Part 17

Beside enamelling, the art of gilding was in great perfection among them, as I found several ornaments of the kind. They knew how to cast copper, as well as to form it into sheets, and had a metallic composition not unlike our lead, rather softer, but of greater tenacity. It is much like the lead which we see on paper in the tea-chests from China, but much thicker. I found some pieces of it covered on both sides with a thin coat of another metal, which might be taken for silver, but I cannot believe it to be so. It certainly is a proof of the scarcity of this metal in Egypt, where, in my opinion, it was less common than gold; for it is seldom found, whereas the latter is quite common on the ornaments.

Carved works were very common, and in great perfection, particularly in the proportion of the figures; and it is to be observed, that though the Egyptians were unacquainted with anatomy, yet in these, as well as in their statues of marble, they preserved that sweet simplicity peculiar to themselves, which is always pleasing to the beholder.

In one of the tombs of the kings I found two wooden figures, nearly seven feet high, of very fine workmanship. They are in a standing posture, with one arm extended, as if holding a torch. They had many other carved works, hieroglyphics, ornaments, &c.

The art of varnishing, and baking the varnish on clay, was in such perfection among them, that I doubt whether it could be imitated at present. Articles of the best sort of this manufacture, however, were rather scarce, as there are but few to be found; while, on the contrary, there are great quantities of the inferior sorts. Indeed, the few good ones I met with were all in the great tomb of Psammuthis, and these are of the most beautiful colour.

The art of painting was but simple among the Egyptians, as they had no knowledge of shadowing to elevate their figures; but great credit is due to them for their taste in disposing their colours. There is great harmony even in the red and green, which do not always agree with us, and which they knew how to mingle so well, that it produced a very splendid effect, particularly by candle-light. Their drawings and sculpture are but simple, and systematically done; notwithstanding which, they knew how to impart a certain vivacity to their posture, which animates their figures. They knew little or nothing of perspective, and all that was done was in profile. The wall, or whatever other place was to be ornamented, was previously prepared, by grinding it very smooth. The first lines were done in red by a scholar, or one not so expert as the master, who examined the outlines, and corrected them in black. Specimens of this are to be seen in the tomb of Psammuthis, as I shall have to mention hereafter.

When the outlines were completed, the sculptor began his work. He raised the figure by cutting away the stone all round it. The angles are smoothly turned, and the ornaments on the figure or garments are traced with a chisel, which leaves a slight impression, and adorns the whole figure. The last was the painter, who finished the piece. They could not find any other colours than red, blue, yellow, green, and black. The blue is divided into two sorts, the dark and the light. With these colours they adorned their temples, tombs, or whatever they wished to have painted. As there is no colour among these that could imitate the living human flesh, they adopted the red for this purpose. The ornaments were decorated with the other colours; and, though so few, I am sure they are not all used in the same piece.

As to their architecture, I can only say it is in conformity with their ideas. It is to be recollected, that they had a notion of returning to life again, body and soul, after a period of three thousand years: whence we may presume, that they intended to make their edifices last so long, that they might see them again in good preservation. As to arches, can we not prove, from the circumstance of their having made them in a different form from ours, that they could also have made them of a larger size, than we see to this very day in Thebes? Yes, I say, in Thebes there are Egyptian arches. If any reader will observe Plate 44, he will see an Egyptian arch which exists at Gournou, under the rocks that separate this place from the valley Beban el Malook. The arch is made in a manner entirely different from our own; but if the Egyptians were inclined to have arches in their edifices, they might have constructed them in their own manner, and of considerable sizes, equal in proportion to the enormous blocks which we see in their edifices. No, they did not want arches—they preferred having their temples crowded with columns, which formed the finest embellishments of their edifices; and I assert, that the number of these columns is no detriment to the beauty or magnificence of these sacred places. On the contrary, without these columns, their architecture would not have appeared to the Egyptians so substantially firm, which was their principal object. This, in my opinion, was their reason for not erecting arches. But I shall endeavour farther to prove, that they knew how to make an arch with the key-stone as well as we do. A traveller may wander among the ruins of Thebes, and his attention be so much taken by the magnificence of the great edifices, as to overlook what is inferior, especially what is constructed of simple bricks, baked in the sun. Besides, he has a preconceived notion, that the Egyptians were ignorant of the art of turning an arch; so that, if he should see one, or even pass under an archway, he would take it for granted, that it was the work of a later people. I shall now describe the situation of several arches, which are to be seen in Thebes; point out the purpose for which they were evidently erected; and leave the reader to conjecture whether they were made by the Egyptians, or by any other people.

