The visitor should not leave Egypt till he has seen Philæ, with its beautiful temples, ruined walls, and colonnades. It is a sight for artists to draw and for us to dream of,—Philæ apparently afloat; for now the Nile water has penetrated the halls of its temples and surrounded its beautiful columns.
On returning from the upper Nile a visitor should go to the new National Museum at Cairo. He may have visited this interesting place before he took the Nile trip; but he will know more on his return. The valuable collection of Egyptian antiquities there in the museum will mean more to him. Months could be spent with profit in this building. It contains one of the richest and most interesting collections of historic remains in the world—the result of years of exploration, excavation, and the intelligent study of eminent scholars. There before you are the relics of ancient Egypt. There are the statues, mummies, and other antiquities that the government has collected. In them you may read the history of ancient Egypt and learn to appreciate the life, literature, and art of Pharaoh's time.
THE ISLAND OF PHILÆ
This picture shows the beauty of Philæ before the waters of the Nile rose about it. Since the building of the great dam at Assouan the temples of Philæ are half under water.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING.—"Modern Egypt and Thebes," Sir Gardiner Wilkinson; "A Thousand Miles Up the Nile," A. B. Edwards; "Egypt," S. Lane-Poole; "A History of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest," J. H. Breasted; "A Short History of Ancient Egypt," P. E. Newberry and J. Garstang; "The Empire of the Ptolemies," J. P. Mahaffy; "Egypt in the Nineteenth Century," D. A. Cameron; "Modern Egypt," Lord Cromer.
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