The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-06-03
No. So.
J.F. MCCLELLAN, Printer.

az tle neareSI pOlhl, DuI winning away from
the farthest North to the utmost South. Be-
yond the river spread the beautiful City OF
Cairo its white citadel browning lofty rock
and being itself backed by the rocky heights
Of the Mokuttom Hills. These Eastern hills
then spread away Southwark into the Ara
ban Desert, which allowed the eye no rest
till it came round 10 the river again. The
circuit of the landscape was completed by the
Lybian Desert; the parched, glaring desert,
where nothing was to be seen on the inter-
minable sands but line of camels pacing
along in the heat, and few brown Arab tents
not far from the Pyramid For a few miles to
the South of us, and close round about ua,
were clustered a crowd of Pyramids-some
larger, some smaller-but none to compare
with the one we stood on. OF these the most
interesting were those of Sakhara, which we
had visited the day before They stand
amid the Necropolis-the great burying-
ground of the mighty old city of Memphis
of which nothing now remains but a statue
here and there, and some scattered blocks of
sculptured stone nothing else but the tombs
which are enough to show that this was q
great city indeed
Here, in these tombs, which are chambers
cut out Of the rock land adorned with columns
and pictured walls in these tonhs and others
were men busy soul p:uring and painting at a
time when we have been apt to suppose the
earliest generations were learning how tolve
on the rude earth. These pictures on the
walls, however, show the way of life of the
Egyptians to be not very far behind our own.
have seen what the possessions Of men were
in those days, from these memorials in the
chambers Of their graves. | have seen their
focks of cattle, their poultry their fields
oolt o,,I tLo,r GrIo H.,
hunting and shooting parties, their boats with
many oars and gay chequered sails; their
beautiful furniture,-couches, easy chairs,
lamps and vases, very like the handsomest of
ours at the present day: their kitchens, with
the slaughtering of cattle, and the cooking
of the joints of beef their wine-presses, and
their wardrobes Of rich clothes and handsome
necklaces their arms and war chariots, and
the bridges and fortified towns they passed
over or stoTmed. / have seen the weaving
of gay cloth, and the sleeping and spinning Of
flax ; glass blowing just such as may be seen
at Newcastle any day the building ofhouscs,
the carving of statues; games at ball and
gymnastics, dancing, wrestling, and playing
the harp.
What is OF far more consequence as occur
ring long before any clear tidings that we
have elsewhere of mems condition of mind
and life-there are solemn pictures and sculp-..
lures about death and burial, and the state Of
the soul. have seen the body laid out and
embalmed carried on a bier to the boat; and
borne in the boat to the lake or river which
usually lay between the cities and the burial
places | have seen the terryman, the dog
which waited on the further shore, and the
judges who were to assess the deeds of the de-
ceased. | have seen the weighing Of his deeds,
and his admission into the presence of the
approving gods, by means of his integrity
the symbol of which he carried on in his right
hand Thus early did the people of this
country believe that the soul lived after the
body was dead and that its integrity was the
means Of its blessedness.
These tombs had been prepared for their
owners, occupied by the embalmed bodics,ond
closed up for far future age to open; the
mighty Pyramids had been built, and their
appearance had grown familiar to genera
tions; and their builders-tens of thousands
in number--had long slept in their graves,
when rich Arab entered the country, with
his tocks, and servants, and family, to seek
subsistence for them all in the fertile valley
Of the Nile, as the people on his own plains
were more than could be fed. This visitor
was received with favor and pomp by the
mighty king and made much Of for time
This was ABRAHAM. As l stood, the other
day, looking at the way he came, and Won
dering at my lot in seeing the very things he
saw, and considering how refined and advance
ed were the people whom he visited the his
tory of the world did appear to stretch itself
out so as to confound our early notions, and
made us humble as to the rapidity of human
progress.
In those days, women reigned and were
obeyed without question. Not only were
there long and regular reigns, but the su-
premacy was unqucstoned when in the hands
of woman; token Of high civilization as
was the function of the priesthood with whom
was lodged science and philosophy which
we have reason to believe has since command
ed the veneration of the world when deliver
ed by Greeks, and might do so still, if we
could fully recover them.
A few generations after this, a young slave
was brought into the country, and placed in
the house of an officer of State We all know
the story of Joseph-how he became the min
lister of this great country in its rising great
ness and how he changed the whole polit-
cal condition of Egypt by buying up all the
land for the monarch. From the time of that
Seven Years Famine; the Kings of Egyps
were possessors of the whole land and river
as the present Ruler is at this day; and, as ut
this day, the provision for an unmitigated des
potism was complete: as also for great inn
provements, under the sway of wise sover-
eign an object which Joseph may have had
in view as much as the interests of the king.
In various buildings of this early time,
have seen the unbakcd brick-crude brick as
it is called--which cannot be made withouta
large admixture of straw to bind it. The soil
of the Nile valley is moistencd, worked up
with cut straw, moulded, and laid in the hot
sun of this country to dry. Some such bricks
bear the name and mark of very early kings.
To make these bricks was the work assigned
to the Israeltes, in which they were so cruel
ly oppressed. could sec them with my