Egypt and its monuments . s of those who adored withinthem. The Egyptians of old were devoted to thehunting of crocodiles, which once abounded in thereaches of the Nile between Assuan and Luxor, andalso much lower down. But I believe that no reliefs,or paintings, of this sport are to be found upon thewalls of the temples and the tombs. The fear of Sebek,perhaps, prevailed even over the dwellers about thetemple of Edfu. Yet how could fear of any crocodilegod infect the souls of those who were privileged toworship in such a temple, or even reverently to standunder the colonnade within the court
Egypt and its monuments . s of those who adored withinthem. The Egyptians of old were devoted to thehunting of crocodiles, which once abounded in thereaches of the Nile between Assuan and Luxor, andalso much lower down. But I believe that no reliefs,or paintings, of this sport are to be found upon thewalls of the temples and the tombs. The fear of Sebek,perhaps, prevailed even over the dwellers about thetemple of Edfu. Yet how could fear of any crocodilegod infect the souls of those who were privileged toworship in such a temple, or even reverently to standunder the colonnade within the court ? As well, per-haps, one might ask how men could be inspired toraise such a perfect building to a deity with the face ofa hawk? But Horus was not the god of crocodiles,but a god of the sun. And his power to inspire menmust have been vast; for the greatest conception instone in Egypt, and, I suppose, in the whole world,the Sphinx, as De Rouge proved by an inscription atEdfu, was a representation of Horus transformed to 208. KOM OMBOS conquer Typhon. The Sphinx and Edfu! For suchmarvels we ought to bless the hawk-headed god. Andif we forget the hawk, which one meets so perpetuallyupon the walls of tombs and temples, and identifyHorus rather with the Greek Apollo, the yellow-hairedgod of the sun, driving westerly all day in his flamingchariot, and shooting his golden arrows at the happyworld beneath, we can be at peace with those deadEgyptians. For every pilgrim who goes to Edfu to-day is surely a worshiper of the solar aspect of long as the world lasts there will be sun-worship-ers. Every brown man upon the Nile is one, andevery good American who crosses the ocean and comesat last into the somber wonder of Edfu, and I was oneupon the deck of the Loiilia. And we all worship as yet in the dark, as in the ex-quisite dark, like faith, of the Holy of Holies of Horus. 2 I I XVI PHIL^ ^ S I drew slowly nearer and nearer to the home/ % of the great Enchantress, or, as I sis was-
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