Chapter XVI: Letter XIV: Thebes, the 13th October, 1843

On the 16th August I went from Cairo to the Faiûm, from which our camp broke up on the 21st. Two days later we sailed away from BENI-SUEF, and, sending the camels back to Cairo, only took the asses with us in our boat, as, on considering the matter more attentively, we found that the land journey, originally contemplated by me along the range of the hills some distance from the river on the western side, was quite impracticable during the inundation, and on the eastern bank would have been partly too fatiguing, and partly devoid of objects of interest to us on account of the proximity of the desert frontier on that side, beyond which there is nothing for us to explore. We have, therefore, only made excursions from the boat, sometimes on foot, sometimes on asses, principally to the eastern hills, which are easily reached; but on the western bank, also, we have visited the most important points.

The very day after our departure from Beni-suef we found a small rock-temple in the neighbourhood of the village of SURARIEH, unnoticed by earlier travellers, not even mentioned by Wilkinson, which, as early as the 19th Dynasty, was dedicated by Menephthes, the son of Ramses Miamun, to the Egyptian Venus (Hathor). Farther on are several groups of tombs, which had also hitherto received scarcely any notice, although, from their extreme antiquity, they are peculiarly interesting. The whole of Middle Egypt, judging by the tombs which have been preserved, seems to have principally flourished during the Old Monarchy, before the invasion of the Hyksos, not only during the 12th Dynasty, to which the renowned tombs of Benihassan, Siut, and Berscheh belong, but even as early as the 6th. We have found groups of tombs, of considerable size, from this early period, which belonged to towns whose names even are no longer known in the later Egyptian geography, because they had probably been destroyed by the Hyksos. We remained the longest time in Benihassan, namely, sixteen days. Hence the season has now arrived, which we must not lose for our journey south. In the following places, therefore, notes alone were taken, and paper impressions of a most important kind; for instance, in El Amarna, in Siut, in the venerable Abydos, and in the more recent, but not on that account less magnificent, Temple of Dendera, which is almost in perfect preservation. In Siut we visited the Governor of Upper Egypt, Selîm Pascha, who for several months past has been working an ancient alabaster quarry, which had been re-discovered by the Bedouins, between Berscheh and Gauâta.

The town of SIUT is beautifully built and in a charming situation, especially when viewed from the steep rock on the western bank of the valley close behind it. The view of the overflowed Nile valley from these heights is the most beautiful which we have yet seen, and, at the same time, extremely characteristic of the inundation season, in which we are now travelling. From the foot of the steep rock, a small dam overgrown with sont-trees,[27] and a bridge, leads across to the town, which lies like an island in the boundless sea of inundation. The gardens of Ibrahim Pascha, extending on the left, form another island, green and fresh, covered with trees and brushwood. The town, with its fifteen minarets, rises high above the mounds of rubbish of the ancient Lycopolis. A still larger dam leads from it to the Nile, and, towards the south, other long dams may be seen, like floating threads drawn across the mass of waters. On the other side the Arabian chain of mountains approach tolerably near, by which the valley becomes closed in, forming a picture which can be easily surveyed.

We have been in the royal city of THEBES since the 6th October. Our boat landed us first, under the walls of Luqsor, at the most southern point of the Theban ruins. The strong current of the river has here encroached to within such a short distance of the old temple that it is itself even in considerable danger. I endeavoured to obtain a view over the ruins of Thebes, from the summit of the temple, in order to compare it with the image that I had formed of it from maps and descriptions. The distances, however, are too great to make a good picture. You look upon a wide landscape, in which the scattered groups of temples stand forth as single points, and can only be recognised by one who has a previous knowledge of the subject. Towards the north, at the distance of a short hour, rise the mighty Pylones of KARNAK, which of itself formed a town of temples altogether gigantic and astonishing. We spent the succeeding days in taking a cursory survey of them. On the other side of the river, at the foot of the Libyan range, are the MEMNONIA, once an uninterrupted series of splendid buildings, unrivalled among the monuments of antiquity. Even now the temples of MEDÎNET HÂBU, with their high mounds of rubbish, are distinguishable in the distance, at the southern end of this series, exactly opposite to Luqsor; and at the northern end, an hour from that point down the river, the temple of QURNAH, which is in good preservation; between them both stands the temple of Ramses Miamun (Sesostris), already of great celebrity, from its description by Diodorus. Thus the four Arabian places, Karnak, and Luqsor on the eastern side of the river, Qurnah, and Medînet Hâbu on the western, form a great square, which measures on every side about half a geographical mile, and gives us some notion of the magnitude of the most splendid portion of ancient Thebes. How far the remaining inhabited portion of the City of a Hundred Gates extended towards the east, north, and south, it is difficult to discover now, because all that in the lapse of time has not maintained its original position, has gradually disappeared beneath the annually increasing rise of the soil of the lower plain by the inundation.

