Adventures during a Visit to Lake Mœris

Had the Moggrebyns stormed the Okella that night, they would have acquired considerable booty, it being filled with merchants, chiefly inhabitants of the province, returning with the goods they had purchased at Cairo. Most of these persons, as is the custom in the East, were stirring and preparing to depart at an extremely early hour; and when, shortly after dawn, the gates were opened, recommenced their journey. Our Atouni guide, whose “green old age” had left him all the vigour and activity of youth, was on foot with the earliest of them, and engaged in saddling and loading the dromedaries. Nothing so much contributes, I imagine, to the habit of early rising, so universal in the East, as their custom of lying on the ground, and never undressing when they go to rest; for it requires no effort to rise early, when you have only to put on your slippers, and adjust your turban, in order to be ready for a journey; and where, besides, the air is so pleasant that it is a luxury to be abroad. All things being ready, we departed immediately after sunrise; and our dromedaries, fresh and naturally swift-paced, soon overtook the long strings of laden camels and asses proceeding towards the interior, which had quitted the caravanserai so much earlier. Their road lying towards Medinet, we very quickly left them behind, and struck off into a different track in the direction of Senooris and the lake.

The country in the immediate neighbourhood of Tameia consists of a rich alluvial soil, which would repay the labours of the husbandman with abundant harvests, but it seems to have been long abandoned, and was now in an entirely uncultivated state. We very soon entered, however, upon a plain smiling and fertile, intersected by innumerable small canals, along the banks of which ran high causeways, serving as roads, and forming the only links of communication between the villages during the time of the inundation. In many places the water still remained in small pools, bordered with rushes and tufted reeds, constituting an interesting feature in a plain of matchless beauty, clothed with vegetation; – tender young corn, wheat in the ear, lupines, clover, beans, all in flower, enamelling the fields, and impregnating the whole air with fragrance. Towards the right, through breaks in the date forests, and the thick undergrowth of tamarisks and mimosas, we occasionally, in riding along, caught hasty glimpses of the calm shining surface of the lake, with the sterile crags and wide wastes of sand which form its northern shore. Never, at any period of my life, – except, perhaps, on the day that saw me wandering among the barren mountains of Messenia in the Peloponnesus, did I derive, from the presence of mere inanimate objects, a delight so perfect, so capable of absorbing the thoughts and filling the whole mind, so replete with poetical enjoyment, so intense and rapturous, as I experienced during this morning’s ride. The landscape appeared to comprehend every element of interest and beauty; a plain of unrivalled richness and fertility, exhibiting each various shade of verdure, intersected by streams of water, sprinkled with tufted groves, disclosing between their foliage the rural village, and the towering minaret; beyond these, the artificial sea of Mœris, quivering and glittering in the sun; and, in the distance forming the majestic background of the picture, a range of rocky mountains, of commanding elevation, arid, frowning, desolate, but invested with an air of gloomy grandeur highly congenial to the state of mind in which I viewed them. To those mute physical sources of pleasure, others of a moral nature were added. History and fable had assisted in peopling the spot with numerous interesting reminiscences; but, more than each and all of these, extending in an almost continuous line along that edge of the lake, was a series of black tents, the dwelling-places of the redoubtable cavalry of the Desert, which had defied and broken the power of Persian, and Greek, and Roman, and Turk; and although, in the actual posture of affairs, we were not without apprehension from their marauding character, the consideration by no means diminished the pleasurable excitement of the moment.

About nine o’clock we halted at a small caravanserai, standing near the cemetery, in the outskirts of Senooris; and while Abu Zaid was engaged in kindling a fire and preparing coffee, our active old Bedouin proceeded into the village in search of milk. The inhabitants, little accustomed to the visits of strangers, seeing us dismount from our camels, came flocking thither in crowds which increased every moment. Our dress and appearance, which had elsewhere excited no attention, seemed to them an object of wonder; and my writing apparatus, viewed with some degree of suspicion in all parts of Egypt, called forth so many extraordinary remarks, and was beheld with so many evident signs of disapprobation and alarm, that it appeared judicious to make no further use of it in their sight, lest it should draw upon us some unpleasant consequences.

In Europe, more especially in the sceptical atmosphere of large cities, even the vulgar affect to be delivered from the terrors of superstition, and the belief in the force of charms and talismans; though, were the matter probed to the bottom, the old leaven might still, perhaps, be found lurking in the recesses of their souls; but in the East, ignorance has not yet learned to conceal its deformity behind the mask of philosophy. What they believe and apprehend, that they profess to apprehend and believe. Dissimulation, on such subjects, is above their reach. It was, therefore, as I have said, not without terror and dislike that they observed me writing, and consulting books and maps, all which things they ingenuously regard as the implements of a magician; and at length, in order to put a stop to my diabolical machinations, it was hinted that the drift of our proceedings was perfectly well understood; that we were come to take away the gold which, according to them, lies concealed in great abundance in the earth on the shores of Lake Mœris. We were supposed to be in possession of a book, by the reading of which, in the vicinity of buried treasures, we could cause the ground to open, and attract the gold to the surface; which, they assured us, had, to their knowledge, been done by a famous magician, who visited the province some years ago. This is their only idea of the use of books.

