The Land of Khemi: up and down the Middle Nile

Preface

. My first visit to Egypt took place just forty years ago, and I have a very vivid recollec tion of its aspect in those days, and of the strong impression which the contrasts of ori ental life, to all that I had been accustomed to, produced upon my youthful mind. During the following twenty years, I traversed it seven or eight times, — sometimes hurriedly, some times leisurely. I have been, therefore, en abled to judge of its progress between 1861 and 1 88 1, as compared with the previous period. The subject has, however, been so thoroughly exhausted by the various works which have been published since the days of Mehemet Ali, and the country is now so largely frequented by invalids, and so overrun by VI

PREFACE.

. tourists, that I should not have ventured to contribute to the popular literature on Egypt, had not the kindness of the authorities enabled me to spend some months in the interior under conditions particularly favourable for an observation of the present state of the people, and which, moreover, tempted me, in spite of ignorance and inexperience, to venture a little upon the inexhaustible field of antiquarian research. My notes at the time I embodied in articles in ' Blackwood's Magazine,' which I had no intention, when I wrote them, of publishing in any other form. I only do so now in the hope that they may encourage visitors to depart a little from the beaten track, as proving that, even in a country so well worn by the feet of tourists, there are other things to be done in the valley of the hill besides living in Shepheard's Hotel, and going straight up to the Second Cataract and back.

Un fortunately, our winter in Egypt was a medical prescription, and both my wife and I were too great invalids to profit by our opportuni ties to the extent we could have wished. As

PREFACE.

. VII I make no pretensions to being an Egyptolo gist, but was merely bitten by the interest of the subject as it forced itself upon my notice, I have rarely ventured beyond an attempt to popularise certain historical or archæological views, more or less agreed upon by those best competent to judge ; so if I have hazarded suggestions of my own, it is with the greatest diffidence, the more especially as, having since had occasion to go almost direct to America, I have not been in a position to revise my work, or to refer to authorities other than the few stray books I happened to have with me in Egypt. In conclusion, I would express my sense of obligation and thanks to his Highness the Khedive, his Excellency Riaz Pasha, and Sir Edward Malet, H.B. Agent and Consul- General, for the hospitality with which we were treated, and the courtesy and consid eration shown to us by the officials at our various places of residence.

Salem-on-Erie. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGF. I. THE ARSINOITE NOME, .... I II. THE LABYRINTH AND THE LAKES, 52 III. OLD AND NEW, 105 IV. SOCIETY IN THE PROVINCES, . . .156 V. EXCAVATIONS AT ISEMBHEB, . . . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. TAGE Excavations of the Labyrinth, Hawara, Frontispiece Prostrate Obelisk near Edgib, in the Fayoum, 98 Fellahah Girl, Middle Egypt, . . .144 Tomes of Beni Hassan, .....

Chapter I. The Arsinoite Nome

About seventy miles to the south - west of Cairo, and twenty-five miles from the Nile, in a depression of the Libyan desert, lies a region celebrated above all others in Egypt for the luxuriance of its vegetation and the variety of its products. Known in modern days as the Fayoum, it was called by the Greeks the Arsinoite Nome, and by the early Egyptians Phiom, or " the district of the marsh ; " and a tradition still exists among the country people that this marsh was reclaimed by Joseph the son of Jacob. Whether it derived another A and equally ancient appellation of Ta-She, or " Land of the Lake," from the Birket el Kurun (Lake of the Horn) — a large sheet of water on its western margin — or from the once celebrated Lake Mœris, the dikes of which still remain to indicate its former site, is not possible to determine ; but its wealth of water in all ages was calculated to invest it with a peculiar charm in a country dependent, not upon the rainfall, but upon natural conditions, for its supply of that commodity.

Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny have all written in terms of enthu siasm of this oasis, while modern travellers have bestowed comparatively little attention upon it ; and hence, though a valetudinarian, I was tempted to its sequestered palm-groves, and have only since had reason to regret that the state of my health prevented my exploring it thoroughly, and exhausting its varied attractions. There is something very unromantic in the idea of going by railway to an oasis in the desert ; but I consoled myself by thinking, as I whirled along the left bank of the Nile in a cloud of dust, that the fatigue of a three days' camel journey, which has thus been superseded, would have presented an insuperable obstacle to my trip — and endeavoured to ex tract from the motley throng of native passen gers who crowded the second and third class carriages, that oriental flavour which the ap pliances of modern civilisation are tending so rapidly to destroy.

At the station of Wasta, fifty miles from Cairo, the road branches off to the Fayoum. Here we are delayed a couple of hours to wait for the down-train ; and seated in a date-grove, evidently consecrated to al fresco meals, to judge by the great quantity of shells of hard boiled eggs which are strewn around, we pre pare our afternoon tea by the aid of a spirit lamp, to the intense interest of the spectators, and sketch the curiously shaped Pyramid of Meidum, rising in stages behind the village of that name, some four miles distant,- — interesting as having furnished, from the adjoining Masta bas, the oldest sculptures in the world, and the earliest existing examples of the art of writing. Monsieur Daninos, the French Egyptologist, who unearthed these statues about ten years asso, Sfave me an interestinoaccount of their discovery.

It seems that the sheikh of the village of Meidum took the unprecedented step of sending a message direct to Ismail Pasha, the late Khedive, to tell him that he had discovered caverns full of treasure in his neighbourhood. The Khedive referred the intelligence to the late Mariette Pasha, who did not attach much credit to it, but despatched Daninos Bey, who was then assisting him in his antiquarian researches, to verify it. On arriving at the spot, Daninos Bey found the sheikh in considerable trepidation from the threats of one of the local officials, who re sented his having reported to the Khedive direct instead of through the regular channels. However, he was comforted by a decoration, and the promise of protection, and was requested to lead the way to the cavern. This turned out to be an unimportant little hole ; but Daninos Bey saw other indications in the neigh bourhood, which induced him to believe that excavation might be attended with success — the more especially as he had got his excavat ing party on the spot, and was unwilling to return re infecta.

He therefore set his men to work to uncover one of the mounds, and they shortly disclosed a slab which appeared to form part of the roof of an opening leading into a tomb. Soon the leading Arab, who had crawled into the aperture, reappeared in the utmost alarm, saying that there were living people in side. Monsieur Daninos at once climbed up the mound, and, squeezing through the open ing, was startled by the life-like appearance of two seated figures with sparkling eyes and flesh-like tints. They were a young and hand some couple — the male painted a reddish brown, the female a light yellow. In their eyes were crystals, which imparted to them a peculiarly living aspect. Their features, which were calm and dignified, were as perfect as the day they were chiselled. They had been seated in this chamber, hermetically sealed from the outward air, for 5600 years, when the garish light of nineteenth-century civilisation was let in upon them.

They represent the Prince Raho-tep, son of King Seneferoo of the third dynasty, and his wife Nefert, who both died young ; and they are now preserved under glass in the museum at Boulak, where they are among its most valued treasures. The branch train to Fayoum is a very rattle trap affair, but, fortunately, travels at so slow a rate, that the danger of its falling to pieces is comparatively remote. The traces of paint, which once adorned the carriages, are rapidly vanishing, and they look as brown and barbarous as the desert they traverse. As first-class passengers are rare, there is only one com partment for them, and this is seldom used, and becomes a permanent repository of dust. However, we were glad to take possession of it, " bag and baggage," and crawled out of the station in a westerly direction, leaving the pyramid, and the village which occupies the site of the ancient city — " Beloved of Turn " — to the right.