The mode of building enormously strong walls with unburnt bricks is peculiar to the Egyptians. Of this I trust there can be no doubt, from the many instances clearly before our eyes; but if it be questioned, I would inquire of any traveller, who has seen Thebes, whether he thinks that the wall, which surrounded the avenue of sphinxes, or lion-headed statues, which I discovered at Carnak, could have been made by any other people. There are even some of these walls that enclose their sacred places: and if it be objected to, on the supposition that some subsequent nation, who adored the same gods, may have erected these walls to preserve the holy edifices, I can boldly say: No, this was not the case; for the walls are so connected with the Egyptian works, that it is plain they were constructed at the same time with them. But what is still more to the point, at Gournou there are various and extensive tombs, excavated not in the rocks themselves, but in the plains at their foot, twelve or fourteen feet below the surface, and extending a considerable length under ground. The way to these tombs is generally by a staircase, which led into a large square hall, cut in the rock, in some instances ninety or a hundred feet long; and opposite the stairs is generally the entrance into the tomb. It is to be observed, that these halls entered into the original plan of the structure: there was nothing to protect or to enclose them on any side but a wall, by which they were completely surrounded. Without this, they would have been exposed to all the rubbish of other tombs, which might have fallen in. The necessity of building these walls is evident; and I have no doubt many travellers will plainly see, that no other succeeding nation would have built these enormous walls to preserve the tombs of the Egyptians. Now over the stairs, which lead into the hall, there are some very high and majestic arches, not only made of the same bricks, but connected with the walls themselves; consequently, made by the Egyptians, and constructed with the same key-stones as our own in the present day. There is also at Gournou a great number of other buildings of sun-burnt bricks, of a later date, which I hope will not be confounded with the others. Some of these are built with a smaller sort of bricks; others with bricks taken from the Egyptian walls; but their construction plainly shows the difference of the people who erected them.

If we extend our observations on the Egyptian architecture, it will appear, that the Egyptians undoubtedly have the merit of invention, which I consider as the source of improvement, &c. The Greeks may claim their having brought the art to great perfection; but it is well known, that they took their principal hints from the Egyptians.

The Egyptians were a primitive nation. They had to form every thing without any model before them to imitate. Yet so fertile was their inventive faculty, that to this day new orders of architecture might be extracted from their ruins. If we observe the Egyptian capitals, do we not see a complication of orders in one mass, which, if divided, would produce numerous hints for new ideas? If the lover of truth will but inspect the various representations of the lotus on the capitals, he will plainly see, that not only the Doric and the Corinthian orders have been extracted from them, but that more might still be formed. There is reason also to believe, that the Ionic order originated in Egypt. The capitals of the columns of Tentyra, those in the small temple of Edfu, and, lastly, the others in the small temple of Isis, in the island of Philoe, sufficiently indicate this. The name of the deity, to which the first and third of these temples are dedicated, seems to strengthen this supposition. We well know, that Isis is the Io of the Greeks, from whom the name of Ionic was no doubt derived; and it is very probable, that he who introduced the order gave it that name, as having been taken from the temple of the goddess.

The wonderful sculptures of the Egyptians are to be admired for the boldness of their execution. Their enormous sizes rendered it difficult for the artists to maintain their due proportions, which were according to the height of the figure. For instance, if a statue were erected of the size of life, the head was of the natural size; if the statue were thirty feet high, the head was larger in proportion to the body; and if fifty feet high, the magnitude of the head was farther increased. Had it been otherwise in statues of so great height, the distance from the eyes of the spectator would have so much diminished the size, that the head would have appeared too small in proportion to the legs. The tedious work of the endless hieroglyphics which are to be seen in every part of every edifice, the numberless figures on the temples, tombs, obelisks, and walls, must have required wonderful labour. They had only four sorts of stones in general use for sculpture, the sandy, the calcareous, breccia, and granite. All except the first are very hard, and what is most singular is, we do not know with what tools they were cut out. We have ocular demonstration, that the tools of the present day will not cut granite without great difficulty, and I doubt whether we could give it that smoothness of surface we see in Egypt. But I would observe it is not unreasonable to suppose, that the granite and other stones were less hard at the time of the Egyptians than they are at present. On the calcareous stone the figures have angles so sharp, that the best tempered chisel of our time could not produce the like; it is so hard that it breaks more like glass than stone; and the granite is almost impenetrable.

