a house on the spot which he sold to the government for about four
hundred and fifty dollars, not knowing of the existence of a temple
buried beneath his dwelling. Some of the original statues of Rameses II.
remain in front of the ruins. I measured the right arm of one of these
figures, from the pit where it touches the side to the same point in
front, a distance of about six feet, and that does not represent the
entire circumference, for the granite between the arm and the body was
never entirely cut away. Near by stands a large red granite obelisk,
with carvings from top to bottom. A companion to this one, for they were
always erected in pairs, has been removed. In ancient times a paved
street led from this temple to Karnak, which is reached by a short walk.
This ancient street was adorned by a row of ram-headed sphinxes on each
side. Toward Karnak many of them are yet to be seen in a badly mutilated
condition, but there is another avenue containing forty of these figures
in a good state of preservation.

The first of the Karnak temples reached is one dedicated to the Theban
moon god, Khons, reared by Rameses III. The Temple of Ammon, called "the
throne of the world," lies a little beyond. I spent half a day on the
west side of the river in what was the burial ground of ancient Thebes,
where also numerous temples were erected. My first stop was before the
ruins of Kurna. The Temple of Sethos I. originally had ten columns
before it, but one is now out of place. The Temple Der el Bahri bore an
English name, signifying "most splendid of all," and it may not have
been misnamed. It is situated at the base of a lofty barren cliff of a
yellowish cast, and has been partially restored.

In 1881 a French explorer discovered the mummies of several Egyptian
rulers in an inner chamber of this temple, that had probably been
removed to this place for security from robbers. In the number were the
remains of Rameses II., who was probably reigning in the boyhood days of
Moses, and the mummy of Set II., perhaps the Pharaoh of the Oppression,
and I saw both of them in the museum in Cairo.

The Ramasseum is another large temple, built by Rameses II., who is
said to have had sixty-nine sons and seventy daughters. There are also
extensive remains of another temple called Medinet Habu. About a half a
mile away from this ruin are the two colossal statues of Memnon,
which were surrounded by water, so I could not get close to them. The
follo