[Illustration:
On Stone by W. L. Walton. Printed by Hullmandel & Walton.
MOUNT BARKAL. (NUBIA)
London. Richard Bentley New Burlington Street, 1852.]
DISCOVERIES
IN
EGYPT, ETHIOPIA,
AND THE
PENINSULA OF SINAI,
IN THE YEARS 1842-1845,
DURING THE MISSION
SENT OUT BY
HIS MAJESTY FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. OF PRUSSIA.
BY DR. RICHARD LEPSIUS.
EDITED, WITH NOTES, BY
KENNETH R. H. MACKENZIE.
[Illustration: MEROE.]
SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1853.
TO
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT,
WITH
THE DEEPEST RESPECT AND GRATITUDE.
AUTHOR’S PREFACE.
The purpose of the Scientific Expedition, sent out in 1842 by his
Majesty the King, was an historical and antiquarian research into, and
collection of the ancient Egyptian monuments, in the valley of the Nile,
and the peninsula of Sinai. It was by royal munificence provided with
the means for remaining three years; it rejoiced in the favour and
interest of the highest person in the realm, as well as in the most
active and kindly assistance of Alexander Von Humboldt; and under such a
rare combination of fortunate circumstances, it completed its intended
task as fully as could have been hoped. A “Prefatory account of the
expedition, its results, and their publication,” (Berlin, 1849, 4to.)
was published with the first parts of the great monumental work, which
is brought out at the command of his Majesty, in a manner corresponding
to the importance of the treasures brought back, and contains a short
abstract of the more important results of the Expedition. The work,
there announced, “The Monuments of Egypt and Ethiopia,” will contain
more than 800 plates, of the largest size, of which half are already
prepared, and 240 plates already published, will lay before the public
these results, as far as concerns the sculptures, the topography, and
architecture, while the accompanying text will explain them more fully.
It however, appeared necessary (without taking the purely scientific
labours into account), to lay before a larger circle of readers a
picture of the external events of the expedition, of the relative
operations of its members, of the obstacles, and the favourable
circumstances of the journey, the condition of the countries through
which it passed, and their effect upon the actual design of the
undertaking; finally to offer a few observations on the remarkable
monuments of that most historical of all countries, as must continually
recur to the well prepared traveller, and which might rouse others who
have already perceived the importance of the newly founded science, to a
more active interest. If, besides, it be of the greatest utility for a
just understanding of these scientific labours which are gradually
coming to the light, and which have been caused by the journey; that the
circumstances under which the materials for them were collected, I think
that the publication of the following letters requires no farther
excuse, as they make no pretension to any particular literary
perfection, or descriptive power, or, on the other hand, to be a
strictly scientific work.
The letters are almost in the original form as they were written,
sometimes as a report direct to his Majesty the King, sometimes to his
Excellency, the then Minister of Instruction, Eichhorn, or to other high
patrons and honoured men, as A. Von Humboldt, Bunsen, Von Olfers,
Ehrenberg, and sometimes to my father, who followed my progress with
the most lively interest. Several of them were immediately printed in
the papers on their arrival in Europe, particularly in the _Preussische
Staatszeitung_, and thence in other papers. The unessential changes
mostly relate to the editing. All the additions or enlargements have
been added as notes; and among these belong particularly the arguments
and grounds as to the true position of Sinai, which, since then has been
proved in various quarters, and again disproved, and again concurred in.
The thirty-sixth letter, on the arrangement of the Egyptian Museum in
Berlin, turns certainly from the subject; but we may allow the
exception, as this point is not alone interesting to Berlin, but in all
points the examination is worth while, where there is any resemblance to
or comparison with modern art.
It is proposed to add a second part to these letters, in which several
treatises, written during the expedition, or on different points
relating to Egyptian art or history, will be published.
BERLIN, _2nd June, 1852_.
CONTENTS.
LETTER I.--ON BOARD THE ORIENTAL STEAMER, SEPT. 5, 1842 Page 1
Sea voyage to Alexandria.
LETTER II.--ALEXANDRIA, SEPT. 23, 1842 6
Malta.--Gobat.--Isenberg.--Krapf.--Alexandria.--Mohammed Ali.
LETTER III.--CAIRO, OCT. 16, 1842 11
Alexandria.--Pompey’s Pillar.--Cleopatra’s Needle.--Collection of
Werne.--Departure from Alexandria.--Sais.--Nabarîeh.--Cairo.
--Heliopolis.--The king’s birth-day
kept at the pyramids.--View from the pyramid of Cheops.
LETTER IV.--AT THE FOOT OF THE GREAT PYRAMID, JAN. 2, 1843 24
Pyramids of Gizeh.--Private tombs.--Sphinx.--Storm of
rain.--Christmas.--Life in the Camp.
LETTER V.--PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, JAN. 17, 1843 32
The hieroglyphical tablet on the pyramid of Cheops.--Historical gain.
LETTER VI.--PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, JAN. 28, 1843 37
The oldest royal dynasties.--Tomb of Prince Merhet.--Private
tombs.--Destruction by the Arabs.--Oldest obelisk.
LETTER VII.--SAQARA, MARCH 18, 1843 44
Pyramids of Meidûm.--Architecture of the pyramids.--The Riddle of the
Sphinx.--Locust.--Comet.
LETTER VIII.--SAQARA, APRIL 13, 1843 51
H. R. H. Prince Albrecht of Prussia.--Rejoicings in Cairo.--Return of
Pilgrims.--Mulid e’ Nebbi.--Doseh.--Visit of the prince to the
pyramids.--Oldest use of the pointed arch in Cairo.--Oldest round arch
in Egypt.--Night attack at Saqâra.--Judgment day.
