THE STOREHOUSES OF THE KING.

THE

STOREHOUSES OF THE KING

OR

THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT

WHAT THEY ARE AND WHO BUILT THEM

BY

JANE VAN GELDER

(née TRILL)

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.—Revelation vi. 6.

LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.

1885.

(All Rights reserved.)

LONDON:

PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, S. W.

THIS VOLUME

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED

TO

EGYPTOLOGISTS AND FREEMASONS

OF ALL NATIONS,

BY

THE DISCOVERER OF WHAT THE STONE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT ARE,

AND WHO BUILT THEM,

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

The Pyramids have been reckoned among the wonders of the world, and every effort has been made to discover for what purpose they were constructed, and by whom they were built.

Their immense size, their solid construction, the lonely positions in which they are placed, add to the amazement of the spectator.

Many conjectures and assertions have been made regarding them. Some assert they were the tombs of the kings of Egypt, and others differ, and say they were built for astronomical purposes; and those who give up guessing or speculating regarding them, consider they were the tokens of the folly and tyranny of the rulers of Egypt.

All travellers, and learned men and women who have visited these gigantic monuments, admit their grandeur, and admire their sublimity.

Many expeditions have been sent to Egypt for the purpose of gaining information regarding these Pyramids; and many public and private individuals have spent princely fortunes in exploring them; and on almost every occasion a book has been written, and given to the world, showing the result of each expedition. Everything that could possibly be said and written regarding these relics of antiquity has been given forth to the world in all languages, from the remotest times till the present day.

It is now the pleasant task of the author to state that the vexed question may be set at rest, as the solution to the mystery has been found. The discovery was made whilst reading the latest works on the Pyramids; she recognised some features in the interior of the Great Pyramid, and recalled to mind for what purpose such passages have been used, and followed up the incident by reading more carefully every book, and examining all the illustrations showing the interior and the exterior of the noble buildings, till ultimately there remained not the shadow of a doubt that the discovery was real. The sensation after the removal of doubt was painful. When this sensation of amazement and wonder had passed away, a feeling of gratitude took possession of the mind.

This memorable discovery was made in August 1880. Began writing this work on the 20th August and finished it on the 30th November.[^[1]] The entire work has been begun and brought to a conclusion without the assistance of any person.

The narrative connected with the Pyramids is most touching; on that account the writer proposes giving the life of the builder as she describes these wonderful monuments of antiquity. She has never attempted writing for publication before, therefore she humbly prays the reader to be indulgent and to overlook all errors and shortcomings, and to believe that this volume is brought before the world simply to uphold the truth of the Holy Bible which has recorded the narrative; and the appositeness of St. Paul’s assertion, that God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are.

CONTENTS.

THE

STOREHOUSES OF THE KING.

CHAPTER I.
JOSEPH—THE BUILDER.

Joseph was the son of Jacob’s old age, and consequently he loved him more than any of his other sons, by which Joseph incurred the envy and hatred of his brothers, and they, knowing that the lad carried evil reports of their conduct to their father, determined to do him some harm. Besides, Joseph was always having strange dreams, which he related to his father in the presence of his brothers, which dreams were interpreted to mean some great advancement in the life of the dreamer. The brothers watched for an opportunity to get rid of this favourite child. The opportunity presented itself, and they availed themselves of it. Jacob sent Joseph to see the state of affairs in the field where the flocks were fed, and to bring him word; so Joseph, in obedience to his father’s command, went, and when the brothers who were guarding the flocks saw him approaching, they agreed to kill him. But one of the elder ones said that it would be a great sin to shed the blood of their relative, and that it would be better to throw him into a pit and leave him there to die; to which suggestion the rest consented. When Joseph came up to them, they insulted him, and stripped him of the coat which his father, in his fondness for him, had made for him, and, unheeding the lad’s cries and remonstrances, they threw him into a pit. After this cruel deed, the men went to their meal; and whilst eating it they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites, and to them they sold Joseph, who was taken out of the pit and given to them. The Ishmaelites, fearing that Joseph was not a slave, judging from his handsome face and noble carriage, sold him to a company of Midianites, merchants going down to Egypt. When these merchants arrived in Egypt, they sold him as a slave to an Egyptian nobleman. Here he was kindly treated by his master, who had confidence in his integrity, and was made an overseer of his master’s property. Joseph was seventeen years old when he was taken away from his home and country, and his father mourned for him as dead. This took place in the year 1728 B.C.

The ways of the Almighty God are mysterious, and far above human comprehension. God blessed Joseph, and he grew into man’s estate goodly and well-favoured.

His master’s wife noticed him and became madly enamoured; losing all self-control, she made criminal advances to him, which he repelled, and entreated her to remember that he was her husband’s trusted servant, and that she should not induce him to commit such wickedness against his master and sin in the sight of God. She still persisted, till at last she used force, and he fled from her presence, leaving a piece of his coat by which she held him. Seeing that he was not to be overcome, she hated him, and, to revenge herself on him, she reversed the story and told it to her husband, who, believing her tale, became very angry with Joseph and prosecuted him. Though the Court wherein he was tried found him innocent, yet the nobleman persuaded the judge to place Joseph in confinement, that his wife’s conduct might not be made public; and, as Joseph had neither friends nor means, he was helpless, and consequently was sent to prison, where he remained many years.

In his solitude, the mind of the captive must have often recalled scenes of home, and all the lessons that he had learnt orally—as was the custom in the East—and remembered the great deeds and renown of his ancestors, and the marvellous acts of God towards Noah and Abraham and Isaac, and his own father Jacob, who was surnamed by God Israel. In regarding his miserable condition he must have thought of the visit to Egypt of his great-grandfather, Abraham, who came as a prince, and was treated by the king as his friend; and how the king, when he found he was misinformed by Abraham regarding his wife, made honourable amends, and gave him flocks and herds as presents; and when the famine in Canaan was over, he and his wife and their nephew left Egypt in state (the Egyptian historians call these visitors “Shepherd Kings”); and how when there was another famine in Canaan, in the lifetime of Isaac, there was corn in Egypt, and Isaac would have visited Egypt as did his father, but that he was forbidden by God.

Thus time sped till Joseph was thirty years old, when Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was warned in dreams of the approach of the great and memorable famine, which was to last seven long years, during which time the earth would make its sabbath, and produce no food for man or beast. It was then that the unhappy captive was remembered by a fellow-prisoner, whose dream Joseph had interpreted, and which was realised as he predicted; so that, when all the wise men of Egypt could not tell the King the meaning of his dreams, and when the King in his disappointed rage was about to condemn them to death, Joseph was called.

He was taken from the prison and brought before the King, who, seeing in him a superior deportment and a stately person, came down from his throne and addressed him as an equal; he told him his dreams, and said there was none who could interpret them, and that he had heard that he understood dreams and could interpret them. Joseph answered the King with humility, and told him what was the will of God regarding the land of Egypt; that there would be seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, and after them seven years of famine; that all the plenty would be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine would consume the land. Joseph advised Pharaoh to look out for a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt; to appoint officers over the land, and to take up the fifth part of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years; to let them gather all the food of those good years that were to come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities, that it might be for store to the land against the seven years of famine which should be in the land of Egypt, that the land might not perish through the famine.

Pharaoh was greatly pleased, both at the interpretation and the advice; and, as there was none like him, in whom was the spirit of God, Pharaoh made Joseph the Viceroy of Egypt; and Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him ride in the second chariot which he had, and the people cried before him, “Bow the knee!” or “Bend the knee!” and Pharaoh made him ruler of all the land of Egypt.

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah, or “Preserver of the Age.”

Consequently Joseph had absolute power vested in him. The King also gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. And Joseph went throughout all the land of Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering; for it was without number.

The land of Egypt is six hundred miles long, and is bounded by two ranges of naked limestone hills which sometimes approach, and sometimes retire from each other, leaving between them an average breadth of seven miles. Northwards they part and finally disappear, giving place to a marshy meadow plain which extends to the Mediterranean coast. To the south they are no longer of limestone, but of granite; they narrow to a point; they close till they almost touch; and through the mountain gate thus formed the river Nile leaps with a roar into the valley, and runs due north towards the sea. This land and its neighbourhood was first inhabited by the descendants of Ham, the third son of Noah; Mizraim, the second son of Ham, occupied Egypt. The noble river Nile is recorded in the Scriptures as the second river which parted from the main stream which went out of Eden to water the garden where Adam and Eve were placed by their Creator.

In the winter and spring it rolls a languid stream through a dry and dusty plain; but in the summer an extraordinary thing happens. The river grows troubled and swift, it turns red and then green; it rises, it swells, till at length, overflowing its banks, it covers the adjoining lands to the base of the hills on either side. The whole valley becomes a lake, from which the villages rise like islands, for they are built on artificial mounds. The land of Egypt is by nature a rainless desert, which the Nile, the mysterious Nile only, converts into a fruitful garden every year.

The task that Joseph had been entrusted with was stupendous. He had to build storehouses that would contain all the fifth part of the produce of the plenteous years of the fertile land of Egypt that were gathered up during the seven years. Before he set himself to the building of these vast receptacles he must have searched for models, and whilst doing this the building of the Tower of Babel must have come to his recollection, for the father of Abraham was the chief officer of King Nimrod who built it. This was a grand model, and that he followed it is evident from what we see in the Pyramids, or Storehouses of the King, in this, the nineteenth century of our Lord.

When the Temple at Jerusalem was about to be built by Solomon, he must have read how the storehouses were built, and he must have been aware for what use they were intended, as well as by whom they were built. Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and as son-in-law of the King he must have had free access to all the secret buildings and records of the land of Egypt.

This is the account of the building of the Temple: Solomon laid the foundations of the Temple very deep in the rock of Moriah, and the materials were strong stones, and such as would resist the force of time; these were to unite themselves with the rock, and become a basis and a sure foundation for that superstructure which was to be erected over it. They were to be so strong in order to sustain with ease those vast superstructures and precious ornaments, whose own weight was to be not less than the weight of those other high and heavy buildings which the King designed to be very ornamental and magnificent. He erected its entire body, quite up to the roof, of white stone; its height was sixty cubits, its length was the same, and its breadth was twenty. There was another building erected over it, equal to it in its measures, so that the entire altitude of the Temple was a hundred and twenty cubits. Its front was to the east.

Now the whole structure of the Temple was made, with great skill, of polished stones, laid together so very harmoniously and smoothly that there appeared to the spectators no signs of any hammer, or other instrument of architecture, but as if, without any use of them, the materials had naturally united themselves together, the agreement of one part with another seeming rather to be natural, than to have arisen from the force of tools upon them. The King also had a fine contrivance for an ascent to the upper room over the Temple, and that was by steps in the thickness of its wall; for it had no large door on the east end, as the lower house had, but the entrances were by the sides, through very small doors. He also overlaid the Temple, both within and without, with boards of cedar, that were kept close together by thick chains, so that this contrivance was in the nature of a support and strength to the building.

The Temple was built on the crown of Moriah, “the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite” (2 Chr. iii. 1), with a surrounding platform six hundred and twelve feet square. The building called the Naos would seem to have stood on the summit of the rock, in which graduated platforms were cut, forming the courts of the Jews and women. The Naos was small (sixty by twenty cubits), and was divided into the Holy of Holies and Holy Place, the former used once a year, the latter occupied only by the priests performing daily service. In the former was the Ark; in the latter the altar of incense, with the table of Shew-bread on its one side, and golden candlestick on the other. These two parts were separated by a veil, which was rent at the crucifixion (Matt. xxvii. 51). The court of the Gentiles surrounded the Naos, but was on a lower platform, separated by a trellis fence. The Naos was, like Mount Sinai, the sanctuary of Jehovah, fenced off from the Gentiles’ court, the plain below.

Solomon must have referred to the discovery that he had made regarding these buildings (the Pyramids) and to the builder of them, when he said: “Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished. For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor” (Eccl. iv. 13, 14).

Joseph built these storehouses near the fields of every city, according to the size of the city and the number of its inhabitants. In the north, near the Delta, he built many and large, according to the amount of corn the fields there yielded. He was occupied seven years in building them, and during the time thus occupied, he must often have recalled the fond memories of home, and of his aged father, and his youngest brother, the son of his deceased mother; and doubtless the three largest Pyramids of Jeezeh he dedicated to the memory of his ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So Joseph laid the foundations of each storehouse very deep in the rock on which it was built, and the materials were strong stones, such as would resist the force of time; these were to unite themselves with the rock, and become a basis and a sure foundation for that superstructure which was to be erected over it. They were to be so strong in order to sustain with ease those vast superstructures whose own weight was to be not less than the weight of the casing stones which he designed to be used. He erected its entire body, quite up to the roof, of stone. Its base was square, the sides rising up slantwise, till there was only a small square aperture left unfinished; these sides were in steps, so that the labourers could ascend to the aperture.

The interior had chambers for the officers to reckon the quantity of corn stored, and for the measure a stone coffer or box to measure the corn with. There were vast chasms and receptacles with passages like tubes leading to them, all the length from the walls, with their mouths outside the walls, which Egyptologists call air passages, so that the men could get to them from the exterior by the steps. The corn was thrown into these vast spaces from outside, from the apertures in the sides, and the aperture at the summit. When the whole receptacle was well filled with the corn, which was as plentiful as the sand of the sea, then all the apertures were stopped with stones, like stoppers of bottles, made for the purpose. The side steps were then encased, from the base to the summit, with large casing stones, so that the sides became level, and, with the coatings of cement, the entire building outside became level and smooth, and the top in a peak.

The corn within this grand storehouse was hermetically sealed, utterly impervious to the sun, rain, and wind. The doors of it, as in Solomon’s temple, were small, and in the sides. Now the whole of this structure was made, with great skill, of stones, and those laid together so very harmoniously and smoothly that there appeared to the spectators no signs of any hammer or other instrument of architecture, but as if, without any use of them, the materials had naturally united themselves together, the agreement of one part with another seeming rather to be natural than to have arisen from the force of tools upon them.

The foresight and discretion of Joseph were rewarded by Pharaoh, who gave him the powers of a king and the attributes of a god.

And the seven years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended, according as Joseph had said, and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And the famine was over all the face of the earth. Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold corn unto the Egyptians; and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn, because the famine was sore in all lands. Now Joseph’s thoughts reverted to his father’s home, and he knew that his brothers would be obliged to come to Egypt to purchase food, for the famine was very grievous in the land of Canaan. He gave orders that no man desiring corn should send his servant to purchase it, but that the head of each family should personally appear as a purchaser; he also proclaimed that no man should be allowed to purchase corn in Egypt to sell it again in other countries, but only such as he required for the support of his immediate family; neither should any purchaser be allowed to buy more corn than one animal could carry. He put guards at all the gates of Egypt, and every man who passed through the gates was obliged to record his name and the name of his father in a book, which was brought by the guards every night for Joseph’s inspection. By doing this he ascertained when his brethren entered Egypt. When they came and stood before him, they wondered at his magnificence, the handsome appearance and the majestic presence of the powerful man, but they did not recognise in him their brother. He sold them corn, but contrived to entrap them, so that they should bring down with them his own brother Benjamin, who did not come with them this time; they departed, leaving an hostage with Joseph, and on their next visit to buy corn they brought with them his brother Benjamin, and a letter and presents from Jacob. When Joseph recognised his father’s hand, his feelings grew too strong for him; the recollections of his youth overpowered him, and, retiring into a side apartment, he wept bitterly. He entertained all his brothers, and sold them corn, but the price thereof he returned without their knowledge into the sacks of each of his brothers. Before they left Egypt he made himself known to them, and, after greetings and explanations, he presented his brothers to Pharaoh; and Pharaoh, seeing they were goodly men, was much pleased and very gracious towards them. Then it was arranged that Jacob should come with all his family into Egypt; and Pharaoh gave his chariots for their accommodation. In due time Jacob and all his family came into Egypt. Joseph went to meet his father, dressed in royal robes, with the crown of state upon his head; and when he came within fifty cubits of his father’s company, he descended from his chariot and walked to meet his father. Now when the nobles and princes of Egypt saw this, they too descended from their steeds and chariots and walked with him. And when Jacob saw all this great procession he wondered exceedingly, and he was much pleased thereat, and, turning to Judah, he asked, “Who is the man who marcheth at the head of this great array in royal robes?” Judah answered, “This is thy son.” And when Joseph drew nigh to his father he bowed down before him, and his officers also bowed low to Jacob. And Jacob ran towards his son and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and they wept and shed tears of joy and gratitude. Joseph greeted his brethren with affection. And Joseph brought his father and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And the King said unto Jacob, “How old art thou?” And Jacob answered him, and said, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread according to their families (1706 B.C.).

