, which his father, who
+had travelled far towards the north, had brought him, he separated
+the limbs of his foes, and even severed the iron chain. At the shake
+of his lance all fled before him; and never was a matchlock in more
+skilful hands. In form, he was the perfection of manly beauty and
+vigour, and his mind was richly endowed, displaying a judgment beyond
+his years, and greater presence of mind in danger than the oldest
+warrior. The Koran he knew by heart, and his chief delight was in
+listening to the traditions of his country. Young and generous,
+he could never repress his indignation at the recital of the evil
+deeds of the tyrants who had reigned over the land: his eyes kindled
+with enthusiasm, and his cheeks glowed with pleasure and emulation
+when they told him of the valorous exploits of his ancestors, their
+generosity and hospitality. Like the rest of his race, much of his
+time was spent in excursions against the tribes with whom they were
+at war.
+
+“Perceiving where the caravan had taken refuge, Mustapha, having
+the first choice allowed to him, said, ‘I will take for my share
+the captive at the extremity of the well: he who has most to lose
+will have fled the farthest.’ His companions cast lots for their
+portions. Some had young women, others young active male slaves;
+all with some treasure. None were apparently so unfortunate as
+Mustapha, who found at the extremity of the well Amnah disguised as
+an old man, miserably clad, the picture of poverty. His companions,
+with the freedom of friends, rallied him on the wisdom of his choice,
+in the following lines, which one of them sang, and the others joined
+in chorus[41]:—
+
+
+  ‘Our chief, what wisdom he has shown!
+
+   God has blessed him with great judgment.
+
+   O, what a prize he has gained!
+
+    So young and so active a slave;
+
+    So splendid and costly his dress;
+
+    So sweet the scent of his body!
+
+  Our chief,’ &c.
+
+
+    ‘He will lead your horse to the field;
+
+     Give you your lances in battle,
+
+     And ward off the treacherous blow.
+
+   Our chief, what wisdom he has shown!
+
+   God has blessed him with great judgment.
+
+   O, what a prize he has gained!’
+
+
+“Mustapha bore good-naturedly the jests of his companions, and,
+not wishing to appear to despise the gift of Providence, although
+apparently useless, he led to his castle, as prisoner, the disguised
+Amnah. On his arrival, he asked her what she could do: ‘Can you cut
+wood?’ said he. ‘No,’ replied Amnah, ‘I have no strength:
+see you not that my arm is shrivelled up with age?’ ‘Can you
+carry it?’ said the chief. ‘No,’ she said, ‘my back is already
+double; I should sink under the lightest weight.’ ‘Can you guard
+the cows, or sheep?’ ‘Alas, no!’ replied Amnah, ‘they walk
+too fast and far for me.’ ‘Can you clean the horses?’ ‘I
+know not how.’ ‘Can you wash the sand for gold-dust?’ ‘My
+eyes are not good enough.’ ‘You are too dirty to make bread. Can
+you attend the geese?’ ‘I think I can,’ said Amnah; ‘at all
+events, I will try.’
+
+“Mustapha gave her for her companion a dumb youth, called
+Yabebe. After some days, when Yabebe was bathing in the river,
+Amnah took off her disguise, and showed herself, to the astonished
+peasant, as the perfection of beauty, covered with gold and precious
+stones, her hair ornamented with fine pearls and plates of gold,
+and her earrings studded with diamonds: laughing, she sang to him
+the following lines[42]:—
+
+
+  ‘Open your eyes, Yabebe:
+
+   See! I am young and lovely,
+
+   Covered with gold all over;
+
+   My necklace of gold,
+
+   My earrings of gold,
+
+   My bracelets of gold,
+
+   And gold round my arms,
+
+   And gold round my legs,
+
+   Gold on my forehead,
+
+   And gold on my rat;
+
+   Pearls and silver also.
+
+   Open your eyes, Yabebe;
+
+   See, I am young and lovely,
+
+   Covered with gold all over!’
+
+
+“The astonished peasant left the river, and Amnah, laughing,
+resumed her disguise. On his return to the castle, the dumb youth made
+signs to his chief that Amnah was a woman, beautiful, and covered
+with gold. They surveyed her, and, not finding out her disguise,
+beat the boy for his improbable falsehood.
+
+“The day afterwards they were at the same river: Amnah threw aside
+her disguise, put her ornaments together, and bathed herself, with the
+lad, in the shaded stream. The peasant went first out of the water,
+and unobservedly stole one of her rings. Amnah, having counted them,
+found one missing. Yabebe denied having taken it. Amnah beat him,
+but still he denied, and, escaping from her, fled to his master, and
+gave him the ring, describing, by signs, that she had similar ones on
+all her fingers, and was covered with gold and precious stones; that
+she was a woman, and that her beauty was, as the mid-day sun (jemeel
+mittel e’ shamps fel dohr), too powerful to gaze at. Mustapha sent
+for Amnah, and, flying suddenly upon her, tore open the rags that
+covered her, but fell senseless at the sight of such exquisite beauty.
+
+“Great was the fête of the marriage, countless the camels and sheep
+that were killed. The music was incessant for seven days and seven
+nights, and they danced until they could dance no more. None, for
+many years, saw the brilliancy of her face, being ever in her harem,
+or closely veiled, when, occasionally, she appeared in public. The
+fame of her beauty, knowledge, and goodness was spread through all
+lands; the learned were anxious to converse with her; but none,
+except her husband, had seen her face.
+
+“One day her dearest son fell from a tree that he was climbing. His
+cries reached the ears of his anxious mother. Without a veil,
+without a garment, she rushed forth. The crowd, on seeing her,
+fell as dead. They knew not if the effect was produced by magic,
+or by the power of her exquisite beauty. At her touch her son was
+restored; and, having clothed herself with a gourbab, and thrown a
+veil over her head, the crowd recovered; but the tree withered from
+that day: the branches decayed fast; the leaves fell on the ground,
+and it no longer afforded shade.”
+
+
+                  THE ANCIENT GOVERNMENT OF DONGOLAH.
+
+
+The Meleks who formerly reigned here were of the Zebain, to which
+tribe belong almost all these rulers, including Melek Tumbol,
+Melek Nazr e’ Deen, and, in fact, all those from Sennaar to Wady
+Halfah, with the exception of the meleks of the Shageea tribe. The
+peasants under these chiefs were generally called by the names of
+their villages, as those of Dongolah, Dongoloue, Korti, Kortie: but,
+since the conquest of the Pasha, they are called Berberene; a name
+derived from Berber. Sheakh Muktah[43], the most intelligent Arab
+I have ever met with, being, like several in Upper Nubia, of the
+race of cadis,—son after son the chief cadi,—and, therefore,
+as pure a source of information as by tradition can be obtained,
+informed me that all these peasants are of the great tribe of Ababja
+from the Yemen, who came here in the reign of the fourth caliph
+after Mahomet, and, finding the country inhabited by infidels,
+drove some out, but forced the greater number to become Mussulmen;
+and that thus the former inhabitants became blended with the Arabs,
+and have not been distinguishable from them for ages. This is a
+curious and highly interesting tradition, proving, historically,
+almost, what might naturally be supposed: but I will say more on
+this subject in my Historical Appendix.
+
+The king of Sennaar held a doubtful and precarious rule over this
+country, receiving, according to the character of her monarchs,
+more or less tribute. The brave Shageea, alone, never bent the knee
+to this king. Two hundred years ago, the Sultan of Sennaar, as some
+call him, sent here a detachment of the tribe called the Funge,
+to which he belonged, to keep this country under his subjection. A
+great many of this race are still here, and they are considered
+to be inferior only to the Shageea in courage. They are supposed
+to be originally a colony of pagans, from the Bahr el Abiad, but
+they have nothing of the appearance of negroes. They ruled over the
+country 150 years. Ibrahim was the first, and he was succeeded by
+his son Musnet: their united reigns lasted eighty years; they sent
+considerable quantities of corn, oxen, and horses to Sennaar. The
+descendants of Musnet enjoyed less authority over their subjects,
+and the tribute to Sennaar was less regularly paid.
+
+In the year 1782 the Shageea overthrew the government of the Funge,
+and reigned peaceably in their stead, under three meleks,—Melek
+Shouish, Melek Omar, and Melek Zebair. The account Burckhardt gives of
+the treacherous conduct of the Mamelukes towards Mahmoud el Adalenab
+is very correct, as far as it goes. Hadji Mahmoud Sheakh received them
+with every mark of hospitality, ministered to all their wants, and was
+in return barbarously murdered at Maraka, this very place which is
+now called El Ourde, or The Camp. The following particulars of this
+circumstance, which I received from the best sources at Dongolah,
+may not be perhaps uninteresting to the reader. The Mamelukes arrived
+at Captot; and Sheakh Mahmoud, the chief of the Shageea, descended
+the river on the opposite side, with a numerous suite. He bade the
+Mamelukes welcome to his kingdom, and informed them that, if they
+wished for grain, he would furnish them gratis with any quantity they
+desired. He told them, also, that whatever they asked for, which he
+possessed, should be immediately sent to their camp; and if they
+were anxious, as they professed to be, to proceed up the country
+to Sennaar, he would supply them with provisions for the journey,
+but if they chose to remain at Captot Marabat, they were welcome.
+
+Four days afterwards, fifteen Mamelukes, or katshefs, as they are
+called, rode up and stopped at the door of the house of the grand
+Cadi Mahomet, having learnt that the Sheakh Mahmoud was with him. The
+sheakh having come out to salute them, they complained that they had
+no grain for their horses. The sheakh sent immediately for a bag
+for each horse, and ordered his people to fill a boat with grain,
+and convey it to the camp. The Mamelukes appeared still dissatisfied,
+and would not dismount whilst their horses were feeding. But their
+object was soon accomplished; for, as the sheakh approached the horse
+of one of them, to arrange the bag of corn it was eating, and said,
+“This is sufficient for your horses now, and I will send you as
+much as you desire,” the Mameluke, who had his carabine on one side
+of his saddle, without putting it to his shoulder, pointed it at
+the sheakh, pulled the trigger, and wounded him in the breast. The
+sheakh had scarcely drawn his sword a few inches from the scabbard,
+when another fired a blunderbuss at him, containing six balls,
+and he fell dead: another instantly separated his head from his
+body, and they afterwards mangled the corpse in a horrid manner
+with their sabres. The Cadi Mahomet, who was with him, was killed
+also by a blow of a sabre, and a black slave, who was in attendance,
+met a similar fate. Ten of the Shageea peasants, his servants, were
+present at this murder, but being unarmed they could not attempt to
+revenge the death of their chief, and therefore fled.
+
+The Mamelukes remained nine years masters of the country. Including
+the servants, they were about 600 in number. Many died here; the
+remainder, on the invasion of the Pasha, went to Shendy, whence
+they passed to Darfour, and thence to Bornou, Baghermi, Fezzan,
+and Tripoli. Adouram Bey, one of their leaders, was killed near the
+latter place; but their other leader, Marfou Bey, arrived in safety
+at Tripoli.
+
+I received the greater part of this account from the most authentic
+source, Sheakh Muktah, my informant, being the son of the Cadi
+Mahomet, who perished with the unfortunate Mahmoud. I ought to
+mention, as some palliation of this treacherous breach of hospitality,
+that it is said that the Berberene, weary of the Shageea, represented
+to the Mamelukes that Sheakh Mahmoud was devising some plan to
+destroy them, and therefore they may be said to have murdered him in
+self-defence. The object of the Mamelukes was to possess the country;
+and they were glad to avail themselves of this feeble excuse to
+break the laws of hospitality. Great praise is due to the few who
+accomplished the courageous and immense undertaking of crossing the
+centre of Africa. Such a journey would immortalise any European,
+but who would attempt it? At Darfour, Brown was detained a prisoner;
+and in the kingdom of Bornou or Fezzan Hornemann lost his life.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV.
+
+DEPARTURE FROM DONGOLAH. — NUMEROUS VILLAGES. — ISLAND OF
+ARGO. — RESIDENCE OF THE MELEK. — ARAB ACCOUNTANTS. — MELEK
+TUMBOL. — EXTENT OF HIS TERRITORY. — ARAB MANNERS COMPARED WITH
+EUROPEAN. — PHILOSOPHY OF THE ARABS. — THE MELEK’S DINNER. —
+MILITARY FORCE. — GARDEN. — VISIT TO THE ANTIQUITIES. — NUMEROUS
+VESTIGES OF ANCIENT TOWNS. — COLOSSAL STATUES. — REMAINS OF
+A LARGE TEMPLE. — NAME OF SABACO, THE CONQUEROR OF EGYPT. —
+ENTERTAINMENT OF AN ARAB SHEAKH. — RICHNESS OF THE ISLAND. —
+INDIGO. — ETHIOPIAN FORT. — CATARACT OF TOUMBOS. — MUTILATED
+COLOSSAL STATUE. — HOSPITALITY OF AN ARAB SHEAKH. — CHARACTER
+OF THE INHABITANTS. — HIPPOPOTAMUS. — ALARMING INTELLIGENCE. —
+REVOLT OF THE MAHAS. — DREADFUL CONSEQUENCES. — OUR PROVIDENTIAL
+ESCAPE. — ARAB STORIES OF TRAVELLERS.
+
+
+_April_ 16. We left Dongolah at three this afternoon, and, after
+three hours’ march, stopped at Mecaurat. Our route has been on
+the skirt of the desert, about half a mile from the river. I ought
+to acknowledge here the civilities which we received from M. Martin,
+a French apothicaire, in the employ of the Pasha, who showed us every
+attention in his power, allowing to us a part of his house. I must not
+forget, also, the kind attentions of his lady, an Abyssinian girl;
+pretty, and, at the same time, kind and affectionate. In return for
+a small mirror, which I gave her, she presented me with a Sennaar
+dagger, with an ebony handle, ornamented with silver. I keep it as
+a remembrance of “la bella Maria.”
+
+_April_ 17. An hour and a half after starting, we arrived at a
+government store-house: adjoining it were several cottages in
+ruins. After ten hours’ journey, we arrived at Haffeer. The
+following is a list of villages and islands between New Dongolah
+and the province of El Mahas:—
+
+  East.                 Islands.       West.
+
+                        Meegasseer     Kaptot
+
+                      { Gerada         Wady Sais
+                      {
+                      { Irse           Mecaurat
+                Argo  {
+               Island { Binne          Binni
+                      {
+  Affidab             { Merouerti      Quay
+                      {
+                      { Boulinarti     Muste
+                      {
+  Bourgos             { Attikarha      Haffeer
+                      {
+              Badeen. { Selinarti      Serog
+                      {
+                      { Magassar       Coban
+
+  Ashlian               Dakarti        Akkidi
+
+  Toumbos               Toumbos        Hannek.
+
+In the desert, at a distance, there are isolated hills, apparently
+of sandstone. On arriving, we visited the katshef of Haffeer, who
+received us very politely; the Mahmoor having spontaneously furnished
+me with different letters for the officers in his government: one
+for the melek of Argo and the katshef of Solib, &c.
+
+At my request, the katshef immediately ordered a boat to be prepared
+to convey us to the Island of Argo, which I was anxious to examine,
+not only on account of its great extent, and the antiquities it
+contained, but also because it is the only place in Upper Nubia under
+the government of its rightful owner, who alone, of all the meleks,
+possesses now a shadow of his ancient authority.
+
+_April_ 18. An hour’s sail, with a fair wind, brought us to the
+northern extremity of the island, where the village is situated in
+which the melek resides. I went to his castle, which is fortified with
+towers (see vignette), and protected on one side by a high wall. It is
+capable of making some defence against an insurrection of the natives.
+
+[Illustration: FORTIFIED HOUSE OF THE MELEK OF TUMBOL.]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The court we entered first was filled with slaves of the melek, who,
+I was informed, including male and female, amounted to upwards of 200,
+living either in or around his residence. I ascended from the court,
+by ill-constructed steps, similar to, but not quite so good as,
+those we have in England for granaries, and entered into a divan,
+or audience-room, which had quite the appearance, and was about the
+size, of a small English barn. Around a part of the room was a divan
+of earth, besides which there were four angoureebs, or cord divans,
+covered with carpets and cushions. The roof is of a slanting form,
+resembling that of a barn: the wooden logs of which it is made are
+blackened by the smoke of the fires. The beams consist each of two
+pieces of timber, which are supported and kept together, at their
+junction, by a rough pillar that stands in the centre of the room. To
+retain this in its place, and bind it to the beam, there are slips
+of wood, about one foot long, on each side of the pillar, under the
+beam; and on these the ancient Egyptian and Ethiopian ornament of
+the globe and feathers is carved. It is more rudely executed than
+the ancient, but still it is curious to find even a vestige of this
+ornament in a modern Ethiopian habitation. The doorway, and, indeed,
+the house altogether, is rudely constructed, but much stronger and
+better than Arab houses in general. The appearance of the outside
+is superior to that of the interior.
+
+The melek was out when we arrived. The brick divan already mentioned
+was partly occupied by his Arab accountants. In almost every village
+there is a little school, or rather, I should say, hut, which is
+used as such, and there are few of the peasants who have not made an
+attempt to learn to read and write; but, to use their own estimate,
+there is not one in a hundred whose knowledge extends beyond the
+alphabet, and putting together a few words. There are very few who
+can write, and none who know any thing of arithmetic. There are,
+however, some few of the sheakhs and others, who, from their learning,
+are called fakeers, and who are good Arabic scholars.
+
+When we entered, the melek’s cash-keepers were counting the money
+they were receiving from the peasants, and settling their accounts
+with the assistance of their strings of beads. In this room, also,
+besides the servants, there were several relations, brothers and
+nephews, of the melek’s, but not distinguishable by their dress
+from the other Arabs.
+
+After we had waited a short time, Melek Tumbol arrived, attended
+by about twenty of his people on horseback. The meleks whom I have
+hitherto seen have been generally fine tall men, having often an
+appearance really noble, and sometimes even majestic. The melek
+of Argo, on the contrary, is the most diminutive personage I have
+seen in the country: he has a good-tempered countenance, but, on
+close examination, something cunning in his expression, and nothing
+noble or imposing in his appearance. He was dressed simply as an Arab
+sheakh, except that his clothes were of a finer quality. He wore a
+long white fine cotton shirt, covering him from the neck to the feet,
+with very long and wide sleeves. He had a fine white Souakim shawl,
+with the usual red border hanging over his shoulder. His head-dress
+consisted of the red cloth cap (tarboush), with one of the silk
+Turkish handkerchiefs around it. He received us with the usual Arab
+politeness, read the Mahmoor’s letter, and entreated me to make
+his house my own. They presented us with coffee and pipes, in the
+Turkish fashion, and also with sherbet.
+
+The islands and villages on the eastern side of the Nile are under
+his dominion; having belonged, according to his own account, from
+time immemorial to his family. He has within his territory, 925
+water wheels, besides the land on the banks, which is cultivated
+after the inundation, and irrigated by hand labour.
+
+When Ismael Pasha invaded this country, Melek Tumbol immediately
+joined his party, and furnished him with provisions for the army. In
+consequence of his services on that occasion, the Pasha has allowed
+him to remain in the command of his territories, and given to him
+the rank and pay of a katshef; and I am told he expects to be made a
+mahmoor: he is rich in dromedaries, horses, and slaves, and allowed
+to have ten water wheels gratis. His subjects have heavier taxes to
+pay than formerly, but they may consider themselves fortunate in not
+having inflicted on them the presence of their rulers. Not one Turk
+or Arab soldier resides on his territory.
+
+Before the arrival of the melek, I was amused with the conversation
+of his servants. They spoke of his generosity as that of the greatest
+prince; stating, that, when a peasant gave him a sheep or a goat,
+he immediately presented in return a camel or a cow; and they added
+numerous similar instances of generosity, which with the Arabs is
+the noblest of virtues.
+
+We told the melek that we wished to see the antiquities on his
+island. He expressed his willingness to forward our views; but,
+as they were four hours distant, and it was then late, he hoped
+we would delay our visit until the morning. I was not sorry to be
+thus obliged to pass the night with this chief, as I am always glad
+of an opportunity of making myself better acquainted with the Arab
+customs. There is something so simple and sincere in their hospitality
+and manner of living, that, unintellectual as their society is, I
+must confess it is not without its charm. The luxurious divan; the
+tranquillising pipe; the grateful sherbet and delicious coffee; and
+the ease and quiet of Oriental society, are not trifling enjoyments in
+this clime, the scorching heat of which alone inclines man to repose.
+
+This is not a country for brilliant conversation and animated
+discussion: the former would be too great mental fatigue; and the
+warmth and excitement which the latter sometimes occasions, if not
+positively fatal, would certainly be extremely prejudicial to health,
+when the thermometer is above 100° in the shade. The Turks sit on
+their divans, and the Arabs on their angoureebs, and smoke the whole
+of the day. There is not the slightest obligation to converse; they
+sit and look at each other, and amuse themselves with their pipes,
+thoughts, castle-building, or business.
+
+Unless you keep them occupied with your enquiries, long pauses often
+occur in the conversation, as if they were reflecting on what you had
+said. One advantage of their society is, that the conversation flows
+naturally, for not even the host considers any effort necessary to
+keep it up. A man in this country is not considered stupid because
+he has the sense not to talk nonsense. When any of them tell a tale,
+or make an assertion, however improbable they may be, politeness,
+aversion to discussion, and perhaps indolence, generally prevent
+the others from disputing, or making any remarks upon it. When a
+council is held upon subjects of importance, and each person is asked
+for his opinion, greater harmony could not exist in any assembly:
+the highest in rank expresses his sentiments on the subject first,
+and the others almost invariably coincide with him.
+
+If a peasant had enough to support himself and family, even in
+a miserable manner, he would never labour to make himself more
+comfortable, but spend his time in the enjoyment of idleness, sleeping
+and smoking; he would, as the Berbers have been described as doing,
+sit for hours together in the shade, in the same position, without
+thought or care, with few ideas, and no wish to obtain more.
+
+Their philosophy, however, is remarkable: scarcely an hour of
+their lives is embittered with useless regrets. They are totally
+free from that anxiety for the morrow which agitates Europeans,
+and prevents the enjoyment of the present good, by their insatiable
+thirst after greater happiness. An Arab never distresses himself, as
+we too often do, with imaginary evils; he is the child of destiny,
+and never torments himself with the apprehension of a misfortune
+which, if it is really approaching, he believes it out of his
+power to prevent. Niebuhr gives an extraordinary instance of their
+philosophy.[44]
+
+This temperament is certainly more suitable to the climate, than the
+feverish anxiety, the angry passions, and restless ambition, which
+drive content from the abodes of so many Europeans. It is true, the
+Arabs are ignorant of the high intellectual enjoyments of literary and
+scientific pursuits, and of the pleasures, luxuries, and refinements
+of polished life; yet few, perhaps, will deny, that the man who is
+contented under any circumstances, who immediately becomes resigned to
+the caprices of fortune, who scarcely knows the meaning of the words
+worldly care, and is unagitated by any regret for past pleasures,
+or aching desire to obtain additional enjoyments, is possessed of
+a certain degree of practical, and not useless, philosophy.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 33.
+
+_On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+COLOSSAL STATUE IN THE ISLAND OF ARGO.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+At twelve o’clock dinner was served up; and as the style
+was different from any I had hitherto seen, and is that usual
+with the kings of this country, a short description may not be
+uninteresting. Two mats were laid on the floor, on which we were
+invited to seat ourselves: they were rather hard, and not excessively
+clean. The dinner was served in six large wooden bowls, and the
+bread, which is made into thin light cakes, in elegant baskets of
+coloured straw, manufactured in Sennaar. The dinner consisted of
+mutton, fowls, bamia (Hibiscus esculentus), and an excellent omelet
+in a smaller dish, prepared expressly for myself by the wives of the
+melek. Raw onions, which are considered particularly healthy in this
+climate, and which, being much milder than ours, are not unpalatable,
+particularly after they have been soaked in water, were presented to
+each of us. I dined on the omelet, the other dishes being liquid,
+and so exceedingly hot, that I burnt my fingers in attempting to
+taste them.
+
+The melek sat down with us, but did not eat much; he dines always
+in his harem. Of the latter I should say something _en passant_. I
+was informed elsewhere that he has had twenty-one, or, as some said,
+thirty-two, wives, all daughters or relations of other meleks. He
+is said now to have only three. He has no sons, but two beautiful
+daughters, unmarried, who, however, already take a share in the
+government. My servant saw one of them on an adjoining small island,
+where she resides with her slaves, and sends the produce to her
+father.
+
+After we had dined, and quitted the mats, my servants and his
+cash-keepers sat down; and what they left was cleared by the servants
+of the melek. After washing, we had sherbet, coffee, and pipes. The
+melek then went to sleep, according to the Arab and Turkish custom. In
+the afternoon we walked about the place, and saw the ruins of the
+ancient village. The inhabitants of this island suffered severely
+from the inroads of the Shageea, with whom they were almost always
+at war. The Melek of Argo was able to collect a force of 700 men,
+many of them armed with coats of mail, of German manufacture. I
+wished to see these; but he said they were all in the possession of
+the Pasha of Egypt. This may be true of some of them; but, no doubt,
+the greater part he had secreted, aware that the day may arrive when
+he may require them.
+
+The present melek has a small plantation of vines and pomegranates,
+which flourish luxuriantly in this country. He procured the plants
+a few years ago from Egypt; and seems to be prouder of his little
+garden than of any thing else he possesses. We had a supper in
+the same style as the dinner; and our beds were the angoureebs on
+which we had been sitting all the day, with a carpet for a mattress,
+and no other covering than our cloaks.
+
+_Island of Argo.—April_ 18. The melek, perceiving my impatience to
+visit the antiquities, provided my artist and myself with excellent
+horses, while my dragoman, and our guide, his nephew, accompanied us
+on dromedaries. We rode through the centre of the island, which is
+entirely uncultivated, but planted with acacias, like a shrubbery. The
+soil is capable of cultivation; and only a more extensive knowledge
+of hydraulics appears required to enable the people to irrigate and
+cultivate the whole of the island.
+
+We set out at five o’clock, and, after two hours’ ride (about
+ten miles), reached the site of a small town or village, with merely
+a few bricks remaining. An hour afterwards we arrived at a similar
+place, and in ten minutes more at a third. Twenty minutes from the
+latter, being three hours and a half from the time that we started, we
+arrived at the antiquities which were the object of our excursion. The
+distance, from the rate we travelled, may be about eighteen miles.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 34.
+
+_On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+COLOSSAL STATUE IN THE ISLAND OF ARGO.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The antiquities amply repaid us for the trouble of visiting
+them. They consist chiefly of two colossal statues of grey granite,
+now lying on the ground. The faces are Egyptian, but the sculpture is
+Ethiopian; not in a very good style, the forms being extremely bulky
+and clumsy. The length, including the pedestal, which is 2 feet 10
+inches, is 23 feet. One statue has lost part of its arms; the other
+is broken into two pieces, but the features are less injured. They
+have never been quite finished; which is, doubtless the reason that
+neither is ornamented with hieroglyphics. The figures are placed in
+the usual standing position of Egyptian statues, one foot advanced
+before the other. The one that is broken has on the left foot a small
+statue. (See my picturesque views and architectural restoration,
+Plates XXXIII., XXXIV., and XXXV.) The ornaments around their necks
+and ankles are curious, and quite Ethiopian. The wreath around the
+head-dress of one of them is that of a conqueror; which I conceive
+to afford a strong ground for conjecturing that these statues were
+erected in commemoration of the conquest of Egypt: but I am led to
+this conclusion principally from the circumstance of the only name
+in hieroglyphics now remaining here being that of Sabaco, the first
+king of the Ethiopian dynasty who conquered and reigned over Egypt.
+
+The circumstance of the statues not being finished, may be accounted
+for by the brief duration, at that period, of the Ethiopian dominion
+over this part of the country. The statues erected to celebrate the
+triumph of their arms in Egypt would naturally be thrown down by the
+Egyptian invaders. Psammitichus, the first king of the 26th dynasty,
+who reigned immediately after the Ethiopians, and whose territory,
+we know, from the Greek inscription at Abou Simbel, certainly
+extended as far as the second cataract, might have conquered this
+part of Ethiopia, and thrown down the statues of a king naturally
+so hateful to the Egyptians. They seem, like the two celebrated
+statues at Thebes, to have ornamented the entrance of a temple,
+for behind them is a considerable space covered with sandstone,
+all in small pieces, but evidently the ruins of a large temple.
+
+Forty paces behind these colossals is a beautiful fragment of a small
+seated statue, without a head, and half buried in the ruins: the name
+of Sabaco is engraved on it in hieroglyphics; and 43 paces behind
+the latter is a group of six small monkeys, very much mutilated,
+and almost buried in the ground. The ruins of the temple extend 20
+paces farther. It may have been perhaps from 250 to 300 feet long;
+but, profiting by the softness of the sandstone, the stones seem to
+have been studiously broken into the smallest fragments. There are,
+unfortunately, no hieroglyphics, except the name of Sabaco, before
+mentioned, remaining either on the statues or any of the stones; and,
+from the degree in which the edifice is destroyed, I did not conceive
+that, at all events, much advantage would be derived from excavation.
+
+The name of this town is unknown; and, though the temple appears to
+have been considerable, the remains afford no ground to suppose that
+the place was of great importance. There is every reason to believe,
+however, that the Island of Argo was formerly much more flourishing
+than now. The different remains of ancient towns in the interior,
+now surrounded merely with acacia groves and uncultivated plains,
+prove the cultivation, at that time, to have been much more extended,
+and the island to have contained not only better built cities,
+but also a civilised population acquainted with the arts.
+
+A sheakh, from a village at a short distance from the ruins, sent
+us some excellent bread and milk; and, when our work was finished,
+we went to his house, and reposed on his angoureebs,—luxuries which
+every peasant possesses: we also partook of some dates, bouza, and
+palm wine; the latter is like the honey of dates only more diluted
+with water. Strabo speaks of the Ethiopian beverage made of honey
+and barley; and also adds, that the only fruit in that country
+are a few dates in the royal gardens. After requiting the sheakh
+for his attention, we returned by the bank of the river to Melek
+Tumbol’s house.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 35.
+
+RESTORATION OF THE TWO COLOSSAL STATUES IN THE ISLAND OF ARGO.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The country was rich and beautiful, and I observed a great quantity
+of indigo. In the melek’s territory, there are 500 water-wheels
+employed in the cultivation of this plant. It requires much water,
+each wheel being sufficient to irrigate on an average only three
+quarters of a feddan of land.
+
+_April_ 19. We dined and slept last night with the melek, and left
+him this morning soon after sunrise. We gave a backsheesh (present)
+of money to his servants, and, in return for his attention, I gave
+him the amber mouth-piece of my pipe. We returned in his boat to
+Haffeer; but as it was navigated by only two mariners, and sailed
+ill, I there procured another from the katshef to visit the granite
+quarries near the village of Toumbos.
+
+On the east side, almost directly opposite to Haffeer, there is
+a brick ruin, half an hour’s walk from the river. I perceived,
+at a distance, that it was of no importance; but recollecting
+that Cailliaud mentioned it in his work as resembling the towers
+represented in the sculptures at Thebes, I visited it on foot, for
+want of any conveyance, and suffered severely from the scorching,
+almost vertical, mid-day sun. The ruin being situated in the
+desert, my feet, unprotected with stockings, which I have long since
+discarded, were dreadfully burnt by the hot soft sand, in which we
+sank, at every step, considerably above the shoes. This ruin has not
+the slightest resemblance to the towers in the sculpture at Thebes. It
+has been apparently for ages so much decayed, as scarcely to present
+any other form than that of a mere mass of brickwork; but I conceive
+it to be Ethiopian, and very ancient. It is difficult to imagine
+what has been its exact form (see vignette); but it has evidently not
+resembled, in any respect, the elegant fortresses represented on the
+walls of Thebes. The entrance into it, as will be seen by the view,
+is partly remaining. The name of the village near it is Korma.
+
+[Illustration: RUIN OF AN ETHIOPIAN FORT.]
+
+We were two hours in descending the river to Toumbos. Immediately
+before arriving, we passed the first of the cataracts of Hennek. The
+country (see vignette) is very pleasing, flat, not romantic or
+picturesque, like the scenery between Philæ and Assuan; but the
+luxuriance of the vegetation on the islands, the acacias in the
+foreground, the picturesque groups of palm trees, the masses of
+rock impeding the current, and varying the tint of the river by the
+white surges they create, and, in the distance, the yellow sands,
+formed altogether a soft and lovely landscape. The rocks of the
+third cataract, at least here, are of grey granite.
+
+A very short distance from the river, on a granite rock, called
+Hadjer el Dehab, or the Golden Stone, is a large historical tablet
+of hieroglyphics, with the common Egyptian ornament above it, of the
+globe, serpents, and wings. The hieroglyphics have been well executed,
+but are now so defaced that few of them are distinguishable. I
+copied a small portion of it containing the name of Thothmes I.;
+and in another small tablet adjoining, I observed the prænomen of
+Amunoph III.
+
+[Illustration: CATARACT OF HENNEK.]
+
+From the similarity of this granite, I think it evident that the
+statues of Argo have been taken from these quarries. There is here
+also another statue, twelve feet in length, much injured, but in
+a tolerably good style of sculpture (see vignette, page 218). The
+head has been destroyed, perhaps by some accident in separating it
+from the rock, or rather in conveying it to its destination.
+
+The katshef of Haffeer, through some misunderstanding, I suppose,
+had informed me that Toumbos was distant only half an hour’s or
+an hour’s sail. We, therefore, brought with us neither provisions,
+beds, nor coverings. On arriving at Toumbos, the sheakh invited us to
+pass the night with him. By the time we had finished our drawings
+and examination of the quarries, it was almost night, and, the
+wind having subsided, it was impossible to cross the cataract. We,
+therefore, gladly accepted his hospitality, having had nothing to
+eat since morning but grain, heated a little over the fire, with
+salt. The Arabs are fond of grain prepared in this manner; and,
+mixed with a few dates, it is not disagreeable.
+
+The sheakh first conducted us into a ruined house, now used as a
+mosque, rather miserable-looking, close to the river, and therefore
+cold, especially for us, who had no covering. The heat of the day
+being so excessive, the fresh air of the night, and particularly
+of the morning, feels extremely chill. I complained of this
+accommodation, at which he seemed vexed, and asked my servant if we
+wished to sleep in his harem. Our complaint, however, procured us
+a comfortable room in his own house, good angoureebs, covered with
+mats and skins to lie on, a cheerful wood fire, and a good supper of
+excellent bread and milk, with a large bowl of meat. We had therefore
+no reason to complain of the sheakh’s hospitality.
+
+[Illustration: COLOSSAL STATUE IN THE QUARRIES OF TOUMBOS.]
+
+_April_ 20. At sunrise, after remunerating the sheakh for his
+attentions with a present of money, which I conceived would be
+the most acceptable that could be offered, we profited by a slight
+breeze, and, with the assistance of three of the peasants, passed the
+cataract. The sheakh gave me the not uncommon salutation at parting
+of “Minsh Allah rasak taip!”—“May God preserve your head
+from harm!” in a tone which appeared to me curious at the time,
+but which, I conceived, might allude to the passing of the cataract;
+though, as will soon be seen, before the setting of the sun, I
+understood his meaning. Soon afterwards, being becalmed, we pressed
+into our service a dozen peasants, who dragged us along with a cord.
+
+This morning, and also yesterday, we saw on an island of sand,
+near Haffeer, a large hippopotamus. This is the only one that now
+remains in this part of the river, or so far to the northward. Here,
+too, it is said that this animal flies from the approach of man,
+and even from the boats. Each time that we approached the isle,
+it darted into the water. There were, a short time ago, several in
+this part of the river; but Melek Tumbol told me that he and his
+people had destroyed all of them, with the exception of this one,
+which had always eluded their pursuit. We did not arrive at Haffeer
+until one in the afternoon, half-famished, having had nothing for
+breakfast but a small handful of grain.
+
+We received intelligence there which threw us into the greatest
+consternation. The province of Mahas, which commences at Hannek,
+one hour’s journey north from this place, and extends as far as
+Sukkot, has broken out into insurrection. The dreadful consequences
+of this event, cutting off completely my return to Egypt and Europe,
+and making me a prisoner Heaven knows how long; also the uncertainty
+of how widely the flame may spread, and what may be the result,
+caused me the greatest anxiety. I am informed there are already 300
+insurgents collected, and that their number increases hourly.
+
+The reason ascribed for this revolt is, that the government refused
+to accept in part payment of their taxes the linen cloths made in
+the country. The owners of each water-wheel, besides grain to the
+amount of five dollars, pay also fifteen in cash: the difficulty of
+realising this sum may be easily conceived in a country where there
+are no markets, little or no commerce, and that generally carried on
+by exchange. The katshef of Haffeer, on hearing, this morning, that
+they had murdered a kaimacam (officer), and three soldiers, within
+two hours’ march of his residence, hastened to the spot with about
+thirty soldiers, being all the forces he could muster. The insurgents
+had retired upon an island. He buried the three men the Mahas had
+killed, and brought away the other, whom they had severely wounded
+in various places, and left as dead. The katshef informed me, that,
+as he could not desert his post, he intended to shut himself up in
+the indigo manufactory, which was partly fortified. I immediately
+ordered my camels to be loaded for our return to Ourde, or New
+Dongolah, for it is now impossible to proceed on our journey north.
+
+That dress which has hitherto been our protection, and procured
+us every where respect, now makes us a mark for the attack of the
+insurgents. They would never suppose that any friend of theirs
+would wear the costume of their oppressors. In our nizam dresses
+we should certainly be taken for Turks, and perhaps murdered in a
+summary manner. We have every reason to thank Providence that we
+were detained a day at Argo, otherwise our fate was inevitable,
+for we should have been exactly in the centre of the revolt at the
+very moment when it broke out. In these countries, where Europeans
+are almost unknown, except the few who, being in the service of the
+Pasha, are considered as Turks, the natives only distinguish two
+classes,—their own countrymen, and the white men, their tyrants
+and oppressors. We could not have expected to be spared, even had
+they recognised us as travellers: for they would have murdered us
+for the treasures which they imagine we find among the ruins.
+
+It were endless to enumerate the ridiculous stories which the Arabs
+relate of these fancied discoveries. I will, however, mention one or
+two, as characteristic. On our return from the colossal statues in the
+Island of Argo, to the house of Melek Tumbol, one of his cash-keepers
+asked me if we had found any gold; and he stated as a fact to a crowd
+of Arabs in the room (swearing by his beard and the prophet), that
+at a ruin called Dendera, in Egypt, he accompanied two Englishmen,
+who obtained an immense treasure. The devil refused it until they
+should give him a water melon, to allay his thirst. The Englishman
+then sent him all the way to Kennah for the melon, and that as soon
+as the devil smelt the fine odour of the fruit, gold came down like
+rain. This the man declared he had seen with his own eyes, and all
+the Arabs implicitly believed him.
+
+At Gibel el Birkel, the natives conceived that my excavations
+were made only to find gold; and they supposed me less fortunate,
+or less clever, than the last European, a noble Lord, who visited
+those ruins, who was stated to have found such a quantity, in the
+form of a granite lion, that he was obliged to have a boat from
+Dongolah to carry it down to Egypt.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI.
+
+RETURN TO NEW DONGOLAH. — THE GOVERNOR. — HIS INDECISION. —
+GENERAL ALARM. — INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR. — HIS DIFFICULT
+SITUATION AND WANT OF ENERGY. — INCREASE OF THE INSURGENTS. —
+RETREAT OF THE KATSHEF OF HAFFEER. — TROOPS MARCHED OUT AGAINST
+THE INSURGENTS. — FEARS ABOUT THE RESULT. — THEIR ARMY. —
+THE BATTLE. — EFFECTS OF THE REVOLT. — ROADS IMPASSABLE. —
+RETURN OF THE EXPEDITION. — TURKISH AND ARAB EVOLUTIONS. —
+HASSANYEH. — FUNGE. — CURIOUS ASSEMBLAGE. — _LULULOO_ OF THE
+WOMEN. — TURKISH SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE PROVINCES, AND PRESENT
+STATE OF THE PEASANTRY AND ARABS OF THE DESERT ABOVE WADY HALFAH.
+
+
+_El Ourde, or New Dongolah.—April_ 21. Immediately on my
+arrival, I paid a visit to the governor, but was not received;
+for, notwithstanding the general alarm which exists on account of
+the insurrection, he could not deny himself his mid-day nap. In the
+evening I was more successful. The more I see of this man, the more
+I feel alarmed about the length of time I may be detained, and what
+may be the result of this unfortunate affair, for I perceive clearly
+he is incapable of taking any resolution. He complained of not having
+force sufficient. I advised him to adopt the common Turkish system
+of offering a general pardon and lighter taxes, or muster all his
+forces, and crush, at once, a movement which, in a country like this,
+was likely to spread so rapidly.
+
+_April_ 29. A week passed without any plan being determined upon. I
+had not chosen to renew my advice, perceiving what I had already
+given to be fruitless. The greatest panic existed in the town. Some
+proposed to fly up the country; others, to reach Egypt by crossing the
+desert by Selemeh. We had, every day, some new and false rumour, that
+other districts had revolted, and that the whole valley of the Nile,
+from Wady Halfah to the extremity of the Pasha’s dominions, was on
+the point of throwing off the yoke of their oppressors. Sometimes
+the insurgents were reported to be within an hour’s march of the
+town, preparing to attack it. Muskets were distributed, the cannons
+prepared, and we were all to fight for our lives. At length, the
+officers, who are a despicable set, became refractory: some refused to
+march, while others were anxious to commence operations. The governor
+was undecided; some officers of the divan advised one course, and some
+another; and, while he vacillated between them, day passed after day,
+without any plan being adopted.
+
+Foreseeing the consequences of this irresolution, while discontent
+was spreading even among the government troops, and the insurgents
+daily increasing, I determined to make one effort more to rouse him
+from his lethargy, and persuade him to adopt some vigorous measure. I,
+therefore, visited him, accompanied by a Greek dragoman, with whom the
+governor, being a Turk from the Morea, could converse in the Romaic
+without any other person in the divan understanding our discourse. I
+thus obtained the best chance of my advice being followed, by sparing
+his _amour propre_, of which he had a considerable stock.
+
+I apologised for the liberty I was taking; conscious that, as a
+stranger, I had no right to interfere with his administration; but
+that my fate was linked with his, as the success of my own plans
+depended on his being able to restore order and tranquillity to
+the country. In return, too, for his attentions, I was anxious,
+if possible, to be of service to him; I regretted his present
+difficult situation, particularly as I saw him surrounded by men
+guided more by their passions than by reason. To my surprise,
+he raised up his head, which generally hangs over his knees,
+almost touching them, and expressed his willingness to listen to,
+and follow, my counsel. Tormented as he has been, for several days,
+with the insolent dictation of his officers, each insisting on some
+wild scheme of his own, he turned a ready ear to my suggestions,
+which were, of course, disinterested. Each officer, on the contrary,
+hoped, if his plan should be adopted, and be successful, that he
+might have the merit of the victory, and obtain, in consequence,
+a present from the Pasha.
+
+I urged the governor to send to some of the sheakhs up the Nile,
+who are strongly attached to the government, and have no affection
+for the Mahas, to assemble their forces; and also to Melek Tumbol,
+who is said to have a force of 500 men, while the former could muster
+600 men, and both would be quite willing to join the government. The
+governor had imprudently ordered the soldiers scattered in the
+different villages to assemble, under the katshefs and kaimacams,
+in bands of fifty. This had caused great dissatisfaction, by showing
+that he distrusted the fidelity of the peasants; and the measure
+was useless, except in affording a security for the lives of the
+soldiers, which, after all, was only apparent; for bands of fifty
+were too small to keep extensive districts in subjection, or protect
+themselves against the united attacks of the peasantry. I urged
+the governor to send for these troops to replace the garrison here,
+which he might thus be enabled to send out against the revolters. He
+consented to this proposition very reluctantly.
+
+To my surprise, he informed me that he had sent no courier to
+Cairo. He had despatched one to Khartoun, in the hopes of procuring
+a reinforcement from that district. I did not think it probable
+that the government there would risk its security by sending part of
+their force to Dongolah: but it was great neglect not to inform all
+the governors around of the revolt, that they might guard against any
+attempts within their own territories; particularly as it is rumoured,
+though, probably, without foundation, that this is only the first
+explosion of a grand conspiracy, formed by the people, throughout
+Upper Nubia, to avail themselves of the present opportunity, whilst
+the Pasha is engaged with the war in Syria, to throw off his yoke.
+
+The number of soldiers here at present is 200, part of a regiment
+of invalids sent to this province, being of no use at Cairo; the
+remainder of the regiment is scattered, as I have said, in small
+parties, about the province. As the Arab and Turkish merchants in
+the bazaar are more than sufficient to protect the citadel, and their
+fidelity may be relied upon, their lives and property being at stake,
+I urged the governor to send off the troops in the garrison without
+delay; and he promised that he would do so as soon as the necessary
+arrangements could be made. I advised him also to mount guards on
+the citadel, to dispel the panic which existed, and prevent the
+possibility of the place being surprised.
+
+_April_ 30. The katshef of Haffeer arrived, without having received
+permission from the governor to abandon his post, but conceiving it
+impossible, with only 50 men, to protect the indigo house, which
+is but partially fortified, against the threatened attack of the
+insurgents. He stated the force of the latter to be 1500 men; and a
+courier arrived last night, with the intelligence, that yesterday more
+soldiers were killed, and that another party of fifty only escaped
+through the means of an Arab sheakh, abandoning their baggage, and,
+_mirabile dictu_ for Turks, also their pipes!
+
+_May_ 1. The troops, 150 in number (leaving 50 in the citadel),
+marched out this morning against the Mahas. They were accompanied
+by 120 volunteers, some of them mounted. The Hassanyeh and Funge,
+500 strong, and Melek Tumbol on the opposite bank, with 500 more,
+are waiting to join them. They took with them one piece of cannon, an
+eight-pounder, on which they rested their chief hopes of success. The
+review of these warriors caused a great sensation in this little
+capital. The governor had distributed muskets and ammunition to
+all the merchants who joined the expedition, and also to those who
+remained in garrison. Each man was trying his weapon by firing
+it off. The women were weeping, and demonstrating their grief,
+according to the custom of the country, by a peculiar _lululoo_,
+caused by drawing their breath, and shaking their tongues between
+their lips, at the same time waving their hands, in sign of wishes
+for their husbands’ success.
+
+Considering how this expedition was composed, I was almost doubtful
+of its success. The soldiers and officers were the refuse of the
+Pasha’s army; the merchants a confused mass; the commander notorious
+for cowardice; the cannon in the hands of men not renowned for their
+skill in engineering; and it seemed doubtful whether friendship to the
+Turks, the rancour of ancient feuds, or even the hope of plunder, be
+sufficient motives to induce the Hassanyeh Arabs and Melek Tumbol’s
+forces to act against their neighbours, fighting for their liberty,
+to free themselves from a grievous and intolerable yoke, and who
+had placed their all upon the die,—death or victory. The governor
+himself reviewed the troops outside the walls, and gave his last
+directions. How ridiculous this expedition would have appeared in
+Europe! It reminded me of the army of Bombastes Furioso; and the
+Mahmoor might have dismissed them with the same words,—
+
+
+  “Begone, brave soldiers, don’t kick up a row!”
+
+
+_May_ 2 and 3. were spent in great anxiety about the result of the
+expedition. Rumours were spread that the government troops were
+defeated, and that the Mahas were coming to attack the citadel.
+
+_May_ 4. This morning news arrived of the engagement, and that
+the Pasha’s troops had gained the victory. On the 10th, they and
+the merchants returned, and I received from some sensible Turkish
+merchants, on whose authority I could depend, the following account
+of the battle. The insurgents, 1300 strong, at three o’clock in
+the afternoon advanced to attack the government forces, encamped a
+little below Hannek. Their chief, Melek Backeet, sent round 300 of
+his men to intercept the enemy’s retreat; for it never occurred to
+the brave warriors of Mahas that they could possibly be defeated. If
+they had possessed any degree of judgment, or been less confident,
+and had made the attack during the night, they would probably have
+succeeded; for at that time no sentinels or guards were established,
+and the greatest confusion reigned in the Turkish camp.
+
+About 150 of the Mahas had guns, but very bad ones, mostly matchlocks,
+and they were very ill supplied with ammunition. They were variously
+armed; some with lances, shields, German swords (see various plates of
+costumes); while others had only swords made of the acacia wood, about
+four feet long, rounded at one end for the hand, the rest cut thin,
+flat, and sharpened at both sides,—a heavy but formidable weapon in
+the hands of an athletic Arab. Others had staves only. Sentences in
+Arabic were written by the fakeers, on the wooden swords and staves;
+on some of them lines from the Koran: the most common were,—“May
+God give me force to destroy my enemies!” “May my foes tremble
+before me!” “May the acacia sword be as the sharp steel in
+my hand!” I have seen a staff similarly shaped in the museum at
+Berlin, with hieroglyphics on it; the latter I could not examine,
+as it was on a shelf, at too great a distance to be read.
+
+Twelve Turks on horseback accompanied the troops; to whom, with
+the Arab merchants (Jelabs), and about 500 Hassanyeh, must be
+ascribed the honour of the victory. Melek Tumbol’s Arabs were on
+the opposite side of the river, and the soldiers of the government
+were so placed by their skilful commander, behind their own friends,
+that they could not fire a single shot. The general, usually a great
+talker, became miraculously silent when the engagement commenced;
+and, knowing the value of his person, very prudently placed it out
+of danger. The artillerymen fired the cannon sixty-two times, only
+wounding one man: but, to give them their due, I was informed by
+several, that the victory was chiefly gained by the noise they made.
+
+To the astonishment of the brave Mahas, the government forces, or
+rather the merchants, undeterred by their cries of “Cip! cap!”
+and dancing round and round (see view of the Shageea fighting,
+Plate XXXVIII.), returned the shaking of their spears with a good
+discharge of musketry, while the Hassanyeh made a sharp attack. An
+engagement of a few minutes ended in the unfortunate Mahas flying
+to the river. Numbers were shot sitting on the rocks and islands,
+and others in crossing the stream: altogether about 120 perished.
+
+The regular troops, not having fired a ball during the engagement,
+discharged their muskets in the air to celebrate _their_ victory;
+and the brave commander, now quite loquacious, gratified his thirst
+for blood by the massacre of two unfortunate young prisoners,
+who fell into his hands. Melek Backeet, the chief of the Mahas,
+is said to be concealed in the country, but that feudal attachment
+to their chief, which is so strong among all the Arabs, will secure
+him against being discovered.
+
+A general pardon having been proclaimed, according to the usual
+Turkish system, until the government feels itself sufficiently
+strong to punish the delinquents, several of the inferior sheaks have
+accepted the amnesty offered by the governor, and the peasants are
+returning to their occupations. Many of the water-wheels are injured,
+and a great number of the working oxen killed by the Mahas. The loss
+to the government cannot, it is said, be less than 5000_l._
+
+My chief apprehension now is, that the roads will be infested by
+the most desperate of the Mahas, acting as brigands; among others,
+by their chief: we are therefore still detained here until this man
+is taken, or has left the country, and tranquillity is entirely
+restored. Several caravans of merchants are likewise deterred
+from going down to Egypt. They thus incur a large expense, having
+to maintain a number of slaves; but they seem greatly afraid of
+encountering the journey. I proposed forming a great caravan, but
+they coolly replied, that they should wait until the full moon, and,
+in the mean time, see whether I passed safely.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 38.
+
+SHAGEEA FIGHTING.
+
+_On stone by Walton from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+_May_ 11. The return of the expedition was celebrated with great
+rejoicings. The Mahmoor, shortly after sunrise, reviewed about 300
+troops, who have arrived, within these few days, from Handek, Meroueh,
+and other parts of the province; he marched out with these, and
+joined the armament encamped at a short distance from the walls, and
+all together then entered the citadel, in procession. The governor,
+at the head of the regular troops, who kept up a continual fire,
+went foremost, followed by the Turks and sheakhs on horseback,
+going through their evolutions, which consisted in a kind of mock
+battle, where they certainly displayed admirable horsemanship;
+sometimes galloping at full speed, suddenly halting, and wheeling
+round and round, the Turks firing their pistols, and the sheakhs
+brandishing their lances. Some of the meleks and sheakhs made a very
+picturesque appearance, being well mounted, with their peculiar
+costumes, lances, swords, and shields, the latter of the hide of
+the hippopotamus. After these came the Jelabs, or merchants of the
+bazaar, making liberal use of the muskets and ammunition given to
+them by the governor. Then followed a great number of the Hassanyeh,
+and some few of the Shageea Arabs, mounted on camels, dromedaries,
+or horses, and some on foot, going through their evolutions as in
+battle, brandishing their spears, leaping in the air, first on one
+leg, then on the other, at the same time turning round and shouting
+their war cry, “Cip! cap!” and beating their shields with their
+spears. Lastly came a tribe, formerly mentioned, the Funge,—fine
+athletic men, said to be very brave. They wear, like the others,
+their garments in the antique style, and their heads, as is the
+custom of the Arabs of the desert, uncovered, but protected from
+the sun by bushy tresses, reaching almost to the shoulders.
+
+The _coup-d’œil_ was rendered particularly striking, by the
+variety of costumes, complexions, and arms, and the singularity
+of the evolutions. We saw in one field the regular troops, Fellahs
+from Egypt, marching and firing in the European manner; the natives
+of the Caucasus, the Turks, exhibiting their more dashing Mameluke
+exercise; but neither of them attracted half so much my attention
+as the wild extraordinary manœuvres of the dark peasants of the
+country and the Arabs of the desert. I should not forget, also, the
+cries of the women. The house-tops, and the walls of the citadel,
+were covered with them, cackling (I think that the most appropriate
+term) a welcome to their husbands in the same curious manner I
+have before described; but on this occasion the note was different,
+being expressive of joy at their return.
+
+The governor, afraid of the Pasha’s censuring, and, perhaps,
+dismissing him, on account of this affair, pays, from his own purse,
+the expense of the expedition; and he has made a present of 100
+piastres to each Turk, 50 to each melek, 30 to each sheakh, of 10
+to each peasant and merchant. He pays for the gunpowder also,—no
+trifle, since, beside what was consumed in the action, they have been
+firing ever since, to indulge their fondness for the report of a gun,
+under the plea of celebrating the governor’s triumph. The day is to
+be devoted to feasting and rejoicing. Those who can afford it have
+killed cows, others sheep. The mallums, the Coptic treasurers and
+writers of the government, are now very conspicuously exhibiting
+their joy. They have been terribly alarmed during this affair;
+conceiving, perhaps with some reason, that, besides their office,
+and having the character of being individually rich, their obnoxious
+titles of Christian dogs and tax-gatherers would have ensured to them,
+had the citadel been taken, being the first to have their throats cut.
+
+In relating the causes of this insurrection, I shall only be giving
+a sketch of the Turkish system of governing the provinces, which has
+rarely, if ever, been sufficiently elucidated. The government of the
+pashas in Egypt is essentially military. The officers all of whom
+(except sometimes the baractars) are Turks, decide every question
+connected with the revenues, and often interfere, in other affairs,
+with the decisions of the cadis. The system of the government is to
+extort from the peasant the utmost possible amount of tax, leaving
+him only what they consider, or pretend to consider, a sufficient
+subsistence, but it is usually a most miserable one.
+
+I will give a more detailed account of the system in Egypt, at a
+future opportunity, and shall here only say a few words respecting
+that unfortunate country. If the peasants did not actually steal from
+their own fields, in some places, they could not exist. Although
+they bury their grain under ground, and by various other methods
+deceive their oppressors, numbers perish from the want of sufficient
+nourishment and clothing. I have seen them, in winter, assembled in
+a corner, round a miserable fire, shivering with cold and hunger. In
+the most favoured clime under heaven, and the most productive country
+on the face of the earth, a vast proportion of the peasants may be
+said barely to exist upon food more calculated for cattle than for
+human beings, and, bad as it is, they have rarely enough.
+
+The Pasha has power sufficient to hold them in subjection, and by his
+extortions fills his coffers; but necessity alone induces them to
+submit. He not only imposes most enormous taxes upon every article
+of produce, but obliges them to cultivate what he chooses, and take
+the price he offers for the produce. He is the only purchaser of
+the grain, cotton, and indigo, and of the gum of Kordofan, ostrich
+feathers, and other articles. Slaves are almost the only commodity
+the merchants now are allowed to take in exchange for the manufactures
+they carry to Sennaar and Kordofan: even wild animals of the desert,
+as the giraffe, are a monopoly of the government.
+
+The Pasha is the great landlord of this immense district: the people
+are his slaves. His revenues are derived not only from the regular
+taxes, but from his profits as a merchant, which are enormous,
+in consequence of the low rate at which he pays the peasants for
+their produce, compared with that at which he sells it again to
+the Europeans. It is true that this source of gain is greatly
+diminished by the roguery of the different officers through whose
+hands it passes. From the highest to the lowest there is seldom any
+exception,—mahmoors, nazrs, katshefs, kaimacams, and soldiers, all
+concur in diminishing the amount, and, in particular, the mallums,
+or Coptic accountants. The latter not only cheat the ignorant Turks,
+who generally cannot read their accounts, but often trade with the
+money of the treasury, and incur losses which they are unable to
+repay. A number, on this account, are always immured in the prisons
+of the Pasha.
+
+The peasants in Upper Nubia are free from these pecuniary distresses,
+and are comparatively happy. It is very true, that, instead of paying
+only one dollar in money, two pieces of linen cloth, and a sheep,
+thirty piastres, which was all they paid their ancient meleks, they
+are now obliged to pay fifteen dollars in cash, and five in grain;
+in all, three hundred piastres: ten times as much as they paid
+formerly. Instead of sleeping, as was their custom, the greater part
+of the day, they are now obliged to work: but the man who is at all
+industrious may earn an ample sufficiency to afford food and dress
+such as he has been accustomed to. The following calculation will
+show more precisely their present condition.
+
+Each sakkea, or Persian wheel, is sufficient to water three quarters
+of a feddan of land, planted with indigo, and each feddan produces
+a hundred cantars of the herb, and sometimes more, when carefully
+irrigated: being seventy-five cantars for the extent of land which
+one wheel will water. The government pay the peasants 12½ Egyptian
+piastres for each quintal; that is, 937 piastres for the whole,
+which, at the current rate of the dollar here, 15 piastres, is equal
+to 62½ dollars; whence we must deduct twenty for the duty, and there
+remains for the persons to whom the wheel belongs, 42½ dollars, or
+637 piastres: but, as this is the lowest calculation, we may fairly
+estimate nearly two piastres per day for each water-wheel. This will
+go to the support of one family, provided it can afford five persons
+capable of putting their shoulders to the wheel; but otherwise, two
+families must unite to reckon up that number. A great deduction on
+the gain of the peasant in Egypt is the immense expense of the wheel:
+but here they are so much more simple, they cost a very trifling sum;
+the oxen only 30 piastres each, and their keep next to nothing.
+
+However small a sum two piastres, or sevenpence English, may appear
+to a European, it is amply sufficient in this climate, where every
+necessary is so cheap. In Lower and Upper Egypt, where bread is so
+much dearer, and meat and milk double the price, the fixed price of
+a labourer amounts to half a piastre per day, to sustain himself
+and perhaps a family. Most of the peasants here, too, have other
+slips of land which are watered by the inundation of the river, and
+they gain considerably by their date trees, notwithstanding that
+they pay a tax of a piastre for each tree. They also rear flocks,
+and cultivate vegetables, particularly the favourite Arab ones,
+bamia and malakkhia; they make linen, spirit, bouza, &c. They allow,
+too, that grain pays them still better than indigo.
+
+The condition of the peasants of Upper Nubia is thus happy, compared
+to those of Egypt. In this country, you very rarely see a peasant
+with a ragged garment, and there are very few of the men who have
+not their harems. Those who live near the seat of government have
+also the advantage of supplying the markets with the few vegetables
+the country produces, and of being employed as workmen. Some also
+keep camels, which afford them a large profit.
+
+The Arabs of the desert have still more reason to be satisfied
+with the present government, so far as regards their pecuniary
+interests. They pay tribute only for the land they cultivate,
+which is in general very little, and in many cases none at all;
+but otherwise they gain a sufficient livelihood, by transporting
+to Egypt, with their camels, the grain collected as revenue, or
+purchased by the government, and in aiding the now constant passage
+of troops and merchants. Many of the Arab tribes of Kordofan, who
+formerly never came here, now participate in the profit of carrying
+the 2500 camel loads of gum, which, as before stated, are annually
+sent from that country to Cairo.
+
+Thus the labouring peasants of the Nile and the Arabs of the desert
+in Upper Nubia, so far as regards the taxes and means of subsistence,
+are in happy circumstances compared to the Fellaheen of Egypt; but in
+other respects they are equally galled by their Turkish rulers. In
+Egypt, the officers only are oppressive: the soldiers, who are
+Fellaheen, like the peasants, are not so insolent as here, where
+their comparatively white complexion, their character as conquerors,
+and their pride as _askari_, or soldiers, induce them to despise
+the natives, and oppress them more than the government authorises.
+
+When the chief governor of a province is possessed of talent,
+energy, and firmness, the officers and soldiers are prevented from
+committing many excesses; but when the country has the misfortune
+to be under a man like the Mahmoor of Dongolah,—too timid to
+redress the complaints continually made against the disorderly
+soldiers,—its state may easily be imagined. Each soldier is a
+little tyrant, and commits a series of gross and petty vexations
+inconceivable to a European. Of the many I have witnessed, I will
+give only a few specimens:—If the soldier wants a sheep, fowls,
+eggs, or any other article, he obliges the peasant to sell them at
+half the market price, and not unfrequently refuses to pay any thing
+at all. When becalmed on the river, he goes on shore, and forces
+ten, and sometimes twenty, natives to drag his boat, without any
+remuneration. If he meets a peasant girl carrying milk or butter,
+he often helps himself to half without paying for it, unless with a
+salute; and woe betide the imprudent sheahk or peasant who refuses to
+give gratuitously the best his house affords, or neglects the horse
+or camel of the Turk or soldier who has taken up his quarters for the
+night at his house. If camels or donkeys are wanted, they must furnish
+them, and consider themselves fortunate if they get any trifle in
+return. The haughty manner of the conquerors is still more galling
+to the Arabs: their usual manner of addressing them is, “_Kelp,
+Marhas!_”—“Dog! villain! Do this! do that! quick! quick! cursed
+be your race!” with threats of a beating, even actual blows, and
+sometimes with the sole of the shoe, which is the greatest indignity
+that a Mahometan can receive.
+
+Men whose ancestors have been chiefs in the country for ages must
+now submit to the insolence and contumely of this vile and lawless
+soldiery. From negligence the latter often do not demand the tax
+on the water-wheels for some time; then, all at once, they appear,
+calling out, “Pay me to-morrow, or the bastinado!” The peasant,
+not being allowed sufficient time to raise the money, is obliged to
+suffer this degrading punishment, and often even have his ears nailed
+to a board. Being at a distance, perhaps, from the seat of government,
+or large market towns, he has no opportunity of selling his produce;
+nevertheless, with double the value of the sum required in effects,
+he has to undergo a disgraceful punishment, because he has no dollars.
+
+The Mahas who revolted had not paid the government for some
+time. The mahmoor sent a villanous Turk into their province, with
+the instruments of torture, who immediately began bastinadoing them,
+nailing their ears, and threatening to cut off their heads, if they
+did not pay him. He visited Melek Backeet, who owed a considerable
+sum to the government, and told him that, if he did not pay his
+taxes in a few days, every species of torture would be inflicted upon
+him. The Mahas manufacture a strong linen cloth, which is very much
+esteemed throughout all the valley of the Nile. Being at a distance
+from the capital, and thus unable to command an immediate sale, at
+least for the large quantity on hand, they tendered it in part of
+their taxes. The government refused, though the transaction would
+have been very advantageous to them, the linen being offered at a
+price much lower than it sells for in the bazaar of Dongolah. Melek
+Backeet, therefore, excited the revolt, preferring death to the
+ignominious punishment with which he was threatened.
+
+This country, under proper management, might become a far greater
+source of wealth to the Pasha than it even now is. Notwithstanding
+the galling system of the Turks, the natives are sensible of the
+advantages of a settled and firm government; and the peasants of the
+Nile, most particularly, are glad to be released from the tyranny
+and spoliation accompanying the feuds and petty wars by which the
+country was formerly torn. Did the Turks but treat them as men, and
+not disgust them by their insulting manners, and by inflicting on
+them such degrading and infamous punishments; had their rulers but
+a few ideas of common policy and legislation, the resources might
+be greatly augmented, the revenue increased, and the people would
+be the most happy and contented under the sun. The superiority which
+fire-arms afforded to their haughty conquerors taught them to despise
+the strength of the Arabs, and, with that insolence which is ever
+united with ignorance, they do not in the slightest degree endeavour
+to attach them to the government, or, in fact, condescend to treat,
+otherwise than as a vastly inferior race, the people which it cost
+them so much, even with all their advantages, to conquer.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+DEPARTURE FROM EL OURDE. — ALARMS OF THE CARAVAN. — MELEK
+BACKEET. — RETURN TO HAFFEER. — DETENTION IN THE INDIGO
+MANUFACTORY. — NUBIAN PLANTS. — SECOND EXPEDITION OF THE
+GOVERNMENT. — FANATICISM OF THE INSURGENTS. — THE BATTLE. —
+PRISONERS. — DEPARTURE FROM HAFFEER. — DESCRIPTION OF
+THE CARAVAN. — CATARACT. — EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION. —
+SPLENDID RUINS OF SOLIB. — EXCAVATED TOMB NEAR SOLIB. — RUINS
+OF SUKKOT. — HEAT OF THE CLIMATE. — ISLAND OF SAIS. — REMAINS
+OF CHRISTIAN RUINS. — DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF THE DESERT.
+
+
+_May_ 18. I conceived, from the information which I obtained from the
+government, and other quarters, that I might now pass with tolerable
+safety through the province of Mahas, particularly by not following
+the banks of the river, but taking the short cut across the Desert,
+from Fakeer el Bint to Solib. By this route I shall miss the ruin
+of Sescé; but, as it consists only of two or three columns, I
+shall consider myself fortunate if I escape from the country with
+this slight sacrifice. My caravan wish me to go on direct to Egypt,
+without stopping at any more ruins, particularly those of the splendid
+and celebrated Temple of Solib, which is situated at the northern
+extremity of Mahas; but I have told them that I will not leave that
+place until I have fully examined it, and taken every drawing and
+measurement I shall consider necessary. They are dreadfully afraid
+of meeting with Melek Backeet, who, with a few desperate companions,
+has committed several depredations: they think it very hard to incur
+any risk for the sake of a few old stones: but I have hazarded my
+own life and health in visiting this baneful clime; and I will not
+consent to pass, in that hurried manner, one of the chief objects
+of my journey. I took leave of the mahmoor, who gave me a guard,
+consisting of an Arab baractar (ensign) and six soldiers, mounted
+on dromedaries. We have, therefore, now nothing to apprehend from
+stragglers. None of the merchants would venture to join my caravan,
+notwithstanding my having a guard. I should delay my departure
+for some days, but I see no chance of Melek Backeet being taken,
+and, consequently, of the roads being clear, and I am sick of this
+detention. We left Dongolah at three o’clock, and slept in a
+beautiful grove of palm trees.
+
+_May_ 19. Arrived this evening at Haffeer, and was well entertained
+by the katshef, who chose the finest sheep in the village to regale
+my caravan.
+
+_Hannek.—May_ 20. We started soon after sunrise. Two Turkish
+officers, with their servants, joined my caravan this morning. Their
+company was not desirable, but the addition to our force, of six
+persons, well armed, was not to be despised. We halted at Hannek, to
+fill our water-skins, previous to entering the desert. After dinner,
+at three P.M., we were on the point of mounting our dromedaries, when
+a courier arrived from Sukkot, and informed us that Melek Backeet,
+and his great coadjutor the Cadi Esau, are at Fakeer el Bint,
+and in the desert, waiting for the Bey Zadé[45] and his caravan,
+knowing that we intended to pass, and believing us loaded with
+gold, which we had found in the temples. The news produced the
+greatest consternation among my little troop. The soldiers were
+more pusillanimous than the rest. One of the Turkish officers, a
+cowhass, who last night, at Haffeer, talked loudly of his valour,
+had this morning not a word to say. Such a change of countenances I
+never witnessed: even my own servants were afraid to proceed. With
+such an escort, and uncertain of the force of the Mahas, it was
+impossible to attempt to pass. I, therefore, sent to the katshef of
+Haffeer for a reinforcement: he advised me not to advance, as the
+news was quite true. A reinforcement he could not give, as he had
+only twenty soldiers to guard the indigo-house.
+
+_May_ 21. This morning I returned to Haffeer, and having ascertained
+from several peasants and couriers that Melek Backeet had already
+with him 100 men, and that the number was increasing hourly,
+I abandoned the idea of continuing my journey without additional
+force. I, therefore, sent my dragoman to the mahmoor with a letter,
+begging him not to delay, but send immediately a sufficient number
+of soldiers to clear the country of the insurgents. Were I alone,
+I would run the risk, and attempt to cross the desert, or rather,
+with a compass in my hand, make a circuitous route. This plan would,
+perhaps, have enabled me to elude the enemy; yet, unfortunately, they
+have their spies in every direction, even in Dongolah. My departure
+would be reported; and although I were to sacrifice my baggage, their
+horses, swift dromedaries, and superior knowledge of the country,
+would enable them easily to overtake me, or intercept my route. For
+myself, I would run any hazard, rather than endure, a day longer,
+the _ennui_ of being detained here; but the lives of others I have no
+right to compromise. According to the arrangements I had made, I ought
+now to have been in Europe. The heat is excessive, and increasing
+daily, and my funds diminishing. As this delay will oblige me to pass,
+with more haste, the antiquities below, my vexation may be imagined.
+
+_Haffeer.—May_ 21. to _June_ 2. I was detained at Haffeer, in the
+indigo-manufactory, twelve days. During this period, we collected
+and made drawings of several plants. I publish three, which I think
+may be interesting to the general reader, having mentioned them
+repeatedly. One, in Plate IV., is the senna, a name, doubtless,
+familiar to all. It grows wild upon the house-tops and in the fields:
+the flower is yellow, and the leaves of a pale green. The other plant,
+in the same plate, I have called indigo; but although very good
+indigo is extracted from it, it is, in reality, a totally different
+plant,—the Tephrosia Apollinea of botanists. Plate LII. is a drawing
+of the Osshi, the Calotropis gigantea. There are large plains in
+this neighbourhood entirely covered with it, and, as I have stated
+in my description of Makkarif, it abounds also in the province of
+Berber. The interior of the flower is of a pink colour; the buds
+contain a pungent liquor, of the colour of milk, which, according to
+the Arabs, blinds when put in the eye. The leaves are of a greyish
+green. The apple, represented in the Plate, contains the seed and a
+fine glossy silk. The plant varies from four to six feet in height,
+and is extremely valuable to the natives, being almost their only
+firewood; and, as I have stated before, many camel loads of charcoal
+made from it are sent to Cairo, being excellent for gunpowder. Among
+the others I found, the only one of any interest, and characteristic
+of Nubia, was a small kind of rue, the Ruta tuberculata of botanists.
+
+The mahmoor, having at his disposal a considerable body of troops,
+which he had assembled, according to my advice, from different parts
+of the province, was fortunately enabled to send out immediately
+300 soldiers. The Turks having, on the last occasion, obtained 100
+piastres and their expenses, again volunteered their services. Having
+united with Melek Tumbol’s Arab forces, they marched against the
+Mahas, who had rallied, in great numbers, under their old chief, Melek
+Backeet; and this time had very judiciously stationed themselves on
+a steep rock on a large island, near Hannek, making excursions day
+and night, and rendering the roads quite impassable.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 4.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+INDIGO.
+
+SENNA.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 52.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+OSSHI.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The commander of the expedition was the same brave fellow who took
+such particular care of his person during the former engagement. He
+encamped near the Mahas, and published a proclamation offering them
+a general pardon. The Cadi Esau and many of the other sheakhs were
+disposed to accept the terms, when another fanatic priest started
+up, and upbraided them with their cowardice, treachery, and folly;
+“since,” said he, “you know that the Turks will deceive you,
+and it is evident that God has given our enemies into our hands; for
+without seeking them they are come to us.” By this absurd harangue,
+he kindled a wild enthusiasm, to increase which all the fakeers were
+employed in writing charms on their weapons. The commander was afraid
+to attack them, on account of their number and their strong position;
+but the Turkish volunteers laughed him to scorn, and dashed forward
+on horseback to charge the Mahas. Notwithstanding the formidable
+position of the insurgents, many of them having fire-arms, and the
+facility their situation afforded them of rolling down stones on
+the Turks, yet such was the effect of the instantaneous and gallant
+example set by the latter, that the soldiers followed _en masse_,
+and soon dislodged and put to flight the unfortunate Mahas.
+
+In this engagement they calculated that 170 were killed, and about
+30 made prisoners. I myself saw here 105 pairs of ears on a string,
+which the victors were conveying to the governor; and I am informed
+the commander has another. Very many being shot in the river, their
+ears could not be obtained. They brought also to Haffeer twenty-two
+prisoners, linked together in a string, having their arms tied
+behind their backs, in the ancient Egyptian manner. Their arms were
+drawn together behind with a rope, attached a little above their
+elbows; causing, of course, an unnatural and painful projection
+of the chest. Some of them were apparently half-bred negroes, who
+were or had been slaves. They were all tall athletic men, but wild
+and haggard in their appearance, and seemingly insensible either
+to pity or to suffering. Seeing them in pain, I begged the Turks
+to loosen their cords, which they did as a favour to me; but the
+prisoners seemed quite indifferent, and did not even thank me. I
+persuaded the Turks, also, to liberate from the cords a young boy,
+of twelve or thirteen, on account of his extreme youth; but the lad
+has something roguish in his eye; so that, if the soldiers on guard
+do not pay more attention than it is their custom to do, I flatter
+myself that, before they arrive at Dongolah, he will profit by the
+indulgence, and effect his escape.
+
+On hearing of the defeat of the Mahas, I determined instantly to
+start, conceiving that, though Melek Backeet and his followers have
+escaped, they will, for at least a day or two, be too much engaged
+in providing for their own safety to lose time, and risk their own
+security, in waylaying travellers. The only danger is that of falling
+in with them by accident among the rocky passes of the cataract, or
+in the desert; and they would gladly get hold of us, not, perhaps,
+for plunder, but as hostages for their own security. Now, however,
+we were all willing to encounter every risk rather than support
+this endless delay, and be any longer confined to the prison of a
+wretched indigo-house, in which my artist, myself, and the two Turks
+had only one small hot room to sit, eat, and receive visiters. The
+heat is dreadful: no cool refreshing wind to mitigate the scorching
+rays of a sun almost completely vertical; every breath of air heated
+as if issuing from a furnace; even the evenings, after sunset, are
+hot. At that time I generally went down to the river, the air on
+the banks being less oppressive: from about midnight until sunrise,
+and even a few hours after, it is very cool and delightful; and,
+not to lose the enjoyment and benefit of that period, I have for
+the last month slept, like the Arabs, in the open air.[46]
+
+My caravan, being strengthened by some merchants who joined us,
+became now rather formidable, and may be worth describing. My own
+party consisted of eleven, including the _habeer_ (guide), two
+Ababde, and three Hassanyeh, the owners of our two dromedaries and
+six camels. My artist and myself were well armed, and my dragoman,
+and Greek and Coptic servant, also had muskets, with which the Mahmoor
+had provided them. My guide had fire-arms, and the Arabs their lances
+and swords: therefore, including the guard which the governor had
+given me, of a baractar and six soldiers, my own party consisted of
+eighteen persons, of whom thirteen had fire-arms. The two Turks and
+their two servants were provided with them; and their camel-drivers
+were three Shageea armed with spears. Besides these, five merchants,
+three with guns, joined my caravan. We were, therefore, altogether,
+thirty men; twenty with fire-arms; and were thus, I think, a match
+for 100 of the Mahas, with their matchlocks and lances: but we all
+conceived it so very probable that we might meet a party of the
+insurgents, that I directed each person to keep his musket in his
+hand during the whole night.
+
+We started at four in the afternoon, and marched until two in the
+morning, ten hours, and encamped in the desert two hours before
+arriving at Fakeer el Bint. The effect of the caravan winding along
+the rocky banks of the cataracts in a line, one after the other,
+on account of the narrowness and badness of the road, was very
+picturesque. The variety of the costumes and armour; the numerous
+Arab tribes,—for scarcely more than two or three of our party
+belong to the same one,—Hassanyeh, Shageea, and Ababde; Berberenes
+of Upper Nubia, and Fellaheen of the lower valley of the Nile;
+Turks, Greeks, and Europeans,—all differing in dress, features,
+and complexion,—formed an interesting group. I could trace the
+gradations of colour, even in my own caravan, from the yellowish
+Arab of Cairo to the darker native of Upper Egypt, and from the
+brown Dongoloue to the dark-brown Shageea; but the latter are very
+different in feature and complexion from the bluish-black of the
+negro slaves belonging to the Turks.
+
+We all preserved the strictest silence, which enabled me to enjoy more
+the noise of the cataracts, the soft moonlight, and the romantic rocky
+scenery: but while I felt the beauty of the latter, I was well aware
+that the granite rocks and passes afforded an ambush for the Mahas,
+which was not without danger to us, their unskilfulness and ignorance
+being my only security. We met repeatedly parties of women and boys,
+either acting as spies, or going, as they pretended, to Haffeer, their
+houses being destroyed, and husbands and fathers dead. Their manner
+was certainly suspicious, and I had some difficulty in preventing
+my soldiers from treating them as spies. We passed several cottages,
+now uninhabited in consequence of the revolt.
+
+_June_ 3. We arrived, in two hours, at Fakeer el Bint, and found
+the village entirely deserted. The Mahas, by their imprudent rising,
+have entailed a long series of sufferings and wretchedness on their
+families; even those peasants who took no part in it are ruined;
+their houses destroyed; their oxen killed, and their water-wheels
+broken. We may admire the enthusiastic courage of the chiefs, who,
+born to command, could ill endure the proud contempt and degrading
+punishments of their insolent oppressors; but we cannot but condemn
+their guilt and rashness in sacrificing, without the remotest
+chance of ultimate success, the lives and happiness of so many of
+their countrymen. I observed, on an island near Fakeer el Bint,
+several fugitives. The Nile forms, between this place and Solib,
+a considerable bend, the distance along the banks, through the
+province of Mahas, being nearly thirty hours’ march of a camel,
+or about seventy miles, and by the desert only twelve hours, or
+thirty miles. We entered the desert at three o’clock. Never have
+I felt such excessive heat; every breath of air is baneful. I tried
+to protect myself from it with a turban and umbrella, and even the
+sheets of my bed were put in requisition. I made an endeavour to
+construct a tent on my dromedary; but my efforts were fruitless,
+the wind being too strong. I felt my mouth dry and parched, and would
+have given even one of my drawings of Meroe for a glass of pure cold
+water; but every drop we had was soon quite warm. Before dark we had
+passed the mountainous and the only soft part of the desert, and at
+midnight we encamped within nine miles of Solib. The rocks are chiefly
+of serpentine, slate, sandstone, and granite, the latter often much
+decomposed: there were also a few fragments of marble scattered about.
+
+_Ruins of Solib.—June_ 4-8. This morning, being anxious to arrive at
+the celebrated Temple of Solib, I started before sunrise, and, pushing
+on my dromedary at a quick pace, I arrived there in two hours. The
+first view of the temple is very imposing; standing proudly at the
+extremity of the desert, the only beacon of civilisation in this
+sea of barrenness. The situation of the temple is as picturesque
+as it is extraordinary. The columns are so distinctly visible,
+that, at a distance, it has almost the appearance of a Grecian
+edifice. On approaching nearer, the effect is changed, but not
+injured; for, though not Grecian, it is of the purest Egyptian
+architecture. I rambled over it for some time, delighted with its
+picturesque appearance: the plan of the temple is also beautiful,
+and the architecture of the most chaste simplicity; but, as an
+antiquarian, I could have wished for more remains of sculpture,
+and tablets with hieroglyphics.
+
+The first grand propylon of the temple is 600 feet from the river; but
+the form and exact dimensions of it are now not distinguishable, being
+entirely ruined, and the materials almost all carried away. From the
+appearance of the rooms, which the reader will observe on a reference
+to the Plan, there seems to have been the same economy of stone in
+constructing of this propylon, which we shall presently observe in
+the second. Behind the first are the remains of two sphinxes. One
+of them is nearly destroyed, but the other is not so much injured
+as to prevent my perceiving that the style of the sculpture has
+been good; but in its present state I did not consider it worth a
+drawing. I observed that the first and second propylons were connected
+together. The Plan (Plate XL.) will show that in front of the second
+there are the remains of two walls, which, no doubt, connected it with
+the first. This is quite in conformity with the general construction
+of Egyptian edifices. A flight of steps, now scarcely distinguishable,
+led up into a court before the second propylon. This court, the
+entrance into which is about 85 feet from the first propylon, is
+70 feet long and 45 feet wide. It was ornamented with six columns,
+the diameter of which is 10 feet; the traces of them only are visible.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 40.
+
+_Drawn by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+TEMPLE OF SOLIB BUILT BY AMENOPH 3.
+
+_London. Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The remains of the second propylon are more considerable. Each wing
+is 78 feet wide; the door in the centre, leading into the temple, 11
+feet wide, making the total width 167 feet. The depth of the propylon
+is 24 feet. It is remarkable, that this propylon is not, like those of
+Egypt, a solid mass of stone, with only staircases, and, occasionally,
+small rooms, but finished, and apparently used for habitations. The
+one here contains three rooms on one side, and two on the other,
+but without doors, and evidently constructed with a view of using
+little stone, as the walls are not hewn smooth. This is an economy of
+material rarely seen in Egyptian edifices. The doorway leading into
+the temple is of the correct Egyptian form, the width of the centre
+part, which is 17 feet long, being 13 feet, and that of the two ends,
+which are each 3 feet long, being, as already mentioned, only 11 feet
+wide. The recesses, thus formed in the centre of the doorways, add
+very much to their architectural beauty. The view from this doorway
+of the next court of the temple is very magnificent. This court is 90
+feet long and 113 wide, and was ornamented with twenty-eight columns,
+a single row on each of the north, south, and east sides, and two
+on the west, being the side opposite to the entrance. There are
+now seven of these columns standing, with the bud-shaped capital. I
+observed a slight difference in their dimensions, but they are of
+the purest Egyptian architecture; their circumference is 19 feet
+4 inches, and intercolumniation 5 feet 5 inches. Few more striking
+views are presented in any part of the valley of the Nile than the
+first entrance from the second propylon into this court.
+
+[Illustration: COLUMNS OF SOLIB.]
+
+Plate XLI. is taken from this point, and will, I trust, give the
+reader a correct idea of the magnificence and exquisite architectural
+beauty of this temple. Five columns appear in this view, detached
+from each other, proud monuments of the power and greatness of the
+Egyptian conqueror Amunoph III., who erected them, and whose name
+and titles are engraved in hieroglyphics on their shafts. They bear
+also the name of the great divinity Amun Ra, to whom the temple
+was dedicated. The remains of many of the columns are lying on the
+ground; the roof is gone; and only one piece of architrave remaining,
+supported by one of the most beautiful and perfect of the columns. The
+architectural form of these columns is more light and elegant than
+almost any specimens of the same kind in Egypt; at the same time
+without losing that character of grandeur and severity, so much in
+unison with its situation. The background to this view (as will be
+seen in the Plate) is the trackless desert,—a vast yellow ocean,
+bounded only by the horizon, without an eminence, or even hillock,
+visible to relieve the eye; and that tide of sand which never ebbs,
+driven on continually by the prevailing strong winds from the north,
+and particularly the north-west, beats against the temple, and daily
+encroaches on its remains. On the east side, at a short distance from
+the ruin, towards the Nile, Isis seems still to extend her protection,
+and a luxuriant and beautiful vegetation flourishes; but on the other
+sides Typhon reigns in gloomy solitude, and the traveller turns with
+delight from the contemplation of the bleak and dreary wilderness,
+to the elegant and magnificent work of art which adorns its margin.
+
+Plate XLII. is a view I made which shows all the seven columns
+which remain in this court.[47] Waddington speaks of the red tints
+of the sandstone: there are a few, but very few, the general colour
+being much whiter than that of any Egyptian or Ethiopian ruin I have
+seen. I was in doubt whether to consider it as arenarious limestone,
+or sandstone; but the specimens I brought to England have been
+decided to be sandstone. The background of this view, consisting of
+the river and distant hills, is very pretty. The view is taken from
+the last existing room; and the reader will perceive to the right,
+in the foreground, the fragment of a column on which is one of the
+representations of prisoners which adorn all the columns of that
+room. The next court is more destroyed; yet there are sufficient
+traces of the columns to show precisely what the plan has been. It
+is of the same width as the last court, and 78 feet long; and was
+ornamented with two rows of columns on the north and south sides,
+and on the east and west with one only; in all, thirty-two. The
+circumference of each is 17 feet; but not one of them is standing.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 41.
+
+_On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+TEMPLE OF AMENOPH III, SOLIB.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The next chamber, which was apparently an intermediate room leading
+to the sanctuaries, contains the remains of twelve columns, of which
+now only one remains perfect. The capital is of a form generally
+considered as Ptolemaic, but we have here authority for calling it
+Egyptian. It represents branches of the palm tree, and near the base
+of these columns there is some interesting sculpture; a number of
+prisoners, represented with their heads and busts resting on turreted
+ovals, containing the names of the countries whence they come; and, to
+signify that they are prisoners, their hands are tied together behind
+their backs, in the usual Egyptian manner, tight above the elbows,
+causing a painful and unnatural projection of the chest. The prisoners
+on the columns on the north side of this room have beards and hair;
+and some, without hair, appear to be old men. Their features are
+fine, and have very little of the Negro cast. On the opposite side,
+the prisoners represented are youths with their hair tied in a knot
+a little below the crown of the head, and hanging down almost to
+their shoulders. These have very much of the Negro features, wide
+nostrils, thick lips, and high cheek-bones. I copied the names of
+thirty-eight of these provinces: the only one I could make out was
+that of Mesopotamia, in hieroglyphics.
+
+On the column in this room which still preserves its capital, is some
+sculpture, in a good style, representing the king presenting offerings
+to Honsoo, with the globe and short horns for a head-dress. The
+remains of the temple extend a hundred feet beyond this room;
+so that the entire length of the edifice must have been about 540
+feet, and the number of columns with which it was adorned, and whose
+situation can now be accurately ascertained, is eighty-four. There
+must, however, have been a greater number; for among the confused
+piles of stone which are stated above as extending a hundred feet
+beyond this room, I found some fragments of columns 3 feet in
+diameter. (Plate XLIII. is taken from this end of the temple.) This
+is also an extremely beautiful point of view; but although not even a
+small stone is omitted, and notwithstanding the temple is so ruined,
+the reader will perceive that there is no excess of shapeless masses
+of stone to spoil the effect of the splendid architectural remains of
+the edifice. The column I have described with the Ptolemaic capital is
+the most prominent object in this view; but the picturesque grouping
+of the columns of the great court is finely exhibited from this point.
+
+On the door leading from the first great court into the second,
+the king is represented with a staff in his hand, addressing Amun
+Ra, who has the usual sceptre of the gods. Above the latter is
+the king presenting offerings to a divinity, the hieroglyphical
+titles of which are not legible; but the wings of the goddess of
+truth are visible. Behind the second propylon, there has been some
+very interesting sculpture, but it is now scarcely perceptible:
+the figures were apparently only one foot high. One piece I copied,
+which had some of the hieroglyphics remaining; but above this I could
+only distinguish the divinities with the attributes of Horus, Thoth,
+Anubis, Osiris, and Amun Ra, to whom the temple is dedicated. This
+sculpture is in basso relievo. It is much to be regretted that
+it is so defaced; for, doubtless, it has been a most interesting
+mythological tablet. Some of the blocks of stone are harder than
+the others, but the greater number are exceedingly soft, doubtless,
+one cause of the ruined state of the temple, and why the sculpture
+is scarcely distinguishable.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 42.
+
+_On stone by C. Hullmandel from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+SOLIB.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The remains of the ancient city extend for a considerable distance
+both towards the north and south. On the bank of the river, 240
+yards farther north than the temple, are the remains of a small pier,
+13 feet high, and 20 feet long; while 200 yards to the north of this
+pier is a projection of stones into the river, thrown in apparently to
+form a port. This has evidently been a city of some importance. Its
+situation, at the commencement of the road across the desert, is
+also deserving of attention. The town was advantageously situated,
+being on the route both of those who followed the banks of the river
+and also of those who crossed the desert.
+
+Ptolemy places the great cataract at 22° 30′; Φθουρι, at 21° 20′;
+a difference of 1° 10′. The real difference of latitude is 1° 27′;
+that is, 17′ more; but Autoba, the town he mentions before Phthouris,
+is stated to be only 54°, that is, 23° less than the ascertained
+difference; and Pistre, which is the next town he mentions after
+Phthouris, is 1° 50′ from the cataract; that is, 23° too far distant.
+We have thus, I think, no other alternative than to suppose this to be
+the site of Phthouris, which, from the magnitude of the ruins, must
+have belonged to a city of great importance, and one that he would not
+have omitted to mention. The Temple of Siscé is probably the site of
+Pistre.
+
+After the pyramids of Meroe, this is decidedly the most interesting
+and magnificent ruin we have seen in Ethiopia; superior to the former,
+perhaps, in picturesque and architectural beauty, but less interesting
+to the antiquarian, as being Egyptian, and not Ethiopian. It is
+worthy of remark, that, with the exceptions of the colossal statues
+of Argo, I have not met with any genuine Ethiopian remains since I
+left Gibel el Birkel. Travellers who extend their tour of the Nile
+to the second cataract, would be amply repaid for their additional
+fatigue, if they visited this temple.
+
+We found, on our arrival at Solib, a number of merchants detained
+there on their way to Dongolah, on account of the insurrection. They
+were delighted to see us arrive, and prepared immediately for their
+departure. They complained bitterly of their long detention and great
+consequent expense. Solib is almost at the extremity of the province
+of Mahas; but, the peasants of this end of the province not having
+taken any part in the revolt, we were comparatively secure, although
+Melek Backeet, their chief, has a house in the neighbourhood. I lived
+under a shed at a short distance from the temple, and remained there
+four days, working almost from sunrise until sunset, regardless of
+the extreme heat. I now required a sheep every day for my caravan,
+which I had some difficulty in procuring, having had repeatedly to
+send across the river. I fortunately provided myself with a large
+stock of bread and biscuit at Dongolah: there is none to be had here.
+
+_June_ 8. At the quick pace of the dromedary, I was twenty minutes
+in going, this evening, from the temple to the village of Solib. It
+is remarkable for the cottages being made, like those of the latter
+in Mahas and Dongolah, of the stalks of the dourah, and branches
+of the palm tree: here, however, the foliage extends considerably
+above the roofs of the huts; and thus not only protects them in some
+degree from the rays of the sun, but gives them a very picturesque
+and graceful appearance. The house of the sheakh of the village is
+fortified with square towers.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 43.
+
+_On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+TEMPLE OF AMENOPH, SOLIB.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+About a mile beyond the village is the rock called Doshe, which,
+projecting into the river, divides the province of Mahas from
+Sukkot. It is of sandstone, and contains traces of iron ore:
+its surface is rugged, and in part blackened by the sun, forming a
+striking contrast to the bright yellow sand which covers the central
+part of the rock. At the eastern end, above the river, is an excavated
+tomb, which contains some traces of sculpture, though now scarcely
+distinguishable. I perceived, from what remains, that it was in a good
+style of basso relievo. There were some ovals, but no hieroglyphics
+on them at all legible. I endeavoured to make out the name, and,
+from the slight fragments remaining, I conceived one to be that of
+Thothmes III., and another that of Osirtisen III., but must confess
+I could not make them out at all satisfactorily.[48] At the end of
+the tomb are the remains of three divinities, seated. The sculpture
+of these does not seem to have been good, but they are so defaced,
+that it is impossible to decide upon the style. On each side of
+the divinities is a niche. The site of this tomb is picturesque,
+commanding a fine prospect of the river. (See vignette.) Above
+it a king is represented making offerings to a divinity with the
+attributes of Kneph, and behind the latter are two other divinities,
+one with a plain helmet, the other a vase on her head. Beneath
+the line containing these subjects is another containing a figure
+kneeling, and a long tablet of hieroglyphics; but the latter are
+so broken and defaced, that only one here and there is legible. On
+the south side of the tomb is a beautiful little piece of sculpture,
+representing a king making offerings to Amun Ra, with the head-dress
+of the globe and short horns; and behind the last is a goddess. The
+name of the king seems to have been broken off designedly, and the
+hieroglyphics are very much defaced.
+
+[Illustration: FROM A TOMB EXCAVATED OUT OF THE ROCK NEAR SOLIB.]
+
+_June_ 8. We left the village of Solib, and province of Mahas,
+at four o’clock, and arrived at the village of Sukkot at six in
+the evening. This is rather a large place, and the residence of the
+katshef. I observed, in passing, four of the fortified houses of
+the sheakhs; the rest of the houses are of mud: there are some few
+of the palm leaves, but not so picturesque as those of the Mahas.
+
+[Illustration: TEMPLE OF SUKKOT.]
+
+[Illustration: TEMPLE OF SUKKOT.]
+
+We stopped to examine some ruins, called by the peasants, Biban. The
+first consists of two fragments of columns, around which are the
+traces of the temple. The plan is Roman-Egyptian, and is rather
+curious, though not good. (See vignette.) Three hundred and fifty
+yards to the north there is another ruined temple. One column is
+standing amid a mass of large stones: it reminded me of the solitary
+column, and the vast masses around it, of the Temple of Hercules at
+Girgenti; but the comparison is very degrading to the great beauty
+of the latter. The capital of this is almost entirely defaced,
+but it has decidedly been a head of Athor. On some of the stones
+I observed fragments of Egyptian ornaments, and the fragment of a
+name, apparently Amunoph III. The column is fluted, but not in the
+usual Egyptian style, being much more flat. Attempts have apparently
+been recently made to throw it down, or break it to pieces, its
+architectural ornaments being quite obliterated. Its circumference is
+12 feet 8 inches. East of the temple is a basalt statue, the sculpture
+of which seems to have been very good, but it is very much injured. On
+the interval between the two temples, and also for 350 yards beyond,
+extending thus over a space of 700 yards, there are traces of the
+city. These may be called the ruins of Sukkot, from their vicinity
+to that village, which is the chief place of the province.
+
+It is very difficult to ascertain what was the ancient name of this
+place. The situation of the ruins agrees better with the position,
+according to Ptolemy, of Phthouris, than Solib; but the insignificance
+of the remains here, compared to the splendid ruins of Solib, prevent
+my imagining it to be that city. It may be one of the many mentioned
+by Pliny, or the Autoba of Ptolemy.
+
+Half an hour after we left this ruin we passed the village of
+Gobetziteen. I observed a large caravan of slave merchants from
+Dongolah, who had left Solib this morning: their numerous fires,
+and the groups seated under the palm trees, were very picturesque,
+presenting effects that even a Gherardo della Notte could scarcely
+have done justice to. They complained of the detention at Dongolah
+having cost them so much. The expense of transporting the slaves
+from Kordofan, or Abyssinia, to Cairo, is very great; the duty alone,
+besides the maintenance, is nearly seven dollars each. They pay duty
+at four different places: at Kordofan, at Dongolah, at Deroueh near
+Assuan, and, lastly, at Boulak near Cairo.
+
+We stopped at the village of Essau, opposite to the Island of Hadji
+Falme. On the latter they tell me that there are antiquities, but all
+broken; and I could not procure a boat to visit them. Being rather
+late of arriving, I found the inhabitants of the village sleeping in
+the open air; the women on the angoureebs, and the men on mats: and,
+I can assure the reader, it is a great enjoyment, in this climate,
+to sleep thus beneath the clear blue sky. About ten o’clock the
+air becomes rather cool, while at midnight and in the morning it is
+comparatively cold: this invigorates the frame, after the enervating
+heat of the day; and, in this climate, there are no fogs or damp to
+dread. It is the only time that I can now enjoy; yet I support the
+heat better than my servants, though accustomed to that of Egypt all
+their lives. We are exposed nearly the whole day to a sun almost
+directly vertical, without a breath of cool air to alleviate our
+sufferings. The wind generally blows from the north, but, instead
+of being refreshing, it is so heated, in passing over the desert,
+that it not only feels oppressive, but dries up the mouth and skin,
+and checks perspiration. The Arabs, under the shade of their palm
+trees, and smoking their pipes, enjoy this hot weather; but the
+unfortunate traveller, exposed to these scorching winds, and to the
+heat reflected from the rocks and sand, has no other respite to his
+sufferings than during the now short nights.
+
+_June_ 9. At Gobetziteen the Island of Sais commences, and extends
+for six hours towards the north. At this season of the year no boat is
+necessary to visit this island, the water which separates it from the
+main land being only deep enough to reach the knees of the camels. It
+contains no remains of Egyptian antiquities. The peasants spoke of
+ruins; but they proved to be some grey granite columns belonging to a
+Christian edifice. They are in the centre of the island, nearly half
+an hour from the river. Each column consists of one piece of granite,
+with a Greek cross on their capitals. They are not very unlike the
+Christian monolithic pillars in the centre of the splendid portico
+of Medenet Abou. There are a great many wells in this island, with
+water-wheels, by means of which a considerable part of the interior is
+irrigated. I had a drawing of these Christian ruins taken by Mr. B.;
+but, not setting much value on it, I have mislaid it. From the number
+of houses the island appears to be populous. An hour beyond Sais,
+and four hours from Essau, we stopped at a small village of five
+huts, called Kasr Towaga, from the brick ruins of a castle of that
+name close adjoining.
+
+The ride this morning was most uninteresting; a slip of uncultivated
+land, narrower than even in the most barren parts of Lower Nubia,
+separating the river from the bleak and dreary desert. In the latter
+I observed several hills of light sand, which a strong wind would
+easily move, to the risk, perhaps, of the unfortunate travellers who
+might happen to be near. These moving masses of sand would baffle
+the efforts of cultivators more advanced in knowledge than the
+Nubians. It is not, therefore, surprising that these unfortunate
+beings consider as useless any attempt to resist so relentless an
+invader. The islands, protected by the river, afford them a refuge
+and support, without which this part of the valley of the Nile would
+soon be abandoned to the gazelles and beasts of prey. Our camels
+often sank up to the knees in sand. I observed on the latter great
+quantities of scarabæi. I have often seen these insects on the
+sand in parts of the desert where it was difficult to conceive how
+they could exist. Perhaps they live on other insects too minute to
+be seen by the naked eye. I once gave a scarabæus a date, and was
+astonished with what avidity he devoured a part of it, till he was
+completely gorged, and apparently half dead.
+
+I observed here a curious thrush, which is also very common near
+Dongolah. One I killed measured nine inches in length, including the
+tail, which is four and a half. The under part of the wings is of
+a light brown colour, and the lower feathers of the tail are edged
+at the extremity with white; otherwise, the plumage is entirely of
+a brownish black. The beak and legs are black; the former is curved.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+KASR TOWAGA. — DIFFICULTY OF CROSSING THE RIVER. — INDOLENCE
+OF THE ARABS. — ARAB SHEAKH. — TEMPLE OF AMARAH. — PRESENT
+INHABITANTS. — WADY EL HADJAR. — FORTIFIED HOUSE ON AN ISLAND
+AT DAHL. — CATARACT OF UCKMA. — BIGOTRY OF THE INHABITANTS. —
+VARIOUS CATARACTS OF THE NILE. — MINERAL SPRING AT TANGOURE. —
+TEMPLES OF SEMNEH, ON THE WESTERN BANK. — CURIOUS MANNER OF CROSSING
+THE RIVER. — TEMPLE OF SEMNEH, ON THE EASTERN BANK. — INSCRIPTIONS
+ON THE ROCKS. — THE ARAB ROBBER ISAH. — SECOND CATARACT OF THE
+NILE. — INDUCEMENTS FOR TRAVELLERS TO EXTEND THEIR JOURNEY BEYOND
+THIS POINT. — COMPARISON BETWEEN VOYAGES IN THE DESERT AND AT SEA.
+
+
+At Kasr Towaga I wished to visit the remains of the Temple of Amarah,
+on the eastern bank; but for several hours I despaired of procuring
+a raft or boat, or any other means of crossing the river. After
+waiting some time, I observed at a distance a Sukkot ferry-boat, and
+immediately offered nine Turkish piastres to an Arab to go for it,
+and the same sum for the boat; and, as the camel-drivers began to be
+mutinous at the idea of being detained another day, I promised them
+a backsheesh of eighteen piastres; but such is the character of the
+Arabs in this country, that, so long as they have enough to procure
+any kind of food, they will seldom exert themselves to procure
+more. They prefer to live miserably, scarcely better than their
+fellow-labourers the camels, rather than to better their condition,
+secure an independence, and a provision against a day of distress.
+
+To increase their possessions, and elevate themselves to a higher
+rank by their activity and frugality, are ideas which never enter
+the minds of these children of destiny. If they earn a little money,
+or if some favour of fortune places unexpectedly in their hands a
+hundred piastres, they more generally spend it in a few nights of
+festivity, and burden themselves with the expense of another wife,
+than reserve it for the day when the fickle goddess may cease to
+befriend them. With what alacrity would a poor European accept the
+offer of 9 piastres (2_s._ 3_d._) to walk two miles for a boat! How
+gladly would a European boatman earn the same sum by merely ferrying
+us across the stream; yet it was more by threats than by this offer
+(although equal to eighteen days’ wages) that I induced one of my
+camel-drivers to go, during the heat of the day, for the boat. As,
+of course, I promised the reward only in case of success, he was
+unwilling to undergo this little fatigue on an uncertainty. My
+firman was also necessary to dispose the boatmen to earn more in
+twenty-four hours than they certainly have gained during the whole
+of the past week.
+
+My camel-drivers were very mutinous when they found me determined
+to pass the night at Amarah: my guide threatened to leave me, but he
+changed his tone when I told him to go, and declared I would not pay
+him. By the present of eighteen piastres, added to certain threats
+of the _korbash_ (whip made of the hide of the hippopotamus), if they
+annoyed me, order was restored. Backsheesh has great influence on the
+Arabs, but without a certain degree of firmness they are sometimes
+difficult to manage.
+
+We crossed the river, landed on the eastern bank, and went to the
+nearest village, called Heber. We found the sheakh and the principal
+inhabitants assembled under the shade of the palm trees. The sheakh,
+a noble-looking fellow, with that dignified gravity which I have
+so often found among the Arabs of this rank, received us with the
+usual attentions; and, in compliance with my request, immediately
+procured us donkeys, and conducted us to the village of Amarah,
+a ride of an hour and a half. The sheakh had a house at Amarah, to
+which he took us, and gave us an excellent supper and angoureebs to
+sleep on, which are very necessary here, on account of the number
+of scorpions. The road between the villages of Heber and Amarah is
+through the desert. I found on it some beautiful specimens of red
+Egyptian jasper and hornstone nodules. We passed a large mountain,
+called Hadjer el Heber, of a very imposing appearance, which we
+had remarked this morning, on the opposite side of the river. It is
+about ten miles distant from the Nile.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF AMARAH.]
+
+The Temple of Amarah is about half an hour’s walk from the village
+of the same name, and is situated between the villages of Heber and
+Amarah, in the desert, to the right of the road we passed. There is
+sufficient remaining of the Temple of Amarah to exhibit the style
+and epoch. The architecture is Ethiopian (see Plan). A gateway,
+19 feet wide, and ornamented with two columns, fragments of which
+are remaining, 3 feet 8 inches in diameter, leads into a room 53
+feet by 30, ornamented with eight columns, also 3 feet 8 inches in
+diameter. Not a fragment of their capitals remains; but a considerable
+portion, covered with sculpture, of each column is standing.
+
+The sculpture on the columns is Ethiopian, but very indifferent,
+and the hieroglyphics so wretchedly executed, and so defaced, that
+it was scarcely possible to decipher any of them. The lowest row
+on the columns represents divinities of the Nile, besides which I
+observed a goddess with the globe, long horns, and two feathers,
+perhaps Koht, another with a plain helmet such as Neith often wears;
+and there is a representation of a king making offerings to Kneph,
+represented with a ram’s head, globe, and two feathers; and also to
+Thriphis, with a tiger’s head; a plain figure of Amun Ra, and the
+same with the figure of a mummy and globe and two feathers: I also
+remarked Honsoo with the globe and short horns. In the centre of the
+columns is a line of hieroglyphics, which I copied as well as their
+ruined condition would permit: they contain some curious titles, and
+the name of a king which is unknown. I conceive the temple to have
+been dedicated to Kneph, as the representations of that divinity are
+more frequent, and in more conspicuous situations, than the others.
+
+The foundations of the temple are of brick, and, for some distance
+around, are scattered fragments of pottery with branches of the palm
+tree painted on them, remains, no doubt, of the ancient city. The
+columns are of sandstone. Plate XLIV. (see Frontispiece) shows two of
+them in detail, and their situation in regard to the Nile, or rather,
+I should say, as the river is not visible, to the palm groves on
+its banks, and will enable the reader to judge of the style of the
+sculpture. Ptolemy places the second cataract in latitude 22° 30′,
+and Berethis, on the eastern bank, 21° 30′. The difference of
+1° agrees very exactly with the distance between the cataract and
+the ruins of Amarah.
+
+The country on this side of the Nile is richly cultivated, and
+the inhabitants bear no appearance of poverty. Notwithstanding the
+heavy taxes which they pay, those who are industrious may easily
+earn sufficient to render them comfortable. I saw about thirty of the
+peasants, who were all particularly clean and well-dressed. A party of
+them were feasting on raw liver. The custom of eating raw kidneys and
+liver is very common south of the second cataract. The same custom is,
+I understand, very general in Syria, and once existed in Scotland. I
+observed here, also, a custom which I had often heard of, but never
+before witnessed. When an Arab loses any near relation, his friends
+are expected to condole with him on his loss, by literally mingling
+their tears with his; for they place their cheeks together, and sigh
+and sob often for ten minutes at a time. This custom in the land of
+crocodiles reminded me of our expression of “crocodile tears.” A
+French merchant, Sheakh Ibrahim, who has often visited these regions,
+was described to me as a perfect Arab; and when I asked why, “Oh,”
+said they, “he eats raw liver, and cries as we do.”
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I saw here a description of guitar, which is very common in Upper
+Nubia, but it may be called the guitar of the Shageea, as that tribe
+possess more beautiful ones than are found elsewhere. They consist,
+as the vignette will show (see vignette), of a circular bowl,
+about nine inches in diameter, of wood, or sometimes of the shell
+of a tortoise of the Nile: this is covered with prepared sheepskin,
+in which are six small holes, marked E. The three sticks B, C, D,
+are generally of acacia; but in Dar Shageea they are sometimes of
+ebony, and ornamented with silver and ivory. There are five cords
+attached to the cross stick C, but they have no pegs, merely folding
+several times round the latter in rather a clumsy manner: they,
+however, manage to tighten them. F is a string to attach it to the
+wall; and G is a plectrum, with which they strike with their right
+hand the cords near the bridge; playing, at the same time, with the
+left. Their music is wild and simple,—little variation in it,—but
+some of their airs are not unpleasing. The reader will perceive, from
+the vignette, that the form is not very unlike that of the Greek lyre.
+
+_June_ 10. We returned at noon from the Temple of Amarah to the
+village of Kasr Towaga; started from the latter place at two in the
+afternoon, and advanced five hours in the desert. The first part of
+this wilderness is desolate and frightful, beyond any I have ever
+seen. After a short space its appearance became still more terrible,
+resembling a sea agitated and driven into the most awful shapes
+by wild winds. For the first few hours the ground was covered with
+pebbles and quartz nodules of various colours. The rocks, which are
+of gneiss, serpentine, and flinty slate, occasionally appear. Four
+hours after starting, we passed a mountain called Hellal, of a
+conical shape, the second we have observed of this form since we
+left Kasr Towaga; and an hour afterwards we encamped in the desert.
+
+_June_ 11. We started at sunrise; and in half an hour entered among
+a chain of granite rocks; fine, bold, roundish masses, having all
+the appearance, at a distance, of being detached and piled on each
+other. In two hours and a half from the time we started, we arrived at
+the Nile, opposite the Island of Dahl. For some time before arriving,
+we observed, on the eastern bank, a fine eminence, which, at one
+point of view, reminded me somewhat of the western mountain of Thebes,
+although smaller, and of a less brilliant colour. The place at which
+we stopped (see vignette) offers one of the most picturesque views
+in the Batn, or Wady el Hadjar, into which we have now entered. The
+Island of Dahl is the principal object: on a picturesque rock, in
+the centre of it, is a fortified castle of a sheakh, the successor,
+perhaps, of one of the forts on the islands represented on the walls
+of Thebes.
+
+[Illustration: ISLAND OF DAHL IN THE WADY EL HADJER.]
+
+The latter part of the small desert I passed this morning was strewed
+with quartz, generally white. The gneiss of which the rocks, at the
+commencement of this little desert, are formed, is soft, friable,
+disposed in strata: there are also rocks of mica slate of a grey
+colour. The granite rocks, at the other extremity, consist almost
+entirely of felspar and quartz; the former predominating, with very
+little mica: the grain is extremely coarse, generally very friable,
+of a pink, but mostly of a grey colour. There were also in this
+desert some rocks of felspar, porphyry, and a great variety of
+granite—tone-granite, syenite, and others.
+
+At two o’clock, we left, with great reluctance, the shade of the
+doum trees, and the enjoyment of one of the most beautiful views in
+the valley of the Nile, to encounter again the horrors of the desert
+and a burning sun. For the first part of our route, the rocks were of
+syenite. The circular summits of these dark red rocks were visible as
+far as our view could reach, rising sometimes in hills, but mostly
+in pyramidal and conical forms. I observed a line of calcareous
+rock about 13 feet broad, almost resembling the foundations of a
+wall, which crossed the road, and extended east and west among the
+granite rocks. This was followed again by the granite; and shortly
+after these was a similar narrow, but less regular, cross of jasper,
+and also one of porphyry. I brought away no specimens of the latter,
+for the masses were large, and difficult to break. Afterwards, we
+had a succession of granite, porphyry, compact felspar, hornblende
+slate, grey gneiss, and serpentine; and the rocks, immediately before
+arriving at the Nile, were of syenite.
+
+We passed this little desert in five hours, with great fatigue to
+the camels and the men on foot, on account of the sand and heat. We
+encamped, for the night, at the small village of Uckma, which consists
+of only eight houses; but I am informed that this is the name of the
+district, as there are two other little villages, one on the opposite
+side of the river, and the other on the island, which bear the same
+name. My servants, or, rather, my guide and camel-drivers, made us
+pass for Turks; saying, that the peasants of this district were so
+bigoted, that, if they knew us to be Christians, no consideration
+would induce them to supply us with either milk or meat for ourselves,
+or straw for our camels. The noise of the cataract here is very fine.
+
+_June_ 12. A curious circumstance happened to me last night. I
+am rather attached to a pretty little capuchin monkey which
+I received from the Governor of Berber, and which (an unusual
+circumstance with these animals) shows some little gratitude for my
+attentions. Several times it has escaped among the acacias of the
+desert; but, notwithstanding the temptation of the gum, it never
+attempted to run away when I went for it myself. I was anxious that
+it should not share the fate of my Dongolah greyhound, and die of
+fatigue. Having taught it to be clean, and being unwilling to trust
+it to my servants, I carried it always on my own camel, to shelter
+it from the sun; and as the poor little animal suffered exceedingly
+from the cold at night, I allowed it to sleep under the margin of
+the covering of my divan. For some nights past it had got into the
+habit of laying its head on the corner of my cushion, and, amused at
+this manœuvre, I indulged it; but the ticking of my watch always
+annoyed it, and several times it had attempted to take it away;
+but, aware of this antipathy, and the mischievous propensities
+of the race, I always wore my chain around my neck. Last night,
+when in bed, I looked at the watch, which was a hunting one, and
+having broken the hinge of the gold covering of the face, omitted,
+I presume, to fasten it with the spring. This morning, on being
+called, I looked, as usual, at my watch, and found that this piece
+was missing. I immediately cast my eyes on the monkey, and saw,
+by its fluttering and leaping about, and the ruffling of its skin,
+which always takes place when it is afraid, that it was the culprit;
+yet all my efforts to find the covering were useless. My bed was on
+the sand of the desert, in which, no doubt, the animal, on seeing
+it loose, had buried it deep, thinking, by that means, to get rid
+of its nightly annoyance, or, perhaps, from its usual instinct of
+taking every opportunity to do mischief.
+
+We set out an hour before sunrise, and, crossing a short but
+heavy sandy desert, arrived, in two hours, at Lamulay. The rocks,
+at starting, were of gneiss, but there occurred afterwards some of
+serpentine and grey granite; and I observed some of quartz, and very
+small particles of the latter disseminated over the sand. There is a
+cataract at Lamulay, but it is not so loud as the one we heard last
+night, at Uckma. The view is very fine at this part. We were two
+hours in going from Lamulay to Tangoure. The rocks were chiefly of
+two descriptions of quartz. We came then to another cataract, making
+the sixth from Dongolah:—the first at Hannek; the second at Kouki;
+the third at Dahl; the fourth at Uckma; the fifth at Lamulay; and the
+sixth at Tangoure. All these may be passed without much difficulty
+for about six weeks or two months in the year; but at this season no
+description of boats could pass. Between the above-mentioned places
+the river and the rocks on the opposite side make so many bends,
+first east and afterwards north-west, that our roads, across the
+little deserts, on the west side might often be considered as the
+strings of a bow. On the eastern side of the river there seems to
+be a continued range of picturesque rocks. We miss, I fear, much
+fine scenery in not being able to follow closely the bank.
+
+Two hours north of Tangoure there is said to be a spring of mineral
+water, about 100 yards from the river, which flows in small quantities
+out of the rock into an ancient reservoir, and is described as so
+hot that the vapour will answer for a bath. I regretted much not
+being able to visit it, but I must have gone on foot, and, being
+to-day far from well, could not have endured the excessive heat;
+but I have this information not only from the natives, but also
+from Monsieur M., at Dongolah, who had visited it. We started from
+Tangoure this afternoon, at half past two, and, after five hours’
+march, halted in the desert for the night. The rocks are of granite,
+serpentine, porphyry schist, and quartz. Strata of these minerals
+occurred, sometimes alternately, every few minutes.
+
+_June_ 13. Whenever there are antiquities to be seen, I care not
+how little sleep I take. I had my men up soon after midnight, and
+in three hours we arrived, as the sun was rising, at the Temple of
+Semneh. This temple is more remarkable for its situation than for
+architectural beauty. It consists of a single narrow room 28 feet
+by 10 feet, with a plain façade, in the centre of which is the
+entrance. The exterior sides of this room are ornamented with square
+pillars, and one polygonal column. The temple faces the south, which
+is singular, particularly for an edifice constructed by an Egyptian
+king. On the eastern side are three square pillars standing entire,
+and the base of another; and on the western one column, one square
+pillar, and the base of a third. The view shows this side, and also
+the façade of the temple. The pillars sustain blocks of stone,
+that is, architraves, which still remain, projecting about one foot
+beyond the columns. I thought, at first, from this projection, that
+they might have extended to other walls; in which case the edifice
+would have some resemblance to the sanctuary in the small temple
+at Medenet Abou; but, from there being no remains to support this
+supposition, and also from the projection being very small, and,
+I might say, the architrave’s extending so far beyond the centre
+of the column, I conceive that the temple has never been finished,
+and the architraves hewn to the size of the columns.
+
+[Illustration: TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.]
+
+The interior and exterior of the walls of this little temple are
+covered with sculpture and hieroglyphics; but, unfortunately, in some
+parts, rather defaced. Over the entrance, the king is represented
+on his knees making offerings to Kneph. The original sculpture of
+part of the façade of the temple has been defaced to make room
+for a more modern work, and for a long tablet of hieroglyphics,
+which I copied. The sculpture, from its style, is certainly Roman;
+the figures not well drawn, and the hieroglyphics wretchedly executed:
+the subject represents a woman, with a lotus flower, making offerings
+to a divinity with the head-dress of the horns and two feathers. The
+hieroglyphics and sculpture of every other part of the temple are in a
+good style. The name and titles of Thothmes III., Sun, Establisher of
+the World, is executed in intaglio on the column and square pillars,
+and the same name in basso relievo is every where visible on the
+walls. In the interior of the temple the same subject is repeated
+four times, but in only one instance is very distinguishable. (See
+Plate LI.) The king, Thothmes III., is represented making offerings
+to his ancestor Osirtesen, seated as a divinity in the boat of the
+sun, with the crook and lash of Osiris in his hands.
+
+Before Osirtesen are four standards, one with a representation
+of the ibis, emblematical, no doubt, of Thoth: the others are not
+visible. These standards are supported by arms emanating from the
+cross of life, and the sceptres of the divinities; emblematical, I
+conceive, of their being the standards of the gods, perhaps of the
+divinities of Amenti, Thoth, Horus, and Anubis. One is of Thoth,
+evidently, from the ibis; the others are defaced. The reader will
+observe how different this style of sculpture (see Plate LI.),
+which is the best Egyptian, is to the Ethiopian (see Plate X.). They
+have evidently had a common origin; but there is a marked difference
+in the execution. On the western side of the exterior of the temple
+the king is represented making offerings to different divinities,
+principally Kneph. I copied all the hieroglyphic inscriptions. The
+hieroglyphics on the columns and pillars are merely the names of
+Thothmes. The column which I have stated as polygonal has a base
+and a square slab for its capital.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 51.
+
+_From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+SCULPTURE IN THE TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+In the interior of the temple is the fragment of a statue of
+Osiris, badly executed: the head is wanting, and on the breast is
+the crook and lash. I conceive the style to be Egyptian Roman. It
+is very probable that this temple, originally dedicated to Kneph,
+was afterwards, in the more corrupt Roman age, appropriated to the
+peculiar worship of Osiris. This edifice (see Plan) is in a large
+irregular brick inclosure, the walls of which are generally seven to
+eight feet thick: this is not of Egyptian, but apparently of Roman,
+construction. In some parts masses of brick project from the wall,
+perhaps to support them; their ruined state makes it impossible to
+decide certainly, but I am inclined to believe them to be entrances.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF RUINS.]
+
+I went to examine the pass or cataract of Semneh, which I had some
+difficulty in reaching, having to climb for a considerable space over
+the granite rocks. The latter are generally rose-coloured, extremely
+hard; but there are some rocks of basalt shining like black lead, and
+I observed light thin strata of quartz. The width of this channel,
+the only one the Nile passes through, when it is low, I found to
+be a stone-cast. The river rushes through with great rapidity, so
+that I could not cross here from the number of vortices caused by
+the excessive force and velocity of the current.
+
+_June_ 14. Wishing to pass over the river to the temple on the
+opposite side, I commissioned the sheakh to collect the inhabitants,
+and make me some kind of boat. This morning, at eleven o’clock,
+he came to inform me that a raft was ready, and men to steer it. My
+Arabs having taken the camels and dromedaries to pasture at a distance
+from the temple, I was obliged to set out on foot, and, after walking
+three quarters of an hour, amid severe heat, I arrived at the place
+where they intended to cross, fully two miles south of the pass or
+cataract. The river in this part is about a third of a mile wide,
+and, except in one or two places, where the current is rather strong,
+it was scarcely ruffled. The peasants had constructed two rafts, one
+for ourselves, the other for the servants. They were simply trunks
+of the acacia lashed together, on which they placed dourah for us
+to sit on. All the inhabitants of the country were collected to see
+the expedition. Ten or twelve men, some on geerbahs (water-skins),
+others on pieces of wood, supported and conducted each raft, two
+or three on each side, and four behind, pushing it along. Doubting
+the security of the boat, I had taken the precaution to take off
+my clothes, and fasten them on my head, like the Arabs. This was
+fortunate; for the dourah straw was soon saturated with water.
+
+Nothing could be more picturesque than the boats and their
+conductors. The Arabs had all their clothes tied on their heads,
+and they carried their charms, arms, knives, swords and spears,
+fastened in the same manner. Shouting and singing, they pushed us
+across very cleverly: the only difficulty was in passing the parts
+where the current was strong. We had also some little fear of the
+crocodiles. Three Turks shot two in this very place only two months
+ago, and yesterday we saw one on the shore. The peasants at first
+refused to take us across for this reason, but the promise of a few
+piastres more, and the use of my firman, silenced their fears. I
+did not myself conceive that there was the slightest real danger on
+this account, as I have observed that the crocodile invariably flies
+from boats or any number of persons together. After landing we had
+another three quarters of an hour of fatiguing walk to the temple on
+the eastern side, which (see General View) is almost exactly opposite
+the other. Some parts of our road was over low burning sand-hills,
+in which we sunk at each step up to our ankles; the heat excessive
+under a directly vertical sun.
+
+[Illustration: TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.]
+
+_Temple at Semneh. East side of the river._—In the first chamber
+of this temple the door-posts of the entrance remain, and also
+two polygonal columns without their capitals, and two square
+pillars. (See vignette.) The lateral walls seem to have joined the
+latter; both the square pillars and columns were ornamented with
+hieroglyphics, of which the names of Thothmes III. are now only
+distinguishable. The names, however, of Amunoph III. and Thothmes
+II. occur in this temple. The entrance into the next room is filled
+with rubbish up to the architrave; the latter is ornamented with
+the winged globe, and a dedicatory tablet of hieroglyphics. There is
+also another door to the right of this, leading into the interior,
+with a similar tablet on the architrave. The walls were decorated
+with sculpture in a good style, but now much defaced. In one place I
+distinguished the head of Kneph, and elsewhere the same god receiving
+splendid offerings of vases, fruits, &c. from the King Thothmes,
+sun, establisher of the world. In another part, the king, with the
+head-dress of the small globe, two feathers, and horns, is receiving
+the cross of life from a divinity with a beard and no head-dress,
+perhaps Amun Ra. Behind this latter figure is the god Kneph again,
+with his usual attributes of the ram’s head and horns.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.]
+
+These two entrances lead into a long gallery full of sand and
+rubbish. I excavated below the level of the centre doorway into the
+gallery, but it is singular that I could discover no entrance into the
+sanctuary of the temple corresponding with it. The only one I found
+is on the right side. There are three other rooms, one containing
+a column. I believe they are marked accurately in the above Plan;
+but, to ascertain very correctly how they are connected, would have
+required more extensive excavations than my time permitted, nor did
+I think it worth any sacrifice, for the plan is evidently bad. The
+sculpture of these rooms is almost buried in the sand. There are
+slight traces of colour remaining. At a short distance south-east
+of the temple, on the granite rocks, are some hieroglyphical
+inscriptions, but very rudely executed. I copied five that were
+legible; they contain the names of Thothmes III. and Amunoph III.
+
+These rocks are interesting as the last hiding-place of the Arab
+robber, Isah; and it was in this neighbourhood that daring brigand
+finally met his fate. Isah was a sheakh of the Kababeesh tribe. A
+katshef, near his residence, having threatened him with the bastinado,
+unless he submitted to some exorbitant demand, he preferred abandoning
+his domestic happiness, and the peace and quiet of agricultural life,
+to such galling and vexatious tyranny. He fled into the fastnesses
+of the desert, and there, with a few chosen followers, bade defiance
+to the Pasha’s power. He infested the caravan road from Korosko
+to Abouhammed; and the Dilet el Doum, or the Valley of the Shade of
+the Doums, was his favourite resort. He was the terror of all the
+caravans, like the lion of the desert; only allowing them to pass
+when they had satisfied his demand: but it was against the government
+that he was most active, plundering their caravans laden with grain
+and other produce received as taxes, and seizing the numerous herds
+of cattle which are sent down to Cairo every year, the spoil of the
+war on the Bahr el Abiad and the Azruk. He sometimes also succeeded
+in seizing the supplies of ammunition and arms from Cairo; but, what
+was very annoying to the Turkish governors, he frequently seized the
+caravans bringing them supplies of tobacco, coffee, sugar, and other
+luxuries. For five years this daring outlaw eluded every attempt to
+seize him. The governors made the most strenuous efforts to obtain
+his head, and the Pasha engaged the Ababde to hunt him from the
+great Nubian desert. His troop generally consisted of about twenty;
+and when, for any important expedition, he required a greater force,
+Arabs were never wanting to plunder the Turkish caravans. Most of the
+sheakhs have an immense number of relations; often every individual
+in their village is a connection; and when their chief is in peril,
+or requires their services, they consider themselves bound to rally
+around his standard, at whatever sacrifice or hazard. His wife,
+like Rob Roy’s, shared her husband’s dangers; and his daughter,
+Enour, is said to have had as stout a heart as her father, and as
+much address in throwing the lance as any Arab of her tribe. For
+five years they shared the perils of this bold brigand; but at
+last Isah, driven out of the Ababde desert, was betrayed by an Arab
+sheakh of this neighbourhood, who professed to be his friend. This
+man, either from fear of the Pasha’s anger, or in the hope of
+obtaining additional power and wealth by such an essential service,
+conducted a company of soldiers to the valley where he was secreted,
+and Isah, while sleeping under the shade of a rock, was shot dead. His
+death was instantaneous, for it is said that twenty bullets entered
+his body. His followers fled; but the fidelity of one of them was
+ultimately rewarded with the hand of his daughter, Enour.
+
+I returned to the ruin on the western bank by the same route, but
+having passed the river, I fortunately found a donkey, which, though
+a poor one, afforded me some assistance in ascending to the temple.
