■< LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ©fynp. .— ... §tijpjrfr$t 1| tx. Shelf d$L2L& UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE GBEAT HALL AT KAKNAK. Egypt Illustrated WITH PEN AND PENCIL. BV THE Rev. SAMUEL MANNING, LL.D. 11 AUTHOR OF "PALESTINE," "ENGLAND," ETC. NEW EDITION REVISED AND PARTLY RE- WRITTEN BY Prof. E. P. THWING, Ph. D., 1 u AUTHOR OF "OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE," "LIFE IN THE ORIENT," ETC New York HURST & COMPANY, Publishers 134-136 Grand Street Copyright, 1891, BY HURST & COMPANY. ARGYLE PRESS, Book Manufacturers, 265-267 Cherry St., N V G> TOMBS OF THE CALIPHS, CAIRO. PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION, '"PHE first edition of this book has been before the public for some years. Written with all the original author's brightness and skill, and dealing with one of the most fascinating countries on the globe, it deserved, as it has attained, a high'place in the popular regard. The lamented death of Dr. Manning prevented him from under- taking the work of revision that had become necessary in the course of years. Increased facilities for travel, many new discoveries illustrative of the ancient Egyptian life, the recent development of Egyptian scholarship, and the growth in number and greater s PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. excellence in quality of engravings, depicting Egyptian people and places, have all combined to render a new edition of the book desirable. The public events of recent years have also tended to deepen the general interest in Egyptian matters. In fact, Egypt has a curious power of keeping herself well to the front in the international relations of the various European nations. In 1878, the obelisk, which now adorns the Thames Embankment, and upon which the eye of Moses probably rested once and again during his Egyptian life, was brought to England. In the following year Ismail Pasha abdicated, and the state of affairs reached a position which soon led to active interposition on the part of England. The crisis came in 1882. In June riots broke out in Alexandria, and large numbers of Europeans left the city. On July nth, Alexandria was bombarded, and the forts silenced. War followed, and on September 12th Arabi Pasha was defeated at Tel-el-Kebir, and banished. In the same year Professor Palmer was murdered by Bedouins in the Sinai region. In 1883 the troubles connected with the Mahdi began, and in 1884 the total rout of Hicks Pasha's army led to General Gordon's mission to Khartoum. This was followed by the British Expedition up the Nile for his rescue. In i885 the battle of Abu-Klea was fought, the expedition failed to reach Khartoum in time, and that city was taken by the Mahdi, Gordon losing his life. Soon after this the Mahdi also died, and the English troops retired to Assouan. Very naturally, this series of events did not pass without wide differences of opinion as to the policy and the justice of the part played by England. The extremes are represented, on the one hand by those who hold that England had no right to go near Egypt at all ; and on the other by those who think that England ought to take Egypt and govern it "in the interest of the natives," as she has done in India. But with all such divergencies of view we have nothing to do here. We allude to the series of events only because it is impossible in any work on Egypt to ignore them. The blood and treasure which England has spent during the last ten years in that ancient land have necessarily deepened the interest felt in it by all thoughtful readers. Deeds of bravery and heroism have not been lacking, whether we deem them to have been done in a righteous cause or not. And this volume, in its new and improved form, will help to make clear to those at home the land and the people on whose behalf they were done. The two chief events throwing light upon ancient Egypt have been carefully noted in this new edition. The first is that marvellous discovery at Deir-el-Bahari in 1881, by which we are enabled to look upon the mummied faces of mighty Egyptian Kings and Queens who flourished at the period of, and even long before the Exodus. The other is the establishment of the Egypt Exploration Fund, which bids fair to do useful work in the way of exploring ancient sites. The editor's object has been to alter the original work as little as possible. Lapse of time had rendered some statements obsolete, and had compelled the modification of PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. others. The only entirely new portion is Section IV., which deals with events that have happened since the last edition was printed. A considerable number of the old illustrations have been omitted, and their space has been occupied by fifty-four of the best recent engravings illustrative of Egyptian natives, scenery, architecture and antiquities. The editor has also to express his grateful acknowledgments to Mr. E. A. Wallis Budge, M.A., of the department of Oriental Antiquities in the British Museum, not only for many valuable hints, but also for reading the proof sheets of a large part of the work. In this new and revised form, " Egypt Illustrated" is sent forth with the hope that it may tend to satisfy that desire for knowledge about the oldest kingdom in the world, which every intelligent general reader feels, and which is especially needful and inter- esting to the devout Biblical student. R. LOVETT. IN THE SUBURBS OF CAIKO. The Great Hall at Karnak Tombs of tlie Caliphs, Cairo In the Suburbs of Cairo The Stepped Pyramid at Sakkara FRONTISPIECE 5 8 12 SECTION I Alexandria to Cairo. General View of Cairo, with the Pyramids in the Distance 14 A Street in Cairo 15 Pompey's Pillar . . . . .16 An Egyptian Dragoman .... 17 Donkey-Boys at Alexandria ... 17 Cleopatra's Needles as they were prior to 1880 ....... 18 An Egyptian Donkey-Boy ... 20 Thothmes III 21 The Buins of Tanis 21 Girls coming to the Nile for Water . 25 Sakieh 26 Fellaheen at Work in Egypt ... 28 Lattice Windows in Cairo ... 30 An Egyptian Footman ... 31 A Minaret in Cairo . . . . , 32 A Cairene Woman and Child . . 33 A Street in Cairo ..... 34 A Water-Seller 35 A Street in Cairo 36 Interior of the M®sque of the Sultan Hasan . . . . . .38 Bab Ez-Zuweleh or Bab El-Mutawellee, Cairo ."..... Sanctuary of the Mosque of Ibn-Tooloon Villa and Garden near Cairo Coffee-House in the Suburbs of Cairo The Nilometer ..... The Citadel at Cairo .... The Cemetery and Tombs of the Caliphs, Mosque of Mohammed Ali in the Citadel Cairo ....... The Obelisk of Usertesen I. at Heliopolis The Pyramids ..... Distant Yiew of the Pyramids Section of the Great Pyramid from North to South ...... Cartouche of Cheops .... Yiew of Gallery in the Great Pyramid from the Lower and Upper Landing- Places ...... Bust of Chephren in the Museum at Boolak Cartouche of Chephren .... Cartouche of Mycerinus Ascending the Great Pyramid PAGE 39 40 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 52 54 54 55 56 56 57 60 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. SECTION II. Cairo to Assouan. On the Banks of the Nile .... 62 Money-Changer at Siont ... 64 Crew of Nile' Boat 65 A Dahabiyyeh or Nile Boat . . 66 Kitchen of Nile Boat .... 67 Plan of Dahabiyyeh for Four Persons, 60 feet long 67 Dhow or Trading Boat on the Nile . 68 Prostrate Colossal Statue of Barneses II. at Memphis 69 Barneses II. ..... 70 Sarcophagus in Serapeum of Memphis . 71 The Ibis 72 Sand-storm in the Desert ... 74 Ibis Mummy from Memphis . . 75 Map of the Nile, from Alexandria to the Second Cataract 76 The Death of the First-born . . 78 Nile Cliffs 79 An Egyptian Tillage .... 80 The Call to Prayer 81 Egyptian Fowler ..... 82 The School of Sultan Hassan ... 84 Watching Fields in Egypt ... 85 The Papyrus Plant . . . .86 Egyptian Entertainment ; each Guest with a Lctus Flower 87 Lotus Flower and Leaf .... 88 Manfalut 89 Governor's Palace at Manfalut . . 91 Portico of the Tomb of the Nomark Aneni at Beni Hassan ..... 92 Visit of a Family of the Semitic Nation called Amu to Egypt .... 94 Valley of the Nile at Beni Hassan . 95 Christian Symbols at Beni Hassan . 96 Sebak and Chnumis .... 96 Bemains of the Temple at Abydos . . 97 The Great Hall in the Temple of Abydos 98 Portico of the Temple of Lender ah . 100 Brick with the Cartouche of Barneses II. 101 The Bamesseum, Thebes . . . 102 Osiride Columns of Bamesseum, Thebes 103 Palace of Barneses III., Medinet-Abu . 104 Palace of Barneses III., Medinet-Abu . 105 Columns of Temple at Luxor . . 106 The Colossi of Thebes . . . .108 Luxor ....... 109 Propylon at Karnak .... 110 Great Hall at Karnak . . . Ill Hypostyle Hall, Karnak . . . 112 A Captive Jew of Shishak's time . 113 Francois Champollion .... 113 Sculptured Wall, Karnak . . . 114 Columns and part of Obelisk of Thothmes III, Karnak 116 Erment, or Hermonthis, near Thebes . 116 Shishak and his Captives on Sculptured Wall at Karnak 117 Tombs of the Kings at Thebes . . 118 Frescoes in Tombs of the Kings at Thebes 119 Harper in Tomb at Thebes . . . 119 In the Tombs at Thebes . . -120 The Judgment Hall of Osiris . . 121 Soul visiting its Body, and holding the emblems of Life and Breath in its claws 122 Edfou . . . . . • .122 Portico and Temple at Esneh . . 124 The Temple at Edfou . . . .124 Grottoes of Silsilis . 125 SECTION III. Assouan to Abu-Simbel. Landing-Place at Assouan Island of Elephantine . Amen, Isis, and Chonsu . Head of Bes . 126 AKopticWoman 130 127 Isis Columns with Eastern Colonnade and 128 Pylon 131 128 Interior of Great Court . . . .131 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. SECTION III {continued). PAGE Portico of Temple at PhilaB . . .132 Christian Symbols at Philae . . 133 Mud Huts 131 Sheikh's House ..... 131 Nubian Woman ...... 135 Nubian Musicians ..... 136 Pharaoh's Bed on the Island of Phihe 138 A Eoadside Well 139 Egyptian Girl 139 Wooden Pillow 139 Temple of Dandour .... 140 Entrance of the Temple of Dekkeh . . 141 Arabs in the Wady Sabooah . . 142 Facade of Smaller Temple at Abu-Simbel 143 Part of Facade of Great Temple at Abu- - Simbel " 144 Great Temple at Abu-Simbel . . . 145 Ethiopian, Negro, and Asiatic Captives before Barneses ..... 146 Barneses slajdug a group of African and Asiatic Captives 146 Menephtah, the probable Pharaoh of the Exodus ...... 147 SECTION IV. Recent Discoveries in Egypt. Entrance Passage to the Empty Tomb of Setil. 118 Crocodiles on the Upper Nile . . . 130 Outer Mummy Case of Queen Nefert-ari . 151 Maspero, Brugsch Bey, and Mohammed Abd-er-Basul 153 The Profile of the Mummy of Eameses II 155 The Head of the Mummy of Barneses II. 157 Gold-faced inner Mummy case of Queen Nefert-ari ...... The Head of Seti I The Head of Pinetem II Entrance to the Tomb of Seti I. in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes Head of Queen Nefert-ari, Wife of Barneses II . 162 158 160 161 161 SECTION V. The Suez Canal. View of Suez from the Canal . . 164 M. Lesseps 165 Line of Ancient Canal in the Desert . 166 Zagazig, on the Fresh-water Canal . . 167 Map of the Canal 168 Port Said 169 Caravan starting from Suez . . . 170 Eantarah, near the Junction of the Canal and Lake Menzaleh .... 172 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. SECTION VI. Egypt to Sinai. Crossing the Desert 174 Plain of Er-Rahah, Sinai, showing the Convent 176 The Sinaitic Peninsula . . . 177 Mount Serbal 178 Wells of Moses .... 179 Wady Gharandel 180 Mount Serbal 182 Euins at Serabet el Khadim . . . 183 Sinaitic Inscriptions 184 Sinaitic Inscriptions .... 185 Flint Implements from the Sinaitic Peninsula 186 Ras Susfafeh and Plain of Er-Rahah . ' 188 The Wady Feiran 189 The Convent, Sinai .... 190 Superior of the Convent .... 191 Entrance to the Convent, Sinai . . 192 A Monk of the Convent, Sinai . . . 193 Interior of the Convent, Sinai . . 194 JebelMusa 196 Archway on Mount Sinai .... 198 THE STEPPED PYRAMID AT SAKKAEA. HP IfflillPlif A STREET IN CAIEO. SECTION I. Alexandria to Cairo. IN the dim gray dawn of a February morning, I was on the deck of the Austrian steamer Urano, peering eagerly through the mist to the southward. The clear crystalline blue of the Mediterranean had changed to a greenish gray, showing that we were in shallow water. As the sun rose, the haze vanished, and we could make out the coast line, a long stretch of sand, here and there broken by a hillock; a clump of palm- trees, an Arab village, or the white walls and dome of a priest's tomb. Then a forest of masts came into view, and, rising above them, a venerable column and a lighthouse. The column we recognize as Pompey's Pillar ; the lighthouse is the modern represen- tative of the famous Pharos of Alexandria, one of the wonders of the ancient world. We were approaching that mysterious land which had attained a high civilization, and a settled monarchy, when Abram " went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan." * It was in its glory when the Hebrews were there held in bondage. 1 Genesis xi, 31. 15 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. It had passed its prime when David and Solomon sat upon the throne of Israel. It had sunk into decay when Rome rose to power, and at the dawn of modern history it had ceased to exist as a nation. Hebrew patriarchs, Greek philosophers, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman conquerors, have all been drawn hither, and its annals are in- extricably interwoven with theirs. It played an important part in the greatest event in our world's history, when Joseph "arose and took the young Child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt : and was there until the death of Herod : that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son." 1 In later ages the land of the Pharaohs is ever coming into prominence. Among the early Christians, Cyril, and Athanasius, and Origen ; among the early Mohammedans, Amrou and Omar ; among the Crusaders, St. Louis of France, and Saladin, the chivalrous enemy of Richard Cceur de Lion, all lead our thoughts to Egypt. What wonder, then, that it was with a feeling of almost reverential awe, that I first gazed upon the soil which, for four thousand years, had been the scene of so many memorable deeds? The gravity of those of our party who were for the first time visiting Mohammedan countries was somewhat disturbed by the ap- pearance of the pilot who now came along- side. His dress was a curious combination of eastern and western attire, very character- istic of the mongrel population of Alexandria. It consisted of a Turkish fez, an Arab abba, baggy linen knickerbockers, and a pair of un- mistakable English boots with elastic sides. Having seated himself cross-legged on the gangway of the steamer, pipes and coffee were served, and he steered us through the in- tricate channel into the harbor of Alexandria. The usual scene of confusion now ensued. Scores of boats came round us, manned, as at Jaffa, by half-naked negroes and Arabs. I was seized by half-a-dozen fellows at once, each endeavoring to appropriate me. A similar conflict was going on over every ar- ticle of my baggage, and it was only by a vigorous application of the dragoman's whip that I and my belongings were rescued from them and stowed away in one of the boats. We only escaped from the hands of the boatmen to fall into those of the donkey- boys, who effectually dissipated whatever feelings of reverence yet remained. These Arab lads are surely the cleverest and most impudent little urchins on earth. Our city- 1 Matthew ii. 14, 15. Hosea xi. 1. 16 POMPEY S PILLAR. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. Arabs cannot compare with them. In broken English they vaunt the praises of their animals: "Take my donkey; him berry good donkey; him name Billy Barlow." If the traveler be presumably an American, the sobriquet is changed to " Yankee Doodle." One ingenious youth, whose only garment was a ragged cotton shirt, through which his tawny skin showed conspicuously, having tried " Billy Barlow, Champagne Charley," and half-a-dozen names beside, made a final appeal, by exclaiming, "Him name Rosher Tishburne ; him speak English ; him say, 'How you do, sar?'" It was impossible either to lose one's temper or retain one's gravity amid this merry clamorous crowd. At length we extricated ourselves from them and made our way to the hotel. Anywhere, except in Egypt, Alexandria would be regarded as a very ancient city. Its history goes back more than two thousand years, to the time of its foun- der, Alexander the Great, B.C. 333. But here, this ven- erable antiquity seems quite modern. It is a mere parvenue, which sprang up when the kingdom of the Pharaohs had run its course and reached its close. It is now a busy thriving port in which the east and west meet in strange confusion. Nubians, Arabs, Berbers, Greeks, Italians, French, English, Circassian pilgrims, Lascar sailors, Chinese coolies, jostle one another in the crowded streets. A string of camels pass with their burdens into the railway station. A Bedouin sheikh takes a ticket for Cairo, or wrangles over the price of a piece of Manchester goods. Hadjis from Mecca are waiting to go on board the steamer bound for Constantinople or Beirout. Sailors from the harbor, or sol- diers en route for India, shoulder their way through the bazaars. Go into a bank or counting-house, and you might fancy yourself to be in the heart of London. Step out into the street, and you see a devout Mus- sulman spreading his prayer-carpet in the roadway, and performing his devotions, as little disturbed by the bustle around him as though he were alone in the desert. The northern coast-line of Egypt is a sterile waste, consisting of little else than salt swamps, lakes of brakish water, and barren sand. The importance and prosper- ity of Alexandria are therefore due, not to the surrounding district, but to the fact that it is the port for the only African river which flows into the Mediterranean. Re- gions of boundless fertility stretch south- ward to the equator, through which the Nile flows and forms their sole means of com- munication with the sea. To the ancient world, Alexandria, which lay near the mouths 17 ^7 The mummy of this great monarch was discovered at Deir-el-Bahari in 1881. See Section IV. of this volume, al o Cleopatra' 's Needle. By-paths of Bible Knowledge, No. 1, pp. 119-121. 18 AN EGYPTIAN DONKEY-BOY. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. were Alexandrian Jews, and that it was completed under the patronage of Ptolemy Philadelphus. A remarkable case of deliverance from persecution, and of punishment coming upon the persecutors, is recorded of the Jewish colony at Alexandria. Ptolemy Philopator (b. c. 217), being incensed at the refusal of the high-priest to admit him into the temple at Jerusalem, returned to Egypt and cast into prison all the Jews upon whom he could lay his hands. Those of Alexandria were confined in the Hippodrome, a vast am- phitheatre used for gladiatorial shows and public games. The king ordered that they should be trampled to death by elephants, made furious by wine and stimulating drugs. For two days the execution was delayed by the drunken carousals of the king. This interval was spent by the prisoners in ceaseless prayer to God for deliverance. On the third day the savage beasts were driven into the arena and urged upon the prisoners. But, instead of attacking them, they turned upon the guards and spectators, many of whom were killed, the rest fleeing in terror. Ptolemy was so impressed by this manifestation of the Divine power that he ordered the prisoners to be released, restored their privileges, and, as in the days of Esther and Ahasuerus, gave them permission to kill their enemies. The journey from Alexandria to Cairo is now al- most always made by railaway, a distance of one hundred and twenty-eight miles. The road first skirts the shores of Lake Mareotis, with myriads of pelicans, wild ducks, and other water-fowl swimming or wading in its brackish waters, or soaring in dense clouds over- head. The narrow strip of desert which forms the northern coast-line of Egypt is soon crossed, and we enter the Delta of the Nile, which continues almost as far as Cairo. The soil, a deposit of Nile mud, is of extraordinary fertility. The Delta used to be regarded as the granary of Rome. Innumerable vessels were employed in conveying the wheat grown in this district to the imperial city. In one of these the Apostle Paul was wrecked, and in another he completed his voyage to Italy as a prisoner. 1 The river formerly ran through it in seven channels. Five of these are now dried up, and two only remain, known as the Rosetta and the Damietta branches. The chanee was foretold by the prophet Isaiah : " The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with His mighty wind shall he shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod." 2 It seems certain that the eastern portion of the Delta was the land of Goshen, in which the patriarchs were settled on their coming down into Egypt. It lay between Canaan and the residence of Joseph at On, or Heliopolis, for, on receiving tidings of the arrival of his father, "Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel 1 Acts xxvii. 6-38 ; xxviii. n. 1 Isaiah xix. 15 ; ix. 5. The literal fulfilment of this prophecy becomes still more apparent when it is remembered that the two mouths still remaining are artificial, not natural channels. THOTHMES III. From the Bust in the British Museum. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him." From the marvelous fertility of the soil it was well suited for a pastoral people, it was "the best of the land." Though belonging to the Egyptian monarchy, and used as a pasture-ground for Pha- raoh's cattle, it did not form part of Egypt Proper. Hence, it was allotted to a shep- herd race, where they lived without coming into offensive contact 'with the native population, " for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians." 1 It is probable that yet another reason for the settlement of his brethren in this frontier province suggested itself to the sagacious mind of Joseph. The nomad races of Palestine were, about this period, a serious peril to the Egyptian monarchy. The mysterious Hyksos, or shepherd kings, were a Canaanitish horde, who poured across the Isthmus, and, for a time, established themselves as conquerors in the Nile Valley. Whether this invasion had already taken place, or whether it was now an object of alarm, may be doubted. But, in either case, the location of a band of hardy and warlike herdsmen on the frontier, ,to bear the brunt of the first assault, was a piece of policy worthy of the wisdom of the illustrious Grand Vizier, who had already saved his adopted country from the horrors of famine. The most interesting city of this district was T'san, which in Hebrew becomes Zoan, in Greek Tanis, and in Arabic San. Tanis in all probability is referred to in Numbers xiii. 22, where we read, " Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt," and in Psalm lxxviii. 12, " Marvelous things did He in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan." For ages it was a great and powerful city, and at one period was the chief center of the Hyksos power. A king named Apepi in. was ruling there when Ra-Sekenen of Thebes (the recent discovery and unwrapping of whose mummy is referred to in Section IV.) led the national movement which resulted in the expulsion, eighty years afterwards, of the shepherd kings. Tanis was captured finally by Aahmes 1., and the hatred felt by the Egyptians toward the foreign dynasty which had so long ruled them led them to mutilate or destroy all existing monuments of the Hyksos rule, which had extended over a period of 5i 1 years. Until 1798 the site of Tanis was unexplored, and in that year it was only surveyed by the French engineers ; but between 181 5 and 1836 many of its antiquities were carried off and sold to wealthy collectors. In i860, Mariette uncovered the temple ruins, and in so doing revealed an enormous number of most valuable remains. The engraving depicts the site of Tanis at the time of his excavation. In 1884, Mr. Flinders Petrie explored the site anew under the direction of the Egypt Exploration Fund. Although productive of no exceptional discoveries, many most valuable antiquities were thus brought to light. 2 In 1883, the same society sent out M. Naville to explore what was then known as Tel-el-Maskhutah, and was supposed to be the site of the ancient Raamses. M. Naville claims to have proved by his excavations that the site is Pithom, the ancient store city built by the Israelites, and that it is identical with Succoth, Pithom and Succoth being only different names for the same place. These results have not been accepted as final by all Egyptologists, but they all tend to increase our knowledge of what was anciently the Land of Goshen. 3 As the train bears us slowly, and with frequent stoppages, over the district where 1 Genesis xlvi. 28-34 ; xlvii. 1-6. 2 See an interesting paper by Miss Edwards, in Harper's Magazine for October, 1886. 3 See The Store, City of fithom, and the Route of the Exodus. By E. Naville. 22 5 ft O ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. the sons of Jacob pastured their flocks and herds, we have abundant opportunities for observing the habits of the people. A wide expanse of verdure stretches to the very verge of the horizon. Groups of fellaheen, or peasantry, are seen sitting under the shadow of a palm grove, or lounging by the wayside, utterly indifferent to the intense heat, which makes the atmosphere quiver like the mouth of a furnace. Veiled women, clad only in a blue cotton skirt, come down to the river to fill their water-jars, and then, poising them on their heads, walk away with a firm, graceful step. A family pass along the road ; the husband, a big, stalwart fellow, rides a donkey ; GIRLS COMING TO THE NILE FOR WATER. the wife, bearing a load which would be heavy for an English porter, walks by his side ; a group of brown naked children run alongside the train holding out their hands and crying for backsheesh, and in this cry their elders join them whenever they have an opportunity. Notwithstanding this universal begging, I saw little or no actual destitution in Egypt. The wants of the peasant are so few, and the soil is so productive, and so easily cultivated, that every body, even the very poorest, seems to be well fed. Fuel costs nothing ; and drink, the curse of European countries, is unknown. A draught of Nile water, a handful of lentils, or a piece of bread, made like a pancake, and tough as wash-leather, are all 2 5 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. Sj^SS^Ss--. that his necessities demand. Give him a little oil or vinegar, an onion or two, and a cup of coffee and he feasts luxuriously. A careful observation of the condition of the fellaheen convinced me of the accuracy of Miss Martineau's remarks : " I must say that I was agreeably surprised, both this morning and throughout my travels in Egypt, by the appearance of the people. About the dirt there can be no doubt; the dirt of both dwellings and persons, and the diseases which proceed from want of cleanliness ; but the people appeared to us, there, and throughout the country, sleek, well-fed and cheerful. I am not sure that I saw an ill-fed person in all Egypt. There is hardship enough of other kinds, abundance of misery to sadden the heart of the traveler ; but not that, so far as we saw, of want of food. I am told, and no doubt truly, that this is owing to the law of the Koran, by which every man is bound to share what he has, even to the last mouthful, with his brother in need ; but there must be enough, or nearly enough, food for all, whatever be the law of distribution. Of the progressive depopulation of Egypt for many years past, I am fully convinced ; but I am confident that a deficiency of food is not the cause, nor, as yet, a consequence. While I believe that Egypt might again, as formerly, support four times its present population, I see no reason to suppose, amid all the misgovernment and op- pression that the people suffer, that they do not raise food enough to support life and health. I have seen more emaciated, and stunted, and depressed men, women and' children in a single walk in Eng- land, than I observed from end to end of the land of Egypt." 1 Though the Delta is not so entirely rainless as many parts of the Nile Valley, yet the productiveness of the soil is mainly dependent on artificial irrigation. The water left by the annual inundation is stored up in canals and reservoirs, and distributed over the soil by various devices. Sometimes a large wheel is run out into the river and turned by the force of the current. The floats of the wheel are made hollow, so as to take up a quantity of water. As they rotate, and begin to descend, the contents of each are poured out into a trench, or tank, rudely constructed on the bank. A more common method is the sakieh. In every part of Egypt we may see a rude roof of thatch under which a camel or buffalo plods round a worn path, turning a series of wheels cogged and creaky, drawing up an endless and dripping string of earthen vessels, which splash out their crystal gatherings into one leaky and common pool and thence, along a moss-clad shaft, into a little babbling rill of pure water flowing off on a bounteous errand. The groaning and creaking of these sakiehs is one of the most familiar sounds on the Nile. It becomes associated, in memory By Harriet Martineau, vo 1 . i. p. o. SAKIEH. 1 Eastern Life, Present and Past. 26 FELLAHEEN AT WORK IN EGYPT. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. with hot, sultry afternoons, spent in delicious indolence on the deck of a dahabeah, gliding downward with the current ; with cool evenings, when the stars come out in the deep blue of an Egyptian sky, to shine with a lustre unknown in our northern latitudes ; less pleasantly associated with restless nights, when the boat has been moored near one of these machines, and the incessant noise combines with rats, mosquitoes, fleas, and innumerable other plagues of Egypt to banish sleep. More common than either is the shadoof, a primitive contrivance consisting only of a long pole working on a pivot, a lump of clay, or a stone fixed at one end, a bucket at the other. For hundreds of miles up the Nile the river is lined with these shadoofs ; men, women, and children, either absolutely naked, or with only a strip of cloth round their loins, spending their whole lives in lifting water out of the bountiful river to irrigate their fields. No wonder that the ancient Egyptians worshiped the Nile, and that it needs all the force of Mohammedan iconoclasm to prevent the fellaheen of to- day from worshiping it too. The very existence of Egypt, as we shall see hereafter, is absolutely due to the river. Were its beneficent current to fail, or its mysterious inundation to cease, Egypt would again become a part of the desert from which it has been reclaimed, and which hems it in on either hand. The distribution of water over the soil is effected by means of trenches leading into small channels, these again into yet smaller gutters. Each plot of land is divided into squares by ridges of earth a few inches in height. The cultivator uses his feet to regu- late the flow of water to each part. By a dexterous movement of his toes, he forms a tiny embankment in one of the trenches, or removes the obstruction, or makes an aperture in one of the ridges, or closes it up again, as the condition of the crop requires. He is thus able to irrigate each square yard of his land with the utmost nicety, giving to it just as much or as little water as he thinks fit. This mode of cultivation is very ancient, and was probably referred to by Moses, when, contrasting the copious rainfall and numerous fountains of Palestine with the laborious irrigation of Egypt, he said, " For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs : but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven." 1 Though the trains on Egyptian railways are probably the slowest aud most irregu- lar in the world, yet some progress is made, and, in the course of a few hours, it becomes evident that our destination cannot be far distant. The broad expanse of verdure narrows as the Delta approaches its southern apex at Cairo. The tawny line of desert which bounds it on either side draws nearer. The Libyan and Mokattam ranges of hills, which inclose the Nile Valley, come into view. Then, those who know where to look for them, may make out, through the quivering haze, at a distance of ten or twelve miles, the most extraordinary group of buildings in the world. In approach- ing almost any other object of interest for the first time — St. Peter's at Rome, for instance, or Mont Blanc — there is a brief interval of hesitation and doubt before its definite recognition. But at the very first glance, without a moment's pause, we exclaim, The Pyramids ! They are at once the vastest and the oldest buildings on the earth. They were standing, perhaps were even already ancient, when Abraham came down into Egypt. Their origin was lost in the recesses of a remote and legendary 1 Deuteronomy xi. 10, n. 29 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. past, when the Father of History conversed with the priests of Sais and Memphis. It may have been bombast, but it was scarcely exaggeration, when Napoleon, on the eve of the battle of the pyramids, issued his famous ordre du jour, " Soldiers, forty centuries are looking down on you ! " And now, by a strange anachronism, we are gazing quietly out of the window of a railway carriage, at edifices which seems to be nearly coeval with the existence of man upon the earth. But our reveries are broken in upon by our arrival at the railway station, where a struggle like that at Alexandria awaits us with the hamfnals and donkey-boys contend- ing for the possession of our persons and baggage. Having extricated ourselves from their clutches with some difficulty, we make our way to the hotel. Cairo lies at the entrance of the Nile Valley, near the point at which the river branches out into the channels which form the Delta. Its modern name is a European corruption of that given to it by its Arab conquerors — El Kaherah, the victorious. By the natives it is called Misr or Masr, and the same name is given by them to the whole of Egypt. This is evidently a modern form of the Scriptural Mizraim, and affords another instance of the survival of ancient names through a long course of cen- |, turies, and after repeated conquests by foreign P' nations. 1 It is situated about a mile from the |||fc river. A long straggling street leads down to IK Bulak, which is the port ; and Fostat, or Old I Cairo, runs along the Nile bank. The popu- |l , lation of the city was given in the census of 1 jjj 1882 as 368,108, but good authorities reckon LATTICE WINDOWS IN CAIRO. I it as 400,000 in round numbers. The resident Europeans amount to 2 1 ,000. I Those who wish to see the Cairo of romance, ' and of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, should lose no time in visiting it, for it is being rapidly "improved off the face of the earth." The new quarter is but a shabby reproduction of modern Paris, from which all characteristic Ori- ental features, the graceful lattice-work windows, the overhanging stories, the picturesque color, have disappeared. The Ezbekeeyah garden has nothing but its semi-tropical vegetation to distinguish it from the public gardens of any European capital. Young Egypt, sallow-faced, and dressed in fez cap, baggy, ill-fitting black clothes, and patent leather boots, unsuccessfully affects the airs, and only too successfully cultivates the vices, of Parisian flaneurs. Said Pasha, who died in 1863, greatly benefited Egypt by his administrative skill and enlightened policy ; but since his day the old picturesque life of the East has been fast passing away, and a thin veneer of European civilization has been superimposed upon unalloyed native barbarism. That the sanitary condition of the city was horrible, and that improvement was urgently needed, cannot be questioned. If the Khedive had set himself to effect the necessary reforms by developing a system of architecture in harmony with the habits of the people, the requirements of the climate, and the characteristics of Arabian 30 1 See for numerous parallel instances Those Holy Fields, p. 89. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. art, he would have done a good work. But the new Boulevards satisfy none of these requirements. They are simply poor imitations of a faulty original. And this applies to the whole system of administration. It is an exotic which has no roots in the soil, and no adaptation to surrounding conditions. But, as an American gentlemen said to me, "Cairo is a big place, and can stand a great deal of improving." In a few minutes we may pass from the Frank quarter into the labyrinthine windings of bazaars, which are almost unchanged since the days of Saladin, and in which " Haroun Alraschid, Giaffar, the Grand Vizier, and Mesrour, the chief of the eunuchs," might have wandered and found little to surprise them. The Mooskee affords us a good line of transition from the one to the other. We enter the main thoroughfare, broad for an Eastern city, with a Bavarian bier-halle at one corner, and at the other a shop for the sale of French books and photographs. The road-way is, of course, unpaved, but it is wide enough to allow a carriage to drive along it, with space for foot- passengers on either side. Each carriage is preceded by its running footmen — lithe, agile fellows, who can keep ahead of the horses, going at full speed, for an incredible distance. They wear a light dress of white linen, which leaves the arms and legs bare. Each carries a wand by day, a flambeau by night. Their duty is to warn pedestrians to get out of the way, which they do by incessant cries: "To the right ; To the left ; Look out in front," mingled with good-humored abuse of those who are slow to take their warnings. Lines of camels 1 with their long swaying necks, soft, silent tread, and peevish groans, stalk solemnly along the middle of the roadway. A string of donkeys, surmounted by inflated balloons of black silk or white muslin, from which dainty little slippers of red or yellow morocco leather peep out, are carrying the ladies of a harem to take the air. Here comes a procession of blind men chanting the Koran, followed by a group of women wailing and crying in tones of well-simulated grief; between them is a board carried on men's shoulders and covered by a pall, be- neath whose folds it is easy to make out the rigid lines of a corpse on its way to the 1 Barham Zincke's description of the came], though long, is too good not to be auoted. Its long neck is elevated and stretched forward. It is carrying its head horizontally, with its upper lip drawn down. In this drawn-down lip, and on its whole demeanor, there is an expression of contempt — contempt for the modern world. You can read its thoughts. " I belong," it is saying to itself, for it cares nothing about you, still you can't help understanding it. "I belong to the old world. There was time and loom enough then for everything. What reason can there be for all this crowding and hastening ? I move at a pace which used to satisfy kings and patriarchs. My fashion is the old- world fashion. Railways and telegraphs are nothing to me. Before the Pyramids were thought of, it had been settled what my burden was to be, and at what pace it was to be carried. If any of these unresting pale faces (what business have they with me ?) wish not to be knocked over, they must get out of the way. I give no notice of my approach ; I make way for no man. What has the grand calm old world come to ? There is nothing now anywhere but noise and pushing and money-grubbing ; " and every camel that you will meet will be going the same measured pace, holding its head in the same po- sition, drawing down its lip with the same contempt, and soliloquising in the same style. — Egypt of the Pharaohs and the Khedive. V- AN EGYPTIAN FOOTMAN, THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. cemetery. Shrill gurgling cries fall upon the ear, taken up and repeated by the female bystanders, perhaps with the accompaniment of a hautboy and a drum or two. It is a marriage procession. The bride, a mere child ten or twelve years of age, swathed from head to foot in red or yellow shawls, and inclosed in a canopy or tent, is being conducted to the bath or to her husband's house. 1 Veiled women, black slaves, Be- douin sheikhs, burly pashas, water-carriers, blind beggars, Greek and Coptic priests, donkeys and their drivers, and street-sellers innumerable, make up the picturesque and bewildering throng. The street-sellers in their number and va- riety would demand a chapter to do them justice ; and to interpret their cries require a far greater knowledge of Arabic than I possess. They form, however, so important and characteristic a feature in the aspect of an Eastern city, that they cannot be alto- gether passed over. I avail myself, there- fore, of Mr. Lane's help in the matter. "The cries of some of the hawkers are courious, and deserve to be mentioned. The seller of tirmis or lupins often cries, 'Aid! O Imbabee! Aid!' This is under- stood in two senses ; as an invocation for aid to the sheikh El- Imbabee, a celebrated Mus- lim saint, buried at the village of Imbabeh, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo, in the neighborhood of which village the best tirmis is grown ; and also as implying that it is through the aid of the saint above- mentioned that the tirmis of Imbabeh is so excellent. The seller of this vegetable also cries, 'The tirmis of Imbabeh surpasses the almond." Another cry of the seller of tirmis is, ' O how sweet the little offspring of the river ! ' The seller of sour limes cries, ' God make them light ' or easy of sale. The toasted pips of a kind of melon called abdallawee, and of the watermelon, are often announced by the cry of ' O 1 1 saw a curious illustration in the streets of Cairo of the irresistible innovations of the West, and the unchanging customs of the East. The bride was being taken home in a cab, but the canopy was tied over the roof, and hxed to the four comers, to represent the four poles which usually support it. 32 A MINARET IN CAIRO. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. consoler of the embarrassed ! O pips ! ' A curious cry of the seller of a kind of sweetmeat composed of treacle fried with some other ingredients, is, ' For a nail, O sweetmeat!' He is said to be half a thief; children and servants often steal implements of iron, etc., from the house in which they live, and give them to him in exchange for his sweetmeat. The hawker of oranges cries, 'Honey! O oranges! honey!' And similar cries are used by the sellers of other fruit and vegetables, so that it is sometimes impossible to guess what the person announces for sale, as when we here the cry of ' Sycamore-figs ! O grapes ! ' except by the rule that what is for sale is the least excellent of the fruits, etc., mentioned ; as sycamore-figs are not as good as grapes. A very singular cry is used by the sellers of roses : ' The rose was a thorn ; from the sweat of the Prophet it blossomed.' This alludes to a miracle related of the Prophet. The fragrant flowers of .the henna-tree are carried about for sale, and the seller cries, 'Odors of Paradise! O flowers of the henna!' A kind of cotton-cloth, made by machinery which is put in mo- tion by a bull, is announced by the cry of ' The work of the bull ! O maidens ! ' " 1 A familarcry in the streets of Cairo is that of the water-carrier- Sometimes he uses almost the very words of the prophet Isaiah : ' O ye thirsty, water ? ' He does not, however, go on to say, " without mo- ney and without price ; " 2 but for a small coin, less than an English farthing, he fills one of the brass cups which he chinks incessantly as he walks along. A more ambiguous cry, but one in common use is, "Oh, may God compensate me!" More frequently he exclaims, "The gift of Cod!" recalling the words of our Lord, speaking to the Samaritan woman of the Holy Spirit : "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who is it that saith to thee, Give Me to drink ; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." 3 As we leave the Mooskee behind us, and enter the purely native quarter, the streets become narrower, till at length a laden camel can scarcely pass, its burden touching the wall on either side. The upper stories of the houses, which project as they ascend, almost meet overhead, leaving only a narrow strip of sky visible. But even yet we have not penetrated into the innermost arcana of the bazaars. I was several days searching for the goldsmiths' bazaar before I could find it. At length, passing out of a very narrow street, through a dark and filthy archway, I found myself in a gloomy passage, in which it was impos- sible for two persons to walk abreast. On either side the goldsmiths were busy, each with his charcoal fire, blowpipe and anvil, producing the exquisite jewelery for which Cairo is so justly famous. Filigree work, fine as the finest lace, jeweled necklaces and nose rings, head-dresses inlaid with diamonds and pearls, were offered for sale, in dirty holes and corners, by men black with the smoke of the forge at which they A CAIRENE WOMAN AND CHILD. 1 Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. By E. W. Lane, pp. 318, 319. 8 Isaiah lv. 1. 3 John iv. 10. 33 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. had been working. There was no display of wealth. Every article was brought out separately, and its price fixed by weight. Yet even here the intrusive West had made its way. Each Jeweler had at the back of his forge an iron safe made in London or Birmingham, in which his treasures were stored. The mosques in Cairo are very numerous, not fewer, it is said, than four hundred. Many of them are of considerable size and architectural merit. But, with the single ex- .... Jwi; ^ ception of that of Moham- Ali, med they are lapidation. assigned condition. recently erected, all falling into di- Many reasons are for their ruinous It is said that the Egyptians are deterred from repairing them by sup- erstitious feelings. Others ascribe the neglect to a de- cay of religious faith and zeal. The more probable explanation is, that the gov- ernment having confiscated the estates of the mosques, as well as those of private individuals, now fail to dis- charge the duty of keeping the edifices in repair. The mosque of Sultan Tooloon is interesting to architects from the fact, that although built a thousand years ago (a.d. 879), it had pointed arches at least three hundred years before their introduct- ion into England. That of Sultan Hassan, near the cita- del, is a building of great beauty, constructed out of the casing stones of the Great Pyramid. "It abounds," says Fairholt, "with the most enriched details of ornament within and without; not the least remarkable of its fittings being the rows of colored glass lamps hanging from its walls, of Syrian manufacture, bearing the Sultan's name, amid glowing colored deco- rations ; they are some of the finest early glass-work of their kind, but many are broken, and others hanging unsafely from half-corroded chains." Though this mosque is the boast and pride of the Cairenes, yet it is allowed to remain in a condition of filth and dilapidation which seems to prove that all religious zeal is dying out from the hearts of the people. 34 A STREET IN CAIRO. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. The suburbs of Cairo, and the surrounding district, are very interesting. Weeks may- be spent in visiting and revisiting the many points of attraction. In the environs are charming villas, each standing in a garden, rich in all the products of a semi-tropical country, and abundantly supplied with water. As we ramble in the outskirts of the city, we often come upon an open space occupied as a fair. How like, and yet how unlike, A WATER-SELLER. an English fair! Swings and round-abouts are here, but dark-skinned, bright-eyed Arab youngsters have taken the place of our young hopefuls. Yonder is a serpent- charmer with necklace and girdle of snakes ; before him are half-a-dozen puff-adders, erect upon their tails, and waving to and fro with a rhythmic motion to the music of a rude guitar. Near him sits a story-teller, reciting in guttural Arabic some interminable 35 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. tale from the Thousand and One Nights, the group seated round him listening with a fixed attention which noth- ing seems to weary. Jug- glers, mountebanks, and ac- robats are performing their feats precisely as we see them at home. Booths, constructed with a few poles and rafters, over which a vine has been trained, afford shadow to loungers who sit hour after hour, sipping coffee or sherbet, and listening to the dismal tones of a ta- rabookah or Nubian drum, a reed pipe, and a dulcimer. It is a merry, and yet a sad scene. These men are mere children, with no occupation for the present ; no care, or purpose, or hope, for the future. Continuing our ramble along the banks of the Nile, we cross a branch of the river to visit the Nilometer. It was built in the year 7 1 6 a.d. by order of the Caliph Suleiman, and has been re- stored many times since that date. A pit lined with mason- ry is sunk to the level of the bed of the river, but the lower part is choked with mud and with the remains of the dome, which has fallen in. A graduated column rises in the • center indicat- in cubits the height to ing which the inundation reaches. The sixteenth cubit is called the Sultan's water, as the land tax is only levied when this height is attained. It is notorious that the official and the true record never agree. " A good Nile," as it is called, is from eighteen to 36 A STEEET IN CAIRO. INTERIOR OP THE MOSQUE OE THE SULTAN HASAN. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. twenty-two cubits. Less than this leaves the soil insufficiently irrigated ; more than this drowns the country and inflicts immense mischief upon the peasantry. Every morning during the rise of the river criers go throughout Cairo proclaiming the level to which the inundation has reached. The announcement is awaited with intense and BAB EZ-ZUWELEH OR BAB EL-MUTAWELLEE, CAIRO. eager interest, for upon it depends the question whether the coming year shall be one of famine or of abundance. When the proper height has been attained the dams are cut, allowing the water to flow into the canals, and universal rejoicings prevail throughout the city. 39 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. Perhaps there is no place in the immediate vicinity of the city which is visited and revisited with deeper interest than the Citadel. It stands on a rocky eminence which rises to the east of Cairo, and commands a magnificent view extending over the city, the desert, and far down the Nile valley. In this wonderful view the Pyramids form the most impressive feature. Though clearly visible, and within easy reach, they stand quite apart from the surrounding landscape. The narrow strip of cultivated soil along the banks of the river approaches, but does not touch them. The solitude and silence of the desert broods over them. The noise from the city at our feet falls upon our ears. SANCTUARY OF THE MOSQUE OF IBN-TOOLOON. Its busy life moves beneath our eyes. But nothing breaks in upon the sense of awful mystery and separation from the existing world which invests these venerable monu- ments of antiquity. A tragic interest attaches to one of the courts of the Citadel. In 1811 Mohammed Ali learned that the Mamlukes intended to rebel against him. He therefore invited their chiefs to be present in the Citadel on the investiture of his son Toossoom Pasha with the command of the army. Upwards of four hundred came. The ceremony over, on mounting their horses to ride away, they found the gates closed. At the same moment, a fierce fire of musketry was opened upon them from the windows of the 40 VILLA AND GARDEN NEAR CAIRO. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. surrounding barracks. Resistance and escape were alike impossible. They galloped round the narrow inclosure, seeking, in vain to find a way of escape or an enemy whom they might attack. Men and horses fell in heaps in the courtyard. Only one of them, Emin Bey, survived. He leaped his horse over the precipice which forms the western front of the Citadel. The animal was killed by the fall, but he escaped as by a miracle, and reached a camp of Arnauts in the plain below, who refused to surrender him to the Pasha ; and he succeeded in making his way from the country in disguise. The soldiers who had taken part in the massacre were rewarded by being permitted to plunder the houses of their victims and to complete the extermination of the Mamlukes by slaughtering those who had not been present at the ceremony. Upwards of twelve COFFEE-HOUSE IN THE SUBURBS OF CAIEO. hundred are said to have perished. As we visit the splendid Mosque of Mohammed Ali, close to the scene of the massacre, it is impossiple not to remember with horror this frightful tragedy. Though few or none of the remains of the Egypt of the Pharaohs are to be found in Cairo, yet it stands in close proximity to some of the most important cities of the ancient dynasties. The site of Memphis, which we shall visit on our journey up the Nile, is only a few miles to the south. Heliopolis is still nearer. Passing out from the city, and leaving the Citadel and the tombs of the Caliphs on our right, the road leads, under avenues of tamarisk and acacia, through a richly-cultivated district. Soon, however, the limits of vegetation are reached, and we enter upon the vast tract 43 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. of sand which bounds Egypt on every side. The line of fertility and barrenness is not, however, continuous and unbroken, Wherever a depression in the soil or an extention of irrigation brings the waters of the Nile to a point in advance of the ordinary limit of cultivation, there the desert " rejoices and blossoms as the rose." THE NILOMETEE. In one of these projecting points of fertile soil, immediately before we reach the site of the ancient city, is a garden, in the midst of which stands a venerable sycamore tree, hollow, gnarled, and almost leafless with extreme age. It is enclosed by palisades, and is regarded with veneration by the Copts as the place where Joseph, Mary, and the infant Saviour rested on their flight into Egypt. The fact that there 44 ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. was a great Jewish settlement in this neighborhood gives a certain measure of plausi- bility to the legend. The tree itself, though evidently of great age, cannot be as ancient as the legend affirms. The road now leads through a wide plain, covered with a luxuriant growth of sugar- cane. From amidst the broad green glossy leaves a single column of red granite rises, covered from summit to base with hieroglyphics. It is the sole relic above the soil of THE CITADEL AT CAIRO. the once famous City of the Sun — The Heliopolis ot Herodotus and Strabo, the Bethshemesh of Jeremiah, 1 the On of Joseph. 2 To this great university city of ancient Egypt, Plato, Eudoxus, and the wisest of the Greeks, came to be initiated into the mystic lore of the priests. Here, as Manetho tells us, Moses was instructed in all the learning of the Egyptians. This solitary column, raised about a century before the 1 Jeremiah xliii. 13. 2 Genesis xli. 45. 45 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. time of Joseph, looked down on his marriage with Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah. It has stood in its present position for nearly four thousand years, and is the sole survivor of the avenues of sphinxes, the temples and palaces, and colleges and obelisks, described by Greek historians. Even in Egypt we shall visit few spots invested with a deeper and more various interest than this. But the great excursion from Cairo yet awaits us — that to the Pyramids. I had seen them so frequently from a distance, and had been so deeply impressed by their solemn and solitary grandeur, that it was with an apprehension of disappointment that I started in the early morning to spend a long day in examining them more closely. Until re- cently, the trip was not without some difficulty. The Nile had to be crossed by a ferry ; donkeys were the only means of conveyance ; and the traveler must often go some miles out of his way to avoid a canal or a tract of land un- der water, or he must be carried over it on men's shoulders. Now a noble bridge is thrown across the river, and a broad highway, above the reach of the inun- dation, leads under an avenue of carob trees, past the Viceroy's palace, to the very foot of the plateau o n which the Pyramids stand. Lovers of romance and adventure complain of the change, and they hear with dismay that a branch railway is talked of. It is certainly a very prosaic affair to drive out to Gizeh in a carriage and pair, with as little risk or trouble as is involved in a trip to Richmond. But for those who have only a single day to devote to the excursion, the new road is not without its advantages. In about an hour after leaving the Ezbekeeyah, we see the Pyramids rising from the sandy plain, evidently close at hand. The first view is certainly disappointing. They are much smaller, and also much nearer, than we had supposed. Two hours was the time alloted for the journey thither, yet our watches show that only one has passed. We soon discover that we are under an optical delusion. The perfect clearness of the air, the want of any intervening objects to break the monotony of the plain, or to mark the distance, and the immense size of the Pyramids themselves, had led us to suppose that we had reached our destination when less than half of the distance had been traversed As we sped on our way, they loomed larger and larger before us, till at 4C MOSQUE OP MOHAMMED ALI IN THE CITADEL. o o of W o w Eh o o Eh 8 o a EH ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. length, when we found ourselves at the foot of the plateau, they fully realized all our ex- pectations. I, at least, felt nothing of the disappointment and disenchantment to which many travelers have given expression. Vast and imposing as are the Pyramids even at the present day, it is important to re- member that we do not see them in their original condition. It has been said that, " All things dread Time ; but Time itself dreads the Pyramids." The destructive agency of man, however, has effected what mere natural decay was powerless to accomplish. The huge masses of masonry are indeed proof against the assaults alike of man and of time. But as originally constructed, they offered not the rough and broken outline up which we now climb, but a smooth and polished surface, perhaps covered with hiero- glyphics. For centuries they furnished quarries out of which modern Egyptians have built their cities. Though their beauty has been thus destroyed, their bulk is not per- ceptibly diminished. Abd-el-Atif, an Arab physician, writing in the twelfth century, when the casing stones were yet in their places, says ; "The most admirable particular THE OBELISK OP TJSEKTESEN I. AT HELIOPOLIS. of the whole is the extreme nicety with which these stones have been prepared and ad- justed. Their adjustment is so precise that not even a needle or a hair can be inserted between any two of them. They are joined by a cement laid on to the thickness of a sheet of paper. These stones are covered with writing in that secret character whose import is at this day wholly unknown. These inscriptions are so multitudinous, that if only those which are seen on the surface of these two Pyramids were copied upon paper, more than ten thousand books would be filled with them." One of these inscriptions is said by Herodotus to have recorded that sixteen hundred talents of silver were ex- pended in purchasing radishes, onions, and garlic for the workmen ; reminding us of the complaint of the Israelites : " We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." 1 I Numbers xi. 5. The general opinion of Egyptologists is that the Pyramids were without hieroglyphics. The statements of Abd- el-Atif and Herodotus, however, are so precise, that it seems difficult to doubt them. 49 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. If, as we stand upon the plateau of Gizeh, now covered with mounds of ruin and debris, we would picture to ourselves the scene which it presented in the time of the pharaohs, we must conceive of the three Pyramids as huge masses of highly-polished granite, the area around them covered with pyramids and temples, amongst which the Sphinx rose in solemn, awful grandeur to a height of a hundred feet. What is now a silent waste of desert sand would be thronged with priests, and nobles, and soldiers, in all the pomp and splendor with which the monuments make us familiar, while just below us, stretching along the Nile, the palaces of Memphis glittered in the sun. As we realize to ourselves this magnificent spectacle, we may understand something of the THE PYKAMIDS. self-denial manifested by Moses when " he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daugh- ter ; " and of his dauntless courage when he stood before the King, and demanded that he should let the people go. It was only as "by faith he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible," that he was able to rise to this height of heroism ; " choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward." 1 The following are the dimensions of these stupendous monuments, as measured by Mr. Perring. 2 1 Heb. xi. 24 — 27. 2 Baron Bunsen has justly pointed out that, in their present state of dilapidation, no admeasurements, however carefully taken, are more than an approximation. So ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. Sides of the base Slant height Perpendicular height. . . . Angle of elevation Area of the base, sq. yards ist Pyramid. 2nd Pyramid. Present. Feet. 746 568 450 61.835 Original. Feet. 767 614 479 51.20 65.437 Present. Feet. 690 563 447 5 3.o r 5 Orginal. Feet, 705 577 457 52.21 55>320 3rd Pyramid. Present Feet. 352 203 Original . Feet. 352 283 219 51.IO 13.853 The Great Pyramid is, therefore, more than half as long again on every side as Westminster Abbey, and, though deprived of more than thirty feet by the removal of its apex, it is still fifty feet higher than the top of St. Paul's, and more than twice as high as the central tower of York Minster. It covers thirteen acres of ground, equal to the area of Lincoln's Inn Fields, and is computed to have contained 6,848,ooo tons of solid masonry. The pyramid itself contains two chambers, which have received the appellation of the Kings and Qtieeris. The latter is lined with slabs of polished stone, very carefully finished, and artistically roofed with blocks leaning against each other to resist the pressure of the mass above. This apartment is reached by a sloping passage, which terminates in a gallery or hall twenty-eight feet high. From the entrance to the gallery a horizontal passage, one hundred and nine feet long, leads to the queen's chamber, which measures seventeen feet north and south by eighteen wide, and is twenty feet high to the top of the inclined blocks. The gallery continues to ascend till it reaches a sort of vestible, which leads to the King's chamber. This chamber is finished with as much care as the other, and measures thirty-four feet by seventeen, and nineteen in height. The north and south walls are pierced by two shafts or tubes, about eight inches square, slanting up through the entire fabric to the exterior of the pyramid. The King's chamber contained a red granite sarcophagus without a lid ; it was empty, and had neither sculpture nor inscription of any kind. The door was guarded by a succession of four heavy stones portcullises, intended to be let down after the body was deposited, and impenetrably seal up the access. The roof of the chamber is flat ; and, in order to take off the weight above, five spaces, or entresols, have been left in the structure. On the wall of one of these garrets, never intended to be entered, General Vyse discovered, in 1836, what had been searched for in every other part of the pyramid in vain. Drawn in red ochre, apparently as quarry marks on the stones previously to their insertion, are several hieroglyphic characters, among which is seen the oval ring which encircles the royal titles, and within it a name which had already been noticed on an adjoining tomb. On the latter it was read Shufu or Chufu, a word sufficiently near, in the Egyptian pronunciation, to Cheops, whom Herodosus gives as the founder of the largest pyramid. One of the most singular features in this pyramid is a perpendicular shaft descending from the gallery in front of the queen's chamber down to the entrance passage under- 53 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. extraordinary pre- go to confirm the ground, a depth of one hundred and fifty-five feet. The workmanship shows that this well was sunk through the masonry after the completion of the pyramid, in all proba- bility as an outlet for the masons, after barring the sloping ascent with a mass of granite on the inside, which long concealed its existence. The lower opening of the well was closed with a similar stone ; the builders then withdrawing by the northern entrance, which was both barricaded and concealed under the casing, left the interior, as they sup- posed, inaccessible to man. These cautions tradition related by Herodo- tus, that Cheops was not buried in the vault he had prepared, but secretly in some safer retreat, on account of violence apprehended from the people. As no other pyramid is known to contain an upper room, it seems not improbable that the queen's chamber was the refuge where his mummy lay concealed while the vault was broken open and searched in vain. Lepsius has shown that the Pyramids were constructed by degrees. The vault was excavated, and a course of masonry laid over it, in the first year of the king's reign. If he died before a second was completed, the corpse was interred, and the pyramid built up solid above. With every year of the king's life an addition was made to the base as well as to the superstructure, so that the years of the reign might have been numbered by the accretions, as the age of a tree by its annual rings. When the last year came, the steps were filled out to a plane surface, the casing put on, and the royal corpse conveyed through the slanting passage ||| to its resting-place. ^ ' ' The Second Pyramid stands about five hundred feet to the south-west of the First, and is so placed that the diagonals of both are in a ri^ht line. It is some- cheops. what smaller, but stands on higher ground. The construction is similar to the other, save that no chamber has been discovered above ground. It was sur- rounded by a pavement, through which a second entrance, in front of the northern face, descends deep into the rock, and then rises again to meet the usual passage from the regular opening in the face of the pyramid. From the point of junction a horizontal passage leads to a vault, now called by the name of Belzoni ; it measures forty-six feet by sixteen, and is twenty-two feet in height. It is entirely hewn in the rock, with the exception of the roof, which is formed of vast limestone blocks, leaning against each other and painted inside. When discovered, this vault contained a plain granite sarcophagus, without inscription, sunk into the floor. The lid was half destroyed, and it was full of rubbish. Some bones found in the interior turned out to be the 54 SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID FROM NORTH TO SOUTH. 1. SUBTEBBANEAK VAULT. 2. QUEEN'S CHAMBEB. 3. KlNGS CHAMBER. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. remains of oxen ; but the sarcophagus was not large enough to admit more than a human mummy. Besides the large vault, Belzoni found a smaller one, eleven feet long, and a third, measuring thirty-four feet by ten, and eight feet five in height, but neither contained any sepulchral remains. The general workmanship of this pyramid is inferior to that of the larger one. It re- tains its outer casing for about one hundred and fifty feet from the top, and is, conse- quently, more difficult of ascent. No name has been found on any part of the Second Pyramid, and its erection is not mentioned by Manetho. A tradition preserved by Di- odorus assigned it to Amasis ; but an ad- jacent tomb contains an inscription to a royal architect, in which the monarch is called Shafra the Great of the Pyramid, and this has been supposed to be Chephren, the brother of Cheops, to whom Herodotus ascribes the Second Pyramid. The Third or Red Pyramid — so called from the color of the granite casing which covered the lower half, and has protected its base from diminution — is described by the classical writers as the most sumptuous and magnificent of all. It certainly sur- passes the other two in beauty and regu- larity of construction. It covers a suite of three subterranean chambers, reached as usual by a sloping passage from the north- ern face. The first is an ante-room twelve feet long, the walls paneled in white stucco. Its door was blocked by huge stones, and when these had been removed, three granite portcullises, in close succession, guarded the vault beyond. In this apartment, which measures forty-six feet by twelve, and is nearly under the apex of the pyra- mid, a sarcophagus had apparently been sunk, but none remained. The floor was covered with its fragments as Perring sup- posed in red granite ; and Bunsen ascribes the fracture to Egyptian violence. Others, however, imagine these fragments to be only the chippings made by the masons in fitting the portcullises. Beyond and below this vault is a second, somewhat smaller, in which General Vyse found an elegant sarcophagus of basalt : " the outside was very beautifully carved in compartments in the Doric style," or rather " had the deep cornice which is character- istic of the Egyptian style." It was empty, and the lid was found broken in the larger apartment. This valuable relic being very brittle, and in danger of disappearing under the curiosity of visitors, General Vyse removed the sarcophagus with great 55 VIEW OF GALLERY IN THE GREAT PYRAMID, FROM THE LOWER AND UPPER LANDING-PLACES. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. difficulty, and embarked it for England in 1838, but the vessel which conveyed it unfortunately went down off the coast of Spain. The Red Pyramid was opened by the Moslems in the thirteenth century, when, the narrator states, " nothing was found but the decayed rotton remains of a man, but there were no treasures, excepting some golden tablets, inscribed with characters which nobody could understand." Some portion of the remains were found in the outer apartment, which are now deposited in the British Museum. Amongst them was the lid of a sarcophagus inscribed with an epitaph containing the king's name, which is at once identified with Mycerinus, to whom Herodotus attributes the erection of the pyramid. At the eastern edge of the platform of Gizeh stands the Great Sphinx, a fabulous monster, compounded of the bust of a man with the body and legs of a lion. This combination is supposed to symbolize the union of intellect and power required in a king. The conception originated apparently in Thebes, and seems as intimately connected with that city as the pyra- mid is with Memphis. This gigantic monster is consequently some centuries later than the neighboring Pyramids. Bunsen is inclined to assign it tc Thothmes IV., who is represented, in a tablet on the breast of the Sphinx, offering incense and libations. It is carved out of the living rock, excavated for the pur- pose to a depth of above sixty feet. The sands had so accu- mulated about the figure, that only the head, neck, and top of the back were visible, when Caviglia began to excavate the front in 1817. In recent years it has been wholly uncovered by M. Mariette. The figure lies with its face to the Nile, with the paws protruding, in an attitude of majestic repose. The contenance has the semi-negro, or ancient Egyptian cast of features, but is much injured by the Arabs hurling theii spears and arrows at the idol. Fragments of the beard have been found, and some traces of red remain on the cheeks, which are perhaps of a later date. The head was covered with a cap, of which, only the lower part remains. It is named in the hieroglyphics Hor-em-Khoo, " Horus in the horizon ; " that is to say, the Sun-god, the type of all the kings. The height from the crown of the head to the floor between the paws is seventy feet; the body is a hundred and forty feet in length, and the paws pro- trude fifty feet more. Between them was the altar or temple where sarifices were offered to the deity, which was apparently the Genius of the Theban monarchy. Rameses the Great is among the worshippers, and inscriptions on the paws testify to the continuance of the rite in the Roman age. A small building on the steps in front is inscribed to the Emperor Severus, who visited Egypt a.d. 202. From the floor, where the altar stood, a flight of forty-three steps ascended to a platform, whence an inclined plane led to the top of the rock facing the Sphinx. The whole intermediate space had been excavated with prodigious labor. Nothing could be grander than the appearance of this mysterious creature fronting the worshippers, and rising more and more over their heads, as they descend the long flight of steps to lay their offerings at its feet 56 BUST OF CHEPHBEN IN THE MUSEUM AT BOOLAK. ^ Cartouche °/ Chephren. 