Alexandira, Delta, Suez Isthmus

HANDBOOK FOR EGYPT= AND THE SUDAN.

EDITED BY

H. R. HALL, M.A., F.R.G.S.,

Assistant in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum.

ELEVENTH EDITION,

REVISED, LARGELY RE-WRITTEN, AND AUGMENTE= D.

WITH 58 MAPS AND PLANS.

LONDON: EDWARD ST= ANFORD,

12, 13, 14, LONG ACRE, W.C.

1907.

MAP [NOT INCLUDED IN THE SCAN - PROBABLY WAS A FOLD OUT MAP]

HANDBOOK FOR EGYPT= AND THE SUDAN.

SECTION I.

ALEXANDRIA, THE DELTA, AND THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ.

Route

1. Alexandria 1

2. The North-Western Delta: Alexandria to Rosetta 28

3. The Western Delta: Alexandria to Damanhûr, Tanta, Benha ard Cairo 30

4. The Eastern Delta: Cairo to Zagazîg, Ismaîlîya, Port Sa&icir= c;d and Suez 38

5. Suez = to Port Saîd by= the Canal 49

6. The North-Eastern Delta: = Cairo and Zagâzig to Es-Salhîya, Tanis, Lake Menzâla ard Mansûra 71

7. The Central Delta: Cairo to the Barrage, Benha, Mansûra, Damietta, and Lake = Menzâla 76

8. The Northern Delta: Cairo and Tanta to Desûk, Mansûra, <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Damietta, and Lake Bûrlos 81

ROUTE 1.

Alexandria<= /st1:City>.

1. The Approach from the Sea 1

2. History and Topography 4

3. Population 9

4. Ancient Buildings and Monum= ents 10

5. Present Remains of Ancient Alexandria 15

6. Modern Alexandria 18

7. Drives and Excursions 23

Landing. - (For = routes from Europe and America to = Alexandria see Int= roduction, Section I.). Since the completion of the new quays, passenger steame= rs come alongside a spacious quay in close proximity to the New Custom House, where= public carriages and omnibuses from the Hotels are to be obtained. The carriage ta= kes the passenger and baggage to the inspection-room of the Custom House, and will = be found waiting at the further door. The charge for a carriage to the town, or railway station, for 2 or 3 persons, is P.T. 5 or 8, luggage extra; and for omnibus P.T. 5 each person, luggage included. All baggage will be examined = at the Custom House, which is now in charge of English officials, and a visit = may have to be paid to the office of the Medical Officer of Health, if quaranti= ne is in vogue. For customs duties, &c., see p. [6].

1. The Approac= h from the Sea.

From whichever side it is approached the = coast of Egypt is so exceedingly low that the highest parts only begin to be seen= at the distance of

2 ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

about 18 miles, and the line of the coast itse= lf is not discernible till within 13 or 14. The first objects perceived are the lighthouse at the extremity of the Râs-et-Tîn ("Cape of Figs"), and the palace beyond= , Pompey's Pillar, the ruined forts, the range of low hills to the W. crowned with windmills, the masts of the shipping in the harbour, and the breakwater.

The Bay of Alexa= ndria was originally about 6 1/2 English miles long, lying within a line of reefs and islands running S.W. a= nd N.E., at an extreme distance of 1 1/2 m. from the shore. Alexander's Heptastadium divided it into two unequal parts, of which the eastern portion formed the ancient Grand Harbour, called now the "New Port," and = is only used by native craft, on account of its being shallow and rocky. The western portion, 15 m. long, includes the modern port, called anciently the "Eunostos Harbour," and now the West Harbour, which, by the addition of= the fine breakwater built in 1871-3, is 2 m. in length. At Eunostos Point, the extreme end of Râs-et-Tîn, on E. or left side on entering, is t= he lighthouse built by Mohammed Ali, with a 26-second revolving light, 180 ft. above sea-level, and visible 20 miles off, placed in it by Ismaîl Pas= ha.

The West Harbour<= /st1:PlaceType> is divided into two unequal portions by a mole 3700 ft. long, projecting at right angles from the ancient foreshore in the direction of Râs-ot-T&= icirc;n point. The inner portion, containing the quays and permanent moorings for b= oth war and mercantile vessels, is 1/2 m. in length with an average depth of 30= ft. The outer portion, 1 1/2 m. in extent, has an average depth of 60 ft. This depth, however, is confined to that portion which lies between the foreshore and a line drawn from the end of the mole to the end of the breakwater. The large area between this line and the breakwater has only a depth of from 12= to 20 ft. The Breakwater forms a = conspicuous feature immediately on entering the harbour. It starts 22 yds. from Eunostos Point, bears S.W. for about 1220 yds., t= hen nearly S.S.W. for 1980 yds., having a total length of 3200 yds. =

The southern end carries a lighthouse 30 = ft. above sea-level, and is about 1000 yds. from the shore, with about 10 fathoms water between. B= oth the breakwater and the inner works of the new port were constructed by an English firm, Messrs. Greenfield and Co., during 1870-80. The breakwater it= self was commenced in the summer of 1871, and was practically finished in 1873. = It is composed of nearly 27,000 blocks of concrete, or artificial stone, weigh= ing 20 tons each, laid "pierre perdue," offering to the sea= a rugged slope which effectually breaks up the waves and affords calm water inside. The inner slope is covered with 55,000 tons of rubble stone, and 85= ,000 tons of quarry blocks, from 2 to 6 tons each. It is 20 ft. wide at the top,= and 10 ft. above sea-level.

As the vessel approaches the shore, the s= trip of land is soon between the sea and Lake Mareotis upon which are the abando= ned Forts and Lines of Meks, Forts Kamaria and Umm el-Kubeba; the quarries of M= eks, from which the stone was brought for constructing the breakwater and quays; and, at the western extremity of the bay, the forts of Adjemi and Marabout,= in the little cove near which Napoleon landed his troops in the night of 1st J= uly, 1798, marching upon Alexandria along the strip of land before us in the ear= ly morning. Farther to the westward stretch for miles the quarries from which = the stone was taken to build ancient Alexandria. The entrance to the harbour is closed by a reef, the passage through which = until lately was tortuous, unlighted,

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. - ALEXANDRIA. 3

and had only a depth of 25 ft. During 1891-9= 5 it has been straightened and deepened to 30 ft., with a width of 300 ft. throughout its length of 1/2 m. Its axis is also aligned by two lighthouses on the Mek= s shore 1/2 m. apart, so that large steamers can enter or leave the Port at any hou= r, night and day, and at all seasons of the year.

On rounding the end of the breakwater, the outer Harbour of 1300 acres is entered, of which 800 acres have from 6 to 10 fathoms of water. We see the = honeycombed hill, which formed the ancient Necropolis, crowned by the numerous windmills built by Napoleon for grinding corn for the garrison; and the now great har= bour mole, stretching about 1000 yds. from the southern shore, with the shipping lying at anchor inside, or alongside the 2 1/2 m. of stone quay, which can accommodate 25 steamers. A new stone jetty, 800 ft. in length by 75 ft. in width, which will accommodate 4 more steamers, is now completed.

The great Mole is more than 100 ft. wide at the top, is faced with large quarry blocks on = the sea-side, and with quay walls on the inner side: it was constructed in 40 f= t. of water, below which there was mud to a further depth of 30 ft., into whic= h the rubble stone, of which the body of the mole is formed, sank very considerab= ly during construction. A spur nearly 300 yds. long and 70 yds. wide at th= e top projects from the mole on the inner side. Railways (in connection with the network of the country) and roads are laid along the mole and the spur. The water area inside the mole is 500 acres, 250 acres of which are deep water.= The ancient island of Pharos forms the no= rthern boundary, while the modern town, on the site of the Heptastadium, with the warehouses on the south-eastern shore, forms nearly a semi-circle round the inner harbour. The conspicuous Fort Caffarelli, or K&oc= irc;m en-Nadura, was converted in 1882 into a Signal and Meteorological Station by the Port Administration. Ships are visible at from 20 to 25 m. off, and are= communicated with by the International code. A time-ball was at the same time establishe= d, and is dropped daily twice: First, at mean noon in the meridian of the Great Pyramid, when a gun is fired, this b= eing universal railway time in Egypt; Se= cond, at mean noon in the meridian of the Signal Station, this being for the purp= ose of enabling ships to rate their chronometers. There is an excellent view of= Alexandria from th= is point. Beyond the mole, as far as the Arsenal of Mohammed Ali, are more new quays, making with those of the mole a length of more than 2 m. The rise and fall of the sea in this part of the Mediterranean being but trifling, the i= nner harbour has all the advantages of a tidal dock without the labour, danger, = or loss of time attending the use of gates. A considerable area of valuable la= nd (about 70 acres, including mole and quays) has been added by the new works.= The reclamation between the quays and the old foreshore was made partly from th= e dredging for deepening the harbour, but mainly with material brought by railway and = by sea from the quarries at Meks.

The East or New Harbour, as already mentioned, is now only used by native sailing vessels, such as fruiterers' and fishing-boats, but from the end of the 15th cent. until Buonaparte's expedition in 1798 it w= as the only port which European ships were permitted to use. When the British quit= ted Egypt finally in 1803, a stipulation wan made that both East and West Harbours sh= ould be open to commerce. It was not, however, until the Mahmûdîya canal was constructed that the West

B 2

4 ROUTE 1. - <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

Harbour came into general use, and the Cu= stom House remained in the Eas= t Harbour until 1880.= A great improvement in the shore of the East Harbour, notorious for its foul odours arising from the numerous upon sewers which p= our into it from all parts of the town, is now being carried out. A sum of about £260,000 has been spent by the municipality in the construction of a = huge collecting sewer, 2 m. in length, around the shore of the East Harbour, from the Pharos to Chatby, emptying itself east of Silsila Point (ancient Lochias). To protect this collecting Sewer-pipe about 100 metres of the sea= all round the bay are being reclaimed, and a sea-wall, having a minimum depth of water of 8 ft. on its sea-side, is being constructed. A fine Boulevard, 130= ft. in width and 2 m. in length, will be left free on the town side of the wall= for promenade, public gardens, &c., and the rema= ining space utilised for building purposes. Twelve thousand pounds per annum have already been set aside as interest and sinking fund to carry out this great= and important work for the sanitation and embellishment of the city.

The Custom House is on the New Quay, from which a good street leads to the Place M= ohammed Ali, which may be regarded as the centre of the town. This road, though eas= ier, is not so picturesque as the way from the Old Cu= stom House, which was near the Arsenal at the N.E. corner of the harbour. The la= tter way lies through the narrow and irregular streets of the native quarter, in which the houses appear as if thrown together by chance, without plan or or= der; and few have even that Oriental character which is so interesting at Cairo. Here and th= ere, however, the lattice-work of the windows and a few Saracenic arches give the streets a picturesque appearance; and in the longer but more interesting ro= ad through the bazaars, which can only be followed on foot, the stranger will = be struck with many a novel and Eastern scene.

2. History and Topography.

Alexandri= a, called Iskenderîa by the Egyptians, Alessandria di Egitto by the Italians, was founded B.C. 332 on = the site of a small town called Rakôtis, by the great conqueror after whom it received its name. The native name was maintained as Rakoti throughout the Ptolemaic and Roman periods by the Egyptians, and by the Christian Copts well on into the= Middle Ages. The invading Arabs modified the Greek name in accordance with their pronunciation of the name of Alexander the Great, Iskenderia or Sikander Dhu'l-Karnên ("Alexander of the Two Horns"), to Iskenderîa. This name is now= used by Copts as well as Muhammedans, the old name Rakoti being entirely forgotten.

Its commodious harbour and other local re= commendations rendered Rakotis a convenient spot for the site of a commercial city, and i= ts advantageous position could not fail to strike the penetrating mind of the = son of Philip. It promised to unite Europe, Arabia, and India, to be the rival or successor of Tyre, and to become the emporium of the world.

The Mediterranean<= /st1:place> was not much used by the Pharaohs for maritime purposes connected either wi= th war or commerce, until the enterprise or the hostility of strangers began to suggest its importance. Even then the jealousy, or the caution, of the Egyp= tians forbade foreign merchants to enter any other than the Canopic, of all the s= even branches

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. - ALEXANDRIA. 5

of the Nile; and Naukratis was to them what the factories of a Chinese port were so long to European traders. Ships of war, however, had been fitted out upon the Medit= erranean, as well as on the Red Sea, even in the a= ge of the XVIII. Dynasty; and in after-times an expedition was sent against Cyprus = by Apries, who also defeated the Tyrians in a naval combat.

MAP OF ANCIENT ALEXANDRIA

After his conquest of Syria Alexander adv= anced into Egypt, and, by the

6 ROUTE 1. - <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

taking of <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Memphis, secured to himself the possess= ion of the whole country. While at Memphis he con= ceived the idea of visiting the = temple of Jupiter Ammon in= the African desert; and with this view he descended the river to the sea. He th= en followed the coast westward from Canopus u= ntil, his attention being struck with a spot opposite the Isle of Pharos, he stop= ped to examine its position and the advantages it offered as a naval station, a= nd lost no time in making arrangements for the building of a new city. It had been occasionally used= as a refuge for ships at a very remote period, and Homer had mentioned it as a watering-place at the time of the Trojan war.

According to Strabo, the Egyptian kings, = seeing that it was a spot frequented by foreigners, and particularly by Greeks, and being averse to the admission of strangers (who were then frequently pirate= s), stationed a garrison there, and assigned to them as a permanent abode the <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">village of Rakô= ;tis, which was afterwards part of A= lexandria.

Pliny, in speaking of the foundation of <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Alexandria, says it was "built by Alexander the= Great on the African coast, 12 miles from the Canopic mouth of the Nile, on the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Mareotic Lake, which was formerly called Arapotes. Deinochares, an architect of great celebrity, laid down the plan, resembling the shape of a Macedonian mantle, with a circular border full of plaits, and projecting into corners on the right and left; the fifth part of its site being even then dedicated to the palace." This architect is b= etter known by the name of Deinokrates, and is the same who rebuilt the famous te= mple of Ephesus, after its destruction by Eratostratos, and who had previously p= roposed to Alexander to cut Mount Athos into a statue of the king, holding in one h= and a city of 10,000 inhabitants, and from the other pouring a copious river in= to the sea.

Ancient Alexandria was divided into sections, among the principal of which were the -

(= a) Regia, or <= st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Royal City, afterwards called Brucheion. It was walled in, and occupied a fourth or eve= n a third part of the city. In it stood the royal palaces a= nd public buildings. It was situated on the mainland between the Lochias and t= he Heptastadium.

(= b) Rakôtis, chiefly inhabited by Egyptians; it was situated "above the ships' magazines."

(= c) The Jews' Quarter. E. of Lochias.

(d) The Nekropolis, or city of the = dead. It lay to the extreme W. of= the city, and contained "gardens, tombs, and establishments for embalming bodies."

(= e) Nikapolis, which was E. from the C= anopic gate, and was practically a suburb of Alexandria.

The area of ancient Alexandria, with its three suburbs, Nekropolis, Nikopolis, and <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Eleusis, is said to have equalled 25 sq= . k., and to have contained 300,000 souls in the 1st century B.C. It was adorned = with the arts of Greece and= the wealth of Egypt; its s= chools of learning far outshone anything that Heliopolis had ever boasted of, and Thebes and Memphis in their p= almiest days had never presented so much luxury and magnificence.

There are many accounts, among the classic writers, of Alexandria and its buildings. The following extract from Strabo presents a picture of = the town when in the height of its glory. Writing in 24 B.C., the historian say= s:

"Part of the palace is called the Mu= seum. It has corridors, a court, and a very large mansion, in which is the banque= ting-room of those learned men who belong to it. This society has a public treasury, = and is superintended by a president, one of the priesthood, whose office, havin= g been established by the Ptolemies, continues under Caesar.

"Another portion of the= Palace is called Sôma ('the body= '), which contains within its circuit the tombs of the kings and of Alexander. = For Ptolemy, the

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 7

son of Lagos, took the body of Alexander from Perdikkas, while on its removal from Babylon, and having carried it to Egypt buried it at = Alexandria, where it still remains. But= it is no longer in the same coffin; for the present one is of glass, and the original, which was of gold, was stolen by Ptolemy surnamed Kokkes and Pare= isaktos, though his immediate fall prevented his benefiting by the robbery.

"On the light as you sail into the g= reat harbour are the island and tower of Pharos; on the l= eft, rocks and the promontory of Lochias, where the palace stands; and as you advance on the left, contiguous to the buildings at the Lochias are the inn= er palace, which have various compartments and groves. Below them is a secret = and closed port, belonging exclusively to the kings, and the Isle of Antirrhodo= s, which lies before the artificial port, with a palace and a small harbour. It has received this name as if it were a rival of Rhod= es. Above this is the theatre, then the Poseideion, a certain cove sweeping rou= nd from what is called the Emporium, with a temple of Poseidon<= /st1:PlaceName>. Antony, having made a mole In this part projecting still further into the p= ort, erected at its extremity a palace, which be named Timoneion. This he did at= the end of his career, when he had been deserted by his friends, after his misfortunes at Actium, and had retired to Alexandria, intending to lead a secluded life there and imitate the example of Timon. Beyond are the Caesareum (Kaisareion) and emporium (market), the recesses a= nd the docks extending to the Heptastadium. All the= se are in the great harbour.

"On the other side of the Heptastadi= um is the port of Eunostos; and above this is an artificial or excavated one, cal= led Kibôlos (the basin), which has also docks. A navigable canal runs int= o it from the lake Mareotis, and a small portion of t= he town extends beyond (to the W. of) this canal. Further on are the Nekropoli= s and the suburbs, where there are many gardens and tombs, with apartments set ap= art for embalming the dead. Within (to the E. of) the canal are the Serapeum an= d other ancient fanes, deserted since the erection of the temples at Nikopolis, whe= re also the amphitheatre and stadium are situated, and where the quinquennial games are celebrated; the old establishments being now in little repute. The city, indeed, to speak briefly, is filled with ornamental buildings and temples, the most beautiful of which is the Gymnasium, with porticoes in the interior, measuring upwards of a stade. There, too, are the courts of law a= nd the groves; and in this direction stands the Panion, an artificial height o= f a conical form, like a stone tumulus, with a spiral ascent. From its summit t= he whole city may be seen, stretching on all sides below.

"From the Nekropolis a street extend= s the whole way to the Canopic Gate, passing by the Gymnasium. Beyond are the Hippodrome and other buildings, reaching to the Canopic canal. After going = out (of the city) by the Hippodrome, you come to Nikopolis; built by the sea-si= de, not less than three stades distant from Alexandria. Augustus Caesar ornamented this place, in consequence of his having there defeated the partisans of Anto= ny, and captured the city in his advance from that spot."

Such was the Alexandria of the Ptolemies and Caesars= , but at the commencement of the third century its splendour and renown began to = wane, and all that we know of its history from that period is nothing but a sad picture of decay. Constant revolts - arising sometimes from political, sometimes from religious causes - necessitated severe measures of repressio= n, which gradually brought about its ruin. But notwithstanding the disasters to which it had been exposed, especially in the reigns of Aurelian and Theodos= ius, and the destruction of many of its most magnificent public buildings, it mu= st still have been a wonderful city when the Arab conqueror, 'Amr ibn al-Ast, took i= t, in A.D. 611, after a siege of 14 months; for that general, in his letter to= the Khalîf Omar,

8 ROUTE 1. - <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

informing him of the conquest he had made= , says that he had found there 4000 palaces, a like number of baths, 400 places of= amusement, and 12,000 gardens, and that one quarter alone was occupied by 40,000 Jews.=

The commerce of Alexandria, which was the= great source of its wealth, had been declining for some time, but after this great conquest it decreased so rapidly, and the city consequently shrank so much = in size and importance, that towards the end of the 9th cent. Ahmad-ibn-T&ucir= c;lûn pulled down the old walls, and built new ones of an extent more adapted to = the city's diminished limits. What little prosperity it still enjoyed was put an end to by the discovery of the Cape route to India; and the conquest of = Egypt by the Turks gave the final blow. In 1777 the traveller Savary estimated the Turkish population of Alexandr= ia at only 6000 souls, living in miserable dwellings, built on the Heptastadiu= m, the width of which had been gradually increased by the débris of the ancient city. The Arab part of the modern = city still occupies the same site. In the early part of the present century Alexandria and its neighbourhood was the scene of the conflict between France and England for supremacy in the East. Soon after Mohammed Ali began to rule Egypt he turned his attention to the restoration of its ancient capital, more especially with a view to the formation of a navy. New buildings sprang up = in every direction, the Frank quarter was developed, and such an impulse given= to the place in every way by him and his successors, that at the present day t= he population is reckoned at 320,000 souls. For the trade of Egypt itself, so rapidly incr= easing in importance and extent, it must ever remain the most natural and commodio= us emporium.

The construction of t= he breakwater and other improvements in the harbour of Alexandria have<= /span> had the effect of increasing its commercial importance. Up to 1882 its trade steadily improved, but the Rebelli= on of Arabi caused a temporary check to its progress. The massacre of a numbe= r of Europeans in Alexandria on the 11th of June, 1882, was the first serious act in the drama.

This was followed by preparations on the = port of the Egyptians to make the forts, which had been constructed in the reign= of the Khedive Ismaîl, more defensible. Under the actual circumstances, = this could only be taken as a direct menace to the English and French fleets, wh= ich had been sent to Egy= pt to protect English and French interests, menaced by the anti-foreign tenden= cy of Arabi's rebellion, and were lying in the harbour. During this time, i.e. between the 11th June and the= first week in July, all the Europeans, numbering some 60,000, left the city for <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Europe, with the exception of perhaps 300, who from= one cause or another elected to remain, some on steamers outside the harbour, others in the town. Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour obtained permission from = the English Government to open fire on the forts if he considered it necessary = to do so, and on the 9th July he sent an ultimatum to the Egyptian authorities= to the effect that if the work going on in certain forts was not stopped, he w= ould attack the forts. The French admiral did not join in this ultimatum, as his= squadron had been recalled by the French Government, which did not desire to proceed= to extremities - a very mistaken policy if French predominance was to be maint= ained in Egypt. This was proved by the event: the French withdrawal left the English free to act as they pleased, and laid the foundation of the present British rule in= Egypt. No satisfactory reply having been sent to the ultimatum, the English fleet steamed out of Alexandria on the 10th July, and opened fire, which lasted 10 hrs.= , on the forts the following morning. The Egyptians returned the fire with considerable vigour, but their guns were for the most part silenced before evening. The American men-of-war were the last to leave the harbour and the first to return, and rendered valuable service in garrisoning Alexandria with their bluejackets =

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 9

and marines. On the next day the Egyptian ga= rrison was withdrawn from Alexandria<= /st1:place> to Kafr Dowâr, and the city was handed over by Arabi to convicts who = were released from the Arsenal and set fire to the European buildings by throwing petroleum into the lower stories.

It is sometimes supposed that it was the = fire of the English fleet which set fire to Alexandria, but this is an error. The guns of the ships were aimed solely at the forts,= and very few shells fell into the town.

It was some time after the fire before Alexandria gained = its former position, but the payment of £4,000,000 by the Egyptian Govern= ment as indemnities to those whose property was destroyed, and the English occupation, have restored its former prosperity.=

3. Population.=

According to the account of Alexandria gi= ven by Polybius, the inhabitants were, in his time, of three kinds: 1, the Egyptia= ns, or people of the country, a keen and civilised race; 2, the mercenary troop= s, who were numerous and turbulent, and who, having arms in their hands, were = more ready to govern than to obey; and, 3, the Alexandrians, not very decidedly tractable, for similar reasons, but still better than the last; for, having= been mixed with and descended from Greeks who had settled there, they had not th= rown off the customs of that people. This part of the population was, however, dwindling away, more especially at the time when Polybius visited Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy Physkon; who, in consequence of some seditious proceedings, had attacked the people on several occasions with his troops, = and had destroyed great numbers of them. The successors of Physkon administered= the government as badly or even worse; and it was not till it had passed under = the dominion of the Romans that the condition of the city was improved.

The Alexandrians continued, even under the Romans, to manifest their turbulent character: and Trebellius Pollio tells = us they were "of so impetuous and headlong a disposition that on the most= trifling occasions they were enticed to actions of the most dangerous tendency to the republic. Frequently, on account of an omission of civilities, the refusal = of a place of honour at a bath, the sequestration of a ballad, or a cabbage, a slave's shoe, or other objects of like importance, they have shown such dangerous symptoms of sedition as to require the interference of an armed force. So general, indeed, was this tumultuous disposition that, when the s= lave of the then Governor of Alexandria happened to be beaten by a soldier for telling him that his shoes were better than the soldier's, a multitude immediately collected before the house of AEmilianus, the commanding office= r, armed with every seditious weapon, and using furious threats. He was wounde= d by stones; and javelins and swords were pointed at and thrown at him. " <= o:p>

The letter of Hadrian also gives a curiou= s and far from favourable account of this people in his time; which, though exten= ding to all the Egyptians, refers particularly to the Alexandrians, as we percei= ve from the mention of Serapis, the great deity of their city: "Hadrian Augustus to the Consul Servian, greeting: - I am convinced, my friend Servi= an, that all the inhabitants of Egypt, of whom you made honourable mention to m= e, are trifling, wavering, and changing at every change of public rumour. The worshippers of Serapis are Christians, and those who call themselves follow= ers of Christ pay their devotions to Serapis; every chief of a Jewish synagogue, every Samaritan, each Christian priest, the mathematicians, soothsayers, an= d physicians in the gymnasia, all acknowledge Serapis. The patriarch himself, whenever he goes into Egypt, is obliged by some to worship Serapis, by others Christ. The people are, of= all others, the most inclined to sedition, vain and insolent.

A

10 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

Alexandri= a is opulent, wealthy, populous, without an idle inhabitant. They have one go= d (Serapis), whom the Christians, Jews, and Gentiles worship. I could wish that the city= practised a purer morality, and showed itself worthy of its pre-eminence in size and dignity over the whole of Egypt. I have conceded to it every point; I have restored its ancient privileges, = and have conferred on it so many more that when I was there I received the than= ks of the inhabitants, and immediately on my departure they calumniated my son Verus. You have heard, too, what they said about Antoninus: I wish them no other curse than that they may be fed with their own chickens, which are hatched in a way I am ashamed to relate. I have forwarded to you three drinking-cups, which have the property of changing their colour."

Just as in former times, the inhabitants = are in appearance and character a mixed race. There are natives of the coast of Ba= rbary and all parts of Egypt, Turks, Albanians, Syrians, Greeks, Jews, Copts, and Armenians, and the Euro= pean settlers, chiefly Greeks and Italians, are so much in evidence that Alexandria seems a= lmost as much European as Oriental.

The population of = Alexandria, which, from perhaps nearly = half a million in the days of the Ptolemies and the Caesars, had diminished at the= end of the last century to 6000, has been very rapidly recovering its numbers u= nder Mohammed Ali and his successors. It now amounts to upwards of 320,000, of w= hom about 60,000 are Europeans, chiefly Greeks, Italians, French, and English. = The Greeks far outnumber the rest.

4. Ancient Buildings and Monum= ents.

The Pharos, once one of the seven wonders of the world, was = the well-known tower or lighthouse, whose name continues to be applied to simil= ar structures to the present day. It stood on a rock close to the N.E. extremi= ty of the island of the same name, with which it communicated by means of a wa= ll near the position of the large castle, now known as = Fort Pharos. It was a square building of white marble, several stories high; each succes= sive story diminished in size towards the top, and had a gallery running round it supported on the outer circle of the story beneath; the staircases inside w= ere of such a gentle incline that horses and chariots could easily ascend them;= a peculiarity of which the round tower of the Castle of Amboise in France presents a similar instance. The cost is said to have been 800 talents, whi= ch, if reckoned in Attic money, is about £155,000 sterling, or double that sum if computed by the talent of Alexandria. It was built by order of Ptolemy Philadephos, and bore the following inscription: - "Sostratos of Knidos, the son of Deixiphanes, to the Saviour Gods, for those who travel by sea."

The island on which the Pharos stood was = joined to the shore by a large causeway, called, from its length of seven stadia, = the Heptastadion. This causeway was s= imilar to that of Tyre; and though, by connecting the island with the shore, it formed a separation= between the two ports, it did not cut off all communication from one to the other, = two bridges being left for this purpose, beneath which boats and small vessels might freely pass. As the Heptastadion served for an aqueduct as well as a = road to the Pharos, it is probable that the openings were arched; and the mentio= n of these passages satisfactorily accounts for the difference of name applied to the causeway by ancient writers; some, as Strabo, calling it a mole, and ot= hers a bridge, connecting the Pharos with the town. The form of the Heptastadion= is no longer perceptible, on account of the accumulations of silt on either si= de, which

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 11

have turned it into an isthmus. It might now = be represented by a line drawn from the Rue Anastasi on the N. side of the Signal Station = Hill to where the Arsenal St. and Râs-et-Tîn= Palace St. meet. The Pharos is supposed to have been destroyed by earthquake in 1203 A. D. Its ruins are still visible beneath t= he sea on a clear calm day beyond the present Fort Kâit Bey, from which a li= ght was displayed from 1517 till 1841, when the Râs-et-Tîn lighthou= se was finished.

The Museum, situated in the Brucheion quarter, founded by Ptolemy Soter, was a noble in= stitution, which tended greatly to the renown of Alexandria, and from which issued those men of learning who have so many claims on the = gratitude and admiration of posterity. It was to this school of philosophy that the o= nce renowned college of Heliopolis transferred its reputation; and that= venerable city, which had been the resort of the sages of Ancient Greece, ceded to Alexandria the hon= our of being the seat of learning and the repository of the "wisdom of the Eg= yptians."

Science, literature, and every branch of philosophy continued to flourish there for many a generation; foreigners repaired thither to study and profit by "the instruction of every kind= for which its schools were established"; and the names of Euclid, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Ctesibius, and the elder and younger Herôn,= Clemens, Origen, Athanasius, Ammonius, Theôn, and his daughter Hypatia, shed a brilliant lustre over the Greek capital of Egypt.

To its strictly secular character as a Gr= eek philosophical institution, entirely unconnected with either the ancient Egyptian or Christian religions, may perhaps be attributed the fact that, notwithstanding the wild farrago of nonsense which at one time encumbered t= he speculations of Alexandrian philosophy, its schools of astronomy, geology, physic, and various branches of science, maintained their reputation till t= he period of the Arab conquest.

According to Strabo, it was a very large building, attached to the palace, surrounded by an exterior peristyle, or corridor, for walking; and it is probable that the philosophers frequently taught beneath this covered space, as in the stoa of Athens, or in the grove of Academus. It= is difficult now to point out with any precision its exact site, but it probably stood o= n a spot exactly opposite to the Khedivial Hotel. When the foundations were dug= for a building in 1884 these ruins were visible, but are now covered up with the new buildings.

Attached to the Museum was the famous Lib= rary, also founded by Ptolemy Soter, and to which so many additions were made by = his successor, Ptolemy Philadelphos, that already, at the death of the latter, = it contained no less than 100,000 vols.

No pains were spared in adding to this collection. A copy of every known work was reputed to be deposited there, a= nd it was amongst them that the Septuagint translation of the Bible, made by o= rder of Ptolemy Philadelphos, was placed. All books brought into the country wer= e seized and sent to the Library; and as soon as they had been transcribed, the copies were returned to the owners= , the originals being deposited in the Library. Ptolemy Euergetes even went so fa= r as to borrow the works of AEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides from the Athenia= ns, and only returned the copies he had caused to be transcribed in as beautifu= l a manner as possible, presenting them, in lieu of the originals, 15 talents, = or about £2906 sterling.

The Library of the Museum was unfortunate= ly destroyed during the war of Julius Caesar with the Alexandrians. For, in or= der to prevent his aggressors cutting off his communication with the sea, being obliged to set fire to the Egyptian, or, as Plutarch says, his own, fleet, = the flames accidentally caught some of the houses on the port, and, spreading thence to the quarter of the Bruchium, burnt the Library, and threatened destruction to the whole of the Museum and the adjoining buildings. The Mus= eum itself escaped, but the

12 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

famous Library, consisting of 400,= 000 volumes, which had cost so much trouble and expense for ages to collect, was lost for ever with its priceless literary treasures, and also many works mo= re or less valuable whose existence may even be unknown to us.

The Serapeum, or Serapeion, was founded by P= tolemy Soter, as reported by Plutarch and others, for the reception of the statue = of Serapis, a foreign deity whose worship was introduced from Sinope. It stood= in all probability on the hill which is now crowned by Pompey's Pillar (see p. 16), in that part of the city which had formerly seen occupied by Rakô= ;tis, the predecessor of Alexandria, and was embellished with such magnificence t= hat Ammianus Marcellinus pronounces it unequalled by any building in the world, except the Capitol at Rome. It appears not only to have contained the templ= e of the deity, but to have consisted, like the Museum, of several distinct part= s, such as a library and peristylar halls, adorned with beautiful works of art= .

The Serapeum existed long after the introduction of Christianity into Egypt, as the last hold of the Pagans of Alexandria, and it continued to be their chief resort until it was finally demolished by order of Theodosius, A.D. 3= 89, when the votaries of the Cross entirely subverted the ancient religion of <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Egypt. = The building and its destruction are thus described by Gibbon. The temple of Se= rapis, "which rivalled the pride and magnificence of the Capitol, was erected= on the spacious summit of an artificial mound, raised one hundred steps above = the level of the adjacent parts of the city; and the interior cavity was strong= ly supported by arches, and distributed into vaults and subterraneous apartmen= ts. The consecrated buildings were surrounded by a quadrangular portico; the stately halls, the exquisite statues, displayed the triumph of the arts; and the treasures of ancient learning were preserved in the famous Alexandrian library, which had arisen with new splendour from its ashes."

