A Trip to the Orient Part 19

We had been riding on a very narrow trail along the edge of a precipice, but now we dismounted and descended, on foot, a winding path, too steep and dangerous for riding, that led us to the rest-house in the valley below. Here, at the Chalet Hatasu, as it was named, the servants had unpacked the hampers which they had brought from the hotel at Luxor, and the hungry travelers were soon seated around well-spread tables. During the meal a throng of scantily clad men, boys, and small children a.s.sembled outside the Chalet. These bare-footed Arabs offered for sale scarabs, stone mummy images, mummified feet, skulls, beads, and trinkets so clamorously and persistently that our dragoman had to use his long lashed whip to clear the way. After leaving the chalet, naked boys, apparently from four to ten years of age, followed us with outstretched hands, begging for backsheesh. Some of these boys earned money by posing to be kodaked.

[Ill.u.s.tration: I. COLOSSUS OF RAMSES LAY BROKEN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: II. MOSLEMS HAD MUTILATED THE STATUES.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: TWO WEATHER-WORN FIGURES OF PRODIGIOUS SIZE]

The walls and columns of the Ramesseum, the magnificent temple built by Ramses II, and those of Medinet Habu, the great temple built by Ramses III, were covered with pictures in relief, made in the golden days of Theban prosperity.

"The ancient artists, to perpetuate their work, used chisels on lasting stone instead of brushes on perishable canvas," remarked the professor as we examined the reliefs, "and their pictures carved on the stone walls have endured through centuries."

We saw battle scenes with the king leading in the fray, archers discharging arrows, charioteers riding down the foe, and enemies fleeing in dismay; triumphal marches with the king borne aloft on a canopied litter, fan-bearers waving fans, musicians blowing trumpets and beating drums, courtiers bearing standards, and captives led in chains; festal processions with the king marching in front, the sacred white bull festooned with wreaths, maidens carrying flowers, and priests bearing images; and nations paying tribute to the king upon his throne, Nubians bringing leopard skins, giraffes, and grinning apes, and princes presenting gems, costly vases, and golden shields. One picture at Medinet Habu represented the soldiers cutting off the right hands of their enemies who had been slain in battle and bringing these gruesome emblems of the dead to the secretaries to be counted and recorded. The secretaries had counted and recorded twelve thousand five hundred and thirty-five hands. To enumerate the many interesting scenes sculptured on the temple walls would be like cataloguing a picture gallery.

At the Ramesseum, the enormous Colossus of Ramses lay broken on the ground, overthrown by some mighty force.

"This huge granite figure," said Mahmoud, "was, before its fall, the largest statue ever carved out of one block of stone. Its height was nearly sixty feet, the fingers three feet long, and its weight has been estimated at one thousand tons."

The Colossi of Memnon, the two enormous seated figures in the midst of level cultivated fields, were pa.s.sed and photographed as we returned to Luxor. Their hugeness may be judged by comparing their size with the height of the tourists alongside in the ill.u.s.tration.

"During the weeks of inundation each year," said Mahmoud, after he had told us the dimensions of the statues and the mythical stories a.s.sociated with them, "these grain fields as far as the vegetation extends are covered with water to a depth of from ten to fifteen feet.

When the Nile is at its height the heads of the great Colossi, surrounded by water, rise forty feet above the flood."

A bath and a thorough brushing of clothes at the hotel removed the desert sand. We sipped our afternoon tea in the shaded garden and then the party of forty-two persons boarded the Nile steamer Amasis in time for an evening dinner on the boat. Suit cases and satchels were unpacked and the staterooms made cozy, for the Amasis was to be the tourists'

home for a number of days during the trip down the Nile.

CHAPTER XV.

ON THE NILE.

At daylight on Monday morning, March sixteenth, the Amasis steamed away from Luxor and by nine o'clock had arrived at the landing for Dendera.

