Notes from Egypt

My Dear E

My last sheet left us at Luxor, on the evening of the 20th, moored close to the shore for the night, and just starting to take such a hasty glance at its lions, as we at present propose to indulge ourselves with: intending to make their more intimate acquaintance on our return down the mighty river, whose broad stream we shall then have navigated.

The town of Luxor is like every other in Egypt, an accumulation of mean houses of unburnt brick, and mud hovels, but the beautiful country in which it stands on the wide and fertile plain of Thebes, and the massy ruins of the great temple of Amunoph III and Eameses II, together with the colossal obelisk, the fellow to which now adoms the Place de la Concorde at Paris, rising high above the modern walls, give Luxor a more imposing aspect from whatever side you approach it, than any of the places we have yet seen on the banks of the Nile. But excepting the obelisk which stands isolated in the middle of the town, and is truly a fine object, from its gigantic size, height, and perfect condition, one must be deeply imbued with the antiquarian spirit, to fall into raptures with any other of the existing re: mains of Theban magnificence. The ruins at Luxor struck Mr. P. and myself, as ponderous structures, quite devoid of elegance of design, and finished execution, and, excepting the great pylon (portico or gateway), forming the principal entrance to the temple, and facing the river, little else of these remains is in a state to give us much idea of what the effect of the entire building might have been in the palmy days of the Egyptian Monarchy; so much are they encumbered with and en: croached upon by the mounds of rubbish, and miserable hovels of more recent times, crammed into every avail: able corner of the ancient walls which could be made subservient to the uses of a modern population. The colossal statues of Rameses II are more than half con: cealed by the accumulation of soil around them, and are besides much mutilated. The sculptured ornaments and hieroglyphics are not numerous at Luxor, and seemed alike poor in conception and in execution: the closer examination we intend making on our return, may disclose beauties unseen during the very superficial view we took on our upward voyage. I fear however, that the gorgeous magnificence of the temple at Dendereh, where grandeur, taste, and skill are so strikingly united with admirable preservation, quite unfitted us for relish: ing the heavy, and comparatively unadorned, barbaric, and now dilapidated structures of Luxor, thrown down and half buried beneath the surface of a soil, the accu: mulation of many ages, or hidden in great part by the squalid homes of the Egypt of our day. I must however again except the noble granite Obelisk of one enormous block, the height of which I am unable to state, but some idea may be conveyed of its vast proportions, whe I mention, that amidst my antiquarian researches, having an eye to the replenishment of onr larder on board 1 was unromantic enough to fire at what I took for a pigeon, perched like an idol-bird, on the very apex of this stupendous monolith, but which proved after all, to be an uneatable bird of prey, so indistinct were objects rendered by the distance from the eye, although that interval was but equal to the length of a single block of granite, I was prepared not to expect any very strik: ing remains at Luxor, as compared with other places that compose the aggregate of ruins named Thebes ! for there is no special town, village, or other locality, so called, now in existence: still, I must own to feeling considerable disappointment in what I did see, and in this I had the sympathy of my fellow traveller, who declared himself quite as much dissatisfied as I was.

