day of their enterprize, they proceeded better than Belzoni had expected; all their thoughts and talk were on the quantity of gold, pearls, and jewels they should find in the place. LAURA. That was a good thing, mamma, because it acted as a stimulus for them to proceed. MRS. A. Thus they went on for some days, but as they had not before known the value of money, so now their wish to obtain it knew no bounds they continually wished to procure more than their employer allowed them; the other people also began to desire it, and came in such numbers, that had he wished it he would have found it difficult to supply them all. Their desire to see the inside of the temple, and to plunder what it might contain increased, and they gave Belzoni to understand, that all that was there was their own property, and that the treasure should be for themselves. He in vain endeavoured to assure them that he expected to find nothing but stones, and wanted no treasure; they still persisted, that if he took away the stones, the tresure was in them, and that if he could make a drawing or likeness of them, he could extract the treasure from it also, without their perceiving it. OWEN. They had great confidence in Belzoni's ability, however, mamma, as well as an uncommon degree of superstition! MRS. A.-Some proposed that if any figure were discovered, it should be broken before he carried it away, to examine the inside. OWEN.-How provoking! Then poor Belzoni had no encouragement to proceed;-it was not of much use to take so much pains, only in the end to gratify the selfish curiosity of those savages,-and according to this he might not make drawings, much less take away any statue or any thing else that might be found. I think, under such circumstances, mamma, it will not lessen our ideas of his perseverance and patience if he does give up opening this temple :-I cannot bear the thought of his spending so many days to no purpose! MRS. A.-From the slow progress, of rather from the immense quantity of sand accumulated together, Belzoni perceived that his work would require more time than he could spare at that period before its completion; still he would have persevered had not another and a stronger motive presented itself. BERNARD. What was that, mamma? MRS. A.-The want of that very article which a few days before was despised and unknown, and now he found that he absolutely could not proceed without it. It was money which, even here, had shown its usual power among mankind of exciting avarice and a selfish disposition. OWEN. And here the sentence I repeated in my Latin lesson this morning is just à propos, mamma, "the love of money increases as the money itself increases." BERNARD. But perhaps, mother, Belzoni was nearer the door than he expected,-he could not see through the sand, you know. I wanted him to have met with some adventures in this temple, and I, for my part, do not like him to give it up! MRS. A.-I will tell you how he managed. He had some water brought up from the Nile, and poured down close to the door. OWEN. Ha ha! a very clever plan! just like our ingenious Belzoni! This would stop the sand from running until he had made a hole deep enough to perceive whether they were near the door. I hope they are!-He supposed, in the first place, that the sand was about thirty-five feet in thickness, and how many feet had they removed it, do you think, mamma ? MRS. A.-They had removed so much sand as to uncover twenty feet in the temple; but from the hole that was made Belzoni perceived that it would require a longer time to reach the door than he could stay, and more money than he could afford, although the colossal statues above the door were by this time completely exposed, He therefore obtained a promise from the Cacheff that no one should touch the place till his return (which would probably be in a few months); and contenting himself with putting a mark where the sand was before his operation had commenced, and taking a sketch of the exterior of the temple, he quitted it, with a firm resolution of returning some time to accomplish its opening. EMILY.-Well, mother, he acted both prudently and judiciously; but I should have been afraid lest the selfish people who had worked for him should have opened it in the mean time. However, where did he go next, and when did he return to young Memnon, who has been staying this long period at Thebes, banked up with earth and palm-leaf ropes? MRS. A.-They set off in the boat, and descending the Nile rapidly, arrived in a few days at Shellal. EMILY.-My little finger is following them rapidly, too, mamma; and here is Shellal, or the first Cataract, marked on the map; -we passed it before, I recollect. |