From: The Dial, Vol. III, No. III (Jan. 1843)
Author:
Published: E. P. Peabody 1843 Boston
ON the 22d of April, 1841, on my return from Florence, I passed a day in Bologna, where the rich collections of Professor Alessandrini, in Comparative Anatomy, might well offer me sufficient objects of consideration. At noon, after I had attended a sitting of the Academy of Sciences, and had particularly enjoyed an interesting discourse of Professor Calori, I visited some collections of art, and among others it was proposed to me to see a collection of antiquities, which a Bolognese physician had brought with him from Egypt about four years before. My interest was increased by the fact, that it was a physician who had collected these treasures, and I delayed not to enter. Dr. Ferlini himself was not at home; a young black (whom he had also brought home with him) opened the door to me, and I found first, a small number of stuffed Egyptian animals of little variety; also, oriental weapons and utensils; but in addition, a very remarkable collection of rich golden ornaments, with the model of the Pyramid, in which this so valuable treasure was found. The sister of Dr. Ferlini, a friendly, well-bred lady, appeared, and explained very pleasantly the different pieces of the collection; and also at parting gave me an opportunity to buy a little quarto volume, in which her brother has himself given a report of his researches and this important discovery, with a catalogue, and drawings of the most remarkable pieces. The volume is entitled—Relation historique des fouilles opérés dans la Nubie, par le docteur Joseph Ferlini, de Bologne. Rome, 1838.
The treasure found, and here collected, has not failed to attract the attention of antiquarians; and the more, because many other travellers, who have made researches, furnished with ample means, and commissioned by governments, (as for instance the learned Rosellini,) have not succeeded in discovering anything of consequence wrought in gold. The king of Bavaria has indeed already, at considerable cost, procured a small part of Ferlini’s treasure for the gallery at Munich. Yet it was not all this, which particularly interested me in this discovery. The interest, with which it inspired me, came especially from the psychological side.
I did not fail to make myself thoroughly acquainted with the history of Dr. Ferlini’s discoveries, and will presently lay before my readers in a translation, the most important parts of his account. For two reasons this will draw to itself the whole attention of every one, who is not accustomed to stop at the surface of what he sees. First indeed, that in a man who for twenty years had led a very active life as a practising physician in Albania, Greece, and Egypt successively, and might now at length return with a well-earned fortune to his home,—the determined impulse should at once arise, to seek for curiosities and treasures among these mysterious relics of a grey antiquity, —even risking the loss of his property so laboriously acquired. And in the second place, that this quite irresistible attraction, resting merely upon a dim presentiment, spite of all obstacles, and after it already seemed that all hope must be given up, has yet actually led to a result so splendid, a reward so rich.
It must be allowed that the whole affair is a little disenchanted and brought down, by the circumstance, that Ferlini himself cared little for finding any but particularly costly objects. Not the less does his decided presentiment, and its complete confirmation through this discovery, remain a remarkable psychological fact. Certainly, when a Columbus stakes everything on a like undoubting presentiment of the existence of transatlantic countries, year after year moves high and low to assist in the execution of his plans,—at last actually discovers a fourth quarter of the globe, we feel more deeply the meaning of that beautiful saying of Schiller,
The one keeps the promise of the other.”
And yet with Columbus also it was originally rather instinct, the unconscious presentiment, that the reality must respond to his effort; and if he thought of the advantages of a possible discovery, they were far more material and nearer at hand, rather contemplating his own emolument and that of the crown, than any distinct internal prophecy of the development of European humanity in a transatlantic region. In short, we always come back to this;—a presentiment lay in the mind, a possibility of a foreseen future and destiny, through some means, which as yet has no existence, or as yet exists not for us;—and it is the same, which moves strongly in the animal world, leading the bird of passage upon his journey, and guiding with certainty to her young the dove who has been carried more than fifty miles from her nest. But it is interesting, when we meet such facts in the life of man, to consider and preserve them. And as a fact of this kind, we may certainly regard these discoveries of Ferlini. I hope, therefore, that his own communications, which follow, will not fail to excite the interest of our readers.
