EGYPTIAN HYPOGEA.

37

XVII. The opinions of men respecting the architectural merits of works of this kind will very much depend upon their experience. Dr. Clarke, who had never visited the vast excavations of Upper Egypt and Nubia, regarded them as something extremely marvellous; and even Dr. Richardson, who had been in the upper country, appears to have exaggerated their size and grandeur. But, though inferior in interest and magnitude to many of the hypogea in the southern part of the valley of the Nile, it must still be admitted that they are extraordinary excavations, calculated, by the form, succession, and arrangement of the chambers, to pique the curiosity of the traveller; and, by the darkness and mystery in which they are shrouded, to give rise in his mind to some vague idea of danger. The globe and crescent, the orb with wings, and the rude paintings formerly visible on the walls, appear to have been obliteated, for they entirely escaped my notice; nor could I, after the most careful search, discover any sarcophagi, or bones, or smell any mephitic or unwholesome odour. It has been made a question whether these catacombs belonged to the Alexandrian Greeks, or were the work of the ancient Egyptian inhabitants of Rhacotis; but, although the larger excavations are evidently Greek, the wide extent of the Necropolis contains innumerable sepulchres, of an inferior kind, which undoubtedly appear to have owed their formation to the Egyptians, as they in all respects resemble the sepulchral excavations of Siout, of the

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EGYPTIAN HYPOGEA.

rock beneath the Pyramids, of Benihassan, and many other Egyptian towns. That they were originally quarries, I can by no means believe; nor could any one, who had properly examined them, entertain such an idea for a moment; the rock having every where been excavated with an evident regard to architectural arrangement. In many of the catacombs deep wells have been sunk for the mummies; spacious rooms are succeeded by long corridors, or by low narrow passages, through which no stones of any size could have been conveyed out; while niches, recesses, mummy-pits, into some of which the sea has found its way, succeed each other in the most intricate manner. In one of these, into which I crept, like a snake, on my belly, I found, by the dim light of my taper, a number of skulls and thigh-bones floating in a low deep trough, in water which had certainly oozed in through the rock from the sea. That the stones produced by hollowing out these hypogea may have been sometimes used in building, is very possible; but that was not the original intention of the excavators. In the prodigious quarries of Hajjar Silsilis, in those of Siout, and El Massera, whence were drawn the materials of the pyramids, you see clearly that the object was to procure stones; the chambers, the immense squares, galleries, corridors, and streets being arranged fortuitously, according as the vein of good stone happened to lie: but, at Alexandria, it seems evident that the excavations were planned, and that the architect steadily adhered to his plan, in spite of

CLEOPATRA'S BATHS.

39

all obstacles and impediments. Such, at least, I found to be the opinion suggested by an attentive consideration of the question on the spot, and by all those comparisons which I was afterwards enabled to institute between the Alexandrian catacombs and the real quarries of Upper Egypt.

XVIII. On coming out into the open air, we found it exceedingly keen and cold; but nevertheless proceeded to examine what are vulgarly called Cleopatra's Baths, consisting of three contiguous chambers, hewn in the rock, on the western side of a large artificial basin, into which the sea enters by a narrow opening. They are somewhat difficult of access, unless approached through the water, which is beautifully clear, and by no means deep. A low divan, cut in the rock, runs round these chambers; the largest of which may be about ten or twelve feet long, and eight or ten broad. Two of them are lighted from without, but the third is quite dark ; and the noise produced within by the roaring of the dashing and rebounding waves is loud, and almost incessant. They have been excavated with considerable care; and though it would be difficult to believe that the voluptuous and beautiful wife of Ptolemy Dionysius ever bathed in these rocky sequestered chambers, they may have contained no less beautiful forms, when they had been rendered cold and rigid by death. In fact, from their situation and vicinity to the tombs, it is probable that they were appro

40

RETURN TO ALEXANDRIA.

priated to the washing of dead bodies previous to their being embalmed. Behind them, likewise cut in the rock, are two other apartments, warm and dry, where all the subsequent process of embalming may have been performed.

XIX. From the baths we proceeded to search for another catacomb, which, from some vague indications in the French description of Egypt, I expected to find a little farther to the west. Having passed

the fort, we galloped on along the shore, which is rocky and singularly wild, having the dashing sea on our right, and the almost setting sun shining in our faces. Here and there the ground sounded hollow and cavernous under the feet of our beasts, and convinced us that numerous unopened catacombs still exist in that quarter; but though we extended our ride at least two or three miles beyond the baths, no trace whatever of an entrance to any hypogeum was discoverable. We therefore turned round, and made towards the city; and on the way back met with a numerous party of Arabs, men, women, and boys, returning from Alexandria to their own distant village or encampment in the desert.

Monday, Nov. 19.

XX. Having devoted the two preceding days to the examination of various Egyptian antiquities, and to the selection of such books as I desired to take with me up the Nile, I this day paid a visit to

SHEIKH IBRAHIM.

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Sheikh Ibrahim, a popular preacher of Alexandria, equally renowned for his eloquence and fanaticism, whom we found residing in a wing of the principal mosque. He received us very politely, talked a great deal, and, among other things, inquired, with much apparent interest, about Sir Sidney Smith, whom he seemed to have known. He appeared to take a great liking to my beard, which, he was fully persuaded, must be a mark that I belonged to the caste of mufti, or priests; nor, though we denied it, did he seem at all convinced, as the Mohammedans, having themselves little respect for truth, imagine that we Christians exactly resemble Ulysses in the accounts which we give of ourselves to strangers. When we seemed to have exhausted the Arabic of our interpreter, the old gentleman undertook to show us the medressy (school or college of the mosque) and his own library, supposed to be the richest in Alexandria. In the appearance of the medressy there was nothing remarkable, except that, instead of being seated on forms ranged regularly in the centre of the apartment, the boys were all squatted cross-legged upon a mat, with the pedagogue in the midst of them. In Egypt, Nubia, and, I believe, generally in Mohammedan countries, boys are taught to write upon a smooth thin board, about the size of what is called a ciphering slate, with a handle at one end. The characters are made with a whitish sort of clay, and are easily effaced. While studying, or, rather, learning to repeat their lessons, each boy declaims his