Notes from Egypt

My dear E

We set out at an early hour this morning for the town of Kenneh or Ginneh as it is sometimes written, it is situated about a mile or rather more from the Nile, which however when at its height overflows the flat ground which lies between it and the town. The approach is exceedingly pretty, almost as much so as that to Osiout, the valley of the Nile being here extremely picturesque from the grandeur of the lofty craggy barrier that shuts it in from the Desert on either side. Both the valley and the river are here of great breadth, and the former is richly adorned with groves of lofty date palms interspersed with doum palms which are now abundant in all the fields, and of which I have to day seen some very fine specimens in full fruit. The country is everywhere beautifully green with the tender springing wheat and barley, which are here about as far advanced as in England in April or May, and will be ready for harvesting in April, or at the end of March. At this time the Guinea corn, of which vast quantities are raised in Egypt, is being gathered in, and the sugar harvest will succeed a week or two later. The quantity of garden vegetables grown in Egypt is prodigious, the whole valley of the Nile may be regarded as one great kitchen garden, and all the ancient plant deities of Egypt still find favour in the sight of the modern I. inhabitants. Besides the vast fields of wheat, barley, maize, Guinea corn, and other cereal grains, you everywhere meet with extensive plots of Nile's exuberant land, bearing heavy crops of carrots, coleseed, onion, leeks, lentils, lupins, chick peas, (pois chiches of the French, garvanzos of the Spaniards,) lettuces, cabbages, a species of radish called figi, cauliflowers, French beans, beans, (for which Egypt has always been famous) ochises, (Hibiscus esculentus,) melolleyehs (Corchorus olitorius), besides melons, water-melons, gourds, vegetable marrow, tomatos, sessama, and other esculent seeds or roots, while much of the soil is devoted to sugar, cotton, indigo, (indigofera argentea,) rice (in the Delta chiefly,) clover, coriander, mallows ( Malva rotundifolia in Egypt grown in quantities as a pot herb,) tobacco, (chiefly I think the inferior species,) and other products, all of which one meets with in the open fields, not merely in gardens, and in quantities that would astonish our farmers and market gardeners at home. It is no uncommon thing to see a field of maize or Guinea corn extend over a mile or two in length along the banks of the river: those of wheat, barley, and other cereal grain are much smaller, though still of considerable extent: the fields of clover, carrots, and other crops, are perhaps not usually greater in size than in our own country.

Kenneh is a town of some importance (the ancient Csenopolis or Neapolis,) the residence of a provincial governor, and garrisoned by troops. It is famous for its manufacture of porous earthern jars called gullahs, used all over Egypt for cooling drinking water, they are made here, and at a few other places higher up the Nile, for the purpose of exportation. A given number of the gullahs is joined together in the water, and covered with palm branches, then a second stratum of pots is placed above, and the whole, forming an immense raft, is floated down the river by boatmen, who reside on these singular structures, to Cairo, Alexandria , and the intermediate places along the Nile. Numbers of these rafts have passed us for the last two days, each composed of some thousands of jars or rather jugs, bound together with the palm tree bands, the lower stratum floating upright in the water bearing up the flooring on which the second stratum is placed, and across this last layer spaces are left for the crew to pass along between the frail cargo whilst on their voyage downwards, which of course is chiefly effected by the currents, aided at times by the wind. We found the bazaars at Kenneh as well supplied as those at Siout, and having finished our marketing there, and delivered our dispatches for England addressed to the British Consul at Cairo, into the hands of Seyd Hosseyn, a venerable old gentleman who acts as consular agent at Kenneh, and with whom we took coffee, and a whiff of the chibouk in the open street, in front of the house, Mr. P. and myself set off with Ameen on donkey-back, in full anticipation of delight to view the first lion on our way to upper Egypt, the temple of Dendereh, (the ancient Tentyris,) situated about two miles and a half (by the way we took) from the western bank of the Nile, and nearly opposite Kenneh. Our path, (for here there are no roads,) lay between richly cultivated fields of Guinea corn, cotton, &c. among date palms growing in clumps, or standing singly, interspersed with beautiful tufted tamarisks, and gum trees, (acacia nilotica,) generally called Sant. Here the douin palm is a most conspicuous feature of the landscape, and noble specimens intermixed with the date, and the two other trees just mentioned, constitute beautiful groves and glades between the river and the temple of Dendereh. In lower Egypt the date palm forms vast groves both native and artificial, and every village almost stands in, or by, a planted palm wood. The trees in that part, and in central Egypt, are tall, slender, and graceful, but the stems are usually single, seldom two from the same root, and still more rarely three. In upper Egypt, on the contrary, the date groves are far less formal than in the lower and central districts; and whilst the trees rise up, as there, to sixty or seventy feet or more, this palm grows isolated as well as dispersed in picturesque clumps, and from one and the same root spring not only two and three, but four, five, or six stems rising obliquely, each stem bearing its noble crown of leaves at the summit. The intermixture also in upper Egypt of the humbler, but not less beautiful doum palm, which does not grow wild in Lower Egypt, contributes to the vast superiority of the former over the latter country in natural beauty, I had no previous idea of the lovely features of the superior parts of the valley of the Nile, in innumerable places, as between Siout and Thebes, which are so much bolder than any thing I expected to see. But to return to Dendereh. Yery soon after starting, we caught sight of a low looking building in the distance, standing on the verge of the desert, and on the edge of the cultivated ground, small, and extremely un-imposing in appearance. At that point of view it resembled some unfinished structure of modern times, it might have been a coach house and stables, or a range of shops or warehouses. A feeling of disappointment came over us whenwe ascertained that this mean looking building must be the celebrated temple we were in search of; as it was the only object of the kind in sight, and stood in the direction in which we ought to look out for the renowned ruin.

