Note 74 — Chapter IX

Burckhardt, in one of his works, amongst the various theories that have been advanced by different travellers to account for the enormous heaps of broken pottery which are found among the ruins of Egyptian and other cities, has alone given a plausible one. He supposes (I quote from memory) the ancient Egyptians to have built their walls of those cylindrical pots (like English chimneypots) which, placed horizontally one upon another, are still very generally used throughout Syria for the parapets of terraces of houses; whereby air is admitted, the view excluded, and little weight added to the subjacent walls. Broken into shards, they would be sufficient to account for the vast heaps in question.