Two hundred horsemen and two hundred cars
From each wide portal issuing to the wars."

Pope's Iliad, ix. 500.

We were to make the journey in two Nile boats, each over a hundred feet long, propelled by the wind, or by a dozen men when the wind fails. There are, it is true, a few small · steamers on the river, but we preferred the novelty of the sailing vessels.

2. Our upward voyage was monotonous in the extreme, -for we saw few objects but wretched Arabs and their wretched huts along the shore; although, occasionally, a huge crocodile would momentarily disturb the quiet of the muddy waters, and then slowly disappear.

3. There was one thing, however, that somewhat relieved the dulness of the voyage, and that was, the numerous doves everywhere to be seen. They swarmed around the mud huts of the Arabs, and literally covered the roofs, and the dove-cots upon them, which were alive with wings all day long. "It is a pretty, and, indeed, a touching sight," said Prof. Howard, "to see these beautiful creatures cooing and fluttering above, presenting such a contrast, in their airy flights and bright plumage, to the dark and sad human creatures below."

4. It was not until the 15th of the month that we came within sight of the ruins, which are, certainly, among the most magnificent in the world. The most wonderful are on the east bank of the Nile, at the modern villages of Luxor and Karnak, the latter place having been a city of temples, palaces, obelisks, and colossal statues. But ruins abound on the western bank, also; and here are the ancient burial-places-thousands of tombs cut in the crumbling rocks of the Libyan hills. Many of the mummies that once filled them have disappeared, and the most spacious of the tombs are now inhabited by hordes of miserable Arabs.

5. We remained in this vicinity nearly three weeks, visiting the Arab villages near by, and wandering among the ruins and the tombs, with none to molest us or make us afraid; and not even the ghosts of the mighty kings and conquerors who once ruled here with despotic sway, rose to upbraid us, as we trampled on their ashes.

6. As we passed through the stupendous ruins of the Memnonium, a grand temple erected by one of the ancient kings, we saw there Old Memnon's famous colossal statue of black stone, which, before it was mutilated, was said to emit a sound, like that of a harp, at the rising of the sun. On the lower part of this statue are still to be seen numerous Greek and Latin inscriptions, by ancient kings and governors, testifying that they have seen the Memnon and heard his voice, as, with his morning melody, he welcomed the god of Day.

7. An English poet, says Prof. Howard, repeats the story, that

"Old Memnon's image, long renowned
By fabling Nilus, to the quivering touch
Of Titan's ray, with each responsive string
Consenting, sounded through the warbling air
Unbidden strains."-Akenside.

8. Besides fragments of stone from the tombs, and the temples, and the statues, I hope to bring back with me, to add to the Lake-View Museum, a quantity of blue glass beads and little glass images found in abundance in the mummy-pits; and also the delicate little hand of a mummy itself, which I bought of a ragged Arab boy for ten cents. The Professor said that the owner of that hand probably disappeared from among the living at least three thousand years ago, and that, as there are no relatives here to claim it, I may as well keep it. The evening after this he read to us the Address to the Mummy, by Horace Smith,-from which I have here copied five verses:—

VII.-Address to the Mummy.

1. And thou hast walked about (how strange a story!) In Thebes's streets, three thousand years ago, When the Memnonium was in all its glory,

And time had not begun to overthrow Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, Of which the very ruins are tremendous!

2. Tell us for doubtless thou canst recollect-
To whom should we assign the Sphinx's" fame?
Was Cheops or Cephre'nes' architect

Of either pyramid that bears his name?

Is Pompey's Pillar really a misnomer?

Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer?

3. Since first thy form was in this box extended,

We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations; The Roman empire has begun and ended,

New worlds have risen-we have lost old nations; And countless kings have into dust been humbled, While not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled.

4. If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed,

The nature of thy private life unfold :-
:-

A heart has throbbed beneath that leathern breast,
And tears adown that dusky cheek have rolled :-

:

a Sphinx.-The celebrated Sphinx, of unknown antiquity, is near the great pyramids. It is cut out of the solid rock, has the face of a man, and the body of a lion crouching close to the ground. The head alone measures twenty-eight feet six inches from the top to the chin. The total length of the body is one hundred and forty-six feet. Ce'phron, or Cephre'nes, the supposed builder of the second great pyramid: Cheops, of the first.

• Pompey's Pillar (improperly so called), at Alexandria, is a magnificent column, consisting of a single block of granite, sixty-eight feet in height.

Have children climbed those knees and kissed that face? What was thy name and station, age and race?

5. Why should this worthless tegument endure, If its undying guest be lost forever?

O let us keep the soul embalmed and pure

In living virtue, that, when both must sever, Although corruption may our frame consume, The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom.

6. I shall not attempt to describe, further, the ruins of ancient Thebes,—a city that was in its decline more than two thousand years before Columbus discovered America; but I shall give, in its place, a brief sketch, which was read to us by Prof. Howard, on our return voyage, down the Nile. It was written by an American tourist, and it tells us what the city once was, and what it now is.

VIII.—Thebes As it Was, and As it Is.

1. "The avenue from Luxor to Karnak, nearly two miles long, was the fitting approach to the temple of the gods, to which it led; for it was lined with over twelve hundred colossal sphinxes, each hewn from a single massive block of granite. There were also forests of columns, each shaft twelve feet in diameter, stretching out in long colonnades; temples and palaces that were two thousand years in building; massive walls covered with sculpture; and obelisks of such height and weight that it is a wonder how they could be cut from the sides of the hills, and be brought a hundred and forty miles, and erected on their firm bases.

2. "And now, of all this magnificence and glory, what remains? Only these vast ruins! The renowned 'plain of Thebes' is still here, but deserted and silent. A few columns and statues rise above the plain to mark where the city stood; but the city itself is gone, as much as the

people who inhabited it four thousand years ago. A few miserable huts are built against the walls of mighty temples; and the ploughman drives his team over the dust of the city of a hundred gates. We here saw a fellah, as the Egyptian peasant is called, ploughing with a cow and a camel yoked together; and a couple of half-naked Arabs were raising water from the Nile, beside the famous statue of Memnon, in the manner practised in the time of Moses. 3. "Was there ever a more complete desolation? In the temple called the Rame'sium once stood the largest statue ever known, cut out of a single block of granite, and weighing nearly nine hundred tons! On this was inscribed, as Herodotus the father of History writes, who saw it twentythree hundred years ago,-'I am king of kings. If any man wish to know how great I am, and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works.'

4. "Yet this colossal statue, which was to last to the end of the world, was long ago pulled down by a later conqueror, Cambyses the Persian, and now it lies on its back, with its nose knocked off, and eyes put out, and all its glory in the dust. What a comment on the emptiness of human ambition !"-Rev. H. M. Field.

The Professor also read to us the following, about the religion of the ancient Egyptians :

IX.-The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians.

1. "The most ancient of profane histories tell us that the Egyptians were a very religious people, excelling all others in the honors they paid to their gods. But what were their gods? They were not only the sun, moon, and stars, but beasts and birds and reptiles,-the famous Apis," and the ibis," the serpent, and the crocodile.

a The sacred A'pis was a black bull, with peculiar spots and marks. The Egyptian I'bis is a wading bird, still common in Egypt, and about as large as the domestic fowl.