Late one afternoon two weeks later, the caravan halted at the edge of
the dirty Arab town which forms the outposts to the island of Meroe.
Charlie Vance stood in the door of his tent and let his eyes wander
over the landscape in curiosity. Clouds of dust swept over the sandy
plains; when they disappeared the heated air began its dance again, and
he was glad to re-enter the tent and stretch himself at full length in
his hammock. The mail was not yet in from Cairo, consequently there
were no letters; his eyes ached from straining them for a glimpse of
the Ethiopian ruins across the glassy waters of the tributaries of the
Nile which encircled the island.
It was not a simple thing to come all these thousands of miles to
look at a pile of old ruins that promised nothing of interest to him
after all. This was what he had come for--the desolation of an African
desert, and the companionship of human fossils and savage beasts of
prey. The loneliness made him shiver. It was a desolation that doubled
desolateness, because his healthy American organization missed the
march of progress attested by the sound of hammers on unfinished
buildings that told of a busy future and cosy modern homeliness.
Here there was no future. No railroads, no churches, no saloons, no
schoolhouses to echo the voices of merry children, no promise of the
life that produces within the range of his vision. Nothing but the
monotony of past centuries dead and forgotten save by a few learned
savants.
As he rolled over in his hammock, Charlie told himself that next to
seeing the pater and Molly, he’d give ten dollars to be able to thrust
his nose into twelve inches of whiskey and soda, and remain there until
there was no more. Then a flicker of memory made Charlie smile as he
remembered the jollities of the past few months that he had shared with
Cora Scott.
“Jolly little beggar,” he mentally termed her. “I wonder what sort of a
fool she’d call me if she could see me now whistling around the ragged
edge of this solid block of loneliness called a desert.”
Then he fell asleep and dreamed he was boating on the Charles, and that
Molly was a mermaid sporting in a bed of water-lilies.
Ancient writers, among them Strabo, say that the Astabora unites its
stream with the Nile, and forms the island of Meroe. The most famous
historical city of Ethiopia is commonly called Carthage, but Meroe
was the queenly city of this ancient people. Into it poured the
traffic of the world in gold, frankincense and ivory. Diodorus states
the island to be three hundred and seventy-five miles long and one
hundred and twenty-five miles wide. The idea was borne in upon our
travellers in crossing the Great Desert that formerly wells must have
been established at different stations for the convenience of man and
beast. Professor Stone and Reuel had discovered traces of a highway and
the remains of cisterns which must have been marvellous in skill and
prodigious in formation.
All was bustle and commotion in the camp that night. Permission had
been obtained to visit and explore the ruins from the Arab governor of
the Province. It had cost money, but Professor Stone counted nothing as
lost that would aid in the solution of his pet theories.
The leaders of the enterprise sat together late that night, listening
to the marvellous tales told by the Professor of the city’s ancient
splendor, and examining closely the chart which had remained hidden
for years before it fell into his hands. For twenty-five years this
apostle of learning had held the key to immense wealth, he believed,
in his hands. For years he had tried in vain to interest the wealthy
and powerful in his scheme for finding the city described in his chart,
wherein he believed lay the gold mines from which had come the streams
of precious metal which made the ancient Ethiopians famous.
The paper was in a large envelope sealed with a black seal formed to
resemble a lotus flower. It was addressed:
TO THE STUDENT WHO, HAVING COUNTED THE COST, IS RESOLUTE TO ONCE MORE
REVEAL TO THE SCEPTICAL, THE ANCIENT GLORY OF HOARY MEROE.
Within the envelope was a faded parchment which the Professor drew
forth with trembling hands. The little company drew more closely about
the improvised table and its flickering candle which revealed the
faded writing to be in Arabic. There was no comment, but each one
listened intently to the reader, who translated very fully as he went
along.
“Be it known to you, my brother, that the great and surpassing wealth
mentioned in this parchment is not to be won without braving many
dangers of a deadly nature. You who may read this message, then, I
entreat to consider well the perils of your course. Within the mines of
Meroe, four days’ journey from the city toward Arabia, are to be found
gold in bars and gold in flakes, and diamonds, and rubies whose beauty
excels all the jewels of the earth. For some of them were hidden by the
priests of Osiris that had adorned the crown of the great Semiramis,
and the royal line of Queen Candace, even from ancient Babylon’s
pillage these jewels came, a spectacle glorious beyond compare.
There, too, is the black diamond of Senechus’s crown (Senechus who
suffered the captivity of Israel by the Assyrians), which exceeds all
imagination for beauty and color.
“All these jewels with much treasure beside you will gain by following
my plain directions.
“Four days’ journey from Meroe toward Arabia is a city founded by men
from the Upper Nile; the site is near one of its upper sources, which
still has one uniform existence. This city is situated on a forked
tributary, which takes its rise from a range of high, rocky mountains,
almost perpendicular on their face, from which descend two streams like
cataracts, about two miles apart, and form a triangle, which holds the
inner city. The outer city occupies the opposite banks on either side
of the streams, which after joining, form a river of considerable size,
and running some five miles, loses itself in the surrounding swamps.
