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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1871 edition. Excerpt:...OF MONUMENTS FROM THE DELTA. Secst thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be cast down. St. Mark. The respective fortunes of the monuments of Upper Egypt and of the Delta have been very different. In the Delta there was a large number of populous and wealthy cities. Five of them--Tanis, Bubastis, Sais, Mendes, and Sebennytus--were of sufficient importance to have given rise to dynasties. So many great cities were probably never before arrayed on so small an area. The cluster of flourishing commercial and manufacturing towns in the Low Countries, offers the nearest approach to it in modern times. These, however, were supported primarily by manufactures and trade, while those of the Delta were supported primarily by agriculture. The base of the Delta along the air line, from Canopus to Pelusium, is not 140 miles, while its two sides, from its apex to those cities, were only about 100 miles in length. Every one of these numerous cities of the Delta had its grand temple--some more than one. Many were, even for Egypt, of unusual extent and massiveness. They were generally built of the finest granite. The great temple of Bubastis, of which Herodotus gives a minute account, and which appeared to him more finished and beautiful than any other structure in Egypt, was nearly a furlong in length, and of the same width. It was built throughout of granite. Its sculptures bear the name of the great Rameses. It was placed on a peninsula, formed in an artificial lake in the middle of the city. The isthmus leading to the sacred enclosure was a strip of land between two parallel canals from the Nile. Each of them was 100 feet wide. They fed the lake which completely surrounded the temple, with the exception of the...