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name of Memlooks. Seven thousand | mention the principal objects in that of these famous horsemen are said to part of the country, as a traveller have perished. An admirable account may wish to visit them on some other of the battle is given in M. Thiers' occasion. 'History of the French Revolution.'

All the associations connected with Embabeh in the minds of the modern Cairenes are derived from its lupins, which, under the name of Embábeh Muddud, are loudly proclaimed in the streets to be "superior to almonds." At Embábeh is the terminus station of the railway to Upper Egypt.

ROUTE 5.

ALEXANDRIA TO ATFEH AND CAIRO.

Alexandria to es Sid, or the Mai

Miles.

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son Carrée

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Ruins at Gheyk ..

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Atfeh

Rahmaneeah

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Sa-el-Hagar (Sais)

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Nikleh

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The Mahmoodeeah Canal, in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, has already been described. Its general appearance after the gardens and houses are passed is far from interesting. The earth thrown up from the canal forms an elevated ridge, rising far above the adjacent lands; and the only objects that interrupt the uniform level are the mounds of ancient towns, whose solitary and deserted aspect adds not a little to the gloominess of the scene.

At a place called Es Sid or the Maison Carrée, the English, while besieging the French in Alexandria, cut a passage in order to admit the sea-water into the Lake Mareotis; and from its having been closed again, the name Sid, signifying "a dam," or stoppage," has been applied to it.

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The Mahmoodeeah follows part of the ancient Canopic branch of the Nile, and the old canal of Fooah; and here and there, near its banks, are the remains of ancient towns. The most remarkable in its immediate vicinity are those (supposed to be) of Schedia, between Karioón and Nishoo. Beginning a short way inland, they extend about three-quarters of a mile to the S. end of the large mounds of Nishoo, and contain confused remains of stone and brick, among which are two fragments of stone (apparently parts of the same block), bearing the names of the Great Rameses, and some capitals and fragments of late time. The most remarkable object is a series of massive walls in an isolated mound, 300 paces to the south-eastward of these fragments, which Mr. 4 Salt conjectured to be the docks of the state barges, kept at Schedia; but they were evidently cisterns, like 4 those in Italy and at Carthage. They are of Roman time, built of stone, 166 with horizontal courses of the usual flat bricks or tiles at intervals, and buttresses projecting here and there, to give them greater strength; the

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Few now go by water from Alexandria to Cairo; but it is well to

whole originally covered with a casing of stucco. The walls, which are now 15 ft. high, were about 16 in number, of which 12 may be still distinctly seen, and the spaces between them were about 215 feet long and 27 broad, being considerably larger than the second cisterns of Carthage, and only inferior in number and in length (but not in breadth) to the great ones there, which are 110 paces long by 10, and consist of 16 spaces or cisterns. The extremity of each gallery or cistern is rounded off, and we may suppose that they had also the usual arched roofs. A canal or branch of the river appears to have run through the level space, about 750 ft. broad, between them and the town. The distance of Nishoo from Alexandria agrees exactly with that given by Strabo from Schedia to that city, which he calculates at 4 schoenes, or nearly 14 English miles.

Schedia was so called by the Greeks from the barrier, or bridge of boats, that closed the river at this spot, where duties were levied on all merchandise that passed; and the name of Nishoo, applied to the neighbouring mounds and the modern village, may be derived from the Egyptian nishoi, signifying "the boats." The mounds of Nishoo are in four almost parallel lines, the two outer ones about 250, the centre two about 756 ft. apart. They contain no traces of building; they appear to be entirely of earth, though of very great height, and were probably the result of excavations made in deepening the river, or the neighbouring canal, which, from the low space separating the two centre mounds, appears to have passed between them.

Schedia was a bishop's see in the time of Athanasius, as were Menelaïs and Andropolis.

At Karioon is a manufactory of glass, and a little more than a mile farther is another of pottery. The canal in the vicinity of Kairoón increases in breadth. Chereu, in Coptic Chereus, stood near this: and Anthylla and Archandra in the plain between the Mahmoodecah and Lake Etko.

About 3 m. from Karioón is the village of Birket Ghuttás, or El Birkeh ("the Lake "); and at Karrawee the road, which has thus far followed the bank of the canal, turns off to Damanhoor.

