DJIRJEH, UPPER EGYPT, _February 20, 1842_.
My last was from Thebes, after having made the ancient port of Luxor
and found ourselves some seven or eight hundred miles from the sea,
secured to the old quay where the Egyptian boatmen tied their boats
three thousand years ago. On the eastern or Arabian side of the Nile
are the immense ruins of Luxor and Karnak. The temple of Luxor is a
mere skeleton; the greater part of the columns stand yet, but the
outside walls have been thrown down, and the materials carried away. It
stands very near the river bank, and was supposed to be for the use of
the boatmen. The temple was six hundred feet in length; the interior
court was three hundred feet long and one hundred and sixty feet wide,
and the double row of columns, twelve feet diameter and one hundred
and forty feet high, were covered with sculpture. Before a magnificent
gateway of the temple stands the survivor of the beautiful obelisks
which have withstood the hand of time for three thousand years. It is a
single block of red granite, eighty or ninety feet high, covered with
sculpture and hieroglyphics beautifully executed. Its fellow was taken
by the French, and now stands in the Place de la Concorde at Paris.
The refinement of civilization has dared to remove what the grossness
of barbarism feared to touch. The obelisks were among the few objects
spared by the Persians on entering Egypt, probably from the fact that
they were the symbols of the sacred element, _fire_, which the
Persians worshipped.
The gateway of this magnificent ruin is two hundred feet long and sixty
feet high; the front of the interior wall is covered with sculpture,
representing the battle scenes of an Egyptian warrior in different
attitudes, advancing at the head of his army, breaking through the
ranks of the enemy; sometimes in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds, with
plumes waving over their heads, the bow bent, the arrow drawn to its
extremity, whilst the dead and wounded are falling under the wheels of
his car; with a great variety of other devices.
Leaving Luxor we proceeded to Karnak, a distance of about two miles,
and in approaching the ruins of the immense temples which occupy a mile
in diameter, we passed through the avenue of sphinxes, each a solid
block of granite, lining the whole length of the road, which was sixty
feet wide, regularly formed, and shaded by rows of poplar trees. Many
are broken, but some are quite perfect, and solemn as when the ancient
Egyptians passed to worship in the great temple of Ammon. Here we saw
several rows of sphinxes. The grand temple of Karnak, which was twelve
hundred feet in length, and four hundred and twenty feet in breadth,
stood in the centre of a series of smaller temples, with avenues
of sphinxes and colossal statues radiating from it. The principal
entrances, of which there were twelve, were so contrived as exactly
to front the corresponding temples on the other side of the river at
Thebes, which must have added much to the effect produced by the annual
processions of the priests and gods of Egypt, when they were carried in
solemn triumph from the Arabian to the Lybian side of the Nile. Some
of the smaller temples surrounding this gigantic structure are larger
than many other temples elsewhere. Here are seen many colossal statues,
twenty or thirty feet high, some sitting, others erect. In front of
the body of the temple is a large court, with an immense colonnade
on each side, of thirty columns in length, and through the middle two
rows of columns fifty feet high; then comes an immense portico, the
roof supported originally by one hundred and thirty-four columns; I
counted one hundred and twenty-six still standing, which measured from
thirty to thirty-six feet in circumference. Here are three beautiful
obelisks, seventy feet high, the sanctuary of highly polished granite,
the walls of which are covered with sculpture representing offerings
to the gods. The walls inside and out, as also the columns in every
part, are covered with every variety of device, representing the acts
of their kings, the worship of their gods, &c. Here are immense walls
and gates and ruins, with cemeteries, in which are still standing
colossal figures of rams, and those of men with the heads of animals.
In fact, it is impossible to form any correct estimate of these
gigantic remains. One is struck with wonder and confusion, and, to use
the language of Dr. Richardson, who, looking from one of the gateways,
exclaims, “the vast scene of havoc and destruction presents itself in
all the extent of this immense temple, with its columns, and walls,
and immense propylons, all prostrate in one heap of ruins, looking as
if the thunders of heaven had smitten it at the command of an insulted
God.”
I have visited all the ruins of Thebes, on the other side of the river,
which occupied several days, but it is useless to attempt to describe
them, as what I have already spoken of is not half of the ruins of
this once magnificent city. Many are prostrate and nearly buried in
the sand, but the traces are still visible. The temples of Goorneh,
Northern Dair, Memnonium and Medinet Abou, with their columns and
colossal figures, still raise their giant skeletons above the sands,
and, as Mr. Stevens has said, “volumes have been written upon them,
and volumes may yet be written, and he that reads all will have but
an imperfect view of Thebes--that all the temples were connected by
long avenues of sphinxes, statues, propylons, and colossal figures,
and the reader’s imagination will work out the imposing scene that was
presented in the crowded streets of the now desolate city, when, with
all the gorgeous ceremonies of pagan idolatry, the priests, bearing the
sacred image of their god, and followed by thousands of the citizens,
made their annual procession from temple to temple, and, ‘with harps,
and cymbals, and songs of rejoicing,’ brought back their idol, and
replaced him in his shrine in the grand temple at Karnak.”