But in progress of time the animosity of = the Christians was directed against this edifice; "the pious indignation o= f Theophilus" could no longer tolerate the honours paid to Serapis; "and the insults which he offered to an ancient chapel of Bacchus convinced the Pagans that = he meditated a more important and dangerous enterprise. In the tumultuous capi= tal of Egypt the slightest provocation was sufficient to inflame a civil war. The votari= es of Serapis, whose strength and numbers were much inferior to those of their antagonists, rose in arms at the instigation of the philosopher Olympius, w= ho exhorted them to die in defence of the altars of the gods. These Pagan fana= tics fortified themselves in the temple, or rather fortress, of Serapis; repelled the besiegers by daring sallies and a resolute defence; and, by the inhuman cruelties which they exercised on their Christian prisoners, obtained the l= ast consolation of despair. The efforts of the prudent magistrate were usefully exerted for the establishment of a truce, till the answer of Theodosius sho= uld determine the fate of Serapis. The two parties assembled without arms in the principal square; and the imperial rescript was publicly read. But when a sentence of destruction against the idols of Alexandria was pronounced the Christian= s set up a shout of joy and exultation, whilst the unfortunate Pagans, whose fury= had given way to consternation, retired with hasty and silent steps, and eluded= , by their flight or obscurity, the resentment of their enemies. Theophilus proceeded to demolish the temple of Serapis without any other difficulties = than those which he found in the weight and solidity of the materials; but these obstacles proved so insuperable that be was obliged to leave the foundation= s, and to content himself with reducing the edifice itself to a heap of rubbis= h, a part of which was soon afterwards cleared away to make room for a church, erected in honour of the Christian martyrs.... The colossal statue of Serap= is was involved in the ruin of his temple and religion. A great number of plat= es of different metals, artificially joined together, composed the majestic

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 13

figure of the deity, who touched o= n either side the walls of the sanctuary. The huge idol was overthrown and broken to= pieces, and the parts of Serapis were ignominiously dragged through the streets of = Alexandria." =

The Library of the Serapeum was scarcely less famous than that of the Museum. Of the 700,000 volumes of which the Alexandrian library as a whole consisted, 300,= 000 were lodged in the Serapeum. This number included the 200,000 volumes belon= ging to the kings of Pergamos, and presented to Cleopatra by Mark Antony. It was= to prevent the increase of the Pergamos library that Ptolemy Epiphanos forbade= the exportation of the Egyptian papyrus on which the volumes contained in it we= re written, whereupon "the copiers employed by Eumenos, king of Pergamos, wrote their books upon sheepskins, which were called Charta Pergamena, or parchment, from the name of the city in which they were written. Thus our o= wn two words, parchment, from Pergamos, and paper, from papyrus, remain as monuments of the rivalry in bookmaking between the two kings.&quo= t;

The collection in the Serapeum was also e= xposed to severe losses at a subsequent period, during the troubles that occurred under the Roman Empire, when many of the books are supposed to have been destroyed, particularly at the time when the Serapeum was attacked by the Christians: and Orosius says he was at that time a witness of its empty shelves. We may, however, conclude that these losses were afterwards in some degree repaired, and the number of its volumes still further increased, tho= ugh later contributions were probably not of the same importance as those of an= earlier period; and Gibbon goes so far as to suppose that, if the library was reall= y destroyed by 'Amr, its contents were confined to the productions of an age when relig= ious controversy constituted the principal occupation of the Alexandrians. "= ;And," adds the historian, "if the ponderous mass = of Arian and Monophysite controversy were indeed consumed in the public baths,= a philosopher may allow, with a smile, that it was ultimately devoted to the = benefit of mankind." But, notwithstanding the injuries sustained by the Serape= um during those tumults which ruined so many of the monuments of Alexandria - which converted every public building into a citadel, and subjected the who= le city to the horrors of internal war - many, doubtless, of the ancient volum= es still remained within its precincts; and the Khalif Omar will for ever bear= the odium of having devoted to destruction that library whose numerous volumes = are said to have sufficed for six months for the use of the 4000 baths of this immense city.

It is related of John the Grammarian, the= last disciple of Ammonius, surnamed Philoponus from his laborious studies of gra= mmar and philosophy, that, having been admitted to the friendship of 'Amr, the lieutenant of the Khalif Omar, he took advantage of his intimacy with the A= rab general to intercede for the preservation of the library of the captured ci= ty, which "alone, among the spoils of Alexandria, had not been appropriate= d by the visit and the seal of the conqueror. 'Amr was inclined to gratify the w= ish of the grammarian, but his rigid integrity refused to alienate the minutest object without the consent of the Khalif; and the answer of Omar, inspired = by the ignorance of a fanatic, 'If these writings of the Greeks agree with the= Book of God they are useless, and need not be preserved; if they disagree they a= re pernicious, and ought to be destroyed,'" doomed them to destruction. S= uch was the sentence said to have been pronounced by the impetuous Omar. The Moslems, however, to this day deny its truth; and Gibbon observes that &quo= t;the solitary report of a stranger (Abulpharagius) who wrote at the end of 600 years, on the confines of Media, is overbalanced by the silence of two anna= lists of a more early date, both Christians, both natives of Egypt, and the most = ancient of whom, the patriarch Eutychus, has amply described the conquest of Alexandria." But the admission of some Arab writers, cited by the lear= ned

14 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

De Sacy in his notes on Abd el-Latî= f, seems to confirm the truth of Omar's vandalism; the authorities of Makr&ici= rc;zi and Abd el-Latîf are of considerable weight, notwithstanding the sile= nce even of contemporary Christian annalists: and whilst we regret the destruct= ion of this library, we may wish that the capture of Alexandria had happened ha= lf or a whole century later, when, instead of destroyers, the Arabs became preservers of ancient literature.

The Caesareum (Kaisareion), or temple of Caes= ar, the site of which was close to the spot now occupied by the Ramleh Rly. Sta= t, (part of it is now under the sea), was commenced by Cleopatra in honour probably of Mark Antony. It received the name of Caesareum in honour of the Emperor Augustus, during whose reign it was finished. It was also called th= e Sebasteum, or temple of Augustus<= /st1:PlaceName>, and was dedicated to his worship.

Philo of Alexandria in 60 A.D. described = the temple as being of unparalleled splendour, "facing a secure harbour fi= lled with votive offerings, consisting of pictures and statues of gold and silve= r, and surrounded by a vast enclosure containing priestly residences, a librar= y, sacred grove, propylae, and large apartments open to the air, all richly ornamented." The Caesareum became a Christian Cathedral in the reign o= f Constantine (324-3= 37 A.D.), was burnt by the troops of Constantius II., restored in 365 A.D., and completely destroyed by the Pagans during the reigns of Valentinian and Val= ens. Athanasius rebuilt it in 368 A.D., and it continued to be the cathedral chu= rch of the Patriarch of Alexandria until the Arab invasion in 640. It was on the steps of the Caesareum that the beautiful and learned Pagan lady Hypatia was murdered by the fanatical Christian populace in 415 A.D. (See Kingsley's fa= mous description of this murder in his 'Hypatia.') Within the precincts of the C= aesareum stood two obelisks known as "Cleopatra's Needles" (see p. 15).

Near the same spot was the Palace of the Kings, on the point called Lochias, on the left of the Great= Harbour. This is now partly repres= ented by a shoal off the headland behind the modern Pharillon, which is, so to sp= eak, the stump of the ancient Lochias. The foundations of the palace were discov= ered in 1874, and "showed that its longitudinal axis lay in a line from the eastern extreme of the house nearest the Stat. on the sea side of the B. de Ramleh towards the Jewish Synagogue." The greater = part of the Inner Palaces, with the = Private Port and Antirrhodos, have subsided into the sea.

The Tombs of the Kings also stood in this district, in an enclosed space called t= he "Sôma." Here the Ptolemies were buried, as well as the foun= der of the city, whose body, having been brought to Egypt and kept at Memphis while the tomb was pre= paring, was taken thence to Alexandria= and deposited in the royal cemetery. Alexander's Tomb probably occupies the site over which now stands the Mosque of Sidi Lokman el-Hâkim, or Nebi Daniel, at Kôm ed-= Dikk (see p. 20). As it is the Viceregal family burying-ground it is impossible that excavations should be carried on there= and the supposition proved. The Panium= , or temple of Pan, described by Strabo as an artificial height, in the shape= of a top, resembling a stone mound, with a spiral ascent, and commanding a vie= w of the whole city, is probably now represented by Fort Kôm ed-Dikk. Tunn= els driven into the hill by Mr. Hogarth in 1895 revealed only massive brick constructions.

The Nekropolis on the W. was the only contiguous suburb of the city. It extended from the = sea to Lake <= st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Mareotis. It is now known as Gabb&= acirc;ri (p. 23). 3 1/2 km. from Pompey's Pillar, but probably originally extended to Meks.

The Gymnasium stood near the street which extended from the western or Nekropolis Gate to that on the Canopic or eastern side, which were distant from each other 40 stadia, the street being 100 ft. broad. It had porticoes of granite columns covering an immense space. Its actual site remains unknown.

Outside the modern walls, and at the extr= eme N.E. corner of the old city, was the Jew's Quarter, or Regio Judaeorum, separated from the Brucheion by

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 15

its own wall: and though not as extensive as= some would lend us to suppose, it was inhabited by a large population, governed = by its own Ethnarch, and enjoying great privileges granted at various times by= the Caesars. Its site was between the palaces and the modern tomb of Shêk= h Shaktbek, and near this is the Jewish cemetery at the present day.

Where the Rosetta Gate stood until 1886 i= s the eastern entrance of the large walled Saracen Circuit, which lies to the N.W. and S.E. of the modern town. Between 18= 30 and the present day large portions of it have been removed towards the W. a= nd N.W. to make room for the Grand Square, the cotton barns at Minet el-Bassal, &c, and the vast ditches have been filled in and built over. The site of the old Canopic Gate lay very much farther to the E. than the modern entran= ce on that side. Indeed, the circuit has been so much diminished that, the lat= ter stands on what was once part of the street leading to the Canopic Gate, whose site= was about half a mile farther to the

eastward. The wall of the ancient ci= ty, on that side, passed under the lofty mounds occupied by the French lines before the battle of Alexandria; and the remains of masonry, and the termination of the mounds of the town in that part, sufficiently show its position.

The four principal Gates of Alexandri= a were the Canopic on the E., the Nekropolis Gate on the W., and those of the= Sun and Moon at the two ends of the street that ran from the sea to the lake. L= ooking up this street, the ships in the Great Harbour were seen b= eyond the Gate of the Moon on one side, and those in the Mareotic port on the oth= er. The intersection of this street with one running at right angles to it from= E. to W. has been located.

The Island of Anti= rrhodos, the Poseideion, the Timoncion, the Emporium, the ports of = Eunostos and Kibblos the Nekropolis, have been described in Strabo's account given at pp. 6, 7. Antirrhodos, the Timoneion, and pier leading to it, have completely, disappeared under the s= ea, and so in all probability have the Poseideion and Emporium also.

5. Present Rem= ains of Ancient Alexandria<= /st1:place>.

[Excavations have been and are still being carried on in Alexandria, but the results have not been of great importance. The fact is that Ptolema= ic Alexandria has disappeared, either beneath the sea or to make way for Roman= buildings. What has been found of the Roman city cannot be said to be of great interes= t, and seems hardly worth the trouble and expense of excavation, which, owing = to the houses of the modern city and the infiltration of water, is carried on = only with great difficulty. The chief explorers of ancient Alexandria are the late Dr. Botti, keep= er of the Museum, and Mr. D. G. Hogarth; who worked here in 1895.]

Of the magnificent city described by Stra= bo it may be said that hardly a vestige remains. Two striking, relics existed until 1= 877-80 close to the Ramleh Rly. Stat., viz. the obelisks, commonly called Cleopatra's Needles, of which one= had fallen, and the other remained erect. But the former has been removed to England, and the other has gone to America.

They stood originally at Heliopolis, but were brought to Alexandria in the 18th= year of Augustus, i.e. 13 B.C, and s= et up in front of the temple of Caesar, or the C= aesareum (see p. 14), by Barbarus the prefect, and Pontius his architect. One account indeed assigns the erection of this temple to Cleopatra, to commemorate the birth of her son by Julius Caesar; and if this story were true, it would explain the origin of the traditional name. Both obelisks are of red granit= e of Syênê, the one (that in England) 68 ft. 6 in. high, t= he other 67 ft.: the diameter of each at the base is 7 ft. 7 in. They were originally mounted on bronze feet in the form of crabs. Among the hiero-

16 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

glyphs carved on them are the name= s of Thothmes III., Ramses II., and Seti II., his successor. The fallen obelisk was given= by Mohammed Ali to the English, who were desirous of removing it as a record of their successes in E= gypt, and of the glorious termination of the campaign of 1801. The Pasha even off= ered to transport it free of expense to the shore, and put it on board any vesse= l or raft; but the project was abandoned, its mutilat= ed state, and the obliteration of many of the hieroglyphs by exposure to the s= ea-air, seeming to render it unworthy the expense of removal. Accordingly it lay on= the ground, generally completely covered with débris, till 1877, when two private individuals, Sir Erasmus Wilson and Mr. John Di= xon, undertook to bring it over, the latter undertaking to provide the mechanical means, and the former offering to give £10,000 towards the expense. It was encased in an iron cylinder where it lay, and then rolled into the sea. After being fitted with a rudder, deck-house, cabin, &c., in the harbour of Alexandria, it started on its voya= ge in the winter of 1877, in tow of a steamer. Owing to rough weather the "C= leopatra" was abandoned by its tug in the Bay of Biscay. It was found, however, after some days, and taken into Ferrol, whence it was safely towed to London in January, 1878, and in October of the same year the obelisk was put up on= the Thames Embankment. The Americans afterwards succeeded (in 1880) in removing= the companion obelisk and erected it in the Central Park at New York.

Pompey's Pilla= r (admission P.T. 3) is the m= ost striking monumental relic. It may be reached by the electric tramway. It stands near= the Mohammedan burial-place, on an eminence which was probably the highest grou= nd of the ancient city. It consists of a capital, shaft, base, and pedestal, w= hich last reposes on substructions of smaller blocks, once belonging to older mo= numents. On one is the name of the first Psammetichus, on another that of Seti I. It= s substructure was evidently once under the level of the ground, and formed part of a paved area, the stones of which have been removed (probably to serve as materials= for more recent buildings), leaving only those beneath the column itself, to the great risk of the monument. The total height of the column is 98 ft. 9 in.<= span class=3DGramE>, the shaft is 73 ft., the circumference 29 ft. 8 in.,= and the diameter at the top of the capital 16 ft. 6 in. The shaft of beautiful = red granite, highly polished, is elegant and of good style, but the capital and pedestal are of inferior workmanship and unfinished, and it is probable tha= t, while the column itself was of an early period, the capital was added at the time when the pillar as it stands was erected as a monument in honour of the Emperor Diocletian. The Greek inscription which it bears shows that it was intended to serve this purpose, and at the same time explains how it came t= o be called Pompey's Pillar; for if the last word but two be read aright, the co= lumn appears to have been erected under the care of Pompeius, prefect in 302. The inscription runs thus: -

It is probable that this column silently records the capture of Alexandria by the arms of Diocletian in A.D. 296, wh= en the rebellion of Achilleus, who had usurped for 5 years the imperial title = and dignities, had obliged him to lay siege to the revolted city, and the use of the epithet •&l= t;\<= /span>6<= /span>0<= /span>J<= /span>@<= /span>&l= t; [anikaeton], "invincible," applied to the emperor, is in favour of this opinion. This memorable siege lasted eight months, when "many thousands of the citizens perished in the promiscuo= us slaughter, and there were few obnoxious persons in <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Egypt who escaped a sentence = either of death or at least of exile."

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 17

$$$ On the summit is a circular depressio= n of considerable site, intended to admit the base of a statue, as is usual on monumental columns; and at each of the four sides is a cramp, by which it w= as secured; and, indeed, in an old picture or plan of Alexandria, where some of the anc= ient monuments are represented, is the figure of a man standing on the column. I= t is recorded that during the French occupation (1798-1801) the Cap of Liberty w= as exhibited at the top of the column, and the cramps may have been to support= the staff. An Arab tradition pretends that it was one of four columns that once supported a dome or other building, but little faith is to be placed in the tales of the modern inhabitants. Makrîzi and Abd el-Latîf state that it stood in a stoa surroun= ded by 400 columns, where the library was that Omar ordered to be burnt, which (if true) would prove that it belonged to the Serapeum.

In the hollow space to the S.W. of this c= olumn is the site of an ancient Circus, or a stadium, from which the small fort, thrown up by the French on the adjoin= ing height, received the name of the "Circus Redoubt." The outline of= its general form may still be traced.

Excavations have, in spite of many difficulties, been perseveringly carried on in the hill upon which stands Pompey's Pillar. Among the first objects found by Dr. Botti were the torso of a fine Serapis in black granite, and part of a small bl= ack granite pyramid, with inscription to Serapis and the other gods of the same temple on behalf of the health of the Emperor Hadrian. In 1907 some fine sphinxes were unearthed here. W. of the column is a subterranean passage, w= hich once was lined with blocks of Meks limestone, a few of which are yet in situ. In the walls are niches of various sizes, the object of which is unknown. Faintly inscribed with a sty= lus on the outside wall can be traced various Greek graffiti. Immediately S.E. another and longer subterranean pass= age has been discovered, which runs immediately beneath the column. This also contains niches throughout its length.

Rufinus, who assisted in the barbarous de= struction of Alexandria by the early Christians, says that all the lower part of the = Serapeum was vaulted, which lower part was divided up into vast corridors and square chambers separated from each other, in which many and secret functions were carried on. It is evident that the excavators are on the track of the foundations of the Serapeum, the site of which has long been thought to be close to Pompey's Pillar.

The Catacombs, or rock-tombs, may be visited at the same time as Pompey's Pillar, from whi= ch they lie a short distance S.W., on the hill of Kôm esh-Shukafa. The most important tomb is a huge hypoge= um tunnelled in the rock, one of the most remarkable tombs in Egypt, and a fine specimen of= the hybrid Alexandrine art of the 2nd cent. A.D. It = was discovered Oct. 1900, and excavated by Dr. Botti, the late director of the Museum of Alexandria. It is lit by electrici= ty. Entrance P.T. 5.

One descends by a circular staircase to a= large rotunda with a circular gallery, out of which open large chambers, one of w= hich contains three couches hewn out of the rock, on which the relatives of the deceased reclined to partake of the general repasts in honour of the dead. Hence one descends by a bifurcating stairway to the vestibules of the great sarcophagus chamber. The façade of the vestibule is supported by two columns of Egyptian style with foliated capitals; above the architrave is o= rnamented by the winged sun, flanked by hawks. Beyond the columns, in niches l. and r= ., are two statues of a man and woman, in <= /span>

C=

18 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

Egyptian style. At the further end is a door surmounted by the winged sun and a frieze of uraei; l. and r. are crowned s= erpents, emblematic of the deity Shai (Destiny, U(<= /span>&q= uot;2<= /span>@<= /span>*<= /span>&q= uot;\<= /span>:<= /span>T<= /span>&l= t; [Agathodaimon]); each carri= es the caduceus of Hermes and the thyrsus of Dionysos; above each is a circular buckler with the gorgoneion in the centre. The sarcophagus chamber contains three niches, each holding a sarcophagus ornamented in Greek fashion with garlands, masks, bucrania, &c. The walls of the niches are sculptured w= ith Egyptian funerary scenes; that of the central niche is the well-known scene= of the mummy lying on the bier, attended by Anubis and other deities, and in another the king is represented sacrificing to the Apis bull, &c. Outsi= de the sarcophagus chamber is a large gallery, on to which open two ranges of niches for the reception of the mummies, 91 in all. Other small funeral chambers open out of this. Between the bifurcation of the staircase another stair descends to yet a third depth of the tomb; this= is, however, filled with water, and cannot be penetrated.

The tomb is very remarkable, and should o= n no account be missed. It and Pompey's Pillar are in fact the two chief sights of Alexandria. <= /o:p>

The other catacombs are of little interes= t. Over the entrance to one, discovered by the late Dr. Botti in 1893, is a cr= oss, showing that it had been used by a Christian.

The Cisterns constructed beneath the houses for storing the supply of water with which t= he city was furnished by the Canopic Canal are not the least remarkable of the= remains of ancient Alexandria. These cisterns were often of considerable size, having their roofs supporte= d by rows of columns, vaulted in brick or stone. Reservoirs of the same kind are also found in the convents that stand on the site of the old town, and seve= ral wells connected with them may be seen outside the walls in going towards th= e Mahmûdîya Canal. They show the direction tak= en by the channels that conveyed the water to the cisterns in the town. One set of them runs parallel to the eastern exit of the Mahmûdîya Canal, another is below the hill of Pompey's Pillar, and another a little less than half-way from this to the former line. It was by means of these cisterns th= at Ganymedes, during the war between Julius Caesar and the Alexandrians, contr= ived to distress the Romans, having turned the sea-water into all those within t= he quarter they occupied, an evil which Caesar found great difficulty in remed= ying by the imperfect substitute of wells.

6. Modern Alexandria.

Climate. - The temperature of A= lexandria keeps tolerably cool even in summer, the thermometer seldom ranging above 86° Fahr., owing to the N.W. winds from the sea, but at the same time t= here is a moisture and dampness in the air produced by the sane cause, especiall= y at night, which is very trying to many constitutions; and many persons prefer = the hotter but drier climate of Cairo. In the early months of the year a great = deal of rain generally falls all along the Egyptian coast.

Commerce and Industry. - The importance of the commerce of Alexandria in anci= ent times has been already spoken of. At the present day its carrying trade is = very considerable. The principal articles of export are - cotton (principally to= England= ), cotton seed

A CUT OFF MAP

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 19

(ditto), beans (ditto), corn, sugar (England and Franco), gums (principally to England), coffee (ditto France= ), ivory, wool, linseed, and mother-of-pearl.

Among the principal articles of import ar= e - manufactured goods and machinery (principally from England, Belgium and Germany), wood (principally from Turkey, Austria, and Italy), coal (princip= ally from England), oils (from England, Italy, Turkey, and France), wines and liqueurs (from Greece, Italy, and France), raw silk, salt provisions and vegetables, fruits, and several kinds of marble and stone (from Italy).

The principal native industries of Alexandria are em= broidery in gold and silk, weaving of cotton stuffs for native use, manufacture of p= ipe-stems, tobacco, arms, &c., native saddlery, dyeing, &c. The principal Euro= pean industries are the manufacture of Italian paste, starch, soap, gas, candles, oil, &c.

Streets, Public Places, and Buildings. - Street nomenclature at Alexandria is of a very motley character; Arabic, French, English, Italian, and other = names having been given apparently according to the caprice of individuals. Latel= y, the municipality has given names to the principal places and streets, and in some instances these names have been written up, but it is very common to f= ind people still calling them by the old name, e.g. the large square which used to be called the Place des Consuls is now properly named the Place Mohammed Ali, but English people generally call it the Grand Square. It has been thought = better to give the names of the streets here, and in the map, in French, as, where= ver they are written up, it is usually in that language. It is, however, to be regretted that the French terms have not been replaced by their Arabic equi= valents written in Roman characters, as has been done at Cairo; or, in view of the Greek history of Alexandria and the predominance of Greeks in its modern European population, by the Greek Ò*<= /span>&I= circ;H<= /span> [hodos] and B<= /span>8<= /span>&q= uot;J<= /span>X<= /span>&q= uot; [platea].

The central point of Alexandria is the Grand Square or Place Mohammed Ali. At the N.E. corner is the English Church. Next to it is St. Mark's Building, which houses the schools of the English community; at the side is a bust of General Earle, killed at Kirbekan in the Sudan in 1885. The Court of the International Tribunals is a large building on the W. side. The Exchange or Bourse stands on the E. side= . The square suffered very much in 1882, and was almost completely destroyed, but is now almost entirely rebuilt with "okelles" or blocks of fine edifices. From it radiate the lines of the El= ectric Tramway system of Alexandria, in the directions of (1) the Eastern Telegraph Co.'s Office, th= e Ramleh Railway Station, and the Ro= setta Gate; (2) the Cairo Railway Statiion,= Fort Kôm ed-Dikk, and the su= burb of Moharrem Bey; (3) Pompey's Pillar and Kom esh-Shukâfa; (4) the Rue Ibrâhim, the Cotton Marke= t (Minet el-Bassal - worth visiti= ng), Gabbâri, and Meks. Fares: 1st cl., 10 mill.; 2nd = cl., 5 mill.; to Meks, double fare. The other principal open space is the Square Ibrâhîm, or, as= it is usually called, the Place Ste. Kath= arine, from the Roman Catholic Church which occupies the S.E. side of it. On the s= ame side is Abbat's Hotel. The Victoria College, opened in 1902, is an unsectarian high-grade school.

Among the principal streets of Alexandria are the Rue Shêrif Pasha, a handsome and well-built street leading from the P= lace Mohammed Ali to the Cairo Railway Station. In it are the houses of many of = the principal merchants; and in the afternoon it presents a gay and =

C 2

20 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

animated appearance, there being a c= onstant stream of carriages to and from the drive to San Stefano, now a fine macada= mised road. Parallel with this street are the Rue Mohammed Tewfik and the Rue de = la Mosquée d'Attarine, both leading to the Boulevard Ismaîl. The Rue de la Mosquée d'Attarine continues from the other side of the Square Ibrâhîm to the Rue Anastasi. All those squares and streets are purely European in character, a= nd resemble those of a modern Italian city. Though the Greeks far outnumber the Italian inhabitants, the European architecture of the city is Italian, not Greek; the low buildings characteristic of Athens, for instance, are absent= . From the S. side of the Place Mohammed Ali the Rue des Soeurs, or, as it is more properly called in Arabic, Sikkeh Benât, extends to the bridge over the c= anal; and the Rue Anastasi leads to t= he open space in which is Fort Caffarelli. Both these streets pass through som= e of the lowest parts of the town. The R= ue Râs et-Tin is a long, winding street, leading from the W. end of = the Place Mohammed Ali to the Palace of Râs et-Tin= ; from it branch off the streets leading to the harbour. From the N. side of the P= lace Mohammed Ali a number of short streets lead down to the sea. Most of the Br= itish business houses are in this part; and one of the streets was called Gracech= urch Street, but has now received officially the name of the Rue de l'Église Anglaise, from the English church whose = west end faces it. Crossing these streets is the Boulevard de Ramleh, formerly called the = Rue de l'Obélisque, following the bent of the Great Harbour up to the Ramleh Railway Station, near which is the British Consulate. The Eastern Telegraph office is in the continuation of this street, called Rue du Télégraphe. T= he broad road leading to the Rosetta Gate is called the Rue de la Porte de Rosette. Here are the Headquarters of the sm= all British garrison, whose barracks are in Fort Kôm= ed-Dikk, close by; the Union Jack= and red-coated sentry are easily distinguishable. At the town end of it are some handsome houses and the Zizinia The= atre; further, on the left, are the Munic= ipality and Museum (in the Rue du Musée). Between the = Museum and the sea, in a garden, stands an ancient Column re-erected in commemoration of the retaking of Omdurman and Khartûm. On a mound = near this is a smaller column in mem= ory of Queen Victoria. On the shore to the E. is Fort Silsila, the ancient Lochias.

On the sea-shore between the two harbours= lie the Palace of Râs et-Tîn (the necessary orde= r for viewing can be obtained from the Governor of Alexandria at the Gouvernorat)= and the site of the ancient Pharos. The way lies from the Place Mohammed Ali al= ong the Rue Râs et-Tîn, and through a native quarter near the East Harbour; it then traverses a sort of quay along a low fortification that lines the w= estern side of that harbour. At the end of this quay is the Pharos, already described. Returning, and leaving on the rt. an advanced fort, called Fort Ada,= the axis of the old Isle of Pharos is traversed to the opposite peninsula. The = Palace of Râs et-Tîn occupies the western extremity of the peninsula of that name. It was built by Mohammed A= li. There is nothing very remarkable except the view from the balcony, which is extensive and interesting. There is a handsome staircase of Carrara marble, and a large audience-ha= ll. The harîm, which cannot b= e visited, is a separate building facing the sea. The ancient Point Eunostos, now R&a= circ;s et-Tîn, on which stands the modern lighthouse, is 1/2 m. farther.= The forts should be visited.

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 21

$$$ To the rt., after leaving the palace = on the return home, is the Arsenal, n= ear the now lighthouse, chiefly interesting as a record of Mohammed Ali's ambit= ion, and of the great efforts he made to establish his power in Egypt and defy t= he authority of the Porte. It is now closed, as Egypt has no longer a fleet. = Part of it is used by the Khedivial Postal Steamers and part as a timber dock and depôt for the port<= /st1:PlaceType> of Alexandria. The = driver may be told to return either by the Rue Râs et-Tîn, which is he= re bordered by some rather good houses in the Arab style, or by the quays and streets leading from the Arsenal.

Mosques, Churches, Convents. - There are no Mosques at Alexandria which in themselves contain anything worth seeing, but the site of the ancient Mosque of 1001 Columns is still clearl= y indicated by portions of the exterior walls of the original quadrangular building, wh= ich, after being used by Buonaparte as a cavalry stable, and by the British in 1801-2-8 as an artillery park, was converted into a Military Hospital by Mohammed Ali. In 1885 it was purchased from the Egyptian Government, and, a road having been made through the centre of the quadrangle, the sea-side portion was utilised for the erection of a church and the remainder for schools, both belonging to the Franciscans.

The site of a more scrap of the great quadrangular Mosque of St. Athanasi= us is now indicated by a small mosque at the junction of the Rue Attarine with= the Rue Rosetta.

Near the new barracks, N.E. of the town, = is a small mosque into which Sir Ralph Abercromby was carried when he received h= is death-wound. Quite close to the mosque some remains of the ancient Roman road to the Cae= sareum may be seen.

The Mosque of Nebbi Daniel, which contains the tomb of Saîd Pasha and many o= f the Khedive's family, is only interesting as being the reputed site of the tomb= of Alexander the Great. It is situated on the W. side of Kôm ed-Dikk. No Christian is admitted to the tomb.

The Coptic Convent is dedicated to St. Mark, whose body the Copts pretend to posse= ss, though it is well known that it was carried off clandestinely by the Veneti= ans, as stated by Leo Africanus, as well as by Daru and other historians. The old mosaics of St. Mark's at Venice also record this fact, and the inscription = over the scene there represented does not hesitate to admit that the body was "stolen" by the two Venetian captains "Rusticus and Tribunus" (called in the Venetian histories Rustico of Torcello and Bu= ono of Malamocco), assisted by the monk Staugius and the priest Theodoros, who = had charge of the sanctuary of St. Mark in Alexandria. This happened during the dogeship of Giustiniano Partecipazo, about A.D. 82= 8; and the mosaic was put up in the new church at Venice. (See Sir G. Wilkinson's account= of this mosaic, 'Jour. Archaeol. Assoc.,' vol. vii., p. 368.)

The Latin Church is another modern building, with no pretensions to architectural beauty; and the same may be said of all the other ecclesiastical edifices belonging to the different religious persuasions.

In the churchyard of the Armenian Church, which is close to the Church of the Lazarists = on the way to Pompey's Pillar, are the tombs of the Boghos family.

22 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

$$$ The Church of St. Saba, which adjoins the G= reek Hospital, is the ancient Greek Church of Alexandria, dating, it is said, fr= om the 8th or 9th cent., but nothing certain is known about its origin. It contains memorial tablets to several British officers who fell or died in 1= 801 at Alexandria.

The Museum is in a new building, opened in 1895, which adjoins the Municipal Palace, containing the new Public Library of 7000 to 8000 volumes. It is open daily from 9-12 and 3-5.30, except on Fridays and Saturdays, when it is open from 9-12 only. (Entrance P.T. 2, except Friday, when it is free. Closed on Tuesdays.) The Museum was erected for the preservation of antiqui= ties belonging to the Greek, Roman, and early Coptic periods, but also contains a few Egyptian objects. It has lately been enriched by valuable donations of jewels, gold ornaments, &c., from the collection of the late Sir John Antoniades, and of coins from Mr. Glymenopoulo.

Passing through the vestibule, which cont= ains a fine torso of Hercules found in Alexandria, we enter rt.:

Room 1, which contains papyri, ostraka, t= wo fine Coptic pillar-capitals, a collection of Coptic tombstones, and mummies from= Gabhâri and el-H= adra.

Rooms 2, 3. - Coins of Alexandria; Coptic tombstones and embro= ideries.

Room 4. - A fine female group, pres= ented by M. Galetii. Coins.

Room 5. - Casts of objects in the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">British Museum, etc.; coins and stelae.

Room 6. - Life-size figure of the b= ull Apis in red granite, dedicated by the Emperor Hadrian. Porph= yry sarcophagus. Roman and Greek funerary inscriptio= ns and papyri.

Room 7. - Red granite colossal figu= re with cartouches of Ramses II., and Merenptah, from Abukir= . Sphinxes.

Room 8. - Sarcophagi and mummies of= the Saïte period. Fine XXVI. Dyn. relief of harpers and girls playing before the deceased Tjanefer, son of Ankh-Psemtek: presented by Tigrane Pasha.

Room 9. - Figures of Ramses II.; ob= elisk of Seti I.; mummies.

Room 10. - Small portrait figures. <= o:p>

Room 11. - Ptolemaic and Roman monum= ents; tesselated pavement.

Room 12. - Figure of Antoninus Pius.= Head of Julia Soëmias. In wal= l-case to l. small portrait-head of Alexander; bust of Cleopatra (?).

Room 13. - Roman portrait-busts.

Rooms 14, 15.<= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> - Fragments of coloured scu= lpture (under brown glass, to preserve the colour), etc.

Room 16. - In centre a gigantic eagl= e. Classical figures and votive altars.

Room 17. - Porphyry figure of Serapi= s. Vases, portraits, mummies.

Rooms 18, 19.<= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> - Vases, figurines, tessela= ted pavements.

Room 20. - Marble group of Apollo and Dionysos: painted stelae, vases, and figurines.

Room 21. - Gold and bronze objects; = millefiori glass.

Room 22. Maps and photographs of Alexandria.

In the picturesque Garden are various sarcophagi, busts, &c.

The Harbour can be seen in about 1 1/2 hrs. For boats, either sailing or rowing, see In= dex-Directory. An order to view the Khedive's yacht, the "Mahroussa," if it is l= ying in the harbour, may he obtained from the Governo= r of Alexandria. The harbour is a delightful place for a pleasure sail, the prevailing wind being favourable for a sail to the end of the breakwater and back again.

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. ALEXANDRIA. 23

7. Drives and Excursions.

[The principal sights in the city are Pom= pey's Pillar and the Catacombs of K&ocir= c;m esh-Shukafa (pp. 16, 17 ante). These may be reached by electric train or cab, and can be seen in half a day.]

