Herodotus tells us that the temple of the goddess at Bubastis was considered one of the most beautiful of all the Egyptian temples, and that it was the custom of the people in his age to make annual pilgrimages to it.
Nothing remains now of the former beauty of the temple. A few stones of the purest and finest grade of red granite are the only relics of its past splendor.
There are some ruins and mounds which, doubtless, are remains of what were once brick houses, and specimens of ancient pottery.
CHAPTER LXXXII.
CAIRO, THE GREATEST CITY IN AFRICA.
Cairo is situated at the head of the Delta of the Nile, where the river emerges from among the hills and makes its course through the alluvial plain formed by the annual deposits of silt. Its name, in the Arabic tongue, signifies "The victorious capital."
Below Cairo the Delta spreads out in the form of a half-opened fan to its broadened base on the Mediterranean Sea.
Standing at the citadel, which occupies the highest ground in the city, we may from this elevation perceive the dividing line between the barren sandy hills of the desert and the well-watered fertile plains of the Nile basin. Spread out before us is a royal panorama of city, river, plain, and hill.
Just across the river we behold the pyramids of Gizeh rising toward the east, together with the Great Pyramid, which is next in size, and another much smaller. Close by is the Sphinx, but we cannot discern it at this distance.