154 On the Subterranean Sounds heard at Nakous. 



to Egypt, heard at sunrise a noise like that of a string break- 

 ing in a granite monument placed at the centre of the spot on 

 which the palace of Carnac stands. 



Sounds of a nature analogous to these have been heard by 

 Mr Gray of University College, Oxford, at a place called 

 Nakous, (which signifies a bell,) at three leagues from Tor, 

 on the Red Sea. This place, which is covered with sand, and 

 surrounded with low rocks in the form of an amphitheatre, 

 presents a steep declivity towards the sea, from which it is 

 half a mile distant. It has a height of about 300 feet upon 

 80 feet of width. It has received the name of a bell, because 

 it emits sounds, not as the statue of Memnon formerly did at 

 sunrise, but at every hour of the day and night, and at all sea- 

 sons. The first time that Mr Gray visited this place, he heard 

 at the end of a quarter of an hour a low continuous murmur- 

 ing sound beneath his feet, which gradually changed into pul- 

 sations as it became louder, so as to resemble the striking of a 

 clock. In five minutes it became so strong as to resemble the 

 striking of a clock, and even to detach the sand. * 



Anxious to discover the cause of this phenomenon, which no 

 preceding traveller had mentioned, Mr Gray returned to the 

 spot next day, and remained an hour to hear the sound, which 

 was on that occasion heard much louder than before. As the 

 sky was serene, and the air calm, he was satisfied that the sound 

 could not be attributed to the introduction of the external 

 air,-)* and in addition to this, he could not observe any crevices 

 by which the external air could penetrate. The Arabs of the 

 desert ascribe these sounds to a convent of monks preserved 

 miraculously under ground, and they are of opinion that the 

 sound is that of their bell. Others think that it arises from 

 volcanic causes, and they found this opinion on the fact that 

 the hot baths of Pharaoh are on the same coast. 



* The people of Tor declare that the camels are frightened and rendered 

 furious by these sounds. 



t M. Humboldt ascribes the sound in the granite rocks to the difference 

 of temperature between the external air and the air in the narrow and 

 deep crevices of the shelves of rocks. These crevices, he informs us, are 

 often heated to 48° or 50° during the day, and the temperature of their sur- 

 face was often 39°, when that of the external air was only 28°. Humboldt's 

 Personal Narrative, vol. iv— Ed. 



