Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-03-16
= r. IN. l.. A. CuLsIiSR lis In re.
ccipt OF an interesting letter
from Colonel Edwin r.
11ni,,,.p v.hn with Mrs,

Holmes, who With Mrs
1sot,nas Is making an extended visit in
the land OF the PharaOhs. The COM
ruunicasion, which is vividly descriptive
Of a sunset In the valley of the Nile
rs we'll as places ana buildings OF his
torSc interest, is written from Assouah'
Upper Egypt under date of JAN w
1907, and reads as follows
We are living in a riot OF color II
YOU know what that is. and are unable
to account for it. Nor do we believe
II can be painted, the shades are 50
delicate and so graded into one 'il-
other that 1t would seem Impossible 10
reproduce 1t In any way satisfactory
Doubtless you artists may be apie "
explain this almost phenomenal rleh-
ness Of hue. and wish very tlaue''
you could see IT yourself Inc Wiloae
horizon, from west around to east wheii
the sun seLs, is hen ana usii ,+.tt,,
MASS OF tlnxs. wnten coltiilnes u-lS "a
nearly, an hour after sunset, alIa 80
changing ali tne tlne DpuDtiess ,-sS
rlcn coiorlng OF the great SANDY Nes-
erts all around, possibly tils pdFttStes "a
sand aust IN the am. the el4tllS upss ''
OF carbon or OF moist cure IN 'llo aias
may account for IL In purt'
THE FIRST CATARACT
Than ron here at the first caIaract,
ryirh me great camel poTterdge OF sew
eraI miles, the DESERT ilte. as seen lronl
the town, the stately palms. tise dark
racess turDttleG he.ius anu all lileSe
things prepares the mind tor an ms
richness. a. score OF sail boals are
passing, A dozen sail and steslln noats
IA ~ VISION. SOnlll
al these win later become Illuminated
with coIored lisDts, 4or tins lS a mod
ern town In many respects, anu dl-
rectiy opposite where our boat. ths
Rarneses is moored, STANDS the Grand
hotel; further up the river IS the Cata-
ract House, and across the river lles the
savoy on the "Elephantinel island All
large and first class hotels, fun as they
can be and guests arriving by every
boat and train. which latter comes dali
~ from Cairo, $50 miles away. This
system OF rails ends here, or at Chel-
lala, where another line Of boats runs
to the Second Cataract at Wadi ElaIfa,
then rail again from there to Khartum-
II one goes further than that they take
boat again to Gondokoro, another
thousand miles orsso. For all the Wn-
ter OF the Mile comes from near the
equator, and If you know your ge-
Ugraphy, as you ought, and ! suppose
,
is one of the longest and drains the
greatest area OF any river ia the world
In making the trip thus far We made
many stops and saw many temples and
turnbs the like OF which l had never
dreamed of, although | had been read
ing about Egypt ever since ! could
remember. We have been seeing
pyramids by the score temples by the
dozen, and ton1bs without number, in
nearly all of which the red pprphyry
granite is more or less freely used,
and the harder almost jade-like. grain
lite In statues. and the finish is almost
perfect.
WORLDS GREATEST STATUE.
AT Thebes near Luxor. lies the
wrecked statue of "Rameses the Great,
the greatest statue probably ever erect
ed by the hand of man, Its weight es-
minated at 1000 tons, broken and NUTS
lated by Cambyscs, the Persian Con-
aueror,' 526 Is, c.; and at Assouar, the
first Cataract, Is the only granite of
This kind found, Here 1t is the regular
formation. making 1T possible tc build
that engineering wonder, the great
Assouan dam, the formation furnishing
the foundation and the quarries here
the stone used in the giant structure;
and | could not help thinking today
as i walked the length of this most
tremendous piece OF masonry, OF the
statement tnat me great pyramid WOULD
furnish material for half q dozen such
structures
NOT UNLIKE A MINE.
Then we have seen rock tombs of great
magniicence and extent 1t Is like going
into a mine by an incline. but with
this difference, tho walls of the mine
drift are left rough and there Is y
track laid for the ore cars Here the
walls of limestone are Inoorh as the
pfastered walls of a house; are litoral-
ly covered over with sculptured work
of great eSactness the tunnel 10 re-
lieved at intervals by square proJec--
lions from the wallis and ceiling and
so for several hundred feet YOU dip
into the heart of the mountain where
great rooms are ehiseled out with
high vaulted ceilings. painted In such
lasting coIors that today they are as |
fresh and bright as when first put on |
thousands OF years ago. Hidden in
some inner chamber frog off some
other room lies the mummy case,
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.