This calm and beautiful Oasis seemed a small island, green as the Smaragdine stone,* in a boundless ocean of arid sand, and extended fresh and fair, around the solitary and far-famed temple of Ammon. A dark, massive, and unornamented gateway presented a strange contrast to the magnificent building of which it formed the entrance. In this gateway, the stranger wishing to consult the oracle, was constrained to await the mysterious answer of the god: it contained one chamber, lighted by an opening in the roof, and its walls were thickly covered with hieroglyphics, representing the various deities of Egypt, standing side by side in long succession, with their names and histories traced beneath them. Two small doors facing the east and south, opened on the groves of the Oasis, and the wide expanse of country beyond; but on the north appeared a large, thick veil, which, when casually raised, disclosed the small court, paved with granites of different hues, that separated the gateway from the temple. Of that glorious pile, the exterior alone was ever seen, none but the priests being allowed to cross its sacred threshold, under penalty of certain death. For ancient records inform us, that one audacious mortal, who dared to enter these sacred precincts, returned no more! His fate was dimly known, but the priests affirm, that no sooner did he behold the mystic light of the wondrous lamp that

* Emerald.

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burns unquenchably before the shrine, than he sunk a blackened corse, as though scathed by the lightning of Heaven! All, therefore, that could be seen by the profane eye, was an immense building of a circular form, surrounded, midway of its height, by a terrace elevated on ninety lofty columns; ninety more of smaller size, rising from this terrace, supported the flat roof above.

The balmy breeze of evening had succeeded to the heat of day, when the pilgrims awoke from their refreshing slumber, and Oryntheus deeming the night hour unfavourable for announcing his mission to the chief priest, paced slowly through the palm-groves till he reached the borders of the fountain. Before it, an aged man was prostrated in prayer, and the Greek awaited beneath the shade till his orisons were finished. He watched him take of the clear water in his hand, and muttering some unknown words, sprinkle it on the turf, and afterwards turn towards the temple to depart. The youth arrested the old priest's steps and bent reverently before him, then encouraged by the mildness of the eye that rested on his, he ventured to ask of that holy fountain, and its hidden virtues. "My son," replied the votary, "by day the stream of that fountain is chill and cold, though touched by the desert's burning winds, but as the shade of evening gathers around, it absorbs their ardour, and stealing from them all their fiery heat, lets the freshened breeze pass on; thus at dead of

night, the waters flow like liquid fire, but grow cold by degrees, as the morn advances. At this season too, when the first ray of the bright star, Canopus, shines above the wide horizon, they give an omen of the fate of love." Oryntheus drew nearer the old man, who continued, "At that propitious moment, some gem or flower hallowed by the touch of the beloved one, must be cast into the stream: if fortune smile, the gem will be thrown from its bosom, shining with brighter hue, and the faded flowers, thus restored, will bloom again; but if the omen be of evil, or gem or flower is lost in the eddying water, and seen no more." With these words, the venerable priest gathered his robe around him, and slowly quitted the spot. Left alone, the youth threw himself beside the warm fountain, and yielded to the sweet thoughts that stole over him. He recalled to his remembrance that night, when, profiting by the confusion of the palace, he had quitted the side of the sage Uchoreus, and unperceived by all, had entered the royal gardens. Aided by the murmuring water, he now in fancy again beheld that pavilion with its polished columns, that flower-strewed pavement, and that still fairer object, on whom was placed his every hope, the young princess. He again beheld her dark and wondering glance, her graceful form, and her small foot, shining like silver in the clear moonlight. Drawing a rose from his bosom, which had once been the brightest of those bright roses that bloom nowhere

The

but in the gardens of the Nile, he pressed it to his lips it was withered; but he looked on the fountain, and he looked on the heavens!-Oh, yes! it would bloom again! that faded flower would return from the reviving wave, sweeter and fresher than when first it dropped from the hand of the fair Nementhis! hours passed on, and the eye of Oryntheus traversed the dark extent of sand, and the moonless sky lighted only by its starry lamps, till it remained fixed in eager gaze on the spot where the signal-star was first to shine. At length it slowly appeared, and he cast the rose into the fountain: it sank in the bubbling water, which sent ripple after ripple to the shore, but restored not the flower again. The youth watched long and despairingly each crystal wave that laved his hand; the stream grew cooler and cooler, and as the red sun rose, the living waters gushed with renewed force and coldness,—but they gave back the rose of love no more!

From among the hundred priests who served in the temple of Ammon, twenty were chosen to attend their chief, who waited in the gateway chamber to receive the messengers of the king of Egypt. Slowly Oryntheus presented himself, and as he rose from a low obeisance, he recognised in the chief priest, the old man who had knelt beside the Fountain of the Sun. The glance of the venerable sage fell on him with the same mild expression as before, and receiving the scroll from his hand, he bade him abide there the answer of

the god. Shortly after he had withdrawn, the perfumed breath of burning incense stole through the chamber, despite the thick veil which separated it from the temple; the mighty Ammon had rejected the sacrifice, and the morning beams which shone through the opening above, no longer glowed with their pristine brightness; the darkness of his frown was over his people. A cold shudder ran through the veins of Oryntheus, as the surrounding priests announced that the God was indeed in wrath; they knew it by the unwonted power of the incense,-they knew it by the gathering gloom; and fear came upon them all as they fell with their faces to the earth. Once the youth raised his eyes; but he found that all was darkness, and he re-closed them in mortal terror, nor recovered from his stupor till the voice of the chief priest sounded on his ear. Their fears were indeed too true; the oracle had refused an answer to the king, and the impetuous Greek remembered, but too late, that the monarch's gifts had not been laid before the shrine. He hastened with the priests to seek the neglected offerings in the tents. They found the Egyptians, affrighted at the supernatural darkness, prostrate on the earth, believing their last hour was come; and scarcely could the assurances of their youthful leader restore them to composure.

All nature seemed to shrink from the anger of