The donkey boys of Dendera, having been notified of our coming, were waiting with their donkeys. In a few minutes the tourists were mounted for a half hour's ride on narrow paths through green barley fields to the ruined temple. I rode on a donkey named Whiskey and Soda, with my donkey boy Ha.s.san running behind prodding the animal occasionally with a sharp-pointed stick, and yelling "Haow! Haow!" to urge Whiskey and Soda to a more rapid gait. Along the paths through the fields many children ran to greet us with outstretched palms. Their costumes were those of the Garden of Eden before the fall; but having been informed of our approach, the bronze colored youngsters had decorated themselves for the occasion with wreaths of green barley around their waists and crowns of the same material on their heads. The little Arabs, bright-eyed, smooth-limbed, and handsome featured, attractive and picturesque in appearance, shouted with glee when a few small coins were thrown among them.

"Look at that!" exclaimed one of the party. "I have heard of the shepherds carrying the lambs on their shoulders, but here is a man coming with the foal of a donkey in his arms."

"What a dear little pet," said the ladies as the Arab pa.s.sed us with the young donkey nestling contentedly on his breast.

"The famous Temple of Dendera was not so magnificent nor so large as the temples of Karnak and Thebes," said the guide, as we stood before the gates, "but it was more richly decorated with carvings and paintings.

Every inch of column, wall, and ceiling was carved with hieroglyphic and pictorial decorations. These were painted in bright colors which are yet faintly visible. This structure is a modern one compared with Karnak; for Karnak was an ancient temple more than one thousand years old when King Ptolemy began the erection of this building just before the Christian Era. An inscription on the walls states that the time required for its construction was one hundred and eight years, six months, and fourteen days. When Egypt became a Roman province after the death of Cleopatra, the Roman emperors continued the construction of the unfinished temple. Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero are represented in reliefs on the walls. The temple was dedicated to the worship of the G.o.ddess Hathor, the Egyptian Venus, or G.o.ddess of love and beauty."

"Why was the temple built here two miles away from the river, instead of near the banks of the Nile?" inquired a tourist.

"It was because this terrace is higher than the valley," answered Mahmoud. "Remember that these green fields through which we rode are made fertile by the overflow of the Nile; then I think that the reason for building on this plateau will be plain to you."

[Ill.u.s.tration: DONKEY BOYS WERE WAITING FOR US.]

"But why was it built in a depression?"

"It was not originally in a hole," explained the guide, "but was built on level ground. Some sixteen hundred years ago the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius forbade the worship of idols. After that time, the worship of the G.o.ddess Hathor being discontinued, the temple was neglected and a village of mud huts sprang up around it. These huts, built of sun-dried bricks, crumbled to dust in the pa.s.sage of years and were trampled under foot. Again and again new huts supplanted the old until in the course of centuries the debris acc.u.mulated many feet in depth. When the government, fifty years ago, undertook to restore the temple, the workmen had to begin by shoveling mud huts off the roof."

We descended a long flight of steps to reach the level of the floor of the excavated temple, and pa.s.sing the blue-uniformed guards entered the grand hall of columns. The hall, as the guide had told us, was richly decorated. Master sculptors had carved every available s.p.a.ce on the walls and columns with hieroglyphic inscriptions and beautiful reliefs; master artists in color had heightened the effect with tint and shade.

Looking up we saw, pictured on the ceiling, the Egyptian deity, Nut, the G.o.ddess of the sky, controlling the movements of sun and stars; the rays of the sun shining in blessing on the head of Hathor; the moon issuing from Nut's mouth; the signs of the Zodiac; the flying Hours of day and night; and the sailing boats of the planets.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RICHLY DECORATED WITH CARVINGS AND PAINTINGS.]

The guide raised a stone trap door less than two feet square in the stone floor and through this small entrance we squeezed, candle in hand, and descended a stone stairway to explore the dark crypt underneath.

Although the ladies screamed when the bats, disturbed and blinded by the light, flew wildly overhead, they bravely followed the guide. The long pa.s.sage was but three feet in width and we wondered why the dragoman had brought us down into its close and gloomy recesses; but when magnesium wires were lit, our wonder turned into admiration, for the sputtering white light revealed on the smooth sidewalls most beautiful reliefs in well preserved coloring.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OFFERED INCENSE TO THE G.o.dS.]

