Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1908-04-18
IN OLD EGYPT,
LAND OF PHAROS
'lsAgIg

Zone of these granite columns still
stands in Heliopolis, and one lies UNI
finished in the marble quarry when-
it was cut over four thousand years
ago AS l walked about this historic
place / thought of On as 1t existed III
the Bible days, and here In the shad-
lows of these obelisks sat Abraham,
Jeremiah, and Joseph in his day. This
city is on the banks OF the Nile about
six miles from Cairu. II was the city
called Balbeek by the Romans, On
and Beth-Shemesn by the Hebrews,
but Heliopolis by the Greeks, and Is
on the border of the Land of Goshen.
From here we crossed over the Nile
into the land of Goshen proper and
rode over miles of 1t on donkeys. We
visited the eUcavated ruins of the
old Memphis. 20 miles from Cairo,
which Is the city founded by Menes
the first mortal king OF Egypt The
mammoth colossi of Rameses the sec
end is here, one of lime stone and one
OF granite, and many other things to
show that great city once existed
here This is all in the black. rich
land of the Nile and now there are
thousands of palm trees on the site Of
old Memphis. Still on our donkeys
we climb out of the rich valley into
the sands of the Sahara desert and
enter the oldest land marks known in
the world. One of them is the Steps
Pyramid" the most ancient of the
many pyramids in Egypt. So far as
we know 1t was the first great strucI
ure made after the tower of Babel, and
had longed to see it. There it stands,
and / wished it had intelligence for
just one half hour, SO l could ask ques-
tons. It is 1876 feet high, and looks
weather beaten with age, but the
foundation which has recently been
excayated from the desert sands Is
clean white stone. Now we are on tne
edge of the ancient city of SakkaIa
whose excavated ruins show it to be
about two miles long and one half wide
Here We visited the tomb of those
kings of the fifth and sixth dynasties.
in which the royal mummies with their
jewels beside one of them which is
10 feet long, feet wide, and II feet
high, and the granite yet mas the orig.
inal polish which makes it shine like
glass. The sacred bull which was kin
ed every q years was buried here with
great ceremony. And Egypt has died
several times as dead as the bulls and
cats they have worshipped-surely
great lesson for religion.
Then came the bodies of the kings,
or Pnaraoh's, of Egypt which hav~
been found in the tombs of the royal
dead. Here are the bodies of the
Pharaohs of Moses, of the Israelite Jp-
preston, of the exodus and many 9th
ers of the royal houses-princes ant
princesses and their small children
We find no bodies of the peasant life
for they had not the means for so cost
ly embalming and burial. The reader
must remember too that nearly all the
bodies have been found at different
times since 1880, and the discoveries
are still finding more, / saw the re.
Gently found royal chariots and bodies
and jewelry which an American scient-
list, Prof Davis, has brought as a gift
to the world. 1t is surprising to see
the amount of gold that was buried
in the form of jewelry with the royal
dead. In one royal tomb where king
and his whole family were buried they
found nearly million dollars worth
Of gold jewels. l saw many of this
kind. Here where Egyptian greatness
failed-like a CHAIN it was no stronger
than the weakest link in it, Taking
the gold which ought to have been in
circulation and in banks, and putting
it away with dead bodies was robbing
the country of wealth which might
have been here even today. No won
der to me Egypt has been in debt 50
much since the Christian Era; and,
though the richest in land, it was once
the poorest country in the world, and
owed every power in Europe and could
not pay. I see it all very plainly and
to me a great lesson.
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