A pleasant drive can be made along the Makmûdîya Canal, on the S. of the town. The drive presents no object of interest except the = villas and gardens by the side of the canal which, however, are well worth seeing = for the beauty and luxuriance of the shrubs and flowers, and there are pretty views= to be obtained from the high ground at the farthest end of the canal. The gardens= belonging to the municipality are open on Fridays and Sundays, and those of the Villa of Sir John Antoniades, a we= althy Greek merchant and British subject, are open to the public on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

The Makmûdîya Canal was begun by Mohammed Ali in 1819, and opened on Jan. 20, 1820. It received= its name in honour of the Sultan Mahmûd II. The cost is said to have been £300,000; and 250,000 men were employed about one year in digging it,= or whom 20,000 perished by accident, hunger, and plague. It commences at the <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">village of Atfî= ;h, on the Rosetta branch of the Nile, and h= as a total length of 50 m., with an average width of about 100 feet. A part of i= ts course is identical with that of the ancient Canopic branch of the Nile, and the old canal of Fûa, which was used in the time of the Venetians for carrying goods to Alexandria, and ex= isted, though nearly dry, in Savary's time, A.D. 1777. The rt. bank of the canal is bordered for some distance with the houses and gardens of the wealthy inhabitants of Alexandria.

On the W. side of the town a visit may be= paid to Gabbâri, where are sit= uated the Alexandria works of the Egyptian State Railways. The road lies along the Rue des Soeurs and across the Makmû= ;dîya Canal. A gateway on= the l. leads up a desolate-looking avenue. The land is utilised as most valuable market gardens. Good quail shooting may be obtained in the neighbourhood du= ring the arrival from and departure to Europe= of those birds. There is a good view over Lake Mareotis.

The excursion to Meks and the Saltworks= , and Forts Marabout and el-Adjemi, may be accomplished in= half a day. It may be done in four ways - by tram and donkeys, by electric tramw= ay, by carriage, or by boat. A boat= may be obtained by applying at the Port Police Station on the Marina Gadîm; = but the excursion can only be done in this way when it is calm, otherwise landing is impossible. The carriage road i= s bad, but it is possible to drive to the Saltworks, though the excursion cannot t= hen be extended to Adjemi. The excursion by train and donkeys is best done by taking donkeys in the train - an ordina= ry proceeding - to Jardin Gabbâri Stat. After visiting the Saltworks the return may be made by riding across the quarry hills and skirting the shore= s of Lake Mareotis. But the pleasantest way = is to combine this excursion with a visit= to Adjemi. Trains leave the Moharrem Bey Stat. Donkeys must be taken. Tick= ets should be taken to Menazel Stat. Thence it is a very pretty ride of 2 1/2 m. to Adjemi, eit= her along the sandy shore or across a kind of moor. It was in this bay that Napoleon landed his troops on July 1st, 1706, five days after which Alexandria fell. F= rom Fort Marabout<= /st1:PlaceName>, taken by Lord Charles Beresford in 1882, there is a fine view of the harbou= r. Thence, the ride to the Saltworks at Minet el-Gedîd is 3 1/2 m. The works belong

24 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

to Government, and salt is made here for al= l Egypt, be that it is a much cheaper commodity than when none was obtained except by importation. The great chimneys seen from here are those of the pumping-sta= tion for the purpose of keeping down the level of Lake Mareotis, the waters of which would otherwise flood the country. On the way back from el-Adjemi to Meks, the quarries, whence the stone for the breakwater (p. 2)= and quays was taken, are passed. Tourists who are interested in military matters should visit the forts in order to see the effects produced by shell-fire. = The forts have been little touched since the day of the bombardment, but some of the guns have been removed.

Meks itself has a casino, sea-ba= ths, and cafés. On the beach is an old gate, the Bab el-'Arab, which was the seaward extremity of a fortified li= ne extending across the isthmus between the sea and lake Mareotis. Further on towards Alexandria<= /st1:City>, on the left, is a large Slaughterho= use, erected in 1898.

Thence the ride back into Alexandria is through the Gabbâri= Gato.

The excursion to <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">Lake Mareotis= , 15 m., requires a whole day, starting not later than 9 o'clock; for, as it should be done in March when the wild-flowers are out, the return should be= made by 6 P.M. Lunch must be taken. A carriage should cost about 16s, (P.T. 80); donkeys, 4s. (P.T.20) fo= r the day. Leaving Alexandria= by the Gabbâri Gate, the route leads by Saîd Pasha's single-line railway on a narrow embankment with the lake on either side. Then through g= reen fields bright with yellow daisies, poppies, asphodels and iris, to the ruin= s of Saîd Pasha's palace, where lunch should be taken. Near the palace the wild-flowers are magnificent, the ranunculus growing as large as tulips. Th= e Roman quarries, 2 m. farther on, may be visited. It was probably from them that t= he emperors brought much of the material for their palaces, &c. The Arab Tower, 7 m. farther on, is too far away to come into a day's excursion.

Sidi Gaber. - The Colossal Heads unearthed by Mr. Harris fifty years ago, and rediscovered in 1895, may be visited by taking the train from the Ramleh Station at Alexandria to Sidi Gaber, from which station they lie in an open marshy field about 600 yds. S.W. One head has th= e form of Osiris and the other of Isis. They ar= e on the site of the ancient t= emple of Ceres and Proser= pine. They are supposed to represent Cleopatra and Antony deified.

Hadra. - The first station on the line to Cairo (Moharrem Bey Stat.) is Hadra, some distance from the old Canopic Gate of A= lexandria. Here in 1886, near the village, were found some tombs much resembling columbaria. They belonged to Greek= mercenaries and pilgrims. Several urns wore found intact, closed by stones in the shape= of a simple tablet or a painted stela. These cinerary urns, now many of them in the museum, are of a fine terra-cotta with long handles at the neck ornamen= ted with bands of flowers and leaves painted in black or red, and having inscri= ptions. Later excavations made in 1894-5 produced no results of any value, the tombs having evidently been already rifled.

Abukîr (see p. 28). This place is best visited from Alexandria, since no sleeping accommodation is found there, nor conveniently at

GEOGRAPHY. [25]

puts it, "the gift of the Nile." Its connection with the most important events of ancient history, and the stupendous monuments which still bear witness to its former wealth and civilization, render it an object of the greatest interest to the archaeolo= gist and the student of history; while the discovery of its source has been a problem which down to the present day has never ceased to excite the curios= ity and stimulate the zeal of geographers and travellers. The words of Tibullus= :

"Nile pater, quânam te possum dicere caus&a= circ;,

Ant quibus in terris, occuluisse caput?"

have not received a complete answer even now, though the proverb "caput Nili quaerere" does not quite convey the idea of the hopeless enterprise that it once did.

The true Source of the Nile must be consi= dered to be the lake Victoria Nyanza, the most important tributary of which is the Kagera. From the Victoria Nyanza it descends north-west, joining the stream from the Albert Nyanz= a, which lies about 1,400 feet lower than the larger lake. Passing Gondókoro near 5°N. lat., it is joined near 9°N. lat.= by the waters of the Bahr el-Ghazâl (Gazelle River) and the Sobât: from which points to Khartûm it is known as the Bahr el-Abyad (White River) or White Nile, a name which may be derived either from the whitish clay which it holds in solution, or from its contrast with the Bahr el-Azrak (Blue River) or Blue Nile, which unites wit= h it at Khartûm. The length of its course to this point of junction is abo= ut 1500 miles.

The Bahr el-Azrak or Blue Nile, so called from the dark colour of its waters, ri= ses in the mountains of Abyssinia, and is jo= ined by many important tributaries before reaching Khartûm. At its point of confluence with the White Nile it consti= tutes, under ordinary circumstances, but 1/3 of the volume of water which henceforth flows on under the name of the Bahr on-Nîl, but in spring and summer this amount is considerably increased. It is then swollen with the rains that have fallen = in the Abyssinian mountains, and sweeps along in an overflowing turbid stream, thick with the fertilising mud from which it derives its name, and the depo= sits of which have formed and still continue to maintain the land of Egypt.

From Khartûm the Nile flows in one undivided stream, and fed only by one affluent, the = Atbara, to the sea, a distance of more than 1800 miles. Nowhere is the cultivated l= and (except in the Fayyûm and the Delta) more than 10 miles broad, and in many places there is nothing but a strip of sand between it and the hills w= hich on either side flank the whole length of its course as far as Cairo. Through these hills it has occasionally to force its way in a series of falls, to w= hich the name of cataract has been given, though they bear no analogy with such cataracts as Niagara, being in fact mere= ly rapids. There are six of these cataracts, besides some smaller falls, between Khart= ûm and Aswân. That at Aswân is known as the First Cataract. <= /o:p>

The Nile now enters Egypt Proper and continues, at an average rate of about 3 miles an hour, increased to 4 1/2 at the height of the inundation, a quiet winding course varying in breadth from 350 yards at Silsilis to 1100 yards at Minia. So far its course is the same as in old times, but a considerable change now takes place; for whereas formerly it discharged itself into the sea by seven Mouths, at the present day these = are reduced to two. The point of separation, which constitutes the apex of the Delta, has remained about the same. Its ancient name

[26] GEOGRAPHY.

appears to have been Kerkasoros, th= e modern representative of which may be placed at a point opposite Shubra. Here the river anciently divided into three branches, the Pelusiac, running E., the = Canopic, running W., and the Sebennytic which flowed between these two, continuing indeed the general northward direction hitherto taken by the Nile, and piercing the Delta through the centre. From this Sebennytic branch two others were derived, the Tanitic and the Mendesian, both of which emptied t= hemselves between it and the Pelusiac branch. The lower parts of the remaining two br= anches, the Bolbitine and the Phatmitic, were artificial, and were constructed prob= ably when the other outlets began to dry up. It is by these two mouths that the river at the present day finds its outlet. At the point of bifurcation the = general direction of the two streams is probably that of the old Pelusiac and Canop= ic branches, but they gradually quit the extreme E. and W. course, and continue more in the centre of the Delta, the one to Damietta, and the other to Rose= tta, from which places they derive their modern appellations. =

The annual Inundations, which not only water the country, but supply it with the fertilising deposi= t on which its very existence depends, are the result of the rains falling in the mountains amongst which the Blue Nile has its source, and in Central Africa along the course of the White Nile. Although the rise of the river in the S. begins in April, its effects are not felt in Egypt until June. The inundat= ion continues about three months, and reaches its highest point at the end of September, though very often there is a sudden final rise in October. Early= in November it steadily subsides, and by the end of November the country it has covered begins to dry up. From that time the river flows within its natural limits, sinking gradually lower and lower, till the period of the next rise= . On the height of the inundations depends the prosperity of the country for the ensuing year. Too great a rise involves a destru= ction of dikes and a loss of life and property. A deficiency leaves large tracts unmoistened and unfertilised, and the canals not sufficiently filled to sup= ply water for irrigation during the dry season.

Great improvements have been introduced o= f late years into the system of irrigation in Egypt. By a carefully constru= cted arrangement of canals, siphons, escapes, weirs, etc., it is arranged that e= ven during a bad season a great part of the Nile valley shall receive its share of the mud-charged water. At the same time t= here are still large tracts of "sha= râki" land - that is, land which is exempt from taxation on account of receiving = no flood-water - which call for some system of irrigation to bring them into cultivation. = In order to meet this difficulty the Government has created the immense reserv= oir at Aswân (see p. 516).

The importance, therefore, of watching th= e rise of the river and regulating it by means of dikes, sluices, and canals, has always been recognised. At the present day the progress of the inundation is telegraphed from Wâdi Halfa, just as in old times messages were sent = from Aswân, and afterwards from Semna, the southernmost point of the kingd= om in the days of Amen-em-hat III. Several inscriptions at Semna record the he= ight of the Nile at different times during the reign of this king, to whom Egypt was indebted for the Lake Moeris and many other important irrigation works (see p. [60]). From them it =

Sect. I.] ROUTE 1. - ALEXANDRIA. 27

upon the green and pretty racecourse, pol= o, cricket, and tennis grounds of the "Alexandria Sporting Club," established= some years ago by the British garrison and principal residents of all nationalit= ies under the patronage of H.H. the Khedive, who attends all the principal race meetings with the other members of his family. A little to the rt., after crossing a reservoir by a causeway, the road turns off to the Mahmûdîya Canal.

About 3/4 of a mile from the old wall granite blocks= and remains of columns mark the site of some important building.<= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> A little beyond this and ne= arer the sea were some old catacombs, in which were some devices painted on the stuccoed walls and ceilings. Here too was found a ma= rble sarcophagus with the head of Medusa, and other ornamental sculpture. In som= e of the catacombs inscriptions have been found of Christian times, probably abo= ut the 4th century; and it is evident that they were used as places of sepulture f= or Christians as well as Pagans.

About 3 m. from the Rosetta Boulevard is a Roman Statio= n, called Caesar's or the Roman Camp. It marks the site of N= ikopolis, or Juliopolis, where Augustus defeated the partisans of Antony, and is the spot where, 1832 yea= rs after, the English and French armies engaged. The Camp, the site of which is now occupied by the huts of the British regiment stationed at Alexandria, was destroyed by the Khediv= e, Ismaîl, to make way for an immense, flimsy, but picturesque Palace, f= rom which the Camp obstructed the sea-view; the stones of the ancient walls were used in the new foundations. The Palace, after being used as a British Military Hospital, has, in its turn, been entirely removed, two out-buildings alone being reta= ined as officers' quarters and mess-room. The Camp resembled the Myos Hormos, and the fortified stations, or hydreuma= s, in the desert; but was stronger, larger, and better built. It was nearly sq= uare, measuring 291 paces by 266 within, the walls being from 5 to 5 1/2 paces th= ick. It had four entrances, one in the centre of each face, 15 paces wide, defen= ded by round or semicircular towers, 18 paces in diameter, or 12 within. On each f= ace were towers, distant from each other 33 paces; those of the doorway excepted, which are only 15 paces apart. Those at the = 4 corners were larger than the others, having a diameter of 22 paces. Its N.W. face s= tood very near the sea in the present gardens of the palace, where a mosaic pave= ment was recently visible; and a short way from the S.W. gate are the remains of= the aqueduct that supplied it with water; probably part of the one seen to the north of the Mahmûdîya, about 8 miles from Alexandria. It has b= een entirely excavated; and the extensive system for supply= ing it with water, the wells, reservoirs, and baths, have been laid open. T= he water was raised from the principal well by a water-wheel with pots (as at = the present day). It is now brackish. The wells are 33 feet deep. The Praetoriu= m, or commandant's house, had a large mosaic, now almost destroyed, with vario= us ornamental devices, and a half figure of Bacchus, holding in one hand a bun= ch of grapes, in the other a crook, the attribute of Osiris.

Near the sea, outside the N.W. corner of = the station, is another bath, and a long channel cas= ed with stone, which seems to have supplied the bath with fresh water. The wal= ls of the station were of stone, with the courses of flat bricks, or tiles, at intervals, usual in

28 ROUTE 1. - = ALEXANDRIA. [Sect. I.

Roman buildings; and the whole was constr= ucted on a scale worthy of the grandeur of the early part of the Empire. In one p= lace was an inscription put up to M. Aurelius by the Tribunes of the 2nd Legion,= called "Trajana fortis," in the same 8th year of which so many of his co= ins remain. There was also a block of marble, which had probably served as the pedestal to a statue, with an inscription recording that it had been set up= to Septimius Severus, in the 11th year of his reign, by the decurions and priv= ates whose names are given in two columns below the dedication. Many, however, of these interesting remains have now completely disappeared.

Returning to the carriage, the drive may = be continued to San Stefano.

ROUTE 2.

The North-western Delta: Alexandri= a to Rosetta.

To Rosetta (44 1/2 m.), 2 trains daily from the Cairo Stat., at= the Moharrem Bey Gate, in 2 hours. Fares: 1st cl., P.T. 34, 2nd cl., P.T. 15.]<= o:p>

The line follows almost exactly that of t= he old road to Rosetta, which has been already described, as far as Ramleh. At Sid= i Gaber Stat. the Cairo line turns off to the rt.

6 m., Ramleh Stat., * 1/2 m.= from the town (p. 26).

9 1/2 m., El-M= andara Stat., on the neck of land = which separates the lake of Abukîr from the Me= diterranean.

10 m., Montaza= Stat., where the Khedive ha= s built a summer residence, and made a small harbour.

14 m., Abuk&ic= irc;r Stat., a small village famo= us for the victory of the English fleet under Nelson (see p. 25).

22 1/2 m., El-Maadîya Stat., the "Ford," or "Ferry," by which Lake Edku communicates with the sea, and which is supposed to be the old Canopic branch. The Canopic was the most westerly, as the Pelusiac = was the most easterly, of the mouths of the Nile.

29 m., Edku Stat. *, a village on a sandhill near the lake.

Crossing a dreary waste of sand, the line= reaches

36 m., Bussili Junction Stat.

[From Bussili Junction a branch line (a t= rains a day in 1/2 hr.) runs to 3 m., Edfina Stat., on the Nile, 5 m. N. of the town of Dêrût and 8 m. N. of Atfa, where the Mahmûdîya Canal (see p. 23) joins t= he Nile. The machinery for driving the water in the direction of Alexandria should be seen. <= /span>

For Atfa to Damanhûr<= /i> and Desûk, see p. 31.] <= /o:p>

44 1/2 m., Rosetta Stat. * (in Coptic, Ti-Rashï= t; in Arabic, Rashîd). Pop. 14,500. The town is si= tuated on the W. bank of the Nile, near its mou= th. This branch of the river was formerly the Bolbitine, and a hill called Abû Mandûr, about 1 1/2 miles to the S. of the modern town, is supposed to mark the site of the anc= ient town of Bolbitinum. Rosetta was founded by one= of the khalîfs about A.D. 870. For a long time it

Sect. I.] ROUTE 2. - NORTH-WESTERN DE= LTA. 29

was one of the most important commercial tow= ns of the country, and at the beginning of the present century it still had a population of about 25,000. This has now greatly diminished, and a great pr= oportion of the houses is deserted and in ruins. As a port Rosetta has been complete= ly eclipsed by Alexandria, and very little trade is now carried on. Its former flourishing condition is shown by the style of building, which is very superior to that of other Egyptian towns. In the various open spaces lie numerous columns of granite = and marble. The columns at the doors, the neatness of the wooden windows, and t= he general appearance of their walls, are particularly striking. It has severa= l mosques, khans, and bazaars, and is surrounded by a wall with loopholes, which might= serve to protect it against a band of Arabs. The northern gate has two small towe= rs at its side, of a form by no means common in Egypt; and between this and t= he plain are the most extensive gardens. The situation of Rosetta, the beauty = and extent of its gardens, and the supposed salubrity of its air, made it forme= rly a favourite summer resort of Cairenes and Alexandrians; and though not frequented now in the same way, it still retains the same natural advantage= s, and may be regarded as one of the prettiest and most agreeable towns in Egy= pt. Some large forts have been built to protect the mouth of the Nile, and there is a very fine lighthouse at the mouth of the river. <= /span>

Rosetta is but little known in history. I= n 1807 it was the scene of the unsuccessful attempt of the British to restore the authority of the Mamelukes, which ended in the disastrous retreat of the British army. It is equally barren of antiquities. Here and there a few hieroglyphs may be seen in single stones built into mosques and private hou= ses; and fragments of granite and basalt are lying about. But it has acquired a special archaeological celebrity from the celebrated trilingual stone - kno= wn as the "Rosetta Stone&quo= t; - found by the French in 1799 while digging the foundations of a fort, a short dist= ance lower down the river. This tablet contains a decree made by the priests of = Egypt in honour of Ptolemy Epiphanes in the year B.C. 196. It is written in the G= reek, hieroglyphic, and demotic characters; and it was from a comparison of the G= reek letters and the hieroglyphs on this stone that Champollion and Young were e= nabled first to decipher the old Egyptian writing. Unfortunately the stone was but= a fragment, and the search for the upper part of it his hitherto been unsuccessful. The same decree is found at Philae, without the Greek text, o= n a granite rock in the Great= Temple. The stone is preserved in the British Museum, having been ceded as a war-trophy to th= e British by the convention which ended the French occupation of Egypt in 1801.

30 ROUTE 3. - = WESTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

ROUTE 3.

The Western Delta: Alexandria to Damanhur, Tanta, Benha, and <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Cairo.

[To Cairo (120 m.), 9 trains daily from the Moharrem Bey Stat. in 3 to 6 1/4 hrs. Fares: express, 1st cl., P.T. 105, 2nd cl., P.T. 52; ordinary train, 1st cl., P.T.= 87 1/2, 2nd cl., P.T. = 43 1/2. Return tickets available for 1 week, 1st cl., P.T. 132, 2nd cl., P.T. 66. Restaurant car by the train leaving at 12.0 noon; sleeping car by the last evening tra= in at 11.30 p.m.]

The Rly. between= Alexandria and Cairo was the first ever made in the East. It was constructed by British engineer= s in 1855, and, with the continuation from Cairo to Suez, now done away with, was the alternative propos= ed by Stephenson for the Maritime Canal across the Isthmus= of Suez (see p. 49).

On leaving Cairo, the line first traverses some ga= rdens, passing

3 m., Hadra Stat. (see p. 24), and

4 m., Sidi Gab= er Stat., where the line to Rosetta (p. 28) branches off. On = the rt. the line skirts the L= ake Mareotis (p. 24), stretching far away out of sight. In winter, after the rising of the Nile, the water reaches in many places to the emban= kment, but in the late spring and summer there is a wide expanse of swampy marsh, = as treacherous to the foot as it is disagreeable to the eye and unpleasant to the nose. Fl= ocks of aquatic birds may often be seen feeding close to the rly.; but should the traveller, encouraged by their apparent tameness as he looks at them from t= he carriage window, attempt on some other occasion to try his chances with the gun, he will find them very wary and unapproachable.

The line passes through the defences thro= wn up by Arabi in 1882 when he withdrew the Egyptian army from Alexandria, and prepared to resist the advance of the English. The farm buildings of Kafr Dawâr wore connect= ed by earthworks, and a double line of defence constructed, covering the rly. = and = Mahmûdîya Canal. The first li= ne was about 1200 yds. in length. Batteries for rifled = guns were built at intervals. The lines were not attacked by the English, and we= re surrendered after the collapse of the Egyptian army at Tell el-Kebîr.=

17 m., Kafr ed-Dawâr Stat., a favourite rendezvous of Alexandrian sportsmen. Wild b= oar are often found in the neighbourhood.

[Give miles to the N.W. are some mounds c= alled Nishu, supposed to be the remains= of Schedia; they contain confused rem= ains of stone and brick, among which are two fragments of stone (apparently part= s of the same block), bearing the name of Ramses II., and some capitals and frag= ments of late time. The most remarkable object is a series of massive walls in an isolated mound, 300 paces to the south-eastward of these fragments, which w= ere evidently cisterns, like those in Italy and at Carthage. They are of Roman time, built of stone, with horizontal courses of the usual flat bricks or tiles at intervals, and buttresses projecting here and there= , to give them greater strength; the whole originally covered with a casing of stucco. The walls, which are now 15 ft. high, were about 16 in number, of w= hich 12 may be still distinctly seen, and the spaces between them were about 215= ft. long and 27 ft. broad, being

Sect. I.] ROUTE 3. - WESTERN DELTA. 3= 1

considerably larger than the second ciste= rns of Carthage, and only inferior in number and in length (but not in breadth) to= the great ones there, which are 110 paces long by 10, and consist of 16 spaces = or cisterns. The extremity of each gallery or cistern is rounded off, and we m= ay suppose that they had also the usual arched roofs. A canal, or branch of th= e river, appears to have run through the level space, about 750 ft. broad, between t= hem and the town. The distance of Nishu from Alexandria agrees exactly with that given by Strabo from Schedia to that city, which he calculates at 4 schoenes, or nearly 14 English miles. Schedia was so called= by the Greeks from the barrier, or bridge of boats, that closed the river at t= his spot, where duties were levied on all merchandise that passed; and the name= of Nishu, applied to the neighbouring mounds and the modern village, may be derived from the Egyptian nishoi, signifying "the boats." The mounds of Nishu are in four almost pa= rallel lines, the two outer ones about 250 ft., the centre two about 756 ft. apart. They contain no traces of building; they appear to be entirely of earth, th= ough of very great height, and were probably the result of excavations made in d= eepening the river, or the neighbouring canal, which, from the low space separating = the two centre mounds, appears to have passed between them. Schedia was a bisho= p's see in the time of Athanasius, as were Menelaïs and Andropolis.] =

[A light Rly.<= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> Runs from Kafr ed-Dawâ= ;r to Damanhûr (q.v. below) viâ Abu Matamîr and Ho= sh Isaa on the borders of the W. desert.]

Bordered by cotton-fields on one side and marshes on the other, the line reaches

28 1/2m., Abû Homs Stat. The Mahmûdîya Canal here turns eastward till it joins the Rosetta branch of the Nile at = Atfa.

38 1/2 m., Damanhûr Stat. First station at which express stops. A large town, population 22,100; capital of the richly cultiv= ated province of Behêra. It occupies the site of the ancient Egyptian Timanhur ("Town of Horus"), the Roman Hermopolis Parva. It = looks picturesque from the railway, with its Arab houses and mosques piled up on = the sides and summit of the kom or artificial mound formed by the deposits of the successive towns which have stood here since the days of the ancient "Town of Horus," the rem= ains of which lie concealed beneath it. It has several cotton manufactories and a few respectable looking houses, but otherwise presents the usual appearance= of an Arab village; shapeless huts and houses of crude mudbricks, relieved sometimes in their bare monotony by the graceful outline of a few minarets,= and the dome-like cupolas of a Mussulman cemetery; but only really picturesque = when nestled in a grove of palms, like the hamlet on the right immediately after leaving the station. It was close to Damanhûr that Napoleon was nearly taken prisoner by the Mamelukes in 1798. On being expostulated with for exposing himself to such a risk, he replied, "Il n'est point écrit là-haut q= ue je doive jamais être prisonnier des Mamelouks - prisonnier des Anglais, à la bonne heure." A fair called the Môlid esh-Shêkh Abû Rish used to be held here three times a year, following those of Tanta and Desûk, and presenting t= he same features.

[Light Rlys. run from Damanhûr (1) = to Kafr ed-Dawâr viâ Hosh Issa on the borders of the W. desert; (2) to Teh el-Bârûd viâ Delingat (W.) or Shubr= akhît (E.); (3) to Atfa (p. 28) on t= he Nile, opposite Fuah and S. of Dêrût, thence S. by river to Desûk or N. to Rly= . at Edfina for Rosetta (p. 28).

Branch Rly. to 13 m. Desûk viâ Rahmân&= icirc;ya, between which and Desûk the Nile is crossed by a bridge. At Desûk a fair and festival (Môlid) in

32 ROUTE 3. - = WESTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

honour of Shêkh Ibrâh&= icirc;m ed-Desûkî, the founder of the Bûrhamîya or Ibr&acir= c;hîmîya dervishes, used to be held, following those of Tanta and preceding those of Damanh&uci= rc;r.

8 m. N.E. of Desûk is Tell Fera'în, the modern representative of the ancient city of Buto (Per- Uatjet), the most ancient capital of Lower Egypt, and seat of the worship of the goddess Uatjet (Buto= ), who stood for a sort of divine representative of Lower Egypt, as Nekhebet represented Upper Egypt. An attempt was made in 1904 to excavate Buto by Mr. Currelly, for the Egypt Exploration Fund, but it was unsuccessful owing to infiltration of water. Herodotus mentions the ancient temple (ii. 155), but= his description is probably incorrect, since it can hardly have been built of s= uch enormous monolithic blocks as he describes.]

[Rly. from Damanhûr to Tanta and Damietta, see p. 84.]

From Damanhûr the railway passes th= rough a richly cultivated plain, unbroken by the slightest elevation, to

53 1/2 m., Teh el-Bârûd Stat. (Elyâi el-Bâr&uci= rc;d).

[Light Rlys. to Shubrakhit and Kafr Awa= na.]

[Branch line to 70 m. = Cairo, skirting the W. desert, viâ Werdân and Embaba. On the way 32 m. Tarrâna is passed, the modern successor of the ancient Terenouthis or Menelaupolis (Copt Terenouti). The site of the old ci= ty is Kôm Abû Billûh, = on the edge of the desert. It was explored by Mr. F. Ll. Griffith in 1887-8 for the Egypt Exploration Fund, Ptolemaïc antiquities and the cartouche of an unknown king named Pen-amen, probably of the Tanitic branch of the XXI. Dynasty, being found. From Werdân or Tarrâ= na the journey to the Monasteries of the Wâdi Natrûn may be begun (Rte. 17). A l= ight Rly. to carry natron from the lakes to the main line = at el-Khatatba is in operation.]

About 6 m. to the W. of Teh (more correct= ly, Etyâi) el-Bârûd, near the modern Nebîra, is the sit= e of the Greek city of Naukratis (Kôm Ka'if), discovered by Prof. Petrie in 1884, and excavated by him then and by Mr. D. G. Hogarth in 1899 and 1903. Donkeys are not always to be had at Teh, but the first half of the walk is along a good road under an avenue of trees. After a village is reached, it leads through fields.

It had formerly been assumed by many writ= ers that this city was situated on the Rosetta branch of the Nile, not far from= the present town of Desûk; but it seems beyond question that the real site was close to the modern villages of Nekrâsh and Nebîra, on the ancient "Agathodaemon" branch of the Nile, which left the Saïtic or = Rosetta branch S. of the modern Kafr ez-Zayat and reached the sea by way of Damanh&= ucirc;r and Lake Edku. The accounts given by Herodotus and Ptolemy agree with this hypothesis, and, unless some future discovery should prove that Naukratis w= as elsewhere, we may take it as certain that this was the spot where the Greek colonists settled in the 7th century B.C. The town was of Egyptian origin, = and bore the Egyptian name of Pamerti. The Greek settlement lay to the N. of the Egyptian town. The city steadily = grew in prosperity until the epoch of the Persian conquest, when it suffered from the consequent cessation of direct relations with Greece. The foundation of Alexandria in B.C.= 323 struck a serious blow at the greatness of Naukratis, but the latter continu= ed to exist as a city until the 6th cent. A.D., after whic= h it gradually sank into its present condition, i.e. a heap of rubbish mounds with a few huts scattered over them. <= /o:p>

Of the five sacred foundations mentioned = by Herodotus, four have already been identified, i.e. the Helleneion (by Mr. Hogarth), the temples of Apollo, Aphrodite, and the Samian Hera; some interesting stela; have been discovere= d, and a most important collection of Greek pottery and metal articles has been brought together.

Sect. I.] ROUTE 3. - WESTERN DELTA. 3= 3

Mr. D. G. Hogarth's excavations have considerably modified Prof. Petrie's conclusions.

A few miles beyond Etyâi or Teh el-= Bârûd we reach the Rosetta branch of the Nile, 65 m. from = Alexandria. The river is crossed by a f= ine iron bridge of 12 spans, resting on hollow iron piles. It opens for the passage = of large vessels in a very ingenious manner. A part of the roadway, two spans = in length, turns on a pivot on the piers supporting it until it is brought at right angles to the bridge, thus leaving two passages; the single pillars a= bove and below the bridge serve to support the two ends of the part thus moved, = and protect it from being injured by vessels driven against it. The cost of this bridge, which has a double line of rails, with a footpath alongside, was £400,000. Before its construction, trains were ferried over. It was h= ere that Achmet Pasha, elder brother of the late Khedive Ismaîl, and at t= he time of his death, heir to the viceroyalty, was drowned in 1856. He was returning to Cairo from Alexandria at a Bairam festival, and, as usual, his railway carriage was pushed by natives on to the platform of the= steam ferry. Either by accident or design the protecting bar = at the opposite end of the platform was not in its place, and the carriage = ran over the edge into the Nile. =

Immediately on the S. side of the bridge = is

64 1/2 m., Kafr ez-Zayyât Stat. Trains (except the noon and afternoon expresses) stop here 15 min.

[Light Rly. N. viâ Bassiûn to S&acir= c;; and E. viâ Shîn (p. 84) to Tanta.]

[Excursion to Sâ el-Hagar ("Stony Sâ") or the Ruins of Saïs.= This can be done by light R= ly. in 1 hr. vi&ac= irc; Bassiûn. About a mile from the river to the N. are the lofty moun= ds of the ancient Saïs, in Old Egyptian Sa, whose remains give its = name to the modern village. These remains are now confined to a few broken block= s, some ruins of houses, and a large enclosure surrounded by massive crude-bri= ck walls about 70 ft. thick, and of very solid construction, between the cours= es of bricks are layers of reeds, intended to serve as binders; and hieroglyphs a= re said to have been met with on some of the bricks, which may perhaps contain= the name of the place, or of the king by whom the walls were built. These walls enclose a space measuring 2325 by 1960 ft.; the N. side of which is occupie= d by the lake mentioned by Herodotus, where certain mysterious ceremonies were performed in honour of Osiris. As he says it was of circular form, and it is now long and irregular, we may conclude that it has since encroached on par= t of the temenos, or sacred enclosur= e, where the temple of Neith and the to= mbs of the Saïte kings stood. The site of the temple appears to have been in = the low open space to the W., and parts of the wall of its temenos may be traced on two sides, which was about 790 ft. in breadth, or a little more than that around the temple of Tanis. To the E. o= f it are mounds, with remains of crude-brick houses, the walls of which are partially standing, and here and there bear evident signs of having been bu= rnt. This part has received the name of = el-Kâla'a, "the Citadel," from its being higher than the rest, and from the appearance of two massive buildings at the upper and lower end, which seem = to have been intended for defence. It is not impossible that this was the royal palace. Below it to the S. is a low space, now cultivated, and nearly on the same level as the area where probably the temple stood. <= /p>

The water of the lake is used for irrigat= ing this spot, but it is generally dried up from the end of May until the next inundation fills the canals. On its banks, particularly at the western extremity, grow numerous reeds, and when full of water it is frequented by = wild duck and other water-fowl, now the only inhabitants of ancient Saïs. <= o:p>

D=

34 ROUTE 3. - = WESTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

$$$ Some low mounds, and the ruins of hou= ses about 1000 ft. from the walls of the large enclosure, mark probably the sit= e of the ancient town, the S. extremity of which is occupied by the modern villa= ge.

