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r. VT.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 5QI 



Some Observations lately made hy certain Missionaries in Upper Egi/pt; 



in a Letter ivrittcn from Cairo, January 6, I67O. By F. Buotuai. 



N' 71, p' 2151. 



I have spent three months time in the voyage in Upper Egypt, accompanied 

 with my brothers, Charles and Francis, always ascending on the Nile as high as 

 300 leagues above this city, being two days journey on this side of the cascade 

 of the Nile, and where no Frenchman has been within the memory of man. I 

 there admired many idol temples yet Entire, with very ancient palaces filled with 

 statues and idols. I counted in one place alone 7 obelisks, like those at Rome, 

 and about 120 columns in one hall, of the thickness of five brasses, full within 

 and without, from the top to the bottom with hieroglyphic letters, and with 

 figures of false deities. I found statues of white marble, and some of black, of 

 the size of three persons, with a sword on their side, and of a hard stone ; 

 namely, a man and a woman, at the least of the height of eight fathoms, though 

 seated in chairs, but well proportioned; and two others of black marble, repre- 

 senting women, with globes on their head, and extravagant coverings thereon, 

 which were two feet broad from one shoulder to the other. 



We lighted only on two places, where antiquities were to be seen, one whereof 

 is called Lozor, and the other Candion, which is a very ancient castle, esteemed 

 by the tradition of the country to have formerly been the residence of a king. 

 In the avenues of the castle are a great number of sphinxes standing in a row, 

 and turning their head towards the alley. This is an idol having the head of a 

 woman and the body of a lion, which was once a famous deity among the 

 Egyptians. They are distant from each other about two paces, and are 20 feet 

 long. I walked in four alleys, ending at four gates of the castle; and for aught 

 I know there may be more of them, as I went but half round the castle, which 

 is very spacious. I reckoned 60 of them on one side of one alley, and as many 

 over against it, and 5 1 in another alley ; all well proportioned. The alleys are 

 of the largeness of a pall-mall ; the gates of the castle are of an extraordinary 

 height, covered with most excellent stones. Measuring one, which makes the 

 height of one of them, I found it 264- feet long, and proportionably thick. I 

 believe that there are above a million of figures, all in profile, none in front; I 

 speak of those that are graven on the walls and pillars. It would have required 

 a whole month to observe all the particulars of that place. I contented myself 

 with drawing only the postures of a dozen of the most extravagant demons, 

 with their adorers of both sexes; and some frontispieces of temples, which are 

 not very rich in architecture, but built of very fine stone. What most pleased 

 me was the ground, where the azure and the other colours, which are like 