1/ ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. The platform of Gizeh abounds in tombs of various ages, and more than a hundred have been opened by Lepsius. One adorned with pillars, and brilliantly painted, was the resting-place of a Prince Merhet, a priest, and, as Lepsius thinks "more than probable," a son, of Chufu ; he is described as " superintendent of the royal buildings." From these tombs the enthusiastic explorer says — " I could almost write a court and state directory of the time of King Cheops or Chephren." 1 In another row of tombs Lepsius imagines he has discovered the remains of the Fifth Dynasty, hitherto sup- posed to have reigned at Elephantine contemporaneously with the Fourth at Memphis ; but we must certainly hesitate to accept his conclusions, when he tells us " these are formed into one civilized epoch, dating about the year 4000 B.C." 1 The common fault of Egyptologists is to assume a chronology in their own minds, and then attach it to the monuments, as if it were inscribed on them in unmistakable characters. Lepsius acknowledges that he has " not found a single cartouche that can be safely assigned to a period previous to the Fourth Dynasty. The builders of the Great Pyramid seem to assert their right to form the commencement of monumental history." The date of his " civilized epoch," therefore, will depend on that of the Pyramids, which no sober chronology places higher than 2400 B.C., while much may be said for a later date. The ascent of the Great Pyramid is a rather laborious task. The great blocks of stone form a series of steps of unequal height, varying from two to four or five feet. A tribe of Arabs occupying a village at the foot claim the right to assist travellers. Their sheikh levies a tribute of two shillings upon each person making the ascent, and appoints two or three of his people to help him up. The difficulty is thus materially diminished, and the magnificant view from the ^^^ summit — even finer, in some respects, than that from the Citadel — amply re- pays the traveler for the toil he has undergone. The desert stretches to the verge of the horizon. A narrow valley, inclosed by the Libyan and the Mokattam Mountains, runs to the southward. In the center of this valley the noble river is, seen winding along, with a belt of verdure on either side. The emerald green of the cultivated soil contrasts finely with the red of the mountains and the tawny sand of the desert. The pyramids of Sakkara, the palm groves of Mitrahenny, Cairo, with its innumerable min- arets and cupolas, and the Citadel seated on its rocky height above the city, make up a picture which can scarcely be equalled, and which once seen can never be forgotten. It is difficult, however, to abandon oneself to the full enjoyment of the scene. Crowds of Arabs follow the party to the summit, and pester them with entreaties for backsheesh, or with clamorous recommendations of the forged antiquites they have for sale. They are merry, good-humored fellows, quick at taking a joke, and great as the annoyance may be, it is impossible to lose one's temper. I tried the effect of a retort upon them by asking backsheesh in return. One ragged scoundrel drew himself up with a digni- fied air, and putting his hand into some mysterious pocket of a cotton shirt, the only garment he possessed, drew out a small coin worth about half a farthing. Putting it into my hand with a condescending gesture, he folded his arms and walked away, amidst shouts of laughter from his comrades. To one of the dealers in forged antiquities, I said, "I shan't buy those ; they were made in Birmingham." A rival trader plucked me by the coat, and said, " No, Mr. Doctor, his were not made in Birmingham ; his were made in London;" and then preceded to vouch for his own as bono anticos. One J Letters, iv. 57 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. great feat is for an Arab to leap down the side of the First Pyramid, run across the in- tervening space of desert sand, and up the Second Pyramid in nine minutes. The sheikh was demanding a shilling apiece from the twenty-four Europeans who were on the summit. I remonstrated, saying that a dollar for the whole was the regular tariff. The sheikh drew me aside and whispered in my ear, " Mr. Doctor, you say nothing, and pay nothing." When he came round to collect the money from the contributers, he passed me by with a merry wink and shrug of his shoulders. A member of our party had a very powerful opera-glass, which he lent to one of the Arabs. Mohammed, looking through it, was beyond measure astounded to see not only his village in the plain below, but his two wives, Fatima and Zuleika, gaily disporting themselves in his absence, little thinking that "he held them with his glittering eye." When he had given free vent to his feelings, I said to him, " Mohammed, how do you keep two wives in order? We in England find one quite as much as we can manage with advantage ; sometimes rather more." He replied, " Oh, Mr. Doctor, dey berry good ; dey like two sisters ; I give them much stick ;" and I have no doubt that they had a good deal of stick on his return home. All this may seem quite out of keeping with the feelings proper to a visit to the Pyra- mids — as no doubt it is — but I have been so much annoyed by the unreality and senti- mentalism of many books of travel, that I prefer to state facts exactly as they happened. The gift of a shilling to the sheikh, on condition that he allowed no one to speak to me for a quarter of an hour, at length secured a brief interval of quiet, in which I abandoned myself to the undisturbed enjoyment of the scene and its associations. What a wonder- ful history is unrolled before us as we look around ! Across that waste of sand, which stretches away to the north-east, came Abram and Sarai his wife, and his nephew Lot, to sojourn in the land. The young Hebrew slave, who should rise to be second only to Pharaoh, is brought by the same route, and is followed once and again by his brethern seeking corn in Egypt. Where the palm-trees cluster so thickly round the ruined mounds on the banks of the river, Moses and Aaron stood before the king, and de- manded that he should let the people go. It was across the plain at our feet that the armies of Shishak and Pharaoh Necho marched for the invasion of Palestine. Here, too, came the fugitives, Jeroboam, Urijah, and others, 1 seeking refuge amongst their an- cestral enemies. Near that obelisk of red granite rising amid the glossy green of the sugar-canes, Joseph married his wife : and when the Jewish monarchy had fallen, Onias, the high-priest, erected a temple upon the plan of that at Jerusalem for his brethern who had settled in Egypt. There, too, if we may trust tradition, the infant Saviour was brought when escaping from the wrath of Herod the king. Turning from sacred to se- cular history, memories of Persian, Macedonian, and Roman conquerors — Cambyses, Alexander, and Caesar — start into life as we look down upon the plain. Again the scene changes, as Amrou and Omar unfurl the banner of the False Prophet, and wrest the richest province of the empire from the enfeebled hand of the Byzantine rulers. Again, as we gaze, we seem to see at the head of his armies the magnificent Emir Yusef Salah- e'deen march from Cairo to confront the Crusaders under Richard the Lion-hearted, King of England, and, having given some of its most romantic chapters to modern his- tory, to return, and dying, send his shroud round the city, whilst criers went before it, exclaiming, "This is all that remains of the pomp of Saladin." Coming down to our 1 I Kings xi. 40 ; xiv. 25, 26 ; Jeremiah xxvi. 21 ; xli. 17 ; xliii. 7. 53 ASCENDING THE GREAT PYRAMID. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. own times, we cannot forget the Battle of the Pyramids, when a small compact French army withstood the attack of 60,000 Mamlukes and compelled them to retreat, leaving 1 5,ooo dead upon the field. In the four thousand years over which the history of Egypt extends, what generations have lived and died, what empires have risen and flour- ished and decayed ! Surrounded, by these affecting memorials of bygone ages, we seem to hear a voice sounding from the silence of the past, and saying, "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field : the grass withereth, the flower fadeth : . . . but the word of our God shall stand for ever." 1 ^ I=aiah xl. 6, 8. 61 ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE. SECTION II. Cairo To Assouan. u /*""** AIRO to Assiut direct by railway!" Grotesque as this sounds, it has for some ^- > years been possible, a railway having been constructed over the 230 miles separating the two towns. Few persons, however, would care to do the Nile in this fashion. The traveler, who wishes really to enjoy the journey, has the choice of two prefer- able modes of transit. He may go by steamer or by dahabiyyeh. If pressed for time and of limited purse, he must needs choose the former. If he is able to control abund- ant supply of money and time, he may choose the latter. Since 1870 the steamer arrangements on the Nile have been passing more and more completely under the control of Messers. T. Cook & Son. This firm has now almost a monopoly of the steamer traffic on the Nile. The result is that a regular service of boats runs between Cairo and the First Cataract twice weekly during the season, from November to March. New steamers, constructed with a knowledge of all the special requirements of the service, have begun running this year (1886) ; and what used to be both a formidable and costly journey, is now within the reach of all who can afford to' visit the East. Travelers who make the journey by dahabiyyeh often find that the smoothness 62 MONEY-CHANGER AT SI OUT. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. and enjoyment of the trips are increased by leaving the needful arrangements in the hands of the same firm. The chief advantage of the steamboat trip is that we are able to run rapidly past the uninteresting portions of the river. The Nile scenery is for the most part dull and flat. On a dahabiyyeh we may find ourselves becalmed for days off a mud-bank or a long stretch of sand, with nothing to do except watching the antics or listening to the monotonous singing of the crew. If, weary of waiting for a wind, the crew are ordered to tow the boat against the stream, the progress is exceedingly slow and tedious — six or eio-ht miles a day are the utmost that can be accomplished. But steamboat speed is not secured without great compensating disadvantages. CREW OF NILE BOAT. The delicious sense of repose, the Oriental Kief, the Italian dolce far niente, which constitutes so large a part of the enjoyment of the Nile trip, is impossible on board a steamer. Though the rate of progress be slow as compared with that on European or American waters, it is yet far too rapid to let us abandon ourselves to the lotus- eating indolence which is so refreshing to the wearied frame and over-wrought brain of the traveler in search of health. Then, too, it is impossible to linger where we please. We must hurry on. Two hours may be enough for the tombs of Bern Hassan, three hours for the temple of Esneh, four days for Luxor and Karnak ; but it is distressing to feel that we cannot stop if we like. Haunted by the fear of being to late, we complete our survey, watch in hand, to be sure of catching the 65 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. steamer before she leaves her moorings in the river. The risk of finding uncongenial company on board is likewise not inconsiderable. In a public conveyance it is not possible to choose one's fellow-travelers, and it may happen that our meditations on the grand memories of the past are being perpetually broken in upon by " men whose talk is of bullocks." A very serious objection to th old steamers used to be their scandalously dirty condition, and the swarms of vermin with which they were infested. This, of course, does not now apply ; the new vessels being as clean and as comfortable as the most fastidi- who have ample means within themselves, or in days or weeks on board a boat Nile trip in a dahabiyyeh is one of the most delightful excursions in the world. To others the steamer offers a very fair subsitute. But what is a dahabiyyeh ? The dahabiyyeh, gentle reader, is a boat in form and outline not unlike the barges of the City Companies in the days when the Thames was to Londoners what the Nile is to the Egyptians. Its saloons and ous can desire. Nevertheless, for those and leisure, and who have resources their party, to bear the monotony of some with nothing to do and little to see, the A DAHABIYYEH OR NILE BOAT. cabins are on deck. Some are luxuriously fitted up, room being found even for a piano. They differ in size, affording accommodation for from two to six or eight passengers. For the crew no sleeping accommodation whatever is provided. They roll themselves up in their burnouses and lie down on the fore-deck like bundles of old clothes, for which I have not infrequently mistaken them. The boat is worked by two large triangular sails fitted to masts fore and aft, and there are benches for rowers when needed. The resemblance between the Nile boats of the present day and those of the ancient Egyptians, as depicted on the monuments, has been often noticed. "Joseph, in the 66 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. flush 01 power, probably journeyed thus through Egypt, only, of course, with a royal magnificence and splendor of appointment to be dreamed of rather than described. All the travel of those days between the upper and lower country, the traffic of Thebes and Memphis, would be done in such vessels. It must be remembered, that, although PLAN OP DAHABIYYEH, POR POUR PERSONS, SIXTY FEET LONG. Egypt is nearly eight hundred miles in length, its average breadth is only ten or twelve, of which the river is the great feature, the center and source of fertility and wealth. Thus every city was by the water side. Egypt was emphatically "a place of broad rivers and streams," white, in those palmy days, with the swelling sail of many a gal- lant ship, and populous with galleys. So conservative, too, in its customs was it, that even the Ptolemies and Romans were forced to follow them. Thus perhaps Cleopatra's famous barge may have been but a gorgeous dahabiyyeh : " The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, Burned on the water, the poop was beaten gold. Purple the sails, so perfumed that The winds were love-sick with them : the oars were silver, Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke." Dahabiyyehs run up the river without stopping, except when becalmed or to lie-to for the night. Places of interest are visited on the return to Cairo. It will, however, suit our convenience better to take them in reverse order. Our first halting-place will be Bedresheyn, fifteen miles from Bulak, to visit the site of ancient Memphis and the Pyramids of Sak- kara. There is a curious Mussulman tradi- tion in connection with this village, from which its name is said to have been derived. The orthodox creed of Islam is that women will be saved like men, and will be made young again on entering heaven. This legend, how- ever, affirms that there is one exception to the rule. Joseph, when Grand Vizier of Egypt, was riding out from Memphis, when an aged woman accosted him and implored alms. So wrinkled and deformed was she, that he could not help exclaiming, "How ugly thou art!" "Pray, then, to Allah," she replied, "that he would make me young and beautiful. He hears all thy prayers, and grants whatever thou dost ask." Thereupon Joseph lifted up his hands and prayed for her as she requested. Instantly she stood by his side transformed into a 67 KITCHEN OP NILE BOAT. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. lovely girl — so lovely that he was enamored of her and made her his wife. She lived long, and survived him for many years. Dying in extreme old age, she went to heaven, an old woman, the only old woman there : for Allah makes all good women young again once, but once only, and she can never be made young again. The road from the village leads through one of the most luxuriant palm forests to be found in Egypt. Our boat was moored for the night close to the point where an avenue of trees came down to the river-bank. The full moon was shining with wonderful brilliancy, pouring a flood of light over the landscape, of which we, in these northern latitudes, can form little conception. I went ashore and wandered for hours among the tall columnar stems and under the graceful feathery crowns of the palm-trees. A party of villagers, too astonished even DHOW OR TRADING BOAT ON THE NILE. to ask for backsheesh, came out to gaze at the strange sight of a European wandering about after nightfall. On my expressing a wish for some of the fronds which hung overhead, a lithe, agile fellow clambered up like a monkey and plucked half-a-dozen for me. Among the many pleasant memories which I brought back from Egypt, there are none more pleasant than that of the moonlight walk through the palm groves of Mitrahenny. There are few remains above ground of the splendor of ancient Memphis. The city has utterly disappeared. If any traces of it yet exist, they are buried beneath the vast mounds of crumbling bricks and broken pottery which meet the eye in every direction. Near the village of Mitrahenny is a colossal statue of Rameses the Great. It is apparently one of two described by Herodotus and Diodorus as standing in front of the Temple of Ptah. They were originally about fifty feet in height. The one 68 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. which remains, though mutilated, measures forty-eight »eet. It is finely carved in a limestone which takes a high polish, and is evidently a portrait. It lies in a pit, which during the inundation is filled with water. As we gaze at this fallen and battered statue of the mighty conqueror, who was probably contemporaneous with Moses, it is impos- sible not to remember the words of the prophet Isaiah : — " They that see thee shall nar- rowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms : that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit." 1 Riding across the mounds of debris already referred to, we soon reach the vast sub- PROSTRATE COLOSSAL STATUE OP RAMESES II. AT MEMPHIS. terranean tomb in which, for a period of at least fifteen hundred years, the bodies of the sacred bulls were interred. In the year i856, M. Mariette observed the head of a sphinx protruding from the sand, and remembered that Strabo described the Serapeum of Memphis as approached through an avenue of sphinxes. He at once commenced his explorations in search of the temple in which Apis was worshiped when alive, and the tomb in which it was buried when dead. With immense exertions, the sand-drift was cleared away, and the avenue was laid bare from beneath a superincumbent mass, which was in some places seventy feet in depth. The splendor of this imposing approach may be inferred from the fact that one hundred and forty-one sphinxes were discovered in situ, besides the pedestals of many others. The temple to which they led has disap- peared, but the tomb remains. It consists of a huge vault or tunnel, divided into three 1 Laiah xiv. 16 19. 69 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. parts, one of which was four hundred yards in length, another two hundred and ten yards. Only the latter of these is now accessible. Chambers lead out from it on either side, in each of which is a ponderous granite sarcophagus hollowed out in the center. In this cavity, which will hold four or five persons with ease, the embalmed body of the sacred bull was deposited. A granite slab of great size and weight, placed over the sarcopha- gus, closed it like a lid. The Viceroy, anxious to place one of these sarcophagi in his museum at Bulak, succeeded in conveying it from the chamber into the subterranean passage. But there it remains. The inclined plane which leads to the surface of the soil offers an insurmountable obstacle to its further progress. Yet the ancient Egypt- ians transported these huge blocks of granite from the quarries near Syene to Memphis, a distance of nearly six hundred miles ! The pomp and splendor with which the worship of the bull Apis was celebrated at Memphis may help us to understand the apostasy of the Israelites in the wilderness, when, having made a molten calf, they said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." 1 They had been so accustomed to see divine honors paid, even by the mightiest of their task-masters, to this supposed incarnation of the Deity, that at Sinai itself they yielded to the influ- ence of long habit, and "corrupted themselves, turning aside quickly out of the way which the Lord commanded them." It was not the bull alone which was worshipped during life by the Egyptians and embalmed on its death. Every nome, almost every city, had its tutelar animal, which received similar honors. Dogs, cats, jackals, wolves, crocodiles, baboons, held in abhorrence in one district, were revered in another. Thus the Tentyrites, regarding the crocodile as the symbol of Typhon, killed it as a religious duty. Elsewhere, temples were built in its honor, in which these disgusting reptiles were tended with the most sedulous care. In all parts of Egypt are large pits, in which the embalmed remains of various animals are to be found in prodigious numbers. One species of ibis seems to have been worshipped everywhere. The bird itself has disap- peared, but its embalmed remains exist by millions. Bayle St. John, who made his way into the ibis pits near Memphis, says : "We began to explore a vast succession of galleries and apartments, closed up here and there with walls of unburnt brick. I can give no idea of the extent of these bird catacombs, except by saying that they appeared large enough to contain all the defunct members of the feathered creation since the beginning of the world. Some of the chambers were vast caves, and there were hun- dreds of them." It was scarcely an exaggeration of the satirist, who, when ridiculing the animal worship of the Egyptians, said that it was "more easy in Egypt to find a god than a man." i Exodus xxxii. 4, 8. 70 EAMESES II. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. In the sandy plains near the site of Memphis are the Pyramids of Sakkara. They stand in a vast necropolis four and a half miles in length, where lie interred the dead of the earliest periods of Egyptian history. One of them is built in stages, and is said by a doubtful tradition preserved by Manetho to have been erected by a monarch of the First Dynasty. If this be true, it is much older than those of Gizeh, and is the most ancient monument in the world. The Gizeh Pyramids, from their superior size SARCOPHAGUS IN THE SERAPEUM OF MEMPHIS. and imposing position, have come to be spokon of as the pyramids, leading many persons to suppose that they are the only ones. This, however, is a mistake. There are eleven still standing in Sakkara. Throwing out of account various pyramidal structures in Upper Egypt, Ethiopia, and elsewhere, the total number may be put down at about a hundred. They are not scattered indiscriminately thoughout the country, but occupy an area about forty-five miles in length, from Gizeh in the north 71 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. to the Fayum in the south. Some persons have conjectured that their concentration within these limits seems to point to some, peculiar phase of religion or civilization as prevailing at the period of their erection, and that they were built, not by a native Egyptian race, but by foreign conquerors, who had placed their capital at Memphis, and introduced this mode of sepulchre, which lasted only during their period of occu- ■-. THE IBIS. - pation, and ceased when they were expelled. This view has not found favor with Egyptologists, and there can be no doubt that they were pyramid-sepulchres. We cannot leave the plain of Memphis without recurring yet once again to the most memorable event in all its eventful history. It was probably here that Moses and Aron stood before Pharaoh and demanded that he should let the people go. In m P K c 03 I ft CO CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. the city now buried beneath mouldering heaps and desert sand the faithful and fearless leader braved the " wrath of the king- : for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." This was the spot where " Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead." 1 Our thoughts pass away from the palaces smitten with this sudden and sore bereavement to the homes of the enslaved race waiting securely for the signal to depart, whilst through faith they " kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the first-born should touch them." 2 Great as was the historical importance of this event, seeing that it was the birth of a nation, it gains yet deeper significance in the fact that it was a type of the great Antitype : " For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." 3 It is of the next one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles of the journey up the Nile -that travelers often complain as being tedious and wearisome. The scenery is monotonous, and the monumental remains are few and unimportant. And yet I can- not say that I felt either tedium or weariness. The great river itself is a constant IBIS MUMMY FROM MEMPHIS. source of wonder. For fifteen hundred miles below the point at which the Tacazze enters it from the mountains of Abyssinia, it flows onward to the sea without receiving a single tributary. Not even a tiny rill or brooklet trickles through the desert sand throughout this immense distance, and rain is almost unknown. The main occupation of the peasantry on its banks is to pump water from its ample stream. Sakiyehs and shadufs are busy all day and all night long levying contributions upon it for the irrigation of the land. Absorbed throughout its course by the scorching sand, and evaporated by an unclouded sun, its volume remains apparently undiminished. , Fed by the lakes, aud annually swollen by the tropical rains of Central Africa, it is an object of ceaseless interest. Then the atmospheric phenomena are of great variety and beauty. There is, indeed, no weather on the Nile, in our English sense of the term. By force of habit we com- merce the voyage by saying, " Fine morning, Fine evening; " but gradually we awake to the consciousness that every day is fine. The subtle criticisms, the striking and 1 Exoius xii 30. 2 Hebrews xi. 28. 3 I Corinthians v. 7. 75 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. original remarks on the weather, which make up so large a part of the small talk of conversation at home, are left to be absurdly out of place where rain is almost a prodio-y. In the early spring the khamsin does, indeed, afford a very unpleasant chancre to comment upon. It is a hot, dry wind, laden with fine particles of dust, which pene- trate everywhere, fill one's eyes and ears, irritate the skin, and produce a sense o MAP OF THE NILE, PKOM ALEXANDRIA TO THE SECOND CATARACT. extreme discomfort. Everything is seen through a lurid haze. The sands of the desert are whirled by it into rotating columns, which march to and fro till they suddenly break up and disappear. On the river this is merely a cause of annoyance, but in the desert it becomes a serious danger. Caravans are said to have perished and been bur- ied beneath the drifting sands. Apart from this most undesirable "change in the weather," the days resemble one another. But the parts of each day have to the ob- 76 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. servant eye an ever-varying charm. The mornings are delightful, clear and cool and bright, with no mist to blur the outlines or veil the sun. Toward mid-day, all color seems to be discharged from the landscape, which is wrapped in a white, blinding glare. Yet even now it is pleasant to lie under an awning on deck, and with a feeling of de- licious indolence listen to the lapping of the water against the sides of the boat, and watch the banks glide past us as in a dream. With the drawing on of evening a glory of color comes out in the light of the setting sun. Purple shadows are cast by the mountains. The reds and greys of sandstone, granite, and limestone cliffs blend exquis- itely with the tawny yellow of the desert, the rich green of the banks and the blue of the river, giving combinations and contrasts of color in which the artist revels. The cold grey twilight follows immediately upon sunset ; but in a few minutes there is a marvel- ous change. The earth and sky are suffused with a delicate pink tinge, known as the after-glow. This is the most fairy-like and magical effect of color I have ever seen. NILE CLIFFS. Swiss travelers are familiar with something like it in the rosy flush of the snowy alps be- fore sunrise and after sunset. The peculiarity in Egypt is that light and color return after an interval of ashy grey, like the coming back of life to a corpse, and that it is not confined to a part of the landscape, but floods the whole. I have seen no explanation of this beautiful phenomenon, and can only conjecture that it is connected with the re- flection and refraction of the light of the setting sun from the sands of the Libyan Desert. Then comes on the night — and such a night ! The stars shine with a lustrous brilliancy so intense that I have seen a distinct shadow cast by the planet Jupiter, whilst his satel- lites were easily visible through an ordinary opera-glass. 1 Orion was an object of inde- scribable splendor. Under which of her aspects the moon was most beautiful I cannot say — whether the first slender thread of light, invisible in our denser atmosphere, or in her growing brightness, or in her full-orbed radiance. Addison's familiar lines gained a new meaning when read under this hemisphere of glory : 1 On one occasion we believed that we could see the principal satellite with the naked eye. Is this possible ? 79 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly, to the listening earth, Repeats the story of her birth ; Whilst all the stars that round her burn, An! all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole. The river flows on through a narrow strip of vegetation varying from a few feet to a few miles in width, but always bounded by the desert. Sometimes the mountains re- treat to a considerable distance from the river, sometimes they come down to its very brink, and form a series of bold cliffs, often surmounted by a Coptic convent. The vil- lages are commonly picturesque, as seen from a distance, standing as they do under a grove of palms, and often placed on the top of a mound which hides the ruins of an an- cient city. But on a nearer approach they are dirty and dilapidated beyond description. AN EGYPTIAN VILLAGE. Still these wretched squalid hamlets have a charm for the European traveler. The min- aret of the mosque, though often constructed only of mud, is brilliant with white-wash, and it rises gracefully amongst the palm-trees. At sunset, after nightfall, at day-break, at noon, and toward evening, the Muezzin takes his stand in the gallery, and in aloud, sonorous voice calls the faithful to prayer — " God is most great. I testify that there is no Deity but God. I testify that Mohammed is God's apostle. Come to prayer. Come to security. God is most great;" adding, during the night, and in the early morning, " Prayer is better than sleep." Attached to the mosque is commonly a school, the noise of which is a sufficient guide to the spot. The children recite their lessons all together, and each scholar endeavors to make his voice heard above the din by shout- ing his loudest. The instruction given is of the slightest possible kind, consisting of little 80 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. else than the recitation of the Koran and the simplest rules of arithmetic. The master is often a blind man, who, being able to repeat the Koran by rote, can teach it to the children. His payment is little more than nominal, but is apparently quite equal to his merits. Mr. Lane gives some curious illustrations of the nature of the instruction given, and tells the following droll story : " I was lately told of a man who could neither read nor write succeeding to the office of a schoolmaster in my neighborhood. Being able to recite the whole of the Koran, he could hear the boys repeat their lessons : to write them, he employed the head boy and monitor in the school, pretending that his eyes were weak. A few days after he had taken upon himself this office, a poor woman brought a letter for him to read to her from her son, who had gone on a pilgrimage. Thefikee pretended to read it, but said nothing ; and the woman, inferring from his silence thatthe letter contained bad news, said to him : — -Shall I shriek?" He answered " Yes. " " Shall I tear my clothes?" she asked. He replied. "Yes. "So the poor woman re- turned to her house, and with her assem- bled friends, perormed the lamentation and other ceremonies usual on the occasion of a death. Not many days after this, her son ar- rived, and she asked him what he could mean by causing a letter to be written stating that he was dead. He explained the contents of the let- ter, and she v/ent to the schoolmaster and begged him to inform her why he had told her to shriek, and to tear her clothes, since the letter was to inform her that her son was well, and he was now arrived at home. Not at all abashed, he said, 'God knows futurity. How could I know that your son would arrive in safety? It was better that you should think him dead than be led to expect to see him, and perhaps be disap- pointed." Some persons who were sitting with him praised his wisdom, exclaiming, Si THE CALL TO PKAYEE. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. "Truly our new fikee is a man of unusual judgment," and for a little while he found that he had raised his reputation by this blunder. The profusion of bird-life on the Nile is one of its most striking features. Myriads of storks, cranes, geese, wild ducks, pelicans, hawks, pigeons, and herons are seen clus- tering on the islands in the river, lining its banks, or flying in dense clouds overhead. To protect the growing crops the fellaheen often construct little stands for boys armed with slings, who acquire wonderful dexterity in bringing down their feathered game. In Ancient Egypt birds were as numerous as now. Geese are represented as forming an important part of every banquet, and they are seldom wanting in the offerings to the eods. Fowling- was a favorite amusement. Visitors to the British Museum are familiar with the tablet which represents the flocks of geese possessed by a large landed proprie- tor. In another the sportsman is seen catching water-fowl in a thicket of papyrus and lotus-lilies on the river-bank ; a decoy duck stands on the prow of his boat, and a cat is trained to act as a retriever. 1 These countless flocks of birds may serve to illustrate the dream of Pharaoh's chief baker. " I had three white baskets on my head: and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh ; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head." 2 Quadrupeds much are less numer- ous. As in all Oriental countries, homeless, masterless dogs roam round the villages, and act as scav- engers. Among the swamps of the Delta wild boars are common. Jackals and foxes may be met with everywhere. In the neighborhood of Luxor and Karnak a hysena is often seen, with its heavy, clumsy form and slouching gait, prowling amongst the ruins. The crocodile has almost disappeared from Lower Egypt. Notwithstanding its impenetrable coat of mail and its terrible jaws, it is a shy, timid creature, and is said to have been driven away by the paddle-wheels of the steamboats. Formerly they might occasionly be seen sunning themselves on the mud and sandbanks between Keneh and Assouan, but they have not been seen between these points now for a number of years past. It is only as we enter Nubia that they are found in considerable numbers. The flora of Egypt is not very remarkable. Excepting palms, the trees are few and unimportant. A few fine sycamores may be seen, generally in the neighborhood of a mosque, or shadowing a santoris tomb. Midway between Cairo and the First Cataract the Doum palm makes its appearance. It differs greatly from the ordinary date palm. 1 An English nobleman who visited the Nile fir purposes of sport, published on his return, an account of his prowess. He shot, within two months, 9 pelicans ; 1514 geese ; 328 wild d cks ; 47 widgeon ; 5 teal ; 66 pintails ; 47 flamingoes (!) ; 37 curlews ; 112 herons ; 2 qua Is ; 9 partridges ; 3,283 pigeons ; and 117 miscellaneous. Total 5,576 head. Even persons who are not scrupu- lous in the matter must concur in reprobating this wholesale and useless slaughter. 