We sat after luncheon taking our _kêf_, apparently absorbed in the contemplation of the little fantastic wreaths of cloud formed by our cigars. But the few remarks that were made showed that the thoughts of most of us were occupied in resuscitating the past, and repeopling the sacred terrain around with the grand impressive ceremonies and funeral processions of five thousand years back. What a scene must this have been then. The mountains—for that is the meaning of the Pyramids—not rugged and dilapidated as now, but cased with polished stone, each with its temple in front of it. The many smaller Pyramids that have now disappeared, or are only seen as mounds of rubbish, then acting as foils to their giant brethren. Great Pyramids reaching all along the foot of the hills as far as the eye could see towards the south: some of these still figure in the landscape. The Sphinx was standing clear of sand with a temple between his paws. Everything was orderly, bright, and splendid. The dark red granite portals of the thousand houses of those, who slept in the city of the dead, were standing out conspicuous upon the sober limestone area, unchequered by a plant, unstained by a lichen. The black basalt causeways traversed the green plain from the silver river to the Pyramid plateau. The whole scene was alive with those, who were visiting, and honouring, the dead, and preparing their own last, earthly resting-places. Above all was spread out the azure field of the Egyptian sky. * * * * * The word _kêf_ is used everywhere throughout the East, from Constantinople to Cairo, to convey an idea, that is not European. It is the idea of sensational comfort combined with mental repose, produced by the narcotic leaf, when used under circumstances, where the comfort and the repose are felt. There is no _kêf_ in its use as you walk or drive, or even talk with the usual effort and purpose. You must be seated, and in a kiosk, or garden, or some pleasant place, where the _entourage_ feeds the fancy through the eye, spontaneously, with delightful, and soothing images. You must not be urging the mind to exert itself. Conscious mental exertion, equally with bodily, is destructive of _kêf_. The thoughts must be pleasant, and they must come, too, of themselves, from surrounding objects. Bodily sensations must be so lulled, and yet, at the same time, so stimulated, as to be in perfect accord with the stream of thought, that is languidly, and dreamily, floating through the mind. CHAPTER XIII. ABYDOS. Series longissima rerum Per tot ducta viros antiquæ ab origine gentis.—VIRGIL.