He tells his story thus.
“Ever since my residence in Greece and Egypt, I had had the idea of making some discovery useful to history. For this end I sought to gain the good opinion of the Governor. After some months an opportunity occurred of asking his permission to undertake excavations in the places where old monuments were found. The Pacha was astonished at my request, and told me of all the dangers to which my undertaking was exposed; he also represented to me that, though he had given me permission, he would only allow me to work, upon my promising to pay the laborers. I also ran the risk of losing my savings for full four years. He advised me to satisfy myself with what I had, and even told me that I exposed myself to certain death by my covetousness, since the blacks, whom I must employ, were so malicious and cruel, that in case I should discover anything of value, I might be certain they would take my life, in order to possess themselves of my treasure. Finally, the Governor told me, that since he had no great authority in the desert, through which the way to Sabdarad lay, he could give me no perfect guarantee of my safety. As the Governor saw meanwhile, that his remarks made no great impression upon me, he promised me, that he would grant my wish, as soon as another physician could be procured to take my place. As soon as I heard that my successor had set out from Cairo, I called upon Sig. Antonio Stefani, an Albanian, and made him a partner in my undertaking, since he knew the country better than I, having already carried on a trade there for fifteen years. I promised him half the fruits of our discoveries, gave him four hundred Spanish dollars, and sent him to Musselamiah to buy camels, ropes, grain, leather bags, and the necessary instruments for excavation. Musselamiah is a large village three days journey from Cartum, in the interior of the peninsula, where a market is held once a week. I bought large stores of meat and cut it in strips, which were dried in the sun, as is the custom of the country.
“I took into my service thirty resolute young men, and promised each of them two Spanish dollars a month, and his food. After fourteen days came Stefani with twenty-seven camels, provisions, and tools. We now only waited for Sig. Gallina, my successor, who arrived the 10th of August, 1834. The next morning I sent forward the camels, the servants, and some slaves by land, and embarked with Sig. Stefani and our families.
“At Vod-Benaga, after three days journey, I sent my companion to the Turkish governor of the village, who lived in Sendih, to show him the form of permission which the Pacha had given me. The Governor commanded all the servants of the state to let me dig unmolested wherever I would, and guaranteed the reward which I was to give the workmen, since hitherto no enterprise of the kind had been ventured upon in his district. My family and Sig. Stefani’s remained in Vod-Benagas. We took servants, provided ourselves with water and food, and set out toward the desert named Galah-Volet-Mamouth, eight hours’ distance from the Nile, where stands a very beautiful temple, whose outside is covered with hieroglyphics. We passed the first day in making strong hedges of thorny twigs, to protect us from the lions, which are very numerous in these remote places. The next morning we explored with great care the outside of the temple; and since it was half buried in sand, we tried to clear this away by help of baskets made of ox-skin, which I had had made at Vod-Benaga. We tried particularly to remove the sand from the eastern side, in hope of finding the entrance, hut it was without success; then we attempted it at the principal façade, but our efforts were no more fortunate. Afterward, we began on the west side, hut as we saw that all our efforts were unsuccessful, we wholly gave up this undertaking.
