caused by drinking brackish water; and for the latter part of the
time was utterly incapable of making observations, having been
obliged to continue prostrate on a camel.
After leaving Siwa to go to Araschié, at about six miles from the
former, we passed a small building of the Doric order, apparently
designed for a temple. There either has been no inscription on it,
or it is now obliterated. But the proportions are those of the best
age of architecture, though the materials are ordinary, being only
a calcareous stone, full of marine spoils.
The ruin at Siwa resembles too exactly those of the Upper Egypt, to
leave a doubt that it was erected and adorned by the same intelligent
race of men. The figures of Isis and Anubis are conspicuous among the
sculptures; and the proportions are those of the Egyptian temples,
though in miniature. The rocks, which I saw in the neighbourhood,
being of a sandy stone, bear so little resemblance to that which is
employed in this fabric, that I am inclined to believe the materials
cannot have been prepared on the spot. The people of Siwa seem to
have no tradition concerning this edifice, nor to attribute to it
any quality, but that of concealing treasures, and being the haunt
of demons.
The distance between Siwa and Derna, on the coast, is said to be
thirteen or fourteen days journey; from Siwa to Kahira, twelve days;
and the same from Siwa to Charjé, the principal village of Elwah.
Since the above was written, an opinion has been communicated to
me, that Siwa is the _Siropum_ mentioned by Ptolemy, and that the
building described was probably coëval with the Temple of Jupiter
Ammon, and a dependency thereon[7]. The discovery of that celebrated
fane, therefore, yet remains to reward the toil of the adventurous,
or to baffle the research of the inquisitive. It may still survive
the lapse of ages, yet remain unknown to the Arabs, who traverse
the wide expanse of the desert; but such a circumstance is scarcely
probable. It may be completely overwhelmed in the sand; but this is
hardly within the compass of belief.
CHAP. III.
FROM ALEXANDRIA TO RASHID.
_Abu-kîr — Fertility of the Country — Description of Rashîd
— Journey to Terané — Fué — Deîrut and Demenhûr._
After a month, passed in recovering from the effects of the journey to
the westward, I prepared for leaving Alexandria. For many days boats
could not pass to Rashîd from the contrary winds, and I constantly
preferred going by land, as affording the means of more frequent
and interesting observation. Reports were spread, of the road being
infested by Bedouins; but I chose rather to encounter a slight danger,
than omit seeing what might offer of the country. Accordingly, on the
1st of May, I commenced my journey to Rashîd. We were near four hours
in reaching the village called ابوقير Abu-kîr, on horseback.
The road, for about two miles after leaving the gate of Rashîd,
is marked by many vestiges of buildings, but nothing worth
observing. There are also many date trees scattered round in the
neighbourhood of the canal, and vegetation enough to serve for food
for the small flocks of the city. About two miles from Abu-kîr
are the ruins of a town, close to the sea, and a part of them under
water. There are also some remains of columns. This is what has been
remarked as the _Taposiris parva_ of antiquity. Abu-kîr is a village,
consisting of few inhabitants. There is near it, however, a small
port, and on the point of land which forms it, a fortress, but of
little strength. A Tsorbashi resides there, with a few soldiers. He
collects a toll from those who pass the ferry near it. It is a place
of no trade, and vessels that frequent it come there chiefly for the
purpose of avoiding bad weather. We were eight hours and a half in
reaching Rashîd, exclusively of the time taken up in crossing two
ferries. The latter part of the road, from the seaside to Rashîd,
has been all marked with short columns of burned brick, at certain
distances from each other.