In order to tranquillize their minds respecting their hidden treasures, I shut up all my magical instruments, and, quitting the caravanserai, strolled forth among the tombs in the cemetery. But this was making a transition from bad to worse. Ghouls and Effrits and Marids, in the shape of men, delight to roam about amid graves and sepulchres, where, at certain periods of the day or night, they unearth the dead and feed upon their corpses; arid, to judge by their looks, the good people of Senooris seemed not to be entirely exempt from the suspicion that we might possibly belong to that infernal order of beings. When, however, they beheld us sit down to breakfast in front of the caravanserai, and make use, like Mussulmans, of coffee and bread, their ideas took another direction, and they seemed, poor creatures! to envy us every mouthful we ate. They, in fact, acknowledged that tire oppression and rapacity of the Pasha’s government had reduced them to a state of starvation; observing that, at length, the old prophecy was fulfilled, the father’s hand being turned against the child, and the child’s against the father, food being now all they thought of; that honest men, instigated by hunger, and beholding their wives and little ones pining and perishing around them through want, had become robbers, and infested the roads, on which assaults and murders were daily committed; and that Mohammed Ah, – “upon whom,” exclaimed they, “be the curse of God!” – with his monopolies and ambition, was the cause of all their calamities. On the rebellion of the Moggrebyn Bedouins they appeared to dwell with satisfaction, as if they hoped, through their aid, to recover their independence, and see better days. It is possible, therefore, they may have somewhat exaggerated their forces, the extent of their political views, and the terror of their arms; but, whether this was the case or not, it was quite clear, from every view of their account, that we had entered the Fayoom at a peculiarly inauspicious moment, and could neither retreat nor advance, in any direction, without running imminent risk of being murdered; for the Western Arabs, taking advantage of the discontents of the people, the absence of the Pasha’s military forces in Syria and the Hejaz, and crediting, or feigning to credit, the report of the arrival of an English and French fleet at Alexandria, for the purpose of deposing Mohammed Ali, had poured themselves in from the Desert in vast bodies, encamped close to the towns, or spread themselves in marauding parties through the country, everywhere setting at defiance the authority of government.

Though relying, perhaps, upon the support of the Moggrebyns, and for the moment, fearing nothing from the Pasha, the people of Senooris, unlike their brethren of Tameia, behaved – if we except their aversion to our talismans – with exemplary civility, running eagerly to fetch from the village whatever we wanted, and accepting with thankfulness the trifles given them in return for their services. By the time we had ended our meal, however, and prepared to remount, the crowd which had collected round us was considerable; though their manners underwent no change. They merely ventured to advise us, in a friendly way, not to advance any further into the country, which we should find teeming with difficulties and dangers; but not knowing what degree of credit to yield to their reports, and unwilling to turn back for what might afterwards appear to be but a vain rumour, we declined following their counsel, and inquired whether there was any one among them who, for a handsome present, would undertake to be our guide to the turbulent town of Sanboor and the lake. The idea appeared absurd, and they allowed us to ride away without a guide; but we had scarcely turned the eastern extremity of the town, before a young man, of bold but prepossessing countenance, presented himself, offering to conduct us whithersoever we might desire; and to his fidelity and good sense we were indebted, before the sun went down, for our lives.