“We were indeed constrained to this by many other urgent reasons; five of our camels had died, the others were sick, exhausted, and worn out by the long marches which they must make to the Nile; the water and the food were unhealthy, our people had the colic, and a little negro, the son of a female slave, who prepared our wretched meals, had already died. We journeyed away, therefore, and turned toward Volet-Ahsan, to seek less dangerous places, and thus approached within two hours’ journey of the Nile. We found here another temple still smaller than the former. We first made an enclosure of thorns, to protect ourselves from the lions, who, urged by hunger, howled every night in our neighborhood. I began then to examine the temple, hut found after three days, that in our want of good nourishment and fresh water, we were in no situation to continue so laborious a life. That we might no longer labor without result, and so lose our money, we set out to return to our families. The day after our return to our tents, we received visits from a great number of the inhabitants of the little neighboring villages, who came to beg for employment. We gave to each the fifteenth of a dollar. Their beasts of burden supplied us with water, while our camels went to the Nile, where they found rich pastures, that they might thus restore their exhausted strength. There are at Vod-Benaga many pillars standing, the remains of an old temple of very rude workmanship. I sought out the part, which had served the ancient inhabitants as a burial place, and began my excavations as soon as I had found it. First, I discovered a large antechamber, similar to the subterranean galleries of the Roman catacombs. This antechamber was many fathoms in circumference, and contained a number of closely covered Burmes, a sort of vases made of burnt clay, such as the blacks still use in their houses for carrying water.
“The discovery of these vases excited great astonishment among the workmen, who believed that they should find gold in them. To undeceive them, I raised one of the vases in my hand, and dashed it to the ground so that it broke. It contained nothing but earth kneaded with water. I examined this earth in hope of finding in it some amulet or a scarabæus; I found nothing either in this vase or in the others, which I afterward broke. I made a final examination in the depths of the gallery, and saw by the lamplight in a pit several feet deep many corpses, which showed nothing remarkable, except the one which lay in the middle and under a stone. This one had a sabre on the one side, a lance on the other, and a bow and arrows. Hardly had I touched them, when the oxydized weapons broke, with the exception of some arrows, which were covered with a sort of plating. I carried away these relics, which seemed to me to be interesting.
“After some days of unprofitable labor, I determined to have excavations made in the town, where I had found some remains of pillars, and I very soon found at that place a splendid pilaster of red granite and quadrangular form. Each side was three fathoms high, half a fathom broad. At about a third of the height the pilaster was ornamented on every side with a band formed of hieroglyphics, which enclosed various symbolic figures. On one side were two men and a woman, all naked; on the other side two other figures. The two remaining sides were similar, but with different figures. Since it was impossible to transport this large stone on the backs of our camels, I attempted to break off’ the lower part of it, that I might at least have the hieroglyphics, but the granite was so hard that the attempt failed. I tried to get off a tolerably large piece of it, by cutting with saws and with water, but could only make a superficial impression. I was obliged to give up the undertaking, and gave the pilaster in charge to the chief of the town of Vod-Benaga, with injunctions not to part with it without my orders. I afterwards presented it to M. Minaut, the French consul at Cairo.
“As we continued our excavations, we discovered a place paved with red bricks, in the middle of which stood a pillar. This building had probably served the Egyptians as a dwelling, since it had still the diminutive form of the houses of the present day. I found there a little mask cut in jet, which I took away with me. Farther on, we discovered a red granite similar to the first, but larger and better carved. I let it be again covered with earth. At last we found a temple in ruins, of which the savages had injured the decorations. With this we ended our examinations, whose insignificant results were neither sufficient to pay the cost, nor to reward us in the least for our labor. We proceeded no farther in our examination of Vod-Benaga, left the town, and turned toward Begaraviah, where the great Pyramids are. In this still region, the seat of ancient greatness, I had already long designed to seek some monuments, which were fitted to throw light upon the history of so interesting a part of the world, which had hitherto been visited only first by Sig. Belzoni, and by me.
“We fixed our tents near the village of Begaraviah, which is not far distant from the Nile, and hired some negro-huts. We employed a part of our people in making baskets of ox-skin, which were designed for the removal of the earth. The rest of the slaves must remain to take care of the camels. We then went to the Pyramids, which we saw at an hour’s distance.
