| | and Pacific Islanders. | | | | ========================================================================= Comparative Exhibit of the Number of Followers of the Leading Systems of Religious Faith.] CHAPTER V. THE LAND OF THE SPHINX. I have come to Egypt to learn something of the wisdom of the Egyptians. Tell me, then, ye tombs, and temples, and pyramids, about God; tell me about the life to come! But the pyramids speak not; and the Sphinx still looks toward the East, to watch for the rising sun, but is voiceless and mute. This valley of the Nile speaks of nothing but death. From end to end its rock-ribbed hills are filled with tombs. Yet what do they all teach the anxious and troubled heart of man? Nothing! All these hills are silent.--H. M. FIELD. [Illustration: RUINED TEMPLES.] Herodotus, the Greek historian, who visited Egypt about 450 B.C., was struck with the extreme attention which the Egyptians paid to religion. He says that they were the most religious of all mankind. The passing stranger was impressed with the pompous ceremonies, the magnificent festivals, the imposing processions and the many gorgeously-robed priests. He found large temples, where the walls were covered with sculptures, paintings and hieroglyphic writings. All Egypt was stamped with the impress of religion. Every art and science, and all literature were distinctly connected with religion, and were used in the service of their deities. They surpassed all nations in the reverence they paid to the gods. Their religion was by no means an open one. Like most of the false religions of antiquity, there was a great deal of mystery about it. Even to-day we find among the monuments traces of the great attention which the ancient Egyptians paid to the service and adoration of their gods. HIDDEN HISTORY.