p611-090

City of the Sun. My ever beloved and royal Mother:

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In my last letter I described to you, as well as
the feebleness of language would admit, my presentation
to the Queen Amense, and the splendors of her
court and palace. In Syria we have no approach to this
Egyptian magnificence, unless it is to be found in Tadmor,
the city of the Euphrates country, which travellers
call a single temple the size of a city! The peculiarity
of Egyptian architecture is very striking. It has an air
of ponderous majesty—being, in all its proportions, colossal.
Yet this massive aspect is relieved by shaping
the stone and marble in the most graceful lines, and enriching
with sculpture, either in relief or intaglio, the
immense surfaces of their gigantic columns and enormous
propyla. In all the temples and palaces I have
yet seen here, two species of column chiefly prevail—
one of which, this being the most ancient style, is fluted
and composed of a single shaft, with a capital in the
shape of an opening pomegranate, the reflexed edge
being an imitation of the opened flower of the lotus,
and presenting a graceful object to the eye. The other
column, introduced by the present dynasty, is always

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colossal; but its massiveness is relieved by being striated,
which gives the mass the appearance of being
composed of united stems, and increased by horizontal
belts or bands cut in the stone, which seem to
tie them together under the capital and in the middle.
Just above the square or round plinth, the base of the
shaft itself is rounded and adorned with leaves, which
gives it the appearance of growing up from the plinth.
You can judge of the combined grandeur and grace of
such columns, dear mother, by imagining several buds
of the rose of Palestine set like cups, one upon the other,
and upon the top of all a lotus-flower, and the whole
magnified to ninety or a hundred feet in height, and
converted into Syene stone.

On the abacus of the columns, which form so prominent
and universal a feature in Egyptian architecture,
rests a broad but simple architrave, usually sculptured
with hieroglyphics illustrating subjects connected
with the deity of the temple, or the occupant of the
palace which they adorn. The upper edge of it is often
occupied by a row of the sacred serpent, uræus. The
boldness and breadth of the cornice supplies the want
of a pediment—flat roofs being used in this country,
when used at all, where rain is scarcely known, and
where snow was never seen.

The porticos and façades present double and triple
rows of columns, but seldom are they found on the sides
or around the temples, as at Damascus and Tadmor.
The circular arenas in the city, which I have described
in a former letter, were not temples but colonnades, and
these column-inclosed squares are the introduction of
Queen Amense, and are only found at On. Usually the

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great lines of Egyptian edifices are straight, and their
temples are quadrangles, with avenues of mighty columns
extending from pylon to pylon in a succession of inner
courts—these series of vast and magnificent vestibules
sometimes extending half a mile, their avenues bordered
by sphinxes and columns alternately, until the great
fane of the temple, to which they are the approach, is
reached.

For columns, I have seen in the temple of the sacred
ox-Mnevis, colossal figures of Osiris, or of sovereigns
with the attributes of Osiris. These Osiride pillars are
often thirty feet in height. Upon my mind they produce
an unpleasing effect. The impression is as if the
god was brought into the service of man as a slave, to
uphold his temples, though I believe they do not bear
any portion of the superincumbent weight. But one
cannot behold a row of these mighty men of stone without
an emotion of awe. The general tone of the temples
and palaces betrays the pyramid as their type.
The walls sloping on the outside as if the lower section
of a pyramid, give to the edifices of Egypt that expression
of self-reposing and immovable stability which belongs
to the pyramidal form. The whole effect is in the
highest degree sublime, and at once subdues and elevates
my mind as I gaze. The scale of architecture is
so vast, that even the innumerable sculptured objects
by which walls, columns, and entablatures are covered,
do not interfere with the grandeur of the whole
effect. Moreover, the heaviness which would adhere to
such massive edifices in Syria, disappears when they are
seen through the crystalline medium of this Egyptian
atmosphere.

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There is another peculiarity, my dear mother, of Egyptian
architecture, which no one can contemplate without
an increasing impression of awe. I allude to the dromos,
or double row of sphinxes—figures of which I have
already spoken, and of which we have no idea in Syria,
though an Assyrian noble whom I met in Sidon, described
to me reposing colossi with majestic heads of
kings and bodies of lions, as guarding the approach to
the temples of the gods of his country. Such mysterious
compounds of the human form with a lion or a ram,
denoting the union of intellect with strength, are to be
encountered here before every temple. These avenues
of sphinxes, in profound repose and with a grave and
serious aspect, are usually entered through a lofty gateway
or pylon, before which are seated gigantic figures
of gods, or stand obelisks of granite, placed in pairs, and
richly and elaborately sculptured with hieroglyphics.
Through such a gateway and avenue, I approached the
city of On. A day or two ago I was in a temple dedicated
to the god Horus, son of Osiris and Isis. Upon the
pylon was inscribed a sun, supported by two asps with
outspread wings—the emblem of Hor-hat, the good
genius of Egypt—and hence to be found everywhere
represented. It is this which is erroneously called, by
some travellers, a winged globe. In the entrance, this
god was pictured with the head of a hawk (at once his
symbol and a type of the sun, from the piercing brightness
of its eye), as an actor in various scenes, both celestial
and terrestrial, such as hunting, sailing, and engaged
in war against Typhon, and others.

Passing these, I entered a spacious court, open to the
sky and surrounded by sculptured colonnades.

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Crossing this court, which inferior priests were traversing or
idly lounging in, I came to a second propylon, the magnificent
wings of which were divided into numerous
compartments, and sculptured ten stories high, with the
most exquisite art. This pylon, in the wings of which
the priests lodge, led into an open court one hundred
paces long, through the centre of which extended an
avenue of twenty-four columns, sixty-six feet high and
twelve in diameter, and on each side of these were seven
rows of lesser columns, forty feet in height and nine in
diameter. All these presented sculptured surfaces, and
the richest description of capitals. A still more magnificent
gateway, at the extremity of this street of columns,
conducted me into a vast hall with covered cloisters
on the sides, and a double row of colossal pillars
running down the centre. All the rest of the space was
paved and adorned with fountains, statues, and fruit and
flower trees, growing from large alabaster vases. Priests
and worshippers moved in all directions through this and
the other courts. The walls of this grand hall were
decorated with battle-pieces—the triumphs of the Pharaohs
in the conquest of neighboring kingdoms—representations
of offerings to the gods, and of captive
princes led at the wheels of chariots. I advanced to another
pylon, still loftier and more noble than the rest,
and as I looked back to the remote outer entrance, two
thousand feet off, I discovered that an artifice of architecture
had been employed to increase the apparent distance
by diminishing the gateways in height, as if by
the effect of a lengthened perspective. The effect was
all that the architect could have desired.

The Egyptians apply colors freely to their

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architecture. This peculiarity increases in a wonderful
degree the richness and harmony of the general effect.
The cloudness sky of Egypt gives brilliancy to all the
colors of nature, and these imitated on the walls of
temples and palaces, have a beauty and splendor that
must be seen to be appreciated. Granite, serpentine
stone, breccia, or basalt, whatever be the material, its
appearance, however elaborately polished, is by the
Egyptians enriched, as they believe, and as I begin to
think, by the pencil. The profusion with which they
employ colors and sculpture in their temples, palaces,
and tombs, has no parallel on earth. In Syria they are
subsidiary to architecture. Here they are a part of it.
The sloping outer walls, the external surfaces,—ceiling,
column, and pylon,—are all covered with sculpture.
Their sculptured bass-reliefs unite the qualities of a
cameo and an intaglio, the figure itself rising from the
broadly cut and deep outline of the design. Thus,
though the design is in relief, the figure does not project,
and is protected from injury. The colors which are
laid on these are softened by their retiring below the
surface. Real bass-reliefs, however, exist on the monuments
of the age of Sesortasen I.

The adytum of the temple which I am describing so
minutely, with descriptions of the peculiarities of the
architecture of the Egyptians (knowing your architectural
taste and curiosity about all such subjects, my
dear mother), was, unlike any of the halls I had traversed,
much smaller, and yet far more beautiful than
any of them. It was a square chamber, the ceiling of
which was painted blue and studded with stars, while
the moon shone down, a shield of polished silver, from

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the zenith point. Figures of vultures, hawks, and other
emblems, were placed upon columns around the hall,
and separated only by the winged asp-encircled sun.
These figures were richly colored, and the eyes of the
birds glittered with diamonds set in them. Upon the
entablature around the hall were sculptured the twelve
months. All these, and the walls, were beautifully
painted, with a harmony of distribution and combination
of their gorgeous colors singularly pleasing to the
eye. Hieroglyphics, traced in gold on blue panels,
recorded the virtues and deeds of Horus. The floor of
this sumptuous chamber represented the great circle of
the sun through the twelve constellations, and also the
images of the seven planetary gods, executed in the
pavement with almost every variety of colored stone,
such as the emerald, amethyst, agate, lapis lazuli, root
of emerald, cornelian, greenstone, hæmatite, all interset
with gold, silver, and bronze. Nothing could be richer.
A sun of pure gold was placed in the centre of this
wonderful zodiac, if I may so term it, for I do not know
whether it is a true planetary configuration which
is represented with a fixed date, or simply arbitrary, and
executed as an ornament. The Egyptians are, however,
skilful astronomers, and have the skill and learning to
interpret and thus record the ages of the past by the
procession of the heavens.

On one side of this chamber of art and beauty, stood
the monolith which contained the shrine of the god. It
was a rock of solid granite, in which a recess was
hollowed out, wherein sat the deity. Nothing could be
more majestic and simple. The Egyptians seem to
delight in contrasts. All the magnificence and

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architectural glory I have described, directed the footsteps of
the votary to a plain block of stone, containing a statue
of Syenite marble the size of a man. The face is calm
and majestic, and the eyes are fixed upon the worshipper
with a supernatural expression which awes him. The
genius which had erected the superb edifice of the god,
had concentrated its power in the face of the divinity.
Though stone, it seemed above humanity; and the soul
of the god seemed dwelling in it, and giving its countenance
a divine energy.

But, my dear mother, I will not longer occupy your
time with temples and architecture. I have written of
them sufficiently to give you an idea of the land I
sojourn in. But my descriptions will enable you to
form a more correct idea of such events as I may hereafter
write about, and enable you, when I relate scenes
and actions, to conceive, in a measure, the surrounding
features and aspect of places. If I were writing a volume
“on Egypt,” I would then visit and describe all
her magnificent temples, pyramids, obelisks, palaces,
canals, lakes, cities, and tombs, from Pelusium to the
tower of Syene. But I know that these would not
interest you, after what I have written, and that what is
personal to myself and descriptive of the people, that is,
life and action, will be more agreeable for you to read
(and for me to write) than gorgeous pictures of architectural
results. I shall, therefore, for the future, only
incidentally describe edifices (unless, indeed, I give you
a letter upon the mighty pyramids), and devote my pen
to scenes passing around me.

