Volume 181322

A general collection of voyages and travels, including the most interesting records of navigators and travellers, from the discovery of America by Columbus, in 1492, to the travels of Lord Valentia / [William Fordyce Mavor].

  • Mavor, William Fordyce, 1758-1837.
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A general collection of voyages and travels, including the most interesting records of navigators and travellers, from the discovery of America by Columbus, in 1492, to the travels of Lord Valentia / [William Fordyce Mavor]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tichokes and other vegetables are cultivated, the ad- jacent country presents nothing to the spectator but rocks, sands, and general sterility. The cuitivation wasiormerly much larger, and might have been still extended with the greatest facility by the Alexan- drians; but that ignorant and inactive race, who made no effort to preserve the only water that was potable, could not be expected to make any exertion to procure to themselves either comfort or abundance. In the vicinity of the canalare long subterraneous galleries, hewn out of the rock, and distinguished by the name of the Catacombs. _ In all probability they were originally the quarries from whence the stones were extracted for the. construction of the city, and were then set apart for the purpose of: sepulture. Most of the passages have fallen in; but afew of them setved to satisfy our author’s curiosity, who discovere ed, on each side the interior, three rows of tombs placed one above the other. Atthe extremity of some of the galleries there are separate chambers, with their peculiar tombs, most probably designed for the interment of some particular family, or class of citi. zens. The Arabs confidently affirm that these cata- combs have a communication with the pyramids of Memphis. This assertion, however, is not readily believed by our author, as he confesses such a vast extent appears exaggerated. It is indeed a well known fact, that they reach as far as the sea at the head of the old port, where three excavations in the rock, ho- noured by the Egyptians with the appellation of Cleo. patra’s baths, seem to be a continuation of them. During his residence at Alexandria Sonnini lodged at the French factory, which he describes as a qua- drangular building situated at the head of the new port, and enclosing a large court-yard round which are the warehouses under arcades: the latter are supported by fragments of pillars taken from the ruins of the ancient city. Several are of granite, and one isof porphyry. In the midst of the yard is