150 
DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT, 
29° 53'. They are surrounded by groves of palm- 
trees, which conceal from observation the remains 
of that great city, of which the very ruins have 
almost perished. Besides the name of Menf, or 
Menouf, given by the Arabs to a position at 
which the ruins were visible to a late period, some 
vast shapeless mounds of riibbish, where the 
thistle springs luxuriantly, and canals lined with 
stone, but choked up with earth, are the only re- 
mains of the ancient Memphis, a city which was 
once about fourteen miles in circumference.* In 
these mounds, which chiefly appear on the ex« 
tremities of the plain, some fragments of sculptur- 
ed stones have been found j but there are no obe- 
lisks, no hieroglyphics, no superb monuments, no 
ruins of temples or public buildings, to mark the 
site of former magnificence. In a small lake, 
however, which contracts its surface when the 
waters of the Nile, in years of extreme drought, 
rise not to their ordinary height, more perfect 
aiftd magnificent ruins have been discovered.t 
The ancient history of Memphis is not less obscure 
than its modern situation. Though inferior to 
Thebes in the fame of antiquity, its origin ascends 
to a very remote period beyond the limits of au- 
thentic history. Whether it was founded by 
* Diodorus Siculus, 1. 1. J 2. 
t Maillet's Description of Egypt, p. 274?. 
