﻿88 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



decreases. There are about two hundred steps from the bottom to 

 the top. The vast structure is contrived so that a line stretched 

 from any part of the bottom to the top would touch the edge of every 

 step. It is stated that more than one hundred thousand men were 

 constantly employed, for twenty years, in the construction of the great 

 pyramid. This may or may not be so, as no one can tell anything 

 at all about the matter, except by conjecture, so many ages have 

 passed since these monuments were built; yet, when we consider 

 their vast size, their solidity, the almost incredible size of some of 

 the largest stones used in their construction, many of which are 

 thirty feet in length, ten or fifteen in breadth, and ten feet high I 

 say, when we consider these things, in connection with the strong 

 probability which exists that all of that great body of stones was dug 

 from a quarry more than nine hundred miles up the Nile, conveyed 

 to the boats, brought down the river, and then conveyed up the 

 banks again to the place where they now are, our wonder ceases > 

 and we are inclined to increase rather than diminish in our minds 

 the probable number of men employed in building this structure. 



Numerous travellers have placed their feet upon the summit, and 

 have published their opinions of this great edifice. The following 

 description of a recent visit is the best we have ever seen. 



" Proceeding with our guides to the entrance, which is the com- 

 mon point of departure, whether we mount to the top or descend to 

 the interior, we selected two Arabs, to aid us in running along the 

 narrow ledges, and in passing over the dangerous projections and 

 angles, and forthwith began to ascend. At first the way seemed 

 difficult of ascent, but as we proceeded, and rose from one step to 

 another, we gradually became familiar with our position, and learned 

 to be bold. Our track lay along the north-eastern angle, where 

 time and the irresistible storms which annually sweep over the 

 desert have tumbled down many of the stones, and thus made, at 

 various heights, resting places for the traveller. Looking upward 

 along the face of the pyramid, the steps seem to ascend to the clouds; 

 and if you turn your eyes below, the height looks dizzy, prodigious* 

 fearful, and the people at the bottom appear to be shrunk to dwarfs, 

 The prospect of the country enlarges at every step; the breadth of 



