OK, PLAIN TEACHING. 15*/ 



Akabah Castle, 10, stands about 

 two and a half miles from the 

 head of the Gulf of Suez, on the 

 east side, and close on the beach ; 

 it is situated, as its Arabic name 

 implies, on a steep declivity, and 

 is a massive fortress, erected by 

 the Sultan Ei-Ghury, of Egypt, 

 in the 16th century. The castle 

 is surrounded with groves of 

 date palm, and immediately be- 

 hind it rises the lofty Jebel-el- 

 ash-hab. It is in general but 

 indifferently garrisoned, and used 

 only as a depot for provisions for 

 the Haji caravan, from Cairo to 

 Mecca. Though a place of little 

 importance, in the midst of pre- 

 datory tribes of Arabs, it was 

 once the celebrated Elath of the 

 Scriptures, from which an exten- 

 sive commerce was carried on in 

 remote time, with Rhinoculura, 

 now El-Arish, on the Mediter- 

 ranean, and was the Aila or Elana 

 of the Romans ; and during the 

 Crusades were taken by the 

 Christians, and again recaptured 

 by Saladin, through means of 

 ships, which, at immense trouble, 

 were transported on camels from 

 Cairo. 



A few miles to the east of 

 Akabah are extensive ruins in 

 the sea, but only visible at low 

 water, consisting of houses, pil- 

 lars, and walls, and supposed to 

 be the ruined city of Eziongeber, 

 which, with Elath, were the ports 

 at which Solomon built his navy 

 to trade with Ophir, and, in all 

 probability, the port to which 

 once in three years his fleet re- 

 turned from Tarshish, freighted 

 with gold, silver, ivory, apes, 

 and peacocks. 



So early as the. days of Abraham, Lower Egypt 

 was the seat of a great and powerful monarchy, 

 the Egyptians being celebrated, both in sacred 

 and profane history, for their civilization and 

 great attainments, both in arts and sciences ; 

 and to them the Greeks, and Europe since, are 

 indebted for all their learning, wisdom, and 

 refinement. At a later period the school of 

 Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, 

 flourished as the centre of all human learning, 

 and produced some of the first names in the 

 mathematical sciences. 



The monarchy of Egypt continued under its 

 native race of sovereigns, the Pharaohs, till its 

 conquest by Cambyses, b.c. 525, after a continu- 

 ance of more than 1500 years. Two centuries 

 afterwards, it again became a powerful empire 

 under Ptolemy, which lasted for about 300 

 years, till the death of Cleopatra, b.c. 30, when 

 Egypt sank into a Roman province. 



Egypt lies, like a long belt of black earth, in 

 the centre of the Libyan desert. In the middle 

 of this rich soil, that extends east and west for 

 the breadth of fifteen or twenty miles, flows the 

 Nile, which, rising in the mountains of Abyssinia, 

 runs almost due south and north, a distance of 

 2700 miles, till, splitting into many mouths at 

 the Delta, it disembogues into the Mediter- 

 ranean ; and it is to the annual inundation of 

 its waters — the rising beginning in June and 

 ending in the equinox— that the entire land 

 owes its wonderful fertility. 



Egypt was anciently divided 

 into Upper and Lower Egypt, 

 Thebes and Memphis being the 

 capital cities of either division. 



H 



482. 



Though for ages exposed to con- 

 stant war and pillage, the whole 

 face of the country is still covered 

 with ruins of former magnificence ' 

 and grandeur ; Thebes, the me- 

 tropolis of Upper Egypt, the 