+
+These edifices are not remarkable for their architecture; but
+nothing can be finer than their situation. They are in sight of,
+and almost opposite to, each other, on eminences commanding one of
+the finest views in the Batn el Hadjar. This view has been compared
+by some travellers to Tivoli; but, besides other dissimilarities,
+there is here no ugly, ill-built, dirty, modern town, that detracts
+from the beautiful situation of the antiquities. The prospects
+near the western temple are very magnificent; Signor B.’s view,
+Plate XLV., will give a just idea of the country: but the magical
+effect of the desert, contrasted with the surrounding scenery,
+can be but imperfectly conveyed to the reader’s mind, without a
+view coloured, as this was, on the spot, exhibiting faithfully the
+different tints. I regret not being able to publish the numerous
+views as they were coloured on the spot by Signor B.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 45.
+
+_On stone by W. P. Sherlock from a Drawing by L. Bandoni._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+RUINS OF SEMNEH, on the East & West Sides of the River.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+The peasants here are of a dark-brown complexion, and wear their
+hair bushy, but less so than the Ababde. They are poor, but have
+the character of being honest. Some of them understand and speak
+the Arabic, but the language of the country is the Nubian.
+
+_June_ 15. We started for Wady Halfah, and, after six hours, halted
+for the night in the desert. The rocks are of serpentine and granite:
+this desert consists of immense plains covered with sand-hills,
+and is quite different from the last we passed over, not being so
+wild and dreary.
+
+_June_ 16. We started three hours before day, and pushing on our
+dromedaries, arrived at sunrise at the second cataract. According to
+the practice of almost every traveller who visits the valley of the
+Nile, I had made this the limit of my first journey, performed in
+1832; but I was not then half so much astonished at the peculiarity
+and magnificence of this scene. I did not see it at so favourable a
+season, and, perhaps, I appreciate it the more from the delight I feel
+that, although I have still a voyage of nearly 1000 miles before I
+reach Alexandria, my fatigues may now be considered nearly finished,
+as this day I change the slow and tiresome pace of the caravan for
+the comparatively luxurious cangia. The effect of the rising sun on
+the black shining basaltic rocks which project into the river, forming
+innumerable islands, is very striking, and the picturesque beauty of
+some of these is heightened by the curious contrast with the stripes
+of light yellow sand which are mixed with them. These little rocky
+islands, impeding and compressing the current, increase tenfold its
+force; and the white foaming river, dashing over the rocks, makes
+the colour of the dark shining basalt still more remarkable, while
+the roar of its waters animates the scene. There is also a striking
+contrast of the black basalt with the white calcareous rock, tinted
+with red and other hues, which forms the foreground. The beauty of
+the scene, although peculiar, is not diminished by this contrast,
+any more than the often lovely form of the dark Abyssinian girl is
+disfigured by the snow-white veil which covers her.
+
+I have seen the beauties of the Alps, the Apennines, Arcadia,
+and the Pyrenees; I have surveyed the lakes of Bavaria, England,
+Italy, Scotland, and Switzerland; I have followed the Rhine from
+Schaffhausen to the sea, and sailed on the Danube, the Rhone, and
+many other rivers; but I must confess I never was more moved by
+any view than this. I mean not to compare it to the landscapes of
+Europe for magnificence, or what is generally considered picturesque
+effect. This is a view of an extraordinary and peculiar kind;
+for, besides the singularities of the landscape already described,
+there are associations connected with it which cannot but excite the
+traveller. The very solitude of the scene, where no habitation of
+man is visible;—the extent of the view beyond the cataract, along
+an immense desert of yellow sand, extending over the vast continent
+of Africa;—then the river, forcing its passage through the rocks,
+that threaten to stop the progress by which it carries to thousands,
+and even millions, the means of subsistence;—and shall I say
+nothing of the mystery which hangs over it? On its banks, perhaps,
+first flourished the arts; its source is hidden in impenetrable
+obscurity, as is also the greater part of the historical events
+which the bordering countries have witnessed. The effect of the
+rising sun gives a magical lustre to the rocks, extremely difficult,
+if not impossible, to exhibit in a drawing. I made a camera lucida
+outline of it, and Signor B. made a drawing in colours of the peculiar
+tints and effects. When the Nile is high, it is more picturesque,
+as, of course, there are then more islands.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 50.
+
+_On stone by C. Hullmandel from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+2D. CATARACT OF THE NILE.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+Numerous names of travellers are engraved on the calcareous rock;
+this place being, as I have said, almost always the limit of their
+voyage. Some few make an excursion into the Batn el Hadjar; but
+fatigued with the first two or three days’ journey on camels,
+they seldom proceed beyond Semneh, and still more rarely, if ever,
+extend their journey to Solib, one of the most magnificent ruins
+in the valley of the Nile. The extreme heat of these climates,
+particularly during this season, is certainly trying to European
+constitutions. As far as the second cataract, travellers visit the
+antiquities, comparatively speaking, without any fatigue; in their
+boats they suffer little from the heat, and they have seldom any
+distance to walk, as all the ruins are on the banks. I, however,
+strongly recommend those who are really fond of antiquities, and
+are possessed of a good constitution, to complete their tour of the
+Nile. Travellers visit with great fatigue the sites of Sparta, Troy,
+and even Carthage, where there are no monuments to recompense the
+toil. It is true that the recollections recalled by such scenes must
+amply indemnify us; but in the Island of Meroe we have splendid and
+most interesting works of art, an infinity of sepulchres, which,
+from their number and extremely elegant architecture, could only
+have belonged to the metropolis of that ancient kingdom: and what
+more thrilling, exciting association could the traveller desire,
+than the circumstance that in that region the arts had their origin?
+
+The antiquities of the Island of Meroe, as will have been seen, are
+not the only remains to indemnify the traveller for his fatigues. The
+interesting site of Gibel el Birkel, with its extensive, picturesque,
+and curious monuments; the pyramids of Nouri, the colossal statues
+of Argo, and the temples of Solib and Semneh, are all interesting
+in the extreme; and, besides the antiquities, the traveller cannot
+but be interested in the manners and customs of a people who have
+not yet adopted those of their conquerors. A knowledge of the desert
+life, and the different tribes of Arabs, is only to be acquired by
+a journey of this description through their different districts.
+
+Some of the views of the desert are, to those unaccustomed to them,
+somewhat appalling,—boundless oceans of sand; rocks affording little
+or no shade to the traveller, and covered, sometimes, with hills of
+light sand, which appear to want only a storm to put them in motion;
+and it is a dreadful sight to see the road strewed with the bodies
+of men and animals, victims of the scorching clime and great fatigue.
+
+Often, when the wind has covered with sand the traces of former
+caravans, we have no other beacon than the small piles of stones
+which the Arabs occasionally erect on the eminences; but an almost
+infallible guide to our steps is afforded by the bones which lie
+bleaching on the road. Yet this is the dark side of the picture:
+the desert life has its charms, which are only enhanced by these
+dangers. We are there independent, perfectly free from the restraints
+of the world, and those passions which agitate man in society.
+
+All feel a pleasure in gazing on the ocean, and (when well) in sailing
+on its bosom; but the desert life is still more delightful. I feel
+it difficult to analyse this sentiment, and yet I strongly feel
+it. At sea we are mere passengers; we take no share in avoiding the
+dangers which threaten us; our powers are not called into action;
+we feel a certain excitement, but, of course, less than the captain
+and sailors, on whom all depends: and is not this a reason why the
+latter are so attached to that kind of life, notwithstanding the
+numerous and severe hardships which they have to undergo?
+
+The traveller in the desert is, to a certain degree, similarly
+situated. As head of the caravan, its safety depends mainly on the
+prudential measures which he adopts. Appointing a guard in case
+of danger, encamping in a judicious situation in case of a storm,
+attention to secure a supply of water, and to prevent the Arabs from
+consuming, as they would willingly do, two days’ portion in one
+day, are cares which keep his mind constantly occupied. A judicious
+choice of camels, drivers, and servants; a just distribution of
+their labour, and attention to their maintenance, lessen the chance
+of being detained by illness.
+
+Well supplied with rice, good biscuit, and meat, the traveller may
+live tolerably well, even in the deserts. Since I left Thebes, four
+months and a half ago, I have passed two deserts of eight days each,
+and many small ones, and generally been in a miserable country, yet
+I have only been one day without fresh meat, and that by accident. To
+court privations is as great folly as to fear them when they arrive,
+and not submit to them cheerfully when requisite. I am certain that
+wine and spirituous liquors are injurious in this climate. During the
+whole of this journey water has been my only beverage; and, on the
+whole, I have enjoyed very tolerable health, considering the excessive
+heat, and the many annoyances and delays, still more injurious in
+this climate than the fatiguing pace of the camel. The desert life
+has also another charm; it is gratifying to see how, when treated
+as men, the Arabs become attached to you. If they have any quarrel
+between each other, a word from the traveller makes them silent.
+
+At sea, it is a pleasure to observe the colour and motion of
+the waters; to see the dolphins playing at the ship’s head;
+and sometimes, as in the Mediterranean, the surface of the waters
+animated by their singular forms. The Nile has its crocodiles and
+hippopotami; every desert also presents something new,—lions,
+panthers, hyenas, wolves, serpents, gazelles, antelopes, giraffes,
+ostriches, guinea-fowls, wild asses, zebras, &c. The traveller
+may have seen all these in menageries in Europe; it is, however,
+a great pleasure to see or hear them in their native haunts. The
+deserts have also a great charm for the traveller who has any taste
+for mineralogy, then each rock, each pebble, each step, I may say,
+is interesting. During a sea voyage, we read, and scarcely look at
+the water once a day: in the deserts, on the contrary, our attention
+is continually occupied by the transition of rocks, their formation,
+the minerals which are disseminated on, and mixed with, the sand.
+
+At sea, it is a pleasure to meet another vessel, to hail her, and
+demand where she is from, and to what port she is bound; and we often
+experience delight at finding the passing crew to be countrymen,
+perhaps relations, or friends: but what pen can describe the meeting
+of a caravan in the desert? Brothers, who have not seen each other
+for months, and even years, often meet thus, by accident. The caravan
+never stops; they have, therefore, only a few moments, and they must
+part again, and run after their camels. Their hands locked together,
+they inquire after each other’s health, and after that of their
+friends. Travellers laugh at the repeated “_Taip een salamat, taip
+een salamat_,” of the Arabs. “How do you do?—Good morning! How
+do you do?—Good morning!” repeated twenty times; and “_Taip een
+abouk? taip een ahouk? taip een omek?_” “How is your father? How
+is your brother? How is your mother?” &c. always repeating the _taip
+een?_ “how is?” to each person that they name. The indifference
+with which the Fellaheen, who see each other daily, go through
+this ceremony, may seem rather ridiculous; but in the deserts, as I
+have seen them sometimes, even with tears starting from their eyes,
+affection could not dictate a stronger and more appropriate manner
+of inquiring rapidly, but particularly and separately, after each
+relation and friend who is dear to them. Frequently have I observed
+my Arabs meeting with their friends of other tribes, and even of their
+own district or village, and witnessed the pure and natural joy which
+illuminated their countenances; friends who have travelled together,
+shared the same toils, the same dangers—companions of their youth,
+of their early voyages, who have not seen each other for years,
+meet in the solitudes of the wilderness, but for a moment only, and
+the same period may elapse before they again see each other. Let
+it not be supposed that, in the interior of Africa, the natives,
+although ignorant and uncultivated, are destitute of honest affection.
+
+It is, however, true, that sometimes in the desert we trace those
+violent passions and habits which generally characterise the wandering
+tribes of Central Africa. The Bishareen, and others, often plunder
+the caravans; and tribes occasionally meet between whom there have
+been constant feuds. Under the strong government of the Pasha, they
+now seldom make use of their arms; but they exchange no salutes:
+their silent manner of passing each other, the knitted brow, and
+involuntary firmer grasp of their spears and swords, evince the
+deadly hatred which still lurks secretly in their breasts.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIX.
+
+                       ON THE HISTORY OF MEROE.
+
+OBSCURITY OF HER ANNALS. — HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS NECESSARY
+TO RENDER A COUNTRY INTERESTING. — WORKS OF ART HISTORICAL
+DOCUMENTS. — LAPIDARY INSCRIPTIONS. — AMUNOPH III. — MEMNON,
+KING OF ETHIOPIA. — EXPEDITION OF SEMIRAMIS, QUEEN OF ASSYRIA,
+INTO ETHIOPIA. — ETHIOPIANS IN THE ARMY OF SHISHAK MARCHED TO
+JERUSALEM. — THE SUKKIIMS OF SCRIPTURE. — EXPEDITION OF ZERAH,
+THE ETHIOPIAN KING OF THE BIBLE, AND HIS DEFEAT BY THE TRIBES OF
+JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. — THE ETHIOPIAN DYNASTY OF KINGS WHO REIGNED
+OVER EGYPT. — THE TESTIMONY OF THE HISTORIANS PROVED BY LAPIDARY
+INSCRIPTIONS. — THE NAME OF TIRHAKA, KING OF ETHIOPIA, WHO
+DEFEATED SENNACHERIB, KING OF ASSYRIA, FOUND BOTH ON THE MONUMENTS
+OF EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA. — THE NAMES AND TITLES OF THIS DYNASTY OF
+KINGS. — ACCORDANCE OF THE SCRIPTURAL, MONUMENTAL, AND HISTORICAL
+EVIDENCES. — THE SETHOS OF HERODOTUS, THE TIRHAKA OF SCRIPTURE,
+AND OF THE MONUMENTS. — THE SUA, KING OF EGYPT OF THE BIBLE,
+THE SEVECHUS OF MANETHO, AND THE SHABATOK OF THE MONUMENTS.
+
+
+The Island of Meroe is a classic region, whose name is familiar to
+almost every reader, as the cradle of arts and civilisation. The
+Nile was the source of her prosperity, and an object of adoration
+to the ancient, and even to the present inhabitants[49]; yet most
+of the great events which have given celebrity to the countries on
+its banks, are lost in impenetrable obscurity. The names even of the
+kings under whom she rose to such a height of greatness and power
+are almost wholly unknown. So scanty are the materials which can
+be found in the ancient writings and on the monuments, that it is
+almost an act of presumption to attempt, in the slightest degree,
+to penetrate the veil which envelopes her history.
+
+Professor Rosellini, in his extensive and admirable work on the
+antiquities of Egypt, has made many valuable observations on the
+dynasty of Ethiopian kings who reigned in that country, which have
+facilitated my researches; and I gladly testify, that the ruins in
+Ethiopia, in many instances, confirm the conclusions which that
+learned traveller drew from his examination of the monuments of
+Egypt. Availing myself of the inquiries of the learned Italian, I
+shall also put together the most important fragments contained in
+history, and the valuable lapidary inscriptions I have been able
+to copy from the antiquities. A country is always interesting,
+to which we feel ourselves indebted for inventions from which we
+now derive any important benefit; and as a nation thus rises in
+our estimation, we become anxious to form an acquaintance with
+its historical records. There is a charm even in its name, when it
+recalls to our memory heroic deeds and other important associations.
+
+It is not merely the wonders of art, surprising as they are, which
+enchant the traveller at Rome and Athens. It is not the vast pile
+of the Coliseum, the triumphal arches and temples in the Forum, the
+exquisitely chaste architecture of the Temple of Theseus and of the
+edifices on the Acropolis, but the crowd of thrilling recollections
+of the heroism, genius, philosophy, and art, by which these scenes
+were illustrated, that render them for ever classic and hallowed
+in our eyes. Had there been no records of the history of Athens,
+we should have wanted no other evidence of her civilisation and
+knowledge than the splendid architectural monuments with which her
+site is adorned. The Parthenon itself speaks volumes, and the most
+eloquent pages of her greatest historians do not bear more conclusive
+testimony to her civilisation, than the treasures of Grecian art and
+taste in the museums of Europe. Had all the written records of her
+valour and patriotism perished, our knowledge of Athens would have
+been very nearly what it now is in regard to Ethiopia. The labours
+of the historians of her land are lost; the brilliant deeds which
+adorned her annals are enveloped in a cloud of mystery. The history
+of her neighbours affords only a few scanty gleams, sufficient to
+make us deplore the general darkness. So changed is the kingdom of
+Meroe from what it must once have been, that I myself should have
+almost doubted the short but important passages preserved in the
+Greek and Latin authors, were they not triumphantly confirmed by
+the monuments existing at Meroe and Gibel el Birkel.
+
+The reader will, I trust, find in this and the following chapters,
+that Ethiopia was not unjustly celebrated for civilisation, and as the
+birth-place of many arts which now contribute highly to our welfare
+and enjoyment; and the few fragments we have been enabled to glean
+will prove that she had also her kings and heroes, and that her
+history was diversified by the usual vicissitudes of triumphs and
+reverses. I am obliged to refrain from publishing, on the present
+occasion, all the names of the kings and inscriptions which I found
+on the edifices of Meroe, Gibel el Birkel, Solib, Semneh, Toumbos,
+and Amarah.
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 53.
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._
+
+GREAT TEMPLE, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._]
+
+[Illustration: Pl. 54.
+
+_Inscriptions at Meroe._
+
+_Inscriptions at Gibel el Birkel._
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._
+
+_Printed by C. Hullmandel._]
+
+For the benefit of the learned, who peculiarly apply themselves to
+this study, I give, however, a few of those inscriptions, which,
+mutilated and imperfect as some of them are, the initiated in the
+recent discoveries in hieroglyphics will immediately perceive to be
+of the greatest importance, as the earliest undoubted records of
+Ethiopian history. The inscriptions in Plates LII. and LIII., the
+hieroglyphics of the Plates X. XI. and XII. of sculpture of Meroe, and
+also many I am unable to publish, are curious, not only for the names,
+but for the singular titles which they contain, for the mythology,
+the variations in the appellations of the divinities, the names of
+places, and other valuable historical matter.[50] Many scientific
+men have urged me to publish the whole of these inscriptions; and
+Signor Rosellini informed me that he should add another volume to his
+work from these materials. I hope this able writer will not forget
+his promise, and will excuse my employing it as an apology for not
+undertaking the interpretation of any portion of them myself; as such
+an attempt, on my part, would only be unsatisfactory to the learned,
+and tiresome to the general reader.
+
+
+  “Non nostrum tantas componere lites.”
+
+
+The monuments of Egypt afford historical evidence of the wars between
+that country and Ethiopia, during the 18th dynasty; that is, from
+about the 13th to the 16th century before Christ. In the topographical
+description I stated that the temples of Semneh were built by the
+Egyptian king Thothmes III. I have been told that scarabæi have been
+found, with the name of this king, opposite Gibel el Birkel.[51]
+Amunoph III., the Memnon of the Greeks, has also left, as a monument
+of his victories still farther in Ethiopia, the splendid Temple of
+Solib. I thought, at first, that this was the Amunoph mentioned by
+Josephus, who, at the second invasion of the Shepherds, took refuge
+in Ethiopia until he had collected an army, and his son Sethos, or
+Rameses, was of a sufficient age to lead it against the insurgents:
+but both Eusebius and Africanus agree in calling Sethos the first king
+of the 19th dynasty: therefore, as the Temple of Solib bears the name
+of Amunoph, with the prænomen of Ⲣⲏ-ⲛⲉⲃ-ⲛⲧⲙⲉ, “Sun, Lord of Truth,” it
+is of the eighth king of the 18th dynasty, and not the last: besides,
+the representations of the countries conquered by that king are still
+preserved, and prove, by some of them having the features of negroes,
+that the splendid Temple of Solib was erected as a monument of his
+victory and long possession of the country, and not of a mere alliance
+with the King of Ethiopia.[52]
+
+The successor of Amunoph III., Amulek, or, perhaps, more correctly,
+Horus, as Eusebius and Africanus call him, must, I conceive, from
+an inscription I saw at Turin, have also carried his arms into the
+interior of Africa; but Herodotus[53] states, that only Rameses
+II. (Sesostris) made himself master of Ethiopia; and it is singular,
+as I have stated in the account of the ruins of Gibel el Birkel,
+that the only fragment of the name of an Egyptian king which I saw,
+either there or at Meroe, was half of the name of Rameses II.,
+which I found, by accident, in the Arab burial-ground at the former
+place. This is an extraordinary corroboration of the testimony of
+the historian; for that conqueror must have possessed that Ethiopian
+city for a sufficient length of time to erect or restore a temple;
+otherwise I should not have found his name.
+
+Diodorus mentions that, when Egypt was suffering under the dominion
+of Amasis, a violent, proud, and arrogant man, Aktisanes, king of
+Ethiopia, profiting by the discontent of the people, invaded Egypt,
+and had little difficulty in overthrowing the tyrant, and taking
+possession of the country, as the greater number of his subjects
+were weary of his oppression, and rebelled against him. Aktisanes,
+he adds, was a great prince, and built a city, called Rhinocolura, on
+the confines of Syria and Egypt, and detained there the thieves whom
+he had punished with the loss of their noses; from which circumstance
+Rhinocolura had its name. Eusebius, Africanus, and Herodotus do not
+mention this king. Diodorus’s account is difficult to explain;
+for his Amasis cannot be the Amasis of Manetho, the first of the
+18th dynasty; as Diodorus places his Amasis several reigns after
+Sesostris or Rameses II. As there are no traces of the name of this
+king on the monuments either of Ethiopia or Egypt, I see no reason
+why we should receive the testimony of Diodorus, to the prejudice
+of other historians; and, doubting, as I do, whether such a king
+ever reigned in Egypt, I think it unnecessary to enter into any
+discussion about the period of his reign.
+
+We have also, about this time, an account of another king, whose name
+is familiar to the classical scholar,—Memnon, the son of Aurora,
+who killed Antilochus[54] in the Trojan war; and again, in the same
+poem[55], he is called the most beautiful of warriors, the brother
+of Priam; and Hesiod calls him the son of Aurora, and the king of
+the Ethiopians. Monsieur Letronne, in his learned work on the vocal
+statue of Memnon, has treated the whole story as a romance; but though
+we may refuse our credence to the embellishments of the Greek poets,
+tragic writers, and historians, I must confess myself of the opinion
+of those who believe in the possibility that the statement of a king
+of Ethiopia of that name having gone to the assistance of Troy may,
+perhaps, not be without foundation. The distance was certainly very
+great; but navigation by the Nile, or the Red Sea, would obviate, in a
+great measure, that difficulty; and it is not much more extraordinary
+to read of an Ethiopian king going to the relief of Troy in the 13th
+century before the Christian era, than, in the tenth century, to read
+of a king, called Zerah, who, with a host of a thousand thousand, went
+unto Maresha; and, in the 8th century, we find that Tirhaka assisted
+the King of Israel against Sennacherib, which event I will presently
+relate. History, both ancient and modern, affords many instances of
+wars between very distant states, and of expeditions sent against
+remote kingdoms, often even from continent to continent. I think,
+therefore, that it is not very surprising that the Ethiopian king,
+Memnon, should go with his troops from Meroe to Troy, either to
+assist his relation, or, at the instigation of some neighbour,
+to join in the common defence against the Greek invasion.[56]
+
+In the 11th century before the Christian era, Semiramis, the
+celebrated queen of Assyria, fearless of those deserts in which,
+according to the fable, she was exposed when an infant, invaded
+Ethiopia. Notwithstanding the celebrity of the Assyrian heroine
+for cutting through mountains, filling up valleys, and conveying
+water, by costly aqueducts, to unfruitful plains and vast deserts,
+it does not seem that her success in subduing Ethiopia was very
+great. Diodorus only mentions her admiration of a wonderful lake,
+160 feet square, of a vermilion colour, which sent forth a delicious
+smell, not unlike old wine, and of such wonderful efficacy, that
+whoever drank of it acknowledged the sins which he had long since
+secretly committed and forgotten. That the kingdom of Meroe was the
+part of Ethiopia invaded by her is not improbable. Her mortified
+vanity at not having succeeded in her enterprise, the reflections
+caused by the dangers and solitudes of the deserts, or the influence
+of the religion of Ammon, may have been the monitors that awakened
+the guilty conscience of the Assyrian queen.
+
+The next occasion on which we find mention made of an Ethiopian army
+is the expedition of Shishak against Jerusalem, in 971 A.C. That
+monarch is represented as bringing 1200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen;
+and “the people were without number that came with him out of
+Egypt; the Lubims, and the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.”[57]
+The Ethiopians and Lubims are called a “huge host, with very many
+chariots and horsemen.”[58] These Ethiopians may have come from a
+district of their country which was subject to Shishak, as we see,
+recorded on the monuments at Thebes, not only the invasion of Judea,
+mentioned in the Bible, but also victories achieved by that warlike
+king over various other nations. It is not, however, improbable that
+the Ethiopians were merely assisting the Egyptians. The Sukkiims are
+considered by many to be the ancient Troglodytes, the ancestors,
+perhaps, of the present Bishareen; there is certainly a curious
+resemblance between the name of the present capital of the latter
+tribe, Souakim, and their Scripture title, Sukkiim.
+
+Sixteen years only after this event we have an account of another
+invasion of the Ethiopians. “So Abijah slept with his fathers,
+and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned
+in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.” “And
+Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah
+three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and
+drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty
+men of valour. And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian,
+with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and
+came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the
+battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried
+unto the LORD his God.”[59] “So the LORD smote the Ethiopians
+before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the
+people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians
+were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves.”[60]
+
+I conceive that the army of Zerah, like that of Memnon, and those,
+perhaps, who assisted Shishak, may have been transported from their
+own country, by the navigation of the Red Sea. It has been objected
+by some, that Zerah could not have been king of Ethiopia above
+Egypt, without being master of the latter country: but not only was
+the way by the Red Sea shorter, and much more convenient, but the
+kings of Meroe at that time may have possessed a part of Arabia,
+and he may thus have marched his army through the peninsula. We may,
+however, reasonably suppose, that he would not have undertaken such an
+important war against the people of Judah, if he had apprehended any
+impediment to his progress, from such near and powerful neighbours as
+the Egyptians and Arabians. I see no more reason to doubt that this
+Zerah was a king of Meroe, than that Tirhaka was such, who bears the
+same title in Scripture, of king of Ethiopia. The monuments of Egypt
+and Ethiopia, fortunately, confirm the correctness of the title of
+the latter, and show us that Tirhaka, called king of Ethiopia, in the
+Bible, was also king of Meroe; but because no vestiges of edifices
+constructed by Zerah have survived the almost complete destruction
+of Ethiopian monuments, there is no reason why we should conceive
+that the Ethiopia of which he is called king is not the same country
+which Tirhaka afterwards ruled.
+
+The army of Zerah, which is stated in the Bible at a thousand
+thousand, that is, a million of men, may seem enormous; and, perhaps,
+this is only a vague expression of an almost innumerable host; but
+we must consider, that the tribe of Judah raised an army of 300,000,
+and that of Benjamin 280,000, to oppose him. The obligation, still
+customary, for every one who could bear arms to join the array of
+their king, accounts for the magnitude of their forces. Their duty,
+as vassals, would oblige the Ethiopians to join the standards of their
+chiefs, and the same cause, joined to the more noble motives of zeal
+and devotedness for their country and religion, would draw from their
+more peaceful avocations the sons of Judah and Benjamin. The latter
+are described as armed with targets, spears, shields, and bows:
+such would be precisely the equipment of an army in the centre of
+Africa at the present day; but the Ethiopian had also three hundred
+chariots, which at once denotes a people to a certain degree advanced
+in the art of war. Whatever might be the circumstances which enabled
+Zerah to collect together this immense army, we could not have a
+more striking proof of the extent and the affluent condition of the
+kingdom of Meroe, when we consider that she was able to support
+the expense of such a vast and distant expedition, and dispense,
+for so long a period, with the services of so many of her sons.
+
+The events hitherto mentioned as connected with the history of Meroe
+have been important, as showing her political importance at a very
+early period. We have seen her successfully repelling the invasions
+of Semiramis, and of her powerful neighbours the Egyptians, and
+carrying her arms to the succour of the Trojans, and to attack the
+people of Judah.
+
+We come now to that glorious epoch in the annals of Ethiopia, when
+her kings reigned not only over their native country, but over the
+entire valley of the Nile, including the whole of Egypt. We shall see
+that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, felt their power. Their dominion
+embraced nations of every variety of colour and character, from
+Memphis to the interior of Africa. It is highly satisfactory to know,
+that the account of this dynasty of Ethiopian kings who reigned over
+Egypt is not only transmitted to us by the joint testimony of sacred
+and profane history, but also is amply confirmed by the monuments
+of both countries.
+
+The lists of Eusebius and Africanus, extracted from Manetho, agree
+perfectly with the names of the three Ethiopian kings who reigned over
+Egypt, from 732 to 688 before the Christian era. The following table
+shows that they do not exactly correspond, either as to particular
+reigns, or the entire length of the dynasty, which Africanus makes
+40 years, and Eusebius 44; but the difference is very slight.
+
+       Africanus.                 Eusebius.
+
+  Sabbakon             8       Sabbakon    12
+
+  Sevechus, his son   14       Sevechus    12
+
+  Tarkus              18       Tarakus     20
+                      --                   --
+                      40                   44
+
+Herodotus says[61], that after Asychis, who erected the brick
+pyramid, a certain blind man was said to have reigned in the city of
+Anysis. During his sway, a large force of Ethiopians, under Sabachus,
+their king, invaded Egypt. The blind king escaped by flight into the
+mountains, and the Ethiopian reigned in Egypt fifty years. At the
+end of that period, according to Herodotus[62], a vision appeared
+to Sabachus, commanding him to assemble the priests together,
+and destroy them. Rather than be guilty of such a sacrilege, he
+preferred returning into his country, particularly as the fifty years,
+which the oracle usually consulted by the Ethiopians had stated
+to be the term of their sojourn in Egypt, was expired. Diodorus
+gives a narrative of this event, agreeing with that of Herodotus,
+except that he does not state the name of the king to whom Sabachus
+succeeded. He speaks of a king Bucchoris, of a vile appearance, who
+exceeded all his predecessors in talent and prudence, and says this
+king reigned some time before Sabachus. Both Eusebius and Africanus
+agree that Sabachus ascended the throne, after making prisoner a
+king called Bocchoris, or Bonchoris. When we consider the loose
+accounts which both Herodotus and Diodorus have, in every instance,
+given of the Egyptian kings, it is only extraordinary that the time
+assigned by them as the duration of the Ethiopian dominion in Egypt
+should differ only by six years from that stated by Eusebius. They
+have preserved few names of any of the dynasties, and these so
+generally differ from Manetho and the monuments, that it is not
+surprising to find them describe the Ethiopian dynasty as the reign
+of one monarch. We may consider it fortunate that the name of that
+king agrees so exactly with the always more correct orthography in
+the lists of Eusebius and Africanus. The accuracy, however, of the
+list of Eusebius is confirmed by testimony which cannot be disputed,
+namely, the evidence of lapidary inscriptions on the monuments of
+Egypt and Ethiopia. I will first mention to the reader the names
+and titles of those kings, with the places where they were found
+recorded; and will afterwards show him that the third king of this
+dynasty is the same Tirhaka whose name is connected with one of the
+most interesting historical events narrated in the sacred writings.
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲉⲛ (Ⲣⲏ ⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ (ⲛ̀) ⲕⲁ) ⲥⲓⲣⲏ (Ϣⲃⲕ). “The King (Sun Beneficent of
+Oblations), Son of the Sun (_Shabak_).” This is undoubtedly the first
+of this list of kings. The name is not found upon any of the monuments
+of Ethiopia, but that is not surprising, so few of the temples there
+being preserved; but we have undoubted evidence of this king having,
+as the historians say, reigned over Egypt, for we find his name upon
+a gate of the temple of Karnak, and also the portrait of the king in
+his Ethiopian dress, with the same titles, on the interior of the
+door of the great propylon of the Temple of Luxor, which he repaired.
+Signor Rosellini states, that he found a date of the twelfth year
+of his reign; which corroborates the statement of Eusebius, that he
+reigned twelve years, and not eight only, according to Africanus. I
+saw at Berlin a scarabæus containing the name of this king, with the
+uræus on each side, and above the oval a lion couchant: the latter is
+curious, as it tallies with the singular title I observed above the
+names at Amarah, of “King of Kings,” represented by the reed and half
+circle, as king (ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ), and a lion, emblematical of king, with the
+sign of the plural number. Signor Rosellini mentions, also, that this
+name is on two amulets he purchased for the Museum at Florence, and
+on a statue in the Villa Albani at Rome. I think the latter must be
+removed, as I could not find it there, nor do I recollect having seen
+any other instance of the name of Sciabak or Sabachus, in the splendid
+collections of Egyptian antiquities at Turin, Berlin, Paris, London,
+Rome, Naples, Vienna, Munich, &c., except in an inscription on an
+alabaster Canopian vase at Paris.
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ (Ⲣⲏ.....) ⲡⲓⲕⲁ) ⲥⲓⲣⲏ (Ⲁⲙⲛⲙ (ⲁⲓ) Ϣⲃⲧⲕ), “King (Sun ..... of the
+Offerings), Son of the Sun, (the beloved of Amun Shabatok).” This
+name is evidently different from the preceding, there being not only
+a change in the prænomen, but also in the other oval. Besides the
+title of Beloved of Amun, the addition of the third hieroglyphic, the
+phonetic sign for T, changes completely the sound. There is as much
+difference in the names of Shabako and Shabatok, who therefore are as
+clearly two persons, as the Sabbakon and Sevechus of Eusebius. The
+Venetian edition of Eusebius calls the latter king Sebichos. When
+we consider the remote period, the difference of the dialect, the
+errors of copyists, &c., it is not surprising that so much discrepancy
+should exist. This name is found on the ruins to the south-east of
+the great temple at Carnak; and that the king was an Ethiopian is
+evident from his costume. The style is similar to that of Shabak;
+but the drawings of Signor Rosellini, which I could have wished to
+insert, are clearly the portraits of two different kings. I will
+presently state the learned Italian’s reasons for supposing that
+both these names allude to the god Seb or Sevek.
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ (Ⲣⲏ-Ⲁⲧⲙⲟⲩⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ, ⲱϥⲉ ⲥⲓⲣⲏ) (Ⲧϩⲣⲕ), “King Sun Atmou beneficent,
+Corrector, Son of the Sun (Tirhaka).” The name of this king is found
+on the columns and sides of the temple excavated out of the rock at
+Gibel el Birkel: it occurs ten times in the inscriptions which I copied
+there. It is also on the small altar in the great temple; but Major
+Felix[63] appears to me mistaken in supposing that Tirhaka built that
+splendid edifice, for his name occurs in that instance only. Whereas
+the name of ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ Ⲡⲓⲱⲛϩⲉⲓ, “King Pionchei (the living),” is on the
+large altar, and also a fragment of it on the western wall of the
+temple; but the claim even of the latter may be disputed, for Vignette
+A. is the prænomen on the only column which is now standing; and
+the name on the pillars is usually that of the king who erected the
+edifice. We have the authority, then, of the monuments of Ethiopia,
+that Tirhaka was king over that country, and his name, fortunately,
+still remains on a pylon of a temple at Medenet Abou, and other places
+at Thebes, to corroborate the testimony of Manetho, that he was also
+King of Egypt. In the latter instance, his name is written exactly
+as I have given it, except that the two last hieroglyphics of the
+prænomen are represented, figuratively I conceive, by an arm and a
+lash in the hand. I found, also the name of his queen, in the first
+chamber excavated out of the temple of Gibel el Birkel (Vignette A).
+ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀-ϩⲓⲙⲉ Ⲁⲙⲛϯⲕϯϩ,, “royal bride, Amentakatah.” Mr. Wilkinson found
+two princesses of this family: the first, B, is ⲧⲛⲣ ⲥⲓⲟⲩ, or ⲧ. ⲧⲏⲣ
+Ⲁⲙⲛⲁⲧⲥ, “the Divine Star, or the Divine Amenates;” and C, is ⲧⲏⲣ ϩⲓⲙⲉ
+ⲦⲙⲁⲩϢⲛⲓⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ, “the Divine Bride, Mutsheninofra, the Mother, Mistress
+of Good.” Signor Rosellini states, that there is a date, at Gibel el
+Birkel, of the year XX. of this king’s reign, confirming the accuracy
+of Eusebius. I did not perceive it, though, I believe, I copied every
+hieroglyphic which remains there.
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+The third king of this dynasty is the Tirhaka of Holy Writ: the
+narrative there given, is, I conceive, of sufficient importance to
+justify my noticing it somewhat in detail.[64]
+
+In the third year of King Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of Israel,
+Hezekiah the son of Ahaz began to reign; and, for his zeal in rooting
+out the idolatry of his people, he was described as one who “trusted
+in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among
+all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.” Hezekiah
+rebelled against the Assyrians, and smote the Philistines; and in
+the fourth year of his reign, the king of Assyria, Shalmaneser,
+besieged Samaria, and, after three years, took it, and carried away
+the Israelites prisoners. In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah,
+Sennacherib, who had succeeded to Shalmaneser, went up against
+all the “fenced cities of Judah, and took them.” Hezekiah
+agreed to purchase a peace for three hundred talents of silver
+and thirty talents of gold; and gave to him, for that purpose,
+all the treasures in the temples and palaces; but Sennacherib,
+faithless to this agreement, sent up a great host against Jerusalem,
+and the three chiefs of the army of the king of Assyria, Tartan,
+Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, had a conference with three of the officers
+of Hezekiah-Eliakim, who was over the household of Judah, Shebni,
+the scribe, and Joab the son of Asaph the recorder. Rabshakeh asked
+him, “Now, on whom doest thou trust, that thou rebellest against
+me?” and taunted them with trusting upon Egypt. “Now, behold,
+thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt,
+on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it:
+so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.” And he
+begged them to give pledges to the King of Assyria, and not trust
+on Egypt for chariots or for horsemen. Hezekiah was comforted by
+the prophet Isaiah, and Rabshakeh returned and told Sennacherib
+that Tirhaka, king of Ethiopia, was coming up to fight against
+him. The titles which are given to Tirhaka, in these passages, are
+most important. In 2 Kings, xix. 9., he is called king of Ethiopia,
+and in xviii. 21. and 24., Pharaoh of Egypt, which is exactly saying
+that he was ruler over both countries, as we have seen that Manetho
+and the monuments prove him to have been.
+
+This name, according to Signor Rosellini, is written in Hebrew
+(תרחקח םלך־כוש) “Tarhaka, Melek Cush,” translated correctly
+Θαρακα Βασιλευς Αιθιοπων, “Tarhaka, king of the Ethiopians.” The
+perfect resemblance of the name, which neither upon the monuments nor
+in the lists is given to any other king of Egypt; the correspondence
+of the epoch, and the title of king of Ethiopia, given to a sovereign
+of an Ethiopian dynasty, who by force of arms had annexed Egypt to
+their paternal kingdom, are circumstances which prove, beyond all
+doubt, as the learned Italian[65] says, the identity of the Tarhaka of
+the monuments, with the Tirhaka of holy writ. If, according to
+Eusebius, we allow 163 years for the 26th dynasty, that is, the one
+which succeeded to the Ethiopians in Egypt, that number, added to the
+date of the invasion by Cambyses, 525, will make 688, which, added to
+the 20 years’ reign of Tirhaka, would make the accession of that king
+to the throne to be in 708, nearly the exact time assigned by the
+Scripture chronologists for the relief of Hezekiah and Tirhaka; but
+Signor Rosellini, principally on the authority of a stela which he
+obtained at Alexandria, makes the total of the reigns of that dynasty
+150 years, which would cause the accession of Tirhaka to the dominion
+of the Nile to happen in 695. Following exactly the chronology of
+Scripture, it must have been in the first year of the king’s reign
+that the destruction of the Assyrian army took place. “Then the angel
+of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred
+fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning,
+behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria
+departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to
+pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that
+Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword.”[66]
+
+I will here introduce an event related by Herodotus[67], which,
+notwithstanding many discrepancies, is evidently the same:—“After
+Sabaco, the Ethiopian, returned into the country, and the blind king
+Anysis was dead, there reigned,” he says, “a priest of Vulcan,
+named Sethos. This king treated with contempt the warriors of Egypt,
+despising them, as if he never would have occasion for them; and,
+besides other injuries he committed against them, deprived them of the
+ground which, under the preceding kings, had been granted to each,
+in portions of twelve fields of a hundred cubits. But afterwards
+Sennacherib, king of the Arabs and of the Assyrians, having invaded
+Egypt with a great host, none of the warriors were willing to
+assist him: then the priest, reduced to extremity, entered into the
+sanctuary, bewailed before the figure of the divinity the danger to
+which he was exposed. Thus weeping, he fell asleep, and the divinity
+appeared unto him in a vision, and exhorted him to take courage,
+for he would have nothing to dread in going against the army of the
+Arabians, since he himself would send assistance. Animated by this
+dream, and having assembled those Egyptians who were willing to follow
+him, he fixed his camp in Pelusium, since that city forms the entrance
+into the country. He was followed by none of the warriors, but only by
+merchants, artificers, and labourers. When they were arrived there,
+a multitude of field mice were scattered among their adversaries,
+ate the bands of their armour, of their bows and shields, so that,
+next day, naked and disarmed, they fled, and many perished.”
+
+This Sethos is evidently the Ethiopian Tirhaka. The latter was the
+successor of an Ethiopian, as Sethos is represented to have been,
+and it was natural that the Ethiopian should despise the soldiers
+of Egypt, whom his predecessor had conquered. His depriving them of
+their land, and consequently of their political importance, was the
+natural policy of a king who reigned over them by right of conquest;
+but, as he was a good and beneficent monarch, who had encouraged
+the arts and internal prosperity of the country, of which we have a
+proof in his restoring and embellishing the temples, the merchants,
+artificers, and labourers hastened to his support, being attached to
+his person by the advantages they had derived from his government. The
+title of priest is not inappropriate to an Ethiopian king, who was
+chosen from that order. Diodorus also informs us how much they were
+under the influence of their priests, submitting even to death itself
+at their command. Besides the coincidence of the time in the list of
+Manetho, there is no mention of a king called Sethos, except the first
+of the 19th dynasty, which was long previous. These circumstances
+alone almost prove that the Sethos of Herodotus and the Ethiopian
+Tirhaka are the same; but we have still stronger evidence. The
+king against whom both marched was the same Sennacherib, King of
+Assyria, and they are both delivered in the same manner; that is, by
+a miracle. Herodotus states Pelusium, not Jerusalem, as the scene of
+their discomfiture. This circumstance made me at first imagine that
+Sennacherib might have been defeated at both places; but I conceive
+it more reasonable to attribute these differences of name, place,
+and the nature of the miracle to the usual confusion of Herodotus,
+who did not compile his work, like Manetho, from the sacred registers
+preserved in the temples, but from verbal communications with the
+priests; perhaps the story of the mice was invented by Herodotus,
+or his informers, or, at all events, arose in the lapse of time,
+to explain the manner in which the Deity interfered in their behalf.
+
+The Tirhaka, then, of the monuments and of Manetho, is the Sethos
+of Herodotus, and the Tirhaka who assisted Hezekiah against
+Sennacherib. From these various accounts, and by separating, in
+the narrative of Herodotus, the probable from the marvellous, we
+may conclude that the monarch was pious, since he bore the title
+of priest, and applied to the divinity for support before he set
+out on the expedition; that he was powerful, since he was not only
+able to hold in subjection the entire valley of the Nile, but also
+to carry his arms to the assistance of his neighbours. He appears,
+also, to have been an enlightened and an able legislator, since he
+encouraged the arts; and although a foreigner, had so ingratiated
+himself with his people, that, strong in their affections, he was
+not only able to destroy the military despotism of the soldiery,
+but raise another army, to wage war against the powerful king of
+Assyria. Eratosthenes (see Strabo[68],) states that this conqueror
+proceeded as far as the Pillars of Hercules.
+
+There is another king mentioned in the Bible, as reigning in Egypt
+twelve years before the defeat of Sennacherib. It is agreed, almost
+by all, that he is the Shabatok or Sevechus of the lists; but this is
+so learnedly and ingeniously discussed by Signor Rosellini, that I
+make no apology for enriching this chapter with a translation of his
+remarks. At the seventeenth chapter of 2 Kings, it is related that
+Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, subdued and made tributary Hoshea,
+king of Israel. That prince having wished to rebel, and having sent
+for aid to So, king of Egypt, Shalmaneser besieged, conquered, and
+made him prisoner. The reign of Hoshea over Israel lasted nine years;
+so that it appears to have happened in his sixth year, that, to throw
+off the Assyrian yoke, he demanded assistance from the king of Egypt.
+Therefore, as Shalmaneser besieged and took Samaria in that year, which
+was the last of Hoshea, Hezekiah began to reign over Judah in the
+third year of Hoshea; and in the 14th year of Hezekiah occurred the
+discomfiture of Sennacherib, in which the Pharaoh Tirhaka took part,
+as the ally of the king of Judah. The sixth year of Hoshea (in which
+he demanded aid of So, king of Egypt,) corresponds to the third year
+of the reign of Hezekiah; and since this latter king, in the 14th year
+of his reign, made a treaty with Tirhaka, it follows that the Pharaoh,
+called So in the Bible, preceded Tirhaka by an interval of not less
+than eleven years. But So is called king of Egypt, and Tirhaka was the
+same; therefore we ought to seek the Pharaoh So among the kings of
+this Ethiopian dynasty. And since he preceded Tirhaka by an interval
+of eleven years, we must necessarily recognise him as the immediate
+predecessor of Tirhaka, who is called by Manetho Sevechus, or Sebichus,
+and, according to Eusebius, reigned twelve years. Not less manifest
+than the coincidence of the years is the correspondence of the name
+in Manetho and the Bible, if we correct the pronunciation according
+to the true sound of the Egyptian language. I have already mentioned,
+that the name of Shabatok (so the Sevechus of Manetho is written upon
+the monuments) may truly, indeed, be considered as a peculiar word of
+the Ethiopian dialect, which corresponds to the Egyptian Sevek. Sevek
+is, in the Egyptian mythology, a god, who has attributes relative
+to the Nile, and is generally represented under the sacred symbol
+of a crocodile. In this form its name is usually written [Symbol] ⲥ
+ⲃ ⲕ “Sebek, Sevek;” but when it is represented under a human form,
+then it is written simply [Symbol] or [Symbol] ⲥ ⲃ “Seb, Sewe.” The
+titles, attributes, and forms of those two names, Sewe and Sebek,
+are promiscuous; and we are certain, that, however it is written or
+pronounced, it means the same divinity.[69]
+
+Let us take, therefore, from the Hebrew text, the name of the king
+of Egypt, to whom Hoshea sent for help. It is written סוא:
+disregarding (particularly in a foreign language) the corrupt
+pronunciation given to it by Masorete, and the other interpreters,
+who read So or Soa, and Sua, let the least learned in the languages of
+the East judge, if the natural pronunciation of these Hebrew elements
+be not Sewa or Sewe. This is sufficient to show, that the author
+of the second book of Kings wrote that name with those characters
+which could give the pronunciation of the Egyptian name Sewe. It
+is probable that the same name, written upon the monuments in the
+Ethiopian manner, Shabatok, was commonly called by the Egyptians,
+Sewe; and, perhaps, they pronounced it also, indifferently, Sewek,
+since both these words were the designation of the same divinity,
+to which that name belongs. In fact, Manetho wrote in his history,
+Sevechus, and, cutting off the Greek termination, it remains Sevek,
+retaining, from the Ethiopian Shabatok, the pronunciation used in
+Egypt. Thus the text of the Bible, also, in relating this Egyptian
+name, maintains that possible orthographic exactness which it has
+followed in writing all the other Egyptian names. The original
+monuments, therefore, and the lists of Manetho concur in attesting
+that the dynasty of the Ethiopians was composed of three kings,
+whose names I have mentioned, and thus correct the Greek historians
+who have assigned it to Sabaco only.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE EMIGRATION OF EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS AT THE TIME OF PSAMMITICHUS. —
+EXPEDITION OF CAMBYSES. — MANNERS, CUSTOMS, ETC. OF THE MACROBIANS,
+ETC. — CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE ETHIOPIANS. — ERGAMENES, THE
+ETHIOPIAN KING’S, CONQUESTS IN LOWER NUBIA. — ATARRAMON AND SILCO,
+ETHIOPIAN KINGS. — EXPEDITION OF PETRONIUS. — QUEEN CANDACE. —
+CHRISTIANITY FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ETHIOPIA. — ITS DURATION. —
+NAPATA, CAPITAL OF CANDACE. — BLEMMYES AND THE NUBIANS.
+
+
+Under the reign of Psammitichus, whom Africanus states to have reigned
+twenty-one years, Eusebius thirty-three, and Herodotus fifteen, after
+the Ethiopian dynasty, the historian of Halicarnassus informs us
+(and his account is confirmed by Diodorus), that 240,000 Egyptian
+soldiers were in garrison at Elephantine against the Ethiopians,
+at Pelusium against the Arabs and Assyrians, and others, in Marea,
+opposite Africa. These soldiers having been three years thus in
+garrison, without being relieved, resolved to go over together from
+Psammitichus into Ethiopia. Regardless of the entreaties of that king,
+they engaged themselves to the king of that country, who employed
+them in subduing some of his discontented subjects, whose land he
+gave them as a reward. It is added, that the Ethiopians became more
+civilised, imbibing the customs of Egypt.
+
+Herodotus states[70], that part of these soldiers were in garrison at
+Pelusium, against the Assyrians; probably an attack from that nation
+was anticipated, in revenge of the defeat of Sennacherib. According
+to that author, there were forty days of land journey, and sixteen
+of navigation, between Elephantina and Meroe, besides a space
+near Taconso. He says, the distance is the same from there to the
+country of the Automali, otherwise called Ascami, a term which means
+“Assistants at the left hand of the king;” by which, according to
+him, the Egyptian warriors are designated. Whether this last fifty-six
+days’ journey extends along the Bahr el Abiad, in the direction of
+Axum, or on the Bahr el Azruk, cannot, with certainty, be decided; but
+I will presently state my reasons for conceiving the former opinion
+to be not improbable. The inhabitants of a part of Ethiopia, at such
+an immense distance from the metropolis, would naturally become more
+civilised by this Egyptian colony. This passage, at all events,
+communicates the highly important fact, that the kingdom of Meroe
+reached more than fifty-six days’ journey, both north and south,
+from the metropolis; or, in other words, that it was altogether
+about 1500 miles in length at that period. This accounts for the
+great power of the king of Ethiopia, but for which it is evident,
+that a body of 240,000 men would not have been satisfied with having
+assigned to them a distant and uncivilised portion of his kingdom,
+but would have been easily able to take possession of the whole.
+
+The next important event I shall allude to is the celebrated
+expedition of the first king of the Persian dynasty in Egypt.
+
+Cambyses determined to make war upon three different powers,—the
+Carthaginians, the Ammonians, and the Egyptian Macrobians. But,
+before commencing the expedition into Ethiopia, he resolved to send
+spies into the country, and, for this purpose, sent to the island
+of Elephantine for some of the Ichthyophagi, who were acquainted
+with the Ethiopian language. Cambyses, having instructed these
+ambassadors what they should say, gave them, as presents for the
+king, a robe of purple, necklaces and bracelets of gold, an alabaster
+vase of ointment, and another vase of palm wine. The Ichthyophagi
+having arrived, and having been introduced to the king, presented
+their offerings, and addressed him thus:—“Cambyses, King of the
+Persians, desirous of being your friend and ally, sent us to you
+with these gifts, in the use of which he takes great delight.”[71]
+
+The Ethiopian king, knowing well that they came as spies,
+answered,—“It is not that the King of the Persians esteems so
+much my friendship, that he has sent you to me with gifts; neither do
+you speak truly, for you have come to spy out my kingdom. Neither is
+he a just man, for if he were just, he would not covet the country
+of another, nor wish to make slaves of those who have in no way
+offended him. Present to him this bow, and tell him that the King of
+the Ethiopians gives this advice to the King of the Persians. When
+he is able to manage such large bows with as much facility as I do,
+then let him conduct an army against the Egyptian Macrobians, but
+one superior to them in number. In the mean time, thank the gods for
+not putting it into the mind of the Egyptians to usurp the states
+of others.”
+
+Having said this, he unbent the bow, and gave it to them, and having
+taken the vest of purple into his hand, he asked them what it was,
+and how it was made? The Ichthyophagi having told him the truth
+of the purple and the colouring, he said that they were deceivers,
+and their garments deceitful. Having inquired about the necklace and
+bracelets of gold, and the Ichthyophagi having answered that they
+were ornaments, he laughed, conceiving them to be chains, and said,
+that he had much stronger ones. Lastly, inquiring of the ointment,
+and being shown how it should be worked with the hand, and used,
+he said of it the same as he had done of the vest. He then learned
+how the wine was made, and its use; and being much pleased with the
+trial he made of it, he asked on what things they lived, and what
+was the longest period of the life of a Persian? They answered,
+that the King lived on bread, explaining to him the nature of corn,
+and told him that the space of eighty years was the greatest length
+of the life of a Persian. The Ethiopian answered, that he was not
+surprised that, subsisting on mud, they should live so few years; that
+neither would they live so long, was it not for the wine, and added,
+“for in this only are the Persians superior to the Ethiopians.”
+
+The Ichthyophagi having, in their turn, inquired of the King about
+his people’s food, and manner of life, he answered, that they lived
+on meat and milk; that the greatest part of them lived to the age
+of 120 years, and some even longer. The ambassadors having expressed
+their surprise at this, the King conducted them to a fountain, after
+washing in which they became more vigorous, and shining, as with oil;
+and it sent forth an odour as of violet. And the Ichthyophagi said
+that this water was so light, that neither wood, nor even lighter
+substances, would swim on the surface; but that every thing went to
+the bottom; and that the constant use of this water was the reason
+why the Ethiopians lived so long.
+
+Cambyses, enraged at this reception of the Ethiopians, set out
+without preparing any store of provisions, and without reflecting
+that it was the extremity of the world to which he was carrying
+his arms. Before he had marched a fifth part of the route from
+Thebes, the want of provisions was felt; yet he madly determined to
+proceed. The soldiers fed on grass as long as any could be found;
+at length, when they arrived in the deserts, they were obliged to
+cast lots, to eat one in ten; which finally induced Cambyses to
+return to Thebes with the remains of his army.—The defeat of this
+monarch is also mentioned by Diodorus.
+
+If this account be at all correct, the country of the Macrobians must
+have been at some distance from Meroe, otherwise they could not have
+been ignorant of the use of necklaces and bracelets, since the figures
+on the walls of the sepulchres of that metropolis are represented with
+those ornaments. The fountain mentioned by the Ichthyophagi is almost
+as wonderful as the lake which Diodorus reports as seen by Semiramis;
+but, discarding what bears the stamp of fiction in this narrative, we
+can easily recognise, in this account of the Macrobians, a powerful
+nomad tribe, in possession of the gold country which was the great
+attraction to Cambyses. Their degree of strength and longevity,
+probably exaggerated, might be gained by the habits of frugality and
+temperance usual among the nomad tribes. Their food (meat and milk)
+is exactly that of the Bishareen and other tribes of the desert at
+the present day. Their not understanding the nature of the ointment,
+may have been from its being very superior to their own; all that is
+probable in the description of the fountain is, that it consisted of
+oil. The Arab tribes are now in the habit of anointing their bodies,
+conceiving this custom to be in the highest degree salubrious, and
+indeed necessary, to mitigate the parching effects of a vertical sun
+and the hot winds of the desert. I tried this custom, and found it
+very beneficial; and am persuaded I should have suffered less from
+the heat had I used it more frequently; but the smell of the ointment
+they now use is not like the violet, as the Ichthyophagi describe
+that of the Macrobians. It is not, therefore, surprising that a
+powerful tribe, doubtless less barbarous than at the present day,
+being in connection with states then more civilised, should have a
+bath of prepared oil, suited to the pressing wants of the country. A
+nomad tribe might, very probably, be ignorant how the purple colour
+was produced; for, with the exception of some shawls worn by the
+chiefs, none of the Arabs of the present day use any thing but
+white cotton and linen cloths. The Melek Nazr e’ Deen (see Plate
+III.), is almost the only exception I have met with. Sheakh Sayd,
+the chief of all the Ababdes, did not know how the indigo plant
+(which his country produces) was made into a dye, till he went with
+me through the manufactory at Berber. I suspect that the account of
+their contempt for gold, is an embellishment of the Greek historian,
+or an exaggeration of the ambassadors; for they must have learnt
+its value by exchanging it with their more civilised neighbours. It
+is not, however, impossible that they may have used it for chains,
+as they might not have possessed other metals, or if they did, might
+not have had skill to work them into chains so easily as they could
+gold; or, from their greater rarity, they might have been equally
+as valuable.[72]
+
+Herodotus calls them Egyptian Macrobians, and afterwards Egyptians. I
+am almost inclined to believe that they may have been a nomad race,
+blended with the 240,000 soldiers, who, according to Herodotus,
+deserted from Psammitichus, and had a territory assigned to them,
+among a people about sixty days’ journey distant from Meroe. It
+is certain that the Egyptians would marry native wives. They might,
+as Herodotus says, have improved the manners of the people; but,
+being warriors, and not mechanics or artificers, and accustomed
+to a rigid distinction of castes, they might not have introduced
+a knowledge of the arts, and even what they taught might, in a
+century and a half, be forgotten by a tribe whose habits would
+give them little taste for such acquirements. I cannot agree with
+those who consider the country of the Macrobians to be on or near
+the Arabian Gulf, in the territory of the present Soumalies, or,
+as Professor Heeren[73] has placed them, beyond Cape Guardefui;
+for, mad as Cambyses is represented to have been, he surely could
+not have been so infatuated as to have attempted to penetrate to so
+vast a distance, across the immense deserts and inhospitable regions
+of the interior, the whole population of which would be hostile to
+his progress, particularly when a far shorter and easier way was
+open to him by the Arabian Gulf and the Straits of Babelmandel. It
+may be stated that the Persians were, perhaps, unskilled and averse
+to navigation; but even if not navigators themselves, they might
+easily have procured transports. I think the Macrobians should be
+placed more in the interior; probably on the Bahr el Abiad. Pausanias
+(lib. iv.) says, that Meroe and the Ethiopian plains are inhabited by
+the Macrobians, the most just people of the earth: but that they have
+not in the country any sea, nor any other river but the Nile. This
+statement, which merits attention, being from one so deeply versed in
+Egyptian subjects, proves what I have stated,—that the Macrobians
+did not occupy the territory of the present Soumalies, near the sea;
+but at the same time brings them nearer to Meroe than we can admit
+from their state of civilisation, or the testimony of Herodotus,
+who describes them as being on the southern side of Africa.
+
+I have now to mention an historical fact, connected with some curious
+Ethiopian customs, which might have been rejected as a fable, but
+for the evidence of a lapidary inscription, which records the name of
+the king connected with it. This gives to it an authentic character,
+and affords another proof of the general accuracy of the Sicilian
+historian’s account of the Ethiopians.
+
+“The Ethiopians,” says Diodorus[74], “have many laws differing
+from those of other nations, particularly as regards the choice of
+their kings. The priests choose the most respectable of their order,
+and form them into a circle; and he who by chance is taken hold of
+by the priest, who enters into the circle, walking and leaping like
+a satyr, is declared king upon the spot; and all the people worship
+him, as a man charged with the government by Divine Providence. The
+king lives after the manner prescribed to him by the law. In all
+things he follows the customs of the country, neither punishing nor
+recompensing but according to the laws established since the origin
+of the nation. It is not permitted to the king to cause any of
+his subjects to be executed, even when they shall have been judged
+worthy of death; but he sends to the guilty person an officer, who
+carries to him the signal of death; and immediately the criminal
+shuts himself in his house, and executes justice on himself. It is
+not permitted to him to fly into a neighbouring kingdom, and change
+the pain of death into banishment, as they do in Greece. They relate
+that a certain man, having received an order of death, which had
+been sent to him by the king, thought of flying out of Ethiopia. His
+mother, who suspected his design, passed her girdle around his neck,
+without his attempting to defend himself, and strangled him, lest,
+as she said, her son should bring increased disgrace upon his family
+by his flight.”
+
+We perceive, by these passages, that the Ethiopians had regular laws,
+to which not only the people but the king submitted. The kings,
+it seems, were chosen from the priests, and therefore it is not
+extraordinary that they were so completely under their power as
+we shall shortly see; for probably, like the cardinals at Rome,
+they did not select always the most talented, but often the most
+manageable, as their chief. The satyr-like gambols of the priest,
+which were the cause of his being elected, remind me somewhat of
+the impositions, or, rather, workings of the spirit, which the Arab
+fakeers and sheakhs sometimes exhibit.[75]
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+“The death of the kings,” says Diodorus, “is still more extraordinary.
+The priests at Meroe have acquired great power. When they form the
+resolution, they send a courier to the king, with an order for him to
+die. They tell him that the gods (or oracles) had thus decreed, and
+that he would be guilty of a crime if he violated an order from them.
+They added many other reasons, which would easily influence a simple
+man, aware of the ancient custom, and who had not strength of mind
+sufficient to resist such an unjust command. The first kings submitted
+to this cruel sentence. Ergamenes, who reigned at the time of the
+second Ptolemy, and who was instructed in the philosophy of Greece, was
+the first who dared to throw off this ridiculous yoke. He went with his
+army to the place difficult to get to, or (εἰς τὸ ἄβατον) fortress,
+where was formerly the temple of gold of the Ethiopians, and caused all
+the priests to be massacred, and instituted himself a new religion.”
+Signor Rosellini found the name of this king on the door of the
+sanctuary of Dacker. ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ (Ⲁⲙⲛⲧⲟⲧ ⲱⲛϩ, Ⲣⲏ-ⲱⲧⲡ) ⲥⲓⲣⲏ (Ⲉⲣⲕⲁⲙⲛ ⲱⲛϩ ϫⲧⲧ,
+Ⲓⲥⲏⲙⲁⲓ). “King Amentot (hand of Amun), the living, devoted to Phre (Son
+of the Sun), Erkamon, always living, beloved of Isis.”—Vol. ii. 321.
+
+The discovery of the name is of the greatest importance; as the
+evidence of this lapidary inscription, that there was a king called
+Ergamenes, or, to give him his proper name, Erkamenes, is strongly
+corroborative of the whole narrative of Diodorus. He could not have
+been an Egyptian king, for there is no mention in any of the lists
+of a king of that name. We may, therefore, with certainty conclude,
+that it is the Ethiopian monarch Erkamenes. Philæ was generally
+considered the boundary of Egypt, but we have the indubitable
+testimony of a long train of splendid monuments, from that island to
+Solib, that the rulers of Egypt, from the Pharaohs of the eighteenth
+dynasty until the time of the Cæsars, possessed at all events,
+at different intervals, that part of Ethiopia.
+
+From there being there no Ethiopian edifices, but all Egyptian
+temples, from the first to the second cataract, it is probable that
+the Egyptians were generally in possession of that part of the valley
+of the Nile; but the name of this Ethiopian king having been found
+on this Ptolemaic edifice, can only be accounted for by his having
+been in possession of the country. The style of the architecture
+and sculpture of the temple of Dacker is certainly like that of the
+Ptolemies. I therefore do not conceive that the temple was built by
+Erkamenes, but perhaps that conqueror celebrated his victories by
+religious functions, a representation of which he had sculptured on
+the temple at the limit of his conquests.
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+Besides Erkamenes, we have accounts of another Ethiopian monarch,
+whose name Signor Rosellini found on the temple of Deboud, in Lower
+Nubia, and which he conceives (I think very correctly), to be also of
+an Ethiopian king of about the same period. ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ (Ⲣⲏ ⲛ̀ ⲱⲧⲡ, ⲥⲱⲧⲛ̀
+ⲛ̀ⲛⲓⲧⲏⲣ) ⲥⲓⲣⲏ (Ⲁⲧⲣⲣⲁⲙⲛ, ⲱⲡϩ ϫⲧⲧ) “King (Son of Perfection, approved by
+the gods), Son of the Sun (Atarramon, always living.)” This, therefore,
+is an Ethiopian king, whose conquests extended to within a few miles of
+Philæ.
+
+A Greek inscription at Kalabshy mentions the victories of Silco,
+king of all the Ethiopians, over the Blemmyes. No other Ethiopian
+names are found in Lower Nubia, except some prisoners represented
+on the walls of the temple of Rameses at Kalabshy.
+
+Strabo[76] gives us a highly important narrative of an event that
+took place in his time. It is peculiarly interesting, as it accounts
+for the ruin of the towns and temples which once adorned that part
+of the valley of the Nile. “The Ethiopians,” says he, “taking
+advantage of Ælius Gallus having taken away the garrison of Syene,
+to prosecute his expedition into Arabia, by a sudden and unforeseen
+attack took possession of Syene, Elephanta, and Philæ; made the
+inhabitants prisoners, overthrew the statues of Cæsar Augustus;
+but Petronius, with 10,000 foot and 800 cavalry, attacked their
+army, composed of 30,000 men, and forced them to fly to Pselchis,
+an Ethiopian city: he sent ambassadors to them there, to demand
+what they had taken, and to know what reason they had to complain of
+the governors. They required three days to consider, and as, after
+that time, Petronius did not obtain satisfaction, he attacked them,
+forced them to give battle, and had no difficulty in putting to
+flight men ill disciplined and ill armed, having only large shields
+of unmanufactured ox-hide, hatchets, spears, and sabres. Some threw
+themselves into the town, others fled into the desert. Some gained
+a neighbouring town by swimming across the river; among the number
+were the generals of Candace, who reigned over the Ethiopians. This
+queen, whose courage was beyond her sex, was deprived of one eye.
+
+“Petronius crossed the river upon rafts and boats, and made
+prisoners all those who were in the island, and sent them immediately
+to Alexandria; afterwards they attacked Pselchis, and took it by
+assault. From Pselchis, Petronius, crossing the downs of sand
+where the army of Cambyses had been swallowed up by the winds,
+reached Premnis, a town in a strong situation, gained it at the
+first attack, and advanced afterwards on Napata, the capital of
+the kingdom of Candace, where her son was then residing. Candace
+occupied a neighbouring place, whence she sent to demand peace,
+offering to restore the prisoners who had been brought from Syene,
+and the statues which they had carried off; but Petronius, regardless
+of these propositions, attacked Napata, which the queen and her son
+had abandoned, razed the town, and led away the inhabitants captive.
+
+“He returned with his booty, judging the road beyond to be too
+difficult. He took, however, the precaution to fortify Premnis
+better, leaving there a garrison of 400 men, with provisions for two
+years. Candace advanced, with a considerable force, against Premnis,
+but Petronius came to its relief, and succeeded in throwing himself
+into the town before the arrival of the queen, and provided various
+means of defence for the safety of the place. Candace sent ambassadors
+to Petronius, who ordered them to go to Cæsar (Augustus); and as
+they pretended not to know who Cæsar was, and which way they must
+go, he gave them an escort. These ambassadors arrived at Samos,
+where Cæsar then was. He granted all that they desired, and even
+freed them from the tribute which he had imposed upon them.”
+
+We perceive from this account the superiority of the Roman
+arms. The discipline of those celebrated troops would have made
+them irresistible, whatever might have been the inferiority of
+their number, against such wretched soldiers as Strabo represents
+the Ethiopians: but Petronius, when at Napata, would scarcely have
+refrained from proceeding to Meroe, nor eventually would he have
+shut himself up in Premnis, whatever might have been the force of
+Candace, had it consisted of the undisciplined, ill-armed people
+he describes. Augustus does not seem to have despised them, since
+he concluded a peace on their own terms. In my account of the arts
+of Meroe, I will mention the probable effects of this destructive
+invasion of Petronius. Pliny also mentions this expedition[77], and
+states that, after Pselchis and Premnis, he took also the cities of
+Aboccis, Phthuris, Cambusis, Attenan, and Stadisis, and afterwards
+Napata; but he adds, it was not only the Roman arms which made
+a wilderness of this part of Ethiopia, but the wars with Egypt,
+alternately ruling over, and subject to, that country.
+
+The year of the expedition of Petronius has never been exactly
+ascertained[78], but according to Dion Cassius (lxiv. s. 7.),
+Augustus went into the East in the year of Rome 734. Therefore,
+as the ambassadors of the Ethiopians found him at Samos, on his way
+into Syria, the expedition of Petronius can only have taken place
+a very short time before that period, that is, about twenty years
+before Christ.
+
+An event of the greatest importance is recorded in the Gospel, as
+having taken place A.D. 33. An eunuch, a man of great authority under
+Candace, who had the charge of all her treasure, was converted by
+Philip.[79] The time at which Philip met the eunuch was subsequent to
+that of Ergamenes, when, as we have seen, a taste for Greek literature
+was spread in Ethiopia; therefore, the Greek language was, without
+doubt, sufficiently known to enable them to read the Old Testament,
+which was then translated into that language. It is not extraordinary,
+that a man who may be supposed to have raised himself to his high
+station of chief eunuch, by superior talent, should have perceived
+the superiority of the Jewish religion to that of Amun, nor is it
+unreasonable to presume that many of the Jews visited Ethiopia, and
+contributed to his conversion. We find him, therefore, as a believer
+in the Jewish religion, undertaking a journey of nearly 2000 miles
+to worship at the holy temple of Jerusalem, and engaged, when Philip
+met him, in studying the promises held out to the chosen people. We
+have no reason, I think, to assume that, because the sacred writings
+have only recorded this solitary instance, there were not other
+Ethiopians who had embraced the Jewish religion. It is well known
+that, in the East, through every age, the chief eunuch has always
+been one of the most powerful officers at the court; and it is not
+unreasonable, I think, to presume that his influence, joined to the
+persuasive truth of the doctrines of Christianity, may have induced
+many to forsake the ancient worship of the country, which had then,
+perhaps, degenerated, as in Egypt, into gross polytheism. Unless we
+assign a reign of more than fifty years to the Candace of the Gospel,
+she cannot be the sovereign who reigned at the time of the expedition
+of Petronius; but Pliny informs us that several queens who reigned in
+Ethiopia assumed this appellation. Philip met the eunuch, riding in
+his chariot, on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is a desert
+tract. Those deserts, which the traveller is now obliged to cross
+on the fatiguing camel, exposed to the hot sun and parching winds,
+the eunuch, it seems, rode over comfortably in his chariot. About
+the year 330, when Athanasius was Patriarch of Alexandria, according
+to Ludolf[80], Christianity was introduced into Abyssinia, by two
+youths, Frumentius and Ædisius, who were shipwrecked on the coast
+of the Red Sea; but it was not until the time of Theodosius that
+the Nubians were converted; and, according to the Arab writer,
+Sheref el Edrese, A.D. 1153, they were still Christians.
+
+I shall not attempt the laborious, and almost useless, task, of
+endeavouring to trace the history of this country from the time of
+the Romans until the present day. My object has been to lay before
+the reader the most important fragments of history connected with
+the kingdom of Meroe. The capital of Candace was Napata, and not
+Meroe. The latter celebrated metropolis seems to have existed
+until the age of Ptolemy Philadelphus; and at the time of Nero,
+Pliny describes Napata as of no importance. _Oppidum id parvum
+inter prædicta solum_. After this sad decline of the glory of the
+Ethiopians, we find the wild tribes, whose power was formerly absorbed
+in the superior greatness of Meroe, now acting the principal part. The
+wars of the Blemmyes and the Nubians with each other, and against the
+Roman power, are the most important events afterwards transmitted to
+us; but, as these tribes have left no monuments of their civilisation,
+their names, victories, and defeats, have little connection with the
+history of Meroe. It might be interesting to trace the wasting away
+of that lamp of civilisation which had shone once so bright; but such
+an inquiry would exceed my limits, as well as the object prescribed to
+myself, which was, to show the once great political importance of the
+Ethiopians of Meroe. I have said, in my topographical description,
+that my examination of the existing monuments led me to adopt the
+opinion of those who believe the statement of Diodorus, that Meroe
+was the cradle of the arts. I shall, in the following chapters,
+bring forward additional arguments to prove that statement. The
+establishment of this fact will give an additional interest to that
+classical land, which we have seen to be the country of Memnon, Zerah,
+Tirhaka, Ergamenes, &c., and against which the efforts of Semiramis,
+Cambyses, and the Egyptian Pharaohs[81], were vainly directed.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXI.
+
+REQUISITES FOR A STATE ENJOYING EXTENSIVE COMMERCE. — ADVANTAGEOUS
+POSITION OF MEROE. — PROBABLE EXTENT OF HER COMMERCE. — THE
+FACILITY AFFORDED TO ITS EXTENSION BY MEANS OF THE CAMEL. —
+COMMERCE OF ARABIA AND INDIA. — ABUNDANCE OF GOLD. — IRON AND
+GUM. — ETHIOPIAN TRIBUTE TO EGYPT. — DESCRIPTION OF A SPLENDID
+ETHIOPIAN PROCESSION AT THEBES. — COMMERCE OF THE INTERIOR. —
+CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF MEROE. — DIMINUTION OF HER AGRICULTURAL
+RESOURCES. — EXHAUSTION OF MINES. — RIVALRY OF EGYPT. — WARS
+WITH EGYPT. — ARAB CONQUEST. — PRESENT COMMERCE.
+
+
+_Commerce of Meroe._—The history of nations, and particularly of
+cities, clearly evinces the extraordinary effects of commerce. Those
+countries which have attained to any high degree of power and
+prosperity have been, in a great measure, indebted for them to that
+source of wealth. A wise government, anxious for the welfare of its
+subjects, always affords the utmost encouragement and protection to
+commerce, guarding it against those accidents which endanger its
+security, and when, from unavoidable circumstances, one branch is
+closed, seeks to open other channels to its successful activity. In
+order that a state may carry on extensive commerce, it ought to
+possess an advantageous position, contiguous to other rich countries,
+with the opportunity of becoming an emporium for their commodities,
+and of supplying them with those in which they are deficient. She
+ought also to enjoy abundant internal resources, derived from
+agriculture, manufactures, and mines.
+
+A slight examination of the map of this part of Africa will satisfy us
+that there could not have been a situation, on that immense continent,
+more admirably adapted for commercial intercourse than Meroe. Placed
+at a short distance only from the conflux of the Astaboras and the
+Nile, she was connected, by the former, with that part of Ethiopia
+now called Abyssinia; and, by the latter, now denominated the Bahr el
+Azruk, or Blue River, with the provinces of Sennaar, Fazoukl, and,
+perhaps, with regions still further to the south. It is also highly
+probable that, by the Bahr el Abiad, or White River, the true Nile,
+she communicated extensively with vast districts in the interior
+of Africa. The distance from these rivers, particularly from the
+Astaboras, to the present ports of Massoua (the ancient Adule)
+and Souakim, on the Red Sea, whence she received, perhaps, the
+productions of Arabia and the Indies, was by no means great. Nature
+seems to have facilitated the intercourse by providing her with the
+ship of the desert—the camel. By its means, probably, the commerce
+of Meroe may have been widely diffused into the centre of Africa;
+to the countries now called Kordofan and Darfour, which are only at
+a short distance from the Nile; nor is it improbable that a powerful
+and enterprising nation, such as the Ethiopians then appear to have
+been, may have extended their caravan trade to the kingdoms of Soudan,
+Bornou, &c., and possibly even to the now impervious Timbuctoo.
+
+It may be asked, if the profit which the merchants of Meroe could
+derive from such distant expeditions would repay the cost and hazard;
+but an examination of the expense of transporting merchandise on
+camels will remove that objection. In the estimate which I am about
+to make, of the expenses of sea and land carriage, the rates must,
+of course, be those of the present day; this, however, will be to the
+disadvantage of my argument, as navigation, at that remote period,
+was in a much more imperfect state, and consequently more tedious and
+expensive, than it now is. I shall select wool, as a bulky article,
+and, therefore, more difficult to transport by land. I shall suppose
+a vessel, laden with 1000 bags of wool, of 450 lbs. each, and that
+its average passage was thirty days, for which the owners received a
+freight of 1_d._ per lb., which, I believe, is about the usual rate
+for a voyage of that length. Supposing, also, that the average sailing
+of the vessel, allowing for detentions from contrary winds, and for
+the time occupied in loading and reloading, be fifty miles per day,
+making thus 1500 miles. Now, the usual load for a camel is 500 lbs.,
+sometimes 600 lbs., so that 450 lbs. is a very moderate calculation;
+and at the rate the merchandise of the Pasha is now carried down to
+Cairo, not more than sixty days would be necessary to accomplish the
+above distance. They charged me eighteen shillings for twenty days,
+averaging about twenty-five miles per day; therefore the expense
+of the sixty days, at present, would not exceed two pounds fourteen
+shillings; about sixteen shillings more than by water.
+
+In ancient times the expense of labour and camels was not likely
+to differ materially from what it now is; but that of maritime
+conveyance must have been much larger. We know the number of men that
+were necessary to impel the boats, and their system of following all
+the sinuosities of the coasts. Hence the time taken to accomplish a
+voyage of any extent must have been very long. The period required
+by Solomon’s vessels to reach the country of Ophir is a proof of
+the dilatory, and consequently expensive, navigation in that age. As
+I have stated in my account of Dongolah, 2500 loads of gum, of 450
+rotols each, are carried down to Cairo, that is, a distance of about
+1800 miles, for 2_l._, including all expenses; being thirteen per
+cent. on the value.
+
+This calculation proves, that the cost of land carriage, particularly
+for the short journeys to the Red Sea, Kordofan, and Darfour, would
+be only a slight inconvenience; and even the expense of a regular
+trade to Fezzan and Bornou, by the route which the Mamelukes took,
+would have been no very heavy burden on the articles. That on which
+I have chosen to make this calculation, was, as already observed, one
+of the most disadvantageous that could have been selected. The expense
+of 18_s._ (and I, as a traveller, of course paid the highest price),
+on conveying, for a journey of twenty days, 500 pounds weight of rich
+Indian stuffs, or of Arabian spices, must have been quite trifling.
+
+Meroe, therefore, enjoyed the advantage, not only of a direct
+water communication by the Nile, Bahr el Abiad, Bahr el Azruk,
+and the Astoboras, to an extent of several thousand miles of the
+vast continent of Africa, but also, by means of the ship of the
+desert, had an intercourse with her ports on the Red Sea, and could
+thence open a communication with Arabia, and through it, perhaps,
+with India. Thus, also, she could exchange her merchandise or the
+rich natural productions of the centre of Africa. The circumstance
+mentioned in my topographical description (page 200.), that in
+the reign of the fourth caliph after Mahomet, this country was
+overrun by a powerful tribe from Yemen, and not from the Hedjas,
+as was generally supposed, renders it very probable, that that part
+of Arabia in particular had been deeply engaged in the commerce of
+Meroe. The knowledge thus obtained of its former wealth and power,
+its then entirely decayed condition, and the facilities afforded by
+its ports to invaders, were likely to induce a nation, then in full
+power, and inflamed by religious zeal, to invade and lay waste that
+country to which it was formerly, perhaps, tributary, or even subject.
+
+A glance at the map is sufficient to show, that the commerce of the
+Indies must have been much more easily carried on with Meroe than
+with Egypt; for, whether the Ethiopians navigated directly to India,
+or received the produce of that rich country, by the caravans and
+vessels of the Arabians; in either case, she possessed superior
+local advantages over Egypt. Her ports on the Red Sea were better,
+the distance far shorter, and the dangerous navigation of that sea
+in a great measure avoided.
+
+Adule, supposed, by some, to be near the present Arkeko, latitude 15°
+30′ N., is called, by Pliny (vi. 29.) the very great emporium of
+the Troglodytes and the Ethiopians, and the commerce chiefly consisted
+in ivory, horns of the rhinoceros, hides of the hippopotamus, shells
+of the tortoise, sphinxes, and slaves.[82] According to Bruce, there
+are, at the entrance of the Arabian Gulf, the ruins of a place, from
+which, to Arabia Felix, the passage only requires a few hours. The
+direct commerce with Arabia, and sale of her manufactures in that
+populous peninsula, must also have been very great; but the commerce
+of Africa was, doubtless, the principal source of the power of Meroe.
+
+The superfluity of gold, which Herodotus (in his account of the
+Ichthyophagi sent as ambassadors, or rather spies, by Cambyses to
+the king of Ethiopia), describes as being applied to such common
+purposes, that even the prisoners were bound in chains of that metal,
+may, perhaps, have been a Greek mode of hyperbolically expressing
+its great abundance. I believe the supply of this metal to have
+been drawn chiefly from the interior. Diodorus says (lib. i. 29.),
+and Strabo repeats the passage, without acknowledging his author,
+“that island contains mines of gold, silver, iron, copper, and
+great abundance of ebony, and various kinds of precious stone,
+και μέταλλα χρυσου τε και αργύρου, &c., but the search of the Pasha
+after them has been fruitless. She may have derived a certain portion
+from mines in her own territories, and even in the island, which are
+now exhausted; but, from the limited traces of such mines hitherto
+discovered, I conceive it more probable that she obtained that
+abundance of the precious metals, not only from the now exhausted
+mines in the Great Nubian desert[83] (see pages 23. and 28.), but
+principally from the centre or the south of Africa. The Turkish
+governors now, when they make their expeditions into the Habeesh and
+the negro countries, frequently amass an immense quantity of gold; it
+is said, as much as 2000 or 3000 ounces; and before the conquest of
+the Pasha, I am informed that every peasant girl wore gold ornaments
+to a large amount. The inhabitants of the countries south of Sennaar
+are described to me as still possessing great abundance of gold, which
+must, in fact, be the case, for many merchants have told me that there
+is always plenty in the markets.
+
+The exclusive commerce which Meroe must have long enjoyed with so
+considerable a portion of that vast continent, was quite sufficient
+to raise her to a great height of opulence. The countries of the
+interior, if not really conquered by her, would, at all events,
+gladly exchange their gold, and other natural productions, for
+her manufactures and merchandise, which, doubtless, far exceeded
+in quality what they made themselves, or could procure elsewhere,
+being the production of a people more advanced in civilisation and
+the arts; while they, isolated by immense deserts from the rest of
+the world, would be little visited, except by the caravans from the
+metropolis. Gold was, probably, not the only return these countries
+afforded to Meroe. Brown has given an account of the productions
+of Darfour, and, as I have said before, 2500 camel loads of gum are
+sent yearly from Kordofan to Cairo. Iron mines have been found both
+in Kordofan and Darfour. I have specimens of this metal from the
+latter country, which is current in the bazaars, like money.[84]
+I may here remark, that, not improbably, the Ethiopian stone,
+mentioned by Herodotus as employed to make incisions in the bodies,
+for the purpose of embalming and forming them into mummies, was iron
+procured from that country by the Egyptians, who had no mines of their
+own. Ivory is still found abundantly in Abyssinia, and also in the
+province of Fazoukl; and elephants are always found in the territory
+of the Bugara tribe, behind Kordofan. Probably Meroe received many
+other commodities, with which an imperfect knowledge of those remote
+regions prevents us from being acquainted; besides others, perhaps,
+which are no longer produced.
+
+Herodotus (Thalia, 97.) says,—“The Ethiopians on the confines of Egypt,
+whom Cambyses subdued in his expedition, and those who inhabit the
+sacred island of Nysa, celebrate festivals to Bacchus. These Ethiopians
+and their neighbours bring, according to my memory, two half measures
+of pure gold, two hundred (φάλαγγας) long round pieces of ebony, five
+Ethiopian children, and twenty-large elephants’ teeth.” This passage
+reminds me of that magnificent procession in a tomb at Thebes, of the
+time of Thothmes III. Fifty figures are represented, exclusive of the
+Egyptians, painted red; six are black, and four of a dark brown, but
+apparently of the same country. These people, not having the Egyptian
+dress, are doubtless Ethiopian, and most of them are so called by the
+hieroglyphics. The splendid presents which they are presenting to the
+royal owner of the tomb, almost exactly correspond with the account
+just quoted from Herodotus.
+
+They consist of ivory, ebony, a most beautiful collection of vases,
+and a variety of animals,—horses, cows, the giraffe, capricorn,
+leopards, cynocephali, greyhounds, &c. Among a gorgeous pile of
+offerings appear heaps of gold and silver, skins, precious wood,
+and indigo. In the same procession are also thirty-seven white
+people, with very nearly the features of Jews, although many, from
+the hieroglyphics, consider them to be Scythians. Some of the latter
+are leading a chariot and horses, an elephant, young children, and one
+of them a bear; they are also carrying a variety of elegant vases. I
+conceive these presents, with the exception, perhaps, of the bear,
+to be chiefly from Ethiopia, and from the richness and elegance of the
+form of the vases, the abundance of gold and silver, and the curious
+manner in which the latter is wrought into the form of the heads of
+animals, we have the very strongest proofs of the exquisite taste,
+knowledge, and wealth of the Ethiopians: but as this procession is so
+extremely interesting, so intimately connected with Ethiopia, and is,
+at the same time, one of the most gorgeous and magnificent paintings
+that adorn the walls of Thebes, I have selected it from my Egyptian
+portfolio, conceiving that it will give great additional value to
+this work to publish it with all the colours, which still exist,
+almost quite fresh. The hieroglyphics are unfortunately very much
+defaced, but sufficient remain to distinguish in several instances
+the names of the people and that of the King, Thothmes III., who
+reigned about 1500 B.C.
+
+Parts I. II. III. and IV. form the whole of this procession; they
+are drawn to a scale of two inches to a foot, so that the reader
+may join them together, if he thinks proper. I will give a detailed
+description of them according to the plates. The first figure in Part
+I. has in one hand an ornamented vase, containing perhaps dates or
+some other dried fruit, in the other, apparently, an ivory club, and
+a string of precious stones hanging from his arm. The second figure
+has a couple of feathers in one hand, which are evidently those of
+the ostrich, from the circumstance of the vase he carries in the
+other containing the eggs. The third and fourth in this row bear a
+tree. The fifth carries a bowl, apparently of dates, in one hand,
+and in the other a couple of ostrich feathers, and a cord to which
+a leopard is attached. The sixth man has a gold or gilded vase in
+his hand, and has also charge of a monkey. The seventh bears a log
+of ebony on his shoulder, and is also leading a capricorn, an animal
+which abounds near Mount Sinai, and also, I believe, in the Bahiouda
+desert. The eighth has a log of ebony on his shoulder. The ninth,
+tenth, and last, are negroes, which may be distinguished from their
+colour and features. They have blue skull caps[85] and cinctures,
+with blue and red borders around their waists. The two last are
+carrying elephants’ teeth, and one of them has a string of precious
+stones, and the other the skin of a leopard turned inside out. The
+other negro is carrying a log of ebony, and, as will be observed,
+the light-coloured veins in that wood are distinctly marked.
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr.
+
+GRAND PROCESSION._PART 1._
+
+From a Tomb at Thebes.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._
+
+_Printed in Colours by C. Hullmandel._]
+
+The second row of figures in this plate are still more curious. They
+are called Ethiopians. The cinctures and boots of each individual
+are of a different pattern, rivalling in variety and elegance the
+chintz morning dresses of our modern belles. These Ethiopians have
+their hair dressed in curls above their foreheads, and ringlets
+hanging down on their shoulders. The first is carrying a piece of
+an elephant’s tooth and a vase in his hand; the others, eleven
+in number, are bearing elegant descriptions of vases, apparently
+of gold and silver; these, although unadorned with figures and
+mythological subjects, are most exquisite in form, and I am sure
+the reader will admit their decorations to be most beautiful. Those
+carried by the third, fifth, and tenth figures of the second row of
+this plate, apparently contain flowers; whether these are artificial
+decorations of the vases, or really represent plants,—varieties,
+perhaps, of the lotus peculiar to Ethiopia—is a question I cannot
+decide. The necklaces which the third figure is bearing are very
+elegant, apparently of lapis lazuli and gold. The elegant vase the
+seventh figure is carrying, is either of ivory or silver.
+
+The third row in this plate contains a most interesting group of
+Ethiopians. The first figure, bearing a log of ebony and a monkey
+on his shoulder, is conducting a drove of seven oxen. I might have
+taken the liberty to restore the forms of the latter; but, as will be
+seen by the plate, the heads and fore-legs only are still remaining,
+showing the curious and beautiful manner in which the Egyptians
+grouped their cattle. Above the oxen is a curious group of dogs, not
+very unlike the greyhounds that at present exist in Ethiopia. The
+next group is very interesting; two Ethiopians are conducting a
+giraffe, admirably drawn. A mischievous monkey is climbing up its
+neck. The way in which he is conducted, with cords attached to his
+feet, is curious, and the cincture of the Ethiopians leading him
+is formed apparently of the skin of a giraffe, they being, perhaps,
+inhabitants of the deserts where the animal is found. The next, or
+fourth figure, is leading a monkey, and bearing a vase full of ostrich
+eggs and feathers. The fifth figure is a negro, carrying a tooth
+of an elephant and skins; he has a blue cap. I do not believe that
+such caps were then worn, but that their hair is represented blue,
+to distinguish it from the colour of their faces, which was black;
+otherwise, from the same colours joining, it would have appeared as
+if they wore no hair at all. The Egyptian border is a great finish to
+the painting. The broad blue streak above the top-line represents the
+heavens. The ground colour, which is exactly the tint of the original,
+adds to the richness of the painting, and throws out the white.
+
+Part II. is a continuation of the three rows last described. The four
+figures in the top row are dark-coloured, but not quite black. This
+is one of the very few instances in which the Egyptians preserved
+any degree of difference between the usual red colour and the black
+of the negroes. The pile of gorgeous offerings in the centre of this
+plate is magnificent; the first row contains two obelisks, perhaps
+of granite, beautifully decorated vases containing rings, which,
+from the hieroglyphics, we find are of gold, sealed bags of the same,
+and precious stones, and heaps of grain, and apparently fruit. The
+second row contains still richer offerings: in the first line are two
+very prettily decorated vases, laden with ingots of silver, and an
+elegant tray, on which are rings, which, from their hieroglyphics,
+must be also of silver; and another vase, containing, I think,
+indigo. The second line comprises some very elegant vases, apparently
+of gold and silver, and one blue glass bottle: the streaks of yellow
+in the latter are curious. The third line includes beautifully-shaped
+vases, which, from the hieroglyphics, are either full of silver and
+gold, or actually made of those precious metals; and, what is very
+remarkable in this line, there are several heads of animals, which,
+from the hieroglyphics, and also from the colouring, are evidently of
+silver and gold. There is the head of a capricorn, in gold; one of an
+antelope, and another of a jackall, in silver; and one of a leopard,
+and of a curious description of bird, apparently a cock, in gold.
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr.
+
+GRAND PROCESSION._PART 2._
+
+From a Tomb at Thebes.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._
+
+_Printed in Colours by C. Hullmandel._]
+
+The third row is equally rich. In the first line there are rings of
+gold, and bags, which the reader will remark in the plate, are also
+sealed; ostrich feathers, logs of ebony, and a cynocephalus, perched
+comically in the centre. The lower line contains elephants’ teeth,
+a beautiful skin of a leopard, ingots and rings of gold, and sealed
+bags of precious stones. At the end of each row is a scribe, writing
+in his book with his pen an inventory of the different offerings;
+behind the latter are gentlemen, perhaps of the household of the king,
+with their white wands of office. All the hieroglyphics above the
+figure are in the original of a blue colour, as represented, with
+the exception of the two lines of large hieroglyphics in this plate,
+forming part of the tablet before a figure of the king, seated;
+but, as his majesty, in this instance, is very plainly attired,
+I have not considered it necessary to give a drawing of him.
+
+Part III. contains two rows of figures immediately underneath the
+three rows of Part I. The people represented in the first row of this
+plate are all white, with blue eyes, red hair, and pointed beards:
+they are dressed in long robes, open in front, like the caftans of
+the Turks. The first group is curious, exhibiting one of these men
+leading a bear, and having on his shoulders a tooth of an elephant,
+while behind him is a representation of that animal. The features of
+these figures resemble those of the Jews: their complexion, and one
+of them having a long glove in his hand, certainly indicate their
+coming from a cold country. The elephant must be from Ethiopia: if,
+therefore, they are the Scythians, as some suppose, they must be
+employed as slaves bearing the produce of Ethiopia. It is possible
+that they are natives of the mountains of Abyssinia, who are now
+so much whiter than the natives of the valley of the Nile of the
+same latitude; but I think it far more probable that they are white
+slaves of the king of Ethiopia, sent to the Egyptian king as the most
+acceptable present. The same people are leading an elegant car and a
+pair of horses. The plate will show their beautiful manner of drawing
+that animal, almost equal to the Grecian. The lowest row represents
+the Egyptians leading two rows of another race of white men. They
+are without beards, have blue hair and eyes, and are dressed in long
+gowns: from their position, they must be either strings of prisoners,
+or recruits drilling for the army: behind them are their wives,
+curiously dressed, carrying and leading their children. The latter
+are painted red, as if born in Ethiopia, whither their parents had
+been brought prisoners. The Egyptian border at the bottom of this
+plate heightens considerably the effect of the painting.
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr.
+
+GRAND PROCESSION._PART 3._
+
+From a Tomb at Thebes.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._
+
+_Printed in Colours by C. Hullmandel._]
+
+Part IV., the last compartment of this grand procession, represents,
+in the upper row, five of the Jewish-looking figures, with their
+aquiline noses, bearing large vases. The second bears an elegant bow
+and quiver full of arrows; the third has a long glove in his hand;
+and the fourth, perhaps, an ivory bottle. The offerings in the centre
+are almost similar to those I have described before. There are some
+bundles of reeds, and two vases of a blue article, perhaps indigo. The
+lowest row contains a group of seven male Ethiopian slaves, recruits
+I conceive for the army; behind them are their wives and children; one
+of the latter in a pannier suspended from the head of its mother. The
+figures in this row are not, like those above, bearing presents; the
+Egyptian scribe at the end is, however, represented, as in the other
+instances, writing on his scroll, which confirms the idea that they
+are slaves forming part of the tribute to the great Egyptian king.
+
+Athenæus (see lib. v.), in his description of the festival given
+by Ptolemy Philadelphus to the Alexandrians, mentions, that in the
+procession there was a number of Ethiopians, carrying the teeth of
+600 elephants. Others bore two thousand blocks of ebony, and some
+were loaded with vessels of gold and silver, containing the finest
+gold. Besides these, there were 2,400 dogs, men bearing trees, and
+a number of animals, both beasts and birds, parroquets, and other
+birds of Ethiopia, carried in cages; 130 Ethiopian sheep, 300 Arabian,
+and 20 from the island of Nubia; 26 Indian buffaloes, white as snow,
+and 8 from Ethiopia; three brown bears, and a white one, 14 leopards,
+16 panthers, 4 lynxes, 1 giraffe, and a rhinoceros of Ethiopia. The
+reader has only to refer to my drawings to perceive how admirably
+the procession, represented on the walls of this tomb, erected
+at the time of Thothmes III., considering it also as a pictorial
+representation, agrees with the one described by Athenæus, and the
+tribute mentioned by Herodotus as paid to the Persians 1000 years
+after the reign of Thothmes.
+
+In the voyage of Scylax round the world mention is made of the
+Ethiopians. Although the account is rather confused, particularly
+as to their situation, the description agrees so remarkably, in many
+instances, with the people represented in these plates, that I cannot
+refrain from giving part of it. “The nation whom they traffic
+with are the Ethiopians, who sell them skins of stags and lions,
+precious stones, skins and teeth of elephants, and droves of domestic
+animals. The richest furniture of these Ethiopians consists in _carved
+vases_, and of bottles of ivory. They wear beards and _long hair_;
+they are the most beautiful men on the earth: he who has the finest
+figure is chosen their chief. They are excellent horsemen, and very
+skilful archers. They drink milk, but also wine, which they make in
+great quantities from the vines that they cultivate. They have a large
+town, where the Phœnicians carry their merchandise. Some pretend that
+the Ethiopians inhabit a vast territory, extending from Egypt to the
+sea.” The skins, precious stones, ivory, herds of cattle, carved
+vases, ivory bottles, long hair, use of the bow and arrows, agree in
+an extraordinary manner with the representations in these plates. The
+large town, to which the Phœnicians traded, was, perhaps, Meroe.
+
+This grand procession may perhaps be merely a representation of
+an amicable present made on the part of the Ethiopians to the king
+Thothmes; but as that Egyptian monarch waged war against Ethiopia,
+built the temple of Semneh, and left his name in an inscription on
+the rocks at Toumbos, this painting (particularly as it is depicted
+in the most conspicuous part of his tomb) may reasonably be supposed
+to represent either a tribute from the conquered regions, or the
+price at which Ethiopia obtained a peace.
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr.
+
+GRAND PROCESSION._PART 4._
+
+From a Tomb at Thebes.
+
+_Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835._
+
+_Printed in Colours by C. Hullmandel._]
+
+When Egypt grew into importance, before the commencement of those
+wars which were so fatal to the prosperity of the kingdom of Meroe,
+her colonies in that country would be a great source of wealth;
+receiving the manufactures of the mother country, and sending back
+in return the rich productions of the more northern valley of the
+Nile. The Bahr el Abiad and the Bahr el Azruk would enable her
+merchants to carry their manufactures among the wild natives of the
+interior. It is now impossible to say how far that commerce extended
+in that direction. The difference of religion, supposing it to have
+existed, was probably not very great, nor does history lead us to
+suppose, that there existed the same bigotry which now separates the
+Mahometan from the Pagan. The former religion, particularly at its
+commencement, was most intolerant; its believers being almost bound
+to propagate it with the sword. This will account for the little
+communication which, according to the tradition of the country,
+has existed for several centuries between the present inhabitants
+of Shendy, that is, Meroe, and the still wilder tribes of the
+interior. The Arab princes of this country made excursions into the
+interior, not as merchants, to exchange the produce of the land,
+and diffuse the seeds of knowledge and civilisation, but with arms
+in their hands, to force their weaker neighbours to embrace their
+faith, and, in later times, to drag their children into captivity;
+but we cannot suppose that a wise and civilised people could have
+adopted so impolitic a course. The account given by the historians
+of the different sects which existed, even in the kingdom of Meroe,
+prove that toleration was then allowed.
+
+Meroe, therefore, possessed local advantages far greater than have
+been enjoyed by many great commercial states; and I now hope to
+show, that her internal resources, until exhausted or decayed,
+were sufficient to insure a continuation of that prosperity. Her
+great superiority over other states would consist, not only in the
+productions of the soil, but principally in her standing singly
+pre-eminent in civilisation. That science and knowledge of the arts,
+when applied to commerce, enriched her citizens, and enabled them
+to indulge their taste for luxury, for architectural ornament, and
+to encourage her artists. What was of greater importance, it would
+afford to many the means of devoting their lives to the pursuit
+of literature; the same activity would, of course, to a certain
+degree, be applied to the improvement of her manufactures, and the
+production of useful and ornamental articles, for which the natives
+of the interior would gladly give in exchange that precious metal,
+which is only valuable for what it procures.
+
+My article on the state of the arts at Meroe will show the skill and
+science possessed by her inhabitants; which, with their wealth and
+commercial habits, would be employed in useful and elegant inventions,
+with their monopoly of which their uncivilised neighbours would be
+unable to interfere. I have stated in my topographical description
+of the pyramids of Meroe, how the evidence of all travellers—that a
+great part of the soil of Egypt, and the whole of the Delta, has been
+brought down from Ethiopia by the Nile,—agrees with the testimony
+of the historians, particularly of Diodorus, and the information
+they received in a country, the natives of which were more likely
+to conceal than invent such an account.
+
+The first great source of the power of Meroe was probably the extreme
+fertility of her soil, and the abundance of her harvests. Those
+banks, which are now in a great many instances entirely covered
+by the sands of the desert, were doubtless then overspread with
+that rich soil which astonishes the traveller in Egypt, and her
+country was resorted to perhaps by the natives of less favoured
+climes, as the richest under the sun.[86] With regard to her mines,
+notwithstanding what Diodorus says, I suspect, as formerly stated,
+that this great source of her wealth was derived more from the centre
+of Africa; but it is true that the interior of the island has never
+yet been fully explored. If any remains of those riches now exist,
+access to them is almost impossible, at all events for an individual,
+in consequence of the number of ferocious and terrible animals with
+which that tract is infested.
+
+I have described Meroe, such as she must have been in the zenith of
+her greatness,—the emporium of the commerce of interior Africa, the
+cradle and early seat of arts, science, and civilisation. Such was she
+in the height of her prosperity; but, as the sun which rises must set,
+and nation must succeed nation in the career of improvement, I must
+now endeavour to account for her gradual decline, and the chain of
+circumstances which finally caused her name to be erased from the
+list of kingdoms. The first cause perhaps was the failure of her
+internal resources, in consequence of the Nile carrying down yearly
+to Egypt a portion of her richest soil, and the deserts encroaching
+on her plains. She thus became dependent on foreign countries for
+an adequate supply of those necessaries, of which her territory
+perhaps formerly produced a superfluity. Those mines also, whether
+on her own territory or farther in the interior, which furnished
+such an abundance of the precious metal, would in course of time
+become exhausted; or accidental circumstances might interrupt her
+commercial intercourse with the countries which supplied them. Her
+inhabitants, finding the soil swept away by the Nile, would follow the
+course of the river, and establish themselves in Egypt. The latter
+country, besides the extraordinary advantages afforded by it to the
+cultivators, would, by instructions received from these Ethiopian
+colonies, almost immediately rise to an equal rank of civilisation and
+knowledge. We have seen that the same religion, the same mysteries,
+the same writing, and the same style of architecture, existed in
+the two countries. The land of Egypt would increase every year in
+fertility, and the tree of knowledge, planted in that genial soil,
+would spread wide its branches. The activity too of a more northern
+region, and the energies of a less corrupted nation, would raise
+the people of Egypt above those of Ethiopia, then perhaps become
+more luxurious, and consequently more indolent.
+
+In the earliest ages, Meroe might have profited by a commerce with
+her Egyptian colonies; the markets of the latter country might,
+for a short time, have been supplied with produce and manufactures
+of Arabia and the Indies, from the mother country; but it is not
+to be supposed that the Egyptians would have been so deficient in
+intelligence, and the Arabians in common sense, as not to perceive
+the advantage of a direct communication.[87] The Egyptian ports of
+Myos Hormos and Berenice, and others, possessed also the advantage of
+being less distant from the river, and afforded to the Arabians the
+means of supplying rich and populous Egypt with the productions of
+the Indies and the peninsula. Philostratus (2 de Vitâ Apollonii,
+l. iii. c. 35.) says, that a certain prince named Eythus (who
+is supposed by some, but, I conceive, erroneously, to be Esau)
+dispossessed the Egyptians of their trade in the Red Sea, making
+a law, that they should not navigate that sea with more than one
+merchant ship at a time; but the Egyptians built one of immense size,
+to supply the place of several. Their trade at that time could not
+have been very extensive, if it could be carried on by any one
+vessel; but perhaps, as in the time of Joseph, who (see Genesis
+xxxvii. 25.) was sold by his brethren to a company of Ishmaelites,
+the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar, 1730 B.C.,
+travelling from Gilead, with their camels, bearing spices and myrrh
+for the Egyptian market, they had a considerable land commerce with
+the Arabians: the caravan I have just alluded to must, by the nature
+of the produce, have come from Arabia.
+
+The Jews, in the time of Solomon, carried on a great trade in the
+Red Sea, and imported gold from Ophir. “And Huram sent him, by
+the hands of his servants, ships, and servants that had knowledge
+of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and
+took thence 450 talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.”
+(2 Chron. viii. 18.)—“And the Queen of Sheba (chap. ix. 9.) gave
+King Solomon 120 talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and
+precious stones.” And in the same chapter, 13th and 14th verses,
+we find that Solomon received, “in one year, 666 talents of gold,
+beside that which chapmen and merchants brought; and all the kings
+of Arabia brought gold and silver to Solomon.” These passages are
+important, as showing one particular district of Ethiopia, where gold
+was found in abundance. The gold brought by the chiefs of Arabia,
+I conceive not to have been the natural production of that country,
+but the fruit of their industry and commerce with the Ethiopians. As
+Solomon was son-in-law to the Pharaoh of Egypt, the latter was,
+probably, not excluded from the commerce. Ezekiel mentions Ethiopia as
+one of the upholders of Egypt; and (chapter xxx. verse 9.) he says,
+“In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make
+the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them,
+as in the day of Egypt.” The expression “careless,” I conceive,
+alludes to the security which they, no doubt, felt in their power,
+and the natural protection their rocky cataracts afforded them for
+resisting an invader. Their being afraid of ships almost leads me
+to suppose that they could have had little or no navy, or wherefore
+that apprehension? for there is no doubt that their land army,
+even in the most distant times, was very great. I have shown, in my
+historical chapter, that Zerah, the Ethiopian, marched with a host
+of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots.
+
+But these remarks regard chiefly the navigation, for whether the
+produce was brought in the vessels of Eythus (whom I conceive to
+have been an Arabian king), of the Jews, or of the Tyrians (Strabo,
+c. 16.), or Syrians (_Id._ 17.), and eventually by the ships of the
+Ptolemies and Cæsars, little affects the question, as Egypt was,
+in every case, the emporium of the merchandise. That enterprising
+spirit and activity which always characterise a rising nation,
+would lead the Egyptians into the markets of the centre of Africa,
+and thus inflict another blow on the prosperity of Meroe. We know
+what Alexandria became, from the immense commerce with the East which
+it continued to enjoy, notwithstanding the impediments occasioned by
+the ignorance and barbarism of its governments, until the Portuguese
+discovery of the passage by the Cape. After that event, which led the
+commerce of the Indies into another channel, Alexandria and Kosseer
+dwindled into obscurity, having lost, as Meroe had previously done,
+that great source of wealth.
+
+Strabo says, quoting from Cicero, that Auletes, the father of
+Cleopatra, drew from Egypt 12,500 talents, more than two millions
+and a half sterling. Diodorus only calculated the revenue at
+half that sum. The observations which Strabo afterwards makes are
+important. “If,” says he, “the revenue was so considerable,
+under the negligent and bad rule of that prince, what will it be now
+that it is governed with so much care, and that the commerce of the
+Indies and of the country of the Troglodites is increased so much;
+for formerly,” said he, “they counted only twenty vessels, who
+dared to advance beyond the entrance of the Arabian Gulf, whilst
+now considerable fleets sail to the Indies and to the extremities
+of Ethiopia, whence the most precious merchandise is brought into
+Egypt, and thence sent into other countries. In this manner they
+have a double tax on the imports and exports, in proportion to the
+value of the merchandise;” and he adds, that “Alexandria is the
+principal depôt for their merchandise, and the place of commerce
+which furnishes other countries with it in great abundance.” This
+account is curious, as it shows that, until the time of Strabo, the
+Egyptian trade with the Indians was not very extensive: its increase
+would naturally diminish the commercial relations of Meroe.[88]
+
+It is also remarkable, that about the time when Meroe began to
+decline, Egypt was most famous for her commerce. Psammetichus, who
+reigned six centuries and a half before our era, almost immediately
+after the expulsion or retirement of the Ethiopian dynasty, gained
+great wealth by trade before he was King of Egypt. The richest and
+most magnificent tombs of private individuals, now remaining at
+Thebes, belong chiefly to that era, proving a degree of opulence
+unequalled at any other period.
+
+I have shown, in my historical chapter, that, notwithstanding the
+diminution of the trade of Meroe with India and Arabia, she was
+still able to resist the armies of the Egyptians. The pyramids of
+Geezah and the tombs of Beni Hassan are proofs of the great wealth
+and power of the latter, even so early as the 16th dynasty; and
+during the 18th dynasty the Kings Thothmes, Amunoph, &c. invaded
+Ethiopia. Yet, notwithstanding the power of those princes, it seems,
+according to the evidence of Herodotus[89], and of the monuments
+themselves, that Rameses II. was the only Egyptian king who subdued
+Ethiopia; but a hero sprang up in the 8th century, who, in return,
+conquered Egypt. Shabak, and his successors Shabatok and Tahraka,
+reigned over that country forty-four years. The power of Meroe
+must have been very great, even at that period, to have enabled her
+armies to make such an important conquest, and extend her sway from
+Meroe to the Mediterranean. It is also wonderful that it should
+have been so little impaired by the diminution of her commerce,
+and the decline of her internal resources. I have described the
+power of the priests, whose influence was so great at the time
+of Ergamenes, who was contemporary to Ptolemy, that that prince,
+who had received a liberal education, had recourse to the violent
+measure of attacking and slaying them at their altars. The chief
+cause of the decline of Meroe was probably the injury this theocratic
+government had inflicted on the country; for we cannot suppose that
+the people would have submitted to the destruction of the ministers
+of their religion, had there not been some deep causes of complaint,
+and a general consciousness that their mismanagement and bigotry
+had plunged the country into distress. The lamentable decline of
+the arts at this period proves that the resources of the country
+were entirely occupied in maintaining a force sufficient to defend
+it from invasion, and its diminished commerce and wealth offered
+less means of encouragement to artists. War, not the fine arts and
+intellectual cultivation, was become the necessary occupation of
+the nation. The resources of Meroe, even for some time afterwards,
+must have been considerable, that their Queen Candace could check
+the Roman arms; but the expedition of Petronius, already described,
+ruining all the country between Syene and Napata, and destroying the
+cities which had escaped from the previous desolating war between
+the Ethiopians and the Egyptians, must have inflicted a deep blow
+on the prosperity of Meroe. That queen, indeed, followed the Roman
+army in its retreat, and finally, drove them from Premnis; but the
+long series of wars would, of course, hasten the decline of a country
+whose internal resources had long been gradually diminishing. Pliny
+says[90], that at the time of Candace, which name for many years the
+Ethiopian queens had assumed, there were few edifices in the city
+of Meroe; but, after mentioning the holy shrine of Hammon, and the
+small temple and chapels on the road, bearing testimony to the power
+of the Ethiopians, he describes the island as once of great renown,
+having an army of 250,000 men, and 400,000 artificers. The number of
+artificers, supposing even that in that class are comprised artists,
+craftsmen, manufacturers, and all labourers not agriculturists,
+is enormous, and proves a vast degree of industry and civilisation.
+
+Even in the eighth century, after the country had become Christian,
+her monarchs were so powerful, that it was asserted, about the year
+737, that the kings of Nubia and Ethiopia could bring into the field
+100,000 horse, and as many camels. When Christianity was spread over
+Ethiopia, the painter’s and sculptor’s skill would be no longer
+necessary to make representations of their gods but the ministers of
+the gospel at that time were more occupied in schismatical disputes,
+and in making converts to their peculiar and often fanciful tenets,
+than in propagating the pure principles of their religion, dispelling
+the darkness of superstition, and advancing the civilisation and
+prosperity of the kingdom.
+
+According to the tradition which I learned at Dongolah, in the
+reign of the fourth caliph after Mahomet this country was conquered
+by the Arabs, and the inhabitants blended with the conquerors, who
+forced them to become Mussulmen, or drove them out of the country,
+probably into Abyssinia.
+
+After all that has been said, those who view the present rude and
+degraded state of this territory may feel a difficulty in believing
+that it ever could be so enlightened and flourishing as I have now
+described it. They ought, however, to consider, that it is not more
+surprising that Meroe, under the uncivilised and ignorant dominion
+of the Arabs, would lose all knowledge of the arts, than that the
+little island of Rhodes, once eminent for power, civilisation, and
+commerce, should now, although not, like Meroe, deprived of her rich
+soil, be equally ignorant and barbarous. Syracuse, from the same
+cause, had risen to such a height of civilisation and power, as to
+be able to resist the vast efforts of the Athenians; and finally,
+with little assistance, inflict a deadly blow on the prosperity
+of the city of Minerva. What is Tunis, compared to Carthage? Where
+are Tyre and Sidon, the cities of Phœnicia? If it was necessary,
+numerous similar examples might be adduced, of the vicissitudes to
+which kingdoms and cities are liable. Sufficient reasons have been
+assigned for the downfall of Meroe. The failure of her commerce;
+her rich soil carried away, or swallowed up by the deserts, and
+the consequent diminution of her population; her mines exhausted,
+and the active rivalry of a nation finally more powerful; the long
+and ruinous wars with Egypt; and at last the Arabian conquest, swept
+away every trace of her affluence and civilisation: the invaders,
+with a brand in one hand, burning her libraries[91] and edifices, and
+in the other the sword, forcing her subjects to embrace a different
+faith, and renounce the arts and knowledge of their ancestors.
+
+In a country where the arts are now totally unknown, and which
+is become little better than a desert, it is not surprising to
+find commerce reduced to the mere exchange of the most absolute
+necessaries of life, and a few trifling superfluities. Small caravans
+occasionally go from Shendy to Abyssinia. Sometimes the rulers of
+the latter country do not permit them to enter their dominions,
+and civil wars not unfrequently put an entire stop to the trade; but
+when, as is generally the case, the merchants succeed in procuring
+an entrance, they inform me that the profits on their Cairo goods
+are enormous. They receive in exchange a little ivory; gold, the
+value of which is several dollars per ounce lower there than in
+Egypt; a very fine species of cotton scarf, much esteemed and worn
+by the Abyssinian women in the Turkish harems, and the Abyssinian
+coffee; which, although not equal to the Mocha, is almost the only
+kind drunk in Nubia: but their chief return is in slaves. The wars
+which generally distract that unfortunate country furnish to each
+state abundance of these victims, which, like cattle, are exchanged
+with the merchant for the luxuries of Egypt: few are the Turks
+who have not Abyssinian girls in their harems, and I have seen
+numerous eunuchs brought from that country. It is horrid to think
+that beings called Christians should be guilty of such enormities;
+but there is no doubt of the fact. The slaves, whether girls or boys,
+by compulsion or inclination, invariably become Mahometans.
+
+A caravan also occasionally goes to Souakim, where they get India
+stuffs, Mocha coffee, and a great part of the spices, the use of which
+is so general. Small caravans also go to Kordofan and Darfour. In
+the former of these countries the Pasha of Egypt monopolises the
+richest produce, as gum, ivory, and ostrich feathers; but Kordofan
+is the chief mart of the negro slaves. The jealousy of the King of
+Darfour against any persons going or coming from the dominions of the
+Pasha of Egypt, at whose power he trembles, prevents that commerce
+being now very extensive. The merchants are very illiterate, and in
+general extremely debauched. Even their interest does not check their
+dissoluteness, or protect the honour of their poor Abyssinian female
+slaves. The supply of gold is very much diminished: some, however,
+is still found, and of the finest quality; but in every direction
+the caravans regard slaves as the most advantageous exchange for
+their goods. They drive them like cattle over the burning sands,
+and, what I have been an eye-witness to, over the bones of their
+brethren which lie bleaching in the desert. The ingenuity of their
+masters seems to be exercised, not in alleviating their pains, but
+in devising how to economise their own purses, by discovering on how
+little and how coarse food their victims can exist, and what extent of
+fatigue and suffering they can endure, and still remain saleable. In
+the district which we have seen to have been once the emporium of the
+East, there remains only this miserable traffic. Instead of palaces
+and splendid edifices, there are now only rude and miserable huts. Of
+the power, civilisation, and wealth of Meroe, not a vestige remains to
+corroborate the testimony of the historians but a few small temples,
+and the splendid sepulchres of her departed kings.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXII.
+
+                         ON THE ARTS OF MEROE.
+
+AFFLUENCE WOULD INTRODUCE A TASTE FOR THE ARTS. — THE HEAT OF THE
+CLIMATE FAVOURABLE TO SEDENTARY PURSUITS. — PRIVATE EMULATION
+WOULD AFFORD FURTHER ENCOURAGEMENT. — DESIRE OF DISTINGUISHING
+THEMSELVES BY INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS. — TESTIMONY OF DIODORUS THAT
+KNOWLEDGE WAS VERY GENERALLY DIFFUSED IN ETHIOPIA. — THE PYRAMIDS
+OF MEROE THE OLDEST SPECIMENS OF ETHIOPIAN ART. — CIVILISATION
+OF THE ETHIOPIANS PROVED BY THEIR MONUMENTAL EDIFICES. — THE
+ETHIOPIANS INVENTORS OF THE ARCH. — EGYPTIAN ARCHES. — ETHIOPIAN
+SCULPTURE. — PROBABLE CAUSE OF THEIR PECULIAR STYLE. — REASONS
+FOR PRESERVING IT. — DEFERENCE OF THE PTOLEMIES AND ROMANS FOR
+THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE EGYPTIANS. — PLEASING EFFECT OF THE
+EGYPTIAN AND ETHIOPIAN SCULPTURE. — ADMIRABLE MANNER OF DRAWING
+ANIMALS, HIEROGLYPHICS, AND THEIR TASTE IN ORNAMENTS. — COLOURING
+ON ETHIOPIAN SCULPTURE. — THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS DESCENDED FROM
+ETHIOPIA. — COMPLEXION OF THE ANCIENT AND PRESENT INHABITANTS. —
+ACCURACY OF DIODORUS’ ACCOUNT PROVED BY THE MONUMENTS. — TASTE FOR
+THE ARTS IN A NATION INSEPARABLE FROM OTHER INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS. —
+WORKS OF THE ETHIOPIAN KING TIRHAKA. — REVIEW OF THE ANTIQUITIES
+IN ETHIOPIA. — FOLLY OF COMPARING THE PRESENT WITH THE ANCIENT
+INHABITANTS OF THE VALLEY OF THE NILE.
+
+
+It has appeared in the preceding chapters, that the kingdom of
+Meroe was the emporium of the interior of Africa, and from her rich
+productions, and the abundance of her precious metals, was resorted
+to by the inhabitants of the regions in her vicinity. This influx
+of population would naturally oblige many to employ their capital
+and talent in other pursuits besides commerce. Every branch of
+industry would gradually improve; a rich and luxurious people would
+constantly desire new objects to please the fancy, and contribute
+to the enjoyment of life. The son of the merchant, who had earned
+great wealth, would, as in our days, be able to reap the fruits
+of that industry. Some might indulge in foolish extravagance; but
+others would place their enjoyment in the encouragement of the arts,
+or in those studies which gratify and enrich the mind, and, at the
+same time, tend to improve and civilise society.
+
+In so fertile a country, a great proportion of the principal
+landed proprietors, besides those who had realised large fortunes
+by commerce, must have been able to pass their lives in literary
+leisure, and employ their fortune in the encouragement of the arts,
+and the propagation of science. Even the heat of the climate would
+contribute to the advancement of civilisation. In Europe, particularly
+in its northern districts, how many consume a great portion of their
+time and fortune in the healthy, but rough, amusement of the chase;
+but in the tropics, the greatest luxury is repose. I have remarked
+repeatedly, that the rich natives of the climates of the East rarely
+expose themselves to the heat of the sun, except when necessity
+absolutely requires it, as on a journey; and even then as little as
+possible. It is considered one of the greatest advantages of rank and
+fortune, that its possessors can enjoy the luxury of shade during
+the whole day, while their less fortunate brethren are obliged to
+toil under a burning sun.
+
+The same natural causes, operating equally in ancient times, would
+give to the Ethiopians an inclination for sedentary pursuits, which
+would be advantageous to their advancement in the different branches
+of science, as soon as their taste for them had been unfolded. That
+rivalry which always arises among bodies of men, would urge to the
+improvement of the arts. The great and wealthy would endeavour
+to surpass each other in the beauty and magnificence of their
+palaces, and they would emulously display their piety to the gods,
+by contributing to the building and decorating the temples, and
+their munificence and generosity, by the construction of edifices
+of public utility.
+
+This is not an imaginary picture. Let the reader look at the drawings
+of Meroe, and candidly say whether, in a country containing architects
+able to construct such chaste and beautiful monuments, men could
+have spent the superfluity of wealth, derived from commerce,
+in mere sensual indulgence? Was the knowledge of architecture,
+sculpture, and painting, exclusively employed in the construction of
+the sepulchres of her monarchs and the temples of the gods? Can it
+be supposed that those who must have had the means, would content
+themselves with wretched huts, when their wealth enabled them to
+employ their skilful architects in erecting commodious and elegant
+habitations, suitable to their rank? Can we imagine that the gentry
+of a kingdom, famous in antiquity for its civilisation, would spend
+their time, like the Turks, in listless indolence, and would not seek
+to distinguish themselves by studies and learning? But Diodorus,
+speaking of the language of hieroglyphics, says, that, in Egypt,
+the priests only were acquainted with them, whilst, in Ethiopia,
+they were generally understood. This shows that civilisation was
+widely diffused among the people, who apparently were not content,
+like their neighbours, to view without understanding the tablets of
+writing and sculpture which ornamented the walls of their temples.
+
+Unfortunately, the remains of pure Ethiopian art, at all events,
+those of the earliest period, are but few. The pyramids of Nouri,
+but particularly those of Meroe, must have been built many ages
+before the temples of Gibel el Birkel, especially the one finished by
+Tirhaka: the style of the sculpture differs so widely, that a slight
+examination only is necessary to prove that a long period must have
+intervened before, in a country like this, the style could have so
+materially changed. I place, then, the pyramids of Meroe among the
+earliest specimens now existing of the skill of the Ethiopians. In my
+description of those ruins, I have extolled the beautiful simplicity
+of the architecture, imposing, and, at the same time, elegant, in
+a superior degree to the immense pyramids of Geezah. The sepulchres
+of Meroe delight us by evincing the greatest purity of taste, while
+they are not, like the Egyptian pyramids, monuments of the tyranny
+and oppression of their kings.
+
+The different plates I have given of the sculpture in the porticoes
+of Meroe, at Gibel el Birkel (see Plates X., XI., and XII., and
+particularly Plate XI., which contains a number of vases,) display
+a great degree of elegance, and, perhaps, a refined simplicity,
+equal to what we find in Egyptian sculpture.
+
+The offerings (see Plate XXIX.) are the animals of the country
+and surrounding deserts. The group with branches of the palm
+tree, is quite Ethiopian, and very beautiful; but the splendid
+procession alluded to, in treating of the commerce, as existing in
+a tomb at Thebes, is particularly instructive: the Ethiopians are
+there represented carrying presents to a great man at the time of
+Thothmes. Besides the ivory, ebony, gold, silver, skins, and animals,
+enumerated in my last chapter, they are also represented bearing
+different kinds of vases. These evince a degree of elegance and
+refinement which has never been surpassed. They are not ornamented
+with figures like the Phœnician, Etruscan, Greek, and Roman vases,
+but in taste and elegant simplicity of form they are not surpassed by
+those of any nation. Such discoveries as these afford the strongest
+evidence of the civilisation of a people. No learning or profound
+knowledge of the arts is required to understand, that a nation,
+among whom have been wrought such rich and magnificent vases as are
+now to be found in London, could be barbarians.
+
+When a people have attained a certain degree of taste, such
+knowledge is never confined to one branch. The cultivated minds,
+which could appreciate such works of art as the pyramids of Meroe,
+and were accustomed to such a degree of elegance in their domestic
+ornaments, could not, I conceive, have been uncivilised, generally
+speaking. These vases, like the chairs and furniture represented on
+the walls of Thebes, admit us at once to a knowledge of the private
+life of the people. We cannot doubt the luxury and refinement of the
+private life of the Egyptians, when we find represented, in one of
+the tombs of the kings at Thebes, more beautiful patterns of chairs,
+cushions, &c. than are now to be found in Europe. As little can we
+imagine, that apartments, ornamented with such elegant vases as the
+Ethiopians are represented offering to the Egyptians, would not in
+every other respect be furnished with equal taste. I think, then,
+that I am not too bold in asserting, that the people who had skill
+to devise, and ability to execute, such beautiful works of art,
+are entitled to a very high rank in the scale of civilisation. To
+the other proofs that they are Ethiopian, I should add, their long
+curly hair, their peculiar dress, differing from the Egyptian, the
+similarity with the few vases which I found sculptured on the walls
+at Meroe, (see Plate XI.) and, most of all, the hieroglyphics written
+over the procession, which state them to be from the land of Ethiopia.
+
+Another important proof of the extensive architectural skill of
+the Ethiopians is their knowledge and employment of the arch. In
+my narrative, I have described that which exists in one of the
+porticoes of Meroe, having the form of the segment of a circle,
+and have mentioned also the pointed arch in a pyramid at Gibel el
+Berkel. Both are constructed on the true principle of being supported
+only by lateral pressure. The pyramids of Meroe being the oldest,
+we may say that the earliest specimen of the arch now existing is
+on the site of the capital of Ethiopia. I conceive it very likely,
+that the necessity of finding some method of resisting the tropical
+rains led the Ethiopians to the invention of the arch; as of course,
+slight even as they are here, they would be obliged to pay more
+attention to their roofs than in Egypt, where, with few exceptions,
+sometimes, especially in Upper Egypt, not exceeding once in the year,
+it may almost be said never to rain. The rains which fall at Shendy
+are, however, rarely heavy. As I have noticed in my topographical
+description (page 156.), the only specimens of the arch in Egypt
+belong to that period when wars existed between the two countries,
+and the Egyptians would have the opportunity of learning that
+invention from the Ethiopians. It is also singular, that there
+is not a stone arch in Egypt regularly constructed, except one,
+before mentioned, of the time of Psammitichus, who reigned after the
+Ethiopian dynasty. The only specimens which show the Egyptians to have
+been acquainted with the true mode of forming one, is a brick arch,
+erected at the time of Amunoph, and another of the time of Thothmes
+III. They are formed of crude bricks; the size of which is seven
+inches by five. (See Vignettes.) Is it not singular, that although
+these and other brick arches at Thebes are regularly constructed,
+the specimens there and elsewhere in stone, lead us to infer, that
+they were acquainted with the beauty of the arch as an architectural
+ornament, but not with its great utility? I refer to that arch near
+to the temple excavated out of the rock, in the valley of Hassaseef,
+at Thebes, of the time of Amunoph, which is formed by approaching
+stones (see Vignette), and numerous excavations in the valley of
+the Nile, where the roofs are hollowed slightly into the arched
+form. As, therefore, no specimen of even a brick arch exists before
+the reign of those kings who carried their arms into Ethiopia; and
+as the pyramids of Ethiopia are evidently so very ancient, it seems
+highly probable that this important discovery had there its origin.