"Did you see anything remarkable in that dark cellar?" inquired a voice from above as we ascended through the trap.

"Why didn't you come along?" was the laughing response.

"I've not trained down to the proper size yet," rejoined the fat man who could be jolly on all occasions. "Do you think that a man of my size could squeeze through a hole like that?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENTERED THE GRAND HALL OF COLUMNS.]

By a long stone stairway of easy steps we ascended leisurely to the roof, stopping frequently to admire the ceremonial procession of priests pictured on the walls of the staircase. From the flat stone roof we saw on one side the green cultivated fields extending to the river's edge and on the other side the yellow desert stretching to the distant cliffs.

"This is a picture of Cleopatra and her son Caesarion," said Mahmoud, as we inspected the reliefs on the outer walls, "and this is King Ptolemy offering incense to the G.o.ds Osiris and Isis, and hawk-headed Horus their son. Here also is Hathor's picture repeated many times."

The trip down the river Nile on the fine steamer Amasis, which had been chartered for us, was thoroughly enjoyed by the forty-two people who made up the party. The staterooms were bright and clean and the meals served were equal to those of a first cla.s.s hotel. The captain and his officials did all they could to make the trip pleasant for us. Life on board was a life of ease; the air though warm was balmy and restful, and cares were forgotten. The centre of the upper deck was roofed over but open at the sides with rugs on the floor, easy chairs, small tables, and a piano. In this open piazza-parlor we sipped the coffee that was served to us there after luncheon and after dinner. There, too, we partook of the tea and cakes that were handed around at four o'clock, and when we returned from excursions on sh.o.r.e, tired and warm, we found refreshing lemonade ready to quench our thirst.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RELIEFS ON THE OUTER WALL.]

Our dragoman, Mahmoud Achmed, the Egyptian conductor of all our sight-seeing excursions on land, was an interesting character and became a great favorite. He was a native of Luxor and while we were at that place his bright-eyed little girl, neatly dressed, came to meet us.

Mahmoud had a fund of information regarding the history of the country, the legends of the G.o.ds, and the fabulous deeds of the ancient kings. He had a most interesting way of interspersing history with mythical tales and humorous incidents, and so kept the party in high spirits. Mahmoud was noted, too, for his ability to answer intelligently all reasonable inquiries and for his great patience in replying to many questions, that must have appeared to him very silly. Each day on the boat while we were all seated at dinner, Mahmoud came into the dining saloon and announced the program for the following days, always beginning: "Ladies and gentlemen, if you please," and closing with, "Monument tickets are very much wanted. Galloping donkeys is not allowed."

For some one to mislay or forget a permit was a daily occurrence and the caution had to be repeated often. As to the donkeys, the riders paid no attention to the restriction, but walked, trotted, or galloped the donkeys as they felt inclined.

During the daytime Mahmoud wore a plain gown suitable for traveling on sh.o.r.e in heat and dust, but in the evenings he was resplendent in robes of silk. One night, at the request of one of the ladies, he brought to the mid-deck five handsome silk gowns to be inspected by the tourists.

He also brought his book of references written by people whom he had conducted. In this we read the dignified prose of preacher and college president, the practical remarks of business men, and the nonsensical lines of the rhymster. One of his feminine admirers, seemingly impressed by the dragoman's silk robes, polite attention, and general good humor, had left the following jingle on the record:

Who guided us all about the show, Whether we wanted to go or no, And always pleased and made us go?

Mahmoud.

Who whipped the donkey when he fell And then the donkey boy as well, And dressed himself a howling swell?

Mahmoud.

Who sat so sweetly at my feet With red tarbouche and slippers neat And stirred my heart with many a beat?

Mahmoud.

And now, when all the trip is done Rides to temples, and tombs, and fun, We may forget them all save one, Mahmoud.