Senooris is a considerable town, possessing a handsome mosque, adorned with a lofty minaret; but, in accordance with the practice everywhere prevailing in Egypt, its environs are deformed by enormous mounds of filth and rubbish, between which a canal winds its way through a deep broad channel towards the north. In our way to Zaouya, the lake was constantly visible, unless when the view was intercepted by trees. Occasionally the windings of the camel-track conducted us into the immediate vicinity of the Moggrebyn encampments, from winch we at length saw a small party of horse detach itself, and move westward, parallel with our route, evidently for the purpose of reconnoitring our movements. Perceiving the difficulty of our position, it might, perhaps, have been prudent to have abandoned the idea of descending to the shores of the lake, – of which we could now command an admirable prospect, – and have directed our course towards Medinet. But it was for the purpose of beholding the creation of Mœris that we had principally desired to visit the Fayoom; and to have returned without tasting its waters, and contemplating at leisure the wild beauties of its shores, would have grieved us exceedingly. Besides, in all intercourse with savages, it has been observed, that less danger is incurred by advancing carelessly and confidently among them, than by manifesting symptoms of dread; and, therefore, without appearing to observe the hostile demonstrations of the “Sons of Ismael,” we continued to pursue our original plan. Now, however, our stout-hearted old Atouni began, not altogether without reason, to entertain apprehensions for the safety of his camels; – if lie felt any for his own, he was too proud to own it; – and, lifting up his hands, bewailed the poor beasts, as if they were already lost. Between his tribe and the Moggrebyns of the Fayoom there existed, he said, a blood-feud; and they would certainly not let slip the present occasion of satiating their rancorous and hereditary hatred. I observed, however, that he made no mention of turning back, either conceiving it to be too late, or from the natural predilection of his whole race for strife and bloodshed. Many causes combined to render our progress slow and irksome. Owing to the infinite number of small canals, which intersect the country in all directions, the camel-track meanders in the most extraordinary manner, now leading towards the north, and now towards he south. Frequently, it became necessary to dismount, and force or coax the dromedaries to leap the ditches which crossed our path; and, on one occasion, fortunately when no one was on his back, one of them fell, and rolled into the canal, from whence we had some difficulty to extricate him. At Zaouya, where we paused to make some passing inquiries, our Cairo domestic was on the point of seriously compromising us, by informing the inhabitants, through the vanity of being supposed to belong to the service of persons in authority, that we were officers of the Pasha, proceeding through the country in the execution of our duty; which, since all these people were in league with the enemy, would, in all probability, have effected our destruction. Understanding quite enough of Arabic to detect the purport of his discourse, we questioned him on the subject; and finding our suspicions well founded, he was directed to contradict his former statement, and forbidden to propagate such a report for the future, on pain of being instantly shot.

Continuing to advance in a westerly direction, and passing through the villages of Bayheeth and Tirseh, we at length arrived at the rebel town of Sanboor, where, a few days before, had taken place the battle, in which the Pasha’s forces were worsted by the Bedouins. It is, in fact, an extensive village, buried in a forest of date trees, and partly surrounded by a deep water-course. The canals of the Fayoom, though at this season of the year extremely shallow, have all the characteristic beauties of natural rivulets, running for the most part down gentle declivities, in a winding course, rippling and transparent, in many places over gravelly bottoms, between banks fringed with slender reeds or willows. On drawing near the town, we perceived a number of people engaged in a very noisy quarrel among the rubbish mounds (see Wilkinson), but we received no molestation; on the contrary, an old man, with a venerable grey beard, who professed to be well acquainted with the country round the lake, came voluntarily forward, offering to be our guide. Having accepted his services, we were shortly afterwards joined by two other Arabs, who likewise, without further ceremony, constituted themselves our guides; so that, being attended by four gentlemen of this profession, not to mention our Mahazi Bedouin, there was little danger of losing our way.

On emerging from the date woods of Sanhoor, we observed that the land sloped gradually to the water’s edge, and was covered, in the immediate vicinity of the town, with wheat, barley, and trefoil, and, further on, with halfah grass and copses of tamarisk. The view of the Sea of Mœris, with its wild picturesque shore, was now peculiarly grand. Equalling in breadth the Lake of Geneva, between Relies and Thonon, but differing in its accessories from everything in Europe, it seemed to have been created for the purpose of awakening in the mind the spirit of poetry. Alpine peaks with glaciers and eternal snows, are here not found, to rouse and elevate the imagination; but in their stead, something no less sublime, no less calculated to suggest lofty and ennobling trains of thought, to carry the mind beyond the limits of the every-day world, and, by rendering it conversant with the stupendous aspect of nature, in the burning, boundless Desert, the sun-scorched mountain, the abandoned plain, the unnavigated wave, to induce a habit of contentment and serenity, images of a novel character, and a love of whatever is gifted with the irresistible attributes of beauty. Towards the east, the opposite shore is low, consisting of a series of undulating sand-hills, which, as the eye turns westward, give place to cocky eminences, rising gradually into mountains, barren and wild, extending westward to the extreme verge of the horizon. Between this arid chain and the traveller who contemplates it from the verdant plains of the Fayoom, lies the Lake of Mœris, which, on the morning of our visit, glittered in the sun like a sea of molten silver, and, neither of its extremities being visible, seemed to be of interminable extent. After pausing some time to enjoy the distant prospect, we alighted from our camels, and, leaving them to browse upon the plain, walked down to the beach, which I approached with more true pleasure than I had anywhere else experienced in Egypt. Though a cool breeze, blowing across the lake, somewhat tempered the heat of the sun, it was fortunately not sufficient to chill the atmosphere, the temperature of which greatly exceeded that of July in Europe. Everything, therefore, contributed to augment our enjoyment. Absolute solitude prevailed on all sides. Our camels and attendants being concealed from sight by copses and thickets, and the distant villages, – here exceedingly few, – by lofty woods, nothing presented itself to the eye which could suggest a reference to human society. Enormous flights of aquatic birds – pelicans, wild-ducks, gulls, petrels, and white ibises – were here seen, some rising, others lighting on the shores, or swimming on the lake. Of these great quantities are taken by hooks attached to long lines, that are stretched at intervals over the surface. I saw a large black fowl with a sharp serrated bill, caught in this manner, and two fish, called Shillbee Beeri, with flat heads, and beards, or whiskers, six or seven inches long, which were said to be very fine, and were nearly a yard in length (Colonel Howard Vyse). In the grass, almost under our feet, were numerous coveys of partridges; and, when we had reached the beach, both sight and smell were struck by prodigious numbers of dead fish, which having, as the natives afterwards informed us, recently perished through cold, had been driven on land by a tempestuous north wind. The quantity was incredible, lining the shore in heaps as far as the eye could reach, as if a multitude of fishermen had just emptied their nets there. They were exceedingly varied in form and size; some measuring nearly five feet in length, and of more than proportionate thickness, – and of these many hundreds lay among the smaller fry upon the mud, – while others were no bigger than a herring. In general the largest were closest to the water, the smallest, in many instances, having been carried by the waves twenty or thirty yards inland. The stench arising from so great a quantity of fish putrefying in the sun was almost insupportable, and must have communicated a pestilential quality to the atmosphere.