LETTER IX.--CAIRO, APRIL 22, 1843 64
Situation of the fields of pyramids.--Cairo.
LETTER X.--RUINS OF THE LABYRINTH, MAY 31, 1843 67
Departure for the Faiûm.--Camels and dromedaries.--Lisht.
--Meidûm.--Illahun.--Labyrinth.--Arab music.--Bedouins.--Turkish
khawass.
LETTER XI.--LABYRINTH, JUNE 25, 1843 78
Ruins of the Labyrinth.--Its first builders.--Pyramid.--Lake Mœris.
LETTER XII.--LABYRINTH, JULY 18, 1843 85
Excursion through the Faiûm.--Mœris embankments.--Birqet el
Qorn.--Dimeh.--Qasr Qerûn.
LETTER XIII.--CAIRO, AUGUST 14, 1843 91
Departure of Frey.--Ethiopian manuscripts.
LETTER XIV.--THEBES, OCT. 13, 1843 93
Nile passage to Upper Egypt.--Rock-cave of Surarîeh. Tombs of the sixth
dynasty in Middle Egypt, of the twelfth at Benihassan, Sint,
Bersheh.--Arrival at Thebes.--Climate.--Departure.
LETTER XV.--KORUSKO, NOVEMBER 20, 1843 100
Greek inscriptions.--Benihassan.--Bersheh.--Tombs of the sixth
dynasty.--El Amarna.--Siut--Alabaster quarries of El Bosra.--Echmin
(Chemmis).--Thebes.--El Kab (Eileithyia).--Edfu.--Ombos.--Egyptian
Canon of Proportion.--Assuan.--Philae.--Hieroglyphic demotic
inscriptions.--Series of Ptolemies.--Entrance in Lower
Nubia.--Debôd.--Gertassi.--Kalabsheh (Talmis).--Dendûr.--Dakkeh
(Pselchis).--Korte.--Hierasykaminos.--Mehendi.--Sebûa.--Korusko.--Nubian
language.
LETTER XVI.--KORUSKO, JANUARY 5, 1844 133
Scarcity of camels.--Wadi Halfa.--Ahmed Pasha Menekle and the new Pashas
of the Sudan.
LETTER XVII.--E’DAMER, JANUARY 24, 1844 137
Nubian desert.--Roft mountains.--Wadi E’Sufr.--Wadi Murhad.--Abâbde
Arabs.--Abu Hammed.--Berber.--El Mechêref.--Mogran or Atbara
(Astaboras).--E’Damer.--Mandera.
Letter XVIII.--On the Blue River, Province of Sennar, 13° North
Latitude, March 2, 1844 155
Hagi Ibrahim.--Meroe.--Begerauie.--Pyramids.--Bounds of the tropical
climate.--Khawass.--Ferlini.--Age of the monuments.--Shendi.--Ben
Naga.--Naga in the desert.-- Mesaurât e’
Sofra.--Tamaniât.--Chârtum.--Bahrel Abiad (the White River).--Dinka and
Shilluk.--Soba.--Kamlîn.--Bauer.--Marble inscription.--Baobâb.--Abu
Harras.--Rahad.--Nature of the country.--Dender.--Dilêb-palms.
--Sennâr.--Abdîn.--Româli.--Sero.--Return northward.--Wed
Médineh.--Soriba.--Sultana Nasr.--Gabre
Mariam.--Rebâbi.--Funeral.--Military.--Emin
Pasha.--Taiba.--Messelemieh.--Kamlîn.--Soba.--Urn and inscription.
LETTER XIX.--CHARTUM, MARCH 21, 1844 207
Military revolt in Wed Médineh.--Insurrection of slaves.
LETTER XX.--PYRAMIDS OF MEROE, APRIL 22, 1844 211
Tamaniât.--Qirre mountains.--Meroe.--Return of the Turkish army from
Taka.--Osman Bey.--Prisoners from Taka.--Language of the Bishari from
Taka.--Customs of the South.--Pyramids of Meroe.--Ethiopian
inscriptions.--Name of Meroe.
LETTER XXI.--KELI, APRIL 29, 1844 233
Departure from Meroe.--Groups of tombs north of Meroe.
LETTER XXII.--BARKAL, MAY 9, 1844 237
Desert of Gilif.--Gôs Burri.--Wadi Gaqedûl.--Mágeqa.--Desert
trees.--Wadi Abu Dôm.--Wadi Gazâl.--Koptic church.--Greek
inscriptions.--Pyramids of Nuri.--Arrival at Barkal.
LETTER XXIII.--MOUNT BARKAL, MAY 28, 1844 248
Ethiopian kings.--Temple of Ramses II.--Napata.--Meraui.--Climate.
LETTER XXIV.--DONGOLA, JUNE 15, 1844 251
Excursion into the district of cataracts.--Bân.--Departure from
Barkal.--Pyramids of Tanqassi, Kurru, and Zûma.--Churches and fortresses
of Bachît, Magal, Gebel Dêqa.--Old Dongola.--Nubian language.
LETTER XXV.--DONGOLA, JUNE 23, 1844 262
Isle of Argo.--Kermâ and Defûfa.--Tombos.--Inscriptions of Tuthmosis
I.--Languages of Darfur.
LETTER XXVI.--KORUSKO, AUGUST 16, 1844 264
Fakir Fenti.--Sese.--Soleb.--Gebel Doshe. Sedeinga.--Amâra.--Isle of
Sâi.--Sulphur-springs of Okmeh.--Semneh.--Elevation of the Nile, under
Amenemha (Mœris).--Abu Simbel.--Greek inscription under Psammeticus
I.--Ibrîm (Primis).--Anibis.--Korusko.
