afs; a fellow that goes begging about, and fays he is a faint; but he is a natural fool, full as much knave as fool however; he is a thief, I know him to be a thief." "If he is a faint, faid I, Hagi Haffan, as you are another, known to be fo all the world over, I don't fee why I fhould interfere; faint against faint is a fair battle."" It is the Cadi, replies he, and no one else." "Come away with me, faid I, Haffan, and let us fee this cadi; if it is the cadi, it is not the fool, it may be the knave." He was fitting upon the ground on a carpet, moving his head backwards and forwards, and faying prayers with beads in his hand. I had no good opinion of him from his first appearance, but faid, Salam alicum, boldly; this feemed to offend him, as he looked at me with great contempt, and gave me no answer, though he appeared a little difconcerted by my confidence. "Are you the Cafr, faid he, to whom that boat belongs?" "No, Sir, faid I, it belongs to Hagi Haffan." "Do you think, fays he, I call Hagi Haffan, who is a Sherriffe, Cafr ?" "That depends upon the meafure of your prudence, faid I, of which as yet I have no proof that can enable me to judge or decide." Are you the Chriflian that was at the ruins in the morning? fays the boat, and fat forward; he was an ill favoured, low, fick like man, and feemed to be almost blind. You should not make rafh promifes, faid I to the cadi, for this one you made you never can perform; I am not going to Girgé. Ali Bey, whofe flave you are, gave me this boat, but told me, I was not to fhip either faints or cadies. There is my boat, go a-board if you dare; and you, Hagi Haffan, let me fee you lift an oar, or loose a fail, either for the cadi or the faint, if I am not with them. I went to my tent, and the Rais followed me. Hagi Haffan, faid I, there is a proverb in my country, It is better to flatter fools than to fight them: Cannot you go to the fool, and give him half-a-crown? will he take it, do you think, and abandon his journey to Gigé? afterwards leave me to fettle with the cadi for his voyage thither?” 66 "He will take it with all his heart, he will kits your hand for halfa-crown" fays Haffan.' "Let him have half-a-crown from me, faid I, and defire him to go about his busiess, and intimate that I give him it in charity, at fame time expect compliance with the condition." In the intérim, a Chriftian Copht came into the tent: 66 Sir, faid he, you don't know what you are doing ; the cadi is a great man, give him his prefent, and have done with him." “When he behaves better, it will be time enough for that, faid I?—If you are a friend of his, advise him to be quiet, before an order comes from Cairo by Serach, and carries him thither. Your countryman Risk would not give me the advice you do?" Rifk! fays he; Do you know Risk? Is not that Rifk's writing, faid I, fhewing him a letter from the Bey? Wallah! (by God) it is, fays he, and away he went without fpeaking a word farther. The faint had taken his half-crown, and had gone away finging, it being now Mr Norden feems greatly to have miftaken the pofition of this town, which, confpicuous and celebrated as it is by ancient authors, and juftly a principal point of attention to modern travellers, he does not fo much as defcribe; and, in his map, he places Dendera twenty or thirty miles to the fouthward of Badjoura; whereas it is about nine miles to the northward. For Badjoura is in lat. 26° 3', and Dendera is in 260 10' It is a great pity, that he who had a tafte for this very remarkable kind of architecture, fhould have paffed it, both in going up and coming down; as it is, beyond comparifon, a place that would have given more fatisfaction than all Upper Egypt. While we were ftriking our tent, a great mob came down, but without the cadi. As I ordered all my people to take their arms in their hands, they kept at a very confiderable diftance; but the fool, or faint, got into the boat with a yellow flag in his hand, and fat down at the foot of the main-mast, saying, with an idiot fmile, That we should fire, for he was out of the reach of the fhot; fome ftones were thrown, but did not reach us. I ordered two of my fervants with large brafs fhip-blunderbuffes, very bright and glittering, to get upon the гор of the cabin. I then pointed a wide-mouthed Swedish blunderbufs frome one of the windows, and cried out, Have a care;-the next stone that is thrown I fire my cannon amongst you, which will fweep away 300 of you inftantly from the face of VOL. XI. No. 65. the earth; though I believe there were not above two hundred then prefent. I ordered Hagi Haffan to caft off his cord immediately, and, as foon as the blunderbufs appeared, away ran every one of them, and, before they could collect themfelves to return, our veffel was in the middle of the ftream. The wind was fair, though not very fresh, on which we fet both our fails, and made great way. The faint, who had been finging all the time we were difputing, began now to fhew fome apprehenfions for his own fafety: He afked Hagi Haffan, if this was the way to Girge? and had for anfwer, "Yes, it is the fool's way to Girge." 4166 We carried him about a mile, or more, up the river; then a conveni, ent landing-place offering, I afked him whether he got my money, or not, last night? He faid, he had for yesterday, but he had got none for to-day. Now, the next thing I have to afk you, faid I, is, Wili you. go afhore of your own accord, or will you be thrown into the Nile? He anfwered with great confidence, Do you know, that, at my word, I can fix your boat to the bottom of the Nile and make it grow a tree there for ever?" "Aye, fays Hagi Haflan, and make oranges and lemons grow on it likewife, can't you? You are a cheat." 