races of that peculiar reddish granite called syenite, which, shaped into peaks, stretch across the bed of the Nile, and from which the Egyptians obtained the stone so frequently employed by them in their obelisks and colossal statues.

The town of Syene retained its importance for many ages. This is certified by the ruins of works and buildings reared by the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, the Romans, and the Arabians, which are still seen on and around the site of the old town. The town Assouan, which succeeded it, so closely adjoins the old town on the north, that the northern wall of the latter forms the southern wall of the former. The scenery in this part is very striking. Madox, in his "Excursions in the Holy Land, Egypt, etc.," thus describes it: "The river is rocky here, and the navigation, by night at least, dangerous. At the pass of Assouan ruin and devastation reign around. This pass, which nature has so well fortified, seems ill treated by man. Hardly any thing was to be seen but the vast remains of the old town of Syene, with mud-built walls and hovels on every side. Rocks, forming islands, were in the middle of the stream, upon which shrubs were growing. The scene altogether was wild and forlorn. In the distance appear high mountains, or masses of stone, with trees, corn, and grass of great height, extending to the water's edge." The removal of the town is said to have occurred A. D. 1403, in consequence of a plague, which destroyed 21,000 of its inhabitants, from which fact the reader may discern the ancient and also the comparatively modern importance of the town.

ALEXANDRIA.

This renowned city of Egypt owed its origin to Alexander the Great, who, during his visit to that country, (about в. c. 332,) gave orders for its erection, between the sea and the Mareotic Lake. The architect was Dinocrates, a Macedonian. A large part of it was contained within the present walls, which are chiefly the work of the Arabs. One main street, about four miles in length, ran through the city from the eastern extremity to the Necropolis, or "city of the dead," at the western, and this was intersected by another main street, about one mile and a quarter in length, running nearly north, in a direction from the Mareotic Lake. This was to obtain the benefit of ventilation from the north winds. The main land and the isle of Pharos was connected by a dyke, called the Heptastadium, in which there was a passage for

vessels, from one port to the other at each end. Over these passages there were bridges, probably of great height, since we are told that water was conveyed along this dyke to the Island of Pharos. On the rocks occupied by the present Pharos, a magnificent light-house was constructed by Sostratus of Cnidus, in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the height of which, report says, was 400 feet. The point opposite to the Pharos, was called Lochias, and as this point was prolonged towards the Pharos along some rocks, it received the name of Acro-Lochias, or the "Point of Lochias." Between this point and the obelisks, the palace of the Ptolemies, the theatre, and various temples once stood. There were two ports; one bounded by the north-east part of the city, and the Heptastadium, called the great port, and the other called Eunostus, or "safe return." This latter also contained a small port, called Kibotos, or "the chest," because the entrance could be completely closed. No traces of this can now be discovered. A canal, uniting the lake with port Eunostus, terminated in or near port Kibotos, and was nearly the south-west limit of the city. There was also a canal from the lake to the town of Canopus, situated near the mouth of the western branch of the Nile, by means of which the city was supplied with river water, which was kept in cisterns. These, it would appear, were very numerous. A Roman writer says, "Nearly all Alexandria was undermined, and furnished with subterranean aqueducts, to convey the Nile water to private houses, where, after a short time, it became purified." Traces of such are now found on the site of ancient Alexandria.

The city of Alexandria was divided into five quarters, but neither the limits nor the names of each can be assigned. The court end, or Bruchion, comprised the part between the Lochias, the site of the obelisks, and the eastern or Rosetta gate. This part contained also the museum. The part called Rhacotis, which bordered on port Eunostus, contained the great temple of Serapis, which, after the establishment of Christianity, was a grievous offence to the Christians, and as such was destroyed by Theophilus, the patriarch of Alexandria, A. D. 390, by permission of the emperor Theodosius.

The city of Alexandria was embellished by the Ptolemies with the spoils of the more ancient towns of Egypt, and it continued to receive accessions and improvements for several centuries. At one period of time, it was the rival of Rome in magnitude, and the greatest commercial city of the earth.

Like Tyre of old, it was the point of exchange for the eastern and western world. Diodorus, who visited the city just before the downfall of the empire of the Ptolemies, says, that it contained, according to the registers, more than 300,000 free

citizens.

The remains of Old Alexandria are surrounded by a double wall, flanked with lofty towers. They are an almost shapeless mass of rubbish, in which are discerned fragments of broken columns, pieces of wall, cisterns, choked up with earth, pieces of pottery, glass, etc. There are five gateways or entrances into this enclosure. Of the two granite obelisks, called Cleopatra's Needles, one is still standing; the other is lying prostrate on the ground. These obelisks formed the entrance to the palace of Cesar, as it is called, though it is most probable they were removed from some of the ancient cities of Egypt thither. Near these obelisks is part of a tower, called, "The Tower of the Romans." About the cen

