Temple of Karnak, a
monument of unparalleled grandeur, whose vast proportions overpower the
imagination. The temples at Karnak and Luxor are connected by an
avenue six thousand five hundred feet long, with a width of eighty
feet, on each side of which are ranged a row of sphinxes. To describe
these wonders in detail would require weeks, as will be understood when
it is explained that one place, called the "Hall of Columns," alone
contains a vast forest of pillars arranged in groups running from
thirty-five to sixty feet high and each having a circumference of
twenty-seven feet, all highly carved and ornamented. Another object of
interest, the First Pylon or Corner Tower, is three hundred and
seventy-five feet wide and a hundred and forty-two feet high. Many
kings and rulers had a hand in the construction of these great
buildings, and it took fifteen centuries to complete them, but one
character stands out above all other men and things as a builder of
these ruins and the king-pin of Egypt--

_Rameses II._

Rameses II. was the greatest advertiser of any age or time. He erected
rows of colossal statues to himself all over Egypt, and for fear some
one would not notice a _single_ figure, he would place half a dozen
side by side. He was usually represented in his Sunday clothes, with a
pleasing smile, and a granite goatee on his chin as big as a
narrow-gauge freight car. (See photograph.) "Ram" was the most
celebrated of the Pharaohs; he reigned seventy years, and was over a
hundred years old when he died. As a young man he won a real battle,
and he spent the rest of his life singing about it through paid,
professional poets. He had one hundred and eleven sons and fifty-nine
daughters. (That was going some!) However, suspicious hieroglyphics
have been found that go to show that Ram was chased in many battles,
and that one barbarian had the audacity to tin-can him into the
neighboring desert, from which he did not return for many moons.
Kadesh was his Thermopylae, and the Khetas compelled him to recognize
their independence at the treaty of Tanis. This made the old man sick,
as he was not accustomed to taking "second money." They had no
"germans" in those days, but Ram is shown in one of the alto-rilievos
in his temple nimbly leading the cake-walk, leaning as far back as ever
Dixey did when exploiting that dance. In the matter of carving, Ward
McAllister couldn't hold a candle to him: he used no knife nor