LETTER XXVII.--PHILAE, SEPTEMBER 1, 1844 271
Wadi Kenus.--Bega language of Bishari.--Talmis.--Philae.
--Meroitic-Ethiopian inscriptions.
LETTER XXVIII.--THEBES, QURNA, NOV. 24, 1844 274
Excavations in the Temple and Rock-tomb of Ramses II.--Sudan
languages.--Ethiopian history and civilisation.
LETTER XXIX.--THEBES, QURNA, JAN. 8, 1845 277
Removal of monuments and plaster casts.
LETTER XXX.--THEBES, FEBRUARY 25, 1845 279
Description of Thebes.--Temple of Karnak and its history.--Luqsor.--El
Asasif.--Statue of Memnon.--Memnonium.--Temple of Ramses II.--Medînet
Habu.--The Royal Tombs.--Private tombs of the time of
Psammetichus.--Time of the Cæsars.--Koptic convent and church.--The
present Kopts.--Revenge of the Arabs.--Dwelling in Abd el Qurna.--Visit
from travellers.
LETTER XXXI.--ON THE RED SEA, MARCH 21, 1845 313
Immigrations from Qurna to Karnak.--Journey to the Sinai
peninsula.--Qenneh.--Seîd Hussên.--Stone bridge and inscriptions of
Hamamât.--Gebel Fatireh.--Lost in the desert.--Quarries of porphyry at
Gebel Dochân.--Gebel Zeit.
LETTER XXXII.--CONVENT OF SINAI, MARCH 24, 1845 333
Landing in Tôr.--Gebel Hammâm.--Wadi Hebrân.--Convent.--Gebel
Mûsa.--Gebel Sefsaf.
LETTER XXXIII.--ON THE RED SEA, APRIL 6, 1845 338
Departure from the convent.--Wadi e’ Sheikh.--Ascension of Serbâl.--Wadi
Firan.--Wadi Mokatteb.--Copper-mines of Wadi Maghâra.--Rock inscriptions
of the fourth dynasty.--Sarbut el Châdem.--Slag-hills.--Wadi
Nasb.--Harbour of Zelimeh.--True situation of Sinai.--Monkish
traditions.--Local and historical relations.--Elim near Abu
Zelimeh.--Mara in Wadi Gharandel.--Desert of Sin.--Sinai, the Mountain
of Sin.--The mountain of God.--Sustenance of the Israelites.--Raphidîm
near Pharan.--Sinai-Choreb, near Raphidîm.--Review of the Sinai
question.
LETTER XXXIV.--THEBES, KARNAK, MAY 4, 1845 372
Return to Thebes.--Revenge.
LETTER XXXV.--CAIRO, JULY 10, 1845 374
Dendera.--El Amarna.--Dr. Bethmann.--Taking down the tombs near the
pyramids.
LETTER XXXVI.--CAIRO, JULY 11, 1845 376
The Egyptian Museum in Berlin.--Wall paintings.
LETTER XXXVII.--JAFFA, OCTOBER 7, 1845 389
Journey through the Delta.--San (Tanis).--Arrival in Jaffa.
LETTER XXXVIII.--NAZARETH, NOVEMBER 9, 1845 391
Jerusalem.--Nablus (Sichem).--Tabor.--Nazareth.--Lake of Tiberias.
LETTER XXXIX.--SMYRNA, DECEMBER 7, 1845 394
Carmel.--Lebanon.--Berut.--Journey to Damascus.--Zahleh.--Tomb of
Noah.--Barada.--Abel’s tomb.--Inscriptions at Barada.--Tomb of
Seth.--Bâlbek.--Ibrahim.--Cedars of Lebanon.--Egyptian and Assyrian
Rock-sculptures at Nahr el Kelb.
APPENDIX 420
INDEX 449
[Illustration:
MAP
of
EGYPT,
_and the higher Nile Countries_
to
LEPSIUS’S
LETTERS FROM EGYPT & ETHIOPIA.
1852.
_View of Mount Sinai from the Sea at Gebel Zeit._
_London, Richard Bentley, 1852._ _T. Brooker sc._
]
LETTERS
FROM
EGYPT, ETHIOPIA, AND THE PENINSULA
OF SINAI.
LETTER I.
ON BOARD THE ORIENTAL STEAMER.
_September 5, 1842._
All our endeavours were taxed to the utmost to render our departure on
the 1st of September possible; one day’s delay would have cost us a
whole month, and this month it was necessary to gain by redoubled
activity. My trip to Paris, where I arrived in thirty hours from London,
was unavoidable; two days were all that could be spared for the
necessary purchases, letters, and notes, after which I returned richly
laden from that city, ever so interesting and instructive to me. In
London I obtained two other pleasant travelling companions, Bonomi and
Wild, who had readily resolved to take part in the expedition. The
former, long well known as a traveller in Egypt and Ethiopia, is not
only full of practical knowledge of life in that country, but is also a
fine connoisseur of Egyptian art, and a master in Egyptian drawing; the
latter, a young genial-minded architect, enthusiastically seeks in the
Orient new materials for his rich woof of combination.
At length everything was bought, prepared, packed, and we had said
farewell to all our friends. Bunsen only, with his usual kindness and
untiring friendship, accompanied us to Southampton, the place of
embarkation, where he spent the evening with us.
As one usually arrives at a sudden, scarce comprehensible quietude, on
entering a harbour from the stormy sea, after long and mighty
excitement, and yet seems to feel the earth swimming beneath one, and to
hear the breakers dashing around, so did it happen to me in a contrary
manner, when, from the whirl of the last days and weeks in the haven,
from the immeasurable world-city, I entered on the uniform desert of the
ocean, in the narrow-bounded, soon-traversed house of planks. And now
there was nothing more to be provided, nothing to be hurried; our long
row of packages, more than thirty in number, had vanished, box by box,
into the murky hold; our sleeping-places required no preparation, as
they would scarcely hold more than our persons. The want of anxiety
caused for some time a new and indefinite uneasiness, a solicitude
without any object of solicitude.
