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The tombs, including Ikhnaton's own, which are impossible of visitation from the Nile steamers because of the brevity of their stay, are said to afford further examples of the realism of the period amples which reveal a lamentable tendency toward exaggeration, more especially in the matter of portraying the excessive spareness of the monarch, who was a person of a leanness truly marvelous. These we had no opportunity to see. As for the famous Tell el Amarna letters, inscribed in cuneiform characters on bricks, none exist longer in the spot where they were found, but have been scattered among the museums of the world, including at least one in America.

So ends our Nile cruise. Behind us lies an enchanted country, and before us the haunts of men. We have seen our last great temple, our last rosy pylon, our last painted and sculptured tombs. The colossi of Rameses and of Memnon, the desolation of the desert valleys, the terraced cliffs glowing in the sunset, the villages huddling under the palms, the peasants toiling at the shadouf-all these have blended in a mellow memory. Before us loom the massive pyramids that stride in an imposing line along the western shore, all purple in the twilight haze under a cloudless firmament where blazes a single star. At the bank the black feluccas are mooring

for the night, and men swarm like spiders up the lofty yards, furling the sails. Darkness descends from the wing of night and "on either hand the lone and level sands stretch far away."

THE END

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