Part 23

The next is a chamber with a projection like a sideboard. It has two square pillars with two figures on every side, as represented in Plates 4 and 5. The walls in every part of this chamber are also beautifully adorned with symbolical figures, a specimen of which is given in Plate 2, which represents a compartment over the door within the chamber. It is useless to proceed any further in the description of this heavenly place, as I can assure the reader he can form but a very faint idea of it from the trifling account my pen is able to give; should I be so fortunate, however, as to succeed in erecting an exact model of this tomb in Europe, the beholder will acknowledge the impossibility of doing it justice in a description.

The Arabs made such reports of this discovery, that it came to the ears of Hamed Aga of Kenneh; and it was reported to him, that great treasure was found in it. On hearing this, he immediately set off with some of his soldiers to Thebes, generally a journey of two days, but such was his speed in travelling, that he arrived in the valley of Beban el Malook in thirty-six hours by land. Before his arrival some Arabs brought us intelligence, that they saw from the tops of the mountains a great many Turks on horseback entering the valley, and coming toward us. I could not conceive who they could be, as no Turks ever came near this place. Half an hour after they gave us the signal of their approach, by firing several guns. I thought an armed force was sent to storm the tombs and rocks, as no other object could bring the Turks there; at last, when this mighty power reached us, I found it to be the well-known Hamed Aga of Kenneh, for some time commander of the eastern side of Thebes, and his followers. Accordingly I was at a loss to conceive what he wanted there, as we were on the west, and under another ruler; but I suppose, in case of a treasure being discovered, the first that hears of it seizes it as a matter of privilege. He smiled, and saluted me very cordially; indeed more so than usual, I presume for the sake of the treasure I had discovered, of which he was in great expectation. I caused as many lights to be brought as we could muster, and we descended into the tomb. What was on the walls of this extraordinary place did not attract his attention in the least; all the striking figures and lively paintings were lost on him; his views were directed to the treasure alone; and his numerous followers were like hounds, searching in every hole and corner. Nothing, however, being found to satisfy their master or themselves, after a long and minute survey, the Aga at last ordered the soldiers to retire, and said to me, “Pray where have you put the treasure?” “What treasure?” “The treasure you found in this place.” I could not help smiling at his question, which confirmed him in his supposition. I told him that we had found no treasure there. At this he laughed, and still continued to entreat that I would show it to him. “I have been told,” he added, “by a person to whom I can give credit, that you have found in this place a large golden cock, filled with diamonds and pearls. I must see it. Where is it?” I could scarcely keep myself from laughing, while I assured him that nothing of the kind had been found there. Seeming quite disappointed, he seated himself before the sarcophagus, and I was afraid he would take it into his head, that this was the treasure, and break it to pieces, to see whether it contained any gold; for their notions of treasure are confined to gold and jewels. At last he gave up the idea of the riches to be expected, and rose to go out of the tomb. I asked him what he thought of the beautiful figures painted all around. He just gave a glance at them, quite unconcerned, and said, “This would be a good place for a harem, as the women would have something to look it.” At length, though only half persuaded there was no treasure, he set off with an appearance of much vexation.

Every thing must come round, and be told in proper time. I shall now introduce what happened previous to this period. It will be recollected, on my first voyage up to Nubia I took possession, in the island of Philoe, of sixteen large blocks of stone, which formed a fine group of various figures in basso relievo; that I had them cut thinner, to be taken more easily down the Nile; and that the boat, which was engaged to carry them, returned without them, as the Reis did not intend to take the great head on board his boat. On our arrival at the island, on my second voyage, we found these stones had been mutilated, and written upon in the French language, “_operation manquée_.” The hand writing could not be ascertained, as it was done with charcoal; but we knew there had been only three French agents at the island, Mr. Caliud, Mr. Jaques, and the renegado Rosignana, all in the employ of Mr. Drouetti. Ignorant which of the three to point out as the perpetrator of this wanton and spiteful mischief, we contented ourselves with writing to the consul at Cairo, and nothing more was said. But by this time Mr. Jaques, who had parted from the others and was alone, came to us, and, by way of exculpating himself, said that Caliud was the man, who mutilated the figures with his little hammer, which he always carried with him to break stones. Mr. Caliud was now in Cairo, and Mr. Beechey wrote to the consul an account of what had passed. Mr. Caliud, afraid of being turned out of employment, assured the consul, that he would prove his innocence in the face of Mr. Jaques, when he arrived in Thebes. Sometime after Mr. Caliud reached Thebes with a letter from the consul, stating the promise he had made of clearing himself from the imputation of Mr. Jaques concerning the breaking of the stones; but instead of confronting Mr. Jaques, who was there, he contented himself with abusing the English consul for having spoken to him about the business while in Cairo, and did not choose to meet Mr. Jaques and us, or say whether the charge were true or false. After abusing the consul, who was now five hundred miles distant from him, Mr. Caliud meditated more mischief before his departure. He became the friend again of Mr. Jaques, who wrote again to the consul, that all that had been written to him by Mr. Beechey concerning Mr. Caliud was not true, and that he never told us any thing of the kind. On the arrival of the consul at Thebes, Mr. Jaques was questioned before us, whether he had not told us, that Caliud mutilated the stones in the island of Philoe. He again repeated to the consul before us, that Caliud did break the stones: and being questioned by the consul, why he afterwards wrote, that such was not the case, said with the greatest _sang froid_, that he merely contradicted it at the request of Caliud. One broke the stones; the other first betrayed him, then retracted, and lastly confirmed it again. These were the sort of honourable Monsieurs I had to guard against.

