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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32720-8.txt b/32720-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..734c4dc --- /dev/null +++ b/32720-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2863 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, What We Saw in Egypt, by Anonymous + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: What We Saw in Egypt + + +Author: Anonymous + + + +Release Date: June 6, 2010 [eBook #32720] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT*** + + +E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Ernest Schaal, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 32720-h.htm or 32720-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32720/32720-h/32720-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32720/32720-h.zip) + + + + + +WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT. + +Profusely Illustrated. + + +[Illustration: ON THE DECK OF THE SLAVE BOAT.] + + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration] + + + + + + + +London: +The Religious Tract Society; +56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul's Churchyard: +and 164, Piccadilly + + +[Illustration] + +Contents + + + PAGE + + I. How we Fared in the Suez Desert 7 + + II. The First Night in Cairo 16 + + III. Sights in Cairo 22 + + IV. More Sights in Cairo 28 + + V. The Pyramids 40 + + VI. The Mosques 51 + + VII. Heliopolis, and other Sights and Scenes 56 + + VIII. A Long Day 66 + + IX. The Start up the Nile 75 + + X. Still up the Nile 84 + + XI. We go to Alexandria 101 + + XII. Conclusion 125 + + +List of Illustrations + + PAGE + + ON THE DECK OF THE SLAVE BOAT. 2 + + SUEZ 10 + + ARAB SOLDIERS. 15 + + COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL. 17 + + EASTERN VEIL. 24 + + SIGHTS IN CAIRO. 26 + + EGYPTIAN PIPE-BEARER. 29 + + CURE FOR THE TOOTHACHE. 32 + + MOSQUE. 34 + + DONKEY-BOYS AT CAIRO. 41 + + EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS. 47 + + THE SPHINX. 49 + + MOSQUE. 53 + + ARAB SITTING IN FRONT OF HIS TENT. 57 + + VISIT TO THE HAREM. 63 + + OLD GATEWAY. 68 + + THE FINDING OF MOSES. 71 + + BRICKMAKING (from _Egyptian Sculpture_). 78 + + BRICKMAKING (from _Egyptian Sculpture_). 79 + + THE SACRED IBIS. 80 + + SCENE ON THE NILE. 83 + + EASTERN BAZAAR. 88 + + EGYPTIAN LOOM. 90 + + FISHING. 91 + + POTTERS. 92 + + IDOL PAINTERS. 93 + + HEAD OF CROCODILE. 96 + + RUINS OF THEBES. 97 + + GRAND HARP. 99 + + BAGGAGE CAMEL. 102 + + DROMEDARY. 105 + + INTERIOR OF GREAT TEMPLE AT ESNEH. 107 + + RUINS OF COLONNADE AT PHILÆ. 114 + + PAPYRUS ON THE NILE. 116 + + EGYPTIAN TEMPLE. 120 + + MARKETING IN ALEXANDRIA. 126 + + + [Illustration] + + + + +WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HOW WE FARED IN THE SUEZ DESERT. + + +The welcome cry of "Suez! Suez!" resounded throughout the steamship +_Bentinck_ one November morning. The passage up the Red Sea had been +rough, and every one was glad to exchange the rolling and pitching of +the vessel for land travelling. The railway between Cairo and Suez was +not yet finished, and travellers crossed the desert in vans, each of +which held six persons and was drawn by two horses and two mules. Our +cavalcade consisted of eight of these high-wheeled vans. The fifth team +of vans contained four grown-up people and two children, Hugh and Lucy. + +It was a lovely day, the sky blue and clear as on the finest summer day +in England. + +Some little time after leaving Suez, a spot was pointed out to us as the +place at or near which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. The waters +were now calm and peaceful; they lay gleaming like silver in the +sunlight. But these very waters had been raised as a wall on the right +hand and on the left for the children of Israel to pass through. Then, +with a mighty surge, they had overwhelmed Pharaoh and his host, obedient +to the word of God. This miracle of old seemed more real than it had +ever done before, while we looked at the very waters on which it was +worked. + +On we went. A blue cloudless sky above; below, sand, sand, sand: except +where, every now and then, we jolted over large blocks of stone which +sent us bobbing now to this side, now to that, sometimes almost into +each other's faces, to the great amusement of the children. We stopped +about every seven or eight miles, to change our horses and mules; +generally at some little lonely building. + +Wherever we stopped, we all got out for a breath of air. For as we +passed stage after stage, the sameness of the desert began to be tiring, +especially to the children. This was not to be wondered at; for, except +the occasional skeleton of some poor camel, whose bones were bleached by +the sun, there was really nothing to interest them. Hugh consoled +himself with a nap now and then, but Lucy was wakeful and restless. + +At last we reached the midway station, where we were to stop for nearly +an hour, and to dine. + +"How glad I am to get out of this stuffy little van, and to stay out of +it for a good while!" Lucy cried, as she jumped down on the sand. + +So was everybody. + +"Will they give us some dinner?" + +Certainly, this was the only thing we had to wait for. + +We went into a large room, in which were long tables, and benches at +them. The dinner was soon brought in. Dishes of fowl and stewed cabbage, +dried fruits, and fresh dates, succeeded one another, with plenty of +bottled beer. There was no bread. But some of the older travellers had +brought some loaves from the _Bentinck_, and were very good-natured in +dividing their store with their fellow-passengers. + +[Illustration: SUEZ] + +After dinner we had some coffee, which we found very refreshing; and +soon the vans were announced. In a few minutes we were in our old seats +again, cutting our path through the sand and jolting over large blocks +of stone. + +"There is another skeleton, papa," cried Hugh, pointing to the whitened +ribs of a camel. "Do they leave the camels to die, and take no trouble +to bury them or do anything with them?" + +"Most likely this camel was unable to travel farther," his father said, +"either from fatigue or old age, and so was left behind by his owner to +die. The hot wind and the sun together have bleached his bones. But the +skin and hair of the dead camel are both used by the people of the +desert. They are made into clothes, mats, halters, and many other useful +things." + +"Yes," said Hugh, in a sleepy voice; and the next minute down went his +head on his father's shoulder. + +Lucy, too, was all but asleep. She was heartily tired of the jolting van +and the changeless dreary sand. + +The day had worn on rather wearily to her, and now that night was +setting in she felt cold and tired. She was wrapped up in a large shawl, +and made a pillow of her mother's lap. Indeed, we were all tired. And as +night closed in, and all became dark around us, we began to feel that +there was weariness in crossing the desert, notwithstanding the deep +interest connected with it. + +[Illustration] + +On, on we went. The sky had become thickly studded with stars; the moon +had risen, and her beams shed a clearer light and cast deeper shadows +than they do in our colder country. All was quiet round us. Not a sound, +except the crushing of the sand beneath our wheels and an occasional +crack of the whip, urging our horses and mules on their way. There was +no chirping of grasshoppers, no croaking of frogs, no beating of +tomtoms, such as we had been used to hear at night in our Indian homes. +All was so still that we might have fancied ourselves the only living +creatures in all the wild waste of sand. + +We stopped at one of the little lonely buildings to change horses and +mules. The stoppage roused us from the half-asleep state we were in, and +we got out of the van to look at the glorious star-gemmed sky. There was +an unusual stir in the little building, and the moonlight showed a large +dusky mass nearing us. Nearer and nearer it came; and as it passed, we +saw that it was a long string of camels. + +The war with Persia was going on at this time; and this was a treasure +party, carrying money to pay the army. The camels were laden with chests +of treasure, silver and gold. On they came, with their long, sailing +step. "Ships of the desert," the Arabs call them. The name is well +chosen, for their motion over the sea of sand is very like that of some +stately vessel over the desert of waters. + +The caravan was escorted by a party of Arab horsemen. The officer in +command of the party stopped behind for a few moments at the building at +which we were halting, to give some orders. The string of camels and +their escort were again becoming dusky in the subdued light when he +flashed past us on his Arab horse, his drawn sabre glittering in the +moonlight, which sparkled for a moment on its jewelled hilt, and on the +gems in his turban. Then he too was lost in darkness. + +The stately procession moved noiselessly on; the picturesque rider +flying by like some fleet graceful bird. No tramp of feet, no ring of +horses' hoofs. The deep sand hushed every sound. It was like a beautiful +dream; seen for a moment, then vanishing into the land of shadows for +ever. + +We were fortunate to fall in with this treasure party; still more +fortunate to see it by moonlight. Travellers generally pass through the +desert by this beaten track without anything to break its monotony. + +In a few minutes we were again on our way; those of us who could were +dozing, perhaps dreaming of camels and horsemen, and only just conscious +of the stoppages we made. + +[Illustration: ARAB SOLDIERS.] + +At last some one said, "Wake up, we are near Cairo." + +We shook ourselves up, undrew part of the curtains, drew our wraps more +closely round us (for the night was cold), and looked out. We were going +down a gentle slope, passing walls which enclosed gardens, and above +which we could see the tops of trees and shrubs. The moon was getting +low, and we could not distinguish what trees and shrubs they were; but +the sight of green leaves was very pleasant. + +We drove on down the easy descent into Cairo; and at between three and +four o'clock in the morning we drew up before Shepheard's Hotel. We had +left Suez at ten o'clock on the previous morning. Dusty and tired, we +were all glad to have the prospect of a comfortable rest. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAIRO. + + +Alas! for the news which greeted us. The hotel was full! + +The passengers by the overland mail from Alexandria had arrived the +afternoon before. What with their number, and with travellers staying in +the house, it was full to overflowing. What was to be done? We tried +another hotel with the same ill success. After a great deal of driving +about, we came back to Shepheard's, and it was arranged that a large +sitting-room should be given up to the ladies and children, and that the +gentlemen must do as they could. + +[Illustration: COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL.] + +The room which was given to the ladies and children had, according to +eastern custom, couches ranged round it, and a large divan, or couch, in +the middle. Every one was hungry, and the children were clamouring for +something to eat. One after another among us went to see whether supper +or breakfast (or whatever you like to call a meal at four o'clock in the +morning) could be had. But no! we could not even get bread-and-butter, +much less tea or coffee. + +In vain poor Lucy pleaded, "But I am _so_ hungry and thirsty." And +Hugh's eyes filled with tears which it took his strongest effort to +choke down, when he looked round at the number of people and the few +couches, and thought that, tired and hungry as he was, he might be +obliged to do without either supper or bed. + +But things were not to be quite so bad as this. Every one began to +unpack such little stores as they had. One of the ladies had a tin of +biscuits, another had some sandwiches, another some soda-water, and some +one found a little hoard of concentrated milk. + +Little enough among so many. But He who once fed a multitude on five +barley loaves and two small fishes, put it into the hearts of all to be +unselfish and to think of their neighbours' need before their own. And +so the little store went farther than we could have believed possible. + +Hugh's mother brought him a share. + +"No. There are not beds and suppers enough for the girls and the +babies," he said, trying to look very brave, though his lip quivered; +"and I am a boy." + +It was with difficulty he was persuaded to take a sandwich and a little +wine-and-water. Directly he had swallowed it, he took a little blanket, +which no one seemed to want, and went away. And our next sight of Hugh +was rolled up in his blanket, and sleeping quietly on the floor under +the table in the billiard-room. + +Did you ever try to pack bricks into a box all but too small for them? +That would be a joke compared to our task. However, we were all bent on +lying down somewhere and somehow, and we managed it. + +Lucy's mother was very delicate, and, by common consent, she was made to +take one of the best couches. Lucy had part of a tiny one near a window. + +"I do thank God for my bed to-night," Lucy whispered. "Oh, how sorry I +am for all the poor little children who have no beds! I never thought +what it was to have a bed till to-night, when it seemed as if we should +get none. Has Hugh got a bed?" + +"Hugh was fast asleep when I last saw him," I said. + +But Lucy hardly heard; her eyes were close shut, and her own words had +come out very dreamily. + +I sat down beside her for a little while, and amused myself by looking +at the strange scene. There was a large round table in the room, on +which were carriage bags of every kind, size, and shape. Some were half +open, some quite open, and their contents jumbled together in the +greatest confusion. In the middle of the table was a lamp, which cast a +dim light over the room. This was large and lofty. The couches were +filled with sleepers, covered, some with blankets, some with cloaks, +shawls, wraps, of every sort and every colour. The large divan which had +been in the middle of the room was pushed on one side and ornamented +with a circle of little faces peeping out from among their wraps, like +lilies from moss. On the floor were carpet bags of all colours, black +bags, white bags; boots, shoes, baskets. I wished that I could sketch +the scene, and especially the divan with its tiny sleepers, who looked +as happy as if in their own little beds at home. + +At last, almost without knowing it, I fell asleep in my corner, and was +conscious of nothing more till I felt the chilly air of dawn blowing in +through the venetians at my side. + +The hotel was soon all bustle. We pitied the passengers who were going +on to England. They were to start at half-past eight, and the hotel +breakfast was not till nine. With great difficulty they managed to get +some tea; this was all. + +Our own party were intending to remain in Cairo for a time. We knew that +as soon as the passengers going each way by the overland route should +have left, we should find comfortable quarters. This made us the more +sorry for our fellow-passengers, who had been so unselfish on our +arrival. But they would soon reach Alexandria by train, and we were glad +to know that they were to stop for refreshment by the way. + +"What sort of bed had you last night, Hugh?" Lucy asked. + +"A hard floor and a couple of warm blankets. Some kind friend threw a +second blanket over me after I fell asleep. I was well taken care of, +and never slept better. I fancy a good many would have been glad to have +changed places with all of us who were snugly under the billiard-table." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SIGHTS IN CAIRO. + + +All was bustle that morning. We had scarcely finished breakfast before +two or three parties of travellers set off for Sinai and Palestine; then +the passengers for India prepared to start. Before noon we were settled +in comfortable quarters. + +Shepheard's Hotel (which was burnt down some few years afterwards) stood +in a large, handsome square, called the Uzbeekéh, laid out like a garden +and planted with beautiful acacias, which give a delightful shade. +Almost every procession passes through the Uzbeekéh, serpent charmers +and jugglers make it the place for showing off their tricks, and there +is always something going on in it. + +[Illustration] + +Some of our party had business at the consulate, and they promised to +take Hugh and Lucy out first and show them a little of the town. + +At the end of an hour and a half the children came back in great +excitement. + +[Illustration: EASTERN VEIL.] + +"Oh! such lovely things," cried Lucy, chattering as fast as lips and +tongue could move. "Such lovely things we have seen! and curious women +with their faces bandaged up, and only two holes left for their eyes, +and--" + +She stopped for want of breath. + +Hugh went on: "Yes; and there was such a noise of shouting and screaming +among all the donkey-boys, to make people get out of their way. And I +think my donkey-boy screamed louder than any. It was such fun." + +"And the beautiful things in the shop, Hugh! There were bracelets, and +slippers, and carpets, and shawls, and all sorts of things. I never saw +any bazaar half so beautiful." + +"And there is a grand procession, and they say it is sure to pass by +here. Come, Lucy, come and watch for it." + +We all went to the window, and were just in time to see the procession +pass. + +It was headed by two wrestlers, who played all kinds of antics, and +asked every well-dressed passer-by for money. Then came two more men, +wearing a sort of helmet, and carrying shields and swords. They +flourished the swords, and twisted themselves about in such a curious +way, and made such funny faces, that we all laughed heartily. These men +were followed by musicians, who played on pipes, flutes, cymbals, +tambourines, guitars made out of cocoa-nuts, violins with only one +string, and a sort of drum called darabookha, beaten with the hand +instead of with drum-sticks. Besides the sound of all these instruments, +there was such a singing and clapping of hands that the noise was quite +deafening. + +Behind the musicians came a camel carrying a machine, something like +Punch's show-box, covered with gilding. The camel had red leather +trappings, ornamented with shells. Then we saw six led horses, and on +them were six little boys, very handsomely dressed in clothes worked +with gold. They were followed by some people on foot. + +[Illustration: SIGHTS IN CAIRO.] + +Next came another band of musicians like the first. After them, a number +of young women, covered up to their eyes and over their heads with large +shawls, and holes left for their eyes just to peep through. They carried +large bouquets of fresh flowers. + +Now came the grandest person of all, the bride. + +She was covered from head to foot, eyes and all, by a large scarlet +shawl, which reached down to her yellow boots. A circle of gold, studded +with sham diamonds, was bound round her head, over the shawl. As she +could not see, she was led by two of her relations--women, who were +muffled up in black silk. A canopy of yellow silk, with four gilt poles, +was carried over her head by four men, dressed in grand robes and +turbans. + +Behind the bride came a number of her relations, all women, and all +muffled up in black silk. The procession was closed by a number of hired +women, who made shrill cries, as the custom is in Cairo on all joyful +occasions. + +After a hearty laugh at the men who headed the procession, Hugh and Lucy +had watched it without speaking. Now they began to talk as fast as +before. + +"How uncomfortable to have to walk with that heavy shawl over her face," +said Lucy. + +"Yes," Hugh answered. "I should hate that; and what a noise the +musicians made! I am sure it was not a bit like music. I liked the camel +and the horses the best. But look! here is a serpent-charmer; and now, +see! such a grand man coming!" + +As he spoke, an Arab rushed by at full speed, cracking a long whip to +clear the way. He was followed by an Egyptian gentleman, mounted on a +horse covered with velvet and gold and tassels. His pipe-bearer, on a +splendid horse, rode close behind him. + +This was the beginning of our sight-seeing in Cairo. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MORE SIGHTS IN CAIRO. + + +The name Cairo is corrupted from Musr el Kaherah, which means the +"Victorious City." It was founded by a general called Goher. The walls +were built of brick till the time of the famous Saladin, who erected +stone walls in their place. + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN PIPE-BEARER.] + +It is impossible to get on in Egypt without a dragoman to arrange +everything and act as guide. We had a very good one, named Mohammed +Abdeen. + +We put ourselves under his guidance and he engaged to show us all that +was worth seeing. Hugh and Lucy were delighted with the promise that +they should come with us. Mohammed had excellent donkeys waiting for us. +They were pleasant to ride, and ambled along with a light elastic tread, +quite unlike that of our English donkeys. + +We first turned down the chief street of the city, called Moskee; and +from it wended our way towards one of the oldest bazaars in Cairo. As we +went along, we were much struck with the beautifully carved woodwork of +the houses, and with the curious overhanging windows. + +The children were delighted, too, with the gay confusion of the streets. +People were there dressed in every variety of colour. Egyptian ladies, +enveloped from head to foot in blue silk mantles and white veils, which +left nothing but their eyes to be seen, were riding on high donkeys, +preceded by their attendants. Then there were Mamelukes, in their +dresses of richly braided cloth; Copts, in dark turbans; Mecca Arabs, +with flashing eyes, and heads wreathed with folds of snowy muslin; +majestic Mograbbyns, in their white burnouses; Caireen merchants, in +silken robes. + +And the noise! Such shouting, screaming, pushing! Donkey-boys and +others, each trying to make the best path for his own animal through the +crowd of horses, asses, camels, dromedaries, which filled the narrow +streets. + +We threaded our way to the southern gate of the city, called Bab +Zuweyleh. + +"What are those people doing?" Hugh asked. + +He pointed to some people who were resting their heads against the +hinges of a large iron-bound door, fastened back to the wall. Mohammed +told us that these people had had headaches, and were waiting for them +to be charmed away by the good spirits who dwelt behind the door. He +showed us that the door was covered with metal plates, and that every +crevice of them was full of nails, driven in by persons who had had +headache, that they might be cured. Besides the nails, a great number of +teeth had been crammed in by persons who had suffered from toothache. + +Their faith is a lesson to us, whose hearts are less ready to trust in +the God who reigneth in the heavens, than the hearts of these poor +heathen are to trust the gods of their imagination. + +[Illustration: CURE FOR THE TOOTHACHE.] + +From the gate Bab Zuweyleh we went to the citadel. Here we were to see +the palace of Saladin. + +"What! the great Saladin who fought with Richard Coeur de Lion?" Lucy +asked. + +"Yes, that very Saladin." + +"Delightful! the next best thing to seeing Saladin himself," cried Hugh. + +Hugh and Lucy were impatient to see a real palace like those in old +eastern tales; we all felt a thrill of excitement, expecting something +of Oriental grandeur. Great was our disappointment! There was nothing +left of the renowned Saladin's palace except a few grand fragments of +its granite pillars, and some blocks of granite covered with +hieroglyphics. We found another memorial of him in "Joseph's well," +which is also in the citadel, and is now generally considered to have +been called after the great Saracen, whose name was Yussuf +Salah-ed-Deen, and not after the patriarch Joseph. + +From the gloomy remains of Saladin's palace we went to the palace of the +Viceroy, the windows of which look into a beautiful garden. From the +terrace we had a magnificent view. Cairo, with its domes and minarets; +then, the tombs of the Caliphs; beyond them, the broad, silent Nile; +beyond it again, the eye rested on the sands of the desert and on the +long line of pyramids which loomed in the distance. + +[Illustration: MOSQUE.] + +We next saw the new mosque, built by Mohammed Ali, of beautifully veined +alabaster. And, last of all, the court where the Mamelukes were +massacred by Mohammed Ali in 1811. Here Mohammed pointed out to us the +spot at which Emir Bey took his famous leap. + +Hugh and Lucy begged to hear the whole story; but it was too long to +tell at that moment and was put off till evening. + +We then returned to the hotel for lunch, and in the afternoon went to +Shoubra to see the pacha's country palace. + +Our road lay through a beautiful avenue of sycamores and acacias, which +interlaced their boughs over our heads, so that we seemed to be in a +bower of green. The palace is small, and the gardens are the sight +really worth seeing. There is a great variety in them; terraces, covered +walls, labyrinths, and bowers. But the great sight is the kiosk with its +large reservoir of water. + +"See!" Lucy exclaimed, "see! the water comes through those animals' +mouths." + +"They are crocodiles, Lucy," Hugh said; "marble crocodiles; and look at +the arcade. Do let us walk all round." + +We did so. It was a charming arcade: on one side the water, on the other +the gardens, from which the most fragrant perfumes filled the air around +us. + +"It is like fairy-land," said Lucy, as she danced along the arcade. + +"The young lady is delighted with it now," said Mohammed; "but she would +think it much more beautiful if she could see it when the lamps are +lighted and the fountains are playing." + +"When can we see that?" Lucy asked. + +But Mohammed told us that this can only be seen on fine nights when the +pacha and his household are assembled here; and that no Christian is +admitted. + +"Not even a small one like me?" Lucy suggested. + +No, not even the smallest one, Mohammed assured her; not if she were as +small as a grasshopper. + +The gardeners brought us beautiful bouquets and quantities of oranges; +and we walked about or rested on the divans in the arcade till it was +time to go home. + +In the evening we read the following story of the massacre of the +Mamelukes to Hugh and Lucy:-- + +The Mamelukes had long given a great deal of trouble to the pachas of +Egypt. It once happened that Mohammed Ali was on the point of sending an +expedition against the tribe of the Wahabees, when he discovered that +the Mamelukes were only waiting till his army should have gone, to try +and overturn his government. He was very angry, and determined to meet +their treachery with treachery. So he sent a message to them, through +their chief, inviting them to come to Cairo and to be present at the +ceremony of investing his son with the command of the army. + +The Mamelukes fell into the snare. Between four and five hundred of them +went to the citadel on the day fixed. Mohammed Ali received them very +courteously, and ordered coffee and pipes for them, according to Eastern +custom. When the ceremony was ended they mounted their horses to leave +the citadel. At this moment a volley was fired upon them by the pacha's +troops, and the gates of the citadel were all shut, so that there was no +possibility of escape. Shots flew in thicker and faster among the +unfortunate Mamelukes. In vain they galloped hither and thither in hope +of finding some shelter or escape. Men and horses fell under the shower +of balls, and the open space before the palace was strewn with the +slain. + +Emir Bey, one of the Mameluke chiefs, determined to make a desperate +effort for his life. He rode his spirited horse to the parapet of the +citadel wall, and urged him to take the leap. Together they go over the +wall; they are safe from the whizzing shots. Together they go down, +down. They near the ground, they touch it, they roll over together. Emir +Bey rises unhurt, but the faithful horse lies motionless. He will never +rise again. He has bought his master's life with his own. + +Emir had no time to linger by the side of his faithful friend. Every +moment was precious. Happily for him, an Albanian camp was at hand. He +rushed into the nearest tent and threw himself on the kindness and +generosity of the officer to whom it belonged. + +The officer contrived to hide him for some days. But Emir Bey's +wonderful leap became talked of, and the story came to the pacha's ears. +Orders were given that the person who had sheltered Emir should deliver +him up to the pacha; but the officer resolved that he would not give him +up. He provided Emir with a horse and helped him to escape into Asia, +where he would be safe. + +Some years afterwards Mohammed Ali heard where Emir Bey was living, and +invited him to come back to Cairo, settled a pension on him, and made +him many friendly offers. But Emir Bey would never trust the pacha +again. He lived at Acre for the rest of his life, and died there. + +Hugh and Lucy listened breathlessly to this story. When it was finished +Lucy said, "I am so glad Emir Bey would not go back. I was afraid he +might." + +"Was it safe for the officer to hide him?" asked Hugh. + +"No, he did it at the risk of his life." + +"What a noble man! Did he know Emir Bey before?" + +"Probably not. He saw a stranger in distress, and risked his life to +help him." + +"How generous!" Hugh cried. "Emir Bey must have felt as though he could +never do enough to show his gratitude. I wonder whether they ever met +again." + +This no one could tell. But the noble act of the Albanian officer led us +to talk of the gracious Saviour, who came from heaven, not only to risk +his life, but to give it for us. He gave it, not for those who had done +him neither good nor harm, but for us who were rebels against him; and +he came, not to win for us earthly life, which must soon pass away, but +a heavenly life, which will last for ever and ever. Shall not we show +our gratitude to him by helping our neighbours whenever we can, even at +the cost of some self-denial? The heathen officer has set us a noble +example of love to each other. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE PYRAMIDS. + + +Hugh was so very anxious to see the pyramids, that every one agreed to +visit them from Cairo, instead of from the boat on the voyage up the +Nile, which was to be as far as the second cataract; but neither the +children nor their mother were to go. The latter was not strong, and she +thought it best to keep the children with her. Lucy would very much have +liked to see the pyramids as well as Hugh, but the ride from Cairo was +too long for her. + +Our donkeys were ordered early, and we set off in high spirits. As we +drew nearer and nearer to the pyramids we realised more and more their +immense size. Their grandeur impressed us very much, and we shall none +of us forget the thrill of awe we felt when we first saw their base and +their gigantic size. + +[Illustration: DONKEY-BOYS AT CAIRO.] + +They are the oldest monuments in the world. Jacob, Joseph, Moses looked +upon them. They are the grandest work of man in lasting endurance. The +workmen who laboured at them have been dead and forgotten for thousands +of years. But their work lives, and will live for hundreds of years to +come; probably till the Great Day when the heavens shall be rolled +together as a scroll, and the earth and everything on it shall be burned +up and melt with fervent heat. No other work of man has been so +enduring. + +The pyramids are supposed to be the tombs of the Pharaohs, kings of +Egypt. + +We went first to the Great Pyramid, or Pyramid of Cheops. We were +attended by Arab guides, who carried wax candles, and undertook to show +us everything. We went down a sloping passage till we came to a large +block of granite. A narrow way has been made round this block, and by it +we reached the other side and came to an ascending passage. This was +very low, so low that even Hugh could not stand upright in it. This +brought us to the great passage, from which a gallery led to a room +called the Queen's Chamber. The ceiling is painted, and the masonry very +beautiful. + +Here we rested for a little while, and then went back to the great +passage. We still had to ascend to reach the King's Chamber. The passage +being cased with polished granite, we found it very slippery. Indeed, +Hugh and I were continually sliding backwards, and found a special +difficulty in getting on. + +[Illustration] + +At last we reached the King's Chamber. This is the largest in the +pyramid. It is more than thirty feet long and about half as wide. The +roof is flat, made of seven immense blocks of red granite, with halves +of two other blocks. The walls are of the same red granite. In this room +we saw a large granite sarcophagus, but there was neither any +inscription on it nor any of the hieroglyphics which the old Egyptians +used in writing. + +There are five other rooms above the King's Chamber. But the guides told +us that we could not get to them without ladders. As we could not find +out that there was much worth seeing in them, we left them unvisited. +Many travellers suppose that these rooms were only built to break the +great weight of the large upper part of the pyramid, and to prevent it +from pressing too heavily and crushing in the ceiling of the King's +Chamber. + +Colonel Howard Vyse (who made a great many researches in Egypt, and has +written a very interesting book about them) says that the Great Pyramid +is now four hundred and fifty feet high, and that when it was entire it +must have been four hundred and eighty feet high. The blocks of stone +become smaller in size as they near the top. The lowest fifty rows +measure one hundred and thirty-eight feet three inches; the highest row, +only three feet six inches. + +When we had come back again into the fresh air the guides asked if we +wished to go up the outside of the pyramid. Hugh wished it very +decidedly. I was advised not to attempt it, and told that the view would +not repay me for the exertion. So I consented to stay below. The others +went up, and returned in about twenty minutes. Hugh said that the steps +were steep, and made of irregular broken stones. All agreed that the +view was not so fine as might have been expected. Cairo; the Mokattan +Hills; the Nile, with its fresh green banks; the Pyramids of Aboosir, +Dashoor, and Sakkara, were the chief objects. + +Hugh asked one of the guides in how short a time he could go to the top +of the pyramid and down again. He said he would show us, if we would +give him a present. We agreed. Within five minutes he was at the top, +and in three more he was by our side again below, claiming his reward. + +The Great Pyramid is seven hundred and forty-six feet square at its +base. + +"How many yards is that, Hugh?" + +Hugh thought for a minute. "Two hundred and forty-nine yards all but a +foot," he answered. + +"Right, so that if you were to build a straight piece of wall as long as +the four sides of the pyramid, it would stretch more than half a mile." + +"How wonderful!" exclaimed Hugh, gazing in astonishment at the gigantic +pyramid. "May I ride round it?" + +We rode round it, and then went on to the second pyramid. This is +sometimes called the Pyramid of Cephren. He was brother to Cheops. The +casing-stones are still left on the highest part of this pyramid. They +are of a delicately-grained white stone which comes from the Mokattan +Hills, and are highly polished. We saw great quantities of granite lying +scattered about. + +This pyramid was opened by the celebrated traveller Belzoni, in the year +1816. Passages were found in it like those in the Great Pyramid. In a +granite room, with a pent roof, we saw a sarcophagus half-buried in the +floor. + +The third pyramid, called the Pyramid of Mycerinus, was opened by +Colonel Howard Vyse. Mycerinus was the son of Cheops. He was a just +king, and treated his people with kindness. This pyramid now measures +three hundred and thirty-three feet at its base, and is two hundred and +three feet high. It was originally cased with granite, and some of the +casing is still left. + +In it is a room with a painted roof; a space is left over it to prevent +its being crushed in by the weight above. A sarcophagus was found in +this room, in which was the coffin of King Mycerinus, and his name on +it. The coffin and the king's body were sent to England, and are now in +the British Museum. This pyramid is thought to have been the most +beautiful of the three. + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS.] + +As we stood in these solemn chambers of the dead, we thanked God, who +has given us a better hope than these mighty kings of old had. Death +must have had many terrors for them. But our blessed Saviour came to +make it the gate to eternal life for all who love him and serve him +truly. + +We next went to look at the tombs around the pyramids. Some are very +much injured, others are in better preservation. One of the most curious +of these was opened by Colonel Vyse. We looked down into a deep well or +pit, about fifty feet deep, and there we saw a large black sarcophagus. +There were many other tombs on all sides, but we had not time to examine +them. + +Time was passing quickly, and we had not yet seen the wonderful Sphinx. + +The excavations which have been made show the Sphinx to have been a +gigantic figure of a crouching lion, with the head of a man, and wearing +a royal crown. It is cut out of the natural rock. Its length, according +to Pliny, was one hundred and forty-three feet, and its height +sixty-three feet. + +The Sphinx is now much injured: and the sand drifts so fast from the +desert that the space where excavations have been made is soon filled +again. Yet, defaced and half-buried as it is, it is grand beyond +description. The "Father of Terrors," as the Arabs call him, is majestic +in his mighty repose. There he crouches, guardian of the solitary desert +and its solemn tombs. Thousands of years have rolled over his head, yet +there he still sits on his lonely throne amid his silent court. There as +long as the world lasts he will abide; grand, silent monarch of the +desert! + +[Illustration: THE SPHINX.] + +It was long before we could tear ourselves away from the majestic +Sphinx. But at last Mohammed warned us that if we wished to reach Cairo +before nightfall, we must no longer delay. We remounted our donkeys. But +though we rode at a quick pace, the sun was already setting before we +reached our hotel. + +Our first thought the next day was to find out all we could about the +Sphinx. We searched our books of Eastern travel, and from them we found +that the Sphinx originally supported a small temple between its paws. +The walls consisted of three tablets, the top of one of which yet +remains. The middle one was of granite, and represented Thothmes the +Fourth making an offering to the Sphinx. He lived about fourteen hundred +and ten years before the birth of Christ. + +The side walls were of limestone. They, too, were sculptured, and +represented offerings made by Rameses the Great, He lived in the year +thirteen hundred and eleven before the birth of our Lord. + +There was an inclosure in front of this temple, bounded by a low wall, +which stretched from one paw of the Sphinx to the other. The space +inclosed between it and the temple was about fifty feet. There was an +altar for sacrifice in front of the steps leading to the temple. + +In front of the wall was a wide paved space, from which two large +flights of steps went up to a paved road. This road led to the plain, +and had a brick wall on each side to protect it from the sand. + +The approach must have been very grand. A man coming by it would first +be on a level with the breast of the Sphinx, and would have a full view +of the altar and temple below. Then, as he went down the roadway, the +Sphinx would seem to rise higher and higher, till he must have felt +himself quite a pigmy, looking up at the vast figure. + +The children were, like ourselves, very much interested in these +accounts of the Sphinx, which their father had collected for us. + +"Has any one besides Colonel Howard Vyse tried to clear away the sand?" +Hugh asked. + +"Yes, Mr. Salt and Signor Caviglia excavated the upper portion and all +the front of the figure. Colonel Howard Vyse continued what they had +begun." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MOSQUES. + + +This day was to be given to seeing the mosques in Cairo. We set off +early, and went first to see the mosque of Sultan Hassan. This is +thought to be one of the most beautiful specimens of Arabian +architecture in Cairo. + +It was built in the fourteenth century, and the blocks of stone for it +were brought from the Great Pyramid, of which these were the +casing-stones. Inside, the mosque was beautiful. Rows of coloured glass +lamps hung from the walls; some were especial curiosities, for they were +the finest early glass-work of their kind. The arches also are fine, and +so are some of the ornaments of the roof. + +One sight was pointed out which made us shudder. This was the dark stain +of Sultan Hassan's blood on the pavement. He was murdered in the mosque +by his Mamelukes. His tomb is just in the middle of the inner inclosure. +On it we saw a copy of the Mohammedan holy book, the Koran. It was +splendidly illuminated in gold and colours. The sultan's tomb was once +covered with a rich embroidered covering, but this was faded and +moth-eaten when we saw it. The marble pavement, too, was broken in many +places. + +The mosque of Sultan Hassan has always been famed for its beauty. It is +said that the sultan cut off the head of the architect, that he might +never build another as beautiful. + +From the mosque of Sultan Hassan we went to the mosque of Sultan Tuloon. +It was built about the year 879 after the birth of our Lord, and is said +to be the oldest mosque in Cairo. It has double rows of handsome pointed +arches. There is a fine view from the chief minaret. Our guide told us +that it even excels that from the citadel. But the staircase is spiral, +is outside, and in rather a ruinous state. + +[Illustration: MOSQUE.] + +On reaching the second gallery, some of us became faint-hearted and +stayed to rest. Even from it the view was a grand one; but those who +went to the top said that we had really seen nothing in comparison. + +Lucy was tired and giddy when we came down, so some of us went home with +her while the rest went to see the mosque of El Ghoree. + +"It is beautifully painted," said Hugh, when giving us an account of it +afterwards. "And inside there are pillars of marble and +mother-of-pearl." + +"Those are in the niche for prayer," his father said. "The windows and +walls of the mosque, and the roof, are ornamented with stone carved like +lace-work. But I think, Hugh, that what I admire most are the horseshoe +arches, and the four grand columns which look as if they had belonged to +some ancient temple." + +"What did the man call that niche for prayer?" Hugh asked. + +"The Mahrab. In every mosque the Mahrab looks in the direction of Mecca, +where Mohammed was born; and which is therefore to the Mohammedans the +most sacred of cities." + +"Do they pray towards Mecca, then, just as Daniel prayed towards +Jerusalem?" + +"Yes, they do. When we were looking at the Mahrab, I, like you now, +thought of Daniel, and wished for the day when the knowledge of the +gospel shall have spread over the earth, and when all places for prayer +shall be used for the service of the only true God, and Jesus Christ +whom he has sent." + +"I should like to make one little Egyptian girl a Christian," said Lucy; +"would not you, Hugh?" + +"But how could we, Lucy?" + +"Oh! we could talk to her, and teach her our hymns, and tell her about +our Bible pictures." + +"Only," Hugh answered, thoughtfully, "she would not understand what we +said, and we should not understand her." + +"I forgot that. Mamma, may we learn Egyptian?" + +"That would take a long time, and I think you can do something better +than that. There is a mission already at Cairo, where the children are +taught by persons who understand the language." + +"May we see it?" + +"Yes, and you can give some of your money and time in buying and making +clothes for those who are very poor. And something else you can do." + +"What is that? Can I do it?" asked Hugh, "for I cannot hem and sew the +clothes." + +"Yes, we can all do it. We can pray every day for the Egyptian children, +that God will give them hearts to serve him, and to love our precious +Saviour Jesus Christ, who came to save little children as well as +grown-up people." + +It was a happy thought that we could all begin that very night to do +something for the Egyptian children. Hugh and Lucy said so, and we all +felt it. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HELIOPOLIS, AND OTHER SIGHTS AND SCENES. + + +The next morning we set off for Heliopolis. + +Heliopolis, or the "City of the Sun," is the same which is called "On" +in the Bible. Joseph's wife came from On, where her father was a man of +wealth and importance. + +The ride from Cairo to Heliopolis is delightful. We went across the edge +of the desert, and on our way were struck by a solitary dome marking a +tomb. This is the tomb of Saladin's brother, Malek Adhel, to whom +Richard Coeur de Lion wished to marry his sister Matilda. + +[Illustration: ARAB SITTING IN FRONT OF HIS TENT.] + +Beyond this our road lay through green fields and shady avenues of +acacias. The air was filled with a delicious perfume and with the +humming of the wild bees. We saw Arabs, with bare legs and turbaned +heads, tilling the ground, oxen treading out the corn, long strings of +camels and asses bringing home provender. + +It was, indeed, a living Bible picture. + +The land of Goshen was opening before us. We were looking at the same +scenes among which Joseph and his brethren had moved. The strings of +asses laden with corn were like the strings of asses which Joseph's +brethren had taken back laden to their dear father in Canaan. + +It was a solemn feeling to be treading the very ground, and looking at +the very fields over which the patriarchs once trod. + +A village called Matarieh stands near where the city of Heliopolis once +stood. Here a sycamore was shown to us under which Joseph and the Virgin +Mary and Infant Saviour are said to have rested when they fled into +Egypt from King Herod. The gardens of Matarieh were in former times +famed for their balsams. They were first brought from Judea, and were of +the same species as trees from which was made the "Balm of Gilead" that +we read of in the Bible. + +Heliopolis, the "City of the Sun," was so called because in ancient +times there was a magnificent temple in it which was dedicated to the +sun. Besides the temple of the sun, there was in Heliopolis another +temple, dedicated to the bull Mnevis. + +Cambyses, a king of Persia, took the city about five hundred years +before the birth of our Lord. He burnt the temples and destroyed the +palaces. Some of the obelisks escaped, and were afterwards taken to Rome +and Alexandria. One is still left. It is about sixty-five feet high. + +Part of a Sphinx was found near it some time ago, so that it is supposed +that an avenue of Sphinxes led up to it, and that it is one of two +obelisks which probably stood at the entrance of the Temple of the Sun. +Wild bees had made their nests on the top of the obelisk, and came down +upon us in swarms, as is their wont to travellers. Lucy was frightened; +and though Hugh tried to look very brave, he did not feel quite at ease +any more than myself. However, we came to no harm, though they buzzed +all about us. The obelisk stands in a garden of rosemary and other +herbs, which perhaps attracted the bees to it as their home. + +In vain we wandered hither and thither, searching for some other traces +of the bygone glories of this City of the Sun. Here it was that Joseph +once lived. Here it was that Moses was made "learned in the wisdom of +the Egyptians." Here the wise and learned men of Egypt used to assemble. +Here was once heard "joy and the voice of melody." Where is it now? All +is silent, still. This solitary pillar alone stands to mark the scene of +long-forgotten pomp and glory. + +Thus do earthly cities vanish. But the heavenly city which our Saviour +has prepared for them that love him, will endure for evermore. Its +glories are far brighter than ever were those of this City of the Sun, +and are unfading; be it ours to have a part in that new and blessed +city! + +The next morning we met some travellers who had been to a Copt wedding, +of which the lady gave us an account. + +"The family was a rich one," she said, "and everything was most +splendid. The inner court of the house was beautifully lighted, and was +crowded with guests. In the middle were the musicians, with all sorts of +instruments: Arab flutes, dulcimers, fiddles; the noise was deafening. + +"The master of the house took us to an up-stairs room in which were the +guests of higher rank. These were all men. Though the Copts are not +Mohammedans, it seems the custom for their women to live in as great +retirement as the Mohammedan women do, and also for them to cover their +faces when they go out of doors. + +"We were taken into a large room covered with rich carpets, and lighted +by a number of wax candles and a large chandelier. We were led to a +large divan, where pipes, coffee, sweetmeats, and sherbet were handed to +us, whilst we listened to the songs of the singing women. + +"These singing women are called 'Almé.' They attend the weddings of all +the rich people in Cairo, and are paid by contributions from the guests. +Generally they make a good sum at a wedding, especially those who are +clever enough to invent songs at the moment. + +"We stayed in this room for a long time, and then I was taken to that +part of the house where the ladies of the family live. At the entrance +some negress slaves were waiting to receive me and lead me to the room +in which the lady of the house awaited me. She was mounted on a complete +throne of cushions, and some eighty or ninety guests, all ladies, were +with her. They were dressed in every variety of colour, and their +dresses were all embroidered in gold. The young ladies wore pretty gauze +veils, pink, white, or blue. These were all edged with needlework; some +in gold, some in silver. The elder ladies wore gorgeous Cashmere shawls +thrown over their heads and shoulders, and most of them wore diamond +ornaments. + +"I was conducted to the seat of honour by the side of the lady of the +house, and a narghilé (a sort of pipe) was brought to me. Then a china +saucer was filled with bonbons from a tray covered with all sorts of +confectionery, and was handed to me with some rose sherbet. + +"After this I was taken into another room to see the bride. She was a +girl about twelve years old. She lay on a sofa, with her face muffled up +in some kind of white stuff which was ornamented with diamonds, and was +bound on by a band of diamonds. Her nurse was with her. The poor child +was very tired, and more than half asleep. When the covering was removed +that I might see her face, she moved uneasily, as if she did not like to +be disturbed. She was dressed in satin, scarlet, and gold, and had a +white cashmere shawl round her waist. She wore a number of splendid +ornaments. + +"It was nearly midnight when we came away. The cool night air was +delicious after all the heat and glare of the house. It was a glorious +night, the sky radiant with stars which sparkled more brightly than the +little bride's diamonds." + +[Illustration: VISIT TO THE HAREM.] + +It was now time for us to go to the mission schools, which we all very +much wanted to see. + +We went first to the girls' school, where we saw a number of children +copying portions of Holy Scripture in Arabic. They wrote beautifully. +Lucy took a great fancy to one little girl, and stood beside her, +watching her, for a long time. The child stole a shy glance at her now +and again; a kindly feeling sprang up between them, though they could +not understand each other's language. + +We were told that the language taught in the schools generally is +Arabic, but that some of the children learn English. They are taught +reading, writing, arithmetic, needlework, embroidery, and, in fact, +everything that can be useful to them. They read the Bible, and many of +them can say large portions of it by heart. + +We next went to the ragged school. There we saw a number of little +children, some of them not more than three years old. They are fed and +clothed, and stay at school all day, only going home at night. They +looked very happy. + +Besides these schools, there is also a school for Coptic young men. + +These schools were all founded by the Rev. Theophilus Lieder (a German +clergyman, head of the mission in Egypt) and his wife. So great a work +needed much self-denial, courage, energy, industry. But Mr. and Mrs. +Lieder gave these willingly for love of Jesus Christ, and of the lambs +of his flock. He has helped their work, for he always blesses the work +which is done from love to him. Very few of us can do such a great work +for Jesus Christ as Mr. and Mrs. Lieder have done. But we can all do +something for him. And if we love him, he will help even our smallest +work in his name. For he has said, "Whosoever shall give to drink unto +one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a +disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." + +On our way home from the schools we rode round the principal bazaars, a +never-failing pleasure to Hugh and Lucy. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A LONG DAY. + + +Fostat, or Old Cairo, was the next place of interest which we visited. +The walls built round it by the Romans were of small squared stones, +mixed with tiles, and were about nine feet high. There were two towers, +each half a circle in shape, standing out from them, and two other large +towers at the principal gate. The gateway was almost buried in sand: +still, we could distinguish an eagle on one part of it. + +The only entrance it now has is a small gate, too narrow for a carriage +to pass through. The streets are really only lanes, and the houses are +high. In old times this city was called Egyptian Babylon. + +"Is it the same as Babylon the Great?" Hugh asked. + +"No. Babylon the Great stood on the River Euphrates, and was the capital +of the Babylonian empire." + +"Can you tell me anything more about this Babylon in Egypt?" + +"Yes, a little. Sir Gardner Wilkinson mentions an early Christian +record, sculptured on wood, of the time of Diocletian. It is in the west +tower, and we will try and find it. Then the crusaders, under Louis IX. +of France, besieged but did not take it. The Sieur de Joinville, who +wrote the life of the king, has given an interesting account of the +siege. He describes the terror caused in the army when the 'Greek fire' +was thrown from the walls. In the middle ages it was a noted place, and +a stuff called 'cloth of Baldeck' was manufactured here. It was made of +silk and of gold and silver threads, and was ornamented with imitations +of trees, flowers, and birds. It was worn and much prized by persons of +high rank. Henry III. was, I believe, the first English king who wore +cloth of Baudekin or Baldeck, but it was worn in other countries of +Europe before his time." + +We went to the upper chamber over the west tower of the old gateway, and +there saw the record described by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The upper part +with the Greek inscription; below it a symbol of the Deity, a globe +supported by two winged angels; and on each side six figures, which Sir +Gardner Wilkinson believes to be the twelve apostles. We were very much +interested in this Christian record, and wished that we had had some +knowledge of who these early Christians were who had left the traces of +their assembly in this upper chamber. + +[Illustration: OLD GATEWAY.] + +We next went to see the mosque of Amer. This mosque was built by the +Saracen Amer on the spot on which he encamped with his army when he +besieged the city and took it. He founded the city of Fostat, which +became the capital of Mohammedan Egypt. Four hundred years afterwards +the present city of Cairo was built by one of the caliphs. He made it +the capital, and called it Masr-el-Kahira, or "the Victorious City." The +city built by Amer was then called "Old Cairo." + +We were not so much struck by the mosque of Amer as we had been by some +other mosques. There are some fine pillars and arches, both pointed and +circular. But its chief interest is its great age. There is an old +tradition that whenever this mosque falls, the Mohammedan power will +fall in Egypt. + +From Old Cairo we crossed over to the Island of Roda, to see the +Nilometer. It consists of a square well, in the middle of which is a +pillar marked in degrees, for measuring the rise of the Nile. There was +once a tower over it. At the time when the Nile is rising, the criers +come into Cairo every morning to proclaim the height to which it has +risen since the previous morning. This overflow of the Nile irrigates +the country for a long distance from its banks, and makes them very +fruitful. + +From the Nilometer we went to see the gardens belonging to Ibrahim +Pacha; then to the spot where Moses is said to have been found by +Pharaoh's daughter. We could picture the cradle of bulrushes floating on +the still waters; the royal princess coming down with maidens to bathe, +the anxious Miriam watching with eager eyes to see what would be the +fate of her baby-brother. Hugh and Lucy both said that it made the Bible +seem much more real to them, now that they were in the very land where +so many of God's wonders of old were wrought. We all felt it so, as we +looked at the spot where Moses was preserved in his babyhood, while +floating in his cradle in the very waters which afterwards at his word, +by God's command, were turned into blood. + +Our next expedition was to the tombs of the Mameluke kings. We rode +through a not very interesting part of Cairo to the "Bab-el-Nasr," or +"Gate of Victory." + +The tombs stand at a short distance from Cairo, on the edge of the +desert. Each has its mosque, with dome and minarets. In one, called El +Kait Bey, there is the print of a man's foot on the marble slab. This is +said to be the footprint of "the Prophet" Mohammed. It is within a +covered enclosure which is open at the sides. The Arabs show their +respect for it by touching it reverently with their hands, which they +kiss afterwards. + +[Illustration: THE FINDING OF MOSES.] + +Another beautiful tomb is El Berbook. It has been faced with red and +white stones, many of which are still left. There is an open corridor on +the first floor. The entrance-hall leads into the large court of the +mosque, in which there once was a fountain. It has long ceased to play, +and the ornaments are all in ruin. The dome was richly ornamented. The +door to it was locked, and we could only peep through some holes at the +beauties within. + +We next went to the tomb and mosque of Ahd Bey. The pavements, the +windows, the grand arch, the ornamentation, all were beautiful. And the +thought that the great Mameluke sultans, in whose honour these were +wrought, made us silent. These palaces were not for the living, but for +the dead. Even Hugh and Lucy grew grave. It was such a solemn thought +that we were walking among earthly palaces, dedicated to those to whom +earthly glory has for centuries been less than nothing! Here they sleep, +silent owners of their silent city in the desert, till the last great +trumpet shall sound, and the mighty dead shall (with their humbler +fellow-men) be judged according to their works. Thanks be to God who +giveth his people the victory in that day, through Jesus Christ our +Lord. + +In silence we passed on from one tomb, one mosque, to another. + +"Where are we going now?" Hugh asked, after we had ridden on for some +time. + +"To the petrified forest." + +"Shall we find the trees standing, all turned into stone? For petrified +means turned into stone, does it not?" said Lucy. + +"Yes, it does. But I do not think we shall find any trees standing, from +what I have read about the 'petrified wood.'" + +True enough. When we reached the petrified forest in the Valley of +Wanderings (this valley forms the beginning of the desert leading to the +Red Sea) we did not see a single tree, but the sand was for miles +covered with fragments of wood. Though these were turned into stone, we +could see knots and fibres, and even the rough bark, which showed them +to be fragments of trees. + +"Is it not wonderful!" exclaimed Hugh. + +It was indeed wonderful. And now we came to what looked like the trunk +of a large tree; there was another like it, at a little distance; they +must have been quite fifty feet long, or more; they lay in the sand, and +seemed to have broken as they fell, for there were small pieces +scattered about all around. + +"What made it?" Lucy asked. + +None of us could tell; nor have we since been able to find any account +of how these trees were turned into stone. But it seems certain that all +this part of the desert, on which there is not now a blade of grass, +must have been covered by a wood. + +We could but look and wonder. "How unsearchable are the judgments of +God, and his ways past finding out!" + +We all picked up some pieces to bring away with us. Then we sat down on +one of the large petrified trunks and ate our lunch, the wonders all +round us giving us plenty to talk about the while. + +On our way home we came round by another group of tombs beneath the +mountains of Mokattam. We had had a long day, and it was nearly sunset +when we left the tombs. + +The sunset clouds were gorgeous. All at once, as the sun sank beneath +them, the deep-toned sound of the muezzin called the faithful followers +of the prophet Mohammed to prayer. Every one around us prostrated +themselves. Our hearts obeyed the call; we offered our thanks to our +Heavenly Father, who has made such a world of beauty and wonder for our +enjoyment. + + "O God, O good beyond compare, + If thus Thy meaner works are fair, + If thus Thy bounties gild the span + Of ruined earth and sinful man, + What must those glorious mansions be + When Thy redeemed shall dwell with Thee!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE START UP THE NILE. + + +Our party was now to be divided for a time. We were all anxious to see +the Nile, but it was thought better for the children and their mother to +stay quietly in Cairo. Those who were not pressed for time offered to +remain with them, while the others hastened up to the second cataract. +After much discussing and arranging, it was decided that three should +stay with the invalid and her children in Cairo, and the other three +should go up the Nile together. + +The most comfortable sort of boat for travelling is the "dahabieh." One +was engaged. Mohammed laid in the stores necessary for the journey; and +when all was ready, we went to Boulak, which is the port of Cairo, to +see the travellers start. + +We went on board the dahabieh. + +"What a beautiful room!" Lucy exclaimed, as she went into the saloon. + +And so indeed it was. Carpets, cushions, divans, book-shelves; nothing +was wanting to make the dahabieh a most luxurious little home. There +were easy-chairs of every kind on deck, and an awning was spread as a +protection from the sun. The crew consisted of a captain, or reis, as he +is called, a pilot, and fourteen Arab sailors. + +We exchanged farewells, heartily wishing that we too were going, and +they started. As we waved our last farewells from the shore, Hugh said, +in a disconsolate voice, "Great fun for them, but no fun for us." + +We were all a little dull that evening. But the travellers had promised +to keep a journal, and we soon began to think when we should receive +news of them. + +The first instalment of the journal was brought by a gentleman with +whose dahabieh they fell in off Benisooéf. It was eagerly opened and +read aloud, while we listened with all our ears and eyes. + + JOURNAL ON THE NILE. + +The wind was fair when we left Boulak. We passed Roda, the Nilometer, +and Old Cairo. Then a long reach of the river brought us to the village +of E Deyr, which is inhabited by Copt Christians. We next passed, on our +left, El Masarah, where there are large stone quarries. The stone for +the Great Pyramid was taken from these quarries. + +At Bedreshyn we landed, Mohammed procured donkeys for us, and we set off +to see the Pyramids of Sakkara. + +We rode first to the village of Mitrahenny, where the ancient city of +Memphis once stood. The country round it is very pretty. The village +itself stands in a wood of palm-trees. We were told that at the time at +which the Nile overflows its banks the people leave their houses and +live in the palm-trees, where they put up a sort of scaffolding to sleep +on. When the river falls again, they leave the trees, repair their mud +huts, and live in them till the next overflow. + +Memphis, formerly such a splendid city, is gone. There is scarcely a +trace left of this once busy capital of Lower Egypt in which Moses +lived, where the poor Jewish captives toiled to make up the tale of +bricks for Pharaoh's taskmasters. Some few remains of foundation-walls +are found in the sand. But nothing is left to tell of the temples and +palaces of this ancient city, except only a part of a colossal statue of +Rameses, called Sesostris. It is of a pure white, made of polished +limestone, and must have been more than forty feet in height. The statue +lay on its face, and we could not see the features. It has a scroll in +its hands. Pieces of the legs and feet were lying about. All around are +magnificent palm-trees. + +[Illustration: BRICKMAKING _(from Egyptian Sculpture)_.] + +The Pyramids of Sakkara are near the village of the same name. The +largest of them is called by the Arabs "the Pyramid of Degrees." It has +outside six stories or degrees, each smaller than the one below it. +Inside are passages and chambers. + +Near the pyramids are the famous pits, in which are ibis mummies. The +ibis was a sacred bird among the Egyptians. We bought one of these +mummies. It was enclosed in a round earthen jar, the top of which was +shaped like a cone, and was fastened down strongly with cement. + +[Illustration: BRICKMAKING _(from Egyptian Sculpture)_.] + +The bird was rolled up in long bandages of linen. The head and neck were +folded over the breast, the wings laid close to the sides, and the long +legs were folded up and brought close to the beak. The bird was perfect. +We said we knew how delighted you all, and especially Hugh and Lucy, +would be to see it. But our curiosity was selfish. As soon as the air +played on it, it crumbled into dust. + +[Illustration: THE SACRED IBIS.] + +There are some fine tombs near the Pyramids of Sakkara. We went to the +one which we were told was the best worth seeing. The roof was hollowed +into the shape of an arch and covered with smoothly-cut stones cemented +together. This led into a room in which is a deep well. We also saw some +hieroglyphics, and some sculpture; most of these represented men +carrying birds. It was not very interesting, and we did not stay long to +look at it. + +We had a delightful ride back to Bedreshyn, through fields and among +clumps of thorny mimosa, on which the camels love to browse. The +palm-trees looked beautiful in the clear sunlight. Nothing was wanting +but the song of birds, and this is a want almost always felt by +Europeans in the hot climates of Africa and Asia. + +The next day we went to the Pyramids of Dashoor. Two are of stone and +two of brick. The first was the largest. Colonel Howard Vyse gives its +height as three hundred and twenty feet. The entrance was covered with +stones and rubbish. The second pyramid is not so large. The ascent to +the entrance is not very difficult, but the descent is exceedingly so, +and there is not much to repay one for the trouble. + +We returned to our boat in good time, and were much amused, after we had +again started, by watching the peasants raising water from the river +with poles and buckets, and with looking at the Arab boats, a number of +which passed us. + +We next came to El Kafr el Jyat. It is only a small village, but in it +is the residence of a wealthy chief whose hospitable house is the resort +of travellers. He bears the title of Khabeéree, or "the guide." We find +from Sir G. Wilkinson's book[A] that this title "has been hereditary in +his family since the time of Sultan Selim, who gave it to his ancestor +as a reward for his services in that capacity, when he took possession +of the country after the defeat of the son of El Ghoree." + +We next passed the False Pyramid. It takes its name from the base being +of rock and not really part of the building. + +The banks of the river and villages were enlivened with palm-trees. But +we passed no place of any size or interest till we came to Benisooéf. + +Benisooéf is the capital of the province, the Fyoom, and has several +manufactories of cotton and silk. + +We are lounging idly on deck looking at the scene before us. A great +many boats are tied to the shore, and a number of people are on the +quay. The children are tolerably clad, and some of the old men are +exceedingly picturesque in their white dresses, with their cloaks thrown +over their shoulders and leaning on their staves; girls are coming down +to fill their jars with water and carrying them away most gracefully on +their heads. And as for animals! Hugh would find more than enough to +satisfy him. Dogs, goats, poultry, cows, horses, camels, buffaloes! And +_such_ a noise! we can scarcely hear ourselves speak for the clatter. +But a gentleman who is going down to Cairo, and will leave at daybreak, +has just sent to know whether he can take any letters for us. So good-by +for the present. + +[Footnote A: "Modern Egypt," vol. ii.] + +[Illustration: SCENE ON THE NILE.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +STILL UP THE NILE. + + +It was some little time before we could expect the next part of our +travellers' journal. + +Hugh very much wished to go to the citadel again. Lucy wanted to pay +another visit to the gardens at Shoubra. We gave an afternoon to each, +and almost every morning we went to the Mission Schools; either to the +girls' school or to the ragged school. The more we saw, the more we +admired the energy and self-denial of Mr. and Mrs. Lieder, and the more +zealous and anxious we grew to do what little we could to help in the +great work of making known the love of Jesus Christ and the salvation he +has bought for us with his blood. Those who have the love of Christ +really in their hearts must always long to make others love him too. + +Day by day went on and we began to watch anxiously for some more news. +The gentleman who had brought the first part of the journal told us that +he knew there was another dahabieh which was not very far behind him. He +had passed it, not having time to stop and see all that its travellers +were stopping to see. + +At last this dahabieh arrived, and we had a large packet. Lucy had leave +to open it. She and Hugh danced about in delight for the first few +minutes. Their father was one of the party who had gone, which made the +joy of news the greater. + +The first great excitement of the arrival was soon over, and we all +clustered together eagerly to hear the contents of the large letter. + + + JOURNAL ON THE NILE. + +We finished our last letter just after we arrived at Benisooéf. It is a +large town, and was once famous for its manufacture of linen. + +We started the next morning with a fair wind. We passed Isment; and near +it, the quarries from which the beautifully veined marble was obtained +of which the mosque of Mohammed Ali at Cairo was built. + +But what delighted us most was the high table-mountain, Sheikh Embárak. +This giant seemed standing to block our path. Its surface is broken; and +as we neared it, we saw one large cliff which looked like a ruined +castle. The Sheikh, like some other giants of olden times, is accustomed +to give travellers rather a rough welcome, and we came in for one of his +gusty greetings in a sudden gale of wind. + +Tell Lucy that her father, who was lounging in a chair on castors, +suddenly found his chair running away from him, and he narrowly escaped +a ducking in the Nile. And tell both Hugh and Lucy that the dahabieh lay +over so suddenly that every one else was nearly following me, and that +if I had gone over into the Nile, I should only have been ready to +welcome the others who were coming after. + +After this unwilling prostration to the Sheikh, we went on without any +further trouble. + +A rock in the stream next attracted our attention. It is called the +Hagar o' Salam, or Rock of Welfare, because the boatmen say that they +cannot venture to call a voyage down the Nile prosperous until they have +passed it. We looked at it with interest. It seemed an emblem of our +Saviour Jesus Christ; for, till we have come to him, there can be no +safety for us in our voyage on the river of life. + +Our journey was, after this, a little dull for a time. On both banks of +the Nile we saw the sites of various ancient towns; and at Khom Amer, or +"the Red Mound," there were some rough grottoes. We also saw the mounds +of the ancient Cynopolis, the "City of the Dogs." + +The mountain chain of Gebel e' Tayr was more interesting. Some of the +mountains rise straight up from the water, and are enlivened with +palm-trees; and on the opposite banks we saw some fine acacias. The top +of Gebel e' Tayr is flat. On it stands a convent called Sitleh Mariam el +Adea, or "Our Lady Mary the Virgin." It is a Copt convent. But I am +afraid that religion has little effect there, for there seems to be more +begging than industry among the monks. As soon as they see a boat full +of travellers coming they hurry down the cliffs and swim out on inflated +water-skins to ask for charity. Our Arab boatmen were inclined to treat +them rather roughly, and we were heartily glad when we got beyond their +beat, for they were very noisy and clamorous in their petitions for +alms. + +Gebel e' Tayr means "the mountain of the bird." There is a curious +legend belonging to it. It is said that all the birds in the country +assemble here every year. They choose one of their number who is to stay +on the mountain till the next year. Then all the rest fly away and leave +the poor solitary bird by himself till the next year, when a fresh one +is chosen to take his place. + +We have now just arrived at Minieh, six days exactly since we left you +all at Boulak. We are going to dinner, and then on shore. + + * * * * * + +"I want to ask something before you go on, please," said Hugh. "Why was +that city called 'the City of the Dogs'?" + +"Because the dog was then considered to be a particularly sacred animal. +One of the largest repositories of dog mummies is found on the opposite +bank. It was not unusual in Egypt for a city to bury its dead, as well +as its sacred animals, on the opposite shore of the Nile, especially if +a better place could be found there for making catacombs." + + * * * * * + +Minieh is a pretty and busy town. Near the landing-place we saw the tomb +of a sheikh, shaded over by a palm-tree, which is very picturesque. We +admired the houses too, with their trellised balconies overhanging the +river. And there are such queer little coffee-shops! Some are tents, +some only little huts made of reeds. We found the bazaar airy and some +of the buildings handsome. The country round Minieh is rich and +beautiful; it abounds in groves of palm-trees and in every kind of +fruit. We enjoyed our ramble exceedingly, and the two guns brought back +a fair share of wild fowl. + +[Illustration: EASTERN BAZAAR.] + +Our next stopping-place was Beni-Hassan; we arrived this morning, and +have been on shore all day. + +The tombs of Beni-Hassan are open to the Nile, and are ornamented with +coloured figures or other devices, and are very old. + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN LOOM. + + _a b_. Rollers for carrying and tightening the warp. + _c c c_. The warp + _d d_. Frame of the machine. + _e f_. Movable bars, for pressing the successive weft threads + together. + _g_. Roller for relieving the cloth when woven. + _h_. Hooked stick (used instead of a shuttle) to carry theweft + threads.] + +We went first into the most northern tomb. In front of the entrance is a +portico, supported by pillars, which leads into a vaulted room: its roof +is supported by four large pillars. These pillars have been coloured to +imitate red granite, and so have the lower part of the walls. Above this +coloured part of the wall are long lines of figures; some employed in +outdoor work, some in indoor work, some in amusements. Some are fishing, +some are watering flax, some dancing, others wrestling. + +[Illustration: FISHING.] + +In one part there are men catching wild fowl in nets; in another part +there are women kneading or making bread; and others playing the harp. + +On one part of the wall we saw a procession. As we had heard that this +procession represented the arrival of Joseph's brethren, we were very +much interested with it. The first figure is an Egyptian scribe, who is +giving an account of the arrival of the strangers to one of the chief +officers of the king, and the owner of the tomb. The next, also an +Egyptian, is ushering the strangers into his presence. Two of the +strangers are advancing, and bring with them presents, a goat and a +gazelle. Four men follow, carrying bows and clubs, and leading an ass, +which two children are riding on in panniers, accompanied by a boy and +four women. Last, are another ass, laden, and two men; one of these +holds a bow and club, and the other a lyre. + +[Illustration: POTTERS.] + +We saw another curious tomb, where there is a hunting scene, and the +name of each animal is written above it, in hieroglyphics. Below this +are birds, and their names are also written. There we saw a group of +women jumping and dancing; others playing at ball, throwing up three +balls one after another and catching them; men dancing on one leg and +performing other feats of skill. + +[Illustration: IDOL PAINTERS.] + +The occupations and trades of the ancient Egyptians are also shown. +There are goldsmiths, glass-blowers, painters, potters, workers in flax. +On one wall there are wrestlers in different attitudes; on another, some +unhappy people who are undergoing the bastinado. We were surprised, too, +to see that dwarfs and deformed people formed part of the trains of the +great men of Egypt in those days, just as they did in Rome in later +days. + +In one of the tombs we saw a Greek alphabet on the wall; the letters +were transposed in different ways, apparently for the purpose of +teaching Greek. + +We meant to have gone to see the Temple of Diana of the Egyptians, but +were all tired, and have left it till our return. + +We have been obliged to have a strict watch kept over our boat to-day. +The villages of Beni-Hassan were destroyed by order of the pacha some +years ago, because the people were such great thieves. But this cure for +theft does not seem to have answered, for the villagers still have the +character of a love of pilfering. + +We sat up rather late last night, helping each other with our journal +for your amusement. Just as we were putting by our pens and paper we +were startled by seeing a bright light. Mohammed appeared and told us +that a dahabieh was on fire, and that English travellers were on board. +We hurried on deck. The dahabieh was a mass of fire. Pillars of smoke +rose from it, and large tongues of flame darted from them and seemed to +lick down into the fire whatever came into their way. There was a great +buzz of voices on the shore, and the wild light cast a lurid glare on +the figures which were hurrying to and fro. A European figure rushed on +shore with something in his arms, then darted back and was lost in the +smoke. We did not wait to see more, but went on shore instantly. + +There was no possibility of saving the dahabieh. But every one on board +was safe, and we brought the travellers to our dahabieh, where they are +now. + +They prove to be Mr. and Miss Roper, father and daughter, a European +servant, and a negress girl, whom they call Rahaba. I never heard such +an outpouring of fervent thanksgiving as Mr. Roper offered up to God as +soon as they were all safely on board our boat. It reminded us of the +history of Jacob wrestling with the angel, "I will not let thee go +except thou bless me." + +Rahaba has a sad expression of face, but her eyes brighten when Miss +Roper speaks to her. + +Mr. and Miss Roper only arrived at Beni-Hassan that evening. There +seemed little chance of their being able to get on to Cairo, so we asked +them to be our guests and to return over their old ground with us. + +We left Beni-Hassan the next morning, and saw crocodiles that day for +the first time. They were on a sandbank basking in the sun. One was very +large, the two others smaller. A salute from our guns was fired at them, +which made the smaller crocodiles rush into the water in a great hurry, +but the larger one treated us with cool contempt. + +The first sight of Manfaloot was charming. A sudden bend of the river +brought us full in view of its minarets, which rise from a group of +mingled buildings and palm-trees. + +[Illustration: HEAD OF CROCODILE.] + +We have not landed since we left Beni-Hassan. Miss Roper has been making +a sketch of our reis and the crew. Rahaba looks on her sketch-book and +colour-box as some kind of magic possessions, and contrived to save them +from the fire in consequence. + +Miss Roper took the sketch at sunset. The sky was flooded with gorgeous +tints, and their glow was reflected on our reis as he sat in his blue +robes and crimson turban, smoking his pipe. We shall reach Thebes +to-night, and shall go on shore early to-morrow to see some of the +interesting sights of which Mr. Roper has been telling us. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF THEBES.] + +Our boat was moored as near as possible to the village of Koorneh, or +Karnac, as it is often called. We went on shore early in the morning and +visited the small palace and temple of Koorneh, and then rode on for +about twenty minutes to the palace-temple of Rameses the Second. This is +one of the most interesting temples in the valley of the Nile. The +entrance leads into a court where are the ruins of the largest statue in +the world. It is made of granite from the quarries of Syene. + +Mr. Roper told us that this was a statue of the king, seated on his +throne with his hands resting on his knees. Judging from the fragments +the foot must have been eleven feet long and about four feet ten inches +wide. The statue measured twelve feet ten inches from the shoulder to +the elbow, twenty-two feet four inches across the shoulders. + +The throne and the legs are quite destroyed. The figure is broken at the +waist, and the upper part is thrown back on the ground. No one knows who +erected or who destroyed this giant statue. We gazed at the ruin with +astonishment, almost with awe. + +In a beautiful court, with a double row of columns, we saw some +interesting sculpture. An enemy is flying from the Egyptians. The +complexions and features of the men are quite different from those of +the Egyptians. They are fleeing towards the river in chariots; some are +represented as drowning in the river, and others as entreating for +mercy. In the grand hall we saw another battle-scene. + +The great hall leads into a room with eight columns, which support the +roof. On it are represented the Egyptian months, and on the wall are +sacred arks borne by priests. The side walls of the temple are +destroyed, so that the pillars are seen to great advantage. + +[Illustration: GRAND HARP.] + +We saw, too, the famous colossal statues; they are made of a hard stone, +marked with black and red oxide of iron. The northern statue is called +Salamet by the Arabs. It is the celebrated statue of Memnon, which was +said to utter a sound of melody every morning at sunrise, and a mournful +sound at sunset. The sides of the throne are ornamented with figures; +they represent the god Nilus winding up a pedestal, over which is the +name of the king who made them. The statues of his wife and mother are +attached to the throne. We then went to the Temple of Medeénet Háboo. +The early Christians had a settlement here, and they used one of the +deserted courts of the great temple for a church, hiding the idolatrous +sculptures with a coat of mud. But a time of persecution came. The +colony was invaded by Arabs, the Christians fled to the neighbourhood of +Esneh, and the village of Medeénet Háboo fell into ruins. + +We passed the palace of Rameses the Third, and went into the temple. Two +fine pillars ornament the doorway which leads from the court into a +corridor before the second doorway. Over this doorway there is a +beautiful winged globe and serpent, the colouring of which still +remains. + +This doorway leads into another corridor and afterwards into a small +court. We looked at this court with great interest, because Mr. Roper +told us that it was built by Tirhakeh, whose battles with Sennacherib we +read of in the Bible. + +On the outside wall of the temple, King Rameses is represented in his +chariot, attended by fan-bearers and lions, and advancing with his army. +His enemies are defeated, and heaps of tongues are among the tokens of +his victory. + +In another part, the king, while pursuing his enemy, is attacked by +lions. He kills two with his arrows, and is on the point of killing +another with his spear. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +WE GO TO ALEXANDRIA. + + +[Illustration] + +"And that is the last piece of journal we shall get, very likely," said +our reader, as he folded up the packet again. + +"I hope not," said Lucy, "for I want to hear more about Rahaba." + +"And I want to hear about the temples and the statues, and how they got +on past the first cataract." + +But no more news could be expected for some time. So, to amuse +ourselves, we determined on paying a visit to Alexandria. The distance +is about one hundred and thirty miles, and the railway being already +opened, we went by train. The carriages had double roofs, as a +protection from the sun; the upper roof was raised about a foot above +the lower, on little iron pillars, so that a current of air could pass +between the two roofs. + +[Illustration: BAGGAGE CAMEL.] + +On leaving Cairo we could see the high road. Hugh and Lucy were much +amused with watching the strings of camels, tied one behind the other +with ropes, and laden with large bales of cotton. There were sometimes +as many as sixteen camels in one string; then we saw donkeys laden with +various things for sale, and numbers of people carrying goods of +different kinds. We saw a great many people, too, working in the fields. +The country is fertile, and we thought the villages very pretty, peeping +out from their groves of palm-trees. + +As we came near Alexandria the country became more sandy and less +pretty. + +"Alexander the Great built Alexandria, did he not?" said Hugh. + +"Yes. And in old times it was very famous for its library." + +"Oh, yes," said Hugh, "I remember that; it had a museum with a library +of I do not know how many volumes." + +"Yes, and besides the museum library there was another library in a +splendid building called the 'Serapion.' The museum library was burnt +during the wars of Julius Cæsar with the Alexandrians, and the +'Serapion' library was destroyed by the orders of the Caliph Omar." + +"Why?" asked Hugh, in astonishment. + +"The caliph said that if the writings in these books agreed with those +in the Koran they were useless, and that if they did not they were +mischievous; so in any case they would be better destroyed than kept." + +"I think his reasoning was very foolish, though I suppose he meant it as +very wise." + +"So do I. Two thousand of the volumes had belonged to the kings of +Pergamos, and had been given by Marc Antony to Cleopatra." + +It was too late to see anything that evening, but we set off early the +next morning. We first visited the pacha's palace. It faces the harbour, +and has a fine view of it. We went through a small garden up a +staircase, and then, on the upper floor, came to the pacha's apartments; +these were very handsomely furnished. We saw beds with rich curtains of +cloth of gold and silver, and large divans which were very handsome. In +the dining-room the floor was of inlaid wood. The view from the balcony +was very fine; but one of the things which we admired most was a +beautiful table of Roman mosaic, representing all the most interesting +monuments in Rome. + +After leaving the palace we went to see a garden belonging to the pacha. +The garden was pretty, and we very much enjoyed our drive along the +Mahmoudieh canal. We had some friends who lived in a villa not far off, +and we called on them. After lunch the lady asked if we had ever ridden +on a dromedary. + +We had not, and Hugh and Lucy were specially anxious to try what it was +like. So the dromedary was ordered to come for us. + +It looked very handsome with its saddle of crimson velvet, from which +splendid draperies of gold and silver stuff hung on all sides, with a +number of silken cords, loops, and tassels. + +Most of us thought the motion very pleasant. But Lucy was a little +frightened, and said she felt as if she was going to tumble over the +dromedary's head. She would only go at a walk, which we thought a +disagreeable pace. Hugh thought the dromedary's trot delightful, and +wished he could always travel by dromedary, but Lucy thought a Cairo +donkey very much to be preferred. + +[Illustration: DROMEDARY.] + +Almost everything that we see in Egypt reminds us of something we read +of in the Bible. We seem to live among Bible pictures, which help us to +understand the Bible and the customs it speaks of. + +We were pleasantly surprised the morning after this little visit to our +friends at the villa to receive another packet of journal from the +travellers. The last had been so long on the way that we scarcely +expected to hear again from them before their return. + +We opened it eagerly, and were all excited to know how they had passed +at least the first cataract. + + JOURNAL ON THE NILE. + +We wrote last from Thebes, which place we left the next morning. We were +obliged to wait at Esneh for twenty-four hours for our sailors to bake +bread. In the evening we saw at least twenty crocodiles pass our boat. + +We left Esneh with a fair wind, and stopped nowhere till we reached +Assouan. Here we had to make our arrangements for passing the first +cataract. + +The management of our boat was given over to the reis of the cataract. +He provides men to help in taking us through the rapids. Whilst these +arrangements were being made, we had time to see all that was worth +seeing round Assouan. + +There was a gay scene on the quay. Large boats which had been damaged +were undergoing repairs; others were being loaded and unloaded with +bales of cotton, which are sent from here across the desert to Sennaar. +Then there were the tents of the owners; groups of Nubian merchants in +white turbans; natives of Assouan seated on the ground, smoking their +chiboques; camels waiting for their loads; and donkeys which seemed as +strong and lively as our Cairo favourites. Of course there was a +terrible noise--shouting, screaming, quarrelling among the various +sellers of arms, ornaments, and other things. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF GREAT TEMPLE AT ESNEH.] + +We hired donkeys and a good guide, and then set off to see the quarries +of Syene. From these quarries the obelisks were cut which adorned the +cities of Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis thousands of years ago. We +passed the ruins of a burying-ground belonging to an old Saracen town +which was desolated by the plague some hundreds of years ago, and very +gloomy these ruins looked. + +On our way back we rode through the bazaar. There was nothing very gay +for sale, but the people interested us. We saw a great many Berbers, a +people quite unlike either the Arabs or the negroes. The Berbers live in +Lower Nubia, and are a wild, fine-looking race. The men wear but little +clothing; they all carry a small dagger, which is bound with a red +leather bracelet round the left arm, above the elbow. They also wear a +_fetish_, or charm, enclosed in a little red leather case. The women +uncover their faces, and wear nose rings of either brass or bone. They +also wear quantities of coloured bead necklaces and bracelets, brass +ear-rings and finger-rings; and whenever they can get them, they wear +gold or silver coins hanging on the foreheads. They tattoo their chins +and dye their under-lips blue, which looks very ugly. + +To-day we crossed to the island of Elephanta. We went to the quarries, +visited groups of tombs of sheikhs and dervishes, and the mosque of +Amer. We had a delightful row round the island. Its groves of palms and +its granite rocks are picturesque. But we were disappointed to see no +flowers. The Nubian children offered us some pretty baskets for sale, +and some Egyptian agates. We are bringing some of them back with us: +amongst them a lovely little basket of palm leaves for Lucy. + +We sailed towards the cataract with a stiff breeze. The scenery was wild +and beautiful. On the western side the sands of the Great Desert, yellow +as gold, came to the water's edge, with dark masses of rock rising from +them here and there. On the east, granite rocks rose one above the other +in strange forms. + +With the help of about fifty Arabs, who shouted at the top of their +voices as they hauled us by a thick rope, we passed the first little +fall of the cataract. Then we passed a succession of rapids. It was an +exciting passage. Great masses of granite towered round our little boat; +sometimes we even struck against them, but not so as to do us any harm. +The groups of Nubians were picturesque. Miss Roper has sketches of some +of them swimming on palm logs. + +At length we came to the grand fall. At first our boat seemed to grow +faint-hearted, and to make as though she would go back to Assouan. But +our cataract reis was prepared for this. He seemed to be everywhere at +once. He had thrown off his turban and looser clothes, and the activity +with which he darted from place to place was wonderful. One minute he +was in the boat, at another on shore pulling with the Arabs at the rope; +the next, he was mounted on a rock in the middle of the rapids shouting +to the Arabs and boatmen. Wherever there was danger, there was the reis +ready to ward it off. At last the boat was clear of the last projecting +rock; one long, strong pull from the men on shore, and she shot forward +like an arrow into the smooth water. + +We anchored for the night at Mahatta, glad to be at peace from all the +screaming and yelling which made the chorus during our passage through +the rapids. + +At Mahatta we had a touching scene. + +Early in the morning a large boat laden with slaves came alongside of +us. Mohammed told us that they were to be landed here, and to march to +Assouan, to save the trouble of taking them down the cataract. At +Assouan they will be put on board a boat for Cairo. There must have been +at least fifty: men, women, children, and even little babies. About +half-a-dozen Egyptian soldiers had them in charge. Poor things! they +looked very miserable. Some were black and very ugly; some of a bronze +colour: these were not so ugly, and many of the women were very +graceful. + +It made us very sad to see these poor creatures, who were bought and +sold like animals, without the knowledge of a Saviour and his love and +mercy to support them in their sorrows. We longed to speak to them of +Jesus Christ and his love; but, alas! they could not understand us, nor +we them. Rahaba was crouched on deck by Miss Roper's side, and her eyes +were flashing with eagerness. + +We asked Mohammed if anything could be done for their comfort. He took +two men with him and brought back as many dates as they could carry for +us to divide among the poor captives. Miss Roper and I went up to a +group of women whom Rahaba had been watching. Rahaba attended her +mistress. All at once Rahaba seized a baby from its mother's arms, +kissed it, and fondled it. Then she and the young mother bent over it +together and clasped each other's hands tightly and kissed each other. +But there was no joy in their faces. Sad, silent tears trickled down +their cheeks. Rahaba said a few words in a low, choking tone to the +mother. Both looked pleased when Miss Roper took the baby in her arms. +Our eyes filled with tears, and as Miss Roper leant over the sleeping +child her tears too fell fast upon it. For a moment a gleam of hope +seemed to shine on the poor mother. She asked Rahaba if the white girl +was going to buy the baby. When she found that her baby could not stay +with Miss Roper the large tears gathered in her eyes again, and chased +each other down her cheeks. + +Miss Roper, who understands a few words of Rahaba's language, pointed to +the sky, and told the mother that the great God loves little babies, and +that he cares for slaves and loves those who are good and obedient. The +poor girl folded her baby to her heart and shook her head sadly. The +news seemed to her too good to be true. + +But Miss Roper tried again to make her believe it. All the rest of the +time till the pioneers were ordered to march on, Rahaba and her sister +negress crouched side by side in grief and despair. We could not comfort +them, but we prayed that God would in his mercy bring them to know and +love him and his Son Jesus Christ; and then they will be comforted for +every sorrow. + +We rowed to Philæ, the sacred island of the ancient Egyptians, in the +evening; but it was too late for us to stay amongst the ruins. Early the +following morning we left Mahatta. The weather was warm and pleasant, +and on the third day the scenery began to be lovely. On both sides the +banks of the river were fringed with castor-oil plants and prickly +mimosa; above these we saw plantations of dates and palms. The fruits of +these trees are the chief food of the Nubians. + +We passed near the capital of Nubia without landing. It is a large town, +and the streets are wide and busy. + +We still had the desert on our left, but it was partly hidden by the +broken hills fringed with acacias. The mountain Gebel Derr projects into +the river; and for nearly three hours we coasted under broken rocks +which rise straight up from the Nile. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF COLONNADE AT PHILÆ.] + +After this we saw acacias on the left bank of the river, and on the +right groves of palm-trees. There were numbers of peasants to be seen; +some walking, some riding. The men wore long white dresses and turbans, +the women blue gowns. + +The wind was fair, and we hastened on, passing some places where there +were interesting ruins without stopping, and at last anchored here at +Wadee Halfeh. + +Miss Roper has been even more diligent than before in trying to teach +Rahaba, who has looked very sad ever since we left Mahatta. To-day Miss +Roper has been telling her the story of our Saviour's birth, and of his +being laid in a manger; and how he, the King of glory, came to suffer +and die for us sinners. Rahaba listens, but she shakes her head. She +tries to understand and learn anything that Miss Roper teaches her. But +it is only to please her mistress that she does this; and as yet she is +no nearer to being a Christian than when she was in her own country. + +Directly after breakfast this morning we hired donkeys to take us to the +second cataract. All was still and silent as we rode over the loose, +shifting sand of the desert. Nothing living was to be seen. We passed +some skeletons of dromedaries which had been bleached by the sun and +wind. They made the silence and desolation seem the greater. After +riding for about an hour and a half we came to the first rocky islands. +About an hour more brought us to the Rock of Abousir. + +[Illustration: PAPYRUS ON THE NILE.] + +The view here was indeed grand. The second cataract covers a space of +about seven miles in length. The river bursts its way among numberless +rocky islets. Some of these are so small that they are hardly more than +large stones; some are rocks of considerable size; others are larger, +islands of rock and sand. Between them all the rapids rush headlong, +throwing up their foam on every side. There are trees on some of the +islands, and five of the largest at the northern extreme of the cataract +are inhabited. Far off to the south we saw what looked like a dark-blue +cloud, and were told that it was the mountains of Dongola. We wished +that we could have gone to them. + +On the side next the cataract the Rock of Abousir is like a straight +wall. On the desert side it is a succession of crags. We found the names +of various celebrated travellers on these rocks, amongst others that of +Belzoni. We gazed at them with a thrill of interest, and lingered long +looking at the beautiful view and scanning the names of the travellers, +great and small, who had visited the rock. What would we not have given +at that moment to go farther and track the grand river to its source! +But it was impossible! We must turn back at this point and begin our +homeward journey down the Nile. + +Wadee Halfeh, the highest point we reached on our journey up the Nile, +is very picturesque. The houses are built in groups, and most of them +are surrounded by palm-groves. They are of mud, but are generally larger +and cleaner than those of the Egyptian peasants. We went into one. Its +mistress had a double row of plaits round her forehead, oiled to an +extreme degree. The people are generally well dressed and appear +comfortable. + +We left Wadee Halfeh at dawn, on our return down the river to Cairo, and +arrived at Aboo Simbel, or Ipsambul as it is sometimes called, in time +to see the temples before dusk. The sand-drifts of hundreds and hundreds +of years had once covered these temples, so much so that nothing could +be seen but the giant head of one statue. Burckhardt was the first +traveller who discovered them. In the year, 1817, Belzoni, in company +with Captain Irby and Captain Mangles, began to clear away the sand. + +There are two temples. In the small temple are six giant statues, three +on each side of the door. On the walls are pictures. The temple was +dedicated to the goddess Athor, and her emblem was a sacred cow. Mr. +Roper told us that, in the inscriptions, the goddess is called "Lady of +Aboshek," Aboshek being the ancient name of Aboo Simbel. + +The front of the large temple is adorned by four enormous statues. They +are seated on thrones. The heads of two are nearly perfect, and so is +the face of another. We were very much struck by them. On the arms there +is an oval bearing the name of the great Rameses. Over the entrance we +saw a large figure with a hawk's head. Mr. Roper told us that it is a +figure of the god Re. He pointed out to us the figure of Rameses +offering little images of Truth and Justice to the god. + +Mohammed had provided torches for us that we might see the inner +chambers of the temple. The walls and ceilings were beautifully +ornamented with hieroglyphic figures. + +These temples must have been very grand when in their beauty, for they +are grand even now in their decay. As we walked through them our +thoughts went back to the time when Egypt was in her glory, when princes +worshipped their gods in these gorgeous temples, and when priests clad +in splendid robes offered their sacrifices with all the pomp of grand +processions. All have passed away. The temples of the false gods have +fallen into ruin. The kings, and those who recorded their victories, are +all gone. The giant ruins which are left only serve to show how great +has been the decay. + +Thus, "the fashion, of this world passeth away, and the glory of man is +as the flower of the grass; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever." +The throne of our great and glorious God is in heaven; in that holy +temple his faithful servants shall worship him through endless ages. It +knows no decay and no change. + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN TEMPLE.] + +After passing through several places of interest without stopping, +because our time is getting short, we anchored last night at El Kab, and +this morning started to see the tombs. They are about twenty minutes' +ride from the spot where our boat is moored. In the larger grotto we saw +curious coloured pictures of the occupations of the ancient Egyptians. +In the first line the peasants are ploughing and sowing. There is a car +in the field, which is supposed to show that the master has come out to +overlook his workpeople. + +There is an inscription in hieroglyphics which was translated by +Champollion thus: + + "Work, oxen, work, + Bushels for you and bushels for your master." + +In the second line, the peasants are reaping wheat and barley with a +sickle, and pulling the doorà, a kind of corn, up by its roots. + +In the third line they are carrying the crops, and oxen are also +treading out the ears of the wheat and barley. The doorà was not trodden +out. It is represented as being bound in sheaves and carried to the +threshing-floor, where the grain was stripped from the stalks with a +pronged instrument. + +The hieroglyphics are thus translated by Birch in his _Egyptian +Hieroglyphics_: + + "Thrash ye for yourselves, + Thrash ye for yourselves, O oxen; + Thrash ye for yourselves, + Thrash ye for yourselves, + The straw which is yours, + The corn which is your master's." + +There are also pictures of winnowing, measuring, and homing the grain. + +Below are the asses, pigs, goats, cattle, belonging to the owner of the +tomb. They are brought to be numbered and a list made of them by his +scribes. + +In another part there are other scenes. There is a boat with a chariot +on board. There are also men fishing, catching geese, and salting fish +and geese. There is also a party of guests. + +Then in the last compartment is the funeral procession of the owner of +the tomb--the end of all things for him. This, with some religious +subjects, take up the remainder of the wall. We noticed that the +Egyptian boats were large and handsomely painted--large enough to take a +chariot and its two horses on board. + +On the opposite side of the tomb the owner and his wife are seated, with +a pet monkey close to them, tied. They are entertaining a party of +guests, the men and women sitting separate; servants are handing round +refreshments, and musicians, with a double pipe and a harp, are amusing +the company. + +These pictures of the home-life and manners of the early Egyptians have +interested us very much. I certainly prefer them to the battle scenes +and pictures of sacrifices to their gods. + +Leaving El Kab, we next stopped at Esneh. Our sailors have been baking +bread here. They bring it from the oven and spread it on the roof of the +cabins, where the wind and sun dry it into a sort of biscuit. + +We landed to see the temple. It is very perfect, and the pillars are of +great beauty. They are about fifty feet high, and are covered with +hieroglyphics. There are four rows of pillars, six in each row. On the +ceiling is a zodiac, and the walls are covered with sculpture. + +The villa built here by Mohammed Ali is well worth a visit. It is on the +bank of the river below the town. A flight of stone steps leads up to a +terrace, which is shaded by acacias and other shrubs. The palace stands +in a garden; the entrance and chief rooms are large and high, and have +carved wooden roofs. The pacha's rooms are very comfortably furnished, +with carpets, divans, and every sort of luxury. We saw numbers of lemon, +orange, cypress, acacia, and palm-trees in the garden, and hedges of +Cape jessamine. Below the palace there is a delightful walk on the bank +of the Nile. Altogether it is a charming retreat. + +We have now an opportunity of sending letters. They will be the last you +will have. For we shall delay nowhere on our way back after we have +again visited the temples at this place. You may expect us in two days +after this packet arrives. + + * * * * * + +"So they are really coming back," said Lucy; "I am so glad. I want very +much to see Rahaba." + +Hugh, who was more taken up with sight-seeing at that moment, began to +make his calculations as to how much we should be able to see before the +Nile party reached Cairo. + +We determined to lose no time, but to set off early in the morning to +see Pompey's Pillar, and such other sights as we could. The day after, +we must go back to Cairo to meet our friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CONCLUSION. + + +[Illustration] + +We wished to make the most of our day in Alexandria; and, at Lucy's +request, went first to see Cleopatra's Needle, which, as Lucy observed, +is not a needle, but an obelisk of red granite, about seventy feet high. +There were two, but one has fallen. + +Sandys, an Egyptian traveller of a hundred years ago, calls this obelisk +"Pharaoh's Needle." Even in his day the other had fallen. It was so +nearly buried in sand that we could only see part of the top of it. The +two obelisks are supposed to have been brought from Heliopolis by one of +the Cæsars, to adorn the city of Alexandria. + +We next went to "Pompey's Pillar." It is more than ninety feet high. We +were quite angry with the foolish people whose vanity has made them +scribble their names on the pedestal. + +"I am very glad that all the people who have disgraced themselves so are +not English," said Hugh. + +So we all were, if one could feel glad about anything so discreditable. +There were French and Italian names there as well as English. + +[Illustration: MARKETING IN ALEXANDRIA.] + +About two miles beyond the Rosetta Gate we came to Cæsar's Camp. It was +here that Augustus Cæsar defeated Antony's followers. We saw some +remains of towers and walls. This spot also had a still greater interest +for us English as being the place on which Sir Ralph Abercrombie fell, +in the famous battle on the 21st of March, 1801. + +In the afternoon we went over the "mosque of the thousand and one +columns." This mosque is said to stand on the spot where the church of +St. Mark once stood, and where the evangelist St. Mark was put to death. +The church was destroyed by the Moslems in the year 121, in the reign of +Malek el Kamel, and whilst the crusaders were besieging Damietta. + +We passed another large mosque, the Mosque of St. Athanasius. From this +mosque was taken the sarcophagus called "The Tomb of Alexandria," which +is now in the British Museum. + +The next day we returned to Cairo, and on the day following our Nile +travellers arrived. A very happy meeting it was. They had stayed one day +at Luxor, to see the temples there, and had then hastened back to Cairo +as quickly as they could. + +We were all very much interested in Rahaba. To Lucy's delight, the +little girl seemed to take a great liking for her. Before Hugh and Lucy +left, they had taught her the hymn which begins,-- + + "Jesus who lives above the sky, + Came down to be a man and die." + +Miss Roper thought of asking for admission for Rahaba into the Mission +School, and said she would take her first to see it. But Rahaba's eyes +streamed with tears when it was spoken of, and she pleaded so hard that +she might not be taken from Miss Roper, that the idea was given up. + +Mr. and Miss Roper took her with them to England. The prayers of us all +are offered daily that God would send a blessing on Miss Roper's labours +to make Rahaba a Christian. We believe that our prayers will be heard, +for Jesus Christ's sake, and that Rahaba will learn to love the gracious +Saviour who died to save us. For he has said, "Whatsoever ye shall ask +in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." + + LONDON: R. K. BURT AND CO., PRINTERS. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +A List of Illustrations has been added for those illustrations +that were captioned. + +The first letter of each chapter had a drop cap, which is not +reproduced here. + +Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). + +Two instances of the oe-ligature were changed to "oe". + +The following corrections were made: + +On page 11, "wearilv" was changed to "wearily". + +On page 12, "th" was changed to "the". + +On page 74, "soun" was changed to "sound". + +On page 90, the caption for the illustration "Egyptian Loom" was +reformated for better readability. + +On page 113, "wa" was changed to "was". + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT*** + + +******* This file should be named 32720-8.txt or 32720-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/7/2/32720 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: What We Saw in Egypt</p> +<p>Author: Anonymous</p> +<p>Release Date: June 6, 2010 [eBook #32720]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Ernest Schaal,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p class="figcenter"><img alt="Book Cover" src="images/itcover.jpg" /></p> + +<hr /> +<p class="figcenter"><a name="Slave_Boat" id="Slave_Boat"><img alt="" src="images/it002.jpg" /></a><br /> +ON THE DECK OF THE SLAVE BOAT.</p> + +<hr /> +<p class="figcenter"><img alt="" src="images/it003a.jpg" /></p> + +<h1><span class="smcap">What we +Saw in Egypt.</span></h1> + +<h3>PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED.</h3> + +<p class="figcenter"><img alt="" src="images/it003b.jpg" /></p> + +<p class="center">London:<br /> +THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY;<br /> +<span class="smcap">56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul's Churchyard:</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">and 164, Piccadilly</span></p> + +<hr /> +<p class="figcenter"><img alt="" src="images/it005.jpg" /></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.<span class="smcap"> How we +Fared in the Suez +Desert + 7</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">II. <span class="smcap">The First Night in Cairo + + + 16</span></a> <br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">III. <span class="smcap">Sights in +Cairo + 22</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV. <span class="smcap">More Sights in +Cairo + 28</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V. <span class="smcap">The +Pyramids + 40</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI. <span class="smcap">The +Mosques + 51</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII. <span class="smcap">Heliopolis, and other +Sights and +Scenes + 56</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">A Long +Day +66</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX. <span class="smcap">The Start up the +Nile +75</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">X. <span class="smcap">Still up the Nile + + + 84</span></a> +<br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI. <span class="smcap">We go to +Alexandria +101</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII. <span class="smcap">Conclusion +125</span></a> +</p> + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h2>LIST OF CAPTIONED ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<p class="center"><a href="#Slave_Boat">ON THE DECK OF THE SLAVE +BOAT. - 2</a><br /> +<a href="#SUEZ">SUEZ - 10</a><br /> +<a href="#ARAB_SOLDIERS">ARAB SOLDIERS. - 15</a><br /> +<a href="#COURTYARD">COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL. - 17</a><br /> +<a href="#EASTERN_VEIL">EASTERN VEIL. - 24</a><br /> +<a href="#SIGHTS_IN_CAIRO.">SIGHTS IN CAIRO. - 26</a><br /> +<a href="#EGYPTIAN_PIPE-BEARER.">EGYPTIAN PIPE-BEARER. - 29</a><br /> +<a href="#CURE_FOR_THE_TOOTHACHE.">CURE FOR THE TOOTHACHE. - 32</a> <br /> +<a href="#MOSQUE">MOSQUE. - 34</a><br /> +<a href="#DONKEY-BOYS_AT_CAIRO.">DONKEY-BOYS AT CAIRO. - 41</a><br /> +<a href="#EGYPTIAN_SARCOPHAGUS.">EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS. - 47</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_SPHINX.">THE SPHINX. - 49</a><br /> +<a href="#MOSQUE2">MOSQUE. - 53</a><br /> +<a href="#ARAB_SITTING_IN_FRONT_OF_HIS_TENT.">ARAB SITTING IN FRONT OF +HIS TENT. ;57</a><br /> +<a href="#VISIT_TO_THE_HAREM.">VISIT TO THE ;HAREM. - ;63</a><br /> +<a href="#OLD_GATEWAY.">OLD GATEWAY. - 68</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_FINDING_OF_MOSES.">THE FINDING OF MOSES. - 71</a><br /> +<a href="#BRICKMAKING1">BRICKMAKING <span class="c10">(from Egyptian +Sculpture)</span>. - 78</a><br /> +<a href="#BRICKMAKING2">BRICKMAKING <span class="c10">(from Egyptian +Sculpture)</span>. - 79</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_SACRED_IBIS.">THE SACRED IBIS. - 80</a><br /> +<a href="#SCENE_ON_THE_NILE.">SCENE ON THE NILE. - 83</a><br /> +<a href="#EASTERN_BAZAAR.">EASTERN BAZAAR. - 88</a><br /> +<a href="#EGYPTIAN_LOOM.">EGYPTIAN LOOM. - 90</a><br /> +<a href="#FISHING.">FISHING. - 91</a><br /> +<a href="#POTTERS.">POTTERS. - 92</a><br /> +<a href="#IDOL_PAINTERS.">IDOL PAINTERS. - 93</a><br /> +<a href="#HEAD_OF_CROCODILE.">HEAD OF CROCODILE. - 96</a><br /> +<a href="#RUINS_OF_THEBES.">RUINS OF THEBES. - 97 </a><br /> +<a href="#GRAND_HARP.">GRAND HARP. - 99</a><br /> +<a href="#BAGGAGE_CAMEL.">BAGGAGE CAMEL. - 102</a><br /> +<a href="#DROMEDARY.">DROMEDARY. - 105</a><br /> +<a href="#INTERIOR_OF_GREAT_TEMPLE_AT_ESNEH.">INTERIOR OF GREAT TEMPLE +AT ESNEH. - 107</a><br /> +<a href="#RUINS_OF_COLONNADE">RUINS OF COLONNADE AT PHILÆ. - 114</a><br /> +<a href="#PAPYRUS_ON_THE_NILE.">PAPYRUS ON THE NILE. - 116</a><br /> +<a href="#EGYPTIAN_TEMPLE.">EGYPTIAN TEMPLE. - 120</a><br /> +<a href="#MARKETING_IN_ALEXANDRIA.">MARKETING IN ALEXANDRIA. - 126</a></p> + + +<hr /> +<p class="figcenter"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"><img alt="" src="images/it007a.jpg" /></a></p> + +<h2>WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT.</h2> + +<hr /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>HOW WE FARED IN THE SUEZ DESERT.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/i007b.jpg" alt="T" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">T he +welcome cry of +"Suez! Suez!" resounded +throughout the steamship <em>Bentinck</em> one November morning. The +passage up the Red Sea had been rough, and every one was glad to +exchange the rolling and pitching of the vessel for land travelling. +The railway between Cairo and Suez was not yet finished, and travellers +crossed the desert in vans, each of which held six persons and was +drawn by two horses and two mules. Our cavalcade consisted of eight of +these high-wheeled vans. The fifth team of vans contained four grown-up +people and two children, Hugh and Lucy.</p></div> + +<p>It was a lovely day, the sky blue and clear as on the finest summer +day in England.</p> + +<p>Some little time after leaving Suez, a spot was pointed out to us as +the place at or near which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. The +waters were now calm and peaceful; they lay gleaming like silver in the +sunlight. But these very waters had been raised as a wall on the right +hand and on the left for the children of Israel to pass through. Then, +with a mighty surge, they had overwhelmed Pharaoh and his host, +obedient to the word of God. This miracle of old seemed more real than +it had ever done before, while we looked at the very waters on which it +was worked.</p> + +<p>On we went. A blue cloudless sky above; below, sand, sand, sand: +except where, every now and then, we jolted over large blocks of stone +which sent us bobbing now to this side, now to that, sometimes almost +into each other's faces, to the great amusement of the children. We +stopped about every seven or eight miles, to change our horses and +mules; generally at some little lonely building.</p> + +<p>Wherever we stopped, we all got out for a breath of air. For as we +passed stage after stage, the sameness of the desert began to be +tiring, especially to the children. This was not to be wondered at; +for, except the occasional skeleton of some poor camel, whose bones +were bleached by the sun, there was really nothing to interest them. +Hugh consoled himself with a nap now and then, but Lucy was wakeful and +restless.</p> + +<p>At last we reached the midway station, where we were to stop for +nearly an hour, and to dine.</p> + +<p>"How glad I am to get out of this stuffy little van, and to stay out +of it for a good while!" Lucy cried, as she jumped down on the sand.</p> + +<p>So was everybody.</p> + +<p>"Will they give us some dinner?"</p> + +<p>Certainly, this was the only thing we had to wait for.</p> + +<p>We went into a large room, in which were long tables, and benches at +them. The dinner was soon brought in. Dishes of fowl and stewed +cabbage, dried fruits, and fresh dates, succeeded one another, with +plenty of bottled beer. There was no bread. But some of the older +travellers had brought some loaves from the <em>Bentinck</em>, and +were very good-natured in dividing their store with their +fellow-passengers.</p> + +<p class="center"><a name="SUEZ" id="SUEZ"><img alt="" src="images/it010.jpg" /></a><br /> +SUEZ</p> + +<p>After dinner we had some coffee, which we +found very refreshing; and +soon the vans were announced. In a few minutes we were in our old seats +again, cutting our path through the sand and jolting over large blocks +of stone.</p> + +<p>"There is another skeleton, papa," cried +Hugh, pointing to the +whitened ribs of a camel. "Do they leave the camels to die, and take no +trouble to bury them or do anything with them?"</p> + +<p>"Most likely this camel was unable to +travel farther," his father +said, "either from fatigue or old age, and so was left behind by his +owner to die. The hot wind and the sun together have bleached his +bones. But the skin and hair of the dead camel are both used by the +people of the desert. They are made into clothes, mats, halters, and +many other useful things."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Hugh, in a sleepy voice; and +the next minute down went +his head on his father's shoulder.</p> + +<p>Lucy, too, was all but asleep. She was +heartily tired of the jolting +van and the changeless dreary sand.</p> + +<p>The day had worn on rather wearily to her, +and now that night was +setting in she felt cold and tired. She was wrapped up in a large +shawl, and made a pillow of her mother's lap. Indeed, we were all +tired. And as night closed in, and all became dark around us, we began +to feel that there was weariness in crossing the desert, +notwithstanding the deep interest connected with it.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img alt="" src="images/it012.jpg" /></p> + +<p> +On, on we went. The sky had become thickly +studded with stars; the +moon had risen, and her beams shed a clearer light and cast deeper +shadows than they do in our colder country. All was quiet round us. Not +a sound, except the crushing of the sand beneath our wheels and an +occasional crack of the whip, urging our horses and mules on their way. +There was no chirping of grasshoppers, no croaking of frogs, no beating +of tomtoms, such as we had been used to hear at night in our Indian +homes. All was so still that we might have fancied ourselves the only +living creatures in all the wild waste of sand. +</p> + +<p>We stopped at one of the little lonely +buildings to change horses +and mules. The stoppage roused us from the half-asleep state we were +in, and we got out of the van to look at the glorious star-gemmed sky. +There was an unusual stir in the little building, and the moonlight +showed a large dusky mass nearing us. Nearer and nearer it came; and as +it passed, we saw that it was a long string of camels.</p> + +<p>The war with Persia was going on at this +time; and this was a +treasure party, carrying money to pay the army. The camels were laden +with chests of treasure, silver and gold. On they came, with their +long, sailing step. "Ships of the desert," the Arabs call them. The +name is well chosen, for their motion over the sea of sand is very like +that of some stately vessel over the desert of waters.</p> + +<p>The caravan was escorted by a party of Arab +horsemen. The officer in +command of the party stopped behind for a few moments at the building +at which we were halting, to give some orders. The string of camels and +their escort were again becoming dusky in the subdued light when he +flashed past us on his Arab horse, his drawn sabre glittering in the +moonlight, which sparkled for a moment on its jewelled hilt, and on the +gems in his turban. Then he too was lost in darkness.</p> + +<p>The stately procession moved noiselessly +on; the picturesque rider +flying by like some fleet graceful bird. No tramp of feet, no ring of +horses' hoofs. The deep sand hushed every sound. It was like a +beautiful dream; seen for a moment, then vanishing into the land of +shadows for ever.</p> + +<p>We were fortunate to fall in with this +treasure party; still more +fortunate to see it by moonlight. Travellers generally pass through the +desert by this beaten track without anything to break its monotony.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes we were again on our way; +those of us who could +were dozing, perhaps dreaming of camels and horsemen, and only just +conscious of the stoppages we made.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="ARAB_SOLDIERS" id="ARAB_SOLDIERS"><img alt="" src="images/it015.jpg" /></a><br /> +ARAB SOLDIERS.</p> + +<p>At last some one said, +"Wake up, we are near Cairo."</p> + +<p>We shook ourselves up, +undrew part of the curtains, drew our wraps +more closely round us (for the night was cold), and looked out. We were +going down a gentle slope, passing walls which enclosed gardens, and +above which we could see the tops of trees and shrubs. The moon was +getting low, and we could not distinguish what trees and shrubs they +were; but the sight of green leaves was very pleasant.</p> + +<p>We drove on down the easy +descent into Cairo; and at between three +and four o'clock in the morning we drew up before Shepheard's Hotel. We +had left Suez at ten o'clock on the previous morning. Dusty and tired, +we were all glad to have the prospect of a comfortable rest.</p> + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAIRO.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_a.jpg" alt="A" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">A las! for the news which +greeted us. The hotel +was full!<br /> +<br /> +The passengers by the overland mail from Alexandria had arrived the +afternoon before. What with their number, and with travellers staying +in the house, it was full to overflowing. What was to be done? We tried +another hotel with the same ill success. After a great deal of driving +about, we came back to Shepheard's, and it was arranged that a large +sitting-room should be given up to the ladies and children, and that +the gentlemen must do as they could.</p></div> + +<p>The room which was given to the +ladies and children had, according +to eastern custom, couches ranged round it, and a large divan, or +couch, in the middle. Every one was hungry, and the children were +clamouring for something to eat. One after another among us went to see +whether supper or breakfast (or whatever you like to call a meal at +four o'clock in the morning) could be had. But no! we could not even +get bread-and-butter, much less tea or coffee.</p> + +<p>In vain poor Lucy pleaded, "But I +am <em>so</em> hungry and +thirsty." And Hugh's eyes filled with tears which it took his strongest +effort to choke down, when he looked round at the number of people and +the few couches, and thought that, tired and hungry as he was, he might +be obliged to do without either supper or bed.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="COURTYARD" id="COURTYARD"><img alt="" src="images/it017.jpg" /><br /> +COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL.</a></p> + +<p>But things were not to be quite +so bad as this. Every one began to +unpack such little stores as they had. One of the ladies had a tin of +biscuits, another had some sandwiches, another some soda-water, and +some one found a little hoard of concentrated milk.</p> + +<p>Little enough among so many. But +He who once fed a multitude on five +barley loaves and two small fishes, put it into the hearts of all to be +unselfish and to think of their neighbours' need before their own. And +so the little store went farther than we could have believed possible.</p> + +<p>Hugh's mother brought him a share.</p> + +<p>"No. There are not beds and +suppers enough for the girls and the +babies," he said, trying to look very brave, though his lip quivered; +"and I am a boy."</p> + +<p>It was with difficulty he was +persuaded to take a sandwich and a +little wine-and-water. Directly he had swallowed it, he took a little +blanket, which no one seemed to want, and went away. And our next sight +of Hugh was rolled up in his blanket, and sleeping quietly on the floor +under the table in the billiard-room.</p> + +<p>Did you ever try to pack bricks +into a box all but too small for +them? That would be a joke compared to our task. However, we were all +bent on lying down somewhere and somehow, and we managed it.</p> + +<p>Lucy's mother was very delicate, +and, by common consent, she was +made to take one of the best couches. Lucy had part of a tiny one near +a window.</p> + +<p>"I do thank God for my bed +to-night," Lucy whispered. "Oh, how sorry +I am for all the poor little children who have no beds! I never thought +what it was to have a bed till to-night, when it seemed as if we should +get none. Has Hugh got a bed?"</p> + +<p>"Hugh was fast asleep when I last +saw him," I said.</p> + +<p>But Lucy hardly heard; her eyes +were close shut, and her own words +had come out very dreamily.</p> + +<p>I sat down beside her for a +little while, and amused myself by +looking at the strange scene. There was a large round table in the +room, on which were carriage bags of every kind, size, and shape. Some +were half open, some quite open, and their contents jumbled together in +the greatest confusion. In the middle of the table was a lamp, which +cast a dim light over the room. This was large and lofty. The couches +were filled with sleepers, covered, some with blankets, some with +cloaks, shawls, wraps, of every sort and every colour. The large divan +which had been in the middle of the room was pushed on one side and +ornamented with a circle of little faces peeping out from among their +wraps, like lilies from moss. On the floor were carpet bags of all +colours, black bags, white bags; boots, shoes, baskets. I wished that I +could sketch the scene, and especially the divan with its tiny +sleepers, who looked as happy as if in their own little beds at home.</p> + +<p>At last, almost without knowing +it, I fell asleep in my corner, and +was conscious of nothing more till I felt the chilly air of dawn +blowing in through the venetians at my side.</p> + +<p>The hotel was soon all bustle. We +pitied the passengers who were +going on to England. They were to start at half-past eight, and the +hotel breakfast was not till nine. With great difficulty they managed +to get some tea; this was all.</p> + +<p>Our own party were intending to +remain in Cairo for a time. We knew +that as soon as the passengers going each way by the overland route +should have left, we should find comfortable quarters. This made us the +more sorry for our fellow-passengers, who had been so unselfish on our +arrival. But they would soon reach Alexandria by train, and we were +glad to know that they were to stop for refreshment by the way.