The beauty and fertility of the country round Rashîd deserves all
the praise that has been given it. The eye is not, indeed, gratified
with the romantic views, flowing lines, the mixture of plain and
mountain, nor that universal verdure that is to be observed on the
banks of the Rhine or the Danube. But his taste is poor who would
reduce all kinds of picturesque beauty to one criterion. To me, after
being wearied with the sandy dryness of the barren district to the
west, the vegetable soil of Rashîd, filled with every production
necessary for the sustenance, or flattering to the luxury of man,
the rice fields covering the superficies with verdure, the orange
groves exhaling aromatic odours, the date trees formed into an
umbrageous roof over the head; shall I say the mosques and the tombs,
which, though wholly incompatible with the rules of architecture,
yet grave and simple in the structure, are adapted to fill the mind
with pleasing ideas; and above all, the unruffled weight of waters
of the majestic Nile, reluctantly descending to the sea, where its
own vast tide, after pervading and fertilizing so long a tract, is
to be lost in the general mass: these objects filled me with ideas,
which, if not great or sublime, were certainly among the most soothing
and tranquil that have ever affected my mind.
There are some few remains of antiquity in the neighbourhood of
Rashîd, though the city itself be modern. The castle of Abu-Mandûr
stands about two miles from it, higher up the Nile, in a situation
very picturesque, as is seen by many drawings of it extant in
Europe. Columns are frequently dug up here. My arrival at Rashîd
happened in the month Ramadân, a time when it is particularly
cheerful. The populace there are esteemed more quiet, and better
disposed to civility than those of Alexandria or Kahira.
The city of Rashîd is built in an oblong irregular form. It has
no walls nor fortress. Its population is considerable; among which
are some Franks, and many Greeks. The commerce is principally the
carrying trade between Kahira and Alexandria. There is a cotton
manufacture, but confined to home consumption. Across the mouth of
the Nile, below Rashîd, is a bar which renders navigation perilous,
goods being obliged to be brought in boats of a particular form
from Kahira, and embarked in others of a different description for
Alexandria. Great damage is sustained by the boats striking on the
banks in entering the river, in which case they are commonly overset
and sunk; and it would be easy to institute an office of insurance
at Kahira, for goods coming by Rashîd. One half per cent. would be
a sufficient rate; but it would be necessary that a person should
inspect the jerms, or boats, at Rashîd, as the boatmen are such
knaves that they will overset the vessel, on purpose afterwards to
get at the goods under water.
It may not be improper here to observe, that though, during the
rise of the Nile, the water runs through several small canals,
yet the real mouths, presenting a constant stream, are but two,
those of Rashîd and Damiatt.
Rashîd is governed by an inferior officer, appointed by the Beys. All
this district is under the jurisdiction of Murad Bey. Property is
secure from all plunderers, except the Beys.
At Rashîd are many learned men; that is, skilled in Mohammedan
theology and casuistry. These Shechs pass their lives in great
tranquillity, preserving an apathy completely stoical. Their chief
amusement is to sit in their gardens, on the banks of the river,
smoking and conversing.
After staying five days to see the place, May 6th, I embarked with a
view of proceeding to Terané. It was my intention to have gone by
land, but the persons to whom I had recourse for information could
not persuade themselves that there was any security in that route
at the moment.
The production called Natrôn, efforts to introduce which into
general use in Europe have more than once been made, was at that
time becoming a considerable article of export; and I felt some
curiosity to observe the production in its nascent state. Terané is
the place nearest the lakes, and therefore I chose it as a point of
departure. We proceeded as far as the canal of Menûf with a fair
wind. Beyond this a loaded boat of any size cannot pass, except by
that canal; the water having left the main channel, and now flowing
through the canal, which is more in a line with the course of the
river above the Delta. No want of population appears in the villages
of this quarter, which are very numerous; and the land adjoining
them is clean and well cultivated. An unbounded plain on both sides
strikes the view, but on the West there is no great extent of arable
land. The peasants wear the appearance of poverty, which, indeed,
under the present abuse of government, is necessary to their personal
security; but they have abundance of cattle, and the frequent return
of passengers in the boats is to them a source of much gain.