+
+[Illustration: STONE ARCH AT THEBES.]
+
+The tomb in which the elliptical arch (see Vignette) exists,
+is near the valley of the Sepulchre of the Queens, at Thebes. It
+is almost filled up to the ceiling with mummies, which occasioned
+great difficulty to get at the spring of the arch. It is a painted
+tomb, and the roof is plastered; and over the plaster, along the
+centre, is a line of hieroglyphics, containing the name of Amunoph
+I.; proving the existence of the knowledge of the arch in Egypt,
+about fifteen centuries and a half before the Christian era. It is
+also very remarkable, that this arch is not a segment of a circle,
+but elliptical. A part of the ceiling being broken, discovered the
+space between the ceiling and the rock.
+
+[Illustration: BRICK ARCH IN A TOMB AT THEBES.]
+
+On the road from the Memnonium to the valley of the Hassaseef, a
+little elevated on a rock, is a very small painted tomb, which is
+also vaulted. The vignette represents the arch of the roof resting
+on the rock, and the inner arch of a recess at the end. This recess,
+as likewise the whole tomb, is covered with a coating of plaster;
+and on one of the jambs of the recess are the titles and prænomen of
+Thothmes III., “Sun, Establisher of the World,” fifth king of the
+eighteenth dynasty, who reigned about fifteen centuries before the
+Christian era. The present access to this tomb is through a hole in
+the ceiling, from the floor of another tomb. This fracture discovers
+satisfactorily the construction of the arch. The sections, therefore,
+of the pointed arch at Gibel el Birkel (see Plate XXVIII.), of the
+circular one at the site of the metropolis of Ethiopia (see Plate
+VII.), and this elliptical and circular arch at Thebes, will, I think,
+satisfy the most sceptical, that the Romans were not the first who
+were acquainted with the power and principle of the arch. We have
+here, undoubtedly, the geometrical forms; and in answer to the _cui
+bono_ of the learned author of the able article in the last Quarterly
+Review[92], I must state that the Ethiopian arches were obviously
+invented to resist the rains; as the peasants of Sennaar have conical
+roofs to their cottages for the same purpose. The brick arches at
+Thebes, I conceive to have been erected not merely as ornaments, but,
+as regards the one of the time of Amunoph III., for the purpose of
+protecting it from the partial decomposition of the calcareous rock,
+which happens to be there less solid, while the tomb of the time
+of Thothmes III., being immediately beneath another, suggested the
+utility, if not necessity, of strengthening the roof with an arch.
+
+[Illustration: BRICK ARCH IN A TOMB AT THEBES.]
+
+The Ethiopian sculpture has the same defects as the Egyptian,
+as to the manner of representing the profile of the face, but the
+bodies have a roundness which distinguishes them entirely from the
+Egyptian. The latter is more graceful and pleasing to the eye, when
+the traveller is accustomed to that peculiarity of style, but I do
+conceive the Ethiopian to be, in some respects, more true to nature.
+
+It may be asked why, advanced as the Ethiopians were in the arts,
+they did not draw the human figure better, and more in accordance
+with nature. It is difficult, and, I must confess, almost impossible,
+to explain quite satisfactorily this circumstance. The Egyptians,
+as I have said, had a style still more unnatural, yet few can doubt
+their high degree of civilisation. The general form of the figures
+gives one the idea of their being very early efforts of art. It
+seems to me very possible, that the invention of the sculptor and
+painter may have been first exercised on the walls of some celebrated
+temple; and this defective representation may, from the sacredness
+of the place, have become the conventional style of the country. The
+bigotted veneration which the people would naturally feel for those
+forms under which their divinities were first represented, may have
+made them consider it lawful, indeed, to improve the delineation,
+but criminal to attempt to change it entirely.
+
+The Egyptians and the Ethiopians were equally ignorant of
+perspective. When Egypt was under the dominion of the Greeks and
+Romans, we perceive that policy and respect for the prejudices of
+the people prevented those nations from making any innovations in
+the national style. The differences between the sculpture, at those
+periods, and during the eighteenth dynasty, cannot be called so much
+changes, as marks of the great decline of the pure Egyptian art. No
+figures, on the walls of the temples, are sculptured or painted in the
+pure Greek or Roman style. Those rulers of Egypt, though of course
+acquainted with the latter, continued to follow the Egyptian style
+in all the edifices that they erected. The only instances in which
+they seem to have deviated at all from this rule, are in some few
+portraits found on Greek mummies. This renders it probable that there
+existed a strong religious prejudice on the subject, and that the
+Ethiopians and Egyptians were as tenacious of the forms and costumes
+of their divinities, as religious sects, in more recent times, have
+shown themselves about the dress and appearance of their ministers.
+
+There is, therefore, no reason to suppose, that the Ethiopians
+were unable to draw figures correctly, because, from reverence
+to the antiquity of their religion, and the superstition of the
+people, they did not improve the forms of their divinities. Faulty,
+however, as that style is, both in design and colour, it has still
+its attractions, though, in saying so, I may be accused of being
+an admirer of deformity. Their formality is not inappropriate to
+sacred edifices. Travellers daily become reconciled to its defects,
+and at last admire what at first appeared to them so strange. No
+one can have visited the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes, without
+an enthusiastic admiration of the beautiful and rich harmony of
+the colouring, the taste displayed in the ornaments, the spirited
+execution of the animals and hieroglyphics, and the magical effect
+of the decorations. We see, in the fragments which still exist, that
+the Ethiopians drew animals, and also ornaments, very beautifully. We
+may therefore consider it almost certain, that they could have drawn
+the human figure better had they been permitted.
+
+There are few traces of colour remaining on any Ethiopian edifice,
+yet I found sufficient in one of the porticoes of the pyramids
+of Gibel el Birkel, to enable me to ascertain the important fact,
+that the colouring was similar to the Egyptian. That of the human
+body is of the same red tint; and is it not singular that man is
+represented of the same complexion in Ethiopia as in every part of
+Egypt? Such a coincidence could only arise from the circumstance of
+the one people having derived their knowledge of the arts from the
+other. The colouring of the Ethiopians and Egyptians was of course,
+like the form of the figure, conventional. Now, I ask the reader,
+Where is it most probable that this colour was first established? Was
+it in a country where the inhabitants must have been nearly of that
+dark tint represented in these sculptures, or was it in one, 1700
+miles farther north, where the people must have been, as they are
+now, yellow, or, comparatively speaking, white. The first colonies
+which introduced the arts into Egypt would naturally represent their
+divinities under the same appearance as in the mother country, and
+the first kings, and other persons making offerings, would of course
+be the colonists. Impressed with reverence for the first models
+presented to them, the Egyptians would continue to use this colour,
+tacitly acknowledging, by this circumstance, that they derived the
+knowledge of the arts from Ethiopia. There are several representations
+in Egypt of black men and black queens, but these almost invariably
+bear the negro features. Even if they were intended to represent
+Ethiopians, that colour could only be a mark of distinction,
+afterwards introduced, as of a blacker nation than themselves;
+for we find the Ethiopians, on their own edifices, represented as
+exactly of the same tint as the Egyptians of Thebes and Memphis.
+
+If the artist were to paint them of one of the six colours with which
+they were acquainted,—white, red, green, blue, yellow, or black,
+the one approaching nearest to what was probably the real Ethiopian
+complexion, would certainly be the red. We shall be confirmed in this
+conclusion, if we consider the latitude and the colour of the present
+cultivators of the soil. Though they speak the Arabic language, they
+are most probably (and the tradition I heard at Dongolah confirms the
+supposition) descended from the race of the true Ethiopians, obliged,
+by force, to adopt the language and religion of their conquerors. That
+people, from their climate, could not have been white, and, had they
+been black, they would have so represented themselves. The Copts,
+the descendants of the Egyptians, are fairer than the Fellaheen,
+yet the latter look white in Ethiopia, contrasted with the present
+inhabitants of that country. It must also be considered that the
+Arab conquerors, being from the southern part of their country,
+and therefore darkened by the climate and the desert life they led,
+would, to a certain extent, give a darker tint to the Ethiopians;
+nevertheless, I have given views of some Berbers whose complexions are
+decidedly lighter than they are represented on the walls. (See Plate
+XVI.) We must recollect also that it has ever been a custom of the
+Orientals to represent themselves and their mistresses as beautifully
+fair. The present Ethiopians esteem nothing more than a light
+complexion. Before they were accustomed to Europeans, they looked
+with horror on what they considered their unnatural whiteness; but
+if an Ethiopian is celebrating in a song the charms of his mistress,
+he dwells with the greatest rapture on her fair skin. The petty kings
+seek wives of equal rank with themselves, chiefly on account of their
+fair complexion, which the daughters of the meleks acquire by being
+generally confined to the house; particularly as all mixture with
+the negro blood is carefully shunned. The colour most approaching
+to nature, if this conventional one had originated in Egypt, would
+certainly have been the white, or rather light yellow. Such must
+have been the colour of the Egyptians; and we cannot suppose that
+they would pay themselves so bad a compliment as to represent their
+complexion so many shades darker than it must really have been. Here
+then we have another great proof that civilisation and art descended
+the river. I have mentioned, in my topographical description, the
+passages of Diodorus which state shortly, but explicitly, that the
+Ethiopians stated the Egyptians to have derived all their knowledge
+from them. The inquiries of that intelligent traveller penetrated
+through the veil which the pride of the Egyptians, jealous, and
+anxious to magnify their antiquity, had thrown over the origin of
+their institutions; and when to this national propensity we add the
+obstinate wars, which would naturally eradicate every attachment to
+their parent land, and induce them to conceal their obligations to
+Ethiopia, it appears surprising how that intelligent traveller should
+have been able to ascertain the fact, that civilisation descended
+from Meroe. Diodorus had no object in inventing that account; and
+if the Ethiopians gave it to him in Egypt, he had there the means of
+ascertaining the truth from the priests and other learned men, who,
+no doubt, were acquainted with the fact; and would have contradicted
+it if he had not believed it. Herodotus apparently heard a similar
+account. He visited Egypt during the time of the Persian dynasty,
+while Diodorus was in that country little more than half a century
+(sixty years) before Christ, when the philosophy of the Greeks
+may have penetrated through the pride and false pretensions of
+the Egyptian priests. Herodotus states that the Egyptians believed
+themselves to be from where the race of man first existed (ἐξ
+οὗ ἄνθρωπον γένος ἐγένετο). He mentions that the Thebaid was Egypt
+before the formation of the Delta[93]: the increase of population
+forced them to spread themselves down the valleys, emigrating from
+the Thebaid to the Delta, in the same way, no doubt, as they
+originally emigrated from Meroe. There is one question connected
+with this subject, which, I must confess, is an important one; namely,
+by what language the hieroglyphics of both countries are to be
+interpreted. Is it by a common one, as emanating from the same origin,
+or by a different one in the two countries? I shall not now commit
+myself by a discussion and hasty opinion on a subject which I hope to
+be better able to treat, as I extend my acquaintance with
+hieroglyphics, and with the Coptic and the Ethiopian languages. It
+seems to me, however, that if the Egyptians derived their knowledge
+of hieroglyphics from Ethiopia, they would, of course, receive from
+the same source the language by which they were explained.
+
+With regard to the early literature and science of the Ethiopians,
+we know them only by the monuments; but we may rest satisfied, that
+they could not have been neglected in a country where, as Diodorus
+says, the language of hieroglyphics was generally understood. The
+existence of these on the walls of the porticoes of the pyramids, is
+a proof that some at least were acquainted with them. It is a very
+remarkable circumstance, which, even at the hazard of repetition,
+I must impress upon the reader, that notwithstanding the little
+sculpture and the few monuments that remain, there is sufficient to
+corroborate the very words of Diodorus. The reader who has examined
+my drawings will agree with him, that the Ethiopians buried their
+dead with as much pomp as the Egyptians; the processions were the
+same; and although there is some little difference in the style
+of the sculpture and hieroglyphics, it certainly is my conviction,
+that the Egyptian style had, as he very correctly expresses himself,
+its origin in Ethiopia.[94]
+
+History affords no example, at least that I know, of a people
+being so advanced in the fine arts, without at the same time having
+applied themselves to the cultivation of the sciences, of history
+and philosophy. Their religion, as I may show on another occasion,
+evinces their acquaintance with metaphysics, not being a gross
+mythology, but the worship, under different forms, of the one great
+Divinity, whose attributes are manifested in the wonders of the
+creation. A people who had evidently so much taste for the arts,
+must have been sensible to the charms of study. Those who had the
+means would naturally wish to distinguish themselves, or at least
+their children, by various literary acquirements. Individuals seeking
+to elevate themselves above the common level would rise together,
+and what was at first an extraordinary attainment would become
+necessary to secure admittance into society.
+
+The remarks which I have hitherto made on the arts of Ethiopia are
+chiefly applicable to their earliest period. In my narrative I have
+mentioned, that there are still the remains and traces of 80 pyramids
+at Meroe, 42 at Nouri, and 17 at Gibel el Birkel. In the few which
+are now nearly entire, the porticoes are decorated with figures
+sculptured in the round and bulky Ethiopian style. It is impossible
+now to determine positively whether these are representations of
+private individuals, of kings, or of members of different royal
+families. They represent in several instances, two persons,—a king
+and his wife, and there is one instance of a queen only. The tombs
+which we can ascertain, from the hieroglyphics, to be those of kings
+and queens, being not of superior, or even equal magnitude with many
+of the others, I think it not unreasonable to conclude, that every
+one of them was erected for a sovereign or some members of a royal
+family. If they were each of a king or queen who had reigned alone,
+the immense number which can even now be traced, independent of the
+many which the desert has swallowed up, would carry us back to an
+earlier era than can be admitted, for it is evident, from the style
+of the sculpture, and other appearances of the monuments, that they
+were erected long previous to the time of Tirhaka, (730 years B.C.)
+
+That Ethiopian king, who reigned over Egypt, constructed a magnificent
+temple at Gibel el Birkel, which city, if not the place of his birth,
+and at one time the seat of his empire, was at all events peculiarly
+favoured by him; for we do not see his name on any Ethiopian edifice,
+except on an altar in the great temple, and on the walls and columns
+of the temple of Athor at Birkel.
+
+Part of the temple of Tirhaka is excavated out of the rock, either
+in imitation of those he had seen in Egypt, or it may perhaps be a
+more ancient temple, added to and decorated by that king. The style of
+sculpture at that time was tolerably good, very like the Egyptian, but
+by no means equal to the best at Thebes. The architecture, however,
+seems to have then very much declined. The columns of Athor and the
+deformed Pthah in the temple built by Tirhaka, are very inferior to
+the fragment we have at Abou Naga, and the great temple at Gibel el
+Birkel, built, perhaps, by Pionchei, probably a much more ancient
+king. That edifice, for magnificence, may be compared to any in the
+valley of the Nile. I may here also remark, that, notwithstanding
+the great pecuniary resources which Tirhaka must have possessed, as
+king of two such rich and powerful countries as Egypt and Ethiopia,
+still the temple erected by him is not to be compared to the splendid
+edifice of his predecessor.
+
+It is singular, that, with the exception of the remains of this
+large temple, and some other less important vestiges of smaller
+edifices there, the colossal statues of Argo, the Ethiopian temple
+of Amarah, the fragment of an Ethiopian ruin at Naga, on the Nile,
+and the Ethiopian temples at Mecaurat or Naga, in the desert (see
+Cailliaud), there are no remains of any sacred edifice of an earlier
+period than Tirhaka, or indeed of a later, except the ruins at Wady el
+Owataib. The sepulchres of the kings only are standing. The temples
+which remain in the best state of preservation above the second
+cataract are those of Semneh, built by Thothmes III., an Egyptian
+king, and the magnificent temple of Solib, built by Amunoph III.,
+also an Egyptian monarch. Petronius, in his hatred for every thing
+that was Ethiopian, probably destroyed all the edifices which had
+escaped from the ravages of previous wars.
+
+If Gibel el Birkel was Napata (as it is considered by many), the
+temples might have been destroyed by Petronius, but I have before
+stated, that I cannot conceive it to be that town. We must therefore
+attribute its destruction to an earlier era, or to the Christians
+or Arabs. The great temple of Gibel el Birkel must have required
+great labour to demolish it so utterly. The immense and massive
+columns and thick walls would have lasted for ages, had they not
+been destroyed by violence. As no attempts have apparently been
+made to restore these edifices, the place was perhaps deserted,
+and the name erased from among the list of cities. My drawings,
+plans, &c. of the temples of Semneh, Solib, and the small temple
+at Gibel el Birkel, will show that they are exceedingly ruined,
+yet not with the same dreadful destruction as the large temple at
+the latter place, and others, of which scarcely a vestige remains.
+
+Some of the pyramids of Gibel el Birkel and Meroe bear evidence
+of the greatest violence having been employed to destroy them,
+whereas others seem injured only by time. The demolition of the
+former, may, I conceive, be entirely attributed to the avarice of
+the Mahometans. The very nature of the construction of the pyramids
+would certainly present greater difficulties in destroying them,
+but this could not have been the motive in forbearing from the
+attempt; for all events it would have been easy for the levellers
+of whole rows of immense and lofty columns to demolish entirely
+every portico. That respect for the sepulchres of the dead, which
+has existed in every age, among civilised and uncivilised nations,
+prevented probably the devastators from violating the pyramids of
+Meroe and Nouri, whilst, at both those places, every trace of the
+temples has been obliterated. Religious bigotry must have been the
+cause of this violence. The invaders, while they respected the
+habitations of the dead, the sepulchres of ancient kings, might
+consider the destruction of the sanctuaries to be the surest mode
+of eradicating every trace of the idolatrous worship of Ammon.
+
+The monuments of Ethiopia present unfortunately no regular series of
+edifices by which we might trace the progressive rise and subsequent
+decline of the arts. There is as wide a difference between the most
+ancient sculpture and architecture of Meroe and that of the time of
+Tirhaka, as between the latter and the far more modern edifice, the
+ruins of which are now called Wady el Owataib. In my description
+of the latter, (see narrative, Chapter VIII.) I have stated my
+belief that it was erected during the last stage of the arts. The
+confused and extremely defective plan, and the wretched style of the
+sculpture, are proofs that it must have been built very long after
+the reign of Tirhaka. I have mentioned also that, from the design,
+and from a certain affectation of Greek ornaments, particularly in
+the fluting of the columns, I conceive it not improbable, that this,
+and also, perhaps, the Greek edifice at Mecaurat, were erected by
+the Ethiopian king Ergamenes, who had a Greek education, and was
+contemporary with Ptolemy Philadelphus.
+
+It will be remarked, that there is a vast difference between
+these monuments in Ethiopia, and the magnificent architectural
+edifices erected at that period in Egypt; but we must recollect,
+that the dynasty of the Ptolemies infused fresh vigour into every
+pursuit connected with the prosperity of the country. The first
+kings of that dynasty occupied themselves almost exclusively in
+promoting the commerce and encouraging the literature and arts of
+the country. The sculpture indeed was then very inferior to the pure
+Egyptian; but their temples, notwithstanding this inferiority, may
+rank among the most splendid edifices which ornament the banks of
+the Nile, or even any part of the world. But Meroe did not enjoy the
+same advantage. The extended commerce of her rival would of course
+diminish more and more her own prosperity. Her territory declining
+continually in richness and affluence, and her commerce impaired,
+her kings, instead of occupying themselves in encouraging the arts,
+would require all the resources of the state to save them from
+becoming the prey of their more powerful neighbour.
+
+The next and only additional edifice which I have now to notice,
+as marking the last epoch in the history of the arts of Meroe, is
+the Christian church opposite Gibel el Birkel. As we have no certain
+ground to suppose that Christianity was much spread in Ethiopia before
+the year 330[95], a later date cannot be assigned to that structure. I
+conceive it to be one of the earliest Christian edifices erected in
+that country, as I have remarked, in my description of it, that it
+is ornamented with the Ethiopian cornice and beading. This is the
+most modern architectural construction that now remains in Ethiopia.
+
+The Arabs at their invasion do not seem to have brought with them
+the talent and means to erect any of those splendid mosques which
+they have reared in honour of their prophet in other climes. I have
+elsewhere described the dwellings of the present inhabitants. They are
+miserable mud and straw huts, some of the latter having conical roofs,
+a remnant of the knowledge of the arch. The fortified castles of the
+chiefs are superior to these, but necessity only has taught them to
+build towers and thick walls for their protection: nothing can be
+more barbarous and rude than their internal structure. For the man
+who has made himself independent, or is ignorant, of the luxuries,
+elegancies, and comforts of life, they are perhaps sufficient, since
+they afford shelter against the summer heat, the occasional showers
+of rain, and the winter cold; but it is impossible to have a more
+striking evidence of the effects of civilisation, than the contrast
+between the wretched abodes of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia,
+and the magnificent sepulchres of her departed kings.
+
+Some writers even of ability affect to doubt the civilisation
+and great power of the Ethiopians and Egyptians, particularly
+the latter. They reason on the present condition of the country,
+without reflecting on the great changes it has undergone. I may add,
+that they display little knowledge of Egyptian subjects, and even of
+the history of the arts in general. They would otherwise be aware
+of the time necessary for a nation to acquire the degree of taste,
+knowledge, and affluence, necessary for the construction of such
+edifices as those still existing in the valley of the Nile. Setting
+aside altogether the authority of historians, let us only compare
+the present inhabitants, who are almost destitute of any ideas or
+information, incapable even of rearing for themselves a suitable
+abode, with a nation whose architectural proficiency has never been
+surpassed, and whose advancement in so many branches of science and
+civilisation is established by the indisputable evidence of lapidary
+inscriptions. It were vain to expect to find at the present day in
+this part of Ethiopia, an individual capable of constructing such
+edifices as we have seen existing at Meroe. I do not hesitate to say,
+that were it possible to transport one of the pyramids of Meroe
+entire to London, it would be considered one of the most chaste
+and beautiful ornaments of our metropolis. Though constructed more
+perhaps than three thousand years ago, it might, even now, be studied
+with advantage by our artists and architects.
+
+When such observations are applied to Egypt, the answer is still
+more easily made. Where in Europe is there an edifice like the
+great temple at Karnak, one hall of which contains 140 columns,
+36 feet in circumference, dimensions rarely to be found in Europe,
+and every portion of that splendid court covered with carefully
+finished and painted sculptures? Having, however, trespassed so long
+on the reader’s patience, I must not now allow myself to enter
+on the subject of Egyptian art. I will only say, in conclusion,
+that the materials used in the pyramids of Memphis are sufficient
+to construct a city, and that no palaces of Europe are comparable
+in splendour to the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes.
+
+
+                               THE END.
+
+
+                                LONDON:
+                      Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE.
+                          New-Street-Square.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+
+[Footnote 1: I possess numerous notes and drawings of the antiquities
+in the lower valley of the Nile, selections from which I had some
+intention of publishing, as intimated several times in my journal. But
+I doubt much now if I shall enter on a field in which there are
+already so many competitors. Signor Rosellini’s magnificent work is
+already well known to the literary world. That of Champollion will,
+I believe, soon appear. Mr. Wilkinson’s invaluable work, “Thebes,
+and General View of Egypt,” with his most accurate map of that
+interesting city, are already before the public. The same author has
+promised us an account of the private life of the Egyptians; and such
+a subject could not be in more learned hands. I trust the result of
+Mr. Burton’s residence of above twelve years in that country will
+soon appear. Mr. Hay’s portfolio is the most magnificent which has
+ever been brought from that country. It comprises plans, sections,
+and detailed drawings, by eminent architects; also delineations of
+sculpture from the tombs and temples, by himself and able artists,
+whom he employed; with a complete series of picturesque views,
+entirely by his own pencil. Mr. Lane, Dr. Hogg, and others, are on the
+eve of publishing. In mentioning the interesting works which I hope
+will soon appear, I cannot refrain from expressing my regret, that
+the valuable labours and researches of the above English travellers
+in that classic soil have not been combined for the formation of a
+great national work,—an imperishable monument of public utility
+and individual enterprise.
+
+I refer the reader, with great pleasure, to the fifth volume of the
+Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, in which there is a very
+interesting description of the peninsula of Sennaar, communicated
+by Sir John Barrow, from the memoranda of Lord Prudhoe. Had it been
+published before this volume was completed, I should have availed
+myself of the information which it contains; but I am glad to find
+that in many respects it confirms my statement.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Lord Prudhoe and Major Felix are the only Englishmen who
+have seen the antiquities of the island of Meroe; and it is deeply
+to be regretted that they have not published their observations.]
+
+[Footnote 3: In a work on Egypt, for which I have ample notes, and
+400 drawings to select from, I may give a more detailed description
+of these places.]
+
+[Footnote 4: The temples I mention in this volume, below the second
+cataract, I may perhaps describe at a future opportunity.]
+
+[Footnote 5: It somewhat resembled, also, what Festus says of the
+Salian dancers: the præsaltor advanced “et amptruabat,” then
+all the rest came “et redamptruabant,” or danced and sang as he
+had done.—SIR WM. GELL, T. R. vol. ii. p. 385.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Part I. Canto II.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The reader will have observed that my estimate of
+the pace of the camel differs from those of many travellers, and
+particularly from that of Mr. Burnes, the author of the justly
+celebrated work “Travels into Bokhara” (see vol. ii. p. 149.);
+but he must recollect that my camels were of the Bishareen race. My
+servants were all mounted; and the animals, even at starting, were
+not heavily laden with a stock of water, which diminished daily. There
+being only one well containing water, and that bad, in a distance of
+250 miles, it was their interest to urge on their camels, which they
+did by singing in the manner I have described. I took great pains
+to ascertain the pace of these animals, observing not only theirs,
+but also that of the drivers walking by their side, dismounting
+repeatedly myself for that purpose. I had the gratification to find,
+on arriving at the Nile, that my calculations agreed, within two
+or three miles, with the observations of latitude. I have made many
+long journeys on camels, and I certainly think that animal, when well
+taken care of, and not overloaded, fully capable of marching ten or
+eleven hours per day, at the average rate of two miles and a half
+an hour in valleys or over rough roads, and three miles on plains,
+without being _at all_ distressed. On the banks of rivers, and in
+districts where water and forage are plentiful, except urged on,
+the men are always inclined to move more slowly, and make a shorter
+day’s journey, not so much to save their camels as to lessen the
+fatigue to themselves: a few days more or less _en route_ being
+generally a matter of indifference to them.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Burckhardt calls them angareyg, and says the peculiar
+smell of the leather some of them are made of keeps them free from
+vermin. I conceive it to be rather the excessive heat of the climate
+that preserves the inhabitants of these latitudes from the plagues
+of Egypt.]
+
+[Footnote 9: These flies also annoy the cattle; but neither here
+nor on the Mugrum (the Astaboras) have they the effect described
+by Bruce.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The specimens which I brought to England have confirmed
+the accuracy of the description of them in Cailliaud’s work—“Cette
+coquille, bien reconnue aujourd-hui comme devant appartenir au genre
+éthérie, est remarquable par son talon, qui souvent semble s’accroître
+et présenter nombre de compartimens. J’avais conservé de ces valves
+d’éthéries qui avaient jusqu’à huit ou dix poules de longueur: la forme
+en est alongée et variée, la nacre blanche et feuilletée. Les deux
+attaches musculaires semblent être le seul motif qui jusqu’à present
+a fait placer ces éthéries avec les cames plutôt qu’avec les huîtres,
+dont elles ont du reste tout le caractère.”—Vol. ii. p. 222.]
+
+[Footnote 11: “Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who
+hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? Whose house I have made
+the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth
+the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the
+driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth
+after every green thing.”]
+
+[Footnote 12: Pliny.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Lib. ii. c. 29.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See the Chapters on the Commerce and Arts of Meroe.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See Historical Appendix, and Account of the Ruins of
+Gebel el Berkel, for further remarks on the arch.]
+
+[Footnote 16: The first Egyptian edifice recorded is the pyramid
+built by Venephes, at Cochon; according to Eusebius from Manetho,
+the fourth king of the first dynasty. Africanus calls the town
+Cochomen. That valuable remark shows the great antiquity of this
+description of tomb.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Virg. Georg. iv. 291.]
+
+[Footnote 18: In the Appendix on the arts of Meroe I have mentioned
+many other reasons for this opinion.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Assour, on the north side, I did not see.]
+
+[Footnote 20: The Sheakhs and Meleks generally profess to be very
+religious, and observant of the laws of the Koran; but when they
+want another wife, and have already four, they divorce one of their
+old ones.]
+
+[Footnote 21: They have some few wells, but generally send for water
+from the river.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Agatharchides of Gnidos (Diod. lib. i.), and others in
+the time of the Ptolemies, seem to have divined the cause; and Homer
+(vide Odyssey, book iv. ver. 581.), when he describes the Nile as
+descending from heaven, apparently alludes to the rain in Ethiopia;
+but at the time of Herodotus it is certain that the Egyptians were
+not acquainted with the true cause; and Moses, in describing the
+promised land (Deut. ch. xi. ver. 10.), “not as the land of Egypt,
+but as a land of hills and valleys, which drinketh water of the
+rain of heaven,” that is, owed its fertility to the rain that fell
+from the clouds, would not have used those expressions, had he been
+exhorting a people aware that the rain in Ethiopia was the cause
+of the rising of the Nile; the source of the productiveness of the
+two countries being the same, although in the one more immediate,
+and therefore more apparent.]
+
+[Footnote 23: As a boat would sail, following all the windings of
+the river and the islands, the distance from Shendy to Rosetta can
+scarcely be less than 1800 miles.]
+
+[Footnote 24: In crossing this desert, to save anxiety, I gave each
+person his own provision of water to take care of, warning him,
+if that fell short, it was his own fault. This plan succeeded, each
+individual taking such care of his skins that none of them ran out.]
+
+[Footnote 25: In calling it not very ancient, I, of course, mean,
+in comparison to some of the edifices in Ethiopia and Egypt. Tirhaka
+began to reign in the latter country about 700 years A.C.]
+
+[Footnote 26: See Plates LIII. and LIV.]
+
+[Footnote 27: The generality of the pyramids face a little to the
+south of south-east. I regret to state, that, from an error of
+the engraver’s, which I did not discover until all the copies
+were printed off, their direction is not correctly marked in the
+General Plan; but, as their position is accurately shown in the above
+vignette, I have considered it unnecessary to incur the expense of
+having the plate reprinted.]
+
+[Footnote 28: I have not considered it necessary to publish a separate
+drawing which I made of this group.]
+
+[Footnote 29: The Ethiopians are represented by Herodotus
+(vii. 69.) as carrying bows not less than four cubits in length.]
+
+[Footnote 30: The arch at North Der is formed by approaching stones.]
+
+[Footnote 31: I shall make some further remarks on this important
+subject in my Appendix on the arts of Meroe.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Lib. xvi. p. 770.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The okre consists of 2¾ rotles, or pounds of 12 ounces;
+and 150 rotles, or pounds, make a cantar.]
+
+[Footnote 34: This Plate contains also an Ababde of the Desert,
+in the short drawers they sometimes wear.]
+
+[Footnote 35: The bearings of the course of the river, and numerous
+other villages and islands, whose names I obtained, are marked in
+the map.]
+
+[Footnote 36: About fifteen miles from the second cataract.]
+
+[Footnote 37: The rotle consists of 12 ounces.]
+
+[Footnote 38: He fell ill in Kordofan, but did not die until he
+arrived at Wady Modeen, on the Bahr el Azruk, where I believe he
+is buried.]
+
+[Footnote 39: As regards the title of “melek,” this is the
+name given in Hebrew to the different chiefs: but it is invariably
+translated, in our version, “kings.”]
+
+[Footnote 40: I have heard a song that describes this battle. The
+Arabs adopt very generally this method of preserving the recollection
+of any important event. There is a curious one about the Deftar Dar
+Bey, when he avenged the death of Ismael Pasha on the Shendyans. He
+is represented as coming as swift as the ostrich; “burning the
+fakeers,” and “killing the sheakhs.”]
+
+[Footnote 41: The Ababde girl, in relating this tale, sang this part
+very sweetly, and several who were standing by joined in the chorus.]
+
+[Footnote 42: The Ababde girl sang this.]
+
+[Footnote 43: This man gave me the description of the customs,
+&c., which I have given, having found them to agree with other
+accounts. When I asked him whether I could be of any service to him
+in Cairo, he begged, as a favour, that I would send him a blank book,
+as he was anxious to make a copy of the Koran.]
+
+[Footnote 44: “Le 17 Avril nous eûmes occasion de voir à Beit el
+Fakih un exemple du sangfroid et de la fermeté des Arabes. Le feu
+prit à une maison à l’extrémité méridionale, et, comme le vent
+soufflait du sud avec violence, en peu de tems la plus grande partie
+de la ville fut dévorée par les flammes: cependant les habitants
+restaient tranquilles: on n’entendait dans les rues ni cris, ni
+lamentations; et quand on plaignait leur sort, ils répliquaient,
+C’est la volonté de Dieu. Nous occupions une maison de pierre dans
+un quartier que les flammes épargnèrent: montés sur notre toit
+nous vîmes les toits des autres maisons, remplis de spectateurs,
+qui regardaient tranquillement l’incendie. Un savant pauvre, qui
+nous rendait souvent des visites, vint à nous voir après avoir mis
+en sûreté ses effets, et nous indiqua d’un air indifférent le
+moment où sa maison s’embrasa.”]
+
+[Footnote 45: The title which all travellers, who remain any time
+in Egypt, generally take, is that of Effende. There are two great
+advantages in assuming a Turkish name:—it affords greater facility
+to the natives in recollecting it, and it likewise prevents your
+being called Howwajee, merchant, or, rather, pedler; and as that
+class of persons are, in this country, rarely respectable, either
+from their morals or station, an Englishman submitting to such a
+title, of course, lowers himself, both in the eyes of the Turks and
+natives. The Arabs, among themselves, often have other names for
+Europeans. I was called Abou Toweel, Father of the tall. Rosellini
+had a name in reference to his beard (Abou Dagan); Champollion
+(Abou Galeed), from his corpulency; and a noble traveller, who has
+surpassed us all in the extent of his journey up the Nile, was called,
+I am told, Abou Dagegah, or Father of the Minutes, from the report
+having spread that he had a dollar every minute. The Turks and Arabs
+of these provinces, where travellers are more rare, sometimes honour
+me with the title of Bey Zadé, or, Son of a Governor.]
+
+[Footnote 46: My servant having broken my thermometer at Gibel el
+Birkel, I have, unfortunately, been unable to ascertain the heat here:
+I can only remark, that the temperature for these last three months
+has increased perceptibly every week. Some travellers have stated
+that the extreme heat in Nubia is in April. Such an observation,
+if not entirely an error, can only be applicable to that part where
+heavy tropical rains fall. On the 11th of March (see p. 97.) we had
+110° in the shade; but although that was the commencement of the
+extreme heat, and for that reason more difficult to support, I did
+not experience so great an inconvenience from it as at present. The
+natives did not then complain as they do now, nor did my servants
+from Cairo and Thebes suffer so much. They were all ill at El Ourde,
+and I thought my Greek servant Ibrahim would have died.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Mr. Waddington’s Travels in Ethiopia contain a view
+and plan of this temple, and also some views of Gibel el Birkel. I
+have avoided, as much as possible, the disagreeable task of swelling
+my text with criticisms on the observations and plates of Monsieur
+Cailliaud. It would, however, be unjust and ungenerous to make any
+observation on the views of Mr. Waddington, as he states candidly
+that he was no draughtsman; yet, as no other views had been published,
+he was, of course, justified in giving such as he possessed.]
+
+[Footnote 48: The names of these two kings occurring together
+at Semneh, where Thothmes is represented worshipping his ancestor
+Osirtisen as a god, is confirmatory of the accuracy of the supposition
+that these are the names in the tomb at Doshe.]
+
+[Footnote 49: See Bruce’s account of the reverence and adoration
+of the Agous at the source of the Nile.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Inscription No. 1. is from the same portico, and
+opposite to a large figure, similar to the one in Plate X., Sculpture,
+Meroe. No. 2. is before a figure presenting offerings. No. 4. before
+a figure of Anubis. No. 5. before a figure of Horus. The tablet,
+No. 3. is in the same portico, over a figure kneeling before a funeral
+boat, very much defaced, at the end of the portico. As will be seen
+by the plate, these inscriptions are very much injured; but, although
+the least perfect of any that I possess, I publish them, because they
+are the most important, being from the pyramids of Meroe. No. 6. is
+an inscription which was above the sculpture on one side of the first
+chamber excavated out of the rock of the Temple of Tirhaka, Gibel
+el Birkel. No 7. is another portion of this apparently dedicatory
+inscription, going round the whole of the room. The hieroglyphics are
+large, well executed, and very legible, except some which were quite
+defaced, and others almost covered with dirt. No. 8. are fragments
+from the large granite altar in the western corner of the great
+Temple, Gibel el Birkel. The first line is on the south-east side,
+the second on the north-east; the remainder of the hieroglyphics on
+this altar I have not been able to publish. Plate LIII. shows the
+two subjects on the altar in the sanctuary of the same temple. (See
+Plate XXIV.) I have alluded to them in my description of the ruins.]
+
+[Footnote 51: His name is also found in the tomb near Solib, and on
+the rocks at Toumbos.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Since I wrote the above, I have seen the two beautiful
+granite lions which were brought from Gibel el Birkel, and presented
+to the British Museum, by Lord Prudhoe. The sculpture is most
+beautiful. They appear to be of the same period, as their attitude
+is similar; otherwise, their forms are different. The one which is
+the most defaced, and has been apparently the most symmetrical,
+bears the name of Amunoph III., in deep intaglio. As the name of
+this king does not exist on any edifice at Gibel el Birkel, I think
+the circumstance of the lion bearing his name being found there, no
+decisive proof of his having penetrated so far south. The sculpture
+is too good to be Ethiopian, and the granite is not of a description
+I met with near there. Gibel el Birkel, whatever might be its ancient
+name, was evidently the capital and favoured city of Tirhaka, who
+might, on his abdication of the throne of Egypt, have brought away
+these splendid specimens of Egyptian art. The nomen and prænomen on
+the other are not Egyptian, but seem to be of a king called Amnasre,
+or Amun Asre.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Lib. ii. cap. 110.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Odys. Δ′. 184.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Odys. Λ′. 522.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Pausanias correctly states the vocal statue of Memnon at
+Thebes was by the natives called Phamenoph (that is, Amunoph III.),
+the name it actually bears; and it certainly is curious, that this
+is the very king whose name we find in Ethiopia at Solib, and on
+the lion, as I have stated, brought from Gibel el Birkel. That
+king may possibly have been master of a portion of Ethiopia, and
+styled himself, as was often the custom, king of the Upper and
+Lower Countries; but he could not have been the Ethiopian Memnon,
+who marched to the succour of Troy: for the king who reigned in
+Egypt at the time of the Trojan war was Osirei, or Menephtah II.;
+and Amunoph III. died more than a century and a half before that
+event. As no edifices remain bearing the name of this king south
+of Solib, which is not a hundred miles above the second cataract,
+I see no just reason, as I have said before, for supposing that he
+carried his arms to Gibel el Birkel, much less to Meroe.]
+
+[Footnote 57: 2 Chronicles, xii. 2, 3.]
+
+[Footnote 58: 2 Chronicles, xvi. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 59: 2 Chronicles, chap. xiv. l. 8-11.]
+
+[Footnote 60: 2 Chronicles, xiv. 12, 13.]
+
+[Footnote 61: Lib. ii. 137.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Lib. ii. 139.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Major Felix’s account of the Egyptian dynasties
+was the first that showed us the great utility of the lapidary
+inscriptions. Although brief, it is so admirably arranged, the
+information it contains so valuable, and, notwithstanding the recent
+progress in the study of hieroglyphics, generally so correct, that
+it is very much to be regretted that the papers he lithographed at
+Cairo have not been more widely circulated by a reprint in England.]
+
+[Footnote 64: 2 Kings, chap. xviii.]
+
+[Footnote 65: Rosellini, i Monumenti dell’ Egitto e della Nubia,
+lib. ii. chap. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Isaiah, xxxvii. 36-38.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Lib. ii. 137.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Page 1007.]
+
+[Footnote 69:
+
+[Hieroglyphs]
+
+Meroe. (See Plate X.) There is a fragment of a figure of a god,
+with the hieroglyphics before it; this is evidently the god Sebek,
+which, with the Greek termination, makes the Sevechus of Eusebius;
+but, although the name in the list and that of Eusebius and Africanus
+are made thus to agree with the name in the Bible, I have some doubts
+if Signor Rosellini is correct in the connection he supposes between
+the name of these hieroglyphics and the god Sevek; for the Ethiopians
+apparently wrote the name of that deity in the same manner as the
+Egyptians, and yet not one of the hieroglyphics used in writing the
+name of the god is employed in that of the king.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Herodotus, lib. ii. 30. Diodorus states the number
+to have been more than 200,000; and assigns as the reason of their
+emigration, that in the expedition into Syria the post of honour
+was given to foreigners.—Lib. iii. vol. i. p. 175.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Herodotus, lib. iii. 17. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Heliodorus, in his history of Ethiopia, or, rather,
+novel of Theagenes and Cariclia, relates the war of Hydaspes, king
+of the East and West Ethiopians, with the Egyptians, or rather the
+Persians, then in possession of Egypt, for the island of Philæ and
+the emerald mines. He gives also an account of the siege of Syene;
+and mentions the prisoners being bound with chains of gold, so that
+one of them, Theagenes, the hero of the tale, laughed, and said,
+that he was more richly decorated in prison than out.]
+
+[Footnote 73: Heeren’s Afrikanische Völker, vol. i. ch. 3.]
+
+[Footnote 74: Lib. iii. 102.]
+
+[Footnote 75: The following description, extracted from the journal
+of my first voyage up the Nile, may amuse the reader:—
+
+“April 8. 1832.—Our pilot afforded us a curious exhibition,
+although not, I believe, uncommon; but to us it was new. He pretended
+or believed that his saint, to whom he had been addressing his
+evening devotions, had entered his body, and he immediately fell
+into the most violent paroxysms, throwing his arms about, rolling
+his head, and twisting his body in a very outrageous manner:
+sometimes he held up his hands, and shook, as in the most dreadful
+convulsions, groaning most piteously, and gabbling forth all sorts of
+gibberish. The sailors made a circle round him, and continued making
+low obeisances, calling on Mahomet to assist him, for nearly two
+hours; they believe that, unless they did this, the saint would never
+leave him, and he would have probably died. The man, in his madness,
+seemed to have a great jealousy for his honour; one of the mariners
+was sleeping on board the boat, while the others were on the banks
+praying for them; on a sudden he darted into the boat, and, had he
+not been detained, would have roughly used the drowsy mariner. After
+all the Mahometans near him had joined the circle to pray for his
+recovery, he returned, by degrees, to his senses: when the fit was
+over, he lay for some time apparently quite exhausted. The man is
+remarkable at other times for the mildness of his manner, and is one
+of the finest looking Nubians I have seen, being above six feet high,
+with uncommonly handsome features. The people consider those who are
+thus possessed as peculiarly favoured, not one in a thousand being
+so fortunate. After death they are generally considered as saints,
+and have tombs erected to them by the government, which does this,
+no doubt, to gain popularity, or conciliate the people: but it
+is generally believed that the saint has appeared to the Pasha,
+ordering him to erect it.”]
+
+[Footnote 76: Lib. xvii. p. 820.]
+
+[Footnote 77: Lib. vi. chap. 29.]
+
+[Footnote 78: See Letronne’s note on Strabo, l. xvii. vol. v. p. 435.]
+
+[Footnote 79: See Acts, chap. vi. vii. 33.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Lib. iii. c. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Except Rameses II., who certainly penetrated as far
+as Gibel el Birkel; but there is no other Egyptian name on any rocks
+or edifices south of Solib and Toumbos.]
+
+[Footnote 82: Herodotus (Thalia, 114.) describes Ethiopia as the
+last of the inhabited regions of the earth, and possessed by men of
+very great stature, beautiful, and of very long life; adding, that
+it produces much gold, and very large elephants, with long teeth,
+wild trees of every description, and ebony.]
+
+[Footnote 83: Diodorus (lib. iii. p. 105.) says, that near the
+confines of Egypt and the adjacent Ethiopia and Arabia, there is a
+place which abounds in rich gold mines, whence, at a great expense
+and toil of a great multitude of criminals, gold is dug. He speaks
+also of the manner they pounded the gold; and also mentions veins
+of white marble. It is a singular coincidence, that at the mines
+in the great Nubian desert, there are actually remaining mortars
+exactly such as he describes; and, with one exception, the only
+place I found white marble during this journey was in that desert,
+not far from the mines. The marble, however, may perhaps be the
+white quartz the gold is found in.]
+
+[Footnote 84: On the road to Abou Hashim, in the kingdom of Berber,
+and other places, I found rocks of sandstone, much charged with iron,
+and beyond Sennaar, they say that there are iron mines.]
+
+[Footnote 85: I regret that in some few of the impressions the caps
+were printed black. The reader must be aware, that the management of
+such engravings as these is excessively difficult. Four colours are
+impressed from separate stones—red, blue, black, and the ground. The
+others were put in by hand. I took great pains in superintending the
+mixing of the colours, to give the reader as exact a representation of
+an Egyptian painting as was in my power. I am indebted to Mr. Bonomi
+for having drawn for me on the stones these and the other plates
+of sculpture.]
+
+[Footnote 86: The past and present condition of Ethiopia are so
+admirably described in the first two verses, chap. xviii. of Isaiah,
+and the prophecy so admirably fulfilled, that I cannot refrain from
+repeating them:—“Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is
+beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: that sendeth ambassadors by the sea,
+even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift
+messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible
+from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down,
+whose land the rivers have spoiled!” Can the expression “shadowing
+with wings” allude to the winged globe on all the edifices in
+Egypt and Ethiopia? Vessels of bulrushes are highly characteristic
+of a wild tribe in the interior, almost similar ones being used at
+the present day; but the “nation, terrible from the beginning,
+meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled,”
+can only be Ethiopia.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Strabo mentions that Coptos was the entrepôt, not
+only of the merchandise of Ethiopia, but also of India and Arabia.]
+
+[Footnote 88: Isaiah (xlv. 14.) also mentions the “merchandise
+of Ethiopia.”]
+
+[Footnote 89: Euterpe, 110.]
+
+[Footnote 90: Plin. lib. vi. cap. xxix.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Destruction of the library at Alexandria.]
+
+[Footnote 92: No. CVI. p. 350.]
+
+[Footnote 93: Euterpe, xv.]
+
+[Footnote 94: This is no new doctrine of my own: Champollion,
+Rosellini, Heeren, and many other first-rate authorities have the
+same idea. I had expressed no opinion on the subject before going
+into the country; and, therefore, without prejudice, examined the
+evidence afforded by the monuments. At the same time that I deeply
+regret, that many learned travellers and geographers differ with me
+on this important point, I have not feared to express my own opinion;
+and I trust it will be candidly allowed, that in my topographical
+description I have not omitted any observation that might militate
+against my argument. I have stated, that in the latitude of Shendy it
+occasionally rains, (but Cailliaud is mistaken in supposing that it
+rains there three months in the year,) and that such rain would have a
+certain effect even on the solid mass of a pyramid. I have mentioned,
+also, that the stones are smaller, and often of a softer material,
+than the sandstone of Egypt; but we must consider that the pyramids
+are also smaller, that they have no rooms in the interior, and that
+the material of the least durable is harder than that of many of
+the pyramids of Memphis. Mr. Waddington did not reach the wonderful
+cemetery of the metropolis of Meroe, but the result of his comparison
+of the other pyramids of Ethiopia with those of Egypt agrees with
+mine, that is to say, as regards their relative antiquity; but from
+the discoveries in hieroglyphics, Mr. W. is found to be wrong in the
+dates he assigns to the monuments of Memphis and Thebes. But I cannot
+conclude this subject better than with an extract from his work.
+
+He says (Journal of a Visit to some Parts of Ethiopia, p. 184),
+“Now, the utter destruction and shapelessness of many of the
+pyramids at Birkel and El Bellal (Nouri), attest their antiquity;
+while those of Egypt do not appear to have been erected above eleven
+or twelve hundred years before Christ, when that country had been
+frequently overrun by the Ethiopians;”—alluding to the statement
+of Herodotus, that eighteen of the kings of Egypt were Ethiopians;
+but Manethon and the monuments do not confirm this account, and,
+therefore, I have not mentioned it before. “The pyramids are of
+a later date than the ruins of Thebes. Thebes, which is known to
+have been founded by a colony of Ethiopians[a], was called Ammon
+No, Diospolis, or the city of Ammon. It follows, then, I think, very
+clearly, from the concurrence of these observations on the antiquities
+of Ethiopia, with the conclusions derived from historical evidence,
+that the origin of the Egyptian divinities, as well as that of their
+temples and their tombs, and of the sculptures, figures, and symbols,
+may be traced to Ethiopia. In the magnitude of their edifices, the
+imitators have, indeed, surpassed their masters; but, as far as
+we could judge from the granite and other sculptures at Argo and
+Gibel el Birkel, that art seems to have been as well understood,
+and carried to as high perfection, as it was afterwards by their
+scholars at Thebes and at Memphis.]
+
+[Footnote a: Bruce’s Travels, vol. i. p. 380. The words of Bruce
+are,—“We know that Thebes was a colony of Ethiopians, and probably
+from Meroe; but whether directly or not we are not certain.” There
+is, I believe, no passage distinctly stating this; but Bruce very
+correctly inferred it from the statements of Diodorus and Herodotus.]
+
+[Footnote 95: Ludolf, lib. iii. chap. 2.]
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+
+  Changes in the ERRATA have been made, with some differences:
+
+    "Ababdis" to: "Ababdes" — Also changed in: pg 15.
+
+    "Melik" to: "Melek" — Not found in any of the pages listed, but
+    changed instead in: Pl. 2, Pl. 3, pg 51 (x2), pg 52 (plur.),
+    pg 58 (plur.).
+
+    "Psammeticus" to: "Psammitichus" — Also changed in: pg 75, pg 213.
+
+
+  pg xi Changed: Calliaud to: Cailliaud
+
+  pg 9 Changed: Philœ to: Philæ
+
+  pg 23 Changed: to the ast of it to: east
+
+  pg 75 Changed: equal to the the best to: to the best
+
+  pg 146 footnote 26 Changed: See Plates LII. and LIII. to:
+  LIII. and LIV.
+
+  pg 185 Changed: I conceived he ight be to: might
+
+  pg 189 Changed: of these reamls to: realms
+
+  pg 193 Changed: The two views (Plates XXXVII. and XXXVIII.) to:
+  Plates XXXVI. and XXXVII.
+
+  pg 204 Changed: _April_ 13. to: _April_ 17.
+
+  pg 210 footnote 44 Changed: et novs indiqua to: nous
+
+  pg 240 Changed: Plate LI. is a drawing of the Osshi to: Plate LII.
+
+  pg 270 Changed: sculpture (see Plate XLI.) to: Plate LI.
+
+  pg 275 Changed: the Karareesh tribe to: Kababeesh
+
+  pg 286 footnote 50 Changed: very much defaced. to:
+  very much defaced,
+
+  pg 298 Changed: ⲦⲙⲁⲩϢⲛⲓⲡⲟϥⲣⲉ to: ⲦⲙⲁⲩϢⲛⲓⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ
+
+  pg 310 Changed: Nazr è Deen to: Nazr e’ Deen
+
+  pg 311 footnote 72 Changed: Philœ to: Philæ
+
+  pg 315 (x2) Changed: Philœ to: Philæ
+
+  pg 316 Changed: Philœ to: Philæ
+
+  pg 316 footnote 76 Changed: Liv. to: Lib.
+
+  pg 326 Changed: road to Abon Hashim to: Abou
+
+  pg 327 Added: ” after: elephants’ teeth.
+
+  pg 360 Changed: but Calliaud is to: Cailliaud
+
+  pg 363 Changed: see Calliaud to: Cailliaud
+
+  Other spelling and formatting inconsistencies have been
+  left unchanged.
+
+  New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
+  public domain.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74151 ***
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74151 ***</div>
+<div class="margins">
+<div class="transnote x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<p class="center">Large-size versions of illustrations are
+available by clicking on them.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw9">
+<figure id="pl44">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 44.</p>
+<a href="images/pl44.jpg"><img src='images/pl44.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="ipub tdl"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="ipub tdr"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">TEMPLE OF AMARAH.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<div class="title-page">
+<h1><span class="bold xlarge letter-spaced03">TRAVELS</span><br>
+<span class="vsmall">IN</span><br>
+<span class="bold xxlarge"><span class=
+"letter-spaced08">ETHIOPI</span>A,</span><br>
+<span class="vsmall">ABOVE THE SECOND CATARACT OF THE NILE;</span>
+</h1>
+
+<p class="center spaced15"><span class=
+"tiny">EXHIBITING</span><br class="spaced2">
+<span class="small word-spaced02">THE STATE OF THAT COUNTRY, AND
+ITS VARIOUS INHABITANTS,</span><br>
+<span class="vsmall">UNDER THE DOMINION OF MOHAMMED ALI;</span>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center spaced15"><span class="tiny">AND
+ILLUSTRATING</span><br class="spaced2">
+<span class="bold less85 word-spaced02">THE ANTIQUITIES, ARTS, AND
+HISTORY</span><br>
+<span class="tiny">OF</span><br>
+<span class="med">THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF MEROE.</span>
+</p>
+
+<hr class="decor width6 space-above15">
+
+<p class="center">BY G. A. HOSKINS, ESQ.</p>
+
+<hr class="decor width6 space-below15">
+
+<p class="center"><span class="small">WITH A MAP,</span><br class=
+"spaced2">
+<span class="vsmall">AND NINETY ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE TEMPLES,
+PYRAMIDS, ETC. OF MEROE,<br>
+GIBEL-EL-BIRKEL, SOLIB, ETC.</span><br>
+<span class="tiny">FROM DRAWINGS FINISHED ON THE SPOT, BY THE
+AUTHOR,<br>
+AND AN ARTIST WHOM HE EMPLOYED.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p class="publisher">LONDON:<br>
+<span class="less95">LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, &
+LONGMAN,</span><br>
+<span class="tiny">PATERNOSTER-ROW.</span><br>
+<span class="med">1835.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="page">
+<p class="center tiny space-above">London:<br>
+Printed by A. <span class="sc">Spottiswoode</span>,<br>
+New-Street-Square.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p class="center spaced3 pb"><span class="small">TO</span><br>
+<span class="bold">HER ROYAL HIGHNESS</span><br>
+<span class="bold xlarge"><span class="letter-spaced02">THE DUCHESS
+OF KEN</span>T.</span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="dedic">
+<p class="nind pad8pc space-above2"><span class=
+"sc">Madam</span>,</p>
+
+<p class="ind33pc">Your Royal Highness having been pleased to
+inspect, with some apparent interest, the portfolios of original
+drawings from which the illustrations of the annexed volume have
+been selected, I have ventured to solicit permission to inscribe
+the Work to Your Royal Highness.</p>
+
+<p class="ind11pc">It has little merit, perhaps, except fidelity of
+representation. But, claiming this for it, I presume to hope that
+it may obtain Your Royal Highness’s indulgent consideration, even
+though it should be found more deficient in other respects than I
+am willing to believe.</p>
+
+<p class="nind pad15pc">I have the honour to be,</p>
+
+<p class="nind pad30pc"><span class="sc">Madam</span>,</p>
+
+<p class="nind pad26pc">With profound respect,</p>
+
+<p class="nind pad40pc">Your Royal Highness’s</p>
+
+<p class="nind pad50pc">Most obedient</p>
+
+<p class="nind pad57pc">Humble Servant,</p>
+
+<p class="nind right">THE AUTHOR.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2 class="large bold"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_v">[v]</span><span class=
+"letter-spaced01">PREFAC</span>E.</h2>
+
+<hr class="decor width4 spaced3">
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">The</span> following work contains
+the observations made by the Author during a journey performed by
+him in 1833 into the higher parts of Ethiopia. It is illustrated by
+engraved representations of the most remarkable objects in that
+country, from large drawings, finished on the spot by himself, or
+under his direction.</p>
+
+<p>The monuments of Egypt, the most wonderful ever reared by human
+hands, have been described by numerous travellers, though there is
+still ample room for more full and accurate delineation. Even the
+antiquities of Lower Nubia have of late been repeatedly visited.
+But Ethiopia, above the second cataract, including the metropolis
+of the ancient kingdom of Meroe, had been explored by very few
+Europeans, and only two Englishmen; yet it abounds with monuments
+rivalling those of Egypt in grandeur and beauty, and possessing, in
+some respects, a superior interest. According to Heeren,
+Champollion, Rosellini, and other eminent inquirers, whose judgment
+was confirmed by my own observations, this was the land whence the
+arts and learning of Egypt, and ultimately of Greece and Rome,
+derived their origin. In this remarkable country we behold the
+earliest efforts of human science and ingenuity.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the objects which induced the Author to encounter the
+difficulties and hardships of a journey into the upper
+valley<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span> of the Nile.
+It were to be wished, that the task had fallen into abler hands;
+yet he may be permitted to mention, that he had, to a certain
+extent, been prepared for it, by a series of years spent in Italy,
+Sicily, Greece, and other countries, distinguished by splendid
+remains of antiquity. He resided afterwards for a year in Upper
+Egypt, delineating its most remarkable edifices, and studying the
+sculptures and the hieroglyphics. He had thus acquired considerable
+experience in architectural drawing, and he took care, by the use
+of the <em>camera lucida</em>, to secure the accuracy of his
+outline. He had, likewise, the good fortune to engage the services
+of a very able Italian artist. No spot of any consequence was left
+till a leisurely and careful delineation had been made of every
+object of interest which it contained. It is therefore hoped, that
+a tolerably complete and accurate delineation has now been made of
+the most important antiquities of Ethiopia.</p>
+
+<p>Although the illustration of ancient monuments formed the
+Author’s primary object, he has not neglected to make observations
+on the various and often singular tribes by whom the country is at
+present inhabited. He has been enabled to exhibit them under a new
+and very peculiar aspect, as no longer proud and independent, but
+reduced to complete subjection under the severe sway of that
+extraordinary character, Mohammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt. It is hoped
+that some light has been thrown upon the Turkish system of
+government, particularly in the provinces. Perhaps, also, the
+narrative of his journeys through extensive tracts of desert may be
+read with some interest. The original form of a journal has been
+retained, as that in which the impressions of the observer are
+given in the most faithful and brief manner.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span>In the
+concluding chapters, the Author has endeavoured to collect into one
+view the scattered notices which alone record the history,
+commerce, and arts of the celebrated kingdom of Meroe, and to
+illustrate these by recent materials, collected by himself, and
+others, from the sculptures and inscriptions still remaining.
+Lamentably deficient as our information is on this important
+subject, it may be interesting to find the few particulars related
+in ancient history, and particularly in the sacred volume, in many
+respects so fully confirmed by the evidence of existing
+monuments.<a id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class=
+"fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2 class="bold large"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_ix">[ix]</span><span class=
+"letter-spaced01">CONTENT</span>S.</h2>
+
+<hr class="decor width4 spaced3">
+
+<table class="toc">
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c01">CHAPTER I.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Intended Return to Cairo. — Arrival of
+Artist. — Determination to penetrate to Meroe. — Motives. —
+Advantages to be derived from the Discoveries of Young, Wilkinson,
+Champollion, and Rosellini. — Departure from Thebes. — Turkish Mode
+of Fasting. — Arrival at Assuan. — Hints to Travellers on Turkish
+Etiquette. — Nazr of Berber. — Unpromising Accounts of the Desert.
+— Detention for Want of Camels. — Sheakh of the Ababde Tribe. —
+Ruins of Elephantine and Assuan. — Bosnian Soldiers. — Water Skins
+defective. — Arrival of the Camels. — Commencement of the Journey.
+— Nubian Poverty. — Caravan from Khartoun. — Cultivation in Lower
+Nubia. — Singular and Picturesque Scenery. — Nubian Peasantry and
+their Slaves. — Turkish Humanity. — Roman Enclosure at Dacker. —
+Provisions in Nubia. — Similarity of a modern and ancient Custom. —
+Nubians, their Prejudices, Poverty, Food, Want of Religion, and
+Drunkenness. — Their domestic Comfort, and comparative Freedom. —
+Wady el Arab. — Arrival at Korosko. — Preparations for crossing the
+Great Nubian Desert. — The Governor of Korosko. — Drunken Coptic
+Secretary</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot no-wrap">Page 1</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c02">CHAPTER II.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Commencement of the Journey across the
+Great Nubian Desert. — Description of the Caravan. — Advantages of
+Turkish Dress and Customs. — Provisions necessary for the Desert. —
+Akaba, or Mountain Passes. — Dead Camels. — Fear of Robbers. —
+Anxiety about the Stock of Water. — Arab Opinion of Travellers. —
+Alarming Diminution of our Water. — Dead Bodies of Slaves and
+Camels. — Hojab el Jenous. — Bab el Korosko. — Age of the Camel. —
+Bahr Bela Ma, or Sea without Water. — Mirage. — Perils and Charms
+of the Desert Life. — Dilet el Doom, Valley of the Shade of the
+Dooms. — Gold Mines. — Omrishi Sufir. — Wells now dry.<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span> — El Murrah, or the Well of Bitter
+Waters. — Hieroglyphics on the Rocks. — Colony of Bishareen. —
+Height and Character of the Mountains. — Arab Songs. — Gazelle. —
+Danger of leaving Caravan. — Absah Gold Mines. — Storms in the
+Desert. — Cambyses. — Bruce. — Arab Manner of mounting the Camel. —
+Manner in which the Arabs repose. — Arrival at the Nile. — Estimate
+of the Length of the Route and general Pace of the Camel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">17</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c03">CHAPTER III.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Abou-Hammed. — Fortified House of the
+Sheakh. — Island of Mograt. — Population. — Tax to the Pasha. —
+Tropical Rains. — Arab Raft. — Fortunate Escape. — Manner in which
+the Camels pass the River. — Gagi. — Description of the Harem of a
+Sheakh. — Office hereditary. — Habitation of a Sheakh. — Ethiopian
+Flies. — Doum Trees. — Abou-Hashim and other Villages. —
+Cultivation. — Arab Civilities. — Berber Sheep and Goats. —
+Villages and Islands. — Arab Burial-ground. — General Character of
+the Country. — Tract of Desert. — Wild Asses. — Fifth Cataract. —
+Present State of numerous Villages. — Arrival at Makkarif, Capital
+of Berber</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">34</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c04">CHAPTER IV.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Visit to the Governor. — Court and
+ancient Chiefs of the Country. — Hospitable Reception. — Turkish
+Entertainments. — Character of the Governor. — His Attentions. —
+Style of living. — Dongolah Horses. — Anecdotes, Costumes, and
+Portraits of the Chiefs. — Turkish Knowledge of the Arts. — Bazaar
+of Makkarif. — Houses. — Manufactory of Indigo. — Extent of
+Cultivation. — Population. — Camels’ Hides. — Sugar Manufactory. —
+Ethiopian Wool. — Bishareen Tribe. — Manner of collecting their
+Tribute. — Ababdes and other Arab Tribes. — Turkish Policy. —
+Burckhardt. — Character of the People. — Arabs of the Desert</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">44</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c05">CHAPTER V.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Departure from Makkarif. — Various
+Villages. — The Mugrum, ancient Astoboras. — Route to Goss Redjab.
+— Verdant Appearance of the Island of Meroe. — Voyage on the
+Astapus. — Numerous Villages. — Cottages. — Hippopotami. — Manner
+of destroying them. — Villages. — Arrival at the Pyramids of
+Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">62</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_xi">[xi]</span><a href="#c06">CHAPTER VI.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc less">MEROE.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Historical Evidence that this is the
+Cemetery of the Capital of Ethiopia. — The imposing Appearance,
+Number, Position, and Dimensions of the Pyramids. — Ethiopian Arch.
+— Proofs that the Knowledge of the Arts descended front Ethiopia. —
+Edifices of a pyramidal Form the best adapted to resist the Ravages
+of Time. — Peculiar Style of the Sculpture. — The Language of
+Hieroglyphics generally known in Ethiopia. — The Style of the
+Sculpture the Criterion of the Age. — Monumental, geological, and
+historical Evidence that the Knowledge of the Arts descended from
+Meroe. — Description of the Sculpture. — Name of Meroe on the
+Monuments. — Meroe peculiarly interesting, as the Birth-place of
+the Arts. — Sandstone Quarries. — Site of the City. — Villages of
+the present Inhabitants. — Agriculture. — Cailliaud</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">66</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c07">CHAPTER VII.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Departure from the Ruins. — Numerous
+Villages, one called Meroueer. — Shendy. — Fortified House of the
+Melek. — Insignificance of the present Capitals of Ethiopia. —
+Population of Shendy. — Bazaar. — Prices of Camels, Slaves, &amp;c.
+— Manner of transacting Business. — Women of Shendy. — Slave
+System. — Power of the ancient Meleks. — Their Wives. — Army of the
+Pasha. — Death of Ismael Pasha. — Metammah. — The Katshef of that
+Place, and his Court. — Katshef of Shendy</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">86</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c08">CHAPTER VIII.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Departure from Shendy. — Difficulties. —
+Desert. — Visit from and Anecdotes of Lions. — Immense Ruins. —
+Confusion of the Plan. — Built by bad Architects. — Detailed
+Description of the principal Temple. — Style of the Sculpture. —
+Other Ruins. — Singular Situation of the Ruins. — The Purpose for
+which they were constructed. — Their probable Age</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">94</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c09">CHAPTER IX.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Deficiency of Water. — Return to the
+Nile. — Wild Animals. — Ancient Canal. — Temple of Abou Naga. —
+Difficulties. — The modern Capitals of Ethiopia. — Sennaar. — The
+Difficulty of penetrating to the Source of the Bahr el Abiad. —
+Tribe of Arabs on its Banks. — Water less sweet than that of the
+Bahr el Azruk. — Arab Description of the River. — Inundation of the
+Nile. — Return to Shendy. — Mameluke Exercise</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">111</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_xii">[xii]</span><a href="#c10">CHAPTER X.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Metammah. — Difficulty of finding Camels
+to cross the Bahiouda Desert. — Wretched State of the Peasants when
+attacked by Illness. — Intermittent Fevers. — Costumes of Metammah.
+— Women of high Rank. — Their long Nails. — Manner of increasing
+their Length. — Bahiouda Desert. — Wells at Aboulay. — Reflections
+on the Desert Life. — Shageea Tribe. — Wells called Gagdool. —
+Signor B. unwell. — Hassanyeh Tribe. — Animals of the Desert. —
+Greyhound Dog. — Well of Magaga. — Dangerous Illness of Signor B. —
+Well of delicious Water called Haless. — Beauty of the Scenery. —
+Shepherd Boys. — Character of the Rocks. — Wells of good Water
+called Hannek and Prasoli. — The Manner the Shageea salute. —
+Coptic Christian Church. — Arrival at the Town of Meroueh. —
+Hieroglyphics on a Slab in the Castle</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">123</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c11">CHAPTER XI.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Antiquities of Gibel el Birkel. —
+Description and Dimensions of the Mountain. — Temple built by the
+Tirhaka of the Bible. — Various other interesting Remains and
+Temples. — Pyramids. — Circular and pointed Arch invented in
+Ethiopia</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">134</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c12">CHAPTER XII.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Present Inhabitants of Birkel. — Funeral
+Ceremonies in the Mahometan Burial-grounds. — Name of Rameses II.
+or Sesostris. — Description of the present State of the Country. —
+Indigo Manufactories. — The Shageea Tribe. — One of their Meleks. —
+Pyramids of Nouri, dilapidated State. — Curious Construction of
+one. — General Dimensions. — Antiquity. — Comparison between the
+ancient and modern Buildings of Ethiopia. — Return to Meroueh. —
+Turkish Manner of being paid for Services. — Voyage down the Nile.
+— Numerous Villages. — Shageea Tribe. — Intoxication, Learning,
+&amp;c. — Various Villages and Islands. — Effects of the Climate
+and other Peculiarities of this Country on the Character of the
+People. — Noble Manners of the Arabs. — Dongolah Agous. — Probable
+Site of Napata. — Negro Slaves. — Effects of the Cruelty of their
+Owners. — Encroachments of the Desert. — Cultivation. —
+Peasants</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">160</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c13">CHAPTER XIII.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Visit to the Governor. — Extent of his
+Government. — Indigo. — Water Wheels. — Population. — Taxes. —
+Prices of Produce. — Oasis of Dongolah,<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_xiii">[xiii]</span> called El Gab. — Route to Kordofan. —
+Information about that Country. — Baneful Climate. — Captain
+Gordon. — Arab Tribes of Kordofan. — General Appearance of New
+Dongolah. — The Bazaar. — Curious Use of Ointment. — Merchandise. —
+The Bazaar. — Slave Market. — Commerce carried on by Barter. —
+Curious Manner of effecting Sales. — Dongolah Goldsmith. —
+Auctioneers. — Various Arab Tribes. — Costumes. — Women, the
+Elegance of their Attire. — Breaking of the <em>Rat</em>. —
+Giraffe. — Hassanyeh Tribe. — Elephants</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">176</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c14">CHAPTER XIV.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Marriage and other Ceremonies of
+Dongolah. — Character of the People, their Habitations. — Women,
+their Amusements. — Arab Tale. — Government of Dongolah</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">189</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c15">CHAPTER XV.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Departure from Dongolah. — Numerous
+Villages. — Island of Argo. — Residence of the Melek. — Arab
+Accountants. — Melek Tumbol. — Extent of his Territory. — Arab
+Manners compared with European. — Philosophy of the Arabs. — The
+Melek’s Dinner. — Military Force. — Garden. — Visit to the
+Antiquities. — Numerous Vestiges of ancient Towns. — Colossal
+Statues. — Remains of a large Temple. — Name of Sabaco, the
+Conqueror of Egypt. — Entertainment of an Arab Sheakh. — Richness
+of the Island. — Indigo. — Ethiopian Fort. — Cataract of Toumbos. —
+Mutilated colossal Statue. — Hospitality of an Arab Sheakh. —
+Character of the Inhabitants. — Hippopotamus. — Alarming
+Intelligence. — Revolt of the Mahas. — Dreadful Consequences. — Our
+providential Escape. — Arab Stories of Travellers</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">204</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c16">CHAPTER XVI.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Return to New Dongolah. — The Governor. —
+His Indecision. — General Alarm. — Interview with the Governor. —
+His difficult Situation and Want of Energy. — Increase of the
+Insurgents. — Retreat of the Katshef of Haffeer. — Troops marched
+out against the Insurgents. — Fears about the Result. — Their Army.
+— The Battle. — Effects of the Revolt. — Roads impassable. — Return
+of the Expedition. — Turkish and Arab Evolutions. — Hassanyeh. —
+Funge. — Curious Assemblage. — <em>Lululoo</em> of the Women. —
+Turkish System of Government in the Provinces, and present State of
+the Peasantry and Arabs of the Desert above Wady Halfah</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">222</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_xiv">[xiv]</span><a href="#c17">CHAPTER XVII.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Departure from El Ourde. — Alarms of the
+Caravan. — Melek Backeet. — Return to Haffeer. — Detention in the
+Indigo Manufactory. — Nubian Plants. — Second Expedition of the
+Government. — Fanaticism of the Insurgents. — The Battle. —
+Prisoners. — Departure from Haffeer. — Description of the Caravan.
+— Cataract. — Effects of the Revolution. — Splendid Ruins of Solib.
+— Excavated Tomb near Solib. — Ruins of Sukkot. — Heat of the
+Climate. — Island of Sais. — Remains of Christian Ruins. —
+Destructive Effects of the Desert</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">237</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Kasr Towaga. — Difficulty of crossing the
+River. — Indolence of the Arabs. — Arab Sheakh. — Temple of Amarah.
+— Present Inhabitants. — Wady el Hadjar. — Fortified House on an
+Island at Dahl. — Cataract of Uckma. — Bigotry of the Inhabitants.
+— Various Cataracts of the Nile. — Mineral Spring at Tangoure. —
+Temples of Semneh, on the Western Bank. — Curious Manner of
+crossing the River. — Temple of Semneh, on the Eastern Bank. —
+Inscriptions on the Rocks. — The Arab Robber Isah. — Second
+Cataract of the Nile. — Inducements for Travellers to extend their
+Journey beyond this Point. — Comparison between Voyages in the
+Desert and at Sea</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">259</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c19">CHAPTER XIX.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc less">ON THE HISTORY OF MERGE.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Obscurity of her Annals. — Historical
+Associations necessary to render a Country interesting. — Works of
+Art historical Documents. — Lapidary Inscriptions. — Amunoph III. —
+Memnon, King of Ethiopia. — Expedition of Semiramis, Queen of
+Assyria, into Ethiopia. — Ethiopians in the Army of Shishak marched
+to Jerusalem. — The Sukkiims of Scripture. — Expedition of Zerah,
+the Ethiopian King of the Bible, and his Defeat by the Tribes of
+Judah and Benjamin. — The Ethiopian Dynasty of Kings who reigned
+over Egypt. — The Testimony of the Historians proved by lapidary
+Inscriptions. — The Name of Tirhaka, King of Ethiopia, who defeated
+Sennacherib, King of Assyria, found both on the Monuments of Egypt
+and Ethiopia. — The Names and Titles of this Dynasty of Kings. —
+Accordance of the Scriptural, monumental, and historical Evidences.
+— The Sethos of Herodotus, the Tirhaka of Scripture and of the
+Monuments.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span> — The Sua,
+King of Egypt of the Bible, the Sevechus of Manetho, and the
+Shabatok of the Monuments</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">284</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c20">CHAPTER XX.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">The Emigration of Egyptian Soldiers at
+the Time of Psammitichus. — Expedition of Cambyses. — Manners,
+Customs, &amp;c. of the Macrobians, &amp;c. — Curious Customs of
+the Ethiopians. — Ergamenes, the Ethiopian King’s, Conquests in
+Lower Nubia. — Atarraman and Silco, Ethiopian Kings. — Expedition
+of Petronius. — Queen Candace. — Christianity first introduced into
+Ethiopia. — Its Duration. — Napata, Capital of Candace. — Blemmyes
+and the Nubians</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">306</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c21">CHAPTER XXI.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc less">ON THE COMMERCE OF MEROE.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Requisites for a State enjoying extensive
+Commerce. — Advantageous Position of Meroe. — Probable Extent of
+her Commerce. — The Facility afforded to its Extension by Means of
+the Camel. — Commerce of Arabia and India. — Abundance of Gold. —
+Iron and Gum. — Ethiopian Tribute to Egypt. — Description of a
+splendid Ethiopian Procession at Thebes. — Commerce of the
+Interior. — Causes of the Decline of Meroe. — Diminution of her
+agricultural Resources. — Exhaustion of Mines. — Rivalry of Egypt.
+— Wars with Egypt. — Arab Conquest. — Present Commerce</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">321</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect1"><a href="#c22">CHAPTER XXII.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdc less">ON THE ARTS OF MEROE.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Affluence would introduce a Taste for the
+Arts. — The Heat of the Climate favourable to Sedentary Pursuits. —
+Private Emulation would afford farther Encouragement. — Desire of
+distinguishing themselves by Intellectual Pursuits. — Testimony of
+Diodorus that Knowledge was very generally diffused in Ethiopia. —
+The Pyramids of Meroe the oldest Specimens of Ethiopian Art. —
+Civilisation of the Ethiopians proved by their monumental Edifices.
+— The Ethiopians Inventors of the Arch. — Egyptian Arches. —
+Ethiopian Sculpture. — Probable Cause of their peculiar Style. —
+Reasons for preserving it. — Deference of the Ptolemies and Romans
+for the Superstitions of the Egyptians. — Pleasing Effect of the
+Egyptian and Ethiopian Sculpture. — Admirable Manner of drawing
+Animals, Hieroglyphics, and their Taste in Ornaments. — Colouring
+on Ethiopian Sculpture. — The Knowledge of the Arts descended
+from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</span> Ethiopia. —
+Complexion of the ancient and present Inhabitants. — Accuracy of
+Diodorus’s Account proved by the Monuments. — Taste for the Arts in
+a Nation inseparable from other Intellectual Pursuits. — Works of
+the Ethiopian King Tirhaka. — Review of the Antiquities in
+Ethiopia. — Folly of comparing the present with the ancient
+Inhabitants of the Valley of the Nile</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">346</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2 class="bold"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_xvii">[xvii]</span>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+<hr class="decor width4 spaced3">
+
+<p class="center less space-above2"><a href="#map"><span class=
+"sc">Map of the Nile</span></a> from Assuan to the conflux of the
+Bahr El Abiad and the Azruk.</p>
+
+<table class="toi">
+<tr>
+<td colspan="4" class="tdc sect1">ENGRAVINGS ON STONE.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr sc med">Plate</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr med">Page</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl01">I.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Shageea of the Desert and Camel Man of
+the Ababde Tribe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">164</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl02">II.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Sheahk Beshir, and Son of a Bishareen
+Sheahk</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">46</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl03">III.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Nazr ed Deen and Sheakh Sayd, Chief of
+the Ababde Tribe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">44</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl04">IV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Senna and Indigo Plants</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">240</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl05">V.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">General Plan of the Pyramids of
+Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">66</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl06">VI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Principal Group of the Pyramids of
+Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">68</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl07">VII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Sections of the Pyramids of Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">70</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl08">VIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Pyramids of Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">72</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl09">IX.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Pyramids of Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">74</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl10">X.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Sculpture in the Porticoes of the
+Pyramids of Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">76</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl11">XI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Sculpture in the Porticoes of the
+Pyramids of Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">78</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl12">XII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Sculpture in the Porticoes of the
+Pyramids of Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">80</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl13">XIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Ruins of Wady Owataib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">100</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl14">XIV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Picturesque View of the ruins of Wady
+Owataib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">102</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl15">XV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Picturesque View of the ruins of Wady
+Owataib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">104</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl16">XVI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Costumes of Moussa, Son of a Melek of
+Berber, and a Woman of Shendy</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">88</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl17">XVII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">General Plan of the Ruins of Gibel el
+Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">134</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl18">XVIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">General View of the Ruins of Gibel el
+Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">136</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl19">XIX.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Tirhaka</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">138</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl20">XX.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Tirhaka</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">140</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl21">XXI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Temple of Tirhaka</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">142</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl22">XXII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Restoration of the Temple of Tirhaka</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">144</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl23">XXIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of Temple of Amun Sekon Gibel el
+Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">146</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl24"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_xviii">[xviii]</span>XXIV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Great Temple at Gibel el
+Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">148</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl25">XXV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View from the Great Temple at Gibel el
+Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">150</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl26">XXVI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Pyramids of Gibel el
+Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">152</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl27">XXVII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Pyramids of Gibel el
+Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">154</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl28">XXVIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Sections of the Pyramids of Gibel el
+Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">156</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl29">XXIX.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Sculpture in the Portico of a Pyramid at
+Gibel el Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">158</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl30">XXX.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Melek of the Shageea Tribe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">162</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl31">XXXI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Pyramids of Nouri</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">166</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl32">XXXII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Pyramids of Nouri</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">168</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl33">XXXIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of a Colossal Statue in the Island
+of Argo</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">210</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl34">XXXIV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of a Colossal Statue in the Island
+of Argo</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">212</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl35">XXXV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Restoration of the two Colossal Statues
+in the Island of Argo</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">214</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl36">XXXVI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Exterior of a Dongolah
+Cottage</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">192</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl37">XXXVII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Interior of a Dongolah
+Cottage</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">194</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl38">XXXVIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Shageea fighting</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">228</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl39">XXXIX.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Hassanyeh Tribe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">188</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl40">XL.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Temple of Solib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">246</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl41">XLI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Solib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">248</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl42">XLII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Solib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">250</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl43">XLIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Solib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">252</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl44">XLIV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Amarah</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">Frontispiece.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl45">XLV.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ruins of Semneh</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">276</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl46">XLVI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Part 1. Grand Ethiopian Procession in a
+Tomb at Thebes</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">328</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl47">XLVII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Part 2. Grand Ethiopian Procession in a
+Tomb at Thebes</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">330</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl48">XLVIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Part 3. Grand Ethiopian Procession in a
+Tomb at Thebes</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">332</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl49">XLIX.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Part 4. Grand Ethiopian Procession in a
+Tomb at Thebes</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">334</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl50">L.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Second Cataract of the Nile</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">278</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl51">LI.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Sculpture in the Temple of Semneh</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">270</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl52">LII.</a>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Osshi Plant</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">240</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl53">LIII.</a>
+</td>
+<td rowspan="2">⎱<br>
+⎰</td>
+<td rowspan="2" class="tdl hang1">Hieroglyphic Inscriptions and
+Sculpture at Meroe and Gibel el Birkel</td>
+<td rowspan="2" class="tdr">286</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#pl54">LIV.</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="4" class="tdc sect1">WOOD ENGRAVINGS.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Cottages of
+Berber</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i01">1</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Fifth Cataract of
+the Nile</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i02">41</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Pyramids of
+Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i03">69</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the South-east Group
+of the Pyramids of Meroe</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i04">71</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_xix">[xix]</span>View of the fortified Residence of the
+ancient Meleks or Kings of Shendy</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i05">87</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the small Temple of
+Wady el Owataib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i06">102</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Sections of the Columns at
+Wady el Owataib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i07">104</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Abou
+Naga</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i08">112</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Ruins of Abou
+Naga</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i09">113</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Pyramids of Gibel
+el Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i10">149</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Pyramids of Gibel
+el Birkel</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i11">151</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the fortified House
+of Melek Tumbol</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i12">206</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Ruins of an
+Ethiopian Fort</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i13">216</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Cataract of
+Hennek</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i14">217</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of a Colossal Statue in
+the Quarries at Toumbos</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i15">218</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Section of the Columns of
+Solib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i16">247</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View from a Tomb excavated
+out of the Rock near Solib</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i17">253</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of a Temple at
+Sukkot</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i18">254</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of a Temple at
+Sukkot</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i19">253</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Temple of
+Amarah</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i20">261</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Harp of the Shageea</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i21">263</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Island of Dahl in
+the Wady el Hadjar</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i22">265</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Semneh,
+West Side of the River</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i23">269</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Temple of Semneh,
+West Side of the River</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i24">271</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">View of the Temple of Semneh,
+East Side of the River</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i25">273</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Plan of the Temple of Semneh,
+East Side of the River</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i26">274</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Egyptian Arch formed by
+approaching Stones</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i27">351</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Egyptian Arch,
+elliptical</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i28">352</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Egyptian Arch, Segment of a
+Circle</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i29">353</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Name in Hieroglyphics of King
+Sabaco</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i30">296</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Name in Hieroglyphics of King
+Sevechus</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i31">297</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Name in Hieroglyphics of King
+Tirhaka</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i32">297</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Name in Hieroglyphics of
+other Ethiopians of the Royal Family</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i33a">298</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Name in Hieroglyphics of King
+Ergamenes</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i34">314</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Name in Hieroglyphics of King
+Atarramon</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#i35">315</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2 class="med"><a id="errata"></a>ERRATA.</h2>
+
+<table class="errata">
+<tr>
+<td>Pages</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_5">5</a>,</td>
+<td><a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href=
+"#Page_46">46</a>. <em>for</em> “Katschef, Katshief,” <em>read</em>
+“Katshef.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_18">18</a>,</td>
+<td><a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href=
+"#Page_32">32</a>. <em>for</em> “Ababdis,” <em>read</em>
+“Ababdes.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_11">11</a>,</td>
+<td><a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href=
+"#Page_14">14</a>. <em>for</em> “Melik,” <em>read</em>
+“Melek.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</td>
+<td>line 1. <em>for</em> “danger of fatigue,” <em>read</em> “danger
+and fatigue.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</td>
+<td>line 1. for “Mogran,” <em>read</em> “Mogram.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</td>
+<td>line 3. <em>for</em> “Dongolar,” <em>read</em> “Dongolah.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</td>
+<td>line 18. <em>for</em> “monuments,” <em>read</em>
+“tablets.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</td>
+<td>line 9. <em>for</em> “in the second row,” <em>read</em> “in the
+same row.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</td>
+<td>line 25. <em>for</em> “eleven,” <em>read</em> “ten.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</td>
+<td>line 22. <em>for</em> “Psammeticus,” <em>read</em>
+“Psammitichus.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</td>
+<td>line 25. <em>for</em> “Thotmes,” <em>read</em> “Thothmes.”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-top"><a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</td>
+<td>the prices of grain in this page are per ardeb.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenterplate">
+<figure id="map">
+<p class="map"><span class="large120 letter-spaced01 bold sc">The
+Nile</span><br class="x-ebookmaker-drop">
+from Assuan to the<br class="x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<span class="large letter-spaced">Conflux of the Blue and White
+Rivers;</span><br class="x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<em>Comprising the routes across</em><br class="x-ebookmaker-drop">
+The Great Nubian and Bahiouda Deserts.<br class=
+"x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<span class="bold">By G. A. Hoskins, Esq<sup>r</sup>.</span></p>
+<a href="images/map_large.jpg"><img src='images/map.jpg' alt=''
+class="iw13"></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="ipub tdl"><em>London: London & C<sup>o</sup>.
+Paternoster Row. 1835.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="ipub tdr"><em>J. Arrowsmith.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center spaced3 space-above pb"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_1">[1]</span><span class="bold large">TRAVELS</span><br>
+<span class="vsmall">IN</span><br>
+<span class="xxlarge bold"><span class=
+"letter-spaced03">ETHIOPI</span>A.</span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i01"><a href="images/i01.jpg"><img src='images/i01.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">COTTAGES OF BERBER.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="nopb"><a id="c01"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">INTENDED RETURN TO CAIRO. — ARRIVAL OF ARTIST. —
+DETERMINATION TO PENETRATE TO MEROE. — MOTIVES. — ADVANTAGES TO BE
+DERIVED FROM THE DISCOVERIES OF YOUNG, WILKINSON, CHAMPOLLION, AND
+ROSELLINI. — DEPARTURE FROM THEBES. — TURKISH MODE OF FASTING. —
+ARRIVAL AT ASSUAN. — HINTS TO TRAVELLERS ON TURKISH ETIQUETTE. —
+NAZR OF BERBER. — UNPROMISING ACCOUNTS OF THE DESERT. — DETENTION
+FOR WANT OF CAMELS. — SHEAKH OF THE ABABDE TRIBE. — RUINS OF
+ELEPHANTINE AND ASSUAN. — BOSNIAN SOLDIERS. — WATER SKINS
+DEFECTIVE. — ARRIVAL OF THE CAMELS. — COMMENCEMENT OF THE JOURNEY.
+— NUBIAN POVERTY. — CARAVAN FROM KHARTOUN. — CULTIVATION IN LOWER
+NUBIA. — SINGULAR AND PICTURESQUE SCENERY. — NUBIAN PEASANTRY AND
+THEIR SLAVES. — TURKISH HUMANITY. — ROMAN ENCLOSURE AT DACKER. —
+PROVISIONS IN NUBIA. — SIMILARITY OF A MODERN<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_2">[2]</span> AND ANCIENT CUSTOM. — NUBIANS, THEIR
+PREJUDICES, POVERTY, FOOD, WANT OF RELIGION, AND DRUNKENNESS —
+THEIR DOMESTIC COMFORT, AND COMPARATIVE FREEDOM. — WADY EL ARAB. —
+ARRIVAL AT KOROSKO. — PREPARATIONS FOR CROSSING THE GREAT NUBIAN
+DESERT. — THE GOVERNOR OF KOROSKO. — DRUNKEN COPTIC SECRETARY.</p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 1. 1833. <span class="sc">Having</span> spent
+twelve months in the valley of the Nile, I had designed to leave
+Thebes this week, and return to Cairo. To this long period had an
+intended stay of a few weeks been protracted, in consequence of my
+daily increasing devotion to the fascinating but laborious study of
+Egyptian antiquities. I cannot, however, escape some uncomfortable
+feelings when I contrast the prospect now before me, of privation
+and dreariness in a long journey through the desert, with the hopes
+I had indulged of returning now to Europe, to the enjoyments of
+social and domestic intercourse, and the refinements and comforts
+of civilised life. My boat was ready, and all preparations made for
+my voyage down the Nile, when its direction was changed by the
+arrival of Signor Bandoni, a skilful Italian artist, whom I had
+long anxiously expected. I then immediately determined to proceed
+with my projected journey to the antiquities of Meroe, and thus
+complete my investigation of the architectural wonders of the Nile.
+Wearied, however, with my previous labours at Thebes, and in the
+Oasis Magna, I had felt reluctant to make this arduous attempt
+without the assistance of an artist. Had I now lacked courage, the
+redoubtable appearance of my Lucchese ally would have inspired me
+with resolution to encounter the wildest Bishareen of the Nubian
+desert, or the hungriest lion of Ethiopia. The Signor brings with
+him his bosom companion, a double-barrelled Spanish
+<em>escopette</em>, of awe-inspiring calibre, the destructive
+powers of which, he assures me, have been frequently proved upon
+the turtle doves in the palm groves of the Nile: he animates me
+also with the assurance, that “non ha niente paura;” nor, since his
+landing in these barbarous regions, has he yet known bodily fear,
+except once, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> that
+by mistake, when scared by the <em>lion-like</em> roar of a
+buffalo, near the base of Pompey’s Pillar. The valley of the Nile,
+as far as Wady Halfah, has been described by many. Only six or
+seven Europeans have penetrated beyond that cataract; and,
+unfortunately, all even of those were not sufficiently acquainted
+with Egyptian antiquities, and competent, as artists, to give a
+satisfactory description and correct delineations of the
+interesting remains which still exist in those remote
+regions.<a id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class=
+"fnanchor">[2]</a> In using the term acquainted, I do not mean to
+state that any person has penetrated very deeply into the mysteries
+of Egyptian lore, much less can I pretend to have lifted “the veil
+of Isis which no mortal has yet raised;” but even a slight
+knowledge of the recent discoveries in hieroglyphics gives to the
+traveller of the present day an advantage over, perhaps, even the
+most learned travellers who visited this country before the
+discoveries of Young, Wilkinson, Champollion, and Rosellini. Egypt
+is no longer a field for speculative ingenuity and brilliant
+imagination. The daylight has appeared, and the efforts of talent
+and perseverance have cleared away many of the difficulties which
+obstructed the first labourers in this rich mine of antiquarian
+research. Enough is already known of hieroglyphics to make the
+subject be duly appreciated by literary men, and we may confidently
+expect important information from that source. The drawings which
+have hitherto been made in Upper Nubia are considered to be very
+inaccurate; much has been left undone, and the hieroglyphics have
+been but partially and imperfectly copied; while many of the
+inscriptions are totally unknown. Aware of these circumstances, and
+also that not a drawing or description of the antiquities of Meroe
+has yet been published in England, and hoping that my labours may
+be of some service to those interested in these subjects, I leave
+Thebes to encounter again the fatigues<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_4">[4]</span> and perils of the desert; but Meroe is before
+me, the probable birth-place of the arts and sciences.</p>
+
+<p>I bade adieu, last night, to my kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hay,
+whose society, attention, and valuable services, have been an
+indescribable resource to me during my long residence at Thebes. I
+felt how gratifying it is, in setting out on a journey of this
+description, to have the warm wishes of others that it may be
+successful. “Bring as many drawings as you can,” was the good
+advice given to me, and which I intend to follow.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot perform impossibilities, by bringing the antiquities
+themselves; but I trust and hope, with the assistance of my camera
+lucida, my long experience in drawing that peculiar style of
+architecture and sculpture, and last, though not least, the
+valuable aid of my excellent Italian artist, Signor B., I shall be
+able to bring back drawings and plans which shall have the merit
+and value of strict accuracy. But I must disclaim, in the outset,
+any idea of adding much to the geographical knowledge of the
+interior of Africa. The object of my journey is Meroe, and to
+elucidate the existing vestiges of the ancient grandeur of the
+kingdom of Ethiopia. The wind this day has been favourable; but
+there was so little of it, that our progress has not been
+great.</p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 2. We arrived at Esneh this morning at eight, and
+remained until ten. I wished to see the Governor, to procure from
+him a letter to the Nazr of Assuan, requesting him to assist me in
+procuring camels; but I was told that he was asleep, and would not
+be visible till late in the afternoon. It is now the month of
+Ramadan, during which the law forbids them to eat or drink before
+sunset; however, the Turkish grandees avoid this privation by
+turning night into day, sleeping the greater part of the latter,
+and devoting the former to business and their pleasures. This
+manner of keeping their fast is somewhat similar to the devotee
+Peter Pindar describes, who, when sentenced to perform a pilgrimage
+with peas in his shoes, wisely took the liberty to boil<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> his peas. The wind being
+favourable, I could not wait the awakening of the Mahmoor.</p>
+
+<p><em>Assuan.—Feb. 5.</em> In our journey of this and the two
+preceding days, we have only had six to seven hours of wind;
+however, this afternoon, we arrived at Assuan, and I immediately
+waited on the Nazr to procure camels. On entering a Turkish divan,
+the traveller is merely required to make a grave bow, placing his
+right hand to his left breast, and to seat himself on the divan in
+the Turkish style, which, for the information of those readers who
+have not been in the country, I should say is exactly that easy
+position, which it seems in Europe tailors only are privileged to
+assume. When seated, he usually salutes the great man again in the
+same manner as before; but if the latter be of very high rank, it
+is better to show respect by placing the right hand, first, to the
+lips, and then, above the forehead. A few complimentary speeches
+are now exchanged; such as “How do you do?” “What a tall man you
+are!” “What a fine beard!” “You are like one of us!” Welcome and
+thanks. Coffee is then presented to the traveller. The Pasha gives
+pipes to noblemen at his own divan only; but every English
+gentleman has a right to expect one, or to smoke his own at the
+divan of any of his subordinate officers. The Turk, if he is only a
+Katshef or Nazr, ought to make a kind of half rise from his seat
+when the traveller enters; but it is very seldom that his pride and
+desire of appearing a great man in his little court permits him to
+show this courtesy. All the Turks possess, or have the power of
+assuming, an apparently natural dignity of manner. The liberated
+slave, raised suddenly to rank and authority, seems always at his
+ease, as if born to the station that he fills. Education, that is,
+the having learned with difficulty to read and write a letter of
+four or five lines, makes no distinction, being an attainment in
+which those of the highest rank are sometimes deficient. I
+presented to the Nazr, a common-looking fellow, the Pasha’s firman,
+which, as usual, he kissed and<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_6">[6]</span> placed to his forehead. As soon as his Coptic
+writer had read it to him, he ordered me a pipe, an attention
+previously omitted, and in the mean time offered me his own; but my
+servant at that moment entered with mine. I had ordered it, because
+my not assuming my right in this trifling etiquette would have made
+me less respected, not only by the Nazr and his court, but, what
+was of real consequence, by the Arabs, who were to accompany me
+across the desert to Berber. Generally I hate etiquette and
+ceremony, as the north and north-east winds of society; but I have
+found from experience, that with the Turks it is absolutely
+necessary to insist upon their observance. Travellers, in their
+ignorance of Eastern manners, are generally too humble to them. If
+even a Katshef pays them a visit, they rise from their seats and
+bow, as often and as low as if he were a monarch. Accordingly, when
+they return the visit, they have the mortification to perceive,
+that the Turk, misconstruing such European courtesy into
+obsequiousness, and an acknowledgment of inferiority, does not even
+rise to receive him; but, with a slight condescending nod, desires
+his visitor to be seated, and of course has less regard to his
+requests in matters of real importance. The days of Burckhardt are
+past. The traveller throughout Mohammed Ali’s dominions has now no
+occasion to submit to any indignity, or even incivility: his
+forbearance will gain him nothing except the consciousness of
+having fruitlessly submitted to the contempt of an ignorant and
+illiterate barbarian. I have dwelt upon this little circumstance,
+from my experience of its importance for the guidance of future
+travellers. The Nazr, during the rest of my visit, was profuse in
+his offers of services. He informed me, that the Government were
+themselves in want of camels; but that I should have the first that
+could be procured, which he hoped would be next day. Along with the
+Nazr was a Bey, just returned across the desert from Berber. I
+could get little information from him; and, indeed, could not ask
+many questions of him, as I found he had just been
+removed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> from the
+government in disgrace, on account of extortion. I might have
+guessed the cause from his physiognomy, for I have rarely seen so
+villainous a countenance. He did not seem neglected in his
+adversity, as numbers of Turks were visiting him, each kissing his
+hand, and wishing him a speedy return to the favour of the Pasha.
+He gave me no flattering description of the desert, telling me I
+should feel it bitterly cold at night, and should spend nine or ten
+days, without finding any water at all drinkable. The sorry
+condition of his camels, too, strongly confirmed the truth of this
+account.</p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 6. I heard this morning, with surprise, that I
+should probably have to wait a week longer before procuring camels.
+Knowing the Turks to be adepts at procrastination, I went to the
+Nazr, and urged the necessity of my starting immediately. At my
+request, he sent for the Sheakh of the Ababdes, the tribe who
+provide camels to caravans and travellers for the journey between
+Assuan and Makkarif, the capital of Berber. They act also as
+carriers to the Red Sea, the Oasis Magna, along the Nile to
+Dongolah, and also across the western side of the great Nubian
+desert. The residence of the Sheakh being two hours distant, he did
+not arrive before this evening. I was agreeably struck with his
+appearance; he was a man of middle size; extremely regular
+features; a calm and dignified manner; a benevolent, and at the
+same time noble, expression of countenance. His dress was
+remarkably neat and clean. His turban and long linen gown were
+beautifully white and of good materials. He promised us that we
+should have camels the next day, and we agreed that the price
+should be seventy piastres for the use of each during the journey
+to Makkarif, where, it is said, we shall arrive in twenty days. It
+is rather annoying to be thus detained, since every day is of
+consequence, the season being so far advanced; but it is some
+consolation that our time has not been quite lost. The island of
+Elephantine is no longer adorned with temples. Some ruins of walls,
+a rude statue of Osiris, slight traces of the temple of Chnubis,
+and the Nilometer,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> are
+all the remains which now exist. The northern part resembles a
+garden ornamented with beautiful groves of palm trees and the
+richest cultivation. Syene offers still less to interest the
+antiquarian, but much to strengthen the believer in Holy Writ. The
+prophetic denunciation of Ezekiel is fulfilled. The tower of Syene
+has truly fallen from the pride of her power. The ruin of a pier,
+partly Roman but chiefly Arab, and an insignificant fragment of a
+temple, are the only vestiges of this once important city. Yet the
+natural scenery around is still beautiful, and the views from it,
+as well as from the Island of Elephantine, are the most lovely in
+Egypt. The castle of Syene, built by the Bosnian soldiers, forms,
+even in its ruined state, a highly picturesque object. Several of
+the descendants of the Bosnian soldiers are living at Assuan, and
+in Lower Nubia. I met with one as far south as Amarah.<a id=
+"FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 7. No camels are arrived; we are obliged,
+therefore, to delay another day. This requires some patience, when
+every thing is prepared for our expedition. I superintended this
+morning the filling of the skins with water: I am sorry to find
+them very indifferent, although the best I could procure.</p>
+
+<p><em>Philæ.—Feb.</em> 9. After repeated applications to the
+Governor, I have procured at last nine camels and two dromedaries
+for ourselves. Any complaint of this delay would be unreasonable,
+otherwise than as a misfortune. Several Turks in the employment of
+the Pasha have been detained for want of them during this last
+fortnight; notwithstanding which, from their knowledge of his
+favour for travellers, they have given me the preference. Our
+start, however, is at last made. I have been very anxious to leave
+Assuan, having perceived an increasing disinclination on the part
+of my artist and servants to undertake the journey. The tales of
+some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> Arab merchants
+have excited among them so much alarm, that all my powers of
+persuasion and remonstrance were necessary to keep them from
+defection. They have unfortunately heard the exclamations of some
+of my old Nubian friends, the Rais of the Cataract and others, when
+I told them I was going to Shendy. “Wonderful! God is great! but
+are you not afraid to go into such a hot country, where it rains
+fire?” It has been no easy task to persuade them that a passage of
+eight or ten days over a desert, without water, and of twenty days
+without intermission on the backs of camels, can be an easy
+undertaking. I hope, for their sakes, we shall not have to suffer
+much: as to myself, I feel more indifferent. I am going to Meroe;
+and the idea of the desert, notwithstanding Burckhardt’s, and still
+more Bruce’s, description of it, does not damp my ardour.</p>
+
+<p><em>Sail on the Nile.—Feb.</em> 10. We left Philæ this morning
+at half past seven, entered into the mountains, and at three
+o’clock descended again into the valley of the Nile; at a quarter
+to six, we pitched our tents on the banks of the river. The
+mountains we have passed are of the same character as at the
+cataract, chiefly of syenite, the exterior of which is darkened by
+the sun. The formation consists of the same round blocks, appearing
+at a distance as disjoined. The place where we are encamped, and
+indeed all the country we have traversed to-day, is miserably poor.
+The strip of cultivated land is not an eighth of a mile in breadth.
+Barley, cotton, and <em>sherangig</em> are all that the country
+produces. The latter, which forms the chief food of the Nubian, is
+a hard disagreeable kind of pea, which no culinary art can render
+palatable to European taste. We have passed several small villages,
+each containing from ten to twenty houses. This morning we met a
+troop of cavalry from Khartoun, which had passed the desert, of
+which they gave us any thing but an encouraging description. They
+say we shall be ten days in crossing it; and “take care of your
+water” is their constant advice. The same admonition
+has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> been dunned in
+our ears more than a hundred times since the day that we arrived at
+Assuan.</p>
+
+<p><em>Marwal.—Feb.</em> 11. We set out this morning at half past
+seven, and proceeded, for some time, on the banks of the river.
+Nearly opposite to the small temple of Kardassy, we again turned
+into the mountains. There the granite chain suddenly ceases, and
+the hills are of sandstone, until opposite Tafey, where again, for
+a short space, they are of granite, and then of sandstone. Arriving
+at the district of Kalabshy, I found the mountains partially
+composed of sandstone, and immediately afterwards of granite. The
+belt of cultivated land, on both sides of the river, is always
+extremely narrow, seldom above fifty paces wide; and sometimes the
+rocks extend to the water, scarcely leaving a narrow and dangerous
+path. My own camel fell, and also the one conveying the baggage.
+This is the first time that such an accident has occurred to me
+with these animals; and I ought to add, not to have the appearance
+of contradicting what I have elsewhere said, that any horse, or
+even mule, would have run considerable risk of stumbling over these
+slippery granite rocks. Before leaving Assuan, a fortune-teller
+came to my tent: being busy at the time, I ordered her away rather
+angrily. In her rage, she exclaimed that I should fall from my
+camel. I did not expect that her malediction would be so soon
+fulfilled. I had quite forgotten the circumstance; but my Arabs,
+shaking their heads, soon reminded me of it. My fall might have
+been serious, as such accidents with this animal generally are, if
+the creature had rolled immediately; but, the instant it stumbled,
+I leaped off, and escaped unhurt. Barley, sherangig, and cotton are
+the only productions I have observed this day: they are often
+mingled together, in patches, upon the same field. I observed the
+peasants breaking the sandstone and spreading it on the ground. The
+best way of seeing to advantage the scenery on the Nile is,
+certainly, to ride on its banks: in a boat the effect is lost. The
+finest view we have had<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_11">[11]</span> this morning, was in descending from the
+mountains opposite Tafey. The basalt and red but exteriorly
+dark-coloured granite, contrasted with the light red sand of the
+desert, similar rocks and sands in the distance, in the midst the
+serpentine river with its verdant banks, adorned with groves of
+palm trees and the interesting remains of temples, all illumined
+with the clearest blue sky and the most gorgeous sunset, formed
+often a scene to which few painters could do justice. Though not
+romantic nor strikingly picturesque, according to the original
+import of those terms, yet the extraordinary contrast and magical
+effect produced by this wonderful combination of brilliant colours,
+are magnificent, and present almost insuperable difficulties to the
+artist who attempts faithfully to delineate such a landscape. Three
+hours before arriving here, we passed the small village of Abaho,
+in which I counted nearly thirty houses. The inhabitants are
+evidently wretchedly poor; however, they enjoy the luxury of
+idleness. Very few seemed engaged in any occupation. One woman I
+observed spinning cotton and two or three busy about their domestic
+concerns; but the many were enjoying <em>il dolce fur niente</em>
+of the Italians. They were almost all miserably clad; the clothes
+of both sexes were in rags, the children naked, and girls from
+fourteen to sixteen, with beautiful forms, and extremely graceful
+and elegant in their movements, had merely a covering which
+extended from the waist to a little above the knee. This ceinture,
+or <em>rat</em>, as it is called in Arabic, is made of thin thongs
+of hippopotamus hide, and fancifully ornamented with beads and
+small shells. The number of thongs is so great, that it fully
+serves its purpose as a covering. They wear it till they are
+married; an event, however, which often takes place before they are
+twelve years of age.</p>
+
+<p><em>Dacker.—Feb.</em> 12. We left the village of Marwal at
+seven, and encamped here at sunset. Our route has this day, also,
+been alternately in the mountains and on the banks of
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> river. We observe
+the same poverty, the same sterility; villages of about a dozen
+houses each, constructed, in the rudest manner, of stones piled on
+each other. The cultivated land on the banks is never more than
+fifty paces wide, often not twenty, and in some parts the barren
+rocks extend to the river. We met, this morning, another troop of a
+cavalry regiment, returning by the desert from Khartoun. We shall,
+no doubt, meet traces of their passage,—dead camels, if not men.
+Some of their animals could scarcely crawl, and one of them dropped
+on the ground unable to proceed any farther. The master, a Turk,
+seemed very much concerned; but whether for the value of the beast,
+or real attachment to his fellow traveller, I will not decide; yet,
+in justice to his humanity, I must relate, that, when the Arabs
+wished to stab and cut it up for food, he refused his consent.
+Finding, however, that it was impossible the animal could proceed,
+or even live many hours, he ordered his servant to shoot it with
+his musket. This showed some feeling; for had he left it to die on
+the road, the Arabs would have killed it with their knives, and
+then could lawfully have eaten it. They were very much disappointed
+at being deprived of their repast, and considered it quite a waste
+of valuable food. We have passed the village and temple of Dandour
+(on the other bank), and are now encamped opposite the temple and
+village of Dacker.<a id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4"
+class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Adjoining is a Roman inclosure of large
+extent with towers, constructed of unburnt bricks. There are no
+traces of a temple within the inclosure; but contiguous to the
+south-east corner are some fragments of a room still adorned with
+hieroglyphics and sculpture, but too much defaced for us to
+discover the subject. The style is very wretched, and evidently
+Roman. Mountains of hornblende and sandstone.</p>
+
+<p><em>Wady el Elayat.—Feb.</em> 13. We quitted Dacker this
+morning,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> soon after
+sunrise, and have encamped this evening in a small valley near the
+river, and, as is generally the custom of the caravans, close to a
+village. There is not much provision to be procured from a Nubian
+village, frequently not even eggs and fowls. A half-starved sheep
+or kid may sometimes be purchased, but at a much higher price than
+in Upper Egypt. Yet there is no uniformity in the rates: you have a
+sheep one day for six piastres; and the next, perhaps at only
+thirty miles’ distance off, you must pay twelve, or even more, for
+one not larger. This arises, of course, from the poverty of the
+land, and the very little communication which exists between the
+different villages. My servants and camel-drivers like to chat with
+the women; and, perhaps, near the villages we are less annoyed by
+the wolves than we might be at a greater distance, the dogs of the
+peasants affording a certain protection, though I have often heard
+them snuffing around my tent. We have passed this morning the
+village of Uffidunia: the temple of that name is on the opposite
+side of the river. Our track has chiefly followed the banks of the
+Nile, but the views have not been very pleasing. The mountains
+consist chiefly of a soft sandstone, the surface of which is very
+much darkened by the sun. We have met another troop of the cavalry
+from Khartoun. The soldiers have all male or female slaves; some
+for their own service, others on speculation for the Cairo market.
+The women are almost entirely covered; sometimes I could
+distinguish a fine black eye glancing from under the coverings, but
+it is not considered decorous to notice them much. This etiquette,
+which still prevails so generally in the East, is the same ancient
+custom by which Themistocles profited to facilitate his escape to
+the Persian king. We are encamped at the borders of the province
+called Wady el Elayat.</p>
+
+<p><em>Sungar.—Feb.</em> 14. We have been eleven hours in the
+district of El Elayat. We left the small village at the
+commencement of the Wady this morning at seven, and encamped here
+at sunset.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> This is
+the last village of the Wady. We have suffered more from fatigue
+than before; the road, or rather path, having led for a long time
+over the hills. Immediately after starting, we left the valley of
+the Nile for an hour and a half. That part of the road was not very
+fatiguing. We passed Seboua at eleven, and at two P.M. left the
+Nile, and were obliged to alight from our camels and climb the
+mountain, for three hours, over the most difficult paths we have
+yet met with. A notion prevails in Europe, that camels are
+incapable of crossing rough mountainous and stony roads; I can only
+say that, upon this rocky, and sometimes steep path, none of our
+camels fell; had we used horses, the difficulty would certainly
+have been as great, particularly when heavy loads were upon their
+backs. I would not have ventured to ride over, even on a mule. The
+mountains are of sandstone, some also of hornblende. I sketched,
+this evening, a native of this district, my dragoman in the mean
+time keeping him in conversation till I finished my sketch, without
+his having any suspicion what I was doing. All the Nubians have a
+superstitious prejudice against having their portraits drawn. I
+made some enquiries about the village, its name, the number of
+houses, and of inhabitants, &amp;c. The poor peasants imagined I
+was employed by the Pasha to take an account of the country.
+Apprehensive that I should cause their taxes to be raised, they
+gave me a lamentable description of their poverty, saying that
+there were indeed eleven houses, but they were all tumbling to
+pieces; that they were miserably poor; had scarcely a rag to cover
+them; that their land did produce some little cotton and barley,
+but if I caused their taxes to be increased, they could not
+subsist, but must absolutely die of starvation. Man here may be
+said only to vegetate. He drags on, from day to day, a miserable
+existence, living on the coarsest food, and ignorant of any
+comfort. In examining, however, more closely, we find the peasants
+of Nubia possessing some great advantages over those of Lower and
+Upper Egypt. Their domestic comfort is decidedly greater.
+Their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> women, unlike
+those of Egypt, have always their faces uncovered, and enjoy in
+other respects much freedom; while that depravity as regards both
+sexes, which pervades the whole land of Egypt, is almost utterly
+unknown in these Nubian villages. They are also less oppressed;
+and, thanks to the poverty of their country, less annoyed by the
+presence of their rulers. Their predominant vice is drinking
+immoderately of bouza and arracki. There being only three mosques
+from the first to the second cataract, a distance of more than 220
+miles, and their almost total deficiency of religious instruction,
+are perhaps some excuse for their violating, in this respect, so
+openly, and to such an excess, the precepts of the Koran.</p>
+
+<p><em>Korosko.—Feb.</em> 15. We arrived at this village at ten
+o’clock. Here again commences a Nubian dialect, but different from
+the Kenous, above the first cataract. The district of Wady el
+Elayat, or Wady el Arabi, which we passed through yesterday, is the
+division between these two Nubian tribes. We have allowed our
+camels to rest this afternoon, previous to commencing to-morrow
+morning the fatigues, perils, and privations of the Great Desert:
+they are making the last hearty meal which they will enjoy for some
+time; the Ababdes are filling the water skins, while my servants
+are employed in foraging for provisions; no easy task in a Nubian
+village. Mr. B. has made me a view in colours of the extraordinary
+effect of the scenery in Nubia, produced by the wonderful contrast
+between the dark hills and the bright yellow sands, fringed with
+strips of the beautiful verdure on the banks of the river. The
+Governor, an Effendi, paid me a visit in my tent, and frankly asked
+me for several things which he saw, and fancied; which I as frankly
+refused. The visits of inferior Turks are always annoyances: it is
+very seldom that any information can be obtained from them, and
+their impertinence is without bounds. I was amused by his
+secretary, a Copt, who complained that he was affected by a pain in
+his chest when the weather was cold. I gave him some flannel, which
+I could ill spare, also some medicine; and, with<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> other advice, I told him most
+peremptorily that he must drink no arracki (spirit). This last
+injunction disconcerted him exceedingly; and his master laughed
+heartily at an advice which he knew to be so unwelcome to his
+jovial secretary. I told him it would kill him. “Well,” said he,
+“if it kills me, <em>maktoob min Allah!</em> it is written, but
+drink I must.” In the evening, he came to me again, half
+intoxicated. As I offered him no beverage, except coffee, he soon,
+with a cunning smile and an expressive nod, pulled out of his
+pocket a small bottle of excellent arracki and a little cup. I did
+not wish to offend the fellow, having occasion to leave some boxes
+in his charge until my return, and therefore endured his company
+for some time. At last, his intoxication increasing, he was quite
+insupportable, and I was obliged to desire my servant to turn him
+out. His good-humour did not forsake him, nor did he seem at all
+offended; coolly observing, that he was sorry I was tired of his
+company.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span><a id=
+"c02"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">COMMENCEMENT OF THE JOURNEY ACROSS THE GREAT NUBIAN
+DESERT. — DESCRIPTION OF THE CARAVAN. — ADVANTAGES OF TURKISH DRESS
+AND CUSTOMS. — PROVISIONS NECESSARY FOR THE DESERT. — AKABA, OR
+MOUNTAIN PASSES. — DEAD CAMELS. — FEAR OF ROBBERS. — ANXIETY ABOUT
+THE STOCK OF WATER. — ARAB OPINION OF TRAVELLERS. — ALARMING
+DIMINUTION OF OUR WATER. — DEAD BODIES OF SLAVES AND CAMELS. —
+HOJAB EL JENOUS. — BAB EL KOROSKO. — AGE OF THE CAMEL. — BAHR BELA
+MA, OR SEA WITHOUT WATER. — MERAGE. — PERILS AND CHARMS OF THE
+DESERT LIFE. — DILET EL DOOM, VALLEY OF THE SHADE OF THE DOOMS. —
+GOLD MINES. — OMRISHI SUFIR. — WELLS NOW DRY. — EL MURRAH, OR THE
+WELL OF BITTER WATERS. — HIEROGLYPHICS ON THE ROCKS. — COLONY OF
+BISHAREEN. — HEIGHT AND CHARACTER OF THE MOUNTAINS. — ARAB SONGS. —
+GAZELLE. — DANGER OF LEAVING CARAVAN. — ABSAH GOLD MINES. — STORMS
+IN THE DESERT. — CAMBYSES. — BRUCE. — ARAB MANNER OF MOUNTING THE
+CAMEL. — MANNER IN WHICH THE ARABS REPOSE. — ARRIVAL AT THE NILE. —
+ESTIMATE OF THE LENGTH OF THE ROUTE AND GENERAL PACE OF THE
+CAMEL.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><em><span class="sc">The</span> Great Nubian
+Desert.—Feb.</em> 16. This morning, at eight o’clock, we left
+Korosko, and entered the Desert. Having omitted until now giving a
+description of my caravan, I may mention, as useful to future
+travellers, the provisions and equipments which may be considered
+as necessary for a journey of this description. Both my artist,
+Signor B. and myself, wear the Turkish Nizam uniform. A traveller
+might, without much risk, retain his European dress; but it is most
+prudent and desirable to adopt the Turkish, as being the best
+suited, not only to the climate, but also to serve the important
+object of commanding respect. Those travellers who refuse this
+tribute to the customs of the country pay dear for their prejudice.
+If it does not expose them to frequent insult, they are at all
+events less esteemed by the natives; and they lose a decided
+advantage, in not having the comfort and<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_18">[18]</span> luxury of a dress so admirably suited to the
+climate and manners of the East. Our unnatural tight trousers,
+waistcoats, and coats, with their padding, braces, straps, starch,
+stiffners, and stocks, in a tropical country would be intolerable.
+Another advantage of this comfortable and graceful costume is, that
+it enables you to repose with ease in any position. To sit bolt
+upright, on a hard chair, in such a latitude as this, is what no
+one could endure, who had experienced the luxurious ease of the
+Turkish divan. The rest of my caravan consisted of a guide (Habeer)
+on his dromedary; a very picturesque-looking fellow. Besides the
+usual arms of the Arabs, the long spear, sword, and shield of the
+hippopotamus, he had also a brace of pistols attached to his
+saddle, which he took great pride in displaying. He was very
+independent, and conscious of the importance of his office, so that
+I was afraid at starting he would not have been so manageable as I
+afterwards found him. My dragoman, Mahomet Abdini, a native of
+Cairo, was the cleverest servant I ever knew in any country: his
+wily tongue and insinuating address were often of more service to
+me than my piastres. I had, besides, a Greek servant, named
+Ibrahim, alias Michele; a Mahometan with the Arabs and Turks, and a
+Christian with his own countrymen. He speaks Italian fluently, and
+also the Turkish, Greek, and Arabic. He is the musician of the
+party; and his singing, accompanied by his fiddle, is vastly
+agreeable to the natives, but, being in the harsh style of the
+modern Greeks, is grating to my ears. I had, besides, a Copt, who
+had served me long and usefully at Thebes, in the dignified station
+of umbrella-bearer. Including, therefore, our Ababdes, owners of
+the camels, the full complement of my little caravan amounts to
+twelve persons and eleven camels. My stock of provisions chiefly
+consists of a large sack of Cairo biscuit, and another of rice.
+Besides these two chief requisites, and also charcoal, I have a
+good supply of groceries, tea, sugar, coffee, and wax candles, and
+last, but most important, twenty geerbahs of water, which I expect
+will be amply sufficient for the<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_19">[19]</span> eight days of desert journey, though the
+Signor has forewarned me, most anxiously, more than fifty times,
+<em>che beve molto</em>. This is the desert in which Bruce and
+Burckhardt suffered so much. They took the easterly and more direct
+track, which commences at Deroueh, a little below Assuan, and
+therefore had a longer space to traverse, with, however, the
+advantage of meeting repeatedly with good water. At a quarter past
+six, P.M., we encamped. Our road this day has been through a
+succession of narrow valleys, called Akaba, or mountain passes, and
+small plains, bounded by low picturesque hills. The valleys are
+covered with sand, in some places two feet deep, but generally much
+less, and sometimes the bare rock is visible. Sandstone forms the
+base of the valley and of the hills. There are, however, some of
+slate, varying from 150 to 180 feet in height. I observed a great
+variety in their forms. We have already met with a few of the
+horrors of the desert, particularly numbers of dead camels, some of
+which had perished lately, and vultures were feeding on their
+carcases. They seem also to have attracted the hyænas from their
+dens, as I discerned on the sand numerous traces of those animals.
+Some of our water-skins, I am sorry to find, are bad. I marvel
+Signor B. did not perceive this at Korosko, as he took an active
+part in tying them up. The journey from Assuan has injured them,
+yet, with care, I hope to have a sufficient supply. This evening
+the camel men objected to pitching my tent, saying that they were
+afraid of robbers. I did not yield to their alarms, as sleeping in
+the open air is an Eastern custom which I am not much inclined to
+try at this season of the year. I cannot conceive a tent to be much
+additional attraction to Arab plunderers, if there are any; but the
+depredations upon the water, I fear, are by my own Ababdes, as
+their own supply is small. I have, therefore, caused all the
+geerbahs to be carried into my tent. If we run short, and have to
+suffer, it shall not be for want of precautions. While my camel men
+were thus occupied, one of them asked me why I was subjecting
+myself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> to the danger
+and fatigue of such a journey, when I was rich enough to stay at
+home. The Arabs are now not so much surprised at travellers going
+to Wady Halfah. So many make that journey, that it is no longer a
+novelty; besides that, the Cangias (boats of the Nile), though any
+thing but agreeable to Europeans, appear luxurious to the peasants.
+They can easily conceive the pleasure of sailing in what they
+consider delightful conveyances, listening to the songs of the
+boatmen, smoking all the day, and eating and drinking of the best
+the villages can afford; but that travellers should voluntarily
+expose themselves to the fatigues and heat of the desert,
+apparently for the sake of a few old stones, is to them quite
+incomprehensible.</p>
+
+<p><em>Desert.—Feb.</em> 17. A fearful accident has befallen us. To
+our utter dismay, four of our largest geerbahs are empty, the water
+having leaked out during the night. The skins are old, although the
+best we could procure at Assuan. The rest seem good: Heaven grant
+that they may prove so! the consequences of another such accident
+might be fatal. We have passed to-day the bodies of seven human
+beings who have doubtless recently perished from thirst and
+fatigue; we have seen also dead camels without number. We have
+travelled twelve hours through valleys of the same character as
+those we passed yesterday. Some of the hills might be from 230 to
+250 feet in height, but the greater number from 100 to 150 feet.
+Many, like those of yesterday, are isolated, and some standing in
+the centre of the valleys. They consist chiefly of slate, but some
+are of sandstone. They are called Hojab el Jenous, from there being
+several representations of buffaloes drawn on the rocks by some
+rude artists, probably Arabs. The valleys are almost entirely
+covered with sand, on which I found many round balls, of the form
+of peaches, of iron glance. At sunset we left the valleys, the last
+hills of which are rather higher than the others, and are called
+Bab el Korosko, or the Gate of Korosko, and encamped behind a small
+hill, at the commencement<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_21">[21]</span> of a large sandy plain, called Atmoor Bahr
+Bela Ma, that is, the sea without water. We have been twenty-two
+hours <em>en route</em> in these valleys, which I consider not less
+than sixty miles, from the rate we have travelled. The Ababdes
+occasionally sing to animate their camels. The effect in
+accelerating their speed is quite extraordinary. First one
+camel-driver sings a verse, then the others answer in chorus. It
+reminded me somewhat of the Venetian gondoliers.<a id=
+"FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> I
+noticed that they lingered near the bodies of the dead camels,
+being apparently more affected by them than by those of the slaves.
+The latter they perhaps knew not, while the camels were old
+acquaintances. I have often made attempts to learn the age which
+this animal usually attains, but have never been able fully to
+ascertain it. The general answer is, a hundred years. By examining
+and tracing the traditionary stories on the subject, I am led to
+conceive their span of life equal to that of man, and subject to
+similar frequent contingencies from different causes, such as
+extremes of heat and cold, excessive fatigue, and particularly the
+great neglect of the owners. This evening I have bestowed great
+pains on the preservation of the water, having suspended the
+suspicious geerbahs in my tent.</p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 18. We mounted our camels this morning at half
+past six, and have had an exceedingly fatiguing ride of thirteen
+hours, forty miles, without any repose, struggling through one
+immense down of sand. There were some small hills of sandstone,
+with occasional thin layers of gypsum. The sand was very fatiguing
+for the camels: on its surface I found disseminated many of the
+round balls of iron flint, or iron glance, varying from four to
+eight inches in circumference. Their exterior is often uneven. I
+found, also, some balls, hollow like the others, and occasionally
+two united together. These were silicious<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_22">[22]</span> conglomerates. I observed, also, numerous
+quartzose pebbles, and some fragments of white marble, the only
+specimens I have seen in this desert. The mountains are chiefly of
+slate. We have suffered very much from the fatigue of this day’s
+journey, and have still five days’ march through this waterless
+desert. The only object to interest me, and relieve the weariness
+of mind and body, has been the merage, so often described. Some
+travellers state that this phenomenon has deceived them repeatedly.
+This I am surprised at, since its peculiar appearance, joined to
+its occurrence in a desert where the traveller is too forcibly
+impressed with the recollection that no lakes or standing pools
+exist, would appear to me to prevent the possibility, that he who
+has once seen it can be a second time deceived. Still this does not
+diminish the beauty of the phenomenon:—to see amidst burning sands
+and barren hills an apparently beautiful lake, perfectly calm, and
+unruffled by any breeze, reflecting in its bosom the surrounding
+rocks, is, indeed, an interesting and wonderful spectacle; but it
+is a tantalising sight to the Arabs traversing the desert on foot,
+always with a scanty supply of water, and often, owing to their
+great imprudence, wholly destitute of it. There is much of the
+sublime to elevate, and of real danger to excite the mind, in the
+passage of the Desert: the boundless plains of sand, the thought of
+the distance from the habitations of man, and from the most common
+necessaries of life, the perpetual apprehension of falling short of
+water, and the certainty, that whoever, from fatigue or illness, is
+unable to keep pace with the caravan, will at once, with a camel
+and his share of the provision, be abandoned to his fate. And what
+a fate! Few left in this manner ever reach their destination. My
+Ababdes seem, also, to have a great fear of the Bishareen, who
+occasionally plunder the caravans. These alarms produce a certain
+excitement, which calls forth all the energy of the traveller: but
+were these dangers tenfold greater than they really are, the
+thought that I am<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>
+approaching nearer and nearer to Meroe would sufficiently animate
+my courage.</p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 19. We mounted our camels this morning at six, and
+at eleven we left the Bahr Bela Ma, which we had been eighteen
+hours in crossing (fifty-four miles). Our road began to wind
+amongst the mountains. The first valley we passed was of
+considerable breadth, and contained great numbers of doom and
+acacia trees. The former were not very large, bearing no fruit, and
+apparently drooping for want of water. In this valley, which is
+called Dilet el Doom, or Valley of the Shade of the Dooms, I
+observed traces of torrents. Three hours to the east of it, I am
+informed that there are appearances of exhausted gold mines, of the
+habitations of the miners, and the stones used by them in procuring
+the precious metal. The Arabs informed me that the rain falls here
+chiefly at the rising of the Nile, but that last year there was
+none, otherwise we should have seen herbage on the hills;—that
+twenty-four hours is sufficient to produce it. This valley has the
+appearance of having once been cultivated; but I could discover no
+remaining trace of habitations. They tell me that the Bishareen,
+when there is pasture on the hills, lead here their flocks, and
+pitch their tents in this pretty valley. Perhaps, when Ethiopia was
+more populous, and before the gold mines were exhausted, this road
+was much frequented; and probably, by sinking wells (for I feel
+persuaded that water might be found in these valleys), and by
+forming small colonies at suitable stations, a safe and rapid
+communication may have existed between the centre and extremity of
+the kingdom. A short distance out of the direct road is a well
+called Omrisha, now dry, but which contains water during the rainy
+season. About an hour and a half beyond this is another well,
+called Sufir, now also dry. The mountains consist generally of
+flinty slate, some few of sandstone. Their forms are broken, and
+very picturesque. At two o’clock we passed through a chain of
+hills, by a road which has evidently<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_24">[24]</span> been artificially formed. This is another
+proof that pains have been taken by a more civilised people to
+diminish the difficulties of travelling in this region. At four
+P.M. we entered the valley of the spring called El Murrah, or the
+Well of Bitter Waters, the only one in the Desert that is not now
+dry; we encamped for the night, that our camels might have time to
+drink, and our men to repose. On one of the rocks of the valley of
+the spring are some hieroglyphics. I distinguished the name of the
+god Horus, and the hawk, the emblem of that divinity. There are
+four wells within a few feet of each other, all exceedingly salt,
+and considered by the Arab merchants and Turks as very unwholesome.