The high mound on which the modern village of Meidum is situated must contain the ddbris of one of the oldest cities in Egypt, and would probably well repay exca vation, as its name occurs on the monuments of the third dynasty, B.C. 3900. It takes scarcely a quarter of an hour to traverse the cultivated strip that intervenes between the hill and the desert — just before reaching which, on the left, we pass a village of pigeon -towers, that presents a curious ap pearance, as the population of the village is comparatively small, while that of the pigeons is relatively great. They inhabit conical domes of mud, like large bee-hives, which are grouped upon towers and upon narrow oblong con structions, built expressly for them — eight or ten upon each tower, and sometimes as many as thirty upon one roof.

In these mud-cones earthenware vessels are embedded, opening inwards ; while a row of holes admits the bird into the interior of the structure, where, as well as on the outside, numerous perches are arranged. The advantage of this contrivance is, that whenever a pigeon is wanted, the owner goes at night into the house while the birds are in their nests,, and abstracts as many as he chooses without disturbing the others. The swarms of pigeons which are thus reared serve the double purpose of furnishing food and manure ; but I doubt whether, on the whole, they do not do more harm to the young crops than good to the land. We now emerge from the desert, and the road gradually ascends for a few miles to a summit-level of about a hundred and forty feet above the level of the sea — as great an altitude, probably, as that attained by any railway in the country.

On our left is a range of sand-hills, and beyond it we can distinctly observe the depression which was once filled by the waters of Lake Mœris, and a portion of which is now a sandy desert ; its southern extremity is marked by the Pyramid of Illahoon, also clearly visible. A little fur ther on we cross the Bahr Bela Ma — a broad wady with precipitous sides, down the centre of which winds a narrow sluggish stream ; and near it we observe the remains of some of the old embankments of the lake. In a few minutes more we are cheered by the sight of a grove of date-trees, and our short traject of fifteen miles of desert is at an end. We are at El Edwa, the first village of the Fayoum ; and a run of five miles more through richly cultivated country, lands us at Medinet el Fayoum, the capital of the province, and practically the terminus of the railway, so far as ordinary travel is concerned.

Although the kindness of the Government had provided us with lodgings (for hotels are unknown in the Fayoum), our first night, owing to the late hour of our arrival, was spent in a tent ; and I was lulled to sleep by the wailing and sighing of the numerous water-wheels or sakkyas, which are a special characteristic of the Fayoum. They differ from those of other parts of Egypt, inasmuch as the motive power does not consist of oxen or buffaloes, but of the water itself, — the natural incline of the country giving the canals a sufficient current to enable them to turn these huge undershot wheels, which are made of date-fibre, and on which are fixed alternately earthen jars and wooden paddles ; as they revolve, they groan and strain under the pressure, as though some mortal injury was being inflicted upon them.

It is not the harsh creaking of wood, but the plaintive moan of over-stretched fibre ; and as the whole province resounds with their lamen tations, one almost feels inclined to pity it as the victim of some serious nervous disorder. There was something very weird in the sound that first night, as with mournful cadence it rose and fell in the still air, now sinking al most to a sigh, now rising to a harsh scream ; and my first impulse in the morning was to go and inspect the primitive mechanism which thus fertilises the whole country with its never ending day and night rotation. As Medinet el Fayoum is the great centre of water distribution for the province, there are probably a greater number of these water-wheels collected here than elsewhere, and the place is sur rounded by a network of canals and rivulets which encompass it at all seasons with a setting of the richest verdure, and have made its orchards and gardens the theme of the travel ler and historian from the earliest times.

All this is due to the Bahr Youssef, or " river of Joseph," which is, in fact, a branch of the Nile, diverted from that river at Siout, and which, after a tortuous course of upwards of two hundred miles along the base of the Libyan hills and parallel with the Nile, takes advantage of a depression in the chain, and is conducted by sluices at Illahoon into the pro vince—flowing through the town of Medinet in a broad deep stream until it reaches its northern end, when it is dammed across and diverted into seven different channels and ceases to be navigable. Before this occurs, however, numerous minor canals and sakkyas keep robbing it of its water ; and just outside our place of abode, which was at the entry to the town, three considerable streams, all turn ing water-wheels, diverged from it into the country.

