John Baptist Belzoni was born about 1780, at Padua, in Italy, and
passed the greater part of his youth at Rome, where he was preparing
himself to become a monk, when, he observes, ‘the sudden entry of the
French into that city, altered the course of my education, and being
destined to travel, I have been a wanderer ever since.’ In 1803, he
visited England and married; when, having but scanty means of
subsistence, he went to Scotland and Ireland, and exhibited, at
various theatres, a series of experiments in hydraulics, a science to
which he had devoted much of his time in Italy. Finding, however, that
he received but little profit from these exhibitions, he determined on
a public display of his strength, which he put forth in feats that
astonished and attracted crowded audiences wherever he appeared.
Though, at that time, very young, he was six feet seven inches in
height; and such was his elephantine power, that he could walk across
the stage with no less than two-and-twenty persons attached by straps
to different parts of his body. In 1812, he exhibited at Lisbon and at
Madrid; and sailed afterwards to Malta, whence, he set out for Cairo,
for the purpose of making a machine for raising water out of the Nile
to water the bashaw’s gardens. Whilst on his way to the palace, he
received so severe a blow on the leg, that he was confined to his bed
thirty days before he could be introduced to the bashaw; who merely
observed, on being told of Belzoni’s wound, ‘that such accidents could
not be avoided where there were troops.’
Having concluded an agreement to make a machine which should enable
one ox to raise as much water as was drawn previously by four, he,
after much difficulty and obstruction on the part of those whose
cattle were employed in the gardens, completed his work, and
demonstrated with great success, a practical experiment of its power.
The opposition, however, of the Arabs to the use of his machine, which
they had materially damaged, induced Belzoni to relinquish his
projects concerning it, and to undertake, at the suggestion of Mr.
Salt and Mr. Burckhardt, an expedition to Thebes, for the purpose of
removing an enormous bust, to which they had given the name of ‘the
younger Memnon.’
‘It has been erroneously stated,’ says Belzoni, ‘that I was regularly
employed by Mr. Salt for the purpose of bringing the colossal bust
from Thebes to Alexandria. I positively deny that I was ever engaged
by him in any shape whatever, either by words or writing, as I have
proofs of the case being on the contrary. When I ascended the Nile,
the first and second time, I had no other idea in my mind, but that I
was making researches for antiquities which were to be placed in the
British Museum; and it is naturally to be supposed, that I would not
have made these excursions, had I been aware that all I found was for
the benefit of a gentleman whom I never had the pleasure to see before
in my life.’
Our traveler, accompanied by his wife, left Boolak on the 30th of
June, 1815, examined the ruins of ancient Antinoe, and arrived at
Ashoumain, where he met with the first remains of Egyptian
architecture, which he supposes to have been of a date anterior to
those of Thebes. Having arrived at Siout, he requested of the bashaw’s
physician, permission to employ the workmen necessary to remove the
head of Memnon; but not receiving a favorable reply, he, by means of
his interpreter, procured the requisite assistance, and after viewing
the tombs of Issus, proceeded to Thebes. On his way thither, he
visited, near Dendera, the Temple of Tentyra, before which he remained
seated some time, lost in admiration, at ‘the singularity of its
preservation, and the extent and magnificence of its structure.’ On
his return to Dendera, the inhabitants insisted on detaining his
interpreter, imagining him to be the same who had joined the French
army, some years ago, and declaring ‘that he had been long enough
among Christian dogs.’ With much difficulty he procured the man’s
release, and in a few days, came in sight of the ruins of Thebes, of
which he thus writes:――‘The most sublime ideas that can be formed from
the most magnificenct specimens of our present architecture, would
give a very incorrect picture of these ruins: for such is the
difference, not only in magnitude, but in form, proportion, and
construction, that even the pencil can convey but a faint idea of the
whole. It appeared to me like entering a city of giants, who, after a
long conflict, were all destroyed, leaving the ruins of their various
temples as the only proofs of their former existence.’ After pausing
with wonder before the two colossal figures in the plain, he proceeded
to examine the bust, which it was the object of his expedition to
remove. ‘I found it,’ he observes, ‘near the remains of its body and
chair, with its face upwards, and apparently smiling on me, at the
thought of being taken to England.’ Finding the distance to his boat
on the Nile too far to go every night, he built a small hut with the
stones of the Memnonium, in which, with Mrs. Belzoni, he determined to
remain till he had accomplished the removal of the bust. This, after
much difficulty and persuasion, he procured sufficient men to raise
from the ground; ‘which,’ says Belzoni, ‘so astonished the Arabs,
that, though it was the effect of their own efforts, they said it was
the devil that did it.’ On the 5th of August, he reached, with the
head, that part of the land which he was afraid of being prevented
from crossing by the rising of the water; and on the 12th, he
observes, ‘Thank God, the young Memnon arrived on the bank of the
Nile.’ Next day he entered a cave in the mountains of Gornou, for the
purpose of taking out a sarcophagus which had been mentioned to him by
Mr. Drouetti; and which, after having more than once lost his way in
the different avenues that led to it, he was preparing to remove, when
the Arabs, who were working for him, were put into prison by the
cacheff of Erments, who replied, on his complaining of such conduct,
‘that the sarcophagus had been sold to the French consul, and that no
one else should have it.’