Among our fellow-passengers I mention only the missionary Lieder, who, a
German by birth, is returning with his English wife to Cairo. There he
has founded and conducted a school since 1828, under the auspices of the
English Missionary Society, which is now destined exclusively for the
children of the Koptic Christians. Lieder has introduced into this
school the study of the Koptic tongue, and thus once more brought into
honour that remarkable and most ancient language of the country, which
for several centuries has been totally superseded among the people by
the Arabic. The Scriptures are, however, yet extant in the Koptic
tongue, and even used in the service, but they are only intoned, and no
longer understood.
On the 1st of September, at 10 o’clock, we left Southampton. We had the
wind against us, and therefore did not reach Falmouth for four and
twenty hours, where our vessel awaited the London post, to take the
letters. There we remained several hours at anchor in a charming bay, at
each side of the entrance of which an old castle lies upon the heights,
while the town, situated in the background, form a most picturesque
group. About 3 o’clock we went to sea again; the wind took us sideways,
and caused much sickness amongst the passengers. I esteem myself
fortunate, that in no passage, however stormy, have I had to complain of
this disagreeable condition, which has, for the unsharing spectator, a
comical aspect. It is, however, remarkable, that the very same movement
that cradles every child to soft slumber, and forms the charm of a sail
down the river, causes, by its protracted pendulum-like motion,
unconquerable suffering, prostrating the strongest heroes, without,
however, bringing them into any very serious danger.
Next day we reached the Bay of Biscay, and ploughed laboriously through
the long deep waves that rolled to us from the far-off shore. Sunday
morning, the 4th, we had a very small company at breakfast. About 11
o’clock we assembled to prayers, notwithstanding the continual motion.
Over the pulpit the English flag was spread, as the most sacred cloth on
board. Herr Lieder preached, simply and well. Toward 4 o’clock we began
to see the Spanish coast, in light misty outlines. The nearer we
approached it, the shorter the waves became, as the wind blew from the
shore. The air, the heavens, and the ocean, were incomparably beautiful.
Cape Finisterre and the neighbouring coast line came out more and more
prominently. Gradually the whole company, even the ladies, assembled on
deck. The sea smoothed itself to a bright mirror; the whole afternoon we
kept the Spanish coast in sight. The sun set magnificently in the sea;
the evening-star was soon followed by the whole host of heavenly stars,
and a glorious night rose above us.
Then it was that the most splendid spectacle commenced that I have ever
beheld at sea. The ocean began to sparkle; all the combs of the breaking
waves burnt in emerald-green fire, and from the paddles of the vessel
dashed a bright greenish-white torrent of flame, which drew behind it,
for a great distance, a broad flashing stripe amidst the darkling
waters. The sides of the vessel and our downward-looking faces were
shone upon as if by moonbeams, and I could read print with the greatest
ease by this water-fire. When the blazing mass, which, according to
Ehrenberg’s researches, is caused by infusoria, was most intense, we saw
flames dancing over the waves to the shore, so that it seemed as if we
were traversing a more richly-starred heaven than the one we beheld
above us. I have also beheld the oceanlight in the Mediterranean, but
never in such extraordinary perfection as this time: the scene was
magical.
Suddenly I saw new living fire-forms among the waves, that fled
radiantly from the sides of the vessel. Like two giant serpents, which,
judging from the length of the vessel, must have been from sixty to
eighty feet long, they went trailing along beside the ship, crossing the
waves, dipping in the foam of the wheels, coming forth again,
retreating, hurrying, and losing themselves at last in the distance. For
a long time I could assign no cause for this phenomenon. I recollected
the old and oft-told tales of monstrous seasnakes that are seen from
time to time. What I here beheld could not have resembled them more than
it did. At length I thought that it might only be fishes, who, running a
race with the steamer, and breaking the uniform surface of the water,
caused the long streams of light behind them by their rapid motions.
Still the eye was as much deceived as ever; I could discover nothing of
the dark fishes, nor guess their probable size, but I contented myself
at length with my supposition.
LETTER II.
ALEXANDRIA.
_September 23, 1842._
My last letter I posted on the 7th of September, at Gibraltar, where we
employed the few hours allotted to us in examining the fortress. The
African continent lay before us, a bright stripe on the horizon; on the
rocks beneath me climbed monkeys, the only ones in Europe in a wild
state, for which reason they are preserved. In Malta, where we arrived
on the eleventh of September, we found the painter Frey, from Basle,
whose friendship I had made at Rome. He brought me intelligence by word
of mouth that he would take part in the expedition, and for that purpose
he had arrived several days before from Naples. We had to wait almost
three days for the Marseilles post at this place. This gave us, at all
events, the opportunity to visit the curiosities of the island,
particularly the Cyclopean walls discovered some years before in the
neighbourhood of La Valette, and also to make some purchases. Through
Lieder I made the acquaintance of Gobat,[1] who until now had been the
principal person at the Maltese station of the English Missionary
Society, but who was now awaiting some new destination, as pecuniary
circumstances had caused the Society to give up this station altogether.
I had great pleasure in knowing so distinguished a person.