“We first passed through the old town of Meroe, which is almost wholly covered with sand, and found there only some sphinxes of black granite, which were injured and partly destroyed. Not far from the town many simple pyramids are to be seen in ruins, and we found a hill in the neighborhood, whose summit was crowned with one-and-twenty pyramids, ruined principally on the top. A single one was yet nearly uninjured. On the east of it we found eight other smaller ones, which were in very good preservation. At the foot of the hill we saw still others, smaller, of which only the Portico or Sanctuarium, covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, remained uninjured. Here I wished to begin my labors, but my friend Sig. Stefani induced me first to make a trial in the town, which lay near the avenue of the Sphinxes. Four days after our arrival we set up our encampment, and requested laborers from the Sheik, or lord of the village. At first they came unwillingly, fearing that they should not be paid, but afterward so many offered themselves that we had to send them away, We began our digging in a sort of dwelling, which seemed to have been destroyed by the hand of man. We found in it a head of a mace covered with a blue enamelled lacker, and an ichneumon of serpentine. We continued to explore, in the hope of finding something valuable, but in vain. We must go farther. I left Sig. Stefani, and took a hundred men with me to examine the great Pyramids. Some days later my friend discovered another larger dwelling, but there was no advantage from this either, since he found nothing but a little idol of burnt and lackered clay. In the mean while I had searched through the remains of a small pyramid, which lay at the foot of a little hill. When I came to the base of the hill, I found that it consisted of black, flat stones, which seemed to have been laid there by the hand of man. I tried to come nearer the foundation by the help of the pickaxe; and after I had cleared away a little earth, I plainly saw a step. It was the first stair of a flight, which led into the interior of a monument. After this I discovered a second stair, then a third, and so on. Night surprised us; we must desist from our labors; but the next day I summoned Sig. Stefani, his people, and the Arabs who were with him; we were in all three hundred and fifty persons; that was just the number of people that we needed, to dig out and carry away the earth. The Arabs, who saw that we paid our people daily, (to which they had hitherto not been accustomed,) were now eager to pitch their tents in the neighborhood of the work. These tents are made of long in woven straw; the Arabs call them Birs.
“I uncovered the staircase by degrees, till I came to the ninth step, which was the last. It led to a little vaulted grotto, where I found at first only bones of camels, horses, and other smaller skeletons, which I took to be hounds. I next found two different sorts of riding-gear; one seemed to be the packsaddle of a camel, the other a horse-saddle; finally, some pieces of metal also, in the form of bells, upon which birds and deities were engraved.
“In the depths of the grotto I saw a large stone, which formed the entrance to a burial-monument. I ordered it to be raised, and found an oval opening wrought in the rock by means of the chisel. It was filled up with earth kneaded with water. I had it dug out and carried away. But the heat and dampness in this opening were so stifling, that even the workmen, though accustomed to extreme heat, could not remain in the grotto longer than five minutes. I let them work by turns. After we had wholly cleared out this burial place, I found opposite the door of entrance a grave like that just described. It contained a heap of human bones, thrown one upon another, and no weapons, nor any other ornaments were found among them.
“During this time Sig. Stefani, who had employed himself with demolishing the other pyramid, had only come to the top of the portico. Some days later he succeeded in finding the staircase to the vault. Among the corpses one was found covered with a stone. They dug at the side of the head to remove the stone, when a laborer, as he struck with his mattock upon a round body, as large as an ostrich egg, brought to light a number of objects made of glass, which were of firm, white, and transparent quality.
