GRAND CAIRO. 7] 
Vestibule of the University Library at Cambridge, chap. 
Colonel Holloway kindly permitted us to remove ■• 
this to England. We placed it in the prow of 
our djerm; thereby giving to the vessel the 
appearance of a gun-boat, to awe the pirates 
upon the river, during our subsequent voyage, 
in returning to Rosetta. There were also in this 
court certain fragments of Egyptian sculpture, 
formed of the substance commonly called 
Antient basaltes; which is a variety of trap, ex- 
ceedingly compact, and susceptible of a very 
high polish. But the most remarkable relique 
of the whole collection, since unaccountably 
neglected, (for it is, in all probability, still lying 
where we left it,) was a veiy large slab, covered 
with an inscription, in the Hieroglyphic, the Egyp- 
tian, and the Greek characters; exactly similar 
to the famous trilinguar stone now in the British 
Museum\ 
(1) Its being left in E^ypt is a circumstance wholly unaccountable. 
It was once Colonel HoUoway's intention to have allowed us also the 
privilege of couveyiiig this interesting piece of antiquity to our own 
country. We did not afterwards discover the reason which prevented 
the fulfilment of this liberal design ; and we were too much indebted 
to his politeness and hospitality to attribute it to any other cause than 
a desire to ensure its safe transportation, by entrusting it to men 
better provided with means for its removal. But, as it still remains in 
Crt'/ro, some notice should be taken of it, that measures may be 
• adopted to prevent its being finally lost. It should also be added, that 
the inscriptions upon this stone are much effaced. The Grerk 
characters 
