The Pharaoh and the Priest. Bolesław Prus

is entirely unknown to Americans. This book will present him.

      Excepting the view in the temple of Luxor the illustrations given in this volume are from photographs taken by me in 1899, while I was traveling in Egypt.

      The title of this volume has been changed from "The Pharaoh" to "The

       Pharaoh and the Priest," at the wish of the author.

      JEREMIAH CURTIN.

      BRISTOL, VERMONT, U. S. A.,

       July 28, 1902.

THE PHARAOH AND THE PRIEST

       Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

       Table of Contents

      In the northeastern corner of Africa lies Egypt, that land of most ancient civilization. Three, four, and even five thousand years ago, when the savages of Central Europe wore untanned skins for clothing and were cave-dwellers, Egypt had a high social organization, agriculture, crafts, and literature. Above all, it carried out engineering works and reared immense buildings, the remnants of which rouse admiration in specialists of our day.

      Egypt is that rich ravine between the Libyan sands and the Arabian desert. Its depth is several hundred meters, its length six hundred and fifty miles, its average width barely five. On the west the gently sloping but naked Libyan hills, on the east the steep and broken cliffs of Arabia form the sides of a corridor on the bottom of which flows the river Nile.

      With the course of the river northward the walls of the corridor decrease in height, while a hundred and twenty-five miles from the sea they expand on a sudden, and the river, instead of flowing through a narrow passage, spreads in various arms over a broad level plain which is shaped like a triangle. This triangle, called the Delta of the Nile, has for its base the shore of the Mediterranean; at its apex, where the river issues from the corridor, stands the city of Cairo, and near by are the ruins of Memphis, the ancient capital.

      Could a man rise one hundred miles in the air and gaze thence upon Egypt, he would see the strange outlines of that country and the peculiar changes in its color. From that elevation, on the background of white and orange colored sands, Egypt would look like a serpent pushing with energetic twists through a desert to the sea, iii which it has dipped already its triangular head, which has two eyes, the left Alexandria, the right Damietta.

      In October, when the Nile inundates Egypt, that long serpent would be blue, like water. In February, when spring vegetation takes the place of the decreasing river, the serpent would be green, with a blue line along its body and a multitude of blue veins on its head; these are canals which cut through the Delta. In March the blue line would be narrower, and the body of the serpent, because of ripening grain, would seem golden. Finally, in the first days of June the line of the Nile would be very narrow and the serpent's body gray from dust and drought. The chief climatic feature in Egypt is heat. During January it is 57 above zero, in July sometimes the heat reaches 149 which answers to the temperature of a Roman bath. Moreover, in the neighborhood of the Mediterranean, on the Delta, rain falls barely ten times a year; in Upper Egypt it falls once during ten years.

      In these conditions Egypt, instead of being the cradle of civilization, would have been a desert ravine like one of those which compose the Sahara, if the waters of the sacred Nile had not brought life to it annually. From the last days of June till the end of September the Nile swells and inundates almost all Egypt; from the end of October to the last days in May the year following it falls and exposes gradually lower and lower platforms of land. The waters of the river are so permeated with mineral and organic matter that their color becomes brownish; hence, as the waters decrease, on inundated lands is deposited fruitful mud which takes the place of the best fertilizer. Owing to this, mud and to heat, Egyptian earth tillers, fenced in between deserts, have three harvests yearly and from one grain of seed receive back about three hundred.

      Egypt, however, is not a flat plain, but a rolling country; some portions of its laud drink the blessed waters during two or three months only; others do not see it every year, as the overflow does not reach certain points annually. Besides, seasons of scant water occur, and then a part of Egypt fails to receive the enriching deposit. Finally, because of heat the earth dries up quickly, and then man has to irrigate out of vessels.

      In view of all these conditions people inhabiting the Nile valley had to perish if they were weak, or regulate the water if they had genius. The ancient Egyptians had genius, hence they created civilization.

      Six thousand years ago they observed that the Nile rose when the sun appeared under Sirius, and began to fall when it neared the constellation Libra. This impelled them to make astronomical observations and to measure time.

      To preserve water for the whole year, they dug throughout their country a network of canals many thousand miles in length. To guard against excessive waste of water, they built mighty dams and dug reservoirs, among which the artificial lake Moeris occupied three hundred square kilometers of surface and was fifty-four meters deep. Finally, along the Nile and the canals they set up a multitude of simple but practical hydraulic works; through the aid of these they raised water and poured it out upon the fields; these machines were placed one or two stories higher than the water. To complete all, there was need to clear the choked canals yearly, repair the dams and build lofty roads for the army, which had to march at all seasons.

      These gigantic works demanded knowledge of astronomy, geometry, mechanics, and architecture, besides a perfect organization. Whether the task was the strengthening of dams or the clearing of canals, it had to be done and finished within a certain period over a great area. Hence arose the need of forming an army of laborers, tens of thousands in number, acting with a definite purpose and under uniform direction, an army which demanded many provisions, much means, and great auxiliary forces.

      Egypt established such an army of laborers, and to them were due works renowned during ages. It seems that Egyptian priests or sages created this army and then drew out plans for it, while the kings, or pharaohs, commanded. In consequence of this the Egyptians in the days of their greatness formed as it were one person, in which the priestly order performed the role of mind, the pharaoh was the will, the people formed the body, and obedience gave cohesion.

      In this way nature, striving in Egypt for a work great, continuous, and ordered, created the skeleton of a social organism for that country as follows: the people labored, the pharaoh commanded, the priests made the plans. While these three elements worked unitedly toward the objects indicated by nature, society had strength to flourish and complete immortal labors.

      The mild, gladsome, and by no means warlike Egyptians were divided into two classes, earth-tillers and artisans. Among earth-tillers there must have been owners of small bits of laud, but generally earth-tillers were tenants on lands belonging to the pharaohs, the priests, and the aristocracy. The artisans, the people who made clothing, furniture, vessels, and tools, were independent; those who worked at great edifices formed, as it were, an army.

      Each of those specialties, and particularly architecture, demanded power of hauling and moving; some men had to draw water all day from canals, or transport stones from the quarries to where they were needed. These, the most arduous mechanical occupations, and above all work in the quarries were carried on by criminals condemned by the courts, or by prisoners seized in battle.

      The genuine Egyptians had a bronze-colored skin, of which they were very proud, despising the black Ethiopian, the yellow Semite, and the white European. This color of skin, which enabled them to distinguish their own people from strangers, helped to keep up the nation's unity more strictly than religion, which a man may accept, or language, which he may appropriate.

      But in time, when the edifice of the state began to weaken, foreign elements appeared in growing numbers. They lessened cohesion,