+One, however, is much better than the others. The Arabs and camels
+drink of this, and we have filled some of our water-skins, in case
+the stock from the Nile should not be sufficient; otherwise we
+shall not use it, as it is extremely salt, and strongly impregnated
+with iron. One of my servants, not content with his allowance of
+the water of the Nile, drank a large cup of it, which caused nausea
+and severe purging for some time afterwards. It has not the same
+effect on the Ababdes, who apparently enjoy it as much as their
+camels. There are six families of Bishareen stationed here, who
+attend to cleaning the wells from sand. The Pasha placed them in
+this valley, but gives them no allowance. They possess camels, with
+which they trade, and supply the merchants who need these animals.
+All the caravans give them a trifle. They live in tents made of
+mats; and their wild appearance, extraordinary head-dress, yet fine
+features, quite accord with our idea of dwellers in the desert. The
+nauseous salt water is their only beverage, but does not seem to
+disagree with them. I never beheld a more sad picture of savagery
+and desolation than their encampment. The Arab tribes, even the
+most remote, cannot be called savages, since they speak one of the
+richest and most beautiful languages in the world, and many of them
+are versed in the Koran; but the harsh and uncouth gibberish of
+these wild Bishareen is only intelligible<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_25">[25]</span> to themselves. They inhabit tracts of
+country, where Nature seems almost to deny them a subsistence; and
+not even the terror of the Pasha’s vengeance can restrain their
+predatory propensities. A European must have powerful protection
+from their own chiefs to venture into their inhospitable wilds. The
+traveller who has little of novelty to interest his attention in
+the dreary desert cannot readily dispel the gloomy impression
+forced on his mind by contemplating man in this his lowest
+condition. When he reflects on the abject state of these naked
+Bishareen, their ignorance of religious principles, of all
+intellectual and civilised enjoyments, the scanty and precarious
+means by which their life is supported: a dish of coarse unground
+dourah, moistened by water of the most disgusting quality; a
+miserable tent their only shelter from the tropical sun, and from
+the nightly cold, so bitter in these regions, and so painful from
+its contrast with the mid-day heat: he is astonished at the
+physical phenomenon, that the constitution of man can endure so
+much privation; and he cannot but admire the mysteries of
+Providence, when he sees a human being of like capacities and
+passions with himself content and happy in a state so slightly
+removed from the condition of the brute.</p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 20. This morning, at six, we left the Bishareen
+quite in joyance at having received a trifle more than the
+customary gift of a few piasters, and delighted with the privilege
+of scrambling for a few pieces of broken glass, which had been
+thrown out of my tent. I should state that last night, and also for
+two hours before we set out this morning, they had stationed
+themselves close to our encampment, like wild animals seeking their
+prey. Three quarters of an hour after our departure from the well,
+we left the mountains, and our road then lay over an immense plain
+of sand, sometimes very difficult for the camels to wade through,
+but generally not very soft, and indeed, occasionally quite hard.
+This plain, which is ten hours, or thirty miles,<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> in extent, is almost entirely
+surrounded by hills. The width varies from about ten to fifteen
+miles. At five P.M. we again entered into the mountains, and waded
+through several narrow valleys, containing acacia trees. At six,
+that is, after twelve hours’ ride, we encamped. The mountains,
+called Cab el Kofas, or the Spilling of the baskets, particularly
+one about 400 feet high, at the entrance of this chain, are very
+picturesque. The effect of a tropical sunset upon them was
+magnificent. Their general height was about 200 feet, and some were
+of less altitude. Their form was generally a long continuous chain,
+with peaks of various forms. I observed some in the distance
+totally isolated, and having the appearance of pyramids. We should
+not have passed this plain so rapidly but for the common custom of
+the Arabs, before mentioned, of urging on their camels by singing:
+the effect is very extraordinary; this musical excitement increases
+their pace at least one fourth. I often asked the camel drivers to
+sing, not only to hasten our progress, but also for the pleasure of
+hearing their simple melodies. Some of their best songs possess a
+plaintive sweetness that is almost as touching as the most
+exquisite European airs. The words are often beautiful, generally
+simple and natural, being improvisatory effusions. The following is
+a very imperfect specimen. One takes up the song:—“Ah, when shall I
+see my family again; the rain has fallen, and made a canal between
+me and my home. Oh, shall I never see it more?” The reply to this
+and similar verses was always made by the chorus, in words such as
+these:—“Oh, what pleasure, what delight, to see my family again;
+when I see my father, mother, brothers, sisters, I will hoist a
+flag on the head of my camel for joy!” I asked a fine, handsome
+lad, who was singing this <em>ranz des vaches</em> of the desert
+with the feeling of a Swiss, if he would go with me to England, to
+my village. He asked me how long I had been absent; I told him
+three years. “No,” said he, “I cannot go with you; if I were to be
+absent from my family three years, I<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_27">[27]</span> should be very unhappy—I should be ill.” Near
+the place where we are encamped is another well, now dry.</p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 21. We set out this morning at seven, and
+proceeded through defiles in the mountains, which at eleven we
+quitted. The valleys we passed through, for the first four hours,
+were strewed with quartz, a common kind of porphyry, and fragments
+of indurated clay slate, approaching to rubbarid jasper. The
+mountains were chiefly of flinty slate and hornblende. There are a
+few acacia trees in the valley, and here and there dried up grass.
+Among the latter we started a gazelle, which Mr. B. and I pursued
+round an isolated hill at the entrance of a large plain. We could
+scarcely have lost ourselves, particularly as I had a compass in my
+pocket; but, on our rejoining the caravan, the Habeer warned us not
+to leave it again, and told us many instances of Turks and others
+having been lost by following the gazelles into the mountains. A
+Nazr and Katshef perished, very recently, by their imprudent
+eagerness in chasing the animals through their winding valleys.
+Some time afterwards, a particular search having been made, they
+were found dead a considerable distance from the road, their hands
+clenched, apparently in the last agonies of that most horrid of
+deaths, which is produced by thirst. This creature might have been
+fancied our evil genius in the guise of a gazelle, tempting us to
+destruction; for, scarcely did we come within sight of the graceful
+coquette, than she bounded off, and, after a short career, stopped
+again.</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent6"><span class=
+"linethrough word-spaced2em">&nbsp;</span>“Lasciva puella:</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit antè
+videri.”—<em>Buc.</em> iii.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nind">She continued to lead us on in this wanton manner,
+until we were aware that we had wandered from the road further than
+was prudent. At last, she ran towards some narrow defiles; but we
+did not allow our ardour for the chase to carry us further.
+Although conscious we were in the direction the caravan must take,
+we did<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> not see it for
+some time, and felt a strange inquietude on finding ourselves
+alone, destitute, and helpless, in the midst of this immense
+desert. I fired my gun, and, the signal being answered, our
+uneasiness was relieved. Towards the end of this chain of hills,
+about two hours’ journey east of the direct road, is a place called
+Absah, where there are traces of gold mines, and, as at the one at
+the same distance from the valley of the dooms, numerous remains of
+habitations, but apparently not very ancient. The stones with which
+they were worked remain, and there are wells now dry. The Arabs
+keep them a great secret, and will take no traveller to visit them,
+unless he has a particular order from the Pasha, and is protected
+by one of their chiefs. M. Bonomi, who enjoyed these advantages,
+will, I hope, soon give us an account of them. The result, I
+believe, of his investigation was, that they are now so exhausted,
+that they would not repay the labour of working. At eleven we
+entered a large sandy plain, and at four P.M. we passed some hills
+of a pyramidal shape. They are of syenite, and their formation is
+similar to the round granite rocks of the First Cataract. They are
+called El Talati Greibat—the Three Greibat—from their being at a
+distance apparently only three. They extend considerably towards
+the east; but some of them are so low as to be nearly covered with
+the sand. North-east of these I observed some hills of the same
+conical form, called Adaramat; but I was at too great a distance
+from them to perceive whether they were of granite. After eleven
+hours’ ride, we encamped in the plain at six. The wind is very
+high; I am almost afraid of my tent being carried away. For several
+days I have been on the look out, thinking it possible that on
+these light sandy plains I might see some of Bruce’s pillars of
+moving sand; but I have not been favoured with the view of any such
+<em>stalking</em> prodigy; and I must declare that, notwithstanding
+the numerous deserts I have crossed, at different seasons, always
+making particular enquiries on the subject, I have neither seen nor
+heard of such as he describes.<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_29">[29]</span> The wandering Arabs tell the women, children,
+and peasants of the Nile fearful stories of the whirlpool of the
+desert, and the terrible simoom; but such tales, embellished by an
+Oriental imagination, will rarely bear investigation. From what I
+have been able to ascertain, there are certain gusts of wind which
+occasionally sweep over these deserts, with clouds of sand, which
+prevent your distinguishing any object at all distant; but these
+are not very dangerous to caravans, except in those tracts where
+there are immense hills or accumulations of light sand, such as I
+have seen near the Oasis Magna, in the Libyan desert. The custom of
+caravans, when they have the misfortune to meet with such blasts,
+is to pitch their tents and shelter themselves within them.
+Whatever may be the quantity of sand, they are always safe if they
+can reach the summit, or place themselves under covert of a hill. I
+will mention here an instance of this kind, which, in returning
+from my first voyage up the Nile to the Second Cataract, along with
+Mr. Ponsonby, he and I witnessed, on the 14th of April, 1832. We
+were on the point of going that evening to the Isle of Elephantina,
+when a violent storm, which, considering the season, though rather
+too early, I might almost call Khampseen, came on. The whole day
+had been unusually hazy, the air thick and exceedingly oppressive.
+The extreme heat of the thermometer was 86° in the shade; at
+sunrise, 70°; sunset, 74°: 86° was a few degrees higher than we
+experienced it several days previous and after; and I may also
+remark, that the day following, the thermometer did not rise above
+79°. About five o’clock, an immense cloud of sand came sweeping
+along with a wind so violent, that a boat which was crossing the
+river to the island was driven back, and the air became so turbid
+and impregnated with sand, that it was impossible to distinguish
+any object ten yards from the bank of the river. We heard the
+peasants in the fields, seemingly wild with confusion and alarm,
+calling aloud to each other and for their children; and when the
+sand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> enveloped them
+from our sight, we still heard their cries. A scene so strange and
+impressive I shall never forget. The gale blew almost directly from
+the west, and seemed to be a specimen of those which have
+successively swept before them the hills of light loose sand,
+which, as the Egyptian traveller will recollect, have completely
+smothered the cultivated land on the western bank of the river
+opposite Assuan. We endeavoured to shelter ourselves from it as
+well as the old windows of our cangia would permit; but the sand
+penetrated every where, into my bed, arms, instruments, and linen;
+and even my watch was affected. I felt it in my eyes and between my
+teeth. I then made the reflection, how awful it would be to
+encounter such a simoom in the desert. It was by such a storm that
+the army of Cambyses is supposed to have been overwhelmed, as Dr.
+Darwin in his “Botanic Garden” most graphically describes it:—</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent0">Wave over wave the driving desert
+swims,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">Bursts o’er their heads, inhumes their
+struggling limbs,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">And one great earthly ocean covers
+all:</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">Then ceased the storm—Night bow’d his
+Æthiop brow</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">To earth, and listen’d to the groans
+below.</div>
+
+<div class="line indent8"><span class=
+"linethrough word-spaced3em">&nbsp;</span>Awhile the living
+hill</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">Heaved with convulsive throes, and all
+was still.<a id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class=
+"fnanchor">[6]</a></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nind">In mentioning that I have never heard of nor seen
+these sandy or meteoric pillars, which is the more remarkable since
+Bruce says he observed them day after day, I do not mean to affirm
+that he could not have seen that extraordinary phenomenon in this
+very desert. That adventurous and intrepid traveller has been
+already too much calumniated. I merely state that my own
+experience, and the numerous enquiries I have made, lead to the
+conclusion, that such phenomena are now unknown: it must, however,
+be recollected, that Bruce crossed this desert more in the
+interior. Those who have most strongly condemned Bruce for his
+occasional exaggerations and embellishments (into which he
+certainly fell),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> have
+forgotten that few other travellers have ever brought to their
+country so large a mass of fresh, interesting, valuable, and
+correct information. Salt, his most severe critic, in speaking of
+his drawings of the ruins of Axum, asserts that he was no
+draftsman; yet he contradicts himself in a variety of other
+instances, where he confirms the accuracy of Bruce’s delineations
+of plants and birds, which are more difficult to execute than an
+obelisk without hieroglyphics. Mr. B. is most to blame for not
+acknowledging sufficiently the services of his Italian artist. Many
+of his tales, marvellous as they at first appeared, have proved to
+be correct. There was a time in England, when, if a traveller
+mentioned any fact that was contrary to preconceived ideas, he was
+accused of error, and often, notwithstanding his previous character
+of honour and integrity, of wilful exaggeration, and even
+misrepresentation. Now, however, the mass of well-educated and
+scientific men have more liberal ideas, and, being anxious for
+information, are pleased to see the errors of earlier travellers
+corrected, and endeavour, with philosophical discrimination, to
+bestow on each the credit which is due to him.</p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 22. My dromedary was on his knees at seven this
+morning. The Arab mounts his camel, by pulling down his head,
+placing his knee on its neck, and allowing the animal to raise him
+on its back. The first time I attempted to ascend a dromedary in
+this style, was on my route from the Oasis Magna; and I paid the
+penalty of my inexperience. I had pushed on in advance of my
+caravan nearly a couple of miles, when I had occasion to alight to
+adjust my saddle. Not doubting that I could mount with true Arab
+agility, I made the attempt; but deeming it necessary to spring
+with the return of the animal’s neck, our united force pitched me
+clear over its tail, leaving me sprawling on the sand,—a lesson to
+all too aspiring riders. The dromedary ran back at full speed to
+the caravan. For eleven hours before reaching any hills, except a
+small one called Faroot, we traversed an immense down, the full
+extent of which, from the<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_32">[32]</span> hills called El Talati Greibat, to the
+smaller ones called Mogram, could not be less than forty miles,
+without any perceptible alteration in its level. It consists of
+sand, on which was disseminated a great variety of quartz
+fragments, principally of a deep red colour, and from a half to
+three inches in length. I observed, also, on the plain, numerous
+detached pieces of mica, and some curious specimens of granite. We
+passed at six P.M. the small range of mountains called Mogram,
+which are of flinty slate; and about two hours afterwards we
+encamped, after thirteen hours’ ride, in another plain. To-morrow
+morning we expect to arrive at the valley of the Nile. I look
+forward to that event with great pleasure. My servants are
+exhausted by the bodily fatigue for so many hours each day, the
+short allowance of water, the cold at night, sleeping in the open
+air, and other privations which they are obliged to submit to; and
+Signor B. begins to bear with impatience the want of his soup, the
+provident regulations of the desert not permitting our precious
+water to be employed for that purpose. For two days the wind has
+been high, and we have not been able to use our umbrellas as a
+protection from the scorching rays of an almost vertical sun. Our
+camels, also, have suffered from the thirteen days’ fatigue. We
+were obliged to leave one at El Murrah with the Bishareen, being
+unable to continue the journey. I observed, also, this afternoon,
+that my Ababdes seemed more than usually tired. Their manner of
+resting is peculiar. They walk on a short distance in advance of
+the caravan, choose a flat part of the desert, if possible, shaded
+by a rock, and extend themselves at full length flat on their
+backs, stretching out their arms and legs. This mode of reposing
+for a few minutes I have found to be very refreshing.</p>
+
+<p><em>Arrival at the Nile. Village of Abouhammed.—Feb.</em> 23. We
+left this morning at seven, and reached the banks of the Nile in
+five hours. There is no apparent descent from the desert. Our
+fatigues and sufferings were all forgotten, and every one seemed to
+bless his stars, and think it luxury to quaff again<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> the delicious waters of this
+most noble of streams, uncontaminated by the taste of the geerbah
+skins, and no longer confined to the scanty allowance of the
+caravan. The Ababdes have found here many relations and friends,
+and there seems to be no end to salamats and taip eens, to shaking
+of hands and embracing. At their request I have consented that the
+remainder of the day shall be devoted to repose and festivity. My
+servants have killed the fattest sheep they could find; part of
+which, and a small backsheesh (present of money), I have given to
+the Ababdes to complete their happiness. They are already at work,
+drinking the bouza; and I observe that some pretty Berber women
+with their jests and charms are increasing their hilarity. We have
+been eighty-six hours in this route:—</p>
+
+<table class="tabw35" id="t033">
+<tr>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th>Miles.</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang2">33 hours in the valleys, at 2¾ miles per
+hour</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot">91¾</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang2">53 hours on the plains, which I calculate
+at 3 miles per hour</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">159</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">This agrees very satisfactorily with the
+known difference of latitude.<a id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> (See the <a href=
+"#map">Map.</a>)</td>
+<td class="bbdb bt tdr-bot pad-right1">250</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span><a id=
+"c03"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">ABOU-HAMMED. — FORTIFIED HOUSE OF THE SHEAKH. —
+ISLAND OF MOGRAT. — POPULATION. — TAX TO THE PASHA. — TROPICAL
+RAINS. — ARAB RAFT. — FORTUNATE ESCAPE. — MANNER IN WHICH THE
+CAMELS PASS THE RIVER. — GAGI. — DESCRIPTION OF THE HAREM OF A
+SHEAKH. — OFFICE HEREDITARY. — HABITATION OF A SHEAKH. — ETHIOPIAN
+FLIES. — DOUM TREES. — ABOU-HASHIM AND OTHER VILLAGES. —
+CULTIVATION. — ARAB CIVILITIES. — BERBER SHEEP AND GOATS. —
+VILLAGES AND ISLANDS. — ARAB BURIAL-GROUND. — GENERAL CHARACTER OF
+THE COUNTRY. — TRACT OF DESERT. — WILD ASSES. — FIFTH CATARACT. —
+PRESENT STATE OF NUMEROUS VILLAGES. — ARRIVAL AT MAKKARIF, CAPITAL
+OF BERBER.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">This</span> part of the valley of
+the Nile is not very pleasing or fertile, the eastern bank being
+almost entirely swallowed by the desert. The village is called
+Abou-Hammed; and consists of a few houses, or rather wretched huts,
+built of mud and straw. The fortified house of Sheakh Halif is
+almost as large as the village itself: since his death it has not
+been occupied. It consists of a large quadrangular brick enclosure,
+with a circular tower at each corner. In the centre is a building
+of one story, in which are the divans and sleeping-room of the
+Sheakh. Along the enclosing walls are innumerable little huts,—the
+apartments of his wives and concubines, the latter of whom are said
+to have at one time amounted to no fewer than sixty. Opposite to
+this village is the Island of Mograt, which is principally
+remarkable for numerous fine doum trees, profusely scattered upon
+it. The Sheakh of this district paid me a visit, and informed me
+that it contained, chiefly residing on the island, twenty-five
+families; which, he said, probably consisted of 300 individuals. I
+remarked, that this was allowing a very great proportion for each
+family; but he replied, that one family consists sometimes of forty
+persons; a fact only to be accounted for by the polygamic
+privileges of the Mahometans.<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_35">[35]</span> I am told that the district contains forty
+sakkeas, which confirms this estimate of the population, as seven
+or eight persons may always be reckoned to a wheel. The peasants of
+the island informed me that they pay twelve dollars and two ardebs
+of wheat as a tax for each sakkea. I searched over the eastern side
+of this island for antiquities; but without success, except a small
+fragment of a wall of unburnt bricks, apparently Saracenic. I
+neither found nor heard of any vestiges of its ancient rulers. The
+island is very rocky; I observed some of hornblende slate, and
+granite, with disseminated fragments of quartz, and beautiful
+specimens of Egyptian jasper. The Sheakh complained of its being
+rocky and not very fertile: “We toil hard,” said he, “but earn
+little:” yet this part of the valley of the Nile seems very
+healthy. The malaria which, higher up, after the time of the
+inundation, causes so much sickness and mortality, is here unknown.
+The tropical rains sometimes extend lower than this place, but not
+regularly: for three years rain has been entirely wanting, and the
+peasants complain of not having herbage in the valleys for their
+camels. I crossed the river to the Island of Mograt, on a raft or
+boat of the rudest description,—three logs of wood lashed together,
+with sides and square ends constructed in the same primitive
+manner. Perceiving that the natives passed in these safely, I did
+not hesitate to trust myself upon one. A peasant, with a clumsily
+constructed paddle, impelled and guided the raft; another holding
+up with one hand part of his dress, as a protection against the
+wind, while with the other he was employed in baling out the water.
+The servant I had with me was similarly engaged. Before we entered
+the raft it was one third full of water, which was immediately
+doubled by our additional weight. I did not, however, allow them to
+bale out much, as I perceived there was less danger of our being
+swamped than upset by the violence of the wind, and was therefore
+glad of the water for ballast. I sat at one end, not uselessly
+employed; for, as the raft seemed often inclined<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> to turn over on one side or the
+other alternately, I kept it balanced by throwing my weight
+accordingly. I asked my Charon if they were often upset? “Yes,”
+said he, “repeatedly; but we are unembarrassed with clothes, and
+can swim to shore;” at the same time eyeing rather superciliously
+my wide Turkish trousers, which, had any accident occurred, would
+as infallibly have carried me to the bottom as if a millstone had
+been tied around my neck. In fact, my worthy friend, Charon, on his
+return to the island, after bringing me back, was upset, and saved
+his life by his dexterity in swimming. I scarcely had time to smoke
+a shibouk, when my servant came running in to give me this
+intelligence, and congratulate me on my escape; but as these Arabs,
+like crocodiles, swim nearly as easily as they walk, no danger was
+apprehended. I observed to-day the curious manner they transport
+the camels to the island. The men fill a large geerbah
+(water-skin), with air, on which they place themselves, and paddle
+across, leading the animals by a cord, and encouraging them to swim
+by their songs.</p>
+
+<p><em>Gagi.—Feb.</em> 24. We set out this morning at eight, and
+encamped at the village of Gagi at five,—nine hours. Here, and in
+the island of the same name adjoining, they number fifty men, all
+of the Ababde tribe. In the island are six sakkeas, for each of
+which they pay to the government fourteen dollars and two ardebs of
+wheat. We are encamped, as usual, near the house of the sheakh. I
+walked into his harem without ceremony, and chatted with his wives
+and female slaves. Some of them were very beautifully formed; and
+being almost naked, they displayed finely shaped busts, and, I may
+say, almost perfect symmetry of shape; their features very regular,
+and their full dark eyes exceedingly expressive. The little drapery
+worn by them is adjusted with great taste, and they possess a
+natural ease of manner, neither bashful nor yet too forward, which
+is very engaging. The slaves were employed in making basket-work,
+and the wives reposing on their angareebs. I could not, in Egypt,
+have taken the liberty of entering<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_37">[37]</span> a harem in this manner; but here, apparently,
+more freedom is permitted, for they did not seem at all offended;
+on the contrary, they gave me as much encouragement as I could
+desire. They examined my arms and dress, and were profuse in their
+admiration of my beard, and in exclamations, as, “Odjaib, whallah!
+wonderful, God is great! but he is a tall man.” The sheakh was
+smoking under the shade of some doum trees. He saw me enter, but
+had the politeness not to interfere. The title of sheakh was at one
+time always hereditary in Upper Egypt; but the Pasha, in most
+instances, put an end to this mode of transmission; choosing for
+that honour those that had best suited his purposes. In Upper
+Nubia, he has respected a little more the existing distinctions.
+There the office of sheakh is still in general hereditary: the
+eldest son succeeds to the father; and, in default of male issue,
+the eldest daughter enjoys the dignity. On account of the number of
+their wives, it rarely occurs that they have no son; but I am told
+there is an instance now, near Dongolah, of a female sheakh. I have
+described the fortified house of a great sheakh: that of one less
+powerful and wealthy consists, generally, of two large rooms, a
+divan and harem, between which is a pallisaded enclosure, where the
+flocks are kept. (See <a href="#i01">Vignette,</a> p. 1.) The
+sheakhs offer us every night angoureebs<a id=
+"FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+(bedsteads) made of wood and cords, but we are now so accustomed to
+sleeping on the ground that we no longer feel it a hardship. On
+this evening, and also that of yesterday, we have been annoyed by
+swarms of very small flies, like midges, which draw blood most
+copiously from our hands, but without leaving much painful
+irritation.<a id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class=
+"fnanchor">[9]</a> From Abou-Hammed to this village our route has
+always been through the desert, sometimes<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_38">[38]</span> 300 paces only, but often as much as three
+miles from the river. The banks are covered with doums and acacias;
+the fruit of the former is very well flavoured, tasting like good
+gingerbread, but the rind is very hard, and the little that is
+eatable is so difficult to get at, that it is really not worth the
+trouble. This tree has rarely, if ever, branches springing up from
+the root, like the palm tree. The small round and full yellow
+flower of the acacias emits a most delightful odour. The size of
+these trees is here very great, compared to those we see in Europe.
+The first two hours this morning I noticed porphyry rocks appearing
+above the sand, and fragments of the same disseminated; afterwards
+hornblende rock. Near here the rocks are of quartz.</p>
+
+<p><em>Abou-Hashim.—Feb.</em> 25. We left Gagi this morning at
+seven, and encamped here at half past three P.M.—eight hours and a
+half. At half past ten we passed the village of Atmoon, situated on
+the opposite side of the river. It is inhabited entirely by
+Berbers. There are eleven sakkeas there. I am told that there are
+generally seven persons, including children, employed at each. At
+this village, and in the Island of Mero opposite, are twenty-three
+sakkeas, which pay ten dollars 150 piastres, and four ardebs of
+dourah each, equal to 210 piastres. Cailliaud has marked two
+islands, one Meri, the other Mero; but there is, in fact, only one,
+called Mero. The Island of Kourgos, we slept opposite to last
+night, extended until ten A.M. At half past ten we passed an
+isolated mountain, three miles on our left. During the greater part
+of the day we have passed over sandy flat plains; rocks of coarse
+granite, hornblende, and gneiss occasionally appearing above the
+surface, and fragments of the same and of quartz being also
+disseminated. I also remarked rocks and fragments of sandstone much
+charged with iron. At twelve we visited, close to the river, the
+ruins of a Saracenic castle of crude, that is, unbaked, bricks. The
+Arabs, by their description, had led us to expect antiquities. Our
+track this day has generally been a mile and a<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_39">[39]</span> half distant from the river. (For the
+bearings, see the <a href="#map">Map.</a>) Shortly before arriving
+here, we observed fields of dourah; otherwise the banks of this
+side of the river are generally uncultivated, but covered with doum
+and large acacia trees. The productive land seems to be in the
+islands. The inhabitants of this village are mixed, there being
+some families of Ababdes, but the greater number Berbers. We always
+go to the house of the sheakh, who meets us with the usual Arab
+civilities, and gives us his hand, welcoming us as Mahometans,
+<em>Salam Aleycam</em>, and supplying us with sheep and milk. Some
+of these sheakhs have an air and bearing truly dignified and
+patriarchal. Their flocks of goats and sheep form their chief
+ostensible wealth: the sheep are small, and the wool worth very
+little, being so coarse as almost to resemble hair. Their colour is
+beautifully variegated, generally white and black, but in some
+cases white and brown. The mutton, though too young, is good, and
+the goats’ milk the best I ever tasted. We found, near the river,
+this morning, numerous shells of the genus Etheria, almost
+resembling the Ostrea.<a id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p><em>Feb.</em> 26. We left Abou-Hashim this morning at seven, and
+encamped at five P.M. At half past eleven we passed El Bagahra, and
+at half past one Neddi, the former a large, the latter a small,
+village. We passed also the small island of Essabeas, where there
+are four sakkeas; this island begins at Bagahra, and terminates
+opposite Neddi. Our route, all day, has been at a short distance
+from the river, over the same kind of downs and plains,
+covered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> with the doum
+and acacia trees. Near the villages I observed barley and cotton,
+but no dourah; the produce of the island, I am informed, is the
+same. These villages are entirely inhabited by the Berbers. We have
+passed no hills to-day, but I observed continually points of
+hornblende slate and coarse granite appearing above the sand. I
+have also been surprised to observe to-day, <em>in the desert</em>,
+great numbers of the same shells. We have passed, during these last
+three days, several burying-places of the Arabs. They consist of
+earthen or sandy mounds, half a foot high; the length and breadth,
+of course, depend on the size of the body. At each end of the mound
+is a piece of black slate rock, about a foot high, and along the
+centre is a narrow gutter, which is filled with loose little
+pebbles, and, what is singular, these are always of the same
+colour. Sometimes they consist of small pieces of yellow, and
+sometimes of white, quartz; and, occasionally, I observed them of
+the shells above mentioned. Considerable pains is evidently taken
+to choose these stones of exactly the same colour and description,
+and also generally of the same dimensions. The effect is very
+pleasing. The slabs at each end reminded me of the simple
+gravestones in our country churches: the recollection was
+interesting; but they could not stand the comparison; for where,
+indeed, in the wide world, is there any scene to be compared with
+the tranquil beauty of our village churches, diffusing a peaceful
+charm over the rural landscape of rich enclosures, snug parsonage,
+and baronial demesnes, peculiar to England. Here is but a dreary
+wilderness: nature stern and desolate; man nearly in the state of
+the savage. In this part of the valley the breadth of the Nile is
+generally about one third of a mile; but it varies exceedingly,
+being sometimes a whole mile, and occasionally not much above a
+quarter. The foliage on its banks renders it not unpleasing to the
+eye, particularly as contrasted with the adjoining deserts. The
+flatness of the country prevents its being picturesque, except in
+some parts, where rocks and little islands in the bed of the river
+break the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> monotony of
+the landscape. This evening we are encamped, not, as usual, near a
+village, but on the banks of the Nile, previous to passing a small
+tract of desert.</p>
+
+<p><em>Granata.—Feb.</em> 27. We commenced our sandy route this
+morning at half-past six, and my caravan arrived at this village at
+half-past six P.M. Mr. B. and myself were only nine hours. Having
+pushed on our dromedaries, we crossed the small desert, before the
+fifth cataract, in six hours. This desert is sandy, with quartz and
+flinty slate disseminated. We saw, for the first time, three wild
+asses, which had been browsing among the acacias near the Nile.
+There are great numbers of them in the country, but the peasants
+very seldom succeed in catching or destroying them. A mixed breed
+is sometimes seen in the villages. From the description of the
+Arabs, I conceive that the zebra, also, exists in these deserts.
+The wild ass seems larger than the common one; but we were at too
+great a distance to observe them particularly. The peasants seldom
+chase them, but with a good horse it is not very
+difficult.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> The reader
+will recollect the beautiful and accurate description in Job, chap.
+xxxix.<a id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class=
+"fnanchor">[11]</a> We arrived at the fifth cataract at half past
+twelve, and remained three hours. It is not to be compared to
+either the first or second for picturesque effect. There are here
+no mountains, or even hills, and the fall, at a little distance, is
+scarcely perceptible. The sound is great, the rapids strong, and of
+such an extent, that, at this season of the year, certainly no boat
+of any size could pass: when the Nile is high there would be little
+difficulty. We made two views, looking north and south, and
+coloured them on the spot; but the <a href="#i02">vignette</a> will
+give the reader an idea of this cataract of the Nile. Two hours
+below are the islands of Kermi, Drogueh, and Melor: almost opposite
+the cataract is a village called El Solymanieh. Doums and acacias,
+as usual, on the banks of the river. An hour before arriving, we
+passed the small village of Gouloulab. This village, where we are
+encamped, is very large, and said to contain 300 men. The island of
+Ertole, opposite, is represented to have the same population; but
+this, I think, is rather an exaggeration of the sheakhs’.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i02"><a href="images/i02.jpg"><img src='images/i02.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">FIFTH CATARACT OF THE NILE.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>El Makkarif, Capital of the ancient Kingdom, and now Turkish
+Province, of Berber.—Feb.</em> 28. We started this morning at
+seven, and at ten passed the large village of El Abadieh, a little
+below which, on the opposite side, is Engreyab; at a quarter past
+twelve, El Ferrakah, opposite which is Abselam; at half past
+twelve, El Dankel; at half past one, El Hassan (vestiges of a
+Saracenic castle), opposite which are the villages of Dekseet and
+Wady Shekeer; at half past one, the village of El Howe; at half
+past two, El Gadawab; at three, we passed a village called Housh,
+opposite which is Ellet<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_43">[43]</span> Wady Gadallah; at a quarter past three,
+Mahanifa; at half past three, Dich; and at four entered the
+capital, Makkarif. Most of these villages are large, but many
+almost entirely deserted. In one of 120 houses, I counted only
+twenty that were inhabited. This is occasioned, not only by a
+decrease of population, but also by the wretched state of poverty
+to which the Berbers are now reduced. Many families who had
+formerly two, three, and even six houses, are obliged to content
+themselves with one, allowing the others to fall into ruin from not
+having the means or inducement to repair them. If still possessed
+of any wealth, their only means of preserving it, or, at all
+events, of transmitting it to their posterity, is to keep it
+secret; and by an affectation of poverty, lull any suspicion that
+may arise of their possessing treasure. Notwithstanding what I am
+told of their hidden wealth, I should suspect the examples to be
+few: the real distress is unfortunately far too evident. The houses
+are scattered, and often at a considerable distance from each
+other; never crowded together, like the cottages in the villages of
+Egypt. Being shaded by the graceful doum and acacia trees, they
+produce a rural and sometimes picturesque effect. According to the
+ancient divisions, we have only been this day in the province of
+Berber. Since we reached El Ferrakah, the character of the country
+has been quite different; more villages, a richer soil, and even
+the desert thickly studded with trees like a shrubbery. The country
+between Abou-Hammed and Grenata is included in the Turkish province
+of Berber, and as such I have described it. The natives are the
+Rabatat, once the terror of caravans. The heavy exactions they
+imposed on all travellers, or rather merchants, obliged the latter
+to take the long route from Derouey to Makkarif, the same in which
+Burckhardt and Bruce suffered so severely. The manners of the
+Rabatat seemed rougher, and their depravity more open, than I
+observe here.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span><a id=
+"c04"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR. — COURT AND ANCIENT CHIEFS
+OF THE COUNTRY. — HOSPITABLE RECEPTION. — TURKISH ENTERTAINMENTS. —
+CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNOR. — HIS ATTENTIONS. — STYLE OF LIVING. —
+DONGOLAH HORSES. — ANECDOTES, COSTUMES AND PORTRAITS OF THE CHIEFS.
+— TURKISH KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS. — BAZAAR OF MAKKARIF. — HOUSES. —
+MANUFACTORY OF INDIGO. — EXTENT OF CULTIVATION. — POPULATION. —
+CAMELS’ HIDES. — SUGAR MANUFACTORY. — ETHIOPIAN WOOL. — BISHAREEN
+TRIBE. — MANNER OF COLLECTING THEIR TRIBUTE. — ABABDES AND OTHER
+ARAB TRIBES. — TURKISH POLICY. — BURCKHARDT. — CHARACTER OF THE
+PEOPLE. — ARABS OF THE DESERT.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">Immediately</span> on our arrival,
+we paid a visit to Abbas Bey, the governor of the province. He has
+a private house for his harem; but during the day he holds his
+court and takes his meals in one of the fortified houses of the
+sheakhs. At the door we found a number of soldiers and officers
+drinking coffee. The Turkish governor is obliged to furnish the
+officers attached to his court, as well as strangers and principal
+persons of the town who wish it, with as much of this beverage as
+they choose to drink; and so great is the consumption, that it is
+in fact the most considerable part of his official expenditure. We
+were ushered into a large room, forty feet by twenty, and
+proportionably high, with windows at one end, but, as usual,
+without glass: some small windows, above the larger, were covered
+with paper as a substitute. Around the room was a divan one foot
+high and four feet wide: one end was covered with mats, over which
+were thrown rich carpets and scarlet plush. The Governor, a man of
+about thirty, of a stern yet prepossessing appearance, was seated
+in the corner upon the skin<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_45">[45]</span> of a panther. The courtiers were arranged on
+each side according to their respective ranks. On his right was the
+grand Cadi, in a brown dress, with a green turban (the badge of his
+having made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and being a sheriff, or
+descendant of Mahomet). He is a native of this country, and fills
+the offices of high priest and chief judge. The Bey paid him great
+attention; no doubt on account of his great influence with the
+people. He has a very jesuitical countenance: I thought of
+Alfieri’s celebrated speech in Saul. Next to this priest was Sheakh
+Sayd, the Chief of the Ababdes. (See <a href="#pl03">Plate.</a>)
+His family have held this title from time immemorial: the stamp of
+nobility is marked upon his high forehead; and there is an
+expression of dignified mildness in his countenance which commands
+respect: he interested me exceedingly. Another, but inferior,
+Sheakh of the Ababdes was seated next to Sheakh Sayd, in a blue
+linen dress. Next to the Ababde Sheakh was the Melek Nazr ed Deen.
+This man was forty years melek or king of this province. I am
+informed that the meleks of Shendy and Metammah attacked his
+kingdom, defeated him, seized his riches, and sullied the honour of
+his family. In revenge, it is said he fled to the Pasha of Egypt,
+and represented to him how easily he might subdue the country. The
+Arabs, and in this district particularly, extol in the most
+hyperbolical terms the merits of their great men. I will mention
+their expressions in a few instances as characteristic. According
+to their extravagant accounts, the war-cry of this melek was, “I am
+a bull, the son of a bull, and will die or conquer!” They assert
+that he is able to cut a camel in two with a blow of his sabre, and
+to eat a whole sheep to his breakfast. He really is an amazingly
+stout man for this country (see <a href="#pl01">Plate I.</a>), and
+both his appearance and manners are surly and repulsive, which,
+however, is not extraordinary, when we consider that he is now a
+disregarded pensioner (having merely the rank and pay of a
+katsheff), and no real authority in the extensive province where,
+at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> one time, his will
+was law. Several other personages were present, among whom were
+katsheffs, kaymacans, and artillery officers; Sheakh Beshir (see
+<a href="#pl02">Plate II.</a>), now melek of Shendy, and some
+sheakhs of the Bishareens. In the centre of the room stood about
+thirty attendants; cowhasses, with their silver-headed canes, armed
+with pistols and sabres; janissaries in the Albanian dress;
+mamelukes, Turkish soldiers, sheboukgees, slaves, &amp;c. &amp;c.
+The Bey was playing at drafts with Sheakh Sayd when we entered, but
+immediately closed the board, and rose from his seat. He received
+us very courteously, ordered us pipes and coffee in abundance, and
+a fresh supply of the latter at least every half hour; and,
+contrary to the Egyptian custom, there came usually two cups for
+each person at a time. Their manner of presenting it is in the
+highest style of Turkish fashion; holding the bottom of the fingan
+(cup) between the first finger and thumb, with the hand curved. It
+was presented at the same time to the Bey and myself; then to the
+others according to their rank. I presented to him the firman of
+the Pasha. He looked at the seal, kissed it, and applied it to his
+forehead in token of his obedience; but at the same time assured me
+that, on account of my being an Englishman, even if I had brought
+no firman, he would have done whatever was in his power to
+facilitate my plans. He would not allow us to leave him without
+partaking of his evening meal, a short description of which may
+amuse the reader.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw1">
+<figure id="pl03">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 3.</p>
+<a href="images/pl03.jpg"><img src='images/pl03.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by J. Hamerton, from a Drawing by
+L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="width-half cp1">MELEK NUSSR ED DEEN.</td>
+<td class="width-half cp1">SHEAKH SAYD CHIEF OF THE ABABDE
+TRIBE.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman & C<sup>o</sup>. April
+6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>After we had well lathered our hands in the usual Turkish
+manner, the round white metal table was brought in, and we all
+squatted down on the floor, with due decorum, around it. We had
+first soup, and afterwards twenty dishes of meat, one following the
+other, and the dinner finished with a pillof of rice. We used
+wooden spoons for the soup, diving into the dish promiscuously; the
+meat we ate with our fingers, using always the thumb and two
+forefingers of the right hand; each person keeping as well as he
+could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> to his own
+angle of the dish. Holding a piece of bread in his hand, he fished
+out the pieces of meat, with a due proportion of gravy. The dishes
+were all small, and some of them very <em>recherchés</em>; but, as
+usual, it was mutton, mutton, nothing but mutton, though disguised
+in a great variety of forms, with herbs, beans, and sauces from
+Cairo. The hands of the Bey had the precedence in plunging into
+each dish, and the paws of the others briskly followed those of
+their leader. Having tasted one or two choice morsels, his
+Excellency nodded his head, and that plate vanished. A number of
+hungry attendants who were to dine upon the remains of the feast,
+waited in a string, and handed the dishes back and forward, from
+one to the other, with the greatest rapidity. Very little was said
+during the repast; indeed, whoever is so foolish as to converse on
+such an occasion runs a great hazard of faring indifferently. As it
+was, I had rather a scanty supper; for perceiving it was <em>bon
+ton</em> to eat of every dish, and not knowing how many might
+follow, I did not duly profit by the precious moments. Old Nazr ed
+Deen, who, as I have stated, is reported to breakfast with such a
+voracious appetite, seemed by no means satisfied, although I
+observed that he made the best use of his time. The whole affair
+was finished in twenty minutes. Some of the dishes were not one
+minute on the table. The Bey, with his fugacious nod, reminded me
+of the physician at the island, who was so considerate for Sancho
+Panza’s digestive powers. I ought not to omit mentioning, that the
+Bey, as a special act of politeness to myself, selected often the
+most delicate morsels from the best dishes, with his own besmeared
+fingers, and placed them before me. I did not quite relish such a
+greasy gratification, but was obliged to swallow the compliment.
+Several slaves stood around the table with gullahs of cool
+water,—the only beverage permitted; others had large fans to keep
+away the flies. After we had performed our very necessary
+ablutions, smoked a pipe, and<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_48">[48]</span> taken coffee, the Bey dismissed his court and
+attendants, and we had a long <em>tête-à-tête</em> upon various
+subjects. Although evidently a brave man, he finds the difficulties
+of his situation trying and embarrassing. Having no trusty friend
+or confidant near him, he seemed glad of an opportunity of
+disburdening his grievances before a stranger, to whom there would
+be no disgrace or humiliation in expressing his fears and
+difficulties. “I have few or no friends here,” said he, “and many
+enemies. It is difficult to satisfy the demands of the Pasha, and
+not oppress the people. The Government at Alexandria are never
+content with the amount of the revenue; and yet are enraged if any
+complaints reach them, although they are the consequence of their
+own exorbitant demands; <em>but</em> I hope God will give me
+<em>good luck</em>, and enable me to keep my place to the
+satisfaction of my master.” We conversed about the province; his
+manner of managing the Arabs, with the statistics of the country;
+the affairs of the Pasha (to whom he seems very much attached, and
+hopes to see him master of St. Petersburgh, or at all events, of
+the recent acquisitions of that power from the Ottoman empire); the
+war with the Sultan; the conquest of these provinces; his own
+military exploits and valour; and the antiquities which are the
+object of my journey. Understanding that my artist was an Italian,
+he displayed his knowledge of that language, which extended only to
+two words, <em>buono e morte</em>, by taking hold repeatedly of Mr.
+B.’s arm, and at the same time that he repeated these words, he
+accompanied them with such a powerful grasp, as almost made poor
+Signor B. scream for pain.—“Anima del’ caina (del cane),” he said
+to me, in the Neapolitan dialect, “<em>buono o cattivo</em> mi pare
+che mi vuol la <em>morte</em>.” Afterwards, the conversation
+turning upon animals, he showed me the skin of a pet lion, that he
+had killed because it had destroyed a sheep. I happened to appear
+pleased with it, when he instantly made me accept it. He then sent
+for a beautiful little monkey, of the grey<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_49">[49]</span> capuchin kind, with which he also presented
+me. I took it into my special protection, and christened it with
+the name uppermost in my thoughts, namely, Meroe; and many a weary
+mile, till my return to Thebes, did it beguile me with its
+mischievous gambols on my camel. When I rose to take leave, the Bey
+said he would accompany me to my tent, and then offered me a fine
+large panther’s skin, on which he had been sitting. He did not give
+me these, as the Turks in general make presents, with the
+expectation of receiving others more valuable; for I told him, on
+receiving the first, that I had not contemplated making this
+journey when I left Europe, and had therefore nothing with me to
+offer him. He replied, “All Turks are not the same; there are good
+and bad of every nation: these are trifles; tell me how I can be of
+real service to you; and the only return I wish is, that you think
+well of me when you go to your own country.” He privately inquired
+of my dragoman if we were in want of candles, sugar, coffee, of
+another tent, or any thing else. Although we wanted nothing, we
+duly appreciated his kind intention. The style in which he came to
+my tent, and went to and from his harem every day, will give some
+idea of the state kept up in these provincial governments. He was
+preceded by his guards, armed with guns; then by four cowhasses,
+beating their massive silver-headed sticks on the ground,—a
+substitute for music: the Bey himself then followed, on foot or on
+his charger, having behind him six other guards, with guns, and a
+crowd of perhaps twenty servants. I was at a loss what return to
+make for his liberality: he had really shown himself such a fine
+fellow, that it was painful to be behind him in generosity. Having
+no suitable articles to spare, such as a gun, pistols, or a watch,
+the most proper gifts to a Turk of his rank, I could only beg his
+acceptance of a few trifles,—a new patent powder-flask and belt, a
+bag of English shot, a good English penknife, and a silver
+watch-guard. I gave him, also, a little stock of medicines, with
+directions how<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> to use
+them; these he valued very highly, being aware on how slender a
+thread his life hangs in such a baneful climate as this.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw4">
+<figure id="pl02">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 2.</p>
+<a href="images/pl02.jpg"><img src='images/pl02.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. Walton from a Drawing by L.
+Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="width-half cp1">SHEAKH BESHER.<br>
+<span class="cp2">The present Melek of Shendy.</span></td>
+<td class="width-half cp1">SON OF A BISHAREEN SHEAKH.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 1. This morning the Bey sent us a couple of fine
+sheep, and, before we were dressed, a cowhass called to summon me
+to his divan. He showed us his stables, in which were six horses,
+of the true Dongolah breed, black and brown, of whom the black were
+the finest, but all of them had rather upright pasterns, and four
+white legs: sometimes the white extends over the thighs, and
+occasionally over the belly. They are not light, slender horses
+like some of the best race of Arabs, being more remarkable for
+their strength: their appearance reminded me very much of the
+Egyptian horses, as represented on the walls of Thebes. They would
+make magnificent cavalry horses; but if they were brought on a race
+course, I think their appearance would induce few to back them,
+except, perhaps, for a <em>three-mile</em> heat; certainly not for
+the St. Leger. The breed is rare now, and valuable. Even here a
+good Dongolah horse fetches from 50<em>l.</em> to 150<em>l.</em>
+After dinner he went to his harem to sleep, and then returned to
+the government-house. He then sent for me again, and kept me with
+him until ten at night. Dinner and supper were served in the same
+style as on the preceding day.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 2. This morning the Bey sent for me as before,
+and kept me till after dinner, when I started for Shendy in his own
+boat, which he had the goodness to lend me. He invited me to make a
+longer stay, but I had no time to lose. These three days, however,
+have not been altogether mis-spent, as I have obtained some
+important information. I complained to the Bey yesterday, that, on
+account of the prejudices of the people, we were unable to draw any
+of the costumes of the country. The Bey very coolly declared, that
+whoever dared to refuse, he would cut off his head! Though this
+summary order was coolly received in the divan, we did not hesitate
+to avail ourselves of it, and immediately set to work, and drew the
+portraits of all the dignitaries of consequence<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> at his court. I have already
+referred the reader to the portraits of Melek Nazr ed Deen, Sheakh
+Beshir, and Sheakh Seyd. Some of them were very reluctant, in spite
+of all our persuasion, particularly one native prince called Mousa.
+(See coloured plate, <a href="#pl16">XVI.</a>) His likeness, taken
+by Signor B., is admirable, the colour correct, and his figure is
+the finest specimen of manly beauty I have seen in this country.
+His breast, as will be observed in the plate, has somewhat of a
+projection, a peculiarity I have often observed in Upper Nubia. It
+is considered a great deformity, and those who have it often submit
+to a most painful operation for its removal. Mousa, when my artist
+had finished his portrait, begged the Bey to treat him as a man,
+and not show him like a beast. He is the son of a melek, but now
+serves as a groom. He is famous for his courage and dexterity in
+the use of the sabre. To use their own exaggerated Oriental
+language, he is capable of killing 100 men in battle. In our tent,
+yesterday, we took the figure and costume of a Bishareen boy, about
+eighteen, whose father, a powerful sheakh, had attempted to excite
+a revolt against the Pasha. Not being successful, he fled, and his
+son was detained in prison until the father paid a fine of 250
+camels. By way of a jest, though a barbarous one, which I should
+not have allowed had I known of it, the Bey and his officers told
+the poor boy that we were to cut off his head, being Turks deputed
+from Cairo for that special purpose. He sat down on the ground in
+the attitude represented, with his head turned on one side, and
+remained motionless, in the same position, nearly three quarters of
+an hour. We remarked that we had never had a subject who sat so
+patiently. When we had finished, we told him he might get up,
+making him, at the same time, a small present; when, with a look of
+bewildered delight, he told us how differently he expected to have
+been treated, and that he had been awaiting every moment the stroke
+of the sabre.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, when we were with the Bey, he sent for the poor
+youth, and frightened him again by telling him that, by
+virtue<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> of the drawing
+we had made, we had a magical power over him, and should transport
+him with us into our own country. He opened his mouth aghast, asked
+every body if it were true, and seemed struck with horror at the
+idea of never again seeing his native deserts. He addressed his
+inquiries particularly to Sheakh Seyd, who, as chief of the
+Ababdes, he did not think capable of deceiving him; but I verily
+believe many of the meleks and chiefs present, who affected to join
+in the laugh, really had doubts and misgivings that such, in truth,
+was the necromantic power of our pencils, and particularly of the
+camera lucida, with which I drew several of them. My artist took
+the Bey’s likeness, at his own particular desire; I conceive, for
+one of his favourites. He was very well satisfied with the
+representation of his figure, rich costume, his sword and
+accoutrements, and of the fierceness of his mustachios; but he did
+not understand the shading, and begged my artist “to take away
+those black things.” Before leaving Makkarif, the Bey showed me
+round the indigo and hide manufactories belonging to the
+government. I parted from him with some regret, for he is decidedly
+the best Turk I have ever known; and it was a great pleasure for a
+few days to meet with such courtesy in these wild regions of
+interior Africa. Makkarif has little appearance of a capital. The
+bazaar should scarcely be dignified with such a title, as it only
+consists of six or seven miserable shops. The town is divided into
+seven divisions. The population may, perhaps, amount to 3500,
+though it is difficult to obtain exact information as to numbers.
+The houses are quadrangular huts of one story, like those in Lower
+Egypt—not however crowded together as those, but usually standing
+detached. Some of them are circular, and have thatched conical
+roofs—a description of cottage very general to the south of Berber.
+The residence of the governor, and of some of the sheakhs,
+resembled the fortified house surrounded by large courts, described
+at Abou-Hammed. There is here a large manufactory of indigo, a
+valuable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> branch of
+culture, which was introduced by the Pasha into this province five
+years ago. They cut it three times during the season, at intervals
+of about two months. To extract the dye, they place the stalks and
+leaves for eighteen hours in a cemented mud basin or cistern of
+water, which is then drawn off into another vessel: in this last
+they leave it only a few hours, stirring it well with sticks, and
+afterwards let it off into a caldron, in which the final process of
+boiling takes place, and indigo is produced of very good quality.
+The Pasha receives from this manufactory nearly 14,000 okres
+(weight), which is sent to Cairo, and sold there for fifteen
+dollars per okre. The government has greatly extended the
+cultivation of the cotton plant in this province. Considerable
+quantities of wheat and oats are also grown in it; but barley and
+dourah, particularly the latter, are the chief produce. In the
+Turkish province of Berber, which extends from Abou-Hammed to two
+days journey beyond Shendy, there are 6000 feddans (measure) of
+cultivated land, and 500 sakkeas. There were 800 of the latter,
+when first the Pasha took possession of the country, but misrule,
+or, perhaps, the system inevitably adopted in order to subdue
+entirely the country, has impoverished as well as depopulated it.
+The number of peasants, merchants, Arabs, and other residents, so
+far as I have been able to learn, may be estimated (including their
+families) at 30,000: this is independent of the Bishareen and other
+desert tribes who pay their tribute here. The number of sakkeas may
+appear small in comparison to the extent of the cultivation and the
+number of the inhabitants; but it may be remarked, that a great
+proportion of the arable land in this province is irrigated by the
+inundation of the Nile and by manual labour. Besides, the peasants,
+as well as the wandering tribes, subsist in a great measure by
+their flocks and by their camels, which are bred in great numbers,
+and of the finest quality, and sent to Cairo. Many also are sold
+here to the merchants and carriers of this place; also to those of
+Shendy and Sennaar. The price of a strong, ordinary<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> camel is about ten or twelve
+dollars; of a dromedary, ten to thirty dollars. For several years
+the government have sent to Cairo from 1500 to 2000 hides. This
+year the Pasha has required 20,000. These hides are prepared with
+lime, salt, and the pod of the mimosa. The Pasha has also tried the
+sugar cane, which flourishes luxuriantly in the islands, though the
+people have not yet acquired any skill in the manufacture of it.
+There is a small sugar-house, but of the rudest construction. The
+canes are placed between two rollers, turned by oxen, which squeeze
+out the juice. The peasants themselves make a coarse kind of linen
+cloth, which may be called fine canvass, but seldom deserves a
+better name.</p>
+
+<p>Pliny says, that Ethiopia, as well as Egypt, was by the Greeks
+called <em>Etheria</em>, “without wool;” which may have been owing
+to the circumstance, that the Ethiopians, like the Egyptians, wore
+only linen; but perhaps it may rather allude to the extremely bad
+quality of the Ethiopian wool. The Bishareen pay their tribute to
+this government. They occupy the territory, and are generally
+supposed to be descendants, of the ancient Troglodites; but there
+is a name sculptured on the walls of Thebes, of a captured people,
+called Sharim, which, with the Coptic article Pi, makes Pisharim or
+Bisharim. Souakim, the capital, is fifteen days’ journey from this
+place, on which road water is found every day and a half: its
+inhabitants are called Edherbi and Hadendoah. Besides these, the
+Bishareen have other subordinate divisions, as the Amarrah and the
+Benishamah. As I have before stated, they are the most uncivilised
+of the Arab tribes, if they can be called Arabs, when they speak a
+language without any Arabic words, and lay no claim to Arabian
+descent. Their features are often striking, but their manner of
+dressing their hair, making it bushy and prominent both in front
+and behind, and often shaving it a little, gives them a savage
+appearance. Their dress generally consists of folds of linen of the
+country, often ragged and dirty, but always put on in a graceful
+manner, not unlike the ancient Greek drapery. War and plunder seem
+to be their element, and they are accused<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_55">[55]</span> of being treacherous and deceitful: they are
+addicted also to petty theft. Many are poor in the extreme; some
+few rich and powerful, living luxuriously, as they deem it, on
+camels’ flesh and milk. The principal persons at Makkarif tell me
+that they count 200,000 houses or tents; but, notwithstanding the
+vast extent of their territory, this must be an exaggeration. The
+government finds always great difficulty in collecting their
+tribute. “We generally send,” said the Bey, “two soldiers at a
+time. If they are murdered, it is of no great consequence! for two
+men it would be absurd to lay waste a whole province; but if we
+sent twenty or thirty, and they were destroyed, it would create
+great alarm, and be a serious loss out of my small force of 400
+cavalry. Once,” said he, with an air of triumph, “I was there with
+a large retinue, when a greatly superior number of Bishareen
+attacked us, during the night, as is always their custom. Nine of
+my men fled at the first onset, and falling into the hands of the
+enemy were immediately massacred. We resisted and escaped, but it
+caused great terror among my troops. Soon after we avenged the
+death of my nine brave fellows in our usual manner. We enticed to
+this place many of the Bishareen engaged in this affair by a
+promise of pardon: then we enclosed them in one of our fortified
+houses, and put them to death.” Some divisions of this tribe, who
+are almost quite independent, often plunder the caravans and small
+villages, and carry off cattle and other property; and they
+sometimes extend their predatory incursions as far as Dongolah.</p>
+
+<p>The Ababdes are divided principally into two tribes, the
+Maleykab, from Esneh to Assuan; and the Hashibani, from Assuan to
+Kash Kosseer. They are a fine race of men, and wear their hair in
+ringlets hanging behind their heads, and at the sides, nearly to
+their shoulders. Sometimes, but very rarely, their hair is bushy in
+front like the Bishareen. Their dress of coarse linen is always
+folded around them with the same graceful elegance. This tribe is
+much less numerous than the Bishareen, but they have
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> character of
+being braver. The number of their houses and tents was stated to me
+by their chief, Sheakh Sayd, at 50,000. During the conquest of this
+country, and on other occasions, they have been of great service to
+the Pasha, who therefore levies no direct tribute except from such
+as have allotments of land, and sakkeas, who pay for them like the
+peasants of the Nile. Burckhardt speaks of the treachery of the
+Ababdes. I have been with them for months in the Oasis Magna and
+other places, and cannot say I have experienced it. On the
+contrary, I have observed them more grateful for kindness, more
+attached, more proud of their liberty, and tenacious of their
+character, and more disinterested, than any other of the Arab
+tribes. The number domiciled in this province is very considerable.
+Besides these, I saw individuals of several other Arab tribes who
+frequent Berber, while others I only heard of. Among these are the
+Hassanyeh, who range from Berber to Kordofan, principally near
+Dongolah,—the Kababysh, to the south-west of the latter, extending
+to the White River,—the Benegerar, from Dongolah to Kordofan, in
+the Desert,—the Erfara, near Sennaar,—a large and powerful tribe
+called Rafarah, numbered with the Erfara,—the Shukriah, settled
+principally near Shendy, but also between Berber and Sennaar, and
+the Atbara and the Bahr el Azruk. The Eddibina, also, near
+Shendy,—the Djamelyeh, on the Bahr el Abiad,—the El Amran, to the
+east of the Mugrum, or Astoboras,—the Shelouks, ten days up the
+White River, or Bahr al Abiad. They are said to be tall, powerful
+men, always quite naked, and armed with bows and arrows, spears and
+shields; and I am told that they worship the sun. Their territory
+extends for a considerable distance on both sides of the river, but
+the division on the east side is called Denha. The Shelouks inhabit
+also numerous islands, communicating with each other by means of
+canoes, some of which are very large. The Bahr el Abiad was
+represented to me as being, in that part, ten times wider than the
+Bahr el Azruk:—the Numrum, also, a<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_57">[57]</span> negro race of naked Pagans, twenty days’
+journey from Sennaar, upon the White River. All these tribes,
+except the two last, are wholly or partly tributary to the Pasha.
+When we consider the slight comparative force with which his
+governments are generally supplied, we must confess his officers
+know how to manage their affairs, although the means they adopt are
+not always the most honourable. The government of Berber has only
+400 cavalry to keep in subjection a population of 30,000, besides
+the many powerful tribes of the neighbouring deserts. The ancient
+chiefs of the country are almost all alive and at large. Each
+native is armed, and acquainted with the use of the sabre and
+lance, and some few have matchlocks. They see the prosperity of the
+country gradually decaying, and the population daily diminishing;
+yet such is their terror of the Pasha’s power, that,
+notwithstanding the small number of his troops, and the length of
+time it would require to bring forward reinforcements, no monarch
+in Europe has such absolute power, or sleeps more safe from bodily
+fear than the Governor of Berber. The relentless system, which has
+completely succeeded in Lower Egypt, of impoverishing the peasants,
+and reducing them by distress to complete vassalage, is gradually
+but successfully carried on by the Pasha in this country. The
+descendants, perhaps, of those tribes who defied the power of the
+Greeks and Romans, have been taught by Mohammed Ali to crouch
+beneath his yoke. He has done so, in despite of all the obstacles
+man and nature opposed to his ambition;—a brave resistance,
+cataracts amongst which many of his barks were lost, the horrors of
+the desert, burning climate, malaria, and fever, which at first
+nearly annihilated his army at “one fell swoop.” The statement of
+Cailliaud, that at Sennaar, the Pasha saw one third of his forces
+fall a prey to malignant and intermittent fevers, dysentery, and
+bilious attacks, shows at how dear a price these conquests were
+purchased. But the Pasha’s power in this country rests now on a
+basis which it would be difficult to shake,—a
+combination<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> of
+vigorous policy in council, with superiority of arms and discipline
+in the field. The tribes now know from experience the weakness of
+their half fighting, half dancing hosts, with their lances, swords,
+and large unwieldy shields,—against the regular fire of disciplined
+troops. The very report of a cannon is irresistible to beings who
+have the utmost dread of a musket; and they can now contrast the
+effects of artillery with those of the comparatively harmless
+implements of their own warfare, which seldom inflict more than
+flesh wounds. Their former chiefs and meleks are now sinking fast
+to the wretched level of the peasants. Stripped of their
+patrimonial wealth and estates, and shut out from their other
+sources of gain—commerce and exactions—they are now obliged to pay
+court to the Turkish governors, to obtain or preserve a scanty
+pension, which is almost their only means of subsistence. The
+chiefs have suffered more than the peasants from the domination of
+the Pasha, who has followed the usual policy of all conquerors, by
+systematically aiming “to cut off the highest of the poppy heads.”
+The great mass of the people of every nation are generally
+indifferent to the misfortunes of the aristocracy, and are rarely
+animated, by individual attachment, or more enlarged views of
+national independence, to rise and deliver from oppression those
+who, perhaps, were once their own oppressors. Possibly, they may
+even feel a selfish exultation in seeing them reduced to their own
+level; forgetting that, while their ancient chiefs sink thus into
+poverty and obscurity, every hope of restoring the liberty of their
+country vanishes.</p>
+
+<p>I have not spent sufficient time in this province to judge
+accurately of the character of the people, and I dare scarcely
+attempt to delineate what the masterly hand of Burckhardt has so
+admirably accomplished. I have not his work with me, and do not
+remember minutely his account of the natives of this district. I
+must, therefore, make a short record of my own observations,
+though, probably, they will add but little to the information which
+he has communicated. I am sorry to confirm his statement,
+that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> the most extreme
+profligacy of manners prevails among the Berbers. They are entirely
+devoted to women; unfortunately, not only to their own wives, but,
+with lawless passion, to the wives of their neighbours. Adultery is
+far more common here than in any other part of the valley of the
+Nile; and there exists, also, in this and the adjoining provinces,
+a system which is a disgrace to human nature. The sheakhs, meleks,
+and chief men hire out their female slaves, or, rather, oblige them
+to carry on an infamous traffic here and in the different villages,
+and to pay to their master a monthly tribute out of the fruits.
+This is the climax of profligacy. A correct idea of the immoral
+state of the country may be formed, when those who, from their
+station, ought to endeavour to repress vice, are, by this system,
+its chief promoters. Slavery is horrible under any guise; but when
+the task of the unfortunate victim is to sacrifice every principle
+of honour, virtue, and decency, in order to satiate the avarice of
+a remorseless master, a more distressing picture of human
+wretchedness cannot be imagined. Besides the monthly tribute, they
+are dependent also for their own subsistence upon the passing
+caravans.</p>
+
+<p>The superstition of the Berbers keeps pace with their gross
+ignorance. I have already stated that, notwithstanding many
+attempts, I was never able, unless in the Bey’s presence, and
+through his despotic mandate, to overcome the apprehension and
+scruples of the Berbers, of both sexes, to allow their portraits to
+be drawn. Among those, too, who knew I was a Christian, I could
+often distinguish an ill-disguised contempt when I deviated in any
+respect from the Mahometan customs.</p>
+
+<p>Intoxication is another vice to which the Berbers are generally
+addicted, but seldom to any very gross excess. Their beverage is
+the bouza, a species of beer made of dourah, boiled in a jar, and
+drunk after a day or two, when it ferments. It is not of a very
+intoxicating quality, but they drink gallons of it at a sitting.
+One of the peasants intimated to me his regret that<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> the Prophet had only promised
+them rivers of milk in his paradise, instead of bouza. They have
+also the meresi and bulbul, more delicate descriptions of the same
+beverage; and a strong but tasteless spirit (arrake), with a very
+wretched liquor which they call wine; both these last being
+extracted from the date. They are civil and attentive to strangers,
+but there is something overstrained in their obsequiousness. They
+have the reputation of being great thieves. Several old Egyptian
+merchants, and also my camel-drivers, advised me to take care of my
+baggage during the night, when I passed through Berber; always
+recommending me, for that reason, to encamp near the house of the
+sheakh. The women go about with their faces uncovered,—a privilege
+which, in Egypt, only the wives of the Arabs of the Desert enjoy.
+They have, generally, good figures, and a rather pleasing
+expression of countenance. The men are stout, but their features
+are seldom very prepossessing, or at all noble; and they are
+deficient in that open and dignified manner and deportment which
+distinguish the generality of the Arab tribes. The Arabs in
+general, but especially the Berbers, are averse to active exertion.
+I have often seen several of them sitting together for many hours
+in the shade, with their eyes half closed, in a listless and supine
+state, neither talking, nor engaged in any occupation. Sometimes
+they were smoking, yet at the same time apparently unconscious that
+pipes were in their mouths. Perfect repose of body and mind, the
+<em>dolce far niente</em> of the Italians, is the highest felicity
+they are able to conceive. Endowed with an imperturbable stock of
+apathy,—more comfortable, perhaps, although not so intellectual, as
+European philosophy,—they submit to a distressing accident, which
+would throw one of our countrymen almost into a fever, without
+allowing their equanimity to be in the least disturbed. “<em>Mactub
+min Allah!</em>” it is written, It is the will of God! they
+exclaim, with placid resignation; and, instead of brooding over
+their misfortune, become immediately reconciled to it, and, with
+amazing facility, banish it from their thoughts.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>The Sennaar and
+Shendy merchants, chiefly Arabs, pass sometimes by this route;
+others go to Dongolah, across the Bahiouda desert. This is,
+however, a much shorter route, and for that reason often preferred.
+They furnish the bazaar of Makkarif with soap, spices with which
+they make an ointment to keep their skin soft, rice, Mocha coffee,
+mirrors, glass beads, and shells; and articles in cotton, such as
+handkerchiefs, shawls, and other dresses: they also bring tobacco
+and pipes, crockery, cooking dishes, &amp;c. A great many camels
+are employed on this route, in conveying the officers, soldiers,
+and provisions from Assuan to Berber, Shendy, Khartoun, and
+Sennaar. When no other article is ready, the camels are laden, in
+return, with charcoal made of the osshi plant, which is excellent
+for gunpowder; but even for culinary use, the difference between
+its price at Berber and at Assuan, in consequence of its scarcity
+at the latter place, fully remunerates them for the carriage. A
+great number of camels are, at certain seasons, employed by the
+government in conveying down to Assuan the indigo, grain, hides,
+&amp;c. levied as taxes in kind. This gives employment to the Arabs
+of the desert, and attaches these roving tribes, by the strongest
+chains of interest, to a more regular and less barbarous government
+than they have ever been accustomed to, and thus reconciles them to
+the relinquishment of their independence. When we consider the
+predatory and lawless habits they gloried in for ages previous to
+the Pasha’s conquest; the anarchy and confusion which afforded them
+such facilities for rapine, and in which their bold unruly spirits
+delighted, as the short though dangerous path to distinction and
+wealth,—it is surprising to see them thus quietly occupied in the
+vocations of peace, and earning their livelihood by honest
+industry. A tribute of applause is certainly due to Mohammed Ali,
+for effecting this great improvement in the habits and pursuits of
+the uncivilised hordes who occupy so considerable a portion of the
+continent of Africa.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span><a id=
+"c05"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">DEPARTURE FROM MAKKARIF. — VARIOUS VILLAGES. — THE
+MUGRUM, ANCIENT ASTABORAS. — ROUTE TO GOSS REDJAB. — VERDANT
+APPEARANCE OF THE ISLAND OF MEROE. — VOYAGE ON THE ASTAPUS. —
+NUMEROUS VILLAGES. — COTTAGES. — HIPPOPOTAMI; MANNER OF DESTROYING
+THEM. — VILLAGES. — ARRIVAL AT THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><em>March</em> 8. <span class="sc">We</span> set
+sail, with a favourable breeze, from Makkarif, at one; and at half
+past one we passed the village of El Releh; and at two, Sowektab el
+Ekaba, on the western bank of the river; opposite to which, on the
+east bank, is a small village called Howed. At four we passed Wady
+Rowel, on the eastern side; at five, the small village of Sidin on
+the same side; at six, a large village called Karmim; at three
+quarters past six we passed Sayal, a small village on the east
+bank; at a quarter past seven, Dakkel, on the same side; at twenty
+minutes past seven, El Fodlet; and at half past seven we moored for
+the night at the village of Unmatur, on the western side. We have
+had a good wind, and certainly cannot have made less than three
+miles an hour. Opposite to Unmatur is the junction of the Mugrum,
+the ancient Astaboras, with the Nile, isolating from the Nubian and
+Libyan desert this part of Meroe. For some distance before reaching
+it, I observed that the colour of the water was very green, and had
+not the usual appearance of the Nile, which is comparatively clear
+at this season. I perceived also that the taste was different, and
+that it had a strong disagreeable smell. I regret that it is now
+dusk, so that I cannot observe more accurately the distinction of
+the waters of the two rivers; but I am informed, that for some
+space after the confluence, they remain unmixed. The width of the
+Mugrum, as the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>
+Astaboras is now called, from what I could learn, is, at the time
+of the rise, about 1000 feet. At this season, they tell me, it is
+almost stagnant. It swells many days earlier than the Bahr el Abiad
+or the Azruk; and I think the green colour that tinges the whole
+Nile for the first thirty or forty days after its rise, may be
+attributed to the influx of the waters of this river. The chief
+province or district on its banks is called Atbara, evidently a
+corruption from the ancient name of the river, which is curious, as
+any analogy is rarely to be found between the modern and ancient
+names in this country. Two hours before arriving at the junction,
+we passed a small shellal (cataract). The current was strong; a
+number of small rocks impeding the stream for about half way
+across. The banks are covered with beautiful groves of acacias,
+doums, and palm trees, and had generally a much more verdant
+appearance than we had before remarked; reminding me most forcibly
+of the observation of the pretorians sent by Nero:</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent0">Herbas circa Meroen demum viridiores,
+silvarumque aliquid apparuisse.<a id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nind">From the best information I have been able to
+obtain, there are seven days’ journey from the mouth of the Mugrum
+to Goss Radjeb, the principal village on its banks: for the two
+first days, the direction of this river is nearly east. There are
+on this route few villages; the habitations chiefly consisting of
+encampments of migratory Arabs, who change their stations as often
+as they need fresh pasture for their camels and flocks. The chief
+tribe frequenting the banks of the Astaboras is that of the
+Bishareen; but its branches were described to me as distinguished
+by the following distinct names: The first day’s journey east, is
+called the district of the Atbara; the second, that of the
+Eddandoweh; the third day, towards the south, Attaka; the fourth,
+Giberta; the fifth, Medkirab; after which the district of Makkadi
+extends several days beyond Goss Radjeb. A merchant informed me,
+that, at this latter place,<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_64">[64]</span> there are the remains of a temple, but
+without any sculpture, columns, or hieroglyphics. According to the
+accounts given to me by the most intelligent Arabs, this river
+abounds much more than the Nile in hippopotami and crocodiles, and
+the western bank is infested with lions.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 3. Leaving Unmatur at seven, with a good wind, we
+began our voyage on what Strabo calls the river Astapus, but which
+the natives still call the Nile: passed, at a quarter past seven,
+the village of Hassal, west side, and El Dahmur east, at nine,
+Abouselam west, and Ambori east; at half past nine, Hossya east,
+Maholrab west; at half past ten, the island of Essaydrab; at
+twelve, the island of Gunnabra and the village of El Roweh west; at
+half past one, El Howyeh east, El Ferakah west; at three, the
+island of Tumfar, and the village of Alioh, to the east; at half
+past three, the island of Egaydag, and village of the same name, on
+the western bank; at half past four, the island of Nama; at three
+quarters past five, Gebata to the east, and Keytayab to the west.
+This day I have observed that some of the villages consist of
+circular huts with thatched conical roofs. The water has not the
+same colour nor the same disagreeable smell as that near the mouth
+of the Astaboras. We have seen many crocodiles and several
+hippopotami: upon our approach they disappeared under the water;
+but occasionally raised their enormous heads, which, at the
+distance we were then, appeared like those of buffaloes. We fired
+at them, but without any effect. The Arabs state that their only
+vulnerable part is their forehead. What Hasselquist says of the
+manner of destroying them, by placing salt peas on the bank, the
+eating of which may excite them to drink until they die, amused the
+Arabs vastly. Their only way of killing these animals, is by
+concealing themselves in the long grass or corn fields on the bank,
+near one of their tracks. When the hippopotamus approaches, they
+attack and pierce him with a barbed lance, to which a strong cord
+is attached. The animal rushes to the river, and they follow him
+warily on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> banks,
+or in a boat, until his strength is quite exhausted, and he is
+almost dead. His usual expiring effort is to make for the shore, or
+his pursuers drag him thither as an angler does a fish. The
+peasants sometimes keep up fires during the night, to preserve
+their crops from his ravages. I observed to-day several beautiful
+woods on the islands; and, for the first time, monkeys—the small
+Grey Capuchin species.</p>
+
+<p><em>Bagromeh Meroe.—March</em> 4. During the last night we have
+passed the following villages:—</p>
+
+<table class="tabw40" id="t065">
+<tr>
+<th>On the west bank.</th>
+<th>Islands.</th>
+<th>East bank.</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Eggabrab.</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Wady Abdelatif, or Valley of the Slave of
+the Beneficent.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ennuba.</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">El Akareet.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Effadnia.</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Eddyiga.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ednamaat.</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Gul el Mutmoor.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Es Sagadi, or the Carpet.</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Es Sagadi (large island).</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">El Camair.</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Betasaat.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">El Helala, or the Holy Place.</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Shutaib.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">El Makmiah.</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Makmiah (small island). Es Shilalah, or
+the Cataract.</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Gibel Immeli.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Wady Youseph.</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Taadra.</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td rowspan="3" class="tdl-top hang1">Hillet el Gerf (village of
+the bank of the river).</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Assour.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Dankelah.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Bagromeh.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="nind">Under the cheerful influence of a tropical morning,
+at seven, we arrived at the site of the ancient capital of
+Ethiopia.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span><a id=
+"c06"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<p class="sch">MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="csum">HISTORICAL EVIDENCE THAT THIS IS THE CEMETERY OF
+THE CAPITAL OF ETHIOPIA. — THE IMPOSING APPEARANCE, NUMBER,
+POSITION, AND DIMENSIONS OF THE PYRAMIDS. — ETHIOPIAN ARCH. —
+PROOFS THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS DESCENDED FROM ETHIOPIA. —
+EDIFICES OF A PYRAMIDAL FORM THE BEST ADAPTED TO RESIST THE RAVAGES
+OF TIME. — PECULIAR STYLE OF THE SCULPTURE. — THE LANGUAGE OF
+HIEROGLYPHICS GENERALLY KNOWN IN ETHIOPIA. — THE STYLE OF THE
+SCULPTURE THE CRITERION OF THE AGE. — MONUMENTAL, GEOLOGICAL, AND
+HISTORICAL EVIDENCE THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS DESCENDED FROM
+MEROE. — DESCRIPTION OF THE SCULPTURE. — NAME OF MEROE ON THE
+MONUMENTS. — MEROE PECULIARLY INTERESTING, AS THE BIRTH-PLACE OF
+THE ARTS. — SANDSTONE QUARRIES. — SITE OF THE CITY. — VILLAGES OF
+THE PRESENT INHABITANTS. — AGRICULTURE. — CAILLIAUD.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">Agatharchides</span> says the
+Astaboras unites its stream with the Nile, and forms the Island of
+Meroe; and Strabo (lib. 17.) says Meroe is formed by the conflux of
+the Astapus and Astaboras. Diodorus states the island to be 375
+miles long, and 125 wide. The exact distance from Syene to Meroe is
+stated by Pliny to have been a subject of great dispute even in his
+time; which is the more extraordinary, when we consider the number
+of travellers who had then visited and even penetrated beyond the
+capital of Ethiopia. Pliny first mentions Delion as having
+travelled far beyond Meroe; afterwards Aristocreon, Bion, Basilis,
+and Simonides the younger, who wrote an account of that city.
+Timosthenes was sixty days in making the voyage by water.
+Eratosthenes reckoned the distance 625,000 paces, and Artemidorus
+600,000. Bion gives us a list of towns, but no distances: the sixty
+days of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> Timosthenes,
+by water, is too indefinite a date to be of any use, although it
+agrees tolerably well with the account of Herodotus.<a id=
+"FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>
+The 625,000 paces of Eratosthenes, equal to 590 miles, is about the
+length of the direct caravan road, which I find to be 560 miles to
+the town. Artemidorus’s distance of 600,000 paces, equal to 568
+miles, agrees more closely with my ascertained distance of that
+route, that is, across the Great Desert, by Korosko and
+Abou-Hammed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl05">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 5.</p>
+<a href="images/pl05_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl05.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">GENERAL PLAN OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>Pliny says that this dispute concerning the distance to Meroe
+was finally settled by the prætorians and tribune sent by Nero for
+the purpose of exploring the country, which he had some intention
+to make a conquest of. There is little doubt, I conceive, that
+these men would follow the Nile, in order to observe all the towns,
+and report what resources there would be for an army. This will
+account for their calculating the distance to the island at 874,000
+paces (817 English miles). Following most of the sinuosities of the
+Nile, I find it about forty miles more; but, as it cannot be
+supposed that they did not occasionally avail themselves of some of
+the many shorter routes now followed by the caravans, this may be
+considered to correspond with sufficient exactness.</p>
+
+<p>Pliny computes from Napata to the Island of Meroe, 360,000 paces
+(340 English miles). If Gibel el Birkel be the site of ancient
+Napata, the distance by the longest road is only 240, a difference
+of 100 miles; I therefore conceive that Gibel el Birkel cannot be
+the site of the ancient city of Napata, which, I think, we must
+look for 100 miles lower down the river, perhaps at Old Dongolah.
+Ptolemy places it much more to the north. Pliny says, that from the
+commencement of the island to the town is 70,000 paces (66 English
+miles). I found the distance to be nearly 60 miles; a difference
+only of 6 miles: but these discrepancies are not surprising when we
+consider the vague information and dubious authorities from which
+he acknowledges that he compiled his account. I suggested, in
+crossing the Great Desert, the probability<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_68">[68]</span> of its having formerly contained
+establishments and wells, at different stations, for the
+convenience of a more civilised population, and of this route
+having been anciently much more frequented by travellers. There is
+every reason then to suppose that Eratosthenes and Artemidorus took
+this route; which will make their calculations, as well as those of
+the prætorians by the Nile, accord very satisfactorily with the
+position of these ruins. Without bringing forward other proofs, the
+authority of Ptolemy is sufficient to dispel any doubt that might
+possibly remain upon the subject. That geographer places the
+capital of Ethiopia in latitude 16° 26′; a difference only of 30′
+from the observation of Cailliaud. It is impossible to conceive the
+observation of that geographer to be exactly correct (which,
+indeed, is rarely the case); for, besides the absence of other
+ruins, we cannot imagine that there could have been another town so
+near the capital with such splendid cemeteries as these.</p>
+
+<p>Never were my feelings more ardently excited than in
+approaching, after so tedious a journey, to this magnificent
+Necropolis. The appearance of the Pyramids, in the distance,
+announced their importance; but I was gratified beyond my most
+sanguine expectations, when I found myself in the midst of them.
+The pyramids of Geezah are magnificent, wonderful from their
+stupendous magnitude; but for picturesque effect and elegance of
+architectural design, I infinitely prefer these of Meroe. I
+expected to find few such remains here, and certainly nothing so
+imposing, so interesting, as these sepulchres, doubtless of the
+kings and queens of Ethiopia. I stood for some time lost in
+admiration. From every point of view I saw magnificent groups,
+pyramid rising behind pyramid, while the dilapidated state of many
+did not render them less interesting, though less beautiful as
+works of art. I easily restored them in my imagination; and these
+effects of the ravages of time carried back my thoughts to more
+distant ages.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#pl08">Plate VIII.</a> faithfully represents the
+principal group of the pyramids, and their present state of
+preservation, and the annexed<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_69">[69]</span> view exhibits the most interesting of that
+group in detail. As every stone in these plates is drawn with the
+camera lucida, the reader will have the opportunity of studying
+their construction, and I may also add (particularly in the case of
+<a href="#pl09">Plate IX.</a>), of appreciating their picturesque
+appearance.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl06">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 6.</p>
+<a href="images/pl06.jpg"><img src='images/pl06.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PRINCIPAL GROUP OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The porticoes on the east side of each pyramid soon attracted my
+attention, and I passed eagerly from one to the other, delighted to
+find in several of them tablets of sculpture and hieroglyphics,
+which, few as they are, have, I trust, given us the assurance of
+the locality, and will, I hope, throw some light upon the mythology
+and arts of the Ethiopians. There are the remains and traces of
+eighty of these pyramids (see <a href="#pl05">Plate V.</a>): they
+consist chiefly in three groups. The principal and most imposing,
+at which I arrived first, is situated on a hill, two miles and a
+half from the river, commanding an extensive view of the plain.
+This group is arranged (see <a href="#pl06">Plate VI.</a>) nearly
+in the form of a bow, the string of which from A to W is 1050 feet,
+and following the curved <em>alignement</em> of the pyramids from A
+to D, 625; D to W, 850, making in total extent 1425 feet.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i03"><a href="images/i03.jpg"><img src='images/i03.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>The plan will show
+that no regularity has been maintained in their position. Thus, the
+façade of portico A (see <a href="#pl06">Plan</a>) faces about
+north-east, while the generality of the other porticoes vary from
+east to south-east. The circumstance of the porticoes fronting
+generally towards the east, and not one to the north and
+south-west, proves a religious observance; but that there was no
+astronomical object in view, in their porticoes facing the rising
+sun, is certain from the variation in the directions, and from
+there being no attempt at mathematical precision. Although we
+cannot attribute to them the scientific object conceived by some to
+have been contemplated in the location of the pyramids of Memphis,
+still a happier combination of position could not be imagined for
+producing upon the mind those impressive feelings which the royal
+cemeteries of kings of an age so distant, and of a nation once so
+great and powerful, naturally inspire.<a id=
+"FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class=
+"fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>The following account of the different measurements of the
+pyramids will show the dissimilarity of their size. A (see <a href=
+"#pl06">Plate VI.</a>) is 32 feet square; B, 42 feet square; C, 52
+feet square; D, 31 feet from east to west, and 27 feet 6 inches
+from north to south; F, 60 feet square; G, joined to the latter, of
+the same size; H, 63 feet square; I, 42 feet 6 inches by 40 feet;
+K, 42 feet square; L, 26 feet 6 inches by 23 feet 6 inches; M, 26
+feet 6 inches by 21 feet; N, 29 feet square; O, 63 (this is without
+a portico); P, only 17 feet square, without a portico; R, 61 feet
+square; S, 30 feet square; T, 50 feet square; U, 29 feet square, V,
+37 feet north to south, 39 feet east to west; W, 20 feet square; X,
+20 feet square. Seven marked Y consist of pyramids in such a ruined
+condition that the exact plan cannot now be ascertained; but some
+of them, from the size of the porticoes, which can still be traced,
+have evidently been of importance.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw3">
+<figure id="pl07">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 7.</p>
+<a href="images/pl07.jpg"><img src='images/pl07.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>London. Published by Longman, Rees &
+C<sup>o</sup>. April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The pyramids (Plate <a href="#pl07">No. VII.</a>) restored
+architecturally, will give the best idea of their original form and
+ornaments. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>
+pyramid No. 3. is 60 feet in diameter at the base, and 60 feet
+high; and is constructed, like most of the others, as shown in the
+plates, of stones, generally one foot high and two feet and a half
+long. The rim at the angles of No. III. is a great additional
+beauty; and many of them are thus ornamented. Most of them can be
+ascended; but the surfaces of some (as of Nos. 1. and 2.) are quite
+smooth. The appearance of a window in No. 1., thirteen feet from
+the summit, is curious; but it is merely an architectural ornament,
+and not for the purpose of admitting light into any room of the
+interior. There are thirty-one pyramids in the group, of which the
+plans of twenty-three may be traced; while to the south-east is
+another group of thirteen, in some degree of preservation, as will
+be seen by the above view. There are three other groups, two
+consisting of two pyramids each, and the other of six (see General
+Plan, <a href="#pl05">Plate V.</a>); and at 5600 feet to the west
+of the chief group, may be traced the remains of twenty-five
+pyramids, but almost buried.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i04"><a href="images/i04.jpg"><img src='images/i04.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">SOUTH-EAST GROUP OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>The porticoes I
+have before mentioned, situated on the eastern side of all the
+pyramids, consist generally of one room, which varies from 12 to 6
+feet in length, and from 11 to 6 feet in width. The portico of
+pyramid H consists of two rooms, the one leading out of the other:
+the first 8 feet long and 12 feet broad; the second the same
+breadth, but only 6 feet in length. Three steps, each 8 inches deep
+and 6 inches high, lead into the portico of No. 3. <a href=
+"#pl07">Plate VII.</a> The doorway is 3 feet 10 inches deep; the
+portico is 13 feet 8 inches long, and 7 feet 6 inches wide; the
+height of the façade is 18 feet 4 inches.</p>
+
+<p>The façades of these porticoes are very elegant. In their forms
+we can clearly trace the origin of the Egyptian propylons. That of
+No. 3. <a href="#pl07">Plate VII.</a> consists of a doorway 3 feet
+wide, and the doorposts 6 inches wide. Above the door is an
+architrave, over which is a square beading, and over it, as in
+Egyptian edifices, rises a cornice ornamented with the globe and
+wings. The door is 11 feet 6 inches high, and, including the
+architrave and cornice, 14 feet. The buttresses, on each side of
+the door, have a slight inclination inwards, but not so much as the
+Egyptian propylons. They measure at their base 7 feet 6 inches, at
+their summit 7 feet; others, 5 feet by 4 feet 8 inches and 5 feet
+by 4 feet 10 inches. These measurements include the square beading
+at the angles. In Egyptian architecture this beading would be
+round. The square form here adopted, being more simple, affords
+another reason for supposing that the first idea of this great
+ornament to the Egyptian temples originated in Ethiopia. The height
+of this portico is 11 feet 4 inches: that of the pylons of all the
+porticoes nearly the same, whatever may be the height of the
+pyramids; but the length and width of the porticoes seem to vary in
+proportion to the size of the pyramids. At the extremity of most of
+these porticoes, opposite the entrance, is the representation of a
+monolithic temple, ornamented with sculpture, all very much
+defaced.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw4">
+<figure id="pl08">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 8.</p>
+<a href="images/pl08.jpg"><img src='images/pl08.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by C. Hullmandel from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>It is evident
+that, from motives of curiosity, or perhaps avarice, attempts have
+been made to open many of the pyramids, but without success. From
+the appearance of those which have been partially broken into, I do
+not perceive the slightest probability that any of them contain
+galleries. Probably they are constructed over wells in which the
+bodies are deposited. That they are places of sepulture cannot be
+doubted, from their position, number, and, most particularly, from
+the subjects of the sculpture on the walls, which I will presently
+describe. One of the porches or porticoes is most interestingly
+curious, the roof being arched, in a regular masonic style, with
+what may be called a keystone. (See <a href="#pl07">Plate VII.</a>)
+This arch consists of four and five stones alternately; but,
+notwithstanding this irregularity, the principle is the same, the
+stones being held together only by lateral pressure. I trust to be
+able to establish, beyond dispute, that the arch has its origin in
+Ethiopia. The style of the sculpture in this portico, and the
+hieroglyphic names of kings on porticoes ornamented in a similar
+style, being, as I hope to prove, much more ancient than any in
+Egypt, where there is no specimen of a stone arch constructed in so
+regular a manner, we may consider such proficiency in architectural
+knowledge as a decided proof of the advanced state of the arts, at
+a very remote period, in this country.<a id=
+"FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class=
+"fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>A question which has long engaged the attention of literary men
+is, whether the Ethiopians derived their knowledge of the arts from
+the Egyptians, or the latter from the former. One of these
+hypotheses must be admitted, as the similarity of the style
+evidently denotes a common origin. These pyramids belong, without
+doubt, to the remotest age. No edifice, perhaps, is better
+calculated to resist the ravages of time, or the destructive
+efforts of man, than the pyramid; particularly when constructed, as
+these are, without any<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_74">[74]</span> chambers in the interior. In a country where
+earthquakes are unknown, little rain falls, and the wind is seldom
+violent, ages must elapse before these vast masses of stone could
+be much dilapidated, unless buried by the desert, or carried away
+by man as materials for other buildings. The porticoes even of the
+pyramids that are standing, although adapted to their proportions,
+are almost all injured, and most of them destroyed. There are no
+symptoms of fanatical violence having been exercised on what
+remains. Their ruined and defaced condition must be entirely
+attributed to their great antiquity.<a id=
+"FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class=
+"fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>The sculpture is in a very peculiar style, which can scarcely be
+called good: the large figures, in particular, display a certain
+rotundity of form which I never observed in any Egyptian sculpture.
+The smaller figures have also this peculiarity; but, from their
+dimensions, it is not quite so perceptible, at least not so
+striking. The hieroglyphics are very much defaced; indeed, those I
+have copied are almost all that remain. The Ethiopians did not
+group their hieroglyphics so well as the Egyptians: their striking
+deficiency, in this respect, proves either a great corruption from
+the Egyptian style, or, most probably, a great improvement made by
+the latter on the Ethiopian invention. This is the more
+extraordinary, as Diodorus informs us that the knowledge of
+hieroglyphics was, in Egypt, confined to the priests: but that, in
+Ethiopia, they were understood by all.</p>
+
+<p>To any one who, like me, has made a long study of Egyptian
+monuments, the style of the sculpture, even in the absence of any
+known name, is generally sufficient to determine its epoch. This
+fact, of which those travellers who have spent any length of time
+in Egypt will be fully aware, may give additional<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> weight to my opinion of this
+sculpture. It is all executed in basso relievo, with the exception
+of the hieroglyphics, which are in intaglio. The style is certainly
+by no means equal to the best at Thebes. It is unlike the style of
+the age of Osirtesen, the Thothmes, Rameses II. (Augustan age),
+Rameses III. (first decline), the florid style during the reign of
+Psammitichus, or the clumsy inelegant productions of the Persian (I
+refer to the sculpture in the temple of Darius in the Oasis Magna),
+Ptolemaic, or Roman dynasties. There is no resemblance to any of
+these styles, or appearance of its being a corruption from them.
+The ornaments, on the fragments which still exist, are all
+evidently peculiar to the country. Of the few that still remain,
+many are not found in Egypt, and appear to represent the rites of a
+religion much more simple and pure than the corrupted Egyptian
+mythology. They bear the stamp of originality, and I should say,
+therefore, that the Ethiopian style is antecedent to the others;
+that it is the earliest, though not the best.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl09">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 9.</p>
+<a href="images/pl09.jpg"><img src='images/pl09.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>“The Ethiopians,” says Diodorus, “describe the Egyptians as one
+of their colonies led into Egypt by Osiris. They pretend, also,
+that Egypt, at the commencement of the world, was nothing but a
+morass; and that the inundations of the Nile, carrying down a great
+quantity of the alluvial soil of Ethiopia, had at length filled it
+up, and made it a part of the continent; and we see,” he says, “at
+the mouth of the Nile, a particularity which seems to prove that
+the formation of Egypt is the work of the river. After the
+inundation, we remark that the sea has repelled on the shore large
+masses of the alluvial soil, and that the land is increased.” Many
+writers on Egypt have confirmed this statement of Diodorus. The
+gradual increase of the depth of soil around different antiquities
+enabled the French <em>savants</em>, unassisted by the science of
+hieroglyphics, to decide, in many instances with tolerable
+accuracy, the date of their construction. The depth of the alluvial
+soil has ever been, and still continues, increasing; and as this
+progressive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> increase
+may, in every instance, be ascertained, there must have been a
+period when there was little or none; when Egypt was a mere morass,
+or rather a desert. The great population, power, riches, and
+civilisation of the Egyptians astonish us, particularly as we know
+that their prosperity was almost entirely derived from agriculture,
+and that the fertility of the land was produced altogether by the
+periodical overflowings of the Nile. These spread abundance and
+happiness over the country, created numberless beautiful islands,
+and changed into a smiling, luxuriant valley what was originally a
+morass, or, more properly speaking, an arid desert.</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent0">“Et viridem Ægyptum nigrâ fœcundat
+arenâ.”<a id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class=
+"fnanchor">[17]</a></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The first cause, then, of all this fruitfulness was Ethiopia. No
+one, I think, will conceive it probable that a country originally
+possessing such advantages could have been long unselected by the
+descendants of Noah. Herodotus also calls the Ethiopians
+aboriginal. Considering, then, the rapidity with which man
+multiplies in a hot climate where no Malthusian restraints operate,
+and in the full enjoyment of the ease and abundance which so rich a
+soil must have secured to them, I think it not unreasonable to
+conclude that Ethiopia, even before Egypt emerged from the Nile,
+was peopled by a numerous and powerful race. I cannot conceive that
+a country possessing such agricultural and other advantages—and
+probably, on that account, the resort of surrounding and less
+favoured nations—could long remain poor. Riches would introduce a
+taste for elegance, and afford encouragement to invention; hence
+the arts would derive their origin. The population increasing,
+while the land, owing to the spoliations of the river, diminished
+in extent and richness, the necessity of emigration became obvious.
+At the command of their oracle, as was their custom (see Herodotus,
+ii. 139.), they quitted their<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_77">[77]</span> homes and proceeded along the course of the
+river; settling in the lower valley of the Nile: they would plant
+there the religion, arts, and knowledge of their country. This
+conclusion is confirmed by the following strong passage from
+Diodorus, proving historically what is my own conviction from the
+examination of their monumental remains. “It is from the
+Ethiopians,” says he, “that the Egyptians learned to honour their
+kings as gods, to bury their dead with so much pomp; and their
+sculpture and their writing (hieroglyphics) had their origin in
+Ethiopia.”<a id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class=
+"fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl10">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 10.</p>
+<a href="images/pl10_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl10.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<p class="ipubr"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="cp3">SCULPTURE IN ONE OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The following is a description of the most important pieces of
+sculpture which I found on the walls of the porticoes. (<a href=
+"#pl10">Plate X.</a> Sculpture.—Meroe.)</p>
+
+<p>The principal figure in this plate is a queen, plainly attired
+in a long robe, tight at the neck and ankles, and, what is not
+usual in Egyptian sculpture, closely fitted to the legs. The whole
+figure is singularly dissimilar to those represented in the
+sculptures of Egypt. It is strongly marked by corpulency, a quality
+still so desired by Eastern beauties; a curious circumstance, since
+this rotundity of form, which is the distinguishing feature of
+Ethiopian sculpture, and which, making its figures more bulky, and,
+perhaps, clumsy, than the Egyptian, is nevertheless rather pleasing
+to the eye, and, I think, more natural. I made this drawing with
+the camera lucida, in order to give the figure exactly, without any
+exaggeration. It will be observed that there are defects in the
+proportions, similar and as numerous as in Egyptian sculpture; for
+instance, the faulty manner of drawing the eye, the shortness of
+the arms, and the form not being fully made out. This queen has in
+one hand the lash of Osiris, and in the other a lotus flower. She
+is on the seat having the form of a lion, which differs very little
+from the one we often see on the walls of the temples<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> of Egypt. Her sandals greatly
+resemble some specimens I have seen at Thebes, and are not unlike
+those the peasants here now wear. She is seated under a canopy, the
+top of which is decorated with the common Egyptian ornament of the
+heads and necks of serpents.</p>
+
+<p>Opposite to her have been placed three rows of figures, the
+first of which is quite destroyed; the second is injured, but
+sufficiently entire to render all the hieroglyphics and figures
+intelligible. The first represents a female pouring out libations
+to the queen. The vase into which the liquid is represented as
+falling has a shape which I have never seen in Egypt. This figure
+has the same rotundity of form, though, from the small scale, it is
+less conspicuous in my drawing. Behind this are six smaller figures
+or divinities. The first, from his attributes, and also the
+hieroglyphics, is the god Thoth, with both hands raised. The next
+is Horus, with two vases in his hands, from one of which he is
+apparently pouring water upon plants in two vases, on a stand which
+has nearly the form of a lotus-flower. Anubis is the next divinity,
+and he also has a vase in his hand. On one side of this latter
+figure is a vase, and on the other the lotus flower-stand. After
+these figures is Kneph, behind whom is a rude and ugly-shaped vase:
+then follow two figures very much defaced. From the hieroglyphics,
+one of them must be Seb, but those of the other I am not acquainted
+with. The only figure discernible in the third row is Anubis,
+pouring libations. This plate then exhibits four of the divinities
+generally represented in the judgment-scenes and mysteries of the
+dead. Thoth, Horus, Anubis, and Kneph present offerings to the
+queen, the occupant of the tomb.</p>
+
+<p>The consideration of the hieroglyphics of this and the other
+sculptures on the tombs of Meroe I will defer until another
+opportunity; only remarking, that the composition of the groups is
+rather inferior to that in the Egyptian edifices, and that the
+names in the ovals are unknown. I must also state that it appears
+to me that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> there is
+the name of Meroe in the last row of the tablet, before the queen.
+There is the hieroglyphic of three hills, emblematical of land; the
+plough and the disk, which, with the vowels generally omitted, may
+be read, land of Mero, or, in Coptic, <span class="copt">Ⲙⲉ
+ⲢⲎ</span>, “dilectus Sol,” not an inappropriate name. I have an
+imperfect drawing (given me by Sir William Gell) of a coin found by
+Mr. Ruppell, on one side of which is a boat and the three long
+lines, emblematical of the inundation. Above the boat are,
+apparently, the same two hieroglyphics of the plough and disk,
+which I conceive to be the name of the capital of Ethiopia.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl11">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 11.</p>
+<a href="images/pl11_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl11.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp3">SCULPTURE IN THE PORTICO OF A PYRAMID AT MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><a href="#pl11">Plate XI.</a> This exhibits a subject more
+interesting. There has seemingly been a figure, similar to the
+queen (in <a href="#pl10">Plate X.</a>), on a lion-formed seat, but
+it is now too much defaced to discover exactly whether it has been
+a king or a queen. The style of the sculpture is, however,
+evidently Ethiopian. The centre of this group, also, is divided
+into three rows. The highest contains a representation similar to
+part of the great procession in the portico of Medenet Abou, at
+Thebes. In this interesting little fragment we have a proof that
+the Egyptians derived even their religious ceremonies from the
+Ethiopians. Although this row of figures is exceedingly injured, I
+distinguished clearly the jackal, ibis, and hawk standards, carried
+by priests shaved, and with long robes, like those in the
+procession at Medenet Abou; thus confirming what Diodorus says,
+that “the priests in Ethiopia observe the same order and the same
+customs as the Egyptians. Those who are devoted to the worship of
+the gods purify themselves, shave, and dress, in the same manner.”
+Following these standard-bearers is a curious figure of Anubis and
+four priests bearing a boat, but almost defaced. I cannot agree
+with those who suppose that this procession alludes to the
+expeditions of the Ethiopians, undertaken at the command of their
+oracle, or that it is as Heeren calls it the oracle ship. I
+consider it rather a religious type, emblematical of<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> the passage of the soul into
+immortality; the voyage to “the undiscovered land, from whose
+bourne no traveller returns.”</p>
+
+<p>In the same row of this plate we have Isis, Osiris, Horus, and
+Thoth. The addition of the two former is important, when we
+consider that they are in a real Ethiopian edifice. Osiris is
+represented, as at Thebes, as president of Amenti, under the figure
+of a mummy; his lash in his hand, and the head-dress of the globe
+and feathers, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>In the third row, Isis, with the head-dress of the hieroglyphic
+called the throne, is caressing a hawk on a pedestal; the type of
+her son Horus. The third row contains a variety of elegant vases.
+We have here the true origin of many that were once thought Greek,
+and only recently acknowledged to be Egyptian. The large figure,
+offering with one hand a vase of incense, and with the other
+pouring libations, is remarkable for his short girdle, made of the
+skin of a lion. This is another proof of the originality of the
+style. The common Egyptian and Ethiopian lion-formed seat had also,
+very probably, its origin here, where lions abounded. If in Egypt
+now, so thinly inhabited (compared to what it formerly was), there
+are none of these animals, it cannot be supposed that they existed
+there when the population was so much denser. Diodorus says, that,
+as there was no wool in Ethiopia, the inhabitants covered their
+nakedness with the skins of beasts; and the Ethiopians, under
+Arsamenes (Herod. vii. 69.), are described as clothed with the
+skins of panthers and lions. Strabo also says that some of them
+only wear a cincture of skins, the sheep being without wool. The
+ornament at the bottom of this plate is unique, representing
+serpents standing erect, with arms and hands, in which they are
+each holding a feather, the symbol of truth. I have never seen this
+representation in Egypt, but it reminds me of some of the subjects
+in the tombs of the kings. The ornament at the top of this plate,
+representing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> stars,
+that is, the heavens, is constantly seen in Egypt, and is also,
+seemingly, of Ethiopian derivation.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl12">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 12.</p>
+<a href="images/pl12_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl12.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp3">SCULPTURE IN A PYRAMID AT MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><a href="#pl12">Plate XII.</a> (the third of Sculpture)
+represents the inner tablet, or the three rows of figures, in a
+subject upon the opposite wall, and is connected with the fragments
+of two figures, and adorned with decorations defaced, but
+apparently so precisely the same as <a href="#pl11">Plate XI.</a>
+that I have thought it unnecessary to repeat them. The smaller
+figures in this subject are also less perfect. In the first row is
+the fragment of a figure certainly meant for Osiris; before him may
+be distinguished four very small divinities, perhaps the genii of
+Amenti, and a lion, seated on a pedestal, the executioner of
+justice. In the same row is a curious group of four hogs. I have
+been told that a representation of these animals once existed on a
+tomb at Thebes; but this is the first time I have seen them
+sculptured on any edifice in the valley of the Nile. In the second
+row is a pedestal, upon which is the model of a monolithic temple.
+On one side of the latter is a goose, and on the other a hawk,
+emblematical of the divinities Seb and Horus; after which there is
+a representation of a tree, with a figure on each side, followed by
+Thoth, with his hands raised towards the figure of a mummy: the
+head of the latter is defaced; but its shape is important, as
+proving that the Ethiopians were acquainted with the art of
+embalming. The third row contains a pedestal, or altar, on which
+three figures are seated. One with the globe and horns is Isis; the
+third, Horus; the other, is defaced: behind these is a large
+twisted serpent. In the second row of this tablet, and also in
+<a href="#pl11">Plate XI.,</a> is an altar or pedestal, on which
+are cakes of bread, and in the midst of them the flowers of the
+lotus; indicating, I conceive, that they are the bread of that
+plant. The figure with a ceinture of lion’s skin, in both these
+subjects, is pouring libations on the flowers, symbolical, perhaps,
+of the reign of the king, who, like the inundation of the river,
+had spread abundance and prosperity over the land. There were some
+other fragments on the<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_82">[82]</span> porticoes, and in one I observed a balance,
+and Thoth and Horus weighing the actions of the deceased before the
+judge, Osiris; a common subject on the papyrus, and which is also
+seen on the walls of the Temple of Athor at Thebes, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>At the extremity of each portico, as before observed, is the
+representation of a monolithic temple, above which are the traces
+of a funeral boat filled with figures, but all too defaced to be
+distinctly made out. In the centre of each boat is the sphere in
+the usual concave socket; and I was able, with much difficulty, to
+distinguish the divinities Kneph and Anubis. On each side of the
+boat is a pedestal on which is the bird with a human face
+representing the soul: one has a sphere on its head. Diodorus
+mentions that some of the Ethiopians preserved the bodies of their
+relations in glass (probably alabaster) cases, in order to have
+them always before their eyes. These porticoes may have been used
+to contain such cases.</p>
+
+<p>I have carefully described this interesting and magnificent
+cemetery; but how shall I attempt to express the feelings of the
+traveller on treading such hallowed ground? One who, in passionate
+admiration for the arts, had visited the chief galleries of Europe,
+gazed upon the breathing image of divinity in the Apollo of the
+Vatican, or the deep expression of the most poetical of statues,
+the Dying Gladiator of the Capitol; who had beheld and felt the
+pictorial creations of a Raphael and a Correggio, and, with
+delight, contemplated Grecian, Roman, and modern sculpture, could
+not be unmoved at finding himself on the site of the very
+metropolis where those arts had their origin. The traveller who has
+seen the architectural antiquities of Rome, and has admired the
+magnificent use that nation has made of the arch, making it the
+chief ornament of their baths, palaces, and temples, would be
+further deeply interested at finding here the origin of that
+discovery. These emotions would be felt with peculiar force by one
+who, like myself, had been fortunate enough to trace art through
+her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> earliest
+creations,—from the splendid Gothic edifices of the north to the
+ruins of the Eternal City—from Rome to Magna Græcia—from the
+magnificent Temple of Neptune at Pæstum to the still purer
+antiquities of Sicily, particularly at Girgenti, where nature and
+art seem to have vied with each other—from that interesting island
+to the Morea and the city of Minerva, where the knowledge of the
+arts, sown in the most genial soil, produced the perfection of
+elegance, chasteness, and magnificence. But the seeds of the
+knowledge of the Greeks were derived from Egypt; and the Egyptians
+received their civilisation from the Ethiopians, and from Meroe,
+where I now am writing. The beautiful sepulchres of that city
+afford satisfactory evidence of the correctness of the historical
+records. Where a taste for the arts had reached to such perfection,
+we may rest assured that other intellectual pursuits were not
+neglected, nor the sciences entirely unknown. Now, however, her
+schools are closed for ever, without a vestige of them remaining.
+Of the houses of her philosophers, not a stone rests upon another;
+and where civilisation and learning once reigned, ignorance and
+barbarism have reassumed the sway.</p>
+
+<p>These pyramids are of sandstone, the quarries of which are in
+the range of hills to the east. The stone is rather softer than the
+Egyptian, which, added to the great antiquity, may account for the
+very dilapidated state of most of these ruins; and also for the
+sculpture and hieroglyphics being so defaced. Time, and the burning
+rays of a tropical sun, have given them a brownish red tint, in
+some parts nearly black. As the operation of many ages is required
+to make this change on a light-coloured sandstone, a further proof
+is afforded of the great antiquity of the monuments. The stones
+being small, and easily removed, it is fortunate that the chief
+group of pyramids is so far distant from the Nile; otherwise, like
+those on the plain, near the river, a great proportion of them
+might have been carried away as materials for the erection of more
+modern edifices.</p>
+
+<p>This, then, is the Necropolis, or City of the Dead. But
+where<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> was Meroe, its
+temples and palaces? A large space, about 2000 feet in length, and
+the same distance from the river, strewed with burnt brick and with
+some fragments of walls, and stones similar to those used in the
+erection of the pyramids, formed, doubtless, part of that
+celebrated site. The idea that this is the exact situation of the
+city is strengthened by the remark of Strabo, that the walls of the
+habitations were built of bricks: Εν δε ταις πολεσιν αἱ οικησεις εκ
+φοινικινων σχιζων διαπλεκομεναι και τοιχων εκ πλινθων. These
+indicate, without doubt, the site of that cradle of the arts which
+distinguish a civilised from a barbarous society. Of the birthplace
+of the arts and sciences, the wild natives of the adjacent villages
+have made a miserable burying-place: of the city of the learned—its
+“cloud-clapt towers,” its “gorgeous palaces,” its “solemn temples,”
+there is “left not a rack behind.” The sepulchres alone of her
+departed kings have fulfilled their destination of surviving the
+habitations which their philosophy taught them to consider but as
+inns, and are now fast mouldering into dust. As at Memphis,
+scarcely a trace of a palace or a temple is to be seen. In this
+once populous plain I saw the timid gazelles fearlessly pasturing.
+The hyenas and wolves abound in the neighbouring hills. This
+morning Signor B. met a man with the head of one which he was
+carrying in triumph to his village: he said that he had been
+attacked at once by three small ones when alone, and with no weapon
+but his lance. The small villages of Bagromeh<a id=
+"FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>,
+south of the ruins, consist of circular cottages with thatched
+conical roofs. The peasants have numerous flocks, which they send
+to pasture on the plain. On the banks of the river I observed
+cotton, dourah, and barley. Such is the present state of Meroe. It
+is an ample requital for my toilsome journey, to have been the
+first to bring to England accurate architectural drawings, &amp;c.
+of all the remains of the ancient capital of Ethiopia, that city
+which will ever live in the grateful recollection of those who love
+the arts.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span><em>March 6.</em>
+My rais informed me, this morning, that he could wait no longer;
+that his orders from the Mahmoor were only to show us the ruins;
+that he knew the governor wanted the boat; and that he would not
+stay another night on any consideration. I should have wished to
+have remained a few days more at this interesting place,
+particularly with the view of making some excavations, but I must
+confess I had no great hopes of the latter being of much avail.
+Since the enterprising French traveller, M. Cailliaud was here, the
+desert must have made great encroachments on the ruins in the
+plain, as I saw nothing of the traces and almost plan, of a temple
+which he has marked in his General Plate, No. XXXI.</p>
+
+<p>It will be alleged that there are a great many discrepancies
+between my architectural and picturesque views and those of M.
+Cailliaud. I have only to remark that the former are by M. Bandoni,
+a most skilful Italian architect and painter of acknowledged
+reputation, whose sufficient recommendation to me was the patronage
+of that most distinguished of British antiquarians, Sir William
+Gell. The picturesque views are drawn by myself, with the utmost
+care and attention, and with the camera lucida; so that I can vouch
+for the correct position of every stone. M. Cailliaud has given
+several pieces of sculpture from the propylons. I observed that the
+façades of two of the porticoes were ornamented with sculpture,
+representing a king sacrificing prisoners—a subject so often seen
+in Egypt: they were very much injured; but had they struck me as
+being so extraordinary as he has represented them, I should
+certainly have drawn them separately. The figure which appears in
+my camera view (<a href="#pl09">Plate IX.</a>) has none of those
+peculiarities. The variations in the directions of the pyramids are
+most accurately marked; for I was very particular in my directions
+to Mr. B. on that subject. M. Cailliaud has left me the opportunity
+of being the first to present to the public several interesting
+pieces of sculpture, and numerous tablets which decorate the
+interior of the porticoes.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span><a id=
+"c07"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">DEPARTURE FROM THE RUINS. — NUMEROUS VILLAGES, ONE
+CALLED MEROUEER. — SHENDY. — FORTIFIED HOUSE OF THE MELEK. —
+INSIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRESENT CAPITALS OF ETHIOPIA. — POPULATION OF
+SHENDY. — BAZAAR. — PRICES OF CAMELS, SLAVES, ETC. — MANNER OF
+TRANSACTING BUSINESS. — WOMEN OF SHENDY. — SLAVE SYSTEM. — POWER OF
+THE ANCIENT MELEKS. — THEIR WIVES. — ARMY OF THE PASHA. — DEATH OF
+ISMAEL PASHA. — METAMMAH. — THE KATSHEF OF THAT PLACE AND HIS
+COURT. — KATSHEF OF SHENDY.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">At</span> five P.M., I left, with
+great regret, the site of Meroe, and stopped for the night at half
+past seven. The navigation of the river, in the dark, at this
+season of the year, is dangerous, on account of the number of
+rocks. We have passed, this evening, the village of Abukatab, to
+the west, and on the east a large village called Kabushish, and an
+island of the same name. We passed Garburiah, a large village to
+the west, and we are now near El Gililife, a smaller one on the
+same side. Yesterday, and this morning, I was greatly alarmed for
+the health of my Dragoman. He has had a most violent dysentery,
+which I have at last cured with opium and calomel; the former
+sufficiently strong to keep him asleep. This attack might have been
+fatal to him had he not possessed a very strong constitution.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 7. We set sail this morning, at six, with a
+favourable wind, and passed, at nine, a large village called
+Meroueer, on the west side. The resemblance to the ancient name is
+obvious, but there are no remains. At ten we passed the village of
+Sofra, to the west; at half past ten, the village of Gaher, same
+side, and the small island of Addadiker. Shortly afterwards, we
+passed the village of Unukatab, and arrived at Shendy at
+twelve.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i05"><a href="images/i05.jpg"><img src='images/i05.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">FORTIFIED RESIDENCE OF THE ANCIENT MELEKS, OR KINGS,
+OF SHENDY.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_87">[87]</span><em>Shendy.</em>—On the eastern banks of the
+river is one of the old fortified houses of the Meleks, now the
+residence of the government. I called to pay my respects to the
+Katshef, but was informed that he was asleep. I proceeded to the
+town, which is about a mile distant from the river. Burckhardt, by
+his very detailed account of Shendy, conveys almost an impression
+that it is a considerable place; but, though the capital of a once
+important province, that succeeded to all that remains of the
+commerce of Meroe, as a city it can never have been worthy of much
+notice. Any of the little towns in Lower and Upper Egypt have ten
+times more the appearance of a metropolis. The houses are little
+better than mere hovels; there are no shops, no <em>cafés</em>: the
+country in the immediate vicinity is wretchedly barren. The town
+may now contain 600 or 700 houses, and not more than 3000 or 3500
+inhabitants. The dwellings are not crowded together, as in the
+villages of Egypt; they are spacious, and have often interior
+courts: the streets are wide, and there are in the town several
+open spaces, or squares, some of which are used as
+market-places.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>It fortunately
+happened to be the day of the bazaar, which gave me an opportunity
+of seeing what articles were exposed for sale, and also of
+observing the Arabs and peasants who attend the market. The most
+valuable articles offered for sale were camels, dromedaries, and
+slaves. The price of a male negro is from 10 to 20 dollars: they
+are preferred young, being then more docile and less lethargic than
+at a maturer age. Female slaves, when old, are valued according to
+their acquirements: when young, being destined for the harem, they
+rank according to their personal attractions, and vary from 30 to
+100 dollars. Abyssinians, when young and beautiful, as they often
+are, bring from 60 to 100 dollars. Camels were selling for 9 and 10
+dollars each,—the best, 12 and 14; dromedaries, 12 and 20; and even
+50 dollars for a high-bred Bishareen. There was a great show of
+oxen with humps on their shoulders, like those of ancient Egypt, as
+they are always represented on the walls. (See the one in the view
+of a Dongolah cottage, <a href="#pl36">Plate XXXVI.</a>) There were
+also sheep and goats in the bazaar: the sheep, 6 to 9 piastres
+(1<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> to 2<em>s.</em> 3<em>d.</em>), skin
+included. The price of the goats, if they yield much milk, 10
+piastres (2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em>). I remarked several peasants
+selling a coarse common kind of goat’s-milk cheese, for which there
+is apparently a great demand. The Cairo merchants bring a variety
+of articles: white cotton dresses; cutlery of a very inferior
+quality, such as twopenny knives, or razors, which sell here for
+fivepence; soap; Abyssinian coffee (very good); beads; shells;
+small glass mirrors; kohl (antimony), to tint their eyelids, and
+hennah to colour the hands of the swarthy beauties; and a variety
+of spices and essences.</p>
+
+<p>Their manner of dealing is peculiar. When I asked the price of a
+camel (for I thought of buying some for my journey homewards), they
+would not name one, but asked me how much I would give. I made an
+offer for a dromedary to a man, who refused it, but still declined
+saying how much he would demand. I soon gave<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_89">[89]</span> up such a tedious process of making a
+bargain. I observed some good specimens of the Shendyan beauties.
+(See <a href="#pl16">Plate XVI.</a>) They have their hair twisted
+in tresses and hanging down on each side of their faces; their
+dress is of coarse materials, but flowing, graceful, and generally
+adjusted with much taste and elegance.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw3">
+<figure id="pl16">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 16.</p>
+<a href="images/pl16.jpg"><img src='images/pl16.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by G. Scharf, from a Drawing by
+L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="width-half cp1">A WOMAN OF SHENDY.</td>
+<td class="width-half cp1">MOUSSA.<br>
+<span class="cp2">Son of a Melek of Berber.</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>Shendy, Berber, Dar Shageea, Dongolah, &amp;c., previous to
+their submission to the Pasha, had each its own Melek, independent
+or tributary to the great Melek of Sennaar. Each of the sons of
+these petty kings had estates assigned to him; but they all
+acknowledged the head of the family, that is, the reigning Melek,
+contributed to his support and defence, submitted to his laws and
+commands, and served him in war. This order of Meleks, or nobles,
+was most numerous; and they established their power by the same
+base system alluded to in my account of Berber, and to which I
+refer with reluctance, as developing the means by which the Meleks
+obtained political influence in this part of the interior of
+Africa. Such a profligate, and, fortunately, unique system of
+family aggrandisement tended obviously to the complete
+demoralisation of the country. They purchased, or made captive in
+their wars, female slaves; of which some possessed thirty, others
+as many as a hundred, and some five hundred. These unfortunate
+creatures, as already stated, were placed by the meleks in the
+different villages, and obliged to gratify the avarice of their
+masters, and earn their own scanty livelihood by the abandonment of
+their virtue. The only privilege these most wretched of slaves
+possess is, that when they have paid to the melek a sum equal to
+their purchase money or present value, the custom of the country
+precludes him from selling them. It is at his option to sell or not
+the child to the father. The price of the infant is generally from
+150 to 200 piastres. The daughters, when grown up, succeed to their
+mother’s “heritage of woe.” The compulsion under which these
+victims act is some apology for this systematic depravity. They
+pride themselves as superior to the common almæ, and are
+not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> considered in the
+same light by the virtuous women in the village, who never admit
+the almæ into their houses, or hold any intercourse with them.
+These slaves, on the contrary, are not only permitted to visit them
+and join in their occupations and festivals, but are admitted to
+their friendship. They are allowed to be present at their wedding
+and funeral ceremonies, though not to join in the dance. The sons
+of these slaves, as already noticed, are sometimes sold,
+particularly when the melek is in want of money; but generally they
+are brought up to cultivate the ground of their chief, and, when
+necessity requires, rally around his standard, and accompany him to
+battle. From their earliest infancy, they are entirely devoted to
+the despotic will of their melek; evincing great attachment to his
+person, and zeal in the execution of his commands, as the only
+means by which they can hope for emancipation. This singular kind
+of family connection may, perhaps, account for the supreme
+authority in this country having been so seldom disturbed, and for
+the rare occurrence of those revolutions so common in such petty
+uncivilised states. The result of the system was, that the melek
+had always a large force of slaves and dependants, besides those of
+the meleks his kinsmen, who were also implicitly devoted to his
+will, and deeply interested in maintaining the peace and security
+of the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>The meleks were the only aristocracy of the country. Each,
+before the Pasha’s domination, took four wives; and many,
+regardless of the limit set by the Koran, even more. They tell me
+that Melek Tumbol of Argo has had twenty-one.<a id=
+"FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>
+Their wives, who are always daughters of meleks, pass their time in
+the harem; for it is considered a degradation to have a son by a
+slave or woman of low rank, or to allow their wives to work. The
+Pasha, by depressing the meleks, has diminished,<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> but not destroyed, this system
+of slavery; and at some future period it may be the means of
+exciting a combined effort to expel his descendants. Serving, as
+some of the Shageea slaves do, in his army, they have, of course,
+learned the use of fire-arms, and could turn them against their
+oppressors. There are 500 of the Shageea tribe in the pay of the
+Pasha. But, perhaps aware that the security of their dominion over
+this country consists in their discipline, and the superiority of
+their arms, the government have not admitted into their army any of
+the Arab tribes of this vicinity; and these Shageeas being at a
+distance, near Habeesh, little danger is to be apprehended from
+them now: indeed, so long as they are so far distant with the army,
+they may be considered as hostages for the fidelity of their
+province. Hourshid Bey, the governor of Sennaar, besides the 500
+Shageea slaves, has also under his command nearly 5000 men,
+consisting of Mograbins, from Lower Egypt, Fellaheen, and Turks.
+With this force, he extends every campaign the Pasha’s dominion on
+the Blue River, and sends every year never less than 500, and often
+as many as 3000 slaves, the trophies of his victories, to
+Cairo.</p>
+
+<p>Before the conquest of Ismael Pasha, Shendy, I understand, was
+rather more populous: but this was the town where that unfortunate
+prince met his fate. The circumstances connected with this event,
+according to the information I obtained here, differ, in some
+respects, from those which have been stated by other travellers. It
+might seem that the accounts obtained by those who passed
+immediately after his death were likely to be most correct: but
+often the contrary is the case; for events in the course of time
+have new light thrown upon them, and the rashness and imprudence of
+Ismael Pasha were naturally glossed over at the moment. He came
+from Sennaar to Shendy with about ten Mamelukes. The Meleks Nimr
+(tiger) of Shendy, and Messayad of Metammah (a eunuch who once
+belonged to Sultan Foddal of Darfour), came to pay their homage to
+him. The Pasha demanded<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_92">[92]</span> of Nimr a subsidy, to the value of 100,000
+dollars, in money, slaves, and cattle: Nimr, in no very polite
+terms, declared his inability, when the Pasha, in a fit of passion,
+struck him with his pipe. Nimr, enraged at this insult, was on the
+point of drawing his sabre and attacking the Pasha; but Melek
+Messayad pacified him, advising him, in the dialect of the
+Bishareen, which they both understood, to delay his revenge until
+evening, and at present to promise a compliance with the exorbitant
+requisition. The two chiefs, after leaving the presence, ordered
+their slaves and people to prepare a quantity of wood. The Khasnar
+Dar Bey of the Pasha observed these preparations, and was overheard
+by an Arab advising the Prince to effect his escape: but the
+latter, with the pride peculiar to the Turks, replied, “Am I not a
+Pasha? and what Arab dare touch me?” A few hours after dark, they
+surrounded the house with faggots, set fire to them, and the
+unfortunate Prince and the Mamelukes who were with him perished in
+the flames. Nimr fled up the country, married a daughter of a king
+of Habeesh, and is still the inveterate enemy of the Turks. The
+same night Melek Messayad fell upon the few troops that were
+stationed at Metammah, and massacred them. Messayad was afterwards
+killed by the Deftar Dar Bey, as were also a great number of the
+Shendyans, suspected to be connected with the murder of the Prince.
+In consequence of this event, the government have made Metammah, on
+the opposite side of the river, their chief place of residence, and
+several of the inhabitants of Shendy have removed thither.</p>
+
+<p>Metammah, situated one hour’s walk from the river, is a much
+more desolate-looking place than even Shendy. You see streets full
+of sand, scarcely an inhabitant, no <em>brio</em>, no bazaar: the
+houses are common hovels. Such are the present capitals of
+Ethiopia. The only habitable abode is one of the fortified castles
+of the Sheakhs, now occupied by a Katshef, who commands this part
+of the province. I paid him a visit, but found<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_93">[93]</span> him a stupid fellow, and could procure no
+information from him on any subject, especially concerning the
+locality of the antiquities in the desert I was anxious to visit.
+His house presented a complete contrast to that of the governor of
+Berber, being filthy in the extreme, so that I was almost afraid to
+sit down on his divan. The servants who presented the coffee were
+the most wretchedly dressed fellows I have seen in the country. The
+conversation was chiefly about backsheesh (presents), and the
+spirit they exhibited, in discussing the prices of the camels I
+required for my journey into the desert, was very disgusting. The
+Katshef’s son entered the room, and fired off an English pistol at
+the window,—a Turkish hint that another pistol would be acceptable.
