The sea near Cossir is rich in fish, shells, and coral; the latter in particular are extremely abundant. The reefs and rocks of these seas are entirely coral and madepores. The coast is frightfully barren. It is scarcely possible to describe in adequate terms the severe sadness of the country, the sterile aspect of the soil, and the insupportably dazzling reflection of the solar beams from the white and shelly shore.* Except about seven or eight palm trees, at the distance of ten or twelve miles, there is scarcely a tree or shrub within almost 100 miles of Cossir. Imagination can scarcely conceive a more disagreeable situation, than that of a town separated by immense deserts from the habitable world, in a burning climate, and a barren country destitute of water, and of almost every trace of vegetation. The inhabitants of Cossir seem to be a colony from the opposite coast of Arabia.† Suez.] Suez is a small town at the head of the Red Sea. The houses are built of unburnt brick. The sea is here very shallow, but there is a small yard for ship building. When Mr. Browne was there, he saw four three-masted vessels and ten others, some with two and some with only one mast. There were also two on the stocks, one of which was pierced for 12 guns. The largest of these vessels was intended for the Indian trade, and the rest for that of Jidda. The principal article of trade is coffee. Provisions and water are as scarce at Suez as at Cossir. Meat is scarce, bread extremely bad, and the sea produces but a small quantity of fish. Water is brought from different places, and sold by the skin at a considerable price. From these circumstances it evidently appears, that it would require an immense labour and expense to construct a good port on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea.§ * Denon's Trav. vol. 2. p. 348. † Browne's Trav. p. 155. Ibid. p. 190. § Mr. Browne thinks that the Red Sea may have derived that appellation from a species of weed, of a colour between scarlet and crimson, which grows in great abundance in the shallow parts near Suez. Trav p. 191. Denon thinks that this sea may have acquired its name from the coral reefs near Cossir. Trav. vol. 2. p. 351. But the variety of conjectures on this subject is endless. , CHAP. III. Historical View....General Progress of Society....Of Arts and Sciences.... THE origin and first progress of nations being covered with the shades of antiquity, in tracing their early history writers are frequently carried beyond the boundaries of accurate investigation, and led almost imperceptibly into the maze of conjecture. This is confessedly the case with Egypt; and it is a matter no less of regret than of wonder, that the history of the most learned and celebrated nation of the ancient world, is almost as imperfect as that of the most barbarous tribes. Veiled in allegory and disguised with fiction, its obscurity often sets at defiance the utmost efforts of learned research. A spirit of vanity, in conjunction with their taste for allegorical representation, prompted the Egyptians to introduce into their early records a period which they called the reign of the Gods, and to invent a fictitious chronology corresponding with a fabulous history. But while Egypt astonishes the modern world, by the display of her magnificent ruins and stupendous monuments, of which the antiquity ascends beyond the reach of history or tradition, curiosity is naturally excited to inquire into the ancient state of a country so singular, and of a nation so celebrated, which has left such striking memorials of its ancient grandeur. Instead, however, of expatiating in the immense field of conjecture, which ancient Egypt has left to the range of posterity, and in which so many writers have bewildered themselves, I shall confine myself within more contracted limits, and endeavour to exhibit the most conspicuous and generally acknowledged outlines of the curious and interesting picture. Menes is said to have been the first monarch of Egypt, and the first legislator who regulated the religious worship and civil polity of that kingdom. The age in which he lived is unknown, for the Egyptian chronology previous to the reign. of Pharaoh Psamniticus, which commenced A. A. C. 670, about eighty-two years after the building of Rome, is a mere chaos, and all the attempts of historians and antiquaries to elucidate its obscurity, have proved ineffectual. This prince, however, appears to have been well skilled in the knowledge of human nature. He made the current superstitions of the people subservient to his views; and in order to insure obedience to his laws, he pretended to have received them from the God Hermes. We are told by Herodotus, on the authority of the Egyptian priests, that in the age of Menes, the Delta was a vast morass, or rather a shallow gulf of the sea, interspersed with islands separated by numerous creeks and lagunes. This description agrees with the opinions of most judicious travellers, and seems to be corroborated by the situation of that province, the nature of its soil, and its similarity in these respects to the low and level tracts of country near the mouths of the Indus, the Ganges, the Mississippi, and most other great rivers, which seem all to have been gradually formed by the mud brought down by the floods. The same historian informs us, that Menes founded the city of Memphis, with the magnificent