According to Diodorus, the species of fish caught in this lake anciently amounted in number to twenty-two. I did not count those we saw, but should certainly have supposed there were many more. Sir Gardner Wilkinson thinks that the fish of Lake Mœris are identical in kind with those of the Nile, though greatly superior in flavour. His opinion may possibly be correct, but among all the fish caught in the river I never saw any at all resembling the larger species which I have found upon the beach, nor did I ever meet with any person who had seen such. The fisheries of this lake are exceedingly productive, and abundantly supply the whole markets of the Fayoom.

Like that of the canals, the lake fishing is farmed by the government to some rich inhabitants of the district, who are usually Copt Christians; and the fish, as in former times, are either taken fresh to the market, or are dried and salted, as Diodorus observes in his notice of the lake, though the number of persons engaged in this occupation bears a very small proportion to that of former times. This custom of farming the fisheries was probably derived by the Arab government from their predecessors. It does not, however, seem to have been adopted at their first occupation of the country, since the Arab historian, El Makrisi, who wrote in the fourteenth century of our era, mentions it as a new idea. It may here be observed, that Lake Mœris lies about a hundred feet below the level of the Nile¹, and that its waters could never have risen to a much greater height than at present, since we find the remains of ancient buildings close to the shore. As soon as we gained a practicable part of the beach, my companion, impatient of the heat, bathed in the lake; while I contented myself with tasting the water, and strolling along the shore. Whatever may be its depth towards the middle, Mœris is extremely shallow near the land; it being necessary, on this part of the coast, to advance several hundred yards before one can swim. I found the water of a brackish taste, though not to the degree mentioned by Pococke, who thought it “almost as salt as the sea.” As far as we proceeded, the quantity of fish upon the beach continued undiminished; so that the account furnished by the priests to Herodotus, of the value of the fisheries of Lake Mœris, does not seem to have been exaggerated; for, judging by appearances, they would furnish food to half Egypt. All this part of the shore is adorned with slender tamarisk bushes, covered, in many cases, with red catkins, like the willow, which, drooping and waving over the water, render the beach highly beautiful. The boat that formerly conveyed persons to the opposite shore had long been destroyed; but an Arab, who lived some leagues farther to the west, was said still to possess a small bark, which might easily be hired. In the present state of the country, however, covered with marauding Moggrebyns, and rebel camps, it was judged unsafe to venture far from the camels and luggage; and we had very soon reason to congratulate ourselves on our determination.

Other travellers visiting the Fayoom at a more propitious moment, have crossed Lake Mœris and examined the ruins of towns and temples scattered on its western shores. Belzoni in particular was most fortunate in his visit. He found the province in peace, and the poor people eager to attend him for the smallest reward. Still it was not without some difficulty that he procured a boat, which he describes as so ancient and rickety that it might probably have served Charon himself to convey the corpses of the Egyptians to their last resting-place. The Roman traveller, full of the theories which prevailed in his day, discovered everywhere proofs that this was the original scene of the fable of Charon ferrying over the shades to Hades.

The bark was entirely out of shape. The outer shell or hulk was composed of rough pieces of wood, scarcely joined and fastened by four other pieces, bound together by four more across, which formed the deck. No tar or pitch had been used, either inside or without, and the only thing which prevented the water entering through the seams was a kind of weed.