And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. When all their money was spent they brought their cattle unto Joseph, and he gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. After this, Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof. Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.

During these seven years of famine the Egyptians sold all they had, and that being insufficient they sold themselves, so that from subjects they became servants to Pharaoh. Joseph again showed his forethought and discretion, and called the people and said to them, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. Thus they became serfs. The wretchedness and poverty of the people was complete; as if the curse of Noah on his son Ham was accomplished to the letter.

After this Jacob died, and his sons buried him in great state in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place, in the land of Canaan (1689 B.C.).

Joseph had two sons by his wife Asenath. At the age of one hundred and ten years this remarkable man died, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt, and afterwards laid in the ground near the banks of the Nile. And all Egypt wept for Joseph seventy days, and his brethren mourned for him seven days, as they did for Jacob his father.

Then Pharaoh took the dominion in his own hands, and governed the people wisely and in good faith.

CHAPTER II.
MOSES—THE RECORDER.

The narrative in connection with the Storehouses of the King would be incomplete without a brief survey of the life of the inspired writer who recorded all the particulars regarding them; and as almost every existing religion is derived from his writings, it will not be deemed superfluous. Moses was born in 1571 B.C. At this time a proclamation was issued throughout the land of Egypt, dooming every male born to the Hebrews to immediate destruction. The elders and wise men advised the King to do this, because they feared that a war might come upon them, and they feared that the Israelites might so increase and spread in the land that they might drive them away from their own country. At first they gave the Israelites hard work to reduce their numbers, but, as that was unavailing, they advised the King, who did not know Joseph, nor remember all the good that he had done for the Egyptians, to adopt this barbarous method of reducing the numbers of the Israelitish inhabitants of Goshen.

It was foretold to Amram, a descendant of Levi, the son of Jacob, that the child, out of dread of whose nativity the Egyptians had doomed the Israelite children to destruction, should be his, and be concealed from those who watched to destroy him; and having been brought up in a surprising way, he should deliver the Hebrew nation from the distress they were under from the Egyptians. His memory should be famous while the world lasts; and this not only among the Hebrews, but foreigners also; and that this child should also have such a brother that he would himself obtain God’s Priesthood, and his posterity should have it after him to the end of the world. Amram and his wife Jochebed were in great perplexity, and fear increased upon them on account of this prediction. And when the child was born they nourished him at home privately for three months. But after that time Amram—fearing he would be discovered, and, by falling under the King’s displeasure, both he and his child would perish, and so he should make the promise of God of none effect—determined rather to entrust the safety and care of the child to God, than to depend on his own concealment of him, which he looked upon as a thing uncertain, and whereby both the child, so privately to be nourished, and himself should be in imminent danger; but he believed that God would in some way procure the safety of the child, in order to realise the truth of his own predictions. When they had thus determined, they made an ark of bulrushes, after the manner of a cradle, and of a size sufficiently large for an infant to be laid in without being too straitened. They then daubed it over with slime, which would naturally keep the water from entering between the bulrushes, and put the infant into it, and setting it afloat upon the river, they left its preservation to God; so the river received the child, and carried him along. Now Thermuthis, the daughter of Pharaoh, was diverting herself by the banks of the river; and seeing a cradle borne along by the current, she sent some that could swim, and bade them bring the cradle to her. When those that were sent on this errand came to her with the cradle, and she saw the little child, she was greatly in love with it, on account of its largeness and beauty. Thermuthis bade them bring her a woman that might afford her breast to the child. Now Miriam, the sister of Moses, was standing near when this happened, and, when she had this order given her, she went and brought the mother, and the child gladly took her breast, and seemed to stick close to it; and so it was that, at the Queen’s desire, the nursing of the child was entirely entrusted to its mother.

The following names were given to Moses by the different persons interested in him:—

Moses, “I have drawn him from out the water,” by Thermuthis, Pharaoh’s daughter.

Heber, “Because he was reunited to his family,” by his father Amram.

Yekuthiel, “I hoped in God,” by his mother Jochebed.

Yarah, “I went down to the river to watch him,” by his sister Miriam.

Abigedore, “For God had repaired the breach in the house of Jacob, and the Egyptians ceased from that time to cast the infants into the water,” by his brother Aaron.

Abi Socho, “For three months he was hidden,” by his grandfather Caath.

Shermaiah Ben Nethaniel, “Because in his day God heard their groaning and delivered them from their oppressors,” by the children of Israel.

Moses became as a son to Thermuthis, the daughter of Pharaoh, as a child belonging rightly to the palace of the King.

The first exploit of Moses was as a general of the Egyptian army, which he led into Ethiopia; he marched by land, and on the way gave a wonderful demonstration of his sagacity. The ground was difficult to be passed over, because of the multitude of serpents; these it produces in vast numbers, and, indeed, is singular in some of those species, which other countries do not breed, and yet such as are worse than others in power and mischief, possessing unusual keenness of sight. Some of these serpents ascend from the ground unseen, and also fly in the air, and so come upon men unawares, and do them mischief. Moses invented a wonderful stratagem to preserve the army safe and without hurt; for he made baskets, like unto arks, of sedge, and filled them with ibises, Egyptian birds, and carried them along with them. These birds are the greatest enemies to serpents imaginable, for they fly from them when they come near them, and as they fly they are caught and devoured by them. As soon, therefore, as Moses came to the land which bred these serpents, he let loose the ibises, and by their means repelled the serpentine kind; using them as his assistants before the army came upon that ground. When, therefore, he proceeded thus on his journey he came upon the Ethiopians before they expected him; and, joining battle with them, he beat them and overthrew their cities, and, indeed, made a great slaughter of the Ethiopians. Moses laid siege to Saba, afterwards called Meroë, the capital of Ethiopia, a strong city encompassed by the Nile and by two other rivers, Astapus and Astaboras, and strongly fortified with great ramparts, insomuch that when the waters come with the greatest violence it can never be overthrown; these ramparts also make it next to impossible for even such as have crossed over the rivers to take the city. However, while Moses was uneasy at the army’s lying idle (for the enemies durst not come to battle), this accident or incident occurred: Tharbis, the daughter of the King of Ethiopia, happened to see Moses as he led the army near the walls, and fought with great courage, and admiring the subtlety of his undertakings, and taking him to be the author of the success of the Egyptians, she fell deeply in love with him, and sent to him the most faithful of all her servants to discourse with him about their marriage. He thereupon accepted the offer, on condition that she would procure the delivering up of the city; and gave her the assurance of an oath to make her his wife, and that when he had once taken possession of the city he would not break his oath to her. No sooner was the agreement made than its condition was fulfilled; and when Moses had cut off the Ethiopians he gave thanks to God, and consummated his marriage, and led the Egyptians back to their own land.[^[2]]

Now the Egyptians, after they had been preserved by Moses, entertained a hatred to him, and were very eager in compassing their designs against him, suspecting that he would take occasion, from his great success, to raise a sedition and bring innovations into Egypt; so they told the King he ought to be slain. The King had also some intentions of his own to the same purpose; and, being instigated by the elders and wise men, he was ready to undertake to kill Moses. But when Moses learned this he went away privately and joined the army of Kikanus, the King of Ethiopia, at that time suppressing a rebellion in Assyria, and soon became a great favourite with the King and with all his companions. Then Kikanus became sick and died in Ethiopia, and his soldiers buried him and reared a monument over his remains, inscribing upon it the memorable deeds of his life. After the death of King Kikanus the army appointed Moses to be their King and leader. This took place in the hundred and fifty-seventh year after Israel went down into Egypt. The Ethiopians placed Moses upon their throne and set the crown of state upon his head, and they gave him the widow of Kikanus for a wife; but the widow of Kikanus was a wife to Moses in name only. When Moses was made King of Ethiopia the Assyrians again rebelled as they had done before; but Moses subdued them and placed them under yearly tribute to the Ethiopian dynasty. Moses reigned in Ethiopia in justice and righteousness. But the dowager Queen of Ethiopia, Adonith, who was a wife to Moses in name only, said to the people: “Why should this stranger continue to rule over you? Would it not be more just to place the son of Kikanus upon his father’s throne, for he is one of you?” The people, however, would not vex Moses, whom they loved, by such a proposition; but Moses voluntarily resigned the power which they had given him, and departed from their land. And the people of Ethiopia made him many rich presents, and dismissed him with great honours.[^[3]] Moses being still fearful of returning to Egypt, travelled towards Midian, and sat there to rest by a well of water. And the seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, came there and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock; and Moses helped them, and at the invitation of their father he dwelt with them, and married Zipporah, one of his daughters.

And in process of time the King of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage; and God sent Moses to them to deliver them. After the enthronement of the next King, Moses and his brother Aaron came before Pharaoh and asked permission for the Israelites to leave Goshen on a three days’ journey into the wilderness, to hold a religious festival unto the Lord their God. But Pharaoh refused; and thereupon Moses and Aaron showed miraculous signs and deeds. Still the King persisted in his refusal; till at last the anger of the Lord became great towards Pharaoh. God then commanded Moses and Aaron to prepare the Passover sacrifice, saying: “I will pass over the land of Egypt and slay the first-born, both of man and beast.” The Israelites did as they were commanded, and at midnight the angel of the Lord passed over the land and smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and beast. Then there was a great and grievous cry through all the land, for there was not a house without its dead; and Pharaoh and his people rose up in alarm and consuming grief, and called for Moses and Aaron and bade them be gone, supposing that, if once the Hebrews were gone out of the country, Egypt would be freed from its miseries. They also gave the Israelites gifts, some in order to get them to depart quickly, and others on account of their neighbourhood, and the friendship they had with them.[^[4]]

So the Hebrews went out of Egypt, while the Egyptians wept, and repented that they had treated them so hardly. And Moses took the bones of Joseph, the builder of the Storehouses of the King, with him; for Joseph had strictly sworn the children of Israel, saying: “God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.” And they took their journey from Goshen, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. This was in the eightieth year of the age of Moses, and the eighty-third of his brother Aaron.

But the King soon regretted that he had let the Hebrews depart, so he resolved to go after them to bring them back. Accordingly he pursued after them with six hundred chariots, fifty thousand horsemen, and two hundred thousand footmen, all armed. On coming up to the Hebrews they seized on the passages by which they imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting them up between precipices and the sea; for there was on each side a ridge of mountains that terminated at the sea, which were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their flight. Wherefore they were in great distress, as they had no weapons of war for defence, nor was there a way of escape. So there was sorrow and lamentation among the women and children, who had nothing but destruction before their eyes, being encompassed with mountains, the sea, and their enemies, and discerned no way of flying from them.

At this juncture Moses called all the people, and when they were ready he stood on the sea-shore and prayed to God in these words: “Thou art not ignorant, O Lord, that it is beyond human strength and human contrivance to avoid the difficulties which we are now under; but it must be Thy work altogether to procure deliverance to this army, which has left Egypt at Thy appointment. We despair of any other assistance or contrivance, and have recourse only to that hope we have in Thee; and if there be any method that can promise us an escape by Thy providence, we look up to Thee for it. And let it come quickly, and manifest Thy power to us; and do Thou raise up this people to good courage and hope of deliverance, who are deeply sunk into a disconsolate state of mind. We are in a helpless place, but still it is a place that Thou possessest; still the sea is Thine, the mountains also that enclose us are Thine, so that these mountains will open themselves if Thou commandest them; and the sea also, if Thou commandest it, will become dry land. Nay, we might escape by a flight through the air, if thou shouldst determine we should have that way of salvation.”[^[5]] When he ended his prayer, Moses lifted up his hand and smote the sea with his rod, which parted asunder at the stroke, and, receding, left the ground dry, as a road and a place of flight for the Hebrews. Seeing the assistance of the Almighty thus vouchsafed in answer to his prayer, he entered in first, and made the Hebrews follow him; they obeyed and went on earnestly, as led by God’s presence. The Egyptians supposed at first that they were distracted, and were going rashly upon manifest destruction. But when they saw that they were going a great way without any harm, and that no obstacle or difficulty fell in their journey, they made haste to pursue them, hoping that the sea would be calm for them also. They put their horse foremost, and went down themselves into the sea. By this time the Hebrews had got over to the land on the opposite side without any hurt. Whence the others were encouraged, and more courageously pursued them, as hoping no harm would come to them; but they were mistaken, for as soon as ever the whole Egyptian army was within it, the sea flowed to its own place, and came down with a torrent raised by storms of wind, and encompassed the Egyptians. Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and dreadful thunder and lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were darted upon them; nor was there anything which used to be sent by God upon men as indications of His wrath which did not happen at this time, for a dark and dismal night oppressed them. And thus did the King of Egypt and all his men perish, so that there was not one man left to be a messenger of this calamity to the rest of the Egyptians.[^[6]] On the next day Moses gathered together the weapons of the Egyptians, which were brought on shore by the current of the sea, the force of the winds assisting it; and he armed the Hebrews with them. After returning grateful thanks for this miraculous deliverance, he led the people to Mount Sinai, as he was ordered by God beforehand. Here he instructed them, and prepared them against the time when they should enter the land of Canaan, which country they considered their inheritance, and to which they looked as the destination of their journey. And Moses gave them, among other lessons, the Ten Commandments, which were engraved upon two stone slabs or tables, five on each table, and two and a half upon each side of them. The First Commandment taught that there is but one God, and that they ought to worship Him only; the Second commanded them not to make the image of any living creature, to worship it; the Third, that they must not swear by God in a false matter; the Fourth that they must keep the seventh day, by resting from all sorts of work; the Fifth, that they must honour their parents; the Sixth, that they must abstain from murder; the Seventh, that they must not commit adultery; the Eighth, that they must not be guilty of theft; the Ninth, that they must not bear false witness; the Tenth, that they must not admit the desire of anything that is another’s.[^[7]] These two tables were, for security, placed in a box or ark, made of wood that was naturally strong and could not be corrupted. This ark was called, in the Hebrew language, Eron. Its construction was thus: its length was five spans, but its breadth and height were, each of them, three spans. It was covered all over with gold, both within and without, so that the wooden part was not seen. It had also a cover united to it by golden hinges in a wonderful manner; which cover was every way evenly fitted to it, and had no irregularities to hinder its exact conjunction. There were also two golden rings fastened to each of the longer boards, and passing right through the wood; through them gilt bars passed along each board, that it might thereby be moved and carried about as occasion should require; for it was not drawn in a cart by beasts of burden, but borne on the shoulders of the priests. Upon this cover were two images, which the Hebrews call cherubims; they are flying creatures, but their form is not like to that of any of the creatures which men have seen, though Moses said he had seen such beings near the throne of God.[^[8]]

As the people were dwelling in tents, and were marching towards the land of Canaan by easy marches, Moses made a tent called the Tabernacle, in which he placed the ark containing the two tables. This Tabernacle served as a church in the wilderness, and wherever they travelled they carried it about with them. Moses appointed his brother Aaron to be the High Priest; and after the death of Aaron, Eleazar, his son, became his successor, and the garments of his high office were put upon him. The family of the Levites were the priests.

