The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-09 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Wanderings in the Land of Barn. By a Daughter
of Japhet. Longman.
This volume is a record of a winter spent in
Egypt a few years since, by a young lady, her
mother, and invalid brother. Notwithstandit g a
certain flippancy in the title and introduction,
which peeps out occasionally in her pages, when
she talks of " doing the Nile at seventeen," &c.,
the writer was fully impressed with the vast and
majestic character of the ruins she explored, which
she describes with all the enthusiastic fervour of a
youthful imagination. If she had not aimed at
any brilliancy or eloquence of style, but recorded
her opinions in a simple and natural manner, her
book would have been very attractive, as convey-
ing the impression 'made on a young and inexpe-
rienced traveller by the marvels of the Pharoahs.
Where she has contented herself with doing this,
and we must admit that her flights of fancy are
only occasional, her sketches are lively and agree-
able. Indeed, her lively and animated pictures
may entertain many readers who might be wearied
by the sober and matter-of-fact accounts of more
serious travellers. Here is her description of
passing the cataracts—

We were all seated on the roof of the cabins, and in
the miOst of a din and uproar greater than I can de-
scribe, we left the moorings. Twelve oars, with three or
four men at each, took us speedily over the first rapid,
which is very slight, but in a few minutes the roar of
the waters, crested with foamy breakers, and the rushing
current announced our approach to the second and
greatest rapid. Then canoe the " tug of war." For a
moment the Arabs were hushed ; the dragoman shouted
to us to keep still, and hold on, as before our eyes was
spread a sheet of foam, and the river dashed away be-
neath us, the huge waves breaking over each other, and
over the masses of granite, between which we had to
make our way. The moment was one of the most in.
tense excitement—the boat seemed to pause for an in-
stant, the rowers hastily shipped their oars, and with a
sudden rush we were whirled down the rapid. It was
now a struggle between the rudder and the current ; if
the former gave way it woold have been all up with us ;
the channel was very narrow, and we were apparently
steering right upon the frowning rocks, but next mo-
ment were dexterously turned wide, and again floated in
still water. It was a scene we shall never forget, and
must be seen to be apprecated. There were four men
at the tiller ; the whole was very skilfully managed ;
no water came into the cabins as often happens, and
it was only ankle-deep at the bows. The third and
last rapid of any magnitude was soon passed, and when
this was safely accomplished, the rail came forward to
shake hands with the gentlemen, who congratulated
him on his success; guns were fired to announce it;
the Tarrabukka was struck up, and the whole crew sang
and shouted till we reached Assouan ; we again fired
on our arrival, and the boats at anchor returned our
salute. We had a beautiful ride at sunset to the top of
one of the neighbouring hills, whence we had a most
glorious view ; the lights over both river and desert
were rich and soft. A modern Nile traveller has well
observed that the sun " glares" in Europe, but that it
" shines" in Egypt ; its light is quite different ; with us
the outlines of every object appear hard and stiff, but in
the East, without the least haziness of atmosphere, they
seem subdued and mellowed.
Notwithstanding that one of the party was an in-
valid, and the other two, ladies, the little band
seem to have been sufficiently adventurous. They
descended the cataracts, as we have seen, and they
subsequently penetrated into the interior of the
Great Pyramid. The writer, quoting from her
favourite authority, Miss Martineau, tells us that
it is said to require more courage to go into than
to go up it, and she concurs in advising no one who
is likely to be overcome by the strange impression
of vastness and solidity, which strikes the explorer
on entering, to venture into the interior. They
had heard so much of the airlessness of the
interior that they thought the fewer guides
the better, so succeede 1 in starting with
only ten, leaving a few others at the opening
to prevent the rest of the loiterers from following.
The first passage they descended was about a hun-
dred feet loni, and three feet and a-half high, the
highest of all. They then climbed a perpendicular
wall of granite, and after passing two more long
passages, through one of which they could hardly
crawl, they reached the King's chamber, where
Cheeps, the founder of the Pyramids' is supposed
to rest. Another journey brought them to the
Queen's chamber, under the apex of the Pyramid.
"it was indeed a strange feeling when we retnem-
hered what acres of solid masonry separated us
from the open air. The chamber we were in, and
indeed every passage we had passed through, was
lined with blocks of polished granite, so closely
fitting that the point of a pin could not be inserted
between them. We were in the centre of the
.4reat Pyramid, but we did not feel alarmed. We
coolly talked over the chances of suff,ca'ion, and
the time that would elapse before we could possibly
get out, or obta'n assistance. The heat was in-
tense, much greeter than on the outside, but we
did not find it unbearable, and notwithstanding
the difficulties of success we did not for a moment
regret our trouble." They were amused at the
refusal of a Crimean t oldier, who was lingering
about the entrance, to advance more than a few
steps into the interior, and when asked if he could
not go where two ladies had been, replied that
there was nothing English ladies would trot do
row-a-days. The author has collected the names
of the historical cr. lebrities who have been connected
with her land of romance and marvels :

