The first man who perceived them after their entrance into the valley evinced a disposition to shoot Belzoni; but, upon the explanation of the Bedouin guide, consented to conduct them to the village. “We advanced,” says our traveller, “and entered a lane between these plants; and as we penetrated farther, we entered a most beautiful place, full of dates, intermixed with other trees, some in blossom and others in fruit: these were apricots, figs, almonds, plums, and some grapes. The apricots were in greater abundance than the rest, and the figs were very fine. The soil was covered with verdure of grass and rice, and the whole formed a most pleasing recess, particularly after the barren scenes of the desert.”
His reception at this village was equivocal: there being several sheïkhs, each of whom made pretensions to authority. Some were disposed to treat him kindly, while others, more morose, kept at a distance; but a few cups of coffee, judiciously distributed, and followed by a sheep boiled in rice, reconciled the whole; although they next morning, when they were again hungry, relapsed into their former rude manners. Like all other ignorant people, they supposed that he must necessarily be in search of treasure, and for some time refused to conduct him to the ruins of which he was in search; but upon being assured that whatever treasures might be discovered should fall to their share, while all he stipulated for were a few stones, they consented to accompany him. The ruins, which, with much probability, he concluded to be those of the temple of Jupiter Ammon, now served, he found, as a basement for nearly a whole village, in the vicinity of which he discovered the famous “Fountain of the Sun,” which is warm at midnight and cold at noon. This is a well of sixty feet deep by eight square, which, overflowing in a considerable rivulet, serves to irrigate some cultivated lands. All around it is a grove of palm and other trees. The temperature of the water, however, continues at all times the same; all its apparent changes being accounted for by the greater or less degree of heat in the atmosphere.
From this excursion Belzoni returned to Egypt, from whence he embarked for Europe about the middle of September, 1819. After an absence of twenty years he returned to his family; whence he departed for England, where he completed and published his travels. A few years afterward this enterprising and able traveller fell in an attempt to penetrate into the interior of Africa.
DOMINIQUE VIVANT DENON.
Born 1754.—Died 1825
This traveller was born at Givry, near Chalons-sur-Soane, in Burgundy. He was descended from a noble family, and commenced his career in life as a royal page. When he had for some time served in the palace in this capacity, he was nominated gentleman in ordinary to the king; not long after which he obtained the office of secretary to an embassy. In this capacity he accompanied the Baron de Talleyrand, ambassador of France to Naples, where, during the absence of the ambassador, he remained chargé des affaires. At the epoch of the emigration he incurred the displeasure of Queen Marie Caroline, and in consequence removed to Venice, where he was known under the name of the Chevalier Denon, and became one of the most distinguished members of the society of Madame Albrizzi. This lady has sketched his portrait in her Ritratti. After having spoken in a highly laudatory strain of his passion for knowledge, his intrepidity in danger, the constant gayety of his mind, the fertility of his imagination, the versatility of his character, his irresistible inclination to drollery, she adds, “He is generally supposed to resemble Voltaire. For my own part, I would admit that in his physiognomy you may discover that of Voltaire, but in the physiognomy of Voltaire you would look in vain for that of Denon. That which, in my opinion, they possess in common, is simply an indication of sprightliness, vivacity, versatility, and a certain sarcastic air in the look and smile, which amuses while it terrifies; but the physiognomy of Voltaire indicates none of those qualities which characterize the soul of Denon.”
During his stay in Italy, Denon diligently applied himself to the art of design, in which, as was afterward seen, he acquired a remarkable facility and power. On the breaking out of the revolution he adopted its principles, and even connected himself with the most furious jacobins, with the intention, it has been said, of snatching a few victims from their fangs. But, notwithstanding all this, he would probably have sunk into that oblivion which has already devoured the memory of so many actors in those sanguinary times, had not the Egyptian expedition placed him in an advantageous position before the world. He had all his life, he says, been desirous of travelling in Egypt, and easily obtained the consent of Napoleon to accompany him. Embarking at Marseilles on the 14th of May, 1799, he sailed along the shores of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and Malta, where he landed and made some stay, and then proceeded to Egypt. Having had the good fortune to escape the English fleet in a fog, he landed near Alexandria with the French troops, of whose movements I shall take no further notice, except in as far as they may be connected with the actions of Denon.
It has been truly remarked by Volney, that on arriving any foreign country, how many descriptions soever you may have read of it, you nevertheless find every thing new and strange; as if, in fact, you had just discovered it. Denon was precisely in this predicament. He had, no doubt, read what had been written respecting Egypt; yet he looked upon it as a country of which little beyond the name was known in Europe, and consequently commenced the study of its antiquities with all possible enthusiasm. His views, though vanity had some influence in the formation of them, were tolerably correct. Egypt has indeed been often visited, and in many instances by able men and accomplished scholars; but no one who has toiled, as I have, through the descriptions of these various travellers, can avoid making the discovery that very much remains yet to be done before we can be said to possess a thorough knowledge of Egypt, ancient or modern.
From Alexandria Denon proceeded with Kleber’s division towards Rosetta; clouds of Arabs hung on their front and in their rear, cutting off every man who lagged behind, or strayed to the distance of fifty yards from the main body. Desaix himself narrowly escaped; and several young officers, less on the alert, were either made prisoners or shot. After making numerous little excursions in the Delta, he set out for Upper Egypt, which, in his opinion, had never before been visited by a European; so that, if we interpret him literally, all the travellers who had previously described that country were so many fiction-mongers. In ascending the Nile, he beheld at ten leagues’ distance from Cairo the points of the Pyramids piercing the horizon. These prodigious monuments, which, even more powerfully than Thebes itself, command the attention of every traveller in Egypt, he soon visited with an escort, and sketched from various positions. The city of Cairo disappointed his expectations, which appear to have been absurd, since he had formed his ideas of the place from the “Arabian Nights,” rather than from the descriptions of travellers.
The population of Cairo, which, though far less numerous than is commonly supposed, is still very great, saw with disgust and horror the triumph of the Franks; who, they feared, might soon introduce among them the eating of the “unclean beast,” abhorred by Jews and Mussulmans, with drinking, gambling, and other accomplishments which Mohammed had prohibited to his followers. They therefore determined to shake off the yoke which they had too tamely suffered to be placed on their necks. Rushing fiercely to arms, they attacked their invaders with fury. The house which had been appropriated to the learned men who accompanied the expedition stood apart from the city, and was surrounded by gardens. Here they were collected together when the revolt began. The report of musketry and symptoms of increasing consternation soon informed them, however, of what was going forward in the more populous quarters, and their alarm was proportioned to the solitude by which they were surrounded. Presently a report reached them that the house of General Caffarelli had been sacked and pillaged, and that several members of the commission of arts had perished. They now reviewed their numbers, and four of the party were missing. In an hour after this it was ascertained that they had been massacred. Meanwhile no one could give any account of Napoleon; night was coming on; the firing continued; shouts and clamours filled the air; and it was evident that the insurrection was general. A tremendous carnage had already taken place, but the inhabitants still held out, having in one half of the city adopted that barricading system in which they were recently imitated by the people of Paris; and in others, taken refuge, to the number of four thousand, in a spacious mosque, from whence they repulsed two companies of grenadiers. Night produced a pause in the struggle. At the commencement of the insurrection the literati had been granted a guard, but about midnight the exigences of the moment caused this to be withdrawn; when they themselves took arms, and, though every man was disposed to command and none to obey, prepared to receive the insurgents. Thus the night passed away in confusion and slaughter, and in the morning the French were again masters of the city.