Moses remained with the Hebrews forty years, and laboured to make them a religious and God-fearing people; but they frequently revolted against him, murmuring whenever they were in distress, and tried his patience to the utmost, till he forgot himself, and also complained against God, for which he was forbidden to enter the land of Canaan. Therefore, when he had admonished and repeated to the people all the laws he had given them, he brought them to the border of Canaan, and gave over the charge of the Hebrews to Joshua, his disciple and their commander. Now, as Moses went from them to the place where he wished to vanish out of their sight, they all followed after him weeping; but he beckoned with his hand to those that were remote from him, and bade them stay behind in quiet, while he exhorted those that were near him that they would not mourn so at his departure. Whereupon they thought they ought to grant him that favour, to let him depart according as he himself desired; so they restrained themselves, though weeping still towards one another. All those who accompanied him were the Senate, and Eleazar the High Priest, and Joshua, their commander. Now as soon as they were come to the mountain called Abarim (which is a very high mountain, situate over against Jericho, and one that affords, to such as are upon it, a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan), he dismissed the Senate; and, as he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, suddenly a cloud stood over him, and he disappeared in a certain valley out of their sight.[^[9]]

Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he left the camp of the Israelites. He spent forty years of his life in teaching the Laws of God to the people in the wilderness. He was one that exceeded all men that ever were in understanding, and made the best use of what that understanding suggested to him. He had a very graceful way of speaking and addressing himself to the multitude; and as to his other qualifications, he had such a full command of his passions, as if he had hardly any such in his soul, and only knew them by their names, as rather perceiving them in other men than in himself. He was also such a general of an army as is seldom seen, as well as a king and a prophet as was never known, and this to such a degree, that whatsoever he pronounced one would think he heard the voice of God Himself. So the people mourned for him thirty days, nor did any grief so deeply affect the Hebrews as did this upon the departure of Moses; nor were those who had witnessed his conduct the only persons who desired him, but those also who perused the laws he left behind him greatly longed for him, and from those laws learned the extraordinary virtue he was master of.[^[10]] At this period of his life his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. “And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.”[^[11]] Although he wrote in the holy books that he died, it was for fear lest they should say that, because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to God.[^[12]]

Moses was as we shall see, a great traveller, and acquainted with the vast wilderness that extends from the centre of Africa to the jungles of Bengal, that consists of rugged mountains and of sandy wastes; it was traversed by three river-basins or valley plains. In its centre was the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates. On its east was the basin of the Indus; on its west was the basin of the Nile. Each of these river systems was enclosed by deserts; the whole region resembling a broad yellow field with three green streaks running north and south. The inhabitants of these regions were not in the habit of travelling beyond the confines of their own valleys. They resembled islanders, and they had no ships. But the intermediate seas were navigated by the wandering tribes, who sometimes pastured their flocks by the waters of the Indus, sometimes by the waters of the Nile. It was by their means that the trade between the river-lands was carried on. They possessed the camels and other beasts of burden requisite for the transport of goods. Their numbers and their warlike habits, their intimate acquaintance with the watering-places and seasons of the desert, enabled them to carry the goods in safety through a dangerous land; while the regular profits they derived from the trade, and the oaths by which they were bound, induced them to act fairly to those by whom they were employed. At this time, 1451 B.C., a mighty tide of the Aryans immigrated to the basin or valley plain of the Indus. They called themselves Arya, or noble, and spoke a language the common source of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Zand, Persian, and Armenian in Asia. They settled down as agriculturists in the districts surrounding the Indus, their wealth consisting of flocks and herds; thence, after a time, they overran by successive irruptions the plains of the Ganges, and spread themselves over the regions called Aryavarta, occupying the whole of Central India. They were the promoters of the moral and intellectual progress and civilization in India; and notwithstanding all the diversities of the Hindoo populations throughout India, their religious faith has been preserved in their one language and one literature, furnishing a good evidence of the original unity of the Indo-Aryans. Their leader and legislator was known by the name of Manu, who was no other than Moses. After leaving the camp of the Israelites he travelled to the Indus; the form of Government he established there was the counterpart or duplicate of the one he established among the Hebrews; the laws and customs were the very same; the most careful comparison will confirm the fact. Moses was afraid that the Hebrews would trace his footsteps, so he sank his identity by assuming a foreign name: thus, for Moses he used Manu; for Abraham, Brahman; for Amram, Ram. All the remarkable Biblical events are familiar to the Brahmans, and the record of the creation as contained in the Bible was given in the Rig-veda of the Hindoos. The narrative of the finding of Moses by the daughter of Pharaoh has a corresponding record, but as he was more than one hundred and twenty years old when he arrived in India, the account is that the Lawgiver was cradled by a large sea-serpent on the bosom of the great waters for ages, whilst he was in a state of somnolence.

The origin of the belief in the Transmigration of the Soul is also taken from an event in the life of Moses, which is recorded in the Hebrew Talmud thus: The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, thy days approach that thou must die.” On this Moses thought that he had committed but a slight offence, which would be pardoned; for ten times had Israel tempted God’s wrath and been forgiven through his intercession, as it is written: “And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.” But when he became convinced that he would not be pardoned, he made the following supplication: “Sovereign of the universe, my trouble and my exertion for Israel’s sake is revealed and known before Thee. How I have laboured to cause thy people to know Thee, and to believe in Thy Holy Name, and practise Thy holy law, has come before Thee. O Lord, as I had shared their trouble and their distress, I hoped to share their happiness. Behold, now, the time has come when their trials will cease, when they will enter into the land of promised bliss, and Thou sayest to me, Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan. O Eternal, great and just, if thou wilt not allow me to enter into this goodly land, permit me at least to live on here in this world.”

Then God answered Moses, saying: “If thou wilt not die in this world, how canst thou live in the world to come?” But Moses continued: “If thou wilt not permit me to pass over this Jordan, let me live as the beasts of the field; they eat of the herbs and drink of the waters, and live and see the world; let my life be even as theirs.”

And God answered: “Let it suffice thee; do not continue to speak unto me any more on this matter.” Yet again Moses prayed: “Let me live even as the fowls; they gather their food in the morning, and in the evening they return unto their nests. Let my life be even as theirs.”

And again God said: “Let it suffice thee; do not continue to speak to me any more on this matter.” Then Moses proclaimed: “He is the Rock; His work is perfect, and His ways are just; the God of Truth, just and upright is He.”[^[13]]

The Persians, known in India as Parsees, are worshippers of the element of fire. This fire-worship originated from an event that took place in Persia when the Hebrews were captives in that country. The King of Persia gave the Hebrews leave to sacrifice to the Lord as Moses had commanded them; and when the prophet Nehemiah had prepared the sacrifice, the priests and the Israelites offered up this prayer: “O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, Who art fearful and strong, and righteous and merciful, and the only and gracious King, the only giver of all things, the only just, almighty, and everlasting, Thou that deliverest Israel from all trouble, and didst choose the fathers, and sanctify them: Receive the sacrifice for Thy whole people Israel, and preserve Thine own portion, and sanctify it. Gather those together that are scattered from us, deliver them that serve among the heathen, look upon them that are despised and abhorred, and let the heathen know that Thou art our God. Punish them that oppress us, and with pride do us wrong. Plant Thy people again in Thy holy place, as Moses hath spoken.” And the priests sang psalms of thanksgiving.

Now when the sacrifice was consumed, Nehemiah commanded the water that was left to be poured on the great stones. When this was done, there was kindled a flame; but it was consumed by the light that shined from the altar. So when this matter was known, it was told the King of Persia that, in the place where the priests that were led away had hid the fire, there appeared water, and that Nehemiah had purified the sacrifices therewith. Then the King, inclosing the place, made it holy, after he had tried the matter and convinced himself of the fact.[^[14]]

The Mohammedans are the followers of Mohammed, and the Koran that he gave them, he told his followers, “is not a new invented fiction, but a confirmation of those Scriptures which have been revealed to Moses before it, and a distinct explication of everything necessary in respect either to faith or practice, and a direction and mercy unto people who believe.”[^[15]]

As for the Israelites, though they are now scattered over the face of the whole earth, yet the Tabernacle, and the Altar of Incense, and the Ark containing the two Stone Tables on which were engraven the Ten Commandments given by God, by the hand of Moses, are still in Mount Abarim, hidden there by Jeremiah the prophet, before the sack and burning of the Temple of Solomon by the Babylonians. They are in a cave, wherein Jeremiah laid them and stopped the door, saying, “As for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them unto mercy. Then shall the Lord show them these things, and the glory of the Lord shall appear, and the cloud also, as it was showed under Moses, and as when Solomon desired that the place might be honourably sanctified.”[^[16]]

After the departure of the Israelites from the land of Egypt, that country was reduced to the lowest depth of misery. The King, with all his chariots, horsemen, and footmen were all overwhelmed and destroyed; there was no firstborn of man (or beast) to mourn the loss of their kindred. The land was desolate, and the Storehouses of the King stood out in their grandeur to remind the survivors of their ingratitude to the relatives of the man who built them, to preserve the Egyptians during the seven years of the grievous famine that afflicted the land of Egypt. They must have avoided the sight of these monuments, thereby to forget the misery and desolation they had brought on themselves by their cruel treatment of the Hebrews. The Egyptian priests knew what these buildings were, for they were the historians of their country; but when Herodotus visited Egypt and made minute inquiries regarding the Pyramids, they gave him a confused account, telling him, however, that for one hundred and six years the Egyptians suffered all kinds of calamities, and that for this length of time the temples were closed and never opened. From the hatred they bore them, the Egyptians were not willing to mention the names of their kings, but called the large Pyramids after Philition (Zaphnath-paaneah, Psothom Phanech), a shepherd who at that time kept his cattle in those parts.[^[17]] Philition is a corruption of the other two names given to Joseph by Pharaoh; while the shepherds were the brothers of Joseph, and Goshen—Gizeh of our time—the region where they dwelt, as commanded by the King. The Greeks could make nothing out of the information gathered by Herodotus.

In course of time the first Republic of France sent a traveller into Upper and Lower Egypt, and the inhabitants of the land of Egypt had so far forgotten the events of the past that they showed him an enclosed space as the granaries of Joseph. The traveller says: “You see at ancient Cairo the granaries of Joseph, if the name of granaries can with propriety be given to a vast space of ground surrounded with walls twenty feet in height, and divided into a sort of courts which have no roof, or any other covering whatever, in which are deposited the grains brought out of Upper Egypt for the revenue, where they are the food of a multitude of birds, and the receptacle of their ordure. The walls of this enclosure are of a bad construction; they have nothing in their appearance which announces an ancient building, and the love of the marvellous alone could have attributed its elevation to the patriarch Joseph.”[^[18]] The French Government gained nothing, and its attention was diverted from the Storehouses of the King. Since that time many explorers have gone to the Pyramids, and spent princely fortunes in trying to solve the mystery as to what they were and who built them. But the Arabs are too cunning and too indolent to tell the truth; for they know from experience that, if the truth were known, they would be made to assist in repairing the Storehouses of the King, just as many of the people were set to cut the Suez Canal, when the French discovered an old undertaking of the reign of Necho, which had been left unfinished because the oracle declared that the king was making the canal for a barbarian. Wherefore the Arabs reckon that, ignoring all knowledge, they gain a good livelihood as guides, by taking travellers to the Pyramids, which is little trouble to them, but brings them “plenty backsheesh.”

CHAPTER III.
TOWER OF BABEL—THE MODEL.

The Pyramids were, without doubt, copied from and built after the model of the Tower of Babel. At the time that Joseph was entrusted by Pharaoh with the task of making provision against the approaching famine that he predicted would take place, the building of the City and Tower of Babel by Nimrod the son of Cush, the son of Ham, the son of Noah, and the confusion of tongues that followed, were of comparatively recent date. Abraham’s father Terah was in the service of King Nimrod during their erection.

We are told in the Scriptures that “the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”[^[19]]

In this description the motive assigned for the building of the above-mentioned city and tower is that the people over whom Nimrod reigned might be preserved together with renown. They found a plain by the river Euphrates that suited their purpose, resembling the plain of Egypt by the river Nile. In Shinar there was no stone, so brick was used in its stead. This plain was fertile and produced much corn. The settlers anticipated another Deluge, and on that account they provided themselves with the means of subsistence when that calamity might recur on the earth. The precaution they took for this event was to build a place of safety, with a granary that would hold a sufficient amount of corn to last during the whole period of the visitation. They built a gigantic granary resembling the great Pyramid of Jeezeh, which they filled with corn. Joseph imitated this example in Egypt.

The same event is thus recorded in the Talmud:—“Cush, the son of Ham and grandson of Noah, married in his old age a young wife, and begat a son, whom he called Nimrod, because in those days the people were beginning to rebel again against the Lord’s command, and Nimrod signifies ‘Rebellion.’ Now Nimrod grew up, and his father loved him exceedingly, because he was the child of his old age. When Nimrod was forty years old his brethren, the sons of Ham, quarrelled with the sons of Japhet. And Nimrod assembled the tribe of Cush, and went forth to battle with the sons of Japhet. And he addressed his army, saying, ‘Be not dismayed, and banish fear from your hearts. Our enemies shall surely be your booty, and ye shall do with them as ye please.’ Nimrod was victorious, and the opposing armies became his subjects. And when he and his soldiers returned home rejoicing, the people gathered around and made him king, and placed a crown upon his head. And he appointed counsellors, judges, chiefs, generals, and captains. He established a national government, and he made Therach, the son of Nahor, his chief officer. When Nimrod had thus established his power he decided to build a city, a walled town, which should be the capital of his country. And he selected a certain plain and built a large city thereon, and called it Shinar. And Nimrod dwelt in Shinar in safety, and gradually became ruler over all the world; and at that time all the people of the earth were of one language and of one speech. Nimrod in his prosperity did not regard the Lord. He made gods of wood and stone, and the people copied his doings. His son Mordan served idols also, from which we have, even to this day, the proverb, ‘From the wicked wickedness comes forth.’

“And it came to pass about this time that the officers of Nimrod and the descendants of Phut, Mitzrayim, Cush, and Canaan took counsel together, and they said to one another, ‘Let us build a city, and also in its midst a tall tower for a stronghold, a tower the top of which shall reach even to the heavens. Then shall we truly make for ourselves a great and mighty name, before which all our enemies shall tremble. None will then be able to harm us, and no wars may disperse our ranks.’ And they spoke these words to the King, and he approved of their design. Therefore these families gathered together and selected a suitable spot for their city and its tower on a plain towards the east in the land of Shinar.

“And while they were building rebellion budded in their hearts, rebellion against God, and they imagined that they could scale the heavens and war with Him. They divided into three parties. The first party said, ‘We will ascend to heaven and place there our gods and worship them.’ The second party said, ‘We will pour into the heavens of the Lord and match our strength with His.’ And the third party said, ‘Yea, we will smite Him with arrow and with spear.’

“And God watched their evil enterprise and knew their thoughts, yet they builded on. If one of the stones which they had raised to its height fell, they were sad at heart, and even wept; yet when any of their brethren fell from the building and were killed, none took account of the life thus lost. Thus they continued for a space of years, till God said, ‘We will confuse their language.’ Then the people forgot their language, and they spoke to one another in a strange tongue. And they quarrelled and fought on account of the many misunderstandings occasioned by this confusion of language, and many were destroyed in these quarrels, till at last they were compelled to cease building.

“The tower was exceedingly tall. The third part of it sank down into the ground, a second third was burned down, but the remaining third was standing until the time of the destruction of Babylon. Thus were the people dispersed over the globe, and divided into nations.”[^[20]]

In this narrative the object of these wicked idolaters was to ascend and carry war into heaven against God. To accomplish this object or design they built the city and tower; the latter served for the granary as well as the stronghold of the new city.

Abraham was born about this time. His father Terah was then in the service of King Nimrod, in Babylon. Owing to the idolatry and the wickedness of the people, Abraham left the country with his wife and nephew, and settled in the land of Canaan. When Joseph was a child he must have heard from his father the story of those eventful times, when Abraham dwelt in the country wherein he was born. In due time he availed himself of the knowledge thus imparted to him in his early days.

