tihvavy of Che t:heolo;gical ^emino 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 •d^D* 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Rufus H. LeFevre 
 
 f 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
Books by Elmer U. Hoenshel 
 
 MY THREE DAYS IN GILEAD. Illustrated. 
 
 Cloth — 50 cents. 
 Parchment — 30 cents. 
 
 BY THE OVERFLOWING NILE. Illustrated. 
 
 Cloth— 75 cenU. 
 Parchment — 50 cents. 
 
By The 
 Overflowing Nile 
 
 BY 
 
 / 
 
 ELMER U. HOENSHEU D. D. 
 
 Sfuthor of 
 
 "My Three Days In Gilead" 
 
 THE OTTERBEIN PRESS 
 Dayton, Ohio 
 
Copyright, 1910, by 
 
 Ellmer U. Hoenshel 
 
 Dayton, Virginia 
 
In grateful recognition of comradeship, 
 this little volume is ascribed to 
 
 Lot Abraham 
 
 who, though much my senior in years. 
 
 was a companionable and faithful friend 
 
 during my entire pilgrimage by 
 
 the Overflowing Nile. 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 ^ ^ *»arci 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I have no apology to make for writing this 
 book. I simply wanted to write the 
 
 story of my itinerary in Egypt, and 
 of my impressions gained in that land of 
 the marvelous in nature and art. And, 
 in "By the Overflowing Nile," I propose to 
 take the reader by various means of travel 
 through cities modern and ancient; into 
 temples the admiration of the ages; into 
 tombs of fellahin, royalty and divinity; to 
 the top and to the center of the Great Pyra- 
 mid; to the Sphinx; — and to recite experi- 
 ences incident to my own investigations made 
 a few years ago. 
 
 Not all of the places visited will be new 
 to the reader; but if my written story will 
 command the degree of fascinated attention 
 from the reader that my spoken story from 
 the public platform has secured from my 
 auditors, then my ambition will be realized 
 and my gratification will be complete. 
 
 Dayton, Virginia, 
 April 13, 1910. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I. Going down to Egypt. ... 11 
 
 Chapter II. Where Israel Slaved 17 
 
 Chapter III. Cairo 29 
 
 Chapter IV. The Great Pyramid 
 
 1. In General 39 
 
 2. My Ascent 47 
 
 3. Exploring the Interior 55 
 
 Chapter V. The Sphinx 64 
 
 Chapter VI. Memphis and the Sera- 
 
 paeum 70 
 
 Chapter VII. By Rail to Thebes 84 
 
 Chapter VIII. The Valley of the Tombs 
 
 of the Kings 93 
 
 Chapter IX. The Ramesseum and the 
 
 Sitting Colossi 108 
 
 Chapter X. Karnak and Luxor 120 
 
 Chapter XL Leaving Egypt 130 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The Author Frontispiece 
 
 Map of Egypt 10 
 
 (Showing the Author's tour) 
 
 A near view of the Great Pyramid 39 
 
 Climbing the Great Pyramid 47 
 
 Sketch showing the interior arrangement 
 
 of the Great Pyramid 56 
 
 The ''Coffer" in the Great Pyramid 61 
 
 The Sphinx 67 
 
 Pyramids and the Sphinx 71 
 
 Sketch showing locations of the ruins of 
 
 ancient Thebes 92 
 
 The Ground Plan of the Ramesseum.. . . Ill 
 
 The Sitting Colossi 117 
 
 The Approach to Karnak 121 
 
 The Ground Plan of the Temple of Luxor 126 
 

 
 ^>- 
 
 
cooing; SDoton tc (f gppt 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Just as twilight deepened into dark on a 
 November evening after I had said good-by 
 to the dragoman who had guided me so faith- 
 fully and so well throughout the Holy Land, 
 and while I was seated on the rear deck of 
 the great vessel that was carrying me to 
 Egypt, and when it had grown too dark to 
 distinguish objects on land, I looked up out of 
 my dreamy m.editation and saw a man, fully 
 six feet tall, rather slender, and apparently 
 about sixty years of age, standing before me. 
 "Surely a tourist," I thought. 
 
 He wanted to be friendly ; I was reserved — 
 have always tried to be discreetly so, espe- 
 cially with strangers. Said he: 
 
 "Have we not met before?'' 
 
 I was not certain about it, but his face did 
 seem slightly familiar. 
 
 "Yes," he said, "I met you last Friday, in 
 the Jews' Wailing Place, at Jerusalem. My 
 
 11 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 name is Abraham — Lot Abraham. And what 
 is yours?" 
 
 "Lot Abraham!" I said, not immediately 
 answering his question, for the name half 
 amused and wholly interested me. 
 
 "Yes, that is my name. I am an American ; 
 my former home was in Iowa, but my present 
 home is in Ohio. And now may I be in- 
 formed as to who you are and where you 
 live?" 
 
 Then I told him my name and place of resi- 
 dence, and added: 
 
 "But Mr. Abraham, pardon me, your name 
 sounds familiarly strange to me ; I have known 
 the names all my life, but the original owners 
 were so different in disposition that I never 
 expected to find the same man bearing both 
 names. Say, are you a Jew?" 
 
 "No; but over here in Palestine there is a 
 place sacred to Mohammedans that I wanted 
 to see; but when they learned my name, they 
 said I was a Jew and drove me away." 
 
 "Well," I said, "where is Abraham going 
 now ?" 
 
 "Down to Egypt." 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "and again, after four 
 thousand years, it may be said of this trip, 
 
 12 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 also, 'and Lot went with him.* And, further, 
 I too am going down to Egypt, and history 
 may record it of me, that 'Lot Abraham went 
 with him/ '* 
 
 Only a few hours had passed since my 
 dragoman had signaled farewell and had gone 
 quietly but surely forever out of my life as a 
 visible director, and I was sad and lonely at 
 the thought. But here, already, stands another 
 at my side — not a guide, nor one seeking 
 guidance, but a traveler seeking companion- 
 ship. I felt intuitively that I could trust him. 
 
 Together we sat and talked on into the 
 darkness. The night was ideal. The sea had 
 calmed, but far in the northwest occasional 
 flashing sheets of light indicated that yonder 
 somewhere was unrest. But here, silent, star- 
 gemmed, sweet night ! The breeze that fanned 
 our temples seemed telling a story of a thou- 
 sand centuries and bearing the fragrance of a 
 flowering world. How far-reaching is the in- 
 fluence of such a night on a meditative, sensi- 
 tive soul, who can tell ! And here was the 
 beginning of a friendship that I value highly. 
 
 Mr. Abraham volunteered the outline of his 
 life-story, which, in the days that followed, 
 was filled in with incidents told by him suffi- 
 
 13 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 cient for me to sum up the following concern- 
 ing him: He was born in 1837; entered the 
 Civil Vv^ar as a cavalryman in the Union 
 Army; participated in an even hundred en- 
 gagements, including skirmishes ; was never 
 seriously wounded; came out of the army a 
 captain ; served as Senator of Iowa ; lost the 
 wife of his youth in a tragic runaway while 
 he was absent from his home; remarried; 
 prospered as a farmer; and at the age of 
 sixty-three had undertaken an extensive tour 
 of Europe and the Orient, independent of 
 tourist agency, and was now nearing the com- 
 pletion of that tour. 
 
 He had stopped for a few days in Egypt 
 on his outward trip, but on learning what the 
 plan for my visit to Egypt was, he said he 
 would be glad to join me. I felt equally 
 anxious to have him. And so, before we 
 sought our berths it was planned that we 
 would continue our trip together during our 
 stay in the "land of the Pharaohs." 
 
 When we awoke next morning we were in 
 the harbor of Port Said. I dreaded disem- 
 barking, for our vessel anchored at a little 
 distance from the shore, and that meant that 
 boatmen must row us to land. My expe- 
 
 14 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 rience at every other port in the eastern Med- 
 iterranean had been such as to make me 
 expect here the repetition of a disagreeable 
 experience. 
 
 But when I went on deck there was an air 
 of quiet and orderHness that was distinctly 
 noticeable. And, instead of being solicited 
 and pulled about by an excitable horde of 
 natives in rude rivalry for patronage, I was 
 courteously asked by a boatman to go ashore 
 with him. I was happy to go in his boat, and 
 soon I placed foot for the first time on the 
 continent of Africa. I said to an officer: 
 
 "What makes this port so different from 
 the other ports in the East ?" 
 
 His answer was brief, but very compre- 
 hensive. Said he: 
 
 "The English are in authority here." 
 
 Then, remembering that the same was prac- 
 tically true of all Egypt, I began to feel a 
 sense of freedom and security springing up 
 within me. 
 
 I passed with the crowd into the waiting- 
 room of the Custom House, expecting to have 
 to wait until the motley multitude of returning 
 natives who were pressing about the officers 
 were disposed of. But one of the officers 
 
 15 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 waved his hand, beckoned to me, and ordered 
 an opening in the throng that I might pass 
 through, smiHngly made a half-examination 
 of my higgage, and passed me on as though 
 I were of aristocratic mold. And possibly the 
 wondering natives who saw me accorded such 
 distinction thought that they were looking 
 upon one of England's noblemen ! 
 
 But where was Captain Abraham? When 
 I left the vessel he was again in uncertainty 
 as to whether or not he should revisit Egypt. 
 But when I had reached the ticket-window to 
 get my ticket to Cairo I heard my name called 
 and, looking back over the jostling crowd, I 
 saw the face of my friend. Said he, "Get two 
 tickets; I am going with you." I was de- 
 lighted at his decision, and soon we stood side 
 by side at this gateway to Egypt, ready to 
 begin a most remarkable tour. 
 
 16 
 
mint l0tatl Platen 
 
 Chapter IL 
 
 Egypt has in all ages been distinctively the 
 "land of wonders," from the time when 
 Moses, upheld by invisible Power^ outrivaled 
 the magicians of Pharaoh's court in their 
 enchantments, to the time when Napoleon 
 inspired his little band of soldiers to overcome 
 multitudes of the enemy by telling them that 
 four thousand years looked down from the 
 tops of the Pyramids upon their struggle ; and 
 to our own generation, when modern engineer- 
 ing skill has accomplished what the early 
 native kings, and later the Ptolomies, had tried 
 to do, but had failed in the attempt, namely, 
 to connect by canal the Red Sea with the 
 Mediterranean ; and even down to our own 
 day when consummate ingenuity has built the 
 great barrage-wall across the Nile at Assuan 
 to check its annual overflow and make the 
 valley a possible perennial garden, sentried by 
 stone-faced watchmen who took their places 
 here before the race had fully doffed the 
 swaddling-clothes of its infancy. 
 
 17 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 The civilization of Egypt is older than the 
 oldest of her records. Indeed, when the 
 archaeologist undertakes to discover the record 
 of the beginnings of her civilization by digging 
 deeper into the sand-buried ruins, she simply 
 points to some relic of rare art thrown up by 
 his spade and smiles through it — a sort of 
 mummy smile — at the ignorance of him and 
 of his generation. Not yet have the wisest 
 students of antiquity been able to fix a date 
 prior to which Egypt was not highly civilized. 
 She courted Philosophy and Art, raised monu- 
 ments, and embalmed her dead with hope long 
 before Abraham left his Mesopotamian home 
 to tread the rugged yet inspiring paths of a 
 new faith. 
 
 This wonderful land has had a wonderful 
 history. And much of this history has been 
 preserved to us through all the vicissitudes of 
 war and changing empire, in painted or chis- 
 eled hieroglyphic, as seen on papyrus, obelisk, 
 temple-wall, mummy-case, or sepulchral cham- 
 ber. But all the story thus written was hidden 
 knowledge until the discovery of the ''Rosetta 
 Stone," in 1799. Formerly man guessed; but 
 now, with the "key" in his hand, he unlocks 
 
 18 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 the past and reads in unmistakable language 
 the matchless story of the far-away centuries. 
 
 Egypt is one of the small lands that have 
 figured colossally in the world's history. It is 
 located in the extreme northeastern part of 
 Africa, and is fittingly called the **land of the 
 Nile," for, without the presence of this great 
 river, the land must always have been desert 
 and no fit home for man or beast. 
 
 But long ago, in geologic time, the river 
 gathered power and reinforcement from its 
 tributaries in the high heart of the continent, 
 and, rushing upon the desert with a mighty 
 effort, ploughed a channel nearly two thousand 
 miles long through the resisting sands till it 
 reached the Great Sea upon the north. Then, 
 as though the work were complete, the waters 
 of the stream receded ; and lo, in the struggle 
 a rich gift had been bestowed along the line 
 of the flooded region — vegetation could then 
 grow here. But the winds rolled forward 
 great billows of sand as if to fill the empty 
 trench of the Nile. Nature's great battle in 
 Egypt had begun in earnest. Each year the 
 Nile returned in its overflow, removing ob- 
 structions and renourishing the land. And so, 
 for years innumerable, the mighty river has 
 
 19 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 held the sand at bay; and it early made pos- 
 sible the very existence of a people and a 
 government that held a most prominent place 
 in the great dramatic story of the human race. 
 
 The strip of land, thus redeemed from the 
 desert and held, varies from four miles to six- 
 teen miles in width, south of Cairo, But, 
 beginning at Cairo, the river divides into a 
 number of branches, reaching the sea by 
 numerous outlets or mouths. All the land 
 from Cairo to the sea, fertilized by the river, 
 is called the Delta of the Nile. The distance 
 from Cairo to the Mediterranean is about 
 ninety miles, hence the area of the Delta is 
 great in proportion to the remainder of 
 Egypt's fertile land. 
 
 Egypt, as we generally think of it, is sup- 
 posed to have extended from the Mediter- 
 ranean to a distance of possibly six hundred 
 miles (although at times the extent was much 
 greater) up the Nile, and is said to have em- 
 braced in its area only about 11,000 square 
 miles. That would make it a country about 
 one-third as large as our State of Maine. 
 
 In ancient times this land was divided, polit- 
 ically, into Lower Egypt, with Memphis as its 
 capital city, and Upper Egypt, with Thebes as 
 its capital. 
 
 20 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 One of the first tourists in this land who 
 wrote about what he saw was Herodotus. 
 While it is conceded that he was given to 
 exaggeration in his descriptions, yet it is also 
 conceded that what he wrote about Egypt has, 
 in the main, been proven to be true. But 
 Herodotus visited this land more than two 
 thousand years ago. Many things that he saw 
 cannot now be seen. 
 
 He tells of crocodiles and how the natives 
 succeeded in catching them — by first filling 
 their eyes with mud, and then they, being 
 blinded, were easily taken; which story re- 
 minds us of the modern easy way of catching 
 birds — by first putting salt on their tails. (Our 
 guide told us that there are now no crocodiles 
 in Egypt.) He speaks of the sacred animals 
 and how, when they died, they were embalmed 
 and buried in cities sacred to them. Dogs 
 were buried in the city in which they had 
 lived ; cats, in Bubastis ; hawks and shrew 
 mice, in Buto; and ibises, in Hermopolis. 
 (That practice no longer prevails in Egypt.) 
 He tells of the lotus flower and the lotus- 
 eaters, and of the papyrus plant. (All these 
 long since disappeared from Egypt.) He also 
 
 21 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 tells of the Phoenix, but says that he did not 
 see that bird. 
 
 And this is the land wherein Israel slaved. 
 But it must not be understood that Israel 
 roamed over all of Egypt as I have outlined 
 its extent. This peculiar people seems to have 
 been segregated from the natives ; and they 
 were given a region of rich pasturage along 
 the Tanitic branch of the Nile, in a district 
 called Goshen, in the eastern part of the 
 Delta. While this is to be considered the 
 home of the Israelites during their stay in 
 Egypt, it is conceivable, and very probable, 
 that quite large numbers of them were con- 
 scripted at times for service upon great 
 national undertakings elsewhere in the land, 
 and, under strict surveillance, were taken from 
 Goshen to perform those heavy tasks. But 
 in my designation, "Where Israel Slaved," I 
 mean the land lying, generally speaking, be- 
 tween Cairo and the Suez Canal and north to 
 Port Said, with special attention given to the 
 near environs of the former city. 
 
 As already noted, I entered Egypt at Port 
 Said. Here is the northern end of the Suez 
 Canal, that big ditch a hundred miles long, 
 ninety yards wide, and thirty feet deep, corn- 
 
 22 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 pleted in 1869 at a cost of eighty-five millions 
 of dollars. In the harbor are ships of many 
 nations awaiting their turn to take advantage 
 of this direct rout from sea to sea and the re- 
 gions far beyond ; — and every vessel crosses in 
 its course the path of the miracle and of the 
 overshadowing cloud of the times of the great 
 Exodus. But with how little concern! As I 
 board my train I know that before sunset I 
 shall have passed where the groans of the 
 oppressed Israelites rose to an avenging 
 heaven, and where wonder after wonder mul- 
 tiplied in God's dealing with his people in the 
 tragic times of a long-delayed deliverance. 
 