At the end of the above-mentioned plain in Gournou, at the foot of the rocks which divide that valley from Beban el Malook, the excavation was going on at the end of an avenue where sphinxes must have been. Here was found a causeway gradually rising to some ruins, which being uncovered, proved to be a temple, with columns doubly octangular, the only one of such form I saw in Egypt. The temple is evidently ancient, but I dare not affirm it to be Egyptian, though it has hieroglyphics, &c. It was probably made by the Ptolemies; for the proportions of the plan, as far as I could see, and the order of the columns, being totally different from any others of the Egyptians, lead me to suppose this temple to be of a later date. Farther on, just under the rocks, we discovered a granite door nine feet high by five wide, and one and a half thick. It is covered with hieroglyphics and figures neatly cut, and on the top it has the winged globe and a cornice. It had been painted, and was buried entirely under ground.

While my men were at work, I was in the habit of searching among these tombs, and entered all the places and holes I could possibly squeeze myself into. In the large tombs I caused the side wall or rock to be struck with the large sledge hammer, to discover by the sound if any cavity were near. One day the hammer not only gave a hollow sound, but made an aperture a foot and half wide into another tomb. Having enlarged the hole sufficiently to pass, we entered, and found several mummies, and a great quantity of broken cases. The stones which had fallen from the roof were as sharp as a razor, and as my shoes were not very strong, my feet were cut in several places. These stones detach themselves from the roof in flakes, which proves them to be much harder than when first cut. In an inner apartment of this tomb is a square opening, into which we descended, and at the bottom found a small chamber at each side of the shaft. In one was a granite sarcophagus with its cover quite perfect, but so situated, that it would be an arduous undertaking to draw it out. Among the mummies I found some small papyri, and one extraordinarily large.

When I did not choose to pass the river in the night to our habitation at the temple of Luxor, I took up my lodging in the entrance of some of the tombs along with those troglodytes. Nothing could be more amusing to me. Their dwelling is generally in the passages between the first and second entrance into a tomb. The walls and the roof are as black as any chimney. The inner door is closed up with mud, except a small aperture sufficient for a man to crawl through. Within this place the sheep are kept at night, and occasionally accompany their masters in their vocal concert. Over the doorway there are always some half-broken Egyptian figures, and the two foxes, the usual guardians of burial-places. A small lamp, kept alive by fat from the sheep, or rancid oil, is placed in a niche in the wall, and a mat is spread on the ground; and this formed the grand divan, wherever I was. There the people assembled round me, their conversation turning wholly on antiquities. Such a one had found such a thing, and another had discovered a tomb. Various articles were brought to sell to me, and sometimes I had reason to rejoice at having stayed there. I was sure of a supper of milk and bread served in a wooden bowl; but whenever they supposed I should stay all night, they always killed a couple of fowls for me, which were baked in a small oven heated with pieces of mummy cases, and sometimes with the bones and rags of the mummies themselves. It is no uncommon thing to sit down near fragments of bones; hands, feet, or sculls are often in the way; for these people are so accustomed to be among the mummies, that they think no more of sitting on them, than on the skins of their dead calves. I also became indifferent about them at last, and would have slept in a mummy pit as readily as out of it.

Every human being can be happy if he likes, for happiness certainly depends on ourselves. If a man be satisfied with what he has, he is happy; but much more so when he thinks, that there is nothing more to be got. It is somewhat singular to talk of happiness among people who live in caves like brutes, or rather who live in sepulchres among the corpses and rags of an ancient nation, which they know nothing of. But this is trifling compared with their slave-like state, subject to the caprice of a tyrannical power, who leaves them no chance of receiving any remuneration for their labour, and no prospect of any change except for the worse. But custom reconciles all this. The labourer comes home in the evening, seats himself near his cave, smokes his pipe with his companions, talks of the last inundation of the Nile, its products, and what the ensuing season is likely to be. His old wife brings him the usual bowl of lentils and bread moistened with water and salt, and when she can add a little butter it is a feast. Knowing nothing beyond this, he is happy. The young man’s business is to accumulate the amazing sum of a hundred piasters (two pounds and ten shillings) to buy himself a wife, and to make a feast on the wedding day. If he has any children, they want no clothing: he leaves them to themselves till mother Nature pleases to teach them to work, to gain money enough to buy a shirt or some other rag to cover themselves; for while they are children, they are generally naked or covered with rags. The parents are roguishly cunning, and the children are schooled by their example, so that it becomes a matter of course to cheat strangers. Would any one believe, that in such a state of life luxury and ambition exist? If any woman be destitute of jewels, she is poor, and looks with envy on one more fortunate than herself, who perhaps has the worth of half-a-crown round her neck; and she who has a few glass beads, or some sort of coarse coral, a couple of silver brooches, or rings at her arms and legs, is considered as truly rich and great. Some of them are as complete coquettes, in their way, as any to be seen in the capitals of Europe. I often noticed, that modesty was most apparent among the ugliest. These do not care to let a stranger see their faces; as they have nothing to gain by it, they deem it better to keep it covered; on the contrary, one who hopes to excite admiration in the stranger, takes care that some accident or other shall cause the veil, or cloth, or rag, covering her face, to fall or turn aside. The artifice having succeeded, she pretends to be quite anxious to cover herself again; but she is satisfied the stranger has had his peep, and she passes on, proud that he knows her to be pretty.

