characters are those of students; and these others, in Greek, are, without doubt, those of strangers, whom the celebrity of the institution has attracted.

"However extensive are these ruins of Mesowurat, nothing had led me to conjecture that the place could ever have been the site of a city. I found neither tombs nor any great number of ordinary habitations. A matter of notice is the small site of the stones employed in the construction of the temples. Taking into consideration this want of strength and solidity in the materials, in a climate where the rain falls for three months in a year, one is led to believe that the ruins which remain have not, like those of Thebes, resisted the injuries of time during a long course of ages. They evidently do not possess a very great antiquity. The tradition of the country is that the name of El-Mesowurat was that of the ancient fakeers who inhabited these rare edifices. This tradition confirms the opinion that the place was devoted to education.

Having escaped this danger, the travelers found that they had lost their way, and were almost in equal peril, until they encountered several straggling soldiers. On reaching the camp Cailliaud found that his baggage had not arrived, and was indebted to the charity of some soldiers for a cake of dourra, after eating which he slept upon his saddle cloth, in the open air. The place where they were encamped was called Abkoulgui, situated, according to Cailliaud's observations, in latitude 10° 38′ north. "The village consisted of a few scattered habitations on an elevated slope, whence the view extends over several other hills more or less wooded, and covered with isolated habitations. In the south one sees the distant mountains of Mafis, and in the west the long blue ridge of Obeh. Abkoulgui appears to be the central point of the province of Gamamyl, which is two days journey in extent. It is watered by the Toumat and a great quantity of its tributary torrents; the soil is a clay, full of sand and pebbles, and showing everywhere traces of oxyd of iron. This province is reputed to be the richest in auriferous substances, where the Negroes have been most successful in collecting gold dust."

The Pasha, impatient to test the value of the gold washings, sent Cailliaud the next day to examine them. The Negroes had sunk pits eighteen or twenty feet in the bed and banks of the river and washed out in wooden bowls the earth which they took from these places. The traveler succeeded in getting a few very small grains of fine gold, after washing for some time, but the result was very unsatisfactory to the Pasha, who next day sent him to another gold washing, with several miners and an escort of thirty men. Here he opened new pits, and carefully washed the earth, but the gold was found in quantities so small as scarcely to repay the labor. Finally, in the hope that the natives knew of rich deposits, Ismail sent an expedition to take some prisoners. Among those captured was a chief, who informed him that during the rainy season, the floods sometimes washed down pieces of gold as large as beans, but that at the present time, it was only found in dust and small grains. He indicated several of the most favorable places in the country, and offered to conduct the Pasha to them. Two or three excursions were made in different directions, under a strong armed escort, and the washing carried on vigorously for several days, but with no better success. The Pasha finally became disgusted and gave up the search entirely.

Meanwhile his situation was becoming insecure. The Gallas, who had overrun all the southwestern part of Abyssinia, and who are also enemies of the wild Negro tribes, were only five or six hours distant from him; the Negroes were collecting for a new assault, and he received word that a convoy of powder and other ammunitions had been taken by the natives near Fazogl, and an escort of twenty-five of his men killed. However, being re-inforced by a company of four hundred men who arrived from Sennaar, he continued to send out parties against the neighboring villages for the purpose of increasing his harvest of slaves. All this region has the general name of Bertat; the inhabitants are of pure Negro blood, and wholly uncivilized in their character and habits. Their only religion consists in the worship of large trees, especially the baobab, under which they

sometimes sacrifice sheep and goats. Their clothing is scarcely sufficient for description; their bodies long, and nimble rather than athletic, and they are not wanting in courage, as the Egyptian troops had already learned.

