ART. VI.-Travels in Egypt, Nubia, Holy Land, Mount Libanon, and Cyprus, in the Year 1814. By Henry Light, Captain in the Royal Artillery. 4to. London. 1818.

THE

HE invasion of Egypt by the army under Buonaparte, and the consequences attending it, have made that country much more accessible than at any period before that event; and as far as the present pasha's authority extends, an Englishman may now travel without difficulty and without danger,-not always indeed secure from the impositions or the insults of its heterogeneous inhabitants —yet less liable to either, perhaps, than in any other country where Mahomedanism is the prevailing religion. In the days of Pococke and Norden a journey up the Nile was a serious and hazardous undertaking, whereas now, an English officer, with a few months' leave of absence, thinks he cannot pass them more pleasantly than by taking a trip to the farthest confines of Nubia, to snatch a glance at the wonderful remains of antiquity, or to sketch with a rapid pencil the ruins of the most stupendous and magnificent temples in the world. In his progress upwards as far as the northern limits of Ethiopia, by the aid of Pococke, of Denon, and of Hamilton, he knows the spot on which he is to look for the tombs and the temples, the pillars, the pyramids, and the colossal statues of Egypt, almost with as much precision as he knows the situation, from his road-book, of a gentleman's seat in England. But beyond Phile he has no such sure guide. Norden, it is true, has given a general description of Nubia as high as Deir, and Legh a somewhat more particular one as far as Ibrîm: but a detailed account of this valley of the Nile is still wanting,—a desideratum however, which, we are given to understand, will shortly be supplied by the journals of the late intelligent and indefatigable traveller Mr. Burckhardt, now preparing for publication.

Captain Light, of the Royal Artillery, is one of those officers who made a hurried journey up the Nile as far as Ibrîm, the point which terminated also the travels of Mr. Legh. His progress was as rapid as the navigation of the Nile would admit; his object being to get as high up as practicable before the hot weather set in, and to reserve for examination, and for the exercise of his pencil, the ancient remains of cities, temples, catacombs and colossal statues, on his return. Accordingly on his journey downwards he visited most of those celebrated spots where the vast remains of antiquity invite the attention of the passing traveller, and continued at each of them a sufficient length of time to enable him to bring away, if we may judge from the specimens in his book, a very interesting port-folio of accurate and well-executed drawings. We cannot, however, say much for the prints, which are meant to

decorate

decorate as well as to elucidate his book; they are engraved in a coarse and heavy style, very unworthy of their excellent originals. At the same time it may be admitted that they give the reader a more just conception of the objects represented, than could be collected from any verbal description however minute. In fact, the most detailed description of architectural ruins must fail to convey to the mind so clear and correct au impression, as the graphical representation of the objects themselves does to the eye; and the more laboured the attempt to describe in words the position, the arrangement, the form and magnitude, of the several parts, the more the picture becomes confused, and the less likely to answer the purpose.

In this view, and in this only, would we venture to pronounce Captain Light's volume a valuable addition to the works already published on Egypt and Nubia. Having travelled at no great distance of time from Mr. Legh, and gone over the same ground, he comes rather at a disadvantage just after the journal of that gentleman has appeared before the public. Not that Mr. Legh filled up the measure of information regarding Egypt or Nubia; far from it; but that the account of his travels, notwithstanding its imperfections, abated the edge of curiosity. Captain Light however labours under a still greater disadvantage, of his own creating -he had already communicated the prominent features of his remarks on Nubia to Mr. Walpole, who has printed them in' his Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey,' to neither of which, by the way, has this part of Captain Light's journal, which is purely African, any relation.' We conceive too that in his Syrian expedition the pencil of Captain Light will be found his best auxiliary. Indeed what could be said in a hurried journey through a country already traversed by Pococke and Maundrel, in addition to what had been told by those observant and intelligent travellers, whose facts and observations have been so largely amplified by another traveller of more modern date?

