1854.] 



ACCOUNT AND RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION TO EGYPT, &c. 



267 



most directly gained by the increased chronological knowledge 

 we obtained concerning the monuments. For the first time we 

 were able to pursue all its branches during the old Egyptian 

 monarchy, previous to the invasion of the Byksos, and accord- 

 ingly to extend both it and the history of Egypt about sixteen 

 centuries farther back, and some tens of years lower down in 

 time. The different epochs of Egyptian art now first appeared 

 clear and distinct, each marked by its peculiar character, inti- 

 mately connected with the general development of the people. 

 They had so frequently been misunderstood, that no one believed 

 in their existence; they were lost in the general uniformity. I 

 must mention, as one of the most important facts connected with 

 this, that we found innumerable instances on unfinished monuments 

 of three different canons of proportions of the human body ; one 

 belonging to the most ancient Pharaonic monarchy ; another 

 later than the twelfth dynast}', when Thebes first began to flou- 

 rish: a third, which appears at first in the time of the Psamme- 

 tichi, with an entire alteration in the principle of the division, 

 and which remained unaltered till the time of the Roman em- 

 perors. The last is the same which Diodorus expressly mentions 

 in his first book. Among the separate branches of Egyptian 

 art, architecture, which was almost unnoticed by the French- 

 Tuscan expedition, was with us peculiarly attended to, by the 

 extremely careful and circumspect labours of our architect Erb- 

 kam. This was befitting the important position occupied by this 

 particular branch, in which grandeur, that element of ait, pecu- 

 liarly belonging to the Egyptian beyond all other nations, was 

 capable of being developed, and has developed itself to the ut- 

 most. The study of the sculpture and paintings devolved upon 

 the other artists who accompanied us, and the ability and fidelity 

 with which thev fulfilled their tasks must be recognized by every 

 one. The Egyptian style, associated with the limited views 

 characteristic of. the infancy of art, nevertheless possesses a 

 highly-cultivated ideal element, which must be acknowledged 

 by every one. The genius of Greece could never have bestowed 

 on art such a marked character, indicative of a period of pros- 

 perous liberty, if it had not received it as a severe, chaste, and 

 carefully nurtured child from the Egyptians. The principal task 

 of the history of Egyptian art is to point out wherein consisted 

 this cultivation of art, peculiar to the Egyptians above all the 

 primitive nations of Asia. In the next place, Egyptian archaso- 

 logy, in the widest sense of the word, claimed a large portion of 

 our time and attention, an extensive field, already examined, both 

 successfully and diligently, by Wilkinson and Rosellini, which 

 they were enabled to do by neans of the inexhaustible number 

 of separate objects belonging to every-day life, still in preserva- 

 tion, and by the representations of them which arefound in all 

 directions, far surpassing any other ancient remains. 



On that account it was still more necessary to make a stricter 

 investigation, and to regard it from a higher point of view, rather 

 than accumulate a greater number of individual things, that, 

 notwithstanding, obtruded themselves on all sides, and which, 

 besides, we collected in large quantities as material to work upon. 



Lastly, geography and chorography, wdiich travellers are es- 

 pecially expected to promote, required to be more peculiarly 

 prosecuted. We must particularly mention here, that besides 

 the peculiar investigation of the pyramid-fields at Memphis, and 

 in the Faium, which have been already alluded to, our records 

 of the ruins of towns and ancient monuments in the Nile coun- 

 try, as far up as Sennar, are more perfect and exact than any 

 hitherto made. With regard to the modern geographical names, 

 which must always be viewed in comparison with the ancient, 



I have been most particular in obtaining the Arabic names, at 

 least throughout the district we traversed, in order to counteract, 

 as far as lay in my power, the insufferable confusion in the 

 names which are marked down. During the journey I made 

 special maps for the individual portions of the eastern mountains 

 of Egypt and the peninsula of Sinai, and I collected geographi- 

 cal accounts from travellers concerning some remote districts 

 which we did not enter, and which are but little known; and I 

 had geographical drawings made of them. Our investigations 

 of the historical places in the peninsula of Sinai have already 

 been alluded to. The discovery mentioned above, of the most 

 ancient Nilometer at Semneh has added, in a remarkable degree, 

 also to the history of the physical condition of the Nile valley. Since 

 it is quite evident, from the water just above the second cataract, 

 standing at that time twenty-two feet higher than at present, and 

 the height of the water in the Thebaid being contemporaneously 

 twelve to fifteen feet lower, that the fall of the Nile in the inter- 

 mediate country was thirty-five feet greater in those times than 

 it is now. But this gradual levelling of the bed of the river must 

 have had the most decided influence on the history of the culti- 

 vation of the valley and of the whole population, because the soil 

 on the banks of the river in the district of Nubia, more especially 

 owing to the considerable sinking of the water, being inaccessible 

 to the natural overflowings, was laid dry, and could only be irri- 

 gated with great difficulty and imperfectly, by means of artificial 

 water-wdieels. 



Considerable progress was made in the knowledge of the 

 African languages, by the investigation which I was principally 

 enabled to make in the southern part of our journey. I inquired 

 into and noted down as much of the grammar and vocabulary of 

 three languages as would enable me to give a distinct idea of 

 tl'em. First, Kongara, spoken at Dan-Fur and the adjacent 

 countries, a central African-Negro language. Secondly, the 

 Nuba language, which is spoken in two chief dialects in one part 

 of the Nubian-Nile valley and in the neighbouring countries 

 situated to the south-west, and also appears to be derived from 

 the interior of Africa. It had never hitherto been a written lan- 

 guage, and I collected together for the first time a piece of written 

 Nubian literature, for I made a Nubian sheikh, who was perfectly 

 familiar with the Arabic language and writing, translate the 

 fables of Locman, a portion of the Thousand and One Nights, 

 and the Gospel of St. Mark, from the Arabian into the Nubian 

 tongue, and write down, besides, nineteen Nubian songs, some of 

 of them in rhyme, some only rhythmical, and translate them into 

 Arabic. Unfortunately, these precious packets, all but the Nu- 

 bian gospel, were lost in Europe, with but little hope of recovery. 

 The third language investigated by me was the Beg'a, which is 

 spoken by the Bischari nation, who dwell between the Red Sea 

 and the Nubian Nile. This language occupies an important 

 position with reference to philology, since it seems to be a branch 

 of the original Asiatic stock, of which the African offsets may be 

 comprehended under the name of the Hamitic languages; and 

 is, besides, particularly interesting in our study of the monu- 

 ments, because, most probably, it was once the key to decipher 

 the ancient Ethiopian inscriptions, numbers of which were dis- 

 covered by us upon the Island of Merbe, and from that place in 

 the Nile valley as far down as Philae. These inscriptions are 

 written in simple characters, from right to left, and derive their 

 origin from the powerful nation of the Meioi-tic Ethiopians, whose 

 direct descendants we behold in the present Beg'a nations. By 

 comparing those languages with the other languages of Africa, 

 which are already better known, I think I shall be able to sepa- 

 rate, according to fixed principles, these " Hamitic languages" of 