 After arranging a little lunch to carry with 
 us, consisting of sardines (a food that I never 
 did relish, but an apparent necessity that day) 
 and bread, we were ready. 
 
 For about fifty miles, until we reach 
 Ismailia, our way lies close by the Suez Canal. 
 This is a desolate-looking region, with numer- 
 ous swamps and bitter-water lakes, which are 
 infested by swarms of small birds. At 
 Ismailia we take our last look at this isthmus, 
 the "bridge of the nations," over which so 
 many armies had passed in early history. 
 Beyond is desert ; and, far to the southeast. 
 
 23 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 mountains in dim outline are seen ; — they are 
 the nearer mountains, or foothills of the pen- 
 insula of Sinai. 
 
 Then we turn abruptly to the right and pro- 
 ceed in a westerly direction nearly all of the 
 afternoon. Here is great fertility. Such fields 
 of corn and of cotton I had never before seen. 
 But the population seems scant; the villages 
 are few. It seems more like the plantations 
 of the rich than the heritage and possession of 
 a peasantry. Here and there can be seen a 
 single palm-tree spreading its *'palms" toward 
 heaven like a devout Mohammedan in some 
 of his attitudes in prayer. Few grov&s of 
 palms are seen until late in the afternoon. In 
 a number of places I see the natives irrigating 
 their fields by pumping water, in a primitive 
 treadmill style, from their shallow Nile-fed 
 wells. 
 
 When within an hour of Egypt's capital, I 
 get my first view of the Pyramids far to the 
 southwest. The vision steals in upon me 
 almost unexpectedly; and while I am still 
 gazing upon the dim forms of those distant 
 mountains of rock builded by men's hands, 
 Cairo is reached. 
 
 Here will be our headquarters while in 
 24 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Egypt; but as the city stands on the outskirts 
 of Goshen, and because it is too modern to 
 have figured in any of Israel's history, I shall 
 reserve for the next chapter the story of my 
 experiences here. 
 
 Early in the morning after our arrival in 
 the city, we secured a native Egyptian to be 
 our dragoman for special services while in 
 his country. His name was Abdul Gabr, a 
 man probably twenty-five years of age, who 
 dressed in the usual native costume, and who 
 could talk English fairly well. Then we pro- 
 ceeded by rail to the site of old Heliopolis, 
 which is known in Scripture story as ''On." 
 On the way we passed over a plain where two 
 battles, important in Egypt's history, were 
 fought — the first in 1517, by which the Turks 
 became master of Egypt, and the other in 
 1800, when Kleber with ten thousand French 
 troops defeated sixty thousand Orientals and 
 gained temporary control of Cairo. 
 
 Farther on we passed a great and flourish- 
 ing ostrich farm; but it was so modern for 
 Egypt that it required only a short stay to 
 satisfy me. 
 
 Next we came to the Virgin's Fountain and 
 Tree, which tradition points out as the place 
 
 25 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 where Mary, accompanied by Joseph and their 
 divine Son, drank and rested when driven 
 from her home-land by the decree of Herod. 
 The tree is large and spreading, but is cer- 
 tainly not more than a few centuries old. 
 Baedeker calls it a s3'camore, but at the time 
 of my visit it was bearing a fruit that was 
 very similar to that of the fig tree. 
 
 But now we have reached the objective 
 point of our morning trip. Yonder, where 
 now are cultivated fields, stood ancient Heliop- 
 olis, and there where you see that sunken 
 area was located its magnificent temple with 
 its reputed number of nearly thirteen thou- 
 sand attendants; and that lone obelisk, once 
 standing before the temple, marks the spot of 
 departed glory. Companion obelisks are now 
 to be found in Constantinople, Rome, Lon- 
 don, and New York, carried thither by mighty 
 warriors or rich purchasers, who despoiled 
 Egypt of some of her rarest treasures of an- 
 tiquity. May no vandalism or puffed-up pride 
 ever remove this last relic of a city of great 
 renown from the place given it by the 
 ancients ! 
 
 The obelisk is a monolith, sixty-five feet 
 high, and is covered from base to summit with 
 
 26 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 hieroglyphics. The carvings are quite distinct 
 on the upper part of the shaft, but at the base 
 the monument is worn away very considerably 
 by the sand-freighted winds of the ever- 
 recurring seasons. But it has stood for ages 
 to speak for the departed greatness of Egypt 
 and her people, and let it stand for ages to 
 come to tell the story of another wonderful 
 race, alien to Egypt, in the centuries of its 
 beginnings. 
 
 Let it tell of Abraham's visit to this land in 
 a time of famine. Let it speak of Joseph, the 
 Jewish lad, brought a slave to the realm ; how 
 here he courted and won the daughter of the 
 city's chief priest; how in this land there came 
 to him a season of trial and imprisonment; 
 how there followed release and exaltation; 
 how, when again famine stalked through 
 Canaan, the brothers who had sold him into 
 bondage came to him to buy corn, not know- 
 ing who he was ; how, when they came to him 
 the second time, he revealed to them his iden- 
 tity amidst tears and fears ; how, a little later, 
 an old man, his father, came hurrying down 
 from Canaan to meet his lost boy; how even 
 the Egyptians received these shepherds of the 
 north kindly, invited them to abide in the 
 
 27 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 land, and gave them a favorable part of the 
 Delta for their home — even Goshen. Let it 
 speak of Jacob's faith in God, even in the 
 hour of death; and of that sad concourse of 
 people headed toward Machpelah bearing his 
 embalmed body — a body once encircled by the 
 arms of Jehovah, as he wrestled on Jabbok — 
 that they may lay it beside the ashes of his 
 parents and grandparents in the sacred tomb 
 of Hebron's cave. Let it tell of the bondage, 
 the cruel bondage, of Israel's descendants in 
 this land when there came to the throne a 
 king that "knew not Joseph" ; and how God 
 showed his love for his people and his unwill- 
 ingness that they should longer be oppressed, 
 by sending upon the land and its native people 
 plague after plague until Moses received full 
 permission to lead all of his people out of the 
 land of their distresses. Yes, let this obelisk 
 tell all this ; and let its presence ever point 
 toward heaven, in silence declaring that God 
 is just, and cares for his own, and that while 
 all things earthly decay, up yonder is stability 
 and never-fading glory; that God is good and 
 unchangeable. And when this monument fails 
 to tell this story, let it topple over and be 
 buried forever in the sand. 
 
 28 
 
Cairo 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 Cairo is a city of about four hundred thou- 
 sand people, was founded in 970 A. D., was 
 captured by Saladin in 1171, and again cap- 
 tured, by the Turks, in 1517. Three hundred 
 and fifty mosques, with more than that num- 
 ber of broad domes and slender minarets, 
 grace the appearance of the city. Modern 
 Cairo will please the tourist of to-day. and 
 "Old Cairo" will interest him exceedingly. 
 
 The city is located on the east side of the 
 Nile, about five miles from the beginning of 
 the Delta. To the east of the city is the 
 somber-looking ridge of Mokattam. The site 
 of the city being only about six and a-half 
 degrees from the Torrid Zone, one is not sur- 
 prised to find that the mean annual tempera- 
 ture is seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit. Its 
 elevation is only forty feet above the level of 
 the sea. 
 
 Like Jerusalem, Cairo has its quarters for 
 the peoples of differing faiths, and these quar- 
 
 29 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 ters are separated by gates which are closed 
 at night. 
 
 The modern part of the city has a few fine 
 streets, many beautiful structures, excellent 
 hotels, and public gardens of exceptional inter- 
 est to an Occidental. The city has had a great 
 and rapid transformation in recent years, and 
 is becoming more and more a winter home for 
 people of wealth from lands to the north of 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 On strolling along one of its principal 
 streets shortly after my arrival, the following 
 strange thing happened to me : A well-dressed 
 native seated in front of a business house, 
 seeing me while I was yet a good distance 
 from him, sprang to his feet and came running 
 to meet me. He seized my hand and pressed 
 kisses upon it ; and then, noting my embarrass- 
 ment and look of disapproval, began a series 
 of protestations, in a language that contained 
 just enough English for me to understand 
 that he was trying to tell me that he knew 
 me, that he was glad to see me again, that we 
 had previously met somewhere in happy rela- 
 tion, etc., etc. But I was just as certain that 
 I never before had seen him; so I tried to 
 pass on. But he followed me for a half block, 
 
 30 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 still trying to explain, occasionally opening his 
 mouth prodigiously and pointing to where a 
 tooth was missing. Did he think that he rec- 
 ognized in me the man who had pulled an 
 aching tooth for him? I do not know. 
 
 In Cairo is a Mohammedan university of 
 great age and of large attendance. The en- 
 rollment of students fifteen years ago fell little 
 below, if it did not exceed, ten thousand. The 
 attendance, since England has had more com- 
 plete control of Egypt, has decreased, — not 
 because of any express act or desire upon the 
 part of the English, but simply because dark- 
 ness and superstition must flee in the presence 
 of light and higher civilization. 
 
 But the attendance was still great when I 
 visited the school, numbering at least several 
 thousand students from all parts of Moslem 
 realm. The pupils ranged in age from six 
 years to forty years, and all were studying 
 but one book — the Koran. They sat on the 
 floor of the inner court and arcades in groups 
 made up of a dozen or more each. The 
 teacher sat on the floor in front of his pupils. 
 They swayed back and forth as they studied, 
 making much noise as they repeated again 
 and again their lessons. I have been told that 
 
 31 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 a quiet class here is evidence of Httle study. 
 So, the more noise the better; and it is the 
 teacher's duty to see that the evidence of 
 industry is not wanting. Some of the pupils 
 stay four or five years; they study from early 
 morning till late in the afternoon, and some 
 even sleep in this mosque, which is termed 
 the University. 
 
 As I go through the spacious chambers in 
 which the groups are so numerous that I can 
 barely pass by them, I see some of the pupils 
 lying on the floor asleep, and at other places 
 some are eating their simple lunches. Of 
 course, all that are here are of the male sex. 
 
 Just as we are leaving the school, a Muezzin 
 chants from one of the minarets of the mosque 
 the Mohammedan call to prayer. We watch 
 him as he repeats the call, facing each time a 
 different cardinal point of the compass. A 
 smile of interest, certainly not of mockery, 
 must have been seen on our faces, for among 
 the thousands who have laid aside the Koran 
 on hearing the Muezzin's call and who are 
 now hurrying to closets and fountains in the 
 court to bathe before beginning their prayers 
 (an absolute requirement of the Moslem), are 
 some who gesticulate threateningly as though 
 
 32 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 they meant that we should leave the place, 
 almost indicating a desire to help us to do it 
 quickly. We are not exactly expelled from 
 school, but — we leave the University. 
 
 On the way to Old Cairo we first visit the 
 Mosque of Amru, which stands where there 
 has been continuously a mosque for nearly a 
 thousand years. Here the Khedive of Eg\'pt 
 comes once a year, and on that occasion every 
 available space is crowded with people. In 
 the center of the open court is a fountain, the 
 water of which Mohammedans firmly believe 
 comes from Mecca. In this mosque are two 
 pillars standing close together, called "trial 
 pillars" ; the prevailing belief is that only 
 those who can pass between them shall enter 
 into Paradise. Many a portly man has gotten 
 through only with the help of friends. It 
 seems foolish, but I suspect that such pillars 
 in some parts of America would be worn as 
 smooth as are these, by persons who are not 
 quite sure that simple faith in Christ will save 
 a man, but who want external evidence of a 
 saved state of life. On the opposite side of 
 the court is a pillar peculiarly veined with 
 monogram-like designs bearing marked simi- 
 larity to the signatures of Mohammed and a 
 
 33 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 few Turks of note. It is claimed that by the 
 simple word of Mohammed as he smote this 
 pillar with his whip, thus leaving the marks 
 referred to, it came from the quarry in a 
 miraculous manner and took its place here in 
 the building, without the touch of any man's 
 hand. In a near-by corner is the tomb of the 
 founder of this mosque. 
 
 On entering Old Cairo, we find narrow, 
 dirty, ruin-flanked streets, with here and there 
 a poor scavenger carrying a large flat basket 
 on his head; without removing this basket 
 from his head he is able to fill it by picking 
 bits of litter and manure from the ground. 
 What he gathers he uses as fuel in his miser- 
 able quarters, called home. 
 
 We do not care to tarry in this section of 
 the city, but there is one thing that we have 
 come especially to see — the old Coptic Chris- 
 tian Church; the present structure is said to 
 be nearly a thousand years old. To get per- 
 mission to see it, we find the custodian of the 
 place. With a key of wood nearly, or quite, 
 eighteen inches long he opens a wooden door 
 leading into a narrow alley. We follow him 
 through filth and among rickety old buildings 
 until back somewhere we find the structure 
 
 34 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 called the church. In the basement of the 
 building he shows us places where tradition 
 says that Joseph and Mary sat to rest with 
 their little Child when they came to Egypt. 
 Between these two sacred ( ?) seats is a bap- 
 tismal font for use to-day in the baptism of 
 children. 
 
 Out in the same section of the city, but 
 nearer the Nile, I attended a service of the 
 ''howling dervishes." It was on a Friday — the 
 hour was one o'clock. The place of the ''howl- 
 ing" was within a kind of enclosed court, to 
 enter which one had to pay a small admittance 
 fee. After one had gotten within the court a 
 good seat with splendid view of the perform- 
 ance could be secured by a further payment 
 of two piastres (ten cents). The platform 
 was about thirty feet long, twenty feet wide, 
 and a foot high, and was built of stone. This 
 was well covered with rugs and the skin*, of 
 animals, while overhead was a canopy of 
 grape that shaded the platform and near sur- 
 roundings. The service, if such it may be 
 called, began at two o'clock. About two dozen 
 men filed out of their quarters near by, some 
 in gorgeous apparel, and took their places on 
 the platform. The leader took his place, 
 
 35 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 seated on the floor, while the others stood 
 facing him. With a long, monotonous series 
 of growls from the leader, the performance 
 begins. Then they all growl, dropping their 
 heads on their breasts ; then they throw them 
 violently back. They continue to do this for 
 some time, always repeating some expres- 
 sion in a deep, guttural tone ;— I recognize but 
 two words throughout the whole perform- 
 ance— "Allah" and "Mohammed." As the 
 performance continues, instead of simply 
 moving the head back and forth, the pivot for 
 motion becomes the hip- joint, and in quick 
 movement forward their heads are made 
 almost to touch the floor ; then they as quickly 
 bend far backwards. Thus back and forth, 
 with increasing rapidity, their long hair flying 
 wildly over them, all the while groaning and 
 occasionally yelling as if they were suffering 
 intense agony, they make you uncertain as to 
 what the end of it all will be. The leader 
 times the rapidity of the movement by beating 
 on a sort of kettle drum ; and at times a flute 
 and a tambourine are heard. There is little 
 variation in the performance as it runs on 
 through the hour, except that some long, dizzy 
 whirling is introduced. How they live through 
 
 36 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 a single performance I can scarcely under- 
 stand. But they do live, and are ready to 
 repeat it again and again. For revenue? I 
 half suspect it. Poor, deluded mortals! Can 
 my Father be pleased with such things done 
 in the name of worship? 
 
 In the Nile at Cairo is an island called 
 Rhoda. To reach it I enter an old, leaky 
 boat. The channel is not wide and I am soon 
 across. I walk through gardens of roses that 
 bloom in great profusion at the time of my 
 visit. Much of the island is covered with 
 residences. At the upper end of the island 
 is a curious instrument called the Nilometer, 
 so planned and placed as to record the height 
 of the inundations of the stream. It is very 
 old. 
 
 But what is most interesting here is the 
 tradition that at a point on the shore of this 
 island, now marked by a peculiar angle in the 
 protecting wall, is the spot where the daughter 
 of Pharaoh found the weeping child, Moses, 
 in the bulrushes — the child that became the 
 mighty deliverer of his people from bondage. 
 True, it is a tradition that locates the spot 
 here, but it can be truthfully said that here, 
 somewhere, the event did take place. And I 
 
 37 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 feel like baring my head and listening to catch 
 some word of hope out of the dim and 
 shadowy past from him who, in his leadership 
 of his people Israel, foreshadowed Him who 
 in the fulness of time was to break the shack- 
 les of the whole human race. 
 
 38 
 

 PH 
 
 O 
 
 > 
 
%it (Bttat p^tamiti 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 7. In General. 
 
 The ruins of seventy-five pyramids are yet 
 to be found in Lower Egypt, near Memphis. 
 And while any single pyramid is a marvel in 
 construction, the group known as the Gizeh 
 pyramids is the most interesting. This group 
 is near the city of Cairo, and is therefore the 
 one most frequently visited by the tourist 
 whose time is limited. And it is the group that 
 must be seen in order to know well the pyr- 
 amids of this land of colossal structures. 
 