“While Sig. Stefani superintended this work, I had explored the ruined pyramid, from which I obtained no good result, finding nothing but a block of stone in the portico, upon which two figures were engraven. It will perhaps be surprising to hear with what patience and constancy I prosecuted my search, in so very doubtful hope of seeing the fruit of my labor. I openly confess, that I was often overcome by sorrow, when I after long days of labor returned into my tent with my friend, and the laborers who followed us, springing and uttering a frightful howling, held out their hands to us to receive the reward of a labor which I must regard as lost. Our food too was wretched, and, considering our continued night-watches to secure our lives from the plots, which might threaten us at any moment, (Sig. Stefani and I were obliged to watch half the night by turns, through fear of the treachery of our people and the malice of the negroes;) withal an intolerable heat, and finally, the fear of losing in a moment all prospect of a fortunate issue to so expensive an undertaking, which I had prosecuted with the greatest constancy—it must be confessed, that these circumstances were fitted to depress a stronger spirit than mine. At least they had so great effect upon me, that I was on the point of giving up my plan. But when I saw the workmen with their miserable sustenance digging with the greatest perseverance in the mere expectation of a trifling reward, I took courage again, and to such a degree, that I determined either to return without a sous, or as the possessor of a treasure. And so when I had dug through one building without success, I passed on to another.
“When Sig. Stefani had ended his labors in the pyramid, I proposed to him to begin another work elsewhere, namely, between the village and the west side of the pyramid, where, upon a hill, are standing the remains of an old town. This attempt produced no favorable result; but the natives encouraged me, and assured me, that they certainly knew from an old tradition of their country, that treasures were there concealed worth more than forty Ardeb of Gold, (about four thousand livres). I saw in this declaration only a design to induce me to prosecute my labors, to afford food and money to these wild men; and I was the more confirmed in this design, because the excavations of Sig. Stefani were still fruitless, since he found nothing but a wooden figure, of which the right cheek and right arm were half colored red.
“I had no greater success than my companion. I searched through the fourth Pyramid without finding anything worth carrying away. As I was retiring, I found a large ferule of sapphire-like chalcedony, conically prolonged and flattened at the end.
“Vexed at the ill success of my researches in the small Pyramids, I determined to make a last attempt with one of the large ones, which lay at the end of the hill, and preferred that which seemed to me still untouched. This Pyramid was the same, which Mons. Caillaud of Nantes describes, in the account of his journey to the White and Blue rivers. It is therefore unnecessary that I should stop to describe this beautiful monument; I will only remark that it consists of 64 steps, each half a fathom high, so that it thus had a height of 32 ells or 28 metres. On each aide it was about 48 ells long, thus having an area of 1764 square metres. When I had climbed with four laborers to the summit of the Pyramid, to begin the work, I saw at the first glance that the removal would be easy, since the right hand of Time had already been busy there. After the first stones were taken away, I encouraged my laborers anew. While they were throwing the stones of this step to the ground, I went with Sig. Stefani to rest in the shade of a neighboring pyramid, since I could no longer bear the heat of the sun, which had reached a height of 48 degrees. Suddenly I was called by my faithful servant. I immediately re-ascended the pyramid with my friend, and felt my heart already beat with joyful expectation. I saw my servant lying flat, so as to cover with his body the opening which they had just made. The blacks, tormented with curiosity, would have driven away my servant by force, and have thrust their covetous hands into the inside of the opening. We resisted them firmly, and with arms in our hands forced them to descend. We now called our other servants upon whom we could rely, and let them go on with the removal of the stones in our presence. The opening showed us a wide room, containing objects which we could not yet distinguish. This room was formed of great stones irregularly laid. We caused the great stones which covered the top, to be removed, and saw a cell, which formed a long parallelogram, and consisted of large stones fitted to each other, which formed the four side walls answering to the sides of the pyramid. This cell was four feet high, and from six to seven feet long. The first thing we noticed was an object covered with a cotton cloth of dazzling whiteness, which fell into dust at a touch. It was a sort of table or altar, (mensa sacra, or ara domestica,) supported by four column-like feet, and surrounded by an elegant enclosure, which consisted of high and low wooden railing. This railing was carved, and represented symbolic figures. Under this table was a bronze vase, which contained the most valuable articles of the prize, golden bracelets, rings, scarabæi, amulets, clasps, &c., which were wrapped in a cloth similar to that just described. Near the vase, on the floor of the cell, were necklaces, glass ornaments, colored stones, &c., arranged regularly by means of strings. I found also some talismans, little idols, a cylindrical étui, of metal, little turned boxes, filled with a powdered substance, whose analysis I will give hereafter; a saw, a chisel, and various other articles.