</p> + +<p>"What sort of bed had you last +night, Hugh?" Lucy asked.</p> + +<p>"A hard floor and a couple of +warm blankets. Some kind friend threw +a second blanket over me after I fell asleep. I was well taken care of, +and never slept better. I fancy a good many would have been glad to +have changed places with all of us who were snugly under the +billiard-table."</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + +<h3>SIGHTS IN CAIRO.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_a.jpg" alt="A" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">A ll was bustle that +morning. We had scarcely +finished breakfast before two or three parties of travellers set off +for Sinai and Palestine; then the passengers for India prepared to +start. Before noon we were settled in comfortable quarters.<br /> +<br /> +Shepheard's Hotel (which was burnt down some few years afterwards) +stood in a large, handsome square, called the Uzbeekéh, laid out like a +garden and planted with beautiful acacias, which give a delightful +shade. Almost every procession passes through the Uzbeekéh, serpent +charmers and jugglers make it the place for showing off their tricks, +and there is always something going on in it.</p></div> + +<p class="figcenter"><img alt="" src="images/it023.jpg" /></p> + +<p>Some of our party had business at the consulate, and they promised +to take Hugh and Lucy out first and show them a little of the town.</p> + +<p>At the end of an hour and a half the children came back in great +excitement.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="EASTERN_VEIL" id="EASTERN_VEIL"><img alt="" src="images/it024.jpg" /></a><br /> +EASTERN VEIL.</p> + +<p>"Oh! such lovely things," +cried Lucy, chattering as fast as lips and +tongue could move. "Such lovely things we have seen! and curious women +with their faces bandaged up, and only two holes left for their eyes, +and-"</p> + +<p>She stopped for want of +breath.</p> + +<p>Hugh went on: "Yes; and +there was such a noise of shouting and +screaming among all the donkey-boys, to make people get out of their +way. And I think my donkey-boy screamed louder than any. It was such +fun."</p> + +<p>"And the beautiful things +in the shop, Hugh! There were bracelets, +and slippers, and carpets, and shawls, and all sorts of things. I never +saw any bazaar half so beautiful."</p> + +<p>"And there is a grand +procession, and they say it is sure to pass by +here. Come, Lucy, come and watch for it."</p> + +<p>We all went to the window, +and were just in time to see the +procession pass.</p> + +<p>It was headed by two +wrestlers, who played all kinds of antics, and +asked every well-dressed passer-by for money. Then came two more men, +wearing a sort of helmet, and carrying shields and swords. They +flourished the swords, and twisted themselves about in such a curious +way, and made such funny faces, that we all laughed heartily. These men +were followed by musicians, who played on pipes, flutes, cymbals, +tambourines, guitars made out of cocoa-nuts, violins with only one +string, and a sort of drum called darabookha, beaten with the hand +instead of with drum-sticks. Besides the sound of all these +instruments, there was such a singing and clapping of hands that the +noise was quite deafening.</p> + +<p>Behind the musicians came a +camel carrying a machine, something like +Punch's show-box, covered with gilding. The camel had red leather +trappings, ornamented with shells. Then we saw six led horses, and on +them were six little boys, very handsomely dressed in clothes worked +with gold. They were followed by some people on foot.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="SIGHTS_IN_CAIRO." id="SIGHTS_IN_CAIRO."><img alt="" src="images/it026.jpg" /><br /> +SIGHTS IN CAIRO.</a></p> + +<p>Next came another +band of musicians like the first. After them, a +number of young women, covered up to their eyes and over their heads +with large shawls, and holes left for their eyes just to peep through. +They carried large bouquets of fresh flowers.</p> + +<p>Now came the +grandest person of all, the bride.</p> + +<p>She was covered +from head to foot, eyes and all, by a large scarlet +shawl, which reached down to her yellow boots. A circle of gold, +studded with sham diamonds, was bound round her head, over the shawl. +As she could not see, she was led by two of her relations-women, who +were muffled up in black silk. A canopy of yellow silk, with four gilt +poles, was carried over her head by four men, dressed in grand robes +and turbans.</p> + +<p>Behind the bride +came a number of her relations, all women, and all +muffled up in black silk. The procession was closed by a number of +hired women, who made shrill cries, as the custom is in Cairo on all +joyful occasions.</p> + +<p>After a hearty +laugh at the men who headed the procession, Hugh and +Lucy had watched it without speaking. Now they began to talk as fast as +before.</p> + +<p>"How uncomfortable +to have to walk with that heavy shawl over her +face," said Lucy.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Hugh +answered. "I should hate that; and what a noise the +musicians made! I am sure it was not a bit like music. I liked the +camel and the horses the best. But look! here is a serpent-charmer; and +now, see! such a grand man coming!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke, an +Arab rushed by at full speed, cracking a long whip +to clear the way. He was followed by an Egyptian gentleman, mounted on +a horse covered with velvet and gold and tassels. His pipe-bearer, on a +splendid horse, rode close behind him.</p> + +<p>This was the align="left" +beginning of our sight-seeing in Cairo.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + +<h3>MORE SIGHTS IN CAIRO.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_t.jpg" alt="T" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">T he name Cairo is +corrupted from Musr el Kaherah, +which means the "Victorious City." It was founded by a general called +Goher. The walls were built of brick till the time of the famous +Saladin, who erected stone walls in their place.<br /> +<br /> +It is impossible to get on in Egypt without a dragoman to arrange +everything and act as guide. We had a very good one, named Mohammed +Abdeen.<br /> +<br /> +We put ourselves under his guidance and he engaged to show us all +that was worth seeing. Hugh and Lucy were delighted with the promise +that they should come with us. Mohammed had excellent donkeys waiting +for us. They were pleasant to ride, and ambled along with a light +elastic tread, quite unlike that of our English donkeys.</p></div> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="EGYPTIAN_PIPE-BEARER." id="EGYPTIAN_PIPE-BEARER."><img alt="" src="images/it029.jpg" /><br /> +EGYPTIAN PIPE-BEARER.</a></p> + +<p>We first +turned down the chief street of the city, called Moskee; +and from it wended our way towards one of the oldest bazaars in Cairo. +As we went along, we were much struck with the beautifully carved +woodwork of the houses, and with the curious overhanging windows.</p> + +<p>The +children were delighted, too, with the gay confusion of the +streets. People were there dressed in every variety of colour. Egyptian +ladies, enveloped from head to foot in blue silk mantles and white +veils, which left nothing but their eyes to be seen, were riding on +high donkeys, preceded by their attendants. Then there were Mamelukes, +in their dresses of richly braided cloth; Copts, in dark turbans; Mecca +Arabs, with flashing eyes, and heads wreathed with folds of snowy +muslin; majestic Mograbbyns, in their white burnouses; Caireen +merchants, in silken robes.</p> + +<p>And the +noise! Such shouting, screaming, pushing! Donkey-boys and +others, each trying to make the best path for his own animal through +the crowd of horses, asses, camels, dromedaries, which filled the +narrow streets.</p> + +<p>We +threaded our way to the southern gate of the city, called Bab +Zuweyleh.</p> + +<p>"What are +those people doing?" Hugh asked.</p> + +<p>He +pointed to some people who were resting their heads against the +hinges of a large iron-bound door, fastened back to the wall. Mohammed +told us that these people had had headaches, and were waiting for them +to be charmed away by the good spirits who dwelt behind the door. He +showed us that the door was covered with metal plates, and that every +crevice of them was full of nails, driven in by persons who had had +headache, that they might be cured. Besides the nails, a great number +of teeth had been crammed in by persons who had suffered from toothache.</p> + +<p>Their +faith is a lesson to us, whose hearts are less ready to trust +in the God who reigneth in the heavens, than the hearts of these poor +heathen are to trust the gods of their imagination.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="CURE_FOR_THE_TOOTHACHE." id="CURE_FOR_THE_TOOTHACHE."><img alt="" src="images/it032.jpg" /><br /> +CURE FOR THE TOOTHACHE.</a></p> + +<p>From +the gate Bab Zuweyleh we went to the citadel. Here we were to +see the palace of Saladin.</p> + +<p>"What! +the great Saladin who fought with Richard Cœur de Lion?" Lucy +asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, +that very Saladin."</p> + +<p>"Delightful! +the next best thing to seeing Saladin himself," cried +Hugh.</p> + +<p>Hugh +and Lucy were impatient to see a real palace like those in old +eastern tales; we all felt a thrill of excitement, expecting something +of Oriental grandeur. Great was our disappointment! There was nothing +left of the renowned Saladin's palace except a few grand fragments of +its granite pillars, and some blocks of granite covered with +hieroglyphics. We found another memorial of him in "Joseph's well," +which is also in the citadel, and is now generally considered to have +been called after the great Saracen, whose name was Yussuf +Salah-ed-Deen, and not after the patriarch Joseph.</p> + +<p>From +the gloomy remains of Saladin's palace we went to the palace of +the Viceroy, the windows of which look into a beautiful garden. From +the terrace we had a magnificent view. Cairo, with its domes and +minarets; then, the tombs of the Caliphs; beyond them, the broad, +silent Nile; beyond it again, the eye rested on the sands of the desert +and on the long line of pyramids which loomed in the distance.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="MOSQUE" id="MOSQUE"><img alt="" src="images/it034.jpg" /><br /> +MOSQUE.</a></p> + +<p>We next saw the new mosque, built by +Mohammed Ali, of beautifully +veined alabaster. And, last of all, the court where the Mamelukes were +massacred by Mohammed Ali in 1811. Here Mohammed pointed out to us the +spot at which Emir Bey took his famous leap.</p> + +<p>Hugh and Lucy begged to hear the whole +story; but it was too long to +tell at that moment and was put off till evening.</p> + +<p>We then returned to the hotel for +lunch, and in the afternoon went +to Shoubra to see the pacha's country palace.</p> + +<p>Our road lay through a beautiful avenue +of sycamores and acacias, +which interlaced their boughs over our heads, so that we seemed to be +in a bower of green. The palace is small, and the gardens are the sight +really worth seeing. There is a great variety in them; terraces, +covered walls, labyrinths, and bowers. But the great sight is the kiosk +with its large reservoir of water.</p> + +<p>"See!" Lucy exclaimed, "see! the water +comes through those animals' +mouths."</p> + +<p>"They are crocodiles, Lucy," Hugh said; +"marble crocodiles; and look +at the arcade. Do let us walk all round."</p> + +<p>We did so. It was a charming arcade: on +one side the water, on the +other the gardens, from which the most fragrant perfumes filled the air +around us.</p> + +<p>"It is like fairy-land," said Lucy, as +she danced along the arcade.</p> + +<p>"The young lady is delighted with it +now," said Mohammed; "but she +would think it much more beautiful if she could see it when the lamps +are lighted and the fountains are playing."</p> + +<p>"When can we see that?" Lucy asked.</p> + +<p>But Mohammed told us that this can only +be seen on fine nights when +the pacha and his household are assembled here; and that no Christian +is admitted.</p> + +<p>"Not even a small one like me?" Lucy +suggested.</p> + +<p>No, not even the smallest one, Mohammed +assured her; not if she were +as small as a grasshopper.</p> + +<p>The gardeners brought us beautiful +bouquets and quantities of +oranges; and we walked about or rested on the divans in the arcade till +it was time to go home.</p> + +<p>In the evening we read the following +story of the massacre of the +Mamelukes to Hugh and Lucy:-</p> + +<p>The Mamelukes had long given a great +deal of trouble to the pachas +of Egypt. It once happened that Mohammed Ali was on the point of +sending an expedition against the tribe of the Wahabees, when he +discovered that the Mamelukes were only waiting till his army should +have gone, to try and overturn his government. He was very angry, and +determined to meet their treachery with treachery. So he sent a message +to them, through their chief, inviting them to come to Cairo and to be +present at the ceremony of investing his son with the command of the +army.</p> + +<p>The Mamelukes fell into the snare. +Between four and five hundred of +them went to the citadel on the day fixed. Mohammed Ali received them +very courteously, and ordered coffee and pipes for them, according to +Eastern custom. When the ceremony was ended they mounted their horses +to leave the citadel. At this moment a volley was fired upon them by +the pacha's troops, and the gates of the citadel were all shut, so that +there was no possibility of escape. Shots flew in thicker and faster +among the unfortunate Mamelukes. In vain they galloped hither and +thither in hope of finding some shelter or escape. Men and horses fell +under the shower of balls, and the open space before the palace was +strewn with the slain.</p> + +<p>Emir Bey, one of the Mameluke chiefs, +determined to make a desperate +effort for his life. He rode his spirited horse to the parapet of the +citadel wall, and urged him to take the leap. Together they go over the +wall; they are safe from the whizzing shots. Together they go down, +down. They near the ground, they touch it, they roll over together. +Emir Bey rises unhurt, but the faithful horse lies motionless. He will +never rise again. He has bought his master's life with his own.</p> + +<p>Emir had no time to linger by the side +of his faithful friend. Every +moment was precious. Happily for him, an Albanian camp was at hand. He +rushed into the nearest tent and threw himself on the kindness and +generosity of the officer to whom it belonged.</p> + +<p>The officer contrived to hide him for +some days. But Emir Bey's +wonderful leap became talked of, and the story came to the pacha's +ears. Orders were given that the person who had sheltered Emir should +deliver him up to the pacha; but the officer resolved that he would not +give him up. He provided Emir with a horse and helped him to escape +into Asia, where he would be safe.</p> + +<p>Some years afterwards Mohammed Ali +heard where Emir Bey was living, +and invited him to come back to Cairo, settled a pension on him, and +made him many friendly offers. But Emir Bey would never trust the pacha +again. He lived at Acre for the rest of his life, and died there.</p> + +<p>Hugh and Lucy listened breathlessly to +this story. When it was +finished Lucy said, "I am so glad Emir Bey would not go back. I was +afraid he might."</p> + +<p>"Was it safe for the officer to hide +him?" asked Hugh.</p> + +<p>"No, he did it at the risk of his life."</p> + +<p>"What a noble man! Did he know Emir Bey +before?"</p> + +<p>"Probably not. He saw a stranger in +distress, and risked his life to +help him."</p> + +<p>"How generous!" Hugh cried. "Emir Bey +must have felt as though he +could never do enough to show his gratitude. I wonder whether they ever +met again."</p> + +<p>This no one could tell. But the noble +act of the Albanian officer +led us to talk of the gracious Saviour, who came from heaven, not only +to risk his life, but to give it for us. He gave it, not for those who +had done him neither good nor harm, but for us who were rebels against +him; and he came, not to win for us earthly life, which must soon pass +away, but a heavenly life, which will last for ever and ever. Shall not +we show our gratitude to him by helping our neighbours whenever we can, +even at the cost of some self-denial? The heathen officer has set us a +noble example of love to each other.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE PYRAMIDS.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_h.jpg" alt="H" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">H ugh +was so very anxious +to see the pyramids, +that every one agreed to visit them from Cairo, instead of from the +boat on the voyage up the Nile, which was to be as far as the second +cataract; but neither the children nor their mother were to go. The +latter was not strong, and she thought it best to keep the children +with her. Lucy would very much have liked to see the pyramids as well +as Hugh, but the ride from Cairo was too long for her.<br /> +<br /> +Our donkeys were ordered early, and we set off in high spirits. As +we drew nearer and nearer to the pyramids we realised more and more +their immense size. Their grandeur impressed us very much, and we shall +none of us forget the thrill of awe we felt when we first saw their +base and their gigantic size.</p></div> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="DONKEY-BOYS_AT_CAIRO." id="DONKEY-BOYS_AT_CAIRO."><img alt="" src="images/it041.jpg" /><br /> +DONKEY-BOYS AT CAIRO.</a></p> + +<p>They are +the oldest monuments in the world. Jacob, Joseph, Moses +looked upon them. They are the grandest work of man in lasting +endurance. The workmen who laboured at them have been dead and +forgotten for thousands of years. But their work lives, and will live +for hundreds of years to come; probably till the Great Day when the +heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the earth and +everything on it shall be burned up and melt with fervent heat. No +other work of man has been so enduring.</p> + +<p>The +pyramids are supposed to be the tombs of the Pharaohs, kings of +Egypt.</p> + +<p>We went +first to the Great Pyramid, or Pyramid of Cheops. We were +attended by Arab guides, who carried wax candles, and undertook to show +us everything. We went down a sloping passage till we came to a large +block of granite. A narrow way has been made round this block, and by +it we reached the other side and came to an ascending passage. This was +very low, so low that even Hugh could not stand upright in it. This +brought us to the great passage, from which a gallery led to a room +called the Queen's Chamber. The ceiling is painted, and the masonry +very beautiful.</p> + +<p>Here we +rested for a little while, and then went back to the great +passage. We still had to ascend to reach the King's Chamber. The +passage being cased with polished granite, we found it very slippery. +Indeed, Hugh and I were continually sliding backwards, and found a +special difficulty in getting on.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img alt="" src="images/it043.jpg" /></p> + +<p>At last +we reached the King's Chamber. This is the largest in the +pyramid. It is more than thirty feet long and about half as wide. The +roof is flat, made of seven immense blocks of red granite, with halves +of two other blocks. The walls are of the same red granite. In this +room we saw a large granite sarcophagus, but there was neither any +inscription on it nor any of the hieroglyphics which the old Egyptians +used in writing.</p> + +<p>There are +five other rooms above the King's Chamber. But the guides +told us that we could not get to them without ladders. As we could not +find out that there was much worth seeing in them, we left them +unvisited. Many travellers suppose that these rooms were only built to +break the great weight of the large upper part of the pyramid, and to +prevent it from pressing too heavily and crushing in the ceiling of the +King's Chamber.</p> + +<p>Colonel +Howard Vyse (who made a great many researches in Egypt, and +has written a very interesting book about them) says that the Great +Pyramid is now four hundred and fifty feet high, and that when it was +entire it must have been four hundred and eighty feet high. The blocks +of stone become smaller in size as they near the top. The lowest fifty +rows measure one hundred and thirty-eight feet three inches; the +highest row, only three feet six inches.</p> + +<p>When we +had come back again into the fresh air the guides asked if +we wished to go up the outside of the pyramid. Hugh wished it very +decidedly. I was advised not to attempt it, and told that the view +would not repay me for the exertion. So I consented to stay below. The +others went up, and returned in about twenty minutes. Hugh said that +the steps were steep, and made of irregular broken stones. All agreed +that the view was not so fine as might have been expected. Cairo; the +Mokattan Hills; the Nile, with its fresh green banks; the Pyramids of +Aboosir, Dashoor, and Sakkara, were the chief objects.</p> + +<p>Hugh +asked one of the guides in how short a time he could go to the +top of the pyramid and down again. He said he would show us, if we +would give him a present. We agreed. Within five minutes he was at the +top, and in three more he was by our side again below, claiming his +reward.</p> + +<p>The Great +Pyramid is seven hundred and forty-six feet square at its +base.</p> + +<p>"How many +yards is that, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>Hugh +thought for a minute. "Two hundred and forty-nine yards all but +a foot," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Right, +so that if you were to build a straight piece of wall as +long as the four sides of the pyramid, it would stretch more than half +a mile."</p> + +<p>"How +wonderful!" exclaimed Hugh, gazing in astonishment at the +gigantic pyramid. "May I ride round it?"</p> + +<p>We rode +round it, and then went on to the second pyramid. This is +sometimes called the Pyramid of Cephren. He was brother to Cheops. The +casing-stones are still left on the highest part of this pyramid. They +are of a delicately-grained white stone which comes from the Mokattan +Hills, and are highly polished. We saw great quantities of granite +lying scattered about.</p> + +<p>This +pyramid was opened by the celebrated traveller Belzoni, in the +year 1816. Passages were found in it like those in the Great Pyramid. +In a granite room, with a pent roof, we saw a sarcophagus half-buried +in the floor.</p> + +<p>The third +pyramid, called the Pyramid of Mycerinus, was opened by +Colonel Howard Vyse. Mycerinus was the son of Cheops. He was a just +king, and treated his people with kindness. This pyramid now measures +three hundred and thirty-three feet at its base, and is two hundred and +three feet high. It was originally cased with granite, and some of the +casing is still left.</p> + +<p>In it is +a room with a painted roof; a space is left over it to +prevent its being crushed in by the weight above. A sarcophagus was +found in this room, in which was the coffin of King Mycerinus, and his +name on it. The coffin and the king's body were sent to England, and +are now in the British Museum. This pyramid is thought to have been the +most beautiful of the three.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="EGYPTIAN_SARCOPHAGUS." id="EGYPTIAN_SARCOPHAGUS."><img alt="" src="images/it047.jpg" /><br /> +EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS.</a></p> + +<p>As we +stood in these solemn chambers of the dead, we thanked God, +who has given us a better hope than these mighty kings of old had. +Death must have had many terrors for them. But our blessed Saviour came +to make it the gate to eternal life for all who love him and serve him +truly.</p> + +<p>We next +went to look at the tombs around the pyramids. Some are very +much injured, others are in better preservation. One of the most +curious of these was opened by Colonel Vyse. We looked down into a deep +well or pit, about fifty feet deep, and there we saw a large black +sarcophagus. There were many other tombs on all sides, but we had not +time to examine them.</p> + +<p>Time was +passing quickly, and we had not yet seen the wonderful +Sphinx.</p> + +<p>The +excavations which have been made show the Sphinx to have been a +gigantic figure of a crouching lion, with the head of a man, and +wearing a royal crown. It is cut out of the natural rock. Its length, +according to Pliny, was one hundred and forty-three feet, and its +height sixty-three feet.</p> + +<p>The +Sphinx is now much injured: and the sand drifts so fast from the +desert that the space where excavations have been made is soon filled +again. Yet, defaced and half-buried as it is, it is grand beyond +description. The "Father of Terrors," as the Arabs call him, is +majestic in his mighty repose. There he crouches, guardian of the +solitary desert and its solemn tombs. Thousands of years have rolled +over his head, yet there he still sits on his lonely throne amid his +silent court. There as long as the world lasts he will abide; grand, +silent monarch of the desert!</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="THE_SPHINX." id="THE_SPHINX."><img alt="" src="images/it049.jpg" /><br /> +THE SPHINX.</a></p> + +<p>It was long before we could +tear ourselves away from the majestic +Sphinx. But at last Mohammed warned us that if we wished to reach Cairo +before nightfall, we must no longer delay. We remounted our donkeys. +But though we rode at a quick pace, the sun was already setting before +we reached our hotel.</p> + +<p>Our first thought the next +day was to find out all we could about +the Sphinx. We searched our books of Eastern travel, and from them we +found that the Sphinx originally supported a small temple between its +paws. The walls consisted of three tablets, the top of one of which yet +remains. The middle one was of granite, and represented Thothmes the +Fourth making an offering to the Sphinx. He lived about fourteen +hundred and ten years before the birth of Christ.</p> + +<p>The side walls were of +limestone. They, too, were sculptured, and +represented offerings made by Rameses the Great, He lived in the year +thirteen hundred and eleven before the birth of our Lord.</p> + +<p>There was an inclosure in +front of this temple, bounded by a low +wall, which stretched from one paw of the Sphinx to the other. The +space inclosed between it and the temple was about fifty feet. There +was an altar for sacrifice in front of the steps leading to the temple.</p> + +<p>In front of the wall was a +wide paved space, from which two large +flights of steps went up to a paved road. This road led to the plain, +and had a brick wall on each side to protect it from the sand.</p> + +<p>The approach must have been +very grand. A man coming by it would +first be on a level with the breast of the Sphinx, and would have a +full view of the altar and temple below. Then, as he went down the +roadway, the Sphinx would seem to rise higher and higher, till he must +have felt himself quite a pigmy, looking up at the vast figure.</p> + +<p>The children were, like +ourselves, very much interested in these +accounts of the Sphinx, which their father had collected for us.</p> + +<p>"Has any one besides Colonel +Howard Vyse tried to clear away the +sand?" Hugh asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Salt and Signor +Caviglia excavated the upper portion and +all the front of the figure. Colonel Howard Vyse continued what they +had begun."</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE MOSQUES.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_t.jpg" alt="T" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">T his +day was to be given +to seeing the mosques in +Cairo. We set off early, and went first to see the mosque of Sultan +Hassan. This is thought to be one of the most beautiful specimens of +Arabian architecture in Cairo.<br /> +<br /> +It was built in the fourteenth century, and the blocks of stone for +it were brought from the Great Pyramid, of which these were the +casing-stones. Inside, the mosque was beautiful. Rows of coloured glass +lamps hung from the walls; some were especial curiosities, for they +were the finest early glass-work of their kind. The arches also are +fine, and so are some of the ornaments of the roof.</p></div > + +<p>One sight was pointed out which made us shudder. This was the dark +stain of Sultan Hassan's blood on the pavement. He was murdered in the +mosque by his Mamelukes. His tomb is just in the middle of the inner +inclosure. On it we saw a copy of the Mohammedan holy book, the Koran. +It was splendidly illuminated in gold and colours. The sultan's tomb +was once covered with a rich embroidered covering, but this was faded +and moth-eaten when we saw it. The marble pavement, too, was broken in +many places.</p> + +<p>The mosque of Sultan Hassan has always been famed for its beauty. It +is said that the sultan cut off the head of the architect, that he +might never build another as beautiful.</p> + +<p>From the mosque of Sultan Hassan we went to the mosque of Sultan +Tuloon. It was built about the year 879 after the birth of our Lord, +and is said to be the oldest mosque in Cairo. It has double rows of +handsome pointed arches. There is a fine view from the chief minaret. +Our guide told us that it even excels that from the citadel. But the +staircase is spiral, is outside, and in rather a ruinous state.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="MOSQUE2" id="MOSQUE2"><img alt="" src="images/it053.jpg" /><br /> +MOSQUE.</a></p> + +<p>On reaching the second gallery, some +of us became faint-hearted and +stayed to rest. Even from it the view was a grand one; but those who +went to the top said that we had really seen nothing in comparison.</p> + +<p>Lucy was tired and giddy when we came +down, so some of us went home +with her while the rest went to see the mosque of El Ghoree.</p> + +<p>"It is beautifully painted," said +Hugh, when giving us an account of +it afterwards. "And inside there are pillars of marble and +mother-of-pearl."</p> + +<p>"Those are in the niche for prayer," +his father said. "The windows +and walls of the mosque, and the roof, are ornamented with stone carved +like lace-work. But I think, Hugh, that what I admire most are the +horseshoe arches, and the four grand columns which look as if they had +belonged to some ancient temple."</p> + +<p>"What did the man call that niche for +prayer?" Hugh asked.</p> + +<p>"The Mahrab. In every mosque the +Mahrab looks in the direction of +Mecca, where Mohammed was born; and which is therefore to the +Mohammedans the most sacred of cities."</p> + +<p>"Do they pray towards Mecca, then, +just as Daniel prayed towards +Jerusalem?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they do. When we were looking +at the Mahrab, I, like you now, +thought of Daniel, and wished for the day when the knowledge of the +gospel shall have spread over the earth, and when all places for prayer +shall be used for the service of the only true God, and Jesus Christ +whom he has sent."</p> + +<p>"I should like to make one little +Egyptian girl a Christian," said +Lucy; "would not you, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"But how could we, Lucy?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! we could talk to her, and teach +her our hymns, and tell her +about our Bible pictures."</p> + +<p>"Only," Hugh answered, thoughtfully, +"she would not understand what +we said, and we should not understand her."</p> + +<p>"I forgot that. Mamma, may we learn +Egyptian?"</p> + +<p>"That would take a long time, and I +think you can do something +better than that. There is a mission already at Cairo, where the +children are taught by persons who understand the language."</p> + +<p>"May we see it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and you can give some of your +money and time in buying and +making clothes for those who are very poor. And something else you can +do."</p> + +<p>"What is that? Can I do it?" asked +Hugh, "for I cannot hem and sew +the clothes."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we can all do it. We can pray +every day for the Egyptian +children, that God will give them hearts to serve him, and to love our +precious Saviour Jesus Christ, who came to save little children as well +as grown-up people."</p> + +<p>It was a happy thought that we could +all begin that very night to do +something for the Egyptian children. Hugh and Lucy said so, and we all +felt it.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + +<h3>HELIOPOLIS, AND OTHER SIGHTS AND SCENES.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_t.jpg" alt="T" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">T he +next morning we set +off for Heliopolis.<br /> +<br /> +Heliopolis, or the "City of the Sun," is the same which is called +"On" in the Bible. Joseph's wife came from On, where her father was a +man of wealth and importance.<br /> +<br /> +The ride from Cairo to Heliopolis is delightful. We went across the +edge of the desert, and on our way were struck by a solitary dome +marking a tomb. This is the tomb of Saladin's brother, Malek Adhel, to +whom Richard Cœur de Lion wished to marry his sister Matilda.</p></div> + +<p>Beyond this our road lay through green fields and shady avenues of +acacias. The air was filled with a delicious perfume and with the +humming of the wild bees. We saw Arabs, with bare legs and turbaned +heads, tilling the ground, oxen treading out the corn, long strings of +camels and asses bringing home provender.</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, a living Bible picture.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="ARAB_SITTING_IN_FRONT_OF_HIS_TENT." id="ARAB_SITTING_IN_FRONT_OF_HIS_TENT."><img alt="" src="images/it057.jpg" /><br /> +ARAB SITTING IN FRONT OF HIS TENT.</a></p> + +<p>The land of Goshen was opening +before us. We were looking at the +same scenes among which Joseph and his brethren had moved. The strings +of asses laden with corn were like the strings of asses which Joseph's +brethren had taken back laden to their dear father in Canaan.</p> + +<p>It was a solemn feeling to be +treading the very ground, and looking +at the very fields over which the patriarchs once trod.</p> + +<p>A village called Matarieh +stands near where the city of Heliopolis +once stood. Here a sycamore was shown to us under which Joseph and the +Virgin Mary and Infant Saviour are said to have rested when they fled +into Egypt from King Herod. The gardens of Matarieh were in former +times famed for their balsams. They were first brought from Judea, and +were of the same species as trees from which was made the "Balm of +Gilead" that we read of in the Bible.</p> + +<p>Heliopolis, the "City of the +Sun," was so called because in ancient +times there was a magnificent temple in it which was dedicated to the +sun. Besides the temple of the sun, there was in Heliopolis another +temple, dedicated to the bull Mnevis.</p> + +<p>Cambyses, a king of Persia, +took the city about five hundred years +before the birth of our Lord. He burnt the temples and destroyed the +palaces. Some of the obelisks escaped, and were afterwards taken to +Rome and Alexandria. One is still left. It is about sixty-five feet +high.</p> + +<p>Part of a Sphinx was found +near it some time ago, so that it is +supposed that an avenue of Sphinxes led up to it, and that it is one of +two obelisks which probably stood at the entrance of the Temple of the +Sun. Wild bees had made their nests on the top of the obelisk, and came +down upon us in swarms, as is their wont to travellers. Lucy was +frightened; and though Hugh tried to look very brave, he did not feel +quite at ease any more than myself. However, we came to no harm, though +they buzzed all about us. The obelisk stands in a garden of rosemary +and other herbs, which perhaps attracted the bees to it as their home.</p> + +<p>In vain we wandered hither and +thither, searching for some other +traces of the bygone glories of this City of the Sun. Here it was that +Joseph once lived. Here it was that Moses was made "learned in the +wisdom of the Egyptians." Here the wise and learned men of Egypt used +to assemble. Here was once heard "joy and the voice of melody." Where +is it now? All is silent, still. This solitary pillar alone stands to +mark the scene of long-forgotten pomp and glory.</p> + +<p>Thus do earthly cities vanish. +But the heavenly city which our +Saviour has prepared for them that love him, will endure for evermore. +Its glories are far brighter than ever were those of this City of the +Sun, and are unfading; be it ours to have a part in that new and +blessed city!</p> + +<p>The next morning we met some +travellers who had been to a Copt +wedding, of which the lady gave us an account.</p> + +<p>"The family was a rich one," +she said, "and everything was most +splendid. The inner court of the house was beautifully lighted, and was +crowded with guests. In the middle were the musicians, with all sorts +of instruments: Arab flutes, dulcimers, fiddles; the noise was +deafening.</p> + +<p>"The master of the house took +us to an up-stairs room in which were +the guests of higher rank. These were all men. Though the Copts are not +Mohammedans, it seems the custom for their women to live in as great +retirement as the Mohammedan women do, and also for them to cover their +faces when they go out of doors.</p> + +<p>"We were taken into a large +room covered with rich carpets, and +lighted by a number of wax candles and a large chandelier. We were led +to a large divan, where pipes, coffee, sweetmeats, and sherbet were +handed to us, whilst we listened to the songs of the singing women.</p> + +<p>"These singing women are +called 'Almé.' They attend the weddings of +all the rich people in Cairo, and are paid by contributions from the +guests. Generally they make a good sum at a wedding, especially those +who are clever enough to invent songs at the moment.</p> + +<p>"We stayed in this room for a +long time, and then I was taken to +that part of the house where the ladies of the family live. At the +entrance some negress slaves were waiting to receive me and lead me to +the room in which the lady of the house awaited me. She was mounted on +a complete throne of cushions, and some eighty or ninety guests, all +ladies, were with her. They were dressed in every variety of colour, +and their dresses were all embroidered in gold. The young ladies wore +pretty gauze veils, pink, white, or blue. These were all edged with +needlework; some in gold, some in silver. The elder ladies wore +gorgeous Cashmere shawls thrown over their heads and shoulders, and +most of them wore diamond ornaments.</p> + +<p>"I was conducted to the seat +of honour by the side of the lady of +the house, and a narghilé (a sort of pipe) was brought to me. Then a +china saucer was filled with bonbons from a tray covered with all sorts +of confectionery, and was handed to me with some rose sherbet.</p> + +<p>"After this I was taken into +another room to see the bride. She was +a girl about twelve years old. She lay on a sofa, with her face muffled +up in some kind of white stuff which was ornamented with diamonds, and +was bound on by a band of diamonds. Her nurse was with her. The poor +child was very tired, and more than half asleep. When the covering was +removed that I might see her face, she moved uneasily, as if she did +not like to be disturbed. She was dressed in satin, scarlet, and gold, +and had a white cashmere shawl round her waist. She wore a number of +splendid ornaments.</p> + +<p>"It was nearly midnight when +we came away. The cool night air was +delicious after all the heat and glare of the house. It was a glorious +night, the sky radiant with stars which sparkled more brightly than the +little bride's diamonds."</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="VISIT_TO_THE_HAREM." id="VISIT_TO_THE_HAREM."><img alt="" src="images/it063.jpg" /><br /> +VISIT TO THE HAREM.</a></p> + +<p>It was now +time for us to go to the mission schools, which we all +very much wanted to see.</p> + +<p>We went first +to the girls' school, where we saw a number of +children copying portions of Holy Scripture in Arabic. They wrote +beautifully. Lucy took a great fancy to one little girl, and stood +beside her, watching her, for a long time. The child stole a shy glance +at her now and again; a kindly feeling sprang up between them, though +they could not understand each other's language.</p> + +<p>We were told +that the language taught in the schools generally is +Arabic, but that some of the children learn English. They are taught +reading, writing, arithmetic, needlework, embroidery, and, in fact, +everything that can be useful to them. They read the Bible, and many of +them can say large portions of it by heart.</p> + +<p>We next went +to the ragged school. There we saw a number of little +children, some of them not more than three years old. They are fed and +clothed, and stay at school all day, only going home at night. They +looked very happy.</p> + +<p>Besides these +schools, there is also a school for Coptic young men.</p> + +<p>These schools +were all founded by the Rev. Theophilus Lieder (a +German clergyman, head of the mission in Egypt) and his wife. So great +a work needed much self-denial, courage, energy, industry. But Mr. and +Mrs. Lieder gave these willingly for love of Jesus Christ, and of the +lambs of his flock. He has helped their work, for he always blesses the +work which is done from love to him. Very few of us can do such a great +work for Jesus Christ as Mr. and Mrs. Lieder have done. But we can all +do something for him. And if we love him, he will help even our +smallest work in his name. For he has said, "Whosoever shall give to +drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the +name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his +reward."</p> + +<p>On our way +home from the schools we rode round the principal +bazaars, a never-failing pleasure to Hugh and Lucy.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>A LONG DAY.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_f.jpg" alt="F" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">F ostat, +or Old Cairo, was +the next place of +interest which we visited. The walls built round it by the Romans were +of small squared stones, mixed with tiles, and were about nine feet +high. There were two towers, each half a circle in shape, standing out +from them, and two other large towers at the principal gate. The +gateway was almost buried in sand: still, we could distinguish an eagle +on one part of it.<br /> +<br /> +The only entrance it now has is a small gate, too narrow for a +carriage to pass through. The streets are really only lanes, and the +houses are high. In old times this city was called Egyptian Babylon.<br /> +<br /> +"Is it the same as Babylon the Great?" Hugh asked.<br /> +<br /> +"No. Babylon the Great stood on the River Euphrates, and was the +capital of the Babylonian empire."<br /> +<br /> +"Can you tell me anything more about this Babylon in Egypt?"</p></div> + +<p>"Yes, a little. Sir Gardner Wilkinson mentions an early Christian +record, sculptured on wood, of the time of Diocletian. It is in the +west tower, and we will try and find it. Then the crusaders, under +Louis <span class="smcap">IX.</span> of France, besieged but did not +take it. The Sieur de Joinville, who wrote the life of the king, has +given an interesting account of the siege. He describes the terror +caused in the army when the 'Greek fire' was thrown from the walls. In +the middle ages it was a noted place, and a stuff called 'cloth of +Baldeck' was manufactured here. It was made of silk and of gold and +silver threads, and was ornamented with imitations of trees, flowers, +and birds. It was worn and much prized by persons of high rank. Henry <span class="smcap">III.