And in pursuance of this purpose, my dear mother, I
will describe to you the review of the army of chariots

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of iron, which followed my presentation to the queen.
I will not be so vain as to suffer you to think that this
superb spectacle was arranged purposely in honor of
your son; though had it been so, it could hardly have
added to the honors which that august and courteous
lady has showered upon me; but I feel that the distinction
is due rather to the friendship which Remeses
entertains for me, than to any merit or claim of my own
beyond my simple rank.

The review in question was prepared for this day;
and, in order that I might witness it, the queen had
graciously appointed the occasion for my presentation
to her. Although, in my account of that interview, I
spoke only of myself, yet there had been presented, just
before I entered the palace, several ambassadors, princes,
and philosophers, from various countries, including
Arabia, Persia, Sheba, Javan, Iberia, Abyssinia, and
the isles of the sea. These had come to Egypt, either
to enter the schools of philosophy, to negotiate terms
of tribute or alliance, or to study the science of war,
for which Egypt has become eminent, even rivalling
the mighty Philistine armies in discipline, effect, and
valor.

From the throne-room we passed out through a gateway,
from which descended steps to the parade, which
was a vast square, capable of holding one hundred
thousand men; while the colonnades around it would
accommodate as many more spectators.

The queen did not descend the steps, but took her
seat by a statue of the god of war, upon a sort of throne
beneath a canopy, supported by six bearers, to shield
her from the sun. But Remeses, leaving me by the

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side of his royal mother, who was also surrounded by
her guard, and near whom stood the ambassadors and
princes and philosophers, received from an attendant a
helmet of gold, which he put over his silken bonnet,
and from another a corselet of steel inlaid, mounted a
war-chariot in waiting, and, casting a glance around upon
the field, looked all at once the warrior-prince, which
the heightened color of his cheek and proud carriage of
his head showed he felt himself to be. Thus, whether a
soldier at the head of the hosts of Egypt, a counsellor
by the throne of his mother, a courtier among the
nobles, a philosopher in the Academies, he is perfect in
all things. As a son, he sets an example of devotion
and filial respect to the young men of the kingdom; as
a man, his private character is pure from every vice or
folly—a worthy heir to the throne of the dominant
kingdom of the earth. The sight which the square
presented surpasses my ability to convey to your mind
a just conception of. The vast area was one third occupied
by a division of chariots. The chariot corps constitutes
a very large and effective portion of the Egyptian
army. Each car contained two soldiers—for, from the
position I occupied, my eyes could take in the whole
splendid scene—besides the charioteer. The car on
which Remeses stood was drawn by two horses, but
without any charioteer, the reins being fastened to an
upright spear. His chariot was inlaid with silver and
gold. The sides and back were open, and the base or
floor of the car curved upward in front, serving as a
safeguard to the charioteer when one was required; but
it now supported his quiver of silver and bow-case of
gilded leather, richly ornamented with figures of lions.

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The spear-case, which was of bronze, and fastened by
chains of gold, pointed over his shoulder. Close to it
was an additional quiver containing Parthian arrows,
while a mace of iron and a heavy sword, that reflected
the sunlight, hung by thongs from the rings of the spear-case.
All the other chariots, which were constructed of
wood and iron handsomely painted, were similarly
accoutred, though less elegant in form and finish, and
provided only with a single quiver, bow, and spear.
The housings upon the horses were cuirasses of woven
links of the finest steel, while gorgeous feathers decked
their heads.

No sooner had the prince leaped upon his chariot,
than the Ethiopian slaves, who held his two fiery steeds,
sprung aside, releasing them in the act, when they
bounded into the air and dashed forward over the plain.
Remeses, immovable as a statue, let them fly before
him until he came in front of the drawn-up phalanx of
chariots, when, at a slight signal with his hands, the
horses, whose eyes are wholly free from shields or
blinders, stopped full. These proved to be his favorite
chariot-horses, and had been trained to render perfect
obedience.

Now commenced a grand movement of the whole
battalion. While Remeses stood in his chariot, the van
of the four thousand chariots, which constituted the
host, moved forward. In a few moments the whole
body was in motion. Dashing forward across the field,
they swept round at its extremity in vast curves, and
came thundering on, to pass the point where the queen
sat. The ground shook with the roll of eight thousand
wheels and the fall of twice as many horse-hoofs! It was

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a magnificent sight, as, one hundred abreast, the column
came on. The head of it, led by the chief captains,
passed our position like a mighty river, the surface of
which tossed with helmets, glittering spears, bows,
plumed heads of steeds, and gorgeous housings—a dazzling,
bewildering spectacle, full of sublimity and terrible
power. The splendor of the head-dresses and
trappings of the steeds, mingling with the shining cuirasses
and steel weapons of the armed charioteers,
presented a scene I shall never cease to remember.

In the centre of the field of review stood Remeses,
his eagle glance reviewing their movements, with a
few of his generals about him, each in his own chariot.
When this grand and imposing army had compassed
the square, they resumed their former position with a
precision and order marvellous to witness. Then followed
evolutions by detachments of chariots. Five
hundred of them, divided into two equal bodies, took
position, one at each end of the parade, and, at a signal,
charged upon each other at a speed which, at first slow,
increased each moment. My heart leaped with excitement.
I looked to see a very battle, and to behold
horses and charioteers overturned in tumultuous confusion
from the inevitable shock. But so well-drilled were
they, that the two lines, deploying as they drew nearer,
passed through each other in spaces measured by the
eyes of the charioteers so nicely, that in a moment they
were rattling away, each to occupy the other's vacated
position. There was a general shout of applause from
the tens of thousands of spectators at this brilliant
manœuvre. Other displays of battle-charioteering took
place, during which was exhibited every evolution

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that war demands on the veritable field of conflict.

This magnificent review occupied three hours, when
it terminated by all the generals, and chief captains, and
leaders of cohorts and legions, simultaneously detaching
themselves from their several commands, and one after
another galloping at full speed, first around the prince,
saluting him, and then wheeling and turning in front of
the queen's pavilion, paying her military homage as
they passed her, by placing the left hand upon the
breast, lowering the point of the spear, and then raising it
above their glittering helmets. The queen rose, smiled,
and returned the salute by a graceful wave of her hand.
This company of warrior chiefs excelled, in richness of
armor and apparel, and housings and head-dresses for
their steeds, and in the beauty of their war-chariots, all
that had gone before. Returning to their post, the
trumpets of the whole army sounded, and this martial
array of chariots and horsemen moved all together
across the parade, at a rapid trot, and, defiling by fifties
through a colossal pylon, soon disappeared outside of
the walls on their way to their camp. Their retiring
trumpets could be still heard dying away beyond the
gates, as Remeses rejoined us, alighting from his chariot
after loosing the reins of his steeds from about his body,
to which he had bound them during one part of the
evolutions, in which he took the lead of a charging
legion in his own chariot, as ever without a charioteer.

We now retired into the palace, it being past noon,
and were conducted towards the reception-rooms of the
royal banquet-hall by the grand-chamberlain. At the
door we were received by the chief butler, while the

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other officers of the royal household stood in a line,
bending low as the queen and her guests passed in. We
consisted, besides her majesty, the prince and myself, of
the ambassador from Chaldea, the king's messenger
from the Court of Chederlaomer III., in whose country,
three hundred years and more ago, the famous battle of
Sodom was fought; the ambassador from the kingdom
of Assyria; the young Prince of Tarshish; the Duke
Chilmed of Sheba, and the Dukes Javan and Tubal;
the Lord of Mesech, and the Prince of Midian. Besides
these was a great and wise prince from the land of Uz,
near the country of Prince Abram, the Mesopotamian.
He was accompanied by two friends, philosophers and
men of note, Zophar of Naamath, and Lord Eliphaz of
Teman. This lord of Uz came into Egypt with a great
retinue and train of servants, for he is a man of vast
possessions. He had heard of the wisdom and power of
Amense, and had come with his own merchants to visit
her court. He is also an eminently wise man, a worshipper
of the one Deity, as was the ancient king Abram.
He is of venerable and majestic aspect, is learned
in all the wisdom of Chaldea and Arabia, and seeks to
add thereto the lore of Egypt. Besides this distinguished
prince, there are other philosophers of note and
name. In such noble company, dear mother, was it my
fortunate lot to fall. Truly, to come into Egypt is to
see the whole world!

The queen, after entering the ante-room, retired to the
right, where her ladies-in-waiting received her and escorted
her to her own apartments to prepare for the
banquet, which had been delayed by the review. Remeses
leading the way, with me by his side, we came to

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the outer room, where handsomely dressed pages offered
us scented water in ewers of gold, to lave our fingers,
removed our sandals, and in foot-pans of gold washed
our feet, beginning with Remeses. They then dried
them with perfumed napkins of the softest linen fringed
with threads of gold, and placed upon them sandals of
crimson cloth, embroidered with flowers. Our upper
garments were removed by Nubian servants, and replaced
by a banquet-vesture, more or less rich according
to our rank. Thus refreshed, we entered a beautiful
reception-room containing the most elegant articles of
furniture. Here every one of us was presented by the
chief gardener of the palace with a lotus-flower, to be
held in the hand during the entertainment. As we
moved about, admiring the beauty of the rooms and the
furniture, and such objects of luxury and art as were
intended to gratify the tastes of guests, there were several
arrivals of generals, and officers of the chariot legion,
and other divisions of the army of Lower Egypt, who
had been summoned to the banquet. Among these I
recognized some of the superbly uniformed officers who
had lined the avenue of the grand approach to the
throne—for you will recollect that I said it was an army
of officers, soldiers of this rank alone being permitted to
do the honors of the palace on the reception of princes
or foreign ambassadors.

There were, also, nobles, and distinguished citizens,
Egyptian gentlemen of worth and condition, that entitled
them to the honor of dining at the palace. From a
window I witnessed the arrival of these. They came in
elegant pleasure-chariots, attended by a number of
servants. One of these footmen came forward to

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announce to the chief porter his master's name; others took
the reins, for the Egyptian lord prefers to drive himself
in the streets; another, who held above his head, standing
behind him, a large parasol of gorgeous plumes,
alighted, carried it still above him as he crossed to the
portico of the palace.

Several aged persons arrived in palanquins exquisitely
carved and painted, and borne by slaves. Two or three
arrived on foot, an attendant holding a shield or large
fan above them. Water was brought also for their feet,
but not in golden foot-bowls, and robes and sandals were
distributed according to rank.

