S38 



half civilized Turks or Egyptians, could give any ac- 

 count, are described as possessing all their beauty of 

 proportion and symmetry, as well as exquisite style of 

 execution, though exposed to aggravated scenes of vio- 

 lence, and the destructive agents of time. 



tory of the city to which it belonged, there is reason to believe it 

 the oldest monument of the kind in Egypt."* 



Now although this monument is, at present, situated at a consi- 

 derable distance from the Mediterranean ; standing at a small dis- 

 tance north east of Cairo, and above the head of the Delta ; it is 

 highly probable, that for many centuries, it was as near the borders 

 of the Mediterranean sea, as Cleopatra's Needles are at present ; 

 consequently we might expect to find some change upon its surface, 

 as well as upon that of the latter, and from the same cause. More- 

 over, if we add to this, the amazing length of time, during which it has 

 stood, ever exposed to the changes of times and seasons, we might 

 reasonably expect, if granite be susceptible of decomposition, that 

 we should find it literally mouldering and falling into dust. In- 

 stead of which it only discovers marks of decomposition in the 

 sides most exposed to the Etesean winds, that, for nearly half the 

 year, sweep over the Mediterranean sea ; and to which this monu- 

 ment, as well as Cleopatra's Needles, is constantly exposed, 



Dr. Clarke says "Each of its four sides exhibits the same cha- 

 racters, and in the same order. Those which face the south have 

 been the least affected by the decomposition of the substance in 

 which they are hewn ; and it is from the southern side that the 

 author's design is taken."! 



Whatever may have been the state of this interesting monu- 

 ment, when examined by Dr. Clarke ; it seems that Dr. Shaw, who 

 saw and made an accurate drawing of it about eighty years before, 

 gives a different account of the state of it. He says u The obe- 



* Clarke's Travels, vol. Ill, page 68. | Do - vol. Ill, page 69. 



