he colossi of Thebes are even more striking,
each figure being carved out of a single block of stone weighing many
hundreds of tons, and which were transported from a great distance to
be placed upon their pedestals in the plain of Thebes.

[Illustration: THE COLOSSI OF THEBES--MOONRISE.]

Surely in the old days of Egypt great ideas possessed the minds of
men, and apart from the vastness of their other monuments, had ever
kings before or since such impressive resting-places as the royal
tombs cut deep into the bowels of the Theban hills, or the stupendous
pyramids of Ghizeh!

CHAPTER IX

THE PEOPLE

Beyond everything else Egypt is an agricultural country, and the
"fellahin," or "soil-cutters," as the word means, its dominant
type, and in order to form any idea of their character or mode of
life, we must leave the towns behind and wander through the farm-lands
of the Delta.

Trains are few, and hotels do not exist, and anyone wishing to see the
people as they are must travel on horseback, and be content with such
accommodation as the villages afford. The roads are the canal-banks,
or little paths which wind among the fields; but, as we have already
seen, the country has many beauties, and the people are so genuine in
their simple hospitality that the traveller has many compensations for
the incidental hardships he may undergo.

What will perhaps first strike the traveller is the industry of the
people. The luxuriant crops give evidence of their labour, and the
fields are everywhere alive. From dawn to dark everyone is busily
employed, from the youngest child who watches the tethered cattle or
brings water from the well, to the old man so soon to find his last
resting-place in the picturesque "gabana"[9] without the village.
Seed-time and harvest go side by side in Egypt, and one may often
witness every operation of the farm, from ploughing to threshing,
going on simultaneously. The people seem contented as they work, for
whereas formerly the fellahin were cruelly oppressed by their
rulers, to-day, under British guidance, they have become independent
and prosperous, and secure in the enjoyment of the fruits of their
labour.

[Footnote 9: Cemetery.]

Another impression which the visitor will receive is the curiously
Biblical character of their life, which constantly suggests the Old
Testament stories; the shepherds watching their flocks, ring-streaked
and speckled; the cattle ploughing in the fields; t