soldiers usually make Derry their head-quarters, and remain about six weeks in the country, during which time the cashiefs retire into the mountains, and the natives conceal their arms, which are always taken from them whenever they are found. In several parts of Nubia we noticed the sites of ancient towns, indicated, as in Egypt, by mounds of rubbish. As we resided longer in the country, and had more dealings with the natives than any other Europeans have ever had, I shall subjoin a few remarks regarding them. The Nubians are a very distinct race of people from the Arabs. Their dress is commonly a loose white shirt and a turban; sometimes they are uncovered, except a cloth round the waist. They are very superstitious, most of them wearing charms to keep off "the evil eye," or other apprehended ills. These charms consist of some words written on a scrap of paper, and sewn up in leather; they are worn mostly on the right arm over the elbow, and sometimes round the neck. All the cashiefs we saw had them, and one Nubian dandy had nine of these appendages. These people pride themselves on their cunning schemes to deceive strangers. Few of them smoke, instead of which they use salt and tobacco mixed, enveloped in wool, and kept between the under lip and gum; the boys commence this practice when quite young. They are all rogues, but being bred up such, do not think there is any harm in being so; the opprobrious terms, harame, cadab, (thief, liar,) are not considered abusive with them, as they have no notion of honesty, and cannot possibly keep from pilfering anything within their reach; we detected our sailors at this work almost daily, but they always made a joke of it. The several districts differ much in regard to dress, and particularly in the manner of wearing the hair: some have it curled, "à la Brutus," others plaited and hanging down with great uniformity, inringlets, to the shoulders, where it is cut off square at the bottom, and looks exactly like a mop. These latter grease their locks plentifully with oil; the former have generally a skewer sticking in their hair in readiness to disturb any animalcule which may bite too hard. There is great difference in the features and make of the several Nubian tribes: the natives of Elpha are tall and good-looking; the people of Derry ugly and deformed; the tribe at Armada are small, but handsome, and well made; all of them are considerably darker than the Arabs. Nubians are frugal in their mode of living, subsisting principally on doura, made into flat cakes, and baked on a heated stone, and on sour milk and dates. It is usual to see a man set out on a journey of several days with no other provision than a small bag of dates. They eat the offal of all the beasts they kill, not rejecting any part; and when we were at the village to which the crew belonged, the women came down eagerly to dispute for some fowls, which, having died, had been thrown on shore. They are great boasters, but do not appear to have any firmness; and they have an especial aversion to fire-arms. They evince much outward show of religion, praying four or five times a day; and to display their piety, they leave the sand on their foreheads, which sticks there while they are performing their devotions. They are respectful to their cashiefs, to whom they refer all their quarrels and disputes. They are invariably armed, and appear very proud of their weapons; most of them carry a dagger on the left arm, a long pike and a sword slung across the back. The boys, when young, have weapons given them; this, they imagine, shows their independence, and they acknowledge no government. They are exceedingly passionate with each other, but are soon reconciled, even after the most inveterate abuse. They adhere together, and no bribes can separate them; we never saw an instance in which we had any of them on our side, or where they revealed anything to us. Ear-rings are common amongst the men; they usually have but one, and it is immaterial in which ear it is worn. They eat the locusts grilled, and affirm that they are good. Necessity has led them to the only manufacture which strips of leather, hanging down and they possess. It consists of neat close- ornamented with cowry-shells and grained platters, made of the date-tree, beads. The hair of the women is to contain their milk and food. No plaited somewhat like the men's, and earthenware is made in the country; greased with oil. The Barabras, from their water-jars are brought from their frugal mode of life, are subject to Egypt. few diseases. They are all marked with one, and sometimes two, scars on the spine of the back, where they have been burnt for the cure of an endemial disease, which attacks them when young. This mode of treatment draws all the humours to one spot, and keeps the discharge open till the patient is recovering; experience has doubtless shown it to be often successful. A boy, while we were at Abou-Simbel, was in a state of cure, and accidentally injured the part, which