That which was most desirable in Nubia still remains a desideratum. Beyond Philæ, whose latitude and longitude were determined by Nouet, there is not a single spot of which the latitude has been ascertained; the geography therefore of the valley of the Nile to the southward of Philae must necessarily be defective. Another point in which we are deficient is that of its natural history-the plants, and animals-the geological features, and mineral products-the probable elevation of the Nile above the level of the sea at the second cataract-these and other objects of physical research have been culpably neglected by former travellers, and have not in the slightest degree engaged the attention of Captain Light. In truth, we suspect that he never meant to publish the remarks committed

to his journal, which were made probably for his own satisfaction, or the amusement of his friends; we look in vain for that ardour and enthusiasm which generally mark the progress even of an antiquarian tourist; the following extract certainly shews none of it, the former part of which by no means accords with our ideas on the subject, nor indeed with the author's own feelings expressed in the concluding paragraph.

'On the 3d of June, I began to descend the Nile; and visit, in succession, the numerous remains of ancient Egypt, for whose description I refer the reader to Mr. Hamilton's work on the antiquities of that country, and to other writers on the same subject. I felt they wanted that charm or interest which is raised in other countries whose history is known, where the traveller ranges over the ground on which heroes and remarkable men, whose actions are familiar to him, once dwelt. But here, though treading the soil where sprang the learning, and genius, and arts, to which Europe has been indebted for its present superiority among nations; where the magnificence of ancient Egypt still remains to prove the existence of all these in perfection, he can only admire the

res antiquæ laudis et artis," without any sentiment of attachment to persons or times. He is lost in admiration, and has no idea but that of sublime. A long night of oblivion has intervened, to cut off all but conjectures of their history. My wonder and surprise were continually excited at the enormous masses of building which had defied the ravages of time: I was astonished at the grand and beautiful designs, and fine taste in their execution, still seen in many of the buildings; at the exquisite symmetry and neatness with which the massy columns have been raised and formed of stones, whose size yet leaves our ideas of architecture in amazement.'-pp. 102, 103.

Captain Light remained but a few days at Alexandria, where, he observes, every thing is easteru, though the residence of so many Franks. Crimes and punishments, under the government of the present Pasha, are stated to be rare.

"The only instance of capital punishment that had lately occurred was in an Arab, who possessed a garden among the ruins of the Arab village; he had been in the habit of decoying people, particularly women, into his garden, as a place of intrigue; and, with the help of a female, contrived to surprise and strangle them: this continued for some months; many inhabitants were missed, and he was suspected. He was, at last, indúced, from fear of discovery, to murder his accomplice, which led to his conviction: he was hanged, as is usual, by a rope thrown over the walls attached to his neck, and then drawn up by the Arab population of the town.'-pp. 9, 10.

Leaving Alexandria, on the 17th March, he proceeded to Rosetta, where he hired a boat to carry him to Cairo. The first seusations in the progress up the Nile are described as very agreeable;

they

they interest from their novelty; for here an European finds himself in a new region-he observes a shore lined with a belt of palm trees, among which the mingled mosques, and tombs of sheiks meet the eye at every opening:- -as one unvaried scene, however, extends from Rosetta to Cairo, the sameness at length becomes tiresome. The villages are frequent and well peopled; and besides the boats on the river, numerous passengers on horses, asses and camels are every where seen skirting the shores of the Nile. Provisions appeared to Captain Light to be plentiful and cheap, yet beggars swarmed on every side. Blindness was very common, and every third or fourth peasant seemed to have a complaint in his eyes. The plague and ophthalmia are the principal diseases of Egypt, to both of which the inhabitants are perfectly resigned. The Arabs (no great philosophers, it must be confessed) consider the plague as a necessary evil to keep down the population to the level of the means of subsistence.