At length, for these polite Egyptians (as well as ourselves)
regard it as a want of good-breeding to sit down
to table immediately on arriving, the music, which had
played all the while the guests were arriving, ceased,
and the chief butler announced the moment of the banquet.
At the same instant the queen entered the apartment,
and, after receiving the salutations of us all, was
escorted by Remeses to the banquet-hall. As we entered,
a company of musicians, stationed near the door,
struck up one of the favorite airs of the country, playing
upon tambourines, cymbals, double-pipes, flutes which
rested on the floor, guitars, lyres, and instruments unknown
to me. The music was full of harmony, and, to
my ear, novel, from the number of strange instruments.
This continued until we had been seated according to
rank, my place being to the left of the queen, Remeses
sitting at her right. There were four ladies of rank also
near the queen, along the table, which I may mention
was of polished silver.

When we had taken our places the loud music ceased,

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and seven minstrels, who stood by as many harps behind
the queen, commenced playing a beautiful air, accompanying
it by their voices. The melody was full of
richness and sweetness. While this was performing,
servants approached, and from exquisite porcelain vases
poured sweet-scented ointment upon our heads. Then
entered from the gardens, into which the banquet-room
opened on two sides, as many beautiful maidens, bearing
necklaces of fresh flowers which they had just gathered,
and cast them over our shoulders.

Having received these tokens of welcome, a train of
servants presented us wine in one-handled goblets. That
of Remeses, and mine own, was of gold and jewelled.
The others were of silver or agate. The queen's was
presented to her in a single crystal, and that of the ladies
in small, delicate vases of some precious metal. The
health of the queen, and of the prince, and others present,
was drunk, while music regaled our senses. Remeses,
who acted as ruler of the feast, pledged me to drink thy
health, my dear mother, which was responded to by all
the company; the Prince of Uz remarking, that the fame
of your virtues and the wisdom of your reign had
reached his country. You may judge how my heart
swelled with pride and joy at this testimony to your excellencies,
O my noble and royal mother, from so dignified
a source, in the presence of such a company of witnesses!
Until the dinner was served up, various songs
and performances were introduced, and at the close of
the banquet there were the wonderful dances of Arabian
girls, exhibitions of buffoonery, games, and feats of
agility by jugglers. I regret to say, that some of the
guests retired overcome with wine, and had to be borne

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on the shoulders of their servants to their homes; while
two of the ladies were freer with their little crystal goblets
than was seeming for their sex. The queen scarce
touched the wine to her lips, while Remeses preserved
the severest temperance. After the banquet, Remeses
accompanied me to apartments in the palace, which he
said were for the future to be my abode. Here, taking
leave of him, I commenced this letter, which I now
close, assuring you of my filial love and reverence.

p611-108

Palace of the Pharaohs, City of On. My dear and honored Mother:

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This morning, as I was about leaving the palace,
in order to spend several hours in traversing the city
on foot, that I might see the citizens at their pursuits,
and observe the manners and customs of this people,
the Prince Remeses rode up in his silver-embossed
chariot, himself his own charioteer, two footmen, carrying
their sandals in their left hand, running by the side
of his superb horses. With that absence of form and
ceremony which belongs to true friendship, he did not
wait for me to order my grand-chamberlain and other
chief officers of my retinue to receive him, but came
straight to the room “of the alabastron,” so called from
its alabaster columns, which was my reception-room,
and in the window of which he had seen me from the
street. I met him at the door of the ante-room, and
when I would have saluted him by laying his hand
against my heart and then raising it to my lips, he embraced
me with affection.

“Nay, noble Sesostris, said I not we are friends and
cousins, and therefore equals? I have come for you to

[figure description] Page 100.[end figure description]

go with me to Raamses, the treasure-city, built by
Amunophis, my grandfather. I am planning a new
palace, to be erected there for the governor of the treasures
of the kingdom, and am to meet, to-day, the chief
architect. Will you accompany me?”

“With pleasure, my prince,” I said; “though I had
just proposed to walk about the city among the people,
and see them in their homes and domestic pursuits.”

“You will find time for this always—come with me.
You can stand with me in my chariot, or I will give you
one to yourself, with a charioteer.”

I replied that I would go with him, as I should wish
to ask him many questions on the way. In a few moments
we were moving rapidly through the superb
streets of the city, and, passing through three grand
pylones uniting as many courts, we came to the great
gate of the city to the south. The towers on each side
of it were ninety-nine feet high, and the pylon between
them a wonder of beauty, for the elegance of its intaglio
adornments.

At this gate stood a phalanx of dark Libyan soldiers,
who form, everywhere, the guards of the gates, being
noted both for faithfulness and for their gigantic size.
They were armed with lances and swords, and as we
passed through the gate paid to us the military salutation
due to royalty; for though Remeses is not the
ruler of Egypt, yet he wields an influence and power,
both from his personal popularity and the confidence
reposed in him by his queen mother, which is almost
equal to the supreme dignity. And when he comes to
the throne he will rule wisely, and, if possible, raise
Egypt to still greater glory. I have already spoken of

[figure description] Page 101.[end figure description]

the remarkable air of dignity about him, combined with
an infinite gracefulness. He has an excellent understanding,
and the distinguished Egyptians with whom
I have conversed, tell me that “no man ever more
perfectly united in his own person the virtues of a
philosopher with the talents of a general.” Gentle in
his manner, he is in temper rather reserved; in his
morals irreproachable, and never known (a rare virtue
in princes of Egypt) to exceed the bounds of the most
rigid temperance. Candor, sincerity, affability, and
simplicity, seem to be the striking features of his character;
and when occasion offers, he displays, say the
officers of his army, the most determined bravery and
masterly soldiership.

Having passed the gate, the prince drew rein a little,
to relieve the footmen, six of whom ran before and as
many behind the chariot, besides the two “pages of the
horse,” who kept close to the heads of the horses. Once
outside of the city, we were in a beautiful avenue, which
led through groves and gardens, past villas and ornamental
lakes, for half a mile,—the city, for this breadth,
being inclosed by such a belt of verdure and rural luxury.

“Here,” said Remeses, “dwell the nobles, in the
intense heats of summer. The summer palace of my
mother is on the island of Rhoda, between On and
Memphis, in the Nile. I am yet to conduct you thither,
and also to the pyramids. You see pavilions on small
islets in these circular lakes. They are temples, or
rather shrines for the private devotions of the families.”

We left this lovely suburb, and entered upon a broad
road, which, after crossing a plain on which stood the
ruins of a palace of Osirtasen I., wound through a

[figure description] Page 102.[end figure description]

region of wheat-fields, which extended along the Nile
as far as the eye could see. The laborers were chiefly
Egyptian, and wore the loin-cloth, and short trowsers
reaching half-way to the knee, which I have before
described. They sang cheerful songs as they worked,
and stopped to gaze after the rolling chariot which was
passing across their lands like a meteor, its silver panels
flashing in the sun.

About twenty stadia, or nearly four miles, from the
city, we came suddenly upon a vast desolate field, upon
which thousands of men seemed to be engaged in the
occupation of making brick. As we drew near, for the
royal road we were traversing passed directly through
this busy multitude, I saw by their faces that the toilers
were of that mysterious race, the Hebrew people.

I say “mysterious,” dear mother; for though I have
now been six weeks in Egypt, I have not yet found any
of the Egyptians who can tell me whence came this
nation, now in bondage to the Pharaohs! Either those
whom I questioned were ignorant of their rise, or purposely
refrained from talking with a foreigner upon the
subject.

You will remember that I once inquired of Remeses
as to their origin and present degradation, and he said
he would at some other time reply to my question.
Since then I have had no opportunity of introducing
the subject again to him, other objects wholly absorbing
our attention when we met. Yet in the interim
I was forced irresistibly to notice these people and
their hard tasks; for, though they were never seen in
the streets mingling with the citizens (save only in palaces,
where handsome Hebrew youths often serve as

[figure description] Page 103.[end figure description]

pages), yet where temples, and granaries, and walls, and
arsenals, and treasure-houses were being erected, they
were to be found in vast numbers. Old and young
men, women, and children, without distinction, were
engaged in the plain across which we moved.

“Pardon me, noble prince,” I said; “permit me to
linger a moment to survey this novel scene.”

Remeses drew up his horses, and from the chariot I
cast my eyes over the vast level which embraced half a
square league.

“These fields, Sesostris,” said the prince, “are where
the brick are made which are to erect the walls of the
treasure-city, one of the towers of which you behold
two miles distant. The city itself will take the years of
a generation of this people to complete, if the grand
design is carried out. On the left of the tower you see
the old palace, for this is not a new city we are building
so much as an extension of the old on a new site, and
with greater magnificence. It is my mother's pride to
fill Egypt with monuments of architecture that will
mark her reign as an era.”

The scene that I beheld from the height of the chariot
I will attempt to describe, my dear mother. As far as I
could see, the earth was dark with people, some stooping
down and with wooden mattocks digging up the clay;
others were piling it into heaps; others were chopping
straw to mix with the clay; others were treading it
with their feet to soften it. Some with moulds were
shaping the clay into bricks. Another stood by with
the queen's mark, and stamped each brick therewith, or
the one which was to be the head of a course when laid.
There were also the strongest men employed in raising

[figure description] Page 104.[end figure description]

upon the shoulders of others a load of these bricks,
which they bore to a flat open space to be dried in
the sun; and a procession of many hundreds was constantly
moving, performing this task. Some of the slaves
carried yokes, which had cords at each end, to which
bricks were fastened; and many of the young men
conveyed masses of clay upon their heads to the moulders.
Those who carried the brick to the smoothly swept
ground where they were to be dried, delivered them to
women, who, many hundreds in number, placed them
side by side on the earth in rows—a lighter task than
that of the men. The borders of this busy plain, where
it touched the fields of stubble wheat, were thronged
with women and children gathering straw for the men
who mixed the clay. It was an active and busy spectacle.
Yet throughout the vast arena not a voice was
heard from the thousands of toilers; only the sharp
authoritative tones of their taskmasters broke the stillness,
or the creaking of carts with wooden wheels,
as, laden with straw from distant fields, they moved
slowly over the plain.

The laborers were divided into companies or parties
of from a score to one hundred persons, over whom
stood, or was seated, an Egyptian officer. These task-masters
were not only distinguishable from the laborers
by their linen bonnet or cap with a cape descending to
the neck, but by a scarlet or striped tunic, and a rod or
whip of a single thong or of small cords. These men
watched closely the workmen, who, naked above the
waist, with only a loin-cloth upon many of them, worked
each moment in fear of the lash. The taskmasters
showed no mercy; but if the laborer sunk under his

[figure description] Page 105.[end figure description]

burden, he was punished on the spot, and left to perish,
if he were dying, and his burden transferred to the
shoulders of another. So vast was the multitude of
these people, that the death of a score a day would not
have been regarded. Indeed, their increase already
alarms the Egyptians, and their lives, therefore, are held
in little estimation.

