M DIVINITY SCHOOL TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY THE GREAT HALL AT KARNAK. THB and of t\u Iftltaraolifi, EGYPT and SINAI: Illustrated by Pen >n.d Pencil, BY THE REV. SAMUEL MANNING, LL.D., AUTHOR OF 'THOSE HOLY FIELDS," "ITALIAN PICTURES," "SPANISH PICTURES," "SIV/SS PICTURES," ETC. THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 56 Paternoster Row, 65 St. Paul's Churchyard, and 164 Piccadilly. MANCHESTER: CORPORATION STREET. BRIGHTON I WESTERN ROAD. ^\V>tary of i/.^y 'YALE WWn SOKa M x. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. of cotton-cloth, made by machinery which is put in motion by a bull, is, announced by the cry of 'The work of the bull! O maidens!'"' * A familiar cry in the streets of Cairo is that of the water-carrier. Some- . times he uses almost the very words of the prophet Isaiah: "O ye thirsty, | water!" He does not, however, go on to say, "without money and. without price;"3 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 God!" recalling the words of our Lord, speaking to the Samaritan woman of the Holy Spirit : " If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou '; wouldst 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 goldsmith's 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 impossible for two persons to walk abreast. On either side the goldsmiths were busy, each with his charcoal fire, blow pipe and anvil, producing the exquisite jewellery for which Cairo is so justly famous. Filigree work, fine as the finest lace, jewelled 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 had been working. There was no display of wealth. Every article was brought out separately, and its price fixed by weight. Yet even heref; the intrusive West had made its way. Each jeweller had at the back of his forge an iron safe made in London or Birmingham, in which his treasures; f were stored. The mosques in Cairo are very numerous, not fewer, it is said, than'f four hundred. Many of them are of considerable size and architectural - merit. But, with the single exception of that of Mohammed Ali, recently ., erected, they are all falling into dilapidation. Many reasons are assigned for their ruinous condition. It is said that the Egyptians are deterred from repairing them by superstitious feelings. Others ascribe the neglect to a decay of religious faith and zeal. The more probable explanation is, that the government having confiscated the estates of the mosques, as well as those of private individuals, now fail to discharge 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 1 Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. By E. W. Lane, pp. 318-19. 2 Isaiah lv. 1. 3 John iv, 10. 34 VILLA AND GARDEN NEAR CAIRO. MOSQUES OF CAIRO. pointed arches at least three hundred years before their introduction into England. That of Sultan Hassan, near the citadel, is a building of great BAB EL-MUTAWELLEE, CAIRO. beauty, constructed out of the casing stones of the Great Pyramid. "It abounds," says Fairholt, "with the most enriched details of ornament within ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. and without; not the least remarkable of its fittings' being the rows of * coloured glass lamps hanging from its walls, of Syrian manufacture, bearing :j the Sultan's name, amid glowing coloured decorations ; 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. COFFEE-HOUSE IN THE SUBURBS OF 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, 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 38 IN THE SUBURBS OF CAIRO. THE NILOMETER. 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 tale from the Thousand and One Nights, the group seated round him listening, with a fixed attention which nothing seems to weary. Jugglers, mountebanks, and acrobats 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 are satisfied to sit hour after hour, sipping a cup of coffee or of sherbet, and listening to the dismal tones of a tarabookah or Nubian drum, a reed pipe, and a dulcimer. It is a merry scene, and yet a sad one. 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. The date of its construction is not quite certain. It is commonly ascribed to one of the early Mussulman Caliphs, Mamoon (a.d. 813-833). A pit lined with masonry 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 centre indicating in cubits the height to 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. " A good Nile," as it is called, is from eighteen to 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 eager interest, for upon it depends the question whether the coming year shall be one of famine or 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. 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 mag nificent view extending over the city, the desert, and far down the Nile Valley, which winds like a silver thread through the strip 'of verdure which constitutes Egypt. In this wonderful view the Pyramids certainly form the most impressive feature. I was always struck by their nearness and yet their complete loneliness and isolation. Though so clearly visible, and within such easy reach, they yet 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. Its busy ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. 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 monuments of antiquity. THE NILOMETER. A tragic interest attaches to one of the courts of the Citadel. When Mohammed Ali was organising his expedition against the Wahhabees, in the year 1811, he learned that the Memlooks intended to avail themselves of VIEW FROM THE CITADEL. MASSACRE OF THE MEMLOOKS. his absence from the city to rise in rebellion against his eovernrn^nT"^ thereupon d the tQ ^ ^ ^ ^^ £™* He four T J005500"1, Pasha with the command of the army. Upward of four hundred accepted the invitation. The ceremony being over they were found £ lhlr h°rSeS " the C°Urtyard> and about » ridegaway ' when TheJ found that the gates were closed. At the same moment, a fierce fire of baraC^ TesisT^ T" ^ ^ ** ^^ °f the ™^"S bariacks^ 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 court THE TOMBS OF THE CALIPHS, NEAR THE CITADEL. yard. 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 ex termination of the Memlooks by slaughtering those who had not been present at the ceremony. Upwards of twelve hundred are - said to have perished. As we visit the splendid Mosque of Mohammed Ali, close to the ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. scene of the massacre, it is impossible 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 MOSQUE OF MOHAMMED ALI IN 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 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 extension 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." In one of these projecting points of fertile soil, immediately before we reach the site of the ancient city, is a garden in ON, OR HELIOPOLIS. the midst of which stands a venerable sycamore tree, hollow, gnarled, and almost leafless with extreme age. It is inclosed by palisades, and is regarded with veneration by the Copts as the place were Joseph, Mary, and the infant Saviour rested on their flight into Egypt. The fact that there was a great Jewish settlement in this neighbourhood gives a certain measure of plausibility 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 ^»y5* il of the once famous City of the Sun — the Heliopolis of Herodotus and ; Strabo, the Bethshemesh of Jere miah,1 the On of Joseph.2 To this j§ great university city of ancient Egypt, j| Plato, Eudoxus, and the wisest of 1) the Greeks, came to be initiated into j the mystic lore of the priests. Here, as Manetho tells us, Moses was in- j structed in all " the learning of the Egyptians." This solitary column, -^ raised about a century before the -~§ 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 appre hension of disappointment that I started in the early morning to spend a long day in examining them more closely. Until recently, 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 traveller must often go some 1 Jeremiah xliii. 13. 2 Genesis xii. 45. OBELISK OF HELIOPOLIS. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. miles out of his way to avoid a canal or a tract of land under 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 inundation, leads under an avenue of carob trees, past the Viceroy's palace, to the very foot of the plateau on which the Pyramids stand. Lovers of romance and adventure complain of the change, and they hear with dismay that a A TRIP TO THE PYRAMIDS — OLD STYLE. 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 cer tainly disappointing. They are much smaller, and also much nearer, than we THE PYRAMIDS. had supposed. Two hours was the time allotted 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 length, when we found ourselves at the foot of the plateau, they fully realised all our expectations. I, at least, felt nothing of the disappointment and disenchantment to which many travellers have given expression. Vast and imposing as are the Pyramids even at the present day, it is important to remember 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 hieroglyphics. 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 perceptibly 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 of the whole is the extreme nicety with which these stones have been prepared and adjusted. 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 expended 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 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 pre sented 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 1 Numbers xi. 5. The general opinion of Egyptologers is that the Pyramids were without hieroglyphics. The statements of Abd-el-Atif and Herodotus, however, are so precise, that it is difficult to doubt them. 49 ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. 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 splendour 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 realise to ourselves this magnificent spectacle, we may understand something of the self-denial manifested by Moses when " he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; " or 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 Sides of the base . Slant height . Perpendicular height . Angle of elevation . ist Pyramid. and Pyramid. 3rd Pyramid. Present. Original. Present. Original. Present. Original. Feet. Feet. Feet. Feet. Feet. Feet. 746 767 690 705 352 352 568 614 563 577 — 283 450 479 447 457 203 219 — 51-20 - — 52-21 — 5l"IO 61,835 . 65.437 53>°i5 55.32° 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 6,848,000 tons of solid masonry. The pyramid itself contains two chambers, which have received the appellation of the Kings and Queens. 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 of the gallery a horizontal passage, one hundred and nine feet long, leads to the "queen's chamber," 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. ' >HW o")H«W•d «!>S WVfo li Ip gM aa |§lp INTERIOR OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 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 vestibule, 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 ex terior of the pyramid. The "king's cham ber" contained a red granite sarcophagus without a lid ; it was empty, and had neither sculpture nor inscrip tion of any kind. The door was guarded by a succession of four heavy stone portcul lises, intended to be let down after the body was deposited, and im penetrably 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 Cariomhe Chufu, a word sufficiently near, in the Egyptian pronunciation, to Cheops, £ whom Herodotus 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 underground, a depth of 155 feet. The workmanship shows that this well was sunk through the masonry after the completion of the pyramid, in all probability 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 /ste^ 0 1 yf a vf § i/ I V*rfK #x ^ *s A \ V jf/7 ^ 1 3 *J *n» v/ ~^V 1 1 7/ #^ ^S*L- ^3g|s § ft- /y\ j J // =>|\ Oriffinal Iiasc ..7c7 F* (I (ts^^Zr -=\\ yy to y?& 0 M-r T~L_ SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID FROM NORTH TO SOUTH. j.. SUBTERRANEAN VAULT. *. QUEEN'S CHAMBER. 3. KING'S CHAMBER. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. stone ; the builders then withdrawing by the northern entrance, which was both barricaded and concealed under the casing, left the interior, as they supposed, inaccessible to man. These extraordinary precautions go to confirm the tradition related by Herodotus, 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 de grees. 