Whilst waiting the arrival of a boat from Cairo, be made an excursion
to the Temple of Ybsambul, the entrance of which, though choked up by
an accumulation of sand to the height of thirty-six feet, he
determined on using his utmost endeavors to open. Previously, however,
to commencing his operations, he made a voyage to the second cataract
of the Nile; in reference to which he says, ‘though some authors
assert that the Nile has no waves, but runs quite smooth, I can assure
the reader that we were this day tossed about as if by a gale at sea.’
On his return to Ybsambul, he immediately began to clear the entrance
to the temple, and after five days’ labor, had succeeded in uncovering
twenty feet of sand, when, finding that he had neither sufficient time
nor money for the completion of his undertaking, he obtained a promise
from the cacheff to keep the place untouched till his return, and
descended the Nile to Deboade, where he took possession of an obelisk,
twenty-two feet long, ‘in the name of his Britannic majesty’s consul
in Cairo.’ On arriving at Thebes, he met two Frenchmen, who made some
remarks on the head of Memnon to deter him from taking it away, and
was told by their dragoman, that if he persevered in his researches,
‘he should have his throat cut, by order of two personages.’ After
hiring a boat to convey the bust to Cairo, he proceeded to Carnak,
where he employed twenty men to dig away the sand from a large temple,
from the ruins of which he transported to Luxor six sphinxes and a
white statue of Jupiter Ammon, which he subsequently conveyed to
England, and are now in the British Museum. The merit of the
discoveries he made here, was attempted to be taken from him by Count
de Forbin, who published an account, extracted from Belzoni’s letters.
After examining the extensive ruins of Medinet Aboo, which he
describes as ‘best worthy the attention of the traveler of any on the
west of Thebes,’ and penetrating into several tombs which he
discovered in the valley of Beban el Malook, Belzoni returned to Luxor
with the intention of putting on board the colossal head, which, after
many impediments, he effected on the 17th of November. On the 15th of
December he arrived at Cairo, with the bust and other antiquities; the
latter of which he left, according to the instructions of Mr. Salt, at
the consulate, and with the former, departed for Alexandria, where he
saw it safely deposited in a British transport. Having accomplished
this important object, he proceeded to resume his operations at the
Temple of Ybsambul, stopping on his way thither at Thebes, where he
found the agents of Mr. Drouetti in the act of completing many of the
excavations he had begun, and removing several statues and sphinxes
from the ruins. With some difficulty our traveler procured sufficient
workmen to pursue his excavations at Carnak, where he discovered a
magnificent temple, dedicated to the great God of the creation; on
entering which, he says, ‘my mind was impressed with ideas of such
solemnity, that for some time I was unconscious whether I were on
terrestial ground, or in some other planet.’
From Carnak he again proceeded to Gornou, a tract of rocks two miles
in length, and formerly the burial place of the city of Thebes; of
which subterranean abodes, the most wonderful in the world, he thus
speaks:――‘In some places there is not more than a vacancy of a foot
left, which you must contrive to pass through in a creeping posture,
like a snail, on pointed and keen stones, that cut like glass. Once I
was conducted from such a place to another resembling it, through a
passage of about two feet in length, and no wider than a body could be
forced through. It was choked with mummies, and I could not pass
without putting my face in contact with that of some decayed Egyptian;
but as the passage inclined downwards, my own weight helped me on,
however, I could not avoid being covered with bones, legs, arms, and
heads rolling from above; at the same time my throat and nose were
choked with dust; but, though fortunately I am destitute of the sense
of smelling, I could taste that the mummies were rather unpleasant to
swallow.’ After collecting several papyri from the shrouds of the
mummies, and purchasing a pair of beautiful brazen vessels, which he
describes as ‘two of the finest articles of metallic composition, that
ever were to be found in Egypt,’ he returned to Carnak, where, among
other discoveries, he dug up, and sent to England, a colossal head of
red granite, still larger than that of the younger Memnon. About this
time he was joined by Captains Mangles and Irby, with whose assistance
he succeeded in entering the temple at Ybsambul, which he found to be
one hundred and seventeen feet wide, and eighty-six feet high, and
‘enriched with beautiful intaglios, paintings, colossal figures, etc.’
