These furs may be classed according to the purposes for which they are used, into

Hatting-furs, employed in making hats, consist of those of the Beaver, the Musquash (Fiber Zibeticus), Otter, Neutria (Myopotamos bonariensis), Hare, and Rabbit. Furs used as parts of dress, are those of the Fox, Sable, Ermine, Marten, Weazle, Racoon, and many others, in China, and other countries.

Furs used for furniture, &c.,-Bear, Wolf, Panther, Lynx, &c.

The chase of the Beaver has been described in the first volume of the Saturday Magazine, page 181.

The MUSQUASH, or Musk-rat, as it is often called, is an animal of a genus nearly related to the rat; it has a thick flattish body, about fourteen inches long; its tail, which is more than half that length, is compressed laterally; its neck and legs are short, but its hind-feet large. The fur resembles that of the Beaver, but is rather shorter and altogether inferior; its general colour on the upper parts dark brown, and of a yellowish hue at the sides and belly. The common name is derived from the odour of musk exhaled by the males, particularly in Spring-time; the flesh is eaten by the Indians.

The Musquash frequent small swamps and marshy places; and such situations being liable to be overflowed, large numbers are often destroyed by that cause, as well as by the famine produced by the freezing of the places where they seek their food, which consists chiefly of the roots of the bulrush, reeds, and various sedges; they also eat the freshwater muscles. They build conicat mud houses among the long grass of the swamps, raising them above the water b. means of a solid foundation; the entrance is under water, and when ice forms, the rat makes breathing-holes in it, and protects these from freezing up, by a coating of mud. Notwithstanding this precaution, however, this accident occurs in severe Winters, and numbers of the animals perish by suffocation.

The Indians kill the rats by spearing them through the walls of their dwellings, making their approaches on the ice very cautiously, for the Musquash would take to the water on hearing any noise. An experienced hunter knows so well the construction of these houses, and the direction of the chambers, that he will transfix four or five at one thrust of his spear. As soon as it is known from the agitation of the spear that the animal is struck, the house is pulled down and the inmates secured. The hunters, before commencing their attack, take care to stop all the breathingholes but one, consequently, those that being alarmed escape from their houses, are compelled to rise to this one aperture to breathe and are there slaughtered.

During the Summer, the Musquash, like the Beavers, dig subterraneous branching-passages, of many yards in extent, in the banks of the lake; in these it brings forth

its young, and it is to these it endeavours to retreat when attacked in its house. The hunters have recourse to the same method of ascertaining the precise situation of these retreats, as they employ in the pursuit of the last-named animal, that of striking on the ice, and judging by the different sound returned when they are opposite the

entrance.

The OTTER of North America (Lutra Canadensis), resembles that of our own country in its habits and food. If its usual haunts are frozen over, it will travel for a considerable distance over land, in search of some rapid or fall, where it may have the benefit of open water. When seen and pursued by the hunters, on these occasions, it throws itself forward on its belly and slides along the snow for several yards at a time, and it repeats this movement so quickly, that an active man on snow-shoes has much difficulty in overtaking it; it also doubles on its track, and even drives under the snow to elude its pursuers. The animal, however, is most commonly caught in its usual places of resort, the banks of rivers and lakes.

There is a marine species, the fur of which is finer and thicker, and more prized than that of the fresh-water Otter; it is also a much larger animal. The mode of capturing these animals presents nothing particular; they are usually taken in nets or nooses, or when hunted for pleasure, they are forced from their retreats by terriers, and shot, or killed by the dogs after a desperate struggle. In America they are speared by the hunters in the water.

The Hare and Rabbit are two animals killed as much for their fur as for their flesh; and whenever the latter is the more immediate object, the former is always preserved. The chase of the Hare in England is so favourite a sport, that the skins purchased of domestic servants by itinerant dealers of the lowest class, form a considerable proportion of those used in hat-making.

The Hare-Indians derive their name from the animal constituting their chief food during Winter, when larger game is not to be easily procured. They take the hares by first enclosing a large tract of wood, by beating a broad path in the snow, which is found to be a sufficient fence, as the Hares will not readily pass over it: they then set up fences of brushwood across the tracts, with spring-nooses set in the apertures left in them; the bushes are then beaten, and dogs are sent in to drive out the Hares, which are taken in numbers in the snares.

