BEL 



20: 



B E M 



Molouk, or Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. He found 

 out by guess the right entrance, which had been blocked up 

 for many centuries, had it cleared, and at last made his way 

 into the sepulchral chambers cut in the calcareous rock, 

 and richly adorned with pictures in low relief, and hiero- 

 glyphics painted in the brightest colours. Belzoni made 

 drawings of the chambers, took impressions in wax of the 

 figures and hieroglyphics, noting carefully the various co- 

 lours, and thus constructed a perfect fac-simile of this mag- 

 nificent tomb, which was afterwards exhibited in London. He 

 also brought to England a sarcophagus of arragonite (com- 

 monly called an alabaster sarcophagus), which he found in a 

 chamber of the great tomb. Mr. Salt paid Belzoni's ex- 

 penses in these undertakings, besides giving him a remu- 

 neration, and received for his share part of the antiquities 

 which Belzoni collected, and among the rest the sarcopha- 

 gus, which he afterwards sold to Mr. (now Sir John) Soane 

 the architect for 20001. (See the Life and Correspondence 

 of Salt by J. Halls.) Belzoni also opened numerous other 

 sepulchres excavated in the ridge of rocks at Gournou, at the 

 foot of the Libyan mountains, near western Thebes. The 

 difficulties and labour he had to encounter are described in 

 his own plain but forcible style. ' The entrance to the tombs 

 of Gournou is roughly cut in the rocks, and the sand nearly 

 chokes up the passage. In some places there is not more 

 than a vacancy of a foot left, which you must pass through 

 creeping like a snail. Some of these passages arc 200 or 

 300 yards in length, and at the end you find yourself in a 

 more convenient place, perhaps high enough to sit in it. 

 But what a place of rest ! You are surrounded in all direc- 

 tions by heaps of mummies ; the black walls, the faint light 

 given by the candles or torches, the naked Arabs holding 

 the torches, all covered with dust, and looking like living 

 mummies, all this forms a scene that .cannot be described. 

 A vast quantity of dust arises, so fine that it enters the 

 throat and nostrils, and a great strength of lungs is required 

 to withstand the strong effluvia from the mummies. When 

 I attempted to sit, my weight bore on the body of an em- 

 balmed Egyptian, and it crushed it as if it had been a band- 

 box. I sunk altogether among the broken mummies, with 

 a crash of bones, wooden cases and rags, which raised such 

 a dust as kept me motionless for a quarter of an hour till it 

 subsided.' (Belzoni's Narrative.) 



Belzoni's next undertaking was the removal of an obelisk 

 from the island of Philsc, the shaft of which was twenty-two 

 feet long, and two wide at the base, which he accomplished 

 with no other aid than poles, rotten palm ropes, and a few ig- 

 norant Arab peasants. He placed it in a boat, and contrived 

 to pass it safely down the falls of Assouan. The obelisk 

 was landed at Alexandria, and is now in the possession 

 of Mr. William Bankes, at whose expense it was removed, 

 and who has since erected it at Kingston Hall in Dorsetshire. 

 The removal of this obelisk was attended with some unplea 

 sant occurrences. Some persons, employed or bribed by 

 Drovetti, a Piedmontese, formerly a consul, and now a col- 

 lector of antiquities, endeavoured by violence to prevent 

 Belzoni from effecting the removal of the obelisk, which 

 they wished to secure for their master. On Belzoni's re- 

 turn to Thebes, he was assailed by two Italians in Drovetti'* 

 service, and many Arabs : a scuffle ensued, in which Bel- 

 zoni was in danger of his life. He, however, with his usual 

 boldness, surmounted all difficulties. His high stature and 

 robust frame, great strength, and commanding mien, gave 

 him great influence over the Arabs, who, like all semi- 

 barbarous people, pay great respect to physical superiority. 



Belzoni discovered also the entrance into the second great 

 pyramid of Jizeh, and penetrated into the central chamber, 

 the existence of which was before unknown, though it ap- 

 peared, from an inscription found there, that it had been 

 entered by the Arabs. In September, 1818, he again left 

 Cairo, went to Esmf, and thence struck across the Desert to 

 the short of the Red Sea. He there discovered the ruins 

 of the antient town of Berenice, and visited likewise the 

 emerald mines of Mount Zabarah. In the following year 

 (1619) he went on another excursion to Lake Mceris, and 

 froju thence to the smaller Oasis, which lies due west of it. 

 No European wan known to have visited the spot before 

 him. Belzoni erroneously supposed it to be the Oasis of 

 Jupiter Ammon. At last, in September, 1819, he left 

 Egypt, after a residence of five years, during which he made 

 numerous and important discoveries, in which there was 

 more novelty, as well as difficulty, than in those made by 

 the French during their occupation of the country. 



