124 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



from that place was navigable ; the city might be trans- 

 ported bodily and set up in New- York. I expressly 

 stated (and my reason for doing so will be obvious) 

 that I was acting in this matter on my own account, 

 that it was entirely a personal affair ; but Serlor Pa- 

 yes would consider me as acting for my government, 

 and said, what I am sure he meant, that if his family 

 was as it had been once, they would be proud to pre- 

 sent the whole to the "United States ; in that country 

 they were not appreciated, and he would be happy to 

 contribute to the cause of science in ours ; but they 

 were impoverished by the convulsions of the country; 

 and, at all events, he could give me no answer till his 

 brothers returned, who were expected in two or three 

 days. Unfortunately, as I believe for both of us, Senor 

 Payes consulted with the French consul general, who 

 put an exaggerated value upon the ruins, referring him 

 to the expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars 

 by the French government in transporting one of the 

 obelisks of Luxor from Thebes to Paris. Probably, be- 

 fore the speculating scheme referred to, the owners 

 would have been glad to sell the whole tract, consisting 

 of more than fifty thousand acres, with everything on it, 

 known and unknown, for a few thousand dollars. I 

 was anxious to visit them myself, and learn with more 

 certainty the possibility of their removal, but was afraid 

 of increasing the extravagance of his notions. His 

 brothers did not arrive, and one of them unfortunately 

 died on the road. I had not the government for pay- 

 master ; it might be necessary to throw up the purchase 

 on account of the cost of removal ; and I left an offer 

 with Mr. Savage, the result of which is still uncertain ; 

 but I trust that when these pages reach the hands of the 

 reader, two of the largest monuments will be on then- 

 way to this city. 



