DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0117
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
91
turban was becoming, and much more appropriate for a
horseman than the cumbrous head-dress used by the
Turks. He was remarkably well mounted; his saddle
was padded, and had small stirrups like those described
in the Appendix, it was covered with purple velvet, and
embroidered with gold; his bridle was black, it was also
ornamented with gold, and had a crimson rein of silken
cord. Besides a number of attendants carrying his gun,
pipe, &c, two janissaries bore before him long staves, sur-
mounted with bars of silver, from which balls were sus-
pended by chains of the same metal;—models of an
instrument made use of to confine a man's legs when he
is bastinadoed.
As soon as I got to the tents, I set out again for the
Great Pyramid, where I saw a quantity of rubbish thrown
over the casing-stones, in the hope of preserving them
from further injury;7 and at eleven o'clock I went with
Mr. Andrews to dine with the Shereef.
His encampment, with a number of horses and camels
picketed near it, was highly characteristic ; and the glow-
ing costume of his mounted attendants, who armed with
lances traversed the plain in different directions, appeared
to great advantage in the clear light of an Oriental climate.
The tents were pitched near the northern dyke beneath
the mountain, upon which the Great Pyramid is placed;
and the transitory nature of these patriarchal and simple
habitations formed a striking contrast with the vastness
7 I have had the mortification of hearing, since ray return to England,
that these precautions were unavailing, and that the stones have been
uncovered, and broken to pieces. I was extremely anxious that the
British Museum should send for one of these blocks, as the fragments
which I have given to that establishment are rough, and imperfect.
91
turban was becoming, and much more appropriate for a
horseman than the cumbrous head-dress used by the
Turks. He was remarkably well mounted; his saddle
was padded, and had small stirrups like those described
in the Appendix, it was covered with purple velvet, and
embroidered with gold; his bridle was black, it was also
ornamented with gold, and had a crimson rein of silken
cord. Besides a number of attendants carrying his gun,
pipe, &c, two janissaries bore before him long staves, sur-
mounted with bars of silver, from which balls were sus-
pended by chains of the same metal;—models of an
instrument made use of to confine a man's legs when he
is bastinadoed.
As soon as I got to the tents, I set out again for the
Great Pyramid, where I saw a quantity of rubbish thrown
over the casing-stones, in the hope of preserving them
from further injury;7 and at eleven o'clock I went with
Mr. Andrews to dine with the Shereef.
His encampment, with a number of horses and camels
picketed near it, was highly characteristic ; and the glow-
ing costume of his mounted attendants, who armed with
lances traversed the plain in different directions, appeared
to great advantage in the clear light of an Oriental climate.
The tents were pitched near the northern dyke beneath
the mountain, upon which the Great Pyramid is placed;
and the transitory nature of these patriarchal and simple
habitations formed a striking contrast with the vastness
7 I have had the mortification of hearing, since ray return to England,
that these precautions were unavailing, and that the stones have been
uncovered, and broken to pieces. I was extremely anxious that the
British Museum should send for one of these blocks, as the fragments
which I have given to that establishment are rough, and imperfect.