364 
E G Y P T. 
fea entered through the opening which had been thus 
made, and gave permanency to the lake. It is very (hal¬ 
low, yet aftonifhingly abundant in filli. 
At the upper part of the lake Mahadie is a railed 
caufeway, behind which palfes the canal which carries 
the water of the Nile to Alexandria; the fame which 
the Englifh cut through after the battle of Alexandria, 
in 1S01 ; and thus made an entire ifland of the peninfula 
of Aboukir, inundated the whole territory of Alexandria, 
and reftored the ancient lake Mareotis, which had for 
ages been dry. This lake is now f.tid to extend fifteen 
leagues from eaft to weft, and about ten from north to 
fouth, and from one to two fathoms deep. 
After crofting the mouth of the lake Mahadie, we. ar¬ 
rive at the fuburb of Aboukir. The fort refs is founded 
upon a rock, which there is every reafon to fuppofe was 
the fort or caftle of Canopus, or of Heraclea, which Strabo 
places at or near this fpot. Contiguous arefeveral mounds 
of ruins, and fragments of earthen pots, blended with the 
fand of the defert which the wind has carried thither. 
It has been fufpefted that Arabic towers had been funk 
on this fpot, or, perhaps, that it had been the (cite of a 
manufactory of pottery, or that thefe were the ruins of 
Heraclea. Some fragments of granite on the molt ele¬ 
vated part of the ground certainly countenance this lat¬ 
ter opinion ; particularly as at no great diftance are the 
fragments of a ftatue thirty-fix feet in height; the un- 
peri (liable granite, workmaivfliip, and (tile of which, pro¬ 
nounce it to have been an I (is holding a nilometer. Near 
it are feveral fragments of architecture, the dimenfions of 
which evince that they once belonged to a capacious and 
noble edifice, perhaps the temple of Serapis. Thefe 
ruins have for feveral Centuries been walked by the 
waves, without having been deftroyed ; infomuch that it 
would appear to be the lot of Egyptian monuments of 
every del'cription to relift alike the ravages of time and 
of man. Nearer to the fea-fide, and furrounded by the 
fragments of this cololfal monument, is the ftatue of a 
fphinx, fourteen feet high, the head and fore-legs of 
which are mutilated. Farther on are a great number of 
fragments of columns of rofe-coloured granite, fluted, 
and all of them of the fame fize, of the fame fubftance, 
and wrought with the fame care, being inconteftably the 
ruins of a large and fuperb temple of the Doric order. 
From the accounts which Strabo has tranfmitted to us 
relative to this part of Egypt, there is not the (mailed: 
doubt but thefe are the ruins of Canopus, and thole of 
its temple, built by the Greeks, the worfhip of which 
vied with that of Lampfacus : of that miraculous temple 
in which old men recovered their youth, and tire fick 
their health. A fpacious bath, the ruins of which are 
contiguous, was, perhaps, one of the means the priefts 
employed to work thefe wonders. 
The foil has preferved none of the luxurioufnefs of the 
feite of ancient Canopus. A few hillocks of fand and 
ruins in brick, large iquare blocks of granite, without 
hieroglyphics, and without any determinate fhape to at- 
teft to what kind of edifices and to^what age they be¬ 
longed ; and, laftly, a few Ana 11 valleys, as barren as the 
heights by which they are formed, are all that remain of 
a city, once Co delightful, the (cite of which has now a 
wild and difmal al'pecl. It is true that the canal of 
which Strabo fpeaks, which extended from Alexandria 
to Eleufina, and a branch of which reached and bellowed 
a refrefhing coolnefs on Canopus, has Co entirely difap- 
peared, that the traces of it cannot be diftinguithed, nor 
the poffibility of its exiftence at prefent conceived. There 
are no longer any remains of water in its environs, unlefs 
in a few wells or citterns, which contain an inconfider- 
able quantity, and which are (o narrow and dark, that 
neither their dimenfions nor depth can be nieafured. In 
lhort, that city, the feat of voluptuous delights, to which 
the votaries of pleafure reforted, is now become a-defert, 
frequented by nothing but jackals and the Bedouin Arabs, 
though at no greater diftance than twelve miles from 
Alexandria.- 
We are now to approach a city, long celebrated in the 
page of hiftory, which has undergone many revolutions, 
and even removed from its original feat of fplendour. 