These poor Hares are preyed on by many animals besides man. They are the favourite food of owls, hawks, wolves, foxes, martens, wolverines, &c., and lynxes are nearly entirely dependent on them, so much so, that these lastnamed animals become rare when the Hares have suffered from any violent epidemic disease, and abound again when the Hares have recruited their numbers.

82

BEFORE proceeding to describe more particularly the ruins of that ancient city, of which we have already given some account*, we shall make a few remarks upon the general character and arrangement of the Egyptian temples, at least of those buildings which different travellers have regarded in the various lights of temples, palaces, and edifices appropriated to other civil purposes. In those structures at Thebes, which are generally considered as having been unquestionably devoted to religious uses, there is always observable a small oblong room, which was the adytum, or sanctuary, properly so called, that is to say, the apartment which contained the figure of the deity, and in which the priests performed those sacrifices and other rites, which were not meant for the public gaze. Its dimensions were very insignificant, but it was surrounded by stupendous erections of various kinds, colonnades, courts, and saloons, which swelled the temples to the immense size that may be discerned in the existing ruins.

The historian, Heeren, remarks, that the plan and the regulation of these edifices seem, notwithstanding the differences in their size and some lesser matters, to have been, in their main points, so much alike, that the general rules are easily recognised in theni, by which public architecture in Egypt was indissolubly bound.

The first entrance was to be composed of masses, calcu lated to fill the minds of beholders, on their approach, with awe and veneration by their magnitude; hence those immense propylæa, propyla, or pylones, between which the entrance was placed. These "blunted pyramids," or "pyramidal moles," are a peculiar feature of Egyptian architecture; they possess the same general character as the pyramids, with the exception of being truncated, or cut short at the top, instead of running to a point, and of having an oblong instead of a square base. Through this they passed into an open court, surrounded with columns, which had partition walls, half or two-thirds of their height. These courts with columns seem to have been intended for the congregation of the people, in order that they might see the ceremonies and processions from a certain distance; everything, therefore, was so regulated and calculated, that this might be done conveniently. To this court followed the great portico, supported by three or four rows of immense columns, to which a second portico very often succeeded. From these was a way into the saloons, of which there were three or four behind one another, probably intended for processions,-as they are often portrayed on the walls, and other ceremonies; the last of these saloons formed the sanctuary, properly so called. This consisted of a niche of granite, or porphyry, in one piece, which contained the sacred animal, or even the statue of the deity who was here worshipped. On both sides of the saloons, as well as behind, were corridors, which led into chambers and apartments assigned for the abode of the priests. The whole was again surrounded by an enclosure, so that the number of walls effectually prevented the entrance to the sanctuary from being violated by the profane: "all here was of stone without cement; everything, therefore, was estimated to endure by its own massiveness, so that even time could do but little against these edifices. What still remains standing, stands fixed and immovable, and man and fire have here and there expended their fury upon them; the shock of earthquakes is unknown in Egypt.'

The plan and extent of these temples are supposed to indicate, that every part of them was not raised at the same time, but that a long period, perhaps a succession of centuries, clapsed before they attained their full magnitude and perfection. This opinion is confirmed by the evidence of inscriptions; and the sanctuary, with its adjacent chambers for the use of the priests, is generally found to be the oldest portion of the whole temple. Yet even such a gigantic edifice as we have described, on a plan so vast and varied, could not be deemed complete; although fully satisfying the purposes for which it was needed; there would still be room for additions to an immense extent, for exterior appendages, such as may be traced in the Theban remains at this day. Immediately in front of the * See Saturday Magazine, Vol. VIII., p. 42–8.

entrance would be placed two colossal statues, by way of ornament, and then again before these a similar number of obelisks: the approach to these would be formed of an avenue, perhaps a mile in length, having on either side of it a row of gigantic sphinxes, placed at regular intervals. The description of the great temple at Karnak will show to what an extent these additions might be carried; they could hardly ever be said to be carried to completion, so far as to leave no room for further increase. It was by making these additions that the ancient kings of Egypt sought to preserve the remembrance of their names, and to give splendour to their reigns.

