n amidst the ruins of this wonderful
structure, and preserve their beauty and lustre; so happily could the
Egyptians imprint a character of immortality on all their works. Strabo,
who was on the spot, describes a temple he saw in Egypt, very much
resembling that of which I have been speaking.(262)

The same author, describing the curiosities of Thebais,(263) speaks of a
very famous statue of Memnon, the remains whereof he had seen. It is said
that this statue, when the beams of the rising sun first shone upon it in
the morning, uttered an articulate sound.(264) And, indeed, Strabo himself
was an ear-witness of this; but then he doubts whether the sound came from
the statue.

Chapter II. Middle Egypt, or Heptanomis.

Memphis was the capital of this part of Egypt. In this city were to be
seen many stately temples, among them that of the god Apis, who was
honoured here after a peculiar manner. I shall speak of it hereafter, as
well as of the pyramids which stood in the neighbourhood of this place,
and rendered it so famous. Memphis was situated on the west side of the
Nile.

Grand Cairo, which seems to have succeeded Memphis, is built on the other
side of that river.(265) The castle of Cairo is one of the greatest
curiosities in Egypt. It stands on a hill without the city, has a rock for
its foundation, and is surrounded with walls of a vast height and
solidity. You go up to the castle by a way hewn out of the rock, and which
is so easy of ascent, that loaded horses and camels get up without
difficulty. The greatest rarity in this castle is Joseph's well, so
called, either because the Egyptians are pleased with ascribing what is
most remarkable among them to that great man, or because such a tradition
has been preserved in the country. This is a proof, at least, that the
work in question is very ancient; and it is certainly worthy the
magnificence of the most powerful kings of Egypt. This well has, as it
were, two stories, cut out of the solid rock to a prodigious depth. The
descent to the reservoir of water, between the two wells, is by a
staircase seven or eight feet broad, consisting of two hundred and twenty
steps, and so contrived, that the oxen employed to throw up the water, go
down with all imaginable ease, the descent being scarcely perceptible. The
well is supplied from a spring, which is almost the only one in the whole
country. The oxen are continually turning a wheel with a rope, to which a
number of