Near Karrawee are mounds of an old town of some extent, and others are seen in the plain to the S. A few miles farther the canal makes a bend northwards to Atfeh; quitting the bed of an old canal, which joined the Nile farther to the S., just below Rahmaneeah.

Atfeh.-Atfeh stands at the mouth of the canal, upon the Rosetta branch of the Nile. It is a miserable village, abounding in dust and dogs; but the first view of the Nile is striking, and a relief after the canal. In the neighbourhood of Atfeh there is some excellent snipe - shooting, which is much patronised by the sportsmen of Alexandria during the winter. The excursion for this purpose may be made either by hiring a boat at Alexandria and going along the canal, or by rail to Kafr-ez-Zyat (see Rte. 6), and thence taking a boat down the river. The former method is the pleasantest.

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Fooah.-Nearly opposite Atfeh is Fooah, conspicuous with its minarets, and a picturesque object from the river, if you pass it during the high Nile. It occupies the site of the ancient Metelis (in Coptic Meleg, or Meledg), but contains no remains beyond a few granite blocks, now used the thresholds of doors, with hieroglyphic inscriptions, containing the names of Apries and other kings of the 26th or Saïte dynasty. Fooah has now only a manufactory of tarbooshes or red caps, and the usual wersheh " manufactory" of large towns; but in the time of Leo Africanus it was very flourishing; and though its streets were narrow, it had the character of a large town, teeming with plenty, and noted for the appearance of its bazaars and shops. "The women," he adds, "enjoy so much freedom here, that their husbands permit them to go during the day wherever they please; and the surrounding country

These walls enclose a space mea

abounds in date-trees." But its dates are not superior to others of the neigh-suring 2325 by 1960 ft.; the N. side bourhood; and the best Egyptian dates come from a place on the other side of the Delta, called Korayn, near Salaheeah, which are known at Cairo as the aameree. The Ibrémee are from Nubia.

Fooah continued to be long a flourishing town; and Belon describes it, in the 15th centy., 50 years after the conquest of Sultan Selim, as second only to Cairo.

During the wars of the Crusaders, the Christians penetrated into Egypt, as far as Fooah, in the reign of Melek Adel; and having plundered and burnt the town, retired with much booty.

Fooah has given its name to the madder, which was first planted

there.

Dessook is well known in modern times for the fête clebrated there in honour of Sheikh Ibraheem ed Dessookee, a Moslem saint, who holds the second rank in the Egyptian calendar, next to the Seyyid el Bedawee of Tantah. There is a railway from Dessook to Tantah (see Rte. 6), and one projected to Damanhoor.

At Rahmaneeah was the entrance of an old canal that went to Alexandria; which some suppose to be the ancient Canopic branch, placing Naucratis at this town. Rahmaneeah was a fortified post of the French when in Egypt, and was taken by the English in May, 1801, previous to their march upon Cairo.

Sais. The lofty mounds of Saïs are seen to the N. of the village of Sa-elHagar, "Sa of the Stone," so called from the remains of the old town; which are now confined to a few broken blocks, some ruins of houses, and a large enclosure surrounded by massive crude-brick walls. These last are about 70 ft. thick, and of very solid construction. Between the courses of bricks are layers of reeds, intended to serve as binders; and hieroglyphics are said to have been met with on some of the bricks, which may perhaps contain the name of the place, or of the king by whom the walls were built.

of which is occupied by the lake mentioned by Herodotus, where certain mysterious ceremonies were performed in honour of Osiris. As he says it was of circular form, and it is now long and irregular, we may conclude that it has since encroached on part of the temenos or sacred enclosures, where the temple of Minerva and the tombs of the Saïte kings stood. The site of the temple appears to have been in the low open space to the W., and parts of the wall of its temenos may be traced on two sides, which was about 720 ft. in breadth, or a little more than that around the temple of Tanis. To the E. of it are mounds, with remains of crude-brick houses, the walls of which are partially standing, and here and there bear evident signs of having been burnt. This part has received the name of "el Kala," "the Citadel," from its being higher than the rest, and from the appearance of two massive buildings at the upper and lower end, which seem to have been intended for defence. It is not impossible that this was the royal palace. Below it to the S. is a low space, now cultivated, and nearly on the same level as the area where probably the temple stood.