“I secured all these things immediately in little leather sacks, and so withdrew the gold from the sight of the Arabs. As I came down from the Pyramid, all the workmen thronged round me to see what I had found. Rut I showed myself firm, and after I had taken my arms, I sternly bid them go on with their work. When the blacks saw my weapons, they quickly drew back, since they believed the very sight of the arms might be deadly. At evening, when the blacks had withdrawn into their huts, and our servants were fast asleep, Sig. Stefani and I examined more at leisure the interesting collection of valuable objects, the sight of which filled my heart with inexpressible joy. (This rich collection takes up the greater part of my catalogue.) I was surprised at the quantity and beauty of the gold work, and saw directly that they far surpassed in value everything of the kind hitherto in the different European museums. As to carved stones, I could quickly see that they were not only equal to the best of such work among the Greeks, but that these were even surpassed by mine. While I surrendered myself thus to the sweet feelings, which such an occurrence, as fortunate as unexpected, must naturally awaken in me, I observed that my friend appeared very melancholy. I remarked upon it to him, and he communicated his anxiety to me, that he believed we should do well to flee with our treasures, since we had everything to fear from the avarice of the blacks. I on the contrary, who had been accustomed for five years to rule these savages, and hence knew their cowardice, rejected this proposal, and determined to try my fortune in still farther discoveries. I thus quieted my friend, and proposed to bury our treasures in the sand. We made a pit at a little distance from our tents, concealed our valuable articles in it, and covered them with earth and sand. The next morning at sunrise we returned to the Pyramid; all our laborers had already gone to work; there were no less than five hundred. Although I did not now need so many people, yet I considered that it would not be wise to offend these men by sending back the new laborers. I ordered new excavations in the vicinity, but they were altogether without result.
“In continuing my account of the farther removal of the Pyramid, I must first remark, that it appeared, after we bad demolished the little cell in which the table and the treasure were found, that the rest of the structure was composed of large stones which were united by a cement. This made the demolition very difficult; we were fourteen days in removing the Pyramid to about half the height. At this height we found nothing but straw plaited into cords, and pieces of wood in the form of mallets. All these objects were nearly destroyed. In the centre of the pyramid was a niche, or cell, formed of three blocks of stone. We removed these blocks, and found first cotton cloth, which seemed to cover other objects—my heart beat quickly; I believed that we should again find articles made of gold—but although we found nothing of this precious metal, I was yet in a measure rewarded by the discovery of two bronze vases of the most elegant form, and so well preserved, that it might be supposed they had just come from the hand of the workman. These vases contained a black powdered substance, of which we shall hereafter give the analysis. From the height above given, I had in twenty days come so far as to have removed the pyramid to the level of the hill. I found nothing but large flat pieces of a kind of black stone, which is called in Numidia, Gallah. The vestibule was yet uninjured, and below and on one side, the name of Caillaud was engraved upon the stone. This vestibule was covered with many rows of carved hieroglyphics. Opposite the door of entrance was seen a majestic, manly form, sitting upon a lion, and holding something in his hand, the exact form of which I could not discern. For the benefit of science I wished very much to bring away with me one of these interesting stones, but their weight was so considerable, that it was impossible to transport them over these immense deserts. I satisfied myself with taking a piece of the stone which was opposite the door, and which I thought the most remarkable for the designs which were engraved upon it. I hoped to find a staircase in the interior of the pyramid, like that which I had found in the smaller ones, and by which the descent was made to the burial-hall, but I was deceived in my hope, being withheld by the significant position of the stones called “Gallah.” I tried to open a way for myself by following the traces of a footpath, which led under the vestibule into a space of about eight feet, and descended to the declivity of the hill. I directed them to dig under the vestibule; but we could advance but a little way, since we came again to blocks of stone united by cement. Still I wished to prosecute my researches in this region, and since I no longer needed so many workmen, I sent away a great number of them; but notwithstanding this they came to work though not wanted, and looked upon our labors with threatening gestures, and armed with their lances. This fierce attitude awakened my suspicion. I charged my negroes and the other servants to watch these men, who began to be dangerous to us. Six days later I was informed by one of my faithful slaves, who understood the language of the natives, and had mingled with them, that these armed savages were plotting to overpower me, and rob me of my treasure. I at first determined to attack them, and to scatter them with the help of my people; but Sig. Stefani counselled me against it. I had sympathy with our wives and the family of the Albanese; I also considered that if anything serious should happen, which should reach the ears of the governor, my discoveries might also become known, and I should run the risk of losing all. Thus, then, determined rather to take flight with my treasures, I awaited the night.
