Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1841-05-14

compass the city, with sentinel or guard to
admonsh them of the coming of some I'M
lucky Frank, (hcy never trouble Turks
whom they assail with more than Mussclman
viruence and hate. BY night they prowl
about among the cemeteries, where, in the
time of the plague, they frequently dig up
the bodies which have been inferred during
they day. On my return to Alexandria, the
plague was raging in the city, and carrying
off numbers of victims daily. Walking out
one day to look at the cemeteries, saw "A
pack of dogs gnawing at the flesh of human
body, which they had dug out of the grave
the preceding night As is the custom of the
Turks, 1t was buried but few feet below the
surface, and they had easily disinterrcd it by
scratching away the foot or of loose sand
that lay over it. 1t was disgusting spccta-
Gle, but one which struck me with less sur
prise, as had observed the same thing at
the cemetery of Scutari, opposite Constan-
tinople. The dogs have all their separate
districts, well d fined and marked off, into
which it is death for "A stranger of the canine
race to enter. At night, the sharp cry of
the wolf, and the howl otthc jacka, may he
heard mingled with the barking of the dogs
on the desert waste which surrounds Alex
andria.
Cleopatra's Needles stand in an angle of
the walls ON the eastern harbor, near to the
sea shore. These beautiful obclsks are cacl,
sixty. five feet high, of one solid block of rcd
Sycnc granite. Only one is standing, which
is covered with hicrogl, phics as fresh as
when first from the hands of the sculptor, en-
cept on the side, where the face of the obc-
lisk is exposed to the drifting sands. The
PROSTATE obelisk was presented TO England
by the Pasla. \ proposition, in 1882, was
made in the House Of Commons to remove
this obcisk to England. lis weight was cs-
timacd at Two hundred and eighty four tons,
and the cost Of its transportation at near
$4,000. The proposition has not been car
ried into effect. The French have adorned
the Plane dc Ia Conccrdc, at Paris, with
an obclsk taken from the entrance to one
Of the temples at Thcbes. The ancient Ro-
mans ornamcntcd the metropolitan city, and
the provincial capitals, with obclisks trans
ported from Egypt, and they also served to
cmbel!ish ByAaniium. Eleven entire obc-
lsks, and the fragments of many others
brought from Egypt, yet exist at Rome and
are among the most elegant monuments that
survive the fall of the imperial city. Obr-
lisks were placed before he entrances of the
palcs and temples, both as ornaments and
historical monuments. IN their mysterious
hicroglyphcs, were inscribed the names and
lineage of the Kings whose palaces they
ironted, or an account of the dedication. bull
ding, and history of the temples. They are
all of the same material, and have been all
hcwn from the same Quarries of granite at
| the Cataracts Of the Nile. Previous TO the
invasion of Egypt by the Porsiaus, under
Cambyscs, they existed in great numbers in
all parts Of the country. They were visited
with the same dcsolating fury which this mad
conqucror inflicted upon the otlermonumcnts
which then adorned Eqypt-It is to Cam
byscs we owe the destruction Of the finest mo-
nnmcnts of Egypt. lIeiopolis then amaen;-
! Gccnt city, he RACED to the ground. so that not
a memorial Of lis existence remains. save a
lofty obclSk rising in solitary grandeur on Il
| bleak and barren waste. The Greeks and
Romans, cruel and harbarous as they were
in warfare spared the works Of art.
A haitian hours ride hence over moun1s n,
ruins, brought us to Pompev's Pillar This
maic site column is, like the obalisls. If
Svenc granite. and lis immense shaft mare
than one hundred feet hioh and nine feet in
diameter, is IA single mass Of pr3ni-c. II s
surmounted bv Corinthian capital. of very
rude workmanship. Eycavatinns around is
pedestal have revealed the base Of AN ohc-
!isk of white marble. which his inverted in
the earth. and serves as - rornda,;u, for tLo
pillar. Antiouar,ans are at a loss ia whom to
ascrbe the erection Of his n;Iar rio
honor is divided betwcon Dioclrti,n I,,l;us
Cesar, and Pompey. Its more probable,
hover, that it was one Of the columns of an
Egyptian temple, and that it was removed 10
this place, as the capital and pedestal hu, i'll
agree with the superior taste and skill dis
played on the shaft. 1t was adopted by the
Romans as ii monument 10 commemorate
some General or Emperor. If, as some
contend, II belonged TO the temple of Scraps,
what must have been the dimensions Of that
edlIce with columns one hundred feet high
The feat OF mounting the pillar was perform