[23] Beled—village.
[24] Miss Whately, whose evidence on this subject is peculiarly valuable, states that the majority of native children die off at, or under, two years of age (“Among the Huts,” p. 29); while M. About, who enjoyed unusual opportunities of inquiring into facts connected with the population and resources of the country, says that the nation loses three children out of every five. “L’ignorance publique, l’oubli des premiers éléments d’hygiène, la mauvaise alimentation, l’absence presque totale des soins médicaux, tarissent la nation dans sa source. Un peuple qui perd régulièrement trois enfants sur cinq ne saurait croître sans miracle.”—“Le Fellah,” p. 165.
[25] Arabic—shoghool: a rope by which the mainsail is regulated.
[26] The known inscriptions in the tomb of Haptefa have recently been recopied, and another long inscription, not previously transcribed, has been copied and translated, by Mr. F. Llewellyn Griffith, acting for the Egypt exploration fund. Mr. Griffith has for the first time fixed the date of this famous tomb, which was made during the reign of Usertesen I, of the twelfth dynasty. [Note to second edition.]
[27] See “Recueil des Monuments Egyptiens,” Brugsch. Part I. Planche xi. Published 1862.
[28] Some famous tombs of very early date, enriched with the same kind of inlaid decoration, are to be seen at Meydûm, near the base of Meydûm pyramid.
[29] “Voyage en Egypte et en Nubie,” by J. J. Ampère. The cartouche may perhaps be that of Rakameri, mentioned by Brugsch; “Histoire d’Egypte,” chap. vi., first edition.
[30] The Greeks translated the sacred names of Egyptian places; the Copts adopted the civil names.
[31] According to the account given in her letters by Lady Duff Gordon, this dervish, who had acquired a reputation for unusual sanctity by repeating the name of Allah three thousand times every night for three years, believed that he had by these means rendered himself invulnerable; and so, proclaiming himself the appointed slayer of Antichrist, he stirred up a revolt among the villages bordering Gebel Sheik Hereedee, instigated an attack on an English dahabeeyah, and brought down upon himself and all that country-side the swift and summary vengeance of the government. Steamers with troops commanded by Fadl Pasha were dispatched up the river; rebels were shot; villages sacked; crops and cattle confiscated. The women and children of the place were then distributed among the neighboring hamlets; and Gow, which was as large a village as Luxor, ceased to exist. The dervish’s fate remained uncertain. He was shot, according to some; and by others it was said that he had escaped into the desert under the protection of a tribe of Bedouins.
[32] Sir G. Wilkinson states the total length of the temple to be ninety three paces, or two hundred and twenty feet; and the width of the portico fifty paces. Murray gives no measurements; neither does Mariette Bey in his delightful little “Itineraire;” neither does Furgusson, nor Champollion, nor any other writer to whose works I have had access.