Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1864-10-27

Egypt.
By MISS ANDERSON.

Road Isaiah, XIX. first fifteen verses
Is my wanderings over the world,
especially in the East, | have seen many
Illustrations of the truth of God as
spoken in his word. Instance Egypt.
The inhabitants are slaves to the present
ruler, who, while he lives in luxury,
Expresses and keeps them in poverty by
heavy taxation. Every palm tree is
registered and taxed twelve cents His
father, in digging the Mamudah canal.
sacrificed twenty thousand men by
hard work and insufficient food, The
people hide themselves, and some lop
off their fingers, to escape beng
pressed into his service. Now and then
have seen them fresh after the ampu-
tation.
While those magnificent ruins, so
wonderfully preserved, speak CT the
ability and skill of theiE predecessors,
the majority of the present inhabitants
have no idea of erecting comfortable
dwellings, and though the climate is so.
warm, many are coughing and dy ing
of consumption. They sometimes place
their cabins of mud-brick so near the
river that they are swept down the
bank. I have noticed that wherever
there is false religion there is much
8 idleness. Blindness and. weak eyes |
) have seen occasionally. This may arise
partly from the strong sun and fine sand,
but as much from the neglect of parents
who a. 'metimes injure one eye Of
their ch..dren that they may escape the
Pasha's service. Then as to their idols,
that magnificent figure of Nemnon, the
largest statue in the world, is lying
down broken, with most of the head off;
and many broken pieces Of their other
gods lie about.
- The Prophet says, "the river is to be
wasted and dried up''-(verse..5.) This
IS in course of fulfllment every hour
ana every moment. saw the sand Of
the desert encroaehing on the Nile
there seems to be almost more sand in
the desert than water in the Nile 1t
forms sand islands and up the bed of the
river, so as to impede the boats, that
are constantly running aground on sand
banks. The divine word has said that
the waters shall fail from the sea-"
The Nile formerly ran into the Mediter-
ranean by seven months; it now has
but two. This is also spoken of in
chapter XII, verse Is. I often wondered
that the bottom of the boat was not
rubbed off. ~
Scripture speaks disparagingly of
dogs, as a.type of the wicked with
out are dogs" says John, the Beloved.
"What is thy servant dog, that he
should do this thing?" said Hazel
Weare accustomed, in civilized countries
to consider him the friend and defender
OF man. BY his bowling, he shows his
horror and concern in the vicinity Of a
dead body. In the East, in his natural
state, his character is completely re-
versed-cowardly, distrustful, ferocious,
and unsafe. If they meet dead body
they devour it. This.was the case with
a lady we met in Jerusalem, who being
afterwards murdered, her body, when
found, was in part eaten by dogs.
Isaiah XIX. While the first seventeen
verses predict the present degraded
state of Egypt, the rest of the chapter
promises..a better day, of which | saw
some signs. There is work going on
collecting and preparing nitre; and
there are some sugar factories. Where
these are, ii tells in the improved con-
dition Of the people. No doubt the
.Pasha acts for his own interest, but out
of his hard laws some good may come.
He is strict in preventing theft in his
subjects. The Pasha protects and en-
ouragestravellers, and their intercourse,
with the people must have tendency to
break up Mahomedan bigotry, which
may pave the way for what is predicted
in the 18th verse.
At Cairo saw a multitude of young
children employed in the public works
under the task master with a whip
They were singing away while carrying
stone and lime. 1t was hard work for
young children, but better perhaps than
idleness and dirt. He takes children
from their parents, and sends them to
Europe to be educated for his service
Few Arabs read or write. One town in
the interior had houses built of stone,
and numbered, as they are in civilized
countries-anothersign of progress.
Results Of he Diffasit n OF KnOWledse