His next and most important discovery was in the valley of Beban el
Malook, of a vast and magnificent tomb, described by him as ‘a new and
perfect monument of Egyptian antiquity, which can be recorded as
superior to any other in point of grandeur, style, and preservation.’
Speaking of the day on which he discovered this tomb, he says, ‘I may
call it one of the best, perhaps, of my life; it led me to the
fortunate spot which has paid me for all the trouble I took in my
researches.’
On his return to Cairo, he was much annoyed to hear that the credit of
the discoveries he had made had been usurped by others, who had been
announced, by name, in the English journals, as the means of bringing
to light the principal temples which he had so long been employed in
excavating. Accordingly he resolved, in future, to keep his operations
as secret as possible; and with this view, went alone, to inspect the
second great pyramid of Ghizeh, ‘that enormous mass which, for so many
ages, has baffled the conjectures of ancient and modern writers;’ and
which, whether one solid mass, or possessing any cavity in the
interior, no one had yet been able to ascertain. Notwithstanding,
however, the difficulty of the attempt, and the uncertainty of
success, he resolved on making an effort to discover an entrance to
the tomb; a project for the undertaking of which, £20,000 had been
considered by Mr. Drouetti necessary, while Belzoni determined to
begin it with the small sum of £200, all he, at that moment,
possessed. Having procured the requisite number of workmen, he
commenced his operations, and after a month’s labor, to his
inexpressible delight, found a passage, and penetrated into the centre
of the pyramid. So unsuccessful, however, were his attempts at first,
that those who came to see him at work, ridiculed the idea of his
proceeding further, and the Count de Forbin, says Belzoni, ‘requested,
in a kind of sarcastic manner, when I had succeeded in opening the
pyramid, (which, no doubt, he supposed I never would,) that I would
send him a plan of it.’ Accordingly Belzoni sent it to the count, who
taking advantage of the opportunity, on his arrival in Paris, caused
it to be published in the newspapers, that he himself had penetrated
into the pyramid, and produced the plan as an evidence.
Having sent some account of his proceedings to England, Belzoni made a
third journey to Thebes, whence, after taking models in wax of the
principal tombs, he set out on a voyage to the Red Sea, principally
with the intention of visiting Sarkiet Minor, said to be the site of
ancient Berenice. Accordingly, on the 16th of September, 1818,
accompanied by Mr. Beechey, he embarked at Gornou, and sailing down
the Nile, was witness to one of the most calamitous inundations ever
known; the river having risen three feet and a half higher than usual,
and swept away several villages and some hundred of their inhabitants.
On leaving the Nile, he proceeded across the desert to the Red Sea,
the coast of which he found to have been accurately described by
Bruce; and, at Cape el Golahen, he discovered the ruins of a town,
which, from his own observations, and those of the geographer,
D’Anville, he concluded to be the site of ancient Berenice, of which
city he had found no traces at Sarkiet Minor. Returning to Gornou, he
was met by Mr. Salt and Mr. Banks, the latter of whom, having been
authorized to take possession of the obelisk found by Belzoni in the
island of Philoe, engaged him to remove it down the Nile to
Alexandria, preparatory to its embarkation for England. On reaching
the spot where it lay, he, after some opposition on the part of Mr.
Drouetti, who claimed the obelisk as his own, commenced his operations
for putting it on board, which he effected after a delay of three
days, caused by its slipping from the machine into the water. Having
arrived at Luxor, he landed for a few days to visit the excavations he
had commenced at Carnak, when, on his returning to the boat, he was
suddenly attacked by a large party of Arabs, headed by two Europeans
and Mr Drouetti, who endeavored to force Belzoni to deliver up the
obelisk. He was, however, firm in his refusal; but, on reaching the
Nile, hastened on to Alexandria, determined to quit Egypt for ever, as
he observes, ‘I could not live any longer in a country where I had
become the object of revenge, to a set of people who could take the
basest means to accomplish their purpose.’
Previously, however, to sailing for Europe, he made an excursion to
Faiume, the ruins of ancient Arsinoe, Lake Mœris, and the Oasis of
Ammon, near Zaboo, where he received a severe injury on his side, in
consequence of his camel falling with him down a hard rock of twenty
feet in depth. In this journey he tried to discover some remains of
the famous Temple of the Labyrinth; visited the fountain at Ell
Cassar, mentioned by Herodotus; and, after passing some time at
various places, in search of antiquities, returned to Alexandria,
whence, in the middle of September, 1819, he says, ‘Thank God, we
embarked for Europe; not that I disliked the country I was in, for, on
the contrary, I have reason to be grateful; nor do I complain of the
Turks or Arabs in general, but of some Europeans who are in that
country, whose conduct and mode of thinking are a disgrace to human
nature.’ On his arrival in Italy, he visited his friends and family at
Padua; to which city he presented two lion-headed statues of granite,
which were placed, by his townsmen, in the Palazza della Justitia, who
also struck a medal in honor of him. In 1820, he reached England; and,
in the same year, published an Account of his Travels and Discoveries,
a work which excited the interest and attention of the whole literary
and scientific world. In 1821, he exhibited, at the Egyptian Hall, in
Piccadilly, a representation of two of the principal chambers of a
tomb he had discovered in Beban el Malook, besides a model of the
entire excavation; with several specimens of Egyptian sculpture, cases
containing idols, mummies, etc., and a superb manuscript of papyrus.
