27 
utility, and which during so many ages has contributed 
to the glory of Egypt, is proceeding daily to its com- 
plete annihilation. 
When the French were here they made several re- 
pairs to the Mikkias; but all is destroyed; and the 
pillar of the Mikkias itself would have been overturn- 
ed ere now, if it had not been supported by a very 
large transverse beam, which they placed upon its 
capital. I asked if there was no man appointed to 
guard so interesting an edifice; and they begged to* 
know, in answer, who would pay him. 44 Why at least 
is there not a door to prevent the access of every one 
to it?" " That would cost money." " Would the sol- 
diers carry it away?" Tears were the only reply to 
this and other questions. 
I was tempted to believe that Mehemed Ali con- 
nives at the destruction of the Mikkias; for it appeared 
that the Calif Omar desired it. 
The wall of the court in which it stands is lined 
with quartrose stone: the staircase leading down into 
the area is of the same material, as is also the column 
itself, which it was impossible for me to approach, on 
account of the w T ater with which it was surrounded. 
A cupola of wood, of an elegant form, which covers 
the whole, is rapidly decaying. 
A monument of this kind, in a country where the 
harvest depended upon rain and other accidental 
causes, would be insignificant, and misplaced; but in 
Egypt, where the abundance or scarcity of the harvest 
depends absolutely upon the degree of the periodical 
increase of the Nile for the inundation or watering of 
the country, experience having shown the exact result 
which each cubit of the elevation of the water pro- 
duces in the harvest, the instrument destined to 
