ments, but the crowd becomes clamorous and aggressive, and would probably carry off Hassan, bag and all, but for the governor, who restores order with his stick. We return to our donkeys, having had an interesting but rather wearying day. And in the morning, before we are up, our boat has turned its prow and we are going home.

ence.

On our way home we stopped long enough to allow all of the party but Sami Bey and the writer to visit the tombs. of the kings. I had letters to write, and we were running swiftly toward mails and mailing distance from New York. We stopped over night at Keneh, and saw our old friend the governor, who came down on his donkey and drank a cup of coffee. We stopped an hour at Siout, and two of our missionary friends came on board and told us the news from the war and from home. We gathered around them in anxious wonder, hearing how Adrianople had fallen, how Derby had resigned, and how England was to go armed into the European confer"I begin to think now," said the General, "for the first time, that England may go in." Some one proposes laughingly that the General, who is on his way to Turkey, should offer the Sultan his services. No," he said, "I have done all the fighting I care to do, and the only country I ever shall fight for is the United States." On the 3d of February we reached Memphis. The minarets of Cairo were in sight, and we found General Stone waiting for us with a relay of attendants and donkey-boys from Cairo. We were all glad to see our amiable and accomplished friends, and we had another shower of news, which came, to use a figure that is not quite original, like rain upon the sandy soil. We mounted for our last sight-seeing ride on the Nile, to visit the ruins of Memphis and the tomb of the sacred bulls.

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It was believed in the Egyptian mythology that the god Osiris came to earth and allowed himself to be put to death in order that the souls of the people might be saved. After his death there was a resurrection, and the immortal part of him passed into a bull-called Apis. The bull could only be known by certain signs written in the sacred books and kept by tra

dition. These signs were known to the priests. When they found the calf bearing these marks he was fed for four months on milk in a house facing the rising sun. He was then brought

to Memphis and lodged in a palace, and worshiped with divine honors. The people came to him as an oracle. When he passed through the town he was escorted with pomp, children singing hymns in his honor. The greatest care was taken of his life. At the end of twenty-five years, unless natural causes intervened, the reign of Apis came to an end. Another calf was found bearing the sacred signs. The bull was marched to the fountain of the priests and drowned with ceremony. He was embalmed and buried in the tombs which we visited at Memphis. Our ride to Memphis was a pleasant one, a part of it being through the desert. We passed close to the pyramid of Memphis, which is only an irregular, zigzag mass of stones. Brugsch tells us it is very old, but with no especial historical value. The ruins of Memphis are two or three tombs, and the serapeum or mausoleum of the sacred bulls. One of the tombs was opened, and we went through it, noting, as we had so often before, the minuteness and care of the decoration. There were other tombs, but to prevent the modern travelers from breaking them to pieces they were covered with sand. What a comment upon our civilization that Egypt can only preserve her tombs and monuments from Christian vandals by burying them!

We then made our way to the serapeum. While on our journey we heard the story of the discovery of this remarkable monument. Mariette Bey, who still serves the Khedive, was directing excavations, and especially at Memphis. He had long believed that the tomb of the bulls could be found. So here he came and lived, working in the sand for two or three years, with a blind faith in his theory. You cannot imagine anything more unsatisfactory or discouraging than this digging in the sand. In an hour or a day a wind may come up and undo the work of months. Mariette Bey had his own discouragements, but he kept courageously on, and was rewarded by the discovery of the most important of the Egyptian monuments. We heard this story as we groped our way down

to the tombs.

We entered a long arched passage with parallel passages. Candles had been placed at various points. On each side of this passage were the tombs. Each tomb was in its alcove. The bull was placed in a huge granite sarcophagus, the surface finely polished and covered with inscriptions. These coffins were stupendous, and it is a marvel how such a mass of granite could have been moved through this narrow channel and into these arches. We lit a magnesium wire and

examined one or two very carefully. The tombs had all been violated by the early conquerors, Persians and Arabs, to find gold and silver. In most cases the cover had been shoved aside enough to allow a man to enter. In others the sides had been broken in. The inside was so large that four of our party climbed up a ladder and descended. There was room for three or four more. There were tombs enough to show that the bull had been worshiped for centuries. When we finished this study we rode back to our boat. The sun was going down as we set out on our return, and as we

were passing through a fertile bit of Egypt-a part not affected by the bad Nile-the journey was unusually pleasant. After the parched fields and sandy stretches of the Upper Nile, it was grateful to bathe in the greenery of this Memphis plain, to see the minarets of Cairo in the distance, to feel that we were coming back to a new civilization. The sky lit up with the rosiest tints, one mass of the softest rose and pink-a vast dome glowing with color-starless, cloudless, sunless, it was that

I have seen no

brief twilight hour, which we have seen so often on the Nile, and the memory of which becomes a dream. sky so beautiful as that which came to us when we bade farewell to Memphis. We reached our boat and gave the night to preparations for landing.

It is hard to do anything for the last time, and notwithstanding we were all very busily engaged collecting and packing the various articles of our wardrobe, as well as the numerous mementoes of our journey, I am quite sure all felt a little sad over the close of what had been a brief and joyous experience through this wonderful land of the sun.

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We had seen the Nile for a thousand miles from its mouth, with no want of either comfort or luxury, and had made the trip much more rapidly than is the custom; as Sami Bey remarked, it had been the most rapid trip he had ever known. Now, when there was no help for it, we began to wish we had seen more of Denderah, and had not been content with so hurried a visit to Karnak-Karnak, the grandest and most imposing ruin in the world. But, you see, we have letters to read from dear ones at home, and we have come to feel the world again, and we can think with more content of our experiences, now that our hunger for news has been appeased. So we pack up, and in the morning we steam down to Cairo. The General sent for the captain, and thanked him and made him a handsome present. He also distributed presents to all on the boat, including the crew. About twelve we passed the bridge and moored at the wharf. Our "Vandalia Vandalia" friends hurried to Alexandria to join their ship; those who had homes found them, while the General and party returned to the palace of Kassr-el-Noussa.

Here we were again received and welcomed by the representatives of the Khedive. We remained in Cairo for a few days, making many interesting excursions and visits, and enjoying the continued hospitality of the Khedive.

Bidding adieu to our good friends at Cairo, we started for Port Said, and arrived on the 9th of February. Port Said seems quite modern after our journey into Upper Egypt. It is laid out in streets and squares, and is not unlike an American town; has a population of about ten thousand, among whom are many Germans and Italians. It is quite a busy place, the repairing of shipping and the coaling of vessels being the principal occupations of the people. We walked through its sandy streets, under a burning sun, on our way to the house of the consul, where we were to dine and rest. In the afternoon we were most heartily welcomed by our naval friends of the "Vandalia," the good ship having come from Alexandria to meet us. We embark, being very glad-notwithstanding the pleasant memories of our trip up the Nile-to get back once