Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/270

 OBELISK OF LUXOR. 245

three thousand four hundred years have elapsed since it was first placed in front of the great temple of Thebes, the modern Luxor. It was given, with another of the same size, by the Viceroy of Egypt to the French gov ernment. But such were the difficulties to be over come in its transportation, that the removal of its part ner has never been attempted. The labor of taking it down, and conveying it to the banks of the Nile, occu pied eight hundred men for three months. A road had to be constructed, and a vessel built on purpose to receive it. The latter was obliged to be sawn off ver tically, to accommodate the ponderous passenger, which performed its voyage with peril. Three years after its separation from its original site it arrived in Paris, and in three more years, by the most ingenious and powerful machinery, its final elevation in its new home was effected. It stands on a pedestal of granite in the midst of an eliptical plateau, paved with asphaltum. Two magnificent fountains throw up their silver waters, which fall, with a pleasant sound, into vast circular ba sins incrusted with marble ; while Tritons and Nereids, attended by swans and dolphins, hasten to welcome the wonderful guest. Colossal statues stand around in their majesty, to do it honor ; hoary Ocean, the classic Med iterranean, Agriculture soliciting the gifts of earth, Commerce gathering riches from the sea, and Astron omy with her soul among the stars. Personifications of the Rhine and the Rhone, with the Genii of Flow ers and Fruits, of Vintage and of the Harvest, express

�� �