ont of the temple of Thebes. It was erected fifteen hundred
and fifty years before Christ, by Sesostris, in the eighteenth Egyptian
dynasty. Mehemet Ali made a present of the obelisk to the French
government. On account of its enormous size, great difficulty was
experienced in removing it to Paris. A road was constructed from the
obelisk to the Nile, and eight hundred men were occupied three months in
removing it to the banks of the river, where was a flat-bottomed vessel
built expressly for it. A part of the vessel had to be sawed off to
receive it, so great was its size. It descended the Nile, passed the
Rosetta bar, and with great care was towed to Cherbourg. It must be
remembered that the obelisk is a single stone, seventy-two feet high,
and weighs five hundred thousand pounds. On the 16th of August, 1836, it
was drawn up an inclined plane to the top of the pedestal where it now
stands. In the following October, the public ceremony of placing it
occurred, in the presence of the royal family, and more than a hundred
and fifty thousand other persons.

[Illustration: Place de la Concorde.]

The cost of removal from Thebes to Paris was two millions francs, but
not a life was lost from the beginning to the end of the transaction. It
stands upon a single block of gray granite, the total height of obelisk
and pedestal being about a hundred feet.

There are two fountains upon the Place, dedicated, one to Maritime, the
other to Fluvial navigation. The basin of each is fifty feet in
diameter, out of which rise two smaller ones, the latter inverted. Six
tall figures are seated around the larger basins, their feet resting on
the prows of vessels, separated from each other by large dolphins which
spout water into the higher basins. But the beauty of the Place de la
Concorde is not so much the result of any one feature as the combination
of the whole, and as such it is unequaled in Europe.

From the Place de la Concorde one has a fine view of the Arch of
Triumph, which was erected by Napoleon in honor of his great victories.

CHAPTER VII.

THE LOUVRE--PUBLIC GARDENS--LUXEMBOURG PALACE AND GARDENS--THE GOBELINS.

THE LOUVRE.

The subject is hackneyed and old--what can _I_ say about the Louvre
which will be new to the reader? However, to write a book on Paris, and
make no mention of the Louvre, would be like acting the play of Hamlet,
with Hamlet omitted. I make no pretensions to critical skill in
reference to pain