The vast revenue, however, accruing to the crown from
this enslaved nation of brick-makers, leads to regulations
which in a great measure check the destructive rigor
of the taskmasters; for not only are thousands building
cities, but tens of thousands are dispersed all over
Lower Egypt, who make brick to sell to nobles and
citizens, the crown having the monopoly of this branch
of labor. Interest alone has not prompted the queen to
make laws regulating their treatment, and lessening the
rigor of their lot; but also humanity, which is, however,
an attribute, in its form of pity, little cultivated in
Egypt. Under the preceding Pharaohs, for seventy
years, the condition of these Hebrews was far more
severe than it has been under the milder reign of the
queen. I am assured that she severely punishes all unnecessary
cruelty, and has lightened the tasks of the
women, who also may not be punished with blows.

I surveyed this interesting and striking scene with
emotions of wonder and commiseration. I could not behold,
without the deepest pity, venerable and august
looking old men, with gray heads and flowing white
beards, smeared with clay, stooping over the wooden
moulds, coarsely clad in the blue and gray loin-cloth,
which scarcely concealed their nakedness: or fine youths,
bareheaded and burned red with the sun, toiling like

[figure description] Page 106.[end figure description]

cattle under heavy burdens, here and there upon a
naked shoulder visible a fresh crimson line where the
lash or the rod of an angered officer had left its mark!
There were young girls, too, whose beautiful faces,
though sun-burned and neglected, would have been the
envy of fair ladies in any court. These, as well as the
others of their sex, wore a sort of tight gown of coarse
material tied at the neck, with short close sleeves reaching
to the elbow. Their black or brown hair was tied
in a knot behind, or cut short. And occasionally I saw
a plain silver or other metallic ring upon a small hand,
showing that even bondage has not destroyed in woman
the love of jewels.

As we rode along, those Egyptians who were near the
road bowed the knee to the prince, and remained stationary
until he passed. We rode for a mile and a half
through this brick-field, when at its extremity we came
upon a large mean town of huts composed of reeds and
covered with straw.

“There,” said Remeses, “are the dwellings of the
laborers you have seen.”

These huts formed long streets or lanes which intersected
each other in all directions. There was not a tree
to shade them. The streets and doors were crowded
with children, and old Hebrew women who were left to
watch them while their parents were in the field. There
seemed to be a dozen children to every house, and some
of five and six years were playing at brick-making, one
of their number acting as a taskmaster, holding a whip
which he used with a willingness and frequency that
showed how well the Egyptian officers had taught the
lesson of severity and cruelty to the children of their

[figure description] Page 107.[end figure description]

victims. In these huts dwelt forty thousand Hebrews,
who were engaged either in making brick, or conveying
them to Raamses, close at hand, or in placing them in
mortar upon the walls.

We passed through the very midst of this wretched
village of bondmen, whose only food in their habitations
is garlic, and leeks, and fish or flesh, their drink the
turbid water of the Nile, unfiltered from its impurities
by means of porous stone and paste of almonds—a process
of art so well known to the Egyptians. On the
skirts of the village was a vast burial-place, without a
tomb or stone; for these Hebrews are too poor and
miserable to embalm their dead, even if customs of their
own did not lead them to place them in the earth. The
aspect of this melancholy place of sepulture was gloomy
enough. It had the look of a vast ploughed plain; but
infinitely desolate and hideous when the imagination
pictured the corruption that lay beneath each narrow
mound. I felt a sensation of relief when we left this
spot behind, and drove upon a green plateau which lay
between it and the treasure-city of the king. The place
we were crossing had once been the garden of Hermes
or Iosepf, the celebrated prince who about one hundred
and thirty years ago saved the inhabitants of Egypt from
perishing by famine, having received from the god
Osiris knowledge of a seven years' famine to befall the
kingdom, after seven years of plenty. This Prince Iosepf
or Joseph was also called Hermes, though he wrote not
all the books attributed to Hermes, as we in Phœnicia
understand of that personage.

“Was this Joseph an Egyptian?” I asked of the Prince
Remeses, as we dashed past the ruins of a palace in the
midst of the gardens.

[figure description] Page 108.[end figure description]

“No, a Hebrew,” he answered. “He was the favorite
of the Phœnician Pharaoh who commenced the
palaces of this City of Treasure.”

“A Hebrew!” I exclaimed. “Not one of the race I
behold about me toiling towards the city with sun-dried
bricks upon their heads, and whom I have seen at work
on the plain of bricks?”

“Of the same,” he answered.

“Your reply reminds me, O Remeses, that you have
promised to relate to me the history of this remarkable
people, who evidently, from their noble physiognomies,
belong to a superior race.”

“I will redeem my promise, my dear Sesostris, he
said, smiling, “as soon as I have left the chariot by yonder
ruined well, where I see the architect and his people,
whom I have come hither to meet, await me with their
drawings and rules.”

We soon drove up to the spot, having passed several
fallen columns, which had once adorned the baths of the
house of this Hebrew prince, who had once been such a
benefactor to Egypt; but, as he was the favorite of a
Phœnician king, the present dynasty neglect his monuments,
as well as deface all those which the Shepherd
Kings erected to perpetuate their conquest. Hence, it
is, dear mother, I find scarcely a trace of the dominion
in Lower Egypt of this race of kings.

The ruined well was a massive quadrangle of stone,
and was called the “Fountain of the Strangers.” It was
in ruins, yet the well itself sparkled with clear water as
in its ancient days. Grouped upon a stone platform, beneath
the shade of three palms, stood the party of artists
who awaited the prince. Their horses, and the cars

[figure description] Page 109.[end figure description]

in which they came, or brought their instruments, stood
near, held by slaves, who were watering the animals
from the fountain.

Upon the approach of the prince these persons, the
chief of whom was attired handsomely, as a man of
rank (for architects in Egypt are nobles, and are in
high place at court), bowed the knee reverently before
him. He alighted from his chariot, and at once began
to examine their drawings. Leaving him engaged in a
business which I perceived would occupy him some
time, I walked about, looking at the ancient fountain.
In order to obtain a view of the country, I ascended a
tower at one of its angles, which elevated me sixty feet
above the plain. From this height I beheld the glorious
City of the Sun, a league and a half to the north, rising
above its girdle of gardens in all its splendor. In the
mid-distance lay the plain of brick-workers, covered
with its tens of thousands of busy workers in clay.
Then, nearer still, stretched their squalid city of huts,
and the gloomy burial-place, bordering on the desert at
the farther boundary.

Turning to the south, the treasure-city of Raamses
lay before me, the one half ancient and ruinous, but the
other rising in grand outlines and vast dimensions,
stretching even to the Nile, which, shining and majestic,
flowed to the west of it. Further still the pyramids of
Memphis, the city itself of Apis, and the walls and temples
of Jisah towered in noble perspective. The Nile
was lively with galleys ascending and descending;
and upon the road that followed its banks many people
were moving, either on foot, in palanquins, chariots,
or upon horseback. Over the whole scene the bright

[figure description] Page 110.[end figure description]

sun shone, giving life and brightness to all I beheld.

To the east the illimitable desert stretched far away,
and I could trace the brown line of road along which the
caravans travel between the Nile cities and the port of
Suez, on the sea of Ezion-Geber, in order to unlade
there for ships from Farther Ind that are awaiting
them.

Almost beneath the crumbling tower, on which I
stood taking in this wide view of a part of the populous
valley of the Nile, wound a broad path, well trodden by
thousands of naked feet. It was now crowded with
Hebrew slaves, some going to the city with burdens of
brick slung at the extremities of wooden yokes laid
across the shoulder, or borne upon their heads, and
others returning to the plain after having deposited their
burdens. It was a broad path of tears and sighs, and no
loitering step was permitted by the overseers; for even
if one would stop to quench his thirst at the fountain, he
was beaten forward, and the blows accompanied with
execrations. Alas, mother, this cruel bondage of the
Hebrews is the only dark spot which I have seen in
Egypt,—the only shadow of evil upon the brilliant reign
of Queen Amense!

I took one more survey of the wide landscape, which
embraces the abodes of one million of souls; for in the
valley of Egypt are fourteen thousand villages, towns,
and cities, and a population of nearly seven millions.
Yet the valley of the Nile is a belt of verdure only a few
miles wide, bounded by the Libyan and Arabian hills.
Every foot of soil seems occupied, and every acre teems
with population. In the streets, in the gardens, in the

[figure description] Page 111.[end figure description]

public squares, in temples, and courts of palaces, in the
field, or on the river, one can never be alone, for he sees
human beings all about him, thronging every place,
and engaged either in business or pleasure, or the enjoyment
of the luxury of idleness in the shade of a column
or a tree.

Descending the tower, and seeing the prince still engaged
with his builders, pointing to the unfinished
towers of Raamses, and the site of the new palace he
proposed erecting near by, I went down the steps to the
fountain, to quaff its cool waters. Here I beheld an old
and majestic-looking man bending over a youth, a wound
in whose temple he was bathing tenderly with water
from the well. I perceived at a glance, by the acquiline
nose and lash-shaded dark, bright eye, that they
were Hebrews.

The old man had one of those Abrahamic faces I
have described as extant on the tomb of Eliezer of
Damascus: a broad, extensive, and high forehead; a
boldly-shaped eagle nose; full lips; and a flowing beard,
which would have been white as wool but that it was
stained yellow by the sun and soil. He wore the coarse,
short trowsers, and body cloth of the bond-slave, and old
sandals bound upon his feet with ropes. The young man
was similarly dressed. He was pale and nearly lifeless.
His beautiful head lay upon the edge of the fountain, and
as the old man poured, from the palm of his hand, water
upon his face he repeated a name, perhaps the youth's.
I stood fixed with interest by the scene. At this moment
an Egyptian taskmaster entered, and with his
rod struck the venerable man several sharp blows and
ordered him to rise and go to his task. He made no

[figure description] Page 112.[end figure description]

reply—regarded not the shower of blows—but bending
his eyes tearfully upon the marble face before him, with
his fingers softly removed the warm drops of blood that
stained the temples.

“Nay,” I said, quickly, to the Egyptian, “do not
beat him! See, he is old, and is caring for this poor
youth!”

