Part 1

Chapter 13,754 wordsPublic domain

Travels in the Upper Egyptian Deserts

BY ARTHUR E. P. WEIGALL INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF UPPER EGYPT, DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES AUTHOR OF ‘A REPORT ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF LOWER NUBIA,’ ‘A CATALOGUE OF THE WEIGHTS AND BALANCES IN THE CAIRO MUSEUM,’ ‘A GUIDE TO THE ANTIQUITIES OF UPPER EGYPT,’ ‘DIE MASTABA DES GEMNIKAI’ (WITH PROFESSOR VON BISSING), ETC.

SECOND IMPRESSION

William Blackwood and Sons Edinburgh and London 1913

_ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_

_TO SIR GASTON MASPERO, K.C.M.G., ETC., ETC., ETC., DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES, EGYPT, THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED._

PREFACE. * * * * *

Some of the chapters in this book have appeared as articles in ‘Blackwood’s Magazine.’ The various journeys here recorded have been made in the ordinary course of the work of inspection, and have been reported in the usual official manner. These less technical descriptions have been written in leisure hours, and the illustrations here published are selected from a large number of photographs and drawings rapidly made by the wayside. The journey to Wady Hammamât and Kossair was made in the company of three painters, Mr Charles Whymper, Mr Walter Tyndale, and Mr Erskine Nicol, to whom my thanks are due, as also they are to Mr John Wells, with whom I travelled to Gebel Dukhân. I am indebted to Prof. Sayce and Mr Seymour de Ricci for several notes on the Greek inscriptions at Wady Abâd. On some of the journeys I was accompanied by Mahmoud Effendi Rushdy and Mahmoud Effendi Muhammed, Inspectors of the Department of Antiquities, whose assistance was valuable.

ARTHUR E. P. WEIGALL.

LUXOR, UPPER EGYPT.

CONTENTS. * * * * *

PAGE I. THE EASTERN DESERT AND ITS INTERESTS 1 II. TO THE QUARRIES OF WADY HAMMAMÂT 28 III. THE RED SEA HIGHROAD 56 IV. THE IMPERIAL PORPHYRY QUARRIES 90 V. THE QUARRIES OF MONS CLAUDIANUS 115 VI. THE TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD 141 VII. A NUBIAN HIGHWAY 169

ILLUSTRATIONS. * * * * *

PLATE PAGE

THE HEAD OF WADY GATÂR _Frontispiece_

I. IN THE DESERT. THE AUTHOR IS SEEN ON THE NEAR 10 CAMEL

ON THE EDGE OF THE EASTERN DESERT 10

II. DESERT VEGETATION. THE COLOQUINTIDA PLANT 16

A NEAR VIEW OF THE COLOQUINTIDA PLANT. 16 PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE WADY ABÂD

III. ONE OF THE RIDING CAMELS 20

ONE OF THE CAMELS 20

IV. MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS ON ROCKS 30

V. UNDER THE TAMARISKS OF THE OASIS OF LAGÊTA 36

BIR HAMMAMÂT, LOOKING SOUTH 36

VI. CARTOUCHES OF SETY II. ON THE ROCKS BETWEEN BIR 40 HAMMAMÂT AND WADY FOWAKHÎEH

INSCRIPTIONS ON THE ROCKS BETWEEN BIR HAMMAMÂT 40 AND WADY FOWAKHÎEH

VII. INSCRIPTIONS AND MARKS 46

VIII. THE CAMP IN WADY FOWAKHÎEH, LOOKING DOWN FROM 50 THE HILLS ON THE NORTH SIDE. THE CAMEL TRACKS ARE SEEN PASSING ALONG THE VALLEY

WADY FOWAKHÎEH, LOOKING EAST. THE CAMEL TRACKS 50 WILL BE NOTICED AGAIN

IX. ABANDONED SARCOPHAGUS ON THE HILLSIDE IN WADY 54 FOWAKHÎEH

A TYPICAL VALLEY NEAR WADY FOWAKHÎEH 54

X. ROCK INSCRIPTIONS AT WADY FOWAKHÎEH AND KOSSAIR 60

XI. BIR ES SID, THE WELL AT THE HIGHEST POINT OF 66 THE RED SEA HIGHROAD

THE ROMAN FORTRESS OF ABU ZERAH, LOOKING 66 SOUTHEAST

XII. DESERT PANORAMA FROM A HILL-TOP TWO HOURS’ RIDE 74 EAST OF BIR ES SID, LOOKING EAST. THE ROAD IS SEEN PASSING TO NORTH AND SOUTH OF THIS HILL AND JOINING UP FURTHER TO THE EAST

