We regret that the limits of our work-will not allow us to marshal these Choruffes rank and files as they ftand in the different editions of Efchylus, on pages oppofite to what we have extracted. The learned reader; however, will, we doubt not, compare, as we have done, these new distributions with those exhibited by preceding editors and critics. He will then be able to pafs a fair decifion in regard to their respective merits.

The whole volume has been a work of great labour. Every Play has its Index Metricus Generalis, as well as its Index Metrorum; fo that the reader may obferve, at one glance, all the various Metres used in each Tragedy, and indeed in each Chorus.

Further commendation of Dr. C. Burney's merits as a critic and a fcholar than is implied in the above detail of this profound book would be entirely fuperfluous. They are admired at home, and revered abroad.

Алт.

ART. III. Remarks on feveral Parts of Turkey. Part I. Egyptiaca, or fome Account of the antient and modern State of Egypt, as obtained in the Years 1801, 1802. By William Hamilton, Efq. F.A.S. Accompanied with Etchings, from original Drawings, taken on the Spot by the late Charles Hayes, of the Royal Engineers. 4to. pp. 439. 41. 4s. Payne.

1809.

THE various and important information which we have of

late years received on the subject of Egypt, is alike ho nourable to the courage, the fagacity, and the learning of our countrymen. It is true indeed, that this region exhibits an inexhaustible field of research to the fpirit of enterprise, but it is to this fpirit, as exerted by Englifhmen, that with refpeft both to the ancient and modern ftate of Egypt, many new difcoveries have been made, many obfcurities explained, and an infinite number of valuable illuftrations introduced. Among all the publications, however, which have hitherto appeared, either in this country or in France, this work by Mr. Hamilton will ever claim pre-eminent diftinction. The reader is not to confider him merely as a candidate for an honourable place in the lift of those who as writers, of Travels excite and fatisfy general curiofity. Mr. Hamilton's Memoirs are really fcientific, and he cannot fail of being confidered in his narrative as an accurate obferver, a profound fcholar, and enlightened philofopher. Whether the French fhall or fhall not publifh to the extent they formerly promifed, the refult of thofe inveftigations which they made under every poffible advantage, we cannot fay; but whether they do or not, the volume before us will be found indif penfibly effential, whenever Egypt, and more particularly Upper Egypt, fhall be a fubject of enquiry,

We fhall purfue our accustomed courfe of placing before our readers a brief analyfis of the work and a few fpeci mens of its execution. From this courfe we fee as yet no caufe to deviate, as it appears to render an equal act of justice to the author and the reader.

We could indeed eafily fill our pages with didactic obfer. vations on certain portions of this or of any fimilar volume; we could enter into controverfial arguments on others; we could elicit caufe of difpute from fome.paffages, and make others the,vehicle of our own literary opinions or political prejudices. But to us, this feems neither compatible with the office of a Reviewer, nor beneficial to the caufe of lite rature We proceed therefore to exhibit the contents of Mr, Hamilton's interefting volume. It confifts of twelve chapters,

chapters, in which the following fubjects will appear to be ably difcuffed.

The State of Egypt in the Autumn of 1801. The Motives and Extent of the Author's Travels in Egypt. The State of the Country above the Cataracts. Antiquities above Es Souan, and between Es Souan and Thebes. Defcription of Thebes. Voyage from Thebes to Dendera. Obfervations on the State of Egypt when a Province of the Roman Empire. Voyage from Dendera to the Northern Frontier of the Thebaid and to Alvi. Voyage across the Oxyrynchite Nome to the Bahhr Joufouf; from Benifouef to Cairo, Memphis, and the Pyramids; round the Delta, from Rofetta to Cairo, thence to Damietta, Rahmanie, and Alexandria. An Appendix is fubjoined, containing fome very learned and valuable Annotations; and a Poftfcript exhibits the Tranfcript of the Greck Copy of the Decice recorded on the celebrated Rofetta Stone, with an English Tranflation.

The plan purfued by Mr. Hamilton has our entire approbation. He gives, firft, an outline of the whole of his travels, that the reader may at once fee the extent to which he penetrated, and the places which he vifited, and he afterwards communicates more detailed obfervations on the antiquities, geography, and peculiarities of the country.

The chapter, perhaps, which by the general reader will be perufed with the livelieft fatisfaction is that which details the intercourfe of the travellers with Elfi Bey near Es Souan, and from this we fhall extract a portion.

*

"The only information of any kind we could procure while at Es Souan, of the interior parts of Africa remote from Egypt, was given by two Moors, who were paffing by, with a large body of their countrymen, on their way to Mecca. As they were able to make themselves intelligible to our pilot, who fpoke the Cou moufs and Berberi languages, we learned from them, that they belonged to a very extenfive nation known to themselves and here by the name of Secroua, and that they inhabited a country called Demourki, at the diftance of five months journey from Egypt, and of two months from Sennaar and the Nile: that they were now engaged on a pilgrimage to Mecca, fubfifting, as they travel, on the charity of thofe they meet: according as fortune favours or frowns upon them, they go from Kenneh to Coffeir, and thence ftraight to Jedda by fea; or if they cannot pay their paffage, they go round by Cairo and the Defert on foot. This expedition and their return generally take them four or five years. When at Mecca, they receive from one of their countrymen (an

"That is, that they had taken that time to perform the journey.", ..

