. William H. Seward's travels around the world. inusof the voyage of all travellers on the Nile, as it is of ours. Wefind here a curious proof that the ancient Egyptians regarded avoyage up the Nile as gratifying an achievement as it is esteemedby us. The granite rocks here are covered with inscriptions, re-citing their success in making the great voyage. Some were eon-tent with simply registering their names. William Freeman regis-tered his name in the same modest way. One ambitious tourist 560 EGYPT AND PALESTINE. engraved himself, in intaglio, reverentially worshipping the godsof the catara
. William H. Seward's travels around the world. inusof the voyage of all travellers on the Nile, as it is of ours. Wefind here a curious proof that the ancient Egyptians regarded avoyage up the Nile as gratifying an achievement as it is esteemedby us. The granite rocks here are covered with inscriptions, re-citing their success in making the great voyage. Some were eon-tent with simply registering their names. William Freeman regis-tered his name in the same modest way. One ambitious tourist 560 EGYPT AND PALESTINE. engraved himself, in intaglio, reverentially worshipping the godsof the cataract! The same rocks, curiously enough, contain ac-counts inscribed by Egyptians, by generals, princes, and kings, oftheir successful expeditions against Ethiopia. The cataract of theNile has its parallel in many countries—the volume of a vast riverbroken, as it descends to a lower level, by green islands and barrenrocks. Such are Sault Ste. Marie, the falls of St. Anthony, the fallsof the Mohawk, and many falls on the Upper Hudson and the Po-. tomac. But the cataract of the Nile has a grandeur surpassing allthese, in the stern setting of the beautiful picture in a frameworkof impassable deserts. Out of the midst of the dashing torrentrises the beautiful island of Philse. The whole island, a quarter ofa mile long, and scarcely more than two hundred feet wide, ispicturesquely crowned with graceful temples and colonnades. Thesites of these structures were chosen by artistic eyes. In this re-spect, Philse stands alone. Every colonnade and every gate-way wasevidently built with a view to excite the travellers imagination as he FRENCH TABLET. 561 might approach, the sacred island. The firm and lofty bases of thetemple seem like a solid wall encircling its entire area. The base,at the same time, serves as a quay for the mooring of the boats ofvisitors, and affords them chambers to rest in before entering thetemple. The architecture of Philse is not, like all the ruins wehave seen, pu
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Keywords: ., bookcentury180, bookdecade1870, booksubjectvoyagesaroundtheworld
