New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-03-11
NEW PUBLICATIONS

Is hOt. II mas lew daIes auu 40 STATISTICS. Auo
How ad a name given by the E gyptans to foreign
travelers) enjoys the falhment of youthful visions
ss be floats idly on the waters OF the Nile, revels
in the delicious atmosphere and romantic scenes
Of the sunny East, and at the close Of his dream
like voyage, notes down bis impressions aud
sweet "reminiscences in the vague, lyrical language
which is inevitable in the description Of such
phsntom-shaped experiences. His book, accord
ingly IS a sincere gush OF poetry, inspired By the
wonder with which fresh, imaginative spirit
must contemplate the marves Of an Oriental
cline. 1t is pervaded with a warm glow of feel
ing and makes no attempt to conceal natural
emotion by tone of affected persihage. The
writer il not ashamed to show that bis heart is
yet alive His descriptions are often animated by
the sparkling play of an exquisite hamor. With
a singular command of expression, he reproduces
the picturesque scenery and strange incidents
which he has witnessed, with vividness that has
all the charm of a fac landscape painting. We
do not recommend the Howadjis Notes as a prac
tical hand book for travellers, but whoever would
luxuriate in the Respondent sunshine of an Egyp-
tian sky, and dreamily gaze on the weird phantas-
magoria Of the enchanted Nile, has only to yield
bis imagination to the suggestive pictures of this
delicious prose poem.
We give few passages, which will show the
quality of the HOwadji better than all criticism:
THE NILE LANDSCAPE.
The Nile landscape is not monotonous, although
of one general character. In that soft air the lines
change constantly, but imperceptlbly and are al
ways so delicately lined and drawn, that the eye
floats satisfied along the warm tranquility Of the
scenery.
Egypt is the valley of the Nile. At its widest
part it s perhaps eight or ten miles broad, and is
walled upon the west by the Libyan mountains,
and upon the east by the Arabian. The scenery
is simple and grand. The forms Of the landscape
harmonize with the forms Of the impression OF
Egypt in the mind Solemn and still and mex
plicable sits that antique mystery among the
howery fancies and broad green fertile feelings OF
your mind and contemporary life, as the Sphinx
sits upon the edge of the grain green plain No
scenery is grander in its impression, for none is so
symbolical The land seems to have died with
the race that made it famous-it is so solemnly
still. Day after day unrolls to the eye the per
petual panorama Of fields underwriting with the
tobacco, and glittering with the golden blossomed
cotton, among which half naked men and women
are lazily working Palm groves stand, each palm
a poem trimming your memory with beauty
You know from Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, whose
volumes are here your best teacher, that you are
loiters languidly before the rising and falling
north wind, or is YEARLY drawn against the steam
by the crew filing along the shore. An occasional
irregular reach of mounds and a bit Of crumbng
wall distract imagination as much with the future
as the past strainiDg to picture the time when
New. York shall be an irregular reach OF mounds,
or a bit of crumbling wall
Impossiblel Possibly. But are we 80 loved
of time, we petted youngest child, that the fate
of his eldest gorgeous Asia. and Africa its swart
mysterious twin shall only frown at as through
them and fly?
The austere Arabian mountains leave Cairo
with u.s. and stretch in sad monotony OF strength
along the Eastern shore. There they shine sand
ly the mighty advanced guard OF the desert -
Here" say they, and plant their stern feet for
ever, and over their shoulders sweep and sing
the low wild winds from mid Arabia" sand
grains outnumbering all thy dear drops OF water
are behind u.s. to maintain our might ana suodue
thee fond, fair river y
But it gides UNDECIDED at their base, lthey
swinging its long unbroken phalanx OF sweet
water-waving gently against the lmmovaoie
cliffs like palm branches OF peace against Zoe
Fresidentiy the Lfbyan nights appear, aud the
river is invested. A sense Of fate then siezes
you, and you feel that the two powers must meas
ure their might at last, and you go forward to the
cataract with the feeling of one who shall behold
terrible battles
Yet the day, mindful only OF beauty, lsvishes
all its light upon the mighty foes, adorning them
each impartislly for its own delight. Along the
uniform Arabian highland, It swims and flashes
and fades in exquisite hues, msglcelly making II
the sapphire wall Of that garden OF imagination
which fertile Arabia is or in the full gush OF noon
standing it along the eastern horizon as an image
of those boundless deserts, which no man can
conceive, more than the sea, until he beholds
them. go -
But the advancing desert consumes cities OF the
e. 6 all ire m
mere names Even the perplexed streamsweeps
away it's own but reveals richer reaches OF green
land for the old lost and Arabia and LYDIA are
foied forever Forever for it must be as It mas
been. until the fertility Of the tropics that floats
seaward in the Nile, making the land OF Egypt as
it goes is exhausted in It's source.
But there Is protOunder charm In the lana
scape. a beauty that gro US more slowly into the
mind bat is as perfect and permanent traduauy
the HoWadii perceives the harmony OF the ePlca
primitive and grand character OF the landscape
v ith the austere simplicity OF the Egyptian ART
Fresh from the galleries OF Europe IL Is not WIFI
out awe that he glides far behind our known De
eiupipRs Of civilization, and standing among its
primeya forms, perceiyes the relation OF nature
and art. 90,
There is 10 record Of any thing like lyrical poetry
in the history of the elder Egyptians Iner
theology was the somber substance OF their HE
This fact of history the Howadjl sees before he
reads ,..,
Nature is only epical here. She has no little
lyrics of green groves and blooming woods and
seouestered lanes-no lonely pastoral landscape.
But from every point the Egyptian could behold
the desert nights, and the river and the sky.
This grand and solemn Nature has imposed upon
the art of the land the law of its own being AID
beauty. Out Of the landscape, too, springs the
mystery of Egyptian character, and the character
of its art. For silence is the spirit OF these sand
! mountains aud OF this sublime sweep OF luminous
skv-snd silence is the mother Of mystery. Prim-
tive man 90 surrounded can then do nothing bat
what is simple and grand. The pyramids repro
duce the i'm preston and the form OF the landscape
in which they they stand. The pyramids say IN
the Nature around them, Man, his mark
| Later, he will be charged by thousand intia
| ences but can never escape the mystery that
| bauDts his home. and will carve the Sphinx and
the strange mystical Memnon. The sp9!hx says
| niA ~ the ELUnfl