African

African Moor) who has fome eminent office there, a large kacuk, or high turban, marked with his feal, which they ever after wear on their heads, or carry on their shoulders, to show their countrymen that they have a right to the refpect and esteem ufually paid in Mahometan countries to the character of a pilgrim. Some of thefe, in undertaking this perilous journey, had in view merely their own fpiritual advantage; others were proxies for their friends or mafters, to whom they would carry back a paff. port for eternal life in return for a competence in this :-that they have a king or fultan, whofe name is Abderrachman, and who refides in the capital, which is called Tendelde, and which they defcribe as being fo large, that to go round it on foot is a journey of fix days. Drawing on the fand a kind of map of their country, which they defcribed as a plain furrounded on all fides by very high mountains, they placed to the weft of the capital, Maafy, Souron, and Teyer,-to the fouth, Kioné and Towala-to the east, Zamiel and Koodi,to the north, Kincoma, Abouhouman, and Kobra. The principal caravan which paffes through their country comes from Kub-Kubbé, and proceeds as far as Koodi: their flaves come from Darfour and the weftward. The chief productions of the foil are durra and Doehl, the latter the most abundant. The fun they call Doulé, and the moon Doual. Their arms confift of a long lance pointed with iron, a bow and arrows, and an iron crow, with a hook. They wear an iron coat of mail, and their horfes are armed in war with a complete covering of coarfe woollen cloth, to protect them from the arrows of the enemy, and which is alfo put upon their feet, to prevent their being heard at night. They have a few date and domm trees, and a plant called Delib, which they ufe as tobacco for fmoking. Buffalo flesh is their common food, which they drefs by laying it on a tone, and lighting a fire over it. They are very black, but not of the darkeft hue, and have much of the Guinea Negro Countenance; their hair fhort and curly, but not woolly.

When we made our fecond vifit to Elfi Bey, we found him encamped about a league above his firft pofition at Schiment Elwah, in a diftrict called Debodé. This name is given to a narrow flip of cultivable land on each fide of the Defert, varying from 50 to 500 yards in breadth. The Doura we found just ripe; barley had been fown about ten days, for which the foil had beerr divided into small fquares, for the convenience of watering from the channels which furrounded them. We found that the river, at this distance above the cataracts, had already fallen fix-andthirty feet, though at Affouan the fall was not yet of more than 15 feet. The river was about a quarter of a mile broad, with a current "deep, majestic, fmooth, and ftrong," uninterrupted by rocks, and forming a ftriking contraft with the turbulence below. In the few villages we paffed, the people were civil, offered us

youurt,

youurt, and faluted us cordially with the Salam aleikoumHealth be to you! As all the male inhabitants were at work in the fields, the women would rush from their cottages, built of mud bricks, or loofe ftones, to ftare at us: thefe were unveiled, but had a kind of hood which they could draw over their faces as pleafure. The right noftril was pierced with a brass ring, and they were laden with necklaces, and bracelets of beads, shells, and fmall bones. Their hair dreffed in front and at the fides in Small fhort ringlets, plaistered with butter or other greafe.

"We found the Bey fitting on the ground at the door of his tent, giving directions to three or four of the Bichâre Arabs, who were attendant on his camp, and whom he used as scouts and fpies. He feemed to treat them with much condefcenfion, and it was evident that he confidered himself as very dependent on them for his fafety and fubfiftence. They wore a long ftraight fword, which they held in both hands behind their backs: fome had for fhoes a piece of thick leather tied under the fole of their feet; but they were in general bare-footed, and their only clothing a plain coarfe linen thirt, which reached to the knees. With this light apparel it was natural that the first remark they made on us the firit Europeans they had ever feen, fhould be on our fuper Buous drefs, our gold buttons, our hats, and other parts of our cloathing, fo frange to them. In return, however, we were forprifed to find the drefs of their hair the original of what appears fuch a very extraordinary projection on both fides of the head of the great sphinx near the pyramids of Gizeh: this is more or lefs common among all the original inhabitants immediately fouth of the Cataracts, and is fimply the fide hair. frizzed out very thick, and ftiffened with greafe. They are, like all other Arabs, extremely greedy of money, the end of their activity, ingenuity, parfimony, and cunning-qualities they chiefly excel in. While we were talking with them, they were in the attitude of darting from us, as if to run for a wager; and as foon as they had received a final prefent, they difappeared in an instant, to advance three or four days journey into the Defert, and bring the Bey news of the arrival of the fummer caravan. The profpect of impofing on it a heavy contribution for the grant of a free paffage, being his principal confolation for being driven fo far to the fouth, away from the refources and wealth of Egypt."

P. 24

"Our conversations with the Bey were carried on by the affiftance of a Greek, high in his confidence and fervice, known there by the name of Ibrahim Kiachef: he was one of three brothers, natives of Zante, braziers by trade, who came to Egypt as adventurers; and being naturally endowed with the quickness and fpirit of Zantiotes, they foon gained the confidence of Murat

"A preparation of milk peculiar to the Levant, and a very favourite food with Turks and Arabs of all ranks.””