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 num bered 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 500 feet to the south-west of the First, and is so placed that the diagonals of both are in a right line. It is somewhat smaller, but stands on higher ground. The construction is similar to the other, save that no chamber has been discovered above ground. It was surrounded 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 VIEW OF GALLERY IN THE GREAT PYRAMID, FROM THE LOWER AND UPPER LANDING-PLACES. THE SECOND AND THIRD PYRAMIDS. BUST OF CHEPHREN IN THE MUSEUM AT BOOLAC. 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 in scription, 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 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 retains its outer casing for about 150 feet from the top, and is, consequently, more difficult of ascent. No name has been found on any part of the Second Pyramid, and its erection is not mentioned by r~*\ Manetho. A tradition preserved by Diodorus assigned it to Amasis ; but an adjacent 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 carimdu whom Herodotus ascribes the Second Pyramid. chephren. The Third or Red Pyramid — so called from the colour of the granite casing which covered the lower half, and has protected its base from diminu tion — is described by the classical writers as the most sumptuous and magni ficent of all. It certainly surpasses the other two in beauty and regularity of construction. It covers a suite of three subterranean chambers, reached as usual by a sloping passage from the northern face. The first is an anteroom twelve feet long, the walls panelled 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 pyramid, a sarcophagus had apparently been sunk, but none remained. The floor was covered with its fragments (as Perring supposed) 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 ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. deep cornice which is characteristic 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 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 cen tury, when, the narrator states, " nothing was found but the decayed rotten remains of a man, but there were no treasures, excepting some golden $A tablets, inscribed with characters which nobody could understand." Jliyl Some portion of the remains were found in the outer apartment, which are now deposited in the British Museum. Amongst them was the cartouche \{r\ 0f a sarcophagus inscribed with an epitaph containing the king's Mycerhms. namej 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 symbolise the union of intellect and. power required in a king. The con ception originated apparently in Thebes, and seems as intimately connected with that city as the pyramid is with Mem phis. This gigantic monster Is con sequently some centuries later than the neighbouring Pyramids. Bunsen is inclined to assign it to 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 purpose to a depth of above sixty feet. The sands had so accumulated about the figure, that only the head, neck, and top of the back were visible, when Caviglia cleared the front a few years ago, at an expense of .£800 or ,£900, contributed by some European gentlemen. The figure lies with its face to the Nile, with the paws protruding, in an attitude of majestic repose. The. countenance has the semi-negro, or ancient Egyptian cast of features, but is much injured by the Arabs hurling their 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. 5s FRENCH ARMY PASSING THE GREAT SPHINX AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS. THE PRINCE OF WALES AND HIS PARTY AT THE PYRAMIDS. THE SPHINX. 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 protrude fifty feet more. Between them was the altar or temple where sacrifices 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 as cended 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 labour. Nothing could be grander than the appearance of this mysterious creature fronting the worshippers, and rising more and more over their heads, as they descended the long flight of steps to lay their offerings at its feet. 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.2 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 1 Letters, iv. 2 For the foregoing details of the Pyramids and the Sphinx, I am much indebted to « work published by the Religious Tract Society : Ancient Egypt; its Antiquities, Religion, and History. By Canon Trevor. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. to help him up. The difficulty is thus materially diminished,' and the mag nificent view from the summit — even finer, in some respects, than that from the Citadel — amply repays the traveller 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 centre of this valley the noble river is seen winding along, with a belt ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. of verdure on either side. The emerald green of the cultivated soil con trasts 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 minarets 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. fo ON THE SUMMIT OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 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 antiquities they have for sale. They are merry, good-humoured 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 dignified 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 proceeded to vouch for his own as "bono anticos." One great feat is for an Arab to leap down the side of the First Pyramid, run across the intervening 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 remon strated, 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 contributors, 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 * — 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 Pyramids- — as no doubt it is — but I have been so much annoyed by the unreality and sentimentalism 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 wonderful history is unrolled before us as we look around ! Across that waste of sand, which stretches away to the north-east, came Abram and ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO. 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 brethren 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 ' demanded that he should let the people go. Throughout the suc ceeding ages of Old Testament history Egypt constantly reappears, some times as the adversary, and sometimes as the ally of Israel. 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 ancestral enemies. Near where that single obelisk of red granite rises from amongst 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 brethren 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 secular history, we trace the course of the native monarchs who for nearly two thousand years reigned with absolute sway over a numerous, wealthy, and powerful people. 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 en feebled hand of the Byzantine rulers. Again, as we gaze, we seem to see the armies of 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 history, to return, and dying, to 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 own times, we cannot forget the Battle of the Pyramids, when a small compact French army withstood the attack of 60,000 Menv looks and compelled them to retreat, leaving 15,000 dead upon the field. What a change from the Pyramids of Cheops, and the war-chariots of Rameses, to the cannon of Napoleon, and the railways, steamboats, and cotton factories of the Khedive ! In the four thousand years over which the history of Egypt extends, what generations have lived and died, what empires have risen and flourished 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."2 1 I Kings xi. 40 ; xiv. 25, 26 ; Jeremiah xxvi. 21 ; xii. 17 ; xliii. 7. 2 Isaiah xl. 6 8 62 CftlBO TO ft^OUftN. MONEY-CHANGER AT SIOUT. CAIRO TO AggOUftN. Cairo to the Cataract direct by express trains on H.E. the Viceroy's railway ! " Grotesque as this sounds, it will soon be possible. Trains already run as far as Minyeh, a distance of one hundred and fifty- six miles ; and up to the time of the Khedive's financial difficulties the line was being pushed forward to comple tion. Few persons, however, would care to " do " the Nile in this fashion. " Cairo to the Cataract and back in twenty days, allowing for stop pages at all points of interest, fare 46/., including all charges, by the Khedive's mail steamers." This is more feasible, and as compared with travelling by dahabieh, has some advantages. Chief amongst these are the economy of time and money. The last edition of Murray (1873), " reckons the length of time required to go to the first Cataract and back by dahabieh at two months, and the whole expense of the journey for two persons from 300/. to 350/. ; -for three or four persons from 350/. to 400/." These figures, however, are only approximate, and would, in most cases, be exceeded. The voyage may be protracted for days or even weeks beyond the CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. time fixed upon, and the expense increased in proportion. To persons of limited means and leisure, who need to fix definitely the cost of the trip and the date of their return to England, this has always been a difficulty, and it involves the further objection of giving rise to constant disputes with the dragoman and crew, as to the rate of progress and the charge for overtime. By steamer, this element of uncertainty is reduced to the smallest possible limit, as Cairo is commonly reached within a few hours of the announced time. A final advantage 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. CREW OF NILE BOAT. 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 monoto nous 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 eight miles a day are the utmost that can be accomplished. But these advantages are not secured without great compensating dis advantages. 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 STEAMER OR DAHABIEH? oo rapid toTet "f ?at " ^r°Pean °r AmeHcan WaterS' * Is yet f" o relfj I US, ld°n °UrSdveS t0 the lotu^eating indolence which is n seatw he°itl 7^ ^ ^ <™^ brain of the traveller We Zt I i6n' t0°' ^ i3 imP°ssible to linger where we please. Has, * "y °n' TW° h°UrS ma^ be enouSh for the tombs of Beni anr1 K V rel X. h0UrS f°r the temPle at Esneh> four daYs for Luxor like H '' ^ k ^V * iS distressing to feel that we cannot stop if we Q,,«m, ^u u i X. the fear of beInS to° Iate- we complete our survey, watch in hand, to be sure of catching the 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 pos sible to choose one's fellow travellers, and it may happen that our medi tations on the grand memories ofthe past are being perpetually broken in upon by " men whose talk is of x=it m IJJLLj Jllll Iff ff1 "V'l'iiiV" flu y-. IJJjJLiBl MfiSsHSiisv NILE BOAT. bullocks." A yet more serious objection to the steamers has been their scandalously dirty condition, and the swarms of vermin with which they were infested. It is said, however, that this has been corrected, and that they are now as clean as we can expect to find anything in Egypt. For those who have ample means and leisure, and who have resources within them selves, or in their party, to bear the monotony of some days or weeks on 67 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. board a boat with nothing to do and little to see, the Nile trip in a daha bieh is one of the most delightful excursions in the world. To others the steamer offers a very tolerable substitute. But what is a dahabieh ? The dahabieh, 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 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 what ever is provided. They roll them selves up in their bumotises and lie down on the fore-deck like bundles of old clothes, for which I have not infre quently 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 flush of power, probably journeyed thus through Egypt, only, of course, with a royal magnificence and splendour of appoint ment 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 KITCHEN OF NILE BOAT. PLAN OF DAHABIEH, FOR FOUR 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 centre 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 gallant ship, and populous with galleys. So conservative, too, in its customs was it, that even the THE DAHABIEH. Ptolemies and Romans were forced to follow them. Thus perhaps Cleopatra's famous barge may have been but a gorgeous dahabieh : ' The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, Burned on the water, the poop was beaten gold. Purple the sails, and so perfumed that The winds were love-sick with them : the oars were silver, Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke.' " Dahabiehs 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. DHOW OR TRADING BOAT ON THE NILE. Our first halting-place will be Bedreshayn, fifteen miles from Boolac, to visit the site of ancient Memphis and the Pyramids of Sakkara. There is a curious Mussulman tradition 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, however, 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 69 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. 