As we continued drawing nearer, our disappointment seemed fated to remain undiminished, but when we arrived at the noble pylon or entrance gate, and far more so, when we stood at the threshold of the magnificent portico of the great temple of Athor (the Egyptian Venus), and looked across its colossal row of sculptured columns into the great hall beyond, disappointment gave way to delight and astonishment. Every square foot of this vast edifice, which at a short distance seemed to us so mean in design, and insignificant in dimensions, is covered with hieroglyphic writing, and though said to have been executed in the decline of Egyptian art, many of the figures and human profiles excited our admiration by their beauty. I will not attempt a description of this or of any of the other vast structures of ancient Egypt with which I hope speedily to become acquainted, because you can easily procure books that describe them both better, and more fully than I can do. I shall therefore only observe that Mr. P. and myself spent the remainder of the day in exploring the elaborately sculptured, and finely proportioned chambers of the great temple of Dendereh, and also descending into its subterranean passages and rooms, all covered like those above ground, with an endless profusion of hieroglyphics and figures in basrelief. These subterranean galleries and chambers are perfectly dry, but the heat and closeness are excessive, and in some places, the effluvium from the bats' dung is extremely annoying and irritating to the eyes and nostrils, whilst these animals themselves alarmed by the lights and noise of visitors, fly around in the narrow passages in swarms, sometimes extinguishing the candles that serve to direct the explorer along the mystically carved labyrinth, the mazes of which he has the boldness to attempt threading. On our return voyage we propose to revisit Dendereh, and every other remarkable monument of antiquity, of which we are now indulging ourselves with general views only; and we trust that Mr. L. who, I regret to say, is too unwell at present even to leave the boat, will then be a sharer of our enjoyment.

We live merrily, and on the whole very comfortably in our little bark; nevertheless we have not an inch of room unoccupied, and could wish that our state and store rooms were better divided for the purposes to which we are obliged to put them. Our faithful and trusty steward Ameen reposes nightly under the loose planking of the main deck forward, between our stock of bread and potatoes on one hand, and a pile of oranges en papillotes on the other, whilst a set of small shelves against the partition which divides my sleeping cabin from the adjoining one, tenanted by Mr. P. and Mr. L., and which is at the foot of my bed, is a perfect Italian warehouse stored with bottles of pickles, curry powder, vinegar, cases of preserved soup, sardines, powder and shot, &c. besides sustaining a little dispensary in the form of a medicine chest, which has proved of great use to our invalid fellow traveller. At the head of Mr.P's. and Mr. L 5 s. bed places, are shelves containing our travelling library, which is pretty voluminous for the space we can allot to it, and as you may suppose, the books relate chiefly to the country we are traversing. Under the bed places, part of the space is taken up with lockers, in which are stowed away many bulky articles, and amongst the rest, a frail basket completely filled with five para or fuddah pieces, to the amount of £ 5 sterling ; which small coin is indispensable in the country towns and villages of Upper Egypt and Nubia, where change for the larger silver or gold coin of the empire is very difficult to be obtained.

In this cabin too, there hangs a map of Egypt (that published by the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge), a copy of which I purchased at Cairo for two shillings, and had mounted on mill-board expressly for consultation during the voyage, and which we find extremely convenient. Our crew of boatmen and our three servants, Saad, Ameen, and the boy Mohammed, inhabit the fore part of the vessel; and the former sleep on the deck, wrapped in their cloaks and other garments, or occasionally on the roof of the cabin, which is also the abode of our live stock of poultry. The workmanship of these native built Nile boats is rough and unfinished beyond belief, neither doors nor windows are even tolerably fitted, and there is not a screw used in the whole structure; the very locks and bolts, such as they are, are merely fastened with nails to the wood- work. Our mosquito curtains now serve us excellently to keep the cold breeze at night from chilling us by the many entrances the boat builder has provided; but to which, during the day, from nine o'clock till five in this glorious climate of never-ceasing sunshine, we have neither cause nor desire to put a stop.

Luxor Village (Thebes), December 20th. Arrived here after a very slow but pleasant passage from Kenneh, the weather for the last few days perfectly cloudless, not a speck visible in the pale milky sky, a delicate thin blue haze enveloping the distant crags and peaks of this part of the valley. The great difference of temperature however, between the day and night, continues to be felt most unpleasantly by us all; for, although so close on the tropic, the cold at night, and in the early morning so late as nine o'clock, gives the impression on the system of active frost, or a very near approach to it, when the thermometer indicates 50° or 48°; but the instrument, being fixed against the entrance to the cabin on the wood-work which in our upward voyage is exposed to the sun all day, retains a temperature through the night above that of the air on the river. This is the only situation in which it is practicable to hang it, where it can of course only give an approximation to the truth. The heat indicated by it is much too high during the day, when the air in the shade is seldom much below or above 70°, and, at dawn, is probably not under 40° at this season. On making fast to the shore at Luxor, our boat was beset by a host of guides and donkey boys as numerous and importunate as at Cairo, or at an English watering-place; but dispensing for the present with their services,, we employed the little daylight remaining in taking a cursory survey of Luxor and its antiquities.

Believe me, Your affectionate Brother, William Arnold Bromfield.