finish our labours there. I made a last visit to the ruins of ancient
Memphis, the plan of which had, meanwhile, been completed by Erbkam; a
few interesting discoveries closed our examination.
On the 19th of May we at length departed with twenty camels, two
dromedaries, thirteen donkies, and a horse. As I am speaking of camels
and dromedaries, it may not be superfluous to remark what is here
understood by those terms; for in Europe, an inaccurate, or at least
negligent distinction is made between both, which is not known here. We
call Camel what the Frenchman names _dromadaire_, and dromedary
(Trampelthier, trampling beast) what he names _chameau_. The first has
one hump, the other two. Thus Dromedaries or _chameaux_ could not be
spoken of at all in Egypt, for there are no bi-humped animals, although
they occur now and then in single-humped families. In Syria and Farther
Asia, there would again be no camels or _dromadaires_; at least the
single-humped animals are very rare. In fact, it is very immaterial, and
taken by itself, should hardly warrant the distinction of another
species, whether or not the fat hump on the back is divided into two.
At the present time the orientals make no distinction between them, and
the ancients evidently did the same, for the single-humped animals do
not carry more easily than the others, nor do they run faster, nor does
the rider sit between the two humps more securely than on one, for these
are as entirely built over by the saddle as the single hump. However, a
great distinction is made, though not a naturalistic one, between the
strong and unwieldy burthen camel, commonly called _gémel_, and the
younger, more active, thoroughly-broken riding camel, which is called
_heggîn_, because the Mekka pilgrims (_hágg_, pl. _heggâg_) have a great
estimation for good riding animals. An Arab takes it as ill when any one
calls his slender, well-bred camel a _gémel_, as one would feel angry at
having one’s thorough-bred horse called a plough-horse or dray-horse.
The meaning, indeed, of _dromedarius_ or _camelus dromas_, χάμηλος
δρομάς with the ancients, was nothing more, as the name proves, than a
runner, of the lighter, more rideable race.
As the latter are far more expensive, it is often difficult to obtain
even a few of the better kind of animals from the Arabs who are bound to
produce them; the greater part of our company was obliged to be
contented with the usual beasts of burthen; mine was, however, passable,
and was at least called _heggîn_ by the Arabs.
I did not await the general break up of the camp, at which our Sheîkh of
Saqâra and he of Mitrahinneh were present, but rode forward with Erbkam
along the desert. On the way he took the plan of a pyramid with its
neighbourhood, that I had remarked on a former occasion. We have now
noted in all sixty-seven pyramids, almost twice as many as are found in
Perring. The topographical plans of Erbkam are indeed a treasure.
Shortly after sundown we came to the first pyramid of Lisht, where we
found our camp already pitched. Next morning I had the caravan broken up
early, and stayed behind with Erbkam in order to employ ourselves in the
examination and surveying of the two pyramids, somewhat apart from each
other, in this alone-standing tomb-field. At 2 o’clock we followed, and
arrived about 7 o’clock in the evening at our tents, which were erected
on the south side of the stately pyramid of Meidûm. To the pyramid of
Illahûn was another short day’s journey, and from hence,[28] through the
mouth of the Faiûm, about three hours. We set out very late. I left
Erbkam and Ernst Weidenbach behind in order to bring their researches on
paper, and rode off with a couple of servants half an hour before the
train, in order to reach the labyrinth by another and more interesting
way along the Bahr Jussuf, and to fix upon a place for the encampment.
Here we are since the 31st of May, settled at the south side of the
pyramid of Mœris, upon the ruins of the labyrinth. That we are fully
justified in employing these terms, I was quite sure, as soon as I had
surveyed the locality rapidly. I did not think that it would be so easy
to determine this.
As soon as Erbkam had measured off a small plan and had committed it to
paper, I had workmen got together by the Mudhir of Medînet el Faiûm, the
governor of the province, trenches drawn through the ruins and
excavations made in four or five places at once; one hundred and eight
people were at work to-day: these I allow to encamp for the night on the
north side of the pyramid, with the exception of the people of Howara,
the nearest village, who return home every night. They have their
foremen, and bread is brought to them; they are counted every morning,
and paid every evening; each man receives a piastre, about two silver
_groschens_,[29] each child half a one, occasionally thirty paras,
(forty go to a piaster) when they were very industrious. The men must
each bring a hoe, and a shallow plaited basket, called _maktaf_. The
children, forming by far the greater number, need only come with
baskets. The maktafs are filled by the men, and carried away by the
children on their heads; this is done in processions, which are kept in
strict order and activity by overseers.