 In the group referred to is the massive rock- 
 mountain known as The Great Pyramid. 
 
 It stands on a natural elevation two hun- 
 dred and fifteen feet above sea-level, six miles 
 west of the Nile, and ninety miles from the 
 Mediterranean. Its location is said to be the 
 exact center of the arc of a circle formed by 
 the outline of the Delta as it projects into the 
 sea. It is built of solid rock brought from the 
 Mokattam Hills, east of the Nile ; from Syene, 
 far up the river ; and from Sinai. These rocks, 
 
 39 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 some of enormous size, (measurmg thirty feet 
 by five feet by five feet), were quarried from 
 their native beds and then transported down 
 and across the Nile to a point opposite Gizeh. 
 Then in order to get them to the site chosen 
 for the pyramid a canal was dug through 
 which the rocks were brought near to the ele- 
 vation. Here they were unloaded and placed 
 on a constructed causeway, or inclined plane, 
 and then dragged or rolled to their places in 
 the building. This plane increased in steepness 
 with the completion of each succeeding layer 
 of rock until the highest layer was finished 
 and the glittering apex-stone, the ''head of 
 the corner," was placed in its lofty location — 
 and the memorial stood complete. 
 
 But the builders did not build without care 
 as to the foundation. The spot selected was 
 just right, or with superior skill was made 
 so. The foundation is the native rock, chiseled 
 so as to present a nearly level surface. On 
 this, with corner-stones set in sockets cut 
 into the solid rock, they built the material 
 brought from the mountains far distant. 
 
 When we think of the size of this structure 
 we are awed at the intrepidity of the archi- 
 tect who planned it and of the master-mechanic 
 
 40 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 who superintended the work and commanded 
 the army of men necessary to execute the plan. 
 Herodotus tells us tliat it required the united 
 labor of a hundred thousand men through a 
 period of twenty years to build it ! Where is 
 the man to-day that could plan for the general 
 commissary arrangements necessary for so 
 many men through so long a period of time, 
 and always facing such a work of seeming 
 impossibility ; much less could he plan and 
 execute the stupendous undertaking! I sus- 
 pect that nearly every square inch of surface 
 of this pyramid represents the death of a 
 workman, and that the whole could be painted 
 a rich scarlet with the blood that was drawn 
 by the master's lash from the hard-pushed, 
 groaning laborers. 
 
 In size it is indeed, most massive. Its base 
 is an exact square, measuring 775 feet along 
 each side. By a little calculation you will 
 find that this base covers more than thirteen 
 acres of ground ! Now, if you can think of a 
 field this size, or will measure along the street, 
 or roadway, a distance of 775 feet, then you 
 will begin to appreciate the magnitude of the 
 work that these builders undertook and ac- 
 complished. 
 
 41 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 First they laid a layer of thick rocks, nicely 
 chiseled and fitted together, over the whole of 
 this surface. On this layer they placed an- 
 other layer, dropping back a foot or two along 
 each side. And so it was with the next layer ; 
 and so with all of them. The number of lay- 
 ers in the entire pyramid was 220. and they 
 varied in thickness from twenty-two inches to 
 about fifty-six inches, but each separate lay- 
 er was uniform in thickness throughout. 
 
 Then the builders built on, layer after layer, 
 through year after year until two-thirds of a 
 generation had passed away. As already 
 stated, when each layer was finished the pyr- 
 amid-end of the causeway was elevated until, 
 finally, on the little, contracted area of the 
 219th layer the master-mechanic with possibly 
 one or two helpers stood waiting to receive 
 the five-cornered cap-stone, that, once in its 
 position, would proclaim the completion of the 
 most gigantic material building in the history 
 of the race. As they stand waiting for the 
 stone of beauty to be hoisted to their hands 
 they can look out over a thousand thousand 
 graves of men who toiled to make this last 
 hour possible ; and they can see a multitude 
 of tired, bruised, and bent subjects of a tyran- 
 
 42 
 
^ By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 nical king turning their eyes upward to the 
 dizzy height whereon they now stand, the 
 simple ones forgetting for a moment their 
 wrongs on beholding the beauty and symmetry 
 of the vast structure which may forever be re- 
 garded as a monument of human suffering 
 and woe. The stone has at last reached the 
 men, and is soon fixed in its place, "nesting 
 with the stars," 481 feet above the bedrock on 
 which the Pyramid is built, — and the great 
 work is done. 
 
 The history of this pyramid will probably 
 never be fully known. The "father of history," 
 Herodotus, visited it about 445 B. C, and made 
 a personal examination of it. Even at that 
 time it was considered a very ancient struc- 
 ture. A dozen other Greek writers of fame 
 have written of it ; also a number of Romans. 
 It is generally conceded that the work is at 
 least four thousand years old and that it was 
 built by Cheops, or Khufu, (which is a more 
 ancient name for the same person,) of the 
 fourth Egyptian dynasty. The date usually 
 given, 2170 B. C, as the birth-year of this 
 mountain of hewn stone, cannot yet be def- 
 initely established. 
 
 Over a thousand years ago, in 820 A. D., 
 
By The Overflowing Nile ^ 
 
 Caliph Al Mamoun, son of Haroun Al Ras- 
 chid, of "Arabian Nights" fame, conceived the 
 idea that this pyramid, like some others, had 
 great treasures hidden in supposed inner cham- 
 bers. He came with a multitude of helpers 
 and began to batter away at the solid masonry 
 that he might force a passage to the imagined 
 gold-stored room. With their poor imple- 
 ments it was almost a hopeless undertaking to 
 try to pierce that rock-mass. How long they 
 were engaged in this almost unreasonable 
 labor is not stated ; but, though with much re- 
 bellion at times among the workmen, they 
 succeeded'in forcing the passage to a distance 
 of fully a hundred feet. Still there was no 
 sign of finding anything except the ever-recur- 
 ring flinty rock. With riot almost prevailing 
 in the camp of the baffled laborers, they were 
 abandoning their effort, when a noise was 
 heard near within, like that of a falling 
 stone. It served to arouse their sinking spirits. 
 They renewed their effort and in a little while 
 discovered the passage leading up and out to 
 the original entrance, well up in the north side 
 of the pyramid. But the entrance had been 
 closed so carefully that no one had ever sus- 
 pected its presence at that point. Thus it was 
 
 44 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 that the hidden entrance passage-way was un- 
 expectedly found. 
 
 But this way out did not lead to the 
 searched-for treasures; and just where the en- 
 forced passage penetrated the original pass- 
 age a great stone was found so tightly fitted 
 that they could not remove it. It remains there 
 to this day. Al Mamoun directed his men to 
 dig and bore away the rock around it ; but 
 when that was done and they were able to 
 remove a rock from the other side, another 
 rock immediately slipped into its place ; and 
 when it was removed, another came ; and so 
 on, until an upward channel leading toward 
 the center of the pyramid had been cleared. 
 Then up that steep passage-way the men 
 pressed as rapidly as they could go until they 
 reached what is called the King's Chamber, 
 almost at the heart of the great pile, but only 
 to find nothing there except an empty coffin- 
 like box of granite. 
 
 Since that time many have entered the pyr- 
 amid ; but as the air is so foul it is strongly 
 urged that any one predisposed to heart trouble 
 should not enter. As a matter of fact, in pro- 
 portion to the number of those who visit the 
 pyramid, very few enter it. 
 
 45 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Before visiting Egypt I had read all that I 
 could find written about the pyramids. Along 
 with other valuable treatises I had read "A 
 Miracle in Stone," written over a quarter of 
 a century ago by J. A. Seiss, D.D. In this 
 book I was much interested, and even felt that 
 I wanted to accept the conclusions reached by 
 the author. 
 
 It puts forth the proposition, and by appeal- 
 ing to mathematics, astronomy, science, and 
 history, attempts to prove it, that this pyr- 
 amid is the first of all pyramids to be built ; 
 that it was built by divine command and direc- 
 tion ; that in it is to be found by special sym- 
 bolic measurements the history of the race, of 
 Israel's bondage, of the Incarnation, of the 
 Resurrection-life, and of heaven and hell ; 
 also that it tells the date of its own building. 
 It further claims to have discovered a system 
 of measurements — linear, liquid, and solid. 
 
 Doctor Seiss and those who believe with him 
 hold that the Scripture found in Isaiah 19: 
 19, 20,— "In that day shall there be an altar 
 to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, 
 and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord ; 
 and it shall be for a sign and for a witness 
 
 46 
 
' 1 
 
 Climbing the Great Pyramid. 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 unto the Lord of hosts in Egypt," — points con- 
 clusively, in its reference, to this pyramid. 
 
 The book is, to say the least, very readable ; 
 and though it is not likely that he will concur 
 in the opinions of the author, it nevertheless, 
 will thoroughly interest the average reader. 
 
 2. My Ascent. 
 
 I now turn to a presentation of the incidents, 
 investigations, and impressions of my own 
 visit to the Great Pyramid. 
 
 To climb the greatest of pyramids was an 
 ambition of my childhood which grew upon 
 me through youth and early manhood. So 
 when I, accompanied by Capt. Lot Abraham, 
 started out from Cairo on that bright Novem- 
 ber morning my spirits were high. I know of 
 no sweeter pleasure than comes at the moment 
 when one can feel that the cherished jewel of 
 long seeking is at last within reach and awaits 
 one's eager, yet hesitating, grasp ; or when, 
 after long striving, one can feci the crown of 
 successful accomplishment resting lightly, but 
 surely, on one's brow. 
 
 We proceeded by carriage across the great 
 bridge over the Nile to the end of the trolley 
 line which Hes in an avenue of palms and 
 
 47 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 acacia trees. No houses are on either side. 
 While we were waiting for the car to start 
 it seems that Abdul, our dragoman, had told 
 some native soldiers who happened to be on 
 the car, that Mr. Abraham was a veteran cav- 
 alryman, for he turned to my friend and said, 
 "These men do not believe that you ever 
 wielded a sword in battle." "They don't !" said 
 Mr. Abraham; "if they know how to fight 
 with swords, I'll soon convince them." Then 
 began a mimic sword-fight without weapons 
 between Mr. Abraham and one of the men. 
 The fierce encounter lasted only a little while, 
 thrusting and parrying, until the native smiled 
 and said to our guide, "It's true; I believe it 
 now." 
 
 The ride of ten miles seems short, and is so 
 exhilarating on this beautiful early morning. 
 The natives are singing at their work as they 
 prepare to plant their crops in the muddy de- 
 posit left by the slowly-receding waters of the 
 river. And all the while the pyramids are 
 in plain view, and becoming more and more 
 impressive as we draw nearer to them. 
 
 The terminal station is near the base of Che- 
 ops. So it is only a little while until we are 
 surrounded by a noisy crowd of Arabs, would- 
 
 48 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 be guides, official and otherwise, who break 
 rudely in upon my rapture induced by standing 
 so near these towers of Cyclopean masonry, 
 and disturb my meditation, and also the peace- 
 ful quiet of my nature. 
 
 It had, for years, been a settled resolution 
 with me that if ever I visited Egypt, and still 
 possessed the vigor of youth, I would climb 
 the greatest of the pyramids, and that without 
 help. I stand for a while looking up at that 
 mountain of rock whose base now partially 
 rests beneath the drifted sands. It seems to 
 have grown so much within the last hour! 
 And now it looms so grand that its immensity 
 fairly leaps upon me ; and its awful silence that 
 seems to speak so loud oppresses me. I am 
 eager to make the ascent, and to do it alone. 
 But the steps are so high — from about twenty 
 inches to almost five feet ! These steps, occa- 
 sioned by each succeeding layer of rock drop- 
 ping back a little farther than the layer imme- 
 diately below it, were once filled with triangular 
 prisms of porphyry carefully cut and polished 
 so that when the pyramid was finished its slop- 
 ing sides, from base to summit, were as smooth 
 as glass. But the builders and beautifiers of 
 Cairo removed all this casing and also dimin- 
 
 49 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 ished the height of the pyramid about thirty 
 feet by removing the top. So now on all sides 
 are seen these great irregular steps. But Na- 
 ture must have had this event of my life in 
 mind when she planned my physical struc- 
 ture, for she built me capable of climbing big 
 steps. 
 
 I am ready, and will go. But, no, not — just 
 — yet! I am quickly surrounded by the pyr- 
 amid guides who resist me, and, in what little 
 English they know, tell me it is unlawful for 
 me to go alone, and that I must have at least 
 tzvo guides. And a writer in a leading mag- 
 azine a few years ago said, **The law requires 
 one to be accompanied by a Bedouin 'lifter' at 
 each elbow and another Arab behind to 
 'boost.' " But if such were the law at the time 
 of my visit, then I was a law-breaker. After 
 much wrangling and argumentation, we finally 
 compromise the matter by my consenting to 
 take one guide. 
 
 The matter being settled, I carefully instruct 
 the appointed guide that it will be his duty to 
 precede me and show me the way, but on no ac- 
 count must he touch me, unless I call for help. 
 And, now, we start. My guide moves from 
 step to step with the greatest apparent ease; 
 
 50 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 and I follow with a determined vigor. My suc- 
 cess surprises my guide and highly gratifies 
 me. But I still have some trouble with "pull- 
 ers," "pushers," "hat-carriers," "water-car- 
 riers," etc., who follow me part way up, in- 
 sisting that I will need them. I beg them to 
 go back ; then I scold ; then I threaten to roll 
 massive rocks upon them if they do not leave 
 me immediately ! At last, the pestiferous tribe 
 is gone. My guide is waiting. Again I hurry 
 upward ; but he moves on ahead with a sup- 
 pleness and ease that I am beginning to envy, 
 though I am still proud of my progress. But 
 when I call a halt, and sit down a minute to 
 rest, and then look up, only to discover that I 
 am not yet half way to the summit, I begin to 
 realize the magnitude of my undertaking. 
 However, I make no complaint, and am soon 
 ready to resume the climbing. It is harder 
 work than I thought it would be. Although 
 accustomed to taking long strides, they have 
 not frequently been taken iipzvards. 
 
 In varying the manner of my climbing, I try 
 springing up one of the highest layers ; but I 
 had not carefully calculated, — my head strikes 
 a rock above, and for some days I carry a 
 miniature pyramid on my forehead. I felt a 
 
 51 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 forced inclination to sit down right then and 
 there and devote myself for a little while to a 
 study of astronomy, for surely the stars { !) 
 never before had seemed quite so distinct as 
 on that bright morning! But my guide, who 
 is several steps above me, must not know what 
 has happened ; so, apparently enraptured with 
 the scene below, but blinking too hard to see 
 any object clearly, I lean for a moment against 
 the rocks, and then pick my way more carefully 
 until the summit, now a rough platform over 
 thirty feet square, is reached. 
 
 And, at last, I may quietly rest. Oh, Weari- 
 ness, take flight ! Pain, be banished ! Here 
 is a panacea for all thought of ill ! Can there 
 be a more impressive place in the world on 
 which to stand — a platform 451 feet above the 
 sand, erected by the labors of over a hundred 
 thousand men in the far-away time when the 
 race was young! It seems to me that I can 
 hear the sighs and groans of the builders, for 
 most of them were lashed to the work; they 
 were slaves. 
 
 The view from this elevation is impressive 
 beyond expression. Yonder to the northeast 
 is the fertile Delta, beautiful in its greenness, 
 telling its story of prosperity, magnificence, 
 
 52 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 bondage, deliverance, retrogression ; nearer, in 
 the same direction, is Cairo, shining a splendid 
 city in the morning light ; beyond Goshen is 
 a far-stretching sandy plain reaching out to- 
 ward Palestine; to the east, in the hazy dis- 
 tance, the horizon is darkened by elevations 
 on the peninsula of Sinai ; nearer is the range 
 of Mokattam; and just a few miles in front 
 of me is the sacred Nile receding from its 
 annual overflow. But with the exception of 
 the verdure along the river and of the Delta in 
 the northeast the scene is one of desolation and 
 death; for, to the north, west, and south are 
 great stretches of sand-hills and desert. It is 
 said that one can look over the ruins of forty 
 pyramids from this viewpoint. The Sphinx 
 and its temple are in the foreground. Tombs, 
 innumerable, are on every hand — the grave of 
 an empire. All this fills me anew with the 
 appreciation of the saying of the Wise Man, 
 "All is vanity." 
 
 When seated here on this vantage-ground 
 of the ages, how appropriate to one's feelings 
 are the following lines : 
 
 ''Forever and forever rolls the river, 
 Forever and forever looms the plain ; 
 
 53 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Forever shall the pale stars o'er them quiver. 
 
 But never shall her past return again ! 
 Hyperion dawns but lights her frieze in vain. 
 And moons peer sadly through her columned 
 way; 
 The mid-day glares on what doth yet remain 
 Of faded glory, with a mocking play — 
 Thus passeth into shadow man's imperious 
 sway. 
 