The Egyptian looked at me with an angry glance, as
if he would also chastise the speaker for interfering;
when seeing from my appearance that I was a man of
rank, and perceiving, also, the prince through a passage
in the ruined wall, he bent his forehead low and said:

“My lord, I did not see you, or I would have taken
the idle graybeard out and beaten him.”

“But why beat him?” I asked.

“His load awaits him on the road where he dropped
it, when my second officer struck down this young
fellow, who stopped to gaze at a chariot!”

“What relation do they bear to each other?” said I.

“This is the old man's youngest son. He is a weak
fool, my lord, about him, and though, as you see, he can
hardly carry a full load for himself, he will try and add
to his own, a part of the bricks the boy should bear.
Come, old man, leave the boy and on to your work!”

The aged Hebrew raised to my face a look of despair
trembling with mute appeal, as if he expected no interposition,
yet had no other hope left.

“Leave them here,” I said. “I will be responsible
for the act.”

“But I am under a chief captain who will make me
account to him for every brick not delivered. The tale
of bricks that leaves the plain and that which is received

[figure description] Page 113.[end figure description]

are taken and compared. I have a certain number of
men and boys under me, and they have to make up in
their loads a given tale of bricks between sun and
sun. If they fail, I lose my wages!” This was spoken
sullenly.

“What is thy day's wages?” I demanded.

“A quarter of a scarabæus,” he answerd. This is
the common cheap coin, bearing the sacred beetle cut in
stone, copper, lead, and even wood. Higher values are
represented by silver, bronze, brass, and gold rings.
Money in disk-form I have not yet heard of in Egypt.
An Egyptian's purse is a necklace of gold rings of
greater or less value. The scarabæus is often broken in
four pieces, each fraction containing a hieroglyphic.
The value is about equal to a Syrian neffir.

I placed in his hand a copper scarabæus, and said:
“Go thy way! This shall justify thee to thy conscience.
These Hebrews are too helpless to be of further service
to thee this day.”

The taskmaster took the money with a smile of gratification,
and at once left the court of the fountain. The
old Hebrew looked at me with grateful surprise, caught
my hand, pressed it to his heart, and then covered it
with kisses. I smiled upon him with friendly sympathy,
and, stooping down, raised the head of the young man
upon my knee. By our united aid he was soon restored
to sensibility.

But, my dear mother, I will, with your permission,
continue my narrative in another letter. The trumpets,
which from the temple of Osiris proclaim that the last
rays of the setting sun are disappearing from its summit,
also warn me to draw my letter to a close. The

[figure description] Page 114.[end figure description]

incense of the altar rises into the blue and golden sky,
and typifies prayer. I will receive the lesson it teaches,
and retire to my oratory and pray, O mother, for thy
health and happiness and the prosperity of thy reign.

p611-124

City of On. My royal and beloved Mother:

[figure description] Page 115.[end figure description]

I will now continue the narrative of my interview
with the venerable bond-servant at the fountain or
“well of strangers,” near the treasure-city Raamses.

After the youth had recovered his senses, I was for a
few moments an object of profound surprise to him. He
surveyed me with mingled fear and wonder.

“My lord is good, fear him not, Israel,” said the old
man. The youth looked incredulous, and, had his
strength permitted, would have fled away from me. I
said—

“I am not thy taskmaster! Dread not my presence!”
The tone of my voice reassured him. He smiled gently,
and an expression of gladness lighted up his eyes. A
drop of blood trickled down his forehead and increased
the paleness of his skin.

“What is thy name?” I asked the old man, speaking
in Syriac, for in that tongue I had heard him murmur
the name of his son; and I have since found that all
Hebrews of the older class speak this language, or
rather Syro-Chaldaic. They also understand and speak
the Egyptian vernacular.

“Ben Isaac, my lord!” he answered.

[figure description] Page 116.[end figure description]

“Art thou in bondage?”

“I and my children, as my fathers were!”

“What brought thee and thy people into this servitude?”

“It is a sad history, my lord! Art thou then a
stranger in Egypt, that thou art ignorant of the story
of the Hebrew?”

“I am a Phœnician. I have been but a few weeks in
Egypt.”

“Phœnicia! That is beyond Edom; nay, beyond
Philistia,” he said musingly. “Our fathers came farther,
even from Palestine.”

“Who were your fathers?”

“Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

“I have heard of them, three princes of Syria, many
generations past!”

“Yes, my lord of Phœnicia,” said the venerable
man, his eyes lighting up; “they were princes in
their land! But, lo! this day behold their children
in bondage! And such a servitude!” he cried, raising
his withered hands heavenward. “Death, my lord,
is preferable to it! How long must we groan in slavery?
How long our little ones bear the yoke of Egypt?”

At this moment one of the footmen of Prince Remeses
found me and said:

“My lord prince seeks for thee!”

I put money in the hands of the venerable Hebrew
and his son, and left them amid their expressions of
grateful surprise. When I rejoined Remeses, he was
already in his chariot. Having placed myself by his
side, he said that he would now drive me around the
walls of the new city, and show me its general plan.

[figure description] Page 117.[end figure description]

He had explained all particulars with his builders, and
they were to commence the erection of the palace of the
governor the following week.

The wide circuit we made along the plain afforded
me a commanding view of the treasure-city in its progress.
The walls at one part were literally black with
slaves, who like ants traversed them, carrying their
burdens of bricks to those who laid the courses. A
vast pile, built more for strength than beauty, attracted
my notice. “That is one of the twelve great granaries
of the Prince Joseph, which he built one hundred and
fourscore years ago, in the twelve districts of Egypt.
It is still in use as such.” As we passed the gateway, I
perceived that the cartouch was defaced. Remeses said
that this was the act of Amunophis, when he came to
the throne, whose policy was to remove not only every
trace of the rule of the Palestinian kings, but all the
memorials which brought their dynasty to remembrance;
and these granaries of Pharaoh's prime minister,
Iosepf or Joseph, were among the noblest monuments
of the reign of the last of the foreign rulers, the
father of the Princess Ephtha, from whom Remeses is
descended, in the fourth generation only, I believe.

At length we stopped at a beautiful gate of a small
temple dedicated to Apis. Every part of it was minutely
and exquisitely sculptured. It contained a single
shrine, within which was the effigy of the sacred bull,
a cubit in length, of solid gold. Boys dressed in the
finest white linen were the officiating priests. While I
was admiring this miniature edifice and the richness of
all its appointments, Remeses said:—

“This is an affectionate tribute of a mother's love.

[figure description] Page 118.[end figure description]

On my twelfth birth-day she had this sacred fane dedicated
in honor of the event. Here she consecrated me
as a boy to the youthful god Horus. I remember
perfectly, the solemn impression the whole scene made
upon my heart and imagination. Once a year I come
hither and pass a night watching before its altar and in
prayer, rather in filial acquiescence with her wishes,
which to me are laws, than from reverence for the
god!”

We had already alighted, and were standing on the
portico of the temple, which was of crescent shape, and
bordered by a row of elegantly veined alabaster columns
from Alabastron, rich quarries of the Pharaohs near the
Cataracts. After examining the temple, and expressing
the admiration which it merited, we were going out,
when I saw a young Hebrew girl flying from the pursuit
of one of the taskmasters. Just as we were entering
the temple, I had seen her passing with many other
females, some laden with straw, others with bunches of
leeks and garlic, which they were taking to the fields
for the dinner of the laborers, who were not permitted
to go to their huts until dark, having left them at the
first blush of dawn to commence their ceaseless toils.
Those women who worked not in the brick-fields were
the providers of food for the rest. This young girl I
had noticed was bending painfully under an intolerable
load of garlic and leeks, which she bore upon her head,
and yet assisting a tottering woman, who was walking
by her side with an equally heavy burden of provisions,
in a coarse wicker-basket. I was struck with the elegance
of her figure and with the beauty of her face, as
well as with her kindness to her companion, when she

[figure description] Page 119.[end figure description]

herself needed aid. We were leaving the temple, as I
have said, when I beheld her flying. As she came near,
she saw the prince, and cast herself at his feet, embracing
them, and exclaiming—

“O my lord—O great and mighty god! mercy!—
save me!”

Remeses regarded her with surprise, and said, sternly,
yet not cruelly—

“What dost thou wish? Why dost thou fly from thy
taskmaster?”

“When I cast down my load and took up my mother's,
who was ready to die, he struck me because I could
not take both together. I would have done it, O lord
prince, but had not the strength.”

“Go back to thy task, young woman. Thou shalt not
be punished for a kind act to thy mother. The gods forbid
we should destroy all filial ties, even among our
slaves.” This last sentence was spoken rather with his
own mind than addressed to any one. “What is this I
hear?” he continued, speaking to the sub-officer, who,
seeing his slave seek the protection of Remeses, had
stopped, a short distance off, expecting to have her sent
back to him. “Didst thou strike this Hebrew girl?”

“She is wilful and intractable, your highness,” answered
the man humbly, “and—”

“Is there not a law forbidding blows to be given to
the females of this people? You will deliver your rod
of office to my chief servant here, and are no longer a
taskmaster. It shall be known, that it is the will of the
queen that women shall have light tasks, that they be
treated leniently, and not made to suffer the punishment
of blows.”

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The man, with a downcast face, came forward, and
placed his rod in the hands of the chief servant, who was
the captain of the twelve footmen of the prince's chariot,
and who, at a glance from his master, broke it, and cast
the pieces upon the ground. “Now go, and bring hither
the basket. I will see what are the burdens you place
upon the weak, and, henceforth, they shall be proportioned
to the strength of the bearer.”

The man returned several hundred yards along the
road, and after several strenuous efforts, with great
difficulty lifted the basket, and placed it at the prince's
feet. To the amazement of all about him he stooped
to raise the wicker-basket of leeks from the ground.
Putting forth his strength he lifted it, for he is a man
of great vigor, but immediately setting it down again,
he said, with indignation flashing from his eyes, as he
addressed the disgraced taskmaster—

“Seest thou what thou wouldst compel this frail child
to bear upon her head? Thou art cruel and barbarous!
Bind him! He shall go to prison.”

“My lord, I am not alone—”

“So much the worse. If the abuse is wide-spread, it
is time to correct it, and see that the law of the realm is
observed. Take him away!”

Two of the servants seized him, and, tying his hands
behind him with the thong of one of his own sandals,
led him away into the citadel of Raamses. The Hebrew
girl still kneeled, trembling and wondering. Remeses
spoke to her kindly, no doubt moved by her tears and
extraordinary beauty, and said—

“Go in peace, child. Return to thy mother. Fear
no more the rod of thy taskmasters. The hand of the

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first that is laid on a Hebrew woman shall be cut off
with a sword.”

