x • 
346 E G 
confutation, under the nominal dominion of the grand 
i'cignor. 
ANTIQUITIES and CURIOSITIES. 
It is generally agreed, that the reniotefl fubjects of 
antiquity now exifting in the world, are to be found in 
Upper Egypt, among the auguft remains of the ftupen- 
dous works of its primitive kings and priefts; the fir ft, 
perhaps, that were greatly eminent for civilization and 
an elegant expanficn of the human mind, from the days 
of Noah. That this country fhould have been ehofen 
as. the primitive feat of the earlieft monarchy of the earth, 
is no way furprizing, when we conlider its eligible fitua- 
tion : a luxuriant and extendve vale, annually inundated 
by the fineft river in the world, by which the rnoft abun¬ 
dant harvefts are produced, almoft without the labour of 
man. This land of plenty, eternally bleffed with a clear 
and clement fky, fell to the lot of the children of Ham, 
vvhofe race were efteemed a wife and learned people ; 
Ails vii, 22 : and lo powerful and populous were they 
in the days of Arnafis, that this monarch is faid to have 
reigned over no lei's titan thirty thcufand cities. Lower 
Egypt, from its fituation on the coaft of the Mediterra¬ 
nean fea, having been from time to time expofed to the 
defolating hand of numberlefs invaders, affords but few 
objects of antiquity of a higher date than the eras of the 
Greek and Roman conquefts. Our enquiries will,therefore, 
be primarily directed to the principal’ fubjeCts of curiolity 
and refearch in Upper Egypt. With this view, we have 
rhofen to follow the perfevering fteps of the ingenious 
Vivant Denon, an eminent artift, and a man of learning 
and intelligence ; and who, diverted of his natural par¬ 
tiality towards his countrymen, and the light and airy no¬ 
tions infeparable from the conftitution of a Frenchman, 
appears to be confeftedly the moft able, and indeed the 
only, hiftorian of Upper Egypt, who has written from 
aCtual furvey and perfonal observation; delineating every 
part as he went, with the correct and faithful pencil of 
a connoifteur whence his book is become of peculiar 
value, the fine paper copies and firrt impreflions of which 
fell in London for no lei's than thirty guineas each. 
This enterpriling traveller had fir ft intended to accom¬ 
pany the Arabian caravan in its return from Cairo, with 
a view to explore the route of Tor, the ancient journey 
of the Ifraelites, in order to gain further information of 
the wonderful part of the expedition of Mofes, from the 
time of his departure from Memphis, the capital city of 
Pharoah, to his arrival at the defert of Pharan. “ Thus 
(fays Denon) I fhould have been able to vifit Mount Si¬ 
nai, without a relidence of forty years, and crofs a part 
of the world, the annals of which amount to the higheft 
antiquity, the cradle of three religions, and the native 
country of three legislators, all defcenaed front the fa¬ 
mily of Abraham, who have governed the opinions of the 
world. But fo foon as I made my wilhes known to the 
chief of the Arabs, he told me, that for all the gold in 
Egypt he would not undertake the care of me ; that it 
would be rifking my life, and that of all the monks in 
Mount Sinai, and of every individual of his caravan ; 
fince two powerful tribes, theOvatis and the Ayaidis, 
had vowed vengeance againft the French, becaule they 
had been allured that they devoured Arabs.” 
After this, general Defaix being charged with thecon- 
queft of Upper Egypt, (fee p. 329,) it afforded Denon a 
ieafonable opportunity of examining the claflical docu- 
ments of the ancient civilization and magnificence of the 
country, under the protection of a military efcort, and 
with that fafety and unity of plan, which had hitherto 
been denied to others, on account of the danger perpe¬ 
tually arififtg from thofe everlafting enemies to civilized 
man, the ferocious hords of the defert. The army 
marcheeKon this deftination'in the month of Auguft 179S, 
and, after fubduing the fertile territory of Feyyum, foon 
arrived at the height of Manfurah, on the frontier of the 
defert. Here, quitting that inclofed and fruitful pro- 
Y P 
vince, it came up with the enemy at Sedinam; and,* 
having obtained its firft victory, fat down for a time at 
Beneluef. On the left bank of the Nile, oppofite Bene- 
feuf, the Arabian chain of mountains lowers, retires fur¬ 
ther off', and forms the valley of Araba, or the chariots , 
terminated by Mount Kolfun, rendered famous by the 
grottoes of two cenobite patriarchs, St. Anthony and St. 