 "What recks it that Sesostris dared to thrall 
 His fellow kings, and haughty Cheops raised 
 This everlasting pvramid ! the pall 
 
 Of night now hangs where distant glories 
 blazed ! 
 How shall fame last when all her monuments 
 Are in the dust ? the same blue bending sky 
 Serenely smiles through time's despairing 
 rents. 
 And lengthened colonnades the storm defy — 
 But there's no scepter now, or kingly foot- 
 fall nigh." 
 
 My guide wishes to carve my name on the 
 rock 'at the top. (Hundreds of names are 
 already there.) I say "No." I write it with 
 pencil and then say to him, "That is for to-day ; 
 
 54 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 this hfe is for Httle longer; we go from sight 
 and out of memory of man almost together." 
 After some time spent in viewing the im- 
 pressive scene spread out before me, no mat- 
 ter which point of the compass I face, I begin 
 my descent, which is scarcely less difficult than 
 the ascent. But in safety I reach the base. 
 Another of life's ambitions has been realized. 
 
 J. Exploring the Interior. 
 
 Most people visiting Egypt want to climb 
 the Great Pyramid, but not all do climb it. 
 The task is too difficult. But happy is the one 
 who will do it, for, after the weariness of 
 climbing, there comes such rest in the exhil- 
 arating higher atmosphere, and a view of such 
 matchless scenic beauty and historic interest 
 lies below and far out, that weariness and 
 irritation seem entirely and forever gone out 
 of life. 
 
 And while it is possible to explore the in- 
 terior, very few undertake to do it. It is more 
 difficult and attended by more danger than 
 the ascent. The ventilation is so poor, (though 
 small supposed ventilating channels have been 
 found) , and the air, consequently, so foul, that, 
 as previously said, persons with weak hearts 
 
 55 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 are strongly advised not to enter. Innumerable 
 bats frequent the galleries and chambers ; and 
 it seems as though the foul breath of the more 
 than a hundred thousand builders had been 
 
 Vertical Section of the Great Pyramid ^from south to north, looking westi 
 
 A, the entrance-passage; B, the Grand Gallery; C, C, ventilating passages 
 D, the Queen's Chamber- E, the grotto; F, the subterranean chamber G, the 
 King's Chamber. 
 
 shut in, reserved for the twentieth century vis- 
 itor. It is with solicitude that one notes the 
 atmospheric conditions, after passing a rod or 
 two into that tower of great dimensions, and 
 remembers that if one make a complete investi- 
 gation one must be compelled to remain at 
 
 S6 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 least an hour in this prison constructed more 
 than four thousand years ago. 
 
 Captain Abraham having ascended the pyr- 
 amid on his first visit, did not accompany me 
 to the top. But to enter and explore the in- 
 terior will be new to him. So we plan together. 
 Here I do not try to fight myself free of 
 guides ; I am glad to have them — two of them 
 — one to precede me and one to follow me, 
 with lights, and ready to give assistance at a 
 moment's call. We are ready. 
 
 There was only one entrance as left by the 
 builders, and that had been so carefully con- 
 cealed that it was not discovered until the 
 pyramid had stood fully three thousand years. 
 As already noted, the discovery of this en- 
 trance was by accident. But when found, all 
 who cared to do so might enter. However, for 
 a long time the structure was thought to be a 
 habitation of serpents ; consequently the many 
 feared to enter, among the number being the 
 great traveler, Mandeville. 
 
 The opening is found on the north side of 
 the pyramid in the thirteenth layer of rock, 
 sixty feet from the ground. The size of the 
 opening and passageway is forty-one and one- 
 half inches high and forty-seven inches wide. 
 
 57 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 The sides and floor of the passage are as 
 smooth as slate ; and since the course to be fol- 
 lowed is not in horizontal line, but descends 
 at an angle of nearly twenty-seven degrees, 
 one studies very gravely the question as to how 
 to proceed. A "six-footer" cannot zvalk in a 
 passage only three and a-half feet high. To 
 enter head foremost on that slippery incline 
 would be dangerous should one lose hold and 
 get started. I finally decide to move feet fore- 
 most. Then seating myself on that smooth 
 floor, and carefully controlling my speed with 
 my hands, I go down in a straight line a dis- 
 tance of sixty-eight feet ; then I crazvl through 
 a hole under a large rock and begin an ascent 
 at the same angle as was the angle of my de- 
 scent. (The downward passage, however, 
 continues straio^ht on for a distance of 276 feet 
 from this point to a cham^ber in the native rock 
 on which the pyramid is built. But I had no 
 desire to go down, and I am not sure that any 
 tourist is ever conducted farther than I was 
 taken.) Up this low passage I climb with 
 great difficulty for a distance of 125 feet. I 
 am ready to rest. From this point a tortuous 
 passage called the "well" leads far down to 
 the chamber already referred to, in the solid, 
 
 58 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 native rock. Also from this point a horizon- 
 tal passageway leads out to the ''Queen's 
 Chamber," 110 feet distant. This chamber is 
 eighteen feet long, seventeen feet wide, and 
 twenty feet high. 
 
 After seeing and making note of these 
 things, I am ready to continue my ascent. A 
 change is now observed in the passageway. 
 The angle of ascent is the same, but the pas- 
 sage has widened to a width of fifty-eight in- 
 ches and has vaulted to a height of twenty- 
 eight feet. These dimensions continue for a 
 distance of 150 feet more of the ascent. This 
 division is called the "Grand Gallery." Lying 
 against each of the side walls of the "gallery," 
 extending through its entire length, and ris- 
 ing to a height of about a foot above the 
 floor proper, is a ramp-stone about a foot 
 thick. Each of these ramp-stones has twenty- 
 eight carefully-cut holes along its top. And 
 while no one knows the design of the builders 
 in making these holes, the visitor finds them a 
 help as he climbs the ascending way. The 
 floor between these ramp-stones is scarcely 
 three feet wide. Along the floor of this 
 "grand gallery" I find my hardest climbing. 
 But here again I discover that Nature's plan 
 
 59 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 for my person, in building it slender, serves 
 me well. For a while I can cling fairly well 
 to the side-wall, walking on the foot-wide 
 ramp-stone; and then, to vary the manner of 
 climbing, I can "bridge" the three-foot floor 
 groove by walking on both sides at once! 
 
 When the upper terminus is reached, I am 
 wet with perspiration, covered with dust, and 
 feel like I think people must feel just prior to 
 fainting. But I have reached the highest point 
 of my climbing. By stooping very low I now 
 pass under a great granite portcullis, (the only 
 remaining one of four), into a vestibule, and 
 a little later I stand in the celebrated ''King's 
 Chamber," the goal of my seeking. And to 
 stand here is even a rarer privilege than to 
 stand on the outside summit. 
 
 When my friend rose to full height within 
 the chamber there burst spontaneously from 
 his lips in sweet, swelling song the words of 
 the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The story 
 of my country of the free so sweetly told in 
 that monument of a land of oppression, echo- 
 ing throughout those hidden chambers and 
 dark galleries strangely thrilled me. On he 
 sang, (I assisting in the chorus). With deep 
 
 60 
 
The "Coffer" in the Great Pyramid. 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 pathos he began, and sang through the last 
 stanza : 
 
 "In the beauty of the HHes 
 
 Christ was born across the sea 
 With a glory in his bosom 
 
 That transfigures you and me ; 
 As he died to make men holy, 
 So we'll die to make men free. 
 As we go marching on." 
 A confession of faith and a pledge, made 
 here in this dim-lighted chamber, with flicker- 
 ing shadows dancing like specters about us ; 
 made to the world's great Emancipator who 
 was foreshadowed here in this land by the 
 mighty Moses, the eyes of whom, in infancy, 
 looked upon this structure in which we are 
 now entombed alive ! 
 
 This chamber is thirty-five feet long, seven- 
 teen feet wide, and nineteen feet high. It is 
 walled with granite slabs. The roof is com- 
 posed of nine granite blocks nearly nineteen 
 feet long and four feet wide, and is "possibly 
 the most skillfully constructed piece of work- 
 manship in the world." 
 
 In the "King's Chamber" there is only one 
 object to attract attention — a coffer, or sar- 
 cophagus, of red granite. This coffer is seven 
 
 61 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 and a-half feet long, three and a-fourth feet 
 wide, and five and a-third feet high. Its sides 
 are about six inches thick. It has no Hd or 
 covering. Formerly relic-hunters broke away 
 a considerable portion of one side, but at pres- 
 ent it is carefully guarded by the sworn guides 
 that accompany the visitor. 
 
 Now, a calcium light, furnished by the 
 guides, flares up, illuminates the place for a 
 moment, and then dies out. Then our flicker- 
 ing candles are extinguished. Not a ray of 
 light ! Oh, how dark ! There is only one other 
 place where there ever came to me a similar 
 sense of "an horrible darkness" ; it is the "Star 
 Chamber" in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. 
 Inanimate nature groaned when "Star Cham- 
 ber" was formed ; but when this chamber was 
 formed there were heard the groans of scores 
 of thousands of workmen on every side. So 
 when all is dark, and there is no sound to be 
 heard save the beating of one's own heart, 
 which becomes quite noticeable as the mind 
 dwells intelligently upon the past, the story of 
 Egypt comes like a far-off voice in the night. 
 Mighty kings and beautiful queens go trooping 
 by like visible shades in the still denser dark- 
 ness. And the cheering of victorious armies, 
 
 62 
 
By The Overflov^ing Nile 
 
 the loud wailing of captive thousands, change 
 to the muffled, horrifying speech of embalmed 
 lips of age-long dead. This is a prison of the 
 ages, where are shut in the joys, ambitions, 
 hopes, tears, sighs, sorrows of a nation with a 
 history of a thousand years ere Abraham built 
 his first altar in Canaan. So like the grave of 
 a race does it become that the musty, heated, 
 foul air induces the thought of being entombed 
 alive. And it is like stepping out of a charnel- 
 house when our guides break the excited, 
 fancy-filled reverie by striking a light and tell- 
 ing us to come away. Then, with dense dark- 
 ness dispelled by the glimmering light of our 
 candles, I leave, I think, for all time, what has 
 been styled the most celebrated chamber ever 
 constructed by man. 
 
 The way out is marked with more difficulty 
 and attended with more danger than we ex- 
 perienced while going in. But with the ex- 
 ception of a few scratches and chafed places 
 made by coming into unexpected contact with 
 the rocks, the task is completed without dam- 
 age or hurt to either of us. 
 
 Again I breathe free air! Assure me that 
 I shall live and die in it, and I think I shall 
 ever be grateful. 
 
 63 
 
Chapter V. 
 
 Less than half a mile ( 1,880 feet), from the 
 Great Pyramid, in a southeasterly direction, 
 is the colossal carven effigy called the Sphinx. 
 It represents a great crouching figure having 
 the body and paws of a lion, but the elevated 
 head and chest are those of a man. It lies 
 facing eastward toward the wonderful and 
 annually overflowing Nile. The entire image 
 is carved out of and remains a part of the 
 rock on which it rests, save a portion of the 
 great paws ; these are partly built of hewn 
 masonry. 
 
 Various measurements are given as to its 
 size, but the following are not far from cor- 
 rect: the length of the body, 155 feet; the 
 height from the paved floor between the paws 
 to the top of the head, 63 feet. The paws are 
 fifty feet long; the head, from top to chin, is 
 twenty-eight and a-lialf feet, and is nearly 
 fourteen feet broad ; the ears are six feet and 
 five inches in length; the nose is five feet and 
 ten inches in length ; and the mouth, from angle 
 to angle, measures seven feet and eight inches. 
 
 64 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Originally there was a cap and a beard be- 
 longing to it, but they are gone. It is believed 
 that at one time the face was painted to resem- 
 ble the rich tints of a ruddy complexion, but all 
 trace of this also is gone, and the paler features 
 of death have for ages characterized the face 
 of this mysterious, fabulous work of the an- 
 cients. 
 
 One of the strange and interesting things 
 about the Sphinx is, that, while the face is 
 carved in the unchanging rock, the expression 
 seems to change when viewed from different 
 angles, or in different lights. The face was 
 carved to represent the god of the Egyptians 
 called Harmachu, or Horus. Vandal kings, 
 or invaders, long ago mutilated the face con- 
 siderably, but still the general expression has 
 not been destroyed. Its chief effect upon me 
 was that of a benign royalty and majesty and 
 a dignity of poise that suggested half-divinity. 
 Having once seen that face it is never for- 
 gotten. 
 
 To me, and I think it must similarly appeal 
 to others, there is a striking resemblance be- 
 tween the head of this Sphinx and the head of 
 a statue of George Washington, the father of 
 my country. 
 
 65 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 No student of history has ever yet been able 
 to fix with certainty the time of its production. 
 There are those who believe it to be older than 
 the oldest of the pyramids. Others fix it as a 
 production of the twelfth dynasty of Egyptian 
 kings. But to-day it stands, in its origin and 
 purpose, the unsolved riddle of the centuries. 
 
 When I saw the Sphinx its body was almost 
 covered with sand, but the head and shoulders 
 towered high up as though defying complete 
 sepulture. And thus with body sand-covered 
 the Sphinx has lain, or crouched, almost all 
 through historic times. Twice in the long ago 
 the great task of disinterring it by removing 
 the sand was accomplished — the first time by 
 Thotmes IV, and then again by Egypt's great 
 warrior, Rameses II. It seems that their work 
 in uncovering was done out of a sense of reli- 
 gious awe, or to receive in some way the favor 
 of a divinity either in this world or hereafter. 
 But after each uncovering the wind gathered 
 anew the sand and buried again the body of 
 the great efiigy. In modern times it has been 
 uncovered thrice — by Caviglia, Mariette, and 
 Maspero. By doing this by no means small 
 work these Egyptologists were enabled to as- 
 certain with certainty that it is a part of the 
 
 66 
 

By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 rock on which it rests, and also were able to 
 get accurate measurements. But again, as be- 
 fore, it is partially buried. The relentless 
 winds and sands thus continue to bury, not 
 only man, but also his proudest achievements 
 from the sight of his successors. 
 
 Between the gigantic paws, and partly ex- 
 cavated beneath the huge body are to be seen 
 the remains of the so-called ''temple of the 
 Sphinx." A staircase leads from the pave- 
 ment up to the temple, and the temple itself 
 consists of six compartments, one above the 
 other. 
 
 And those who have made careful investi- 
 gation tell us that an underground passage 
 leads from between the paws of the Sphinx 
 diagonally across to the Great Pyramid — the 
 entrance to this passage being concealed by 
 a close-fitting, great stone. And in the con- 
 necting of these two enigmatical structures, 
 we have the doubling of unsolved mysteries. 
 The uncertain age, the consummate skill, the 
 certainty of an intellectual design or purpose 
 that cannot be fathomed first provokes and 
 then overwhelms one. 
 
 The hurried visitor cannot knozv much about 
 these marvels. But conjecture is not denied 
 
 67 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 him. It is better for him, in his limited time, 
 to be familiar with the conclusions reached by 
 careful, competent investigators after a life- 
 time spent in study, and then let him be a care- 
 ful observer of things as they appear, yielding 
 somewhat to a sentiment induced by the im- 
 pressions gotten here in the presence of these 
 supreme wonders as they can be gotten no- 
 where else in the world. Simply for this alone 
 it would be worth the cost and exigencies of a 
 trip around the globe. Personally, I would 
 rather stand on a scaffold with my ear to the 
 bloodless lips of the Sphinx listening to its 
 silent yet eloquent story of all historic time, 
 many of whose chief events took place beneath 
 the gaze of this fixed, impassive, stone face, 
 than to stand at the point of no longitude and 
 of but one direction, with my arm encircling 
 ( ?) the North Pole ! 
 
 What a story could this Sphinx tell were it 
 to change to perfect man with accurate mem- 
 ory of all that these eyes could have seen and 
 these cars have heard ! I find myself stirred 
 to tell what I seemed to see and hear, but I 
 shall leave it to the reader to see pass before 
 the stone face of this effigy in panoramic pro- 
 
 68 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 cession all that his knowledge of history can 
 place here. 
 
 Day and night, year after year, century after 
 century, millenium after millenium, has this 
 great mythical figure kept sleepless watch over 
 the vast necropolis in front of it where lay the 
 ashes of the poor and the embalmed bodies of 
 the wealthy dead. It seems a silent expression 
 of faith, even for that pagan people, that their 
 dead should not thus lie, forever dead. 
 Throughout historic time it has watched for 
 the sun-rising of each new day ; it has watched 
 each summer season for the return of the over- 
 flowing Nile, bringing riches and songs of joy 
 to the people. It watched for and saw the 
 coming of the Savior of the world to its land ; 
 it watched for the coming of generations and 
 empires, and when they had done their work 
 and were buried in the earth, it kept watch 
 over their graves. And to-day it watches the 
 representatives of all lands pass wonderingly 
 before it. Let it continue to watch for the 
 morning of the long day in which He shall 
 come and Vv^hen death-dealing agencies and 
 decay shall cease, and the overcome righteous- 
 ness of the past shall live again in sweet and 
 enduring triumph. 
 