“Having,” says Belzoni, “made an agreement with the owner, who resembled the pilot of the Stygian flood, we put on board some provisions and made towards the west, where the famous Labyrinth was supposed to have been situated. The water of the lake was now drinkable, owing to the extraordinary overflow of the Nile, which surmounting all the high lands, and in addition to the Bahr Yusuf, poured in such torrents into the lake that it raised its level twelve feet higher than ever it had been remembered by the oldest fisherman. We advanced with our old Bans, towards the Wet, and at sunset saw the shore quite deserted, there remaining nothing to look at save the lake and the mountains on the north. The pilot lighted a fire, while his companion went to fish with a net, and soon returned with sufficient for our supper. The land we were now in had anciently been cultivated, as there appeared many stumps of palm and other trees nearly petrified. I observed also the vine in great plenty. The scene here was beautiful the silence of the night – the beams of the radiant moon shining on the still water of the lake – the solitude of the place – the sight of our boat – the group of fishermen – the temple which bears the name of Old Charon, a little way off, reminded me of the Lake Acheron, the boat Bans, and the old ferryman of the Styx. I perceived this was the very spot where the poet originated the fable of the passage of the souls over the river Oblivion. Nothing could be more pleasing to my imagination than being so near the Elysium, perhaps on the very Elysium itself. I thought that the plants which appeared nearly petrified, were the very ones amongst which the souls were enjoying the happiness of their purity. I strolled along the banks of the lake in solitary musing, not unlike one of these wandering souls waiting its turn to cross the Styx, while my old Charon, with his semi-demons, was preparing supper. I thought that night one of the happiest of my life, and imagined myself out of the reach of evil mortals. Happy in the Elysian Fields, I feared not the malice and treacherous arts of envy, jealousy, spite, revenge, nor the thousand other snares of man. I nearly forgot I was living; and I suppose that, had I continued in my ecstacy, I should have proved that these waters have the power of oblivion. Next morning before sunrise we entered the old Bans, and steered towards the west, till we arrived near the end of the lake, which, according to these fishermen, now extended further than they ever remembered it, in consequence of the above extraordinary inundation. We landed here, and I took two of the boatmen and set off for the temple called Kasr-el-Karoon, about three miles distant, standing in the midst of a ruined town, the foundations of whose walls are still to be seen, along with the substructures of several houses and small temples. There are also fragments of columns and blocks of stone. The temple, in tolerable preservation, is constructed in a style different from that of the Egyptians. No hieroglyphics are painted on the walls, and only two figures, which may be these of Osiris and Ammon. Part of the town is covered with sand. Towards the east there is a something like a gateway in an octangular form, and at a little distance a Greek chapel elevated on a platform, with cellars under it. In visiting this ruin I was near becoming the breakfast of an hyena; for having left my arms behind, I was about to mount the flight of steps, when the fierce animal, rushing forth from the apartments beneath the chapel, darted past me. He had evidently been himself alarmed, but perceiving that I carried no weapon, was on the point of returning to the attack, when he was scared away by the shrieks of the terrified Arabs, after having shown us its pretty teeth, and treated us to one of its loudest rears. Whatever remains of beauty were to be seen in this town, it could not have been the site of the famous Labyrinth. The Labyrinth was a building of three thousand chambers, one half above and one half below the surface of the earth. Such an immense edifice would probably have bequeathed to us sufficiently numerous fragments to determine where it had stood; but not a trace of any such a building is anywhere to be seen. The town was about a mile in circumference, with the temple in its centre, so I cannot see how the Labyrinth could be placed in this situation. I accordingly left the place, and on my return towards the lake passed a tract of land which had once been cultivated, and saw a great many stumps of plants almost burnt. On my reaching the shore, a high wind arose from the south-west, and greatly agitated the waters, drifted the sand in the air, and stranded our beat. There being plenty of wood, we lighted a fire, and passed the night under shelter of a mat suspended over two sticks fixed in the ground. In the morning, the wind having abated, we again embarked, and shaped our course northward along the coast the whole day. In several parts we observed great quantities of weeds growing from beneath the waters, among which game greatly abounded.

