The great pyramid passages and chambers

enter the Pyramid alone. She would require to be accompanied by her husband, and would have to make her visit at night. It would be a shame for her to visit it in any other way.

Evening. In the afternoon we returned to the Great Pyramid and resumed our work. We finished the particular part we were at by six o'clock. This gave us an hour and a half to spare before dinner. In that time we climbed to the top of the Pyramid, my first ascent. We ascended by the south-west angle, the one nearest the Second Pyramid, and were not assisted, but Judah and Sayd accompanied us. We had a magnificent view from the summit. When looking down the sides they appeared very steep. We could have spent a long time viewing the Arab village, and the numerous tombs, etc., below us. The sun was setting, and we were specially interested to see the immensely long shadows cast by the Great and Second Pyramids, away over the sandy but partly cultivated plain to the east. To the south and west, we saw nothing but sand. It was impressive to think that we were situated right at the edge of the great Sahara Desert (called at this part the Libyan Desert) the area of which is greater than the whole of the United States of America. What a wonderful thing it will be when the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose”!

438 Shortly after we reached the summit, Judah began to say his prayers. He evidently considered it a fine opportunity, on that high place. He faced the east and began to bow, and to kneel down and touch the ground with his forehead, etc. We could not hear him say anything, however. In their way, the Mohammedans are very religious ; and we cannot help admiring them, even though we know that their prayer is little more than a form. They let nothing stand in the way of their religious ceremonies. Every Friday (the Mohammedan’s Sabbath) at 11-30 a.m., Judah must go off to the village to attend prayers, and we have to get on as well as we may by ourselves. Although the Arabs have the reputation of being untruthful, we are glad to say that we have nothing to complain of in those who are immediately in attendance upon us. We have found them honest and obliging. Mr. Covington, however, is greatly incensed against the Arabs. They have robbed his tent several times, and he has been unable to get any redress. He has often said to me: ‘‘Oh! you don’t know these Arabs!”

439 We descended the Pyramid by its north-east angle, the easiest of the four to climb, and the one up and down which visitors are generally taken, and walked direct to the Arab village which is situated quite close to the east side of the Pyramid, not on the plateau, however, but down below, where we had some business to transact—Plate II. We found the man we wanted sitting on the sand a little distance from his house, drinking coffee with a few of his Arab friends.

440 After joining in a cup, and discussing the relative merits of Arabian, Turkish, and French coffee (we preferred the Arabian), we strolled off together in the direction of the rock-cut tombs, two of which Professor Smyth had made his home during the time of his investigations at the Great Pyramid in 1865. Those were the days before the advent of the tramway car. It had taken Professor Smyth a whole day and part of another to do the journey from Cairo to the pyramids; but now, the distance can be traversed in less than an hour! In 1865, the Arab village was not built so close to the tombs as it is now. The place would therefore be very much cleaner than it is at

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