66 Come, Sirs, faid I, lofe no time, put him out." I thought he had been blind and weak; and the boat was not within three feet of the fhore, when placing one foot upon the gunnel, he leaped clean upon land. We flacked our veffel down the ftream a few yards, filling our fails,. and ftretching away. Upon feeing this, our faint fell into a defperate paffion, curfing, blafpheming, and stamping with his feet, at every word crying" Shar Ullah!" i. e. may God fend, and do juftice. Our people ber gan to taunt and gibe him, asking him if he would have a pipe of tobacco to warm warm him, as the morning was very cold; but I bad them be content. It was curious to fee him, as far as we could difcern, fometimes fitting down, fometimes jumping and fkipping aBout, and waving his flag, then running about a hundred yards, as if it were after us; but always returning, though at a flower pace. None of the reft followed. He was indeed apparently the tool of that rafcal the cadi, and, after his defigns were fruftrated, nobody cared what became of him. He was left in the lurch, as thofe of his character generally are, after ferving the purpose of knaves. Account of the Marble Mountains in the Defert of the Thebaid*. HE 22d day of Auguft 1769, at we fet out full of terror about the Atouni. We continued in a direction nearly east, till at three we came to the defiles; but it was fo dark, that it was impoffible to difcern of what the country on each fide confifted. At day-break, we found ourselves at the bottom of a mountain of granite, bare like the former. We faw quantities of fmall pieces of various forts of granite, and porphyry fcattered over the plain, which had been carried down by a torrent, probably from quarries of ancient ages; thefe were white, mixed with black fpots red with green veins, and black fpots. After this all the mountains on the right hand were of red marble in prodigious abundance, but of no great beauty. They continued, as the granite did, for feveral miles along the road, while the oppofite fide was all of dead-green, fuppofed ferpentine marble.. It was one of the most extraordinary fights I ever faw. The former mountains were of confiderable height, without a tree or fhrub, or blade of grafs upon them; but these now be fore us had all the appearance, the one of having been fprinkled over with Havannah, the other with Brazil fnuff. I wondered, that, as the red is nearest the fea, and the ships going down the Abyffinian coaft obferve this appearance agined this was called the Red ea upon that account, rather than for the many weak reasons they have relied upon. About eight o'clock we began to defcend fmartly, and, half an hour af ter, entered into another defile like those before described, having mountains of green marble on every fide of as, At nine, on our left, we saw the higheft mountain we had yet paffed. We found it, upon examination, to be compofed of ferpentine marble; and, through about one-third of the thicknefs, ran a large vein of jafper, green, fpotted with red. Its exceeding hardnefs was fuch as not to yield to the blows of a hammer; but the works of old times were more apparent in it, than in any mountain we had feen. Ducts, or channels, for carrying water tranfverfely, were obferved evidently to terminate in this quarry of Jafper: a proof that water was one of the means ufed in cutting these hard ftones About ten o'clock, defcending very rapidly, with green marble and jafper on each fide of us, but no other green thing whatever, we had the first prof pect of the Red Sea, and, at a quarter paft eleven we arrived at Cofleir. It has been a wonder with all travellers, and with myself among the reft, where the ancients procured that pro*From the Same. digious digious quantity of fine marble, with which all their buildings abound. That wonder, however, among many others, now ceafes, after having paffed in four days, more granite, porphyry, marble, and jafper, than would build Rome, Athens, Corinth, Syracufe, Memphis, Alexandria, and half a dozen fuch cities. It feemed to be very vifible, that thofe openings in the hills, which I call Defiles, were not natural, but artificial; and the whole mountains had been cut out at thefe places, to preserve a flope towards the Nile as gentle as poffible: this, I fuppofe, might be a descent of about one foot in fifty at most; fo that from the mountains to the Nile, thofe heavy carriages must have moved with as little draught as poffible, and, at the fame time, been fufficiently impeded, by, friction, fo as not to run amain, or acquire an increased velocity, againft which, alfo, there must have been other provifions contrixed. As I made another excurfion to these marble mountains from Coffeir, I will, once for all, here fet down what I obferved concerning their natural appearance. The porphyry fhews itself by a fine purple fand, without any glofs or glitter on it, and is exceedingly agreeable to the eye. It is mixed with the native white fand, and fixed gravel of the plains. Green unvariegated marble, is generally feen in the fame mountain with the prophyry. Where the two veins meet, the marble is for fome inches