In many of the villages are women for the convenience of strangers,
a part of whose profits is paid to the government which tolerates
them. I did not observe, however, that the nature of their calling
created any external levity or indecency of behaviour. Having taken
a small boat from Menûf, in six hours, the wind being either S.E. or
calm, we arrived at Terané. I counted more than an hundred distinct
villages and towns between Rashîd and Terané, as well on the West
as the East of the Nile. Among the most considerable of those on the
East is Fué, a place formerly more eminent in commerce than Rashîd;
but the latter has now in a great degree superseded it, and it is
diminished in size and population. It is nevertheless one of the
most agreeable situations on the Nile. Deîrût is the largest town
on the West. For Demenhûr, which is more populous, is not visible
from the Nile, being situated near the canal that conveys water to
Alexandria. At Demenhûr is a garrison of Janizaries. The course of
the Nile from its mouth to Terané is, with the exception of some
curves, nearly N.W. and S.E. In that space are several islands, which
are continually changing in place and number. From Rashîd to Damiatt,
in a direct line, is computed to be about twenty-seven leagues.
CHAP. IV.
TERANÉ TO THE NATRÔN LAKES.
_Government of Terané — Carlo Rossetti — The Trade in Natrôn —
Manners — Journey to the Lakes — Observations there — Remarks
on Natrôn — Coptic Convents and MSS. — Proceed to Kahira._
Terané is a town situated on the left of the most western mouth
of the Nile, at a very small distance from the river. Its latitude
is 30° 24′. The buildings are chiefly unburned brick, but there
are also some of stone. The town and district, containing several
villages, belong to Murad Bey, who usually entrusts its government and
the collection of its revenue to one of his Cashefs. But the person
who now holds it, May 1792, is Carlo Rossetti, a Venetian merchant,
recently appointed consul-general of the Emperor of Germany, and
well known to those who have visited the country. Observing, as he
thought, the demands for natrôn increasing in Europe, he supposed
that by obtaining an exclusive right to collect and export it, he
should secure to himself an immense and increasing revenue. Till now,
indeed, this article had never been productive of any advantage to
the Beys. The officers who successively obtained the government there,
exacting, without any settled rule, whatever they thought themselves
entitled to expect from the people, who brought the commodity from the
lakes to the river: and the European merchants obtained it by their
agents at the cheapest rate they were able from the natives. The
quantity supplied, the prime cost, and the contingent charges,
were therefore variable and uncertain. It had never before, as I
understood, been farmed by an European. Sre Rossetti wished for a
clear and exclusive property in the produce of the lakes, on paying
regularly an annual sum, to be determined by the quantity sold. He
has attained, from long experience, a considerable local knowlege,
and had, at that time, from various causes, great interest with
Murad Bey. Pecuniary prospects singularly influence those regents,
whose office being precarious, and at most for life, totally omit
to reflect on any remote consequences, for the sake of an immediate
advantage. The proposal was accepted, and Rossetti obtained over the
district of Terané an authority almost equal to that exercised in
former times by the Cashefs.
At that time the consumption was augmenting at Marseilles, Venice,
and Leghorn, and the article had been tried with some success in
Great Britain. Rossetti sent his nephew to reside at Terané as his
deputy. But the young man, preferring the repose of his sofa to the
Mamlûk exercises of arms, was little adapted to the government of a
people accustomed to be ruled only by fear. He had a few Sclavonian
soldiers, who could not prevent injuries being done to the little
parties employed to fetch the natrôn. About three months after I
left Terané the young man died, not without suspicions of poison;
and Sre Rossetti has since sold a large share in the grant, which
he now retains to little purpose.
During the year of the most extensive export, the duty to government
amounted, as was said, to 32,000 patackes, which, at twelve piatres
the pound sterling, may be estimated at 6000l. Hence the quantity
must have been from 3500 to 4000 tons, of which the greater part
was shipped for Marseilles. The present war exceedingly reduced the
quantity exported.
On my arrival at Terané, my application to Sre Ferrari, nephew of
Rossetti, for whom recommendations had been given me, was attended
with assurances from that gentleman of his co-operation in all I
might wish to undertake, and an invitation to reside with him. I
passed a day in wandering over the adjacent ground, particularly
that part of the Delta which is opposite the town, where are many
columns and other considerable remains, which indicate the site of
antient structures. I could, however, find no inscriptions, nor,
indeed, any thing that was worth the search.