There are no remains of sculpture amidst = the modern or ancient houses, except fragments in the two mosques and at the do= or of a house; which last has the names of King Psammetichus I., t= he goddess Neith, and the town of Sa or Saïs. <= /span>

Saïs was a city of great importance,= particularly during the reigns of the Saïte Dynasty, who ruled Egypt about 150 years (687 B.C. to 524 B.C.), until the Persian invasion under Cambyses; and some claim for it the honour of having been the parent of a colony which founded= the city of Athens in 1556 B.C., and introduced the worship of Athene on the sh= ores of Greece.

At Saïs were the sepulchres of all t= he kings of the XXVI. Dyn. They stood in the temenos, or sacred enclosure, of t= he temple of Neith; and it was here that the unfortunate Apries and his rival Amasis were both buried. The tomb of Aprie= s was near the temple, on the l. entering the temenos; that of Amasis stood farther from the temple than those of Apries and his p= redecessors, in the vestibule of this enclosure. It consisted of a large stone chamber, adorned with columns in imitation of palm-trees, and other ornaments, within which was an isolated stone receptacle, with double doors (at each end), containing the sarcophagus. It was from this tomb that Cambyses is said to = have taken the body of Amasis; which, after he had scourged and insulted it, he ordered to be burnt; though the Egyptians assured Herodotus that the body of some other person had been substituted instead of the king's. This last app= ears to have been added to give a greater air of probability to a story against = the Persians, which there is great reason to doubt, from the indulgent conduct = of Cambyses to the Egyptians when he first conquered the country, and from the respect = paid to kings by the Persians; and Cambyses only had recourse to severity alter = they had rebelled against him. "They also show," continues the histori= an, "the sepulchre of him (Osiris) whom I do not think it right here to mention. It stands in the sacred enclosure, behind the temple of Athene, reaching along the whole extent of its wall. In this temenos are several large stone obelisks; and near it a lake ca= sed with stone, of a circular form, and about the size of that at Delos, called Trochoïdes. On this lake are represented at night the suffering= s of him concerning whom, though much is known to me, I shall preserve strict silence, except as far as it may be right for me to speak. The Egyptians ca= ll them mysteries. I shall observe the same caution with regard to the institutions of Demeter, called Thesmophoria, which were brought from Egypt by the daughters of Danaus, and afterwards taught by them to the Pelasgic women." Saïs was the place where the "fête of burning lamps" was particularly "celebrated during a certain night, when everyone lighted lamps in the open air around his house. They were small cu= ps full of salt (and water?) and oil, with a floating wick which lasted all ni= ght." Strangers went to Saïs from different parts of = Egypt to assist at this cerem= ony; but those who could not be present lighted lamps at their own homes, so that the festival was kept, not only at Saïs, but throughout the country. <= o:p>

From the accounts given of it, the temple of Neith appears to have been of great splendour. ''Amasis added to it some very beautiful propylaea, exceeding all others both in height and extent, as w= ell as in the dimensions of the stones, and in other respects. He also placed t= here several large colossi and androsphinxes, and brought numerous blocks of extraordinary size to repair the temple, some from the quarries near Memphi= s, and the largest from Elephantine, a distance of 20 days' sail from Saï= s. "

"But," adds Herodotus, "wh= at I admire most is an edifice of a single block brought from the latter place; = 2000 men, all boatmen, were employed three years in its transport to Saïs. = It is 21 cubits long externally, 14 broad, 8 high, and its measurements within= are 16 cubits 20 digits long, 12 broad,

Sect. I.] ROUTE 3. - WESTERN DELTA. 3= 5

and 5 high. It stands at the entrance of the sacred enclosure; and the reason given by the Egyptians for its not having = been admitted is, that Amasis, hearing the architect utter a sigh, as if fatigue= d by the length of time employed and the labour he had undergone, considered it = so bad an omen that he would not allow it to be taken any farther; though othe= rs affirm that it was in consequence of a man having been crushed while moving= it with levers." At Saïs was also a colossus dedicated by Amasis, 75= ft. high, similar in size and proportion to one he placed before the temple of = Ptah at Memphis, which was on its back; and the grand palace of the kings in the same city, which Apries left to attack Amasis, and to which he afterwards r= eturned a prisoner, is another of the interesting monuments mentioned at Saïs.=

Excavations made by Mariette Pasha at the= site of Saïs have served only to reveal its utter state of ruin, and it is impossible to fix the position, or ascertain the plan, of any of the splend= id monuments mentioned by the historian. There is in the Cairo Museum the sarcophagus of Psammetichus II. of the XXVI.= Dyn. It was found at Damanhû= r, whither it was probably brought from Saïs, which is stated by Herodotu= s to have been the burial-place of this dynasty.]

We have now entered the Delta, and the traveller cannot fail to be struck with the amazing fertility of the vast p= lain stretched out on either side of him, divide not by hedges, but by innumerab= le canals and raised dikes, and varied in its flat monotony only by the brown = mound-like villages.

75 m., Tanta Junct. = Stat. * (1 hr. 40 min. from Alexandria, and 1 hr. 20 = min. from Cairo by express).

[Branch lines: (1) to Talkha (opposite Mans&u= circ;ra, and thence to Damietta, passin= g by Mehallet Roh, Mehallet el-Kubra, Sama= nûd, and Mit Assas, 72 m., 3 trains = daily (Rte. 8); (2) to Zifta, viâ Mehallet Roh and Sonta, 28 m. (see p. 77); (3) Desûk, 46 1/2 m. (see p. 31= ): (4) to Shîbîn el-Kôm= (18 m.). Menûf, 25 1/2 m. S., situated i= n one of the most fertile parts of the Delta, and Ashmûn, (38 1/2 m.) opposite Werdân (p. 32), 3 trains daily. Between Tanta and Shîb&= icirc;n el-Kôm is the villa= ge of Kafr Denshwai, where, in 1906, occurred a regr= ettable fracas between British officers and the villagers, in which Capt. Bull lost= his life and Major Pine-Coffin was injured. The villagers chiefly implicated we= re tried and executed at Shîbîn.]

[Light Rly. W. to Kafr ez-Zayyât (p. 33); N. t= o Mehallet Menûf and Kotûr (p. 82).] =

Tanta is a large and important to= wn (pop. 57,000), capital of the p= rovince of Gharbîya. = It boasts of a large commodious Stat. and it palace of the Khedive. Near the S= tat. are two Inns, one kept by a Gre= ek, the other by an Italian. There are British, American, French, and German Consular Agents. The Mosque of the = Seyyid Ahmed el-Bedâwi has been restored, and is very handsome.

Tanta is celebrated for the Fairs= or Festivals which were held three times a year - in January, April, and August - in hon= our of the Seyyid el-Bedâwi, who was a Moslem saint of great renown. He w= as born at Fes in A.D. 1200 (A.H. 596), and, having passed through Tanta with = all his family on his way to Mecca, established himself in that place on his return, and wan buried there at his death. He seems to have succeeded to Sh= u, the god of Sebennytos, the Egyptian Herakles, whose attributes have been gi= ven him by popular fancy or tradition. It is the Seyyid whose aid is invoked wh= en anyone is in need of strength to resist a sudden calamity; the effects of a storm, or any frightful accident, are thought to be averted by calling out "Ya Seyyid, ya Bedâwi"; and the song of "Gab el-Y&ucir= c;sara," "He brought back the captives," records the might and prowess of = this hero. In the second call to

D 2

36 ROUTE 3. - = WESTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

prayer, chanted by the muezzin an = hour before daybreak, he is invoked under the name of Abû Farrâg, Sh= êkh of the Arabs, and coupled with El-Hasau and El-Husên, and "all t= he favourites of God."

Each of the fêtes lasted 8 days, an= d those in the spring and summer were attended by an immense concourse of people, as many as 200,000 being sometimes collected together. The open space round the town is even now covered with tents of all sorts and sizes: the great square gaudy-coloured tent of the rich Sh&= ecirc;kh el-beled (village chief), with horses, camels, and donkeys picketed rou= nd about it, and flanked on both sides by the smaller tents of his followers a= nd dependants; the deep, oblong, equally gaudy booths of the singing and the dancing girls, the jugglers, the romance reciters, and the story-tellers; r= ound tents of various sizes and conditions, from the blue-lined one of the well-to-do fellâh down to= the ragged bell of his poorer neighbour; and, most picturesque of all, the "black tents of Kedar" - the long, low, flat-topped tent of camel's-hair blanket that marks now, as of old, the temporary resting-place= of the wandering Arab.

Although a religious festival, pleasure i= s the chief object of the pilgrims, and a few fât'hahs at the tomb of the saint are sufficient to satisfy every pious requirement,= and to induce the hope of obtaining his blessing. Business, however, is not neg= lected. The cattle and horse fairs held during these festivals used to be the most important in Egypt. Formerly a brisk trade in slaves was carried on, and the slave market was o= ne of the sights of the fair. The great day of the fair was a Friday, when a procession took place, in which the Shêkh of the Ahmedîya dervishes was escorted in great pomp on horsebac= k, and the Awlâd Nû pl= ayed an important part (see p. [36]). Relics of the saint were displayed, sometimes= in the procession. Masquerades were indulged in, and personages and nationalit= ies caricatured.

The evening was the time at which to see = the fête at its height; and a walk through the streets and booths afforded many a curious and suggestive sight. As at the festival of B= ubastis, in old times, a greater quantity of wine was consumed than at any other per= iod of the year, so at Tanta, greater excesses were committed by the modern Egyptians than on any other occasion. Each of the three Ta= nta fairs was followed by a festival at Desûk in honour of the Shêkh Ibrâhîm ed-Desûkî; and t= hat, again, by one at Damanhûr, in honour of Shêkh Abû Rîsh. Processions and proclamations were made at Cairo and other towns, announcing the approach of these great annual fairs.

The same rich country continues to <= /o:p>

87 m., Birket = es-Sab' Stat. [Ligh= t Rly. to Zifta (p. 77)]. Here the Rly. crosses the gre= at Bahr Shibîn Canal, which irrigates a great p= art of the province of Gharbîya. After a run of 14 m., the Rly. crosses the Damietta<= /st1:City> branch of the Nile by a bridge similar to that at Kafr ez-Zayyât, and passing on the l. the handsome palace of Kouesna built by Abbas Pasha, and the ruins of the old town of Athribis,

101 m., Benha<= /span> Junct. = Stat, is reached in 2 1/2 to 3 hrs. from Alexandria. Benha el-'Asal, "Benha of = the Honey," is a town of 6000 inhab., the capit= al of Kalyûbîya. It was at one time the ce= ntre of the cotton trade in that part of the Delta, but Zagâzig has now ta= ken its place; nor does it any longer produce the honey from which it derived i= ts name. It is recorded by the Arab historians that, at the time of

RELIGION. 37

assist occasionally at the ceremon= ies of their order, but others make it their occupation to perform at festivals, funerals, &c. Those last are called fakirs, and often lead a wandering life, subsisting on alms. Their dress is usually= a patchwork coat (dilk) of many colours, and they carry a staff with strips of different coloured cloths fastened to the top. Dervishes are not forbidden to marry. There is no doubt that the higher orders of dervishes have elaborated a somewhat mystical, and even heretical, interpretation of Islam. A considerable amount of learning,= as well as wealth and comfort, is found among them, as among the Bektashîya mentioned above, = whose pretty monastery is referred to below (p. [88]). The common orders are howe= ver as ignorant and poverty-stricken as the mediaeval friars of Europe, which they resemble.

The religious exercises of the dervishes consist chiefly in the performance of sikrs. The chief features of these sikrs are continued invocations of God, accompanied by a motion of the head, or of th= e whole body, or of the arms; and the performance of a dance. These sikrs are performed all over the c= ountry on great occasions, as at the feast of Bairam, by the villagers, and are regarded as part of the "fun of the fair," though an air of relig= ious decorum is always preserved, and accentuated if there are any Europeans loo= king on.

There are several colleges or monasteries= (tekîyas) of the different or= ders in Cairo, which the traveller who has time may find an interest in visiting, and many will = no doubt be anxious to see the performances of the dervishes.

The principal College or Monastery of the Howling Dervishes (Tekîya Kadrîya) is at Kasr el-'Aini, on the banks of the Nile, on the road to Old Cairo, adjoining the Hospital and School for Medicine (s= ee p. 04).

The following Dervish monasteries are als= o well worthy of a visit to those interested in the history and institutions of the various orders as represented in Egypt. They belong to fratern= ities that are chiefly Turkish and Asiatic, and which number few if any Egyptians amongst their members.

The Tekîya en-Nakshibendîya, in the Habbanîya or = Darb el-Gamamîs. This is a monastery built by Abbas Pasha for the order of Nakshibendi dervishes resident in or visiting Cairo. It forms a quadrangle enclosing a small garden with a Hanefîya<= /i> for ablution in the centre. There are separate rooms, or cells, for the accommodation of fifteen or twenty members. The hall for prayer and the sil= ent or meditative s= ikr, are on the N. side; the walls being adorned with scrolls and inscriptions in Persian and Arabic characters. The chamber of the shêkh is on the E.,= and his house on the S. side of the building.

The Tekîya Habbanîya, in the street called by the same name, and not far from the last-named. This institution, as well as the sebîl and school adjoining, was built by Sultan Mahm&ucir= c;d II., and is not so much a dervish tekîya, in the proper sense of the word, as a training college for those devoted to religious learning. <= /o:p>

Ascending a flight of steps, you find you= rself in a quadrangular open court surrounded by an arcade formed by marble colum= ns, into which look the cells of the students, who may generally be seen reading or chanting within. The centre of the court is planted with trees and shrubs, = in the midst of which is the place of ablution shaded by a <= /p>

38 RELIGION. <= o:p>

cupola supported by marble columns= . The peaceful aspect of the place contrasts remarkably with the bustle of the ou= ter street.

The Tekîya Gulshenî. This is situated near the S. side of the mosque of Muayyad, near the Bab ez-Zuwêla. Ascending a slight of step= s and turning to the left, you enter a peculiar but picturesque retreat. The buil= ding forming the tekîya encloses, as usual, an open court, of which the greater portion is raised considerably above the level upon which you stand, and is spread, with mats and carpets. In the midst stands a small square bu= ilding containing the tomb of the shêkh, and supporting a whitewashed dome. = The whole of the N. façade of this mausoleum is encased with coloured ti= les of various patterns somewhat promiscuously arranged.

The Tekîya el-Maghâwri, on Gebel Mokattam. This is the retreat of the = Turkish Bektâshi dervishes previousl= y mentioned (p. [36]), and should by all means be visited. It is situated to the E. of = the tombs of the Mamelukes, and just behind the modern buildings of the Military Arsenal behind the Citadel, and on the right hand of the road up the Mokatt= am Hills. The tekîya projects from the hill, and may be distinguished fr= om afar by a bank of verdant foliage with which it is fronted, forming a charm= ing little oasis in the desert. Ascending a long flight of stops, and passing through a small garden, you enter the tekîya, which has lately been rebuilt for the dervishes by the Khedive Ismaîl and some of the princesses. The hall for the devotions of the members, the rooms of the sh&= ecirc;kh, and the sumptuous kitchen may be inspected. The shêkh of the order, a= nd the other members of the fraternity, are most polite and hospitable. Coffee= is offered to visitors, and should be accepted; no payment is expected, and presents are refused.

The small open court of the tekîya = leads into an ancient quarry similar to those of Tûra and Mas'âra, and penetrating the rock for more than 200 ft. A pathway of matting enclosed by= a wooden railing leads to the innermost recess, where lies buried the Sh&ecir= c;kh Abdallah el-Maghâwrî, i= .e. of the Grotto or Cave (Maghâr= a). His original name was Kêghûsûz, and he was a native of Adalla. Sent as deputy shêkh to Egypt to propagate the doctri= nes of the fraternity, he settled there, and took the name of Abdallah.

Mohammedan Festivals. These are celebrated according to the Mohammedan lunar year, so that no dates according to the European computati= on of time can be given. The Mohammedan year consists of 12 lunar months, and is = therefore about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year. The names of the months of t= he Mohammedan year are as follows: -

Muharram.

Saffar.

Rabi' Awwal.

Rabi' Akher.

Gumad Awwal.

Gumad Akher.

Regeb.

Shaabân.=

Ramadân.=

Shawwâl.=

Zilkaila.

Zilkada.

Zillega.

The Mohammedan day always begins at sunse= t, not at midnight, so that what we w= ould call the night of the 6th of the month they would call the night of the 7th= . It is very important to remember this. The Mohammedan month begins at sunset on the day when the new moon is visibl= e at or before sunset. It does not therefore always agree with the commenceme= nt of the lunar month according to exact astronomical calculations, and it may happen that the month will beg= in on a different day in two different countries. For Mohammedans, the two import= ant months are Ramadân, the month of the Fast, and Shawwâl,

Sect. I.] ROUTE 4. - EASTERN DELTA. 3= 9

conspicuous by the pinnacle-like shape th= ey have in so many instances assumed, nothing of any interest had been found at Tell el-Yahûdîya till 1870, when the fellâhîn of the neighbourhood, while engaged in carrying away the brick-dust, which, from the quantity of nitre it contains, forms a valuable top-dressing to the soil, came across some very fine ename= lled tiles and inlaid ornaments. Unfortunately no information was given to the proper authorities of this discovery, and everything was destroyed and brok= en up, or allowed to pass into the hands of petty dealers in antiquities. To B= rugsch Bey and Prof. Hayter Lewis we owe the description of the hall, now complete= ly destroyed. It was paved with white alabaster slabs; the walls were covered = with a variety of encaustic bricks and tiles; many of the bricks were of most beautiful workmanship, the hieroglyphs in some being inlaid in glass. The t= iles are round, varying in size, colour, and pattern. The capitals of the column= s were inlaid with brilliant-coloured mosaics, and a pattern in mosaics ran round = the cornice. Altogether it must have been a splendid apartment. Some of the bri= cks bear the cartouche of Ramses III.; and if the building is to be referred, as oth= er circumstances seem to show it must be, to his reign, the extraordinary freshness of the colours is a matter for surprise considering the material = in which they have lain embedded. Within the area of the hall were two red gra= nite pedestals. A few yards to the W. is a large bath hollowed out of a solid pi= ece of limestone, with steps cut out of the interior, and close to it a plunge bath, with signs of more alabaster pavement. Still farther to the W. is a large fragment of limestone, covered with well-executed sculptu= res. Ramses III. is seated, and two figures, a male and a female, are offering h= im a sort of circular fan, representing apparently a bush or tree with the ankh or emblem of life in it; the = female is grasping a papyrus stem; Ramses' outstretched right hand holds a lotus. = The original hieroglyphs in some parts appear to have been covered with plaster= , in which fresh inscriptions have been cut. Portions of statues and other remai= ns, of the time of Seti I. and Ramses II., have been discovered h= ere, but by far the greater number of cartouches are = those of Ramses III. Close by is an ancient Hebrew necropolis, the graves of which are of the type known as fours &agr= ave; cercueils. Some of the tablets from these tombs are now in the Cairo Museum, and bear a striking resemblance to those discovered at Sidon.

The view from the top of the mounds is very fine. To the S. are seen the Pyramids an= d Cairo, with the Citadel standing prominently out at = the projecting angle of the Mokattam hills; in the same direction is the obelis= k of Heliopolis. A short distance to the E. stretches the desert; while to the N. and W. lies = some of the most fertile and richly wooded land in Egypt. In the months of Janua= ry and February, when the plain is brightly green with the growing crops; and the foliage of the trees, which are unusually abundant in this part and add so = much to the beauty of the landscape, is in full luxuriance; a finer bit of scene= ry, or one more unlike the typical Egyptian paysage, can hardly be imagined.

Josephus gives a curious account of the f= oundation of Onion, and the building of the temple there. The son of Onias the high p= riest, who bore the same name as his father, having fled from Antioclius, king of Syria, took refuge at Alexandria in the time of Ptolemy Philometor. Seeing = that Judaea

40 ROUTE 4. - = EASTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

was oppressed by the Macedonian kings, an= d being desirous to acquire celebrity, he resolved to ask leave of Ptolemy and Cleo= patra to build a temple in Egypt, like that of Jerusalem, and to ordain Levites and priests out of their own stock. To this he was al= so stimulated by a prophecy of Isaiah, who predicted that there should be a te= mple in Egypt built by a Jew. He therefore wrote to Ptolemy expressing this wish, and say= ing he had found a very fit place in a castle that received its name from the country, Diana. He represented it as abounding with sacred animals, full of materials fallen down, and belonging to no master. He also intimated to the king that the Jews would thereby be induced to collect in Egypt, and assist him against= Antiochus. Ptolemy, after expressing his surprise that the God of the Jews should be pleased to have a temple built in a place so unclean, and so full of sacred animals, granted him permission; and the temple was accordingly erected, th= ough smaller and poorer than that of Jerusalem. Josephus afterwards states that the place was 180 stadia distant from Memphis; that the nome was called of Heliopolis; the temple was like a tower= (in height?), of large stones, and 60 cubits high: the entire temple was encompassed by a wall of burnt = brick, with gates of stone. In lieu of the candlestick he made a lamp of gold, suspended by a golden chain. Such is the substance of the not very clear description given by Josephus. It is sufficient to settle the position of t= he place; and we may suppose that Onias chose this neighbourhood for other reasons, which he could not venture to explain to an Egyptian king surround= ed by Egyptians; perhaps because it had associations connected with the abode = of the ancestors of the Jews in Egypt, whence they started with a high hand, and f= reed themselves from the bondage of Pharaoh.

Other Jewish cities seem afterwards to ha= ve been built in this district, and these, whose mounds still remain and are known = at the present day by the same title as the one under consideration, are proba= bly of the "five cities in the land of Egypt," which, according= to Isaiah, were "to speak the language of Canaan." They continued to be inhabited by Jews till a late period. It was from them that Mithridates of Pergamos received so much assistance when on his way to= assist Julius Caesar; and the 500 who were embarked by AElius Gallus against Arabia appear to have been from the same district. = And though Vespasian, after the taking of Jerusalem, had suppressed their religious meetings in the Heliopolite nome, they conti= nued to be established in many ports of Egypt, independently of the large quarter they possessed in Alexandria, from which they were expell= ed by the persecutions of the orthodox Cyril.

Containing our journey through a very fer= tile and wooded country, quite different in aspect from the monotonous plain thr= ough which the Rly. passes between Alexandria and Cairo, we reach Belbês.

[Light Rlys. W. to M&= icirc;net el-Kamh (see p. 38), and N. to Abû Hammâd (p. 43), and Abu Keb&= icirc;r (p. 71).]

35 1/2 m., Belbês Stat. This village is the successor of Bu= bastis Agri; in Coptic, Phelbes. N= ear it passed the ancient canal that led to the Bitter Lakes and thence to the Red Sea, whose bed may still be traced to a considerable distance in that direction. The now Fresh-water <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">Canal from Cairo, which joins the old one from Zagâzig to Ismaîlîya and Suez, and so provides water communication between Cairo and the Red Sea, passed by Belbês, and follows in fact the course of the old one above mentioned. About 4 m. S. of Belbês, close to the village of Gheta= on the E. side of the Ism= aîlîya Canal, is a large R= oman settlement. Belbês was the first halting-place of the English cavalry= on their march to Cairo after the fight of Tell el-Kebîr on the 13th September, 1882. Passing= by

42 1/2 m., Bordên Stat., the line reaches

Sect. I.] ROUTE 4. - EASTERN DELTA. 4= 1

48 1/2 m., Zagâzig Stat.

Zagâzig<= /span> * (ez-Zakâsik) is the chief town of the Sherkîya provi= nce, with over 35,000 inhab. P.O.; T.O.; locandas. The town is of great commercial and strategic importance, owing to its position. It lies at the mouth of the Wâdi T= ûmilât, the route to Ismaîlîya and the Suez Canal, and at the beginning= of that to es-Salhîya and P= alestine (p. 214). It is also the Rly. junction of the ro= utes from Alexandria and = Tanta with those from Upper Egypt and Cairo to t= he Canal and Palestine. There is, however, nothing to be seen in it, the only object of interest be= ing the neighbouring ruins of Tell Basta, the ancient Bubastis.

Bubastis, in the hieroglyphs written= Pa-Bast, the Pibeseth of the Bible, and called in Coptic Poubaste, derived i= ts name, as is apparent under all of the above forms, including the modern nam= e, from the goddess Ubastet or Bast, to whom the principal temple was dedicate= d. It was situated on the W. bank of the Pelusiac or Bubastide branch of the Nile, and was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt. It was of considerable importance as far back as the XVIII. Dynasty; but it rose to its greatest height under the XXII. Dynasty, whose first king, Shash= ank I. (Shishak), having conquered Thebes, united in his person the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, and fixed the seat= of power at his native town, Buba= stis. Under Amasis of the XXVI. th= e eastern branches of the Nile wore neglected for the purpose of bringing the foreign trade to Saïs on the Canopic branch, and Bubastis, with Tanis and Mendes, gradually declined; but it retained enough magnificence to excite t= he admiration of Herodotus, when he visited it a few years later. He describes= it as standing higher than any other place in Egypt, and ascribes this to the = fact that at one time capital punishments were abolished in Egypt, and the crimi= nal was, "according to the nature of his offence, set to raise the ground = in a greater or less degree in the neighbourhood of the city to which he belonge= d" - a statement which, if true, would make it appear that the people of the B= ubastite nome did not enjoy a very good reputation, since their capital was raised m= ore than that of any other town. The beauty of the temple of "the goddess = Bubastis" (Ba= st) induced him to give an unusually minute description of it.

"'Other temples,' he says, 'may be grander, and may have cost more in the building, but there is none so pleasant to the eye as this of Bubastis.' He then proceeds to describe= it. 'The temple forms a peninsula surrounded by water on all sides except that by wh= ich you enter. Two canals from the Nile cond= uct the water to the entrance by separate channels without uniting, and then, diverging in opposite directions, flow round it to the r. and 1. They are e= ach 100 feet broad and shaded with trees. The gateway is 60 feet in height, and is ornamented with beautiful figures 6 cubits (9 ft) high. The temple is in the middle of the town; and as you walk round you look down upon it on every si= de; for the town, having been considerably raised, while the temple continues on the same level where it was originally founded, entirely commands it. It is surrounded by a wall of circuit, sculptured with figures, containing a grov= e of very large trees planted round the body of the temple itself. In which is t= he statue of the goddess. The length and breadth of the whole temple measures a furlong. At the entrance is a way paved with stones about 3 furlongs long a= nd about 4 plethra broad, planted on either side with very lofty trees, which, after crossing the market-place in an easterly direction, leads to the temple of Hermes.'

43 ROUTE 4. - = EASTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

$$$ "This account of the position of= the temple of Bubastis is very accurate. The hei= ght of the mound, the site of the temple in a low space beneath the houses, from w= hich you look down upon it, are the very peculiarities which anyone would remark= on visiting the remains of Tell Basta. One street, which Herodotus mentions as leading to the temple of Mercury, is quite apparent, and his length of 3 stadia (furlongs) falls short of its real len= gth, which is 2250 ft. On the way is the square he speaks of, 900 ft. from the <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">temple of Bast (Bubastis), and apparently 200 ft. broad, though now much reduced in size by the fallen materials of the houses that surrounded it. Some fallen blocks mark the position of the temple of Mercury (Hermes)= , but the remains of that of Bast are rather more extensive, and show that it measured about 500 feet in length. We may readily credit the assertion of Herodotus respecting its beauty, since the whole was of the finest red gran= ite, and was surrounded by a sacred enclosure about 600 feet square, beyond which was a larger circuit, measuring 940 feet by 1200, containing the minor one = and the canal he mentions, and once planted, like the other, with a grove of tr= ees.... Amidst the houses on the N.W. side are the thick walls of a fort, which protected the temple below; and to the E. of the town is a large open space enclosed by a wall, now converted into mounds." - Rawlinson's 'Herodot= us.'

The historic names found among the sculpt= ures are those of Ramses II., Osorkon= I., and Amyrtaeos. In the spring = of 1887 M. Naville, acting for the Egypt Exploration Fund, commenced a series = of excavations at Bubastis, which were continued until 1889. The temple, with its four halls, could distinctly be traced. Outside the door of the first hall were two statues of Hyksos type, one of which is now in the British Museum. Beyond was the celebrated Festival = Hall of Osorkon II. Farther west was another hall, supported by pillars alte= rnately of circular form, with lotus or palm-leaf capitals, and square, with Hathor-head capitals. At the end of the temple was a large unfinished chamb= er containing the shrine of Bast, the tutelary deity.

Inscriptions extending over a period of 4= 000 years have been found at Bubas= tis; the oldest contains the "Ka'' name of Khufu, of the IV. Dynasty, the builder of the Great Pyramid, and that of Khafra, his successor; the mo= st modern dates from the time of Ptolemy Euergetes II. The site was literally strewn with the ruins of colossal figures, pillars, tablets, &= ;c. Among the most interesting fragments which were cleared were two colossal h= eads and part of the seated figure of a king, which, from its resemblance to the= Sân androsphinxes, is thought to be the portrait of a XII. = Dynasty king; some statues of the so-called "Hyksos" type - more probably belonging to kings of the XIII. Dynasty (one, reinscribed with the n= ame of Osorkon II. of the XXII. Dynasty, is in the B= ritish Museum); the lower part of a sta= tue of the same workmanship, bearing the name of King Khian, a Hyksos monarch, see= p. [89] (Cairo Museum); a red granite slab carved in low relief with the portr= aits of Osorkon II. and his wife Queen Karoama; a ver= y fine Hathor-head capital in red granite (both in the British Museum); a black granite statue of the goddess Bast, and part of the shrine of Nekht= herheb. An overthrown pylon of Osorkon II. was discovered; the sculptures on it were of great interest as describing an important festival in all its details.

It was within the temenos of this famous = temple that the joyous festival of Bast took place, which is well described by Herodotus (ii. 60).

"When the Egyptians travel to Bubastis," sa= ys Herodotus, "they do so

Sect. I.] ROUTE 4. - EASTERN DELTA. 4= 3

in this manner. Men and women sail together= , and in each boat there are many persons of both sexes. Some of the women make a noise with rattles, and some of the men blow pipes during the whole journey, while the other men and women sing and clap their hands. If they pass a tow= n on the way, they lay to, and some of the women land and shout and mock at the women of the place, while others dance and make a disturbance. They do this= at every town that lies on the Nile; and when they arrive at Bubastis they begin the festival with g= reat sacrifices, and on this occasion more wine is consumed than during the whol= e of the rest of the year. All the people of both sexes, except the children, ma= ke a pilgrimage thither, about 700,000 persons in all, as the Egyptians assert.&= quot;

In those and other ruins of the Delta cer= tain peculiarities may be observed, in which they differ from those of = Upper Egypt. In the latter the walls of the temples are sandstone, a= nd the columns built of several pieces, and granite is confined to obelisks, statu= es, doorways, and to the adyta of some remarkable monuments. In the Delta the temples themselves are in great part built of granite, and the porticoes and vestibules have columns of a single block of the same materials.

[From Zagâzig diverges N. the line = to Es-Salhîya and Mansûra (Rte. 6). Light Rlys. N. to Diarb Nigm and Simbell&= acirc;wên (p. 75), and to Kanayat, Sahrâght, and Mit Ghamr (p. 77).]

After leaving Zagâzig,= the Rly. follows= more or less closely the direction of the Fresh-= water Canal, which is the modern repre= sentative, during part of its course, of the canal cut by the ancients to serve as a m= eans of communication between the Nile and the Red Sea, and known by different names at different epochs. The history of this canal will be found preceding the description of the Suez = Canal (p. 61). Passing through a rich and fertile country, we reach

54 1/2 m., Abu el-Akhdar S= tat. To the 8. is the village of Saft el-Henna, where once stood a tow= n for which Ramses II. built a temple. Close by was fo= und a black granite statue of this king. A notable monument once stood here in the shape of a monolithic granite shrine, measuring 7 feet by 6 feet, which had= been dedicated to the deities of the eastern nome (the Wâdi Tûmil&ac= irc;t) by Nekhtnebf, the last native king of Egypt, about 360 B.C. It was = broken to pieces by a local native magnate, who hoped to find gold in it. The site= was explored by Prof. Naville in 1884.

58 1/2 m., Ab&= ucirc; Hammâd Stat. From this point the Rly. may be said to form the= line between the cultivated land and the desert. On the one side are nothing but sandy hillocks stretching away to the horizon, while on the other, a short distance from, if not close to, the line, is luxuriant vegetation, produced= and nurtured by the life-giving canal. Abû Hammâd is a pretty villa= ge, and one of the stations on the caravan route between Egypt and Syria viâ Salhîya. <= /o:p>

[Light Rly. N. to Abû Kebîr (p. 71) and = 8. to Belbês.]

The district through which we have just p= assed, between Zagâzig and Abû Hammâd, is probably the "Land of Goshen" of Hebrew tradition, where the forefathers of the Israelites settled during their sojourn in Egy= pt. We now pass from this tract, and from the Delta proper, into the Wâdi et-Tûmilât, a narrow isthmus of cultivated land, some 30 miles long, with desert on either hand, which joins Egypt proper with the Suez Canal district. The= water on which this stretch

44 ROUTE 4. - = EASTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

of cultivated wâdi depends is suppl= ied by the well-known Ismaîlîya Canal, the "fresh-water" canal, as opposed to the sea-water c= anal of Suez proper. This canal was made in order to supply the Suez Canal works with water in 1858-63. The whole district of the Wâdi was purchased by the Suez Canal Company of Saîd Pasha for £74,000, and during the short time in which it was their property, gr= eat agricultural improvements were begun. In 1863, however, it was resold to the Egyptian Government, in accordance with the terms of the Emperor Napoleon's award (see p. 64).