</span> was, I believe, the first English king who +wore cloth of Baudekin or Baldeck, but it was worn in other countries +of Europe before his time."</p> + +<p>We went to the upper chamber over the west tower of the old gateway, +and there saw the record described by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The upper +part with the Greek inscription; below it a symbol of the Deity, a +globe supported by two winged angels; and on each side six figures, +which Sir Gardner Wilkinson believes to be the twelve apostles. We were +very much interested in this Christian record, and wished that we had +had some knowledge of who these early Christians were who had left the +traces of their assembly in this upper chamber.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="OLD_GATEWAY." id="OLD_GATEWAY."><img alt="" src="images/it068.jpg" /><br /> +OLD GATEWAY.</a></p> + +<p>We next went to see the +mosque of Amer. This mosque was built by the +Saracen Amer on the spot on which he encamped with his army when he +besieged the city and took it. He founded the city of Fostat, which +became the capital of Mohammedan Egypt. Four hundred years afterwards +the present city of Cairo was built by one of the caliphs. He made it +the capital, and called it Masr-el-Kahira, or "the Victorious City." +The city built by Amer was then called "Old Cairo."</p> + +<p>We were not so much struck +by the mosque of Amer as we had been by +some other mosques. There are some fine pillars and arches, both +pointed and circular. But its chief interest is its great age. There is +an old tradition that whenever this mosque falls, the Mohammedan power +will fall in Egypt.</p> + +<p>From Old Cairo we crossed +over to the Island of Roda, to see the +Nilometer. It consists of a square well, in the middle of which is a +pillar marked in degrees, for measuring the rise of the Nile. There was +once a tower over it. At the time when the Nile is rising, the criers +come into Cairo every morning to proclaim the height to which it has +risen since the previous morning. This overflow of the Nile irrigates +the country for a long distance from its banks, and makes them very +fruitful.</p> + +<p>From the Nilometer we went +to see the gardens belonging to Ibrahim +Pacha; then to the spot where Moses is said to have been found by +Pharaoh's daughter. We could picture the cradle of bulrushes floating +on the still waters; the royal princess coming down with maidens to +bathe, the anxious Miriam watching with eager eyes to see what would be +the fate of her baby-brother. Hugh and Lucy both said that it made the +Bible seem much more real to them, now that they were in the very land +where so many of God's wonders of old were wrought. We all felt it so, +as we looked at the spot where Moses was preserved in his babyhood, +while floating in his cradle in the very waters which afterwards at his +word, by God's command, were turned into blood.</p> + +<p>Our next expedition was to +the tombs of the Mameluke kings. We rode +through a not very interesting part of Cairo to the "Bab-el-Nasr," or +"Gate of Victory."</p> + +<p>The tombs stand at a short +distance from Cairo, on the edge of the +desert. Each has its mosque, with dome and minarets. In one, called El +Kait Bey, there is the print of a man's foot on the marble slab. This +is said to be the footprint of "the Prophet" Mohammed. It is within a +covered enclosure which is open at the sides. The Arabs show their +respect for it by touching it reverently with their hands, which they +kiss afterwards.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="THE_FINDING_OF_MOSES." id="THE_FINDING_OF_MOSES."><img alt="" src="images/it071.jpg" /><br /> +THE FINDING OF MOSES.</a></p> + +<p>Another +beautiful tomb is El Berbook. It has been faced with red and +white stones, many of which are still left. There is an open corridor +on the first floor. The entrance-hall leads into the large court of the +mosque, in which there once was a fountain. It has long ceased to play, +and the ornaments are all in ruin. The dome was richly ornamented. The +door to it was locked, and we could only peep through some holes at the +beauties within.</p> + +<p>We next +went to the tomb and mosque of Ahd Bey. The pavements, the +windows, the grand arch, the ornamentation, all were beautiful. And the +thought that the great Mameluke sultans, in whose honour these were +wrought, made us silent. These palaces were not for the living, but for +the dead. Even Hugh and Lucy grew grave. It was such a solemn thought +that we were walking among earthly palaces, dedicated to those to whom +earthly glory has for centuries been less than nothing! Here they +sleep, silent owners of their silent city in the desert, till the last +great trumpet shall sound, and the mighty dead shall (with their +humbler fellow-men) be judged according to their works. Thanks be to +God who giveth his people the victory in that day, through Jesus Christ +our Lord.</p> + +<p>In +silence we passed on from one tomb, one mosque, to another.</p> + +<p>"Where +are we going now?" Hugh asked, after we had ridden on for +some time.</p> + +<p>"To the +petrified forest."</p> + +<p>"Shall we +find the trees standing, all turned into stone? For +petrified means turned into stone, does it not?" said Lucy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it +does. But I do not think we shall find any trees standing, +from what I have read about the 'petrified wood.'"</p> + +<p>True +enough. When we reached the petrified forest in the Valley of +Wanderings (this valley forms the beginning of the desert leading to +the Red Sea) we did not see a single tree, but the sand was for miles +covered with fragments of wood. Though these were turned into stone, we +could see knots and fibres, and even the rough bark, which showed them +to be fragments of trees.</p> + +<p>"Is it +not wonderful!" exclaimed Hugh.</p> + +<p>It was +indeed wonderful. And now we came to what looked like the +trunk of a large tree; there was another like it, at a little distance; +they must have been quite fifty feet long, or more; they lay in the +sand, and seemed to have broken as they fell, for there were small +pieces scattered about all around.</p> + +<p>"What +made it?" Lucy asked.</p> + +<p>None of +us could tell; nor have we since been able to find any +account of how these trees were turned into stone. But it seems certain +that all this part of the desert, on which there is not now a blade of +grass, must have been covered by a wood.</p> + +<p>We could +but look and wonder. "How unsearchable are the judgments of +God, and his ways past finding out!"</p> + +<p>We all +picked up some pieces to bring away with us. Then we sat down +on one of the large petrified trunks and ate our lunch, the wonders all +round us giving us plenty to talk about the while.</p> + +<p>On our +way home we came round by another group of tombs beneath the +mountains of Mokattam. We had had a long day, and it was nearly sunset +when we left the tombs.</p> + +<p>The +sunset clouds were gorgeous. All at once, as the sun sank +beneath them, the deep-toned sound of the muezzin called the faithful +followers of the prophet Mohammed to prayer. Every one around us +prostrated themselves. Our hearts obeyed the call; we offered our +thanks to our Heavenly Father, who has made such a world of beauty and +wonder for our enjoyment.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 240px;" class="poem stanza"><span class="i0">"O +God, O good +beyond compare, +</span><span class="i0">If thus Thy meaner works are fair, +</span><span class="i0">If thus Thy bounties gild the span +</span><span class="i0">Of ruined earth and sinful man, +</span><span class="i0">What must those glorious mansions be +</span><span class="i0">When Thy redeemed shall dwell with Thee!" +</span></div> + +<hr class="c3" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE START UP THE NILE.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_o.jpg" alt="O" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">O ur +party was now to +be divided for a time. We +were all anxious to see the Nile, but it was thought better for the +children and their mother to stay quietly in Cairo. Those who were not +pressed for time offered to remain with them, while the others hastened +up to the second cataract. After much discussing and arranging, it was +decided that three should stay with the invalid and her children in +Cairo, and the other three should go up the Nile together.<br /> +<br /> +The most comfortable sort of boat for travelling is the "dahabieh." +One was engaged. Mohammed laid in the stores necessary for the journey; +and when all was ready, we went to Boulak, which is the port of Cairo, +to see the travellers start.</p></div> + +<p> +We went on board the dahabieh.</p> + +<p>"What a beautiful room!" Lucy exclaimed, as she went into the saloon.</p> + +<p>And so indeed it was. Carpets, cushions, divans, book-shelves; +nothing was wanting to make the dahabieh a most luxurious little home. +There were easy-chairs of every kind on deck, and an awning was spread +as a protection from the sun. The crew consisted of a captain, or reis, +as he is called, a pilot, and fourteen Arab sailors.</p> + +<p>We exchanged farewells, heartily wishing that we too were going, and +they started. As we waved our last farewells from the shore, Hugh said, +in a disconsolate voice, "Great fun for them, but no fun for us."</p> + +<p>We were all a little dull that evening. But the travellers had +promised to keep a journal, and we soon began to think when we should +receive news of them.</p> + +<p>The first instalment of the journal was brought by a gentleman with +whose dahabieh they fell in off Benisooéf. It was eagerly opened and +read aloud, while we listened with all our ears and eyes.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Journal on the Nile.</span></h3> + +<p>The wind was fair when we left Boulak. We passed Roda, the +Nilometer, and Old Cairo. Then a long reach of the river brought us to +the village of E Deyr, which is inhabited by Copt Christians. We next +passed, on our left, El Masarah, where there are large stone quarries. +The stone for the Great Pyramid was taken from these quarries.</p> + +<p>At Bedreshyn we landed, Mohammed procured donkeys for us, and we set +off to see the Pyramids of Sakkara.</p> + +<p>We rode first to the village of Mitrahenny, where the ancient city +of Memphis once stood. The country round it is very pretty. The village +itself stands in a wood of palm-trees. We were told that at the time at +which the Nile overflows its banks the people leave their houses and +live in the palm-trees, where they put up a sort of scaffolding to +sleep on. When the river falls again, they leave the trees, repair +their mud huts, and live in them till the next overflow.</p> + +<p>Memphis, formerly such a splendid city, is gone. There is scarcely a +trace left of this once busy capital of Lower Egypt in which Moses +lived, where the poor Jewish captives toiled to make up the tale of +bricks for Pharaoh's taskmasters. Some few remains of foundation-walls +are found in the sand. But nothing is left to tell of the temples and +palaces of this ancient city, except only a part of a colossal statue +of Rameses, called Sesostris. It is of a pure white, made of polished +limestone, and must have been more than forty feet in height. The +statue lay on its face, and we could not see the features. It has a +scroll in its hands. Pieces of the legs and feet were lying about. All +around are magnificent palm-trees.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="BRICKMAKING1"><img alt="" src="images/it078.jpg" /><br /> +BRICKMAKING <em>(from Egyptian Sculpture)</em>.</a></p> + +<p>The Pyramids of Sakkara are near the village +of the same name. The +largest of them is called by the Arabs "the Pyramid of Degrees." It has +outside six stories or degrees, each smaller than the one below it. +Inside are passages and chambers.</p> + +<p>Near the pyramids are the famous pits, in +which are ibis mummies. +The ibis was a sacred bird among the Egyptians. We bought one of these +mummies. It was enclosed in a round earthen jar, the top of which was +shaped like a cone, and was fastened down strongly with cement.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="BRICKMAKING2" id="BRICKMAKING2"><img alt="" src="images/it079.jpg" /><br /> +BRICKMAKING <em>(from Egyptian Sculpture)</em>.</a></p> + +<p>The bird was rolled up in +long bandages of linen. The head and neck +were folded over the breast, the wings laid close to the sides, and the +long legs were folded up and brought close to the beak. The bird was +perfect. We said we knew how delighted you all, and especially Hugh and +Lucy, would be to see it. But our curiosity was selfish. As soon as the +air played on it, it crumbled into dust.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="THE_SACRED_IBIS." id="THE_SACRED_IBIS."><img alt="" src="images/it080.jpg" /><br /> +THE SACRED IBIS.</a></p> + +<p>There are some fine +tombs near the Pyramids of Sakkara. We went to +the one which we were told was the best worth seeing. The roof was +hollowed into the shape of an arch and covered with smoothly-cut stones +cemented together. This led into a room in which is a deep well. We +also saw some hieroglyphics, and some sculpture; most of these +represented men carrying birds. It was not very interesting, and we did +not stay long to look at it.</p> + +<p>We had a delightful +ride back to Bedreshyn, through fields and among +clumps of thorny mimosa, on which the camels love to browse. The +palm-trees looked beautiful in the clear sunlight. Nothing was wanting +but the song of birds, and this is a want almost always felt by +Europeans in the hot climates of Africa and Asia.</p> + +<p>The next day we +went to the Pyramids of Dashoor. Two are of stone +and two of brick. The first was the largest. Colonel Howard Vyse gives +its height as three hundred and twenty feet. The entrance was covered +with stones and rubbish. The second pyramid is not so large. The ascent +to the entrance is not very difficult, but the descent is exceedingly +so, and there is not much to repay one for the trouble.</p> + +<p>We returned to our +boat in good time, and were much amused, after we +had again started, by watching the peasants raising water from the +river with poles and buckets, and with looking at the Arab boats, a +number of which passed us.</p> + +<p>We next came to El +Kafr el Jyat. It is only a small village, but in +it is the residence of a wealthy chief whose hospitable house is the +resort of travellers. He bears the title of Khabeéree, or "the guide." +We find from Sir G. Wilkinson's book<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1" /><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> +that this title "has been hereditary in his family since the time of +Sultan Selim, who gave it to his ancestor as a reward for his services +in that capacity, when he took possession of the country after the +defeat of the son of El Ghoree."</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1" /><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> "Modern Egypt," vol. ii. +</div> + +<p>We next passed the False Pyramid. It takes its name from the base +being of rock and not really part of the building.</p> + +<p>The banks of the river and villages were enlivened with palm-trees. +But we passed no place of any size or interest till we came to +Benisooéf.</p> + +<p>Benisooéf is the capital of the province, the Fyoom, and has several +manufactories of cotton and silk.</p> + +<p>We are lounging idly on deck looking at the scene before us. A great +many boats are tied to the shore, and a number of people are on the +quay. The children are tolerably clad, and some of the old men are +exceedingly picturesque in their white dresses, with their cloaks +thrown over their shoulders and leaning on their staves; girls are +coming down to fill their jars with water and carrying them away most +gracefully on their heads. And as for animals! Hugh would find more +than enough to satisfy him. Dogs, goats, poultry, cows, horses, camels, +buffaloes! And <em>such</em> a noise! we can scarcely hear ourselves +speak for the clatter. But a gentleman who is going down to Cairo, and +will leave at daybreak, has just sent to know whether he can take any +letters for us. So good-by for the present.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="SCENE_ON_THE_NILE." id="SCENE_ON_THE_NILE."><img style="width: 615px; height: 400px;" alt="" src="images/it083.jpg" /><br /> +SCENE ON THE NILE.</a></p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + +<h3>STILL UP THE NILE.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_i.jpg" alt="I" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">I t +was some little time +before we could expect +the next part of our travellers' journal.<br /> +<br /> +Hugh very much wished to go to the citadel again. Lucy wanted to pay +another visit to the gardens at Shoubra. We gave an afternoon to each, +and almost every morning we went to the Mission Schools; either to the +girls' school or to the ragged school. The more we saw, the more we +admired the energy and self-denial of Mr. and Mrs. Lieder, and the more +zealous and anxious we grew to do what little we could to help in the +great work of making known the love of Jesus Christ and the salvation +he has bought for us with his blood. Those who have the love of Christ +really in their hearts must always long to make others love him too.</p></div> + +<p>Day by day went on and we began to watch anxiously for some more +news. The gentleman who had brought the first part of the journal told +us that he knew there was another dahabieh which was not very far +behind him. He had passed it, not having time to stop and see all that +its travellers were stopping to see.</p> + +<p>At last this dahabieh arrived, and we had a large packet. Lucy had +leave to open it. She and Hugh danced about in delight for the first +few minutes. Their father was one of the party who had gone, which made +the joy of news the greater.</p> + +<p>The first great excitement of the arrival was soon over, and we all +clustered together eagerly to hear the contents of the large letter.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Journal on the Nile.</span></h3> + +<p>We finished our last letter just after we arrived at Benisooéf. It +is a large town, and was once famous for its manufacture of linen.</p> + +<p>We started the next morning with a fair wind. We passed Isment; and +near it, the quarries from which the beautifully veined marble was +obtained of which the mosque of Mohammed Ali at Cairo was built.</p> + +<p>But what delighted us most was the high table-mountain, Sheikh +Embárak. This giant seemed standing to block our path. Its surface is +broken; and as we neared it, we saw one large cliff which looked like a +ruined castle. The Sheikh, like some other giants of olden times, is +accustomed to give travellers rather a rough welcome, and we came in +for one of his gusty greetings in a sudden gale of wind.</p> + +<p>Tell Lucy that her father, who was lounging in a chair on castors, +suddenly found his chair running away from him, and he narrowly escaped +a ducking in the Nile. And tell both Hugh and Lucy that the dahabieh +lay over so suddenly that every one else was nearly following me, and +that if I had gone over into the Nile, I should only have been ready to +welcome the others who were coming after.</p> + +<p>After this unwilling prostration to the Sheikh, we went on without +any further trouble.</p> + +<p>A rock in the stream next attracted our attention. It is called the +Hagar o' Salam, or Rock of Welfare, because the boatmen say that they +cannot venture to call a voyage down the Nile prosperous until they +have passed it. We looked at it with interest. It seemed an emblem of +our Saviour Jesus Christ; for, till we have come to him, there can be +no safety for us in our voyage on the river of life.</p> + +<p>Our journey was, after this, a little dull for a time. On both banks +of the Nile we saw the sites of various ancient towns; and at Khom +Amer, or "the Red Mound," there were some rough grottoes. We also saw +the mounds of the ancient Cynopolis, the "City of the Dogs."</p> + +<p>The mountain chain of Gebel e' Tayr was more interesting. Some of +the mountains rise straight up from the water, and are enlivened with +palm-trees; and on the opposite banks we saw some fine acacias. The top +of Gebel e' Tayr is flat. On it stands a convent called Sitleh Mariam +el Adea, or "Our Lady Mary the Virgin." It is a Copt convent. But I am +afraid that religion has little effect there, for there seems to be +more begging than industry among the monks. As soon as they see a boat +full of travellers coming they hurry down the cliffs and swim out on +inflated water-skins to ask for charity. Our Arab boatmen were inclined +to treat them rather roughly, and we were heartily glad when we got +beyond their beat, for they were very noisy and clamorous in their +petitions for alms.</p> + +<p>Gebel e' Tayr means "the mountain of the bird." There is a curious +legend belonging to it. It is said that all the birds in the country +assemble here every year. They choose one of their number who is to +stay on the mountain till the next year. Then all the rest fly away and +leave the poor solitary bird by himself till the next year, when a +fresh one is chosen to take his place.</p> + +<p>We have now just arrived at Minieh, six days exactly since we left +you all at Boulak. We are going to dinner, and then on shore.</p> + +<hr /> +<p>"I want to ask something before you go on, please," said Hugh. "Why +was that city called 'the City of the Dogs'?"</p> + +<p>"Because the dog was then considered to be a particularly sacred +animal. One of the largest repositories of dog mummies is found on the +opposite bank. It was not unusual in Egypt for a city to bury its dead, +as well as its sacred animals, on the opposite shore of the Nile, +especially if a better place could be found there for making catacombs."</p> + +<hr /> +<p>Minieh is a pretty and busy town. Near the landing-place we saw the +tomb of a sheikh, shaded over by a palm-tree, which is very +picturesque. We admired the houses too, with their trellised balconies +overhanging the river. And there are such queer little coffee-shops! +Some are tents, some only little huts made of reeds. We found the +bazaar airy and some of the buildings handsome. The country round +Minieh is rich and beautiful; it abounds in groves of palm-trees and in +every kind of fruit. We enjoyed our ramble exceedingly, and the two +guns brought back a fair share of wild fowl.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="EASTERN_BAZAAR." id="EASTERN_BAZAAR."><img style="width: 400px; height: 398px;" alt="" src="images/it089.jpg" /><br /> +EASTERN BAZAAR.</a></p> + +<p>Our next +stopping-place was Beni-Hassan; we arrived this morning, +and have been on shore all day.</p> + +<p>The tombs of +Beni-Hassan are open to the Nile, and are ornamented +with coloured figures or other devices, and are very old.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="EGYPTIAN_LOOM." id="EGYPTIAN_LOOM."><img alt="" src="images/it090.jpg" /><br /> +EGYPTIAN LOOM.</a></p> + +<p class="caption"><em>a b</em>. +Rollers for carrying and tightening +the warp. <em>c c c</em>. The warp <em>d d</em>. Frame of the +machine. <em>e f</em>. Movable bars, for pressing the successive weft +threads together. <em>g</em>. Roller for relieving the cloth when +woven. <em>h</em>. Hooked stick (used instead of a shuttle) to carry +the weft threads.</p> + +<p>We went first into the +most northern tomb. In front of the entrance +is a portico, supported by pillars, which leads into a vaulted room: +its roof is supported by four large pillars. These pillars have been +coloured to imitate red granite, and so have the lower part of the +walls. Above this coloured part of the wall are long lines of figures; +some employed in outdoor work, some in indoor work, some in amusements. +Some are fishing, some are watering flax, some dancing, others +wrestling.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="FISHING." id="FISHING."><img alt="" src="images/it091.jpg" /><br /> +FISHING.</a></p> + +<p>In one part there are men catching +wild fowl in nets; in another +part there are women kneading or making bread; and others playing the +harp.</p> + +<p>On one part of the wall we saw a +procession. As we had heard that +this procession represented the arrival of Joseph's brethren, we were +very much interested with it. The first figure is an Egyptian scribe, +who is giving an account of the arrival of the strangers to one of the +chief officers of the king, and the owner of the tomb. The next, also +an Egyptian, is ushering the strangers into his presence. Two of the +strangers are advancing, and bring with them presents, a goat and a +gazelle. Four men follow, carrying bows and clubs, and leading an ass, +which two children are riding on in panniers, accompanied by a boy and +four women. Last, are another ass, laden, and two men; one of these +holds a bow and club, and the other a lyre.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="POTTERS." id="POTTERS."><img alt="" src="images/it092.jpg" /><br /> +POTTERS.</a></p> + +<p>We saw another curious tomb, where +there is a hunting scene, and the +name of each animal is written above it, in hieroglyphics. Below this +are birds, and their names are also written. There we saw a group of +women jumping and dancing; others playing at ball, throwing up three +balls one after another and catching them; men dancing on one leg and +performing other feats of skill.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="IDOL_PAINTERS." id="IDOL_PAINTERS."><img alt="" src="images/it093.jpg" /><br /> +IDOL PAINTERS.</a></p> + +<p>The occupations and +trades of the ancient Egyptians are also shown. +There are goldsmiths, glass-blowers, painters, potters, workers in +flax. On one wall there are wrestlers in different attitudes; on +another, some unhappy people who are undergoing the bastinado. We were +surprised, too, to see that dwarfs and deformed people formed part of +the trains of the great men of Egypt in those days, just as they did in +Rome in later days.</p> + +<p>In one of the tombs we +saw a Greek alphabet on the wall; the letters +were transposed in different ways, apparently for the purpose of +teaching Greek.</p> + +<p>We meant to have gone +to see the Temple of Diana of the Egyptians, +but were all tired, and have left it till our return.</p> + +<p>We have been obliged to +have a strict watch kept over our boat +to-day. The villages of Beni-Hassan were destroyed by order of the +pacha some years ago, because the people were such great thieves. But +this cure for theft does not seem to have answered, for the villagers +still have the character of a love of pilfering.</p> + +<p>We sat up rather late +last night, helping each other with our +journal for your amusement. Just as we were putting by our pens and +paper we were startled by seeing a bright light. Mohammed appeared and +told us that a dahabieh was on fire, and that English travellers were +on board. We hurried on deck. The dahabieh was a mass of fire. Pillars +of smoke rose from it, and large tongues of flame darted from them and +seemed to lick down into the fire whatever came into their way. There +was a great buzz of voices on the shore, and the wild light cast a +lurid glare on the figures which were hurrying to and fro. A European +figure rushed on shore with something in his arms, then darted back and +was lost in the smoke. We did not wait to see more, but went on shore +instantly.</p> + +<p>There was no +possibility of saving the dahabieh. But every one on +board was safe, and we brought the travellers to our dahabieh, where +they are now.</p> + +<p>They prove to be Mr. +and Miss Roper, father and daughter, a European +servant, and a negress girl, whom they call Rahaba. I never heard such +an outpouring of fervent thanksgiving as Mr. Roper offered up to God as +soon as they were all safely on board our boat. It reminded us of the +history of Jacob wrestling with the angel, "I will not let thee go +except thou bless me."</p> + +<p>Rahaba has a sad +expression of face, but her eyes brighten when Miss +Roper speaks to her.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Miss Roper only +arrived at Beni-Hassan that evening. There +seemed little chance of their being able to get on to Cairo, so we +asked them to be our guests and to return over their old ground with us.</p> + +<p>We left Beni-Hassan the +next morning, and saw crocodiles that day +for the first time. They were on a sandbank basking in the sun. One was +very large, the two others smaller. A salute from our guns was fired at +them, which made the smaller crocodiles rush into the water in a great +hurry, but the larger one treated us with cool contempt.</p> + +<p>The first sight of +Manfaloot was charming. A sudden bend of the +river brought us full in view of its minarets, which rise from a group +of mingled buildings and palm-trees.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="HEAD_OF_CROCODILE." id="HEAD_OF_CROCODILE."><img alt="" src="images/it096.jpg" /><br /> +HEAD OF CROCODILE.</a></p> + +<p>We have not +landed since we left Beni-Hassan. Miss Roper has been +making a sketch of our reis and the crew. Rahaba looks on her +sketch-book and colour-box as some kind of magic possessions, and +contrived to save them from the fire in consequence. +</p> + +<p>Miss Roper took +the sketch at sunset. The sky was flooded with +gorgeous tints, and their glow was reflected on our reis as he sat in +his blue robes and crimson turban, smoking his pipe. We shall reach +Thebes to-night, and shall go on shore early to-morrow to see some of +the interesting sights of which Mr. Roper has been telling us.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="RUINS_OF_THEBES." id="RUINS_OF_THEBES."><img alt="" src="images/it097.jpg" /><br /> +RUINS OF THEBES.</a></p> + +<p>Our boat was moored +as near as possible to the village of Koorneh, +or Karnac, as it is often called. We went on shore early in the morning +and visited the small palace and temple of Koorneh, and then rode on +for about twenty minutes to the palace-temple of Rameses the Second. +This is one of the most interesting temples in the valley of the Nile. +The entrance leads into a court where are the ruins of the largest +statue in the world. It is made of granite from the quarries of Syene.</p> + +<p>Mr. Roper told us +that this was a statue of the king, seated on his +throne with his hands resting on his knees. Judging from the fragments +the foot must have been eleven feet long and about four feet ten inches +wide. The statue measured twelve feet ten inches from the shoulder to +the elbow, twenty-two feet four inches across the shoulders.</p> + +<p>The throne and the +legs are quite destroyed. The figure is broken at +the waist, and the upper part is thrown back on the ground. No one +knows who erected or who destroyed this giant statue. We gazed at the +ruin with astonishment, almost with awe.</p> + +<p>In a beautiful +court, with a double row of columns, we saw some +interesting sculpture. An enemy is flying from the Egyptians. The +complexions and features of the men are quite different from those of +the Egyptians. They are fleeing towards the river in chariots; some are +represented as drowning in the river, and others as entreating for +mercy. In the grand hall we saw another battle-scene.</p> + +<p>The great hall +leads into a room with eight columns, which support +the roof. On it are represented the Egyptian months, and on the wall +are sacred arks borne by priests. The side walls of the temple are +destroyed, so that the pillars are seen to great advantage.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="GRAND_HARP." id="GRAND_HARP."><img alt="" src="images/it099.jpg" /><br /> +GRAND HARP.</a></p> + +<p>We saw, too, the famous +colossal statues; they are made of a hard +stone, marked with black and red oxide of iron. The northern statue is +called Salamet by the Arabs. It is the celebrated statue of Memnon, +which was said to utter a sound of melody every morning at sunrise, and +a mournful sound at sunset. The sides of the throne are ornamented with +figures; they represent the god Nilus winding up a pedestal, over which +is the name of the king who made them. The statues of his wife and +mother are attached to the throne. We then went to the Temple of +Medeénet Háboo. The early Christians had a settlement here, and they +used one of the deserted courts of the great temple for a church, +hiding the idolatrous sculptures with a coat of mud. But a time of +persecution came. The colony was invaded by Arabs, the Christians fled +to the neighbourhood of Esneh, and the village of Medeénet Háboo fell +into ruins.</p> + +<p>We passed the palace of +Rameses the Third, and went into the temple. +Two fine pillars ornament the doorway which leads from the court into a +corridor before the second doorway. Over this doorway there is a +beautiful winged globe and serpent, the colouring of which still +remains.</p> + +<p>This doorway leads into +another corridor and afterwards into a small +court. We looked at this court with great interest, because Mr. Roper +told us that it was built by Tirhakeh, whose battles with Sennacherib +we read of in the Bible.</p> + +<p>On the outside wall of the +temple, King Rameses is represented in +his chariot, attended by fan-bearers and lions, and advancing with his +army. His enemies are defeated, and heaps of tongues are among the +tokens of his victory.</p> + +<p>In another part, the king, +while pursuing his enemy, is attacked by +lions. He kills two with his arrows, and is on the point of killing +another with his spear.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> + +<h3>WE GO TO ALEXANDRIA</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_a.jpg" alt="A" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">A nd +that is the last piece +of journal we shall +get, very likely," said our reader, as he folded up the packet again.<br /> +<br /> +"I hope not," said Lucy, "for I want to hear more about Rahaba."<br /> +<br /> +"And I want to hear about the temples and the statues, and how they +got on past the first cataract."<br /> +<br /> +But no more news could be expected for some time. So, to amuse +ourselves, we determined on paying a visit to Alexandria. The distance +is about one hundred and thirty miles, and the railway being already +opened, we went by train. The carriages had double roofs, as a +protection from the sun; the upper roof was raised about a foot above +the lower, on little iron pillars, so that a current of air could pass +between the two roofs.</p></div> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="BAGGAGE_CAMEL." id="BAGGAGE_CAMEL."><img style="width: 400px; height: 403px;" alt="" src="images/it102.jpg" /><br /> +BAGGAGE CAMEL.</a></p> + +<p>On leaving Cairo we +could see the high road. Hugh and Lucy were much +amused with watching the strings of camels, tied one behind the other +with ropes, and laden with large bales of cotton. There were sometimes +as many as sixteen camels in one string; then we saw donkeys laden with +various things for sale, and numbers of people carrying goods of +different kinds. We saw a great many people, too, working in the +fields. The country is fertile, and we thought the villages very +pretty, peeping out from their groves of palm-trees.</p> + +<p>As we came near +Alexandria the country became more sandy and less +pretty.</p> + +<p>"Alexander the Great +built Alexandria, did he not?" said Hugh.</p> + +<p>"Yes. And in old times +it was very famous for its library."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Hugh, +"I remember that; it had a museum with a +library of I do not know how many volumes."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and besides the +museum library there was another library in a +splendid building called the 'Serapion.' The museum library was burnt +during the wars of Julius Cæsar with the Alexandrians, and the +'Serapion' library was destroyed by the orders of the Caliph Omar."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Hugh, in +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"The caliph said that +if the writings in these books agreed with +those in the Koran they were useless, and that if they did not they +were mischievous; so in any case they would be better destroyed than +kept."</p> + +<p>"I think his reasoning +was very foolish, though I suppose he meant +it as very wise."</p> + +<p>"So do I. Two thousand +of the volumes had belonged to the kings of +Pergamos, and had been given by Marc Antony to Cleopatra."</p> + +<p>It was too late to see +anything that evening, but we set off early +the next morning. We first visited the pacha's palace. It faces the +harbour, and has a fine view of it. We went through a small garden up a +staircase, and then, on the upper floor, came to the pacha's +apartments; these were very handsomely furnished. We saw beds with rich +curtains of cloth of gold and silver, and large divans which were very +handsome. In the dining-room the floor was of inlaid wood. The view +from the balcony was very fine; but one of the things which we admired +most was a beautiful table of Roman mosaic, representing all the most +interesting monuments in Rome.</p> + +<p>After leaving the +palace we went to see a garden belonging to the +pacha. The garden was pretty, and we very much enjoyed our drive along +the Mahmoudieh canal. We had some friends who lived in a villa not far +off, and we called on them. After lunch the lady asked if we had ever +ridden on a dromedary.</p> + +<p>We had not, and Hugh +and Lucy were specially anxious to try what it +was like. So the dromedary was ordered to come for us.</p> + +<p>It looked very handsome +with its saddle of crimson velvet, from +which splendid draperies of gold and silver stuff hung on all sides, +with a number of silken cords, loops, and tassels.</p> + +<p>Most of us thought the +motion very pleasant. But Lucy was a little +frightened, and said she felt as if she was going to tumble over the +dromedary's head. She would only go at a walk, which we thought a +disagreeable pace. Hugh thought the dromedary's trot delightful, and +wished he could always travel by dromedary, but Lucy thought a Cairo +donkey very much to be preferred.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="DROMEDARY." id="DROMEDARY."><img alt="" src="images/it105.jpg" /><br /> +DROMEDARY.</a></p> + +<p>Almost everything that we see +in Egypt reminds us of something we +read of in the Bible. We seem to live among Bible pictures, which help +us to understand the Bible and the customs it speaks of.</p> + +<p>We were pleasantly surprised +the morning after this little visit to +our friends at the villa to receive another packet of journal from the +travellers. The last had been so long on the way that we scarcely +expected to hear again from them before their return.</p> + +<p>We opened it eagerly, and were +all excited to know how they had +passed at least the first cataract.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Journal on +the Nile.</span></h3> + +<p>We wrote last from Thebes, +which place we left the next morning. We +were obliged to wait at Esneh for twenty-four hours for our sailors to +bake bread. In the evening we saw at least twenty crocodiles pass our +boat.</p> + +<p>We left Esneh with a fair wind, +and stopped nowhere till we reached +Assouan. Here we had to make our arrangements for passing the first +cataract.</p> + +<p>The management of our boat was +given over to the reis of the +cataract. He provides men to help in taking us through the rapids. +Whilst these arrangements were being made, we had time to see all that +was worth seeing round Assouan.</p> + +<p>There was a gay scene on the +quay. Large boats which had been +damaged were undergoing repairs; others were being loaded and unloaded +with bales of cotton, which are sent from here across the desert to +Sennaar. Then there were the tents of the owners; groups of Nubian +merchants in white turbans; natives of Assouan seated on the ground, +smoking their chiboques; camels waiting for their loads; and donkeys +which seemed as strong and lively as our Cairo favourites. Of course +there was a terrible noise-shouting, screaming, quarrelling among the +various sellers of arms, ornaments, and other things.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="INTERIOR_OF_GREAT_TEMPLE_AT_ESNEH." id="INTERIOR_OF_GREAT_TEMPLE_AT_ESNEH."><img alt="" src="images/it107.jpg" /><span class="c2"><br /> +INTERIOR OF GREAT TEMPLE AT ESNEH.</span></a></p> + +<p>We hired donkeys and a good +guide, and then set off to see the +quarries of Syene. From these quarries the obelisks were cut which +adorned the cities of Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis thousands of +years ago. We passed the ruins of a burying-ground belonging to an old +Saracen town which was desolated by the plague some hundreds of years +ago, and very gloomy these ruins looked.</p> + +<p>On our way back we rode +through the bazaar. There was nothing very +gay for sale, but the people interested us. We saw a great many +Berbers, a people quite unlike either the Arabs or the negroes. The +Berbers live in Lower Nubia, and are a wild, fine-looking race. The men +wear but little clothing; they all carry a small dagger, which is bound +with a red leather bracelet round the left arm, above the elbow. They +also wear a <em>fetish</em>, or charm, enclosed in a little red +leather case. The women uncover their faces, and wear nose rings of +either brass or bone. They also wear quantities of coloured bead +necklaces and bracelets, brass ear-rings and finger-rings; and whenever +they can get them, they wear gold or silver coins hanging on the +foreheads. They tattoo their chins and dye their under-lips blue, which +looks very ugly.</p> + +<p>To-day we crossed to the +island of Elephanta. We went to the +quarries, visited groups of tombs of sheikhs and dervishes, and the +mosque of Amer. We had a delightful row round the island. Its groves of +palms and its granite rocks are picturesque. But we were disappointed +to see no flowers. The Nubian children offered us some pretty baskets +for sale, and some Egyptian agates. We are bringing some of them back +with us: amongst them a lovely little basket of palm leaves for Lucy.</p> + +<p>We sailed towards the cataract +with a stiff breeze. The scenery was +wild and beautiful. On the western side the sands of the Great Desert, +yellow as gold, came to the water's edge, with dark masses of rock +rising from them here and there. On the east, granite rocks rose one +above the other in strange forms.</p> + +<p>With the help of about fifty +Arabs, who shouted at the top of their +voices as they hauled us by a thick rope, we passed the first little +fall of the cataract. Then we passed a succession of rapids. It was an +exciting passage. Great masses of granite towered round our little +boat; sometimes we even struck against them, but not so as to do us any +harm. The groups of Nubians were picturesque. Miss Roper has sketches +of some of them swimming on palm logs.</p> + +<p>At length we came to the grand +fall. At first our boat seemed to +grow faint-hearted, and to make as though she would go back to Assouan. +But our cataract reis was prepared for this. He seemed to be everywhere +at once. He had thrown off his turban and looser clothes, and the +activity with which he darted from place to place was wonderful. One +minute he was in the boat, at another on shore pulling with the Arabs +at the rope; the next, he was mounted on a rock in the middle of the +rapids shouting to the Arabs and boatmen. Wherever there was danger, +there was the reis ready to ward it off. At last the boat was clear of +the last projecting rock; one long, strong pull from the men on shore, +and she shot forward like an arrow into the smooth water.