Part 12

The first day we made but little progress against a strong current, although we had all our Arab crew ashore, with ropes across their breasts, pulling, and at night found ourselves moored among the reeds of the island of Rhoda, where it is recorded that Moses was found by the daughter of Pharaoh. While here, we were boarded by a Nubian, of a dark, tall, and fine figure, bearing his orders in diamonds and sabre by his side. Not knowing his designs, we desired him to be seated, and following the custom of the country presented coffee and a pipe, when he produced a paper in Arabic for the arrest of our reis, or captain, who owed a certain sum of money. High words ensued, in which the captain, crew, and domestics took part, and we, being determined not to be detained, produced the firmans of the Sultan and Mehemet Ali, stating that we could not be stopped, when he very politely concluded to defer the arrest until the return of the barge. The second day the scene had changed; with a fine wind and our tall sails spread to the breeze, we were dashing against the rapid current, and making fine progress, and leaving Cairo in the distance, when we suddenly found ourselves upon a sand bank, which, as we have since found, is a thing of frequent occurrence. Instantly ten or eleven naked Arabs and Barbary negroes plunged into the river, and we soon found the boat lightened and again under way. At night the wind ceased, and we drew up to the bank, alongside of an Arab village, while the rays of the setting sun gilded beautifully the mountains and the desert in the distance. The village, surrounded with palm trees gently waving, and the rich verdure of the plain, seemed to me more beautiful than ever. The morning of the 26th, to our surprise, found the wind dead ahead and strong; I started along the bank with my two companions shooting pigeons, which are found in great abundance, and saw about two hundred Egyptians, a large proportion half naked, employed in making dyes. Our appearance and guns created a sensation. We frequently encountered groups of women and girls with massive jugs, which, after having filled them with Nile water, they put upon their heads and march off in line. Their appearance differs from those in large cities, from their not having a veil to cover their faces; but on our approach they endeavored to cover them with a blue cotton shawl which is worn on the head and shoulders. They are swarthy, with feet and ankles bare, their faces and hands marked with a blue color resembling India ink; they wear many ornaments about the neck, wrists, and even ankles, and not unfrequently rings in the nose.

27th.--Wind still contrary, which is rare, as it usually blows from the north during the winter months. Although our men tugged heavily all day, we made very little progress. At night we halted at a small village, where we found a caravan of men, women, and children, with their camels, all reposing upon their mats and straw for the night, whilst our Arab crew were gathered around a fire on the bank. Had an eclipse of the full moon this evening, which has created an excitement among the superstitious Arabs, causing many invocations to the prophet.

28th.--This is the most horrible and disagreeable day we have had upon the Nile. The wind ahead, and blows a perfect gale; cannot change our position. Yesterday was warm and delightful, but to-day extremely cold. Our men are wrapped up in all the covering they can find, and we are glad to confine ourselves to the cabin.

29th and 30th.--The wind still being against us, we were almost discouraged with the prospect; but the ruins of immortal Thebes, which had her hundred gates, were before us, and beckoned us on.

31st.--We made some progress to-day in towing, but no wind. Discovering a mud village in the distance, I took an Arab servant with me, to bring a supply of poultry, eggs, and mutton, which can be procured at almost all places along the Nile. These articles, with a species of cake called bread, are about all that can be procured, excepting in the largest towns. On returning to the boat, I saw several mounted horsemen, who were cautioning my companions not to go alone into the villages, as four soldiers had just been killed by the villagers.

Feb. 4th.--I made my appearance again on deck, having been confined to my bed for the last three days with cold and fever, from the effect of checked perspiration. Fortunately, I had a medicine chest, to which I am indebted for my quick recovery. In a country like Egypt, where no medical attendance can be procured, it is all-important to be provided with the necessary remedies; besides which, among the Arabs, who have a great passion for medicine, one soon acquires distinction in the title of “hakim.” Before our arrival at Thebes, three of our crew fell sick, but a strong dose to each was sufficient to effect a cure, and they seemed to feel under many obligations.

