116 SCIOPTICON MANUAL. 



proportions, built by one of the Ptolemys and covered 

 with profuse hieroglyphics. Passing through this, an^ 

 other pylon, followed by a pillared court, and a temple 

 built by the later Bemisides. 



HALL OF COLUMNS AT KARNAK. Three thousand 

 years ago and this forest of columns was standing, Hero 

 Cambyses stayed his chariot-wheels to gaze in wonder at 

 the triumphs of architecture. Here Sesostris was wel- 

 comed back with the loud acclaim of millions from his 

 conquests. The Ciesars were awed into humility when 

 they trod these aisles, and even the Arab hosts, as they 

 swept by on the tide to victory, paused to admire; and 

 the armies of France, as they rushed in pursuit of the 

 flying Memlooks, were so struck with amazement at 

 the ruins that they fell upon their knees in homage and 

 rent the air with their shouts of applause. 



The main aisle is composed of an avenue of twelve 

 pillars, six on each side, each thirty-six feet in circum- 

 ference and nearly eighty in height. Ponderous masses 

 of sculptured stone. The spreading bell of the lotus 

 blossoms crown them with an atmosphere of lightness 

 and grace. On each side of the main aisle are seven other 

 rows of columns, one hundred arid twenty-two in all, of 

 immense size, and so close as sometimes not to allow a 

 column that has lost its erect position to fall to the 

 ground. They date from the time of Barneses III, the 

 Sesostris of Greek writers. These columns are a good 

 illustration of the way in which the Egyptians covered 

 all parts of their buildings with inscriptions. 



THE OBELISKS AT KARNAK. These obelisks, the most 

 ancient now standing in Egypt, date about 1800 B. C. 

 They are granite, and retain the sharpness of their 

 angles in a wonderful manner. This view shows in a 



