NOTE IV. Page 32.

THEBAN TOMBS. Among the Tombs of the Kings, that marked by Wilkinson as No. 2, has become a sort of album for travellers. The name of Sheikh Ibrahim (Burckhardt) appears twice in 1813, both on his way upward to Dongola, and on his return: Ibrahim -post reditum suum à limitibus regni Dongolae. The names of Belzoni, Irby and Mangles, Rüppell, and many other travellers, are also there. In a corner adjacent-an American corner-we added our names to those of several of our countrymen; some of whom have already found their graves in distant lands.

All these tombs are entirely exposed to the depredations of the Arabs and of travellers; and are every year becoming more and more defaced. The tomb marked by Wilkinson as No. 35, near the foot of the hill Sheikh Abd el-Kûrneh, which he justly regards as "by far the most curious of all the tombs in Thebes," was occupied at the time of our visit by an Arab family with their cattle. The walls were already black with smoke, and many of thepain tings destroyed. See Wilkinson's Thebes, etc. pp. 151— 157.

NOTE V. Page 35.

CAIRO. Lane's Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, Lond. 1836. 2 Vols.-Through our friend, the Rev. Mr. Lieder, we made the acquaintance of the bookseller so amusingly described by Mr. Lane in his preface. He visited us several times at our rooms, bringing with him books which had been inquired for. In this way we were able, my companion especially, to purchase several valuable Arabic works.

The magician who has become so famous in Europe through Mr. Lane, (Vol. I. p. 347,) we did not see. But we learned enough on the subject to persuade us, that the whole matter depends on a certain proneness to believe on the part of the spectator, and a series of leading questions on the part of the operator. We were further informed on good authority, that he exhibits his art only before Franks; and that the native Egyptians know little or nothing of the matter.

NOTE VI. Page 45.

EGYPT. For the traveller in Egypt, the two works so often referred to in the text, are indispensable, viz. WILKINSON'S Topography of Thebes and General View of Egypt, Lond. 1835; and

LANE'S Account of the Manners aud Customs of the Modern Egyp tians, 2 Vols. Lond. 1836. If the traveller wish to know how the Egyptians of old lived, he may best add WILKINSON'S Account of the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 3 Vols. Lond. 1837. If further he be desirous of comparing the contradictory accounts and theories of former travellers, he may take along the volumes of the Modern Traveller in Egypt.

The best works on the present condition and statistics of Egypt, are the following: MENGIN, Histoire de l'Egypte sous le Gouvernement de Mohammed Aly.... avec des notes par MM. Langlès et Jomard, 2 Tom. Paris 1823; also a continuation of the same work, "de l'an 1823 à l'an 1838," Paris 1839. ST. JOHN, Egypt and Mohammed Ali, or Travels in the Valley of the Nile, 2 Vols. Lond. 1834. MARMONT, (Duc de Raguse) Voyage en Hongrie etc.... en Syrie, en Palestine, et en Egypte, 5 Tom. Paris, 1837. I was however assured, on very high authority, that the statistical accounts in these works were not wholly to be relied on. The most condensed and accurate account of Egypt and Muhammed Aly which I have yet seen, is contained in the preliminary sections of RÜPPELL'S Reise in Abyssinien, Frankfort, 1838. The latest and most authentic document is DR. BOWRING's Report on Egypt, containing the statistics of the country in 1838, printed by order of Parliament, Lond. 1840.

The best MAPS of Egypt are those of Col. Leake and Arrowsmith. It is much to be regretted that Wilkinson's large Map of that country has not yet appeared.

NOTE VII. Page 66.

RATE OF TRAVEL. During our journey, we several times measured the ordinary rate of our camels' walk; and found it to be on an average nearest to 2 English miles the hour, when in full progress. But there are always little delays; sometimes the animals browse more; or a load is to be adjusted; or an observation to be taken; so that the preceding estimate would be too high for a whole day's march. If, therefore, we assume the hour with camels at two geographical miles, or nearly 2 English miles, we shall obtain a near approximation to the truth, as well as a convenient standard. The statement in the text is founded on this estimate. According to Wilkinson, the distance from Cairo to Suez is about 69 English miles on a straight line, and 74 by the road. Thebes, etc. pp. 319, 320.

The rate of the camel's walk, and of course the distance

passed over in an hour, varies somewhat according to the nature of the ground. On the gravelly plains of the desert it is naturally greater than in mountainous and rocky districts. The following rates upon subsequent parts of our journey, were deduced by Prof. Berghaus from, a comparison of our routes with the known geographical distances between the given points: Between Suez and Sinai, G. M. 2,090

The rate of travelling with horses and mules in Palestine is considerably faster than the above; and is usually assumed at three English miles the hour. But some allowance must be made from this; and, besides, the rate is far more variable than with camels in the desert; owing partly to the character of the animals, and partly to the state of the roads and the uneven nature of the country. Under all the circumstances, I can fix on no better mean rate for the hour with horses and mules, than 2. 4 geogr. miles, which is equivalent to about 23 Engl. miles or exactly 3 Roman miles. But the rate which would be quite correct between Gaza and Ramleh, for example, would be much less so between Ramleh and Jerusalem; the former distance being nearly level, and the latter mountainous and difficult.

NOTE VIII. Page 68.