Many traditions connect Joseph in the popular mind with this river and city ; but nothing definite upon the subject has been discovered. A Copt told me that the Fayoum was the creation of Joseph when Pharaoh gave him pleins pouvoirs to deal with the famine. That he then conceived the idea of diverting the waters of the Nile into this natural depression, and turned what had for merly been a marsh into a most fertile pro vince ; and a further tradition exists to the effect that he was buried here, and that it was from this neighbourhood that his body was removed by the Jews at the time of the exodus. Unfortunately for the Copt's story, evidence of the strongest kind exists to show that the Fayoum was a flourishing province many hundred years before Joseph's time, to which I shall presently allude.

It does not, however, follow that Joseph had nothing to do with perfecting the irrigation works con nected with the river which is called after him. There is generally some foundation for names and traditions of this sort ; and it is probable that the Israelites — who were not slow to discover the most available spots for their industry — when they came to Egypt, settled at some subsequent period in the Fayoum as well as in Goshen ; for it is said of the children of Israel after Joseph's death, that they " multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them." Indeed, Leo Africanus says, in his description of this locality, — " The ancient city was built by one of the Pharaohs on an elevated spot, near a small canal from the Nile, at the time of the exodus of the Jews, after he had afflicted them with the drudgery of hewing stones, and other laborious employments," thus establishing a connection between the Jews and the Fayoum ; though I think there can be no doubt that the ancient city, the remains of which still strew the neighbour hood, existed here long anterior to the period of the Jewish exodus.

Before, however, entering upon a description of the antiquities of the Fayoum, it may be interesting to note the modern aspect of the province and its capital. There can be no doubt that in ancient days the cultivable area of the oasis was much greater than it is at present, as the indications of a town and irrigation works near the ruins of Kasr Kha roon, at the south-western extremity of the Birket el Kurun, where it is now a desert, abundantly testify. At the present day it measures twenty-three miles north and south, and twenty-eight miles east and west. The town of Medinet el Fayoum is situated on a plateau which is about the same level as the Nile. From here the country trends rapidly to the Birket el Kurun, which is, according to Linant, 94 feet below the level of the Medi terranean, thus falling about 1 70 feet in fifteen miles.

The Birket el Kurun is a lake of brackish water, about thirty-five miles long and seven broad ; and into this drain fall the waters of the Bahr Youssef, after they have fertilised the whole area of the province. The result is, that the country is intersected by numerous more or less swiftly-running streams, which, cutting through the soft soil, often form little gorges of great beauty and luxuriance, as at the village of Fidimin, where they overflow their dams in cascades — a scenic feature un known in any other part of Egypt. Where these dams exist there are often little lakes, embowered in palm-groves and gardens, thus giving the Fayoum a pre-eminence, so far as beauty of landscape is concerned, over every other part of the country. Strabo was evi dently much struck with the exceptional fertility and beauty of the Fayoum.

" The Arsinoite Nome," he says in his account of the Nomes of Egypt, " is the most remarkable of all, both on account of its scenery and its fertility and cultivation ; for it alone is planted with large, perfect, and richly productive olive-trees — and the oil is good when carefully prepared. Those who are neglectful may, indeed, obtain oil in abun dance, but it has a bad smell. In the rest of Egypt the olive - tree is never seen, except in the gardens of Alexandria, where, under favourable circumstances, they yield olives, but no oil. Vines, corn, podded plants, and many other products, also thrive in this district in no small abundance." Olive-oil seemed to hold an exceptionally high rank in the estimation of the old his torian ; but persons of other tastes will find here in the season a profusion of figs, oranges, apricots, and other fruits, which will equally justify the reputation of the province for productiveness.

Twenty years ago its beauty was even greater than it is now. The gardens that had made it celebrated throughout Europe had latterly gradually been allowed to run waste, owing to the extreme severity of the taxation with which this province was afflicted during the rdgime of the late Khedive. The peasants were thus impoverished to such an extent that the province stood a fair chance of being ruined, and its fertility of being destroyed, when the change of government took place under which it has begun to prosper with surprising rapidity. Unfortunately, one of its main and most attractive staples of industry has disappeared; through no fault, however, of the Government. Fifteen years ago Medinet was surrounded by fields of roses, covering hundreds of acres ; and the inhabitants drove a profitable trade by the sale of attar of roses.

