The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

This lake was begun by former princes, and enlarged by Queen Amense, in order to receive the surplus waters of the Nile, when the inundations, as sometimes happen, arise and overflow the fields after the corn is up. The lake, however, was not large enough wholly to correct this evil, and King Mœris still further enlarged it, by means of the services of the Hebrews, three hundred thousand of whom, it is said, perished in the work, before it was completed. It is ample enough in breadth and depth to contain the excess of the Nile. One of the wonders of the world, it is only paralleled in grandeur by the pyramids. In the midst of this magnificent inland sea—for such it seems—arise two pyramids, upon the summit of each of which, three hundred and eight feet in the air, stands upon a throne, shaped like a chariot, a statue, one being that of Thoth, the other of Mœris. Upon the former is inscribed—

"The god prospered;" on the other, "Pharaoh builded." Beneath this inscription is written—

"This lake is three hundred and forty miles in circumference, and one hundred and fifty feet in depth. Within its bounds it can contain all the rivers of the earth."

This sublime work, my dear father, has upon the east side a canal eighty feet broad, and four leagues in length. At its entrance are seated two colossi, figures of Apis and Mnevis; and along its shores are double rows of trees, bordering a terrace, upon which face palaces, villas, temples, gardens, and squares. At the Nile termination stands a single colossus, representing the god Nilus. He is astride the canal, his feet upon the bases of pyramids, and beneath him are great floodgates, that let in or exclude the waters of the river. On the south of the lake, upon a plain of sand, Mœris erected a vast temple to Serapis, dedicated it with great pomp, and inclosed it by gardens a mile square, the earth of which was carried by Hebrews in baskets, from the excavations of the lake. He commenced a noble avenue of sphinxes, leading from the lake to the temple, and which has been recently completed by Thothmeses IV., who last week invited me to be present at its inauguration. It was a magnificent spectacle, first the procession of priests and soldiers, nobles and citizens, with the king and his court, in a thousand galleys, sailing across the lake; then the landing at the majestic pylon, the march of the procession for a mile between the double row of sphinxes, the mighty temple terminating the vista, and the solemn invocations, libations, and sacrifices before the god.

I marvel, my dear father, at such splendor having no other object than a black bull; such glory leading to an enshrined brute, before whom all this magnificence, power, and rank fall prostrate, as to God! Happy am I, O my wise and good father, to have been early instructed in the knowledge of the true God. I pity while I admire what I see in Egypt. This king is an intelligent man, and I often feel like saying to him, "O king, dost thou believe in thy heart that this bull is God?"

The shores of this vast artificial sea are lined with groves, palaces, and waving fields. The sides of the Libyan hills are terraced and adorned with marble palaces and gardens. At one point, where the cliffs stretch into the lake, are four temples, facing four ways, respectively dedicated to Athor, Pthah, Apis, and Bubastis, the four deities of Memphis; and their sides are covered with golden bronze, so that, in the sunlight, nothing can be more gorgeous.

Upon a small island, opposite this gilded promontory, and left for the purpose, Thothmeses II. erected, during his brief reign, a temple of Syenite stone to the goddess Isis, before which is a recumbent figure of Osiris, seventy feet in length. Its vestibule is enriched with sculpture, and is the most splendid portico in Egypt. In the interior it is surrounded by a peristyle of statues representing the twelve constellations, each eighteen feet in height.

Besides all these, I have visited, my dear father, during the six weeks I have been in Egypt, the "Plain of the Mummies," the Catacombs, the Labyrinth—a marvel of mystery and perplexity to one not initiated into the intricacies of its mazes—the chief pyramids, and that also of Queen Amense, at the entrance of which I placed fresh flowers for your sake.

Pharaoh-Mœris greatly extended the bounds of Memphis. It is not less than twelve miles in circuit. He covered with it a large portion of the plain westward of the pyramids; and where once was a barren waste, are now streets, avenues, colonnades, temples, public edifices, aqueducts, causeways, and all the splendor of metropolitan magnificence. Avenues of sphinxes are almost innumerable; colossal statues, obelisks, and pyramids meet the eye everywhere. Near the foot of the hills he formed a chariot-course, that extends three miles along the lake. In the rock of the cliff he caused to be hewn fourteen sarcophagi of black marble, and of gigantic dimensions. In these he entombed the bodies of as many tributary kings, when, in succession, they died; commanding their mummies to be brought into Egypt for the purpose. He has everywhere multiplied, with singular variety, his statues; and in front of this tomb of kings stands one of them upon a pedestal, the feet of which are fourteen sculptured crowns, representatives of their own.

But, my dear father, Egypt is so familiar to you, that I will not weary you with any more descriptions, unless, indeed, I should visit the City of a Hundred Gates, as you were not able to go thither. I will speak, however, of a visit that I paid yesterday to the sphinx that stands before Chephres, and near Cheops. I was impressed, as you were, with the grandeur of the whole. But the great ancient temple, which you spoke of as ruinous, has, in forty-five years, become still more defaced. Indeed, the reigning Pharaoh has expressed his intention of removing it altogether, so that the pyramids may stand forth in solitary majesty.