The tombs of the kings are by far the most ancient and interesting of
all the antiquities of Thebes. There is nothing in the world like them,
and he who has not seen them can scarcely believe in their existence.
The whole mountain range is one vast cemetery, and it is supposed
that some millions of bodies were deposited there. On passing through
an Arab village, one half of which was composed of excavations for
mummies, in which the Arab finds a better resting-place than his mud
cottage, we were almost suffocated with the dust and scorching rays
of the sun, and were also surrounded by scores of men, women, and
children, with various relics of antiquity, such as heads, hands, and
feet of mummies, also remnants of sarcophagi, beautifully painted.
The road is through a dreary waste of sand after leaving the fertile
valley of the Nile, and the tombs show their dark and gloomy openings
in one of the most desolate spots imaginable. There are very many of
these tombs, but the principal one, which is called Belzoni’s, having
been discovered by him, is three hundred and nine feet long, and
contains fourteen chambers of different sizes. A flight of thirty steps
descends to the entrance, where the doorway, wide and lofty, is without
sculpture. Here is a hall, extremely beautiful, twenty-seven feet long
and twenty-five feet broad, having at the end an open door leading
into a chamber twenty-eight feet long by twenty-five feet broad, the
walls covered with painted figures as perfect as if only a month
old. Another flight of steps here descends to a chamber twenty-four
feet by thirteen. The walls are covered with figures, marching in
solemn procession to the regions of the dead. This flight of steps
leads to another doorway, over which is seen the sign of the goddess
of darkness. Advancing to the next corridor, the walls are covered
with figures of boats, rams, mystic emblems of the gods of Egypt,
&c. Another apartment is adorned by massive square pillars, which,
like the others, are covered with hieroglyphics. Returning into the
great chamber, and descending a flight of eighteen steps, we follow
a continuation of the corridor, the walls of which are covered with
paintings representing the actions of the monarch, perhaps the tomb of
Pharaoh. In passing from hall to hall, we saw a lofty arched saloon,
thirty-two feet long and twenty-seven feet broad. One of those chambers
is forty-three feet long and eighteen wide. One apartment is adorned
with two columns and a raised stone bench, hollowed out, in recesses
extending all around the chamber. In the centre of the grand saloon was
found a sarcophagus, of the finest oriental alabaster, only two inches
thick, minutely sculptured within and without with several hundred
figures, and, it is said, perfectly transparent when a light is placed
upon it. The walls of these chambers and other tombs are generally
covered with intaglio and relief, representing funeral processions,
the serpent, and many other emblems of eternity--sarcophagi, religious
processions, a great variety of animals and birds, agricultural
scenes and implements, sacrifices, sacred boats, gods, goddesses,
priests, chained captives, the cutting off hands from the arms by
way of punishment, &c. &c. These magnificent halls, by the light of
our torches, produced a magic effect in going from the dreary desert
without.
After having visited many of the tombs of the kings and others, we took
the statues of Shamy and Damay on our route. These two sitting statues,
of enormous size, are in the centre of a vast cultivated plain, and
are of equal size, being fifty-two feet high and forty feet apart.
The thrones on which they sit, are thirty feet long, eighteen broad,
and eight feet high. Both have suffered considerably from violence,
particularly the vocal Memnon. These figures were formerly part of a
grand avenue of sphinxes.
While at Thebes we had a mutiny among our crew. We were unfortunate in
having Arabs and half Barbary negroes, who could not agree. Our only
recourse was to present ourselves before the governor or sheik of the
little village of Luxor, with the all-powerful firman of the Sultan
and Mehemet Ali in hand, and make known our grievances. The usual form
of justice was administered with the calash, or piece of rhinoceros’
hide, to one of the worst by way of example, and the sheik finding the
barbarians still obstinate, imprisoned them until we were ready to
start, while he and his associate, the governor of the Nile, came down
to our boat, sipped our coffee, smoked our long pipes with the dignity
of a grand seignor, received the “backsheesh” of eight piastres each,
equal to three-fourths of a dollar, and went off perfectly happy.
Our next place of debarkation was at Belianach, where we mounted
donkeys, without saddle or bridle, and rode to the ruins of Abydos, the
capital of the great Osymandias or Osmendes, who is supposed to have
lived 2276 years B.C. There are some remarkable ruins there.
Among the number the Memnonium and small temple of Osiris, remarkable
for having had a sanctuary made of alabaster, and for containing the
famous tablet of the kings, which, next to the Rosetta stone, has been
of the greatest assistance to the students of hieroglyphics. The valley
of the Nile at this point, I should think, is six miles broad, and
abounding in vegetation. The wheat is in blossom, beans and peas are
ripened, and it was a rich sight to see the herds of goats and sheep,
camels and buffalo, grazing upon the plain.
We were obliged to stop here for want of wind, and to replenish our
crew, the barbarians having taken the liberty of making off, sans
ceremonie. I have therefore been obliged to have another interview with
the two governors at this place, who have promised to furnish us with
men. The past two days my two companions have had plenty of amusement
in shooting at crocodiles, as we had no wind, and the weather was warm.
They are prepared for the heat of the climate, being dressed in Turkish
costume, with heads shaved. It being a sin to shave the beard in this
country, we have all a great profusion of hair upon the visage.