After the 4th, our prospects changed; the wind veered round to the north, and we found our bark gliding along with great velocity, passing some important towns and villages, with the determination to stop on our return, not wishing to lose such a fine wind, which we held most of the way to Thebes. In ascending the Nile new sights are continually rising to view. In one place may be seen a herd of buffalo and camels, quietly grazing upon the rich plain; while near at hand are discovered half-a-dozen Egyptians, in a state of nature, raising water to irrigate the soil, by buckets fastened to a pole, like our old-fashioned well-poles. The next moment, perhaps, you discover fifteen or twenty crocodiles, from ten to fourteen feet long, and as numerous as in the days when the Egyptians worshipped them. As they lay basking in the sun, we would give them a passing shot, which would shake their scaly sides and send them tumbling in the water. Upon the Nile, one who is fond of shooting, finds plenty of amusement, as pelicans, wild ducks, geese, and eagles abound, and in many places are found the hyena, gazelle, foxes, wolves, and other animals. The slave trade is still continued from Dongola and Senaar. We saw one large boat descending with upwards of one hundred on board, who were bought for a small sum, or some article of necessity, from their parents, and were now wending their way to the slave market at Cairo, or perhaps to Siout, where the abominable traffic in eunuchs for the harems is still carried on. It is to be hoped, under the enlightened government of Mehemet Ali, that the latter detestable practice will be abandoned.

On arriving at Dendera, within a day’s sail of Thebes, we visited the ruins of the temple, &c., which stands about a mile and a half from the river, on the side of the desert, and occupies an area of three and a half miles in circumference. It is the first temple one sees on coming up the Nile, and is decidedly the best preserved one in Egypt. It is impossible to describe this superb building, which I found much more beautiful than I had expected, although considerably choked up with sand and stones, and forming the centre of an Arab village, which was abandoned from some cause or other. Their huts not only surrounded it, but crowned the summit of the temple itself. Nothing can exceed its magnificence. It is as rich in sculpture, hieroglyphics, and mythological paintings, as the greatest lover of antiquity could desire. Its dimensions are enormous. The vestibule, or porch, has twenty-one figures along the ceiling, ending with the vulture, the guardian genius of the kings and heroes of Egypt. On each hand are three rows of columns, with three columns in each row--making eighteen--which occupy the body of the vestibule. The exterior walls, as well as the interior, and columns, are covered with sculptured devices of the most remarkable execution: the winged globe, vulture, hawk, ibis, Isis, Osiris, gods, goddesses, priests, and women, sacred boats, with the sacred bulls which were formerly exhibited to the admiring multitude. What is most remarkable is, that after the lapse of two thousand years, the painting should appear, in many instances, as if executed but a month ago. There are several other smaller temples and gates of the city still standing, which are also full of interest. Dendera, which was anciently called Tentyra, is situated near the west bank of the Nile, about two hundred and sixty miles south by east of Cairo, and its ruins bespeak its former greatness.

In my next I shall endeavor to give you some idea of the gigantic ruins of Thebes, with Luxor and Karnak, which are said to have extended twenty-three miles in circumference; and the valley of the Nile not being able to contain them, their extremities rested upon the bases of the mountains of Arabia and Africa.

XXXI.

DJIRJEH, UPPER EGYPT, _February 20, 1842_.

My last was from Thebes, after having made the ancient port of Luxor and found ourselves some seven or eight hundred miles from the sea, secured to the old quay where the Egyptian boatmen tied their boats three thousand years ago. On the eastern or Arabian side of the Nile are the immense ruins of Luxor and Karnak. The temple of Luxor is a mere skeleton; the greater part of the columns stand yet, but the outside walls have been thrown down, and the materials carried away. It stands very near the river bank, and was supposed to be for the use of the boatmen. The temple was six hundred feet in length; the interior court was three hundred feet long and one hundred and sixty feet wide, and the double row of columns, twelve feet diameter and one hundred and forty feet high, were covered with sculpture. Before a magnificent gateway of the temple stands the survivor of the beautiful obelisks which have withstood the hand of time for three thousand years. It is a single block of red granite, eighty or ninety feet high, covered with sculpture and hieroglyphics beautifully executed. Its fellow was taken by the French, and now stands in the Place de la Concorde at Paris. The refinement of civilization has dared to remove what the grossness of barbarism feared to touch. The obelisks were among the few objects spared by the Persians on entering Egypt, probably from the fact that they were the symbols of the sacred element, _fire_, which the Persians worshipped.

The gateway of this magnificent ruin is two hundred feet long and sixty feet high; the front of the interior wall is covered with sculpture, representing the battle scenes of an Egyptian warrior in different attitudes, advancing at the head of his army, breaking through the ranks of the enemy; sometimes in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds, with plumes waving over their heads, the bow bent, the arrow drawn to its extremity, whilst the dead and wounded are falling under the wheels of his car; with a great variety of other devices.

