Travels along the Mediterranean and parts adjacent, ... with the Earl of Belmore, during 1816-18 ... as far as the second cataract ... Jerusalem, Damascus, Balbec, etc

Front matter

<§-c. $c. VOL. I. G. Woodfali, Printer, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London. AND PARTS ADJACENT ; IN COMPANY WITH THE EARL OF BELMORE, DURING THE YEARS 1816-17-18 : EXTENDING AS FAR AS THE SECOND CATARACT OF THE NILE, JERUSALEM, DAMASCUS, BALBEC, IfC. dsC ILLUSTRATED BY PLANS AND OTHER ENGRAVINGS. BY ROBERT RICHARDSON, M. D. LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS IN LONDON. VIRTUTE ACQUIBITUR HOKOS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND ; AND W. BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH. 1822. DEDICATION 10 THE EARL OF BELMORE. MY LORD, The work to which I here prefix your Lordship's name, is an account of the exten sive and interesting tour on which I had the honor of accompanying you and your noble family. The greater part of the materials of which it is composed, was collected in your own presence, and under your own eye.

Whatever novelty, therefore, other readers may find in perusing the following sheets, I cannot pretend to offer to your Lordship's mind, a gratification of so high a character. VI DEDICATION. But whatever part of the narrative you may honor with your attention, whether that shall represent yourself or your noble family, engaged in witnessing a religious procession, standing by the ruins of an ancient temple, or exploring the recesses of a long forgotten tomb ; whether reposing on the sands of Nubia, by a field of dhoura, or by the rock at the second cataract of the Nile ; Avhether engaged in taking an astronomical observ ation, or in engraving the result of it upon the rock for the information of the future traveller; whether crossing the desert on an Arabian steed, or a salt-water lake on the back of a dromedary; whether standing in pious meditation on the mount of God, or by the holy sepulchre of Christ, by the rivers in Damascus, or by the cedars in Lebanon, conversing with a Pasha, a Bey, a Cachief, or a peasant ; I hope the description will refresh the picture in your Lordship's memory, by calling up the events in the order in which DEDICATION.

VII they occurred, while, at the same time, it declares to the world that you are the first and the only nobleman who ever con ducted his lady and family to visit so many scenes of ancient fame, the greater part of which were formerly regarded as accessible to none but the daring and chivalrous adven turer ; and having gratified them with the in teresting view, under the blessing of God, brought them all home in health and safety to their native land. How happy should I feel, were the execution of the work equal to my wishes to do justice to the subject. I have employed much time and labor in composing it, which I have been compelled to snatch from the increasing fatigues of a laborious profession. I wish it were perfect ; but such as it is, I am happy in being permitted to usher it into the world under the auspices of your Lordship.

Preface

. I shall not say with Mahomet, " there is no doubt in this book," but there are no errors or misrepresentations in it, of which I am conscious, and therefore I entreat the gentle reader to look with an indulgent eye upon such as he may discover. Some things in this work are new to the public. The astronomical observations, fixing the site of the Tropic considerably above Assouan, together with the latitude and longitude of different places, thence to the second cataract of the Nile, and throughout Palestine and Syria, were taken by the Earl of Bel more and Captain Armar Lowry Corry, R. N. ; to whose kindness the Author is indebted for their appearance in this work. The application of the third chapter of the book X

PREFACE.

. of Nehemiah, to ascertain that the sites of the ancient and modern city of Jerusalem are the same, is not mentioned in any book of travels with which I am acquainted ; it is a highly valuable piece of ancient topography, and will be read with great interest and advantage on the spot ; and the Author avails himself of this opportunity to acknowledge his obligations to the Countess of Belmore, for having pointed it out to him in the Holy City. The admission of a Christian to the interior of the Sakhara, or Solomon's mosque, accompanied by some of the principal Turks in Jerusalem, is also new, and the Author believes that he is the only Christian traveller who ever enjoyed that honor and privilege. This work contains, likewise, a remarkable in stance of the fulfilment of Scripture prophecy, not formerly mentioned by any traveller.

The pro phecy occurs in the end of the fifth verse of the ninth chapter of the Prophecies of Zechariah, and is of such special importance, as to be entitled to a place even in a general preface. — " And the king shall perish from Gaza, and Askelon shall not be inhabited." At the time when the predic-

PREFACE.

