extended a half-day’s journey every way, and he declares that the wonders he beheld were sufficient to confound the mind; no eloquence could describe them. Every new glance, he says, was a new cause of delight. But the work of ruin was not ended in his day—Mahometan fanaticism spares nothing, however time-honoured or beautiful; besides which, the ruins of Memphis proved a convenient quarry for the building of modern Cairo. Thus the ‘secure and beautiful’ city of King Mena has disappeared at length as utterly as Babylon has done. A few insignificant fragments and blocks are strewn confusedly about, and serve to mark the site. One mighty statue lies prostrate—a colossal figure of Rameses II., erected by himself in front of the temple of Ptah. It is lying on its face in a broad ditch, deserted and alone, save when some wandering Arab passes by, or cattle come to drink of the water which, for most part of the year, fills the trench and submerges the gigantic figure— Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away. Of historic details relating to the earliest dynasties next to nothing has been preserved; the kings appear to have been able and enlightened rulers, and encouragers of art and learning. In their days the system of hieroglyphic writing existed, and we are told of works on the healing arts, some of which were composed by the successor of Mena himself, for ‘he was a physician.’ The earliest chapters of the sacred books were extant, and the art of embalming was already practised, though in a comparatively rude fashion. We are also informed that by a decree of King Bai-en-neter of the second dynasty, women were declared capable of succeeding to the crown—a statement which is only in harmony with all that we know of the position of women in ancient Egypt.[10] One remarkable monument of these early dynasties remains. The Libyan hills, running from north to south, form the western boundary of the Nile valley. Along their base there is a rocky platform of considerable breadth, at a height of some 90 or 100 feet above the plain. This vast platform was used as the necropolis of Memphis—_Ank-ta_, ‘Land of life,’ they called it. For the space of twenty miles in the neighbourhood of the city, it was covered with groups of pyramids and tombs. In the centre of the most ancient of these stands the pyramid of Sakkara, known as the ‘stepped pyramid,’ or ‘pyramid of degrees,’ which is considered as the burial-place of Ata, fourth King of Egypt. In that case, it is the oldest known sepulchre in the world. It is of grand and rugged aspect, about 200 feet in height, and flattened at the summit. The exterior is formed of six rough gigantic steps composed of stones, and nine or ten feet in thickness.