E G \ 
The great pool, or confervatory of water, at Alexandria, 
rs one of tlie principal antiquities of the middle age of 
Egyot, and one of the fined monuments of that defcrip- 
tion,’whether its five be confidered, or the intelligence 
which its conftruftion difplays. Notwithd.indhig one 
part of it is in a very ruinous date, and the other in need 
of repairs, it contains a quantity of waterwhich fuffices 
for the confumption of men and animals during two 
years. 
Towards the harbour we obferve the capitals of many 
eomiedted columns, of the Doric order, the (hafts of 
which, though funk below the level of the fea, are dill 
to be feen. Strabo has obferved, that the bale of the 
palace of Ptolemy was waflied by the fea. Thefe ruins 
may at one and the fame time prove the veracity of Stra¬ 
bo’s relation, and afcertain the fcite of that palace. In 
the lower part of the harbour by the fea-fhore, ruins of 
edifices of different ages are to be found, having differed 
alike from time and from the waves. Vediges of baths 
are here to be didinguidied, fevcral apartments of which 
dill exid, having been poderiorly fabricated in walls of 
more remote antiquity. Thefe edifices appear to be of 
Arabic condruttion ; and, for their prefervation, a kind 
of pile-work in columns has been made, which has now 
the refemblance of floating-batteries. Their immenfe 
number evinces the magnificence of the palaces they 
once decorated. After having paffed the extremity of 
the harbour, large Saracen buildings are met with, hav¬ 
ing an air of grandeur, and a mixture of dile, by which 
the obferver is perplexed. Friezes ornamented with Do¬ 
ric triglyphs, and furmounted by arched vaults, would 
lead one to imagine that thefe edifices were condrufted 
from antique fragments, which the Saracens blended to 
adapt them to the dile of their architecture. The doors 
of thefe edifices may give an idea of the indedruCtible 
quality of the fycamore wood, which has remained unal¬ 
tered, while the iron-work of the doors has yielded to 
time, and entirely difappeared. Behind this kind of tor- 
trefs are Arabian baths, mod magnificently decorated. 
In the middle of the court-yard of the principal mofque 
is a fmall oftagonal temple, which contains a bowl of 
Egyptian black marble, with white and yellow fpots, of 
incomparable beauty, both on account ot the fubdance 
of which it is formed, and of the innumerable hiero- 
glyphical figures with which it is covered, both within- 
iide and without. This monument, which is, without 
doubt, a farcophagus of ancient Egypt, is a very valu¬ 
able antique, and juftly edeemed as one of the greated 
curiofities of Lower Egypt. In fhort, Alexandria is a 
city of great local curiofity, where the monuments of 
every epoch, and the wrecks of the arts of fo many na¬ 
tions, are heaped together confufedly ; and where the 
ravages of wars, ages, and of a humid climate, impreg¬ 
nated with fea-falt, have been produftive of greater 
changes, and have wrought more mifehief, titan in any 
other part of Egypt. 
The great harbour of Alexandria, the Magnus Portus, 
lies between the (mailer light-houfe to the left, and the 
ruins of the palace of the Ptolemies to the right. The 
port of entrance from Rofetta, is the Porta Canopica. 
The Pharos of the port of Alexandria is apparently a 
Turkidt caftle, and in its prefent date it is of more I'er- 
vice to lodge a garrifon, than to defend the town. The 
rock before it is called the Diamond.' It is fuppofed that 
this rock was the fcite of the famous Pharos, one of the 
wonders of the world ; no vedige of which now remains. 
At prelent it is only a (battered rock, worn by the waves, 
■which beat over it from every quarter. Here are two 
cadles, of the great and little Pharos, which terminate 
in the two horns of the femi-circle. 