Modern travellers have found many remains of Pyramids in the ancient kingdom of Babylonia. There was, therefore, nothing new or wonderful in the fact of Joseph erecting granaries throughout Egypt when a severe famine was expected. These granaries or Pyramids began in the Delta, which was most fertile and yielded the largest amount of corn. The Pyramids here are the finest as well as the largest; the rest are erected along the western shore of the Nile as far as Ethiopia, which was a province of Egypt. This province revolted in the lifetime of Moses. He went there as commander of the Egyptian forces and suppressed the rebellion. The ruins in Meroë and Axum, and other places in Ethiopia, attest the truth of this statement.

Egyptologists have spent much time and labour in pursuit of their science, but, very unfortunately, their researches have been directed by misleading guides.

The authorities they took for their guidance were the Greek and Roman writers, who knew nothing about the events that took place before Egypt became a province of Alexander the Great and of the emperors of Rome.

The oldest and best records of Egypt and the ancient world were written by the inspired historian Moses, and these records, or a small portion of them, were translated from the Hebrew into the Greek language by seventy Jewish elders for the King Ptolemy Philadelphus in the year 284 B.C.; so that before this time the outer or the Gentile world was in utter ignorance regarding the history of Egypt, as well as that of the Jews. The authors held in veneration by Egyptologists are Manetho and Herodotus. Manetho’s ignorance as to the history of his own country is shown by Flavius Josephus; and Herodotus wrote his account of the Pyramids from hearsay. The priests who related the anecdotes concerning the kings Cheops and his brother Chephren, and the shepherd Philition, knew nothing themselves as to the real truth, for the whole account is in confusion, worse confounded by their stupendous ignorance.

The writings of these two authors have misled every Egyptologist. Had the Bible, the Jewish records called the Talmud, and Flavius Josephus been studied instead, Egyptologists would have learnt the truth, and nothing but the truth, and their time and labour would have been rewarded most satisfactorily. The reader of this work will find extracts in the later portion of it, which will repay the trouble of perusal.

The testimony of recent travellers proves the reality of the existence of granaries in Babylon, and the indisputable fact that the Pyramids were built in imitation of them. The following is an instance:—[^[21]]

“On the 9th December 1811 Mr. Rich made an expedition to the Birs-i-Nimrúd. He found vestiges of mounds all round it to a considerable extent, and the country traversed by canals in every direction. The soil round it is sandy. Close to the Birs, or at about a hundred yards from it, and parallel with its southern front, is a high mound, almost equal in size to that of the Kasr.

“‘The Birs,’ says he, ‘is an enormous mound. At the north end it rises, and there is an immense brick wall, thirty-seven feet high and twenty-eight in breadth, upon it. This wall is not in the centre of the north summit of the mound, but appears to have formed the southern face of it. The other parts of the summit are covered by huge fragments of brickwork, tumbled confusedly together; and what is most extraordinary is that they are partly converted into a solid vitrified mass. The layers are in many parts perfectly distinguishable; but the whole of these lumps seem to have undergone the action of fire. Several lumps of the same matter have rolled down, and remain partly on the side of the mound and partly in the plain. The large wall on the southern face of the summit is built of burnt bricks, with writing on them, and so close together that no cement is discoverable between the layers. Small square apertures are left, which go quite through the building, and are arranged in a kind of quincunx form. Down the face of the wall the bricks have been separated, leaving a large crack. On the side towards the mound of Ibrahím Khalil, the mound slopes gradually down, and up nearly half its height is a flat road running round this part of it, twenty of my paces broad.

“‘From this the mound slopes more gradually to the plain or valley between it and the mound of Ibrahím Khalil, and is worn into deep ravines or furrows, like the Mujelibé. On the other or north face of this pile it slopes down more abruptly at once into the plain, with only hollows or paths round it, the road before mentioned, which from that part appears to surround the building, losing itself before it reaches this. On the north-west face, where it also slopes down into the plain, are vestiges of building in the side, exactly similar in appearance and construction to the wall on the top, with the holes or apertures which are mentioned in the description of that. At foot of all is, seemingly, a flat base of greater extent, but very little raised above the level of the plain. The whole sides of the mound are covered with pieces of brick, both burnt and unburnt, bitumen, pebbles, spar, black stone, the same sand or limestone which covers the canal at the Kasr, and even fragments of white marble. No reeds were to be seen in any part of the building, though I saw one or two specimens of burnt bricks which evidently had reeds in their composition, and some had the impression of reeds on their cement. I saw also several bricks which were thickly coated with bitumen on their lower face. In the lowest part of the mound opposite Ibrahím Khalil, the mounds are most evidently composed of unburnt bricks, the layers being in great measure visible. This would lead one to suppose that it was not originally part of the great pile, were not specimens of this kind of bricks found in it also.

“‘The circumference of the base—not the low one—is 762 yards. The whole height of it, from this measured base to the summit of the tower or wall, is 235 feet; but there can be no doubt that it was much higher. The form is more oblong than square. I found the longest side to be 248 of my paces. Fortunately for the preservation of the ruin, it is too far from the Euphrates for the Arabs to think it worth their while to excavate for bricks; while they are so closely joined together, that it is impossible to procure them quite unbroken.’

“Mr. Rich will not admit this tower to be that of Belus, because, according to his view, it is on the wrong side of the river.

“The whole height of the Birs-i-Nimrúd above the plain to the summit of the brick wall is 235 feet. The brick wall itself, which stands on the edge of the summit, and was undoubtedly the face of another stage, is 37 feet high. In the side of the pile, a little below its summit, is very clearly to be seen part of another brick wall, precisely resembling the fragment which crowns the summit, and still encasing and supporting its part of the mound. This is clearly indicative of another stage of greater extent.

“Without forming any conjecture as to what might have been its original construction, the impression made by the sight of it is, that it was a solid pile, composed in the interior of unburnt brick, and perhaps earth or rubbish; that it was constructed in receding stages, and faced with kiln-burnt bricks having inscriptions on them, laid in a very thin layer of lime cement; and that it was reduced by violence to its present ruinous condition. The upper stones have been forcibly broken down, and fire has been employed as an implement of destruction, though it is not easy to say how or why. The facing of fine bricks has been partly removed and partly covered by the falling down of the mass which it supported and kept together.

“A still later traveller, Mr. Buckingham, is of opinion that the traces of four stages are clearly discernible.

“As to Major Rennell’s doubt whether the ruin was artificial, Mr. Rich observes that, ‘so indisputably evident is the fact of the whole mass being from top to bottom artificial, that he should as soon have thought of writing a dissertation to prove that the Pyramids are the work of human hands as of dwelling upon this point. The Birs-i-Nimrúd,’ he adds, ‘is, in all likelihood, at present nearly in the state in which Alexander saw it, if we give any credit to the report that ten thousand men could only remove the rubbish, preparatory to repairing it, in two months. If, indeed, it required one half of that number to disencumber it, the state of dilapidation must have been complete.

“‘The immense masses of vitrified brick which are seen on the top of the mound appear to have marked its summit since the time of its destruction. The rubbish about its base was probably in much greater quantities, the weather having dissipated much of it in the course of so many revolving ages; and possibly portions of the interior facing of fine brick may have disappeared at different periods.’”

CHAPTER IV.
THE PYRAMIDS AS GRANARIES.

The land of Shinar, with its desolate tower, the marvellous prototype of the Great Pyramid of Jeezeh, passed from one conqueror to another; and when the descendants of the Prophet Mohammed became rulers of the east and west, the Caliph Al Mamoun, in the year A.D. 820, came from Bagdad to El Fostat, an earlier Cairo, and determined to enter the largest Pyramid and examine its contents, for he believed from the reports brought to him that it contained untold treasures. He ordered his Mohammedan workmen to begin at the middle of the northern side of the Great Pyramid. These men worked on unceasingly by night and by day. Weeks and months were consumed in these toilsome exertions; so persevering, however, were they, that, though progressing slowly, they at length penetrated no less than one hundred feet in depth from the entrance. By that time, they were becoming thoroughly exhausted, and began to despair of the hard and hitherto fruitless labour, when one day they heard a great stone fall evidently in some hollow space within not more than a few feet on one side of them. In the fall of that particular stone there seems to have been somewhat more than an accident.

They instantly pushed on in the direction of the strange noise. Breaking through a wall surface, they burst into the hollow way, very dark and dreadful to look at, and difficult to pass. It was the inclined and descending entrance-passage of the Pyramid, where the Romans and others passed up and down in their occasional visits to the subterranean chamber and its unfinished, unquarried-out floor.

A large angular-fitting stone, that had been for ages, with its lower flat side, a smooth and polished portion of the ceiling of the inclined and narrow entrance-passage, quite undistinguishable from any other part of the whole of its line, had now dropped on to the floor before their eyes, and revealed that there was just behind it the end of another passage, clearly ascending therefrom towards the south. That ascending passage itself was still closed a little further up by a portcullis or stopper, formed by a series of huge granite plugs, of square wedge-like shape, dropped or slid down, and then jammed in immovably from above. To break this in pieces within the confined space, and pull out the fragments there, was entirely out of the question; so the workmen broke through the smaller ordinary masonry, and thus up again by a huge chasm—still visible, and used by visitors into the interior—to the ascending passage, at a point past the terrific hardness of its lower granite obstruction. They found up there beyond the portcullis the passage-way still blocked, but the filling material at that part was only limestone; so, making themselves a very great hole in the masonry along the western side, they there wielded their tools on the long blocks which presented themselves to their view. But as fast as they broke up and pulled out the pieces of one of the blocks in this ascending passage, other blocks, also of such a size as to completely fill it, slid down from above, and where there should have been free passage there was still an obstruction of solid stone. The men despair; but the Caliph, being present, insists that, whatever the number of stone plugs still to come down from the mysterious reservoir, his men shall hammer and hammer them, one after the other, and bit by bit, to little pieces, at the only opening where they can get at them, until they at last come to the end. So the work goes on, till at length the ascending passage, beginning just above the granite portcullis, leading thence upward and to the south, becomes free from obstruction.

On they rush, up one hundred and ten feet of the steep incline, crouching hands and knees and chin together, through a passage of polished white limestone, forty-seven inches in height and forty-one in breadth. They suddenly emerge into a long high gallery, all black as night and in death-like silence; still ascending, they see another low passage. On their right hand is the dark, ominous-looking mouth of a deep well, in which not even at a depth of more than 140 feet is the water reached; while onwards and above them is a continuation of the gallery leading them on.

The way was narrow, not more than six feet broad anywhere, and contracted to three feet at the floor, but twenty feet high, and of polished marble-like stone throughout. Ascending at an angle of 26°, these men had to push their dangerous and slippery way for about a hundred feet still further; then an obstructing three-foot step to climb over; next a low doorway; then a hanging portcullis to pass, almost to creep under; and then another low doorway, with awful blocks of red granite on either side, above, and below.

After this they leaped without further obstruction at once into the grand chamber, a right noble apartment now called the King’s Chamber, about thirty-four feet long, seventeen broad, and nineteen high, of polished red granite throughout, in blocks squared and put together with exquisite skill. In this apartment they found—nothing, except an empty stone chest or box or coffer without a lid![^[22]]

The Caliph Al Mamoun was amazed, for he had arrived at the very furthest part of the interior of the Great Pyramid he had so long desired to take possession of, and had now found absolutely nothing that he could make any use of, or saw the smallest value in. He returned to El Fostat greatly disappointed, and the Grand Gallery, the King’s Chamber, and the stone coffer without a lid were troubled by him no more; for after this he left Egypt and returned to his imperial residence in Bagdad, where he died in A.D. 842.

The entrance into the Great Pyramid in use in our time is the one thus made by this prince. The granite chest or coffer without a lid, found in the King’s Chamber above-mentioned, was not a sarcophagus, or a coffin, but simply a corn measure, and nothing else, which holds about four English quarters. It was placed in that chamber by the inspired builder Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham the Hebrew, the friend of God; the Pyramid being a gigantic granary holding corn, and this the measure by which he ascertained the quantity stored in it. The passages in the walls, called air-channels by Egyptologists, were apertures through which the corn was thrown from without into the chamber, and thence into the vast receptacles below. The grain was brought from the fields to the apertures up the steps, before the casing-stones were fitted to the whole edifice, which, being afterwards polished, kept the contents secure from moth and mildew.

When Joseph died “his body was embalmed and afterwards laid in the ground near the banks of the Nile.”[^[23]] The locality that exactly answers this place of sepulture has been discovered in modern times. “The structure found there is situated about a thousand feet south-east of the Pyramid building, and still to be seen, descended into, and measured, is a colossally large and deep burial pit, on the square and level bottom of which rests an antique rude sarcophagus of very gigantic proportions. But deep as is the pit containing it, it is surrounded by a grand rectangular trench which goes down deeper still, cut clearly in solid limestone rock the whole of the way down; and to such a depth does it reach at last as to descend below the level of the adjacent waters of the Nile at inundation time. Then, as the waters of that river necessarily percolate the hygroscopic rock of the hill up to their own level, the lower depths of the trench are filled with Nile water, and the grand old sarcophagus of the interior pit does then rest in a manner on an island surrounded by the waters of the Nile; and it is the only known tomb on the Jeezeh hill which is gifted with that peculiarity or privilege.”[^[24]]

This is the tomb of which Herodotus speaks as the resting-place of the builder of the Great Pyramid, to whom he gives the names of Chemmis, Cheops, Xufu, Suphis, Philition the Shepherd, &c. All these appellations belong to no other person than Zaphnath-paaneah, the Viceroy of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, the great-grandson of Abraham the Hebrew, the friend of God!

The sarcophagus is empty, for the bones of Joseph were carried away by the children of Israel when they took their departure from Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

Visitors who enter the Pyramid get covered with a fine grey dust or powder similar to that found in large rooms or buildings wherein grain has been stored; for any person entering such places, though emptied of their contents, but left unswept, would get covered with a grey powder fallen from corn, or rice, or wheat, &c., which in every respect resembles this fine grey dust. In confirmation of this the following is an instance:—

“Last month (1877) an American newspaper, recounting a recent visit to the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid, mentions how the clergyman of the party, the Rev. Dr. ——, insisted on laying himself down full length inside the coffer. He had heard the inspiration, and scientific metrological theory of the Great Pyramid duly related by Dr. Grant, and had not denied it; but so strongly was he imbued with the mere tombic idea of the Egyptians, that he held, as he lay there, with the notion that he was lying down in a royal coffin; and when he, Dr. ——, rose up from that open granite chest and found himself filthy, horrible, odious, with fine grey dust begriming his hair and transfusing his clothes, he had a great deal of trouble about it; for not until he had got right away from Egypt, and obtained the help of the steward’s assistant on board ship to give the clothes an extra beating over the waves of the rolling sea, was the last of the penetrating powdery stuff got rid of.”[^[25]]

Colonel Howard Vyse also found a substance of this description when he entered the Pyramids, of which he gave a minute account in his work on the Pyramids of Egypt. It is as follows:—“For a day or two after the chamber had been opened those who remained in it became blackened as if by a London fog. As this effect gradually disappeared, I conceive it to have been occasioned by the blasting and by the sudden admission of the air.

“Upon first entering the apartment, a black sediment was found, of the consistence of a hoar-frost, equally distributed over the floor, so that footsteps could be distinctly seen impressed on it, and it had accumulated to some depth in the interstices of the blocks. Some of this sediment which was sent to the French establishment near Cairo was said to contain ligneous particles. When analysed in England it was supposed to consist of the exuviæ of insects; but as the deposition was equally diffused over the floor, and extremely like the substance found on the 25th instant (1837) at the Second Pyramid, it was most probably composed of particles of decayed stone. If it had been the remains of rotten wood, or of a quantity of insects that had penetrated through the masonry, it would scarcely have been so equally distributed; and if caused by the latter, it is difficult to imagine why some of them should not have been found alive when the place was opened evidently for the first time since the Pyramid was built.”

Previous to the visitation of the seven years’ famine, these granaries were built and stored, and the casing-stones fitted with cement and polished, making these edifices appear like natural rocks. Bruce, the great traveller, and other old travellers of those days, mistook them for such (natural rocks) and paid no attention to them whatever.

