from the villanous grease and from the smell which generally accompanies its use 
there. A thin dirty sheet was their only covering; and as the evening set in they 
were wrapped closer, and huddled more together. The space was too narrow to lie 
in at length; they sat with their knees up to their chins and face to face. The 
Greek, in hopes of a customer, pointed out the best of them to me, and descanted 
on their points with the skill of a jockey. Some were modest and shy, others tittered 
and seemed much amused with my costume, a blouse, and trousers not one-third the 
width of a Turk’s. The best of these poor creatures was worth eighteen or twenty 
pounds sterling. I regretted that I had too few words of Arabic or Greek to tell 
the old rascal how much his occupation was abhorred in England.” 
Vyse’s Pyramids of Gizeh. Wilkinson’s Egypt and Thebes. Roberts’s Journal. 
POMPEY’S PILLAR, 
This relic of antiquity is the first object seen in approaching Alexandria, from the 
sea, on the coast of Egypt. “ It stands on an eminence,” says Wilkinson, “ about 
1800 feet to the south of the present walls.” It consists of the capital, shaft, base, 
and pedestal, which last reposes on substructions of smaller blocks, which once belonged 
to older monuments, and were probably brought for this purpose to Alexandria. On 
one of them the name of Psammeticus can be read. These substructions were evidently 
once under the level of the ground, and formed part of a paved area, of which the 
stones around the Column have been removed, to the great risk of the monument 
itself. The proper name of this Column has been much questioned. The murder 
of Pompey on the coast of Egypt probably led to the original error that it was his 
cenotaph; but the successful deciphering of an almost obliterated inscription on the 
pedestal shows that it was erected by Publius, a Prefect of Egypt, in honour of 
Diocletian. The total height of the Column is 98 feet 9 inches, of this the shaft is 
73 feet; the circumference is 29 feet 8 inches. The capital and base are of inferior 
workmanship, but the shaft is elegant and well wrought, and is probably a production 
of an earlier and better time; and it has been conjectured belonged to a temple of 
Serapis. On the summit Wilkinson observed a hollow of considerable size, as if 
intended for the admission of a statue; and, indeed, there are said to be old prints 
extant in which a statue surmounts the column. The summit was some years ago 
first attained by a party of sailors, who passed a rope over the top by means of a 
kite. It has often since been visited; and, among others by Miss Talbot, who sent 
a note to our Consul Mr. Salt, dated “From the top of Pompey’s Pillar;” to which 
he replied, dating his answer “From the bottom of Jacob’s Well.” 
