The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-01-02
BURIED CITIES OF EGYPT.
Miss Edwards's Lecture Delivered
In the Stockbridge Course.

duUlCuCO Ahob CNOuAhEs
Miss Edwards is the author Of score Of
popular novels which have each run through
from 10 to 30 editions; writer Of three or four
enchanting volumes Of travel which are IL
Illustrated by her own graphic pencil; student
of Egyptian lore and the secrets Of Oriental
herolyphic; Doctor Of Philosophy Of Oxford
University In England and honorary mem
Der of half dozen august and royal societies
Miss Edwards, 10 those who know her
best, is above all the careful and gracious
Chatelaine of the beautiful home which calls
her mistress. and in which she enjoys the
peace Of private life apart from the tumult
of world which rings with her acclaim.
They show pretty picture Of her In her
garden among the birds and roses, as busy
with housewlfery duties as IL there were
neither content nor fame outside them. Yet
few women have climbed higher or more
bravely on the way which leads to the stars
She is a superb yindication Of the power Of
the woman to keep healthy, happy, strong
and sweet at the same time. Nothing could
be more feminine than her clear, fine cut
face, her gracious manner, her quick wit, her
trained and richly modulated voice.
Miss Edwards was very gracefully intro
duced by Rev. Henry Blanchard and on CON-
ing forward she was handsomely received.
She entered upon her sketch Immediately
and for an hour and half held her audience
by her thoughtful presentation Of the theme.
First she spoke Of the unfathomable antiq-
uity Of the land of Egypt, which at the mid
die of the history was contemporaneous with
the establishment of the empires of the east.
Egypt. she explained, Is so old that the
deepest penetration by modern researchers
serves only to illuminate the fact that
dynasty after dynasty and people after peo-
pie must have fourished and departed ages
before the extreme epoch Of which there is
distinct record. A rich and powerful people
lived thousands of years before the Chris
tian era, and of their magnificence and ele-
vation we have only fragmentary and un-
satisfactory evidence. FIom Menes to Cleo
patra, the beginning and end Of Egyptian
history, is space Of 1910 years. The Egyp-
tlans are the parents of all our arts and
sciences. Miss Edwards described the
geological structure of the country from
Cairo to the first Nile cataract, pictured the
strange limestone cliffs and the hoary mounds
and structure along the rivers course. Egypt
is s.Iewn with tombs, making the sites Of
extinct cities, and though many thousands
have been destroyed by barbarous hands, we
may stand amazed before the many thous-
ands which remain. While the past OF many
nations is shrouded in vague uncertainty
and known TO US only in NEUROLOGICAL
form, the early years Of this wonderful peo-
pie are fact. The princes were princes Of
flesh and blood. and by their descendants
were exalted to the eminence Of demi-gods.
The speaker dwelt for some time on the
buried town OF Python. whose store houses
were built by the burdened Israelites in the
times Of the Pharoahs. An examination Of
the structures shows that they are made
largely of bricks, laid regularly and divided
by mortar. These bricks were the products
of enthralled Israelitish labor and are COM
posed Of mud and straw. Up to certain
height in the walls, the straw bricks are
seen, but above this point the bricks are
made of mud and stubble, the straw evident
ly becoming exhausted. This discovery is
remarkable eorroboration Of the passages Of
the Bible concerning Pharoah's injunction
to his taskmasters to refuse the slaves any
more straw and his order that bricks should
be created even when a necessary
ingredient was wanting, forcing upon
the workmen arduous and painful la
Dor. This interdlct obliged the Israelites to
gather reeds of an inferior kind and ineors
porate them into mud blocks. The excava-
tion disclose some striking features of an
cien. civilization. The cellars are filed with
articles of pottery and use. implements, wea-
pons, objects in bronze and various contri-
vanc whose design can only be guessed.
The storehouses were for the storing of
grain and their formation shows that enor-
nous labor was bestowed upon them. The
city of Python was walled and the temples
encircled by walls, and was used es -forti-
fed place at a later period. These were YER
liable treasure cities. magazines of food and
wealth. Huge mounds covered them when
first this exhumation was undertaken. The
cellars or storage chambers resemble a laby-
rinth, so numerously and intricately are they
dug and built, and the whole city must have
been undermined. The tablets and statues
prove beyond dispute that they were erected
by Rameses III, in commemoration of him.
self and his deeds.
Tanis, Biblically known as Zoan, was the
utAb flSlttu anu SOlue Ol Lub RESULTS Oh laLo
explorations in its ruins exhibited on the can
vas by the stereopticon. When this city was
built Is a mystery. No trace of an earlier
dynasty than that of Rameses III, can be
found and possibly he was the founder Of
the place. The city was converted into a
Roman camp in Roman times, and the
Arabs, who consider 1t religious duty to
mar and deface every inscribed block they
find, sadly spoiled many valuable relics
which in their original condition would have
haa 0f ha ufn kOHa D.
meses III. was one Of the greatest destroyers
Of history, and he zealously prosecuted his
system OF effacing all indications Of his pre-
decessors by razing their temples to unrec-
onizable debris. aud substituting his own
name wherever he saw that Of older kings.
He seemed determined to perpetuate his
renOwn at the expense of the symbols Of
more venerable rulers. To him may be as
cribed the loss of pages upon pages and
chapters upon chapters of Egyptian history.
his name and title on the temples Of his pre-
decessors, as the recovered blocks Of stone
which were part OF these sacred edifces
show. A colossal figure OF Rameses, the
foot OF which Is over 81 inches long and the
limbs and body Of corresponding propor-
tions was depleted 1T is not certain that this
Gigantic statue was hewn from one block, but
1t Is very probable. Despite the inundations
ed. and the accumulations Of moist
many cases, they preserve their ap-
pearance remarkably well. Some of the
columns, even in mutilated and partial
state retain the beautiful polish put upon
them by the workmen Of the time Ia which
they were raised Wherever the Nile has
overflowed the land, in the most sandy por-
tions, crop OF reeds have sprung into life,
showing how successfully might irrigation
be applied to the great Sahara desert. The
city of Tanis was burned during the bucolic
lnsurrection and the inhabitants were either
by an explorer seven baskets Of mapuscripts
and documents, which will undoubtedly
throw much light on the customs Of the resi-
dents when fully interpreted. In one place
god Is found, whose attitude and sceptres
indicate the union Of both the characteris-
tics Of the Greek and the Egyptian Givini-
ties, the only instance, so far as Is known,
where this occurs in history. The Hebrew
aynduq hauau from, To and ~ uac In, tha