2 Genesis xl. 16, 17. 82 EGYPTIAN FOWLER. {From the British Museum.) CAIRO. 10 ASSOUAN. Instead of the single straight stem, it divides into two main branches, which again bi- furcate as the tree grows. Its fruit, which is about the size and color of a pomegranate, is said to taste like gingerbread. It contains an exceedingly hard stone, which is used by the modern, as it was by the ancient, Egyptian carpenters for making sockets, drills, and hinges. One very remarkable change has passed upon the water-plants of the Nile. The lotus and the papyrus were formerly the most common and characteristic of its products, inasmuch that they formed the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt. The papyrus was used not only for mak- .v ." ing paper, to which it -•---.-• - . gave its name, but for ~Z- -::• \U?x-'•.--. the construction of boats, baskets, and in- numerable other arti- cles; as in the Upper Jordan Valley, where it still grows abund- antly, even cottages were built with it. No religious service, no state ceremonial, no domestic festival is found without the lotus flower. It forms part of every offering to the gods. The guests at a banquet all hold one in their hands. It is, per- haps, the object of all others most constantly represented on the mo nments. Yet both the lotus and the papy- rus have disappeared from Egypt. No trace of either can be found. 1 Unaccountable as is the disappearance of these plants, it was yet foretold by the prophet Isaiah, as a part of the Divine judg- ment upon Egypt :"The brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up : the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reeds by the brooks, . . . and everything sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more." 2 The phrase " brooks of defence" in this passage has greatly perplexed commentators. Brooks, in the proper sense of the term, there are none in Egypt. Of course the reference is to the canals 1 It is indeed said that, in some remote and unvisited portions of the Delta, an occasional papyrus reed may be discovered. The fact is doubted, and the statement in the text is substantially true. a Isaiah xix 6, 7. S5 WATCHING FIELDS IN EGYPT. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. with which the country is intersected. But why brooks of "defence? " It has been commonly supposed that they were constructed simply for irrigation. But it affords a striking illustration of the minute accuracy of Scripture phraseology to find that they served the further purpose of guarding the land against the raids of the Bedouin horsemen, who then, as now, infested the desert, and whose depredations were checked by these canals. There is little to interest or detain us in the modern towns on the Nile bank. Occasionally, as at Manfalut, the governor's palace offers some characteristic bits of Arabic architecture. These, however, are rare. Even in the larger towns, Keneh, for instance, or Siut, there is little to be seen save wretched, dilapidated hovels, lanes almost impassable for their filth and narrowness, with, here and there, a huge sugar factory or cotton mill worked by forced labor for the benefit of the Viceroy. The situation of Siut (Assiut, as it is now usually spelt) is very beautiful. A ride of about two miles over a raised causeway, which leads amongst fields of great fertility, brings us to a picturesque gate- way not unlike that at Manfalut. In front of it is a large courtyard, overshadowed by fine trees, in which are seated numbers of fellaheen or townspeople waiting to present petitions to the governor, or to plead their cause before him. In one corner a group of conscripts are squatting, who have been dragged from their homes to serve in the army, the navy, or the factories of the Khedive, as the officials may decide. Entering the city gate, we find ourselves in the capital of Upper Egypt. The bazaars, though dark and gloomy, are crowded with buyers and sellers. A military officer, peacefully mounted on a donkey, is transacting business at the door of a money-changer's shop. A group of Bedouin are bargain- ing for swords, daggers, and long Arab guns at an armorer's forge. Veiled women are haggling over the price of a piece of blue cloth or a measure of flour. Passing out from this busy scene by the gate on the opposite side of the city to that at which we entered, we find ourselves almost immediately in the silence and solitude of the great Libyan Desert. Fragments of mummies, mummy-cases, and cere-cloth lie about un- heeded on the sand. The steep, rocky hill- side is honey- combed with tombs, in which are found remains of embalmed wolves. It was from the worship of these animals that the town took its ancient name of The view from the summit of this range of hills is very striking, THE PAPYRUS PLANT. Lycopolis 86 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. especially as I saw it, at sunset. Except where the Valley of the Nile broke the monotony, the eye ranged over a boundless expanse of desert. To the very verge of the horizon stretched undulations of marl and sand, like the long swell of ocean in a calm. On the edge of the cultivated soil a few black tents of the Bedouin were pitched. Two or three Arabs, their naked bodies almost black with exposure, were stalking solemnly across the silent waste at our feet, over which long shadows were cast in the slanting beams of the setting sun. They were laden with the skins of wild beasts, which they were bringing into Siut to sell. No other living beings were visi- ble, and they harmonized well with the sentiment of the scene. I felt at the time that the grandest mountain scenery of Switzerland was less impressive than this sublime monotony of sky and desert. It is but seldom that ordinary travelers can have any direct communication with the people of the country. The language in most cases forms an insuperable barrier. EGYPTIAN ENTERTAINMENT; EACH GUEST WITH A LOTUS FLOWER. {From the British A/us uni ) The fellah can speak nothing but Arabic, of which the traveler is commonly quite ignorant. If the dragoman is employed as interpreter, he is pretty sure to reproduce the comical scene described by Kinglake. 1 The donkey-boys and local guides often know a little English, of which they make very droll use. I was greatly amused and puzzled by the application of the word lunch. " See, Osiris hab lunch," said my guide one day; pointing to an altar piled with offering before the god, sculptured on a temple wall. On another occasion, riding through some fields oi door ah and vetch, I was told that the former was " Arabs' lunch ;" the latter, "camels' lunch." The explanation I found to be, that as Europeans breakfast and dine on board their boat, whilst lunch is often eaten on shore, it is the only meal of which the natives see or hear anything; hence it has come to be used for food in general. Whenever travelers can speak or read to the people in their own language, they are 1 Eothen, vol. i. p. 12. ?7 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. listened to with eager interest. Readers of the Sunday at Home are familiar with Miss Whately's interesting narratives of conversations with them. Having described the songs and rude music of the boat's crew, she says: — " At last, after several songs and dances, the whole party became tired, and began to light their pipes. It seemed a sad thing that these poor fellows should have nothing better than such childish diversions ere they went to rest. After a little consultation, it was agreed to desire our Moslem servant to ask if they would like the lady to read them a story. "What! in Arabic? Could the Sitt {lady) read Arabic ?" they asked, incredulously, not knowing that the lady in question was from Syria, and Arabic her native tongue. They all said it was good, and they would like to listen. So the Arabic Bible was brought out, and, muffled in our cloaks, we sat on the deck beside our friend, who was seated on a box; one of us held a fanous, or native lamp, which threw its bright light on the sacred page, while all around was darkness, except where the moon here and there shone on the swarthy faces of the Nubian boatmen, who formed a circle about us, crouching in various postures, and wrapped in their striped blue and crimson mantles. The servants stood leaning against the masts, listening with deep attention ; not a sound interrupted the reader's voice but the low ripple of the current, as the water plashed against the sides of the boat. It was a scene one would never forget — that first opening of God's book in the presence of these ignorant, benighted followers of the False Prophet. Our friend read of the sheep lost in the wilderness, and the piece of silver lost in the house — those simple illustrations of God's wondrous dealings with man, which are understood and felt in every age and every land. Then she read the history of the prodigal son, and the interest of the hearers increased, and was shown by their fre- quent exclamations of " Good ! Praise God ! " — "That is wonderful! Ha!" with an expressive tone impossible to write, though easy to conceive. The look of intelligence which the silvery rays of the moon revealed on more than one dark upturned face and bright black eyes spoke no less plainly. As she went on, pausing occasionally to explain a word or show the application, it was deeply interesting to watch the effect on her listeners ; and when she closed the book, fearing to tire them, there was a universal cry of " Lissa! lissa! " (Not yet! not yet!) She read then the Ten Commandments, pointing out the necessity for atonement, as shown by man's frequent breaking of God's laws. One of the men made a remark relative to the inferiority of woman, whom he affirmed, according to Moslem doctrine, to be not only weaker, but more sinful creatures than man. LOTUS PLOWER AND LEAF. {.Xyjjiphcea. Lot its.) CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. He did not intend anything personal by this, for the Sitt was evidently looked on as one quite beyond the common race of women ; and we heard them observe to each other, with most emphatic gestures, that she was "very good!" and "knew every- thing!" Without manifesting surprise or annoyance, she explained to him the love of God for all His creatures, and the equal necessity for His pardon for all. "If the water in a vessel is pure," she said, "it signifies but little what the vessel is in itself, whether of clay or of silver ; and the Spirit of God, dwelling in our hearts, can alone make us vessels fit for the Master's use : whatever we are by nature. He will 89 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. give us His Holy Spirit, and change our sinful hearts, if we ask as He has told us." The boatmen's songs referred to by Miss Whately are amongst the most familiar memories of a Nile trip. The crew, whether rowing or hauling on a rope, or squatting in a circle on the deck with nothing to do, will continue hour after hour intoning a mo- notonous and interminable chant, the words of which are frequently quite unmeaning. The principal performer improvises a single line, to which his companions add a chorus, and, when possible, mark the time by a rhythmical clapping of hands, and the measured beat of a tarabookah. The following is a fair specimen : I wish I was at Osioot, O Allah ! O my prophet ! Then I'd buy a new felt cap, O Allah ! O my prophet ! The wind is blowing very strong, O Allah ! O my prophet ! etc., etc. Mr. Macgregor, in his amusing and interesting little book, Eastern Music, has given some of these chants, which he caught by ear and noted down. Here is one : i Con spirito. -i h- - c. f r £ :£=£: ^Fr*=£ IE S tczfc £=*= ± A - dy joob ta sa - li - a - ra ka - la - fo, A - dy joob - ta sa - ]i - a =P=*t '^=W- S raj ±z±-£=F: i- ~J?=*Z ;t*=*=^ r^ ka - la - fo, Mi - ny och - tin an - i - o - kit ka - dy buk- ke- ty a - ni poy - no. He gives another, a great favorite on the Nile. We are told that it was played "With the Nile drum obligato, and a clapping of hands at every bar." The Egyptian drum is called tarabookah, and that used by the Nile boatmen is generally made of clay covered with fishes' skin. It is placed under the left arm, generally suspended by a string that passes over the left shoulder, and is beaten with both hands. It yields differ- ent sounds when struck near the edge and in the middle. The mode of accompanying a song by clapping the hands is very ancient, and may be seen depicted in several en- gravings in Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. We quote the first eight bars because the melody is remarkable for the introduction of the minor seventh (the F natural) in the sixth bar, which gives it a peculiar effect, and is an evi- dence of its extreme antiquity. LOVE SONG OF THE NILE BOATMEN. Allegro. £ m Am val $ lo Hub - by mo — S- val m at etc. -£- *c ■>- Fren me ba Hub - bv ko lat From the natural scenery and modern life of Egypt, we return to the monumental re- mains of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies. At various points along the banks of the river we may observe lines of chambers cut into the face of the cliffs. Originally tombs, they were, after the introduction of Christ- OD CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. ianity, used as cells by hermits and anchorites. The most interesting of them are at Beni Hassan, about one hundred and sixty miles above Cairo. They form a terrace, approached by the remains of an ancient causeway, which rises from the plain and runs along- the front of the grottoes. The rock has been hewn out into architraves and col- umns, with doorways leading into the "tombs. They thus have the appearance of build- ings rather than caverns. The columns are remarkable for their non-Egyptian character. If found elsewhere, they would be at once classed as Doric, yet they belong to the earliest period of the Egyptian monarchy, and are probably but little later than the era of the Pyramids. No Greek influence can therefore be suspected. The walls of the chambers are covered with frescoes representing the every-day life of the time. Men and women are wrestling, fishing and ploughing, reaping, trapping birds, giving dinner- parties, being flogged, cutting their toe-nails, treading the winepress, dancing, playing the harp, weaving linen, play- ing at ball, being shaved by the barber, playing at draughts. Verily, there is nothing new under the sun • Life in Egypt four thousand years ago was almost identi- cal with that of England in the present day. One of my companions was a Cumber- land squire, and a famous wrestler. His attention was riveted by a series of wall- paintings, representing ath- letic sports, chiefly wrestling matches. I said to him, "Are those pictures like the truth ?" He replied enthusiastically, "There isn't a grip or a throw that I haven't used ; and I defy the best wrestler in the north of England to do it better." In the tomb of Chnum- hetep the arrival of a party of Canaanitish shepherds in Egypt it depicted. They are being introduced to the monarch of the district by a scribe who holds a tablet, giving their number as thirty-seven, and calling them Amu; by which name the Aramaic races were known to the Egyptians. A hieroglyphic inscription styles the leader of the party Hek-absh. He is leading a Syrian goat as a present to the monarch, and in the panniers of the asses which follow are other presents, among them jars of stibium, at that time largely imported into Egypt from Palestine. 1 On its > In the inscription it is said that they came f.om Bat Mestem, which probably mean, "the stibium mine." A place of this name is mentioned in the Apocrypha as existing in the Plain of Jezreel. q. governor's PALACE AT MANFALTJT. THE LAND OF THE FHARAOHS. first discovery this fresco was supposed to represent the coming down into Egypt of Jacob and his family. This opinion, now generally abandoned, was, however, strongly advocated at one of the early meetings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. It was shown that Jacob, his sons, their wives and children, give the exact number required, thirty-seven ; the Biblical number of seventy-two being made up by concubines and their descendants ; and it was maintained that Hek-absh is simply a transliteration into hieroglyphics of the Hebrew name, Jacob. A yet more startling view was propounded at the same meeting. An eminent Egyptologist held it to be a record of the visit of Abraham. The date was asserted to be coincident with that of the Biblical narrative, and the name to be a translation of Abraham, meaning, "the father of a multitude." ^^smmmMMamffl^^^^^SfflSfflSSL These identifications are doubtful ; but the -JllB^ ^^^^^^^P IS fr esco ' s interesting, as a contemporary |1||||| • ;.• ~ HI illustration of patriarchal history. : ' - . • S mm It has been mentioned that the rock- PHB tombs of Egypt were used after the com- MHi mencement of the Christian era as the abode IBfl °^ rnon ^ s - Of this there are many curious r &'~E$4$ traces at Beni Hassan. Among- the ancient WM frescoes, we find Christian symbols, placed ''- "' .* *\ there by the anchorites, and closely re- sembling those in the Roman catacombs. In at least two cases we have the cross upon which doves are resting, symboliz- JHp' Wffl h m S tne atoning sacrifice of Christ, with , the operations of the spirit needful to give ^f-r-W^^^mSS^ma it effect upon the hearts of men. One of I'^^^^m^i^S these has a leaf of trefoil, typical of the \{EW^&mMM^ Trinity, and the Alpha and the Omega " f iBlliilKSr 1 conjoined, so as to form a single letter. The familiar monogram of Christ into which the cross is worked is of frequent occurence. Here, too, we find the mystic Tate, or crttx ansata of early Egyptian my- portico of the tomb op the nomabk aneni at thology, adopted as a Christian symbol. BENI HASSAN. ~ . u , J r 1 • • J It is, at least, a wondertul coincidence — that the cross was the symbol of life among the Egyptians. The gods are constantly represented as holding it in the right hand as shown in the engravings on the opposite page. We cannot wonder that the early Christians should have availed themselves of this significant fact to express their faith in Him who by the cross "abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light." We have to ascend the Nile nearly three hundred and fifty miles above Cairo, one hundred and sixty above Beni Hassan, before we reach any of the great temples of Ancient Egypt. Below this point they have all been destroyed, and only their foun- dations can be traced. But from Girgeh up to Abu-Simbel the number and magnificence of their remains give an impressive sense of the splendor of the kingdom of the Pharaohs. The first we reach is that of Abydos, specially dedicated to Osiris, and 92 CAIRO 10 ASSOUAN. which contended with Philse for the honor of being his place of burial. A donkey- ride of ten or twelve miles from Girgeh across a plain of extraordinary fertility, brings us to the edo-e of the desert. Here are the ruins of two temples, and the mounds which cover the vast cemetery arourd the tomb of the deified monarch. A superstitious feelino-, like that which has prevailed in many lands and through successive ages, led the ancient Egyptians to seek sepulture in or near the sacred spot. The smaller of the two temples was of extraordinary richness and beauty. It was built of polished o-ranite, lined with Oriental alabaster, still glowing with the colors which adorned it nearly four thousand years ago. 1 VALLEY OP THE NILE AT BENI HASSAN. The larger temple, erected by Seti the father of Rameses n. , is partly buried in the sand, which, whilst it conceals, has also preserved from injury so many remains of ancient magnificence. The colossal walls and columns which have been laid bare are decorated with sculptures and paintings. They record or depict the exploits of the king. We see him treading down his enemies at the head of his victorious armies, or worship- ing the gods, or doing homage to his ancestors. In other parts of the building he is represented as eagerly engaged in the excitement of the chase, all the incidents of which are given ; amongst others, a wild bull has been lassoed, whose struggles to get free are represented with wonderful spirit. It was from this temple that the famous tablet of Abydos was brought, which forms one of the most valuable treasures of the British Museum. 95 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. Between Girgeh and Denderah, our next halting-place, we pass the shrine of Sheikh Selim, one of the Moslem saints who in every age have thriven upon the superstitious credulity of the Egyptians. He is believed neither to eat, drink, nor sleep, but to spend his whole time in prayer and meditation. As we approached the spot, our m HI € wKm. CHKISTIAN SYMBOLS AT BENI HASSAN. crew began to collect money amongst themselves. Having got together a goodly heap of piastres, they tied them up in a handkerchief, and brought the boat as near the shore as they could with safety. A gang of ruffianly-looking Arabs, the attendants of the saint, now made their appearance and with shouts and gesticulations demanded backsheesh in the name of their master. The parcel of coin being thrown to them, a violent scuffle took place for its possession, which continued till they had reached the hut of the saint. In reply to my express- ion of surprise at the large amount of money collected, I was told that on their last voyage the crew had neglected to make the usual contribution, and, as a consequence, every window on board had been broken by Sheikh Selim's curse, and the boat had run aground on a mud-bank in the river, where she lay for thirty-six hours before she could be got off. Our dragoman, an unbelieving Maltese, gave me a droll account of the piles of provis- ions brought by the peasantry to this fast- ing saint, addingf, with a roguish twinkle of the eye, "And yet I firmly believe that he never eats anything — except geese and turkeys." The great temple of Denderah is about sixty miles above Abydos. It was dedicated to Athor,the Egyptian Venus, and belongs to the later and degraded period of architect- ure when the Pharaohs had been superseded by the Ptolemies and the Caesars. A curious interest attaches to its date. In the early part of the present century, one of 9 6 SEBAK AND CHNI7MIS. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. the zodiacs which ornament the roof, being examined by the French savans, was sup- posed to indicate an antiquity so great as to be incompatible with the Biblical narrative of the Creation and the Flood. Learned and elaborate arguments were constructed to prove that the Nile Valley must have been peopled by a highly-civilized race at a period long anterior to the existence of man upon the earth, as recorded in the book of Genesis. But in their eager haste to disprove the authority of the Mosaic writings, the Egyptolo- gists strangely overlooked the fact that the walls of the temple afford conclusive proof REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE AT ABYDOS. (From Photograph, by E, Frith.) that, so far from going back to a mythical antiquity, it is scarcely older than the Christian era, having been commenced by Cleopatra and not completed till the reign of Nero. The vast size, almost perfect preservation, and the sumptuous adornments ot the temple make it very impressive. But it wants the severe and simple grandeur of the older edifices. It is overloaded with ornament, not in the best taste, and is a formal and florid imitation of the edifices of an earlier age. Sculptured upon the walls are 97 THE LAND OE THE PHARAOHS. portraits of Cleopatra, of colossal size. They are far from supporting her reputation for beauty. The face is expressive of sensuality and voluptuousness, and bears no trace of the ambition and intelligence with which she had been credited. Their resem • blance to the original has sometimes been called in question, but, as Dean Stanley remarks, " the fat full features are well brought out, and being like those at Hermonthis, give the impression that it must be a likeness." We are now approaching Thebes, the capital of Ancient Egypt, and the culminating THE GBEAT HALL IN THE TEMPLE OE ABYDOS. point of its splendor and magnificence. Throughout a period nearly twice the length of our own history the wealth and power of successive Pharaohs had been devoted to its aggrandisement, and the labor of subdued and enslaved nations been employed in the erection of its temples and palaces. For fifteen hundred years each succeeding generation added something to its glories. Its Titanic edifices record the history and illustrate the greatness of the people thoughout the whole period of their national existence. The great plain of Thebes afforded a noble site for such a city. The Arabian and Libyan Mountains which enclose the Nile Valley here assume grander forms than in 08 « ft o H B H H H O O O H M O CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. the northern parts of the chain, and they recede farther from the river, so as to inclose an amphitheatre of considerable extent, through the centre of which the river runs with a broad expanse of verdure on either bank. Within the area inclosed by these mighty bulwarks stood edifices, the ruins of which fill the spectator with awe-struck wonder. Avenues of statues and sphinxes, miles in length, ran along the plain, leading to propylons a hundred feet in height, through which kings and warriors, priests and courtiers, passed into the temples and palaces which lay beyond. Above all towered the colossal images of the Pharaohs, looking down upon the city, and far over the plain at their feet, like gigantic warders. As I wandered day after day with ever-growing amazement amongst these relics of ancient magnificence, I felt that if all the ruins in Europe — Classical, Celtic, and Mediaeval — were brought together into one centre, they would fall far short both in extent and grandeur of those of this single Egyptian city. Its original name was T-Ape, the head or capital, of which Thebes is a corruption. By the Hebrews it was known as No-Amon, the abode of Amon, the god to whom it was specially dedicated. References to its greatness and prophe- cies of its downfall are frequent in Scripture. Among the most striking of these is that of Nahum, when, taunting Nineveh, he says : " Art thou better than No-Amon that was situated by the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea-like stream, and whose wall was the sea-like stream? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite ; Put and Lubim were her helpers. Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity." 1 The present desolation of the magnificent city affords an emphatic commentary on the denunciations of prophecy. To depict and describe in detail the stupendous ruins which cover the great Theban plain would require many volumes like the present. We can only glance at some of the most important On the western bank, in what was called the Libyan suburb stands the great temple-palace known as the Ramesseum, or Memnonium. It was built by Rameses n., whose favorite title, Mi- Amon, the beloved of Amon, was probably corrupted by the Greeks into Memnon, and in this form has passed into the languages of modern Europe. We can yet read upon its walls the achievements of the great king. We see him leading on his armies, slaughtering his enemies, receiving the spoils of captured cities, or peacefully administering his mighty empire, then co-extensive with the known world. Over all towered the colossal image of Pharaoh himself. No description, no measurement, gives any adequate idea of the bulk of this enormous statue, now prostrate in the dust. It was formed out of a block of syenite granite, estimated to weigh when entire nearly nine hundred tons. It measures twenty-two feet from shoulder to shoulder ; a toe is three feet long, the foot five feet across. It is now generally agreed that this was the king who knew not Joseph and who so cruelly oppessed the Israelites. His mummy was discovered at Deir-el-Bahari, in 1881. 2 BEICK WITH THE CAE- TOUCHE OF EAMESES IL ' Nahum iii. 8 — 10. The prophet seems here to be speaking of the future and foreseen desolation of Thebes, as though it were already accomplished : but the date of Nahum's prophecy is very uncertain. 2 See Section IV. of this volume. 101 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. Near the Ramesseum are the temples of Medinet-Abu, that is, as it should be under- stood, the city of Thebes. The largest of this group of buildings was erected by Rameses in., the last of the great warrior-kings of Egypt, about 1200 B.C. As in the case of his predecessors, we can trace his history on the walls of the temple. The glow- ing words of Lord Lindsay do not exaggerate the impressiveness of this marvellous edifice : " I will only say that all I had anticipated of Egyptian magnificence fell short of the reality, and that it was here, surveying those Osiride pillars, that splendid corridor, with its massy circular columns ; those walls lined within and without, with historical sculpture of the deepest interest, the monarch's wars with the Eastern nations bordering on the Caspian and Bactriana — study for months, years rather! — it was here, I say, here, where almost every peculiarity of Egyptian architec- ture is assembled in perfection, that I first learnt to ap- preciate the spirit of that extraordin- ary people, and to feel that poetless as they were, they had a national genius, and had stamped it on the works of their hands, lasting as the Iliad. Willing slaves to the vilest superstition, bonds- men to form and circumstance, adepts in every me- chanical art that can add luxury or comfort to human existence, yet tri- umphing abroad over the very Scythians, captives from every quarter of the globe figuring in those long oblational processions to the sacred shrines in which they delighted, after returning to their native Nile — that grave, austere, gloomy architecture, sublime in outline and heavily elaborate in ornament, what a transcript was it of their own character! And never were pages more graphic. The gathering, the march, the melee — the Pharaohs prowess, standing erect, as he always does in his car — no charioteer — the reins attached to his waist — the arrow drawn to his ear — his horses all fire, springing into the air like Pegasuses — and then the agony of the dying, transfixed by his darts, the relaxed limbs of the slain ; and, lastly, the triumphant return, the welcome home, and the offerings of THE RAMESSEUM, THEBES. CARIO TO ASSOUAN. thankso-ivintf to Amon, the fire, the discrimination with which these ideas are bodied forth must be seen to judge of it." Adjoining the temple are the ruins of a pyramidal tower, the internal arrangements and sculptures of which show that it was the palace of Rameses. It is remarkable as being almost the only instance yet discovered of an ancient dwelling. The Egyptians built their temples and tombs for eternity. Their own houses were constructed of perishable materials, to last only for the brief period of their continuance on earth. The rooms are small, but richly decorated. We see the king surrounded by the ladies of his court, who fan him, present him with flowers, and pay him court. In one place he is seen playing a game of chess, or draughts, with his attendants. The draught-men and the chequered board, though sculptured on the walls more than three thousand years ago, are sim- ilar to those used at the present day. Seated in solemn and solitary majesty in the plain be- tween the temples Medinet-Abu and the river, are the two " Colossi. " They alone remain of an avenue of eighteen similar statues which led up to the temple of Amenophis in. Though much broken and shattered, they present an aspect of wonderful grandeur. The following are the measurements as given by Murray : eighteen feet three inches across the shoulders ; sixteen feet six inches from the top of the shoulder to the elbow ; ten feet six inches from the top of the head to the shoulder ; seventeen feet nine inches from the elbow to the finger's end ; nineteen feet eight inches from the knee to the plant of the foot. When entire, they must have risen to a height of sixty feet from the surrounding plain. ,They are thus somewhat smaller than the prostrate statue of Rameses, are of inferior workmanship, and carved out of a coarser material. One of them was partially over- thrown either by Cambyses, the great Persian conqueror, or by an earthquake ; it has, however, been restored, though the traces of the injury are evident. They were seated 103 OSIRIDE COLUMNS OF RAMESSEUM, THEBES. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. upon their thrones when the Israelites were in Egypt, and they seem likely to remain there to the end of the world. One of them, known as the Vocal Memnon, was believed to emit a musical sound as the rays of the rising sun fell upon it, or in the presence of distinguished visitors. Various explanations were offered of this phe- ~^M J^Et^^" ±S&-£- PALACE OF RAMESES III., MEDINET-ABU. nomenon, such as the trickling of sand amongst the cracks of the figure, or a slight move- ment of its parts caused by a change of temperature. The mystery was dispelled by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, who discovered in the lap of the figure a slab of stone, which, on I 4 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. being struck, gives out the exact sound described by Straboand others. 1 For a trifling backsheesh, an Arab climbs up the statue, and, unseen by persons in the plain below, produces as often as is wished the note "like the breaking of an harp string," v/hich was thrice repeated in honor of the Emperor Hadrian on his visit to Thebes. Crossing the river to Luxor, which lies on the opposite bank, we find an Arab vil- lage, built within and upon the temples of Amenophis in. and Rameses n. The effect is grotesque, and detracts sorely from their impressiveness. The silence and the sense of loneliness, which elsewhere give such a weird solemnity to the ruins, are here dispelled by the miserable hovels which cluster round the stately columns, and the swarms of beggars clamor- ously demanding backsheesh. There is, . however, one part of the ruins remote from the village which is not infested by these annoyances, and here it is possi- ble to admire the graceful, yet massive columns, and realize, in some measure, what Egyptian architecture was in i t s most perfect period of develop- ment. The temple- palaces of Luxor and Karnak were united by a magnificent avenue of sphinxes, which led for nearly two miles across the plain. The roadway between them was sixty-three feet in width, and as the sphinxes were only twelve feet apart, the number of these majestic figures was almost incredible. For fifteen hundred feet from Luxor, they were of the usual form, with female heads ; thence to Karnak they were crio, or ram-headed sphinxes, as being sacred to Amon. A similar avenue led from the main front to a quay and flight of PALACE OF EAMESES III., MEDLNET-ABU. > But see an article in the Quarterly Review for April, 1875, maintaining the first of these explanations. 1 05 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. steps on the bank of the river, and eight or ten other approaches, not inferior in gran- deur to these two, have been traced. As we approach Karnak, the most striking objects are two of the enormous propy- lons so characteristic of Egyptian architecture. They are truncated pyramids, pierced with a gateway. The sides slope inward from a rectangular base, and are often surmounted by a heavy cornice, on which is sculptured the symbol known to the Greeks as the Agathod&mon, a winged sun, or scarabaeus, reminding us of the words of Script- ure, "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust." 1 It was the number of these propylons which gained for Thebes the Homeric epithet of " the hundred-gated city." COLUMNS OF TEMPLE AT LUXOR. We now enter the most stupendous pile of remains — we can hardly call them ruins — in the world. Every writer who has attempted to describe them, avows his inability to convey any adequate idea of their extent and grandeur. The long, converging avenues of sphinxes, the sculptured corridors, the columned aisles, the gates, and obelisks, and colossal statues, all silent in their desolation, fill the beholder with awe. There is no exaggeration in Champollion's words : " The imagination, which in Europe rises far above our porticoes, sinks abashed at the foot of the one hundred and forty columns of the hypostyle hall at Karnak." The area of this hall is fifty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-nine feet. The central columns are thirty-four feet in circum- ference and sixty-two feet in height, without reckoning the plinth and abacus. They 1 Psalm xci. 4. 