</p> + +<p>We anchored for the night at +Mahatta, glad to be at peace from all +the screaming and yelling which made the chorus during our passage +through the rapids.</p> + +<p>At Mahatta we had a touching +scene.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning a large +boat laden with slaves came alongside +of us. Mohammed told us that they were to be landed here, and to march +to Assouan, to save the trouble of taking them down the cataract. At +Assouan they will be put on board a boat for Cairo. There must have +been at least fifty: men, women, children, and even little babies. +About half-a-dozen Egyptian soldiers had them in charge. Poor things! +they looked very miserable. Some were black and very ugly; some of a +bronze colour: these were not so ugly, and many of the women were very +graceful.</p> + +<p>It made us very sad to see +these poor creatures, who were bought and +sold like animals, without the knowledge of a Saviour and his love and +mercy to support them in their sorrows. We longed to speak to them of +Jesus Christ and his love; but, alas! they could not understand us, nor +we them. Rahaba was crouched on deck by Miss Roper's side, and her eyes +were flashing with eagerness.</p> + +<p>We asked Mohammed if anything +could be done for their comfort. He +took two men with him and brought back as many dates as they could +carry for us to divide among the poor captives. Miss Roper and I went +up to a group of women whom Rahaba had been watching. Rahaba attended +her mistress. All at once Rahaba seized a baby from its mother's arms, +kissed it, and fondled it. Then she and the young mother bent over it +together and clasped each other's hands tightly and kissed each other. +But there was no joy in their faces. Sad, silent tears trickled down +their cheeks. Rahaba said a few words in a low, choking tone to the +mother. Both looked pleased when Miss Roper took the baby in her arms. +Our eyes filled with tears, and as Miss Roper leant over the sleeping +child her tears too fell fast upon it. For a moment a gleam of hope +seemed to shine on the poor mother. She asked Rahaba if the white girl +was going to buy the baby. When she found that her baby could not stay +with Miss Roper the large tears gathered in her eyes again, and chased +each other down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>Miss Roper, who understands a +few words of Rahaba's language, +pointed to the sky, and told the mother that the great God loves little +babies, and that he cares for slaves and loves those who are good and +obedient. The poor girl folded her baby to her heart and shook her head +sadly. The news seemed to her too good to be true.</p> + +<p>But Miss Roper tried again to +make her believe it. All the rest of +the time till the pioneers were ordered to march on, Rahaba and her +sister negress crouched side by side in grief and despair. We could not +comfort them, but we prayed that God would in his mercy bring them to +know and love him and his Son Jesus Christ; and then they will be +comforted for every sorrow.</p> + +<p>We rowed to Philæ, the sacred +island of the ancient Egyptians, in +the evening; but it was too late for us to stay amongst the ruins. +Early the following morning we left Mahatta. The weather was warm and +pleasant, and on the third day the scenery began to be lovely. On both +sides the banks of the river were fringed with castor-oil plants and +prickly mimosa; above these we saw plantations of dates and palms. The +fruits of these trees are the chief food of the Nubians.</p> + +<p>We passed near the capital of +Nubia without landing. It is a large +town, and the streets are wide and busy.</p> + +<p>We still had the desert on our +left, but it was partly hidden by the +broken hills fringed with acacias. The mountain Gebel Derr projects +into the river; and for nearly three hours we coasted under broken +rocks which rise straight up from the Nile.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="RUINS_OF_COLONNADE" id="RUINS_OF_COLONNADE"><img alt="" src="images/it114.jpg" /><br /> +RUINS OF COLONNADE AT PHILÆ.</a></p> + +<p>After this we saw acacias on the left +bank of the river, and on the +right groves of palm-trees. There were numbers of peasants to be seen; +some walking, some riding. The men wore long white dresses and turbans, +the women blue gowns.</p> + +<p>The wind was fair, and we hastened on, +passing some places where +there were interesting ruins without stopping, and at last anchored +here at Wadee Halfeh.</p> + +<p>Miss Roper has been even more diligent +than before in trying to +teach Rahaba, who has looked very sad ever since we left Mahatta. +To-day Miss Roper has been telling her the story of our Saviour's +birth, and of his being laid in a manger; and how he, the King of +glory, came to suffer and die for us sinners. Rahaba listens, but she +shakes her head. She tries to understand and learn anything that Miss +Roper teaches her. But it is only to please her mistress that she does +this; and as yet she is no nearer to being a Christian than when she +was in her own country.</p> + +<p>Directly after breakfast this morning +we hired donkeys to take us to +the second cataract. All was still and silent as we rode over the +loose, shifting sand of the desert. Nothing living was to be seen. We +passed some skeletons of dromedaries which had been bleached by the sun +and wind. They made the silence and desolation seem the greater. After +riding for about an hour and a half we came to the first rocky islands. +About an hour more brought us to the Rock of Abousir.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="PAPYRUS_ON_THE_NILE." id="PAPYRUS_ON_THE_NILE."><img alt="" src="images/it116.jpg" /><br /> +PAPYRUS ON THE NILE.</a></p> + +<p>The view +here was indeed grand. The second cataract covers a space +of about seven miles in length. The river bursts its way among +numberless rocky islets. Some of these are so small that they are +hardly more than large stones; some are rocks of considerable size; +others are larger, islands of rock and sand. Between them all the +rapids rush headlong, throwing up their foam on every side. There are +trees on some of the islands, and five of the largest at the northern +extreme of the cataract are inhabited. Far off to the south we saw what +looked like a dark-blue cloud, and were told that it was the mountains +of Dongola. We wished that we could have gone to them.</p> + +<p>On the side +next the cataract the Rock of Abousir is like a straight +wall. On the desert side it is a succession of crags. We found the +names of various celebrated travellers on these rocks, amongst others +that of Belzoni. We gazed at them with a thrill of interest, and +lingered long looking at the beautiful view and scanning the names of +the travellers, great and small, who had visited the rock. What would +we not have given at that moment to go farther and track the grand +river to its source! But it was impossible! We must turn back at this +point and begin our homeward journey down the Nile.</p> + +<p>Wadee +Halfeh, the highest point we reached on our journey up the +Nile, is very picturesque. The houses are built in groups, and most of +them are surrounded by palm-groves. They are of mud, but are generally +larger and cleaner than those of the Egyptian peasants. We went into +one. Its mistress had a double row of plaits round her forehead, oiled +to an extreme degree. The people are generally well dressed and appear +comfortable.</p> + +<p>We left +Wadee Halfeh at dawn, on our return down the river to Cairo, +and arrived at Aboo Simbel, or Ipsambul as it is sometimes called, in +time to see the temples before dusk. The sand-drifts of hundreds and +hundreds of years had once covered these temples, so much so that +nothing could be seen but the giant head of one statue. Burckhardt was +the first traveller who discovered them. In the year, 1817, Belzoni, in +company with Captain Irby and Captain Mangles, began to clear away the +sand.</p> + +<p>There are +two temples. In the small temple are six giant statues, +three on each side of the door. On the walls are pictures. The temple +was dedicated to the goddess Athor, and her emblem was a sacred cow. +Mr. Roper told us that, in the inscriptions, the goddess is called +"Lady of Aboshek," Aboshek being the ancient name of Aboo Simbel.</p> + +<p>The front +of the large temple is adorned by four enormous statues. +They are seated on thrones. The heads of two are nearly perfect, and so +is the face of another. We were very much struck by them. On the arms +there is an oval bearing the name of the great Rameses. Over the +entrance we saw a large figure with a hawk's head. Mr. Roper told us +that it is a figure of the god Re. He pointed out to us the figure of +Rameses offering little images of Truth and Justice to the god.</p> + +<p>Mohammed +had provided torches for us that we might see the inner +chambers of the temple. The walls and ceilings were beautifully +ornamented with hieroglyphic figures.</p> + +<p>These +temples must have been very grand when in their beauty, for +they are grand even now in their decay. As we walked through them our +thoughts went back to the time when Egypt was in her glory, when +princes worshipped their gods in these gorgeous temples, and when +priests clad in splendid robes offered their sacrifices with all the +pomp of grand processions. All have passed away. The temples of the +false gods have fallen into ruin. The kings, and those who recorded +their victories, are all gone. The giant ruins which are left only +serve to show how great has been the decay.</p> + +<p>Thus, "the +fashion, of this world passeth away, and the glory of man +is as the flower of the grass; but the word of the Lord endureth for +ever." The throne of our great and glorious God is in heaven; in that +holy temple his faithful servants shall worship him through endless +ages. It knows no decay and no change.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="EGYPTIAN_TEMPLE." id="EGYPTIAN_TEMPLE."><img alt="" src="images/it120.jpg" /></a><br /> +EGYPTIAN TEMPLE.</p> + +<p>After passing +through several places of interest without stopping, +because our time is getting short, we anchored last night at El Kab, +and this morning started to see the tombs. They are about twenty +minutes' ride from the spot where our boat is moored. In the larger +grotto we saw curious coloured pictures of the occupations of the +ancient Egyptians. In the first line the peasants are ploughing and +sowing. There is a car in the field, which is supposed to show that the +master has come out to overlook his workpeople.</p> + +<p>There is an +inscription in hieroglyphics which was translated by +Champollion thus:</p> + +<div class="poem stanza"><span class="i12">"Work, oxen, work, +</span><span class="i0">Bushels for you and bushels for your master." +</span></div> + +<p>In the second line, +the peasants are reaping wheat and barley with a +sickle, and pulling the doorà, a kind of corn, up by its roots.</p> + +<p>In the third line +they are carrying the crops, and oxen are also +treading out the ears of the wheat and barley. The doorà was not +trodden out. It is represented as being bound in sheaves and carried to +the threshing-floor, where the grain was stripped from the stalks with +a pronged instrument.</p> + +<p>The hieroglyphics +are thus translated by Birch in his <em>Egyptian +Hieroglyphics</em>:</p> + +<div class="poem i12"> +<p><span class="i0">"Thrash ye for yourselves, +</span><span class="i0">Thrash ye for yourselves, O oxen; +</span><span class="i0">Thrash ye for yourselves, +</span><span class="i0">Thrash ye for yourselves, +</span><span class="i0">The straw which is yours, +</span><span class="i0">The corn which is your master's." +</span></p> +</div> + +<p>There are also +pictures of winnowing, measuring, and homing the +grain.</p> + +<p>Below are the +asses, pigs, goats, cattle, belonging to the owner of +the tomb. They are brought to be numbered and a list made of them by +his scribes.</p> + +<p>In another part +there are other scenes. There is a boat with a +chariot on board. There are also men fishing, catching geese, and +salting fish and geese. There is also a party of guests.</p> + +<p>Then in the last +compartment is the funeral procession of the owner +of the tomb-the end of all things for him. This, with some religious +subjects, take up the remainder of the wall. We noticed that the +Egyptian boats were large and handsomely painted-large enough to take a +chariot and its two horses on board.</p> + +<p>On the opposite +side of the tomb the owner and his wife are seated, +with a pet monkey close to them, tied. They are entertaining a party of +guests, the men and women sitting separate; servants are handing round +refreshments, and musicians, with a double pipe and a harp, are amusing +the company.</p> + +<p>These pictures of +the home-life and manners of the early Egyptians +have interested us very much. I certainly prefer them to the battle +scenes and pictures of sacrifices to their gods.</p> + +<p>Leaving El Kab, we +next stopped at Esneh. Our sailors have been +baking bread here. They bring it from the oven and spread it on the +roof of the cabins, where the wind and sun dry it into a sort of +biscuit.</p> + +<p>We landed to see +the temple. It is very perfect, and the pillars are +of great beauty. They are about fifty feet high, and are covered with +hieroglyphics. There are four rows of pillars, six in each row. On the +ceiling is a zodiac, and the walls are covered with sculpture.</p> + +<p>The villa built +here by Mohammed Ali is well worth a visit. It is on +the bank of the river below the town. A flight of stone steps leads up +to a terrace, which is shaded by acacias and other shrubs. The palace +stands in a garden; the entrance and chief rooms are large and high, +and have carved wooden roofs. The pacha's rooms are very comfortably +furnished, with carpets, divans, and every sort of luxury. We saw +numbers of lemon, orange, cypress, acacia, and palm-trees in the +garden, and hedges of Cape jessamine. Below the palace there is a +delightful walk on the bank of the Nile. Altogether it is a charming +retreat.</p> + +<p>We have now an +opportunity of sending letters. They will be the last +you will have. For we shall delay nowhere on our way back after we have +again visited the temples at this place. You may expect us in two days +after this packet arrives.</p> + +<hr /> +<p>"So they are really +coming back," said Lucy; "I am so glad. I want +very much to see Rahaba."</p> + +<p>Hugh, who was more +taken up with sight-seeing at that moment, began +to make his calculations as to how much we should be able to see before +the Nile party reached Cairo.</p> + +<p>We determined to +lose no time, but to set off early in the morning +to see Pompey's Pillar, and such other sights as we could. The day +after, we must go back to Cairo to meet our friends.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/idrop_w.jpg" alt="W" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">W e +wished to make the most +of our day in +Alexandria; and, at Lucy's request, went first to see Cleopatra's +Needle, which, as Lucy observed, is not a needle, but an obelisk of red +granite, about seventy feet high. There were two, but one has fallen.<br /> +<br /> +Sandys, an Egyptian traveller of a hundred years ago, calls this +obelisk "Pharaoh's Needle." Even in his day the other had fallen. It +was so nearly buried in sand that we could only see part of the top of +it. The two obelisks are supposed to have been brought from Heliopolis +by one of the Cæsars, to adorn the city of Alexandria.</p></div> + +<p>We next went to "Pompey's Pillar." It is more than ninety feet high. +We were quite angry with the foolish people whose vanity has made them +scribble their names on the pedestal.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad that all the people who have disgraced themselves so +are not English," said Hugh.</p> + +<p>So we all were, if one could feel glad about anything so +discreditable. There were French and Italian names there as well as +English.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a name="MARKETING_IN_ALEXANDRIA." id="MARKETING_IN_ALEXANDRIA."><img alt="" src="images/it126.jpg" /><br /> +MARKETING IN ALEXANDRIA. +</a></p> + +<p>About +two miles beyond the Rosetta Gate we came to Cæsar's Camp. It +was here that Augustus Cæsar defeated Antony's followers. We saw some +remains of towers and walls. This spot also had a still greater +interest for us English as being the place on which Sir Ralph +Abercrombie fell, in the famous battle on the 21st of March, 1801.</p> + +<p>In +the afternoon we went over the "mosque of the thousand and one +columns." This mosque is said to stand on the spot where the church of +St. Mark once stood, and where the evangelist St. Mark was put to +death. The church was destroyed by the Moslems in the year 121, in the +reign of Malek el Kamel, and whilst the crusaders were besieging +Damietta.</p> + +<p>We +passed another large mosque, the Mosque of St. Athanasius. From +this mosque was taken the sarcophagus called "The Tomb of Alexandria," +which is now in the British Museum.</p> + +<p>The +next day we returned to Cairo, and on the day following our Nile +travellers arrived. A very happy meeting it was. They had stayed one +day at Luxor, to see the temples there, and had then hastened back to +Cairo as quickly as they could.</p> + +<p>We +were all very much interested in Rahaba. To Lucy's delight, the +little girl seemed to take a great liking for her. Before Hugh and Lucy +left, they had taught her the hymn which begins,-</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 240px;" class="i12 i0">"Jesus who lives above +the +sky,<br /> +Came down to be a man and die." +</p> + +<p>Miss +Roper thought of asking for admission for Rahaba into the +Mission School, and said she would take her first to see it. But +Rahaba's eyes streamed with tears when it was spoken of, and she +pleaded so hard that she might not be taken from Miss Roper, that the +idea was given up.</p> + +<p>Mr. +and Miss Roper took her with them to England. The prayers of us +all are offered daily that God would send a blessing on Miss Roper's +labours to make Rahaba a Christian. We believe that our prayers will be +heard, for Jesus Christ's sake, and that Rahaba will learn to love the +gracious Saviour who died to save us. For he has said, "Whatsoever ye +shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."</p> + +<p class="center">LONDON: R. K. BURT AND CO., PRINTERS.</p> + +<div class="tnote" style="font-family: monospace;"> +Transcriber's Note: +<br /> +<br /> +A List of Instructions has been added for those +illustrations that were captioned. +<br /> +<br /> +The following corrections were made: +<br /> +On page 11, "wearilv" was changed to "wearily". +<br /> +On page 12, "th" was changed to "the". +<br /> +On page 74, "soun" was changed to "sound". +<br /> +On page 113, "wa" was changed to "was". +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 32720-h.txt or 32720-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/7/2/32720">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/7/2/32720</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: What We Saw in Egypt + + +Author: Anonymous + + + +Release Date: June 6, 2010 [eBook #32720] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT*** + + +E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Ernest Schaal, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 32720-h.htm or 32720-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32720/32720-h/32720-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32720/32720-h.zip) + + + + + +WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT. + +Profusely Illustrated. + + +[Illustration: ON THE DECK OF THE SLAVE BOAT.] + + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration] + + + + + + + +London: +The Religious Tract Society; +56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul's Churchyard: +and 164, Piccadilly + + +[Illustration] + +Contents + + + PAGE + + I. How we Fared in the Suez Desert 7 + + II. The First Night in Cairo 16 + + III. Sights in Cairo 22 + + IV. More Sights in Cairo 28 + + V. The Pyramids 40 + + VI. The Mosques 51 + + VII. Heliopolis, and other Sights and Scenes 56 + + VIII. A Long Day 66 + + IX. The Start up the Nile 75 + + X. Still up the Nile 84 + + XI. We go to Alexandria 101 + + XII. Conclusion 125 + + +List of Illustrations + + PAGE + + ON THE DECK OF THE SLAVE BOAT. 2 + + SUEZ 10 + + ARAB SOLDIERS. 15 + + COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL. 17 + + EASTERN VEIL. 24 + + SIGHTS IN CAIRO. 26 + + EGYPTIAN PIPE-BEARER. 29 + + CURE FOR THE TOOTHACHE. 32 + + MOSQUE. 34 + + DONKEY-BOYS AT CAIRO. 41 + + EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS. 47 + + THE SPHINX. 49 + + MOSQUE. 53 + + ARAB SITTING IN FRONT OF HIS TENT. 57 + + VISIT TO THE HAREM. 63 + + OLD GATEWAY. 68 + + THE FINDING OF MOSES. 71 + + BRICKMAKING (from _Egyptian Sculpture_). 78 + + BRICKMAKING (from _Egyptian Sculpture_). 79 + + THE SACRED IBIS. 80 + + SCENE ON THE NILE. 83 + + EASTERN BAZAAR. 88 + + EGYPTIAN LOOM. 90 + + FISHING. 91 + + POTTERS. 92 + + IDOL PAINTERS. 93 + + HEAD OF CROCODILE. 96 + + RUINS OF THEBES. 97 + + GRAND HARP. 99 + + BAGGAGE CAMEL. 102 + + DROMEDARY. 105 + + INTERIOR OF GREAT TEMPLE AT ESNEH. 107 + + RUINS OF COLONNADE AT PHILAE 114 + + PAPYRUS ON THE NILE. 116 + + EGYPTIAN TEMPLE. 120 + + MARKETING IN ALEXANDRIA. 126 + + + [Illustration] + + + + +WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HOW WE FARED IN THE SUEZ DESERT. + + +The welcome cry of "Suez! Suez!" resounded throughout the steamship +_Bentinck_ one November morning. The passage up the Red Sea had been +rough, and every one was glad to exchange the rolling and pitching of +the vessel for land travelling. The railway between Cairo and Suez was +not yet finished, and travellers crossed the desert in vans, each of +which held six persons and was drawn by two horses and two mules. Our +cavalcade consisted of eight of these high-wheeled vans. The fifth team +of vans contained four grown-up people and two children, Hugh and Lucy. + +It was a lovely day, the sky blue and clear as on the finest summer day +in England. + +Some little time after leaving Suez, a spot was pointed out to us as the +place at or near which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. The waters +were now calm and peaceful; they lay gleaming like silver in the +sunlight. But these very waters had been raised as a wall on the right +hand and on the left for the children of Israel to pass through. Then, +with a mighty surge, they had overwhelmed Pharaoh and his host, obedient +to the word of God. This miracle of old seemed more real than it had +ever done before, while we looked at the very waters on which it was +worked. + +On we went. A blue cloudless sky above; below, sand, sand, sand: except +where, every now and then, we jolted over large blocks of stone which +sent us bobbing now to this side, now to that, sometimes almost into +each other's faces, to the great amusement of the children. We stopped +about every seven or eight miles, to change our horses and mules; +generally at some little lonely building. + +Wherever we stopped, we all got out for a breath of air. For as we +passed stage after stage, the sameness of the desert began to be tiring, +especially to the children. This was not to be wondered at; for, except +the occasional skeleton of some poor camel, whose bones were bleached by +the sun, there was really nothing to interest them. Hugh consoled +himself with a nap now and then, but Lucy was wakeful and restless. + +At last we reached the midway station, where we were to stop for nearly +an hour, and to dine. + +"How glad I am to get out of this stuffy little van, and to stay out of +it for a good while!" Lucy cried, as she jumped down on the sand. + +So was everybody. + +"Will they give us some dinner?" + +Certainly, this was the only thing we had to wait for. + +We went into a large room, in which were long tables, and benches at +them. The dinner was soon brought in. Dishes of fowl and stewed cabbage, +dried fruits, and fresh dates, succeeded one another, with plenty of +bottled beer. There was no bread. But some of the older travellers had +brought some loaves from the _Bentinck_, and were very good-natured in +dividing their store with their fellow-passengers. + +[Illustration: SUEZ] + +After dinner we had some coffee, which we found very refreshing; and +soon the vans were announced. In a few minutes we were in our old seats +again, cutting our path through the sand and jolting over large blocks +of stone. + +"There is another skeleton, papa," cried Hugh, pointing to the whitened +ribs of a camel. "Do they leave the camels to die, and take no trouble +to bury them or do anything with them?" + +"Most likely this camel was unable to travel farther," his father said, +"either from fatigue or old age, and so was left behind by his owner to +die. The hot wind and the sun together have bleached his bones. But the +skin and hair of the dead camel are both used by the people of the +desert. They are made into clothes, mats, halters, and many other useful +things." + +"Yes," said Hugh, in a sleepy voice; and the next minute down went his +head on his father's shoulder. + +Lucy, too, was all but asleep. She was heartily tired of the jolting van +and the changeless dreary sand. + +The day had worn on rather wearily to her, and now that night was +setting in she felt cold and tired. She was wrapped up in a large shawl, +and made a pillow of her mother's lap. Indeed, we were all tired. And as +night closed in, and all became dark around us, we began to feel that +there was weariness in crossing the desert, notwithstanding the deep +interest connected with it. + +[Illustration] + +On, on we went. The sky had become thickly studded with stars; the moon +had risen, and her beams shed a clearer light and cast deeper shadows +than they do in our colder country. All was quiet round us. Not a sound, +except the crushing of the sand beneath our wheels and an occasional +crack of the whip, urging our horses and mules on their way. There was +no chirping of grasshoppers, no croaking of frogs, no beating of +tomtoms, such as we had been used to hear at night in our Indian homes. +All was so still that we might have fancied ourselves the only living +creatures in all the wild waste of sand. + +We stopped at one of the little lonely buildings to change horses and +mules. The stoppage roused us from the half-asleep state we were in, and +we got out of the van to look at the glorious star-gemmed sky. There was +an unusual stir in the little building, and the moonlight showed a large +dusky mass nearing us. Nearer and nearer it came; and as it passed, we +saw that it was a long string of camels. + +The war with Persia was going on at this time; and this was a treasure +party, carrying money to pay the army. The camels were laden with chests +of treasure, silver and gold. On they came, with their long, sailing +step. "Ships of the desert," the Arabs call them. The name is well +chosen, for their motion over the sea of sand is very like that of some +stately vessel over the desert of waters. + +The caravan was escorted by a party of Arab horsemen. The officer in +command of the party stopped behind for a few moments at the building at +which we were halting, to give some orders. The string of camels and +their escort were again becoming dusky in the subdued light when he +flashed past us on his Arab horse, his drawn sabre glittering in the +moonlight, which sparkled for a moment on its jewelled hilt, and on the +gems in his turban. Then he too was lost in darkness. + +The stately procession moved noiselessly on; the picturesque rider +flying by like some fleet graceful bird. No tramp of feet, no ring of +horses' hoofs. The deep sand hushed every sound. It was like a beautiful +dream; seen for a moment, then vanishing into the land of shadows for +ever. + +We were fortunate to fall in with this treasure party; still more +fortunate to see it by moonlight. Travellers generally pass through the +desert by this beaten track without anything to break its monotony. + +In a few minutes we were again on our way; those of us who could were +dozing, perhaps dreaming of camels and horsemen, and only just conscious +of the stoppages we made. + +[Illustration: ARAB SOLDIERS.] + +At last some one said, "Wake up, we are near Cairo." + +We shook ourselves up, undrew part of the curtains, drew our wraps more +closely round us (for the night was cold), and looked out. We were going +down a gentle slope, passing walls which enclosed gardens, and above +which we could see the tops of trees and shrubs. The moon was getting +low, and we could not distinguish what trees and shrubs they were; but +the sight of green leaves was very pleasant. + +We drove on down the easy descent into Cairo; and at between three and +four o'clock in the morning we drew up before Shepheard's Hotel. We had +left Suez at ten o'clock on the previous morning. Dusty and tired, we +were all glad to have the prospect of a comfortable rest. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAIRO. + + +Alas! for the news which greeted us. The hotel was full! + +The passengers by the overland mail from Alexandria had arrived the +afternoon before. What with their number, and with travellers staying in +the house, it was full to overflowing. What was to be done? We tried +another hotel with the same ill success. After a great deal of driving +about, we came back to Shepheard's, and it was arranged that a large +sitting-room should be given up to the ladies and children, and that the +gentlemen must do as they could. + +[Illustration: COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL.] + +The room which was given to the ladies and children had, according to +eastern custom, couches ranged round it, and a large divan, or couch, in +the middle. Every one was hungry, and the children were clamouring for +something to eat. One after another among us went to see whether supper +or breakfast (or whatever you like to call a meal at four o'clock in the +morning) could be had. But no! we could not even get bread-and-butter, +much less tea or coffee. + +In vain poor Lucy pleaded, "But I am _so_ hungry and thirsty." And +Hugh's eyes filled with tears which it took his strongest effort to +choke down, when he looked round at the number of people and the few +couches, and thought that, tired and hungry as he was, he might be +obliged to do without either supper or bed. + +But things were not to be quite so bad as this. Every one began to +unpack such little stores as they had. One of the ladies had a tin of +biscuits, another had some sandwiches, another some soda-water, and some +one found a little hoard of concentrated milk. + +Little enough among so many. But He who once fed a multitude on five +barley loaves and two small fishes, put it into the hearts of all to be +unselfish and to think of their neighbours' need before their own. And +so the little store went farther than we could have believed possible. + +Hugh's mother brought him a share. + +"No. There are not beds and suppers enough for the girls and the +babies," he said, trying to look very brave, though his lip quivered; +"and I am a boy." + +It was with difficulty he was persuaded to take a sandwich and a little +wine-and-water. Directly he had swallowed it, he took a little blanket, +which no one seemed to want, and went away. And our next sight of Hugh +was rolled up in his blanket, and sleeping quietly on the floor under +the table in the billiard-room. + +Did you ever try to pack bricks into a box all but too small for them? +That would be a joke compared to our task. However, we were all bent on +lying down somewhere and somehow, and we managed it. + +Lucy's mother was very delicate, and, by common consent, she was made to +take one of the best couches. Lucy had part of a tiny one near a window. + +"I do thank God for my bed to-night," Lucy whispered. "Oh, how sorry I +am for all the poor little children who have no beds! I never thought +what it was to have a bed till to-night, when it seemed as if we should +get none. Has Hugh got a bed?" + +"Hugh was fast asleep when I last saw him," I said. + +But Lucy hardly heard; her eyes were close shut, and her own words had +come out very dreamily. + +I sat down beside her for a little while, and amused myself by looking +at the strange scene. There was a large round table in the room, on +which were carriage bags of every kind, size, and shape. Some were half +open, some quite open, and their contents jumbled together in the +greatest confusion. In the middle of the table was a lamp, which cast a +dim light over the room. This was large and lofty. The couches were +filled with sleepers, covered, some with blankets, some with cloaks, +shawls, wraps, of every sort and every colour. The large divan which had +been in the middle of the room was pushed on one side and ornamented +with a circle of little faces peeping out from among their wraps, like +lilies from moss. On the floor were carpet bags of all colours, black +bags, white bags; boots, shoes, baskets. I wished that I could sketch +the scene, and especially the divan with its tiny sleepers, who looked +as happy as if in their own little beds at home. + +At last, almost without knowing it, I fell asleep in my corner, and was +conscious of nothing more till I felt the chilly air of dawn blowing in +through the venetians at my side. + +The hotel was soon all bustle. We pitied the passengers who were going +on to England. They were to start at half-past eight, and the hotel +breakfast was not till nine. With great difficulty they managed to get +some tea; this was all. + +Our own party were intending to remain in Cairo for a time. We knew that +as soon as the passengers going each way by the overland route should +have left, we should find comfortable quarters. This made us the more +sorry for our fellow-passengers, who had been so unselfish on our +arrival. But they would soon reach Alexandria by train, and we were glad +to know that they were to stop for refreshment by the way. + +"What sort of bed had you last night, Hugh?" Lucy asked. + +"A hard floor and a couple of warm blankets. Some kind friend threw a +second blanket over me after I fell asleep. I was well taken care of, +and never slept better. I fancy a good many would have been glad to have +changed places with all of us who were snugly under the billiard-table." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SIGHTS IN CAIRO. + + +All was bustle that morning. We had scarcely finished breakfast before +two or three parties of travellers set off for Sinai and Palestine; then +the passengers for India prepared to start. Before noon we were settled +in comfortable quarters. + +Shepheard's Hotel (which was burnt down some few years afterwards) stood +in a large, handsome square, called the Uzbeekeh, laid out like a garden +and planted with beautiful acacias, which give a delightful shade. +Almost every procession passes through the Uzbeekeh, serpent charmers +and jugglers make it the place for showing off their tricks, and there +is always something going on in it. + +[Illustration] + +Some of our party had business at the consulate, and they promised to +take Hugh and Lucy out first and show them a little of the town. + +At the end of an hour and a half the children came back in great +excitement. + +[Illustration: EASTERN VEIL.] + +"Oh! such lovely things," cried Lucy, chattering as fast as lips and +tongue could move. "Such lovely things we have seen! and curious women +with their faces bandaged up, and only two holes left for their eyes, +and--" + +She stopped for want of breath. + +Hugh went on: "Yes; and there was such a noise of shouting and screaming +among all the donkey-boys, to make people get out of their way. And I +think my donkey-boy screamed louder than any. It was such fun." + +"And the beautiful things in the shop, Hugh! There were bracelets, and +slippers, and carpets, and shawls, and all sorts of things. I never saw +any bazaar half so beautiful." + +"And there is a grand procession, and they say it is sure to pass by +here. Come, Lucy, come and watch for it." + +We all went to the window, and were just in time to see the procession +pass. + +It was headed by two wrestlers, who played all kinds of antics, and +asked every well-dressed passer-by for money. Then came two more men, +wearing a sort of helmet, and carrying shields and swords. They +flourished the swords, and twisted themselves about in such a curious +way, and made such funny faces, that we all laughed heartily. These men +were followed by musicians, who played on pipes, flutes, cymbals, +tambourines, guitars made out of cocoa-nuts, violins with only one +string, and a sort of drum called darabookha, beaten with the hand +instead of with drum-sticks. Besides the sound of all these instruments, +there was such a singing and clapping of hands that the noise was quite +deafening. + +Behind the musicians came a camel carrying a machine, something like +Punch's show-box, covered with gilding. The camel had red leather +trappings, ornamented with shells. Then we saw six led horses, and on +them were six little boys, very handsomely dressed in clothes worked +with gold. They were followed by some people on foot. + +[Illustration: SIGHTS IN CAIRO.] + +Next came another band of musicians like the first. After them, a number +of young women, covered up to their eyes and over their heads with large +shawls, and holes left for their eyes just to peep through. They carried +large bouquets of fresh flowers. + +Now came the grandest person of all, the bride. + +She was covered from head to foot, eyes and all, by a large scarlet +shawl, which reached down to her yellow boots. A circle of gold, studded +with sham diamonds, was bound round her head, over the shawl. As she +could not see, she was led by two of her relations--women, who were +muffled up in black silk. A canopy of yellow silk, with four gilt poles, +was carried over her head by four men, dressed in grand robes and +turbans. + +Behind the bride came a number of her relations, all women, and all +muffled up in black silk. The procession was closed by a number of hired +women, who made shrill cries, as the custom is in Cairo on all joyful +occasions. + +After a hearty laugh at the men who headed the procession, Hugh and Lucy +had watched it without speaking. Now they began to talk as fast as +before. + +"How uncomfortable to have to walk with that heavy shawl over her face," +said Lucy. + +"Yes," Hugh answered. "I should hate that; and what a noise the +musicians made! I am sure it was not a bit like music. I liked the camel +and the horses the best. But look! here is a serpent-charmer; and now, +see! such a grand man coming!" + +As he spoke, an Arab rushed by at full speed, cracking a long whip to +clear the way. He was followed by an Egyptian gentleman, mounted on a +horse covered with velvet and gold and tassels. His pipe-bearer, on a +splendid horse, rode close behind him. + +This was the beginning of our sight-seeing in Cairo. