Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1856-08-09
No. IA.

aIo" thIousn nulo and graylsh medium, seeing
only dlnit defined outlines On the right and lett;
for an instant we hovered between the water and
the sky. A few moments afterwards ObeliSks be-
gan to point upward beneath us, and the huge ram
pant form of the Sphinx stood 6nt on the horizon
| We had Arrived.
| The princess conducted mt t6 mountain of rose
granite, Herein there was narrow and low open
ihs Which could with diffieuly Hase been distin-
gnShed fiom the fisSures of the stone had not the
spot been marked by two monOlitlS covered with
sculpture. Hermonthis lighted a torch aud began
10 walk before me- .sl
There we're corridors hewn in the living rocks; walls
covered with panels of heroglyphcs and allegO-
rital ocessions, which must have occupied thou
sands of arms for thousands of years. These cor
ridors, of interminable length, led 10 square
chambers, in the midst Of which were dug pits
into which we descended by means of hooks and
spiral stairways. These pits led to other rooms,
whence issued corridors equally adorned with
hawks, serpents rolled up in a circle, and other
mystic emblems, prodigiotis labors which no living
eye eould see intertiihable legends of granite
which the dead alone have time to read during
eternity. ..-......
At last we reached hall so vast. so enormous,
so immeasurabe that its limits could not be per-
ceIved; IN the perspective extended flies Of
strous pillars, between which trembled liyid stars
of yellow light; these shining points revealed in
calcuable depths
The Princess Hermonthis still held me by the
hand, and gracefully saluted the mummies of her
acquaintance. My eyes, accustomed to this Gre
puscular twilight, began to discern objects.
| / saw, seated on thrones, the kings of the sub
terranean races; they were dried up, wnnkled,
wlthered old men, black with naptha and bitumen,
coffed and PSchettS Of gold, adorned with breast
plates and collars of jewels, with eyes as fixed as
those of the sphinx, and long boards whitened by
the SHOWS of centuries; behind them stood their
embalmed people, in The stiff and constrained posi-
tiOns OF the Egyptian art, guarding eternally the
precise attitude prescribed by the Ieratic code be-
hind these people contemporary cats, ibises
and crocOdiles, rendered more monstrous still by
their swathes aud bandages.
All the Pharaohs were there, Cheops, ,Cephrenes,
IPSammetlcus, SeSoStrlS, Amenatoph all the black
monarchs of the pyramids. On elevated plat
/ form Sat the King Chronos and Xixouthros, who
was contemporary Of the deluge; and Tubal Cain,
who preceded him.
! The beard of The King Xixouthros had grown
so, THAT had already made times the OurO of
the grants table on which he was leaning dreamy
and somnolent.
| Further on, iii dusty vapor, through the fog OF
etert4iss, distinguished vaguely the seventy-twO
preathtnite kings with their seventy-two nations
now disappeared.
Aitef Having left me for some minutes to enjey
the bewildering spectacle the Princess HermOnthis
introduced me to the Pharao lier father, who gave
me majestic nod of the Head:
! +" have found my foot I have found my foot"
exclaimed the princess, clapping her little hands
with all tile tokens of excessive JOY; il was this
gentleman who restored l. to me-" ~
Tie races of Keme, the races of Nahasi, all the
black, bronze, copper nations, repeated in chorus:
! - The PrrSsss Hermonthis has found her footm
XxOiitHT0s himself was moved he raised his
heavy eyklids; passed his fingers through his mus
tache, and cast on look heavy with centuries
| s'Ry Oms, the dog of hell, and by Tmei, daught-
ler ~ The Sun and Truth, here is brave and wor-
So a.
me Ills seeptte; terminated by n lOtus-iiower
- What wOuld'st thou have for 4 recOmpense ~
Bold with that audacity, which dreams give, in
which nothing appears impossible, asked the hand
of the Princess HermOnthis; the hand for the foot
appeared tB be antithctic recOmpense Of good
taste enough.
| Pharg5h opened wide his CLASSY eyes, surprised
at nv pieasantry and MY demand.
| "Of what country art thou, and what is thine
age;" fr
| q | am Frenchman; and my age is only twenty
seven"
"Twenty-seven yeats. snd he asPires 70 espbtfse
the Princess Hermdrhis, whose age IS thirty eenf
turies ~ exclaimed at once all the thrones and all
the circles Of nations.
| HeTmohthis alone did not seem to think my
quest Unsuitable.
n t0n were only two thousand years old," re-
sumed the old king, :" would willingly give you
the ptifces but the dsprop0rton is too great and
4
and you have lost the art of preserving yourself
the last bodies brought here, scarce fifteen centu-
ries ago. are only handful of ashes look, my flesh
is as hard as basait, my bones are bars of STEEL
shall be present at the end of the wOrld with the
body and features / wore in life my daughter Her
months, will last longer than statue of bronze.
Then the wind will have scattered the last atom of
your dist, and isis herself, who could Et The
ed parts Of Osiris, would be embarrassed 10 recon-
pose your frame See how vigorous am still, and
how strong my arms are" said he, shaking my
hand in the English fashion, in such manner us
to cut my fingers with his Iipgs.
| Ht pressed my hand so hard that aSoke and
perceived my friend Alfred pulling me BY the arm,
and shaking me to make me rise.
." All, mad sleeper, must one pull you into the
middle of the Street. and let off fireworks in your
ears? 1t is after noon; do you not remember that
you promised TO take. me to see the Spanish paiht
ing of NJ. Aguado;"
had forgotten it, replied /, as dressed N.Y.
self; " we will go there; | have the permission here
on my bureau" ....-.....,.
advanced to take if {; bEt Judge Of my astonsh-
ment, wieH, instead Of the mummy's foot which
had brought the night before, saw the little fig
ure of green clay put in It's PlaSe hy thc Princess
| HeFmOnthis. 81.
| The C4EHIsrgf o. LIFE AND DEArH-" If I on
| ly bend my arm, says Professor Plairair, '' or
move nv finger there is a certain portion Of tbg
tissues DESTROYED, which must be supplied b5 nv
food; the more work MAJ, performs, the more of
those nitrosenOus scbStanceS he requires The
other class of food serves very important, but
quite different purpOse-supplying animal heat
The temperature Of our bodier is, in temperat@
ctrmates at least higher than the surrounding air.
and in order to keep up this temperature, a com
bhstiOn goes on, similar to that of an ordinary
fire. The same products-earbOnic acid, water
and annmonia-are evolved from tho mouth of the