caused it to bleed; the father immediately applied a remedy, of which there is no scarcity in the country. He threw some sand upon the wound, which soon appeased the boy's cries and pain. The women do not cover their faces so scrupulously as the Arabs; they are not ill-looking, are generally well made, and have good figures. They wear a brown garment reaching down to the ankles; it is thrown over the right shoulder, comes close under the left arm, the shoulder of which is bare, and has not an ungraceful appearance; they are very partial to rings and bracelets; the former are frequently worn at the nose, the latter are made of one piece of brown glass, which, not yielding and being forced on as small as possible, often causes much pain: they always go bare-footed. Young girls have a covering round their loins made of CHAPTER III. Descent of the first Cataract-Ancient Quarries at Assuan-Visit from the Aga-Elephantina --Koum Ombo - Mountains of the Chain- Temple at Edfoo-Fine Ruins at El CabEsneh-Luxor-Tombs of Gourna-Mummy Pits-Magnificent Tomb--The Tombs of the Kings-View from the Summits of the Lybian Chain-Observations on ThebesTentyra Singular Use of the Mummy Cases-Ruins at the Foot of the MeckatemArrival at Cairo-Visit to the Pyramids-Observations on Cairo-Massacre of the Mamelukes-Appearance of the Country-The Nile-Travellers in Egypt-Expenses. Tuesday, August 12.-After about four hours' disputing and bargaining with the crew, we persuaded them to take us down the cataract in the boat, for the sum of fifty piastres; but they would not start unless we paid them every para of the money beforehand. We tried to induce them to take half the cash at first, and the other half on our arrival; but, no, they must have it all. It was of course the same to us, whether we paid them before or after; but knowing their character, we were afraid that when they once got the money, they would turn our things out of the boat and take themselves off, especially as there was a great crowd assembled who would have aided them in any of their pranks. We could not help laughing when we found that, how ever unfavourable an opinion we had formed of them, they were equally suspicious of us. Having at length given them the money, they prepared to depart. A pilot and eight additional hands came on board to conduct us down. Just before putting off, Hassan sneaked off and disappeared, dreading, no doubt, the report we should make of him to the Aga. We were about two hours on our passage, which was amongst all the windings and turnings of the innumerable islands which form the rapids, for cataract there is none. The scenery was wild, barren, and romantic. Sometimes the bark was carried away pretty sharply by the stream, and occasionally, when she was roughly handled in the vortex of the current, the sailors cried out, "tyep. ther they were not bold fellows for undertaking what they had done. At times they made such a violent noise, all speaking and bawling at once, that a person not used to Nubian manners would have thought the whole concern was going to the bottom. The boat only struck once, but it gave her a prodigious shock, and made us fully sensible of the hardness of granite rocks. The sailors immediately began to sound the well, expecting that she was bilged, but she did not make much water, and we soon got off. At the commencement of the rapid, and while near Philæ, we observed oyster-shells incrusted on the granite rocks, bordering on the river; some of them were very perfect and large. We reached Assuan (the ancient Syene) in the evening. Mr. Ruppell, a German traveller who was at Thebes with us, discovered on one of the barren and uninhabited islands which compose the fall, a fine tablet of red granite, with a perfect Greek inscription on it, of great interest. This stone Mr. Ruppell takes with him to Frankfort, to be presented to the musuem of that town. tyep," (good, good,) and asked us whe-3 deep, by 24 broad. As soon as they were finished, the block was separated by some violent blow or concussion. We met in all directions specimens of the progress of their work; some masses were but half detached, others wholly separated; here we saw an obelisk in the rough, and there a column. The whole was a most interesting sight. The ancient road, regularly paved with granite, is still plainly to be seen, though the sand covers a great part in the vacancies between the hills are causeways, some of considerable length, to connect the elevated parts one with the other, and thus keep a communication open with the several quarries. All these roads lead to two principal ones which conduct to Assuan. We now searched for the column with the inscription, and at last found it. The pillar is small, not being more than 10 ft. in length, by about 3 ft. in diameter; the inscription is tolerably perfect. An Arab, acquainted with Mr. Belzoni, told him of it, and that no traveller had it until last year. seen Mr. Belzoni had copied the writing, we did not think it worth while