"My mother ill!" he exclaimed, with deadly pallor covering his face. "Pardon me, prince, I must leave you and go to her." And in a moment he hastened to the wing of the palace occupied by his mother and the ladies of her retinue.
The queen had left the table some time before Prince Mœris began to converse with me, excusing herself on the plea of slight fatigue and indisposition; for she had passed an hour that day in giving directions to the chief architect, to whom was intrusted the erection of her obelisk, outside of the gate of the Temple of the Sun. Remeses had been gone but a few moments, when I beheld Prince Mœris borne across the terrace by his servants to his chariot, in a state of helpless intoxication.
The illness of the queen was not of an alarming nature, and the next day she appeared in the saloon, but was very pale. The result is, the court physicians have advised her to go to her palace on the isle of Rhoda, in the Nile, as a more salubrious spot than the interior of a vast city. Remeses accompanied her thither, and the date of my letter, my dear mother, shows you that I am also still one of the queen's favored household. Her health continues doubtful, but she is much improved in appearance by the change. Remeses, with beautiful filial devotion, passes with her every hour he can spare from the various pressing duties which demand his personal attention; and preparations for the Ethiopian war call for all his time as general of the armies.
Opposite the palace in which I write to you, the plain between the river and the pyramids is covered with a vast army assembled there within three days, preparatory to their southern march; while the bosom of the Nile, for half a league above this palace-covered island, is almost concealed by war-galleys, which, to the number of one thousand and upward, are at anchor ready to ascend the river.
From the lofty west wing of the propylon of the gate of this island-palace of the Pharaohs, I command not only a prospect of the fleet, but of the plain of the pyramids outside of Memphis. I have but to turn slowly round from that elevation, to see On with its three hundred and sixty temples—its gardens and towers; and Raamses, the treasure-city, to the east: to the south, the Nile, studded with barges and gay vessels having silken and colored sails, filled with citizens, come to look at the fleet of war-ships; the immense squadron itself, gay with the variegated flags of its different divisions and captains; with towers, temples, obelisks, and propyla on the two shores terminating the perspective: and on the west, Jizeh, with its sphinxes and colossi, its terraced gardens and amphitheatre of the gods; and still farther off, Memphis united to the Nile by a magnificent aqueduct; and the pyramids of Cheops and of his daughter. Between the city and these mysterious mausolea, stands alone, amid gardens, the red granite temple of Pthah and Athor, the two chief divinities of Memphis: for Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis, is not a divinity, properly, but only a visible incarnation of Osiris, the emblem and type of the power and strength of the Supreme Creator Imagine this vast and varied scene of architectural and naval glory, interspersed with verdure of the brightest green, with palm, orange, and fig trees, garden linked to garden, grove to grove, and villas half seen through the foliage; and lastly, the mighty river flowing with shining waves amid the inimitable landscape, and you have before you a scene of grandeur and beauty such as Egypt alone can produce. Add the myriads of human beings, the crowded galleys, the thronged shores, the eighty thousand soldiers encamped on the west plain, the army of chariots drawn up on the east bank, and farther up, opposite the aqueduct of Pharaoh Apophis, a battalion of twelve thousand cavalry manœuvering, and the scene which I, an hour since, beheld from the top of the gateway, is before you.
Since I wrote the last sentence, I have witnessed a naval review, with a sham battle. The Prince Mœris, in a gorgeous galley decorated with all the emblems of the cities and nomes of Egypt, after displaying the skill of his one hundred oarsmen, and the swiftness of his vessel in front of the palace, before the eyes of the queen, moved among his ships, and gave orders for their division into lines of battle. The greater number of these galleys had only a single mast with a long swallow-winged sail; and were propelled by forty rowers. But the ships of the captains were larger and more imposing. All the galleys were handsomely painted, and the whole fleet together made a splendid moving spectacle, which was heightened by the thousand bannerets fluttering in the wind, and the ten thousand shields and spears gleaming in the sun, as they were held in the hands of the soldiers upon their decks.
When the signal was given for the two parties to combat, the air was filled by a loud shout, and a hundred galleys charged each other, just as did the battalions of chariots in the review I have already described. The vessels, set in motion by the rowers, were driven towards each other with terrific velocity. The Abyssinian soldiers upon the bows, and the bowmen in the tops, shot off flights of arrows, which sounded like a storm of wind, as they hurtled through the air. The Libyan spearmen, on the lofty poops, brandished their spears with wild cries; while the Nubians, amidships, struck their triangular shields with battle-axes of iron, producing a sound like crashing thunders. The war bugles and hollow drums beaten on board each vessel increased the loud confusion, and added to the terror of the scene. The fall of thousands of oars, the rush of waters from the cleaving bows, the shouts of the captains, the warlike spirit and battle-fierceness of the whole, presented a spectacle of sublimity unequalled. Nor was it without an element of terror. Such was the excited manner of the simulating combatants, I believed that no earthly power could prevent a real collision and hand-to-hand conflict in hot blood, when, at a signal from the Prince Mœris, the rowers of the leading galleys turned suddenly, as they came within touch of each other's sweeps, and so, one after another wheeling in line, both divisions passed down the river, until they moved in parallel columns. The whole manœuvre was one of the most wonderful exhibitions of naval discipline and generalship. Ere the shouts of the people on the shores and in the numerous pleasure barges had died away, the two columns, at a signal from the mast of the ship of their admiral, came side by side, and a battle between the soldiers on opposite decks commenced—one party attempting to board, the other repelling them. Not less than six thousand combatants were engaged at once, above the heads of the banks of rowers. The clash of swords and spears and battle-axes, and other offensive and defensive weapons, produced a noise so terrible and grand that I believe there is no other sound on earth, as well calculated to quicken the pulse and bring out all the enthusiasm of the soul of a man. I can compare these metallic and iron tones, only to what might be the sound of the brazen voice of Mars himself rolling his war-cry along the battle-ranks of his foes. Suddenly the iron din of war ceased, and separating, one of the divisions commenced a flight, and the other a pursuit. This scene was the most exciting of all. The chase was in a direction down the east side of the island, opposite the queen's window; for all these exhibitions were given in her honor, and, though by no means well, she remained upon the terrace during the whole; and it was, perhaps, the consciousness of their monarch's eye being upon them, that caused these demi-barbaric soldiers, gathered from all the provinces and tributary countries of Egypt, to surpass themselves, being ready even, at her nod, to convert the mock battle into a real one.
The two fleets, flying and pursuing, moved past the island like a sirocco. Their lion or eagle-headed prows tossed high in the air clouds of white spray. The roar of the waters as the vessels ploughed through them, the dash of the banks of oars, the cries of pursuit, the whizzing and shrieks of arrows cleaving the air, the shouts of the contending thousands, and the velocity with which they moved, brought color to the queen's cheek, and the light of interest to her eyes. It was now an actual and real trial for mastery in speed; and the contest partook of all the realities of a war-chase. The two divisions, rounding the lower end of the island, were hidden by the Temple of Isis, which crowns it, but soon reappeared on the west arm of the river, ascending. When they came opposite to the queen, having passed entirely round the island, they resumed their former line, two or three with broken banks of oars, and shattered poops or prows from collision.
Prince Mœris came on shore to receive the compliments of the queen, and dined with us. Remeses was not present, being with the cohorts of cavalry; for he is visiting and inspecting every arm of the service, as it is intended this shall be the most formidable host that has ever been sent into Ethiopia.
Adieu, dearest mother, and believe me