VISIT TO THE PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 187 



circumstance that a slight electrical shock was felt 

 when one tried to drink out of a wine bottle. By 

 wrapping a piece of damp paper round it. I trans- 

 formed such a filled bottle, having a metallically coated 

 neck, into a Leyden jar. which was strongly charged 

 when one held it high above one's head. It was then 

 possible to obtain loud cracking sparks, of about 

 1 centimetre range. This established in an unequivocal 

 manner the electrical properties of the desert wind 

 which had been already before observed by travellers. 



In the further course of our experiments I had 

 occasion to prove that electricity can also be service- 

 able as an effective defensive weapon. The Arabs 

 had at once observed with manifest distrust the flashes 

 darting from our wine bottles. They then held a brief 

 council, and at a signal every one of my companions 

 was laid hold of, to be forcibly transported down again, 

 by the three men who had brought him there. I was 

 standing just on the highest point of the pyramid, a 

 large stone cube in the centre of the flattened summit, 

 when the sheik of the tribe approached, and communi- 

 cated to me through our interpreter that the tribe had 

 resolved we should immediately leave the pyramid. On 

 being asked the reason, he replied that we manifestly 

 practised magic, and that might injure the source of 

 their livelihood, the pyramid. 



When I refused to comply with his request, he 

 made a dash at my left hand, whilst I held the right 

 with the well -coated bottle in a manifestly conjur- 

 ing attitude - high above my head. I had waited 