+The Katshef asked me to stop and dine with him; but really the
+appearance of the place was not sufficiently promising to induce me
+to accept his offer. He ordered me a horse to convey me back to my
+tent, and gave me a dirty scoundrel as a guide who did not know the
+road. The moon had not risen; and, it being extremely dark, we
+missed the track in crossing the plain: fortunately, the light of a
+fire, which I knew came from a hut near my boat, served me as a
+guide. The horse, several times, nearly fell, in consequence of the
+roughness of the ground. On arriving at my tent, I gave the urchin
+three piastres, with which he was not satisfied, although the
+clothes, or rather rags, on his back were not worth half the
+sum.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 8. I returned this morning to Shendy, and waited
+on the Katshef, an old retired officer, not now in the employ of
+the Pasha; but, having been useful in his day, he receives his pay,
+and lives here in good style. He gave us an excellent dinner: the
+most remarkable dish was a preparation of meat with <em>raib</em>,
+a kind of sour milk, which is very refreshing in this climate; he
+also assisted us in making the necessary preparations for our
+excursion into the desert.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span><a id=
+"c08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">DEPARTURE FROM SHENDY. — DIFFICULTIES. — DESERT. —
+VISIT FROM AND ANECDOTES OF LIONS. — IMMENSE RUINS. — CONFUSION OF
+THE PLAN. — BUILT BY BAD ARCHITECTS. — DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
+PRINCIPAL TEMPLE. — STYLE OF THE SCULPTURE. — OTHER RUINS. —
+SINGULAR SITUATION OF THE RUINS. — THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH THEY WERE
+CONSTRUCTED. — THEIR PROBABLE AGE.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">March</span> 9. We left Shendy
+later than we intended, having been delayed by the following little
+difficulties. I had engaged from the government six camels, with
+three drivers, of which they only sent me one driver. As I found I
+should lose a day, or perhaps two, in going back to Metammah, and
+there were said to be none procurable here, I was forced to yield
+this point. I had also stipulated for a Turkish soldier, who
+accompanied Cailliaud, and for a habeer (guide), and had agreed to
+give twelve piastres per day for these two persons. Before setting
+out, I asked the soldier, “where was the habeer?” “I am the
+habeer,” he said. “Where, then,” asked I, “is the soldier?” “Oh,”
+said he, “I am soldier and habeer both.” I was resolved not to
+start without another, my own men not being sufficient to load the
+camels. After a long dispute, he at length procured me an Arab.
+This is a specimen of the little annoyances to which travellers are
+generally liable in dealing with Turks. The desert to-day has had
+the appearance of a shrubbery, being richly covered with long
+yellow grass, acacias, tamarinds, and thorns, and enlivened with
+numerous herds of gazelles. Every two or three minutes we saw six
+or eight, but so wild that our attempts to approach them were
+fruitless.</p>
+
+<p><em>Ruins of Wady Owataib, or Mecaurat.—March</em> 10. We
+started<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> this morning
+at six, and at eleven arrived at these interesting ruins. We
+passed, at about nine, a range of soft sandstone hills, which run
+from east to west.</p>
+
+<p>I was surprised to find in this situation, which may be called
+the interior of the Desert, such extensive remains of antiquity.
+They consist of an edifice, containing temples, courts, corridors,
+&amp;c. destined for purposes not religious only, but civil,
+domestic, or military. After taking a general survey, I returned to
+my tent for my portfolio, pencils, &amp;c. My dragoman met me, with
+a bewildered look, and communicated to me intelligence which was
+any thing but agreeable. A man, who was driving cattle, the only
+person we have met to-day, came and asked my servants, who were
+pitching the tent, if they were not afraid of lions, as they seemed
+to be preparing to pass the night amongst the ruins. He told them
+that he brought his cattle here to pasture only during the day,
+when the lions are asleep in their dens among the mountains, but
+through the night they prowl all over this part of the plain; and
+only six nights ago four of them had killed three of his cattle,
+within 200 yards of our tent. He showed them the spot where their
+bones lay, and advised us immediately to quit this place, and
+remove either to the Nile, or to a distant mountain, whither he was
+going, and where we should be in safety. These tidings caused no
+slight consternation in my little caravan; some repented having
+come, others wished to return immediately; all seemed dismayed at
+the idea of passing the night exposed to such unpleasant visiters.
+Was I then to leave the antiquities of Meroe, and abandon the hope
+of being able to procure any further memorials of their
+magnificence? There were only two alternatives: to return with the
+mortification of having failed in one of the great objects of my
+journey, and still, as we could not arrive before night, perhaps
+incur the same danger; or to take the necessary precautions for
+defence in case of being attacked by these animals. I chose the
+latter course, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>
+made my men collect all the wood that could be found, to keep up
+fires during the night. I sent my dragoman and the Turkish soldier
+towards the neighbouring hills, to see if they could discover any
+traces of them. After an hour they returned, and said they had seen
+none. The fact was, my dragoman did not know their footprints, and
+the Turk concealed the truth. Scarcely had I finished an address to
+my artist and servants, endeavouring to assure them that, after
+this intelligence, we should, with proper precautions, be perfectly
+safe, when, looking down, I perceived, in my very tent, the
+distinct traces of a lion; but I put my foot upon them, and said
+nothing. I could discover no other marks about the ruins; but a
+very light wind is sufficient to efface the impression on a loose
+sandy desert like this. This evening I have established a watch,
+and kept it myself five hours. My servants are sleeping on the
+ground, according to their custom, and have taken the precaution to
+form the camels into a sort of fortification, by tying them down in
+a circle round themselves. They are now all sleeping soundly,
+unconscious of danger, except my habeer, who has fastened the heel
+of his camel to his own leg, knowing well that the instinct of that
+creature (trembling and restive whenever a lion is near) will warn
+him of danger, and at the same time the animal will be prevented
+from flying off and escaping without his master.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 11. I had not been long asleep, during the watch
+of my servants and artist, when I was suddenly roused. The Turk had
+seen two lions among the ruins, within 100 yards of my tent, and
+had fired his gun to frighten them away. I immediately ordered
+additional fires to be lighted: shortly afterwards, the peasant,
+who had advised us against encamping here, came to us for
+protection. By the light of the moon he had perceived the approach
+of two lions, which, he said, were behind him in the plain. I went
+a short distance from my tent, with the Turk, to reconnoitre, and I
+heard them roaring at no considerable distance. The<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> roar soon became very distinct,
+even in my tent, but it did not prevent my falling asleep, as I was
+dreadfully fatigued by the previous day’s work, the long watch I
+had made, and the excessive heat. This was yesterday extraordinary
+for the season, being 110° in the shade (of the temple), though the
+extreme has been hitherto 98° and 100°. I slept the remainder of
+the night. This morning we found that the four lions had rambled
+all over the ruins, and their traces were quite fresh in every
+part. They had evidently been deterred only by our fires from
+attacking us. I ascertained them, by their footsteps, to be two
+males and two females; one of the males must have been very large,
+the females much smaller.</p>
+
+<p>Every place and country has its danger, but few spread more
+alarm than this terror of the deserts. Seas and oceans have their
+tempests, in which vessels are frequently shipwrecked; and, even in
+smooth water, rocks and shoals send many to a watery grave. The
+traveller, even on the king’s high road, has sometimes to dread
+banditti. How many accidents occur even to the citizen on his
+holyday trips! Thus he who has never quitted his native country,
+and the traveller in foreign lands, are alike beset with perils;
+but there are few dangers which cannot be alleviated, often
+prevented, by prudent and precautionary measures, and which,
+stripped of the terrors in which heated imaginations have clothed
+them, present in their reality much that is alarming. By simply
+keeping up a few fires, the merchants who pass these deserts sleep
+securely, in defiance of their being infested by the most
+formidable of all wild beasts. I should, however, state, that
+instances are mentioned of fires not having this effect, when the
+lions are excessively pressed by hunger, particularly at the season
+when they require food for their young. Towards evening (for it is
+very seldom, if ever, that the lion is seen during the day), one
+alone has often arrested a large caravan. In some instances they
+have been known to attack men; but are generally content with an ox
+or a camel, which they<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_98">[98]</span> kill, and sometimes, particularly if they
+have left their females or young in their den, carry away a large
+part on their shoulders. The number of these animals must increase
+rapidly every year, for it is very seldom that an instance occurs
+of one being killed.</p>
+
+<p>They tell me, that a party of twenty peasants went lately to
+destroy two which had taken a station within a very short distance
+of the river, and committed great ravages among the flocks. The men
+were armed with lances, shields, and sabres. They traced the lions
+to their den, and began lighting fires, to drive them out. The
+female darted past them immediately. The male remained some time,
+until he could no longer endure the smoke, when he began to roar in
+a most terrific manner; he then rushed out, infuriated, upon the
+peasants: not one, however, of these gallant assailants had the
+courage to fling his lance, but each, without any consideration for
+the fate of his friends, sought his own security in flight.
+Fire-arms only are of use against these formidable animals, but the
+Italian proverb is said to be true of them:—<em>Il lione ferito
+alla morte non s’avvilisce ancora</em>. They are generally seen two
+and four together, often more, but always in pairs. They are very
+rarely disturbed; and, as no attempts have been made to exterminate
+them, their number is said to have increased considerably during
+these last few years. This may be considered the place where their
+haunts begin. They infest the road to Sennaar and the west side of
+the Atbara; but travellers incur less danger in the beaten track of
+the caravans than when, like us, they deviate from it.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will recollect that, at the entrance of this desert,
+I observed great numbers of gazelles, but for several miles round
+these ruins and hills I saw none. These timid creatures prefer the
+risk of approaching the habitations of man, considering the arts of
+the peasants to destroy them less perilous than the vicinity of the
+lions. The latter know the places in the plain where the gazelles
+sleep, and, favoured by the darkness of night, dart
+upon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> their victims,
+whose superior swiftness only avails them when sometimes the
+roaring of their enemy intimates his approach. The Arabs tell some
+singularly superstitious tales of the generosity of the lion. The
+following has been related to me as a fact, by different peasants;
+but I must confess that, like the generality of Arab tales, it
+partakes of the marvellous: yet, perhaps, with a <em>mélange</em>
+of fable, there may be some kind of foundation of truth. They say,
+that when the lion seizes the cow of a peasant, he will permit the
+owner to carry away a portion; particularly if he asks for it in
+the name of his mother, wife, or family, <em>and takes it without
+showing any fear</em>.—I must apologise to the antiquarian, and
+perhaps to readers in general, for this long digression from my
+description of these antiquities, but I promised to give some
+account, not only of the remains, but also of the present
+inhabitants of Ethiopia.</p>
+
+<p>The plan (see <a href="#pl13">Plate XIII.</a>) which I give of
+these ruins was made with the utmost care by my artist, Mr. B., and
+drawn out on the spot. I can testify for the pains that were taken
+to render it as accurate as possible. The ruin is too much
+destroyed for the plan to be perfectly correct, as to the size and
+situation of some of the doors, and the dimensions of many of the
+apartments; still, there is all that is necessary to exhibit to the
+reader the general form of the edifice. Even if all the walls were
+remaining, without any inscription to elucidate them, it would
+still be doubtful what this extraordinary mass of building has
+been. The appearance of the ruins is very imposing, from their
+immense extent; and I will give a detailed description of them, as
+they are certainly the most curious and inexplicable I have yet
+seen in Ethiopia. They consist of chambers, courts, corridors, and
+temples, in an enclosure or parallelogram, 760 by 660 feet; but in
+more accurate numbers the entire circumference is 2854 feet. The
+north-east side is 660 feet long; the north-west, the only side on
+which there are entrances,—</p>
+
+<table class="tabw40 bd-collapse" id="t100">
+<tr>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th class="width4">Ft.</th>
+<th>In.</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_100">[100]</span>From the angle to the door</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">88</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1">Width of the door</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">13</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1">To the central entrance</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">220</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1">Width of the central
+entrance</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">16</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1">Thence to the other
+entrance</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">228</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1">Width of that entrance</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">16</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1">Thence to the angle</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">188</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">Total</td>
+<td>north-west side</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot bt pad-right1">769</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot bt">6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>south-west side</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">665</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>south-east side</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">760</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>north-east side</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right1">660</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1">Total circumference of the
+edifice</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot bt bbdb pad-right1">2854</td>
+<td class="tdc-bot bt bbdb">6</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>On the north-east, south-east, and south-west sides, there are
+no entrances into the enclosure. The wall on the north-west side
+cannot be traced accurately through its whole extent. There have
+apparently been three entrances on this side; the central one,
+which is the most distinguishable, leads into a large court, 620
+feet wide and 144 feet long. Opposite to the central entrance, on
+the south-east side of the court, is a long narrow corridor, 8 feet
+wide and 205 feet long, which leads to the principal temple,
+situated in a court 94 feet long by 85 feet wide. To give an exact
+idea of the situation of this court, I should state, that from the
+wall of the court to the enclosure on the south-east side is 106
+feet; 165 feet to the enclosure on the south-west side; 204 feet
+from the north-west and 150 feet from the north-east side. Although
+not exactly in the centre of the structure, a slight examination of
+the plan will enable the reader to perceive that, from its
+situation, size, and the circumstance of the corridors leading into
+it, that edifice was, evidently, the principal temple: it is 47
+feet long, from north-west to south-east; and 40 feet 6 inches
+broad. The large court, and the corridor from it to the temple, in
+a line with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>
+central entrance of the enclosure, clearly indicate that the grand
+entrance was on the west side; and yet it is singular there is no
+doorway in the temple on that side. There are five entrances into
+the latter; one on the south-east side, two on the north-east, and
+two on the south-west. In front of the south-east end have been
+twelve columns, three feet and a half in diameter, in two rows of
+six each; before the west end, six columns, and five at each side,
+not including the columns at the angles: making, altogether,
+twenty-eight columns. There are the remains of four columns, which
+ornamented the interior of the temple. In front of it, on the
+south-east side, is a doorway which leads into a room 20 feet by
+26, with two chambers on one side and one on the other; before them
+is an inclined parapet: an architectural ornament to the façades of
+temples, of which there are examples even in the best style of
+Egyptian edifices, such as at Solib. (<a href="#pl40">Plate
+XL.</a>) The axis of the door leading through this room to the
+parapet is the same as that of the central edifice into the temple.
+The circumstance of this inclined parapet wall, and there being a
+double row of columns only at this end of the temple, prove that it
+fronted to the south-east.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw6">
+<figure id="pl13">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 13.</p>
+<a href="images/pl13.jpg"><img src='images/pl13.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp3">RUINS OF WADY OWATAIB OR MECAURAT.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The court containing the inclined parapet leading into the
+temple is 125 feet wide and 75 feet long: several doors lead out of
+it; one to the east into a court of 96 feet long and 165 feet
+broad, in which is a small temple fronting the south-west. A few
+rows of steps lead up to a portico which was ornamented with four
+columns, fragments of which are still remaining. On each side of
+the door leading from the portico into the temple is a colossal
+statue, very much mutilated, being now without either head or arms.
+They are attached to the wall in the Egyptian manner, and they have
+the attitude of one foot advanced before the other, like the
+Egyptians. The style of one is tolerably good; the other, that is,
+the one on the east side of the doorway, is much inferior. They are
+accurately represented in my drawing. The exterior of this little
+temple is 53 feet by 45: at the angles<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_102">[102]</span> is the Egyptian beading. The doorway is
+ornamented with a twisted serpent on each side. The interior, which
+consisted of one room, contains the remains of two columns without
+their capitals. From their situation, there appears to have been
+originally six: on the walls are some rude scratches, but
+undoubtedly modern. South of the principal temple is a large court,
+258 feet long and 248 feet broad. On the north-east side of the
+principal temple is a corridor 7 feet wide and 96 feet long, having
+a north-west direction, whence it turns to the south-east for 45
+feet, and leads into a court where there is another small temple:
+this had also a portico before it, which was ornamented with four
+columns. The exterior of this temple measures 52 feet by 29. In the
+interior there are now the remains of four columns, from the
+position of which there seem to have been originally eight. On the
+south-west side of the principal temple is a corridor 86 feet long
+and 12 feet wide, having a south-west direction, whence it turns to
+the north-west for 20 feet, and leads to some small<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> rooms, and also into a large
+court 88 feet long, containing two small chambers, in one of which
+are the fragments of three columns.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw14">
+<figure id="i06"><a href="images/i06.jpg"><img src='images/i06.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">SMALL TEMPLE AT WADY EL OWATAIB.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw4">
+<figure id="pl14">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 14.</p>
+<a href="images/pl14.jpg"><img src='images/pl14.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">WADY OWATAIB.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>I will attempt no further description of this extraordinary
+edifice. The reader will perceive, from the inspection of the plan
+(<a href="#pl13">Plate XIII.</a>), how utterly impossible it is to
+give a more detailed, and, at the same time, clear, description of
+its various compartments. The confusion of successive rooms,
+corridors, small and large courts, and temples, together with the
+total absence of any attempt at regularity, excited my curiosity to
+find out the nature of this singular construction. It has evidently
+been built by wretched architects, at different periods, in an age
+when the art had sadly declined in Ethiopia; but, before alluding
+to the different surmises concerning the object of its erection, I
+will first give a detailed description of the principal temple in
+the centre. The view (<a href="#pl14">Plate XIV.</a>) will give a
+good idea of its present state of preservation. The columns in
+Plates <a href="#pl13">XIII.,</a> <a href="#pl14">XIV.,</a> and
+<a href="#i06">vignette,</a> executed architecturally, will
+sufficiently indicate the style of art: a few fragments of capitals
+alone remain, and those are on the north-east side of the temple.
+It will be seen by <a href="#pl14">Plate XIV.</a> that the forms
+only of several of the capitals are visible, but only one fragment
+has the appearance of having been finished. (See <a href=
+"#i06">vignette.</a>) Their form is somewhat similar to that usual
+in the Ptolemaic age of architecture in Egypt; but the ornaments of
+the fragment, above alluded to, consist only of parallel lines:
+whether these terminated in the lotus flower cannot be ascertained,
+but there certainly is a resemblance, though not complete, to a
+Ptolemaic capital. Under the capital of this column are seven rows
+of beading; the rest of the shaft, consisting of five pieces, is
+fluted, except the lowest stone, which is ornamented with the lotus
+flower. The style of the fluting is Grecian. The shaft swells out a
+little towards the lower part, and is rounded off at the bottom. It
+bears another resemblance<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_104">[104]</span> to the Egyptian style in the base it rests
+upon being circular. There remains one fragment (see <a href=
+"#i07">vignette</a>), of a fluted column with a smooth panel in the
+centre, in which a wreath is sculptured in imitation of the leaves
+of the palm tree. Another fragment of a column is ornamented with
+sculpture, and at the base the triangular ornament not unlike the
+Egyptian.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw18">
+<figure id="i07"><a href="images/i07.jpg"><img src='images/i07.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">COLUMNS AT WADY EL OWATAIB.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The sculpture is in very high relief—not less than 1¾ inch; but
+the style is decidedly bad: the figures are generally from about 3
+to 4 feet in height; and, notwithstanding their defaced condition,
+I could distinguish that some of them are <em>en face</em>; but the
+rudeness of the execution of what remains perfect, demonstrates an
+epoch when the arts had wofully degenerated in this their parent
+land. At Uffidunia, in Lower Nubia, an edifice well known to be
+Roman, there is a piece of sculpture on the detached propylon very
+much in this style. The view (<a href="#pl15">Plate XV.</a>)
+represents fortuitously almost all the most perfect fragments which
+now exist; and so completely shows the style of the sculpture, that
+I regretted the less not having time to make separate<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> drawings, particularly as not
+a single hieroglyphic remains, or has ever existed, to elucidate
+the sculpture. I trust, therefore, that the accurate notes I took
+on the spot, of every fragment I could find, and the specimens of
+the style in my drawings, will be considered quite sufficient. What
+sculpture remains, is chiefly on the lower part of two columns and
+on several fragments which lie scattered about: some of the figures
+are <em>en face</em>, and some <em>en profile</em>. Notwithstanding
+their defaced condition, I distinguished the following:—Thriphis
+with the lion’s head, <em>en profile</em>; the hawk-headed divinity
+(Horus); two figures, seemingly goddesses, but not very
+discernible, <em>en face</em>; a divinity with a vase; Kneph,
+<em>en face</em>, with a globe at his breast; a goddess, <em>en
+face</em>, in a kind of monolithic temple. On another fragment I
+discerned a figure presenting offerings with one hand, and the
+other raised behind his head. On another large fragment, Isis,
+Horus, and a king were discernible: the ovals of his name seem
+never to have been filled up. On another fragment I observed a
+border consisting alternately of a lion and the goddess of truth
+with outstretched wings. As there are no hieroglyphics, the names
+of these divinities are, of course, only inferred from the presence
+of their usual attributes. Except on these fragments of columns in
+front of the central temple, there are no other remains of
+sculpture in any part of these ruins, with the exception of the two
+fragments of colossal statues I have before alluded to as
+ornamenting the façades of the small temple to the east. There are
+some other ruins at a short distance from the great enclosure, but
+they are of little importance. One of the rooms contains the
+remains of six columns, on one of which is sculptured an elephant
+destroying a dog with his trunk, and on another a winged lion is
+represented killing a man.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl15">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 15.</p>
+<a href="images/pl15.jpg"><img src='images/pl15.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">WADY OWATAIB.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>I have now only to advert to the singular situation of these
+ruins, their probable use, and the age when they were most probably
+erected. In a direct line, they are distant from the river six
+hours’ journey, which may be sixteen or eighteen miles.
+About<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> a quarter of
+a mile from the ruin, I saw three or four blocks of stones, but no
+indication of their having formed part of an aqueduct, and there
+are no traces of wells; but both may have existed, and be now
+entirely buried by the sand of the desert. I could not, however,
+observe or hear of any decided traces of aqueducts between the ruin
+and the river. The occupants of the edifice may have been supplied
+with water by geerbahs, as the peasants of Metammah and other
+villages distant from the river are at this day.<a id=
+"FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a>
+If the edifice was only used as a residence during the season of
+the malaria, the rain water might have been preserved in cisterns
+and in the sacred lakes; but rain does not invariably fall here
+every year, and would afford, therefore, only a precarious supply.
+Those, however, who constructed such a building would certainly
+know how to sink a well, and, from the appearance of the ground,
+the trees, and the vicinity of the mountains, I do not conceive it
+would be a very laborious undertaking to find water.</p>
+
+<p>Cailliaud considered this edifice to have been a college of
+priests; and Professor Heeren supposes it to be the celebrated
+Ammonium. I think neither of these suppositions probable. With
+regard to the first, we know that the priests were always
+surrounded with representations of the divinities and the
+mysterious language of hieroglyphics; but is it not remarkable that
+there is no structure either in Egypt or Ethiopia so destitute of
+the sacred writing as this? The priests, also, are supposed, with
+great probability, to have themselves executed the sculpture and
+hieroglyphics; and they cannot be imagined to have been
+unacquainted with that language. It must, on the contrary, have
+formed a principal branch of their education. I think it,
+therefore, very improbable that the place where they would be
+occupied in teaching hieroglyphics should, of all the ruins in the
+valley of the Nile, be the only one destitute of them; that where
+instruction was given in the mysteries of their<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> religion, there should be so
+few representations of the gods, and those few almost of no use to
+the student, from being unexplained by hieroglyphics. One would
+imagine they would have gladly availed themselves of the
+opportunity of the unoccupied walls to exercise the skill of the
+students. If this were a college, their system of education must
+assuredly have been very defective, if they did not take care to
+have the mysteries they taught represented on the walls of the
+universities, and not on those of the temples only. We must
+consider the Ethiopians as ignorant indeed, if we suppose that they
+neglected to place them where they would have been really useful,
+while they covered with these subjects their temples, where they
+would be less observed, and the interior of the porticoes of their
+tombs, which were rarely opened. Had it been a college, some urchin
+would have shown his progress in the study by carving his name in
+hieroglyphics; and, considering that this was more the fashion with
+the ancients than the moderns, we should have as long a list of
+Ethiopian names <em>here</em> as we have of English at Eton or
+Harrow. In such a seminary, I conceive, the walls of the chambers,
+corridors, and temples, inside and outside, like the temples and
+palaces of Egypt, would have been decorated with sculpture. The
+walls are not rough, but smooth and finished; it has therefore not
+been the original intention to embellish them with such
+subjects.</p>
+
+<p>Had this edifice, as Professor Heeren supposes, been the
+Ammonium, the original seat of the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, at
+whose command those religious colonies issued forth, which carried
+civilisation, arts, and religion from Ethiopia to the Delta; had
+this been the centre and stronghold of the superstitions of the
+Nile; the priests, the guardians of the sacred rituals, would not
+have omitted to decorate the abode of their great divinity with art
+and magnificence proportionate to the wealth and power of so great
+a nation. Well aware of the awe with which the appearance of
+mysterious learning inspires the vulgar, they would not have
+neglected to adorn<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>
+the walls with imposing and mysterious subjects, to augment their
+veneration, to excite them to devotion, and to munificence in their
+offerings to the god. It accords in no degree with the religious
+pomp elsewhere displayed by the Ethiopians and Egyptians, to
+conceive that this unfinished and comparatively insignificant
+temple contained the golden altar, the “holiest of holies,” of
+their great divinity. That the great Ethiopian oracle, whose
+celebrity even Homer has testified, should not have had a more
+magnificent habitation than this, cannot be admitted. We know, from
+Pausanias and others, the costly presents which were made to the
+oracles of Greece; and can we conceive that the Ethiopians,
+probably equally, if not as more ancient, a much more religious and
+superstitious people, would have allowed their celebrated Ammonium
+to be the least finished, least magnificent and imposing, of all
+the temples which now exist in the valley of the Nile?</p>
+
+<p>It is a more probable supposition that, as the wealth of the
+oracle of Apollo at Delphi exposed it from the beginning to the
+enterprises of avaricious and impious men, and was too powerful a
+temptation even to the Phocians, in the same manner the great
+oracle of Ammon in the valley of the Nile, particularly in a
+country like Ethiopia, where history tells us that gold was once so
+plentiful, might suffer from the celebrated altar which was
+dedicated to its worship being loaded with the valuable and
+magnificent devotional offerings of a wealthy and superstitious
+people. Such parade and splendour would serve as incentives to the
+enemies of their religion, equally anxious to appropriate the spoil
+and eradicate the superstitions of the worshippers of Ammon. But it
+is most probable that, at the time when the religion of the Gospel
+was widely spread in this part of Africa, some Christian king of
+Ethiopia, zealous, and desirous of obliging his subjects to embrace
+the true religion, and aware that, if his faith prevailed at all,
+it must prevail, to use the language of Paley, by the overthrow of
+every statue,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>
+altar, and temple in the world, may have utterly destroyed not only
+the Ammonium, but also many of the other temples; and this may
+account for the few remains of sacred edifices which are now found
+in Ethiopia. Another argument, in answer to the supposition of
+Professor Heeren, is, that, among the numerous representations of
+the divinities on the columns of the principal temples, there is
+not one single figure of Ammon, except with the attributes of
+Kneph.</p>
+
+<p>This edifice may have been a <em>château de chasse</em> of the
+king, or a palace in which he passed the rainy season, which might
+then, as now, be unhealthy near the Nile. The objection to this
+supposition is, that the kings as well as the priests were
+generally, and probably always, surrounded with religious pomp and
+ceremony. I conceive it, therefore, a more reasonable conjecture
+that it was an hospital, to which invalids, particularly those
+suffering from malaria, were sent during the rainy season. This
+will account for the immense courts and chambers, and the
+insignificance of the temples, evidently intended for persons of
+little consideration. From the experience I have had of the climate
+of the desert, I must say I consider them much more healthy, in any
+season, than the valley of the Nile. At the instigation, I
+conceive, of some person acquainted with this fact, the Pasha
+established a splendid hospital and college at Abou Zabel, situated
+in the Desert, about twelve miles from Cairo. The dryness of the
+atmosphere, the sand immediately absorbing any rain that falls,
+renders these wildernesses in the highest degree salubrious. The
+stones of which this edifice is constructed are nearly the same
+size as those of the pyramids of Meroe; that is, about 1 foot high
+and 2½ feet long, and are apparently quarried from the neighbouring
+hills.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the antiquity of the ruins, it does not appear to
+me to be very great. The sculpture, which, in the absence of
+hieroglyphics, forms the only criterion, resembles, as already
+mentioned, that on the propylons at Uffidunia; not exactly
+indicating<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> that
+they were built at the same period, but that they belonged equally
+to the last stage of sculpture in the two countries; and, as the
+arts first flourished in Ethiopia, they may have decayed there
+earlier than in Egypt, particularly as the wealth and power of this
+country diminished more rapidly, the Nile washing down to the lower
+valley the source of their affluence and prosperity. From the
+Grecian character of the fluting of the columns, as well as from
+the plan of the temple and sculpture, it is not improbable that
+this edifice was constructed about the period of Ergamenes, whose
+reign was coeval with that of Ptolemy II. Diodorus describes this
+king of Ethiopia as having had a Greek education, and having
+introduced into this his native country a taste for the philosophy
+of Greece, and delivered himself and his people from the tyranny of
+the priests; and perhaps, I may add, he endeavoured, by the
+introduction of foreign ornaments, to regenerate a taste for
+architecture and sculpture: but in this specimen we only see the
+last effort of a people whose greatness was passed away, their
+taste corrupted, and all the lights of knowledge and civilisation
+just expiring. The elegant pyramids of Meroe differ as widely, in
+taste and execution, from the immensely extensive but ill-planned
+ruins of Wady el Owataib, as the best sculpture at Thebes, during
+the age of Rameses II., differs from the corrupted style under the
+Ptolemies and Cæsars.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span><a id=
+"c09"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">DEFICIENCY OF WATER. — RETURN TO THE NILE. — WILD
+ANIMALS. — ANCIENT CANAL. — TEMPLE OF ABOU NAGA. — DIFFICULTIES. —
+THE MODERN CAPITALS OF ETHIOPIA. — SENNAAR. — THE DIFFICULTY OF
+PENETRATING TO THE SOURCE OF THE BAHR EL ABIAD. — TRIBE OF ARABS ON
+ITS BANKS. — WATER LESS SWEET THAN THAT OF THE BAHR EL AZRUK. —
+ARAB DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVER. — INUNDATION OF THE NILE. — RETURN
+TO SHENDY. — MAMELUKE EXERCISE.</p>
+
+<p class="nind">I <span class="sc">had</span> intended to have
+proceeded from the ruins of El Owataib to those of El Mecaurat,
+farther in the Desert; but my stock of water was almost exhausted,
+in consequence of my guide and camel-driver not having brought
+their own supply, according to agreement, also on account of
+several of my own geerbahs proving bad, and our consumption, owing
+to the extreme heat, having been twice what we expected. Signor
+Bandoni seems to be apprehensive of a deficiency, and anxious to
+guard against it; for yesterday evening I found him in my tent with
+his mouth at a three-gallon geerbah. His draughts were profounder
+than his philosophy, for by his earnestness he seemed intent on
+trying whether he himself possessed that valuable faculty which his
+experience in the desert had taught him the camels possess; that of
+imbibing, at one draught, a sufficient store for a week. We left
+the ruins at half-past twelve, and arrived at the Nile at half past
+six. We saw on our road numerous traces of the lions, hyenas,
+tigers (nimr), wild asses, and ostriches, and near the river,
+guinea-fowls. Shortly before arriving at the Nile, we passed the
+bed of a canal which seemed to be ancient. They informed me that it
+extends very far into the Desert towards the ruins of Mecaurat.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span><em>March</em>
+11. We left this morning at seven, and reached the ruins of Abou
+Naga at nine. The two square pillars which remain of this temple,
+are very curious. On each side is a representation of what is
+generally called a figure of Typhon, above which is the head of
+Isis or Athor. These figures are very much injured, but the style
+is extremely bold and decidedly very ancient. The people above
+Meroe, says Diodorus, worship Isis and Pan, and also Hercules and
+Zeus. This Typhonian figure is called Pthah by many, and considered
+as an immediate emanation from Jupiter. We have here two more
+divinities to add to the Ethiopian list: I use this name, for of
+all the antiquities existing in the valley of the Nile, these have
+the most ancient appearance. The <a href="#i08">drawing</a> will
+give an exact idea of the style of the sculpture. The reader will
+remark that this is no effort of a feeble and corrupt taste, no
+imitation of a foreign (Egyptian) style, but the
+spirited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> work of an
+early period, when the productions of art would naturally be more
+remarkable for force and vigour than for exquisite or delicate
+finish. There are no hieroglyphics, nor any appearance of there
+ever having been any, which may be considered another proof of
+their great antiquity, an edifice in which they are absent must
+either be of the most ancient or most modern date: and certainly
+this latter description cannot belong to the present structures.
+The style has evidently the stamp of originality, and I therefore
+think it may be considered a fragment of perhaps one of the most
+ancient temples which has ever been erected in honour of the two
+great divinities, Isis and Typhon, or rather, I should say, of the
+two principles of good and evil existing in the world: for Isis,
+the Ceres of the Greeks, is a type of that benevolent care of the
+Deity which furnishes men with the fruits of the earth; and she is
+worshipped under the form of a woman, emblematical of the maternal
+fondness of the great divinity. Under that view, she is sometimes
+represented with her son, the infant Horus, on her knees, as the
+source of the multiplication and increase of the human race.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw14">
+<figure id="i08"><a href="images/i08.jpg"><img src='images/i08.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">TEMPLE OF ABOU NAGA.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The figure which, in deference to the general opinion, I have
+called Typhon, has been considered by many to be that of Pthah,
+from the circumstance of almost similar representations having been
+found with the name of that divinity in hieroglyphics; but, in the
+absence of any inscription to decide the question of what this
+figure has been, I must confess that I conceive it not impossible
+that it may be the Hercules of the Ethiopians. Hercules, or the god
+of strength, would be a type of the attribute of power in the great
+divinity; and that this should be a leading representation in the
+primitive ages, is not surprising, as, of course, muscular strength
+would then be the endowment most highly prized. The fables of
+Hercules clearing the earth of monsters were very probably partly
+derived from Ethiopia, together with the worship of the divinity.
+The mythology of the Ethiopians, as I may, perhaps,<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> venture to mention more
+particularly on a future occasion, appears by no means to have been
+a gross polytheism. I do not mean to say that the “uncultivated
+mass,” as Gibbon styles them, very little removed in point of
+intellect from their fellow-labourers the oxen, could have
+entertained very pure notions of religion; I only agree with those
+who conceive that the more educated and enlightened classes
+worshipped these different symbolical forms, not as separate and
+equally powerful divinities, but as the types of the different
+attributes of the One great Deity. This temple, which was about 150
+feet long, seems to have been ornamented with six pilasters, five
+feet square; but it was impossible to trace the plan
+satisfactorily: and as I conceive the materials to have been
+carried away, an excavation would be of little use. The
+plan<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> (2300 feet in
+circumference) shows that the town has been small, and built of
+sun-burnt bricks.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw14">
+<figure id="i09"><a href="images/i09.jpg"><img src='images/i09.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">PLAN OF THE RUINS NOW CALLED ABOU NAGA.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>I had intended to have gone from this place to the ruins of
+Mecaurat, at eleven hours’ distance in the desert. The soldier who
+officiated as my guide, on leaving the ruins of Wady el Owataib
+yesterday, said that we could not visit the ruins of Mecaurat, as
+they were situated farther in the desert; that we should most
+probably meet with lions on the road; and that the danger would
+indubitably be much greater than on the preceding night; that, at
+this season of the year, it was folly to think of going there
+without a guard or large caravan; and, to conclude, that he would
+not incur the responsibility of taking me. This morning, to my
+surprise, he said he was willing to accompany me, if I desired. In
+this uncertainty I asked for information from the sheakhs and
+different peasants I met; and the result of these enquiries was,
+that, Mecaurat being farther in the mountains, lions are much more
+numerous there than at Wady el Owataib; that we should probably
+fall in with them on the road; that this was the most dangerous
+season, from their food being scarce, and that none of the peasants
+lead their flocks there, since fires do not always succeed in
+repelling them. A few years ago there were few or none; but now the
+number was so great that I ought not to hazard going. In fact, not
+one, by bribes or threats, could be induced to join our
+caravan.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding this discouraging information, I was anxious not
+to leave any of the antiquities of Ethiopia unexplored; and I felt
+that I might have gone without very great risk, because we had a
+proof, the night before last, of the effect of fire in frightening
+lions away; and I believe, as long as there are camels, or any kind
+of cattle, they would not, if unmolested, attack a human being. I
+had learned, also, that there was one edifice not much ruined, and
+conceived that in it a fortification might soon be made, which a
+lion could not penetrate. My servants seemed evidently afraid, but
+said,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> wherever I
+went they would accompany me; but my artist made so many objections
+that I told him, in disgust, he might go or not, as he thought
+proper. He took me at my word, and refused to accompany me. I at
+first determined to go alone: but, after considering that I should
+have to leave two camels and a servant with him; that my caravan
+would thus be reduced in number; and as no other camels could be
+procured, their owners being afraid of the lions, I should not be
+able to take enough of water to enable me to stay at the ruins a
+sufficient time to make all the drawings that would be necessary; I
+gave up the expedition, conceiving that it was of little
+importance. My funds, also, are now considerably reduced, and I am
+not in a country where I can easily replenish them. The heat is
+every day more intolerable. I ought, for private reasons, to have
+long since been in Europe; my health has for several days been very
+indifferent, from these annoyances, the excessive heat, which for
+the first few days of its commencement is always most prejudicial,
+and I must confess myself not a little disgusted.</p>
+
+<p>I must be satisfied with having been at Meroe, on the site of
+the capital of Ethiopia, which appears to me a satisfactory
+termination to my more important labours in the lower part of the
+valley of the Nile; and when the reader considers that I have now
+been nearly fourteen months above Cairo, leading almost the life of
+an Arab, without any of the comforts and charms of the civilised
+world, I think he will not reproach me for not extending my travels
+to Sennaar and the banks of the White River. Indeed, even had not a
+private duty <em>obliged</em> me to return to England, I should
+not, I think, have gone very much farther south, as I could spend
+my time much more usefully at Thebes; for, except those in the
+desert, there are no antiquities beyond this point.</p>
+
+<p>As to the modern capitals of Ethiopia, nothing can be more
+miserable than those I have already seen. Sennaar, I am
+told,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> great,
+splendid, and beautiful as the Arabs represent it, is very little
+larger, and has not much more the appearance of a capital, than
+Shendy, which, as I have said before, cannot be compared to many of
+the small towns in Egypt. The poetical minds of the Arabs are fond
+of describing in glowing terms the beauty of distant objects; as
+the ancients placed the Garden of the Hesperides in the most remote
+region; but the descriptions of modern travellers, and the accounts
+of many sensible Turks, have satisfied me that Sennaar is not worth
+half a day’s journey, and certainly not twenty-two, which would be
+necessary to go thither and return.</p>
+
+<p>As to the Bahr el Abiad, or White River, it would be extremely
+difficult, if not impossible, to penetrate to any distance on its
+banks; and it is now more than ever impracticable to attempt the
+discovery of its source. The Governor at Kordofan has his
+<em>gazwah</em>, or hunt for slaves, on the banks of that river:
+there is, therefore, scarcely a family in that part that has not
+lost some relation,—fathers their sons, husbands their wives,
+brothers their sisters, children their parents,—and all would
+rejoice to avenge their loss on the first white man who should
+imprudently venture into their territory. The source of the Nile
+could only, I conceive, be discovered by an armed force; and even
+that method would present great difficulties. It would require a
+large army to subdue the great extent of country through which the
+Bahr el Abiad probably passes. Not only the chiefs, but the whole
+population, instead of any of them joining the standard of the
+invader, or furnishing him with provisions, would resolutely oppose
+him. Each man would fight with desperation for the preservation of
+his property, family, and liberty. The Shillooks, Numrum, and other
+brave and warlike tribes on the White River, are not ignorant of
+the wretched lot of their brethren in Cairo. Many a fugitive slave
+has carried the intelligence to his tribe of the misery and
+hardships they endured after they were taken prisoners;<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> their sufferings from the
+scanty allowance of water in the desert; the numbers who perished
+from fatigue, heat, and thirst; their painful journey on foot,
+bound in the most cruel manner; their wretched food; their
+ignominious exposure for sale in the Cairo market; and, perhaps,
+the cruelty of their taskmasters. These are injuries, I think,
+sufficient to sharpen their sabres, and inflame their hatred and
+thirst for revenge, on all Mahometans and white men. The traveller
+being French or English would be of no avail. They distinguish but
+two races, Pagan and Mahometan, and two colours, black and white,
+their friends and enemies.</p>
+
+<p>As to the source of the Bahr el Abiad, and the situation of the
+Mountains of the Moon, as the Arabs of this neighbourhood have
+never been there, or seen any person who has visited either the one
+or the other, their suppositions are not worth more, if so much, as
+the conjectures of any intelligent man in London. I think it more
+candid to confess that these subjects are still involved in a
+mystery, which the armies of the Pasha may possibly one day clear
+up; yet he can never subdue that country with the facility with
+which he made himself master of the valley of the Nile: the
+difference of creed, and the deep-rooted hatred against him which
+prevails there, would oblige him almost to exterminate the whole
+population before he could enjoy a peaceable possession of the
+territory. If his ambitious views are diverted by European
+interference from another track with his immense resources, large
+and disciplined army, and the great superiority derived from
+fire-arms and artillery, he might penetrate even to the source of
+the White River, and solve that problem which has perplexed the
+literary men of every age. No private individual would be so rash
+as to attempt this discovery. Were there any possibility of
+success, for the hope of immortality, men could be found to
+encounter fearlessly the heat and fatigue, and other ordinary
+dangers of the journey; but no one would be so<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_119">[119]</span> foolish as to expose himself to the
+certain death which would be the result of any attempt made at this
+period.</p>
+
+<p>This discovery would have been more easily accomplished before
+the Pasha’s conquest; before the war of colour, if I may so
+describe it, commenced: but there does not seem to have been any
+recent intercourse between the inhabitants of the kingdom of Shendy
+and the tribes on the banks of the White River. If any credit can
+be given to the accounts of the Arabs, there are cannibals not very
+far up its stream. I was told that twenty days above its junction
+with the Bahr el Azruk, there is a tribe of Arabs mixed with the
+Pagans. I can scarcely believe this latter statement, otherwise it
+would present a somewhat less difficult method of penetrating to a
+certain distance. I have been assured by several Arab merchants,
+and also Turks, that the water of the river is less sweet than that
+of the Azruk, that the caravans stationed on what they call the
+Island, between the two rivers, universally prefer the water of the
+latter. The Egyptians, therefore, are indebted to the Azruk for the
+singular sweetness of the waters of the Nile. The Arab’s invariable
+description of the Bahr el Abiad is, that it has waves like the Red
+Sea, but the current is not powerful like that of the Blue River;
+that a boat would sail rapidly up, on account of the prevailing
+northerly winds, but it would be more difficult to descend. It is
+not improbable that the reason of the superior rapidity of the Blue
+River is its greater proximity to its source in the mountains,
+whilst the Bahr el Abiad may pass through immense districts, where
+the surface is more level and uniform.</p>
+
+<p>Of the inundation of the Nile I will speak hereafter; only
+remarking at present, that during the whole of this journey I have
+not met one sensible Arab, who was ignorant that the rains in
+Ethiopia were followed by the rise of the river, and that,
+according to the wetness of the season, the inundation was more or
+less beneficial. I do not mean to say that they are acquainted with
+the real causes of those rains,—the rarefying of the air
+by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> the sun in his
+approach towards the tropic, and the consequent rush of vapour from
+the neighbouring seas; but the circumstance of the peasants here
+all being aware of the rain as the season of the inundation,
+excites my surprise how the ancients, particularly as many of them
+visited Meroe, could be so ill acquainted with, or, indeed, have
+the slightest doubt of, the true cause. The flourishing state of
+the country at that period, and the probable extent of its
+commerce, renders this still more singular. If they had not been
+actual witnesses to the tropical rains, (and, according to Pliny,
+many were,) they must have heard of them, over and over again, from
+authentic sources. The most uneducated peasant in Europe, were he
+to see the rain fall in torrents for a long period, the little
+rivulets running into a river in his vicinity, and yet not be aware
+why the latter was swollen, would be considered to display a
+tenfold degree of stupidity. It can only be accounted for by their
+preferring to ornament their works with ingenious speculations
+rather than admit an explanation which they could not account
+for.<a id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class=
+"fnanchor">[22]</a> We arrived at Shendy this evening at nine.</p>
+
+<p><em>Metammah.—March</em> 12. This morning the katshef at Shendy,
+with his servants and dependants, went through the Mameluke
+exercise for our amusement. Six entered the list on each side.
+Their lances were stalks of the palm tree, about four or five feet
+long. The combatants were about 300 or 400 yards apart<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> at the commencement, but when
+the contest became more animated, not more than 100. Each one
+sallied out when he liked, armed with a single lance, and, when
+there was no opponent in the field, rode near the opposite party,
+and generally, when at the distance of from twenty to thirty feet,
+flung his lance at his adversaries within their limits, to excite
+them to come forth; otherwise, when the field was full, at those
+who were galloping back from pursuing their adversaries. The
+attacked party trusted to the speed of the horse to save him from
+the lance of the one who followed him, who, having in his turn
+flung his lance, was rode after by another of the opposite party,
+and thus the ball was spiritedly kept up. The requisites for these
+manœuvres are, perfect management of his horse, dexterity in
+avoiding his adversary’s lance, and catching it, if possible, with
+his hand, which enables him to turn again upon the assailant. They
+are only, as I have said, allowed to go out with one lance, and
+when they have thrown it, are dependent on their agility, and the
+swiftness of their horses, to save themselves from their pursuers;
+but the qualities most admired, and most necessary, are strength
+and dexterity in throwing the lance, and fearless indifference to
+blows. Each well-directed and successful aim was hailed with a
+shout of admiration, and those who seemed to fear the contest were
+evidently despised. The exercise is fine, but the wounds received
+are sometimes not slight. There is no ostensible respect of
+persons. The servant throws his lance at his master, and the master
+at the servant; yet, somehow, the katshef escaped always amid the
+numbers of lances which were showered around him: a clever courtier
+knows how to direct his aim. Between the servants the game
+sometimes became serious, and blows were exchanged with the
+appearance of real enmity.</p>
+
+<p>I saw this morning a number of mats and baskets made by the
+women, some of which are very beautiful. They make
+here,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> also, very
+neat sandals, almost exactly resembling those of the ancients. At
+noon I crossed to Metammah. I found that the katshef was absent.
+The soldier he had deputed to perform the duties of his office
+promised me eight camels, to cross the desert of Bahiouda to
+Meroueh.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span><a id=
+"c10"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">METAMMAH — DIFFICULTY OF FINDING CAMELS TO CROSS
+THE BAHIOUDA DESERT. — WRETCHED STATE OF THE PEASANTS WHEN ATTACKED
+BY ILLNESS. — INTERMITTENT FEVERS. — COSTUMES OF METAMMAH. — WOMEN
+OF HIGH RANK. — THEIR LONG NAILS, MANNER OF INCREASING THEIR
+LENGTH. — BAHIOUDA DESERT. — WELLS AT ABOULAY. — REFLECTIONS ON THE
+DESERT LIFE. — SHAGEEA TRIBE. — WELLS CALLED GAGDOOL. — SIGNOR B.
+UNWELL. — HASSANYEH TRIBE. — ANIMALS OF THE DESERT. — GREYHOUND
+DOG. — WELL OF MAGAGA. — DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF SIGNOR B. — WELL OF
+DELICIOUS WATER CALLED HALESS. — BEAUTY OF THE SCENERY. — SHEPHERD
+BOYS. — CHARACTER OF THE ROCKS. — WELLS OF GOOD WATER CALLED HANNEK
+AND PRASOLI. — THE MANNER THE SHAGEEA SALUTE. — COPTIC CHRISTIAN
+CHURCH. — ARRIVAL AT THE TOWN OF MEROUEH. — HIEROGLYPHICS ON A SLAB
+IN THE CASTLE.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><em><span class="sc">Metammah</span>.—March</em>
+13. A sufficient number of good camels, or rather dromedaries,
+being difficult to find, I was detained the whole of the day near
+this miserable little town, where there is nothing to be seen. The
+country, even at this season, is not free from malaria. Several
+peasants suffering from intermittent fever applied to me for
+relief. Some I saw wretchedly ill, lying on their angoureebs,
+without any advice, or, apparently, any person to attend them, left
+to live or die according to the violence of the attack or the
+strength of their constitutions. When the rains extend to this
+place, which is not always the case, fevers are very prevalent:
+dysentery also is very common: I have had an attack myself, and two
+of my servants suffered severely from it. I used successfully a
+powerful dose of opium and calomel. To my servant, who was very
+ill, I gave six grains of calomel and one of opium at a time.</p>
+
+<p>Once a week, in each of these small towns and villages, there is
+a bazaar; a curious scene, on account of the different costumes of
+the Arabs who resort to them from the country. At Metammah many of
+the inhabitants have adopted the fashion of their
+conquerors,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> and
+shaved their heads. The costumes of some of the women of high rank
+are said to be very beautiful, but it is difficult to obtain a
+sight of them; and I must confess I have not enjoyed that good
+fortune. My dragoman, however, an impudent fellow, contrived, upon
+some pretext, to enter the harem of the present melek of Shendy,
+whose wife is daughter of the celebrated Nimr, who murdered Ismael
+Pasha. Her husband has gone to the war with Hourshid Bey. The
+intruder found this queen, as he called her, in a large room
+reposing in a most dignified manner on a beautiful angoureeb,
+covered with the fine mats of the country. She was reclining at
+full length; her head was supported by a wooden pillow of about the
+width of a hoop, and of a semicircular form to admit the head, and
+sustained by a column 4 to 6 inches high with a broad flat base,
+<img src='images/sym1.jpg' alt='[Symbol]' class="iwsym">. They are
+almost exactly similar to those often found in the ancient tombs of
+the Egyptians, and which, notwithstanding their apparent
+discomfort, are now very generally used in every part of Upper
+Nubia. The ladies of Shendy, however, value them highly, since,
+being so narrow, they do not disarrange their hair; a serious
+consideration, if it be true, as I am informed, that the
+<em>coiffure</em> of the Shendyan beauties requires nine hours’
+work to be quite <em>comme il faut</em>. This lady’s hair was very
+curiously dressed, beautifully plaited, and bushy at each side,
+projecting behind and flat above the forehead. On this flat part
+were two plates of gold, one above the other, and in the centre of
+her forehead was a large gold ring. She wore two handsome gold
+earrings, and bracelets of massive gold on her arms, and the same
+above her ankles. She wore the cotton dress of the country, but
+finer than usual, and over her neck was a beautiful shawl of
+Souakim with a broad silk border. He represented her features as
+being extremely small and delicate; her eyes very large and fine,
+and her complexion much fairer than that of the women of the
+country in general. He described her as the most beautiful woman he
+had seen since leaving Cairo, and doubted if, in his<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> life, he had observed any one
+superior to her. She looked, he said, like a queen.</p>
+
+<p>In a circle, squatted on the ground beneath, were about twenty
+female slaves, some very beautiful, busily employed in pounding and
+preparing spices for the ointment with which they perfume their
+persons and soften their skins. Her nails were extremely long; a
+decided indication, in this country, of high rank, as proving that
+the person never condescends to employ her fingers in any work. To
+promote their growth, they are held over small fires of cedar wood.
+This is an ancient custom, and Cailliaud mentions having observed,
+at Naga, a representation of a queen with long nails; and it still
+prevails among the Chinese of the highest rank. This wife, or
+queen, of the melek, possesses a large fortune, said to amount to
+50,000<em>l.</em> sterling; an enormous amount for a country like
+this. She increases it daily by commerce, keeping constantly in her
+employ Arab merchants, who trade in caravans on her account to
+Abyssinia, Kordofan, Sennaar, and Cairo. Their chief traffic now is
+in slaves. Two of her merchants were in the room when my dragoman
+entered. She eyed him at first fiercely and haughtily, and asked
+him whether he was one of the Christians just arrived, and how he
+dared to enter there? Being a clever insinuating fellow, with the
+advantage of being a Mahometan, he soon ingratiated himself into
+her favour, and had some dinner ordered for him. As she was the
+first queen he had ever seen, and the daughter of the celebrated
+Nimr, he examined her very attentively. The reader will perhaps be
+dissatisfied with a description thus given upon hearsay; but I
+should state that, from numerous enquiries, I have found it
+perfectly applicable to the great ladies in this country; and my
+dragoman, although an Arab, is the most intelligent clever servant
+I have met with any where. The account of this great lady may
+remind the reader of Bruce’s Sittina.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 14. We started this morning at noon; and now,
+thank Heaven, my face is toward the north, and every day will bring
+me<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> nearer England.
+I have still a journey of nearly 1600 miles before I even reach
+Alexandria, with deserts to pass and hardships to undergo.<a id=
+"FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>
+We have suffered already very severely from heat and fatigue. For
+some time past the thermometer, between eleven and four, has been
+96° to 100° in the shade; on one day as high as 104°, and another,
+110°. The wind blows almost every day very strong from the north;
+but in the interior deserts of Africa, the atmosphere soon becomes
+so heated, by the scorching sun, that the wind which, in other
+regions, braces and invigorates man, is felt as hot and oppressive.
+It is refreshing at night, and near the river; but in the desert,
+for a great part of the day, almost insupportable. Our umbrellas,
+with which we sheltered ourselves from the sun, have been all
+broken by the wind, and others we had constructed met to-day a
+similar fate; but we protect ourselves with our sheets as well as
+we can. There is no apparent ascent from the Nile into the desert.
+After five hours’ journey we encamped for the night. The desert is
+slightly covered with sand, but not so much as to impede the
+camels: in other respects it almost resembles a park, covered, to a
+great extent, with trees and herbage, though the latter has rather
+a burnt appearance. The trees are chiefly acacias, bearing full
+yellow flowers, and in their forms sometimes resembling small oaks,
+others the tops of the Italian pine trees.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 16. We have been ten hours <em>en route</em> this
+day. As we advanced into the desert, I observed not quite so many
+trees, and also less herbage. After five hours’ journey—that is,
+ten after leaving the Nile—we arrived at a spot called Aboulay,
+where numerous wells occur. The Arabs filled their water-skins;
+and, had I not been well provided from the Nile, I should have
+drunk of it without hesitation, as it seemed tolerably sweet and
+wholesome.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>On this journey
+I could not escape from some serious and even painful reflections.
+However the traveller may be fascinated with this kind of
+life,—free from the restraints and passions of the world; living in
+the patriarchal style; mounted on his dromedary; sleeping under a
+tent, and sometimes without one; covered with no other canopy than
+the blue sky;—exquisite as may be the pleasure of exploring
+unfrequented lands, treading unbeaten paths, and leading his
+caravan over these terrible wildernesses; still, there are
+thoughts, not to be resisted, which crowd upon the mind, and
+unnerve even the strongest. This is not the land of our birth; we
+are strangers to the customs, manners, language, and religion of
+the people: their hospitality and civility are merely the effort of
+their benevolence, and the performance of a duty. No tie of
+relationship, no chain of affection, no sympathy of ideas, no bond
+of union, exists between us. The dissimilarity of our colour, of
+the climate and aspect of the country, as compared with ours, is
+not more complete than that of our habits and feelings. All that we
+love, all that we care for, is separated from us by immense tracts
+of desert sands; and we have to pass rivers, seas, and several
+thousand miles before we reach the land of our home. I can also
+assure my fair countrywomen that it is no trifling deprivation to
+see and converse with none but these swarthy savage beauties, from
+whose society no man of any refinement can derive the slightest
+gratification. My Italian artist, who sings remarkably well,
+entertains me sometimes with the favourite airs from Rossini’s and
+Bellini’s operas, and he talks to me so much of “la bella Italia,”
+that I long to be again there—<em>but on my way to
+England</em>.</p>
+
+<p>My camel-drivers, with the exception of two Ababdes, whom I met
+and engaged as they had passed the Nubian desert with me, are of
+the tribe of the Shageea—fine tall warlike-looking fellows, with
+their hair dressed almost like the Ababdes; but the Shageea
+generally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> wear
+beards and mustachios. Their complexion is decidedly darker than
+that of the Ababdes, which is a dark brown; but theirs is a darker
+brown, and sometimes approaches almost to a black, but still very
+different from the cold colour of the negroes. The Shageea have
+occasionally wider nostrils than we should think correct, and
+rather thick lips, otherwise their features would resemble exactly
+the European. We have seen numbers of gazelles, and several flocks
+of sheep, and passed many isolated hills: the sand is firm, and not
+fatiguing for the camels. Six inches below the surface is sandstone
+rock.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 17. We have been ten hours on the road. Had it
+not been for the extreme heat, and my health being indifferent, I
+should have enjoyed my journey through this desert; for, although
+not picturesque, the abundance of acacias makes it extremely
+beautiful. We have passed several isolated hills; and on the sand
+yesterday, as well as to-day, I observed many of the round balls of
+iron-flint, or iron-glance, sometimes of a red, but generally of
+almost a black, colour. A distinguished mineralogist has informed
+me that they are common sand, agglutinated by oxide of iron, such
+as may be seen on Hampstead Heath, &amp;c., rolled by water. They
+are similar to those observed during my first two or three days’
+journey in the great Nubian desert.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 18. After four hours’ ride I arrived at a range
+of mountains, the crust of which consists of quartz and decomposed
+granite; but the basis of most of the rocks in this quarter is
+sandstone. At a distance I fancied we were approaching a passage
+cut through the mountains; but on arriving it proved a deep recess
+in the rock, having the appearance of being worn by a torrent, and
+now forming a well, or rather cistern, almost entirely protected
+from the rays of the sun by a projecting rock. During the winter,
+and when the tropical rains extend so far north, the water is above
+five times its present depth, which is only eight feet. It is
+now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> green, and
+disagreeable to the taste; but, fortunately, my stock of Nile water
+is not finished, as I must confess I should not have relished to
+quench my thirst, under a burning sun, with this beverage. My
+satisfaction was the greater when I observed that my camel-drivers,
+when they had filled their water-skins, bathed and washed
+themselves in the pool; doubtless the usual custom of the caravans.
+We expected to find flocks here, and procure an additional supply
+of meat. My artist being extremely unwell, and wishing for soup, I
+gave a backsheesh of ten piastres to one of the camel-men, who
+mounted an unloaded dromedary, and went out of the road, towards
+the west, to a source of water, where he said there were Arabs of
+the tribe of the Hassanyeh: he joined us after three hours, having
+succeeded in purchasing a goat for five, and an excellent gazelle
+for two, piastres. We have seen numerous herds, of five or six
+each, of the latter, but have never been able to approach within
+shot of them. At a short distance from hence, they tell me that
+there are antelopes (Arabic, <em>buggera el Atmoor</em>). It is
+singular that, on this side of the river, ferocious animals are
+rare. There are some few hyenas, but the panthers and lions seem
+confined chiefly to the Island of Meroe.</p>
+
+<p>This reservoir of water, called Gagdool, is out of the direct
+road; we went from it due west for a short time, and then resumed
+our course towards the north-west. I should have made a drawing of
+these rocks, but I was really so unwell that I felt unequal to the
+exertion. At noon we reposed for a short time under our tent. There
+are abundance of acacias, but they afford little shade; whence the
+Arab proverb, “The friendship of man is like the shade of the
+acacia.” At Shendy I bought a splendid greyhound dog; perhaps of a
+larger species than ours, stronger, and with more bone, but showing
+much breeding. I was surprised to find the true race of greyhound
+dog in the centre of Africa; but, in fact, there is a
+representation of it on the walls of a tomb at Thebes, forming part
+of magnificent offerings received from Ethiopia.<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> (See <a href="#pl46">Plate
+XLVI.</a>) I should have been glad to have brought him to England,
+but he died in consequence of the heat, added to his fatigue in
+following the camel, and perhaps not having sufficient water,
+although I spared him as much as I could out of my own individual
+stock<a id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class=
+"fnanchor">[24]</a>, in order that I might save him. I placed him
+on the back of a camel; but he would not remain.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 19. Nine hours this day. We arrived at eleven at
+a well, in a valley at the commencement of a range of granite rocks
+of the usual round formation by which they are always known: quartz
+nodules were scattered in the valley. The water of this well is the
+best we have tasted since we left the Nile, yet not what I should
+like to drink. The Arabs say that we shall arrive at a better
+to-morrow. The source is called Magaga. We encamped earlier than
+usual this evening, my artist being unable to go any farther. Last
+night he had a severe attack of bilious fever. Calomel is the best
+remedy for that complaint in this climate. I gave him a dose of six
+grains, and this morning he was wonderfully better, but the fatigue
+and heat of the day have brought on a relapse. He wants spirit to
+assist in throwing off the disease, is afraid of dying in the
+desert, and thinks it impossible he shall live to see the Nile
+again. He fancies that without plenty of sustenance he cannot
+exist; and therefore forces his appetite, instead of living
+abstemiously, as he ought. I have given him six grains more this
+evening, but have found great difficulty in inducing him to take
+them, although he is sensible of the benefit he derived from the
+others. I am exceedingly anxious about the effect of the medicine,
+from the responsibility I feel in having brought him into the
+deserts. His reproaches on the subject are harassing, although
+unjust; for he was engaged under the condition of making this
+journey.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span><em>March</em>
+20. My artist was exceedingly ill the early part of last night, but
+at last he fell into a profuse perspiration, after which he dropped
+asleep, and awoke this morning quite relieved. He allows a certain
+merit to the pills, but much more to his having vowed to present
+wax candles to the Madonna on his return to Italy: he has made
+other promises of the same kind for deliverance from various
+dangers. An hour after starting this morning, we arrived at a well
+called Haless, situated, like the one we passed yesterday, in a
+valley. The water is most delicious, quite equal to that of the
+Nile. We emptied all our geerbahs of the water they contained,
+which, from the extreme heat, had become black and bad, and filled
+them from this delicious fountain. I never enjoyed any luxury so
+much as this cold, clear, fresh draught.</p>
+
+<p>We encamped after nine hours’ ride. Although the scenery is not
+sufficiently bold to be termed picturesque, it is impossible to
+conceive a more beautiful desert; valleys and rocks with mountains,
+whose forms are varied, broken, sometimes conical, but never
+monotonous. The low grounds are covered with sweet-smelling
+acacias. The herbage has certainly, at this season, a very burnt
+appearance; but had there been a greensward, instead of these
+yellow sands and this long discoloured grass, few spots would be
+more lovely than the Desert of Bahiouda.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 21. We rode ten hours to-day. The plains are
+rather more extensive, but still beautiful. We met, this morning,
+shepherd boys with geerbahs on their arms, containing their
+provision of water, and they had a few loaves of dourah bread tied
+in their garment. In this way they conduct their flocks to the
+pasturages distant from the well, and return when their stock of
+provision is consumed. I observed, several times, this morning,
+traces of torrents. The mountains in this desert are generally of
+grey and pink-coloured granite, often of the description called
+syenite; many are of sandstone, hornblende, and
+conglomerates;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>
+while others are of decomposed granite and decomposed felspar. At
+eleven o’clock we passed a well of good water called Hennek, now
+forty feet deep and proportionally wide. There are no traces of its
+being recently excavated, nor any thing to mark it as ancient, but
+it is too great an undertaking for the Arabs of the present age to
+have accomplished. We are encamped near another source of rain
+water, called Prasoli. There are about twenty houses or sheds
+scattered around, inhabited by peasants and their flocks. We have
+met two caravans of merchants from Dongolah. The manner the Shageea
+salute, leaning their right arms over the breasts and shoulders of
+each other, has a very dignified and noble appearance, and is quite
+in harmony with that frank sincerity and honest affection, which
+characterise the Arabs of the desert.</p>
+
+<p><em>March</em> 22. We set out, as usual, at seven, and, at
+twelve o’clock of the eighth day from Metammah, arrived again at
+the river. A short distance from the Nile, in a wild solitary
+situation, we passed some fine ruins of a large Coptic church. It
+is built of stone covered with cement. There are several windows,
+and naves in the interior. There are also several doors, and over
+them the Maltese cross. At the top of the building are remains of
+an Egyptian cornice and beading, but the plan of the interior is
+evidently that of a church. It was built, probably, of the
+materials of a temple, of which the peasants inform me that the
+traces were recently visible, but are now entirely buried by the
+encroaching sands of the desert. I went to the place where it was
+said to have existed, but could find no vestiges of it. We were
+detained some time on the south side of the Nile, but, after firing
+repeatedly, a boat came over for us.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately on arriving at the town of Meroueh, I paid a visit
+to the katshef who has the command of this district. I found him
+very anxious to be of service to us; and his assistance was most
+useful in enabling me to procure a fresh supply of bread; a thing
+difficult to be had in a country where very<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_133">[133]</span> little of any grain except dourah is
+either raised or eaten. I was fortunate in obtaining as much rice
+as I was in need of from the soldiers, who were very willing to
+sell their rations. Our sugar and tea is consumed: the latter, of
+course, is not to be procured in such a region as this. In this
+village, or rather little capital of the province of Dar Shageea,
+and in the country around, we could only find one loaf of sugar,
+which was black, and the owner made me pay ten times its value.</p>
+
+<p>We left the camels, which brought us across the desert, on the
+other side of the river: we, therefore, cannot go on to Gibel el
+Birkel this evening, since no other camels can be found to carry
+the luggage. As the distance is more than an hour’s walk, I have
+not time to go and return before dark, and am therefore obliged to
+restrain my curiosity until to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>Meroueh is an ill-built miserable place. In the fortress where
+the katshef resides, and which formerly belonged to Melek Shoush,
+is a pedestal of basalt, on which are two ovals, with names and
+titles on them, which I could not copy, on account of the
+accumulation of filth that covered them. I had it washed, and
+traced sufficient of the hieroglyphics to perceive that the name is
+the same as that of an Ethiopian king I afterwards found on the
+great temple at Gibel el Birkel. In the court of the same castle is
+a fragment of a statue of the same material, the sculpture of which
+is good. The coincidence between the modern name of Meroueh and the
+ancient capital Meroe is curious. Was this the commencement of the
+kingdom of which Meroe was the metropolis?</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span><a id=
+"c11"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">ANTIQUITIES OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL. — DESCRIPTION AND
+DIMENSIONS OF THE MOUNTAIN. — TEMPLE BUILT BY THE TIRHAKA OF THE
+BIBLE. — VARIOUS OTHER INTERESTING REMAINS AND TEMPLES. — PYRAMIDS.
+— CIRCULAR AND POINTED ARCH INVENTED IN ETHIOPIA.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">Gibel el Birkel</span> is situated
+an hour’s walk, or three miles and a half, to the east of the small
+town of Meroueh, and the mountain is 5150 feet distant from the
+Nile. It is an insulated hill, situated in a large plain; and below
+it, on the south side, are the ruins, also the cultivated land and
+the river. The other sides of the mountain are bordered by the
+desert, which has, no doubt, made encroachments on what was once
+cultivated land. The height of the eminence is about 350 feet. The
+exterior is rough, part of it having been worked to furnish
+materials for the temples, and more recently large masses have
+fallen, and almost entirely buried two temples which were situated
+beneath. The hill is of sandstone, of a soft description, which
+accounts for the dilapidated state of all the remains; for not only
+would the influence of time and the seasons be greater, but the
+difficulty would, of course, be less in destroying them. In some
+parts, the mountain is nearly perpendicular: the form is very
+picturesque, and highly imposing, particularly at a distance.</p>
+
+<p>My general view (<a href="#pl18">Plate XVIII.</a>), drawn by
+myself with the camera lucida, will give a correct idea of the site
+of the ancient city; but it differs so much from the view Cailliaud
+has published, that it will scarcely be recognised as the same
+place; and, indeed, nearly all our plans and drawings are equally
+dissimilar. I can only state, that neither time nor pains were
+spared, either by my artist or myself, to render ours as accurate
+as possible. The total<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_135">[135]</span> circumference of the mountain (see <a href=
+"#pl17">Plate XVII.</a>) is about 5000 feet, which may be divided
+thus:—</p>
+
+<table class="tabw35" id="t135">
+<tr>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th>Feet.</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">From the temple of Isis or Typhonium to
+the temple destroyed by the mountain</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right03">400</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">From the latter to the Grand Temple</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right03">100</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">To the point where the mountain takes a
+direction almost to the north, passing the traces of the town,
+which extends for 500 feet</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right03">600</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Direction towards the north</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right03">700</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ditto towards the north-west</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right03">1100</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ditto towards the south-west</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right03">100</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ditto nearly south</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right03">2000</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr-bot pad-right03 bbdb bt">5000</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl17">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 17.</p>
+<a href="images/pl17_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl17.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>. & L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The form of the eminence is not very unlike that of the
+Acropolis of Athens, but there certainly never was any
+fortification on this rock. Some broken pottery and bricks, on the
+eastern side, indicate the site of the town. On the opposite, or
+western side of the mountain, but more in the desert, are two
+groups of pyramids. One consists of nine, the other, still farther
+in the desert, of eight. They are surrounded by sand, on the
+surface of which great quantities of quartz pebbles are
+disseminated.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the two temples, mentioned as having been destroyed by
+the falling of a part of the mountain, there are the remains of
+eight other edifices, principally temples. The one I first arrived
+at, situated at the south-west corner of the mountain, is perhaps
+the most interesting of all. (See <a href="#pl19">Plate
+XIX.</a>)</p>
+
+<p>I admired exceedingly the beautiful and picturesque form of
+Gibel el Birkel; but the ruins in the distance, scattered beneath
+the southern side of the mountain, excited to the greatest degree
+my curiosity. I felt, indeed, that I was undoubtedly approaching
+the site of the capital of a formerly rich and flourishing region.
+The situation at once announces it, and the magnificent<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> remains bear testimony to its
+importance, and, I may truly add, to the taste, knowledge, and
+refinement of the ancient inhabitants of this now deserted city.
+<a href="#pl20">Plate XX.</a> is a view of the ruins which first
+engaged my attention. It shows the remaining fragment of the
+propylon, and the manner in which the columns forming the first
+court were ornamented. The head of Isis adorns the eastern and
+western sides of the columns, fronting the avenue and enclosure,
+where they would be seen conspicuously, but the other two sides
+have merely the lotus flower; an economy of sculpture never seen in
+Egyptian edifices. This drawing also shows the entrance into the
+chambers which were excavated out of the rock. <a href=
+"#pl19">Plate XIX.</a> is the best point of view that I could fix
+upon, and indeed a better could not be desired, as it shows seven
+columns, ornamented with the capitals of the head of Athor, which
+are all that remain; and it also comprises the only Typhonian
+pillar that is now entire in the portico. My drawings will, I
+trust, give the reader a full idea of the imposing appearance of
+these ruins. I will now enter into a more detailed architectural
+description of this temple, of which we have given the plan and
+section, Plates <a href="#pl21">XXI.</a> and <a href=
+"#pl22">XXII.</a></p>
+
+<p>The length of this temple is 115 feet 6 inches, the breadth (in
+the interior) 50 feet 2 inches. The pylon is almost entirely
+destroyed, but sufficient is left to prove that its depth was 11
+feet 3 inches, and total width 62 feet 6 inches: there are no
+remains of the entrance into this portico, but I have restored it
+according to the usual form. This pylon leads into a portico 59
+feet long and 50 feet 2 inches wide. I know not why Cailliaud and
+others have made two rooms of this portico, and a difference in the
+diameter of the columns. My artist had sufficient time to make the
+plan, which, with the section, were drawn out, as I give them, on
+the spot. This was our habitation, and in my examination of the
+ruins I did not see any authority to induce me to suppose that
+there had been two apartments. All the columns were so easily
+traced, that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>
+plan, with the exception of the propylon, may be considered
+entire.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw4">
+<figure id="pl18">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 18.</p>
+<a href="images/pl18.jpg"><img src='images/pl18.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by
+G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">GENERAL VIEW OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>This portico consists of two rows of seven columns each, and two
+rows of the same number of square pillars. The latter form the
+centre avenue, while the columns are arranged between the pillars
+and exterior wall. The centre rows, forming the avenue into the
+temple, are ornamented on the side fronting the avenue with figures
+of the deformed Pthah, or what is generally called Typhon, above
+which is a capital, decorated with representations of the lotus
+flower, supporting ovals; between the latter are branches of palm
+trees. One of these pillars remains entire, and the traces of the
+others are visible. Behind them are circular columns, with the
+capitals of the head of Athor, above which is the common
+representation of the monolithic temple with the serpent and globe.
+On the reverse is the same. The sides are decorated (as I have said
+in my description of <a href="#pl20">Plate XX.</a>) with the lotus
+flower, instead of the head of Athor, above which are similar
+monolithic temples. The sculpture of these heads of Isis is
+tolerable (see <a href="#pl19">Plate XIX.</a>), but not so bold as
+on the pillars at Naga. The diameter of the columns is 3 feet 6
+inches; their total height 17 feet 6 inches, including the bases.
+The shaft of the column, consisting of five pieces, measures 9
+feet. The head of Athor 3 feet 4 inches, the monolithic temple 4
+feet 6 inches. The diameter of the Typhonian pillars is 4 feet 3
+inches. The columns with the Athor-headed capital rest on circular
+bases, 4 feet in diameter, and 8 inches high; the figures of Typhon
+are 12 feet 4 inches high; the total height of the pillar 17 feet.
+The height of the legs of this figure is 4 feet 6 inches; the
+length of the body from the shoulder to its legs 6 feet; the head
+is 3 feet 8 inches long; making in all 14 feet 2 inches. The
+difference from the total height of the statue, which is only 12
+feet 4 inches, is accounted for by the circumstance of the head of
+the monster<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>
+reaching over its breast, the shoulders being nearly on a level
+with its ears, while its belly hangs down between its legs.</p>
+
+<p>The side walls of the temple seem never to have been above 5
+feet 6 inches high, as may be observed in the section. Besides the
+wall not being broken, the circumstance of the capitals of the
+columns being ornamented, on the sides fronting the wall, with the
+heads of Isis, whilst on the north and south sides the architect
+did not take the trouble thus to decorate them, proves that, from
+the lowness of the wall, such an ornament was there quite
+requisite. The circumstance, also, of the sides of the column
+towards the centre avenue being in a great measure concealed by the
+Typhonian figures, would suggest the idea of this variation from
+the general plan, and induce them to erect only a low wall, in
+order that the columns with the Athor-headed capital might be
+visible. This portico leads into a room excavated out of the rock,
+ornamented with two figures of Typhon: the height of these,
+including a kind of basket above their heads, and plinths (see
+<a href="#pl22">section</a>), is 12 feet 4 inches. The sides of
+this room are ornamented with sculpture, representing the king
+Tirhaka, and his beautiful and royal bride Amentikatah, making
+offerings and libations to the god Amun Ra, Lord of the Rulers,
+with the head-dress of a large globe and two feathers; behind whom
+is Maut, with a plain helmet on her head. On the opposite side the
+king, with the titles, God beneficent, Lord of the World,
+Beneficent King, Son of Phre (Pharaoh), is offering vases to the
+divinity Io, whose head-dress consists of four plain feathers. She
+has the jackal-headed staff in one hand, and in the other the
+<em>crux ansatus</em>. Behind this divinity is a representation of
+Koht, with the head of a lioness, sustaining a globe. I have copied
+the hieroglyphics, as also the dedicatory inscription around the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>On the columns of the portico scarcely any hieroglyphics are
+legible; those few that are so I have copied. The room
+last<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> described
+leads into the sanctuary, also excavated out of the rock. It is 22
+feet 10 inches long, by 12 feet 8 inches broad, and is ornamented
+with sculpture, representing the king making offerings to the
+divinities, with the attributes of Amun Ra, Neith, Honsoo, Horus,
+Kneph, and Thoth. On the west side of the sanctuary is another
+excavated room, 22 feet 10 inches long, and 7 feet 6 inches wide.
+This is also ornamented with sculpture, much broken, representing
+the king making offerings to Kneph, Thoth, and Horus.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw6">
+<figure id="pl19">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 19.</p>
+<a href="images/pl19.jpg"><img src='images/pl19.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by C. Hullmandel, from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">TEMPLE OF TIRHAKA, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the east side of the sanctuary are two rooms, the first 17
+feet long by 7 feet 7 inches wide. The sculpture represents the
+king, with the attributes and titles of Thoth, addressing numerous
+divinities seated, all with the same figure of a mummy and a
+jackal-headed staff in their hands. Before the first is a pedestal
+with a lotus flower upon it. The second room, leading out of the
+last I have described, is unfinished, and is only 5 feet long and 7
+feet wide. The plan will show that the rooms on each side the
+sanctuary have no direct communication with the latter, but lead
+out of the first excavated chamber.</p>
+
+<p>This is not only the most curious of all the temples of Gibel el
+Birkel, four of the chambers being excavated out of the rock; but
+it is also in every respect the most picturesque and interesting,
+particularly from being in the best preservation. Though an
+excavation, it is apparently not very ancient.<a id=
+"FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>
+I found no other name upon it than that of Tirhaka, which is found
+on the columns of the portico, and also in the interior. This is
+the Pharaoh, as will be seen by the <a href="#c19">Historical
+Appendix,</a> who assisted Hezekiah in his war against Sennacherib.
+In clearing out the stones and rubbish from the sanctuary, to make
+it a more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>
+comfortable residence, I made the curious discovery of a gutter, 4
+inches deep and 9 inches broad, which crosses the ancient stone
+floor. It was probably to receive the blood of the sacrifices.</p>
+
+<p>The sculpture of this temple has not the striking
+characteristics of the true Ethiopian style; it more resembles the
+Egyptian, and is good, though by no means the best. It is not
+improbable that this Ethiopian dynasty, being possessed also of
+Egypt, introduced into their own country a taste for the improved
+style of Egyptian sculpture. Ages must have elapsed before the
+Ethiopian manner could have changed to one so entirely different as
+this is.</p>
+
+<p>The next ruin I arrived at is marked D in the <a href=
+"#pl17">plan,</a> and is nearly 300 feet distant from the
+Typhonium. This space of 300 feet between the two temples is
+covered with ruined fragments, doubtless part of the city. The
+temple D is not remarkable for architectural beauty. It is much
+injured, and the sculpture and hieroglyphics which ornamented the
+interior are quite defaced; scarcely a vestige of the latter
+remaining to tell that they existed. The plan of the temple may be
+distinctly traced. It consisted only of two rooms: the first
+ornamented with four columns; the second is the sanctuary, in which
+is a plain stone for an altar: the length of the edifice is 85
+feet, and the width 65. I saw no reason to suppose that it ever had
+an additional portico in front. The defaced state of the
+hieroglyphics and sculpture is no proof, in this instance, of its
+great antiquity, but may be accounted for by the peculiar softness
+of the stone. Close or adjoining to this temple, on the east side,
+are some walls and columns of other edifices (E in the <a href=
+"#pl17">plan</a>); but, from what remains, little, I think, would
+be gained by an excavation, as there are no hieroglyphics.</p>
+
+<p>At 125 feet to the north, that is, behind the last-described
+ruins, are the remains of the propylon of a small temple. (See the
+foreground of <a href="#pl23">Plate XXIII.</a>, and to the right,
+in the distance, of <a href="#pl25">Plate XXV.</a>) Its south side
+is ornamented with sculpture, representing<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_141">[141]</span> the king sacrificing prisoners to Amun; a
+subject so often repeated on the propylons of Egypt. The other side
+of the propylon is also ornamented with sculpture. (See <a href=
+"#pl23">Plate XXIII.</a>) It represents a sphinx on a pedestal,
+under which is a figure with feathers, and also a pedestal with
+some vases. I copied the hieroglyphics which were legible. They
+contain the name and titles of a king called Amun Sekon. The upper
+part of the oval, on the south side of the propylon, is destroyed;
+but on the north, where it is perfect, it seems to be <em>Strength
+of Amun Sekon</em>. The similarity of the name Sekon and Sethus,
+the first of the nineteenth dynasty, is curious. The hieroglyphics
+above the sphinx seem to allude to the offering of an obelisk to
+the king, and the inscription above the vases states their number
+to be forty. The width of this temple is 60 feet. The
+<em>sekos</em> has been destroyed by the falling of part of the
+mountain; and another temple, C, close adjoining, has suffered in a
+similar manner. Of the latter still slighter traces remain: a few
+fragments of columns and part of a wall alone indicate that it ever
+existed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl20">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 20.</p>
+<a href="images/pl20.jpg"><img src='images/pl20.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by C. Hullmandel, from a Drawing
+by L. Bandoni Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">TEMPLE BUILT BY TIRHAKA, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>Great Temple at Gibel el Birkel.</em>—The temple I next
+arrived at, 75 feet from the latter, marked F in the <a href=
+"#pl17">plan,</a> had attracted my attention on first arriving at
+the mountain. It is now little more than an immense confused pile
+of ruins. One column only remains entire; having the capital of the
+form of the lotus-bud; denoting its epoch, not only by its style,
+but by the name still legible on the slab of the capital. Of the
+vast number of columns which ornamented the porticoes, vestibules,
+and apartments of this enormous edifice, one only remains; a sad
+relic of departed splendour: and this, defaced, tottering, and
+almost bent with age, cannot long answer the purpose of
+transmitting to posterity the name of its royal founder. It seems
+almost by a miracle to have survived the ruin which surrounds it:
+and we may congratulate ourselves on this circumstance; for, if it
+had fallen a generation earlier, the fragments would have been
+swallowed up<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> by the
+desert or carried away by the Arabs; and, consequently, the style
+of the architecture, and the name of the king who, perhaps, built
+this splendid edifice, would have remained wrapped in impenetrable
+mystery.</p>
+
+<p>Few temples in Egypt are more extensive or finer than this must
+once have been. Sufficient still remains to show its extent and
+magnificence: traces of columns, fragments of battle-scenes, and
+sacred processions, display its <em>architectural</em> beauty and
+the interesting historical events which once adorned its walls. The
+cruel hand of time, some convulsion of nature, or, what is most
+probable, the barbarous hand of man, have destroyed them, and thus
+torn many interesting pages from the history of the world.</p>
+
+<p>A general view of these ruins may be seen in the background of
+<a href="#pl23">Plate XXIII.,</a> which gives a correct idea of the
+confused mass that now remains; and my view (<a href="#pl25">Plate
+XXV.</a>), the most picturesque of any that I have of Gibel el
+Birkel, represents in the foreground the solitary column before
+mentioned. The separate plan (<a href="#pl24">Plate XXIV.</a>) of
+this temple I drew myself, and spared no pains to make it as
+correct as possible, excavating for that purpose: and had I been
+less acquainted with Egyptian edifices, I could not have succeeded
+so well. The exact form of the first propylon of this temple is not
+discernible, being quite destroyed, great part of the stones
+carried away, and the rest covered almost entirely with the sand
+which drifts continually from the desert. The dimensions given to
+the propylon in the plan, I obtained by some little excavation, and
+by observations of the ground. I do not pretend to say they are
+quite correct; but, from the dilapidated state of this part of the
+temple, more exact measurements cannot, I think, now be obtained.
+To understand fully the following detailed description of this
+edifice, the reader must refer to my <a href="#pl24">plan.</a> The
+total length of the temple is nearly 500 feet. The first court is
+150 feet long, and 135 wide, and was surrounded by a row of
+columns, 5 feet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> 9
+inches in diameter, resting on bases 7 feet 6 inches in diameter.
+Nine only of these columns are now visible. These, however, are
+sufficient to afford a correct idea of what the court has been. I
+obtained the intercolumniation by excavation, and have thus
+ascertained that this court must have been ornamented with 26
+columns, and not more, as it has been represented. There were nine
+on each side, including the angles, and four at each end.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw10">
+<figure id="pl21">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 21.</p>
+<a href="images/pl21.jpg"><img src='images/pl21.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>Drawn by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">TEMPLE OF TIRHAKA, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>London. Published by Longman, Rees &
+C<sup>o</sup>. April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The propylon of the second court is also much injured, but not
+to the same extent as the first. On the south-west side, which is
+less injured than the other, I found the remains of a staircase
+leading to the top of the edifice. The depth of this propylon,
+which is 28 feet, I was able to ascertain with more precision than
+the other. The second court is 125 feet long and 102 wide. It was
+curiously laid out, in a manner which first made me conceive it to
+have originally formed two rooms: the first containing four rows of
+six columns each, two on each side; and the second room, six rows
+of columns of three each: but, on further examination, I found that
+there was no mark on the side walls of its having been thus
+divided. There is a thin wall, which connects together the seventh
+and eighth columns of the centre avenue, that is, the last of the
+columns that would have been in the first room, and the first of
+the second. This proves that this could never have formed more than
+one court; for, had it been divided into separate rooms, these
+columns could not have been connected. I conceive it most probable
+that, as the architectural part of a temple was generally
+constructed before the ornamental, the columns may have been
+erected with the intention that it should have been divided into
+two rooms; but that afterwards, as the making the whole one
+apartment formed no very great architectural defect, though it
+certainly was one, this arrangement was adopted, probably in order
+to afford a more continued space for the procession which adorned
+the walls. Otherwise, rooms leading into the sanctuaries,
+ornamented<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> with six
+rows of columns, of three each, agree exactly with the general
+description of an Egyptian temple.</p>
+
+<p>With some little excavation, I found the traces of all the
+columns marked in the plan on the western side, and two on the
+other, with a similar connecting wall above mentioned: the width of
+the centre avenue was 17 feet. The diameter of the columns is 5
+feet 5 inches; and they rest on circular bases. A reference to the
+<a href="#pl24">plan</a> will show that the nine columns on each
+side, forming the centre avenue, are in an exact line. The six
+columns of the second row, on entering, are in a line with the
+intercolumniation of the second and third rows, of what I, at
+first, erroneously conceived to be a separate portico.</p>
+
+<p>On the west side of the second propylon are the fragments of a
+battle-scene, now almost unintelligible. Shattered pieces of a
+warhorse, of a king drawing his bow, and of slain combatants,
+denote that the historical representation of some celebrated
+conflict has been sculptured there. The side walls of this court
+seem to have been covered with splendid processions, perhaps equal
+to that in the beautiful portico at Medenet Abou; but nothing
+remains, except, in one place, a few heads; in another, the hawk
+and jackal standards, and several fragments of feet and limbs; and
+here and there, one or two hieroglyphics occur. I regret
+exceedingly that these sculptures are so completely destroyed, as,
+doubtless, they would have made an interesting addition to the
+pages of history. The battle, with its horrors—the resistance,
+flight, and slaughter—the fiery steed, trampling on the dying—the
+portraits and the names of the vanquished people—the warrior’s
+triumph and gratitude to the gods, and the processions in
+commemoration of his victory—were, no doubt, sculptured on these
+walls. This once beautiful temple, and the historical records with
+which it was adorned, are now almost entirely destroyed. Sufficient
+only is remaining to prove the beauty of the style, and make us
+sensible of the loss we have experienced in its
+destruction.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> The
+nature of the event these sculptures told, may be imagined; but as
+matter of history it is lost for ever.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl22">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 22.</p>
+<a href="images/pl22_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl22.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">TEMPLE <span class="cp2">partly excavated out of the
+Rock</span> GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The next room is 51 feet long and 56 feet wide, and was
+ornamented with a row of five columns on each side, the diameter of
+which is 4 feet 2 inches, and they rest on circular bases: the
+latter are on pedestals. On each side of this room was a gallery,
+in one of which there now remain two columns. It seems to me
+probable, from the space between the last-described room and the
+sanctuary (see <a href="#pl24">Plan</a>), that a gallery crossed
+the temple at the end of the third room, out of which there were
+probably three outlets. Those at the sides would lead into small
+chapels, and the centre one into the sanctuary. As I have no
+authority, however, for this supposition, I have not marked it in
+my plan; but the reader who has studied the construction of
+Egyptian edifices will perceive its probability.</p>
+
+<p>The sanctuary is, fortunately, in better preservation: its width
+is about 16 feet, the length uncertain. The wall which enclosed it
+could only have been of a certain height, perhaps a few feet, as,
+immediately behind it, on each side, are four columns, the diameter
+of which is 4 feet. Near the extremity of the sanctuary is a
+beautiful granite altar, which I found almost entirely covered with
+rubbish, and got it cleared. The device is very elegant,
+representing four kings, or, rather, four representations of the
+same king, Tirhaka, supporting the Egyptian entablature; and the
+base of the altar is also tastefully ornamented. Between the
+figures are four ovals: two containing the phonetic name of
+Tirhaka, accompanied with the titles of Son of Phre, or Pharaoh,
+the Sun, always living. The other two ovals contain the prænomen of
+the king Sun, very beneficent; above which is the title King, and
+below it the hieroglyphics signifying eternal life, or always
+living. There is a line of hieroglyphics round the figures,
+containing a dedication of the buildings to his father Amun Ra,
+&amp;c. On the east side is a subject, not uncommon in Egypt, of
+the two divinities<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>
+of the Nile, supporting with cords a pedestal, over which is the
+name of the king. I copied the hieroglyphics of this tablet. On the
+west side of the altar is a subject exactly similar to the east,
+but very much defaced and broken.<a id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Behind the sanctuary is a
+room or inner sanctuary, 37 feet long by 21 feet 6 inches wide. A
+door leads out of it, on the western side, into two small rooms. To
+the west of the altar, before described, is a much larger one of
+basalt, 8 feet 6 inches square. There are no figures on this altar,
+but some hieroglyphics, all of which I have copied: they contain
+the name and titles of King Pepi, or, as Rossellini, perhaps more
+correctly, calls him, Pionchei. The name of this king I found also
+on the walls; but, on the capital of the column which is still
+remaining there is an oval almost resembling the prænomen of
+Amunneith, or, according to Mr. Wilkinson, Amun m gori III. If it
+be the same, I must candidly state that this is very probably an
+Egyptian, and not an Ethiopian, edifice; for the name on the
+columns is generally that of the builder of the temple. There are
+other rooms (as will be seen by my <a href="#pl24">plan</a>), which
+I have not attempted to describe, being almost quite
+unintelligible.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of this temple, at a distance, is very
+picturesque; but there is little in the detail to interest the
+traveller; its architectural ornaments and sculpture being entirely
+destroyed, except the one column already mentioned, and it, too, is
+considerably injured, and off the perpendicular. To the architect,
+this temple is interesting, as its plan can almost be fully traced.
+The mere painter, seeking only the picturesque, would find few
+advantageous points of view. But to me these ruins were deeply
+interesting, since, accustomed as I am to Egyptian edifices, I
+found sufficient, even in the little that remains, to understand
+perfectly what it has been. I easily restored, in my conception,
+the lofty propylons, the splendid courts, surrounded with the most
+chaste forms of Egyptian columns; the porticoes, sanctuaries,
+statues, and avenues of sphinxes;—every part enriched by the art of
+the painter and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>
+sculptor;—the walls and propylons covered with the representations
+of mythological mysteries, military exploits, and animated
+battle-scenes, which form the <em>chefs d’œuvre</em> of Egyptian
+art. I could trace, also, the portraits of the heroes,
+hieroglyphical tablets, containing the history of the scenes, and
+displaying the king’s piety and munificence in his offerings to the
+gods. Thus, I restored the temple in my imagination; and, indeed,
+there was good authority for all that I have enumerated. Were I to
+refer to a period still more remote, and, filling up the vague, and
+not sufficiently explicit authority of the historians, describe the
+bronze, gold, silver, ivory, ebony, and precious stones, with which
+it was, perhaps, adorned; the Oriental magnificence which was most
+probably displayed; the mysterious ceremonies of the most
+mysterious of religions; the sacrifices and burnt-offerings; the
+deceiving oracles, the crafty priesthood, and the ignorant
+multitude gazing, with superstitious awe, at their imposing
+functions,—I might then be accused of rambling into the regions of
+fancy; for, unfortunately, there are no sufficient records yet to
+enter into this subject: but if the study of hieroglyphics is still
+continued, the veil of Isis may, perhaps, be raised. The Arabs have
+carried away a great part of the materials of this temple; and, in
+a short time, the little that is remaining of this, the
+<em>Selinunte</em> of Ethiopian edifices, will be entirely buried
+by the sand which is daily drifted in upon it from the desert.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl23">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 23.</p>
+<a href="images/pl23.jpg"><img src='images/pl23.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by C. Hullmandel, from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>Other Ruins at Gibel el Birkel.</em>—Twenty yards to the
+west of the Typhonium, marked in the plan, are the remains of
+another small temple, excavated in the rock. The first court was
+ornamented with columns, and on the walls I could distinguish
+traces of sculpture, but now too much defaced to be legible.
+Besides the temples already mentioned, situated under the mountain,
+there are the traces of another, 200 feet from the great propylon
+of the large temple; that is, about 700 feet from the mountain,
+towards the river. A fragment of a wall, 6 feet by 3 feet, is all
+that now remains: 300 feet beyond the latter is a single column,
+with a lotus-flower<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>
+capital. From this column to the river are 4100 feet. The mountain
+is, therefore, 5100 feet distant from the Nile.</p>
+
+<p>To the north of the great temple are the ruins of buildings,
+chiefly of brick, which seem to have formed part of the city, but
+they are of no very great extent. Here are scattered numerous
+pieces of pottery, and fragments of the same description of bread
+stamps which are found at Thebes, but these are without
+hieroglyphic inscriptions. To the east of the great temple, in the
+plain, are columns and traces of other temples, but now almost
+entirely buried by the sand.</p>
+
+<p>I have described all the temples now existing at Gibel el
+Birkel, and mentioned the remains and traces of nine, and will now
+treat of the monumental decorations of its interesting Necropolis.
+The magnificence, power, and piety of the monarchs of Ethiopia are
+displayed in the public works erected in honour of the gods. In
+this beautiful cemetery, we have monuments either of the gratitude
+and attachment of their subjects, or, more probably, of their own
+ostentation. The kings of Egypt are supposed, for many reasons,
+which I will mention at another opportunity, to have had their
+tombs constructed long before their decease; and this instructive
+memorial of the transient nature of their earthly greatness was
+worthy of the wisdom and philosophy of so great a nation. The
+Ethiopians probably had the same custom; and considering, as
+Diodorus says of the Egyptians, their palaces only as inns where
+they tarried for a day, they took care to have a more suitable
+habitation provided for that state, in which they believed that
+they were to rest for ages.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw12">
+<figure id="pl24">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 24.</p>
+<a href="images/pl24.jpg"><img src='images/pl24.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>Drawn by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">GREAT TEMPLE, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>London. Published by Longman, Rees &
+C<sup>o</sup>. April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The pyramids are on the western side of the mountain. The first
+group, of two, is 700 feet north-west of the Typhonium, the temple
+I described as excavated in the rock. (See the <a href=
+"#pl24">General Plan</a> and <a href="#i10">vignette.</a><a id=
+"FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>)
+The first, A, is 30 feet square;<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_149">[149]</span> 40 feet to the west of this, is the other,
+B, which is only 23 feet square. The pyramid C, in the plan, is 235
+feet distant from the latter, and measures 30 feet by 26: twenty
+feet farther to the west is pyramid D, which is 27 feet square. The
+one marked E, in the plan above, adjoining the latter, is 36 feet
+square; and F, partly behind this, is of the same size. Sixteen
+feet to the north of F, and north-west of the pyramids C, D, E, is
+the largest one at Gibel el Birkel, which is 88 feet square: the
+angle of this is more obtuse than that of any of the other pyramids
+at Gibel el Birkel. The ruined state of this large pyramid, and
+also of the others already described, will be seen in the distance
+in <a href="#pl27">Plate XXVII.</a> One hundred and forty-five feet
+to the north of this large pyramid is a small one, H, which is only
+25 feet square. The angle of this is much more acute, the height
+being considerably more than the diameter at the base. It is
+scarcely at all injured: the<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_150">[150]</span> apex of the pyramids at this place, like
+those in the Isle of Meroe, was never pointed. A flat space was
+always left at the top for a statue, perhaps, or some other
+ornament. One hundred and twenty-four feet to the west of the
+latter is another, I, 23 feet square. This is very much ruined,
+particularly on one side, but there are the remains of a portico
+before the south-east side. The other eight pyramids, of which I
+have given the dimensions, were without this ornament: at all
+events, there are no traces now remaining, that induced me to
+suppose that any of them had porches in front. The present state of
+the pyramids above described may be observed in the distance of
+<a href="#pl27">Plate XXVII.</a><a id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i10"><a href="images/i10.jpg"><img src='images/i10.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">PLAN OF THE PYRAMIDS OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>About 600 feet to the north-west is a fine group of eight other
+pyramids, situated on an eminence, which adds greatly to their
+effect, and gives them, at a distance, a still more imposing
+appearance. They extend for 550 feet from east to west; five of
+them have porticoes, or porches, the direction of which is about
+south-east, but rarely exactly the same. (See <a href=
+"#i11">Plan.</a>) <a href="#pl26">Plate XXVI.</a> is a general view
+of these pyramids, and the <a href="#i11">vignette</a> represents
+one in detail. These being accurate camera-lucida drawings, and
+every stone correct, the reader will be able to judge of the neat
+construction of some of these edifices, the regularity in the size
+of the stones (see <a href="#pl26">Plate XXVI.</a>), and the manner
+in which they are joined together, without cement. <a href=
+"#pl27">Plate XXVII.</a> is a view of a group of these pyramids,
+which also shows their construction; and in the distance is seen
+the mountain and the other group of pyramids.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl25">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 25.</p>
+<a href="images/pl25.jpg"><img src='images/pl25.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. P. Sherlock from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">GREAT TEMPLE, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The height of these monuments varies from 35 to 60 feet. They
+consist, according to their height, of from 30 to 60 steps each,
+receding about 6 inches. They, therefore, may be ascended, but with
+difficulty. They have smooth borders at the angles,
+like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> some of the
+pyramids at Meroe. The first, marked K in the <a href=
+"#i10">plan,</a> p. 149., 600 feet distant from the mountain, is
+about 65 feet square. It seems to have had no portico, but it is
+quite in ruins; it stood upon a stone basement. Thirty-six feet to
+the west of the latter is the pyramid L. This is 33 feet square, a
+mass of ruins, and no traces of the portico to be seen. This
+pyramid is the first to the right in <a href="#pl26">Plate
+XXVI.;</a> and although rather indistinct, from being placed in the
+distance, its dilapidated state may still be observed. Ninety-five
+feet to the west of this is M, which is 38 feet square. This has a
+portico before it: the summit of it is visible in <a href=
+"#pl26">Plate XXVI.</a> On the hard cement with which the interior
+of this portico is covered, I observed some remains of painting,
+rather indifferently executed. Fifteen feet to the south, and in
+the view almost covering the last, is pyramid N. This is 44 feet
+square and 51 feet high, and has a portico before it.
+Unfortunately, very few figures were distinguishable; but
+sufficient to prove the identity of the style, which is decidedly
+Ethiopian. As a further<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_152">[152]</span> confirmation of this fact, there is an
+inscription in Ethiopic characters. The masonry of this pyramid is
+very well executed. This pyramid is the first that may be remarked
+as entire in <a href="#pl26">Plate XXVI.</a></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw14">
+<figure id="i11"><a href="images/i11.jpg"><img src='images/i11.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">PYRAMIDS OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are porticoes, as I have said, before five of this group
+of eight pyramids, almost similar to those before the pyramids of
+Meroe. Some of these are ornamented with sculpture; but,
+unfortunately, destitute of hieroglyphics, which never appear to
+have been inserted upon them. I copied out of the pyramid N, the
+most beautiful specimen of sculpture that now remains. (See
+<a href="#pl29">Plate XXIX.</a>) The style may easily be perceived
+to be Ethiopian, from the roundness of the arms, and the
+proportions being generally more bulky than those of the Egyptians.
+This style differs so widely from that remaining in the temple
+built by Tirhaka, that many ages must certainly have elapsed before
+such an important change could have taken place. The subject which
+I have copied is not particularly interesting, being merely a
+presentation of offerings, but there is a variety and elegance in
+the groups, seldom surpassed in Egyptian productions. The offerings
+consist chiefly of branches of palm trees, goats, cattle, &amp;c.,
+and libations. In the highest row, Osiris is represented seated on
+his throne, as judge of Amenti, and the divinities Anubis and
+Horus, are also in the same line. The divinity with the globe and
+horns, in the second row, is probably Isis; and the last in the
+second row is a figure of Typhon.</p>
+
+<p>A personage larger than the others is holding incense on the
+same elegant description of tray, having the form of a hand and
+arm, which we see in Egypt. He is presenting it to the king, or
+occupant of the tomb, who is represented seated under a canopy, on
+a lion-shaped chair or throne, which differs, in a very slight
+degree, from that we so often see in the sculptures of Egypt. The
+dress of the king is different from the Egyptian. His necklace is
+curious: he has in one hand a large and strong<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_153">[153]</span> but beautifully-formed bow, and in the
+other an arrow and a branch of the palm tree<a id=
+"FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>:
+the goddess of truth, with outstretched wings, is immediately
+behind his throne. The traces of colour which still remain on this
+sculpture I marked on my original drawing.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw6">
+<figure id="pl26">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 26.</p>
+<a href="images/pl26.jpg"><img src='images/pl26.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. P. Sherlock from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PYRAMIDS OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the other side of the portico, opposite to this sculpture, is
+another subject, representing about 100 figures, rather curiously
+grouped; also some large figures exactly similar to those above
+described.</p>
+
+<p>In the other porticoes no sculpture is perceptible, except some
+fragments similar to the large figures in this plate.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of some of the porticoes appear traces of the funeral
+boats, similar to the one I described at Meroe. Notwithstanding
+some differences, they appear to have the same signification as
+those over the tombs of the kings. This circumstance, and the
+representation of the goddess of truth, Osiris, the president of
+Amenti, and the assistant divinities, Anubis, Thoth, and Horus, are
+proofs that these were indubitably tombs.</p>
+
+<p>These pyramids seem to have been the object of some learned
+curiosity or avarice. Deceived by the false doors beneath the boats
+of the sun at the end of the porticoes, persons have endeavoured,
+by blasting the stones, to discover some inner chambers, and set at
+rest for ever the question how, and for what purpose, they were
+constructed. The rude force of barbarians, perhaps of Arabs,
+animated, probably, by the hope of discovering treasure beneath,
+seems to have been exercised in utterly destroying others.</p>
+
+<p>Judging from the pyramids which are almost entirely ruined, and
+from those that have been partly broken down, I do not conceive
+that there is any chamber in the interior, but think it more
+probable that the body was deposited in a small well, above
+which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> the pyramid
+was afterwards erected. Yet Diodorus says that the Ethiopians
+differed from other nations in the honours which they rendered to
+their dead. “Some,” says he, “throw the bodies into the river,
+believing that to be the most honourable sepulture which they can
+give. Others keep them in their houses, shut up in niches of
+alabaster, thinking it advantageous for a child to have ever before
+his eyes the image of his father; and those who wished to preserve
+the memory of their predecessors enclosed their bodies in a coffin
+of baked earth, and interred them in the neighbourhood of the
+temples.” The reader will have perceived, from these passages of
+Diodorus, that it is not impossible that these porticoes may have
+been used to contain the coffins; thus enabling the friends or
+children to visit them, at the same time protecting them, to a
+certain degree, from the hand of violence and the inclemency of the
+seasons. The mummies in the Roman tombs in the Necropolis, in the
+Oasis Magna, were in wells; and the Egyptians usually, but not
+invariably, interred their dead in those receptacles. Many of the
+pyramids have no porticoes; therefore, in those instances, the body
+must be underneath, probably in a well; but the construction of
+these porticoes may have had its origin in the piety and affection
+of individuals wishing to have the bodies of their relations
+preserved in an accessible place, where, at certain seasons, they
+could visit their remains, recall past scenes, indulge their grief
+in bewailing their loss, and have ever before their eyes a memorial
+of the brief sojourn of man in this valley of tears.</p>
+
+<p>The pyramid marked O in the <a href="#i10">plan</a> is thirty
+feet distant to the west of N. This is 53 feet square, and the
+height 58 feet. This pyramid is the second in <a href="#pl26">Plate
+XXVI.,</a> and the B of <a href="#pl28">Plate XXVIII.</a> It will
+be observed, in the view, that the upper part is very dilapidated;
+the portico is very much injured; and, in consequence of the broken
+state of the ground, it does not appear in my view. The sculpture
+which it contains is of little importance.<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_155">[155]</span> A figure offering incense to the king, with
+the head-dress of a globe, long feathers, and short horns. There is
+also a representation of the funeral boat.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl27">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 27.</p>
+<a href="images/pl27.jpg"><img src='images/pl27.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PYRAMIDS AT GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The next (P, in the <a href="#i10">plan</a>) is 35 feet square.
+This is the third, from the left, in <a href="#pl12">Plate
+XII.,</a> and is one of the most perfect. The height is 48 feet,
+and the interior width of the portico is 6 feet 6 inches. This
+portico is arched. There seems to have been some ornament (perhaps
+an inscription) attached to many of the façades of the pyramids;
+for near the summits are circular holes, in which, probably, rivets
+were inserted. Mr. Waddington found a piece of granite in one. Near
+the summit of this there are three of these holes.</p>
+
+<p>Q is 36 feet square. There are no traces of its ever having had
+any portico. This is the second, from the left, in <a href=
+"#pl26">Plate XXVI.</a> The summit is very much injured.</p>
+
+<p>Pyramid R is the first to the left. In the <a href=
+"#i10">vignette,</a> page 148., and Plates <a href=
+"#pl26">XXVI.</a> and <a href="#pl27">XXVII.,</a> it will be
+observed that it is almost perfect, but that the roof of the
+portico has partly fallen in. This pyramid is also represented as
+restored in <a href="#pl28">Plate XXVIII.</a> An examination of
+this plate will afford to the reader a good idea of the beauty of
+the architectural forms of these pyramids. A, which corresponds
+with R in the <a href="#i10">plan,</a> is 41 feet in diameter, and
+the height is 46 feet. The angles of these pyramids being so much
+more acute than those of Geezah, adds greatly to the elegance of
+their architectural form. The small ornament at the angles is
+pretty, and enhances very much the effect. The façade of the
+portico is also pretty, but, as will be seen by the plates, has
+quite a different form from the façades of the porticoes of the
+pyramids of Meroe. At the latter place the doorway is between two
+towers, which, although on a small scale, are almost similar in
+design to those of the great propylons of Egypt. These, as will be
+seen by the plate, have more the appearance of small<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> temples. The façade is
+narrower at the top than at the bottom, the total width of the
+latter being 20 feet, and at the top 17 feet 6 inches. The square
+band and the cornice give it more the appearance of a small temple.
+The architrave over the door is ornamented with the globe and
+serpents. This pyramid is also arched.</p>
+
+<p>In describing the pyramids of Meroe, I mentioned that the arch I
+there found was a segment of a circle; but here it is very
+important to observe that there are not only specimens of that, but
+also one of the pointed arch. The latter, consisting of six stones,
+is accurately drawn in the <a href="#pl28">section.</a> The stones
+are slightly hollowed out to the shape of the arch, but do not
+advance beyond each other, like the arch near the temple excavated
+out of the rock at Thebes, but are supported only by <em>lateral
+pressure</em>.<a id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class=
+"fnanchor">[30]</a> The stones of this arch are not joined with
+cement; but above the roof are a quantity of small stones, which
+are kept together by a soft description of cement. That these
+arches are not recently added, is proved, not only by the
+appearance of the monuments themselves, being exactly of the same
+description of fine hard sandstone, and of the same colour; but
+still more certainly by the circumstance, that the portico I
+mentioned as covered with cement, and painted in the ancient
+Ethiopian style, is also, fortunately, arched. The interior of this
+arch is covered with cement, which is harder than the stone, and
+painted.</p>
+
+<p>The paintings on the arched roof, and the sides of the portico,
+are evidently of the same period. As I have formerly observed,
+owing, probably, to its very great antiquity, the painting is
+nearly defaced; but still there was sufficient to convince me that
+the style is certainly Ethiopian, of a far more ancient date than
+the sculpture in the temple of Tirhaka.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl28">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 28.</p>
+<a href="images/pl28.jpg"><img src='images/pl28.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>Drawn by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PYRAMIDS OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>London. Published by Longman, Rees &
+C<sup>o</sup>. April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>The reader will
+observe, also, in the section, a specimen of a semicircular arch.
+They are drawn very small, as belonging to the pyramids, but they
+are not, on that account, less accurate; and, therefore, almost
+equally useful as if they had been made separate plates. The stone
+forming the keystone of this semicircular arch is 1 foot 9 inches
+in length; the stones supporting it, corresponding precisely, 2
+feet 1 inch, and the one on each side following these, to the
+spring of the arch, 2 feet 4 inches. The arch, then, not only the
+circular, but the pointed, had its origin in Ethiopia. The oldest
+known in Europe is, I believe, that in the Cloacum Maximum,
+supposed to have been built in the time of the Commonwealth. The
+great antiquity, of the one on the Tiber is proved by its singular
+construction, forming almost, as it were, three arches beneath each
+other.</p>
+
+<p>I am aware that the learned will be sceptical concerning the
+antiquity of these. There are no remains in stone to prove that the
+Egyptians were so far advanced in the construction of the arch as
+these specimens show that the Ethiopians were. The only stone arch
+that exists in Egypt is the one at North Der, at Thebes; and that
+one proves that the Egyptians were acquainted with its beauty, but
+not its utility and the correct mode of constructing it. The
+vaulted tomb of stones at Memphis is of the time of Psammitichus,
+who reigned immediately after the Ethiopian dynasty. The brick
+arches in the tombs at Thebes, covered with cement, on which are
+the royal name of Thothmes and Amenoph, prove that the Egyptians
+were, at that period, acquainted with the arch; but it is rather
+singular that there is no earlier specimen: whence, I think, we may
+infer, as those were built soon after the terrible wars commenced,
+which are represented on the walls at Thebes, that the Egyptians
+then, for the first time, invaded Ethiopia, and there saw and
+became acquainted with that useful construction. There seems to me
+no reason to suppose that the knowledge of the utility and
+construction of the arch passed from Egypt<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_158">[158]</span> into Ethiopia: the contrary is much more
+probable, as we have here far more perfect specimens than are found
+in Egypt; and as there is no doubt of the very great antiquity of
+these ruins, can there be any, that the invention of the arch had
+its origin in Ethiopia?<a id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>The sandstone of which the pyramids are built is of a much
+harder quality than that of the temples, being either from a vein
+in the mountain which is now exhausted, or, as I conceive is most
+probable, brought from distant quarries. This is an extraordinary
+proof that the greatest pains were taken in the construction of
+these edifices, to enable them to resist the ravages of time.</p>
+
+<p>As to the antiquity of these structures, I conceive it to be
+very great. Some of them appear more ancient than any that exist in
+the valley of the Nile, with the exception, perhaps, of the
+pyramids of Meroe and Nouri. They are the tombs of a dynasty of
+kings whose names are now unknown. That they were royal sepulchres,
+and not those of private individuals, is, I think, evident from
+their being as magnificent as the pyramids at Meroe, which we know
+to belong to kings from the ovals which they contain; and many of
+the individuals in these tombs have the serpent, the emblem of
+royalty, above their foreheads. If this had been the site of
+Napata, I should conceive that the dilapidated state of the ruins
+might have been caused by Petronius, who led there the Roman arms;
+but in the <a href="#c20">Historical Appendix</a> I will give the
+reader a further account of that celebrated expedition. I trust
+that the hieroglyphic inscriptions which I have copied will contain
+much valuable information; and that, at all events, the name of a
+place, evidently once so considerable, may again, with certainty,
+be enrolled in the list of cities. Her habitations and her palaces
+are utterly destroyed: the desert is swallowing up the remains of
+her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> temples; and
+the sepulchres of her kings are fast decaying. A city where the
+arts evidently were once so zealously cultivated,—where science and
+learning appear to have reigned,—is now possessed by ignorant
+barbarian tribes. Where are the descendants of that people who
+erected these splendid monuments to their gods? Were they
+exterminated by the warlike tribe who now occupy this territory,
+driven into other regions, or blended with the race of their
+conquerors? These are questions of great importance, which I may
+endeavour to illustrate in my historical chapter, but which I pass
+by at present, as scarcely belonging to a topographical
+description.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl29">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 29.</p>
+<a href="images/pl29_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl29.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp3">SCULPTURE IN A PYRAMID AT GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is a circumstance, perhaps, worthy of remark, that some of
+the most perfect heads sculptured on the pyramids had almost a
+European profile. The Shageea—the brave tribe of Arabs who now
+possess the magnificently rich and fertile plain near Gibel el
+Birkel, and whose territory extends, on one side nearly to the
+fourth cataract, and on the other to Dongolah—have, notwithstanding
+the darkness of their complexion, nothing of the Negro
+features.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span><a id=
+"c12"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">PRESENT INHABITANTS OF BIRKEL. — FUNERAL CEREMONIES
+IN THE MAHOMETAN BURIAL-GROUNDS. — NAME OF RAMESES II. OR
+SESOSTRIS. — DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE COUNTRY. —
+INDIGO MANUFACTORIES. — THE SHAGEEA TRIBE. — ONE OF THEIR MELEKS. —
+PYRAMIDS OF NOURI, DILAPIDATED STATE. — CURIOUS CONSTRUCTION OF
+ONE. — GENERAL DIMENSIONS. — ANTIQUITY. — COMPARISON BETWEEN THE
+ANCIENT AND MODERN BUILDINGS OF ETHIOPIA. — RETURN TO MEROUEH. —
+TURKISH MANNER OF BEING PAID FOR SERVICES. — VOYAGE DOWN THE NILE.
+— NUMEROUS VILLAGES. — SHAGEEA TRIBE. — INTOXICATION, LEARNING,
+ETC. — VARIOUS VILLAGES AND ISLANDS. — EFFECTS OF THE CLIMATE AND
+OTHER PECULIARITIES OF THIS COUNTRY ON THE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE.
+— NOBLE MANNERS OF THE ARABS. — DONGOLAH AGOUS. — PROBABLE SITE OF
+NAPATA. — NEGRO SLAVES. — EFFECTS OF THE CRUELTY OF THEIR OWNERS. —
+ENCROACHMENTS OF THE DESERT. — CULTIVATION. — PEASANTS.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">The</span> inhabitants of the
+village of Birkel have their burying-place on the edge of the
+desert. Two women died while we were there. On such occasions the
+females of the village assemble in the house of the deceased, to
+cry and bewail her death. Generally, after two or three hours, they
+carry the body to the grave. On their arrival at the burial-ground,
+they assemble round the corpse, and make a low melancholy howl, and
+the nearest relations, with dishevelled hair and loud lamentations,
+perform a kind of lascivious but graceful dance; not very unlike
+that of the almæ in Lower Egypt, but the movements here are
+different. They do not, like the almæ, remain fixed to one spot,
+but move forward rather gracefully, bending their knees and back,
+and throwing up their bosoms, keeping time to the clapping of hands
+and their wild <em>lululoo</em>, of which there are two
+descriptions, one expressive of grief, and the other of joy. This
+dance is not so very indecent<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_161">[161]</span> as the Egyptian dance. When the body is
+laid in the ground, stones are erected over the head and feet,
+between which they make a narrow channel, as I mentioned before,
+filled with small pebbles, generally of quartz, but invariably of
+one colour. I asked of several persons an explanation of this
+ceremony; but the only reply was, “It was the custom.” Burckhardt
+states (page 269.), that a fakeer told him that it was a mere
+meritorious custom; that there was no necessity for it, but that it
+was thought that the soul of the deceased, when hereafter visiting
+the tombs, might be glad to find these pebbles, in order to use
+them as beads, in addressing its prayers to the Creator.</p>
+
+<p>In the centre of the burying-ground is a large tomb of a saint:
+this is also built of stone. These stones are all taken from the
+temples, but they are generally without sculpture or hieroglyphics.
+On one stone, however, I discovered half of the name of Rameses II.
+or Sesostris. This is curious, and reminded me that Strabo<a id=
+"FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a>
+speaks of a sacred mountain in Ethiopia, where there was a temple
+of Isis, built by that conqueror; and Herodotus says that
+Sesostris, that is, Rameses II., was the only Egyptian king who
+made himself master of Ethiopia. My accidental discovery of this
+name, is, I think, strongly corroborative of the correctness of
+these two passages: this may be the mountain alluded to. That
+conqueror must have constructed some edifices, otherwise I should
+not have found his name. The temple of Isis may be the one
+excavated in the rock, and afterwards adorned with sculpture, by
+Tirhaka; and the statement of Herodotus, that he was the only king
+who subdued the Ethiopians, is, I think, proved by the fact, that,
+with the exception of the one which <em>may be</em> that of
+Amunneith III., on the column of the great temple, this is the only
+name I have found of an Egyptian king either here or at the Island
+of Meroe. I begged the katshef who governed the
+district<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> to desire
+the peasants to take the stones that they required from the
+mountain, urging that, as strict Mahometans, they ought not to take
+them from Pagan ruins; but, unfortunately, there is no law in the
+Koran by which this is forbidden. Here, therefore, is another cause
+which will contribute to the speedy and utter destruction of what
+still remains of this interesting city.</p>
+
+<p>To give the reader an idea of the present state of fertility of
+this country, notwithstanding that the desert has enormously
+encroached on the cultivated land, the following particulars may
+not be uninteresting:—The katshef of Meroueh commands as far as
+Wanly, down the river, one day by land, about thirty miles; and up
+the river as far as Berber, two days by land. Within this small
+extent, over which only the banks of the Nile are cultivated, there
+are 1368 water-wheels, which pay to the government twenty dollars
+each, that is, 27,360 dollars; besides which, the government gain
+considerably by obliging the peasants to plant indigo, which they
+purchase from them at twelve piastres the cantar. They have
+calculated that they make 190 drachms of indigo from each cantar.
+Under the government of Dongolah, there are five manufactories of
+indigo,—Meroueh, Handek, Haffeer, Dongolah Agous, and El Ourde. The
+manufactory here produces 1846 okres<a id=
+"FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>
+every year, and is now increasing. The peasants are unwilling to
+cultivate this plant, as the labour is very great; and they do not
+consider the price they receive a sufficient remuneration.</p>
+
+<p>The Shageea who cultivate this district are less oppressed than
+their neighbours: they are, as Burckhardt and Waddington have
+remarked, considered the bravest of the Arab tribes. This warlike
+race alone never bent their knees to the great Sultan of Sennaar.
+It is impossible to convey to the reader an adequate idea of the
+power these daring warriors once possessed. The name of
+a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> Shageea was a
+host in itself. I have been repeatedly assured, that a single
+horseman has often been known to alight at a peasant’s hut, order
+the owner to hold his horse, whilst he entered into his very harem,
+ate with his wives, and often, it is said, still more shamefully
+abused his power. Death or slavery was the fate of the meleks of
+the neighbouring tribes who dared to offend them. Mounted on their
+dromedaries or horses, armed with lances, swords, and shields, they
+scoured the province, sweeping away the herds, massacring all who
+had the courage to resist, and carrying away men, women, and
+children into captivity. War was their sole delight; the cry to
+arms their most welcome sound. Mothers appeased the cries of their
+infants by the sight of a spear; and the lovely maiden only yielded
+her hand to the distinguished warrior. Their exploits are the theme
+of many a song; and other tribes seem to have forgotten their
+wrongs in admiration of the bravery of their oppressors. The
+blessings of peace, agriculture, and domestic repose were
+considered irksome by these proud warriors. They obstinately and
+gallantly resisted the invasion of the Pasha, till they found it
+vain, with their lances and sabres, to contend against fields of
+artillery and disciplined troops armed with the musket.
+Understanding that the Pasha was going to make war against Melek
+Nimr and the Shendyans, who were also their enemies, they joined
+his troops, and gradually came completely under subjection to him.
+The government, however, treats them with some respect. As I have
+stated before, a Shageea regiment is still in the Pasha’s service,
+and engaged in the war against the Negroes, at the southern
+extremity of his kingdom.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw10">
+<figure id="pl30">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 30.</p>
+<a href="images/pl30.jpg"><img src='images/pl30.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<p class="cp1">A MELEK OF THE SHAGEEA TRIBE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by L.
+Bandoni.</em><br>
+<em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The ancient race of the meleks still exists, but the fortunes of
+many are wofully changed. I took the portrait of one, an uncommonly
+fine-looking fellow, who was constantly in the temple where I
+resided, talking with my servants. (See <a href="#pl30">Plate
+XXX.</a>) His long gown, or shirt, is called, in Arabic,
+<em>e’tobe</em>. The shawl, or <em>el melayah</em>, is always put
+on very gracefully. Their sandals, or<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_164">[164]</span> <em>nohel</em>, are useful in walking on
+the sand, except when the latter is soft and heated by the sun:
+they then afford them little protection, as their feet constantly
+sink above the sole. As there was no barber in the village, and I
+was told he had some skill in shaving, I allowed him to officiate
+in that capacity; but most anxiously shall I avoid to have my head
+again shaved by the son of a king. Never did I endure such a
+scarification. His razor, one of the twopenny sort from Trieste,
+was blunter than even a French table-knife; and he had no means of
+sharpening it, but, according to the custom of the country, on his
+bare arm. He drew blood four times, and scraped my head in such a
+manner that it smarted for several hours afterwards; but it is
+impossible to endure the wearing of one’s hair in this climate
+after having once been accustomed to the luxury of having it shaved
+every week; and having lost my penknife, I have been obliged to
+take my own razor to cut my pencils. Travellers, in these
+unprovided regions, must often have recourse to strange means of
+supplying their necessities.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#pl01">Plate I.</a> represents a Shageea with the dress
+of the desert—merely a cloth around his waist: his colour is darker
+than the other, which is accounted for from the life he leads,
+continually exposed to the scorching sun.<a id=
+"FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class=
+"fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>During our residence in the temple of Tirhaka we were often
+troubled with wolves, attracted, I presume, by the smell of the
+meat, and who made too free with our larder. Fatigued always by
+measuring and drawing all the day under this burning sun, we slept
+too soundly to detect the thief; indeed, the roaring of a lion
+would scarcely have roused our Arab servants: but we had a guardian
+of another description, whose instinctive vigilance proved fatal to
+the intruder. The little monkey the Mahmoor of Berber gave me was
+chained to, and had his bed among, a heap of stones in the corner
+of the sanctuary where Mr. B. and I slept. The<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_165">[165]</span> poor little animal, frightened most
+desperately at the approach of so powerful an enemy as a wolf, and,
+besides his bodily fear, having, of course, an interest in the
+preservation of our larder, succeeded in rousing us by rolling down
+the stones that were near it. It did this three nights together:
+last night, one of my servants succeeded in shooting the thief.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw2">
+<figure id="pl01">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 1.</p>
+<a href="images/pl01.jpg"><img src='images/pl01.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. Walton from a Drawing by L.
+Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="width-half cp1">CAMEL MAN OF THE ABABDE TRIBE.</td>
+<td class="width-half cp1">SHAGEEA OF THE DESERT.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 1. This afternoon we spent three hours in sailing
+eight miles to the pyramids of Nouri. They are situated in a
+slightly elevated part of the desert, a full half hour’s walk from
+the river. There are traces of thirty-five pyramids, of which about
+fifteen only are in any kind of preservation. These are not very
+interesting, except as tombs, and from their imposing appearance,
+not being ornamented with porticoes or hieroglyphic inscriptions.
+The pyramids are all at right angles, and their direction is
+generally nearly the same. Their size varies from 110 feet square
+to 20. (See plan, <a href="#pl32">Plate XXXII.</a>, and picturesque
+view, <a href="#pl31">Plate XXXI.</a>) There are eight above 80
+feet square, and four more above 70 feet square: their height is
+generally about the same as their diameter.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#pl31">Plate XXXI.</a> is the most picturesque of three
+views which I made of these pyramids; but the most remarkable for
+size does not appear in this view. The plan will show that it
+measures at the base about 110 feet square. It consisted of three
+stages. Part of one having fallen, discovers another pyramid
+underneath. They seem to have added this second pyramid around the
+inner one, in order to increase its size, or, perhaps, to make the
+body underneath doubly difficult to get at. The Egyptian method of
+building pyramids with stages was, I think, by first erecting a
+pyramid with a very acute angle, and then building around it the
+first stage from the summit, and so on, in like manner, as many as
+were required.</p>
+
+<p>The pyramids are surrounded by the desert, which, I conceive,
+has already covered the remains of several others. The waves of the
+great Libyan ocean have probably swallowed up the<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> traces of the city and its
+temples, which, from the extent and imposing appearance of its
+cemetery, must have been considerable. The interior of some of the
+pyramids is of puddingstone, very much decomposed. The sandstone
+with which these monuments are covered, and often constructed, is
+rather soft, as is nearly all the sandstone in Ethiopia; which
+circumstance, and also their very great antiquity, may be the
+reason, perhaps, of the very dilapidated state of the ruins.</p>
+
+<p>Close to these pyramids, and almost surrounding them, are the
+traces of a canal from the Nile; which, according to my
+information, reaches for a considerable distance into the desert.
+This circumstance proves that the cultivated land extended much
+farther into the interior than at present. Cailliaud supposed this
+place to have been the cemetery of Gibel el Birkel; arguing that
+Thebes also had her tombs on the opposite side of the river. But
+those of Gournah, and in the Valley of the Kings, if not close to
+what formed part of the great city of Thebes,—which, however, is
+very probable, from the numerous splendid temples and palaces, of
+which there are still magnificent remains on that side,—were, at
+all events, in the suburb, and exactly opposite the great city, and
+not eight miles distant up the river, as these are from Gibel el
+Birkel. Moreover, the tombs at Thebes are on the western side,
+probably because the mountains on that side are nearer to the
+river, and afforded greater facilities for excavations than those
+of the eastern range. That the inhabitants of Gibel el Birkel,
+therefore, should have chosen this place for their necropolis, when
+they had space for hundreds on the spot where her pyramids are now
+standing, or, at all events, might have erected them, if they
+preferred it, immediately opposite on the western side of the
+river, is an idea which no person who reflects on the subject can
+entertain. They are most probably the tombs of another dynasty, and
+of a city whose name may be among the many we meet with in the
+itineraries. We may guess which of<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_167">[167]</span> them it was; but such surmises, without any
+proofs to support them, are entirely useless.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw6">
+<figure id="pl31">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 31.</p>
+<a href="images/pl31.jpg"><img src='images/pl31.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PYRAMIDS OF NOURI.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>I could not help drawing a comparison between these pyramids and
+the celebrated ones at Geezah. The latter, although in a worse
+climate and more exposed situation, have evidently suffered far
+less from the ravages of time. There is scarcely one pyramid here
+which is not so dilapidated that its architectural beauty is almost
+entirely lost. The tropical rains seldom, if ever, reach so far
+north as this province; yet numbers of the pyramids are quite
+destroyed, and others are mere masses of shapeless ruins, without a
+vestige of their ornaments remaining. From their appearance I
+should conceive these to be the most ancient ruins in the valley of
+the Nile: but there are no hieroglyphics remaining, to give us the
+name of the city or its kings; and no sculpture, from the style of
+which we might have a better idea of the period when they were
+constructed. This necropolis is now more a place for the
+philosopher than the artist: the city and its people are gone. The
+splendid mausoleums of its kings are little better than piles of
+ruins: the histories which they recorded are lost for ever. The
+dreary terrible desert which surrounds them seems silently
+devouring its prey, and many ages will not elapse ere this, the
+real Typhon, will have swallowed up every vestige of its ancient
+grandeur.</p>
+
+<p>I conceive it not improbable that this is the site of the
+ancient capital of this province, which may have been destroyed in
+the wars between the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, perhaps by the
+great Sesostris; and the city at Gibel el Birkel may have dated
+from its ruin the increase of her magnificence. Succeeding
+generations may have found the site of Gibel el Birkel more
+advantageous, and the favour of a new dynasty of kings may have
+enabled the new capital to eclipse her rival on the southern bank.
