TO THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN. 



159 



pity ; they had been carried off by surprise ; they have undergone 

 innumerable hardships ; many of them are advanced in years ; and 

 I fancy they are very poorly supplied with any comforts or con- 

 veniences. To add to all this, they are execrated by the army, 

 (who consider them as the primary cause of all their mis- 

 fortunes,) and they live in continual apprehensions from the plague, 

 which at present is but too prevalent in Alexandria. I hope, how- 

 ever, they have not been idle during their stay in Egypt ; they 

 assured me that most accurate surveys and drawings had been 

 made of all the principal Egyptian antiquities ; they had spent 

 twenty-five days at Thebes alone, guarded by a detachment of the 

 army, during which time they had an opportunity of copying at 

 their leisure every thing that appeared interesting. They spoke 

 however of these remains as being trifling to what are found at 

 Dendera. Geoffroy their naturalist has made a very complete 

 collection of Egyptian zoology ; he has promised to endeavour to 

 obtain all the vernacular names * of the several animals, &c, and 

 to write these along with the Linnagan. If this be performed 

 properly it will afford us a more satisfactory Hierozoicon than any 

 hitherto published, as I have little doubt but many of the Hebrew 

 names still lurk undiscovered in the Coptic, Sahidic, and vulgar 

 Arabic languages. One great object of my own journey into Syria, 

 was to endeavour to find some intelligent person who could give 

 me information upon this head, which I need not say to Your 

 Lordship would throw more light upon many parts of the Levitical 

 law, than any other species of criticism, if I may call Natural 

 History by such a term ; and I am still led to hope that I shall not 

 be entirely disappointed in my expectations of meeting with persons 

 of this description. My voyage has added much to my Arabic 

 literature, as I had for my companions a prince of the Druses and 



* " The names of animals and plants by which they are called in Eastern countries," 

 says Shaw, " would be of great assistance, as some of them it may be presumed continue 

 to be the very same, while others maybe derivative from the originals." — Travels, p. 422. 