Their chief delight, and a considerable strengthener during their daily
work, is song. They have certain simple melodies, which at a distance
make an almost melancholy impression by reason of their great monotony;
but near, they are hardly bearable, by reason of the pitiless duration
of the yelling voices that often continue the same tune for hours
together. Only the knowledge that by forbearance I assist so many in
carrying half the burden of the day, and materially hasten their
labours, has ever deterred me from meddling in this, though I am often
driven from my tent in despair to seek rest for my ears in some distant
sphere of activity. In the performance of the two-lined stanzas, the
only change is, that the first line is sung by a single voice, the
second by the whole chorus, while every fourth of a bar is marked by a
clap of the hands, _e.g._
[Music:
Solo
Chorus
1. Om-mí be-tá-kul má-ku-lí U a-ná
2. Dill á-ss-arí mál u mál Bun-yál
3. Yâ-min sa-báh‘ ú le-bén U
]
[Music: Solo
bagh-bágh-tét ’a-léï (Dill)
dill ebánne ú ’a-léï (Yâ-)
sám-neh sâïh ’a-le-t &c.
]
I.e.
1. My mother eats my dates
And I,--I am angry.
2. The shadow of Asser[30] bows it and bows it.
The wall (_bunyân_)....
3. Oh joy! when the morning milk
And butter pours over me.
_Makûl_, in the first line, is more properly only “food,” but it has
generally become an expression for dates, as they are the principal food
in the hut of the Fellah, and for some indeed is the only food. Another
melody, a little more animated, is as follows:--
[Music:
Solo
Chorus
Solo
]
where the chorus exceptionally sings two notes and not one. But I hardly
believe that even these chords are intentional; they run down without
knowing it, for it often occurs that single voices sing the same note in
different keys without in the least observing the continual discord. The
power of joining voices together, in even the simplest harmony, seems to
be wholly wanting in the Arab. The artistical music of the most
celebrated singers and players, which inexpressibly delights even the
most educated Mussulman, consists only of a hundred-wise screaming,
restlessly-hurrying melody, the connecting idea of which is utterly
untenable to an European ear.[31] And just as little are the musical
instruments, when sounding together, used for any other harmonious
variations than rhythm produces.
In the night we have eight watchmen, who really do watch, as I often
prove to myself by going a nightly round; one of them is always walking
up and down upon the walls about our camp, with his gun on his shoulder;
for if we have to anticipate an attack at any place, it is here; not on
the part of the Arabs, but of the yet more dangerous Bedouins, who
inhabit the borders of the desert in many single hordes, not living
under great sheîkhs, who might be secured to our interests. On the way
from Illahûn hither, we came through a Bedouin camp, the sheîkh of which
must have been aware of our approach, as he mounted his horse, rode to
meet us, and offered us his services in case we might require them. Some
distance further, we met an old man and a girl crying aloud in despair;
they threw dust into the air and heaped it upon their heads; when we had
come up to them they complained bitterly to us, that just then two
Bedouins had robbed them of their only buffalo; indeed, we could see the
thieves on horseback in the distance, driving the animal before them
into the desert. I was alone with my dragoman and my little donkey
groom, ’Auad, an active, dark-brown Berber, and could render them no
assistance. Such robberies are not at all rare here. A short time since,
one tribe drove away one hundred and twenty camels from another, and not
a single one of them has come back yet.
However, we shall probably not be molested, for the judgment of Saqâra
is not forgotten, and it is known that we are particularly recommended
to the authorities. They were also aware that we carried no gold and
silver with us in our heavy trunks, as the Arabs had universally
imagined. We are also prepared for every other attack. The most
important chests are all together in my tent, and beside my bed at night
I always keep a double-barrelled English gun and a brace of pistols.