Twenty days after the tomb was opened, we heard by the boats which came up the Nile, that there were three maishes, or large boats, coming up, with Englishmen on board; and, a few days after, Earl Belmore and family, Mr. Salt the consul, Captain Cory, Dr. Richardson, and the Rev. Mr. Holt, arrived at Thebes.

In passing Kenneh they went to see Hamed Aga, who told them of the new discovery of the tomb. They were delighted when they saw it; and as his Lordship was anxious to find a tomb, I pointed out two likely spots of ground in the valley of Beban el Malook, but they turned out to be two small mummy pits. This proves, that small tombs were permitted to be dug out in that valley, where it was supposed, that none but the tombs of the kings of Egypt were to be found; and agrees with my former opinion, that it was not in this valley alone the tombs of the kings were excavated. During his stay, his Lordship made many researches, and was pleased to send down the Nile two of the lion-headed statues I discovered in Carnak. Thus, with what was found and brought by the Arabs, he accumulated a vast quantity of fragments, which, when in Europe, will form a pretty extensive cabinet of antiquities.

The consul was so enraptured with the sight of the tomb, and, I suppose, of the sarcophagus, that he also began making excavations in the valley of Beban el Malook, in order to find some more of the depositories of kings. He continued his research four months; and what he has found he will of course describe himself with more minuteness than I could do. Lord Belmore and his family proceeded to Nubia a few days after; and I prepared to descend the Nile, as I had business in Cairo. Such however was the impression made on me by that beautiful tomb, that I resolved to return to Thebes, and form a complete model of it, of which I shall speak hereafter.

Having embarked all that was found this season, I left Thebes with another accumulation of antiquities. I shall not describe this voyage, as I think it useless to repeat almost the same things over again. We arrived at Boolak on the twenty-first of December, after ten months absence. My business in Cairo detained me longer than I wished, as I was anxious to return to Thebes. Finding I could not immediately despatch my little business there, I sent up the boat, with the intention of going myself by land. I had engaged Signor Ricci, a young man from Italy, who was very clever at drawing, and who with a little practice became quite perfect in his imitations of the hieroglyphics. He was to begin the drawings of the tomb on his arrival at Thebes. Mrs. Belzoni resolved to visit the Holy Land, and wait for me at Jerusalem, to which place I intended to go after finishing my model of the tomb. My purse was now pretty well exhausted; for all my former stock of money was spent, and very little remained of the present I received from Mr. Burckhardt and the consul after my first voyage with the colossal head. Mrs. Belzoni set out for Jerusalem, accompanied by James the Irish lad and a Janizary, who went to meet a traveller in Syria, to escort him to Egypt.

At this time the celebrated and veracious Count de Forbin arrived at Cairo. I then lodged at the consulate; and the Count visited the house, to see the collection I had just brought down with me, as well as what had been brought the year before. The Count was not a little confounded at the sight of so many valuable things; and being Director of the French Museum, they could not fail to be interesting to him. The colossal head, the altar with the six deities, the colossal arm, and the various statues, particularly attracted his attention.

I was then in possession of some statues, which I had brought from Thebes on my own account, according to an understanding with the consul. I intended to send them to my native town; for which purpose I had arranged for their embarkation at Alexandria. The Count made a proposal to purchase them; and being told they were destined for Europe immediately, he urgently requested that I would dispose of them to him, saying he should be under great obligations to me if I would comply with his request. I recollected that I might find more, and accordingly consented to gratify him. What he paid me for them was not one fourth of their value; but I was fully satisfied, as I never was a dealer in statues in my life.