Hither in-later ages resorted philosophers and tra.
thetnaticians, physicians and historians, lavvgisfers and
architects ; the distinguished series of celebrated men
ho are said to have carried Egyptian wisdom to the
Greeks begins as early as the mythical times. Danaus
brought the first germ of civilisation from Egypt to
Argos, and Erectheus king of Athens was considered by
some to have been an Egyptian, and to have taught the
Eleusinian mrteriee according to the manner of the
Egyptians. Ths holy singers of antiquity, Orpheus,
Muk.asus, Melaropus, and Euinolpus -thence acquired
their theological wisdom ; and even to Homer himself
Egypt was not unknown.
It ~,ag from. Egypt that Lycurgue and Solon trans-
ferred to their fatherland the wise regulations they bee
came acquainted with. The houses in Heliopolis in
which Plato and the mathematician Eudoxus had lived
for thirteen yeare were shown to Strabo. Thales was
instructed by the Egyptian priests, and, as it is expressly
said, beside them had no other teachers ; here he became
acquainted with the division of the year into seasons,
and into 3G5 days. Here al,o he learnt t) take the
mea,urerneot of high objects, such as the Pyramids, by
their shadow at a particular hour of the day. In this
country Archimedes studied hydraulics and invented
his celebrated screw. Pythagoras was a long time in
Egypt, and in this city pondered the great mysteries
of the soul's existence and its relations to the Infinite ;
his doctrine of the immortality of the soul is distinctly
referred to by Herodocus to Egypt, in which country,
he says, this belief was first maintained. To Hello-
p lis came the Father of History, and four centuries
afterwards Diodorm and Strabo followed in his steps
to pore over sculptured hieroglyphics, papyrus records,
and dim traditions of this ancient people, this " first-
born of Time."

Leaving. the wonders of Egypt with regret, the
travellers returned by Malta, Gibraltar, and Lis-
bon—the chronicler of their inventions giving us a
sketch of each locality. One of their travelling
companions spent the afternoon at Lisbon, at a
bull-tight, which iu Portugal is very curious.
The Lulls have their horns tipped and padded ;
no hor,es arc used, and the amusement consists in
seeing how high the bulls can toss any one who
likes to volunteer to amuse the company. Regular
practitioners attend, but any one who likes may
share in this singular amusement. Few accidents
are said to occur. In the appendix the author
offers :owe useful hints to those who intend mak-
ing the same interesting journey.

Photographic
_Portraits of Living Celebrities.

MAull and PZ.dyblauk.

The five numbers of this publication, now lying
on our table, present us with the portraits of
Martin F. Tupper, F.R.S.' Professor Faraday,
John Gibson, ILA., the Earl of Rosso, and
Charles Kean, Esq.,--each of whom, in his pectin
liar walk, has strong claims on the interest and
admiration of the public. The faithfulness of re-
semblance, and exquisite pictorial effect which
always distinguish the works of these publishers,
amply merit the especial notice and liberal patron-
age bestowed on them. We light upon many pho-
tographic specimens which are mere di,tortiona
of the " human form divine." We have seen.
Grecian noses and " short upper lips" so
vilely translated, that not a trace of the
classic original could be found. We have be-
held a fair, intelligent Saxon face so ttansmo-
grified as to give us the fac-simile of a pudding-
mouthed, sentimental " nigger ;" and very recently
we stared for full five minutes at the "portrait of
a gentleman," without the most remote notion
crossing our brain, that it represented our hated
and too well known rival in a severe case of " heart
complaint." Perfect photographs are invaluable ;
and those produced by Maull and Polyblank are
among the number to be so estimated. The like-
ness of Charles Kean strikes us as being unusually
excellent ; but the whole of the portraits are high-
class sliced-n. 133 of this popular branch cf the Fine
Arts.