roses, look rather
pale and washed-out here in contrast with the flaming beauty of richest
mauve and brightest orange worn by those which are at home in a hot
country. As the sun gets strong we hear the drone of a swarm of great
creatures like prodigious wasps with legs like stilts, which fly around
the sweet-scented blooms. In ancient inscriptions this wasp, or hornet,
was used as the sign of Northern or Lower Egypt. Across the flower-beds
run miniature canals of stone, by means of which the water from the
life-giving river is carried all over the ground, so that it can be
easily watered; a very large part of the time of the blue-bloused
gardeners is spent in watering. A garden which was watered from the sky
would be a miracle to them.

We come back again to the hotel and pass through to the other or front
entrance, where we catch sight of the majestic Nile, which we could not
see in the darkness of our arrival last night. Standing on a high
terrace, bounded by a parapet covered with riotous masses of magenta
bougainvillea, we see the turquoise-blue river, flecked with boats
carrying high, white, three-cornered sails; on the other side rise calm
hills of orange-yellow. We shall visit those hills, for in them are
buried some of the mightiest kings of Egypt, and the wild fastnesses
form a truly royal burial-place, grander than any ordinary mausoleum or
cemetery could ever be. On both sides of the river at one time stood the
royal city of Thebes, one of the best known of all the capitals of Egypt
which sprang up from time to time in its agelong history.

If ever you "do" the ix. book of the _Iliad_ in your schoolwork, you
will find that Homer speaks of Thebes as having one hundred gates and
possessing twenty thousand war-chariots! It extended for about nine
miles along the river-bank.

After breakfast our first plunge into sight-seeing is a visit to the
temple of Luxor, which faces the river just five minutes' walk along the
street from the hotel. This is the very first Egyptian temple we have
examined and it is astonishing how much we can learn from it. That
mighty row of columns, larger and higher than any cathedral pillars you
have ever seen, makes us feel like midgets. Standing close together the
columns spring right into the clear sky, as there is no roof left. Not
so very long ago they were covered up to the capitals in sand and
debris. The poorer Egyptians had built their mud huts in and around them
for generati