Discoveries in Egypt, Ethiopia and the peninsula of Sinai, in the years 1842-1845, during the mission sent out by his majesty, Frederick William IV of Prussia.Lepsius, Richard
History
Discoveries in Egypt, Ethiopia and the peninsula of Sinai, in the years 1842-1845, during the mission sent out by his majesty, Frederick William IV of Prussia.
The Pasha received me in his former friendly manner, and immediately
gave the necessary commands for the exportation of the collection,
which, in a special writing which was handed to me, he presented to his
Majesty our King. As soon as these preparations were concluded I
returned to Cairo; found there the last orders about the transport of
the monuments to Alexandria, and then, on the 25th September, departed
with Bethmann for Damietta. I visited, on this journey, several ruins of
cities in the eastern Delta, such as those of Atrib (Athribis), Samanud
(Sebennytos), Behbet el Hager (Iseum); but, excepting the rubbish mounds
of Nile earth, and fragments of bricks, which point out the historical
situation, we found only a few blocks, which lay scattered about the old
temples. Only in San, the anciently renowned Tamis, to which I made an
excursion from Damietta across the Lake of Menzaleh, are the
wall-foundations of a temple of Ramses II., and a number, namely about
twelve or fourteen, small granite obelisks of the same king; some whole
and some in fragments.
On the 1st of October we went from Damietta to the Rheda of Ezbe, and
sailed the following morning to the Syrian coast. We had contrary winds
almost the whole way, cruised about for a whole day on the picturesque
and rocky shores of Askalon, and only yesterday landed on the holy land
of the strand of Joppa.
LETTER XXXVIII.
NAZARETH.
_November 9, 1845._
My last letter of the 26th of October from Jerusalem, I am sorry to say,
you will not receive, as the courier (of Dr. Schulz, our consul), to
whom I had given it, with five others, was attacked by robbers on the
road to Berut, near Cesarea, much ill-used, and robbed of all his
despatches, together with the little money he had with him. The want of
order in this country is very great. The Turkish authorities, to whom
the country has been again given up by Christian bravery, are lazy,
malicious, and weak at the same time, whilst Ibrahim Pasha at least knew
how to maintain order and security as far as his government extended.
In Jerusalem we remained nearly three weeks, which I passed in obtaining
a knowledge of the religious circumstances of the present time, every
day becoming more important, and partly in some antiquarian,
topographical researches. The great affability and communicativeness of
the Bishop Alexander, who overtook us, with Abeken of Jaffa, and the
learned industry of Dr. Schulz, with whom I had been intimate since our
mutual stay in Paris, in the years 1834 and 1835, have greatly assisted
me in rendering these delightful days both important and instructive. An
excursion to Jericho, to Jordan, and the Dead Sea, and back over San
Saba formed an interesting episode. My copious diary of the whole time
was, however, contained in the lost letter, which will never appear
again, and which I can now but imperfectly replace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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