The young girl kissed the sandaled feet of the prince,
and hastened to the spot where she had left her mother
seated on the ground. Remeses, with his eyes, followed
her, and sighed. Who can tell what heavy thoughts
were passing in his mind! When he comes to the
throne, I know him not, my mother, if the condition of
the Hebrews will not be greatly ameliorated, and their
lot rendered far happier. I saw the girl embrace and
raise her mother from the earth, and then supporting
her affectionately, lead her away towards a group of
huts, not far off, in one of which, probably, was their
abode.

“My Sesostris,” said the prince, “walk with me along
this terrace. I have yet to see the governor of the queen's
granaries, and will converse with thee until he arrives.”

The terrace ran along the south side of the low pyramidal
area on which the temple was elevated. From it
there was a lovely view of fields, and gardens, and
groves of palm and orange trees, extending over the land
of Goshen, which is the most fertile and highly-cultivated
portion of Egypt that I have seen. From the terrace,
steps of polished porphyry led to a garden fragrant
with flowers, which were cultivated alongside of the
temple, in order to make of them offerings of chaplets
to the god, who was crowned with them every morning
by the “flower priest.” The office of this dignitary was
as sacred as his who offered incense, which indeed is but
the fragrance of flowers in another form, purified by fire.
In this garden I saw the myrobalanum, with its rich
fruit, out of which a rare ointment is extracted for

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anointing the priests; the phœnicobalanus, which bears
an intoxicating fruit, and gives to the priests who eat of
it divining powers; the graceful palma, or sheath for the
palm-flowers; the almond-tree, brilliant with its flowering
branches; the wine-giving myxa; the ivory-palm
fruit, of which censers are made; the mimosa Nilotica,
and the golden olive of Arsinoë. All these grew on one
path, which traversed the garden close to the terrace,
and I enumerate them, dear mother, as I know your horticultural
taste, and that any thing about the plants of
Egypt will gratify you. I have already selected several
of the most beautiful, and intend, by the first ship that
sails for Tyre from the Nile, to forward them to you.
That they may be cared for, and rightly managed when
you receive them, I shall send with them an Egyptian
gardener. I have seen no oaks in Egypt, nor does our
majestic Libanian cedar grow here. It is a land rather
of flowers than of trees. The myrtle is everywhere
seen as an ornamental tree, and is highly odoriferous
in this climate. Here, I saw also the endive, and
the Amaracus, from the latter of which the celebrated
Amaracine ointment, used to anoint the Pharaohs, is expressed.
One bed of variegated flowers, at the end of
the terrace, attracted my attention from their combined
splendor. There were the edthbah, with its proud purple
flower; the ivy-shaped-leaved dulcamara, used by the
priests for sacred chaplets; also the acinos, of which
wreaths are made by maidens, to wear intermingled with
their braided tresses. Above all towered the heliochrysum,
with which the gods are crowned, and by it grew
its rival, the sacred palm, the branches of which are
borne at the feasts of Isis.

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There were many other rare and beautiful plants, but
I have enumerated these to show you what a land of
flowers is this sunny land of Osiris and Isis.

The prince, after we had once traversed the terrace in
silence, turned his thoughtful face towards me and said,
betraying what was upon his thoughts—

“Prince, this is the problem of Egypt. Its solution
calls for greater wisdom than belongs to man!”

“You mean the bondage of the Hebrew people?” I
answered, at once perceiving the meaning of his words.

“Yes,” he replied, with a sigh and a grave brow. “I
have promised to acquaint you with their history.
Listen, and as far as I know it you shall have it given
to you. Our records, kept and preserved by the priests
in the Hall of Books in the Temple of the Sun, give the
following account of the origin of this race, which, allowing
for the errors that are interwoven in all mere
tradition, is, no doubt, worthy of credit.

“About four hundred years ago,” says the History of
the Priests, “there arrived in the land of Palestine a
Syrian prince from Mesopotamia or Assyria, with large
flocks and herds; having formed an alliance with Melchisedec,
king of Salem, the two dwelt near one another
in peace and friendship,—for not only was the Assyrian
wise and upright, but the gods were with him, and blessed
and prospered him in all that he did.”

“This Melchisedec the king,” I said, “was also favored
of his god; and his virtues have come down to us fragrant
with the beauty of piety and good deeds.”

“Tradition has been faithful to him,” answered Remeses.
“Among the Arabian priests of Petra he is held as
a god, who came down on earth to show kings how to

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reign and benefit mankind. With him the Prince of
Assyria, Abram, was on terms of the closest friendship.
At length a famine arising in the land where he dwelt,
he came down into Egypt just after the invading hosts
of Phœnicia and Palestine had inundated our kingdom,
and conquering On and Memphis, had subdued Lower
Egypt, and set up their foreign dynasty, known as that
of the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings.”

“This history is well known to our archives kept in
the temple of Astarte at Tyre,” I answered; “and therein
we learn that the hero Saites, who had a warlike spirit
which could not find field in Lower Syria, was threatened
by famine, and hearing of the abundance in Egypt
and the splendor of its cities, combined with the enervating
habits which grow out of luxury and unbroken
peace, he conceived the idea of its invasion; and at the
head of an undisciplined but brave army of one hundred
and seventy thousand men, horsemen and footmen, with
three hundred chariots of iron, he descended through
Arabia Deserta, and entered Egypt by the desert of the
sea, capturing and fortifying Ezion-Geber on his march.”

“These particulars are not so fully given by our historians,”
answered Remeses. “This ambitious warrior
having entered the Sethroite country, encamped and
founded a city which he made his arsenal of war; and
from it he sent out his armies and conquered Memphis
and the whole of Lower Egypt. The kings of Egypt,
abandoning to him Lower Egypt, retired with their
court and army to the Thebaïd, and were content to
reign there over half the kingdom, while the haughty
conquerors established their foreign throne at Memphis.

[figure description] Page 125.[end figure description]

“It was,” continued Remeses, “during the reign of
Bnon, the first Phœnician Pharaoh after the death of
the conqueror, that Abram came into Egypt. He had
known this prince in Palestine when he was in his youth,
and the king gladly welcomed so powerful a lord and
warrior, who had in battle overthrown Chedorlaomer,
the mighty King of Elam, and whose language was
nearly similar to his own. This Prince Abram dwelt in
Egypt during the continuance of the famine in Syria,
and near the court of the king, who not only took him
into his counsels, but lavished upon him great riches.
`But the king,' says the history, `becoming enamored of
the beautiful Princess Sara, the wife of the Lord of
Palestine, Abram removed from his court; and with
great riches of gold, silver, cattle, and servants, marched
out of Egypt into Arabia of the South, and so to his
own city.”'

“It is probably,” I said, “from this fact of Prince
Abram's coming into Egypt about the time that the
Phœnicians came, that some traditions have made him
its conqueror and the founder of the dynasty of the
Shepherd Kings.”

“Yes; for this Abram was not only eminent as a warlike
prince, but his usual retinue was an army, wherever
he moved; and no doubt Bnon, the king, willingly let
him depart when he had offended him, rather than meet
the valor of the arm which had already slain five kings
of the East, and taken their spoil. At length Prince
Abram died and left a son, who succeeded him not
only in his riches but his wisdom. After a time he also
died and left a son, Prince Jacob, who had twelve sons,
all princes of valor—but who, like the Arabians of

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today, lived a nomadic life. One of these brothers was
beloved of his father more than the others; and, moved
by envy, they seized upon him and sold him to a caravan
of the bands of Ishmael, the robber king of Idumea,
as it was on its way to Egypt. These barbarians sold
the young Prince Joseph to an officer of the king's palace,
Potipharis, captain of the guard, whose descendant,
Potiphar-Meses, is the general of cavalry you met at the
queen's banquet. This officer became the friend of the
young Syrian, and raised him to a place of honor in his
household. In the course of time the king, who was
the eminent Pharaoh-Apophis, dreamed a dream which
greatly troubled his mind, and which neither his soothsayers,
magicians, nor the priests could interpret. Joseph,
who was eminent for his piety, love of truth, and
devotion to his God, being in prison—to which, on some
false charge of seeking the love of his master's wife, he
had been committed—had interpreted the dreams of
two prisoners, one of whom, being released and hearing
of the king's dream, sent him word that while in prison
the Hebrew captive had truly interpreted a dream, which
both he and his companion had dreamed. Thereupon
Pharaoh sent for the Hebrew, who interpreted his dream,
which prophesied seven years of great plenty, such as
was never known in Egypt, and seven years to follow
them of such scarcity as no kingdom on earth had ever
suffered from. And when the Hebrew had recommended
the king to appoint an officer to gather in the
corn during the years of plenty, and to husband it in
treasure-houses against the seven years of scarcity, Apophis
at once elevated him to that high position. Removing
from his hand his own signet ring, he placed it

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upon the finger of Joseph; and, having arrayed him in
vestures of fine linen and placed a gold chain about his
neck, presented him with the second state-chariot to ride
in, and made him ruler over all his realm, commanding
all men to bow the knee before him as to a prince of the
blood, and second in power only to himself.”

“And these,” I said, glancing at a group of Hebrew
laborers not far off, who were seated upon a ruin eating
garlic and coarse bread for their noon-day meal—“and
these are of the same blood?”

“Yes, Sesostris! But you shall hear their history.
This Joseph reigned in Egypt above threescore years,
holding in his hand the supreme power, save only that
he wore not the crown of Apophis, who, given up to
pleasure or to war, gladly relieved himself of the active
cares of state. But while he was early in power, and
yet a young man, his father and brothers were driven
into Egypt by the seven years' famine, which followed
the seven years of plenty?”

“Then,” I interrupted, “the dream of Pharaoh was
rightly read by the Hebrew youth?”

“In all particulars he interpreted it with the wisdom
of a god, who sees into the future as into the past! But,
to resume my narrative—he recognized his father, Jacob,
and his brethren.”

“Did he make use of his power to punish the latter
for their cruelty in selling him into bondage?”

“On the contrary, he forgave them! At first they
did not recognize their shepherd brother in the powerful
and splendid prince of Egypt, before whom they
came under his name of Hermes-Osiris, which Pharaoh
had conferred upon him.”

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“It must have been both a wonderful surprise and a
source of terror to them when they at length found in
whose presence they bowed,” I said, picturing in my
mind the scene when they perceived who he was. I
imagined not only the trembling fear of the men, but
the joy of the venerable father.

“Doubtless a most touching and interesting interview,”
answered Remeses. “Instead of avenging their
cruelty he entertained them in his palace with a banquet,
and afterwards solicited of Pharaoh, who refused
him no request, that his father and brethren might dwell
in the land.”