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 lovely girl — so lovely that he was enamoured 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 COLOSSAL STATUE OF RAMESES THE GREAT. 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 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,' EGYPTIAN PALM GROVE. RUINS OF MEMPHIS. 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 splendour 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 Phtah. They were originally about fifty feet in height. The one which remains, though mutilated, measures forty-eight feet. 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 impossible not to remember the words of the prophet Isaiah : — " They that see thee shall narrowly 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 subterranean tomb in which, for a period of at least fifteen hundred years, the bodies of the sacred bulls were interred. In the year i860, M. Mariette observed the head of a sphinx protruding from the sand, and remembered that Strabo described the Serapeum of Memphis as approached throuo-h an avenue of sphinxes. He at once commenced his explorations in search of the temple in which Apis was worshipped 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 super incumbent mass, which was in some places seventy feet in depth. The splendour 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 disappeared, but the tomb remains. It consists of a huge vault or tunnel, divided into three 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 centre. 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 1 Isaiah xiv. 16-19. f 73 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. over the sarcophagus, closed it like a lid. The Viceroy, anxious to place one of these sarcophagi in his museum at Boolac, 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 SARCOPHAGUS IN THE SERAPEUM OF MEMPHIS. an insurmountable obstacle to its further progress. Yet the ancient Egyptians transported these huge blocks of granite from the quarries near Syene to Memphis, a distance of nearly six hundred miles ! The pomp and splendour with which the worship of the bull Apis was celebrated at Memphis may help us to understand the apostacy of the ANIMAL WORSHIP OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 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 honours paid, even by the mightiest of their task-masters, to this supposed incarnation of the Deity, that at Sinai itself they yielded to the influence 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, al most every city, had its tutelar animal, which received similar honours. Dogs, cats, jackals, wolves, crocodiles, baboons, held in abhor rence in one district, were revered in another. Thus the Tentyrites, regarding the crocodile as the symbol of Typho, killed it as a religious duty. Elsewhere, temples were built in its honour, 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 THE SACRED IBIS. IEIS MUMMY FROM MEMPHIS. 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 1 Exodus xxxii. 4, 8. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. the defunct members of the feathered creation since the beginning of the world. Some of the chambers were vast caves, and there were hundreds of them." It was scarcely an exaggeration of the Roman satirist, who, when PYRAMIDS OF SAKKARA. ridiculing the animal worship of the Egyptians, said that it was " more easy in Egypt to find a god than a man." 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, STEPPED PYRAMID. where he_ interred the dead of the earliest periods of Egyptian history. One of them is built m stages, and is said by a doubtful tradition preserved by Manetho to have been erected by a monarch of the First Dynasty If this THE PYRAMIDS OF SAKKARA. 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 and imposing position, have come to be spoken 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 else where, the total number may be put down at about a hundred. They are not scattered indiscriminately throughout the country, but occupy an area about forty-five miles in length, from Gizeh in the north to the Fyoom in the south. Their concentration within these limits seems to point to some peculiar phase of religion or civilisation as prevailing at the period of their erection. Some persons have conjectured that they were built, not by a native Egyptian race, but by foreign conquerors,, who had placed their PYRAMID WITH PROPYLON IN NUBIA. {.After Caitlaud. capital at Memphis, and introduced this mode of sepulture, which lasted only during their period of occupation, and ceased when they were expelled. This view has not found general favour with Egyptologers, and the origin of these pyramid-sepulchres remains, as yet, in impenetrable mystery. 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 Aaron stood before Pharaoh and demanded that he should let the people go. In 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 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. 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 firstborn 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 travellers often complain as being tedious and wearisome. The scenery is monotonous, and the monumental remains are few and unimportant. And yet I cannot say that I felt either tedium or weariness. The great river itself is a constant 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. Sakiehs and shadoofs 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, and 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 commence 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 original remarks on the weather, which make up so large a part of the small talk of con versation at home, are felt to be absurdly out of place where rain is almost a prodigy. In the early spring the khamseen does, indeed, afford a very unpleasant change to comment upon. It is a hot, dry wind, laden with fine. particles of dust, which penetrate everywhere, fill one's eyes and ears, irritate the skin, and produce a sense of 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 buried beneath the drifting sands. Apart from this most un desirable "change in the weather," the days resemble one another. But 1 Exodus xii. 30. 2 Hebrews xi. 28. 3 I Corinthians v. 7. 78 ftymMiMMIMiiMnM mm m w i mare -Ifflfk^i WW i*3#! W : iiiiii Si ^WlPi'il mm iii ON THE NILE. the parts of each day have to the observant 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. Towards mid-day, all colour seems to be discharged from the landscape, which is wrapped in a white, blinding glare. MAP OF THE NILE, FROM ALEXANDRIA TO THE SECOND CATARACT. Yet even now it is pleasant to lie under an awning on deck, and with a feeling of delicious 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 colour comes out in the light of the CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. setting sun. Purple shadows are cast by the mountains. The reds and greys of sandstone, granite, and limestone cliffs blend exquisitely with the tawny yellow of the desert, the rich green of the banks and the blue of the river, giving combinations and contrasts of colour in which the artist revels. The cold grey twilight follows immediately upon sunset ; but in a few minutes there is a marvellous 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 colour I have ever seen. Swiss travellers are familiar with some thing like it in the rosy flush of the snowy Alps before sunrise and after sunset. The peculiarity in Egypt is that light and colour 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 NILE CLIFFS. seen no explanation of this most beautiful phenomenon, and can only con jecture that it is connected with the reflection 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 satellites were easily visible through an ordinary opera-glass.1 Orion was an object of indescribable splendour. 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 1 On one occasion we believed that we could see the principal satellite with the naked eye. Is this possible ? ON THE NILE. full-orbed radiance. Addison's familiar lines gained a new meaning when read under this hemisphere of glory : "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, And 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 EGYPTIAN VILLAGE. the mountains retreat 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 villages 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 ancient city. But on a nearer approach they are dirty and dilapidated beyond description. Stdl these wretched squalid hamlets have a charm for the European traveller. The minaret 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 daybreak, at noon, and towards evening, the Muezzin takes his stand in the gallery, and in a loud, sonorous voice calls the faithful to CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. 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 com monly a school, the noise of which is a sufficient guide to the spot. The THE CALL TO PRAYER. chi dren recite their lessons all together, and each scholar endeavours to make his voice heard above the din by shouting his loudest. The instruction given is of the slightest possible kind, consisting of little else than the recita tion 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 THE SCHOOL OF SULTAN HASSAN. [After F. Goodatl, R.A. BIRDS IN EGYPT. 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 neighbourhood. Being able to recite the whole of the Koran, he could hear the boys repeat their lessons: to write them, he employed the ''areef (or 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 pilgrimage. The fikee pretended to read it, but said nothing ; and the woman, inferring from his silence that the 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 returned to her house, and with her assembled friends performed the lamentation and other ceremonies usual on the occasion of a death. Not many days after this, her son arrived, 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 letter, and she went 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 disappointed.' Some persons who were sitting with him praised his wisdom, exclaiming, ' 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 clustering on the islands in the river, lining its banks, or flying in dense clouds overhead. To pro tect 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 EGYPTIAN fowler. From the British Museum. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. numerous as now. Geese are represented as forming an important part of every banquet, and they are seldom wanting in the offerings to the gods. Fowling was a favourite amusement. Visitors to the British Museum are -»«- familiar with the tablet which represents the ~^-^"-~ flocks of geese «.*" -r- _ - „---"~^^&T^l Possessed by a large landed proprietor. In another the sportsman is seen catching water-fowl in a thicket of papy rus 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 count less 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 and the birds WATCHING FIELDS IN EGYPT. basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh did eat them out of the basket upon my head."2 Quadrupeds are much less numerous. As in all Oriental countries, home less, mastedess dogs roam round the villages, and act as scavengers. Among 1 An English nobleman who visited the Nile for purposes of sport published, on his return, an account of his prowess. He shot, within two months, 9 pelicans; 15 14 geese; 328 wild ducks; 47 widgeon; 5 teal; 66 pintails; 47 flamingoes (!) ; 37 curlews; 112 herons; 2 quails; 9 partridges; 3,283 pigeons; and 117 miscellaneous. Total, 5,576 head. Even persons who are not scrupulous in the matter must concur in reprobating this wholesale and useless slaughter. 