The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1886-11-17
I lANtlENT TANIs.
The Esypilanl City Of Noses
huinao oI 9 lIagniheenl OIly.

II was Ranleses II. who re.edifsd.
Tanis- that Ramesss pop1larly
known as The Great, whom Egypt.
|olosis.s agree in identifying with
|tbe opPfessotof the Hebrews, and.
whom the aneients called esesus.
tissiHs foand that place given
oyeFtoahe Termination Of desola.
tionYhe left Zone Of the most mag.
6ifcens Egyptian ciiies. Three.
foutihs ofthe ruins which yet be
strswthe temple area are the work
Iof his afchiIsc.s aud sculptors.-
What be found ready to bis hand
he Appropriated; for the rest he
laid all the 9nsrriss Of Egypt un.
der contfibllions Then a new
temple ppstso amid the thins,
larger and more splendid than ever
yet graced the Delta. This tenn.
pie, ostensibly consecrated to the
worship Of Ra, Horus and other
gods, was in truth erected TO the
honor and glory Of Raneses him.
self. Let US suppose a stranger to
have hired a skiff a mile or two be
low Tanis, and to approach by way
Of the river. The banks are but.
dered by gatdens and villas, and
the stream is alive with traffic
He is put ashore a! the foot Of a
magnificent fight of steps, from
ths top Of which he sees the great
temple-a huge pile of building
showing high above a line Of mass.
I've wall. 1t stands on the east
bank Of the Nile, facing westward.
A paved roadway leads from the
landing place to the gateway
The pile Of buildings-more like a
huge fortress than a temple--looks
quite near; but il is full half a
mile from the waterside. Around
it, beyond IL, lies a fat, yerdan.,
limitless panorama divided by the
broad river. This plain is dotted
with vallases, each embowered in
clumps Of sycamores and palms.-
Here and there a gliding sail be.
trays the course Of an unseen canal,
while fat away tothe northward,
whence a mass Of stOrm'clond is
driving up from the coast, a pal.
lid, fardistant CLEAN tells the story
Of the sea. AS yet there sno Lake
Manzaleh; as yet thereiS no desert.
The great natural dixie which shuts
out the waters Of the Mediterrane.
an on the one hand is still intact,
the bounteous Nile is not yet can.
allied on the other. A time will
come when the one shall be let in
and the other shall be barred out,
for the present all is corh land and
meadow grass where hereafter
there shall be salt lake and sand.
Even at this distance the stran
gers quick sight detects the tops
Of a forest of taperins obelisks, and
the twin towers Of a series Of mass.
i've pylon. One object, shining,
solitary, towering high above the
temple and its surroundings, fixes
his attention. 1t is ruddy, as il
touched by the sunset; il glitters
as though the surface were Of glass.
1t is not an Obeliski neither is it a
tower. II cannot be a statue; that
is impossible. Pet, as he draws
nearer, his shadow lengthening be.
fore him, the paved drOmos blind.
ing white beneath his feet, that
glittering, perplexing thing grows
more distinct, more shapely, more
like that into which it presently
resolves itself-a Sodlike, gigantic
figure, crowned, erect, majestic,
Watching over the temple and the
city.
And now, as the new conner
draws nearer, the drOmos begin to
be bordered with couchaut sphin.
xes. The come two colossal red
granite statues Of Rameses H.,
standing like sentinels on either
side. Then more Sphinxes and
another pair Of colossi, twin breth.
rem Of the first and then the first
pylon, an immense double,towered
gateway, beyond which there is
another, and yet another, to pass,
ere be shall come into the pres
ence Of that marvel, that colossus
Of colossi, which never had, and
never will have, a rival. Aud
now he is there, standing In the
shadow Ofit, looking up to it from
below, as one stands at the foot Of
a great perpendicular cliff, looking
up to the top where ii shows
against the sky. Yes, a marvel
A single figure fourteen times the
height OfIhe living mana single
firuye cut from A sinple s,ono NJ