Those buildings at Thebes, which are considered by some writers as palaces, or civil edifices, agree with those which all admit to be temples, in the grand characteristics of propyla, extensive courts, and imposing assemblages of columns; both have also chambers adapted for religious uses and for the abode of the priests, but these, it is remarked, might be looked for in a palace as well as in a temple, because the Egyptian kings were bound to practise a strict and daily observance of religious duties. The differences noticed are these: the absence in the supposed palaces of any adytum, or sanctuary, of the kind that is seen in every temple known to be such, and the existence of certain distinctions in the subjects of the sculptures on their respective walls. It is difficult to conceive to what purposes the immense halls and courts, in either palaces or temples, could have been applied. History has left us no precise information on the subject; yet who," asks Heeren, "can doubt, but that in them the assemblies of the priests and state-officers took place; that they formed the palaces, though not the mere dwellings of the kings; the places also for the reception of the people bringing tribute; for the audience of ambassadors; for the tribunals of justice; and for the holding of banquets given by the kings?"

THE RUINS AT LUXOR.

THE ruins at Luxor exhibit the skeleton of an immense edifice, raised on an artificial elevation, which is about ten feet in height, and is surrounded by a brick wall; its form is an oblong, slightly bent, and its length exceeds 800 feet, while its breadth is about 208 feet. The general direction of the building is from north to south; its southern extremity (where is the oldest portion and that containing the sanctuary,) touches close upon the Nile; but as the river from that point bends its course to the north-west, the northern extremity is necessarily some distance to the eastward of its banks. A ground-plan would be necessary to convey a complete notion of the numerous courts, chambers, and colonnades which the researches of modern travellers have enabled us to trace in this vast collection of ruins. A short description will be sufficient to convey that general idea of their arrangement, which is requisite for

our purpose.

called them, and "no less admirable," to use Mr. Wilkinson's words, "for the style of their execution, than for the depth to which they are engraved"-exceeding in many instances two inches, only one now remains to greet the traveller's eye as he approaches the entrance to these ruins;-the other was removed by the French, in 1831, and brought to France in 1833. The height of this latter was found to be 74 French, or nearly 81 English feet; that still standing, which is three French feet higher, is said by some writers to have been presented by the Egyptian Pacha, Mohammed Ali, to the King of England. Both are monoliths,— that is to say, formed of one single block of stone; the material is the hard red granite of Syene, the quarries of which are about seventy miles to the south of Thebes. The breadth of each at the base is variously stated at from 8 to 10 feet; the weight of that taken away by the French was estimated at 240 tons.

Passing through the entrance between the two propyla, the traveller reaches a court about 232 feet long, and 174 feet broad, round which are seen the remains of a double row of columns; the huts of the Arabs occupy a part of it. At the further end is another pair of propyla smaller than the first; and beyond these is the great colonnade, 140 feet long, formed of a double row of seven columns, 11} feet in diameter at the base, and 35 feet in height, including the capitals which spread like the budding lotus." To this succeeds another court more than 160 feet long, and 150 wide, lined on each of its two sides by a double row of columns, and terminating in a covered portico which consists of thirty-two pillars ranged in four parallel rows. Beyond this is a variety of small chambers, extending in intricate succession to the southern end of the building, and comprising among them those apartments which were appropriated to religious uses.

In page 41 of the present volume is a view of the great colonnade, and of the second, or smaller, propyla. In the distance are seen the two obelisks, as formerly standing, the left-hand one being that which has been removed by the French. Traces of Arab occupation, indeed, abound in almost every other part of the edifice. "In one court you find a mosque and some dark habitations, and in another some meaner hovels-litters of dirty straw; the ox, the goat, the ass, ragged children and their poor and sickly-looking parents; some parts which are roofed, and might be made commodious as a shelter, are left vacant and silent for the timid lizard."

This edifice at Luxor was principally the work of two Egyptian monarchs,-Amunoph the Third, who ascended the throne 1430 years before the Christian era, and Rameses the Second-the Great, as he is surnamed,-whose era ha been fixed at 1500 or 1350 B.C. The Amenophium, as the more ancient part erected by the former is called, comprises all that extends from the river on the south up to the great court; the colonnade represented in page 41, together with the propyla which bound it on the north, is thus a portion of it. The great court itself, with the propyla forming the grand entrance into the whole building, and the obelisks, colossal statues, &c., was the work of Rameses the Second, and is sometimes called the Rameseium; under this appellation, however, it must not be confounded with the great monument of the same monarch on the western side of the river.

