54 
HOENEE  ON  THE  ALLETIAL  LAND  OE  EGYPT. 
side  of  the  Nile  in  the  parallel  of  Hehopolis.  These  researches  I now  proceed  to 
describe. 
In  accordance  with  the  opinion  I entertained,  when  I undertook  the  inquiry,  that 
excavations  should  be  made  in  the  vicinity  of  some  very  ancient  monument,  the  age  of 
which  is  known,  I chose  the  site  of  the  long  extinct  city  of  Memphis,  now  covered  with 
the  date  groves  of  the  modern  village  of  Metrahenny,  twenty  miles  above  the  parallel  of 
Heliopolis,,  and  about  thirty  miles  above  the  apex  of  the  Delta.  All  testimony  appears 
to  concur  as  to  its  very  remote  antiquity ; in  assigning  its  foundation  to  ^Iexes,  the 
first  king  of  the  first  dynasty  which  reigned  over  Egypt,  and  who,  according  to  Lepsius, 
the  latest  and  very  able  expounder  of  Egyptian  chronology,  began  his  reign  3892  years 
before  the  Christian  era. 
Heeodotus  relates'^,  that  Mexes  turned  the  course  of  the  Nile  eastward,  by  an 
embankment  100  stadia  higher  up  the  river,  to  dam  out  the  inundations  which  then 
annually  covered  the  land  on  which  he  proposed  to  erect  his  seat  of  government. 
Su  G.  WiLKixsox  saysf,  that  though  we  may  still  trace  the  spot  where  the  diversion  of 
the  river  was  made,  owing  to  the  great  bend  it  makes  about  fourteen  miles  above  the 
site  of  Memphis,  the  lofty  mounds  raised  there  are  no  longer  Hsible.  This  ancient  city 
was  thus  built  on  land  which,  from  its  vicinity  to  the  Nile,  must  have  been  aimually 
overflowed,  doubtless  for  many  previous  ages,  and  which,  consequently,  must  have  been 
covered  with  the  sediment  deposited  by  the  annual  inundations.  It  presented,  there- 
fore, a peculiarly  fit  situation  for  prosecuting  this  inquiry,  by  sinking  pits  to  the  greatest 
practicable  depth  beneath  the  level  of  the  existing  foundations  of  buildings  or  other 
monuments.  As  at  Heliopolis  the  Obelisk  is  all  that  remains  above  grornid  of  that 
city,  so  at  Memphis  there  is  one  solitary  monument  of  its  former  greatness,  which 
has,  in  recent  times,  been  uncovered,  a fallen  colossal  statue  of  the  great  king  Ea- 
MESSES  II.,  Mianux,  the  Sesosteis  of  the  Greeks,  which  stood  in  front  of  one  of  its 
temples. 
Supported  by  the  powerful  influence  of  our  then  Consul-General  in  Egypt,  the  Ho- 
nourable Chaeles  Augustus  Mueeay,  with  the  late  Viceroy  Abbas  Pacha,  and  encouraged 
by  the  intelligent  zeal  and  energy  shown  in  the  researches  at  Heliopolis  by  my  very  able 
coadjutor,  the  Engineer  Hekektax  Bey:};,  niy  wish  was  accomplished.  The  Pacha 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Bey  all  the  requisite  means  for  carrying  on  the  operations 
in  the  most  efiective  manner ; and  directed  different  departments  of  his  government  to 
cooperate  with  him;  There  were  appointed  to  assist  him  Omae  Epfexdi,  Adjutant  of 
Artillery,  two  subaltern  ofircers  of  the  corps  of  Engineers  of  roads  and  bridges,  a cml 
engineer  to  have  special  charge  of  the  excavations  and  borings,  and  other  ofiicers  to 
superintend  the  labourers.  Hekekyax  Bey  had  also  the  advantage  of  being  assisted  for 
some  time  by  a German  gentleman  resident  in  Cairo,  Herr  Eebex,  whose  scientific 
acquirements  rendered  his  services  of  great  value.  The  whole  expenses  of  the  researches, 
carried  on  during  three  seasons,  of  some  original  surveys,  and  the  preparation  of  several 
* Book  ii.  s.  99.  f Ancient  Egj^ptians,  Eirst  Series,  i.  89.  J Note  A.  Appendix,  pp.  78,  79. 
