Venit ad occasum mundique extrema Sesostris Et Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit: Quam Nilum de fonte bibit; vesanus in ortus See also Tibullus, L. 1. E. 7. before quoted, Ammianus Marcellinus, L. 22, affirms that their sources never will be known. Origines fontum Nili ut mihi quidem videri solet, sicut adhuc factum est posteræ quoque ignorabunt ætates. Claudian, Idyl. 4. Qui rapido tractu mediis elatus ab austris In this place also it may not be improper to add the various names by which the Nile was distinguished by ancient wri ters. In Isaiah, c. xxiii. v. 3, the Nile is thus designated: And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations. In Jeremiah, c. ii. v. 18. What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt to drink the waters of Sihor? Joshua, c. xiii. v. 3. From Sihor which is before Ægypt.-The Greeks called it μλaç from its colour, and Tos from its swiftness. Oceanus was its very common appellation. It was also called Ægyptus, as frequently appears in Homer, Diodorus Siculus, Siculus, Plutarch, Strabo, Pliny, and Ammianus Marcelli nus. We find the name of Tuiton given it by Cœlius Rhodiginus. Pliny, 1. 5. c. 10. calls it Astabores and Astapus. Athenæus speaks of it by the term of Jupiter Ægyptius. It is alluded to by the name of Gihon, in Genesis, c. iv. 13. And the name of the second river is Gihon, the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Æthiopia. See also Jeremiah, C. ii. v. 18. Pliny and Dionysius both give it the name of Sinis. Theocritus uses the epithet of Chrysoroas αργύριος Νείλος. In Egyptus it is named Noym. I have seen it also somewhere termed Mehara. P. Jovius calls it Abbahius; and Dionysius, in some other places, Syene. Pierius Valerius gives it, the appellation of Dynis, besides which in different authors I have seen it distinguished by the names of Tacus, Alaodecrton, Pisson, Bahar, &c. The following account of the present state of the pyramids, from one of the last persons who was able to visit and examine them with leisure and security, may properly conclude this volume: "To relieve the ennui which the present indolent state of the army produced, and particularly as no permission was given to enter into Cairo, the pyramids, distant only about four miles, had become the constant subject of occupation; and the very soldiers in going there, seemed to find a recompence for many of their toils, to exult more in their triumphs, and feel the enjoyment which travellers must experience on attaining the ultimate object of their research; their minds aggrandised with honest pride and honourable reflections. "The pyramids, which are consecrated from the most remote antiquity, as forming one of the seven wonders of the world, at a distance impose neither awe nor any idea of stupendous magnificence: they are situated on the immediate borders of the Desert, which elevates itself like a cliff above the cultivated country; their form, if one of the objects of their their construction was to excite surprize at their grandeur and altitude, was the worst which could be conceived; but when arrived at the very base of the great pyramid, then its wonders require positive vision to credit. The mind is lost in the calculation, and the eye, unaccustomed to such masses, cannot imagine to itself such dimensions. The vastness of the granite blocks, the quantity of labour which must have been employed, the lever which must have been necessary to raise such stupendous masses of rock, its original beauty from the various coloured marbles, porphyry and granite, with which the sides have been cased, impress with unequalled sentiments of admiration and astonishment. When, however, reflection directs the thought to the surprising works of genius and learning of those ages in which these were constructed, and contrasts the present abject race of their posterity, the mind cannot but lament the degradation of such a portion of human nature, and consider the pyramids as a monument of melancholy instruction. "The height of the large pyramid is at last definitively ascertained by the French to be six hundred feet, the length of its base seven hundred feet. The quantity of cubic feet of solid stone is by them estimated to contain a sufficiency for the building of a wall of four hundred and fifty miles in ex- tent, three feet in height, and five inches in thickness. Near the top, part of the case still remains, on which are supposed to be hieroglyphics; its pinnacle is about thirty yards square, on which the French Savants once dined, and which was now constantly crowded with English. The names of Bruce, of Algernon Sydney, Volney, and several others, were carved on the stones; and it does them no small credit to have ventured as solitary travellers to the top of this gloomy pile. The view from hence is frightfully barren; an immeasurable waste of desert is only interrupted by the *For the honour of Bruce it should be told that every circumstance tends to corroborate his veracity. The French made many inquiries, and unite in testifying to his reputation; and many of the Abyssinians who came with the caravans remembered him in the country. narrow narrow flat of cultivated land which separates the Deserts of Libya and Arabia; nor can that arid soil, and the wretched villages in the valley, afford any scene picturesque or gratifying. The eye can only rest with any pleasure on the waters of the Nile, the island of Rhoda, and some fine orangetrees in the neighbourhood of Giza. These only can refresh the aching sight; and yet this view has so fascinated, as to make Savary believe that the poets from hence must have formed their ideas of Elysium*, and so enraptured him as to excite his regrets that he could not remain during life in this garden of bliss. But Savary has proved himself a bad judge of the beautiful in country and women; his paradise, placed in Europe, would be deserted like a wilderness, aud his houri's become antiquated virgins. "The ascent to the top is very difficult, and requires reso lution and strength; each stone is at least four feet high, and the only steps are made by each superior one receding to form the pyramid about three feet. The descent is more unpleasant, yet the soldiers went up and down, without any accident, perpetually. At the base of the North front is a door, over which are many hieroglyphics. This, Strabo assures us, was originally half way up the pyramid, and that the drifting sand has covered the base so high. This story would be absurd to credit, if only subject to the observation that such a quantity of drifting sand must necessarily encroach on the cultivated country also, which it has not done evidently; but now the French, by digging at the four corners, have ascertained the base, and found that no such alteration has taken place, since it is erected on solid rock, and, from the excavations around, there is evident proof that the bodies of the pyramids are constructed of this rock ; the huge masses of porphyry and granite used to case them, were * Several great canals, which separated Memphis from the pyramids of Sacarah, did furnish the Greeks with the idea of their infernal rivers, Acheron, Cocytus, and Lethe; but it required Savary's imagination to place the Elysian Fields here on account of the beauty of the scenery. G G VOL. I. were brought from the neighbourhood of Cossira, on the Red Sea. By the door at the north front is the entrance into the interior of the pyramid, into the sanctum of the wonder of the world. The passage at first is very narrow and low, then afterwards enlarges. At the extremity of one branch is a well, the depth of which was never ascertained. Another passage communicates to several chambers, in the largest of which is a stone coffin, the lid is taken away, and several attempts have been made to break the sarcophagus; fortunately the hardness of the stone resisted the Gothic violence. The Arabs pretend, that the corpse of a man, with his sword and some golden ornaments, were found at the first opening of the coffin; but these traditions are too vague to collect any positive information from. The only certain fact seems to be, that therein reposed the corpse of that prince, for whose memory this stupendous structure was erected. "There are two other very large pyramids, one of which Morad Bey attempted to open; many stones were dug out; when the labour was found so hydra-headed, that avarice was obliged to abandon the design, and thus this uncompleted work of destruction remains as a monument for the preservation of the rest. There are the ruins of about thirteen smaller ones, numerous catacombs in the rocks, in many of which the colours of the bas-relief on the walls are preserved perfectly fresh. From these circumstances, the corresponding pyramids of Sacarah, and the Plain of Mummies, no doubt can remain of these gigantic piles having been intended to inclose the bodies and perpetuate the fame of princes, who hoped in such mighty characters to have their renown recorded for ever, but whose ashes are dispersed like those of their meaner subjects, and of whose name history retains no trace. Ambition may hence receive instruction, and mortified pride consolation.”—Sir Robert Wilson, p. 137. END OF VOLUME I. 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