DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0063
56
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
domes, its mosques and minarets, glittering in the
light of a vertical sun—upon the rich valley of the
Nile, and the " river of Egypt" rolling at his feet—
the long range of pyramids and tombs extending
along the edge of the desert to the ruined city of
Memphis, and the boundless and eternal sands of
Africa, without considering that moment an epoch
not to be forgotten. Thousands of years roll
through his mind, and thought recalls the men who
built them, their mysterious uses, the poets, histo-
rians, philosophers, and warriors who have gazed
upon them with wonder like his own.
For one who but yesterday was bustling in the
streets of a busy city, it was a thing of strange and
indescribable interest to be standing on the top of
the great pyramid, surrounded by a dozen half-na-
ked Arabs, forgetting, as completely as if they had
never been, the stirring scenes of his distant home.
But even here petty vexations followed me, and half
the interest of the time and scene was destroyed by
the clamour of my guides. The descent I found ex-
tremely easy ; many persons complain of the diz-
ziness caused by looking down from such a height,
but I did not find myself so affected ; and though
the donkeys at the base looked like flies, I could
almost have danced down the mighty sides.
The great pyramid is supposed to contain six
millions of cubic feet of stone, and a hundred thou-
sand men are said to have been employed twenty
years in building it. The four angles stand ex-
actly in the four points of the compass, inducing
-
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
domes, its mosques and minarets, glittering in the
light of a vertical sun—upon the rich valley of the
Nile, and the " river of Egypt" rolling at his feet—
the long range of pyramids and tombs extending
along the edge of the desert to the ruined city of
Memphis, and the boundless and eternal sands of
Africa, without considering that moment an epoch
not to be forgotten. Thousands of years roll
through his mind, and thought recalls the men who
built them, their mysterious uses, the poets, histo-
rians, philosophers, and warriors who have gazed
upon them with wonder like his own.
For one who but yesterday was bustling in the
streets of a busy city, it was a thing of strange and
indescribable interest to be standing on the top of
the great pyramid, surrounded by a dozen half-na-
ked Arabs, forgetting, as completely as if they had
never been, the stirring scenes of his distant home.
But even here petty vexations followed me, and half
the interest of the time and scene was destroyed by
the clamour of my guides. The descent I found ex-
tremely easy ; many persons complain of the diz-
ziness caused by looking down from such a height,
but I did not find myself so affected ; and though
the donkeys at the base looked like flies, I could
almost have danced down the mighty sides.
The great pyramid is supposed to contain six
millions of cubic feet of stone, and a hundred thou-
sand men are said to have been employed twenty
years in building it. The four angles stand ex-
actly in the four points of the compass, inducing
-