. XI tion was uttered, both these satrapies of the Phi listines were in a flourishing condition ; each the capital of its own petty state. Gaza is still a large and respectable town, but without a king ; the walls of Askelon are broken down, and the houses are lying in ruins, without a human inhabitant to occupy or to build them up. In regard to the other things that are new in this work, the reader is left to discover them for himself. Only with respect to the composition and general style of it, the Author begs leave to ob serve, that throughout the whole it has been his object to tell as much truth, in as few words, and in as agreeable a manner as possible. The descriptions which it contains, were written when the place or object described was before his eyes, and though he has consulted many authorities since, yet, in cases of difference, he has uniformly adhered to his own.

If he has succeeded in his general aim, the work will prove beneficial to the cause of religion and morality, useful and interesting to his countrymen ; being calculated to promote a more extensive acquaintance with antiquity, and a more correct knowledge of the modern state of the most

PREFACE.

. XII celebrated places in ancient history. For these high rewards he professes to have labored ; and not with out hopes of having done so with some degree of success, he now submits his work to the judgment of the public. The earlier part of the journey, through Malta, Sicily, the Campania Felice, the Ionian Isles, Greece and Constantinople, is but slightly touched on, and the particular narrative of the tour, sub mitted to the Reader, begins at Alexandria. > CONTENTS TO VOL. I. CHAP. I. PAGE Armenians , 88 PAGE Departure from Southampton... .1 Jews 89 Arrival at Alexandria 12 Copts jj. Vicepatriarch of. 91 CHAP. II. Church of .94 Alexandria 13 Pasha of Egypt 98 Union of Jews, Christians, and Moslems 109 Built on arches 15 Obelisks 16 Diocletian's Pillar 19 Society in Cairo m Catacombs ib.

Beys &c 112 Light-house 22 Mosques 113 Modern Alexandria ib. Convent of Dervises .114 Visit to the field of the 21st of March 25 CHAP. V. Inducements to explore the ruins of Alexandria 27 Pyramids of Gheeza 117 No hieroglyphics on 144 Sphinx 153 CHAP. III. Adjoining excavations 157 Bay of Aboukir 31 Death of Mr. Burckhardt 161 Passage of the bogas 32 Rosetta 34 CHAP. VI. Voyage up the Nile 38 Voyage up the Nile 163 Sath-haggar , 43 Antinopolis 166 Inundation of the Nile 45 Alrairamoun 167 Bulac 46 Osyout 169 Cairo 50 The Defterdar Bey ib. Arabs ib. Review of cavalry ,. .172 Antæopolis 178 CHAP. IV. Ikhmim , 181 Cairo 52 Girgeh 182 Convents 58 Dendera 184 Lakes in Cairo 62 Temple of ......186 Greek church 63 Supposed zodiac 196 Castle of Cairo 65 CHAP. VII. Sword market 69 Old Cairo .ib. Egyptian Deities.. 221 Grotto of St. Sergius 71 Osiris 229 Greek Patriarch 72 Isis 235 Bazars and costumes 75 Horus 244 Punishments 84 Typhon CONTENTS XIV CHAP. XII.

PAGE PAGE Nephthe 250 Nubia 363 Neith 252 Embarkatiou at Embap 364 Cneph 2d3 Kalabshi 372 Phthah, Hercules, Serapis, Mendes, the Nile 254 Diarfissen 386 Climate of Nubia 392 Taout, Esculapius, Mars *55 Deer 4W Ibreem 416-465 CHAP. VIII. Absambul 42° Gheneh 259 Ishkid 444 Arrival at Thebes 262 Second Cataract *Mp Return 456 CHAP. IX. Moslem Prayers 462 The valley of Biban el Melook. .263 Tomb discovered by Mr.Belzoni.269 Human sacrifice to the serpent .299 Dekka 470 Hiudaou 476 Deboudy 478 Philœ 481 CHAP. X. CHAP. XIII. Voyage np the Nile 309 Assouan Tropical Well 510 Esneh 310 Eleithias 317 Assouan Gaxb6 511 Edfou 326 CHAP. XIV Koom Ombos 339 Koom Ombos 51^ CHAP. XI. Hadjr Silsil 520 Asphoun p*29 Assouan 342 Hermont 33° Embap 344 Thebes 3Si Tropical Well 350 Death of the Priuccss Charlotte . ib.