On the 22d March Captain Light reached Cairo. 'I will not add,' he says, 'to the numberless descriptions of Cairo. Each year takes away from its population and adds to its ruins; nothing is repaired that grows old; but still it is an extraordinary city. The Pasha being absent, our traveller waited on the Kaya Bey, or prime minister.

'My interview with the Kaya Bey took place in the divan of the citadel, where he sat daily to receive petitions, and administer the affairs of the country. I noticed a suit of apartments, filled with Albanian soldiers, through which I passed to enter the divan, where the Kaya Bey was examining some black slaves who were brought for his inspection: such an employment for a prime minister could not but surprise an Englishman. The grouping of the party present was admirable: the rich and varied dresses, the warlike appearance of the attendants, their mute attention, the proud superiority of the chief, round whom the subordinate beys seemed to crouch with abject submission, rivetted my attention. I found myself among barbarians, who lived only by the breath of the man to whom I was introduced, who in his turn preserves the same sort of abject submission to the will of the Pasha. Fifteen hundred thousand inhabitants of Egypt felt the influence of a single despot; and from the accounts I obtained whilst there, they seemed to be in the same state to which the policy of Joseph reduced the people of Pharaoh.'—pp. 23, 24.

Captain Light left Boulac on the 1st April in a boat he had hired, of twelve or fourteen tons burden, and proceeded against the stream, by sailing or towing, as the wind served or not; but his progress was so slow that it was the 7th May before he reached Assouan; in the course of which time, he observes, I had some trials of temper, a few privations and inconveniences; but I was rarely insulted; nor was I ever persecuted by the curiosity of the

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natives,

natives, who rather treated me with respect.' In some of the villages our traveller assisted the sick with medicine and advice— wrote for them Arabic sentences as charms to preserve the wearers from the evil angel. In one village,' he says, ' called Abou Gaziz, I was requested by a party of women to hold my drawn sword on the ground, whilst they went through the ceremony of jumping across it, with various ridiculous motions, to correct the well-known eastern curse of barrenness; and was rewarded by blessings and offerings of Durra cake.'

Some ancient excavations which have been described by Denon and others are all that remain of the city of Lycopolis; but at the foot of the Mokattam, a range of modern Mahomedan tombs runs for nearly a mile, in a grove of sount, or Egyptian thorn, (mimosa nilotica?) bearing a tufted yellow flower. In this grove the mixture of the cupolas, Saracenic walls, and turrets of the tombs, either simply white-washed or rudely coloured, with the thick foliage of the trees, presents a singular and interesting scene, and attracted my attention more than any thing modern I had seen in Egypt.'—p. 44.

Siout is the intermediate mart between Sennaar, Darfoor, and Cairo, at which caravans of Gelabs, or slave merchants, are constantly arriving. The remnant of one came in while Captain Light was at this place. Its fate had been most melancholy, having lost on the desert a vast number of men, women, and children, horses, camels, and other animals, to the amount, in the aggregate, of four thousand; notwithstanding which our traveller was offered a young well-formed negress, about seventeen years old, for the trifling sum of fifteen pounds. The Gelab,' he says, like a horse-dealer, examined, pointed out, and made me remark what he called the good points of the girl in question. The poor wretch, thus exposed, pouted and cried during the ceremony; was checked, encouraged, and abused, according to her behaviour.' Another branch of commerce at Siout is that of eunuchs for the seraglio at Constantinople. In two boats were one hundred and fifty black boys, on their way to Cairo, who had been emasculated, and cured in a month, at a village in the neighbourhood. A Franciscan monk described the operation, though painful and cruel, as easily performed, and without much danger; eleven only having died out of one hundred and sixty. We have here a proof how difficult it is to get at the real truth from the hearsay report of travellers. Mr. Legh, in speaking of the same operation, and the subsequent process of burying the victims in sand to stop the hemorrhage, observes that, according to calculation, 'one out of three only survives;' and that the operation is performed at a moment of distress, that the risk of mortality might be incurred at a time when the merchants could best spare their slaves.'