t to
come,"--and they are introduced into an apartment with a low ceiling and
no furniture. What strikes him at first is, opposite him, a long
chrysalis of the colour of blood, with a man's head, from which rays
escape, and the word _Knouphis_ written in Greek all around. It rises
above a shaft of a column placed in the midst of a pedestal. On the
other walls of the apartment, medallions of polished brass represent
heads of animals--that of an ox, of a lion, of an eagle, of a dog, and
again, an ass's head! The argil lamps, suspended below these images,
shed a flickering light. Antony, through a hole in the wall, perceives
the moon, which shines far away on the waves, and he can even
distinguish their monotonous ripple, with the dull sound of a ship's
keel striking against the stones of a pier.

Men, squatting on the ground, their faces hidden beneath their cloaks,
give vent at intervals to a kind of stifled barking. Women are sleeping,
with their foreheads clasped by both arms, which are supported by their
knees, so completely shrouded by their veils that one would say they
were heaps of clothes arranged along the wall. Beside them, children,
half-naked, and half devoured with vermin, watch the lamps burning, with
an idiotic air;--and they are doing nothing; they are awaiting
something.

They speak in low voices about their families, or communicate to one
another remedies for their diseases. Many of them are going to embark at
the end of the day, the persecution having become too severe. The
Pagans, however, are not hard to deceive. "They believe, the fools, that
we adore Knouphis!"

But one of the brethren, suddenly inspired, places himself in front of
the column, where they have laid a loaf of bread, which is on the top of
a basket full of fennel and hartwort.

The others have taken their places, forming, as they stand, three
parallel lines.

The inspired one unrolls a paper covered with cylinders joined together,
and then begins:

"Upon the darkness the ray of the Word descended, and a violent cry
burst forth, which seemed like the voice of light."

All responding, while they sway their bodies to and fro:

"Kyrie eleison!"

_The inspired one_--"Man, then, was created by the infamous God of
Israel, with the assistance of those here,"--pointing towards the
medallions--"Aristophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi and Iao!

"And he lay on the mud, hideous, feeble, shapeless, without the power of
thought."