Elephantina 352 ERRATA. Page 140, line 19, for Karaboush, read Karakoush. 24, far Mamour, read Mamoun. 1 87, 22, for Viile Plate I, read Vide Ichnograp'nical plan of Thebe3. 300, 10, for Sanitary, read Sanatory. Ssc. fye. 8jc.

Chapter I. Departure From Southampton Arrival At Alexandria

The Travels, which it is the design of the fol lowing work to relate, were performed by the Author, in company with the Earl and Countess of Belmore, and their noble family. We sailed from Southampton on the 21st of August, 1816, on board the Ospray, of 232 tons, mounting fourteen guns, and manned by thirty two able-bodied seamen. We arrived at Gibraltar on the 2d of September, where, having remained ten days, we sailed for Malta, which we reached on the 26th. This island deserves as much to be celebrated for excellent harbours, white houses and good linen as it did in the days of Diodorus Siculus. The linguæ centum, oraque centum, and ferrea vox of the poet are strikingly exemplified in VOL. I. B SYRACUSE. the hundreds of bells which every day but Sun day, being a saint's day, 5000 priests keep in per petual motion.

On the 9th of October we sailed from the harbour of Malta, and on the 12th let go our anchor in the beautiful bay of Syracuse, opposite to the far-famed fountain of Arethusa. A quarantine of five days entitled us to land, without the purification of smoke. Syracuse contains 14,000 inhabitants ; 2000 of whom are priests, who strut about with pale faces, cocked hats, and tight small-clothes, in bands of fifty, to work miracles, and tithe fish as they are thrown from the net. The only remaining fragments of the temple of Diana are built in the cupboard of a lawyer's kitchen. We admired both the relics, and the man to whose lot it had fallen to preserve them. On the 22d, we weighed anchor, and sailed for Messina, which we reached on the 24th of October, and left on the 3d of November for Naples.

In our way thither we admired the volcanoes of the Lipari islands, where anciently, as legends tell, King Eolus held his court, and where he still gal lantly disputes the sovereignty of the place with the gods of water and fire. On the 6th we hailed the lovely Parthenope, and at two o'clock, p.m. anchored in its peaceful harbour, and took up our station for the winter. Whoever wishes to see the misery of Naples NAPLES. will repair to the Marino early in the morn ing, and look at the crowds of ragged Lazaroni squabbling round the boiling cauldrons, that they may scald their lips in breakfasting on the boiled chestnuts they contain. There he will see the criminal chained hand and foot, and drag ging at every step a heavy load of iron ; he will be reminded of the religion of the place, by the flames of hell, brimful of human beings painted on the walls, and the sepulchral tones of the hawker sounding in his ears, " a horrible letter from pur gatory."

He will see the sprightly gaiety of noon in the passing throng that crowd the Toledo, — the seductive brilliancy of the evening assemblies in the ball-rooms, and the theatres, — the woes of dis sipation in the haggard aspects of the noblesse, who have been able to spend their fortunes with out having learned to read or write, and who let their palaces, and live in the cellars. In the Ob servatory, the Studii, the Botanic Garden, and the Mineralogery, he will see the fostering care of his majesty for science and art, his charity in the hos pitals and poor's-house, and his piety to the saints in the church lately built in the square of the palace. Louis XVIII. declared, that under the pro vidence of God he owed his throne to the Prince Regent of England, but his majesty of Naples owes his exclusively to the thaumaturgic energies of St. Francisco de Paulo, to whom he erected this b2 NAPLES. splendid church in gratitude for past favours.

His majesty delights in the amusement of the chasse, he fires slug among a covey of partridges or quails as they fly over his head ; if one fall, his courtiers applaud him, he chuckles, and hugs himself, calls for a plate of maccaroni, and challenges them to match him in a gobble of twenty yards. The traveller will see pimps at every corner, priests in every cafe, miracle-mongers in the ca thedral of St. Januarius, and will hear sound sense and learning from the lips of the bishop of Puz zuoli, which is five miles from Naples. The finest views are from the Island of Capri and Nisita, the most extensive from Vesuvius, and the lofty Camaldule ; the most beautiful spots are infested with pest-houses and convents, as the most lovely faces are oftenest invaded by freckles and wens. Pompeii looks from its ashes like an ante diluvian relic, to show us how men of ancient times lived, and enjoyed themselves.

