refreshing stream of air passed through it. It was here, too, that they slept at night in the summer season, like the modern inhabitants of the country; and, according to Herodotus, they protected themselves from the gnats by a (mosquito) net, or trusted to the current of wind passing over this elevated space, to prevent the visits of those troublesome insects.* The floors of the rooms were flat on the upper side, whether the roofs beneath were vaulted, or supported on rafters; and instead of the covered

terrace above mentioned, the upper chambers and passages were frequently surmounted by the wooden mulquft, or wind conductor, still so common in eastern towns. It was open to the wind, and a constant stream passed down its slope; nor does there

* Herodotus says, that those who live in the low lands use the same net with which they fish in the day; and the people of the upper part of the country sleep on a lofty tower, which the gnats are prevented by the wind from reaching. I have taken the liberty of suggesting a mosquito net instead of the one he mentions, which would have been a poor protection from insects so cruelly resolute as to bite through the sleeper's clothes, as the historian affirms (ii. 95.).

I use the Arabic name. Vide vignette E at the head of this chapter, which shows them on the houses of Cairo.

appear to have been any other difference in its form from those of the present day, than that it was double, and faced in two opposite directions,

No. 110.

The mulquf for catching the wind.

Thebes.

the mulqufs of modern Egypt being directed only towards the prevailing north-west wind. These last consist of strong framework, to which several planks of wood are nailed, according to the breadth and length proposed; and if required of cheaper materials, the place of planks is supplied by reeds or mats, covered with stucco, protected and supported by wooden rafters and it is probable that those of former times were of a similar construction.

Sometimes a part of the house exceeded the rest in height, and stood above the terrace like a tower*; and this was ornamented with columns,

or with square panels, in the manner of false windows.

Other houses had merely a parapet wall, which surrounded the terrace, and was surmounted, in some instances, with a row of battlements; and though a similar style of building belonged more particularly to fortified castles, or to the palace of the king, they adopted it, like many Europeans of the present day, as an ornamental finish to a more peaceful habitation. The Egyptian battlements were an imitation of shields: which, doubtless, sug

No. 112.

House with battlements.

Thebes.

gested the first idea of this mode of protecting the besieged, while they annoyed the assailants with missiles from the parapet; and the corners of the building always presenting a half shield, probably gave rise to that ornament so commonly used on Greek and Roman tombs; unless it was borrowed from a rude imitation of the body itself, like the lid of an Egyptian mummy-case, which was a representation of the person it contained.

Besides the owner's name, they sometimes wrote a lucky sentence over the entrance of the house, for a favourable omen, as "the good abode," the

“múnzel mobárak" of the modern Arabs, or something similar; and the lintels and imposts of the doors, in the royal mansions *, were frequently covered with hieroglyphics, containing the ovals and titles of the monarch.

It was, perhaps, at the dedication of the house that these sentences were affixed t; and we may infer, from the early mention of this custom ‡ among the Jews, that it was derived from Egypt; a conjecture greatly strengthened by the circumstance of our finding even the store-rooms, vineyards, and gardens of the Egyptians placed under the protection of a tutelary deity. S

Like the doors, the windows, or, properly speaking, the shutters, were closed with folding valves, secured in a similar manner with a bolt or bar, and ornamented with carved panels or coloured devices. The openings of the windows were small, upon the principle that where little light is admitted little heat penetrates; and this custom has always been prevalent in the East, and even in the more temperate latitude of Italy. They were surmounted by cornices, resembling those of the doorways, and when on the passage or landing-place, over the street

*Besides their apartments in the temples, the kings, as well as the priests, had houses and villas.

The modern Moslems write sentences from the Qorán, or commemorate the performance of the pilgrimage to Mekkeh by the owner of the house.

Deut. xx. 5. "What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another man dedicate it."

§ It is worthy of remark, that this is retained by the modern Egyptians in the protecting genius supposed to preside over the different quarters of Cairo. Vide wood-cut, No. 142., and plate 10.