ANTIQUITY OF THE INFLATED LIFE-PRESERVER.

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wondered what they could be. They did not appear to be made of logs, or barrels, or anything of the sort, and yet they were floating along, and each carried two or three men. What do you suppose they were?

"Doctor Bronson said they were made up of large jars for holding water, and were principally from a town called Ballas. The jars are arranged in rows, with the mouth uppermost, and when enough of them have been put together to forin a raft, they are enclosed in a frame of poles and reeds; then they are ready to float down the river to Cairo, where they are sold. The jar is made of a porous clay that lets the water filter slowly through it. Every few hours the men in charge of the raft must bail out their conveyance, which they do by means of a sponge or bunch of reeds lowered into each jar. Unless they do this the raft would soon take in water enough to sink it, and not only would the jars be lost, but the men would run the risk of being drowned into the bargain. "It seemed so funny to make up a raft in this way, but the Doctor informed us that the idea was a very

old one. He said it was in practice among the ancient Assyrians, as there were pictures on the walls of their temples of men rowing rafts made of inflated skins, which were preferred to jars on account of their obviating the necessity of frequent bailing.

"We thought of the scriptural phrase, and asked, 'Is there anything new under the sun?'

AN ANCIENT LIFE-PRESERVER.

"There are fewer new things than you might suppose,' was the Doctor's reply. Perhaps you think the inflated life-preserver is a modern invention, but it isn't. The Assyrians had it centuries ago; and we learn from their sculptures that their warriors used to swim across rivers on the skins of goats that were filled with air, just as we fill the life-preservers that we buy in New York or London. I believe that a patent was granted to the modern inventor, but the Assyrian was thousands of years ahead of him.'

"One of us suggested that perhaps the modern inventor was honest, and thought he really had made an entirely new thing.

"That is quite likely,' the Doctor answered. Many a man has applied for a patent on something that he had honestly invented; he thought it out himself, and kept it from the knowledge of everybody

else till he sent his model to the Patent-office. Then he learned to his surprise that his invention was an old one, and either secured already, or had been so long in use that no one could get a patent for it. The experts in the Patent-office at Washington could tell you of hundreds of instances of this kind, and they could also tell you that it not unfrequently happens that two or three persons in different parts of the country, and wholly unknown to each other, have hit upon the same thing at almost the same moment, without the least suspicion that either of them knew what the other was doing.

"One instance that occurs to me is of the use of chloroform and similar substances for preventing pain during surgical operations. There were no less than four claimants to the honor of the discovery of anæsthetics, and monuments have been erected to the memory of two of these gentlemen. There is no ground for believing that either of them encroached on the other, for their experiments were quite independent, and in different parts of the country, and each believed he was the first in the field. The invention of printing by means of movable types is claimed for two men; the steam-engine had two or three inventors, and so had the system of electric telegraphy. A curious circumstance is that many things which have been considered new in our times were known to the ancients. Samuel Colt received a patent for the revolving pistol, when the same weapon had been made in Europe two or three centuries ago; and patents have been taken out for the invention of things that were afterward found in the ruins of Pompeii, where they had been buried for 1800 years. Of course there are many new things under the sun, but not everything is new that appears so when we first see it.""

GIRGEH AND KENEH.-THE TEMPLES OF ABYDUS AND DENDERAH.-AN EGYPTIAN DANCE.

HE first halting-place above Sioot was Girgeh, which may be consid

THE

ered the Arabic for George, as the place was named in honor of the saint whose history is intimately connected with the dragon. St. George

is the patron saint of the Christians of Egypt, and there was a Coptic convent at Girgeh, four or five centuries ago, that was named after him. It supported two hundred monks and had a large revenue; but its inhabi tants died during a visitation of the plague, and for some time the buildings were without tenants. At present there is a small convent or mon

astery at Girgeh, and it is said to be the oldest establishment of the kind in Egypt. The superior is a European, but the rest of the members are native Egyptians. Formerly the town was some distance back from the river, but the Nile has so changed its course that Girgeh is now on the very brink of the stream, and some of its houses have been washed away.

It was announced that the party would land at Girgeh to visit the ruins of the ancient Abydus, or Thinis, twelve miles away; during their absence the boat would proceed to Bellianeh, where they would find it at the end of their excursion. The start was made immediately after breakfast, not without considerable opposition on the part of the donkeys, and a wrangle with the natives over the question of backsheesh.

The road lay through fields of sugar-cane, pease, beans, and other products of the Egyptian soil; many of them were in blossom, and the boys thought the scene was the richest they had yet encountered during their visit to the country. Frank remarked the great contrast between the luxuriant fields and the miserable villages of the natives. The villages

here, as elsewhere in the valley, are generally built on mounds, so as to keep them out of the reach of the water when the river overflows its banks. During the season of the inundation the whole country is overflowed, and the natives cannot go from their villages except in boats, or unless they choose to swim. Cattle seek the mounds for safety; and sometimes, when the banks give way, and the river rises suddenly, many of them are drowned. The people go out with boats to secure their goats, cows, and oxen, and the scene is a very active one. Until the water subsides the villages are indiscriminately filled with live stock and their owners, and sometimes there is an animated contest between them for the right of occupation.

At every village the children came out and begged for backsheesh, and their appearance was quite in keeping with the squalid aspect of the mud huts where they lived. Frank wondered that they managed to

THE TEMPLE OF ABYDUS.

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reach the age of ten years in such habitations, and the Doctor replied that it was a proof that the human race is capable of living anywhere, if

it will only try.

There was the usual excitement among the cows and chickens at the presence of the strangers; in two or three cases the cows broke the ropes by which they were tethered, and scampered into the villages as though they feared immediate conversion into beef. The boys observed that the cows were required to cut their own fodder; they were tethered in the rich grass, and required to eat the spot entirely clean before their locations were changed. Evidently it was not the custom to allow them. to run loose and help themselves. Now and then the tall form of a camel was visible, either carrying a burden of some sort or tethered out, like the cows and oxen.

A ride of three hours brought the party to the object of their excursion, the Temple of Abydus. Frank and Fred will tell us about it.

"The Temple of Abydus is one of the most interesting in Egypt, as it is quite extensive, and its architectural character is excellent.

We

admired its vast proportions, the massive pillars covered with sculptures, and the walls that were everywhere blazing with hieroglyphics representing scenes of the country's glory. And while we were studying all these things we looked around for the Doctor, and could not find him.

"Pretty soon he re-appeared, and said the historical interest of the