Paul, the founders of the monaftic order, and creators of 
this contemplative fyffem, fo ufelefs to mankind, but 
which has been fo long refpeCted by Credulous people* 
On the foil which covers the two grottos, which thefe 
two hermit faints inhabited, two monafteries (till exift, 
from one of which it is faid Mount Sinai, beyond the 
Red Sea, may be difeerned. The mouth of this valley, 
towards the Nile, exhibits nothing but a dreary plain, 
the only cultivated part of which is a narrow flip of land 
on the bank of the river : fome veftiges of villages over¬ 
whelmed by the fand may be difeovered, and they pre- 
fent the afflicting fight of daily devaftation, produced by 
the continual encroachment of the defert on the foil, 
inundated with fand. Nothing can be more melancholy 
to the feelings, than to march over thefe ruined villages,, 
to tread under foot the roofs of the houfes, and the tops 
of minarets ; and to think that thefe were once cultivated 
fields, flonrifhing trees, and the habitations ofiman—every 
thing living has difappeared, filence is within and around 
every wall, and the deferted villages are like the dead,, 
whole fkeletons ftrike with terror. 
From hence we crolfed the canal, and arrived at Da- 
valta, a fine village furrounded by a moft beautiful coun¬ 
try ; for in Egypt, when nature is charming, it is fo in 
fpite of all that man can add to it, or of the detractors of 
Suvary, who have quarrelled fo much with his luxurious 
deferiptions. Nature here, in the fertile parts, produces 
fpontaneoufly groves of palms, under which flourilh the 
orange-tree, the fycamore, opuntia, banana, • acacia, and' 
pomegranate ; arid thefe trees form groups of the fineft 
mixture of foliage and verdure ; and, when thefe delight¬ 
ful thickets are furrounded, as far as the eye can reach, 
with fields covered with ripe dourra, with mature fugar- 
canes, with fields of wheat, flax, and trefoil, which 
fpread a downy carpet over the land, as the inundation 
retires; when, in the months of our European winter,, 
we have before our eyes this rich prefpeit of fpring, 
which promifes the abundance of fumvner, we may well 
fay with Savary, that “nature has organifed Egypt in a 
moft aftonifhing manner, and that there only want woodv 
hills, with brooks flowing down their declivities, and a 
government which would render the people induftrious,.. 
and prevent tlieincurfion of the Bedouinrobbers, to ren¬ 
der it the belt and moft beautiful country on the face of 
the earth.”—“ Thefe reflections (fays Denon) led me to 
confifler that the moft interefting of my travels were now 
to begin. I was going to break up, as it were, a new 
country ; to be the firft to fee, and to fee without preju¬ 
dice ; to make refearches in a part of,the earth hitherto 
covered with the veil of myftery, and'for two thoufand 
years ftiut out from the curiolity of Europeans. -Front 
the time of. Herodotus to the prei’ent, every traveller in 
Egypt, following the fteps of his predecelfor, had only 
rapidly afeended the Nile, not daring to lofe fight of his. 
boat, and only quitting the fhore for a few hours to hurry 
a hundred yards off, and vifit with anxiety the neareft 
objedts. For every thing beyond the vicinity of the river, 
the oriental hiftories alone had hitherto been confulted. 
Eager, therefore, to afeertain whether the arts had. had 
an epoch and a chronology in this country, it was my 
anxious with to hafien to Thebes.” 
If the priftine arts were brought to maturity in Egypt, 
their remains were certainly to be fought at Thebes, 
which had been the principal relidence of its early kings ; 
and if there- were in reality epochs in the arts, t he 1 reful t 
of "the firft eftays and rudiments muft ftill have their 
ftrongeft features in that city ; luxury and magnificence 
having departed progreffively from this firft point of fim- - 
plicity. 