From Malta we were accompanied by the missionary Isenberg, who resided
for a long time with Gobat in Abyssinia, and who is favourably known to
philologists by his grammar of the Amharic language. Under his
protection there was a young lady of Basle, Rosine Dietrich, the bride
of the missionary Krapf, who has married her here, and will now return
to the English missionary station at Shoa, by the next Indian steamer,
with her and his colleagues, Isenberg and Mühleisen. He was married in
the English chapel, and I was present as a witness at the solemnity,
which was celebrated in a simple and pleasing manner.
On our arrival, on the 18th of September, we found Erbkam, Ernst
Weidenbach, and Franke, who had been awaiting us for some days.
Mohammed Ali had sailed out in the fleet, as he looked anxiously forward
to the arrival of Sami Bey, who was to bring him the desired reduction
in tribute: instead of it he obtained the appointment of Grand Vizier.
The Swedish General Consul D’Anastasi, who manages the Prussian
Consulate for our absent Consul Von Wagner, and who interests himself
zealously in our behalf, presented us to-day to the Viceroy, and we have
just returned from the audience. The Pasha expressed great pleasure at
the vases which I had brought him in the name of His Majesty. Still more
did he feel himself honoured by the letter of the King, of which he
immediately had a translation prepared, reading it very attentively
through in our presence. He signified to me his intention of giving us
the reply when we again left the country. He received and dismissed us
standing, had coffee presented, and showed us other attentions, which
were afterwards carefully explained to me by D’Anastasi. Boghos Bey, his
confidential minister, was the only person present, nor did he seat
himself. Mohammed Ali showed himself brisk and youthful in his motions
and conversation; no weakness was to be seen in the countenance and
flashing eye of the old man of three-and-seventy springs. He spoke with
interest of his Nile expeditions, and assured us that he should continue
them until he had discovered the sources of the White River. To my
question concerning his museum in Cairo, he replied that it was not yet
very considerable; that many unjust requisitions were made of him in
Europe, in desiring rapid progress in his undertakings, for which he had
first to create the foundation, that had been prepared long since with
us in Europe. I touched but slightly on our excavations, and took his
permission for granted in conversation, expecting it to be soon given me
in due form.[2]
LETTER III.
CAIRO.
_October 16, 1842._
We were detained nearly fourteen days in Alexandria. The whole time went
in preparations for our journey; the Pasha I saw several times more, and
I found him ever favourably disposed towards our expedition. Our
scientific researches were inconsiderable. We visited the Pompeian
pillar, which, however, stands in no relation to Pompey, but, as the
Greek inscription on the base informs us, was erected to the Emperor
Diocletian by the Præfect Publius. The blocks of the foundation are
partly formed of the fragments of older buildings; on one of them the
throne-cartouche of the second Psammetichus was yet distinguishable.
The two obelisks, of which the one still standing is named Cleopatra’s
Needle, are much disintegrated on the weather side, and in parts have
become quite illegible.[4] They were erected by Tuthmosis III. in the
sixteenth century A.C.; at a later period, Ramses Miamun has inscribed
himself; and still later, on the outermost edges, another King, who was
found to be one, till now, totally unknown, and who was therefore
greeted by me with great joy. I must yet mention an interesting
collection of ethnographical articles and specimens of natural history
of every kind which have been collected by a native Prussian, Werne,[5]
on the second Nile expedition of the Pasha to the White River, in
countries hitherto quite unknown, and have been transported to
Alexandria but a few months ago. It appeared to me to be so important
and so unique of its kind that I have purchased it for our museum. While
we were yet there it was packed up for transport. I think it will be
welcome in Berlin.
At length the _bujurldis_ (passports) of the Pasha were ready, and now
we made haste to quit Alexandria. We embarked the same day that I
received them (on the 30th of September), on the Mahmoudîeh canal.
Darkness surprised us ere we could finish our preparations. At 9 o’clock
we left our hotel, in the spacious and beautiful Frank’s Place, in M.
D’Anastasi’s two carriages; before us were the customary runners with
torches. The gate was opened at the word that was given us; our packages
had been transported to the bark several hours before upon camels, so
that we could soon depart in the roomy vessel which I had hired in the
morning. The Nile, into which we ran at Atfeh, rolled somewhat
considerable waves, as there was a violent and unfavourable wind.
Sailing is not without danger here, particularly in the dark, as the two
customary pointed sails, like the wings of a bee, are easily blown down
at every gust; therefore I advised the sailors to stop, which they did
every night when it was stormy.
Next day, the 2nd of October, we landed at Sâ el Hager to visit the
remains of ancient Saïs, that city of the Psammetiche so celebrated for
its temple to Minerva. Scarcely anything exists of it but the walls,
built of bricks of Nile earth, and the desolate ruins of the houses:
there are no remains of any stone buildings with inscriptions. We paced
the circumference of the city and took a simple plan of the locality. In
the northwestern portion of the city her Acropolis once stood, which is
still to be distinguished by higher mounds of rubbish. We stopped the
night at Nekleh. I have the great charts of the _Description de
l’Egypte_ with me, on which we could follow almost every step of our
trips. We found them, till now, very faithful everywhere.
On the 3rd we landed on the western bank, in order to see the remains of
the ancient canal of Rosetta, and afterward spent nearly the whole of
the afternoon in examining the ruins of an old city near Naharîeh; no
walls are now visible, only rubbish-mounds remain; but we found in the
houses of the new town, several stones bearing inscriptions, and mostly
used for thresholds, originally belonging to a temple of King
Psammetichus I. and Apries (Hophre). Next night, we stopped on the
western shore near Teirîeh, and landed there the next morning, to seek
for some ruins situated at about an hour’s distance, but from which we
obtained nothing. The Libyan desert approaches quite close to the Nile
here, for the first time, and gave us a novel, well-to-be-remembered
prospect.