But the account of Alexandria already given by Volney, 
fuperfedes- the necellity of much detail from us. Every 
tiling in that city is reprefented by him with fuch a de¬ 
gree of truth, that, had he deferibed all Egypt in the 
fame way, no one could ever have thought it neceftary 
to undertake any further inveftigation. See alfo our ar¬ 
ticle Alexandria, vol. i. p. 272. 
The exterior walls of Old' Alexandria, flanked with 
numerous mouldering towers, form beautiful ruins, pleat¬ 
ing to the eye of the antiquarian, even amidft the melan¬ 
choly feenes of cruel defolation. The circumference of 
this wall, its maflive pillars of granite, and venerable af- 
pe6t, prove it to have been a city extremely ancient, and 
moft probably the magnificent Alexandria, founded by 
Alexander the Great, a city then without a rival in the 
world. Within the wall a rtf the extenfive ruins of the 
Temple of the Sun ; where many gigantic pillars of gra¬ 
nite remain, which imprefs the mind with the higheft 
idea of its former grandeur. The gate which leads from 
hence to Rofetta, is an elegant fpecimen of the Saracen 
tafte in architecture. On the fpace between the walls 
and the fea are lying innumerable blocks and pillars of 
granite, porphyry, and marble, the ruins, probably, of 
the ancient Alexandria, and which feem to have been 
made ufe of by the Turks as monumental Hones, fince 
this ground formed their burial place. 
Subterraneous refearches might Kill more correctly as¬ 
certain the feite of the ancient city, when its commerce 
and fplendour rendered.it immenfe. That of the caliphs, 
which is the prefent town, was but a diminution of the 
former city, notwithftanding it comprehends within its 
lines what maybe termed plains and deferts. This circum- 
vallation being built alnioft wholly of ruins, the edifices 
bring unceafingly to the remembrance deftrudtion and 
ravage. The jambs and lintels of the doors of the dwel- 
ling-houfes and fortreftes conlift entirely of columns of 
granite, which the workmen have not taken the pains to 
(liape to the ufe to which they have applied them. They 
appear to have been left merely with a view to atteft the 
grandeur and magnificence of thofe buildings, the ruins 
of which they are. In other places, a great number of 
columns have been applied to the conftruclion of the 
walls, to fupport and level them; and thefe columns, 
having refilled the ravages of time, now refemble bat¬ 
teries. In (hurt, thefe Arabian and Turkifh edifices, the 
produftions of the neceflities of war, difplay a confufion 
of epochs, and of various induftries, more linking and 
more approximated examples of which are no where elfe 
to be found. The Turks, more efpecially, adding ab- 
furdity to profanation, have not only blended with the 
granite, bricks and calcareous (tones, but even logs and 
planks ; and from -thele different elements, which have 
fo little analogy to each other, and are Co ftrangely united, 
have prefented a monftrous uftembhtge of the fplendour 
of human induftry, and its degradation. 
The quarter of the Arabs, or rather the part which 
was encompafted by their walls, appears almoft a defert 5 
containing, indeed, a few inclofures, which, during the 
months of the inundation, are gardens, and which at other 
times afford nourilliment to a greater or fmaller number 
of trees and vegetables, in proportion to the fize of the 
ciftern with which each is provided. This ciftern is the 
fource and principle of their exiftence : when it fails, the 
gardens are once more converted into fand and rubbilli. 
At the gate of each of thefe gardens are to be feen mo¬ 
numents of a benevolent and charitable feeling. Thefe 
are refervoirs into which water is pumped as often as it 
is neceftary, and which prelent to men and cattle a moft 
gratifying beverage in the (torching heat of funimer. 