temple of Vulcan, and that he diverted the course of the Nile, which had hitherto taken a westerly direction not far from that city, and proceeded through the Lybian sands into the Mediterranean Sea; but being turned into the Delta filled up the Lagunes, and in process of time formed the finest province of Egypt. In whatever age of the world the foundation of the monarchy by Menes may be fixed, from that epoch till the reign of Sesostris the history of Egypt is involved in impenetrable obscurity. In this dark period is placed the invasion and conquest of the country by the Arabian or shepherd kings, on which so much learned research has been wasted; and to fill up more effectually the chasm, historians have introduced fictitious monarchs and ideal events. In the midst of this chaos, Herodot. lib. 2. cap. 4 and 5. †This is the opinion of Denon, see Travels in Egypt, vol. 1. p. 168 and 348, Eng. Translation. however, five princes, Busiris II, Osymandes, Uchareus, Egyptus, and Moeris, seem distinguishable as real beings. Egyptus perpetuated his name by communicating it to the country. The others are famous in history for their magnificent works of public utility and ornament. Busiris is said by Diod. Sicul. to have built, or at least to have greatly enlarged Thebes,* the primitive residence of the Egyptian monarchs. This city, which was afterwards named by the Greeks Diospolis, or the city of Jupiter, is described. as being seventeen miles and a half in circuit. It is said to have contained four magnificent temples, of extraordinary beauty and magnitude, one of them being a mile and a half in circumference, besides the superb mausoleum of Osymandes, with many other magnificent structures. If nothing remained of this city, so famed in the earliest ages for its wealth and magnificence, the accounts given of it by the ancients would appear exaggerated, and even incredible. But after the lapse of so long a succession of ages, its stupendous ruins, even at this day, attests its ancient grandeur, and excite the astonishment of modern travellers. The latest observations corroborate the most splendid accounts which the ancients have left of the extent and magnificence of Thebes. The greatest difficulty is, to discover the resources of art and opulence which enabled the Egyptians, at a period of antiquity beyond all historical memorial, to accomplish those stupendous works, which exhibit so unequivocal a proof of the wealth, power, and the greatness of the nation. Uchareus is, by Diod. Sicul. represented as the founder of Memphis ; but Herodotus ascribes its foundation to Menes. The Egyptian history has afforded to antiquaries and chronologers an ample scope for speculation and conjecture; and a great deal of learned labour has been thrown away in attempting to illustrate its obscurities and reconcile its contradictions. But as most large cities have arisen from small beginnings, *Diod, Sicul. lib. 1. Ibid. Browne thinks that the circuit of Thebes must have been twenty-seven miles. Browne's Travels, p. 144. 196. Browne's Trav. p. 143, &c.-Denon's Trav. vol. 1. p. 85. 96. 195, § Diod. Sicul. lib. 1. it is no improbable supposition that Memphis may have been founded by Menes, and that Uchareus may have extended its circuit, strengthened its fortifications, and given it the form in which it appeared, when viewed by the Grecian philosophers, who travelled into Egypt. This celebrated city is thus described by ancient writers. It was about eighteen miles in circuit, and was seated on the west side of the Nile, at the distance of a few furlongs from that river, with which it communicated by a canal. On the side towards the Nile, it was flanked with a strong rampart, which secured it from the inundation, as well as from hostile aggression. On the other sides it was not only fortified with walls, but also encompassed with a wide and deep ditch, which being always filled with the waters of the Nile, rendered this metropolis of the Egyptian monarchy almost impregnable against every mode of attack known in the system of ancient warfare.* Memphis was therefore considered as the key of the Nile, and continued to be the capital of the kingdom, and the centre of its commerce, until Ptolemy Lagus founding a new monarchy in Egypt, transferred the seat of government to Alexandria. But at what period the residence of the Pharaohs was removed from Thebes to Memphis, cannot be ascertained by historians. Among the principal ornaments of Memphis, was the magnificent temple of Vulcan, the building of which is by Herodotus ascribed to Menes. But by whomsoever this structure was founded, it received additional embellishments from the piety or the ostentation of succeeding princes. The writers of antiquity describe its magnificent porticos and colossal statues, and represent it as the most splendid monument of superstition that Egypt displayed. The name of Moris is distinguished by one of the most stupendous works of the ancient Egyptians, or rather by one of their pompous fictions. In his reign the lake Moris is said to have been, by an astonishing effort of labour, excavated for a reservoir to receive the superabundant waters of the Nile in the time of a copious inundation, and to retain them for the purpose of irrigating the adjacent country by the means of numerous canals running in every direction. Those writers, † Strabo, lib. 17. Diod. Sicul. lib. 1. |