Leaving Luxor we proceeded to Karnak, a distance of about two miles, and in approaching the ruins of the immense temples which occupy a mile in diameter, we passed through the avenue of sphinxes, each a solid block of granite, lining the whole length of the road, which was sixty feet wide, regularly formed, and shaded by rows of poplar trees. Many are broken, but some are quite perfect, and solemn as when the ancient Egyptians passed to worship in the great temple of Ammon. Here we saw several rows of sphinxes. The grand temple of Karnak, which was twelve hundred feet in length, and four hundred and twenty feet in breadth, stood in the centre of a series of smaller temples, with avenues of sphinxes and colossal statues radiating from it. The principal entrances, of which there were twelve, were so contrived as exactly to front the corresponding temples on the other side of the river at Thebes, which must have added much to the effect produced by the annual processions of the priests and gods of Egypt, when they were carried in solemn triumph from the Arabian to the Lybian side of the Nile. Some of the smaller temples surrounding this gigantic structure are larger than many other temples elsewhere. Here are seen many colossal statues, twenty or thirty feet high, some sitting, others erect. In front of the body of the temple is a large court, with an immense colonnade on each side, of thirty columns in length, and through the middle two rows of columns fifty feet high; then comes an immense portico, the roof supported originally by one hundred and thirty-four columns; I counted one hundred and twenty-six still standing, which measured from thirty to thirty-six feet in circumference. Here are three beautiful obelisks, seventy feet high, the sanctuary of highly polished granite, the walls of which are covered with sculpture representing offerings to the gods. The walls inside and out, as also the columns in every part, are covered with every variety of device, representing the acts of their kings, the worship of their gods, &c. Here are immense walls and gates and ruins, with cemeteries, in which are still standing colossal figures of rams, and those of men with the heads of animals. In fact, it is impossible to form any correct estimate of these gigantic remains. One is struck with wonder and confusion, and, to use the language of Dr. Richardson, who, looking from one of the gateways, exclaims, “the vast scene of havoc and destruction presents itself in all the extent of this immense temple, with its columns, and walls, and immense propylons, all prostrate in one heap of ruins, looking as if the thunders of heaven had smitten it at the command of an insulted God.”

I have visited all the ruins of Thebes, on the other side of the river, which occupied several days, but it is useless to attempt to describe them, as what I have already spoken of is not half of the ruins of this once magnificent city. Many are prostrate and nearly buried in the sand, but the traces are still visible. The temples of Goorneh, Northern Dair, Memnonium and Medinet Abou, with their columns and colossal figures, still raise their giant skeletons above the sands, and, as Mr. Stevens has said, “volumes have been written upon them, and volumes may yet be written, and he that reads all will have but an imperfect view of Thebes--that all the temples were connected by long avenues of sphinxes, statues, propylons, and colossal figures, and the reader’s imagination will work out the imposing scene that was presented in the crowded streets of the now desolate city, when, with all the gorgeous ceremonies of pagan idolatry, the priests, bearing the sacred image of their god, and followed by thousands of the citizens, made their annual procession from temple to temple, and, ‘with harps, and cymbals, and songs of rejoicing,’ brought back their idol, and replaced him in his shrine in the grand temple at Karnak.”

The tombs of the kings are by far the most ancient and interesting of all the antiquities of Thebes. There is nothing in the world like them, and he who has not seen them can scarcely believe in their existence. The whole mountain range is one vast cemetery, and it is supposed that some millions of bodies were deposited there. On passing through an Arab village, one half of which was composed of excavations for mummies, in which the Arab finds a better resting-place than his mud cottage, we were almost suffocated with the dust and scorching rays of the sun, and were also surrounded by scores of men, women, and children, with various relics of antiquity, such as heads, hands, and feet of mummies, also remnants of sarcophagi, beautifully painted. The road is through a dreary waste of sand after leaving the fertile valley of the Nile, and the tombs show their dark and gloomy openings in one of the most desolate spots imaginable. There are very many of these tombs, but the principal one, which is called Belzoni’s, having been discovered by him, is three hundred and nine feet long, and contains fourteen chambers of different sizes. A flight of thirty steps descends to the entrance, where the doorway, wide and lofty, is without sculpture. Here is a hall, extremely beautiful, twenty-seven feet long and twenty-five feet broad, having at the end an open door leading into a chamber twenty-eight feet long by twenty-five feet broad, the walls covered with painted figures as perfect as if only a month old. Another flight of steps here descends to a chamber twenty-four feet by thirteen. The walls are covered with figures, marching in solemn procession to the regions of the dead. This flight of steps leads to another doorway, over which is seen the sign of the goddess of darkness. Advancing to the next corridor, the walls are covered with figures of boats, rams, mystic emblems of the gods of Egypt, &c. Another apartment is adorned by massive square pillars, which, like the others, are covered with hieroglyphics. Returning into the great chamber, and descending a flight of eighteen steps, we follow a continuation of the corridor, the walls of which are covered with paintings representing the actions of the monarch, perhaps the tomb of Pharaoh. In passing from hall to hall, we saw a lofty arched saloon, thirty-two feet long and twenty-seven feet broad. One of those chambers is forty-three feet long and eighteen wide. One apartment is adorned with two columns and a raised stone bench, hollowed out, in recesses extending all around the chamber. In the centre of the grand saloon was found a sarcophagus, of the finest oriental alabaster, only two inches thick, minutely sculptured within and without with several hundred figures, and, it is said, perfectly transparent when a light is placed upon it. The walls of these chambers and other tombs are generally covered with intaglio and relief, representing funeral processions, the serpent, and many other emblems of eternity--sarcophagi, religious processions, a great variety of animals and birds, agricultural scenes and implements, sacrifices, sacred boats, gods, goddesses, priests, chained captives, the cutting off hands from the arms by way of punishment, &c. &c. These magnificent halls, by the light of our torches, produced a magic effect in going from the dreary desert without.

