aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

286 , AROUND THE WOKLD.
towers, and obelisks. But in these tombs are inscriptions
setting forth the names and titles of the deceased, followed
by an address to Anubis, guardian of tombs, and also to the
gods beyond the river of death, asking them to be favorably
disposed toward the individual in his journeyings to the
Elysian lands of the .blessed.
Wandering among the subterranean temples and tombs of
Sakkarah, site of the ancient Memphis, and reflecting upon
the gigantic size of these rock-cut granitic graves, long since
ruthlessly deprived of their mummied wealth, the wonder
increased how such huge masses of stone were ever brought
here so finely cut, and each fitted to its place. Those
ancient Egyptians certainly had mechanical knowledge, and
powers of moving immense blocks, of which we are comparatively
ignorant. And, by the way, these Ramsean
temples and tombs were as much a marvel to the Grecian
Herodotus as they are to us.
" SIX MILES TO CHEOPS !
So sings out our jolly guide. It seems very much nearer.
The sun is slowly declining ; let us hasten. Any thing but a
contrary donkey for locomotion ! Effort is useless : the
stupid brute will hunt his own sand-path. Now we pass a
herd of breeding camels, with their young ; there a miserable
mud-built Bedouin camp ;
"
there a little patch of crisped
vegetation ; and, just beyond, a turbid-looking back-water
cove from the swollen Nile. This we must drink, or thirst.
Surely, —
"Every pleasure hath its pain, and every sweet a snare."
But here we are, under the shadow of the Sphinx, hewn,
cut, and polished, from a reddish solid limestone rock, and
resting in its original position. With the body of a lion, and
the head of a man, emblematic of strength and wisdom, it
has gazed coldly, with prophetic eye, for thousands of years,
upon the fertilizing Nile. The rough-featured face, shame-