EGYPT. 



Image of Osiris. 



Image of Isis. 



Ruins of an Egyptian Temple, dedicated to the god Ims. 



Other ruins, less distinct, 

 called Cleopatra's Needle. 



the pillar which bears the 

 Alexandria has other 



name of Pompey, and the obelisk, 

 magnificent remains, such as prostrate 

 rows of marble columns, and mutilated capi- 

 tals. Pompey's pillar stands upon a pedestal, 

 12 feet high. The shaft is round, and, with 

 the Corinthian capital, 100 feet in height. 

 The diameter is 9 feet. Cleopatra's Needle 

 is of one shaft, of granite, covered with hiero- 

 glyphics. It is about 64 feet high, and 8 feet 

 square at the base. The ruins of Alexandria 

 would, in any country but Egypt, be, them- 

 selves, antiquities ; but, in tlie country of 

 the pyramids, they are comparatively recent. 

 There are great numbers of [lyramids scattered 

 over Egypt, but the most remarkable are those 

 of Djizeh, Sakliara, and Dashour. The most 

 wonderful of all are those of Djizeh. When 

 several leagues distant fiom the spectator, ihey 

 seem near at hand, and it is not till after hav- 

 ing traveled several miles, that he is fully sen- 

 sible of their size. They are on the j)latform 

 of a rock, situated 150 feet above the level of 

 the desert. The largest is ascribed to Che- 

 ops. Ten years were consumed in preparing 

 a road, whereon to draw the immense blocks 

 of stone, and the labors of 100,000 men were 

 eniployed, who were relieved once in three 

 months. Such is the account of Herodotus. 



The great pyramid covers an area of about 1 1 

 acres, and rises 127 feet above the cross of 

 St. Paul's, in London, or 480 feet. The base 

 is 750 feet. The pyramids face the cardinal 

 points, and the entrances in those which have 

 been explored, descend at exactly the same 

 angle, and at the same part of the fabric. Vari- 

 ous passages and chambers have been discov- 

 ered by great labor, and wells or shafts conducting from above to the lower apartments. The 

 entrances were artfully concealed in the wall, 30 feet or less above the base. The passages 

 were sometimes stopped with a solid block of granite, made, however, to slide upwards, by the 

 force of a lever. In the Pyramid of Cephrenes, Belzoni found the central chamber 4G feet 

 in length, about 16 feet wide, and nearly 24 feet high, hewn from the solid rock. The pyra- 

 mids are composed of immense blocks of stone, laid upon each other in the receding manner 

 of steps. It is supposed that these steps were formerly fillcMl up with stones, which have been 



Cleopatra's J^eedle. 



