Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1848-07-20

W
men. There it will not decay; Tor there
is no such preservation as the sand OF Egypt.
When. and under what circumstances, will 1t
again see the light? In time when it may
be recognized as an object known now or
in an age so distant as that the process OF
verilica,ion must be gone over again Every
one now knows that these obelIsks are
of The time Of early Pharohs. some of whose
names they bear inscribed. Thatthey stood
originally at HeipoIis, and were transported
to Alexandria by the Caesars.
The pillar stands in still more desoIate
place. We reached it through the drearIes'
of cemelries. where all was Of one dus,-col-
or. even to the aloe. which was fixed upon
every grave. The graves were covered with
mortar, much of which was broken and torn
away. A Christian informant told us that
this was done by foxes and dogs; but
Mohammedan declared that such ravage was
prevented By careful watching. There is
rare old book which happily throws light
on what this pillar was. In the twelfth cen
.ury, while the Crusaders were ra"aging
Syria. a learned physician Of Bagdad named
Abdalla,if, visited Egypt and dwell con-
siderable time there He afterwards wrote
an admirable account Of whatever he HIM
self saw in the country; and his work has
been translated hv some Arahiac scholars.
The best translation is by De Sacy Paris
1900 AbdaIlaiif tells us that the column
(now called by us PomPey7s Pillar which
is so finely seen from the sea, was called by
the Arabs, 'ihe pillar OF the colonadeS;' that
he had himself seen the remains of above
four hundred columns of the same ma
lerial, living ca the margin %! the sea and
he tells US how they came there. He de-
cares that tie Governor Of Alexandria, the
officer put in charge Of tie city by Saladeen,
had over,hrown and broken these columns,
to make breakwater This, observed
AbdalIalif. was the act Of a child, or of a
man who does not know good from evil
He continues : u have seen, also. round the
pillar of the colonnades, considerable re-
mains Of these columns some entire, others
broken. 1t was evident from these remains,
that the columns had been covered by a
roof which they supported. Above the pill
lar is cupola supported by it. believe
that this was the portico where Aristotle
taught, and his disci pies after him; and thai,
this was the academy which Alexander
erected when he built the city, and where
the library was placed which Amrou burned
by the permission Of Omar De Sacv re-
minds US that the alledged destruction of this
porlico must have taken place if al all, al
most thirty years before the visit Of Abdal-
latif; so that as all the inhabitants of Alex
andria, without eXceptIon,' assured that trav-
eller of the fact. it would be unreasonable to
doubt He decides that here we have the
lar-iamed Serapenm."
CRoCoDILEs.
"This day was remarkable for onr seeing
The first doum palm IAN angular tree and
the first crocodile Alec said he had seen
crocodile two days before; but we had
not. And now we saw several. The first
was not dis,ingnishable 10 inexperienced
eyes. from the inequalItes of the sand The
next dimly saw slip off into the water
In the afternoon a family of crocodles
were seen basking on a mud bank which
we were to pass. As we drew near, in
silence, the whole boats company being
collected a, the bows, the largest crocodile
! slipped INTO the water, showing It's nose al
intervals. Another followed, leaving behind
the liltIe one. yellow monster. sleep. with
the sunlight full upon it. NJ. f. fired at ii,
and at the same moment the crew Sc, up a
shout. OF course it awoke. and was off in
an instant, but unburt. We had no ball
and crocodile shooting is hopeless with no.
!, thing better than shot. Our crew seemed
to have no fear of these creatures, plunging
whenever occasion required. There being
no wind we moored at sunset, and two OF
us obtained half an hours walk before dark.
Even then the jackals were bowling after us
the whole time. Our walk was over mud
of various degrees of dryness, and among
yong wheat and little tamarisks, springing
| from the crached soi''
THE FIRST RIDE IN THE DESERT.
"lhe next morning, therefore, we had
breakfast early, and set off on asses for Ma
hatta, the village at the head Of the cataract
This, orr first ride in the desert, was full
of wonder and delight. 1t was only about
three miles; but it might have been thirty
from the amount of novelty in it. Our
thick umbrellas, covered with brown hol-
land, were necessary protection against the
heat, which would have been almost intole-
rable but for the cool north wind.
The oppression of the sense of sight dis
turbs the brain, SO that the will of the un-
happy wanderer cannot keep his nerves in
order. | thought of poor Hagar here, and
seemed to feel her story for the first time
| thought Of Scotch shepherds los, in the