“The pelican is here as common as on the Nile. There are also many wild-ducks, and a kind of large snipe. Next morning the boatmen, being tired of the expedition, resolved to recross the lake. I had somewhere read, however, that there existed the ruins of a town near this spot, and shortly after daybreak set out alone in search of it. The Arabs immediately ran after me, observing that there was nothing to be seen save a few ruined houses and a high wall. But this was enough for me. I determined to proceed, and they, after exhibiting the usual amount of obstinacy, consented to go along with me. Having passed a narrow strip of bushes, where the slots of leopards and of antelopes were visible, we ascended a steep ridge, on which there had evidently been vineyards, as the remains were to be perceived struggling through the sand, that new covers the extensive ranges of desert mountains to such a depth, that their rocky summits are the only objects perceptible in the undulating waste. As the sand is deep and drifted, it is impossible, without very extensive excavations, to determine what was the former surface of the country; but it is evident that the part next the water had been cultivated, and that the ancient town we came to visit had been placed to great advantage; and that before the plains and mountains between it and the lake had been overwhelmed with the vast body of sand, had it commanded a magnificent prospect of the lake, from which it is net three miles distant, and of the fertile province on the eastern shore. On reaching the summit of a low range of hills, I discovered the ruins of a town not far distant. This must have been the city of Bacchus, which I have seen marked on many ancient maps. There are a great number of houses half tumbled down, and a high wall of sunburnt bricks, which incloses the ruins of a temple. The houses are detached, and arranged irregularly, and divided from each other by straggling lanes, narrow as those of Cairo. The temple, which faces the south, is approached by a causeway, constructed with large stones, and extending all the way from the town. In the centre of the city I observed several houses underground, roofed with beams of wood, with layers of canes, clay, and bricks, so that one might walk over with out perceiving that he was treading on the top of a house. As the fishermen had brought their hatchets, I caused two or three of these houses to be uncovered, and found a fireplace in every one of them. They were not more than ten or twelve feet square, and the communication to each house was by a narrow lane, not more than three feet wide, which was also covered.” Mr. Belzoni was at a loss to understand why these subterranean habitations had been constructed. It could not, he thought, have been for coolness, since they must have had all the force of the sun upon them without the slightest chance of a breath of wind. Probably, however, they were only the underground floors of the ordinary dwellings, built, ats in Affghanistan and elsewhere in the East, to be occupied during the great heats of summer, being kept cool by the shelter of the superincumben structure.

“The houses above-ground were constructed in a manner somewhat different from any I had seen before. Few had a second floor, and those which were higher than the rest were very narrow, so that they resembled towers rather than common houses; but now there is scarcely one to he seen entire. As to the temple, it is fallen, but appears to have been pretty extensive. The blocks of stone are of the largest size, some eight and nine feet long. The ruins are in such confusion, that it is impossible to form an idea of its plan or foundation. I am almost certain, by what I could see, that the falling of this temple was caused by violence, as it appears to me that it never could have been so dilapidated by the slow hand of time. Among these blocks I saw the fragments of statues, of breccia and other stones of Grecian sculpture, but no granite; and I observed the fragment of one which appeared to me not unlike part of an Apollo. There were also fragments of lions of grey-stone, not belonging to these mountains. The town, from what I could see, might have consisted of five hundred houses, the largest of which was not more than forty feet square. The area of the wall which surrounded the temple is a hundred and fifty feet square, thirty feet high, and eight feet thick. On the north side of this town is a valley, which appears to have been once cultivated, but at present is covered with sand. On inquiry, I found this town was known to the Arabs of the lake under the name of Denay. We returned to the boat, and crossed to the island of El Hear, which is entirely barren, and no trace of any habitation anywhere to he seen.” (Belzoni. Colonel Howard Vyse).

Thus far Belzoni and Vyse. To return to our own narrative: – Having remained some time on the beach, we were joined by our guide and attendants, who had been left with the camels, and now appeared uneasy at our delay. But as they stated no reasons, we paid little attention to their disquietude, which might arise from mere impatience; at length, observing that the day was far spent, and no new object of curiosity presenting itself, we quitted the lake, and began to retrace our steps towards Sanhoor. To the left were many Bedouin encampments, near which several troops of cavalry had been seen passing to and fro during the day; nevertheless, as they had hitherto abstained from offering us any molestation, we began to imagine that it might, after all, he possible to effect our retreat out of the province without meeting with any difficulty. We had not, however, proceeded above a mile, before a small body of horse, armed with muskets and lances, issuing from among the date-woods, made towards us at full gallop. Our Mahazi guide, who first perceived them, without exhibiting the slightest sign of trepidation, though quite unarmed, requested us to ride close together; trotting on as if we saw them not, but keeping our fire-arms in our hands, cocked ready for action. My dromedary being a female, big with young, and greatly fatigued by the violent manner in which we had travelled, now lagged in the rear; so that had not my companion slackened his pace, to allow me time to come up, I might have been easily cut off from the rest of the party. When the Moggrebyns had approached to within a few hundred yards, two horsemen, detached from the main body, advanced to question us. Galloping at full speed, they called aloud, that the Pasha’s government being at an end, the Bedouins were now lords of Egypt, and that as we were partisans of the Pasha, they should make war upon and destroy us. The guides who had joined us at Sanhoor, either taking no interest in our fate, or reckoning on sharing the spoil should we be speared by the enemy, walked doggedly along without uttering a word; but the youth from Senooris, after beating my dromedary into a trot, remained behind, in order to confer with our pursuers. At first they insisted we belonged to the Pasha’s service, and had been sent by that cunning despot to observe their movements and numbers, that he might know how and with what force to attack them, in the vain hope of recovering possession of the province; and that, therefore, they could not, without betraying their own cause, allow us to escape. To this our guide made answer, that we were mere travellers, whose business it was to run about the world; measuring the length and breadth of rivers, and the circumference of seas; observing the buildings which ancient nations had left behind them; and inquiring into what every man ate and drank; that, in short, we were Englishmen, who had never been known, like other Franks, to make war upon or kidnap the natives for the Pasha. The men of Sanhoor now joining in this representation, they were at length convinced we were Englishmen, who, thank God! seem to be everywhere respected for their honour and integrity. Relinquishing, therefore, their hostile design, they suffered us to proceed on our way in peace.

