In search of emeralds

Not all early travellers were antiquarians, but the lives of many became inextricably bound to Egypt, writes Jill Kamil
The French traveller Frederic Cailliaud was a geologist and mineralogist who, during his first short visit to Egypt in 1815, saw an opportunity to seek out new rocks and minerals for his collection. It was a simple quest, and who would have known that Cailliaud would prove to be one of the most indefatigable of all 19th-century visitors in Egypt.
Between 1816 and 1822 Cailliaud made countless journeys up the Nile and into desert regions. A chance meeting in Alexandria set the course he was to follow. He had gone to the Mediterranean city to learn Arabic and study the country's geography and history, staying there for eight months. A chance meeting with archaeologist Bernardino Drovetti, an officer in the Napoleonic army who became the French consul-general in 1810 and was the man responsible for collecting many of the most important antiquities now on display in the Louvre and in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, had unexpected results.
The two immediately became friends. They chatted together about their common interests and determined to become fellow travellers.
In fact, the extensive journeys of these two scholars, and the records, plans and drawings they made, enabled the learned sages of the Napoleonic expedition to refine their own records and make more accurate maps of the oases of the Western Desert. The accuracy of Cailliaud and Drovetti's documentation enabled François Jomard, the geographer and architect of the Napoleonic expedition, to do a more accurate map of the oasis of Kharga (including the temple of Hibis, dedicated by the Persian King Darius I to the Theban Triad) for inclusion in the Description d'Egypte.
In Cairo, Drovetti introduced Cailliaud to the ruler of Egypt, Mohamed Ali Pasha, and before long the learned and enthusiastic Sicilian found himself appointed official mineralogist to the government. His first official assignment was to set off in search of ancient emerald mines in the Eastern Desert, which had been operational under the Ptolemies but had subsequently disappeared without a trace.
Cailliaud knew just where to start his search. He had observed the geology of the Eastern Desert, and made his way to a mountain called Gabal Zabara. There, as expected, he discovered numerous emeralds without too much difficulty, and, anxious to pursue his independent exploration and collect specimens of rare rocks for his native city of Nantes, he promptly returned to Cairo, handed the emeralds over to Mohamed Ali in triumph, and expected that would be the end of his mission.
But Mohamed Ali had other plans. Cailliaud's first assignment had been so successful, and the Pasha so delighted, that Cailliaud found himself despatched on another mission to find more emerald mines.
Cailliaud was hardly in a position to refuse so important a government mission, so he equipped himself for a long excursion. This time he travelled beyond Gabal Zabara to another mountain, Gabal Sikeit, where he found the ruins of a large Roman settlement so impressive that he compared it to Pompeii. He described temples and residential areas, streets and wells, and, as to be expected, ancient emerald mines from which he rapidly collected a large number of rough-cut stones.
Having learned a lesson, he did not rush back to Cairo to announce his success. Instead, he set off to explore both "the Arabian" (Eastern) and "Libyan" (Western) deserts, where he was able to collect more rare stones and minerals. He was particularly delighted when he discovered the rock temple of Seti I on the road between Edfu and the Red Sea and made the first map of the region.
Cailliaud and Drovetti shared a journey up the Nile, beyond the almost impassable First Cataract at Aswan (where they had to abandon their boat, which was towed by men on the bank), beyond Abu Simbel, to the upper reaches of the Nile as far as Wadi Halfa. Cailliaud had an opportunity to explore Mero�, the ancient capital of the huge African empire; he collected a vast amount of information about rock formations, and, judging from the skill displayed in his sketches of ancient monuments, learned also a great deal about temples. One of those he sketched was dedicated to Amun. He called it "the Lion Temple" because it was dedicated to the lion-god Apedemak, a member of the Meroitic pantheon.
At Gabal Barkal, between the Third and Fourth Cataracts, he saw a colossal granite statue of Ramses II; on an island in the Nile he found the ruins of a 25th dynasty temple; and he sketched a colossal granite statue of Ramses II, which would have stood to a height of seven metres, lying on its back completely broken into two parts.
Cailliaud also travelled extensively in Egypt's Western Desert. He drew the ruins of a Graeco- Roman structure in the village of Al-Qasr in Bahariya oasis, and even travelled as far as distant Siwa, then still a dangerous area; a certain Vincent Boutin had visited Siwa just a few months earlier and had been robbed and imprisoned.
Cailliaud was honoured both in Paris, where he was received with great ceremony, and in Egypt where he was given special distinction and in official permits was referred to as Murad Effendi.
Needless to say, Cailliaud had taken every opportunity to build up his own collection, and in 1822, at the age of 35, he decided that he had had enough of Egypt. He bade farewell to the Egyptian and French officials in Alexandria and sailed home to his native land. He had travelled widely, but had clearly never "sampled the waters of the Nile," because he never returned.
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