Belzoni returned to Italy, and visited his native town, 

 Padua, the citizens of which had a medal struck, with the 

 date of that year, 1819, in commemoration of his dis- 

 coveries. On his arrival in England, he published his 

 Narrative of the Operations and recent Discoveries within 

 the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations in l'-gypt 

 and Nubia, 4to. London, 1820, with an Atlas. In 1823 

 he set off once more for Africa, with the intention of 

 penetrating to the city of Timbuctoo, the object of so many 

 unsuccessful attempts. He undertook this journey on liis 

 own account, unassisted by any government or society. He 

 landed at Tangier, accompanied by his wife, and thence 

 proceeded to the city of Fez, whence he intended to proceed 

 to Tafilelt, and join the great caravan which assembles 

 there to cross the Desert into Soudan. Messrs. Briggs of 

 Alexandria contributed 200/. towards the funds for the ex- 

 pedition : but the jealousy of the Moorish or Jewish traders 

 prevented his obtaining the requisite permission from the 

 emperor, and he then repaired to Mogadore, and embarked 

 for Cape Coast, whence he proceeded to the Bight of Benin, 

 which he seems to have guessed was the most direct way to 

 reach the Niger. He there met with a negro from Kashna, 

 who had been a sailor on board the Owen Glendower frigate, 

 and who was returning to his own country. Belzoni and 

 he agreed to travel together to Houssa. Belzoni was well 

 received by the king of Benin, who gave him much useful 

 information for his journey. Every thing seemed favourable 

 to his undertaking^ when he was attacked by a dysentery, 

 which, after a few days, terminated hrs life on the 3rd of 

 December, 1823, at a place called Gato, in the kingdom of 

 Benin. He was buried there under a large tree, and a 

 simple inscription was placed on his tomb. The day be- 

 fore his death he wrote to his friend Mr. Hodgson, who 

 was on board the brig Swinger in the Bight of Benin, 

 intrusting him with some directions concerning his pro- 

 perty, and with his last affectionate farewell to his wife. 

 Belzoni was frank and kind-hearted, trusty and honourable, 

 and to great simplicity of manners united intelligence, 

 firmness, and perseverance. He was certainly one of the 

 most enterprising and sagacious of modern explorers, but 

 he appears to have been apt to take offence, and to have 

 been too prone to suspect the intentions of those with whom 

 he came in contact. The reader will find in Hall's Life of 

 Salt an account of the transactions between the British con- 

 sul and Belzoni as to making collections, together with the 

 history of the sale of the valuable sarcophagus, which is 

 now (1835) in the possession of Sir John Soane. 



BE'MBEX, a genus of hymenopterous insects, forming 

 the typical group of the Bembicidte of Leach, a family of 

 the Possores. The chief generic characters are as follows : 

 Palpi very short ; maxillary palpi four-jointed ; labial two- 

 jointed ; mandibles with a single tooth internally ; the 

 anterior wings have three submarginal cells (the third ex- 

 tending to the apex of the marginal), and two recurrent 

 nervures both springing from the second submarginal ; 

 labium and mandibles prolonged into a rostrum, or beak ; 

 body smooth, nearly conical, but rather flat beneath in the 

 male frequently furnished with two or more spines at the 

 apex. Legs, in the female spinose, anterior tarsi strongly 

 ciliated. This genus connects Mnnedula with Philanthus. 

 the species are peculiar to hot climates, and, in some 

 instances, very much resemble wasps, both in size and 

 colour. The female forms oblique cylindrical burrows in 

 sandy banks, with a cell at the end of each ; her next object 

 is to collect flies, such as the species of syrphidae and mus- 

 cidso, as food for her young : in the excursions made for this 

 purpose, she is exceedingly rapid in her motions, and pro- 

 duces a loud buzz in flying. Having furnished a cell with 

 five or six Hies, she deposits a single egg in it, and, after hav- 

 ing carefully closed its mouth, proceeds in the same manner 

 with another cell. When hatched from the egg, the larva 

 devours these flies, and changes into the pupa state, and 

 shortly after to the perfect insect. Although these insects 

 are not strictly social, as the bees and wasps, yet generally 

 the burrows of many of the same species are formed in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of each other. 



Upon leaving her burrow, the female takes great pre- 

 caution to secure its entrance from her enemies, by stop- 

 ping tho mouth with sand. No precaution, however, is 

 sutlicient to protect it from the intrusion of its parasites. 

 Among others, the beautiful Panorpes carnea is enabled, by 

 the spined structure of its legs, to make its way through the 

 sand-protected entrance which it takes the opportunity of 



