The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1854-04-06

of this chapter, but will now pass along
to the northward,
In the midst of the plain stand the two
COLOSSAL figures, the largest of which has
been known as the vocal Memnon. This
image is said to have uttered musical
sound at sunrise every morning. How
that sound was produced is not yet known
Some writers suppose the image was in
part hollow, and that harp was conceal
ed in the mouth, that the cold air of the
night became expanded by the genial
warmth of the morning sun and that the
expelled air issuing through the harp pro-
duced the music. Others have supposed
that Egyptian priests caused the sound by
some devise of theirs which is the more
probable for since the ancient priesthood
have left the ground, the stubborn image
has ever indignantly refused to sing
Still farther northwasd and nearly oppo-
site to Karnac is Gourno and near it the
the famous temple Of the Memnonium,
which is with more propriety by some
called the temple of Ramases, A portico
of pillars is here to be seen in which the
form of architecture is unlike any other
found | bellevein any other part of Egypt.
Some of the pillars are tapering at the
base and seem intended to represent a
fagstslk; others are nearly square, and
them in more or less perfection is the i'm
age Typhon which means the Dearbe.-
Just in the rear is also the hall of the
Memnonium where the pillars and archi-
lecture are surprisingly grand, and the
masses of polished stone work are exceed
ingly rich, but the reader must either see
the original, or look upon the painting to
get any suitable impression of these
mighty work.
From this place we will proceed through
a dry narrow gore, or pass among the
high western hills to the tombs of the
kings of Egypt. Hours and hours have
spent in them and given up my thoughts
to meditation upon the past and the pres
ent, but the pen is inadequate to describe
the reflections spontaneously arising in
these solemn places. Whatever may be
the capacity of speed to interest an at
tentive audience, by delineatiiig these
scenes, while the copies hang around us
on the walls, cannot withsthe pen give a
more accurate or more glowing descrip
than some others have done, who, like
myself, have been wearied with the
effort of examination or awned by the
majestic works of the ancient Thebans,
many of whiehswere constructed and
painted in the first, second, and third gen
Grafton after Moses. I will venture, there
fore, in part, to transcribe from the pages
of other authors, a description of these
as well US other works of that ancient
age.
The following is from Spencer:
= ''Though we use the term Thebes in
speaking of the great city, which once ex-
ercised such wide sway in Egypt, you
understand that thereis no modern town
which will answer to this name, but that
there are several villages, known as Lox.
or, Karne, Medinet, Habir, ETC., which
occupy the site of the ancient capital O
the -Pharaohs. So long ago as the time
of Cambyses, the Persian conqueror, B
c., 525. Thebes received blow to it:
prosperity, from which it never recovered
for the son of Cyrus spared no efforts tc
destroy the proud monuments of Egypt
ian power and and glory with zeal, more
akin to insane fury, than ought else, te
which it can be likened, he sought to lay
in ruins the metropolis of the Country
which he had conquered, subsequent
ly to one Ttolemies, B. c., lie, on occa
sion of a revolt, against his authority,
marched against Thebes, and wreaked his
vengeance upon in manner which it i:
impossible to characterize in the term!
which it deserves and there can be little
doubt that very much of the mischie
which has been done to the temples anc
monuments in and about Thebes, is to bt
attributed to the deep and Unsuitable re
sentiment of Ptolemy Laphgrus quite as
much as to the hatred manifested by the
Persians against system of worship ane
regligion most odious in their eyes ever
since Thebes has been but the name O
what it once was. 1t has passed from
under the dominion of the Roman, the
Saracen, the Turk, and the French, ant
has been for nearly half century, under
the iron rule of Mohammed Ali, who
whatever else he may have done, fo1
Egypt has not manifested any very enligh
tened views in respect to preserving it,
antiquities from the capacity of rival col
lectors or the singular proceedings of Ger
tain distinguished Sarans. Its importance
lost and its glory taken away by the ris'
of the new capital, Memphis, which in it,
turn, has given place to another where th'
present Pasha rules supreme, this once
oadito1 of nrpat eponire eyiSts no more