CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE. 29 Thotmes III., who reigned B.C. 1495. It was first reared in Heliopolis.* It is eight feet square at its base, or, rather, at the surface of the earth which has accumulated around the base, to what height is not known. Another obelisk of the same dimensions lies upon the ground at a small distance from the first: the length of this is 62 feet. Both are monoliths, and stood at the entrance of a magnificent temple. Several attempts have been made to transport the prostrate mass to Europe. It has been disinterred for this purpose, having been covered with rubbish to a considerable depth. This monument belongs to England. The one which is yet standing has been presented by the pacha, as we were told, to the King of France. These obelisks are much more massive than those which were transported to Rome by the emperors, or that which has recently been reared in the Place de Concorde at Paris; a circumstance that may prevent their deportation, and preserve to Egypt two of the most precious relics of its ancient civilization. Cleopatra's Needle is within the walls of the city. Pompey's Pillar is a short distance beyond them, in a southwest direction. We rode on donkeys to the Catacombs, which are close to the sea, two miles south of the city. They are formed by excavations in the calcareous rock, of which the shore is here composed, and seem to have been of great extent. The entrance to most of them is quite obstructed with sand. We penetrated the interior of the most accessible with considerable difficulty. It is an extensive gallery, from which several passages diverge to the right and left, which are now choked up with earth and rubbish. This gallery terminates in a kind of circular temple, with a beautiful and well-proportioned dome. In the sides of this apartment are three deep alcoves, not unlike the chapels of a Catholic church, each of which has three recesses, one on either *Wilkinson's Thebes, p. 288. 30 CATACOMBS-FUNERALS. hand, and another in the rear wall, designed, no doubt, for the reception of human bodies. Over the entrance of this rotunda are Doric ornaments, which leave little doubt that it is a work not more ancient than the foundation of the city. Probably the excavations were originally made to procure building stone, and subsequently formed into cemeteries for the dead. Near the Catacombs, in the direction of the city, are other excavations, into which the waves of the sea rush with considerable force. They are called, it is not easy to conjecture for what reason, Cleopatra's Baths. If baths at all, they were confined and inconvenient; more likely to have been used by the plebeian multitude than by the luxurious mistress of Antony. On our way to visit the Catacombs we encountered two funeral processions. The first was that of a small child. The body, in this instance, was deposited in a basket, and carried upon the shoulder by a man who preceded the rest of the company. A number of persons, perhaps a dozen men and women, followed in rather a disorderly manner, looking about with the utmost unconcern, but chanting in mournful strains. The other funeral was much more numerously attended. The body, which was that of an adult person, was carried by four bearers upon a bier. There was no coffin, none being used in burying the dead in this country; instead of which, the corpse was dressed in graveclothes, and covered with a large shawl. It was borne with the head foremost. A number of shabby-looking men went before the bier in a sort of straggling procession, chanting as they advanced. It was followed by a train of perhaps twenty or thirty women, who were veiled, and clothed in white. Their dress and whole appearance were poor and mean, leaving one to conclude that the profession of mourner, to which they belonged, is not lucrative. They are said not to get more than one piaster-less than five cents CONJUGAL AFFECTION. 31 -per day. They sang a dirge in very melancholy and piercing tones, and their attitudes and gesticulations were those of vehement and overpowering grief. They tore their loose, disordered hair, and smote their breasts with frantic violence, carefully avoiding, however, the infliction of serious injury, by staying their convulsive hands before they quite reached the head or bosom. The rending of the garments was done with similar violence, but with the same harmless results. A number of them carried in their hands blue handkerchiefs or strips of cloth, which they alternately stretched across the shoulders or back of the neck, and then raised with both hands high above the head, jerking them with much apparent violence, though the worthless rags resisted their efforts and received no damage. These funeral trains were going from the mosque, where religious ceremonies had been performed, to the cemetery outside of the city. This was all ludicrous enough. Another exhibition, equally characteristic of the manners of the country, which we met with in the same excursion, was much more serious. We were stopped by a large crowd, which quite filled the street near one of the public warehouses. I heard heavy blows, followed by piercing cries, in the midst of the throng of rather shabby-looking people. Urging on my donkey to the spot, I saw an athletic man inflicting merciless blows upon a female with a heavy stick. She cried out piteously, but without any effect. The crowd looked on with interest and apparent satisfaction, and no one attempted to interfere. I inquired of the young Arab whom we had employed as a dragoman what was the meaning of this outrage. He answered, with an air of great indifference, in his bad English, "It is an Arab man licking his woman." I asked him if this was a common practice. He answered, "Yes; the wife do bad, and the Arab lick 'em." I afterward learned that this sort of domestic discipline is |