On the following morning we first perceived the great pyramids of
Memphis rising up above the horizon: I could not turn my eyes away from
them for a long time. We were still on the Rosetta branch; at noon we
came to the so-called Cow’s Belly, where the Nile divides into its two
principal arms. Now, for the first time, could we overlook the stately,
wonderful river, resembling no other in its utmost grandeur, which rules
the lives and manners of the inhabitants of its shores by its fertile
and well-tasting waters. Toward the beginning of October it attains its
greatest height. But this year there is an inundation like none that has
been known for generations. People begin to be afraid of the dykes
bursting, which would be the second plague brought upon Egypt in this
year, after the great cattle murrain, which down to last week had
carried off forty thousand head of cattle.
About five o’clock in the evening we arrived at Bulaq, the port of
Cairo; we rode immediately from the harbour to the city, and prepared
for a longer residence in this place. By-the-by, that we should say
Cairo, and the French _le Caire_, is a manifest error. The town is now
never called by any name but Mas’r by the Arabs, and so also the
country; it is the ancient Semetic, more euphonious for us in the dual
Mis’raim. First, at the foundation of the present city in the tenth
century, New Mas’r was distinguished from the ancient Mas’r el Atîgeh,
the present Old Cairo, by the addition of El Qâhireh, _i. e._ “the
Victorious.” The Italians omitted the _h_, unpronounceable in their
language, took the Arabic article _el_ for their masculine _il_, and so
considered the whole word, by its ending too, a masculine.
The holy month of the Mohammedans, the Ramadan, was just beginning,
during which they take no sustenance throughout the day, nor do they
drink water or “drink smoke;” and accept no visits, but begin all the
business of life after sundown, and thus interchange day and night,
which caused us no little trouble on account of our Arab servants. Our
Khawass (the honorary guard of the Pasha that had been given us), who
had missed the time for embarking at Alexandria, joined us here. As our
Prussian Vice-consul was unwell, I addressed myself to the Austrian
Consul, Herr Champion, to whom I had been recommended by Ehrenberg,
regarding our presentations to the representative of the Pasha at this
place. He interested himself for us with the greatest alacrity and zeal,
and obtained us a good reception everywhere. The official visits, at
which Erbkam and Bonomi mostly accompanied me, had to be made in the
evening at about 8 o’clock, on account of the Ramadan. Our torch-bearers
ran first, then came, on donkeyback, first the Dragoman of the Consul
and the Khawass of the Pasha, and lastly ourselves in stately
procession. We nearly traversed the whole town, through the Arab-filled
streets, picturesquely lighted by our firebrands, to the citadel, where
we first visited Abbas Pasha,[6] a grandson of Mahomet Ali; he is the
governor of Cairo, though seldom in residence. From him we proceeded to
Sherif Pasha, the lieutenant of Abbas, and then to the war minister,
Ahmet Pasha. Everywhere we were received with great kindness.
The day after my arrival I received a diploma as an honorary member of
the Elder Egyptian Society, of which the younger one, that had sent me a
similar invitation while in London, was a branch. Both had meetings, but
I could only attend the sittings of one, in which an interesting memoir
by Krapf, on certain nations of Central Africa, was read. The
particulars had been given him by a native of the Enarea country, who
had travelled into the Doko country in commercial pursuits, and who
described the people in much the same way that Herodotus does the Libyan
dwarf-nation, after the narrations of the Nasamoneans, viz., as little
people of the size of children of ten or twelve years of age. One would
think that monkeys were spoken of. As the geographical notices of the
till now almost unknown Doko country are of interest, I have had the
whole paper copied, to send it, together with the little map that
belongs to it, to our honoured friend Ritter.[7]
On the 13th of October we made a trip to the ruins of Heliopolis, the
Biblical On, whence Joseph took his wife Asnath, the daughter of a
priest. Nothing remains of this celebrated city, which prided itself on
possessing the most learned priesthood next to Thebes, but the walls,
which resemble great banks of earth, and an obelisk standing upright,
and perhaps in its proper position. This obelisk possesses the peculiar
charm of being by far the most ancient of all known obelisks; for it was
erected during the Old Empire by King Sesurtesen I., about 2,300 B.C.;
the broken obelisk in the Faîum near Crodilopolis, bearing the name of
the same king, being rather an obelisk-like long-drawn stele. Boghos Bey
has obtained the ground on which the obelisk stands as a present, and
has made a garden round it. The flowers of the garden have attracted a
quantity of bees, and these could find no more commodious lodging than
in the deep and sharply cut hieroglyphics of the obelisk. Within the
year they have so covered the inscriptions of the four sides, that a
great part has become quite illegible. It had, however, already been
published, and our comparison of it presented few difficulties, as
three sides bear the same inscription, and the fourth is only slightly
varied.
Yesterday, the 15th of October, was His Majesty’s birthday. I had
determined on this day for our first visit to the great pyramid. There
we would hold a festival in remembrance of our king and country with a
few friends. We invited the Austrian Consul Champion, the Prussian
Consul Bokty, our learned countryman Dr. Pruner, and MM. Lieder,
Isenberg, Mühleisen, and Krapf to this party, at which, however, it is
to be regretted that some were not able to assist.
The morning was indescribably beautiful, fresh, and festal. We rode in
long procession through the quiet streets, and along the green alleys
and gardens that are planted outside it. Almost in every place where
there were well-tended plantations, we found that they had been laid out
by Ibrahim Pasha. By all accounts, he appears to adorn and repair every
portion of the country.