Some sort of canal has always existed thr= ough the Wâdi Tûmilât There was probably one in Ramesside time= s, and both Necho and Darius endeavoured to reopen it Herodotus (ii. 158) spea= ks of it as deriving its water from the Nile, and running from near Bubastis (= Zagâzig), past Patumos (Tell el-Maskhûta) to the Red Sea. The journey took four days. Necho's work was stopped by an oracle, which told him "that he w= as working for a barbarian," and the historian adds, naïvely enough = for a Greek, "the Egyptians call all men barbar= ians who do not speak the same language as themselves." Darius, presumably = the barbarian referred to, completed the work of renewal, and in Roman days the= canal was in working order, and bore the name, probably in consequence of some repairs in Trajan's time, of Amnis = Trajanus. The channel of the canal was discovered by the French expedition of 1798, a= nd was considerably utilised by the engineers of De Lesseps, who reconstituted= the whole, so that it now runs from Cairo to A= bû Hammâd, thence through the Wâdi Tûmilât to Isma&ici= rc;lîya, and thence N. and S. to Port Saîd an= d Suez, parallel with the Suez = Canal proper.

64 1/2 m., Tel= l el-Kebîr. The sco= ne of the battle of Sept. 18, 1882, in which the British, under Gen. Sir Garnet (now Lord) Wolseley, defeated the Egyptians under Arabi Pasha. The British army made a night march across the desert and attacked the Egyptian trenche= s at dawn with the bayonet, the Egyptians being more or less surprised. The fight did not last long, but cost the British force 459 casualties; the Egyptian = loss being 2000. Arabi fled. Zagâzig was occupied at 4 P.M. on the day of = the fight; Belbês was reached by the British cavalry the same night, and = Cairo was occupie= d by them on the following afternoon. The remarkable celerity of this march was = much commented upon at the time, and caused considerable surprise among the fore= ign military critics. The cemetery in which the British officers and soldiers w= ho were killed in the action are buried is near the Stat. The fortifications of Tell el-Kebîr are to the E. of the Stat., the line of railway passing through them. The line does not again approach the cultivated land till pas= sing the village of

74 m., Kassass= în Stat. The w= âdi is here at its narrowest, and the district is known as Râs el-Wâ= ;di, ''Head of the Wadi," from the point of view of the Delta. In the war of 1882 Kassassin was captured on Aug. 28 by Gen. Graham, advancing from Isma&= icirc;lîya, to serve as an advanced base for the attack on the Egyptian lines at Tell el-Kebîr. The well-known "moonlight charge at Kassassîn&qu= ot; was a feature of this fight. Close by is Tell er-Rotâba, the site of an ancient settlement, explored by Prof. Naville in 1887 and by Prof. Petrie in 1906.

78 1/2 m., Mah= sama Stat. The Fresh-water Canal at this point leaves the Rly. and passes, at some distance to the right, a place called Tell el-Maskhûta. This is the site of the very interesting explorations made by Prof. E. Naville for the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1883.

Sect. I.] ROUTE 4. - EASTERN DELTA. 4= 5

He has identified the spot as the ancient= city of Pithom, and there appears to be little doubt that this identification is correct, and that the theory adopted by the French explorers, that the city was Ramses, cannot be upheld.

The city, called in Egyptian Pa-Tomu, "city of Temu," the sun-god of Heliopolis, was founded by Ramses II. of the XIX. Dynasty (see p. [90]). The monuments which bear his na= me are the most ancient discovered here, and there is no doubt that he constructed= the great storehouses which form so remarkable a feature in the ruins which have excavated. It is probable that he built these storehouses as depôts f= or provisions to supply the armies which he led into Asia, and also for the us= e of the garrison whose duty it was to guard the eastern frontier of Egypt He al= so opened the canal from the Nile to keen the city supplied with fresh water, = and it is quite possible that he employed the Israelites upon this canal as well as upon the building of the store cities. To quote Exod i. 11, 13, 14, "A= nd they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom a= nd Ramses.... And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour; = and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, an= d in all manner of service in the field." After Ramses II., the king who ad= ded most to Pithom, was Shashank of the XXII. Dynasty, who reigned at Bubastis (see p. [91]). As he had frequently to fight with the nations of Asia, it was important for him to keep in repair the fortresses which commanded the eastern roads. Other kings added to the defe= nces; but the most important monument which M. Naville discovered was a tablet of= Ptolemy Philadelphos, which relates what was done for Pithom by this monarch and his queen Arsinoë. This tablet, which is now in the Museum at Cairo, gives some interesting information both as regards the history of the city = of Pithom and of Pto= lemy Philadelphos. It appears from it that Pithom and the neighbouring city of <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Arsinoë were the starting-points of commercial expeditions to the Red Sea, and that fro= m thence one of Ptolemy's generals went to the land of the Troglodytes to bring back elephants for purposes of war. The city of Heroöpolis was near Pithom, or thi= s may have been the name given by the Greeks to the old town. The older Greeks, e.g. Herodotus, called it by a for= m of the native name, Patumos. M. Na= ville considers that Arsinoë must have been on the site now occupied by the = village of el-Magfar. The site of Pithom was re-examined by Mr. Currelly in 1904. <= o:p>

87 m., Abu Suw= êr Stat.

92 1/2 m., Nef= îsha Junct. = Stat. Junction of the Port Saîd and Suez lines.= The Suez trains run i= nto Ismaîlîya, and then back again to the junction at Nefîsha. The Fresh-water Canal also divides at Nefî= sha, one part continuing to Ismaîlîya, and thence through two locks, gaining the level of the maritime canal, and the other branching off to Suez. From Nef&ic= irc;sha is obtained the first view of Lake Timsah, a description of which will more proper= ly enter into the account of the Suez Canal= (p. 63).

95 m., Ismaîlîya Stat. * (Pop. 7200). Both hotels (see Index-Dire= ctory) are between the landing-place and the Rly. Stat. (For description of Ismaîlîya, see p. 64.) =

The train to Port S= aîd (no change of carriage) runs N. along the l. bank of the Suez Canal, past el-Ferd&ac= irc;n (104 1/2 m.), to el-Kantara (11= 6 1/2 m.), "the Bridge," where the old desert route from the Delta viâ es-Salhîya crosses= on the way to el-'Arish and Palestine; Râs el-Êsh (135 1/2 m.); Raas= ûa (144 m.); Port Saîd (145 m.), see p. 68. T= he journey is monotonous, varied only by the occasional sight of a steamer slo= wly passing through the canal. The stations are mere settlements

46 ROUTE 4. - = EASTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

of the canal employés, with a few ho= uses and a pumping-station. On the l. are the sand-dunes and reedy marshes of Lake Menzâla. Tell Dêfenna (p. 66), the= site of the ancient Daphnae or Tahpanhes (W.), and Pelusium (E.), may be reached from Kantara.

[The Suez train, starting from Ismaîlîya, passes Nefîsha on the way south. The country is all desert, a few signs of vegetation occurring now and then in the immediate neighbourhood of the Fresh-water Canal, which is constantly to be s= een close to the Rly. The next Stat. reached is called

103 m., Serape= um. The train does not stop her= e. The French fixed on this name from the circumstance of some ruins supposed to b= elong to au old temple of Serapis having b= een found in the neighbourhood. The discovery of a cuneiform inscription, and a stone on which the Persian sun-disk is sculptured, have proved the ruins to= be those of one of the three memorials raised by Darius on the canal banks bet= ween the Heroöpolitan Gulf and Bubastis. A small branch canal leads from the Fresh-water Canal. <= /span>

We now come in sight of the Bitter Lakes, or rather of the northernmost and larger of those inland seas. Their descri= ption will be found in the account of the Suez Canal (p. 60). It is curious to reflect that this vast expanse of water, on which= the traveller, as he passes by, will probably see several large steamers, was, = so lately as 1869, a salt-marsh bordered by desert sand.

114 m., F&acir= c;yed Stat. Not far from the shor= e of the Great Bitter Lake.

127 m., Geneff= a Stat. This Stat. is so name= d from the hills which have been for some time soon on the rt., called Gebel Geneffa. Behind is the highe= r Gebel 'Atâka. Still skirting= these hills, we reach

135 m., Shal&u= circ;f Stat. The line here approac= hes to within a very short distance of the Suez Canal, the high banks of which may be seen from the carriage window, only a few hu= ndred yards off. The Fresh-water Canal, which runs between it and the Rly., here enters the bed of the old canal of communic= ation first cut by Darius between the Bitter Lakes, then called the Gulf of Heroöpo= lis, and the Red Sea. The reader who studies = the account given (p. 225) of the Exodus of the Israelites and their passage of= the Red Sea will find that it has been conjectured by some that the scene of th= at event may be localised somewhere in the immediate neighbourhood of this pla= ce; the Red Sea at that remote period having extended as far as the Bitter Lake= s. Continuing along the high desert land, out of reach of the high tides which still sweep up for some distance above Suez, the line makes a detour to the rt., and turning into the valley to join the tra= ck of the old line between Cairo and Suez, now done aw= ay with, reaches

147 m., Suez Term. S= tat.]

<= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Suez and Neighbourhood.

[The Rly. Stat to= on the S. side of the town in Colmar= Street. The line is continued down to the docks and landing-quays close to the roadstead, about 1 1/2 m. farther on, but the passenger for Suez will get out at the Stat. for the = town. The British Consulats and the Custom-house are on the quay of th= e Creek near the Stat. Post and Telegraph O= ffices (Egyptian) at the Stat.]

Sect. I.] ROUTE 4. - EASTERN DELTA. 4= 7

$$$ <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Suez. * The town of Suez= (Pop. 18,000) is situated near the N. extremity of the western branch of the Red Sea, called the Gulf of Suez. The ac= tual town is of comparatively modern date, and offers few points of interest. Th= ere are a few European shops and a native bazaar, but, with the exception of a = few curiosities from the Hedjâz, brought by the Mecca pilgrims, there is nothing to tem= pt a purchaser. To the N. of the town are the Government storehouses and worksho= ps, called Ansari, formerly the property of the P. and O. Company; the lock, wh= ich terminates the Fresh-water Canal and joins it with the gulf; the Waterworks, which supply water from the canal to the whole of the town; and, on the hei= ghts above the storehouses (Kom et-Kolzu= m), the chalet of the Khedive, from which there is a magnificent view. In the foreground are the town, the harbour, the roadstead, and the mouth of the S= uez Canal; to the rt. the range of Gebel 'Atâka, a most striking and beautiful object, with its black-violet heights hemming in the Red Sea; awa= y to the l. the rosy peaks of = Mt. Sinai; and between = the two, the deep blue of the gulf.

About 2 m. to the S. of the town, at the = end of the causeway, are the Quays and= Harbours, which may be reached eit= her in a boat or by the branch Rly. line. We will suppose the traveller to go by w= ater and return by land. (Rowing-boat P.T.8-10 an hour.) Leaving the quay in front of the post-office,= the boat passes down the narrow channel which formerly served as the means of communication between the roadstead and the town. On the l. is a stone pier= , leading to the old Quarantine, where people sometimes land for the Wells of Moses. = Soon after, on the rt., begins the stone embankment lining the quays and harbour; while the centre of, the channel now marks the line of the Suez Canal, which may be seen stretching away to the l. On the rt. = is the entrance to the Suez Canal Company's port, marked by a white light, and then a quay called the Waghorn Quay, on which has been erected, by the Suez= Canal Company, a statue of that persevering and energetic individual, to whose ef= forts are duo the re-establishment, in the first instance, of the Egyptian route between Europe and the East. Rounding the point of the quay, on which there= is a green light, corresponding with a similar red one a short distance farther down on the l., which marks the position of some breakers, we come to the h= ead of the roadstead, capable of containing 500 vessels of all sizes, and the entrance to Port Ibrâhîm, divided by a long jetty into two part= s, one for ships of war and the other for merchant ships. At the head of the E. part is a dry dock, 410 ft. long, 100 ft. broad, and nearly 36 ft. deep. On= the jetty is the dock station. The whole of the ground on which the quays and o= ther constructions stand has been recovered from the sea, and the successful execution of the work is due to the enterprise and energy of the contractor= s, Messrs. Dussard Frères, the same who built the jetties at Port Sa&ic= irc;d.

History. - In ancient times the site of the town was always one of considera= ble commercial importance, and the city of Clysma stood somewhere in the neighbourhood. Clysma appears to have been a fort as= well as a town, and was perhaps the spot where the troops destined to guard the sluices of the canal were stationed. It was called Castrum by Hierocles and= Epiphanius; and 58<= /span>L<= /span>F<= /span>:<= /span>&q= uot; (Clysma), or 5<= /span>8<= /span>,<= /span>4<= /span>F<= /span>:<= /span>&q= uot; [Kleisma], is first mention= ed by Lucian. It appears to be the same as the Clysma Praesidium of Ptolemy, thou= gh he places it

48 ROUTE 4. - = EASTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

much farther down the coast. His positions, however, are not always certain; and a garrison would be stationed here rat= her than on any other part of the coast. To Clysma succeeded Kolzim, which is p= robably an Arab corruption of the old Greek name. The name of Kolzim, or Kolzum, is still given to some heights to the N. of Suez, and the position of the plac= e is fixed by the mention m history of the reopening of the canal by Omar to Kol= zim on the Red Sea. Abû 'Ifêda is still more precise in his positio= n of Kolzim, and leaves no room to doubt that it stood exactly on the spot now occupied by Suez. His words are: "At the extremity of the gulf intervening between Tor a= nd Egypt was situated the town of Kolzim, and tho= se who go from Egypt to Tor are wont to follow the coast from Kolzim to Tor." The name of "Sea of Kolzim" has also been given to this part of the Red Sea, and it has been conjectured that as Kolzim means in Arabic "destruction," there is some reference to the his= tory of the Israelites and the overthrow of Pharaoh's host; but, as we have seen, the name is probably a corruption of Clysma. The chief historical interest = of Suez is derived from its having been supposed to be the spot near which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea under the guidance of Moses, and the Egyptian army was drowned, but modern criticism tends to place the scene of this eve= nt farther N.

After the destruction, in the eighth cent= ury, of the canal of communication with the Nile, Suez became little better than= a small fishing village, galvanised now and then into commercial life by the = passage of caravans going to and fro between Asia and Egypt. Subsequently, at the b= eginning of the sixteenth cent., under Selim I. and Sûliman II., it became a naval depôt for the Turkish fleet = in the Red Sea; but the utter decline of navigation in that sea, consequent on= the discovery of the Cape route to the East in 1496, and the want of fresh wate= r, from which it has always suffered since the destruction of the canal, reduc= ed it again to a miserable collection of Arab huts. The visit of Buonaparte in 1798 to Suez, and the project already conc= eived by him of uniting the two seas by a direct canal, ended in nothing; but in 1837, owing to the exertions of Lieut. Waghorn, the route through Egypt w= as adopted for the transit of the Indian mail, and, a few years after, the P. = and O. Company began running a line of steamers regularly between India and Sue= z. This was followed in 1857 by the completion of a railway from Cairo, and Suez soon began to increase again in size and importance, and the population in 1860 numbered about 5000. It still suffered, however, from the want of fresh wat= er, the European population being supplied with Nile water for drinking, brough= t in cisterns by the daily trains from Cairo, while the remainder of the supply = was carried on the backs of camels from El-Ghurkutch and 'Ayûn Mûsa= (Moses' Wells). The completion by the Suez Canal Company, at the end of 1863, of the Fresh-water Canal from Tell el-Wâdi to the centre of the Isthmus, and thence to Suez, brought an abundance of Nile water to the town, and the var= ious works in connection with the Suez Canal, the new quays, the docks, &c., soon made Suez a large and busy place. With the completion of the canal the= activity of the town decreased.

Excursions from Suez.

The Wells of Moses. - A pleasant excursion may be made to the Wells or Fountains of Mos= os, 'Ayûn Musa.

[According to the route taken and the time spent at the place, this excursion will take from half a day to a day. Thee shortest way is to take a sailing-boat or a steam launch to the jetty which= has been built out into the sea to communicate with the new Quarantine, lately established on the shore of the gulf for the reception of the pilgrims on t= heir return from Mecca. From this point to 'Ayûn Mûsa the distance i= s 2 1/2 m., and the whole time occupied in going about two hours; if donkeys ar= e required between the jetty and the Wells, they must be sent from Suez. Or the boat m= ay be taken down to the entrance to the canal, and then up it <= /p>

Sect. 1] ROUTE 4. - EASTERN DELTA. 49

a short way to the usual starting point fo= r the Wells. Either of these routes will take from three to four hours. The sums = to be paid for boats and donkeys had better be strictly agreed upon beforehand. T= here are one or two so-called cafés at 'Ayûn Mûsa, where bad = coffee can be procured, but the visitor who intends spending the day there had bet= ter take some food with him. This excursion may be combined with a visit to the= Docks, the traveller landing there= on his return.]

The Wells are a sort of oasis, formed by = a collection of springs, surrounded with tamarisk-bushes and palm-trees. Since it has be= come, as Dean Stanley calls it, "the Richmond of Suez" - a regular picnicking place for the inhabitants of that town - some Arabs and European= s have regularly settled in it, and there are now a few houses, and gardens with fruit-trees and vegetables. The water from the springs has a brackish taste. Most of them are simply holes dug in the soil, which is here composed of ea= rth, sand, and day; but one is built up of massive masonry of great age.

The Monument of Darius. - A ride of rather more tha= n 5 m. through the desert, N. of Suez, along the line of the Fresh-water Canal, brings us to the fragment= s of one of the granite stelae, erec= ted by Darius to commemorate the reopening of the canal between the Red Sea and th= e Nile. Traces of the cuneiform and hieroglyphic inscriptions can still be detected upon some of them. The stelae were erected at certain intervals along the line of the canal, and the remains of three others of them have been found on a mound 1 kilomètre S. of Tell el-Maskhûta or Pithom (see p. 45), a litt= le to the E. of the Stat, of the Serapeum on the Suez Canal, and on the side o= f a mound between the 61st kilomètre of the canal and the telegraphic station of Kabret.

ROUTE 5.

Suez<= /st1:City> to Port Saîd by the Canal.

1. Ancient Canals of Communication between the Mediterranean and Red Sea.

Before entering upon a history and descri= ption of the present maritime canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, c= ommonly known as the Suez Canal, it may be interesting to give some slight sketch of the ancient canals of communication which have at different epochs existed between the two seas; premising that they all differ in an important respect from the present one, in that, while it goes direct from sea to sea, and is consequently entirely a salt-water canal, they were, with the exception of = the part between the Bitter Lakes and the Red Sea, fresh-water canals, deriving their supply entirely from the Nile, and are represented at the present day= by the Wâdi Canal, and its continuation to Ismaîlîya and Sue= z, commonly called the Fresh-water Canal.

E=

60 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

$$$ On the outside N. wall of the temple = of Karnak is a scene of the time of Seti I., in which he is said to have made his triumphant return from Asia by way of ta-tenat, "the cutting," which swarmed with crocodiles, and therefore presu= mably communicated with the Nile. According to classic authors - Aristotle, Strab= o, and Pliny - the traditional Sesostris, probably Ramses II., first conceived= and carried out the idea of making a water communication between the two seas by means of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile from Avaris to Bubastis, and then = by rendering navigable the irrigation canal which already existed between the latter town and Heroöpolis, which would appear, from M. Naville's rece= nt discoveries, to have been near Tell el-Maskhûta, the site of the anci= ent city of Pithom. Several monuments bearing the cartouche= of Ramses II. were found at this spot (see p= . 45). As this king built the city of Pithom, it = is very probable that he also made a canal to conduct the waters of the Nile. Necho's canal tapped the Nile at Bubastis,

near Zagâzig, and followed almost t= he line of the modern Wâdi Canal to Heroöpolis, which at that lime = was a port; the Red Sea, it must be remembered, reaching much farther inland th= an now, and being called in this upper portion (now separated from the main se= a, and known as the Bitter Lakes) the Heroöpolite Gulf. The length of the can= al as given by Pliny, of 62 Roman miles, =3D about 57 English ones, would agre= e, allowing for the sinuosities of the valley traversed, with the distance bet= ween the site of old Bubastis, near Zagâzig, and the present head of the B= itter Lakes, in the neighbourhood of Serapeum. The length given by Herodotus of m= uch more than 1000 stadia (114 m.), must be considered as including the whole distance between the two

seas, both by the Nile= and the canal. The story of Herodotus that 120,000 men perished in cutting = the canal is probably an exaggeration, and the reason which he assigns for Necho's de= sisting from his undertaking - the warning of an oracle "that he was labouring= for the barbarian" - does not seem very credible. The more likely reason w= as the idea, then prevalent that the Red Sea was considerably above the level = of the Delta, and that if the Nile was made to communicate with that sea, not = only would a great part of the country be inundated by the latter, but the salt water would penetrate some way up the river and render it undrinkable. This reason, however, would require the absence of all knowledge of locks, and e= ven sluices, by the ancient Egyptians.

The work of Necho was continued by Darius= , the son of Hystaspes (520 B.C.); and the natural channel of communication betwe= en the Heroöpolite Gulf and the Red Sea, which already, probably in the time of Necho, had begun to silt up, having become, in the 100 years that had elapsed since then, completely blocked, w= as cleared out and rendered navigable. Traces of this canal, which was about t= en miles long, can be distinctly seen in the neighbourhood of Shalûf near the S. end of the Bitter Lakes, and the present Fresh-water Canal follows its course for some distance between that point and Suez. Several Persian monuments were found by Lepsius in this part of the Isthmus= , commemorating this work of Darius; and on one of them the name of Darius is written in the Persian cuneiform character, but enclosed in a cartouche of Egyptian form. = It will be seen, then, that up to this time the transit between the two seas w= as effected thus: ships sailed up the Pelusiac branch of = the Nile to Bubastis and thence along the cana= l to Heroöpolis, where their cargo was transhipped to Red Sea vessels.

This inconvenient transhipment of cargo w= as remedied by the next Egyptian sovereign. Ptolemy Philad= elphos (285 B.C.), who made the water communication between the two seas his care.= M. Naville found at Tell el-Maskhûta a most interesting tablet of this king, which informs us that Pithom, or Heroöpolis, and the neighbouring city of Arsinoë were the starting-poi= nts of commercial expeditions to the Red Sea; the tablet alludes to a canal which = seems to have led from the city to the head of the Red Sea= . In addition to cleaning out and thoroughly restoring the two canals, he joi= ned the fresh-

Sect. I.] ROUTE 5. - SUEZ CANAL. 51

water canal with the Heroöpolite Gu= lf by means of a lock and sluices, which, while it permitted the passage of ve= ssels, prevented the salt water from mingling with and spoiling the fresh. At the point at which the canal between the Heroöp= olite Gulf and the Red Sea joined the = latter he founded the town of Arsino&= euml;.

Whether the next sovereign who took means= to restore the line of communication between the two seas, which, as we know, = was impassable in the time of Cleopatra (B.C. 31), was Trajan or Hadrian (A.D. 98-138), is uncertain. The Nile had almost entir= ely deserted the Bubastite or Pelusiac branch, and therefore it would be necessary to ta= p it at a much higher point; and the traditional name of Amnis Trajanus given to= the old canal, which leaves the Nile near Old Cairo, and formerly joined the old line of canal to the Bitter Lakes, seems to point to that as having been the new canal cut by Trajan to join the old one, which he also cleaned out and rendered again navigable. But it is very doubtful whether, any work of this kind, beyond repairs, was undertaken in the time of the Romans; and it is m= ore probable that the new canal above mentioned was the work of 'Amr, when orde= red by the Khalîf Omar to send supplies of corn to Mecca and Medina and t= he whole of the Hedjâz, then (A.D. 639) suffering severely from famine. = It joined the old canal near the latter's former point of departure in the neighbourhood of old Bubastis<= /st1:place>.

In return for the anxiety thus displayed = for the Holy Cities, and Arabia generally, Omar received the flattering title of "Prince of the Faithful" (Amîr el-Muman= în), which was thenceforward adopted by his successors in the Khalîfate. O= ne hundred and thirty-four years after, El-Mansûr Abû Ga'far, the second K= halîf of the Abbâside Dynasty, and the founder of Baghdad, is said to have closed this ca= nal, to prevent supplies being sent to one of the descendants of Ali, who had revolted at Medîna. Since that time it has remained unopened, though = some assert that the Sultan Hâkim once more rendered it available for the passage of boats, in A.D. 1000, after which it became neglected and choked = with sand.

But though the passage of boats was imped= ed, and it was no longer of use for communication with the Red Sea, some portio= n still contained water during the inundation, until closed by Mohammed Ali; at whi= ch time it is said to have flowed as far as Shêkh Hanêdik, near Tu= sûm and the Bitter Lakes.

The old canal, which left the Nile at Cai= ro, had long ceased to flow much farther than the outskirts of the city, and the still more ancient one from the neighbourhood of Bubastis, now known as the= Wâdi Canal, extended only a few miles in the direction of the Isthmus, as far as Kassasîn, when the necessity for supplying the labourers with fresh w= ater along the line of the Suez Canal induced the Company in 1861 to prolong it = from Kassasîn to the centre of the Isthmus, and afterwards in 1863 to carr= y it on to Suez. In one or two places the bed of the old canal was cleared out a= nd made to serve for the new one. Its level is about 20 ft. above that of the = Suez Canal, which it joins at Ismaîlîya by means of two locks; and t= he same difference of level between it and the Red Sea is remedied by means of four locks between Nefîsha and Suez. The average depth of water at high Nile is 6 ft., and at low Nile 3 ft. This canal, called the Ism= aîlîya, leaving the Nile at Kasr en-Nîl and passing by = Heliopolis and Belbês, restores the line of water communication between the Nile= and the Red Sea as it existed perhaps in the= time of Trajan, certainly in the time of Omar; but its importance as a means of transit is purely local and internal. Another canal from Zagâzig joins the Ismaîlîya at Abû Hammâd, not far from Tell el-K= ebîr.

2. Various Mod= ern Projects for connecting the two Seas.

We hove seen that all the more enlightene= d sovereigns who ruled Egypt at different periods paid special attention to the means of transit

E 2

52 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

through that country between the East and= the West; and be much so, that Ptolemy Philadelphos, one of the chief restorers= of the canal communication between the Mediterranean and Bed Sea, founded anot= her line of route through Egypt from Myos Hormos and Berenikê on the Red = Sea, to Koptos on the Nile, near Thebes. And this route continued to be of great importance up to the time of the discovery of the Cape passage by Vasco da = Gama in 1497, from which time all the overland routes between East and West, both through Asia and Africa, were gradually abandoned. About the same date the Venetians, who had almost a monopoly of the trade with the East through Egy= pt and thence down the Red Sea, were much troubled by the Portuguese taking aw= ay their commerce by means of the Cape route, and there appears little doubt t= hat the Doge of Venice considered the possibility of having a canal cut through= the Isthmus of Suez. Negotiations were begun between the Venetian Republic and the Sultan of Egypt, El-Ghûri, but were put a stop to by the Turk= ish invasion in 1517, after which all idea of cutting a canal was given up.

The first in more comparatively modern ti= mes to take up the subject of a water communication between the two seas was Napol= eon Buonaparte. After having in 1798 examined himself the traces of the old canal of Necho and his successors, he ordered M. Lepère to survey the Isthmus and prepare a project for uniting the two seas by a direct canal. The result of= the French engineer's labours was to discover a difference of 30 ft. between the Red Sea at high water and the Mediterranean at low; and as this inequality = of level seemed to preclude the idea of a direct maritime canal, the following compromise was recommended: - 1. A fresh-water communication between Alexan= dria and the Bitter Lakes in the following manner: (a) Canal from Alexandria to Ramanîya on the Rosetta branch, (b) Rosetta branch to Cairo, (c) Canal from Cairo by the Wâdi Tûmilât in the old line to the Bit= ter Lakes, which were to be filled with fresh water, and closed at the S. end b= y a lock. (d) Sea canal to Suez. 2. Direct communication between the two seas by (a) the= sea canal from Suez to the Bitter Lakes, and (b) a fresh-water can= al from the Bitter Lakes to Pelusium. This rep= ort was not finished till after the evacuation of Egypt by the French, and circumstances prevented any attempt at its execution. Although, owing to the exertions of Lieutenant Waghorn, the route through Egypt was chosen in 1837 for the transmission of the mails between England and India, and the P. and O. Company established a service of steamers between England= and Alexandria, and Suez and India, nothing more was done with regard to a canal till 1846, when a mixed Commission, including Stephenson, was appointed to inquire into the subject. They exploded the old error so extraordinarily confirmed by Lepère, respecting the difference of level between the = two seas, and proved that it was inappreciable, but separated without coming to= any conclusion, leaving it to one of their number, M. Talabot, to present a pro= ject of his own. His idea was to follow the old canal from Suez to near Zagâzig, avoiding the Bitter Lakes, then take a direct line u= p to the head of the Delta to the Barrage, then building; carry the canal across= the river at this point by means of a gigantic aqueduct, and then continue it i= n a direct line to Alexandria. The difficulties involved in this plan proved it to be impracticable; and t= he same verdict awaited the project of Messrs. Barrault, who proposed to go fr= om Suez through Lake Menzâla to Damietta, then across the Damietta branc= h of the Nile to Rosetta, and so across the Rosetta branch to Alexandria. <= /o:p>

The next project was drawn up in 1855 by = M. Linant-Bey and M. Mongel-Bey, under the superintendence of M. de Lesseps, w= ho had already received a first firman of concession from the then Viceroy, Sa&ici= rc;d Pashi. It recommended a direct canal between Suez and Pelusium, passing through the Bitter Lakes, <= /span>

Sect. I.] ROUTE 6. - SUEZ CANAL. 53

Lakes Timsah, Ballah, and Menzâla, = and communicating with the sea at each end by means of a lock. A fresh-water ca= nal from Bûlâk to the centre of the Isthmus, and thence to Suez, with a condu= it for conveying water to Pelusium, was also proposed. This project was in 1856 submitted to an international Commission, comprising representatives from <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Austria, E= ngland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Prussia, and Spain, = and the following modifications introduced. The line of the canal to the N. was slightly altered and brought to a point 17 1/2 m. W. of Pelusium; this chan= ge being determined on from the fact of there being deep water (25 to 30 ft.) at a distance of 2 in. from the coast at this point; whereas at Pelusium the same depth was only found at n distance of 5 m. The locks were done away with, a= nd the length of the jetties at Suez and Port Saîd m= odified, and various other minor details settled. This was the project accepted, and= so successfully carried out by the Suez Canal Company.

3. Financial a= nd Political History of the present Maritime Suez Canal= .

In 1854 M. de Lesseps, whose father was t= he first representative of France in Egypt after the occupation of 1798-1801, = and who had himself been Consul at Cairo from 1831-1838, obtained the first preliminary concession from Saîd Pasha, authorising him to form a com= pany for the purpose of excavating a canal between the two seas, and laying down= the conditions on which the concession was granted. This was followed by the drawing up and revision of the project mentioned above, and the renewal in = 1856 of the first concession with certain modifications and additions. Meanwhile= the British Government, under the influence of Lord Palmerston, then Foreign Secretary, endeavoured, for a variety of political reasons, to throw obstac= les in the way of the enterprise, and so far succeeded as to prevent the Sultan from granting his sanction to the concession made by the Viceroy. M. de Les= seps, however, sanguine as to the result - he had, as he himself said, "pour principe de commencer par avo= ir de la confiance"= - and encouraged by the favourable reception his project had met with in Europe, determined to open, in 1858, the subscription that was to furnish funds for= the undertaking. The capital, according to the statutes of the Company approved= in the firman of concession, was to consist of £8,000,000, in shares of £20 each. Rather more than half of this was subscribed for, and event= ually, in 1860, Saîd Pasha consented to take up the remaining unallotted sha= res, amounting to more than £3,600,000.

Disregarding the opposition of the British Government and the withholding, through Its influence, of the consent of the Porte, M. de Lesseps began his work in 1859; and on the 25th of April in th= at year the works may be said to have been formally commenced by the digging, = in the presence of M. de Lesseps and four directors of the Company, of a small trench along the projected line of the Canal, on the narrow strip of sand between Lake Menzâla and the Mediterranean. This was followed by the establishment of working encampments in different parts of the Isthmus. But, though the first step had been won, difficulties of various kinds prevented= the work from making very rapid prepress, and at the end of 1862 the actual res= ults were only a narrow channel cut from the Mediterranean to Lake Timsah, and the extension of the= Fresh-water Canal from Râs el-Wâdi= to the same point. The principal work done in 1863 was the continuation of the= Fresh-water Canal to Suez= . At this point a difficulty arose which threatened to stop the works altogether. Among the articles of concession of 1856 was one providing that four-fifths=

54 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

of the workmen on the Canal should be Egy= ptians; and Saîd Pasha consented to furnish these workmen by conscription from different parts of Egypt, the Company agreeing to pay them at a rate equal = to about two-thirds less than was given for similar work in Europe, and one-third mo= re than they received in their own country, and to provide them with food, hab= itations, &c. In principle this was the c= orvée or forced labour, the fellâh&= icirc;n being taken away from their homes and sent to work at the Canal, though the= re is no doubt that when there they were as well treated and better paid than = at home. However, the injustice and impolicy of this clause had always been insisted on to the Sultan by the English Government; and the Khedive Isma&i= circ;l, on his accession to power in 1863, perceived at once that the continual dra= in upon the working population necessary to supply the Canal with 20,000 fresh= labourers monthly was a loss to the country which nothing could compensate for. He therefore, in the early part of 1864, refused to continue to send the month= ly contingent, and the works in consequence came almost to a standstill. Other= points of difference at the same time arose between the Sultan, the Egyptian Gover= nment, and the Company, with regard to the large grant of lands made to the Compan= y in the original concession, and the proprietorship of the Fresh-water Canal from Râs el-Wâ= di to Suez. By the cons= ent of all parties, the subjects in dispute were submitted to the arbitration of t= he French Emperor, Napoleon III., who decided that the two concessions of 1854 and 18= 56 being of the nature of a contract, and binding on both parties, the Egyptian Gove= rnment should pay an indemnity of £1,520,000 for the withdrawal of the fella= h labour, £1,200.000 for the resumption of the lands originally granted, 200 me= tres only being retained on each side of the canal for the erection of workshops, deposit of soil excavated, &c., and £640,000 for the Fresh-water Canal, and the right of levying tolls on it; the Egyptian Government undertaking to keep it in repair and navigable, and to allow the Company fr= ee use of it for any purpose. The sum total of these payments amounted to £3,360,000, and was to be paid in 16 instalments from 1864 to 1879. <= o:p>

The Company now proceeded to replace by machinery the manual labour they had lost; and, thanks to the energy and ingenuity of the principal contractors, Messrs. Borel and Lavalley, that wh= ich seemed at first sight to threaten destruction to the whole enterprise, led more th= an anything to its being ultimately successful, for it may be said that, witho= ut the machinery thus called into action, the Canal would never have been completed when it was; and when we look at the ingenuity displayed in the adaptation of this machinery (the dredges were an old invention of Sir John Rennie), and the enormous scale on which it was applied, it must certainly = be considered as one of the chief glories of the work. It may be noted that its first cost was £2,400,000, and its monthly consumption of fuel £= ;40,000. A further sum of £400,000 was realised in 1866 by the sale of the tra= ct of land called el-Wâdi, which had been purchased by the Company of Sa= îd Pasha for the sum of £74,000. And, by a new convention, the term for = the payment of the remainder of the indemnity awarded by the Emperor Napoleon w= as shortened by ten years, and the whole sum was to be paid by 1869. <= /p>

The work now proceeded without interrupti= on of any kind; but at the end of 1867 it became evident that more money would be needed, and a = subscription was opened for the purpose of obtaining £4,000,000 by means of £= ;20 shares, issued at £12, bearing interest at the rate of £1 per share, and repayable at par in fifty years. Of this loan little more than a fourth was obtained in six months, and in order to get the rest without del= ay the Company obtained permission to issue bonds, reimbursable by lottery drawings, on condition that their nominal value should not be less than &po= und;20, that they should bear interest at not less than 3 per cent, on the nominal capital, and that the sum annually devoted to prises should not exceed 1 per cent, of the capital. The prospect of £40,000 a year in prizes, varyi= ng from £80 to

Sect. I.] ROUTE 5. - SUEZ CANAL. 55

£6000, to be drawn for quarterly, i= n addition to the already favourable terms of the subscription, soon brought in the remainder of the loan. But money was again needed in 1869, and the Company;= for the sum of £800,000; yielded up to the Egyptian Government its right = of free passage and exemption from custom-house duties along the Fresh-water C= anal, agreed to take half only of whatever the land still belonging to it might fetch, and renounced entirely all special rights and privileges of any kind. For a further sum of £400,000 it sold to the Egyptian Government all = its establishments on the Ishmus, including the hospitals and their matériel, the quarry and harb= our of Meks near Alexandria, and its workshops and establishments at Bûlâk and Damietta. As, however, the Government w= ere unable to find the money, it agreed to renounce the interest on the shares = held by it for 25 years, and by this means enabled the Company to issue fresh bo= nds, called Délégations, for the £1,200,000. At this time, it may be added, the Company were recei= ving a revenue of about £5000 a month as their = share, for the transit receipts between Port Saîd and Suez, viâ the Maritime Canal to Lake Timsah, and thence to Suez by the Fresh-water Canal.