During the rose season the town was the most fragrant residence in Egypt. Unfortunately, the rose-trees were attacked by a malady which has entirely ruined the industry; and although efforts have since been made to renew it, they have hitherto been without success. Sugar and cotton are now the principal products of the province ; and fields of beans, lentils, wheat, and other cereals stretch in all directions as far as the eye can reach. According to tradition, the Arsinoite Nome contained in former days 366 towns and villages, which, even supposing its limits to have far exceeded those that now exist, seems an over-estimate. The present population is probably about 150,000 souls, of whom 9000 live in the chief town. This, after establishing ourselves in the quarters which had been kindly provided for us, we lost no time in exploring.

It is the habit of dragomans to lay in large supplies of food for the tourists they nurse in the East. As, however, we had carefully avoided providing ourselves with that functionary, and had decided to live upon the food of the country, with the aid of a single servant1 and our own culinary acquire ments, it became important to discover what meat and vegetables were furnished by the bazaar. This consists of a long narrow street, 1 For the benefit of any of my readers who propose visiting Egypt, I cannot too highly recommend this man, whose name is Mohamet Achmet, as a servant. He is also qualified to act as a dragoman. for the most part covered over in the usual way, and extremely characteristic and oriental in its aspect. At one place the Bahr Youssef runs under it, but there is nothing to suggest that we are on a bridge, as it is completely built over with shops.

For the benefit of future travellers, who want to know what they may depend upon finding in an ordinary Arab town of this description, I may say that the staple of food is beans and lentils, — the latter making a most excellent purde, and the former, when eaten very young, almost equal ling peas. Onions, yams, spinach, and okra are abundant ; rice and potatoes rare. Native bread, made from the country wheat, would be good, were it not rather sour ; but we used to make soda-cakes ; and after some trouble, discovered a mill at which maize could be ground rough instead of fine. This enabled us to have mush, which, eaten with rich cream, makes a delicious substitute for por ridge. The land flows with milk and honey, and there is no lack, therefore, of butter and cream-cheeses. Beef is not procurable ; the mutton is bad, generally suspiciously pervaded with the flavour of goat ; chickens are cheap B and abundant — -four dozen eggs can be bought for a shilling ; and pigeons are eightpence a pair.

Fish in great quantities are brought from the Birket el Kurun, resembling, generally, very large carp. There is a prejudice against them, and it is said they give fever ; but I thought them excellent. Teal and wild duck occasionally come into the market, and cost about sixpence apiece. They are caught by the hunter putting his head in a calabash and wading out, accompanied by some tame ducks as decoy ; he then scatters food on the water, and when the wild ducks come to feed round him, gently draws them under water with his hand. As they always have a sen tinel out, it is necessary in approaching them to dispose of this gentleman first. The flock, not noticing his disappearance, and completely off their guard, may then be easily got at. From all this it will appear that it was our own fault if we failed to have proper nourish ment at Fayoum.

I vainly tried one day to add to our larder with an extemporised fishing rod and a worm ; but beyond a dozen small creatures, which collectively weighed about a pound and a half, I extracted nothing from the most tempting-looking pools under the water wheels : and as the cook declined to cook them, on the ground that they were unwhole some, I was discouraged from any further effort. A more profitable occupation was to wander over the ruins of the ancient city of Crocodilopolis Arsinoe ; and this was a never ending source of interest and amusement. The high mounds of dt'bris, which cover an immense area of ground, were scarcely a mile from our abode, and consist of an enormous accumula tion of potsherds, bones, bricks, rags, fibre, and dust. The highest mound is fifty feet above the level of the plain, and its summit commands a panoramic view of the whole of the province.