The cities are enclosed within two great walls, running parallel with
the streams. There are also two bridges with gates, connecting the
inner and outer cities; two great gates also are near the mountain
ranges, connecting the outer city with the agricultural lands outside
the walls. The whole area is surrounded by extensive swamps, through
which a passage known only to the initiated runs, and forms an
impassable barrier to the ingress or egress of strangers.
“But there is another passage known to the priests and used by them,
and this is the passage which the chart outlines beneath the third
great pyramid, leading directly into the mines and giving access to the
city.
“When Egypt rose in power and sent her hosts against the mother
country, then did the priests close with skill and cunning this
approach to the hidden city of refuge, where they finally retired,
carrying with them the ancient records of Ethiopia’s greatness, and
closing forever, as they thought, the riches of her marvellous mines,
to the world.
“Beneath the Sphinx’ head lies the secret of the entrance, and yet not
all, for the rest is graven on the sides of the cavern which will be
seen when the mouth shall gape. But beware the tank to the right where
dwells the sacred crocodile, still living, although centuries have
rolled by and men have been gathered to the shades who once tended on
his wants. And beware the fifth gallery to the right where abide the
sacred serpents with jewelled crowns, for of a truth are they terrible.
“This the writer had from an aged priest whose bones lie embalmed in
the third pyramid above the Sphinx.”
With this extraordinary document a chart was attached, which, while an
enigma to the others, seemed to be perfectly clear to Professor Stone.
The letter ended abruptly, and the chart was a hopeless puzzle to the
various eyes that gazed curiously at the straggling outlines.
“What do you make of it, Professor?” asked Reuel, who with all his
knowledge, was at sea with the chart. “We have been looking for
mystery, and we seem to have found it.”
“What do I make of it? Why, that we shall find the treasure and all
return home rich,” replied the scholar testily.
“Rubbish!” snorted Charlie with fine scorn.
“How about the sacred crocodile and the serpents? My word, gentlemen,
if you find the back door key of the Sphinx’ head, there’s a chance
that a warm welcome is awaiting us.”
Charlie’s words met with approval from the others, but the Professor
and Reuel said nothing. There was silence for a time, each man drawing
at his pipe in silent meditation.
“Well, I’m only travelling for pleasure, so it matters not to me how
the rest of you elect to shuffle off this mortal coil, I intend to get
some fun out of this thing,” continued Charlie.
There was a shout of laughter from his companions.
“Pleasure!” cried one. “O Lord! You’ve come to the wrong place. This
is business, solid business. If we get out with our skins it will be
something to be thankful for.”
“Well,” said Reuel, rousing himself from a fit of abstraction, “I come
out to do business and I have determined to see the matter through if
all is well at home. We’ll prove whether there’s a hidden city or not
before we leave Africa.”
The Professor grasped his hand in gratitude, and then silence fell upon
the group. The curtains of the tent were thrown back. Bright fell the
moonlight on the sandy plain, the Nile, the indistinct ruins of Meroe,
hiding all imperfections by its magic fingers. It was a wonderful sight
to see the full moon looking down on the ruins of centuries. The weird
light increased, the shadows lengthened and silence fell on the group,
broken only by the low tones of Professor Stone as he told in broken
sentences the story of ancient Ethiopia.
“For three thousand years the world has been mainly indebted for its
advancement to the Romans, Greeks, Hebrews, Germans and Anglo-Saxons;
but it was otherwise in the first years. Babylon and Egypt--Nimrod
and Mizraim--both descendants of Ham--led the way, and acted as
the pioneers of mankind in the untrodden fields of knowledge. The
Ethiopians, therefore, manifested great superiority over all the
nations among whom they dwelt, and their name became illustrious
throughout Europe, Asia and Africa.
“The father of this distinguished race was Cush, the grandson of Noah,
an Ethiopian.
“Old Chaldea, between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, was the first
home of the Cushites. Nimrod, Ham’s grandson, founded Babylon. The
Babylonians early developed the energy of mind which made their country
the first abode of civilization. Canals covered the land, serving the
purposes of traffic, defense and irrigation. Lakes were dug and stored
with water, dykes built along the banks of rivers to fertilize the
land, and it is not surprising to learn that from the earliest times
Babylonia was crowded with populous cities. This grandeur was brought
about by Nimrod the Ethiopian.”
“Great Scott!” cried Charlie, “you don’t mean to tell me that all this
was done by _niggers_?”
The Professor smiled. Being English, he could not appreciate Charlie’s
horror at its full value.
“Undoubtedly your Afro-Americans are a branch of the wonderful and
mysterious Ethiopians who had a prehistoric existence of magnificence,
the full record of which is lost in obscurity.