706 THE COLOSSI OF THEBES. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. are covered with paintings and sculptures, the colors of which are wonderfully fresh and vivid. If, as seems probable, the great design of Egyptian architecture was to impress man with a feeling of his own littleness, to inspire a sense of overwhelming awe in the presence of the deity, and, at the same time, to show that the monarch was a being of superhuman greatness, these edifices were well adapted to accomplish their purpose. This has been well stated by Mr. Zincke in his suggestive work on Egypt. The Egyptian beholder and worshipper was not to be attracted and charmed, but overwhelmed. His own nothingness, and the terribleness of the power and will of LUXOR. God, was what he was to feel. But if the awfulness of the deity was thus inculcated, the divine power of the Pharaoh was not less strikingly set forth. He is seen seated amongst the gods, nourished from their breast, folded in their arms, admitted to fa- miliar intercourse with them. He is represented on the walls of the temples as of colos- sal stature, whilst the noblest of his subjects are but pigmies in his presence. With one hand he crushes hosts of enemies, with the other he grasps that of his patron deity. The Pharaoh was the earthly manifestation and avatar of the unseen and mysterious power which oppressed the souls of men with terror. " I am Pharaoh ; " " By the life of 109 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. Pharaoh ;" " say unto Pharaoh, Whom art thou like in thy greatness ? " l These familiar phrases of Scripture gain a new emphasis of meaning as we remember them amongst these temple-palaces. It is with a feeling of relief that we turn away from these dread- inspiring deities to think of Him who " dwelleth not in temples made with hands ; " who calls Himself our Father, and who invites from us not the servile worship of terror, but a filial "love which casteth out fear:" whose earthly manifestation and incarnation has been made, not in the person of a dei- fied conqueror, but in one who was " a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" who " is touched with a feel- ing of our infirmities ; " who " bare our sins in His own body on the tree," and who is now exalted to the risfht hand of the Majesty on high, " a Prince and a Sa- viour, to give repentance and the remission of sins." Amongst the temples of Karnak a special interest at- taches to one comparatively late in date, but which is the earliest yet discovered which directly and certainly touches the history of other nations. Sheshank — the Shishak of Scripture — was one of the J. last of the Pharaohs who, for the space of more than a thousand years, had been busy building up the glories of Karnak. He erected a kind of chapel flanking the great portico toward the south, and, after the manner of his race, cut into its walls a record of his achievements. We see the colossal figure leading in bonds the pigmy monarchs whom he had conquered. On a cartouche is written, in hieroglyphics, the name of each. The sculptures, discovered and deciphered by Champollion, record that Shishak is dragging before the Theban trinity the types of more than thirty nations which he had subdued. From the variety of their features, they are evidently intended to be typical of the people represented. Amongst them is one with a distinctly Jewish cast of face. Turning ' Genesis xli. 44 ; xiii. 15. 16 ; Ezekiel xxxi. 2. Quoted by Dean Stanley, in Sinai and Palestine. no PROPYLON AT KARNAK. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. to the Bible, we find that, " In the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, with twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen, and people without number, and he took the fenced cities which pertained tj Judah, and came to Jerusalem, and he took away the treasures of the house of -he Lord, and the treasures of the kino-'s house ; he took all." 1 This monument may thus be a contemporary record of the event narrated in Scripture. It has been already mentioned that the Egyptians built their houses of perishable materials, but that their temples and tombs were constructed on the grandest scale, and of the most enduring character. How t/ue this is of the Theban temples we have seen. We now turn to the tombs, which are scarcely less won- derful in their ex- tent arid magnifi- cence. They are constructed in the hager, that is, a rock, and refers to the rocky precipi- ces which rise from the fertile banks of the river. Crossing the western plain, here about three miles in width, and leaving behind us the seated Colossi, and the temples of Kurnah, Medinet- Abu, and the Ra- messeum, we enter a savage gorge. The walls of rock on either side of the ravine, utterly de- nuded of soil, glow in the pitiless sun- shine, like the mouth of a furnace. Overhead rises a pyramidal mass of rock, which forms a striking feature in the landscape, and commands from its summit a striking view of the Nile Valley and Desert. No tree, or blade of grass, or drop of water, or living thing is visible as the travelers pass along in the blinding glare. This gorge leads us to the Biban el Moluk, or tombs of the kings. The rocks are honeycombed with sepulchres, which run far into the mountain sides. Here 1 i Kings xiv. 25 ; 2 Chron. xii. 3-9. GREAT HALL AT KAENAK. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. the Theban Pharaohs " lie in glory, every one in his own house." 1 Near them are queens, priests, and nobles, interred with a splendor not inferior to that of the Pharaohs. Some of these sepulchral halls are of vast extent. One of them, that of the Assaseef, is eight hundred and sixty-two feet in length, without reckoning the lateral chambers ; the total area of excavation is twenty-three thousand eight hundred and nine feet, occupying an acre and a quarter of ground, " an immoderate space for the sepulchre of one individual, even allowing that the members of his family shared a portion of its ex- tent." 2 The sides of these tombs are covered with fres- coes and sculp- tures, sometimes giving the protrait of the inmate and illustrating his ca- reer. More fre- quently, they are fancy sketches, or what we should call genre paintings. The life of the Egyptian people is here portrayed with extraordinary accuracy and detail. "We saw here, as in a picture story- book, how the man had cultivated his gardens and fields, had garnered h i s harvests, had sent merchandise on the river in boats sail- ing- with the wind — how he had gone to battle and taken the command of armies — the gathering in of his vintage, the games and shoutings of the wine-pressers, his sports in fishing and fowling. Then we saw him — a picture of easy joy — in the midst of the family circle. We saw him at the feast : guests were at his dwelling ; he welcomed them to the merry banquet ;. ' Isaiah xiv. 1 8. 2 For details of the recent wonderful discoveries in this region, see Section IV. of this volume. 112 HYPOSTYLE HALL, KANARK. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. A CAPTIVE JEW OF SHISHAK S TIME. slaves crowned them with garlands of flowers ; the wine-cup passed round. Then there were harpers and musicians and players on the double pipes. Girls in long wavy hair and light clinging garments were dancing. But to all things there comes an end. We saw here, also, the day (how far back in the depths of time !) when those pleasant feasts were all over — the lilies dead, the music hushed, the last of this man's harvest stored, the last trip enjoyed by boat or chariot. The fish need no more fear him in the pools, nor the fowl among the reeds. Here he was lying under the hands of the em- balmers. And next we saw him in mummy form on the bier, in the consecrated boat which was to carry him over the dark river and land him at the gates of the heavenly abode, where the genii of the dead and Osiris were awaiting him to try his deeds, and pronounce his sentence for eternal good or ill." 1 Standing among the affecting memorials of lives, the earthly course of which was terminated thousands of years ago, we ask ourselves what knowledge of hope had they of the life to come ? They distinctly recognized the great facts of a judg- ment after death, the immortality of the soul, and the resur- rection of the body. The practice of embalming the dead was indeed but an expression of this belief, which was wrought into their whole habit of thought and mode of life. We learn this not merely from the inscriptions in the tombs, temples, and on the sarco- phagi, but from rolls of papyrus placed with the mummy in the coffin, which trace the course of the disem- bodied spirit to the regions of re- ward or punishment. In one chap- ter of these Books of the Dead, as they are called, we see the spirit hovering over the corpse in the form of a hawk, with human head and hands, and grasping the symbol of life and stability. The body is borne across the river, accompanied by priests and mourners to the grave. The spirit passes away to Amenti. Here it encounters innu- EBANGOIS CHAMPOLLION. 1 Leisure Hour, Mav, 1867. 113 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. merable perils from the monsters which lie in wait to avenge upon it any crimes of which it has been guilty during life. The prayers and protestations of innocence which are to prove its safeguard are dictated. Then it enters the judgment hall of Osiris. Here are seen the forty-two judges of the dead. Some are human, others have the heads of the crocodile, hawk, lion, ape, etc. Before them kneels the dead man repeating the negative confession from which we extract the following : "I have defrauded no man: I have not prevaricated at the seat of justice; I have not made slaves of the Egyptians : I have not defiled my conscience for the sake of my superior: I have not used violence: I have not famished my house- hold ; I have not made to weep : I have not committed forgery ; I have not falsified Pffi^§#K SCULPTUBED WALL, KARNAK. weights or measures . I have not pierced the banks of the Nile, nor separated for my- self an arm of the Nile in its increase : I have not been gluttonous : I have not been drunken : " etc. In the lower tier is the judgment hall of Osiris. We see on the right three figures. The one in the centre, clothed in the usual Egyptian dress, is the dead man. He is received by two females, each with an ostrich feather in her headdress, symbolizing Law. One introduces him to the other, who holds a sceptre and a crux ansata — the symbols of authority and life. In the centre is the balance of judgment. The heart is placed on one scale, the symbols of truth and justice in the other. One of the ministers of Thoth, the scribe of the gods cynocephalus, in the form of an ape, whose name is Hap (sentence, judgment), sits on the stand which supports the balance. Horus, the hawk-headed, the beloved son of Osiris and Anubis, watch the scale in H4 CO W M w W En PS < O a « o S3 H M GO W H O W O M 02 13 « o o s Pi Q 02 S5 s O o CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. which the heart is placed, and at the same time closely observes the index of the balance. The opposite scale is trimmed by the dog-headed Anubis, who declares the result ofthe scrutiny to the ibis-headed Thoth, the divine wisdom, who stands with his writing-tablet and pen in front of Osiris, the supreme judge of this fearful assize, and records the sentence in his presence. Osiris himself is seated in a shrine on the extreme left, and wears a diadem adorned with two ostrich feathers, and with the disk ofthe sun and the SHISHAK AND HIS CAPTIVES ON SCULPTURED WALL AT KARNAK. horns of a goat. He holds a whip and a crook-headed sceptre symbolizing justice and law. Immediately before the throne, and within the shrine, is a stand, upon which is hung the skin of a panther : the meaning of this is unknown. An altar laden with offer- ings, and surmounted by the lotus-flower, stands in front of the shrine. It probably represents the acts of piety peformed on behalf of the deceased by his surviving rela- tives. On the pedestal before the throne a monster crouches, with the paws of a lion 117 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. and the head of a crocodile and the body of a horse ; his name, " the De- vourer of Amenti," as well as his appearance, point him out as another of the ministers of vengeance excuting the judgments of the divinity before whom he crouches. The sentence pronounced was full of joy to the good, and of woe to the wicked. They who, by the faithful discharge of their duties as children, as parents, as masters or servants, as kings or subjects, had been enabled to pass the ordeal, were admitted to the habitations of blessedness, where they rested from their labors. Here they reap the corn and gather the fruits of paradise under the eye and smile of the lord of joy, that is, the sun, who exhorts them thus : "Take your sick- les, reap your grain, carry it into your dwellings, and be glad therewith, and present it a pure offering to the god." There also they bathe in the pure river of life that flows past their habitations. Over them is inscribed : "They have found favor in the eyes of the great god, they inhabit the man- sions of glory, where they enjoy the life of heaven ; the bodies which they have abandoned shall repose in their tombs while they rejoice in the presence of the supreme god." The system of eschatology, thus sketched in the briefest possible outline, suggests many questions of profound interest, to which, however, no adequate reply can at pres- ent be given. Whence was it derived ? Is it a distorted tradition of some primeval revelation made to man ; or is it but a part of that universal illumination of the Holy Spirit, which "enlightening every man that cometh into the world," never leaves God without a witness even in the heart of the heathen, "so that they are without excuse?" It is easy for us to discover a symbolism in the forms in which these beliefs were em- bodied. For instance, we may see in the monsters which avenged the different vices 118 TOMBS OF THE KINGS AT THEBES. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. and crimes upon offenders, the types of those vices and crimes themselves, thus suggest- ing the truth that those sins brought with them their own punishment. How far did the Egyptians understand these deeper and more spiritual teachings ? This doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments was fully developed at the time when Moses FRESCOES IN TOMBS Of THE KINGS AT THEBES. was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." It must have been known to him. How comes it, then, that truths which hold so prominent a place in the later Scriptures, should be almost, or altogether, passed over in his writings? This is one of those un- explained silences of Scripture for the explanation of which we must wait in faith and patience. We cannot but note yet further the insufficiency of the knowledge thus possessed to bring peace and pardon to the guilty. The ritual of the dead tells us that the innocent man shall be "justified" in the judgment hall of Osiris. "Where, then, shall the sinner and the ungodly appear?" It was reserved for Him who "brought life and immortality to light," and who "gave Himself a ransom for us," to reveal the way of the sinner's ac- ceptance with God through faith in Him that justifieth the ungodly. Before leaving the tombs at Thebes, it is necessary to refer to one which is supposed to contain a record of the captivity of the Is- raelites in Egypt. A gang of slaves are en- gaged in brickmaking, under the eye of a taskmaster, who is seated, staff in hand, super- intending their labors. That they belong to a Semitic race is evident. But that the Jews were ever settled so high up the Nile Valley is very doubtful. Pithom and Raamses, the treasure cities which they are said to have built, were on the north-eastern frontier in the land of Goshen, 1 and their name does not occur amongst those of the nat- ions recorded in this tomb. The painting is, however, interesting as illustrating the i Exodus i. II. ug HARPER IN TOMB AT THEBES. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. condition of a people compelled "to serve with rigor in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field." 1 Leaving Thebes reluctantly, and feeling that months might be spent in exploring its remains, we pursue our course up the Nile, and reach Esneh. Here is a temple, the portico of which has been excavated only in the present century. The sand in which it was so long buried has preserved its sculptures and paintings in marvellous per- fection. The colors are as fresh and bright as when laid on at the commencement of the Christian era. It belongs to the later period of Egyptian art, when it had come decidedly under Greek influence. The present edifice probably occupies the site of an older one, built by Thothmes in. The palm leaf here replaces the lotus in the capitals IN THE TOMBS AT THEBES. of the columns, which are of great beauty. No two are alike. Their variety and grace afford a fine study for the decorative artist. We may observe here the change which had passed over the Egyptian feeling towards the gods and Pharaohs, since the time when they were regarded with awe and terror. Greek thought and feeling had human- ized the deities, and brought them down from their mysterious seclusion into friendly intercourse with man. In one panel we see them assisting the monarchs in the sports of the field. They are holding the cords of a clapnet in four divisions. The upper tier encloses flying birds ; the second, birds perched among the trees ; the third, water- fowl; the fourth, fishes. In another section, the gods, with their characteristic head- ' Exo.lus i. 13, 14. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. dresses and symbols of authority, are driving bulls, goats, and flocks of geese. Whilst the form of Egyptian worship remained, the sense of reverence and awe, which formed its spirit and essence, had departed. About thirty miles above Esneh is the most perfectly preserved temple in Egypt — that of Edfou. Until excavated by M. Mariette, in i864, only the propylons were visi- ble ; the rest was hidden beneath an Arab village which had been built upon its walls and sanctuary. It belongs to the period of the Ptolemies, and, like the temple at Esneh, exhibits the gods engaged in field-sports. One corridor is mainly devoted to harpooning the hippopotamus, and, with the irresistible tendency of the Egyptians to caricature, many of the incidents are very droll. In several cases the clumsy harpooner has struck his weapon into one of the attendants, instead of the animal at which it was Minimi mi i' iiiniiiiriTTr i al '=■ S, Tan & ~'^ THE JUDGMENT HALL OE OSIRIS. aimed. Doubtless there was a mythological meaning in the sculptures — the hippopota- mus being a symbol of Typhon, the Evil principle. But the realism and the fun of the scene are strangely out of keeping with the conventional and reverential tone of earlier art. A few hours after leaving Edfou we reach Silsilis, which is interesting as being the quarry from which the stone was cut for the temples and palaces of Thebes. The excavations are of immense extent on both sides of the river, which is here very narrow. They have been vividly described by Eliot Warburton, who says : " Hollowed out of the rocks are squares as large as that of St. James's, streets as large as Pall Mall, and lanes and alleys without number ; in short, you have all the negative features of a town, if I may so speak, i.e., if a town be considered as a cameo, these quarries are a vast intaglio." The tool-marks of the masons, made three thousand years ago, are distinctly visible, and it is easy to see the methods employed to separate the huge blocks of stone, THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. in the absence of gunpowder or other explosive material. Wooden wedges were inserted into the rock, and then moistened. As the line of wedges swelled, a mass of stone was detached of the size required. Remembering the stir and bustle of which these quarries were once the scene, their present solitude and silence are most impres- sive. Facing the river are a number of small grottoes or chapels, apparently for the use of the quarrymen, and these, with the but- tresses of stone carved into the form of columns, have a very picturesque appearance, giving the impression of a vast city hewn out of the livingrock. Fifteen miles above Silsilis, we reach the temple of Kom Ombo. Standing as it does on the summit of a hill overlooking the Nile Valley, it forms a very striking object from the river. Though small in size as compared with the mighty masses of Karnak and Luxor, it is one of the most beauti- ful edifices in Egypt. The sand-drift from the desert has buried the lower part of the columns, 122 SOUL VISITING ITS BODY, AND HOLDING THE EMBLEMS OF LIFE AND BREATH IN ITS CLAWS. PORTICO AND TEMPLE AT ESNEH. THE TEMPLE AT EDFOU. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. and threatens to submerge the whole. On the riverside the banks are being rapidly undermined by the force of the current. One smaller temple lower down the slope has already been swept away, and apparently in a few years this too will disappear. GBOTTOES OP SILSILIS. We now approach the first cataract ot the Nile. The scenery begins to assume a more distinctively Nubian character. Soon the ruined towers over Assouan come into view, and the second stage of our journey is completed. »5 LANDING-PLACE AT ASSOUAN. SECTION III. Assouan to Abu-Simbel. HPHE approach to Assouan is' very picturesque, and affords a pleasing contrast to -*■ the scenery of the Lower and Middle Nile. Instead of flat monotonous banks of sand and mud, we have masses of rock, broken up into grotesque and fantastic forms. Groves of palm, mimosa, and castor-oil plant come down to the water's edge. The limestone and sandstone ranges which hem in the Nile Valley from Cairo to Silsilis, give place to granite, porphyry, and basalt. The islands in the stream are no longer shifting accretions of mud, alternately formed and dissolved by the force of the current, but rocks and boulders of granite, which rise high above the river and resist its utmost force. The ruined convents and towers which crown the hills might almost cheat us into the belief that we were afloat on the Rhine or the Moselle, but for the tropical character of the scenery. This altered aspect of the scenery is in accordance with the political geography of the district. We have reached the southern boundary of Egypt, and are about to enter Nubia. The kingdom of the Pharaohs lies behind us, and we are on the borderland from which they marched for the conquest of Ethiopia. To this fact Ezekiel refers when, denouncing the Divine vengeance against Egypt, he says : " Behold, therefore, 126 ASSOUAN TO ABU-SIMBEL. I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, even the border of Ethiopia." 1 Assouan is a great centre for traffic with the interior. Caravans arrive from the desert, the camels are unloaded, and in a few days start again with consignments of manufactured articles — prints, beads, guns, powder — for barter with the native tribes. Dhows from Nubia and the Soudan, too heavily laden to descend the cataract, discharge their cargoes near Philse, to be borne overland to this point for transhipment to Cairo or Alexandria. A broad open space outside the town, on the bank of the river, serves at once as warehouse and exchange. Arabs, Turks, Negroes, Nubians, Abyssinians meet here on a footing of perfect equality. Trade levels all distinctions. Many of them are camped in native fashion. Bales of goods are arranged in a circle, so as to form a rampart against attack. In the centre a fire is kindled for cooking, around which the women and children lounge, whilst the men are chaffering in the bazaars, ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE. or gossiping on the beach. All the products of central Africa may be bought here — elephants' tusks, odoriferous gums, ostrich feathers, ebony, clubs, poisoned arrows, shields of rhinoceros hide, strange birds, monkeys, and sometimes lions. I was asked fifteen pounds for a lion cub, about the size of a Newfoundland dog. Failing to find a purchaser, the owner gradually came down to four pounds ; but it remained unsold. It was a good-tempered little brute, playing about like a huge over-grown kitten, but an angry growl and ominous showing of the teeth gave warning of trouble at no distant period. Opposite Assouan is the Island of Elephantine, or, as it is called by the natives, Gezeeret ez Zaher, the Island of Flowers. It formed an outpost for the successive lords of Egypt — Pharaohs, Ptolemies, Caesars, and Saracen Caliphs — all of whom have left traces of their military occupation. The temples and the Nilometer, which, up to 1822, stood on the island, have almost disappeared, having been used as a quarry by the Governor Ezekiel xxix. 10, margin. Migdoi was the frontier town on the north-east, as Syene, or Assouan, was on the south. 127 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. AMEN, ISIS, AND CHONSU. of Assouan to build himself a palace. Only a few fragments now remain to excite our indignation against the vandalism of the destroyer. In continuing our journey from Assouan and Elephantine to Phike, we may either ride across the desert or ascend the cataract. If we adopt the former route, we shall probably have our first experience of camel-riding, and it will be far from agreeable. The animal has a peculiar gait, lifting both feet on the same side together, instead of the near fore-leg and off hind-leg, like v the horse. This gives a peculiar |K corkscrew motion to the spine of the rider, which becomes absolutely painful after a short time. Immedi- ately on leaving the town we pass the old Saracenic cemetery. Like all those of Modern Egypt, it is in a state of extreme neglect and di- lapidation. The dead are covered with a thin sprinkling of earth, scarcely sufficient to protect them from the ravages of hyenas and jackals. The modern burial-places thus offer a striking contrast to the imperishable monuments in which the embalmed bodies were deposited by the ancient Egyptians. We soon reach the quarries from which the huge blocks of syenite granite were hewn for the temples of Lower Egypt. As at Silsilis, the quarry marks of the workmen are yet distinctly visible, and the vast extent of the exca- vations gives an impressive sense of the scale upon which the old builders worked. An obelisk yet remains in the quarry ; it is about a hundred feet in height, by eleven feet two inches in breadth. When, and by whom it was cut out from the rock, and why it was left here instead of being removed to its destined site, cannot now be known. A similar mass of stone, hewn, squared, and prepared for removal, is found in the quarries near Baalbec. The road now enters a savage defile, even more stern and desolate than that leading to the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes. Bare granite rocks rise on either hand. The bed of the wady is strewn with granite boulders lying in wild confusion, many of them inscribed with hieroglyphics and sculptures. Traces of ruined fortifications are visible, intended either to protect traders from the attack of marauding Bedouin, or to close the pass against invading hordes from the south. Emerg- ing from the defile of rock and sand, and crossing a strip of desert, we reach the banks 128 HEAD OE BES. A KOPTIC WOMAN. ASSOUAN TO ABU-SIMBEL. ISIS COLUMNS WITH EASTERN COLONNADE AND PYLON. of the river above the cataract. A clump of magnificent sycamores affords grateful shade after a hot and weary ride, and Philae, with its exquisite loveliness, more than fnlfils our highly-raised expectations. Before describing the other route to Philae, it is necessary to explain that by the Cata- racts of the Nile, all that is meant is a series of rapids which rush down from just below the Island of Biggeh, to just above Elephan- tine. There is no actual cascade or cataract, in our sense of the word, but the river boils and rages along the narrow channel, and whirls in dangerous eddies around the rocks and islets which obstruct its course. From the language of Cicero and Seneca it seems probable that two thousand years ago the fall was greater than it is now. After ma- king allowance for the exaggerations into which classical writers fell when describing strange and unfamiliar scenes, it is difficult to suppose that they only saw what we now see. If the river be not too low, and the wind be fair, there is abundant excitement, but no real danger, in the ascent of the cataracts. The dahabieh sails smoothly on between the rocky islets above Elephantine till the first rapid is reached. This is commonly passed without any difficulty, if there be a good steady breeze. It is at the second rapid that the struggle begins. The rowers strain at their oars till they bend almost to break- ing. Long poles are thrust out against every rock in the channel to gain a pur- chase. The boatmen leap into the seething cauldron to carry a rope to some project- ing headland, whence they may haul the vessel against the current. The rets shouts and gesticulates to the crew like a madman. Sometimes the boat is caught in an eddy, whirled round, and seems to be on the point of destruction, but a shifting of the broad lateen sail, a turn of the helm, or the coil- ing of a rope round a mass of rock makes all right again. It is a scene of indescri- bable confusion. Everybody is bav/ling at the top of his voice. The orders of the reis are drowned in the hurly-burly. At length.by dint of poling and warping, the top ■of the rapid is reached, and the vessel floats in smooth water once again. The current still runs strong, and vigorous rowing is needed for some distance, till we find ourselves off the village of Mahatta, and close upon the temple-crowned island which is our destination. 131 INTERIOR GREAT COURT. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. £^uH&!Jii Scarcely less exciting than the ascent of the rapids by a dahabiyyeh, is the sight of the Nubians descending them. The people of the district ordinarily cross the river astride on a log of wood. Even little children paddle themselves to and fro with mar- vellous skill. Stripping off their, clothing, if they have any, and making it up into a bundle to carry on their heads, they move about in the water as though it were their native element. Afloat in the river on these rude aboriginal rafts, a score of men will let themselves be drawn down by the current into the maddest rush and whirl of the rapid, and having reached its foot, swim ashore and beg for backsheesh, which is seldom re- fused. The Island of Philae, which lies just above the first cataract, was sacred to Osiris, the most prominent figure in the Egyptian Pan- theon. The legends con- cerning him formed the centre of the Egyptian mythological system. The island is cov- ered with temples, but none of them are older than the era of the Pto- lemies. The original edifices were destroyed by Persian iconoclasts, and very few traces of them can be discov- ered. It is difficult to make out the general plan of the buildings, What Sir Gardner Wilkinson called the " symmetrophobia " of the Egyptians is here most strikingly illustrated. Where a modern architect would secure a mag- nificent vista by avenues leading in straight lines to a central and commanding point, they broke up the ground-plan into detached and unsymmetrical portions. No part of the edifice corresponded in design to any other part. Propylons, gateways, side-chapels, seem to have been placed just where the whim of the builder dictated, i3j PORTICO OP TEMPLE AT PHILJI. ASSOUAN TO ABU-SIMBEL. with little or no regard to the production of an harmonious and well-balanced whole. This is specially true of the edifices on Philse. The most conspicuous building on the island is a hypaethral hall, near the landing- place, vulgarly known as Pharaoh's bed. It is detached from the main temple, and its builder and purpose are alike unknown. It can hardly have been a temple, and may possibly have been erected merely as an architectural feature. The most probable view is that it was a com- paratively modern erection over the assumed grave of Osiris. Its situation is very striking, and it har- monizes well with the sur- rounding scenery ; but I should hardly go the length of Mr. Fairholt, who pronounces it "the most exquisite in its effect -of any in Egypt." The great temple of Isis was approached by a quay and a flight oi steps leading up from the river at the southern end of the island. The visitor then passed between a pair of obelisks, of which only one is now standing, and along an avenue of Isis- headed columns to the great propylon. A peristyle court and a small temple, sacred to Horus, are then entered ; another smaller propylon succeeds, and we reach the grand portico of the temple of Isis, its columns glowing with color, their capitals delicately and exquisitely designed from lotus, acacia, and palm leaves. This general plan, .however, fails to give any idea of the bewildering mazes of corridors, halls, and shrines which succeed one another. Perhaps the most interesting portion of the building is a CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AT PHILE. CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AT PHIL^. small chapel constructed upon the roof of one of the terraces. The sculptures in this chamber represent the history of Osiris. We see the mangled remains of the slain monarch brought together, women are weeping round his bier, whilst the symbol of the soul hovers over the corpse. Gradually the signs of returning life are indicated. Winged figures, like the cherubim of Scripture, stand around, overshadow- ing and guarding the body with their wings. The mystic legend unfolds itself step by 133 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. MUD HUTS. step, till Osiris is seen robed, crowned, seated upon his throne, bearing in his hands^ which are crossed upon his breast, the insignia of empire, and he is installed as the mighty and beneficent ruler of the invisible world. On the downfall of the Egyptian mythology, Philee became an important Christian colony. The monks who settled here, like those at Beni Hassan, defaced the symbols of the old faith and substituted for them those of Christianity. Some of these are very curious. We have not only the cross of the ordinary form with the familiar addition of the palm branch of victory, or inclosed within a circle of amaranth, symbolizing eternity, but we find strange combinations of unusual forms with fanciful additions, of which it is often difficult to discover the meaning. Thus the Jerusalem cross, as it is now called, appears with a semicircle on. each of its arms, or with globes at each extremity and grouped round the centre. What looks at first like a mere arabesque or geometrical pattern resolves itself into a series of crosses, with that of St. Andrew in the centre, and triangles at each corner,, as types of the Trinity. At this distance of time it is impossible to say how far these rude inscriptions were expressive of a true spiritual faith in the Divine verities thus symbolized. But from what we know of the character of the Egyptian monks, there is but too much reason to fear that they only represent a gross superstition scarcely more respectable than the heathenism they replaced. One great cause of the rapid spread of Mohammedanism in the seventh century was the idolatry and degraded su- perstition into which the Church had then fallen. And at the present day one main hin- drance to the progress of Christianity amongst the Moslems is their deep-rooted belief that it is essentially idolatrous — a be- lief created and fostered by the creed and ritual of the Greek, Latin, and Coptic churches. Slowly this erroneous idea is being dispelled by the teaching of Protes- tant evangelists. But everywhere through- out the Mohammedan world, I have found that the worship of the crucifix, of Mary, and of the saints, has raised an almost insu- perable prejudice against Christianity. Strange that a faith which teaches that " God is a spirit : and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth," should, by the misrepresentations of its avowed adherents, have been exposed to such a charge. The general aspect of Nubian scenery is similar to that of Egypt, but with some marked differences. The Nile flows on through a valley with mountain ranges on either 134 sheikh's house. ASSOUAN TO ABU-SIMBEL. hand. Its banks, fertilized by the river, are of a rich emerald green. Beyond this narrow strip of verdure all is bare rock and barren sand. But the mountain-sides are more precipitous, and come down nearer to the water's edge, thus diminishing the area to which the annual inundation rises, and, as a consequence, the cultivable soil is pro- portionately less. Artifical irrigation becomes more than ever needful, and sakiehs and shadoofs are seen all along the river banks. The population is scanty. The soil indeed is wonderfully productive, but there is so little of it, that large numbers are compelled to emigrate to Cairo or Alexandria, and find employment as water-carriers, donkey- drivers, or laborers. The cottages are often mere walls of baked mud, covered with thatch, with only a single chamber in each. Some of the sheikhs' houses, however, are very picturesque, and are built in the curious fashion which we have seen in Upper Egypt. The upper parts are ornamented with bands of plaster cornices, and rows of earth- ern pots are let into the walls, to serve as pigeon-houses. The landscape has been gradually becoming more tropical in character, so that we actually enter the tropics a little way above Philae without being conscious of any marked change. Doum palms, which we first saw just below Thebes, are striking features in the landscape. Some of them attain great size, and afford an agreeable contrast to the bare columnar stems of the date palm. Fields of maize, millet, cot- ton, and sugar-cane line the banks, and produce three harvests in the year, with little toil to the cultivator, beyond that required for raising water from the river for purposes of irrigation. Most of the work in the fields is done by wo- men and children. The men have either gone down into Egypt, or are working on the banks of the river, or are gossiping under the pleasant shade of the palms. The old women are at home minding the babies, or grinding corn, or baking bread. The young girls are busy in the fields picking cotton, or reaping, or sowing the seed for the next harvest. It is at the wayside well that the life of the people may be best seen. A pleasant picture of the groups which gather there has been drawn by Howard Hopley in the Leisure Hour. " We lay hidden one day beneath a screen of intertwisted palm fronds, dreamily lapped in a kind of doze — a slumbrous feeling communicated, I believe by watching the shame- ful inactivity of a tribe of birds in their twilight cloisters above of boughs swinging gently in the lazy airs of summer's noon, — birds that manifestly toiled not for their living, but took it on trust, flaunting themselves in the most gorgeous plumage imaginable, and neither singing, nor even chatting, for the matter of that. We were lying here, I say, when we espied through our leafy screen the advent of some travelers. A mother and two children — a chubby unclad urchin of two or three, and an elder sister — entered from 135 NUBIAN WOMAN. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. the outer glare and squatted down in the golden light filtering from above on to the sandy area of the grove. They could not have traveled far, for they came in so glad- some and fresh. The daughter, a fine-grown girl of twelve, ran off to the well and tripped back playfully, with one hand daintily steadying an earthen bowl, dripping over with the grateful drink. Her mother awaited it, her back against a palm, in the attitude of Judcea Capta on the Roman coin. How these Nubian faces flash out sometimes an intelligence that no one would give them credit for! This woman, under thirty, perhaps, yet already old and wrinkled, might have been handsome enough once, but the expres- sion of her face was dull and stolid — of the earth earthy. Yet as she sat there straining her little blackamoor to her breast, the soul came up in her face, and she looked posi- tively beautiful. It was like lighting the candle within the lantern. She wore a tunic ■ jfc-^ - • | 111P NUBIAN MUSICIANS. of camel-hair fabric, Nubian fashion, looped up on each shoulder, leaving the arms bare. It had more the cut of the Greek palla, than the skirt of the Egyptian fellah — a kind of extra fold falling from the neck to the waist. The daughter, a pretty little woman, lissom and shapely, you might have taken for a dryad of the wood. Just budding into the woman, she retained all the playfulness of the child, and romped free in the changing leafy lights of this copse, as if her life were all play. There was something so gracious and winsome about her that you could not find heart to cavil. Yet her hair was reek- ing with castor-oil, and I am afraid the gloss on her supple limbs was attributable to that same unguent. She seemed almost perfect in form ; and the hair in question, which fell in a hundred little plaits about her shoulders (shortened in a line across the forehead), framed a face of which the big black eyes, pouted lips, and placid mien, seemed an echo 136 ASSOUAN TO ABU-SIMBEL. of those sweet faces you see pictured in the old tombs — an echo from a far-back world. Her sole dress, save a necklace or two of beads, was a short petticoat of tiny strips of leather, a kind of fringe decked out coquettishly with a multitude of cowry shells and glass beads, all of which tinkled merrily as she skipped along. You could not, for the life of you, call it an immodest costume, the thing was go natural and innocent. Indeed, in this country, until girls marry, such is their only dress, save a slight veil thrown over the head against the sun." Though Nubia did not form part of Egypt proper, yet at the present day it more closely re- sembles the Egypt of the Phara- ohs than does the region of the Lower Nile. Cut off from the rest of the world by the cataract on the north, and by the desert on the east and west, its population has been kept pure from the inter- mixture of foreign blood, and its manners and customs have re- mained almost unchanged. Faces are depicted on the monuments which might pass for portraits of those whom we see around us. The contour of the features is precisely the same. This likeness is rendered more obvious by a similarity in the mode of dressing the hair, which is arranged in small cork-screw curls, kept close to the head by satura- tion with castor-oil. The necklaces, earrings, and bracelets are the same as those worn three or four thousand years ago. In any Nubian hut, wooden pillows or head-rests may be found whose form is absolutely undis- tinguishable from those which may be seen in the British Museum, brought there from Theban tombs. The temples of Nubia are even more nu- merous than those of Egypt. But being w x. ^uowwj/ . ,, ^ ■■■■■■W placed there by foreign rulers as trophies of v \ ^s/ /W^^ ^^^^j their victories, they have little historical im- portance, and, except those of Abu-Simbel, present few remarkable features. That of Dandour is of the Roman period, and was founded in the reiom of Augustus. It is curious as an illustration of the way in which classical architects worked upon native models. In some points there is an almost servile imitation of the original, and yet the whole tone and feeling are thoroughly non-Egyptian. It does not need a study 139 A ROADSIDE WELL. EGYPTIAN GIRL. WOODEN PILLOW. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. of the inscriptions to tell us that, though dedicated to Osiris, Isis, and Horus, the sway of those deities had already passed away. Though the temple at Dekkeh is but little older than that at Dandour, it has an interesting history. Its adytum was built by Ergamun, an Ethiopian monarch, who broke through the barbarous customs of his race and set at defiance the tyranny of the priests. Diodorus tells us that up to this time the priests had always informed the king w r hen the time had arrived for him to die, whereupon, in obedience to their commands, he slew himself. This strange custom seems to have grown out of a feeling, like that which prevailed among our Norse ancestors, that it was disgraceful for a warrior to die from disease or old age, and the sagas record several instances of aged chiefs rushing on certain death to escape so dishonorable an end. Sir Gardner Wilkinson points out that a similar custom yet exists among certain Ethiopian races which lie farther to the south. Ergamun having received the intimation that the time had come to immolate himself, he not only refused to obey, but collecting his troops, marched to the temple, slew the priests, and effected a thorough re- form of the whole system. Ergamun clearly distinguished between submission to the priests and reverence for the gods, for he is represented on the walls of the temple as making the accustomed offer- ings to the deities, and the usual car- touches declare that he was " protected by Amon, the chosen of Ra, and the be- loved of Isis." About twenty-five miles above Dekkeh are the remains of a temple belonging to the earliest period, that of Rameses the Great. It is called by the Arabs the Wady Sabooah, the Valley of the Lions, from the avenues of sphinxes which led up to the propylon in front of the temple. At the entrance of the avenue stand two colossal statues of Rameses, with sculptures recording his victories and celebrating his glories. Most of the sphinxes are buried in the sand which has drifted over them, but their huge heads protruding from the plain have a most impressive effect, and fill with awe the wandering Bedouin, who regard them as the work of demons. Sailing up the river for about seventy miles above Wady Sabooah, through ranges of desert hills, sloping down to green banks, studded with palm and mimosa, or standing cliff-like over the stream, we see before us a bold mass of rock upon which, as we approach it, colossal figures become visible. They are so vast that they look like some freak of nature rather than the work of puny men. It is Abu-Simbel — one of the temples of the great Rameses and worthy to rank with the edifices of Thebes 140 TEMPLE OP DANDOUR. ASSOUAN TO ABU-STMBEL. or Gizeh. Elsewhere, the great Egyptian builders had erected their edifices upon the surface of the earth. Here a mountain had been hollowed into shrines for the gods, and hewed into imperishable monuments of the glory of Pharaoh. The smaller of the two temples is cut into the rock to the depth of ninety feet. It was dedicated to Athor, the Lady of Aboshek, as she is called. The facade, ninety feet in length, represents Rameses standing among the gods, as though their equal in dignity and power. In the interior, the mild, gentle face of the goddess appears on the walls amongst her kin- dred deities, whilst the hero-king records his conquests of the world as far as it was then known. Elsewhere this tem- ple would rivet our at- tention upon itself: here it is dwarfed al- most into insignificance by its companion. Four granite warders hewn out of the living rock keep watch at its portals, seated in sol- emn majesty, as they have sat for nearly four thousand years. Fig- ures fail to convey any adequate sense of their magnitude. As given by Murray, their di- mensions are as fol- lows : " Their total height is about sixty- six feet without the pedestal ; the ear meas- ures three feet five inches ; from the inner side of elbow joint to end of middle finger, fifteen feet. The total height of the facade of the temple may be between ninety and one hundred feet." The lower part of the figures is buried in sand, but they tower so high above the drifted mass, that it is a task of some labor to climb up into the lap of one of them. The beauty of the faces is even more remarkable than their enormous magnitude. Usually we associate a coarseness and rudeness of finish with great size in works of art : 141 ENTKANCE OF THE TEMPLE OF DEKKEH. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. but every visitor is struck by the delicacy and expressiveness ot the features. One writer speaks of "the sweet sad smile of the placid pensive face : " an- other is fascinated by " the expression placid and cheerful — full of moral grace : " a third sees in them "a dignity and composure, a tranquil pity, a se- rene hopefulness more than human :" a fourth says, "They are unique in art. The masterpieces of Greece, higher in rank, have nothing to match with the mystic beauty of these. " There may be some exaggera- tion in these words. And yet the solemn expressiveness of these colossi can- not be doubted. The head of one of the statues is broken off, the oth- er three are toler- ably pefect. On the leg of one of them is a curious Greek inscription. Hero- dotus relates that the troops of King Psammetichus who were stationed at Syene, growing weary and muti- nous, deserted, and -fled into Ethiophia. They were pursued by order of the king. Two of the soldiers who ^were sent to bring back the fugitives have here recorded the fact, and given their 142 ASSOUAN TO ABU-S1MBEL. names — Damearchon and Pelephus — as forming part of the expedition. It is seldom that a historical narrative receives such contemporaneous illustration and confirma- tion. Still more seldom is it that the bad, though ancient, custom of scratching obscure •names upon a venerable monument possesses any value whatever. The mountain behind these gigantic figures is hollowed out to a depth of about two ^hundred feet. The excavations consist of a grand hall, with eight side chapels opening into it, a second smaller hall, a corridor, and an adytum with altar and figures in relief. The walls are covered with paintings and sculptures, and in the grand hall are eight ■colossal Osiride columns twenty feet in height, each standing erect with its back against a square shaft, thus forming a central aisle. They are all exactly alike, with the same placid solemn expression as those in the fagade. Each is crowned with the serpent- crested Pshent, and holds in its hands, which are crossed upon the breast, the crook and zflail or scourge, emblems of divine power and judgment. They are robed from head to FACADE OF SMALLER TEMPLE AT ABU-SIMBEL. foot in the close-fitting tunic or shroud of death. Round the lions a belt is tied, falling in lappets upon the knee, and bearing the cartouche of Rameses. The walls are glowing with color, like the pages of an illuminated missal magnified a thousandfold. Their theme is everywhere the same — the glory of Rameses. We cannot fail, however, to be struck by the contrast between the tranquil, gentle face of the deified monarch, and the deeds of savage ferocity which are here ascribed to him. Long lines of captives are led bound before him on their way to execution. He himself is depicted as slaying them with a pitiless cruelty. In one sculpture he is grasping by their hair a group of prisoners, representing the various nations, African and Asiatic, which he has conquered. With his uplifted sword he is about to decapitate them. The god Amon hands him a scimitar, in token of his approval of the deed. We follow the mighty conqueror throughout his campaigns. In one place he is charg- ing in his war-chariot upon a whole phalanx of Scythians. In another, he, single- handed, slays their chief. In a third he is laying waste the territory of the Ethi- 143 'I HE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. opians. But everywhere his countenance wears the same expression c.i tranquility and repose which nothing can disturb. The entrance to the temple is so small, that only a feeble ray of light can penetrate, leaving the halls in utter darkness, which is imperfectly dispelled by the aid of candles or torches. 1 But as the opening is towards the east, there are certain seasons of the year at which the light of the rising sun or moon falls full into the vast area. This of course only happens when the point on the horizon at which the luminary rises exactly fronts the entrance, that is to say, twice in the year with the sun, once a month with the moon. Then for a few min- utes a beam of light streams through the narrow portal, pen- etrates the great hall, and finds its way into the very adytum, illumina- ting as with magical • effect the figures there. This inner- most shrine was dedicated to the Sun and Moon, whose symbols are over the altar. W e may, therefore, con- jecture that the in- ternal arrange- ments of the temple were originally planned so that on the great festivals this impressive spectacle might be witnessed. At Abu-Simbel our Egyptian tour terminates. We drift slowly down the Nile, gliding past the ruins of departed great- ness. As we revisit the shattered monuments of the most gigantic system of idolatry which the world has ever seen, the contrast between bygone glory and present degra- dation is forced upon us. It is impossible to forget that when Egypt was at the sum- mit of its pride and power, its impending doom was again and again foretold by Hebrew prophets. When Thebes was in her glory, and her subsequent conquerors were only wild hordes of the desert, Joel began the warning : 1 Visitors to Egypt should on no account omit to take with them a plentiful supply 01 magnesium wire, and an ordinary buTs- eye lantern. The value of the latter for concentrating light on particular points is very great. 144 PABT OF FACADE OF GREAT TEMPLE AT ABU-SIMBEL. ASSOUAN TO ABU-S1MBEL. " Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, For the violence agaii st the children of Judah, Because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.'" 1 A hundred years later, Isaiah renewed the burden : " The Eg\ ptLns will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord ; And a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, The counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish : How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am thesnn of the wise, the son of ancient kings?" 2 GBEAT TEMPLE AT ABU-SIMBEL. The doom was again denounced by Ezekiel, when the destroyer was nearer at hand, yet still before the long and flourishing reign of Amasis : "I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, Which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for mysell. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. And the sword shall come upon Egvpt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, When the slain sh .11 fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, And her foundations shall be broken down. And they shall know that I am the Lord, When I have set fire in Egvpt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed. Thus saith the Lord God : I will also destroy the idols, 1 Joel iii. 19, 20. * Isaiah xix. 4, n. 145 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. And I will cause their images to cease out of Nopii ; And there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt : And I will put a fear in the land of E *ypt, and I will make Pathros desolate, And will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No. And I will pour My fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt ; And I will cut off the mulitude of No. And I will set fire in Egypt : Sin shall have great pain, And No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily. The young men of Avon and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword : And these cities shall go into captivity. At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be dark- ened, When I shall break there the yokes of Egypt : And the pomp of her streng.h shall cease in her : As for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughter shall go into captivity. Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt : and they shall know that I am the Lord. " x THOPIAN, NEGRO, AND ASIATIC CAPTIVES BEFORE EAMESES. Blended with these denunciations of impending ruin are the promises of a bright and glorious future. As we trace the exact and literal fulfilment of the one, we gain new confidence in the full and final accomplishment of the other. If He " who delighteth in mercy, and judgment is his strange work," has not allowed one word of His threat- enino;s to fail, how much more shall His gracious assurances of pardon and restoration be verified? " In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, And a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt : For they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, And he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and He shall deliver them. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, RAMESES SLAYING A GROUP OF AFRICAN AND ASIATIC CAPTIVES- And shall do sacrifice and oblation ; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. And the Lord shall smite Egypt : He shall smite and heal it : i Ezekiel xx:x. 3, 6 ; xxx. 4, 8, 13-19. m6 ASSOUAN TO ABU-SIMBEL. And they shall return even to the Lord, And he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them. In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, And the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, Even a blessing in the midst of the land : whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, And Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance." 1 1 Isaiah xix. 19-25. MENEPHTAH, THE PKOBABLE PHAEAOH OP THE EXODUS. 147 ENTRANCE PASSAGE TO THE EMPTY TOMB OP SETI I. SECTION IV. Recent Discoveries in Egypt. O I NCE the first edition of this work was printed, Egyptology has made very great ^ strides. The language is better known, multitudes of papyri, stelae, 1 and inscrip- tions of various kinds have been translated. We know much more of the social and religious ideas of the marvellous nation who, in the dawn of history, peopled the valley of the Nile. This period has also witnessed some of the most surprising, interesting, and important discoveries of antiquities that have ever been made in Egypt. In the brief limits at our disposal, nothing like a complete sketch of these can be attempted. We can refer at any length to only the most important, viz., the great find at Deir-el- Bahari, and give a hasty glance at a few others. The most wonderful event in recent Egyptian history is the now world-famous dis- covery at Deir-el-Bahari in 1881. Prior to the occurrence of the event, had any one ventured to assert that the mummy of Thotmes in. would ever be found, that should we be able to look upon the real face of Rameses 11. , the Pharaoh of the Oppression, that, in one great discovery, we should come upon many of the most famous kings and queens 1 Small columns without base or capital, with memorial inscriptions. 148 pa H Ph Ph t> H IK Eh O 02 O o o P3 © RECENT DISCOVERIES IN EGYPT. in Egyptian history, these statements would nave been considered entirely out of the range of probability. Yet all this and more has come to pass. During the early part of 1881, various reports and rumors were current relative to a great discovery of antiquities in the neighborhood of Thebes, and that the secret, what- ever its nature, was the possession of four Arab brothers named Abd-er-Rasul, who lived among the rock-cut tombs hard by the Ramesseum. Professionally these men were guides ; actually they spent most of their time in breaking into tombs and securing mummies, which, contrary to law, they sold to whomsoever would buy them. Early in 1881, Mas- pero caused Ahmed Adb-er-Rasul to be imprisoned, and for two months he was shut up at Keneh. The monotony of prison life was varied by occasional bastinado, and by threats of execution if he did not reveal all he knew. He endured all this, and yet kept riorht we ll hi s secret But an- other brother, named Moham- med, attracted by Maspero's judi- cious offer of considerable bak- sheesh to the man who could and would satisfy his curiosity, made a clean breast of it, and on July 5th, 1 88 1, led Brugsch Bey, whom Maspero had sent from Cairo to act for him, to Deir-el-Bahari. How and when the Arab brethren came upon their find is to this day their own secret. 1 After a long clinb up the moun- tain slope, and the scaling of a high limestone cliff, behind a great rock a shaft about six feet square was found, which had been sunk some forty feet into the limestone. At the foot of this a passage ran westwards for twenty-five feet, and then northwards into the heart of the mountain, terminating in a sepulchral chamber twenty-three feet by thirteen in extent, and about six feet high. What followed cannot be better told than in Brugsch Bey's own words. " Finding Pharaoh," he told Mr. Wilson, " was an exciting experience for me. It is true I was armed to the teeth, and my faithful rifle, full of shells, hung over my shoulder; ' Most interesting accounts of this event are found in the article called "Lying in State at Cairo," by Miss Fdwards, in Harper's Magazine for July, 1882 ; and in the articles "Finding Pharaoh," by E. L. Wilsou, and "Pharaoh the Oppressor," by John A. Paine, in the Century for May, 1S87. The Editor received much valuable help from these articles in preparing this section. 151 OUTEK MUMMY CASE OP QUEEN NEFERT-ARL THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. but my assistant from Cairo, Ahmed Effendi Kemal, was the only person with me whom I could trust. Any one of the natives would have killed me willingly, had we been alone, for every one of them knew better than I did that I was about to deprive them of a great source of revenue. But I exposed no sign of fear, and proceeded with the work. The well cleared out, I descended, and began the exploration of the underground passage. Soon we came upon cases of porcelain funeral offerings, metal and alabaster vessels, draperies and trinkets, until, reaching the turn in the passage, a cluster of mummy-cases came into view in such number as to stagger me. Collecting my senses, I made the best examination of them I could by the light of my torch, and at once saw that they contained the mummies of royal personages of both sexes ; and yet that was not all. Plunging on ahead of my guide, I came to the chamber, and there, standing against the walls or lying on the floor, I found even a greater number of mummy-cases of stupendous size and weight. Their gold coverings, and their polished surfaces so plainly reflected my own excited visage, that it seemed as though I was looking into the faces of my own ancestors. The gilt face on the coffin of the amiable Queen Nefert-ari seemed to smile upon me like an old acquaintance. I took in the situation quickly with a gasp, and hurried to the open air, lest I should be overcome, and the glorious prize, still unrvealed, be lost to science. It was almost sunset then. Already the odor which arose from the tomb had cajoled a troupe of slink- ing jackals to the neighborhood, and the howl of hyenas was heard not far distant. A long line of vultures sat upon the highest pinnacles of the cliffs near by, ready for their hateful work. The valley was as still as death. Nearly the whole of the night was occupied in hiring men to help remove the precious relics from their hiding-place. There was but little sleep in Luxor that night. Early the next morning three hundred Arabs were employed under my direction — each one a thief. One by one the coffins were hoisted to the surface, were securely sewed up in sail-cloth and matting, and then were carried across the plain of Thebes to to the steamers awaiting them at Luxor. Two squads of Arabs accompanied each sar- cophagus — one to carry it, and a second to watch the wily carriers. When the Nile overflow, lying midway of the plain, was reached, as many more boatmen entered the service, and bore the burden to the other side. Then a third set took up the ancient freight, and carried it to the steamers. Slow workers are these Egyptians, but after six days of hard labor, under the July sun, the work was finished. I shall never forget the scenes I witnessed when standing at the mouth of the shaft, I watched the strange line of helpers while they carried across the historical plain the bodies of the very kings who had constructed the temples still standing, and of the very priests who had officiated in them — the temple of Hatshepsu nearest ; away across from it, Gurneh ; further to the right the Ramesseum, where the great granite monolith lies face to the ground ; further south, Medinet Abu, a long way beyond the Deirel-Medineh ; and there the twin Colossi, or the vocal Memnon and his companion ; then, beyond all, some more of the plain, the line of the Nile, and the Arabian hills far to the east and above all ; and with all, slowly moving down the cliffs and across the plain, or in the boats crossing the sea, were the sullen laborers earring their antique burdens. As the Red Sea opened and allowed Israel to pass across dry-shod, so opened the silence of the Theban plain, allowed the strange funeral procession to pass, — and then all was hushed again. When we made our departure from Luxor, our late helpers squatted in groups upon 152 RECENT DISCO VERIES IN EGYPT. the Theban side and silently watched us. The news had been sent down the Nile in advance of us. So, when we passed the towns, the people gathered at the quays, and made most frantic demonstrations. The fantasia dancers were holding their wildest orgies here and there ; a strange wail went up from the men, the women were screaming and tearing their hair, and the children were so frightened I pitied them. A few fanatical dervishes plunged into the river and tried to reach us, but a sight of the rifle drove them back, cursing us as they swam away. At night fires were kindled and guns were fired. At last we arrived at Bulak, where I soon confirmed my impres- sion that we had in deed recovered the mummies of the ma- jority of the rulers of Egypt during the XVIIIth, XlXth and XXIst dynasties, in- cluding Rameses 11., Rameses in., King Pinetem, the high priest Nebseni, and Queen Nefert-ari, all of whom are now at Bula.k,arranged pretty much as I found them in the long-hidden tomb. And thus our Museum became the third and probably the final resting-place of the mummy of the great Pharaoh of the Oppression." On leaving the chamber in the moun- tain where these mum- mies had so lono- re- posed — for it was in that very place that Brugsch Bey told Mr. Wilson the story — at the entrance to the shaft the latter photo- graphed the group of which we give here an engraving. It possesses more than passing interest, since it shows the entrance to the shaft ; reclining on the right is Professor Maspero, standing in the center is Brugsch Bey, and the Arab in the foreground is Mo- hammed Abd-el-Rasul, holding in his hand the rope by which the mummies of kings and queens and priests who lived from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, were hauled up from their long-lost tomb. Mohammed. Brugsch. Maspero. MASPERO BRUGSCH BEY, AND MOHAMMED ABD-ER-RASUL. \As photographed by E. L. Wilson at the mouth of the shaft at Dezr-el-Bahari.) THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. The following is a list of tae mummies of kings and queens removed to Bulak, around whom most historic interest centers : — King Sekenen-Ra Ta-aken and Queen Ansera, of the XVIIth Dynasty ; Queen Ahmes Nefert-ari, King Amenhetep i., Thothmes n., and Thothmes in., of the XVIIIth Dynasty ; Seti I., Rameses n., and Rameses in., of the XlXth Dynasty ; Queen Netem- Maut, King Pinetem i., and King Pinetem n., of the XXIst Dynasty. Some of the sarcophagi of these royal personages are of huge dimensions, the largest being that of Queen Ahmes Nefert-ari. The coffin is ten feet long, made of cartonnage, and in style resembles one of the Osiride pillars of the Temple of Medinet Abu. Its weight and size are so enormous that sixteen men were required to remove it. Standing near the end of the long dark passage running northward, and not far from the threshold of the vault, lay the sarcophagus of Thothmes in., close to that of his brother Thothmes n. The mummy-case of the latter was in a lamentable condition, and had evidently been broken into and subjected to rough usage. On the lid, however, were recognized the well-known cartouches of this illustrious monarch. On opening the coffin the mummy itself was exposed to view, completely enshrouded with bandages ; but a rent near the left breast showed that it had been exposed to the violence of tomb- breakerSo Placed inside the coffin, and surrounding the body, were found wreaths of flowers — larkspurs, acacias, and lotuses. The body measured only five feet two inches • so that, making due allowance for shrinking and compression in the process of embalm- ing, still it is manifest that Thothmes in. was not a man of commanding stature, but in shortness of stature as in brilliancy of conquests, finds his counterpart in the person of Napoleon the Great. Soon after the arrival of these precious relics at Bulak, it was thought desirable in the interests of science to ascertain whether the mummy bearing the monogram of Thothmes in. was really the remains of that monarch. It was therefore unrolled. The inscrip- tions on the bandages established beyond all doubt the fact that it was indeed the most distinguished of the kings of the brilliant XVIIIth dynasty; and once more, after an interval of thirty-six centuries, human eyes gazed on the features of the man who had conquered Syria, and Cyprus, and Ethiopia, and had raised Egypt to the highest pinna- cle of her power ; so that it was said that in his reign she placed her frontiers were she pleased. The spectacle was of brief duration ; the remains proved to be in so fragile a state that there was only time to take a hasty photograph, and then the features crum- bled to pieces and vanished like an apparition, and so passed away from human view for ever. Professor Maspero felt such remorse at this result that, for fear of a similar catastrophe, the unrolling of Rameses the Great was delayed until 1886. Thothmes in. was the man who overran Palestine with his armies two hundred years before the birth of Moses, and has left us a diary of his adventures ; for, like Caesar, he was author as well as soldier. It seems strange that though the body mouldered to dust, the flowers with which it had been wreathed were so wouderfully preserved that even their color could be distinguished ; yet a flower is the very type of ephemeral beauty, that passeth away and is gone almost as soon as born. A Wasp which had been at- tracted by the floral treasures, and had entered the coffin at the moment of closing, was found dried up, but still perfect, having lasted better than the king. A most interesting account of the mightiest of Egyptian kings is given in Maspero's report of the unrolling of the mummies of Rameses n. and of what had been consid- 154 RECENT DISCOVERIES IN EGYPT. ered to be the mummy of Queen Nefert-ari, but which turned out to be Rameses in. It is dated June 3rd, 1886, two days only before Maspero resigned his post as Curator of the Museum. "Bulak, June 3, 1886. — -The year 1886, the 1st day of June, MM. Gaston Maspero, Director-General of the Excavations and Antiquities of Egypt, Emil Brugsch Bey, keeper, and Urbin Bouriant, assistant keeper, of the Museum of Bulak, proceeded, in the hall called The Hall of Royal Mummies, to unbandage those two mummies which, in the printed catalogue, are numbered 5,229 and 5,233,, both being among those discovered in the subterraneous hiding-place at Deir-el-Bahari. The mummy (No. 5,233) first taken out from its glass case is that of Rameses 11. , Sesostris, as testified by the offical entries bearing date the 6th and 16th years of the reign of the High Priest Herhor Se-Amen, and the High Priest Pinetem 1., written in black ink upon the lid of the wooden mum- my case, and the further entry of the 16th year of the High Priest Pinetem 1., written upon the outer winding-sheet of the mum- my, over the region of the breast. The presence of this last inscription having been verified by His Highness the Khedive, and by the illustrious personages there assembled, the first wrapping was removed, and there were successively discovered a band of stuff twenty centimetres in width rolled round the body, then a second winding-sheet sewn up and kept in place by narrow bands placed at some distance apart, then two thicknesses of small bandages, and then a piece of fine linen reaching from the head to the feet. A figure representing the Goddess Nut, one metre in length, is drawn upon this piece of linen, in red and white, as prescribed by the ritual. The profile of the goddess is un- mistakably designed after the pure and delicate profile of Seti 1., as he is known to us in the bas relief sculptures of Thebes and Abydos. Under this amulet there was found another bandage, then a layer of pieces of linen folded in squares and spotted with the