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MORE SIGHTS IN CAIRO. + + +The name Cairo is corrupted from Musr el Kaherah, which means the +"Victorious City." It was founded by a general called Goher. The walls +were built of brick till the time of the famous Saladin, who erected +stone walls in their place. + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN PIPE-BEARER.] + +It is impossible to get on in Egypt without a dragoman to arrange +everything and act as guide. We had a very good one, named Mohammed +Abdeen. + +We put ourselves under his guidance and he engaged to show us all that +was worth seeing. Hugh and Lucy were delighted with the promise that +they should come with us. Mohammed had excellent donkeys waiting for us. +They were pleasant to ride, and ambled along with a light elastic tread, +quite unlike that of our English donkeys. + +We first turned down the chief street of the city, called Moskee; and +from it wended our way towards one of the oldest bazaars in Cairo. As we +went along, we were much struck with the beautifully carved woodwork of +the houses, and with the curious overhanging windows. + +The children were delighted, too, with the gay confusion of the streets. +People were there dressed in every variety of colour. Egyptian ladies, +enveloped from head to foot in blue silk mantles and white veils, which +left nothing but their eyes to be seen, were riding on high donkeys, +preceded by their attendants. Then there were Mamelukes, in their +dresses of richly braided cloth; Copts, in dark turbans; Mecca Arabs, +with flashing eyes, and heads wreathed with folds of snowy muslin; +majestic Mograbbyns, in their white burnouses; Caireen merchants, in +silken robes. + +And the noise! Such shouting, screaming, pushing! Donkey-boys and +others, each trying to make the best path for his own animal through the +crowd of horses, asses, camels, dromedaries, which filled the narrow +streets. + +We threaded our way to the southern gate of the city, called Bab +Zuweyleh. + +"What are those people doing?" Hugh asked. + +He pointed to some people who were resting their heads against the +hinges of a large iron-bound door, fastened back to the wall. Mohammed +told us that these people had had headaches, and were waiting for them +to be charmed away by the good spirits who dwelt behind the door. He +showed us that the door was covered with metal plates, and that every +crevice of them was full of nails, driven in by persons who had had +headache, that they might be cured. Besides the nails, a great number of +teeth had been crammed in by persons who had suffered from toothache. + +Their faith is a lesson to us, whose hearts are less ready to trust in +the God who reigneth in the heavens, than the hearts of these poor +heathen are to trust the gods of their imagination. + +[Illustration: CURE FOR THE TOOTHACHE.] + +From the gate Bab Zuweyleh we went to the citadel. Here we were to see +the palace of Saladin. + +"What! the great Saladin who fought with Richard Coeur de Lion?" Lucy +asked. + +"Yes, that very Saladin." + +"Delightful! the next best thing to seeing Saladin himself," cried Hugh. + +Hugh and Lucy were impatient to see a real palace like those in old +eastern tales; we all felt a thrill of excitement, expecting something +of Oriental grandeur. Great was our disappointment! There was nothing +left of the renowned Saladin's palace except a few grand fragments of +its granite pillars, and some blocks of granite covered with +hieroglyphics. We found another memorial of him in "Joseph's well," +which is also in the citadel, and is now generally considered to have +been called after the great Saracen, whose name was Yussuf +Salah-ed-Deen, and not after the patriarch Joseph. + +From the gloomy remains of Saladin's palace we went to the palace of the +Viceroy, the windows of which look into a beautiful garden. From the +terrace we had a magnificent view. Cairo, with its domes and minarets; +then, the tombs of the Caliphs; beyond them, the broad, silent Nile; +beyond it again, the eye rested on the sands of the desert and on the +long line of pyramids which loomed in the distance. + +[Illustration: MOSQUE.] + +We next saw the new mosque, built by Mohammed Ali, of beautifully veined +alabaster. And, last of all, the court where the Mamelukes were +massacred by Mohammed Ali in 1811. Here Mohammed pointed out to us the +spot at which Emir Bey took his famous leap. + +Hugh and Lucy begged to hear the whole story; but it was too long to +tell at that moment and was put off till evening. + +We then returned to the hotel for lunch, and in the afternoon went to +Shoubra to see the pacha's country palace. + +Our road lay through a beautiful avenue of sycamores and acacias, which +interlaced their boughs over our heads, so that we seemed to be in a +bower of green. The palace is small, and the gardens are the sight +really worth seeing. There is a great variety in them; terraces, covered +walls, labyrinths, and bowers. But the great sight is the kiosk with its +large reservoir of water. + +"See!" Lucy exclaimed, "see! the water comes through those animals' +mouths." + +"They are crocodiles, Lucy," Hugh said; "marble crocodiles; and look at +the arcade. Do let us walk all round." + +We did so. It was a charming arcade: on one side the water, on the other +the gardens, from which the most fragrant perfumes filled the air around +us. + +"It is like fairy-land," said Lucy, as she danced along the arcade. + +"The young lady is delighted with it now," said Mohammed; "but she would +think it much more beautiful if she could see it when the lamps are +lighted and the fountains are playing." + +"When can we see that?" Lucy asked. + +But Mohammed told us that this can only be seen on fine nights when the +pacha and his household are assembled here; and that no Christian is +admitted. + +"Not even a small one like me?" Lucy suggested. + +No, not even the smallest one, Mohammed assured her; not if she were as +small as a grasshopper. + +The gardeners brought us beautiful bouquets and quantities of oranges; +and we walked about or rested on the divans in the arcade till it was +time to go home. + +In the evening we read the following story of the massacre of the +Mamelukes to Hugh and Lucy:-- + +The Mamelukes had long given a great deal of trouble to the pachas of +Egypt. It once happened that Mohammed Ali was on the point of sending an +expedition against the tribe of the Wahabees, when he discovered that +the Mamelukes were only waiting till his army should have gone, to try +and overturn his government. He was very angry, and determined to meet +their treachery with treachery. So he sent a message to them, through +their chief, inviting them to come to Cairo and to be present at the +ceremony of investing his son with the command of the army. + +The Mamelukes fell into the snare. Between four and five hundred of them +went to the citadel on the day fixed. Mohammed Ali received them very +courteously, and ordered coffee and pipes for them, according to Eastern +custom. When the ceremony was ended they mounted their horses to leave +the citadel. At this moment a volley was fired upon them by the pacha's +troops, and the gates of the citadel were all shut, so that there was no +possibility of escape. Shots flew in thicker and faster among the +unfortunate Mamelukes. In vain they galloped hither and thither in hope +of finding some shelter or escape. Men and horses fell under the shower +of balls, and the open space before the palace was strewn with the +slain. + +Emir Bey, one of the Mameluke chiefs, determined to make a desperate +effort for his life. He rode his spirited horse to the parapet of the +citadel wall, and urged him to take the leap. Together they go over the +wall; they are safe from the whizzing shots. Together they go down, +down. They near the ground, they touch it, they roll over together. Emir +Bey rises unhurt, but the faithful horse lies motionless. He will never +rise again. He has bought his master's life with his own. + +Emir had no time to linger by the side of his faithful friend. Every +moment was precious. Happily for him, an Albanian camp was at hand. He +rushed into the nearest tent and threw himself on the kindness and +generosity of the officer to whom it belonged. + +The officer contrived to hide him for some days. But Emir Bey's +wonderful leap became talked of, and the story came to the pacha's ears. +Orders were given that the person who had sheltered Emir should deliver +him up to the pacha; but the officer resolved that he would not give him +up. He provided Emir with a horse and helped him to escape into Asia, +where he would be safe. + +Some years afterwards Mohammed Ali heard where Emir Bey was living, and +invited him to come back to Cairo, settled a pension on him, and made +him many friendly offers. But Emir Bey would never trust the pacha +again. He lived at Acre for the rest of his life, and died there. + +Hugh and Lucy listened breathlessly to this story. When it was finished +Lucy said, "I am so glad Emir Bey would not go back. I was afraid he +might." + +"Was it safe for the officer to hide him?" asked Hugh. + +"No, he did it at the risk of his life." + +"What a noble man! Did he know Emir Bey before?" + +"Probably not. He saw a stranger in distress, and risked his life to +help him." + +"How generous!" Hugh cried. "Emir Bey must have felt as though he could +never do enough to show his gratitude. I wonder whether they ever met +again." + +This no one could tell. But the noble act of the Albanian officer led us +to talk of the gracious Saviour, who came from heaven, not only to risk +his life, but to give it for us. He gave it, not for those who had done +him neither good nor harm, but for us who were rebels against him; and +he came, not to win for us earthly life, which must soon pass away, but +a heavenly life, which will last for ever and ever. Shall not we show +our gratitude to him by helping our neighbours whenever we can, even at +the cost of some self-denial? The heathen officer has set us a noble +example of love to each other. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE PYRAMIDS. + + +Hugh was so very anxious to see the pyramids, that every one agreed to +visit them from Cairo, instead of from the boat on the voyage up the +Nile, which was to be as far as the second cataract; but neither the +children nor their mother were to go. The latter was not strong, and she +thought it best to keep the children with her. Lucy would very much have +liked to see the pyramids as well as Hugh, but the ride from Cairo was +too long for her. + +Our donkeys were ordered early, and we set off in high spirits. As we +drew nearer and nearer to the pyramids we realised more and more their +immense size. Their grandeur impressed us very much, and we shall none +of us forget the thrill of awe we felt when we first saw their base and +their gigantic size. + +[Illustration: DONKEY-BOYS AT CAIRO.] + +They are the oldest monuments in the world. Jacob, Joseph, Moses looked +upon them. They are the grandest work of man in lasting endurance. The +workmen who laboured at them have been dead and forgotten for thousands +of years. But their work lives, and will live for hundreds of years to +come; probably till the Great Day when the heavens shall be rolled +together as a scroll, and the earth and everything on it shall be burned +up and melt with fervent heat. No other work of man has been so +enduring. + +The pyramids are supposed to be the tombs of the Pharaohs, kings of +Egypt. + +We went first to the Great Pyramid, or Pyramid of Cheops. We were +attended by Arab guides, who carried wax candles, and undertook to show +us everything. We went down a sloping passage till we came to a large +block of granite. A narrow way has been made round this block, and by it +we reached the other side and came to an ascending passage. This was +very low, so low that even Hugh could not stand upright in it. This +brought us to the great passage, from which a gallery led to a room +called the Queen's Chamber. The ceiling is painted, and the masonry very +beautiful. + +Here we rested for a little while, and then went back to the great +passage. We still had to ascend to reach the King's Chamber. The passage +being cased with polished granite, we found it very slippery. Indeed, +Hugh and I were continually sliding backwards, and found a special +difficulty in getting on. + +[Illustration] + +At last we reached the King's Chamber. This is the largest in the +pyramid. It is more than thirty feet long and about half as wide. The +roof is flat, made of seven immense blocks of red granite, with halves +of two other blocks. The walls are of the same red granite. In this room +we saw a large granite sarcophagus, but there was neither any +inscription on it nor any of the hieroglyphics which the old Egyptians +used in writing. + +There are five other rooms above the King's Chamber. But the guides told +us that we could not get to them without ladders. As we could not find +out that there was much worth seeing in them, we left them unvisited. +Many travellers suppose that these rooms were only built to break the +great weight of the large upper part of the pyramid, and to prevent it +from pressing too heavily and crushing in the ceiling of the King's +Chamber. + +Colonel Howard Vyse (who made a great many researches in Egypt, and has +written a very interesting book about them) says that the Great Pyramid +is now four hundred and fifty feet high, and that when it was entire it +must have been four hundred and eighty feet high. The blocks of stone +become smaller in size as they near the top. The lowest fifty rows +measure one hundred and thirty-eight feet three inches; the highest row, +only three feet six inches. + +When we had come back again into the fresh air the guides asked if we +wished to go up the outside of the pyramid. Hugh wished it very +decidedly. I was advised not to attempt it, and told that the view would +not repay me for the exertion. So I consented to stay below. The others +went up, and returned in about twenty minutes. Hugh said that the steps +were steep, and made of irregular broken stones. All agreed that the +view was not so fine as might have been expected. Cairo; the Mokattan +Hills; the Nile, with its fresh green banks; the Pyramids of Aboosir, +Dashoor, and Sakkara, were the chief objects. + +Hugh asked one of the guides in how short a time he could go to the top +of the pyramid and down again. He said he would show us, if we would +give him a present. We agreed. Within five minutes he was at the top, +and in three more he was by our side again below, claiming his reward. + +The Great Pyramid is seven hundred and forty-six feet square at its +base. + +"How many yards is that, Hugh?" + +Hugh thought for a minute. "Two hundred and forty-nine yards all but a +foot," he answered. + +"Right, so that if you were to build a straight piece of wall as long as +the four sides of the pyramid, it would stretch more than half a mile." + +"How wonderful!" exclaimed Hugh, gazing in astonishment at the gigantic +pyramid. "May I ride round it?" + +We rode round it, and then went on to the second pyramid. This is +sometimes called the Pyramid of Cephren. He was brother to Cheops. The +casing-stones are still left on the highest part of this pyramid. They +are of a delicately-grained white stone which comes from the Mokattan +Hills, and are highly polished. We saw great quantities of granite lying +scattered about. + +This pyramid was opened by the celebrated traveller Belzoni, in the year +1816. Passages were found in it like those in the Great Pyramid. In a +granite room, with a pent roof, we saw a sarcophagus half-buried in the +floor. + +The third pyramid, called the Pyramid of Mycerinus, was opened by +Colonel Howard Vyse. Mycerinus was the son of Cheops. He was a just +king, and treated his people with kindness. This pyramid now measures +three hundred and thirty-three feet at its base, and is two hundred and +three feet high. It was originally cased with granite, and some of the +casing is still left. + +In it is a room with a painted roof; a space is left over it to prevent +its being crushed in by the weight above. A sarcophagus was found in +this room, in which was the coffin of King Mycerinus, and his name on +it. The coffin and the king's body were sent to England, and are now in +the British Museum. This pyramid is thought to have been the most +beautiful of the three. + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS.] + +As we stood in these solemn chambers of the dead, we thanked God, who +has given us a better hope than these mighty kings of old had. Death +must have had many terrors for them. But our blessed Saviour came to +make it the gate to eternal life for all who love him and serve him +truly. + +We next went to look at the tombs around the pyramids. Some are very +much injured, others are in better preservation. One of the most curious +of these was opened by Colonel Vyse. We looked down into a deep well or +pit, about fifty feet deep, and there we saw a large black sarcophagus. +There were many other tombs on all sides, but we had not time to examine +them. + +Time was passing quickly, and we had not yet seen the wonderful Sphinx. + +The excavations which have been made show the Sphinx to have been a +gigantic figure of a crouching lion, with the head of a man, and wearing +a royal crown. It is cut out of the natural rock. Its length, according +to Pliny, was one hundred and forty-three feet, and its height +sixty-three feet. + +The Sphinx is now much injured: and the sand drifts so fast from the +desert that the space where excavations have been made is soon filled +again. Yet, defaced and half-buried as it is, it is grand beyond +description. The "Father of Terrors," as the Arabs call him, is majestic +in his mighty repose. There he crouches, guardian of the solitary desert +and its solemn tombs. Thousands of years have rolled over his head, yet +there he still sits on his lonely throne amid his silent court. There as +long as the world lasts he will abide; grand, silent monarch of the +desert! + +[Illustration: THE SPHINX.] + +It was long before we could tear ourselves away from the majestic +Sphinx. But at last Mohammed warned us that if we wished to reach Cairo +before nightfall, we must no longer delay. We remounted our donkeys. But +though we rode at a quick pace, the sun was already setting before we +reached our hotel. + +Our first thought the next day was to find out all we could about the +Sphinx. We searched our books of Eastern travel, and from them we found +that the Sphinx originally supported a small temple between its paws. +The walls consisted of three tablets, the top of one of which yet +remains. The middle one was of granite, and represented Thothmes the +Fourth making an offering to the Sphinx. He lived about fourteen hundred +and ten years before the birth of Christ. + +The side walls were of limestone. They, too, were sculptured, and +represented offerings made by Rameses the Great, He lived in the year +thirteen hundred and eleven before the birth of our Lord. + +There was an inclosure in front of this temple, bounded by a low wall, +which stretched from one paw of the Sphinx to the other. The space +inclosed between it and the temple was about fifty feet. There was an +altar for sacrifice in front of the steps leading to the temple. + +In front of the wall was a wide paved space, from which two large +flights of steps went up to a paved road. This road led to the plain, +and had a brick wall on each side to protect it from the sand. + +The approach must have been very grand. A man coming by it would first +be on a level with the breast of the Sphinx, and would have a full view +of the altar and temple below. Then, as he went down the roadway, the +Sphinx would seem to rise higher and higher, till he must have felt +himself quite a pigmy, looking up at the vast figure. + +The children were, like ourselves, very much interested in these +accounts of the Sphinx, which their father had collected for us. + +"Has any one besides Colonel Howard Vyse tried to clear away the sand?" +Hugh asked. + +"Yes, Mr. Salt and Signor Caviglia excavated the upper portion and all +the front of the figure. Colonel Howard Vyse continued what they had +begun." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MOSQUES. + + +This day was to be given to seeing the mosques in Cairo. We set off +early, and went first to see the mosque of Sultan Hassan. This is +thought to be one of the most beautiful specimens of Arabian +architecture in Cairo. + +It was built in the fourteenth century, and the blocks of stone for it +were brought from the Great Pyramid, of which these were the +casing-stones. Inside, the mosque was beautiful. Rows of coloured glass +lamps hung from the walls; some were especial curiosities, for they were +the finest early glass-work of their kind. The arches also are fine, and +so are some of the ornaments of the roof. + +One sight was pointed out which made us shudder. This was the dark stain +of Sultan Hassan's blood on the pavement. He was murdered in the mosque +by his Mamelukes. His tomb is just in the middle of the inner inclosure. +On it we saw a copy of the Mohammedan holy book, the Koran. It was +splendidly illuminated in gold and colours. The sultan's tomb was once +covered with a rich embroidered covering, but this was faded and +moth-eaten when we saw it. The marble pavement, too, was broken in many +places. + +The mosque of Sultan Hassan has always been famed for its beauty. It is +said that the sultan cut off the head of the architect, that he might +never build another as beautiful. + +From the mosque of Sultan Hassan we went to the mosque of Sultan Tuloon. +It was built about the year 879 after the birth of our Lord, and is said +to be the oldest mosque in Cairo. It has double rows of handsome pointed +arches. There is a fine view from the chief minaret. Our guide told us +that it even excels that from the citadel. But the staircase is spiral, +is outside, and in rather a ruinous state. + +[Illustration: MOSQUE.] + +On reaching the second gallery, some of us became faint-hearted and +stayed to rest. Even from it the view was a grand one; but those who +went to the top said that we had really seen nothing in comparison. + +Lucy was tired and giddy when we came down, so some of us went home with +her while the rest went to see the mosque of El Ghoree. + +"It is beautifully painted," said Hugh, when giving us an account of it +afterwards. "And inside there are pillars of marble and +mother-of-pearl." + +"Those are in the niche for prayer," his father said. "The windows and +walls of the mosque, and the roof, are ornamented with stone carved like +lace-work. But I think, Hugh, that what I admire most are the horseshoe +arches, and the four grand columns which look as if they had belonged to +some ancient temple." + +"What did the man call that niche for prayer?" Hugh asked. + +"The Mahrab. In every mosque the Mahrab looks in the direction of Mecca, +where Mohammed was born; and which is therefore to the Mohammedans the +most sacred of cities." + +"Do they pray towards Mecca, then, just as Daniel prayed towards +Jerusalem?" + +"Yes, they do. When we were looking at the Mahrab, I, like you now, +thought of Daniel, and wished for the day when the knowledge of the +gospel shall have spread over the earth, and when all places for prayer +shall be used for the service of the only true God, and Jesus Christ +whom he has sent." + +"I should like to make one little Egyptian girl a Christian," said Lucy; +"would not you, Hugh?" + +"But how could we, Lucy?" + +"Oh! we could talk to her, and teach her our hymns, and tell her about +our Bible pictures." + +"Only," Hugh answered, thoughtfully, "she would not understand what we +said, and we should not understand her." + +"I forgot that. Mamma, may we learn Egyptian?" + +"That would take a long time, and I think you can do something better +than that. There is a mission already at Cairo, where the children are +taught by persons who understand the language." + +"May we see it?" + +"Yes, and you can give some of your money and time in buying and making +clothes for those who are very poor. And something else you can do." + +"What is that? Can I do it?" asked Hugh, "for I cannot hem and sew the +clothes." + +"Yes, we can all do it. We can pray every day for the Egyptian children, +that God will give them hearts to serve him, and to love our precious +Saviour Jesus Christ, who came to save little children as well as +grown-up people." + +It was a happy thought that we could all begin that very night to do +something for the Egyptian children. Hugh and Lucy said so, and we all +felt it. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HELIOPOLIS, AND OTHER SIGHTS AND SCENES. + + +The next morning we set off for Heliopolis. + +Heliopolis, or the "City of the Sun," is the same which is called "On" +in the Bible. Joseph's wife came from On, where her father was a man of +wealth and importance. + +The ride from Cairo to Heliopolis is delightful. We went across the edge +of the desert, and on our way were struck by a solitary dome marking a +tomb. This is the tomb of Saladin's brother, Malek Adhel, to whom +Richard Coeur de Lion wished to marry his sister Matilda. + +[Illustration: ARAB SITTING IN FRONT OF HIS TENT.] + +Beyond this our road lay through green fields and shady avenues of +acacias. The air was filled with a delicious perfume and with the +humming of the wild bees. We saw Arabs, with bare legs and turbaned +heads, tilling the ground, oxen treading out the corn, long strings of +camels and asses bringing home provender. + +It was, indeed, a living Bible picture. + +The land of Goshen was opening before us. We were looking at the same +scenes among which Joseph and his brethren had moved. The strings of +asses laden with corn were like the strings of asses which Joseph's +brethren had taken back laden to their dear father in Canaan. + +It was a solemn feeling to be treading the very ground, and looking at +the very fields over which the patriarchs once trod. + +A village called Matarieh stands near where the city of Heliopolis once +stood. Here a sycamore was shown to us under which Joseph and the Virgin +Mary and Infant Saviour are said to have rested when they fled into +Egypt from King Herod. The gardens of Matarieh were in former times +famed for their balsams. They were first brought from Judea, and were of +the same species as trees from which was made the "Balm of Gilead" that +we read of in the Bible. + +Heliopolis, the "City of the Sun," was so called because in ancient +times there was a magnificent temple in it which was dedicated to the +sun. Besides the temple of the sun, there was in Heliopolis another +temple, dedicated to the bull Mnevis. + +Cambyses, a king of Persia, took the city about five hundred years +before the birth of our Lord. He burnt the temples and destroyed the +palaces. Some of the obelisks escaped, and were afterwards taken to Rome +and Alexandria. One is still left. It is about sixty-five feet high. + +Part of a Sphinx was found near it some time ago, so that it is supposed +that an avenue of Sphinxes led up to it, and that it is one of two +obelisks which probably stood at the entrance of the Temple of the Sun. +Wild bees had made their nests on the top of the obelisk, and came down +upon us in swarms, as is their wont to travellers. Lucy was frightened; +and though Hugh tried to look very brave, he did not feel quite at ease +any more than myself. However, we came to no harm, though they buzzed +all about us. The obelisk stands in a garden of rosemary and other +herbs, which perhaps attracted the bees to it as their home. + +In vain we wandered hither and thither, searching for some other traces +of the bygone glories of this City of the Sun. Here it was that Joseph +once lived. Here it was that Moses was made "learned in the wisdom of +the Egyptians." Here the wise and learned men of Egypt used to assemble. +Here was once heard "joy and the voice of melody." Where is it now? All +is silent, still. This solitary pillar alone stands to mark the scene of +long-forgotten pomp and glory. + +Thus do earthly cities vanish. But the heavenly city which our Saviour +has prepared for them that love him, will endure for evermore. Its +glories are far brighter than ever were those of this City of the Sun, +and are unfading; be it ours to have a part in that new and blessed +city! + +The next morning we met some travellers who had been to a Copt wedding, +of which the lady gave us an account. + +"The family was a rich one," she said, "and everything was most +splendid. The inner court of the house was beautifully lighted, and was +crowded with guests. In the middle were the musicians, with all sorts of +instruments: Arab flutes, dulcimers, fiddles; the noise was deafening. + +"The master of the house took us to an up-stairs room in which were the +guests of higher rank. These were all men. Though the Copts are not +Mohammedans, it seems the custom for their women to live in as great +retirement as the Mohammedan women do, and also for them to cover their +faces when they go out of doors. + +"We were taken into a large room covered with rich carpets, and lighted +by a number of wax candles and a large chandelier. We were led to a +large divan, where pipes, coffee, sweetmeats, and sherbet were handed to +us, whilst we listened to the songs of the singing women. + +"These singing women are called 'Alme.' They attend the weddings of all +the rich people in Cairo, and are paid by contributions from the guests. +Generally they make a good sum at a wedding, especially those who are +clever enough to invent songs at the moment. + +"We stayed in this room for a long time, and then I was taken to that +part of the house where the ladies of the family live. At the entrance +some negress slaves were waiting to receive me and lead me to the room +in which the lady of the house awaited me. She was mounted on a complete +throne of cushions, and some eighty or ninety guests, all ladies, were +with her. They were dressed in every variety of colour, and their +dresses were all embroidered in gold. The young ladies wore pretty gauze +veils, pink, white, or blue. These were all edged with needlework; some +in gold, some in silver. The elder ladies wore gorgeous Cashmere shawls +thrown over their heads and shoulders, and most of them wore diamond +ornaments. + +"I was conducted to the seat of honour by the side of the lady of the +house, and a narghile (a sort of pipe) was brought to me. Then a china +saucer was filled with bonbons from a tray covered with all sorts of +confectionery, and was handed to me with some rose sherbet. + +"After this I was taken into another room to see the bride. She was a +girl about twelve years old. She lay on a sofa, with her face muffled up +in some kind of white stuff which was ornamented with diamonds, and was +bound on by a band of diamonds. Her nurse was with her. The poor child +was very tired, and more than half asleep. When the covering was removed +that I might see her face, she moved uneasily, as if she did not like to +be disturbed. She was dressed in satin, scarlet, and gold, and had a +white cashmere shawl round her waist. She wore a number of splendid +ornaments. + +"It was nearly midnight when we came away. The cool night air was +delicious after all the heat and glare of the house. It was a glorious +night, the sky radiant with stars which sparkled more brightly than the +little bride's diamonds." + +[Illustration: VISIT TO THE HAREM.] + +It was now time for us to go to the mission schools, which we all very +much wanted to see. + +We went first to the girls' school, where we saw a number of children +copying portions of Holy Scripture in Arabic. They wrote beautifully. +Lucy took a great fancy to one little girl, and stood beside her, +watching her, for a long time. The child stole a shy glance at her now +and again; a kindly feeling sprang up between them, though they could +not understand each other's language. + +We were told that the language taught in the schools generally is +Arabic, but that some of the children learn English. They are taught +reading, writing, arithmetic, needlework, embroidery, and, in fact, +everything that can be useful to them. They read the Bible, and many of +them can say large portions of it by heart. + +We next went to the ragged school. There we saw a number of little +children, some of them not more than three years old. They are fed and +clothed, and stay at school all day, only going home at night. They +looked very happy. + +Besides these schools, there is also a school for Coptic young men. + +These schools were all founded by the Rev. Theophilus Lieder (a German +clergyman, head of the mission in Egypt) and his wife. So great a work +needed much self-denial, courage, energy, industry. But Mr. and Mrs. +Lieder gave these willingly for love of Jesus Christ, and of the lambs +of his flock. He has helped their work, for he always blesses the work +which is done from love to him. Very few of us can do such a great work +for Jesus Christ as Mr. and Mrs. Lieder have done. But we can all do +something for him. And if we love him, he will help even our smallest +work in his name. For he has said, "Whosoever shall give to drink unto +one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a +disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." + +On our way home from the schools we rode round the principal bazaars, a +never-failing pleasure to Hugh and Lucy. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A LONG DAY. + + +Fostat, or Old Cairo, was the next place of interest which we visited. +The walls built round it by the Romans were of small squared stones, +mixed with tiles, and were about nine feet high. There were two towers, +each half a circle in shape, standing out from them, and two other large +towers at the principal gate. The gateway was almost buried in sand: +still, we could distinguish an eagle on one part of it. + +The only entrance it now has is a small gate, too narrow for a carriage +to pass through. The streets are really only lanes, and the houses are +high. In old times this city was called Egyptian Babylon. + +"Is it the same as Babylon the Great?" Hugh asked. + +"No. Babylon the Great stood on the River Euphrates, and was the capital +of the Babylonian empire." + +"Can you tell me anything more about this Babylon in Egypt?" + +"Yes, a little. Sir Gardner Wilkinson mentions an early Christian +record, sculptured on wood, of the time of Diocletian. It is in the west +tower, and we will try and find it. Then the crusaders, under Louis IX. +of France, besieged but did not take it. The Sieur de Joinville, who +wrote the life of the king, has given an interesting account of the +siege. He describes the terror caused in the army when the 'Greek fire' +was thrown from the walls. In the middle ages it was a noted place, and +a stuff called 'cloth of Baldeck' was manufactured here. It was made of +silk and of gold and silver threads, and was ornamented with imitations +of trees, flowers, and birds. It was worn and much prized by persons of +high rank. Henry III. was, I believe, the first English king who wore +cloth of Baudekin or Baldeck, but it was worn in other countries of +Europe before his time." + +We went to the upper chamber over the west tower of the old gateway, and +there saw the record described by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The upper part +with the Greek inscription; below it a symbol of the Deity, a globe +supported by two winged angels; and on each side six figures, which Sir +Gardner Wilkinson believes to be the twelve apostles. We were very much +interested in this Christian record, and wished that we had had some +knowledge of who these early Christians were who had left the traces of +their assembly in this upper chamber. + +[Illustration: OLD GATEWAY.] + +We next went to see the mosque of Amer. This mosque was built by the +Saracen Amer on the spot on which he encamped with his army when he +besieged the city and took it. He founded the city of Fostat, which +became the capital of Mohammedan Egypt. Four hundred years afterwards +the present city of Cairo was built by one of the caliphs. He made it +the capital, and called it Masr-el-Kahira, or "the Victorious City." The +city built by Amer was then called "Old Cairo." + +We were not so much struck by the mosque of Amer as we had been by some +other mosques. There are some fine pillars and arches, both pointed and +circular. But its chief interest is its great age. There is an old +tradition that whenever this mosque falls, the Mohammedan power will +fall in Egypt. + +From Old Cairo we crossed over to the Island of Roda, to see the +Nilometer. It consists of a square well, in the middle of which is a +pillar marked in degrees, for measuring the rise of the Nile. There was +once a tower over it. At the time when the Nile is rising, the criers +come into Cairo every morning to proclaim the height to which it has +risen since the previous morning. This overflow of the Nile irrigates +the country for a long distance from its banks, and makes them very +fruitful. + +From the Nilometer we went to see the gardens belonging to Ibrahim +Pacha; then to the spot where Moses is said to have been found by +Pharaoh's daughter. We could picture the cradle of bulrushes floating on +the still waters; the royal princess coming down with maidens to bathe, +the anxious Miriam watching with eager eyes to see what would be the +fate of her baby-brother. Hugh and Lucy both said that it made the Bible +seem much more real to them, now that they were in the very land where +so many of God's wonders of old were wrought. We all felt it so, as we +looked at the spot where Moses was preserved in his babyhood, while +floating in his cradle in the very waters which afterwards at his word, +by God's command, were turned into blood. + +Our next expedition was to the tombs of the Mameluke kings. We rode +through a not very interesting part of Cairo to the "Bab-el-Nasr," or +"Gate of Victory." + +The tombs stand at a short distance from Cairo, on the edge of the +desert. Each has its mosque, with dome and minarets. In one, called El +Kait Bey, there is the print of a man's foot on the marble slab. This is +said to be the footprint of "the Prophet" Mohammed. It is within a +covered enclosure which is open at the sides. The Arabs show their +respect for it by touching it reverently with their hands, which they +kiss afterwards. + +[Illustration: THE FINDING OF MOSES.] + +Another beautiful tomb is El Berbook. It has been faced with red and +white stones, many of which are still left. There is an open corridor on +the first floor. The entrance-hall leads into the large court of the +mosque, in which there once was a fountain. It has long ceased to play, +and the ornaments are all in ruin. The dome was richly ornamented. The +door to it was locked, and we could only peep through some holes at the +beauties within. + +We next went to the tomb and mosque of Ahd Bey. The pavements, the +windows, the grand arch, the ornamentation, all were beautiful. And the +thought that the great Mameluke sultans, in whose honour these were +wrought, made us silent. These palaces were not for the living, but for +the dead. Even Hugh and Lucy grew grave. It was such a solemn thought +that we were walking among earthly palaces, dedicated to those to whom +earthly glory has for centuries been less than nothing! Here they sleep, +silent owners of their silent city in the desert, till the last great +trumpet shall sound, and the mighty dead shall (with their humbler +fellow-men) be judged according to their works. Thanks be to God who +giveth his people the victory in that day, through Jesus Christ our +Lord. + +In silence we passed on from one tomb, one mosque, to another. + +"Where are we going now?" Hugh asked, after we had ridden on for some +time. + +"To the petrified forest." + +"Shall we find the trees standing, all turned into stone? For petrified +means turned into stone, does it not?" said Lucy. + +"Yes, it does. But I do not think we shall find any trees standing, from +what I have read about the 'petrified wood.'" + +True enough. When we reached the petrified forest in the Valley of +Wanderings (this valley forms the beginning of the desert leading to the +Red Sea) we did not see a single tree, but the sand was for miles +covered with fragments of wood. Though these were turned into stone, we +could see knots and fibres, and even the rough bark, which showed them +to be fragments of trees. + +"Is it not wonderful!" exclaimed Hugh. + +It was indeed wonderful. And now we came to what looked like the trunk +of a large tree; there was another like it, at a little distance; they +must have been quite fifty feet long, or more; they lay in the sand, and +seemed to have broken as they fell, for there were small pieces +scattered about all around. + +"What made it?" Lucy asked. + +None of us could tell; nor have we since been able to find any account +of how these trees were turned into stone. But it seems certain that all +this part of the desert, on which there is not now a blade of grass, +must have been covered by a wood. + +We could but look and wonder. "How unsearchable are the judgments of +God, and his ways past finding out!" + +We all picked up some pieces to bring away with us. Then we sat down on +one of the large petrified trunks and ate our lunch, the wonders all +round us giving us plenty to talk about the while. + +On our way home we came round by another group of tombs beneath the +mountains of Mokattam. We had had a long day, and it was nearly sunset +when we left the tombs. + +The sunset clouds were gorgeous. All at once, as the sun sank beneath +them, the deep-toned sound of the muezzin called the faithful followers +of the prophet Mohammed to prayer. Every one around us prostrated +themselves. Our hearts obeyed the call; we offered our thanks to our +Heavenly Father, who has made such a world of beauty and wonder for our +enjoyment. + + "O God, O good beyond compare, + If thus Thy meaner works are fair, + If thus Thy bounties gild the span + Of ruined earth and sinful man, + What must those glorious mansions be + When Thy redeemed shall dwell with Thee!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE START UP THE NILE. + + +Our party was now to be divided for a time. We were all anxious to see +the Nile, but it was thought better for the children and their mother to +stay quietly in Cairo. Those who were not pressed for time offered to +remain with them, while the others hastened up to the second cataract. +After much discussing and arranging, it was decided that three should +stay with the invalid and her children in Cairo, and the other three +should go up the Nile together. + +The most comfortable sort of boat for travelling is the "dahabieh." One +was engaged. Mohammed laid in the stores necessary for the journey; and +when all was ready, we went to Boulak, which is the port of Cairo, to +see the travellers start. + +We went on board the dahabieh. + +"What a beautiful room!" Lucy exclaimed, as she went into the saloon. + +And so indeed it was. Carpets, cushions, divans, book-shelves; nothing +was wanting to make the dahabieh a most luxurious little home. There +were easy-chairs of every kind on deck, and an awning was spread as a +protection from the sun. The crew consisted of a captain, or reis, as he +is called, a pilot, and fourteen Arab sailors. + +We exchanged farewells, heartily wishing that we too were going, and +they started. As we waved our last farewells from the shore, Hugh said, +in a disconsolate voice, "Great fun for them, but no fun for us." + +We were all a little dull that evening. But the travellers had promised +to keep a journal, and we soon began to think when we should receive +news of them. + +The first instalment of the journal was brought by a gentleman with +whose dahabieh they fell in off Benisooef. It was eagerly opened and +read aloud, while we listened with all our ears and eyes. + + JOURNAL ON THE NILE. + +The wind was fair when we left Boulak. We passed Roda, the Nilometer, +and Old Cairo. Then a long reach of the river brought us to the village +of E Deyr, which is inhabited by Copt Christians. We next passed, on our +left, El Masarah, where there are large stone quarries. The stone for +the Great Pyramid was taken from these quarries. + +At Bedreshyn we landed, Mohammed procured donkeys for us, and we set off +to see the Pyramids of Sakkara. + +We rode first to the village of Mitrahenny, where the ancient city of +Memphis once stood. The country round it is very pretty. The village +itself stands in a wood of palm-trees. We were told that at the time at +which the Nile overflows its banks the people leave their houses and +live in the palm-trees, where they put up a sort of scaffolding to sleep +on. When the river falls again, they leave the trees, repair their mud +huts, and live in them till the next overflow. + +Memphis, formerly such a splendid city, is gone. There is scarcely a +trace left of this once busy capital of Lower Egypt in which Moses +lived, where the poor Jewish captives toiled to make up the tale of +bricks for Pharaoh's taskmasters. Some few remains of foundation-walls +are found in the sand. But nothing is left to tell of the temples and +palaces of this ancient city, except only a part of a colossal statue of +Rameses, called Sesostris. It is of a pure white, made of polished +limestone, and must have been more than forty feet in height. The statue +lay on its face, and we could not see the features. It has a scroll in +its hands. Pieces of the legs and feet were lying about. All around are +magnificent palm-trees. + +[Illustration: BRICKMAKING _(from Egyptian Sculpture)_.] + +The Pyramids of Sakkara are near the village of the same name. The +largest of them is called by the Arabs "the Pyramid of Degrees." It has +outside six stories or degrees, each smaller than the one below it. +Inside are passages and chambers. + +Near the pyramids are the famous pits, in which are ibis mummies. The +ibis was a sacred bird among the Egyptians. We bought one of these +mummies. It was enclosed in a round earthen jar, the top of which was +shaped like a cone, and was fastened down strongly with cement. + +[Illustration: BRICKMAKING _(from Egyptian Sculpture)_.] + +The bird was rolled up in long bandages of linen. The head and neck were +folded over the breast, the wings laid close to the sides, and the long +legs were folded up and brought close to the beak. The bird was perfect. +We said we knew how delighted you all, and especially Hugh and Lucy, +would be to see it. But our curiosity was selfish. As soon as the air +played on it, it crumbled into dust. + +[Illustration: THE SACRED IBIS.] + +There are some fine tombs near the Pyramids of Sakkara. We went to the +one which we were told was the best worth seeing. The roof was hollowed +into the shape of an arch and covered with smoothly-cut stones cemented +together. This led into a room in which is a deep well. We also saw some +hieroglyphics, and some sculpture; most of these represented men +carrying birds. It was not very interesting, and we did not stay long to +look at it. + +We had a delightful ride back to Bedreshyn, through fields and among +clumps of thorny mimosa, on which the camels love to browse. The +palm-trees looked beautiful in the clear sunlight. Nothing was wanting +but the song of birds, and this is a want almost always felt by +Europeans in the hot climates of Africa and Asia. + +The next day we went to the Pyramids of Dashoor. Two are of stone and +two of brick. The first was the largest. Colonel Howard Vyse gives its +height as three hundred and twenty feet. The entrance was covered with +stones and rubbish. The second pyramid is not so large. The ascent to +the entrance is not very difficult, but the descent is exceedingly so, +and there is not much to repay one for the trouble. + +We returned to our boat in good time, and were much amused, after we had +again started, by watching the peasants raising water from the river +with poles and buckets, and with looking at the Arab boats, a number of +which passed us. + +We next came to El Kafr el Jyat. It is only a small village, but in it +is the residence of a wealthy chief whose hospitable house is the resort +of travellers. He bears the title of Khabeeree, or "the guide." We find +from Sir G. Wilkinson's book[A] that this title "has been hereditary in +his family since the time of Sultan Selim, who gave it to his ancestor +as a reward for his services in that capacity, when he took possession +of the country after the defeat of the son of El Ghoree." + +We next passed the False Pyramid. It takes its name from the base being +of rock and not really part of the building. + +The banks of the river and villages were enlivened with palm-trees. But +we passed no place of any size or interest till we came to Benisooef. + +Benisooef is the capital of the province, the Fyoom, and has several +manufactories of cotton and silk. + +We are lounging idly on deck looking at the scene before us. A great +many boats are tied to the shore, and a number of people are on the +quay. The children are tolerably clad, and some of the old men are +exceedingly picturesque in their white dresses, with their cloaks thrown +over their shoulders and leaning on their staves; girls are coming down +to fill their jars with water and carrying them away most gracefully on +their heads. And as for animals! Hugh would find more than enough to +satisfy him. Dogs, goats, poultry, cows, horses, camels, buffaloes! And +_such_ a noise! we can scarcely hear ourselves speak for the clatter. +But a gentleman who is going down to Cairo, and will leave at daybreak, +has just sent to know whether he can take any letters for us. So good-by +for the present. + +[Footnote A: "Modern Egypt," vol. ii.] + +[Illustration: SCENE ON THE NILE.