1822.] 
burst asunder; thirty men holding 
them were knockcd down and bruised, 
and the great stone of the zodiac sunk 
into soft earth, about six feet from the 
Nile. The courage of the men, how- 
ever, was not disconcerted, and, with 
renewed activity, in the course of a 
few hours they drew it from its miry 
bed, and had it removed into the bark. 
The smaller stone had been all along 
kept moving, at some distance from 
the larger one, but with less trouble, 
and without rollers and a sledge. 
When on-board, the barge was found 
to be leaky, in less than five minutes 
it had sunk a foot. The crevices 
which the heat had occasioned were 
stopped up, and the second stone was 
introduced into the boat. But fresh 
difficulties arose: the rais, or master 
of the boat, refused to proceed, bribed 
by the promise of a thousand Turkish 
piastres to stop the departure of the 
monument for three weeks. This sum 
was promised him by M. L. to pro- 
ceed instantly on the voyage ; the rais 
promised fidelity to his original en- 
gagement, and kept his word. 
The vessel frequently ran aground, 
from the waters of the river being 
low ; and, when about sixty leagues 
distant from Cairo, a bark that was 
coming down the river hailed them. 
Here a Frank, employed by one of the 
rival agents, said he was bearer of an 
order from the Kaya Bey, forbidding 
the removal of the Planisphere. M. 
L. replied that he had acted as autho- 
rised by the Pasha, and that any at- 
tempt to wrest the property from him 
must he by violence, as he should 
hoist the French flag. This menacing 
tone had its effect; for explanations 
afterwards passed between them, 
wherein nothing offensive occurred. 
M. L. arrived at Cairoin the month 
of June, where he learned that Mr. 
Salt, the British consul-general, had 
been forming the same project, and was 
adopting measures to execute it. His 
friend Mr. Banks, who had been long 
engaged with him in exploring the 
antiquities of Egypt, had just sent him 
from Londonall the implements requi- 
site for ensuring success in the under- 
taking. 
Mr. Salt made early complaints to 
the Pasha, who could not find leisure 
to listen to them. His attention was 
engrossed by other considerations of 
no small importance. News ar- 
rived that the garrison of Alexandria, 
On the Removal of the Zodiac of Denderah. 
103 
urged by motives similar to those of 
the Janissaries in other parts of the 
Ottoman empire, had resolved upon 
a general massacre of the Christians ; 
and he was about to repair thither, to 
prevent, by his presence, so horrible a 
catastrophe. After his departure, Mr. 
Salt addressed himself to the Kaya 
Bey, with whom he had long been in- 
timate, and was successful in some 
degree, as already intimated. 
No attempts were made at Cairo to 
dispossess M. L. of his prize; but the 
English consul-general had proceed- 
ed to Alexandria, to renew his solici- 
tations with the Pasha. They were 
ineffectual, however ; for, on the latter 
demanding whether the researches 
were authorised by himself, and being 
answered in the affirmative, he decided 
in favour of M. Le Lorrain, who had 
not been kept long in suspense. 
On receiving intelligence of this, 
M. L. repaired to Alexandria, and on 
the 18th of July had conveyed the zo- 
diac on-board a vessel that was bound 
for Marseilles. ‘‘ And thus (to bor- 
row the words of M. Saulnier,) this 
monument, one of the most ancient in 
the archives of the world, has been 
brought away from a remote country, 
inhabited by a barbarous population, 
where it was exposed to destruction in 
more shapes than one, and where the 
access to the piece itself was most 
difficult.” 
The principles and feelings of every 
civilized European must incline him 
to rejoice at the success of this un- 
dertaking. The dangers of deterio- 
ration did not arise so much from 
the natives as from foreign agents, 
one of whom, a little before, after. 
taking the drawings of several paint- 
ings at Thebes, that decorate the se- 
pulchres of the kings, deliberately de- 
stroyed the originals with a hammer, 
to enhance the value of the copies. 
But there was a danger still more 
certain to which the Zodiac was ex- 
posed. The channel or bed of the 
Nile is rising every year, and very 
soon the river will arrive, in one of its 
inundations, to the Great Temple, 
when the pillars that support it must 
encounter the shock of the waters. 
The preservation of the sculptures 
that decorate its walls and ceilings, 
will then be precarious. 
On the 9th of September, 1821, the 
vessel entered the road of Marseilles, 
and on the 27th of November the Pla- 
nisphere 