Every evening I clear all away, in order to be prepared for anything,
and storms in particular, from which we have suffered much lately, and
the violence of which cannot be conceived in Europe. Abeken’s tent fell
down upon him three times in the course of one day, and the last time
disturbed him from sleep in a rather disagreeable manner. Thus, we are
often in continual expectation for whole days and nights that the airy
dwelling will fall down upon us at the next gust, and one must be
accustomed to this feeling in order to go on quietly working or
sleeping.
It would seem as if we were to taste of all the plagues of Egypt; our
acquaintance with a flood was made at the great pyramid; then came the
locusts, the young broods of which are numberless as the sands of the
sea, eating up the green meadows and trees again, and, together with the
passing cattle murrain, are almost enough to bring on a famine; after
that came the attack, with a daring robbery at the beginning. The plague
of fire has not quite failed. By a careless salute, Wild’s tent was set
on fire in Saqâra, and was partially burnt while we stood around in the
bright sunlight that concealed the conflagration. Now comes the plague
of mice, with which we were not formerly acquainted; in my tent they
gnaw, play, and whistle, as if they had been at home here all their
lives, and quite regardless of my presence. At night they have already
run across my bed and face, and yesterday I started terrified from my
slumbers, as I suddenly felt the sharp tooth of such a daring guest at
my foot. I jumped up angrily and got a light, knocked at every chest and
tent-peg, but was only hissed and whistled at anew on my lying down
again. Notwithstanding all these annoyances, however, we are in good
spirits, and, thank God, they have only threatened us as yet, made us
aware of their existence, and not harmed us much.
I have now much lightened the labours of inspecting the attendants and
administering many outward labours by having brought an excellent
_khawass_ from Cairo. These _khawasses_, who form a peculiar corps of
officers of the Pasha, are in this country a very exclusive and
important class of people. Only Turks are admitted into it, and these,
by their nationality, have an inborn preponderance over every Arab.
There are few nations that possess so much talent for governing as the
Turks, whom we often picture to ourselves as half-barbarians, rough and
uncultivated in the highest degree. On the contrary, they, nationally,
have a species of aristocratic feeling. A most imperturbable quiet, cold
bloodedness, reservedness, and energy of will, seem to be peculiar to
every Turk, down to the lowest soldier, and they do not fail at first to
make a certain impression upon the European. Among the noble Turks, who
have all been subject to the most rigid etiquette from childhood, this
outward carriage of apparently pre-conceived firmness, this reserved and
proud politeness, moving lightly, as it were, in strict forms, is only
present in the refined degree. They have an inborn contempt for
everything that does not belong to their nation, and seem not to possess
any feeling for the natural weight of higher mental culture and
civilization which generally makes the most every-day European respected
among other nations. Nothing is to be won from the Turk by kindness,
consideration, demonstration, or even by irritation; he only looks upon
it as weakness. The greatest reserve alone, and the most scrupulous and
proud politeness toward the great, or aristocratic usage and categorical
commands toward the little, succeed. A Turkish _khawass_ hunts a whole
village of Fellahs or Arabs before him, and makes a decided impression
upon the yet prouder Bedouins. The Pasha employs this body in delicate
missions and trusts throughout the country. They are the principal
acting servants of the Pasha and of the governors of the provinces.
Every foreign consul also has such a _khawass_, without whom he scarcely
moves a step, because he is his guard of honour, the token and executive
of his incontestible authority. When he rides out, the _khawass_
precedes him on horseback, with a great silver staff, and drives the
people and animals out of the way with words and blows, and woe be to
him that assumes a gesture or even a look of opposition. The Pasha
occasionally gives peculiarly-recommended strangers such a guard, with
equal authority, and thus we, on our arrival, immediately received a
_khawass_, who was, however, duly troublesome to us during our long stay
at Gizeh, and was at last very ungraciously dismissed by me on account
of his improper pretensions. On the occasion of the attack at Saqâra, I
had another given me by Sherif Pasha; but still he was not the sort of
man we wanted, so I have brought a third with us from Cairo, who has
answered excellently till now. He takes the whole responsibility of the
attendants off me, and manages admirably everything that I have to
negotiate with the people and officials. In Europe I judged myself
perfectly strong enough to conduct the whole outward affairs of the
Expedition; but in this climate one must take another standard of
measure. Patience and rest are here as necessary elements of existence
as meat and drink.