2 Genesis xl. 16, 17. CROCODILES ON THE UPPER NILE. EGYPTIAN FLORA AND FAUNA. the swamps of the Delta wild boars are common. Jackals and foxes may be met with everywhere. In the neighbourhood of Luxor and Karnak a hyaena 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 noise of the steamboats. A few may be seen sunning themselves on the mud and sand-banks between Keneh and Assouan, but it needs a quick eye to detect them, as they are easily mistaken for logs of wood, and they slip into the water at the least alarm. they are found in considerable numbers. The flora of Egypt is not very the D0UM PALM (Crucifera Thebaica). It is only as we enter Nubia that remarkable. Excepting palms, the trees are few and — ,,. _ unimportant. A few fine syca mores may be seen, generally in the neighbour hood of a mosque, or shadowing a santon's tomb. Midway between Cairo and the first Cataract, the Doum palm makes its ap pearance. It differs greatly from the ordi nary date-palm. 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 colour of a pomegranate, is said to taste like gingerbread. It contains an ex ceedingly hard stone, which is used by the modern, as it was by the ancient, Egyptian carpenters for making sockets, drills, or hinges. One very remarkable change has passed upon the water-plants of the Nile. The lotus and the papyrds were formerly the most common and characteristic CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. of its products, insomuch that they formed the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt. The papyrus was used not only for making paper, to which it gave its name, but for the construction of boats, baskets, and innumerable other articles ; as in the Upper Jordan Valley, where it still grows abun dantly, 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, perhaps, the object of all others most constantly represented on the monuments. Yet both the lotus and the papyrus have disappeared from Egypt. No trace of either can be found.1 Unac countable as is the disappearance of these plants, it was yet foretold by the prophet Isaiah, as a part of the Divine judgment upon Egypt : " The EGYPTIAN ENTERTAINMENT ; EACH GUEST WITH A LOTUS FLOWER. From the British Museum. brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up : the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reeds by the brooks, . . . and every thing 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 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 Scriptural phraseology to find that they served the > 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. s Isaiah xix. 6, 7. 92 VILLAGES IN EGYPT. further purpose of guarding the land against the raids of the Bedouin horse men, 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 Manfalout, the governor's palace offers some charac teristic bits of Arabic architecture. These, however, are rare. Even in the larger towns, Keneh, for instance, or Siout, there is little to be seen save wretched, dilapi dated hovels, lanes almost impassable for their filth and narrowness, with, here and there, a huge sugar factory or cotton mill worked by forced labour for the benefit of the Viceroy. The situation of Siout (Asyout, or Osioot, as it is variously 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 gateway not unlike that at Manfalout. 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 cpnscripts are squatting, who have been dragged from their homes to serve in the army, the navy, or the factories of the Viceroy, as the officials may decide. Entering the city gate, we find our selves in the capital of Upper Egypt. The bazaars, though dark and gloomy, are crowded with buyers and sellers. A military officer, peace fully mounted on a donkey, is trans acting business at the door of a money-changer's shop. A group of Bedouin are bargaining for swords, daggers, and long Arab guns at an armourer'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 CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. and solitude of the great Libyan Desert. Fragments of mummies, mummy-cases, and cere-cloth lie about unheeded on the sand. The steep, rocky hill-side is honeycombed 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 Lycopolis. The view from the summit of this range of hills is very striking, especially as I saw it, at sunset. Except where the Valley of the Nile broke the monotony, the eye ranged over a boundless expense of desert. To the very verge of the horizon stretched undulations of marl Jp iBlf trll WlBJgyJBMMfr.:' g™v ' '* ¦ WL i«g5'|$E^-^'C"7* Sir — " "¦•"'¦¦'¦' Jpniallf GOVERNOR'S PALACE AT MANFALOUT. 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 Siout to sell. No other living beings were visible, and they harmonised well with the sentiment of ¦— ll»:v- - iUHm raw (hn n * - ¦ QUEER ENGLISH: the scene. I. felt at the time- that the grandest mountain scenery of Switzerland was less impressive than this sublime1 monotony- of sky-' and desert. It is- but seldom that' ordinary travellers can have any direct com munication with the people of the country. The language . in- most cases forms an insuperable barrier. The fellah can speak nothing but Arabic, of which the traveller is commonly quite ignorant.- If the dragoman is employed as interpreter, he is pretty sure to reproduce the comical scene described AMONG THE TOMBS NEAR SIOUT. by Kinglake.1 The donkey-boys English, of which they make very puzzled by their application of the said my guide one day, pointing to god, sculptured on a temple wall. some, fields of doorah and vetch, I lunch," the latter, " camels' lunch." and local guides' often know a little droll use. I. was greatly amused and word lunch. " See, Osiris; hab lunch," an altar piled with offerings before the On another occasion, riding through was told that the former was " Arabs' The explanation I found to be, that as 1 Eothen, vol. i., p. 12. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. 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 any thing ; hence it has come to be used for food in general. Whenever travellers can speak or read to the people in their own language, they are 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 frequent 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 Com mandments, 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 women, NILE BOATMEN. whom he affirmed, according to Moslem doctrine, to be not only weaker, but more sinful creatures than man. 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 everything ! ' 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, READING THE SCRIPTURES BY NIGHT ON BOARD A NILE BOAT. dwelling in our hearts, can alone make us vessels fit for the Master's use ; whatever we are by nature. He will 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 monotonous and interminable chant, the words of which are frequently quite unmeaning. The principal performer improvises CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. 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, Oh, Allah ! Oh, my prophet ! Then I'd buy a new felt cap, Oh, Allah ! Oh, my prophet ! The wind is blowing very strong, Oh, Allah ! Oh, 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 : Con spirito. I 5 s £ :t ^-F-£ ± mm -i- A - dy joob - ta sa - li a ra ka - la - fo, i- A - dy joob ta sa - li - a • ra 1e =2=r* ^ 3l£z 5 X b*=£ * v r- ka - la - fo, Mi - ny och - tin an - i - o - kit ka-dy buk-ke-ty a - ni poy He gives another, a great favourite 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 different 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 engravings in Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. We quote the first eight bars because the melody is remark able for the introduction of the minor seventh (the F natural) in the sixth bar, which gives it a peculiar effect, and is an evidence of its extreme antiquity. :l Allegro. B %—fr- --£=?- LOVE SONG OF THE NILE BOATMEN. -+ t=t£ Am ^^ val lo Hub by a val sin i ¦m-^=W- £ -mm Fren me no ba Hub - by ko se ; etc. lat. From the natural scenery and modern life of Egypt, we return to the monumental remains of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies. At various points along the banks of the river we may observe lines BENI HASSAN. :^^^ ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUSICIANS. of chambers cut into the face of the cliffs. Originally tombs, they were, after the introduction of Christianity, 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, ap proached 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 columns, with doorways leading into the tombs. They thus have the appearance of buildings 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, ploughing, reaping, trapping birds, giving dinner parties, being flogged, cutting their toe-nails, treading the wine-press, dancing, playing the harp, weaving linen, playing 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 identical with that of England in the present day. One of my companions was a Cum berland squire, and a famous wrestler. His attention was riveted by a series of wall-paintings, representing athletic sports, chiefly wrestling matches. I said to him, "Are those pictures like the truth ? " He replied, enthusiastically, " By Jove, 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." O IOI TOMBS AT BENI HASSAN. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. In one of the chambers the arrival of a party of Canaanitish shep herds in Egypt is depicted. They are being introduced to the nomarch of the district by a scribe who holds a tablet, giving their number as thirty-seven, and calling them Amoo ; by which name the Aramaic races were known to the Egyptians. A hieroglyphic inscription styles the leader of the party Hyc absa. He is leading a Syrian goat as a present to the nomarch,' 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 first discovery this fresco was supposed to represent the coming down into Egypt of Jacob and his family. This opinion, now gene rally abandoned, was, however, strongly advocated at a recent meeting of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. It was shown that Jacob, his sons, their CANAANITISH IMMIGRATION INTO EGYPT. {From ihe tombs of Beni Hassaui) 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 Hyc absa is simply a transliteration into hiero glyphics of the Hebrew name, Jacob. A yet more startling view was pro pounded 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." These identifications are doubtful ; but the fresco is interesting, as a contemporary illustration of patriarchal history. It has been mentioned that the rock-tombs of Egypt were used after 1 In the inscription it is said that they came from Bat Mestem, which probably means, "the stibium mine" A place of this name is mentioned in the Apocrypha as existing in the Plain of Jezreel. CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AT BENI HASSAN. the commencement of the Christian era as the abode of monks. Of this there are many curious traces at Beni Hassan. Among the ancient 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 CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AT BENI HASSAN. the cross upon which doves are resting, symbolising the atoning sacrifice of Christ, with the operations of the Spirit needful to give it effect upon the hearts of men. One of these has a leaf of trefoil, typical of the Trinity, and the Alpha and the Omega con joined, so as to form a single letter. The familiar monogram of Christ into which the cross is worked is of frequent oc currence. Here, too, we find the mystic Tau, or crux ansata of early Egyptian mythology, adopted as a Christian symbol. It is, at least, a wonderful coin cidence — perhaps more than a coincidence — that the cross was the symbol of immortality among the Egyptians. The ~ ^\ gods are constantly represented as holding it by a ring which served as a handle, but which has been interpreted as expressive of eternity. 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." AMOUN AND SEVEK-RA HOLDING THE MYSTIC TAU CAIRO TO J ASSOUAN. 