They were incomparable minutes, those, when we came forth from among the
dates and acacias; the sun rising to the left behind the Moqattam
Mountains, and illumining the heads of the pyramids opposite, that lay
before in the plain like giant mountain crystals. All of us were
enraptured by the glory and greatness of this morning scene, and
solemnly impressed by it. At Old Cairo we were ferried across the Nile
to the village of Gizeh, whence the larger pyramids receive the name of
Háram el Gizeh. From here one may ride to the pyramids in the dry
season in a direct line for an hour of little more. As, however, the
inundation is now at its highest point, we were obliged to make a great
circuit upon long embankments, coming almost up to Saqâra, and did not
arrive at the foot of the great pyramid for five and a half hours.
The long and unexpected ride gave a relish to the simple breakfast that
we immediately took in one of the tombs cut in the rock here about five
thousand years ago, in order to strengthen us for the ascent. Meanwhile
a spacious gaily-decked tent came down, which I had hired in Cairo. I
had it pitched on the north side of the pyramid, and had the great
Prussian standard, the black eagle with a golden sceptre and crown, and
a blue sword, on a white ground, which had been prepared by our artists
within these last few days, planted before the door of the tent.
About thirty Bedouins had assembled around us in the interval, and
awaited the moment when we should commence the ascent of the pyramid, in
order to assist us with their powerful brown arms to climb the steps,
about three to four feet in height. Scarcely had the signal for
departure been given, ere each of us was surrounded by several Bedouins,
who tore us up the rough steep path to the apex like a whirlwind. A few
minutes afterward our flag floated from the top of the oldest and
highest of all the works of man with which we are acquainted, and we
saluted the Prussian eagle with three cheers for our king. Flying toward
the south, the eagle turned its crowned head homeward to the north,
whence a fresh breeze was blowing, and diverting the effects of the hot
rays of the noontide sun. We too, looked homeward, and each remembered,
aloud, or quietly within his own heart, those whom he had left behind,
loving and beloved.
Next, the prospect at our feet enchained our attention. On one side is
the valley of the Nile, a wide ocean of inundated waters, which,
intersected by long and serpentine embankments, broken now and then by
island-like high-lying villages, and overgrown tongues of land, filled
the whole plain of the vale, and reached to the opposite mountain chain
of Moqattam, on the most northerly point of which the citadel of Cairo
rises above the town lying beneath. On the other side, the Libyan
desert, a still more wonderful ocean of sand and desolate rock-hills,
boundless, colourless, soundless, animated by no beast, no plant, no
trace of human presence, not even by graves; and between both is the
desecrated Necropolis, the general plan and the particular outlines of
which unfolded themselves sharply and plainly, as upon a map.
What a landscape! and with our view of it what a flood of reminiscences!
When Abraham came to Egypt for the first time, he saw these pyramids
which had been built many centuries before his arrival; in the plain
before us lay ancient Memphis, the residence of those kings on whose
graves we were standing; there lived Joseph, and ruled the land under
one of the mightiest and wisest Pharaohs of the New Empire. Farther on,
to the left of the Moqattam Mountains, where the fertile plain borders
the eastern arm of the Nile, on the other side of Heliopolis,
distinguishable by its obelisk, begins the fruitful country of Goshen,
whence Moses led his people forth to the Syrian wilderness. Indeed, it
would not be difficult to recognise from our position, that ancient
fig-tree, on the way to Heliopolis, by Matarîeh, beneath the shade of
which, according to the legends of the land, Mary rested with the Holy
Child. How many thousands of pilgrims from all nations have sought these
wonders of the world before our days,--we, the youngest in time, and yet
only the predecessors of many thousands more who will come after us, and
behold, and climb these pyramids, with astonishment. I will describe no
farther the thoughts and feelings that came flooding in at those
moments; there, at the aim and end of the wishes of many long years, and
yet at the actual commencement of our expedition; there, on the apex of
the Pyramid of Cheops, to which the first link of our whole monumental
history is fastened immoveably, not only for Egyptian, but for universal
history; there, where I saw beneath the remarkable grave-field whence
the Moses-rod of science summons forth the shadows of the ancient dead,
and lets them pass before us in the mirror of history, according to rank
and age, with their names and titles, with all their peculiarities,
customs, and associations.
After I had narrowly scanned the surrounding graves, with the intention
of selecting some spots for future excavations, we descended once more
to the entrance of the pyramid, procured lights, entered the slanting
shaft with some guides, like miners, and reached the gallery by ways I
well knew by drawings, and at the so-called King’s Chamber. Here we
admired the infinitely fine joinings of the monster blocks, and examined
the geological formation of the passages and spaces. Then we commenced
our Prussian national hymn in the spacious saloon, the floor, walls, and
ceiling of which are built of granite, and therefore return a sounding
metal echo; and so powerful and solemn was the harmony, that our guides
afterward reported to the other Bedouins outside, that we had selected
the innermost recesses of the pyramid, in order to give forth a loud and
universal prayer. We then visited the so-called Queen’s Chamber, and
then left the pyramid, reserving the examination of the more intricate
passages for a future and longer visit.
In the mean time our orientally-decked tent had been put in order, and a
dinner prepared within, in which Prussians only took part, with the
exception of our two English companions. That our first toast here was
“His Majesty and the Royal family” need not be told; and no great
eloquence was necessary to render all hearts enthusiastic in drinking
it.
The rest of the day passed in gay, festal, and hearty reminiscences and
conversations, till the time of our departure arrived. We had yet to
wait a quarter of an hour after sunset, to give our attendants,
donkey-drivers, and the rest of our Arab suite, time to eat their
frugal dinner, which they had not yet taken, despite all the heat and
labour of the day, in consequence of the Ramadan. Then the bright full
moon guided us in the cool still night over the sand and water ocean,
through villages and plantations of date-trees, back to the city. We did
not arrive there until about midnight.
LETTER IV.
AT THE FOOT OF THE GREAT PYRAMID.
