' went 300 Leagues up the Nilein the year 6f 5 told mc 
of many Temples, Statues, and Pillars at that diftancei 
tho I can t be fure he faid there were any of Porphyry. 
But fiace'tw2Ls ia Thebais, why may we not fuppofe them 
of that black, white and red fpeckl'd Thebaic Marble, 
famous in the World ; and wherewith the leffer Pyramid 
perhaps was crufted,yet to be feen upon the ground about 
it, and when poliih'd looks finely, 
Thofe which I have my felf leen, are one of them 
at the Matarea^ 3 or 4 miles Eaft of Grand Cairo ^ and a 
Alexandria juft within the Wall upon the North fide 
of the City : (for Pompey s Pillar as they call it) i mile 
without the Gate to the South, is quite of another make 
and matter: one of thefe is thrown down and brokea 
into pieces, but was oi the lame dimenfions for breadth 
and thicknefs with the other. ~The Francks call them 
Aguglids^ the Englifh particularly f/^?(?/?i;?i^r^V needles 5 
but the Inhabitants content themfelves with the general 
name of Pillars. They have no J?i^/> or Pedeftals above 
grounds and if they nevei? had, they muft needs be ve- 
ry deep in the Earth. The Draughts I here fend you will 
excufe all farther Defcription. qu^ of them was very 
well taken by Monfieur £r^^^ 'Sl French Druggerman the 
©ther by a Dutch Painter, who, you'l fee^ has but little 
commended Tiis Art. 
If you have a Fancy upon the fight of em, to fif t out 
^^Hieroglyphic Charadter with which they are engraveui 
perhaps youl find it to be the Aboriginal Mgyptian Let- 
ter, long fince worn out of common ufe in the Country, 
as the Smmaritan (fo 'tis now generally caji'd, ) was a- 
mongfl: the fervs. And that it bears proportion with the 
China (now in ufej where each note repr^/ents a word^ 
or rather an entire fignification. And moreover that 'tis 
wrought the fame way too, from the top to the bottom 5 
as you have feen in the Bord I brought from a door in the 
Village Succara (which is next to tYi^Miimmies) thekrgeft 
piece 