As this great edifice is very near the bank of the river where it forms an angle, the soil is supported by a solid stone wall, from which is thrown out a jettee of massive and well-cemented brick, fifty yards in length, and seven in width. Mr. Wilkinson says that it is of the late era of the Ptolemies, or Cæsars, since blocks bearing the sculpture of the former have been used in its construction; and the same gentleman communicates the unpleasant intelligence that the river having formed a recess behind it, threatens to sweep away the whole of its solid masonry, and to undermine the foundations of the temple itself. This jettee formed a small port for the convenience of boats navigating the river. Mr. Hamilton says that its ruins very much resemble the fragments of the bridge called that of Caligula in the Bay of Baia; which is now generally believed to have been a pier for the purposes of trade. Dr. Richardson considered the workmanship of the embankment to be entirely Roman; and he suggests that the temple at Luxor was probably built on the banks of the Nile for the convenience of sailors and wayfaring men; where, without much loss of time they might stop, say their prayers, present their offerings, and bribe the priests for promises of future success. Heeren and others are disposed to consider these

famous ruins at Luxor, as the remains not of a temple, but of a palace or other civil building; in either case, the small chambers at the southern extremity may be regarded as having been appropriated to religious purposes.

SCULPTURES AT LUXOR,

On the front of the great propyla which form the principal entrance at Luxor, are a series of sculptures which have excited the wonder of all who have ever seen them. They are spoken of as being entitled to rank very high among works of ancient art; as Mr. Hamilton remarks in his admirable description of them, they far surpass all the ideas which till they were examined had been formed of the state of the arts in Egypt at the era to which they must be attributed. They are cut in a peculiar kind of relief, and are apparently intended to commemorate some victory gained by an ancient monarch of Egypt over a foreign enemy. The moment of the battle chosen, is when the hostile troops are driven back in their fortress, and the Egyptians are evidently to be soon masters of the citadel.

The conqueror, behind whom is borne aloft the royal standard, in the shape of the Doum, or Theban palm-leaf, is of colossal size: that is, far larger than all the other warriors standing up in a car drawn by two horses. His helmet is adorned with a globe with a serpent on each side. He is in the act of shooting an arrow from a bow which is full stretched; around him are quivers, and at his feet is a lion in the act of rushing forward. There is a great deal of life and spirit in the form and attitude of the horses, which are in full gallop, feathers waving over their heads, and the reins lashed round the body of the conqueror. Under the wheels of the car, and under the horses' hoofs and bellies, are crowds of the slain; some stretched on the ground, others falling. On the enemy's side, horses in full speed with empty cars, others heedless of the rein, and all at last rushing headlong down a precipice into a broad and deep river which washes the walls of the town. The expression is exceedingly good; and nowhere has the artist shown more skill than in two groups, in one of which the horses having arrived at the edge of the precipice, instantly fall down; and the driver clinging with one hand to the car, the reins and whip falling from the other,―his body, trembling with despair, is about to be hurled over the backs of the horses. In the other, the horses still find a footing on the side of the hill, and are hurrying forward their drivers to inevitable destruction; these throw themselves back upon the car in vain. Some that are yet unwounded pray for mercy on their knees, and others in their flight cast behind a look of anxious entreaty; their limbs, their eyes, and their hands, sufficiently declare their fears. The breathless horses are admirable,-whether fainting from loss of blood, or rearing up and plunging in the excess of torture. Immediately in front of the conqueror are several cars in full speed for the walls of the town; but even in these the charioteers and men-of-war are not safe from the arrows shot from his unerring bow, and when wounded they look back on their pursuer as they fall. Further on, more fortunate fugitives are passing the river; in which are mingled horses, chariots, arms, and men, expressed in the most faithful manner, floating or sunk. Some have already reached the opposite bank where their friends, who are drawn up in order of battle, but venture not to go out to the fight, drag them to the shore. Others, having escaped by another road, are entering the gates of the town ainid the shrieks and lamentations of those within. Towers, ramparts, and battlements, are crowded with inhabitants, who are chiefly bearded old men and women. A party of the former are seen sallying forth, headed by a youth whose different dress, and high turban, mark him out as some distinguished chieftain. On each side of the town are large bodies of infantry, and a great force of chariots issuing out of the gates, and advancing seemingly by different routes to attack the besiegers.

