14 THE PYRAMIDS. 



mound whilst it keeps watch over the fields for its prey, 

 evincing a great partiality for Quail. I have here noticed 

 some of the principal species of the birds of prey, as they 

 cannot fail to impress the traveller at the outset with their 

 extraordinary numbers ; so that I hope what I have just 

 written may not be thought out of place, but naturally sug- 

 gested by one's first impressions of a day's sport in Egypt. 



At length we arrive at the Pyramids, the wonders of the 

 East. Their gigantic size is hard to realize when close to 

 them, for want of smaller objects for comparison ; but a climb 

 up the rough stones to the top will best convince one of their 

 magnitude. The view, however, from the summit is dis- 

 appointing, as it does not open out a much wider prospect 

 than one has from the base. Facing us to the east, beyond 

 the river stands Cairo, and behind it the Mokattam Mountains, 

 ending abruptly on the north of the range at that city, but 

 extending southward in a flat-topped ridge as far as the eye 

 can see. Between this range and the Pyramids lies the 

 fertile country, the valley of the Nile and the garden of 

 Egypt : to the north-east extends the low flat land of the 

 Delta ; and to the west lie the trackless sands of the Libyan 

 Desert— over which the eye cannot range far, owing to the 

 unevenness of the ground. Visiting the interior of the 

 Pyramids is more unsatisfactory ; for one climbs and slides 

 along a narrow dark passage, to be shown a room in the very 

 centre, where a sarcophagus was found, but which has been 

 removed. 



The next object to be seen is the Sphinx, which has sadly 

 suffered by the hand of time, having lost its nose, which 

 wives it an unpleasant expression. In front of the Sphinx 

 the sand has been removed, and the ruins of a temple exca- 



