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| THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR - This reproduction of an
Egyptian ecclesiastical edifice of the age of 1800 B. C., stood at
the extreme western end of the Street in
Cairo, and a fee of ten cents extra was charged for admission.
The interior was a single chamber, at the other end of which was a
platform. At intervals through the day and evening the musicians
marched out into Cairo Street carrying a diminutive Bull Apis, and
led by a drummer who was one of the handsomest of men. On the
platform were heavy harps, and in the little procession were
santoors, oots, and lutes or recorders. Two priests of Isis, draped
with leopard-skins, stood erect in position, and the solemn Egyptian
chants, such as Verdi has imitated in the opera of "Aida," were sung.
In cases about the room were replicas of the recently-discovered
mummies of Thothmes III., Sesostris, Seti I., and a dozen others of
the most important people who have yet lived on earth. It was the
object of Professor Demetrius Mosconas to show these replicas and
give an adequate impression of ancient Egyptian ceremonies and
architecture; and the students of Lenorment, Champollion, Brugsch,
Lipsius, and Belzoni, it may be guessed, were not slow to seize an
opportunity so valuable. But Egyptologists are not as plentiful as
people who think they want to ride on a camel, and it was the other
end of Cairo Street that was always
crowded. |