XIII. KOSSAIR. ARABIAN BOATS ON THE BEACH 80

A STREET IN KOSSAIR 80

XIV. THE INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE AT KOSSAIR 86

THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE FORTRESS AT KOSSAIR 86

XV. THE START FROM KENEH. NATIVE POLICE LOADING THE 90 CAMELS

MIDDAY REST AT EL GHAITEH. CAMELS FEEDING FROM 90 THE BUSHES

XVI. THE ROMAN STATION AT EL GHAITEH, LOOKING DOWN 96 FROM THE OFFICERS’ QUARTERS ON THE HILL. A DRY RIVER-BED BORDERED BY BUSHES RUNS ACROSS THE PLAIN

A TANK FOR STORING WATER INSIDE THE STATION OF 96 EL GHAITEH

XVII. THE EXCAVATION INSIDE THE ENCLOSURE OF EL 104 SARGIEH

THE ROMAN STATION AT EL GREIYEH. THE ANIMAL 104 LINES. THE BRICK PILLARS SUPPORTED THE ROOF UNDER WHICH WERE THE NIGHT-STALLS

XVIII. GRANITE HILLS TO THE SOUTH OF WADY BILEH. THE 108 GEBEL DUKHÂN RANGE IS TO THE NORTH OF THIS WADY

RUINS OF THE ROMAN TEMPLE AT GEBEL DUKHÂN, 108 SHOWING THE HILLSIDE FROM WHICH THE PORPHYRY WAS TAKEN

XIX. THE RUINS OF THE TOWN OF GEBEL DUKHÂN. THE 114 UPRIGHT PILLARS OF GRANITE SUPPORTED A ROOF

THE ROMAN TOWN OF MONS CLAUDIANUS, LOOKING 114 SOUTH FROM THE CAUSEWAY LEADING TO THE MAIN QUARRY. THE ROUND PILES OF STONE IN THE FOREGROUND ARE BUILT AT INTERVALS ALONG THE CAUSEWAY

XX. MONS CLAUDIANUS. THE TOWN 120

MONS CLAUDIANUS. CHAMBERS ON THE WEST SIDE OF 120 THE FORECOURT OF THE TEMPLE. THE THRESHOLD AND BASE OF A COLUMN OF THE GRANITE PORTICO ARE SEEN ON THE RIGHT

XXI. MONS CLAUDIANUS. EAST END OF THE TEMPLE 124

MONS CLAUDIANUS, LOOKING OVER THE TOWN TO THE 124 TEMPLE ON THE HILLSIDE

XXII. MONS CLAUDIANUS. DOORWAY LEADING FROM THE HALL 128 OF THE BATH-HOUSE INTO THE ROOM IN WHICH WAS THE PLUNGE-BATH. ORIGINALLY THE WALLS WERE PLASTERED

MONS CLAUDIANUS. PEDESTAL OF THE ALTAR IN THE 128 FORECOURT OF THE TEMPLE. THE ALTAR ITSELF IS SEEN BROKEN IN THE FOREGROUND

XXIII. MONS CLAUDIANUS. THE FIRST HEATED ROOM OF THE 132 BATH-HOUSE. THE DOORWAY ON THE LEFT LEADS INTO THE WARMER ROOM. THE PERPENDICULAR CUT IN THE LEFT WALL NEAR THE CORNER IS ONE OF THE RECESSES IN WHICH THE HOT-AIR PIPES WERE FIXED

MONS CLAUDIANUS. THE SAME DOORWAY—NEARER VIEW 132

XXIV. MONS CLAUDIANUS. A LARGE GRANITE COLUMN LYING 138 TO THE NORTH-EAST OF THE TOWN. THE BACK WALL OF THE TOWN IS SEEN BEHIND THE COLUMN, ABOVE WHICH THE TEMPLE BUILDINGS ARE SEEN AT THE FOOT OF THE GRANITE HILLS

