iver, which formed a magnificent highway throughout the whole
extent of the country. It is impossible to conceive of physical
circumstances more conducive to the discovery and development of the
arts of building and navigating floating structures. The experience
gained on the safe waters of the Nile would be the best preparation for
taking the bolder step of venturing on the open seas. The character of
the two inland seas which form the northern and eastern frontiers of
Egypt was such as to favour, to the greatest extent, the spirit of
adventure. As a rule, their waters are relatively calm, and the
distances to be traversed to reach other lands are inconsiderable. We
know that the ancient Egyptians, at a period which the most modern
authorities place at about 7,000 years ago, had already attained to a
very remarkable degree of civilisation and to a knowledge of the arts of
construction on land which has never since been excelled. What is more
natural than to suppose that the genius and science which enabled them
to build the Pyramids and their vast temples and palaces, to construct
huge works for the regulation of the Nile, and to quarry, work into
shape, and move into place blocks of granite weighing in some cases
several hundreds of tons, should also lead them to excel in the art of
building ships? Not only the physical circumstances, but the habits and
the religion of the people created a demand, even a necessity, for the
existence of navigable floating structures. At the head of the delta of
the Nile was the ancient capital, the famous city of Memphis, near to
which were built the Pyramids, as tombs in which might be preserved
inviolate until the day of resurrection, the embalmed bodies of their
kings. The roofs of the burial chambers in the heart of the Pyramids
were prevented from falling in, under the great weight of the
superincumbent mass, by huge blocks, or beams, of the hardest granite,
meeting at an angle above the chambers. The long galleries by which the
chambers were approached were closed after the burial by enormous gates,
consisting of blocks of granite, which were let down from above, sliding
in grooves like the portcullis of a feudal castle. In this way it was
hoped to preserve the corpse contained in the chamber absolutely
inviolate. The huge blocks of granite, which weighed from 50 to 60 tons
each, were supposed to be too heavy ever to be moved again after they
had been once lowered into position, an