D'Athanasi, Giovanni; Salt, Henry [Hrsg.]: A brief account of the researches and discoveries in Upper Egypt: To which is added a detailed catalogue of Mr. Salts collection of Egyptian antiquities (London, 1836)

2 DOMESTIC HISTORY OF THE AUTHOR.

Since I have at length undertaken the task, I
will, before going further, briefly relate a few of
the circumstances connected with my parentage,
and the place of my birth.

Lemnos, an Island in the Egean Sea, as fertile
as it is unfortunate, is my birth-place. In the
capital of the same name I first saw the light.
My parents were of the middling class of people.
My father had long been living at Cairo, where
he carried on a small trade. When I was in my
tenth year I expressed a wish to go and join him
there, but my mother opposed the proposition,
fearing that if I once left her she would never see
me again. As, however, I did not cease from daily
tormenting her with my importunities; she at
length consented to my embarking on board a ship
which was about to sail for Alexandria. It was
on the 7th of August, 1809, that I quitted my
native place, and on the 11th of September fol-
lowing I arrived at Cairo.

The 11th of September was to me a day of
astonishment and delight. Accustomed as I had
hitherto been in my own country to see very few
people, my senses were bewildered on finding
myself placed, as if by enchantment, in the midst