In the latter end of 1822, Belzoni left England for Gibraltar, with
the intention of traveling through Africa to Senaar, by way of
Timbuctoo, a city which, up to that time, had never been visited by an
European. On reaching Fez, he was introduced to the emperor of
Morocco, who, at first, gave him permission to join a caravan about to
set out for Timbuctoo; but, subsequently, remanded him back to
Tangiers, whence our traveler proceeded to Gibraltar, determined not
to relinquish his project, although he had already fruitlessly
expended £1,000 in his attempt to accomplish it. Having arrived at
Madeira, he continued his course to Teneriffe and Cape Coast Castle,
where he resolved to take a northerly direction, from the kingdom of
Benim direct to Houssa, towards the east of which country he had some
hope of falling in with the Niger. On the 30th of October, he reached
the Bar of Benim river; and, after making an excursion to the capital
of Warra, about one hundred and twenty miles distant from Bobee,
returned to the latter place, and set out, in company with Mr.
Houtson, an English merchant, on his expedition to Timbuctoo. Whilst
stepping into the canoe in which he departed, he evinced much
agitation; and when the crew of the vessel he had just left, gave him
three cheers, it was with trepidation, though with earnestness, that
he exclaimed――‘God bless you, my fine fellows! and send you a happy
sight of your country and friends!’ He reached Gato on the 20th of
November, 1823; and, on the 26th, departed for Benim, where he arrived
in the evening of the same day, suffering slightly from an attack of
diarrhœa, of which he had complained in the course of his journey.
After some negotiation with the king of Benim, to whom Mr. Belzoni was
represented as an Indian, or Malay, on his return home, it was
arranged that he should be escorted as far as Houssa, whither,
however, his diarrhœa, now changed to a dysentery, prevented him from
preparing to proceed.
On the 2d of December, his illness increased to such an alarming
degree, that he expressed a conviction of his approaching death, and
begged Mr. Houtson to send him back to Gato, in the faint hope that
the sea breeze might revive him. On his arrival there, though much
fatigued, he appeared better for the voyage; resumed his usual
cheerfulness, ate and drank, slightly, of bread and tea, and fell into
a sound sleep, from which, however, he awoke with a dizziness in the
head, and coldness in the extremities; shortly after he lost the power
of speech, and, in the afternoon of the 3d of December, tranquilly
expired.
Previously to his death, he had given directions respecting his
papers, and had attempted to write to his wife; but, his strength
failing him, he requested Mr. Houtson ‘to bear witness that he died in
the fullest and most affectionate remembrance of her; and begged that
gentleman would write to her, and send her the amethyst ring which he
then wore.’ He was buried on the day following his death, the funeral
service being delivered by Mr. Houtson, who placed over his grave the
following inscription:――‘Here lie the remains of G. Belzoni, Esq., who
was attacked with a dysentery at Benim, on the 26th of November, on
his way to Houssa and Timbuctoo, and died at Gato, on the 3d of
December, 1823. The gentleman who placed this inscription over the
grave of this intrepid and enterprising traveler, hopes that every
European, visiting this spot, will cause the ground to be cleared, and
the fence around it put in repair, if necessary.’
The character of Belzoni was of an intrepid and enterprising nature;
and he possessed a spirit of perseverance, in the midst of the many
difficulties and dangers which surrounded him, that would have turned
most men from their object. His person was as well-favored as it was
tall and powerful; and his countenance was handsome and intelligent.
He was accompanied by his wife in all his expeditions, except the
last: she was, for a woman, as prodigious in size and strength as
Belzoni was for a man; and proved of much assistance to him in the
course of his researches in Egypt. The travels of Belzoni are the most
interesting ever recorded; the account of them is written by himself,
choosing, as he says in his preface, to tell in his own way his events
and discoveries; being more solicitour about the accuracy of the facts
than the manner of relating them. His narrative, however, although
occasionally confused, from an over-earnestness to convey to the
reader’s mind an adequate idea of the difficulties encountered by the
author, is written in a pure and unostentatious style, and in a tone
which occasionally approaches to the poetic and sublime. Nor is his
diction inelegant; and, notwithstanding his want of a classical
education, he displays, in his work, a very extensive knowledge of
ancient history, and particularly of the classical traditions
respecting Thebes and other celebrated places of Egypt.