The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899, December 22, 1892, Page 8, Image 8
h i ! i t ) ' I 1 I M M THE HESPERIAN mjIiii.. l w i i;ii i ' LMaQCT:M , -J ' M r ijjpMM,WE: 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