At length we found ourselves floating by 1063.
Pyramids and almost in sight Cairo. It was a bright
and beautiful morning when we stopped at the west
bank and prepared for a visit the Pyramids of Sak-
harm. They stand on the leader of the Sephian desert,
about six miles from the river, though the distance seems
much less. Our nimble donkeys have us through fine
wheat-fields and magnificent palm groves, now covering
the site of ancient Memphis. Old mounds and broken
images indicate the place where that great and splendid
city once flourished. The Prophet Amos speaks of Mem-
phis, and in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel it is called
Noph, as Thebes is called No. Observing the prostrate
and shattered sculptures of gods and men, I was rem-
inded of a Divine prophecy and its literal fulfillment;
“I will destroy the idols, and I will cause their im-
ages to cease out of Noph.” (Ezek.XXX.13.). The most
remarkable statue here is a colossal figure of Nemeses II
over forty-two feet in length, not including the pedestal.
It lies prostrate on its face several feet below the sur-
face of the grounds which had been excavated about it.
It is somewhat mutilated and broken; the face, however,
is perfect and beautiful; an amulet hangs about the neck,
and there is a small female figure at the side, probably a
daughter of this Pharaoh.
The cluster of Pyramids at Dashaur appeared finely
several miles at our left, and the largest of these at Memphis
now assumed a huge proportion as we came and its shadow.
It seems to be almost square at the base, around which the
sand has drifted, and it tapers upward in terraces of large
rough stones.
The region around these sublime old structures for the
dead, abounds in tombs of curious kinds. These pits contain
not only the resurrected remains of human kings, but those
also of birds, animals, and reptiles, objects of worship or
sacred interest among the old Egyptians. But the chief