Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/539

 NAUCRATIS. 485 commands at once the shore, Lake Mariut, and the port of Alexandria. From the limestune rocks of this coast have beea obtained the materials for the construction of the great city, the piers, and breakwaters of its harbour. IJeyond Meks nothing occurs except groups of hnta, fishing hamlets, and the remains of ancient cities. In this direction the wilderness begins where the din from the busy seaport is no longer heard. West of the swamps and coast-line of Meks, the ancient city of Tuposiris is still recalled by the modern village of Abmir. Beyond this point, ranges of hills, detached sections of the plateau which stretches southwards in the direction of the Siwnh oasis, follow at intervals along the sea-coast. Here the two headlands known to the ancients by the name of Katabathmus are less than S'30 feet high. The village of Miidar is the only collection of houses on this now almost unin- habited coast, which was formerly strewn with many towns, and which extends westwards as far as Cyrenaica. Mudar is the halting-place for caravans journeying between Alexandria and the Siwah oasis. Naucratis. On the Canopic branch of the Nile stood the ancient city of Xaucratis^ the first Greek settlement in Egypt, originally founded by a colony from Miletus, during the reign of Amasis. Being the only place in the country where the Greeks were permitted to carry on a regular trade with the natives, Xaucratis soon acquired great importance, and for a time became a chief centre of Hellenic culture in the delta. But after the foundation of Alexandria, its fame was eclipsed by the metropolis of the Ptolemies ; it lapsed into obscurity, and for many ages its very site was unknown. Recently, however, Mr. Petrie has discovered some ruins and archax)logical remains at a spot which has been identified by Egj'ptologists as the site of the famous Hellenic emporium. A selection of pottery and other antiquities has already been forwarded to England by the Egypt Exploration Fund, and deposited in the Bronze Room of the British Museum. " The fragments of vases," writes Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole, " range through at least three hundred years, and from the geographical position of the settlement form a most valuable commentary on the vases of Rhodes, especially Kamiros, and on the early art of Ionia. " These specimens, fragmentary though they are, give us most interesting examples of each class. On the oldest the design is paintid on a pale yellow ground. Similar fragments were found by Mr. Wood in the earliest stratum of remains under the temple of Diana at Ephesus. The specimens with figures and animals in crimson and other colours on a pale ground are ver}' similar to early vases of Eamiros and lalysos in Rhodes, of which there is a fine series in the First Vase Room. The subjects are very varied, animals and the lotus-pattern pre- dominating, with occasionally the human figure. These are followed by the successive archaic styles and the work of the best period. "Taken in connexion with the archaic fictile ware, a most interesting find is a large fragment of the shell called Tndavhna squamom^ on which are incised patterns