The water of the lake is used for irrigating this spot, but it is generally dried up from the end of May until the next inundation fills the canals. On its banks, particularly at the western extremity, grow numerous reeds, and when full of water it is frequented by wild ducks and other water-fowl, now the only inhabitants of ancient Saïs.

Some low mounds, and the ruins of houses about 1000 ft. from the walls of the large enclosure, mark probably the site of the ancient town, the S. extremity of which is occupied by the modern village.

There are no remains of sculpture amidst the modern or ancient houses, except fragments in the two mosks and at the door of a house; which last has the name of King Psammitichus I., the goddess Neith, and the town of Ssa, or Saïs.

Saïs was a city of great importance, | Delos, called Trochoïdes. On this particularly during the reigns of the lake are represented at night the Saïte dynasty, who ruled Egypt about sufferings of him, concerning whom, 150 years (B.C. 687 to B.C. 524), until though much is known to me, I shall the Persian invasion under Cambyses; preserve strict silence, except as far as and some claim for it the honour of it may be right for me to speak. The having been the parent of a colony Egyptians call them mysteries. I shall which founded the city of Athens in observe the same caution with regard 1556 B.C., and introduced the worship to the institutions of Ceres, called of Minerva on the shores of Greece. Thesmophoria, which were brought from Egypt by the daughters of Danäus, and afterwards taught by them to the Pelasgic women.' Saïs was the place where the "fête of burning lamps" was particularly "celebrated during a certain night, when every one lighted lamps in the open air around his house. They were small cups full of salt (and water?) and oil, with a floating wick which lasted all night. Strangers went to Saïs from different parts of Egypt to assist at this ceremony; but those who could not be present lighted lamps at their own homes, so that the festival was kept, not only at Saïs, but throughout the country."

At Saïs were the sepulchres of all the kings of Egypt, natives of the Saïte nome. They stood in the temenos, or sacred enclosure, of the temple of Minerva; and it was here that the unfortunate Apries and his rival Amasis were both buried. The tomb of Apries was near the temple, on the 1. entering the temenos; that of Amasis stood farther from the temple than those of Apries and his predecessors, in the vestibule of this enclosure. It consisted of a large stone chamber, adorned with columns in imitation of palm-trees, and other ornaments, within which was an (isolated) stone receptacle, with double doors (at each end), containing the sarcophagus. It was from this tomb that Cambyses is said to have taken the body of Amasis; which, after he had scourged and insulted it, he ordered to be burnt; though the Egyptians assured Herodotus that the body of some other person had been substituted instead of the king's. This last appears to have been added to give a greater air of probability to a story against the Persians, which there is great reason to doubt, from the indulgent conduct of Cambyses to the Egyptians when he first conquered the country, and from the respect paid to kings by the Persians; and Cambyses only had recourse to severity after they had rebelled against him. "They also show," continues the historian, "the sepulchre of him (Osiris) whom I do not think it right here to mention. It stands in the sacred enclosure, behind the temple of Minerva, reaching along the whole extent of its wall. In this temenos are several large stone obelisks; and near it a lake cased with stone, of a circular form, and about the size of that at

From the accounts given of it the temple of Minerva appears to have been of great splendour. "Amasis added to it some very beautiful propylæa, exceeding all others both in height and extent, as well as in the dimensions of the stones and in other respects. He also placed there several large colossi and androsphinxes, and brought numerous blocks of extraordinary size to repair the temple, some from the quarries near Memphis, and the largest from Elephantine, a distance of 20 days' sail from Saïs."

"But," adds Herodotus, "what I admire most is an edifice of a single block brought from the latter place: 2000 men, all boatmen, were employed three years in its transport to Saïs. It is 21 cubits long externally, 14 broad, 8 high: and its measurements within are 16 cubits 20 digits long, 12 broad, and 5 high. It stands at the entrance of the sacred enclosure; and the reason given by the Egyptians for its not having been admitted is, that Amasis, hearing the architect utter a sigh, as if fatigued by the length of time employed and the labour he had

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