Pæstum shows us the temples in which they worshipped the gods ; Baia, Miseno, the Elysian Fields, Cuma, Avernus, torre di patria, Puzzuoli, and Pausilypo present in their tomb-stones, their theatres, and their temples, the splendid monuments of departed greatness, and speak to the heart with the elo quence of two thousand years. The reputed tomb of Virgil shows us, in a wretched hovel with ten sepulchral niches, that imposture in regard to ZANTE, ITHACA. 5 places is not confined to Palestine, and the in scription on the rock, that lying writers have found careless transcribers. Qui cineres ? tumuli hæc vestigia. Conditur olim llle hoc qui cecinit pascua, rura, duces. Can. Reg. M. D. LIIII. were the words, punctua tion, and date which the inscription exhibited in 1817- For nearly five months we rejoiced in the lovely Parthenope, when our friends departed to spend their Easter at Rome, and invited by the breezes of spring, we gave our sails to the wind, left the harbour of Naples on the 30th of March, and anchored in the bay of Palermo on the 1st of April.

The kindness of friends, the beauties of the place, and the inducements to remain here were innumerable, but we sailed on the 20th for Malta, where we arrived on the 22d ; and from which we took our departure on the 6th of May ; and on the 9th drank the wine, and smelt the flowers of Zante. This island contains 36,000 inhabitants, among whom are 500 priests, 100 of whom can neither read nor write. What must be the learning of the people ? On the 16th we sailed for Ithaca, which we reached on the 17th. It is as barren and picturesque as in the days of Ulysses, and the harbour could not be better described than in the words of Homer, thus translated by Pope : SANTO MAURO, CORFU. Far from the town a spacious port appears, Sacred to Phorcy's power, whose name it bears ; Two craggy rocks projecting to the main, The roaring wind's tempestuous rage restrain.

Within, the waves, in softer murmurs glide, And ships secure without their haulsers ride. It is a singular coincidence ; but a picturesque and solitary olive tree on the top of the mountain enables us to add also the two following lines : High at the head a branching olive grows, And crowns the pointed cliffs with shady boughs. Ithaca, which is also the modern name of the island, produces a red wine, which ought to be better known, as doubtless it will both in prose and verse, if the long talked of university be establish ed there. On the 21st we sailed for Santa Mauro, which we reached on the 22d, and left on the 26th ; and on the morning of the 28th arrived at Corfu, the island of the ancient Phæacians. The reputed site of Alcinous's gardens is a marsh, and the well of Nausicaa lends its waters to turn a flour-mill.

On the 4th of June we fired a royal salute in honour of his late majesty's birth-day, and a sail of three hours brought us to anchor off Seyada, on the coast of the ancient Epirus. From Seyada three days' journey placed us in Joannina, over an undulating country abounding in wood, water, and pasture ; but neither roads nor accommodation for JOANNINA, CORINTH. 7 travellers. One night we slept in a church ; and I would here advise every person who intends to travel in Albania, to carry with him a mattress, blankets, and sheets, if he has not previously re conciled his skin to the harrowing of a hair-cloth, in which case, he may do as he pleases. Another night, our guide, who came armed with the au thority of the Pasha of Joannina, turned out a farmer and his wife and family to make room for us.

We knew nothing of it till the following day, and our consciences have nothing to answer for. In Joannina we had two interviews with Ali Pasha, the tiger of Epirus; bathed in the Styx, among water snakes, efts, leeches, and toads, at the ayiiiposDo-;, ox Saint's Ferry, where it is bridged by a hundred arches ; saw the fountain of Mars in the' royal garden, which fires water from stone guns ; and, after a residence of eight days, set out under the escort of a ci-devant captain of banditti, and, by the way of the Pentepagidia, or Five Wells, arrived at Previsa in three ; thence by the Corin thian canal to Patrass, where we arrived on the 14th of June ; whence we removed on the 25th, and two days' sail, in a boat of the country, brought us to Corinth, where we lodged in the house of Doctor Simonides, a professed friend of the En glish, and the husband of an aged and killing beauty called the Sphinx.