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +STILL UP THE NILE. + + +It was some little time before we could expect the next part of our +travellers' journal. + +Hugh very much wished to go to the citadel again. Lucy wanted to pay +another visit to the gardens at Shoubra. We gave an afternoon to each, +and almost every morning we went to the Mission Schools; either to the +girls' school or to the ragged school. The more we saw, the more we +admired the energy and self-denial of Mr. and Mrs. Lieder, and the more +zealous and anxious we grew to do what little we could to help in the +great work of making known the love of Jesus Christ and the salvation he +has bought for us with his blood. Those who have the love of Christ +really in their hearts must always long to make others love him too. + +Day by day went on and we began to watch anxiously for some more news. +The gentleman who had brought the first part of the journal told us that +he knew there was another dahabieh which was not very far behind him. He +had passed it, not having time to stop and see all that its travellers +were stopping to see. + +At last this dahabieh arrived, and we had a large packet. Lucy had leave +to open it. She and Hugh danced about in delight for the first few +minutes. Their father was one of the party who had gone, which made the +joy of news the greater. + +The first great excitement of the arrival was soon over, and we all +clustered together eagerly to hear the contents of the large letter. + + + JOURNAL ON THE NILE. + +We finished our last letter just after we arrived at Benisooef. It is a +large town, and was once famous for its manufacture of linen. + +We started the next morning with a fair wind. We passed Isment; and near +it, the quarries from which the beautifully veined marble was obtained +of which the mosque of Mohammed Ali at Cairo was built. + +But what delighted us most was the high table-mountain, Sheikh Embarak. +This giant seemed standing to block our path. Its surface is broken; and +as we neared it, we saw one large cliff which looked like a ruined +castle. The Sheikh, like some other giants of olden times, is accustomed +to give travellers rather a rough welcome, and we came in for one of his +gusty greetings in a sudden gale of wind. + +Tell Lucy that her father, who was lounging in a chair on castors, +suddenly found his chair running away from him, and he narrowly escaped +a ducking in the Nile. And tell both Hugh and Lucy that the dahabieh lay +over so suddenly that every one else was nearly following me, and that +if I had gone over into the Nile, I should only have been ready to +welcome the others who were coming after. + +After this unwilling prostration to the Sheikh, we went on without any +further trouble. + +A rock in the stream next attracted our attention. It is called the +Hagar o' Salam, or Rock of Welfare, because the boatmen say that they +cannot venture to call a voyage down the Nile prosperous until they have +passed it. We looked at it with interest. It seemed an emblem of our +Saviour Jesus Christ; for, till we have come to him, there can be no +safety for us in our voyage on the river of life. + +Our journey was, after this, a little dull for a time. On both banks of +the Nile we saw the sites of various ancient towns; and at Khom Amer, or +"the Red Mound," there were some rough grottoes. We also saw the mounds +of the ancient Cynopolis, the "City of the Dogs." + +The mountain chain of Gebel e' Tayr was more interesting. Some of the +mountains rise straight up from the water, and are enlivened with +palm-trees; and on the opposite banks we saw some fine acacias. The top +of Gebel e' Tayr is flat. On it stands a convent called Sitleh Mariam el +Adea, or "Our Lady Mary the Virgin." It is a Copt convent. But I am +afraid that religion has little effect there, for there seems to be more +begging than industry among the monks. As soon as they see a boat full +of travellers coming they hurry down the cliffs and swim out on inflated +water-skins to ask for charity. Our Arab boatmen were inclined to treat +them rather roughly, and we were heartily glad when we got beyond their +beat, for they were very noisy and clamorous in their petitions for +alms. + +Gebel e' Tayr means "the mountain of the bird." There is a curious +legend belonging to it. It is said that all the birds in the country +assemble here every year. They choose one of their number who is to stay +on the mountain till the next year. Then all the rest fly away and leave +the poor solitary bird by himself till the next year, when a fresh one +is chosen to take his place. + +We have now just arrived at Minieh, six days exactly since we left you +all at Boulak. We are going to dinner, and then on shore. + + * * * * * + +"I want to ask something before you go on, please," said Hugh. "Why was +that city called 'the City of the Dogs'?" + +"Because the dog was then considered to be a particularly sacred animal. +One of the largest repositories of dog mummies is found on the opposite +bank. It was not unusual in Egypt for a city to bury its dead, as well +as its sacred animals, on the opposite shore of the Nile, especially if +a better place could be found there for making catacombs." + + * * * * * + +Minieh is a pretty and busy town. Near the landing-place we saw the tomb +of a sheikh, shaded over by a palm-tree, which is very picturesque. We +admired the houses too, with their trellised balconies overhanging the +river. And there are such queer little coffee-shops! Some are tents, +some only little huts made of reeds. We found the bazaar airy and some +of the buildings handsome. The country round Minieh is rich and +beautiful; it abounds in groves of palm-trees and in every kind of +fruit. We enjoyed our ramble exceedingly, and the two guns brought back +a fair share of wild fowl. + +[Illustration: EASTERN BAZAAR.] + +Our next stopping-place was Beni-Hassan; we arrived this morning, and +have been on shore all day. + +The tombs of Beni-Hassan are open to the Nile, and are ornamented with +coloured figures or other devices, and are very old. + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN LOOM. + + _a b_. Rollers for carrying and tightening the warp. + _c c c_. The warp + _d d_. Frame of the machine. + _e f_. Movable bars, for pressing the successive weft threads + together. + _g_. Roller for relieving the cloth when woven. + _h_. Hooked stick (used instead of a shuttle) to carry theweft + threads.] + +We went first into the most northern tomb. In front of the entrance is a +portico, supported by pillars, which leads into a vaulted room: its roof +is supported by four large pillars. These pillars have been coloured to +imitate red granite, and so have the lower part of the walls. Above this +coloured part of the wall are long lines of figures; some employed in +outdoor work, some in indoor work, some in amusements. Some are fishing, +some are watering flax, some dancing, others wrestling. + +[Illustration: FISHING.] + +In one part there are men catching wild fowl in nets; in another part +there are women kneading or making bread; and others playing the harp. + +On one part of the wall we saw a procession. As we had heard that this +procession represented the arrival of Joseph's brethren, we were very +much interested with it. The first figure is an Egyptian scribe, who is +giving an account of the arrival of the strangers to one of the chief +officers of the king, and the owner of the tomb. The next, also an +Egyptian, is ushering the strangers into his presence. Two of the +strangers are advancing, and bring with them presents, a goat and a +gazelle. Four men follow, carrying bows and clubs, and leading an ass, +which two children are riding on in panniers, accompanied by a boy and +four women. Last, are another ass, laden, and two men; one of these +holds a bow and club, and the other a lyre. + +[Illustration: POTTERS.] + +We saw another curious tomb, where there is a hunting scene, and the +name of each animal is written above it, in hieroglyphics. Below this +are birds, and their names are also written. There we saw a group of +women jumping and dancing; others playing at ball, throwing up three +balls one after another and catching them; men dancing on one leg and +performing other feats of skill. + +[Illustration: IDOL PAINTERS.] + +The occupations and trades of the ancient Egyptians are also shown. +There are goldsmiths, glass-blowers, painters, potters, workers in flax. +On one wall there are wrestlers in different attitudes; on another, some +unhappy people who are undergoing the bastinado. We were surprised, too, +to see that dwarfs and deformed people formed part of the trains of the +great men of Egypt in those days, just as they did in Rome in later +days. + +In one of the tombs we saw a Greek alphabet on the wall; the letters +were transposed in different ways, apparently for the purpose of +teaching Greek. + +We meant to have gone to see the Temple of Diana of the Egyptians, but +were all tired, and have left it till our return. + +We have been obliged to have a strict watch kept over our boat to-day. +The villages of Beni-Hassan were destroyed by order of the pacha some +years ago, because the people were such great thieves. But this cure for +theft does not seem to have answered, for the villagers still have the +character of a love of pilfering. + +We sat up rather late last night, helping each other with our journal +for your amusement. Just as we were putting by our pens and paper we +were startled by seeing a bright light. Mohammed appeared and told us +that a dahabieh was on fire, and that English travellers were on board. +We hurried on deck. The dahabieh was a mass of fire. Pillars of smoke +rose from it, and large tongues of flame darted from them and seemed to +lick down into the fire whatever came into their way. There was a great +buzz of voices on the shore, and the wild light cast a lurid glare on +the figures which were hurrying to and fro. A European figure rushed on +shore with something in his arms, then darted back and was lost in the +smoke. We did not wait to see more, but went on shore instantly. + +There was no possibility of saving the dahabieh. But every one on board +was safe, and we brought the travellers to our dahabieh, where they are +now. + +They prove to be Mr. and Miss Roper, father and daughter, a European +servant, and a negress girl, whom they call Rahaba. I never heard such +an outpouring of fervent thanksgiving as Mr. Roper offered up to God as +soon as they were all safely on board our boat. It reminded us of the +history of Jacob wrestling with the angel, "I will not let thee go +except thou bless me." + +Rahaba has a sad expression of face, but her eyes brighten when Miss +Roper speaks to her. + +Mr. and Miss Roper only arrived at Beni-Hassan that evening. There +seemed little chance of their being able to get on to Cairo, so we asked +them to be our guests and to return over their old ground with us. + +We left Beni-Hassan the next morning, and saw crocodiles that day for +the first time. They were on a sandbank basking in the sun. One was very +large, the two others smaller. A salute from our guns was fired at them, +which made the smaller crocodiles rush into the water in a great hurry, +but the larger one treated us with cool contempt. + +The first sight of Manfaloot was charming. A sudden bend of the river +brought us full in view of its minarets, which rise from a group of +mingled buildings and palm-trees. + +[Illustration: HEAD OF CROCODILE.] + +We have not landed since we left Beni-Hassan. Miss Roper has been making +a sketch of our reis and the crew. Rahaba looks on her sketch-book and +colour-box as some kind of magic possessions, and contrived to save them +from the fire in consequence. + +Miss Roper took the sketch at sunset. The sky was flooded with gorgeous +tints, and their glow was reflected on our reis as he sat in his blue +robes and crimson turban, smoking his pipe. We shall reach Thebes +to-night, and shall go on shore early to-morrow to see some of the +interesting sights of which Mr. Roper has been telling us. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF THEBES.] + +Our boat was moored as near as possible to the village of Koorneh, or +Karnac, as it is often called. We went on shore early in the morning and +visited the small palace and temple of Koorneh, and then rode on for +about twenty minutes to the palace-temple of Rameses the Second. This is +one of the most interesting temples in the valley of the Nile. The +entrance leads into a court where are the ruins of the largest statue in +the world. It is made of granite from the quarries of Syene. + +Mr. Roper told us that this was a statue of the king, seated on his +throne with his hands resting on his knees. Judging from the fragments +the foot must have been eleven feet long and about four feet ten inches +wide. The statue measured twelve feet ten inches from the shoulder to +the elbow, twenty-two feet four inches across the shoulders. + +The throne and the legs are quite destroyed. The figure is broken at the +waist, and the upper part is thrown back on the ground. No one knows who +erected or who destroyed this giant statue. We gazed at the ruin with +astonishment, almost with awe. + +In a beautiful court, with a double row of columns, we saw some +interesting sculpture. An enemy is flying from the Egyptians. The +complexions and features of the men are quite different from those of +the Egyptians. They are fleeing towards the river in chariots; some are +represented as drowning in the river, and others as entreating for +mercy. In the grand hall we saw another battle-scene. + +The great hall leads into a room with eight columns, which support the +roof. On it are represented the Egyptian months, and on the wall are +sacred arks borne by priests. The side walls of the temple are +destroyed, so that the pillars are seen to great advantage. + +[Illustration: GRAND HARP.] + +We saw, too, the famous colossal statues; they are made of a hard stone, +marked with black and red oxide of iron. The northern statue is called +Salamet by the Arabs. It is the celebrated statue of Memnon, which was +said to utter a sound of melody every morning at sunrise, and a mournful +sound at sunset. The sides of the throne are ornamented with figures; +they represent the god Nilus winding up a pedestal, over which is the +name of the king who made them. The statues of his wife and mother are +attached to the throne. We then went to the Temple of Medeenet Haboo. +The early Christians had a settlement here, and they used one of the +deserted courts of the great temple for a church, hiding the idolatrous +sculptures with a coat of mud. But a time of persecution came. The +colony was invaded by Arabs, the Christians fled to the neighbourhood of +Esneh, and the village of Medeenet Haboo fell into ruins. + +We passed the palace of Rameses the Third, and went into the temple. Two +fine pillars ornament the doorway which leads from the court into a +corridor before the second doorway. Over this doorway there is a +beautiful winged globe and serpent, the colouring of which still +remains. + +This doorway leads into another corridor and afterwards into a small +court. We looked at this court with great interest, because Mr. Roper +told us that it was built by Tirhakeh, whose battles with Sennacherib we +read of in the Bible. + +On the outside wall of the temple, King Rameses is represented in his +chariot, attended by fan-bearers and lions, and advancing with his army. +His enemies are defeated, and heaps of tongues are among the tokens of +his victory. + +In another part, the king, while pursuing his enemy, is attacked by +lions. He kills two with his arrows, and is on the point of killing +another with his spear. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +WE GO TO ALEXANDRIA. + + +[Illustration] + +"And that is the last piece of journal we shall get, very likely," said +our reader, as he folded up the packet again. + +"I hope not," said Lucy, "for I want to hear more about Rahaba." + +"And I want to hear about the temples and the statues, and how they got +on past the first cataract." + +But no more news could be expected for some time. So, to amuse +ourselves, we determined on paying a visit to Alexandria. The distance +is about one hundred and thirty miles, and the railway being already +opened, we went by train. The carriages had double roofs, as a +protection from the sun; the upper roof was raised about a foot above +the lower, on little iron pillars, so that a current of air could pass +between the two roofs. + +[Illustration: BAGGAGE CAMEL.] + +On leaving Cairo we could see the high road. Hugh and Lucy were much +amused with watching the strings of camels, tied one behind the other +with ropes, and laden with large bales of cotton. There were sometimes +as many as sixteen camels in one string; then we saw donkeys laden with +various things for sale, and numbers of people carrying goods of +different kinds. We saw a great many people, too, working in the fields. +The country is fertile, and we thought the villages very pretty, peeping +out from their groves of palm-trees. + +As we came near Alexandria the country became more sandy and less +pretty. + +"Alexander the Great built Alexandria, did he not?" said Hugh. + +"Yes. And in old times it was very famous for its library." + +"Oh, yes," said Hugh, "I remember that; it had a museum with a library +of I do not know how many volumes." + +"Yes, and besides the museum library there was another library in a +splendid building called the 'Serapion.' The museum library was burnt +during the wars of Julius Caesar with the Alexandrians, and the +'Serapion' library was destroyed by the orders of the Caliph Omar." + +"Why?" asked Hugh, in astonishment. + +"The caliph said that if the writings in these books agreed with those +in the Koran they were useless, and that if they did not they were +mischievous; so in any case they would be better destroyed than kept." + +"I think his reasoning was very foolish, though I suppose he meant it as +very wise." + +"So do I. Two thousand of the volumes had belonged to the kings of +Pergamos, and had been given by Marc Antony to Cleopatra." + +It was too late to see anything that evening, but we set off early the +next morning. We first visited the pacha's palace. It faces the harbour, +and has a fine view of it. We went through a small garden up a +staircase, and then, on the upper floor, came to the pacha's apartments; +these were very handsomely furnished. We saw beds with rich curtains of +cloth of gold and silver, and large divans which were very handsome. In +the dining-room the floor was of inlaid wood. The view from the balcony +was very fine; but one of the things which we admired most was a +beautiful table of Roman mosaic, representing all the most interesting +monuments in Rome. + +After leaving the palace we went to see a garden belonging to the pacha. +The garden was pretty, and we very much enjoyed our drive along the +Mahmoudieh canal. We had some friends who lived in a villa not far off, +and we called on them. After lunch the lady asked if we had ever ridden +on a dromedary. + +We had not, and Hugh and Lucy were specially anxious to try what it was +like. So the dromedary was ordered to come for us. + +It looked very handsome with its saddle of crimson velvet, from which +splendid draperies of gold and silver stuff hung on all sides, with a +number of silken cords, loops, and tassels. + +Most of us thought the motion very pleasant. But Lucy was a little +frightened, and said she felt as if she was going to tumble over the +dromedary's head. She would only go at a walk, which we thought a +disagreeable pace. Hugh thought the dromedary's trot delightful, and +wished he could always travel by dromedary, but Lucy thought a Cairo +donkey very much to be preferred. + +[Illustration: DROMEDARY.] + +Almost everything that we see in Egypt reminds us of something we read +of in the Bible. We seem to live among Bible pictures, which help us to +understand the Bible and the customs it speaks of. + +We were pleasantly surprised the morning after this little visit to our +friends at the villa to receive another packet of journal from the +travellers. The last had been so long on the way that we scarcely +expected to hear again from them before their return. + +We opened it eagerly, and were all excited to know how they had passed +at least the first cataract. + + JOURNAL ON THE NILE. + +We wrote last from Thebes, which place we left the next morning. We were +obliged to wait at Esneh for twenty-four hours for our sailors to bake +bread. In the evening we saw at least twenty crocodiles pass our boat. + +We left Esneh with a fair wind, and stopped nowhere till we reached +Assouan. Here we had to make our arrangements for passing the first +cataract. + +The management of our boat was given over to the reis of the cataract. +He provides men to help in taking us through the rapids. Whilst these +arrangements were being made, we had time to see all that was worth +seeing round Assouan. + +There was a gay scene on the quay. Large boats which had been damaged +were undergoing repairs; others were being loaded and unloaded with +bales of cotton, which are sent from here across the desert to Sennaar. +Then there were the tents of the owners; groups of Nubian merchants in +white turbans; natives of Assouan seated on the ground, smoking their +chiboques; camels waiting for their loads; and donkeys which seemed as +strong and lively as our Cairo favourites. Of course there was a +terrible noise--shouting, screaming, quarrelling among the various +sellers of arms, ornaments, and other things. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF GREAT TEMPLE AT ESNEH.] + +We hired donkeys and a good guide, and then set off to see the quarries +of Syene. From these quarries the obelisks were cut which adorned the +cities of Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis thousands of years ago. We +passed the ruins of a burying-ground belonging to an old Saracen town +which was desolated by the plague some hundreds of years ago, and very +gloomy these ruins looked. + +On our way back we rode through the bazaar. There was nothing very gay +for sale, but the people interested us. We saw a great many Berbers, a +people quite unlike either the Arabs or the negroes. The Berbers live in +Lower Nubia, and are a wild, fine-looking race. The men wear but little +clothing; they all carry a small dagger, which is bound with a red +leather bracelet round the left arm, above the elbow. They also wear a +_fetish_, or charm, enclosed in a little red leather case. The women +uncover their faces, and wear nose rings of either brass or bone. They +also wear quantities of coloured bead necklaces and bracelets, brass +ear-rings and finger-rings; and whenever they can get them, they wear +gold or silver coins hanging on the foreheads. They tattoo their chins +and dye their under-lips blue, which looks very ugly. + +To-day we crossed to the island of Elephanta. We went to the quarries, +visited groups of tombs of sheikhs and dervishes, and the mosque of +Amer. We had a delightful row round the island. Its groves of palms and +its granite rocks are picturesque. But we were disappointed to see no +flowers. The Nubian children offered us some pretty baskets for sale, +and some Egyptian agates. We are bringing some of them back with us: +amongst them a lovely little basket of palm leaves for Lucy. + +We sailed towards the cataract with a stiff breeze. The scenery was wild +and beautiful. On the western side the sands of the Great Desert, yellow +as gold, came to the water's edge, with dark masses of rock rising from +them here and there. On the east, granite rocks rose one above the other +in strange forms. + +With the help of about fifty Arabs, who shouted at the top of their +voices as they hauled us by a thick rope, we passed the first little +fall of the cataract. Then we passed a succession of rapids. It was an +exciting passage. Great masses of granite towered round our little boat; +sometimes we even struck against them, but not so as to do us any harm. +The groups of Nubians were picturesque. Miss Roper has sketches of some +of them swimming on palm logs. + +At length we came to the grand fall. At first our boat seemed to grow +faint-hearted, and to make as though she would go back to Assouan. But +our cataract reis was prepared for this. He seemed to be everywhere at +once. He had thrown off his turban and looser clothes, and the activity +with which he darted from place to place was wonderful. One minute he +was in the boat, at another on shore pulling with the Arabs at the rope; +the next, he was mounted on a rock in the middle of the rapids shouting +to the Arabs and boatmen. Wherever there was danger, there was the reis +ready to ward it off. At last the boat was clear of the last projecting +rock; one long, strong pull from the men on shore, and she shot forward +like an arrow into the smooth water. + +We anchored for the night at Mahatta, glad to be at peace from all the +screaming and yelling which made the chorus during our passage through +the rapids. + +At Mahatta we had a touching scene. + +Early in the morning a large boat laden with slaves came alongside of +us. Mohammed told us that they were to be landed here, and to march to +Assouan, to save the trouble of taking them down the cataract. At +Assouan they will be put on board a boat for Cairo. There must have been +at least fifty: men, women, children, and even little babies. About +half-a-dozen Egyptian soldiers had them in charge. Poor things! they +looked very miserable. Some were black and very ugly; some of a bronze +colour: these were not so ugly, and many of the women were very +graceful. + +It made us very sad to see these poor creatures, who were bought and +sold like animals, without the knowledge of a Saviour and his love and +mercy to support them in their sorrows. We longed to speak to them of +Jesus Christ and his love; but, alas! they could not understand us, nor +we them. Rahaba was crouched on deck by Miss Roper's side, and her eyes +were flashing with eagerness. + +We asked Mohammed if anything could be done for their comfort. He took +two men with him and brought back as many dates as they could carry for +us to divide among the poor captives. Miss Roper and I went up to a +group of women whom Rahaba had been watching. Rahaba attended her +mistress. All at once Rahaba seized a baby from its mother's arms, +kissed it, and fondled it. Then she and the young mother bent over it +together and clasped each other's hands tightly and kissed each other. +But there was no joy in their faces. Sad, silent tears trickled down +their cheeks. Rahaba said a few words in a low, choking tone to the +mother. Both looked pleased when Miss Roper took the baby in her arms. +Our eyes filled with tears, and as Miss Roper leant over the sleeping +child her tears too fell fast upon it. For a moment a gleam of hope +seemed to shine on the poor mother. She asked Rahaba if the white girl +was going to buy the baby. When she found that her baby could not stay +with Miss Roper the large tears gathered in her eyes again, and chased +each other down her cheeks. + +Miss Roper, who understands a few words of Rahaba's language, pointed to +the sky, and told the mother that the great God loves little babies, and +that he cares for slaves and loves those who are good and obedient. The +poor girl folded her baby to her heart and shook her head sadly. The +news seemed to her too good to be true. + +But Miss Roper tried again to make her believe it. All the rest of the +time till the pioneers were ordered to march on, Rahaba and her sister +negress crouched side by side in grief and despair. We could not comfort +them, but we prayed that God would in his mercy bring them to know and +love him and his Son Jesus Christ; and then they will be comforted for +every sorrow. + +We rowed to Philae, the sacred island of the ancient Egyptians, in the +evening; but it was too late for us to stay amongst the ruins. Early the +following morning we left Mahatta. The weather was warm and pleasant, +and on the third day the scenery began to be lovely. On both sides the +banks of the river were fringed with castor-oil plants and prickly +mimosa; above these we saw plantations of dates and palms. The fruits of +these trees are the chief food of the Nubians. + +We passed near the capital of Nubia without landing. It is a large town, +and the streets are wide and busy. + +We still had the desert on our left, but it was partly hidden by the +broken hills fringed with acacias. The mountain Gebel Derr projects into +the river; and for nearly three hours we coasted under broken rocks +which rise straight up from the Nile. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF COLONNADE AT PHILAE.] + +After this we saw acacias on the left bank of the river, and on the +right groves of palm-trees. There were numbers of peasants to be seen; +some walking, some riding. The men wore long white dresses and turbans, +the women blue gowns. + +The wind was fair, and we hastened on, passing some places where there +were interesting ruins without stopping, and at last anchored here at +Wadee Halfeh. + +Miss Roper has been even more diligent than before in trying to teach +Rahaba, who has looked very sad ever since we left Mahatta. To-day Miss +Roper has been telling her the story of our Saviour's birth, and of his +being laid in a manger; and how he, the King of glory, came to suffer +and die for us sinners. Rahaba listens, but she shakes her head. She +tries to understand and learn anything that Miss Roper teaches her. But +it is only to please her mistress that she does this; and as yet she is +no nearer to being a Christian than when she was in her own country. + +Directly after breakfast this morning we hired donkeys to take us to the +second cataract. All was still and silent as we rode over the loose, +shifting sand of the desert. Nothing living was to be seen. We passed +some skeletons of dromedaries which had been bleached by the sun and +wind. They made the silence and desolation seem the greater. After +riding for about an hour and a half we came to the first rocky islands. +About an hour more brought us to the Rock of Abousir. + +[Illustration: PAPYRUS ON THE NILE.] + +The view here was indeed grand. The second cataract covers a space of +about seven miles in length. The river bursts its way among numberless +rocky islets. Some of these are so small that they are hardly more than +large stones; some are rocks of considerable size; others are larger, +islands of rock and sand. Between them all the rapids rush headlong, +throwing up their foam on every side. There are trees on some of the +islands, and five of the largest at the northern extreme of the cataract +are inhabited. Far off to the south we saw what looked like a dark-blue +cloud, and were told that it was the mountains of Dongola. We wished +that we could have gone to them. + +On the side next the cataract the Rock of Abousir is like a straight +wall. On the desert side it is a succession of crags. We found the names +of various celebrated travellers on these rocks, amongst others that of +Belzoni. We gazed at them with a thrill of interest, and lingered long +looking at the beautiful view and scanning the names of the travellers, +great and small, who had visited the rock. What would we not have given +at that moment to go farther and track the grand river to its source! +But it was impossible! We must turn back at this point and begin our +homeward journey down the Nile. + +Wadee Halfeh, the highest point we reached on our journey up the Nile, +is very picturesque. The houses are built in groups, and most of them +are surrounded by palm-groves. They are of mud, but are generally larger +and cleaner than those of the Egyptian peasants. We went into one. Its +mistress had a double row of plaits round her forehead, oiled to an +extreme degree. The people are generally well dressed and appear +comfortable. + +We left Wadee Halfeh at dawn, on our return down the river to Cairo, and +arrived at Aboo Simbel, or Ipsambul as it is sometimes called, in time +to see the temples before dusk. The sand-drifts of hundreds and hundreds +of years had once covered these temples, so much so that nothing could +be seen but the giant head of one statue. Burckhardt was the first +traveller who discovered them. In the year, 1817, Belzoni, in company +with Captain Irby and Captain Mangles, began to clear away the sand. + +There are two temples. In the small temple are six giant statues, three +on each side of the door. On the walls are pictures. The temple was +dedicated to the goddess Athor, and her emblem was a sacred cow. Mr. +Roper told us that, in the inscriptions, the goddess is called "Lady of +Aboshek," Aboshek being the ancient name of Aboo Simbel. + +The front of the large temple is adorned by four enormous statues. They +are seated on thrones. The heads of two are nearly perfect, and so is +the face of another. We were very much struck by them. On the arms there +is an oval bearing the name of the great Rameses. Over the entrance we +saw a large figure with a hawk's head. Mr. Roper told us that it is a +figure of the god Re. He pointed out to us the figure of Rameses +offering little images of Truth and Justice to the god. + +Mohammed had provided torches for us that we might see the inner +chambers of the temple. The walls and ceilings were beautifully +ornamented with hieroglyphic figures. + +These temples must have been very grand when in their beauty, for they +are grand even now in their decay. As we walked through them our +thoughts went back to the time when Egypt was in her glory, when princes +worshipped their gods in these gorgeous temples, and when priests clad +in splendid robes offered their sacrifices with all the pomp of grand +processions. All have passed away. The temples of the false gods have +fallen into ruin. The kings, and those who recorded their victories, are +all gone. The giant ruins which are left only serve to show how great +has been the decay. + +Thus, "the fashion, of this world passeth away, and the glory of man is +as the flower of the grass; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever." +The throne of our great and glorious God is in heaven; in that holy +temple his faithful servants shall worship him through endless ages. It +knows no decay and no change. + +[Illustration: EGYPTIAN TEMPLE.] + +After passing through several places of interest without stopping, +because our time is getting short, we anchored last night at El Kab, and +this morning started to see the tombs. They are about twenty minutes' +ride from the spot where our boat is moored. In the larger grotto we saw +curious coloured pictures of the occupations of the ancient Egyptians. +In the first line the peasants are ploughing and sowing. There is a car +in the field, which is supposed to show that the master has come out to +overlook his workpeople. + +There is an inscription in hieroglyphics which was translated by +Champollion thus: + + "Work, oxen, work, + Bushels for you and bushels for your master." + +In the second line, the peasants are reaping wheat and barley with a +sickle, and pulling the doora, a kind of corn, up by its roots. + +In the third line they are carrying the crops, and oxen are also +treading out the ears of the wheat and barley. The doora was not trodden +out. It is represented as being bound in sheaves and carried to the +threshing-floor, where the grain was stripped from the stalks with a +pronged instrument. + +The hieroglyphics are thus translated by Birch in his _Egyptian +Hieroglyphics_: + + "Thrash ye for yourselves, + Thrash ye for yourselves, O oxen; + Thrash ye for yourselves, + Thrash ye for yourselves, + The straw which is yours, + The corn which is your master's." + +There are also pictures of winnowing, measuring, and homing the grain. + +Below are the asses, pigs, goats, cattle, belonging to the owner of the +tomb. They are brought to be numbered and a list made of them by his +scribes. + +In another part there are other scenes. There is a boat with a chariot +on board. There are also men fishing, catching geese, and salting fish +and geese. There is also a party of guests. + +Then in the last compartment is the funeral procession of the owner of +the tomb--the end of all things for him. This, with some religious +subjects, take up the remainder of the wall. We noticed that the +Egyptian boats were large and handsomely painted--large enough to take a +chariot and its two horses on board. + +On the opposite side of the tomb the owner and his wife are seated, with +a pet monkey close to them, tied. They are entertaining a party of +guests, the men and women sitting separate; servants are handing round +refreshments, and musicians, with a double pipe and a harp, are amusing +the company. + +These pictures of the home-life and manners of the early Egyptians have +interested us very much. I certainly prefer them to the battle scenes +and pictures of sacrifices to their gods. + +Leaving El Kab, we next stopped at Esneh. Our sailors have been baking +bread here. They bring it from the oven and spread it on the roof of the +cabins, where the wind and sun dry it into a sort of biscuit. + +We landed to see the temple. It is very perfect, and the pillars are of +great beauty. They are about fifty feet high, and are covered with +hieroglyphics. There are four rows of pillars, six in each row. On the +ceiling is a zodiac, and the walls are covered with sculpture. + +The villa built here by Mohammed Ali is well worth a visit. It is on the +bank of the river below the town. A flight of stone steps leads up to a +terrace, which is shaded by acacias and other shrubs. The palace stands +in a garden; the entrance and chief rooms are large and high, and have +carved wooden roofs. The pacha's rooms are very comfortably furnished, +with carpets, divans, and every sort of luxury. We saw numbers of lemon, +orange, cypress, acacia, and palm-trees in the garden, and hedges of +Cape jessamine. Below the palace there is a delightful walk on the bank +of the Nile. Altogether it is a charming retreat. + +We have now an opportunity of sending letters. They will be the last you +will have. For we shall delay nowhere on our way back after we have +again visited the temples at this place. You may expect us in two days +after this packet arrives. + + * * * * * + +"So they are really coming back," said Lucy; "I am so glad. I want very +much to see Rahaba." + +Hugh, who was more taken up with sight-seeing at that moment, began to +make his calculations as to how much we should be able to see before the +Nile party reached Cairo. + +We determined to lose no time, but to set off early in the morning to +see Pompey's Pillar, and such other sights as we could. The day after, +we must go back to Cairo to meet our friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CONCLUSION. + + +[Illustration] + +We wished to make the most of our day in Alexandria; and, at Lucy's +request, went first to see Cleopatra's Needle, which, as Lucy observed, +is not a needle, but an obelisk of red granite, about seventy feet high. +There were two, but one has fallen. + +Sandys, an Egyptian traveller of a hundred years ago, calls this obelisk +"Pharaoh's Needle." Even in his day the other had fallen. It was so +nearly buried in sand that we could only see part of the top of it. The +two obelisks are supposed to have been brought from Heliopolis by one of +the Caesars, to adorn the city of Alexandria. + +We next went to "Pompey's Pillar." It is more than ninety feet high. We +were quite angry with the foolish people whose vanity has made them +scribble their names on the pedestal. + +"I am very glad that all the people who have disgraced themselves so are +not English," said Hugh. + +So we all were, if one could feel glad about anything so discreditable. +There were French and Italian names there as well as English. + +[Illustration: MARKETING IN ALEXANDRIA.] + +About two miles beyond the Rosetta Gate we came to Caesar's Camp. It was +here that Augustus Caesar defeated Antony's followers. We saw some +remains of towers and walls. This spot also had a still greater interest +for us English as being the place on which Sir Ralph Abercrombie fell, +in the famous battle on the 21st of March, 1801. + +In the afternoon we went over the "mosque of the thousand and one +columns." This mosque is said to stand on the spot where the church of +St. Mark once stood, and where the evangelist St. Mark was put to death. +The church was destroyed by the Moslems in the year 121, in the reign of +Malek el Kamel, and whilst the crusaders were besieging Damietta. + +We passed another large mosque, the Mosque of St. Athanasius. From this +mosque was taken the sarcophagus called "The Tomb of Alexandria," which +is now in the British Museum. + +The next day we returned to Cairo, and on the day following our Nile +travellers arrived. A very happy meeting it was. They had stayed one day +at Luxor, to see the temples there, and had then hastened back to Cairo +as quickly as they could. + +We were all very much interested in Rahaba. To Lucy's delight, the +little girl seemed to take a great liking for her. Before Hugh and Lucy +left, they had taught her the hymn which begins,-- + + "Jesus who lives above the sky, + Came down to be a man and die." + +Miss Roper thought of asking for admission for Rahaba into the Mission +School, and said she would take her first to see it. But Rahaba's eyes +streamed with tears when it was spoken of, and she pleaded so hard that +she might not be taken from Miss Roper, that the idea was given up. + +Mr. and Miss Roper took her with them to England. The prayers of us all +are offered daily that God would send a blessing on Miss Roper's labours +to make Rahaba a Christian. We believe that our prayers will be heard, +for Jesus Christ's sake, and that Rahaba will learn to love the gracious +Saviour who died to save us. For he has said, "Whatsoever ye shall ask +in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." + + LONDON: R. K. BURT AND CO., PRINTERS. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +A List of Illustrations has been added for those illustrations +that were captioned. + +The first letter of each chapter had a drop cap, which is not +reproduced here. + +Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). + +Two instances of the oe-ligature were changed to "oe". + +The following corrections were made: + +On page 11, "wearilv" was changed to "wearily". + +On page 12, "th" was changed to "the". + +On page 74, "soun" was changed to "sound". + +On page 90, the caption for the illustration "Egyptian Loom" was +reformated for better readability. + +On page 113, "wa" was changed to "was". + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT*** + + +******* This file should be named 32720.txt or 32720.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/7/2/32720 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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