At this time I received several journals from Europe; and found, to my great surprise, that all my former discoveries and labours had been published in the names of other people, while mine was not even mentioned. I must confess, I was weak enough to be a little vexed at this; for, after such exertions as I had made in Upper Egypt, it was not pleasant to see the fruits and the credit of them ascribed to others, who had no more to do with them than the governor of Siberia, except as far as related to supplying me with money. Thinking all was not right, and that people were by some means misinformed, I drew up a statement of the facts. I gave this account of my operations in Egypt to the Count de Forbin in the shape of a letter, which he promised to have published in France; but it would have been better, if I had never entrusted it to him, as the use he made of it was quite the reverse of what was intended. Every thing was again thrown into confusion by the French journals, who confounded one thing with another, so that the public knew but little of the truth from that quarter; and some others of the European journals, which copied and extracted from them, were also misled. I had despaired of correcting these mis-statements; but the many travellers who afterwards visited that country, and were impartial spectators, wrote to Europe an account of what they saw and heard; and by these means the real facts in time came out.

At this period Major Moore arrived in Cairo with despatches from India; and, as he could not set off on the same day for Alexandria for want of a cangiar, he came with me to visit the pyramids inside and out. While on the top of the first pyramid, I descanted to him on the various opinions entertained concerning the second, and what a pity it was, that, in an intelligent age like the present, it had not been opened, so that the interior remained quite unknown. On Major Moore’s departure for England, he took with him the account of my operations in Egypt, and some of the plans of the newly discovered places, which he faithfully delivered to Lord Aberdeen, president of the Society of Antiquaries, agreeably to my request; and this was one source by which the truth began to be known.

The Count de Forbin made much inquiry about Upper Egypt, and expressed his wish to see that country. I know not whether it were my persuasions, or his own inclinations, but he took the resolution to go up, though the whole of his journey, from his departure to his return, occupied only one month. Having done so, he gave an account of the country, the city of Thebes, its monuments, tombs, temples, colossi, scarabæi, Europeans, &c. But he said his enterprising spirit of penetrating into Africa failed him, when he saw European women walking about Luxor. A very pretty excuse for a traveller! At the time of Norden, European women could not go about in Alexandria as they can now in Thebes, yet Norden continued to make his way as far as Deir. If the Count wanted to signalize himself as a traveller, he should not have scorned to enter the extensive sandy ocean of Africa, merely because he saw a European family walking freely at Luxor in Egypt. If the Count look at the map of that unknown country, he will find, that the civilization of Egypt will diminish very little of the glory he seems to wish to acquire by penetrating into Africa.

The Count mentions having found a colossal arm in Thebes; and that I, by advice of the British consul, had it taken away, though it belonged to him. Such an arm never existed. But if the Count be ashamed to say, that he has been in Egypt without finding a single piece of antiquity, and returned without bringing any thing to France except the statues he obtained from me, I think he might have been more candid, and have confessed, that the attraction of a more easy life did not permit him to proceed any farther into Africa. The Count abuses almost every one who comes in his way, merely because he did not succeed in making any thing of Egypt himself; but I should not have mentioned his name, had he not impelled me to it by the falsehoods inserted against me in his journal. One thing more I must observe respecting the Count. On his return from Thebes I met him at Cairo, in the house of the Austrian consul. I had begun the task of opening the pyramids, and had already discovered the false passage. The Count requested in a kind of sarcastic manner, when I had succeeded in opening the pyramid, which no doubt he supposed I never would, that I would send him the plan of it, as he was about setting off for Alexandria the next day, and thence to France. I thought the best retaliation I could make was to send him the desired plan, and I did so, as soon as I opened the pyramid, which was in a few days after his departure. Would any one believe, that the noble Count, on his arrival in France, gave out, that he had succeeded in penetrating the second pyramid of Ghizeh, and brought the plan of it to Paris? Whether this be the fact or no will appear from the following paragraph, taken from a French paper now in my possession.

“On the 24th of April, Mr. Le Comte de Forbin, Director General of the Royal Museum of France, landed at the lazaretto of Marseilles. He came last from Alexandria, and his passage was very stormy. He has visited Greece, Syria, and Upper Egypt. By a happy chance, some days before his departure from Cairo, he succeeded in penetrating into the second pyramid of Ghizeh. Mr. Forbin brings the plan of that important discovery, as well as much information on the labours of Mr. Drouetti, at Carnak, and on those which Mr. Salt, the English consul, pursues with the greatest success in the valley of Beban el Malook, and in the plain of Medinet Aboo. The Museum of Paris is going to be enriched with some of the spoils of Thebes, which Mr. Forbin has collected in his travels.” Was this written in ridicule of the Count de Forbin by some person in France? or is it an attempt to impose on the public by a tissue of falsehoods?