At this moment a tall Hebrew young man passed,
returning with a proud, free step, having carried his burden
and placed it by a well, which some workmen were
repairing. I gazed upon him with interest, fancying I
beheld in his face the lineaments of the prince of whom
Remeses was talking. I thought, too, the eyes of my
companion followed the youthful bondman, as he went
away, with something like a kindred sentiment; for; as
he discoursed of the glory and virtues of Prince Joseph,
it was impossible that we should not be drawn nearer, as
it were, to these hapless captives of his race.

“It was in this part of Egypt where the Syrian patriarch
dwelt. This very temple is erected upon the site
of his habitation, and from here, as far as you can
see, stretched the rich fields and fertile plains occupied
by him, his sons, and their descendants. Here
they erected cities, most of which were destroyed by the
subsequent dynasty, with all the monuments of Joseph's
power; and here they dwelt for seventy years in peace
and plenty, increasing in numbers, wealth, and

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intelligence—their best-educated men holding offices in the
state, and commanding the respect and confidence not
only of the king, but of the Egyptians.”

But, my dear mother, it is time I close this letter.
Until I again take up my pen to write you, remain assured,
I pray you, of my filial reverence and love.

p611-139

Palace of Amense. My honored and beloved Mother:

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My last letter closed with the narration of a history
of the Hebrews, from the lips of Prince Remeses,
to which I listened as we walked to and fro on the terrace
of the temple. I will in this letter continue, or
rather conclude, the subject, feeling that it will have
interested you quite as deeply as it has engaged my
attention.

The governor of the queen's granaries having arrived,
mounted upon a handsomely caparisoned horse, and attended
by runners, the prince at once gave him the
orders for which he came, and then, dismissing him with
a waive of his hand, turned to me, as I was watching
the majestic flight of several eagles of prey, which,
circling above my head at a great height, with seemingly
immovable wings, through cutting the air so swiftly,
gradually diminished the circles of their flight, and
descended upon some object not far distant, on the road
leading to another treasure-city, called Pithom, many
leagues up the Nile, which the Hebrews had built for
Amunophis L., threescore years and more ago.

“I will now resume my history of the Hebrews, my
dear Sesostris,” said the prince, “and will be brief, as

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we must return to On. The Prince Joseph, as I have
said, obtained for his father and brethren all this fair
plain, the heart and beauty of Egypt. Here they dwelt
when the old man died, after seventeen years' residence
in Egypt; and the Hebrew prime minister of the king
made for his father a funeral such as few kings receive.
It is said to have been more magnificent than that of
Osirtasen I., of which our poets have sung. By Pharaoh's
command, as his favorite wished to bury his father
in Palestine, a vast army went up with the body,—
chariots, horsemen, and footmen,—so that to this day the
splendor and pomp of the funeral is a tradition throughout
the lands they traversed. Joseph then returned to
Egypt, and ruled sixty-one years, until both he and
Apophis the king were waxed in years. At length
he died, and was embalmed, and his body placed in the
second pyramid, which you behold a little to the right
of Memphis. There his body does not now rest, for,
after the expulsion of the Phœnician dynasty, the Hebrews
secretly removed it, and its place of concealment
is known only to themselves. There is a saying among
them that the bones of this prince shall rise again, and
that he shall go with them forth from Egypt to a new
and fair country beyond Arabia.”

“Then they have a hope of being one day delivered
from their present condition?” I asked.

“It is a part of their faith, and inborn, if I may so
speak. It is this hope, I think, which makes them bear
up so patiently under their servitude.”

“And how, noble Remeses, were they reduced to bondage
in the fair land wherein they once dwelt so peacefully,
under the benign sway of their mighty brother?”

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“The answer to this question, my Sesostris,” said the
prince, “will involve a history of the overthrow of the
dynasty of the Phœnician conquerors, which lasted over
two hundred years, with a succession of six kings. Upon
the death of the Prince Joseph in his one hundred and
tenth year, Apophis the king, being also of great age, became
incapable of managing his kingdom, which he had
for sixty years intrusted to the hands of his Hebrew prime
minister. Ignorant of the true condition of his government—
known to but few of his subjects—aged and imbecile,
he was incapable of holding the reins of state, left by
the Hebrew in his hands. The ever-jealous and watchful
king of the Thebaïd, in Upper Egypt, did not delay
to take advantage of an opportunity like this to attempt
the restoration, in Lower Egypt, of the ancient throne
of the native Pharaohs, by the expulsion of the usurping
dynasty. But, my Sesostris, you know well the
subsequent history—how Pharaoh Amosis, with his Theban
hosts, drove them from city to city, and finally pursued
them into Arabia, whence they settled in the land
of the Philistines, and, capturing Salem, made it their
capital city—at least such is one of the traditions.”

“They held it for a time,” I answered, “but, being
driven from it by the King of Elam, they subsequently
fortified Askelon. They are still a powerful people,
under the name of Philistines; and, what is singular,
retain scarcely a custom derived from the two hundred
and twenty-five years' residence and reign in Egypt.”

“It is not more remarkable than the fact that their
domination here made no impression upon the people of
Egypt; they left no words of their own in our language,
and no customs of theirs were adopted by the Egyptians

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They simply held military possession of the kingdom,
living in fortified cities and levying tribute upon the
people for their support. The few monuments they
erected were defaced or overthrown by the victorious
Theban king and restorer, Amosis, my great ancestor,
or by his successor, Amunophis I.

“When these invaders were expelled from Lower
Egypt, then the two crowns of the Thebaïd and Memphitic
kingdoms became united in the person of Amunophis,
the son of `the Restorer,' and it is this Thebaïd
dynasty which now holds the sceptre of the two kingdoms,
and which is represented in the person of my
mother, the daughter of Amunophis, who died when
she was a young girl. She has ever since reigned with
the title of `the Daughter of Pharaoh,' being so called
by the people when she ascended the throne of Memphis
and Thebes. But my dear prince,” said Remeses,
with a smile, “I have been giving you the history of
the dynasty of my race, rather than of the Hebrew
people.”

“I am not the less interested, dear Remeses,” I said,
“and perceive that the two histories are naturally
united.”

“Yes. The new king, Amosis, called `Restorer,' upon
the obelisk at Memphis which bears his name, and upon
which the scenes of the expulsion of these Philistine soldier-monarchs
are depicted with great spirit and fidelity—
the new king, I say, upon driving out the invaders,
keeping the Phœnician king's fair daughter, Ephtha, as
his wife, turned his attention to the other class of strangers,
who had the fairest portion of Egypt for their pos
session. He accordingly visited, in state, the city of

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Succoth, in the province of Goshen, which they had built
and beautified during the seventy years they had dwelt
there under Prince Joseph's mild and partial rule. It
was without walls, wholly unfortified, and had not even
a temple—for the Hebrews of the better class worship
only with the intellect, a spiritual Deity in his
unity.”

“Which, if I dare speak so boldly to you, O Remeses,”
I said, “appears to me to be the noblest species of worship,
and the purest sort of religion for an intellectual
being.”

“Sayest thou?” quickly demanded the prince, surveying
my face with his full bright gaze. “Thou art in
advance of the rest of mankind, my Sesostris! The same
feeling exists in my own bosom; but I believed myself
alone in experiencing it. Some day we will hold discourse
together on this high mystery. There seems to
come up from my childhood a voice which I can never
silence, and which I hear loudest when I am most solemnly
engaged in the sacred rites of the altars of our
gods, saying—

“`Son of earth, there is but one GOD, invisible, eternal,
uncreated, and whose glory He will not share with
another; worship Him with the spirit and with the understanding.”
'

“This is remarkable,” I said, “for such also is the
mystery taught by the priests of Chaldea, of whom Melchisedec
was the first high-priest. I have read their
sacred books in Damascus.”

“I have never seen them; yet this voice forces itself
upon me everywhere, my Sesostris. All is dark and
inscrutable to us mortals. We hang our faith upon a

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tradition, and our hopes upon a myth. We feel ourselves
equal or superior to the deities we worship, and
find no repose in the observances our religion demands.
Would that I had the power to penetrate the blue
heavens above us and find out God, and know what life
means, and whence we came and whither we go.”

“Once across the Lake of the Dead,” I answered,
“and all will be revealed. Osiris in his vast judgment-hall
will give each soul the key of the past and the
future.”

“So say the priests, and so we believe. But to return
to the Hebrews. Another time we will discourse on these
themes. The new king hearing that two hundred thousand
and more foreigners dwelt here, called all the
elders and chief men before him; and when he had
questioned them and heard their history, and had learned
that the Prince Joseph, who had done so much to uphold
and consolidate the Phœnician rule, was one of their
ancestors, his wrath was presently kindled against them.
He saw in them the friends and adherents of the overthrown
dynasty; both as allied by blood to the great
Hebrew prime-minister, and as originating from the
same country with the expelled Phœnician king. He,
therefore, perceiving they were not a warlike people,
and could not be dreaded as an army, instead of declaring
war against them and driving them out of Egypt, as
he had done the Syrian kings, resolved to reduce them
to servitude like captives taken in war. Having come
to this resolution, he held as prisoners the chief men
before him, and placed the whole people under the yoke
of bondage, enrolling them under task-officers, and putting
them to work upon the cities, temples, palaces, and

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canals, which the Phœnicians had either destroyed, or
suffered to fall into ruin. This was the beginning, my
Sesostris, of the subjugation to perpetual labor of these
Syrians or Hebrews in the very land where one of their
family had ruled next to the throne. They have been
engaged since in building cities, and walls, and in cultivating
and irrigating the royal wheat-fields; aiding in
hewing stone in the quarries, and in all other works of
servitude: but as the making of bricks requires no intelligence,
and as it was not the policy of Amunophis-Pharaoh
to elevate their intellects, but the contrary, lest
they should prove troublesome, they have chiefly been
kept to this, the most degrading of all labor.”

“How long is it that they have been in this condition?”
I asked.

“About one hundred and five or six years have
elapsed since the death of Prince Joseph. But they
were gradually reduced to their present state. During
the latter years only of Amunophis were their tasks increased.
They, nevertheless, multiplied in such numbers
that the king began to apprehend danger to his
crown from their multitude.”

“Were there men among them who sought to free
their fellows?” I inquired.