LETTER XI.
LABYRINTH.
_June 25, 1843._
From the Labyrinth these lines come to you; not from the doubtful, or,
at least, always disputed one, of which I could form no idea from the
previous and more than meagre descriptions of those who placed the
Labyrinth here, but the clearly-identified Labyrinth of Mœris and the
Dodecarchs. There is a mighty knot of chambers still in existence, and
in the midst is the great square, where the Aulæ stood, covered with the
remains of great monolithic pillars of granite, and others of white,
hard limestone, gleaming almost like marble.
I came near to the spot with a certain fear that we should have to seek
to confirm the account of the ancients by the geographical position of
the place, that every form of its architectural disposition would be
wiped away, and that a shapeless heap of ruins would frighten us from
every attempt at investigation; instead of this, there were immediately
found, on a cursory view of the districts, a number of confused spaces,
as well super as subterranean, and the principal mass of the building,
which occupied more than a stadium (Strabo),[32] was distinctly to be
seen. Where the French expedition had fruitlessly sought for chambers,
we find literally hundreds, by and over each other, little, often very
small, by larger and great, supported by diminutive pillars, with
thresholds and niches, with remains of pillars and single wall slabs,
connected together by corridors, so that the descriptions of Herodotus
and Strabo are quite confirmed in this respect; at the same time, the
idea, never coincided in by myself, of _serpentine_, cave-like windings,
instead of square rooms, is definitely contradicted.
The disposition of the whole is, that three mighty blocks of buildings,
of the breadth of 300 feet, surround a square 600 feet in length and 500
in width; the fourth side is bounded by the pyramid lying behind, which
is 300 feet square, and therefore does not quite come up to the side
wings of the great buildings. A rather modern canal, which may be jumped
over, at least at this season of the year, is diagonally drawn through
the ruins, cutting right through the most perfectly-preserved of the
Labyrinthic rooms, and a part of the square in the centre, which was
once divided into courts. Travellers have not wished to wet their feet,
and so remained on this side, where the continuation of the wings of the
buildings is certainly much concealed by the rubbish mounds; but even
from this, the eastern bank, the chambers on the opposite side, and
particularly at the southern point, where the walls rise almost 10 feet
above the rubbish, and 20 above the level of the ruins, are very easy to
be seen, and when viewed from the heights of the pyramid, the regular
plan of the whole lies before one like a map. Erbkam has been employed
since our arrival in surveying the place, and inserting in the plan
every room and wall, however small; the ruins on the other side are
therefore much more difficult in the execution of the plan; here it is
easier, as there are fewer chambers, but therefore more difficult to be
understood with respect to the original structure. The labyrinth of
chambers runs along here to the south. The Aulæ lay between this and the
northerly pyramid opposite, but almost all traces of them have
disappeared. The dimensions of the place alone allow us to suspect that
it was divided into two parts by a wall, to which the twelve Aulæ, no
longer to be distinguished with certainty, adjoined on both sides, so
that their entrances were turned in opposite directions, and had close
before them the innumerable chambers of the Labyrinth. Who was, however,
the Maros, Mendes, Imandes, who, according to the reports of the Greeks,
erected the labyrinth, or rather the pyramid belonging to it, as his
monument? In the Royal Lists of Manetho,[33] we find the builder of the
labyrinth towards the end of the _twelfth_ dynasty, the last of the Old
Empire shortly before the irruption of the Hyksos. The fragments of the
mighty pillars and architraves, that we have dug out in the great square
of the Aulæ, give us the cartouches of the sixth king of this twelfth
dynasty, Amenemha III.; thus is this important question answered in its
historical portion.[34] We have also made excavations on the north side
of the pyramid, because we may expect to discover the entrance there;
that is, however, not yet done. We have obtained an entry into a chamber
covered with piles of rubbish that lay before the pyramid, and here we
have also found the name of Amenemha several times. The builder and
possessor of the pyramid is therefore determined. But the account of
Herodotus, that the construction of the Labyrinth was commenced two
hundred years before his time by the Dodecarchs, is not yet confuted. In
the ruins of the great masses of chambers surrounding the great square,
we have discovered no inscriptions. Later excavations may very probably
certify to us that this whole building, and also the arrangement of the
twelve courts, really fall in the twenty-sixth dynasty of Manetho, so
that the original temple of Amenemha was only included in this mighty
erection.[35]
So much for the Labyrinth and its Pyramid. The historical determination
of the builder of this structure is by far the most important result
that we can expect here. Now something about the other wonder of this
province, Lake Mœris.