to do so. Its purport is as follows:-" To Jupiter Ammon, Kneephis Bona (the Good Spirit), and to Juno the Queen, under whose protection is this mountain, in which were discovered nine quarries near Philæ, during the happy age of the Roman Empire, under the most pious Emperors, Severus and Caracalla, and On our arrival at Assuan, we proceeded to visit the ancient granite quarries in the neighbourhood. Our principal object was to examine the column which is there, and which has a Latin inscription upon it of some interest. At first our guide lost his way, and took us to another part of the quarry, where we found an immense granite basin, 17 ft. long, by 7 wide, and 3 deep. It is hewn out in the rough, and is narrower at the bottom than the top. We were at a loss to imagine for what purpose such an immense vessel could be intended, unless for a bath. The whole of this quarry was highly interesting. Here we had an opportunity of noticing the manner in which the ancients used to cut the prodigious masses which one meets with throughout Egypt. It appears, that, when they wanted to detach a mass, they cut niches in a right line throughout the piece they intended removing these niches were about 2 ft. apart, 5 or 6 in. long, and about As and Julia Domna, his august mother; and a vast number of statues and large columns were taken out of these quarries by Aquila, prefect of Egypt. Curæ Magna Opera,' which Mr. Salt interprets, under his directions, Aurelius Heliogabalus ordered this stone to be erected in the calends of March." The vacant space before Julia Domna, the mother, is where the name of "Geta," the other brother was erased. Caracalla, having murdered him, ordered his name to be blotted out of every inscription where it was inserted. Mr. Salt tells us, that there is one instance of this at Rome, and that he has met another on an inscription, discovered at the late told us that they were a notorious set of rascals; that no one would employ their boat, their character being so bad, that people were afraid to trust their goods in their hands. Our friends had not waited to be catechised for their conduct, but took themselves off the day before, after having made great efforts to persuade us to give them some more backsheeish. We visited Elephantina, so glowingly described by Denon. It certainly has a pleasing, flourishing appearance, the north end being richly covered with fine crops of doura; and there are also a few palm trees. The south end of the island is high, and here are situated the ruins of the ancient town, together with the temples, only one of which, dedicated to the serpent Kneephis, is in any degree perfect; it is small, with an ante-chamber and sanctuary. There are the remains of several others, but so mutilated that nothing can be made out. A high quay leads directly down to the Nile at the S. E. end. At eleven o'clock we started on our return, having hired a boat to take us to Thebes for 120 piastres. excavation of the sphinx. As the inscription says, that the Romans discovered the nine quarries, not that they made them, one must infer that they were first worked by the Egyptians; and as they were so numerous, and of such magnitude, they must have been of great consequence, and are doubtless of the most remote antiquity. It is difficult to understand how the Egyptians could have cut, hollowed out, and polished, such immense blocks of the hardest stone without the use of iron, a metal which they are said to have been wholly ignorant of. The niches above mentioned may probably have been cut with brass. We examined the construction of numerous mummy cases, and boxes containing the sacred emblems of the Egyptians; they were invariably fastened with wooden pegs, no nail of any description being visible. Some of the cases were of beautiful workmanship. Mr. Ruppell has two legs of a chair elegantly worked in the form of a lion's feet and paws. These specimens of cabinet-making bespeak great taste and judgment; and it is difficult to conceive that they could have been carved with brazen tools. The negroes in the South Sea at this day certainly cut hard woods shaped as clubs, and ornament them in the most exquisite style; but I doubt much if they could with their flints make cases and boxes. Syene was the place to which Juve-by the principal offerings being prenal was banished by the Emperor Domitian, being sent there with the title of "Governor of the Frontier of Egypt:" he returned to Rome at eighty years of age. Assuan has nothing to interest the traveller; an immense heap of rubbish lies behind the town, which is a dirty, ill-built place. Wednesday, August 13.