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 de stroyed, and pnly their foundations can be traced. But from Girgeh up to Ipsamboul the number and magnificence of their remains give an impressive sense of the splendour of the kingdom of the Pharaohs. The first we reach m&£ i I ,¦ . ¦. -\ REMAINS OF TEMPLE AT ABYDOS. From Photograph hy E. Fri, is that of Abydos, specially dedicated to Osiris, and which contended with Philae for the honour 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 edge of the desert. Here are the ruins of two temples, and the mounds which cover the vast cemetery around the tomb of the deified monarch. SHEIKH SELIM. A superstitious feeling, 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 extra ordinary richness and beauty. It was built of polished granite, lined with Oriental alabaster, still glowing with the colours which adorned it nearly four thousand years ago.1 The larger temple, erected by Sethi, the father of Rameses il, 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 worshipping the gods, or doing homage to his ancestors. In other parts of the building he is repre sented 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. 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 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 expression 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 con tribution, 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 provisions brought by the peasantry to this fasting saint, adding, 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 architecture, when the Pharaohs had been super seded by the Ptolemies and the Caesars. A curious interest attaches to its 1 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. CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. date. In the early part of the present century, one' of the zodiacs which ornament the roof, being examined by the French savans, was supposed to indicate an antiquity so great as to be incompatible with the Biblical narrative of the creation and the flood. Learned and elaborate argu ments were constructed to prove that the Nile Valley must have been peopled by a highly-civilised 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 Egyptologists strangely overlooked the fact that the walls of the temple afford, conclusive proof 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, the almost perfect preservation, and the sumptuous adornments of the temple make it very impressive. But it wants the severe and simple grandeur of the older edifices. It is over loaded 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 portraits of t 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 has been credited.' Their resemblance 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 point of its splendour 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 labour of subdued and enslaved nations been employed in the erection of its temples and palaces. For fifteen hundred years each succeeding generation added some- " thing to its glories. Its Titanic edifices record the history and illustrate the greatness of the people throughout 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 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. BUST OF CLEOPATRA AT DENDERAH. PORTICO OF TEMPLE OF DENDERAH. PLAIN OF THEBES. 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 THE RAMESEUM, THEBES. these relics of ancient magnificence, I felt that if all the ruins in Europe- Classical Celtic, and Medieval— 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 A mon the eod to whom it was specially dedicated. References to its 1 & IOQ CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. greatness and prophecies 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 OSIRIDE COLUMNS OF RAMESEUM, THEBES. 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 1 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. THE KHEDIVE S STATE DAHABIEH OFF LUXOR. RAMESEUM AND MEDINET-ABOU. 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 Rameseum, or Memnonium. It was built by Rameses il, whose favourite 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, slaughter ing his enemies, receiving the spoils of captured cities, or peacefully adminis tering his mighty empire, then co-extensive with the known world. Over all towered the colossal image of Pharaoh himself. No description, no measure ment, 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. Near the Rameseum are the temples of Medinet-Abou, or, as it should be written, Medina-Tabou, 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 1 200 B.C. As in the case of his predecessors, we can trace his history on the walls of the temple. The glowing 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 with out, with historical sculptures 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 pecu liarity of Egyptian architecture is assembled in perfection, that I first learnt to appreciate the spirit of that extraordinary 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, bondsmen to form and circumstance, adepts in every mechanical art that can add luxury or comfort to human existence, yet triumphing 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 metie — the Pharaoh's 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, CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. transfixed by his darts, the relaxed limbs of the slain ; and, lastly, the triumphant return, the welcome home, and the offerings of thanksgiving to - "»t— >- ^^ _-? — >;"^«C.-^- -N."T. ¦¦:.', i r\ ' i \ ¦! i . . 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 of the 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 of the sun and the horns of a goat, signifying light and fertility. He holds a scourge and a crook-headed sceptre, symbolising justice and law. Imme diately before the throne, and within the shrine, is a stand upon which is hung the skin of a panther : the meaning of this is un- <^^y=W known. An altar laden with offerings, and, as usual, surmounted v& by the lotus-flower, stands in front of the shrine. It probably represents the acts of piety performed on behalf of the deceased by his surviving relatives. On the pedestal before the throne a monster reposes, with the paws of a lion and the head of a crocodile ; her name, "the Devourer of Amenti," as well as her appearance, point her out as another of the ministers of vengeance executing the judgments of the divinity before whom she 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 labours. 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 sickles, 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 habita tions. Over them is inscribed : " They have found favour in the eyes of the great god, they inhabit the mansions 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." But a terrible fate impended over those who, being weighed in the balance of Amenti, were found wanting. In the first instance, their souls were driven back to earth by ministers of vengeance, to transmigrate into that animal to which their besetting sin had assimilated them. The glutton, driven from the tribunal with heavy blows, became a hog ; the cruel man, a wolf, etc. If, after three transmigrations, the soul still remained polluted, its hope perished for ever, and it was transported to the regions of darkness and eternal death. In the seventy-five zones into which those regions are divided, the wicked suffer tortures which may compare with those described by Dante in his Inferno. The system of eschatology, thus sketched in the briefest possible outline, JUDGMENT AFTER DEATH. suggests many questions of profound interest, to which, however, no adequate reply can at present 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 embodied. For instance, we may see in the monsters which avenged the different vices and crimes upon offenders, the types of those vices and crimes them selves, thus suggesting 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 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 BRICKMAKERS IN TOMBS AT THEBES. Scriptures, should be almost, or altogether, passed over in his writings ? This is one of those unexplained 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 acceptance 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 Israelites in Egypt. A gang of slaves are engaged in brickmaking, under the eye of a taskmaster, who is seated, staff in hand, superintending their labours. That they belong to a Semitic race is evident. But that the Jews were ever CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. 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 nations recorded in this tomb. The painting is, how ever, interesting as illustrating the condition of a people compelled "to serve with rigour in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field." 2 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 PORTICO AND TEMPLE AT ESNEH. present century. The sand in which it was so long buried has preserved its sculptures and paintings in marvellous perfection. The colours 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 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 toward the gods and Pharaohs, since the time when they 1 Exodus i. n. 2 Exodus i. 13, 14. EDFOU. were regarded with awe and terror. Greek thought and feeling had human ised 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 clap-net 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-dresses and symbols of authority, are driving bulls, goats, and flocks of geese. Whilst the form of Egyptian \. ¦-:¦: i : ... KSgjjSrtS^S » THE TEMPLE AT EDFOU. 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 1864, only the propylons were visible ; 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 hippo potamus, and, with the irresistible tendency of the Egyptians to caricature, manv of 'the incidents are very droll. In several cases the clumsy harpooner has CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. struck his weapon into one of the attendants, instead of the animal at which it was aimed. Doubtless there was a mythological meaning in the sculptures — the hippopotamus being a symbol of Typho, 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. GROTTOES OF SILSILIS. 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 134 KOUM OMBO. 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, 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 TEMPLE OF KOUM OMBO. 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 impressive. Facing the river are a number of small grottoes or chapels, apparently for the use of the quarrymen, and these, with the buttresses of stone carved into the form of columns, have a very picturesque appearance, giving the impression of a vast city hewn out of the living rock. Fifteen miles above Silsilis, we reach the temple of Koum Ombo. Standing as it does on the summit of a hill overlooking the Nile Valley, it CAIRO TO ASSOUAN. forms a very striking object from the river. Though small in size as com pared with the mighty masses of Karnak and Luxor, it is one of the most beautiful edifices in Egypt. The sand-drift from the desert has buried the lower part of the columns, 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. We now approach the first cataract of 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. ERMENT, OR HERMONTHIS, NEAR THEBES. 136 ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. . .laiiyii j§ai§g A^OliAK TO lP£ftMBOUl<. TT^i-ie 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 COLONNADE AT PHILSE. ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. Divine vengeance against Egypt, he says : " Behold, therefore, 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 Philae, to be borne overland to this point for transhipment to Cairo or Alexandria. APPROACH TO ASSOUAN. A broad open space outside the town, on the bank of the river, serves at once as warehouse and exchange. Arabs, Turks, Negroes, Nubians, Moors, 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, 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 1 Ezekiel xxix. io, margin. Migdol was the frontier town on the north-east, as Syene, or Assouan, was on the south. ASSOUAN AND ELEPHANTINE. 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 out post for the successive lords of Egypt — Pharaohs, Ptolemies, Caesars, and mmmmS£t LANDING-PLACE AT ASSOUAN. Saracen Caliphs — all of whom have left traces of their military occu pation. 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 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 Philse, 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 the horse. This gives a peculiar corkscrew motion to the spine of the ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. rider, which becomes absolutely painful after a short time Immediately on leavino- the town we pass the old Saracenic cemetery. Like all those of Modern Egypt, it is in a state of extreme neglect and dilapidation. 