our servants to bring away a dozen of them to Cairo, to add another item to my small Egyptian cabinet.

The whole of this high desert plain, from the great Pyramids of Gizeh to those of Sakkarah, for fifteen miles, is strewed with the remains of tombs of all shapes, in ruins, and innumerable pyramids, of all sizes and of various materials, in a more or less perfect state. Many that were built of unburned bricks have crumbled into mere conical heaps of rubbish, very much resembling those vast and numerous tumuli which I have observed scattered over the steppes of New Russia, on the confines of Crim Tartary.

This day we saw numbers of granite sarcophagi lying on the surface of the ground, taken from the artificial caverns beneath. The general opinion is, that this whole plain is undermined, from Gizeh to Sakkarah, a distance of fifteen miles in length, the width unknown, perhaps one mile. It is also supposed that there was an underground communication from the great Pyramids to Memphis, twelve miles distant. The evening of the second day we found our tent pitched near Sakkarah. On our arrival at the camp, the consul discovered that Mustafa, our quartermaster, had not placed the tent exactly on the spot he had been directed to; and he is generally in the habit of being obeyed to the letter in all his commands. He now ordered the tent to be placed as he had at first directed, although but a few yards off. was not a mere whim in our consul, as I at first supposed, but found afterward that we were better protected from the night wind in the proper location than in the one Mustafa had blundered into. This gave me an opportunity of seeing, for the first time, a large tent struck and pitched, and in the true scientific manner. The whole operation did not re

quire over twenty minutes.

This

After dinner, a pleasant evening succeeded to a fatiguing day. The division curtains were next put up, and we all had an excellent night and no more dreams.

Although not

in the least superstitious, I do not think I shall ever be per. suaded to sleep again in a tomb.

The next day we rode to the site of Memphis. The field of ruins is not extensive, for the reason, first, that all the principal materials of value in architecture were two thousand years ago taken to Alexandria, and for centuries after, both old and new Cairo have here quarried out stone, ready cut and squared, in preference to going to the mountain for it.

sent.

In the next place, the ancient dikes having long ago been broken, the annual inundations for many centuries have deposited many feet of alluvium over the foundations of the great city. There are existing very extensive mounds, which, if opened, I have no doubt, would disclose some as fine ruins as the late opened mounds of Alexandria now preFor centuries past the precise situation of Memphis was undetermined, and much speculation existed as to its locality. History placed it near the head of the Delta, just above the point of separation of the different branches of the river. It is but very recently that some excavations have placed the matter beyond all doubt. Persons who visited Memphis before its destruction describe its temple of Vulcan, with the colossal statue of Sesostris before its gates. The statue lies there now uncovered, being thrown from its pedestal, and the foundations of the temple plainly to be seen close to it. It is not of granite, but of a yellowish stone, beautifully cut, and in a perfect state of preservation. It lies with its face downward, and quite unbroken. Indeed, it is a miracle how it could fall from its former position with. out being dashed to pieces against the pavement on which it lies. This immense monolith has been presented by the pacha to the British Museum; and Mr. G. having been desired by the directors to make an estimate of the cost of raising it from its present position, transporting it to the Nile, and thence to Alexandria, it became necessary to make a calculation of its weight, by taking a correct admeasureVOL. I.-N

ment of its cubic volume. This he did while we were ram bling among the few remains of Pharaoh's capital. The height of the statue is, if I recollect right, about 50 feet.

There is, therefore, no longer any doubt as to the exact site of Memphis.

We rode for several miles through a grove of palm-trees, on the left bank of the river, and then crossed, a few miles above Cairo, to visit the great military school. There we saw many regiments of young Egyptians, drilled by native subaltern officers, under the command of some foreign offi. cers of high rank and distinction. One division of artillery were exercising with field-pieces, firing across the plain at a target, placed in front of an immense mound of earth to catch and save the shot. I was much amused at the hit-ormiss nonchalance of those who levelled the pieces; they rarely made a point-blank shot; almost every ball would strike the ground many hundred yards short of the target, and then, rebounding, would sail high in the air over the embankment, and then, after many a hop, skip, and jump, would lose itself in the sands of the desert. Near the city I saw an encampment of Syrian troops, brought here to replace as many Egyptians, sent to keep their own country under the iron rule of Mohammed Ali, through his son Ibrahim.

We returned to our hotel, after a three days' campaign, very much delighted with what we had seen, and the novel mode of travelling by day and quarters for the night. We also were much indebted to Mr. G. for his politeness, attention, and information.

*

*

Sans adieu, I bid you again good-night.

CAIRO THE MAGNIFICENT.

147

LETTER XIII.

Cairo the Magnificent.-Its Architecture.-Modernized Turks.-Egyptian Franks.-A Picture.-The Plague.-How to tame a Bedouin.

Grand Cairo,

YES, GRAND Cairo! And why not Grand Cairo as well as grand duke, or grand sultan, or any of the other grand names of these grandiloquent days? When the Fatimite dynasty of califs reigned in splendour in this their once. proud capital, they were content to call it El Cahira, The Cairo. But when "le petit caporal" of "La Grande Nation" installed himself in the stronghold of Amru and of Saladin, he Frenchified its name into Le Grand Caire; Anglicé, Grand Cairo.

“What's in a name?" you say. name would smell as sweet."

"The rose by any other True; but "the superb

town, the holy city, the delight of the imagination, greatest among the great, whose splendour and opulence made the Prophet smile," has passed away. If the Prophet were now to smile, it would be in derision of the sickly fungi revelling in the annual slime of Egypt's river, or of the wasting parasites clinging to Cahira's ruined walls, and sapping the foundations of her

"Round old towers of other times;"

or in contempt for the ignoble and degenerate race who now "flaunt in rags" where once the Persian satraps were wont to "flutter in brocade."

The novelty of my first impressions begins to wear off, and Cairo of the nineteenth century stands out in bold relief from the few beautiful remains of El Cahira, of poetic and romantic memory, of which we always delight to read, and which we still more desire to visit.

Of the latter there now only remain a few stately mosques, with their Saracenic domes and minarets, going fast to decay; some curious tombs in the environs, several ruined palaces of former wealthy individuals, remarkable only for their interior structure and ornament, and their stained glass windows, from which were derived those beautiful windows of the Gothic cathedrals of western Europe; several singular Persian fountains, and numerous arabesque sculptures on the imposts and lintels of the doors of private houses, apparently once much in fashion, and no doubt of very high antiquity for Cairo.

The reason for my latter supposition is, that all the houses of Cairo have the first story built of strong cut stone, and all the upper stories of wood, or lath and plaster, and sometimes of unburned bricks; the superstructure being of such mean materials and so slightly put together, that they decay much sooner than the basement. The nature of the climate, however, protects these card-houses much longer than in more northern and humid climates. But the stonework rarely decays, and fashion in building never changes in the East. I send you some sketches of these singular doorways, which, together with the other drawings, will serve to convey to your mind some of the impressions of travel. ling in the palmy days of El Cahira, under its Fatimite sovereigns, and previous to the reign of the barbarous and destroying Turk. The times when the princely merchants of Arabia and India met here on common ground with those of Fez and Cordova, Genoa and Venice, by whose traffic this city became so wealthy and so powerful that it obtained among the Eastern nations the appellation of "greatest among the great," &c., &c.

The ruins of Saladin's palace, and those of the subsequent Mameluke beys, are connecting links between the good old times of El Cahira, those of its reverses under the Turks, of its subsequent retrograde march in the reign of anarchy,