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governments to keep the Palestine question open. I don't think they really want it settled as it would deprive them of the one thing upon which some basis of unity can be achieved. But that's a political story and not my story.

On the way down the Nile we stopped at Esna, and Edfu and Luxor, visited the valley of the kings, saw King Tut's tomb and the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. She must have been the original Women's Libber as she really took over and ruled the kingdom as a woman. She is depicted in statues wearing a beard because that was a pharaonic symbol but unlike the male pharaohs who decorated their temples and tombs with the usual male brags about their military exploits and their great- ness, she decorated her temple with a depiction of her trip to the land of Punt (what is now the Somali coast) showing the gifts given and received and the reception she got, etc. A much more pacific and people-to-people kind of achievement. Of course the male pharaoh who followed her had to be the original male chauvinist because he went about and defaced or destroyed a good deal of what she had done or built. So the battle of the sexes got an early start.

Another fascinating thing I learned was that the God of the Nile, named Hapi, was of course a male deity because the river was big, strong, powerful etc. But at the same time it was the lifeline of the country and its annual overflowing was responsible for the fertility of the land. In this sense it was the life-giving, nurturing force of the country, so guess what- Hapi is always depicted in sculpture as having one breast. It is always hanging down while the female deities' breasts project outward. How- ever, it is a fine example of how ancient people recognized the androg- enous principle, the oneness of the masculine and feminine qualities. It will find a place in my upcoming book to be titled "When you make the two into one."

Back in Cairo we paid the usual visit to the pyramids and the Sphinx but could hardly see either for the hoards of beggars and hawkers sur- rounding the place. We attended a night time sound and light show which was very impressive. The seats were placed in front of the middle of the three big pyramids but in such a way that you could also see the smaller pyramid of Kephran in the middle distance. They lit up the pyramids and Sphinx in various ways and colors in synchrony with a recording giving the history of Egypt and the pharaohs who built the pyramids. Being dark everywhere else except for these lighted structures, it was really beautiful.

Naturally we went thru the Cairo museum on the tour but as tours do

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