Sre Rossetti had made a very neat garden near his house, in which was
cultivated a number of fruit-trees and useful plants. He had also
attempted many other improvements, by planting trees, &c. in the
suburbs; but in this laudable design he was far from being seconded
by the natives, who refused even to water the trees he had been
at the trouble of planting, and seemed to judge their forbearance
remarkable in abstaining from their destruction. A striking lesson to
those who would force refinement on any people, to which they must
ever be stimulated by their necessities, or led by their personal
conviction. Yet, perhaps, they had suspicions which are unexplained,
or discontents at the appearance of novelty, concerning the sources
of which we are ignorant. I have ever observed the Egyptians, as
all the Orientals, passionately fond of trees and water; and if in
this instance they preferred being without them, it might possibly
be from distrust of bringing on themselves some real evil, by the
pursuit of an imaginary advantage.
The ensuing night, when the Arabs were to go to the lake for a
lading of natrôn, Sre F. appointed his company of five Sclavonians
to attend me, and I set off at nine in the evening on horseback. We
continued our march, chiefly in a western direction, till seven the
following morning, at which time we came to a spring of fresh water,
that rises among some rushes near the lake, which, though it afford
no very copious supply of water, was yet a seasonable refreshment,
as the heat of the sun was already inconvenient. The latitude at the
eastern extremity of the most western lake I found 30°, 31′, north;
but this is not decided by a single observation. The difference of
time between Terané and the Convents of St. George, gave a distance,
as nearly as I could compute it, of thirty-five miles.
The road from Terané is level, with very small exception, and
generally firm and good, though with intervals of loose and deep sand.
The country we passed through, however, is destitute of water, and
consequently barren, as is all that which borders on the lakes. The
only buildings in the neighbourhood are three convents, inhabited by a
few religious of the Coptic church; two of which are about a mile and
half, the third about six miles from the eastern lake. There are some
vestiges of other buildings, which also seem to have been convents
that have long since ceased to exist. The antelope and the ostrich
are seen rarely here, and they appear to be the only wild animals
that frequent that part of the country. No vegetation appears, except
reeds on the margin of the lake, which is very irregular in its form;
so that it is not very easy to say what may be the quantity of ground
covered with water, nor to discern the extremities. It is higher in
winter than in summer; and, at this period, I could no where observe
that the breadth of it exceeded a mile: its length may be nearly four.
The Arabs told me, that the water during the last winter had been
remarkably low. There seem to be marks of its having occasionally
risen about four feet higher than at present; which must greatly
change the appearance of the whole. Towards the end of the summer, it
is said, these lakes are almost dry; and the space that the water has
retired from is then occupied by a thick deposition of salt. Not far
removed from the eastern extremity, a spring rises with some force,
which much agitates the rest of the water. Close to that spring the
depth was far greater than my height, in other parts it was observable
that it did not generally exceed three feet. The thermometer near
this spring stood at 76, while in the open air it was 87. The more
western lake differs not materially from the eastern in size, form,
or productions. The colour of the water in both is an imperfect red,
and where the bottom is visible, it appears almost as if covered with
blood. Salt, to the thickness of five or six inches, lies constantly
in the more shallow parts.
The surface of the earth, near the lake, partakes more or less
generally of the character of natrôn, and, in the parts farthest
removed, offers to the foot the slight resistance of ploughed ground
after a slight frost. The soil is coarse sand. The water of the lake,
on the slightest evaporation, immediately deposits salt. There is a
mountain not far from the lakes, where natrôn is found in insulated
bodies, near the surface, of a much lighter colour than that produced
in the lake, and containing a greater portion of alkali. This kind
more resembles the natrôn of Barbary, and what I have since observed
in the road to Soudân.
