Burckhardt, John Lewis, 1784-1817; Nile River Valley -- Description and travel; Nubia -- Description and travel
I can still give you no hopes of my speedy departure from hence. The
time has gone by when the Fezzan caravan might have arrived at
Cairo, and I am left in a state of suspense in which I master with
difficulty my impatience. My uneasiness encreases by the reflection
that this prolonged stay in Egypt may be falsely interpreted in
England, by those who do not know me personally. Yet I cannot prevail
upon myself to take a false inconsiderate step; and however acute my
feelings may be on that score, I will rather expose myself to the
temporary imputation of a neglect of duty, than act with rashness
and against my conviction. Futurity alone can shew whether I was
worthy of the full confidence of my employers, or not. If, as it
is said, the great Moggrebyn pilgrim caravan is to pass here on
its way to Mekka in October, I may perhaps join it on its return,
if no earlier occasion offers. I shall thus be enabled to reach
Fezzan by a circuitous route. Of this I shall of course give the
African Association further advice, if I should resolve upon it.
Mr. Salt I believe has already acquainted you with our project of
conveying the fine granite head of the Memnonium to Alexandria,
with the intention of sending it to England, and of offering it
in our joint names to the British Museum. You know that beautiful
specimen of Egyptian workmanship; the impression which it made upon
you and your travelling companions in Upper Egypt, was the chief
incitement to Mr. Salt, who had not yet seen it, to engage in the
proposed scheme. Mr. Belzoni, a Roman, lately in the service of the
Pasha, who is a good mechanician, has had proper machines made here
for its transport, and is gone to Gorne to fetch it. Mr. Salt and
myself have made a common purse to defray the expenses of the land
and water carriage, &c. and have given Mr. Belzoni the necessary
instructions. If we do not succeed, our intentions at least were too
good to be laughed at, but should the head reach its destination,
and become as it deserves to be, an object of general admiration,
it will afford me infinite satisfaction to have been a promoter
of this enterprize. The heads of the colossi, at Ebsambal (See my
journal in Nubia.) bear a great likeness to this, with the difference
that they are of sand stone. The expression of the face is the same;
perhaps a little more gravity is perceived in those of Nubia, but the
incomparable serenity, and godlike mildness are remarkable in both.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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