MONS CLAUDIANUS. LARGE GRANITE COLUMNS LYING AT 138 THE FOOT OF A QUARRY WEST OF THE TOWN

XXV. THE ROMAN STATION OF ABU GEHÂD. SOME OF THE 142 ROOMS AS SEEN FROM THE COURT, LOOKING WEST

FRONT VIEW OF THE TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD 142

XXVI. THE TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD. THE EAST END OF 146 THE PORTICO. THE SQUARE PILLAR WAS BUILT IN GRÆCO-ROMAN TIMES TO SUPPORT THE BROKEN ARCHITRAVE

THE TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD. THE EAST WALL OF THE 146 PORTICO. THE KING IS SEEN SMITING A GROUP OF NEGROES

XXVII. THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE ROMAN STATION OF WADY 150 ABÂD, LOOKING WEST FROM INSIDE THE ENCLOSURE

THE PILES OF STONE ERECTED OPPOSITE THE TEMPLE 150 OF WADY ABÂD

XXVIII. INSCRIPTIONS AND DRAWINGS IN AND NEAR THE 154 TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD

XXIX. ARCHAIC DRAWINGS OF SACRED BOATS ON ROCKS NEAR 156 TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD

XXX. ARCHAIC DRAWINGS OF SACRED BOATS, ANIMALS, 162 ETC., ON ROCKS NEAR TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD

XXXI. GREEK INSCRIPTION RELATING TO AN ELEPHANT HUNT. 166 ON A ROCK TO THE EAST OF THE TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD

SKETCH-PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF WADY ABÂD 166

XXXII. THE INSCRIBED ROCK, FROM THE NORTH-WEST 174

THE INSCRIBED ROCK, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST 174

XXXIII. THE ELEPHANTINE ROAD, LOOKING ALONG IT TOWARDS 184 ASWÂN

VIEW OF THE ISLANDS IN THE RIVER, ETC., FROM 184 NEAR THE INSCRIBED ROCK AT THE HEAD OF THE ELEPHANTINE ROAD

Travels in the Upper Egyptian Deserts. * * * * * I.

THE EASTERN DESERT AND ITS INTERESTS.

I know a young man who declares that after reading a certain explorer’s description of a journey across the burning Sahara, he found to his amazement that his nose was covered with freckles. The reader will perhaps remember how, on some rainy day in his childhood, he has sat over the fire and has read sea-stories and dreamed sea-dreams until his lips, he will swear, have tasted salt. Alas, one’s little agility in the art of narration is wholly inadequate for the production, at this time of life, of any such phenomena upon the gentle skins of those who chance to read these pages. Were one a master-maker of literature, one might herewith lead the imaginative so straight into the boisterous breezes of Egypt, one might hold them so entranced in the sunlight which streams over the desert, that they would feel, wherever they might be seated, the tingling glow of the sun and the wind upon their cheeks, and would hold their hands to their eyes as a shelter from the glare. The walls of their rooms would fall flat as those of Jericho; and outside they would see the advancing host of the invaders—the sunshine, the north wind, the scudding clouds, the circling eagles, the glistening sand, the blue shadows, and the rampant rocks. And the night closing over the sack of their city, they would see the moonlight, the brilliant stars, the fluttering bats, the solemn owls; and they would hear the wailing of the hyænas and the barking of the dogs in the distant camps. If one only possessed the ability, one might weave such a magic carpet for those who knew how to ride upon it, that, deserting the fallen Jericho of their habitation, they would fly to the land of the invaders which they had seen, and there they would be kept as spell-bound and dazzled by the eyes of the wilderness as ever a child was dazzled by a tale of the sea.

But with this ability lacking it is very doubtful whether the reader will be able to appreciate the writer’s meaning; and, without the carpet, it is a far cry from Upper Egypt, where these words are written, to the fireside where they are read. Nevertheless I will venture to give an account here of some journeys made in the Upper Egyptian desert, in the hope rather of arousing interest in a fascinating country than of placing on record much information of value to science; although the reader interested in Egyptian archæology will find some new material upon which to speculate.

The Upper Egyptian desert is a country known only to a very few. The resident, as well as the visitor, in Egypt raises his eyes from the fertile valley of the Nile to the bare hills, and lowers them once more with the feeling that he has looked at the wall of the garden, the boundary of the land. There is, however, very much to be seen and studied behind this wall; and those who penetrate into the solitudes beyond will assuredly find themselves in a world of new colours, new forms, and new interests. In the old days precious metal was sought here, ornamental stone was quarried, trade-routes passed through to the Red Sea, and the soldiery of Egypt, and later of Rome, marched from station to station amidst its hills. The desert as one sees it now is, so to speak, peopled with the ghosts of the Old World; and on hidden hill-slopes or in obscure valleys one meets with the remains of ancient settlements scattered through the length and breadth of the country.