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 work men are yet distinctly visible, and the vast extent of the excavations 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 ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE. 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. In neither of them could I discover any flaw or defect. I can only conjecture that some superstitious feeling or evil omen operated in both cases to cause their rejection when all was ready for their transport. 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. Emerging from the defile of rock THE CATARACTS AND PHILAZ. and sand, and crossing a strip of desert, we reach the banks of the river above the cataract. A clump of mag nificent syca mores affords grateful shade after a hot and weary ride, and Philse, with its exquisite love liness, more than fulfils our highly - raised. expectations. Before de scribing the other route to Philae, it is necessary to explain that by the Cataracts of the Nile, all that is meant is a series of rapids which rush down from just be low the Island of Biggeh, to just above Elephantine. There is no ac tual cascade or cataract, in our sense of the word, but the river boils and rages along ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. 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 making 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 daha bieh 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 breaking. Long poles are thrust out against every rock in the channel to gain a purchase. The boatmen leap into the seething cauldron to carry a rope to some pro jecting headland, whence they may haul the vessel against the current. The reis shouts and gesticulates to the crew like a madman. Some times 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 coiling of a rope round amass of rock makes all right again. It is a scene of indescribable confusion. Everybody is bawling 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. Scarcely less exciting than the ascent of the rapids by a dahabieh, 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 marvellous 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 146 CROSSING THE RIVER IN NUBIA. ill ' "^H^W'-nW "il 'if.l !« ¦ '- sfi'*;8\ '#*¦¦ *S.lirl InWlllaf1'/? i ' '' S mm* i -'AL '.' '"ft "vl'I'll-'S'l1 'l ¦¦ i :>,w§ jl jl & jIctsp : %.4 i' fltf(^Sfjl§' ''''111 m '''111 . i il'i ''•* MP MfBKii»«iwwiili*l« LEGEND OF OSIRIS. of the rapid, and having reached its foot, swim ashore and beg for backsheesh, which is seldom refused. The Island of Philse, which lies just above the first cataract, was sacred to Osiris, the most prominent figure in the Egyptian Pantheon. The legends concerning him formed the centre of the whole mythological system of the Valley of the Nile. A brief summary of those legends may, therefore, pre cede our visit to this his fabled burial-place and most hallowed shrine. The religious belief of the Egyptians seems to have been based upon a theory of dualism, in which the good and the evil principles were perpetually contend ing, the former being ultimately victorious. The good and beneficent prin ciple was represented by Osiris, the bad and malignant by his brother Typho. Stated in its simplest form, the legend of Osiris was to the following effect : He was a divine ruler, who, having taught his people agriculture and the VIEW FROM PHILSE. arts of civilisation, departed on a tour through the world, everywhere diffus ing the worship of the gods and the knowledge of the Supreme Being. Whilst thus engaged, his brother Typho raised an insurrection against his government, and having seized and slain Osiris himself, cut his body in pieces and distributed it among his followers. Isis, the wife of Osiris, and Horus, their son, suppressed the insurrection, and having recovered the body of the martyred monarch, buried it in Philse. Here he was restored to life again, and passing into Amenti, or the unseen world, became the lord of the dead. But he still continued to reign in the island where his mangled remains had been interred, and which was sacred to the mysterious triad, Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Once every year he pronounced the benediction which caused the Nile to swell, and pour fertility over Egypt. As amongst the Jews the name of Jehovah was never uttered, so amongst the ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. OSIRIS, ISIS, AND HORUS. Egyptians that of Osiris was kept secret, and their most solemn oath was "by him that sleeps in Philce." The conflict beneath Osiris and Typho, between the good and the evil, was represented as still con tinuing. The one was Light, the other Darkness ; the one was typified by the fertilising river, the other by the desert sand which is perpetually en croaching upon the cultivated soil ; the bull and the heifer were sacred to Osiris and Isis, the crocodile and the hippo potamus which treads down and destroys the growing crops were the symbols of Typho. As the judgment hall of Osiris reminded us of the Christian doctrine of the life to come, so the legend of Osiris sinking down in death under the hostility of the wicked one, but rising victorious to continue his beneficent work for mankind, leads our thoughts onward to the Great Antitype in whose death and resurrection the dim conjectures of heathenism are realised, and its vague hopes more than fulfilled. The island is covered with temples, but none of them are older than the era of the Ptolemies. The original edifices were de stroyed by Persian iconoclasts, and very few traces of them can be discovered. It is diffi cult to make out the general plan of the buildings. What Sir Gardner Wilkinson called the " symmetrophobia " ofthe Egyptians is here most strikingly illustrated. Where a modern architect would secure a magnificent vista by avenues leading in straight lines to a central and commanding point, they broke up the ground-plan into detached and un- symmetrical 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, with little or no regard to the production of an HEAD OF TYPHO. TEMPLES ON PHILAS. ISIS COLUMNS WITH EASTERN COLONNADE AND PYLON. harmonious and well-balanced whole. This is specially true of the edifices on Philse. The most conspicuous building on the island is a hypsethral hall, near the landing-place, vulgarly known as Pharaoh's bed. It is de tached 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 archi tectural feature. The most pro bable view is that it was a com paratively modern erection over the assumed grave of Osiris. Its situa tion is very striking, and it har monises well with the surrounding 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 of 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 I sis-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 colour, 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. Per haps the most interesting portion of the building is a 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 INTERIOR OF GREAT COURT. ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. 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, overshadowing and guarding the body with their wings. The fflBfflB^amm- mESm^ III I?*' 1 smBmmmmW &*Jm. PORTICO OF TEMPLE AT PHIL/E. mystic legend unfolds itself step by 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 bene ficent ruler of the invisible world. *S4 THE DOUM PALM IN NUBIA, CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AT PHILA?. On the downfall of the Egyptian mythology, Philse 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 Chris tianity. 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 in closed within a. cir cle of amaranth, symbolising eter nity, but we find strange combina tions 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 sight 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 symbolised. But from what we know of the ch&racter of the CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AT PIIIL/E. CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AT PHIL/E. Egyptian monks, there is but too much reason to fear that they only repre sent 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 superstition into which the Church had then fallen. And at the present day one main hindrance to the progress of Christianity amongst the Moslems is their deep-rooted belief that ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. it is essentially idolatrous— a belief 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 Protestant evangelists. But everywhere throughout the Mohammedan world, I have found that the worship of the crucifix, of Mary, and of the saints, has raised an almost insuperable pre judice 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. MUD HUTS. 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 hand. Its banks, fertilised 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 proportionately less. Artificial 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 won derfully 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 labourers. The cottages are often mere walls of baked mud, covered with thatch, with only a single chamber in each. Some of the sheikh's 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 earthen pots are let into the walls, to serve as pigeon-houses. i58 SHEIKH'S HOUSE. NUBIAN SERF* ¦¦mm ST CHARMERS, MODERN LIFE IN NUBIA. The landscape has been gradually becoming more tropical in character, so that we actually enter the tropics a little way above Philse 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, cotton, and sugar-cane line the banks, and produce three harvests in the year, with little toil to the culti vator, beyond that required for raising water from the river for purposes of irrigation. Most of the work in the fields is done by women 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 har vest. 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 How ard 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 shameful 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 travellers. A mother and two children— a chubby unclad urchin of two or three, and an elder sister— entered from 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 travelled far, for they came in so gladsome 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 earthern bowl, dripping over with the grateful drink. Her mother awaited it, her back against a ^ 163 NUB TAN WOMAN. ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. palm in the attitude of ftidcea 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 expression 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 positively beautiful. It was like lighting the candle within the lantern. She wore a tunic 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 *itmwr NUBIAN MUSICIANS. 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 reeking 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), MODERN LIFE IN NUBIA. framed a face of which the big black eyes, pouted lips, and placid mien, seemed* an echo 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 so 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 it sun. Though Nubia did not form part of Egypt proper, yet at the present day it more closely resembles the Egypt of the Pharaohs 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 intermixture of foreign blood, and its manners and customs have remained almost unchanged. Faces are depicted on the monuments which might pass for portraits of those which we see around us. The contour of the features is precisely the same. This likeness is rendered the more obvious by a similarity in the mode of dressing the hair, which is arranged in small corkscrew curls, kept close to the head by saturation with castor-oil. The necklaces, earrings, and brace lets 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 165 A ROADSIDE WELL. EGYPTIAN GIRL. WOODEN PILLOW. ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. absolutely undistinguishable from those which may be seen in the British Museum, brought there from Theban tombs. The temples of Nubia are even more numerous than those of Egypt. But being placed there by foreign rulers as trophies of their victories they have little historical importance, and, except those of Ipsamboul, present few remarkable features. That of Dandour is of the Roman period, and was founded in the reign 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 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 Dan- dour, 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 ty ranny of the priests. Diodorus tells us that up to this time the priests had always informed the king when 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 ances tors, 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 dishonourable an end. Sir Gardner Wilkinson points out that a similar custom yet exists amongst 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 reform 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 offerings to the deities, and the usual cartouches declare 166 TEMPLE OF DANDOUR. DEKKEH AND WADY SABOOAH. that he was " protected by Amon," " the chosen of Re," and " the beloved 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 ENTRANCE OF THE TEMPLE OF DEKKEH. 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 167 ASSOUAN TO IPSAMBOUL. 1i!l||!l For an elaborate discussion of the whole question, see an article on the Wilderness of the Wandering in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. EGYPT TO SINAI. northward journey from Sinai to Canaan they skirted its south-eastern 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 nine thousand feet. In winter the higher summits are capped with snow. With this ex ception, 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 immovable masses. Tempests of frightful violence often rage among them. Lightning leaps from crag to crag. Peals of thunder seem to shake the earth. Torrents of rain descend, and, forming STORM IN SINAI. cascades, sweep all before them with destructive fury. The wddies or valleys which intersect these mountain ranges are covered with marl or gravel, generally 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. 198 THE SHIP OF THE DESERT. AY UN MOUSA. Following in the track of the Israelites, we leave Suez, and in about three hours reach the Ayun Mousa, or Wells of Moses.1 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 Israelites through the Red Sea was at a point to the north of the present head of the Gulf, Ayun Mousa may with some probability be identified as Marah, "where they could not drink of the waters, for they were bitter."2 The route southward from Ayun Mousa leads along the shore over gravelly plains many miles broad, which slope upward from the sea to the THE WELLS OF MOSES. 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, according to the view taken of the place of passage. About fifty miles south of Ayun Mousa the Wady Gharandel is reached. 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 1 In what follows I am largely indebted to a series of papers contributed by the late J. Keast Lord to the Leisure Hour. Mr. Lord was the naturalist to an expedition despatched by the Viceroy of Egypt for the ex ploration of the peninsula. His lamented death has prevented the publication of an elaborate and learned work on the subject from his pen. 2 Exodus xv. 23. EGYPT TO SINAI. 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 different character. The spiny acacia, the " sumt " of the Arabs, probably the tree of the " burning bush" and the shittim wood of the tabernacle, grows plentifully; but, spiny though it be, it has to bear its burden of WADY GHARANDEL. climbing plants, being generally quite hidden beneath their twisting, rope-like branches. Conspicuous 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.1 Date-palms of strangely stunted stature are scattered along the sandy banks ; one might readily 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 1 I Kings xix. 4. REMAINS OF ANCIENT CITIES. threescore and ten palm trees " — the veritable Elim of the Exodus ? Many travellers believe this wady to be the place.1 Striking eastward up the wady we soon reach the traces of mines worked by the ancient Egyptians. Hieroglyphic tablets are found in con siderable numbers, one of which contains the name of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid, and some are said to be even earlier. At Sarabet el Chadem, 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 RUINS AT SARABET EL CHADEM. a necropolis. Fragments of columns, blocks of stone, pieces of rude sculpture, and mounds of broken pottery lie scattered about in perplexing confusion. The 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 distributed with any regard to uniformity of distances or position. Thickly covering both sides are hiero glyphic 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 1 Exodus xv. 27. EGYPT TO SINAI. prove that it must have been more thickly populated, and therefore more fertile, in former ages than at present. 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 threatened to destroy them ?2 These sceptical' ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TURQUOISE MINES IN WADY MAGHARA. questions, like others of a similar class, are based upon an entire misap prehension of the facts. We only need more accurate knowledge 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 numerous, 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 1 Exodus xii. 38 ; xxiv. 5. Exodus xvii. 8-15. THE WADY MOKATTEB. 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 centre of the peninsula. The sculptures INSCRIBED ROCKS IN THE WADY MOKATTEB. are grotesque representations of birds, camels, asses, horses, ibexes, and other animals. The inscriptions are sometimes in Greek, Latin, or Hebrew, but more commonly in a character unlike 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 EGYPT TO SINAI. the Israelites during their sojourn 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 has been " recently set at rest by the discoveries of Mr. Palmer, who has shown 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 betwixt the Cufic and ordinary Hebrew. Professor Beer refers to a stone in Wady Mokatteb on which there was a bilingual inscription ; Mr. Palmer also discovered it, and states that there can be no doubt that the Greek and Sinaitic writing of which the inscription consists was executed by the same hand. Nor is this a solitary instance. These writings, hitherto sup posed to be of so great an age, are only detached sentences, in an Aramaean dialect, " a great many of them being proper names, with here and there introductory formulae such as Oriental peoples have been from time imme morial accustomed to prefix to their compositions." They were probably the work of pilgrims and traders during the earlier part of the Christian era, or for two or three centuries before it. The Christian signs employed denote that many of the inscribers were Christians ; but there is evidence to prove that a large proportion of them were Jews or Pagans. " The writing must have extended into the monkish times, possibly until the spread of El-Islam brought the ancestors of the present inhabitants, Bedouin hordes, from El- Hajaz and other parts of Arabia Proper, to the mountains of Sinai, and dispersed or absorbed that Saracen population of whom the monks stood in such mortal dread." Leaving the Wady Mokatteb by a boulder-strewn valley, we enter the Wady Feiran, the most beautiful and fertile of all the wadies in the penin sula — perhaps the only one to which these epithets can properly be applied. A few years ago it was devastated by a frightful inundation caused by storms of unusual violence in the mountains, which turned the wady into a torrent ten feet in depth. Thirty Bedouin were drowned, hundreds of sheep and goats perished, and upwards of a thousand palm trees were uprooted and washed away. Many years must pass before the traces of this destructive deluge have disappeared. At the entrance of the wady are the remains of some of those ancient buildings to which reference has already been made. Stone circles, and kist-vaens, curiously like those of our own early Celtic period, have been dis covered. In some of the latter, opened by Mr. Lord, the bodies were found with the knees bent upon the chest, as was the case in all the tombs of this class examined by him throughout the peninsula. The significance of this fact will be understood by the students of pre-historic antiquities. In and around many of the graves flint implements have been found, in considerable numbers, but none were seen in the W-ady Feiran. About seven miles WADY FEIRAN AND JEBEL ET TAHUNEH, SHOWING RUINS OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS. From the Ordnance Siirvev. PRE-HISTORlC ANTIQUITIES. FLINT IMPLEMENTS FROM THE SINAITIC PENINSULA. beyond these ruins the wady expands, while the rocks are lower, with wider watercourses intersecting their escarpments. Scrubby little date-palms begin to appear on the patches of alluvium, as if placed there to mark the frontier between sterility and verdure. Farther on, acacias and tamarisks, with palms of more stately mien, can be descried, resembling in the distance a coppice on a sandy plain. Several species of birds flit from bush to bush, some of them warbling as sweetly as an English song thrush ; the drowsy hum of insects falls pleasantly on the ear, while the eye experiences a delicious relief in resting upon the deep green foliage of the leafy trees. A Bedouin settlement is now reached, occupied throughout the year by a number of slaves employed in cultivating the soil, and gathering and preparing the fruit of the date-palms. Many of them are negroes, others are of a lighter complexion, with thinner lips and less prominent cheek bones. Their Bedouin masters visit the spot at invervals to feast upon the products of this delightful oasis, which consist not only of dates, but grain, cucumbers, gourds, pomegranates, and lotuses, as well as large quantities of sugar-cane and tobacco. A narrow rocky gorge having been passed, we enter a sandy plain, sparsely covered with stunted tamarisk bushes. On 'the slopes of the hills are seen ruins of ancient dwellings, proving the existence of numerous inhabitants at some former period. Here a magnificent view is gained of the grandest of all the mountains of the peninsula, Jebel Serbal. Seen from this spot, it presents to the eye of the observer a confused mass of peaks of varying heights, but in reality these are reducible to five well-marked ones, the others being more or less simply accessories. The mountain is com posed of granite, and the peaks shoot up precipitously from the basement like so many columns. Turning a sharp angle of rock which juts out far enough into the wady to hide the upper palm-grove, a wonderful scene of enchantment suddenly bursts upon the view. On each side, and to all appearance completely shutting in this part of Wady Feiran from the world beyond it, immense cliffs of bare granite rock seem to tower up into the very clouds. Beneath the shadows of these frowning precipices a vast plantation of date palms flourishes in the richest luxuriance. Through the centre of the grove a rivulet of sparkling water EGYPT TO SINAI. trickles along, anon eddying mysteriously beneath the gnarled roots of a patriarchal pine, as though coyly hiding, but soon dancing out again to the music of its own murmuring ripple. The " laughing water " rushes past the tangled clusters of wild mint, coquetting with the blue forget-me-not, kissing the green fronds of the dangling sedge grass, then tumbling at last in a miniature cascade over a low ledge of rock, is sucked up and consumed by the thirsty sand of the desert. Along the banks of sand and alluvium through which the water has cut a wide channel, grow waving groups of tamarisk W3^yjymm&llm& WADY FEIRAN AND RUINS OF ANCIENT TOWN. trees, while in the patches of cultivated ground the rich crimson blossoms of the pomegranate eclipse all beside in splendour of colour. Feiran is clearly a modernised form of the ancient Paran — the surrounding wilderness being so-called from this, the most important settlement in it— but as the name is applied in the Bible to the whole district stretching in a north-easterly direction to the borders of Canaan, it is difficult to fix upon any special site. The magnificent mass of Serbal which rises above the widy has been by some writers identified with Sinai— the Mountain of the Law— but upon insufficient grounds. This question will be discussed hereafter in connection with Ras Sufsafeh and Jebel Mousa With more probability the WILDERNESS OF PARAN. BEDOUIN ENCAMPMENT. site of Rephidim has been sought in this valley. Here the Amalekites would be likely to make a stand for the defence of the most fertile spot in their territory. The fact that Serbal was a sacred mountain in very early times, and a place of pilgrimage and Pagan worship, gives point to the statement that Moses, with Aaron and Hur, "went up to the top of the hill," to pray, whilst the battle was raging in the valley, and explains the language of Jethro : " Now know I that Jehovah is greater than all gods." On the very spot where these idol deities were worshipped, the ser vants of the Lord call upon Him for help, and He proves His power by giving them the victory.1 The only objection to this indentification arises from the want of water.