The complicated nature of the money arran= gements between the Egyptian Government and the Company make it difficult to know exactly how far the former had actually fulfilled its engagements at the ti= me of the opening; but supposing it to have done so completely, the capital received by the Suez Canal Company, up to the opening or the Canal in Nov. 1869, would amount in all to about seventeen millions sterling, as thus: - =

Original capital             =             &nb= sp;            £8,000,000

Indemnity for withdrawal of = fellâhîn, &c. =         &= nbsp;   3,300,000 <= /p>
Sale of the el-Wâdi estate=         &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;                400,000

Lottery Loan 1868             =             &nb= sp;            =        4,000,000 <= /p>
Additional Loan 1869             =             &nb= sp;   1,200,000 <= /span>

Total £16,000,000

The addition of sums arising from various sources of profit would bring the total amount to considerably more than the sum stated above of seventeen millions. Of this amount, as may be seen, £13,200,000 is interest-bearing; but as by the agreement of 1869, men= tioned above, the Egyptian Government gave up the interest on its shares for 25 ye= ars, the value of the 176,602 £20 shares held by it (=3D £3,532,040)= must be deducted, and the interest-bearing capital would consequently stand thus= : -

223,398 shares at £20 &nb= sp;            =            £= 4,467,960 =

Lottery or Debenture Loan 1868          =   4,000,000 <= /p>
Additional Loan 1800   = ;            =   1,200,000

Total    £9,667,960<= /o:p>

On the 16th Nov., 1869, the Canal was ope= ned for traffic; not completely finished, it is true, but sufficiently so to en= able 48 ships, some drawing 18 feet of water, to pass through to Lake Timsah, and continue their voyage to Suez the following day. All nations may be said to have assisted at the ceremony; and England forgot her old politi= cal jealousy of the undertaking, and her scepticism as to its success, in the prospect of the benefit she was likely to reap from this shortened route to= the East. The vessels which took part in the opening procession of course paid = no rates for passage. But immediately afterwards a regular traffic set in, the first ship to pay the dues being an English one. By the concession of 1856 = the tariff, which, it is expressly stated, is to be the same for ships of all nations, was fixed at 10 francs (8 shillings) per ton, and 10 francs per passenger; in addition to which there are extra dues for pilotage, amount of water drawn, &c. The transit dues

56 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

were from the opening to the 1st July, 1873, = levied on the registered tonnage; from that date they were levied on the gross ton= nage up to 29th April, 1874, when, in accordance with the decision of an international Commission, the former rate was resorted to. In 1884, as the result of another Commission, the transit dues were fixed at 9 fr. 50 c. on= the net tonnage, the extra dues abolished, and it was agreed to spend a sum of = four millions sterling, spread over a number of years, in deepening, widening, a= nd generally improving the Canal. The rate was successively reduced to 9 fr., = to 8 fr. 50 c., and (Jan. 1, 1906) to 7 fr. 75 c. per ton. The clues on passenge= rs remain at 10 fr. (children 5 fr.). For the regul= ar mail-steamers and warships there is a reduction. The first year in which the receipts exceeded the expenses was in 1872. The following table will show t= he manner in which the traffic through the Canal has increased since it was opened: -

3.975 ships passed through the Canal in 1= 906, carrying in all 359,616 passengers.

Of the 3,975 vessels which passed through= the Canal in 1906, 2,333, or 58.7 per cent., were British, their net tonnage amounting to 61.7 per cent. of the total. Of 2,9= 48 merchant vessels and vessels in ballast, of a net tonnage of 9,819,008 tons= , 2,103 vessels were British, their net tonnage being 7,338,032 tons, or 74.7 per c= ent, of the total. German vessels numbered 328, their

percentage of net tonnage being 11.2. = France.= Russia, Holland, Austria-Hungary, Norway, Denmark, and Turkey furnished together 13.3 per cent. of the net ton= nage of the carrying trade. The mean net tonnage per vessel rose from 1,517 tons= in 1881, to 2,067 tons in 1891, 2,926 tons in 1901, and 3,383 tons in 1906. The mean duration of passage for all vessels passing through the Canal was 18 h= ours 35 minutes in 1905, and 18 hours 2 minutes in 1906. The percentage of vesse= ls navigating by night was 96.1 in 1905, and 96.7 in 1906. When the Canal was opened the draught allowed was 7 mètres 50 centimètres (34 feet 7 inches). At the beginning of 1906 it had been raised to 8 mètres 23 centimètres (27 feet), and it is expect= ed that on January i1, 1908, it will be further raised to 8 mètres 53 centimètres (28 feet).

Previous to the decision in 1884 to enlar= ge and improve the Canal at a cost of four millions sterling, = as mentioned above, the width of the Canal was 22 mitres (72 ft.), and = the depth 8 mètres (26 ft 3 in.) throughout. The width has been increase= d to 37 mètres (121 1/2 ft), and the maximum draught of water allowed ves= sels is now 27 ft. Many improvements have been made in the

Sect. I.] ROUTE 5. - SUEZ CANAL. 57

"gares,&q= uot; curves, &c., during the last few years, and others are in course of con= struction. When those are carried out the Canal will have a uniform depth of 9 mètres (29 ft 6 in. ), a width of 65 m&eg= rave;tres (213 ft ) in the straight parts, and 75 to 80 mètres (246 ft to 262 = ft.) in the curves; and these dimensions are calculated to enable the Canal to c= arry any traffic ever likely to be developed. Steamers must pass through the Can= al at a slow speed (6 knots) lest their wash should injure the banks.

The financial and political difficulties encountered in the carrying out of this gigantic work were by no means slig= ht, but they were successfully passed through, and the steadily increasing use = made of the Canal, especially by English vessels, shows that the saving in dista= nce and expense offered by this route is appreciated, and that the Canal, from being looked upon as the "futile attempt of a clever enthusiast," is regarded as an accomplished fact, and as affording the natural line for tra= ffic between East and West. The following table gives the relative distances by = the Cape route, and by the Canal, from England<= /st1:country-region>, America, Russia, and France, to India: -

Before closing this short sketch, it may = not be inappropriate to notice how much Egypt contributed towards the making of the Suez Canal. Some idea of it may be gained by summarising certain items already referred= to: -

170,602 original £20 shares £= 3,532,040

Payment by arbitration award of 1864 3,36= 0,000

For repurchase of el-Wâdi estate 32= 6,000

For repurchase of certain rights, &c,= by renunciation of interest or shares for 25 years 1,200,000

Total £8,418,040 =

To this may he added the almost fabulous = sums said to have been spent on the festivities at the opening. This amount, however, was reduced by the sale in 1875 to the English Government of the original 176,602 shares for £4,000,000. This remarkable act of high policy, which gave G= reat Britain a powerful voice in the control = of the canal, was suggested to Mr. Disraeli by Mr. Frederick Greenwood. <= /o:p>

The Administration of the Canal Company is international, the Board consisting of representati= ves of the shareholders. In view of the large British holding in the Company, t= he voice of the British directors has great weight in the administration.

The Suez Canal Convention of Oct. 29, 1888, signed by Turkey, France, and several other nations, chiefly with a view of checkmating any supposed British nefarious designs on the Canal, was not recognised by Great Britain and Egy= pt till 1904, when, in consequence of the changed political situation paused by the Anglo-French rapprochement,= H.B.M.'s Government declared

58 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

in Art. 6 of the Agreem= ent of April 3 that "they adhere to the stipulations of the Treaty of the 29th October, 1888, and that they agree to their being put in force," on condition of the elimination of certain objectionable features in the treat= y. The Canal will, therefore, now "always be free and open in time of war= , as in time of peace, to every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinctio= n of flag."

4. The Passage= through the Canal.

[The traveller must obtain information at= Suez as to the best means of going through the Canal= to Ismaîlîya and Fort Saîd. A passa= ge may often be obtained on board some large vessel passing through (fare, £= 3; time escaped about 16 1/2 hrs., if there is no delay)= . Or a small steam launch which can be hired; but it must be borne in mind that if there is at all a strong wind blowing, small steam launches are unsafe in t= he Bitter Lakes, and that from a small vessel nothing beyond the banks of the Canal can be seen. If there is any delay in getting a passage through the C= anal to Ismaîlîya, that portion of the route might be seen from the = Rly., going from Suez to Ismaîlîya by the morning train. From Isma&ic= irc;lîya there is the Rly. three times daily to Port Saîd (s= ee p. 45).]

The annexed table of the original dimensi= ons of the Canal may be useful for reference on the way: -

       Feet=

Width at water-line, where banks are low = 328

Width at water-line in deep cuttings, whe= re banks are high 190

Width at base 72

Depth 26

Slope of bank near water-line 1 in 5, nea= r base 1 in 2.

These dimensions proving insufficient for= the traffic, they have been, and are still being, increased, as related on p. 5= 6. The total length is nearly 100 m., which may be divided with reference to t= he water-line width and the character of the soil, thus: - <= /p>
Miles.

Plain of Suez, full width, tenacious soil= 10

Cutting of Shalûf, reduced width, t= enacious soil and rocks with upper coating of sand 6

Bitter Lakes 25

Sortie from Bitter Lakes, full width, tenacious soil, with upper coating of sand 2<= /p>
Serapeum and Tusûm cuttings, reduced width, sand 6

Lake Timsah 5

Cutting of Gisr, reduced width, sand      6

Lakes Ballah and Menzâ= la, full width, with short sandy cuttings at el-Ferdon and Kantara of about 3 miles = 41

Total 100

The application of the electric light to vessels navigating the Canal at night has reduced the average time of trans= it to 16 hrs. 18 min. A large number of ships now pass through at night.

Leaving the roadstead, the mouth of the C= anal, which is here 900 ft. wide and 29 ft. deep, is soon reached. It is guarded = at its entrance by a mole half a mile long, which projects from the Asiatic sh= ore and protects it from southerly gales and from the action of the tide at high water. This mole is built of calcareous rook from the quarries at the foot = of Gebel 'Atâka on the African shore. Past this, on the l., is a stone embankment facing the ground on which stand the offices and workshops of the Company, and the constructions belonging to the

THE SUEZ CANAL [= COLOR MAP]

PRODUCTS. 59

of the palaces of Gezîra and Gî= za, were formed, and many now plants and trees introduced.

2. Agriculture= .

The wealth and prosperity of Egypt h= ave always depended on the cultivation of the soil. Agriculture has consequently been one of the principal cares of its inhabitants from the earliest times.= It was no doubt the necessity for accurately knowing the time of the rise of t= he Nile, and when to sow, reap, and carry on the other= operations of husbandry, that caused the ancient Egyptians to take such trouble to arr= ive at a fixed year. Originally the year in all probability consisted of 12 lun= ar months; it was then changed to 12 solar months, of 30 days each, and 5 days added at the end of the last month to ensure the return of the seasons at f= ixed periods. As, however, it soon became apparent that some deficiency still existed, a quarter of a day was added to each year, or rather one day to ev= ery four years, as in our leap year. When, however, these changes were introduc= ed is not clear, though it is doubtful if a fixed year came into use before 27= B.C., when the calendar was finally reformed by Augustus.

The year was divided by the ancient Egypt= ians into 3 seasons of 4 months each: - the Inundation, corresponding with the months of July, August, September, and October; the = Winter, with the months of Novembe= r, December, January, and February; and the Summer, with the months of March, April, May, and June. These divisions are still retained.

The Inundation, or, as it may be called, = the Autumn Season (ed-Demîra), begins with the rise of the Nile; and though = less varied in its agricultural operations than the other seasons, owing to the = land being to a great extent under water, is of considerable importance, as duri= ng it the maize (dura shâmi)= and millet (dura beledi) crops are = sown and harvested.

The Winter Season (es-Shitâwi) i= s the most important of all, especially in Upper Egypt, the principal crops raised being wheat, barley, clover, lentils, beans, pea= s, vetches, &c. As soon as ever the inundation retires, these crops are so= wn, and the harvest takes place from four to seven months after, according to t= he nature of the crop; wheat and barley being seven months in the ground, and = the other crops four.

The Summer Season (es-Sêffi) pro= duces little of any great value in Upper Egypt, with the exception of millet, chi= efly in Nubia= , and cucumbers and melons. Sugar-cane, however, is sown in March and April, though it is not out till October for eating, and not till January and Febr= uary for making into sugar. But in the Delta this is an important time, rice, cotton, and Indigo being sown in March, April, and May. These crops require rather longer to come to maturity than the winter ones, and are not harvested, as a rule, till October, November, and even December. Speaking generally, three crops are gathered on good land in Lower Egypt, and two crops in Upper Egypt.

The cultivable land in Upper Egypt is div= ided into the ''rai" lands, whi= ch are naturally watered by the inundation, and require no irrigation to ripen the crops, and the "sharâki<= /i>" lands, which are too high for the inundation to reach, and must consequentl= y be artificially

60 PRODUCTS.

irrigated. On some of the sharâ= ki lands as many as three crops are sometimes raised in the course of the year. The = rai lands, as a rule, only yield one crop - that of the winter se= ason; but in some parts they also can he irrigated, and made to yield a second= or even third crop. Of late years a great impetus has been given to the cultivation of both sugar-cane (kas= ab) and cotton (kutûn). Tobac= co (dukhân) is not cultivated; i= ts growth in Egypt being prohibited in order to increase the revenue derived from the customs-duties on imported tobacco.

Irrigation has always been an important f= actor in the system of Egyptian agriculture. Canals, dikes, and artificial lakes = were constructed and kept up with the greatest care in the old days of power and prosperity; hut under the Byzantine emperors and during the supremacy of the Mamelukes they were neglected, and as a result the productiveness of the country suffered considerably. A great change for the better was effected by Mohammed All; Ismail Pasha carried on the good work, and considerably incre= ased the resources of the country by the various irrigation works constructed du= ring his reign, for the purpose of storing the waters of the inundation, and gradually distributing them over the land. Since the British occupation, further great improvements have been made, and others are now in progress, a sum of £1,000,000, supplied out of the guaranteed loan of 1885, having been appropriated for the Public Works Department. The great barrage works = at Asyût and Aswân are also the fruit of the British occupation; a= nd, since the international arrangement with France, by which England has been conceded complete control of Egyptian finance, there is no doubt that the Public Works Department will soon be able to carry out further improvements= of the national irrigation system, which is as important to Egypt as her dike and waterway system is to Holland.

The increase in the prosperity and wealth= of Egypt depends not only on the extent of canals for irrigation, but on the success of the methods adopted for storing the Nile water, which runs to wa= ste in winter and is very variable in summer, sometimes insufficient for the wa= nts of the land. Lower Egypt needs only the = water, as its canals are capable of utilising the full supply necessary to the com= plete development of its cultivation. Several schemes have been proposed, and some are being carried out, for storing water. The most important of these, whic= h is how completed and in full work, is the great Dam at Aswân, already mentioned. The object of this colossal engineering work, which was planned by the Egyptian Public Works Department, under the superintendence of Sir William Garstin. Under-Secretary of State, and carried out by Messrs. John Aird and Co., of Liverpool, in the years 1899-1= 903, is to dam up the waters of the Nile during the inundation to a height of 65 ft., and to use gradually the great body of water thus collected for the regular irrigation of the whole country N. of Aswân, unaffected by hi= gh or low Nile, during the rest of the year. This object is now being regularly carried out each year, and great benefit has already been conferred upon Egypt b= y the dam. Further regulation of the water-supply takes place at the subsidiary barrages of Asyût (p. 339) and Cairo (p. 157). Another is to be built at Esna. A constant and unvarying supply of water makes it possible to irrigate high-lying sharâki lands which in time of low Nile would go uncultivated a= nd yield no revenue.

Sect. I.] ROUTE 5. - SUEZ CANAL. 61

inches below the surface; but in t= he centre of the larger depression was an elliptical-shaped bank of salt, 7 m. in len= gth by 5 in width.

The excavating work in this portion of the Canal wan very slight; only the neck between the two depressions had to be = cut through, and an entrance to the channel made at each end, the depth in the centre being more than sufficient. But the filling this vast expanse with w= ater was an achievement second to none in the progress of the undertaking. It wa= s commenced on the 18th of March, 1869, by letting in the waters of the Mediterranean, which had already filled Lake Timsah, and advanced through the Canal to the f= oot of the enormous weir destined to regulate their flow into the Bitter Lakes. This weir, the largest probably ever made up to that time, had been constru= cted in the west bank of the Canal, with a curved channel leading from it into t= he lakes; the line of the Canal continuing in a straight line, and being close= d at the entrance to the lakes by a dam. The weir was more than 350 ft. in lengt= h, with 25 openings, each of which had 20 doors, so that the flow of water cou= ld be regulated to any degree. The whole opening represented about 328 ft. in length by rather more than 3 in height, and was about 3 ft. below the level= of the water-line of the Canal, so that the force of the stream pouring through was increased by the weight of the water above it. In order to break the fa= ll of such a mass of water and prevent its eating back under the weir, a solid platform was constructed, composed of piles driven in, and then joined toge= ther by cross beams, and filled in to a depth of 10 ft. with hard clay; over this was a stout planking nailed to the piles, and covered with pieces of stone,= old iron, &c.; while for 300 yds. along the chan= nel below the weir were placed huge pieces of rock to break the force of the wa= ter. When all the doors were raised, from 4 to 5 million cub= ic mètres of water passed through in the day. Three months later a similar wei= r, but of still larger dimensions, was constructed near Shalâf, and the water of the Red Sea admitted through it into the southern portion of the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Bitter Lakes. As much as from 10 to 12 million cubic mètres of water wore discharg= ed in a day through this weir. Altogether it was calculated that 19 hundred million cubic mètres of water, allowing for absorption and evaporati= on, would be required to fill the Bitter Lakes. <= /span>

The ebb and flow of the tide through the = Canal between the Red Sea and the Bitter Lakes is, as will have been seen during = the passage through, considerable; but the clayey character of the soil prevents its doing much mischief, and its effect is almost lost in the vast surface = of the Bitter Lakes, on whose level it has no sensible effect. There is a slig= ht continuance of the ebb and flow between the Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah, f= rom which point there is a slight uniform current into the Mediterranean, often= , however, checked, and sometimes reversed, by the action of the north wind.

The line of the Canal through the Bitter Lakes is marked by buoys at every 330 yds., forming an avenue of about 180 ft. wide; and at the northern and southern ends of the la= rger Bitter Lake, or, as the French call it, the "Grand Bassin des Lacs Amers," is a lighthouse, 65 = ft. high, the tower of iron built on solid masonry; the light is of the fourth order. The sandy, gravelly surface of the soil in the neighbourhood of the Bitter Lakes is strewn with shells, exactly corresponding with those now fo= und in the Red Sea - a proof that not only the

62 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

depression of the Bitter Lakes, but the whole of the surrounding country, was formerly submerged. The only vegetation in the neighbourhood is composed of tamarisk shrubs, which often form, with the earth and sand at their roots, high mounds, and present from= a distance the appearance of trees. To the E. of the <= st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Bitter Lakes, they extend over a large space, and looked so like a wood from a distance t= hat the French gave that part the name of the "Forêt."

After passing through the Bitter Lakes the Canal enters the low ground lying between them and the heights of the so-called Serapeum (see p. 46)= . The greater part of this section, about 1 1/2 m. long, was excavated à sec. At a short distance from the W. bank of the Canal are some remains of ancient works, and traces of a cutting, which may= be followed for some considerable distance N. It has been conjectured that this cutting marks the course of the old canal of the Pharaohs, and the remains = of the spot where Ptolemy built the species of primitive lock connecting it with t= he Heroöpolite Gulf. The seuil of Serapeum has been so named from some supposed remains = of a temple of= Serapis found about the centre of = the heights. The seuil itself is ab= out 3 in., long, and from 15 to 25 ft. high, composed of sand with layers of lime and clay, and here and there a sort of half-formed rock, of shells embedded in lime. The removal of the superficial soil was accomplished here by a very ingenious and skilful contrivance. After a shallow channel had been dug thr= ough the heights, a dam being left at the northern and southern ends, a cross-cutting was made between this channel and the = Fresh-water Canal, distant about 3 m. to the W. and at about the same- level as the heights. Through this cutting fresh water was admitted into the shallow channel, and into a number of slight depressions that existed on either side; these last being thus turned into, as it were, closed basins communicating with the li= ne of the Canal. At the same time dredges were brought up the Canal from Port = Saîd to Ismaîlîya, thence passed through the locks up into the Fresh-water Canal, and floated along it and down the cross-cutting into the channel filled with fresh water, where they commenced dredging at a height = of nearly 20 ft. above the level of the sea. Flat-bottomed twin-screw lighters received the dredgings, and deposited them in the artificially formed basins already mentioned. When the dredges had excavated to a depth of nearly 40 f= t., or about 20 ft. below the sea-level, the dam at the northern end was cut, a= nd the waters of the Mediterranean mingled with the waters of the Nile, which had thus been made to render a novel assistance to the making of the Canal. The cross-cutting had of course been dammed up, and the basins emptied themselves into the Canal, now fallen con= siderably below their base. It was at the southern end of the Serapeum cutting that t= he dredgers encountered, two or three days before the date fixed for the openi= ng of the Canal, Nov. 16, 1869, some solid rock, which was with great difficulty removed sufficiently to allow of the passage of the vessels that took part = in the opening ceremony.

To the Serapeum heights succeed those of = Tusûm, from 15 to 20 ft. in height, and composed chiefly of loose sand. It was here that the first work= ing encampment was formed in the southern half of the Isthmus in 1859, and the channel, to a depth of 6 ft. below the sea-level, cut by the native conting= ent. At that time there was no fresh-water

Sect. I.] ROUTE 5. - SUEZ CANAL. 63

canal to Suez, and all the water had to be brought from a long distance on camels' backs. = It was the difficulty of providing water for the number of men at work here, t= hat proved to the Company how impossible it would be to meet the wants of the s= till greater number that must be employed oh the sections to the S. of the Bitter Lakes, and determined it to continue the Fresh-water Canal from Nefîs= ha to Suez. The remaining work in this cutting was done by dredges; the materi= al being carried away by flat-bottomed lighters, and discharged near the shore of Lake Timsah. Close to the Stat. of= Tusûm is a Moslem saint's tomb called Shêkh Hanêdik, near which may be traced the course of the old canal; and a little farther to the S. are a few ruins. The banks gradually lower after passing Tusûm, and the view spreads out over tamarisk-tuf= ted sand-hills, with hero and there a creek opening from the Canal. These crooks gradually become larger, and announce the beginning of Lake Timsah, which soon widens out, w= ith the town of Ismaîlî= ;ya in front of the vessel as it advances to take up its moorings in the centre= of this inland harbour.

Lake Timsah was formerly, according to th= e more generally received view, a fresh-water lake, receiving, by means of the old= canal from the Pelusiac branch of the Nile at Bubastis - traces of which have alr= eady been mentioned as apparent in various places - the overflow of the Nile at = the time of the inundation; and this theory is supported by the nature of the s= oil at the bottom of the lake, by the vegetation on its banks, and, above all, = by its name in Arabic, Bakr et-Timsah<= /i>, the Sea of the Crocodile, which seems to show it to have been a favourite resort of that fresh-water monster. Others, however, contend that the bed of this lake was once in communication with the Bitter Lakes, thus forming par= t of the Heroöpolite Gulf, and indeed of the Red Sea, and that the name Bahr et-Timsah was applied, not to this particular part, but to the whole gulf, = and was given on account of its shape resembling that of a crocodile. Both these theories are, no doubt, right in the main, it is probable that at some remo= te period the Mediterranean and Red Seas met across what is now the Isthmus of= Suez, and that the first separation took place when the heights of el-Gisr, to th= e N. of the present lake, were upheaved by some subterranean commotion. This wou= ld place the former, limit of the Red Sea w= hore the lake now is. The same, or more probably a subsequent, upheaving produced the heights of Serapeum and Shalûf, and gradually drained off the Red= Sea to its present limit, leaving two inland lakes, the northernmost of which, = from its proximity to the Nile, soon filled w= ith fresh water. The abandonment of the eastern branches of the Nile, and the c= onsequent drying up of the canals in that part of the Delta, deprived the lake of its source of nourishment; and, except when an unusually high inundation sent a large overplus of water down the Wâdi Canal, and along the old course into the lake, it was almost dry. The depth of the depression was about 22 = ft. below the sea-level, and the circumference, judging from the mark of the old water-line, about 9 miles. The systematic filling of the hollow with water = from the Mediterranean, through the channel that had been already out from Port Saîd, began on the 12th Dec., 1866, and was completed by the end of; April, 1867. A weir was used, similar to that afterwards used at the Bitter Lakes, but of smaller size. Nearly 100 million cubic metres of water were required= to fill the lake. The remaining 6 ft. of depth required for the

64 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

channel of the Canal through the la= ke were dredged out, as also was a large area in the centre, to serve as a harbour.= The course is buoyed, as in the Bitter Lakes. On the W. sh= ore is a lighthouse, and on the N. is another, slightly to the E. of the landing-p= lace for the town of Ismaîl&i= circ;ya.

Ismaîlîya Stat. = * (Pop. 7200). <= o:p>

[Railways. - Ismaîlîya to = Cairo (95 m.) express vi&aci= rc; Zagâzig and Benha, 3 trains daily, in 3 to 3 1/2 hrs. Restaurant car by afternoon and evening express. Fares: 1st cl., P.T.70, 2nd cl., P.T.35. To Cairo, ordinary train viâ Zagâzig and Belbês. 2 trains daily, in 4 1/4 to 5 1/4 hrs.= To Port Saîd= , 3 trains daily, in 1 1/4 to 2 hrs. Fares: 1st cl., P.T.27, 2nd c1., P.T.1= 3 1/4|.

Steamer.= - To Port Saîd, d= aily in about 5 hrs.]

A broad avenue of magnificent acacias, wh= ose branches meet overhead, leads up from the landing-place on the lake, and ac= ross the Fresh-water Canal, to the Mohammed Ali Quay, an avenue bordered on one side by the Canal and on the other by the houses of = the principal inhabitants. The town is divided into two parts, the E. and W., by the road leading from the landing-place to the Stat. In the W. part are the hotel, t= he Stat., the landing-quays of the Fresh-water Canal, and warehous= es adjoining, and beyond them the Arab village. There is nothing here to stop = the visitor in his walk. In the E. part are the houses and offices of the emplo= yés of the Company, the shops, the disused palace of the Viceroy, the Waterworks for sending water along the line of the Canal to Port Saîd, and the streets. In wa= lking down the Mohammed Ali Quay from the hotel the visitor will notice with inte= rest a sort of Swiss chalet, the residence of the late M. de Lesseps, and the fi= rst constructed house at Ismaîlîya. Some way farther down is the Viceroy's palace, run up in a few months for the purpose of enabling him to entertain his illustrious visitors at the opening of the Canal. This was us= ed as a military hospital during the English occupation of Ismaîlî= ya, in 1882. The leafy avenues and various small canals and uphaulbridges of the town give it quite a Dutch appearance.

At the end of the quay are the Waterworks. These are worth a visi= t. The water reaches them by means of a small canal derived from the Fresh-water Canal at a point beyond the Arab village. Simultaneously with the completion of t= he Fresh-water Canal to Ismaîlîya and Suez, it was = found necessary to provide Port Sa&i= circ;d, and the line of works along the northern portion of the Canal, with a regul= ar supply of water that could be depended on. Two pumping-engines were accordi= ngly erected at Ismaîlîya, and a double row of cast-iron pipes laid = the whole length of the Canal to P= ort Saîd, a distance of 50 m., through which water is continuously pumped. At all the principal stations there are reservoirs for storing the water, from which anyone can draw. One of the features of these Waterworks are the gardens, very prettily laid out with cascades and walks, and filled with all kinds of choice fruits and flowers. Indeed the luxuriance and beauty of= the gardens is one of the chief features of this town, whose site in 1860 was a barren waste of sand. But it seems only necessary to pour the waters of the= Nile on the desert to produce a soil which will grow anything to perfection.

The walk or ride may be prolonged to the = point where the Fresh-water Canal joins by a lock a short branch from the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Maritime Canal, and thence to the heights o= f el-Gisr, whence there is a good view of

Sect. I.] ROUTE 5. - SUEZ CANAL. 65

the deep cutting which the Canal here pas= ses through, and a really magnificent coup d'oei= l across Lake Timsah, with the Bitter Lakes and the heights of Gebel Geneffa beyond, and far in the distance the hazy blue outline of Gebel 'Atâka= on the rt. and the granite peaks of Sinai on the l. The return ride from el-Gi= sr may be made straight across the desert, and through part of the town. =

[The traveller may continue his voyage fr= om Ismaîlîya to Port Saîd= either in some large steamer on her way through the Canal or by the Rly. Information as to the hours of departure, &c., had better be obtained at the transit office of the Company, or of the post-office.]

The marshes round the W. side of Lake Timsah abound in waterfowl of various kinds, and gazelles are very frequently mot = with in the neighbouring desert. Any traveller who is fortunate enough to have a= n introduction to one of the chief employés of the Company at Ismaîlîya= will readily obtain any information as to sport, and, should he stay long enough= , very probably have an opportunity given him of joining in a gazelle hunt. The climate of Ismaîlîya is extremely dry and temperate, there being always a fresh breeze from the lake to moderate the noonday heat, and the nights, even in summer, are cool. The humidity is very slight, and there is hardly any dust. Sea-bathing may be enjoyed in the lake all the year round. Fish are plentiful and fairly good, and travellers will find good sport in = the early morning within 200 yds. of the landing-pla= ce.

[An excursion may be made from Ismaî= ;lîya to Tell el-Maskhûta, where M. Naville discovered in 1883 the site of = the ancient Pithom (see p. 45). It is a ride of 11 m. across the desert.]<= /o:p>

Passing out at the N.E. comer of Lake Timsah, the Canal enters almost immediately the heights of el-Gisr. On the rt. is s= een the entrance of a small canal loading to the stone quarries in the Plateau = des Hyènes, and on the l. the branch canal which jo= ins the Maritime Canal to the Fresh-water Canal. The differen= ce of level, 17 ft., is adjusted by means of two locks, one just below Ismaî= ;lîya, and the other near the upper part of the town. By means of this connecting canal between the channel already dug from Port Saîd to Lake Timsah and the Fresh-water Canal, water transit between the two seas was begun in 1866.

The seuil of el-Gisr, 5 1/2 m., is the highest point in the Isthmus. It is about 6 m. long, and from 60 to 65 ft. above the level of the sea. The soil is composed almost entirely of loose sand, interspersed with a few beds of hard sand and clay. The upper surface was removed by the forced contingent of fellahin, who, with the primitive = tools common to the Egyptian labourer, viz. hands for grubbing up the soil, and baskets for carrying it away, excavated a channel from 25 to 30 ft. wide, a= nd about 5 ft. below the level of the sea. When they were withdrawn, the work = was continued by M. Couvreux, who completed the cutting to its full width, and = to a depth of 10 ft. below the sea-level, by means of machines of his own invent= ion, called excavateurs. The excavateur was a species of locomo= tive engine, working behind it a chain of dredge-buckets on an inclined plane; on reaching the top of the plane the buckets opened at the bottom and discharg= ed their contents into waggons; these were drawn by locomotives to the top of = the embankment, along a well-arranged network of railways. The

F=

66 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

remaining 16 ft. of depth were dredge= d out in the ordinary way; the soil being taken away in screw-lighters and discharge= d in the shallows of Lake Timsah. At the top = of the embankment, on the W. side, is the encampment of el-Gisr, reached from the Canal by a staircase of a hundred steps. When the cutting was in progress it presented a very lively and busy scene, being one of the largest stations on the line, and arranged with great taste and an eye to effect. The gardens w= ore a sight in themselves, and they were entirely the result of the water pumped from Ismaîlîya.