From the borders of the lake to Medinet el Fayoom, is between twelve and thirteen miles; and the day already drawing towards its close, we at first entertained the intention of passing the night at Sanhoor. But the inhabitants were in league with the Arabs of the Desert, a party of whom might arrive in the village, – where the Pasha possessed not a single soldier, perhaps not a single partisan, – and quietly cut us off during the night. To advance, after dark, was likewise hazardous; for our camels being nearly knocked up, and the road intricate and intersected by canals we might, should our guide fail us, be left to wander all night through country infested by marauding parties, and dangerous even by day. However, having much faith in the young man, we determined to rely wholly on his fidelity, and desired mm to proceed, by the nearest route, towards the capital of the province. Hitherto, we had beheld neither the rose-gardens nor the olive plantations, for which the Fayoom has always been celebrated; but, shortly after quitting Sanhoor, we entered on a country exhibiting considerable irregularity of surface, covered in many parts by groves of olive trees, extending along and shading the road. The general features of the landscape were hero exceedingly beautiful, every turn of the pathway presenting a new vista, between wood and copse, over fields exquisitely green, and ending, perhaps, with the prospect of some distant village. But this part of the province, though highly fertile, is thinly peopled, the hamlets being few and distant from each other; and, as in all countries where property and life are insecure, no scattered villas, farms, or cottages, are anywhere seen. About sunset we arrived at Fedmin; where Belzoni, building, as usual, on a popular tradition, supposed the Labyrinth may have been situated. The tradition, however, relates to three hundred Christian churches, – the dream, in all probability, of some Copt; – but if we multiply three hundred by ten, we shall have three thousand, out of which there will be no difficulty in erecting a Labyrinth. Proceeding in this way, nothing can arrest our progress; tradition, in Egypt, will always be at hand, in support of any hypothesis: we shall only have to adapt them to our particular purposes. Still, it is probable that Fedmin stands on the site of some ancient town, the mounds of dust and rubbish – the constant accompaniment of an Egyptian village, among which, however, we could see no substructions, bricks, or remains of ancient buildings – being here large and more numerous than usual. A canal, with a very deep channel, but no great quantity of water, runs close to the place on the east.

Night came on shortly after. There was no moon, but the stars shone brightly, affording considerable light, by which we continued to prosecute our journey. Nevertheless, from the hesitating manner of our guide, when there were several paths branching off in different directions, it was evident, though he would not confess it, that he was but imperfectly acquainted with the way. We moreover began, as well as our beasts, to experience some fatigue, having been about fourteen hours on the road; and the idea of passing the night at some of the hamlets on the left, the situation of which we could discover by the lights burning in the cottages, at length presented itself; but while we were discussing the point and inquiring into the merits of the different villages, we met a party of Turkish soldiers, marching upon Fedmin, who said that another half hour would bring us to Medinet. Though not unacquainted with the length of an Egyptian half hour, we now abandoned the design of stopping short of the capital, and pushed on with all speed. All this part of the Fayoom is intersected in a wonderful manner by canals, which everywhere in Egypt, and more particularly in this province, present, as I have before observed, the appearance of natural rivers, possessing picturesquely wooded banks, meandering courses, and streams of clear water, alternately deep and shallow, with a rippling current always perceptible. Along the edges of such canals, our road frequently lay over narrow foot-paths worn in the face of their lofty steep banks, where one false step would have precipitated us into the water below. The night being much too dark to pretend to guide the dromedaries, which had the same motive as ourselves for guarding against accidents, we were fain to trust to them entirely the care of our necks. No less sure-footed than the mule, they proved themselves well worthy of the confidence we reposed in them, mounting and descending the steepest eminences without slipping or stumbling. Here, we were told, the famous rose-gardens are situated; but the roses were not yet in bloom, so that, even had we not traversed the country in the dark, they would have added less to the beauty of the prospect than so many gooseberry-bushes. However, the cultivation of the rose, and the manufacture of attar, are still conducted on a large scale in the Fayoom, where the plantations of one European speculator occupy thirty thousand acres.