ATHENS. From Corinth two hours' ride brought us to Kenchres, on the other side of the Isthmus, where still there are barbers, and the natives are quite as unlikely to be victors in the Isthmian games as they were in the days of Pindar. The traveller here should be able to eat bread and preserved olives. We slept all night in a baker's shop ; and sailed next morning at six o'clock for Athens ; and ar rived in its beautiful harbour at three, p. m. From our having tarried till late on board the Ospray we did not reach the city of Minerva till nine. The citizens are 10,000; the walls are of dry stone, to keep out the plunderers of the night ; the statues are broken, the temples in 'ruins ; the disdar, or go vernor of the Acropolis, charges a crown for a cup of coffee, a pipe of tobacco, and permission to see the antiquities it contains ; the Ilissus is dry, the fountain of the muses is troubled, the Areopa gus deserted, the Lyceum unknown, the academy doubtful ; the car of night formerly ornamented the pediment of the Parthenon, the fragments of the horses are now in England, and the sable god reigns triumphant over the whole of Greece, whose citizens have been slaves for two thousand years.

A spring of bad water rises in the centre of the town, as of old ; but there is good water at the fountain of Daphne, which is three miles from Athens. We sailed from the Piræus on the 4th of July, and, after some days' delay in port CONSTANTINOPLE. 9 O'Raphty, anchored off Marathon on the 10th. This plain is as damp as of yore. Two days' residence showed us the field, and the monuments of its heroes, and gave us two cases of intermittent fever. We sailed for Zea on the 13th, and from it for Constantinople on the 14th, where we anchored in front of Taphanes on the 19th. In this the most irregular, and most delightfully si tuated of all towns, the crescent has long since sur mounted the cross, and man has sunk to a level with the brutes, the hyena, the sloth, and the tiger ; the kins; of the beasts would be insulted with the com parison; the Turk smokes tobacco, drinks coffee and sherbet, and murders the innocent without cause ; the lion kills, that he may eat.

The most troublesome animals are the dogs in Constanti nople. Their masters keep the Ramadan for one whole month ; but the more pious curs keep it all the year round : they feast, and prowl about, du ring the night, and sleep during the day in the middle of the streets, there being no horses or car riages to disturb them ; but the unwary passenger who treads on one, had as well touch a snake in the grass ; the first howl of the shoe-bitten wretch calls up his slumbering brethren to his aid, and the astonished stranger is instantly assailed by legions of hungry mastiffs : so that the old maxim, " let sleeping dogs lie," is a good hint to carry to Con stantinople. The sultan, the court, the city, the TROY, citizens, the bazars, the mosques, the cemeteries, the walls, and the harbour, Therapia, and Buyuk dere, are all delightfully interesting, but tedious to describe.

In delivering a letter of introduction the stranger need not be surprized if his letter is fumigated before it is received, while the person to whom it is addressed shakes him by the hand and requests him to become an inmate in his house, without insisting on a previous fumigation. On the evening of the 25th we sailed from Con stantinople, and on the morning of the 27th an chored off Troy, abreast of Yenikui. " There is a wounded Greek, Sir, alongside, wishing to speak with you," was the first sound that met my ears. The call was instantly obeyed, I sprung on deck, and descended into the humble bark that bore him on the sea, and saw a fine young man in the bloom of life suffering from a gunshot wound of eight months' standing, that had fractured the anterior superior spinous process of the right ilium.

A portion of the bone occupied the orifice of the wound, and, adhering by a slight attachment, kept up a constant discharge, with much constitutional irritation. Having removed the splinter from the wound, I cleaned and dressed it, and gave him some applications, and directions how to manage it in future. His trusty companion laid hold of a beautiful lamb that lay beside him in the boat, and handed it on board as a compensation for my TROY trouble. I remonstrated against receiving any ac knowledgment, but the Greek was determined, and rowing off, left it behind. I dare say the men Ma chaon and Podalirius had often done ten times more without being so well requited for their pains. The sailors affectioned the lamb : he ate biscuit, and drank grog, and was named John of Troy. Men fought at Marathon ; but the gods con flicted at Troy : and have furnished a poet worthy to record their deeds.