The obscurity in which it was previously involved seems to be removed by
a happy discovery that the excellent Linant, the Pasha’s hydraulic
engineer, has lately made. Up to this time it was only agreed that the
lake lay somewhere in the Faiûm. As there is at the present time in this
remarkable half-oasis only a single lake, the Birqet el Qorn, lying in
its most distant part, this was of course taken to be Lake Mœris; there
appeared to be no other solution to the question. Now its great fame was
expressly founded upon the fact that it was artificial (Herodotus says
that it was excavated), and of immense utility, filled at the time of
the overflow of the Nile, and at low water running off again by the
canal, on one side toward the lands of the Faiûm, on the other, in its
backward course, it waters the region of Memphis, and yielding a most
lucrative fishery at the double sluices near the end of the Faiûm. Of
all these qualities, however, to the annoyance of antiquarians and
philologers, the Birqet el Qorn did not possess a single one. It is not
artificial, but a natural lake, that is partly fed by the water of the
Jussuf canal; its utility is as good as non-existent; no fishing-boat
enlivens the hard and desert-circled water mirror, as the brackish water
contains scarcely any fish, and is not even favourable to the vegetation
at the shores; when the Nile is high and there is plenty of water
flowing in, it does swell, but it is by far too deep to allow a drop of
the water that flows into it to flow out again; the whole province must
be buried beneath the floods ere this could find a passage back again to
the valley, as the artificially-deepened rock gorge by the Bahr Jussuf,
branching from the Nile at a distance of forty miles to the south, lies
higher than the whole oase. The _niveau_ of the Birqet el Qorn now lies
seventy feet below the point at which the canal flows in, and can never
have risen much higher.[36] This is proved by the ruins of ancient
temples lying upon its shores. Just as little do the statements tally
that inform us that on its shores were situated the Labyrinth and the
metropolis Arsinoë, now Medînet el Faiûm. Linant has discovered mighty
mile-long dams, of ancient solid construction, which form the boundary
between the upper part of the shell-formed convex basin of the Faiûm,
and the more remote and less elevated portion. According to him, these
could only be intended to restrain an artificially-constructed lake,
which, however, since the dams have long since been broken through, lies
perfectly dry; this lake he considers to be Mœris. I must confess that
the whole, after his personal information, impressed me with the idea
that it was a most fortunate discovery, and one that would save us many
fruitless researches; and the examination of the region has now quite
solved every doubt of mine as to the accuracy of this judgment; I
consider it an immoveable fact, Linant’s essay is now being printed, and
I will send it as soon as it is to be got.[37]
Should you, however, ask me what then the name of Mœris has to do with
that of Amenemha, I can only reply, nothing. The name Mœris occurs in
the monuments or in Manetho; I rather imagine that here again is one of
the numerous Greek misunderstandings. The Egyptians called the lake
_Phiom en mere_, “the Lake of the Nile flood (Koptic, [Illustration:
KOPTIC], _inundatio_).” The Greeks made out of _mere_, the water that
formed the lake, a King Mœris, who laid out the lake, and troubled
themselves no more about the real originator of it, Amenemha. At a later
period, the whole province obtained the name of ΨΙΟΜ[Illustration:
symbol], _Phiom_, the Lake, from which arises the present name _Faiûm_.
LETTER XII.
LABYRINTH.
_July 18, 1843._
Our tour in the Faiûm, this remarkable province so seldom visited by
Europeans, which may be called the garden of Egypt by reason of its
fertility, is now ended; and as these regions are almost as unknown as
the distant Libyan oases, it may be pleasing to you to hear something
more about this from me.