“I sent three of my most faithful slaves with the camels to Berber, a place where the caravans assemble, which journey through the great desert Coruscah, and I with Sig. Stefani and our families embarked on the Nile, at the place nearest my encampment, in a government vessel, which lay always at my disposal.
“After three days I arrived at Berber, and was very well received there by Abas-Aga, who was vice-governor of Nigritia, I must remain eight days with him, since he would readily have taken me under his protection. In compliance with his instructions, he offered me camels and guides, for a journey through the desert. I thus left Berber, and came after two days’ journey to Abu-Achmet, the last village on the way along the Nile. The Biksarah dwell here; a people so accustomed to journey in the desert, that they can travel days long without eating or drinking. Here I took in a supply of water, and turned toward the great desert Coruscah, which the blacks call “the sea without water.” On the first day I remarked some gaziah-trees here and there, but the six other days I found myself in a wholly barren desert, between stones and burning sand. I had collected some natural curiosities in Nubia, such as beetles, dancing-spiders, crocodiles’ eggs with the embryo, grey and crested cranes, white Ibis, a falcon, a calao, an ichneumon, and many fruits. I also collected in this desert some remarkable stones; they are of nearly globular form, with a very hard shell on the outside, consisting of a ferruginous substance, and the inside filled with sand of various colors. I could compare them to nothing but a peach or an apricot, especially when this fruit is cut in halves. The empty space which remains for the kernel, corresponds to the space occupied by sand in the stone.
“On the seventh day we found a fountain with very bad water, which spouted forth from openings among stones. Still I took in a supply from it, and continued my journey. On the twelfth day I came to a place which is called “The Gates.” Here begins a long mountain-chain of black granite; we passed it in two days, and came at last to Coruscah, situated on the east side of the Nile, between the first and second cataract. I returned to Cairo by the usual way. I received my discharge and the arrears of my salary through the medium of the French Consul, Mons. Minaut. I presented him with the pillar of red granite, which I have mentioned as entrusted to the chief of Vod-Benaga. After having received my discharge, and endured still new dangers from the plague which was desolating this region, I at last obtained the happiness of seeing my native land again.”
And who indeed would not congratulate Sig. Ferlini, after so much hardship, on finding himself at last at home in safety, with these remarkable treasures? Let no lover of art passing through Bologna omit to seek out the little dwelling, which still contains the greater part of these valuables, but from which they may ere long be dispersed to the great Museums of sovereigns. But whilst he enjoys these skilfully-wrought works, admires the elegant workmanship of the broad golden bracelets, and considers the mysterious forms adorned with four hawk’s-wings, which form the clasp, whilst he scans the mystic signs upon the rings, and sees even the vases of the golden scarabæi ornamented with hieroglyphic figures, he will involuntarily recall to his mind the history of the singular presentiment, to whose powerful incitement alone we are indebted for their discovery; since however mysterious are these signs, and seldom as we are able to penetrate their meaning, yet is the region of these peculiar presentiments, these auguries, this unconscious life of the soul in us, far more dim and mysterious.
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