 69 
 
9^tm}^W and ilt feerapaeum 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 About nine miles south of the Great Pyr- 
 amid and the Sphinx are the ruins of old 
 Memphis. This is truly a desert-trip, for in 
 the entire distance there is no greenness of 
 vegetation. 
 
 While I was studying the great stone face 
 of the Sphinx from various viewpoints and 
 wondering at the changed expression as I 
 changed position, Abdul had arranged for our 
 trip to Memphis by securing two camels and 
 a donkey. When he announced that all was 
 ready for the trip, I, seeing that some one must 
 ride the donkey, asked for one of the camels. 
 I did not particularly object to the donkey, but 
 I had had experience in donkey-riding in Pal- 
 estine, and here was a chance for a new ex- 
 perience ; hence it was that I chose a camel. 
 It kneels for me with much groaning and 
 complaining, making me feel half ashamed 
 estine, and here was a chance for a new ex- 
 imal that seemed to look upon me with such 
 
 70 
 

 r"^i 
 
 fc^«^ 
 
 Km 
 
 .^ Jl 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 a sense of disgust and apparently humiliated 
 that I should be perched upon its hump. 
 
 But I clamber into the saddle, or instrument 
 of torture, and then being cautioned to hold 
 tight, I manage to keep my seat through that 
 novel experience gained while the camel is 
 getting on its feet. 
 
 We are ready. Alpdul rides the other camel 
 and Mr. Abraham has the donkey. I feel sorry 
 for him that there is not another camel; but 
 before Memphis is reached I feel sorry for 
 myself that there is not another donkey. 
 Camel-riding may be all right for those who 
 are used to it, but it was not all right for me. 
 We did not ride rapidly on our outward jour- 
 ney, for which I was truly thankful. The gait 
 of the camel and the wooden frame called a 
 saddle conduced to beget a condition akin to 
 misery. How longingly I looked at our don- 
 key as we neared the end of our journey ! My 
 mind is already made up as to the return trip. 
 
 Accompanying us on foot are the camel- 
 drivers and donkey-boy — one for each beast. 
 They run by our side jabbering away in what 
 little English they have picked up from other 
 tourists and apparently never tiring; they will 
 
 71 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 stay right with us whether our beasts are walk- 
 ing or racing. 
 
 We consumed two hours and a quarter in 
 covering the nine miles, and were then, not in 
 Memphis, but above Memphis. It is a sand- 
 buried city. And save for the few excavations 
 that have been made in recent times no traveler 
 here would suspect the presence beneath his 
 feet of the magnificent ruins of the once proud 
 city of the Pharaohs, 
 
 Before touring the ruins we lunch on the 
 veranda of "Mariette House," a modern, in- 
 expensive building named in honor of the 
 great French Egyptologist, and the only house 
 on the surface for miles in every direction. 
 Immediately after lunch we begin our investi- 
 gations. 
 
 History tells us that Memphis was probably 
 the capital of Egypt from the third to the 
 eighth dynasty. The Greeks claimed Menes 
 as its founder, but it is doubtful if the claim 
 can be established. While the Hyksos were in 
 power in Egypt (2000 to 1500 B. C), Mem- 
 phis lost its glory; but it seems to have seen 
 a revival and extension of power after the 
 eighteenth dynasty. When Alexandria was 
 founded its importance again waned never to 
 
 72 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 return. And later, much of the beauty and 
 magnificence of Memphis was taken away to 
 embelHsh the new city of Cairo ; and for nearly 
 a thousand years its site was scarcely known. 
 At one time there was evidently a strong wall 
 to protect the city from the inundation of the 
 Nile, but it, too, is gone; and at the time of 
 my visit the river was spread out over much 
 of the space where the city had stood. Recent 
 excavations have brought to light much valu- 
 able knowledge. 
 
 Let us first go to the tombs of "Thy." To 
 get to them we descend a rod or two in a trench 
 cut at a steep incline to the entrance, which 
 is barred to all except such as are accompanied 
 by a regularly-authorized guide. The sides 
 of this entrance-passage are boarded up to hold 
 back the sand, and a custodian must give the 
 passage almost daily attention or in a little 
 while all will be filled in level as before. 
 
 Seeing that we are properly escorted, the 
 custodian opens the wooden door to us and 
 we are ushered into the tomb ; but it seems to 
 me more like I must be in a parlor or drawing- 
 room of some ancient wealthy son of Egypt. 
 The walls are highly ornamented in relief with 
 illustrations of Egyptian life and customs of 
 
 73 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 those early times. And some of these illustra- 
 tions are painted in colors that have defied 
 time by still retaining their brilliancy. This 
 tomb, if such it really were, has several cham- 
 bers, and all are interesting, even to one who 
 does not know how to decipher a single hiero- 
 glyphic. 
 
 We visit several other such tombs, the most 
 noted of which are those of "Meri." The 
 same general characteristics prevail here as 
 in the tombs of ''Thy." 
 
 Back a little farther from the Nile, where 
 must have been the outskirts of the ancient 
 city, in a low cliff is the Serapaeum, or tomb 
 of the gods, or Sacred Bulls, of Memphis. 
 
 Egypt was a land of gods. Socrates said 
 that the people were religious to excess, and 
 that it was easier to find a god in Eg}'pt than 
 a man. And a writer in the "Schaff-Herzog 
 Encyclopedia" says: ''Religion in some form 
 or other was dominant in every relation of life 
 in ancient Egypt. The Egyptian deities were 
 literally innumerable. Every town and village 
 had its local patrons. Every month of the 
 year, every day of the month, and every hour 
 of the day and night had its presiding divinity. 
 All these gods had to be propitiated ; and 
 
 74 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Egyptian life thus became a constant round of 
 rehgious and semi-religious ceremonies and 
 festivals which amazed the foreigner." This 
 same writer further states that, "Egyptian re- 
 ligion presents two very remarkable features : 
 its worship of the dead, and its worship of 
 sacred animals. * * * Some kinds of an- 
 imals were held sacred universally, others re- 
 ceived only a local veneration. To the first 
 class belonged the cat, sacred to Bast, or Sek- 
 het ; the ibis and the cynocephalous ape, sacred 
 to Thoth ; the hawk and the beetle, sacred to 
 Ra, etc. None of these animals were allowed 
 to be killed or injured. In each locality where 
 any kind of an animal was sacred, some indi- 
 viduals of the species were attached to the 
 principal temple, where they had their special 
 shrines or chambers, and their train of priestly 
 attendants, who carefully fed them and cleaned 
 them. When they died, they were embalmed 
 according to the most approved method, and 
 entombed with much pomp and ceremony." 
 
 But the Serapaeum was not the tomb of any 
 of the universal gods named in the preceding 
 paragraph. It was the tomb of the Apis- 
 bulls — the supreme local god of Memphis, 
 worshiped for centuries after the eighteenth 
 
 75 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 dynasty, (and possibly as early as the second 
 dynasty), as a divine revelation in animal form 
 of Osiris, which, by some is, after all, identified 
 with Ra, the sun god. Since the same god, in 
 essence, is worshiped under so many different 
 names, or forms, varying in name according 
 to locality, it is confusing to try to classify 
 accurately with the limited knowledge at hand. 
 But the Apis was the chief god of Memphis, 
 and one of the chief gods of Egypt, though 
 it seems that the form and name were different 
 when worshiped elsewhere. Since the life of 
 an Apis-bull was scarcely more than a quarter 
 of a century the religion that teaches the ne- 
 cessity of worshiping such an animal must 
 either die when the animal dies or must have 
 provision made for immediate succession by a 
 living similar animal. And the Egyptians had 
 such provision carefully made and as carefully 
 carried out. How this was done is best told 
 by quoting again from the ''Schaff-Herzog En- 
 cyclopedia" : 'The marks by which an Apis 
 was recognized were a black-colored hide, a 
 white spot of a triangular shape on the fore- 
 head, the hair arranged on the back in the 
 form of an eagle, a twist of the lower mem- 
 branes of the tongue in likeness with the shape 
 
 76 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 of a scarabaeus, etc. When these marks were 
 discovered on a calf, the animal was carried 
 with great solemnity to Memphis, and when 
 the old Apis died a natural death, (in which 
 case it was carefully embalmed), or when it 
 reached the age of twenty-five years, ( in which 
 case it was secretly killed by the priests), the 
 new Apis was installed in the temple as an in- 
 carnate god. The birth of an Apis was consid- 
 ered an occasion of popular joy, and the death 
 an occasion of popular mourning. All the 
 movements of an Apis were watched with the 
 closest attention by the priests, and interpreted 
 as involving oracles." 
 
 But let us visit the tomb. The site is covered 
 to-day with about sixty feet of sand, and, while 
 at one time there were magnificent approaches 
 something like those which may yet be seen 
 before other tombs and temples in Egypt, the 
 present remains here are all beneath the sur- 
 face. 
 
 This tomb was discovered by Mariette in 
 1851, but at some time prior to his visit the 
 tomb had been entered and despoiled of its 
 treasures. But even to-day it is surely worth 
 entering ; and careful, thoughtful investigation 
 will richly repay the tourist. 
 
 77 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 To enter, we go down a steep incline — a 
 passage shoveled out of the sand — to the door 
 of the tomb. When the custodian swings open 
 the improvised wooden door that now takes 
 the place of an ancient door of granite or 
 porphyry, we find ourselves standing at the 
 mouth of an artificial cave, cut into the lime- 
 stone cliff, and having an average width of 
 at least ten feet, and a height of seventeen or 
 eighteen feet. 
 
 After lighting our candles we are led slowly 
 along this great cavern cut in the everlasting 
 rock. Just a few yards from the entrance is 
 a great granite sarcophagus sitting in the pas- 
 sageway; it is thirteen feet long, eleven feet 
 high, and seven feet wide. While it is large, 
 it still leaves room enough for us to pass by 
 easily. We press our way on until we have 
 penetrated the cliff to a distance of nearly 
 twelve hundred feet ! Having reached the end 
 of the main gallery we slowly retrace our steps, 
 peering into the side-chambers, sixty-four of 
 them, connected with the main gallery in which 
 we stand. We enter some of the side-cham- 
 bers. They are twenty-six feet in height. 
 Twenty-four of them contain granite sarcoph- 
 agi of like size and appearance as the one al- 
 
 7S 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 ready mentioned as sitting in the entrance-way 
 of the tomb. In the earHer tombs each Apis 
 had its own chapel, which was connected by an 
 incHned passage with the chamber in which 
 its embalmed body rested in its own stone sar- 
 cophagus. The chapels, as separate rooms, 
 seem to be wanting in the Serapaeum as we 
 know it. 
 
 Only three of the twenty-five sarcophagi are 
 inscribed with hieroglyphics. By means of a 
 short ladder I climb up to look into one from 
 which the great stone lid was pushed back a 
 little way. But the coffin was empty — they 
 are all empty. The mummies of the Sacred 
 Bulls have all been taken from the Serapaeum ; 
 some may now be seen in the Boulak Museum 
 opposite Cairo, and others are to be found 
 elsewhere in the world's great museums of 
 antiquities. 
 
 It surely was a stupendous undertaking to 
 carve out this great gallery and the side- 
 chambers ; and it was no easy task to carve 
 and place these sarcophagi of stone, each 
 weighing, it is estimated, sixty tons. And why 
 was it done? To gratify a sentiment born of 
 a sense of religious obligation ; and though it 
 was all done apparently to show respect for 
 
 79 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 and to give honor and reverence to a dead an- 
 imal, the student of man's ethical nature must 
 see beyond the external magnificence of the 
 sepulture of Egypt's gods the God, not fully 
 understood, of Egypt's lasting hope. 
 
 Possibly among Egypt's many displays of 
 royalty-reception and victory-celebration there 
 were never seen a grander, a more sublime, a 
 more solemn spectacle than was seen right here 
 when one of the embalmed Apis-bulls was 
 brought in funeral train of innumerable, in- 
 cense-burning and prayer-chanting priests and 
 multitudes of soldiers and common people with 
 tear-filled eyes and sigh-freighted voices, to 
 this cave and to this chamber, and to this coffin 
 into which I am now looking, — for Egypt's 
 god was dead, and Egypt's heart was bowed in 
 disconsolate grief. Do you smile? And, like- 
 wise, if the record of our doings is intelligible 
 to earth's people in the year 10,000 A. D., may 
 they smile at us. 
 
 When we leave the Serapaeum the afternoon 
 is far advanced; but still we must mount the 
 crumbling ruins of one or two of the ancient 
 pyramids in the immediate neighborhood to 
 get a last and better view of the place where 
 once stood the proud and prosperous city of 
 
 80 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 the Pharaohs, but which is now hid so com- 
 pletely under the sand-sea of death. The 
 necropolis, four and a-third miles long by one- 
 third of a mile wide, the desert to the south, 
 the cliffs and desert to the west, the desert and 
 pyramids to the north, the overflowing Nile 
 to the east — all these present a scene that 
 is strangely impressive at the close of a day 
 so rich in experiences as this one has been 
 to me. 
 
 But the low-descending sun warns us to de- 
 part or night will come while yet we are far 
 from Cairo. We hurry down from our ele- 
 vated viewpoint ; I beg for the donkey, and 
 get it; and soon we are hastening homeward. 
 Our way back leads along the water. At two 
 places I can see the remains of causeways 
 leading from the river to pyramids ; these were 
 built to make possible the bringing of great 
 rocks from the river to the place of pyramid- 
 structure. 
 
 At no place do we halt; we move on hur- 
 riedly, at times racing our animals in good- 
 natured fashion, until Captain Abraham calls 
 a halt, saying, 'T am tired of this beast; I 
 want my donkey!" 
 
 81 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 "But," said I, "you had the donkey on the 
 outward trip ; I ought to have it now." 
 
 "Yes," said he, "but I am in misery — my 
 head aches so; and I'd be glad if you'd ex- 
 change with me." 
 
 Noting a look of ill-concealed pain in his 
 face, I dismounted, though loath to make the 
 exchange, and was soon again on the animal 
 and the instrument of torture. I dreaded the 
 rest of the trip, although scarcely a fourth of 
 the entire distance remained. 
 
 When we reached the Sphinx the stars were 
 out. I was urging my beast forward that we 
 might catch the first trolley car, when, dozvn 
 on his knees went my camel! and over his head 
 in ungraceful style w^ent his rider ! Here he 
 was loaded, and here he meant to be unloaded. 
 And he did it quickly and unceremoniously. 
 Lucky for me that the alighting-place was 
 sand and not rock ! 
 
 When I rose and brushed the sand from my 
 clothes, it seemed that that old stone face was 
 wreathed in a sort of mummy smile at my mis- 
 fortune. But I do not resent it. Possibly it 
 was funny — to others ! I leave the camel to 
 his driver, who should have warned me, but 
 did not do so, and hurry on foot past the 
 
 82 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Great Pyramid now looming up as a giant 
 gathering strength in the darkening evening- 
 time. It was massive when seen in the full 
 glare of the bright noon-tide, but the twilight 
 and the deepening night seemed to multiply 
 its gigantic massiveness. 
 
 How shall I ever forget, or can it be possible 
 that there will ever be a time in my life when 
 I shall be unstirred by even the remembrance 
 of a day when I kept company with earth's 
 greatest builders and held converse with them 
 in studying their most stupendous works, ac- 
 complished in an age of matchless achieve- 
 ments ! 
 
 83 
 
3v Eail to ^itht0 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 A TRIP to the 'iand of the Nile" is scarcely 
 more than half made if Upper Egypt is not 
 included in the visit. To go to Thebes, the 
 ancient capital of the upper division, and situ- 
 ated at a distance of 550 miles from Cairo, was 
 my next ambition. 
 
 In our arrangement for the trip it was de- 
 cided that we would go by rail and that we 
 would take Abdul with us as our dragoman. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the morning we boarded 
 the train and took our seats in a third-class 
 coach. There are few conveniences in travel- 
 ing third-class in Egypt, but by doing so we 
 were in the company of the peasantry of the 
 land, and thus were afforded an excellent op- 
 portunity to study it at close quarters. 
 
 This ride proved to be the most disagreeable 
 that I had ever taken anywhere on a train. 
 Fine dust, picked up by the suction caused by 
 the movement of the train, filled the car and 
 settled on the seats, on our clothing — every- 
 
 84 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 where — until I could write legibly in it with 
 my finger; and at places on the floor of the 
 car it was fully a sixteenth of an inch deep 
 before sundown. I inhaled so much of the 
 dust that I felt like I used to feel after working 
 for a day at the rear of an old-time threshing- 
 machine. 
 
