St. Landry democrat., 1883-06-02
WONDERFUL EGYPT.
BELLEVUE, La, May 26, 1888.

L
and of wonders. Wonderful in her
rims. and wonderful in her living
works of art. Wonderful in her fertile
land, in her rocks and desert, wastes
her people, her climate-her wonderful I
rive, and more than all, her wonderful
history. With her Nature is unique.
Mans work perishes but slowly. The
peculiar quality aud dryness of the eli
mate not only keep from decay a long |
time such articles as in most other
climates last but little while, but is
unhealthy to foreigners. To
such an extent, that it would seem to be
intended by Nature for the exclusive
use and occupation Of the native Egyp-
tian. This land where Moses was
Graded and where the Israelites were
enslaved for four hundred years, more
or less, is fortified by the sacred"
Nile which admonishes the husbandman
to sow his seed in the fall andgather in
his harvest in the spring. This land
so fertile of wonders, is the most Won
derful of all in her wonderful history,
containing as it does the earliest his
torical epoch of man that has yet been
discovered anywhere on the face OF the
earth. Her hierogliphics, monumental
Inscriptions and papyrus rolls, found in
the temples, caves, and III company
with til e mummies, all tell a wonderful
history of a most wonderful people.
Champollion, a Frenchman, more
than fifty years ago discovered the key
to these hieroglyphic and hieratlc char
acters, which forms the basis OF the
monumental history of ancient Egypt,
and which Niebur declares to be the
greatest discovery OF the nineteenth
century. According to Siivestre de
sacy, few men since the birth Of letters
have rendered to erudition, services
equal to those which have consecrated
to Immortality the name of Champal-
| lion. These services were the more
valuable, inasmuch as they corrobora-
ted the history of Manetho, the great
/ EGYPTIAN historian, which for several
centuries had been nearly hooted out
of existence by the Bible scholars and
theologians, because it contlicted will
Bible history and chronology.
i Manetho, high priest OF Heliopolls, II
| the third century, B. c., wrote the his
tory of Egypt at the request OF thu
king, Ptotemy Philadelphus, in whlci
he divided the space OF time iron
/ Menes, the first king of Egypt, to thu
reconouest of Darius, or to three. hun
dred and forty years B. c. into thirt.
dynasties. This is vast wave OF time
stretching away back, as computed ..
some authors to more than one thou
sand years before the creation OF Adam
and Eve. According to Manethe
Egypt was governed by the gods TO
| thirteen thousand nine hundred years
! and these were succeeded by the demi
3 gods for four thousand years more
which means in plain English, that th
. priests ruled for seventeen thousan
9 nine hundred years, when the peopl
0 threw off the yoke of the priests an
elevated Menes, the first king to til
thrown of Egypt. This kind of GOV
ernt is what the Jews would call thu
: ocracy. And it shows what advance
6 iment the world had made when four
FIVE thousand years later it only too
D the Jews some six hundred years to a
complish what it took the Egyptian
Il seventeen thousand nine hundred yea
to do.
Authorities differ in what particui
wear Menes became king OF EgyI
Though he instituted the first laws, al
among other things, turned or chang'
the course of the Nile-founded Mer
phis. 1t is only by comparison WI
scenes with which we were all famllli
that we can realize how very long al
was this epoch in Egyptian history.
For this purpose we will take
figures of Bishop Usher on Bible CHI
nology. who it is understood is the sta
dara authority in such matters. Dish
Usher estimates the time from the CT
alton. by Bible chronology to the bll
Of Christ to be four thousand and fo
wears, and from the flood to the hi;th
Christ to be two thousand three hu
dred and forty-eight years.
Menes became king of Egypt, accol
ling to Bunsen, 3643 B. G.; according
Lepsius, 1892 B. c.; according to Mol
%, ae7a B. c.; according to Poole, s7l7
IN c.: according to Henry, $500 B. O.;
50 cording to Boockh 570s, .. G.
Thus it will be seen that every one
the above authorities, place the reign