EGYPT. 163 



enthusiasts, and have among them their sa?itos, or fellows who pre- 

 tend to a superior degree of holiness, and, without any ceremony, in- 

 trude into the best houses, where it would be dangerous to turn them 

 out. The Egyptian Turks mind religious affairs very little. The 

 Copts profess themselves to be Christians of the Greek church, but 

 they embrace transubstautiation 5 in which, and other points, the ca- 

 tholics of Cairo think they approach their faith nearer than the Greeks. 

 They have, however, adopted from the Mahommedans, the custom of 

 frequent prostrations during divine service, ablutions, and other cere- 

 monies. In religious, and, indeed, many civil matters, they are under 

 the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Alexandria, who, by the dint of 

 money, generally purchases a protection at the Ottoman court. 



Literature. ...Though it cannot be doubted that the Greeks derived 

 all their knowledge from the ancient Egyptians, yet scarcely a vestige 

 of it remains among their descendants. This is owing to the bigotry 

 and ignorance of their Mahommedan masters; but here it is proper 

 to make one observation, which is of general use. The caliphs, or Sa- 

 racens, who subdued Egypt, were of three kinds. The first, who 

 were the immediate successors of Mahommed, made war, from con- 

 science and principle, upon all kinds of literature, excepting the 

 Koran ; and hence it was, that when they took possession of Alexan- 

 dria, which contained the most magnificent library the world ever 

 beheld, its valuable manuscripts were applied for some months in 

 cooking their victuals, and warming their baths. The same fate at- 

 tended the other magnificent Egyptian libraries. The caliphs of the 

 second race were men of taste and learning, but of a peculiar char- 

 acter. They bought up all the manuscripts that survived the general 

 conflagration, relating to astronomy, medicine, and some useless parts 

 of philosophy ; but they had no taste for the Greek arts of architec- 

 ture, sculpture, painting, or poetry, and learning was confined to their 

 own courts and colleges, without ever finding its way back to Egypt. 

 The lower I'ace of caliphs, especially those who called themselves ca- 

 liphs of Egypt, disgraced human nature ; and the Turks have riveted 

 the chains of barbarous ignorance which they imposed. 



All the learning, therefore, possessed bv the modern Egyptians 

 consists in arithmetical calculation for the dispatch of business, the 

 jargon of astrology, a few nostrums in medicine, and some knowledge 

 of the Mahommedan religion. 



Language. ...The Coptic is the ancient language of Egypt. This 

 was succeeded by the Greek, about the time of Alexander the Great ; 

 and that by the Arabic, upon the commencement of the caliphate, 

 when the Arabs dispossessed the Greeks of Egypt. The Arabic, or 

 Arabesque, as it is called, is the current language 5 the Coptic, says 

 Mr. Browne, may be considered as extinct : numerous and minute 

 researches have enabled me to ascertain this fact. In Upper Egypt, 

 however, they unknowingly retain some Coptic words. 



ANTiquiTiEs.... Egypt abounds more with these than perhaps any 

 other part of the world. Its pyramids have been often described. 

 Their antiquity is beyond the researches of history itself, and their 

 original uses are still unknown. The bases of the largest covers 

 eleven acres of ground, and its perpendicular height is 500 feet, but 

 if measured obliquely to the terminating point, 700 feet. It contains 

 a room thirty-four feet long, and seventeen broad, in which is a marble 

 chest, but without either cover or contents, supposed to have been 

 designed for the tomb of the founder. In short, the pyramids of 



