Nile, whence comes the first recorded
history of the human race, have unveiled to the light pottery and
other relics of civilization that, at the rate of deposits of the
Nile, must have taken at least that number of years to cover.

[Footnote 20: Champollion.]

Nature takes countless thousands of years to form and build up her
limestone hills, but buried deep in these we find evidences of a
stone age wherein man devised and made himself edged tools and
weapons of rudely chipped stone. These shaped, edged implements, we
have learned, were made by white-heating a suitable flint or stone
and tracing thereon with cold water the pattern desired, just as
practised by the Indians of the American continent, and in our day
by the manufacturers of ancient (_sic_) arrow-, spear-, and
axe-heads. This shows a civilization that has learned the method of
artificially producing fire, and its uses.

Egypt is the monumental land of the earth, as the Egyptians are the
monumental people of history. The first human monarch to reign over
all Egypt was Menes, the founder of Memphis. As the gate of Africa,
Egypt has always held an important position in world-politics. Its
ancient wealth and power were enormous. Inclusive of the Soudan,
its population is now more than eight millions. Its present
importance is indicated by its relations to England. Historians
vary in their compilations of Egyptian chronology. The epoch of
Menes is fixed by Bunsen at B.C. 3643, by Lepsius at B.C. 3892, and
by Poole at B.C. 2717. Before Menes Egypt was divided into
independent kingdoms. It has always been a country of mysteries,
with the mighty Nile, and its inundations, so little understood by
the ancients; its trackless desert; its camels and caravans; its
tombs and temples; its obelisks and pyramids, its groups of gods:
Ra, Osiris, Isis, Apis, Horus, Hathor--the very names breathe
suggestions of mystery, cruelty, pomp, and power. In the sciences
and in the industrial arts the ancient Egyptians were highly
cultivated. Much Egyptian literature has come down to us, but it is
unsystematic and entirely devoid of style, being without lofty
ideas or charms. In art, however, Egypt may be placed next to
Greece, particularly in architecture.

The age of the Pyramid-builders was a brilliant