The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-04-14

Sky years, eAcn; showing remarkAOie iengtn
Of life, and proving, indirectly, high state Of
civilization, and much healthiness Of climate
When we consider that we are referring to a
period anterior to Abraham, and which we have
been accustomed to regard with indifference, as
almost preceding civilization, and far from pos
sessing that considerable amount Of population,
without which it can hardly be said to exist, the
mind is lost 10 conjecture as to the probable time
which must have elapsed before the arts could
have been so advanced. and knowledge suffi-
Gent acquired to meet the wants and peculiari-
ties Of thickly peopled country, SO situated
We do not pretend for moment to compare
the civilization of the Egyptians with ours, or
attribute to them an amount of knowledge
equal to that which has been accommodating upon
us for numerous ages: but it is only necessary
to examine with attention the extensive collec-
tons of articles of every kind necessary to a
civilized society, and now to be found in many
public and private cabinets, to be satisfied that
so much skill in workmanship, and 80 much
perfection in art, could not be the work of a
people in the very dawn of their civilization.
Among other articles, the workmanship of
which is admirable, was an exact model of q
seal used by one Of these ancient sovereigns,
which Mr.. GLIDDoN showed US. This habit of
using seals or signets-a habit somewhat aris-
tocratic-could hardly have sprung up in day
and yet it appears to have been almost as CON-
mon at that early period among the Egyptians
as with us at the present day.
We will not here allude to their astronomical
knowledge, or to thousand contrivances re-
quired for the support of large population, in
a region 80 peculiar The facts speak for them
selves, and clash in no kind of way with any
but preconceived errors and neutrality-suspicious.,
originating in human fallibility.
But let us return to the lecture. We had a
description of the burial ground of Memphis
some % miles in length-in which these an
cient kings were inferred before the invasion of
the Hyksos, and preceding the days of Abraham
This embraces a period of 1900 years, ending
about % centuries before Christ.
Lepsius opened some 1870 tombs, principally
of the princes, nobility, priests, or household
of these royal personages, belonging to the 4th,
5th and 9th dynasties, or % to 81 centuries be-
fore Christ
Herein have been found the stories Of the
lives of each person, in details so complete as
to form in reality perfect history Of those early
times, and thus strengthen beyond doubt the
proofs already elected of royal succession.
One of these royal princes of the Sd dynasty
$500 years before Christ-and who appears
from his robes of Leopard skin to have been in
the priestly Office, was found by Lepsius, well
represented in brilliant colors, surrounded by
his attendants. He is in the act of receiving
the rent-roll of his estates. This scene was
found thus pictorially represented in the Oldest
tomb that was opened. tits, with several others,
now in the museum at Berlin.
Judging by the drawings here before US, Mr..
GLIDDoN, and other men versed in these mat
tiers, consider the Egyptians to be of the eau
casian race.
we cAauliucu SpeClulcUS vi tHc uiucotoHc
with which the Pyramids were covered. The
granite, forming the greatest portion of the build
ing material, must have been transported down
the Nile from Assouau-a distance of between
600 and 700 miles, The inhabitants making use
of the periodical inundation of the country, as a
means of bringing these gigantic masses of
granite to the spots where they were required
We had an interesting description of the
manner in which the pyramids were built. DIR.
Lepsius discovered % of them; Colonel Vyre
SO. The Arabs, as may be expected, know no.
thing of their origin. Stories handed down
through so many ages among one and the same
people, have been lost here amidst the conflicts,
invasions and revolutions, which have affected
that country. Tradition always uncertain, OBJ
scure and exaggerated could here find no hold
ing ground. 1t has been swept away in the
whirl Of political passions and religious finali
cism and nothing now remains for the igno-
rant and Indifferent serf, but to attribute these
monuments of human skill and grandeur to the
agency of the devil.
The formation of Lake Mpris--the cite of
which was long disputed-is now found, and at
trituted to Amene,nha III, Of the IL dynasty,
about the year 1920 B. C.-375,0OO acres were
brought into cultivation by the undertaking of
it, and other works This sovereign is repre-
scented as the greatest hydraulic engineer of an
tiquity; and the monument left of his skill, or
of his encouragement of the skill of others
which is quite as probable-would be sufficient
to distinguish any reign in any period of ma
tons history
The Labyrinth, considered for ages as one of
the wonders of the world, and the object of the
researches of travellers for many years, was an
other and one of the most important discoveries
of the Russians. 1t seems almost incredible,
that il should not have been found before, ty
some of the many individuals who have been
exploring every rock, sand hill or temple on the
banks Of the Nile But the difficulty is at once
explained by single circumstance: The Arabs
had cut canal through the ruins for some pur-