The impetuosity with which the hero of the picture has moved, has already carried him far beyond the main body of his own army, and he is there alone amid the dying and the slain-victims of his valour and prowess. Behind this scene, the two lines of the enemy join their forces, and attack in a body the army of the invaders, which advances to meet them in a regular line. "Besides the peculiarities of the incidents recorded in this interesting piece of sculpture," says Mr. Hamilton, "we evidently traced a distinction between the short dresses of the Egyptians and the long robes of their Oriental enemies, whether Indians, Persians, or Bactrians: the uncovered and the covered heads; the

different forms or the cars of which the Egyptian contains two, and the others three warriors; and above all the difference of the arms."

At one extremity of the west wing of the gateway, the beginning of this engagement appears to be represented; the same monarch being seen at the head of his troops, advancing against the double line of the enemy, and first breaking their ranks. At the other extremity of the same wing the conqueror is seated on his throne after the victory, holding a sceptre in his left hand, and enjoying the cruel spectacle of eleven of the principal chieftains among his captives lashed together in a row, with a rope about their necks: the foremost stretches out his arms for pity, and in vain implores a reprieve from the fate of his companions: close to him is the twelfth, on his knees, just going to be put to death by the hands of two executioners. Above them is the captive sovereign, tied with his hands behind him to a car, to which two horses are harnessed; these are checked from rushing onward by the attendant, till the monarch shall mount and drag behind him the unfortunate victim of his triumphs. Behind the throne different captives are suffering death in various ways: some held by the executioner by the hair of their head; others dragged by chariots or slain by the arrow or the scimitar. There is then the conqueror's camp, round which are placed his treasures, and where the servants prepare a feast to celebrate his victory.

We have described these sculptures at length, because they are undoubtedly one of the greatest of the many wonders of Thebes, and because in no other manner could we convey to our readers a proper notion of their merits.

THE RUINS AT KARNAK.

THE collection of ruins which is known by the name of Karnak, lies about a mile and a half to the north-east of those at Luxor, and at the distance of nearly 2500 feet, nearly half a mile, from the banks of the Nile. The village of Karnak is merely an assemblage of Arab huts erected among the ruins; it is a very poor one, smaller than Luxor. The ruins are much more extensive than those at Luxor; and without a plan upon a very large scale, it would be still less possible to convey an accurate notion of their several parts. They comprise several edifices, the principal portions of which stand upon an artificial elevation enclosed within a wall about 5300 yards, or upwards of three miles, in circuit; among these is the "Great Temple" as it is generally styled, of which we shall speak more particularly below.

Most travellers agree in representing the remains at Karnak as by far surpassing in grandeur any others in Thebes; their greater extent and the superior vastness of their parts, have gained them this distinction. Speaking of Luxor, Dr. Richardson says that, "great and magnificent as it is, it only serves to show us the way to a much greater, to which it is hardly more in comparison than a kind of porter's lodge; I mean the splendid ruin of the temple at Karnak." Champollion calls Karnak "a city of monuments." We have already transcribed his remarks upon it in a former number, as well as those of Belzoni*. "When I was leisurely travelling along," says Mrs. Lushington, who performed the journey from India "over land through Egypt," in the years 1827 and 1828, "thinking only of our arrival at Luxor, one of the party who had preceded us called to me from a rising ground to bear to the left, and having gone a few hundred yards off the road, I beheld, unexpectedly, the temple of Karnak. It was long after I reached my tent ere I recovered from the bewilderment into which the view of these stupendous ruins had thrown me. No one who has not seen them can understand the awe and admiration they excite even in unscientific benolders. When I compare the descriptions of Denon and Hamilton, I find them essentially correct, yet without giving me any adequate idea of the glorious reality. They fail in describing what never has been, and what I think never can be described. No words can impart a conception of the profusion of pillars-standing, prostrate, inclining against each other, broken and whole. Stones of a gigantic size propped up by pillars,-and pillars again resting upon stones, which appear ready to crush the gazer under their sudden fall: yet on a second view he is convinced nothing but an earthquake could move them; all these pillars covered with sculpture, perhaps three thousand years old, though fresh as if finished but yesterday; not of grotesque *See Saturday Magazine, Vol. IV., p. 154,

and hideous objects, such as we are accustomed to associate with ideas of Egyptian mythology, but many of the figures of gods, warriors, and horses, much larger than life, yet exhibiting surpassing beauty and grace.'