On issuing from the heights of ol-Gisr th= e Canal runs a short way along the edge of an offshoot of Lake Balah, and then enters the cutting of el-= Ferdân (4 1/2 m.), a sandy promontory running out into the lake, about 1 1/2 m. lo= ng. This cutting was excavated in the same manner as that of el-Gisr. A rather sharp turn now leads into Lake Bal= ah, the principal among a series of shallow lakes, or rather swamps, through wh= ich the Canal passes before entering the low sand-hills of Kantara. These swamps are more or loss full of water, according to the tide.

The small passenger-boats generally stop = long enough at el-Kantara (el-Kantaret el-Khazna; 21 m.) to a= dmit of refreshment being obtained at the restaurant. The station is situated at= the highest point of the chain of low sand-hills which divides Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName> from the smaller inland lakes. It was one of the principal caravan stations= on the road between Egypt and Syria, and the name Kantara, which in Arabic means a "bridge" or "ford," is explained by its position as the point where the lakes and shallows that intervene between the eastern and western desert are crossed. This road was once one of the greatest highways= of the Old World, and served as the causewa= y to succeeding armies of Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs,= and French. The traveller from Egypt to Syria by way of el-= Arîsh and Gaza still follows this road, and crosses the Canal at this point by a ferry. Ten mile= s to the W. of Kantara is Tell Dé= fenna or Dafna, whose mounds mark the= site of Daphnae, the Tahpanhes of the Bible. Prof. Petrie made some interesting discoveries at Tell Défenna. He found a large building of the XXVI. = Dynasty, which is still called "the Palace of the Jew's Daughter," which s= eems connected with the flight of the Jews to Tahpanhes, mentioned in Jeremiah x= liii. The fortress was built by Psammetichus I., and this may have been the actual "house of P= haraoh" where Jeremiah prophesied the coming downfall of Egypt.

1 1/2 m. from Kantara the Canal enters Lake Menz&acir= c;la and continues in a straight line through it for 20 m. to Port Saîd. The banks here are but slightly above the level of the Canal and the lake, and from the dock of a = big steamer there is an unbounded view over a wide expanse of lake and morass, studded here and there with islets, and at times rendered gay and brilliant= with innumerable flocks of rosy pelicans, scarlet flammgoes, and snow-white spoonbills; geese, ducks, herons, and other birds abound. The whole of the channel through Lake Menzâla was a= lmost entirely excavated by the dredges, the soil having been in no instance more than a foot or two above the level of the lake, and in many instances below= it. Where it was necessary to remove sonic surface soil before there was water enough for the dredges to float, it was done by the natives of Lake Menz&ac= irc;la, a hardy and

Sect. I.] ROUTE 5. - SUEZ CANAL. 67

peculiar race, whose constant practi= ce in digging canals and making embankments to keep out the inundation, rendered = them peculiarly apt at the work, especially when it came to digging under water.=

Into the channel thus cut the dredges were floated. Some of the inventions in connection with the working of these dre= dges deserve mention. They were not exclusively employed in this part of the Can= al; but as it was where they were first tried, and where they did the most work= , it seems the most fitting place to speak of them. First among them was the long couloir (long duct), an iron = spout of semi-elliptical form, 230 ft. long, 5 1/2 wide, and 2 deep; by means of which a dredger working in the centre of the channel could discharge its co= ntents beyond the bank. This enormous spout was supported on an iron framework, wh= ich rested partly on the dredger and partly on a floating lighter. The dredging= s, when dropped into the upper end of this spout, were assisted in their progress d= own it by water supplied by a rotary pump, and by an endless chain, to which we= re fixed scrapers - large pieces of wood that fitted the inside of the spout, = and forced on pieces of stone and clay. By these means the spouts could deliver= their dredgings at almost a horizontal line, and the water had the further good e= ffect of reducing the dredgings to a semi-liquid condition, thus causing them to = spread themselves over a larger surface, and settle down better. The work done by these long-spouted dredgers was extraordinary; 80,000 cubic yds. of soil a month was the average, but as much as 120,00= 0 was sometimes accomplished. When the banks were too high for the long spouts to= be employed, another ingenious machine, called an élévateur, was introduced. This consisted of an inclined plane running upwards from over the water-line, and supported on an iron frame, the lower part of which rested over the water on a steam float,= and the upper part on a platform moving on rails along the bank. The plane carr= ied a tramway, along which ran an axle on wheels, worked by the engine of the s= team float. From this axle hung four chains. As soon = as a lighter containing seven huge boxes filled with dredgings was towed under t= he lower part of this élé= ;vateur, the chains hanging from the axle were hooked to one of the boxes, and the m= achine being set in motion, the box was first raised, and then carried along swing= ing beneath the axle to the top of the place; then, by a self-acting contrivanc= e, it tilted over and emptied its contents over the bank. It was then run down again, dropped into its place in the lighter, and the operation repeated wi= th the next box. No such dredging operations had over boon undertaken before; thos= e on the Clyde took 21 years to accomplish, and the whole amount only equalled a= bout three and a half times as much as was here often done in a month. M. de Les= seps, in one of his lectures, illustrated the amount of excavation done in one mo= nth - 2,763,000 cubic yards - by the following graphic comparison: "I dare s= ay few amongst you realise what is represented by this enormous amount of excavation. Were it placed in the Place Vendôme it would fill the who= le square, and rise five times higher than the surrounding houses; or, if laid= out between the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde, it would cover the entire length and breadth of the Champs Elysées, a distance equal to= a mile and a quarter, and reach to the top of the trees on either side."=

The course of the old Pelusiac branch of = the Nile is crossed at

F 2

68 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

"Kilomètre 34,&q= uot; a low miles before reaching Râs el-Êsh, the next Stat. to Kantara, a small islet of oozy mud, who= se height has been raised above the level of the inundation by dredgings from = the Canal. N= ear here the dynamite ship "Chatha= m'' was sunk, and its contents exploded in order to clear the canal (Sept. 1905= ). Very slight damage was done to the banks. Not far off to the l. in the lake= are the islands of Tûna and Tennes (Tennesus), both with remains. Some way to the rt., beyond the m= arshy plain and near the sea, are some ruins marking the site of Pelusium. <= /o:p>

Nothing of interest occurs to break the monotonous course of the Canal until, bending gradually to the E. and openi= ng out to a width of nearly 1000 ft., it enters the harbour of Port Sa&= icirc;d, and, passing the port and the town on the l., joins the open sea beyond the breakwater.

Port Saîd, * 100 = m. from Suez (Pop. about 4= 2,000).

[French money us current at Port Saîd, and prices, except at = the Post-Office and Rly. Stat., are stated in francs. This is not the case anywhere else in Egypt; and both French and English sil= ver and copper money are refused elsewhere.

Port Saîd to Cairo (146 m.). - Three trains daily. F= ares: 1st cl., P.T.97; 2nd cl., P.T.48 1/2. Time taken on journey 4 1/2 hrs. Resta= urant cars on the afternoon express trains (12.30 p.m. and 6.45 p.m.).=

Port Saîd to Damietta. - = When Lake Menzâla is full, in t= he winter months, there is a regular service of native boats between Port Saîd (starting from the 3rd kilomè= tre on the Canal) and Damietta, 36 m. distant.

The through steamers between Europe and the East, of the P. and O. Co., the Messageries, the Austrian Lloyd, th= e Rubattino, Orient, North German Lloyd, and others, all stop at Port Saîd. The steamers of the Messageries, Austrian Lloyd, Russian, Steam Navigation and = Azizleh Co.'s, between Alexandria, the Syrian Coast, and Constantinople, call at Po= rt Saîd, in 18 hrs. from Alexandria= , and 15 from Jaffa, and generally stay from 8 to 10 hrs. in the harb= our. Tickets, with information as to times of sailing and rates of passage, can = be procured at the offices of the respective companies in the town; but the tr= aveller will do well to inform himself on these points before leaving Cairo or Alexandria.]

To the general visitor Port Saîd offers few objects of g= reat interest in its present state, and a walk of 2 or 3 hrs. on shore during the stay of the steamer will more than satisfy the curiosity of most people. It is undoubtedly a very curious place, and not quite like any other town in the world. The strange riverside-like appearance of the quay-street, with its boats tied up by the shore, and the row of hotels and shops behind, first strikes the attention. Then the operations of coaling, which are always going on, contribute an element of extraordinary dirt and noise to the general effect. <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Port Saîd is one of the most impo= rtant coaling-stations of the world. On landing, one is struck by the chessboard arrangement of the town, the number of shops for the sale of picture-postca= rds and other trumpery for steamer passengers, the innumerable cafés, an= d the crowds of tumblers, jugglers, and other mountebanks who are always performi= ng in front of them.

The town has a small British colony, and = possesses two British doctors, one in charge of the native hospital, the other living= at the British hospital founded by Lady Strangford. The chief interest of the place lies in its position, and the story of its foundation and growth.

From the mouth of the Damietta branch of = the Nile to the Gulf of Pelusium there stretches a low belt of sand, varying in width from 200 to 300 yds., and serving to separate the Mediterranean from = the waters of the Lake Menzâla;

Sect I.] ROUTE 5. - SUEZ CANAL. 69

though often, when the lake is ful= l and the waves of the Mediterranean are high,= the two meet across this slight boundary-line. In the beginning of the month of April, 1859, a small body of men, who might well be called the pioneers of = the Suez Canal, headed by M. Laroche, landed at that sp= ot of this narrow sandy slip which had been chosen ns' the starting-point of the Canal from the Mediterranean, and the site of the city and port intended ul= timately to rival Alexandria. It owed its selection, not to its being the spot from which the shortest line across the Isthmus could be drawn - that would have= been the Gulf of Pelusium - but to its being that point of the coast to which de= ep water approached the nearest. Here 8 mètres of water, equal to about= 26 ft., the contemplated depth of the Canal, were found at a distance of less = than 3 m.; at the Gulf of Pelusium that de= pth only existed at more than 5 m. from the coast. The spot was called Port Saîd, i= n honour of the then Viceroy. On the 25th of April M. de Lesseps, surrounded by 10 o= r 15 Europeans and some 100 native workmen, gave the = first stroke of the spade to the future Bosphorus between Asia and Africa. Hard indeed must have been the life of the first workers on this desolate s= trip of sand. The nearest place from which fresh water could be procured was Damietta, a distan= ce of 30 m. It was brought thence across the Lake Menzâla in Ar= ab boats, but calms or storms often delayed the arrival of the looked-for stor= e; sometimes, indeed, it was altogether lost, and the powers of endurance of t= he little band were sorely tried. After a time distilling machines were put up, and in 1863 water was received through a pipe from the Fresh-water Canal, which had been completed to the centre of the Isthmus.

The first thing to be done at Port Saîd was to make the ground = on which to build the future town. This was done by dredging in the shallows of the lake close to the belt of sand; the same operation serving at once to f= orm an inner port, and to extend the area and raise the height of the dry land. When the fellâhîn were withdrawn, and recourse had to machinery= for supplying their place, great impetus was given to Port Saîd. It soon became an enor= mous workshop. The huge machines, which were to do the work hitherto done by han= ds and baskets, were brought piece by piece from France and put together in lo= ng ranges of sheds erected along the inner port. In another part sprang up the works where Messrs. Dussaud were to make the large concrete blocks for the construction of the piers of the harbour; at the same time the dredging of = the harbour was commenced.

Thus sprang up in 10 years, on a site than which it would have been difficult to find one more disadvantageous, a town= of nearly 10,000 inhabitants, with the most easily approached and safest harbo= ur along the coast.

Fresh water is supplied from Ismaîl= îya; and a big reservoir, called the "Château d'Eau," holding sufficient for three days' consumption, provides against a stoppage of the supply through accident to the pipes. The central harbour, lying between the outer port and the Canal, is called the Grand Bassin Ismaîl. Joining it on the W. are the Bassin Chérif, the Bassin des Ateliers, or de l'Arsenal, formerly the busiest place in the town, but now very nearly deserted, and the Bassin du Commerce. The principal = part of the town lies to the N. and W. of the last-named. The best houses are situated on the Francis Joseph Quay= , close to the harbour. Here are the offices of Messrs. Thos. Cook and Son, of the P. and O. Company, &c. There is also a small drinking fountain, wit= h a figure of Queen Victoria, erected in commemoration of her second jubilee in 1897. The huge offices of the Canal Company, form= ing a very imposing pile in semi-Oriental style, lie S. of the Bassin du Commerce. Behind this is the Rly. Stat. The= Post Office lies at the N. end of = the town. A short distance to the W. is the Arab village, on the strip of sand between the sea and the lake.

70 ROUTE 5. - = SUEZ CANAL. [Sect. I.

$$$ The Outer Port is formed by the two Break= waters or Moles already referred to. T= hat on the western side is adorned by a very successful Statue of De Lesseps, by the great French sculptor Frémi= et, unveiled on the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Canal (Nov. 17, 1899). This mole juts out at rt. angles to the shore and perpendicularly to= the line of the Canal, and runs straight out to sea for a distance of 2726 yds., and is to be continued still farther; the eastern mole stands about 1500 yd= s. to the E. of the other, and runs towards it in a gradu= ally converging line for 1962 yds. The entrance to the outer port is thus about = a quarter of a mile wide, and the space enclosed within it a triangular area of about= 550 neres. The de= pth of water at the entrance is 30 ft., and the channel through it to the inner ha= rbour about 300 ft. wide and 26 ft. deep. A red light is placed at the end of the= W. mole, and a green light at the end of the E. mole. The outer port has only depth of water sufficient for small coasters.

At the commencement of the W. mole, or ra= ther on the seashore close to it, is the lighthouse, one of the most conspicuous objects at Port Saîd. The tower, which 19 nearly 176 ft. high, is composed of a solid moss of concrete. On the top is the lantern, containing an electric light, flashing every 20 seconds, and visible at a distance of 23 m. Three, other lighthous= es of the same height, though differing in constitution, have been erected alo= ng the 150 miles of coast between Port Saîd and Alexandria; one at the e= ntrance to the Damietta branch of the Nile, with a white light of the second order,= flashing every minute; another at Bourlos, a fixed light of the first order; and the third at Rosetta, with a 10-second revolving light of the second order, red= and white alternately.

The moles are built of concrete blocks. T= hese blocks, each of which weighs 22 tons, and has a dimension of 12 cubic yds., are composed of sand and lime mixed with salt wa= ter. They were dropped into the sea from lighters three at a time, till the water-line was reached, and then lifted into their places by cranes. The sa= nd, which drifts along the coast from the Damietta mouth of the Nile, has silted through the western mole, and formed a considerable bank along its inner side near the shore end; but its encroachments are kept under by dredging. A similar cause has considerably extended the shore seaward to the W. of this mole, especia= lly in the angle formed by it and the coast. Another bank of sand has been form= ed too in the open sea, a little to the N.E. of the eastern mole, by the dredg= ings from the harbour, which were brought out in hoppers and dropped there.

Pelicans, flamingoes, herons and all kind= s of aquatic fowl abound in the shallows of Lake Menz&acir= c;la (p. 80), especially in the months of February, March, and April; but sport = is difficult, as most of the shooting is farmed out, and therefore prohibited.=

The archaeological site of Tell Tennes (p. 81), an island in the lake, lies 5 m. S.W. of P= ort Saîd. (For the excursion across the lake to Damietta by boat,= see p. 68.)

Sect. I.] ROUTE 6. - NORTH-EASTERN DE= LTA. 71

ROUTE 6.

The North-Eastern Delta: Cairo and Zagâz= ig to Es-Salhîya, Tanis, Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName>, and Mansûra.

[For Cairo to Zagâzig viâ Belbês (slow train) and viâ Benh= a (express), see p. 38. From Benha a Light Rly. runs N. along the l. bank of the Nile (p. 76)= to Mît Ghamr, Simbellâwên, and Mansûra. For Mansûra by exp= ress viâ Benha, change at Zag&= acirc;zig; by slow trains viâ Belbês, crossing the Tanta-Ismaîlîya line at Zagâzi= g, there is no change. For es-Salhîya change at Ab&u= circ; Kebîr (see below).

Cairo to Mansûra (45 m.) 4 = trains daily, in 2 1/4 to 3 1/4 hrs. Fare= s: 1st cl, P.T.63, 2= nd cl., P.T.32. to es-Salhîya (84 m.) 3 trains dai= ly, in 5 1/2 hrs.] <= o:p>

This district has historical associations= , and contains archaeological remains of interest. The scenery is very characteristic of t= he more primitive and less cultivated Egyptian Delta. Wild-fowl shooting may be had on the Nile and canals, but not on all parts of = Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName> (see p. 81). For shooting purposes an Arab flat-bottomed boat should be hir= ed at Mansûra, or elsewhere.

See p. 38 for the route from Cairo to 50 m., Zagâzig Stat.. Leaving Zag&aci= rc;zig, the line traverses a fertile district to

58 m.,<= /b> Hehia Stat., on the Muîzz= Canal (Light Rly, t= o Ibrahîmîya, 4 m. N.W.), and

64 m., Ab&ucir= c; Kebîr Junction.

[Light Rly. to Ibrahîmîya (7m= .) and Diarb Nigm, viâ (3 m.) Harbêt, the ancient Pharbaithos, and the capital of a nome, to which it gave its name, between 12 and 13 m. = to the N.E. of Bubastis. Harbêt can also be visited by path from = Abû Kebîr, where donkeys can be procured. It is a pleasant ride of 3 m. through the fields. The stone remains include gigantic monoliths of Nectane= bos, shafts of red granite columns of Roman time, fragments of fine grey granite= , apparently of an altar, and part of a statue; which, with mounds of crude-brick ruins,= arc all that remains of the city. It stood on the Tanitic branch, and was a tow= n of some consequence till a late time, and an episcopal see under the Lower Emp= ire. It is still occupied in part by the modern village, which has retained the ancient name.

S.E. Light Rly. to Abû Hammâd in the W&ac= irc;di Tûmilât viâ Tûkh el-Karamûs, where= an important discovery of gold ornaments, diadems, uraei, &c., of the Ptolemaïc period, was made in 1905 (now in the Cairo Museum).]

The Rly. to es-Salhîya turns N.E. to

72 m., Fakûs, w= hich bears the name of the ancient Phacu= sa, the Egyptian Pi-kesem. A= short distance N. is Khata'ana, where Prof. Naville discovered the remains of an ancient town and traces of occup= ation by a foreign (? Mediterranean) race, probably the Ha-nebu of Egyptian tradition, in = the time of the XIII. Dynasty. A figure of the reign of the XI. Dynasty king Sankhkara was also found here and Ramesside remains were discovered.

[At Kantîr, 2 3/4 m. N. o= f Khata'ana, stood a temple built by Ramses II. The ruin= s of Sân el-Hager (the ancient Tanis) lie 12 m. N= . of Kantir, and may sometimes be conveniently reached by this route (sec p. 73) by boat= on the Bahr Fakûs.]

722 ROUTE 6. -= KOBTH-EASTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

84 m., es-Salh= îya, the present terminus of th= e line, lies on the E. bank of the ancient Pelusiac arm of the Nile (the modern Bahr el-Bakar), on the borders of the desert.

[9 m. N.W. is Tell Nebesha or Tell Be= dawî, the ancient Amet, capital of th= e 19th nome of Lower Egypt, excavated in 1886 by Petrie for the Egypt Exploration Fund. Remains of the X= IX. Dynasty, including a granite shrine (locally known as el-Takîyet el-Faraût, "Pharaoh's Cap," or Takat= Faraûn, "Pharaoh's Niche.") of the goddess Uatjet or Buto, were fo= und; also a cemetery of the Cypriote mercenaries stationed in this neighbourhood= by Amasis.

3 1/2 m. N.W. is Tell Gemaiyemi, where Griffith excavated for the Egypt Exploration Fund the temenos a Ptolemaïc temple. Good sets of foundation-deposi= ts were found both here and at Tell Nebesha (see above), and remains of large = glass works.

3 m. N. of Gemaiyemi lie the twin mounds = of Zuweiên, excavated at the s= ame time. The southern is the site of a XIX. Dyn. cemetery. S&ac= irc;n el-Hager (Tanis= : see below) lies a few miles farther on in the same N.W. direction. The ruin= s of Tell Défenna (Daphnae: = see below and pp. 66, 214) lie about 10 m. due E. of Nebesha, across the Bahr B= akar.]

[It is proposed to continue the Rly. from= es-Salhîya to el-Kantara, on the Suez Canal (p. 66), along the line of the caravan rou= te from the Delta to Sy= ria. The distance is about 20 m. On the way Tell Défenna (3 m. N. of the road, 13 m. from es-Salhîya) is passed. For the c= ontinuance of the caravan route to Pelusium and el'Arîsh, see p. 214.]

The 1(1 V. from Abû Kebîr to = Mansûra passes 67 m., el-Bahû, an= d 69 m., Kafr Sakr Stats. on the Muîzz Canal, and reaches 73 m., Abu esh-Shekûk Stat., on an= other canal which joins the Muîzz farther N.

[These places form the best base for a Vi= sit to the Ruins of Tanis by boat; though Tanis can also be reached by canal or la= nd (preferable) from Fakûs, or by land from es-Salhîya viâ Nebesha and Gemaiyemi (s= ee above: recommended to archaeologists).

Inquiry should be made at Zagâzig a= s to which route should be chosen, if boats are taken, as alterations on the can= als or in the depth of water in them may make one preferable to the other. It i= s no longer possible to go direct from Zagâzig by canal, on account of bri= dges and sluices. The canal excursion should be made not later than February, as after that month the canals are low, and often d= ammed up a few miles from their mouth to keep the water for irrigation. Those who wish to be comfortable had better take tents, beds, &c., with them, as = the boats on these canals have no sleeping accommodation, are very dirty, and s= tink of fish. Some provisions, too, should be taken, as milk, eggs, and chickens= are the only things procurable at the villages on the canals. But each traveller will make such arrangements as desire for comfort may require. The best way= for those who intend to take tents, &c., is to send a servant on a day or t= wo before; he can then secure a boat, and have it ready. In winter there are generally plenty coming up from the lake. They are large and roomy, but dir= ty. There is a small attempt at shelter in the bows, where a portion is covered in by= a piece of matting. One boat will carry tents, servants, donkeys, baggage, &a= mp;c. The hire of a boat to Sân from either el-Bûha, Kafr Sakr, Abu esh-Shekûk will be from 16s. to £1, and the same for a boat back from Sâ= ;n. It will take or 7 hrs. to go, and 10 or 12 hrs. to come back, unless the wind is particularly favourab= le or adverse. There is plenty of wild-fowl shooting during the winter and early = spring in the neighbourhood of Sân, but the birds are very shy and difficult= of approach.]

Sân el-H= ager ("Stony Sân"= ;), a fishing village on the E. bank of the canal, is a dreary place. The inhabit= ants are entirely occupied in fishing. Twice in a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays,= the fish are sold by auction, people coming with their camels and donkeys from = the interior to buy. There is no good camping-ground near the village.

Sect. I.] ROUTE 6. - NORTH-EASTERN DE= LTA. 73

The best place is close to the ruins, the= only objection being that it is some little way from the canal whence you must d= raw your water supply; but at any rate you are free from noise and dirt. A good= general view of the ruins and the surrounding country may be obtained from the high= est mound, on which is a shêkh's tomb.

History. - The city of Zoan or Tanis, as it was afterwards called by = the Greeks, was one of the oldest and most considerable in the Delta. Its remote antiquity is indicated by the passagc in the Bible (Numb. xiii. 22), which = says that "Hebron was built seven years before Zoan." The sanctuary of the great temple dates back to the VI. Dynasty, at which time the name o= f the town is conjectured to have been Ha= -Uar or Pa-Uar, perhaps the Avaris of Manetho. The names of kings of the XII. and= XIII. Dynasties, Amen-em-hat I., Usertsen I. and <= span class=3DGramE>II., and others, found on colossi and other monuments discovered at Sân, and now in the Museum at Cairo, prove the existence and importan= ce of the city at that epoch. Soon after this it suffered with the rest of the No= rth of Egypt from the invasion of Hykso= s, or the Shepherds, as they were = called by Manetho; but it rose into importance again under the rule of the kings of the XVII. Dynasty, the descendants of these invading Hy= ksos, who had adopted Egyptian customs, manners, and religion. It is proba= ble, says Mariette Pasha - whose discoveries at Tanis have thrown great light on this epoch of Egyptian history - that it was dur= ing the reign of one of these pastor kings reigning at Me= mphis that Joseph was sold into Egypt and the story told in the Bible was enacted. The Pharaoh whom Joseph served= was not a pure-born Egyptian, but of foreign origin and shepherd descent like himself; and his conduct to hint is, on this supposition, the more easily explained. Amasis, the first king of the XVIII. Dynasty, drove out the greater part of the Hyksos, and, while suffering a l= arge colony of them to remain, reduced the importance of Zoan, which had been th= eir border fortress. Under the XIX. Dynasty a differ= ent policy was pursued, and the monuments show us Ramses II. restoring the magnificence of the temples and adopting the founder of the Hyksos Dyna= sty as an ancestor. The reign of his son and successor Mer-en-Ptah, who has bee= n identified with the "Pharaoh who knew not Joseph," of whom a statue found at= Sân is now in the Cairo Museum, is an interesting stage in the history of the c= ity, for we read in Ps. lxxviii. 12, 43, that the wonders and miracles done by M= oses, which ended in the deliverance of the Israelites= , were wrought in "the field of Zoan."

Under the XXI.= Dynasty Zoan, or, as it is = liest known under its Greek name, Tanis, became the nominal capital of Egypt, = and gave its name to the dynasty which Manetho calls Tanite, and also to the branch = of the river on which It stood. Various remains prove that under this dynasty = the city and temples were restored and beautified. During t= he period extending from the XXII. to the XX= VI. Dynasty Tanis was a city of great importance, and indeed Mariette again gives the name of Tanite to the XXIII. Dynasty. That towards the e= nd of this period (cir. 700 B.C.) it was considered as the capital city of the De= lta may be inferred from Is. xix. 11, 13, where "the princes of Zoan"= and "the princes of Noph" (Memphis) are spoken of as though those two cities were the principal in Egypt; and again another passage (Is. xxx. 4) speaks of the princes (of Egypt) as being "at Zoan." Ezekiel, on the occasion of the invasion of <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (cir. 600 B.C.), prophesies its downfall, and says that "fire" shall be set "in Zoan." The importance of Tanis began to de= cline under the XXVI. Dynasty, and Amasis, by directing the whole trade of the Mediterranean to Naukratis and Saïs, ruined the towns in the eastern half of the Delta. According to Mr. Petrie, the great temple went finally to ruin when Saïs became the capital of the Delta,= though perhaps its death-blow was given by the Assyrian conquest and pillage in the latter part of the reign of Tirhakah. During the Greek period Tanis again became a town of importance= , and some most interesting

74 ROUTE 6. - = NORTH-EASTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

domestic relics of this period, and = also of the Roman times, have been found among the ruins. In Strabo's time it was s= till a large town; but, according to Josephus, it had dwindled in the age of Tit= us to an insignificant place. The utter ruin and destruction of its temples is= , however, probably due to the fanatical outburst against the pagan monuments that followed the edict of Theodosius.

Ruins. - At the present day the scene of desolation, round what the remaining ruins prove to have been a most splendid city, is complete. The ''field" of = Zoan is now a barren waste; a canal passes through it without being able to fertilise the soil; "fire" has been set "in Zoan"; and = one of the principal capitals or royal abodes of the Pharaohs is now the habita= tion of fisherman, the resort of wild beasts, and infested with reptiles and mal= ignant fevers.

The mounds which mark the site of this an= cient town are remarkable for their height and extent, reaching as they do upward= s of a mile from N. to S., and nearly 3/4 m. from E. to W. The area in which the sacred enclosure of the temple stood is about 1500 ft. by 1250, surrounded = by mounds of fallen houses, as at Bubastis, whose increased elevation above the site of the temple was doubtless attributable to the some cause the frequen= t change in the level of the houses to protect them from the inundation, and the unaltered position of the sacred buildings. The enclosure or temenos surrounding the temple is = 1000 ft. long by about 7000 broad, not placed in the centre of this area, but one-third more to the northward; while the temple itself lies exactly at an equal distance from the northern and southern line of houses. The enclosure= is of crude brick; and a short way to the E. of the centre, on its northern si= de, is a gateway of granite and fine gritstone bearing the name of Ramses II., = to whom the temple was indebted for its numerous obelisks and the greater part= of the sculptures that adorned it.

From the wall of the enclosure to the two= front obelisks is 100 ft.; 150 beyond which, going towards the naos, are fragments of columns, and probably of two other obeli= sks, covering an area of 50 ft.; beyond these, at a distance of 120 ft., are sev= eral fragments of sculptured walls, two other obelisks, and two black statues, extending over a space of 30 ft.; and after going 100 ft. farther you come = to two other obelisks; and then two others 86 ft. beyond them; and again, at a distance of 164 ft., two other large obelisks, from which to the naos front is 150 ft. <= /span>

Though in a very ruinous condition, the fragments of walls, columns, and fallen obelisks sufficiently attest the fo= rmer splendour of this building; and the number of obelisks, evidently 10, if not 12, is unparalleled in any Egyptian temple. They are all of the time of Ram= ses II.; some with only one, others with two lines of hieroglyphs. The columns = had the papyrus-bud capital; and their appearance, as well as the walls bearing= the figures of deities, seems to prove that some at least of the obelisks stood= in courts or vestibules, forming approaches to the naos. The obelisks vary in size; some have a mean diameter of a= bout 5 ft., and when entire may have been from 50 to 60 ft. high; and those at t= he lower extremity of the avenue, farthest from the naos, measured about 33 ft. Some of the obelisks are of dark, others of light red granite, which might appear to have a bad effect if we = did not recollect that the Egyptians painted their monuments, sometimes even wh= en of granite.

The sanctuary, or naos, bears, as has been said, the name of a king

Sect. I.] ROUTE 6. - NORTH-EASTERN DE= LTA. 75

of the VI. Dynasty. The other principal names found on the monumental remains belonging to, or form= ing part of, the temple, are Usertse= n I., II., and III., Ramses II., Mer-en-Ptah, and Tirhakah. Outside the enclosure to the E. are two granite columns which formed part of another temple, built like the former entirely of granite. These columns are 9 ft. 8 in. mean diameter, and nearly 23 ft. high without the dado, and have palm-capitals of beautiful st= yle. They bear the name of Ramses II., by whom the temple was built. In some pla= ces the name of Ramses has been effaced and that of Osorkon, a king of the XXII= . Dynasty, substituted. Nearly 1/2 a mile from the great temple, in the direction of S= .E. by S., are several large round blocks of granite, placed on the ground in t= wo parallel lines, so as to form an avenue. They have no foundation, but lead = to an area surrounded by a deep brick wall. Apparently a temple stood here on = the rubbish, but has entirely disappeared by removal of the stone and denudatio= n of the ground. A fragment of basalt, bearing the name of a Ptolemy, has been f= ound near them.

The principal divinities worshipped at Ta= nis were Ptah, Amen, and the god Set, or Sutekh, an Asiatic divinity introduced= by the Hyksos, but subsequently clothed by them with the attributes of the Egy= ptian sun-god, and worshipped under the forms Ra, Harmachis, Horus, &c. =

The sphinxes of peculiar type found here = by Mariette were attributed by him to the Hyksos, in spite of the Hyksos names= on them being secondary usurpations. Since then Golenistchev has pointed out a rese= mblance to Amen-em-hat III. in his statue at Berlin, and proposed that this type be= longs to that king. The Hyksos sphinxes boar then, very proba= bly, portraits of a king of the XII. Dynasty.]=

[The marshes of Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName> begin a few miles N. of Sân. The villages of Menz= âla and Matarîya (Light Rly. to Mansûra) (p. 80) lie from 12 to 16 = m. N. of Sân, across the marshes.]

Leaving Abu esh-Shekûk= , the Rly. proceed= s W.N.W. to

82 m., Simbell= âwên Stat., on the Bahr Buhia, a= canal running from Lake Menzâla to the Nile at Mit Mohsen, below Mit Ghamr. This town, Abu esh-Shekûk, and Kafr Sakr (already passed) are the chi= ef entrepôts for the Menzâla fish, which is brought up the railway= by the canals and transferred at these stations to the trains, which bring it = up to Cairo.

[Light Rlys. to Zagâzig and Mit Gha= mr.]

[5 m. N. are the two mounds (Tell ibn es-Salâm, S.; Tell er-Roba, or Tell Mondid, N.= ), between which is the village of Tmêl el-Amdîd, which preserves the names of the twin cities which stood here, Thmuis and Mendes, now represented by the two mounds, the southern being t= he site of Thmuis, the northern that of Mendes. Excavations were made here by Prof. Naville in 1892. He found a shrine dedicated by Amasis, in the Mendes= ian temple, to Khnemu and Mut, 23 ft. high, and the coffins of the sacred goats= , which were venerated at Mendes (the ancient Bai-neb-Tetet, pronounced Bindidi, Vindid, Mindid, whence Mendes, Mendîd, Amdîd). The cult was a form of Osiris-worship, the god of= the dead being here called "the Soul of the Tet" ("emblem of stability"). (Another centre of Osiris-worship was= close by, at the northern Busiris, the modern Abusîr, p. 78). In Rom= an times both towns were united and known as Thmuis. Josephus says that Titus,= on his way from Alexandria to Judaea, passed by Thmuis. He went by land to Nikopolis, and then, putting his troop= s on board long ships, went up the Nile by the Mendesian province to

76 ROUTE 6. - = NORTH-EASTERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

the city of Thmuis. In the Byzantine period it was an episcopal see, and possessed its own magistrates, being exempt from the jurisdiction of the governor of Alexandria. ]

The line runs N.W. by <= /p>

88 m., Baklîya Stat. (ruins of the ancient Hermopolis Parva, Eg. Bah, "marsh"; explored by M. Naville in 1892) to

95 m., Mansûra Stat. (see p. 78), on the Damietta branch of the Nile.

[Railways. - Direct Rly. S. to Cairo (83 m.) viâ Tanta, = 4 trains daily In 2 1/4 to 4 1/4 hrs.

Light Rlys. S. to M&i= circ;t Ghamr and Benha, and N.E. to Dekernes and Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName> (Rte. 7).