The number of persons who have had the energy to climb the garden wall and to wander into this great wilderness is so small that one might count the names upon the fingers. Lepsius, the German Egyptologist, passed over some of the routes on which antiquities were to be met with; Golénischeff, the Russian Egyptologist, checked some of his results; Schweinfurth, the German explorer, penetrated to many of the unknown localities, and mapped a great part of the country; Bellefonds Bey, the Director-General of Public Works in Egypt under Muhammed Aly, made a survey of the mineral belt lying between the river and the Red Sea; and during the last score of years various prospectors and miners have visited certain points of interest to them. The Government Survey Department is now engaged in mapping this Eastern Desert, and two most valuable reports have already been published; while for a few years there existed a Mines Department, whose director, Mr John Wells, made himself acquainted with many of the routes and most of the mining centres. Thus, most of the journeys here to be recorded have not been made over absolutely new ground; though, except for the expert reports of the Survey Department and some papers by Schweinfurth, it would be a difficult matter to unearth any literature on the subject. In describing these journeys, however, one is often enabled to indulge in the not unpleasing recollection that one is writing of places which no other European eyes have seen.

Those who have travelled in Egypt will not need to be told how the Nile, flowing down from the Sudan to the distant sea, pushes its silvery way through the wide desert: now passing between the granite hills, now through regions of sandstone, and now under the limestone cliffs. A strip of verdant cultivated land, seldom more than six or eight miles wide, and often only as many yards, borders the broad river; and beyond this, on either side, is the desert. In Upper Egypt one may seldom take an afternoon’s ride due east or due west without passing out either on to the sun-baked sand of a limitless wilderness or into the liquid shadows of the towering hills. For the present we are not concerned with the western desert, which actually forms part of the great Sahara, and one’s back may therefore be turned upon it.

Eastwards, behind the hills or over the sand, there is in most parts of the country a wide undulating plain, broken here and there by the limestone outcrops. Here the sun beats down from a vast sky, and the traveller feels himself but a fly crawling upon a brazen table. In all directions the desert stretches, until, in a leaden haze, the hot sand meets the hot sky. The hillocks and points of rock rise like islands from the floods of the mirage in which they are reflected; and sometimes there are clumps of withered bushes to tell of the unreality of the waters.

The scenery here is often of exquisite beauty; and its very monotony lends to it an interest when for a while the grouping of the hills ceases to offer new pictures and new harmonies to the eye. Setting out on a journey towards the Red Sea one rides on camel-back over this rolling plain, with the sun bombarding one’s helmet from above and the wind charging it from the flank; and, as noonday approaches, one often looks in vain for a rock under which to find shade. Naturally the glaring sand is far hotter than the shady earth under the palms in the cultivation; but the stagnant, dusty, fly-filled air of the groves is not to be compared with the clear atmosphere up in the wilderness. There are no evil odours here, breeding sickness and beckoning death. The wind blows so purely that one might think it had not touched earth since the gods released it from the golden caverns. The wide ocean itself has not less to appeal to the sense of smell than has the fair desert.

Descending from the camel for lunch, one lies on one’s back upon the sand and stares up at the deep blue of the sky and the intense whiteness of a passing cloud. Raising oneself, the Nile valley may still be seen, perhaps, with its palms floating above the vaporous mirage; and away in the distance the pale cliffs rise. Then across one’s range of sight a butterfly zigzags, blazing in the sunlight; and behind it the blue becomes darker and the white more extreme. Around one, on the face of the desert, there is a jumbled collection of things beautiful: brown flints, white pebbles of limestone, yellow fragments of sandstone, orange-coloured ochre, transparent pieces of gypsum, carnelian and alabaster chips, glittering quartz. Across the clear patches of sand there are all manner of recent footprints, and the incidental study of these is one of the richest delights of a desert journey. Here one may see the four-pronged footprints of a wagtail, and there the larger marks of a crow. An eagle’s and a vulture’s footmarks are often to be observed, and the identification of those of birds such as the desert partridge or of the cream-coloured courser is a happy exercise for one’s ingenuity. Here the light, wiggly line of a lizard’s rapid tour abroad attracts the attention, reminding one of some American globe-trotter’s route over Europe; and there footprints of the jerboa are seen leading in short jumps towards its hole. Jackals or foxes leave their dainty pad-marks in all directions, and one may sometimes come across the heavy prints of a hyæna, while it is not unusual to meet with those of a gazelle.

