272 THE WORLD. 







almost impalpable powder, ancient cities and works of art, ex- 

 cept at a few places sheltered by the mountains. From the fact 

 that these moving sands have only reached the fertile plains of 

 the Nile in modern times, it was inferred by M. de Luc, that that 

 continent was of recent origin. The same scourge he observes, 

 would have afflicted Egypt for ages anterior to the time of histo- 

 ry, had the continents risen above the level of the sea several 

 hundred centuries before our era. But as Mr. Lyell very justfy 

 observes, there is no evidence that the whole African continent 

 was raised at once, and it is possible Egypt and the neighboring 

 countries might have been populated long before any sands began 

 to be blown from the western portion, nor is there yet any evi- 

 dence of the depth of this drift sand, in the various parts of the 

 great Lybian deserts. Valleys of large dimensions may have 

 been filled up, and may thus have arrested the progress of the 

 sand drift for ages. The sand floods which have buried the works 

 of art on the western countries of the Nile, have contributed 

 greatly to their preservation. Nothing could be better adapted 

 than this dry impalpable dust, to protect the features of the col- 

 lossal sculptures of the temples, or the paintings upon their walls. 

 Every mark of the chisel remains as perfect as though but yes- 

 terday from the sculptor's hand| and the colors of the paintings 

 are as brilliant, as when first laid on, thousands of years ago. At 

 some remote period, when the causes that now make the air 

 move in sweeping winds across the Great Desert towards the 

 Nile shall be removed, when the change of land and sea will 

 perhaps open that desert to the ocean, after the pyramids shall 

 have crumbled, towns and temples of higher antiquity, will be 

 laid open, and a flood of light be shed upon the history of remote 

 ages. Ere that time, the hieroglyphic writing will be thoroughly 

 understood, and the years of the Egyptian dynasties as well de- 

 termined as the reigns of modern kings. The great agent of de- 

 composition in other places, moisture, is unknown there. The 

 spectator who looks for the first time upon the immense cavern 

 temple at Ipsambul in Nubia, might well imagine that the artists 

 had just left their work. The walls are as white, the colors as 

 perfect, and the outlines as sharp, as in the first hour of their ex- 



