at my disposal. He will find that they have not remained unused.

Leipzig, November 13, 1879.
GEORG EBERS

AN EGYPTIAN PRINCESS.

By Georg Ebers

Volume 1.

CHAPTER I.

The Nile had overflowed its bed. The luxuriant corn-fields and blooming
gardens on its shores were lost beneath a boundless waste of waters; and
only the gigantic temples and palaces of its cities, (protected from the
force of the water by dikes), and the tops of the tall palm-trees and
acacias could be seen above its surface. The branches of the sycamores
and plane-trees drooped and floated on the waves, but the boughs of the
tall silver poplars strained upward, as if anxious to avoid the watery
world beneath. The full-moon had risen; her soft light fell on the Libyan
range of mountains vanishing on the western horizon, and in the north the
shimmer of the Mediterranean could faintly be discerned. Blue and white
lotus-flowers floated on the clear water, bats of all kinds darted softly
through the still air, heavy with the scent of acacia-blossom and
jasmine; the wild pigeons and other birds were at roost in the tops of
the trees, while the pelicans, storks and cranes squatted in groups on
the shore under the shelter of the papyrus-reeds and Nile-beans. The
pelicans and storks remained motionless, their long bills hidden beneath
their wings, but the cranes were startled by the mere beat of an oar,
stretching their necks, and peering anxiously into the distance, if they
heard but the song of the boatmen. The air was perfectly motionless, and
the unbroken reflection of the moon, lying like a silver shield on the
surface of the water, proved that, wildly as the Nile leaps over the
cataracts, and rushes past the gigantic temples of Upper Egypt, yet on
approaching the sea by different arms, he can abandon his impetuous
course, and flow along in sober tranquillity.

On this moonlight night in the year 528 B. C. a bark was crossing the
almost currentless Canopic mouth of the Nile. On the raised deck at the
stern of this boat an Egyptian was sitting to guide the long pole-rudder,
and the half-naked boatmen within were singing as they rowed. In the open
cabin, which was something like a wooden summer-house, sat two men,
reclining on low cushions. They were evidently not Egyptians; their Greek
descent could be perceived even by the moonlight. The elder was an
unusually tall and powerful man of more than sixty; thick grey