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THE HESPERIAN
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A TALE OF THE WHITE PYRAMID.
, Kalcau, son of Ramenlca, high priest of
J'htahah in the great femjje at Momphis,
write this, which is an account of what 1,
Jut hut, saw on, the first (lay of my arrival
at Memphis, and the first dag of my so
journ in the home of Bui, my uncle, who
wax a priest of Phtuhah lefore me.
As 1 drew near llio city tho sun hung hot
over the valley which wound like a groon
thread toward tho south. On either side the
river lay tho Holds of grain, and beyond was
tho desert of yellow sand which stretched
away to where tho low line of Lybian hills
rose against the sky. Tho heat was very
groat, and the broo.o scarce stirred tho reeds
which grow in the black mud down where
tho Nile, like a great tawny serpent, crept
lazily away through tho desert. Memphis
stood as silent as tho judgment, hall of
Osiris. Tho shops and ovon the temples
were, deserted, and no man stirred in tho
streets save tho watchmen of tho city. Early
in tho morning the people had arisen and
washed the ashes from their faces, shaved
their bodies, taken off tho robes of mourn
ing, and had gone out into tho plain, for tho
seventy-two days of mourning were now
over.
Sonefrau tho first, Lord of the Light and
Ruler of theUpper and Lower Kingdoms, was
dead and gathered unto his fathers. His
body had passed into tho hands of tho em
balmors, and lain for tho allotted seventy
days in niter, and had been wrapped in
gums and spices and white linen and placed
in a golden mummy case, and to-day it was
to bo placed in tho stone sarcophagus in tho
whito pyramid, where it was to await its
soul.
Early in tho morning, when I came unto
tho house of my uncle, ho took mo in his
chariot and drove out of tho city into tho
groat plain which is north of the city, where
the pyramid stood. The groat plain was
covered with a multitude of men. There all
tho men of the city were gathered together,
and men from nil over the land of Khem.
Here and there were tethered many horses
and camols of those who had come from afar.
Tho army was there, and tho priesthood,
and men of all ranks; slaves, and swine
herds, and the princes of tho people. At
tho bond of the army stood a tall dark man
in a chariot of ivory and gold, speaking with
a youth who stood beside the chariot.
"It is Kufu, tho king," said Rui, "men
