From the lofty west wing of the propylon of the gate of this island-palace of the Pharaohs, I command not only a prospect of the fleet, but of the plain of the pyramids outside of Memphis. I have but to turn slowly round from that elevation, to see On with its three hundred and sixty temples--its gardens and towers; and Raamses, the treasure-city, to the east: to the south, the Nile, studded with barges and gay vessels having silken and colored sails, filled with citizens, come to look at the fleet of war-ships; the immense squadron itself, gay with the variegated flags of its different divisions and captains; with towers, temples, obelisks, and propyla on the two shores terminating the perspective: and on the west, Jizeh, with its sphinxes and colossi, its terraced gardens and amphitheatre of the gods; and still farther off, Memphis united to the Nile by a magnificent aqueduct; and the pyramids of Cheops and of his daughter. Between the city and these mysterious mausolea, stands alone, amid gardens, the red granite temple of Pthah and Athor, the two chief divinities of Memphis: for Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis, is not a divinity, properly, but only a visible incarnation of Osiris, the emblem and type of the power and strength of the Supreme Creator Imagine this vast and varied scene of architectural and naval glory, interspersed with verdure of the brightest green, with palm, orange, and fig trees, garden linked to garden, grove to grove, and villas half seen through the foliage; and lastly, the mighty river flowing with shining waves amid the inimitable landscape, and you have before you a scene of grandeur and beauty such as Egypt alone can produce. Add the myriads of human beings, the crowded galleys, the thronged shores, the eighty thousand soldiers encamped on the west plain, the army of chariots drawn up on the east bank, and farther up, opposite the aqueduct of Pharaoh Apophis, a battalion of twelve thousand cavalry manœuvering, and the scene which I, an hour since, beheld from the top of the gateway, is before you. Since I wrote the last sentence, I have witnessed a naval review, with a sham battle. The Prince Mœris, in a gorgeous galley decorated with all the emblems of the cities and nomes of Egypt, after displaying the skill of his one hundred oarsmen, and the swiftness of his vessel in front of the palace, before the eyes of the queen, moved among his ships, and gave orders for their division into lines of battle. The greater number of these galleys had only a single mast with a long swallow-winged sail; and were propelled by forty rowers. But the ships of the captains were larger and more imposing. All the galleys were handsomely painted, and the whole fleet together made a splendid moving spectacle, which was heightened by the thousand bannerets fluttering in the wind, and the ten thousand shields and spears gleaming in the sun, as they were held in the hands of the soldiers upon their decks.