SUEZ. The present town of Suez appears to have sprung up in the first half of the sixteenth century. The early Arabian writers speak only of Kolzum, which Abulfeda (born A. D. 1273) describes as a small city; Reiske's Transl. in Büsching's Magazin, Th. IV. S. 196. Rudolf de Suchem, who travelled here about 1340, speaks of a castle of the 'Soldan' on this part of the Red Sea, probably the remains of Kolzum; but he gives it no name. Tucher of Nürnberg was here in 1480, and mentions the "mountain of Suez" at the end of the Gulf, meaning probably 'Atâkah. He says there was here a landing-place, to which spices and wares were brought from Althor (et-Tur) and so carried to Cairo and Alexandria. Breydenbach and Felix Fabri passed in 1484, but give no name, and speak only of the remains of the canal. In 1516 it is mentioned still as a landing-place by Ben-Ayas, an Arabian writer; and in 1538 a fleet was built here by Suleiman, who sailed hence on an expedition against Yemen. See Notices VOL. I.

69

et Extraits des Mss. etc. Tom. VI. p. 356. Ritter's Erdkunde Th. II. p. 231. ed. 1818. Belon about 1546 describes Suez; and says an old castle lay near it upon a small hill, doubtless Tell Kolzum. Löwenstein and Wormbser in 1561, and Helffrich in 1565, speak of Suez as a fortress, near which vessels lay; and the latter describes it as consisting of several block-houses built of the trunks of palm-trees, and filled in with earth, with a few dwelling-houses. In 1647, according to Monconys, (I. p. 209,) it was a small place in ruins, inhabited chiefly by Greek Christians. In Niebuhr's time it was still without walls; Reisebeschr. I. p. 219.-For the older travellers above cited, see Reissbuch des heiligen Landes, fol.

The head of this Gulf has always been a place for building fleets. Elius Gallus in his celebrated expedition into Arabia Petraea, built at Cleopatris a fleet, first of 80 large galleys, and then 130 smaller vessels; Strabo XVI. 4. 23. During the crusades also, the brother of Saladin caused a fleet to be hastily built at Kolzum against the Christians who had attacked Ailah. See Wilken's Geschichte der Kreuzzüge, III. ii. p. 223.

NOTE IX. Page 73.

WADY TAWARIK. Our guides of the Tawarah, and also intelligent natives of Suez, knew no other name for the valley S. of Jebel 'Atakah, than Wady Tawarik. By the French engineers, and also by some writers before them, it is called Wady er-Ramliyeh, 'the Sandy.' Niebuhr and a few earlier travellers speak of the part near the Gulf under the name of Bedea; though the former says his Arab guides did not know this name. See Le Père in Descr. de l'Egypte, Et. Mod. I. p. 47. Niebuhr's Beschr. von Arabien, p. 409.

The name Wady et-Tih, 'Valley of Wandering,' which has sometimes been given to the same valley by travellers, seems not now to be known; and if it ever actually existed among the Arabs, it was probably of Christian origin. Monconys in 1647 travelled through the valley, but did not hear this name. Pater Sicard, the Jesuit Missionary in Egypt, who wrote an Essay to prove that the Israelites passed by way of this valley, (which he himself visited in 1720,) does not mention the name Tih; although it would have afforded him so opportune an argument from tradition in support of his theory. The name therefore probably did not exist at that time; and may perhaps have come into partial use among the Latins and their Arab dependents in con

sequence of this very theory. Yet neither Pococke nor Niebuhr has the name, as applied to this valley. The latter indeed gives the name Etti to the part of the desert plain opposite to its mouth, on the east side of the Gulf; of which however no trace now exists. Reisebeschr. I. pp. 229, 251. See Nouv. Mem. des Missions, T. VI. p. 1, seq. Paulus' Sammlung der Reisen, etc. Th. V. S. 210, seq.

NOTE X. Page 74.

VALLEY OF THE SEVEN WELLS. In February 1827, the Rev. Mr. Smith, my companion, travelled with a caravan by the direct route from Belbeis to el-'Arish, passing by the well of Abu Suweirah. The following is an extract from a letter written by him at the time, describing the Valley of the Seven Wells. "We passed," he says, one tract of land, the features of which were so distinctly marked as to excite considerable curiosity. It was a sort of valley a little lower than the surrounding country, into which we descended at a place with ruins about ten and a half hours from Belbeis. It extends Northwest and Southeast, descending towards the Nile, and narrowing in this direction. We were told that the Nile occasionally flows up this valley to the spot where we crossed it. Towards the Southeast it gradually ascends, and widens into an immense plain, the limits of which in that direction we could not discern. From this plain, the eastern extremity of the Suez mountain ['Atâkah] which now showed itself for the first time, bore S. by E. The soil of this tract was a dark mould. I do not doubt that water might be found in any part of it, by digging a few feet. Indeed after travelling upon it four and a half hours, we came to a well only twelve or fifteen feet deep, but sufficiently copious to water the [200] camels, and fill the water-skins, of the whole caravan, and containing the only sweet water that we found in the desert; all the other wells being brackish. It is called Abu Suweirah. Having seen how extensively artificial irrigation is practised in Egypt, I was easily persuaded that this whole tract might once have been under the highest cultivation." They passed the mounds of the ancient canal on the north side of this valley; and saw, on their right, tracts covered apparently with salt, like those mentioned by Seetzen; see Note XI.

NOTE XI. Page 74. ANCIENT CANAL. FRENCH MEASUREMENTS.

The statements in