“We associate with the name ‘Chaldea’ the sciences of astronomy and
philosophy and chronology. It was to the Wise Men of the East to
whom the birth of Christ was revealed; they were Chaldeans--of the
Ethiopians. Eighty-eight years before the birth of Abraham, these
people, known in history as ‘Shepherd Kings,’ subjugated the whole of
Upper Egypt, which they held in bondage more than three hundred years.”
“It is said that Egyptian civilization antedates that of Ethiopia,”
broke in Reuel. “How do you say, Professor?”
“Nothing of the sort, nothing of the sort. I know that in connecting
Egypt with Ethiopia, one meets with most bitter denunciation from most
modern scholars. Science has done its best to separate the race from
Northern Africa, but the evidence is with the Ethiopians. If I mistake
not, the ruins of Meroe will prove my words. Traditions with respect
to Memnon connect Egypt and Ethiopia with the country at the head of
the Nile. Memnon personifies the ethnic identity of the two races.
Ancient Greeks believed it. All the traditions of Armenia, where lies
Mt. Ararat, are in accordance with this fact. The Armenian geography
applies the name of Cush to four great regions--Media, Persia, Susiana,
Asia, or the whole territory between the Indus and the Tigris. Moses of
Chorene identifies Belus, king of Babylon with Nimrod.
“But the Biblical tradition is paramount to all. In it lies the
greatest authority that we have for the affiliation of nations, and it
is delivered to us very simply and plainly: ‘The sons of Ham were Cush
and Mizraim and Phut and Canaan ... and Cush begot Nimrod ... and the
beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in
the land of Shinar.’ It is the best interpretation of this passage to
understand it as asserting that the four races--Egyptians, Ethiopians,
Libyans and Canaanites--were ethnically connected, being all descended
from Ham; and that the primitive people of Babylon were a subdivision
of one of these races; namely, of the Cushite or Ethiopian.
“These conclusions have lately received important and unexpected
confirmation from the results of linguistic research. After the most
remarkable of Mesopotamian mounds had yielded their treasures, and
supplied the historical student with numerous and copious documents,
bearing upon the history of the great Assyrian and Babylonian
empires, it was determined to explore Chaldea proper, where mounds of
considerable height marked the site of several ancient cities. Among
unexpected results was the discovery of a new form of speech, differing
greatly from the later Babylonian language. In grammatical structure
this ancient tongue resembles dialects of the Turanian family, but its
vocabulary has been pronounced to be decidedly Cushite or Ethiopian;
and the modern languages to which it approaches nearest are thought
to be the Mahen of Southern Arabia and the Galla of Abyssinia. Thus
comparative philology appears to confirm old traditions. An Eastern
Ethiopia instead of being the invention of bewildered ignorance, is
rather a reality which it will require a good deal of scepticism to
doubt, and the primitive race that bore sway in Chaldea proper belongs
to this ethnic type. Meroe was the queenly city of this great people.”
“It is hard to believe your story. From what a height must this people
have fallen to reach the abjectness of the American Negro,” exclaimed a
listener.
“True,” replied the Professor. “But from what a depth does history show
that the Anglo-Saxon has climbed to the position of the first people of
the earth today.”
Charlie Vance said nothing. He had suffered so many shocks from the
shattering of cherished idols since entering the country of mysteries
that the power of expression had left him.
“Twenty-five years ago, when I was still a young man, the camel-driver
who accompanied me to Thebes sustained a fatal accident. I helped him
in his distress, and to show his gratitude he gave me the paper and
chart I have shown you tonight. He was a singular man, black hair and
eyes, middle height, dark-skinned, face and figure almost perfect, he
was proficient in the dialects of the region, besides being master of
the purest and most ancient Greek and Arabic. I believe he was a native
of the city he described.
“He believed that Ethiopia antedated Egypt, and helped me materially
in fixing certain data which time has proved to be correct. He added a
fact which the manuscript withholds,--that from lands beyond unknown
seas, to which many descendants of Ethiopia had been borne as slaves,
should a king of ancient line--an offspring of that Ergamenes who lived
in the reign of the second Ptolemy--return and restore the former glory
of the race. The preservation of this hidden city is for his reception.
This Arab also declared that Cush was his progenitor.”
“That’s bosh. How would they know their future king after centuries of
obscurity passed in strange lands, and amalgamation with other races?”
remarked the former speaker.
“I asked him that question; he told me that every descendant of the
royal line bore a lotus-lily in the form of a birthmark upon his
breast.”
It might have been the unstable shadows of the moon that threw a
tremulous light upon the group, but Charlie Vance was sure that Reuel
Briggs started violently at the Professor’s words.
One by one the men retired to rest, each one under the spell of
the mysterious forces of a past life that brooded like a mist over
the sandy plain, the dark Nile rolling sluggishly along within a
short distance of their camp, and the ruined city now a magnificent
Necropolis. The long shadows grew longer, painting the scene into
beauty and grandeur. The majesty of death surrounded the spot and its
desolation spoke in trumpet tones of the splendor which the grave must
cover, when even the memory of our times shall be forgotten.