 But, notwithstanding the discomfort of the 
 train, there was much along the way to inter- 
 est me. It was the harvest time for oranges 
 and sugar-cane in the Nile valley. And as we 
 had made little provision for lunch, (except 
 that Abdul had secured some hard-boiled eggs 
 and rather stale bread at one of the stopping- 
 places), we do as our hungry fellow-travelers 
 do. At every stopping-place the natives of 
 the place run along the train carrying great 
 armfuls of sugar cane and crying out, ''gos- 
 sofr (sugar-cane). The hungry people within 
 raise their windows and purchase a few long 
 stalks of cane as eagerly as hungry travelers 
 in America buy sandwiches of the venders who 
 visit "through trains" at their known stopping- 
 places. 
 
 We, too, buy sugar-cane. Then a busy 
 scene is presented all through that car — people 
 tearing away the outer hard rind of the cane 
 
 85 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 with knives or teeth and then chewing the juicy 
 pith for the sweetness and nourishment it con- 
 tained. No one seemed to think of throwing 
 any refuse matter from the car, but instead 
 threw rind and chewed pith on the floor, just 
 anywhere ; so that in a half hour after hmch 
 began the Htter was so abundant that it re- 
 minded me of what I had seen about a neigh- 
 bor's cane-mill in my early childhood. 
 
 There is no water on this car, either to drink 
 or to serve for toilet purposes. So, when the 
 natives pass along the train crying ''moya!" 
 (water), most of the passengers are keenly 
 interested. The water-venders have little 
 earthen jars holding about a quart of water 
 each, which they ofifer for sale — jar and water, 
 or simply a drink from the jar. For a payment 
 of about a cent they will hand the jar to you 
 and you may drink all you want, placing your 
 lips just where a filthy fellow-traveler, seated 
 in front of you, had placed his lips and had 
 drunk until he gurgled satisfaction ; or for the 
 payment of a piastre (five cents), you can pur- 
 chase the jar with the water, and thus have 
 some of the precious liquid to carry with you. 
 
 But where did they get the water? I saw 
 several of these men replenish their jars by 
 
 86 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 rushing down to water left in depressions by 
 the overflowing Nile, and now almost stag- 
 nant pools. After seeing this, the water 
 seemed offensive, even though I was very 
 thirsty. But the natives will drink Nile-water 
 even when it is decidedly muddy; and they 
 will express surprise at your refusal to drink. 
 
 It is the time for seed-sowing. Hundreds, 
 even thousands, of petty farmers are busy pre- 
 paring the fresh soil — in some places literally 
 working in mud. The plow used by them is 
 very crude ; it is all of wood, except a tiny bit 
 of iron on the point. The team is composed 
 of buffalo cows, or is frequently a mixed team 
 of which one animal is a camel. But where 
 the ground was quite recently left bare by the 
 receding water, no plowing is done. The seed 
 is sown and is then covered by means of a kind 
 of hand-rake. 
 
 In a number of places I see people engaged 
 in irrigating small tracts that are already dry- 
 ing too rapidly for their crops. The process 
 is simple, and is as follows : Numerous shal- 
 low ditches are opened systematically for con- 
 veying to needy points any water placed in 
 them. To get the water from the river they 
 resort to the use of 2i"shadoof." This instru- 
 
 87 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 ment consists of an upright post, placed on the 
 bank of the river, and a long pole that rests 
 on the top of this post at almost equal bal- 
 ance. On the river-end of the pole is a water- 
 tight basket, fastened by a rope sufficiently 
 long to permit the basket to be dipped into 
 the river. The other end of the pole is 
 weighted with rock until sufficiently heavy to 
 overcome the water-filled basket. Two men 
 are required to operate a ''shadoof success- 
 fully — one to stand down at the river and dip 
 the basket, and the other to stand on the bank 
 to receive the wate^ and pour it into the feed- 
 ing channel prepared for it. This is primitive 
 irrigation, but it is sure, as long as the river 
 will furnish the water and men will utilize it. 
 All along the river are signs of industry. It 
 is a busy scene, a scene of life that greets the 
 eye ; it is a reviving of life, though it is late 
 November; it is the "spring time" of Egypt. 
 The grass is springing, and in some places the 
 wheat. Many palm-trees add beauty to the 
 scene. Everywhere are seen people — work- 
 ing, talking, singing. It is so refreshing to 
 catch occasionally the happy song of these men 
 and women living so close to Nature ; it tells 
 of a buoyant hope that m.akes them forget the 
 
 88 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 hard lot of the toiler, for in simple faith he al- 
 ready has the fruition of his labor. And yon- 
 der, the Nile flows on, the "river of life" in an 
 important sense, to all these people and to their 
 valley. No wonder that the ancients consid- 
 ered this mighty river sacred and worshiped 
 it for its gift of overflowing waters ! 
 
 We pass many villages during this day's 
 ride, the most important and modern of which 
 are Assiout, Girgeh, and Keneh. In some 
 places the extent of the fertility and the beauty 
 of the landscape are far beyond what I had ex- 
 pected to find here. 
 
 But the day is done. After an unusually 
 beautiful sunset, night came down quickly, 
 bringing with it a chill that made the dusty, 
 littered coach quite uncomfortable. Wrapped 
 up in my overcoat I am trying to keep warm 
 and steal a little sleep, when, at nine o'clock, 
 our train came to a standstill ! Many voices 
 were heard ; many lights were seen, in a little 
 while the news spreads that we must transfer 
 to another train ahead of us. Then, by fol- 
 lowing the crowd, I saw and understood what 
 they could not clearly explain to me. When 
 the Nile had receded from its overflow it was 
 discovered that for a considerable distance 
 
 89 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 the railroad track had been washed away. We 
 passed by where a multitude of laborers were 
 at work, and where others were lying in rows 
 upon the ground asleep. In talking with an 
 English overseer of this work, he told me that 
 over nineteen hundred people were engaged 
 in making the repairs. I asked what wages the 
 men were paid. He said, *'We simply board 
 them ; their lodging costs nothing, as you see." 
 "But," said I, "why do you have so many 
 here?" "Well," said he, "they have httle to 
 eat at home, and when these are away there 
 is more food for those who are left. They must 
 live ; they work their turn here and get their 
 living, and those at home fare better because 
 of their absence.'' 
 
 With a heavy heart, I crossed the pontoon 
 bridge to the train that was waiting for us on 
 the other side of the river. Were not Nature 
 kind to earth's poor, how soon they would be 
 compelled to surrender in the struggle to make 
 a living. 
 
 On in the darkness and chill of that night 
 we hastened until an hour and a-half past 
 midnight, when our destination, Luxor, was 
 reached. The quarters secured for us were 
 not at all satisfactory to us, but at such an 
 
 90 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 hour in the night it was the best that could be 
 done. At two o'clock we found ourselves in 
 a bare room, with ground floor and destitute 
 of furniture except two rickety cots, not worthy 
 to be called beds. Here, between waking and 
 sleeping, we waged an unsuccessful fight with 
 fleas until six o'clock in the morning. Though 
 little sleep came to me, I welcomed the return 
 of day, for then I could with safety leave that 
 dirty, vermin-filled den. 
 
 91 
 

 
 m 
 
 DM CRAM 
 
 RltlNS OF THEBES 
 
 ---• y^ept-csenfs the. 4uthCi^'s touy- 
 
Chapter VIII. 
 And this is Thebes, ''hundred-gated" The- 
 bes ! That is, here Thebes once stood, extend- 
 ing many miles along both sides of the river. 
 Where the ancient city stood are now the mod- 
 ern villages of Luxor and Karnak and the 
 ruins of numerous temples, the most noted 
 of which are in or near the towns just named. 
 The necropolis of the city, and also a number 
 of important temples, were on the west side 
 of the river. At Thebes the valley is wider 
 than elsewhere except in the Delta ; and the 
 greater part of it lies on the east side of the 
 stream. While the city proper was on the 
 east side of the Nile yet it is estimated that 
 about one-fourth of the population resided on 
 the west side. These were priests and other 
 functionaries of the temples, and those who 
 had the care of the dead — embalming, making 
 and painting the sarcophagi, burying the dead, 
 and carving epitaphs, etc. The Lybian hills 
 are literally honeycombed with tombs. 
 
 93 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 It is difficult to fix a date for the beginning 
 of Thebes ; but it is a matter of history that 
 the city reached small degree of importance 
 until about the eleventh or twelfth dynasty. 
 During the time that the Hyksos had complete 
 control of all Lower Egypt the native rulers 
 seem to have retired from Memphis and other 
 towns of note to this place, which they made 
 their capital, though they still paid tribute 
 to the Hyksos. 
 
 After a stormy and uncertain period in the 
 seventeenth dynasty, there came, in the two 
 succeeding dynasties, the strong kings, Thot- 
 mes III and Rameses II, whose mighty prow- 
 ess in war made all other nations tremble with 
 anxiety for their own independence and safety. 
 And, too, these great warriors were great 
 builders. The visitor to their ancient capital 
 can yet see very many and stupendous works 
 that are the result of their decrees. 
 
 Thebes also at this time became a great 
 religious city, under the tutelary divinity, 
 Amon-Ra, ranking third among the sacred 
 cities of Egypt, in the estimation of the peo- 
 ple, — only excelled by Abydos and Heliopolis. 
 Thebes owed its reputation for sanctity to the 
 
 94 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 prevailing belief that it was the birthplace of 
 the god, Osiris. 
 
 After the twentieth dynasty it seems that a 
 desire to re-locate the supreme power in Egypt 
 at some city in the Delta finally prevailed. Then 
 Thebes began to lose her power and political 
 importance. Then into the quarrels of Egypt 
 came a new, a deciding factor — the Romans. 
 In B. C. 85, Thebes died as a political power. 
 No more gigantic building was undertaken; 
 Amon-Ra was less honored, since Thebes was 
 in defeat ; the priests deserted the temples, and 
 the sacred fires died out upon the altars, and 
 the statues of stone stood silent watchmen of 
 the ruthless invaders of the early centuries 
 and of the vandals of later days. And though 
 the devastation was exceedingly great there 
 are yet to be seen the marks of a national 
 pride and a religious zeal as lasting as the 
 rock-hewn tomb or the mysteriously-embalmed 
 human body. 
 
 Here at Thebes we shall tarry until, in this 
 and in the two succeeding chapters, I have told 
 the story of my visit. 
 
 At 7 : 30 o'clock on the morning after our 
 arrival at Luxor there appeared suddenly be- 
 fore us three donkeys and three donkey-boys. 
 
 95 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 The boys stayed with us all of two days, yet 
 I never heard the name of a single one of 
 them. That seemed an unimportant matter. 
 But we were promptly informed that the 
 names of the donkeys were "Yankee Doodle," 
 "Rameses," and "Thotmes." Abdul mounted 
 the first named, Captain Abraham stepped 
 astride of "Rameses," and 'Thotmes" became 
 mine, "for better or for worse," for two days. 
 
 Then the donkey-boys gave us a good start. 
 But as we were rounding a little turn in the 
 road-street, we came suddenly to a spot where 
 some water had just been poured out; we saw 
 it too late to check our beasts, and, look! 
 "Rameses" is "skidding" on his knees ! Cap- 
 tain Abraham's four years of cavalry service 
 serves him well here; he is not the least dis- 
 concerted, but steps right on, out over the head 
 of his donkey, and waits until the beast has 
 again gotten control of himself, and then with 
 a quizzical look, says, "Very well, 'Rameses' ; 
 but we'll try it again." Again he threw his 
 limb over the diminutive animal, and before 
 the rest of us could feel that the humor of it 
 was half laughed out we had reached the river. 
 
 Since our objective point is the Valley of 
 the Tombs of the Kings, we must expect to 
 
 96 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 find it on the west side of the river, and that 
 means that we must in some way cross the 
 stream. 
 
 Into one of the numerous open boats, lying 
 near the shore our donkeys are driven after 
 much resistance upon their part; we follow 
 into the boat; the sail is spread, and we are 
 soon wafted across the turbid, yellow waters 
 to the other side. But the boat grounds while 
 yet there is left a rod or two of water between 
 us and dry land. The donkeys are made to 
 jump overboard and wade out ; we are carried 
 out by the boatmen just as if we were help- 
 less children. 
 
 We must now pass over a considerable dis- 
 tance of sand-stretches in which are numerous 
 depressions filled with water during the recent 
 overflow ; they are not yet dried up even in 
 the higher portions of the bed of the Nile. To 
 save distance we rode through several of these, 
 but in one of them our guide had trouble by 
 miring his donkey ; and the more he urged his 
 beast the deeper he sank until half his body 
 was submerged. Then Abdul sprang from the 
 donkey and tried to extricate him, but without 
 success. It was only by calling to his aid some 
 laborers near by that he was able to release 
 
 97 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 "Yankee Doodle/' A little later, after we had 
 passed on a half-mile or more, I saw a tourist 
 have a similar trouble in the same pool. 
 
 Now on solid ground we ride rapidly along 
 the bank of the river in a northerly direction, 
 halting first before the ruins of the Temple of 
 Sethos I, at Kurnah. This is our initiation to 
 a study of the temples of Egypt — a study that 
 might be continued with profit for years ; but 
 when that study is limited to days few in num- 
 ber, the subject, at first fascinating, and al- 
 ways dazzling and amazing, becomes confusing 
 and mystifying. We can only hope to give a 
 superficial account; and what we do say of 
 them will be found chiefly in the next two 
 chapters. And when in those chapters the 
 larger and more imposing temples are de- 
 scribed, the description will in a general way 
 apply to this temple, and to all. 
 
 We give some time to inspecting the re- 
 markable ruins of this temple which was 518 
 feet long and had its pylons, courts, colon- 
 nades, hypostyle hall, side-chambers, sanctu- 
 ary, etc., and then we face the cliffs at the 
 western side of the Nile plain. But between 
 us and the cliflfs lies the necropolis, or burying- 
 ground, of the ancient Thebans — a territory* 
 
 98 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 of large extent, but now thoroughly dug over 
 by representatives of museums and by others 
 in search of the embalmed dead, that in far- 
 away countries they might be made to gratify 
 the curious, or that the finder might sell the 
 mummies for money. It is estimated that 
 thousands, if not even a million, of mummies 
 have been exhumed from this necropolis and 
 scattered to all parts of the world, or used 
 locally for certain purposes. The open, empty 
 graves are so numerous that care must be ex- 
 ercised in our riding lest we unexpectedly fall 
 into one of these open pits. But I am glad to 
 be able to say that at present the graves of 
 Egypt are not broken into and robbed of their 
 dead. The Egyptian Exploration Society 
 carefully patrols and guards all these places 
 sacred to antiquity, and what excavation is 
 permitted is made under careful, intelligent 
 oversight in the interest of Art, History, and 
 Anthropology. 
 
 Many are the venders of relics in this old 
 burial-ground. Some of the antiques may be 
 genuine, but some may have been made last 
 year, or yesterday. And to the eye of the 
 uninitiated it is a difficult matter to tell which 
 are genuine and which are spurious. We are 
 
 99 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 annoyed not a little by these venders hanging 
 about us all the way across the old cemetery, 
 wanting to sell bits of colored glass and scar- 
 ahce, found in the graves with the dead, or 
 small fragments of old painted coffins with 
 hieroglyphics quite plainly discernible. One 
 offers to sell me an embalmed hawk (a bird 
 sacred to the ancient Eg3^ptians) ; but the ch- 
 max of offered articles is reached when one 
 thrusts a complete hand of a mummy before 
 me with an appeal to buy ! Oh, that hand ! 
 Once a source of support for the owner ; once 
 possibly wielding the spear in defense of his 
 king ; once beckoning hope to some companion 
 in distress, or smiting the offender of innocent 
 ones; once kindling joy, hope, and love by its 
 caressing touch ; — ah, then it were no hand to 
 despise, it were no hand that could be bought. 
 But now after the stillness and rest of three 
 millenniums it is severed from the arm and 
 offered for sale to me ! What right have I to 
 that hand, that repulsive, bony hand! Even 
 as I look I feel as though that hand has fast- 
 ened with a death-grip upon my anticipated 
 pleasure here. I shudder and tell Abdul to 
 drive away these people. And yet, I dare say 
 that that very hand is now somewhere in the 
 
 100 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 home of a later tourist gracing (?) his cab- 
 inet of curios. 
 
 But a happy transition from this ride of dis- 
 agreeable surroundings and dismal thoughts 
 comes to us when we reach the clififs and 
 round a large projecting rock to enter the 
 Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. Here there 
 suddenly appear before us several maidens 
 about fifteen years of age, and each bearing a 
 jar of water on her head or shoulder. With 
 smiling faces and bright, liquid, dark eyes they 
 present an interesting contrast in this region of 
 dreary desolation, which has for ages been 
 given over to the dead. 
 
