A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille
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them to go abroad, to travel by sea and land, to carry on their great<br />
works, to <strong>in</strong>dulge <strong>in</strong> all their most important labors and favorite<br />
amusements. The Kohen asked me to be present at the great festival,<br />
and I gladly consented. There seemed to be noth<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> this that<br />
could be repellent. As I was anxious to witness some of their purely<br />
religious ceremonies, I wished to go. When I told Almah, she looked<br />
sad, but said noth<strong>in</strong>g. I wondered at this, and asked her if she was<br />
go<strong>in</strong>g. She <strong>in</strong>formed me that she would have to go, whereupon I assured<br />
her that this was an additional reason why I should go.<br />
I went with Almah. The Kohen attended us with his usual k<strong>in</strong>d and<br />
gracious consideration. It seemed almost as though he was our servant.<br />
He took us to a place where we could be seated, although all the<br />
others were stand<strong>in</strong>g. Almah wished to refuse, but I prevailed upon her<br />
to sit down, and she did so.<br />
The scene was upon the semicircular terrace <strong>in</strong> front of the cavern,<br />
and we were seated upon a stone platform beside the chief portal. A<br />
vast crowd was gathered <strong>in</strong> front. Before us arose the half-pyramid of<br />
which I have already spoken. The light was fa<strong>in</strong>t. It came from the<br />
disk of the sun, which was partly visible over the icy crest of the<br />
distant mounta<strong>in</strong>s. Far away the sea was visible, ris<strong>in</strong>g high over the<br />
tops of the trees, while overhead the brighter stars were pla<strong>in</strong>ly<br />
discernible.<br />
The Kohen ascended the pyramid, and others followed. At the base<br />
there was a crowd of men, with emaciated forms and faces, and coarse,<br />
squalid attire, who looked like the most abject paupers, and seemed<br />
the lowest <strong>in</strong> the land. As the Kohen reached the summit there arose a<br />
strange sound--a mournful, pla<strong>in</strong>tive chant, which seemed to be sung<br />
chiefly by the paupers at the base of the pyramid. The words of this<br />
chant I could not make out, but the melancholy stra<strong>in</strong> affected me<br />
<strong>in</strong> spite of myself. There was no particular tune, and noth<strong>in</strong>g like<br />
harmony; but the effect of so many voices unit<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> this stra<strong>in</strong> was<br />
very powerful and altogether <strong>in</strong>describable. In the midst of this I saw<br />
the crowd part<strong>in</strong>g asunder so as to make way for someth<strong>in</strong>g; and through<br />
the passage thus formed I saw a number of youths <strong>in</strong> long robes, who<br />
advanced to the pyramid, s<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g as they went. Then they ascended the<br />
steps, two by two, still s<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g, and at length reached the summit,<br />
where they arranged themselves <strong>in</strong> order. There were thirty of them and<br />
they arranged themselves <strong>in</strong> three rows of ten each, and as they stood