figure he presents. The descent of the rapids is not usually more than six or seven feet."

Under British administration the development of Egypt has been very remarkable. We made the acquaintance on the steamer of several British officers who had been through the Soudanese war, and who gave us very vivid accounts of the tragic scenes of that campaign. One of these gentlemen had gone up the river with a

party of thirty-four comrades, of whom only thirteen survived to return. The Mahdist rebels, some of whom were expert marks. men, would pick them off from the shore, concealed behind trees or rocks. For General Gordon these officers had no words but of enthusiastic admiration, and of poignant regret for his tragic fate. Even the natives, they said, regarded him with the most profound reverence, akin to that which they felt for the prophet Mahomet himself.

Our sail down the river was a continual delight.

This mighty

We were

stream grew more and more upon our imagination. haunted with memories of its mysterious past, and realized, more than ever, that "Egypt is the gift of the Nile." The swarming fellucas, freight boats, and, daha beiahs, made its surface alive with

their graceful white sails. We sat long in the purple twilight and beneath the soft shadow of darkness, breathing the exhilarating air and dreaming of that dim old past. The step pyramid of Meydoum glowed in the western sun, like some great Norman keep; and the wedge-like forms of Cheops and Cephrenes, and their fellows, sat upon their ancient thrones like a mighty brotherhood of immemorial Titans.

Then the swarming, buzzing hive of Cairo, with its thousands of minarets, drew near. Our faithful guide, Mahomet Ali, was waiting for us, and we felt again at home in this city of the Caliphs.

The few days left us were busily employed. We visited once more the wonderful museum, in which are gathered all the spoils of four thousand years, from the whole land of Egypt. With more intelligent interest we could study their history and enjoy the advantage of the skilful guidance of Dr. Demetrius Mosconas, the Greek Egyptologist, who threw a world of light upon these memorials of a banished past. We found that the commissioners of the Chicago World's Fair, with characteristic audacity, had endeavoured to create a "corner in Pharaohs," by buying up the mummies of these old sovereigns of Egypt. The idea, of course, was scouted by the Government; but permission was given to make accurate copies in wax. This was being done under the direction of Dr. Mosconas, and visitors to the World's Fair will have the privilege of secing the exact fac-similes of Rameses the Great, his father, Seti, Rameses III., and many more of the ancient Lords of Cush.

I was introduced by the Dr. to the "sister-in-law of Solomon," the sister of that same Egyptian princess whom the wise King of Israel was foolish enough to marry-wise, except when his heart was beguiled by the multitude of his foreign wives. The most conspicuous feature about the lady was her extremely dark complexion, and her tremendous wig of false hair.

Among the most interesting finds in the tombs have been children's dolls and toys, an example of which is shown herewith, jointed figures somewhat like a jumping-jack. A sort of toy crocodile that can move its jaws has also been found, and balls in leather and porcelain, and dolls painted in brilliant colours. There are numerous pictures also of ball playing, sand-bag exercise, playing checkers and the like. Some of the statues have a strangely realistic look, from a kind of milky quartz inserted for the eye with a piece of rock crystal for the pupil, which gives a singularly sparkling appearance.

The Museum of Gizeh, says Mr. Weyman, contains an immense variety of objects of the period which closed in the eighth century before Christ. Though modern compared with the earliest relics, they are far older than any of the remains which Rome or Greece has to offer. Yet what most forcibly strikes the visitor is their modernness. There is a chair at Gizeh, of which the frame-work is made of wood, and the seat work of rushes, which so much resembles the chairs of our time, that it would attract no notice if placed in a London drawing-room. Yet it was placed in a tomb probably used when Rameses was king, or probably when the Israelites were in Goshen.

There is a queen's jewellery, which a lady might wear to-day without exciting remark, and embroidery and crewil work, and mechanical toyseven jointed dolls and pottery figures, closely resembling those with which our children play. We know the tastes of the people; what food they preferred; what flowers they loved. The tender buds which were laid on the

lifeless breast of Pharaoh, are here. Here is Pharaoh himself, Rameses II. and Tothmes the Conqueror, long conquered by death, and other Pharaohs whose names are less familiar to us. The mighty are indeed fallen. The face, which was once the face of a god, conquering good and evil, is shrunken and dead. The hands that governed Egypt are wasted and nerveless. The curious bend over him and gaze into the sightless sockets,

and murmur over the silent lips. How strange it seems; how incredible almost, that here, separated from us only by a piece of glass, we have the mortal visage and frame of the man who tasked Israel beyond bearing; who

saw Moses, and lived and ruled, and died before David was born, or Judah was a people, and from whose thin lips came the cruel order that every male child of the Hebrews should be destroyed. (See page 334.)

INTERIOR OF

ABU-SIMBEL. OF GRIE AT TEMPLE

(See pages 322-3.)