y have great towns, but I do not think that their religion is the
same as ours; our traders say that their language can be understood by
them, although more rough and unpolished. I have heard my father say
that he considered that all the country lying east of the Nile, and of
its eastern branch that rises in Abyssinia and is called the Tacazze,
belongs to Asia rather than to Africa."

The party found that the death by violence of two successive high
priests of Osiris was one of the principal topics of conversation
in Syene, but none appeared to think that there was the remotest
probability of any concerned in those occurrences making for the
south. However, Jethro thought it prudent that the whole party should
not land together, and therefore Amuba and Chebron usually went one
way and he with the girls another. They paid visits to the sacred
island of Ebo opposite the town, and to the quarries of Phile, four
miles away. Here they saw the gangs of slaves cutting colossal
statues, obelisks, and shrines from the solid rock.

First the outline was traced on the rock, then the surrounding stone
was removed with chisels and wedges, and at last the statue or obelisk
was itself severed from the rock. Then it was hewn and sculptured by
the masons, placed on rollers and dragged by hundreds of men down to
the landing-place below the rapids, and these placed on rafts to be
floated down the river to its destination. They saw many of these
masses of stone in all stages of manufacture. The number of slaves
employed was enormous, and these inhabited great buildings erected
near the quarries, where also were barracks for the troops who kept
guard over them.

Watching the slaves at their painful labor, Jethro and Amuba were both
filled with gratitude at the good fortune that had placed them with
Ameres instead of sending them to pass their lives in such unceasing
and monotonous toil. Among the slaves were several whom, by their
complexion and appearance, they judged to be Rebu. As at first all
those brought to Egypt had been distributed among the priests and
great officers, they supposed that either from obstinacy, misconduct,
or from attempts to escape they had incurred the displeasure of their
masters, and had been handed over by them for the service of the
state.

Had the slaves been in the hands of private masters, Jethro and Amuba,
who were filled with pity at seeing their countrymen in such a state,
would have endeavored to pu