The next morning, December 21st, we mounted our donkeys (as excellent as those at Siout) and with their drivers, and Ameen and Mohammed leading the caval: cade, we passed over part of the beautiful and extensive plain of Thebes, followed by a host of unbidden and clamorous guides, to Karnak, about a mile and a half from Luxor, with which it is supposed to have been joined by a continuous avenue of sphinxes. The valley of the Nile at Thebes is extremely wide, and the never: ceasing mountain barrier that forms its boundary on both banks, rises here into outlines the most abrupt and picturesque possible, aud encloses a vast plain, teeming with inexhaustible riches in fields of corn, cotton, indigo, and esculent vegetables of every description. The day was magnificent, the usual pale blue sky was without a speck, and a thin hot haze softened down, without im: pairing, the distinctness of the distant craggy steeps of the Theban mountains. High rose our expectations, as on nearing the object of our morning's ride, we sighted the massive columns and gateways of Karnak, through the long avenue of sphinxes or dromos, once the path by which votaries went from Luxor to the vast temple that formed a fitting termination to so magnificent an approach. But alas ! we were doomed to feel disappoint: ment greater than any experienced by us at Luxor the day before. On entering the precincts of the great temple, we became painfully sensible how much anti: quarian enthusiasm, and the proneness of travellers to make the most of every remarkable object on their route, had exaggerated the extent and magnificence of Karnak. I am quite ready to admit that the general effect of the buildings here when perfect, must have been grand, per: haps extremely so; the avenue of sphinxes, when entire, must have formed a noble approach to the temple, to judge from the most perfect of those remaining; but even the few in any tolerable preservation are but parts by which to judge of them when whole; the rest are reduced to small and. shapeless blocks of stone; and im: agination is obliged to supply that uniformity in mag: nitude, and excellence of workmanship, without which they must have failed in grandeur of effect. The truth is, we expected to find the avenue of sphinxes in much better preservation, and our imaginations less drawn upon to fill up deficiencies in this, and in most other portions of the edifice. The pylon or gate, at which the above avenue terminates, is undoubtedly a fine object as a whole: but the hieroglyphics and sculptures are poorly executed on this, and as we thought, on the most part of the structures at Karnak, — numbers of them being little better than such rude carvings of natural objects as a plough boy, or any other country lad, might easily execute with his knife in stone of equal softness,-flat tame scratches, instead of deeply chiselled and boldly designed figures, which we thought to have seen here as at Dendereh, and have since seen in the beautiful, and richly wrought temples at Esne and Edfou. The columns in the grand temple at Karnak struck us both forcibly as being inelegant and poor in design, the ornaments of the capitals especially paltry, and in the worst taste, as if belonging to the earliest state of Egyptian art; which is one great reason perhaps why these ruins are so extravagantly be-praised, and their beauties magnified by the professed and zealous anti: quary, in whose eyes age is the greatest of recommenda: tion, and the highest of merits. The remains at Karnak are for the most part in a very dilapidated state, and greatly encumbered as usual with mounds and heaps of rubbish both of ancient and modern date, causing the various parts to appear isolated, as if originally uncon: nected with one another, which detracts from the general effect by destroying the primitive unity of design. Others have expressed themselves disappointed with Karnak, and many more would avow the same feeling had they the courage or candour to do so, or were dis: posed to view Egyptain antiquities with a sober un: prejudiced eye, seeing things as they really are, with all their defects as well as beauties, and being determined not to let imagination betray them into such extravagant encomiums as we meet with in many authors on this and on other subjects. A popular writer on Egypt gives an overdrawn picture of the " teeming vitality" of the Nile, enough to frighten any timid nervous person from approaching its banks. I can however safely assure such persons that glancing lizards are very far indeed from innumerable, being only seen at intervals, small, harm: less, and pretty; except it be their near relation the huge unwieldy crocodile, or the supposed friendly forewarner to man of his being nigh, the monitor lizard of the Nile, of which we have seen an occasional specimen basking in the sun along the stream, twice or thrice du: ring our voyage, and one of which Mr. P. had the good fortune to shoot with my gun from the boat, and which measured three feet and a half in total length. Of snakes, I have not fallen in with even a single example, although always on the look out for these reptiles, par: ticularly the cobra of Egypt, and the asp of Cleopatra, i.e., the Cerastes or horned viper, both of which, I hope to meet with ere long; but reptiles of this class (ophidians) and indeed of every other except the batrachians (frogs and toads) are seen but at intervals, or not at all, and (i countless insects of unimaginable forms " reduce themselves to a few dull, sombre looking and sober paced beetles; a large hornet is common, but inoffensive unless attacked; mosquitoes, in the warmer months, and common house flies, are, it must be owned, a serious annoyance in Egypt; but with these two ex: ceptions, and that of cockroaches on board the craft on the river, insects are remarkably few, both as individuals and species in the valley of the Nile, and are like the indigenous plants, not conspicuous in general for their size, colour, or variety. The writer I have alluded to speaks of the "rank vegetation of the Nile:" in what this rankness consists I am at a loss to conceive, for the Nile is in this respect unlike most other rivers, in that it nourishes few or no marsh plants along its banks; no swampy jungles, or beds of reed intrude on the deep brown alluvium that edges the stream along every part of its course that I have yet traversed. On the higher parts of the rich sandy loam (absurdly called the slime of the Nile by high flown writers), flourishes the only rank vegetation to be seen any where, in the shape of luxuriant fields of corn, cotton, tobacco, lentiles, lupines, and the thousand gifts of nature, which would be most welcome in its rankness to the poor hard working, and oppressed fellah, were he permitted to reap the fruits of his labour for Iris own benefit, and not for that of another. Beyond this alluvium all is dry and sandy, the earth is clothed with a few species of harsh coarse grasses, amongst which, the Halfeh grass (Poa cynosuroides), is preeminently abundant, and groves of date palms and acacias stretch inland to the rocky or sandy barrier that marks the limit of the valley of Egypt: beyond this again is the absolutely naked, solitary, sea-like desert, which in some parts, as for instance, near Assouan, which we are now fast approaching, comes nearly to the very margin of the Nile itself. The sacred lotus of Egypt is not to be found in the entire valley of the Nile in modern times, having long since become extinct, and perhaps it was never indigenous there, but maintained by the care of man in a cultivated condition only. The ornithology of the Nile, is as to its subject, less susceptible of ex: aggeration than its zoology, for the multitudes of water fowl that haunt its stream, may justify the use of the word u swarming." The same expression might be applied with almost as much correctness to the various birds of prey that hover over its banks, far exceeding in variety of species, and number of individuals, any amount of the same tribes in other countries; and, in: deed constituting one of the most singular features of this strange and interesting land. Vast are the flocks of geese, pelicans, storks, cranes, spoonbills, flamingoes, shags, and other aquatic birds that overspread the river.

Believe me, always, Your affectionate Brother, William Arnold Bromfield.