Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-05-15

structure but as the eye follows it,
the stone seems to turn back, and it
falls only at the foot of the vast pile,
steep as its mighty slopes are. There
are evidences that the great structure
was erected by men who knew some.
thing of astronomy ; as an opening in
it was made to give bearing upon the
North Star. But that was an aeon when
the North Star was not the present one.
No IN rt.l has ever fully explored
the mysterious interior of the Pyra-
mids. In the great pyramid there are
chambers which have maintained their
hollow and sepulchral gloom for un-
told ages. while the world has grown
old, and nations have arisen aud fallen
in otner lands. These pyramids were
thirty years in building. It took 1O0,-
600 men all that time to do the great
work, and they relieved each other in
great armies, every three months.
How could they have lifted such great
stones into such positions We could
hardly do it to-day, with all the aids
of steam and science. But there
the mighty blocks are, and so nicely
fitted together that knife blade can
not be inserted in the mortarless joints.
But at Knrnak, much further up the
the Nile, going south, the traveller
meets with ruins which fairly trans-
cend, in some respects, the Pyramids.
The great palace Of Karnak, the first
great ruin seen on the right bank of
the Nile, originally covered an area Of
27O cres!-all enclosed in a wall of
unbaked bricks. The directly con-
nected ruins are three-quarters of q
mile in one direction, by half a mile in
another. There are palaces and ave-
nues of sphinxes there are great halls
of columns, mighty columns consisting
each of single stone. "a symmetri-
cal forest of oaks and beeches, ten
centuries old, would not give an ade-
guate idea of It's thirty parallel ranks
of columns. No tree can attain the
diameter or the height of the twelve
great columns that form the axis of the
hall. Twelve columns like the Nelson
monument might give tho reader some
idea of the vastness of these pillars.
The enormous monolith capitals
opprcss the imagination with their size.
"A hundred men could stand on one
Of them without crowding." Fallen
piles of obelisks, sphinxes, towers and
columns strew the ground for mile or
more around. Let us open another
booklet us quote Mr.. Prime ON these
wondrous ruins: -.
It is not storm nor decay that over.
threw the temples of Egypt. Time had
no more power over them than he had
over the stars. The last mark of the
cnisel which the sculptor left on the
stone remains as it was left, and the
pencil-lines, drawn to direct bis future
work, are uneffaccd, and literally as
fresh as the moment they were drawn.
This is fact which every person who
has examined Koum Ombos can verify,
where, on the portico OF the temple,
exposed to every wind that blows ovel
the lofty hill on whose eummlt il
stands, remain. the outline sketches, in
red and brown, made by the sculptor
to direct his chisel, and the last touch.
es of the chisel among them, as if he
had but yesterday laid down his mallet
and would to morrow resume it. And
this among fallen columns and the scat
tered ruins of the temple.
What, then, worked the ruin2 II
was not earthquake; for those part.
which earthquakes could never have
shaken are scattered over the plain
What shattered the colossal statue O
Osymandyas and broke his grant,
throne2
The answer is with God. Conjec
ture vainly seeks to account for tn
ruin. Probably the conquering armie
of invading nations wasted their ener
gies in the vain attempt to efface tn
memory Of the conquered.
/ lam more than ever impressed will
the conviction that the ancient Egyp
tians built temples for Immortality
That they expected in their own prope
persons to return to these plains, t.
worship at these affairs, possibly wit
the visible presence of their gods.
For this they sought tombs in tn
solid mountains, whence they coul
walk out in the latter days and vie,
the redemption of the land Of Misraim
for this they embalmed their dead
that in the resurrection they migh
know each other, aud souls might nc
wander in deep darkness, seeking i
vain . clay tenement.