+I mentioned, after crossing the Bahiouda Desert, and arriving at
+the Nile, that the peasants informed me of some ruins which
+are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> now covered by
+the desert. I conceive the existence of these to afford further
+confirmation of the former opulence of this country. I cannot
+suppose, for a moment, that the city to which this necropolis
+belonged was so far distant.</p>
+
+<p>It is melancholy to see such numerous vestiges of imposing and
+splendid structures, demonstrating the power, magnificence, and
+knowledge of the former inhabitants of a province whose present
+possessors scarcely have sufficient ability to construct for
+themselves habitable mansions. The hovels of the peasants are
+miserable in the extreme. The castles of the sheakhs are better,
+but the rooms which they contain are extremely rude. This part of
+Africa was formerly harassed by continual wars of one tribe and
+nation against another. The necessity of guarding against surprise
+obliged them to fortify their habitations, and having models in
+their vicinity of ancient fortresses of the Ethiopians, the princes
+gave to their residences a somewhat more tolerable appearance.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 3. We returned to Meroueh this morning, and I
+received a visit from the katshef and his suite. His professed
+object was to enquire whether he could be of any service to me, but
+his real aim was chiefly to receive half the pay of the boat (120
+piastres) which he had procured for me, to take us to Nouri, and
+thence to Dongolah. I paid him the money as he desired, but he did
+not take the trouble of giving it to the rais (the captain of the
+vessel), who, poor fellow, of course, said that it was all right,
+as complaint would only have procured him the bastinado. This is
+the usual way in which the government remunerate themselves for any
+pains they bestow in making arrangements for travellers.</p>
+
+<p>We started at twelve, and passed, this evening, Kajjib, an old
+Arab village, picturesquely situated on a rock. We stopped for the
+night at the ruin of an old Saracenic castle, called Baheet, of
+considerable size, with towers and a citadel. It has evidently been
+of great strength, the walls being very thick; the inner part
+is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> built of brick;
+the exterior of stones piled together, as roughly as the enclosing
+wall of a field in England. The rocks are of sandstone.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl32">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 32.</p>
+<a href="images/pl32.jpg"><img src='images/pl32.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>Drawn by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">PYRAMIDS <span class="med">OF</span> NOURI.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>London. Published by Longman, Rees &
+C<sup>o</sup>. April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 4. We have this day passed the Island of
+Shenderab at half past seven; the Island of Manderab at eight, the
+village of Korti and islands of Ingolass and of Onato at half past
+eight; the small village on the western bank, called Ambicol, at
+ten; the Island of Sennat at one; the village of Defur at three
+P.M.; Genati at half past three, and stopped for the night at the
+small Island of Bishaba.<a id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p><em>April 5.</em> At seven we passed the village of Debba el
+Dolib; or, as it is generally called, Debba, the commencement of
+the road to Kordofan, and the last village of Dar Shageea. With all
+their faults, the Shageea are the most interesting of the Arab
+tribes I have seen. Their manly appearance, extreme valour, and
+open and frank and noble manners, are very engaging; but I am sorry
+to find that they are addicted to intoxication beyond any tribe I
+have met with, spending the greater portion of their earnings in
+bouza, and particularly in the strong spirit of the country
+distilled from dates. Burckhardt (page 70.) has justly extolled
+their courage and good faith, and hospitality to strangers that
+have friends among them: but his account of their schools and
+learning would scarcely be applicable to the Shageea of the present
+day, who are too much enamoured of the dance and the cup to submit
+to the <em>ennui</em> of study.</p>
+
+<p>At half past seven we passed the Island of Geri, and a village
+called Kutti, on the western bank. At half past four P.M. we passed
+a small island called Amduburgh, and stopped soon after at Tangus,
+another small island. The wind being invariably against us, we have
+scarcely made any progress, and that only by tacking. The river is
+about half a mile broad in<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_170">[170]</span> this part of the valley, and occasionally
+even wider. There is scarcely any cultivated land, except on the
+islands. The desert, generally, on each side of the river, presents
+not an object to cheer the eye or relieve the mind. When the banks
+of the river were sufficiently low to afford us an extensive view,
+we saw only immense tracts of waste bounded by the horizon. The
+peasants chiefly inhabit the islands, where they seem to have taken
+refuge from the encroachments of the desert, being seldom able,
+with their inadequate means, to resist its approach; but, as I have
+before mentioned, there are still some villages on the banks, like
+little oases, but not so beautiful. Notwithstanding some advantage
+of their situation, and their feeble efforts to protect their
+fields, year after year the Libyan and Nubian deserts are said to
+extend their sway.</p>
+
+<p>The gravity of the Arabs, who seldom laugh, and scarcely ever,
+even under the influence of intoxication, give way to boisterous
+mirth, must be in a great measure attributed to the character of
+their country. Considering these people as living under a sky which
+is ever the same, clear and beautiful, and accustomed to one
+uniform landscape, the river, its islands, and surrounding wastes;
+knowing few other nations, creeds, or customs; having ever before
+their eyes these dreadful wildernesses; experiencing their horrors,
+and feeling their destructive effects; it is not surprising that we
+find them more grave than the inhabitants of southern climes in
+general. Even boys have the carriage and demeanour of men. Neat in
+their dress and simple in their manners, there is no affectation,
+no dandyism. How ill-placed would such follies be in a region like
+this! Natural and easy in their address, erect in their carriage,
+they often display a calm and noble dignity of demeanour, which I
+have never seen surpassed in any civilised capital. They salute you
+courteously, and talk with gravity of your plans. There is no
+feverish anxiety to shine in conversation, nor any obligation to
+converse with you. After the first compliments,<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> unless any of them have
+enquiries to make, they seldom speak. Every day is equally
+beautiful and unclouded, therefore the weather is rarely, if ever,
+the subject of conversation; and we have not, as in Europe, the
+bore of discussing its appearance twenty times a day.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 6. At six A.M. we passed Ahmoor, a small village
+on the west bank of the river, and at nine we arrived at Dongolah
+Agous.</p>
+
+<p><em>Dongolah Agous.</em>—After having seen that Shendy, Berber,
+and Metammah, though the capitals of provinces, are but miserable
+places, I did not expect to find Dongolah otherwise; still I could
+not have conceived that a town once so considerable, the metropolis
+of a large district, whose name so often occurs in history, would
+have presented now so wretched an aspect.</p>
+
+<p>Part of the town is in ruins. The desert has entered into its
+streets: many of the houses are entirely covered with sand, and
+scarcely an inhabitant is to be seen. One might have thought that
+some dreadful convulsion of nature, or some pestilential disease,
+had swept away the population. Part of the city is, indeed,
+remaining, but until I entered the houses not a human being did I
+meet with. I observed some houses in the town, of a superior
+appearance, having divisions of rooms, galleries, and courts, and
+evidently belonging to individuals once rich; but they are now
+almost all deserted. In some of them that we entered I saw some
+good-looking women: the men were idling away the day smoking and
+sleeping. Such is the scene of desolation and inactivity which now
+presents itself to the traveller at Dongolah. The mosque used by
+the inhabitants, until recently, was a large building, which
+tradition represents as very ancient, and as being built 200 years
+before the Hegira: but it is evidently of a much more modern date.
+It contains some granite columns, of bad workmanship, belonging to
+the early Christian age.</p>
+
+<p>I asked whether the residence of the Turkish government
+at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> El Ourde was the
+cause why the city was so deserted, but was told that that
+circumstance had made little or no change. This was the proud reply
+of poverty. I have been informed by others, that, before the
+Pasha’s conquest, many of the inhabitants were in better
+circumstances, and the town more populous, but that they are now
+scattered elsewhere: many of them fled to Kordofan and Sennaar, on
+the approach of the Pasha.</p>
+
+<p>I conceive it not improbable that this is the site of Napata.
+Pliny so distinctly places that city 100 miles lower down the Nile
+than Gibel el Birkel, that I see no reason for supposing that
+immense extent of ruins to be the remains of a town which he
+describes as so very insignificant. Besides the distance agreeing
+so exactly with Pliny’s account, the position of Dongolah Agous, as
+a military station, to resist the arms of Petronius, would
+certainly be advantageous. The desert and the present city may have
+covered the vestiges of the temples Petronius destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>I left Dongolah Agous at three, without having made any drawings
+of the place, not conceiving it worth the delay. At half past three
+we passed the large Island of Gadar; at four, Ullow; and, after
+passing numerous villages and islands, we stopped for the night at
+Gemin, a very small village.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 7. We passed this morning the village of Handak,
+situated on the western side near the base of the river, and the
+small Island of Marouerti, which resembles rather the ancient name
+of Meroe, and must, I think, be a corruption of it. Names analogous
+to that of the ancient capital of Ethiopia seem to be given
+indiscriminately to villages on the banks and the islands.</p>
+
+<p>I saw this evening a number of slaves going to Cairo. The manner
+in which they were clogged, to prevent their escaping or rebelling
+against their owners, was disgraceful and revolting in the extreme.
+Each slave wore a clog made of a wooden pole, four feet long, with
+a collar, of a triangular form, large enough to admit his head:
+this triangular collar rests upon their shoulders,<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> and is so contrived with
+straps that it is impossible for them to throw it off. When they
+walk, they are obliged to carry it before them; and at night their
+hands are tied to the centre of the pole, and their feet to the
+bottom of it. The owners of the slaves showed me, with the
+malicious grin of fiends, the effects of the cords, and the weight
+of the machine on the hands, necks, and legs of their victims. They
+confessed that they were often obliged to free their slaves
+entirely from this torture, in order to preserve their lives: I saw
+several in this situation, who seemed to have suffered severely
+from being previously loaded with this machine.</p>
+
+<p>I attempted to reason with one of the owners; and urged, that,
+as he was obliged to leave them free occasionally, and run the risk
+of their escaping, he might as well do so always, and that he would
+find it his interest, as many actually died from this treatment. I
+told him he ought, as a good Mahometan, to adopt a more humane
+method of securing them. He told me, that he could not liberate
+them all at once; for they had recently threatened that, if ever
+they had the opportunity, they would kill him, and dye a red
+<em>tarboush</em> (Turkish cap) with his blood. The slaves
+understood this part of our discourse, and some laughed at this
+expression; but in general they appeared in a dreadful state of
+apathy and torpor, quite indifferent to the interest they saw me
+take in their situation.</p>
+
+<p>They were all negroes, with high cheek-bones, triangular faces,
+eyes sunk deep in the head, thick lips, complexion a cold bluish
+black colour, an expression heavy and unpleasing, and without a
+spark of talent in their countenances. They were continually
+demanding fire. After the extreme heat of the day, when the sun has
+set, there follows a degree of cold, which, though slight, and to
+me most agreeable, is no doubt felt severely by the slaves, who are
+quite naked, and accustomed to a hotter climate; and they feel it
+more sensitively, having been exposed the greater part of the day
+to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> burning sun.
+We make very little progress, the wind being always strong against
+us.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 8. We passed to-day the village of El Urub.
+Nothing can be more tedious and uninteresting than this voyage: we
+have scarcely seen any cultivated ground since we left the town of
+Meroueh, except the islands; the desert has almost entirely
+overspread the banks of the Nile; and where there was once,
+perhaps, a happy and numerous population, a people acquainted with
+the arts, rich cities and villages, now no other track is to be
+seen but that of the timid gazelle, which finds a secure pasture on
+the bushy acacias which on each side border the river. The glaring
+reddish yellow sands have supplanted the rich cultivation, and
+waves of sand have swallowed up the vestiges of the temples and
+palaces which adorned the cities. Where were the numerous towns
+whose names we read in the itineraries? Are there no monuments
+remaining of their magnificence, no traces of their habitations?
+The vessel buried in the fathomless deep leaves but fragments which
+are soon covered by the waters. Thus the Libyan and great Nubian
+deserts, ever active and incessant in their attacks, have concealed
+entirely from our view the little, perhaps, which the hand of time,
+and more destructive ravages of war and religious fanaticism, had
+spared.</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent0">“No trace remains where once thy glory
+grew:</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;The sapp’d foundations by thy force
+shall fall,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;And, whelm’d beneath thy waves,
+drop the huge wall:</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;Vast drifts of sand shall change
+the former shore—</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;The ruin vanish’d, and the name no
+more.”—<span class="sc">Pope</span>’s <em>Iliad</em>, book
+vii.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The rocks are of sandstone. There are some in the centre of the
+river, whose channel, at this season, when the water is low, the
+barks dare not navigate during the night, which they would
+otherwise do, as there is then seldom any wind.</p>
+
+<p>Our cabin being only three feet high, we are obliged to lie
+on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> our beds day and
+night. I find this much more fatiguing than travelling on the
+camels. For myself, I should never have chosen this mode of
+conveyance; but my artist was in such a bad state of health, that
+he declared himself unequal to the exposure to the heat and the
+slow fatiguing pace of the caravan.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 9. Wind still contrary: no variety in the
+scenery. I will not fatigue the reader with a mere list of names of
+villages, but must refer him to my <a href="#map">map,</a> in which
+they are all marked down.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 10. There was no wind this morning; and we should
+have arrived at Dongolah at nine, A.M., had we not received a visit
+from a French physician in the employ of the Pasha. To meet a
+European, in this country, is an occurrence so agreeable, that we
+could not resist spending half the day together.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the islands in this district are very rich. I remarked,
+on one, numerous sugar-canes; and, in several, a mode of irrigating
+the land unknown in Egypt, and displaying more skill than is usual
+in the Pasha’s dominions. The ground near the Persian wheels is
+very often uneven, and cannot be levelled without considerable
+labour: they, therefore, form aqueducts with stakes or pieces of
+wood from one to three feet high, as may be requisite, and place on
+them the conduit, which is made of earth. These aqueducts are
+extremely picturesque, as well as ingenious, being generally neatly
+constructed, and covered with grass. All the watercourses in this
+country are attended to with great care. The peasants are
+invariably well clothed, and appear in easy circumstances. I
+observe them occasionally assembled in an evening, under the palm
+trees, smoking, and sometimes drinking a cup of Abyssinian coffee,
+their greatest luxury.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 11. The wind being still contrary, and my
+patience exhausted, I sent for camels from Dongolah, five miles
+distant. The governor there, understanding that we were travellers,
+immediately sent us some of his own dromedaries.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span><a id=
+"c13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR. — EXTENT OF HIS GOVERNMENT.
+— INDIGO. — WATER WHEELS. — POPULATION. — TAXES. — PRICES OF
+PRODUCE. — OASIS OF DONGOLAH, CALLED EL GAB. — ROUTE TO KORDOFAN. —
+INFORMATION ABOUT THAT COUNTRY. — BANEFUL CLIMATE. — CAPTAIN
+GORDON. — ARAB TRIBES OF KORDOFAN. — GENERAL APPEARANCE OF NEW
+DONGOLAH. — THE BAZAAR. — CURIOUS USE OF OINTMENT. — MERCHANDISE. —
+THE BAZAAR. — SLAVE MARKET. — COMMERCE CARRIED ON BY BARTER. —
+CURIOUS MANNER OF EFFECTING SALES. — DONGOLAH GOLDSMITH. —
+AUCTIONEERS. — VARIOUS ARAB TRIBES. — COSTUMES. — WOMEN, THE
+ELEGANCE OF THEIR ATTIRE. — BREAKING OF THE <em>RAT</em>. —
+GIRAFFES. — HASSANYEH TRIBE. — ELEPHANTS.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><em><span class="sc">El Ourde</span>, or New
+Dongolah.—April</em> 10-14. We arrived here at two o’clock, and
+immediately paid a visit to Ibrahim Effendi, the governor of this
+province. He is a man about fifty-five years of age, and of the
+most unprepossessing appearance: he stoops to such a degree, that
+his head nearly touches his knees. I am told that he has no talent,
+but has attained this important situation entirely through the
+intrigues of the harem. He has, however, the character of great
+probity—a rare virtue among Turks; and is disliked by the Copts,
+because he examines rigidly their accounts, and will not allow them
+to trade and speculate with the public money. He is despised by the
+Turks, because he does nothing for them, and lives in no style. He
+has only one Mameluke to give him his pipe and wait upon him. I saw
+no other servants, but observed that a few soldiers were brought in
+to make a show and line the walls. On his divan there were only a
+few officers, apparently of inferior rank, and certainly of a very
+shabby appearance.</p>
+
+<p>M. Martin, a French apothecary, stationed here in the
+employ<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> of the
+Pasha, very kindly pressed us to take up our abode in his house;
+and we were glad of the opportunity of enjoying, for a short time,
+a greater degree of comfort and cleanliness than we have been
+accustomed to for several months. He also assisted me in finding
+the persons best qualified to give me information.</p>
+
+<p>The Mahmoor, the day after our arrival, paid me a visit, was
+very communicative, and made himself agreeable, to the astonishment
+of Monsieur l’Apothicaire, and in the evening he sent me a roasted
+sheep; an attention, I understand, that he never was guilty of
+before to travellers or natives.</p>
+
+<p>This government extends from Abka<a id=
+"FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>
+to Wady el Gamer, near Berber. There are 5000 sakkeas (water
+wheels), which generally irrigate from four to five feddans each
+when planted with grain. The indigo requires more water, for they
+calculate three quarters of a feddan of land to one wheel. They
+produce in this province, 10,000 okres of indigo. Each water-wheel
+requires four oxen, and four or five men and children. The
+population may, therefore, be calculated at about eight for each
+water-wheel; which would make 40,000 for this district; and I
+conceive 10,000 may be added for those who cultivate the land by
+the hand, merchants, servants, &amp;c. Some of the islands have
+been planted this year, for the first time, with sugar-canes, which
+have proved to be excellent; but they planted them without
+reflecting that they had no machinery ready to manufacture sugar
+with, and no person who understood the business. As the sugarcane
+requires a water-wheel for each feddan, they do not intend to plant
+them again. The governor obliged the peasants and soldiers to
+purchase the sugar-canes at a certain price, in order that the
+revenue might not suffer from the experiment.</p>
+
+<p>There are some portions of the banks of the river, and
+particularly the islands, which are cultivated after the
+inundation, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>
+irrigated, when necessary, by raising the water from the river with
+buckets and other simple processes. Land irrigated in this manner
+is taxed according to the quantity and description of produce. Each
+water-wheel pays to the government 20 dollars, 15 in money and 5 in
+produce; a heavy tax, when we consider that formerly, when under
+their native meleks, they only paid 1 dollar, a sheep, and two
+pieces of linen, value 6 piastres each; in all, little more than a
+tenth of the present tax.</p>
+
+<p>The revenue of this government, after paying the various
+expenses, salaries, and the troops of the garrison, is greatly
+absorbed by their having to furnish camels to convey the different
+species of produce, such as indigo and grain, and slaves, which are
+sent to Cairo. In particular, 2500 camels are loaded with gum,
+brought annually from Kordofan. It is purchased from the peasants
+there at the rate of 5 dollars the camel-load, which consists of
+three cantars of 150 rotles<a id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> each; and the government
+sell it in Cairo for 20 dollars the cantar; that is, 60 the load:
+deduct about 10 dollars for the expense of the journey, and also 5
+for the purchase-money, there remain 45 dollars clear profit for
+the Pasha, which, on 2500 loads, is 112,500 dollars net. Elephants’
+teeth are also purchased in Kordofan for 16 dollars the cantar, and
+sold in Cairo for 80 dollars, and often more.</p>
+
+<p>The government, as I have before stated, take part of the taxes
+in grain: the following is a list of the prices paid by them,
+compared to the current prices in the bazaar or market:—</p>
+
+<table id="t178">
+<tr>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th colspan="2">Government Prices.</th>
+<th colspan="2">Prices in the Bazaar.</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th class="pad2"><em>s.</em>
+</th>
+<th class="pad-right2"><em>d.</em>
+</th>
+<th class="pad2"><em>s.</em>
+</th>
+<th class="pad-right2"><em>d.</em>
+</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Barley</td>
+<td class="tdc pad2">3</td>
+<td class="tdc pad-right2">9</td>
+<td class="tdc pad2">3</td>
+<td class="tdc pad-right2">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dourah</td>
+<td class="tdc pad2">3</td>
+<td class="tdc pad-right2">9</td>
+<td class="tdc pad2">3</td>
+<td class="tdc pad-right2">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Wheat</td>
+<td class="tdc pad2">4</td>
+<td class="tdc pad-right2">3</td>
+<td class="tdc pad2">4</td>
+<td class="tdc pad-right2">6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Maize</td>
+<td class="tdc pad2">3</td>
+<td class="tdc pad-right2">9</td>
+<td class="tdc pad2">3</td>
+<td class="tdc pad-right2">0</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>The price of
+mutton (fat, for cooking) in the bazaar, is 1<em>d.</em> per
+rotle.</p>
+
+<table class="tabw40" id="t179">
+<tr>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th><em>s.</em>
+</th>
+<th><em>d.</em>
+</th>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th><em>s.</em>
+</th>
+<th><em>d.</em>
+</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">The price of a sheep</td>
+<td class="tdc">1</td>
+<td class="tdc">6</td>
+<td class="pad1 pad-right1">to</td>
+<td class="tdc">2</td>
+<td class="tdc">0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">The price of meat, per lb.</td>
+<td class="tdc">0</td>
+<td class="tdc">0¾</td>
+<td class="pad1 pad-right1">or</td>
+<td class="tdc">0</td>
+<td class="tdc">1</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">The linen cloths of the country,
+particularly of the district of Mahas, 24 piques in length, but
+very narrow</td>
+<td class="tdc">2</td>
+<td class="tdc">0</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl-top hang1">Cotton, best kind (Belloe) per lb.</td>
+<td class="tdc">0</td>
+<td class="tdc">3</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The dourah is sown before the rising of the Nile, and is cut in
+four months; and afterwards they have another crop, but it is not
+so good. The barley is sown after the Nile has retired, and is
+reaped four or five months afterwards; wheat the same. The indigo
+plants remain in the ground three years, and are cut three times
+each year, with an interval of two months between each cutting.
+After dourah, maize is planted, and after maize other kinds of
+grain.</p>
+
+<p>Seven hours’ journey west of this place, amid the desert, is an
+oasis called El Gab (the Wood), consisting of a forest of doums,
+acacias, and some few date trees. It contains several springs, and
+the Arabs send their camels thither in the summer to pasture on the
+trees. This oasis has no antiquities nor traces of having ever been
+inhabited; it extends, parallel with the Nile, nearly as far as
+Debba, but, like all oases, is divided occasionally by the
+desert.</p>
+
+<p>The caravans from this place to Kordofan, and on to Darfour,
+enter the desert at Debba el Dolib, a village I mentioned in
+descending the river from Meroueh. From Debba to Shambrick, five
+days: the water there not always good; but on the road to Harazi,
+five days, and thence to the capital, on digging to the depth of
+two or three feet, and sometimes less, they never fail of finding
+good water. Zaagsouee, eleventh day; Kadjama, twelfth day; the
+residence of a katshef of Kordofan, Gouniah, thirteenth<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> day; Mumat, fourteenth day;
+Sherian-Abousieh, fifteenth day; Borah, sixteenth day; Kordofan, or
+the capital, Ibazig, on the seventh day from Harazi, and the
+seventeenth from the Nile, or Debba el Dolib.</p>
+
+<p>I made repeated enquiries of both the Arabs and Turks, but did
+not hear of there being any antiquities there. This journey would
+be interesting for a naturalist, as they tell me that during the
+rainy season there is a very great variety of birds: but it is then
+very unhealthy. Ague and intermittent fevers are very prevalent. A
+French physician, who had been stationed there some time, informed
+me that during the rainy season he often took quinine in small
+quantities, and conceived that, by that means, he had preserved
+himself from a complaint which is so dangerous to Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>The enterprising but unfortunate Captain Gordon fell a victim to
+this climate.<a id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class=
+"fnanchor">[38]</a> I was told that he had visited several of the
+mountain regions of Kordofan, and, to use the expression of the
+Arabs, “had written down all the country.” He had commenced his
+journey with the intention of endeavouring to discover the sources
+of the Bahr el Abiad; but there was not the most remote chance of
+his succeeding. Roustan Bey, who was then, and is now, the governor
+of that country, would have allowed him to accompany his troops in
+hunting for slaves in the neighbourhood of the White River. He
+might have added something to our knowledge of the geography of the
+country on that river; but to discover its source was
+impossible.</p>
+
+<p>As a hint to future travellers, I should notice a mistake which
+he made, from not being acquainted with the customs of the country.
+Instead of making a handsome present to Roustan Bey of a gold
+watch, or fire-arms, which he should have done, considering the
+essential and extensive services he required, he gave<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> him some gilt ornaments for
+his wives: but the Turks having a great contempt for any article
+that is not genuine, the Bey was naturally vexed at a present which
+appeared to him so very insignificant. Captain Gordon was not to
+blame, I understand, but his dragoman, for this inauspicious
+commencement of their expedition. The Arabs and Turks say that
+Captain Gordon died on account of having taken too much physic. In
+a country where so much is left to nature, and the medical art so
+little known, it is not surprising that his frequent applications
+to his medicine chest, to relieve a severe attack of intermittent
+fever, should have given rise to this report.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving Dongolah, this unfortunate traveller left a large
+sum of money with a Turkish aga in whose house he lodged. When his
+servant, after his death, returned to Dongolah, he called upon the
+aga, and demanded his master’s property. The Turk, a notorious
+scoundrel, proposed to the servant to divide the money and
+property, and thus induced him to sign a certificate that his
+master had left only a few old clothes, and no money. As soon as
+the Turk had received this document, he refused to give any portion
+of what he had promised to the servant; who, in revenge, accused
+him before the government. I was not able to learn with certainty
+whether the money, and, what was of far more consequence, his
+papers, ever reached his friends. I purchased at Dongolah a piece
+of Newman’s Indian ink, which formerly belonged to him.</p>
+
+<p>I obtained from authentic sources the following information of
+the different Arab tribes in the kingdom of Kordofan and its
+vicinity:—</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><em>The Kababysh.</em> These Arabs are also found
+in the Bahiouda Desert. They possess camels and horses, and
+transport merchandise to Sennaar, Darfour, and to this place. Their
+chief is called Melek Selim.</p>
+
+<p><em>The Buggara.</em> They possess flocks, and are occupied in
+hunting the elephant and the giraffe. Moussa is their chief.</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_182">[182]</span><em>The Benigerar</em> have great abundance
+of horses and camels. They are generally engaged in transporting
+merchandise, sometimes to Darfour. They are often at war with the
+Kababysh.</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><em>The Hammer</em> are chiefly cultivators of the
+ground. They possess also camels, and trade to Darfour, but do not
+come to this place. They are occupied also in tanning the skins of
+animals, and the government employs them in their hunting
+expeditions for slaves. Their arms resemble those of the other Arab
+tribes,—the oval spear, the lance, and sword. Hadji Merien is their
+chief or king, that is, melek.<a id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><em>The Hadowyeh</em> are cultivators, and join
+the expeditions of the government like the Hammer: they possess
+good dromedaries, and their melek is Uhmar, son of Dowel.</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><em>Messabouee.</em> Cultivators, and also assist
+the government in their slave expeditions: their melek is Uhmar,
+son of Hashim.</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><em>Danaglih.</em> Peasants of the country;
+cultivators.</p>
+
+<p class="hang1"><em>Konjarah.</em> A tribe from Darfour: the
+masters of the country, under Magdum Selim, on the arrival of
+Roustan Bey, who killed their chief in battle<a id=
+"FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>:
+their present chief is Sultan Tema.</p>
+
+<p>The province of Kordofan is exceedingly productive to the Pasha,
+and so also would Darfour be; and ere now that province would have
+been annexed to his kingdom, had not his ambitious views been
+turned towards Constantinople. A desert, I am told, of five days’
+journey separates the two provinces. He might extend his conquests
+thither without any apprehension of interference from the European
+powers. If the peace in Syria continues, and Mohammed Ali lives,
+that country, notwithstanding<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_183">[183]</span> the warlike and powerful tribes who inhabit
+it, will soon form a part of the Pasha’s immense dominions; and
+Europeans will be enabled to explore it with greater advantage than
+our celebrated traveller Brown.</p>
+
+<p>Dongolah, or New Dongolah, as I should call it, has far more the
+appearance of a capital, than any place I have seen in Ethiopia.
+The citadel is fortified with walls and towers sufficient to defend
+it from the attacks of the Arabs, but not long against a European
+army. There are a few pieces of cannon brought here by Ismael
+Pasha, and there is generally a garrison of from 300 to 800 men,
+but most commonly from invalid regiments, that have suffered by the
+more unhealthy climates of Kordofan, Khartoun, and Sennaar, and are
+sent here as fit for no other service. They have built an hospital,
+but, although full of invalids, it is not yet finished,—the rooms
+are without roofs, and the beds of earth.</p>
+
+<p>There are several <em>cafés</em> in the town, much better than I
+expected: one is very handsome; large, airy, and furnished with a
+divan covered with carpets. Here the lazy Turks kill the day:
+smoking, seeing the people pass by, playing draughts and other
+games, and drinking coffee and sherbet.</p>
+
+<p>The bazaar is superior to that of Assuan. The articles for sale
+consisted of different stuffs, silk, linen, and cotton; tarboushes
+(red Turkish caps), shoes, glassware, cures for ophthalmia (some of
+which seemed on examination to contain zinc); and a variety of
+pipes, from the handsome Persian anguilles and long Turkish pipes,
+with their amber mouthpieces, worth two or three pounds each, to
+the humble pipe of the peasant, value threepence: coarse thread and
+common needles; salt, from the mines of Selima, white and beautiful
+like crystal; a variety of cases for amulets, such as the women
+wear around their necks and the men on their arms (see the various
+plates of costumes); coffee from Mocha and Abyssinia; loaf sugar,
+white and brown; tamarinds from Sennaar and Kordofan; and a variety
+of arms, sabres,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>
+lances, daggers, and pistols; and in every shop on sale, spices and
+ginger, cloves, coriander seed, sandal wood, and a kind of kernels,
+seemingly of cherries, which are said to come from Italy; the
+natives extract oil from them. With the spices they make the
+ointment which both males and females, particularly the latter, use
+in this country to render their skin soft. I have seen them
+sometimes almost naked, and smeared with this substance as if they
+had been dipped in butter; and I have often seen the Arabs of the
+desert place two or three pounds of mutton fat on their heads, and
+walk on till the sun had melted it, when not only the head and face
+were covered with the liquid grease, but it flowed in streams down
+their backs. They consider their different ointments as
+particularly conducive to health, especially after fatigue. There
+is an old custom still kept up in the country. When an Arab or Turk
+arrives in a village after a fatiguing day’s journey, he generally
+gets some of the female slaves I have spoken of at Shendy, to rub
+him for half an hour all over with this ointment. It is very
+pleasant and refreshing, cooling and softening to the skin, which
+has been burnt and dried up by the scorching winds of the desert. I
+also observed in the bazaar common looking-glasses, and beads of
+glass and other materials.</p>
+
+<p>There were several separate markets for slaves, men, women,
+boys, girls, and eunuchs. Most of the latter are from Abyssinia. I
+am informed that they are generally the victims of the brutality of
+the Abyssinians of neighbouring states. Besides increasing the
+value of their slaves, they appear to wish to imitate the ancient
+Egyptians, whose cruelty in that respect is explained in the
+triumphant procession on the walls of Medenet Abou, at Thebes. I
+saw one extremely beautiful Abyssinian girl on sale for 150
+dollars, and for another not remarkable for her beauty 80 were
+demanded.</p>
+
+<p>I observed a custom, which is peculiarly characteristic of this
+district: the peasant girls, and also the men, bring from the
+country small quantities of grain and other produce, which
+they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> exchange for
+perfumes and spices for their hair and persons. This is conformable
+to our European idea of remote and uncivilised people, carrying on
+commerce simply by barter. They showed me in the bazaar some rudely
+shaped pieces of iron, said to be the money of Darfour.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the peasant girls buying spices in the bazaar were very
+pretty. I told one, that had she been a slave I would have
+purchased her. She laughed at my compliment, and replied, with
+great <em>naïveté</em>, that, upon her conscience, she was no
+slave.</p>
+
+<p>To make a purchase in the bazaar is sometimes rather difficult.
+I asked one of the merchants the price of a pipe, which I thought
+of buying. The man was confused, and could not make up his mind how
+much he ought to ask; but, seeking to enhance its value by praise,
+without replying to my question, he continued to extol its
+different excellencies. The other merchants pressed him to name a
+sum. The man was very much embarrassed, particularly as we had
+desired him to state the lowest at which he could sell it,
+otherwise we should not treat with him. It was only, however, when
+he saw me walking away, that he could resolve to ask only twice the
+value of the article. It is the custom here for the purchaser to
+bid, and not for the merchant to name the price. If the offer does
+not equal his expectations, he says, <em>Eftah Allah!</em> “May God
+open your eyes!” or, “May God improve your judgment!”</p>
+
+<p>I went into a shop in which there was a shabbily dressed
+common-looking fellow squatted on the ground, with a few miserably
+rude tools before him, on a board. I conceived he might be a
+joiner, and must confess I was rather surprised at finding that he
+was the first goldsmith in Dongolah. They cannot work European
+gold. They generally employ the gold of Sennaar, which is of a
+superior quality, being pliable and malleable, like lead. This man
+told me that my watch was not gold, for he had never seen gold so
+dark-coloured.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span>They have a
+custom here, as well as at Cairo, of selling merchandise, such as
+clothes, &amp;c. by auction in the street. The auctioneer walks
+about, calling aloud the price. One makes an offer, and the man
+walks on; another meets him, who likes the article, and bids
+higher. The owner promotes the sale by giving occasionally a
+bidding himself.</p>
+
+<p>The crowds in this bazaar, as compared with the deserted streets
+of Berber, Shendy, and Metammah, and the variety of costumes worn
+by Turks and Caireens, Fellaheen (or, as they are more properly
+called here, Dongoloue), Bishareen, Ababde, Shageea, and other
+tribes, formed a scene gay, and not unpleasing, particularly after
+the solitudes of the desert.</p>
+
+<p>The costumes of Dongolah are somewhat different, but, perhaps,
+less remarkable, than any I have seen in Ethiopia. The women, when
+they are married and have had children, have their hair dressed on
+each side of their face, in three rows of ringlets, or tresses, the
+lowest often reaching to their shoulder. The other females are only
+permitted to wear two rows. The head-dress of the women of Shendy
+is rather different: they wear their hair loosely projecting from
+each side and behind, while on the top of the head it is quite
+flat. But what is most extraordinary in the costumes of this
+country is the inimitable grace and elegance with which their robes
+are adjusted, often almost equalling the drapery of the ancients.
+Were it possible to collect correct drawings of their almost
+innumerable methods of folding their <em>melayah</em>, the large
+long piece of linen cloth which forms their chief, and often only,
+covering, I question if such drawings would be believed any thing
+else than copies of the Greek and Roman draperies, or studies of
+ancient costume. A sculptor would assuredly call them walking
+statues.</p>
+
+<p>The young girls, before being married or having arrived at the
+age of discretion, only wear the rat, the Nubian covering,
+composed, as already mentioned, of thin thongs of the hide of the
+hippopotamus,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> which
+reaches from the waist almost to the knee, and is coquettishly
+ornamented with masses of silver, and a variety of shells and
+beads. It is considered sufficiently modest in this country, where
+no consequence is attached to the exposure of the body and limbs;
+otherwise, so far as it extends, it forms an elegant and
+impenetrable skreen. (See girl in <a href="#pl37">Plate
+XXXVII.</a>) The changing of this costume, or breaking of their
+rat, upon their marriage, is rather a curious ceremony, which I
+will presently describe; but when the rat is torn merely on account
+of the advanced age of the girl, and not at her marriage, only a
+sheep is killed, and she and her relations receive the
+congratulations of their hungry friends.</p>
+
+<p>Skins of animals are often exposed for sale in the bazaar, but
+they are generally too ill prepared to be of any use for stuffing,
+often wanting the most essential parts, such as the feet, and even
+the head. Had I been half an hour earlier there, on the day of my
+arrival, I could have bought for four shillings the skin of a
+giraffe. This animal, only so recently known in Europe, is found in
+great numbers on the road from Debba to Kordofan, between Sabrian
+and Gibel el Arazi, and behind Kordofan, on the Bahr el Abiad, the
+territory of the Buggara tribe. The government do not encourage the
+Arabs to seek for them. On the contrary, without an express
+permission from the Pasha, no Arab, Turk, or traveller is allowed
+to purchase one. When the peasants catch them for the government,
+they receive a remuneration of twenty-five dollars, which is
+considered very handsome. Had I been provided with a permission
+from the Pasha, I was told that I should have had little difficulty
+in procuring one at that price. At the time of the <em>haref</em>
+(the rainy season), the Hassanyeh retire with their herds and
+camels into the mountains and valleys, which afford ample pasture
+for their cattle for three or four months. They protect themselves
+from the little rain that falls with <em>shambries</em> (tents made
+of goat skins). During this season the chase also contributes to
+their support. When there is no rain, which is very<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span> often the case, the sun, being
+then almost vertical, produces a heat so excessive that the
+gazelles, giraffes, ostriches, &amp;c. are said to become much less
+capable of escaping pursuit than during winter. The Hassanyeh then
+on their swift horses catch them without much difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>This tribe (Hassanyeh) is very extensive, and trade to Kordofan;
+and great numbers of them in this neighbourhood convey merchandise
+to Assuan. They are very fine-looking fellows, more grave in their
+manners than even the Arabs in general. They wear their hair
+plaited, and tight behind; differing, in this respect, from any
+other tribe. (See <a href="#pl39">Plate XXXIX.</a>, in which they
+are represented straining the common bouza of the country through a
+straw funnel.) I have travelled with several of them, and liked
+them exceedingly. In the same tracts with the giraffe is found also
+the antelope, or, as it is called, the cow of the desert
+(<em>buggera el Atmoor</em>), with straight and twisted horns (see
+<a href="#pl37">Plate XXXVII.</a>); also gazelles in abundance. The
+elephant is found in Abyssinia, and, it is said, also above
+Sennaar, in the province of Fazoql, and in that of the Buggara,
+behind Kordofan. There are a great many of the gemet cat in this
+neighbourhood. They have small thin heads, long backs of a grey
+colour, with brown spots, and a black streak along the centre. Some
+of them are eighteen inches long, besides the tail, which measures
+twelve inches. The colour of the latter is alternately grey and
+black. Mr. M. had several in cages: when set at liberty in a room,
+they seemed to be very timid, and one of them was rather savage.
+Their velocity is extraordinary.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl39">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 39.</p>
+<a href="images/pl39.jpg"><img src='images/pl39.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<p class="cp1">THE HASSANYEH TRIBE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by L.
+Bandoni.</em><br>
+<em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span><a id=
+"c14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">MARRIAGE AND OTHER CEREMONIES OF DONGOLAH. —
+CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE, THEIR HABITATIONS. — WOMEN, THEIR
+AMUSEMENTS. — ARAB TALE. — GOVERNMENT OF DONGOLAH.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">An</span> account of the
+ceremonies of marriage, &amp;c. in this part of the interior of
+Africa may not be uninteresting to the reader, as differing much
+from those we are accustomed to, and elucidating the manners of the
+present inhabitants of Ethiopia. Though I travel for the purpose of
+studying the remains of the ancient grandeur of these realms, I
+omit no opportunity of observing the customs of the present
+inhabitants, their condition and government.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremonies of marriage vary in a slight degree in almost
+every district of the valley of the Nile; but in no place are they
+more curious than in the province of Dongolah. The nuptial ceremony
+of every country appears singular in another. The Arab would be
+astonished at the solemnity of our weddings, particularly at the
+weeping which sometimes takes place, although, perhaps, he would
+have no objection to the plum-cake; and, if impatient to possess
+his treasure, would not dislike the marriage <em>sans façon</em> by
+the blacksmith at Gretna Green. Our customs would appear as strange
+to him as even the following description of an Arab wedding to a
+British reader.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as a Dongaloue has collected a small sum, sufficient,
+according to his condition, to defray the expenses of the fête, he
+looks out for a girl suited to his taste. Having fixed his choice,
+he sends two persons to make his proposals to her father, or
+whatever relation has charge of her. When he is accepted, and the
+friends<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> on both
+sides agree to the wedding, he sends his intended bride a variety
+of presents; the <em>gourbab</em>, or drapery of linen which they
+wear around their waists, and also other pieces of wearing apparel,
+shawls, and linen; and, besides these gifts, he sends her also
+money, wood, and, according to his fortune, from four to forty
+ardebs of grain. Accompanied by his friends, he then goes to the
+house of the bride; her father meets him at the door, and in the
+presence of the cadi, and of the relations and friends of both
+parties, and of the fakeers of the village (men who can read and
+write a little, and have the reputation of being pious Mahometans),
+the father gives away his daughter, and the bridegroom receives the
+gift. “I give you my daughter for wife:”—“I take your daughter for
+wife,” is all that passes; the cadi and other witnesses of the
+contract then invoke God and the Prophet to bless their union. In
+the mean time the girls and matrons of the village are inside the
+house with the bride.</p>
+
+<p>The cadi having witnessed the agreement and taken his departure,
+the father of the girl invites the bridegroom into the house. A
+curious scene then commences, which baffles description: the female
+friends of the bride, having hid her in some secret room, as soon
+as the bridegroom enters, rush upon him, and begin pulling him
+about, and pinching him, often not in the gentlest manner. The
+husband hunts in every direction for his bride; but her friends,
+first drawing him on one side, and then on the other, and pinching
+him unmercifully, fully occupy his attention, and prevent his
+making the discovery. At length, worn out with fatigue, and having
+supported his character by fighting as good a battle as he was
+able, he gives them a handsome present of money to inform him where
+she is. Then commences another ceremony—the tearing of the rat, or
+cincture, as I have already mentioned. The rat, on this occasion
+only, is protected and covered with folds of linen, tied and
+knotted in the most complicated manner. The bridegroom endeavours
+to undo this Gordian knot,<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_191">[191]</span> amidst the laughter of the bride and her
+friends: but the latter are not merely idle spectators; they
+commence again pulling him about, and pinching him most
+maliciously. The bride also does not omit the opportunity of giving
+him slily an affectionate pinch or two. At last, he is obliged to
+purchase again the assistance of the girls; and they generally make
+him pay dear. If his first present is not sufficiently liberal,
+they continue tormenting him until he has satisfied their
+expectations.</p>
+
+<p>The women having taken off the covering that protected it, the
+bridegroom seizes the rat, and tears it in pieces; the bride, on
+this occasion only, has a piece of linen underneath; yet it
+sometimes happens that the wicked bridegroom succeeds also in
+snatching away this under-covering, and turns the laugh against his
+bride; this, however, is considered here little more than a
+harmless jest.</p>
+
+<p>For seven days they continue feasting and dancing. The bride
+generally keeps her face covered during this time, but the
+bridegroom is permitted to laugh and practise with her what we
+should call rather rough jokes, as their chief amusement seems to
+be pinching. On the seventh evening, the bridegroom conducts his
+bride to his house, and another curious custom is practised. The
+male friends of the husband and the female friends of the bride
+assemble around a large board, on which a great quantity of grain
+or dates is placed. When the signal is given, the parties commence
+a scramble, each striving most earnestly to collect the largest
+quantity. If the women succeed, the wife is to rule her husband; if
+the contrary, the husband is to be master of his own house. If this
+ceremony took place in Europe, the men, through indolence and
+politeness, and being engrossed in various pursuits, not to say
+deference for the good sense and peculiar talents of the fair sex
+in managing domestic affairs, might gladly cede the greater
+quantity to the women; but here it is considered too great a
+disgrace for a man to relinquish any portion of his authority to
+his wife, to admit of such courtesy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>When they name
+their children, there is very little ceremony: four days after the
+birth the name is given, and a sheep is killed for the fête.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony of the circumcision of the male is also curious: it
+takes place when the child is about four or six years of age. All
+the friends and relations of the family assemble at the house of
+the father, bringing with them presents according to their
+means,—horses, oxen, cows, corn, money, &amp;c. After partaking of
+some refreshment, they walk in procession to the river, and all the
+males bathe together. On their return to the house, the child is
+placed on an angoureeb, and the ceremony performed. A bunch of
+flowers is then placed in his hand, with scents, and the relations
+and friends pass the one after the other, kiss and smell the
+bouquet, and give the child as liberal a present as they can
+afford. There is, generally, so great a mixture of persons on these
+occasions, that these gifts vary from upwards of two pounds to one
+penny: all, however, are expected to give as much as they can
+afford. In Egypt they often postpone this ceremony until the child
+is twelve or fourteen years of age; but in this country the family
+gain so large a sum by it, that they seldom if ever delay it so
+long. For the girls there is no fête: at most they merely kill a
+sheep. This ancient ceremony probably had its origin in this
+country. Herodotus, after mentioning that the Phœnicians and
+Syrians derived the custom from the Egyptians, seems to doubt
+whether the Egyptians had it from the Ethiopians, or the Ethiopians
+from the Egyptians.</p>
+
+<p>I described a funeral at Gibel el Birkel in Dar Shageea. Here,
+also, they sometimes dance on these occasions, but not often. It is
+an old custom, and not considered strictly Mahometan. Both sexes
+are buried on the very same day that they die, generally a few
+hours afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>The contests which took place between the Arabs of the mountains
+and the Berberene peasants, cultivators of the land,
+are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> suppressed by
+the authority of the Turkish rulers; but their contempt for each
+other is often displayed. When an Arab of the desert is oppressed
+by a soldier, his first exclamation is, “Do you take me for a
+Berberene?” The latter, in return, pride themselves on not being
+obliged to lead the vagrant lives of the wandering Arabs. The
+peasants of Dongolah are extremely honest: no bar nor lock is
+necessary, to secure the door against the thief; nor is falsehood
+known among them. They are always hospitable to the extent of their
+means. I never saw a peasant sit down to eat, without inviting all
+that were near him to take a share; and the poor and fatigued
+traveller is never refused a night’s lodging and an evening
+meal.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw3">
+<figure id="pl36">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 36.</p>
+<a href="images/pl36.jpg"><img src='images/pl36.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by
+L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">EXTERIOR OF A DONGOLAH COTTAGE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Upper Nubia have been so many years
+accustomed to the Turks, that white men are now no longer looked
+upon with horror. Burckhardt tells an amusing tale, that, in the
+bazaar at Shendy, he raised his turban, and showed his white shorn
+head to a peasant girl, who, I suppose, had never seen flesh so
+white before, and, terrified at the sight, exclaimed, “Um del Allah
+min Shatan!”—“May God preserve me from the Devil.” This is one of
+their favourite expressions; but the white man now incurs no risk
+of having it so peculiarly applied to himself.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the houses of the peasants are of mud, that is, the
+alluvial soil of the Nile, mixed with cow and horse manure; the
+latter is much used: straw is rarely added. Many of the houses in
+the country, built of dourah straw, are extremely picturesque. The
+two views (Plates <a href="#pl36">XXXVI.</a> and <a href=
+"#pl37">XXXVII.</a>), taken from nature, will give the reader a
+good idea of their construction, and also their inhabitants. The
+lordly Turk is smoking on the only angoureeb in the house; one man
+is grinding on a stone, for his lazy wife, whose business it is
+considered to be, merely as much dourah as will suffice for their
+mid-day and evening meal; and others are occupied in making and
+drinking their favourite beverage the bouza. I have already noticed
+the graceful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> style
+of the costumes both of the men and women; the latter are often
+handsome, having fine forms and a good expression.</p>
+
+<p>The wives are generally virtuous and gay: the dance is their
+favourite amusement, but not so much indulged in here as in the
+province of Dar Shageea. Their greatest delight is listening to the
+tales of the country, which, though simple, are full of imagery,
+and have, in the Arab language, a peculiar charm. A translation, I
+fear, cannot give a full idea of their beauty. The following is a
+tale I heard related by a little Ababde girl of thirteen; and even
+at an earlier age their memories are stored with similar stories,
+which, if any one had the disposition and the leisure to collect
+them, would form a considerable and not uninteresting supplement to
+the Thousand and One Nights.</p>
+
+<h3>DONGOLAH TALE.</h3>
+
+<p>“Amnah was the most lovely of the daughters of the Nile: fair as
+the sand of the desert, the gazelle was not more elegant in form,
+or more graceful in its movements. Her bust was beautiful, and her
+skin soft and pliant to the touch. Her face was as the light of
+day; her eyes were bright as the stars; her teeth whiter than the
+polished ivory; and a lovely and ever-constant smile illumined her
+countenance. Nature had done her utmost; Fortune equalled her rival
+in loading her with its favours. Her necklaces were numerous, and
+of the finest gold; and great was the weight of gold on her wrists
+and ankles. Her hair was beautifully plaited, and decorated with
+the largest and rarest pearls, and broad plates of gold above her
+forehead; and two large and most precious ornaments set with
+diamonds hung gracefully from her ears. Her rat (cincture)
+presented every variety of colour; the skin of the hippopotamus was
+never cut so fine: it was ornamented with the most curious shells
+and pieces of gold<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>
+and silver attached coquettishly in the most becoming manner; and
+the border of the rat around her waist consisted of coral and
+pearls. From her waist to her knees, only, this graceful ornament
+skreened her form; and there was not one of the youths of the
+village and of the neighbourhood, who had ever seen Amnah, who did
+not sigh and regret bitterly his being unworthy that her rat should
+be broken for him. ‘The houries of the paradise of the prophet
+cannot,’ said they, ‘be more enchanting, endowed with such
+ravishing beauty, or such extraordinary talents.’</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw4">
+<figure id="pl37">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 37.</p>
+<a href="images/pl37.jpg"><img src='images/pl37.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by J. Hamerton from a Drawing by
+L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">INTERIOR OF A DONGOLAH COTTAGE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>“She was, at the same time, the gayest of the gay, and also
+acquainted with all the learning of her tribe. Her father and other
+travellers had related to her the history and customs of other
+countries, and from them she had learnt the traditions and wars of
+her native land. Every passage of the Koran was familiar to her;
+and it was whispered she had devoted herself secretly to the study
+of astrology (el ahlem el felek), and the more hidden sciences of
+the Arabians. At midnight she was often seen alone, gazing at the
+heavens; and for this reason the nomage she received for her beauty
+and understanding was blended with a certain feeling almost
+approaching to fear. Too beautiful, pure, and learned to be of this
+world, she was considered by the ignorant peasants more as an angel
+of light (melik e’ nour), than a frail inhabitant of earth.</p>
+
+<p>“At the death of her father, after she had accompanied his
+remains to the grave, and for some time had lamented his loss,
+Amnah, weary of the constraint to which her sex subjected her, and
+anxious to visit those scenes which she had so often heard
+described, left her native village. The morning after her
+departure, at the entrance of a small town, she observed an old man
+covered with vermin. ‘My father,’ said she, ‘let me free you from
+those tormentors;’ and she began killing the animals, until
+suddenly the man fell dead at her feet. ‘It is the will of God!’
+she exclaimed,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> and
+immediately dressed herself in his clothes, and pursued her
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>“Thus disguised, and safe by the power of magic from detection,
+she procured a dromedary swift as the wind, and visited the
+different regions she had heard described; sometimes joining one
+caravan, and sometimes another. The immense treasures on her person
+were little diminished by this expense; when, one day, the people
+of the caravan with which she travelled perceived a cloud of sand
+approaching them, and shortly afterwards distinguished a troop of
+horsemen at full gallop. Amnah and her companions urged on their
+camels, but, finally, finding flight useless, they endeavoured to
+hide themselves in a large well, which the heat of the summer had
+dried up. But the horsemen had seen them enter, and, delighted to
+have their prey secured, they offered to the young leader of their
+band his choice, whether he would have for his portion the first or
+the last of the persons whom they should find in the well.</p>
+
+<p>“Their chief, named Mustapha, was only twenty-one years of age,
+but renowned for his skill in the use of the matchlock, the sabre,
+and the lance. His shield, of the hide of the hippopotamus, was
+almost useless; for with his sabre he parried the blows of his
+enemies; with a slanting cut of his Damascus blade, which his
+father, who had travelled far towards the north, had brought him,
+he separated the limbs of his foes, and even severed the iron
+chain. At the shake of his lance all fled before him; and never was
+a matchlock in more skilful hands. In form, he was the perfection
+of manly beauty and vigour, and his mind was richly endowed,
+displaying a judgment beyond his years, and greater presence of
+mind in danger than the oldest warrior. The Koran he knew by heart,
+and his chief delight was in listening to the traditions of his
+country. Young and generous, he could never repress his indignation
+at the recital of the evil deeds of the tyrants who<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> had reigned over the land: his
+eyes kindled with enthusiasm, and his cheeks glowed with pleasure
+and emulation when they told him of the valorous exploits of his
+ancestors, their generosity and hospitality. Like the rest of his
+race, much of his time was spent in excursions against the tribes
+with whom they were at war.</p>
+
+<p>“Perceiving where the caravan had taken refuge, Mustapha, having
+the first choice allowed to him, said, ‘I will take for my share
+the captive at the extremity of the well: he who has most to lose
+will have fled the farthest.’ His companions cast lots for their
+portions. Some had young women, others young active male slaves;
+all with some treasure. None were apparently so unfortunate as
+Mustapha, who found at the extremity of the well Amnah disguised as
+an old man, miserably clad, the picture of poverty. His companions,
+with the freedom of friends, rallied him on the wisdom of his
+choice, in the following lines, which one of them sang, and the
+others joined in chorus<a id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a>:—</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent0">‘Our chief, what wisdom he has
+shown!</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;God has blessed him with great
+judgment.</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;O, what a prize he has
+gained!</div>
+
+<div class="line indent2">So young and so active a slave;</div>
+
+<div class="line indent2">So splendid and costly his dress;</div>
+
+<div class="line indent2">So sweet the scent of his body!</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">Our chief,’ &amp;c.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent2">‘He will lead your horse to the
+field;</div>
+
+<div class="line indent2">&nbsp;Give you your lances in
+battle,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent2">&nbsp;And ward off the treacherous
+blow.</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;Our chief, what wisdom he has
+shown!</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;God has blessed him with great
+judgment.</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;O, what a prize he has
+gained!’</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>“Mustapha bore good-naturedly the jests of his companions, and,
+not wishing to appear to despise the gift of
+Providence,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>
+although apparently useless, he led to his castle, as prisoner, the
+disguised Amnah. On his arrival, he asked her what she could do:
+‘Can you cut wood?’ said he. ‘No,’ replied Amnah, ‘I have no
+strength: see you not that my arm is shrivelled up with age?’ ‘Can
+you carry it?’ said the chief. ‘No,’ she said, ‘my back is already
+double; I should sink under the lightest weight.’ ‘Can you guard
+the cows, or sheep?’ ‘Alas, no!’ replied Amnah, ‘they walk too fast
+and far for me.’ ‘Can you clean the horses?’ ‘I know not how.’ ‘Can
+you wash the sand for gold-dust?’ ‘My eyes are not good enough.’
+‘You are too dirty to make bread. Can you attend the geese?’ ‘I
+think I can,’ said Amnah; ‘at all events, I will try.’</p>
+
+<p>“Mustapha gave her for her companion a dumb youth, called
+Yabebe. After some days, when Yabebe was bathing in the river,
+Amnah took off her disguise, and showed herself, to the astonished
+peasant, as the perfection of beauty, covered with gold and
+precious stones, her hair ornamented with fine pearls and plates of
+gold, and her earrings studded with diamonds: laughing, she sang to
+him the following lines<a id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>:—</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent0">‘Open your eyes, Yabebe:</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;See! I am young and lovely,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;Covered with gold all over;</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;My necklace of gold,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;My earrings of gold,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;My bracelets of gold,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;And gold round my arms,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;And gold round my legs,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;Gold on my forehead,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;And gold on my rat;</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;Pearls and silver also.</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;Open your eyes, Yabebe;</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;See, I am young and lovely,</div>
+
+<div class="line indent0">&nbsp;Covered with gold all over!’</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>“The astonished peasant left the river, and Amnah,
+laughing,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span> resumed
+her disguise. On his return to the castle, the dumb youth made
+signs to his chief that Amnah was a woman, beautiful, and covered
+with gold. They surveyed her, and, not finding out her disguise,
+beat the boy for his improbable falsehood.</p>
+
+<p>“The day afterwards they were at the same river: Amnah threw
+aside her disguise, put her ornaments together, and bathed herself,
+with the lad, in the shaded stream. The peasant went first out of
+the water, and unobservedly stole one of her rings. Amnah, having
+counted them, found one missing. Yabebe denied having taken it.
+Amnah beat him, but still he denied, and, escaping from her, fled
+to his master, and gave him the ring, describing, by signs, that
+she had similar ones on all her fingers, and was covered with gold
+and precious stones; that she was a woman, and that her beauty was,
+as the mid-day sun (jemeel mittel e’ shamps fel dohr), too powerful
+to gaze at. Mustapha sent for Amnah, and, flying suddenly upon her,
+tore open the rags that covered her, but fell senseless at the
+sight of such exquisite beauty.</p>
+
+<p>“Great was the fête of the marriage, countless the camels and
+sheep that were killed. The music was incessant for seven days and
+seven nights, and they danced until they could dance no more. None,
+for many years, saw the brilliancy of her face, being ever in her
+harem, or closely veiled, when, occasionally, she appeared in
+public. The fame of her beauty, knowledge, and goodness was spread
+through all lands; the learned were anxious to converse with her;
+but none, except her husband, had seen her face.</p>
+
+<p>“One day her dearest son fell from a tree that he was climbing.
+His cries reached the ears of his anxious mother. Without a veil,
+without a garment, she rushed forth. The crowd, on seeing her, fell
+as dead. They knew not if the effect was produced by magic, or by
+the power of her exquisite beauty. At her touch her son was
+restored; and, having clothed herself with a gourbab, and thrown a
+veil over her head, the crowd recovered; but the tree<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> withered from that day: the
+branches decayed fast; the leaves fell on the ground, and it no
+longer afforded shade.”</p>
+
+<h3>THE ANCIENT GOVERNMENT OF DONGOLAH.</h3>
+
+<p>The Meleks who formerly reigned here were of the Zebain, to
+which tribe belong almost all these rulers, including Melek Tumbol,
+Melek Nazr e’ Deen, and, in fact, all those from Sennaar to Wady
+Halfah, with the exception of the meleks of the Shageea tribe. The
+peasants under these chiefs were generally called by the names of
+their villages, as those of Dongolah, Dongoloue, Korti, Kortie:
+but, since the conquest of the Pasha, they are called Berberene; a
+name derived from Berber. Sheakh Muktah<a id=
+"FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a>,
+the most intelligent Arab I have ever met with, being, like several
+in Upper Nubia, of the race of cadis,—son after son the chief
+cadi,—and, therefore, as pure a source of information as by
+tradition can be obtained, informed me that all these peasants are
+of the great tribe of Ababja from the Yemen, who came here in the
+reign of the fourth caliph after Mahomet, and, finding the country
+inhabited by infidels, drove some out, but forced the greater
+number to become Mussulmen; and that thus the former inhabitants
+became blended with the Arabs, and have not been distinguishable
+from them for ages. This is a curious and highly interesting
+tradition, proving, historically, almost, what might naturally be
+supposed: but I will say more on this subject in my <a href=
+"#c20">Historical Appendix.</a></p>
+
+<p>The king of Sennaar held a doubtful and precarious rule over
+this country, receiving, according to the character of her
+monarchs,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> more or
+less tribute. The brave Shageea, alone, never bent the knee to this
+king. Two hundred years ago, the Sultan of Sennaar, as some call
+him, sent here a detachment of the tribe called the Funge, to which
+he belonged, to keep this country under his subjection. A great
+many of this race are still here, and they are considered to be
+inferior only to the Shageea in courage. They are supposed to be
+originally a colony of pagans, from the Bahr el Abiad, but they
+have nothing of the appearance of negroes. They ruled over the
+country 150 years. Ibrahim was the first, and he was succeeded by
+his son Musnet: their united reigns lasted eighty years; they sent
+considerable quantities of corn, oxen, and horses to Sennaar. The
+descendants of Musnet enjoyed less authority over their subjects,
+and the tribute to Sennaar was less regularly paid.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1782 the Shageea overthrew the government of the
+Funge, and reigned peaceably in their stead, under three
+meleks,—Melek Shouish, Melek Omar, and Melek Zebair. The account
+Burckhardt gives of the treacherous conduct of the Mamelukes
+towards Mahmoud el Adalenab is very correct, as far as it goes.
+Hadji Mahmoud Sheakh received them with every mark of hospitality,
+ministered to all their wants, and was in return barbarously
+murdered at Maraka, this very place which is now called El Ourde,
+or The Camp. The following particulars of this circumstance, which
+I received from the best sources at Dongolah, may not be perhaps
+uninteresting to the reader. The Mamelukes arrived at Captot; and
+Sheakh Mahmoud, the chief of the Shageea, descended the river on
+the opposite side, with a numerous suite. He bade the Mamelukes
+welcome to his kingdom, and informed them that, if they wished for
+grain, he would furnish them gratis with any quantity they desired.
+He told them, also, that whatever they asked for, which he
+possessed, should be immediately sent to their camp; and if they
+were anxious, as they professed to be, to proceed up the country to
+Sennaar, he would supply them with<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_202">[202]</span> provisions for the journey, but if they
+chose to remain at Captot Marabat, they were welcome.</p>
+
+<p>Four days afterwards, fifteen Mamelukes, or katshefs, as they
+are called, rode up and stopped at the door of the house of the
+grand Cadi Mahomet, having learnt that the Sheakh Mahmoud was with
+him. The sheakh having come out to salute them, they complained
+that they had no grain for their horses. The sheakh sent
+immediately for a bag for each horse, and ordered his people to
+fill a boat with grain, and convey it to the camp. The Mamelukes
+appeared still dissatisfied, and would not dismount whilst their
+horses were feeding. But their object was soon accomplished; for,
+as the sheakh approached the horse of one of them, to arrange the
+bag of corn it was eating, and said, “This is sufficient for your
+horses now, and I will send you as much as you desire,” the
+Mameluke, who had his carabine on one side of his saddle, without
+putting it to his shoulder, pointed it at the sheakh, pulled the
+trigger, and wounded him in the breast. The sheakh had scarcely
+drawn his sword a few inches from the scabbard, when another fired
+a blunderbuss at him, containing six balls, and he fell dead:
+another instantly separated his head from his body, and they
+afterwards mangled the corpse in a horrid manner with their sabres.
+The Cadi Mahomet, who was with him, was killed also by a blow of a
+sabre, and a black slave, who was in attendance, met a similar
+fate. Ten of the Shageea peasants, his servants, were present at
+this murder, but being unarmed they could not attempt to revenge
+the death of their chief, and therefore fled.</p>
+
+<p>The Mamelukes remained nine years masters of the country.
+Including the servants, they were about 600 in number. Many died
+here; the remainder, on the invasion of the Pasha, went to Shendy,
+whence they passed to Darfour, and thence to Bornou, Baghermi,
+Fezzan, and Tripoli. Adouram Bey, one of their leaders, was killed
+near the latter place; but their other leader, Marfou Bey, arrived
+in safety at Tripoli.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>I received the
+greater part of this account from the most authentic source, Sheakh
+Muktah, my informant, being the son of the Cadi Mahomet, who
+perished with the unfortunate Mahmoud. I ought to mention, as some
+palliation of this treacherous breach of hospitality, that it is
+said that the Berberene, weary of the Shageea, represented to the
+Mamelukes that Sheakh Mahmoud was devising some plan to destroy
+them, and therefore they may be said to have murdered him in
+self-defence. The object of the Mamelukes was to possess the
+country; and they were glad to avail themselves of this feeble
+excuse to break the laws of hospitality. Great praise is due to the
+few who accomplished the courageous and immense undertaking of
+crossing the centre of Africa. Such a journey would immortalise any
+European, but who would attempt it? At Darfour, Brown was detained
+a prisoner; and in the kingdom of Bornou or Fezzan Hornemann lost
+his life.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span><a id=
+"c15"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">DEPARTURE FROM DONGOLAH. — NUMEROUS VILLAGES. —
+ISLAND OF ARGO. — RESIDENCE OF THE MELEK. — ARAB ACCOUNTANTS. —
+MELEK TUMBOL. — EXTENT OF HIS TERRITORY. — ARAB MANNERS COMPARED
+WITH EUROPEAN. — PHILOSOPHY OF THE ARABS. — THE MELEK’S DINNER. —
+MILITARY FORCE. — GARDEN. — VISIT TO THE ANTIQUITIES. — NUMEROUS
+VESTIGES OF ANCIENT TOWNS. — COLOSSAL STATUES. — REMAINS OF A LARGE
+TEMPLE. — NAME OF SABACO, THE CONQUEROR OF EGYPT. — ENTERTAINMENT
+OF AN ARAB SHEAKH. — RICHNESS OF THE ISLAND. — INDIGO. — ETHIOPIAN
+FORT. — CATARACT OF TOUMBOS. — MUTILATED COLOSSAL STATUE. —
+HOSPITALITY OF AN ARAB SHEAKH. — CHARACTER OF THE INHABITANTS. —
+HIPPOPOTAMUS. — ALARMING INTELLIGENCE. — REVOLT OF THE MAHAS. —
+DREADFUL CONSEQUENCES. — OUR PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. — ARAB STORIES OF
+TRAVELLERS.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><em><span class="sc">April</span></em> 16. We left
+Dongolah at three this afternoon, and, after three hours’ march,
+stopped at Mecaurat. Our route has been on the skirt of the desert,
+about half a mile from the river. I ought to acknowledge here the
+civilities which we received from M. Martin, a French apothicaire,
+in the employ of the Pasha, who showed us every attention in his
+power, allowing to us a part of his house. I must not forget, also,
+the kind attentions of his lady, an Abyssinian girl; pretty, and,
+at the same time, kind and affectionate. In return for a small
+mirror, which I gave her, she presented me with a Sennaar dagger,
+with an ebony handle, ornamented with silver. I keep it as a
+remembrance of “la bella Maria.”</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 17. An hour and a half after starting, we arrived
+at a government store-house: adjoining it were several cottages in
+ruins. After ten hours’ journey, we arrived at Haffeer. The
+following is a list of villages and islands between New Dongolah
+and the province of El Mahas:—</p>
+
+<table class="bd-collapse" id="t205">
+<tr>
+<th><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span>East.</th>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th>
+</th>
+<th>Islands.</th>
+<th>West.</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>Meegasseer</td>
+<td class="pad2">Kaptot</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td rowspan="4" class="tdc">Argo Island</td>
+<td class="blt width-brace1">
+</td>
+<td>Gerada</td>
+<td class="pad2">Wady Sais</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="linel">
+</td>
+<td>Irse</td>
+<td class="pad2">Mecaurat</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="linel">
+</td>
+<td>Binne</td>
+<td class="pad2">Binni</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="pad-right2">Affidab</td>
+<td class="linel">
+</td>
+<td>Merouerti</td>
+<td class="pad2">Quay</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="linel">
+</td>
+<td>Boulinarti</td>
+<td class="pad2">Muste</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="pad-right2">Bourgos</td>
+<td rowspan="3" class="tdc">Badeen.</td>
+<td class="linel">
+</td>
+<td>Attikarha</td>
+<td class="pad2">Haffeer</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="linel">
+</td>
+<td>Selinarti</td>
+<td class="pad2">Serog</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="blb">
+</td>
+<td>Magassar</td>
+<td class="pad2">Coban</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="pad-right2">Ashlian</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>Dakarti</td>
+<td class="pad2">Akkidi</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="pad-right2">Toumbos</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td>Toumbos</td>
+<td class="pad2">Hannek.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>In the desert, at a distance, there are isolated hills,
+apparently of sandstone. On arriving, we visited the katshef of
+Haffeer, who received us very politely; the Mahmoor having
+spontaneously furnished me with different letters for the officers
+in his government: one for the melek of Argo and the katshef of
+Solib, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>At my request, the katshef immediately ordered a boat to be
+prepared to convey us to the Island of Argo, which I was anxious to
+examine, not only on account of its great extent, and the
+antiquities it contained, but also because it is the only place in
+Upper Nubia under the government of its rightful owner, who alone,
+of all the meleks, possesses now a shadow of his ancient
+authority.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 18. An hour’s sail, with a fair wind, brought us
+to the northern extremity of the island, where the village is
+situated in which the melek resides. I went to his castle, which is
+fortified with towers (see <a href="#i12">vignette</a>), and
+protected on one side by a high wall. It is capable of making some
+defence against an insurrection of the natives.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw14">
+<figure id="i12"><a href="images/i12.jpg"><img src='images/i12.jpg'
+alt=''></a> FORTIFIED HOUSE OF THE MELEK OF TUMBOL.</figure>
+</div>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw23" id="i_p206"><a href=
+"images/i_p206.jpg"><img src='images/i_p206.jpg' alt=
+'[Illustration]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The court we entered first was filled with slaves of the
+melek,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span> who, I was
+informed, including male and female, amounted to upwards of 200,
+living either in or around his residence. I ascended from the
+court, by ill-constructed steps, similar to, but not quite so good
+as, those we have in England for granaries, and entered into a
+divan, or audience-room, which had quite the appearance, and was
+about the size, of a small English barn. Around a part of the room
+was a divan of earth, besides which there were four angoureebs, or
+cord divans, covered with carpets and cushions. The roof is of a
+slanting form, resembling that of a barn: the wooden logs of which
+it is made are blackened by the smoke of the fires. The beams
+consist each of two pieces of timber, which are supported and kept
+together, at their junction, by a rough pillar that stands in the
+centre of the room. To retain this in its place, and bind it to the
+beam, there are slips of wood, about one foot long, on each side of
+the pillar, under the beam; and on these the ancient Egyptian and
+Ethiopian ornament of the globe and feathers is carved. It is more
+rudely executed than the ancient, but still it is curious to find
+even a vestige of this ornament in a modern Ethiopian
+habitation.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> The
+doorway, and, indeed, the house altogether, is rudely constructed,
+but much stronger and better than Arab houses in general. The
+appearance of the outside is superior to that of the interior.</p>
+
+<p>The melek was out when we arrived. The brick divan already
+mentioned was partly occupied by his Arab accountants. In almost
+every village there is a little school, or rather, I should say,
+hut, which is used as such, and there are few of the peasants who
+have not made an attempt to learn to read and write; but, to use
+their own estimate, there is not one in a hundred whose knowledge
+extends beyond the alphabet, and putting together a few words.
+There are very few who can write, and none who know any thing of
+arithmetic. There are, however, some few of the sheakhs and others,
+who, from their learning, are called fakeers, and who are good
+Arabic scholars.</p>
+
+<p>When we entered, the melek’s cash-keepers were counting the
+money they were receiving from the peasants, and settling their
+accounts with the assistance of their strings of beads. In this
+room, also, besides the servants, there were several relations,
+brothers and nephews, of the melek’s, but not distinguishable by
+their dress from the other Arabs.</p>
+
+<p>After we had waited a short time, Melek Tumbol arrived, attended
+by about twenty of his people on horseback. The meleks whom I have
+hitherto seen have been generally fine tall men, having often an
+appearance really noble, and sometimes even majestic. The melek of
+Argo, on the contrary, is the most diminutive personage I have seen
+in the country: he has a good-tempered countenance, but, on close
+examination, something cunning in his expression, and nothing noble
+or imposing in his appearance. He was dressed simply as an Arab
+sheakh, except that his clothes were of a finer quality. He wore a
+long white fine cotton shirt, covering him from the neck to the
+feet, with very long and wide sleeves. He had a fine white Souakim
+shawl, with the usual red border hanging over his
+shoulder.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> His
+head-dress consisted of the red cloth cap (tarboush), with one of
+the silk Turkish handkerchiefs around it. He received us with the
+usual Arab politeness, read the Mahmoor’s letter, and entreated me
+to make his house my own. They presented us with coffee and pipes,
+in the Turkish fashion, and also with sherbet.</p>
+
+<p>The islands and villages on the eastern side of the Nile are
+under his dominion; having belonged, according to his own account,
+from time immemorial to his family. He has within his territory,
+925 water wheels, besides the land on the banks, which is
+cultivated after the inundation, and irrigated by hand labour.</p>
+
+<p>When Ismael Pasha invaded this country, Melek Tumbol immediately
+joined his party, and furnished him with provisions for the army.
+In consequence of his services on that occasion, the Pasha has
+allowed him to remain in the command of his territories, and given
+to him the rank and pay of a katshef; and I am told he expects to
+be made a mahmoor: he is rich in dromedaries, horses, and slaves,
+and allowed to have ten water wheels gratis. His subjects have
+heavier taxes to pay than formerly, but they may consider
+themselves fortunate in not having inflicted on them the presence
+of their rulers. Not one Turk or Arab soldier resides on his
+territory.</p>
+
+<p>Before the arrival of the melek, I was amused with the
+conversation of his servants. They spoke of his generosity as that
+of the greatest prince; stating, that, when a peasant gave him a
+sheep or a goat, he immediately presented in return a camel or a
+cow; and they added numerous similar instances of generosity, which
+with the Arabs is the noblest of virtues.</p>
+
+<p>We told the melek that we wished to see the antiquities on his
+island. He expressed his willingness to forward our views; but, as
+they were four hours distant, and it was then late, he hoped we
+would delay our visit until the morning. I was not
+sorry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> to be thus
+obliged to pass the night with this chief, as I am always glad of
+an opportunity of making myself better acquainted with the Arab
+customs. There is something so simple and sincere in their
+hospitality and manner of living, that, unintellectual as their
+society is, I must confess it is not without its charm. The
+luxurious divan; the tranquillising pipe; the grateful sherbet and
+delicious coffee; and the ease and quiet of Oriental society, are
+not trifling enjoyments in this clime, the scorching heat of which
+alone inclines man to repose.</p>
+
+<p>This is not a country for brilliant conversation and animated
+discussion: the former would be too great mental fatigue; and the
+warmth and excitement which the latter sometimes occasions, if not
+positively fatal, would certainly be extremely prejudicial to
+health, when the thermometer is above 100° in the shade. The Turks
+sit on their divans, and the Arabs on their angoureebs, and smoke
+the whole of the day. There is not the slightest obligation to
+converse; they sit and look at each other, and amuse themselves
+with their pipes, thoughts, castle-building, or business.</p>
+
+<p>Unless you keep them occupied with your enquiries, long pauses
+often occur in the conversation, as if they were reflecting on what
+you had said. One advantage of their society is, that the
+conversation flows naturally, for not even the host considers any
+effort necessary to keep it up. A man in this country is not
+considered stupid because he has the sense not to talk nonsense.
+When any of them tell a tale, or make an assertion, however
+improbable they may be, politeness, aversion to discussion, and
+perhaps indolence, generally prevent the others from disputing, or
+making any remarks upon it. When a council is held upon subjects of
+importance, and each person is asked for his opinion, greater
+harmony could not exist in any assembly: the highest in rank
+expresses his sentiments on the subject first, and the others
+almost invariably coincide with him.</p>
+
+<p>If a peasant had enough to support himself and family,
+even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> in a miserable
+manner, he would never labour to make himself more comfortable, but
+spend his time in the enjoyment of idleness, sleeping and smoking;
+he would, as the Berbers have been described as doing, sit for
+hours together in the shade, in the same position, without thought
+or care, with few ideas, and no wish to obtain more.</p>
+
+<p>Their philosophy, however, is remarkable: scarcely an hour of
+their lives is embittered with useless regrets. They are totally
+free from that anxiety for the morrow which agitates Europeans, and
+prevents the enjoyment of the present good, by their insatiable
+thirst after greater happiness. An Arab never distresses himself,
+as we too often do, with imaginary evils; he is the child of
+destiny, and never torments himself with the apprehension of a
+misfortune which, if it is really approaching, he believes it out
+of his power to prevent. Niebuhr gives an extraordinary instance of
+their philosophy.<a id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44"
+class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
+
+<p>This temperament is certainly more suitable to the climate, than
+the feverish anxiety, the angry passions, and restless ambition,
+which drive content from the abodes of so many Europeans. It is
+true, the Arabs are ignorant of the high intellectual enjoyments of
+literary and scientific pursuits, and of the pleasures, luxuries,
+and refinements of polished life; yet few, perhaps, will deny, that
+the man who is contented under any circumstances, who immediately
+becomes resigned to the caprices of fortune, who scarcely
+knows<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> the meaning
+of the words worldly care, and is unagitated by any regret for past
+pleasures, or aching desire to obtain additional enjoyments, is
+possessed of a certain degree of practical, and not useless,
+philosophy.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl33">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 33.</p>
+<a href="images/pl33.jpg"><img src='images/pl33.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by
+G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">COLOSSAL STATUE IN THE ISLAND OF ARGO.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>At twelve o’clock dinner was served up; and as the style was
+different from any I had hitherto seen, and is that usual with the
+kings of this country, a short description may not be
+uninteresting. Two mats were laid on the floor, on which we were
+invited to seat ourselves: they were rather hard, and not
+excessively clean. The dinner was served in six large wooden bowls,
+and the bread, which is made into thin light cakes, in elegant
+baskets of coloured straw, manufactured in Sennaar. The dinner
+consisted of mutton, fowls, bamia (Hibiscus esculentus), and an
+excellent omelet in a smaller dish, prepared expressly for myself
+by the wives of the melek. Raw onions, which are considered
+particularly healthy in this climate, and which, being much milder
+than ours, are not unpalatable, particularly after they have been
+soaked in water, were presented to each of us. I dined on the
+omelet, the other dishes being liquid, and so exceedingly hot, that
+I burnt my fingers in attempting to taste them.</p>
+
+<p>The melek sat down with us, but did not eat much; he dines
+always in his harem. Of the latter I should say something <em>en
+passant</em>. I was informed elsewhere that he has had twenty-one,
+or, as some said, thirty-two, wives, all daughters or relations of
+other meleks. He is said now to have only three. He has no sons,
+but two beautiful daughters, unmarried, who, however, already take
+a share in the government. My servant saw one of them on an
+adjoining small island, where she resides with her slaves, and
+sends the produce to her father.</p>
+
+<p>After we had dined, and quitted the mats, my servants and his
+cash-keepers sat down; and what they left was cleared by the
+servants of the melek. After washing, we had sherbet, coffee, and
+pipes. The melek then went to sleep, according to the Arab
+and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> Turkish custom.
+In the afternoon we walked about the place, and saw the ruins of
+the ancient village. The inhabitants of this island suffered
+severely from the inroads of the Shageea, with whom they were
+almost always at war. The Melek of Argo was able to collect a force
+of 700 men, many of them armed with coats of mail, of German
+manufacture. I wished to see these; but he said they were all in
+the possession of the Pasha of Egypt. This may be true of some of
+them; but, no doubt, the greater part he had secreted, aware that
+the day may arrive when he may require them.</p>
+
+<p>The present melek has a small plantation of vines and
+pomegranates, which flourish luxuriantly in this country. He
+procured the plants a few years ago from Egypt; and seems to be
+prouder of his little garden than of any thing else he possesses.
+We had a supper in the same style as the dinner; and our beds were
+the angoureebs on which we had been sitting all the day, with a
+carpet for a mattress, and no other covering than our cloaks.</p>
+
+<p><em>Island of Argo.—April</em> 18. The melek, perceiving my
+impatience to visit the antiquities, provided my artist and myself
+with excellent horses, while my dragoman, and our guide, his
+nephew, accompanied us on dromedaries. We rode through the centre
+of the island, which is entirely uncultivated, but planted with
+acacias, like a shrubbery. The soil is capable of cultivation; and
+only a more extensive knowledge of hydraulics appears required to
+enable the people to irrigate and cultivate the whole of the
+island.</p>
+
+<p>We set out at five o’clock, and, after two hours’ ride (about
+ten miles), reached the site of a small town or village, with
+merely a few bricks remaining. An hour afterwards we arrived at a
+similar place, and in ten minutes more at a third. Twenty minutes
+from the latter, being three hours and a half from the time that we
+started, we arrived at the antiquities which were the object of our
+excursion. The distance, from the rate we travelled, may be about
+eighteen miles.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw3">
+<figure id="pl34">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 34.</p>
+<a href="images/pl34.jpg"><img src='images/pl34.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by
+G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">COLOSSAL STATUE IN THE ISLAND OF ARGO.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>The antiquities
+amply repaid us for the trouble of visiting them. They consist
+chiefly of two colossal statues of grey granite, now lying on the
+ground. The faces are Egyptian, but the sculpture is Ethiopian; not
+in a very good style, the forms being extremely bulky and clumsy.
+The length, including the pedestal, which is 2 feet 10 inches, is
+23 feet. One statue has lost part of its arms; the other is broken
+into two pieces, but the features are less injured. They have never
+been quite finished; which is, doubtless the reason that neither is
+ornamented with hieroglyphics. The figures are placed in the usual
+standing position of Egyptian statues, one foot advanced before the
+other. The one that is broken has on the left foot a small statue.
+(See my picturesque views and architectural restoration, Plates
+<a href="#pl33">XXXIII.,</a> <a href="#pl34">XXXIV.,</a> and
+<a href="#pl35">XXXV.</a>) The ornaments around their necks and
+ankles are curious, and quite Ethiopian. The wreath around the
+head-dress of one of them is that of a conqueror; which I conceive
+to afford a strong ground for conjecturing that these statues were
+erected in commemoration of the conquest of Egypt: but I am led to
+this conclusion principally from the circumstance of the only name
+in hieroglyphics now remaining here being that of Sabaco, the first
+king of the Ethiopian dynasty who conquered and reigned over
+Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>The circumstance of the statues not being finished, may be
+accounted for by the brief duration, at that period, of the
+Ethiopian dominion over this part of the country. The statues
+erected to celebrate the triumph of their arms in Egypt would
+naturally be thrown down by the Egyptian invaders. Psammitichus,
+the first king of the 26th dynasty, who reigned immediately after
+the Ethiopians, and whose territory, we know, from the Greek
+inscription at Abou Simbel, certainly extended as far as the second
+cataract, might have conquered this part of Ethiopia, and thrown
+down the statues of a king naturally so hateful to the
+Egyptians.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> They
+seem, like the two celebrated statues at Thebes, to have ornamented
+the entrance of a temple, for behind them is a considerable space
+covered with sandstone, all in small pieces, but evidently the
+ruins of a large temple.</p>
+
+<p>Forty paces behind these colossals is a beautiful fragment of a
+small seated statue, without a head, and half buried in the ruins:
+the name of Sabaco is engraved on it in hieroglyphics; and 43 paces
+behind the latter is a group of six small monkeys, very much
+mutilated, and almost buried in the ground. The ruins of the temple
+extend 20 paces farther. It may have been perhaps from 250 to 300
+feet long; but, profiting by the softness of the sandstone, the
+stones seem to have been studiously broken into the smallest
+fragments. There are, unfortunately, no hieroglyphics, except the
+name of Sabaco, before mentioned, remaining either on the statues
+or any of the stones; and, from the degree in which the edifice is
+destroyed, I did not conceive that, at all events, much advantage
+would be derived from excavation.</p>
+
+<p>The name of this town is unknown; and, though the temple appears
+to have been considerable, the remains afford no ground to suppose
+that the place was of great importance. There is every reason to
+believe, however, that the Island of Argo was formerly much more
+flourishing than now. The different remains of ancient towns in the
+interior, now surrounded merely with acacia groves and uncultivated
+plains, prove the cultivation, at that time, to have been much more
+extended, and the island to have contained not only better built
+cities, but also a civilised population acquainted with the
+arts.</p>
+
+<p>A sheakh, from a village at a short distance from the ruins,
+sent us some excellent bread and milk; and, when our work was
+finished, we went to his house, and reposed on his
+angoureebs,—luxuries which every peasant possesses: we also partook
+of some dates, bouza, and palm wine; the latter is like the honey
+of dates<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> only more
+diluted with water. Strabo speaks of the Ethiopian beverage made of
+honey and barley; and also adds, that the only fruit in that
+country are a few dates in the royal gardens. After requiting the
+sheakh for his attention, we returned by the bank of the river to
+Melek Tumbol’s house.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw9">
+<figure id="pl35">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 35.</p>
+<a href="images/pl35.jpg"><img src='images/pl35.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<p class="cp3">RESTORATION OF THE TWO COLOSSAL STATUES IN THE
+ISLAND OF ARGO.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The country was rich and beautiful, and I observed a great
+quantity of indigo. In the melek’s territory, there are 500
+water-wheels employed in the cultivation of this plant. It requires
+much water, each wheel being sufficient to irrigate on an average
+only three quarters of a feddan of land.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 19. We dined and slept last night with the melek,
+and left him this morning soon after sunrise. We gave a backsheesh
+(present) of money to his servants, and, in return for his
+attention, I gave him the amber mouth-piece of my pipe. We returned
+in his boat to Haffeer; but as it was navigated by only two
+mariners, and sailed ill, I there procured another from the katshef
+to visit the granite quarries near the village of Toumbos.</p>
+
+<p>On the east side, almost directly opposite to Haffeer, there is
+a brick ruin, half an hour’s walk from the river. I perceived, at a
+distance, that it was of no importance; but recollecting that
+Cailliaud mentioned it in his work as resembling the towers
+represented in the sculptures at Thebes, I visited it on foot, for
+want of any conveyance, and suffered severely from the scorching,
+almost vertical, mid-day sun. The ruin being situated in the
+desert, my feet, unprotected with stockings, which I have long
+since discarded, were dreadfully burnt by the hot soft sand, in
+which we sank, at every step, considerably above the shoes. This
+ruin has not the slightest resemblance to the towers in the
+sculpture at Thebes. It has been apparently for ages so much
+decayed, as scarcely to present any other form than that of a mere
+mass of brickwork; but I conceive it to be Ethiopian, and very
+ancient. It is difficult to imagine what has been its exact form
+(see <a href="#i13">vignette</a>);<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_216">[216]</span> but it has evidently not resembled, in any
+respect, the elegant fortresses represented on the walls of Thebes.
+The entrance into it, as will be seen by the view, is partly
+remaining. The name of the village near it is Korma.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i13"><a href="images/i13.jpg"><img src='images/i13.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">RUIN OF AN ETHIOPIAN FORT.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>We were two hours in descending the river to Toumbos.
+Immediately before arriving, we passed the first of the cataracts
+of Hennek. The country (see <a href="#i14">vignette</a>) is very
+pleasing, flat, not romantic or picturesque, like the scenery
+between Philæ and Assuan; but the luxuriance of the vegetation on
+the islands, the acacias in the foreground, the picturesque groups
+of palm trees, the masses of rock impeding the current, and varying
+the tint of the river by the white surges they create, and, in the
+distance, the yellow sands, formed altogether a soft and lovely
+landscape. The rocks of the third cataract, at least here, are of
+grey granite.</p>
+
+<p>A very short distance from the river, on a granite rock,
+called<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> Hadjer el
+Dehab, or the Golden Stone, is a large historical tablet of
+hieroglyphics, with the common Egyptian ornament above it, of the
+globe, serpents, and wings. The hieroglyphics have been well
+executed, but are now so defaced that few of them are
+distinguishable. I copied a small portion of it containing the name
+of Thothmes I.; and in another small tablet adjoining, I observed
+the prænomen of Amunoph III.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i14"><a href="images/i14.jpg"><img src='images/i14.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">CATARACT OF HENNEK.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>From the similarity of this granite, I think it evident that the
+statues of Argo have been taken from these quarries. There is here
+also another statue, twelve feet in length, much injured, but in a
+tolerably good style of sculpture (see <a href="#i15">vignette,</a>
+page 218). The head has been destroyed, perhaps by some accident in
+separating it from the rock, or rather in conveying it to its
+destination.</p>
+
+<p>The katshef of Haffeer, through some misunderstanding, I
+suppose, had informed me that Toumbos was distant only half an
+hour’s or an hour’s sail. We, therefore, brought with us neither
+provisions, beds, nor coverings. On arriving at Toumbos,
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> sheakh invited
+us to pass the night with him. By the time we had finished our
+drawings and examination of the quarries, it was almost night, and,
+the wind having subsided, it was impossible to cross the cataract.
+We, therefore, gladly accepted his hospitality, having had nothing
+to eat since morning but grain, heated a little over the fire, with
+salt. The Arabs are fond of grain prepared in this manner; and,
+mixed with a few dates, it is not disagreeable.</p>
+
+<p>The sheakh first conducted us into a ruined house, now used as a
+mosque, rather miserable-looking, close to the river, and therefore
+cold, especially for us, who had no covering. The heat of the day
+being so excessive, the fresh air of the night, and particularly of
+the morning, feels extremely chill. I complained of this
+accommodation, at which he seemed vexed, and asked my servant if we
+wished to sleep in his harem. Our complaint, however, procured us a
+comfortable room in his own house, good angoureebs, covered with
+mats and skins to lie on, a cheerful wood fire, and a good supper
+of excellent bread and milk, with a large bowl of meat. We had
+therefore no reason to complain of the sheakh’s hospitality.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i15"><a href="images/i15.jpg"><img src='images/i15.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">COLOSSAL STATUE IN THE QUARRIES OF TOUMBOS.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span><em>April</em>
+20. At sunrise, after remunerating the sheakh for his attentions
+with a present of money, which I conceived would be the most
+acceptable that could be offered, we profited by a slight breeze,
+and, with the assistance of three of the peasants, passed the
+cataract. The sheakh gave me the not uncommon salutation at parting
+of “Minsh Allah rasak taip!”—“May God preserve your head from
+harm!” in a tone which appeared to me curious at the time, but
+which, I conceived, might allude to the passing of the cataract;
+though, as will soon be seen, before the setting of the sun, I
+understood his meaning. Soon afterwards, being becalmed, we pressed
+into our service a dozen peasants, who dragged us along with a
+cord.</p>
+
+<p>This morning, and also yesterday, we saw on an island of sand,
+near Haffeer, a large hippopotamus. This is the only one that now
+remains in this part of the river, or so far to the northward.
+Here, too, it is said that this animal flies from the approach of
+man, and even from the boats. Each time that we approached the
+isle, it darted into the water. There were, a short time ago,
+several in this part of the river; but Melek Tumbol told me that he
+and his people had destroyed all of them, with the exception of
+this one, which had always eluded their pursuit. We did not arrive
+at Haffeer until one in the afternoon, half-famished, having had
+nothing for breakfast but a small handful of grain.</p>
+
+<p>We received intelligence there which threw us into the greatest
+consternation. The province of Mahas, which commences at Hannek,
+one hour’s journey north from this place, and extends as far as
+Sukkot, has broken out into insurrection. The dreadful consequences
+of this event, cutting off completely my return to Egypt and
+Europe, and making me a prisoner Heaven knows how long; also the
+uncertainty of how widely the flame may spread, and what may be the
+result, caused me the greatest anxiety. I am informed there are
+already 300 insurgents collected, and that their number increases
+hourly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span>The reason
+ascribed for this revolt is, that the government refused to accept
+in part payment of their taxes the linen cloths made in the
+country. The owners of each water-wheel, besides grain to the
+amount of five dollars, pay also fifteen in cash: the difficulty of
+realising this sum may be easily conceived in a country where there
+are no markets, little or no commerce, and that generally carried
+on by exchange. The katshef of Haffeer, on hearing, this morning,
+that they had murdered a kaimacam (officer), and three soldiers,
+within two hours’ march of his residence, hastened to the spot with
+about thirty soldiers, being all the forces he could muster. The
+insurgents had retired upon an island. He buried the three men the
+Mahas had killed, and brought away the other, whom they had
+severely wounded in various places, and left as dead. The katshef
+informed me, that, as he could not desert his post, he intended to
+shut himself up in the indigo manufactory, which was partly
+fortified. I immediately ordered my camels to be loaded for our
+return to Ourde, or New Dongolah, for it is now impossible to
+proceed on our journey north.</p>
+
+<p>That dress which has hitherto been our protection, and procured
+us every where respect, now makes us a mark for the attack of the
+insurgents. They would never suppose that any friend of theirs
+would wear the costume of their oppressors. In our nizam dresses we
+should certainly be taken for Turks, and perhaps murdered in a
+summary manner. We have every reason to thank Providence that we
+were detained a day at Argo, otherwise our fate was inevitable, for
+we should have been exactly in the centre of the revolt at the very
+moment when it broke out. In these countries, where Europeans are
+almost unknown, except the few who, being in the service of the
+Pasha, are considered as Turks, the natives only distinguish two
+classes,—their own countrymen, and the white men, their tyrants and
+oppressors. We could not have expected to be spared, even had they
+recognised us as travellers:<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_221">[221]</span> for they would have murdered us for the
+treasures which they imagine we find among the ruins.</p>
+
+<p>It were endless to enumerate the ridiculous stories which the
+Arabs relate of these fancied discoveries. I will, however, mention
+one or two, as characteristic. On our return from the colossal
+statues in the Island of Argo, to the house of Melek Tumbol, one of
+his cash-keepers asked me if we had found any gold; and he stated
+as a fact to a crowd of Arabs in the room (swearing by his beard
+and the prophet), that at a ruin called Dendera, in Egypt, he
+accompanied two Englishmen, who obtained an immense treasure. The
+devil refused it until they should give him a water melon, to allay
+his thirst. The Englishman then sent him all the way to Kennah for
+the melon, and that as soon as the devil smelt the fine odour of
+the fruit, gold came down like rain. This the man declared he had
+seen with his own eyes, and all the Arabs implicitly believed
+him.</p>
+
+<p>At Gibel el Birkel, the natives conceived that my excavations
+were made only to find gold; and they supposed me less fortunate,
+or less clever, than the last European, a noble Lord, who visited
+those ruins, who was stated to have found such a quantity, in the
+form of a granite lion, that he was obliged to have a boat from
+Dongolah to carry it down to Egypt.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span><a id=
+"c16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">RETURN TO NEW DONGOLAH. — THE GOVERNOR. — HIS
+INDECISION. — GENERAL ALARM. — INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR. — HIS
+DIFFICULT SITUATION AND WANT OF ENERGY. — INCREASE OF THE
+INSURGENTS. — RETREAT OF THE KATSHEF OF HAFFEER. — TROOPS MARCHED
+OUT AGAINST THE INSURGENTS. — FEARS ABOUT THE RESULT. — THEIR ARMY.
+— THE BATTLE. — EFFECTS OF THE REVOLT. — ROADS IMPASSABLE. — RETURN
+OF THE EXPEDITION. — TURKISH AND ARAB EVOLUTIONS. — HASSANYEH. —
+FUNGE. — CURIOUS ASSEMBLAGE. — <em>LULULOO</em> OF THE WOMEN. —
+TURKISH SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE PROVINCES, AND PRESENT STATE OF
+THE PEASANTRY AND ARABS OF THE DESERT ABOVE WADY HALFAH.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><em><span class="sc">El Ourde</span>, or New
+Dongolah.—April</em> 21. Immediately on my arrival, I paid a visit
+to the governor, but was not received; for, notwithstanding the
+general alarm which exists on account of the insurrection, he could
+not deny himself his mid-day nap. In the evening I was more
+successful. The more I see of this man, the more I feel alarmed
+about the length of time I may be detained, and what may be the
+result of this unfortunate affair, for I perceive clearly he is
+incapable of taking any resolution. He complained of not having
+force sufficient. I advised him to adopt the common Turkish system
+of offering a general pardon and lighter taxes, or muster all his
+forces, and crush, at once, a movement which, in a country like
+this, was likely to spread so rapidly.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 29. A week passed without any plan being
+determined upon. I had not chosen to renew my advice, perceiving
+what I had already given to be fruitless. The greatest panic
+existed in the town. Some proposed to fly up the country; others,
+to reach Egypt by crossing the desert by Selemeh. We had, every
+day, some new and false rumour, that other districts had revolted,
+and that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> the whole
+valley of the Nile, from Wady Halfah to the extremity of the
+Pasha’s dominions, was on the point of throwing off the yoke of
+their oppressors. Sometimes the insurgents were reported to be
+within an hour’s march of the town, preparing to attack it. Muskets
+were distributed, the cannons prepared, and we were all to fight
+for our lives. At length, the officers, who are a despicable set,
+became refractory: some refused to march, while others were anxious
+to commence operations. The governor was undecided; some officers
+of the divan advised one course, and some another; and, while he
+vacillated between them, day passed after day, without any plan
+being adopted.</p>
+
+<p>Foreseeing the consequences of this irresolution, while
+discontent was spreading even among the government troops, and the
+insurgents daily increasing, I determined to make one effort more
+to rouse him from his lethargy, and persuade him to adopt some
+vigorous measure. I, therefore, visited him, accompanied by a Greek
+dragoman, with whom the governor, being a Turk from the Morea,
+could converse in the Romaic without any other person in the divan
+understanding our discourse. I thus obtained the best chance of my
+advice being followed, by sparing his <em>amour propre</em>, of
+which he had a considerable stock.</p>
+
+<p>I apologised for the liberty I was taking; conscious that, as a
+stranger, I had no right to interfere with his administration; but
+that my fate was linked with his, as the success of my own plans
+depended on his being able to restore order and tranquillity to the
+country. In return, too, for his attentions, I was anxious, if
+possible, to be of service to him; I regretted his present
+difficult situation, particularly as I saw him surrounded by men
+guided more by their passions than by reason. To my surprise, he
+raised up his head, which generally hangs over his knees, almost
+touching them, and expressed his willingness to listen to, and
+follow, my counsel. Tormented as he has been, for several days,
+with the insolent dictation of his officers, each insisting on
+some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> wild scheme of
+his own, he turned a ready ear to my suggestions, which were, of
+course, disinterested. Each officer, on the contrary, hoped, if his
+plan should be adopted, and be successful, that he might have the
+merit of the victory, and obtain, in consequence, a present from
+the Pasha.</p>
+
+<p>I urged the governor to send to some of the sheakhs up the Nile,
+who are strongly attached to the government, and have no affection
+for the Mahas, to assemble their forces; and also to Melek Tumbol,
+who is said to have a force of 500 men, while the former could
+muster 600 men, and both would be quite willing to join the
+government. The governor had imprudently ordered the soldiers
+scattered in the different villages to assemble, under the katshefs
+and kaimacams, in bands of fifty. This had caused great
+dissatisfaction, by showing that he distrusted the fidelity of the
+peasants; and the measure was useless, except in affording a
+security for the lives of the soldiers, which, after all, was only
+apparent; for bands of fifty were too small to keep extensive
+districts in subjection, or protect themselves against the united
+attacks of the peasantry. I urged the governor to send for these
+troops to replace the garrison here, which he might thus be enabled
+to send out against the revolters. He consented to this proposition
+very reluctantly.</p>
+
+<p>To my surprise, he informed me that he had sent no courier to
+Cairo. He had despatched one to Khartoun, in the hopes of procuring
+a reinforcement from that district. I did not think it probable
+that the government there would risk its security by sending part
+of their force to Dongolah: but it was great neglect not to inform
+all the governors around of the revolt, that they might guard
+against any attempts within their own territories; particularly as
+it is rumoured, though, probably, without foundation, that this is
+only the first explosion of a grand conspiracy, formed by the
+people, throughout Upper Nubia, to avail themselves of the
+present<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>
+opportunity, whilst the Pasha is engaged with the war in Syria, to
+throw off his yoke.</p>
+
+<p>The number of soldiers here at present is 200, part of a
+regiment of invalids sent to this province, being of no use at
+Cairo; the remainder of the regiment is scattered, as I have said,
+in small parties, about the province. As the Arab and Turkish
+merchants in the bazaar are more than sufficient to protect the
+citadel, and their fidelity may be relied upon, their lives and
+property being at stake, I urged the governor to send off the
+troops in the garrison without delay; and he promised that he would
+do so as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made. I
+advised him also to mount guards on the citadel, to dispel the
+panic which existed, and prevent the possibility of the place being
+surprised.</p>
+
+<p><em>April</em> 30. The katshef of Haffeer arrived, without
+having received permission from the governor to abandon his post,
+but conceiving it impossible, with only 50 men, to protect the
+indigo house, which is but partially fortified, against the
+threatened attack of the insurgents. He stated the force of the
+latter to be 1500 men; and a courier arrived last night, with the
+intelligence, that yesterday more soldiers were killed, and that
+another party of fifty only escaped through the means of an Arab
+sheakh, abandoning their baggage, and, <em>mirabile dictu</em> for
+Turks, also their pipes!</p>
+
+<p><em>May</em> 1. The troops, 150 in number (leaving 50 in the
+citadel), marched out this morning against the Mahas. They were
+accompanied by 120 volunteers, some of them mounted. The Hassanyeh
+and Funge, 500 strong, and Melek Tumbol on the opposite bank, with
+500 more, are waiting to join them. They took with them one piece
+of cannon, an eight-pounder, on which they rested their chief hopes
+of success. The review of these warriors caused a great sensation
+in this little capital. The governor had distributed muskets and
+ammunition to all the merchants who joined the expedition, and also
+to those who remained<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_226">[226]</span> in garrison. Each man was trying his weapon
+by firing it off. The women were weeping, and demonstrating their
+grief, according to the custom of the country, by a peculiar
+<em>lululoo</em>, caused by drawing their breath, and shaking their
+tongues between their lips, at the same time waving their hands, in
+sign of wishes for their husbands’ success.</p>
+
+<p>Considering how this expedition was composed, I was almost
+doubtful of its success. The soldiers and officers were the refuse
+of the Pasha’s army; the merchants a confused mass; the commander
+notorious for cowardice; the cannon in the hands of men not
+renowned for their skill in engineering; and it seemed doubtful
+whether friendship to the Turks, the rancour of ancient feuds, or
+even the hope of plunder, be sufficient motives to induce the
+Hassanyeh Arabs and Melek Tumbol’s forces to act against their
+neighbours, fighting for their liberty, to free themselves from a
+grievous and intolerable yoke, and who had placed their all upon
+the die,—death or victory. The governor himself reviewed the troops
+outside the walls, and gave his last directions. How ridiculous
+this expedition would have appeared in Europe! It reminded me of
+the army of Bombastes Furioso; and the Mahmoor might have dismissed
+them with the same words,—</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent0">“Begone, brave soldiers, don’t kick up a
+row!”</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>May</em> 2 and 3. were spent in great anxiety about the
+result of the expedition. Rumours were spread that the government
+troops were defeated, and that the Mahas were coming to attack the
+citadel.</p>
+
+<p><em>May</em> 4. This morning news arrived of the engagement, and
+that the Pasha’s troops had gained the victory. On the 10th, they
+and the merchants returned, and I received from some sensible
+Turkish merchants, on whose authority I could depend, the following
+account of the battle. The insurgents, 1300 strong, at three
+o’clock in the afternoon advanced to attack the government
+forces,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> encamped a
+little below Hannek. Their chief, Melek Backeet, sent round 300 of
+his men to intercept the enemy’s retreat; for it never occurred to
+the brave warriors of Mahas that they could possibly be defeated.
+If they had possessed any degree of judgment, or been less
+confident, and had made the attack during the night, they would
+probably have succeeded; for at that time no sentinels or guards
+were established, and the greatest confusion reigned in the Turkish
+camp.</p>
+
+<p>About 150 of the Mahas had guns, but very bad ones, mostly
+matchlocks, and they were very ill supplied with ammunition. They
+were variously armed; some with lances, shields, German swords (see
+various plates of costumes); while others had only swords made of
+the acacia wood, about four feet long, rounded at one end for the
+hand, the rest cut thin, flat, and sharpened at both sides,—a heavy
+but formidable weapon in the hands of an athletic Arab. Others had
+staves only. Sentences in Arabic were written by the fakeers, on
+the wooden swords and staves; on some of them lines from the Koran:
+the most common were,—“May God give me force to destroy my
+enemies!” “May my foes tremble before me!” “May the acacia sword be
+as the sharp steel in my hand!” I have seen a staff similarly
+shaped in the museum at Berlin, with hieroglyphics on it; the
+latter I could not examine, as it was on a shelf, at too great a
+distance to be read.</p>
+
+<p>Twelve Turks on horseback accompanied the troops; to whom, with
+the Arab merchants (Jelabs), and about 500 Hassanyeh, must be
+ascribed the honour of the victory. Melek Tumbol’s Arabs were on
+the opposite side of the river, and the soldiers of the government
+were so placed by their skilful commander, behind their own
+friends, that they could not fire a single shot. The general,
+usually a great talker, became miraculously silent when the
+engagement commenced; and, knowing the value of his person, very
+prudently placed it out of danger. The artillerymen fired the
+cannon sixty-two times, only wounding one man: but, to
+give<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> them their
+due, I was informed by several, that the victory was chiefly gained
+by the noise they made.</p>
+
+<p>To the astonishment of the brave Mahas, the government forces,
+or rather the merchants, undeterred by their cries of “Cip! cap!”
+and dancing round and round (see view of the Shageea fighting,
+<a href="#pl38">Plate XXXVIII.</a>), returned the shaking of their
+spears with a good discharge of musketry, while the Hassanyeh made
+a sharp attack. An engagement of a few minutes ended in the
+unfortunate Mahas flying to the river. Numbers were shot sitting on
+the rocks and islands, and others in crossing the stream:
+altogether about 120 perished.</p>
+
+<p>The regular troops, not having fired a ball during the
+engagement, discharged their muskets in the air to celebrate
+<em>their</em> victory; and the brave commander, now quite
+loquacious, gratified his thirst for blood by the massacre of two
+unfortunate young prisoners, who fell into his hands. Melek
+Backeet, the chief of the Mahas, is said to be concealed in the
+country, but that feudal attachment to their chief, which is so
+strong among all the Arabs, will secure him against being
+discovered.</p>
+
+<p>A general pardon having been proclaimed, according to the usual
+Turkish system, until the government feels itself sufficiently
+strong to punish the delinquents, several of the inferior sheaks
+have accepted the amnesty offered by the governor, and the peasants
+are returning to their occupations. Many of the water-wheels are
+injured, and a great number of the working oxen killed by the
+Mahas. The loss to the government cannot, it is said, be less than
+5000<em>l.</em></p>
+
+<p>My chief apprehension now is, that the roads will be infested by
+the most desperate of the Mahas, acting as brigands; among others,
+by their chief: we are therefore still detained here until this man
+is taken, or has left the country, and tranquillity is entirely
+restored. Several caravans of merchants are likewise deterred from
+going down to Egypt. They thus incur a large expense,
+having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> to maintain
+a number of slaves; but they seem greatly afraid of encountering
+the journey. I proposed forming a great caravan, but they coolly
+replied, that they should wait until the full moon, and, in the
+mean time, see whether I passed safely.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw8">
+<figure id="pl38">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 38.</p>
+<a href="images/pl38.jpg"><img src='images/pl38.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<p class="cp1">SHAGEEA FIGHTING.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>On stone by Walton from a Drawing by L.
+Bandoni.</em><br>
+<em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>May</em> 11. The return of the expedition was celebrated
+with great rejoicings. The Mahmoor, shortly after sunrise, reviewed
+about 300 troops, who have arrived, within these few days, from
+Handek, Meroueh, and other parts of the province; he marched out
+with these, and joined the armament encamped at a short distance
+from the walls, and all together then entered the citadel, in
+procession. The governor, at the head of the regular troops, who
+kept up a continual fire, went foremost, followed by the Turks and
+sheakhs on horseback, going through their evolutions, which
+consisted in a kind of mock battle, where they certainly displayed
+admirable horsemanship; sometimes galloping at full speed, suddenly
+halting, and wheeling round and round, the Turks firing their
+pistols, and the sheakhs brandishing their lances. Some of the
+meleks and sheakhs made a very picturesque appearance, being well
+mounted, with their peculiar costumes, lances, swords, and shields,
+the latter of the hide of the hippopotamus. After these came the
+Jelabs, or merchants of the bazaar, making liberal use of the
+muskets and ammunition given to them by the governor. Then followed
+a great number of the Hassanyeh, and some few of the Shageea Arabs,
+mounted on camels, dromedaries, or horses, and some on foot, going
+through their evolutions as in battle, brandishing their spears,
+leaping in the air, first on one leg, then on the other, at the
+same time turning round and shouting their war cry, “Cip! cap!” and
+beating their shields with their spears. Lastly came a tribe,
+formerly mentioned, the Funge,—fine athletic men, said to be very
+brave. They wear, like the others, their garments in the antique
+style, and their heads, as is the custom of the Arabs of the
+desert, uncovered, but protected from the sun by bushy tresses,
+reaching almost to the shoulders.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span>The
+<em>coup-d’œil</em> was rendered particularly striking, by the
+variety of costumes, complexions, and arms, and the singularity of
+the evolutions. We saw in one field the regular troops, Fellahs
+from Egypt, marching and firing in the European manner; the natives
+of the Caucasus, the Turks, exhibiting their more dashing Mameluke
+exercise; but neither of them attracted half so much my attention
+as the wild extraordinary manœuvres of the dark peasants of the
+country and the Arabs of the desert. I should not forget, also, the
+cries of the women. The house-tops, and the walls of the citadel,
+were covered with them, cackling (I think that the most appropriate
+term) a welcome to their husbands in the same curious manner I have
+before described; but on this occasion the note was different,
+being expressive of joy at their return.</p>
+
+<p>The governor, afraid of the Pasha’s censuring, and, perhaps,
+dismissing him, on account of this affair, pays, from his own
+purse, the expense of the expedition; and he has made a present of
+100 piastres to each Turk, 50 to each melek, 30 to each sheakh, of
+10 to each peasant and merchant. He pays for the gunpowder also,—no
+trifle, since, beside what was consumed in the action, they have
+been firing ever since, to indulge their fondness for the report of
+a gun, under the plea of celebrating the governor’s triumph. The
+day is to be devoted to feasting and rejoicing. Those who can
+afford it have killed cows, others sheep. The mallums, the Coptic
+treasurers and writers of the government, are now very
+conspicuously exhibiting their joy. They have been terribly alarmed
+during this affair; conceiving, perhaps with some reason, that,
+besides their office, and having the character of being
+individually rich, their obnoxious titles of Christian dogs and
+tax-gatherers would have ensured to them, had the citadel been
+taken, being the first to have their throats cut.</p>
+
+<p>In relating the causes of this insurrection, I shall only be
+giving a sketch of the Turkish system of governing the provinces,
+which has rarely, if ever, been sufficiently elucidated. The
+government<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> of the
+pashas in Egypt is essentially military. The officers all of whom
+(except sometimes the baractars) are Turks, decide every question
+connected with the revenues, and often interfere, in other affairs,
+with the decisions of the cadis. The system of the government is to
+extort from the peasant the utmost possible amount of tax, leaving
+him only what they consider, or pretend to consider, a sufficient
+subsistence, but it is usually a most miserable one.</p>
+
+<p>I will give a more detailed account of the system in Egypt, at a
+future opportunity, and shall here only say a few words respecting
+that unfortunate country. If the peasants did not actually steal
+from their own fields, in some places, they could not exist.
+Although they bury their grain under ground, and by various other
+methods deceive their oppressors, numbers perish from the want of
+sufficient nourishment and clothing. I have seen them, in winter,
+assembled in a corner, round a miserable fire, shivering with cold
+and hunger. In the most favoured clime under heaven, and the most
+productive country on the face of the earth, a vast proportion of
+the peasants may be said barely to exist upon food more calculated
+for cattle than for human beings, and, bad as it is, they have
+rarely enough.</p>
+
+<p>The Pasha has power sufficient to hold them in subjection, and
+by his extortions fills his coffers; but necessity alone induces
+them to submit. He not only imposes most enormous taxes upon every
+article of produce, but obliges them to cultivate what he chooses,
+and take the price he offers for the produce. He is the only
+purchaser of the grain, cotton, and indigo, and of the gum of
+Kordofan, ostrich feathers, and other articles. Slaves are almost
+the only commodity the merchants now are allowed to take in
+exchange for the manufactures they carry to Sennaar and Kordofan:
+even wild animals of the desert, as the giraffe, are a monopoly of
+the government.</p>
+
+<p>The Pasha is the great landlord of this immense district: the
+people are his slaves. His revenues are derived not only from
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> regular taxes,
+but from his profits as a merchant, which are enormous, in
+consequence of the low rate at which he pays the peasants for their
+produce, compared with that at which he sells it again to the
+Europeans. It is true that this source of gain is greatly
+diminished by the roguery of the different officers through whose
+hands it passes. From the highest to the lowest there is seldom any
+exception,—mahmoors, nazrs, katshefs, kaimacams, and soldiers, all
+concur in diminishing the amount, and, in particular, the mallums,
+or Coptic accountants. The latter not only cheat the ignorant
+Turks, who generally cannot read their accounts, but often trade
+with the money of the treasury, and incur losses which they are
+unable to repay. A number, on this account, are always immured in
+the prisons of the Pasha.</p>
+
+<p>The peasants in Upper Nubia are free from these pecuniary
+distresses, and are comparatively happy. It is very true, that,
+instead of paying only one dollar in money, two pieces of linen
+cloth, and a sheep, thirty piastres, which was all they paid their
+ancient meleks, they are now obliged to pay fifteen dollars in
+cash, and five in grain; in all, three hundred piastres: ten times
+as much as they paid formerly. Instead of sleeping, as was their
+custom, the greater part of the day, they are now obliged to work:
+but the man who is at all industrious may earn an ample sufficiency
+to afford food and dress such as he has been accustomed to. The
+following calculation will show more precisely their present
+condition.</p>
+
+<p>Each sakkea, or Persian wheel, is sufficient to water three
+quarters of a feddan of land, planted with indigo, and each feddan
+produces a hundred cantars of the herb, and sometimes more, when
+carefully irrigated: being seventy-five cantars for the extent of
+land which one wheel will water. The government pay the peasants
+12½ Egyptian piastres for each quintal; that is, 937 piastres for
+the whole, which, at the current rate of the dollar here, 15
+piastres, is equal to 62½ dollars; whence we must deduct twenty
+for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span> the duty, and
+there remains for the persons to whom the wheel belongs, 42½
+dollars, or 637 piastres: but, as this is the lowest calculation,
+we may fairly estimate nearly two piastres per day for each
+water-wheel. This will go to the support of one family, provided it
+can afford five persons capable of putting their shoulders to the
+wheel; but otherwise, two families must unite to reckon up that
+number. A great deduction on the gain of the peasant in Egypt is
+the immense expense of the wheel: but here they are so much more
+simple, they cost a very trifling sum; the oxen only 30 piastres
+each, and their keep next to nothing.</p>
+
+<p>However small a sum two piastres, or sevenpence English, may
+appear to a European, it is amply sufficient in this climate, where
+every necessary is so cheap. In Lower and Upper Egypt, where bread
+is so much dearer, and meat and milk double the price, the fixed
+price of a labourer amounts to half a piastre per day, to sustain
+himself and perhaps a family. Most of the peasants here, too, have
+other slips of land which are watered by the inundation of the
+river, and they gain considerably by their date trees,
+notwithstanding that they pay a tax of a piastre for each tree.
+They also rear flocks, and cultivate vegetables, particularly the
+favourite Arab ones, bamia and malakkhia; they make linen, spirit,
+bouza, &amp;c. They allow, too, that grain pays them still better
+than indigo.</p>
+
+<p>The condition of the peasants of Upper Nubia is thus happy,
+compared to those of Egypt. In this country, you very rarely see a
+peasant with a ragged garment, and there are very few of the men
+who have not their harems. Those who live near the seat of
+government have also the advantage of supplying the markets with
+the few vegetables the country produces, and of being employed as
+workmen. Some also keep camels, which afford them a large
+profit.</p>
+
+<p>The Arabs of the desert have still more reason to be satisfied
+with the present government, so far as regards their
+pecuniary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span>
+interests. They pay tribute only for the land they cultivate, which
+is in general very little, and in many cases none at all; but
+otherwise they gain a sufficient livelihood, by transporting to
+Egypt, with their camels, the grain collected as revenue, or
+purchased by the government, and in aiding the now constant passage
+of troops and merchants. Many of the Arab tribes of Kordofan, who
+formerly never came here, now participate in the profit of carrying
+the 2500 camel loads of gum, which, as before stated, are annually
+sent from that country to Cairo.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the labouring peasants of the Nile and the Arabs of the
+desert in Upper Nubia, so far as regards the taxes and means of
+subsistence, are in happy circumstances compared to the Fellaheen
+of Egypt; but in other respects they are equally galled by their
+Turkish rulers. In Egypt, the officers only are oppressive: the
+soldiers, who are Fellaheen, like the peasants, are not so insolent
+as here, where their comparatively white complexion, their
+character as conquerors, and their pride as <em>askari</em>, or
+soldiers, induce them to despise the natives, and oppress them more
+than the government authorises.</p>
+
+<p>When the chief governor of a province is possessed of talent,
+energy, and firmness, the officers and soldiers are prevented from
+committing many excesses; but when the country has the misfortune
+to be under a man like the Mahmoor of Dongolah,—too timid to
+redress the complaints continually made against the disorderly
+soldiers,—its state may easily be imagined. Each soldier is a
+little tyrant, and commits a series of gross and petty vexations
+inconceivable to a European. Of the many I have witnessed, I will
+give only a few specimens:—If the soldier wants a sheep, fowls,
+eggs, or any other article, he obliges the peasant to sell them at
+half the market price, and not unfrequently refuses to pay any
+thing at all. When becalmed on the river, he goes on shore, and
+forces ten, and sometimes twenty, natives to drag his boat, without
+any remuneration. If he meets a peasant girl<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_235">[235]</span> carrying milk or butter, he often helps
+himself to half without paying for it, unless with a salute; and
+woe betide the imprudent sheahk or peasant who refuses to give
+gratuitously the best his house affords, or neglects the horse or
+camel of the Turk or soldier who has taken up his quarters for the
+night at his house. If camels or donkeys are wanted, they must
+furnish them, and consider themselves fortunate if they get any
+trifle in return. The haughty manner of the conquerors is still
+more galling to the Arabs: their usual manner of addressing them
+is, “<em>Kelp, Marhas!</em>”—“Dog! villain! Do this! do that!
+quick! quick! cursed be your race!” with threats of a beating, even
+actual blows, and sometimes with the sole of the shoe, which is the
+greatest indignity that a Mahometan can receive.</p>
+
+<p>Men whose ancestors have been chiefs in the country for ages
+must now submit to the insolence and contumely of this vile and
+lawless soldiery. From negligence the latter often do not demand
+the tax on the water-wheels for some time; then, all at once, they
+appear, calling out, “Pay me to-morrow, or the bastinado!” The
+peasant, not being allowed sufficient time to raise the money, is
+obliged to suffer this degrading punishment, and often even have
+his ears nailed to a board. Being at a distance, perhaps, from the
+seat of government, or large market towns, he has no opportunity of
+selling his produce; nevertheless, with double the value of the sum
+required in effects, he has to undergo a disgraceful punishment,
+because he has no dollars.</p>
+
+<p>The Mahas who revolted had not paid the government for some
+time. The mahmoor sent a villanous Turk into their province, with
+the instruments of torture, who immediately began bastinadoing
+them, nailing their ears, and threatening to cut off their heads,
+if they did not pay him. He visited Melek Backeet, who owed a
+considerable sum to the government, and told him that, if he did
+not pay his taxes in a few days, every species of torture would be
+inflicted upon him. The Mahas manufacture a<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_236">[236]</span> strong linen cloth, which is very much
+esteemed throughout all the valley of the Nile. Being at a distance
+from the capital, and thus unable to command an immediate sale, at
+least for the large quantity on hand, they tendered it in part of
+their taxes. The government refused, though the transaction would
+have been very advantageous to them, the linen being offered at a
+price much lower than it sells for in the bazaar of Dongolah. Melek
+Backeet, therefore, excited the revolt, preferring death to the
+ignominious punishment with which he was threatened.</p>
+
+<p>This country, under proper management, might become a far
+greater source of wealth to the Pasha than it even now is.
+Notwithstanding the galling system of the Turks, the natives are
+sensible of the advantages of a settled and firm government; and
+the peasants of the Nile, most particularly, are glad to be
+released from the tyranny and spoliation accompanying the feuds and
+petty wars by which the country was formerly torn. Did the Turks
+but treat them as men, and not disgust them by their insulting
+manners, and by inflicting on them such degrading and infamous
+punishments; had their rulers but a few ideas of common policy and
+legislation, the resources might be greatly augmented, the revenue
+increased, and the people would be the most happy and contented
+under the sun. The superiority which fire-arms afforded to their
+haughty conquerors taught them to despise the strength of the
+Arabs, and, with that insolence which is ever united with
+ignorance, they do not in the slightest degree endeavour to attach
+them to the government, or, in fact, condescend to treat, otherwise
+than as a vastly inferior race, the people which it cost them so
+much, even with all their advantages, to conquer.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span><a id=
+"c17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">DEPARTURE FROM EL OURDE. — ALARMS OF THE CARAVAN. —
+MELEK BACKEET. — RETURN TO HAFFEER. — DETENTION IN THE INDIGO
+MANUFACTORY. — NUBIAN PLANTS. — SECOND EXPEDITION OF THE
+GOVERNMENT. — FANATICISM OF THE INSURGENTS. — THE BATTLE. —
+PRISONERS. — DEPARTURE FROM HAFFEER. — DESCRIPTION OF THE CARAVAN.
+— CATARACT. — EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION. — SPLENDID RUINS OF SOLIB.
+— EXCAVATED TOMB NEAR SOLIB. — RUINS OF SUKKOT. — HEAT OF THE
+CLIMATE. — ISLAND OF SAIS. — REMAINS OF CHRISTIAN RUINS. —
+DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF THE DESERT.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><em><span class="sc">May</span></em> 18. I
+conceived, from the information which I obtained from the
+government, and other quarters, that I might now pass with
+tolerable safety through the province of Mahas, particularly by not
+following the banks of the river, but taking the short cut across
+the Desert, from Fakeer el Bint to Solib. By this route I shall
+miss the ruin of Sescé; but, as it consists only of two or three
+columns, I shall consider myself fortunate if I escape from the
+country with this slight sacrifice. My caravan wish me to go on
+direct to Egypt, without stopping at any more ruins, particularly
+those of the splendid and celebrated Temple of Solib, which is
+situated at the northern extremity of Mahas; but I have told them
+that I will not leave that place until I have fully examined it,
+and taken every drawing and measurement I shall consider necessary.
+They are dreadfully afraid of meeting with Melek Backeet, who, with
+a few desperate companions, has committed several depredations:
+they think it very hard to incur any risk for the sake of a few old
+stones: but I have hazarded my own life and health in visiting this
+baneful clime; and I will not consent to pass, in that hurried
+manner, one of the chief objects of my journey. I took leave of the
+mahmoor, who gave me a guard, consisting of an Arab
+baractar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> (ensign)
+and six soldiers, mounted on dromedaries. We have, therefore, now
+nothing to apprehend from stragglers. None of the merchants would
+venture to join my caravan, notwithstanding my having a guard. I
+should delay my departure for some days, but I see no chance of
+Melek Backeet being taken, and, consequently, of the roads being
+clear, and I am sick of this detention. We left Dongolah at three
+o’clock, and slept in a beautiful grove of palm trees.</p>
+
+<p><em>May</em> 19. Arrived this evening at Haffeer, and was well
+entertained by the katshef, who chose the finest sheep in the
+village to regale my caravan.</p>
+
+<p><em>Hannek.—May</em> 20. We started soon after sunrise. Two
+Turkish officers, with their servants, joined my caravan this
+morning. Their company was not desirable, but the addition to our
+force, of six persons, well armed, was not to be despised. We
+halted at Hannek, to fill our water-skins, previous to entering the
+desert. After dinner, at three P.M., we were on the point of
+mounting our dromedaries, when a courier arrived from Sukkot, and
+informed us that Melek Backeet, and his great coadjutor the Cadi
+Esau, are at Fakeer el Bint, and in the desert, waiting for the Bey
+Zadé<a id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class=
+"fnanchor">[45]</a> and his caravan, knowing that we intended to
+pass, and believing us loaded with gold, which we had found in the
+temples. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> news
+produced the greatest consternation among my little troop. The
+soldiers were more pusillanimous than the rest. One of the Turkish
+officers, a cowhass, who last night, at Haffeer, talked loudly of
+his valour, had this morning not a word to say. Such a change of
+countenances I never witnessed: even my own servants were afraid to
+proceed. With such an escort, and uncertain of the force of the
+Mahas, it was impossible to attempt to pass. I, therefore, sent to
+the katshef of Haffeer for a reinforcement: he advised me not to
+advance, as the news was quite true. A reinforcement he could not
+give, as he had only twenty soldiers to guard the indigo-house.</p>
+
+<p><em>May</em> 21. This morning I returned to Haffeer, and having
+ascertained from several peasants and couriers that Melek Backeet
+had already with him 100 men, and that the number was increasing
+hourly, I abandoned the idea of continuing my journey without
+additional force. I, therefore, sent my dragoman to the mahmoor
+with a letter, begging him not to delay, but send immediately a
+sufficient number of soldiers to clear the country of the
+insurgents. Were I alone, I would run the risk, and attempt to
+cross the desert, or rather, with a compass in my hand, make a
+circuitous route. This plan would, perhaps, have enabled me to
+elude the enemy; yet, unfortunately, they have their spies in every
+direction, even in Dongolah. My departure would be reported; and
+although I were to sacrifice my baggage, their horses, swift
+dromedaries, and superior knowledge of the country, would enable
+them easily to overtake me, or intercept my route. For myself, I
+would run any hazard, rather than endure, a day longer, the
+<em>ennui</em> of being detained here; but the lives of others I
+have no right to compromise. According to the arrangements I had
+made, I ought now to have been in Europe. The heat is excessive,
+and increasing daily, and my funds diminishing. As this delay will
+oblige me to pass, with more haste, the antiquities below, my
+vexation may be imagined.</p>
+
+<p><em>Haffeer.—May</em> 21. to <em>June</em> 2. I was detained at
+Haffeer, in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span>
+indigo-manufactory, twelve days. During this period, we collected
+and made drawings of several plants. I publish three, which I think
+may be interesting to the general reader, having mentioned them
+repeatedly. One, in <a href="#pl04">Plate IV.,</a> is the senna, a
+name, doubtless, familiar to all. It grows wild upon the house-tops
+and in the fields: the flower is yellow, and the leaves of a pale
+green. The other plant, in the same plate, I have called indigo;
+but although very good indigo is extracted from it, it is, in
+reality, a totally different plant,—the Tephrosia Apollinea of
+botanists. <a href="#pl52">Plate LII.</a> is a drawing of the
+Osshi, the Calotropis gigantea. There are large plains in this
+neighbourhood entirely covered with it, and, as I have stated in my
+description of Makkarif, it abounds also in the province of Berber.