As we approached Medinet, – which, from the spot where we met with the soldiers, was more than twice the distance they stated, – the canals became larger, and the docks, sluices, and bridges more frequent. To thread the winding camel-track between the numerous arms of these vast water-works was an undertaking of some nicety, our path frequently leading over the top of a narrow causeway, thrown across extensive reservoirs; while all around was heard the noise of water falling over the dams and sluices into deep canals. At length, on arriving among the mounds encumbering its environs, supposed to mark the site of the ancient Crocodilopolis, or Arsinoe, we heard the barking of dogs in the city, and, just as the muezzin were chaunting the “Turk,” or evening prayer, entered the gates; which, in all Mohammedan countries, are then closed for the night. Medinet would appear to he a populous town. The streets, when we entered, were crowded, the shops open and tolerably well lighted, indicating considerable business and activity. Our appearance excited much curiosity, and numbers of idle persons and boys followed us towards the caravanserai, where we found a good upper room to sleep in. The stairs and walls of this building contained several fragments of granite and marble, some of which were covered with hieroglyphics and Egyptian bas-reliefs. While dinner was preparing, the keeper, an old Arab of jolly, jocund countenance, paid us a visit, and related the news of the day, in the hope, apparently, of being paid in kind. According to his account, the affair with the Moggrebyns had been far more important than we had hitherto supposed: learning that marauding parties were daily pouring in from the Desert, and spreading themselves over the country, the Memour, or governor of the province, had proceeded, with all the power he commanded towards the lake, where he found the enemy encamped. There an action took place, in which, after some loss on both sides, the Bedouins were worsted, and compelled to fly, with their wives and children, leaving their camels, cattle, sheep, &c. behind them. Upon this, as a lawful plunder, the Memour immediately made seizure, and was about to march away with them, when the Arabs, in the hope of recovering their property, attacked him suddenly, but were a second time beaten off, though not without loss on the side of the governor; who, fearing they might once more return, in greater force, hastened with all possible celerity towards Medinet, where he arrived, with his booty, before dark, and caused the gates to be closed, after which he began to congratulate himself upon his victory. But the affair was not yet over; for about midnight, the Bedouins, who had all the way hovered at a distance in his rear, broke open the gates, entered the city in great numbers, and, by the connivance or through the terror of the inhabitants, rescued the whole of their flocks and herds, with which they departed, without committing any other act of hostility. Ashamed of his negligence, or distrustful of the disposition of the inhabitants, the governor has since that day abstained from going abroad, and still remained in voluntary confinement in his own palace; but Ahmed Pasha, late governor of the Hejaz, was said to have arrived with a large military force at Benisooef, on his way to the Fayoom; where his presence, it was expected, would speedily put a stop to the depredations and absurd hopes of the Bedouins.

Instead of remaining at the caravanserai, we repaired to the residence of Ali Dud, the Madyr. He was not in his house, but in a small square apartment on a level with and on the opposite side of the street. The room, which appeared to be his ball of audience, was crowded with Coptic secretaries, Turks, and Arabs of every description. He gave me a very civil reception; and, after the usual ceremony of coffee and pipes, we produced our firmans. When business was over, we accompanied the Madyr to his own residence. We passed through a court, in which there were several horses, and then through long passages, and a dirty staircase, to a spacious, but cold apartment, as the large windows of lattice-work were but partially covered with oiled paper. A well-grated window, over a door into the harem, afforded to its inhabitants an opportunity of observing what took place. The floor was paved with red tiles; but a carpet was laid before a low sofa, covered with cushions, and extending round two-thirds of the room. These, together with a small mirror, and a basin and ewer, constituted the furniture; and the whitewashed walls were adorned with a solitary group of three small prints of Britannia, cut out of an English shop-bill. The room was not particularly clean, although probably the best in the whole province. After pipes and coffee had been introduced, a plentiful supper was served in the usual manner; and as the Madyr, myself, my companion, and our interpreter, sat together on the floor, round a circular tray in front of the latticed-window of the harem, we must have presented an amusing spectacle to those within, whose lights from time to time appeared, although their persons could not be distinguished. The Madyr was an old man, and had been a considerable merchant, and, probably on account of his wealth, had been obliged by the Pasha to accept the government of the province. He appeared extremely credulous, but was very civil and obliging, and contributed all lie could to my convenience. He remained for a considerable time after supper, and a long conversation was carried on. I then retired to the sofa, but not to sleep, owing to the quantity of gnats and of vermin with which the place abounded (Colonel Howard Vyse).

¹ Monsieur Linant de Bellefonds has written an elaborate and voluminous memoir to prove that the Birket-el-Karoon is not the Lake Mœris of the ancients, which he places on a part of the Fayoom, now dry, in the vicinity of Medinet. He argues the point with much ingenuity, though his reasoning scarcely, perhaps, produces conviction. This, however, is not the place to enter into such discussions; otherwise it would perhaps be possible to bring forward quite as many and as weighty arguments, and possibly a little more accurate learning, to prove Lake Mœris and the Birket-el-Karoon to be identical.

From Egypt and Nubia
by J.A. St. John, 1845.