Before my departure for Thebes, I visited the pyramids in company with two other persons from Europe. On our arrival at these monuments they went into the first pyramid, while I took a turn round the second. I seated myself in the shade of one of those stones on the east side, which form the part of the temple that stood before the pyramid in that direction. My eyes were fixed on that enormous mass, which for so many ages has baffled the conjectures of ancient and modern writers. Herodotus himself was deceived by the Egyptian priests, when told there were no chambers in it. The sight of the wonderful work before me astonished me as much, as the total obscurity in which we are of its origin, its interior, and its construction. In an intelligent age like the present, one of the greatest wonders in the world stood before us, without our knowing even whether it had any cavity in the interior, or if it were only one solid mass. The various attempts which have been made by numerous travellers to find an entrance into this pyramid, and particularly by the great body of French savans, were examples so weighty, that it seemed little short of madness, to think of renewing the enterprise. Indeed, the late researches made by Mr. Salt himself, and by Captain Cabillia, during four months, round these pyramids, were apparently sufficient to deter any one. A short time before this period the few Franks who resided in Egypt had some idea of obtaining permission from Mahomed Ali, and by the help of a subscription, which was to be made at the various Courts in Europe to the amount of at least £20,000, were to force their way into the centre of this pyramid by explosions, or any other means that could be suggested. Mr. Drouetti was to have had the superintendence of this work. Indeed it had created some difference among themselves who was to have had the direction of the whole concern. Was not this enough to show the difficulties I had to encounter, and to make me laugh at myself, that the thought of such an attempt should cross my mind? Besides, there was another obstacle to overcome. I had to consider, that in consequence of what I had the good fortune to do in Upper Egypt, and under the circumstances above mentioned, it was not likely that I should obtain permission to make such an attempt: for if it could be supposed, that there was any possibility of penetrating into the pyramid, the operation would certainly be given to people of higher influence than myself.

With all these thoughts in my mind I arose, and by a natural impulsion took my walk toward the south side of the pyramid. I examined every part, and almost every stone. I continued to do so on the west,—at last I came round to the north. Here the appearance of things became to my eye somewhat different from that at any of the other sides. The constant observations I made on the approach to the tombs at Thebes perhaps enabled me to see what other travellers did not: indeed, I think this ought to be considered as a standing proof, that in many cases practice goes farther than theory. Other travellers had been also in various places where I had been, and came often to the same spot where I was, but perhaps did not make the observations I did. I certainly must beg leave to say, that I often observed travellers, who, confident of their own knowledge, let slip opportunities of ascertaining whether they were correct in their notions; and if an observation is made to them by any one, who had not the good fortune of having received a classical education, they scorned to listen to it, or replied with a smile, if not a laugh of disapprobation, without investigating whether the observation were just or not. I had often the satisfaction of seeing such travellers mortified by the proof of being wrong in their conjecture. I do not mean to say, that a man, who has had a classical education, should think himself under a disadvantage in regard to knowing such things, compared with him who has not; but, that a man, who thinks himself well informed on a subject, often does not examine it with such precision as another, who is less confident in himself.

I observed on the north side of the pyramid three marks, which encouraged me to attempt searching there for the entrance into it. Still it is to be remarked, that the principal signs I discovered there were not deduced solely from the knowledge I had acquired among the tombs of the Egyptians at Thebes; for any traveller will acknowledge, that the pyramids have little in common with the tombs, either in their exterior appearance, or in any shape whatever:—they are two different things,—one is formed by avast accumulation of large blocks of stones;—the other is entirely hewed out of the solid rock. My principal guide, I must own, was the calculation I made from the first pyramid, and such was my assurance on this point, that I then almost resolved to make the attempt. I had been at the pyramids various times before, but never with any intention of examining into the practicability of finding the entrance into them, which was deemed almost impossible. The case was now different,—I saw then what I had not seen before.—I observed, that just under the centre of the face of the pyramid the accumulation of materials, which had fallen from the coating of it, was higher than the entrance could be expected to be, if compared with the height of the entrance into the first pyramid, measuring from the basis. I could not conceive how the discovery of the entrance into the second pyramid could be considered as a matter to be despaired of, when no one had ever seen the spot, where it must naturally be presumed to exist, if there were any entrance at all. I farther observed, that the materials which had fallen exactly in the centre of the front were not so compact as those on the sides; and hence concluded, that the stones on that spot had been removed after the falling of the coating. Consequently I perceived the probability of there being an entrance into the pyramid at that spot. Encouraged by these observations, I rejoined my companions in the first pyramid. We visited the great sphinx, and returned to Cairo the same evening.