 They step lightly out to meet us and with 
 graceful little courtesies call out a cheery 
 "good morning." Then without awaiting an 
 invitation, to each of us a maiden came with 
 protestations of friendly interest, and offering 
 a drink from the jar she carried. Not caring 
 for a drink, I tried to make the maiden who 
 had come to me understand it so, and then 
 urged my donkey forward ; the maiden also 
 came. If I walked my donkey, she walked 
 at my side with jar on her head ; if I raced 
 my donkey, the maiden was still at my side 
 with water jar still on her head and insisting 
 
 101 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 that I was a ''lovely man." I told my drago- 
 man to send her away, but she heeded not. 
 I urged her, like Naomi of old, to "return from 
 following after me" to her rock covert and to 
 wait for a thirsty tourist. But, like Ruth, she 
 was disinclined to go back. And then with a 
 languishing smile that Cleopatra, with all her 
 blandishments, might have envied, she said in 
 substance, " 'Entreat me not to leave thee, or 
 to return from following after thee,' for the 
 way is long, and there is no water, and later 
 you will want a drink. No, I will not go back ; 
 I will stay with you all day, and when you 
 want a drink I will give it to you, for you are 
 a lovely man." Then in her appealing look, 
 I further read, "Don't send me back ; I am 
 poor." Not feeling that I was a very "lovely 
 man" just then, I halted my donkey and said, 
 "Child, come here and let me drink." With 
 the jar still on her head she stepped close to 
 the donkey and inclining her head she tipped 
 the jar for me to drink. Handing her a small 
 coin, I said, "Now, please go back; I'll not 
 want any more to-day ; good bye." Then 
 starting off at a rapid pace, I was happy to 
 find that she no longer followed me. 
 
 We are now enterinfr a narrow passage be- 
 102 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 tween high, perpendicular walls of rock, which 
 we follow in its windings for a mile or two till 
 we reach the terminus, where are the tombs we 
 seek. The passage varies in width and 
 branches out at several places, but always, in 
 every branch, terminates against steep walls 
 of rock. I am convinced that all this so-called 
 "valley" was dug out to get rock for building 
 purposes, to be used in the massive structures 
 of Thebes, and possibly elsewhere, and that 
 when the works were completed and the quar- 
 ries vacated, then this great channel in the 
 rock was used as a beginning-place for cutting 
 out deep caverns in the rocks to be used as 
 sepulchers in which to bury the Theban kings. 
 As we pass along this narrow valley I note 
 the vast amount of talus, or disintegrated rock, 
 that has accumulated through centuries, piled 
 at the bases of the cliffs on either side, in 
 some places many feet deep ; and this is espe= 
 cially noticeable in the broadened out temii= 
 nus. The ride here is dreary and oppressive = 
 There is not a breath of air stirring, no sign 
 of vegetation, no song of bird. The glaring 
 heat of a midday sun in a cloudless sky, the 
 oppressive stillness, the heavy-sighing silence, 
 the mockery of the echoes of our own voices 
 
 103 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 or of the plodding foot-falls of the beasts we 
 ride — all combine to impress me that we are 
 riding through a veritable death-valley. 
 
 In the terminus, as already noted, are the 
 tombs we seek — twenty-five or twenty-six of 
 them already known, and the presence of more 
 suspected — each tomb being the resting-place 
 of the king who made it. 
 
 The entrances to all these tombs are in this 
 artificial valley, at the bases of the cliffs; 
 hence it was that the debris, already referred 
 to, had hidden for centuries the walled-up and 
 sealed doors so efifectually that their presence 
 was lost sight of and not even suspected dur- 
 ing many generations. But when the first was 
 discovered and its royal occupant surely 
 identified, active work was begun in search for 
 others, until more than a score have been 
 found and explored. All of the mummies 
 found in them have been taken to museums 
 for protection — chiefly to Boulak, near Cairo. 
 
 We enter and explore all of the important 
 ones. The most interesting to me are the 
 Tomb of Sethos I, who knew Joseph ; Rameses 
 II, who oppressed Israel ; and Manephtha, who 
 was king at the time of the Exodus. These 
 tombs are all on the same plan. They are vast 
 
 104 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 excavations made in the soHd rock-cHff, with 
 main gallery in some cases ten feet wide and 
 twelve feet high and penetrating the cliff to 
 a depth of several hundred feet. Most of them 
 slope downward, and a few are so steep that 
 steps cut in the floor were necessary in places 
 in order to keep from slipping. The walls of 
 some of them are covered with hieroglyphics 
 and numerous other religious symbols. Some 
 of these emblems are carven in the rock, while 
 others are painted in bright colors. At the 
 extreme end of the gallery is the sarcophagus, 
 usually of fine granite, in which the embalmed 
 body of the king was placed at the conclusion 
 of his obsequies. It seems that the design was 
 that here in his embalmed body, in his coffin 
 of stone, in his cell in the everlasting rock, in 
 his hermetically sealed tomb, his resting-place 
 should remain undisturbed throughout all eter- 
 nity. But gold-hunters and relic-seekers tore 
 open his silent chamber, read his name, stole 
 his gold, profaned his amulets, and even im- 
 piously dragged forth his body to be a spec- 
 tacle for the present and succeeding gener- 
 ations. 
 
 But on beholding the desolation here, the 
 despoiled tombs, the mysterious symbols of 
 
 105 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 faith and hope of the once proud and haughty 
 tenants of these funeral chambers, what fanci- 
 ful figures and scenes come trooping through 
 my mind! 
 
 Here, evidently, a few thousand years ago, 
 was a scene of marvelous activity — multitudes 
 quarrying out the rock, multitudes hewing 
 them into shape, and multitudes transporting 
 them to other localities. Here, no doubt, la- 
 bored in great numbers slaves taken in battle, 
 labored hard, and under exacting, cruel mas- 
 ters. Then I see the place deserted — the 
 quarry-slave has finished his work and is gone. 
 Time passes. Skilled workmen come up the 
 narrow valley, and having chosen a spot, be- 
 gin to cut into the rock-cliff; chamber after 
 chamber is finished as the main gallery is 
 pushed forward, until an amazing depth has 
 been reached, and the excavation is pro- 
 nounced done. Then I see carvers at work 
 decorating the walls and ceiling; and the 
 painter is here with his brush. At last it is 
 finished, and the workmen depart. But listen ! 
 Borne to my ear is the voice of lamentation 
 of a thousand hired mourners ; and now I see 
 a great procession moving slowly up the val- 
 ley ; it is a scene of surpassing splendor, mag- 
 
 106 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 nificence, and solemnity — an embalmed king 
 is being carried to his long home in the lasting, 
 rock-hewn tomb; he is placed in his large, 
 decorated sarcophagus of granite to lie in un- 
 disturbed repose, in quiet, peaceful sleep, 
 after a turbulent reign, — after ''life's fitful 
 fever," now ended. Then the door is closed ; 
 the very marks of its existence are covered up 
 or erased. The people depart ; and again 
 there is oppressive loneliness in the big, awe- 
 freighted silence of this valley of death. 
 
 107 
 
%^t lSi^mt00t{xm and tSe Sitting 
 €olo00i 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 Here we lunched, sharing our simple meal 
 with the donkey-boys. They never carry food 
 with them, even on an all-day trip; seem 
 happy without it, but still happier if the tour- 
 ist can spare a morsel from his own lunch. 
 
 We do not return by the route by which we 
 reached this place, but climb out of the arti- 
 ficial valley by a steep, uncertain path in the 
 eastern wall, that by doing so we may econo- 
 mize distance and time. Here I give over my 
 donkey to the care of Abdul, and on foot, I 
 climb to the top of the ridge and along its 
 summit between the little valley and the great 
 Nile plain. I should think that these heights 
 range from four hundred feet to five hundred 
 feet above the river bed. I do not remount my 
 beast until I have descended to the plain on the 
 Nile side of the ridge. The descent on this 
 side is fully as troublesome as the ascent on 
 the other side. 
 
 108 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Our first halting-place in the afternoon was 
 at the exhumed Temple of ''Der el Bahri." 
 Just before reaching this noted ruin we passed 
 a deep well, or shaft, leading down to hori- 
 zontal chambers cut in the rock. This is called 
 the 'Tomb of the Priests." We did not de- 
 scend into it; it is not open to visitors. 
 
 The rear of the temple that we are ap- 
 proaching was cut out of the solid rock-cliflf, 
 which still towers threateningly above it. 
 After inspecting the general features of this 
 temple, and lingering for a time in the dark, 
 mysterious, little sanctuary, for whose exist- 
 ence all other parts of the magnificent struc- 
 ture were to bear testimony, and to add dignity 
 and confusion to its mystery, vv^e mount our 
 donkeys to proceed to the "Ramesseum," 
 which is said to have been one of the finest of 
 fine temples in all Eg}^pt. 
 
 And now, having previously stated that the 
 general plan of all Egyptian temples was the 
 same, it is proper that I give that plan. To do 
 so I quote one who wrote of them many cen- 
 turies ago, but whose description is practically 
 an accurate one. I refer to Strabo, who, as 
 quoted in an article in ''Scribner's" some years 
 ago, says : *'The arrangement of the parts of 
 
 109 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 an Egyptian temple is as follows : In a line 
 with the entrance to the sacred enclosure, is 
 a paved road or avenue, about a hundred feet 
 in breadth ; and in length, from three to four 
 hundred feet, or even more. This is called the 
 dromos. Through the whole length of the 
 dromos and on each side of it, sphinxes are 
 placed at the distance of thirty feet from one 
 another, or even more, forming a double row, 
 one on each side. After the sphinxes you 
 come to the large propylseum (which consists 
 of two obtuse pyramids, enclosing between 
 them the principal gate, to form a grand en- 
 trance). And as you advance you come to 
 another and to a third after that; for no def- 
 inite number of either propylae or sphinxes is 
 required in the plan, but they vary in different 
 temples as to their number as well as to the 
 length and breadth of the dromos. After the 
 propylseum, we come to the temple itself, 
 which is always a large and handsome pro- 
 naos, or portico, and a sekos, or cella (a place 
 in which the heathen images are usually kept), 
 of only moderate dimensions, with no image 
 in it ; at least not one of human shape, but some 
 representation of a brute animal. On each 
 side of the pronaos are wings of equal height, 
 
 110 
 
C£ 
 
 STi\0 
 
 I 11 I I 
 
 L]L 
 
 O . O O o 
 
 o o e> C 
 
 O O O O 
 
 o o o 
 
 o c o e o 
 
 ® * H>/POSTYt-E 
 O , d 
 
 HALL 
 O o o o ^ ^ 
 
 (• 
 
 2 OP4 3 
 
 o o 
 
 o c 
 
 O 
 
 o o 
 
 O 
 
 o a o 
 
 O 
 
 o o 
 
 O o 
 
 D 
 
 &0 
 
 O ^ O 
 
 o oBcoNO Couar 
 
 Osiris ftnLAns ^ ^ f^ i\ 
 
 O 
 t 
 o 
 
 The Ramesseum 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 but their width is somewhat more than the 
 breadth of the temple measured along its base- 
 ment line. This width of the wings, however, 
 gradually diminishes from the bottom to the 
 top. The walls have sculptured forms on them 
 of a large size, like Tyrrhedian figures, and 
 the ancient Greek works of the same class." 
 
 This explanation, together with the ground- 
 plan sketch made especially for this story of 
 my visit and here inserted, will help us in our 
 study of the "Ramesseum." 
 
 As we approach the main entrance I note 
 that the dromos, or avenue of sphinxes, has 
 disappeared ; but the pylon is here. The py- 
 lons of the temples of Egypt were what the 
 Greeks called "gates" ; so we must under- 
 stand that, when they speak of "hundred- 
 gated" Thebes, they do not mean that a hun- 
 dred gates pierced a surrounding wall of the 
 city, but that before the many temples there 
 were, in aggregation, a hundred pylons, or 
 gates, through which the worshipers passed 
 in their religious devotions. 
 
 This pylon, which was originally a massive 
 wall in thickness and had a breadth of 220 
 feet, is fairly well preserved. On the inner 
 side of the division of the pylon northeast of 
 
 112 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 the gateway through it is an elaborate carven 
 representation of an Egyptian camp; and on 
 the inner side of the other half is the cele- 
 brated story, in hieroglyphics, of the "battle 
 of Kadesh" — an inscription of interest to Bible 
 students. 
 
 After looking at these inscriptions, I ob- 
 serve that the large first court, in which we 
 stand, is in ruins — fallen pillars and broken 
 statues lie scattered all about us ; however, on 
 our left a double row of columns yet stand 
 in their original places. Near the second py- 
 lon, one-half of which is almost completely 
 torn away, is the great, fallen statue of Ram- 
 eses II, the founder of this temple. We shall 
 now pass through the gate of the second pylon 
 into the second court. Here, on the right in- 
 side pylon-surface, is a further inscription of 
 the "battle of Kadesh." Each side of this 
 court has a double row of columns ; the front 
 has a row of Osiris pillars ; the rear has a row 
 of Osiris pillars, and on a terrace back of them 
 a row of columns like those along the sides, 
 and just in front of the rear row of Osiris 
 pillars are two colossal statues of the Great 
 Rameses. 
 
 Passing through the third pylon, on the in- 
 113 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 ner surface of which is the hieroglyphiced 
 story of the ''battle of Zophar," we are in the 
 bewildering Great Hypostyle Hall, a court 
 that was filled with forty-eight massive pillars 
 standing in even-spaced arrangement over the 
 entire floor-area of this division of the temple. 
 Passing through this forest of columns and 
 on through the fourth pylon we enter a small 
 Hypostyle Hall, and again farther on, another 
 small, similar hall. Here numerous, unlighted, 
 mysterious cells are clustered about, in one of 
 which was the sacred altar where ministered 
 the mysterious priest in the propagation of his 
 mysterious religion. 
 
 On coming back to one of the large courts, 
 Captain Abraham, while we were examining 
 the workmanship displayed on one of the beau- 
 tiful pillars, placed his cane against it. Imme- 
 diately the temple-custodian rushed forward 
 and pushed away the stick, exclaiming in 
 broken English, "It is forbidden; you must 
 not ; oh, the mark ! they beat me when they see 
 this !" The mark was scarcely discernible, but 
 it seemed plain to him. He gathered up his 
 flowing robe and began removing the supposed 
 defacing mark. While the past tells a sad 
 story of vandalism, such destructiveness is 
 
 114 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 scarcely possible now, so careful is the watch 
 maintained by the Egyptian Exploration So- 
 ciety. 
 
 But, again in the first court, let us tarry a 
 moment at the great, fallen statue of Ram- 
 eses II. It was a colossal sitting statue, ex- 
 quisitely carved out of a reddish granite; but 
 by some powerful means it has been over- 
 thrown and shattered into fragments ; however, 
 the huge trunk and face remain practically 
 uninjured. To give some idea of its colos- 
 sal size, I here note a few of its measurements. 
 In height it was fifty-seven and a-half feet ; 
 the length of its ear was three and a-half feet ; 
 the circumference of its arm at the elbow was 
 seventeen and a-half feet ; the diameter of its 
 arm above the elbow was four and three- 
 fourths feet; the length of its index finger was 
 three and one-fifth feet; the length of the nail 
 on the middle finger was seven and a-half 
 inches ; the breadth of this nail was six inches ; 
 the breadth of the foot across the toes was 
 four and a-half feet, etc. 
 
 The statue lies with face upward. I climb 
 upon the huge body by means of steps cut into 
 the shoulder, and, standing on the breast, I 
 look down into the face, — a stone face, yet 
 
 115 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 scarcely harder than the face of which it is 
 the counterpart. Rameses is not here; mil- 
 lenniums ago the mortal man perished. The 
 mummy of Rameses is not here; for centuries 
 it slept in its great cavern-tomb, then it was 
 found and hidden in a secret cavern at Der 
 el Bahri, where within the last century it was 
 discovered and taken to the Boulak Museum, 
 where any visitor to Egypt may look upon 
 the well-recognized features. But here I stand 
 upon this colossal effigy of Egypt's greatest 
 warrior — her greatest king. It is generally 
 conceded that this is the effigy of the Pharaoh 
 that oppressed Israel until in their anguish 
 they turned their faces toward the God of the 
 skies for dehverance. And here, after stain- 
 ing so many pages of history with blood spilled 
 by his decrees, in these quiet after-centuries, 
 he lies, in his image, staring wide-eyed day 
 and night into the same sky from which Is- 
 rael's deliverance came. Can his immortal 
 spirit, "in the pale realms of shade," have 
 similar hope of deliverance from the lashings 
 of the Furies whose vengeance seems never 
 satisfied ! 
 
 It now seems so like standing on a real, suf- 
 fering man, and, tyrant though he was, I seem 
 
 116 
 
The Silting Colossi. 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 to pity him, and, lest I hurt, I quickly climb 
 down from my place of meditations on his 
 breast. 
 
