Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-03-09

out TO be rubbish" as a dragoman calls
them, and are beneath notice.
February lj We are off by eight o'clock
We must see some quarries from which
were extracted most of the monoliths which
are known now under the name Of obclisks
Our Lady is put under the charge Of a
green. robed guide, a holy man, who must
accompany her everywhere and thus leave
me free TO go and come. Fifteen minutes
bring us to quarry in which lies an obe-
lisk partially cut, and polished on two sides.
We argue most learnedly about it, and ex-
change views with experts / conclude
that we can do today as much as they did
in old times, if willing to spend enough.
Under the Pharaohs, kings and priests were
everything the others worth no more than
the Nile mud Thousands of lives were
sacrificed and altogether it was a damned
cursed time for all but the magnates-so
says our profane Professor We cross the
cemetery in which rest hundreds of Eng
lsh soldiers 1t is well taken care Of trim,
neat, with crosses, signs, names and dates
almost a cheerful feature in the bare sur
roundings. But how many lives lost, and
for what results allude to the last Eng
lish expedition TO relieve Gordon.
We return TO the landing and take the
railroad train, which, across bare and sandy
hills takes us to the Nile seven miles off,
above the cataract and opposite the island
of Phie The station is surrounded with
palm trees. During their last Soudan ex-
pedition the English established this rail
road to transport goods and men around
the rapids. Cars and appointments are
most primitive, but | shall take patent for
their shutters to exclude the sun. We find
on the upper Nile fleet Of steam, sail and
row boats We are rowed tJ the cen
chanting" island of Philp, as the printed
program for the Cookists has it, Well, it
must have been enchanting when it was
covered with temples, when the grounds
were in complete order. Above it the Nile
divides into three branches which surround
two islands-one entirely covered with
rocks, black as if they had come out of a
volcano and Phile with many beautiful
remnants In the times Of the last Egvp
tian kings, it was their favorite winter res
idence Now ruins half excavated, mud
houses abandoned, are anything but Zen
chanting A few glorious specimens of
architecture, columns retaining their origi-
nal colors, dark rooms which under magne-
stun light reveal admirable frescoes, offer
a mixture Of grandeur, decay and sordid.
ness At the southern extremity is a>rocky
promontory with an extensive view over
the Nubian Nile. At sunset. when the
light is mellow, the scene must he most po.
etical Even now it is beautiful, and the
Professor, in this solitude, muses. on the le-
gends and stories of old and modern times.
Baker, Speke, Livingstone Stanley--le-
gends and sad reality. We are at the door
Of the heart of Africa, almost under the
tropics The desire to go farther is very
great but if the spirit be prompt, the flesh
is weak
A strong southern wind has risen little
by little it becomes a tornado Of dust, which
nvades everything while we take our lunch
in one of the temples. We have been
plagued with scores Of beggars and sellers
of bono antico" One Of them has fro
zen TO Our Lady, who is highly amused
with his saams and backshishes him OF
course he becomes nuisance and has to be
driven away.