-This morning the Aga came to pay us a visit: he was asleep all yesterday, for as the ramadan prevents them from eating and drinking during the day, the great people invert the order of things by sleeping during that time, and sitting up and feasting all night. We complained to him of the treatment we had experienced from our crew. He Thursday, August 14. We inspected Koum Ombo, the ancient Ombos. Here are the remains of two temples situated on a promontory of the Nile's eastern bank; the large one, dedicated to the crocodile (as appears sented to a deity having the head of that animal), is situated at a short distance from the river, which it fronts. The smaller one, to Isis, is close to the river side; and not far distant from the other, to the S. W., and close to the river side, is a building which appears to be part of an unfinished pylon. There is a whimsical irregularity in this edifice: the base is built of smali blocks of stone, which gradually increase in size till you come to the top, where are the largest masses of all. The large temple consists of a portico of three rows of columns, five in each row: the column at each of the outer angles has fallen. The cornice, only parts of which are perfect, is ornamented with four winged globes. of the Mansouria, which is highly cultivated, and a smaller island to the south, the soil of which is also good. Exclusive of the temples, the promontory of Koum Ombo has several Saracenic ruins of both baked and sunburnt brick; and the ruins of the ancient town are marked by the rubbish of the former material. We visited Djibel Selsilis. This name, which means "mountains of the chain," has been given from a tradition that a chain was here drawn across the river, to prevent the irruption of any hostile parties from above. The principal objects of interest are several small temples hollowed out of the rock, which is of calcareous stone. The northernmost consists of a portico and sanctuary, with three recesses in the latter, containing statues in altorelievo; the walls have been stuccoed and painted, but at present are so much disfigured that little or nothing can be made out. To the southward are two other small temples, each consisting of one single niche or hollow in the rock. The fronts of both have two handsome columns, together with a cornice and frieze, executed with considerable taste. The colouring must have been extremely rich. There are numerous other niches with statues, &c. The quarries_near this spot are very extensive; and one large detached block, of considerable height, would seem to be the mass of stone where the chain which secured the river was fastened. On the opposite side of the river the quarries are also numerous; the vicinity of the Nile, so favourable for embarking and transporting the stone, was no doubt the principal inducement to the Egyptians to establish these extensive works. The frieze consists of a double border of large hieroglyphics. The columns are of great dimensions, and have dissimilar capitals surmounted by a plinth. There are two entrances, one on each side of the centre pillars; this is occasioned by the unusual circumstance of there being an odd number of columns in front these entrances conduct to another ruined apartment, originally supported by ten pillars in two rows of five each; beyond which are three other apartments; the communication from the one to the other is by two large doors, one on either side, instead of a centre one usual in most Egyptian temples. The cornice over the entrance, on the left, from the second to the third apartment, has an inscription in Greek, stating that it was written by direction of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, and that the temple was dedicated to Apollo, &c. The decorations of this edifice are in basso-relievo, highly finished, and in a good style. Amongst the figures, we noticed the lion with the hawk's head, similar to the statues we found at Abou-Simbel-a union we had not elsewhere noticed. The small temple of Isis points to the south; it consists of a small portico of four columns, surmounted by the usual quadruple head of the deity, with the passage in the centre; and beyond the portico are two chambers and a sanctuary; but all the western side of the temple has fallen into the river, and with it the chief part of the flooring of the chambers, together with a large plain altar of black basalt, which had evidently been in the sanctuary. The want of hieroglyphical inscriptions on this altar is probably the only cause why travellers have not removed it. The ornamental parts of this temple are in no way inferior to those of the larger edifice; we did not, however, notice any representations that we had not before seen. In consequence of the elevation of Koum Ombo, the view is extensive, but the country to the north and east presents nothing but a barren, sandy desert; to the S. E. there is a small portion of land culti-though in beauty it must yield to Tenvated. Opposite to the temple, in the tyra and some few others. It consists middle of the Nile, is the large island of a remarkably high pylon, the exterior On Friday, August 15, we reached Edfoo, the ancient "Apollinopolis Magna." It is situated in a fertile plain, at a short distance from the western bank of the Nile. The large temple appears to have been one of the most magnificent of any in Egypt; |