Travellers have sometimes taken a fancy to visit these ruins by moonlight; and the view which they then present, though of course wanting in distinctness, is described as extremely impressive. Mr. Carne paid his second visit in this manner, and he says that it was still more interesting than the other. "The moon had risen, and we passed through one or two Arab villages in the way, where fires were lighted in the open air, and the men, after the labours of the day, were seated in groups round them, smoking and conversing with great cheerfulness. It is singular, that in the most burning climates of the East, the inhabit ants love a good fire at night, and a traveller soon catches the habits; yet the air was still very warm. There was no fear of interruption in exploring the ruins, for the Arabs dread to come here after daylight, as they often say these places were built by Afrit, the devil; and the belief in apparitions prevails among most of the Orientals. We again entered with delight the grand portico. It was a night of uncommon beauty, without a breath of wind stirring, and the moonlight fell vividly on some parts of the colonnades, while others were shaded so as to add to, rather than diminish, their grandeur. The obelisks, the statues, the lonely columns on the plain without, threw their long shadows on the mass of ruins around them, and the scene was in truth exquisitely mournful and beautiful."

THE GREAT TEMPLE AT KARNAK. THIS famous structure has no less than twelve principal approaches, each of which is composed of several propyla and colossal gateways, or moles, besides other buildings attached to them, in themselves larger than most temples; one of these propyla is entirely of granite, adorned with the most finished hieroglyphics. On each side of them have been colossal statues of granite and other substances,some sitting, some erect, from twenty to thirty feet high, and in several directions were avenues of sphinxes proper, (figures possessing a human head with the body and legs of a lion), and crio-sphinxes (figures with a lion's body and ram's head,) which extended from the propyla to various distances, and one of which was continued the whole way across the plain to the edifice at Luxor. The chief front is on the west, or north-west, or faces the Nile, with which it was formerly connected by an alley of colossal crio-sphinxes. The propyla on this side are about 360 feet long, and nearly 150 feet high, and the height of the great doorway in the middle is 64 feet. This entrance leads immediately into a large court 275 feet by 329, which has a range of thirty columns on each of its two sides, and a double row of taller columns, fifty feet in height, running through the middle. This central avenue leads to a second gigantic gateway, having two colossal statues in front; and a flight of twenty-seven steps then conducts into the grand hypostyle* hall of one hundred and thirty-four columns, which once supported a flat roof of enormous slabs of

stone.

It is this hall which has excited so much enthusiastic admiration in all who have visited Thebes. Its length or depth is 170 feet, and its breadth 329; the columns are arranged in nine parallel rows. The central avenue is formed of a double row of twelve immense pillars, 66 feet in height without the pedestal and abacus, and 12 feet in diameter; the others are distributed on either side of it, and though smaller are still of gigantic proportions, being upwards of 41 feet high and 9 feet in diameter. In our former Supplement on Thebes we gave a view of a portion of this hall. Our readers will there see the massive blocks which stretch from pillar to pillar, and which once helped to frame its roof. "No description," says one who visited them, and who is quoted by Heeren, can adequately express the sensations inspired by this astonishing sight, in which the mag nificence and might of the ancient rulers of Egypt are made perceptible to the eye. Of what deeds,-of what events, now lost to the history of the world,-of what scenes have these columns formerly been the witnesses? Can it be doubted, that this was the spot where those rulers of the world, of the nations of the east and of the west, exhibited themselves in their glory and power? That this was the spot to which those nations brought their presents and their

* A hypostyle hall is a hall supported by, or resting upon pillars; a peristyle hall is one which has pillars running round it.