Temple of Dendera, in Egypt: from Sonnini's Travels in Egypt.

I

T was not in their architecture alone that the Egyptians difplayed that affection for pofterity, that love of immortality which prefides in all their works; they withed alfo that the painting they employed fhould be equally durable. The colours of which they made ufe, the two-edged tool ferving to incorporate them clofely and for ever with bodies as hard and as folid as ftone, are fo many proofs of their profound knowledge in the arts, and fo many fecrets, which our refearches have not yet been able to discover. The ceiling of the temple of Dendera is painted in fresco, of the brilliant colours of azure blue, with which the vault of the firmament fhines in fine weather: the figures in relief ftrewed along its bottom, are painted of a beautiful yellow; and thefe paintings, at the expiration of fome thousands of years, poffefs ftill a brilliancy to which our fresheft colours do not approach, and they are ftill as lively as if they had been newly laid on.

I have faid that the front of this temple, an admirable and but little known work of the genius and the patience which, among the ancient people of Egypt, produced wonders, was a hundred and thirty

two feet, and fome inches in length. I took its other dimenfions with the fame exactnefs. The depth of the periftyle is a hundred and fifteen feet three inches, and its breadth fixty feet eleven inches. The two fides of the edifice are two hundred and fifty-four feet nine inches and a half in length; finally, the depth is a hundred and ten feet eleven inches. The fummit of the temple is flattened, and formed of very large ftones, which are laid from one pillar to another, or on two walls of feparation. Several of these maffes are eighteen feet long and fix broad. Rubbish heaped up, and the fand which collects there, have raifed the foil to a level with the roof of the building, and you eafily afcend it from behind, although the front is ftill elevated feventy feet above ground. The inhabitants of this canton had availed themfelves of this difpofition; they had built a village on the very fummit of the temple, as on a bafis more firm than the inconftant fands or marthy earth, upon which they generally erect their dwellings. When I was at Dendera, this modern village was defolated and overthrown; its ruins of hardened mud formed a fingular contraft with the magnificent remains of the ancient city of Tentyris. We beheld there with forrow the most complete

proof

proof of the total annihilation of the arts, in a country which had given birth and fuch an aftonishing perfection to them, and the ftill more deplorable decline of the human mind.

Singular Tenure of the Manor of Wichnor, in Staffordshire, granted by John of Gaunt to Philip de Somerville; from Shaw's Hiftory of Staffordshire.

and

[EVERTHELESS, the faid fir

and fuftaigne one bacon flyke hanging in his halle at Wichnore redy arrayde all times of the yere bott in, Lent to be given to everyche mane or womane married after the daye yere of there mariage be paffed; and to be gyven to everyche mane of religion, archbishop, bishop, prior, or other religious; and to everyche priest after the yere and daye of their profeffion finifhed or of their dignity refeyved, in forme following: whenfoever that ony fuch byfore named wyll come for to enquire for the baconne, in theire owne perfone or by ony other for them, they fhall come to the bayliffe or to the porter of the lordship of Wichnovre; and fhall fay to them in the mannere as enfhewethe

Bayliffe, or porter, I do you too knowe that I come for myfelfe (or, if he be come for ony other, fhewing for whome he demaunde) to demaunde one baconne flyke hanging in the halle of the lord of Whichnovre, after the forme thereunto belonging;" after which relacioun, the bayliffe or porter fhall afligne a daye unto him upon promife by his feythe to retourne and with him to bring tweyne of his neighbours. VOL. XLI.

And in the meyn time, the said bayliffe fhall take with him tweyne of the freeholders of the lordshipe of Whichenovre, and they three shall go to the manour of Rudlowe belonging to Robert Knyghtleye; and there fhall fomon the prefeid Knyghtleye, or his bayliffe, commanding him to be ready at Whichenovre, the day appoynted, at pryme of the day wythe his caryage; that is to faye a horfe and a faddylle, a fakke and a pryke, for to convey and carye the faid baconne and corne a journee owtt of the countee

And

then the faid bayliffe fhall, with the fayd freeholders, fomon all the tennants of the fayd manoir to be redy' at the day appoynted at Whichenovre, for to doo and perform the fervices which they owe to the baconne. And at the day affygned all fuch as oue fervices to the baconne fhall be redy at the gate of the manoir of Whichenovre from the fonne ryfinge to none, attending and awatyng for the comyng of hym that fetcheth the baconne. when he is comyn, there fhall be delivered to hym and hys fellowys, chapeletts, and to all thofe whych fhall be there to do their fervices dew to the baconne. And they fhall lede the feid demandant wythe trompes and tabours and other manner of mynftralfeye to the halle door, where he thall fynde the lord of Whichenovre, or his fteward, redy to deliver the baconne in this manner

He fhall enquere of hym whiche demandeth the baconne, yf he have brought tweyne of hys neghbors with hym. Whyche muft anfwer "they be here ready," and then the feward fhall caufe theese two neighbours to fwere, yf the faid