When the time arrived that the Storehouses of the King were required to be tapped, and food distributed to the famine-stricken people, the exterior of these buildings was left entire, and the operation of taking out the grain carried on by means of long shafts bored in the adjacent ground to a depth reaching the foundation of the Pyramid, where there were openings from which the contents could be tapped. These could be opened and shut at pleasure, as Joseph ordered that all the granaries should be closed with the exception of one, where he hoped to see his brothers when they came to buy corn in Egypt.

Colonel Howard Vyse gives a description of one of these entrances, thus:—“The Pyramid of Saccara. This Pyramid was built in steps, or degrees, and was entered from a sort of well, or shaft, made in the sand on the northern side. The passage, which was long and winding, and apparently in many places forced, led to a lofty chamber, in the roof of which wood had been employed. Various forced passages wound around this chamber, and conducted to openings, or windows, which looked down into it from a considerable height.[^[26]] These passages were much encumbered with rubbish, pieces of alabaster, and decayed wood; and in one place there was an accumulation of large blocks of polished granite, raised up by small fragments of stone sufficiently high to admit of a man’s crawling beneath them. For what purpose they were so placed we did not find out.”

CHAPTER V.
THE HEBREWS IN EGYPT.

In the Talmud it is recorded that after Joseph’s marriage with Asenath, daughter of Potipherah the priest of On, “he built for himself a palace, elegant and complete in its details and surroundings, so elaborate that three years’ time was required for its completion.” A man so wise and so powerful as to be looked upon by the Egyptians as their king was certainly able to make a suitable provision for the anticipated advent of his beloved father, as well as for all his brothers, who came with their entire households, and possessions in flocks and herds, &c., for the famine was over the whole earth.

The large palace called the Labyrinth by Herodotus, would correspond with such a provision for their accommodation and comfort. Herodotus saw this palace himself in the year 448 B.C., and he describes it thus:—“The Egyptians having become free, after the reign of the priest of Vulcan, for they were at no time able to live without a king, established twelve kings, having divided all Egypt into twelve parts. These having contracted intermarriages, reigned, adopting the following regulations: that they would not attempt the subversion of one another, nor one seek to acquire more than another, and that they should maintain the strictest friendship. They made these regulations and strictly upheld them, for the following reason: it had been foretold them by an oracle, when they first assumed the government, ‘that whoever among them should offer a libation in the temple of Vulcan from a brazen bowl should be king of all Egypt,’ for they used to assemble in all the temples. Now, they determined to leave in common a memorial of themselves; and having so determined, they built a Labyrinth, a little above the lake of Mœris, situated near that called the city of crocodiles. This I have myself seen, and found it greater than can be described. For if anyone should reckon up the buildings and public works of the Grecians, they would be found to have cost less labour and expense than this Labyrinth; though the temple in Ephesus is deserving of mention, and also that in Samos. The Pyramids likewise were beyond description, and each of them comparable to many of the great Grecian structures. Yet the Labyrinth surpasses even the Pyramids. For it has twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite each other, six facing the north, and six the south, contiguous to one another; and the same exterior wall encloses them. It contains two kinds of rooms, some under ground and some above ground over them, to the number of three thousand, fifteen hundred of each. The rooms above ground I myself went through and saw, and relate from personal inspection. But the underground rooms I only know from report, for the Egyptians who have charge of the building would on no account show me them, saying that there were the sepulchres of the kings who originally built this Labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles. I can therefore only relate what I have learned by hearsay concerning the lower rooms; but the upper ones, which surpass all human works, I myself saw; for the passages through the corridors, and the windings through the courts, from their great variety, presented a thousand occasions of wonder as I passed from a court to the rooms, and from the rooms to halls, and to other corridors from the halls, and to other courts from the rooms. The roofs of all these are of stone, as also are the walls; but the walls are full of sculptured figures. Each court is surrounded with a colonnade of white stone, closely fitted. And adjoining the extremity of the Labyrinth is a Pyramid forty orgyæ in height,[^[27]] on which large figures are carved, and a way to it has been made under ground.”[^[28]]

This curious record of these twelve kings can be easily explained by referring to the book of Genesis, chapter xlvii. This chapter corroborates it, for the Israelites, the twelve sons of Jacob, had absolute power given them by Pharaoh, and had the whole land of Egypt under their control; for “Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, ‘Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren dwell: in the land of Goshen let them dwell; and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.’”

Owing to the severity of the famine every Egyptian had to part with his cattle, and “Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.”

But as the famine still continued, the poor Egyptians, when they had exchanged all they possessed for bread, sold even their own persons. When the whole country was in this desperate condition, the Hebrews governed the nation for Pharaoh, who placed implicit faith in their wisdom and probity. These were the men styled by Egyptologists “Shepherd Kings,” and this period or epoch is mentioned by Manetho, the Egyptian historian, in the record written in the Greek language, of which he was a master; it is as follows:—

“There was a king of ours, whose name was Timaus.[^[29]] Under him it came to pass, I know not how, that God was averse to us, and there came, after a surprising manner, men of ignoble birth out of the eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expedition into our country, and with ease subdued it by force, yet without our hazarding a battle with them.[^[30]] So when they had gotten those that governed us under their power, they afterwards burnt down our cities and demolished the temples of the gods, and used all the inhabitants after a most barbarous manner; nay, some they slew, and led their children and their wives into slavery.[^[31]] At length they made one of themselves king, whose name was Salatis.[^[32]] He also lived at Memphis, and made both the upper and lower regions pay tribute, and left garrisons in places that were most proper for them.[^[33]]

“He chiefly aimed to secure the eastern part, as foreseeing that the Assyrians, who had then the greatest power, would be desirous of that kingdom and invade them; and as he found in the Saite Nomos (Seth-roite) a city very proper for his purpose, and which lay upon the Bubastic Channel, but, with regard to a certain theologic notion, was called Avaris, this he rebuilt, and made very strong by the walls he built about it, and by a most numerous garrison of 240,000 armed men whom he put into it to keep it. Thither Salatis came in summer-time, partly to gather his corn and pay his soldiers their wages, and partly to exercise his armed men, and thereby to terrify foreigners.

“When this man had reigned thirteen years, after him reigned another, whose name was Beon, for forty-four years; after him reigned another, called Apachnas, thirty-six years and seven months; after him Apophis reigned sixteen years; and then Jonias, fifty years and one month; after all these, Assis,[^[34]] forty-nine years and two months. And these six were the first rulers among them, who were all along making war with the Egyptians, and were very desirous gradually to destroy them to the very roots. This whole nation was styled Hycsos, that is, Shepherd Kings; for the first syllable Hyc, according to the sacred dialect, denotes a king, as is sos a shepherd, but this according to the ordinary dialect, and of these is compounded Hycsos; but some say that these people were Arabians. It is also said that this word does not denote kings, but, on the contrary, denotes captive shepherds, and this on account of the particle Hyc; for that Hyc, with the aspiration, in the Egyptian tongue again denotes shepherds, and expressly also; and this seems the more probable opinion and more agreeable to ancient history.

“These people, whom we have before named kings, and called shepherds also, and their descendants, kept possession of Egypt 511 years. After these, the kings of Thebais and of the other parts of Egypt made an insurrection against the shepherds, and that then a terrible and long war was made between them. That under a king whose name was Alisphragmuthosis,[^[35]] the shepherds were subdued by him, and were, indeed, driven out of other parts of Egypt, but were shut up in a place that contained 10,000 acres; this place was named Avaris. The shepherds built a wall round all this place, which was a large and strong wall, and this in order to keep all their possessions and their prey within a place of strength, but that Thummosis,[^[36]] the son of Alisphragmuthosis made an attempt to take them by force and by siege with 480,000 men to lie round about them; but that, upon his despair of taking the place by that siege, they came to a composition with them, that they should leave Egypt, and go without any harm to be done to them, whithersoever they would; and that, after this composition was made, they went away with their whole families and effects, not fewer in number than 240,000, and took their journey from Egypt, through the wilderness, for Syria;[^[37]] but that, as they were in fear of the Assyrians, who had then dominion over Asia, they built a city in that country which is now called Judea, and that large enough to contain this great number of men, and called it Jerusalem.”[^[38]]

Manetho is altogether in a mist, for he seems unwilling to state the truth, and still he is compelled, as a historian, to write something, though against his will. His malice against the Hebrews is manifest throughout. To give an account of the overthrow of the Egyptians at the Red Sea, he invents this story:—

“After those that were sent to work in the quarries had continued in that miserable state for a long while, the King was desired that he would set apart the city Avaris,[^[39]] which was then left desolate of the shepherds, for their habitation and protection, which desire he granted them.

“Now this city, according to the ancient theology, was Trypho’s city. But when the men were gotten into it, and found the place fit for a revolt, they appointed themselves a ruler out of the priests of Heliopolis, whose name was Osarsiph, and they took their oaths that they would be obedient to him in all things. He then, in the first place, made this law for them: that they should neither worship the Egyptian gods, nor should abstain from any one of those sacred animals which they have in the highest esteem, but kill and destroy them all; that they should join themselves to nobody but to those that were of this confederacy.

“When he had made such laws as these, and many more such as were mainly opposite to the customs of the Egyptians, he gave order that they should use the multitude of the hands they had in building walls about their city,[^[40]] and make themselves ready for a war with King Amenophis[^[41]], while he did himself take into his friendship the other priests, and those that were polluted with them, and sent ambassadors to those shepherds who had been driven out of the land by Tethmosis to the city called Jerusalem, whereby he informed them of his own affairs, and of the state of those others that had been treated after such an ignominious manner, and desired that they would come with one consent to his assistance in this war against Egypt. He also promised that he would, in the first place, bring them back to their ancient city and country Avaris, and provide a plentiful maintenance for their multitude; that he would protect them and fight for them as occasion should require, and would easily reduce the country under their dominion.

“These shepherds were all very glad of this message, and came away with alacrity altogether, being in number 200,000 men, and in a little time they came to Avaris. And now Amenophis, the King of Egypt, upon his being informed of their invasion, was in great confusion, as calling to mind what Amenophis, the son of Papis, had foretold him; and, in the first place, he assembled the multitude of the Egyptians, and took counsel with their leaders, and sent for their sacred animals to him, especially for those that were principally worshipped in their temples, and gave a particular charge to the priests distinctly, that they should hide the images of their gods with the utmost care.

“He also sent his son Sethos, who was also named Ramesses from his father Rhampses, being but five years old, to a friend of his. He then passed on with the rest of the Egyptians, being 300,000 of the most warlike of them, against the enemy, who met them. Yet did he not join battle with them; but, thinking that would be to fight against the gods, he returned back and came to Memphis, where he took Apis and the other sacred animals which he had sent for to him, and presently marched into Ethiopia, together with his whole army and multitude of Egyptians;[^[42]] for the King of Ethiopia was under an obligation to him, on which account he received him, and took care of all the multitude that was with him, while the country supplied all that was necessary for the food of the men.

“He also allotted cities and villages for this exile, that was to be from its beginning during those fatally-determined thirteen years. Moreover, he pitched a camp for his Ethiopian army, as a guard to King Amenophis, upon the borders of Egypt. And this was the state of things in Ethiopia. But for the people of Jerusalem, when they came down together with the polluted Egyptians, they treated the men in such a barbarous manner, that those who saw how they subdued the fore-mentioned country, and the horrid wickedness they were guilty of, thought it a most dreadful thing, for they did not only set the cities and villages on fire, but were not satisfied till they had been guilty of sacrilege, and destroyed the images of the gods, and used them in roasting those sacred animals that used to be worshipped, and forced the priests and prophets to be the executioners and murderers of those animals, and then ejected them naked out of the country.

“It was also reported that the priest who ordained their polity and their laws was by birth of Heliopolis, and his name Osarsiph, from Osiris, who was the god of Heliopolis; but that when he was gone over to these people his name was changed, and he was called Moses.”[^[43]]

At this period the land of Egypt was in a most desolate condition. The hand of God was upon it, for evil plagues were sent, and nothing that did harm to the land and its people was withheld during the time that Moses and Aaron were negotiating with the King to let the Hebrews go a short journey into the wilderness to hold a festival to the Lord. Pharaoh refusing them leave to do so, the last and direst plague was sent, the death of the first-born in the land of Egypt, “from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle.”

Then “Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house wherein there was not one dead.” In his hour of affliction the King desired these Hebrews to depart, with everything they possessed. When the permission was obtained, the Israelites borrowed from the Egyptians jewels of gold and jewels of silver, and raiment, and the Egyptians lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. After this they took their departure towards the Red Sea.

Pharaoh, when he recovered from his paroxysm of grief, wished to revoke the permission and get the Hebrews back to work for him again. So he called his people together, and, making ready his chariot, he took them with him. “And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them, and he pursued after the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.” And Pharaoh with all his forces “overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.”

Now at this place there was no retreat for the Israelites by land. They were compelled to effect their escape from their pursuers by crossing the sea to the opposite shore. Seeing the dangerous position they were in, Moses, the man gifted with supernatural resources, contrived to make a passage through the sea, and, a strong east wind assisting him throughout the night, he accomplished the construction of a road for himself and his followers, which should also serve as a trap to engulph their enemies after they had effected their own escape.

He, the builder of the monuments now extant in Ethiopia and Upper Egypt, and in other parts of the habitable earth (of which mention will be made in the course of this narrative)—he it was who contrived and made this passage during the night, while the Egyptians rested after their weary march. It was the sublimest effort of mechanical skill!

When day dawned the passage was ready, and Moses stood by and saw all his people walk down from the Egyptian shore into the dry road in the sea prepared for them. The waters were divided; “and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

When the Israelites gained the Arabian shore, and the Egyptians were in the middle between the two shores, Moses threw back the waters that were driven aside, and the waters returned and covered all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea; there escaped not so much as one of them! And the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore; “and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and His servant Moses.”

At this crisis there were only women and children left in Egypt, and these in the deepest grief for the death of their first-born sons. No one came back from the camp to relate the terrible catastrophe to these unfortunate widows and orphans; and there was neither priest nor grown-up man to record the events of this period in the sacred books of the nation. Consequently, when Manetho compiled his history from the sacred records, he was unable to relate the events of this period clearly and without contradiction.

He accounts for the non-appearance of the King Amenophis and his forces in Egypt, after his pursuit of the Hebrews, by saying that he retired into Ethiopia, and remained there thirteen years as the guest of the king and people of Ethiopia. The son of this Pharaoh, whom Manetho calls Sethos, was at this time, when his father was drowned, five years old; so that at the end of these thirteen years he attained his majority, and the children that were his contemporaries were old enough to help themselves. These thirteen years form a gap in the history of Egypt.

After the departure of the Israelites, Egypt became a complete wilderness, and the Egyptians were so crushed and desolate that they seemed to have become almost extinct. They mourned and grieved so long that they appear to have quite forgotten even the names of their kings and the history of their nation. No wonder the Nile was termed the Lethe by classic writers.

The present Egyptians, the real descendants of Mizraim, are the Copts and the Fellaheen,—poor wretched specimens of humanity—and if these represent their ancestors, it conclusively proves to every traveller, when he stands in mute admiration on the stupendous monuments of past grandeur, that they never were the founders of such works of art and magnificence; they never were the players on the harp and other musical instruments depicted on the walls of palaces, nor the refined occupants of those noble apartments, representing the highest culture and intelligence—apartments furnished with chairs, sofas, and tables, and embellished with pictures of battles and banquets, marriage-processions, funerals, and other subjects of the greatest interest. The real Egyptians were not the founders or builders of any of those monumental remains which make Egypt the land of wonders and the favourite resort of the learned.

The descendants of Abraham the Hebrew were the guiding intellects that ruled Egypt for her Pharaohs, who possessed discernment enough to appoint them to rule their kingdom on account of their wisdom and activity.