tre of the enclosure stands the mosque of St. Athanasius, on the cite of a Christian church erected by this patriarch during the fourth century. In this mosque the beautiful SARCOPHAGUS, of Egyptian Breccia, which is now in the British Museum, was discovered. The cisterns, mentioned for keeping Nile water, are still in a great measure preserved; they consist of vaulted chambers, supported by columns which form arcades of two or three stories. The interior walls are covered with a thick red plaster which water cannot penetrate. The level of these cisterns varies, but some of them are from fifteen to eighteen feet below the level of the sea. When the French invaded Egypt, the number in use was 207, and there were about 100 more known to exist. The only remarkable monument between the wall and the Lake is the column called "Pompey's Pillar." This column stands on a mound of earth about forty feet high, which contains remains of previous constructions. According to a Greek inscription on the plinth of the base, on the west side, it appears to have been erected (though probably not for the first time) in honour of the emperor Diocletian, by a prefect of Egypt, whose name cannot be further deciphered than that it begins with P O. The foundation of the pillar appears to have been frequently examined, probably in hope of finding treasures; it is, perhaps, owing to this cause, that the column is inclined about seven inches to the south-west. this direction, on the other side of the canal, are some catacombs, cut in a small elevation of a sandy calcareous stone;

In

and farther south in the calcareous rock that faces the sea, are discerned numerous excavations, in the sides of which niches are formed. These formed part of the Necropolis of Old Alexandria. The most spacious of these excavations, which in common with the rest, communicates with the sea by a narrow passage, is about 3830 yards from the column. In the interior there is a great number of chambers and passages, which, judging from the style in which they are cut in the rock, are of Greek origin. This monument was doubtless intended for a king.

The history of this city is very remarkable. From B. C. 323 to B. c. 30, when it fell into the hands of the Romans, it was the residence of the Greek kings of Egypt, the resort of commerce, and of many foreign nations, especially Jews, and it was also the centre of the scientific knowledge of that day. Of the five wards into which the city was divided, two were entirely occupied by Jews, and they had, besides, residences dispersed in the other quarters. They enjoyed, as will be seen in the history of that period, full civil privileges, and had a prefect or governor of their own. Alexandria sustained much damage in the campaigns of Julius Cesar, B. C. 48. From B. c. 30, to the Arab conquest under Omar, A. D. 640, who, it is said, found forty thousand Jews paying tribute there, Alexandria was still a flourishing city under the Roman, and afterwards under the eastern empire. The Christian religion was early adopted there, and it became one of the strong-holds of the true faith. Clemens, Origen, Athanasius, and others of equal note in the Christian church, flourished at Alexandria. In 969, the Fatemite caliphs seized on Egypt, and built New Cairo, from which time Alexandria declined still more, and sunk to the rank of a secondary city. The discovery of the route round the Cape of Good Hope, A. D. 1497, tended still further to diminish the importance of Alexandria; so that at the present day, the city that bears its name no longer enjoys its wonted celebrity, though it appears to have recovered in some slight degree from its downfall by a revival of its commerce. The Roman power partly restored Alexandria as the channel of commerce with the east, but when their power was broken, it ceased.

ARSINOE.

This city stood at the head of the western branch of the Red Sea, and near the termination of the canal which unites

the Red Sea, and the Eastern branch of the Nile. It was founded by the second Ptolemy; and Pliny states, that it derived its name from Arsinoe, his sister. Its name was changed afterwards to Cleopatris. It was chosen for a sea port; but though vessels anchored there, and rode secure from the violence of the sea, its exposed situation, and the dangers they encountered in working up the narrow extremity of the gulf, rendered it less eligible for the Indian trade than either Myos Hormos, or Berenice. Its chief advantages were the convenience of establishing a communication with the Nile by a canal, and the shortness of the journey across the desert in that part. The town of Arsinoe gave its name to a nome, or one of the ancient provincial divisions of Egypt, which corresponds to the modern Faioum. The old pame of the town was the "City of Crocodiles," that animal being, as we are told by Strabo, highly reverenced there.

ABY'DOS.

Aby'dos was a city of Upper Egypt, the remains of which are found near two villages, Elkherbeh and Harabat, about six miles from the west bank of the Nile N. lat. 26° 12". The chief building which still remains is nearly covered with sand, but the interior is in good preservation. This edifice is constructed of limestone and sandstone. It is said that arches are found in the interior, similar to those of brick which Belzoni describes at Thebes. The numerous apartments in this building, and the style of decoration, show that Abydos was once a place of importance. Some conjecture that it was a royal residence. When Strabo visited Egypt, about the commencement of the Christian era, Abydos was a mere village; but he learned that the great building was called Memnoneion or palace of Memnon, and that tradition assigned to Abydos a rank in ancient times next to Thebes. There was a canal leading to the city from the river; but besides this communication with the main stream, Abydos had the advantage of standing on the large canal running northward, which is known by the name of the Rahr Youssuf.

On an interior wall of a building at Abydos, not belonging to the great edifice, a kind of tablet, or genealogy of the early kings of Egypt, which is generally called the table of Abydos, was discovered. This tablet consists of three compartments lying horizontally one above another; and each compartment has been divided into twenty-six rectangles, so that