Virgil and Tasso are delight ful ; but Homer is divine. He sits with Jove on the summit of Olympus, while his successors cling to the slopes beneath. He is good as well as great ; his lines are neither tarnished with infidelity nor filth ; his lyre had no string to sound abomination. Any wretch may be indecent, or profane, or the devil's valet, for a name : to be great without being also good, is the ambition of a lunatic or a fiend ; it is weak, and wicked, and unworthy of a man. To be both great and good is the nearest approach that man can make to his Creator. It is worthy of the highest ambition ; and if man pressed man with eagerness to the goal, who will limit the degree of purity and perfection to which we might attain ? The field of Troy is best described in the glow ing language of Homer, and the modern features of the place correspond in a wonderful degree with the descriptions of the bard.

The two springs of the Bonarbashi, or Scamander, are of equal tern- ARRIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA. perature : but the site of the wind-swept Ilium is as little known as it was in the days of Alexander the Great. Were I asked to assign it a place, I should name the lofty position between Yenikui and Yenischechr, the new village at our landing place, and the new town below the end of the Si gean promontory at the entrance of the Darda nelles. On the 29th we sailed for Alexandria Troas, and thence, on the same day for Paros ; where we visited the marble quarries, and after them the grotto of Antiparos, the tombs of Delos and Antidelos, and returned by Stanchio to Cnidos, Marmorice, and Rhodes ; which we left on the 14th of Au gust, and on the 18th anchored in the deep bay of Larneca in Cyprus, which we left on the 19th ; and in the evening of the 20th, arrived at Byrout, from which we sailed on the 24th for Saide or Si don, thence to St. Jean d'Acre, and thence to Alexandria in Egypt, where we arrived on the 7th of September, and cast anchor in the harbour called Eunostus in the better days of this ancient capital. From this I commence the particular narrative of our travels.

Chapter II

, ALEXANDRIA. Egypt is one of the most anciently celebrated countries upon earth, and Alexandria is its latest if not its greatest heathen capitol, and the first that a foreign conqueror ever planted on its soil. It is in rubbish ; the enemy has levelled its towers, and broken down its walls, and the wind from the desert has laid it under a load of sand, so that hardly a single fragment that appears can be referred to its own original. Impatient to explore the venerable ground, we landed at an early hour on the morning of the 8th, and having passed through the Khan, where a herd of hungry camels were baiting after their fatigues, we mounted our asses, passed without the gate of the city, and entered immediately on the field of ruins. Before us, in the centre of the scene, enlivened by a few spreading palms, stood a Greek and a Capuchin Convent, a buffalo turning a water wheel, a round column on our right, and a tall obelisk on our left ; but excepting these, all was height alternating with hollow, mound rising over mound, with here and ALEXANDRIA. there the end of a beautifnl column, or the angle of an enormous stone cropping out, to break the continuity of the drifted sand unconsolidated by aught of vegetable growth.

We directed our course to the door of the Capuchin Convent, where we found the superior, a venerable old man, a native of Genoa, passing here under the name of Padre Carlo, who politely offered to show us the site of the celebrated church of Saint Athanasius. It lies on the north east of the convent, and is quite contiguous. The bases of many columns of ordinary magnitude marked the remains of an extensive edifice ; but if any frag ments of colossal grandeur exist, they are all buried in the sand. He said the French had made excavations in the site of this celebrated Cathedral, and had discovered something of great value ; but his memory did not serve him to state what it was, not even though the word sarcophagus was whis pered in his ear. Close by lay three highly -finished columns of Syenite or large-grained Egyptian granite, which probably formed part of the same building.

The reverend Ciceroni, however, in formed me, that these belonged to the baths" of Cleopatra. This worthy lady, I afterwards found, was the Monsieur n'entend pas of Alexandria ; every thing was attributed to her when the real owner was unknown. The fate of these shattered ruins softened the heart of the holy Capuchin, he ALEXANDRIA. shed tears over the disaster, and bewailing the decay of Christianity in those lands, left me, and returned to the Convent, thanking God that he had abandoned the world. Continuing the route which the friar had pointed out, I came to the Persian wheel which was drawn by two buffaloes, and raised water to fill the cisterns for the supply of the city. This can only be done once a year, and but for a short time when the Nile is at its height ; but the cisterns being then filled, are sufficient to supply the city with excellent water all the year round.