“Always, and to this hour. They are a proud,
haughty, resolute, and stubborn race. They bend to the
yoke, indeed, but with hatred of the oppressor, not with
the willing submission of the Libyan or Nubian captive.
The king had reason to fear from the increase of their
numbers, when he found the census of this people gave
more than a million of souls, while the number of his
own subjects in both provinces did not exceed six

[figure description] Page 137.[end figure description]

millions; his own Thebans not amounting to as many as
the Hebrews numbered. Upon this he became alarmed,
for he was about entering into a war with the kings of
Syro-Arabia, and apprehended that being of the same
Syrian stock they might join themselves to his enemies.
He, therefore, increased their burdens and taskmasters
in order to keep them in closer subjugation; but the
more he oppressed them the more they multiplied. In
relating these facts, O prince, do not think I approve
of cruelty even in my royal ancestor. It was, no
doubt, a great wrong in the beginning inflicted upon
them, in making them servants, and the subsequent
series of oppressions were but the natural results of the
first act. It was one unmixed evil throughout. Having
committed the manifest error in the outset, of enslaving
them to the crown, it now became a necessary policy
to prevent their dangerous increase. He would not
send them with his army into Arabia lest they should
join his enemies. He, therefore, to keep down their
numbers, ordered all the male infants as soon as born to
be put to death by the Egyptian women.”

“A dreadful alternative!” I exclaimed.

“Yes, and one not to be defended,” answered Remeses,
in a decided tone. “But Amunophis, having caught
the lion by the jaws, was compelled either to destroy
him, or be destroyed himself. The result of the edict
was, that many perished. The Nile, it is said, was constantly
bearing down upon its bosom corpses of new-born
Hebrew babes,”

“Dreadful!” I ejaculated.

“It became so to the king. But he felt that one or
the other must perish, and that these innocent infants

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must die for the future safety of the kingdom. There
were sad and tragic scenes! Many a Hebrew mother
fought to save her infant, or perished with it clasped to
her heart! Many a desperate father resisted the soldiers
who sought his hut for his concealed child, and died on
the threshold, in the ineffectual effort to save his son!
You perceive, Sesostris, that I speak with emotion. I
have heard the scenes of that era described by those
who witnessed them. I was an infant at the time, and
do not speak of my own knowledge; but many live who
then saw tragedies of horror such as few lands have witnessed.
Had I been Amunophis I think I should have
devised some other way to ward off the anticipated danger
from my kingdom. But this sanguinary edict was
unsuccessful. The Egyptian nurses were tenderer of
heart than the king, and saved many to the tears and
entreaties of mothers. Thousands of mothers, stifling
every cry of nature, gave birth secretly, and in silence, to
their babes, and the fathers or friends stood ready to fly
with it to some prepared concealment. Thousands were
thus saved, as the innumerable multitudes of men you
have beheld this day toiling in the fields, making brick
to build up Raamses, bear witness. The edict continued
in force for two years, when Amunophis died. After
the seventy days of mourning were ended, his daughter
Amense, who had been married to the prince of the
Thebaïd, a nephew of Amunophis, but had been left a
widow about the time of her father's death, came to the
throne as the next in succession to the double crown.
With the sceptre was bequeathed to her the iron chain
that bound the Hebrews. Young, inexperienced in rule,
without advisers, my mother knew not how to solve the

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problem these enslaved Syrians presented to her. As a
woman, she felt that she could originate no new policy.
But prompted by humanity, the first act of her power
was to repeal the edict commanding the death of the
infants. This act alone kindled in the hearts of the
whole of the oppressed people a sentiment of gratitude.
On the contrary, her lords, generals, chief princes of the
nomes, and dukes of cities, with one voice assured her
that this act of clemency would destroy her throne.
But you see, my Sesostris, that it still stands. For
thirty-four years she has reigned over the empire of
Egypt, and it has never before reached so high a degree
of prosperity, power, and strength. Her armies of the
east, and of the south, and of Libya, are superior to
those of all nations.”

“Yet is the problem more intricate, and farther from
solution than ever,” I said to the prince. “The Hebrew
is still in the land, still increasing in numbers, and
now far more formidable than in the reign of your
grandsire, Amunophis.”

“This is true. My mother and I have talked for
hours together upon the theme. She, with her woman's
gentler nature, would not oppress them, yet has
she been compelled by necessity to hold them in strict
subjugation, lest they become a formidable element
of insurrection in the kingdom. So far as is consistent
with safety to her two crowns, she mitigates the severity
of their condition; and as you have understood, has forbidden
the women to be struck with blows, or put to heavy
toil. Still it is not easy, among so many thousand task-masters,
and so many myriads of bondmen, to oversee
all individual acts of oppression; but when brought to

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our notice they are severely punished. The condition of
the Hebrew is an incubus upon the soul of my noble
mother, and if it were in her power, with safety to her
subjects, to release them to-morrow from their bondage,
she would do so. But state policy demands imperatively,
rigid supervision, severe discipline, and constant
labor, lest being idle, and at liberty to go where they
choose, they conspire against us. Several times agents
from the King of Ethiopia, our natural and hereditary
foe, with whom we are almost always at war, have been
discovered among them; and arms have been placed in
their possession by the spies of the Queen of Arabia.
They have, moreover, among them men of courage and
talent, who, like their ancestor, Prince Abraham, possess
warlike fire, and, like the Prime Minister Joseph, have
wisdom in council, to advise and rule. Such persons,
among slaves, are to be feared, and there is necessary a
certain severity, you would call it oppression, to keep
down all such spirit.”

“The burdens of these Hebrews still seem very
heavy, O Remeses,” I said.

“They doubtless are; but their condition is far lighter
than it has been. They are allotted certain tasks, according
to their strength, and if these are done early
they have the rest of the day to themselves.”

“And if late?”

“They must complete their tale of bricks, unless disabled
by sickness. Blows are not given to men unless
they are wilful and insubordinate. Once a year the
queen visits all the Hebrews in the country of Avaris,
of which Goshen forms but a part, and regulates abuses.
The Hebrew always has the right of appealing to the

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governor of the province, against his taskmaster, if cruelly
treated. All that the queen can do is to execute
with severity the laws against oppressing them.”

“This Hebrew people, O Remeses,” I said, as he
ceased speaking, “are the cloud which overshadows
Egypt. I foresee danger to the dynasty from it.”

“I have in vain tried to settle upon some policy, to
be pursued—when I come to the throne, if it please
Heaven that my mother depart this life before me, (I
pray the god to keep her to a good old age)—in reference
to them. But my wisdom is at fault. When I
take the sceptre I shall feel that the bondage of the
Hebrew, which I inherit with it, will make it lead in
my hand.”

While he was speaking, the impatient pawing of his
spirited chariot-horses, restrained with difficulty by three
footmen, reminded him that we were delaying at Raamses
when we ought to be on our way back to On.

“Come, Sesostris, let us get upon the chariot and
return, for I promised to dine with my mother and the
Lord Prince Mœris to-day; and it is already past noon
by the shadow of that obelisk.”

We stood upon the silver-chased chariot, and taking
the leopard-skin reins in his left hand, he made a sign to
his footmen, who, springing away from the heads of the
fretting and frothing horses, let them fly. Away, like
the wind, we swept the plain in front of the treasure-city;
along the plateau where had stood the palace
and gardens of Joseph, the lord of Egypt; past the
ruined strangers' fountain, where I had talked with the
venerable Ben Isaac and his handsome son; past a well
beside which Jacob had his great house, during the

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seventeen years he lived in Goshen, the ruins of which
were visible a little ways off to the east. On we rolled,
preceded and followed by the fleet-footed runners,
across the plain of the Hebrew brick-makers, who still
bent to their labors. Women and children, with dark
fine eyes and raven hair, gathering straw by the wayside
or in the stubble-fields, were passed in vast numbers.
Crossing an open space, I saw before me a black mass
on the ground, which, as we advanced, proved to be a
crowd of vultures or carrion eagles, that slowly and reluctantly
moved aside at our coming; and the next
moment our horses shied at the dead body of a man,
around which they had been gathered feasting upon the
flesh. The long beard and dark hair, the coarse blue
loin-cloth, and the pile of bricks at his side, told the
whole tale. It was an emaciated Hebrew, who had
perished on the road-side under his burden.

I did not look at Remeses. I knew that he saw and
felt. He reined up, and sternly commanded two of
his footmen to remain and bury the body.

“Sesostris,” he said, as we went forward again, “what
can be done? Humanity, piety, and every element of
the soul call for the deepest commiseration of this unhappy
people. I sometimes feel that it would be better
to send them in a mass out of Egypt into Arabia, and
follow them with an army to see that they went beyond
our boundaries, and then establish a cordon of military
posts from Ezion-Geber, on the Arabian Sea, to the
shores of the Great Sea, north. But how could we
provide food for such a host, now amounting to two and
a half millions of people? Thousands would perish in
the wilderness for want of water and food. Only a

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miracle of the gods could preserve them, their women
and children, from a lingering death. And would not
this be more cruel than the edict of Amunophis; only
executing it in an indirect way, and on a gigantic scale?
I would, were I Pharaoh to-day, give the half of my
kingdom to the wise man who could devise a practicable
way of freeing Egypt from the Hebrews, without destroying
them or suffering them to die in the wilderness.
If men are ever deified, such a benefactor would deserve
the honor.”

These words, my dear mother, were spoken with deep
feeling, and showed me that the heart of Remeses is
manly and tender, that his sentiments are always elevated
and noble, and that the oppression of the Hebrew
is not so much the fault of himself or of the queen
mother, as it is the irresistible sequence of causes which
were in action before they were born; and to the effects
of which they must yield, until the gods in their wisdom
and power make known to them the way to remove
from the land so great an evil: for none but the Deity
Supreme is wise enough to solve this intricate problem
of Egypt. Certain it is, that if the Hebrews go on multiplying
and growing as they now do, in another generation
they will outnumber the Egyptians, and will need only
a great leader like their warlike ancestor Prince Abram,
or the hero king of Philistia, who established the Phœ
nician dynasty, to enable them to subvert the kingdom,
and upon its ruins establish another Syro-Hebraic
dynasty. One of their ancestors has already ruled
Egypt, and another may yet sit in the very seat of the
Pharaohs.

As we re-entered the City of the Sun, we passed by

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the base of an obelisk which Queen Amense is erecting
to mark the era and acts of her long reign. Upon it
were sculptured representations of her battles with the
Ethiopians, her wars with Libya, and her conquest of
Arabia. The work was executed by Phœnician and
Egyptian artists; and I am rejoiced to see that the
painters of Tyre and the sculptors of Sidon are greatly
esteemed for the delicacy and perfection of their work.
When these persons saw me, they dropped their pencils
and chisels, and with their hands upon their bosoms,
manifested every sign of delight. You may suppose I
responded with more than usual gratification to the
homage thus paid me; for in a foreign land the sight of
the humblest of one's own countrymen, refreshes the
eye and warms the heart.

But I have too long occupied your time, dearest
mother, with one letter.