After having visited many of the tombs of the kings and others, we took the statues of Shamy and Damay on our route. These two sitting statues, of enormous size, are in the centre of a vast cultivated plain, and are of equal size, being fifty-two feet high and forty feet apart. The thrones on which they sit, are thirty feet long, eighteen broad, and eight feet high. Both have suffered considerably from violence, particularly the vocal Memnon. These figures were formerly part of a grand avenue of sphinxes.

While at Thebes we had a mutiny among our crew. We were unfortunate in having Arabs and half Barbary negroes, who could not agree. Our only recourse was to present ourselves before the governor or sheik of the little village of Luxor, with the all-powerful firman of the Sultan and Mehemet Ali in hand, and make known our grievances. The usual form of justice was administered with the calash, or piece of rhinoceros’ hide, to one of the worst by way of example, and the sheik finding the barbarians still obstinate, imprisoned them until we were ready to start, while he and his associate, the governor of the Nile, came down to our boat, sipped our coffee, smoked our long pipes with the dignity of a grand seignor, received the “backsheesh” of eight piastres each, equal to three-fourths of a dollar, and went off perfectly happy.

Our next place of debarkation was at Belianach, where we mounted donkeys, without saddle or bridle, and rode to the ruins of Abydos, the capital of the great Osymandias or Osmendes, who is supposed to have lived 2276 years B.C. There are some remarkable ruins there. Among the number the Memnonium and small temple of Osiris, remarkable for having had a sanctuary made of alabaster, and for containing the famous tablet of the kings, which, next to the Rosetta stone, has been of the greatest assistance to the students of hieroglyphics. The valley of the Nile at this point, I should think, is six miles broad, and abounding in vegetation. The wheat is in blossom, beans and peas are ripened, and it was a rich sight to see the herds of goats and sheep, camels and buffalo, grazing upon the plain.

We were obliged to stop here for want of wind, and to replenish our crew, the barbarians having taken the liberty of making off, sans ceremonie. I have therefore been obliged to have another interview with the two governors at this place, who have promised to furnish us with men. The past two days my two companions have had plenty of amusement in shooting at crocodiles, as we had no wind, and the weather was warm. They are prepared for the heat of the climate, being dressed in Turkish costume, with heads shaved. It being a sin to shave the beard in this country, we have all a great profusion of hair upon the visage.

XXXII.

AFRICAN DESERT, _March 8, 1842_.

The governor sent us four men, called sailors, to supply the place of six who had absconded; but such a crew I never saw. One was blind of an eye, another lame, the third too old for service. The instructions of the governor, who had forced them on board, were, to continue with us to Siout, the capital of Upper Egypt, where plenty of men could be found. To cap the climax, the next day, while detained by a strong head wind, the lame, blind, and halt took leg bail, unperceived. We made a further application at another village, and succeeded in getting men to go as far as Siout, at which place we wished to stop, to visit Caves, about four miles distant from the river, in the mountains.

Having mounted donkeys, we started for the city, which is situated about a mile and a half from the river; and the road being studded with rows of trees on each side, it was an agreeable excursion.

On arriving within the walls, we presented ourselves before the Effendi, who occupied a handsome house, with a grove of palm trees in the rear. We found him squatted with his officers upon carpets, on a low divan, each enjoying the luxury of a long pipe, with an amber mouth-piece. He desired us to be seated, when coffee and pipes were presented; and, after the usual etiquette had been passed through, our credentials were presented, and our wants made known to the dragoman. He immediately sent his janizary to the governor of the Nile, with instructions to procure us a complement of good sailors, which was effected; and on paying them all they demanded, we succeeded remarkably well.