The land of Goshen was opening before us. We were looking at the same scenes among which Joseph and his brethren had moved. The strings of asses laden with corn were like the strings of asses which Joseph's brethren had taken back laden to their dear father in Canaan.
It was a solemn feeling to be treading the very ground, and looking at the very fields over which the patriarchs once trod.
A village called Matarieh stands near where the city of Heliopolis once stood. Here a sycamore was shown to us under which Joseph and the Virgin Mary and Infant Saviour are said to have rested when they fled into Egypt from King Herod. The gardens of Matarieh were in former times famed for their balsams. They were first brought from Judea, and were of the same species as trees from which was made the "Balm of Gilead" that we read of in the Bible.
Heliopolis, the "City of the Sun," was so called because in ancient times there was a magnificent temple in it which was dedicated to the sun. Besides the temple of the sun, there was in Heliopolis another temple, dedicated to the bull Mnevis.
Cambyses, a king of Persia, took the city about five hundred years before the birth of our Lord. He burnt the temples and destroyed the palaces. Some of the obelisks escaped, and were afterwards taken to Rome and Alexandria. One is still left. It is about sixty-five feet high.
Part of a Sphinx was found near it some time ago, so that it is supposed that an avenue of Sphinxes led up to it, and that it is one of two obelisks which probably stood at the entrance of the Temple of the Sun. Wild bees had made their nests on the top of the obelisk, and came down upon us in swarms, as is their wont to travellers. Lucy was frightened; and though Hugh tried to look very brave, he did not feel quite at ease any more than myself. However, we came to no harm, though they buzzed all about us. The obelisk stands in a garden of rosemary and other herbs, which perhaps attracted the bees to it as their home.
In vain we wandered hither and thither, searching for some other traces of the bygone glories of this City of the Sun. Here it was that Joseph once lived. Here it was that Moses was made "learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians." Here the wise and learned men of Egypt used to assemble. Here was once heard "joy and the voice of melody." Where is it now? All is silent, still. This solitary pillar alone stands to mark the scene of long-forgotten pomp and glory.
Thus do earthly cities vanish. But the heavenly city which our Saviour has prepared for them that love him, will endure for evermore. Its glories are far brighter than ever were those of this City of the Sun, and are unfading; be it ours to have a part in that new and blessed city!
The next morning we met some travellers who had been to a Copt wedding, of which the lady gave us an account.
"The family was a rich one," she said, "and everything was most splendid. The inner court of the house was beautifully lighted, and was crowded with guests. In the middle were the musicians, with all sorts of instruments: Arab flutes, dulcimers, fiddles; the noise was deafening.