 Somewhat nearer the Nile and farther up 
 stream are the Sitting Colossi of Memnon. 
 This name simply means that these are seated 
 statues of enormous size of Amenophis IV. 
 That they are colossal is plain from the fol- 
 lowing dimensions, which apply, approxi- 
 mately, to both — (there are two of them) : 
 their height is fifty-two feet ; the height of their 
 pedestals is thirteen feet; the length of their 
 legs from their knees to the soles of their feet 
 is nineteen and a-half feet ; the length of their 
 feet is ten and a-half feet ; the length of their 
 middle fingers is four and a-half feet ; from the 
 tips of their fingers to their elbows the length 
 is fifteen and a-half feet, etc. The entire 
 weight of one colossus and its pedestal is esti- 
 mated at 1,175 tons. 
 
 Here these images have been sitting side by 
 side in places never vacated by them since 
 1400 B.C., facing the Nile and the farther east. 
 The faces of both have been mutilated. The 
 pedestals bear inscriptions of persons who vis- 
 ited them fully two thousand years ago. 
 
 The northern statue is called the "Vocal 
 117 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Memnon," from the fact that in the early cen- 
 turies of its existence it was frequently heard 
 to give forth from its crown at sunrise rich 
 musical strains like the twanging of harp 
 strings. Scientists do not dispute the possi- 
 bility of such a phenomenon, and the testimony 
 of reliable persons who claim to have heard it 
 almost establishes it as a fact of history. But 
 centuries ago an earthquake, or some other 
 great disturbance, threw down its upper half, 
 and when, many years later, it was restored, it 
 was found that the song had been forever 
 hushed. 
 
 At the time of my visit these statues were 
 in the midst of a swampy tract of land where 
 wheat was already springing in a good growth. 
 We ride all around them, tarrying long enough 
 in their great shadows cast by the westering 
 sun, for the immensity of these silent, giant 
 watchers of the plain to overawe us. Then 
 looking at the ruins to be seen in the distance 
 at almost all points of the compass, and again 
 at the miles of tomb-hollowed mountains, I am 
 satisfied. We take our way across the fertile 
 plain toward Luxor for the night. 
 
 Farmers are busy everywhere. Captain 
 Abraham is not only interested in their plow- 
 
 118 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 ing, but dismounts and insists on trying it 
 himself. When the natives understand, they 
 cheerfully consent to let him try. He draws 
 two furrows, but with only moderate success ; 
 the plow is too clumsy and the camel-heifer 
 team is too uncertain. 
 
 We hurry on toward the Nile crossing. 
 ''Rameses" stumbles again, and this time my 
 friend does not escape so v/ell, as is proven by 
 a large, transverse rent in one knee of his 
 trousers. He laughs at his misfortune ; but 
 in the absence of feminine hands to make re- 
 pairs, he carries for days the mark of his fall 
 in a rent emphasized by an unsuccessful effort 
 upon his part to fix it. 
 
 At Luxor I linger awhile at sunset and 
 in the fading after-glow by the ruins of its 
 famous Temple, and then I retire to wander in 
 dream-vision through a land whose Elysian 
 plains and fair hillsides are not marked with 
 a single tomb ; to look upon a splendor and a 
 magnificence never seen here in the palmiest 
 days of Egypt's glory and renown ; to hear the 
 sweet notes of a song never sung by Egypt's 
 priesthood ; and to bathe in a light diviner far 
 than ever rested on Egypt's proudest obelisk, 
 temple, or pyramid. 
 
 119 
 
l&arnafe and JLmot 
 
 Chapter X. 
 
 We have yet to see the ruins that are on the 
 east side of the river, the most noted of which 
 are at Karnak and Luxor. At 7 : 30 o'clock in 
 the morning our boys and donkeys of yester- 
 day are ready for us. Our plan is to ride 
 north to Karnak, a distance of about two miles, 
 and spend tl:j« first half of the day in inspect- 
 ing the ruins of its temple, and then to return 
 to Luxor to devote the afternoon to a study 
 of the ruins of its magnificent fane. 
 
 Astride "Thotmes" I found the early morn- 
 ing ride one of delight, the only annoying fea- 
 ture of it being that the boys thought our gait 
 entirely too slow, and they would occasionally 
 try to improve upon it by suddenly whipping 
 the donkeys, and the suddenness of their at- 
 tacks nearly caused the unseating of me a few 
 times. Finally, we told Abdul that we would 
 hold him responsible for any repetition of that 
 objectionable feature of our ride. There was 
 no repetition of it after that. 
 
 120 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 And now we pass through groves of palm 
 trees, and a little later we are among the na- 
 tives who are busy at their work and appar- 
 ently happy. On this ride I have a good op- 
 portunity to learn what Egyptian rural life is. 
 
 On reaching Karnak our way leads through 
 a forest of palm trees, and then along an ave- 
 nue of colossal ram's-headed sphinxes. These 
 sphinxes are much mutilated, but some are yet 
 sufficientl}^ complete for us to know full well 
 of what they were images. We next pass 
 through a magnificent and well-preserved gate- 
 way of granite, with the symbol of the 
 "winged sun" above the arch, and are within 
 the area of what, in many respects, is the 
 greatest ruin on the face of the earth. 
 
 The Temple of Amon, the greatest single 
 ruin here, faces the Nile and the Temple of 
 Kurnah, which I have m.entioned as being on 
 the west side of the river. Between the Nile 
 and the entrance in the great pylon is a dromos 
 with a row of ram's-headed sphinxes, recently 
 restored, on each side. This great edifice ex- 
 tends 1,200 feet from northwest to southeast, 
 and has a width of 340 feet, and the area occu- 
 pied is more than one and a-half times as 
 
 121 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 much as that occupied by St. Peter's at Rome, 
 the largest church in Christendom. 
 
 We shall approach this temple through the 
 avenue leading from the river. At a short dis- 
 tance we come to the first pylon, isolated from 
 and standing as a great protecting screen for 
 all beyond it. It is indeed great. It has a 
 length of four hundred feet, a thickness of 
 forty feet, and a towering height of eighty 
 feet. I climb to the top to get a panoramic 
 view of the region round about. From my 
 strategic point of observation I can look down 
 into courts once filled with incense offered to 
 the gods, and embellished with the glamour 
 of a world-conquering empire, but now so 
 empty, so desolate ! 
 
 I cannot understand the special office of 
 each pylon, hall, statue, or inscription, but 
 when I remember that the chief elements of 
 the creed of the ancient Egyptian were sol- 
 emnity, seclusion, mystery, and perpetuity, I 
 can then see clearly that in his architectural 
 constructions he builded so as to secure them 
 all. 
 
 I also note that the work of excavation in 
 parts of the area is still going on. But the 
 original builders are gone; they ceased from 
 
 122 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 toil and were ferried across that rolling 
 stream yonder, and beyond, in that vast city of 
 the dead, they took up their abode with the 
 multitude that never came back here to build, 
 to wonder, or to worship. 
 
 Climbing down from the pylon, I pass 
 through the first great court, now completely 
 in ruins, up a flight of a few steps between 
 two colossal seated statues, through the second 
 great pylon, and into the Hypostyle Hall — the 
 marvel of the world in temple-court embellish- 
 ment. 
 
 Through this hall the main passage leads 
 between two rows of twelve massive columns 
 each, — each column being nearly eighty feet 
 high and thirty-six feet in circumference ; and, 
 placed in regular order, equidistant from each 
 other, are 122 other columns, nearly as large, 
 and all, or many of them, covered from base to 
 top of capital with hieroglyphics. The effect 
 produced by the size and arrangement of these 
 columns is most bewildering, indeed. 
 
 Then follow further investigations. The 
 numerous pylons, the Hypostyle Hall, the sev- 
 eral obelisks, the many statues, the inscription- 
 covered walls and pillars — all combine to beget 
 a sense of solemn awe in the beholder. Any 
 
 123 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 word-description here is so impotent and in- 
 sufficient that it seems almost Hke sacrilege 
 to attempt it. ''When we contemplate the mys- 
 terious religion to which this mighty fane was 
 dedicated, and the lofty civilization of the peo- 
 ple who reared such a sublime edifice, the mind 
 is strained and the senses are confounded." 
 
 I quote further from the writer of the sen- 
 tence just used, who in a meditative mood 
 exclaims : "What changes has the world — 
 what changes has Karnak seen since the con- 
 struction of this marvel of architecture ! 
 Mighty armies ; strong kings ; lovely queens 
 have sauntered through these halls ! Even 
 Cambyses, the wild destroyer and fanatic, 
 reined in his chariot horses here to wonder and 
 admire. Hither came Rameses II. after his 
 return from the war with the Khetahs. Here 
 he received the approval of the gods, the wel- 
 come of his priests, and the loud huzzas of his 
 people ! The Ptolemies, the Caesars, the armies 
 of Napoleon have all here visited, marveled, 
 and applauded. Now the hooting of the owl, 
 the screech of the vulture, and the 'back- 
 sheesh' of the Arab are the only sounds that 
 break the silence of Karnak." 
 
 124 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 I now pass without the temple where in one 
 place on the external surface of the temple- 
 wall I see the celebrated *'Shishak" inscription 
 — of special interest to bibHcal scholars, since 
 it gives the names of many places in Palestine 
 and Syria that were conquered by the Egyp- 
 tian kings. Of course, I cannot read it, but 
 I can understand the significance of some of 
 the carven pictures. 
 
 Through a long avenue of sphinxes that lies 
 near two well preserved, sacred lakes, I ride 
 on to the "Temple of Mut," which was once 
 much adorned with ape-faced statues. When 
 I have finished investigating this place, my 
 sight-seeing at Karnak is ended. We return 
 to Luxor for lunch. 
 
 The Temple of Luxor varies somewhat, in 
 plan, from those already described — enough to 
 necessitate a brief notice of it here before I 
 leave this city of ancient renown. 
 
 This temple certainly ranks next to Karnak, 
 (with which at one time it was connected by 
 an avenue guarded by a thousand sphinxes), 
 among the ruins that I have seen in Egypt. 
 The main entrance is on the northern side. 
 By this entrance stood two beautiful obelisks, 
 only one of which remains. (The other may 
 
 125 
 
T^LOhl 
 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 now be seen in Paris.) In front of the pylon 
 were also several gigantic statues of Rameses 
 11. 
 
 The general direction of this temple was not 
 along an axial line, like all others were. It 
 was in greatest length, 207 yards ; and in great- 
 est breadth it was 60 yards. The first court, 
 that of Rameses II, was of rhomboidal shape, 
 and excelled in the splendor if its adornment. 
 This court is surrounded with a double row of 
 well-preserved columns, which for size and 
 beauty rank well with any others I have seen 
 in Egypt, and between each pair of columns 
 is a colossal statute of the great Rameses. 
 On the exterior side of the wall of this court 
 is inscribed the so-called "Poem of Pentaur." 
 From the court in which we stand a grand 
 colonnade of fourteen exceptionally large and 
 beautiful columns leads to a second court, that 
 of Amenophis III., with its double row of sur- 
 rounding columns ; then on to a hall of pillars, 
 and farther on through a chapel and chambers 
 until, finally, the Sanctuary of Alexander the 
 Great is reached. 
 
 Retracing our steps through these loud- 
 speaking, though death-stilled chambers, and 
 passing out by the grand entrance-way, we 
 
 127 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 stand for a moment on the banks of the Sacred 
 River, and then hurry in the late evening to 
 the train that is to carry us back to Cairo. On 
 board the train, in the later evening, while the 
 roseate west is changing into the somber 
 shades of mourning, and while there loom up 
 out of the gathering gloom the massive ruins 
 of a grandeur that once was, a sad, poetic sen- 
 timent akin to that which inspired the follow- 
 ing lines vibrated in my life : 
 
 "Thebes was a city of a thousand years 
 Ere Homer harped his wars ; yet on her plain 
 Crumbling, the riven monument appears. 
 To mourn that glory ne'er returns again. 
 
 "She dreams no dream of greatness now, doth 
 
 mourn 
 No dim-remembered past — dominion, hope, 
 And conquest's ardor long have ceased to burn ; 
 Where ruthless Cambyses her warriors smote, 
 Her horsemen, columns, gates, together lie 
 And moulder into elemental clay ; 
 Yet who shall tread her grave without a sigh, 
 Nor wish to breathe her being into day — 
 Upon her fields revive great Karnak's bold ar- 
 
 ray ! 
 
 128 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 •'But now she is a lone, deserted one — 
 
 The tears of Niobe are hers, for she 
 
 Has lost her children — fate they could not 
 
 shun 
 Or from the shafts of stern Latona flee. 
 
 "Ah, Thebes, how fallen now ! Thy storied 
 
 gates 
 Resistless all ! Where sweeps the Nile's swift 
 
 wave, 
 Relentless sands embattling, thou awaitest 
 Thy final sepulture and the gathering grave/' 
 
 Then night fell, and with the onward rush 
 of the train I gave attention to my more im- 
 mediate surroundings. 
 
 129 
 
Chapter XL 
 
 The ride of that night brought little of 
 comfort or pleasure. We were crowded; the 
 air was chill; the natives smoked to excess; 
 the boisterous confusion was great at times, 
 once even leading to a fistic encounter in the 
 forward end of the car. But when morning 
 dawned a stupid drowsiness prevailed, and 
 passengers were to be seen lying in all sorts 
 of ludicrous positions— some were even lying 
 flat on the dusty, filthy floor. 
 
 It was a happy transition that I experienced 
 when at seven o'clock in the morning I stepped 
 out of the foul-smelling car into the fresh, per- 
 fume-laden atmosphere of Cairo. 
 
 And now our sight-seeing by the overflow- 
 ing Nile is ended. Our boat will leave Alex- 
 andria to-morrow afternoon. Happy thought ! 
 I am going home ! I spend my remaining 
 hours in Cairo in completing my arrangements 
 for leaving Egypt. A calm, quiet, indescrib- 
 able, satisfying peace has filled my heart and 
 
 130 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 t^ken possession, of me. I feel almost intoxi- 
 cated at the thought of the supreme success 
 of my long tarrying in lands toward which my 
 eyes have turned in steady longing since the 
 early days of my childhood. But the toil, the 
 privation, the anxiety are ended. I am going 
 home! Only he who has lingered where his 
 own language is scarcely heard, where the 
 exalted privileges of his own government are 
 denied him, and where the consolingly sweet 
 influences of his home are lacking, can in any 
 degree appreciate what joy, what rapture filled 
 my life at the thought that at last my long 
 cherished ambitions were gratified, and that 
 now, with honor unsullied, I could go home. 
 
 At half-past seven o'clock the next morning, 
 after an exciting experience in the jostling 
 crowd of people, some of whom were even 
 resorting to blows in order to be first to reach 
 the ticket-window, and two of whom were 
 rudely beaten back by the depot guards, I 
 secure my ticket and board the train for Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 The ride of four and three-fourths hours' 
 duration is through the delightful and fertile 
 Delta. As we near Alexandria, forests of date- 
 palm, with their yellow clusters of ripening 
 
 131 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 fruit, present a scene of beauty of an unusuai 
 kind to me. 
 
 We complete our arrangements for sailing, 
 and then, though we have yet several hours 
 before our vessel will clear port, we are told 
 not to go from the wharf, as the place is under 
 quarantine because of the existence here of 
 several cases of bubonic plague. 
 
 At five o'clock the vessel is loosed from her 
 moorings and we make our way slowly out of 
 port to the great, open sea. At sunset, and 
 on into the purpling twilight, and on into the 
 darkness of the night I stand on the rear deck, 
 looking back in the clear evening light; look- 
 ing back in the increasing mist-laden gloom ; 
 and still looking back when night settles down 
 in all its dense darkness. A thousand city 
 lights, it seems to me, flash out their beams 
 across the harbor bar to signal farewell to me. 
 These go out, one by one, until the beacon of 
 the great lighthouse alone is seen. It fades, 
 steadily fades, and, then, — is gone. 
 
 The vessel is now very perceptibly under the 
 influence of the swelling of the great sea; so 
 I think my "good by" to the land of "the 
 Overflowing Nile,'' and pass to greater safety 
 within. 
 
 132 
 
By The Overflowing Nile 
 
 Farewell, Egypt! Land of long-ago great- 
 ness; land of the Pharoahs' pride; land of 
 Abraham's sin; land of Joseph's exaltation; 
 land of Israel's bondage ; land of the miracle- 
 attended Exodus; land of refuge for the in- 
 fant Messiah. Yours is indeed a long and in- 
 teresting histor}^ Much of your best lies 
 buried in the sand ; but a new era is dawning 
 for you. Drop the binding and blinding tenets 
 of Mohammed ; accept the freedom of the 
 Christ; tear the lattices from the windows of 
 your houses, the veils from the faces of your 
 women, and the heavier veils from your hearts ; 
 and the valley of the Nile shall forget her 
 rivers of blood and buried greatness and be 
 transformed into a land of verdant beauty, 
 and be filled with the fragrance of sweet 
 praises to the Redeemer of mankind. 
 
 133 
 
iiiii 
 
 ^iillimilll 
 
 I