There are few voices to be heard underrating the greatness of Egypt. Reclus declares, that when the whole of Europe was still overrun by savage tribes, that have left no records behind them, Egypt existed a civilized power of greatness. Astronomical observations, arithmetic, geometry, architecture, all the arts, and nearly all the sciences, and industries of the present day, were known when the Greeks were still cave men. The origin of the sciences and many moral precepts, still taught from the wisdom of the ancients were recorded upon the Egyptian papyri or on the monuments. The very groove of our present thought had its origin upon the banks of the Nile. (The Earth and Its Inhabitants. Africa.--Vol. 1. p. 207.) Earlier works of art show the Egyptians to have been a kindly people who did not believe in charms. As the ages succeeded and Egypt became mingled with other races, her arts declined, she seemed to forget the meaning of her religion, and finally only animal worship remained. Reclus continues, "So ancient is the civilization of Egypt, that it is known by virtue of its decadence. The most powerful epoch is the most ancient known to us. After Ramses II there
Donnelly affirms that Egypt, Chaldea, India, Greece and Rome passed the torch of civilization from one to another. They added nothing to the arts that existed at the earliest period of Egyptian history. These arts continued without material change until two or three hundred years ago. For all these years men did not improve, but perpetuated. The age of Columbus possessed only printing that was unknown to the Egyptians. Egyptian civilization was highest at its first appearance showing that they drew from a fountain higher than themselves. In that day Egypt worshipped only one supreme being. At the time of Menes, this race had long been architects, sculptors, painters, mythologists and theologians. What king of modern times ever primitive seats of worship were at Philae and Abydos high up the Nile. Here Petrie found many relies of the Old Race. At Abydos was the tomb of Osiris. Every Egyptian of sufficient wealth and dignity desired to be buried there. Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis. Isis wears the horned crescent, the moon disk between. She was a black goddess of the Soudan. Thot was a magician priest. One text calls him the brother of Osiris. He was the chief Moon-god and deity of knowledge, wisdom and art. The seat of Moon worship was the Soudan. Thot originally was of those regions. After Thot, from whom the ancients said came writing, were many lesser gods. Certain animals, were sacred to each. No intelligent Egyptian worshipped the bull. It was only the In commercial life the Egyptians were consciencious and honest. In the towns there was little. quarrelling or disorder. Justice was administered speedily and impartially. Among the many crafts were blacksmiths, gold and coppersmiths, cabinet makers, weavers, upholsterers, potters, glass Mowers, shoe makers, tanners, tailors and armorers. West describes them as workmen of marvelous dexterity, masters of processes
Among Semitic people herding is highly esteemed. The fact that shepherds and swineherds were the lowest strata of Egyptian society, proves that they were not Semitic in origin. Exodus VIII, 26, says: "Egyptians would not eat with Hebrews because they were. shepherds, who sacrificed beasts that were an abomination to Egyptians." The people of the Nile were primarily agriculturalists which was the basic occupation of all the Hamitic races, coupled with great skill in the arts and industries. The trade of father descended to son. One inscription speaks of the profession of architect in one family for twenty-three generations. This may account for the unequalled genius of the ancient in many lost arts. Intermarriage between the various castes was never forbidden. The domestic tie was strong. The monuments reveal courtesy, kindness and affection ingenious toys and amusements for their children. Among the higher classes music was the delight of all. Egyptian musicians played upon harps, lyres, guitars, flutes, triangles, pipes, horns, trumpets and drums. The dancing was but graceful and pleasing gestures to music. Ancestor worship and the belief in immortality, caused them to embalm their dead. Their bodies treated five thousand years ago are today in perfect state of preservation. The. secrets of their methods are unknown to us. We can preserve the body for only a few weeks. The cost of preparing a mummy in the highest style was twelve hundred dollars. The lowest style was in the reach or all. In the museums of the world we may look upon the faces of the Pharaohs as they appeared four thousand years ago. The Egyptians were master engineers. The Nile was diverted from its course to build Memphis. Moeris was an artificial lake 450 miles in circumference. It was 350 feet deep, with flood gates, locks and dams. The joints were no wider stupefied by the thought of the mighty men who made them." Perhaps not untruly the builders called themselves the descendants of the gods. The Great Pyramid contains ninety million cubic feet of masonry. It stands on the thirtieth parallel facing the four cardinal points with geometrical exactitude. Beneath the pyramids lie the bodies of Egyptians. Within were sepulchral chambers containing mummies, long ago despoiled of the rich treasures buried with them. So perfectly were they built that after the lapse of tens of centuries the stones are still in position supporting the mountain weight above them. Sayce says that in the pyramid of Khufa, the stones are in exact contact and cemented so perfectly as to seem impossible. Petrie believes that the stones were cut with tubular drills fitted with jewel points. The lines marked upon the stones by the drills can still be seen, with evidence that not only the tool but the stone was rotated. The machinery with which the latter was erected is still unknown. The Egyptian carved the hardest granite, regarded now as impossible to work, as though it was so much soapstone. How the letters and figures were elaborately embossed and counter-sunk is astonishing to modern workers in granite. The edges of the inscriptions after forty centuries are as sharp and The blocks of the pyramids weighing from two and a half to fifty tons were squared and fitted and levelled with an accuracy that puts to shame our very best work. Acres of buildings were put together with an accuracy of measurement equalled only by the optician fitting glasses. The Egyptians were surpassed only in the plastic arts by the Greeks. Nude figures are seen as through a veil. Naked figures can be seen when the body is clothed. The paintings on the tombs after the lapse of three thousand years retain the distinctness of outline and brillancy of color of recent productions. The lions of Gebel Barkal Nubia, now in the British museum, are probably the finest example of the idealization of animal forms that any age has produced. The Grottoes of Beni-Hasan contain many pictures characterizedEGYPT AND HER "GOLDEN AGE."