584 Miscellaneous \ [Nov. 



Notes on the Eastern Desert of Egypt, from Gebel Afrit, by the an- 

 cient Porphyry quarries of Gebel Dukhan, near to the old station 

 of Gebel Gir ; with a brief account of the ruins at Gebel Dukhan, by 

 Hekekyan Bey. — (Communicated by Capt. Newbold.) 



These rough but interesting notes, on a part of Egypt so seldom 

 visited by travellers as its Eastern Desert, were written by my friend, 

 the Bey, in English ; and I have adhered as closely as possible to the 

 original, with but trifling alteration. The notes would have been more 

 valuable had a map been laid down of the route, with a list of bearings 

 and distances, and more detailed observations on the general nature of 

 the country traversed. The porphyry quarries of Gebel Dukhdn, 

 (Mons Porphyritis) are probably coeval with the celebrated breccia 

 quarries of Wadi Keneh, and worked in the time of the first Osirtasen, 

 the supposed Pharoah, who ruled over Egypt in the time of Joseph. 

 The beautifully coloured porphyries, green, purple, and red, and much 

 of the basalt used in ancient Egyptian sculpture, were derived in great 

 measure from Gebel Dukhdn, and its vicinity ; whence they were pro- 

 bably conveyed to Coptos on the Nile, and thence easily distributed to 

 various parts of Egypt. The Wadi from Gebel Dukhdn to Keneh, the 

 ancient Koinipolis, a little N. of Coptos, is to this day called the Sikket 

 el Arabiyeh, the high-road of the Carts. 



It is not very clear why the Arabs should give the name Dukhdn 

 (jbka, which literally signifies smoke, to this mountain. We have no 

 evidence of any volcanic eruptive activity within the historic period. 

 It has probably got the name from its colour, particularly when viewed 

 from a distance under a deep blue sky, or from the smoke of the town 

 and huts of the workmen. 



The remains of the inscription copied by the Bey from the frieze of 

 the temple near Gebel Dukhdn, bear the name of the emperor Adrian, 

 with the surname of Trajan, whose son by adoption he was. The 

 temple is dedicated to Sarapis the great, [with his titles of Pluto and the 

 Sun, aii HAini MErAAni Sapaiiiai] and to the other gods in the same 

 temple. Small temples to Sarapis are very common in the vicinity of 

 mines and quarries. As Pluto he is supposed to preside over demons 

 and the evil genii, who the orientals imagine, watch over the treasures of 