+The interior of the flower is of a pink colour; the buds contain a
+pungent liquor, of the colour of milk, which, according to the
+Arabs, blinds when put in the eye. The leaves are of a greyish
+green. The apple, represented in the Plate, contains the seed and a
+fine glossy silk. The plant varies from four to six feet in height,
+and is extremely valuable to the natives, being almost their only
+firewood; and, as I have stated before, many camel loads of
+charcoal made from it are sent to Cairo, being excellent for
+gunpowder. Among the others I found, the only one of any interest,
+and characteristic of Nubia, was a small kind of rue, the Ruta
+tuberculata of botanists.</p>
+
+<p>The mahmoor, having at his disposal a considerable body of
+troops, which he had assembled, according to my advice, from
+different parts of the province, was fortunately enabled to send
+out immediately 300 soldiers. The Turks having, on the last
+occasion, obtained 100 piastres and their expenses, again
+volunteered their services. Having united with Melek Tumbol’s Arab
+forces, they marched against the Mahas, who had rallied, in great
+numbers, under their old chief, Melek Backeet; and this time had
+very judiciously stationed themselves on a steep rock on a large
+island, near Hannek, making excursions day and night, and rendering
+the roads quite impassable.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw8">
+<figure id="pl04">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 4.</p>
+<a href="images/pl04.jpg"><img src='images/pl04.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="width-half cp1">INDIGO.</td>
+<td class="width-half cp1">SENNA.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw9">
+<figure id="pl52">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 52.</p>
+<a href="images/pl52.jpg"><img src='images/pl52.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">OSSHI.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span>The commander of
+the expedition was the same brave fellow who took such particular
+care of his person during the former engagement. He encamped near
+the Mahas, and published a proclamation offering them a general
+pardon. The Cadi Esau and many of the other sheakhs were disposed
+to accept the terms, when another fanatic priest started up, and
+upbraided them with their cowardice, treachery, and folly; “since,”
+said he, “you know that the Turks will deceive you, and it is
+evident that God has given our enemies into our hands; for without
+seeking them they are come to us.” By this absurd harangue, he
+kindled a wild enthusiasm, to increase which all the fakeers were
+employed in writing charms on their weapons. The commander was
+afraid to attack them, on account of their number and their strong
+position; but the Turkish volunteers laughed him to scorn, and
+dashed forward on horseback to charge the Mahas. Notwithstanding
+the formidable position of the insurgents, many of them having
+fire-arms, and the facility their situation afforded them of
+rolling down stones on the Turks, yet such was the effect of the
+instantaneous and gallant example set by the latter, that the
+soldiers followed <em>en masse</em>, and soon dislodged and put to
+flight the unfortunate Mahas.</p>
+
+<p>In this engagement they calculated that 170 were killed, and
+about 30 made prisoners. I myself saw here 105 pairs of ears on a
+string, which the victors were conveying to the governor; and I am
+informed the commander has another. Very many being shot in the
+river, their ears could not be obtained. They brought also to
+Haffeer twenty-two prisoners, linked together in a string, having
+their arms tied behind their backs, in the ancient Egyptian manner.
+Their arms were drawn together behind with a rope, attached a
+little above their elbows; causing, of course, an unnatural and
+painful projection of the chest. Some of them were apparently
+half-bred negroes, who were or had been slaves. They were all tall
+athletic men, but wild and haggard in their appearance, and
+seemingly insensible either to pity or to suffering.<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> Seeing them in pain, I begged
+the Turks to loosen their cords, which they did as a favour to me;
+but the prisoners seemed quite indifferent, and did not even thank
+me. I persuaded the Turks, also, to liberate from the cords a young
+boy, of twelve or thirteen, on account of his extreme youth; but
+the lad has something roguish in his eye; so that, if the soldiers
+on guard do not pay more attention than it is their custom to do, I
+flatter myself that, before they arrive at Dongolah, he will profit
+by the indulgence, and effect his escape.</p>
+
+<p>On hearing of the defeat of the Mahas, I determined instantly to
+start, conceiving that, though Melek Backeet and his followers have
+escaped, they will, for at least a day or two, be too much engaged
+in providing for their own safety to lose time, and risk their own
+security, in waylaying travellers. The only danger is that of
+falling in with them by accident among the rocky passes of the
+cataract, or in the desert; and they would gladly get hold of us,
+not, perhaps, for plunder, but as hostages for their own security.
+Now, however, we were all willing to encounter every risk rather
+than support this endless delay, and be any longer confined to the
+prison of a wretched indigo-house, in which my artist, myself, and
+the two Turks had only one small hot room to sit, eat, and receive
+visiters. The heat is dreadful: no cool refreshing wind to mitigate
+the scorching rays of a sun almost completely vertical; every
+breath of air heated as if issuing from a furnace; even the
+evenings, after sunset, are hot. At that time I generally went down
+to the river, the air on the banks being less oppressive: from
+about midnight until sunrise, and even a few hours after, it is
+very cool and delightful; and, not to lose the enjoyment and
+benefit of that period, I have for the last month slept, like the
+Arabs, in the open air.<a id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span>My caravan,
+being strengthened by some merchants who joined us, became now
+rather formidable, and may be worth describing. My own party
+consisted of eleven, including the <em>habeer</em> (guide), two
+Ababde, and three Hassanyeh, the owners of our two dromedaries and
+six camels. My artist and myself were well armed, and my dragoman,
+and Greek and Coptic servant, also had muskets, with which the
+Mahmoor had provided them. My guide had fire-arms, and the Arabs
+their lances and swords: therefore, including the guard which the
+governor had given me, of a baractar and six soldiers, my own party
+consisted of eighteen persons, of whom thirteen had fire-arms. The
+two Turks and their two servants were provided with them; and their
+camel-drivers were three Shageea armed with spears. Besides these,
+five merchants, three with guns, joined my caravan. We were,
+therefore, altogether, thirty men; twenty with fire-arms; and were
+thus, I think, a match for 100 of the Mahas, with their matchlocks
+and lances: but we all conceived it so very probable that we might
+meet a party of the insurgents, that I directed each person to keep
+his musket in his hand during the whole night.</p>
+
+<p>We started at four in the afternoon, and marched until two in
+the morning, ten hours, and encamped in the desert two hours before
+arriving at Fakeer el Bint. The effect of the caravan winding along
+the rocky banks of the cataracts in a line, one after the other, on
+account of the narrowness and badness of the road, was very
+picturesque. The variety of the costumes and armour; the numerous
+Arab tribes,—for scarcely more than two or three of our<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span> party belong to the same
+one,—Hassanyeh, Shageea, and Ababde; Berberenes of Upper Nubia, and
+Fellaheen of the lower valley of the Nile; Turks, Greeks, and
+Europeans,—all differing in dress, features, and complexion,—formed
+an interesting group. I could trace the gradations of colour, even
+in my own caravan, from the yellowish Arab of Cairo to the darker
+native of Upper Egypt, and from the brown Dongoloue to the
+dark-brown Shageea; but the latter are very different in feature
+and complexion from the bluish-black of the negro slaves belonging
+to the Turks.</p>
+
+<p>We all preserved the strictest silence, which enabled me to
+enjoy more the noise of the cataracts, the soft moonlight, and the
+romantic rocky scenery: but while I felt the beauty of the latter,
+I was well aware that the granite rocks and passes afforded an
+ambush for the Mahas, which was not without danger to us, their
+unskilfulness and ignorance being my only security. We met
+repeatedly parties of women and boys, either acting as spies, or
+going, as they pretended, to Haffeer, their houses being destroyed,
+and husbands and fathers dead. Their manner was certainly
+suspicious, and I had some difficulty in preventing my soldiers
+from treating them as spies. We passed several cottages, now
+uninhabited in consequence of the revolt.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 3. We arrived, in two hours, at Fakeer el Bint,
+and found the village entirely deserted. The Mahas, by their
+imprudent rising, have entailed a long series of sufferings and
+wretchedness on their families; even those peasants who took no
+part in it are ruined; their houses destroyed; their oxen killed,
+and their water-wheels broken. We may admire the enthusiastic
+courage of the chiefs, who, born to command, could ill endure the
+proud contempt and degrading punishments of their insolent
+oppressors; but we cannot but condemn their guilt and rashness in
+sacrificing, without the remotest chance of ultimate success, the
+lives and happiness of so many of their countrymen. I observed, on
+an island near Fakeer el Bint, several fugitives. The
+Nile<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> forms, between
+this place and Solib, a considerable bend, the distance along the
+banks, through the province of Mahas, being nearly thirty hours’
+march of a camel, or about seventy miles, and by the desert only
+twelve hours, or thirty miles. We entered the desert at three
+o’clock. Never have I felt such excessive heat; every breath of air
+is baneful. I tried to protect myself from it with a turban and
+umbrella, and even the sheets of my bed were put in requisition. I
+made an endeavour to construct a tent on my dromedary; but my
+efforts were fruitless, the wind being too strong. I felt my mouth
+dry and parched, and would have given even one of my drawings of
+Meroe for a glass of pure cold water; but every drop we had was
+soon quite warm. Before dark we had passed the mountainous and the
+only soft part of the desert, and at midnight we encamped within
+nine miles of Solib. The rocks are chiefly of serpentine, slate,
+sandstone, and granite, the latter often much decomposed: there
+were also a few fragments of marble scattered about.</p>
+
+<p><em>Ruins of Solib.—June</em> 4-8. This morning, being anxious
+to arrive at the celebrated Temple of Solib, I started before
+sunrise, and, pushing on my dromedary at a quick pace, I arrived
+there in two hours. The first view of the temple is very imposing;
+standing proudly at the extremity of the desert, the only beacon of
+civilisation in this sea of barrenness. The situation of the temple
+is as picturesque as it is extraordinary. The columns are so
+distinctly visible, that, at a distance, it has almost the
+appearance of a Grecian edifice. On approaching nearer, the effect
+is changed, but not injured; for, though not Grecian, it is of the
+purest Egyptian architecture. I rambled over it for some time,
+delighted with its picturesque appearance: the plan of the temple
+is also beautiful, and the architecture of the most chaste
+simplicity; but, as an antiquarian, I could have wished for more
+remains of sculpture, and tablets with hieroglyphics.</p>
+
+<p>The first grand propylon of the temple is 600 feet from
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> river; but the
+form and exact dimensions of it are now not distinguishable, being
+entirely ruined, and the materials almost all carried away. From
+the appearance of the rooms, which the reader will observe on a
+reference to the <a href="#pl40">Plan,</a> there seems to have been
+the same economy of stone in constructing of this propylon, which
+we shall presently observe in the second. Behind the first are the
+remains of two sphinxes. One of them is nearly destroyed, but the
+other is not so much injured as to prevent my perceiving that the
+style of the sculpture has been good; but in its present state I
+did not consider it worth a drawing. I observed that the first and
+second propylons were connected together. The Plan (<a href=
+"#pl40">Plate XL.</a>) will show that in front of the second there
+are the remains of two walls, which, no doubt, connected it with
+the first. This is quite in conformity with the general
+construction of Egyptian edifices. A flight of steps, now scarcely
+distinguishable, led up into a court before the second propylon.
+This court, the entrance into which is about 85 feet from the first
+propylon, is 70 feet long and 45 feet wide. It was ornamented with
+six columns, the diameter of which is 10 feet; the traces of them
+only are visible.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw10">
+<figure id="pl40">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 40.</p>
+<a href="images/pl40.jpg"><img src='images/pl40.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>Drawn by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">TEMPLE OF SOLIB BUILT BY AMENOPH 3.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>London. Published by Longman, Rees &
+C<sup>o</sup>. April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The remains of the second propylon are more considerable. Each
+wing is 78 feet wide; the door in the centre, leading into the
+temple, 11 feet wide, making the total width 167 feet. The depth of
+the propylon is 24 feet. It is remarkable, that this propylon is
+not, like those of Egypt, a solid mass of stone, with only
+staircases, and, occasionally, small rooms, but finished, and
+apparently used for habitations. The one here contains three rooms
+on one side, and two on the other, but without doors, and evidently
+constructed with a view of using little stone, as the walls are not
+hewn smooth. This is an economy of material rarely seen in Egyptian
+edifices. The doorway leading into the temple is of the correct
+Egyptian form, the width of the centre part, which is 17 feet long,
+being 13 feet, and that of the two ends, which are each<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> 3 feet long, being, as already
+mentioned, only 11 feet wide. The recesses, thus formed in the
+centre of the doorways, add very much to their architectural
+beauty. The view from this doorway of the next court of the temple
+is very magnificent. This court is 90 feet long and 113 wide, and
+was ornamented with twenty-eight columns, a single row on each of
+the north, south, and east sides, and two on the west, being the
+side opposite to the entrance. There are now seven of these columns
+standing, with the bud-shaped capital. I observed a slight
+difference in their dimensions, but they are of the purest Egyptian
+architecture; their circumference is 19 feet 4 inches, and
+intercolumniation 5 feet 5 inches. Few more striking views are
+presented in any part of the valley of the Nile than the first
+entrance from the second propylon into this court.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i16"><a href="images/i16.jpg"><img src='images/i16.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">COLUMNS OF SOLIB.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><a href="#pl41">Plate XLI.</a> is taken from this point, and
+will, I trust, give<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span>
+the reader a correct idea of the magnificence and exquisite
+architectural beauty of this temple. Five columns appear in this
+view, detached from each other, proud monuments of the power and
+greatness of the Egyptian conqueror Amunoph III., who erected them,
+and whose name and titles are engraved in hieroglyphics on their
+shafts. They bear also the name of the great divinity Amun Ra, to
+whom the temple was dedicated. The remains of many of the columns
+are lying on the ground; the roof is gone; and only one piece of
+architrave remaining, supported by one of the most beautiful and
+perfect of the columns. The architectural form of these columns is
+more light and elegant than almost any specimens of the same kind
+in Egypt; at the same time without losing that character of
+grandeur and severity, so much in unison with its situation. The
+background to this view (as will be seen in the <a href=
+"#pl41">Plate</a>) is the trackless desert,—a vast yellow ocean,
+bounded only by the horizon, without an eminence, or even hillock,
+visible to relieve the eye; and that tide of sand which never ebbs,
+driven on continually by the prevailing strong winds from the
+north, and particularly the north-west, beats against the temple,
+and daily encroaches on its remains. On the east side, at a short
+distance from the ruin, towards the Nile, Isis seems still to
+extend her protection, and a luxuriant and beautiful vegetation
+flourishes; but on the other sides Typhon reigns in gloomy
+solitude, and the traveller turns with delight from the
+contemplation of the bleak and dreary wilderness, to the elegant
+and magnificent work of art which adorns its margin.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#pl42">Plate XLII.</a> is a view I made which shows all
+the seven columns which remain in this court.<a id=
+"FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>
+Waddington speaks of<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_249">[249]</span> the red tints of the sandstone: there are a
+few, but very few, the general colour being much whiter than that
+of any Egyptian or Ethiopian ruin I have seen. I was in doubt
+whether to consider it as arenarious limestone, or sandstone; but
+the specimens I brought to England have been decided to be
+sandstone. The background of this view, consisting of the river and
+distant hills, is very pretty. The view is taken from the last
+existing room; and the reader will perceive to the right, in the
+foreground, the fragment of a column on which is one of the
+representations of prisoners which adorn all the columns of that
+room. The next court is more destroyed; yet there are sufficient
+traces of the columns to show precisely what the plan has been. It
+is of the same width as the last court, and 78 feet long; and was
+ornamented with two rows of columns on the north and south sides,
+and on the east and west with one only; in all, thirty-two. The
+circumference of each is 17 feet; but not one of them is
+standing.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw5">
+<figure id="pl41">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 41.</p>
+<a href="images/pl41.jpg"><img src='images/pl41.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">TEMPLE OF AMENOPH III, SOLIB.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The next chamber, which was apparently an intermediate room
+leading to the sanctuaries, contains the remains of twelve columns,
+of which now only one remains perfect. The capital is of a form
+generally considered as Ptolemaic, but we have here authority for
+calling it Egyptian. It represents branches of the palm tree, and
+near the base of these columns there is some interesting sculpture;
+a number of prisoners, represented with their heads and busts
+resting on turreted ovals, containing the names of the countries
+whence they come; and, to signify that they are prisoners, their
+hands are tied together behind their backs, in the usual Egyptian
+manner, tight above the elbows, causing a painful and unnatural
+projection of the chest. The prisoners on the columns on the north
+side of this room have beards and hair; and some, without hair,
+appear to be old men. Their features are fine, and have very little
+of the Negro cast. On the opposite side, the prisoners represented
+are youths with their hair tied in a knot a little below the crown
+of the head, and hanging down almost to their shoulders. These have
+very much of the Negro features, wide nostrils, thick
+lips,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> and high
+cheek-bones. I copied the names of thirty-eight of these provinces:
+the only one I could make out was that of Mesopotamia, in
+hieroglyphics.</p>
+
+<p>On the column in this room which still preserves its capital, is
+some sculpture, in a good style, representing the king presenting
+offerings to Honsoo, with the globe and short horns for a
+head-dress. The remains of the temple extend a hundred feet beyond
+this room; so that the entire length of the edifice must have been
+about 540 feet, and the number of columns with which it was
+adorned, and whose situation can now be accurately ascertained, is
+eighty-four. There must, however, have been a greater number; for
+among the confused piles of stone which are stated above as
+extending a hundred feet beyond this room, I found some fragments
+of columns 3 feet in diameter. (<a href="#pl43">Plate XLIII.</a> is
+taken from this end of the temple.) This is also an extremely
+beautiful point of view; but although not even a small stone is
+omitted, and notwithstanding the temple is so ruined, the reader
+will perceive that there is no excess of shapeless masses of stone
+to spoil the effect of the splendid architectural remains of the
+edifice. The column I have described with the Ptolemaic capital is
+the most prominent object in this view; but the picturesque
+grouping of the columns of the great court is finely exhibited from
+this point.</p>
+
+<p>On the door leading from the first great court into the second,
+the king is represented with a staff in his hand, addressing Amun
+Ra, who has the usual sceptre of the gods. Above the latter is the
+king presenting offerings to a divinity, the hieroglyphical titles
+of which are not legible; but the wings of the goddess of truth are
+visible. Behind the second propylon, there has been some very
+interesting sculpture, but it is now scarcely perceptible: the
+figures were apparently only one foot high. One piece I copied,
+which had some of the hieroglyphics remaining; but above this I
+could only distinguish the divinities with the attributes of Horus,
+Thoth, Anubis, Osiris, and Amun Ra, to whom the temple is
+dedicated. This sculpture is in basso relievo. It is much to
+be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> regretted that
+it is so defaced; for, doubtless, it has been a most interesting
+mythological tablet. Some of the blocks of stone are harder than
+the others, but the greater number are exceedingly soft, doubtless,
+one cause of the ruined state of the temple, and why the sculpture
+is scarcely distinguishable.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw6">
+<figure id="pl42">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 42.</p>
+<a href="images/pl42.jpg"><img src='images/pl42.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by C. Hullmandel from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">SOLIB.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The remains of the ancient city extend for a considerable
+distance both towards the north and south. On the bank of the
+river, 240 yards farther north than the temple, are the remains of
+a small pier, 13 feet high, and 20 feet long; while 200 yards to
+the north of this pier is a projection of stones into the river,
+thrown in apparently to form a port. This has evidently been a city
+of some importance. Its situation, at the commencement of the road
+across the desert, is also deserving of attention. The town was
+advantageously situated, being on the route both of those who
+followed the banks of the river and also of those who crossed the
+desert.</p>
+
+<p>Ptolemy places the great cataract at 22° 30′; Φθουρι, at 21°
+20′; a difference of 1° 10′. The real difference of latitude is 1°
+27′; that is, 17′ more; but Autoba, the town he mentions before
+Phthouris, is stated to be only 54°, that is, 23° less than the
+ascertained difference; and Pistre, which is the next town he
+mentions after Phthouris, is 1° 50′ from the cataract; that is, 23°
+too far distant. We have thus, I think, no other alternative than
+to suppose this to be the site of Phthouris, which, from the
+magnitude of the ruins, must have belonged to a city of great
+importance, and one that he would not have omitted to mention. The
+Temple of Siscé is probably the site of Pistre.</p>
+
+<p>After the pyramids of Meroe, this is decidedly the most
+interesting and magnificent ruin we have seen in Ethiopia; superior
+to the former, perhaps, in picturesque and architectural beauty,
+but less interesting to the antiquarian, as being Egyptian, and not
+Ethiopian. It is worthy of remark, that, with the exceptions of the
+colossal statues of Argo, I have not met with any genuine Ethiopian
+remains since I left Gibel el Birkel. Travellers who extend
+their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> tour of the
+Nile to the second cataract, would be amply repaid for their
+additional fatigue, if they visited this temple.</p>
+
+<p>We found, on our arrival at Solib, a number of merchants
+detained there on their way to Dongolah, on account of the
+insurrection. They were delighted to see us arrive, and prepared
+immediately for their departure. They complained bitterly of their
+long detention and great consequent expense. Solib is almost at the
+extremity of the province of Mahas; but, the peasants of this end
+of the province not having taken any part in the revolt, we were
+comparatively secure, although Melek Backeet, their chief, has a
+house in the neighbourhood. I lived under a shed at a short
+distance from the temple, and remained there four days, working
+almost from sunrise until sunset, regardless of the extreme heat. I
+now required a sheep every day for my caravan, which I had some
+difficulty in procuring, having had repeatedly to send across the
+river. I fortunately provided myself with a large stock of bread
+and biscuit at Dongolah: there is none to be had here.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 8. At the quick pace of the dromedary, I was
+twenty minutes in going, this evening, from the temple to the
+village of Solib. It is remarkable for the cottages being made,
+like those of the latter in Mahas and Dongolah, of the stalks of
+the dourah, and branches of the palm tree: here, however, the
+foliage extends considerably above the roofs of the huts; and thus
+not only protects them in some degree from the rays of the sun, but
+gives them a very picturesque and graceful appearance. The house of
+the sheakh of the village is fortified with square towers.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw7">
+<figure id="pl43">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 43.</p>
+<a href="images/pl43.jpg"><img src='images/pl43.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. P. Sherlock, from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">TEMPLE OF AMENOPH, SOLIB.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>About a mile beyond the village is the rock called Doshe, which,
+projecting into the river, divides the province of Mahas from
+Sukkot. It is of sandstone, and contains traces of iron ore: its
+surface is rugged, and in part blackened by the sun, forming a
+striking contrast to the bright yellow sand which covers the
+central part of the rock. At the eastern end, above the river, is
+an excavated tomb, which contains some traces of sculpture, though
+now scarcely distinguishable. I perceived, from what remains, that
+it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> was in a good
+style of basso relievo. There were some ovals, but no hieroglyphics
+on them at all legible. I endeavoured to make out the name, and,
+from the slight fragments remaining, I conceived one to be that of
+Thothmes III., and another that of Osirtisen III., but must confess
+I could not make them out at all satisfactorily.<a id=
+"FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>
+At the end of the tomb are the remains of three divinities, seated.
+The sculpture of these does not seem to have been good, but they
+are so defaced, that it is impossible to decide upon the style. On
+each side of the divinities is a niche. The site of this tomb is
+picturesque, commanding a fine prospect of the river. (See <a href=
+"#i17">vignette.</a>) Above it a king is represented making
+offerings to a divinity with the attributes of Kneph, and behind
+the latter are two other divinities, one with a plain
+helmet,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> the other a
+vase on her head. Beneath the line containing these subjects is
+another containing a figure kneeling, and a long tablet of
+hieroglyphics; but the latter are so broken and defaced, that only
+one here and there is legible. On the south side of the tomb is a
+beautiful little piece of sculpture, representing a king making
+offerings to Amun Ra, with the head-dress of the globe and short
+horns; and behind the last is a goddess. The name of the king seems
+to have been broken off designedly, and the hieroglyphics are very
+much defaced.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i17"><a href="images/i17.jpg"><img src='images/i17.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">FROM A TOMB EXCAVATED OUT OF THE ROCK NEAR
+SOLIB.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 8. We left the village of Solib, and province of
+Mahas, at four o’clock, and arrived at the village of Sukkot at six
+in the evening. This is rather a large place, and the residence of
+the katshef. I observed, in passing, four of the fortified houses
+of the sheakhs; the rest of the houses are of mud: there are some
+few of the palm leaves, but not so picturesque as those of the
+Mahas.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i18"><a href="images/i18.jpg"><img src='images/i18.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">TEMPLE OF SUKKOT.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i19"><a href="images/i19.jpg"><img src='images/i19.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">TEMPLE OF SUKKOT.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span>We stopped to
+examine some ruins, called by the peasants, Biban. The first
+consists of two fragments of columns, around which are the traces
+of the temple. The plan is Roman-Egyptian, and is rather curious,
+though not good. (See <a href="#i18">vignette.</a>) Three hundred
+and fifty yards to the north there is another ruined temple. One
+column is standing amid a mass of large stones: it reminded me of
+the solitary column, and the vast masses around it, of the Temple
+of Hercules at Girgenti; but the comparison is very degrading to
+the great beauty of the latter. The capital of this is almost
+entirely defaced, but it has decidedly been a head of Athor. On
+some of the stones I observed fragments of Egyptian ornaments, and
+the fragment of a name, apparently Amunoph III. The column is
+fluted, but not in the usual Egyptian style, being much more flat.
+Attempts have apparently been recently made to throw it down, or
+break it to pieces, its architectural ornaments being quite
+obliterated. Its circumference is 12 feet 8 inches. East of the
+temple is a basalt statue, the sculpture of which seems to have
+been very good,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span> but
+it is very much injured. On the interval between the two temples,
+and also for 350 yards beyond, extending thus over a space of 700
+yards, there are traces of the city. These may be called the ruins
+of Sukkot, from their vicinity to that village, which is the chief
+place of the province.</p>
+
+<p>It is very difficult to ascertain what was the ancient name of
+this place. The situation of the ruins agrees better with the
+position, according to Ptolemy, of Phthouris, than Solib; but the
+insignificance of the remains here, compared to the splendid ruins
+of Solib, prevent my imagining it to be that city. It may be one of
+the many mentioned by Pliny, or the Autoba of Ptolemy.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour after we left this ruin we passed the village of
+Gobetziteen. I observed a large caravan of slave merchants from
+Dongolah, who had left Solib this morning: their numerous fires,
+and the groups seated under the palm trees, were very picturesque,
+presenting effects that even a Gherardo della Notte could scarcely
+have done justice to. They complained of the detention at Dongolah
+having cost them so much. The expense of transporting the slaves
+from Kordofan, or Abyssinia, to Cairo, is very great; the duty
+alone, besides the maintenance, is nearly seven dollars each. They
+pay duty at four different places: at Kordofan, at Dongolah, at
+Deroueh near Assuan, and, lastly, at Boulak near Cairo.</p>
+
+<p>We stopped at the village of Essau, opposite to the Island of
+Hadji Falme. On the latter they tell me that there are antiquities,
+but all broken; and I could not procure a boat to visit them. Being
+rather late of arriving, I found the inhabitants of the village
+sleeping in the open air; the women on the angoureebs, and the men
+on mats: and, I can assure the reader, it is a great enjoyment, in
+this climate, to sleep thus beneath the clear blue sky. About ten
+o’clock the air becomes rather cool, while at midnight and in the
+morning it is comparatively cold: this invigorates the frame, after
+the enervating heat of the day; and, in this climate, there are no
+fogs or damp to dread. It is the only time that I can now
+enjoy;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> yet I
+support the heat better than my servants, though accustomed to that
+of Egypt all their lives. We are exposed nearly the whole day to a
+sun almost directly vertical, without a breath of cool air to
+alleviate our sufferings. The wind generally blows from the north,
+but, instead of being refreshing, it is so heated, in passing over
+the desert, that it not only feels oppressive, but dries up the
+mouth and skin, and checks perspiration. The Arabs, under the shade
+of their palm trees, and smoking their pipes, enjoy this hot
+weather; but the unfortunate traveller, exposed to these scorching
+winds, and to the heat reflected from the rocks and sand, has no
+other respite to his sufferings than during the now short
+nights.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 9. At Gobetziteen the Island of Sais commences,
+and extends for six hours towards the north. At this season of the
+year no boat is necessary to visit this island, the water which
+separates it from the main land being only deep enough to reach the
+knees of the camels. It contains no remains of Egyptian
+antiquities. The peasants spoke of ruins; but they proved to be
+some grey granite columns belonging to a Christian edifice. They
+are in the centre of the island, nearly half an hour from the
+river. Each column consists of one piece of granite, with a Greek
+cross on their capitals. They are not very unlike the Christian
+monolithic pillars in the centre of the splendid portico of Medenet
+Abou. There are a great many wells in this island, with
+water-wheels, by means of which a considerable part of the interior
+is irrigated. I had a drawing of these Christian ruins taken by Mr.
+B.; but, not setting much value on it, I have mislaid it. From the
+number of houses the island appears to be populous. An hour beyond
+Sais, and four hours from Essau, we stopped at a small village of
+five huts, called Kasr Towaga, from the brick ruins of a castle of
+that name close adjoining.</p>
+
+<p>The ride this morning was most uninteresting; a slip of
+uncultivated land, narrower than even in the most barren parts
+of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span> Lower Nubia,
+separating the river from the bleak and dreary desert. In the
+latter I observed several hills of light sand, which a strong wind
+would easily move, to the risk, perhaps, of the unfortunate
+travellers who might happen to be near. These moving masses of sand
+would baffle the efforts of cultivators more advanced in knowledge
+than the Nubians. It is not, therefore, surprising that these
+unfortunate beings consider as useless any attempt to resist so
+relentless an invader. The islands, protected by the river, afford
+them a refuge and support, without which this part of the valley of
+the Nile would soon be abandoned to the gazelles and beasts of
+prey. Our camels often sank up to the knees in sand. I observed on
+the latter great quantities of scarabæi. I have often seen these
+insects on the sand in parts of the desert where it was difficult
+to conceive how they could exist. Perhaps they live on other
+insects too minute to be seen by the naked eye. I once gave a
+scarabæus a date, and was astonished with what avidity he devoured
+a part of it, till he was completely gorged, and apparently half
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>I observed here a curious thrush, which is also very common near
+Dongolah. One I killed measured nine inches in length, including
+the tail, which is four and a half. The under part of the wings is
+of a light brown colour, and the lower feathers of the tail are
+edged at the extremity with white; otherwise, the plumage is
+entirely of a brownish black. The beak and legs are black; the
+former is curved.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span><a id=
+"c18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">KASR TOWAGA. — DIFFICULTY OF CROSSING THE RIVER. —
+INDOLENCE OF THE ARABS. — ARAB SHEAKH. — TEMPLE OF AMARAH. —
+PRESENT INHABITANTS. — WADY EL HADJAR. — FORTIFIED HOUSE ON AN
+ISLAND AT DAHL. — CATARACT OF UCKMA. — BIGOTRY OF THE INHABITANTS.
+— VARIOUS CATARACTS OF THE NILE. — MINERAL SPRING AT TANGOURE. —
+TEMPLES OF SEMNEH, ON THE WESTERN BANK. — CURIOUS MANNER OF
+CROSSING THE RIVER. — TEMPLE OF SEMNEH, ON THE EASTERN BANK. —
+INSCRIPTIONS ON THE ROCKS. — THE ARAB ROBBER ISAH. — SECOND
+CATARACT OF THE NILE. — INDUCEMENTS FOR TRAVELLERS TO EXTEND THEIR
+JOURNEY BEYOND THIS POINT. — COMPARISON BETWEEN VOYAGES IN THE
+DESERT AND AT SEA.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">At</span> Kasr Towaga I wished to
+visit the remains of the Temple of Amarah, on the eastern bank; but
+for several hours I despaired of procuring a raft or boat, or any
+other means of crossing the river. After waiting some time, I
+observed at a distance a Sukkot ferry-boat, and immediately offered
+nine Turkish piastres to an Arab to go for it, and the same sum for
+the boat; and, as the camel-drivers began to be mutinous at the
+idea of being detained another day, I promised them a backsheesh of
+eighteen piastres; but such is the character of the Arabs in this
+country, that, so long as they have enough to procure any kind of
+food, they will seldom exert themselves to procure more. They
+prefer to live miserably, scarcely better than their
+fellow-labourers the camels, rather than to better their condition,
+secure an independence, and a provision against a day of
+distress.</p>
+
+<p>To increase their possessions, and elevate themselves to a
+higher rank by their activity and frugality, are ideas which never
+enter the minds of these children of destiny. If they earn a little
+money, or if some favour of fortune places unexpectedly in their
+hands a hundred piastres, they more generally spend it in
+a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span> few nights of
+festivity, and burden themselves with the expense of another wife,
+than reserve it for the day when the fickle goddess may cease to
+befriend them. With what alacrity would a poor European accept the
+offer of 9 piastres (2<em>s.</em> 3<em>d.</em>) to walk two miles
+for a boat! How gladly would a European boatman earn the same sum
+by merely ferrying us across the stream; yet it was more by threats
+than by this offer (although equal to eighteen days’ wages) that I
+induced one of my camel-drivers to go, during the heat of the day,
+for the boat. As, of course, I promised the reward only in case of
+success, he was unwilling to undergo this little fatigue on an
+uncertainty. My firman was also necessary to dispose the boatmen to
+earn more in twenty-four hours than they certainly have gained
+during the whole of the past week.</p>
+
+<p>My camel-drivers were very mutinous when they found me
+determined to pass the night at Amarah: my guide threatened to
+leave me, but he changed his tone when I told him to go, and
+declared I would not pay him. By the present of eighteen piastres,
+added to certain threats of the <em>korbash</em> (whip made of the
+hide of the hippopotamus), if they annoyed me, order was restored.
+Backsheesh has great influence on the Arabs, but without a certain
+degree of firmness they are sometimes difficult to manage.</p>
+
+<p>We crossed the river, landed on the eastern bank, and went to
+the nearest village, called Heber. We found the sheakh and the
+principal inhabitants assembled under the shade of the palm trees.
+The sheakh, a noble-looking fellow, with that dignified gravity
+which I have so often found among the Arabs of this rank, received
+us with the usual attentions; and, in compliance with my request,
+immediately procured us donkeys, and conducted us to the village of
+Amarah, a ride of an hour and a half. The sheakh had a house at
+Amarah, to which he took us, and gave us an excellent supper and
+angoureebs to sleep on, which are very necessary here, on account
+of the number of scorpions. The road between the villages of Heber
+and Amarah is through the desert. I found<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_261">[261]</span> on it some beautiful specimens of red
+Egyptian jasper and hornstone nodules. We passed a large mountain,
+called Hadjer el Heber, of a very imposing appearance, which we had
+remarked this morning, on the opposite side of the river. It is
+about ten miles distant from the Nile.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i20"><a href="images/i20.jpg"><img src='images/i20.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF AMARAH.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Temple of Amarah is about half an hour’s walk from the
+village of the same name, and is situated between the villages of
+Heber and Amarah, in the desert, to the right of the road we
+passed. There is sufficient remaining of the Temple of Amarah to
+exhibit the style and epoch. The architecture is Ethiopian (see
+<a href="#i20">Plan</a>). A gateway, 19 feet wide, and ornamented
+with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span> two columns,
+fragments of which are remaining, 3 feet 8 inches in diameter,
+leads into a room 53 feet by 30, ornamented with eight columns,
+also 3 feet 8 inches in diameter. Not a fragment of their capitals
+remains; but a considerable portion, covered with sculpture, of
+each column is standing.</p>
+
+<p>The sculpture on the columns is Ethiopian, but very indifferent,
+and the hieroglyphics so wretchedly executed, and so defaced, that
+it was scarcely possible to decipher any of them. The lowest row on
+the columns represents divinities of the Nile, besides which I
+observed a goddess with the globe, long horns, and two feathers,
+perhaps Koht, another with a plain helmet such as Neith often
+wears; and there is a representation of a king making offerings to
+Kneph, represented with a ram’s head, globe, and two feathers; and
+also to Thriphis, with a tiger’s head; a plain figure of Amun Ra,
+and the same with the figure of a mummy and globe and two feathers:
+I also remarked Honsoo with the globe and short horns. In the
+centre of the columns is a line of hieroglyphics, which I copied as
+well as their ruined condition would permit: they contain some
+curious titles, and the name of a king which is unknown. I conceive
+the temple to have been dedicated to Kneph, as the representations
+of that divinity are more frequent, and in more conspicuous
+situations, than the others.</p>
+
+<p>The foundations of the temple are of brick, and, for some
+distance around, are scattered fragments of pottery with branches
+of the palm tree painted on them, remains, no doubt, of the ancient
+city. The columns are of sandstone. Plate XLIV. (see <a href=
+"#pl44">Frontispiece</a>) shows two of them in detail, and their
+situation in regard to the Nile, or rather, I should say, as the
+river is not visible, to the palm groves on its banks, and will
+enable the reader to judge of the style of the sculpture. Ptolemy
+places the second cataract in latitude 22° 30′, and Berethis, on
+the eastern bank, 21° 30′. The difference of 1° agrees very exactly
+with the distance between the cataract and the ruins of Amarah.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>The country on
+this side of the Nile is richly cultivated, and the inhabitants
+bear no appearance of poverty. Notwithstanding the heavy taxes
+which they pay, those who are industrious may easily earn
+sufficient to render them comfortable. I saw about thirty of the
+peasants, who were all particularly clean and well-dressed. A party
+of them were feasting on raw liver. The custom of eating raw
+kidneys and liver is very common south of the second cataract. The
+same custom is, I understand, very general in Syria, and once
+existed in Scotland. I observed here, also, a custom which I had
+often heard of, but never before witnessed. When an Arab loses any
+near relation, his friends are expected to condole with him on his
+loss, by literally mingling their tears with his; for they place
+their cheeks together, and sigh and sob often for ten minutes at a
+time. This custom in the land of crocodiles reminded me of our
+expression of “crocodile tears.” A French merchant, Sheakh Ibrahim,
+who has often visited these regions, was described to me as a
+perfect Arab; and when I asked why, “Oh,” said they, “he eats raw
+liver, and cries as we do.”</p>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw20" id="i21"><a href="images/i21.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i21.jpg' alt='[Illustration]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>I saw here a description of guitar, which is very common in
+Upper Nubia, but it may be called the guitar of the Shageea, as
+that tribe possess more beautiful ones than are found elsewhere.
+They consist, as the vignette will show (see <a href=
+"#i21">vignette</a>), of a circular bowl, about nine inches in
+diameter, of wood, or sometimes of the shell of a tortoise of the
+Nile: this is covered with prepared sheepskin, in which are six
+small holes, marked E. The three sticks B, C, D, are generally of
+acacia; but in Dar Shageea they are sometimes of ebony, and
+ornamented with silver and ivory. There are five cords attached to
+the cross stick C, but they have no pegs, merely folding several
+times round the latter in rather a clumsy<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_264">[264]</span> manner: they, however, manage to tighten
+them. F is a string to attach it to the wall; and G is a plectrum,
+with which they strike with their right hand the cords near the
+bridge; playing, at the same time, with the left. Their music is
+wild and simple,—little variation in it,—but some of their airs are
+not unpleasing. The reader will perceive, from the vignette, that
+the form is not very unlike that of the Greek lyre.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 10. We returned at noon from the Temple of Amarah
+to the village of Kasr Towaga; started from the latter place at two
+in the afternoon, and advanced five hours in the desert. The first
+part of this wilderness is desolate and frightful, beyond any I
+have ever seen. After a short space its appearance became still
+more terrible, resembling a sea agitated and driven into the most
+awful shapes by wild winds. For the first few hours the ground was
+covered with pebbles and quartz nodules of various colours. The
+rocks, which are of gneiss, serpentine, and flinty slate,
+occasionally appear. Four hours after starting, we passed a
+mountain called Hellal, of a conical shape, the second we have
+observed of this form since we left Kasr Towaga; and an hour
+afterwards we encamped in the desert.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 11. We started at sunrise; and in half an hour
+entered among a chain of granite rocks; fine, bold, roundish
+masses, having all the appearance, at a distance, of being detached
+and piled on each other. In two hours and a half from the time we
+started, we arrived at the Nile, opposite the Island of Dahl. For
+some time before arriving, we observed, on the eastern bank, a fine
+eminence, which, at one point of view, reminded me somewhat of the
+western mountain of Thebes, although smaller, and of a less
+brilliant colour. The place at which we stopped (see <a href=
+"#i22">vignette</a>) offers one of the most picturesque views in
+the Batn, or Wady el Hadjar, into which we have now entered. The
+Island of Dahl is the principal object: on a picturesque rock, in
+the centre of it, is a fortified castle of a sheakh,
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> successor,
+perhaps, of one of the forts on the islands represented on the
+walls of Thebes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i22"><a href="images/i22.jpg"><img src='images/i22.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">ISLAND OF DAHL IN THE WADY EL HADJER.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The latter part of the small desert I passed this morning was
+strewed with quartz, generally white. The gneiss of which the
+rocks, at the commencement of this little desert, are formed, is
+soft, friable, disposed in strata: there are also rocks of mica
+slate of a grey colour. The granite rocks, at the other extremity,
+consist almost entirely of felspar and quartz; the former
+predominating, with very little mica: the grain is extremely
+coarse, generally very friable, of a pink, but mostly of a grey
+colour. There were also in this desert some rocks of felspar,
+porphyry, and a great variety of granite—tone-granite, syenite, and
+others.</p>
+
+<p>At two o’clock, we left, with great reluctance, the shade of the
+doum trees, and the enjoyment of one of the most beautiful views in
+the valley of the Nile, to encounter again the horrors of the
+desert and a burning sun. For the first part of our<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span> route, the rocks were of
+syenite. The circular summits of these dark red rocks were visible
+as far as our view could reach, rising sometimes in hills, but
+mostly in pyramidal and conical forms. I observed a line of
+calcareous rock about 13 feet broad, almost resembling the
+foundations of a wall, which crossed the road, and extended east
+and west among the granite rocks. This was followed again by the
+granite; and shortly after these was a similar narrow, but less
+regular, cross of jasper, and also one of porphyry. I brought away
+no specimens of the latter, for the masses were large, and
+difficult to break. Afterwards, we had a succession of granite,
+porphyry, compact felspar, hornblende slate, grey gneiss, and
+serpentine; and the rocks, immediately before arriving at the Nile,
+were of syenite.</p>
+
+<p>We passed this little desert in five hours, with great fatigue
+to the camels and the men on foot, on account of the sand and heat.
+We encamped, for the night, at the small village of Uckma, which
+consists of only eight houses; but I am informed that this is the
+name of the district, as there are two other little villages, one
+on the opposite side of the river, and the other on the island,
+which bear the same name. My servants, or, rather, my guide and
+camel-drivers, made us pass for Turks; saying, that the peasants of
+this district were so bigoted, that, if they knew us to be
+Christians, no consideration would induce them to supply us with
+either milk or meat for ourselves, or straw for our camels. The
+noise of the cataract here is very fine.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 12. A curious circumstance happened to me last
+night. I am rather attached to a pretty little capuchin monkey
+which I received from the Governor of Berber, and which (an unusual
+circumstance with these animals) shows some little gratitude for my
+attentions. Several times it has escaped among the acacias of the
+desert; but, notwithstanding the temptation of the gum, it never
+attempted to run away when I went for it myself. I was anxious that
+it should not share the fate of my<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_267">[267]</span> Dongolah greyhound, and die of fatigue.
+Having taught it to be clean, and being unwilling to trust it to my
+servants, I carried it always on my own camel, to shelter it from
+the sun; and as the poor little animal suffered exceedingly from
+the cold at night, I allowed it to sleep under the margin of the
+covering of my divan. For some nights past it had got into the
+habit of laying its head on the corner of my cushion, and, amused
+at this manœuvre, I indulged it; but the ticking of my watch always
+annoyed it, and several times it had attempted to take it away;
+but, aware of this antipathy, and the mischievous propensities of
+the race, I always wore my chain around my neck. Last night, when
+in bed, I looked at the watch, which was a hunting one, and having
+broken the hinge of the gold covering of the face, omitted, I
+presume, to fasten it with the spring. This morning, on being
+called, I looked, as usual, at my watch, and found that this piece
+was missing. I immediately cast my eyes on the monkey, and saw, by
+its fluttering and leaping about, and the ruffling of its skin,
+which always takes place when it is afraid, that it was the
+culprit; yet all my efforts to find the covering were useless. My
+bed was on the sand of the desert, in which, no doubt, the animal,
+on seeing it loose, had buried it deep, thinking, by that means, to
+get rid of its nightly annoyance, or, perhaps, from its usual
+instinct of taking every opportunity to do mischief.</p>
+
+<p>We set out an hour before sunrise, and, crossing a short but
+heavy sandy desert, arrived, in two hours, at Lamulay. The rocks,
+at starting, were of gneiss, but there occurred afterwards some of
+serpentine and grey granite; and I observed some of quartz, and
+very small particles of the latter disseminated over the sand.
+There is a cataract at Lamulay, but it is not so loud as the one we
+heard last night, at Uckma. The view is very fine at this part. We
+were two hours in going from Lamulay to Tangoure. The rocks were
+chiefly of two descriptions of quartz. We came then to another
+cataract, making the sixth from Dongolah:—the first at<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span> Hannek; the second at Kouki;
+the third at Dahl; the fourth at Uckma; the fifth at Lamulay; and
+the sixth at Tangoure. All these may be passed without much
+difficulty for about six weeks or two months in the year; but at
+this season no description of boats could pass. Between the
+above-mentioned places the river and the rocks on the opposite side
+make so many bends, first east and afterwards north-west, that our
+roads, across the little deserts, on the west side might often be
+considered as the strings of a bow. On the eastern side of the
+river there seems to be a continued range of picturesque rocks. We
+miss, I fear, much fine scenery in not being able to follow closely
+the bank.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours north of Tangoure there is said to be a spring of
+mineral water, about 100 yards from the river, which flows in small
+quantities out of the rock into an ancient reservoir, and is
+described as so hot that the vapour will answer for a bath. I
+regretted much not being able to visit it, but I must have gone on
+foot, and, being to-day far from well, could not have endured the
+excessive heat; but I have this information not only from the
+natives, but also from Monsieur M., at Dongolah, who had visited
+it. We started from Tangoure this afternoon, at half past two, and,
+after five hours’ march, halted in the desert for the night. The
+rocks are of granite, serpentine, porphyry schist, and quartz.
+Strata of these minerals occurred, sometimes alternately, every few
+minutes.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 13. Whenever there are antiquities to be seen, I
+care not how little sleep I take. I had my men up soon after
+midnight, and in three hours we arrived, as the sun was rising, at
+the Temple of Semneh. This temple is more remarkable for its
+situation than for architectural beauty. It consists of a single
+narrow room 28 feet by 10 feet, with a plain façade, in the centre
+of which is the entrance. The exterior sides of this room are
+ornamented with square pillars, and one polygonal column. The
+temple faces the south, which is singular, particularly for an
+edifice constructed by an Egyptian king. On the eastern side are
+three square pillars standing entire, and the base of another;
+and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span> on the western
+one column, one square pillar, and the base of a third. The
+<a href="#i23">view</a> shows this side, and also the façade of the
+temple. The pillars sustain blocks of stone, that is, architraves,
+which still remain, projecting about one foot beyond the columns. I
+thought, at first, from this projection, that they might have
+extended to other walls; in which case the edifice would have some
+resemblance to the sanctuary in the small temple at Medenet Abou;
+but, from there being no remains to support this supposition, and
+also from the projection being very small, and, I might say, the
+architrave’s extending so far beyond the centre of the column, I
+conceive that the temple has never been finished, and the
+architraves hewn to the size of the columns.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i23"><a href="images/i23.jpg"><img src='images/i23.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The interior and exterior of the walls of this little temple are
+covered with sculpture and hieroglyphics; but, unfortunately, in
+some parts, rather defaced. Over the entrance, the king is
+represented on his knees making offerings to Kneph. The original
+sculpture of part of the façade of the temple has been defaced to
+make<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span> room for a
+more modern work, and for a long tablet of hieroglyphics, which I
+copied. The sculpture, from its style, is certainly Roman; the
+figures not well drawn, and the hieroglyphics wretchedly executed:
+the subject represents a woman, with a lotus flower, making
+offerings to a divinity with the head-dress of the horns and two
+feathers. The hieroglyphics and sculpture of every other part of
+the temple are in a good style. The name and titles of Thothmes
+III., Sun, Establisher of the World, is executed in intaglio on the
+column and square pillars, and the same name in basso relievo is
+every where visible on the walls. In the interior of the temple the
+same subject is repeated four times, but in only one instance is
+very distinguishable. (See <a href="#pl51">Plate LI.</a>) The king,
+Thothmes III., is represented making offerings to his ancestor
+Osirtesen, seated as a divinity in the boat of the sun, with the
+crook and lash of Osiris in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>Before Osirtesen are four standards, one with a representation
+of the ibis, emblematical, no doubt, of Thoth: the others are not
+visible. These standards are supported by arms emanating from the
+cross of life, and the sceptres of the divinities; emblematical, I
+conceive, of their being the standards of the gods, perhaps of the
+divinities of Amenti, Thoth, Horus, and Anubis. One is of Thoth,
+evidently, from the ibis; the others are defaced. The reader will
+observe how different this style of sculpture (see <a href=
+"#pl51">Plate LI.</a>), which is the best Egyptian, is to the
+Ethiopian (see <a href="#pl10">Plate X.</a>). They have evidently
+had a common origin; but there is a marked difference in the
+execution. On the western side of the exterior of the temple the
+king is represented making offerings to different divinities,
+principally Kneph. I copied all the hieroglyphic inscriptions. The
+hieroglyphics on the columns and pillars are merely the names of
+Thothmes. The column which I have stated as polygonal has a base
+and a square slab for its capital.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl51">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 51.</p>
+<a href="images/pl51_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl51.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp3">SCULPTURE IN THE TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the interior of the temple is the fragment of a statue of
+Osiris, badly executed: the head is wanting, and on the breast is
+the crook and lash. I conceive the style to be Egyptian Roman. It
+is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span> very probable
+that this temple, originally dedicated to Kneph, was afterwards, in
+the more corrupt Roman age, appropriated to the peculiar worship of
+Osiris. This edifice (see <a href="#i24">Plan</a>) is in a large
+irregular brick inclosure, the walls of which are generally seven
+to eight feet thick: this is not of Egyptian, but apparently of
+Roman, construction. In some parts masses of brick project from the
+wall, perhaps to support them; their ruined state makes it
+impossible to decide certainly, but I am inclined to believe them
+to be entrances.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i24"><a href="images/i24.jpg"><img src='images/i24.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">PLAN OF RUINS.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>I went to examine the pass or cataract of Semneh, which I had
+some difficulty in reaching, having to climb for a considerable
+space over the granite rocks. The latter are generally
+rose-coloured, extremely hard; but there are some rocks of basalt
+shining like black lead, and I observed light thin strata of
+quartz. The width<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span>
+of this channel, the only one the Nile passes through, when it is
+low, I found to be a stone-cast. The river rushes through with
+great rapidity, so that I could not cross here from the number of
+vortices caused by the excessive force and velocity of the
+current.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 14. Wishing to pass over the river to the temple
+on the opposite side, I commissioned the sheakh to collect the
+inhabitants, and make me some kind of boat. This morning, at eleven
+o’clock, he came to inform me that a raft was ready, and men to
+steer it. My Arabs having taken the camels and dromedaries to
+pasture at a distance from the temple, I was obliged to set out on
+foot, and, after walking three quarters of an hour, amid severe
+heat, I arrived at the place where they intended to cross, fully
+two miles south of the pass or cataract. The river in this part is
+about a third of a mile wide, and, except in one or two places,
+where the current is rather strong, it was scarcely ruffled. The
+peasants had constructed two rafts, one for ourselves, the other
+for the servants. They were simply trunks of the acacia lashed
+together, on which they placed dourah for us to sit on. All the
+inhabitants of the country were collected to see the expedition.
+Ten or twelve men, some on geerbahs (water-skins), others on pieces
+of wood, supported and conducted each raft, two or three on each
+side, and four behind, pushing it along. Doubting the security of
+the boat, I had taken the precaution to take off my clothes, and
+fasten them on my head, like the Arabs. This was fortunate; for the
+dourah straw was soon saturated with water.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could be more picturesque than the boats and their
+conductors. The Arabs had all their clothes tied on their heads,
+and they carried their charms, arms, knives, swords and spears,
+fastened in the same manner. Shouting and singing, they pushed us
+across very cleverly: the only difficulty was in passing the parts
+where the current was strong. We had also some little fear of the
+crocodiles. Three Turks shot two in this very place only two months
+ago, and yesterday we saw one on the shore. The peasants
+at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span> first refused to
+take us across for this reason, but the promise of a few piastres
+more, and the use of my firman, silenced their fears. I did not
+myself conceive that there was the slightest real danger on this
+account, as I have observed that the crocodile invariably flies
+from boats or any number of persons together. After landing we had
+another three quarters of an hour of fatiguing walk to the temple
+on the eastern side, which (see <a href="#i25">General View</a>) is
+almost exactly opposite the other. Some parts of our road was over
+low burning sand-hills, in which we sunk at each step up to our
+ankles; the heat excessive under a directly vertical sun.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i25"><a href="images/i25.jpg"><img src='images/i25.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><em>Temple at Semneh. East side of the river.</em>—In the first
+chamber of this temple the door-posts of the entrance remain, and
+also two polygonal columns without their capitals, and two square
+pillars. (See <a href="#i26">vignette.</a>) The lateral walls seem
+to have joined the latter; both the square pillars and columns were
+ornamented with hieroglyphics, of which the names of Thothmes III.
+are now only distinguishable. The names, however, of Amunoph III.
+and Thothmes II. occur in this temple. The entrance into the
+next<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span> room is filled
+with rubbish up to the architrave; the latter is ornamented with
+the winged globe, and a dedicatory tablet of hieroglyphics. There
+is also another door to the right of this, leading into the
+interior, with a similar tablet on the architrave. The walls were
+decorated with sculpture in a good style, but now much defaced. In
+one place I distinguished the head of Kneph, and elsewhere the same
+god receiving splendid offerings of vases, fruits, &amp;c. from the
+King Thothmes, sun, establisher of the world. In another part, the
+king, with the head-dress of the small globe, two feathers, and
+horns, is receiving the cross of life from a divinity with a beard
+and no head-dress, perhaps Amun Ra. Behind this latter figure is
+the god Kneph again, with his usual attributes of the ram’s head
+and horns.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw15">
+<figure id="i26"><a href="images/i26.jpg"><img src='images/i26.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF SEMNEH.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>These two entrances lead into a long gallery full of sand and
+rubbish. I excavated below the level of the centre doorway into the
+gallery, but it is singular that I could discover no entrance into
+the sanctuary of the temple corresponding with it. The only one I
+found is on the right side. There are three other rooms,
+one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> containing a
+column. I believe they are marked accurately in the above <a href=
+"#i26">Plan;</a> but, to ascertain very correctly how they are
+connected, would have required more extensive excavations than my
+time permitted, nor did I think it worth any sacrifice, for the
+plan is evidently bad. The sculpture of these rooms is almost
+buried in the sand. There are slight traces of colour remaining. At
+a short distance south-east of the temple, on the granite rocks,
+are some hieroglyphical inscriptions, but very rudely executed. I
+copied five that were legible; they contain the names of Thothmes
+III. and Amunoph III.</p>
+
+<p>These rocks are interesting as the last hiding-place of the Arab
+robber, Isah; and it was in this neighbourhood that daring brigand
+finally met his fate. Isah was a sheakh of the Kababeesh tribe. A
+katshef, near his residence, having threatened him with the
+bastinado, unless he submitted to some exorbitant demand, he
+preferred abandoning his domestic happiness, and the peace and
+quiet of agricultural life, to such galling and vexatious tyranny.
+He fled into the fastnesses of the desert, and there, with a few
+chosen followers, bade defiance to the Pasha’s power. He infested
+the caravan road from Korosko to Abouhammed; and the Dilet el Doum,
+or the Valley of the Shade of the Doums, was his favourite resort.
+He was the terror of all the caravans, like the lion of the desert;
+only allowing them to pass when they had satisfied his demand: but
+it was against the government that he was most active, plundering
+their caravans laden with grain and other produce received as
+taxes, and seizing the numerous herds of cattle which are sent down
+to Cairo every year, the spoil of the war on the Bahr el Abiad and
+the Azruk. He sometimes also succeeded in seizing the supplies of
+ammunition and arms from Cairo; but, what was very annoying to the
+Turkish governors, he frequently seized the caravans bringing them
+supplies of tobacco, coffee, sugar, and other luxuries. For five
+years this daring outlaw eluded every attempt to seize him. The
+governors made the most strenuous efforts to obtain his head,
+and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> the Pasha
+engaged the Ababde to hunt him from the great Nubian desert. His
+troop generally consisted of about twenty; and when, for any
+important expedition, he required a greater force, Arabs were never
+wanting to plunder the Turkish caravans. Most of the sheakhs have
+an immense number of relations; often every individual in their
+village is a connection; and when their chief is in peril, or
+requires their services, they consider themselves bound to rally
+around his standard, at whatever sacrifice or hazard. His wife,
+like Rob Roy’s, shared her husband’s dangers; and his daughter,
+Enour, is said to have had as stout a heart as her father, and as
+much address in throwing the lance as any Arab of her tribe. For
+five years they shared the perils of this bold brigand; but at last
+Isah, driven out of the Ababde desert, was betrayed by an Arab
+sheakh of this neighbourhood, who professed to be his friend. This
+man, either from fear of the Pasha’s anger, or in the hope of
+obtaining additional power and wealth by such an essential service,
+conducted a company of soldiers to the valley where he was
+secreted, and Isah, while sleeping under the shade of a rock, was
+shot dead. His death was instantaneous, for it is said that twenty
+bullets entered his body. His followers fled; but the fidelity of
+one of them was ultimately rewarded with the hand of his daughter,
+Enour.</p>
+
+<p>I returned to the ruin on the western bank by the same route,
+but having passed the river, I fortunately found a donkey, which,
+though a poor one, afforded me some assistance in ascending to the
+temple.</p>
+
+<p>These edifices are not remarkable for their architecture; but
+nothing can be finer than their situation. They are in sight of,
+and almost opposite to, each other, on eminences commanding one of
+the finest views in the Batn el Hadjar. This view has been compared
+by some travellers to Tivoli; but, besides other dissimilarities,
+there is here no ugly, ill-built, dirty, modern town, that detracts
+from the beautiful situation of the antiquities. The<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span> prospects near the western
+temple are very magnificent; Signor B.’s view, <a href=
+"#pl45">Plate XLV.,</a> will give a just idea of the country: but
+the magical effect of the desert, contrasted with the surrounding
+scenery, can be but imperfectly conveyed to the reader’s mind,
+without a view coloured, as this was, on the spot, exhibiting
+faithfully the different tints. I regret not being able to publish
+the numerous views as they were coloured on the spot by Signor
+B.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw4">
+<figure id="pl45">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 45.</p>
+<a href="images/pl45.jpg"><img src='images/pl45.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by W. P. Sherlock from a Drawing
+by L. Bandoni.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">RUINS OF SEMNEH,<br>
+<span class="cp2">on the East & West Sides of the River.</span></p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The peasants here are of a dark-brown complexion, and wear their
+hair bushy, but less so than the Ababde. They are poor, but have
+the character of being honest. Some of them understand and speak
+the Arabic, but the language of the country is the Nubian.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 15. We started for Wady Halfah, and, after six
+hours, halted for the night in the desert. The rocks are of
+serpentine and granite: this desert consists of immense plains
+covered with sand-hills, and is quite different from the last we
+passed over, not being so wild and dreary.</p>
+
+<p><em>June</em> 16. We started three hours before day, and pushing
+on our dromedaries, arrived at sunrise at the second cataract.
+According to the practice of almost every traveller who visits the
+valley of the Nile, I had made this the limit of my first journey,
+performed in 1832; but I was not then half so much astonished at
+the peculiarity and magnificence of this scene. I did not see it at
+so favourable a season, and, perhaps, I appreciate it the more from
+the delight I feel that, although I have still a voyage of nearly
+1000 miles before I reach Alexandria, my fatigues may now be
+considered nearly finished, as this day I change the slow and
+tiresome pace of the caravan for the comparatively luxurious
+cangia. The effect of the rising sun on the black shining basaltic
+rocks which project into the river, forming innumerable islands, is
+very striking, and the picturesque beauty of some of these is
+heightened by the curious contrast with the stripes of light yellow
+sand which are mixed with them. These little rocky islands,
+impeding and compressing the current, increase<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_278">[278]</span> tenfold its force; and the white foaming
+river, dashing over the rocks, makes the colour of the dark shining
+basalt still more remarkable, while the roar of its waters animates
+the scene. There is also a striking contrast of the black basalt
+with the white calcareous rock, tinted with red and other hues,
+which forms the foreground. The beauty of the scene, although
+peculiar, is not diminished by this contrast, any more than the
+often lovely form of the dark Abyssinian girl is disfigured by the
+snow-white veil which covers her.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen the beauties of the Alps, the Apennines, Arcadia,
+and the Pyrenees; I have surveyed the lakes of Bavaria, England,
+Italy, Scotland, and Switzerland; I have followed the Rhine from
+Schaffhausen to the sea, and sailed on the Danube, the Rhone, and
+many other rivers; but I must confess I never was more moved by any
+view than this. I mean not to compare it to the landscapes of
+Europe for magnificence, or what is generally considered
+picturesque effect. This is a view of an extraordinary and peculiar
+kind; for, besides the singularities of the landscape already
+described, there are associations connected with it which cannot
+but excite the traveller. The very solitude of the scene, where no
+habitation of man is visible;—the extent of the view beyond the
+cataract, along an immense desert of yellow sand, extending over
+the vast continent of Africa;—then the river, forcing its passage
+through the rocks, that threaten to stop the progress by which it
+carries to thousands, and even millions, the means of
+subsistence;—and shall I say nothing of the mystery which hangs
+over it? On its banks, perhaps, first flourished the arts; its
+source is hidden in impenetrable obscurity, as is also the greater
+part of the historical events which the bordering countries have
+witnessed. The effect of the rising sun gives a magical lustre to
+the rocks, extremely difficult, if not impossible, to exhibit in a
+drawing. I made a camera lucida outline of it, and Signor B. made a
+drawing in colours of the peculiar tints and<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_279">[279]</span> effects. When the Nile is high, it is
+more picturesque, as, of course, there are then more islands.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw6">
+<figure id="pl50">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 50.</p>
+<a href="images/pl50.jpg"><img src='images/pl50.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<table class="width-full">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl ipub"><em>On stone by C. Hullmandel from a Drawing
+by G. A. Hoskins Esq<sup>r</sup>.</em>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr ipub"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="cp1">2<sup>D</sup>. CATARACT OF THE NILE.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>Numerous names of travellers are engraved on the calcareous
+rock; this place being, as I have said, almost always the limit of
+their voyage. Some few make an excursion into the Batn el Hadjar;
+but fatigued with the first two or three days’ journey on camels,
+they seldom proceed beyond Semneh, and still more rarely, if ever,
+extend their journey to Solib, one of the most magnificent ruins in
+the valley of the Nile. The extreme heat of these climates,
+particularly during this season, is certainly trying to European
+constitutions. As far as the second cataract, travellers visit the
+antiquities, comparatively speaking, without any fatigue; in their
+boats they suffer little from the heat, and they have seldom any
+distance to walk, as all the ruins are on the banks. I, however,
+strongly recommend those who are really fond of antiquities, and
+are possessed of a good constitution, to complete their tour of the
+Nile. Travellers visit with great fatigue the sites of Sparta,
+Troy, and even Carthage, where there are no monuments to recompense
+the toil. It is true that the recollections recalled by such scenes
+must amply indemnify us; but in the Island of Meroe we have
+splendid and most interesting works of art, an infinity of
+sepulchres, which, from their number and extremely elegant
+architecture, could only have belonged to the metropolis of that
+ancient kingdom: and what more thrilling, exciting association
+could the traveller desire, than the circumstance that in that
+region the arts had their origin?</p>
+
+<p>The antiquities of the Island of Meroe, as will have been seen,
+are not the only remains to indemnify the traveller for his
+fatigues. The interesting site of Gibel el Birkel, with its
+extensive, picturesque, and curious monuments; the pyramids of
+Nouri, the colossal statues of Argo, and the temples of Solib and
+Semneh, are all interesting in the extreme; and, besides the
+antiquities, the traveller cannot but be interested in the manners
+and customs of a people who have not yet adopted those of their
+conquerors.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> A
+knowledge of the desert life, and the different tribes of Arabs, is
+only to be acquired by a journey of this description through their
+different districts.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the views of the desert are, to those unaccustomed to
+them, somewhat appalling,—boundless oceans of sand; rocks affording
+little or no shade to the traveller, and covered, sometimes, with
+hills of light sand, which appear to want only a storm to put them
+in motion; and it is a dreadful sight to see the road strewed with
+the bodies of men and animals, victims of the scorching clime and
+great fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>Often, when the wind has covered with sand the traces of former
+caravans, we have no other beacon than the small piles of stones
+which the Arabs occasionally erect on the eminences; but an almost
+infallible guide to our steps is afforded by the bones which lie
+bleaching on the road. Yet this is the dark side of the picture:
+the desert life has its charms, which are only enhanced by these
+dangers. We are there independent, perfectly free from the
+restraints of the world, and those passions which agitate man in
+society.</p>
+
+<p>All feel a pleasure in gazing on the ocean, and (when well) in
+sailing on its bosom; but the desert life is still more delightful.
+I feel it difficult to analyse this sentiment, and yet I strongly
+feel it. At sea we are mere passengers; we take no share in
+avoiding the dangers which threaten us; our powers are not called
+into action; we feel a certain excitement, but, of course, less
+than the captain and sailors, on whom all depends: and is not this
+a reason why the latter are so attached to that kind of life,
+notwithstanding the numerous and severe hardships which they have
+to undergo?</p>
+
+<p>The traveller in the desert is, to a certain degree, similarly
+situated. As head of the caravan, its safety depends mainly on the
+prudential measures which he adopts. Appointing a guard in case of
+danger, encamping in a judicious situation in case of a<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span> storm, attention to secure a
+supply of water, and to prevent the Arabs from consuming, as they
+would willingly do, two days’ portion in one day, are cares which
+keep his mind constantly occupied. A judicious choice of camels,
+drivers, and servants; a just distribution of their labour, and
+attention to their maintenance, lessen the chance of being detained
+by illness.</p>
+
+<p>Well supplied with rice, good biscuit, and meat, the traveller
+may live tolerably well, even in the deserts. Since I left Thebes,
+four months and a half ago, I have passed two deserts of eight days
+each, and many small ones, and generally been in a miserable
+country, yet I have only been one day without fresh meat, and that
+by accident. To court privations is as great folly as to fear them
+when they arrive, and not submit to them cheerfully when requisite.
+I am certain that wine and spirituous liquors are injurious in this
+climate. During the whole of this journey water has been my only
+beverage; and, on the whole, I have enjoyed very tolerable health,
+considering the excessive heat, and the many annoyances and delays,
+still more injurious in this climate than the fatiguing pace of the
+camel. The desert life has also another charm; it is gratifying to
+see how, when treated as men, the Arabs become attached to you. If
+they have any quarrel between each other, a word from the traveller
+makes them silent.</p>
+
+<p>At sea, it is a pleasure to observe the colour and motion of the
+waters; to see the dolphins playing at the ship’s head; and
+sometimes, as in the Mediterranean, the surface of the waters
+animated by their singular forms. The Nile has its crocodiles and
+hippopotami; every desert also presents something new,—lions,
+panthers, hyenas, wolves, serpents, gazelles, antelopes, giraffes,
+ostriches, guinea-fowls, wild asses, zebras, &amp;c. The traveller
+may have seen all these in menageries in Europe; it is, however, a
+great pleasure to see or hear them in their native haunts. The
+deserts have also a great charm for the traveller who has any
+taste<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span> for
+mineralogy, then each rock, each pebble, each step, I may say, is
+interesting. During a sea voyage, we read, and scarcely look at the
+water once a day: in the deserts, on the contrary, our attention is
+continually occupied by the transition of rocks, their formation,
+the minerals which are disseminated on, and mixed with, the
+sand.</p>
+
+<p>At sea, it is a pleasure to meet another vessel, to hail her,
+and demand where she is from, and to what port she is bound; and we
+often experience delight at finding the passing crew to be
+countrymen, perhaps relations, or friends: but what pen can
+describe the meeting of a caravan in the desert? Brothers, who have
+not seen each other for months, and even years, often meet thus, by
+accident. The caravan never stops; they have, therefore, only a few
+moments, and they must part again, and run after their camels.
+Their hands locked together, they inquire after each other’s
+health, and after that of their friends. Travellers laugh at the
+repeated “<em>Taip een salamat, taip een salamat</em>,” of the
+Arabs. “How do you do?—Good morning! How do you do?—Good morning!”
+repeated twenty times; and “<em>Taip een abouk? taip een ahouk?
+taip een omek?</em>” “How is your father? How is your brother? How
+is your mother?” &amp;c. always repeating the <em>taip een?</em>
+“how is?” to each person that they name. The indifference with
+which the Fellaheen, who see each other daily, go through this
+ceremony, may seem rather ridiculous; but in the deserts, as I have
+seen them sometimes, even with tears starting from their eyes,
+affection could not dictate a stronger and more appropriate manner
+of inquiring rapidly, but particularly and separately, after each
+relation and friend who is dear to them. Frequently have I observed
+my Arabs meeting with their friends of other tribes, and even of
+their own district or village, and witnessed the pure and natural
+joy which illuminated their countenances; friends who have
+travelled together, shared the same toils, the same
+dangers—companions of their youth, of their early voyages, who have
+not seen each other for years, meet in the solitudes of the
+wilderness, but for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span>
+a moment only, and the same period may elapse before they again see
+each other. Let it not be supposed that, in the interior of Africa,
+the natives, although ignorant and uncultivated, are destitute of
+honest affection.</p>
+
+<p>It is, however, true, that sometimes in the desert we trace
+those violent passions and habits which generally characterise the
+wandering tribes of Central Africa. The Bishareen, and others,
+often plunder the caravans; and tribes occasionally meet between
+whom there have been constant feuds. Under the strong government of
+the Pasha, they now seldom make use of their arms; but they
+exchange no salutes: their silent manner of passing each other, the
+knitted brow, and involuntary firmer grasp of their spears and
+swords, evince the deadly hatred which still lurks secretly in
+their breasts.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span><a id=
+"c19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<p class="sch">ON THE HISTORY OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="csum">OBSCURITY OF HER ANNALS. — HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS
+NECESSARY TO RENDER A COUNTRY INTERESTING. — WORKS OF ART
+HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS. — LAPIDARY INSCRIPTIONS. — AMUNOPH III. —
+MEMNON, KING OF ETHIOPIA. — EXPEDITION OF SEMIRAMIS, QUEEN OF
+ASSYRIA, INTO ETHIOPIA. — ETHIOPIANS IN THE ARMY OF SHISHAK MARCHED
+TO JERUSALEM. — THE SUKKIIMS OF SCRIPTURE. — EXPEDITION OF ZERAH,
+THE ETHIOPIAN KING OF THE BIBLE, AND HIS DEFEAT BY THE TRIBES OF
+JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. — THE ETHIOPIAN DYNASTY OF KINGS WHO REIGNED
+OVER EGYPT. — THE TESTIMONY OF THE HISTORIANS PROVED BY LAPIDARY
+INSCRIPTIONS. — THE NAME OF TIRHAKA, KING OF ETHIOPIA, WHO DEFEATED
+SENNACHERIB, KING OF ASSYRIA, FOUND BOTH ON THE MONUMENTS OF EGYPT
+AND ETHIOPIA. — THE NAMES AND TITLES OF THIS DYNASTY OF KINGS. —
+ACCORDANCE OF THE SCRIPTURAL, MONUMENTAL, AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCES.
+— THE SETHOS OF HERODOTUS, THE TIRHAKA OF SCRIPTURE, AND OF THE
+MONUMENTS. — THE SUA, KING OF EGYPT OF THE BIBLE, THE SEVECHUS OF
+MANETHO, AND THE SHABATOK OF THE MONUMENTS.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">The</span> Island of Meroe is a
+classic region, whose name is familiar to almost every reader, as
+the cradle of arts and civilisation. The Nile was the source of her
+prosperity, and an object of adoration to the ancient, and even to
+the present inhabitants<a id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a>; yet most of the great
+events which have given celebrity to the countries on its banks,
+are lost in impenetrable obscurity. The names even of the kings
+under whom she rose to such a height of greatness and power are
+almost wholly unknown. So scanty are the materials which can be
+found in the ancient writings and on the monuments, that it is
+almost an act of presumption to attempt, in the slightest degree,
+to penetrate the veil which envelopes her history.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span>Professor
+Rosellini, in his extensive and admirable work on the antiquities
+of Egypt, has made many valuable observations on the dynasty of
+Ethiopian kings who reigned in that country, which have facilitated
+my researches; and I gladly testify, that the ruins in Ethiopia, in
+many instances, confirm the conclusions which that learned
+traveller drew from his examination of the monuments of Egypt.
+Availing myself of the inquiries of the learned Italian, I shall
+also put together the most important fragments contained in
+history, and the valuable lapidary inscriptions I have been able to
+copy from the antiquities. A country is always interesting, to
+which we feel ourselves indebted for inventions from which we now
+derive any important benefit; and as a nation thus rises in our
+estimation, we become anxious to form an acquaintance with its
+historical records. There is a charm even in its name, when it
+recalls to our memory heroic deeds and other important
+associations.</p>
+
+<p>It is not merely the wonders of art, surprising as they are,
+which enchant the traveller at Rome and Athens. It is not the vast
+pile of the Coliseum, the triumphal arches and temples in the
+Forum, the exquisitely chaste architecture of the Temple of Theseus
+and of the edifices on the Acropolis, but the crowd of thrilling
+recollections of the heroism, genius, philosophy, and art, by which
+these scenes were illustrated, that render them for ever classic
+and hallowed in our eyes. Had there been no records of the history
+of Athens, we should have wanted no other evidence of her
+civilisation and knowledge than the splendid architectural
+monuments with which her site is adorned. The Parthenon itself
+speaks volumes, and the most eloquent pages of her greatest
+historians do not bear more conclusive testimony to her
+civilisation, than the treasures of Grecian art and taste in the
+museums of Europe. Had all the written records of her valour and
+patriotism perished, our knowledge of Athens would have been very
+nearly what it now is in regard to Ethiopia. The labours of the
+historians of her land<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_286">[286]</span> are lost; the brilliant deeds which adorned
+her annals are enveloped in a cloud of mystery. The history of her
+neighbours affords only a few scanty gleams, sufficient to make us
+deplore the general darkness. So changed is the kingdom of Meroe
+from what it must once have been, that I myself should have almost
+doubted the short but important passages preserved in the Greek and
+Latin authors, were they not triumphantly confirmed by the
+monuments existing at Meroe and Gibel el Birkel.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will, I trust, find in this and the following
+chapters, that Ethiopia was not unjustly celebrated for
+civilisation, and as the birth-place of many arts which now
+contribute highly to our welfare and enjoyment; and the few
+fragments we have been enabled to glean will prove that she had
+also her kings and heroes, and that her history was diversified by
+the usual vicissitudes of triumphs and reverses. I am obliged to
+refrain from publishing, on the present occasion, all the names of
+the kings and inscriptions which I found on the edifices of Meroe,
+Gibel el Birkel, Solib, Semneh, Toumbos, and Amarah.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw13">
+<figure id="pl53">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 53.</p>
+<a href="images/pl53_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl53.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<p class="ipubr"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="cp3">GREAT TEMPLE, GIBEL EL BIRKEL.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw13">
+<figure id="pl54">
+<p class="platelabel">Pl. 54.</p>
+<a href="images/pl54_large.jpg"><img src='images/pl54.jpg' alt=
+''></a>
+<p class="cp5"><em>Inscriptions at Meroe.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="cp5"><em>Inscriptions at Gibel el Birkel.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Printed by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>For the benefit of the learned, who peculiarly apply themselves
+to this study, I give, however, a few of those inscriptions, which,
+mutilated and imperfect as some of them are, the initiated in the
+recent discoveries in hieroglyphics will immediately perceive to be
+of the greatest importance, as the earliest undoubted records of
+Ethiopian history. The inscriptions in Plates <a href=
+"#pl52">LII.</a> and <a href="#pl53">LIII.,</a> the hieroglyphics
+of the Plates <a href="#pl10">X.</a> <a href="#pl11">XI.</a> and
+<a href="#pl12">XII.</a> of sculpture of Meroe, and also many I am
+unable to publish, are curious, not only for the names, but for the
+singular titles which they contain, for the mythology, the
+variations in the appellations of the divinities, the names of
+places, and other valuable historical matter.<a id=
+"FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class=
+"fnanchor">[50]</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span>
+Many scientific men have urged me to publish the whole of these
+inscriptions; and Signor Rosellini informed me that he should add
+another volume to his work from these materials. I hope this able
+writer will not forget his promise, and will excuse my employing it
+as an apology for not undertaking the interpretation of any portion
+of them myself; as such an attempt, on my part, would only be
+unsatisfactory to the learned, and tiresome to the general
+reader.</p>
+
+<div class="linegrp-container">
+<div class="linegrp">
+<div class="group">
+<div class="line indent0">“Non nostrum tantas componere
+lites.”</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The monuments of Egypt afford historical evidence of the wars
+between that country and Ethiopia, during the 18th dynasty; that
+is, from about the 13th to the 16th century before Christ. In the
+topographical description I stated that the temples of Semneh were
+built by the Egyptian king Thothmes III. I have been told that
+scarabæi have been found, with the name of this king, opposite
+Gibel el Birkel.<a id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51"
+class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Amunoph III., the Memnon of the Greeks,
+has also left, as a monument of his victories still farther in
+Ethiopia, the splendid Temple of Solib. I thought, at first, that
+this was the Amunoph mentioned by Josephus, who, at the second
+invasion of the Shepherds, took refuge in Ethiopia until
+he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span> had collected an
+army, and his son Sethos, or Rameses, was of a sufficient age to
+lead it against the insurgents: but both Eusebius and Africanus
+agree in calling Sethos the first king of the 19th dynasty:
+therefore, as the Temple of Solib bears the name of Amunoph, with
+the prænomen of <span class="copt">Ⲣⲏ-ⲛⲉⲃ-ⲛⲧⲙⲉ</span>, “Sun, Lord
+of Truth,” it is of the eighth king of the 18th dynasty, and not
+the last: besides, the representations of the countries conquered
+by that king are still preserved, and prove, by some of them having
+the features of negroes, that the splendid Temple of Solib was
+erected as a monument of his victory and long possession of the
+country, and not of a mere alliance with the King of
+Ethiopia.<a id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class=
+"fnanchor">[52]</a></p>
+
+<p>The successor of Amunoph III., Amulek, or, perhaps, more
+correctly, Horus, as Eusebius and Africanus call him, must, I
+conceive, from an inscription I saw at Turin, have also carried his
+arms into the interior of Africa; but Herodotus<a id=
+"FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a>
+states, that only Rameses II. (Sesostris) made himself master of
+Ethiopia; and it is singular, as I have stated in the account of
+the ruins of Gibel el Birkel, that the only fragment of the name of
+an Egyptian king which I saw, either there or at Meroe, was half of
+the name of Rameses II., which I found, by accident, in the Arab
+burial-ground at the former place. This is an extraordinary
+corroboration of the testimony of the historian;<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span> for that conqueror must have
+possessed that Ethiopian city for a sufficient length of time to
+erect or restore a temple; otherwise I should not have found his
+name.</p>
+
+<p>Diodorus mentions that, when Egypt was suffering under the
+dominion of Amasis, a violent, proud, and arrogant man, Aktisanes,
+king of Ethiopia, profiting by the discontent of the people,
+invaded Egypt, and had little difficulty in overthrowing the
+tyrant, and taking possession of the country, as the greater number
+of his subjects were weary of his oppression, and rebelled against
+him. Aktisanes, he adds, was a great prince, and built a city,
+called Rhinocolura, on the confines of Syria and Egypt, and
+detained there the thieves whom he had punished with the loss of
+their noses; from which circumstance Rhinocolura had its name.
+Eusebius, Africanus, and Herodotus do not mention this king.
+Diodorus’s account is difficult to explain; for his Amasis cannot
+be the Amasis of Manetho, the first of the 18th dynasty; as
+Diodorus places his Amasis several reigns after Sesostris or
+Rameses II. As there are no traces of the name of this king on the
+monuments either of Ethiopia or Egypt, I see no reason why we
+should receive the testimony of Diodorus, to the prejudice of other
+historians; and, doubting, as I do, whether such a king ever
+reigned in Egypt, I think it unnecessary to enter into any
+discussion about the period of his reign.</p>
+
+<p>We have also, about this time, an account of another king, whose
+name is familiar to the classical scholar,—Memnon, the son of
+Aurora, who killed Antilochus<a id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> in the Trojan war; and
+again, in the same poem<a id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>, he is called the most
+beautiful of warriors, the brother of Priam; and Hesiod calls him
+the son of Aurora, and the king of the Ethiopians. Monsieur
+Letronne, in his learned work on the vocal statue of Memnon, has
+treated the whole story as a romance; but though we may refuse our
+credence to the embellishments<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_290">[290]</span> of the Greek poets, tragic writers, and
+historians, I must confess myself of the opinion of those who
+believe in the possibility that the statement of a king of Ethiopia
+of that name having gone to the assistance of Troy may, perhaps,
+not be without foundation. The distance was certainly very great;
+but navigation by the Nile, or the Red Sea, would obviate, in a
+great measure, that difficulty; and it is not much more
+extraordinary to read of an Ethiopian king going to the relief of
+Troy in the 13th century before the Christian era, than, in the
+tenth century, to read of a king, called Zerah, who, with a host of
+a thousand thousand, went unto Maresha; and, in the 8th century, we
+find that Tirhaka assisted the King of Israel against Sennacherib,
+which event I will presently relate. History, both ancient and
+modern, affords many instances of wars between very distant states,
+and of expeditions sent against remote kingdoms, often even from
+continent to continent. I think, therefore, that it is not very
+surprising that the Ethiopian king, Memnon, should go with his
+troops from Meroe to Troy, either to assist his relation, or, at
+the instigation of some neighbour, to join in the common defence
+against the Greek invasion.<a id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the 11th century before the Christian era, Semiramis, the
+celebrated queen of Assyria, fearless of those deserts in which,
+according to the fable, she was exposed when an infant,
+invaded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span> Ethiopia.
+Notwithstanding the celebrity of the Assyrian heroine for cutting
+through mountains, filling up valleys, and conveying water, by
+costly aqueducts, to unfruitful plains and vast deserts, it does
+not seem that her success in subduing Ethiopia was very great.
+Diodorus only mentions her admiration of a wonderful lake, 160 feet
+square, of a vermilion colour, which sent forth a delicious smell,
+not unlike old wine, and of such wonderful efficacy, that whoever
+drank of it acknowledged the sins which he had long since secretly
+committed and forgotten. That the kingdom of Meroe was the part of
+Ethiopia invaded by her is not improbable. Her mortified vanity at
+not having succeeded in her enterprise, the reflections caused by
+the dangers and solitudes of the deserts, or the influence of the
+religion of Ammon, may have been the monitors that awakened the
+guilty conscience of the Assyrian queen.</p>
+
+<p>The next occasion on which we find mention made of an Ethiopian
+army is the expedition of Shishak against Jerusalem, in 971
+<span class="sc2">A.C.</span> That monarch is represented as
+bringing 1200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen; and “the people were
+without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, and the
+Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians.”<a id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> The Ethiopians and Lubims
+are called a “huge host, with very many chariots and
+horsemen.”<a id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class=
+"fnanchor">[58]</a> These Ethiopians may have come from a district
+of their country which was subject to Shishak, as we see, recorded
+on the monuments at Thebes, not only the invasion of Judea,
+mentioned in the Bible, but also victories achieved by that warlike
+king over various other nations. It is not, however, improbable
+that the Ethiopians were merely assisting the Egyptians. The
+Sukkiims are considered by many to be the ancient Troglodytes, the
+ancestors, perhaps, of the present Bishareen; there is certainly a
+curious resemblance between<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_292">[292]</span> the name of the present capital of the
+latter tribe, Souakim, and their Scripture title, Sukkiim.</p>
+
+<p>Sixteen years only after this event we have an account of
+another invasion of the Ethiopians. “So Abijah slept with his
+fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son
+reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years.”
+“And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of
+Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare
+shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all
+these were mighty men of valour. And there came out against them
+Zerah the Ethiopian, with an host of a thousand thousand, and three
+hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out against
+him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at
+Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the <span class="sc">Lord</span> his
+God.”<a id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class=
+"fnanchor">[59]</a> “So the <span class="sc">Lord</span> smote the
+Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.
+And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar:
+and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover
+themselves.”<a id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class=
+"fnanchor">[60]</a></p>
+
+<p>I conceive that the army of Zerah, like that of Memnon, and
+those, perhaps, who assisted Shishak, may have been transported
+from their own country, by the navigation of the Red Sea. It has
+been objected by some, that Zerah could not have been king of
+Ethiopia above Egypt, without being master of the latter country:
+but not only was the way by the Red Sea shorter, and much more
+convenient, but the kings of Meroe at that time may have possessed
+a part of Arabia, and he may thus have marched his army through the
+peninsula. We may, however, reasonably suppose, that he would not
+have undertaken such an important war against the people of Judah,
+if he had apprehended any impediment to his progress, from such
+near and powerful neighbours as the<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_293">[293]</span> Egyptians and Arabians. I see no more
+reason to doubt that this Zerah was a king of Meroe, than that
+Tirhaka was such, who bears the same title in Scripture, of king of
+Ethiopia. The monuments of Egypt and Ethiopia, fortunately, confirm
+the correctness of the title of the latter, and show us that
+Tirhaka, called king of Ethiopia, in the Bible, was also king of
+Meroe; but because no vestiges of edifices constructed by Zerah
+have survived the almost complete destruction of Ethiopian
+monuments, there is no reason why we should conceive that the
+Ethiopia of which he is called king is not the same country which
+Tirhaka afterwards ruled.</p>
+
+<p>The army of Zerah, which is stated in the Bible at a thousand
+thousand, that is, a million of men, may seem enormous; and,
+perhaps, this is only a vague expression of an almost innumerable
+host; but we must consider, that the tribe of Judah raised an army
+of 300,000, and that of Benjamin 280,000, to oppose him. The
+obligation, still customary, for every one who could bear arms to
+join the array of their king, accounts for the magnitude of their
+forces. Their duty, as vassals, would oblige the Ethiopians to join
+the standards of their chiefs, and the same cause, joined to the
+more noble motives of zeal and devotedness for their country and
+religion, would draw from their more peaceful avocations the sons
+of Judah and Benjamin. The latter are described as armed with
+targets, spears, shields, and bows: such would be precisely the
+equipment of an army in the centre of Africa at the present day;
+but the Ethiopian had also three hundred chariots, which at once
+denotes a people to a certain degree advanced in the art of war.
+Whatever might be the circumstances which enabled Zerah to collect
+together this immense army, we could not have a more striking proof
+of the extent and the affluent condition of the kingdom of Meroe,
+when we consider that she was able to support the expense of such a
+vast and distant expedition, and dispense, for so long a period,
+with the services of so many of her sons.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span>The events
+hitherto mentioned as connected with the history of Meroe have been
+important, as showing her political importance at a very early
+period. We have seen her successfully repelling the invasions of
+Semiramis, and of her powerful neighbours the Egyptians, and
+carrying her arms to the succour of the Trojans, and to attack the
+people of Judah.</p>
+
+<p>We come now to that glorious epoch in the annals of Ethiopia,
+when her kings reigned not only over their native country, but over
+the entire valley of the Nile, including the whole of Egypt. We
+shall see that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, felt their power.
+Their dominion embraced nations of every variety of colour and
+character, from Memphis to the interior of Africa. It is highly
+satisfactory to know, that the account of this dynasty of Ethiopian
+kings who reigned over Egypt is not only transmitted to us by the
+joint testimony of sacred and profane history, but also is amply
+confirmed by the monuments of both countries.</p>
+
+<p>The lists of Eusebius and Africanus, extracted from Manetho,
+agree perfectly with the names of the three Ethiopian kings who
+reigned over Egypt, from 732 to 688 before the Christian era. The
+following table shows that they do not exactly correspond, either
+as to particular reigns, or the entire length of the dynasty, which
+Africanus makes 40 years, and Eusebius 44; but the difference is
+very slight.</p>
+
+<table id="t294">
+<tr>
+<th colspan="2">Africanus.</th>
+<th colspan="2">Eusebius.</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="pad-right1">Sabbakon</td>
+<td class="tdr">8</td>
+<td class="pad2 pad-right1">Sabbakon</td>
+<td class="tdr">12</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="pad-right1">Sevechus, his son</td>
+<td class="tdr">14</td>
+<td class="pad2 pad-right1">Sevechus</td>
+<td class="tdr">12</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="pad-right1">Tarkus</td>
+<td class="tdr">18</td>
+<td class="pad2 pad-right1">Tarakus</td>
+<td class="tdr">20</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr bt">40</td>
+<td>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr bt">44</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Herodotus says<a id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61"
+class="fnanchor">[61]</a>, that after Asychis, who erected the
+brick pyramid, a certain blind man was said to have reigned in the
+city of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span> Anysis.
+During his sway, a large force of Ethiopians, under Sabachus, their
+king, invaded Egypt. The blind king escaped by flight into the
+mountains, and the Ethiopian reigned in Egypt fifty years. At the
+end of that period, according to Herodotus<a id=
+"FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a>,
+a vision appeared to Sabachus, commanding him to assemble the
+priests together, and destroy them. Rather than be guilty of such a
+sacrilege, he preferred returning into his country, particularly as
+the fifty years, which the oracle usually consulted by the
+Ethiopians had stated to be the term of their sojourn in Egypt, was
+expired. Diodorus gives a narrative of this event, agreeing with
+that of Herodotus, except that he does not state the name of the
+king to whom Sabachus succeeded. He speaks of a king Bucchoris, of
+a vile appearance, who exceeded all his predecessors in talent and
+prudence, and says this king reigned some time before Sabachus.
+Both Eusebius and Africanus agree that Sabachus ascended the
+throne, after making prisoner a king called Bocchoris, or
+Bonchoris. When we consider the loose accounts which both Herodotus
+and Diodorus have, in every instance, given of the Egyptian kings,
+it is only extraordinary that the time assigned by them as the
+duration of the Ethiopian dominion in Egypt should differ only by
+six years from that stated by Eusebius. They have preserved few
+names of any of the dynasties, and these so generally differ from
+Manetho and the monuments, that it is not surprising to find them
+describe the Ethiopian dynasty as the reign of one monarch. We may
+consider it fortunate that the name of that king agrees so exactly
+with the always more correct orthography in the lists of Eusebius
+and Africanus. The accuracy, however, of the list of Eusebius is
+confirmed by testimony which cannot be disputed, namely, the
+evidence of lapidary inscriptions on the monuments of Egypt and
+Ethiopia. I will first mention to the reader the names and titles
+of those kings, with the places where they were<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span> found recorded; and will
+afterwards show him that the third king of this dynasty is the same
+Tirhaka whose name is connected with one of the most interesting
+historical events narrated in the sacred writings.</p>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw22" id="i30"><a href="images/i30.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i30.jpg' alt='[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="copt">ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲉⲛ (Ⲣⲏ ⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ (ⲛ̀) ⲕⲁ) ⲥⲓⲣⲏ (Ϣⲃⲕ).</span>
+“The King (Sun Beneficent of Oblations), Son of the Sun
+(<em>Shabak</em>).” This is undoubtedly the first of this list of
+kings. The name is not found upon any of the monuments of Ethiopia,
+but that is not surprising, so few of the temples there being
+preserved; but we have undoubted evidence of this king having, as
+the historians say, reigned over Egypt, for we find his name upon a
+gate of the temple of Karnak, and also the portrait of the king in
+his Ethiopian dress, with the same titles, on the interior of the
+door of the great propylon of the Temple of Luxor, which he
+repaired. Signor Rosellini states, that he found a date of the
+twelfth year of his reign; which corroborates the statement of
+Eusebius, that he reigned twelve years, and not eight only,
+according to Africanus. I saw at Berlin a scarabæus containing the
+name of this king, with the uræus on each side, and above the oval
+a lion couchant: the latter is curious, as it tallies with the
+singular title I observed above the names at Amarah, of “King of
+Kings,” represented by the reed and half circle, as king
+(<span class="copt">ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ</span>), and a lion, emblematical of
+king, with the sign of the plural number. Signor Rosellini
+mentions, also, that this name is on two amulets he purchased for
+the Museum at Florence, and on a statue in the Villa Albani at
+Rome. I think the latter must be removed, as I could not find it
+there, nor do I recollect having seen any other instance of the
+name of Sciabak or Sabachus, in the splendid collections of
+Egyptian antiquities at Turin, Berlin, Paris, London, Rome, Naples,
+Vienna, Munich, &amp;c., except in an inscription on an alabaster
+Canopian vase at Paris.</p>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw22" id="i31"><a href="images/i31.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i31.jpg' alt='[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span><span class=
+"copt">ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ (Ⲣⲏ<span class="letter-spaced0075">.....</span>)
+ⲡⲓⲕⲁ) ⲥⲓⲣⲏ (Ⲁⲙⲛⲙ (ⲁⲓ) Ϣⲃⲧⲕ)</span>, “King (Sun <span class=
+"letter-spaced0075">.....</span> of the Offerings), Son of the Sun,
+(the beloved of Amun Shabatok).” This name is evidently different
+from the preceding, there being not only a change in the prænomen,
+but also in the other oval. Besides the title of Beloved of Amun,
+the addition of the third hieroglyphic, the phonetic sign for T,
+changes completely the sound. There is as much difference in the
+names of Shabako and Shabatok, who therefore are as clearly two
+persons, as the Sabbakon and Sevechus of Eusebius. The Venetian
+edition of Eusebius calls the latter king Sebichos. When we
+consider the remote period, the difference of the dialect, the
+errors of copyists, &amp;c., it is not surprising that so much
+discrepancy should exist. This name is found on the ruins to the
+south-east of the great temple at Carnak; and that the king was an
+Ethiopian is evident from his costume. The style is similar to that
+of Shabak; but the drawings of Signor Rosellini, which I could have
+wished to insert, are clearly the portraits of two different kings.
+I will presently state the learned Italian’s reasons for supposing
+that both these names allude to the god Seb or Sevek.</p>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw22" id="i32"><a href="images/i32.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i32.jpg' alt='[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left clear">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw21" id="i33a"><a href="images/i33a.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i33a.jpg' alt='[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left clear">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw21" id="i33b"><a href="images/i33b.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i33b.jpg' alt='[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="copt">ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ (Ⲣⲏ-Ⲁⲧⲙⲟⲩⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ, ⲱϥⲉ ⲥⲓⲣⲏ)
+(Ⲧϩⲣⲕ)</span>, “King Sun Atmou beneficent, Corrector, Son of the
+Sun (Tirhaka).” The name of this king is found on the columns and
+sides of the temple excavated out of the rock at Gibel el Birkel:
+it occurs ten times in the inscriptions which I copied there. It is
+also on the small altar in the great temple; but Major Felix<a id=
+"FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a>
+appears to me mistaken in supposing that Tirhaka built that
+splendid edifice, for his name occurs<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_298">[298]</span> in that instance only. Whereas the name of
+<span class="copt">ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ Ⲡⲓⲱⲛϩⲉⲓ</span>, “King Pionchei (the
+living),” is on the large altar, and also a fragment of it on the
+western wall of the temple; but the claim even of the latter may be
+disputed, for <a href="#i33b">Vignette A.</a> is the prænomen on
+the only column which is now standing; and the name on the pillars
+is usually that of the king who erected the edifice. We have the
+authority, then, of the monuments of Ethiopia, that Tirhaka was
+king over that country, and his name, fortunately, still remains on
+a pylon of a temple at Medenet Abou, and other places at Thebes, to
+corroborate the testimony of Manetho, that he was also King of
+Egypt. In the latter instance, his name is written exactly as I
+have given it, except that the two last hieroglyphics of the
+prænomen are represented, figuratively I conceive, by an arm and a
+lash in the hand. I found, also the name of his queen, in the first
+chamber excavated out of the temple of Gibel el Birkel (<a href=
+"#i33c">Vignette A</a>). <span class="copt">ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀-ϩⲓⲙⲉ
+Ⲁⲙⲛϯⲕϯϩ,</span>, “royal bride, Amentakatah.” Mr. Wilkinson found
+two princesses of this family: the first, B, is <span class=
+"copt">ⲧⲛⲣ ⲥⲓⲟⲩ</span>, or <span class="copt">ⲧ. ⲧⲏⲣ Ⲁⲙⲛⲁⲧⲥ</span>,
+“the Divine Star, or the Divine Amenates;” and C, is <span class=
+"copt">ⲧⲏⲣ ϩⲓⲙⲉ ⲦⲙⲁⲩϢⲛⲓⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ</span>, “the Divine Bride,
+Mutsheninofra, the Mother, Mistress of Good.” Signor Rosellini
+states, that there is a date, at Gibel el Birkel, of the year
+XX.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> of this king’s
+reign, confirming the accuracy of Eusebius. I did not perceive it,
+though, I believe, I copied every hieroglyphic which remains
+there.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw18">
+<figure id="i33c"><a href="images/i33c.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i33c.jpg' alt='[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The third king of this dynasty is the Tirhaka of Holy Writ: the
+narrative there given, is, I conceive, of sufficient importance to
+justify my noticing it somewhat in detail.<a id=
+"FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class=
+"fnanchor">[64]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the third year of King Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of
+Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz began to reign; and, for his zeal
+in rooting out the idolatry of his people, he was described as one
+who “trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none
+like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before
+him.” Hezekiah rebelled against the Assyrians, and smote the
+Philistines; and in the fourth year of his reign, the king of
+Assyria, Shalmaneser, besieged Samaria, and, after three years,
+took it, and carried away the Israelites prisoners. In the
+fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, who had succeeded to
+Shalmaneser, went up against all the “fenced cities of Judah, and
+took them.” Hezekiah agreed to purchase a peace for three hundred
+talents of silver and thirty talents of gold; and gave to him, for
+that purpose, all the treasures in the temples and palaces; but
+Sennacherib, faithless to this agreement, sent up a great host
+against Jerusalem, and the three chiefs of the army of the king of
+Assyria, Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, had a conference with
+three of the officers of Hezekiah-Eliakim, who was over the
+household of Judah, Shebni, the scribe, and Joab the son of Asaph
+the recorder. Rabshakeh asked him, “Now, on whom doest thou trust,
+that thou rebellest against me?” and taunted them with trusting
+upon Egypt. “Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this
+bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go
+into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all
+that trust on him.” And he begged them to give pledges to the King
+of Assyria, and not trust on Egypt for chariots or for
+horsemen.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span> Hezekiah
+was comforted by the prophet Isaiah, and Rabshakeh returned and
+told Sennacherib that Tirhaka, king of Ethiopia, was coming up to
+fight against him. The titles which are given to Tirhaka, in these
+passages, are most important. In 2 Kings, xix. 9., he is called
+king of Ethiopia, and in xviii. 21. and 24., Pharaoh of Egypt,
+which is exactly saying that he was ruler over both countries, as
+we have seen that Manetho and the monuments prove him to have
+been.</p>
+
+<p>This name, according to Signor Rosellini, is written in Hebrew
+(<span lang="he">תרחקח םלך־כוש</span>) “Tarhaka, Melek Cush,”
+translated correctly Θαρακα Βασιλευς Αιθιοπων, “Tarhaka, king of
+the Ethiopians.” The perfect resemblance of the name, which neither
+upon the monuments nor in the lists is given to any other king of
+Egypt; the correspondence of the epoch, and the title of king of
+Ethiopia, given to a sovereign of an Ethiopian dynasty, who by
+force of arms had annexed Egypt to their paternal kingdom, are
+circumstances which prove, beyond all doubt, as the learned
+Italian<a id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class=
+"fnanchor">[65]</a> says, the identity of the Tarhaka of the
+monuments, with the Tirhaka of holy writ. If, according to
+Eusebius, we allow 163 years for the 26th dynasty, that is, the one
+which succeeded to the Ethiopians in Egypt, that number, added to
+the date of the invasion by Cambyses, 525, will make 688, which,
+added to the 20 years’ reign of Tirhaka, would make the accession
+of that king to the throne to be in 708, nearly the exact time
+assigned by the Scripture chronologists for the relief of Hezekiah
+and Tirhaka; but Signor Rosellini, principally on the authority of
+a stela which he obtained at Alexandria, makes the total of the
+reigns of that dynasty 150 years, which would cause the accession
+of Tirhaka to the dominion of the Nile to happen in 695. Following
+exactly the chronology of Scripture, it must have been in the first
+year of the king’s reign that the destruction of the Assyrian army
+took place. “Then the angel<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_301">[301]</span> of the Lord went out and smote in the camp
+of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when
+they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead
+corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and
+returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was
+worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and
+Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword.”<a id=
+"FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class=
+"fnanchor">[66]</a></p>
+
+<p>I will here introduce an event related by Herodotus<a id=
+"FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a>,
+which, notwithstanding many discrepancies, is evidently the
+same:—“After Sabaco, the Ethiopian, returned into the country, and
+the blind king Anysis was dead, there reigned,” he says, “a priest
+of Vulcan, named Sethos. This king treated with contempt the
+warriors of Egypt, despising them, as if he never would have
+occasion for them; and, besides other injuries he committed against
+them, deprived them of the ground which, under the preceding kings,
+had been granted to each, in portions of twelve fields of a hundred
+cubits. But afterwards Sennacherib, king of the Arabs and of the
+Assyrians, having invaded Egypt with a great host, none of the
+warriors were willing to assist him: then the priest, reduced to
+extremity, entered into the sanctuary, bewailed before the figure
+of the divinity the danger to which he was exposed. Thus weeping,
+he fell asleep, and the divinity appeared unto him in a vision, and
+exhorted him to take courage, for he would have nothing to dread in
+going against the army of the Arabians, since he himself would send
+assistance. Animated by this dream, and having assembled those
+Egyptians who were willing to follow him, he fixed his camp in
+Pelusium, since that city forms the entrance into the country. He
+was followed by none of the warriors, but only by merchants,
+artificers, and labourers. When they were arrived there, a
+multitude of field mice were scattered among their adversaries, ate
+the bands of their armour, of their bows and shields, so that, next
+day, naked and disarmed, they fled, and many perished.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span>This Sethos is
+evidently the Ethiopian Tirhaka. The latter was the successor of an
+Ethiopian, as Sethos is represented to have been, and it was
+natural that the Ethiopian should despise the soldiers of Egypt,
+whom his predecessor had conquered. His depriving them of their
+land, and consequently of their political importance, was the
+natural policy of a king who reigned over them by right of
+conquest; but, as he was a good and beneficent monarch, who had
+encouraged the arts and internal prosperity of the country, of
+which we have a proof in his restoring and embellishing the
+temples, the merchants, artificers, and labourers hastened to his
+support, being attached to his person by the advantages they had
+derived from his government. The title of priest is not
+inappropriate to an Ethiopian king, who was chosen from that order.
+Diodorus also informs us how much they were under the influence of
+their priests, submitting even to death itself at their command.
+Besides the coincidence of the time in the list of Manetho, there
+is no mention of a king called Sethos, except the first of the 19th
+dynasty, which was long previous. These circumstances alone almost
+prove that the Sethos of Herodotus and the Ethiopian Tirhaka are
+the same; but we have still stronger evidence. The king against
+whom both marched was the same Sennacherib, King of Assyria, and
+they are both delivered in the same manner; that is, by a miracle.
+Herodotus states Pelusium, not Jerusalem, as the scene of their
+discomfiture. This circumstance made me at first imagine that
+Sennacherib might have been defeated at both places; but I conceive
+it more reasonable to attribute these differences of name, place,
+and the nature of the miracle to the usual confusion of Herodotus,
+who did not compile his work, like Manetho, from the sacred
+registers preserved in the temples, but from verbal communications
+with the priests; perhaps the story of the mice was invented by
+Herodotus, or his informers, or, at all events, arose in the lapse
+of time, to explain the manner in which the Deity interfered in
+their behalf.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span>The Tirhaka,
+then, of the monuments and of Manetho, is the Sethos of Herodotus,
+and the Tirhaka who assisted Hezekiah against Sennacherib. From
+these various accounts, and by separating, in the narrative of
+Herodotus, the probable from the marvellous, we may conclude that
+the monarch was pious, since he bore the title of priest, and
+applied to the divinity for support before he set out on the
+expedition; that he was powerful, since he was not only able to
+hold in subjection the entire valley of the Nile, but also to carry
+his arms to the assistance of his neighbours. He appears, also, to
+have been an enlightened and an able legislator, since he
+encouraged the arts; and although a foreigner, had so ingratiated
+himself with his people, that, strong in their affections, he was
+not only able to destroy the military despotism of the soldiery,
+but raise another army, to wage war against the powerful king of
+Assyria. Eratosthenes (see Strabo<a id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a>,) states that this
+conqueror proceeded as far as the Pillars of Hercules.</p>
+
+<p>There is another king mentioned in the Bible, as reigning in
+Egypt twelve years before the defeat of Sennacherib. It is agreed,
+almost by all, that he is the Shabatok or Sevechus of the lists;
+but this is so learnedly and ingeniously discussed by Signor
+Rosellini, that I make no apology for enriching this chapter with a
+translation of his remarks. At the seventeenth chapter of 2 Kings,
+it is related that Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, subdued and
+made tributary Hoshea, king of Israel. That prince having wished to
+rebel, and having sent for aid to So, king of Egypt, Shalmaneser
+besieged, conquered, and made him prisoner. The reign of Hoshea
+over Israel lasted nine years; so that it appears to have happened
+in his sixth year, that, to throw off the Assyrian yoke, he
+demanded assistance from the king of Egypt. Therefore, as
+Shalmaneser besieged and took Samaria in that year, which was the
+last of Hoshea, Hezekiah began to reign over Judah in the third
+year of Hoshea; and in the 14th year of Hezekiah occurred the
+discomfiture<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span> of
+Sennacherib, in which the Pharaoh Tirhaka took part, as the ally of
+the king of Judah. The sixth year of Hoshea (in which he demanded
+aid of So, king of Egypt,) corresponds to the third year of the
+reign of Hezekiah; and since this latter king, in the 14th year of
+his reign, made a treaty with Tirhaka, it follows that the Pharaoh,
+called So in the Bible, preceded Tirhaka by an interval of not less
+than eleven years. But So is called king of Egypt, and Tirhaka was
+the same; therefore we ought to seek the Pharaoh So among the kings
+of this Ethiopian dynasty. And since he preceded Tirhaka by an
+interval of eleven years, we must necessarily recognise him as the
+immediate predecessor of Tirhaka, who is called by Manetho
+Sevechus, or Sebichus, and, according to Eusebius, reigned twelve
+years. Not less manifest than the coincidence of the years is the
+correspondence of the name in Manetho and the Bible, if we correct
+the pronunciation according to the true sound of the Egyptian
+language. I have already mentioned, that the name of Shabatok (so
+the Sevechus of Manetho is written upon the monuments) may truly,
+indeed, be considered as a peculiar word of the Ethiopian dialect,
+which corresponds to the Egyptian Sevek. Sevek is, in the Egyptian
+mythology, a god, who has attributes relative to the Nile, and is
+generally represented under the sacred symbol of a crocodile. In
+this form its name is usually written <img src='images/sym2.jpg'
+alt='[Symbol]' class="iwsym"> <span class="copt">ⲥ ⲃ ⲕ</span>
+“Sebek, Sevek;” but when it is represented under a human form, then
+it is written simply <img src='images/sym3.jpg' alt='[Symbol]'
+class="iwsym"> or <img src='images/sym4.jpg' alt='[Symbol]' class=
+"iwsym"> <span class="copt">ⲥ ⲃ</span> “Seb, Sewe.” The titles,
+attributes, and forms of those two names, Sewe and Sebek, are
+promiscuous; and we are certain, that, however it is written or
+pronounced, it means the same divinity.<a id=
+"FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class=
+"fnanchor">[69]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span>Let us take,
+therefore, from the Hebrew text, the name of the king of Egypt, to
+whom Hoshea sent for help. It is written <span lang=
+"he">סוא</span>: disregarding (particularly in a foreign language)
+the corrupt pronunciation given to it by Masorete, and the other
+interpreters, who read So or Soa, and Sua, let the least learned in
+the languages of the East judge, if the natural pronunciation of
+these Hebrew elements be not Sewa or Sewe. This is sufficient to
+show, that the author of the second book of Kings wrote that name
+with those characters which could give the pronunciation of the
+Egyptian name Sewe. It is probable that the same name, written upon
+the monuments in the Ethiopian manner, Shabatok, was commonly
+called by the Egyptians, Sewe; and, perhaps, they pronounced it
+also, indifferently, Sewek, since both these words were the
+designation of the same divinity, to which that name belongs. In
+fact, Manetho wrote in his history, Sevechus, and, cutting off the
+Greek termination, it remains Sevek, retaining, from the Ethiopian
+Shabatok, the pronunciation used in Egypt. Thus the text of the
+Bible, also, in relating this Egyptian name, maintains that
+possible orthographic exactness which it has followed in writing
+all the other Egyptian names. The original monuments, therefore,
+and the lists of Manetho concur in attesting that the dynasty of
+the Ethiopians was composed of three kings, whose names I have
+mentioned, and thus correct the Greek historians who have assigned
+it to Sabaco only.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span><a id=
+"c20"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">THE EMIGRATION OF EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS AT THE TIME OF
+PSAMMITICHUS. — EXPEDITION OF CAMBYSES. — MANNERS, CUSTOMS, ETC. OF
+THE MACROBIANS, ETC. — CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE ETHIOPIANS. —
+ERGAMENES, THE ETHIOPIAN KING’S, CONQUESTS IN LOWER NUBIA. —
+ATARRAMON AND SILCO, ETHIOPIAN KINGS. — EXPEDITION OF PETRONIUS. —
+QUEEN CANDACE. — CHRISTIANITY FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ETHIOPIA. — ITS
+DURATION. — NAPATA, CAPITAL OF CANDACE. — BLEMMYES AND THE
+NUBIANS.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">Under</span> the reign of
+Psammitichus, whom Africanus states to have reigned twenty-one
+years, Eusebius thirty-three, and Herodotus fifteen, after the
+Ethiopian dynasty, the historian of Halicarnassus informs us (and
+his account is confirmed by Diodorus), that 240,000 Egyptian
+soldiers were in garrison at Elephantine against the Ethiopians, at
+Pelusium against the Arabs and Assyrians, and others, in Marea,
+opposite Africa. These soldiers having been three years thus in
+garrison, without being relieved, resolved to go over together from
+Psammitichus into Ethiopia. Regardless of the entreaties of that
+king, they engaged themselves to the king of that country, who
+employed them in subduing some of his discontented subjects, whose
+land he gave them as a reward. It is added, that the Ethiopians
+became more civilised, imbibing the customs of Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>Herodotus states<a id="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70"
+class="fnanchor">[70]</a>, that part of these soldiers were in
+garrison at Pelusium, against the Assyrians; probably an attack
+from that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span> nation
+was anticipated, in revenge of the defeat of Sennacherib. According
+to that author, there were forty days of land journey, and sixteen
+of navigation, between Elephantina and Meroe, besides a space near
+Taconso. He says, the distance is the same from there to the
+country of the Automali, otherwise called Ascami, a term which
+means “Assistants at the left hand of the king;” by which,
+according to him, the Egyptian warriors are designated. Whether
+this last fifty-six days’ journey extends along the Bahr el Abiad,
+in the direction of Axum, or on the Bahr el Azruk, cannot, with
+certainty, be decided; but I will presently state my reasons for
+conceiving the former opinion to be not improbable. The inhabitants
+of a part of Ethiopia, at such an immense distance from the
+metropolis, would naturally become more civilised by this Egyptian
+colony. This passage, at all events, communicates the highly
+important fact, that the kingdom of Meroe reached more than
+fifty-six days’ journey, both north and south, from the metropolis;
+or, in other words, that it was altogether about 1500 miles in
+length at that period. This accounts for the great power of the
+king of Ethiopia, but for which it is evident, that a body of
+240,000 men would not have been satisfied with having assigned to
+them a distant and uncivilised portion of his kingdom, but would
+have been easily able to take possession of the whole.</p>
+
+<p>The next important event I shall allude to is the celebrated
+expedition of the first king of the Persian dynasty in Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>Cambyses determined to make war upon three different powers,—the
+Carthaginians, the Ammonians, and the Egyptian Macrobians. But,
+before commencing the expedition into Ethiopia, he resolved to send
+spies into the country, and, for this purpose, sent to the island
+of Elephantine for some of the Ichthyophagi, who were acquainted
+with the Ethiopian language. Cambyses, having instructed these
+ambassadors what they should say, gave them, as presents for the
+king, a robe of purple, necklaces and bracelets of gold, an
+alabaster vase of ointment, and another<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_308">[308]</span> vase of palm wine. The Ichthyophagi having
+arrived, and having been introduced to the king, presented their
+offerings, and addressed him thus:—“Cambyses, King of the Persians,
+desirous of being your friend and ally, sent us to you with these
+gifts, in the use of which he takes great delight.”<a id=
+"FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71" class=
+"fnanchor">[71]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Ethiopian king, knowing well that they came as spies,
+answered,—“It is not that the King of the Persians esteems so much
+my friendship, that he has sent you to me with gifts; neither do
+you speak truly, for you have come to spy out my kingdom. Neither
+is he a just man, for if he were just, he would not covet the
+country of another, nor wish to make slaves of those who have in no
+way offended him. Present to him this bow, and tell him that the
+King of the Ethiopians gives this advice to the King of the
+Persians. When he is able to manage such large bows with as much
+facility as I do, then let him conduct an army against the Egyptian
+Macrobians, but one superior to them in number. In the mean time,
+thank the gods for not putting it into the mind of the Egyptians to
+usurp the states of others.”</p>
+
+<p>Having said this, he unbent the bow, and gave it to them, and
+having taken the vest of purple into his hand, he asked them what
+it was, and how it was made? The Ichthyophagi having told him the
+truth of the purple and the colouring, he said that they were
+deceivers, and their garments deceitful. Having inquired about the
+necklace and bracelets of gold, and the Ichthyophagi having
+answered that they were ornaments, he laughed, conceiving them to
+be chains, and said, that he had much stronger ones. Lastly,
+inquiring of the ointment, and being shown how it should be worked
+with the hand, and used, he said of it the same as he had done of
+the vest. He then learned how the wine was made, and its use; and
+being much pleased with the trial he made of it, he asked on what
+things they lived, and what was the longest<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_309">[309]</span> period of the life of a Persian? They
+answered, that the King lived on bread, explaining to him the
+nature of corn, and told him that the space of eighty years was the
+greatest length of the life of a Persian. The Ethiopian answered,
+that he was not surprised that, subsisting on mud, they should live
+so few years; that neither would they live so long, was it not for
+the wine, and added, “for in this only are the Persians superior to
+the Ethiopians.”</p>
+
+<p>The Ichthyophagi having, in their turn, inquired of the King
+about his people’s food, and manner of life, he answered, that they
+lived on meat and milk; that the greatest part of them lived to the
+age of 120 years, and some even longer. The ambassadors having
+expressed their surprise at this, the King conducted them to a
+fountain, after washing in which they became more vigorous, and
+shining, as with oil; and it sent forth an odour as of violet. And
+the Ichthyophagi said that this water was so light, that neither
+wood, nor even lighter substances, would swim on the surface; but
+that every thing went to the bottom; and that the constant use of
+this water was the reason why the Ethiopians lived so long.</p>
+
+<p>Cambyses, enraged at this reception of the Ethiopians, set out
+without preparing any store of provisions, and without reflecting
+that it was the extremity of the world to which he was carrying his
+arms. Before he had marched a fifth part of the route from Thebes,
+the want of provisions was felt; yet he madly determined to
+proceed. The soldiers fed on grass as long as any could be found;
+at length, when they arrived in the deserts, they were obliged to
+cast lots, to eat one in ten; which finally induced Cambyses to
+return to Thebes with the remains of his army.—The defeat of this
+monarch is also mentioned by Diodorus.</p>
+
+<p>If this account be at all correct, the country of the Macrobians
+must have been at some distance from Meroe, otherwise they could
+not have been ignorant of the use of necklaces and bracelets, since
+the figures on the walls of the sepulchres of that metropolis are
+represented with those ornaments. The fountain mentioned
+by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span> the Ichthyophagi
+is almost as wonderful as the lake which Diodorus reports as seen
+by Semiramis; but, discarding what bears the stamp of fiction in
+this narrative, we can easily recognise, in this account of the
+Macrobians, a powerful nomad tribe, in possession of the gold
+country which was the great attraction to Cambyses. Their degree of
+strength and longevity, probably exaggerated, might be gained by
+the habits of frugality and temperance usual among the nomad
+tribes. Their food (meat and milk) is exactly that of the Bishareen
+and other tribes of the desert at the present day. Their not
+understanding the nature of the ointment, may have been from its
+being very superior to their own; all that is probable in the
+description of the fountain is, that it consisted of oil. The Arab
+tribes are now in the habit of anointing their bodies, conceiving
+this custom to be in the highest degree salubrious, and indeed
+necessary, to mitigate the parching effects of a vertical sun and
+the hot winds of the desert. I tried this custom, and found it very
+beneficial; and am persuaded I should have suffered less from the
+heat had I used it more frequently; but the smell of the ointment
+they now use is not like the violet, as the Ichthyophagi describe
+that of the Macrobians. It is not, therefore, surprising that a
+powerful tribe, doubtless less barbarous than at the present day,
+being in connection with states then more civilised, should have a
+bath of prepared oil, suited to the pressing wants of the country.
+A nomad tribe might, very probably, be ignorant how the purple
+colour was produced; for, with the exception of some shawls worn by
+the chiefs, none of the Arabs of the present day use any thing but
+white cotton and linen cloths. The Melek Nazr e’ Deen (see <a href=
+"#pl03">Plate III.</a>), is almost the only exception I have met
+with. Sheakh Sayd, the chief of all the Ababdes, did not know how
+the indigo plant (which his country produces) was made into a dye,
+till he went with me through the manufactory at Berber. I suspect
+that the account of their contempt for gold, is an embellishment of
+the Greek historian, or an exaggeration of the ambassadors;
+for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span> they must have
+learnt its value by exchanging it with their more civilised
+neighbours. It is not, however, impossible that they may have used
+it for chains, as they might not have possessed other metals, or if
+they did, might not have had skill to work them into chains so
+easily as they could gold; or, from their greater rarity, they
+might have been equally as valuable.<a id=
+"FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" class=
+"fnanchor">[72]</a></p>
+
+<p>Herodotus calls them Egyptian Macrobians, and afterwards
+Egyptians. I am almost inclined to believe that they may have been
+a nomad race, blended with the 240,000 soldiers, who, according to
+Herodotus, deserted from Psammitichus, and had a territory assigned
+to them, among a people about sixty days’ journey distant from
+Meroe. It is certain that the Egyptians would marry native wives.
+They might, as Herodotus says, have improved the manners of the
+people; but, being warriors, and not mechanics or artificers, and
+accustomed to a rigid distinction of castes, they might not have
+introduced a knowledge of the arts, and even what they taught
+might, in a century and a half, be forgotten by a tribe whose
+habits would give them little taste for such acquirements. I cannot
+agree with those who consider the country of the Macrobians to be
+on or near the Arabian Gulf, in the territory of the present
+Soumalies, or, as Professor Heeren<a id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> has placed them, beyond
+Cape Guardefui; for, mad as Cambyses is represented to have been,
+he surely could not have been so infatuated as to have attempted to
+penetrate to so vast a distance, across the immense deserts and
+inhospitable regions of the interior, the whole population of which
+would be hostile to his progress, particularly when a far shorter
+and easier way was open to him by the Arabian Gulf and
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span> Straits of
+Babelmandel. It may be stated that the Persians were, perhaps,
+unskilled and averse to navigation; but even if not navigators
+themselves, they might easily have procured transports. I think the
+Macrobians should be placed more in the interior; probably on the
+Bahr el Abiad. Pausanias (lib. iv.) says, that Meroe and the
+Ethiopian plains are inhabited by the Macrobians, the most just
+people of the earth: but that they have not in the country any sea,
+nor any other river but the Nile. This statement, which merits
+attention, being from one so deeply versed in Egyptian subjects,
+proves what I have stated,—that the Macrobians did not occupy the
+territory of the present Soumalies, near the sea; but at the same
+time brings them nearer to Meroe than we can admit from their state
+of civilisation, or the testimony of Herodotus, who describes them
+as being on the southern side of Africa.</p>
+
+<p>I have now to mention an historical fact, connected with some
+curious Ethiopian customs, which might have been rejected as a
+fable, but for the evidence of a lapidary inscription, which
+records the name of the king connected with it. This gives to it an
+authentic character, and affords another proof of the general
+accuracy of the Sicilian historian’s account of the Ethiopians.</p>
+
+<p>“The Ethiopians,” says Diodorus<a id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>, “have many laws differing
+from those of other nations, particularly as regards the choice of
+their kings. The priests choose the most respectable of their
+order, and form them into a circle; and he who by chance is taken
+hold of by the priest, who enters into the circle, walking and
+leaping like a satyr, is declared king upon the spot; and all the
+people worship him, as a man charged with the government by Divine
+Providence. The king lives after the manner prescribed to him by
+the law. In all things he follows the customs of the country,
+neither punishing nor recompensing but according<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span> to the laws established since
+the origin of the nation. It is not permitted to the king to cause
+any of his subjects to be executed, even when they shall have been
+judged worthy of death; but he sends to the guilty person an
+officer, who carries to him the signal of death; and immediately
+the criminal shuts himself in his house, and executes justice on
+himself. It is not permitted to him to fly into a neighbouring
+kingdom, and change the pain of death into banishment, as they do
+in Greece. They relate that a certain man, having received an order
+of death, which had been sent to him by the king, thought of flying
+out of Ethiopia. His mother, who suspected his design, passed her
+girdle around his neck, without his attempting to defend himself,
+and strangled him, lest, as she said, her son should bring
+increased disgrace upon his family by his flight.”</p>
+
+<p>We perceive, by these passages, that the Ethiopians had regular
+laws, to which not only the people but the king submitted. The
+kings, it seems, were chosen from the priests, and therefore it is
+not extraordinary that they were so completely under their power as
+we shall shortly see; for probably, like the cardinals at Rome,
+they did not select always the most talented, but often the most
+manageable, as their chief. The satyr-like gambols of the priest,
+which were the cause of his being elected, remind me somewhat of
+the impositions, or, rather, workings of the spirit, which the Arab
+fakeers and sheakhs sometimes exhibit.<a id=
+"FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75" class=
+"fnanchor">[75]</a></p>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw22" id="i34"><a href="images/i34.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i34.jpg' alt='[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span>“The death of
+the kings,” says Diodorus, “is still more extraordinary. The
+priests at Meroe have acquired great power. When they form the
+resolution, they send a courier to the king, with an order for him
+to die. They tell him that the gods (or oracles) had thus decreed,
+and that he would be guilty of a crime if he violated an order from
+them. They added many other reasons, which would easily influence a
+simple man, aware of the ancient custom, and who had not strength
+of mind sufficient to resist such an unjust command. The first
+kings submitted to this cruel sentence. Ergamenes, who reigned at
+the time of the second Ptolemy, and who was instructed in the
+philosophy of Greece, was the first who dared to throw off this
+ridiculous yoke. He went with his army to the place difficult to
+get to, or (εἰς τὸ ἄβατον) fortress, where was formerly the temple
+of gold of the Ethiopians, and caused all the priests to be
+massacred, and instituted himself a new religion.” Signor Rosellini
+found the name of this king on the door of the sanctuary of Dacker.
