Chapter III: Introduction

Those particulars of the History of Egypt, and of its present condition, in which it differs from other countries, are factors of the idea this famous name stands for, which must be brought prominently into view in any honest and useful construction of the idea. Something of this kind is what the author of the following work has been desirous of attempting, and so was unable, as he was also unwilling, to pass by any point, or question, which fell within the requirements of his design. His aim, throughout, has been to aid those who have not studied the subject much, or perhaps at all, in understanding what it is in the past, and in the present, that gives to Egypt a claim on their attention. The pictures of things, and the thoughts about them, which he offers to his readers, are the materials with which the idea of Egypt has been built up in his own mind: they will judge how far with, or without, reason.

The work had its origin in a tour the author made through the country in the early months of this year. It consists, indeed, of the thoughts that actually occurred to him at the time, and while the objects that called them forth were still before him; with, of course, some pruning, and, here and there, some expansion or addition. They are presented to the reader with somewhat more of methodical arrangement than would have been possible had the hap-hazard sequence, in which the objects and places that suggested them were visited, been adhered to.

As he started for Egypt at a few hours’ notice, it did not occur to him to take any books with him. This temporary absence of the means of reference, and verification, will, in some measure, account for the disposition manifested throughout to follow up the trains of thought Egyptian objects quicken in the beholder’s mind. These _excursus_, however, as they will appear to those who take little interest in the internal, and ask only for the external, incidents of travel, have been retained, not merely because they were necessary for what came to be the design of the work, but also because, had they been excluded, the work would have ceased to be something real; for then it would not have been what it professes to be, that is, a transcript of the thoughts which the sights of Egypt actually gave rise to in the authors mind.

WHERSTEAD VICARAGE: _May 13, 1871_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. EGYPT AND THE NILE 1

II. HOW IN EGYPT NATURE AFFECTED MAN 12

III. WHO WERE THE EGYPTIANS? 25

IV. EGYPT THE JAPAN OF THE OLD WORLD 42

V. BACKSHEESH.—THE GIRL OF BETHANY 45

VI. ANTIQUITY AND CHARACTER OF THE PYRAMID CIVILIZATION 52

VII. LABOUR WAS SQUANDERED ON THE PYRAMIDS BECAUSE IT COULD
NOT BE BOTTLED UP 57

VIII. THE GREAT PYRAMID LOOKS DOWN ON THE CATARACT OF PHILÆ 70

IX. THE WOODEN STATUE IN THE BOULAK MUSEUM 72

X. DATE OF BUILDING WITH STONE 75

XI. GOING TO THE TOP OF THE GREAT PYRAMID 85

XII. LUNCHEON AT THE PYRAMIDS. KÊF 92

XIII. ABYDOS 97

XIV. THE FAIOUM 105

XV. HELIOPOLIS 117

XVI. THEBES—LUXOR AND KARNAK 124

XVII. THEBES—THE NECROPOLIS 133

XVIII. THEBES—THE TEMPLE-PALACES 144

XIX. RAMESES THE GREAT GOES FORTH FROM EGYPT 154

XX. GERMANICUS AT THEBES 164

XXI. MOSES’S WIFE 168

XXII. EGYPTIAN DONKEY-BOYS 170

XXIII. SCARABS 177

XXIV. EGYPTIAN BELIEF IN A FUTURE LIFE 182

XXV. WHY THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES IGNORE THE FUTURE LIFE 193

XXVI. THE EFFECT OF EASTERN TRAVEL ON BELIEF 244

XXVII. THE HISTORICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION 257

XXVIII. THE DELTA—DISAPPEARANCE OF ITS MONUMENTS 266

XXIX. POST-PHARAOHNIC TEMPLES IN UPPER EGYPT 285

XXX. THE RATIONALE OF THE MONUMENTS 290

XXXI. THE WISDOM OF EGYPT, AND ITS FALL 299

XXXII. EGYPTIAN LANDLORDISM 328

XXXIII. CASTE 332

XXXIV. PERSISTENCY OF CUSTOM IN THE EAST 337

XXXV. ARE ALL ORIENTALS MAD? 341

XXXVI. THE KORAN 345

XXXVII. ORIENTAL PRAYER 349

XXXVIII. PILGRIMAGE 355

XXXIX. ARAB SUPERSTITIONS.—THE EVIL EYE 359

XL. ORIENTAL CLEANLINESS 365

XLI. WHY ORIENTALS ARE NOT REPUBLICANS 370

XLII. POLYGAMY—ITS CAUSE 374

XLIII. HOURIISM 381

XLIV. CAN ANYTHING BE DONE FOR THE EAST? 389

XLV. ACHMED TRIED IN THE BALANCE WITH HODGE 396

XLVI. WATER-JARS AND WATER-CARRIERS 402

XLVII. WANT OF WOOD IN EGYPT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 405

XLVIII. TREES IN EGYPT 410

XLIX. GARDENING IN EGYPT 414

L. ANIMAL LIFE IN EGYPT.—THE CAMEL 417

LI. THE ASS.—THE HORSE 424

LII. THE DOG.—THE UNCLEAN ANIMAL.—THE BUFFALO.—THE OX.—THE
GOAT AND THE SHEEP.—FERÆ NATURÆ 428

LIII. BIRDS IN EGYPT 436

LIV. THE EGYPTIAN TURTLE 441

LV. INSECT PLAGUES 443

LVI. THE SHADOOF 445

LVII. ALEXANDRIA 448

LVIII. CAIRO 458

LIX. THE CANALIZATION OF THE ISTHMUS 472

LX. CONCLUSION 494

EGYPT OF THE PHARAOHS, AND OF THE KHEDIVÉ.