brittle, but the prophyry of the fame hardne's as in other places. The granite is covered with fand, and looks like ftone of a dirty, brown colour. But this is only the change and impreffion the fun and weather have made upon it; for, upon breaking it, you fee it is grey granite, with black fpots, with a reddish caft, or blush over it. This red feems to fade, and fuffer from the outward air, but, upon working or polishing the furface, this colour again appears. It is in greater U quantity than the porphyry, and near er the Red Sea. Pompey's pillar feems to have been from this quarry. I Next to the granite, but never, as obferved, joined with it in the fame mountain, is the red marble. It is covered with fand of the fame colour, and looks as if the whole mountain were fpread over with brick duft. There is also a red marble with white veins, which I have often seen at Rome, but not in principal subjects, I have alfo feen it in Britain. The common green (called Serpentine) looks as if covered over with Brazil snuff. Joined with this green, I faw two famples of that beautiful marble they call Ifabella; one of them with a yellowifh caft, which we call Quakercolour; the other with a blueish, which is commonly termed Dove-colour. These two feem to divide the refpective mountains with the ferpentine. In this green, likewife, it was we faw the vein of jafper; but whether it was abfolutely the fame with this which is the bloody jafper, or bloodstone, is what we had not time to fettle. I should first have made mention of the verde antico, the dark green with white irregular fpots, because it is of the greatest value, and nearest the Nile. This is produced in the mountains of the plain green, or ferpentine, as is the jasper, and is Lot difcoverable by the duft, or any particular colour upon it. First, there is a blue fleaky ftone, exceedingly even and fmooth in the grain, folid, and without fparks or colour. When broken, it is fomething lighter than a flate, and more beautiful than most marble; it is like the lava of volcanoes when polished. After lifting this, we come to the beds of verde antico; and here the quarrying is very obvious, for it has been uncovered in patches, not àbove twenty feet fquare. Then, in another part, the green stone has been removed, and another pit of it wrought. uz I faw I faw, in feveral places in the plain, fmall pieces of African marble fcattered about, but no rocks or mountains of it. I fuppofe it is found in the heart of fome other colored marble, and in ftrata, like the jafper and verde antico, and, I fufpect, in the mountains of Isabella marble, efpecially of the yelloweft fort of it, but this is mere conjecture. This prodígious ftore of marble is placed upon SIR, a ridge, whence there is a defcent to the eaft or weft, either to the Nile or Red Sea. The level ground and hardfixed gravel are proper for the heavieft carriages, and will eafily and fmoothly convey any weight whatever to its places of embarkation on the Nile; fo that another wonder ceafed, how the ancients transported those vait blocks to Thebes, Memphis, and Alexandria. To the Publisher. Warwick, March 30, 1790. I inclofe a fhort Extract from Dr Samuel Barr's Verfion, or Catalogue Raifonnée, of the names of our modern Antiquaries. This work (now handing about in manufcript) is composed in the fiyle of Homer's Enumeration of Ships, or Virgil's Mufter-roll of Troops. The Doctor's attack, however, on Mr S. and Mr G. being quite unprovoked, will probably be refented on fome future occafion.Some notes are added by the Rev. Mr B. for the fake of unarchæological cr readers. QU UID memorem Peggum(a)? Brertonum ()? cur Hopperarfen (d), "Enfield quem genuit; quem Granta eduxerat olim, "Dum Benedicinis (4) Stupor incubuisse 66 Οινοφόρον θάνατόν τε κακόν καὶ πῆρα (κ) Aulai Gothica geminatis arte tenebris? μέλαιναν Sed te, Whiggifmo infeftum, Stepha-Mufa, doli artificem fido fub pectore nifce (y), canemus, Clam fraudes intexentem, falfifque no tantem ferva, "Degeneremque (2) Archæologum nar (a) The Rev. Mr Pegge.] The firft and happiest Differtator on the Marmor Hardicnutienfe. (6) O. S. Brereton, Efq.] This Gentleman appears to be ftigmatized, enly because he has the honour of being perfonally and defervedly refpected by his Majefty. (8) Hopperarfen.] This beautiful and expreffive compound is emploved inftead of a monofyllabical proper name, undefcriptive of its owner, and of inharmonious found. (1) Benedictina caverna.] By thefe our Author is fuppofed to mean the gloomy hall and lugubrious apartments in Benet College, which (for aught we know to the contrary) Father Time may have pitched on for his own fepulchre. (y) Stephanifcus.] More particulars concerning this unpatriotic varlet may be found in Dr Parr's Preface to Bellendenus, page 36. (1) Flavefcere.] The Doctor's MS. is fo obfcure, that it is impofible to say whether he wrote flavefcere or fcabrefcere. The former is adopted on a prefumption that there is no fuch verb as the latter. (*) It is whimsical enough that Dr Parr, who certainly poffeffes a correct ear for verfification, should indulge himfelf in Leonine gingles, and a play upon words of fimilar founds, but diftinct meanings. Thus, in his celebrated version of Hardyk- nute's Epitaph, we have circumfpexit et exit; and here we meet with a, quibble between xipes, cornu and ñp fatum. (2) Degenerem.] There is fingular force and propriety in this epithet, Mr S. be |