When a young man wants to marry, he goes to the father of the intended bride, and agrees with him what he is to pay for her. This being settled, so much money is to be spent on the wedding-day feast. To set up housekeeping nothing is requisite but two or three earthen pots, a stone to grind meal, and a mat, which is the bed. The spouse has a gown and jewels of her own; and, if the bridegroom present her with a pair of bracelets of silver, ivory, or glass, she is happy and fortunate indeed. The house is ready, without rent or taxes. No rain can pass through the roof; and there is no door, for there is no want of one, as there is nothing to lose. They make a kind of box of clay and straw, which, after two or three days’ exposure to the sun, becomes quite hard. It is fixed on a stand, an aperture is left to put all their precious things into it, and a piece of mummy case forms the door. If the house do not please them, they walk out and enter another, as there are several hundreds at their command; I might say several thousands, but they are not all fit to receive inhabitants.

While I was thus occupied in my researches at Thebes, we received news that the Defterdar was to come up the Nile again. By this time I had arranged my operations, and they were going on very well. At Carnak, one morning previous to my crossing the Nile to Gournou, I set several men to work on a spot of ground at the foot of a heap of earth, where part of a large colossus projected out. Mr. Beechey, who sometimes visited the ruins, did me the favour to superintend the work on that day; and, on my return from Gournou, I had the pleasure to find the discovery had been made of a colossal head, larger than that I had sent to England. It was of red granite, of beautiful workmanship, and uncommonly well preserved, except one ear, and part of the chin, which had been knocked off along with the beard. It is detached from the shoulder at the lower part of the neck, and has the usual corn measure, or mitre, on its head. Though of larger proportion than the young Memnon, it is not so bulky or heavy, as it has no part of the shoulder attached to it. I had it removed to Luxor, which employed eight days, though the distance is little more than a mile.

I had by this time accumulated at Luxor articles enough to fill another boat, as large as that of the preceding year. Besides this head, which is ten feet from the neck to the top of the mitre, I procured an arm belonging to the same colossus, which measures also ten feet, and with the head, will give a just idea of the size of the statue.

I brought also the famous altar, with the six divinities, in alto relievo, which are the most finished works of any I have seen in Egypt. It was thrown from its pedestal in a small temple in the north-east angle of the wall inclosing the great temple of Carnak. The pedestal is still there, and is of a kind of whitish marble. I had also four large statues with the lion-heads; and the cover of the sarcophagus, of which so much was said on my first visit. It cost some trouble, as may be supposed, to remove a heavy piece of granite from those abysses, through a place scarcely high enough to allow a man to sit on the ground, up an uneven and craggy ascent, by the assistance of people, strangers to every sort of order, and who had to contend with the dust that rose under the feet, and the excessive heat from the number of labourers. I had it conveyed over the water to Luxor, ready to embark, and it was well that I did so.

Fortune seemed to favour me so far this time; for, no sooner had I finished the operation, and made the above collection, than an order came from the Defterdar Bey, who had arrived at Gamola, three miles north of Thebes, to all the Cacheffs and Caimakans, who commanded on both sides of Thebes, not to permit the English party to accumulate any more antiquities, nor to allow the Arabs to work or sell any thing more to them on any account.

I must inform my reader, that the two agents for the opposite party had gone to Gamola on the arrival of the Bey, and requested him to send this order, under the pretext, that they could not find or buy a single article in consequence of the English, who laid their hands on every thing. He did not want much persuasion to this; and immediately sent for the chiefs of Gournou, Luxor, and Carnak, to whom he gave strict orders as above.

The Sheik of Gournou came to tell us of the order the Bey had issued. The poor fellow, who was rather attached to us, was sorry for his part, but said he must obey. It was too late to set off that evening to see the Bey, so I waited till early the next morning. On my arrival, I found the mighty potentate seated in his divan, surrounded by his Cacheffs, and a number of other attendants. He received me more coolly than on my former visit. He inquired whether I had not yet made up my collection. I answered, that, as long as I had his permission, I would still endeavour to find something more.