could preserve Next day I saw

my gravity; so I took my leave. nothing of him; but the third morning, at the dawn, he was at my bedside; he had a bundle of books in one hand, and some rags in the other. "I am ready for Cairo," said he; "but ah, if the Bishop should meet me!" I wanted him to remain till I came back to Thebes from Nubia. No, no," he exclaimed, "I would not face the Bishop for a million of piastres!"

In a couple of days I purpose setting out for Nubia; perhaps, on my return, I may be able to give your Ladyship some more interesting information than this letter contains; in the meantime,

I have the honour to be

Your Ladyship's obedient Servant,

R. R. M.

LETTER XXX.

TO M. MONTEFIORE, ESQ.

MY DEAR SIR,

Damietta, April 15, 1827.

THOUGH the distance from Thebes to Assouan, the last town in Egypt, is only one hundred and seventy-five miles, our voyage occupied seven days. The first remarkable town we visited was Esnèh, the ancient Latopolis, forty miles from Thebes here we found the ruins of a splendid temple, whose portico is reckoned the finest specimen of Egyptian architecture. Denon considered the style of this monument as the purest he had seen in Egypt. The capitals are all different, and the diversity appears to increase the beauty of the whole.

On the ceiling of the portico there are the remains of a zodiac, which the French Savans calculated gave an antiquity to the building of six

REMAINS OF LATOPOLIS.

thousand years.

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Subsequent investigation has, however, invalidated this assertion of the French astronomers.

The walls of Elethias, which are all that remain, except the ruins of a small peripteral temple, are only a few hours distant from Esnèh. The walls enclose a space of three hundred and fifteen toises; their solidity is remarkable, and accounts for their surviving the city they were intended to defend. The adjoining mountain contains a number of sepulchres, the paintings on whose walls are extremely curious. Funeral processions are represented, in which women dance, and play several instruments, viz. ill shaped lyres and double pipes, precisely similar to those which the Arabs have now in use.

The various processes of agriculture are likewise represented, ploughs are drawn by men as well as by oxen; the sickle, whose use is now unknown in this neighbourhood, is seen; in short, the mode of living and of cultivating the soil of the ancient Egyptians, is to be learned in the tombs of Elethias, in as distinct a manner as the usages of the people of Pompeii are to be traced on the walls of their ancient houses.

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TEMPLE AT EDFOU.

At Edfou, which is about two and forty miles from Esnèh, we stopped a day to visit its celebrated temple. The situation of Edfou, the ancient Apollinopolis Magna, is beautiful; but the majesty of the finest temple in Egypt is insulted by a horde of filthy Arabs, who have made their miserable village on the roof, and who have blocked up the sanctuary with a dunghill: part of the splendid portico is converted into a stable, and the whole of the interior is so filled up with rubbish that it is deemed impossible to enter. An old man, to whom I gave some medecine, informed me there was a secret passage under ground, which no Frank was made acquainted with, because hidden treasures were deposited there! I of course became deeply interested in the health of my old gentleman and of all his family; and in return for my courtesy, he consented to show me the passage, provided I carried none of the hidden gold away. Considerably below the surface of the adjoining buildings he pointed out to me a chink in an old wall, which he told me I should creep through on my hands and feet; the aperture was not two feet and a half high, and scarcely

TEMPLE AT EDFOU.

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three feet and a half broad; my companion had the courage to enter first, thrusting in a lamp before him, I followed, and after me the son of the old man crept also; the passage was so narrow, that my mouth and nose were sometimes completely buried in the dust, and I was nearly suffocated. After proceeding about ten yards in utter darkness the heat became excessive, breathing was laborious, the perspiration poured down my face, and I would have given the world to have got out; but my companion, whose person I could not distinguish, though his voice was audible, called out to me to crawl a few feet farther, and that I should find plenty of space. I joined him at length, and had the inexpressible satisfaction of standing once more on my feet, commiserating, for the first time in my life, the unfortunate serpent, who has to perambulate on his belly till doomsday. We found ourselves in a splendid apartment of great magnitude, adorned with sacred paintings and hieroglyphics; several rows of pillars supported the painted ceiling, and the plynth of the capitals I found by measurement exceeded that of the columns at Esnèh.