+<span class="copt">ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ (Ⲁⲙⲛⲧⲟⲧ ⲱⲛϩ, Ⲣⲏ-ⲱⲧⲡ) ⲥⲓⲣⲏ (Ⲉⲣⲕⲁⲙⲛ ⲱⲛϩ
+ϫⲧⲧ, Ⲓⲥⲏⲙⲁⲓ)</span>. “King Amentot (hand of Amun), the living,
+devoted to Phre (Son of the Sun), Erkamon, always living, beloved
+of Isis.”—Vol. ii. 321.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery of the name is of the greatest importance; as the
+evidence of this lapidary inscription, that there was a
+king<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span> called
+Ergamenes, or, to give him his proper name, Erkamenes, is strongly
+corroborative of the whole narrative of Diodorus. He could not have
+been an Egyptian king, for there is no mention in any of the lists
+of a king of that name. We may, therefore, with certainty conclude,
+that it is the Ethiopian monarch Erkamenes. Philæ was generally
+considered the boundary of Egypt, but we have the indubitable
+testimony of a long train of splendid monuments, from that island
+to Solib, that the rulers of Egypt, from the Pharaohs of the
+eighteenth dynasty until the time of the Cæsars, possessed at all
+events, at different intervals, that part of Ethiopia.</p>
+
+<p>From there being there no Ethiopian edifices, but all Egyptian
+temples, from the first to the second cataract, it is probable that
+the Egyptians were generally in possession of that part of the
+valley of the Nile; but the name of this Ethiopian king having been
+found on this Ptolemaic edifice, can only be accounted for by his
+having been in possession of the country. The style of the
+architecture and sculpture of the temple of Dacker is certainly
+like that of the Ptolemies. I therefore do not conceive that the
+temple was built by Erkamenes, but perhaps that conqueror
+celebrated his victories by religious functions, a representation
+of which he had sculptured on the temple at the limit of his
+conquests.</p>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw22" id="i35"><a href="images/i35.jpg"><img src=
+'images/i35.jpg' alt='[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Besides Erkamenes, we have accounts of another Ethiopian
+monarch, whose name Signor Rosellini found on the temple of Deboud,
+in Lower Nubia, and which he conceives (I think very correctly), to
+be also of an Ethiopian king of about the same period. <span class=
+"copt">ⲥⲟⲩⲧⲛ̀ (Ⲣⲏ ⲛ̀ ⲱⲧⲡ, ⲥⲱⲧⲛ̀ ⲛ̀ⲛⲓⲧⲏⲣ) ⲥⲓⲣⲏ (Ⲁⲧⲣⲣⲁⲙⲛ, ⲱⲡϩ
+ϫⲧⲧ)</span> “King (Son of Perfection, approved by the gods), Son of
+the Sun (Atarramon, always living.)” This, therefore, is an
+Ethiopian king, whose conquests extended to within a few miles of
+Philæ.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span>A Greek
+inscription at Kalabshy mentions the victories of Silco, king of
+all the Ethiopians, over the Blemmyes. No other Ethiopian names are
+found in Lower Nubia, except some prisoners represented on the
+walls of the temple of Rameses at Kalabshy.</p>
+
+<p>Strabo<a id="FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class=
+"fnanchor">[76]</a> gives us a highly important narrative of an
+event that took place in his time. It is peculiarly interesting, as
+it accounts for the ruin of the towns and temples which once
+adorned that part of the valley of the Nile. “The Ethiopians,” says
+he, “taking advantage of Ælius Gallus having taken away the
+garrison of Syene, to prosecute his expedition into Arabia, by a
+sudden and unforeseen attack took possession of Syene, Elephanta,
+and Philæ; made the inhabitants prisoners, overthrew the statues of
+Cæsar Augustus; but Petronius, with 10,000 foot and 800 cavalry,
+attacked their army, composed of 30,000 men, and forced them to fly
+to Pselchis, an Ethiopian city: he sent ambassadors to them there,
+to demand what they had taken, and to know what reason they had to
+complain of the governors. They required three days to consider,
+and as, after that time, Petronius did not obtain satisfaction, he
+attacked them, forced them to give battle, and had no difficulty in
+putting to flight men ill disciplined and ill armed, having only
+large shields of unmanufactured ox-hide, hatchets, spears, and
+sabres. Some threw themselves into the town, others fled into the
+desert. Some gained a neighbouring town by swimming across the
+river; among the number were the generals of Candace, who reigned
+over the Ethiopians. This queen, whose courage was beyond her sex,
+was deprived of one eye.</p>
+
+<p>“Petronius crossed the river upon rafts and boats, and made
+prisoners all those who were in the island, and sent them
+immediately to Alexandria; afterwards they attacked Pselchis, and
+took it by assault. From Pselchis, Petronius, crossing the downs
+of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span> sand where the
+army of Cambyses had been swallowed up by the winds, reached
+Premnis, a town in a strong situation, gained it at the first
+attack, and advanced afterwards on Napata, the capital of the
+kingdom of Candace, where her son was then residing. Candace
+occupied a neighbouring place, whence she sent to demand peace,
+offering to restore the prisoners who had been brought from Syene,
+and the statues which they had carried off; but Petronius,
+regardless of these propositions, attacked Napata, which the queen
+and her son had abandoned, razed the town, and led away the
+inhabitants captive.</p>
+
+<p>“He returned with his booty, judging the road beyond to be too
+difficult. He took, however, the precaution to fortify Premnis
+better, leaving there a garrison of 400 men, with provisions for
+two years. Candace advanced, with a considerable force, against
+Premnis, but Petronius came to its relief, and succeeded in
+throwing himself into the town before the arrival of the queen, and
+provided various means of defence for the safety of the place.
+Candace sent ambassadors to Petronius, who ordered them to go to
+Cæsar (Augustus); and as they pretended not to know who Cæsar was,
+and which way they must go, he gave them an escort. These
+ambassadors arrived at Samos, where Cæsar then was. He granted all
+that they desired, and even freed them from the tribute which he
+had imposed upon them.”</p>
+
+<p>We perceive from this account the superiority of the Roman arms.
+The discipline of those celebrated troops would have made them
+irresistible, whatever might have been the inferiority of their
+number, against such wretched soldiers as Strabo represents the
+Ethiopians: but Petronius, when at Napata, would scarcely have
+refrained from proceeding to Meroe, nor eventually would he have
+shut himself up in Premnis, whatever might have been the force of
+Candace, had it consisted of the undisciplined, ill-armed people he
+describes. Augustus does not seem to have despised them, since he
+concluded a peace on their own terms. In my <a href=
+"#c22">account</a> of<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_318">[318]</span> the arts of Meroe, I will mention the
+probable effects of this destructive invasion of Petronius. Pliny
+also mentions this expedition<a id="FNanchor_77"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>, and states that, after
+Pselchis and Premnis, he took also the cities of Aboccis, Phthuris,
+Cambusis, Attenan, and Stadisis, and afterwards Napata; but he
+adds, it was not only the Roman arms which made a wilderness of
+this part of Ethiopia, but the wars with Egypt, alternately ruling
+over, and subject to, that country.</p>
+
+<p>The year of the expedition of Petronius has never been exactly
+ascertained<a id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class=
+"fnanchor">[78]</a>, but according to Dion Cassius (lxiv. s. 7.),
+Augustus went into the East in the year of Rome 734. Therefore, as
+the ambassadors of the Ethiopians found him at Samos, on his way
+into Syria, the expedition of Petronius can only have taken place a
+very short time before that period, that is, about twenty years
+before Christ.</p>
+
+<p>An event of the greatest importance is recorded in the Gospel,
+as having taken place <span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 33. An eunuch,
+a man of great authority under Candace, who had the charge of all
+her treasure, was converted by Philip.<a id=
+"FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a>
+The time at which Philip met the eunuch was subsequent to that of
+Ergamenes, when, as we have seen, a taste for Greek literature was
+spread in Ethiopia; therefore, the Greek language was, without
+doubt, sufficiently known to enable them to read the Old Testament,
+which was then translated into that language. It is not
+extraordinary, that a man who may be supposed to have raised
+himself to his high station of chief eunuch, by superior talent,
+should have perceived the superiority of the Jewish religion to
+that of Amun, nor is it unreasonable to presume that many of the
+Jews visited Ethiopia, and contributed to his conversion. We find
+him, therefore, as a believer in the Jewish religion, undertaking a
+journey of nearly 2000 miles to worship at the holy temple of
+Jerusalem, and engaged, when<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_319">[319]</span> Philip met him, in studying the promises
+held out to the chosen people. We have no reason, I think, to
+assume that, because the sacred writings have only recorded this
+solitary instance, there were not other Ethiopians who had embraced
+the Jewish religion. It is well known that, in the East, through
+every age, the chief eunuch has always been one of the most
+powerful officers at the court; and it is not unreasonable, I
+think, to presume that his influence, joined to the persuasive
+truth of the doctrines of Christianity, may have induced many to
+forsake the ancient worship of the country, which had then,
+perhaps, degenerated, as in Egypt, into gross polytheism. Unless we
+assign a reign of more than fifty years to the Candace of the
+Gospel, she cannot be the sovereign who reigned at the time of the
+expedition of Petronius; but Pliny informs us that several queens
+who reigned in Ethiopia assumed this appellation. Philip met the
+eunuch, riding in his chariot, on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza,
+which is a desert tract. Those deserts, which the traveller is now
+obliged to cross on the fatiguing camel, exposed to the hot sun and
+parching winds, the eunuch, it seems, rode over comfortably in his
+chariot. About the year 330, when Athanasius was Patriarch of
+Alexandria, according to Ludolf<a id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a>, Christianity was
+introduced into Abyssinia, by two youths, Frumentius and Ædisius,
+who were shipwrecked on the coast of the Red Sea; but it was not
+until the time of Theodosius that the Nubians were converted; and,
+according to the Arab writer, Sheref el Edrese, <span class=
+"sc2">A.D.</span> 1153, they were still Christians.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not attempt the laborious, and almost useless, task, of
+endeavouring to trace the history of this country from the time of
+the Romans until the present day. My object has been to lay before
+the reader the most important fragments of history connected with
+the kingdom of Meroe. The capital of Candace was Napata,
+and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[320]</span> not Meroe. The
+latter celebrated metropolis seems to have existed until the age of
+Ptolemy Philadelphus; and at the time of Nero, Pliny describes
+Napata as of no importance. <em>Oppidum id parvum inter prædicta
+solum</em>. After this sad decline of the glory of the Ethiopians,
+we find the wild tribes, whose power was formerly absorbed in the
+superior greatness of Meroe, now acting the principal part. The
+wars of the Blemmyes and the Nubians with each other, and against
+the Roman power, are the most important events afterwards
+transmitted to us; but, as these tribes have left no monuments of
+their civilisation, their names, victories, and defeats, have
+little connection with the history of Meroe. It might be
+interesting to trace the wasting away of that lamp of civilisation
+which had shone once so bright; but such an inquiry would exceed my
+limits, as well as the object prescribed to myself, which was, to
+show the once great political importance of the Ethiopians of
+Meroe. I have said, in my topographical description, that my
+examination of the existing monuments led me to adopt the opinion
+of those who believe the statement of Diodorus, that Meroe was the
+cradle of the arts. I shall, in the following chapters, bring
+forward additional arguments to prove that statement. The
+establishment of this fact will give an additional interest to that
+classical land, which we have seen to be the country of Memnon,
+Zerah, Tirhaka, Ergamenes, &amp;c., and against which the efforts
+of Semiramis, Cambyses, and the Egyptian Pharaohs<a id=
+"FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a>,
+were vainly directed.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span><a id=
+"c21"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<p class="csum">REQUISITES FOR A STATE ENJOYING EXTENSIVE COMMERCE.
+— ADVANTAGEOUS POSITION OF MEROE. — PROBABLE EXTENT OF HER
+COMMERCE. — THE FACILITY AFFORDED TO ITS EXTENSION BY MEANS OF THE
+CAMEL. — COMMERCE OF ARABIA AND INDIA. — ABUNDANCE OF GOLD. — IRON
+AND GUM. — ETHIOPIAN TRIBUTE TO EGYPT. — DESCRIPTION OF A SPLENDID
+ETHIOPIAN PROCESSION AT THEBES. — COMMERCE OF THE INTERIOR. —
+CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF MEROE. — DIMINUTION OF HER AGRICULTURAL
+RESOURCES. — EXHAUSTION OF MINES. — RIVALRY OF EGYPT. — WARS WITH
+EGYPT. — ARAB CONQUEST. — PRESENT COMMERCE.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><em><span class="sc">Commerce of
+Meroe</span>.</em>—The history of nations, and particularly of
+cities, clearly evinces the extraordinary effects of commerce.
+Those countries which have attained to any high degree of power and
+prosperity have been, in a great measure, indebted for them to that
+source of wealth. A wise government, anxious for the welfare of its
+subjects, always affords the utmost encouragement and protection to
+commerce, guarding it against those accidents which endanger its
+security, and when, from unavoidable circumstances, one branch is
+closed, seeks to open other channels to its successful activity. In
+order that a state may carry on extensive commerce, it ought to
+possess an advantageous position, contiguous to other rich
+countries, with the opportunity of becoming an emporium for their
+commodities, and of supplying them with those in which they are
+deficient. She ought also to enjoy abundant internal resources,
+derived from agriculture, manufactures, and mines.</p>
+
+<p>A slight examination of the map of this part of Africa will
+satisfy us that there could not have been a situation, on that
+immense continent, more admirably adapted for commercial
+intercourse<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[322]</span> than
+Meroe. Placed at a short distance only from the conflux of the
+Astaboras and the Nile, she was connected, by the former, with that
+part of Ethiopia now called Abyssinia; and, by the latter, now
+denominated the Bahr el Azruk, or Blue River, with the provinces of
+Sennaar, Fazoukl, and, perhaps, with regions still further to the
+south. It is also highly probable that, by the Bahr el Abiad, or
+White River, the true Nile, she communicated extensively with vast
+districts in the interior of Africa. The distance from these
+rivers, particularly from the Astaboras, to the present ports of
+Massoua (the ancient Adule) and Souakim, on the Red Sea, whence she
+received, perhaps, the productions of Arabia and the Indies, was by
+no means great. Nature seems to have facilitated the intercourse by
+providing her with the ship of the desert—the camel. By its means,
+probably, the commerce of Meroe may have been widely diffused into
+the centre of Africa; to the countries now called Kordofan and
+Darfour, which are only at a short distance from the Nile; nor is
+it improbable that a powerful and enterprising nation, such as the
+Ethiopians then appear to have been, may have extended their
+caravan trade to the kingdoms of Soudan, Bornou, &amp;c., and
+possibly even to the now impervious Timbuctoo.</p>
+
+<p>It may be asked, if the profit which the merchants of Meroe
+could derive from such distant expeditions would repay the cost and
+hazard; but an examination of the expense of transporting
+merchandise on camels will remove that objection. In the estimate
+which I am about to make, of the expenses of sea and land carriage,
+the rates must, of course, be those of the present day; this,
+however, will be to the disadvantage of my argument, as navigation,
+at that remote period, was in a much more imperfect state, and
+consequently more tedious and expensive, than it now is. I shall
+select wool, as a bulky article, and, therefore, more difficult to
+transport by land. I shall suppose a vessel, laden with 1000 bags
+of wool, of 450 lbs. each, and that its<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_323">[323]</span> average passage was thirty days, for which
+the owners received a freight of 1<em>d.</em> per lb., which, I
+believe, is about the usual rate for a voyage of that length.
+Supposing, also, that the average sailing of the vessel, allowing
+for detentions from contrary winds, and for the time occupied in
+loading and reloading, be fifty miles per day, making thus 1500
+miles. Now, the usual load for a camel is 500 lbs., sometimes 600
+lbs., so that 450 lbs. is a very moderate calculation; and at the
+rate the merchandise of the Pasha is now carried down to Cairo, not
+more than sixty days would be necessary to accomplish the above
+distance. They charged me eighteen shillings for twenty days,
+averaging about twenty-five miles per day; therefore the expense of
+the sixty days, at present, would not exceed two pounds fourteen
+shillings; about sixteen shillings more than by water.</p>
+
+<p>In ancient times the expense of labour and camels was not likely
+to differ materially from what it now is; but that of maritime
+conveyance must have been much larger. We know the number of men
+that were necessary to impel the boats, and their system of
+following all the sinuosities of the coasts. Hence the time taken
+to accomplish a voyage of any extent must have been very long. The
+period required by Solomon’s vessels to reach the country of Ophir
+is a proof of the dilatory, and consequently expensive, navigation
+in that age. As I have stated in my account of Dongolah, 2500 loads
+of gum, of 450 rotols each, are carried down to Cairo, that is, a
+distance of about 1800 miles, for 2<em>l.</em>, including all
+expenses; being thirteen per cent. on the value.</p>
+
+<p>This calculation proves, that the cost of land carriage,
+particularly for the short journeys to the Red Sea, Kordofan, and
+Darfour, would be only a slight inconvenience; and even the expense
+of a regular trade to Fezzan and Bornou, by the route which the
+Mamelukes took, would have been no very heavy burden on the
+articles. That on which I have chosen to make this calculation,
+was, as already observed, one of the most
+disadvantageous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[324]</span>
+that could have been selected. The expense of 18<em>s.</em> (and I,
+as a traveller, of course paid the highest price), on conveying,
+for a journey of twenty days, 500 pounds weight of rich Indian
+stuffs, or of Arabian spices, must have been quite trifling.</p>
+
+<p>Meroe, therefore, enjoyed the advantage, not only of a direct
+water communication by the Nile, Bahr el Abiad, Bahr el Azruk, and
+the Astoboras, to an extent of several thousand miles of the vast
+continent of Africa, but also, by means of the ship of the desert,
+had an intercourse with her ports on the Red Sea, and could thence
+open a communication with Arabia, and through it, perhaps, with
+India. Thus, also, she could exchange her merchandise or the rich
+natural productions of the centre of Africa. The circumstance
+mentioned in my topographical description (<a href="#Page_200">page
+200.</a>), that in the reign of the fourth caliph after Mahomet,
+this country was overrun by a powerful tribe from Yemen, and not
+from the Hedjas, as was generally supposed, renders it very
+probable, that that part of Arabia in particular had been deeply
+engaged in the commerce of Meroe. The knowledge thus obtained of
+its former wealth and power, its then entirely decayed condition,
+and the facilities afforded by its ports to invaders, were likely
+to induce a nation, then in full power, and inflamed by religious
+zeal, to invade and lay waste that country to which it was
+formerly, perhaps, tributary, or even subject.</p>
+
+<p>A glance at the map is sufficient to show, that the commerce of
+the Indies must have been much more easily carried on with Meroe
+than with Egypt; for, whether the Ethiopians navigated directly to
+India, or received the produce of that rich country, by the
+caravans and vessels of the Arabians; in either case, she possessed
+superior local advantages over Egypt. Her ports on the Red Sea were
+better, the distance far shorter, and the dangerous navigation of
+that sea in a great measure avoided.</p>
+
+<p>Adule, supposed, by some, to be near the present Arkeko,
+latitude 15° 30′ N., is called, by Pliny (vi. 29.) the very great
+emporium<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[325]</span> of the
+Troglodytes and the Ethiopians, and the commerce chiefly consisted
+in ivory, horns of the rhinoceros, hides of the hippopotamus,
+shells of the tortoise, sphinxes, and slaves.<a id=
+"FNanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a>
+According to Bruce, there are, at the entrance of the Arabian Gulf,
+the ruins of a place, from which, to Arabia Felix, the passage only
+requires a few hours. The direct commerce with Arabia, and sale of
+her manufactures in that populous peninsula, must also have been
+very great; but the commerce of Africa was, doubtless, the
+principal source of the power of Meroe.</p>
+
+<p>The superfluity of gold, which Herodotus (in his account of the
+Ichthyophagi sent as ambassadors, or rather spies, by Cambyses to
+the king of Ethiopia), describes as being applied to such common
+purposes, that even the prisoners were bound in chains of that
+metal, may, perhaps, have been a Greek mode of hyperbolically
+expressing its great abundance. I believe the supply of this metal
+to have been drawn chiefly from the interior. Diodorus says (lib.
+i. 29.), and Strabo repeats the passage, without acknowledging his
+author, “that island contains mines of gold, silver, iron, copper,
+and great abundance of ebony, and various kinds of precious stone,
+και μέταλλα χρυσου τε και αργύρου, &amp;c., but the search of the
+Pasha after them has been fruitless. She may have derived a certain
+portion from mines in her own territories, and even in the island,
+which are now exhausted; but, from the limited traces of such mines
+hitherto discovered, I conceive it more probable that she obtained
+that abundance of the precious metals, not only from the now
+exhausted mines in the Great Nubian desert<a id=
+"FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a>
+(see pages <a href="#Page_23">23.</a> and <a href=
+"#Page_28">28.</a>), but principally from the centre or the south
+of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[326]</span> Africa. The
+Turkish governors now, when they make their expeditions into the
+Habeesh and the negro countries, frequently amass an immense
+quantity of gold; it is said, as much as 2000 or 3000 ounces; and
+before the conquest of the Pasha, I am informed that every peasant
+girl wore gold ornaments to a large amount. The inhabitants of the
+countries south of Sennaar are described to me as still possessing
+great abundance of gold, which must, in fact, be the case, for many
+merchants have told me that there is always plenty in the
+markets.</p>
+
+<p>The exclusive commerce which Meroe must have long enjoyed with
+so considerable a portion of that vast continent, was quite
+sufficient to raise her to a great height of opulence. The
+countries of the interior, if not really conquered by her, would,
+at all events, gladly exchange their gold, and other natural
+productions, for her manufactures and merchandise, which,
+doubtless, far exceeded in quality what they made themselves, or
+could procure elsewhere, being the production of a people more
+advanced in civilisation and the arts; while they, isolated by
+immense deserts from the rest of the world, would be little
+visited, except by the caravans from the metropolis. Gold was,
+probably, not the only return these countries afforded to Meroe.
+Brown has given an account of the productions of Darfour, and, as I
+have said before, 2500 camel loads of gum are sent yearly from
+Kordofan to Cairo. Iron mines have been found both in Kordofan and
+Darfour. I have specimens of this metal from the latter country,
+which is current in the bazaars, like money.<a id=
+"FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a>
+I may here remark, that, not improbably, the Ethiopian<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_327">[327]</span> stone, mentioned by Herodotus
+as employed to make incisions in the bodies, for the purpose of
+embalming and forming them into mummies, was iron procured from
+that country by the Egyptians, who had no mines of their own. Ivory
+is still found abundantly in Abyssinia, and also in the province of
+Fazoukl; and elephants are always found in the territory of the
+Bugara tribe, behind Kordofan. Probably Meroe received many other
+commodities, with which an imperfect knowledge of those remote
+regions prevents us from being acquainted; besides others, perhaps,
+which are no longer produced.</p>
+
+<p>Herodotus (Thalia, 97.) says,—“The Ethiopians on the confines of
+Egypt, whom Cambyses subdued in his expedition, and those who
+inhabit the sacred island of Nysa, celebrate festivals to Bacchus.
+These Ethiopians and their neighbours bring, according to my
+memory, two half measures of pure gold, two hundred (φάλαγγας) long
+round pieces of ebony, five Ethiopian children, and twenty-large
+elephants’ teeth.” This passage reminds me of that magnificent
+procession in a tomb at Thebes, of the time of Thothmes III. Fifty
+figures are represented, exclusive of the Egyptians, painted red;
+six are black, and four of a dark brown, but apparently of the same
+country. These people, not having the Egyptian dress, are doubtless
+Ethiopian, and most of them are so called by the hieroglyphics. The
+splendid presents which they are presenting to the royal owner of
+the tomb, almost exactly correspond with the account just quoted
+from Herodotus.</p>
+
+<p>They consist of ivory, ebony, a most beautiful collection of
+vases, and a variety of animals,—horses, cows, the giraffe,
+capricorn, leopards, cynocephali, greyhounds, &amp;c. Among a
+gorgeous pile of offerings appear heaps of gold and silver, skins,
+precious wood, and indigo. In the same procession are also
+thirty-seven white people, with very nearly the features of Jews,
+although many, from the hieroglyphics, consider them to be
+Scythians. Some of the latter are leading a chariot and horses, an
+elephant, young<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[328]</span>
+children, and one of them a bear; they are also carrying a variety
+of elegant vases. I conceive these presents, with the exception,
+perhaps, of the bear, to be chiefly from Ethiopia, and from the
+richness and elegance of the form of the vases, the abundance of
+gold and silver, and the curious manner in which the latter is
+wrought into the form of the heads of animals, we have the very
+strongest proofs of the exquisite taste, knowledge, and wealth of
+the Ethiopians: but as this procession is so extremely interesting,
+so intimately connected with Ethiopia, and is, at the same time,
+one of the most gorgeous and magnificent paintings that adorn the
+walls of Thebes, I have selected it from my Egyptian portfolio,
+conceiving that it will give great additional value to this work to
+publish it with all the colours, which still exist, almost quite
+fresh. The hieroglyphics are unfortunately very much defaced, but
+sufficient remain to distinguish in several instances the names of
+the people and that of the King, Thothmes III., who reigned about
+1500 B.C.</p>
+
+<p>Parts <a href="#pl46">I.</a> <a href="#pl47">II.</a> <a href=
+"#pl48">III.</a> and <a href="#pl49">IV.</a> form the whole of this
+procession; they are drawn to a scale of two inches to a foot, so
+that the reader may join them together, if he thinks proper. I will
+give a detailed description of them according to the plates. The
+first figure in <a href="#pl46">Part I.</a> has in one hand an
+ornamented vase, containing perhaps dates or some other dried
+fruit, in the other, apparently, an ivory club, and a string of
+precious stones hanging from his arm. The second figure has a
+couple of feathers in one hand, which are evidently those of the
+ostrich, from the circumstance of the vase he carries in the other
+containing the eggs. The third and fourth in this row bear a tree.
+The fifth carries a bowl, apparently of dates, in one hand, and in
+the other a couple of ostrich feathers, and a cord to which a
+leopard is attached. The sixth man has a gold or gilded vase in his
+hand, and has also charge of a monkey. The seventh bears a log of
+ebony on his shoulder, and is also leading a capricorn, an animal
+which abounds near Mount Sinai, and also, I believe, in the
+Bahiouda desert. The eighth has a<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_329">[329]</span> log of ebony on his shoulder. The ninth,
+tenth, and last, are negroes, which may be distinguished from their
+colour and features. They have blue skull caps<a id=
+"FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a>
+and cinctures, with blue and red borders around their waists. The
+two last are carrying elephants’ teeth, and one of them has a
+string of precious stones, and the other the skin of a leopard
+turned inside out. The other negro is carrying a log of ebony, and,
+as will be observed, the light-coloured veins in that wood are
+distinctly marked.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl46"><a href="images/pl46_large.jpg"><img src=
+'images/pl46.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<p class="ipubl">From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</p>
+
+<p class="cp4">GRAND PROCESSION.<em>PART 1.</em></p>
+
+<p class="cp2">From a Tomb at Thebes.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Printed in Colours by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The second row of figures in this plate are still more curious.
+They are called Ethiopians. The cinctures and boots of each
+individual are of a different pattern, rivalling in variety and
+elegance the chintz morning dresses of our modern belles. These
+Ethiopians have their hair dressed in curls above their foreheads,
+and ringlets hanging down on their shoulders. The first is carrying
+a piece of an elephant’s tooth and a vase in his hand; the others,
+eleven in number, are bearing elegant descriptions of vases,
+apparently of gold and silver; these, although unadorned with
+figures and mythological subjects, are most exquisite in form, and
+I am sure the reader will admit their decorations to be most
+beautiful. Those carried by the third, fifth, and tenth figures of
+the second row of this plate, apparently contain flowers; whether
+these are artificial decorations of the vases, or really represent
+plants,—varieties, perhaps, of the lotus peculiar to Ethiopia—is a
+question I cannot decide. The necklaces which the third figure is
+bearing are very elegant, apparently of lapis lazuli and gold. The
+elegant vase the seventh figure is carrying, is either of ivory or
+silver.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[330]</span>The third row in
+this plate contains a most interesting group of Ethiopians. The
+first figure, bearing a log of ebony and a monkey on his shoulder,
+is conducting a drove of seven oxen. I might have taken the liberty
+to restore the forms of the latter; but, as will be seen by the
+plate, the heads and fore-legs only are still remaining, showing
+the curious and beautiful manner in which the Egyptians grouped
+their cattle. Above the oxen is a curious group of dogs, not very
+unlike the greyhounds that at present exist in Ethiopia. The next
+group is very interesting; two Ethiopians are conducting a giraffe,
+admirably drawn. A mischievous monkey is climbing up its neck. The
+way in which he is conducted, with cords attached to his feet, is
+curious, and the cincture of the Ethiopians leading him is formed
+apparently of the skin of a giraffe, they being, perhaps,
+inhabitants of the deserts where the animal is found. The next, or
+fourth figure, is leading a monkey, and bearing a vase full of
+ostrich eggs and feathers. The fifth figure is a negro, carrying a
+tooth of an elephant and skins; he has a blue cap. I do not believe
+that such caps were then worn, but that their hair is represented
+blue, to distinguish it from the colour of their faces, which was
+black; otherwise, from the same colours joining, it would have
+appeared as if they wore no hair at all. The Egyptian border is a
+great finish to the painting. The broad blue streak above the
+top-line represents the heavens. The ground colour, which is
+exactly the tint of the original, adds to the richness of the
+painting, and throws out the white.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#pl47">Part II.</a> is a continuation of the three rows
+last described. The four figures in the top row are dark-coloured,
+but not quite black. This is one of the very few instances in which
+the Egyptians preserved any degree of difference between the usual
+red colour and the black of the negroes. The pile of gorgeous
+offerings in the centre of this plate is magnificent; the first row
+contains two obelisks, perhaps of granite, beautifully
+decorated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[331]</span> vases
+containing rings, which, from the hieroglyphics, we find are of
+gold, sealed bags of the same, and precious stones, and heaps of
+grain, and apparently fruit. The second row contains still richer
+offerings: in the first line are two very prettily decorated vases,
+laden with ingots of silver, and an elegant tray, on which are
+rings, which, from their hieroglyphics, must be also of silver; and
+another vase, containing, I think, indigo. The second line
+comprises some very elegant vases, apparently of gold and silver,
+and one blue glass bottle: the streaks of yellow in the latter are
+curious. The third line includes beautifully-shaped vases, which,
+from the hieroglyphics, are either full of silver and gold, or
+actually made of those precious metals; and, what is very
+remarkable in this line, there are several heads of animals, which,
+from the hieroglyphics, and also from the colouring, are evidently
+of silver and gold. There is the head of a capricorn, in gold; one
+of an antelope, and another of a jackall, in silver; and one of a
+leopard, and of a curious description of bird, apparently a cock,
+in gold.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl47"><a href="images/pl47_large.jpg"><img src=
+'images/pl47.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<p class="ipubl">From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</p>
+
+<p class="cp4">GRAND PROCESSION.<em>PART 2.</em></p>
+
+<p class="cp2">From a Tomb at Thebes.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Printed in Colours by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The third row is equally rich. In the first line there are rings
+of gold, and bags, which the reader will remark in the plate, are
+also sealed; ostrich feathers, logs of ebony, and a cynocephalus,
+perched comically in the centre. The lower line contains elephants’
+teeth, a beautiful skin of a leopard, ingots and rings of gold, and
+sealed bags of precious stones. At the end of each row is a scribe,
+writing in his book with his pen an inventory of the different
+offerings; behind the latter are gentlemen, perhaps of the
+household of the king, with their white wands of office. All the
+hieroglyphics above the figure are in the original of a blue
+colour, as represented, with the exception of the two lines of
+large hieroglyphics in this plate, forming part of the tablet
+before a figure of the king, seated; but, as his majesty, in this
+instance, is very plainly attired, I have not considered it
+necessary to give a drawing of him.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#pl48">Part III.</a> contains two rows of figures
+immediately underneath<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_332">[332]</span> the three rows of <a href="#pl46">Part
+I.</a> The people represented in the first row of this plate are
+all white, with blue eyes, red hair, and pointed beards: they are
+dressed in long robes, open in front, like the caftans of the
+Turks. The first group is curious, exhibiting one of these men
+leading a bear, and having on his shoulders a tooth of an elephant,
+while behind him is a representation of that animal. The features
+of these figures resemble those of the Jews: their complexion, and
+one of them having a long glove in his hand, certainly indicate
+their coming from a cold country. The elephant must be from
+Ethiopia: if, therefore, they are the Scythians, as some suppose,
+they must be employed as slaves bearing the produce of Ethiopia. It
+is possible that they are natives of the mountains of Abyssinia,
+who are now so much whiter than the natives of the valley of the
+Nile of the same latitude; but I think it far more probable that
+they are white slaves of the king of Ethiopia, sent to the Egyptian
+king as the most acceptable present. The same people are leading an
+elegant car and a pair of horses. The plate will show their
+beautiful manner of drawing that animal, almost equal to the
+Grecian. The lowest row represents the Egyptians leading two rows
+of another race of white men. They are without beards, have blue
+hair and eyes, and are dressed in long gowns: from their position,
+they must be either strings of prisoners, or recruits drilling for
+the army: behind them are their wives, curiously dressed, carrying
+and leading their children. The latter are painted red, as if born
+in Ethiopia, whither their parents had been brought prisoners. The
+Egyptian border at the bottom of this plate heightens considerably
+the effect of the painting.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl48"><a href="images/pl48_large.jpg"><img src=
+'images/pl48.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<p class="ipubl">From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</p>
+
+<p class="cp4">GRAND PROCESSION.<em>PART 3.</em></p>
+
+<p class="cp2">From a Tomb at Thebes.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Printed in Colours by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><a href="#pl49">Part IV.,</a> the last compartment of this grand
+procession, represents, in the upper row, five of the
+Jewish-looking figures, with their aquiline noses, bearing large
+vases. The second bears an elegant bow and quiver full of arrows;
+the third has a long glove in his hand; and the fourth, perhaps, an
+ivory bottle. The offerings in the centre are almost similar to
+those I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[333]</span>
+described before. There are some bundles of reeds, and two vases of
+a blue article, perhaps indigo. The lowest row contains a group of
+seven male Ethiopian slaves, recruits I conceive for the army;
+behind them are their wives and children; one of the latter in a
+pannier suspended from the head of its mother. The figures in this
+row are not, like those above, bearing presents; the Egyptian
+scribe at the end is, however, represented, as in the other
+instances, writing on his scroll, which confirms the idea that they
+are slaves forming part of the tribute to the great Egyptian
+king.</p>
+
+<p>Athenæus (see lib. v.), in his description of the festival given
+by Ptolemy Philadelphus to the Alexandrians, mentions, that in the
+procession there was a number of Ethiopians, carrying the teeth of
+600 elephants. Others bore two thousand blocks of ebony, and some
+were loaded with vessels of gold and silver, containing the finest
+gold. Besides these, there were 2,400 dogs, men bearing trees, and
+a number of animals, both beasts and birds, parroquets, and other
+birds of Ethiopia, carried in cages; 130 Ethiopian sheep, 300
+Arabian, and 20 from the island of Nubia; 26 Indian buffaloes,
+white as snow, and 8 from Ethiopia; three brown bears, and a white
+one, 14 leopards, 16 panthers, 4 lynxes, 1 giraffe, and a
+rhinoceros of Ethiopia. The reader has only to refer to my drawings
+to perceive how admirably the procession, represented on the walls
+of this tomb, erected at the time of Thothmes III., considering it
+also as a pictorial representation, agrees with the one described
+by Athenæus, and the tribute mentioned by Herodotus as paid to the
+Persians 1000 years after the reign of Thothmes.</p>
+
+<p>In the voyage of Scylax round the world mention is made of the
+Ethiopians. Although the account is rather confused, particularly
+as to their situation, the description agrees so remarkably, in
+many instances, with the people represented in these plates, that I
+cannot refrain from giving part of it. “The nation whom they
+traffic with are the Ethiopians, who sell them skins of stags and
+lions, precious stones, skins and teeth of elephants, and
+droves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[334]</span> of domestic
+animals. The richest furniture of these Ethiopians consists in
+<em>carved vases</em>, and of bottles of ivory. They wear beards
+and <em>long hair</em>; they are the most beautiful men on the
+earth: he who has the finest figure is chosen their chief. They are
+excellent horsemen, and very skilful archers. They drink milk, but
+also wine, which they make in great quantities from the vines that
+they cultivate. They have a large town, where the Phœnicians carry
+their merchandise. Some pretend that the Ethiopians inhabit a vast
+territory, extending from Egypt to the sea.” The skins, precious
+stones, ivory, herds of cattle, carved vases, ivory bottles, long
+hair, use of the bow and arrows, agree in an extraordinary manner
+with the representations in these plates. The large town, to which
+the Phœnicians traded, was, perhaps, Meroe.</p>
+
+<p>This grand procession may perhaps be merely a representation of
+an amicable present made on the part of the Ethiopians to the king
+Thothmes; but as that Egyptian monarch waged war against Ethiopia,
+built the temple of Semneh, and left his name in an inscription on
+the rocks at Toumbos, this painting (particularly as it is depicted
+in the most conspicuous part of his tomb) may reasonably be
+supposed to represent either a tribute from the conquered regions,
+or the price at which Ethiopia obtained a peace.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterplate iw11">
+<figure id="pl49"><a href="images/pl49_large.jpg"><img src=
+'images/pl49.jpg' alt=''></a>
+<p class="ipubl">From a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins
+Esq<sup>r</sup>.</p>
+
+<p class="cp4">GRAND PROCESSION.<em>PART 4.</em></p>
+
+<p class="cp2">From a Tomb at Thebes.</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Published by Longman, Rees & C<sup>o</sup>.
+April 6<sup>th</sup>. 1835.</em>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ipubb"><em>Printed in Colours by C. Hullmandel.</em>
+</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>When Egypt grew into importance, before the commencement of
+those wars which were so fatal to the prosperity of the kingdom of
+Meroe, her colonies in that country would be a great source of
+wealth; receiving the manufactures of the mother country, and
+sending back in return the rich productions of the more northern
+valley of the Nile. The Bahr el Abiad and the Bahr el Azruk would
+enable her merchants to carry their manufactures among the wild
+natives of the interior. It is now impossible to say how far that
+commerce extended in that direction. The difference of religion,
+supposing it to have existed, was probably not very great, nor does
+history lead us to suppose, that there existed the same bigotry
+which now separates the Mahometan<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_335">[335]</span> from the Pagan. The former religion,
+particularly at its commencement, was most intolerant; its
+believers being almost bound to propagate it with the sword. This
+will account for the little communication which, according to the
+tradition of the country, has existed for several centuries between
+the present inhabitants of Shendy, that is, Meroe, and the still
+wilder tribes of the interior. The Arab princes of this country
+made excursions into the interior, not as merchants, to exchange
+the produce of the land, and diffuse the seeds of knowledge and
+civilisation, but with arms in their hands, to force their weaker
+neighbours to embrace their faith, and, in later times, to drag
+their children into captivity; but we cannot suppose that a wise
+and civilised people could have adopted so impolitic a course. The
+account given by the historians of the different sects which
+existed, even in the kingdom of Meroe, prove that toleration was
+then allowed.</p>
+
+<p>Meroe, therefore, possessed local advantages far greater than
+have been enjoyed by many great commercial states; and I now hope
+to show, that her internal resources, until exhausted or decayed,
+were sufficient to insure a continuation of that prosperity. Her
+great superiority over other states would consist, not only in the
+productions of the soil, but principally in her standing singly
+pre-eminent in civilisation. That science and knowledge of the
+arts, when applied to commerce, enriched her citizens, and enabled
+them to indulge their taste for luxury, for architectural ornament,
+and to encourage her artists. What was of greater importance, it
+would afford to many the means of devoting their lives to the
+pursuit of literature; the same activity would, of course, to a
+certain degree, be applied to the improvement of her manufactures,
+and the production of useful and ornamental articles, for which the
+natives of the interior would gladly give in exchange that precious
+metal, which is only valuable for what it procures.</p>
+
+<p>My article on the state of the arts at Meroe will show
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[336]</span> skill and
+science possessed by her inhabitants; which, with their wealth and
+commercial habits, would be employed in useful and elegant
+inventions, with their monopoly of which their uncivilised
+neighbours would be unable to interfere. I have stated in my
+topographical description of the pyramids of Meroe, how the
+evidence of all travellers—that a great part of the soil of Egypt,
+and the whole of the Delta, has been brought down from Ethiopia by
+the Nile,—agrees with the testimony of the historians, particularly
+of Diodorus, and the information they received in a country, the
+natives of which were more likely to conceal than invent such an
+account.</p>
+
+<p>The first great source of the power of Meroe was probably the
+extreme fertility of her soil, and the abundance of her harvests.
+Those banks, which are now in a great many instances entirely
+covered by the sands of the desert, were doubtless then overspread
+with that rich soil which astonishes the traveller in Egypt, and
+her country was resorted to perhaps by the natives of less favoured
+climes, as the richest under the sun.<a id=
+"FNanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>
+With regard to her mines, notwithstanding what Diodorus says, I
+suspect, as formerly stated, that this great source of her wealth
+was derived more from the centre of Africa; but it is true that the
+interior of the island has never yet been fully explored. If any
+remains of those riches now exist, access to them is almost
+impossible, at all events for an individual, in consequence of the
+number of ferocious and terrible animals with which that tract is
+infested.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[337]</span>I have described
+Meroe, such as she must have been in the zenith of her
+greatness,—the emporium of the commerce of interior Africa, the
+cradle and early seat of arts, science, and civilisation. Such was
+she in the height of her prosperity; but, as the sun which rises
+must set, and nation must succeed nation in the career of
+improvement, I must now endeavour to account for her gradual
+decline, and the chain of circumstances which finally caused her
+name to be erased from the list of kingdoms. The first cause
+perhaps was the failure of her internal resources, in consequence
+of the Nile carrying down yearly to Egypt a portion of her richest
+soil, and the deserts encroaching on her plains. She thus became
+dependent on foreign countries for an adequate supply of those
+necessaries, of which her territory perhaps formerly produced a
+superfluity. Those mines also, whether on her own territory or
+farther in the interior, which furnished such an abundance of the
+precious metal, would in course of time become exhausted; or
+accidental circumstances might interrupt her commercial intercourse
+with the countries which supplied them. Her inhabitants, finding
+the soil swept away by the Nile, would follow the course of the
+river, and establish themselves in Egypt. The latter country,
+besides the extraordinary advantages afforded by it to the
+cultivators, would, by instructions received from these Ethiopian
+colonies, almost immediately rise to an equal rank of civilisation
+and knowledge. We have seen that the same religion, the same
+mysteries, the same writing, and the same style of architecture,
+existed in the two countries. The land of Egypt would increase
+every year in fertility, and the tree of knowledge, planted in that
+genial soil, would spread wide its branches. The activity too of a
+more northern region, and the energies of a less corrupted nation,
+would raise the people of Egypt above those of Ethiopia, then
+perhaps become more luxurious, and consequently more indolent.</p>
+
+<p>In the earliest ages, Meroe might have profited by a commerce
+with her Egyptian colonies; the markets of the latter
+country<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[338]</span> might, for
+a short time, have been supplied with produce and manufactures of
+Arabia and the Indies, from the mother country; but it is not to be
+supposed that the Egyptians would have been so deficient in
+intelligence, and the Arabians in common sense, as not to perceive
+the advantage of a direct communication.<a id=
+"FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a>
+The Egyptian ports of Myos Hormos and Berenice, and others,
+possessed also the advantage of being less distant from the river,
+and afforded to the Arabians the means of supplying rich and
+populous Egypt with the productions of the Indies and the
+peninsula. Philostratus (2 de Vitâ Apollonii, l. iii. c. 35.) says,
+that a certain prince named Eythus (who is supposed by some, but, I
+conceive, erroneously, to be Esau) dispossessed the Egyptians of
+their trade in the Red Sea, making a law, that they should not
+navigate that sea with more than one merchant ship at a time; but
+the Egyptians built one of immense size, to supply the place of
+several. Their trade at that time could not have been very
+extensive, if it could be carried on by any one vessel; but
+perhaps, as in the time of Joseph, who (see Genesis xxxvii. 25.)
+was sold by his brethren to a company of Ishmaelites, the
+descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar, 1730 B.C.,
+travelling from Gilead, with their camels, bearing spices and myrrh
+for the Egyptian market, they had a considerable land commerce with
+the Arabians: the caravan I have just alluded to must, by the
+nature of the produce, have come from Arabia.</p>
+
+<p>The Jews, in the time of Solomon, carried on a great trade in
+the Red Sea, and imported gold from Ophir. “And Huram sent him, by
+the hands of his servants, ships, and servants that had knowledge
+of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir,
+and took thence 450 talents of gold, and brought them to King
+Solomon.” (2 Chron. viii. 18.)—“And the Queen of Sheba (chap. ix.
+9.) gave King Solomon 120 talents of gold, and of<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_339">[339]</span> spices great abundance, and
+precious stones.” And in the same chapter, 13th and 14th verses, we
+find that Solomon received, “in one year, 666 talents of gold,
+beside that which chapmen and merchants brought; and all the kings
+of Arabia brought gold and silver to Solomon.” These passages are
+important, as showing one particular district of Ethiopia, where
+gold was found in abundance. The gold brought by the chiefs of
+Arabia, I conceive not to have been the natural production of that
+country, but the fruit of their industry and commerce with the
+Ethiopians. As Solomon was son-in-law to the Pharaoh of Egypt, the
+latter was, probably, not excluded from the commerce. Ezekiel
+mentions Ethiopia as one of the upholders of Egypt; and (chapter
+xxx. verse 9.) he says, “In that day shall messengers go forth from
+me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain
+shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt.” The expression
+“careless,” I conceive, alludes to the security which they, no
+doubt, felt in their power, and the natural protection their rocky
+cataracts afforded them for resisting an invader. Their being
+afraid of ships almost leads me to suppose that they could have had
+little or no navy, or wherefore that apprehension? for there is no
+doubt that their land army, even in the most distant times, was
+very great. I have shown, in my historical chapter, that Zerah, the
+Ethiopian, marched with a host of a thousand thousand, and three
+hundred chariots.</p>
+
+<p>But these remarks regard chiefly the navigation, for whether the
+produce was brought in the vessels of Eythus (whom I conceive to
+have been an Arabian king), of the Jews, or of the Tyrians (Strabo,
+c. 16.), or Syrians (<em>Id.</em> 17.), and eventually by the ships
+of the Ptolemies and Cæsars, little affects the question, as Egypt
+was, in every case, the emporium of the merchandise. That
+enterprising spirit and activity which always characterise a rising
+nation, would lead the Egyptians into the markets of the centre of
+Africa, and thus inflict another blow on the prosperity of Meroe.
+We know what Alexandria became, from the immense commerce with
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[340]</span> East which it
+continued to enjoy, notwithstanding the impediments occasioned by
+the ignorance and barbarism of its governments, until the
+Portuguese discovery of the passage by the Cape. After that event,
+which led the commerce of the Indies into another channel,
+Alexandria and Kosseer dwindled into obscurity, having lost, as
+Meroe had previously done, that great source of wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Strabo says, quoting from Cicero, that Auletes, the father of
+Cleopatra, drew from Egypt 12,500 talents, more than two millions
+and a half sterling. Diodorus only calculated the revenue at half
+that sum. The observations which Strabo afterwards makes are
+important. “If,” says he, “the revenue was so considerable, under
+the negligent and bad rule of that prince, what will it be now that
+it is governed with so much care, and that the commerce of the
+Indies and of the country of the Troglodites is increased so much;
+for formerly,” said he, “they counted only twenty vessels, who
+dared to advance beyond the entrance of the Arabian Gulf, whilst
+now considerable fleets sail to the Indies and to the extremities
+of Ethiopia, whence the most precious merchandise is brought into
+Egypt, and thence sent into other countries. In this manner they
+have a double tax on the imports and exports, in proportion to the
+value of the merchandise;” and he adds, that “Alexandria is the
+principal depôt for their merchandise, and the place of commerce
+which furnishes other countries with it in great abundance.” This
+account is curious, as it shows that, until the time of Strabo, the
+Egyptian trade with the Indians was not very extensive: its
+increase would naturally diminish the commercial relations of
+Meroe.<a id="FNanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" class=
+"fnanchor">[88]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is also remarkable, that about the time when Meroe began to
+decline, Egypt was most famous for her commerce. Psammetichus, who
+reigned six centuries and a half before our era, almost immediately
+after the expulsion or retirement of the Ethiopian dynasty, gained
+great wealth by trade before he was King of Egypt.<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_341">[341]</span> The richest and most
+magnificent tombs of private individuals, now remaining at Thebes,
+belong chiefly to that era, proving a degree of opulence unequalled
+at any other period.</p>
+
+<p>I have shown, in my historical chapter, that, notwithstanding
+the diminution of the trade of Meroe with India and Arabia, she was
+still able to resist the armies of the Egyptians. The pyramids of
+Geezah and the tombs of Beni Hassan are proofs of the great wealth
+and power of the latter, even so early as the 16th dynasty; and
+during the 18th dynasty the Kings Thothmes, Amunoph, &amp;c.
+invaded Ethiopia. Yet, notwithstanding the power of those princes,
+it seems, according to the evidence of Herodotus<a id=
+"FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a>,
+and of the monuments themselves, that Rameses II. was the only
+Egyptian king who subdued Ethiopia; but a hero sprang up in the 8th
+century, who, in return, conquered Egypt. Shabak, and his
+successors Shabatok and Tahraka, reigned over that country
+forty-four years. The power of Meroe must have been very great,
+even at that period, to have enabled her armies to make such an
+important conquest, and extend her sway from Meroe to the
+Mediterranean. It is also wonderful that it should have been so
+little impaired by the diminution of her commerce, and the decline
+of her internal resources. I have described the power of the
+priests, whose influence was so great at the time of Ergamenes, who
+was contemporary to Ptolemy, that that prince, who had received a
+liberal education, had recourse to the violent measure of attacking
+and slaying them at their altars. The chief cause of the decline of
+Meroe was probably the injury this theocratic government had
+inflicted on the country; for we cannot suppose that the people
+would have submitted to the destruction of the ministers of their
+religion, had there not been some deep causes of complaint, and a
+general consciousness that their mismanagement and bigotry had
+plunged the country into distress. The lamentable decline of the
+arts at this period proves that the resources of the country
+were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[342]</span> entirely
+occupied in maintaining a force sufficient to defend it from
+invasion, and its diminished commerce and wealth offered less means
+of encouragement to artists. War, not the fine arts and
+intellectual cultivation, was become the necessary occupation of
+the nation. The resources of Meroe, even for some time afterwards,
+must have been considerable, that their Queen Candace could check
+the Roman arms; but the expedition of Petronius, already described,
+ruining all the country between Syene and Napata, and destroying
+the cities which had escaped from the previous desolating war
+between the Ethiopians and the Egyptians, must have inflicted a
+deep blow on the prosperity of Meroe. That queen, indeed, followed
+the Roman army in its retreat, and finally, drove them from
+Premnis; but the long series of wars would, of course, hasten the
+decline of a country whose internal resources had long been
+gradually diminishing. Pliny says<a id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a>, that at the time of
+Candace, which name for many years the Ethiopian queens had
+assumed, there were few edifices in the city of Meroe; but, after
+mentioning the holy shrine of Hammon, and the small temple and
+chapels on the road, bearing testimony to the power of the
+Ethiopians, he describes the island as once of great renown, having
+an army of 250,000 men, and 400,000 artificers. The number of
+artificers, supposing even that in that class are comprised
+artists, craftsmen, manufacturers, and all labourers not
+agriculturists, is enormous, and proves a vast degree of industry
+and civilisation.</p>
+
+<p>Even in the eighth century, after the country had become
+Christian, her monarchs were so powerful, that it was asserted,
+about the year 737, that the kings of Nubia and Ethiopia could
+bring into the field 100,000 horse, and as many camels. When
+Christianity was spread over Ethiopia, the painter’s and sculptor’s
+skill would be no longer necessary to make representations of their
+gods but the ministers of the gospel at that time were more
+occupied in schismatical disputes, and in making converts to
+their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[343]</span> peculiar and
+often fanciful tenets, than in propagating the pure principles of
+their religion, dispelling the darkness of superstition, and
+advancing the civilisation and prosperity of the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>According to the tradition which I learned at Dongolah, in the
+reign of the fourth caliph after Mahomet this country was conquered
+by the Arabs, and the inhabitants blended with the conquerors, who
+forced them to become Mussulmen, or drove them out of the country,
+probably into Abyssinia.</p>
+
+<p>After all that has been said, those who view the present rude
+and degraded state of this territory may feel a difficulty in
+believing that it ever could be so enlightened and flourishing as I
+have now described it. They ought, however, to consider, that it is
+not more surprising that Meroe, under the uncivilised and ignorant
+dominion of the Arabs, would lose all knowledge of the arts, than
+that the little island of Rhodes, once eminent for power,
+civilisation, and commerce, should now, although not, like Meroe,
+deprived of her rich soil, be equally ignorant and barbarous.
+Syracuse, from the same cause, had risen to such a height of
+civilisation and power, as to be able to resist the vast efforts of
+the Athenians; and finally, with little assistance, inflict a
+deadly blow on the prosperity of the city of Minerva. What is
+Tunis, compared to Carthage? Where are Tyre and Sidon, the cities
+of Phœnicia? If it was necessary, numerous similar examples might
+be adduced, of the vicissitudes to which kingdoms and cities are
+liable. Sufficient reasons have been assigned for the downfall of
+Meroe. The failure of her commerce; her rich soil carried away, or
+swallowed up by the deserts, and the consequent diminution of her
+population; her mines exhausted, and the active rivalry of a nation
+finally more powerful; the long and ruinous wars with Egypt; and at
+last the Arabian conquest, swept away every trace of her affluence
+and civilisation: the invaders, with a brand in one hand, burning
+her libraries<a id="FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class=
+"fnanchor">[91]</a> and edifices, and in the other the sword,
+forcing her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[344]</span>
+subjects to embrace a different faith, and renounce the arts and
+knowledge of their ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>In a country where the arts are now totally unknown, and which
+is become little better than a desert, it is not surprising to find
+commerce reduced to the mere exchange of the most absolute
+necessaries of life, and a few trifling superfluities. Small
+caravans occasionally go from Shendy to Abyssinia. Sometimes the
+rulers of the latter country do not permit them to enter their
+dominions, and civil wars not unfrequently put an entire stop to
+the trade; but when, as is generally the case, the merchants
+succeed in procuring an entrance, they inform me that the profits
+on their Cairo goods are enormous. They receive in exchange a
+little ivory; gold, the value of which is several dollars per ounce
+lower there than in Egypt; a very fine species of cotton scarf,
+much esteemed and worn by the Abyssinian women in the Turkish
+harems, and the Abyssinian coffee; which, although not equal to the
+Mocha, is almost the only kind drunk in Nubia: but their chief
+return is in slaves. The wars which generally distract that
+unfortunate country furnish to each state abundance of these
+victims, which, like cattle, are exchanged with the merchant for
+the luxuries of Egypt: few are the Turks who have not Abyssinian
+girls in their harems, and I have seen numerous eunuchs brought
+from that country. It is horrid to think that beings called
+Christians should be guilty of such enormities; but there is no
+doubt of the fact. The slaves, whether girls or boys, by compulsion
+or inclination, invariably become Mahometans.</p>
+
+<p>A caravan also occasionally goes to Souakim, where they get
+India stuffs, Mocha coffee, and a great part of the spices, the use
+of which is so general. Small caravans also go to Kordofan and
+Darfour. In the former of these countries the Pasha of Egypt
+monopolises the richest produce, as gum, ivory, and ostrich
+feathers; but Kordofan is the chief mart of the negro slaves. The
+jealousy of the King of Darfour against any persons going or coming
+from the dominions of the Pasha of Egypt, at whose power
+he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[345]</span> trembles,
+prevents that commerce being now very extensive. The merchants are
+very illiterate, and in general extremely debauched. Even their
+interest does not check their dissoluteness, or protect the honour
+of their poor Abyssinian female slaves. The supply of gold is very
+much diminished: some, however, is still found, and of the finest
+quality; but in every direction the caravans regard slaves as the
+most advantageous exchange for their goods. They drive them like
+cattle over the burning sands, and, what I have been an eye-witness
+to, over the bones of their brethren which lie bleaching in the
+desert. The ingenuity of their masters seems to be exercised, not
+in alleviating their pains, but in devising how to economise their
+own purses, by discovering on how little and how coarse food their
+victims can exist, and what extent of fatigue and suffering they
+can endure, and still remain saleable. In the district which we
+have seen to have been once the emporium of the East, there remains
+only this miserable traffic. Instead of palaces and splendid
+edifices, there are now only rude and miserable huts. Of the power,
+civilisation, and wealth of Meroe, not a vestige remains to
+corroborate the testimony of the historians but a few small
+temples, and the splendid sepulchres of her departed kings.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[346]</span><a id=
+"c22"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<p class="sch">ON THE ARTS OF MEROE.</p>
+
+<p class="csum">AFFLUENCE WOULD INTRODUCE A TASTE FOR THE ARTS. —
+THE HEAT OF THE CLIMATE FAVOURABLE TO SEDENTARY PURSUITS. — PRIVATE
+EMULATION WOULD AFFORD FURTHER ENCOURAGEMENT. — DESIRE OF
+DISTINGUISHING THEMSELVES BY INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS. — TESTIMONY OF
+DIODORUS THAT KNOWLEDGE WAS VERY GENERALLY DIFFUSED IN ETHIOPIA. —
+THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE THE OLDEST SPECIMENS OF ETHIOPIAN ART. —
+CIVILISATION OF THE ETHIOPIANS PROVED BY THEIR MONUMENTAL EDIFICES.
+— THE ETHIOPIANS INVENTORS OF THE ARCH. — EGYPTIAN ARCHES. —
+ETHIOPIAN SCULPTURE. — PROBABLE CAUSE OF THEIR PECULIAR STYLE. —
+REASONS FOR PRESERVING IT. — DEFERENCE OF THE PTOLEMIES AND ROMANS
+FOR THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE EGYPTIANS. — PLEASING EFFECT OF THE
+EGYPTIAN AND ETHIOPIAN SCULPTURE. — ADMIRABLE MANNER OF DRAWING
+ANIMALS, HIEROGLYPHICS, AND THEIR TASTE IN ORNAMENTS. — COLOURING
+ON ETHIOPIAN SCULPTURE. — THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARTS DESCENDED FROM
+ETHIOPIA. — COMPLEXION OF THE ANCIENT AND PRESENT INHABITANTS. —
+ACCURACY OF DIODORUS’ ACCOUNT PROVED BY THE MONUMENTS. — TASTE FOR
+THE ARTS IN A NATION INSEPARABLE FROM OTHER INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS.
+— WORKS OF THE ETHIOPIAN KING TIRHAKA. — REVIEW OF THE ANTIQUITIES
+IN ETHIOPIA. — FOLLY OF COMPARING THE PRESENT WITH THE ANCIENT
+INHABITANTS OF THE VALLEY OF THE NILE.</p>
+
+<p class="nind"><span class="sc">It</span> has appeared in the
+preceding chapters, that the kingdom of Meroe was the emporium of
+the interior of Africa, and from her rich productions, and the
+abundance of her precious metals, was resorted to by the
+inhabitants of the regions in her vicinity. This influx of
+population would naturally oblige many to employ their capital and
+talent in other pursuits besides commerce. Every branch of industry
+would gradually improve; a rich and luxurious people would
+constantly desire new objects to please the fancy, and contribute
+to the enjoyment of life. The son of the merchant, who had earned
+great wealth, would, as in our days, be able to reap the fruits of
+that industry. Some might indulge in foolish extravagance; but
+others would place their enjoyment in the encouragement of the
+arts, or in those studies which gratify<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_347">[347]</span> and enrich the mind, and, at the same time,
+tend to improve and civilise society.</p>
+
+<p>In so fertile a country, a great proportion of the principal
+landed proprietors, besides those who had realised large fortunes
+by commerce, must have been able to pass their lives in literary
+leisure, and employ their fortune in the encouragement of the arts,
+and the propagation of science. Even the heat of the climate would
+contribute to the advancement of civilisation. In Europe,
+particularly in its northern districts, how many consume a great
+portion of their time and fortune in the healthy, but rough,
+amusement of the chase; but in the tropics, the greatest luxury is
+repose. I have remarked repeatedly, that the rich natives of the
+climates of the East rarely expose themselves to the heat of the
+sun, except when necessity absolutely requires it, as on a journey;
+and even then as little as possible. It is considered one of the
+greatest advantages of rank and fortune, that its possessors can
+enjoy the luxury of shade during the whole day, while their less
+fortunate brethren are obliged to toil under a burning sun.</p>
+
+<p>The same natural causes, operating equally in ancient times,
+would give to the Ethiopians an inclination for sedentary pursuits,
+which would be advantageous to their advancement in the different
+branches of science, as soon as their taste for them had been
+unfolded. That rivalry which always arises among bodies of men,
+would urge to the improvement of the arts. The great and wealthy
+would endeavour to surpass each other in the beauty and
+magnificence of their palaces, and they would emulously display
+their piety to the gods, by contributing to the building and
+decorating the temples, and their munificence and generosity, by
+the construction of edifices of public utility.</p>
+
+<p>This is not an imaginary picture. Let the reader look at the
+drawings of Meroe, and candidly say whether, in a country
+containing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[348]</span>
+architects able to construct such chaste and beautiful monuments,
+men could have spent the superfluity of wealth, derived from
+commerce, in mere sensual indulgence? Was the knowledge of
+architecture, sculpture, and painting, exclusively employed in the
+construction of the sepulchres of her monarchs and the temples of
+the gods? Can it be supposed that those who must have had the
+means, would content themselves with wretched huts, when their
+wealth enabled them to employ their skilful architects in erecting
+commodious and elegant habitations, suitable to their rank? Can we
+imagine that the gentry of a kingdom, famous in antiquity for its
+civilisation, would spend their time, like the Turks, in listless
+indolence, and would not seek to distinguish themselves by studies
+and learning? But Diodorus, speaking of the language of
+hieroglyphics, says, that, in Egypt, the priests only were
+acquainted with them, whilst, in Ethiopia, they were generally
+understood. This shows that civilisation was widely diffused among
+the people, who apparently were not content, like their neighbours,
+to view without understanding the tablets of writing and sculpture
+which ornamented the walls of their temples.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, the remains of pure Ethiopian art, at all events,
+those of the earliest period, are but few. The pyramids of Nouri,
+but particularly those of Meroe, must have been built many ages
+before the temples of Gibel el Birkel, especially the one finished
+by Tirhaka: the style of the sculpture differs so widely, that a
+slight examination only is necessary to prove that a long period
+must have intervened before, in a country like this, the style
+could have so materially changed. I place, then, the pyramids of
+Meroe among the earliest specimens now existing of the skill of the
+Ethiopians. In my description of those ruins, I have extolled the
+beautiful simplicity of the architecture, imposing, and, at the
+same time, elegant, in a superior degree to the immense pyramids of
+Geezah. The sepulchres of Meroe delight us by evincing the greatest
+purity of taste, while they are not,<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_349">[349]</span> like the Egyptian pyramids, monuments of
+the tyranny and oppression of their kings.</p>
+
+<p>The different plates I have given of the sculpture in the
+porticoes of Meroe, at Gibel el Birkel (see Plates <a href=
+"#pl10">X.,</a> <a href="#pl11">XI.,</a> and <a href=
+"#pl12">XII.,</a> and particularly Plate XI., which contains a
+number of vases,) display a great degree of elegance, and, perhaps,
+a refined simplicity, equal to what we find in Egyptian
+sculpture.</p>
+
+<p>The offerings (see <a href="#pl29">Plate XXIX.</a>) are the
+animals of the country and surrounding deserts. The group with
+branches of the palm tree, is quite Ethiopian, and very beautiful;
+but the splendid procession alluded to, in treating of the
+commerce, as existing in a tomb at Thebes, is particularly
+instructive: the Ethiopians are there represented carrying presents
+to a great man at the time of Thothmes. Besides the ivory, ebony,
+gold, silver, skins, and animals, enumerated in my last chapter,
+they are also represented bearing different kinds of vases. These
+evince a degree of elegance and refinement which has never been
+surpassed. They are not ornamented with figures like the Phœnician,
+Etruscan, Greek, and Roman vases, but in taste and elegant
+simplicity of form they are not surpassed by those of any nation.
+Such discoveries as these afford the strongest evidence of the
+civilisation of a people. No learning or profound knowledge of the
+arts is required to understand, that a nation, among whom have been
+wrought such rich and magnificent vases as are now to be found in
+London, could be barbarians.</p>
+
+<p>When a people have attained a certain degree of taste, such
+knowledge is never confined to one branch. The cultivated minds,
+which could appreciate such works of art as the pyramids of Meroe,
+and were accustomed to such a degree of elegance in their domestic
+ornaments, could not, I conceive, have been uncivilised, generally
+speaking. These vases, like the chairs and furniture represented on
+the walls of Thebes, admit us at once to a knowledge of the private
+life of the people. We cannot doubt<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_350">[350]</span> the luxury and refinement of the private
+life of the Egyptians, when we find represented, in one of the
+tombs of the kings at Thebes, more beautiful patterns of chairs,
+cushions, &amp;c. than are now to be found in Europe. As little can
+we imagine, that apartments, ornamented with such elegant vases as
+the Ethiopians are represented offering to the Egyptians, would not
+in every other respect be furnished with equal taste. I think,
+then, that I am not too bold in asserting, that the people who had
+skill to devise, and ability to execute, such beautiful works of
+art, are entitled to a very high rank in the scale of civilisation.
+To the other proofs that they are Ethiopian, I should add, their
+long curly hair, their peculiar dress, differing from the Egyptian,
+the similarity with the few vases which I found sculptured on the
+walls at Meroe, (see <a href="#pl11">Plate XI.</a>) and, most of
+all, the hieroglyphics written over the procession, which state
+them to be from the land of Ethiopia.</p>
+
+<p>Another important proof of the extensive architectural skill of
+the Ethiopians is their knowledge and employment of the arch. In my
+narrative, I have described that which exists in one of the
+porticoes of Meroe, having the form of the segment of a circle, and
+have mentioned also the pointed arch in a pyramid at Gibel el
+Berkel. Both are constructed on the true principle of being
+supported only by lateral pressure. The pyramids of Meroe being the
+oldest, we may say that the earliest specimen of the arch now
+existing is on the site of the capital of Ethiopia. I conceive it
+very likely, that the necessity of finding some method of resisting
+the tropical rains led the Ethiopians to the invention of the arch;
+as of course, slight even as they are here, they would be obliged
+to pay more attention to their roofs than in Egypt, where, with few
+exceptions, sometimes, especially in Upper Egypt, not exceeding
+once in the year, it may almost be said never to rain. The rains
+which fall at Shendy are, however, rarely heavy. As I have noticed
+in my topographical description (<a href="#Page_156">page
+156.</a>), the only specimens of the arch in Egypt belong to that
+period<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[351]</span> when wars
+existed between the two countries, and the Egyptians would have the
+opportunity of learning that invention from the Ethiopians. It is
+also singular, that there is not a stone arch in Egypt regularly
+constructed, except one, before mentioned, of the time of
+Psammitichus, who reigned after the Ethiopian dynasty. The only
+specimens which show the Egyptians to have been acquainted with the
+true mode of forming one, is a brick arch, erected at the time of
+Amunoph, and another of the time of Thothmes III. They are formed
+of crude bricks; the size of which is seven inches by five. (See
+<a href="#i28">Vignettes.</a>) Is it not singular, that although
+these and other brick arches at Thebes are regularly constructed,
+the specimens there and elsewhere in stone, lead us to infer, that
+they were acquainted with the beauty of the arch as an
+architectural ornament, but not with its great utility? I refer to
+that arch near to the temple excavated out of the rock, in the
+valley of Hassaseef, at Thebes, of the time of Amunoph, which is
+formed by approaching stones (see <a href="#i27">Vignette</a>), and
+numerous excavations in the valley of the Nile, where the roofs are
+hollowed slightly into the arched form. As, therefore, no specimen
+of even a brick arch exists before the reign of those kings who
+carried their arms into Ethiopia; and as the pyramids of Ethiopia
+are evidently so very ancient, it seems highly probable that this
+important discovery had there its origin.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw16">
+<figure id="i27"><a href="images/i27.jpg"><img src='images/i27.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">STONE ARCH AT THEBES.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[352]</span>The tomb in
+which the elliptical arch (see <a href="#i28">Vignette</a>) exists,
+is near the valley of the Sepulchre of the Queens, at Thebes. It is
+almost filled up to the ceiling with mummies, which occasioned
+great difficulty to get at the spring of the arch. It is a painted
+tomb, and the roof is plastered; and over the plaster, along the
+centre, is a line of hieroglyphics, containing the name of Amunoph
+I.; proving the existence of the knowledge of the arch in Egypt,
+about fifteen centuries and a half before the Christian era. It is
+also very remarkable, that this arch is not a segment of a circle,
+but elliptical. A part of the ceiling being broken, discovered the
+space between the ceiling and the rock.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw19">
+<figure id="i28"><a href="images/i28.jpg"><img src='images/i28.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">BRICK ARCH IN A TOMB AT THEBES.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the road from the Memnonium to the valley of the Hassaseef, a
+little elevated on a rock, is a very small painted tomb, which is
+also vaulted. The <a href="#i29">vignette</a> represents the arch
+of the roof resting on the rock, and the inner arch of a recess at
+the end. This recess, as likewise the whole tomb, is covered with a
+coating of plaster; and on one of the jambs of the recess are the
+titles and prænomen of Thothmes III., “Sun, Establisher of the
+World,” fifth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[353]</span> king
+of the eighteenth dynasty, who reigned about fifteen centuries
+before the Christian era. The present access to this tomb is
+through a hole in the ceiling, from the floor of another tomb. This
+fracture discovers satisfactorily the construction of the arch. The
+sections, therefore, of the pointed arch at Gibel el Birkel (see
+<a href="#pl28">Plate XXVIII.</a>), of the circular one at the site
+of the metropolis of<span class="pagenum" id=
+"Page_354">[354]</span> Ethiopia (see <a href="#pl07">Plate
+VII.</a>), and this elliptical and circular arch at Thebes, will, I
+think, satisfy the most sceptical, that the Romans were not the
+first who were acquainted with the power and principle of the arch.
+We have here, undoubtedly, the geometrical forms; and in answer to
+the <em>cui bono</em> of the learned author of the able article in
+the last Quarterly Review<a id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a>, I must state that the
+Ethiopian arches were obviously invented to resist the rains; as
+the peasants of Sennaar have conical roofs to their cottages for
+the same purpose. The brick arches at Thebes, I conceive to have
+been erected not merely as ornaments, but, as regards the one of
+the time of Amunoph III., for the purpose of protecting it from the
+partial decomposition of the calcareous rock, which happens to be
+there less solid, while the tomb of the time of Thothmes III.,
+being immediately beneath another, suggested the utility, if not
+necessity, of strengthening the roof with an arch.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter iw17">
+<figure id="i29"><a href="images/i29.jpg"><img src='images/i29.jpg'
+alt=''></a>
+<p class="cpf">BRICK ARCH IN A TOMB AT THEBES.</p>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Ethiopian sculpture has the same defects as the Egyptian, as
+to the manner of representing the profile of the face, but the
+bodies have a roundness which distinguishes them entirely from the
+Egyptian. The latter is more graceful and pleasing to the eye, when
+the traveller is accustomed to that peculiarity of style, but I do
+conceive the Ethiopian to be, in some respects, more true to
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>It may be asked why, advanced as the Ethiopians were in the
+arts, they did not draw the human figure better, and more in
+accordance with nature. It is difficult, and, I must confess,
+almost impossible, to explain quite satisfactorily this
+circumstance. The Egyptians, as I have said, had a style still more
+unnatural, yet few can doubt their high degree of civilisation. The
+general form of the figures gives one the idea of their being very
+early efforts of art. It seems to me very possible, that the
+invention of the sculptor and painter may have been first exercised
+on the walls of some celebrated temple; and this defective
+representation may,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">[355]</span>
+from the sacredness of the place, have become the conventional
+style of the country. The bigotted veneration which the people
+would naturally feel for those forms under which their divinities
+were first represented, may have made them consider it lawful,
+indeed, to improve the delineation, but criminal to attempt to
+change it entirely.</p>
+
+<p>The Egyptians and the Ethiopians were equally ignorant of
+perspective. When Egypt was under the dominion of the Greeks and
+Romans, we perceive that policy and respect for the prejudices of
+the people prevented those nations from making any innovations in
+the national style. The differences between the sculpture, at those
+periods, and during the eighteenth dynasty, cannot be called so
+much changes, as marks of the great decline of the pure Egyptian
+art. No figures, on the walls of the temples, are sculptured or
+painted in the pure Greek or Roman style. Those rulers of Egypt,
+though of course acquainted with the latter, continued to follow
+the Egyptian style in all the edifices that they erected. The only
+instances in which they seem to have deviated at all from this
+rule, are in some few portraits found on Greek mummies. This
+renders it probable that there existed a strong religious prejudice
+on the subject, and that the Ethiopians and Egyptians were as
+tenacious of the forms and costumes of their divinities, as
+religious sects, in more recent times, have shown themselves about
+the dress and appearance of their ministers.</p>
+
+<p>There is, therefore, no reason to suppose, that the Ethiopians
+were unable to draw figures correctly, because, from reverence to
+the antiquity of their religion, and the superstition of the
+people, they did not improve the forms of their divinities. Faulty,
+however, as that style is, both in design and colour, it has still
+its attractions, though, in saying so, I may be accused of being an
+admirer of deformity. Their formality is not inappropriate to
+sacred edifices. Travellers daily become reconciled to its defects,
+and at last admire what at first appeared to them so
+strange.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">[356]</span> No one can
+have visited the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes, without an
+enthusiastic admiration of the beautiful and rich harmony of the
+colouring, the taste displayed in the ornaments, the spirited
+execution of the animals and hieroglyphics, and the magical effect
+of the decorations. We see, in the fragments which still exist,
+that the Ethiopians drew animals, and also ornaments, very
+beautifully. We may therefore consider it almost certain, that they
+could have drawn the human figure better had they been
+permitted.</p>
+
+<p>There are few traces of colour remaining on any Ethiopian
+edifice, yet I found sufficient in one of the porticoes of the
+pyramids of Gibel el Birkel, to enable me to ascertain the
+important fact, that the colouring was similar to the Egyptian.
+That of the human body is of the same red tint; and is it not
+singular that man is represented of the same complexion in Ethiopia
+as in every part of Egypt? Such a coincidence could only arise from
+the circumstance of the one people having derived their knowledge
+of the arts from the other. The colouring of the Ethiopians and
+Egyptians was of course, like the form of the figure, conventional.
+Now, I ask the reader, Where is it most probable that this colour
+was first established? Was it in a country where the inhabitants
+must have been nearly of that dark tint represented in these
+sculptures, or was it in one, 1700 miles farther north, where the
+people must have been, as they are now, yellow, or, comparatively
+speaking, white. The first colonies which introduced the arts into
+Egypt would naturally represent their divinities under the same
+appearance as in the mother country, and the first kings, and other
+persons making offerings, would of course be the colonists.
+Impressed with reverence for the first models presented to them,
+the Egyptians would continue to use this colour, tacitly
+acknowledging, by this circumstance, that they derived the
+knowledge of the arts from Ethiopia. There are several
+representations in Egypt of black men and black queens, but these
+almost invariably<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">[357]</span>
+bear the negro features. Even if they were intended to represent
+Ethiopians, that colour could only be a mark of distinction,
+afterwards introduced, as of a blacker nation than themselves; for
+we find the Ethiopians, on their own edifices, represented as
+exactly of the same tint as the Egyptians of Thebes and
+Memphis.</p>
+
+<p>If the artist were to paint them of one of the six colours with
+which they were acquainted,—white, red, green, blue, yellow, or
+black, the one approaching nearest to what was probably the real
+Ethiopian complexion, would certainly be the red. We shall be
+confirmed in this conclusion, if we consider the latitude and the
+colour of the present cultivators of the soil. Though they speak
+the Arabic language, they are most probably (and the tradition I
+heard at Dongolah confirms the supposition) descended from the race
+of the true Ethiopians, obliged, by force, to adopt the language
+and religion of their conquerors. That people, from their climate,
+could not have been white, and, had they been black, they would
+have so represented themselves. The Copts, the descendants of the
+Egyptians, are fairer than the Fellaheen, yet the latter look white
+in Ethiopia, contrasted with the present inhabitants of that
+country. It must also be considered that the Arab conquerors, being
+from the southern part of their country, and therefore darkened by
+the climate and the desert life they led, would, to a certain
+extent, give a darker tint to the Ethiopians; nevertheless, I have
+given views of some Berbers whose complexions are decidedly lighter
+than they are represented on the walls. (See <a href="#pl16">Plate
+XVI.</a>) We must recollect also that it has ever been a custom of
+the Orientals to represent themselves and their mistresses as
+beautifully fair. The present Ethiopians esteem nothing more than a
+light complexion. Before they were accustomed to Europeans, they
+looked with horror on what they considered their unnatural
+whiteness; but if an Ethiopian is celebrating in a song the charms
+of his mistress, he dwells with the greatest rapture on her fair
+skin. The petty kings seek wives of equal rank with
+themselves,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">[358]</span> chiefly
+on account of their fair complexion, which the daughters of the
+meleks acquire by being generally confined to the house;
+particularly as all mixture with the negro blood is carefully
+shunned. The colour most approaching to nature, if this
+conventional one had originated in Egypt, would certainly have been
+the white, or rather light yellow. Such must have been the colour
+of the Egyptians; and we cannot suppose that they would pay
+themselves so bad a compliment as to represent their complexion so
+many shades darker than it must really have been. Here then we have
+another great proof that civilisation and art descended the river.
+I have mentioned, in my topographical description, the passages of
+Diodorus which state shortly, but explicitly, that the Ethiopians
+stated the Egyptians to have derived all their knowledge from them.
+The inquiries of that intelligent traveller penetrated through the
+veil which the pride of the Egyptians, jealous, and anxious to
+magnify their antiquity, had thrown over the origin of their
+institutions; and when to this national propensity we add the
+obstinate wars, which would naturally eradicate every attachment to
+their parent land, and induce them to conceal their obligations to
+Ethiopia, it appears surprising how that intelligent traveller
+should have been able to ascertain the fact, that civilisation
+descended from Meroe. Diodorus had no object in inventing that
+account; and if the Ethiopians gave it to him in Egypt, he had
+there the means of ascertaining the truth from the priests and
+other learned men, who, no doubt, were acquainted with the fact;
+and would have contradicted it if he had not believed it. Herodotus
+apparently heard a similar account. He visited Egypt during the
+time of the Persian dynasty, while Diodorus was in that country
+little more than half a century (sixty years) before Christ, when
+the philosophy of the Greeks may have penetrated through the pride
+and false pretensions of the Egyptian priests. Herodotus states
+that the Egyptians believed themselves to be<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_359">[359]</span> from where the race of man first existed
+(ἐξ οὗ ἄνθρωπον γένος ἐγένετο). He mentions that the Thebaid was
+Egypt before the formation of the Delta<a id=
+"FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a>:
+the increase of population forced them to spread themselves down
+the valleys, emigrating from the Thebaid to the Delta, in the same
+way, no doubt, as they originally emigrated from Meroe. There is
+one question connected with this subject, which, I must confess, is
+an important one; namely, by what language the hieroglyphics of
+both countries are to be interpreted. Is it by a common one, as
+emanating from the same origin, or by a different one in the two
+countries? I shall not now commit myself by a discussion and hasty
+opinion on a subject which I hope to be better able to treat, as I
+extend my acquaintance with hieroglyphics, and with the Coptic and
+the Ethiopian languages. It seems to me, however, that if the
+Egyptians derived their knowledge of hieroglyphics from Ethiopia,
+they would, of course, receive from the same source the language by
+which they were explained.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the early literature and science of the
+Ethiopians, we know them only by the monuments; but we may rest
+satisfied, that they could not have been neglected in a country
+where, as Diodorus says, the language of hieroglyphics was
+generally understood. The existence of these on the walls of the
+porticoes of the pyramids, is a proof that some at least were
+acquainted with them. It is a very remarkable circumstance, which,
+even at the hazard of repetition, I must impress upon the reader,
+that notwithstanding the little sculpture and the few monuments
+that remain, there is sufficient to corroborate the very words of
+Diodorus. The reader who has examined my drawings will agree with
+him, that the Ethiopians buried their dead with as much pomp as the
+Egyptians; the processions were the same; and although there is
+some little difference in the style of the sculpture and
+hieroglyphics,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">[360]</span> it
+certainly is my conviction, that the Egyptian style had, as he very
+correctly expresses himself, its origin in Ethiopia.<a id=
+"FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class=
+"fnanchor">[94]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">[361]</span>History affords
+no example, at least that I know, of a people being so advanced in
+the fine arts, without at the same time having applied themselves
+to the cultivation of the sciences, of history and philosophy.
+Their religion, as I may show on another occasion, evinces their
+acquaintance with metaphysics, not being a gross mythology, but the
+worship, under different forms, of the one great Divinity, whose
+attributes are manifested in the wonders of the creation. A people
+who had evidently so much taste for the arts, must have been
+sensible to the charms of study. Those who had the means would
+naturally wish to distinguish themselves, or at least their
+children, by various literary acquirements. Individuals seeking to
+elevate themselves above the common level would rise together, and
+what was at first an extraordinary attainment would become
+necessary to secure admittance into society.</p>
+
+<p>The remarks which I have hitherto made on the arts of Ethiopia
+are chiefly applicable to their earliest period. In my narrative I
+have mentioned, that there are still the remains and traces of 80
+pyramids at Meroe, 42 at Nouri, and 17 at Gibel el Birkel. In the
+few which are now nearly entire, the porticoes are decorated with
+figures sculptured in the round and bulky Ethiopian style. It is
+impossible now to determine positively whether these are
+representations of private individuals, of kings, or of members of
+different royal families. They represent in several instances, two
+persons,—a king and his wife, and there is one instance of a queen
+only. The tombs which we can ascertain, from the hieroglyphics, to
+be those of kings and queens, being not of superior, or even equal
+magnitude with many of the others, I think it not unreasonable to
+conclude, that every one of them was erected<span class="pagenum"
+id="Page_362">[362]</span> for a sovereign or some members of a
+royal family. If they were each of a king or queen who had reigned
+alone, the immense number which can even now be traced, independent
+of the many which the desert has swallowed up, would carry us back
+to an earlier era than can be admitted, for it is evident, from the
+style of the sculpture, and other appearances of the monuments,
+that they were erected long previous to the time of Tirhaka, (730
+years B.C.)</p>
+
+<p>That Ethiopian king, who reigned over Egypt, constructed a
+magnificent temple at Gibel el Birkel, which city, if not the place
+of his birth, and at one time the seat of his empire, was at all
+events peculiarly favoured by him; for we do not see his name on
+any Ethiopian edifice, except on an altar in the great temple, and
+on the walls and columns of the temple of Athor at Birkel.</p>
+
+<p>Part of the temple of Tirhaka is excavated out of the rock,
+either in imitation of those he had seen in Egypt, or it may
+perhaps be a more ancient temple, added to and decorated by that
+king. The style of sculpture at that time was tolerably good, very
+like the Egyptian, but by no means equal to the best at Thebes. The
+architecture, however, seems to have then very much declined. The
+columns of Athor and the deformed Pthah in the temple built by
+Tirhaka, are very inferior to the fragment we have at Abou Naga,
+and the great temple at Gibel el Birkel, built, perhaps, by
+Pionchei, probably a much more ancient king. That edifice, for
+magnificence, may be compared to any in the valley of the Nile. I
+may here also remark, that, notwithstanding the great pecuniary
+resources which Tirhaka must have possessed, as king of two such
+rich and powerful countries as Egypt and Ethiopia, still the temple
+erected by him is not to be compared to the splendid edifice of his
+predecessor.</p>
+
+<p>It is singular, that, with the exception of the remains of this
+large temple, and some other less important vestiges of smaller
+edifices there, the colossal statues of Argo, the Ethiopian temple
+of Amarah, the fragment of an Ethiopian ruin at Naga, on
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">[363]</span> Nile, and the
+Ethiopian temples at Mecaurat or Naga, in the desert (see
+Cailliaud), there are no remains of any sacred edifice of an
+earlier period than Tirhaka, or indeed of a later, except the ruins
+at Wady el Owataib. The sepulchres of the kings only are standing.
+The temples which remain in the best state of preservation above
+the second cataract are those of Semneh, built by Thothmes III., an
+Egyptian king, and the magnificent temple of Solib, built by
+Amunoph III., also an Egyptian monarch. Petronius, in his hatred
+for every thing that was Ethiopian, probably destroyed all the
+edifices which had escaped from the ravages of previous wars.</p>
+
+<p>If Gibel el Birkel was Napata (as it is considered by many), the
+temples might have been destroyed by Petronius, but I have before
+stated, that I cannot conceive it to be that town. We must
+therefore attribute its destruction to an earlier era, or to the
+Christians or Arabs. The great temple of Gibel el Birkel must have
+required great labour to demolish it so utterly. The immense and
+massive columns and thick walls would have lasted for ages, had
+they not been destroyed by violence. As no attempts have apparently
+been made to restore these edifices, the place was perhaps
+deserted, and the name erased from among the list of cities. My
+drawings, plans, &amp;c. of the temples of Semneh, Solib, and the
+small temple at Gibel el Birkel, will show that they are
+exceedingly ruined, yet not with the same dreadful destruction as
+the large temple at the latter place, and others, of which scarcely
+a vestige remains.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the pyramids of Gibel el Birkel and Meroe bear evidence
+of the greatest violence having been employed to destroy them,
+whereas others seem injured only by time. The demolition of the
+former, may, I conceive, be entirely attributed to the avarice of
+the Mahometans. The very nature of the construction of the pyramids
+would certainly present greater difficulties in destroying them,
+but this could not have been the motive in forbearing<span class=
+"pagenum" id="Page_364">[364]</span> from the attempt; for all
+events it would have been easy for the levellers of whole rows of
+immense and lofty columns to demolish entirely every portico. That
+respect for the sepulchres of the dead, which has existed in every
+age, among civilised and uncivilised nations, prevented probably
+the devastators from violating the pyramids of Meroe and Nouri,
+whilst, at both those places, every trace of the temples has been
+obliterated. Religious bigotry must have been the cause of this
+violence. The invaders, while they respected the habitations of the
+dead, the sepulchres of ancient kings, might consider the
+destruction of the sanctuaries to be the surest mode of eradicating
+every trace of the idolatrous worship of Ammon.</p>
+
+<p>The monuments of Ethiopia present unfortunately no regular
+series of edifices by which we might trace the progressive rise and
+subsequent decline of the arts. There is as wide a difference
+between the most ancient sculpture and architecture of Meroe and
+that of the time of Tirhaka, as between the latter and the far more
+modern edifice, the ruins of which are now called Wady el Owataib.
+In my description of the latter, (see narrative, <a href=
+"#c08">Chapter VIII.</a>) I have stated my belief that it was
+erected during the last stage of the arts. The confused and
+extremely defective plan, and the wretched style of the sculpture,
+are proofs that it must have been built very long after the reign
+of Tirhaka. I have mentioned also that, from the design, and from a
+certain affectation of Greek ornaments, particularly in the fluting
+of the columns, I conceive it not improbable, that this, and also,
+perhaps, the Greek edifice at Mecaurat, were erected by the
+Ethiopian king Ergamenes, who had a Greek education, and was
+contemporary with Ptolemy Philadelphus.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remarked, that there is a vast difference between
+these monuments in Ethiopia, and the magnificent architectural
+edifices erected at that period in Egypt; but we must recollect,
+that the dynasty of the Ptolemies infused fresh vigour into every
+pursuit connected with the prosperity of the country. The first
+kings of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">[365]</span> that
+dynasty occupied themselves almost exclusively in promoting the
+commerce and encouraging the literature and arts of the country.
+The sculpture indeed was then very inferior to the pure Egyptian;
+but their temples, notwithstanding this inferiority, may rank among
+the most splendid edifices which ornament the banks of the Nile, or
+even any part of the world. But Meroe did not enjoy the same
+advantage. The extended commerce of her rival would of course
+diminish more and more her own prosperity. Her territory declining
+continually in richness and affluence, and her commerce impaired,
+her kings, instead of occupying themselves in encouraging the arts,
+would require all the resources of the state to save them from
+becoming the prey of their more powerful neighbour.</p>
+
+<p>The next and only additional edifice which I have now to notice,
+as marking the last epoch in the history of the arts of Meroe, is
+the Christian church opposite Gibel el Birkel. As we have no
+certain ground to suppose that Christianity was much spread in
+Ethiopia before the year 330<a id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a>, a later date cannot be
+assigned to that structure. I conceive it to be one of the earliest
+Christian edifices erected in that country, as I have remarked, in
+my description of it, that it is ornamented with the Ethiopian
+cornice and beading. This is the most modern architectural
+construction that now remains in Ethiopia.</p>
+
+<p>The Arabs at their invasion do not seem to have brought with
+them the talent and means to erect any of those splendid mosques
+which they have reared in honour of their prophet in other climes.
+I have elsewhere described the dwellings of the present
+inhabitants. They are miserable mud and straw huts, some of the
+latter having conical roofs, a remnant of the knowledge of the
+arch. The fortified castles of the chiefs are superior to these,
+but necessity only has taught them to build towers and thick walls
+for their protection: nothing can be more barbarous and rude than
+their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">[366]</span> internal
+structure. For the man who has made himself independent, or is
+ignorant, of the luxuries, elegancies, and comforts of life, they
+are perhaps sufficient, since they afford shelter against the
+summer heat, the occasional showers of rain, and the winter cold;
+but it is impossible to have a more striking evidence of the
+effects of civilisation, than the contrast between the wretched
+abodes of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia, and the magnificent
+sepulchres of her departed kings.</p>
+
+<p>Some writers even of ability affect to doubt the civilisation
+and great power of the Ethiopians and Egyptians, particularly the
+latter. They reason on the present condition of the country,
+without reflecting on the great changes it has undergone. I may
+add, that they display little knowledge of Egyptian subjects, and
+even of the history of the arts in general. They would otherwise be
+aware of the time necessary for a nation to acquire the degree of
+taste, knowledge, and affluence, necessary for the construction of
+such edifices as those still existing in the valley of the Nile.
+Setting aside altogether the authority of historians, let us only
+compare the present inhabitants, who are almost destitute of any
+ideas or information, incapable even of rearing for themselves a
+suitable abode, with a nation whose architectural proficiency has
+never been surpassed, and whose advancement in so many branches of
+science and civilisation is established by the indisputable
+evidence of lapidary inscriptions. It were vain to expect to find
+at the present day in this part of Ethiopia, an individual capable
+of constructing such edifices as we have seen existing at Meroe. I
+do not hesitate to say, that were it possible to transport one of
+the pyramids of Meroe entire to London, it would be considered one
+of the most chaste and beautiful ornaments of our metropolis.
+Though constructed more perhaps than three thousand years ago, it
+might, even now, be studied with advantage by our artists and
+architects.</p>
+
+<p>When such observations are applied to Egypt, the answer
+is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">[367]</span> still more
+easily made. Where in Europe is there an edifice like the great
+temple at Karnak, one hall of which contains 140 columns, 36 feet
+in circumference, dimensions rarely to be found in Europe, and
+every portion of that splendid court covered with carefully
+finished and painted sculptures? Having, however, trespassed so
+long on the reader’s patience, I must not now allow myself to enter
+on the subject of Egyptian art. I will only say, in conclusion,
+that the materials used in the pyramids of Memphis are sufficient
+to construct a city, and that no palaces of Europe are comparable
+in splendour to the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes.</p>
+
+<p class="center med space-above2">THE END.</p>
+
+<div class="page">
+<p class="center tiny space-above"><span class=
+"sc">London</span>:<br>
+Printed by A. <span class="sc">Spottiswoode</span>.<br>
+New-Street-Square.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h2>FOOTNOTES:</h2>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class=
+"label">[1]</span></a>I possess numerous notes and drawings of the
+antiquities in the lower valley of the Nile, selections from which
+I had some intention of publishing, as intimated several times in
+my journal. But I doubt much now if I shall enter on a field in
+which there are already so many competitors. Signor Rosellini’s
+magnificent work is already well known to the literary world. That
+of Champollion will, I believe, soon appear. Mr. Wilkinson’s
+invaluable work, “Thebes, and General View of Egypt,” with his most
+accurate map of that interesting city, are already before the
+public. The same author has promised us an account of the private
+life of the Egyptians; and such a subject could not be in more
+learned hands. I trust the result of Mr. Burton’s residence of
+above twelve years in that country will soon appear. Mr. Hay’s
+portfolio is the most magnificent which has ever been brought from
+that country. It comprises plans, sections, and detailed drawings,
+by eminent architects; also delineations of sculpture from the
+tombs and temples, by himself and able artists, whom he employed;
+with a complete series of picturesque views, entirely by his own
+pencil. Mr. Lane, Dr. Hogg, and others, are on the eve of
+publishing. In mentioning the interesting works which I hope will
+soon appear, I cannot refrain from expressing my regret, that the
+valuable labours and researches of the above English travellers in
+that classic soil have not been combined for the formation of a
+great national work,—an imperishable monument of public utility and
+individual enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>I refer the reader, with great pleasure, to the fifth volume of
+the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, in which there is a
+very interesting description of the peninsula of Sennaar,
+communicated by Sir John Barrow, from the memoranda of Lord
+Prudhoe. Had it been published before this volume was completed, I
+should have availed myself of the information which it contains;
+but I am glad to find that in many respects it confirms my
+statement.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class=
+"label">[2]</span></a>Lord Prudhoe and Major Felix are the only
+Englishmen who have seen the antiquities of the island of Meroe;
+and it is deeply to be regretted that they have not published their
+observations.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class=
+"label">[3]</span></a>In a work on Egypt, for which I have ample
+notes, and 400 drawings to select from, I may give a more detailed
+description of these places.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class=
+"label">[4]</span></a>The temples I mention in this volume, below
+the second cataract, I may perhaps describe at a future
+opportunity.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class=
+"label">[5]</span></a>It somewhat resembled, also, what Festus says
+of the Salian dancers: the præsaltor advanced “et amptruabat,” then
+all the rest came “et redamptruabant,” or danced and sang as he had
+done.—<span class="sc">Sir Wm. Gell</span>, T. R. vol. ii. p.
+385.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class=
+"label">[6]</span></a>Part I. Canto II.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class=
+"label">[7]</span></a>The reader will have observed that my
+estimate of the pace of the camel differs from those of many
+travellers, and particularly from that of Mr. Burnes, the author of
+the justly celebrated work “Travels into Bokhara” (see vol. ii. p.
+149.); but he must recollect that my camels were of the Bishareen
+race. My servants were all mounted; and the animals, even at
+starting, were not heavily laden with a stock of water, which
+diminished daily. There being only one well containing water, and
+that bad, in a distance of 250 miles, it was their interest to urge
+on their camels, which they did by singing in the manner I have
+described. I took great pains to ascertain the pace of these
+animals, observing not only theirs, but also that of the drivers
+walking by their side, dismounting repeatedly myself for that
+purpose. I had the gratification to find, on arriving at the Nile,
+that my calculations agreed, within two or three miles, with the
+observations of latitude. I have made many long journeys on camels,
+and I certainly think that animal, when well taken care of, and not
+overloaded, fully capable of marching ten or eleven hours per day,
+at the average rate of two miles and a half an hour in valleys or
+over rough roads, and three miles on plains, without being <em>at
+all</em> distressed. On the banks of rivers, and in districts where
+water and forage are plentiful, except urged on, the men are always
+inclined to move more slowly, and make a shorter day’s journey, not
+so much to save their camels as to lessen the fatigue to
+themselves: a few days more or less <em>en route</em> being
+generally a matter of indifference to them.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class=
+"label">[8]</span></a>Burckhardt calls them angareyg, and says the
+peculiar smell of the leather some of them are made of keeps them
+free from vermin. I conceive it to be rather the excessive heat of
+the climate that preserves the inhabitants of these latitudes from
+the plagues of Egypt.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class=
+"label">[9]</span></a>These flies also annoy the cattle; but
+neither here nor on the Mugrum (the Astaboras) have they the effect
+described by Bruce.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class=
+"label">[10]</span></a>The specimens which I brought to England
+have confirmed the accuracy of the description of them in
+Cailliaud’s work—“Cette coquille, bien reconnue aujourd-hui comme
+devant appartenir au genre éthérie, est remarquable par son talon,
+qui souvent semble s’accroître et présenter nombre de compartimens.
+J’avais conservé de ces valves d’éthéries qui avaient jusqu’à huit
+ou dix poules de longueur: la forme en est alongée et variée, la
+nacre blanche et feuilletée. Les deux attaches musculaires semblent
+être le seul motif qui jusqu’à present a fait placer ces éthéries
+avec les cames plutôt qu’avec les huîtres, dont elles ont du reste
+tout le caractère.”—Vol. ii. p. 222.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class=
+"label">[11]</span></a>“Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who
+hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? Whose house I have made the
+wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the
+multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the
+driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth
+after every green thing.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class=
+"label">[12]</span></a>Pliny.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class=
+"label">[13]</span></a>Lib. ii. c. 29.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class=
+"label">[14]</span></a>See the Chapters on the <a href=
+"#c21">Commerce</a> and <a href="#c22">Arts</a> of Meroe.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class=
+"label">[15]</span></a>See <a href="#c19">Historical Appendix,</a>
+and <a href="#c11">Account of the Ruins</a> of Gebel el Berkel, for
+further remarks on the arch.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class=
+"label">[16]</span></a>The first Egyptian edifice recorded is the
+pyramid built by Venephes, at Cochon; according to Eusebius from
+Manetho, the fourth king of the first dynasty. Africanus calls the
+town Cochomen. That valuable remark shows the great antiquity of
+this description of tomb.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class=
+"label">[17]</span></a>Virg. Georg. iv. 291.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class=
+"label">[18]</span></a>In the <a href="#c22">Appendix</a> on the
+arts of Meroe I have mentioned many other reasons for this
+opinion.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class=
+"label">[19]</span></a>Assour, on the north side, I did not
+see.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class=
+"label">[20]</span></a>The Sheakhs and Meleks generally profess to
+be very religious, and observant of the laws of the Koran; but when
+they want another wife, and have already four, they divorce one of
+their old ones.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class=
+"label">[21]</span></a>They have some few wells, but generally send
+for water from the river.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class=
+"label">[22]</span></a>Agatharchides of Gnidos (Diod. lib. i.), and
+others in the time of the Ptolemies, seem to have divined the
+cause; and Homer (vide Odyssey, book iv. ver. 581.), when he
+describes the Nile as descending from heaven, apparently alludes to
+the rain in Ethiopia; but at the time of Herodotus it is certain
+that the Egyptians were not acquainted with the true cause; and
+Moses, in describing the promised land (Deut. ch. xi. ver. 10.),
+“not as the land of Egypt, but as a land of hills and valleys,
+which drinketh water of the rain of heaven,” that is, owed its
+fertility to the rain that fell from the clouds, would not have
+used those expressions, had he been exhorting a people aware that
+the rain in Ethiopia was the cause of the rising of the Nile; the
+source of the productiveness of the two countries being the same,
+although in the one more immediate, and therefore more
+apparent.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class=
+"label">[23]</span></a>As a boat would sail, following all the
+windings of the river and the islands, the distance from Shendy to
+Rosetta can scarcely be less than 1800 miles.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class=
+"label">[24]</span></a>In crossing this desert, to save anxiety, I
+gave each person his own provision of water to take care of,
+warning him, if that fell short, it was his own fault. This plan
+succeeded, each individual taking such care of his skins that none
+of them ran out.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class=
+"label">[25]</span></a>In calling it not very ancient, I, of
+course, mean, in comparison to some of the edifices in Ethiopia and
+Egypt. Tirhaka began to reign in the latter country about 700 years
+A.C.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class=
+"label">[26]</span></a>See Plates <a href="#pl53">LIII.</a> and
+<a href="#pl54">LIV.</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class=
+"label">[27]</span></a>The generality of the pyramids face a little
+to the south of south-east. I regret to state, that, from an error
+of the engraver’s, which I did not discover until all the copies
+were printed off, their direction is not correctly marked in the
+<a href="#pl24">General Plan;</a> but, as their position is
+accurately shown in the above <a href="#i10">vignette,</a> I have
+considered it unnecessary to incur the expense of having the plate
+reprinted.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class=
+"label">[28]</span></a>I have not considered it necessary to
+publish a separate drawing which I made of this group.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class=
+"label">[29]</span></a>The Ethiopians are represented by Herodotus
+(vii. 69.) as carrying bows not less than four cubits in
+length.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class=
+"label">[30]</span></a>The arch at North Der is formed by
+approaching stones.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class=
+"label">[31]</span></a>I shall make some further remarks on this
+important subject in my <a href="#c22">Appendix</a> on the arts of
+Meroe.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class=
+"label">[32]</span></a>Lib. xvi. p. 770.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class=
+"label">[33]</span></a>The okre consists of 2¾ rotles, or pounds of
+12 ounces; and 150 rotles, or pounds, make a cantar.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class=
+"label">[34]</span></a>This Plate contains also an Ababde of the
+Desert, in the short drawers they sometimes wear.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class=
+"label">[35]</span></a>The bearings of the course of the river, and
+numerous other villages and islands, whose names I obtained, are
+marked in the <a href="#map">map.</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class=
+"label">[36]</span></a>About fifteen miles from the second
+cataract.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class=
+"label">[37]</span></a>The rotle consists of 12 ounces.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class=
+"label">[38]</span></a>He fell ill in Kordofan, but did not die
+until he arrived at Wady Modeen, on the Bahr el Azruk, where I
+believe he is buried.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class=
+"label">[39]</span></a>As regards the title of “melek,” this is the
+name given in Hebrew to the different chiefs: but it is invariably
+translated, in our version, “kings.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class=
+"label">[40]</span></a>I have heard a song that describes this
+battle. The Arabs adopt very generally this method of preserving
+the recollection of any important event. There is a curious one
+about the Deftar Dar Bey, when he avenged the death of Ismael Pasha
+on the Shendyans. He is represented as coming as swift as the
+ostrich; “burning the fakeers,” and “killing the sheakhs.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class=
+"label">[41]</span></a>The Ababde girl, in relating this tale, sang
+this part very sweetly, and several who were standing by joined in
+the chorus.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class=
+"label">[42]</span></a>The Ababde girl sang this.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class=
+"label">[43]</span></a>This man gave me the description of the
+customs, &amp;c., which I have given, having found them to agree
+with other accounts. When I asked him whether I could be of any
+service to him in Cairo, he begged, as a favour, that I would send
+him a blank book, as he was anxious to make a copy of the
+Koran.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class=
+"label">[44]</span></a>“Le 17 Avril nous eûmes occasion de voir à
+Beit el Fakih un exemple du sangfroid et de la fermeté des Arabes.
+Le feu prit à une maison à l’extrémité méridionale, et, comme le
+vent soufflait du sud avec violence, en peu de tems la plus grande
+partie de la ville fut dévorée par les flammes: cependant les
+habitants restaient tranquilles: on n’entendait dans les rues ni
+cris, ni lamentations; et quand on plaignait leur sort, ils
+répliquaient, C’est la volonté de Dieu. Nous occupions une maison
+de pierre dans un quartier que les flammes épargnèrent: montés sur
+notre toit nous vîmes les toits des autres maisons, remplis de
+spectateurs, qui regardaient tranquillement l’incendie. Un savant
+pauvre, qui nous rendait souvent des visites, vint à nous voir
+après avoir mis en sûreté ses effets, et nous indiqua d’un air
+indifférent le moment où sa maison s’embrasa.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class=
+"label">[45]</span></a>The title which all travellers, who remain
+any time in Egypt, generally take, is that of Effende. There are
+two great advantages in assuming a Turkish name:—it affords greater
+facility to the natives in recollecting it, and it likewise
+prevents your being called Howwajee, merchant, or, rather, pedler;
+and as that class of persons are, in this country, rarely
+respectable, either from their morals or station, an Englishman
+submitting to such a title, of course, lowers himself, both in the
+eyes of the Turks and natives. The Arabs, among themselves, often
+have other names for Europeans. I was called Abou Toweel, Father of
+the tall. Rosellini had a name in reference to his beard (Abou
+Dagan); Champollion (Abou Galeed), from his corpulency; and a noble
+traveller, who has surpassed us all in the extent of his journey up
+the Nile, was called, I am told, Abou Dagegah, or Father of the
+Minutes, from the report having spread that he had a dollar every
+minute. The Turks and Arabs of these provinces, where travellers
+are more rare, sometimes honour me with the title of Bey Zadé, or,
+Son of a Governor.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class=
+"label">[46]</span></a>My servant having broken my thermometer at
+Gibel el Birkel, I have, unfortunately, been unable to ascertain
+the heat here: I can only remark, that the temperature for these
+last three months has increased perceptibly every week. Some
+travellers have stated that the extreme heat in Nubia is in April.
+Such an observation, if not entirely an error, can only be
+applicable to that part where heavy tropical rains fall. On the
+11th of March (see <a href="#Page_97">p. 97.</a>) we had 110° in
+the shade; but although that was the commencement of the extreme
+heat, and for that reason more difficult to support, I did not
+experience so great an inconvenience from it as at present. The
+natives did not then complain as they do now, nor did my servants
+from Cairo and Thebes suffer so much. They were all ill at El
+Ourde, and I thought my Greek servant Ibrahim would have died.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class=
+"label">[47]</span></a>Mr. Waddington’s Travels in Ethiopia contain
+a view and plan of this temple, and also some views of Gibel el
+Birkel. I have avoided, as much as possible, the disagreeable task
+of swelling my text with criticisms on the observations and plates
+of Monsieur Cailliaud. It would, however, be unjust and ungenerous
+to make any observation on the views of Mr. Waddington, as he
+states candidly that he was no draughtsman; yet, as no other views
+had been published, he was, of course, justified in giving such as
+he possessed.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class=
+"label">[48]</span></a>The names of these two kings occurring
+together at Semneh, where Thothmes is represented worshipping his
+ancestor Osirtisen as a god, is confirmatory of the accuracy of the
+supposition that these are the names in the tomb at Doshe.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class=
+"label">[49]</span></a>See Bruce’s account of the reverence and
+adoration of the Agous at the source of the Nile.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class=
+"label">[50]</span></a>Inscription No. 1. is from the same portico,
+and opposite to a large figure, similar to the one in <a href=
+"#pl10">Plate X.,</a> Sculpture, Meroe. No. 2. is before a figure
+presenting offerings. No. 4. before a figure of Anubis. No. 5.
+before a figure of Horus. The tablet, No. 3. is in the same
+portico, over a figure kneeling before a funeral boat, very much
+defaced, at the end of the portico. As will be seen by the <a href=
+"#pl54">plate,</a> these inscriptions are very much injured; but,
+although the least perfect of any that I possess, I publish them,
+because they are the most important, being from the pyramids of
+Meroe. No. 6. is an inscription which was above the sculpture on
+one side of the first chamber excavated out of the rock of the
+Temple of Tirhaka, Gibel el Birkel. No 7. is another portion of
+this apparently dedicatory inscription, going round the whole of
+the room. The hieroglyphics are large, well executed, and very
+legible, except some which were quite defaced, and others almost
+covered with dirt. No. 8. are fragments from the large granite
+altar in the western corner of the great Temple, Gibel el Birkel.
+The first line is on the south-east side, the second on the
+north-east; the remainder of the hieroglyphics on this altar I have
+not been able to publish. <a href="#pl53">Plate LIII.</a> shows the
+two subjects on the altar in the sanctuary of the same temple. (See
+<a href="#pl24">Plate XXIV.</a>) I have alluded to them in my
+description of the ruins.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class=
+"label">[51]</span></a>His name is also found in the tomb near
+Solib, and on the rocks at Toumbos.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class=
+"label">[52]</span></a>Since I wrote the above, I have seen the two
+beautiful granite lions which were brought from Gibel el Birkel,
+and presented to the British Museum, by Lord Prudhoe. The sculpture
+is most beautiful. They appear to be of the same period, as their
+attitude is similar; otherwise, their forms are different. The one
+which is the most defaced, and has been apparently the most
+symmetrical, bears the name of Amunoph III., in deep intaglio. As
+the name of this king does not exist on any edifice at Gibel el
+Birkel, I think the circumstance of the lion bearing his name being
+found there, no decisive proof of his having penetrated so far
+south. The sculpture is too good to be Ethiopian, and the granite
+is not of a description I met with near there. Gibel el Birkel,
+whatever might be its ancient name, was evidently the capital and
+favoured city of Tirhaka, who might, on his abdication of the
+throne of Egypt, have brought away these splendid specimens of
+Egyptian art. The nomen and prænomen on the other are not Egyptian,
+but seem to be of a king called Amnasre, or Amun Asre.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class=
+"label">[53]</span></a>Lib. ii. cap. 110.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class=
+"label">[54]</span></a>Odys. Δ′. 184.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class=
+"label">[55]</span></a>Odys. Λ′. 522.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class=
+"label">[56]</span></a>Pausanias correctly states the vocal statue
+of Memnon at Thebes was by the natives called Phamenoph (that is,
+Amunoph III.), the name it actually bears; and it certainly is
+curious, that this is the very king whose name we find in Ethiopia
+at Solib, and on the lion, as I have stated, brought from Gibel el
+Birkel. That king may possibly have been master of a portion of
+Ethiopia, and styled himself, as was often the custom, king of the
+Upper and Lower Countries; but he could not have been the Ethiopian
+Memnon, who marched to the succour of Troy: for the king who
+reigned in Egypt at the time of the Trojan war was Osirei, or
+Menephtah II.; and Amunoph III. died more than a century and a half
+before that event. As no edifices remain bearing the name of this
+king south of Solib, which is not a hundred miles above the second
+cataract, I see no just reason, as I have said before, for
+supposing that he carried his arms to Gibel el Birkel, much less to
+Meroe.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class=
+"label">[57]</span></a>2 Chronicles, xii. 2, 3.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class=
+"label">[58]</span></a>2 Chronicles, xvi. 8.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class=
+"label">[59]</span></a>2 Chronicles, chap. xiv. l. 8-11.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class=
+"label">[60]</span></a>2 Chronicles, xiv. 12, 13.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class=
+"label">[61]</span></a>Lib. ii. 137.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class=
+"label">[62]</span></a>Lib. ii. 139.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class=
+"label">[63]</span></a>Major Felix’s account of the Egyptian
+dynasties was the first that showed us the great utility of the
+lapidary inscriptions. Although brief, it is so admirably arranged,
+the information it contains so valuable, and, notwithstanding the
+recent progress in the study of hieroglyphics, generally so
+correct, that it is very much to be regretted that the papers he
+lithographed at Cairo have not been more widely circulated by a
+reprint in England.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class=
+"label">[64]</span></a>2 Kings, chap. xviii.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class=
+"label">[65]</span></a>Rosellini, i Monumenti dell’ Egitto e della
+Nubia, lib. ii. chap. 7.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class=
+"label">[66]</span></a>Isaiah, xxxvii. 36-38.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class=
+"label">[67]</span></a>Lib. ii. 137.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class=
+"label">[68]</span></a>Page 1007.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class=
+"label">[69]</span></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="box-float float-left">
+<div class="figfloat">
+<figure class="iw23" id="i_p304"><a href=
+"images/i_p304.jpg"><img src='images/i_p304.jpg' alt=
+'[Hieroglyphs]'></a>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Meroe. (See <a href="#pl10">Plate X.</a>) There is a fragment of
+a figure of a god, with the hieroglyphics before it; this is
+evidently the god Sebek, which, with the Greek termination, makes
+the Sevechus of Eusebius; but, although the name in the list and
+that of Eusebius and Africanus are made thus to agree with the name
+in the Bible, I have some doubts if Signor Rosellini is correct in
+the connection he supposes between the name of these hieroglyphics
+and the god Sevek; for the Ethiopians apparently wrote the name of
+that deity in the same manner as the Egyptians, and yet not one of
+the hieroglyphics used in writing the name of the god is employed
+in that of the king.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote clear">
+<p><a id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class=
+"label">[70]</span></a>Herodotus, lib. ii. 30. Diodorus states the
+number to have been more than 200,000; and assigns as the reason of
+their emigration, that in the expedition into Syria the post of
+honour was given to foreigners.—Lib. iii. vol. i. p. 175.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class=
+"label">[71]</span></a>Herodotus, lib. iii. 17. 20.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class=
+"label">[72]</span></a>Heliodorus, in his history of Ethiopia, or,
+rather, novel of Theagenes and Cariclia, relates the war of
+Hydaspes, king of the East and West Ethiopians, with the Egyptians,
+or rather the Persians, then in possession of Egypt, for the island
+of Philæ and the emerald mines. He gives also an account of the
+siege of Syene; and mentions the prisoners being bound with chains
+of gold, so that one of them, Theagenes, the hero of the tale,
+laughed, and said, that he was more richly decorated in prison than
+out.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class=
+"label">[73]</span></a><span class="gothic">Heeren’s Afrikanische
+Völker</span>, vol. i. ch. 3.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class=
+"label">[74]</span></a>Lib. iii. 102.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class=
+"label">[75]</span></a>The following description, extracted from
+the journal of my first voyage up the Nile, may amuse the
+reader:—</p>
+
+<p>“April 8. 1832.—Our pilot afforded us a curious exhibition,
+although not, I believe, uncommon; but to us it was new. He
+pretended or believed that his saint, to whom he had been
+addressing his evening devotions, had entered his body, and he
+immediately fell into the most violent paroxysms, throwing his arms
+about, rolling his head, and twisting his body in a very outrageous
+manner: sometimes he held up his hands, and shook, as in the most
+dreadful convulsions, groaning most piteously, and gabbling forth
+all sorts of gibberish. The sailors made a circle round him, and
+continued making low obeisances, calling on Mahomet to assist him,
+for nearly two hours; they believe that, unless they did this, the
+saint would never leave him, and he would have probably died. The
+man, in his madness, seemed to have a great jealousy for his
+honour; one of the mariners was sleeping on board the boat, while
+the others were on the banks praying for them; on a sudden he
+darted into the boat, and, had he not been detained, would have
+roughly used the drowsy mariner. After all the Mahometans near him
+had joined the circle to pray for his recovery, he returned, by
+degrees, to his senses: when the fit was over, he lay for some time
+apparently quite exhausted. The man is remarkable at other times
+for the mildness of his manner, and is one of the finest looking
+Nubians I have seen, being above six feet high, with uncommonly
+handsome features. The people consider those who are thus possessed
+as peculiarly favoured, not one in a thousand being so fortunate.
+After death they are generally considered as saints, and have tombs
+erected to them by the government, which does this, no doubt, to
+gain popularity, or conciliate the people: but it is generally
+believed that the saint has appeared to the Pasha, ordering him to
+erect it.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class=
+"label">[76]</span></a>Lib. xvii. p. 820.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class=
+"label">[77]</span></a>Lib. vi. chap. 29.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class=
+"label">[78]</span></a>See Letronne’s note on Strabo, l. xvii. vol.
+v. p. 435.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class=
+"label">[79]</span></a>See Acts, chap. vi. vii. 33.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class=
+"label">[80]</span></a>Lib. iii. c. 2.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class=
+"label">[81]</span></a>Except Rameses II., who certainly penetrated
+as far as Gibel el Birkel; but there is no other Egyptian name on
+any rocks or edifices south of Solib and Toumbos.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class=
+"label">[82]</span></a>Herodotus (Thalia, 114.) describes Ethiopia
+as the last of the inhabited regions of the earth, and possessed by
+men of very great stature, beautiful, and of very long life;
+adding, that it produces much gold, and very large elephants, with
+long teeth, wild trees of every description, and ebony.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class=
+"label">[83]</span></a>Diodorus (lib. iii. p. 105.) says, that near
+the confines of Egypt and the adjacent Ethiopia and Arabia, there
+is a place which abounds in rich gold mines, whence, at a great
+expense and toil of a great multitude of criminals, gold is dug. He
+speaks also of the manner they pounded the gold; and also mentions
+veins of white marble. It is a singular coincidence, that at the
+mines in the great Nubian desert, there are actually remaining
+mortars exactly such as he describes; and, with one exception, the
+only place I found white marble during this journey was in that
+desert, not far from the mines. The marble, however, may perhaps be
+the white quartz the gold is found in.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class=
+"label">[84]</span></a>On the road to Abou Hashim, in the kingdom
+of Berber, and other places, I found rocks of sandstone, much
+charged with iron, and beyond Sennaar, they say that there are iron
+mines.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class=
+"label">[85]</span></a>I regret that in some few of the impressions
+the caps were printed black. The reader must be aware, that the
+management of such engravings as these is excessively difficult.
+Four colours are impressed from separate stones—red, blue, black,
+and the ground. The others were put in by hand. I took great pains
+in superintending the mixing of the colours, to give the reader as
+exact a representation of an Egyptian painting as was in my power.
+I am indebted to Mr. Bonomi for having drawn for me on the stones
+these and the other plates of sculpture.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class=
+"label">[86]</span></a>The past and present condition of Ethiopia
+are so admirably described in the first two verses, chap. xviii. of
+Isaiah, and the prophecy so admirably fulfilled, that I cannot
+refrain from repeating them:—“Woe to the land shadowing with wings,
+which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: that sendeth ambassadors by
+the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go,
+ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people
+terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and
+trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!” Can the
+expression “shadowing with wings” allude to the winged globe on all
+the edifices in Egypt and Ethiopia? Vessels of bulrushes are highly
+characteristic of a wild tribe in the interior, almost similar ones
+being used at the present day; but the “nation, terrible from the
+beginning, meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have
+spoiled,” can only be Ethiopia.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class=
+"label">[87]</span></a>Strabo mentions that Coptos was the
+entrepôt, not only of the merchandise of Ethiopia, but also of
+India and Arabia.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class=
+"label">[88]</span></a>Isaiah (xlv. 14.) also mentions the
+“merchandise of Ethiopia.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class=
+"label">[89]</span></a>Euterpe, 110.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class=
+"label">[90]</span></a>Plin. lib. vi. cap. xxix.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class=
+"label">[91]</span></a>Destruction of the library at
+Alexandria.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class=
+"label">[92]</span></a>No. CVI. p. 350.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class=
+"label">[93]</span></a>Euterpe, xv.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class=
+"label">[94]</span></a>This is no new doctrine of my own:
+Champollion, Rosellini, Heeren, and many other first-rate
+authorities have the same idea. I had expressed no opinion on the
+subject before going into the country; and, therefore, without
+prejudice, examined the evidence afforded by the monuments. At the
+same time that I deeply regret, that many learned travellers and
+geographers differ with me on this important point, I have not
+feared to express my own opinion; and I trust it will be candidly
+allowed, that in my topographical description I have not omitted
+any observation that might militate against my argument. I have
+stated, that in the latitude of Shendy it occasionally rains, (but
+Cailliaud is mistaken in supposing that it rains there three months
+in the year,) and that such rain would have a certain effect even
+on the solid mass of a pyramid. I have mentioned, also, that the
+stones are smaller, and often of a softer material, than the
+sandstone of Egypt; but we must consider that the pyramids are also
+smaller, that they have no rooms in the interior, and that the
+material of the least durable is harder than that of many of the
+pyramids of Memphis. Mr. Waddington did not reach the wonderful
+cemetery of the metropolis of Meroe, but the result of his
+comparison of the other pyramids of Ethiopia with those of Egypt
+agrees with mine, that is to say, as regards their relative
+antiquity; but from the discoveries in hieroglyphics, Mr. W. is
+found to be wrong in the dates he assigns to the monuments of
+Memphis and Thebes. But I cannot conclude this subject better than
+with an extract from his work.</p>
+
+<p>He says (Journal of a Visit to some Parts of Ethiopia, p. 184),
+“Now, the utter destruction and shapelessness of many of the
+pyramids at Birkel and El Bellal (Nouri), attest their antiquity;
+while those of Egypt do not appear to have been erected above
+eleven or twelve hundred years before Christ, when that country had
+been frequently overrun by the Ethiopians;”—alluding to the
+statement of Herodotus, that eighteen of the kings of Egypt were
+Ethiopians; but Manethon and the monuments do not confirm this
+account, and, therefore, I have not mentioned it before. “The
+pyramids are of a later date than the ruins of Thebes. Thebes,
+which is known to have been founded by a colony of Ethiopians<a id=
+"FNanchor_a"></a><a href="#Footnote_a" class="fnanchor">[a]</a>,
+was called Ammon No, Diospolis, or the city of Ammon. It follows,
+then, I think, very clearly, from the concurrence of these
+observations on the antiquities of Ethiopia, with the conclusions
+derived from historical evidence, that the origin of the Egyptian
+divinities, as well as that of their temples and their tombs, and
+of the sculptures, figures, and symbols, may be traced to Ethiopia.
+In the magnitude of their edifices, the imitators have, indeed,
+surpassed their masters; but, as far as we could judge from the
+granite and other sculptures at Argo and Gibel el Birkel, that art
+seems to have been as well understood, and carried to as high
+perfection, as it was afterwards by their scholars at Thebes and at
+Memphis.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="subft">
+<p><a id="Footnote_a"></a><a href="#FNanchor_a"><span class=
+"label">[a]</span></a>Bruce’s Travels, vol. i. p. 380. The words of
+Bruce are,—“We know that Thebes was a colony of Ethiopians, and
+probably from Meroe; but whether directly or not we are not
+certain.” There is, I believe, no passage distinctly stating this;
+but Bruce very correctly inferred it from the statements of
+Diodorus and Herodotus.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class=
+"label">[95]</span></a>Ludolf, lib. iii. chap. 2.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<h2>Transcriber's note:</h2>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Changes in the <a href="#errata">ERRATA</a> have been made,
+with some differences:</li>
+
+<li class="pad1 no-bullet">"Ababdis" to: "Ababdes" — Also changed
+in: pg <a href="#Page_15">15.</a></li>
+
+<li class="pad1 no-bullet">"Melik" to: "Melek" — Not found in any
+of the pages listed, but changed instead in: <a href="#pl02">Pl.
+2,</a> <a href="#pl03">Pl. 3,</a> pg <a href="#Page_51">51</a>
+(x2), pg <a href="#Page_52">52</a> (plur.), pg <a href=
+"#Page_58">58</a> (plur.).</li>
+
+<li class="pad1 no-bullet">"Psammeticus" to: "Psammitichus" — Also
+changed in: pg <a href="#Page_75">75,</a> pg <a href=
+"#Page_213">213.</a></li>
+
+<li class="space-above15">pg <a href="#Page_xi">xi</a> Changed:
+Calliaud to: Cailliaud</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_9">9</a> Changed: Philœ to: Philæ</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_23">23</a> Changed: to the <span class=
+"word-spaced03">&nbsp;</span>ast of it to: east</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_75">75</a> Changed: equal to the the best to:
+to the best</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_146">146</a> footnote <a href=
+"#Footnote_26">26</a> Changed: See Plates LII. and LIII. to: LIII.
+and LIV.</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_185">185</a> Changed: I conceived he
+<span class="word-spaced03">&nbsp;</span>ight be to: might</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_189">189</a> Changed: of these reamls to:
+realms</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_193">193</a> Changed: The two views (Plates
+XXXVII. and XXXVIII.) to: Plates XXXVI. and XXXVII.</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_204">204</a> Changed: <em>April</em> 13. to:
+<em>April</em> 17.</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_210">210</a> footnote <a href=
+"#Footnote_44">44</a> Changed: et novs indiqua to: nous</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_240">240</a> Changed: Plate LI. is a drawing
+of the Osshi to: Plate LII.</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_270">270</a> Changed: sculpture (see Plate
+XLI.) to: Plate LI.</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_275">275</a> Changed: the Karareesh tribe to:
+Kababeesh</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_286">286</a> footnote <a href=
+"#Footnote_50">50</a> Changed: very much defaced. to: very much
+defaced,</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_298">298</a> Changed: <span class=
+"copt">ⲦⲙⲁⲩϢⲛⲓⲡⲟϥⲣⲉ</span> to: <span class=
+"copt">ⲦⲙⲁⲩϢⲛⲓⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ</span></li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_310">310</a> Changed: Nazr è Deen to: Nazr e’
+Deen</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_311">311</a> footnote <a href=
+"#Footnote_72">72</a> Changed: Philœ to: Philæ</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_315">315</a> (x2) Changed: Philœ to:
+Philæ</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_316">316</a> Changed: Philœ to: Philæ</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_316">316</a> footnote <a href=
+"#Footnote_76">76</a> Changed: Liv. to: Lib.</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_326">326</a> Changed: road to Abon Hashim to:
+Abou</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_327">327</a> Added: ” after: elephants’
+teeth.</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_360">360</a> Changed: but Calliaud is to:
+Cailliaud</li>
+
+<li>pg <a href="#Page_363">363</a> Changed: see Calliaud to:
+Cailliaud</li>
+
+<li>Other spelling and formatting inconsistencies have been left
+unchanged.</li>
+
+<li>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to
+the public domain.</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74151 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
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author	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-01-14 15:05:06 -0800
committer	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-01-14 15:05:06 -0800
commit	c083efd6bd0ab4aaa712738e4b8d44bb3ec95b0f (patch)
tree	3b9c58e67ad7cfd4a7e85c9e8044f2f83bdce025