About the year 1900 B.C. Abraham went down to Egypt from Canaan because of the famine. And when he had seen and spoken to Pharaoh, that monarch “gave him leave to enter into conversation with the most learned among the Egyptians, from which conversation his virtue and his reputation became more conspicuous than they had been before. For whereas the Egyptians were formerly addicted to different customs, and despised one another’s sacred and accustomed rites, and were very angry one with another on that account, Abram conferred with each of them, and, confuting the reasonings they made use of every one for their own practices, demonstrated that such reasonings were vain and void of truth; whereupon he was admired by them in those conferences as a very wise man, and one of great sagacity, when he discoursed on any subject he undertook; and this not only in understanding it, but in persuading other men also to assent to him. He communicated to them arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy; for, before Abram came into Egypt, they were unacquainted with those parts of learning, for that science came from the Chaldeans into Egypt, and from thence into Greece and elsewhere.”[^[44]]

This visit has been mentioned by the Greek and Roman writers, who state these visitors to be Shepherd Kings, the Hycsos. Abraham was immensely wealthy, for the Bible says that “Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife Sarai, and all that he had, and Lot, his nephew, with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.”

The ruins that are now existing in the Vostani, or Middle Egypt—comprising the provinces of Fayoum, Beni-Souef, and Minieh—and in the Bahari, or Lower Egypt—comprising the provinces of Bahireh, Rosetta, Damietta, Gharbiyeh, Menouf, Mansoura, and Sharkeyeh—were the constructions and erections of Joseph, otherwise called Zaphnath-paaneah, and his eleven brothers; while those found in the Saïd, or Upper Egypt—comprising the provinces of Thebes, Djergeh, and Siout—as well as those in Nubia and Ethiopia, sometimes called Abyssinia, owe their erection to Moses, the descendant of Levi, one of the brothers of Joseph.

Being the adopted son of Princess Thurmuthis, daughter of Pharaoh, Moses ruled Egypt as his ancestors had done before his time. His return after the siege and re-conquest of Meroë, and the entrance in state of his bride, the Princes Tharbis, daughter of the King of Ethiopia, are commemorated on the walls of the palace in Upper Egypt. He became very hateful to the Egyptians on account of his great acts and the power he displayed, so that they conspired against him.

To save his life Moses left Egypt, and meeting Kikanus, the King of Ethiopia, returning home from an incursion into Assyria, Moses went with him and his army. After a residence of nine years with the King, the Ethiopians elected Moses to the throne of Ethiopia on the death of Kikanus. This event took place in the hundred and fifty-seventh year after Israel went down into Egypt.[^[45]]

On the son of the King coming of age, Moses abdicated and left Ethiopia. The Ethiopians made him many rich presents, and sent him away with great honours.

In Abyssinia there is a colony of people quite distinct from the Ethiopians. They differ totally from them in personal appearance, being fair and handsome, and decidedly of the Jewish type. In religion and customs and language they resemble the Jews; the characters of their writing are similar to the Hebrew. This people must have entered Ethiopia with Moses, and stayed behind when he went away and entered Midian. The place they occupy is called Amhara, situate on a hill, and their language Amharic.

CHAPTER VI.
THE SPHINX—THE ENTRANCE.

The Great Sphinx that is on the Mokattam Hill, facing the large Pyramids of Jeezeh, is the link of union between the north and south of Egypt, as well as the union of the works of those great men living at different periods of time as rulers of Egypt—Joseph and Moses. The following account of this Sphinx is taken from a work called View of Ancient and Modern Egypt, by the Rev. Michael Russell, LL.D.

“Our account of the mechanical productions of ancient Egypt would be incomplete did we not mention the Great Sphinx, which has always been regarded as an accompaniment, and sometimes even as a rival, to the Pyramids. The latest information in regard to this stupendous figure was obtained through the persevering labours of Mr. Caviglia, whose name has been already mentioned with so much honour.

“After the most fatiguing and anxious endeavours during several months, he succeeded in laying open the whole statue to its base, and exposing a clear area extending to a hundred feet from its front. ‘It is not easy,’ says Mr. Salt, who witnessed the process of excavation, ‘for any person unused to operations of this kind to form the smallest idea of the difficulties which he had to surmount, more especially when working at the bottom of the trench; for, in spite of every precaution, the slightest breath of wind, or concussion, set all the surrounding particles of sand in motion, so that the sloping sides began to crumble away, and mass after mass to come tumbling down, till the whole surface bore no unapt resemblance to a cascade of water. Even when the sides appeared most firm, if the labourers suspended their work but for an hour, they found on their return that they had the greatest part of it to do over again. This was particularly the case on the southern side of the paw, where the whole of the people—from sixty to a hundred—were employed for seven days without making any sensible advance, the sand rolling down in one continued torrent. But the discovery amply rewarded the toil and expense which were incurred in revealing the structure of this wonderful work of art.

“‘The huge legs stretched out fifty feet in advance from the body, which is in a cumbent posture; fragments of an enormous beard were found resting beneath the chin; and there were seen all the appendages of a temple, granite tablet, and altar, arranged on a regular platform immediately in front. On this pavement, and at an equal distance between the paws of the figure, was the large slab of granite just mentioned, being not less than fourteen feet high, seven broad, and two thick. The face of this stone, which fronted the east, was highly embellished with sculptures in bas-relief, the subject representing two sphinxes seated on pedestals, and priests holding out offerings, while there was an inscription in hieroglyphics most beautifully executed; the whole design being covered at top, and protected, as it were, with the sacred globe, the serpent, and the wings.

“‘Two other tablets of calcareous stone, similarly ornamented, were supposed, together with that of granite, to have constituted part of a miniature temple, by being placed one on each side of the latter, and at right angles to it. One of them, in fact, was still remaining in its place; of the other, which was thrown down and broken, the fragments are now in the British Museum.

“‘A small lion, couching in front of this edifice, had its eyes directed towards the main figure. There were besides several fragments of other lions rudely carved, and the fore-part of a sphinx of tolerable workmanship; all of which, as well as the tablets, walls, and platforms on which the little temple stood, were ornamented with red paint, a colour which seems to have been, in Egypt as well as in India, appropriated to sacred purposes. In front of the temple was a granite altar, with one of the four projections or horns still retaining its place at the angle. From the effects of fire evident on the stone, it is manifest that it had been used for burnt-offerings.

“‘On the side of the left paw of the Great Sphinx were cut several indistinct legends in Greek characters, addressed to different deities.[^[46]] On the second digit of the same was sculptured, in pretty deep letters, an inscription in verse, of which the subjoined translation was given by the late Dr. Young, whose extensive knowledge of antiquities enabled him at once to restore the defects of the original, and to convey its meaning in Latin as well as in English.

“‘Thy form stupendous here the gods have placed,

Sparing each spot of harvest-bearing land;

And with this mighty work of art have graced

A rocky isle, encumber’d once with sand:

Not that fierce Sphinx that Thebes erewhile laid waste,

But great Latona’s servant, mild and bland:

Watching that prince beloved who fills the throne

Of Egypt’s plains, and calls the Nile his own.

That heavenly monarch who his foes defies,

Like Vulcan powerful, and like Pallas wise.’

“This remarkable statue is again as much under the dominion of the desert as it was half a century ago; and, consequently, it now meets the eye of the Egyptian traveller shrouded in sand to the same depth as before.

“Dr. Richardson relates that the wind and the Arabs had replaced the covering on this venerable piece of antiquity, and hence the lower parts were quite invisible. The breast, shoulders, and neck, which are those of a human being, remain uncovered, as also the back, which is that of a lion; the neck is very much eroded, and, to a person near, the head seems as if it were too heavy for its support. The head-dress has the appearance of an old-fashioned wig, projecting out about the ears like the hair of the Berberi Arabs;[^[47]] the ears project considerably, the nose is broken, the whole face has been painted red, which is the colour assigned to the ancient inhabitants of Egypt, and to all the deities of the country except Osiris. The features are Nubian, or what, from ancient representations, may be called ancient Egyptian, which is quite different from the negro feature. The expression is particularly placid and benign; so much so, that the worshipper of the Sphinx might hold up his god as superior to all the other gods of wood and stone which the blinded nations worshipped.

“Pococke found the head and neck—all that were above ground—to be twenty-seven feet high; the breast was thirty-three feet wide; and the entire length about a hundred and thirty. Pliny estimated it at a hundred and thirteen feet long and sixty-three in height. According to Dr. Richardson, the stretch of the back is about a hundred and twenty feet, and the elevation of the head above the sand from thirty to thirty-five, a result which accords pretty nearly with the measurement of Coutelle. It is obvious, at the same time, that the discrepancy in these reports as to the elevation of the figure must be attributed to the varying depth of the sand, which appears to have accumulated greatly since the days of the Roman naturalist.

“There is no opening found in the body of the statue, whereby to ascertain whether it is hollow or not; but we learn from Dr. Pococke that there is an entrance both in the back and in the top of the head, the latter of which, he thinks, might serve for the arts of the priests in uttering oracles, while the former might be meant for descending to the apartments beneath.”

Colonel Howard-Vyse made ineffectual attempts to pierce the Sphinx; the result, in the back of the statue, he gives in these words:—

“The boring-rods were broken, owing to the carelessness of the Arabs, at the depth of twenty-seven feet in the back of the Sphinx. Various attempts were made to get them out, and on the 21st of July[^[48]] gunpowder was used for that purpose; but, being unwilling to disfigure this venerable monument, the excavation was given up, and several feet of boring-rods were left in it. During the operation a very beautiful fossil of a reed was discovered, which is now in the British Museum.”

Respecting the attempt near the shoulder, he says:—“The operations carried on at the Sphinx were suspended, and the hole made near the shoulder, about twenty-five and a half feet in depth, was plugged up.”

It was Moses who had the Sphinx cut out of the solid rock on which it stands. The features and the head-dress of the statue represent in colossal proportions the features and the head-dress of his beloved Ethiopian bride, who was “black but comely.”

The statue served as the royal entrance into the Great Pyramid, near which it is constructed. That this Pyramid has been entered from this direction is evident from the fact that a ramp-stone has been taken away from its place by some person who approached it by a subterranean passage.

“The original builders,[^[49]] then, were not those who knocked out from within on the well side that now lost ramp-stone, and exposed the inlet to the well-mouth as it is presently seen, near the north-west corner of the Grand Gallery. Neither was Al Mamoun the party, for no one could have done it except by entering the well from the very bottommost depths of the subterranean region; and he, the son of Caliph Haroun Al Raschid, and all his crew, did not descend further down the entrance-passage than merely to the level of his own forced hole, which is not subterranean at all. Nor is the credit claimed for any of his Arab successors, who rather alluded to the well as an already existing feature in their earliest time, and one they did not understand; in large part, too, because they had only seen, and only knew of, the upper end of it in the north-west corner of the Grand Gallery floor; and there it was simply a deep hole, the beginning of darkness and the shadow of death.

“Who, then, did burst out that now missing ramp-stone? Who, indeed! For the whole band of Egyptological writers we have mentioned appear to be convinced that ages before Caliph Al Mamoun made his way by blundering and smashing,—long ages, too, before Mohammed was born, and rather at and about the period of Judah being carried captive to Babylon,—the Egyptians themselves had entered the Great Pyramid by cunning art and tolerable understanding of its mere methods of construction, and had closed it again when they left.”

Yes; this Sphinx was the grand royal entrance by which Moses and his consort entered into the interior of the Great Pyramid. He, being inspired by Heaven, had foreseen that in future ages the knowledge of this entrance would be forgotten; he therefore removed the ramp-stone and left the space it occupied open, so as to excite the curiosity of those who might visit the spot.

He also left the world a specimen of this entrance in a wooden statue, built far away, that this wooden construction might serve to unriddle the passage in the Sphinx, which leads into the Great Pyramid. The openings in the head and back of the Sphinx were to give light and air to the passage. The following is a description of the wooden statue, taken from Captain Meares’ voyages:—[^[50]]

“After the English had been for some time in King George’s Sound, the Americans began to make use of sails of mats, in imitation of my ship. Not long after this the English were waited upon by Wicananish, a prince of greater wealth and power than any they had yet seen, who invited them to visit his kingdom, which lay at some distance to the southward, that a commercial intercourse might be established for the advantage of both parties.

“The invitation was accepted, and Wicananish himself met the ‘Felice’ at some distance from the shore with a small fleet of canoes, and, coming on board, piloted them into the harbour. They found the capital to be at least three times the size of Nootka. The country round was covered with impenetrable woods of great extent, in which were trees of enormous size.

“After the King and his chiefs had been entertained on board, the English were in return invited to a feast by Wicananish; and it is not easy to conceive a more interesting picture of savage life than witnessed on this occasion. On entering the house, we were absolutely astonished at the vast area it enclosed.

“It contained a large square, boarded up close on all sides to the height of twenty feet with planks of an uncommon breadth and length. Three enormous trees, rudely carved and painted, formed the rafters, which were supported at the ends and in the middle by gigantic images, carved out of huge blocks of timber. The same kind of broad planks covered the whole to keep out the rain; but they were so placed as to be removable at pleasure, either to receive the air and light or to let out the smoke. In the middle of this spacious room were several fires, and beside them large wooden vessels filled with fish soup. Large slices of whale’s flesh lay in a state of preparation, to be put into similar machines filled with water, into which the women, with a kind of tongs, conveyed hot stones from very fierce fires, in order to make it boil.

“Heaps of fish were strewed about; and in this central part of the square, which might properly be called the kitchen, stood large seal-skins filled with oil, from whence the guests were served with that delicious beverage. The trees that supported the roof were of a size which would render the mast of a first-rate man-of-war diminutive on a comparison with them; indeed, our curiosity as well as our astonishment was at its utmost stretch when we considered the strength which must have been required to raise these enormous beams to their present elevation, and how such strength could be commanded by a people wholly unacquainted, as we supposed, with the mechanic powers.

“The door by which we entered this extraordinary fabric was the mouth of one of these images, which, large as it may, from this circumstance, be supposed to have been, was not disproportioned to the other features of its colossal visage. We ascended by a few steps on the outside; and, after passing the portal, descended down the chin into the house, where we found new matter for wonder in the number of men, women, and children who composed the family of the chief, which consisted of at least 800 persons. These were divided into groups according to their respective offices, which had distinct places assigned them.

“The whole of the interior of the building was surrounded by a bench, about two feet from the ground, on which the various inhabitants sat, ate, and slept. The chief appeared at the upper end of the room, surrounded by natives of rank, on a small raised platform, round which were placed several large chests, over which hung bladders of oil, large slices of whale’s flesh, and proportionable gobbets of blubber.

“Festoons of human skulls, arranged with some attention to uniformity, were disposed in almost every part where they could be placed, and, however ghastly such ornaments appeared to European eyes, they were evidently considered by the courtiers and people of Wicananish as a very splendid and appropriate decoration of the royal apartment.

“When the English appeared, the guests had made a considerable advance in their banquet. Before each person was placed a large slice of boiled whale, which, with small wooden dishes filled with oil and fish-soup, and a mussel-shell instead of a spoon, composed the economy of the table. The servants busily replenished the dishes as they were emptied, and the women picked and opened some bark, which served the purpose of towels. The guests despatched their messes with astonishing rapidity and voracity, and even the children, some of them not above three years old, devoured the blubber and oil with a rapacity worthy of their fathers. Wicananish, in the meantime, did the honours with an air of hospitable yet dignified courtesy, which might have graced a more cultivated society.”

The Sphinx was cut or carved on Moses’ return from Meroë, and prior to his departure for Ethiopia, where he was elected King. He carefully closed the mouth, which was the door of the passage, that it should never be opened till the fulness of time arrived. But to prevent the monument from being broken into by strangers, he instructed the above-mentioned savages to make the large image, with a door in its mouth, that it might in the future serve as a key to solve the mystery of the Sphinx in connection with the Great Pyramid.

CHAPTER VII.
MISSION OF MOSES IN THE EAST.

