The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1853-05-11


kingdom of France, ten feet high, and
two and a half feet thick.
What magnificent panorama was
now unfolded around me as the center of
a circle, with a radius Of a hundred
miles in every direction, and how many
eyes feastcd on the sight There is a
vast level plain, bounded only by the A.
rabian and Libyan mountains, and of
several thousand miles in extent, the re-
gion of burning thirst, of the deceitful
and dancing mirage, and of the deadly
simoom. 1t is watered by the magnii-
cekt Nile, creeping in its green cmbroid-
cred course through wide waste of gold
en- sand, glaring and glittering in the
brightness of the sun like serpent of
silver. Sole monarch of the plain, he
suffers no rival to come near his throne.
For twelve hundred miles along his
course he admits not one tributary rill,
however small, to mingle with his
stream No ! not even the dew-drops of
the morn, or the rains that feed other
waters and fructify other fields in every
other country. The alone benefactor Of
Egypt, upper and lower, he gives the ma
tives their every drink of water and,
unlike every other river in the world
such is his care and kindness for them,
that, be they ever SO hot for the time,
they may bathe or partake of the cool
ing draught with perfect impunity till
they qucuch their burning thirst How
fair and fertile are its banks, the garden
and granary of countless villages low
green are its savannas how fruitful its
fields, loaded with every necessary and
luxury Of life Here there is sugar
plantation or grove of acacia and palm
trees there is patch of green meadow
in which cattle are grazing and on all
its banks, wheat, and flax, and cotton,
and Iudian corn and tobacco are seen !,
some green and some golden
The boundlcss prospect is everywhere
intersected by numerous canals, which
regulate the foundations of the river,
and by trees on their banks, which give
character of English comfort to the
landscape. There lay before me, like
map spread out, the most magnificent
deserts in the world-the one reaching
from where [ now stand onward and
eastward to the banks of the Euphrates,
the other extending along the Nile up
ward to the untrodden regions of central
Africa. Thismagnifcent Zahara is back
ed by nothing, and bounded by nothing
but its own trembling horizon sand,
dry, fat, and fearfully hot, lifeless, track
less sand dreadful wilderness wide
spread dcsolation dead sea dried up;
boundless ocean accursed scorched
desert, traversed only at time by the
dreadful simoom. 1 noticed how the
deep yellow of the sand contrasted with
the rocks, which seem white like snow in
a moonlight. Yonder, too, far in the
desert, is calm, blue lake beauty sleep
ing in the lap of horror "It is Sarah"
said one of the Arabs Mirage" cried
another The fine sheets and shades of
water seemed to be distinctly marked,
and it was painful to think that it was
only a glittering mockery. Thank Godl
thought l, that | am not a weary, thirsty
traveller, now crossing the wilderness to
be tantalized with such a torment.
Yonder are pitched tents it is great
caravan of Turkish pilgrims on their
way to Mecca what string dromeda-
ries, and what a swarm of Bedouin A
rabs are around In that lonely spot
stands the skeleton of temple of the
olden times. And there, across the Nile.
is distinctly seen the church and grotto,
still guarded by Coptic priest, marking
the place where Joseph and the Virgin
Mary-it is said-took refuge with the
infant Savior, when they fed from Her
cd, King of Judea. Almost below me
were the ruins of Memphis, the seat of
the Pharaum, and the remains of Thebes.
and the land of Goshen; the site of He
liopolis, the On of Scripture, where stood
the great temple of the Sun, where Jo-
seph was married to the fair Asenath,
where Plato and Herodotus lived and
studied, and where the darkness which
veiled Christ's crucifxion was observed
by Dionysius, the Areopagite; there was
the garden of Matarian, in which grew
the balm of Gilead which the Queen of
Sheba presented to Solomon. Far too
as the eye can reach, pyramid after pyr.
amid is seen, as so many magnificent
ghosts of ages past. And at the base
of this pyramid the mummied monarchs
who ruled and reigned for their time,
four or five thousand years since, still
sleep in peace, but no longer in the pride
and pomp of their own day and genera
tion. But what solid display they
have left of their royal wealth and pow
er Now saw, as if with birds eye
the whole kingdom of Egypt before me.
1t is one continued vale, said to be about
seven hundred miles long, with desert
on each side, and the river in the middle
Of it, and the Delta below. This vale
was naturally barren; but from the heart
of Abyssinia, the Nile has brought vast
quantities Of mud. which, being both
light and fat, has been spread by the in
undations of the river to smooth and fer
tilize the country.
In coming down felt timid and gid
dy for awhile, and was afraid that
might meet the fate of the poor Office
from India, who, on similar occasion
happened to miss his foot, and went
pouncing from one ledge of stone to an
other, toward the bottom like ball
and that long after life was beaten ou
of him. Seeing this, the Arabs renew
ed .heir demand for buckshish, aud witt
more perseverance than ever; but wal
equally firm in my determination that
, more money they should not have till
reached the bottom. At last they tool
me by both hands az before, and conduc