23d 



rains of which, that have lain for move than twenty 

 centuries would, alone, require volumes to enumerate. 



Some of the very first objects that meet the eye, as 

 we approach this celebrated country, attest the truth of 

 what I have asserted. Dolomieu says that the rocks, 

 which stood at the entrance of the port of Alexandria, 

 have withstood the bufferings of the ocean, these two 

 thousand years, and still retain, unaltered, their ancient 

 form and integrity. 



The obelisk of Cleopatra, and Pompey's pillar, 

 (the shaft of which is granite ; its base and capital of 

 lime stone, or marble,) those objects of wonder and as- 

 tonishment, exhibit few or no marks of decomposition^ 

 and much less, of disintegration, although they have 

 been standing thousands of years.* 



* With persons who may have read the interesting travels of Dr; 

 Clarkeand particularly his remarks on the Alexandrian obelisks, or 

 Cleopatra's Needles ; and also on the decomposition of granite, 

 some doubts may still be entertained of the correctness of my 

 views on the durability of granite, or, of its liability to disintegra- 

 tion, or decomposition. 



Of Cleopatra's Needles he observes " They are covered with 

 hieroglyphics, cut to the depth of two inches into the stone, which 

 consists of red granite ; but, owing to a partial decomposition of 

 the felspar, its red colour has faded toward the surface. A simi- 

 lar decomposition has frequently hastened the decay of other an- 

 cient monuments ; and it offers proof of a fact worthy the notice 

 of persons employed in national architecture; namely, that granite 

 is less calculated for works of duration, than pure homogenous 

 marble, or common limestone. The action of the atmosphere con- 

 duces to the hardness and durability of the two latter; but it 