During his reign in Ethiopia, Moses erected the Sphinxes and other monuments, and left inscriptions and bas-reliefs as tokens of his presence in that country. From thence he went to Midian, where he did not remain idle, for there are mines there which he must have had worked. He was commissioned by the Almighty to deliver the Israelites and bring them out of Egypt, and, after teaching them how to govern themselves, to lead them to the Land of Promise. During the forty years that the Hebrews sojourned in the desert, Moses wrote inscriptions on the rocks—all resembling those he left in Thebes—in order to show to future generations the route by which he led his people.

At the foot of Mount Hor there is a remarkable place, called by the Arabs Wady Mousa, or the Valley of Moses; and the whole of this wild region is celebrated for its beautiful architectural remains. Travellers of our time are told by the Arabs that a great prince dwelt there, and they show them a noble edifice as Pharaoh’s Castle, and another equally beautiful as the Palace of Pharaoh’s daughter. The following extract, taken from the account given by an American traveller, Mr. Stephens, describes these edifices:—[^[51]]

“At the entrance of the city there was not a creature to dispute our passage; its portals were wide open, and we passed along the stream down into the area, and still no man to oppose us. In front of the great temple, the pride and beauty of Petra, I saw a narrow opening in the rocks, exactly corresponding with my conception of the object for which I was seeking. A full stream of water was gushing through it, and filling up the whole mouth of the passage.

“Mounted on the shoulders of one of my Bedouins, I got him to carry me through the swollen stream at the mouth of the opening, and set me down on a dry place a little above, whence I began to pick my way, occasionally taking to the shoulders of my follower, and continued to advance more than a mile. I was beyond all peradventure in the great entrance I was seeking. There could not be two such, and I should have gone on to the extreme end of the ravine.

“For about two miles it lies between high and precipitous ranges of rocks, from five hundred to a thousand feet in height, standing as if torn by some great convulsion, and barely wide enough for two horsemen to pass abreast. At the end was a large open space, with a powerful body of light thrown down upon it, and exhibiting in one full view the facade of a beautiful temple, hewn out of the rock, with rows of Corinthian columns and ornaments, standing out fresh and clear as if but yesterday from the hands of the sculptor.

“Though coming directly from the banks of the Nile, where the preservation of the temples excites the admiration and astonishment of every traveller, we were roused and excited by the extraordinary beauty and excellent condition of the great temple at Petra (Wady Mousa). The whole temple, its columns, ornaments, porticoes, and porches, are cut out from and form part of the solid rock; and this rock, at the foot of which the temple stands like a mere print, towers several hundred feet above, its face cut smooth to the very summit, and the top remaining wild and misshapen as Nature made it.

“The whole area before the temple is perhaps an acre in extent, enclosed on all sides, except at the narrow entrance, and an opening to the left of the temple, which leads into the area of the city by a pass through perpendicular rocks five or six hundred feet in height.

“Ascending several broad steps, we entered under a colonnade of four Corinthian columns, about thirty-five feet high, into a large chamber of some fifty feet square and twenty-five feet high. The outside of the temple is richly ornamented, but the interior is perfectly plain, there being no ornament of any kind upon the walls or ceiling; on each of the three sides is a small chamber; and on the back wall of the innermost chamber I saw the names of Messrs. Leigh, Banks, Irby, and Mangles, the four English travellers who with so much difficulty had effected their entrance to the city; of Messieurs Laborde and Linant, and several others.

“Leaving the temple and the open area on which it fronts, and following the stream, we entered another defile much broader than the first, on each side of which were ranges of tombs, with sculptured doors and columns; and on the left, in the bosom of the mountain, hewn out of the solid rock, is a large theatre, circular in form, the pillars in front fallen, and containing thirty-three rows of seats, capable of containing more than three thousand persons. Above the corridor was a range of doors opening to chambers in the rocks, the seats of the princes and wealthiest inhabitants of Wady Mousa (Petra), and not unlike a row of private boxes in a modern theatre. The whole theatre is at this day in such a state of preservation that if the tenants of the tombs around could once more rise into life, they might take their old places on its seats and listen to the declamation of their favourite player.

“Though I had no small experience in exploring catacombs and tombs, these were so different from any I had seen that I found it difficult to distinguish the habitations of the living from the chambers of the dead. The façades or architectural decorations of the front were everywhere handsome; and in this they differed materially from the tombs in Egypt. In the latter the doors were simply an opening in the rock, and all the grandeur and beauty of the work within; while here the door was always imposing in its appearance, and the interior was generally a simple chamber, unpainted and unsculptured.[^[52]] I say that I could not distinguish the dwellings from the tombs; but this was not invariably the case. Some were clearly tombs, for there were pits in which the dead had been laid, and others were as clearly dwellings, being without a place for the deposit of the dead. One of these last particularly attracted my attention. It consisted of one large chamber, having on one side, at the foot of the wall, a stone bench about one foot high and two or three broad, in form like the divans in the East at the present day; at the other end were several small apartments, hewn out of the rock, with partition-wall left between them, like stalls in a stable, and these had probably been the sleeping apartments of the family.

“There were no paintings or decorations of any kind within the chamber; but the rock out of which it was hewn, like the old stony rampart that encircled the city, was of a peculiarity and beauty that I never saw elsewhere, being a dark ground, with veins of white, blue, red, purple, and sometimes scarlet and light orange, running through it in rainbow streaks; and within the chambers, where there had been no exposure to the action of the elements, the freshness and beauty of the colours in which these waving lines were drawn gave an effect hardly inferior to that of the paintings in the tombs of the Kings at Thebes.

“Farther on, in the same range—though, in consequence of the steps of the streets being broken, we were obliged to go down and ascend again before we could reach it—was another temple, like the first, cut out of the solid rock, and, like the first, too, having for its principal ornament a large urn, shattered and bruised by musket-balls; for the ignorant Arab, believing that gold is concealed in it, day after day, as he passes by, levels at it his murderous gun, in the vain hope to break the vessel and scatter a golden shower on the ground.”

From this encampment Moses led the Hebrews to the plains of Moab, and after taking a survey of Canaan from the top of Mount Pisgah, that is over against Jericho, he bade them a last farewell. He was then a hundred and twenty years old; “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days,” and Joshua became their leader in the place of Moses. It is also recorded, that “there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land ... and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.”

Josephus the Jewish historian gives an account of the departure of Moses from the children of Israel thus:—[^[53]]“Now as soon as they were come to the mountain called Abarim (which is a very high mountain, situate over against Jericho, and one that affords, to such as are upon it, a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan), he dismissed the senate; and as he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, a cloud stood over him on the sudden, and he disappeared in a certain valley, although he wrote in the Holy Books that he died, which was done out of fear, lest they should venture to say that, because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to God.”

Modern travellers have found remains of architecture and sculpture, which serve as landmarks in the royal progress towards the East. No doubt Moses had these works executed that they might give ample proof of his presence in all those countries wherein the remains exist—countries far divided from each other—and so that by them his route could easily be followed from Ethiopia to the place where he ended his pilgrimage on earth.

From Mount Abarim he took his journey eastward, evidently with a large caravan, consisting of his faithful followers, and forming a formidable escort. The first place at which they halted for any length of time is in Persia, where there are unmistakable signs of his sojourn. The following is an account given by Mr. Morier, who accompanied Sir Harford Jones Brydges on the mission to Persia in 1809:—[^[54]]

“The sculptures are situated at the distance of about fifteen miles from Kázerún. About seven miles from it I passed the ruined village of Derses; and, leaving two tombs, one on the right hand and the other on the left of the road, came to the bed of a torrent, over which there seems to have been built an aqueduct, for, on each side of its banks, there are remains of masonry, and traces of its conduit may be perceived on the southern bank.

“The extent of the ruins of Shahpúr to the southward is bounded by a beautiful stream of water. Over the spring from which it issues the road is sustained by fragments of architecture, which are part of the entablature of some public building, and, by their dimensions, must have once been magnificent.

“Immediately after passing the spring, we came upon the ruins of Shahpúr. When standing on an eminence, we computed the whole to be comprised, on a rough calculation, within a circumference of six miles. This circumference enclosed a tract of plain, and a hill, on which the remains of the ancient citadel formed a conspicuous and commanding object. Whether by the caprice of Nature or by the labour of man, this hill or acropolis is distinctly separated from the great range of mountains forming the most eastern boundary of the plain of Kázerún.

“Between this and another imposing mass of rock runs the beautiful river of Shahpúr. We reckoned the space between the two rocks at thirty yards, which formed a little plain of verdure and shrubbery, intersected, indeed, by the stream of the river. The opening between the two grand masses presented a landscape the most varied, the most tranquil, the most picturesque, and, at the same time, the most sublime, that imagination can form.

“A black and stupendous rock flanked the right of the picture; while another still more extraordinary rock, as richly illumined as the other was darkened, supported the left. Between both a distant range of mountains, whose rocks were terminated by a plain, filled up the interstices, forming a fine aërial perspective; whilst the river and rich shrubbery completed a most enlivening foreground.

“The hill on which the remains of the citadel stand is covered by ruins of walls and turrets. On its eastern aspect the nature of the fortification can be traced easily; for walls fill the chasms from rock to rock, forming altogether a place of defence admirably strong. The first object which arrested our attention was a mutilated sculpture of two colossal figures on horseback, carved on the superfices of the rock. The figure on the right was most injured; the only part, indeed, which we could ascertain with precision was one of the front and two of the hinder feet of a horse, standing over the statue of a man, who was extended at his full length, his face turning outwardly, and reposed upon his right hand, and his attire bearing marks of a Roman costume. A figure in the same dress was placed in an attitude of supplication at the horse’s knees, and a head in alto-relievo just appeared between the hinder feet. The equestrian figure on the left is not quite so much mutilated, the horse and parts of the drapery on the thighs being still well preserved.

“The next piece of sculpture (which, like the former, was carved upon the mountain of the citadel) is perfect in all its parts. It consists of three grand compartments; the central and most interesting represents a figure on horseback, whose dress announces a royal personage. His head-dress is a crown, on which is placed a globe; his hair flows in very large and massy curls over both shoulders, whilst a slight mustachio just covers his upper lip, and gives much expression to a countenance strongly indicative of pride and majesty.

“His body is clothed with a robe, which falls in many folds to his girdle, and then extends itself over his thigh and legs as low as his ancle. A quiver hangs by his side; in his right hand he holds the hand of a figure behind him, which stands so as to cover the whole hind quarter of his horse, and which is dressed in the Roman tunic and helmet. A figure, habited also in the Roman costume, is on its knees before the head of the horse, with its hands extended and with a face betraying entreaty. Under the feet of the horse is another figure extended, in the same attire and character as that of the other two Roman figures.

“To the right of the tablet stands a figure with his hands also extended, but dressed in a different manner, and, as far as we could judge, with features more Egyptian than European. In the angle between the King’s head and the horse’s is a Victory displaying the scroll of fame. A figure (part of which is concealed by the one on its knees) completes the whole of this division.

“The second grand compartment, which is on the right, is divided again into six sub-compartments, in each of which are carved three figures, the costumes and general physiognomies of which are all different. They appear mostly in postures of supplication, and, I should suspect, are representations of vanquished people.

“On the left, in the third grand compartment, are rows of horsemen, divided by one line into two smaller compartments. They have all the same characteristic dress and features as the royal figure in the centre, and certainly represent his forces. The whole of this most interesting monument is sculptured in a very hard rock, which bears the finest polish, and which we pronounced to be a coarse species of jasper. The figures on foot are in height five feet nine inches: figures on horseback, from the rider’s cap to the horse’s hoofs, six feet ten inches in length; the grand tablet eleven feet eleven inches.

“Having examined these, we next crossed the river to the sculptures on the opposite rock. The first is a long tablet containing a multitude of figures. The principal person (who is certainly the King represented in the former tablet) is placed in the very centre of the piece, alone in a small compartment, and is seated with a sword placed betwixt his legs, on the pommel of which rests his left hand. On his right, on the uppermost of two long slips, are many men, who seem to be a mixture of Persians and Romans, the former conducting the latter as prisoners. Under these, in the lower step, are others, who by their wigs appear to be Persians. Their leader bears a human head in both hands, and extends it towards the central figure. On the left are four small compartments. The first (nearest that figure, and the highest from the ground) incloses a crowd of men, whose arms are placed over one another’s shoulders. Below these are five figures, one of whom leads a horse without any more furniture than a bridle.

“The other two compartments are filled up with eight figures each. We considered this to represent in general a King seated in his room of audience, surrounded by his own people, and by nations tributary to him. The length is eleven yards four inches. On the left of this were two colossal figures on horseback carved in alto-relievo. The one to the right had all the dress, character, and features of the King above described; the other on the left appeared also a royal personage, but differing in dress and in the furniture of his horse. Both had their hands extended, and held a ring, which we conceived to be emblematical of peace.

“After having re-passed the river, we walked over the numerous mounds of stones and earth which cover the ruined buildings of Shahpúr, and which, if ever explored, would discover innumerable secrets of antiquity. We were conducted by the peasants who were with us to the remains of a very fine wall, which in the symmetry of its masonry equalled any Grecian work that I have ever seen. Each stone was four feet long, twenty-seven inches thick, and cut to the finest angles.

“The wall formed the front of a square building, the area of which is fifty-five feet. At the top were placed sphinxes couchant, a circumstance which we ascertained from discovering accidentally two eyes and a mutilated foot, at the extremity of one of the upper stones. In this wall there is a window, which is arched by the formation of its upper stone. Behind this square building we traced most correctly the configuration of a theatre, thirty paces in length and fourteen in breadth. The place resembled, at least, those called theatres which I have seen in Greece. From a comparison of their positions, we were led to suppose that the building still extant must have been connected with the other behind it, and may have formed, perhaps, the entrance to it.”[^[55]]

These commemorative sculptures denote that the stranger King (Moses) and his forces took possession of Derses near Shahpúr by conquest; and the length of time he remained in the country may be inferred from the interregnum, or unrecorded interval, between the Assyrian epochs of Nimrúd and Khorsabad. The supposed duration of that period is about sixty or seventy years, and it began just about the time that Moses left the children of Israel, so that it synchronises with the arrival of Moses in the country, and his residence there fills up the gap.

The number of his followers must have increased during the years that Moses travelled from one country to another, and he was likely in consequence to leave some of them to colonise, and to teach his doctrine, and to carry on the ordinances of his religion, in every region that was suitable for that purpose.

The Afghans, whose country lies nearest to Persia, claim descent from the Jews, and the people of Kafiristan are unmistakably Jews. These inhabit a mountainous country adjoining Afghanistan, on the north-west of Cashmere.

“The Caufirs[^[56]] have no general name for their nation. Each tribe has its peculiar name, for they are all divided into tribes, though not according to genealogy, but to geographical position, each valley being held by a separate tribe. The Mussulmans confound them all under the name of Caufir, or infidel, and call their country Caufiristaun. They also call one division of them Seeaposh (black-vested), or Tor Caufirs (black infidels), and another Speen Caufirs (white infidels). Both epithets are taken from their dress, for the whole of the Caufirs are remarkable for the fairness and beauty of their complexion, but those of the largest division wear a sort of vest of black goat-skin, while the others dress in white cotton.

“There are several languages among the Caufirs, but they have all many words in common, and all have a near connection with the Sanskrit. Their religion does not resemble any other with which I am acquainted. They believe in one God; but they also worship numerous idols, which, they say, represent great men of former days, who intercede with God in favour of their worshippers. These idols are of stone or wood, and always represent men or women, some mounted and some on foot.

“They have hereditary priests. They have also persons who can procure an inspiration of some superior being by holding their heads over the smoke of a sacrifice. Their festivals are often accompanied with a sacrifice, and always with a feast. They have no titles of their own, but they have borrowed that of Khaun from the Afghans for their rich men. Their property chiefly consists in cattle and slaves.

“The houses of the Caufirs are often of wood, and they have generally cellars where they keep their cheeses, clarified butter, wine, and vinegar. In every house there is a wooden bench fixed to the wall, with a low back to it. There are also stools shaped like drums, but smaller in the middle than at the ends, and tables of the same sort, but larger. The Caufirs, partly from their dress and partly from habit, cannot sit like the other Asiatics; and if forced to sit down on the ground, stretch out their legs like Europeans. They have also beds made of wood and thongs of neats’ leather: the stools are made of wicker-work.

