A Web Site devoted to the people
Who Travelled the Unknown
“I will now turn to Egypt, because this country possesses many marvellous things and monuments which surpass all description and comparison with those of any other place…”
(Herodotus, Histories, II, 37.)
“I met a Traveller from an antique land…”
(P.B. Shelley, 'Ozymandias', 1818)
Egypt has been a destination for travellers since time immemorial.
Physical evidence of this is inscribed on the timeless stones of Giza and the Valley of the Kings. From as far back as 1200 BC, right through to the last century, travellers wrote their names on the monuments in Egypt they reached after many adventures and difficulties. The graffiti they left marks their passage.
These pages are dedicated to them, the most disparate of travellers into the unknown.
Latest Entries
Entering inside the second pyramid (1)
December 1817.
Having embarked all that was found this season, I left Thebes with another accumulation of antiquities, of which an account will be found at the end of this volume. I shall not describe this voyage, as I think it useless to repeat almost the same things over again. We arrived at Boolak on the twenty-first of December, after ten months absence. My business in Cairo detained me longer than I wished, as I was anxious to return to Thebes, for the sole purpose of taking models and impressions in wax of all the figures and hieroglyphics in the newly discovered tomb, first called that of Apis, but now of Psammethis. Finding I could not immediately despatch my little business there, I sent up the boat, with the intention of going myself by land. I had engaged Signor Ricci, a young man from Italy, who was very clever at drawing, and who with a little practice became quite perfect in his imitations of the hieroglyphics. He was to begin the drawings of the tomb on his arrival at Thebes.
Between Alexandria and Cairo
In the afternoon of the 19th [April, 1826], attended by the Janissary Selim, we mounted our donkeys and rode to the Canal of Mahmoudieh, where our Maash was waiting for us. The Camseen had sunk, the moon shone brightly, the evening was delightful, we talked of Cleopatra, and we agreed that every thing was very novel, pleasant, and agreeable. We met several boats laden with cotton; it required some dexterity to keep clear of each other, arid, in passing rapidly, the rigging not unfrequently caught, to the mutual detriment of both vessels. On a slight dispute arising, Selim caught up his silver stick, his badge of authority, and silence on its appearance immediately ensued. A heavy dew beginning to fall, C. recommended my retiring to the cabin, which was about six feet square, and four feet high, so that for the first time in my life I positively found myself too tall! On the lamp being lighted, to my great consternation, we discovered thousands and ten thousands of cock-roaches running merrily about in every direction, and absolutely over our couches; and we had also the pleasure of finding our boat was infested by rats, which paid us repeated visits during the night.
My Christmas with the Copts
It was on Christmas Day last year that a telegram came to Cairo for a nurse to go as soon as possible, to take charge of a case of typhoid in a Coptic family at Assiout.
I was not altogether sorry that it fell to my lot to be the one to go, and the next morning, I was on my way to Cairo station to catch the 8 a.m. train for Assiout, feeling rather curious as to what might be before me.
Most of the way the railway lies quite near the Nile, and all the land is cultivated; but beyond this, on either side, one could see the yellow, sandy desert. Soon I had to close all the windows to keep out the dust, but, nevertheless by the time I reached my destination everything, including myself and portmanteau, was thickly covered with desert dust.
Latest Entries
An Obelisk for Central Park
Nov 22 | in
A Deeper Glance
Passages of Eastern Travel
Nov 17 | in
The Travellers Journals
A Visit to the Convent of Sittna (Our Lady), Damiane (2)
Nov 15 | in
The Travellers Journals
Cairo the Grand
Nov 7 | in
The Travellers Journals
My Visit to the Pharaoh City
Nov 4 | in
The Travellers Journals
A Visit to the Convent of Sittna (Our Lady), Damiane
Nov 3 | in
The Travellers Journals
Travellers' Graffiti from Egypt and the Sudan IV
Oct 26 | in
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White Bird in Heaven
A random entry taken from The Travellers Journals department; enjoy these 1423 words, written April 17 2005,
in the late afternoon.
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