It is impossible to describe the rich and glowing beauty of the sunsets I have seen from this spot. The extraordinary clearness of the atmosphere brought out with the utmost distinctness the most distant outline. In the far east one could see the forms of the desert ranges beyond the Nile, faintly blushing in the last rays of the sun. Nearer still, are the sand hills of the desert on this side of the river, with the Pyramids of Howara and Illahoon standing out conspicuously ; then succeeds a carpet of cultivation, to the brilliant green of which the more sombre hues of the palm groves furnish a fitting contrast; amidst all this luxuriance water is sparkling and winding everywhere. In the extreme western distance we catch glimpses of the " Lake of the Horn," lying in the shadow of the Libyan hills ; while in the immediate foreground the quaint ceme tery and mud-houses of Medinet el Fayoum which crown the high banks of the Bahr Yous sef, so uncouth and barbarous looking at other times, are now all melted into a confused haze, as the sun setting behind the town throws it into a bluish-purple shadow, from which shoot here and there a minaret or a palm-tree.

After we have feasted our eyes with the view from the top of the mound, we go down to see what is to be discovered at the bottom of it. We find on one side that it is scarped and perfectly precipitous, and that it is apparently a huge heap of ddbris, in which the pottery, bones, rags, straw, and date-fibre are packed in layers looking like strata. In places we see cropping out the remains of old brick walls, still standing wedged in the mound ; here and there they are undermined by the labours of the peasants, who come and scoop out the dust of ages which fills these old chambers, and in which the pottery and bones are embedded. This they sift and carry off to put upon their fields as manure. It is a fine impalpable powder, which gets into one's nose and eyes, and penetrates into the innermost recesses of one's garments ; never theless we revel in it for the sake of the treas ures which it may contain.

Here at the base of the mound we observe a protruding skull, with short curly hair still clinging to it. We make an Arab manure-sifter exhume the mor tal remains, and find clinging to the legs the wrappages of coarse linen, in which the whole body was once swathed : the skin is tightly drawn over the ribs, but none remains on the face. As we grub in the cloud of dust raised by this operation, we come across lumps of soft yellow stuff, which turns out to be mummy cloth of a finer texture. Meantime another Arab triumphantly hands us a piece of papyrus, which he has found somewhere else, and on which, in spite of its tattered condition, we can make out an invocation to Allah, in Arabic letters of the style used in the first century of the Hegira, which shows that it cannot be above twelve hundred years old, — a comparatively modern relic, which we treat with contempt while grubbing amid the re mains of the twelfth dynasty.

At the same time, we cannot flatter ourselves that what we do discover dates back beyond the Roman, or, at most, the Ptolemaic period. In the course of five or six walks which we took over these ruins, we picked up ourselves seven coins, of which four were of the reigns of Vespasian, Diocletian, Constantine, and Trajan. One was a curious Cufic coin ; and we procured about a dozen more from the Arabs, most of which were undecipherable, but those we made out were also Roman. Some of the pottery was of a blue, green, or yellow glaze, the colours remarkably brilliant ; but unfortunately we only found it in fragments. Pieces of glass bottles were common ; and I picked up one perfect little phial of iridescent glass, used by the sympathetic ancients to contain tears. Beads were comparatively abundant, and we made quite an assortment of them.

There were numerous fragments of glass bracelets, un fortunately none perfect. From the appear ance and shape of the broken ampJiorœ, which lay strewn around in great profusion, they must have been of a great size ; and from one spot we may look over hundreds of acres of this shattered ware, testifying to the exten sive use of pottery by the ancients. I pulled out several large pieces of coloured cloth from the base of this cliff of projecting ddbris, a hand broom made of date-fibre, and a key of curious shape, heavily oxidised. From the great quantities of slag lying about in parts of these ruins, it would seem as though the city had been subjected at some time to the action of fire ; and large fragments of blue glass were to be found which had evidently undergone a process of fusing. These, however, may have been the runnings from the glass furnaces.