bituminous matter used by the embalmers. This last covering removed, Rameses 11. appeared. The head is long, and small in proportion to the body. The top of the skull is quite bare. On the temples there are a few sparse hairs, but at the poll the hair is quite thick, forming smooth, straight locks about five centimetres in length. White at the time of death, they have been dyed a light yellow by the spices used in embalmment. The forehead is low and narrow; the brow-ridge prominent; the eye- brows are thick and white ; the eyes are small and close together ; the nose is long, thin, hooked like the noses of the Bourbons, and slightly crushed at the tip by the pres- sure of the bandages; the temples are sunken; the cheekbones very prominent; the ears round, standing far out from the head, and pierced like those of a woman for the wearing of earrings ; the jawbone is massive and strong; the chin very prominent; 155 THE PROFILE OF RAMESES II. (From a photograph taken at Bulak.) THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. the mouth small but thick-lipped, and full of some kind of black paste. This paste being partly cut away with the scissors, disclosed some much worn and very brittle teeth, which, moreover, are white and well preserved. The moustache and beard are thin. They seem to have been kept shaven during life, but were probably allowed to grow during the king's last illness ; or they may have grown after death. The hairs are white, like those of the head and eyebrows, but are harsh and bristly, and from two to three millimetres in length. The skin is of earthy brown, splotched with black. Finally, it may be said the face of the mummy gives a fair idea of the face of the living king. The expression is unintellectual, perhaps slightly animal ; but even under the somewhat grotesque disguise of mummification, there is plainly to be seen an air of sovereign majesty, of resolve, and of pride. The rest of the body is as well preserved as the head ; but in consequence of the reduction of the tissues, its external aspect is less life-like. The neck is no thicker than the vertebral column. The chest is broad ; the shoulders are square ; the arms are crossed upon the breast ; the hands are small and dyed with henna; and the wound in the leftside through which the embalmers extracted the viscera, is large and open. The legs and thighs are fleshless ; the feet are long, slender, somewhat flat-soled, and dyed, like the hands, with henna. The corpse is that of an old man, but of a vigorous and robust old man. We know, indeed, that Rameses n. reigned for 67 years, and that he must have been nearly 100 years old when he died. The unbandaging of the mummy of Rameses 11. took less than one quarter of an hour. After a short pause of a few moments, at precisely ten minutes before ten o'clock, the mummy numbered 5,229 was > m its turn, removed from its glass case. It was discovered in the great sarcophagus numbered 5,247, which also contained another mummy in a very dirty and tattered condition. As this sarcophagus bore the name of Nefert-ari, the wife of king Ahmes 1. of the XVIIIth Dynasty, it has been taken for granted that No. 5,229 was the mummy of this queen. The other mummy was supposed to be that of some unknown princess who had been laid beside Nefert-ari by the priests employed to conceal the royal mummies in the hiding-place at Deir-el-Bahari. Consigned to the Museum stores, the mummy decayed and gave out so foul an odor that it became necessary to get rid of it. It was accordingly opened, and proved to have been band- aged very carefully ; but the body was no sooner exposed to the outer air than it fell literally into a state of putrefaction, dissolving into black matter which gave out an insupportable smell. It was, however, ascertained to be the corpse of a woman of mature age and middle height, belonging to the white races of mankind. There were no traces of writing on the bandages, but a small strip of linen discovered in the sarcophagus No. 5,247 was decorated with a scene of adoration of King Rameses in., in the likeness of two forms of Amen. A short legend, written partly in cursive hiero- glyphs and partly in hieratic, states that the piece of linen thus decorated was the gift of the head laundress of the royal household, and it was accordingly supposed that the anonymous mummy was one of the many sisters, wives, or daughters of Rameses in. The mummy, No. 5,229, was very neatly wrapped in orange-colored linen, kept in place by small strips of ordinary linen. There was no outer inscription, but upon the head was a linen band covered with mystical figures. M. Maspero here reminded His Highness the Khedive that Nefert-ari is represented upon certain monuments as of a black complexion, while upon other monuments she is 156 RECENT DISCO VERIES IN EGYPT. seen with a yellow skin, and with the soft hair of an Egyptian woman. Hence there have arisen innumerable discussions among Egyptologists, some affirming that the queen was a negress, while others maintain that the black tint of her face and body was a fiction originating with the priests. The worship of this queen was extremely popu- lar at Thebes, where she was deified under one of the forms of Hathor, the black goddess, the goddess of death and of the shades. The opening of the mummy, No. 5,229, would, therefore, probably settle this historical question for good and all. The orange-colored winding-sheet being removed, there appeared beneath it a white sheet bearing an inscription in four lines: — " The year XIII. , the second month of Shomou, the 28th day, the First Prophet of Amen, King of the Gods, Pinetem, son of the First Prophet of Amen, Piankhi, the Scribe of the temple Zoserou-Khonsu, and the scribe of the Necropolis Boutchamou, proceeded to restore the defunct King Ra- user-ma Mer-Amen, and to establish him for Eternity." The mummy, which had hitherto been taken for Nefert-ari, was then the mummy of Rameses in. ; and the anonymous mum- my was without doubt that of Nefert-ari. This point being verified, Rameses in. was placed erect and photographed in his bandages. Short as was the delay, it seemed too long for the impatient spectators. The strange revelation, which had substituted one of the great conquerors of Egyptian history for the most venerated queen of the XVIilth Dynasty, had astonished and ex- cited them to the uttermost. The unband- aging of the mummy then recommenced in the midst of general impatience. All had left their places and crowded round the operators. Three thicknesses of bandages were rapidly unwound, then came a casing of sewn canvas covered with a thin coat of cement. This casing being cut with the scissors, more layers of linen appeared. The mummy seemed to diminish and reveal its forms under our fingers. Some of the wrappings were inscribed with legends and groups in black ink, notably the God Amen enthroned, with a line of hieroglyphs below, stating that this bandage was made and offered by a devotee of the period, or, perhaps, by a princess of the blood royal: — " The Lady Songstress of Amen Ra, King of the Gods, Tai't-aat-Maut, daughter of the First Prophet of Amen, Piankhi, in order that the God Amen should accord her life, health, and streneth." Two pectoral ornaments were laid in the folds of the wrappers, one of gilt wood, bearing the usual group of Isis and Nepthys adoring the sun ; the other in pure gold, inscribed with the name of Rameses in. One last wrapper of stiffened canvas, one last winding-sheet of red linen, and then a great disappointment, keenly felt by the opera- 157 THE HEAD OF RAMESES II. (From a photograph taken at Bulak.) THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. tors; the face of" the king was coated with a compact mass of bitumen, which completely hid the features. At 20 minutes past 1 1 His Highness the Khedive left the hall of mummies. The work was resumed in the afternoon of the same day, and on Thursday morning, the 3rd of June, a fresh examination of the bandages revealed inscriptions upon two of them. The first is dated the year IX., the second the year X. of the High Priest Pinetem 1. The tarry substance upon the face of the mummy being carefully attacked with the scissors was detached little by little, and the features became visible. They are less well preserved than those of Rameses 11., yet they can to a certain extent be identified with those of the portraits of the conqueror. The head and face are closely shaved, and show no trace of hair or beard. The forehead, without being lofty or very broad, is better pro- portioned and more intellectual than that of Rameses 11. The brow-ridge is less promi- nent, the cheekbones are less high, the nose is less hooked, the chin and jaw are less heavy. The eyes appear to be larger, but it is not possible to be certain of this last point, the eyelids having been removed, and the cavities of the eyeballs having been stuffed with rags. The ears are closer to the head than those of Rameses 11., and they are pierced in like manner for the reception of ear- rings. The mouth is disproportionately wide, and the thin lips reveal a row of white and well-placed teeth. The first molar on the right side appears to have been broken, or to have been worn away earlier than the rest. In short, Rameses in. is like a smaller imitation of Rameses 11. The physiognomy is more delicate, and, above all, more intelligent ; but the height of the body is less, the shoulders are less wide, and the strength of the man was inferior. What he was himself in his individual person as compared with gold-faced inneb Rameses n., so was his reign as compared with the rtign of Ram- Mr; mm y case OF eses ii. His wars were not fought in Syria or Ethiopia, but at the QUEEN NEFEBT-ABI. mQuths Q f the Ni]e and Qn the f rontiers Q f Egypt. His buildings (From a photograph taken at m Buiak.) were of a poor style and of hasty construction. His piety was as pompous as that of Rameses 11. , but his resources were more meagre. His vanity was, however, as boundless ; and such was his supreme desire to copy in all things the example of his illustrious predecessor, that he gave to his sons the names of the sons of Rameses 11. , and almost in the same order of birth. The two mummies, replaced in their glass cases, will henceforth be exhibited with their faces uncovered, like the mummies of King Pinetem and the priest Nebsouni. As illustrating yet further the wonderful light this discovery throws upon Egyptian history, we give Maspero's account of the unrolling of the mummies of Sekenen-Ra-Ta- aken, a monarch of the XVI Ith Dynasty, who reigned nearly 1800 years B.C., and of Seti 1., the father of Rameses n. Seti holds a very prominent position in Egyptian history. He was a great and successful warrior, and he was the father of Rameses n. Sekenen-Ra is one of the heroes of early Egyptian history. He headed the popular movement against the mysterious Hyksos kings, which, after a struggle extending over i5o years, led to their expulsion from Egypt. He figures as one of the heroes of an ancient romance written upon a papyrus about the time of the Exodus, and of which the British Museum possesses a large fragment. Maspero's re- port of the unrolling of his body, which took place June 9th, 1886, is very interesting, as illustrative of the details of the battle in which he lost his life. 158 RECENT DISCO VERIES IN EGYPT. "The mummy, numbered 5,227, ^ rst removed from its glass case, was that of the King Sekenen-Ra Ta-aken (XVIIth Theban dynasty), as shown by the inscription, written in red ink and retouched with the brush, upon the cover of his mummy case. Two large winding-sheets of coarse texture, loosely fastened, covered the body from head to foot. Next came pieces of linen carelessly swathed, and pledgets of rags held in place by narrow bandages ; the whole of these wrappings being greasy to the touch and impregnated by a fetid odor. The outer coverings removed, there remained under our hands a kind of spindle of stuff measuring about one metre 82 centimetres in length, and so slender that it seemed impossible there should be space enough inside it for a human body. The two last thicknesses of linen being stuck together by spices and adhering closely to the skin, they had to be cut asunder with a knife, whereupon the entire body was exposed to view. The head was thrown back, and lying low to the left. A large wound running across the right temple a little above the frontal ridge was partly con- cealed by long and scanty locks of hair. The lips were wide open, and contracted into a circle, from which the front teeth, gums, and tongue protruded, the latter being held between the teeth and partly bitten through. The features, forcibly distorted, wore a very evident expression of acute suffering. A more minute examination revealed the position of two more wounds. One, apparently afflicted by a mace or a hatchet, had cloven the left cheek and broken the lower jaw, the side teeth being laid bare. The other, hidden by the hair, had laid open the top of the head a little above the wound over the left brow. A downward hatchet-stroke had here split off an enormous splinter of skull, leaving a long cleft, through which some portion of the brain must have escaped. The position and appearance of the wounds make it possible to realize with consider- able certainty all the circumstances of this last scene of the king's life. Struck first upon the jaw, Ta-aken fell to the ground. His foes then precipitated themselves upon him, and, by the infliction of two more wounds, despatched him where he lay, one being a hatchet-stroke on the top of the head and the other a lance or dagger wound just above the eye. We already know that Ta-aken fought against the Shepherds — i.e., the so- called Hyksos invaders — who ruled Egypt for about 5oo years, but till now we did not know that he died on the field. The Egyptians were evidently victorious in the struggle, which took place over the corpse of their leader, or they would not have succeeded in rescuing it and in carrying it off the field. Being then and there hastily embalmed, it was conveyed to Thebes, where it received the rites of sepulture. These facts explain, not only the startling aspect of the mummy, but the irregular fashion of its embalmment. The chest and ribs, unduly compressed by operators working against time, are broken, and present the appearance of a collection of blackened debris, interspersed with scat- tered vertebrae. The pelvis is intact, the bones of the arms and legs are all separate, and decomposition must have already set in before the embalmers began their work. A large white blotch which surrounds the wound on the brow appears to be neither more nor less than a mass of brain substance which has exuded and mortified. Thus hastily embalmed, the mummy was not proof against destructive influences from without. The wrappers are eaten through by worms, and shells of the larvae of maggots are found in the long hair. Ta-aken was about forty years of age at the time of his death. He was tall, slender, and, to judge by what remains of the muscles of the shoulder and thorax, he must have been a singularly powerful man. His head was small, long, barrel-shaped, and covered with fine black curly hair, worn in long locks. The eye was large and deep- 159 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. set, the nose straight and broad at the bridge, the cheekbones were prominent, the jaw was massive, the mouth of middle size, somewhat projecting, and furnished with good sound teeth covered with fine enamel. The ears are gone, and there are scarcely any signs of beard or moustache. Ta-aken had been shaved on the very morning of the battle. Take him altogether, he must have been singularly like the Barabras (Nubians) of the present day, and have belonged to a race less mingled with foreign elements than that of the Rameses family. The mummy-case No. 5,232 contained the mummy ofSeti 1., second king of the XlXth dynasty, and father of Rameses 11. , as testified by the official entries of the year VI. and XVI. of Hrihor, and the year X. of Pinotmou 1,, inscribed upon the lid. The arrange- ment of the various winding-sheets and bandages was the same as upon the mummy of Rameses 11. At about midway of the total thickness of the wrappings there occurred two lines of hieratic inscription in black ink, stating that "in the year IX., the second month of Pert (the season of seed-time), the sixteenth day, was the day of re-clothing the King Men-mat-Ra (Seti 1.), to whom be life, health, and strength." Another inscription, written on one of the smaller bandages, adds that the linen used for the king's wrappings was supplied by the First Prophet of Amen Menkhopirri in his Vlth year ; so giving the date of the latest restoration of the king's fu- nerary trappings. The body presents much the same appearance as that of Rameses 11. It is long, fleshless, of a yellow-black color, and has the arms crossed upon the breast. The head was covered with a mask of fine linen, blackened with bitumen, which it was necessary to remove with the scissors. M. Alexandre Barsanti, upon whom that delicate operation devolved, removed this shape- less mass, and brought to view the most beautiful mummy-head the head op seti I. ever seen within the walls of the Museum. The sculptors of (From a photozrafh taken at Thebes and Abvdos did not flatter the Pharaoh when they gave Bulak.) } , ....... him that delicate, sweet, and smiling profile which is the admi- ration of travellers. After a lapse of thirty-two centuries, the mummy retains the same expression which characterized the features of the living man. Most striking of all, when compared with the mummy of Rameses 11. , is the astonishing resemblance between the father and son. The nose, mouth, chin — in short, all the features — are the same ; but in the father they are more refined, more intelligent, more spiritual than when reproduced in the son. Seti I. is, as it were, the idealized type of Rameses 11. He must have died at an advanced age. The head is shaven, the eyebrows are white, the condi- tion of the body points to considerably more than three-score years of life, thus confirm- ing the opinion of the learned, who have attributed a long reign to this king. The body is healthy and vigorous, notwithstanding the knotty state of the fingers, which bear evident traces of gout. The mouth is filled with some kind of paste, but the two teeth which are visible are white and well preserved." In addition to engravings of Seti and Rameses we give one of Pinetem 11 ., whose mummy was also found at Deir-el-Bahari. It is interesting from the fact that this king belonged to the XXIst dynasty, which flourished some three hundred years after the XlXth and that the features shown the Nubian type. As the orio-inal tombs of many of these great kings have long been known, and also known to be empty, the reason has been sought why the mummies of these great rulers, 160 RECENT DISCOVERIES IN EGYPT. THE HEAD OF PINETEM II. (From a photograph taken at Bulak.) belonging to several widely-separated epochs — Sekenen-Ra being as far distant from Pinetem n. as William the Conqueror from Wil- liam in. — were all brought together into the secret place at Deir-el-Bahari, and when they were put there. Inscriptions upon the mummies show that from time to time properly appointed officials vis- ited the royal mummies, and reported upon their condition. The kings and queens found, down to, and including Rameses in., seem to have been originally buried in their own royal tombs. The tomb in which they were found appears to have been the family vault of the Her-Hor dy- nasty. Towards the close of the XXth dynasty Egypt fell into a state of considerable social dis- order and insecurity. One of the many forms in which crime flourished was the robbing of tombs. From time to time the mummies of the ancient kings were placed in tombs less easy of access than their own, and thus more secure against the assaults of robbers, and at last — when, no one can say — found a permanent refuge in the tomb which, contrary to ancient Egyptian custom, the Her-Hor family made the sepulchre, not only of the monarch who hewed it out, but also of his descendants. In 1882 a few scholars interested in the study of Egyptian antiquities formed a society, based upon the model of that which has done so much for Palestine, and called it the Egypt Explora- tion Fund. The object for which subscriptions are sought is the excavation of promising sites in Egypt, and the publication of the results of the work done. The society has kept itself well before the public since its foundation, and some of its discoveries have formed the theme of con- siderable discussion. It has been subjected to the criticism of being somewhat hasty in jump- ing to conclusions, and that its memoirs not un- frequently contain statements, identifications and translations that sometimes do not very success- fully stand the test of severe examination. But any society doing such .good work as the ex- cavation of Egyptian site deserves support. To get the excavation done is most important, the treasures discovered have to be modified I ENTRANCE TO THE TOMB OF SETI I. IN THE VAL- LEY OF THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS AT THEBES. even if the later on. first impressions about The chief results of the work done by the officers of the Fund at Tel-el-Maskhutah 161 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. and Tanis have already been referred to upon pages 2 5 and 26 of this volume. Dur- ing i885 and 1886 Mr. Flinders Petrie has discovered and explored the sites of Naukratis, and at Tel Defenneh, about sixteen miles from Tanis, of Pharaoh's House in lahpanhes. The Fund have issued a Memoir on the former, which is a most interest- 1 ing discovery. The latter will come home more closely to all students of the Bible, inas- much as it reveals to us the site of an un- usual and important conjunction of events in the history of Egypt, Palestine, and Baby- lonia. Granting that Mr. Petrie is correct in identifying ruins of a massive quadrangular building at Tel Defenneh, the Pelusiac Daphnae ot the Greek writers, with the palace of Pharaoh at Tahpanhes, we have recov- ered the place whither the daughters of Zed- ekiah fled, whither Jeremiah himself came, whither also came Nebuchadnezzar, by whom, in all probability, the place was destroyed. This discovery throws considerable light upon the historical events described in Jeremiah xxxvii.— xlvii. M= Naville has also investigated the ruins and cemeteries at Tel-el- Yahudeyeh, twen- ty-two miles north-east of Cairo, and inclines to the belief that it was the site of the city of Onia, founded by the Jewish High Priest Onias, abou" 163 b.c. The combined results of excavations car- ried on in Egypt, the more accurate transla- tion of documents and monuments, and the careful investigation of the history and literature of Egypt, are now enabling us to form much clearer and much more accurate ideas about the people themselves, their wonderful story, their complex religious system, their social customs, and the part they have played in the development of man- kind. The more fully we can get to understand the history and beliefs of the Egyptians the more clearly shall we be able to discern their influence upon the still more marvel- ous history of that people, among whom in the fulness of time came He "who His own self bore our sins in His body on the tree," and who died that he might "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." HEAD OF QUEEN NEFERT-ARI, WIFE OF RAMESES II. (From a sculpture at Abu Sirnbel.) l62 SECTION V. The Suez Canal. THE separation of the African Continent from that of Asia, and the formation of a di- rect waterway between the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans by cutting the Isthmus of Suez, has been often and justly spoken of as one of the ::iost daring achievements of the present century. With less justice is it adduced to prove our immense superiority over ancient engineers in works of great public utility. The canalization of the isthmus is no modern project. It had been commenced whilst the Israelites were yet in Egypt, and probably formed part of their labors at the period of the Exodus. It was carried forward almost to completion by Pharaoh Necho, who defeated King Josiah in the great battle of Megiddo. 1 And a hundred years later it was finished by the Persian conquer- ors of Egypt. It would, however, be an error to suppose that M. Lesseps and his associates simply inherited the ideas of the Pharaohs. The Suez Canal was designed solely to facilitate communication between the Eastern and Che Western Continents. For this purpose all that was needed was the construction of ci channel wide and deep enough for ocean- going steamers, through the narrow neck of land which divides the Mediterranean from the Red Sea, thus avoiding the long detour by the Cape of Good Hope. But the ancient Egyptians were not a maritime people. To navigate the Nile was enough for them. A mere ship canal was worthless to a nation which had no foreign commerce, and it 1 2 Chronicles xxxv. 20 — 24. 165 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. might indeed be used for the invasion of their territory by a seafaring enemy. Their canal had to serve, therefore, other purposes than those contemplated by M. Lesseps. We have already seen that the north-eastern frontier of ancient Egypt was the one most exposed to assault. Once in their history, hordes of nomads poured across the isthmus and established themselves as rulers of the land. By the same route came Idumaean and Canaanitish merchants to exchange their commodities for those of the Nile Valley. The monuments afford innumerable illustrations of this, and the histories of Joseph and his brethern show the nature and extent of the traffic thus carried on. It was therefore important that a line of fortified posts should be constructed to guard this frontier against invasion, and at the same time to protect the caravans from the attacks of marauding Bedouin. But food and water were needful for the laborers employed in the work of construction, for the garrisons who held these outposts, and for the traders who met there to transact their business. These supplies could not be found in the LINE OF ANCIENT CANAL IN THE DESERT. desert. A canal, therefore, was excavated at least as early as the time of Rameses the Great, to convey the waters of the Nile to these points. The sand of the desert, which looks so hopelessly barren, only needs water to make it "rejoice and blossom as the rose." But sea water, of course, will not serve the purpose. It would only increase, if that were possible, the sterility which already existed. It must be fresh water. This being conducted by canals from the Nile, and running through the eastern wilderness, added a new province to Egypt, and turned the arid waste into a fertile garden. The great Bahr Yusef, as it is now called, which runs the whole length of Egypt from Cairo to Farshut, offered a barrier to the inroads of Bedouin horsemen, or, if they made their way across it, they were in danger of being cut to pieces before they could effect a re- treat. What had proved so serviceable as a defensive work along the Libyan frontier would be even more important on the north-east, from which more serious danger was apprehended. The canalization of the isthmus by the ancient Egvptians was mainly de- 166 THE SUEZ CANAL. signed to attain these three ends — to reclaim and fertilize a portion of the desert, to facilitate the construction and maintenance of fortresses on the exposed frontier, and to form a foss as a protection against Bedouin forays. The opening up of a waterway for sea-going vessels was a subordinate purpose, which only took effect at a comparatively recent period in the history. These facts being borne in mind, we shall be able the more easily to understand what follows. We read that the Israelites "built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses." These were two of the fortresses to which reference has just been made. The former of them is mentioned by Herodotus. The probable ruins of the latter were discovered in 1883 with the statue and cartouche of the great monarch who founded it. The site is covered deeply with desert sand ; but traces of an ancient canal are distinctly visible, which we may fairly conjecture to have been excavated by the labor of the Hebrew slaves who built Raamses and Pithom for the king. Greek and Roman writers ascribe ZAGAZIG, ON THE FRESH-WATER CANAL. the construction of this canal to Rameses the Great, known to them at Sesostris. This, it will be observed, affords an incidental corroboration to the statement of Scripture ; for the city and the canal were doubtless the work of the same monarch who gave his name to the outpost upon which the Hebrews were at work at the time of the Exodus. Though the term "treasure city" conveys a false impression to our minds, it is not therefore inaccurate. It was not a place in which the royal treasure was deposited, but a fortified khan, where merchants could store their goods and transact their business in safety. The canal thus commenced, prior to the Exodus, was still further extended by Pharaoh Necho, in the fifth or sixth century before the Christian era. He is the only Egyptian monarch whose name appears in connection with maritime enterprise. In his zeal for the promotion of navigation, he projected the formation of a ship canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. Herodotus tells us that one hundred and fourteen miles of 167 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. this great work had been completed when he was warned by the oracle to desist. This admeasurement is evidently an excessive one. It probably includes the whole distance from sea to sea, without making allowance for the branch of the Nile north of Bubastis, where the canal commenced, or the Bitter Lakes, which lay in its course. The state- ment of Pliny is probably nearer the truth. He gives it as fifty-seven Roman, equal to sixty-two English, miles. The oracle called upon the king to suspend his operations, on the ground that he was " working for the barbarians." This reason has been rejected as absurd by recent historians. But it really was a piece of shrewd advice. The canal, if completed as proposed, would have afforded facilities for the invasion of Egypt by the war-galleys of the Persians, with which the Egyp- tians could not cope. About a hundred years later, when the Per- sian conquerors had succeeded for a time to the throne of the Pharaohs, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, resumed the work commenced so long before. He cleared out the canal, which had be- gun to silt up, and carried it forward to where Suez now stands. When the Persian and Egyptian empires had succumbed to the military prowess of the Macedonian conqueror, and the power of the Greek dynasty had been consolidated in Egypt, Ptolemy Philadelphus (b.c. 25o) widened and deepened the waterway, reconstructed the por- tion at the southern end and completed the un- dertaking upon so grand a scale that vessels of war could enter the Nile from the Mediterranean, and sail into the Gulf of Suez without difficulty. Under the Romans, as might be expected from the character of the people, the repairs and exten- sions necessary from time to time were carried out, so as to maintain this important line of com- munication unbroken. In the anarchy and con- fusion which followed upon the downfall of the Roman empire, all the public works were allowed to fall into dilapidation. The canals were choked up, and remained unnavigable till the Arab con- quest of Egypt. Under the vigorous administra- tion of Amrou they were reopened. Corn and other provisions were conveyed along them for the use of Mecca, Medina, and other Arabian towns. Th : s continued, with some interruptions, for about three hundred and fifty years. Since that time they have been altogether neglected, though their course can yet be traced through the desert, and they have been to some extent utilized for the construction ol the ship canal. From this brief summary it will be seen that the canalization of the isthmus is no new project. It was commenced more than three thousand years ago, and two thousand years have elapsed since it was completed from sea to sea. During the French occupa- 168 MAP OF THE CANAL. THE SUEZ CANAL. tion of Egypt, at the commencement of the present century, the project of reopening this ancient channel of communication suggested itself to the mind of Napoleon. Surveys were made, and plans prepared by his orders. But the ambitious schemes of the Emperor having been baffled by the battle of the Nile, nothing further was done, and the proposal remained in abeyance. The various engineers \vho had turned their attention to the subject prior to M. Lesseps proposed to adopt, with some modifications, the plan followed by the ancient Egyptians, and construct a fresh-water canal by tapping the Nile somewhere in the Delta. Many high authorities are of opinion that he erred by deciding upon a different course. Mr. Barham Zincke thus sums up the argument in favor of the scheme which was re- jected : " The ancient Egyptians would have decided in favor of fresh water, because they could then have constructed it at half the cost ; and would, furthermore, by so do- PORT SAID. ing, have had a supply of water in the desert, sufficient for reclaiming a vast extent of land, which would have more than repaid the whole cost of construction. Instead of cutting a canal deep in the desert at an enormous cost, they would, as it were, have laid a canal on the desert. This they would have done by excavating only to the depth re- quisite for finding material for its levees and for the flow of the water which was to be brought to it from some selected point in the river. It is evident that this kind of canal might have been made wider and deeper than the present one at far less cost. The river water would then have filled the ship canal, just as it now does the sweet-water canal parallel to it. The sweet-water canal now reaches Suez. A sweet-water ship canal might have done the same. As far as navigation is concerned, the only difference would have been that locks would have been required at the two extremities, such as Darius and Ptolemy had at Arsinoe. These locks would have been at Suez, and the 169 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. southern side of Lake Menzaleh. But the diminution in the cost of construction, say $40,000,000, instead of $80,000,000, would not have been the chief gain : that would have been found in the fact that the canal would have been a new Nile in a new desert- It would have contained an inexhaustible storage of water to fertilize, and to cover with life and wealth, a new Egypt." 1 The fresh-water canal, the construction of which was an essential preliminary to com- mencing the main work, leaves the Nile near Cairo, and pursues a north-easterly course till it reaches the site of Pithom, where, as we have seen, the Hebrews were laboring at the period of the Exodus. It thence runs due east to Ismailia, the central station on the CARAVAN STARTING FROM SUEZ. ship canal, and is continued southward to Suez. Pumping-engines at Ismailia force the water along iron pipes northward to Port Said, a distance of about fifty miles. Reser- voirs are constructed at all the principal stations along this part of the canal for the supply of the inhabitants, and open drinking-troughs are placed at distances of about three miles from each other along the line, which are kept constantly full, by means of an ordinary ball and cock, like those in use in our English cisterns. The ship canal is as nearly as possible one hundred miles in length, running due north and south from Port Said to Suez. It was not found necessary, however, to excavate the channel for the whole distance. A glance at the map will show that it runs through four great takes : Menzaleh, Ballah, Timsah, and the Bitter .Lakes. The first two of 1 Egypt of the Pharaohs and the Khedive, p. 420. 