In the afternoon one rides onwards, and perhaps a hazy view of the granite hills may now be obtained in the far distance ahead. The sun soon loses its strength, and shines in slanting lines over the desert, so that one sees oneself in shadow stretched out to amazing lengths, as though the magnetic power of night in the east were already dragging in the reluctant darknesses to its dark self. Each human or camel footprint in the sand is at this hour a basin filled with blue shade, while every larger dent in the desert’s surface is brimful of that same blue; and the colour is so opaque that an Arab lying therein clad in his blue shirt is almost indistinguishable at a distance. Above one the white clouds go tearing by, too busy, too intent, it would seem, on some far-off goal to hover blushing around the sun. The light fades, and the camp is pitched on the open plain; and now one is glad to wrap oneself in a large overcoat, and to swallow the hot tea which has been prepared over a fire of the dried scrub of the desert.

The nights in the desert are as beautiful as the days, though in winter they are often bitterly cold. With the assistance of a warm bed and plenty of blankets, however, one may sleep in the open in comfort; and only those who have known this vast bedroom will understand how beautiful night may be. If one turns to the east, one may stare at Mars flashing red somewhere over Arabia, and westwards there is Jupiter blazing above the Sahara. One looks up and up at the expanse of star-strewn blue, and one’s mind journeys of itself into the place of dreams before sleep has come to conduct it thither. The dark desert drops beneath one; the bed floats in mid-air, with planets above and below. Could one but peer over the side, earth would be seen as small and vivid as the moon. But a trance holds the body inactive, and the eyes are fixed upon the space above. Then, quietly, a puff of wind brings one down again to realities as it passes from darkness to darkness. Consciousness returns quickly and gently, points out the aspect of the night, indicates the larger celestial bodies, and as quickly and gently leaves one again to the tender whispers of sleep.

When there is moonlight there is more to carry the eye into the region of dreams on earth than there is in the heavens; for the desert spreads out around one in a silver, shimmering haze, and no limit can be placed to its horizons. The eye cannot tell where the sand meets the sky, nor can the mind know whether there is any meeting. In the dimness of coming sleep one wonders whether the hands of the sky are always just out of reach of those of the desert, whether there is always another mile to journey and always another hill to climb; and, wondering, one drifts into unconsciousness. At dawn the light brings one back to earth in time to see the sun pass up from behind the low hills. In contrast to the vague night the proceeding is rapid and business-like. The light precedes its monarch only by half an hour or so; and ere the soft colours have been fully appreciated, the sun appears over the rocks and flings a sharp beam into the eyes of every living thing, so that in a moment the camp is stirred and awakened.

[Plate I:

Illustration: In the Desert. The Author is seen on the near camel.

Illustration: On the edge of the Eastern Desert.—Page 30.]

During the second or third day’s ride one generally enters the granite regions, and one is lost amidst the intricate valleys which pass between the peaks of the hills. Here one may find plenty of shelter from the sun’s rays in the shadow of the cliffs; and as the camel jogs along over the hard gravel tracks, or as one sits for refreshment with the back propped against a great grey boulder, the view which is to be enjoyed is often magnificent. On the one side the dark granite, porphyry, or breccia rocks rise up like the towered and buttressed walls of some fairy-tale city; while on the other side range rises behind range, and a thousand peaks harmonise their delicate purples and greys with the blue of the sky. When the sun sets these lofty peaks are flushed with pink, and, like mediators between earth and heaven, carry to the dark valleys the tale of a glory which one cannot see. There is usually plenty of scrub to be found in the valleys with which to build the evening fires, and with good luck one might replenish the food-supplies with the tender flesh of the gazelle. Every two or three days one may camp beside a well of pure water, where the camels may drink, and from which the portable tanks may be refilled.

Near these wells there are sometimes a few Bedwin to be found tending their little herds of goats: quiet, harmless sons of the desert, who generally own allegiance to some Shêkh living in the Nile valley. One’s guides and camel-men exchange greetings with them, and pass the latest news over the camp fires. Often, however, one may journey for many days without meeting either a human being or a four-footed animal, though on the well-marked tracks the prints of goats and goatherds, camels and camel-men, are apparent.