224 Egypt. 
tian monuments, in isolated situations, and of no very remote 
date; but on his arrival at Schayni, where the Pacha encamped, 
he discovered thirty-five pyramids, of trom 50 to 120 feet in 
height, but in a very ruinous state. . He also saw seven or eight 
temples, of which one (upwards of 300 feet in length) was covered 
with hieroglyphics. It is probably in the neighbourhood of these 
ruins that search should be made for Nabatha, and not the Me- 
roe of the ancieuts. This traveller has copied some very curious 
Greek inscriptions. He assures us that he has seen nothing in 
his travels comparable to the monuments of Nubia, and that he 
considers that province as the cradle of the arts in Egypt.”— 
Moniteur. 
A letter from Marseilles of the 11th of August contains the 
following interesting piece of intelligence :—- 
<‘M. Tedenat, son of the French Consul at Alexandria, ‘well 
known by his discoveries in Upper Egypt, is Just arrived at Mar~ 
seilles with a number of curiosities from that celebrated country. 
He traced the cataracts of the Nile from their very commence- 
ment, and visited the famous city of the hundred gates. He ear- 
ried his researches into the mountain of granite, which is close 
to the ruins of that city, and which is opposite to the grand tem- 
ple. He discovered very fine mummies, and manuscripts on pa- 
pyrus of the finest kind, and in the most perfect preservation. 
It is supposed no library in the world possesses any of the kind 
in a better state of preservation. His roost abundant harvest in 
matters of that description was in the mountain of Gourna. He 
had the singular good fortune to discover a large cable, made of 
the leaves of the palm-tree, which was used for letting down the 
bodies of wealthy persons into a well, which were afterwards bu- 
ried in spacious sepulchral chambers hewn into the side of the 
granite mountain, more than sixty toises in depth. 
<< The wells seem to be designed for the concealment of tombs 
in the interior; and at the present time it is necessary to exca- 
vate at all hazards, in order to discover them. 
“¢ The sepulchres of Gourna present a work of the most exqui- 
site perfection, whether we consider the hieroglyphic paintings, 
or the bas-reliefs which adorn all the walls in the interior. What 
must we think of the patience and talents of the Egyptian art- 
ists, who went even into the bowels of the earth to execute im- 
perishable works, and of the power of those kings, who, not sa- 
tisfied with having raised lofty pyramids which have existed for 
thousands of years, and which astonish us by their magnificence, 
have excavated a mountain of more than thirty leagues in extent, 
for the purpose of depositing mummies, and, if we may be al- 
lowed the expression, to assert the immortality of the body, in 
opposition 