170 THE SUEZ CANAL. these, with only a few short cuttings, extend for 41 miles, the second for 5, the third for 25, making together about 60 miles, and leaving 40 miles of earth-work to be excavated. Lake Menzaleh was so near the Mediterranean as to be always under water. The others were deep depressions in the soil, marking the spots where lakes of sea water were left when geological changes raised this part of the isthmus above the level of the Gulf of Suez. It was only necessary, therefore, to admit water into them, to bank the channel, and to make it of the required depth by dredging. At Suez, the works of the canal consist chiefly of an entrance channel into the Red Sea, increasing gradually from 72 feet in width at the bottom, to 980 feet of a basin or dock, and a considerable quantity of reclaimed land. But at Port Said the works are on a much more important scale. The water was so shallow that within a mile and a half of the shore there was not sufficient depth to float the vessels which would pass through the canal. Hence it has been necessary to construct two walls or breakwaters ; one, of the enormous length of 2730 yards, and a shorter one 2070 yards long. These breakwaters are not built in the solid fashion of those at Plymouth and Cherbourg, but are composed of blocks of concrete which have been manufactured at Port Said out of lime brought from Europe and sand obtained on the spot. These blocks — which weigh about twenty tons apiece, and 2 5, 000, of which have been required — have been tumbled down roughly one upon another and allowed to settle by their own weight. Between these two rude walls a passage of depth sufficent for large ships has been dredged, but the alluvium brought down through the adjacent mouths of the Nile, which formerly was deposited without hindrance over the whole of the surrounding coast, is now stopped by the most westerly of the breakwaters, and has not only formed large accumulations of solid shore on its outside, but has forced its way through the interstices of the blocks into the passage intended for ships. The accumulation of mud at the mouth, and of drifting sand along the course of the canal, involves the necessity of constant dredging. The expense which has thus to be incurred, together with the enormous amount of capital sunk in the construction of this great work — about seventeen millions sterling — have hitherto prevented its being a great financial success. But the continuous increase in the number and tonnage of the vessels which pass along it, make it probable that ultimately it will be as remunera- tive to the shareholders as beneficial to the world at large. There is little to interest the traveller in a voyage through the canal. From the deck of one of the large ocean steamers, an extensive view is gained over the expanse of desert on either hand. But passing through it as I did, in one of the Viceroy's steam launches, nothing is seen but a long monotonous line of sand-banks, which slope upwards from the water's edge and obstruct the view. Where the canal passes through the Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah, the eye can range over the lagoons, but they offer nothing to attract attention except flocks of birds — pelicans, flamingoes herons, cranes, and ducks apparently in infinite numbers. After a sojourn in Egypt, even these have become so familiar as no longer to excite interest. It was at first thought that sharks and fishes from the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean would pass along the canal into the Mediterranean. They are, however, kept back by an unforeseen cause. The evapo- ration in the broad open lagoons is so great that the water in them becomes nearly as salt as that in the Dead Sea. Fish which are only accustomed to water whose density and saltness is that of the ocean, find this an insuperable barrier to their farther progress, 171 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. and the shores were at first lined with their dead bodies. It is said that a few varieties are becoming familiarized to their new habitat, and are thriving in it. But none of the larger and more important species have, as yet, made their way through the intensely salt waters of the Bitter Lakes. Ismailia, the central station on the canal, is admirably adapted for a sanatorium, and was designed for this by the engineers of the company. It combines the pure, dry, exhilarating air of the desert with splendid sea-bathing, and irrigation from the fresh- water canal produces the most luxuriant vegetation in the gardens and pleasure-grounds around it. The town was laid out upon a pretentious scale. Here are boulevards, open squares, promenades, the Grande Rue de I'Empereur, the Boulevard de V Imperatrice, and all the high-sounding titles of a French city. M. Lesseps has a charming residence, and the Viceroy a palace, in the suburbs. But the scheme is a failure. The houses are KANTARAH, NEAR THE JUNCTION OF THE CANAL AND LAKE MENZALEH. empty and falling into ruins. The hotel is without guests. Visitors do not arrive, and vessels sail past without stopping. But its advantages as a health resort are so great that it may even yet realize the hopes of its founders. The only point of historical interest on the canal is Kantarah. Lying just at the southern end of Lake Menzaleh, it marks the route by which travellers have always passed to and fro between Egypt and Palestine. Millions of warriors have trodden these sands age after age, from the time when Rameses crossed the isthmus for the imvasion of Assyria and Scythia, to that of Omar, when the Moslem conquerors, emerg- ing from their Arabian deserts, wrested their richest province from the enfeebled hands of the Byzantine Emperors, or of Napoleon, whose troops, parched with thirst, broke their ranks to pursue the mirage of the desert. The father of the faithful and his descendants came hither on their way to Egypt, when the famine was sore in the land of Canaan. The Midianites merchantmen, coming from Gilead " with their camels bear- 172 THE SUEZ CANAL. ing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt," 1 bore past this spot their young Hebrew prisoner to sell him into slavery. But no army, however laden with the spoils of victorous war ; no caravan, however enriched with the accumulation of successful commerce, can so fire our imagination or fix our thoughts as the two poor fugitives, who, weary and footsore, fled across this dreary waste, escaping with " the young Child" from the wrath of Herod the king. 2 The glory of God, the salvation of man, the sole hope of a ruined world, had been committed to their charge. He who was carried in His mother's arms or walked with infant feet over this oft-trodden track, had stooped to mortal weakness that we might rise to a glory which shall never pass away. 1 Genesis xxxvii. 25. 2 Matthew ii. 13-21. m CROSSING THE DESEET, SECTION VI. Egypt to Sinai. '"PHE traveler in Egypt or Palestine finds himself everywhere surrounded by the * traces of a long and diversified series of events of the utmost interest and impor- tance. Commencing with the very dawn of history, they continued to run their course, not merely for centuries, but for millenniums, and have been recorded on imperishable monuments, or in yet more imperishable writings. The ever varying aspects of nature in those countries serve to illustrate and explain the great drama of their history. We can see how the course of human affairs was modified or determined by the conditions of physical geography. The sea, the rivers, the mountains, the desert, all had their influence upon the development of the Hebrew and the Egyptian people, and were employed for the accomplishment of His purposes, by Him who " hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." 1 Lying between these two countries — between them, not only geographically but historically — is a district which is in striking contrast to both. The Sinaitic peninsula was the route by which the Israelites passed from Egypt into Palestine, and it formed the birthplace and cradle of the nation. They entered it a horde of fugitive slaves. They left it fused and welded into an organic whole, which continues down to our own day. And it is this solitary fact which gives to it its sole claim on our attention. A solemn and impressive monotony is the characteristic of the region. History records but a single event. Nature offers but a single aspect unchanged from age to age. At certain seasons of the year" a thin and transparent veil of greyish green" is drawn 1 Acts xvii. 26. 174 jz; o o H e Sz; o w s < w « o Oh EGYPT TO SINAI. over portions of the soil. Here and there a clump of palms, tamarisks, and acacias may be found. A few wells of bitter, brackish water attract the wandering Bedouin with their flocks and herds. We shall, hereafter, see reasons for believing that at the period THE SINAITIC PENINSULA. of the Exodus the population of the peninsula was more numerous, and its soil somewhat more fertile, than now. But with these exceptions it is "a waste howling wilderness" of bare rocks, intersected by wadies of sterile sand, gravel, and marl, without history and without change. 177 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. \ 4 m jlf* w WS&l In attempting to trace the route of the children of Israel from Egypt to Sinai, we are beset by difficulties which almost preclude the possibility of a definite or satisfactory conclusion. We have already seen that the boun- dary line between Egypt and the desert is uncertain and fluctuating, dependent not on fixed and natural, but on varying and artificial, conditions. It is deter- mined by the energy with which irriga- tion is carried out. The conflict between the fertilizing river and the encroach- 1 IW ■■'','■ c ^ HE si ^ MOUNT SEEBAL. 178 EGYPT TO SINAI. ing sand — between Osiris and Typhon, as the old mythology symbolized it, — is con- ducted with ever varying alternations of victory and defeat. Under the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies, canals had pushed the frontier of Egypt forward into districts which are now utterly desolate and barren. Recent discoveries enable us to fix, with tolerable cer- tainty, the site of Raamses, which formed the starting-point of the Exodus. But at the present day Raamses lies outside the limits of cultivation, and is buried beneath the sands of the desert. W here was Succoth — the shepherds booths — which formed the first halting- place? And where was " Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness ? M1 In the changed condition of the country we can discover no premisses to warrant a positive conclusion as to these important sites. The question is still further complicated by geological changes in the isthmus. The Red Sea formerly extended much farther to the the north than at present. An upheaval of the soil has cut off the district now known \\~-, Ay i A ^wt&J}0A %w "him <& WELLS OF MOSES. as the Bitter Lakes from the head of the Gulf of Suez. And there is some evidence to prove that this upheaval has taken place at a period subsequent to the Exodus. It is then possible, perhaps even probable, that Pi-hahiroth, Migdol, and Baal-zephon must be sought for, not where the present coast line of the Red Sea would indicate, but many miles to the north of where the town of Suez now stands. After a careful balancing of the arguments adduced by Egyptologists and Biblical expositors, I come to the conclusion that this is the case. Without presuming to dogmatize upon so difficult and complicated a problem, the theory which places the line of transit through the sea somewhere near Shaloof, a station on the canal, about fifteen miles north of Suez, seems 1 Exodus xii. 37 ; xiii. 20. Numbers xxxiii. 5-7. 179 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. to me to have the greatest weight of evidence in its favor. 1 We thus adopt the cogent arguments of Brugsch and others as to the line of route, and escape the difficulty of supposing, with them, that the passage was through the Serbonian Bog, or the Bitter Lakes, instead of through the sea, as the narrative evidently requires. A yet further difficulty in the way of tracing the course pursued by the fugitives arises from the character of the only historical document we possess on the subject. The Mosaic narrative is one of remarkable precision and accuracy. It is in fact an itinerary giving the journeys day by day, and the halting-places night by night. 2 But, as Dean Stanley has remarked, it was written by and for those who were so well acquainted with the localities that they required no explanatory details. The names being familiar WADY GHARANDEL. and the places known, no further indication was thought needful. This, whilst it affords a strong incidental corroboration of the authenticity of the narrative, deprives us of those helps to identify the stations on the route which might otherwise have been afforded. The names having disappeared, or being only handed down by doubtful and 1 Professor Hull, the head of the geological expedition sent out to this legion by the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1 883, confirms this view. He says (Mount Seir, page 37) : " The waters of the Red and, I may add, the Mediterranean Sea, extended over the lands of Egypt and along the shore of the Gulf of Suez to a height of over two hundred feet above the present level of these water?, at a time when the existing species of shells were already living. The process of elevation of this sea-bed over so large a tract was probably exceedingly gradual, and at the date of the Exodus the elevation may not have taken place up to the present extent. A strip of Red Sea water — not very deep — may at this time have stretched from the Gulf of Suez as far north as the Great Bitter Lake, forming to the host of Israel an effective barrier to their progress into the desert. The passage may have taken place to the north of the present head of the Gulf of Suez." See also the chapter, The Geography of the Exodus, in Sir William Dawson's Egypt and Syria, By -Paths of Bible Knowledge No.VL * Numbers xxxiii. 5-37. 180 $ O a. EGYPT TO SINAI. obscure traditions, we are left to work out a conjectural line of march from insufficient data. But whatever preplexities we may feel in the endeavor to trace the precise course followed by the Israelites, the general outlines of the scenery remain unchanged, and we can realize with the utmost vividness and certainty the general aspect of the coun- try through which they passed. The Sinaitic peninsula is divided into two main portions. The northern, known as the Badiet et Tih, or Desert of the Wandering, is a vast triangular plateau of limestone, which runs down to a point in the centre of the peninsula. It has no marked features and no historical associations. Notwithstanding its name, we have no evidence that the Israelities actually crossed it, though in the RUINS AT SEEABET EL KHADIM. course of their forty years' wanderings they may have done so. On their journey southward from Egypt to Sinai, they kept along its western edge between the Jebel et Tih and the Gulf of Suez, and on their northward journey from Sinai to Canaan they skirted its southeastern corner. Separated from this northern plateau by a belt of sand, the Debet er Ramleh, and stretching away in the south, is a chaos of mountain peaks — sandstone and granite — some of which rise to a height of nearly 9000 feet. In winter the higher summits are capped with snow. With this exception, they are for the most part absolutely bare. The splintered savage tors, denuded of soil, have been compared to a sea running mountains high and suddenly petrified into solid immov- able masses. Tempests of frightful violence often rage among them. Lightning leaps 183 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. from crag to crag. Peals of thunder seem to shake the earth. Torrents of rain descend, and, forming cascades, sweep all before them with destructive fury. The wadies or valleys which intersect these mountain ranges are covered with marl or gravel, gener- ally strewn with granite boulders. Clumps of broom, acacia, willow, tamarisk and wild palm, with here and there a cypress, are found springing from the arid soil. Sage and other aromatic shrubs afford a meagre pasture for the camels, flocks, and herds of the Bedouin. Wells or pools of brackish water are not infrequent. And there are a few oases where the date-palm grows luxuriantly along the banks of some running stream which wells forth from a cleft in the rocks, but is soon absorbed by the thirsty earth. This sparse and meagre vegetation, however, is not sufficient to dissipate the general aspect of barrenness and desolation which the wilderness presents. SINAITIC INSCEIPTIONS. Following in the track of the Israelites, we leave Suez, and in about three hours reach the Ayiin Musa, or wells of Moses. These wells are of all shapes and sizes. Some are merely shallow pools, others are deep shafts lined with masonry. In most of them the water is bitter and acrid ; in a few only is it drinkable. Aquatic plants cover the surface of the ponds, and the surrounding soil is laid out in gardens which are irrigated by sakiehs like those used in Egypt. If we adopt the theory that the passage of the Israel- ites through the Red Sea was at a point to the north of the present head of the Gulf, Ayun Musa may with some probability be identified as Marah, " where they could not drink of the waters, for they were bitter." 1 The route southward from Ayun Musa leads along the shore over gravelly plains many miles broad, which slope upward from the sea to the mountains of the Tih. After heavy rains the stiff tenacious marl is pitted with numerous pools of water, and is sprinkled with the aromatic shrubs which constitute the flora of the desert. But the scorching sun soon dries up the pools, and the short-lived plants wither into dust. Several wells of bitter water are passed, each of which has been fixed upon as Marah, i Exodus xv. 23. 1S4 EGYPT TO SINAI. according to the view taken of the place of passage. About fifty miles south of Ayun Musa the Wady Gharandel is reached. 1 The entrance into the valley, or wady, is not much over eighty feet wide, and on either side grey-looking cliffs of gritstone rise with ragged faces to a considerable height. But that which adds so great a charm to the scene is an actual stream of water, rippling along, silvery and bright, garnished on each bank with luxuriant plants that thrive and flourish in the wet sand. Forget-me-nots peep out from amidst the sedgy grass reeds and mint that tower above the water ; while some kind of brook plant, like a tangled mat, spreads itself over the sandy edges of the rivulet, and sends its long arms, tufted with rootlets at every joint, out into the running water. Here the vegetation takes quite a differ- ent character. The spiny acacia, the sumt of the Arabs, probably the tree of the i( burning bush " and the shittim wood of the tabernacle, grows plentifully ; but, spiny though it be, it has to bear its bur- den of climbing plants, being generally quite hidden beneath their twisting, rope- like branches. Conspicous amongst the larger plants is the retem or wild broom, handsome alike in growth and foliage. It is probably the shrub beneath which Elijah slept in his wanderings. 2 Date-palms of strangely stunted stature are scattered along the sandy banks ; one readily might mistake them for giant yuccas at a hasty glance, so much do they resemble those plants in their mode of growth. These may truly be called wild palms : dwarfed, and unaltered by man's hand. Was this the memorable place where "there were twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm trees " — the veritable Elim of the Exodus ? Many travelers believe this wady to be the place. 3 Striking eastward up the wady we soon reach the traces of mines worked by the ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphic tablets are found in considerable numbers, one of which contains the name of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid, and some are said to be even earlier. At Serabet el Khadim, which seems to have been the capital of the mining district, are some remarkable ruins, consisting of a temple, the remains of houses, and perhaps a necropolis. Fragments of columns, blocks of stone, pieces of rude sculp- ture, and mounds of broken pottery lie scattered about in perplexing confusion. The i It was in a valley running down from the Tih, not far from Ayun Musa, that Professor Palmer and Lieutenant Gill were murdered lay the Arabs in 1S82. Many are of opinion that the deed was due to orders issued by Arabi Pasha. * I Kings xix. 4. l Exodus xv. 27. 135 ■fel illilL, Til Wmsm ism** m/m SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS upright blocks or stelas are amongst the most curious parts of the present ruin. They are from eight to ten feet in height, rounded at the top, and fairly well faced. The rock from which they are hewn is a compact sandstone, and they do not appear to be dis- tributed with any regard to uniformity of distances or position. Thickly covering both sides are hieroglyphic inscriptions. This is but one of the many traces of ancient settle- ments to be found in this part of the peninsula, which seem clearly to prove that it must have been more thickly populated, and therefore more fertile, in former ages than at pres- ent. It is important to bear this fact in mind, as it confutes one of the main arguments brought by infidels against the truth of the Mosaic narrative. ■ Where, it has been asked, could pasture have been found for the " flocks, and herds, and very much cattle" brought up by the Israelites out of Egypt, and which served for sacrifices in the wilderness ? 1 Whence came the Amalekites and other nations who fought against Israel, and threat- ened to destroy them? 2 These sceptical questions, like others of a similar class, are based upon an entire misapprehension of the facts. We only need more accurate know- ledge to discover a triumphant answer. That the general aspect of the desert must always have been what we now see is indeed certain. But no less certain is it that the oases which still exist were once far more nu- merous, fertile, and densely populated than now. In the same district is the Wady Mokatteb, or the Written Valley, so called from the number of rude inscriptions and sculptures with which the rocks are covered. They are not peculiar to this valley, but are found in many other parts of the Sinaitic range. They always occur in the lines of route along which caravans of traders or bands of pilgrims are likely to have passed, and are inscribed in the soft sandstone rock which forms the fringe of the harder granite in the center of the peninsula. The sculptures are grotesque representations of birds, camels, asses, horses, ibexes, and other animals. The inscrip- tions are sometimes in Greek, Latin, or Hebrew, but more commonly in a character un- like that of any known language. Up to a recent date, the several opinions held regarding the origin of these writings resolve themselves into two: the one that they were the work of the Israelites during their sojurn in the desert; the other that they were the pastime of Christian shepherds who were permanent residents, or possibly of Christian pilgrims in search of Mount Sinai. This qucestio vexata was settled by the discoveries of the late Professor Palmer, who showed that the character is simply " another phase of that Semitic alphabet whose forms appear alike in the Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek," or, as it may be explained in other words, constitutes an intermediate link be- twixt the Cufic and ordinary Hebrew. Professor Beer refers to a stone in Wady Mo- katteb on which there was a bilingual inscription ; Mr. Palmer also discovered it, and FLINT IMPLEMENTS FROM THE SINAITIC PENINSULA. 1 Exodus xii. 38 ; xxiv. 5. 2 Exodus xvii 8- M = r!>^ The convent was founded by Justinian (a.d. 527), and was originally higher up the side of the mountain, perhaps even on the summit. It now lies at the base of Jebel Musa, in a narrow part of the valley surrounded by gardens, which are culti- vated by the monks and their Arab ser- vants. Until recently it resembled a be- leaguered fortress rather than a convent. 1 >__, , rcj^Mx^f*ij\t^^m =■* Hirx ex ■J",-V,i -€z W <'.:2M mJj^Jr w- fW: «*/*' ENTRANCE TO THE CONVENT, SINAI. The only admission to it was gained by means of an aperture high up in the wall. Vis- itors were hoisted up by means of a crane, the windlass being worked by the monks inside. The most dignified personages has thus to submit to be treated like bales of goods. Recently the Bedouin, having become friendly with the monks, and the 192 EGYPT TO SINAI. number of visitors having increased, a gateway has been opened, though the strong iron-clamped door is still jealously guarded. 1 As the sale of manna forms an important item in the income of the monastery, this seems the proper place to inquire whether what now passes under that name is really the same with the manna of the Israelites. That it is the same, and that the miracle consisted in an enormous increase of the quantity produced, has been maintained by many high authorities, against whom the charge of rationalism cannot be urged. 2 The sweet honey-like taste, the whitish color, the similarity of the name, and the fact that it must be collected before sunrise, after which time it hardens, or altogether disappears, have been adduced in proof of this conclusion. But the preponderance of opinion is on the other side, and in favor of the view that the manna was not merely increased, but absolutely produced by miracle. The various legendary marvels which the monks here, as everywhere throughout the East, have accumulated around their con- vent, need not detain us long. A glance will suffice for the tomb of St. Catherine and the shrine of the Burning Bush — the bush still growing out of the soil! All our interest is concentrated upon the one great event of the desert, the manifestation of the Deity to Moses and the camp of Israel. The tradi- tional peak is Jebel Musa, which rises to the height of 2600 feet apove the convent, 7375 above the level of the sea. There are two roads to the summit. One, constructed some years ago by Abbas Pasha, winds round the mountains and is availiable for camels. The old road is much rougher and steeper, but is far more interesting. Ascending by the for- mer, a gradual slope leads upward for some distance from the convent for about two hours. Here a curious basin hollowed out of the rock is shown as the foot-print of Mohammed's camel! From this point the track becomes narrower and steeper, in one place passing through a narrow gap be- tween granite rocks only a few feet wide. A flight of rude stone steps now con- ducts to the actual summit, where a Christian church and a Mohammedan mosque stand side by side. The view is grand and impressive, ranging over a vast chaos of bare desolate peaks ; but it is difficult to convince oneself that this can be the scene of the giving of the law. No plain is visible in which the tribes could have encamped in the "wilderness before the mount " The Wady Sebaiyeh has been pointed out as an- swering to the requirements of the narrative, but it is too narrow and restricted in area, too rough and boulder-strewn, to have answered the purpose. > It was in this monastery that Tischendorf discovered in 1884 some fragments of an ancient Greek MS. of the Bible. In 1859, traveling; under the patronage of the Emperor of Russia, he was presented with the priceless treasure of the Codex Smaiticus, the oldest extant MS. of the New Testament. 2 For a very elaborate and able discussion of the whole subject, see Ritter's Geography of Palestine, and the Sinaitic Peninsula (vol. ii. pp. 271 292). 193 A MONK OF THE CONVENT, SINAI. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. Descending by the steeper and older road, we pass, not far from the summit, a mag- nificent cypress tree towering up amongst the rocks. This is alleged to mark the spot where the Lord appeared to Elijah in fire and storm and earthquake, and spoke to him in " a still small voice." 1 Close by it is a chapel dedicated to the prophet, and said to be built over the cave to which he had retired. Leaving the plateau on which the chapel stands, we make our way through a narrow path in the rocks, over a flight of rugged broken steps, the road twisting through clefts and chasms and under crags in a bewildering INTERIOR Of THE CONVENT, SINAI. manner, till we come suddenly upon a remarkable archway constructed of blocks of gran- ite. Here, and at another similar archway a little lower down, the monks used to stand to shrive and absolve the pilgrims on their ascent, before they were permitted to tread the holy ground. Various legendary shrines and a spring of deliciously clear cold water, encircled by a luxuriant growth of maiden-hair ferns, are passed in the steep descent, and at length the convent is safely reached. Rejecting the claims of Serbal and of Jebel Musa to be regarded as the Mountain of the Law, the question recurs — can any peak be pointed out which does fully and com- pletely satisfy the requirements of the narrative? There can, I think, be no doubt as to I Kings xix. 194 -4 •n S EGYPT TO SINAI. the answer. We have but to re-ascend the mountain as far as the chapel of Elijah, and then, instead of climbing to the peak of Jebal Musa, bear away to the north-west over some broken ground and through a series of ravines to reach the summit of Ras Suf- safeh. Here the great plain of Er- Rahah stretches away immediately below us, afford- ing ample space for the hosts of Israel to encamp, whilst the mountain is exposed to view from summit to base. The narrative, if read from this point, becomes perfectly clear. Each detail in the text finds its corresponding feature in the landscape. Every traveler admits, that if this be not the Mountain of the Law, no other spot can be found more suita- ble in every respect. I again avail myself of the admirable summary given by Mr. Lord, whose experience as an accomplished naturalist, geologist, and traveler gives his opinion great weight. " Having described the two mountains Jebel Serbal and Jebel Musa, it appears tome that neither the one nor the other harmonizes with the account of the law-giving as we read it in Exodus. First of all, an immense plain must have spread out before the mount — ' and there Israel camped before the mount.' Now, taking into consideration the number of people there were with their flocks and herds, a very wide extent of open space was necessarily required for the encampment ; but nowhere round Serbal is such a space to be found. Wady Aleyat is only a gorge completely filled with immense boulders, and it would be practically impossible for any large concourse of people to encamp in it, in front of Mount Serbal. Magnificent in all its barren immensity as Serbal unquestionably is, still its very height tells against its identity with Scripture narrative. The loudest sounds produced on the summit of the mountain would be but feebly heard, if they could be distinguished at all, by any persons at the base. And from Wady Aleyat, or indeed from any of the wadies round about Serbal, only a very small part of the mountain can be seen. " As regards Jepel Musa, the same objections may be advanced. There is no plain anywhere round it which can be seen from the mount, or upon the expanse of which an immense host of people could pitch before the mountain. Wady Sebaiyeh is the only wady traceable from the top of the mountain which could in any way be regarded as the spot of the encampment ; and this falls so short of one's anticipations as to imme- diately suggest that it cannot be the scene described in Scripture. This impression even more strongly confirmed when walking through the wady, for it then appears utterly impossible to obtain there the required space for a huge encampment. " As neither Jebel Serbal nor Musa in any way accord with the Mosaic description of the Mountain of Deliverance, my readers may very naturally ask, Is there not some other mountain in the Sinaitic group that better answers to the description given in the Bible ? My reply is, Yes ; and let me explain that I am simply stating the impression made upon my own mind, after a careful inspection of all the mountains constituting the upper group. " There is a granite hill, not of any great altitude as compared with either Jebel Musa or Jebel Serbal, but still rising 2000 feet above the plain of Er-Rahah, from which, if we steadily survey the scene which opens out right in front, we are at once struck with its resemblance to the place we have so often read of and pictured to our imagination. In the one direct : on, Wady-es-Sheikh stretches away to the right as far as the eye can scan the distance, like an immense level valley shut in by walls of mighty granite rocks; while almost in front Er-Rahah, more like a broad plain than a wady, opens out into an 197 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. expanse of yellow sandy ground, free from rock or boulder, that comes right up to the very foot of the mountain, and trends away into lateral wadies and gorges also as far as the range of vision can follow it. At a glance from the top of Ras Sufsafeh you see space enough and to spare, level and sandy, for the hosts of Israel twice told to pitch on. Moreover, this space is in front of the mount ; and I am quite sure that any person could be heard in the plain below if shouting loudly from the top of Ras Sufsafeh. Indeed, during the stillness of the evening, when I have been wandering over the sandy plain of Er-Rahah, the calls of the Arab boys and girls, collecting their goats and sheep from amongst the dry watercourses and gorges of Ras Sufsafeh, have come pleasantly to my ear. This mountain I am speaking of was immediatelv in rear of our tents, and forms, as it were, the point of a ledge of loftier hills that in jagged outlines and cloven sides become gradually mixed up with and lost in the yet mightier mountains behind them. It would not be very difficult for the united ener- gies of a goodly host to set ' bounds ' which should keep the multitude from pressing too closely upon or ' touching the mount.' And so vast an extent of open unbroken plain, the like of which I did not see on any other part of the peninsula, would have afforded ample space for the people at any time to remove and stand afar off. " Another point connected with Sufsafeh as giving probability to its rank and title to be considered the Mount Sinai, is that persons coming down through the narrow clefts of the mountain to reach the plain would most assuredly hear the sounds of shouting and singing before they could catch sight of the people from whom the sounds came. 'And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand.' 1 ' And when Joshua heard the noise of the people, as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.' 2 Again, in the 18th verse, Moses replies and says, ' The noise of them that sing do I hear,' and then we read that as he suddenly came nigh unto the camp, he saw the golden calf, and the dancing, and then, and not until then, the tables are flung upon the ground, and dashed into fragments 'beneath the mount.' This hearing voices before the plain could be reached or seen is precisely what would happen at this very day, supposing two or three persons were making their way down from the summit of Mount Sufsafeh to reach either one of the lateral gullies which lead out into the plain, and at the same time supposing a great tumult to be raging upon Er-Rahah. Now this would be impossible in coming down from Jebel Musa, firstly because there exists no i Exodus xxxii. 15. 2 Exodus xxxii.17. 108 ARCHWAY ON MOUNT SINAI. EGYPT TO SINAI. plain near its base, and secondly, because the only open ground near the foot of the mount is visible at nearly every point of the descent; and this objection has equal force when applied to Serbal. " Then we are told in Ex. xxxii. 20 : ' And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.' I have already said that there was no stream flowing near Jebel Musa; hence it does not harmonize with the above account. At Jebel Serbal there certainly was a tiny rivulet, but almost inaccessible, except by hard climbing ; and being so shut in by masses of granite rock it would prove a matter of impossibility for any number of persons to reach it at a time or drink from it, granting they did get to its brink. But at Sufsafeh there was a good-sized stream percolating down through the gorge of Lejah, which actually lost itself in the sands of Er-Rahah, and might well have stood for the brook upon the surface of whose waters the fragments of the golden calf were sprinkled." Egypt, Sinai, Canaan! The typical and spiritual significance of the histories which these names embody, have been perceived by the Church in every age. Volumes have been written to illustrate and enforce the lessons taught us by the House of Bondage, the Miraculous Deliverance, the Wilderness of Wandering, the Mountain of the Law, and the Promised Land. May we lay to heart one of these lessons inculcated by inspired teaching : " Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words ; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more : but ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven." 1 1 Hebrews xii. 18 — 25. 199 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 029 970 075 6