_January 2, 1843._
Still here! in full activity since the 9th of November, and perhaps to
continue so for some weeks of the new year! How could I have anticipated
from the accounts of previous travellers, what a harvest we were to reap
here,--here, on the oldest stage of the chronologically definable
history of mankind. It is remarkable how little this most-frequented
place of all Egypt has been examined hitherto. But I will not quarrel
with our predecessors, since we inherit the fruits of their inactivity.
I have been obliged the rather to restrain our curiosity to see more of
this wonder-land, as we may half solve the problem at this place. On the
best charts of former times, two graves have peculiar designations,
beside the pyramids. Rosellini has only examined one grave more, and
Champollion says in his letters, “_Il y a peu à faire ici, et lorsqu’on
aura copié des scenes de la vie domestique, sculptées dans un tombeau,
je regagnerai nos embarcations!_” [There is little to be done here, and
when they have copied the scenes of domestic life sculptured in one
tomb, I shall regain our vessels.] We have given in our exact
topographical plan of the whole Necropolis forty-five graves, with whose
inmates I have become acquainted by their inscriptions, and I have
enumerated eighty-two in all, which seemed worthy of notice on account
of their inscriptions, or some other peculiarities.[8] Of these but few
belong to the later time; nearly all of them were erected during or
shortly after the building of the great pyramid, and therefore present
us with an inestimable series of dates for the knowledge of the oldest
definable civilisation of the races of man. The architecture of that
age, concerning which I could formerly offer only a few speculations,[9]
now lies before me in the fullest circumstantiality. Nearly all the
branches of architecture are to be found developed; sculptures of
complete figures of all dimensions, in haut-relief and bas-relief,
present themselves in the most astonishing variety. The style is very
marked and finely executed, but it is clear that the Egyptians had not
then that peculiar canon of proportion which we find universally at a
later period.[10] The painting on the fine plaster is often more
beautiful than could be expected, and occasionally exhibits the
freshness of yesterday in perfect preservation. The subjects on the
walls are usually representations of scenes from the life of departed
persons, and seem mostly intended to place their riches, cattle, fish,
boats, hunts, and servants, before the eyes of the observer. Through
them we become acquainted with every particular of their private life.
The numerous inscriptions describe or name these scenes, or they set
forth the often widely-extended family of the departed, and all his
offices and titles, so that I could almost write a Court and State
Directory of the time of King Cheops, or Chephren. The most stately
tombs or rock graves belonged chiefly to the princes, relations, or
highest officers of those kings near whose pyramids they are situated;
and not unfrequently I have found the graves of father, son, grandson,
and even great-grandson; so that whole genealogies of those
distinguished families, the nobility of the land fifty centuries ago,
may be formed. The most beautiful of the tombs, which I have discovered
among many others in the all-burying sand, belongs to a prince[11] of
King Cheops.
I employ forty to sixty people every day in excavations and similar
labours. Also before the great Sphinx I have had excavations made to
bring to light the temple between its paws, and to lay open the colossal
stele formed of one block of granite, eleven feet high and seven feet
broad, serving as a back wall to the temple, and covered to about its
own height with sand. It is one of the few memorials here of the great
Pharaohs of the New Empire, after the expulsion of the Hyksos. I have
had a plaster cast taken of it.
The Egyptian winter is not always so spring-like as one occasionally
imagines in Europe. At sunrise, when every one hurries to work, we have
already had +5° Réaumur, so that the artists could hardly use their
fingers.
Winter began with a scene that will ever remain impressed upon my
memory. I had ridden out to the excavations, and as I observed a great
black cloud coming up, I sent an attendant to the tents, to make them
ready against it, but soon followed him myself, as it began to rain a
little. Shortly after my arrival, a storm began, and I therefore had the
tent ropes made fast; soon, however, there came a pouring rain, that
frightened all our Arabs, and sent them trooping to the rock-tomb, where
our kitchen is situated. Of our party, Erbkam and Franke were only
present. Suddenly the storm grew to a tremendous hurricane, such as I
have never seen in Europe, and hail fell upon us in such masses, as
almost to turn day into night. I had the greatest difficulty in hunting
our Arabs out from the cavern, to bring our things to the tombs under
shelter, as we might expect the destruction of our tents at any moment;
and it was no long time ere first our common tent broke down, and then,
as I hurried from it into my own, to sustain it from the inside, that
also broke down above my head. When I had crept out, I found that my
things were tolerably well covered by the tents, so that I could leave
them for the present, but only to run a greater risk. Our tents lie in a
valley, whither the plateau of the pyramids inclines, and are sheltered
from the worst winds from the north and west. Presently I saw a dashing
mountain flood hurrying down upon our prostrate and sand-covered tents,
like a giant serpent upon its certain prey. The principal stream rolled
on to the great tent; another arm threatened mine, without quite
reaching it. But everything that had been washed from our tents by the
shower was torn away by the two streams, which joined behind the tents,
and carried into a pool behind the Sphinx, where a great lake
immediately formed, which fortunately had no outlet.
Just picture this scene to yourself! our tents, dashed down by the storm
and heavy rain, lying between two mountain torrents, thrusting
themselves in several places to the depth of six feet into the sand, and
depositing our books, drawings, sketches, shirts, and instruments--yes,
even our levers and iron crowbars; in short, every thing they could
seize, in the dark, foaming, mud ocean. Besides this, ourselves wet to
the skin, without hats, fastening up the weightier things, rushing after
the lighter ones, wading into the lake to the waist to fish out what the
sand had not yet swallowed; and all this was the work of a quarter of an
hour, at the end of which the sun shone radiantly again, and announced
the end of this flood by a bright and glorious rainbow.