The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

The barge in which I left the palace at Rhoda, was rowed by forty-four men, swarthy and muscular to a noticeable degree, who belong to a maritime people, once possessing the Pelusian Delta, but who are now reduced to a servitude to the crown. They have a sort of chief, called Fellac, whom they regard partly as a priest, partly as a patriarch. Under him, by permission of the crown, they are held in discipline. They have a mysterious worship of their own, and are reputed to deal in magic, and to sacrifice to Typhon, the principle of evil.

They were attired in scarlet sashes, bound about the waist, and holding together loose white linen drawers, which terminated at the knee in a fringe. Their shoulders were naked, but upon their heads each wore a sort of turban of green cloth, having one end falling over the ear, and terminating in a silver knob. These were the favorite body-guard rowers of the prince. Their captain was a young man, with glittering teeth, and large oval black eyes. He was mild and serene of aspect, richly attired in a vesture of silver tissue, and had his black hair perfumed with jasmine oil. His baton of office was a long stick—not the long, slender, acacia cane which all Egyptian gentlemen carry, but a staff short and heavy, ornamented with an alligator's head, which, with that of the pelican, seem to be favorite decorations of this singular people.

As we were on the water, moving swiftly towards the quay of the city, amid countless vessels of all nations, a slave-barge passed down from Upper Egypt, laden with Nubian boys and girls, destined to be sold as slaves in the market. Borne with velocity along, we soon landed at the grand terrace-steps of the quay. They were thronged with pilots, shipmen, those who hold the helm and the oar, mariners, and stranger-merchants innumerable. A majestic gateway, at the top of the flight of porphyry stairs, led to an avenue of palm-trees, on each side of which was a vast open colonnade covered with a wide awning, and filled with merchants, buyers, captains, and officers of the customs, dispersed amid bales of goods from all lands of the earth. I lingered here, for a short time, gazing upon these representatives of the wealth and commerce of the world. This is the great landing-mart of Memphis, for the products of the other lands; while Jizeh, lower down, is the point from whence all that goes out of the country is shipped. The strange cry of the foreign seamen, as they hoisted heavy bales, and the wild song of the Egyptian laborers, as they bore away the goods, the confused voices of the owners of the merchandise, the variety and strange fashion of their costumes, the numerous languages which fell upon my ear, produced an effect as novel as it was interesting.

The riches and beauty of what I saw surprised me, familiar as I am with the commerce of Tyre. There were merchants from Sheba, bearded and long-robed men, with gold-dust, spices of all kinds, and precious stones of price; and others from the markets of Javan, with cassia, iron, and calamus; there were wines from the vine-country of Helbona, and honey, oil, and balm from Philistia; merchants of Dedan, with embroidered linings and rich cloths for chariots, and costly housings for horses, of lynx and leopard-skins; tall, grave-looking merchants from our own Damascus, with elegant wares, cutlery, and damascened sword-blades of wonderful beauty, and which bring great price here; shrewd-visaged merchants of Tyre, with purple and broidered work and fine linen; and merchants of Sidon, with emeralds, coral, and agate, and the valuable calmine-stone out of which, in combination with copper, brass is molten by the Egyptians.

There were also merchants, in an attire rich and picturesque, from many isles of the sea, with vessels of bronze, vases, and other exquisitely painted wares, and boxes inlaid with ivory, jewels, and ebony. I saw the dark, handsome men of Tarshish and far Gades, with all kinds of riches of silver, iron, tin, lead, and scales of gold. Shields from Arvad, beautifully embossed and inlaid; helmets and shawls from Persia; ivory from Ind, and boxes of precious stones—the jasper, the sapphire, the sardiüs, the onyx, the beryl, the topaz, the carbuncle, and the diamond—from the south seas, and those lands under the sun, where he casts no shadow. There were, also, wild-looking merchant horsemen from Arabia, with horses and mules to be traded for the fine linen, and gilt wares, and dyes of Egypt; and proud-looking shepherd chiefs of Kedar, with flocks of lambs, rams, and goats; while beyond these, some merchants of Saïs, men of stern aspects, bad bands of slaves, whose shining black skins and glittering teeth showed them to be Nubians from Farther Africa, who had been brought from the Upper Nile to be sold in the mart.

Thus does all the earth lay its riches at the feet of Egypt, even as she pours them into the lap of Tyre. Meet it is that two nations, so equal in commerce, should be allied in friendship. May this friendly alliance, more closely cemented by my visit to this court, never be broken! I am willing to surrender to Egypt the title, "Mistress of the World," which I have seen inscribed on the obelisk that Amense is now erecting, so long as she makes no attempt upon our cherished freedom, nor asks of us other tribute to her greatness than the jewelled necklace it was my pleasure to present to her queen, from your hand.

Having crossed this wonderful mart of the world, we issued upon a broad street, which diverging to the right led towards Jizeh, not far distant, and to the left towards Memphis, the noble pylon of which was in full sight. The street was lined with small temples, six on each side, dedicated to the twelve gods of the months, statues of each of whom stood upon pedestals before its gateway.

This avenue, which was but a succession of columns and statues, and in which we met several pleasure-chariots, terminated at an obelisk one hundred feet in height—a majestic and richly elaborated monument, erected by Amunophis I., whose name it bears upon a cartouch, to the honor of his Syrian queen, Ephtha. Upon its surface is recounted, in exquisitely colored intaglio hieroglyphs, her virtues and the deeds of his own reign. At each of its four corners crouches a sphinx, with a dog's head, symbolic of ceaseless vigilance. A noble square surrounds the obelisk, and on its west side is the propylon of Memphis. The great wings that inclose the pylon are ninety feet in height, and are resplendent with colored pictorial designs, done in the most brilliant style of Egyptian art.

Here we found a guard of soldiers, whose captain received the prince with marks of the profoundest military respect. We passed in, through ranks of soldiers, who bent one knee to the ground, and entered the chief street of Memphis—the second city in Egypt in architectural magnificence, and the first in religious importance, as the city of the sacred bull Apis.

A description of this city would be almost a repetition of that of On, slightly varying the avenues, squares, and forms of temples. You have, therefore, to imagine, or rather recall, the splendor of the "City of the Lord of the Sun" (for this is its true Egyptian designation), and apply to Memphis the picture hitherto given of that gorgeous metropolis of Osiris.