"Seventeen days," says Cailliaud, "had elapsed since our arrival at Gamamyl. I had undergone many fatigues, and yet my health had improved. I mounted my horse to go on the hunt of auriferous sands. We multiplied our trials, weighed the earth, calculated the proportion of the quantity of gold, but never attained any result which could give us the least hope. Those mountains of gold, upon which the Pasha counted so strongly, vanished like smoke; the thirty thousand Negroes which he intended to capture diminished to a few hundreds. It became necessary to try our luck elsewhere, and he gave the order for our departure. From the want of camels I was obliged to leave behind a fine collection of minerals which I had gathered together. M. Letorzec (the cadet), weighed down by fever, remained in bed during our stay; his strength visibly diminishing in the meantime. When he learned that we were about to set out for the purpose of penetrating still further southward, his chagrin increased his illness, and he was haunted by the idea that he would never see his native country again. We set out on the 5th of February. Most of the soldiers could not restrain their surprise at seeing that we were still marching to the south. The Shygeans had made a mannikin resembling a man and dressed in the fashion of their tribe; it is an established custom wit them to inter a similar mannikin at the extreme limit which their hostile expeditions reach in an enemy's country. Some of them walked in order to allow this ridiculous figure to ride on a camel; at which the Turks were greatly amused."

The army encamped near the village of Singue, which was inhabited by Mussulmans. Moussa, their chief, had sent word that he was disposed to pay a tribute, in consequence of which the Pasha prevented his troops from approaching the village, fearing they might commit depredations. Cailliaud visited the place next morning, and found it to consist of five or six

hundred houses, scattered along a ridge three or four miles in length. It was almost deserted, and the traveler did not judge it prudent to remain long. The village was sacked by the troops the same day. On the afternoon of the 7th, while the greater part of the Turkish soldiers were asleep, according to their custom, a body of about a thousand Negroes descended from the hills to the westward. They were finally perceived, and the Pasha and his artillerymen aroused; but before the guns could be brought to bear on them, they had advanced near enough to kill some straggling soldiers. The fear of the cannon caused them to retreat precipitately to the mountains. Five hundred men were sent after them, but not being able to reach them, burned their houses. The Negroes renewed their attacks next day, and succeeded in carrying off eight of the Pasha's fine horses. One of the savage chiefs who had been taken prisoner, was offered his liberty if he would obtain the animals and restore them; this he swore by the Koran to do, and was accordingly liberated, but neither chief nor horses were ever seen again.

Leaving the ruins, he overtook the cadet at Elkab, and from thence proceeded toward Mount Berkel, which he reached in eight days, and remained there more than two weeks in order to make a complete survey of its ruins. Every morning at sunrise," he says, "I repaired to the ruins, and I did not leave them until night. In the middle of the day, I occupied myself in drawing the interior sculptures of the typhonium, and the sanctuaries of the pyramids, where I sought shelter against the excessive heat which was often 105 in the shade. Mount. Berkel, isolated on the desert plain, is a mass of sandstone about four thousand feet in circumference. Its southern base is a naked precipice two hundred feet high, at the base of which are the temples, all facing the river.

"Among the sculptures are two cartouches, which according to Champollion, contain the name of Tirhaka, the first King of the Ethiopian dynasty, who invaded Egypt eight hundred years before the Christian Era."

"The style of the figures and ornaments is the pure style of

the monuments of Egypt and lower Nubia. That part of the temple which is excavated in the mountain, is in a good state of preservation. East of the typhonium there are many remains of walls and fragments of columns, extending for some distance. Among these I discovered two lions of rose-colored granite, of Egyptian style and beautiful form. Everything

goes to prove that the vast ruins of Mount Berkel are those of the City of Napata, the ancient Capital of Ethiopia, of which the pyramids of Noori were the necropolis."

Proceeding to Thebes, Cailliaud remained there some time, employing himself in copying the sculptures on the walls of Memnon's tomb. Leaving Thebes, finally with his companion they reached Alexandria, and embarked for France, and on the 11th December anchored in the harbor of Marseilles. Cailliaud's account of his journey, in four octavo volumes, with an accompanying folio containing maps, plans and engravings was published in Paris, in 1826. It is from this work, now in the Academy of Science, that the abridged narrative has been prepared.