How thick the substance of natrôn commonly is in the lake, I did
not accurately determine, but those employed to collect it report
that it never exceeds a cubit, or common pike; but it appears to be
regenerated as it is carried away. The Arabs report that the natrôn
country extends twenty days journey; and indeed I had remarked
something resembling that substance near Siwa. I understood it was
delivered at Terané for about a piaster the _cantâr_. But there are,
probably, some other expenses attending it. Notwithstanding Sre R.’s
exclusive right, the Arabs carry off some of the commodity, which
they sell wherever they can find a market. The quantity exported to
Venice was much decreasing in 1792, as it had been found on trial
inapplicable to many purposes to which it was supposed it might
be converted. I know not how far correct their experiments might
have been; but if ever it should be brought to supersede the use
of barilla, the quantity obtainable seems likely to answer every
possible demand.
I detected much alkali in all the specimens which came into my
possession; but not equal in all. And circumstances did not permit
me to make an analysis so complete as to merit insertion here.
During my stay near the lakes, I visited two of the Coptic convents,
that called the _Syrian_, and that of _St. George_; where I could
observe no traces of any European traveller, but Baron Thunis, whom
the Empress of Russia had sent, some years before, to negotiate a
defection on the part of the Beys; but who having exhibited less
prudence than courage, in the promotion of the designs of his
mistress, had been privately put to death in Kahira, by order of
the Beys, to avoid delivering him to the Porte, as had been required
of them. These convents contain each of them several religious, who
retain all the simplicity of the primitive ages.—They drink water,
and eat coarse bread and vegetables; very seldom touching meat,
wine, or coffee. They are ignorant indeed, but strangers to vice;
and though their time is employed to no useful purpose, so neither
is the application of it prejudicial to any.
They have each a small garden, which supplies common vegetables,
and a breed of tame fowls, together with a well of water, within the
walls; the rest of the necessaries of life are provided them by the
voluntary contributions of the Christians of their own persuasion;
and as the business of artificers and menials is all performed by
the monastics themselves, their expenses are not very extended. The
entrance to each is by a small trap-door, against which two great
mill-stones are rolled within. The buildings appear to have lasted
several centuries, and the walls are still firm and substantial. No
praise is to be given to the religious for cleanliness; but as the
list of their furniture and apparel is very small, they cannot be
frequently renewed; human beings more ignorant of mankind and their
transactions than some of those whom I conversed with, are scarcely
any where to be seen. But the superiors in both were in a certain
degree intelligent. One of them, when I was admitted, was mending his
shoes, and seemed to think little of theological controversies. The
other attempted to prove to me the Eutychian tenet of monothelism, and
on my expressing myself persuaded by his arguments, he seemed highly
gratified. Indeed I met with on their part every mark of hospitality.
I inquired for MSS. and saw in one of the convents several books
in the Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic languages. Among these were an
Arabo-Coptic Lexicon. The works of St. Gregory, and the Old and
New Testament in Arabic. The superior told me they had near eight
hundred volumes; but positively refused to part with any of them,
nor could I see any more. The monks are strangers to all idioms but
the vulgar Arabic.
Having thus spent two days and part of a third in the vicinity
of the lakes, my attendants grew impatient, and I was obliged to
return. After a short interval, having re-embarked for Kahira,
I arrived there on the 16th May 1792[8].
CHAP. V.
KAHIRA.
_Topography — Government of Kahira and of Egypt — Pasha and Beys
— Mamlûks — Birth, education, dress, arms, pay — Estimate
of their military skill — Power and revenue of the Beys — The
Chalige — The NILE — Mosques, Baths, and Okals — Houses —
Manners and customs — Classes of people — Account of the Copts._
A residence in Kahira at distinct intervals, but extending in all
to eleven months, may enable me to attempt some account of this
celebrated city, with perhaps more advantages than have fallen to
the lot of any recent traveller. A cursory glance of the manners and
customs of a people is often fallacious, and a temporary exception
is liable to be converted into a general rule.
The yet numerous population, the various nations with their several
languages, dresses, and manners, conspire with the romantic fame
of _Grand Cairo_, the second capital of the East, the metropolis of
Africa, the scene of surprising events in history, and of yet more
surprising incidents in Arabian fable, to impress the spectator with
curiosity and admiration.