“They celebrate a sacrifice at a particular place near the village where there was a stone post; a fire was kindled before it, through which flour, butter, and water were thrown on the stone. At length an animal was sacrificed, and the flesh was burned, and part eaten by the assistants, who were numerous, and who accompanied the priest in prayers and devout gesticulations.”[^[57]]

Their neighbours, the dwellers in the beautiful vale of Cashmere, also claim descent from the Jews, “a claim[^[58]] borne out by the personal appearance of the race, their garb, the cast of their countenance, and the form of their beards. There is a belief, too, among them that Moses died in the capital of Cashmere, and that he is buried near it.” (This belief is erroneous, as that Lawgiver ended his days very far away from Cashmere.)

“There is no doubt that they were originally of Brahmin (Hebrew) origin; and prosperous must have been the people—wise, beneficent, and energetic the rulers, in those old days, if tradition and legend are to be believed, and the mighty monuments of a past grandeur, long anterior to the days when Mogul wealth and taste embellished the valley, are to be looked on as faithful witnesses; but to this golden age succeeded centuries of oppression.

“We must, therefore, not be too hard on the Kashmiri; his faults are those that oppression fosters, and his virtues, for he has some, are his industry, his religious toleration, his observance of family ties and obligations, while for qualities of head and hand he is second to no Eastern race. As artificers, the pale, slim, sneaking denizens of the crowded lanes of Sreenuggur will compete with any in the East, and the sturdy, broad-shouldered, large-limbed peasant is a painstaking and successful husbandman.

“Among the many changes of masters which Cashmere has undergone, one class of men appear not only to have retained the religion of their Brahmin (Hebrew) forefathers, but also a high position among their fellows. I allude to the Kashmiri Pundits—men of lengthy pedigree, of wealth and influence, who, thanks to their superior education and fitness for business, were largely employed by their successive conquerors, placed in posts of trust, and seemingly exempted from the forcible conversion to the creed of Mahommed, which was universally imposed on their countrymen.”

From Cashmere the invading host of Moses entered Hindostan, known at that period under the name of Ind, from the river Indus. The natives of the country were a variety of barbarous tribes, who resisted the entry of Moses and his followers, and many sanguinary battles were fought before they were subdued, and the conquerors permitted to take possession of the whole peninsula. Here Moses assumed the name of Manu, and called his Hebrew nationality Brahmin.

The language he employed while in Hindostan was Sanscrit; all his laws and ordinances were written in this sacred language. He established classes or castes. The Brahmins in India occupied the same position as the Levites in Judea, and were the priests, the instructors, and the philosophers of the nation.

The chronicles of this epoch record the wars and the brave exploits of heroes, and the wisdom and learning of the conquerors. The first mention made of this invading nation gives as their residence a tract of country between the rivers Sersooty and Caggar, distant from Delhi about one hundred miles to the north-west. It then bore the name of Bram-haverta, as being the haunt of gods; and although it was but about sixty-five miles long by forty broad, it was the scene of the adventures of the first princes, and the residence of the most famous sages. They extended their territory, which seems to have included at that time the districts of Oude, Agra, Allahabad, Lahore, and Delhi. The city of Oude, then termed Ayodha, was the capital. In course of time they moved down the peninsula, and subdued the Deccan and the whole of the south. The celebrated rock temples of Ellora, and the sculptured cave of Elephanta, are some of the many monuments left by these Brahmins, the descendants of Abraham the Hebrew. Every traveller, in viewing these wonderful remains is forcibly reminded of similar remains in Egypt and Nubia—unmistakable proof of the works having been executed under the guidance of the same inspired intellect.

The colonies left by Moses or Manu in the peninsula of India within the Ganges were distinctly traceable in the days of Alexander the Great, the southern colonists being swarthy, tall, and handsome, not unlike Ethiopians, whilst those of the northern latitudes were much fairer, and not unlike the Egyptians, and those still farther south were Jews. Of such as these were the forces and followers of Moses in his progress over the earth.

After conquering the whole peninsula he left the mainland and went over to the island of Ceylon. The Cingalese are well versed in biblical history; and they even believe that Adam and Eve came to Ceylon after their expulsion from the garden of Eden. There are remains of former grandeur and colossal statues to mark the presence of the god-like Lawyer in the island.

From the island of Ceylon he went by sea and landed on the opposite peninsula, or India beyond the Ganges. The neighbourhood of Siam has splendid ruins of most noble buildings and statuary. In Bangkok, the capital of Siam, the temples and all other religious buildings are evidently of Egyptian origin. The Siamese of the present time, from the King to the peasant, live in poor houses of wood or bamboo; and they frankly admit that they did not build those ancient monuments, and do not even know who were the builders of them.

Recent travellers in Chin-India speak in rapturous terms of the ruins of Angkor, the great temple in Siam. One writer says: “The ruins of Angkor are as imposing as the ruins of Thebes or Memphis, and more mysterious”; while another thinks that “one of these temples, a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michael Angelo, might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome.”

The following description of these wonderful ruins is taken from the work of a recent traveller who visited them:—[^[59]]

“The ruins of Angkor are situated in the province of Siamrap, eastern Siam, in about lat. 13° 30’ N. and long. 104° E. We entered upon an immense causeway, the stairs of which were flanked with six huge griffins, each carved from a single block of stone. This causeway, which leads directly to the main entrance of the temple, is 725 feet in length, and is paved with stones, each of which measures four feet in length by two in breadth. On either side of it are artificial lakes fed by springs, and each covering about five acres of ground. We passed through one of the side gates and crossed the square to a sala situated at the very entrance of the temple. Embosomed in the midst of a perfect forest of cocoa, betel-nut, and toddy palms, and with no village in sight, excepting a dozen or more huts, the abodes of priests having the charge of it; the general appearance of the wonderful temple is beautiful and romantic as well as impressive and grand. A just idea of it can hardly be conveyed by writing; it must be seen to be understood and appreciated. Still, perhaps, a detailed description might assist the imagination somewhat in forming a proper estimate of the grand genius which planned, and the skill and patience which executed, such a masterpiece of architecture.

“The outer wall of Nagkon Wat—which words signify a city or assemblage of temples or monasteries—about half a mile square, is built of sandstone, with gateways on each side, which are handsomely carved with figures of gods and dragons, arabesques, and intricate scrolls. Upon the western side is the main gateway, and passing through this and up a causeway (paved with slabs of stone three feet in length by two in breadth) for a distance of a thousand feet, you arrive at the central main entrance of the temple. About the middle of the causeway, on either side, are image-houses, much decayed and overgrown with rank parasitic plants; and a little farther on are two small ponds, with carved stone copings, which in most places are thrown down.

“The foundations of Nagkon Wat are as much as ten feet in height, and are very massively built of the same volcanic rock as that used in the construction of the ‘Angels’ Bridge.’ The entire edifice, which is raised on three terraces, the one about thirty feet above the other, including the roof, is of stone, but without cement; and so closely fitting are the joints as even now to be scarcely discernible. The quarry where the stone was hewn is about two days’ travel—thirty miles—distant; and it is supposed the transportation of the immense boulders could only have been effected by means of a water communication—a canal or river, or when the country was submerged at the end of the rainy season. The shape of the building is oblong, being 796 feet in length and 588 feet in width, whilst the highest central pagoda rises some 250 odd feet above the ground, and four others, at the angles of the court, are each about 150 feet in height.

“Passing between low railings, we ascend a platform composed of boulders of stone four feet in length, one and a half feet in width, and six inches in thickness, and enter the temple itself through a columned portico, the façade of which is beautifully carved in basso-relievo with ancient mythological subjects. From this doorway, on either side, runs a corridor, with a double row of columns, cut—base and capital—from single blocks, with a double, oval-shaped roof covered with carving and consecutive sculptures upon the outer wall.

“This gallery of sculptures, which forms the exterior of the temple, consists of over half a mile of continuous pictures, cut in basso-relievo upon sandstone slabs six feet in width, and represents subjects taken from Hindoo mythology—from Ramayana, the Sanscrit epic poem of India, with its 25,000 verses describing the exploits of the god Rama and the son of the King of Oudh. The contests of the King of Ceylon, and Hunaman, the monkey god, are graphically represented. There is no key-stone used in the arch of this corridor, and its ceiling is uncarved. On the walls are sculptured the immense number of 100,000 separate figures (or at least heads). Entire scenes from the Ramayana are pictured; one, I remember, occupies 240 feet of the wall.

“Weeks might be spent in studying, identifying, and classifying the varied subjects of this wonderful gallery. You see warriors riding upon elephants and in chariots, foot soldiers with shield and spear, boats, unshapely divinities, trees, monkeys, tigers, griffins, hippopotami, serpents, fishes, crocodiles, bullocks, tortoises, soldiers of immense physical development, with helmets, and some people with beards. The figures stand somewhat like those on the great Egyptian monuments, the side partly turned towards the front; in the case of the men, one foot and leg are always placed in advance of the other; and I noticed, besides, five horsemen, armed with spear and sword, riding abreast, like those seen upon the Assyrian tablets in the British Museum. In the procession several of the kings are preceded by musicians playing upon shells and long bamboo flutes. Some of the kings carry a sort of battle-axe, others a weapon which much resembles a golf-club, and others are represented as using the bow and arrow. In one place is a grotesque divinity, who sits elegantly dressed upon a throne surmounted by umbrellas; this figure, of peculiar sanctity, evidently, has been recently gilded, and before it, upon a small table, there were a dozen or more ‘joss-sticks’ kept constantly burning by the faithful.[^[60]] But it is almost useless to particularise when the subjects and style of execution are so diverse. Each side of the long corridor seemed to display figures of distinct feature, dress, and character.

“‘The most interesting sculptures,’ says Dr. Adolf Bastian, the President of the Royal Geographical Society of Berlin, who explored these wonderful ruins in 1864, ‘the most interesting sculptures at Nagkon Wat are in two compartments, called by the natives respectively the procession and the three stages (heaven, earth, and hell). What gives a peculiar interest to this section is the fact that the artist has represented the different nationalities in all their distinctive characteristic features, from the flat-nosed savage in the tasseled garb of the Pnom, and the short-haired Lao, to the straight-nosed Rajaput, with sword and shield, and the bearded Moor, giving a catalogue of nationalities, like another column of Trajan in the predominant physical conformation of each race. On the whole there is such a prevalence of Hellenic cast in the features and profiles, as well as in the elegant attitude of the horsemen, that one might suppose Xenocrates of old, after finishing his labours in Bombay, had made an excursion to the east.’

“There are figures sculptured in high relief (nearly life-size) upon the lower parts of the walls about the entrance; all are females, and apparently of Hindoo origin. The interior of the quadrangle, bounded by the long corridor just described, is filled with galleries—halls, formed with huge columns, crossing one another at right angles. In the Nagkon Wat as many as 1,532 solid columns have been counted, and among the entire ruins of Angkor there are reported to be the immense number of 6,000, almost all of them hewn from single blocks and artistically carved. On the inner side of the corridor there are blank windows, each of which contains seven beautifully turned little columns. The ceilings of the galleries were hung with tens of thousands of bats and pigeons, and other birds had made themselves comfortable nests in out-of-the-way corners.

“We pass on up steep staircases, with steps not more than four inches in width, to the centre of the galleries which here bisect one another. There are two detached buildings in this square. In one of the galleries we saw two or three hundred images—made of stone, wood, brass, clay—of all shapes and sizes and ages (some of the large stone idols are said to be 1,400 years old).

“We walk on across another causeway, with small image-houses[^[61]] on either hand, and up a steep flight of steps, fully thirty feet in height, to other galleries crossing each other in the centre above which rises the grand central pagoda, 250 feet in height, and at the four corners of the court four smaller spires. These latter are much dilapidated and do not now display their full height; the porticoes also bear evidence of the presence of the ‘heavy hand of time.’

“There is one more gallery, and then we come to the outer corridor, and pass through a magnificent doorway to the rear of the temple, and walk round to our sala, not knowing which to admire the most, the vastness of the plan or the propriety and grace of the performance.

“The principal ruins of Siam and Cambodia yet discovered lie in the province of Siamrap, as already stated. At about three miles north-east of Angkor, on the opposite side of the Siamrap river, are the ruins of a city called Pentaphrohm, the citadel of Taphrohm, and near it is a wat styled Phrakeoh, or the Gem Tower, presenting the same combination of a royal and priestly residence as Angkor and Nagkon Wat. Some of these temples and palaces, with their columns, sculptures, and statues, are quite as interesting, though not so well-preserved, as those at Angkor. About four miles east of Nagkon Wat are two other remains of antiquity, Bakong and Lailan.

“In the province of Battambong, forty or fifty miles south-west from Siamrap town, there are also ruins, temples, monasteries, and palaces, and indeed the whole valley of the Makong river to the very borders of China is spread with ruins of more or less magnitude, beauty, and interest. Near the monastery of Phrakeoh is an artificial lake called Sasong (the royal lake), built by the kings of Pentaphrohm, and surrounded with pleasure-houses for their recreation. Dr. Bastian thinks that it must have been a work of immense labour, and the whole population of Cambodia of to-day would scarcely be able to raise such a gigantic structure.

“The lake of Sasong he describes as being ‘of oblong shape, about 2,000 feet broad and 4,000 feet long, and surrounded by a high embankment of solid masonry. Some of the blocks are fourteen to sixteen feet long and highly finished. In convenient places square platforms were built overhanging the water, with broad flights of steps leading down to it, and in such places the huge masses of stone laid on each other are embellished by delicate chisellings, bearing the figures of serpents, eagles, lions (in their fabulous shapes as Naga, Kruth, Sinto) on the ends. In the middle of the lake is a small island with the remains of a former palace upon it. Of all the figures used for ornaments, that which recurs most frequently is that of the Naga; and the Chinese officer who visited Cambodia in 1295 describes already ‘the pillars of the stone bridges adorned with serpents, each of which had nine heads.’

“About half a mile north-west of Nagkon Wat there are the ruins of an observatory, built upon the summit of a hill perhaps 500 feet in height. A foot-path leads up this hill through the thick jungle. The first indication of any antiquities thereabouts is two immense stone griffins, one standing on each side of the path; and next we pass a small image with the head of an elephant and the body of a human being; it is the elephant-headed Ganesh—the god of wisdom of the Hindoo mythology. This hill is cut in five terraces paved with stone, and having staircases, each about twelve feet in height, ornamented with stone lions upon their balusters; and at the corners of each terrace are small image-houses.

“The building is quadrilateral, and covers the entire crest of the hill, there being four entrances; the central spire is now an unshapely mass of large boulders, all overgrown with trees, shrubs, and vines. From the summit we obtained an extensive view of the surrounding country. To the north there extended from east to west a range of low blue hills; to the south-east we could just discern the placid waters of Lake Thalaysap; to the south lay the quaint old town of Siamrap, and to the south-west there was another large lake of bright, clear water.”

On his arrival in the southern portion of the peninsula beyond the Ganges, the great Lawgiver evidently set his followers to execute the wonderful monuments above described.

The sculptures on the walls of the palace of Angkor represent exploits of bravery and conquest, from the first invasion of Ind to the arrival of the invaders on the island of Ceylon, and to their landing in Siam.

The observatory shows that Moses loved astronomy, and pursued the study of that science in the distant east as he had done in Thebes.

When these noble undertakings were completed—which serve as souvenirs of his visit to the country—he, no doubt, left a colony to protect them, and proceeded northward, where there are ample traces which clearly indicate the route. The country he came to was like that which is on the other side of the Bay of Bengal, inhabited by various tribes of savages.

The empire he founded here was called the Empire of Brahma, and the people Brahmins. The scriptures were expounded, and the doctrine of the Lawgiver propagated, so that the natives of the country to this day relate the fall of Adam, and all the particulars regarding that memorable event. The following is a literal translation, by Dr. Mason, of some rude verses which the Karens have preserved:—