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