Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-11-05

AolCilleSS ueHIe ne VIII wander on
amazed enchanted and delighted
Suddenly ne will step out of the mar
dow gorge into the sunlight again
There, carved in the face of the
cliff, half revealed, half concealed in
the growing shadows, is one of the
largest, most nearly perfect, and most
beautiful monuments to antiquity
Pharaoh's Treasury. Almost as per-
feet as the day it came from beneath
the sculptOr's chisel, fifteen hundred
or two thousand years ago; colored
with the natural hues of the brilliant
sandstone, which added an indescrib-
able element to the architectural
beauty; flanked and surmounted by
the cliffs, which have been carved and
tinted in turn by the powers of ma
ture; approached by the mysterious
deficit is almost overpowering in it's
effect.
Descriptions of the width and
height and the details of this monu.
ment of antiquity carved from the
living rock may enable many to re-
produce for themselves some of it's
striking features; but neither Ian
guage, measurements or pictures can
give more than a bold idea of the
temple and its charming surround
ings. The secret of its magic seems
to be the elimination of mans best
efforts with the powers and beauties
of nature.
From the moment the visitor sights
the great castellated mass in which
the city lies hidden until he takes his
last glimpse from the highlands above
he cannot cease to wonder at the in.
describable beauties of the puppies,
the yellows, the crimsons, and the
many-hued combinations Whether
seen in the gloom of the six, or the
brilliant sunshine, that seems to kindle
the craggy, bristling pinnacles into
colored flames, they inspire continued
surprise
Beautiful Color Effect.
The ancient sculptors fixed the
levels of their rock-hewn tombs and
temples and dwellings so as to make
most artistic use of the more beauti-
full strata in the mountain walls.
They consciously practiced kind of
landscape gardening where, instead Of
beautiful effects produced by banks
of fading flowers, all was carved from
the many-hued and easily wrought
solid stone, which took on new beau
80 ~ h1ad
Not far from Pharaoh's Treasury is
a great theater cut in what may be
called the Appian Way of the city.
It stands among some of the finest
tombs-a theater in the midst Of
sepulchers. The floor of the stage
is 12O feet in diameter. Fully 5000
spectators could have found comfort
in the 33 rows of seats. Here, also,
the coloring of the sandstone Is bril-
liant, and at certain places in the ex-
cavation the tiers Of seats are lit
orally red and purple alternately In
the native rock.
The eastern wall of the valley, near
the entrance, rises to height of more
than five hundred feet. For length
of a thousand feet the face of the
cliff is carved and honeycombed with
excavations to a height of three hun
bred feet above the floor of the val
ey.
Here nre found some Of the most
impressive ruins in the city. The Urn
tomb in the center has in the rock
behind 1t room over sixty feet
square. whose beautifully colored
ceiling can be compared to a great
storm in the heavens. The Corinthian
tomb and temple are among the largest
and most beautifully colored Slonn-
ments in any of the walls
The DER or Monastery is reached
by one of the great ravines up which
winds a path and stairway until an
elevation of 700 feet is attained. A
small plateau opening toward the
south gives an extended view of Mount
Hor and all the southern end of the
Dead sea cavity. The spot is wholly
inaccessible except by the one rocky
stairway and winding path.