No one ever inquires here about the weather, for one day is exactly like the other, serene, clear, and hitherto not too hot. We have no morning or evening red, as there are neither clouds nor vapours; but the first ray of the morning calls forth a world of colours in the bare and rugged limestone mountains closing in around us, and in the brownish glittering desert, contrasted with the black, or green-clothed lower plain, such as is never seen in northern countries. There is scarcely any twilight, as the sun sinks down at once. The separation of night and day is just as sudden as that between meadow and desert; one step, one moment, divides the one from the other. The sombre brilliancy of the moon and starlight nights is so much the more refreshing to the eye which has been dazzled by the ocean light of day. The air is so pure and dry, that except in the immediate vicinity of the river, in spite of the sudden change at sunset, there is no fall of dew. We have almost entirely forgotten what rain is, for it is above six months since it last rained with us in Saqâra. A few days ago we rejoiced, when, towards evening, we discovered some light clouds in the sky to the south-west, which reminded us of Europe. Nevertheless, we do not want coolness even in the daytime, for a light wind is almost always blowing, which does not allow the heat to become too oppressive. Added to this, the Nile water is pleasant to the taste, and maybe enjoyed in great abundance without any detriment.

The clay water-bottles (Qulleh) are invaluable to us; they are composed of fine, porous Nile mud, which allows the water to ooze through them continually; the evaporation of this, as soon as it appears on the warm surface, as is well known, produces cold, and thus, by this simple process, the bottles are constantly kept cool in the hottest period of the day. The drinking-water, on that account, is usually cooler than it is in Europe during the summer. We principally live upon poultry, and, as a change, we occasionally kill a sheep. There are very few vegetables. Every meal is concluded by a dish of rice. For dessert we have the most beautiful yellow melons, or juicy red water-melons. The dates also are excellent, but not to be had everywhere. I have at length, to the great joy of my companions, learned to smoke a Turkish pipe, which keeps me a quarter of an hour in perfect _kêf_: by this word the Arabs designate their easy repose, their comfort; for as long as one “drinks” the blue smoke of the long pipe from the shallow bowl, so easily overset, it is impossible to leave one’s position, or to undertake anything else. We have a convenient costume—loose trousers of light cotton stuff, and over them a wide long tunic, with short wide sleeves. Besides this I wear a broad, turned-up, grey felt hat, as a European badge, which keeps the Arabs in proper respect. We eat, according to the custom of the country, on a low round table, not a foot high, sitting on cushions, with our legs folded under us. This position has become so convenient to me, that I even write in it, sitting on my couch, the letter portfolio on my knees, as a support. Above me is spread out a canopy of gauze to keep off the flies—this most shameless plague of Egypt during the day—and the gnats during the night. In other respects, we suffer far less from vermin here, than in Italy. We have not yet been bit by scorpions and serpents, but in return there are very malignant wasps, which have frequently stung us.

We shall only remain here till the day after to-morrow, and shall then travel towards the south without stopping. We shall wait for our return to devote as much time and labour as the treasures in this spot demand. At Assuan, on the frontiers of Egypt, we shall, for the first time, change our mode of transport, and send back our great boat, in which we already feel quite at home. On the other side of the cataracts we shall take two smaller boats for our journey onwards.