* The difficulty, however, is not insuperable. We may suppose, either that the host had only reached the lower part of the valley, which is barren and water less, whilst the Amalekites barred the progress upward, or that, in a season of drought, the usual abun dant supply had failed, as often happens in the present day. " And they departed from Re phidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai, . . . and there Israel en camped before the mount."3 If Feiran is rightly identified as Rephidim, the route of the Israelites would be by the Wady esh Sheikh. This is a broad and noble valley shut in by mighty hills, and in many parts shadowed by groves of tamarisk trees. Its southern extremity opens into the Wady ed Deir, which runs 3 Numbers xxxiii. 15. Exodus xix. 1, 2. 211 BEDOUIN WOMEN GRINDING CORN. 1 Exodus xvii. 8-15 ; xviii. n. 2 Exodus xvii. 1-6. EGYPT TO SINAI. to the south-west, and forms a right angle with the great plain Er Rahah. This is probably the wilderness of Sinai spoken of in the quotation just given from the book of Exodus. The wady turns sharply to the right, and is contracted to a narrow gorge between the mountains. About half way up this gorge is the monastery of St. Catherine, as it is commonly called, though really it is dedicated to the Transfiguration. Its ordinary name is due to the traditional tomb of the saint which it contains. 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 Mousa, in a narrow part of the valley surrounded by gardens, which are cultivated by the monks and their Arab servants. Until recently it resembled a beleaguered fortress rather than a convent. The only admission to it was gained by means of an aperture high up in the wall. Visitors were hoisted up by means of a crane, the windlass being worked by the monks inside. The most dignified personages had thus to submit to be treated like bales of goods. Recently the Be douin, having become friendly with the monks, and the number of visitors having increased, a gateway has been opened, though the strong iron-clamped door is still jealously guarded. 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.1 The sweet honey-like taste, the whitish colour, 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 con clusion. But the preponderance of opinion is on the other side, and in favour of the view that the manna was not merely increased, but absolutely 1 For a very elaborate and able discussion of the whole subject, see Ritter's Geography of Palestine and the Siniaitic Peninsula (vol. i. 271-292). SUPERIOR OF THE CONVENT. THE MONASTERY. produced by miracle. The able naturalist, Mr. Lord, to whom I am so largely indebted for the contents of this chapter, arrived at this conclusion after a very careful investigation of the facts. The arguments in its support are cogently stated by Dr. Horatius Bonar in his Desert of Sinai. The various legendary marvels which the monks here, as everywhere throughout the East, have accumulated around their convent, 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 THE MONASTERY OF ST. CATHERINE. interest is concentrated upon the one great event of the desert, the manifes tation of the Deity to Moses and the camp of Israel. The traditional peak is Jebel Mousa, which rises to the height of 2600 feet above the convent, 7375 above the level of the sea. There are two roads to the summit. One, constructed a few years ago by Abbas Pasha, winds round the mountains and is available for camels. The old road is much rougher and steeper, but is far more interesting. Ascending by the former, a gradual slope leads upward EGYPT TO SINAI. 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 between granite rocks only a few feet wide. A flight of rude stone steps now conducts 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 WINDLASS AT THE CONVENT. giving of the law. No plain is visible in which the tribes could have en camped in the "wilderness before the mount." The Wady Sebaiyeh has been pointed out as answering 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. Descending by the steeper and older road, we pass, not far from the summit, a magnificent cypress tree towering up amongst the rocks. This is alleged to mark the spot where the Lord appeared to Elijah in fire and storm THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LAW. 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 manner, till we come suddenly upon a remarkable archway constructed of blocks of granite. 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 Ser bal and of Jebel Mousa to be regarded as the Mountain of the Law, the question recurs — can any peak be pointed out which does fully and completely satisfy the requirements of the narra tive ? There can, I think, be no doubt as to the answer. We have but to re-ascend the moun tain as far as the chapel of Elijah, and then, instead of climbing to the peak of Jebel Mousa, bear away to the north-west over some broken ground and through a series bf ravines to reach the summit of Ras Sufsafeh. Here the great plain of Er-Rahah stretches away immediately below us, affording 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 traveller admits, that if this be not the Mountain of the Law, no other spot can be found more suitable in every respect. I again avail myself of the admirable summary given by Mr. Lord, whose experience as an accomplished naturalist, geologist, and traveller gives his opinion great weight. " Having described the two mountains Jebel Serbal and Jebel Mousa, it 1 I Kings xix. GALLERY IN THE CONVENT. EGYPT TO SINAI. appears to me that neither the one nor the other harmonises 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 CHAPEL OF ELIJAH. 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 dis tinguished 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 Jebel Mousa, the same objections may be advanced. There 218 THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LAW. 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 encamp ment ; and this falls so short of one's anticipations as to immediately suggest that it cannot be the scene described in Scripture. This impression is 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 Jebel Mousa in any way accord with the Mosaic description ofthe ' 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 ex plain 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 Mousa or Jebel Serbal, but still a considerable height 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 re semblance to the place we have so often read of and pictured to our imagination. In the one direc tion, Wady-es-Sheik 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 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 widies 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 Israe twii told J 'pitch' on. Moreover, this space : * in front of the mount • and I am quite sure that any person could be heard in the plain ARCHWAY AND STAIRCASE CUT IN THE ROCK. EGYPT TO SINAI. below if shouting loudly from the top of Ras Sufsifeh. 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 imme diately 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 energies 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 coining 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 tthe 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 1 8th 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 Mousa, firstly because there exists no 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 Mousa; hence it does not harmonise 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 im possibility for any number of persons to reach it at a time or drink from it, 1 Exodus xxxii. 15. 2 Exodus xxxii. 17. THE LESSON OF SCRIPTURE. 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 God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 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. IE Aboo Simbel, 168. Abydos, 104. Agathodccmon, 119. Alexandria, 12-19. Amenti, 128 ; balance of, 130. Amunoph III., Temple of, 1 1 6. Amrou, 183. Animal worship, 74. Antiquities, Forged, 61. Anubis, 130. Apis, 74. Arabian Nights, 41. Asenath, 47. Assaseef, Tomb of the, 125. Assouan, 136-141. Ath or, 105. Ayun Mousa, 01* Wells of Moses, 201. Baal-zephon, 196. Badiet et Tih, 197. Bahr Yoosef, 1 78. Ballah, Lake, 187. Belzoni, 55. Beni Hassan, 101-103. Biban el Molook, 125. Birds, 87. Bitter Lakes, 187, 189, 196. Boolac, 69. Brickmaking, Fresco of, 131. Cairo, 28-46. Caliphs, Tombs of the, 46. Canals, Ancient, 178. Canal, Freshwater, 187. Canaanitish Shepherds, Ar rival of, in Egypt, 102. Captives before Rameses, 172. Cataract, 141-146. Catherine, St., Monastery of, 212. Cheops, 53. Chephren, 55. Christian Symbols, 103, 157. Cleopatra, Bust of, 106. Cleopatra's Needles, 16. Colossi of Thebes, 116. Crocodiles, 91. Crux ansata, 103, 129. Dahabieh, 65-68. Dandour, 166. Dead, Book of the, 128. Debet er Ramleh, 198. Dekkeh, 166. Delta, The, 19. Denderah, 105. Desert of the Wandering, 197. Donkey-boys, 11. Doum Palm, 91. Edfou, 133. Elephantine, Island of, 141. Elijah, Chapel of, 216. Er-Rahah, Plain of, 212-223. Ergamun, 166. Esneh, 132. Etham, 196. Ethiopia, 140. Fellaheen, Egyptian, 21. Girgeh, 104. Goorna, 125. Goshen, 19, 132. Heliopolis, 47. Herodotus, 47, 53, 54. Horus, 129. Hyksos, 20. Ibis, 75. Ipsamboul, 168-173. Irrigation, 25. Isis, 129. Ismailia, 187, 190. Jebel et Tih, 197. Jews in Alexandria, 19. Joseph, 47 ; legend of, 69. Judgment after death, 127. Karnak, 1 16-125. Khamseen, 78. Keneh, 91, 93. Koum Ombo, 135. Lane, Mr., quoted : 32, 87. Lesseps, M., 177, 178, 190. Lotus, 91. Luxor, 116-119. Lycopolis, 94. ' Manetho, 47. Manfalout, 93. Mareotis, Lake, 19. Medinet Abou, 113, 115. Memlooks, Slaughter of, 42. Memnonium, 113. Memphis, 69-78. Menzaleh, Lake, 187. Migdol, 140, 196. Mitrahenny, Palm-groves of, 73- Mohammed Ali, 42, 45. Muezzin, 83. Mycerinus, 56. Nile, Branches of, 19 ; fulfil ment of prophecy con cerning, 19 ; fertility of region of, 46 ; weather on, 78 ; map of, 81 ; bird life on, 87 ; scenery of, 139 ; Cataracts of, 145- Nilometer, 41, 141. No- Amon, 109. Nubia, Scenery of, 158 ; population of, 158 ; mo dern life in, 163; temples of, 166. Osiris, judgment hall of, 128-130 ; conflict with Typho, 150. Papyrus, 91. Paran, Wilderness of, 210. Pharaoh Necho, 1 79. Pharos of Alexandria, 9. Philse, 149-158. Pi-hahiroth, 196. Pithom, 132, 179. Prophecies concerning Egypt, 19,73.92, no, 140, 173- Psammetichus, King, 170. Pshent, 171. Ptolemy Philadelphus, 183. Pyramids of Gizeh, 49-62. Pyramids of Sakkara, 76. Raamses, 132, 179. Railway, 26. Rameses, Colossal Statue of, 73- Rameses III., Temple of, 113. Rameseum, 113. Ras SufsSfeh, 219. Rehoboam, King, 125. Route of the Israelites, 195. Sinai, Peninsula of, 193 ; storms in, 198 ; vegeta tion of, 198 ; antiquities of, 206. Said, Port, 187. Sakieh, 24. Sarabet el Chadem, 203. Schoolmaster, Story of a, 87. Selim, Sheikh, Shrine of, 105. Shadoof, 24. Shishak, or Sheshonk, 124. Silsilis, 134. Siout, 93. Songs of Nile Boatmen, 99. Sphinx, the, 50, 56. Steamers on the Nile, 66. Strabo, 47. Succoth, 196. Suez Canal, 177-190. Syene, 140. Tarabookah, 41, 100. Tentyrites, 75. Thebes, 106-116. Thoth, 129. Thothmes III., 16. Thothmes iv., 56. Timsah, Lake, 187, 189, 196 Tombs of the Kings, 125. Typho, 75, 134; conflict of, with Osiris, 150. Wady Feiran, 206. Wady Gharandel, 201. Wady Mokatteb, 205. Wady Sabooah, 167. Water-wheel, 24. PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE QUOTED. Genesis xi. 31, 9 ; xxxvii. 25, 190 ; xl. 16, 17, 88 ; xii. 44, 123 ; xii. 15, 47 ; xiii. 15, 16, 123 ; xlvi. 28-34, 20; xlvii. 1-6, 20. Exodus i. 11-14, 16, 132 ; ii. 5-10, 16 ; xii. 30, 78 ; xii. 37, 196 ; xii. 38, 204 ; xiii. 20, 196 ; xiv. 196 ; xv. 23, 201 ; xv. 27, 203 ; xvii. 1-G, 211 ; xvii. 1-15, 204, 211 ; xviii. 11, 211 ; xix. 1, 2, 211; xxiv. 5, 204 ; xxxii. 4, 8, 75 ; xxxii. 15, 17, 220. 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