The ruins of Bêhbit el-Hagara (p. 82) are most easily visited from Man= sûra.]

ROUTE 7.

The Central Delta: Cairo to the Barrage, Benha, Mans&u= circ;ra, Damietta, and Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName>.

By River or Light Railways.

This journey (about 165 m.) is not one th= at will be made by the ordinary tourist or archaeologist, who will proceed to = Mansûra, Damietta, and the northern archaeological sites by Rly. (Rtes. 6 and 8), or by the dahab&icir= c;ya owner, unless he has already explored the Upper Nile to the full; but it ma= y be recommended to those who have time at their disposal and wish to gain a com= plete knowledge of the country.

[Light Rly. - From the Barrage a line runs along the r. bank of the Damie= tta branch to Benha, Mît Ghamr, and Mansûra. The places passed and = distances are approximately the same for both railway and river. (The distances given= are those by river.)

A flat-bottomed Arab boat should be hired= if wild-fowl shooting is desired. Best time February and March. The time taken= to reach Damietta will depend on the wind and the stoppages by the way; but, unless there is a strong N. wind blowing, four or five days to a week will be sufficient. The main railway system can be joined at various places, as Benha, Zîfta,= Samanûd, Mansûra, Talkha, or any of the stations thence on the line to Damietta (Rte. 8) Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName> can be reached in a small boat from Mansûra by the Bahr es-Sughê= ;ir (p. 79).]

Starting by river from Bûlâ, = Embaba and Shubra (4 m.) are passed, and (12 m.) the Barrage reached. (By Rly. to the Barrage, see environs of Cairo.)

Here the Nile divides into the Rosetta an= d Damietta branches.= We follow the latter. The first place of interest is

[Light Rly. to Tâkh (5 m.) on the m= ain line to Alexandria<= /st1:place>, p. 37.]

(E.) (21 1/2 m.) Bérshûm, famous for its figs. = A little beyond, on the opposite bank, inland in the Delta, is Farâniya, from which the canal of Monûf= , connecting the two branches of the Nile, derives its name.

Sect I.] ROUTE 7. - CENTRAL DELTA. 7= 7

The village Shabshîr, whero tiio Monufîya canal joins the Nile, probably marks the site of = the ancient Nikiou or Pshati, an important town in the Byzantine period, which played= a great part in the war against the Arabs. Here also was born the historian J= ohn of Nikiou. The village of Ibsh= âdi, 6 m. N., preserves the Coptic name of the city. About 7 or 8 m. lower down = is the canal of = Karinên, or Shibîn, an= other noble work. At el-Ga'farîya it = separates into two channels, one going to the W. to Tanta, and the other by Mehallet el-Kubra to the sea, which it enters at the old Sebennytic mouth, and the Pineptimi Ostium, one of the false mouths of the Nile. The western channel = that goes to Tanta is only navigable for small craft after January; but the other is sufficien= tly deep to admit boats of 200 ardebs' burthen the whole year. It is, however, = closed by a bridge and sluices at Sonta, below el-Ga'farîya; and here goods are transferred to smaller boats f= or Nabaro, and those places with which the communication is kept up by other channels. This is the general principle of all the large canals of the Delt= a, and has been adopted in that of Muîzz, and sometimes in that of Alexandria. =

(= E.) 38 m., Benha el-'Asal. Immediately beyond the town is the Rly. bridge, and 3 m. bel= ow that rt. the entrance to the canal of Muîzz, which takes the water to Zagâ= ;zig, and thence to Lake Menzâla by th= e old Tanitic channel.

[Railways. - Benha to Cairo. 12 trains daily, in 3/4 to 1 1/2 hrs.; to Alexandr= ia, 8 trains daily, in 1 3/4 to 4 hrs.; to Ismaîlîya (for Suez and Port Saîd) viâ Zagâzig, 5 trains = daily, in 2 1/4 to 3= hrs. Branch line N. to Mît Berah (6 1/2 m., see below), 3 tr= ains daily, in 20 to 30 min.

Light Rlys. - N. to Mansûra viâ Mî= ;t Ghamr (branch to Simbellâwên); S. to the Barrage.] =

(= W.) 43 1/2 m., Mit Berâh [3 m. N.W. is the viceregal palace of Koucsua (p. 36), and

[Rly. to Benha, 3 trains daily. In 2= 5 mins.]

(= E.) 53 m., Sahrâght, the site o= f Natho, and called in Coptic Nathôpi. The isle of Natho w= as on the other side of the Nile. The name is the = old-Egyptian N-adhu, "the Reeds"; = it was a well-known place in early times, and gave a proverbial expression to the = Egyptian language, ''from Adhu to Abu," i.e. "from Natho to Elephantinê" (cf. the Hebrew "from Dan to Beersheb= a", signifying Egypt from north to south.

(= E.) 58 m., Mit Ghamr (12,000 inhab.),= is opposite to

[Light Rlys. to Simbellâwên (Rte. S) and Diarb Nigm.]

(= W.) Zifta.

[Rly. to Sonta (9 1/2 m.) and Mehallet Roh (20 m.) 3 trains da= ily, in 1 1/4 hrs.= , and Tanta (29 m.)= , 1 train daily, in 2 hrs.; thence to Alexandria or Cairo, and to Talka (Mans&u= circ;ra) and Damietta. Light Rly. W. to Birket es-Sab' (p. 36); N. to Abusir and Samanûd.]=

[6 m. E. of Mit Gamr is Tell Mokdam, the ancient Leontopolis (Eg. Aakhenu), with a ruined temple of Osorkon II., in which was found pa= rt of a statue of a XIII. Dynasty king named Nehasi ("Negro"), now at Cairo. Osiris was = worshipped here in the form of a lion. The ruins were explored in 1892 by Prof. Navill= e, who found a broken red quartzite statue of Usertsen III., which is now in t= he British Museum. The country hereabouts is = very pretty, with fine palms and sycomores.]

(= E.) 60 m., Mit Mohsen.

78 ROUTE 7. - = CENTRAL DELTA. [Sect. I.

(= E.) 66 1/2 m., Mit Damsis, is the Cop= tic Pitemsisot.

(= W.) 74 1/2 m., Abu= sir, has extensive mounds, marking the site of the ancient Pa-Asar, the house of= Osiris, called by the Greeks Busiris. I= t was called by the Copts Bosiri. The mounds extend beyond the village to the westward, and a short distance beyo= nd is another mound, said to have belonged to the old town. =

(= W.) 79 m., Samanûd, is a place = of some size (Pop. 11,500), with the usual bazaars of the large towns of Egypt, and famous for its pottery, which i= s sent to Cairo. Here are the mounds of Sebennytos, the Egyptian Theb-Neter, "the divine calf," and Coptic Jemnouti= . It was the capital of the Sebennyte nome, and gave its name to the XXX. Dynasty. I= n it Manetho the historian is said to have been born. On the E. bank opposite is= Mît Samanûd (Stat. of = the Light Rly. N. to Mansûra, S. to the Barrage, and = E. to Simbellâwên).

[Rly. to Tanta (20 1/2 m. viâ Mehallet Roh, 5 trains d= aily, in 1 1/4 to 3 hr= s. To Talkha (Mansûra) 10 1/2 m., 5 trains daily, in 1/2 hr., and Damietta, 3 trains daily, in 2 1/2 hrs.] =

(= E.) 84 m., Wîsh. On the opposite side, about 1 1/2 m. from the river, are the ruins of Bêhbît el-Hagara, the ancient Iseum (see p. 82).

(= W.) 87 m., Mit esh-Shoraka.

(= W.) 90 m., Talkha. =

[Rly. N. to Damietta, S. to Tanta; trains s from Samanûd.]

Immediately opposite is

(= E.) 90 m., Mansûra Stat., * a l= arge town of 35,000 inhab., and capital of the province of Dakâhlîya. (Office of Mr. C. E. Edgar, Inspector of Antiquities for Lower Egypt, see p. 125.)

[Rly. to Abû Kebîr, 30 m. (fo= r Salhîya, Zagâzig, or Cairo), 4 trains daily, Rte, 6.]

Mansûra was founded by Melek el-K&a= circ;mil in 1221, as Abû'lfêda states, at the time of the siege of Damie= tta, to serve as a point d'appui, an= d was called el-Mansûra, "the Victorious," from the defeat of the Crusaders in that spot at the time the city was building. It was there that= Louis IX. was imprisoned after his disastrous retreat = and capture in 1249. The Crusaders advanced across the <= st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Ashmûn Canal<= /st1:PlaceType> (see below) on Mansûra, near which they were defeated by the Egyptian commander Turanshah. They retreated; their fleet was destroyed, and finally they were compelled to surrender. The spot where the Crusaders pitched their tents in 1221 and 1251 is just opposite the modern palace. The house in whi= ch St. Louis is traditionally said to have been imprisoned is pointed out. Cotton is the pr= incipal article of trade at Mansûra, and there are several cotton-ginning factories in the town; cotton and linen stuffs, sail-cloth, &c., are al= so made there.

Mansûra has no ruins, and is not su= pposed to occupy the site of any ancient city. To the S. of the town is the entran= ce to the C= anal of Menz&ac= irc;la, or, as it is called by the natives, the Bahr es-Sughêir, "Little River," leading by Ashmûn int= o Lake Menzâla. It is supposed to follow the course of the old Mendesian branch of the Nile. An excursion down it to Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName> will take three days (see below).

From Mansûra to Damietta by river (47 m.) the only plac= es of any importance are

Sect. I.] ROUTE 7. - CENTRAL DELTA. 7= 9

(= W.) 106 m., Shirbin Stat., and <= /o:p>

[Railways. - Shirbin to Damietta (26 m.), 3 trains daily, in 1 1/2 hrs.; to Kallîn (for Desûk, Damanhûr and Alexandria), 2 trains daily, in 3 hrs.; to Tanta (46 m.)= , 3 trains daily, in 2 to 4 1/2 hrs.]

(E.) 126 m., Fareskûr (Stat. = on the W. bank).

[A short branch Rly. runs from Faresk&uci= rc;r to Kafr Suliman, 2 m. (p. 85), a junction on the Damietta line.]

(= E.) 138 m., Damietta, Ar. Dumyat. (Rly. Terminus on W. bank.) See Rte.= 8.

The Bogâs, or mouth of the Nile where it joins the sea= , in over 10 m. from Damietta. Damietta is perhaps the boat headquarters = for shooting and natural history collecting on Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName> (see p. 80).

From Mansûra to Dekernes and Menzâla, by boat or light Rly. (40-50 m.).

[The Canal of Menzâla, or of Ashm&u= circ;n, more commonly called the Bahr es-Sughêir, though containing water the whole year, is only navigable the whole way during the winter and early spr= ing. In its widest part near Mansûra, it is only 70 or 80 ft. broad, and b= elow Ashmûn it is much narrower. Boats cannot pass into it from the Nile, and it is necessary to hire one from among th= ose to be found on it at Mansûra; the charge will be about £1 a day. If there are not more than one or two persons, however, the filuka of the dahabîya, if tolerably large and provided w= ith a sail, will hold all that is necessary for the excursion, a tent included,= for sleeping in at night; and this boat can be carried from the river to the ca= nal. But a larger one is better, as, the canal being very winding and the banks high, it is difficult for a boat low in the water to catch any wind. <= /o:p>

The Light Rly.= follows= the Canal: Mansûra to Matariya (45 m.).]

Leaving Mansûra, the country on the= banks of the canal is very rich and fertile. Especially remarkable is the number = of trees - oaks, sycomore-figs, weeping and common willows, and mullberry tree= s, recently planted. Numerous sâkiyas= line the banks, and a carefully arranged system of tiny ditches carries the water inland. The first large villages are

(Rt.) 6 m., Mehallet Damna, and

(= L.) 11 m., Dekernes. [About 5 m. S. i= s Mit Fâres ("Town of the= Knight"), whose mounds indicate the site of an old town.]

[Light Rly. N. to a p= oint on the Nile opposite Shirbin (see above).]<= /span>

13 m., Ashm&uc= irc;n, or, as Abû'lfê= da writes it, Oshmûm - Oshmûm-Tanâh, or Oshmum-er-Rû-mân (&quo= t;of the Pomegranates") - was, in his time, a large city, with bazaars, bat= hs, and large mosques, and the capital of the Dakâhlîya and Bashmur provinces. The only remains are of Roman time, consisting of a few small br= oken columns, fragments of granite, burnt bricks, and pottery, amidst mounds of = some extent but of no great height.

Below Ashmûn the canal becomes very narrow, and the trees often meet above it.

(= L.) 15 1/2 m., Mît en-Nasâra<= /b> (1 m. N.) probably occupies the site of an ancient town, judging from its distinctive appellation "of the Christians."

[S.E.,., in the direction of Sân, t= he country is low and marshy, abounding in reeds and stunted tamarisk bushes, among which boats may sometimes be found, and the abundance of various kind= s of water-fowl is extraordinary. The banks of the canal are very low, and the w= hole is flooded during the inundation. Here and the pastures for cattle, which, like similar lowlands on the borders

80 ROUTE 7. - = CENTRAL DELTA. [Sect. I.

of the Lake Bûrlos, hence received, in ancient times, the name of Bucolia, and were comprehended under the denomination of Elearchia, or the marsh district. They were also called Bashmûr, as at the present d= ay; and the same name was applied to a dialect of the Coptic, which differed bo= th from the Thebaïc and Memphitic, and was spoken in this part of the Del= ta. Abû'lfêda comprises under the name of Bashmûr the whole of the island between the canal of = Ashmûn (or, as it is now called, of Menz&= acirc;la) and the Damietta branch, and considers Ashmûn the capital of this district.]

(= L.) 22 m., Berembâl el-Kadim, i= s a large village, with fine trees. The stream here is not 20 yds. wide. (Rt.) Miniet-Silsîl (28 m.) was formerly of much greater extent= and more flourishing than at present, as the style of its houses, its broken minarets, and its brick walls attest; and (L.) Gemelîya (33 m.) is distinguished from afar by its lofty minaret.

On the canal grow numerous reeds and water-plants, among which is a Cype= rus. It is found principally on the N. bank, where it has the benefit of the sun, and only at the eastern part of the canal. It has been mistaken for the papyrus, and has led to the belief that this last grows in the vicinity of = the Lake Menzâla. In Arabic it is called dus, a n= ame given also to the Cyperus dives= ; and both are used for making baskets and an ordinary kind of mat.

39 m., Menz&ac= irc;la (Pop. 8400) stands on the c= anal. It is supposed to occupy the site of P= anephysis; and near the point of land projecting to the N. into lake some have placed = Papremis, the city of Mars. Menzâla has no remains. It = is a busy, lively-looking place, and with its minareted mosques, bazaars, and so= me respectable houses, presents an appearance little expected in such an out-of-the-way sp= ot. The canal, which contributes so much to its importance and to its very exis= tence as a town, also gives it a cheerful aspect. In the autumn there is some fev= er at Menzâla, but in winter it is perfectly healthy, and at all times m= ore so than Damietta. Its principal trade is in rice and fish. The former is of good quality, lit= tle inferior to that of Damietta and of Kafr el-Batîkh. The fresh water fish mostly come from the different branches of the Muîzz Canal leading from = Zagâzig to the lake, the salt-water kinds being brought from Matarîya. The ca= nal runs into the lake 6 m. below Menzâla. There is a barrier which rende= rs it necessary to hire another boat in order to go on to Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName>.

From Menzâla the Light= Rly. proceeds E. across a barren= nitrous marsh to Matarîya (45 m.= from Mansûra, 17 m. W.S.W. of Port Saîd, 18 m. N.E. from Sân).= The village stands upon a point of land projecting into the lake, and is joined= to another village, called el-Ghuzna, by a dike or causeway, only 6 ft. wide. = The place is all fish - the boats, the houses, the streets, the baskets, the pe= ople's hands, all are full of fish. They catch fish, they salt fish, they live on = fish and by fish; and one would think Matarîya had been founded by the Ich= thyophagi themselves.

Lake= = Menzâla is the largest lake in Egypt, having a superficial area of about 500,000 acres. Its outline is very irregular, especially on the southern side. The northern side is separated = from the sea, with which it communicates through several openings called Boghaz,= or passes, by narrow banks or ridges of sand. The depth of water is =

Sect. I.] ROUTE 7. - CENTRAL DELTA. 8= 1

never very great, even during the inundation, = and in the spring and summer the navigation along the channels deep enough to floa= t a boat is very intricate and difficult. The surface in dotted with numerous i= slets, which more or less disappear when the water is high, and increase wonderful= ly in size and number when it is low; but they are most of them little better = than sandy mudbanks. Two of the principal islands are Tûna and Tennes. Tûna is 2 1/2 m. due E. of = Matarîya; it has a small village called Shêkh Abdallah, where there are a few o= ld ruins. The most interesting island to an antiquary is that of Tennes, the ancient Tennesus. Tell Tennes is 6 m. S.W.= of Port Saîd. T= he remains there are of Roman time, and consist of baths, tombs, and substruct= ions. The tombs are vaulted and painted, mostly red on a white ground. There are = also earthenware pipes, stamped with a letter or mark, either of the owner or the maker.

These islands are very convenient for the= sportsman to pitch his tent on for the night, instead of remaining on board his boat;= but care must be taken to choose a dry spot, as far as possible away from the l= ake exhalations, which are very apt to bring on fever in the late spring and su= mmer. Special permission for camping must be obtained. On the lake itself wild-fo= wl literally swarm. Pelicans and silver herons abound. Flamingoes are also to = be seen. The best way of getting at the birds, which are shy and difficult of approach, is to sail up to them in a small boat. The following are the names given to some of the birds by the natives of Lake Menzâla<= /st1:PlaceName>: coot, gûhr; heron, balashôn; spoonbill, midwâs; pelican, begga; flamingo, basharûs. The Nile nam= e of this last bird, gemel el-bahr, "water-camel," is much more expressive. In some places the shooti= ng is farmed out by the Government, and the birds are taken in nets in large n= umbers; where this is the case no shooting is allowed. The fishing used to be farmed out for an annual rental of £57,000, but is now free.

[The most convenient place from which to = visit Lake Menzâla for the sportsman and bird collector is Damietta (see p. 85), as he will be able to take all his stores and appliances strai= ght there from Cairo in a dahabîya, together with the small English boat, which= is indispensable to much success in shooting; and he will then have the dahab&= icirc;ya as headquarters to which he can return whenever the occasion requires.]

ROUTE 8.

The Northern Delta: Cairo and Tanta to Desûk, Mansûra, Damietta, a= nd Lake Bûrlos.=

[Railways. - Cai= ro to Tanta (52 m.), 10 trains daily (Restaurant car by 3 trains), in 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 hrs.; Tanta to Desûk (41 m.) viâ Mehallet Roh and Kallîn, 4 trains daily, in 2 hrs. Tanta= to Damietta (73 m.) viâ Shirbîn, 3 = trains daily, in 3 1/2 to 7 hrs. Fares: Cairo to Damietta, 1st cl., P.T.54, 2nd cl., P.T= .27. Shirbîn to Kallîn (51 m.), 2 trains daily, in 3 hrs.]

G=

82 ROUTE 8. - = NORTHERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

$$$ For Cairo to Benha and Tanta (52 m.), see Rte. 2. On leaving <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Tanta the Rly. runs in a N.E. direction to

61 m., Mehalle= t Roh Stat.

[Here two subsidiary lines diverge, S. to= Sonta (11 m.) and Zifta (21 m.), o= n the Damietta arm of the Nile, opposite Mit Ghamr (Rte. 7), an= d N.W. to Kotûr (11 1/2 m., Light Rly. to tanta), Shîn (14 1/2 m., = Light Rly. to Bassiûn and Kafr ez-Zayât), Kallîn, 19 m. (junction for North Delta line to Belkas and Shîrbin, see below), and Desûk, 32 m. (Rte. 3: thence to Damanhûr= , p. 36).]

68 m., Mehallet el-Kubra Stat., a flourishing town (31,000 inhab.), with cotton-cleaning mil= ls and an interesting old synagogue.

[Light Rlys. E. to Sa= manûd and Zifta (Rte. 7); N.E. to Ban&uci= rc;b and Nabaro (15 m.); N.W. to Nemret el-Bassal, el-Banawân, Sakhâ (branch to Shîn) and Kafr esh-Shêkh; W. to= Kotûr.]

The line turns E. to

72 1/2 m., Sam= anûd Stat. (see Rte. 7), and run= s N.E. on the l. bank of the Damietta Nile, past

76 m., Mit Ass= as Stat. (opposite Wîsh (Rte. 7), and actually = the nearest Rly. Stat. to Bêhbit el-Hagar= a, see below), to

83 m., Talkha = Stat., the tête-de-pont of M= ansûra (83 1/4 m.) (Rte. 7), which the train reaches by a hand= some bridge over the Damietta arm of the Nile.

[Excursion from Mansûr= a-Talkha to the Ruins of Bêhbit el-Ha= gara. The ruins of Bêhbit e= l-Hagara, which the train passes l. on the way from Mit Assas to Mansûra-Talkha, may be visited from either of these places, but most conveniently as a day'= s excursion from Mansûra.

[Travellers can go by hiring a donkey at = Mansûra, and either crossing immediately to Talkha, and r= iding along the l. bank of the Nile, by the Ta= nta Rly., past Mit el-Ghoraka (Rte. 7), or riding up the rt. bank for about 2 m. till= the first ferry is reached. Cross the river here to a villag on the opposite si= de, and ride through it, and along the Rly, for about 3 m.; then turn to the rt= ., and a mile farther in a W. direction are the mounds of the old town. A chan= ge in the road may be made coming back, by riding straight from the ruins to t= he river, crossing at what is the second ferry above Mansura, and then continu= ing along the river-bank. This is perhaps the pleasanter way of the two. This excursion will require about 6 or 7 hrs.

The excursion can also be made by boat as= far as an old stone bulwark opposite Wîsh (Rte. 7); from thence a walk of 40= min. is required to reach the ruins. Those who are not good walkers should take a donkey with them from Mansûra. The boat will cost from P.T.25-30, and= 2 hrs. must be allowed for going up the river.14 h= rs. will suffice for coming down. ]

Bêhb&ici= rc; el-Hagara i= s the Egyptian Hebet or Pehbet, and the Roman = Iseum, the Coptic Naisi. The Egyptian = name, Pehbet (Pa-hebet), which meant "the city of the panegyries." = has been preserved in the Arab name Bêhbît, with the affix el-Hagara, "of the stones,&qu= ot; from its numerous stone remains.

The remains are very interesting, and lar= ger than those of any other ancient town of the Delta. They are inferior in sty= le to those of Sân (Tanis), being of the Ptolemaïc time; but the nu= mber of sculptured blocks, and the beauty of the granite used in this temple, are remarkable; and ?? Bêhbît does not least the number of obelisks, which must have had a very grand eff= ect at Tanis, it has the merit of possessing rich and elaborate sculptures. To the antiquary it is particularly interesting from its presen= ting the name of the deity worshipped there, and that of the ancient town. Isis was evidently the divinity of the city, and it= was from this that the Greeks und Romans gave it the name of Iseion or Iseum. <= o:p>

The temple, like many others in Egypt, = stood in an extensive square about 1500 by 1000 ft., surrounded by a crude-brick wal= l, doubtless with a stone

Sect. I.] ROUTE 8. - NORTHERN DELTA. = 83

gateway; which was the temenos or sacred enclosure, and was planted with trees, as Her= odotus informs us in describing that of Bubastis.

The temple itself was about 400 ft. long,= or 600 to the outer vestibule, by about 200 in breadth, and built of granite, some= red, some grey, of a very beautiful quality, and covered with sculptures, in intaglio and in relief. Many of the blocks are of very great size; and thou= gh the temple has been entirely destroyed, and the broken stones forcibly torn fro= m their places and thrown in the greatest confusion one upon the other, it is easy = to form an idea of its former magnificence. It is entirely of grey and red granite - walls, columns, roofs, and doorways; affording a striking instance of the u= se of this stone in the Delta; for though the building is so large, no block of the ordinary kinds employed in Upper Egypt has here been admitted. The whole appears to have been erected by Ptolemy Phila= delphos (B.C. 284-246), whose name occurs in all the dedications, and who alone is = seen presenting offerings to the gods, The principal divinities are Isis ("= the great divine mistress of Pa-Hebet"), with Osiris (who frequently accompanies her, and is generally called "Lord of Pa-Hebet"), Hor= us, Anubis, and Sebek (the crocodile-headed god). Hathor and Khensu, Seb and Nu= t, the triad Anhur, Shu and Tefnut, and Hapi the Nile, also occur.

Unfortunately it has been so completely destroyed that the plan cannot easily be recognised; and such is the mass of broken blocks that you can go down amongst them to the depth of 12 and 15 f= t; below which are the numerous abodes of jackals, hares, and other animals, who alo= ne rejoice in the ruinous state to which this building has been reduced. Nothi= ng seems to be in its original position. The doorways are seen, as well as par= ts of cornices, ceilings, architraves, and walls, but all in confusion, and hu= rled from their places, owing to the excavation of the limestone by the natives = for burning into lime. Te ceilings have been studded with the usual five-pointe= d Egyptian stars. The cornices have the Egyptian triglyphs with the cartouches of the king between them; but in some the name of "Isis, the beautiful mother-goddess," is substituted for the royal prenomen, and is accompanied by the nomen of Ptolemy Philadelphos.

On one of the walls, about the centre of = the temple, is represented the sacred boat, or ark, of Isis; and in the shrine it bears= the "Lady of Pa-Hebet," seated between two figures of goddesses, like= the Jewish Cherubim, who seem to protect her with their wings. They occur in two compartments, one over the other, at the centre of the shrine; and these fi= gures were doubtless the holy and unseen contents of the sacred repository, which no profane eye was permitted to behold, and which were general= ly covered with a veil. In the upper one Isis is seated on a lotus-flower, and= the two figures are standing; in the other all three are seated, and below are = four kneeling figures, one with a man's, the other three with jackals' heads, beating their breasts. At either end of the boat is the= head of the goddess, and the legend above shows it to have belonged to he= r. The king stands before it, presenting an offering of incense to Isis. The stone has been broken; and part of the pi= cture has been taken away; but on a fragment below, that appears to have belonged= to it, is represented a sledge on trucks, with the usual ring attached to the = end for drawing it into the sêkos= , of which this doubtless marks the site. It was probably one of those isolat= ed sanctuaries that stood near the centre of the naos, or body of the temple.

The sculptures on some portions of the bu= ilding are in relief - an unusual mode= of sculpturing granite - which shows the great expense and labour bestowed on = the temple of the goddess, and the importance of her temple. That it was very h= andsome is evident; and to it might be applied the remark made by Herodotus respect= ing the temple of Bubastis - that many were larger, = but few so beautiful. Besides the unusual mode of sculpturing granite in relief, the site of some of the hieroglyphs is remarkable, being no less than 14 in. long, and all wrought with great care. The cornices varied in different

G 2

84 ROUTE 8. - = NORTHERN DELTA. [Sect. I.

parts of the building; and one, perhaps of the= wall of the sêkos itself, has = the head of Isis surmounted by a shrine alternating with the cartouches of the king, in which, however, the hierogl= yphs have not been inserted.

On the lower compartment of the walls, in= this part of the temple, are traces of the usual figures of the god Nilus in procession, intended to represent the nomes of Egypt. Between these are water-plants, and the figures of the god have a cluste= r of those of the upper and of the lower country alternately on their heads. Not= far from this are the capitals of large columns, in the form of Isis-heads, bea= ring a shrine, like those of Dendera.

There appears to be a very great variety = in the sculptures, which mostly represent offerings to Isis= and the contemplar deities, as in other Ptolemaic buildings; and in one pla= ce the hawk-headed Hathor conducts the king into the presence of the goddess of the temple. But the battle-scenes and grand religious processions of old ti= me are wanting here, as in other temples of a Ptolemaic and Roman epoch; and though the sculptures are rich and highly finished, they are deficient in t= he elegance of a Pharaonic age - the fault of all Greco-Egyptian sculpture, and one which strikes every eye accustomed to monuments erected before the decadence of art in Egypt.

The modern village stands to the N.W., a = little beyond the enclosure of the temenos= ; and near it is a lake containing water all the year, except after unusually= low inundations, which was probably once attached to the temple, like those of = Karnak and other places.

[ 3 1/2 m. N.W. of Bêhbît el-Hag= ara is Banûb (on the Light Rly. from Mehallot = el-Kubra to Nabaro), which occupies the site of Onuphis.]]

[From Talkha a Light Rly. runs W. to Nabaro (4 1/2 m.)

The train to Damietta recrosses the bridge from Mansûra to Talkha, and passes along the l. bank of the river to =

97 1/2 m., Shîrbîn Stat. (25 m. from = Damietta), the junction for the North D= elta line.

[This branch line runs by Bassandila (4 1/2 m. ), on the Bahr = Shibîn, the chief branch of the Damietta Nile, to

10m., Belk&aci= rc;s Stat. (Pop. 9000), and

18 1/2 m., Biy= ala Stat. These two places are conveniently placed for reaching the E. portion of Lake Bûrlos, which occupies the= tip of the Delta between Rosetta and Damietta,= and is second in size only to Lake Menzâla, whic= h it closely resembles in its characteristics. After Biyala the line crosses the= Bahr Tira, and proceeds viâ Kafr el-Gharbi (29 m.) to

40 m., Kafr es= h-Shêkh [Tell Fera'in, the ancient = Buto, lies 12 m. N.W., Rte. 3.]

[10 m. N. of Kafr esh-Shêkh is Hawalid, the site of the ancient Phragonis; 7 m. N.E. of this is Kum Khanzîri, the ancient Pakhnemounis. Some antiquities fou= nd here are preserved at the Behéra Company's inspection-house at Kum Wuhal, between Hawalid and Kafr esh-Shêkh. These places were examined by Mr. D. G. Hogarth in 1903. <= o:p>

2 m. S. of Kafr esh-Shêkh is Sakhâ, the ancient Xoïs, which is said to have given the ephemeral XIV. Dynasty to Egypt, = though this is very doubtful.]

[Light Rly. viâ Sakh&= acirc; S. to Shin and Bassiûn (p. 33): S.E. to Nemret el-Bassal and Mehallet el-Kubra= .]

49 m., Kallîn Stat.; thence to Desû= k, 62 m. (Rte. 3), whence by boat or road to 'Atfa, Dêrût, and Edfina; thence by boat or Rly. to Rosetta and the W. end of Lake Bûrlos (see Rtes. 2 an= d 3).]

[Travellers direct from Damietta or Shîrbîn to Alexandria proceed vi&aci= rc; Tanta, not by Des= ûk and Damanhûr (Rte. 3) as, though the distance is shorter, the trains = are slow and infrequent, and there are several changes of carriage.]

Sect. I.] ROUTE 8. - NORTHERN DELTA. = 86

$$$ Leaving Shîrbîn, the trai= n cuts off a reach of the Nile and regains it at 105 m., Râs el-Khalig Stat.= [3 m. W. is Tell el-Balamûn,= the site of Diospolis Inferior, Copt. Pounemou.] The= nce the Rly. runs by the side of the straight canal of es-Sah= el to

113 m., Kafr S= uliman Stat., junction for Fâreskûr, 2 m. E. (Rte= . 7). The train usually runs into Fâreskûr station and back to Kafr S= uliman, thence to

118 m., Kafr e= l-Batî'kh Stat., so called from the m= ultitudes of water melons (batî'kh)= which in summer cover the sandy plain here between the Nile and Lake Bûrlos. The next Stat. is

123 m., Damietta * (Ar. Dumyât) Stat. There is only one small Inn. Th= e town is one of the largest in Egypt, with a population of 43,000. It was once famous as the principal emporium on this side of the Delta, but has sunk in importance in proportion as Alexandria has increased, and now only carries on a = little commerce with Syria an= d Greece.= A project has been made to connect the Nile at Damietta with the sea by a canal, and i= f this is done the trade might again increase. Up to the present, however, the Egyptian Government have not given the scheme any encouragement. Its rice a= nd fisheries, however, enable it to enjoy a lucrative trade with the interior.= Its manufactures of leather and striped cloths, which last, when imported into = Europe, received from it the name of dimity, no longer exist. The houses = are well built, though inferior to those of Rosetta.

Damietta<= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> is known in the history of = the Crusaders as the bulwark of Egypt on that side, and its capture was always looked upon as the most important object in their expeditions against that country. It was captured by the Cr= usaders in 1218, and held by them for three years; the inhabitants were enslaved or expelled, and the mosques turned into churches. After an interval of thirty= years it was again attacked by the Crusaders, yielding to Louis IX. in 1249. But next year it had to be restored as part o= f the ransom of King Louis, who was captured at Mansûra (p. 78). After this it was destroyed and rebuilt higher up the river, in its present position, for strategical reasons. Abû'lfêda says, "It stood on the shor= e, where the river runs into the sea, until the danger to which it was exposed from the Franks induced the Egyptian khalîfs to change its position; = and the modern town was founded higher up the Nile, about 5 m. farther from the= sea." According to Abû'lfêda, the old Damietta was destroyed, and the inhabitants were transferred to the village of Menshîya, which was bu= ilt in its stead, and which afterwards succeeded to the importance and name of the ancient town. And Michaelis, on the authority of Niebuhr, says Menshî= ya is the name of one of the squar= es, or places of the modern Damietta. The time of this change of po= sition and the destruction of the old town are fixed by Abû'lfêda in t= he year of the Hijra 648 (A.D. 1251). The old Damietta had been walled round and fort= ified by Mutawâkkil, the tenth of the Abbâside Khalîfs (about A= .D. 850); and the new town was built by Bêbars, the fourth sultan of the Baharide Mamelukes.

The ancient name of the original Damietta was Tamiâthis, and the many anti= que columns and blocks found in the present town have probably been brought from its ruins. They are principally in the mosques, especially that of Abu'l-Maâta, at el-Gebana, N. of the town. This mo= sque, which has Kufic decoration, probably dates to the period of the old town of= Damietta, and is = worth a visit.

[To the Boghâz or mouth of the rive= r, see p. 79. Boat, 2-3 hrs., P.T.20.]

86 ROUTE 9. - = CAIRO. [Sect. II.=

SECTION II.

<= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:16.0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>CAIRO, ITS ENVIRONS, AND THE PYRAMIDS.=