Two principal objects of curiofity at Alexandria are, 
Pompey’s pillar, and Cleopatra’s Needle. Pompey’s pil¬ 
lar is in the predicament of almoft every thing famous, 
which lofes on a near ferutiny. It was named Pompey’s 
. pillar in the fifteenth century, when learning began to 
Vol. VI. No. 356. 
r p T. SIj 
recover itfelf from the torpid date into which it had fo 
long languifbed. At that epoch, men of fcience, but not 
obfervers, bydowed names on all the monuments ; and 
thefe names have been handed clown by tradition, with¬ 
out being difputed, from century to century. A monu¬ 
ment had been railed to Pompey at Alexandria: it had 
difappeared, and was thought to be recovered in this 
pillar or column ; which lias (ince, with as little founda¬ 
tion, been converted into a trophy creeled to the memory 
of Septimiu's Severus. It is, however, placed on the 
ruins of the ancient city ; and, in the time of Septimins 
Severus, the city of the Ptolemies was not in a ruinous 
date. Thefe abfurdities have been reftified, and the 
light of truth at leng:h cad upon this long-danding mo¬ 
nument of error, by the indefatigable refearch of cap¬ 
tains Dundas and Leake, lieutenants Defade and Squire, 
and Mr.'William Hamilton, all attached to the Englifii 
garrifon at Alexandria. Thefe gentlemen, by vifiting the 
pillar repeatedly during the few moments when the fun 
dione in fuch a direction upon the pededalas, to mark the- 
letters by their (hade, were enabled to diferiminate them 
one after another. Thus they executed a talk in 15 x 
weeks, which none of the French literati appear even to 
have attempted during their long day in the country-; 
and thus they have coireffed a popular error, which ap¬ 
pears to have exided for upwards of five hundred years. 
We (hall give the infeription as it was made out by thefe- 
officers, and fubjoin an Englilh tranflation. 
TON TIMIOOTATON ATTOKPATOPA 
TON TiOAIOYXON AASSANAP61AC 
AIOKAHTI ATI ON TON CgBACTON 
noNTioc eriAPXoc AirxriTOT 
“ IIP OC K YN£ I.” 
TO DIOCLETIAN US AUGUSTUS 
MOST ADORABLE EMPEROR, 
THE TUTELAR DEITY OF ALEXANDRIA; 
PONTIUS, PREFECT OF EGYPT, 
CONSECRATES THIS. 
This celebrated column drikes with its vnd magnitude. 
It is of the Corinthian order, eighty-eight feet fix inches 
in height ; the fhaft is formed of one entire block of red 
granite, retaining the fined polifh : this is fixty-four feet 
in height, and eight feet four inches in diameter ; the 
pededal is ten feet, the ba-fe five feet fix inches, and the 
capital nine feet. The pededal is confidered to be defi¬ 
cient in height, and the column leans a little to the fouth- 
wed. The flia-ft is dill in a high date of prefervation, 
except on the north-wed quarter, which has fudered from 
the conftant winds blowing from tiiat point the greater 
part of the year. The Greek infeription is on the wedern 
face of the pededal. The French repaired the founda¬ 
tion of the pededal, which had been dedroyed in part by 
the rapacity of an Arab; who, imagining fome treafure 
lay concealed under it, attempted in vain to blow it up. 
A cap of liberty had been eredled upon a pole o-n the 
top of it, placed there by the French, a fhort time after 
their arrival in the country ; but it was brought down 
by one of the Englifii officers, by means of a paper kite. 
The day after the furrender, a centinel was- placed over 
this pillar, lome officers having unthinkingly broken off 
fmall pieces from the pededal, as curiofities for their 
friends in Europe. 
Clofe to the fea-lide, fouth'-by ead of the Pharos, dands 
Cleopatra’s Needle. Near it lies its fellow obelifk, which 
had always been fuppofed to be broken, part of it being 
buried in the fand ; but the French cleared away the 
rubbilli all round it, and found it to be perfedlly whole. 
It is.precifely the fame as the one now handing, both as 
to (ize, and the hieroglyphics with which it is covered. 
Thofe on ihe north and wed faces of the eredt obelifk, 
are in a very good date of prefervation ; thofe on the 
other (ides are nearly obliterated. Both thefe obelifks 
are fuppofed to have flood at. the entrance of fome ori'gi- 
5 A nai 
