Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-16

-. W., 0AA-oAOA1AA OAl
to Alexandria to attend some function, one
of the draws of this bridge was mysteri-
ously opened. The train plunged into the
Nile and everybody was drowned, leaving
the path to the throne clear for Ismail who
was expected to accompany the party, but
at the last moment excused himself because
of illness. The investigation which follow
ed did not determine who opened the bridge,
but Nubar was held responsible ana was
temporarily disgraced. but, as soon as
Ismail became khedive he was restored to
favor and became all powerful at court.
He as~the evil genius of his royal master
and the cause of his fail.
The First Lighthouse.
Alexandria had the first lighthouse ever
erected for the benefit of sSipping. Along
the coast of Syria and Palestine, Italy,
Greece and some of the others countries IN
southern Europe at frequent intervals are
watch towers, which in ancient times were
used for the purpose of communicating by
signals, but the Pharos tower, pile of ma
sonry nearly six hundred feet high, and one
of the the seven wonders OF the wofid' was
erected by Ptolemy SoIer, VINO became KING
Of Egypt after Alexander's death 80 b. Z.
1t was intended guide and warning to
mariners and beacon fires were kept burn
ing on it's top by night. This tower was
fifty feet higher than the monument at
Washington.
This Ptolemy Softer was great and wise
man. He was the founder of the first mu-
scum in the world, and of the great library
called the Serapeum. Nothing remains OF
the magnificent porticos with its hundred
steps and vast, halls and 400 marble columns
except a few scattered pieces of marble.
The library, which contained 3ooOOO manu-
scripts, was destroyed by accident When
julius Caesar set fire to the esty, b. Z. 40.
A few years later, as nucleus for new
library, Antony presented cleopatra what
are known as the Pergamenlan manuscripts,
20 600 in number and the collection was
rapidly increased by the generosity OF Cleo
patra, who sent scholars all oyer the world
to make copies of every known book at pub
lie expense, and it is related that every
book that came to Alexandria was seized
for the benefit of the library, copy being
made for the owner. Here Strabo, Herod-
otus Pliny, Euclid and other great scholars
of that era were educated and gained their
fame; here the science of mathematics was
invented and astronomy and geography
were first taught; here chemistry became
one of the sciences and engineering useful
servant of mankind. Athens was the home
of philosophy, poetry and art, but the
Serapeum, originally temple to q heather
god, was a vast treasure house of learning,
the birthplace and the nursery of the ap-
piled sciences. 1t came to have 10000
volumes, and survived for 600 years until
the Arabs conquered Egypt and .ne Caliph
Omar, a bigoted fanatic, destroyed 1T. II
these manuscripts teach the same things as
need not be preserved; If they do not they
should be destroyed because they are per-
nicious.'
Where st. Mark Suffered Martyrdom.
st. Mark Is believed to have suffered
martyrdom upon the site of the Mosque OF
One Thousand and One Columns, which is
now the quarantine station, and the monks
of the Coptic Convent claim to have the re-
mains of the great evangelist, but 1t is well
known that his body was removed to Venice
in the ninth century and SIS buried under
the altar Of the beautiful cathedral dedi-
Gated to him.
The Mosque Nebbi Daniel claims to be the
tomb of Alexander the. Great. but as no
Christian is allowed to enteg1the build ng II
is not possible to determine the matter in
diligently. We know, however, that the
man who wept because the& were no more
worlds for him to cenqueH died and was
buried in Alexandria. In the British Mu-
scum there is a beautiful stone sarcopha-
gus, which for many years has been claimed
to be that in which Alexander was buried,
but many archaeologists attribute 1t to an
earlier king. In the museam of Constants
nople an exquisite piece of marble is also
declared to be his coffin. 1t was discovered
near Sidon by Rev. Mr.. Eddy, an American
missionary, who has theory that 1T was
made in Damascus, Bagdad or another city
of the interior, for the great warrior, ana
was being transported to Alexandra when
for some reason it was stopped on the way
near Sidon and never reached its destlna-
ton.
The catacombs, o. cave cemeteries OF
Alexandria, are w. Extensive and are Of
great interest to a lhaeologists Dutch
wind mills, built by Napoleon to grind
corn for his troops when he occupied the
country, stand over the c1tacombs and give
a curious aspect to the country. In the MO-
hammedan cemetery ruins of the Sera-
peum are scattered among the tombS, rag
ments of marble covered with carving, shat
tered pedestals and broken columns which
have been utilized for memorial purposes.
Pompey's Pillar.
They tell us here that Pompeys pillar,
which appears in all the illustrated geog-
raphies, was not erected by Pompey at all.
and that Cleopatra's needles, one Of which
is in London and the other In Central Park,
New York, never belonged to that famous
queen 1.-THE Serpent Of Old Nile" Pompey's
pillar, we are told by the archaeologists,
was erected by Ptolemy II in memory of his
favorite wife, Arsinoe, apd the other mono
liths were erected long before Cleopatra
was born, and were removed from the Tenn
pie of the Sun at Heliopolis in Ismatls time.
Unfortunately Alexandria has been ig-
rrored by antiquarians and archaeOlogists,
and what should be tempting opportunity
for excavation on the site of the ancient
buildings has been neglected. In 1880 Mr..
Hogarth made series of experimental Dor
ings to see what was under the soil without
finding anything of value, and he believes
that the finest of the 1900 palaces which
were the boast of ancient Alexandria have
been covered by the encroachments of the
sea.
Alexandria now has population of about
5O.OOO, made up of representatives of every
race on earth. About half are foreigners
Turks, Syrians, Nubians, Armenians,
Greeks, Jews, Albanians, Maltese, Italians,
Frenchmen and other sons Of men.
There are four Alexandrias--the capital of
Alexander the Great the pride of the Ptolo-
mics, the southern residence of the Roman
empire, and the city Of modern commerce
and enterprise. and each is full of interest.
The Cabs Of Paris.
From Outing.
BY day and night fifteen thousand cabs