200

66

CITY OF THE SUN.

Gallus visited the spot, about thirty years before the Christian era, it had already been deserted by the priests, though the great Temple of the Sun was still standing, and apparently frequented as a place of worship. The Greek geographer's description comprehends the notice of various ruins, temples, propylæa, obelisks, sphynxes, which no longer exist. Pococke, indeed, discovered several sphynxes among the mounds of rubbish; but these seem to have been again buried by the continual accumulation of soil, for we could now perceive no trace of them. Perhaps the solitary obelisk which marks the site of ON, the City of the Sun," should be regarded as the most ancient monument existing in Egypt, since it was probably erected, while this was the capital of the kingdom, long before the foundation of Memphis. Diodorus, indeed, speaks of two obelisks, set up here by Sesostris, one hundred and eighty feet in height, and twelve feet square at the base; and Pliny relates that Sochis and Rameses, the latter contemporary with Priam, erected each four obelisks; those of Sochis seventy-two, those of Rameses sixty feet, in height. But little stress can be laid on the vague traditions collected by such writers respecting the monarchs to whom certain public works should be attributed. In all probability, the Great Rameses of the Egyptians (whose name occurs in the Book of Genesis), like the Rama of the Hindoos, was a mythological personage, identical with Papremis, their God of War; every great undertaking, the author of which was unknown, seeming, among the

Egyptians, to have been referred to Rameses, as to Semiramis among the Assyrians. To him the priests of Thebes (who probably knew no more of the ancient sacred language than we do), in their conversation with Germanicus, attributed the great military achievements and conquests of their ancestors; indulging, for the purpose of raising his wonder, in a ridiculous style of exaggeration, which must have excited his laughter. The village of Matarea is situated about six miles N. E. of Cairo, at no great distance from the Birket el Haj, or "Lake of the Pilgrims," where the caravan usually encamps on the second night of its departure for Mekka. On our return to Cairo, we passed by two of the government abattoirs, filthy, stinking, and surrounded by pools of blood, which, with the other abominations of the place, attracted thither in troops the wild dogs of the neighbourhood.

202 INTERFERENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT.

CHAPTER VIII.

INTERFERENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT

ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE ARABS-MAHAZI GUIDE-JOURNEY TO LAKE MŒRIS-DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO — PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING CHARMS OF THE DESERT SOUTH WINDCLOUDS OF DUST AND SANDTHE FERRY OF GHIZEH — GROTESQUE SCENE PLAIN OF MEMPHIS — MOONLIGHT — MITRAHENI - THE CARAVANSERAI THe Golden AGE BREAKFAST IN A SHEÏKH'S TOMB PREPARE TO ENTER ON THE DESERT-FIRE-ARMS - APPEARANCE OF THE DESERT — ARE JOINED BY A TURKISH GENTLEMAN LEARN THAT THE WHOLE PROVINCE OF THE FAYOOM 1S IN A STATE OF INSURRECTION INCURSIONS OF THE MOGGREBYNS - ROCKY LANDSCAPE THE SALUTATION OF PEACE — BARRENNESS OF THE WASTE PALM TREES OF THE FAYOOM APPEAR IN THE DISTANCE APPROACH TO THE CULTIVATED COUNTRY—ARRIVAL AT FAMEIA― INSOLENT FAMILIARITY OF THE NATIVES ANCIENT WATER WORKSAQUATIC BIRDS- FIRST VIEW OF LAKE MERIS REMAINS OF ANTIQUITY RETURN TO THE CARAVANSERAI FIDELITY OF

OUR GUIDE.

Tuesday, March 6. Mitraheni.

DXXXVIII. IN Egypt, the government intermeddles with every thing. If, for example, you desire to enter into an engagement with a Bedouin Sheïkh to pass with security through any portion of the desert belonging to his tribe, it is necessary to appear before the governor of Cairo; to have your contract drawn up in his presence; and, when the instrument has been duly signed and sealed by both parties, to deposit the original, or a copy of it, in the citadel. Should dromedaries be required for the purpose of

ENGAGEMENT WITH THE ARABS.

203

performing a journey within the limits of Egypt, or of the other dominions of the Pasha, the regular course is, to make application to government, which will furnish, at a reasonable price, the necessary number of animals, properly accoutred, with the requisite Bedouin guides and attendants. To the traveller this regulation is of inestimable advantage. The sum to be paid being determined, no disagreeable wrangling, at least on this score, can take place between the stranger and the camel-driver; and the undertaking is usually accomplished, where inveterate insolence or ill-nature does not constitute the characteristics of the parties concerned, in the utmost harmony and good feeling. In some cases, however, the authorities, through heedlessness or indifference, seriously endanger the traveller's safety, by placing in his service guides or attendants belonging to tribes hostile to the lords of the country through which he is to pass; and as he must generally be ignorant of the history or existence of such feuds, the first circumstance, perhaps, which calls his attention to the subject, is a sudden attack in the desert; for the chivalrous Bedouins seem to regard it as a point of honour not to disturb the imaginations of their employers by awakening apprehensions of dangers which, after all, may not be predestined to happen. Such was the conduct of Habib Effendi in our particular case. He knew perfectly well that the Mahazi, or Atouni Arabs, inhabiting the desert extending from Suez to Kossier, were at enmity, -as most of the Eastern tribes are,-with the Moggrebyn Bedouins of

204

PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING.

Libya; yet it was from among the Atouni, abhorred by the people west of the Nile, that he selected for us a guide to Lake Maris, through a province where even the Pasha's own engineers, in the most peaceable times, dared not make their appearance without a powerful military escort; a fact of which I was assured at Alexandria, by Mr. Wallace, who had been employed by the Pasha in surveying the various districts of the Fayoom, and who very kindly dissuaded me from hazarding the journey without a guard. It was, therefore, not unwarned that we undertook it; but the peril would have been considerably diminished, had our guide been chosen from any other tribe of Bedouins.

DXXXIX. In all journeys of this kind, the pleasures of preparation and setting out, with the dim shadowing forth by the imagination of the adventures in which it is possible you may be engaged, are, perhaps, among the best that travelling supplies. Our provisions and kitchen utensils having been made ready, the impatience with which we awaited the appearance of our Mahazi, with his dromedaries, was extreme. At length, however, late in the day, he arrived, with four spare, longlegged animals, which seemed, like conscientious Musulmans, to have gone through all the rigid observances of the Ramadan. Mohammed, the guide, appeared, from his bronzed weather-beaten countenance, adorned with a long deep scar, and from the extreme airiness and freedom of his demeanour,