E e

demandaunt

ceeding at least the key to the difcovery, if it does not tranfmit the difcovery itself. The prefent, then, is the proper point of time, to collect, put in order, and compare all the information we already poffefs, for the purpose of furnishing a clue to, and facilitating future difcoveries. And, indeed, the mafs we already know, or might know, is very great, certainly greater than moft people imagine. Africa was never unknown: in ancient times, and in the middle ages, its northern coafts, were inhabited by polifhed and enlightened nations: the Carthagenians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Arabians, who, either as merchants or conquerors, penetrated far into the continent, and one way or other brought back with them a variety of knowledge, as ftrikingly appears from the writings of the Greek geographers. But what may in an effential manner excite wonder, how rich a treasure of accounts has not Herodotus, the father of history and geography, left us concerning this quarter of the globe! Many of them e. g. his defcription of the caravan-tracks, by which the Carthagenians and Egyptians travelled through North Africa, have only become clearly intelligible fince the moft recent difcoveries; almoft every one of which is likewife illuftrated and confirmed by fome paffage in Herodotus. Another ftriking example of this is furnished by the accounts which Mungo Park, partly as eye witnefs, partly from inquiries, has lately brought back with him concerning the river Joliba, which flows in the very heart of Africa, in a direction from weft to eaft. Every reader, who has a tafte for fuch refearches, will be agreeably furprised to find, that

Herodotus not only knew this most recent geographical difcovery; but that he likewife was able to give us very clear information concerning things, which the greatest geographers of the eighteenth century only conjecture, or which are even altogether unknown. I fhall here tranflate the paffage of his hiftory, book ii. chap. 32, 33, which relates to this fubject; and endeavour to illuftrate it from the "Proceedings of the African Affociation." lately publifhed, and from Rennel's excellent new map of North Africa, annexed to that work.

"What I have hitherto related," fays Herodotus (he had given an accurate defcription of the courfe of the Nile, higher up than Egypt, as far as Sennaar, and even as far as Gojam) "I learned from men of Cyrene, who told me that they had been at the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and converfed with Etearchos, the king of the Ammonians. Among other topics of converfation, they had likewife chanced to difcourfe of the Nile and the remarkable circumftance that no one was acquainted with its fources. Etearchos had then faid, that fome men be longing to the Nalamones had vifited him (thefe Nafamones are anation of Libyan origin, and dwell on the borders of the Syrtis, and in the next adjoining region, to the eaft, but not far); and when he had inquired of them, whether they could not give him fome informa-, tion concerning the deferts of the interior of Africa, they had communicated to him the following particulars: Among their countrymen fome hold young men, fons of their chiefs, who had execated many daring enterprifes; had chofen twelve from among them, by lot,

who should undertake a journey of difcovery into the defert part of Africa, and endeavour to explore more of it than thofe who had penetrated the fartheft before them. The young men then had fet out, abundantly provided with water, and provifions; and firft had travelled through the inhabited country (coaft of Barbary); after which, they had arrived at the part of Africa that abounds with wild beafts (Biledulgerid); but thence they had continued their journey through the defert, proceeding in a fouth-weft direction. After they had, during many days, wandered through an extenfive fandy region, they had, at laft, espied fome trees in a field, had made towards them, and pluck ed the fruit from the trees. Men

of a fmaller ftature than common had then come to them, had received them kindly, and became their guides. But they understood hot their language, nor their conductors, the language of the Nafamones. But they led them through very extenfive marfhy regions; and after they had travelled through thefe, they had arrived in a city, whofe inhabitants were all of the fame ftature as their conductors, and of a colour completely black. By the city flowed a large river, and that river ran in a direction from weft towards the rifing of the fun; and in it there were likewife crocodiles. Thus far I give the narrative of Etearchos the Ammonian: I fhall only add, that he moreover faid, as the Cyreneans told me, that the Nafamones had returned; and that the men, in whofe country they had been, were all magicians. With regard to the river, Etearchos conjectured that it

was the Nile; and this is the most probable opinion concerning it,

Thus far Herodotus. According to his own account, he had his information from the third hand, viz. from Cyrenean Greeks, who had heard it in Ammonium from Etearchos, the king of the Ammonians, to whom it was related by fome Nafamones, countrymen of the adventurers. To give to these authorities their due value, it is neceffary to be previously acquainted with the following particulars. The oracle of Jupiter Ammon was not merely the temple: there was there likewife a fmall ftate, whofe conftitution was hierocratical, after the form of the ancient Egyptian ftates, and at the head of the government was a king. The fame place was likewife the centre of inland commerce, because through it the caravan road paffed from Egypt to Carthage and Cyrene, and likewise from Egypt to Nigritia, both which have been defcribed by Herodotus. Temples and fanctuaries have, in the fouthern part of the world, been, in all ages, the centre of commerce, as the Kaaba of the prophet at Mecca, ftill is; for where could this friendly conflux of different nations take place with greater fecu. rity, than under the immediate protection of the gods, and near their fanctuaries? The Grecian commercial republic, Cyrene, on the nor thern coaft of Africa, was certainly fo intimately connected, and carried on fo great a commercial intercourse, with the Ammonians, that the head of Jupiter Ammon was the common imprefs on their coin, Hence it is evident, that the temple of Jupiter Ammon was the place where there was the greateft probability of ac

quiring